Plutarch's Lives
by
Plutarch
Edited by A.H. Clough
# THESEUS
# ROMULUS
# COMPARISON OF ROMULUS WITH THESEUS
# LYCURGUS
# NUMA POMPILIUS
# COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUS
# SOLON
# POPLICOLA
# COMPARISON OF POPLICOLA WITH SOLON
# THEMISTOCLES
# CAMILLUS
# PERICLES
# FABIUS
# COMPARISON OF PERICLES WITH FABIUS
# ALCIBIADES
# CORIOLANUS
# COMPARISON OF ALCIBIADES WITH CORIOLANUS
# TIMOLEON
# AEMILIUS PAULUS
# COMPARISON OF TIMOLEON WITH AEMILIUS PAULUS
# PELOPIDAS
# MARCELLUS
# COMPARISION OF PELOPIDAS WITH MARCELLUS
# ARISTIDES
# MARCUS CATO
# COMPARISON OF ARISTIDES WITH MARCUS CATO.
# PHILOPOEMEN
# FLAMININUS
# COMPARISON OF PHILOPOEMEN WITH FLAMININUS
# PYRRHUS
# CAIUS MARIUS
# LYSANDER
# SYLLA
# COMPARISON OF LYSANDER WITH SYLLA
# CIMON
# LUCULLUS
# COMPARISON OF LUCULLUS WITH CIMON
# NICIAS
# CRASSUS
# COMPARISON OF CRASSUS WITH NICIAS
# SERTORIUS
# EUMENES
# COMPARISON OF SERTORIUS WITH EUMENES
# AGESILAUS
# POMPEY
# COMPARISON OF POMPEY AND AGESILAUS
# ALEXANDER
# CAESAR
# PHOCION
# CATO THE YOUNGER
# AGIS
# CLEOMENES
# TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
# CAIUS GRACCHUS
# COMPARISON OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS WITH AGIS AND CLEOMENES
# DEMOSTHENES
# CICERO
# COMPARISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO
# DEMETRIUS
# ANTONY
# COMPARISON OF DEMETRIUS AND ANTONY
# DION
# MARCUS BRUTUS
# COMPARISON OF DION AND BRUTUS
# ARATUS
# ARTAXERXES
# GALBA
# OTHO
THESEUS
As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the
world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the
effect, that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild
beasts, unapproachable bogs, Scythian ice, or a frozen sea, so, in this
work of mine, in which I have compared the lives of the greatest men
with one another, after passing through those periods which probable
reasoning can reach to and real history find a footing in, I might very
well say of those that are farther off, Beyond this there is nothing
but prodigies and fictions, the only inhabitants are the poets and
inventors of fables; there is no credit, or certainty any farther. Yet,
after publishing an account of Lycurgus the lawgiver and Numa the king,
I thought I might, not without reason, ascend as high as to Romulus,
being brought by my history so near to his time. Considering therefore
with myself
Whom shall I set so great a man to face?
Or whom oppose? who's equal to the place?
(as Aeschylus expresses it), I found none so fit as him that peopled
the beautiful and far-famed city of Athens, to be set in opposition
with the father of the invincible and renowned city of Rome. Let us
hope that Fable may, in what shall follow, so submit to the purifying
processes of Reason as to take the character of exact history. In any
case, however, where it shall be found contumaciously slighting
credibility, and refusing to be reduced to anything like probable fact,
we shall beg that we may meet with candid readers, and such as will
receive with indulgence the stories of antiquity.
Theseus seemed to me to resemble Romulus in many particulars. Both of
them, born out of wedlock and of uncertain parentage, had the repute of
being sprung from the gods.
Both warriors; that by all the world's allowed.
Both of them united with strength of body an equal vigor mind; and of
the two most famous cities of the world the one built Rome, and the
other made Athens be inhabited. Both stand charged with the rape of
women; neither of them could avoid domestic misfortunes nor jealousy at
home; but towards the close of their lives are both of them said to
have incurred great odium with their countrymen, if, that is, we may
take the stories least like poetry as our guide to the truth.
The lineage of Theseus, by his father's side, ascends as high as to
Erechtheus and the first inhabitants of Attica. By his mother's side he
was descended of Pelops. For Pelops was the most powerful of all the
kings of Peloponnesus, not so much by the greatness of his riches as
the multitude of his children, having married many daughters to chief
men, and put many sons in places of command in the towns round about
him. One of whom named Pittheus, grandfather to Theseus, was governor
of the small city of the Troezenians, and had the repute of a man of
the greatest knowledge and wisdom of his time; which then, it seems,
consisted chiefly in grave maxims, such as the poet Hesiod got his
great fame by, in his book of Works and Days. And, indeed, among these
is one that they ascribe to Pittheus,--
Unto a friend suffice
A stipulated price;
which, also, Aristotle mentions. And Euripides, by calling Hippolytus "
scholar of the holy Pittheus," shows the opinion that the world had of
him.
Aegeus, being desirous of children, and consulting the oracle of
Delphi, received the celebrated answer which forbade him the company of
any woman before his return to Athens. But the oracle being so obscure
as not to satisfy him that he was clearly forbid this, he went to
Troezen, and communicated to Pittheus the voice of the god, which was
in this manner,--
Loose not the wine-skin foot, thou chief of men,
Until to Athens thou art come again.
Pittheus, therefore, taking advantage from the obscurity of the oracle,
prevailed upon him, it is uncertain whether by persuasion or deceit, to
lie with his daughter Aethra. Aegeus afterwards, knowing her whom he
had lain with to be Pittheus's daughter, and suspecting her to be with
child by him, left a sword and a pair of shoes, hiding them under a
great stone that had a hollow in it exactly fitting them; and went away
making her only privy to it, and commanding her, if she brought forth a
son who, when he came to man's estate, should be able to lift up the
stone and take away what he had left there, she should send him away to
him with those things with all secrecy, and with injunctions to him as
much as possible to conceal his journey from every one; for he greatly
feared the Pallantidae, who were continually mutinying against him, and
despised him for his want of children, they themselves being fifty
brothers, all sons of Pallas.
When Aethra was delivered of a son, some say that he was immediately
named Theseus, from the tokens which his father had put @ under the
stone; others that he received his name afterwards at Athens, when
Aegeus acknowledged him for his son. He was brought up under his
grandfather Pittheus, and had a tutor and attendant set over him named
Connidas, to whom the Athenians, even to this time, the day before the
feast that is dedicated to Theseus, sacrifice a ram, giving this honor
to his memory upon much juster grounds than to Silanio and Parrhasius,
for making pictures and statues of Theseus. There being then a custom
for the Grecian youth, upon their first coming to man's estate, to go
to Delphi and offer first-fruits of their hair to the god, Theseus also
went thither, and a place there to this day is yet named Thesea, as it
is said, from him. He clipped only the fore part of his head, as Homer
says the Abantes did.% And this sort of tonsure was from him named
Theseis. The Abantes first used it, not in imitation of the Arabians,
as some imagine, nor of the Mysians, but because they were a warlike
people, and used to close fighting, and above all other nations
accustomed to engage hand to hand; as Archilochus testifies in these
verses: --
Slings shall not whirl, nor many arrows fly,
When on the plain the battle joins; but swords,
Man against man, the deadly conflict try,
As is the practice of Euboea's lords
Skilled with the spear.--
Therefore that they might not give their enemies a hold by their hair,
they cut it in this manner. They write also that this was the reason
why Alexander gave command to his captains that all the beards of the
Macedonians should be shaved, as being the readiest hold for an enemy.
Aethra for some time concealed the true parentage of Theseus, and a
report was given out by Pittheus that he was begotten by Neptune; for
the Troezenians pay Neptune the highest veneration. He is their tutelar
god, to him they offer all their first-fruits, and in his honor stamp
their money with a trident.
Theseus displaying not only great strength of body, but equal bravery,
and a quickness alike and force of understanding, his mother Aethra,
conducting him to the stone, and informing him who was his true father,
commanded him to take from thence the tokens that Aegeus had left, and
to sail to Athens. He without any difficulty set himself to the stone
and lifted it up; but refused to take his journey by sea, though it was
much the safer way, and though his mother and grandfather begged him to
do so. For it was at that time very dangerous to go by land on the road
to Athens, no part of it being free from robbers and murderers. That
age produced a sort of men, in force of hand, and swiftness of foot,
and strength of body, excelling the ordinary rate, and wholly incapable
of fatigue; making use, however, of these gifts of nature to no good or
profitable purpose for mankind, but rejoicing and priding themselves in
insolence, and taking the benefit of their superior strength in the
exercise of inhumanity and cruelty, and in seizing, forcing, and
committing all manner of outrages upon every thing that fell into their
hands; all respect for others, all justice, they thought, all equity
and humanity, though naturally lauded by common people, either out of
want of courage to commit injuries or fear to receive them, yet no way
concerned those who were strong enough to win for themselves. Some of
these, Hercules destroyed and cut off in his passage through these
countries, but some, escaping his notice while he was passing by, fled
and hid themselves, or else were spared by him in contempt of their
abject submission; and after that Hercules fell into misfortune, and,
having slain Iphitus, retired to Lydia, and for a long time was there
slave to Omphale, a punishment which he had imposed upon himself for
the murder, then, indeed, Lydia enjoyed high peace and security, but in
Greece and the countries about it the like villanies again revived and
broke out, there being none to repress or chastise them. It was
therefore a very hazardous journey to travel by land from Athens to
Peloponnesus; and Pittheus, giving him an exact account of each of
these robbers and villains, their strength, and the cruelty they used
to all strangers, tried to persuade Theseus to go by sea. But he, it
seems, had long since been secretly fired by the glory of Hercules,
held him in the highest estimation, and was never more satisfied than
in listening to any that gave an account of him; especially those that
had seen him, or had been present at any action or saying of his. So
that he was altogether in the same state of feeling as, in after ages,
Themistocles was, when he said that he could not sleep for the trophy
of Miltiades; entertaining such admiration for the virtue of Hercules,
that in the night his dreams were all of that hero's actions. and in
the day a continual emulation stirred him up to perform the like.
Besides, they were related, being born of cousins-german. For Aethra
was daughter of Pittheus, and Alcmena of Lysidice; and Lysidice and
Pittheus were brother and sister, children of Hippodamia and Pelops. He
thought it therefore a dishonorable thing, and not to be endured, that
Hercules should go out everywhere, and purge both land and sea from
wicked men, and he himself should fly from the like adventures that
actually came in his way; disgracing his reputed father by a mean
flight by sea, and not showing his true one as good evidence of the
greatness of his birth by noble and worthy actions, as by the tokens
that he brought with him, the shoes and the sword.
With this mind and these thoughts, he set forward with a design to do
injury to nobody, but to repel and revenge himself of all those that
should offer any. And first of all, in a set combat, he slew
Periphetes, in the neighborhood of Epidaurus, who used a club for his
arms, and from thence had the name of Corynetes, or the club-bearer;
who seized upon him, and forbade him to go forward in his journey.
Being pleased with the club, he took it, and made it his weapon,
continuing to use it as Hercules did the lion's skin, on whose
shoulders that served to prove how huge a beast he had killed; and to
the same end Theseus carried about him this club; overcome indeed by
him, but now, in his hands, invincible.
Passing on further towards the Isthmus of Peloponnesus, he slew Sinnis,
often surnamed the Bender of Pines, after the same manner in which he
himself had destroyed many others before. And this he did without
having either practiced or ever learnt the art of bending these trees,
to show that natural strength is above all art. This Sinnis had a
daughter of remarkable beauty and stature, called Perigune, who, when
her father was killed, fled, and was sought after everywhere by
Theseus; and coming into a place overgrown with brushwood shrubs, and
asparagus- thorn, there, in a childlike, innocent manner, prayed and
begged them, as if they understood her, to give her shelter, with vows
that if she escaped she would never cut them down nor burn them. But
Theseus calling upon her, and giving her his promise that he would use
her with respect, and offer her no injury, she came forth, and in due
time bore him a son, named Melanippus; but afterwards was married to
Deioneus, the son of Eurytus, the Oechalian, Theseus himself giving her
to him. Ioxus, the son of this Melanippus who was born to Theseus,
accompanied Ornytus in the colony that he carried with him into Caria,
whence it is a family usage amongst the people called Ioxids, both male
and female, never to burn either shrubs or asparagus-thorn, but to
respect and honor them.
The Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was a savage and
formidable wild beast, by no means an enemy to be despised. Theseus
killed her, going out of his way on purpose to meet and engage her, so
that he might not seem to perform all his great exploits out of mere
necessity ; being also of opinion that it was the part of a brave man
to chastise villainous and wicked men when attacked by them, but to
seek out and overcome the more noble wild beasts. Others relate that
Phaea was a woman, a robber full of cruelty and lust, that lived in
Crommyon, and had the name of Sow given her from the foulness of her
life and manners, and afterwards was killed by Theseus. He slew also
Sciron, upon the borders of Megara, casting him down from the rocks,
being, as most report, a notorious robber of all passengers, and, as
others add, accustomed, out of insolence and wantonness, to stretch
forth his feet to strangers, commanding them to wash them, and then
while they did it, with a kick to send them down the rock into the sea.
The writers of Megara, however, in contradiction to the received
report, and, as Simonides expresses it, "fighting with all antiquity,"
contend that Sciron was neither a robber nor doer of violence, but a
punisher of all such, and the relative and friend of good and just men;
for Aeacus, they say, was ever esteemed a man of the greatest sanctity
of all the Greeks; and Cychreus, the Salaminian, was honored at Athens
with divine worship; and the virtues of Peleus and Telamon were not
unknown to any one. Now Sciron was son-in-law to Cychreus,
father-in-law to Aeacus, and grandfather to Peleus and Telamon, who
were both of them sons of Endeis, the daughter of Sciron and Chariclo;
it was not probable, therefore, that the best of men should make these
alliances with one who was worst, giving and receiving mutually what
was of greatest value and most dear to them. Theseus, by their account,
did not slay Sciron in his first journey to Athens, but afterwards,
when he took Eleusis, a city of the Megarians, having circumvented
Diocles, the governor. Such are the contradictions in this story. In
Eleusis he killed Cercyon, the Arcadian, in a wrestling match. And
going on a little farther, in Erineus, he slew Damastes, otherwise
called Procrustes, forcing his body to the size of his own bed, as he
himself was used to do with all strangers; this he did in imitation of
Hercules, who always returned upon his assailants the same sort of
violence that they offered to him; sacrificed Busiris, killed Antaeus
in wrestling, and Cycnus in single combat, and Termerus by breaking his
skull in pieces (whence, they say, comes the proverb of "a Termerian
mischief"), for it seems Termerus killed passengers that he met, by
running with his head against them. And so also Theseus proceeded in
the punishment of evil men, who underwent the same violence from him
which they had inflicted upon others, justly suffering after the manner
of their own injustice.
As he went forward on his journey, and was come as far as the river
Cephisus, some of the race of the Phytalidae met him and saluted him,
and, upon his desire to use the purifications, then in custom, they
performed them with all the usual ceremonies, and, having offered
propitiatory sacrifices to the gods, invited him and entertained him at
their house, a kindness which, in all his journey hitherto, he had not
met.
On the eighth day of Cronius, now called Hecatombaeon, he arrived at
Athens, where he found the public affairs full of all confusion, and
divided into parties and factions, Aegeus also, and his whole private
family, laboring under the same distemper; for Medea, having fled from
Corinth, and promised Aegeus to make him, by her art, capable of having
children, was living with him. She first was aware of Theseus, whom as
yet Aegeus did not know, and he being in years, full of jealousies and
suspicions, and fearing every thing by reason of the faction that was
then in the city, she easily persuaded him to kill him by poison at a
banquet, to which he was to be invited as a stranger. He, coming to the
entertainment, thought it not fit to discover himself at once, but,
willing to give his father the occasion of first finding him out, the
meat being on the table, he drew his sword as if he designed to cut
with it; Aegeus, at once recognizing the token, threw down the cup of
poison, and, questioning his son, embraced him, and, having gathered
together all his citizens, owned him publicly before them, who, on
their part, received him gladly for the fame of his greatness and
bravery; and it is said, that when the cup fell, the poison was spilt
there where now is the enclosed space in the Delphinium; for in that
place stood Aegeus's house, and the figure of Mercury on the east side
of the temple is called the Mercury of Aegeus's gate.
The sons of Pallas, who before were quiet, upon expectation of
recovering the kingdom after Aegeus's death, who was without issue, as
soon as Theseus appeared and was acknowledged the successor, highly
resenting that Aegeus first, an adopted son only of Pandion, and not at
all related to the family of Erechtheus, should be holding the kingdom,
and that after him, Theseus, a visitor and stranger, should be destined
to succeed to it, broke out into open war. And, dividing themselves
into two companies, one part of them marched openly from Sphettus, with
their father, against the city, the other, hiding themselves in the
village of Gargettus, lay in ambush, with a design to set upon the
enemy on both sides. They had with them a crier of the township of
Agnus, named Leos, who discovered to Theseus all the designs of the
Pallantidae He immediately fell upon those that lay in ambuscade, and
cut them all off; upon tidings of which Pallas and his company fled and
were dispersed.
From hence they say is derived the custom among the people of the
township of Pallene to have no marriages or any alliance with the
people of Agnus, nor to suffer the criers to pronounce in their
proclamations the words used in all other parts of the country, Acouete
Leoi (Hear ye people), hating the very sound of Leo, because of the
treason of Leos.
Theseus, longing to be in action, and desirous also to make himself
popular, left Athens to fight with the bull of Marathon, which did no
small mischief to the inhabitants of Tetrapolis. And having overcome
it, he brought it alive in triumph through the city, and afterwards
sacrificed it to the Delphinian Apollo. The story of Hecale, also, of
her receiving and entertaining Theseus in this expedition, seems to be
not altogether void of truth; for the townships round about, meeting
upon a certain day, used to offer a sacrifice, which they called
Hecalesia, to Jupiter Hecaleius, and to pay honor to Hecale, whom, by a
diminutive name, they called Hecalene, because she, while entertaining
Theseus, who was quite a youth, addressed him, as old people do, with
similar endearing diminutives; and having made a vow to Jupiter for him
as he was going to the fight, that, if he returned in safety, she would
offer sacrifices in thanks of it, and dying before he came back, she
had these honors given her by way of return for her hospitality, by the
command of Theseus, as Philochorus tells us.
Not long after arrived the third time from Crete the collectors of the
tribute which the Athenians paid them upon the following occasion.
Androgeus having been treacherously murdered in the confines of Attica,
not only Minos, his father, put the Athenians to extreme distress by a
perpetual war, but the gods also laid waste their country both famine
and pestilence lay heavy upon them, and even their rivers were dried
up. Being told by the oracle that, if they appeased and reconciled
Minos, the anger of the gods would cease and they should enjoy rest
from the miseries they labored under, they sent heralds, and with much
supplication were at last reconciled, entering into an agreement to
send to Crete every nine years a tribute of seven young men and as many
virgins, as most writers agree in stating; and the most poetical story
adds, that the Minotaur destroyed them, or that, wandering in the
labyrinth, and finding no possible means of getting out, they miserably
ended their lives there; and that this Minotaur was (as Euripides hath
it)
A mingled form, where two strange shapes combined, And different
natures, bull and man, were joined.
But Philochorus says that the Cretans will by no means allow the truth
of this, but say that the labyrinth was only an ordinary prison, having
no other bad quality but that it secured the prisoners from escaping,
and that Minos, having instituted games in honor of Androgeus, gave, as
a reward to the victors, these youths, who in the mean time were kept
in the labyrinth; and that the first that overcame in those games was
one of the greatest power and command among them, named Taurus, a man
of no merciful or gentle disposition, who treated the Athenians that
were made his prize in a proud and cruel manner. Also Aristotle
himself, in the account that he gives of the form of government of the
Bottiaeans, is manifestly of opinion that the youths were not slain by
Minos, but spent the remainder of their days in slavery in Crete; that
the Cretans, in former times, to acquit themselves of an ancient vow
which they had made, were used to send an offering of the first-fruits
of their men to Delphi, and that some descendants of these Athenian
slaves were mingled with them and sent amongst them, and, unable to get
their living there, removed from thence, first into Italy, and settled
about Japygia; from thence again, that they removed to Thrace, and were
named Bottiaeans and that this is the reason why, in a certain
sacrifice, the Bottiaean girls sing a hymn beginning Let us go to
Athens. This may show us how dangerous a thing it is to incur the
hostility of a city that is mistress of eloquence and song. For Minos
was always ill spoken of, and represented ever as a very wicked man, in
the Athenian theaters; neither did Hesiod avail him by calling him "the
most royal Minos," nor Homer, who styles him "Jupiter's familiar
friend;" the tragedians got the better, and from the vantage ground of
the stage showered down obloquy upon him, as a man of cruelty and
violence; whereas, in fact, he appears to have been a king and a
lawgiver, and Rhadamanthus a judge under him, administering the
statutes that he ordained.
Now when the time of the third tribute was come, and the fathers who
had any young men for their sons were to proceed by lot to the choice
of those that were to be sent, there arose fresh discontents and
accusations against Aegeus among the people, who were full of grief and
indignation that he, who was the cause of all their miseries, was the
only person exempt from the punishment; adopting and settling his
kingdom upon a bastard and foreign son, he took no thought, they said,
of their destitution and loss, not of bastards, but lawful children.
These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but just not
to disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow
citizens, offered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck
with admiration for the nobleness and with love for the goodness of the
act; and Aegeus, after prayers and entreaties, finding him inflexible
and not to be persuaded, proceeded to the choosing of the rest by lot.
Hellanicus, however, tells us that the Athenians did not send the young
men and virgins by lot, but that Minos himself used to come and make
his own choice, and pitched upon Theseus before all others; according
to the conditions agreed upon between them, namely, that the Athenians
should furnish them with a ship, and that the young men that were to
sail with him should carry no weapon of war; but that if the Minotaur
was destroyed, the tribute should cease.
On the two former occasions of the payment of the tribute, entertaining
no hopes of safety or return, they sent out the ship with a black sail,
as to unavoidable destruction; but now, Theseus encouraging his father
and speaking greatly of himself, as confident that he should kill the
Minotaur, he gave the pilot another sail, which was white, commanding
him, as he returned, if Theseus were safe, to make use of that; but if
not, to sail with the black one, and to hang out that sign of his
misfortune. Simonides says that the sail which Aegeus delivered to the
pilot was not white, but
Scarlet, in the juicy bloom
Of the living oak-tree steeped,
and that this was to be the sign of their escape. Phereclus, son of
Amarsyas, according to Simonides, was pilot of the ship. But
Philochorus says Theseus had sent him by Scirus, from Salamis,
Nausithous to be his steersman, and Phaeax his look-out-man in the
prow, the Athenians having as yet not applied themselves to navigation;
and that Scirus did this because one of the young men, Menesthes, was
his daughter's son; and this the chapels of Nausithous and Phaeax,
built by Theseus near the temple of Scirus, confirm. He adds, also,
that the feast named Cybernesia was in honor of them. The lot being
cast, and Theseus having received out of the Prytaneum those upon whom
it fell, he went to the Delphinium, and made an offering for them to
Apollo of his suppliant's badge, which was a bough of a consecrated
olive tree, with white wool tied about it.
Having thus performed his devotion, he went to sea, the sixth day of
Munychion, on which day even to this time the Athenians send their
virgins to the same temple to make supplication to the gods. It is
farther reported that he was commanded by the oracle at Delphi to make
Venus his guide, and to invoke her as the companion and conductress of
his voyage, and that, as he was sacrificing a she goat to her by the
seaside, it was suddenly changed into a he, and for this cause that
goddess had the name of Epitrapia.
When he arrived at Crete, as most of the ancient historians as well as
poets tell us, having a clue of thread given him by Ariadne, who had
fallen in love with him, and being instructed by her how to use it so
as to conduct him through the windings of the labyrinth, he escaped out
of it and slew the Minotaur, and sailed back, taking along with him
Ariadne and the young Athenian captives. Pherecydes adds that he bored
holes in the bottoms of the Cretan ships to hinder their pursuit. Demon
writes that Taurus, the chief captain of Minos, was slain by Theseus at
the mouth of the port, in a naval combat, as he was sailing out for
Athens. But Philochorus gives us the story thus: That at the setting
forth of the yearly games by king Minos, Taurus was expected to carry
away the prize, as he had done before; and was much grudged the honor.
His character and manners made his power hateful, and he was accused
moreover of too near familiarity with Pasiphae, for which reason, when
Theseus desired the combat, Minos readily complied. And as it was a
custom in Crete that the women also should be admitted to the sight of
these games, Ariadne, being present, was struck with admiration of the
manly beauty of Theseus, and the vigor and address which he showed in
the combat, overcoming all that encountered with him. Minos, too, being
extremely pleased with him, especially because he had overthrown and
disgraced Taurus, voluntarily gave up the young captives to Theseus,
and remitted the tribute to the Athenians. Clidemus gives an account
peculiar to himself, very ambitiously, and beginning a great way back:
That it was a decree consented to by all Greece, that no vessel from
any place, containing above five persons, should be permitted to sail,
Jason only excepted, who was made captain of the great ship Argo, to
sail about and scour the sea of pirates. But Daedalus having escaped
from Crete, and flying by sea to Athens, Minos, contrary to this
decree, pursued him with his ships of war, was forced by a storm upon
Sicily, and there ended his life. After his decease, Deucalion, his
son, desiring a quarrel with the Athenians, sent to them, demanding
that they should deliver up Daedalus to him, threatening, upon their
refusal, to put to death all the young Athenians whom his father had
received as hostages from the city. To this angry message Theseus
returned a very gentle answer, excusing himself that he could not
deliver up Daedalus, who was nearly related to him, being his
cousin-german, his mother being Merope, the daughter of Erechtheus. In
the meanwhile he secretly prepared a navy, part of it at home near the
village of the Thymoetadae, a place of no resort, and far from any
common roads, the other part by his grandfather Pittheus's means at
Troezen, that so his design might be carried on with the greatest
secrecy. As soon as ever his fleet was in readiness, he set sail,
having with him Daedalus and other exiles from Crete for his guides;
and none of the Cretans having any knowledge of his coming, but
imagining, when they saw his fleet, that they were friends and vessels
of their own, he soon made himself master of the port, and, immediately
making a descent, reached Gnossus before any notice of his coming, and,
in a battle before the gates of the labyrinth, put Deucalion and all
his guards to the sword. The government by this means falling to
Ariadne, he made a league with her, and received the captives of her,
and ratified a perpetual friendship between the Athenians and the
Cretans, whom he engaged under an oath never again to commence any war
with Athens.
There are yet many other traditions about these things, and as many
concerning Ariadne, all inconsistent with each other. Some relate that
she hung herself, being deserted by Theseus. Others that she was
carried away by his sailors to the isle of Naxos, and married to
Oenarus, priest of Bacchus; and that Theseus left her because he fell
in love with another,
For Aegle's love was burning in his breast;
a verse which Hereas, the Megarian, says, was formerly in the poet
Hesiod's works, but put out by Pisistratus, in like manner as he added
in Homer's Raising of the Dead, to gratify the Athenians, the line
Theseus, Pirithous, mighty sons of gods.
Others say Ariadne had sons also by Theseus, Oenopion and Staphylus;
and among these is the poet Ion of Chios, who writes of his own native
city
Which once Oenopion, son of Theseus, built.
But the more famous of the legendary stories everybody (as I may say)
has in his mouth. In Paeon, however, the Amathusian, there is a story
given, differing from the rest. For he writes that Theseus, being
driven by a storm upon the isle of Cyprus, and having aboard with him
Ariadne, big with child, and extremely discomposed with the rolling of
the sea, set her on shore, and left her there alone, to return himself
and help the ship, when, on a sudden, a violent wind carried him again
out to sea. That the women of the island received Ariadne very kindly,
and did all they could to console and alleviate her distress at being
left behind. That they counterfeited kind letters, and delivered them
to her, as sent from Theseus, and, when she fell in labor, were
diligent in performing to her every needful service; but that she died
before she could be delivered, and was honorably interred. That soon
after Theseus returned, and was greatly afflicted for her loss, and at
his departure left a sum of money among the people of the island,
ordering them to do sacrifice to Ariadne; and caused two little images
to be made and dedicated to her, one of silver and the other of brass.
Moreover, that on the second day of Gorpiaeus, which is sacred to
Ariadne, they have this ceremony among their sacrifices, to have a
youth lie down and with his voice and gesture represent the pains of a
woman in travail; and that the Amathusians call the grove in which they
show her tomb, the grove of Venus Ariadne.
Differing yet from this account, some of the Naxians write that there
were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married
to Bacchus, in the isle of Naxos, and bore the children Staphylus and
his brother; but that the other, of a later age, was carried off by
Theseus, and, being afterwards deserted by him, retired to Naxos with
her nurse Corcyna, whose grave they yet show. That this Ariadne also
died there, and was worshiped by the island, but in a different manner
from the former; for her day is celebrated with general joy and
revelling, but all the sacrifices performed to the latter are attended
with mourning and gloom.
Now Theseus, in his return from Crete, put in at Delos, and, having
sacrificed to the god of the island, dedicated to the temple the image
of Venus which Ariadne had given him, and danced with the young
Athenians a dance that, in memory of him, they say is still preserved
among the inhabitants of Delos, consisting in certain measured turnings
and returnings, imitative of the windings and twistings of the
labyrinth. And this dance, as Dicaearchus writes, is called among the
Delians, the Crane. This he danced round the Ceratonian Altar, so
called from its consisting of horns taken from the left side of the
head. They say also that he instituted games in Delos where he was the
first that began the custom of giving a palm to the victors.
When they were come near the coast of Attica, so great was the joy for
the happy success of their voyage, that neither Theseus himself nor the
pilot remembered to hang out the sail which should have been the token
of their safety to Aegeus, who, in despair at the sight, threw himself
headlong from a rock, and perished in the sea. But Theseus, being
arrived at the port of Phalerum, paid there the sacrifices which he had
vowed to the gods at his setting out to sea, and sent a herald to the
city to carry the news of his safe return. At his entrance, the herald
found the people for the most part full of grief for the loss of their
king, others, as may well be believed, as full of joy for the tidings
that he brought, and eager to welcome him and crown him with garlands
for his good news, which he indeed accepted of, but hung them upon his
herald's staff; and thus returning to the seaside before Theseus had
finished his libation to the gods, he stayed apart for fear of
disturbing the holy rites, but, as soon as the libation was ended, went
up and related the king's death, upon the hearing of which, with great
lamentations and a confused tumult of grief, they ran with all haste to
the city. And from hence, they say, it comes that at this day, in the
feast of Oschophoria, the herald is not crowned, but his staff, and all
who are present at the libation cry out eleleu iou iou, the first of
which confused sounds is commonly used by men in haste, or at a
triumph, the other is proper to people in consternation or disorder of
mind.
Theseus, after the funeral of his father, paid his vows to Apollo the
seventh day of Pyanepsion; for on that day the youth that returned with
him safe from Crete made their entry into the city. They say, also,
that the custom of boiling pulse at this feast is derived from hence;
because the young men that escaped put all that was left of their
provision together, and, boiling it in one common pot, feasted
themselves with it, and ate it all up together. Hence, also, they carry
in procession an olive branch bound about with wool (such as they then
made use of in their supplications), which they call Eiresione, crowned
with all sorts of fruits, to signify that scarcity and barrenness was
ceased, singing in their procession this song:
Eiresione bring figs, and Eiresione bring loaves; Bring us honey in
pints, and oil to rub on our bodies, And a strong flagon of wine, for
all to go mellow to bed on.
Although some hold opinion that this ceremony is retained in memory of
the Heraclidae, who were thus entertained and brought up by the
Athenians. But most are of the opinion which we have given above.
The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty
oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of
Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed,
putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this
ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical
question as to things that grow; one side holding that the ship
remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.
The feast called Oschophoria, or the feast of boughs, which to this day
the Athenians celebrate, was then first instituted by Theseus. For he
took not with him the full number of virgins which by lot were to be
carried away, but selected two youths of his acquaintance, of fair and
womanish faces, but of a manly and forward spirit, and having, by
frequent baths, and avoiding the heat and scorching of the sun, with a
constant use of all the ointments and washes and dresses that serve to
the adorning of the head or smoothing the skin or improving the
complexion, in a manner changed them from what they were before, and
having taught them farther to counterfeit the very voice and carriage
and gait of virgins, so that there could not be the least difference
perceived; he, undiscovered by any, put them into the number of the
Athenian maids designed for Crete. At his return, he and these two
youths led up a solemn procession, in the same habit that is now worn
by those who carry the vine-branches. These branches they carry in
honor of Bacchus and Ariadne, for the sake of their story before
related; or rather because they happened to return in autumn, the time
of gathering the grapes. The women whom they call Deipnopherae, or
supper-carriers, are taken into these ceremonies, and assist at the
sacrifice, in remembrance and imitation of the mothers of the young men
and virgins upon whom the lot fell, for thus they ran about bringing
bread and meat to their children; and because the women then told their
sons and daughters many tales and stories, to comfort and encourage
them under the danger they were going upon, it has still continued a
custom that at this feast old fables and tales should be told. For
these particularities we are indebted to the history of Demon. There
was then a place chosen out, and a temple erected in it to Theseus, and
those families out of whom the tribute of the youth was gathered were
appointed to pay a tax to the temple for sacrifices to him. And the
house of the Phytalidae had the overseeing of these sacrifices, Theseus
doing them that honor in recompense of their former hospitality.
Now, after the death of his father Aegeus, forming in his mind a great
and wonderful design, he gathered together all the inhabitants of
Attica into one town, and made them one people of one city, whereas
before they lived dispersed, and were not easy to assemble upon any
affair for the common interest. Nay, differences and even wars often
occurred between them, which he by his persuasions appeased, going from
township to township, and from tribe to tribe. And those of a more
private and mean condition readily embracing such good advice, to those
of greater power he promised a commonwealth without monarchy, a
democracy, or people's government in which he should only be continued
as their commander in war and the protector of their laws, all things
else being equally distributed among them; and by this means brought a
part of them over to his proposal. The rest, fearing his power, which
was already grown very formidable, and knowing his courage and
resolution, chose rather to be persuaded than forced into a compliance.
He then dissolved all the distinct state-houses, council halls, and
magistracies, and built one common state-house and council hall on the
site of the present upper town, and gave the name of Athens to the
whole state, ordaining a common feast and sacrifice, which he called
Panathenaea, or the sacrifice of all the united Athenians. He
instituted also another sacrifice, called Metoecia, or Feast of
Migration, which is yet celebrated on the sixteenth day of
Hecatombaeon. Then, as he had promised, he laid down his regal power
and proceeded to order a commonwealth, entering upon this great work
not without advice from the gods. For having sent to consult the oracle
of Delphi concerning the fortune of his new government and city, he
received this answer:
Son of the Pitthean maid, To your town the terms and fates, My father
gives of many states. Be not anxious nor afraid; The bladder will not
fail so swim On the waves that compass him.
Which oracle, they say, one of the sibyls long after did in a manner
repeat to the Athenians, in this verse,
The bladder may be dipt, but not be drowned.
Farther yet designing to enlarge his city, he invited all strangers to
come and enjoy equal privileges with the natives, and it is said that
the common form, Come hither all ye people, was the words that Theseus
proclaimed when he thus set up a commonwealth, in a manner, for all
nations. Yet he did not suffer his state, by the promiscuous multitude
that flowed in, to be turned into confusion and be left without any
order or degree, but was the first that divided the Commonwealth into
three distinct ranks, the noblemen, the husbandmen, and artificers.% To
the nobility he committed the care of religion, the choice of
magistrates, the teaching and dispensing of the laws, and
interpretation and direction in all sacred matters; the whole city
being, as it were, reduced to an exact equality, the nobles excelling
the rest in honor, the husbandmen in profit, and the artificers in
number. And that Theseus was the first, who, as Aristotle says, out of
an inclination to popular government, parted with the regal power,
Homer also seems to testify, in his catalogue of the ships, where he
gives the name of People to the Athenians only.
He also coined money, and stamped it with the image of an ox, either in
memory of the Marathonian bull, or of Taurus, whom he vanquished, or
else to put his people in mind to follow husbandry; and from this coin
came the expression so frequent among the Greeks, of a thing being
worth ten or a hundred oxen. After this he joined Megara to Attica, and
erected that famous pillar on the Isthmus, which bears an inscription
of two lines, showing the bounds of the two countries that meet there.
On the east side the inscription is,--
Peloponnesus there, Ionia here,
and on the west side,--
Peloponnesus here, Ionia there.
He also instituted the games, in emulation of Hercules, being ambitious
that as the Greeks, by that hero's appointment, celebrated the Olympian
games to the honor of Jupiter, so, by his institution, they should
celebrate the Isthmian to the honor of Neptune. For those that were
there before observed, dedicated to Melicerta, were performed privately
in the night, and had the form rather of a religious rite than of an
open spectacle or public feast. There are some who say that the
Isthmian games were first instituted in memory of Sciron, Theseus thus
making expiation for his death, upon account of the nearness of kindred
between them, Sciron being the son of Canethus and Heniocha, the
daughter of Pittheus; though others write that Sinnis, not Sciron, was
their son, and that to his honor, and not to the other's, these games
were ordained by Theseus. At the same time he made an agreement with
the Corinthians, that they should allow those that came from Athens to
the celebration of the Isthmian games as much space of honor before the
rest to behold the spectacle in, as the sail of the ship that brought
them thither, stretched to its full extent, could cover; so Hellanicus
and Andro of Halicarnassus have established.
Concerning his voyage into the Euxine Sea, Philochorus and some others
write that he made it with Hercules, offering him his service in the
war against the Amazons, and had Antiope given him for the reward of
his valor; but the greater number, of whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus,
and Herodorus, write that he made this voyage many years after
Hercules, with a navy under his own command, and took the Amazon
prisoner, the more probable story, for we do not read that any other,
of all those that accompanied him in this action, took any Amazon
prisoner. Bion adds, that, to take her, he had to use deceit and fly
away; for the Amazons, he says, being naturally lovers of men, were so
far from avoiding Theseus when he touched upon their coasts, that they
sent him presents to his ship; but he, having invited Antiope, who
brought them, to come aboard, immediately set sail and carried her
away. An author named Menecrates, that wrote the History of Nicaea in
Bithynia, adds, that Theseus, having Antiope aboard his vessel, cruised
for some time about those coasts, and that there were in the same ship
three young men of Athens, that accompanied him in this voyage, all
brothers, whose names were Euneos, Thoas, and Soloon. The last of these
fell desperately in love with Antiope; and, escaping the notice of the
rest, revealed the secret only to one of his most intimate
acquaintance, and employed him to disclose his passion to Antiope, she
rejected his pretenses with a very positive denial, yet treated the
matter with much gentleness and discretion, and made no complaint to
Theseus of any thing that had happened; but Soloon, the thing being
desperate, leaped into a river near the seaside and drowned himself. As
soon as Theseus was acquainted with his death, and his unhappy love
that was the cause of it, he was extremely distressed, and, in the
height of his grief, an oracle which he had formerly received at Delphi
came into his mind, for he had been commanded by the priestess of
Apollo Pythius, that, wherever in a strange land he was most sorrowful
and under the greatest affliction, he should build a city there, and
leave some of his followers to be governors of the place. For this
cause he there founded a city, which he called, from the name of
Apollo, Pythopolis, and, in honor of the unfortunate youth, he named
the river that runs by it Soloon, and left the two surviving brothers
entrusted with the care of the government and laws, joining with them
Hermus, one of the nobility of Athens, from whom a place in the city is
called the House of Hermus; though by an error in the accent it has
been taken for the House of Hermes, or Mercury, and the honor that was
designed to the hero transferred to the god.
This was the origin and cause of the Amazonian invasion of Attica,
which would seem to have been no slight or womanish enterprise. For it
is impossible that they should have placed their camp in the very city,
and joined battle close by the Pnyx and the hill called Museum, unless,
having first conquered the country round about, they had thus with
impunity advanced to the city. That they made so long a journey by
land, and passed the Cimmerian Bosphorus when frozen, as Hellanicus
writes, is difficult to be believed. That they encamped all but in the
city is certain, and may be sufficiently confirmed by the names that
the places thereabout yet retain, and the graves and monuments of those
that fell in the battle. Both armies being in sight, there was a long
pause and doubt on each side which should give the first onset; at last
Theseus, having sacrificed to Fear, in obedience to the command of an
oracle he had received, gave them battle; and this happened in the
month of Boedromion, in which to this very day the Athenians celebrate
the Feast Boedromia. Clidemus, desirous to be very
circumstantial,writes that the left wing of the Amazons moved towards
the place which is yet called Amazonium and the right towards the Pnyx,
near Chrysa, that with this wing the Athenians, issuing from behind the
Museum, engaged, and that the graves of those that were slain are to be
seen in the street that leads to the gate called the Piraic, by the
chapel of the hero Chalcodon; and that here the Athenians were routed,
and gave way before the women, as far as to the temple of the Furies,
but, fresh supplies coming in from the Palladium, Ardettus, and the
Lyceum, they charged their right wing, and beat them back into their
tents, in which action a great number of the Amazons were slain. At
length, after four months, a peace was concluded between them by the
mediation of Hippolyta (for so this historian calls the Amazon whom
Theseus married, and not Antiope), though others write that she was
slain with a dart by Molpadia, while fighting by Theseus's side, and
that the pillar which stands by the temple of Olympian Earth was
erected to her honor. Nor is it to be wondered at, that in events of
such antiquity, history should be in disorder. For indeed we are also
told that those of the Amazons that were wounded were privately sent
away by Antiope to Chalcis, where many by her care recovered, but some
that died were buried there in the place that is to this time called
Amazonium. That this war, however, was ended by a treaty is evident,
both from the name of the place adjoining to the temple of Theseus,
called, from the solemn oath there taken, Horcomosium; @ and also from
the ancient sacrifice which used to be celebrated to the Amazons the
day before the Feast of Theseus. The Megarians also show a spot in
their city where some Amazons were buried, on the way from the market
to a place called Rhus, where the building in the shape of a lozenge
stands. It is said, likewise, that others of them were slain near
Chaeronea, and buried near the little rivulet, formerly called
Thermodon, but now Haemon, of which an account is given in the life of
Demosthenes. It appears further that the passage of the Amazons through
Thessaly was not without opposition, for there are yet shown many tombs
of them near Scotussa and Cynoscephalae.
This is as much as is worth telling concerning the Amazons. For the
account which the author of the poem called the Theseid gives of this
rising of the Amazons, how Antiope, to revenge herself upon Theseus for
refusing her and marrying Phaedra, came down upon the city with her
train of Amazons, whom Hercules slew, is manifestly nothing else but
fable and invention. It is true, indeed, that Theseus married Phaedra,
but that was after the death of Antiope, by whom he had a son called
Hippolytus, or, as Pindar writes, Demophon. The calamities which befell
Phaedra and this son, since none of the historians have contradicted
the tragic poets that have written of them, we must suppose happened as
represented uniformly by them.
There are also other traditions of the marriages of Theseus, neither
honorable in their occasions nor fortunate in their events, which yet
were never represented in the Greek plays. For he is said to have
carried off Anaxo, a Troezenian, and, having slain Sinnis and Cercyon,
to have ravished their daughters; to have married Periboea, the mother
of Ajax, and then Phereboea, and then Iope, the daughter of Iphicles.
And further, he is accused of deserting Ariadne (as is before related),
being in love with Aegle the daughter of Panopeus, neither justly nor
honorably; and lastly, of the rape of Helen, which filled all Attica
with war and blood, and was in the end the occasion of his banishment
and death, as will presently be related.
Herodorus is of opinion, that though there were many famous expeditions
undertaken by the bravest men of his time, yet Theseus never joined in
any of them, once only excepted, with the Lapithae, in their war
against the Centaurs; but others say that he accompanied Jason to
Colchis and Meleager to the slaying of the Calydonian boar, and that
hence it came to be a proverb, Not without Theseus; that he himself,
however, without aid of any one, performed many glorious exploits, and
that from him began the saying, He is a second Hercules. He also joined
Adrastus in recovering the bodies of those that were slain before
Thebes, but not as Euripides in his tragedy says, by force of arms, but
by persuasion and mutual agreement and composition, for so the greater
part of the historians write; Philochorus adds further that this was
the first treaty that ever was made for the recovering the bodies of
the dead, but in the history of Hercules it is shown that it was he who
first gave leave to his enemies to carry off their slain. The
burying-places of the most part are yet to be seen in the village
called Eleutherae; those of the commanders, at Eleusis, where Theseus
allotted them a place, to oblige Adrastus. The story of Euripides in
his Suppliants is disproved by Aeschylus in his Eleusinians, where
Theseus himself relates the facts as here told.
The celebrated friendship between Theseus and Pirithous is said to have
been thus begun: the fame of the strength and valor of Theseus being
spread through Greece, Pirithous was desirous to make a trial and
proof. of it himself, and to this end seized a herd of oxen which
belonged to Theseus, and was driving them away from Marathon, and, when
news was brought that Theseus pursued him in arms, he did not fly, but
turned back and went to meet him. But as soon as they had viewed one
another, each so admired the gracefulness and beauty, and was seized
with such a respect for the courage, of the other, that they forgot all
thoughts of fighting; and Pirithous, first stretching out his hand to
Theseus, bade him be judge in this case himself, and promised to submit
willingly to any penalty he should impose. But Theseus not only forgave
him all, but entreated him to be his friend and brother in arms; and
they ratified their friendship by oaths. After this Pirithous married
Deidamia, and invited Theseus to the wedding, entreating him to come
and see his country, and make acquaintance with the Lapithae; he had at
the same time invited the Centaurs to the feast, who growing hot with
wine and beginning to be insolent and wild, and offering violence to
the women, the Lapithae took immediate revenge upon them, slaying many
of them upon the place, and afterwards, having overcome them in battle,
drove the whole race of them out of their country, Theseus all along
taking their part and fighting on their side. But Herodorus gives a
different relation of these things: that Theseus came not to the
assistance of the Lapithae till the war was already begun; and that it
was in this journey that he had the first sight of Hercules, having
made it his business to find him out at Trachis, where he had chosen to
rest himself after all his wanderings and his labors; and that this
interview was honorably performed on each part, with extreme respect,
good-will, and admiration of each other. Yet it is more credible, as
others write, that there were, before, frequent interviews between
them, and that it was by the means of Theseus that Hercules was
initiated at Eleusis, and purified before initiation, upon account of
several rash actions of his former life.
Theseus was now fifty years old, as Hellanicus states, when he carried
off Helen, who was yet too young to be married. Some writers, to take
away this accusation of one of the greatest crimes laid to his charge,
say, that he did not steal away Helen himself, but that Idas and
Lynceus were the ravishers, who brought her to him, and committed her
to his charge, and that, therefore, he refused to restore her at the
demand of Castor and Pollux; or, indeed, they say her own father,
Tyndarus, had sent her to be kept by him, for fear of Enarophorus, the
son of Hippocoon, who would have carried her away by force when she was
yet a child. But the most probable account, and that which has most
witnesses on its side, is this: Theseus and Pirithous went both
together to Sparta, and, having seized the young lady as she was
dancing in the temple of Diana Orthia, fled away with her. There were
presently men in arms sent to pursue, but they followed no further than
to Tegea; and Theseus and Pirithous, being now out of danger, having
passed through Peloponnesus, made an agreement between themselves, that
he to whom the lot should fall should have Helen to his wife, but
should be obliged to assist in procuring another for his friend. The
lot fell upon Theseus, who conveyed her to Aphidnae, not being yet
marriageable, and delivered her to one of his allies, called Aphidnus,
and, having sent his mother Aethra after to take care of her, desired
him to keep them so secretly, that none might know where they were;
which done, to return the same service to his friend Pirithous, he
accompanied him in his journey to Epirus, in order to steal away the
king of the Molossians' daughter. The king, his own name being
Aidoneus, or Pluto, called his wife Proserpina, and his daughter Cora,
and a great dog which he kept Cerberus, with whom he ordered all that
came as suitors to his daughter to fight, and promised her to him that
should overcome the beast. But having been informed that the design of
Pirithous and his companion was not to court his daughter, but to force
her away, he caused them both to be seized, and threw Pirithous to be
torn in pieces by his dog, and put Theseus into prison, and kept him.
About this time, Menestheus, the son of Peteus, grandson of Orneus, and
great-grandson to Erechtheus, the first man that is recorded to have
affected popularity and ingratiated himself with the multitude, stirred
up and exasperated the most eminent men of the city, who had long borne
a secret grudge to Theseus, conceiving that he had robbed them of their
several little kingdoms and lordships, and, having pent them all up in
one city, was using them as his subjects and slaves. He put also the
meaner people into commotion, telling them, that, deluded with a mere
dream of liberty, though indeed they were deprived both of that and of
their proper homes and religious usages, instead of many good and
gracious kings of their own, they had given themselves up to be lorded
over by a new-comer and a stranger. Whilst he was thus busied in
infecting the minds of the citizens, the war that Castor and Pollux
brought against Athens came very opportunely to further the sedition he
had been promoting, and some say that he by his persuasions was wholly
the cause of their invading the city. At their first approach, they
committed no acts of hostility, but peaceably demanded their sister
Helen; but the Athenians returning answer that they neither had her
there nor knew where she was disposed of, they prepared to assault the
city, when Academus, having, by whatever means, found it out, disclosed
to them that she was secretly kept at Aphidnae. For which reason he was
both highly honored during his life by Castor and Pollux, and the
Lacedaemonians, when often in aftertimes they made incursions into
Attica, and destroyed all the country round about, spared the Academy
for the sake of Academus. But Dicaearchus writes that there were two
Arcadians in the army of Castor and Pollux, the one called Echedemus
and the other Marathus; from the first that which is now called
Academia was then named Echedemia, and the village Marathon had its
name from the other, who, to fulfill some oracle, voluntarily offered
himself to be made a sacrifice before battle. As soon as they were
arrived at Aphidnae, they overcame their enemies in a set battle, and
then assaulted and took the town. And here, they say, Alycus, the son
of Sciron, was slain, of the party of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux),
from whom a place in Megara, where he was buried, is called Alycus to
this day. And Hereas writes that it was Theseus himself that killed
him, in witness of which he cites these verses concerning Alycus
And Alycus, upon Aphidna's plain By Theseus in the cause of Helen slain.
Though it is not at all probable that Theseus himself was there when
both the city and his mother were taken.
Aphidnae being won by Castor and Pollux, and the city of Athens being
in consternation, Menestheus persuaded the people to open their gates,
and receive them with all manner of friendship, for they were, he told
them, at enmity with none but Theseus, who had first injured them, and
were benefactors and saviors to all mankind beside. And their behavior
gave credit to those promises; for, having made themselves absolute
masters of the place, they demanded no more than to be initiated, since
they were as nearly related to the city as Hercules was, who had
received the same honor. This their desire they easily obtained, and
were adopted by Aphidnus, as Hercules had been by Pylius. They were
honored also like gods, and were called by a new name, Anaces, either
from the cessation (Anokhe) of the war, or from the care they took that
none should suffer any injury, though there was so great an army within
the walls; for the phrase anakos ekhein is used of those who look to or
care for any thing; kings for this reason, perhaps, are called anactes.
Others say, that from the appearance of their star in the heavens, they
were thus called, for in the Attic dialect this name comes very near
the words that signify above.
Some say that Aethra, Theseus's mother, was here taken prisoner, and
carried to Lacedaemon, and from thence went away with Helen to Troy,
alleging this verse of Homer, to prove that she waited upon Helen,
Aethra of Pittheus born, and large-eyed Clymene.
Others reject this verse as none of Homer's, as they do likewise the
whole fable of Munychus, who, the story says, was the son of Demophon
and Laodice, born secretly, and brought up by Aethra at Troy. But
Ister, in the thirteenth book of his Attic History, gives us an account
of Aethra, different yet from all the rest: that Achilles and Patroclus
overcame Paris in Thessaly, near the river Sperchius, but that Hector
took and plundered the city of the Troezenians, and made Aethra
prisoner there. But this seems a groundless tale.
Now Hercules, passing by the Molossians, was entertained in his way by
Aidoneus the king, who, in conversation, accidentally spoke of the
journey of Theseus and Pirithous into his country, of what they had
designed to do, and what they were forced to suffer. Hercules was much
grieved for the inglorious death of the one and the miserable condition
of the other. As for Pirithous, he thought it useless to complain; but
begged to have Theseus released for his sake, and obtained that favor
from the king. Theseus, being thus set at liberty, returned to Athens,
where his friends were not yet wholly suppressed, and dedicated to
Hercules all the sacred places which the city had set apart for
himself, changing their names from Thesea to Heraclea, four only
excepted, as Philochorus writes. And wishing immediately to resume the
first place in the commonwealth, and manage the state as before, he
soon found himself involved in factions and troubles; those who long
had hated him had now added to their hatred contempt; and the minds of
the people were so generally corrupted, that, instead of obeying
commands with silence, they expected to be flattered into their duty.
He had some thoughts to have reduced them by force, but was overpowered
by demagogues and factions. And at last, despairing of any good success
of his affairs in Athens, he sent away his children privately to
Euboea, commending them to the care of Elephenor, the son of Chalcodon;
and he himself, having solemnly cursed the people of Athens in the
village of Gargettus, in which there yet remains the place called
Araterion, or the place of cursing, sailed to Scyros, where he had
lands left him by his father, and friendship, as he thought, with those
of the island. Lycomedes was then king of Scyros. Theseus, therefore,
addressed himself to him, and desired to have his lands put into his
possession, as designing to settle and to dwell there, though others
say that he came to beg his assistance against the Athenians. But
Lycomedes, either jealous of the glory of so great a man, or to gratify
Menestheus, having led him up to the highest cliff of the island, on
pretense of showing him from thence the lands that he desired, threw
him headlong down from the rock, and killed him. Others say he fell
down of himself by a slip of his foot, as he was walking there,
according to his custom, after supper. At that time there was no notice
taken, nor were any concerned for his death, but Menestheus quietly
possessed the kingdom of Athens. His sons were brought up in a private
condition, and accompanied Elephenor to the Trojan war, but, after the
decease of Menestheus in that expedition, returned to Athens, and
recovered the government. But in succeeding ages, beside several other
circumstances that moved the Athenians to honor Theseus as a demigod,
in the battle which was fought at Marathon against the Medes, many of
the soldiers believed they saw an apparition of Theseus in arms,
rushing on at the head of them against the barbarians. And after the
Median war, Phaedo being archon of Athens, the Athenians, consulting
the oracle at Delphi, were commanded to gather together the bones of
Theseus, and, laying them in some honorable place, keep them as sacred
in the city. But it was very difficult to recover these relics, or so
much as to find out the place where they lay, on account of the
inhospitable and savage temper of the barbarous people that inhabited
the island. Nevertheless, afterwards, when Cimon took the island (as is
related in his life), and had a great ambition to find out the place
where Theseus was buried, he, by chance, spied an eagle upon a rising
ground pecking with her beak and tearing up the earth with her talons,
when on the sudden it came into his mind, as it were by some divine
inspiration, to dig there, and search for the bones of Theseus. There
were found in that place a coffin of a man of more than ordinary size,
and a brazen spear-head, and a sword lying by it, all which he took
aboard his galley and brought with him to Athens. Upon which the
Athenians, greatly delighted, went out to meet and receive the relics
with splendid processions and with sacrifices, as if it were Theseus
himself returning alive to the city. He lies interred in the middle of
the city, near the present gymnasium. His tomb is a sanctuary and
refuge for slaves, and all those of mean condition that fly from the
persecution of men in power, in memory that Theseus while he lived was
an assister and protector of the distressed, and never refused the
petitions of the afflicted that fled to him. The chief and most solemn
sacrifice which they celebrate to him is kept on the eighth day of
Pyanepsion, on which he returned with the Athenian young men from
Crete. Besides which, they sacrifice to him on the eighth day of every
month, either because he returned from Troezen the eighth day of
Hecatombaeon, as Diodorus the geographer writes, or else thinking that
number to be proper to him, because he was reputed to be born of
Neptune, because they sacrifice to Neptune on the eighth day of every
month. The number eight being the first cube of an even number, and the
double of the first square, seemed to be an emblem of the steadfast and
immovable power of this god, who from thence has the names of Asphalius
and Gaeiochus, that is, the establisher and stayer of the earth.
ROMULUS
From whom, and for what reason, the city of Rome, a name so great in
glory, and famous in the mouths of all men, was so first called,
authors do not agree. Some are of opinion that the Pelasgians,
wandering over the greater part of the habitable world, and subduing
numerous nations, fixed themselves here, and, from their own great
strength in war, called the city Rome. Others, that at the taking of
Troy, some few that escaped and met with shipping, put to sea, and,
driven by winds, were carried upon the coasts of Tuscany, and came to
anchor off the mouth of the river Tiber, where their women, out of
heart and weary with the sea, on its being proposed by one of the
highest birth and best understanding amongst them, whose name was Roma,
burnt the ships. With which act the men at first were angry, but
afterwards, of necessity, seating themselves near Palatium, where
things in a short while succeeded far better than they could hope, in
that they found the country very good, and the people courteous, they
not only did the lady Roma other honors, but added also this, of
calling after her name the city which she had been the occasion of
their founding. From this, they say, has come down that custom at Rome
for women to salute their kinsmen and husbands with kisses; because
these women, after they had burnt the ships, made use of such
endearments when entreating and pacifying their husbands.
Some again say that Roma, from whom this city was so called, was
daughter of Italus and Leucaria; or, by another account, of Telephus,
Hercules's son, and that she was married to Aeneas, or, according to
others again, to Ascanius, Aeneas's son. Some tell us that Romanus, the
son of Ulysses and Circe, built it; some, Romus the son of Emathion,
Diomede having sent him from Troy; and others, Romus, king of the
Latins, after driving out the Tyrrhenians, who had come from Thessaly
into Lydia, and from thence into Italy. Those very authors, too, who,
in accordance with the safest account, make Romulus give the name to
the city, yet differ concerning his birth and family. For some say, he
was son to Aeneas and Dexithea, daughter of Phorbas, and was, with his
brother Remus, in their infancy, carried into Italy, and being on the
river when the waters came down in a flood, all the vessels were cast
away except only that where the young children were, which being gently
landed on a level bank of the river, they were both unexpectedly saved,
and from them the place was called Rome. Some say, Roma, daughter of
the Trojan lady above mentioned, was married to Latinus, Telemachus's
son, and became mother to Romulus; others, that Aemilia, daughter of
Aeneas and Lavinia, had him by the god Mars; and others give you mere
fables of his origin. For to Tarchetius, they say, king of Alba, who
was a most wicked and cruel man, there appeared in his own house a
strange vision, a male figure that rose out of a hearth, and stayed
there for many days. There was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany which
Tarchetius consulted, and received an answer that a virgin should give
herself to the apparition, and that a son should be born of her, highly
renowned, eminent for valor, good fortune, and strength of body.
Tarchetius told the prophecy to one of his own daughters, and commanded
her to do this thing; which she avoiding as an indignity, sent her
handmaid. Tarchetius, hearing this, in great anger imprisoned them
both, purposing to put them to death; but being deterred from murder by
the goddess Vesta in a dream, enjoined them for their punishment the
working a web of cloth, in their chains as they were, which when they
finished, they should be suffered to marry; but whatever they worked by
day, Tarchetius commanded others to unravel in the night. In the
meantime, the waiting-woman was delivered of two boys, whom Tarchetius
gave into the hands of one Teratius, with command to destroy them; he,
however, carried and laid them by the river side, where a wolf came and
continued to suckle them, while birds of various sorts brought little
morsels of food, which they put into their mouths; till a cow-herd,
spying them, was first strangely surprised, but, venturing to draw
nearer, took the children up in his arms. Thus they were saved, and,
when they grew up, set upon Tarchetius and overcame him. This one
Promathion says, who compiled a history of Italy.
But the story which is most believed and has the greatest number of
vouchers was first published, in its chief particulars, amongst the
Greeks by Diocles of Peparethus, whom Fabius Pictor also follows in
most points. Here again there are variations, but in general outline it
runs thus: the kings of Alba reigned in lineal descent from Aeneas and
the succession devolved at length upon two brothers, Numitor and
Amulius. Amulius proposed to divide things into two equal shares, and
set as equivalent to the kingdom the treasure and gold that were
brought from Troy. Numitor chose the kingdom; but Amulius, having the
money, and being able to do more with that than Numitor, took his
kingdom from him with great ease, and, fearing lest his daughter might
have children, made her a Vestal, bound in that condition forever to
live a single and maiden life. This lady some call Ilia, others Rhea,
and others Silvia; however, not long after, she was, contrary to the
established laws of the Vestals, discovered to be with child, and
should have suffered the most cruel punishment, had not Antho, the
king's daughter, mediated with her father for her; nevertheless, she
was confined, and debarred all company, that she might not be delivered
without the king's knowledge. In time she brought forth two boys, of
more than human size and beauty, whom Amulius, becoming yet more
alarmed, commanded a servant to take and cast away; this man some call
Faustulus, others say Faustulus was the man who brought them up. He put
the children, however, in a small trough, and went towards the river
with a design to cast them in; but, seeing the waters much swollen and
coming violently down, was afraid to go nearer, and, dropping the
children near the bank, went away. The river overflowing, the flood at
last bore up the trough, and, gently wafting it, landed them on a
smooth piece of ground, which they now call Cermanes, formerly
Germanus, perhaps from Germani, which signifies brothers.
Near this place grew a wild fig-tree, which they called Ruminalis,
either from Romulus (as it is vulgarly thought), or from ruminating,
because cattle did usually in the heat of the day seek cover under it,
and there chew the cud; or, better, from the suckling of these children
there, for the ancients called the dug or teat of any creature ruma,
and there is a tutelar goddess of the rearing of children whom they
still call Rumilia, in sacrificing to whom they use no wine, but make
libations of milk. While the infants lay here, history tells us, a she-
wolf nursed them, and a woodpecker constantly fed and watched them;
these creatures are esteemed holy to the god Mars, the woodpecker the
Latins still especially worship and honor. Which things, as much as
any, gave credit to what the mother of the children said, that their
father was the god Mars: though some say that it was a mistake put upon
her by Amulius, who himself had come to her dressed up in armor.
Others think that the first rise of this fable came from the children's
nurse, through the ambiguity of her name; for the Latins not only
called wolves lupae, but also women of loose life; and such an one was
the wife of Faustulus, who nurtured these children, Acca Larentia by
name. To her the Romans offer sacrifices, and in the month of April the
priest of Mars makes libations there; it is called the Larentian Feast.
They honor also another Larentia, for the following reason: the keeper
of Hercules's temple having, it seems, little else to do, proposed to
his deity a game at dice, laying down that, if he himself won, he would
have something valuable of the god; but if he were beaten, he would
spread him a noble table, and procure him a fair lady's company. Upon
these terms, throwing first for the god and then for himself, he found
himself beaten. Wishing to pay his stakes honorably, and holding
himself bound by what he had said, he both provided the deity a good
supper, and, giving money to Larentia, then in her beauty, though not
publicly known, gave her a feast in the temple, where he had also laid
a bed, and after supper locked her in, as if the god were really to
come to her. And indeed, it is said, the deity did truly visit her, and
commanded her in the morning to walk to the market-place, and, whatever
man see met first, to salute him, and make him her friend. She met one
named Tarrutius, who was a man advanced in years, fairly rich without
children, and had always lived a single life. He received Larentia, and
loved her well, and at his death left her sole heir of all his large
and fair possessions, most of which she, in her last will and
testament, bequeathed to the people. It was reported of her, being now
celebrated and esteemed the mistress of a god, that she suddenly
disappeared near the place where the first Larentia lay buried; the
spot is at this day called Velabrum, because, the river frequently
overflowing, they went over in ferry-boats somewhere hereabouts to the
forum, the Latin word for ferrying being velatura. Others derive the
name from velum, a sail; because the exhibitors of public shows used to
hang the road that leads from the forum to the Circus Maximus with
sails, beginning at this spot. Upon these accounts the second Larentia
is honored at Rome.
Meantime Faustulus, Amulius's swineherd, brought up the children
without any man's knowledge; or, as those say who wish to keep closer
to probabilities, with the knowledge and secret assistance of Numitor;
for it is said, they went to school at Gabii, and were well instructed
in letters, and other accomplishments befitting their birth. And they
were called Romulus and Remus, (from ruma, the dug,) as we had before,
because they were found sucking the wolf. In their very infancy, the
size and beauty of their bodies intimated their natural superiority;
and when they grew up, they both proved brave and manly, attempting all
enterprises that seemed hazardous, and showing in them a courage
altogether undaunted. But Romulus seemed rather to act by counsel, and
to show the sagacity of a statesman, and in all his dealings with their
neighbors, whether relating to feeding of flocks or to hunting, gave
the idea of being born rather to rule than to obey. To their comrades
and inferiors they were therefore dear; but the king's servants, his
bailiffs and overseers, as being in nothing better men than themselves,
they despised and slighted, nor were the least concerned at their
commands and menaces. They used honest pastimes and liberal studies,
not esteeming sloth and idleness honest and liberal, but rather such
exercises as hunting and running, repelling robbers, taking of thieves,
and delivering the wronged and oppressed from injury. For doing such
things they became famous.
A quarrel occurring between Numitor's and Amulius's cowherds, the
latter, not enduring the driving away of their cattle by the others,
fell upon them and put them to flight, and rescued the greatest part of
the prey. At which Numitor being highly incensed, they little regarded
it, but collected and took into their company a number of needy men and
runaway slaves,--acts which looked like the first stages of rebellion.
It so happened, that when Romulus was attending a sacrifice, being fond
of sacred rites and divination, Numitor's herdsmen, meeting with Remus
on a journey with few companions, fell upon him, and, after some
fighting, took him prisoner, carried him before Numitor, and there
accused him. Numitor would not punish him himself, fearing his
brother's anger, but went to Amulius, and desired justice, as he was
Amulius's brother and was affronted by Amulius's servants. The men of
Alba likewise resenting the thing, and thinking he had been
dishonorably used, Amulius was induced to deliver Remus up into
Numitor's hands, to use him as he thought fit. He therefore took and
carried him home, and, being struck with admiration of the youth's
person, in stature and strength of body exceeding all men, and
perceiving in his very countenance the courage and force of his mind,
which stood unsubdued and unmoved by his present circumstances, and
hearing further that all the enterprises and actions of his life were
answerable to what he saw of him, but chiefly, as it seemed, a divine
influence aiding and directing the first steps that were to lead to
great results, out of the mere thought of his mind, and casually, as it
were, he put his hand upon the fact, and, in gentle terms and with a
kind aspect, to inspire him with confidence and hope, asked him who he
was, and whence he was derived. He, taking heart, spoke thus: " I will
hide nothing from you, for you seem to be of a more princely temper
than Amulius, in that you give a hearing and examine before you punish,
while he condemns before the cause is heard. Formerly, then, we (for we
are twins) thought ourselves the sons of Faustulus and Larentia, the
king's servants; but since we have been accused and aspersed with
calumnies, and brought in peril of our lives here before you, we hear
great things of ourselves, the truth of which my present danger is
likely to bring to the test. Our birth is said to have been secret, our
fostering and nurture in our infancy still more strange; by birds and
beasts, to whom we were cast out, we were fed, by the milk of a wolf,
and the morsels of a woodpecker, as we lay in a little trough by the
side of the river. The trough is still in being, and is preserved, with
brass plates round it, and an inscription in letters almost effaced;
which may prove hereafter unavailing tokens to our parents when we are
dead and gone." Numitor, upon these words, and computing the dates by
the young man's looks, slighted not the hope that flattered him, but
considered how to come at his daughter privately (for she was still
kept under restraint), to talk with her concerning these matters.
Faustulus, hearing Remus was taken and delivered up, called on Romulus
to assist in his rescue, informing him then plainly of the particulars
of his birth, not but he had before given hints of it, and told as much
as an attentive man might make no small conclusions from; he himself,
full of concern and fear of not coming in time, took the trough, and
ran instantly to Numitor; but giving a suspicion to some of the king's
sentry at his gate, and being gazed upon by them and perplexed with
their questions, he let it be seen that he was hiding the trough under
his cloak. By chance there was one among them who was at the exposing
of the children, and was one employed in the office; he, seeing the
trough and knowing it by its make and inscription, guessed at the
business, and, without further delay, telling the king of it, brought
in the man to be examined. Faustulus, hard beset, did not show himself
altogether proof against terror; nor yet was he wholly forced out of
all; confessed indeed the children were alive, but lived, he said, as
shepherds, a great way from Alba; he himself was going to carry the
trough to Ilia, who had often greatly desired to see and handle it, for
a confirmation of her hopes of her children. As men generally do who
are troubled in mind and act either in fear or passion, it so fell out
Amulius now did; for he sent in haste as a messenger, a man, otherwise
honest, and friendly to Numitor, with commands to learn from Numitor
whether any tidings were come to him of the children's being alive. He,
coming and seeing how little Remus wanted of being received into the
arms and embraces of Numitor, both gave him surer confidence in his
hope, and advised them, with all expedition, to proceed to action;
himself too joining and assisting them, and indeed, had they wished it,
the time would not have let them demur. For Romulus was now come very
near, and many of the citizens, out of fear and hatred of Amulius, were
running out to join him; besides, he brought great forces with him,
divided into companies, each of an hundred men, every captain carrying
a small bundle of grass and shrubs tied to a pole. The Latins call such
bundles manipuli and from hence it is that in their armies still they
call their captains manipulares. Remus rousing the citizens within to
revolt, and Romulus making attacks from without, the tyrant, not
knowing either what to do, or what expedient to think of for his
security, in this perplexity and confusion was taken and put to death.
This narrative, for the most part given by Fabius and Diocles of
Peparethus, who seem to be the earliest historians of the foundation of
Rome, is suspected by some, because of its dramatic and fictitious
appearance; but it would not wholly be disbelieved, if men would
remember what a poet fortune sometimes shows herself, and consider that
the Roman power would hardly have reached so high a pitch without a
divinely ordered origin, attended with great and extraordinary
circumstances.
Amulius now being dead and matters quietly disposed, the two brothers
would neither dwell in Alba without governing there, nor take the
government into their own hands during the life of their grandfather.
Having therefore delivered the dominion up into his hands, and paid
their mother befitting honor, they resolved to live by themselves, and
build a city in the same place where they were in their infancy brought
up. This seems the most honorable reason for their departure; though
perhaps it was necessary, having such a body of slaves and fugitives
collected about them, either to come to nothing by dispersing them, or
if not so, then to live with them elsewhere. For that the inhabitants
of Alba did not think fugitives worthy of being received and
incorporated as citizens among them plainly appears from the matter of
the women, an attempt made not wantonly but of necessity, because they
could not get wives by good-will. For they certainly paid unusual
respect and honor to those whom they thus forcibly seized.
Not long after the first foundation of the city, they opened a
sanctuary of refuge for all fugitives, which they called the temple of
the god Asylaeus, where they received and protected all, delivering
none back, neither the servant to his master, the debtor to his
creditor, nor the murderer into the hands of the magistrate, saying it
was a privileged place, and they could so maintain it by an order of
the holy oracle; insomuch that the city grew presently very populous,
for, they say, it consisted at first of no more than a thousand houses.
But of that hereafter.
Their minds being fully bent upon building, there arose presently a
difference about the place where. Romulus chose what was called Roma
Quadrata, or the Square Rome, and would have the city there. Remus laid
out a piece of ground on the Aventine Mount, well fortified by nature,
which was from him called Remonium, but now Rignarium. Concluding at
last to decide the contest by a divination from a flight of birds, and
placing themselves apart at some distance, Remus, they say, saw six
vultures, and Romulus double the number; others say Remus did truly see
his number, and that Romulus feigned his, but, when Remus came to him,
that then he did, indeed, see twelve. Hence it is that the Romans, in
their divinations from birds, chiefly regard the vulture, though
Herodorus Ponticus relates that Hercules was always very joyful when a
vulture appeared to him upon any action. For it is a creature the least
hurtful of any, pernicious neither to corn, fruit-tree, nor cattle; it
preys only upon carrion, and never kills or hurts any living thing; and
as for birds, it touches not them, though they are dead, as being of
its own species, whereas eagles, owls, and hawks mangle and kill their
own fellow-creatures; yet, as Aeschylus says,--
What bird is clean that preys on fellow bird ?
Besides all other birds are, so to say, never out of our eyes; they let
themselves be seen of us continually; but a vulture is a very rare
sight, and you can seldom meet with a man that has seen their young;
their rarity and infrequency has raised a strange opinion in some, that
they come to us from some other world; as soothsayers ascribe a divine
origination to all things not produced either of nature or of
themselves.
When Remus knew the cheat, he was much displeased; and as Romulus was
casting up a ditch, where he designed the foundation of the citywall,
he turned some pieces of the work to ridicule, and obstructed others:
at last, as he was in contempt leaping over it, some say Romulus
himself struck him, others Celer, one of his companions; he fell,
however, and in the scuffle Faustulus also was slain, and Plistinus,
who, being Faustulus's brother, story tells us, helped to bring up
Romulus. Celer upon this fled instantly into Tuscany, and from him the
Romans call all men that are swift of foot Celeres; and because Quintus
Metellus, at his father's funeral, in a few days' time gave the people
a show of gladiators, admiring his expedition in getting it ready, they
gave him the name of Celer.
Romulus, having buried his brother Remus, together with his two foster-
fathers, on the mount Remonia, set to building his city; and sent for
men out of Tuscany, who directed him by sacred usages and written rules
in all the ceremonies to be observed, as in a religious rite. First,
they dug a round trench about that which is now the Comitium, or Court
of Assembly, and into it solemnly threw the first-fruits of all things
either good by custom or necessary by nature; lastly, every man taking
a small piece of earth of the country from whence he came, they all
threw them in promiscuously together. This trench they call, as they do
the heavens, Mundus; making which their center, they described the city
in a circle round it. Then the founder fitted to a plow a brazen
plowshare, and, yoking together a bull and a cow, drove himself a deep
line or furrow round the bounds; while the business of those that
followed after was to see that whatever earth was thrown up should be
turned all inwards towards the city, and not to let any clod lie
outside. With this line they described the wall, and called it, by a
contraction, Pomoerium, that is, post murum, after or beside the wall;
and where they designed to make a gate, there they took out the share,
carried the plow over, and left a space; for which reason they consider
the whole wall as holy, except where the gates are; for had they
adjudged them also sacred, they could not, without offense to religion,
have given free ingress and egress for the necessaries of human life,
some of which are in themselves unclean.
As for the day they began to build the city, it is universally agreed
to have been the twenty-first of April, and that day the Romans
annually keep holy, calling it their country's birthday. At first, they
say, they sacrificed no living creature on this day, thinking it fit to
preserve the feast of their country's birthday pure and without stain
of blood. Yet before ever the city was built, there was a feast of
herdsmen and shepherds kept on this day, which went by the name of
Palilia. The Roman and Greek months have now little or no agreement;
they say, however, the day on which Romulus began to build was quite
certainly the thirtieth of the month, at which time there was an
eclipse of the sun which they conceive to be that seen by Antimachus,
the Teian poet, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad. In the times
of Varro the philosopher, a man deeply read in Roman history, lived one
Tarrutius, his familiar acquaintance, a good philosopher and
mathematician, and one, too, that out of curiosity had studied the way
of drawing schemes and tables, and was thought to be a proficient in
the art; to him Varro propounded to cast Romulus's nativity, even to
the first day and hour, making his deductions from the several events
of the man's life which he should be informed of, exactly as in working
back a geometrical problem; for it belonged, he said, to the same
science both to foretell a man's life by knowing the time of his birth,
and also to find out his birth by the knowledge of his life. This task
Tarrutius undertook, and first looking into the actions and casualties
of the man, together with the time of his life and manner of his death,
and then comparing all these remarks together, he very confidently and
positively pronounced that Romulus was conceived in his mother's womb
the first year of the second Olympiad, the twenty-third day of the
month the Egyptians call Choeac, and the third hour after sunset, at
which time there was a total eclipse of the sun; that he was born the
twenty-first day of the month Thoth, about sun-rising; and that the
first stone of Rome was laid by him the ninth day of the month
Pharmuthi, between the second and third hour. For the fortunes of
cities as well as of men, they think, have their certain periods of
time prefixed, which may be collected and foreknown from the position
of the stars at their first foundation. But these and the like
relations may perhaps not so much take and delight the reader with
their novelty and curiosity, as offend him by their extravagance.
The city now being built, Romulus enlisted all that were of age to bear
arms into military companies, each company consisting of three thousand
footmen and three hundred horse. These companies were called legions,
because they were the choicest and most select of the people for
fighting men. The rest of the multitude he called the people; one
hundred of the most eminent he chose for counselors; these he styled
patricians, and their assembly the senate, which signifies a council of
elders. The patricians, some say, were so called because they were the
fathers of lawful children; others, because they could give a good
account who their own fathers were, which not every one of the rabble
that poured into the city at first could do; others, from patronage,
their word for protection of inferiors, the origin of which they
attribute to Patron, one of those that came over with Evander, who was
a great protector and defender of the weak and needy. But perhaps the
most probable judgment might be, that Romulus, esteeming it the duty of
the chiefest and wealthiest men, with a fatherly care and concern to
look after the meaner, and also encouraging the commonalty not to dread
or be aggrieved at the honors of their superiors, but to love and
respect them, and to think and call them their fathers, might from
hence give them the name of patricians. For at this very time all
foreigners give senators the style of lords; but the Romans, making use
of a more honorable and less invidious name, call them Patres
Conscripti; at first indeed simply Patres, but afterwards, more being
added, Patres Conscripti. By this more imposing title he distinguished
the senate from the populace; and in other ways also separated the
nobles and the commons,--calling them patrons, and these their
clients,--by which means he created wonderful love and amity between
them, productive of great justice in their dealings. For they were
always their clients' counselors in law cases, their advocates in
courts of justice, in fine their advisers and supporters in all affairs
whatever. These again faithfully served their patrons, not only paying
them all respect and deference, but also, in case of poverty, helping
them to portion their daughters and pay off their debts; and for a
patron to witness against his client, or a client against his patron,
was what no law nor magistrate could enforce. In after times all other
duties subsisting still between them, it was thought mean and
dishonorable for the better sort to take money from their inferiors.
And so much of these matters.
In the fourth month, after the city was built, as Fabius writes, the
adventure of stealing the women was attempted; and some say Romulus
himself, being naturally a martial man, and predisposed too, perhaps,
by certain oracles, to believe the fates had ordained the future growth
and greatness of Rome should depend upon the benefit of war, upon these
accounts first offered violence to the Sabines, since he took away only
thirty virgins, more to give an occasion of war than out of any want of
women. But this is not very probable; it would seem rather that,
observing his city to be filled by a confluence of foreigners, few of
whom had wives, and that the multitude in general, consisting of a
mixture of mean and obscure men, fell under contempt, and seemed to be
of no long continuance together, and hoping farther, after the women
were appeased, to make this injury in some measure an occasion of
confederacy and mutual commerce with the Sabines, he took in hand this
exploit after this manner. First, he gave it out as if he had found an
altar of a certain god hid under ground; the god they called Consus,
either the god of counsel (for they still call a consultation consilium
and their chief magistrates consules, namely, counselors), or else the
equestrian Neptune, for the altar is kept covered in the circus maximus
at all other times, and only at horse-races is exposed to public view;
others merely say that this god had his altar hid under ground because
counsel ought to be secret and concealed. Upon discovery of this altar,
Romulus, by proclamation, appointed a day for a splendid sacrifice, and
for public games and shows, to entertain all sorts of people; many
flocked thither, and he himself sat in front, amidst his nobles, clad
in purple. Now the signal for their falling on was to be whenever he
rose and gathered up his robe and threw it over his body; his men stood
all ready armed, with their eyes intent upon him, and when the sign was
given, drawing their swords and falling on with a great shout, they
ravished away the daughters of the Sabines, they themselves flying
without any let or hindrance. They say there were but thirty taken, and
from them the Curiae or Fraternities were named; but Valerius Antias
says five hundred and twenty-seven, Juba, six hundred and eighty-three
virgins; which was indeed the greatest excuse Romulus could allege,
namely, that they had taken no married woman, save one only, Hersilia
by name, and her too unknowingly; which showed they did not commit this
rape wantonly, but with a design purely of forming alliance with their
neighbors by the greatest and surest bonds. This Hersilia some say
Hostilius married, a most eminent man among the Romans; others, Romulus
himself, and that she bore two children to him, a daughter, by reason
of primogeniture called Prima, and one only son, whom, from the great
concourse of citizens to him at that time, he called Aollius, but after
ages Abillius. But Zenodotus the Troezenian, in giving this account, is
contradicted by many.
Among those who committed this rape upon the virgins, there were, they
say, as it so then happened, some of the meaner sort of men, who were
carrying off a damsel, excelling all in beauty and comeliness of
stature, whom when some of superior rank that met them attempted to
take away, they cried out they were carrying her to Talasius, a young
man, indeed, but brave and worthy; hearing that, they commended and
applauded them loudly, and also some, turning back, accompanied them
with good- will and pleasure, shouting out the name of Talasius. Hence
the Romans to this very time, at their weddings, sing Talasius for
their nuptial word, as the Greeks do Hymenaeus, because, they say,
Talasius was very happy in his marriage. But Sextius Sylla the
Carthaginian, a man wanting neither learning nor ingenuity, told me
Romulus gave this word as a sign when to begin the onset; everybody,
therefore, who made prize of a maiden, cried out, Talasius; and for
that reason the custom continues so now at marriages. But most are of
opinion (of whom Juba particularly is one) that this word was used to
new-married women by way of incitement to good housewifery and talasia
(spinning), as we say in Greek, Greek words at that time not being as
yet overpowered by Italian. But if this be the case, and if the Romans
did at that time use the word talasia as we do, a man might fancy a
more probable reason of the custom. For when the Sabines, after the war
against the Romans, were reconciled, conditions were made concerning
their women, that they should be obliged to do no other servile offices
to their husbands but what concerned spinning; it was customary,
therefore, ever after, at weddings, for those that gave the bride or
escorted her or otherwise were present, sportingly to say Talasius,
intimating that she was henceforth to serve in spinning and no more. It
continues also a custom at this very day for the bride not of herself
to pass her husband's threshold, but to be lifted over, in memory that
the Sabine virgins were carried in by violence, and did not go in of
their own will. Some say, too, the custom of parting the bride's hair
with the head of a spear was in token their marriages began at first by
war and acts of hostility, of which I have spoken more fully in my book
of Questions.
This rape was committed on the eighteenth day of the month Sextilis,
now called August, on which the solemnities of the Consualia are kept.
The Sabines were a numerous and martial people, but lived in small,
unfortified villages, as it befitted, they thought, a colony of the
Lacedaemonians to be bold and fearless; nevertheless, seeing themselves
bound by such hostages to their good behavior, and being solicitous for
their daughters, they sent ambassadors to Romulus with fair and
equitable requests, that he would return their young women and recall
that act of violence, and afterwards, by persuasion and lawful means,
seek friendly correspondence between both nations. Romulus would not
part with the young women, yet proposed to the Sabines to enter into an
alliance with them; upon which point some consulted and demurred long,
but Acron, king of the Ceninenses, a man of high spirit and a good
warrior, who had all along a jealousy of Romulus's bold attempts, and
considering particularly from this exploit upon the women that he was
growing formidable to all people, and indeed insufferable, were he not
chastised, first rose up in arms, and with a powerful army advanced
against him. Romulus likewise prepared to receive him; but when they
came within sight and viewed each other, they made a challenge to fight
a single duel, the armies standing by under arms, without
participation. And Romulus, making a vow to Jupiter, if he should
conquer, to carry, himself, and dedicate his adversary's armor to his
honor, overcame him in combat, and, a battle ensuing, routed his army
also, and then took his city; but did those he found in it no injury,
only commanded them to demolish the place and attend him to Rome, there
to be admitted to all the privileges of citizens. And indeed there was
nothing did more advance the greatness of Rome, than that she did
always unite and incorporate those whom she conquered into herself.
Romulus, that he might perform his vow in the most acceptable manner to
Jupiter, and withal make the pomp of it delightful to the eye of the
city, cut down a tall oak which he saw growing in the camp, which he
trimmed to the shape of a trophy, and fastened on it Acron's whole suit
of armor disposed in proper form; then he himself, girding his clothes
about him, and crowning his head with a laurel-garland, his hair
gracefully flowing, carried the trophy resting erect upon his right
shoulder, and so marched on, singing songs of triumph, and his whole
army following after, the citizens all receiving him with acclamations
of joy and wonder. The procession of this day was the origin and model
of all after triumphs. This trophy was styled an offering to Jupiter
Feretrius, from ferire, which in Latin is to smite; for Romulus prayed
he might smite and overthrow his enemy; and the spoils were called
opima, or royal spoils, says Varro, from their richness, which the word
opes signifies; though one would more probably conjecture from opus, an
act; for it is only to the general of an army who with his own hand
kills his enemies' general that this honor is granted of offering the
opima spolia. And three only of the Roman captains have had it
conferred on them: first, Romulus, upon killing Acron the Ceninensian;
next, Cornelius Cossus, for slaying Tolumnius the Tuscan; and lastly,
Claudius Marcellus, upon his conquering Viridomarus, king of the Gauls.
The two latter, Cossus and Marcellus, made their entries in triumphant
chariots, bearing their trophies themselves; but that Romulus made use
of a chariot, Dionysius is wrong in asserting. History says,
Tarquinius, Damaratus's son, was the first that brought triumphs to
this great pomp and grandeur; others, that Publicola was the first that
rode in triumph. The statues of Romulus in triumph are, as may be seen
in Rome, all on foot.
After the overthrow of the Ceninensians, the other Sabines still
protracting the time in preparations, the people of Fidenae,
Crustumerium, and Antemna, joined their forces against the Romans; they
in like manner were defeated in battle, and surrendered up to Romulus
their cities to be seized, their lands and territories to be divided,
and themselves to be transplanted to Rome. All the lands which Romulus
acquired, he distributed among the citizens, except only what the
parents of the stolen virgins had; these he suffered to possess their
own. The rest of the Sabines, enraged hereat, choosing Tatius their
captain, marched straight against Rome. The city was almost
inaccessible, having for its fortress that which is now the Capitol,
where a strong guard was placed, and Tarpeius their captain; not
Tarpeia the virgin, as some say who would make Romulus a fool. But
Tarpeia, daughter to the captain, coveting the golden bracelets she saw
them wear, betrayed the fort into the Sabines' hands, and asked, in
reward of her treachery, the things they wore on their left arms.
Tatius conditioning thus with her, in the night she opened one of the
gates, and received the Sabines in. And truly Antigonus, it would seem,
was not solitary in saying, he loved betrayers, but hated those who had
betrayed; nor Caesar, who told Rhymitalces the Thracian, that he loved
the treason, but hated the traitor; but it is the general feeling of
all who have occasion for wicked men's service, as people have for the
poison of venomous beasts; they are glad of them while they are of use,
and abhor their baseness when it is over. And so then did Tatius behave
towards Tarpeia, for he commanded the Sabines, in regard to their
contract, not to refuse her the least part of what they wore on their
left arms; and he himself first took his bracelet of his arm, and threw
that, together with his buckler, at her; and all the rest following,
she, being borne down and quite buried with the multitude of gold and
their shields, died under the weight and pressure of them; Tarpeius
also himself, being prosecuted by Romulus, was found guilty of treason,
as Juba says Sulpicius Galba relates. Those who write otherwise
concerning Tarpeia, as that she was the daughter of Tatius, the Sabine
captain, and, being forcibly detained by Romulus, acted and suffered
thus by her father's contrivance, speak very absurdly, of whom
Antigonus is one. And Simylus, the poet, who thinks Tarpeia betrayed
the Capitol, not to the Sabines, but the Gauls, having fallen in love
with their king, talks mere folly, saying thus:--
Tarpeia 'twas, who, dwelling close thereby,
Laid open Rome unto the enemy.
She, for the love of the besieging Gaul,
Betrayed the city's strength, the Capitol.
And a little after, speaking of her death:--
The numerous nations of the Celtic foe
Bore her not living to the banks of Po;
Their heavy shields upon the maid they threw,
And with their splendid gifts entombed at once and slew.
Tarpeia afterwards was buried there, and the hill from her was called
Tarpeius, until the reign of king Tarquin, who dedicated the place to
Jupiter, at which time her bones were removed, and so it lost her name,
except only that part of the Capitol which they still call the Tarpeian
Rock, from which they used to cast down malefactors.
The Sabines being possessed of the hill, Romulus, in great fury, bade
them battle, and Tatius was confident to accept it, perceiving, if they
were overpowered, that they had behind them a secure retreat. The level
in the middle, where they were to join battle, being surrounded with
many little hills, seemed to enforce both parties to a sharp and
desperate conflict, by reason of the difficulties of the place, which
had but a few outlets, inconvenient either for refuge or pursuit. It
happened, too, the river having overflowed not many days before, there
was left behind in the plain, where now the forum stands, a deep blind
mud and slime, which, though it did not appear much to the eye, and was
not easily avoided, at bottom was deceitful and dangerous; upon which
the Sabines being unwarily about to enter, met with a piece of good
fortune; for Curtius, a gallant man, eager of honor, and of aspiring
thoughts, being mounted on horseback, was galloping on before the rest,
and mired his horse here, and, endeavoring for awhile by whip and spur
and voice to disentangle him, but finding it impossible, quitted him
and saved himself; the place from him to this very time is called the
Curtian Lake. The Sabines, having avoided this danger, began the fight
very smartly, the fortune of the day being very dubious, though many
were slain; amongst whom was Hostilius, who, they say, was husband to
Hersilia, and grandfather to that Hostilius who reigned after Numa.
There were many other brief conflicts, we may suppose, but the most
memorable was the last, in which Romulus having received a wound on his
head by a stone, and being almost felled to the ground by it, and
disabled, the Romans gave way, and, being driven out of the level
ground, fled towards the Palatium. Romulus, by this time recovering
from his wound a little, turned about to renew the battle, and, facing
the fliers, with a loud voice encouraged them to stand and fight. But
being overborne with numbers, and nobody daring to face about,
stretching out his hands to heaven, he prayed to Jupiter to stop the
army, and not to neglect but maintain the Roman cause, now in extreme
danger. The prayer was no sooner made, than shame and respect for their
king checked many; the fears of the fugitives changed suddenly into
confidence. The place they first stood at was where now is the temple
of Jupiter Stator (which may be translated the Stayer); there they
rallied again into ranks, and repulsed the Sabines to the place called
now Regia, and to the temple of Vesta; where both parties, preparing to
begin a second battle, were prevented by a spectacle, strange to
behold, and defying description. For the daughters of the Sabines, who
had been carried off, came running, in great confusion, some on this
side, some on that, with miserable cries and lamentations, like
creatures possessed, in the midst of the army, and among the dead
bodies, to come at their husbands and their fathers, some with their
young babes in their arms, others their hair loose about their ears,
but all calling, now upon the Sabines, now upon the Romans, in the most
tender and endearing words. Hereupon both melted into compassion, and
fell back, to make room for them between the armies. The sight of the
women carried sorrow and commiseration upon both sides into the hearts
of all, but still more their words, which began with expostulation and
upbraiding, and ended with entreaty and supplication.
"Wherein," say they, "have we injured or offended you, as to deserve
such sufferings, past and present? We were ravished away unjustly and
violently by those whose now we are; that being done, we were so long
neglected by our fathers, our brothers, and countrymen, that time,
having now by the strictest bonds united us to those we once mortally
hated, has made it impossible for us not to tremble at the danger and
weep at the death of the very men who once used violence to us. You did
not come to vindicate our honor, while we were virgins, against our
assailants; but do come now to force away wives from their husbands and
mothers from their children, a succor more grievous to its wretched
objects than the former betrayal and neglect of them. Which shall we
call the worst, their love-making or your compassion? If you were
making war upon any other occasion, for our sakes you ought to withhold
your hands from those to whom we have made you fathers-in-law and
grandsires. If it be for our own cause, then take us, and with us your
sons-in-law and grandchildren. Restore to us our parents and kindred,
but do not rob us of our children and husbands. Make us not, we entreat
you, twice captives." Hersilia having spoken many such words as these,
and the others earnestly praying, a truce was made, and the chief
officers came to a parley; the women, in the mean time, brought and
presented their husbands and children to their fathers and brothers;
gave those that wanted, meat and drink, and carried the wounded home to
be cured, and showed also how much they governed within doors, and how
indulgent their husbands were to them, in demeaning themselves towards
them with all kindness and respect imaginable. Upon this, conditions
were agreed upon, that what women pleased might stay where they were,
exempt, as aforesaid, from all drudgery and labor but spinning; that
the Romans and Sabines should inhabit the city together; that the city
should be called Rome, from Romulus; but the Romans, Quirites, from the
country of Tatius; and that they both should govern and command in
common. The place of the ratification is still called Comitium, from
coire, to meet.
The city being thus doubled in number, one hundred of the Sabines were
elected senators, and the legions were increased to six thousand foot
and six hundred horse; then they divided the people into three tribes;
the first, from Romulus, named Ramnenses; the second, from Tatius,
Tatienses; the third, Luceres, from the lucus, or grove, where the
Asylum stood, whither many fled for sanctuary, and were received into
the city. And that they were just three, the very name of tribe and
tribune seems to show; each tribe contained ten curiae, or
brotherhoods, which, some say, took their names from the Sabine women;
but that seems to be false, because many had their names from various
places. Though it is true, they then constituted many things in honor
to the women; as to give them the way wherever they met them; to speak
no ill word in their presence; not to appear naked before them, or else
be liable to prosecution before the judges of homicide; that their
children should wear an ornament about their necks called the bulla
(because it was like a bubble), and the praetexta, a gown edged with
purple.
The princes did not immediately join in council together, but at first
each met with his own hundred; afterwards all assembled together.
Tatius dwelt where now the temple of Moneta stands, and Romulus, close
by the steps, as they call them, of the Fair Shore, near the descent
from the Mount Palatine to the Circus Maximus. There, they say, grew
the holy cornel tree, of which they report, that Romulus once, to try
his strength, threw a dart from the Aventine Mount, the staff of which
was made of cornel, which struck so deep into the ground, that no one
of many that tried could pluck it up; and the soil, being fertile, gave
nourishment to the wood, which sent forth branches, and produced a
cornel-stock of considerable bigness. This did posterity preserve and
worship as one of the most sacred things; and, therefore, walled it
about; and if to any one it appeared not green nor flourishing, but
inclining to pine and wither, he immediately made outcry to all he met,
and they, like people hearing of a house on fire, with one accord would
cry for water, and run from all parts with buckets full to the place.
But when Caius Caesar, they say, was repairing the steps about it, some
of the laborers digging too close, the roots were destroyed, and the
tree withered.
The Sabines adopted the Roman months, of which whatever is remarkable
is mentioned in the Life of Numa. Romulus, on the other hand, adopted
their long shields, and changed his own armor and that of all the
Romans, who before wore round targets of the Argive pattern. Feasts and
sacrifices they partook of in common, not abolishing any which either
nation observed before, and instituting several new ones; of which one
was the Matronalia, instituted in honor of the women. for their
extinction of the war; likewise the Carmentalia. This Carmenta some
think a deity presiding over human birth; for which reason she is much
honored by mothers. Others say she was the wife of Evander, the
Arcadian, being a prophetess, and wont to deliver her oracles in verse,
and from carmen, a verse, was called Carmenta; her proper name being
Nicostrata. Others more probably derive Carmenta from carens mente, or
insane, in allusion to her prophetic frenzies. Of the Feast of Palilia
we have spoken before. The Lupercalia, by the time of its celebration,
may seem to be a feast of purification, for it is solemnized on the
dies nefasti, or non-court days, of the month February, which name
signifies purification, and the very day of the feast was anciently
called Februata; but its name is equivalent to the Greek Lycaea; and it
seems thus to be of great antiquity, and brought in by the Arcadians
who came with Evander. Yet this is but dubious, for it may come as well
from the wolf that nursed Romulus; and we see the Luperci, the priests,
begin their course from the place where they say Romulus was exposed.
But the ceremonies performed in it render the origin of the thing more
difficult to be guessed at; for there are goats killed, then, two young
noblemen's sons being brought, some are to stain their foreheads with
the bloody knife, others presently to wipe it off with wool dipped in
milk; then the young boys must laugh after their foreheads are wiped;
that done, having cut the goats' skins into thongs, they run about
naked, only with something about their middle, lashing all they meet;
and the young wives do not avoid their strokes, fancying they will help
conception and child-birth. Another thing peculiar to this feast is for
the Luperci to sacrifice a dog. But as, a certain poet who wrote
fabulous explanations of Roman customs in elegiac verses, says, that
Romulus and Remus, after the conquest of Amulius, ran joyfully to the
place where the wolf gave them suck; and that in imitation of that,
this feast was held, and two young noblemen ran--
Striking at all, as when from Alba town,
With sword in hand, the twins came hurrying down;
and that the bloody knife applied to their foreheads was a sign of the
danger and bloodshed of that day; the cleansing of them in milk, a
remembrance of their food and nourishment. Caius Acilius writes, that,
before the city was built, the cattle of Romulus and Remus one day
going astray, they, praying to the god Faunus, ran out to seek them
naked, wishing not to be troubled with sweat, and that this is why the
Luperci run naked. If the sacrifice be by way of purification, a dog
might very well be sacrificed; for the Greeks, in their lustrations,
carry out young dogs, and frequently use this ceremony of
periscylacismus as they call it. Or if again it is a sacrifice of
gratitude to the wolf that nourished and preserved Romulus, there is
good reason in killing a dog, as being an enemy to wolves. Unless
indeed, after all, the creature is punished for hindering the Luperci
in their running.
They say, too, Romulus was the first that consecrated holy fire, and
instituted holy virgins to keep it, called vestals; others ascribe it
to Numa Pompilius; agreeing, however, that Romulus was otherwise
eminently religious, and skilled in divination, and for that reason
carried the lituus, a crooked rod with which soothsayers describe the
quarters of the heavens, when they sit to observe the flights of birds.
This of his, being kept in the Palatium, was lost when the city was
taken by the Gauls; and afterwards, that barbarous people being driven
out, was found in the ruins, under a great heap of ashes, untouched by
the fire, all things about it being consumed and burnt. He instituted
also certain laws, one of which is somewhat severe, which suffers not a
wife to leave her husband, but grants a husband power to turn off his
wife, either upon poisoning her children; or counterfeiting his keys,
or for adultery; but if the husband upon any other occasion put her
away, he ordered one moiety of his estate to be given to the wife, the
other to fall to the goddess Ceres; and whoever cast off his wife, to
make an atonement by sacrifice to the gods of the dead. This, too, is
observable as a singular thing in Romulus, that he appointed no
punishment for real parricide, but called all murder so, thinking the
one an accursed thing, but the other a thing impossible; and, for a
long time, his judgment seemed to have been right; for in almost six
hundred years together, nobody committed the like in Rome; and Lucius
Hostius, after the wars of Hanibal, is recorded to have been the first
parricide. Let thus much suffice concerning these matters.
In the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some of his friends and
kinsmen, meeting ambassadors coming from Laurentum to Rome, attempted
on the road to take away their money by force, and, upon their
resistance, killed them. So great a villainy having been committed,
Romulus thought the malefactors ought at once to be punished, but
Tatius shuffled off and deferred the execution of it; and this one
thing was the beginning of open quarrel between them; in all other
respects they were very careful of their conduct, and administered
affairs together with great unanimity. The relations of the slain,
being debarred of lawful satisfaction by reason of Tatius, fell upon
him as he was sacrificing with Romulus at Lavinium, and slew him; but
escorted Romulus home, commending and extolling him for a just prince.
Romulus took the body of Tatius, and buried it very splendidly in the
Aventine Mount, near the place called Armilustrium, but altogether
neglected revenging his murder. Some authors write, the city of
Laurentum, fearing the consequence, delivered up the murderers of
Tatius; but Romulus dismissed them, saying, one murder was requited
with another. This gave occasion of talk and jealousy, as if he were
well pleased at the removal of his copartner in the government. Nothing
of these things, however, raised any sort of feud or disturbance among
the Sabines; but some out of love to him, others out of fear of his
power, some again reverencing him as a god, they all continued living
peacefully in admiration and awe of him; many foreign nations, too,
showed respect to Romulus; the Ancient Latins sent, and entered into
league and confederacy with him. Fidenae he took, a neighboring city to
Rome, by a party of horse, as some say, whom he sent before with
commands to cut down the hinges of the gates, himself afterwards
unexpectedly coming up. Others say, they having first made the
invasion, plundering and ravaging the country and suburbs, Romulus lay
in ambush for them, and, having killed many of their men, took the
city; but, nevertheless, did not raze or demolish it, but made it a
Roman colony, and sent thither, on the Ides of April, two thousand five
hundred inhabitants.
Soon after a plague broke out, causing sudden death without any
previous sickness; it infected also the corn with unfruitfulness, and
cattle with barrenness; there rained blood, too, in the city; so that,
to their actual sufferings, fear of the wrath of the gods was added.
But when the same mischiefs fell upon Laurentum, then everybody judged
it was divine vengeance that fell upon both cities, for the neglect of
executing justice upon the murder of Tatius and the ambassadors. But
the murderers on both sides being delivered up and punished, the
pestilence visibly abated; and Romulus purified the cities with
lustrations, which, they say, even now are performed at the wood called
Ferentina. But before the plague ceased, the Camertines invaded the
Romans and overran the country, thinking them, by reason of the
distemper, unable to resist; but Romulus at once made head against
them, and gained the victory, with the slaughter of six thousand men;
then took their city, and brought half of those he found there to Rome;
sending from Rome to Camerium double the number he left there. This was
done the first of August. So many citizens had he to spare, in sixteen
years' time from his first founding Rome. Among other spoils, he took a
brazen four-horse chariot from Camerium, which he placed in the temple
of Vulcan, setting on it his own statue, with a figure of Victory
crowning him.
The Roman cause thus daily gathering strength, their weaker neighbors
shrunk away, and were thankful to be left untouched; but the stronger,
out of fear or envy, thought they ought not to give way to Romulus, but
to curb and put a stop to his growing greatness. The first were the
Veientes, a people of Tuscany, who had large possessions, and dwelt in
a spacious city; they took occasion to commence a war, by claiming
Fidenae as belonging to them; a thing not only very unreasonable, but
very ridiculous, that they, who did not assist them in the greatest
extremities, but permitted them to be slain, should challenge their
lands and houses when in the hands of others. But being scornfully
retorted upon by Romulus in his answers, they divided themselves into
two bodies; with one they attacked the garrison of Fidenae, the other
marched against Romulus; that which went against Fidenae got the
victory, and slew two thousand Romans; the other was worsted by
Romulus, with the loss of eight thousand men. A fresh battle was fought
near Fidenae, and here all men acknowledge the day's success to have
been chiefly the work of Romulus himself, who showed the highest skill
as well as courage, and seemed to manifest a strength and swiftness
more than human. But what some write, that, of fourteen thousand that
fell that day, above half were slain by Romulus's own hand, verges too
near to fable, and is, indeed, simply incredible; since even the
Messenians are thought to go too far in saying that Aristomenes three
times offered sacrifice for the death of a hundred enemies,
Lacedaemonians, slain by himself. The army being thus routed, Romulus,
suffering those that were left to make their escape, led his forces
against the city; they, having suffered such great losses, did not
venture to oppose, but, humbly suing to him, made a league and
friendship for an hundred years; surrendering also a large district of
land called Septempagium, that is, the seven parts, as also their
salt-works upon the river, and fifty noblemen for hostages. He made his
triumph for this on the Ides of October, leading, among the rest of his
many captives, the general of the Veientes, an elderly man, but who had
not, it seemed, acted with the prudence of age; whence even now, in
sacrifices for victories, they lead an old man through the market place
to the Capitol, appareled in purple, with a bulla, or child's toy, tied
to it, and the crier cries, Sardians to be sold; for the Tuscans are
said to be a colony of the Sardians, and the Veientes are a city of
Tuscany.
This was the last battle Romulus ever fought; afterwards he, as most,
nay all men, very few excepted, do, who are raised by great and
miraculous good-haps of fortune to power and greatness, so, I say, did
he; relying upon his own great actions, and growing of an haughtier
mind, he forsook his popular behavior for kingly arrogance, odious to
the people; to whom in particular the state which he assumed was
hateful. For he dressed in scarlet, with the purple-bordered robe over
it; he gave audience on a couch of state, having always about him some
young men called Celeres, from their swiftness in doing commissions;
there went before him others with staves, to make room, with leather
thongs tied on their bodies, to bind on the moment whomever he
commanded. The Latins formerly used ligare in the same sense as now
alligare, to bind, whence the name lictors, for these officers, and
bacula, or staves, for their rods, because staves were then used. It is
probable, however, they were first called litores, afterwards, by
putting in a c, lictores, or, in Greek, liturgi, or people's officers,
for leitos is still Greek for the commons, and laos for the people in
general.
But when, after the death of his grandfather Numitor in Alba, the
throne devolving upon Romulus, he, to court the people, put the
government into their own hands, and appointed an annual magistrate
over the Albans, this taught the great men of Rome to seek after a free
and anti- monarchical state, wherein all might in turn be subjects and
rulers. For neither were the patricians any longer admitted to state
affairs, only had the name and title left them, convening in council
rather for fashion's sake than advice, where they heard in silence the
king's commands, and so departed, exceeding the commonalty only in
hearing first what was done. These and the like were matters of small
moment; but when he of his own accord parted among his soldiers what
lands were acquired by war, and restored the Veientes their hostages,
the senate neither consenting nor approving of it, then, indeed, he
seemed to put a great affront upon them; so that, on his sudden and
strange disappearance a short while after, the senate fell under
suspicion and calumny. He disappeared on the Nones of July, as they now
call the month which was then Quintilis, leaving nothing of certainty
to be related of his death; only the time, as just mentioned, for on
that day many ceremonies are still performed in representation of what
happened. Neither is this uncertainty to be thought strange, seeing the
manner of the death of Scipio Africanus, who died at his own home after
supper, has been found capable neither of proof or disproof; for some
say he died a natural death, being of a sickly habit; others, that he
poisoned himself; others again, that his enemies, breaking in upon him
in the night, stifled him. Yet Scipio's dead body lay open to be seen
of all, and any one, from his own observation, might form his
suspicions and conjectures; whereas Romulus, when he vanished, left
neither the least part of his body, nor any remnant of his clothes to
be seen. So that some fancied, the senators, having fallen upon him ill
the temple of Vulcan, cut his body into pieces, and took each a part
away in his bosom; others think his disappearance was neither in the
temple of Vulcan, nor with the senators only by, but that, it came to
pass that, as he was haranguing the people without the city, near a
place called the Goat's Marsh, on a sudden strange and unaccountable
disorders and alterations took place in the air; the face of the sun
was darkened, and the day turned into night, and that, too, no quiet,
peaceable night, but with terrible thunderings, and boisterous winds
from all quarters; during which the common people dispersed and fled,
but the senators kept close together. The tempest being over and the
light breaking out, when the people gathered again, they missed and
inquired for their king; the senators suffered them not to search, or
busy themselves about the matter, but commanded them to honor and
worship Romulus as one taken up to the gods, and about to be to them,
in the place of a good prince, now a propitious god. The multitude,
hearing this, went away believing and rejoicing in hopes of good things
from him; but there were some, who, canvassing the matter in a hostile
temper, accused and aspersed the patricians, as men that persuaded the
people to believe ridiculous tales, when they themselves were the
murderers of the king.
Things being in this disorder, one, they say, of the patricians, of
noble family and approved good character, and a faithful and familiar
friend of Romulus himself, having come with him from Alba, Julius
Proculus by name, presented himself in the forum; and, taking a most
sacred oath, protested before them all, that, as he was traveling on
the road, he had seen Romulus coming to meet him, looking taller and
comelier than ever, dressed in shining and faming armor; and he, being
affrighted at the apparition, said, "Why, O king, or for what purpose
have you abandoned us to unjust and wicked surmises, and the whole city
to bereavement and endless sorrow?" and that he made answer, "It
pleased the gods, O Proculus, that we, who came from them, should
remain so long a time amongst men as we did; and, having built a city
to be the greatest in the world for empire and glory, should again
return to heaven. But farewell; and tell the Romans, that, by the
exercise of temperance and fortitude, they shall attain the height of
human power; we will be to you the propitious god Quirinus." This
seemed credible to the Romans, upon the honesty and oath of the
relater, and indeed, too, there mingled with it a certain divine
passion, some preternatural influence similar to possession by a
divinity; nobody contradicted it, but, laying aside all jealousies and
detractions, they prayed to Quirinus and saluted him as a god.
This is like some of the Greek fables of Aristeas the Proconnesian, and
Cleomedes the Astypalaean; for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's
work-shop, and his friends, coming to look for him, found his body
vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they
met him traveling towards Croton. And that Cleomedes, being an
extraordinarily strong and gigantic man, but also wild and mad,
committed many desperate freaks; and at last, in a school-house,
striking a pillar that sustained the roof with his fist, broke it in
the middle, so that the house fell and destroyed the children in it;
and being pursued, he fled into a great chest, and, shutting to the
lid, held it so fast, that many men, with their united strength, could
not force it open; afterwards, breaking the chest to pieces, they found
no man in it alive or dead; in astonishment at which, they sent to
consult the oracle at Delphi; to whom the prophetess made this answer,
Of all the heroes, Cleomede is last.
They say, too, the body of Alcmena, as they were carrying her to her
grave, vanished, and a stone was found lying on the bier. And many such
improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures
naturally mortal; for though altogether to disown a divine nature in
human virtue were impious and base, so again to mix heaven with earth
is ridiculous. Let us believe with Pindar, that
All human bodies yield to Death's decree,
The soul survives to all eternity.
For that alone is derived from the gods, thence comes, and thither
returns; not with the body, but when most disengaged and separated from
it, and when most entirely pure and clean and free from the flesh; for
the most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out
of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud; but that which is clogged
and surfeited with body is like gross and humid incense, slow to kindle
and ascend. We must not, therefore, contrary to nature, send the
bodies, too, of good men to heaven; but we must really believe that,
according to their divine nature and law, their virtue and their souls
are translated out of men into heroes, out of heroes into demi-gods,
out of demi-gods, after passing, as in the rite of initiation, through
a final cleansing and sanctification, and so freeing themselves from
all that pertains to mortality and sense, are thus, not by human
decree, but really and according to right reason, elevated into gods,
admitted thus to the greatest and most blessed perfection.
Romulus's surname Quirinus, some say, is equivalent to Mars; others,
that he was so called because the citizens were called Quirites;
others, because the ancients called a dart or spear Quiris; thus, the
statue of Juno resting on a spear is called Quiritis, and the dart in
the Regia is addressed as Mars, and those that were distinguished in
war were usually presented with a dart; that, therefore, Romulus, being
a martial god, or a god of darts, was called Quirinus. A temple is
certainly built to his honor on the mount called from him Quirinalis.
The day he vanished on is called the Flight of the People, and the
Nones of the Goats, because they go then out of the city, and sacrifice
at the Goat's Marsh, and, as they go, they shout out some of the Roman
names, as Marcus, Lucius, Caius, imitating the way in which they then
fled and called upon one another in that fright and hurry. Some,
however, say, this was not in imitation of a flight, but of a quick and
hasty onset, referring it to the following occasion: after the Gauls
who had taken Rome were driven out by Camillus, and the city was
scarcely as yet recovering her strength, many of the Latins, under the
command of Livius Postumius, took this time to march against her.
Postumius, halting not far from Rome, sent a herald, signifying that
the Latins were desirous to renew their former alliance and affinity
(that was now almost decayed) by contracting new marriages between both
nations; if, therefore, they would send forth a good number of their
virgins and widows, they should have peace and friendship, such as the
Sabines had formerly had on the like conditions. The Romans, hearing
this, dreaded a war, yet thought a surrender of their women little
better than mere captivity. Being in this doubt, a servant-maid called
Philotis (or, as some say, Tutola), advised them to do neither, but, by
a stratagem, avoid both fighting and the giving up of such pledges. The
stratagem was this, that they should send herself, with other
well-looking servant-maids, to the enemy, in the dress of free-born
virgins, and she should in the night light up a fire-signal, at which
the Romans should come armed and surprise them asleep. The Latins were
thus deceived, and accordingly Philotis set up a torch in a wild
fig-tree, screening it behind with curtains and coverlets from the
sight of the enemy, while visible to the Romans. They, when they saw
it, eagerly ran out of the gates, calling in their haste to each other
as they went out, and so, falling in unexpectedly upon the enemy, they
defeated them, and upon that made a feast of triumph, called the Nones
of the Goats, because of the wild fig-tree, called by the Romans
Caprificus, or the goat-fig. They feast the women without the city in
arbors made of fig-tree boughs and the maid-servants gather together
and run about playing; afterwards they fight in sport, and throw stones
one at another, in memory that they then aided and assisted the Roman
men in fight. This only a few authors admit for true; For the calling
upon one another's names by day and the going out to the Goat's Marsh
to do sacrifice seem to agree more with the former story, unless,
indeed, we shall say that both the actions might have happened on the
same day in different years. It was in the fifty-fourth year of his age
and the thirty-eighth of his reign that Romulus, they tell us, left the
world.
COMPARISON OF ROMULUS WITH THESEUS
This is what I have learnt of Romulus and Theseus, worthy of memory. It
seems, first of all, that Theseus, out of his own free-will, without
any compulsion, when he might have reigned in security at Troezen in
the enjoyment of no inglorious empire, of his own motion affected great
actions, whereas the other, to escape present servitude and a
punishment that threatened him, (according to Plato's phrase) grew
valiant purely out of fear, and dreading the extremest inflictions,
attempted great enterprises out of mere necessity. Again, his greatest
action was only the killing of one king of Alba; while, as mere
by-adventures and preludes, the other can name Sciron, Sinnis,
Procrustes, and Corynetes; by reducing and killing of whom, he rid
Greece of terrible oppressors, before any of them that were relieved
knew who did it; moreover, he might without any trouble as well have
gone to Athens by sea, considering he himself never was in the least
injured by those robbers; where as Romulus could not but be in trouble
whilst Amulius lived. Add to this the fact that Theseus, for no wrong
done to himself, but for the sake of others, fell upon these villains;
but Romulus and Remus, as long as they themselves suffered no ill by
the tyrant, permitted him to oppress all others. And if it be a great
thing to have been wounded in battle by the Sabines, to have killed
king Acron, and to have conquered many enemies, we may oppose to these
actions the battle with the Centaurs and the feats done against the
Amazons. But what Theseus adventured, in offering himself voluntarily
with young boys and virgins, as part of the tribute unto Crete, either
to be a prey to a monster or a victim upon the tomb of Androgeus, or,
according to the mildest form of the story, to live vilely and
dishonorably in slavery to insulting and cruel men; it is not to be
expressed what an act of courage, magnanimity, or justice to the
public, or of love for honor and bravery, that was. So that methinks
the philosophers did not ill define love to be the provision of the
gods for the care and preservation of the young; for the love of
Ariadne, above all, seems to have been the proper work and design of
some god in order to preserve Theseus; and, indeed, we ought not to
blame her for loving him, but rather wonder all men and women were not
alike affected towards him; and if she alone were so. truly I dare
pronounce her worthy of the love of a god, who was herself so great a
lover of virtue and goodness, and the bravest man.
Both Theseus and Romulus were by nature meant for governors; yet
neither lived up to the true character of a king, but fell off, and
ran, the one into popularity, the other into tyranny, falling both into
the same fault out of different passions. For a ruler's first end is to
maintain his office, which is done no less by avoiding what is unfit
than by observing what is suitable. Whoever is either too remiss or too
strict is no more a king or a governor, but either a demagogue or a
despot, and so becomes either odious or contemptible to his subjects.
Though certainly the one seems to be the fault of easiness and
good-nature, the other of pride and severity.
If men's calamities, again, are not to be wholly imputed to fortune,
but refer themselves to differences of character, who will acquit
either Theseus of rash and unreasonable anger against his son, or
Romulus against his brother? Looking at motives, we more easily excuse
the anger which a stronger cause, like a severer blow, provoked.
Romulus, having disagreed with his brother advisedly and deliberately
on public matters, one would think could not on a sudden have been put
into so great a passion; but love and jealousy and the complaints of
his wife, which few men can avoid being moved by, seduced Theseus to
commit that outrage upon his son. And what is more, Romulus, in his
anger, committed an action of unfortunate consequence; but that of
Theseus ended only in words, some evil speaking, and an old man's
curse; the rest of the youth's disasters seem to have proceeded from
fortune; so that, so far, a man would give his vote on Theseus's part.
But Romulus has, first of all, one great plea, that his performances
proceeded from very small beginnings; for both the brothers being
thought servants and the sons of swineherds, before becoming freemen
themselves, gave liberty to almost all the Latins, obtaining at once
all the most honorable titles, as destroyers of their country's
enemies, preservers of their friends and kindred, princes of the
people, founders of cities, not removers, like Theseus, who raised and
compiled only one house out of many, demolishing many cities bearing
the names of ancient kings and heroes. Romulus, indeed, did the same
afterwards, forcing his enemies to deface and ruin their own dwellings,
and to sojourn with their conquerors; but at first, not by removal, or
increase of an existing city, but by foundation of a new one, he
obtained himself lands, a country, a kingdom, wives, children, and
relations. And, in so doing, he killed or destroyed nobody, but
benefited those that wanted houses and homes and were willing to be of
a society and become citizens. Robbers and malefactors he slew not; but
he subdued nations, he overthrew cities, he triumphed over kings and
commanders. As to Remus, it is doubtful by whose hand he fell; it is
generally imputed to others. His mother he clearly retrieved from
death, and placed his grandfather who was brought under base and
dishonorable vassalage, on the ancient throne of Aeneas, to whom he did
voluntarily many good offices, but never did him harm even
inadvertently. But Theseus, in his forgetfulness and neglect of the
command concerning the flag, can scarcely, methinks, by any excuses, or
before the most indulgent judges, avoid the imputation of parricide.
And, indeed, one of the Attic writers, perceiving it to be very hard to
make an excuse for this, feigns that Aegeus, at the approach of the
ship, running hastily to the Acropolis to see what news, slipped and
fell down, as if he had no servants, or none would attend him on his
way to the shore.
And, indeed, the faults committed in the rapes of women admit of no
plausible excuse in Theseus. First, because of the often repetition of
the crime; for he stole Ariadne, Antiope, Anaxo the Troezenian, at last
Helen, when he was an old man, and she not marriageable; she a child,
and he at an age past even lawful wedlock. Then, on account of the
cause; for the Troezenian, Lacedaemonian, and Amazonian virgins, beside
that they were not betrothed to him, were not worthier to raise
children by than the Athenian women, derived from Erechtheus and
Cecrops; but it is to be suspected these things were done out of
wantonness and lust. Romulus, when he had taken near eight hundred
women, chose not all, but only Hersilia, as they say, for himself; the
rest he divided among the chief of the city; and afterwards, by the
respect and tenderness and justice shown towards them, he made it clear
that this violence and injury was a commendable and politic exploit to
establish a society; by which he intermixed and united both nations,
and made it the fountain of after friendship and public stability. And
to the reverence and love and constancy he established in matrimony,
time can witness; for in two hundred and thirty years, neither any
husband deserted his wife, nor any wife her husband; but, as the
curious among the Greeks can name the first case of parricide or
matricide, so the Romans all well know that Spurius Carvilius was the
first who put away his wife, accusing her of barrenness. The immediate
results were similar; for upon those marriages the two princes shared
in the dominion, and both nations fell under the same government. But
from the marriages of Theseus proceeded nothing of friendship or
correspondence for the advantage of commerce, but enmities and wars and
the slaughter of citizens, and, at last, the loss of the city Aphidnae,
when only out of the compassion of the enemy, whom they entreated and
caressed like gods, they escaped suffering what Troy did by Paris.
Theseus's mother, however, was not only in danger, but suffered
actually what Hecuba did, deserted and neglected by her son, unless her
captivity be not a fiction, as I could wish both that and other things
were. The circumstances of the divine intervention, said to have
preceded or accompanied their births, are also in contrast; for Romulus
was preserved by the special favor of the gods; but the oracle given to
Aegeus, commanding him to abstain, seems to demonstrate that the birth
of Theseus was not agreeable to the will of the gods.
LYCURGUS
There is so much uncertainty in the accounts which historians have left
us of Lycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, that scarcely anything is
asserted by one of them which is not called into question or
contradicted by the rest. Their sentiments are quite different as to
the family he came of, the voyages he undertook, the place and manner
of his death, but most of all when they speak of the laws he made and
the commonwealth which he founded. They cannot, by any means, be
brought to an agreement as to the very age in which he lived; for some
of them say that he flourished in the time of Iphitus, and that they
two jointly contrived the ordinance for the cessation of arms during
the solemnity of the Olympic games. Of this opinion was Aristotle; and
for confirmation of it, he alleges an inscription upon one of the
copper quoits used in those sports, upon which the name of Lycurgus
continued uneffaced to his time. But Eratosthenes and Apollodorus and
other chronologers, computing the time by the successions of the
Spartan kings, pretend to demonstrate that he was much more ancient
than the institution of the Olympic games. Timaeus conjectures that
there were two of this name, and in diverse times, but that the one of
them being much more famous than the other, men gave to him the glory
of the exploits of both; the elder of the two, according to him, was
not long after Homer; and some are so particular as to say that he had
seen him. But that he was of great antiquity may be gathered from a
passage in Xenophon, where he makes him contemporary with the
Heraclidae. By descent, indeed, the very last kings of Sparta were
Heraclidae too; but he seems in that place to speak of the first and
more immediate successors of Hercules. But notwithstanding this
confusion and obscurity, we shall endeavor to compose the history of
his life, adhering to those statements which are least contradicted,
and depending upon those authors who are most worthy of credit.
The poet Simonides will have it that Lycurgus was the son of Prytanis,
and not of Eunomus; but in this opinion he is singular, for all the
rest deduce the genealogy of them both as follows:--
Aristodemus
Patrocles
Sous
Eurypon
Eunomus
------------------------------------------
Polydectes by his first
wife
Lycurgus by Dionassa his second.
Dieuchidas says he was the sixth from Patrocles and the eleventh from
Hercules. Be this as it will, Sous certainly was the most renowned of
all his ancestors, under whose conduct the Spartans made slaves of the
Helots, and added to their dominions, by conquest, a good part of
Arcadia, There goes a story of this king Sous, that, being besieged by
the Clitorians in a dry and stony place so that he could come at no
water, he was at last constrained to agree with them upon these terms,
that he would restore to them all his conquests, provided that himself
and all his men should drink of the nearest spring. After the usual
oaths and ratifications, he called his soldiers together, and offered
to him that would forbear drinking, his kingdom for a reward; and when
not a man of them was able to forbear, in short, when they had all
drunk their fill, at last comes king Sous himself to the spring, and,
having sprinkled his face only, without swallowing one drop, marches
off in the face of his enemies, refusing to yield up his conquests,
because himself and all his men had not, according to the articles,
drunk of their water.
Although he was justly had in admiration on this account, yet his
family was not surnamed from him, but from his son Eurypon (of whom
they were called Eurypontids); the reason of which was that Eurypon
relaxed the rigor of the monarchy, seeking favor and popularity with
the many. They, after this first step, grew bolder; and the succeeding
kings partly incurred hatred with their people by trying to use force,
or, for popularity's sake and through weakness, gave way; and anarchy
and confusion long prevailed in Sparta, causing, moreover, the death of
the father of Lycurgus. For as he was endeavoring to quell a riot, he
was stabbed with a butcher's knife, and left the title of king to his
eldest son Polydectes.
He, too, dying soon after, the right of succession (as every one
thought) rested in Lycurgus; and reign he did, until it was found that
the queen, his sister-in-law, was with child; upon which he immediately
declared that the kingdom belonged to her issue, provided it were male,
and that he himself exercised the regal jurisdiction only as his
guardian; the Spartan name for which office is prodicus. Soon after, an
overture was made to him by the queen, that she would herself in some
way destroy the infant, upon condition that he would marry her when he
came to the crown. Abhorring the woman's wickedness, he nevertheless
did not reject her proposal, but, making show of closing with her,
dispatched the messenger with thanks and expressions of joy, but
dissuaded her earnestly from procuring herself to miscarry, which would
impair her health, if not endanger her life; he himself, he said, would
see to it, that the child, as soon as born, should be taken out of the
way. By such artifices having drawn on the woman to the time of her
lying-in, as soon as he heard that she was in labor, he sent persons to
be by and observe all that passed, with orders that if it were a girl
they should deliver it to the women, but if a boy, should bring it to
him wheresoever he were, and whatsoever doing. It so fell out that when
he was at supper with the principal magistrates the queen was brought
to bed of a boy, who was soon after presented to him as he was at the
table; he, taking him into his arms, said to those about him, "Men of
Sparta, here is a king born unto us;" this said, he laid him down in
the king's place, and named him Charilaus, that is, the joy of the
people; because that all were transported with joy and with wonder at
his noble and just spirit. His reign had lasted only eight months, but
he was honored on other accounts by the citizens, and there were more
who obeyed him because of his eminent virtues, than because he was
regent to the king and had the royal power in his hands. Some, however,
envied and sought to impede his growing influence while he was still
young; chiefly the kindred and friends of the queen mother, who
pretended to have been dealt with injuriously. Her brother Leonidas, in
a warm debate which fell out betwixt him and Lycurgus, went so far as
to tell him to his face that he was well assured that ere long he
should see him king; suggesting suspicions and preparing the way for an
accusation of him, as though he had made away with his nephew, if the
child should chance to fail though by a natural death. Words of the
like import were designedly cast abroad by the queen-mother and her
adherents.
Troubled at this, and not knowing what it might come to, he thought it
his wisest course to avoid their envy by a voluntary exile, and to
travel from place to place until his nephew came to marriageable years,
and, by having a son, had secured the succession; setting sail,
therefore, with this resolution, he first arrived at Crete, where,
having considered their several forms of government, and got an
acquaintance with the principal men amongst them, some of their laws he
very much approved of, and resolved to make use of them in his own
country; a good part he rejected as useless. Amongst the persons there
the most renowned for their learning all their wisdom in state matters
was one Thales, whom Lycurgus, by importunities and assurances of
friendship, persuaded to go over to Lacedaemon; where, though by his
outward appearance and his own profession he seemed to be no other than
a lyric poet, in reality he performed the part of one of the ablest
lawgivers in the world. The very songs which he composed were
exhortations to obedience and concord, and the very measure and cadence
of the verse, conveying impressions of order and tranquility, had so
great an influence on the minds of the listeners, that they were
insensibly softened and civilized, insomuch that they renounced their
private feuds and animosities, and were reunited in a common admiration
of virtue. So that it may truly be said that Thales prepared the way
for the discipline introduced by Lycurgus.
From Crete he sailed to Asia, with design, as is said, to examine the
difference betwixt the manners and rules of life of the Cretans, which
were very sober and temperate, and those of the Ionians, a people of
sumptuous and delicate habits, and so to form a judgment; just as
physicians do by comparing healthy and diseased bodies. Here he had the
first sight of Homer's works, in the hands, we may suppose, of the
posterity of Creophylus; and, having observed that the few loose
expressions and actions of ill example which are to be found in his
poems were much outweighed by serious lessons of state and rules of
morality, he set himself eagerly to transcribe and digest them into
order, as thinking they would be of good use in his own country. They
had, indeed, already obtained some slight repute amongst the Greeks,
and scattered portions, as chance conveyed them, were in the hands of
individuals; but Lycurgus first made them really known.
The Egyptians say that he took a voyage into Egypt, and that, being
much taken with their way of separating the soldiery from the rest of
the nation, he transferred it from them to Sparta, a removal from
contact with those employed in low and mechanical occupations giving
high refinement and beauty to the state. Some Greek writers also record
this. But as for his voyages into Spain, Africa, and the Indies, and
his conferences there with the Gymnosophists, the whole relation, as
far as I can find, rests on the single credit of the Spartan
Aristocrates, the son of Hipparchus.
Lycurgus was much missed at Sparta, and often sent for, "for kings
indeed we have," they said, "who wear the marks and assume the titles
of royalty, but as for the qualities of their minds, they have nothing
by which they are to be distinguished from their subjects;" adding,
that in him alone was the true foundation of sovereignty to be seen, a
nature made to rule, and a genius to gain obedience. Nor were the kings
themselves averse to see him back, for they looked upon his presence as
a bulwark against the insolencies of the people.
Things being in this posture at his return, he applied himself, without
loss of time, to a thorough reformation and resolved to change the
whole face of the commonwealth; for what could a few particular laws
and a partial alteration avail? He must act as wise physicians do, in
the case of one who labors under a complication of diseases, by force
of medicines reduce and exhaust him, change his whole temperament, and
then set him upon a totally new regimen of diet. Having thus projected
things, away he goes to Delphi to consult Apollo there; which having
done, and offered his sacrifice, he returned with that renowned oracle,
in which he is called beloved of God, and rather God than man; that his
prayers were heard, that his laws should be the best, and the
commonwealth which observed them the most famous in the world.
Encouraged by these things, he set himself to bring over to his side
the leading men of Sparta, exhorting them to give him a helping hand in
his great undertaking; he broke it first to his particular friends, and
then by degrees gained others, and animated them all to put his design
in execution. When things were ripe for action, he gave order to thirty
of the principal men of Sparta to be ready armed at the market-place by
break of day, to the end that he might strike a terror into the
opposite party. Hermippus hath set down the names of twenty of the most
eminent of them; but the name of him whom Lycurgus most confided in,
and who was of most use to him, both in making his laws and putting
them in execution, was Arthmiadas. Things growing to a tumult, king
Charilaus, apprehending that it was a conspiracy against his person,
took sanctuary in the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House; but, being
soon after undeceived, and having taken an oath of them that they had
no designs against him, he quitted his refuge, and himself also entered
into the confederacy with them; of so gentle and flexible a disposition
he was, to which Archelaus, his brother-king, alluded, when, hearing
him extolled for his goodness, he said, "Who can say he is anything but
good? he is so even to the bad."
Amongst the many changes and alterations which Lycurgus made, the first
and of greatest importance was the establishment of the senate, which,
having a power equal to the kings' in matters of great consequence,
and, as Plato expresses it, allaying and qualifying the fiery genius of
the royal office, gave steadiness and safety to the commonwealth. For
the state, which before had no firm basis to stand upon, but leaned one
while towards an absolute monarchy, when the kings had the upper hand,
and another while towards a pure democracy, when the people had the
better, found in this establishment of the senate a central weight,
like ballast in a ship, which always kept things in a just equilibrium;
the twenty-eight always adhering to the kings so far as to resist
democracy, and, on the other hand, supporting the people against the
establishment of absolute monarchy. As for the determinate number of
twenty-eight, Aristotle states, that it so fell out because two of the
original associates, for want of courage, fell off from the enterprise;
but Sphaerus assures us that there were but twenty-eight of the
confederates at first; perhaps there is some mystery in the number,
which consists of seven multiplied by four, and is the first of perfect
numbers after six, being, as that is, equal to all its parts. For my
part, I believe Lycurgus fixed upon the number of twenty-eight, that,
the two kings being reckoned amongst them, they might be thirty in all.
So eagerly set was he upon this establishment, that he took the trouble
to obtain an oracle about it from Delphi, the Rhetra, which runs thus:
"After that you have built a temple to Jupiter Hellanius, and to
Minerva Hellania, and after that you have phyle'd the people phyles,
and obe'd them into obes, you shall establish a council of thirty
elders, the leaders included, and shall, from time to time, apellazein
the people betwixt Babyca and Cnacion, there propound and put to the
vote. The commons have the final voice and decision. " By phyles and
obes are meant the divisions of the people; by the leaders, the two
kings; apellazein, referring to the Pythian Apollo, signifies to
assemble; Babyca and Cnacion they now call Oenus; Aristotle says
Cnacion is a river, and Babyca a bridge. Betwixt this Babyca and
Cnacion, their assemblies were held, for they had no council-house or
building, to meet in. Lycurgus was of opinion that ornaments were so
far from advantaging them in their counsels, that they were rather an
hindrance, by diverting their attention from the business before them
to statues and pictures, and roofs curiously fretted, the usual
embellishments of such places amongst the other Greeks. The people then
being thus assembled in the open air, it was not allowed to any one of
their order to give his advice, but only either to ratify or reject
what should be propounded to them by the king or senate. But because it
fell out afterwards that the people, by adding or omitting words,
distorted and perverted the sense of propositions, kings Polydorus and
Theopompus inserted into the Rhetra, or grand covenant, the following
clause: "That if the people decide crookedly, it should be lawful for
the elders and leaders to dissolve;" that is to say, refuse
ratification, and dismiss the people as depravers and perverters of
their counsel. It passed among the people, by their management, as
being equally authentic with the rest of the Rhetra, as appears by
these verses of Tyrtaeus,--
These oracles they from Apollo heard,
And brought from Pytho home the perfect word:
The heaven-appointed kings, who love the land,
Shall foremost in the nation's council stand;
The elders next to them; the commons last;
Let a straight Rhetra among all be passed.
Although Lycurgus had, in this manner, used all the qualifications
possible in the constitution of his commonwealth, yet those who
succeeded him found the oligarchical element still too strong and
dominant, and, to check its high temper and its violence, put, as Plato
says, a bit in its mouth, which was the power of the ephori,
established one hundred and thirty years after the death of Lycurgus.
Elatus and his colleagues were the first who had this dignity conferred
upon them, in the reign of king Theopompus, who, when his queen
upbraided him one day that he would leave the regal power to his
children less than he had received it from his ancestors, said, in
answer, "No, greater; for it will last longer." For, indeed, their
prerogative being thus reduced within reasonable bounds, the Spartan
kings were at once freed from all further jealousies and consequent
danger, and never experienced the calamities of their neighbors at
Messene and Argos, who, by maintaining their prerogative too strictly,
for want of yielding a little to the populace, lost it all.
Indeed, whosoever shall look at the sedition and misgovernment which
befell these bordering nations to whom they were as near related in
blood as situation, will find in them the best reason to admire the
wisdom and foresight of Lycurgus. For these three states, in their
first rise, were equal, or, if there were any odds, they lay on the
side of the Messenians and Argives, who, in the first allotment, were
thought to have been luckier than the Spartans; yet was their happiness
but of small continuance, partly the tyrannical temper of their kings
and partly the ungovernableness of the people quickly bringing upon
them such disorders, and so complete an overthrow of all existing
institutions, as clearly to show how truly divine a blessing the
Spartans had had in that wise lawgiver who gave their government its
happy balance and temper. But of this I shall say more in its due place.
After the creation of the thirty senators, his next task, and, indeed,
the most hazardous he ever undertook, was the making a new division of
their lands. For there was an extreme inequality amongst them, and
their state was overloaded with a multitude of indigent and necessitous
persons, while its whole wealth had centered upon a very few. To the
end, therefore, that he might expel from the state arrogance and envy,
luxury and crime, and those yet more inveterate diseases of want and
superfluity, he obtained of them to renounce their properties, and to
consent to a new division of the land, and that they should live all
together on an equal footing; merit to be their only road to eminence,
and the disgrace of evil, and credit of worthy acts, their one measure
of difference between man and man.
Upon their consent to these proposals, proceeding at once to put them
into execution, he divided the country of Laconia in general into
thirty thousand equal shares, and the part attached to the city of
Sparta into nine thousand; these he distributed among the Spartans, as
he did the others to the country citizens. Some authors say that he
made but six thousand lots for the citizens of Sparta, and that king
Polydorus added three thousand more. Others say that Polydorus doubled
the number Lycurgus had made, which, according to them, was but four
thousand five hundred. A lot was so much as to yield, one year with
another, about seventy bushels of grain for the master of the family,
and twelve for his wife, with a suitable proportion of oil and wine.
And this he thought sufficient to keep their bodies in good health and
strength; superfluities they were better without. It is reported, that,
as he returned from a journey shortly after the division of the lands,
in harvest time, the ground being newly reaped, seeing the stacks all
standing equal and alike, he smiled, and said to those about him,
"Methinks all Laconia looks like one family estate just divided among a
number of brothers."
Not contented with this, he resolved to make a division of their
movables too, that there might be no odious distinction or inequality
left amongst them; but finding that it would be very dangerous to go
about it openly, he took another course, and defeated their avarice by
the following stratagem: he commanded that all gold and silver coin
should be called in, and that only a sort of money made of iron should
be current, a great weight and quantity of which was but very little
worth; so that to lay up twenty or thirty pounds there was required a
pretty large closet, and, to remove it, nothing less than a yoke of
oxen. With the diffusion of this money, at once a number of vices were
banished from Lacedaemon; for who would rob another of such a coin? Who
would unjustly detain or take by force, or accept as a bribe, a thing
which it was not easy to hide, nor a credit to have, nor indeed of any
use to cut in pieces? For when it was just red hot, they quenched it in
vinegar, and by that means spoilt it, and made it almost incapable of
being worked.
In the next place, he declared an outlawry of all needless and
superfluous arts; but here he might almost have spared his
proclamation; for they of themselves would have gone after the gold and
silver, the money which remained being not so proper payment for
curious work; for, being of iron, it was scarcely portable, neither, if
they should take the pains to export it, would it pass amongst the
other Greeks, who ridiculed it. So there was now no more means of
purchasing foreign goods and small wares; merchants sent no shiploads
into Laconian ports; no rhetoric-master, no itinerant fortune-teller,
no harlot-monger or gold or silversmith, engraver, or jeweler, set foot
in a country which had no money; so that luxury, deprived little by
little of that which fed and fomented it, wasted to nothing, and died
away of itself. For the rich had no advantage here over the poor, as
their wealth and abundance had no road to come abroad by, but were shut
up at home doing nothing. And in this way they became excellent artists
in common, necessary things; bedsteads, chairs, and tables, and such
like staple utensils in a family, were admirably well made there; their
cup, particularly, was very much in fashion, and eagerly bought up by
soldiers, as Critias reports; for its color was such as to prevent
water, drunk upon necessity and disagreeable to look at, from being
noticed; and the shape of it was such that the mud stuck to the sides,
so that only the purer part came to the drinker's mouth. For this,
also, they had to thank their lawgiver, who, by relieving the artisans
of the trouble of making useless things, set them to show their skill
in giving beauty to those of daily and indispensable use.
The third and most masterly stroke of this great lawgiver, by which he
struck a yet more effectual blow against luxury and the desire of
riches, was the ordinance he made, that they should all eat in common,
of the same bread and same meat, and of kinds that were specified, and
should not spend their lives at home, laid on costly couches at
splendid tables, delivering themselves up into the hands of their
tradesmen and cooks, to fatten them in corners, like greedy brutes, and
to ruin not their minds only but their very bodies, which, enfeebled by
indulgence and excess, would stand in need of long sleep, warm bathing,
freedom from work, and, in a word, of as much care and attendance as if
they were continually sick. It was certainly an extraordinary thing to
have brought about such a result as this, but a greater yet to have
taken away from wealth, as Theophrastus observes, not merely the
property of being coveted, but its very nature of being wealth. For the
rich, being obliged to go to the same table with the poor, could not
make use of or enjoy their abundance, nor so much as please their
vanity by looking at or displaying it. So that the common proverb, that
Plutus, the god of riches, is blind, was nowhere in all the world
literally verified but in Sparta. There, indeed, he was not only blind,
but like a picture, without either life or motion. Nor were they
allowed to take food at home first, and then attend the public tables,
for every one had an eye upon those who did not eat and drink like the
rest, and reproached them with being dainty and effeminate.
This last ordinance in particular exasperated the wealthier men. They
collected in a body against Lycurgus, and from ill words came to
throwing stones, so that at length he was forced to run out of the
marketplace, and make to sanctuary to save his life; by good-hap he
outran all excepting one Alcander, a young man otherwise not ill
accomplished, but hasty and violent, who came up so close to him, that,
when he turned to see who was near him, he struck him upon the face
with his stick, and put out one of his eyes. Lycurgus, so far from
being daunted and discouraged by this accident, stopped short, and
showed his disfigured face and eye beat out to his countrymen; they,
dismayed and ashamed at the sight, delivered Alcander into his hands to
be punished, and escorted him home, with expressions of great concern
for his ill usage. Lycurgus, having thanked them for their care of his
person, dismissed them all, excepting only Alcander; and, taking him
with him into his house, neither did nor said anything severely to him,
but, dismissing those whose place it was bade Alcander to wait upon him
at table. The young man who was of an ingenuous temper, without
murmuring did as he was commanded; and, being thus admitted to live
with Lycurgus, he had an opportunity to observe in him, besides his
gentleness and calmness of temper, an extraordinary sobriety and an
indefatigable industry, and so, from an enemy, became one of his most
zealous admirers, and told his friends and relations that Lycurgus was
not that morose and ill-natured man they had formerly taken him for,
but the one mild and gentle character of the world. And thus did
Lycurgus, for chastisement of his fault, make of a wild and passionate
young man one of the discreetest citizens of Sparta.
In memory of this accident, Lycurgus built a temple to Minerva,
surnamed Optiletis; optilus being the Doric of these parts for
ophthalmus, the eye. Some authors, however, of whom Dioscorides is one
(who wrote a treatise on the commonwealth of Sparta), say that he was
wounded indeed, but did not lose his eye with the blow; and that he
built the temple in gratitude for the cure. Be this as it will, certain
it is, that, after this misadventure, the Lacedaemonians made it a rule
never to carry so much as a staff into their public assemblies.
But to return to their public repasts;--these had several names in
Greek; the Cretans called them andria, because the men only came to
them. The Lacedaemonians called them phiditia, that is, by changing l
into d, the same as philitia, love feasts, because that, by eating and
drinking together, they had opportunity of making friends. Or perhaps
from phido, parsimony, because they were so many schools of sobriety;
or perhaps the first letter is an addition, and the word at first was
editia, from edode, eating. They met by companies of fifteen, more or
less, and each of them stood bound to bring in monthly a bushel of
meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a
half of figs, and some very small sum of money to buy flesh or fish
with. Besides this, when any of them made sacrifice to the gods, they
always sent a dole to the common hall; and, likewise, when any of them
had been a hunting, he sent thither a part of the venison he had
killed; for these two occasions were the only excuses allowed for
supping at home. The custom of eating together was observed strictly
for a great while afterwards; insomuch that king Agis himself, after
having vanquished the Athenians, sending for his commons at his return
home, because he desired to eat privately with his queen, was refused
them by the polemarchs; which refusal when he resented so much as to
omit next day the sacrifice due for a war happily ended, they made him
pay a fine.
They used to send their children to these tables as to schools of
temperance; here they were instructed in state affairs by listening to
experienced statesmen; here they learnt to converse with pleasantry, to
make jests without scurrility, and take them without ill humor. In this
point of good breeding, the Lacedaemonians excelled particularly, but
if any man were uneasy under it, upon the least hint given there was no
more to be said to him. It was customary also for the eldest man in the
company to say to each of them, as they came in, "Through this"
(pointing to the door), "no words go out." When any one had a desire to
be admitted into any of these little societies; he was to go through
the following probation, each man in the company took a little ball of
soft bread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter
carried round upon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen
dropped their ball into the basin without altering its figure, and
those who disliked him pressed it between their fingers, and made it
flat; and this signified as much as a negative voice. And if there were
but one of these pieces in the basin, the suitor was rejected, so
desirous were they that all the members of the company should be
agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the
rejected candidate had a name thence derived. Their most famous dish
was the black broth, which was so much valued that the elderly men fed
only upon that, leaving what flesh there was to the younger.
They say that a certain king of Pontus, having heard much of this black
broth of theirs, sent for a Lacedaemonian cook on purpose to make him
some, but had no sooner tasted it than he found it extremely bad, which
the cook observing, told him, "Sir, to make this broth relish, you
should have bathed yourself first in the river Eurotas."
After drinking moderately, every man went to his home without lights,
for the use of them was, on all occasions, forbid, to the end that they
might accustom themselves to march boldly in the dark. Such was the
common fashion of their meals.
Lycurgus would never reduce his laws into writing; nay, there is a
Rhetra expressly to forbid it. For he thought that the most material
points, and such as most directly tended to the public welfare, being
imprinted on the hearts of their youth by a good discipline, would be
sure to remain, and would find a stronger security, than any compulsion
would be, in the principles of action formed in them by their best
lawgiver, education. And as for things of lesser importance, as
pecuniary contracts, and such like, the forms of which have to be
changed as occasion requires, he thought it the best way to prescribe
no positive rule or inviolable usage in such cases, willing that their
manner and form should be altered according to the circumstances of
time, and determinations of men of sound judgment. Every end and object
of law and enactment it was his design education should effect.
One, then, of the Rhetras was, that their laws should not be written;
another is particularly leveled against luxury and expensiveness, for
by it it was ordained that the ceilings of their houses should only be
wrought by the axe, and their gates and doors smoothed only by the saw.
Epaminondas's famous dictum about his own table, that "Treason and a
dinner like this do not keep company together," may be said to have
been anticipated by Lycurgus. Luxury and a house of this kind could not
well be companions. For a man must have a less than ordinary share of
sense that would furnish such plain and common rooms with silver-footed
couches and purple coverlets and gold and silver plate. Doubtless he
had good reason to think that they would proportion their beds to their
houses, and their coverlets to their beds, and the rest of their goods
and furniture to these. It is reported that king Leotychides, the first
of that name, was so little used to the sight of any other kind of
work, that, being entertained at Corinth in a stately room, he was much
surprised to see the timber and ceiling so finely carved and paneled,
and asked his host whether the trees grew so in his country.
A third ordinance or Rhetra was, that they should not make war often,
or long, with the same enemy, lest that they should train and instruct
them in war, by habituating them to defend themselves. And this is what
Agesilaus was much blamed for, a long time after; it being thought,
that, by his continual incursions into Boeotia, he made the Thebans a
match for the Lacedaemonians; and therefore Antalcidas, seeing him
wounded one day, said to him, that he was very well paid for taking
such pains to make the Thebans good soldiers, whether they would or no.
These laws were called the Rhetras, to intimate that they were divine
sanctions and revelations.
In order to the good education of their youth (which, as I said before,
he thought the most important and noblest work of a lawgiver), he went
so far back as to take into consideration their very conception and
birth, by regulating their marriages. For Aristotle is wrong in saying,
that, after he had tried all ways to reduce the women to more modesty
and sobriety, he was at last forced to leave them as they were, because
that, in the absence of their husbands, who spent the best part of
their lives in the wars, their wives, whom they were obliged to leave
absolute mistresses at home, took great liberties and assumed the
superiority; and were treated with overmuch respect and called by the
title of lady or queen. The truth is, he took in their case, also, all
the care that was possible; he ordered the maidens to exercise
themselves with wrestling, running, throwing the quoit, and casting the
dart, to the end that the fruit they conceived might, in strong and
healthy bodies, take firmer root and find better growth, and withal
that they, with this greater vigor, might be the more able to undergo
the pains of child- bearing. And to the end he might take away their
over-great tenderness and fear of exposure to the air, and all acquired
womanishness, he ordered that the young women should go naked in the
processions, as well as the young men, and dance, too, in that
condition, at certain solemn feasts, singing certain songs, whilst the
young men stood around, seeing and hearing them. On these occasions,
they now and then made, by jests, a befitting reflection upon those who
had misbehaved themselves in the wars; and again sang encomiums upon
those who had done any gallant action, and by these means inspired the
younger sort with an emulation of their glory. Those that were thus
commended went away proud, elated, and gratified with their honor among
the maidens; and those who were rallied were as sensibly touched with
it as if they had been formally reprimanded; and so much the more,
because the kings and the elders, as well as the rest of the city, saw
and heard all that passed. Nor was there any thing shameful in this
nakedness of the young women; modesty attended them, and all wantonness
was excluded. It taught them simplicity and a care for good health, and
gave them some taste of higher feelings, admitted as they thus were to
the field of noble action and glory. Hence it was natural for them to
think and speak as Gorgo, for example, the wife of Leonidas, is said to
have done, when some foreign lady, as it would seem, told her that the
women of Lacedaemon were the only women of the world who could rule
men; "With good reason," she said, "for we are the only women who bring
forth men."
These public processions of the maidens, and their appearing naked in
their exercises and dancings, were incitements to marriage, operating
upon the young with the rigor and certainty, as Plato says, of love, if
not of mathematics. But besides all this, to promote it yet more
effectually, those who continued bachelors were in a degree
disfranchised by law; for they were excluded from the sight of those
public processions in which the young men and maidens danced naked,
and, in wintertime, the officers compelled them to march naked
themselves round the market-place, singing as they went a certain song
to their own disgrace, that they justly suffered this punishment for
disobeying the laws. Moreover, they were denied that respect and
observance which the younger men paid their elders; and no man, for
example, found fault with what was said to Dercyllidas, though so
eminent a commander; upon whose approach one day, a young man, instead
of rising, retained his seat, remarking, "No child of yours will make
room for me. "
In their marriages, the husband carried off his bride by a sort of
force; nor were their brides ever small and of tender years, but in
their full bloom and ripeness. After this, she who superintended the
wedding comes and clips the hair of the bride close round her head,
dresses her up in man's clothes, and leaves her upon a mattress in the
dark; afterwards comes the bridegroom, in his every-day clothes, sober
and composed, as having supped at the common table, and, entering
privately into the room where the bride lies, unties her virgin zone,
and takes her to himself; and, after staying some time together, he
returns composedly to his own apartment, to sleep as usual with the
other young men. And so he continues to do, spending his days, and,
indeed, his nights with them, visiting his bride in fear and shame, and
with circumspection, when he thought he should not be observed; she,
also, on her part, using her wit to help and find favorable
opportunities for their meeting, when company was out of the way. In
this manner they lived a long time, insomuch that they sometimes had
children by their wives before ever they saw their faces by daylight.
Their interviews, being thus difficult and rare, served not only for
continual exercise of their self-control, but brought them together
with their bodies healthy and vigorous, and their affections fresh and
lively, unsated and undulled by easy access and long continuance with
each other; while their partings were always early enough to leave
behind unextinguished in each of them some remainder fire of longing
and mutual delight. After guarding marriage with this modesty and
reserve, he was equally careful to banish empty and womanish jealousy.
For this object, excluding all licentious disorders, he made it,
nevertheless, honorable for men to give the use of their wives to those
whom they should think fit, that so they might have children by them;
ridiculing those in whose opinion such favors are so unfit for
participation as to fight and shed blood and go to war about it.
Lycurgus allowed a man who was advanced in years and had a young wife
to recommend some virtuous and approved young man, that she might have
a child by him, who might inherit the good qualities of the father, and
be a son to himself. On the other side, an honest man who had love for
a married woman upon account of her modesty and the wellfavoredness of
her children, might, without formality, beg her company of her husband,
that he might raise, as it were, from this plot of good ground, worthy
and well-allied children for himself. And, indeed, Lycurgus was of a
persuasion that children were not so much the property of their parents
as of the whole commonwealth, and, therefore, would not have his
citizens begot by the first comers, but by the best men that could be
found; the laws of other nations seemed to him very absurd and
inconsistent, where people would be so solicitous for their dogs and
horses as to exert interest and pay money to procure fine breeding, and
yet kept their wives shut up, to be made mothers only by themselves,
who might be foolish, infirm, or diseased; as if it were not apparent
that children of a bad breed would prove their bad qualities first upon
those who kept and were rearing them, and well-born children, in like
manner, their good qualities. These regulations, founded on natural and
social grounds, were certainly so far from that scandalous liberty
which was afterwards charged upon their women, that they knew not what
adultery meant. It is told, for instance, of Geradas, a very ancient,
Spartan, that, being asked by a stranger what punishment their law had
appointed for adulterers, he answered, "There are no adulterers in our
country." "But," replied the stranger, "suppose there were ?" "Then,"
answered he, "the offender would have to give the plaintiff a bull with
a neck so long as that he might drink from the top of Taygetus of the
Eurotas river below it." The man, surprised at this, said, "Why, 'tis
impossible to find such a bull." Geradas smilingly replied, "'Tis as
possible as to find an adulterer in Sparta." So much I had to say of
their marriages.
Nor was it in the power of the father to dispose of the child as he
thought fit; he was obliged to carry it before certain triers at a
place called Lesche; these were some of the elders of the tribe to
which the child belonged; their business it was carefully to view the
infant, and, if they found it stout and well made, they gave order for
its rearing, and allotted to it one of the nine thousand shares of land
above mentioned for its maintenance, but, if they found it puny and
ill- shaped, ordered it to be taken to what was called the Apothetae, a
sort of chasm under Taygetus; as thinking it neither for the good of
the child itself, nor for the public interest, that it should be
brought up, if it did not, from the very outset, appear made to be
healthy and vigorous. Upon the same account, the women did not bathe
the new-born children with water, as is the custom in all other
countries, but with wine, to prove the temper and complexion of their
bodies; from a notion they had that epileptic and weakly children faint
and waste away upon their being thus bathed, while, on the contrary,
those of a strong and vigorous habit acquire firmness and get a temper
by it, like steel. There was much care and art, too, used by the
nurses; they had no swaddling bands; the children grew up free and
unconstrained in limb and form, and not dainty and fanciful about their
food; not afraid in the dark, or of being left alone; without any
peevishness or ill humor or crying. Upon this account, Spartan nurses
were often bought up, or hired by people of other countries; and it is
recorded that she who suckled Alcibiades was a Spartan; who, however,
if fortunate in his nurse, was not so in his preceptor; his guardian,
Pericles, as Plato tells us, chose a servant for that office called
Zopyrus, no better than any common slave.
Lycurgus was of another mind; he would not have masters bought out of
the market for his young Spartans, nor such as should sell their pains;
nor was it lawful, indeed, for the father himself to breed up the
children after his own fancy; but as soon as they were seven years old
they were to be enrolled in certain companies and classes, where they
all lived under the same order and discipline, doing their exercises
and taking their play together. Of these, he who showed the most
conduct and courage was made captain; they had their eyes always upon
him, obeyed his orders, and underwent patiently whatsoever punishment
he inflicted; so that the whole course of their education was one
continued exercise of a ready and perfect obedience. The old men, too,
were spectators of their performances, and often raised quarrels and
disputes among them, to have a good opportunity of finding out their
different characters, and of seeing which would be valiant, which a
coward, when they should come to more dangerous encounters. Reading and
writing they gave them, just enough to serve their turn; their chief
care was to make them good subjects, and to teach them to endure pain
and conquer in battle. To this end, as they grew in years, their
discipline was proportionably increased; their heads were
close-clipped, they were accustomed to go bare-foot, and for the most
part to play naked.
After they were twelve years old, they were no longer allowed to wear
any under-garment; they had one coat to serve them a year; their bodies
were hard and dry, with but little acquaintance of baths and unguents;
these human indulgences they were allowed only on some few particular
days in the year. They lodged together in little bands upon beds made
of the rushes which grew by the banks of the river Eurotas, which they
were to break off with their hands without a knife; if it were winter,
they mingled some thistle-down with their rushes, which it was thought
had the property of giving warmth. By the time they were come to this
age, there was not any of the more hopeful boys who had not a lover to
bear him company. The old men, too, had an eye upon them, coming often
to the grounds to hear and see them contend either in wit or strength
with one another, and this as seriously and with as much concern as if
they were their fathers, their tutors, or their magistrates; so that
there scarcely was any time or place without someone present to put
them in mind of their duty, and punish them if they had neglected it.
Besides all this, there was always one of the best and honestest men in
the city appointed to undertake the charge and governance of them; he
again arranged them into their several bands, and set over each of them
for their captain the most temperate and boldest of those they called
Irens, who were usually twenty years old, two years out of the boys;
and the eldest of the boys, again, were Mell-Irens, as much as to say,
who would shortly be men. This young man, therefore, was their captain
when they fought, and their master at home, using them for the offices
of his house; sending the oldest of them to fetch wood, and the weaker
and less able, to gather salads and herbs, and these they must either
go without or steal; which they did by creeping into the gardens, or
conveying themselves cunningly and closely into the eating-houses; if
they were taken in the fact, they were whipped without mercy, for
thieving so ill and awkwardly. They stole, too, all other meat they
could lay their hands on, looking out and watching all opportunities,
when people were asleep or more careless than usual. If they were
caught, they were not only punished with whipping, but hunger, too,
being reduced to their ordinary allowance, which was but very slender,
and so contrived on purpose, that they might set about to help
themselves, and be forced to exercise their energy and address. This
was the principal design of their hard fare; there was another not
inconsiderable, that they might grow taller; for the vital spirits, not
being overburdened and oppressed by too great a quantity of
nourishment; which necessarily discharges itself into thickness and
breadth, do, by their natural lightness, rise; and the body, giving and
yielding because it is pliant, grows in height. The same thing seems,
also, to conduce to beauty of shape; a dry and lean habit is a better
subject for nature's configuration, which the gross and over-fed are
too heavy to submit to properly. Just as we find that women who take
physic whilst they are with child, bear leaner and smaller but
better-shaped and prettier children; the material they come of having
been more pliable and easily molded. The reason, however, I leave
others to determine.
To return from whence we have digressed. So seriously did the
Lacedaemonian children go about their stealing, that a youth, having
stolen a young fox and hid it under his coat, suffered it to tear out
his very bowels with its teeth and claws, and died upon the place,
rather than let it be seen. What is practiced to this very day in
Lacedaemon is enough to gain credit to this story, for I myself have
seen several of the youths endure whipping to death at the foot of the
altar of Diana surnamed Orthia.
The Iren, or under-master, used to stay a little with them after
supper, and one of them he bade to sing a song, to another he put a
question which required an advised and deliberate answer; for example,
Who was the best man in the city? What he thought of such an action of
such a man? They used them thus early to pass a right judgment upon
persons and things, and to inform themselves of the abilities or
defects of their countrymen. If they had not an answer ready to the
question Who was a good or who an ill-reputed citizen, they were looked
upon as of a dull and careless disposition, and to have little or no
sense of virtue and honor; besides this, they were to give a good
reason for what they said, and in as few words and as comprehensive as
might be; he that failed of this, or answered not to the purpose, had
his thumb bit by his master. Sometimes the Iren did this in the
presence of the old men and magistrates, that they might see whether he
punished them justly and in due measure or not; and when he did amiss,
they would not reprove him before the boys, but, when they were gone,
he was called to an account and underwent correction, if he had run far
into either of the extremes of indulgence or severity.
Their lovers and favorers, too, had a share in the young boy's honor or
disgrace; and there goes a story that one of them was fined by the
magistrates, because the lad whom he loved cried out effeminately as he
was fighting. And though this sort of love was so approved among them,
that the most virtuous matrons would make professions of it to young
girls, yet rivalry did not exist, and if several men's fancies met in
one person, it was rather the beginning of an intimate friendship,
whilst they all jointly conspired to render the object of their
affection as accomplished as possible.
They taught them, also, to speak with a natural and graceful raillery,
and to comprehend much matter of thought in few words. For Lycurgus,
who ordered, as we saw, that a great piece of money should be but of an
inconsiderable value, on the contrary would allow no discourse to be
current which did not contain in few words a great deal of useful and
curious sense; children in Sparta, by a habit of long silence, came to
give just and sententious answers; for, indeed, as loose and
incontinent livers are seldom fathers of many children, so loose and
incontinent talkers seldom originate many sensible words. King Agis,
when some Athenian laughed at their short swords, and said that the
jugglers on the stage swallowed them with ease, answered him, "We find
them long enough to reach our enemies with;" and as their swords were
short and sharp, so, it seems to me, were their sayings. They reach the
point and arrest the attention of the hearers better than any. Lycurgus
himself seems to have been short and sententious, if we may trust the
anecdotes of him; as appears by his answer to one who by all means
would set up democracy in Lacedaemon. "Begin, friend," said he, "and
set it up in your family." Another asked him why he allowed of such
mean and trivial sacrifices to the gods. He replied, "That we may
always have something to offer to them." Being asked what sort of
martial exercises or combats he approved of, he answered, "All sorts,
except that in which you stretch out your hands." Similar answers,
addressed to his countrymen by letter, are ascribed to him; as, being
consulted how they might best oppose an invasion of their enemies, he
returned this answer, "By continuing poor, and not coveting each man to
be greater than his fellow." Being consulted again whether it were
requisite to enclose the city with a wall, he sent them word, "The city
is well fortified which hath a wall of men instead of brick." But
whether these letters are counterfeit or not is not easy to determine.
Of their dislike to talkativeness, the following apothegms are
evidence. King Leonidas said to one who held him in discourse upon some
useful matter, but not in due time and place, "Much to the purpose,
Sir, elsewhere." King Charilaus, the nephew of Lycurgus, being asked
why his uncle had made so few laws, answered, "Men of few words require
but few laws." When one blamed Hecataeus the sophist because that,
being invited to the public table, he had not spoken one word all
supper-time, Archidamidas answered in his vindication, "He who knows
how to speak, knows also when. "
The sharp and yet not ungraceful retorts which I mentioned may be
instanced as follows. Demaratus, being asked in a troublesome manner by
an importunate fellow, Who was the best man in Lacedaemon? answered at
last, "He, Sir, that is the least like you." Some, in company where
Agis was, much extolled the Eleans for their just and honorable
management of the Olympic tames; "Indeed," said Agis, "they are highly
to be commended if they can do justice one day in five years."
Theopompus answered a stranger who talked much of his affection to the
Lacedaemonians, and said that his countrymen called him Philolacon (a
lover of the Lacedaemonians), that it had been more for his honor if
they had called him Philopolites (a lover of his own countrymen). And
Plistoanax, the son of Pausanias, when an orator of Athens said the
Lacedaemonians had no learning, told him, "You say true, Sir; we alone
of all the Greeks have learned none of your bad qualities." One asked
Archidamidas what number there might, be of the Spartans; he answered,
"Enough, Sir, to keep out wicked men."
We may see their character, too, in their very jests. For they did not
throw them out at random, but the very wit of them was grounded upon
something or other worth thinking about. For instance, one, being asked
to go hear a man who exactly counterfeited the voice of a nightingale,
answered, "Sir, I have heard the nightingale itself." Another, having
read the following inscription upon a tomb,
Seeking to quench a cruel tyranny,
They, at Selinus, did in battle die,
said, it served them right; for instead of trying to quench the tyranny
they should have let it burn out. A lad, being offered some game-cocks
that would die upon the spot, said that he cared not for cocks that
would die, but for such that would live and kill others. Another,
seeing people easing themselves on seats, said, "God forbid I should
sit where I could not get up to salute my elders." In short, their
answers were so sententious and pertinent, that one said well that
intellectual much more truly than athletic exercise was the Spartan
characteristic.
Nor was their instruction in music and verse less carefully attended to
than their habits of grace and good breeding in conversation. And their
very songs had a life and spirit in them that inflamed and possessed
men's minds with an enthusiasm and ardor for action; the style of them
was plain and without affectation; the subject always serious and
moral; most usually, it was in praise of such men as had died in
defense of their country, or in derision of those that had been
cowards; the former they declared happy and glorified; the life of the
latter they described as most miserable and abject. There were also
vaunts of what they would do, and boasts of what they had done, varying
with the various ages, as, for example, they had three choirs in their
solemn festivals, the first of the old men, the second of the young
men, and the last of the children; the old men began thus:
We once were young, and brave and strong;
the young men answered them, singing,
And we're so now, come on and try;
the children came last and said,
But we'll be strongest by and by.
Indeed, if we will take the pains to consider their compositions, some
of which were still extant in our days, and the airs on the flute to
which they marched when going to battle, we shall find that Terpander
and Pindar had reason to say that music and valor were allied. The
first says of Lacedaemon--
The spear and song in her do meet,
And Justice walks about her street;
and Pindar--
Councils of wise elders here,
And the young men's conquering spear,
And dance, and song, and joy appear;
both describing the Spartans as no less musical than warlike; in the
words of one of their own poets--
With the iron stern and sharp
Comes the playing on the harp.
For, indeed, before they engaged in battle, the king first did
sacrifice to the Muses, in all likelihood to put them in mind of the
manner of their education, and of the judgment that would be passed
upon their actions, and thereby to animate them to the performance of
exploits that should deserve a record. At such times, too, the
Lacedaemonians abated a little the severity of their manners in favor
of their young men, suffering them to curl and adorn their hair, and to
have costly arms, and fine clothes; and were well pleased to see them,
like proud horses, neighing and pressing to the course. And therefore,
as soon as they came to be well-grown, they took a great deal of care
of their hair, to have it parted and trimmed, especially against a day
of battle, pursuant to a saying recorded of their lawgiver, that a
large head of hair added beauty to a good face, and terror to an ugly
one.
When they were in the field, their exercises were generally more
moderate, their fare not so hard, nor so strict a hand held over them
by their officers, so that they were the only people in the world to
whom war gave repose. When their army was drawn up in battle array and
the enemy near, the king sacrificed a goat, commanded the soldiers to
set their garlands upon their heads, and the pipers to play the tune of
the hymn to Castor, and himself began the paean of advance. It was at
once a magnificent and a terrible sight to see them march on to the
tune of their flutes, without any disorder in their ranks, any
discomposure in their minds or change in their countenance, calmly and
cheerfully moving with the music to the deadly fight. Men, in this
temper, were not likely to be possessed with fear or any transport of
fury, but with the deliberate valor of hope and assurance, as if some
divinity were attending and conducting them. The king had always about
his person some one who had been crowned in the Olympic games; and upon
this account a Lacedaemonian is said to have refused a considerable
present, which was offered to him upon condition that he would not come
into the lists; and when he had with much to-do thrown his antagonist,
some of the spectators saying to him, "And now, Sir Lacedaemonian, what
are you the better for your victory?" he answered smiling, "I shall
fight next the king." After they had routed an enemy, they pursued him
till they were well assured of the victory, and then they sounded a
retreat, thinking it base and unworthy of a Grecian people to cut men
in pieces, who had given up and abandoned all resistance. This manner
of dealing with their enemies did not only show magnanimity, but was
politic too; for, knowing that they killed only those who made
resistance, and gave quarter to the rest, men generally thought it
their best way to consult their safety by flight.
Hippias the sophist says that Lycurgus himself was a great soldier and
an experienced commander. Philostephanus attributes to him the first
division of the cavalry into troops of fifties in a square body; but
Demetrius the Phalerian says quite the contrary, and that he made all
his laws in a continued peace. And, indeed, the Olympic holy truce, or
cessation of arms, that was procured by his means and management,
inclines me to think him a kind-natured man, and one that loved
quietness and peace. Notwithstanding all this, Hermippus tells us that
he had no hand in the ordinance; that Iphitus made it, and Lycurgus
came only as a spectator, and that by mere accident too. Being there,
he heard as it were a man's voice behind him, blaming and wondering at
him that he did not encourage his countrymen to resort to the assembly,
and, turning about and seeing no man, concluded that it was a voice
from heaven, and upon this immediately went to Iphitus, and assisted
him in ordering the ceremonies of that feast, which, by his means, were
better established, and with more repute than before.
To return to the Lacedaemonians. Their discipline continued still after
they were full-grown men. No one was allowed to live after his own
fancy; but the city was a sort of camp, in which every man had his
share of provisions and business set out, and looked upon himself not
so much born to serve his own ends as the interest of his country.
Therefore, if they were commanded nothing else, they went to see the
boys perform their exercises, to teach them something useful, or to
learn it themselves of those who knew better. And, indeed, one of the
greatest and highest blessings Lycurgus procured his people was the
abundance of leisure, which proceeded from his forbidding to them the
exercise of any mean and mechanical trade. Of the money-making that
depends on troublesome going about and seeing people and doing
business, they had no need at all in a state where wealth obtained no
honor or respect. The Helots tilled their ground for them, and paid
them yearly in kind the appointed quantity, without any trouble of
theirs. To this purpose there goes a story of a Lacedaemonian who,
happening to be at Athens when the courts were sitting, was told of a
citizen that had been fined for living an idle life, and was being
escorted home in much distress of mind by his condoling friends; the
Lacedaemonian was much surprised at it, and desired his friend to show
him the man who was condemned for living like a freeman. So much
beneath them did they esteem the frivolous devotion of time and
attention to the mechanical arts and to money-making.
It need not be said, that, upon the prohibition of gold and silver, all
lawsuits immediately ceased, for there was now neither avarice nor
poverty amongst them, but equality, where every one's wants were
supplied, and independence, because those wants were so small. All
their time, except when they were in the field, was taken up by the
choral dances and the festivals, in hunting, and in attendance on the
exercise-grounds and the places of public conversation. Those who were
under thirty years of age were not allowed to go into the marketplace,
but had the necessaries of their family supplied by the care of their
relations and lovers; nor was it for the credit of elderly men to be
seen too often in the marketplace; it was esteemed more suitable for
them to frequent the exercise-grounds and places of conversation, where
they spent their leisure rationally in conversation, not on
money-making and market-prices, but for the most part in passing
judgment on some action worth considering; extolling the good, and
censuring those who were otherwise, and that in a light and sportive
manner, conveying, without too much gravity, lessons of advice and
improvement. Nor was Lycurgus himself unduly austere; it was he who
dedicated, says Sosibius, the little statue of Laughter. Mirth,
introduced seasonably at their suppers and places of common
entertainment, was to serve as a sort of sweetmeat to accompany their
strict and hard life. To conclude, he bred up his citizens in such a
way that they neither would nor could live by themselves; they were to
make themselves one with the public good, and, clustering like bees
around their commander, be by their zeal and public spirit carried all
but out of themselves, and devoted wholly to their country. What their
sentiments were will better appear by a few of their sayings.
Paedaretus, not being admitted into the list of the three hundred,
returned home with a joyful face, well pleased to find that there were
in Sparta three hundred better men than himself. And Polycratidas,
being sent with some others ambassador to the lieutenants of the king
of Persia, being asked by them whether they came in a private or in a
public character, answered, "In a public, if we succeed; if not, in a
private character." Argileonis, asking some who came from Amphipolis if
her son Brasidas died courageously and as became a Spartan, on their
beginning to praise him to a high degree, and saying there was not such
another left in Sparta, answered, "Do not say so; Brasidas was a good
and brave man, but there are in Sparta many better than he."
The senate, as I said before, consisted of those who were Lycurgus's
chief aiders and assistants in his plans. The vacancies he ordered to
be supplied out of the best and most deserving men past sixty years
old; and we need not wonder if there was much striving for it; for what
more glorious competition could there be amongst men, than one in which
it was not contested who was swiftest among the swift or strongest of
the strong, but who of many wise and good was wisest and best, and
fittest to be entrusted for ever after, as the reward of his merits,
with the supreme authority of the commonwealth, and with power over the
lives, franchises, and highest interests of all his countrymen? The
manner of their election was as follows: the people being called
together, some selected persons were locked up in a room near the place
of election, so contrived that they could neither see nor be seen, but
could only hear the noise of the assembly without; for they decided
this, as most other affairs of moment, by the shouts of the people.
This done, the competitors were not brought in and presented all
together, but one after another by lot, and passed in order through the
assembly without speaking a word. Those who were locked up had
writing-tables with them, in which they recorded and marked each shout
by its loudness, without knowing in favor of which candidate each of
them was made, but merely that they came first, second, third, and so
forth. He who was found to have the most and loudest acclamations was
declared senator duly elected. Upon this he had a garland set upon his
head, and went in procession to all the temples to give thanks to the
gods; a great number of young men followed him with applauses, and
women, also, singing verses in his honor, and extolling the virtue and
happiness of his life. As he went round the city in this manner, each
of his relations and friends set a table before him, saying, "The city
honors you with this banquet;" but he, instead of accepting, passed
round to the common table where he formerly used to eat; and was served
as before, excepting that now he had a second allowance, which he took
and put by. By the time supper was ended, the women who were of kin to
him had come about the door; and he, beckoning to her whom he most
esteemed, presented to her the portion he had saved, saying, that it
had been a mark of esteem to him, and was so now to her; upon which she
was triumphantly waited upon home by the women.
Touching burials, Lycurgus made very wise regulations; for, first of
all, to cut of all superstition, he allowed them to bury their dead
within the city, and even round about their temples, to the end that
their youth might be accustomed to such spectacles, and not be afraid
to see a dead body, or imagine that to touch a corpse or to tread upon
a grave would defile a man. In the next place, he commanded them to put
nothing into the ground with them, except, if they pleased, a few olive
leaves, and the scarlet cloth that they were wrapped in. He would not
suffer the names to be inscribed, except only of men who fell in the
wars, or women who died in a sacred office. The time, too, appointed
for mourning, was very short, eleven days; on the twelfth, they were to
do sacrifice to Ceres, and leave it off; so that we may see, that as he
cut off all superfluity, so in things necessary there was nothing so
small and trivial which did not express some homage of virtue or scorn
of vice. He filled Lacedaemon all through with proofs and examples of
good conduct; with the constant sight of which from their youth up, the
people would hardly fail to be gradually formed and advanced in virtue.
And this was the reason why he forbade them to travel abroad, and go
about acquainting themselves with foreign rules of morality, the habits
of ill-educated people, and different views of government. Withal he
banished from Lacedaemon all strangers who could not give a very good
reason for their coming thither; not because he was afraid lest they
should inform themselves of and imitate his manner of government (as
Thucydides says), or learn any thing to their good; but rather lest
they should introduce something contrary to good manners. With strange
people, strange words must be admitted; these novelties produce
novelties in thought; and on these follow views and feelings whose
discordant character destroys the harmony of the state. He was as
careful to save his city from the infection of foreign bad habits, as
men usually are to prevent the introduction of a pestilence.
Hitherto I, for my part, see no sign of injustice or want of equity in
the laws of Lycurgus, though some who admit them to be well contrived
to make good soldiers, pronounce them defective in point of justice.
The Cryptia, perhaps (if it were one of Lycurgus's ordinances, as
Aristotle says it was), Gave both him and Plato, too, this opinion
alike of the lawgiver and his government. By this ordinance, the
magistrates dispatched privately some of the ablest of the young men
into the country, from time to time, armed only with their daggers, and
taking a little necessary provision with them; in the daytime, they hid
themselves in out-of-the-way places, and there lay close, but, in the
night, issued out into the highways, and killed all the Helots they
could light upon; sometimes they set upon them by day, as they were at
work in the fields, and murdered them. As, also, Thucydides, in his
history of the Peloponnesian war, tells us, that a good number of them,
after being singled out for their bravery by the Spartans, garlanded,
as enfranchised persons, and led about to all the temples in token of
honors, shortly after disappeared all of a sudden, being about the
number of two thousand; and no man either then or since could give an
account how they came by their deaths. And Aristotle, in particular,
adds, that the ephori, so soon as they were entered into their office,
used to declare war against them, that they might be massacred without
a breach of religion. It is confessed, on all hands, that the Spartans
dealt with them very hardly; for it was a common thing to force them to
drink to excess, and to lead them in that condition into their public
halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they
made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs, forbidding
them expressly to meddle with any of a better kind. And, accordingly,
when the Thebans made their invasion into Laconia, and took a great
number of the Helots, they could by no means persuade them to sing the
verses of Terpander, Alcman, or Spendon, "For," said they, "the masters
do not like it." So that it was truly observed by one, that in Sparta
he who was free was most so, and he that was a slave there, the
greatest slave in the world. For my part, I am of opinion that these
outrages and cruelties began to be exercised in Sparta at a later time,
especially after the great earthquake, when the Helots made a general
insurrection, and, joining with the Messenians, laid the country waste,
and brought the greatest danger upon the city. For I cannot persuade
myself to ascribe to Lycurgus so wicked and barbarous a course, judging
of him from the gentleness of his disposition and justice upon all
other occasions; to which the oracle also testified.
When he perceived that his more important institutions had taken root
in the minds of his countrymen, that custom had rendered them familiar
and easy, that his commonwealth was now grown up and able to go alone,
then, as, Plato somewhere tells us, the Maker of the world, when first
he saw it existing and beginning its motion, felt joy, even so
Lycurgus, viewing with joy and satisfaction the greatness and beauty of
his political structure, now fairly at work and in motion, conceived
the thought to make it immortal too, and, as far as human forecast
could reach, to deliver it down unchangeable to posterity. He called an
extraordinary assembly of all the people, and told them that he now
thought every thing reasonably well established, both for the happiness
and the virtue of the state; but that there was one thing still behind,
of the greatest importance, which he thought not fit to impart until he
had consulted the oracle; in the meantime, his desire was that they
would observe the laws without any the least alteration until his
return, and then he would do as the god should direct him. They all
consented readily, and bade him hasten his journey; but, before he
departed, he administered an oath to the two kings, the senate, and the
whole commons, to abide by and maintain the established form of polity
until Lycurgus should be come back. This done, he set out for Delphi,
and, having sacrificed to Apollo, asked him whether the laws he had
established were good, and sufficient for a people's happiness and
virtue. The oracle answered that the laws were excellent, and that the
people, while it observed them, should live in the height of renown.
Lycurgus took the oracle in writing, and sent it over to Sparta; and,
having sacrificed the second time to Apollo, and taken leave of his
friends and his son, he resolved that the Spartans should not be
released from the oath they had taken, and that he would, of his own
act, close his life where he was. He was now about that age in which
life was still tolerable, and yet might be quitted without regret.
Every thing, moreover, about him was in a sufficiently prosperous
condition. He, therefore, made an end of himself by a total abstinence
from food; thinking it a statesman's duty to make his very death, if
possible, an act of service to the state, and even in the end of his
life to give some example of virtue and effect some useful purpose. He
would, on the one hand, crown and consummate his own happiness by a
death suitable to so honorable a life, and, on the other, would secure
to his countrymen the enjoyment of the advantages he had spent his life
in obtaining for them, since they had solemnly sworn the maintenance of
his institutions until his return. Nor was he deceived in his
expectations, for the city of Lacedaemon continued the chief city of
all Greece for the space of five hundred years, in strict observance of
Lycurgus's laws; in all which time there was no manner of alteration
made, during the reign of fourteen kings, down to the time of Agis, the
son of Archidamus. For the new creation of the ephori, though thought
to be in favor of the people, was so far from diminishing, that it very
much heightened, the aristocratical character of the government.
In the time of Agis, gold and silver first flowed into Sparta, and with
them all those mischiefs which attend the immoderate desire of riches.
Lysander promoted this disorder; for, by bringing in rich spoils from
the wars, although himself incorrupt, he yet by this means filled his
country with avarice and luxury, and subverted the laws and ordinances
of Lycurgus; so long as which were in force, the aspect presented by
Sparta was rather that of a rule of life followed by one wise and
temperate man, than of the political government of a nation. And as the
poets feign of Hercules, that, with his lion's skin and his club, he
went over the world, punishing lawless and cruel tyrants, so may it be
said of the Lacedaemonians, that, with a common staff and a coarse
coat, they gained the willing and joyful obedience of Greece, through
whose whole extent they suppressed unjust usurpations and despotisms,
arbitrated in war, and composed civil dissensions; and this often
without so much as taking down one buckler, but barely by sending some
one single deputy, to whose direction all at once submitted, like bees
swarming and taking their places around their prince. Such a fund of
order and equity, enough and to spare for others, existed in their
state.
And therefore I cannot but wonder at those who say that the Spartans
were good subjects, but bad governors, and for proof of it allege a
saying of king Theopompus, who, when one said that Sparta held up so
long because their kings could command so well, replied, "Nay, rather
because the people know so well how to obey." For people do not obey,
unless rulers know how to command; obedience is a lesson taught by
commanders. A true leader himself creates the obedience of his own
followers; as it is the last attainment in the art of riding to make a
horse gentle and tractable, so is it of the science of government, to
inspire men with a willingness to obey. The Lacedaemonians inspired men
not with a mere willingness, but with an absolute desire, to be their
subjects. For they did not send petitions to them for ships or money,
or a supply of armed men, but only for a Spartan commander; and, having
obtained one, used him with honor and reverence; so the Sicilians
behaved to Gylippus, the Chalcidians to Brasidas, and all the Greeks in
Asia to Lysander, Callicratidas, and Agesilaus; they styled them the
composers and chasteners of each people or prince they were sent to,
and had their eyes always fixed upon the city of Sparta itself, as the
perfect model of good manners and wise government. The rest seemed as
scholars, they the masters of Greece; and to this Stratonicus
pleasantly alluded, when in jest he pretended to make a law that the
Athenians should conduct religious processions and the mysteries, the
Eleans should preside at the Olympic games, and, if either did amiss,
the Lacedaemonians be beaten. Antisthenes, too, one of the scholars of
Socrates, said, in earnest, of the Thebans, when they were elated by
their victory at Leuctra, that they looked like schoolboys who had
beaten their master.
However, it was not the design of Lycurgus that his city should govern
a great many others; he thought rather that the happiness of a state,
as of a private man, consisted chiefly in the exercise of virtue, and
in the concord of the inhabitants; his aim, therefore, in all his
arrangements, was to make and keep them free-minded, self-dependent,
and temperate. And therefore all those who have written well on
politics, as Plato, Diogenes, and Zeno, have taken Lycurgus for their
model, leaving behind them, however, mere projects and words; whereas
Lycurgus was the author, not in writing but in reality, of a government
which none else could so much as copy; and while men in general have
treated the individual philosophic character as unattainable, he, by
the example of a complete philosophic state, raised himself high above
all other lawgivers of Greece. And so Aristotle says they did him less
honor at Lacedaemon after his death than he deserved, although he has a
temple there, and they offer sacrifices yearly to him as to a god.
It is reported that when his bones were brought home to Sparta his tomb
was struck with lightning; an accident which befell no eminent person
but himself, and Euripides, who was buried at Arethusa in Macedonia;
and it may serve that poet's admirers as a testimony in his favor, that
he had in this the same fate with that holy man and favorite of the
gods. Some say Lycurgus died in Cirrha; Apollothemis says, after he had
come to Elis; Timaeus and Aristoxenus, that he ended his life in Crete;
Aristoxenus adds that his tomb is shown by the Cretans in the district
of Pergamus, near the strangers' road. He left an only son, Antiorus,
on whose death without issue, his family became extinct. But his
relations and friends kept up an annual commemoration of him down to a
long time after; and the days of the meeting were called Lycurgides.
Aristocrates, the son of Hipparchus, says that he died in Crete, and
that his Cretan friends, in accordance with his own request, when they
had burned his body, scattered the ashes into the sea; for fear lest,
if his relics should be transported to Lacedaemon, the people might
pretend to be released from their oaths, and make innovations in the
government. Thus much may suffice for the life and actions of Lycurgus.
NUMA POMPILIUS
Though the pedigrees of noble families of Rome go back in exact form as
far as Numa Pompilius, yet there is great diversity amongst historians
concerning the time in which he reigned; a certain writer called
Clodius, in a book of his entitled Strictures on Chronology, avers that
the ancient registers of Rome were lost when the city was sacked by the
Gauls, and that those which are now extant were counterfeited, to
flatter and serve the humor of some men who wished to have themselves
derived from some ancient and noble lineage, though in reality with no
claim to it. And though it be commonly reported that Numa was a scholar
and a familiar acquaintance of Pythagoras, yet it is again contradicted
by others, who affirm, that he was acquainted with neither the Greek
language nor learning, and that he was a person of that natural talent
and ability as of himself to attain to virtue, or else that he found
some barbarian instructor superior to Pythagoras. Some affirm, also,
that Pythagoras was not contemporary with Numa, but lived at least five
generations after him; and that some other Pythagoras, a native of
Sparta, who, in the sixteenth Olympiad, in the third year of which Numa
became king, won a prize at the Olympic race, might, in his travel
through Italy, have gained acquaintance with Numa, and assisted him in
the constitution of his kingdom; whence it comes that many Laconian
laws and customs appear amongst the Roman institutions. Yet, in any
case, Numa was descended of the Sabines, who declare themselves to be a
colony of the Lacedaemonians. And chronology, in general, is uncertain;
especially when fixed by the lists of victors in the Olympic games,
which were published at a late period by Hippias the Elean, and rest on
no positive authority. Commencing, however, at a convenient point, we
will proceed to give the most noticeable events that are recorded of
the life of Numa.
It was the thirty-seventh year, counted from the foundation of Rome,
when Romulus, then reigning, did, on the fifth day of the month of
July, called the Caprotine Nones, offer a public sacrifice at the
Goat's Marsh, in presence of the senate and people of Rome. Suddenly
the sky was darkened, a thick cloud of storm and rain settled on the
earth; the common people fled in affright, and were dispersed; and in
this whirlwind Romulus disappeared, his body being never found either
living or dead. A foul suspicion presently attached to the patricians,
and rumors were current among the people as if that they, weary of
kingly government, and exasperated of late by the imperious deportment
of Romulus towards them, had plotted against his life and made him
away, that so they might assume the authority and government into their
own hands. This suspicion they sought to turn aside by decreeing divine
honors to Romulus, as to one not dead but translated to a higher
condition. And Proculus, a man of note, took oath that he saw Romulus
caught up into heaven in his arms and vestments, and heard him, as he
ascended, cry out that they should hereafter style him by the name of
Quirinus.
This trouble, being appeased, was followed by another, about the
election of a new king: for the minds of the original Romans and the
new inhabitants were not as yet grown into that perfect unity of
temper, but that there were diversities of factions amongst the
commonalty, and jealousies and emulations amongst the senators; for
though all agreed that it was necessary to have a king. yet what person
or of which nation, was matter of dispute. For those who had been
builders of the city with Romulus, and had already yielded a share of
their lands and dwellings to the Sabines, were indignant at any
pretension on their part to rule over their benefactors. On the other
side, the Sabines could plausibly allege, that, at their king Tatius's
decease, they had peaceably submitted to the sole command of Romulus;
so now their turn was come to have a king chosen out of their own
nation; nor did they esteem themselves to have combined with the Romans
as inferiors, nor to have contributed less than they to the increase of
Rome, which, without their numbers and association, could scarcely have
merited the name of a city.
Thus did both parties argue and dispute their cause; but lest meanwhile
discord, in the absence of all command, should occasion general
confusion, it was agreed that the hundred and fifty senators should
interchangeably execute the office of supreme magistrate, and each in
succession, with the ensigns of royalty, should offer the solemn
sacrifices and dispatch public business for the space of six hours by
day and six by night; which vicissitude and equal distribution of power
would preclude all rivalry amongst the senators and envy from the
people, when they should behold one, elevated to the degree of a king,
leveled within the space of a day to the condition of a private
citizen. This form of government is termed, by the Romans, interregnum.
Nor yet could they, by this plausible and modest way of rule, escape
suspicion and clamor of the vulgar, as though they were changing the
form of government to an oligarchy, and designing to keep the supreme
power in a sort of wardship under themselves, without ever proceeding
to choose a king. Both parties came at length to the conclusion that
the one should choose a king out of the body of the other; the Romans
make choice of a Sabine, or the Sabines name a Roman; this was esteemed
the best expedient to put an end to all party spirit, and the prince
who should be chosen would have an equal affection to the one party as
his electors and to the other as his kinsmen. The Sabines remitted the
choice to the original Romans, and they, too, on their part, were more
inclinable to receive a Sabine king elected by themselves than to see a
Roman exalted by the Sabines. Consultations being accordingly held,
they named Numa Pompilius, of the Sabine race, a person of that high
reputation for excellence, that, though he were not actually residing
at Rome, yet he was no sooner nominated than accepted by the Sabines,
with acclamation almost greater than that of the electors themselves.
The choice being declared and made known to the people, principal men
of both parties were appointed to visit and entreat him, that he would
accept the administration of the government. Numa resided at a famous
city of the Sabines called Cures, whence the Romans and Sabines gave
themselves the joint name of Quirites. Pomponius, an illustrious
person, was his father, and he the youngest of his four sons, being (as
it had been divinely ordered) born on the twenty-first day of April,
the day of the foundation of Rome. He was endued with a soul rarely
tempered by nature, and disposed to virtue, which he had yet more
subdued by discipline, a severe life, and the study of philosophy;
means which had not only succeeded in expelling the baser passions, but
also the violent and rapacious temper which barbarians are apt to think
highly of; true bravery, in his judgment, was regarded as consisting in
the subjugation of our passions by reason.
He banished all luxury and softness from his own home, and, while
citizens alike and strangers found in him an incorruptible judge and
counselor, in private he devoted himself not to amusement or lucre, but
to the worship of the immortal gods, and the rational contemplation of
their divine power and nature. So famous was he, that Tatius, the
colleague of Romulus, chose him for his son-in-law, and gave him his
only daughter, which, however, did not stimulate his vanity to desire
to dwell with his father-in-law at Rome; he rather chose to inhabit
with his Sabines, and cherish his own father in his old age; and Tatia,
also, preferred the private condition of her husband before the honors
and splendor she might have enjoyed with her father. She is said to
have died after she had been married thirteen years, and then Numa,
leaving the conversation of the town, betook himself to a country life,
and in a solitary manner frequented the groves and fields consecrated
to the gods, passing his life in desert places. And this in particular
gave occasion to the story about the goddess, namely, that Numa did not
retire from human society out of any melancholy or disorder of mind.
but because he had tasted the joys of more elevated intercourse, and,
admitted to celestial wedlock in the love and converse of the goddess
Egeria, had attained to blessedness, and to a divine wisdom.
The story evidently resembles those very ancient fables which the
Phrygians have received and still recount of Attis, the Bithynians of
Herodotus, the Arcadians of Endymion, not to mention several others who
were thought blessed and beloved of the gods; nor does it seem strange
if God, a lover, not of horses or birds, but men, should not disdain to
dwell with the virtuous and converse with the wise and temperate soul,
though it be altogether hard, indeed, to believe, that any god or
daemon is capable of a sensual or bodily love and passion for any human
form or beauty. Though, indeed, the wise Egyptians do not unplausibly
make the distinction, that it may be possible for a divine spirit so to
apply itself to the nature of a woman, as to imbreed in her the first
beginnings of generation, while on the other side they conclude it
impossible for the male kind to have any intercourse or mixture by the
body with any divinity, not considering, however, that what takes place
on the one side, must also take place on the other; intermixture, by
force of terms, is reciprocal. Not that it is otherwise than befitting
to suppose that the gods feel towards men affection, and love, in the
sense of affection, and in the form of care and solicitude for their
virtue and their good dispositions. And, therefore, it was no error of
those who feigned, that Phorbas, Hyacinthus, and Admetus were beloved
by Apollo; or that Hippolytus the Sicyonian was so much in his favor,
that, as often as he sailed from Sicyon to Cirrha, the Pythian
prophetess uttered this heroic verse, expressive of the god's attention
and joy:
Now doth Hippolytus return again, And venture his dear life upon the
main.
It is reported, also, that Pan became enamored of Pindar for his
verses, and the divine power rendered honor to Hesiod and Archilochus
after their death for the sake of the Muses; there is a statement,
also, that Aesculapius sojourned with Sophocles in his lifetime, of
which many proofs still exist, and that, when he was dead, another
deity took care for his funeral rites. And so if any credit may be
given to these instances, why should we judge it incongruous, that a
like spirit of the gods should visit Zaleucus, Minos, Zoroaster,
Lycurgus, and Numa, the controllers of kingdoms, and the legislators
for commonwealths? Nay, it may be reasonable to believe, that the gods,
with a serious purpose, assist at the councils and serious debates of
such men, to inspire and direct them; and visit poets and musicians, if
at all, in their more sportive moods; but, for difference of opinion
here, as Bacchylides said, "the road is broad." For there is no
absurdity in the account also given, that Lycurgus and Numa, and other
famous lawgivers, having the task of subduing perverse and refractory
multitudes, and of introducing great innovations, themselves made this
pretension to divine authority, which, if not true, assuredly was
expedient for the interests of those it imposed upon.
Numa was about forty years of age when the ambassadors came to make him
offers of the kingdom; the speakers were Proculus and Velesus, one or
other of whom it had been thought the people would elect as their new
king; the original Romans being for Proculus, and the Sabines for
Velesus. Their speech was very short, supposing that, when they came to
tender a kingdom, there needed little to persuade to an acceptance;
but, contrary to their expectation, they found that they had to use
many reasons and entreaties to induce one, that lived in peace and
quietness, to accept the government of a city whose foundation and
increase had been made, in a manner, in war. In presence of his father
and his kinsman Marcius, he returned answer that "Every alteration of a
man's life is dangerous to him; but madness only could induce one who
needs nothing and is satisfied with everything to quit a life he is
accustomed to; which, whatever else it is deficient in, at any rate has
the advantage of certainty over one wholly doubtful and unknown.
Though, indeed, the difficulties of this government cannot even be
called unknown; Romulus, who first held it, did not escape the
suspicion of having plotted against the life of his colleague Tatius;
nor the senate the like accusation, of having treasonably murdered
Romulus. Yet Romulus had the advantage to be thought divinely born and
miraculously preserved and nurtured. My birth was mortal; I was reared
and instructed by men that are known to you. The very points of my
character that are most commended mark me as unfit to reign,--love of
retirement and of studies inconsistent with business, a passion that
has become inveterate in me for peace, for unwarlike occupations, and
for the society of men whose meetings are but those of worship and of
kindly intercourse, whose lives in general are spent upon their farms
and their pastures. I should but be, methinks, a laughing-stock, while
I should go about to inculcate the worship of the gods, and give
lessons in the love of justice and the abhorrence of violence and war,
to a city whose needs are rather for a captain than for a king."
The Romans, perceiving by these words that he was declining to accept
the kingdom, were the more instant and urgent with him that he would
not forsake and desert them in this condition, and suffer them to
relapse, as they must, into their former sedition and civil discord,
there being no person on whom both parties could accord but on himself.
And, at length, his father and Marcius, taking him aside, persuaded him
to accept a gift so noble in itself, and tendered to him rather from
heaven than from men. "Though," said they, "you neither desire riches,
being content with what you have, nor court the fame of authority, as
having already the more valuable fame of virtue, yet you will consider
that government itself is a service of God, who now calls out into
action your qualities of justice and wisdom, which were not meant to be
left useless and unemployed. Cease, therefore, to avoid and turn your
back upon an office which, to a wise man, is a field for great and
honorable actions, for the magnificent worship of the gods, and for the
introduction of habits of piety, which authority alone can effect
amongst a people. Tatius, though a foreigner, was beloved, and the
memory of Romulus has received divine honors; and who knows but that
this people, being victorious, may be satiated with war, and, content
with the trophies and spoils they have acquired, may be, above all
things, desirous to have a pacific and justice-loving prince, to lead
them to good order and quiet? But if, indeed, their desires are
uncontrollably and madly set on war, were it not better, then, to have
the reins held by such a moderating hand as is able to divert the fury
another way, and that your native city and the whole Sabine nation
should possess in you a bond of good-will and friendship with this
young and growing power?"
With these reasons and persuasions several auspicious omens are said to
have concurred, and the zeal, also, of his fellow-citizens, who, on
understanding what message the Roman ambassadors had brought him,
entreated him to accompany them, and to accept the kingdom as a means
to unanimity and concord between the nations.
Numa, yielding to these inducements, having first performed divine
sacrifice, proceeded to Rome, being met in his way by the senate and
people, who, with an impatient desire, came forth to receive him; the
women, also, welcomed him with joyful acclamations, and sacrifices were
offered for him in all the temples, and so universal was the joy, that
they seemed to be receiving, not a new king, but a new kingdom. In this
manner he descended into the forum, where Spurius Vettius, whose turn
it was to be interrex at that hour, put it to the vote; and all
declared him king. Then the regalities and robes of authority were
brought to him; but he refused to be invested with them until he had
first consulted and been confirmed by the gods; so, being accompanied
by the priests and augurs, he ascended the Capitol, which at that time
the Romans called the Tarpeian Hill. Then the chief of the augurs
covered Numa's head, and turned his face towards the south, and,
standing behind him, laid his right hand on his head, and prayed,
turning his eyes every way, in expectation of some auspicious signal
from the gods. It was wonderful, meantime, with what silence and
devotion the multitude stood assembled in the forum in similar
expectation and suspense, till auspicious birds appeared and passed on
the right. Then Numa, appareling himself in his royal robes, descended
from the hill to the people, by whom he was received and congratulated
with shouts and acclamations of welcome, as a holy king, and beloved of
all the gods.
The first thing he did at his entrance into government was to dismiss
the band of three hundred men which had been Romulus's life-guard,
called by him Celeres, saying, that he would not distrust those who put
confidence in him, nor rule over a people that distrusted him. The next
thing he did was to add to the two priests of Jupiter and Mars a third
in honor of Romulus, whom he called the Flamen Quirinalis. The Romans
anciently called their priests Flamines, by corruption of the word
Pilamines, from a certain cap which they wore, called Pileus. In those
times, Greek words were more mixed with the Latin than at present; thus
also the royal robe, which is called Laena, Juba says, is the same as
the Greek Chlaena; and that the name of Camillus, given to the boy with
both his parents living, who serves in the temple of Jupiter, was taken
from the name given by some Greeks to Mercury, denoting his office of
attendance on the gods.
When Numa had, by such measures, won the favor and affection of the
people, he set himself, without delay, to the task of bringing the hard
and iron Roman temper to somewhat more of gentleness and equity.
Plato's expression of a city in high fever was never more applicable
than to Rome at that time; in its origin formed by daring and warlike
spirits, whom bold and desperate adventure brought thither from every
quarter, it had found in perpetual wars and incursions on its neighbors
its after sustenance and means of growth and in conflict with danger
the source of new strength; like piles, which the blows of the rammer
serve to fix into the ground. Wherefore Numa, judging it no slight
undertaking to mollify and bend to peace the presumptuous and stubborn
spirits of this people, began to operate upon them with the sanctions
of religion. He sacrificed often, and used processions and religious
dances, in which most commonly he officiated in person; by such
combinations of solemnity with refined and humanizing pleasures,
seeking to win over and mitigate their fiery and warlike tempers. At
times, also, he filled their imaginations with religious terrors,
professing that strange apparitions had been seen, and dreadful voices
heard; thus subduing and humbling their minds by a sense of
supernatural fears.
This method which Numa used made it believed that he had been much
conversant with Pythagoras; for in the philosophy of the one, as in the
policy of the other, man's relations to the deity occupy a great place.
It is said, also, that the solemnity of his exterior garb and gestures
was adopted by him from the same feeling with Pythagoras. For it is
said of Pythagoras, that he had taught an eagle to come at his call,
and stoop down to him in its flight; and that, as he passed among the
people assembled at the Olympic games, he showed them his golden thigh;
besides many other strange and miraculous seeming practices, on which
Timon the Phliasian wrote the distich,--
Who, of the glory of a juggler proud,
With solemn talk imposed upon the crowd.
In like manner Numa spoke of a certain goddess or mountain nymph that
was in love with him, and met him in secret, as before related; and
professed that he entertained familiar conversation with the Muses, to
whose teaching he ascribed the greatest part of his revelations; and
amongst them, above all, he recommended to the veneration of the Romans
one in particular, whom he named Tacita, the Silent; which he did
perhaps in imitation and honor of the Pythagorean silence. His opinion,
also, of images is very agreeable to the doctrine of Pythagoras; who
conceived of the first principle of being as transcending sense and
passion, invisible and incorrupt, and only to be apprehended by
abstract intelligence. So Numa forbade the Romans to represent God in
the form of man or beast, nor was there any painted or graven image of
a deity admitted amongst them for the space of the first hundred and
seventy years, all which time their temples and chapels were kept free
and pure from images; to such baser objects they deemed it impious to
liken the highest, and all access to God impossible, except by the pure
act of the intellect. His sacrifices, also, had great similitude to the
ceremonial of Pythagoras, for they were not celebrated with effusion of
blood, but consisted of flour, wine, and the least costly offerings.
Other external proofs, too, are urged to show the connection Numa had
with Pythagoras. The comic writer Epicharmus, an ancient author, and of
the school of Pythagoras, in a book of his dedicated to Antenor,
records that Pythagoras was made a freeman of Rome. Again, Numa gave to
one of his four sons the name of Mamercus, which was the name of one of
the sons of Pythagoras; from whence, as they say sprang that ancient
patrician family of the Aemilii, for that the king gave him in sport
the surname of Aemilius, for his engaging and graceful manner in
speaking. I remember, too, that when I was at Rome, I heard many say,
that, when the oracle directed two statues to be raised, one to the
wisest, and another to the most valiant man of Greece, they erected two
of brass, one representing Alcibiades, and the other Pythagoras.
But to pass by these matters, which are full of uncertainty, and not so
important as to be worth our time to insist on them, the original
constitution of the priests, called Pontifices, is ascribed unto Numa,
and he himself was, it is said, the first of them; and that they have
the name of Pontifices from potens, powerful, because they attend the
service of the gods, who have power and command over all. Others make
the word refer to exceptions of impossible cases; the priests were to
perform all the duties possible to them; if any thing lay beyond their
power, the exception was not to be cavilled at. The most common opinion
is the most absurd, which derives this word from pons, and assigns the
priests the title of bridge-makers. The sacrifices performed on the
bridge were amongst the most sacred and ancient, and the keeping and
repairing of the bridge attached, like any other public sacred office,
to the priesthood. It was accounted not simply unlawful, but a positive
sacrilege, to pull down the wooden bridge; which moreover is said, in
obedience to an oracle, to have been built entirely of timber and
fastened with wooden pins, without nails or cramps of iron. The stone
bridge was built a very long time after, when Aemilius was quaestor,
and they do, indeed, say also that the wooden bridge was not so old as
Numa's time, but was finished by Ancus Marcius, when he was king, who
was the grandson of Numa by his daughter.
The office of Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, was to declare and
interpret the divine law, or, rather, to preside over sacred rites; he
not only prescribed rules for public ceremony, but regulated the
sacrifices of private persons, not suffering them to vary from
established custom, and giving information to every one of what was
requisite for purposes of worship or supplication. He was also guardian
of the vestal virgins, the institution of whom, and of their perpetual
fire, was attributed to Numa, who, perhaps fancied the charge of pure
and uncorrupted flames would be fitly entrusted to chaste and
unpolluted persons, or that fire, which consumes, but produces nothing,
bears all analogy to the virgin estate. In Greece, wherever a perpetual
holy fire is kept, as at Delphi and Athens, the charge of it is
committed, not to virgins, but widows past the time of marriage. And in
case by any accident it should happen that this fire became extinct, as
the holy lamp was at Athens under the tyranny of Aristion, and at
Delphi, when that temple was burnt by the Medes, as also in the time of
the Mithridatic and Roman civil war, when not only the fire was
extinguished, but the altar demolished, then, afterwards, in kindling
this fire again, it was esteemed an impiety to light it from common
sparks or flame, or from any thing but the pure and unpolluted rays of
the sun, which they usually effect by concave mirrors, of a figure
formed by the revolution of an isoceles rectangular triangle, all the
lines from the circumference of which meeting in a center, by holding
it in the light of the sun they can collect and concentrate all its
rays at this one point of convergence; where the air will now become
rarefied, and any light, dry, combustible matter will kindle as soon as
applied, under the effect of the rays, which here acquire the substance
and active force of fire. Some are of opinion that these vestals had no
other business than the preservation of this fire; but others conceive
that they were keepers of other divine secrets, concealed from all but
themselves, of which we have told all that may lawfully be asked or
told, in the life of Camillus. Gegania and Verenia, it is recorded,
were the names of the first two virgins consecrated and ordained by
Numa; Canuleia and Tarpeia succeeded; Servius afterwards added two, and
the number of four has continued to the present time.
The statutes prescribed by Numa for the vestals were these: that they
should take a vow of virginity for the space of thirty years, the first
ten of which they were to spend in learning their duties, the second
ten in performing them, and the remaining ten in teaching and
instructing others. Thus the whole term being completed, it was lawful
for them to marry, and, leaving the sacred order, to choose any
condition of life that pleased them; but this permission few, as they
say, made use of; and in cases where they did so, it was observed that
their change was not a happy one, but accompanied ever after with
regret and melancholy; so that the greater number, from religious fears
and scruples, forbore, and continued to old age and death in the strict
observance of a single life.
For this condition he compensated by great privileges and prerogatives;
as that they had power to make a will in the lifetime of their father;
that they had a free administration of their own affairs without
guardian or tutor, which was the privilege of women who were the
mothers of three children; when they go abroad, they have the fasces
carried before them; and if in their walks they chance to meet a
criminal on his way to execution, it saves his life, upon oath made
that the meeting was an accidental one, and not concerted or of set
purpose. Any one who presses upon the chair on which they are carried,
is put to death. If these vestals commit any minor fault, they are
punishable by the high- priest only, who scourges the offender,
sometimes with her clothes off, in a dark place, with a curtain drawn
between; but she that has broken her vow is buried alive near the gate
called Collina, where a little mound of earth stands, inside the city,
reaching some little distance, called in Latin agger; under it a narrow
room is constructed, to which a descent is made by stairs; here they
prepare a bed, and light a lamp, and leave a small quantity of
victuals, such as bread, water, a pail of milk, and some oil; that so
that body which had been consecrated and devoted to the most sacred
service of religion might not be said to perish by such a death as
famine. The culprit herself is put in a litter, which they cover over,
and tie her down with cords on it, so that nothing she utters may be
heard. They then take her to the forum; all people silently go out of
the way as she passes, and such as follow accompany the bier with
solemn and speechless sorrow; and, indeed, there is not any spectacle
more appalling, nor any day observed by the city with greater
appearance of gloom and sadness. When they come to the place of
execution, the officers loose the cords, and then the high- priest,
lifting his hands to heaven, pronounces certain prayers to himself
before the act; then he brings out the prisoner, being still covered,
and placing her upon the steps that lead down to the cell, turns away
his face with the rest of the priests; the stairs are drawn up after
she has gone down, and a quantity of earth is heaped up over the
entrance to the cell, so as to prevent it from being distinguished from
the rest of the mound. This is the punishment of those who break their
vow of virginity.
It is said, also, that Numa built the temple of Vesta, which was
intended for a repository of the holy fire, of a circular form, not to
represent the figure of the earth, as if that were the same as Vesta,
but that of the general universe, in the center of which the
Pythagoreans place the element of fire, and give it the name of Vesta
and the unit; and do not hold that the earth is immovable, or that it
is situated in the center of the globe, but that it keeps a circular
motion about the seat of fire, and is not in the number of the primary
elements; in this agreeing with the opinion of Plato, who, they say, in
his later life, conceived that the earth held a lateral position, and
that the central and sovereign space was reserved for some nobler body.
There was yet a farther use of the priests, and that was to give people
directions in the national usages at funeral rites. Numa taught them to
regard these offices, not as a pollution, but as a duty paid to the
gods below, into whose hands the better part of us is transmitted;
especially they were to worship the goddess Libitina, who presided over
all the ceremonies performed at burials; whether they meant hereby
Proserpina, or, as the most learned of the Romans conceive, Venus, not
inaptly attributing the beginning and end of man's life to the agency
of one and the same deity. Numa also prescribed rules for regulating
the days of mourning, according to certain times and ages. As, for
example, a child of three years was not to be mourned for at all; one
older, up to ten years, for as many months as it was years old; and the
longest time of mourning for any person whatsoever was not to exceed
the term of ten months; which was the time appointed for women that
lost their husbands to continue in widowhood. If any married again
before that time, by the laws of Numa she was to sacrifice a cow big
with calf.
Numa, also, was founder of several other orders of priests, two of
which I shall mention, the Salii and the Feciales, which are among the
clearest proofs of the devoutness and sanctity of his character. These
Fecials, or guardians of peace, seem to have had their name from their
office, which was to put a stop to disputes by conference and speech;
for it was not allowable to take up arms until they had declared all
hopes of accommodation to be at an end, for in Greek, too, we call it
peace when disputes are settled by words, and not by force. The Romans
commonly dispatched the Fecials, or heralds, to those who had offered
them injury, requesting satisfaction; and, in case they refused, they
then called the gods to witness, and, with imprecations upon themselves
and their country should they be acting unjustly, so declared war;
against their will, or without their consent, it was lawful neither for
soldier nor king to take up arms; the war was begun with them, and,
when they had first handed it over to the commander as a just quarrel,
then his business was to deliberate of the manner and ways to carry it
on. It is believed that the slaughter and destruction which the Gauls
made of the Romans was a judgment on the city for neglect of this
religious proceeding; for that when these barbarians besieged the
Clusinians, Fabius Ambustus was dispatched to their camp to negotiate
peace for the besieged; and, on their returning a rude refusal, Fabius
imagined that his office of ambassador was at an end, and, rashly
engaging on the side of the Clusinians, challenged the bravest of the
enemy to a single combat. It was the fortune of Fabius to kill his
adversary, and to take his spoils; but when the Gauls discovered it,
they sent a herald to Rome to complain against him; since, before war
was declared, he had, against the law of nations, made a breach of the
peace. The matter being debated in the senate, the Fecials were of
opinion that Fabius ought to be consigned into the hands of the Gauls;
but he, being forewarned of their judgment, fled to the people, by
whose protection and favor he escaped the sentence. On this, the Gauls
marched with their army to Rome, where, having taken the Capitol, they
sacked the city. The particulars of all which are fully given in the
history of Caminus.
The origin of the Salii is this. In the eighth year of the reign of
Numa, a terrible pestilence, which traversed all Italy, ravaged
likewise the city of Rome; and the citizens being in distress and
despondent, a brazen target, they say, fell from heaven into the hands
of Numa who gave them this marvelous account of it: that Egeria and the
Muses had assured him it was sent from heaven for the cure and safety
of the city, and that, to keep it secure, he was ordered by them to
make eleven others, so like in dimension and form to the original that
no thief should be able to distinguish the true from the counterfeit.
He farther declared, that he was commanded to consecrate to the Muses
the place, and the fields about it, where they had been chiefly wont to
meet with him, and that the spring which watered the field should be
hallowed for the use of the vestal virgins, who were to wash and
cleanse the penetralia of their sanctuary with those holy waters. The
truth of all which was speedily verified by the cessation of the
pestilence. Numa displayed the target to the artificers and bade them
show their skill in making others like it; all despaired, until at
length one Mamurius Veturius, an excellent workman, happily hit upon
it, and made all so exactly the same that Numa himself was at a loss,
and could not distinguish. The keeping of these targets was committed
to the charge of certain priests, called Salii, who did not receive
their name, as some tell the story, from Salius, a dancing-master born
in Samothrace, or at Mantinea, who taught the way of dancing in arms;
but more truly from that jumping dance which the Salii themselves use,
when in the month of March they carry the sacred targets through the
city; at which procession they are habited in short frocks of purple,
girt with a broad belt studded with brass; on their heads they wear a
brass helmet, and carry in their hands short daggers, which they clash
every now and then against the targets. But the chief thing is the
dance itself. They move with much grace, performing, in quick time and
close order, various intricate figures, with a great display of
strength and agility. The targets were called Ancilia from their form;
for they are not made round, nor like proper targets, of a complete
circumference, but are cut out into a wavy line, the ends of which are
rounded off and turned in at the thickest part towards each other; so
that their shape is curvilinear, or, in Greek, ancylon; or the name may
come from ancon, the elbow, on which they are carried. Thus Juba
writes, who is eager to make it Greek. But it might be, for that
matter, from its having come down anecathen, from above; or from its
akesis, or cure of diseases; or auchmon Iysis, because it put an end to
a drought; or from its anaschesis, or relief from calamities, which is
the origin of the Athenian name Anaces, given to Castor and Pollux; if
we must, that is, reduce it to Greek. The reward which Mamurius
received for his art was to be mentioned and commemorated in the verses
which the Salii sang, as they danced in their arms through the city;
though some will have it that they do not say Veturium Mamurium, but
Veterem Memoriam, ancient remembrance.
After Numa had in this manner instituted these several orders of
priests, he erected, near the temple of Vesta, what is called to this
day Regia, or king's house, where he spent the most part of his time,
performing divine service, instructing the priests, or conversing with
them on sacred subjects. He had another house upon the Mount
Quirinalis, the site of which they show to this day. In all public
processions and solemn prayers, criers were sent before to give notice
to the people that they should forbear their work, and rest. They say
that the Pythagoreans did not allow people to worship and pray to their
gods by the way, but would have them go out from their houses direct,
with their minds set upon the duty, and so Numa, in like manner, wished
that his citizens should neither see nor hear any religious service in
a perfunctory and inattentive manner, but, laying aside all other
occupations, should apply their minds to religion as to a most serious
business; and that the streets should be free from all noises and cries
that accompany manual labor, and clear for the sacred solemnity. Some
traces of this custom remain at Rome to this day, for, when the consul
begins to take auspices or do sacrifice, they call out to the people,
Hoc age, Attend to this, whereby the auditors then present are
admonished to compose and recollect themselves. Many other of his
precepts resemble those of the Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans said, for
example, "Thou shalt not make a peck-measure thy seat to sit on. Thou
shalt not stir the fire with a sword. When thou goest out upon a
journey, look not behind thee. When thou sacrificest to the celestial
gods, let it be with an odd number, and when to the terrestrial, with
even." The significance of each of which precepts they would not
commonly disclose. So some of Numa's traditions have no obvious
meaning. "Thou shalt not make libation to the gods of wine from an
unpruned vine. No sacrifices shall be performed without meal. Turn
round to pay adoration to the gods; sit after you have worshipped." The
first two directions seem to denote the cultivation and subduing of the
earth as a part of religion; and as to the turning which the worshipers
are to use in divine adoration, it is said to represent the rotatory
motion of the world. But, in my opinion, the meaning rather is, that
the worshiper, since the temples front the east, enters with his back
to the rising sun; there, faces round to the east, and so turns back to
the god of the temple, by this circular movement referring the
fulfillment of his prayer to both divinities. Unless, indeed, this
change of posture may have a mystical meaning, like the Egyptian
wheels, and signify to us the instability of human fortune, and that,
in whatever way God changes and turns our lot and condition, we should
rest contented, and accept it as right and fitting. They say, also,
that the sitting after worship was to be by way of omen of their
petitions being granted, and the blessing they asked assured to them.
Again, as different courses of actions are divided by intervals of
rest, they might seat themselves after the completion of what they had
done, to seek favor of the gods for beginning something else. And this
would very well suit with what we had before; the lawgiver wants to
habituate us to make our petitions to the deity not by the way, and as
it were, in a hurry, when we have other things to do, but with time and
leisure to attend to it. By such discipline and schooling in religion,
the city passed insensibly into such a submissiveness of temper, and
stood in such awe and reverence of the virtue of Numa, that they
received, with an undoubted assurance, whatever he delivered, though
never so fabulous, and thought nothing incredible or impossible from
him.
There goes a story that he once invited a great number of citizens to
an entertainment, at which the dishes in which the meat was served were
very homely and plain, and the repast itself poor and ordinary fare;
the guests seated, he began to tell them that the goddess that
consulted with him was then at that time come to him; when on a sudden
the room was furnished with all sorts of costly drinking-vessels, and
the tables loaded with rich meats, and a most sumptuous entertainment.
But the dialogue which is reported to have passed between him and
Jupiter surpasses all the fabulous legends that were ever invented.
They say that before Mount Aventine was inhabited or enclosed within
the walls of the city, two demi-gods, Picus and Faunus, frequented the
Springs and thick shades of that place; which might be two satyrs, or
Pans, except that they went about Italy playing the same sorts of
tricks, by skill in drugs and magic, as are ascribed by the Greeks to
the Dactyli of Mount Ida. Numa contrived one day to surprise these
demi-gods, by mixing wine and honey in the waters of the spring of
which they usually drank. On finding themselves ensnared, they changed
themselves into various shapes, dropping their own form and assuming
every kind of unusual and hideous appearance; but when they saw they
were safely entrapped, and in no possibility of getting free, they
revealed to him many secrets and future events; and particularly a
charm for thunder and lightning, still in use, performed with onions
and hair and pilchards. Some say they did not tell him the charm, but
by their magic brought down Jupiter out of heaven; and that he then, in
an angry manner answering the inquiries, told Numa, that, if he would
charm the thunder and lightning, he must do it with heads. "How," said
Numa, "with the heads of onions?" "No," replied Jupiter, "of men." But
Numa, willing to elude the cruelty of this receipt, turned it another
way, saying, "Your meaning is, the hairs of men's heads." "No," replied
Jupiter, "with living"--"pilchards," said Numa, interrupting him. These
answers he had learnt from Egeria. Jupiter returned again to heaven,
pacified and ilcos, or propitious. The place was, in remembrance of
him, called Ilicium, from this Greek word; and the spell in this manner
effected.
These stories, laughable as they are, show us the feelings which people
then, by force of habit, entertained towards the deity. And Numa's own
thoughts are said to have been fixed to that degree on divine objects,
that he once, when a message was brought to him that "Enemies are
approaching," answered with a smile, "And I am sacrificing." It was he,
also, that built the temples of Faith and Terminus and taught the
Romans that the name of Faith was the most solemn oath that they could
swear. They still use it; and to the god Terminus, or Boundary, they
offer to this day both public and private sacrifices, upon the borders
and stone- marks of their land; living victims now, though anciently
those sacrifices were solemnized without blood; for Numa reasoned that
the god of boundaries, who watched over peace, and testified to fair
dealing, should have no concern with blood. It is very clear that it
was this king who first prescribed bounds to the territory of Rome; for
Romulus would but have openly betrayed how much he had encroached on
his neighbors' lands, had he ever set limits to his own; for boundaries
are, indeed, a defense to those who choose to observe them, but are
only a testimony against the dishonesty of those who break through
them. The truth is, the portion of lands which the Romans possessed at
the beginning was very narrow, until Romulus enlarged them by war; all
whose acquisitions Numa now divided amongst the indigent commonalty,
wishing to do away with that extreme want which is a compulsion to
dishonesty, and, by turning the people to husbandry, to bring them, as
well as their lands, into better order. For there is no employment that
gives so keen and quick a relish for peace as husbandry and a country
life, which leave in men all that kind of courage that makes them ready
to fight in defense of their own, while it destroys the license that
breaks out into acts of injustice and rapacity. Numa, therefore, hoping
agriculture would be a sort of charm to captivate the affections of his
people to peace, and viewing it rather as a means to moral than to
economical profit, divided all the lands into several parcels, to which
he gave the name of pagus, or parish, and over every one of them he
ordained chief overseers; and, taking a delight sometimes to inspect
his colonies in person, he formed his judgment of every man's habits by
the results; of which being witness himself, he preferred those to
honors and employments who had done well, and by rebukes and reproaches
incited the indolent and careless to improvement. But of all his
measures the most commended was his distribution of the people by their
trades into companies or guilds; for as the city consisted, or rather
did not consist of, but was divided into, two different tribes, the
diversity between which could not be effaced and in the mean time
prevented all unity and caused perpetual tumult and ill-blood,
reflecting how hard substances that do not readily mix when in the lump
may, by being beaten into powder, in that minute form be combined, he
resolved to divide the whole population into a number of small
divisions, and thus hoped, by introducing other distinctions, to
obliterate the original and great distinction, which would be lost
among the smaller. So, distinguishing the whole people by the several
arts and trades, he formed the companies of musicians, goldsmiths,
carpenters, dyers, shoemakers, skinners, braziers, and potters; and all
other handicraftsmen he composed and reduced into a single company,
appointing every one their proper courts, councils, and religious
observances. In this manner all factious distinctions began, for the
first time, to pass out of use, no person any longer being either
thought of or spoken of under the notion of a Sabine or a Roman, a
Romulian or a Tatian; and the new division became a source of general
harmony and intermixture.
He is also much to be commended for the repeal, or rather amendment, of
that law which gives power to fathers to sell their children; he
exempted such as were married, conditionally that it had been with the
liking and consent of their parents; for it seemed a hard thing that a
woman who had given herself in marriage to a man whom she judged free
should afterwards find herself living with a slave.
He attempted, also, the formation of a calendar, not with absolute
exactness, yet not without some scientific knowledge. During the reign
of Romulus, they had let their months run on without any certain or
equal term; some of them contained twenty days, others thirty-five,
others more; they had no sort of knowledge of the inequality in the
motions of the sun and moon; they only kept to the one rule that the
whole course of the year contained three hundred and sixty days. Numa,
calculating the difference between the lunar and the solar' year at
eleven days, for that the moon completed her anniversary course in
three hundred and fifty-four days, and the sun in three hundred and
sixty- five, to remedy this incongruity doubled the eleven days, and
every other year added an intercalary month, to follow February,
consisting of twenty-two days, and called by the Romans the month
Mercedinus. This amendment, however, itself, in course of time, came to
need other amendments. He also altered the order of the months; for
March, which was reckoned the first, he put into the third place; and
January, which was the eleventh, he made the first; and February, which
was the twelfth and last, the second. Many will have it, that it was
Numa, also, who added the two months of January and February; for in
the beginning they had had a year of ten months; as there are
barbarians who count only three; the Arcadians, in Greece, had but
four; the Acarnanians, six. The Egyptian year at first, they say, was
of one month; afterwards, of four; and so, though they live in the
newest of all countries, they have the credit of being a more ancient
nation than any; and reckon, in their genealogies, a prodigious number
of years, counting months, that is, as years. That the Romans, at
first, comprehended the whole year within ten, and not twelve months,
plainly appears by the name of the last, December, meaning the tenth
month; and that March was the first is likewise evident, for the fifth
month after it was called Quintilis, and the sixth Sextilis, and so the
rest; whereas, if January and February had, in this account, preceded
March, Quintilis would have been fifth in name and seventh in
reckoning. It was also natural, that March, dedicated to Mars, should
be Romulus's first, and April, named from Venus, or Aphrodite, his
second month; in it they sacrifice to Venus, and the women bathe on the
calends, or first day of it, with myrtle garlands on their heads. But
others, because of its being p and not ph, will not allow of the
derivation of this word from Aphrodite, but say it is called April from
aperio, Latin for to open, because that this month is high spring, and
opens and discloses the buds and flowers. The next is called May, from
Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom it is sacred; then June follows,
so called from Juno; some, however, derive them from the two ages, old
and young, majores being their name for older, and juniores for younger
men. To the other months they gave denominations according to their
order; so the fifth was called Quintilis, Sextilis the sixth, and the
rest, September, October, November, and December. Afterwards Quintilis
received the name of Julius, from Caesar who defeated Pompey; as also
Sextilis that of Augustus, from the second Caesar, who had that title.
Domitian, also, in imitation, gave the two other following months his
own names, of Germanicus and Domitianus; but, on his being slain, they
recovered their ancient denominations of September and October. The two
last are the only ones that have kept their names throughout without
any alteration. Of the months which were added or transposed in their
order by Numa, February comes from februa; and is as much as
Purification month; in it they make offerings to the dead, and
celebrate the Lupercalia, which, in most points, resembles a
purification. January was so called from Janus, and precedence given to
it by Numa before March, which was dedicated to the god Mars; because,
as I conceive, he wished to take every opportunity of intimating that
the arts and studies of peace are to be preferred before those of war.
For this Janus, whether in remote antiquity he were a demi-god or a
king, was certainly a great lover of civil and social unity, and one
who reclaimed men from brutal and savage living; for which reason they
figure him with two faces, to represent the two states and conditions
out of the one of which he brought mankind, to lead them into the
other. His temple at Rome has two gates, which they call the gates of
war, because they stand open in the time of war, and shut in the times
of peace; of which latter there was very seldom an example, for, as the
Roman empire was enlarged and extended, it was so encompassed with
barbarous nations and enemies to be resisted, that it was seldom or
never at peace. Only in the time of Augustus Caesar, after he had
overcome Antony, this temple was shut; as likewise once before, when
Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls; but then it was not long
before, wars breaking out, the gates were again opened. But, during the
reign of Numa, those gates were never seen open a single day, but
continued constantly shut for a space of forty-three years together;
such an entire and universal cessation of war existed. For not only had
the people of Rome itself been softened and charmed into a peaceful
temper by the just and mild rule of a pacific prince, but even the
neighboring cities, as if some salubrious and gentle air had blown from
Rome upon them, began to experience a change of feeling, and partook in
the general longing for the sweets of peace and order, and for life
employed in the quiet tillage of soil, bringing up of children, and
worship of the gods. Festival days and sports, and the secure and
peaceful interchange of friendly visits and hospitalities prevailed all
through the whole of Italy. The love of virtue and justice flowed from
Numa's wisdom as from a fountain, and the serenity of his spirit
diffused itself, like a calm, on all sides; so that the hyperboles of
poets were flat and tame to express what then existed; as that
Over the iron shield the spiders hang their threads,
or that
Rust eats the pointed spear and double-edged sword.
No more is heard the trumpet's brazen roar,
Sweet sleep is banished from our eyes no more.
For, during the whole reign of Numa, there was neither war, nor
sedition, nor innovation in the state, nor any envy or ill-will to his
person, nor plot or conspiracy from views of ambition. Either fear of
the gods that were thought to watch over him, or reverence for his
virtue, or a divine felicity of fortune that in his days preserved
human innocence, made his reign, by whatever means, a living example
and verification of that saying which Plato, long afterwards, ventured
to pronounce, that the sole and only hope of respite or remedy for
human evils was in some happy conjunction of events, which should unite
in a single person the power of a king and the wisdom of a philosopher,
so as to elevate virtue to control and mastery over vice. The wise man
is blessed in himself, and blessed also are the auditors who can hear
and receive those words which flow from his mouth; and perhaps, too,
there is no need of compulsion or menaces to affect the multitude, for
the mere sight itself of a shining and conspicuous example of virtue in
the life of their prince will bring them spontaneously to virtue, and
to a conformity with that blameless and blessed life of good will and
mutual concord, supported by temperance and justice, which is the
highest benefit that human means can confer; and he is the truest ruler
who can best introduce it into the hearts and practice of his subjects.
It is the praise of Numa that no one seems ever to have discerned this
so clearly as he.
As to his children and wives, there is a diversity of reports by
several authors; some will have it that he never had any other wife
than Tatia, nor more children than one daughter called Pompilia; others
will have it that he left also four sons, namely, Pompo, Pinus, Calpus,
and Mamercus, every one of whom had issue, and from them descended the
noble and illustrious families of Pomponii, Pinarii, Calpurnii, and
Mamerci, which for this reason took also the surname of Rex, or King.
But there is a third set of writers who say that these pedigrees are
but a piece of flattery used by writers, who, to gain favor with these
great families, made them fictitious genealogies from the lineage of
Numa; and that Pompilia was not the daughter of Tatia, but Lucretia,
another wife whom he married after he came to his kingdom; however, all
of them agree in opinion that she was married to the son of that
Marcius who persuaded him to accept the government, and accompanied him
to Rome where, as a mark of honor, he was chosen into the senate, and,
after the death of Numa, standing in competition with Tullus Hostilius
for the kingdom, and being disappointed of the election, in discontent
killed himself; his son Marcius, however, who had married Pompilia,
continuing at Rome, was the father of Ancus Marcius, who succeeded
Tullus Hostilius in the kingdom, and was but five years of age when
Numa died.
Numa lived something above eighty years, and then, as Piso writes, was
not taken out of the world by a sudden or acute disease, but died of
old age and by a gradual and gentle decline. At his funeral all the
glories of his life were consummated, when all the neighboring states
in alliance and amity with Rome met to honor and grace the rites of his
interment with garlands and public presents; the senators carried the
bier on which his corpse was laid, and the priests followed and
accompanied the solemn procession; while a general crowd, in which
women and children took part, followed with such cries and weeping as
if they had bewailed the death and loss of some most dear relation
taken away in the flower of age, and not of an old and worn-out king.
It is said that his body, by his particular command, was not burnt, but
that they made, in conformity with his order, two stone coffins, and
buried both under the hill Janiculum, in one of which his body was
laid, and in the other his sacred books, which, as the Greek
legislators their tables, he had written out for himself, but had so
long inculcated the contents of them, whilst he lived, into the minds
and hearts of the priests, that their understandings became fully
possessed with the whole spirit and purpose of them; and he, therefore,
bade that they should be buried with his body, as though such holy
precepts could not without irreverence be left to circulate in mere
lifeless writings. For this very reason, they say, the Pythagoreans
bade that their precepts should not be committed to paper, but rather
preserved in the living memories of those who were worthy to receive
them; and when some of their out-of-the-way and abstruse geometrical
processes had been divulged to an unworthy person, they said the gods
threatened to punish this wickedness and profanity by a signal and
wide-spreading calamity. With these several instances, concurring to
show a similarity in the lives of Numa and Pythagoras, we may easily
pardon those who seek to establish the fact of a real acquaintance
between them.
Valerius Antias writes that the books which were buried in the
aforesaid chest or coffin of stone were twelve volumes of holy writ and
twelve others of Greek philosophy, and that about four hundred years
afterwards, when P. Cornelius and M. Baebius were consuls, in a time of
heavy rains, a violent torrent washed away the earth, and dislodged the
chests of stone; and, their covers falling off, one of them was found
wholly empty, without the least relic of any human body; in the other
were the books before mentioned, which the praetor Petilius having read
and perused, made oath in the senate, that, in his opinion, it was not
fit for their contents to be made public to the people; whereupon the
volumes were all carried to the Comitium, and there burnt.
It is the fortune of all good men that their virtue rises in glory
after their deaths, and that the envy which evil men conceive against
them never outlives them long; some have the happiness even to see it
die before them; but in Numa's case, also, the fortunes of the
succeeding kings served as foils to set off the brightness of his
reputation. For after him there were five kings, the last of whom ended
his old age in banishment, being deposed from his crown; of the other
four, three were assassinated and murdered by treason; the other, who
was Tullus Hostilius, that immediately succeeded Numa, derided his
virtues, and especially his devotion to religious worship, as a
cowardly and mean- spirited occupation, and diverted the minds of the
people to war; but was checked in these youthful insolences, and was
himself driven by an acute and tormenting disease into superstitions
wholly different from Numa's piety, and left others also to participate
in these terrors when he died by the stroke of a thunderbolt.
COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUS
Having thus finished the lives of Lycurgus and Numa, we shall now,
though the work be difficult, put together their points of difference
as they lie here before our view. Their points of likeness are obvious;
their moderation, their religion, their capacity of government and
discipline, their both deriving their laws and constitutions from the
gods. Yet in their common glories there are circumstances of diversity;
for, first, Numa accepted and Lycurgus resigned a kingdom; Numa
received without desiring it, Lycurgus had it and gave it up; the one
from a private person and a stranger was raised by others to be their
king, the other from the condition of a prince voluntarily descended to
the state of privacy. It was glorious to acquire a throne by justice,
yet more glorious to prefer justice before a throne; the same virtue
which made the one appear worthy of regal power exalted the other to
the disregard of it. Lastly, as musicians tune their harps, so the one
let down the high-flown spirits of the people at Rome to a lower key,
as the other screwed them up at Sparta to a higher note, when they were
sunken low by dissoluteness and riot. The harder task was that of
Lycurgus; for it was not so much his business to persuade his citizens
to put off their armor or ungird their swords, as to cast away their
gold or silver, and abandon costly furniture and rich tables; nor was
it necessary to preach to them, that, laying aside their arms, they
should observe the festivals, and sacrifice to the gods, but rather,
that, giving up feasting and drinking, they should employ their time in
laborious and martial exercises; so that while the one effected all by
persuasions and his people's love for him, the other, with danger and
hazard of his person, scarcely in the end succeeded. Numa's muse was a
gentle and loving inspiration, fitting him well to turn and soothe his
people into peace and justice out of their violent and fiery tempers;
whereas, if we must admit the treatment of the Helots to be a part of
Lycurgus's legislations, a most cruel and iniquitous proceeding, we
must own that Numa was by a great deal the more humane and Greek-like
legislator, granting even to actual slaves a license to sit at meat
with their masters at the feast of Saturn, that they, also, might have
some taste and relish of the sweets of liberty. For this custom, too,
is ascribed to Numa, whose wish was, they conceive, to give a place in
the enjoyment of the yearly fruits of the soil to those who had helped
to produce them. Others will have it to be in remembrance of the age of
Saturn, when there was no distinction between master and slave, but all
lived as brothers and as equals in a condition of equality.
In general, it seems that both aimed at the same design and intent,
which was to bring their people to moderation and frugality; but, of
other virtues, the one set his affection most on fortitude, and the
other on justice; unless we will attribute their different ways to the
different habits and temperaments which they had to work upon by their
enactments; for Numa did not out of cowardice or fear affect peace, but
because he would not be guilty of injustice; nor did Lycurgus promote a
spirit of war in his people that they might do injustice to others, but
that they might protect themselves by it.
In bringing the habits they formed in their people to a just and happy
mean, mitigating them where they exceeded, and strengthening them where
they were deficient, both were compelled to make great innovations. The
frame of government which Numa formed was democratic and popular to the
last extreme, goldsmiths and flute-players and shoemakers constituting
his promiscuous, many-colored commonalty. Lycurgus was rigid and
aristocratical, banishing all the base and mechanic arts to the company
of servants and strangers, and allowing the true citizens no implements
but the spear and shield, the trade of war only, and the service of
Mars, and no other knowledge or study but that of obedience to their
commanding officers, and victory over their enemies. Every sort of
money-making was forbid them as freemen; and to make them thoroughly so
and to keep them so through their whole lives, every conceivable
concern with money was handed over, with the cooking and the waiting at
table, to slaves and helots. But Numa made none of these distinctions;
he only suppressed military rapacity, allowing free scope to every
other means of obtaining wealth; nor did he endeavor to do away with
inequality in this respect, but permitted riches to be amassed to any
extent, and paid no attention to the gradual and continual augmentation
and influx of poverty; which it was his business at the outset, whilst
there was as yet no great disparity in the estates of men, and whilst
people still lived much in one manner, to obviate, as Lycurgus did, and
take measures of precaution against the mischiefs of avarice, mischiefs
not of small importance, but the real seed and first beginning of all
the great and extensive evils of after times. The re-division of
estates, Lycurgus is not, it seems to me, to be blamed for making, nor
Numa for omitting; this equality was the basis and foundation of the
one commonwealth; but at Rome, where the lands had been lately divided,
there was nothing to urge any re-division or any disturbance of the
first arrangement, which was probably still in existence.
With respect to wives and children, and that community which both, with
a sound policy, appointed, to prevent all jealousy, their methods,
however, were different. For when a Roman thought himself to have a
sufficient number of children, in case his neighbor who had none should
come and request his wife of him, he had a lawful power to give her up
to him who desired her, either for a certain time, or for good. The
Lacedaemonian husband on the other hand, might allow the use of his
wife to any other that desired to have children by her, and yet still
keep her in his house, the original marriage obligation still
subsisting as at first. Nay, many husbands, as we have said, would
invite men whom they thought like]y to procure them fine and
good-looking children into their houses. What is the difference, then,
between the two customs? Shall we say that the Lacedaemonian system is
one of an extreme and entire unconcern about their wives, and would
cause most people endless disquiet and annoyance with pangs and
jealousies? The Roman course wears an air of a more delicate
acquiescence, draws the veil of a new contract over the change, and
concedes the general insupportableness of mere community? Numa's
directions, too, for the care of young women are better adapted to the
female sex and to propriety; Lycurgus's are altogether unreserved and
unfeminine, and have given a great handle to the poets, who call them
(Ibycus, for example) Phaenomerides, bare- thighed; and give them the
character (as does Euripides) of being wild after husbands;
These with the young men from the house go out, With thighs that show,
and robes that fly about.
For in fact the skirts of the frock worn by unmarried girls were not
sewn together at the lower part, but used to fly back and show the
whole thigh bare as they walked. The thing is most distinctly given by
Sophocles.
--She, also, the young maid, Whose frock, no robe yet o'er it laid,
Folding back, leaves her bare thigh free, Hermione.
And so their women, it is said, were bold and masculine, overbearing to
their husbands in the first place, absolute mistresses in their houses,
giving their opinions about public matters freely, and speaking openly
even on the most important subjects. But the matrons, under the
government of Numa, still indeed received from their husbands all that
high respect and honor which had been paid them under Romulus as a sort
of atonement for the violence done to them; nevertheless, great modesty
was enjoined upon them; all busy intermeddling forbidden, sobriety
insisted on, and silence made habitual. Wine they were not to touch at
all, nor to speak, except in their husband's company, even on the most
ordinary subjects. So that once when a woman had the confidence to
plead her own cause in a court of judicature, the senate, it is said,
sent to inquire of the oracle what the prodigy did portend; and,
indeed, their general good behavior and submissiveness is justly proved
by the record of those that were otherwise; for as the Greek historians
record in their annals the names of those who first unsheathed the
sword of civil war, or murdered their brothers, or were parricides, or
killed their mothers, so the Roman writers report it as the first
example, that Spurius Carvilius divorced his wife, being a case that
never before happened, in the space of two hundred and thirty years
from the foundation of the city; and that one Thalaea, the wife of
Pinarius, had a quarrel (the first instance of the kind) with her
mother-in-law, Gegania, in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus; so
successful was the legislator in securing order and good conduct in the
marriage relation. Their respective regulations for marrying the young
women are in accordance with those for their education. Lycurgus made
them brides when they were of full age and inclination for it.
Intercourse, where nature was thus consulted, would produce, he
thought, love and tenderness, instead of the dislike and fear attending
an unnatural compulsion; and their bodies, also, would be better able
to bear the trials of breeding and of bearing children, in his judgment
the one end of marriage. Astolos chiton, the under garment, frock, or
tunic, without anything, either himation or peplus, over it.
The Romans, on the other hand, gave their daughters in marriage as
early as twelve years old, or even under; thus they thought their
bodies alike and minds would be delivered to the future husband pure
and undefiled. The way of Lycurgus seems the more natural with a view
to the birth of children; the other, looking to a life to be spent
together, is more moral. However, the rules which Lycurgus drew up for
superintendence of children, their collection into companies, their
discipline and association, as also his exact regulations for their
meals, exercises, and sports, argue Numa no more than an ordinary
lawgiver. Numa left the whole matter simply to be decided by the
parent's wishes or necessities; he might, if he pleased, make his son a
husbandman or carpenter, coppersmith or musician; as if it were of no
importance for them to be directed and trained up from the beginning to
one and the same common end, or as though it would do for them to be
like passengers on shipboard, brought thither each for his own ends and
by his own choice, uniting to act for the common good only in time of
danger upon occasion of their private fears, in general looking simply
to their own interest.
We may forbear, indeed, to blame common legislators, who may be
deficient in power or knowledge. But when a wise man like Numa had
received the sovereignty over a new and docile people, was there any
thing that would better deserve his attention than the education of
children, and the training up of the young, not to contrariety and
discordance of character, but to the unity of the common model of
virtue, to which from their cradle they should have been formed and
molded? One benefit among many that Lycurgus obtained by his course was
the permanence which it secured to his laws. The obligation of oaths to
preserve them would have availed but little, if he had not, by
discipline and education, infused them into the children's characters,
and imbued their whole early life with a love of his government. The
result was that the main points and fundamentals of his legislation
continued for above five hundred years, like some deep and thoroughly
ingrained tincture, retaining their hold upon the nation. But Numa's
whole design and aim, the continuance of peace and good-will, on his
death vanished with him; no sooner did he expire his last breath than
the gates of Janus's temple flew wide open, and, as if war had, indeed,
been kept and caged up within those walls, it rushed forth to fill all
Italy with blood and slaughter; and thus that best and justest fabric
of things was of no long continuance, because it wanted that cement
which should have kept all together, education. What, then, some may
say, has not Rome been advanced and bettered by her wars? A question
that will need a long answer, if it is to be one to satisfy men who
take the better to consist in riches, luxury, and dominion, rather than
in security, gentleness, and that independence which is accompanied by
justice. However, it makes much for Lycurgus, that, after the Romans
deserted the doctrine and discipline of Numa, their empire grew and
their power increased so much; whereas so soon as the Lacedaemonians
fell from the institutions of Lycurgus, they sank from the highest to
the lowest state, and, after forfeiting their supremacy over the rest
of Greece, were themselves in danger of absolute extirpation. Thus
much, meantime, was peculiarly signal and almost divine in the
circumstances of Numa, that he was an alien, and yet courted to come
and accept a kingdom, the frame of which though he entirely altered,
yet he performed it by mere persuasion, and ruled a city that as yet
had scarce become one city, without recurring to arms or any violence
(such as Lycurgus used, supporting himself by the aid of the nobler
citizens against the commonalty), but, by mere force of wisdom and
justice, established union and harmony amongst all.
SOLON
Didymus, the grammarian, in his answer to Asclepiades concerning
Solon's Tables of Law, mentions a passage of one Philocles, who states
that Solon's father's name was Euphorion, contrary to the opinion of
all others who have written concerning him; for they generally agree
that he was the son of Execestides, a man of moderate wealth and power
in the city, but of a most noble stock, being descended from Codrus;
his mother, as Heraclides Ponticus affirms, was cousin to Pisistratus's
mother, and the two at first were great friends, partly because they
were akin, and partly because of Pisistratus's noble qualities and
beauty. And they say Solon loved him; and that is the reason, I
suppose, that when afterwards they differed about the government, their
enmity never produced any hot and violent passion, they remembered
their old kindnesses, and retained--
Still in its embers living the strong fire
of their love and dear affection. For that Solon was not proof against
beauty, nor of courage to stand up to passion and meet it,
Hand to hand as in the ring--
we may conjecture by his poems, and one of his laws, in which there are
practices forbidden to slaves, which he would appear, therefore, to
recommend to freemen. Pisistratus, it is stated, was similarly attached
to one Charmus; he it was who dedicated the figure of Love in the
Academy, where the runners in the sacred torch-race light their
torches. Solon, as Hermippus writes, when his father had ruined his
estate in doing benefits and kindnesses to other men, though he had
friends enough that were willing to contribute to his relief, yet was
ashamed to be beholden to others, since he was descended from a family
who were accustomed to do kindnesses rather than receive them; and
therefore applied himself to merchandise in his youth; though others
assure us that he traveled rather to get learning and experience than
to make money. It is certain that he was a lover of knowledge, for when
he was old he would say, that he
Each day grew older, and learnt something new,
and yet no admirer of riches, esteeming as equally wealthy the man,--
Who hath both gold and silver in his hand,
Horses and mules, and acres of wheat-land,
And him whose all is decent food to eat,
Clothes to his back and shoes upon his feet,
And a young wife and child, since so 'twill be,
And no more years than will with that agree;--
and in another place,--
Wealth I would have, but wealth by wrong procure
I would not; justice, e'en if slow, is sure.
And it is perfectly possible for a good man and a statesman, without
being solicitous for superfluities, to show some concern for competent
necessaries. In his time, as Hesiod says, --"Work was a shame to none,"
nor was any distinction made with respect to trade, but merchandise was
a noble calling, which brought home the good things which the barbarous
nations enjoyed, was the occasion of friendship with their kings, and a
great source of experience. Some merchants have built great cities, as
Protis, the founder of Massilia, to whom the Gauls near the Rhine were
much attached. Some report also that Thales and Hippocrates the
mathematician traded; and that Plato defrayed the charges of his
travels by selling oil in Egypt. Solon's softness and profuseness, his
popular rather than philosophical tone about pleasure in his poems,
have been ascribed to his trading life; for, having suffered a thousand
dangers, it was natural they should be recompensed with some
gratifications and enjoyments; but that he accounted himself rather
poor than rich is evident from the lines,
Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor,
We will not change our virtue for their store;
Virtue's a thing that none call take away,
But money changes owners all the day.
At first he used his poetry only in trifles, not for any serious
purpose, but simply to pass away his idle hours; but afterwards he
introduced moral sentences and state matters, which he did, not to
record them merely as an historian, but to justify his own actions, and
sometimes to correct, chastise, and stir up the Athenians to noble
performances. Some report that he designed to put his laws into heroic
verse, and that they began thus,--
We humbly beg a blessing on our laws
From mighty Jove, and honor, and applause.
In philosophy, as most of the wise men then, he chiefly esteemed the
political part of morals; in physics, he was very plain and antiquated,
as appears by this,--
It is the clouds that make the snow and hail,
And thunder comes from lightning without fail;
The sea is stormy when the winds have blown,
But it deals fairly when 'tis left alone.
And, indeed, it is probable that at that time Thales alone had raised
philosophy above mere practice into speculation; and the rest of the
wise men were so called from prudence in political concerns. It is
said, that they had an interview at Delphi, and another at Corinth, by
the procurement of Periander, who made a meeting for them, and a
supper. But their reputation was chiefly raised by sending the tripod
to them all, by their modest refusal, and complaisant yielding to one
another. For, as the story goes, some of the Coans fishing with a net,
some strangers, Milesians, bought the draught at a venture; the net
brought up a golden tripod, which, they say, Helen, at her return from
Troy, upon the remembrance of an old prophecy, threw in there. Now, the
strangers at first contesting with the fishers about the tripod, and
the cities espousing the quarrel so far as to engage themselves in a
war, Apollo decided the controversy by commanding to present it to the
wisest man; and first it was sent to Miletus to Thales, the Coans
freely presenting him with that for which they fought against the whole
body of the Milesians; but, Thales declaring Bias the wiser person, it
was sent to him; from him to another; and so, going round them all, it
came to Thales a second time; and, at last, being carried from Miletus
to Thebes, was there dedicated to Apollo Ismenius. Theophrastus writes
that it was first presented to Bias at Priene; and next to Thales at
Miletus, and so through all it returned to Bias, and was afterwards
sent to Delphi. This is the general report, only some, instead of a
tripod, say this present was a cup sent by Croesus; others, a piece of
plate that one Bathycles had left. It is stated, that Anacharsis and
Solon, and Solon and Thales, were familiarly acquainted, and some have
delivered parts of their discourse; for, they say, Anacharsis, coming
to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him, that he, being a
stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him;
and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis
replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me." Solon,
somewhat surprised at the readiness of the repartee, received him
kindly, and kept him some time with him, being already engaged in
public business and the compilation of his laws; which when Anacharsis
understood, he laughed at him for imagining the dishonesty and
covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written laws,
which were like spiders' webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak
and poor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich. To this Solon
rejoined that men keep their promises when neither side can get
anything by the breaking of them; and he would so fit his laws to the
citizens, that all should understand it was more eligible to be just
than to break the laws. But the event rather agreed with the conjecture
of Anacharsis than Solon's hope. Anacharsis, being once at the
assembly, expressed his wonder at the fact that in Greece wise men
spoke and fools decided.
Solon went, they say, to Thales at Miletus, and wondered that Thales
took no care to get him a wife and children. To this, Thales made no
answer for the present; but, a few days after, procured a stranger to
pretend that he had left Athens ten days ago; and Solon inquiring what
news there, the man, according to his instructions, replied, "None but
a young man's funeral, which the whole city attended; for he was the
son, they said, of an honorable man, the most virtuous of the citizens,
who was not then at home, but had been traveling a long time." Solon
replied, "What a miserable man is he! But what was his name?" "I have
heard it," says the man, "but have now forgotten it, only there was
great talk of his wisdom and his justice." Thus Solon was drawn on by
every answer, and his fears heightened, till at last, being extremely
concerned, he mentioned his own name, and asked the stranger if that
young man was called Solon's son; and the stranger assenting, he began
to beat his head, and to do and say all that is usual with men in
transports of grief. But Thales took his hand, and, with a smile, said,
"These things, Solon, keep me from marriage and rearing children, which
are too great for even your constancy to support; however, be not
concerned at the report, for it is a fiction." This Hermippus relates,
from Pataecus, who boasted that he had Aesop's soul.
However, it is irrational and poor-spirited not to seek conveniences
for fear of losing them, for upon the same account we should not allow
ourselves to like wealth, glory, or wisdom, since we may fear to be
deprived of all these; nay, even virtue itself, than which there is no
greater nor more desirable possession, is often suspended by sickness
or drugs. Now Thales, though unmarried, could not be free from
solicitude, unless he likewise felt no care for his friends, his
kinsmen, or his country; yet we are told he adopted Cybisthus, his
sister's son. For the soul, having a principle of kindness in itself,
and being born to love, as well as perceive, think, or remember,
inclines and fixes upon some stranger, when a man has none of his own
to embrace. And alien or illegitimate objects insinuate themselves into
his affections, as into some estate that lacks lawful heirs; and with
affection come anxiety and care; insomuch that you may see men that use
the strongest language against the marriage-bed and the fruit of it,
when some servant's or concubine's child is sick or dies, almost killed
with grief, and abjectly lamenting. Some have given way to shameful and
desperate sorrow at the loss of a dog or horse; others have borne the
deaths of virtuous children without any extravagant or unbecoming
grief; have passed the rest of their lives like men, and according to
the principles of reason. It is not affection, it is weakness, that
brings men, unarmed against fortune by reason, into these endless pains
and terrors; and they indeed have not even the present enjoyment of
what they dote upon, the possibility of the future loss causing them
continual pangs, tremors, and distresses. We must not provide against
the loss of wealth by poverty, or of friends by refusing all
acquaintance, or of children by having none, but by morality and
reason. But of this too much.
Now, when the Athenians were tired with a tedious and difficult war
that they conducted against the Megarians for the island Salamis, and
made a law that it should be death for any man, by writing or speaking,
to assert that the city ought to endeavor to recover it, Solon, vexed
at the disgrace, and perceiving thousands of the youth wished for
somebody to begin, but did not dare to stir first for fear of the law,
counterfeited a distraction, and by his own family it was spread about
the city that he was mad. He then secretly composed some elegiac
verses, and getting them by heart, that it might seem extempore, ran
out into the place with a cap upon his head, and, the people gathering
about him, got upon the herald's stand, and sang that elegy which
begins thus:--
I am a herald come from Salamis the fair,
My news from thence my verses shall declare.
The poem is called Salamis, it contains one hundred verses, very
elegantly written; when it had been sung, his friends commended it, and
especially Pisistratus exhorted the citizens to obey his directions;
insomuch that they recalled the law, and renewed the war under Solon's
conduct. The popular tale is, that with Pisistratus he sailed to
Colias, and, finding the women, according to the custom of the country
there, sacrificing to Ceres, he sent a trusty friend to Salamis, who
should pretend himself a renegade, and advise them, if they desired to
seize the chief Athenian women, to come with him at once to Colias; the
Megarians presently sent of men in the vessel with him; and Solon,
seeing it put off from the island, commanded the women to be gone, and
some beardless youths, dressed in their clothes, their shoes, and caps,
and privately armed with daggers, to dance and play near the shore till
the enemies had landed and the vessel was in their power. Things being
thus ordered, the Megarians were allured with the appearance, and,
coming to the shore, jumped out, eager who should first seize a prize,
so that not one of them escaped; and the Athenians set sail for the
island and took it.
Others say that it was not taken this way, but that he first received
this oracle from Delphi:
Those heroes that in fair Asopia rest, All buried with their faces to
the west, Go and appease with offerings of the best;
and that Solon, sailing by night to the island, sacrificed to the
heroes Periphemus and Cychreus, and then, taking five hundred Athenian
volunteers (a law having passed that those that took the island should
be highest in the government), with a number of fisher-boats and one
thirty-oared ship, anchored in a bay of Salamis that looks towards
Nisaea; and the Megarians that were then in the island, hearing only an
uncertain report, hurried to their arms, and sent a ship to reconnoiter
the enemies. This ship Solon took, and, securing the Megarians, manned
it with Athenians, and gave them orders to sail to the island with as
much privacy as possible; meantime he, with the other soldiers, marched
against the Megarians by land, and whilst they were fighting, those
from the ship took the city. And this narrative is confirmed by the
following solemnity, that was afterwards observed: an Athenian ship
used to sail silently at first to the island, then, with noise and a
great shout, one leapt out armed, and with a loud cry ran to the
promontory Sciradium to meet those that approached upon the land. And
just by there stands a temple which Solon dedicated to Mars. For he
beat the Megarians, and as many as were not killed in the battle he
sent away upon conditions.
The Megarians, however, still contending, and both sides having
received considerable losses, they chose the Spartans for arbitrators.
Now, many affirm that Homer's authority did Solon a considerable
kindness, and that, introducing a line into the Catalog of Ships, when
the matter was to be determined, he read the passage as follows:
Twelve ships from Salamis stout Ajax brought, And ranked his men where
the Athenians fought.
The Athenians, however, call this but an idle story, and report, that
Solon made it appear to the judges, that Philaeus and Eurysaces, the
sons of Ajax, being made citizens of Athens, gave them the island, and
that one of them dwelt at Brauron in Attica, the other at Melite; and
they have a township of Philaidae, to which Pisistratus belonged,
deriving its name from this Philaeus. Solon took a farther argument
against the Megarians from the dead bodies, which, he said, were not
buried after their fashion but according to the Athenian; for the
Megarians turn the corpse to the east, the Athenians to the west. But
Hereas the Megarian denies this, and affirms that they likewise turn
the body to the west, and also that the Athenians have a separate tomb
for every body, but the Megarians put two or three into one. However,
some of Apollo's oracles, where he calls Salamis Ionian, made much for
Solon. This matter was determined by five Spartans, Critolaidas,
Amompharetus, Hypsechidas, Anaxilas, and Cleomenes.
For this, Solon grew famed and powerful; but his advice in favor of
defending the oracle at Delphi, to give aid, and not to suffer the
Cirrhaeans to profane it, but to maintain the honor of the god, got him
most repute among the Greeks: for upon his persuasion the Amphictyons
undertook the war, as, amongst others, Aristotle affirms, in his
enumeration of the victors at the Pythian games, where he makes Solon
the author of this counsel. Solon, however, was not general in that
expedition, as Hermippus states, out of Evanthes the Samian; for
Aeschines the orator says no such thing, and, in the Delphian register,
Alcmaeon, not Solon, is named as commander of the Athenians.
Now the Cylonian pollution had a long while disturbed the commonwealth,
ever since the time when Megacles the archon persuaded the conspirators
with Cylon that took sanctuary in Minerva's temple to come down and
stand to a fair trial. And they, tying a thread to the image, and
holding one end of it, went down to the tribunal; but when they came to
the temple of the Furies, the thread broke of its own accord, upon
which, as if the goddess had refused them protection, they were seized
by Megacles and the other magistrates; as many as were without the
temples were stoned, those that fled for sanctuary were butchered at
the altar, and only those escaped who made supplication to the wives of
the magistrates. But they from that time were considered under
pollution, and regarded with hatred. The remainder of the faction of
Cylon grew strong again, and had continual quarrels with the family of
Megacles; and now the quarrel being at its height, and the people
divided, Solon, being in reputation, interposed with the chiefest of
the Athenians, and by entreaty and admonition persuaded the polluted to
submit to a trial and the decision of three hundred noble citizens. And
Myron of Phlya being their accuser, they were found guilty, and as many
as were then alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were dug
up, and scattered beyond the confines of the country. In the midst of
these distractions, the Megarians falling upon them, they lost Nisaea
and Salamis again; besides, the city was disturbed with superstitious
fears and strange appearances, and the priests declared that the
sacrifices intimated some villanies and pollutions that were to be
expiated. Upon this, they sent for Epimenides the Phaestian from Crete,
who is counted the seventh wise man by those that will not admit
Periander into the number. He seems to have been thought a favorite of
heaven, possessed of knowledge in all the supernatural and ritual parts
of religion; and, therefore, the men of his age called him a new Cures,
and son of a nymph named Balte. When he came to Athens, and grew
acquainted with Solon, he served him in many instances, and prepared
the way for his legislation. He made them moderate in their forms of
worship, and abated their mourning by ordering some sacrifices
presently after the funeral, and taking off those severe and barbarous
ceremonies which the women usually practiced; but the greatest benefit
was his purifying and sanctifying the city, by certain propitiatory and
expiatory lustrations, and foundation of sacred buildings; by that
means making them more submissive to justice, and more inclined to
harmony. It is reported that, looking upon Munychia, and considering a
long while, he said to those that stood by, "How blind is man in future
things! for did the Athenians foresee what mischief this would do their
city, they would even eat it with their own teeth to be rid of it." A
similar anticipation is ascribed to Thales; they say he commanded his
friends to bury him in an obscure and contemned quarter of the
territory of Miletus, saying that it should some day be the marketplace
of the Milesians. Epimenides, being much honored, and receiving from
the city rich offers of large gifts and privileges, requested but one
branch of the sacred olive, and, on that being granted, returned.
The Athenians, now the Cylonian sedition was over and the polluted gone
into banishment, fell into their old quarrels about the government,
there being as many different parties as there were diversities in the
country. The Hill quarter favored democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and
those that lived by the Sea-side stood for a mixed sort of government,
and so hindered either of the other parties from prevailing. And the
disparity of fortune between the rich and the poor, at that time, also
reached its height; so that the city seemed to be in a truly dangerous
condition, and no other means for freeing it from disturbances and
settling it, to be possible but a despotic power. All the people were
indebted to the rich; and either they tilled their land for their
creditors, paying them a sixth part of the increase, and were,
therefore, called Hectemorii and Thetes, or else they engaged their
body for the debt, and might be seized, and either sent into slavery at
home, or sold to strangers; some (for no law forbade it) were forced to
sell their children, or fly their country to avoid the cruelty of their
creditors; but the most part and the bravest of them began to combine
together and encourage one another to stand to it, to choose a leader,
to liberate the condemned debtors, divide the land, and change the
government.
Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all men the
only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had not joined in the
exactions of the rich, and was not involved in the necessities of the
poor, pressed him to succor the commonwealth and compose the
differences. Though Phanias the Lesbian affirms, that Solon, to save
his country, put a trick upon both parties, and privately promised the
poor a division of the lands, and the rich, security for their debts.
Solon, however, himself, says that it was reluctantly at first that he
engaged in state affairs, being afraid of the pride of one party and
the greediness of the other; he was chosen archon, however, after
Philombrotus, and empowered to be an arbitrator and lawgiver; the rich
consenting because he was wealthy, the poor because he was honest.
There was a saying of his current before the election, that when things
are even there never can be war, and this pleased both parties, the
wealthy and the poor; the one conceiving him to mean, when all have
their fair proportion; the others, when all are absolutely equal. Thus,
there being great hopes on both sides, the chief men pressed Solon to
take the government into his own hands, and, when he was once settled,
manage the business freely and according to his pleasure; and many of
the commons, perceiving it would be a difficult change to be effected
by law and reason, were willing to have one wise and just man set over
the affairs; and some say that Solon had this oracle from Apollo--
Take the mid-seat, and be the vessel's guide;
Many in Athens are upon your side.
But chiefly his familiar friends chid him for disaffecting monarchy
only because of the name, as if the virtue of the ruler could not make
it a lawful form; Euboea had made this experiment when it chose
Tynnondas, and Mitylene, which had made Pittacus its prince; yet this
could not shake Solon's resolution; but, as they say, he replied to his
friends, that it was true a tyranny was a very fair spot, but it had no
way down from it; and in a copy of verses to Phocus he writes.--
--that I spared my land,
And withheld from usurpation and from violence my hand,
And forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good name,
I regret not; I believe that it will be my chiefest fame.
From which it is manifest that he was a man of great reputation before
he gave his laws. The several mocks that were put upon him for refusing
the power, he records in these words,--
Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind;
When the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will declined;
When the net was full of fishes, over-heavy thinking it,
He declined to haul it up, through want of heart and want of wit.
Had but I that chance of riches and of kingship, for one day,
I would give my skin for flaying, and my house to die away.
Thus he makes the many and the low people speak of him. Yet, though he
refused the government, he was not too mild in the affair; he did not
show himself mean and submissive to the powerful, nor make his laws to
pleasure those that chose him. For where it was well before, he applied
no remedy, nor altered anything, for fear lest,
Overthrowing altogether and disordering the state,
he should be too weak to new-model and recompose it to a tolerable
condition; but what he thought he could effect by persuasion upon the
pliable, and by force upon the stubborn, this he did, as he himself
says,
With force and justice working both one.
And, therefore, when he was afterwards asked if he had left the
Athenians the best laws that could be given, he replied, "The best they
could receive." The way which, the moderns say, the Athenians have of
softening the badness of a thing, by ingeniously giving it some pretty
and innocent appellation, calling harlots, for example, mistresses,
tributes customs, a garrison a guard, and the jail the chamber, seems
originally to have been Solon's contrivance, who called canceling debts
Seisacthea, a relief, or disencumbrance. For the first thing which he
settled was, that what debts remained should be forgiven, and no man,
for the future, should engage the body of his debtor for security.
Though some, as Androtion, affirm that the debts were not canceled, but
the interest only lessened, which sufficiently pleased the people; so
that they named this benefit the Seisacthea, together with the
enlarging their measures, and raising the value of their money; for he
made a pound, which before passed for seventy-three drachmas, go for a
hundred; so that, though the number of pieces in the payment was equal,
the value was less; which proved a considerable benefit to those that
were to discharge great debts, and no loss to the creditors. But most
agree that it was the taking off the debts that was called Seisacthea,
which is confirmed by some places in his poem, where he takes honor to
himself, that
The mortgage-stones that covered her, by me Removed, --the land that
was a slave is free;
that some who had been seized for their debts he had brought back from
other countries, where
--so far their lot to roam, They had forgot the language of their home;
and some he had set at liberty,--
Who here in shameful servitude were held.
While he was designing this, a most vexatious thing happened; for when
he had resolved to take off the debts, and was considering the proper
form and fit beginning for it, he told some of his friends, Conon,
Clinias, and Hipponicus, in whom he had a great deal of confidence,
that he would not meddle with the lands, but only free the people from
their debts; upon which, they, using their advantage, made haste and
borrowed some considerable sums of money, and purchased some large
farms; and when the law was enacted, they kept the possessions, and
would not return the money; which brought Solon into great suspicion
and dislike, as if he himself had not been abused, but was concerned in
the contrivance. But he presently stopped this suspicion, by releasing
his debtors of five talents (for he had lent so much), according to the
law; others, as Polyzelus the Rhodian, say fifteen; his friends,
however, were ever afterward called Chreocopidae, repudiators.
In this he pleased neither party, for the rich were angry for their
money, and the poor that the land was not divided, and, as Lycurgus
ordered in his commonwealth, all men reduced to equality. He, it is
true, being the eleventh from Hercules, and having reigned many years
in Lacedaemon, had got a great reputation and friends and power, which
he could use in modeling his state; and, applying force more than
persuasion, insomuch that he lost his eye in the scuffle, was able to
employ the most effectual means for the safety and harmony of a state,
by not permitting any to be poor or rich in his commonwealth. Solon
could not rise to that in his polity, being but a citizen of the middle
classes; yet he acted fully up to the height of his power, having
nothing but the good-will and good opinion of his citizens to rely on;
and that he offended the most part, who looked for another result, he
declares in the words,
Formerly they boasted of me vainly; with averted eyes
Now they look askance upon me; friends no more, but enemies.
And yet had any other man, he says, received the same power,
He would not have forborne, nor let alone,
But made the fattest of the milk his own.
Soon, however, becoming sensible of the good that was done, they laid
by their grudges, made a public sacrifice, calling it Seisacthea, and
chose Solon to new-model and make laws for the commonwealth, giving him
the entire power over everything, their magistracies, their assemblies,
courts, and councils; that he should appoint the number, times of
meeting, and what estate they must have that could be capable of these,
and dissolve or continue any of the present constitutions, according to
his pleasure.
First, then, he repealed all Draco's laws, except those concerning
homicide, because they were too severe, and the punishments too great;
for death was appointed for almost all offenses, insomuch that those
that were convicted of idleness were to die, and those that stole a
cabbage or an apple to suffer even as villains that committed sacrilege
or murder. So that Demades, in after time, was thought to have said
very happily, that Draco's laws were written not with ink, but blood;
and he himself, being once asked why he made death the punishment of
most offenses, replied, "Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher
for the greater crimes."
Next, Solon, being willing to continue the magistracies in the hands of
the rich men, and yet receive the people into the other part of the
government, took an account of the citizens' estates, and those that
were worth five hundred measures of fruits, dry and liquid, he placed
in the first rank, calling them Pentacosiomedimni; those that could
keep an horse, or were worth three hundred measures, were named Hippada
Teluntes, and made the second class; the Zeugitae, that had two hundred
measures, were in the third; and all the others were called Thetes, who
were not admitted to any office, but could come to the assembly, and
act as jurors; which at first seemed nothing, but afterwards was found
an enormous privilege, as almost every matter of dispute came before
them in this latter capacity. Even in the cases which he assigned to
the archons' cognizance, he allowed an appeal to the courts. Besides,
it is said that he was obscure and ambiguous in the wording of his
laws, on purpose to increase the honor of his courts; for since their
differences could not be adjusted by the letter, they would have to
bring all their causes to the judges, who thus were in a manner masters
of the laws. Of this equalization he himself makes mention in this
manner:
Such power I gave the people as might do, Abridged not what they had,
now lavished new. Those that were great in wealth and high in place, My
counsel likewise kept from all disgrace. Before them both I held my
shield of might, And let not either touch the other's right.
And for the greater security of the weak commons, he gave general
liberty of indicting for an act of injury; if any one was beaten,
maimed, or suffered any violence, any man that would and was able,
might prosecute the wrongdoer; intending by this to accustom the
citizens, like members of the same body, to resent and be sensible of
one another's injuries. And there is a saying of his agreeable to this
law, for, being asked what city was best modeled, "That," said he,
"where those that are not injured try and punish the unjust as much as
those that are."
When he had constituted the Areopagus of those who had been yearly
archons, of which he himself was a member therefore, observing that the
people, now free from their debts, were unsettled and imperious, he
formed another council of four hundred, a hundred out of each of the
four tribes, which was to inspect all matters before they were
propounded to the people, and to take care that nothing but what had
been first examined should be brought before the general assembly. The
upper council, or Areopagus, he made inspectors and keepers of the
laws, conceiving that the commonwealth, held by these two councils,
like anchors, would be less liable to be tossed by tumults, and the
people be more at quiet. Such is the general statement, that Solon
instituted the Areopagus; which seems to be confirmed, because Draco
makes no mention of the Areopagites, but in all causes of blood refers
to the Ephetae; yet Solon's thirteenth table contains the eighth law
set down in these very words: "Whoever before Solon's archonship were
disfranchised, let them be restored, except those that, being condemned
by the Areopagus, Ephetae, or in the Prytaneum by the kings, for
homicide, murder, or designs against the government, were in banishment
when this law was made;" and these words seem to show that the
Areopagus existed before Solon's laws, for who could be condemned by
that council before his time, if he was the first that instituted the
court? unless, which is probable, there is some ellipsis, or want of
precision, in the language, and it should run thus, -- "Those that are
convicted of such offenses as belong to the cognizance of the
Areopagites, Ephetae, or the Prytanes, when this law was made," shall
remain still in disgrace, whilst others are restored; of this the
reader must judge.
Amongst his other laws, one is very peculiar and surprising, which
disfranchises all who stand neuter in a sedition; for it seems he would
not have any one remain insensible and regardless of the public good,
and, securing his private affairs, glory that he has no feeling of the
distempers of his country; but at once join with the good party and
those that have the right upon their side, assist and venture with
them, rather than keep out of harm's way and watch who would get the
better. It seems an absurd and foolish law which permits an heiress, if
her lawful husband fail her, to take his nearest kinsman; yet some say
this law was well contrived against those, who, conscious of their own
unfitness, yet, for the sake of the portion, would match with
heiresses, and make use of law to put a violence upon nature; for now,
since she can quit him for whom she pleases, they would either abstain
from such marriages, or continue them with disgrace, and suffer for
their covetousness and designed affront; it is well done, moreover, to
confine her to her husband's nearest kinsman, that the children may be
of the same family. Agreeable to this is the law that the bride and
bridegroom shall be shut into a chamber, and eat a quince together; and
that the husband of an heiress shall consort with her thrice a month;
for though there be no children, yet it is an honor and due affection
which an husband ought to pay to a virtuous, chaste wife; it takes off
all petty differences, and will not permit their little quarrels to
proceed to a rupture.
In all other marriages he forbade dowries to be given; the wife was to
have three suits of clothes, a little inconsiderable household stuff,
and that was all; for he would not have marriages contracted for gain
or an estate, but for pure love, kind affection, and birth of children.
When the mother of Dionysius desired him to marry her to one of his
citizens, "Indeed," said he, "by my tyranny I have broken my country's
laws, but cannot put a violence upon those of nature by an unseasonable
marriage." Such disorder is never to be suffered in a commonwealth, nor
such unseasonable and unloving and unperforming marriages, which attain
no due end or fruit; any provident governor or lawgiver might say to an
old man that takes a young wife what is said to Philoctetes in the
tragedy,--
Truly, in a fit state thou to marry!
and if he finds a young man, with a rich and elderly wife, growing fat
in his place, like the partridges, remove him to a young woman of
proper age. And of this enough.
Another commendable law of Solon's is that which forbids men to speak
evil of the dead; for it is pious to think the deceased sacred, and
just, not to meddle with those that are gone, and politic, to prevent
the perpetuity of discord. He likewise forbade them to speak evil of
the living in the temples, the courts of justice, the public offices,
or at the games, or else to pay three drachmas to the person, and two
to the public. For never to be able to control passion shows a weak
nature and ill-breeding; and always to moderate it is very hard, and to
some impossible. And laws must look to possibilities, if the maker
designs to punish few in order to their amendment, and not many to no
purpose.
He is likewise much commended for his law concerning wills; for before
him none could be made, but all the wealth and estate of the deceased
belonged to his family; but he, by permitting them, if they had no
children, to bestow it on whom they pleased, showed that he esteemed
friendship a stronger tie than kindred, and affection than necessity;
and made every man's estate truly his own. Yet he allowed not all sorts
of legacies, but those only which were not extorted by the frenzy of a
disease, charms, imprisonment, force, or the persuasions of a wife;
with good reason thinking that being seduced into wrong was as bad as
being forced, and that between deceit and necessity, flattery and
compulsion, there was little difference, since both may equally suspend
the exercise of reason.
He regulated the walks, feasts, and mourning of the women, and took
away everything that was either unbecoming or immodest; when they
walked abroad, no more than three articles of dress were allowed them;
an obol's worth of meat and drink; and no basket above a cubit high;
and at night they were not to go about unless in a chariot with a torch
before them. Mourners tearing themselves to raise pity, and set
wailings, and at one man's funeral to lament for another, he forbade.
To offer an ox at the grave was not permitted, nor to bury above three
pieces of dress with the body, or visit the tombs of any besides their
own family, unless at the very funeral; most of which are likewise
forbidden by our laws,@ but this is further added in ours, that those
that are convicted of extravagance in their mournings, are to be
punished as soft and effeminate by the censors of women.
Observing the city to be filled with persons that flocked from all
parts into Attica for security of living, and that most of the country
was barren and unfruitful, and that traders at sea import nothing to
those that could give them nothing in exchange, he turned his citizens
to trade, and made a law that no son should be obliged to relieve a
father who had not bred him up to any calling. It is true, Lycurgus,
having a city free from all strangers, and land, according to Euripides,
Large for large hosts, for twice their number much,
and, above all, an abundance of laborers about Sparta, who should not
be left idle, but be kept down with continual toil and work, did well
to take off his citizens from laborious and mechanical occupations, and
keep them to their arms, and teach them only the art of war. But Solon,
fitting his laws to the state of things, and not making things to suit
his laws, and finding the ground scarce rich enough to maintain the
husbandmen, and altogether incapable of feeding an unoccupied and
leisurely multitude, brought trades into credit, and ordered the
Areopagites to examine how every man got his living, and chastise the
idle. But that law was yet more rigid which, as Heraclides Ponticus
delivers, declared the sons of unmarried mothers not obliged to relieve
their fathers; for he that avoids the honorable form of union shows
that he does not take a woman for children, but for pleasure, and thus
gets his just reward, and has taken away from himself every title to
upbraid his children, to whom he has made their very birth a scandal
and reproach.
Solon's laws in general about women are his strangest; for he permitted
any one to kill an adulterer that found him in the act; but if any one
forced a free woman, a hundred drachmas was the fine; if he enticed
her, twenty; except those that sell themselves openly, that is,
harlots, who go openly to those that hire them. He made it unlawful to
sell a daughter or a sister, unless, being yet unmarried, she was found
wanton. Now it is irrational to punish the same crime sometimes very
severely and without remorse, and sometimes very lightly, and, as it
were, in sport, with a trivial fine; unless, there being little money
then in Athens, scarcity made those mulcts the more grievous
punishment. In the valuation for sacrifices, a sheep and a bushel were
both estimated at a drachma; the victor in the Isthmian games was to
have for reward a hundred drachmas; the conqueror in the Olympian, five
hundred; he that brought a wolf, five drachmas; for a whelp, one; the
former sum, as Demetrius the Phalerian asserts, was the value of an ox,
the latter, of a sheep. The prices which Solon, in his sixteenth table,
sets on choice victims, were naturally far greater; yet they, too, are
very low in comparison of the present. The Athenians were, from the
beginning, great enemies to wolves, their fields being better for
pasture than corn. Some affirm their tribes did not take their names
from the sons of Ion, but from the different sorts of occupation that
they followed; the soldiers were called Hoplitae, the craftsmen
Ergades, and, of the remaining two, the farmers Gedeontes, and the
shepherds and graziers Aegicores.
Since the country has but few rivers, lakes, or large springs, and many
used wells which they had dug, there was a law made, that, where there
was a public well within a hippicon, that is, four furlongs, all should
draw at that; but, when it was farther off, they should try and procure
a well of their own; and, if they had dug ten fathom deep and could
find no water, they had liberty to fetch a pitcherful of four gallons
and a half in a day from their neighbors'; for he thought it prudent to
make provision against want, but not to supply laziness. He showed
skill in his orders about planting, for any one that would plant
another tree was not to set it within five feet of his neighbor's
field; but if a fig or an olive, not within nine; for their roots
spread farther, nor can they be planted near all sorts of trees without
damage, for they draw away the nourishment, and in some cases are
noxious by their effluvia. He that would dig a pit or a ditch was to
dig it at the distance of its own depth from his neighbor's ground; and
he that would raise stocks of bees was not to place them within three
hundred feet of those which another had already raised.
He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any other
fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred
drachmas himself; and this law was written in his first table, and,
therefore, let none think it incredible, as some affirm, that the
exportation of figs was once unlawful, and the informer against the
delinquents called a sycophant. He made a law, also, concerning hurts
and injuries from beasts, in which he commands the master of any dog
that bit a man to deliver him up with a log about his neck, four and a
half feet long; a happy device for men's security. The law concerning
naturalizing strangers is of doubtful character; he permitted only
those to be made free of Athens who were in perpetual exile from their
own country, or came with their whole family to trade there; this he
did, not to discourage strangers, but rather to invite them to a
permanent participation in the privileges of the government; and,
besides, he thought those would prove the more faithful citizens who
had been forced from their own country, or voluntarily forsook it. The
law of public entertainment (parasitein is his name for it) is, also,
peculiarly Solon's, for if any man came often, or if he that was
invited refused, they were punished, for he concluded that one was
greedy, the other a contemner of the state.
All his laws he established for an hundred years, and wrote them on
wooden tables or rollers, named axones, which might be turned round in
oblong cases; some of their relics were in my time still to be seen in
the Prytaneum, or common hall, at Athens. These, as Aristotle states,
were called cyrbes, and there is a passage of Cratinus the comedian,
By Solon, and by Draco, if you please,
Whose Cyrbes make the fires that parch our peas.
But some say those are properly cyrbes, which contain laws concerning
sacrifices and the rites of religion, and all the others axones. The
council all jointly swore to confirm the laws, and every one of the
Thesmothetae vowed for himself at the stone in the marketplace, that,
if he broke any of the statutes, he would dedicate a golden statue, as
big as himself, at Delphi.
Observing the irregularity of the months, and that the moon does not
always rise and set with the sun, but often in the same day overtakes
and gets before him, he ordered the day should be named the Old and
New, attributing that part of it which was before the conjunction to
the old moon, and the rest to the new, he being the first, it seems,
that understood that verse of Homer,
The end and the beginning of the month,
and the following day he called the new moon. After the twentieth he
did not count by addition, but, like the moon itself in its wane, by
subtraction; thus up to the thirtieth.
Now when these laws were enacted, and some came to Solon every day, to
commend or dispraise them, and to advise, if possible, to leave out, or
put in something, and many criticized, and desired him to explain, and
tell the meaning of such and such a passage, he, knowing that to do it
was useless, and not to do it would get him ill-will, and desirous to
bring himself out of all straits, and to escape all displeasure and
exceptions, it being a hard thing, as he himself says,
In great affairs to satisfy all sides,
as an excuse for traveling, bought a trading vessel, and, having
obtained leave for ten years' absence, departed, hoping that by that
time his laws would have become familiar.
His first voyage was for Egypt, and he lived, as he himself says,
Near Nilus' mouth, by fair Canopus' shore,
and spent some time in study with Psenophis of Heliopolis, and Sonchis
the Saite, the most learned of all the priests; from whom, as Plato
says, getting knowledge of the Atlantic story, he put it into a poem,
and proposed to bring it to the knowledge of the Greeks. From thence he
sailed to Cyprus, where he was made much of by Philocyprus, one of the
kings there, who had a small city built by Demophon, Theseus's son,
near the river Clarius, in a strong situation, but incommodious and
uneasy of access. Solon persuaded him, since there lay a fair plain
below, to remove, and build there a pleasanter and more spacious city.
And he stayed himself, and assisted in gathering inhabitants, and in
fitting it both for defense and convenience of living; insomuch that
many flocked to Philocyprus, and the other kings imitated the design;
and, therefore, to honor Solon, he called the city Soli, which was
formerly named Aepea. And Solon himself, in his Elegies, addressing
Philocyprus, mentions this foundation in these words--
Long may you live, and fill the Solian throne,
Succeeded still by children of your own;
And from your happy island while I sail,
Let Cyprus send for me a favoring gale;
May she advance, and bless your new command,
Prosper your town, and send me safe to land.
That Solon should discourse with Croesus, some think not agreeable with
chronology; but I cannot reject so famous and well-attested a
narrative, and, what is more, so agreeable to Solon's temper, and so
worthy his wisdom and greatness of mind, because, forsooth, it does not
agree with some chronological canons, which thousands have endeavored
to regulate, and yet, to this day, could never bring their differing
opinions to any agreement. They say, therefore, that Solon, coming to
Croesus at his request, was in the same condition as an inland man when
first he goes to see the sea; for as he fancies every river he meets
with to be the ocean, so Solon, as he passed through the court, and saw
a great many nobles richly dressed, and proudly attended with a
multitude of guards and footboys, thought every one had been the king,
till he was brought to Croesus, who was decked with every possible
rarity and curiosity, in ornaments of jewels, purple, and gold, that
could make a grand and gorgeous spectacle of him. Now when Solon came
before him, and seemed not at all surprised, nor gave Croesus those
compliments he expected, but showed himself to all discerning eyes to
be a man that despised the gaudiness and petty ostentation of it, he
commanded them to open all his treasure houses, and carry him to see
his sumptuous furniture and luxuries though he did not wish it; Solon
could judge of him well enough by the first sight of him; and, when he
returned from viewing all, Croesus asked him if ever he had known a
happier man than he. And when Solon answered that he had known one
Tellus, a fellow-citizen of his own, and told him that this Tellus had
been an honest man, had had good children, a competent estate, and died
bravely in battle for his country, Croesus took him for an ill-bred
fellow and a fool, for not measuring happiness by the abundance of gold
and silver, and preferring the life and death of a private and mean man
before so much power and empire. He asked him, however, again, if,
besides Tellus, he knew any other man more happy. And Solon replying,
Yes, Cleobis and Biton, who were loving brothers, and extremely dutiful
sons to their mother, and, when the oxen delayed her, harnessed
themselves to the wagon, and drew her to Juno's temple, her neighbors
all calling her happy, and she herself rejoicing; then, after
sacrificing and feasting, they went to rest, and never rose again, but
died in the midst of their honor a painless and tranquil death, "What,"
said Croesus, angrily, "and dost not thou reckon us amongst the happy
men at all?" Solon, unwilling either to flatter or exasperate him more,
replied, "The gods, O king, have given the Greeks all other gifts in
moderate degree; and so our wisdom, too, is a cheerful and a homely,
not a noble and kingly wisdom; and this, observing the numerous
misfortunes that attend all conditions, forbids us to grow insolent
upon our present enjoyments, or to admire any man's happiness that may
yet, in course of time, suffer change. For the uncertain future has yet
to come, with every possible variety of fortune; and him only to whom
the divinity has continued happiness unto the end, we call happy; to
salute as happy one that is still in the midst of life and hazard, we
think as little safe and conclusive as to crown and proclaim as
victorious the wrestler that is yet in the ring." After this, he was
dismissed, having given Croesus some pain, but no instruction.
Aesop, who wrote the fables, being then at Sardis upon Croesus's
invitation, and very much esteemed, was concerned that Solon was so
ill- received, and gave him this advice: "Solon, let your converse with
kings be either short or seasonable." "Nay, rather," replied Solon,
"either short or reasonable." So at this time Croesus despised Solon;
but when he was overcome by Cyrus, had lost his city, was taken alive,
condemned to be burnt, and laid bound upon the pile before all the
Persians and Cyrus himself, he cried out as loud as possibly he could
three times, "O Solon!" and Cyrus being surprised, and sending some to
inquire what man or god this Solon was, whom alone he invoked in this
extremity, Croesus told him the whole story, saying, "He was one of the
wise men of Greece, whom I sent for, not to be instructed, or to learn
any thing that I wanted, but that he should see and be a witness of my
happiness; the loss of which was, it seems, to be a greater evil than
the enjoyment was a good; for when I had them they were goods only in
opinion, but now the loss of them has brought upon me intolerable and
real evils. And he, conjecturing from what then was, this that now is,
bade me look to the end of my life, and not rely and grow proud upon
uncertainties." When this was told Cyrus, who was a wiser man than
Croesus, and saw in the present example Solon's maxim confirmed, he not
only freed Croesus from punishment, but honored him as long as he
lived; and Solon had the glory, by the same saying, to save one king
and instruct another.
When Solon was gone, the citizens began to quarrel; Lycurgus headed the
Plain; Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, those to the Sea-side; and
Pisistratus the Hill-party, in which were the poorest people, the
Thetes, and greatest enemies to the rich; insomuch that, though the
city still used the new laws, yet all looked for and desired a change
of government, hoping severally that the change would be better for
them, and put them above the contrary faction. Affairs standing thus,
Solon returned, and was reverenced by all, and honored; but his old age
would not permit him to be as active, and to speak in public, as
formerly; yet, by privately conferring with the heads of the factions,
he endeavored to compose the differences, Pisistratus appearing the
most tractable; for he was extremely smooth and engaging in his
language, a great friend to the poor, and moderate in his resentments;
and what nature had not given him, he had the skill to imitate; so that
he was trusted more than the others, being accounted a prudent and
orderly man, one that loved equality, and would be an enemy to any that
moved against the present settlement. Thus he deceived the majority of
people; but Solon quickly discovered his character, and found out his
design before any one else; yet did not hate him upon this, but
endeavored to humble him, and bring him off from his ambition, and
often told him and others, that if any one could banish the passion for
preeminence from his mind, and cure him of his desire of absolute
power, none would make a more virtuous man or a more excellent citizen.
Thespis, at this time, beginning to act tragedies, and the thing,
because it was new, taking very much with the multitude, though it was
not yet made a matter of competition, Solon, being by nature fond of
hearing and learning something new, and now, in his old age, living
idly, and enjoying himself, indeed, with music and with wine, went to
see Thespis himself, as the ancient custom was, act; and after the play
was done, he addressed him, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell
so many lies before such a number of people; and Thespis replying that
it was no harm to say or do so in play, Solon vehemently struck his
staff against the ground: "Ay," said he, "if we honor and commend such
play as this, we shall find it some day in our business."
Now when Pisistratus, having wounded himself, was brought into the
marketplace in a chariot, and stirred up the people, as if he had been
thus treated by his opponents because of his political conduct, and a
great many were enraged and cried out, Solon, coming close to him,
said, "This, O son of Hippocrates, is a bad copy of Homer's Ulysses;
you do, to trick your countrymen, what he did to deceive his enemies."
After this, the people were eager to protect Pisistratus, and met in an
assembly, where one Ariston making a motion that they should allow
Pisistratus fifty clubmen for a guard to his person, Solon opposed it,
and said, much to the same purport as what he has left us in his poems,
You dote upon his words and taking phrase;
and again,--
True, you are singly each a crafty soul,
But all together make one empty fool.
But observing the poor men bent to gratify Pisistratus, and tumultuous,
and the rich fearful and getting out of harm's way, he departed, saying
he was wiser than some and stouter than others; wiser than those that
did not understand the design, stouter than those that, though they
understood it, were afraid to oppose the tyranny. Now, the people,
having passed the law, were not nice with Pisistratus about the number
of his clubmen, but took no notice of it, though he enlisted and kept
as many as he would, until he seized the Acropolis. When that was done,
and the city in an uproar, Megacles, with all his family, at once fled;
but Solon, though he was now very old, and had none to back him, yet
came into the marketplace and made a speech to the citizens, partly
blaming their inadvertency and meanness of spirit, and in part urging
and exhorting them not thus tamely to lose their liberty; and likewise
then spoke that memorable saying, that, before, it was an easier task
to stop the rising tyranny, but now the greater and more glorious
action to destroy it, when it was begun already, and had gathered
strength. But all being afraid to side with him, he returned home, and,
taking his arms, he brought them out and laid them in the porch before
his door, with these words: "I have done my part to maintain my country
and my laws," and then he busied himself no more. His friends advising
him to fly, he refused; but wrote poems, and thus reproached the
Athenians in them,--
If now you suffer, do not blame the Powers,
For they are good, and all the fault was ours.
All the strongholds you put into his hands,
And now his slaves must do what he commands.
And many telling him that the tyrant would take his life for this, and
asking what he trusted to, that he ventured to speak so boldly, he
replied, "To my old age." But Pisistratus, having got the command, so
extremely courted Solon, so honored him, obliged him, and sent to see
him, that Solon gave him his advice, and approved many of his actions;
for he retained most of Solon's laws, observed them himself, and
compelled his friends to obey. And he himself, though already absolute
ruler, being accused of murder before the Areopagus, came quietly to
clear himself; but his accuser did not appear. And he added other laws,
one of which is that the maimed in the wars should be maintained at the
public charge; this Heraclides Ponticus records, and that Pisistratus
followed Solon's example in this, who had decreed it in the case of one
Thersippus, that was maimed; and Theophrastus asserts that it was
Pisistratus, not Solon, that made that law against laziness, which was
the reason that the country was more productive, and the city
tranquiller.
Now Solon, having begun the great work in verse, the history or fable
of the Atlantic Island, which he had learned from the wise men in Sais,
and thought convenient for the Athenians to know, abandoned it; not, as
Plato says, by reason of want of time, but because of his age, and
being discouraged at the greatness of the task; for that he had leisure
enough, such verses testify, as
Each day grow older, and learn something new
and again,--
But now the Powers of Beauty, Song, and Wine,
Which are most men's delights, are also mine.
Plato, willing to improve the story of the Atlantic Island, as if it
were a fair estate that wanted an heir and came with some title to him,
formed, indeed, stately entrances, noble enclosures, large courts, such
as never yet introduced any story, fable, or poetic fiction; but,
beginning it late, ended his life before his work; and the reader's
regret for the unfinished part is the greater, as the satisfaction he
takes in that which is complete is extraordinary. For as the city of
Athens left only the temple of Jupiter Olympius unfinished, so Plato,
amongst all his excellent works, left this only piece about the
Atlantic Island imperfect. Solon lived after Pisistratus seized the
government, as Heraclides Ponticus asserts, a long time; but Phanias
the Eresian says not two full years; for Pisistratus began his tyranny
when Comias was archon, and Phanias says Solon died under Hegestratus,
who succeeded Comias. The story that his ashes were scattered about the
island Salamis is too strange to be easily believed, or be thought
anything but a mere fable; and yet it is given, amongst other good
authors, by Aristotle, the philosopher.
POPLICOLA
Such was Solon. To him we compare Poplicola, who received this later
title from the Roman people for his merit, as a noble accession to his
former name, Publius Valerius. He descended from Valerius, a man
amongst the early citizens, reputed the principal reconciler of the
differences betwixt the Romans and Sabines, and one that was most
instrumental in persuading their kings to assent to peace and union.
Thus descended, Publius Valerius, as it is said, whilst Rome remained
under its kingly government, obtained as great a name from his
eloquence as from his riches, charitably employing the one in liberal
aid to the poor, the other with integrity and freedom in the service of
justice; thereby giving assurance, that, should the government fall
into a republic, he would become a chief man in the community. The
illegal and wicked accession of Tarquinius Superbus to the crown, with
his making it, instead of kingly rule, the instrument of insolence and
tyranny, having inspired the people with a hatred to his reign, upon
the death of Lucretia (she killing herself after violence had been done
to her), they took an occasion of revolt; and Lucius Brutus, engaging
in the change, came to Valerius before all others, and, with his
zealous assistance, deposed the kings. And whilst the people inclined
towards the electing one leader instead of their king, Valerius
acquiesced, that to rule was rather Brutus's due, as the author of the
democracy. But when the name of monarchy was odious to the people, and
a divided power appeared more grateful in the prospect, and two were
chosen to hold it, Valerius, entertaining hopes that he might be
elected consul with Brutus, was disappointed; for, instead of Valerius,
notwithstanding the endeavors of Brutus, Tarquinius Collatinus was
chosen, the husband of Lucretia, a man noways his superior in merit.
But the nobles, dreading the return of their kings, who still used all
endeavors abroad and solicitations at home, were resolved upon a
chieftain of an intense hatred to them, and noways likely to yield.
Now Valerius was troubled, that his desire to serve his country should
be doubted, because he had sustained no private injury from the
insolence of the tyrants. He withdrew from the senate and practice of
the bar, quitting all public concerns; which gave an occasion of
discourse, and fear, too, lest his anger should reconcile him to the
king's side, and he should prove the ruin of the state, tottering as
yet under the uncertainties of a change. But Brutus being doubtful of
some others, and determining to give the test to the senate upon the
altars, upon the day appointed Valerius came with cheerfulness into the
forum, and was the first man that took the oath, in no way to submit or
yield to Tarquin's propositions, but rigorously to maintain liberty;
which gave great satisfaction to the senate and assurance to the
consuls, his actions soon after showing the sincerity of his oath. For
ambassadors came from Tarquin, with popular and specious proposals,
whereby they thought to seduce the people, as though the king had cast
off all insolence, and made moderation the only measure of his desires.
To this embassy the consuls thought fit to give public audience, but
Valerius opposed it, and would not permit that the poorer people, who
entertained more fear of war than of tyranny, should have any occasion
offered them, or any temptations to new designs. Afterwards other
ambassadors arrived, who declared their king would recede from his
crown, and lay down his arms, only capitulating for a restitution to
himself, his friends, and allies, of their moneys and estates to
support them in their banishment. Now, several inclining to the
request, and Collatinus in particular favoring it, Brutus, a man of
vehement and unbending nature, rushed into the forum, there proclaiming
his fellow- consul to be a traitor, in granting subsidies to tyranny,
and supplies for a war to those to whom it was monstrous to allow so
much as subsistence in exile. This caused an assembly of the citizens,
amongst whom the first that spake was Caius Minucius, a private man,
who advised Brutus, and urged the Romans to keep the property, and
employ it against the tyrants, rather than to remit it to the tyrants,
to be used against themselves. The Romans, however, decided that whilst
they enjoyed the liberty they had fought for, they should not sacrifice
peace for the sake of money, but send out the tyrants' property after
them. This question, however, of his property, was the least part of
Tarquin's design; the demand sounded the feelings of the people, and
was preparatory to a conspiracy which the ambassadors endeavored to
excite, delaying their return, under pretense of selling some of the
goods and reserving others to be sent away, till, in fine, they
corrupted two of the most eminent families in Rome, the Aquillian,
which had three, and the Vitellian, which had two senators. These all
were, by the mother's side, nephews to Collatinus; besides which Brutus
had a special alliance to the Vitellii from his marriage with their
sister, by whom he had several children; two of whom, of their own age,
their near relations and daily companions, the Vitellii seduced to join
in the plot, to ally themselves to the great house and royal hopes of
the Tarquins, and gain emancipation from the violence and imbecility
united of their father, whose austerity to offenders they termed
violence, while the imbecility which he had long feigned, to protect
himself from the tyrants, still, it appears, was, in name at least,
ascribed to him. When upon these inducements the youths came to confer
with the Aquillii, all thought it convenient to bind themselves in a
solemn and dreadful oath, by tasting the blood of a murdered man, and
touching his entrails. For which design they met at the house of the
Aquillii. The building chosen for the transaction was, as was natural,
dark and unfrequented, and a slave named Vindicius had, as it chanced,
concealed himself there, not out of design or any intelligence of the
affair, but, accidentally being within, seeing with how much haste and
concern they came in, he was afraid to be discovered, and placed
himself behind a chest, where he was able to observe their actions and
overhear their debates. Their resolutions were to kill the consuls, and
they wrote letters to Tarquin to this effect, and gave them to the
ambassadors, who were lodging upon the spot with the Aquillii, and were
present at the consultation.
Upon their departure, Vindicius secretly quitted the house, but was at
a loss what to do in the matter, for to arraign the sons before the
father Brutus, or the nephews before the uncle Collatinus, seemed
equally (as indeed it was) shocking; yet he knew no private Roman to
whom he could entrust secrets of such importance. Unable, however, to
keep silence, and burdened with his knowledge, he went and addressed
himself to Valerius, whose known freedom and kindness of temper were an
inducement; as he was a person to whom the needy had easy access, and
who never shut his gates against the petitions or indigences of humble
people. But when Vindicius came and made a complete discovery to him,
his brother Marcus and his own wife being present, Valerius was struck
with amazement, and by no means would dismiss the discoverer, but
confined him to the room, and placed his wife as a guard to the door,
sending his brother in the interim to beset the king's palace, and
seize, if possible, the writings there, and secure the domestics,
whilst he, with his constant attendance of clients and friends, and a
great retinue of attendants, repaired to the house of the Aquillii, who
were, as it chanced, absent from home; and so, forcing an entrance
through the gates, they lit upon the letters then lying in the lodgings
of the ambassadors. Meantime the Aquillii returned in all haste, and,
coming to blows about the gate, endeavored a recovery of the letters.
The other party made a resistance, and, throwing their gowns round
their opponents' necks, at last, after much struggling on both sides,
made their way with their prisoners through the streets into the forum.
The like engagement happened about the king's palace, where Marcus
seized some other letters which it was designed should be conveyed away
in the goods, and, laying hands on such of the king's people as he
could find, dragged them also into the forum. When the consuls had
quieted the tumult, Vindicius was brought out by the orders of
Valerius, and the accusation stated, and the letters were opened, to
which the traitors could make no plea. Most of the people standing mute
and sorrowful, some only, out of kindness to Brutus, mentioning
banishment, the tears of Collatinus, attended with Valerius's silence,
gave some hopes of mercy. But Brutus, calling his two sons by their
names, "Canst not thou," said he, "O Titus, or thou, Tiberius, make any
defense against the indictment?" The question being thrice proposed,
and no reply made, he turned himself to the lictors, and cried, "What
remains is your duty." They immediately seized the youths, and,
stripping them of their clothes, bound their hands behind them, and
scourged their bodies with their rods; too tragical a scene for others
to look at; Brutus, however, is said not to have turned aside his face,
nor allowed the least glance of pity to soften and smooth his aspect of
rigor and austerity; but sternly watched his children suffer, even till
the lictors, extending them on the ground, cut off their heads with an
axe; then departed, committing the rest to the judgment of his
colleague. An action truly open alike to the highest commendation and
the strongest censure; for either the greatness of his virtue raised
him above the impressions of sorrow, or the extravagance of his misery
took away all sense of it; but neither seemed common, or the result of
humanity, but either divine or brutish. Yet it is more reasonable that
our judgment should yield to his reputation, than that his merit should
suffer detraction by the weakness of our judgment; in the Romans'
opinion, Brutus did a greater work in the establishment of the
government than Romulus in the foundation of the city.
Upon Brutus's departure out of the forum, consternation, horror, and
silence for some time possessed all that reflected on what was done;
the easiness and tardiness, however, of Collatinus, gave confidence to
the Aquillii to request some time to answer their charge, and that
Vindicius, their servant, should be remitted into their hands, and no
longer harbored amongst their accusers. The consul seemed inclined to
their proposal, and was proceeding to dissolve the assembly; but
Valerius would not suffer Vindicius, who was surrounded by his people,
to be surrendered, nor the meeting to withdraw without punishing the
traitors; and at length laid violent hands upon the Aquillii, and,
calling Brutus to his assistance, exclaimed against the unreasonable
course of Collatinus, to impose upon his colleague the necessity of
taking away the lives of his own sons, and yet have thoughts of
gratifying some women with the lives of traitors and public enemies.
Collatinus, displeased at this, and commanding Vindicius to be taken
away, the lictors made their way through the crowd and seized their
man, and struck all who endeavored a rescue. Valerius's friends headed
the resistance, and the people cried out for Brutus, who, returning, on
silence being made, told them he had been competent to pass sentence by
himself upon his own sons, but left the rest to the suffrages of the
free citizens: "Let every man speak that wishes, and persuade whom he
can." But there was no need of oratory, for, it being referred to the
vote, they were returned condemned by all the suffrages, and were
accordingly beheaded.
Collatinus's relationship to the kings had, indeed, already rendered
him suspicious, and his second name, too, had made him obnoxious to the
people, who were loath to hear the very sound of Tarquin; but after
this had happened, perceiving himself an offense to every one, he
relinquished his charge and departed from the city. At the new
elections in his room, Valerius obtained, with high honor, the
consulship, as a just reward of his zeal; of which he thought Vindicius
deserved a share, whom he made, first of all freedmen, a citizen of
Rome, and gave him the privilege of voting in what tribe soever he was
pleased to be enrolled; other freedmen received the right of suffrage a
long time after from Appius, who thus courted popularity; and from this
Vindicius, a perfect manumission is called to this day vindicta. This
done, the goods of the kings were exposed to plunder, and the palace to
ruin.
The pleasantest part of the field of Mars, which Tarquin had owned, was
devoted to the service of that god; it happening to be harvest season,
and the sheaves yet being on the ground, they thought it not proper to
commit them to the flail, or unsanctify them with any use; and,
therefore, carrying them to the river side, and trees withal that were
cut down, they cast all into the water, dedicating the soil, free from
all occupation, to the deity. Now, these thrown in, one upon another,
and closing together, the stream did not bear them far, but where the
first were carried down and came to a bottom, the remainder, finding no
farther conveyance, were stopped and interwoven one with another; the
stream working the mass into a firmness, and washing down fresh mud.
This, settling there, became an accession of matter, as well as cement,
to the rubbish, insomuch that the violence of the waters could not
remove it, but forced and compressed it all together. Thus its bulk and
solidity gained it new subsidies, which gave it extension enough to
stop on its way most of what the stream brought down. This is now a
sacred island, lying by the city, adorned with temples of the gods, and
walks, and is called in the Latin tongue inter duos pontes. Though some
say this did not happen at the dedication of Tarquin's field, but in
after- times, when Tarquinia, a vestal priestess, gave an adjacent
field to the public, and obtained great honors in consequence, as,
amongst the rest, that of all women her testimony alone should be
received; she had also the liberty to marry, but refused it; thus some
tell the story.
Tarquin, despairing of a return to his kingdom by the conspiracy, found
a kind reception amongst the Tuscans, who, with a great army, proceeded
to restore him. The consuls headed the Romans against them, and made
their rendezvous in certain holy places, the one called the Arsian
grove, the other the Aesuvian meadow. When they came into action,
Aruns, the son of Tarquin, and Brutus, the Roman consul, not
accidentally encountering each other, but out of hatred and rage, the
one to avenge tyranny and enmity to his country, the other his
banishment, set spurs to their horses, and, engaging with more fury
than forethought, disregarding their own security, fell together in the
combat. This dreadful onset hardly was followed by a more favorable
end; both armies, doing and receiving equal damage, were separated by a
storm. Valerius was much concerned, not knowing what the result of the
day was, and seeing his men as well dismayed at the sight of their own
dead, as rejoiced at the loss of the enemy; so apparently equal in the
number was the slaughter on either side. Each party, however, felt
surer of defeat from the actual sight of their own dead, than they
could feel of victory from conjecture about those of their adversaries.
The night being come (and such as one may presume must follow such a
battle), and the armies laid to rest, they say that the grove shook,
and uttered a voice, saying that the Tuscans had lost one man more than
the Romans; clearly a divine announcement; and the Romans at once
received it with shouts and expressions of joy; whilst the Tuscans,
through fear and amazement, deserted their tents, and were for the most
part dispersed. The Romans, falling upon the remainder, amounting to
nearly five thousand, took them prisoners, and plundered the camp; when
they numbered the dead, they found on the Tuscans' side eleven thousand
and three hundred, exceeding their own loss but by one man. This fight
happened upon the last day of February, and Valerius triumphed in honor
of it, being the first consul that drove in with a four-horse chariot;
which sight both appeared magnificent, and was received with an
admiration free from envy or offense (as some suggest) on the part of
the spectators; it would not otherwise have been continued with so much
eagerness and emulation through all the after ages. The people
applauded likewise the honors he did to his colleague, in adding to his
obsequies a funeral oration; which was so much liked by the Romans, and
found so good a reception, that it became customary for the best men to
celebrate the funerals of great citizens with speeches in their
commendation; and their antiquity in Rome is affirmed to be greater
than in Greece, unless, with the orator Anaximenes, we make Solon the
first author.
Yet some part of Valerius's behavior did give offense and disgust to
the people, because Brutus, whom they esteemed the father of their
liberty, had not presumed to rule without a colleague, but united one
and then another to him in his commission; while Valerius, they said,
centering all authority in himself, seemed not in any sense a successor
to Brutus in the consulship, but to Tarquin in the tyranny; he might
make verbal harangues to Brutus's memory, yet, when he was attended
with all the rods and axes, proceeding down from a house than which the
king's house that he had demolished had not been statelier, those
actions showed him an imitator of Tarquin. For, indeed, his dwelling
house on the Velia was somewhat imposing in appearance, hanging over
the forum, and overlooking all transactions there; the access to it was
hard, and to see him far of coming down, a stately and royal spectacle.
But Valerius showed how well it were for men in power and great offices
to have ears that give admittance to truth before flattery; for upon
his friends telling him that he displeased the people, he contended
not, neither resented it, but while it was still night, sending for a
number of workpeople, pulled down his house and leveled it with the
ground; so that in the morning the people, seeing and flocking
together, expressed their wonder and their respect for his magnanimity,
and their sorrow, as though it had been a human being, for the large
and beautiful house which was thus lost to them by an unfounded
jealousy, while its owner, their consul, without a roof of his own, had
to beg a lodging with his friends. For his friends received him, till a
place the people gave him was furnished with a house, though less
stately than his own, where now stands the temple, as it is called, of
Vica Pota.
He resolved to render the government, as well as himself, instead of
terrible, familiar and pleasant to the people, and parted the axes from
the rods, and always, upon his entrance into the assembly, lowered
these also to the people, to show, in the strongest way, the republican
foundation of the government; and this the consuls observe to this day.
But the humility of the man was but a means, not, as they thought, of
lessening himself, but merely to abate their envy by this moderation;
for whatever he detracted from his authority he added to his real
power, the people still submitting with satisfaction, which they
expressed by calling him Poplicola, or people-lover, which name had the
preeminence of the rest, and, therefore, in the sequel of this
narrative we shall use no other.
He gave free leave to any to sue for the consulship; but before the
admittance of a colleague, mistrusting the chances, lest emulation or
ignorance should cross his designs, by his sole authority enacted his
best and most important measures. First, he supplied the vacancies of
the senators, whom either Tarquin long before had put to death, or the
war lately cut off; those that he enrolled, they write, amounted to a
hundred and sixty-four; afterwards he made several laws which added
much to the people's liberty, in particular one granting offenders the
liberty of appealing to the people from the judgment of the consuls; a
second, that made it death to usurp any magistracy without the people's
consent; a third, for the relief of poor citizens, which, taking off
their taxes, encouraged their labors; another, against disobedience to
the consuls, which was no less popular than the rest, and rather to the
benefit of the commonalty than to the advantage of the nobles, for it
imposed upon disobedience the penalty of ten oxen and two sheep; the
price of a sheep being ten obols, of an ox, a hundred. For the use of
money was then infrequent amongst the Romans, but their wealth in
cattle great; even now pieces of property are called peculia, from
pecus, cattle; and they had stamped upon their most ancient money an
ox, a sheep, or a hog; and surnamed their sons Suillii, Bubulci,
Caprarii, and Porcii, from caprae, goats, and porci, hogs.
Amidst this mildness and moderation, for one excessive fault he
instituted one excessive punishment; for he made it lawful without
trial to take away any man's life that aspired to a tyranny, and
acquitted the slayer, if he produced evidence of the crime; for though
it was not probable for a man, whose designs were so great, to escape
all notice; yet because it was possible he might, although observed, by
force anticipate judgment, which the usurpation itself would then
preclude, he gave a license to any to anticipate the usurper. He was
honored likewise for the law touching the treasury; for because it was
necessary for the citizens to contribute out of their estates to the
maintenance of wars, and he was unwilling himself to be concerned in
the care of it, or to permit his friends, or indeed to let the public
money pass into any private house, he allotted the temple of Saturn for
the treasury, in which to this day they deposit the tribute-money, and
granted the people the liberty of choosing two young men as quaestors,
or treasurers. The first were Publius Veturius and Marcus Minucius; and
a large sum was collected, for they assessed one hundred and thirty
thousand, excusing orphans and widows from the payment. After these
dispositions, he admitted Lucretius, the father of Lucretia, as his
colleague, and gave him the precedence in the government, by resigning
the fasces to him, as due to his years, which privilege of seniority
continued to our time. But within a few days Lucretius died, and in a
new election Marcus Horatius succeeded in that honor, and continued
consul for the remainder of the year.
Now, whilst Tarquin was making preparations in Tuscany for a second war
against the Romans, it is said a great portent occurred. When Tarquin
was king, and had all but completed the buildings of the Capitol,
designing, whether from oracular advice or his own pleasure, to erect
an earthen chariot upon the top, he entrusted the workmanship to
Tuscans of the city Veii, but soon after lost his kingdom. The work
thus modeled, the Tuscans set in a furnace, but the clay showed not
those passive qualities which usually attend its nature, to subside and
be condensed upon the evaporation of the moisture, but rose and swelled
out to that bulk, that, when solid and firm, notwithstanding the
removal of the roof and opening the walls of the furnace, it could not
be taken out without much difficulty. The soothsayers looked upon this
as a divine prognostic of success and power to those that should
possess it; and the Tuscans resolved not to deliver it to the Romans,
who demanded it, but answered that it rather belonged to Tarquin than
to those who had sent him into exile. A few days after, they had a
horse-race there, with the usual shows and solemnities, and as the
charioteer, with his garland on his head, was quietly driving the
victorious chariot out of the ring, the horses, upon no apparent
occasion, taking fright, either by divine instigation or by accident,
hurried away their driver at full speed to Rome; neither did his
holding them in prevail, nor his voice, but he was forced along with
violence till, coming to the Capitol, he was thrown out by the gate
called Ratumena. This occurrence raised wonder and fear in the
Veientines, who now permitted the delivery of the chariot.
The building of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter had been vowed by
Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, when warring with the Sabines;
Tarquinius Superbus, his son or grandson, built, but could not dedicate
it, because he lost his kindom before it was quite finished. And now
that it was completed with all its ornaments, Poplicola was ambitious
to dedicate it; but the nobility envied him that honor, as, indeed,
also, in some degree, those his prudence in making laws and conduct in
wars entitled him to. Grudging him, at any rate, the addition of this,
they urged Horatius to sue for the dedication and, whilst Poplicola was
engaged in some military expedition, voted it to Horatius, and
conducted him to the Capitol, as though, were Poplicola present, they
could not have carried it. Yet, some write, Poplicola was by lot
destined against his will to the expedition, the other to the
dedication; and what happened in the performance seems to intimate some
ground for this conjecture; for, upon the Ides of September, which
happens about the full moon of the month Metagitnion, the people having
assembled at the Capitol and silence being enjoined, Horatius, after
the performance of other ceremonies, holding the doors, according to
custom, was proceeding to pronounce the words of dedication, when
Marcus, the brother of Poplicola, who had got a place on purpose
beforehand near the door, observing his opportunity, cried, "O consul,
thy son lies dead in the camp;" which made a great impression upon all
others who heard it, yet in nowise discomposed Horatius, who returned
merely the reply, "Cast the dead out whither you please; I am not a
mourner;" and so completed the dedication. The news was not true, but
Marcus thought the lie might avert him from his performance; but it
argues him a man of wonderful self-possession, whether he at once saw
through the cheat, or, believing it as true, showed no discomposure.
The same fortune attended the dedication of the second temple; the
first, as has been said, was built by Tarquin and dedicated by
Horatius; it was burnt down in the civil wars. The second, Sylla built,
and, dying before the dedication, left that honor to Catulus; and when
this was demolished in the Vitellian sedition, Vespasian, with the same
success that attended him in other things, began a third, and lived to
see it finished, but did not live to see it again destroyed, as it
presently was; but was as fortunate in dying before its destruction, as
Sylla was the reverse in dying before the dedication of his. For
immediately after Vespasian's death it was consumed by fire. The
fourth, which now exists, was both built and dedicated by Domitian. It
is said Tarquin expended forty thousand pounds of silver in the very
foundations; but the whole wealth of the richest private man in Rome
would not discharge the cost of the gilding of this temple in our days,
it amounting to above twelve thousand talents; the pillars were cut out
of Pentelican marble, of a length most happily proportioned to their
thickness; these we saw at Athens; but when they were cut anew at Rome
and polished, they did not gain so much in embellishment, as they lost
in symmetry, being rendered too taper and slender. Should any one who
wonders at the costliness of the Capitol visit any one gallery in
Domitian's palace, or hall, or bath, or the apartments of his
concubines, Epicharmus's remark upon the prodigal, that
'Tis not beneficence, but, truth to say,
A mere disease of giving things away,
would be in his mouth in application to Domitian. It is neither piety,
he would say, nor magnificence, but, indeed, a mere disease of
building, and a desire, like Midas, of converting every thing into gold
or stone. And thus much for this matter.
Tarquin, after the great battle wherein he lost his son in combat with
Brutus, fled to Clusium, and sought aid from Lars Porsenna, then one of
the most powerful princes of Italy, and a man of worth and generosity;
who assured him of assistance, immediately sending his commands to Rome
that they should receive Tarquin as their king, and, upon the Romans'
refusal, proclaimed war, and, having signified the time and place where
he intended his attack, approached with a great army. Poplicola was, in
his absence, chosen consul a second time, and Titus Lucretius his
colleague, and, returning to Rome, to show a spirit yet loftier than
Porsenna's, built the city Sigliuria when Porsenna was already in the
neighborhood; and, walling it at great expense, there placed a colony
of seven hundred men, as being little concerned at the war.
Nevertheless, Porsenna, making a sharp assault, obliged the defendants
to retire to Rome, who had almost in their entrance admitted the enemy
into the city with them; only Poplicola by sallying out at the gate
prevented them, and, joining battle by Tiber side, opposed the enemy,
that pressed on with their multitude, but at last, sinking under
desperate wounds, was carried out of the fight. The same fortune fell
upon Lucretius, so that the Romans, being dismayed, retreated into the
city for their security, and Rome was in great hazard of being taken,
the enemy forcing their way on to the wooden bridge, where Horatius
Cocles, seconded by two of the first men in Rome, Herminius and
Lartius, made head against them. Horatius obtained this name from the
loss of one of his eyes in the wars, or, as others write, from the
depressure of his nose, which, leaving nothing in the middle to
separate them, made both eyes appear but as one; and hence, intending
to say Cyclops, by a mispronunciation they called him Cocles. This
Cocles kept the bridge, and held back the enemy, till his own party
broke it down behind, and then with his armor dropped into the river,
and swam to the hither side, with a wound in his hip from a Tuscan
spear. Poplicola, admiring his courage, proposed at once that the
Romans should every one make him a present of a day's provisions, and
afterwards gave him as much land as he could plow round in one day, and
besides erected a brazen statue to his honor in the temple of Vulcan,
as a requital for the lameness caused by his wound.
But Porsenna laying close siege to the city, and a famine raging
amongst the Romans, also a new army of the Tuscans making incursions
into the country, Poplicola, a third time chosen consul, designed to
make, without sallying out, his defense against Porsenna, but,
privately stealing forth against the new army of the Tuscans, put them
to flight, and slew five thousand. The story of Mucius is variously
given; we, like others, must follow the commonly received statement. He
was a man endowed with every virtue, but most eminent in war; and,
resolving to kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tuscan habit, and,
using the Tuscan language, came to the camp, and approaching the seat
where the king sat amongst his nobles, but not certainly knowing the
king, and fearful to inquire, drew out his sword, and stabbed one who
he thought had most the appearance of king. Mucius was taken in the
act, and whilst he was under examination, a pan of fire was brought to
the king, who intended to sacrifice; Mucius thrust his right hand into
the flame, and whilst it burnt stood looking at Porsenna with a
steadfast and undaunted countenance; Porsenna at last in admiration
dismissed him, and returned his sword, reaching it from his seat;
Mucius received it in his left hand, which occasioned the name of
Scaevola, left-handed, and said, "I have overcome the terrors of
Porsenna, yet am vanquished by his generosity, and gratitude obliges me
to disclose what no punishment could extort;" and assured him then,
that three hundred Romans, all of the same resolution, lurked about his
camp, only waiting for an opportunity; he, by lot appointed to the
enterprise, was not sorry that he had miscarried in it, because so
brave and good a man deserved rather to be a friend to the Romans than
an enemy. To this Porsenna gave credit, and thereupon expressed an
inclination to a truce, not, I presume, so much out of fear of the
three hundred Romans, as in admiration of the Roman courage. All other
writers call this man Mucius Scaevola, yet Athenodorus, son of Sandon,
in a book addressed to Octavia, Caesar's sister, avers he was also
called Postumus.
Poplicola, not so much esteeming Porsenna's enmity dangerous to Rome as
his friendship and alliance serviceable, was induced to refer the
controversy with Tarquin to his arbitration, and several times
undertook to prove Tarquin the worst of men, and justly deprived of his
kingdom. But Tarquin proudly replied he would admit no judge, much less
Porsenna, that had fallen away from his engagements; and Porsenna,
resenting this answer, and mistrusting the equity of his cause, moved
also by the solicitations of his son Aruns, who was earnest for the
Roman interest, made a peace on these conditions, that they should
resign the land they had taken from the Tuscans, and restore all
prisoners and receive back their deserters. To confirm the peace, the
Romans gave as hostages ten sons of patrician parents, and as many
daughters, amongst whom was Valeria, the daughter of Poplicola.
Upon these assurances, Porsenna ceased from all acts of hostility, and
the young girls went down to the river to bathe, at that part where the
winding of the bank formed a bay and made the waters stiller and
quieter; and, seeing no guard, nor any one coming or going over, they
were encouraged to swim over, notwithstanding the depth and violence of
the stream. Some affirm that one of them, by name Cloelia, passing over
on horseback, persuaded the rest to swim after; but, upon their safe
arrival, presenting themselves to Poplicola, he neither praised nor
approved their return, but was concerned lest he should appear less
faithful than Porsenna, and this boldness in the maidens should argue
treachery in the Romans; so that, apprehending them, he sent them back
to Porsenna. But Tarquin's men, having intelligence of this, laid a
strong ambuscade on the other side for those that conducted them; and
while these were skirmishing together, Valeria, the daughter of
Poplicola, rushed through the enemy and fled, and with the assistance
of three of her attendants made good her escape, whilst the rest were
dangerously hedged in by the soldiers; but Aruns, Porsenna's son, upon
tidings of it, hastened to their rescue, and, putting the enemy to
flight, delivered the Romans. When Porsenna saw the maidens returned,
demanding who was the author and adviser of the act, and understanding
Cloelia to be the person, he looked on her with a cheerful and
benignant countenance, and, commanding one of his horses to be brought,
sumptuously adorned, made her a present of it. This is produced as
evidence by those who affirm that only Cloelia passed the river or.
horseback; those who deny it call it only the honor the Tuscan did to
her courage; a figure, however, on horseback stands in the Via Sacra,
as you go to the Palatium, which some say is the statue of Cloelia,
others of Valeria. Porsenna, thus reconciled to the Romans, gave them a
fresh instance of his generosity, and commanded his soldiers to quit
the camp merely with their arms, leaving their tents, full of corn and
other stores, as a gift to the Romans. Hence, even down to our time,
when there is a public sale of goods, they cry Porsenna's first, by way
of perpetual commemoration of his kindness. There stood, also, by the
senate-house, a brazen statue of him, of plain and antique workmanship.
Afterwards, the Sabines making incursions upon the Romans, Marcus
Valerius, brother to Poplicola, was made consul, and with him Postumius
Tubertus. Marcus, through the management of affairs by the conduct and
direct assistance of Poplicola, obtained two great victories, in the
latter of which he slew thirteen thousand Sabines without the loss of
one Roman, and was honored, as all accession to his triumph, with an
house built in the Palatium at the public charge; and whereas the doors
of other houses opened inward into the house, they made this to open
outward into the street, to intimate their perpetual public recognition
of his merit by thus continually making way for him. The same fashion
in their doors the Greeks, they say, had of old universally, which
appears from their comedies, where those that are going out make a
noise at the door within, to give notice to those that pass by or stand
near the door, that the opening the door into the street might occasion
no surprisal.
The year after, Poplicola was made consul the fourth time, when a
confederacy of the Sabines and Latins threatened a war; a superstitious
fear also overran the city on the occasion of general miscarriages of
their women, no single birth coming to its due time. Poplicola, upon
consultation of the Sibylline books, sacrificing to Pluto, and renewing
certain games commanded by Apollo, restored the city to more cheerful
assurance in the gods, and then prepared against the menaces of men.
There were appearances of treat preparation, and of a formidable
confederacy. Amongst the Sabines there was one Appius Clausus, a man of
a great wealth and strength of body, but most eminent for his high
character and for his eloquence; yet, as is usually the fate of great
men, he could not escape the envy of others, which was much occasioned
by his dissuading the war, and seeming to promote the Roman interest,
with a view, it was thought, to obtaining absolute power in his own
country for himself. Knowing how welcome these reports would be to the
multitude, and how offensive to the army and the abettors of the war,
he was afraid to stand a trial, but, having a considerable body of
friends and allies to assist him, raised a tumult amongst the Sabines,
which delayed the war. Neither was Poplicola wanting, not only to
understand the grounds of the sedition, but to promote and increase it,
and he dispatched emissaries with instructions to Clausus, that
Poplicola was assured of his goodness and justice, and thought it
indeed unworthy in any man, however injured, to seek revenge upon his
fellow-citizens; yet if he pleased, for his own security, to leave his
enemies and come to Rome, he should be received, both in public and
private, with the honor his merit deserved, and their own glory
required. Appius, seriously weighing the matter, came to the conclusion
that it was the best resource which necessity left him, and advising
with his friends; and they inviting again others in the same manner, he
came to Rome, bringing five thousand families, with their wives and
children; people of the quietest and steadiest temper of all the
Sabines. Poplicola, informed of their approach, received them with all
the kind offices of a friend, and admitted them at once to the
franchise, allotting to every one two acres of land by the river Anio,
but to Clausus twenty-five acres, and gave him a place in the senate; a
commencement of political power which he used so wisely, that he rose
to the highest reputation, was very influential, and left the Claudian
house behind him, inferior to none in Rome.
The departure of these men rendered things quiet amongst the Sabines;
yet the chief of the community would not suffer them to settle into
peace, but resented that Clausus now, by turning deserter, should
disappoint that revenge upon the Romans, which, while at home, he had
unsuccessfully opposed. Coming with a great army, they sat down before
Fidenae, and placed an ambuscade of two thousand men near Rome, in
wooded and hollow spots, with a design that some few horsemen, as soon
as it was day, should go out and ravage the country, commanding them
upon their approach to the town so to retreat as to draw the enemy into
the ambush. Poplicola, however, soon advertised of these designs by
deserters, disposed his forces to their respective charges. Postumius
Balbus, his son-in-law, going out with three thousand men in the
evening, was ordered to take the hills, under which the ambush lay,
there to observe their motions; his colleague, Lucretius, attended with
a body of the lightest and boldest men, was appointed to meet the
Sabine horse; whilst he, with the rest of the army, encompassed the
enemy. And a thick mist rising accidentally, Postumius, early in the
morning, with shouts from the hills, assailed the ambuscade, Lucretius
charged the light-horse, and Poplicola besieged the camp; so that on
all sides defeat and ruin came upon the Sabines, and without any
resistance the Romans killed them in their flight, their very hopes
leading them to their death, for each division, presuming that the
other was safe, gave up all thought of fighting or keeping their
ground; and these quitting the camp to retire to the ambuscade, and the
ambuscade flying; to the camp, fugitives thus met fugitives, and found
those from whom they expected succor as much in need of succor from
themselves. The nearness, however, of the city Fidenae was the
preservation of the Sabines, especially those that fled from the camp;
those that could not gain the city either perished in the field, or
were taken prisoners. This victory, the Romans, though usually
ascribing such success to some god, attributed to the conduct of one
captain; and it was observed to be heard amongst the soldiers, that
Poplicola had delivered their enemies lame and blind, and only not in
chains, to be dispatched by their swords. From the spoil and prisoners
great wealth accrued to the people.
Poplicola, having completed his triumph, and bequeathed the city to the
care of the succeeding consuls, died; thus closing a life which, so far
as human life may be, had been full of all that is good and honorable.
The people, as though they had not duly rewarded his deserts when
alive, but still were in his debt, decreed him a public interment,
every one contributing his quadrans towards the charge; the women,
besides, by private consent, mourned a whole year, a signal mark of
honor to his memory. He was buried, by the people's desire, within the
city, in the part called Velia, where his posterity had likewise
privilege of burial; now, however, none of the family are interred
there, but the body is carried thither and set down, and someone places
a burning torch under it, and immediately takes it away, as an
attestation of the deceased's privilege, and his receding from his
honor; after which the body is removed.
COMPARISON OF POPLICOLA WITH SOLON
There is something singular in the present parallel, which has not
occurred in any other of the lives; that the one should be the imitator
of the other, and the other his best evidence. Upon the survey of
Solon's sentence to Croesus in favor of Tellus's happiness, it seems
more applicable to Poplicola; for Tellus, whose virtuous life and dying
well had gained him the name of the happiest man, yet was never
celebrated in Solon's poems for a good man, nor have his children or
any magistracy of his deserved a memorial; but Poplicola's life was the
most eminent amongst the Romans, as well for the greatness of his
virtue as his power, and also since his death many amongst the
distinguished families, even in our days, the Poplicolae, Messalae, and
Valerii, after a lapse of six hundred years, acknowledge him as the
fountain of their honor. Besides, Tellus, though keeping his post and
fighting like a valiant soldier, was yet slain by his enemies; but
Poplicola, the better fortune, slew his, and saw his country victorious
under his command. And his honors and triumphs brought him, which was
Solon's ambition, to a happy end; the ejaculation which, in his verses
against Mimnermus about the continuance of man's life, he himself made,
Mourned let me die; and may I, when life ends,
Occasion sighs and sorrows to my friends,
is evidence to Poplicola's happiness; his death did not only draw tears
from his friends and acquaintance, but was the object of universal
regret and sorrow through the whole city; the women deplored his loss
as that of a son, brother, or common father. "Wealth I would have,"
said Solon, "but wealth by wrong procure would not," because punishment
would follow. But Poplicola's riches were not only justly his, but he
spent them nobly in doing good to the distressed. So that if Solon was
reputed the wisest man, we must allow Poplicola to be the happiest; for
what Solon wished for as the greatest and most perfect good, this
Poplicola had, and used and enjoyed to his death.
And as Solon may thus be said to have contributed to Poplicola's glory,
so did also Poplicola to his, by his choice of him as his model in the
formation of republican institutions; in reducing, for example, the
excessive powers and assumption of the consulship. Several of his laws,
indeed, he actually transferred to Rome, as his empowering the people
to elect their officers, and allowing offenders the liberty of
appealing to the people, as Solon did to the jurors. He did not,
indeed, create a new senate, as Solon did, but augmented the old to
almost double its number. The appointment of treasurers again, the
quaestors, has a like origin; with the intent that the chief magistrate
should not, if of good character, be withdrawn from greater matters;
or, if bad, have the greater temptation to injustice, by holding both
the government and treasury in his hands. The aversion to tyranny was
stronger in Poplicola; any one who attempted usurpation could, by
Solon's law, only be punished upon conviction; but Poplicola made it
death before a trial. And though Solon justly gloried, that, when
arbitrary power was absolutely offered to him by circumstances, and
when his countrymen would have willingly seen him accept it, he yet
declined it; still Poplicola merited no less, who, receiving a despotic
command, converted it to a popular office, and did not employ the whole
legal power which he held. We must allow, indeed, that Solon was before
Poplicola in observing that
A people always minds its rulers best When it is neither humored nor
oppressed.
The remission of debts was peculiar to Solon; it was his great means
for confirming the citizens' liberty; for a mere law to give all men
equal rights is but useless, if the poor must sacrifice those rights to
their debts, and, in the very seats and sanctuaries of equality, the
courts of justice, the offices of state, and the public discussions, be
more than anywhere at the beck and bidding of the rich. A yet more
extraordinary success was, that, although usually civil violence is
caused by any remission of debts, upon this one occasion this dangerous
but powerful remedy actually put an end to civil violence already
existing, Solon's own private worth and reputation overbalancing all
the ordinary ill- repute and discredit of the change. The beginning of
his government was more glorious, for he was entirely original, and
followed no man's example, and, without the aid of any ally, achieved
his most important measures by his own conduct; yet the close of
Poplicola's life was more happy and desirable, for Solon saw the
dissolution of his own commonwealth, Poplicola's maintained the state
in good order down to the civil wars. Solon, leaving his laws, as soon
as he had made them, engraven in wood, but destitute of a defender,
departed from Athens; whilst Poplicola, remaining, both in and out of
office, labored to establish the government Solon, though he actually
knew of Pisistratus's ambition, yet was not able to suppress it, but
had to yield to usurpation in its infancy; whereas Poplicola utterly
subverted and dissolved a potent monarchy, strongly settled by long
continuance; uniting thus to virtues equal to those, and purposes
identical with those of Solon, the good fortune and the power that
alone could make them effective.
In military exploits, Daimachus of Plataea will not even allow Solon
the conduct of the war against the Megarians, as was before intimated;
but Poplicola was victorious in the most important conflicts, both as a
private soldier and commander. In domestic politics, also, Solon, in
play, as it were, and by counterfeiting madness, induced the enterprise
against Salamis; whereas Poplicola, in the very beginning, exposed
himself to the greatest risk, took arms against Tarquin, detected the
conspiracy, and, being principally concerned both in preventing the
escape of and afterwards punishing the traitors, not only expelled the
tyrants from the city, but extirpated their very hopes. And as, in
cases calling for contest and resistance and manful opposition, he
behaved with courage and resolution, so, in instances where peaceable
language, persuasion, and concession were requisite, he was yet more to
be commended; and succeeded in gaining happily to reconciliation and
friendship, Porsenna, a terrible and invincible enemy. Some may,
perhaps, object, that Solon recovered Salamis, which they had lost, for
the Athenians; whereas Poplicola receded from part of what the Romans
were at that time possessed of; but judgment is to be made of actions
according to the times in which they were performed. The conduct of a
wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs; often
by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small
matter secures a greater; and so Poplicola, by restoring what the
Romans had lately usurped, saved their undoubted patrimony, and
procured, moreover, the stores of the enemy for those who were only too
thankful to secure their city. Permitting the decision of the
controversy to his adversary, he not only got the victory, but likewise
what he himself would willingly have given to purchase the victory,
Porsenna putting an end to the war, and leaving them all the provision
of his camp, from the sense of the virtue and gallant disposition of
the Romans which their consul had impressed upon him.
THEMISTOCLES
The birth of Themistocles was somewhat too obscure to do him honor. His
father, Neocles, was not of the distinguished people of Athens, but of
the township of Phrearrhi, and of the tribe Leontis; and by his
mother's side, as it is reported, he was base-born.
I am not of the noble Grecian race,
I'm poor Abrotonon, and born in Thrace;
Let the Greek women scorn me, if they please,
I was the mother of Themistocles.
Yet Phanias writes that the mother of Themistocles was not of Thrace,
but of Caria, and that her name was not Abrotonon, but Euterpe; and
Neanthes adds farther that she was of Halicarnassus in Caria. And, as
illegitimate children, including those that were of the half-blood or
had but one parent an Athenian, had to attend at the Cynosarges (a
wrestling-place outside the gates, dedicated to Hercules, who was also
of half-blood amongst the gods, having had a mortal woman for his
mother), Themistocles persuaded several of the young men of high birth
to accompany him to anoint and exercise themselves together at
Cynosarges; an ingenious device for destroying the distinction between
the noble and the base-born, and between those of the whole and those
of the half blood of Athens. However, it is certain that he was related
to the house of the Lycomedae; for Simonides records, that he rebuilt
the chapel of Phlya, belonging to that family, and beautified it with
pictures and other ornaments, after it had been burnt by the Persians.
It is confessed by all that from his youth he was of a vehement and
impetuous nature, of a quick apprehension, and a strong and aspiring
bent for action and great affairs. The holidays and intervals in his
studies he did not spend in play or idleness, as other children, but
would be always inventing or arranging some oration or declamation to
himself, the subject of which was generally the excusing or accusing
his companions, so that his master would often say to him, "You, my
boy, will be nothing small, but great one way or other, for good or
else for bad." He received reluctantly and carelessly instructions
given him to improve his manners and behavior, or to teach him any
pleasing or graceful accomplishment, but whatever was said to improve
him in sagacity, or in management of affairs, he would give attention
to, beyond one of his years, from confidence in his natural capacities
for such things. And thus afterwards, when in company where people
engaged themselves in what are commonly thought the liberal and elegant
amusements, he was obliged to defend himself against the observations
of those who considered themselves highly accomplished, by the somewhat
arrogant retort, that he certainly could not make use of any stringed
instrument, could only, were a small and obscure city put into his
hands, make it great and glorious. Notwithstanding this, Stesimbrotus
says that Themistocles was a hearer of Anaxagoras, and that he studied
natural philosophy under Melissus, contrary to chronology; for Melissus
commanded the Samians in their siege by Pericles, who was much
Themistocles's junior; and with Pericles, also, Anaxagoras was
intimate. They, therefore, might rather be credited, who report, that
Themistocles was an admirer of Mnesiphilus the Phrearrhian, who was
neither rhetorician nor natural philosopher, but a professor of that
which was then called wisdom, consisting in a sort of political
shrewdness and practical sagacity, which had begun and continued,
almost like a sect of philosophy, from Solon; but those who came
afterwards, and mixed it with pleadings and legal artifices, and
transformed the practical part of it into a mere art of speaking and an
exercise of words, were generally called sophists. Themistocles
resorted to Mnesiphilus when he had already embarked in politics.
In the first essays of his youth he was not regular nor happily
balanced; he allowed himself to follow mere natural character, which,
without the control of reason and instruction, is apt to hurry, upon
either side, into sudden and violent courses, and very often to break
away and determine upon the worst; as he afterwards owned himself,
saying, that the wildest colts make the best horses, if they only get
properly trained and broken in. But those who upon this fasten stories
of their own invention, as of his being disowned by his father, and
that his mother died for grief of her son's ill fame, certainly
calumniate him; and there are others who relate, on the contrary, how
that to deter him from public business, and to let him see how the
vulgar behave themselves towards their leaders when they have at last
no farther use of them, his father showed him the old galleys as they
lay forsaken and cast about upon the sea-shore.
Yet it is evident that his mind was early imbued with the keenest
interest in public affairs, and the most passionate ambition for
distinction. Eager from the first to obtain the highest place, he
unhesitatingly accepted the hatred of the most powerful and influential
leaders in the city, but more especially of Aristides, the son of
Lysimachus, who always opposed him. And yet all this great enmity
between them arose, it appears, from a very boyish occasion, both being
attached to the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, as Ariston the philosopher
tells us; ever after which, they took opposite sides, and were rivals
in politics. Not but that the incompatibility of their lives and
manners may seem to have increased the difference, for Aristides was of
a mild nature, and of a nobler sort of character, and, in public
matters, acting always with a view, not to glory or popularity, but to
the best interests of the state consistently with safety and honesty,
he was often forced to oppose Themistocles, and interfere against the
increase of his influence, seeing him stirring up the people to all
kinds of enterprises, and introducing various innovations. For it is
said that Themistocles was so transported with the thoughts of glory,
and so inflamed with the passion for great actions, that, though he was
still young when the battle of Marathon was fought against the
Persians, upon the skillful conduct of the general, Miltiades, being
everywhere talked about, he was observed to be thoughtful, and
reserved, alone by him self; he passed the nights without sleep, and
avoided all his usual places of recreation, and to those who wondered
at the change, and inquired the reason of it, he gave the answer, that
"the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep." And when others were
of opinion that the battle of Marathon would be an end to the war,
Themistocles thought that it was but the beginning of far greater
conflicts, and for these, to the benefit of all Greece, he kept himself
in continual readiness, and his city also in proper training,
foreseeing from far before what would happen.
And, first of all, the Athenians being accustomed to divide amongst
themselves the revenue proceeding from the silver mines at Laurium, he
was the only man that dared propose to the people that this
distribution should cease, and that with the money ships should be
built to make war against the Aeginetans, who were the most flourishing
people in all Greece, and by the number of their ships held the
sovereignty of the sea; and Themistocles thus was more easily able to
persuade them, avoiding all mention of danger from Darius or the
Persians, who were at a great distance, and their coming very
uncertain, and at that time not much to be feared; but, by a seasonable
employment of the emulation and anger felt by the Athenians against the
Aeginetans, he induced them to preparation. So that with this money a
hundred ships were built, with which they afterwards fought against
Xerxes. And, henceforward, little by little, turning and drawing the
city down towards the sea, in the belief, that, whereas by land they
were not a fit match for their next neighbors, with their ships they
might be able to repel the Persians and command Greece, thus, as Plato
says, from steady soldiers he turned them into mariners and seamen
tossed about the sea, and gave occasion for the reproach against him,
that he took away from the Athenians the spear and the shield, and
bound them to the bench and the oar. These measures he carried in the
assembly, against the opposition, as Stesimbrotus relates, of
Miltiades; and whether or no he hereby injured the purity and true
balance of government, may be a question for philosophers, but that the
deliverance of Greece came at that time from the sea, and that these
galleys restored Athens again after it was destroyed, were others
wanting, Xerxes himself would be sufficient evidence, who, though his
land-forces were still entire, after his defeat at sea, fled away, and
thought himself no longer able to encounter the Greeks; and, as it
seems to me, left Mardonius behind him, not out of any hopes he could
have to bring them into subjection, but to hinder them from pursuing
him.
Themistocles is said to have been eager in the acquisition of riches,
according to some, that he might be the more liberal; for loving to
sacrifice often, and to be splendid in his entertainment of strangers,
he required a plentiful revenue; yet he is accused by others of having
been parsimonious and sordid to that degree that he would sell
provisions which were sent to him as a present. He desired Diphilides,
who was a breeder of horses, to give him a colt, and when he refused
it, threatened that in a short time he would turn his house into a
wooden horse, intimating that he would stir up dispute and litigation
between him and some of his relations.
He went beyond all men in the passion for distinction. When he was
still young and unknown in the world, he entreated Epicles of Hermione,
who had a good hand at the lute and was much sought after by the
Athenians, to come and practice at home with him, being ambitious of
having people inquire after his house and frequent his company. When he
came to the Olympic games, and was so splendid in his equipage and
entertainments, in his rich tents and furniture, that he strove to
outdo Cimon, he displeased the Greeks, who thought that such
magnificence might be allowed in one who was a young man and of a great
family but was a great piece of insolence in one as yet
undistinguished, and without title or means for making any such
display. In a dramatic contest, the play he paid for won the prize,
which was then a matter that excited much emulation; he put up a tablet
in record of it, with the inscription, "Themistocles of Phrearrhi was
at the charge of it; Phrynichus made it; Adimantus was archon." He was
well liked by the common people, would salute every particular citizen
by his own name, and always show himself a just judge in questions of
business between private men; he said to Simonides, the poet of Ceos,
who desired something of him, when he was commander of the army, that
was not reasonable, "Simonides, you would be no good poet if you wrote
false measure, nor should I be a good magistrate if for favor I made
false law." And at another time, laughing at Simonides, he said, that
he was a man of little judgment to speak against the Corinthians, who
were inhabitants of a great city, and to have his own picture drawn so
often, having so ill-looking a face.
Gradually growing to be great, and winning the favor of the people, he
at last gained the day with his faction over that of Aristides, and
procured his banishment by ostracism. When the king of Persia was now
advancing against Greece, and the Athenians were in consultation who
should be general, and many withdrew themselves of their own accord,
being terrified with the greatness of the danger, there was one
Epicydes, a popular speaker, son to Euphemides, a man of an eloquent
tongue, but of a faint heart, and a slave to riches, who was desirous
of the command, and was looked upon to be in a fair way to carry it by
the number of votes; but Themistocles, fearing that, if the command
should fall into such hands, all would be lost, bought off Epicydes and
his pretensions, it is said, for a sum of money.
When the king of Persia sent messengers into Greece, with an
interpreter, to demand earth and water, as an acknowledgment of
subjection, Themistocles, by the consent of the people, seized upon the
interpreter, and put him to death, for presuming to publish the
barbarian orders and decrees in the Greek language; this is one of the
actions he is commended for, as also for what he did to Arthmius of
Zelea, who brought gold from the king of Persia to corrupt the Greeks,
and was, by an order from Themistocles, degraded and disfranchised, he
and his children and his posterity; but that which most of all
redounded to his credit was, that he put an end to all the civil wars
of Greece, composed their differences, and persuaded them to lay aside
all enmity during the war with the Persians; and in this great work,
Chileus the Arcadian was, it is said, of great assistance to him.
Having taken upon himself the command of the Athenian forces, he
immediately endeavored to persuade the citizens to leave the city, and
to embark upon their galleys, and meet with the Persians at a great
distance from Greece; but many being against this, he led a large
force, together with the Lacedaemonians, into Tempe, that in this pass
they might maintain the safety of Thessaly, which had not as yet
declared for the king; but when they returned without performing
anything; and it was known that not only the Thessalians, but all as
far as Boeotia, was going over to Xerxes, then the Athenians more
willingly hearkened to the advice of Themistocles to fight by sea, and
sent him with a fleet to guard the straits of Artemisium.
When the contingents met here, the Greeks would have the Lacedaemonians
to command, and Eurybiades to be their admiral; but the Athenians, who
surpassed all the rest together in number of vessels, would not submit
to come after any other, till Themistocles, perceiving the danger of
this contest, yielded his own command to Eurybiades, and got the
Athenians to submit, extenuating the loss by persuading them, that if
in this war they behaved themselves like men, he would answer for it
after that, that the Greeks, of their own will, would submit to their
command. And by this moderation of his, it is evident that he was the
chief means of the deliverance of Greece, and gained the Athenians the
glory of alike surpassing their enemies in valor, and their
confederates in wisdom.
As soon as the Persian armada arrived at Aphetae, Eurybiades was
astonished to see such a vast number of vessels before him, and, being
informed that two hundred more were sailing round behind the island of
Sciathus, he immediately determined to retire farther into Greece, and
to sail back into some part of Peloponnesus, where their land army and
their fleet might join, for he looked upon the Persian forces to be
altogether unassailable by sea. But the Euboeans, fearing that the
Greeks would forsake them, and leave them to the mercy of the enemy,
sent Pelagon to confer privately with Themistocles, taking with him a
good sum of money, which, as Herodotus reports, he accepted and gave to
Eurybiades. In this affair none of his own countrymen opposed him so
much as Architeles, captain of the sacred galley, who, having no money
to supply his seamen, was eager to go home; but Themistocles so
incensed the Athenians against him, that they set upon him and left him
not so much as his supper, at which Architeles was much surprised, and
took it very ill; but Themistocles immediately sent him in a chest a
service of provisions, and at the bottom of it a talent of silver,
desiring him to sup tonight, and tomorrow provide for his seamen; if
not, he would report it amongst the Athenians that he had received
money from the enemy. So Phanias the Lesbian tells the story.
Though the fights between the Greeks and Persians in the straits of
Euboea were not so important as to make any final decision of the war,
yet the experience which the Greeks obtained in them was of great
advantage, for thus, by actual trial and in real danger, they found out
that neither number of ships, nor riches and ornaments, nor boasting
shouts, nor barbarous songs of victory, were any way terrible to men
that knew how to fight, and were resolved to come hand to hand with
their enemies; these things they were to despise, and to come up close
and grapple with their foes. This, Pindar appears to have seen, and
says justly enough of the fight at Artemisium, that
There the sons of Athens set The stone that freedom stands on yet.
For the first step towards victory undoubtedly is to gain courage.
Artemisium is in Euboea, beyond the city of Histiaea, a sea-beach open
to the north; most nearly opposite to it stands Olizon, in the country
which formerly was under Philoctetes; there is a small temple there,
dedicated to Diana, surnamed of the Dawn, and trees about it, around
which again stand pillars of white marble; and if you rub them with
your hand, they send forth both the smell and color of saffron. On one
of the pillars these verses are engraved,--
With numerous tribes from Asia's regions brought
The sons of Athens on these waters, fought;
Erecting, after they had quelled the Mede,
To Artemis this record of the deed.
There is a place still to be seen upon this shore, where, in the middle
of a great heap of sand, they take out from the bottom a dark powder
like ashes, or something that has passed the fire; and here, it is
supposed, the shipwrecks and bodies of the dead were burnt.
But when news came from Thermopylae to Artemisium, informing them that
king Leonidas was slain, and that Xerxes had made himself master of all
the passages by land, they returned back to the interior of Greece, the
Athenians having the command of the rear, the place of honor and
danger, and much elated by what had been done.
As Themistocles sailed along the coast, he took notice of the harbors
and fit places for the enemies' ships to come to land at, and engraved
large letters in such stones as he found there by chance, as also in
others which he set up on purpose near to the landing-places, or where
they were to water; in which inscriptions he called upon the Ionians to
forsake the Medes, if it were possible, and come over to the Greeks,
who were their proper founders and fathers, and were now hazarding all
for their liberties; but, if this could not be done, at any rate to
impede and disturb the Persians in all engagements. He hoped that these
writings would prevail with the Ionians to revolt, or raise some
trouble by making their fidelity doubtful to the Persians.
Now, though Xerxes had already passed through Doris and invaded the
country of Phocis, and was burning and destroying the cities of the
Phocians, yet the Greeks sent them no relief; and, though the Athenians
earnestly desired them to meet the Persians in Boeotia, before they
could come into Attica, as they themselves had come forward by sea at
Artemisium, they gave no ear to their request, being wholly intent upon
Peloponnesus, and resolved to gather all their forces together within
the Isthmus, and to build a wall from sea to sea in that narrow neck of
land; so that the Athenians were enraged to see themselves betrayed,
and at the same time afflicted and dejected at their own destitution.
For to fight alone against such a numerous army was to no purpose, and
the only expedient now left them was to leave their city and cling to
their ships; which the people were very unwilling to submit to,
imagining that it would signify little now to gain a victory, and not
understanding how there could be deliverance any longer after they had
once forsaken the temples of their gods and exposed the tombs and
monuments of their ancestors to the fury of their enemies.
Themistocles, being at a loss, and not able to draw the people over to
his opinion by any human reason, set his machines to work, as in a
theater, and employed prodigies and oracles. The serpent of Minerva,
kept in the inner part of her temple, disappeared; the priests gave it
out to the people that the offerings which were set for it were found
untouched, and declared, by the suggestion of Themistocles, that the
goddess had left the city, and taken her flight before them towards the
sea. And he often urged them with the oracle which bade them trust to
walls of wood, showing them that walls of wood could signify nothing
else but ships; and that the island of Salamis was termed in it, not
miserable or unhappy, but had the epithet of divine, for that it should
one day be associated with a great good fortune of the Greeks. At
length his opinion prevailed, and he obtained a decree that the city
should be committed to the protection of Minerva, "queen of Athens;"
that they who were of age to bear arms should embark, and that each
should see to sending away his children, women, and slaves where he
could. This decree being confirmed, most of the Athenians removed their
parents, wives, and children to Troezen, where they were received with
eager good-will by the Troezenians, who passed a vote that they should
be maintained at the public charge, by a daily payment of two obols to
every one, and leave be given to the children to gather fruit where
they pleased, and schoolmasters paid to instruct them. This vote was
proposed by Nicagoras.
There was no public treasure at that time in Athens; but the council of
Areopagus, as Aristotle says, distributed to every one that served,
eight drachmas, which was a great help to the manning of the fleet; but
Clidemus ascribes this also to the art of Themistocles. When the
Athenians were on their way down to the haven of Piraeus, the shield
with the head of Medusa was missing; and he, under the pretext of
searching for it, ransacked all places, and found among their goods
considerable sums of money concealed, which he applied to the public
use; and with this the soldiers and seamen were well provided for their
voyage.
When the whole city of Athens were going on board, it afforded a
spectacle worthy of pity alike and admiration, to see them thus send
away their fathers and children before them, and, unmoved with their
cries and tears, pass over into the island. But that which stirred
compassion most of all was, that many old men, by reason of their great
age, were left behind; and even the tame domestic animals could not be
seen without some pity, running about the town and howling, as desirous
to be carried along with their masters that had kept them; among which
it is reported that Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, had a dog that
would not endure to stay behind, but leaped into the sea, and swam
along by the galley's side till he came to the island of Salamis, where
he fainted away and died, and that spot in the island, which is still
called the Dog's Grave, is said to be his.
Among the great actions of Themistocles at this crisis, the recall of
Aristides was not the least, for, before the war, he had been
ostracized by the party which Themistocles headed, and was in
banishment; but now, perceiving that the people regretted his absence,
and were fearful that he might go over to the Persians to revenge
himself, and thereby ruin the affairs of Greece, Themistocles proposed
a decree that those who were banished for a time might return again, to
give assistance by word and deed to the cause of Greece with the rest
of their fellow-citizens.
Eurybiades, by reason of the greatness of Sparta, was admiral of the
Greek fleet, but yet was faint-hearted in time of danger, and willing
to weigh anchor and set sail for the isthmus of Corinth, near which the
land army lay encamped; which Themistocles resisted; and this was the
occasion of the well-known words, when Eurybiades, to check his
impatience, told him that at the Olympic games they that start up
before the rest are lashed; "And they," replied Themistocles, "that are
left behind are not crowned." Again, Eurybiades lifting up his staff as
if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike if you will, but
hear;" Eurybiades, wondering much at his moderation, desired him to
speak, and Themistocles now brought him to a better understanding. And
when one who stood by him told him that it did not become those who had
neither city nor house to lose, to persuade others to relinquish their
habitations and forsake their countries, Themistocles gave this reply:
"We have indeed left our houses and our walls, base fellow, not
thinking it fit to become slaves for the sake of things that have no
life nor soul; and yet our city is the greatest of all Greece,
consisting of two hundred galleys, which are here to defend you, if you
please; but if you run away and betray us, as you did once before, the
Greeks shall soon hear news of the Athenians possessing as fair a
country, and as large and free a city, as that they have lost." These
expressions of Themistocles made Eurybiades suspect that if he
retreated the Athenians would fall off from him. When one of Eretria
began to oppose him, he said, "Have you anything to say of war, that
are like an ink-fish? you have a sword, but no heart." Some say that
while Themistocles was thus speaking things upon the deck, an owl was
seen flying to the right hand of the fleet, which came and sat upon the
top of the mast; and this happy omen so far disposed the Greeks to
follow his advice, that they presently prepared to fight. Yet, when the
enemy's fleet was arrived at the haven of Phalerum, upon the coast of
Attica, and with the number of their ships concealed all the shore, and
when they saw the king himself in person come down with his land army
to the seaside, with all his forces united, then the good counsel of
Themistocles was soon forgotten, and the Peloponnesians cast their eyes
again towards the isthmus, and took it very ill if any one spoke
against their returning home; and, resolving to depart that night, the
pilots had order what course to steer. The Teuthis, loligo, or
cuttlefish, is said to have a bone or cartilage shaped like a sword,
and was conceived to have no heart.
Themistocles, in great distress that the Greeks should retire, and lose
the advantage of the narrow seas and strait passage, and slip home
every one to his own city, considered with himself, and contrived that
stratagem that was carried out by Sicinnus. This Sicinnus was a Persian
captive, but a great lover of Themistocles, and the attendant of his
children. Upon this occasion, he sent him privately to Xerxes,
commanding him to tell the king, that Themistocles, the admiral of the
Athenians, having espoused his interest, wished to be the first to
inform him that the Greeks were ready to make their escape, and that he
counseled him to hinder their flight, to set upon them while they were
in this confusion and at a distance from their land army, and hereby
destroy all their forces by sea. Xerxes was very joyful at this
message, and received it as from one who wished him all that was good,
and immediately issued instructions to the commanders of his ships,
that they should instantly Yet out with two hundred galleys to
encompass all the islands, and enclose all the straits and passages,
that none of the Greeks might escape, and that they should afterwards
follow with the rest of their fleet at leisure. This being done,
Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, was the first man that perceived it,
and went to the tent of Themistocles, not out of any friendship, for he
had been formerly banished by his means, as has been related, but to
inform him how they were encompassed by their enemies. Themistocles,
knowing the generosity of Aristides, and much struck by his visit at
that time, imparted to him all that he had transacted by Sicinnus, and
entreated him, that, as he would be more readily believed among the
Greeks, he would make use of his credit to help to induce them to stay
and fight their enemies in the narrow seas. Aristides applauded
Themistocles, and went to the other commanders and captains of the
galleys, and encouraged them to engage; yet they did not perfectly
assent to him, till a galley of Tenos, which deserted from the
Persians, of which Panaetius was commander, came in, while they were
still doubting, and confirmed the news that all the straits and
passages were beset; and then their rage and fury, as well as their
necessity; provoked them all to fight.
As soon as it was day, Xerxes placed himself high up, to view his
fleet, and how it was set in order. Phanodemus says, he sat upon a
promontory above the temple of Hercules, where the coast of Attica is
separated from the island by a narrow channel; but Acestodorus writes,
that it was in the confines of Megara, upon those hills which are
called the Horns, where he sat in a chair of gold, with many
secretaries about him to write down all that was done in the fight.
When Themistocles was about to sacrifice, close to the admiral's
galley, there were three prisoners brought to him, fine looking men,
and richly dressed in ornamented clothing and gold, said to be the
children of Artayctes and Sandauce, sister to Xerxes. As soon as the
prophet Euphrantides saw them, and observed that at the same time the
fire blazed out from the offerings with a more than ordinary flame, and
that a man sneezed on the right, which was an intimation of a fortunate
event, he took Themistocles by the hand, and bade him consecrate the
three young men for sacrifice, and offer them up with prayers for
victory to Bacchus the Devourer: so should the Greeks not only save
themselves, but also obtain victory. Themistocles was much disturbed at
this strange and terrible prophecy, but the common people, who, in any
difficult crisis and great exigency, ever look for relief rather to
strange and extravagant than to reasonable means, calling upon Bacchus
with one voice, led the captives to the altar, and compelled the
execution of the sacrifice as the prophet had commanded. This is
reported by Phanias the Lesbian, a philosopher well read in history.
The number of the enemy's ships the poet Aeschylus gives in his tragedy
called the Persians, as on his certain knowledge, in the following
words--
Xerxes, I know, did into battle lead
One thousand ships; of more than usual speed
Seven and two hundred. So is it agreed.
The Athenians had a hundred and eighty; in every ship eighteen men
fought upon the deck, four of whom were archers and the rest men-at-
arms.
As Themistocles had fixed upon the most advantageous place, so, with no
less sagacity, he chose the best time of fighting; for he would not run
the prows of his galleys against the Persians, nor begin the fight till
the time of day was come, when there regularly blows in a fresh breeze
from the open sea, and brings in with it a strong swell into the
channel; which was no inconvenience to the Greek ships, which were low-
built, and little above the water, but did much hurt to the Persians,
which had high sterns and lofty decks, and were heavy and cumbrous in
their movements, as it presented them broadside to the quick charges of
the Greeks, who kept their eyes upon the motions of Themistocles, as
their best example, and more particularly because, opposed to his ship,
Ariamenes, admiral to Xerxes, a brave man, and by far the best and
worthiest of the king's brothers, was seen throwing darts and shooting
arrows from his huge galley, as from the walls of a castle. Aminias the
Decelean and Sosicles the Pedian, who sailed in the same vessel, upon
the ships meeting stem to stem, and transfixing each the other with
their brazen prows, so that they were fastened together, when Ariamenes
attempted to board theirs, ran at him with their pikes, and thrust him
into the sea; his body, as it floated amongst other shipwrecks, was
known to Artemisia, and carried to Xerxes.
It is reported, that, in the middle of the fight, a great flame rose
into the air above the city of Eleusis, and that sounds and voices were
heard through all the Thriasian plain, as far as the sea, sounding like
a number of men accompanying and escorting the mystic Iacchus, and that
a mist seemed to form and rise from the place from whence the sounds
came, and, passing forward, fell upon the galleys. Others believed that
they saw apparitions, in the shape of armed men, reaching out their
hands from the island of Aegina before the Grecian galleys; and
supposed they were the Aeacidae, whom they had invoked to their aid
before the battle. The first man that took a ship was Lycomedes the
Athenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, and dedicated
it to Apollo the Laurel-crowned. And as the Persians fought in a narrow
arm of the sea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and
fell foul of one another, the Greeks thus equaled them in strength, and
fought with them till the evening, forced them back, and obtained, as
says Simonides, that noble and famous victory, than which neither
amongst the Greeks nor barbarians was ever known more glorious exploit
on the seas; by the joint valor, indeed, and zeal of all who fought,
but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles.
After this sea-fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, attempted, by
casting great heaps of earth and stones into the sea, to stop up the
channel and to make a dam, upon which he might lead his land-forces
over into the island of Salamis.
Themistocles, being desirous to try the opinion of Aristides, told him
that he proposed to set sail for the Hellespont, to break the bridge of
ships, so as to shut up, he said, Asia a prisoner within Europe; but
Aristides, disliking the design, said, "We have hitherto fought with an
enemy who has regarded little else but his pleasure and luxury; but if
we shut him up within Greece, and drive him to necessity, he that is
master of such great forces will no longer sit quietly with an umbrella
of gold over his head, looking upon the fight for his pleasure; but in
such a strait will attempt all things; he will be resolute, and appear
himself in person upon all occasions, he will soon correct his errors,
and supply what he has formerly omitted through remissness, and will be
better advised in all things. Therefore, it is noways our interest,
Themistocles," he said, "to take away the bridge that is already made,
but rather to build another, if it were possible, that he might make
his retreat with the more expedition." To which Themistocles answered,
"If this be requisite, we must immediately use all diligence, art, and
industry, to rid ourselves of him as soon as may be;" and to this
purpose he found out among the captives one of the king Of Persia's
eunuchs, named Arnaces, whom he sent to the king, to inform him that
the Greeks, being now victorious by sea, had decreed to sail to the
Hellespont, where the boats were fastened together, and destroy the
bridge; but that Themistocles, being concerned for the king, revealed
this to him, that he might hasten towards the Asiatic seas, and pass
over into his own dominions; and in the mean time would cause delays,
and hinder the confederates from pursuing him. Xerxes no sooner heard
this, but, being very much terrified, he proceeded to retreat out of
Greece with all speed. The prudence of Themistocles and Aristides in
this was afterwards more fully understood at the battle of Plataea,
where Mardonius, with a very small fraction of the forces of Xerxes,
put the Greeks in danger of losing all.
Herodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was held to
have performed the best service in the war; while all single men
yielded to Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when
they returned to the entrance of Peloponnesus, where the several
commanders delivered their suffrages at the altar, to determine who was
most worthy, every one gave the first vote for himself and the second
for Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians carried him with them to Sparta,
where, giving the rewards of valor to Eurybiades, and of wisdom and
conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with olive, presented him
with the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred young men to
accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the next Olympic
games, when Themistocles entered the course, the spectators took no
farther notice of those who were contesting the prizes, but spent the
whole day in looking upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring
him, and applauding him by clapping their hands, and other expressions
of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, confessed to his friends
that he then reaped the fruit of all his labors for the Greeks.
He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is evident from
the anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he
would not quite conclude any single matter of business, either public
or private, but deferred all till the day they were to set sail, that,
by dispatching a great quantity of business all at once, and having to
meet a great variety of people, he might make an appearance of
greatness and power. Viewing the dead bodies cast up by the sea, he
perceived bracelets and necklaces of gold about them, yet passed on,
only showing them to a friend that followed him, saying, "Take you
these things, for you are not Themistocles." He said to Antiphates, a
handsome young man, who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory
courted him, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson." He said
that the Athenians did not honor him or admire him, but made, as it
were, a sort of plane-tree of him; sheltered themselves under him in
bad weather, and, as soon as it was fine, plucked his leaves and cut
his branches. When the Seriphian told him that he had not obtained this
honor by himself, but by the greatness of his city, he replied, "You
speak truth; I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus;
nor you, had you been of Athens." When another of the generals, who
thought he had performed considerable service for the Athenians,
boastingly compared his actions with those of Themistocles, he told him
that once upon a time the Day after the Festival found fault with the
Festival: "On you there is nothing but hurry and trouble and
preparation, but, when I come, everybody sits down quietly and enjoys
himself;" which the Festival admitted was true, but "if I had not come
first, you would not have come at all." "Even so," he said, "if
Themistocles had not come before, where had you been now?" Laughing at
his own son, who got his mother, and, by his mother's means, his father
also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one
in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the
Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother."
Loving to be singular in all things, when he had land to sell, he
ordered the crier to give notice that there were good neighbors near
it. Of two who made love to his daughter, he preferred the man of worth
to the one who was rich, saying he desired a man without riches, rather
than riches without a man. Such was the character of his sayings.
After these things, he began to rebuild and fortify the city of Athens,
bribing, as Theopompus reports, the Lacedaemonian ephors not to be
against it, but, as most relate it, overreaching and deceiving them.
For, under pretest of an embassy, he went to Sparta, where, upon the
Lacedaemonians charging him with rebuilding the walls, and Poliarchus
coming on purpose from Aegina to denounce it, he denied the fact,
bidding them to send people to Athens to see whether it were so or no;
by which delay he got time for the building of the wall, and also
placed these ambassadors in the hands of his countrymen as hostages for
him; and so, when the Lacedaemonians knew the truth, they did him no
hurt, but, suppressing all display of their anger for the present, sent
him away.
Next he proceeded to establish the harbor of Piraeus, observing the
great natural advantages of the locality and desirous to unite the
whole city with the sea, and to reverse, in a manner, the policy of
ancient Athenian kings, who, endeavoring to withdraw their subjects
from the sea, and to accustom them to live, not by sailing about, but
by planting and tilling the earth, spread the story of the dispute
between Minerva and Neptune for the sovereignty of Athens, in which
Minerva, by producing to the judges an olive tree, was declared to have
won; whereas Themistocles did not only knead up, as Aristophanes says,
the port and the city into one, but made the city absolutely the
dependent and the adjunct of the port, and the land of the sea, which
increased the power and confidence of the people against the nobility;
the authority coming into the hands of sailors and boatswains and
pilots. Thus it was one of the orders of the thirty tyrants, that the
hustings in the assembly, which had faced towards the sea, should be
turned round towards the land; implying their opinion that the empire
by sea had been the origin of the democracy, and that the farming
population were not so much opposed to oligarchy.
Themistocles, however, formed yet higher designs with a view to naval
supremacy. For, after the departure of Xerxes, when the Grecian fleet
was arrived at Pagasae, where they wintered, Themistocles, in a public
oration to the people of Athens, told them that he had a design to
perform something that would tend greatly to their interests and
safety, but was of such a nature, that it could not be made generally
public. The Athenians ordered him to impart it to Aristides only; and,
if he approved of it, to put it in practice. And when Themistocles had
discovered to him that his design was to burn the Grecian fleet in the
haven of Pagasae, Aristides, coming out to the people, gave this report
of the stratagem contrived by Themistocles, that no proposal could be
more politic, or more dishonorable; on which the Athenians commanded
Themistocles to think no farther of it.
When the Lacedaemonians proposed, at the general council of the
Amphictyonians, that the representatives of those cities which were not
in the league, nor had fought against the Persians, should be excluded,
Themistocles, fearing that the Thessalians, with those of Thebes,
Argos, and others, being thrown out of the council, the Lacedaemonians
would become wholly masters of the votes, and do what they pleased,
supported the deputies of the cities, and prevailed with the members
then sitting to alter their opinion in this point, showing them that
there were but one and thirty cities which had partaken in the war, and
that most of these, also, were very small; how intolerable would it be,
if the rest of Greece should be excluded, and the general council
should come to be ruled by two or three great cities. By this, chiefly,
he incurred the displeasure of the Lacedaemonians, whose honors and
favors were now shown to Cimon, with a view to making him the opponent
of the state policy of Themistocles.
He was also burdensome to the confederates, sailing about the islands
and collecting money from them. Herodotus says, that, requiring money
of those of the island of Andros, he told them that he had brought with
him two goddesses, Persuasion and Force; and they answered him that
they had also two great goddesses, which prohibited them from giving
him any money, Poverty and Impossibility. Timocreon, the Rhodian poet,
reprehends him somewhat bitterly for being wrought upon by money to let
some who were banished return, while abandoning himself, who was his
guest and friend. The verses are these:--
Pausanias you may praise, and Xanthippus he be for,
For Leutychidas, a third; Aristides, I proclaim,
From the sacred Athens came,
The one true man of all; for Themistocles Latona doth abhor
The liar, traitor, cheat, who, to gain his filthy pay,
Timocreon, his friend, neglected to restore
To his native Rhodian shore;
Three silver talents took, and departed (curses with him) on his way,
Restoring people here, expelling there, and killing here,
Filling evermore his purse: and at the Isthmus gave a treat,
To be laughed at, of cold meat,
Which they ate, and prayed the gods some one else might give the feast
another year.
But after the sentence and banishment of Themistocles, Timocreon
reviles him yet more immoderately and wildly in a poem which begins
thus:--
Unto all the Greeks repair
O Muse, and tell these verses there,
As is fitting and is fair.
The story is, that it was put to the question whether Timocreon should
be banished for siding with the Persians, and Themistocles gave his
vote against him. So when Themistocles was accused of intriguing with
the Medes, Timocreon made these lines upon him:--
So now Timocreon, indeed, is not the sole friend of the Mede,
There are some knaves besides; nor is it only mine that fails,
But other foxes have lost tails. --
When the citizens of Athens began to listen willingly to those who
traduced and reproached him, he was forced, with somewhat obnoxious
frequency, to put them in mind of the great services he had performed,
and ask those who were offended with him whether they were weary with
receiving benefits often from the same person, so rendering himself
more odious. And he yet more provoked the people by building a temple
to Diana with the epithet of Aristobule, or Diana of Best Counsel;
intimating thereby, that he had given the best counsel, not only to the
Athenians, but to all Greece. He built this temple near his own house,
in the district called Melite, where now the public officers carry out
the bodies of such as are executed, and throw the halters and clothes
of those that are strangled or otherwise put to death. There is to this
day a small figure of Themistocles in the temple of Diana of Best
Counsel, which represents him to be a person, not only of a noble mind,
but also of a most heroic aspect. At length the Athenians banished him,
making use of the ostracism to humble his eminence and authority, as
they ordinarily did with all whom they thought too powerful, or, by
their greatness, disproportionable to the equality thought requisite in
a popular government. For the ostracism was instituted, not so much to
punish the offender, as to mitigate and pacify the violence of the
envious, who delighted to humble eminent men, and who, by fixing this
disgrace upon them, might vent some part of their rancor.
Themistocles being banished from Athens, while he stayed at Argos the
detection of Pausanias happened, which gave such advantage to his
enemies, that Leobotes of Agraule, son of Alcmaeon, indicted him of
treason, the Spartans supporting him in the accusation.
When Pausanias went about this treasonable design, he concealed it at
first from Themistocles, though he were his intimate friend; but when
he saw him expelled out of the commonwealth, and how impatiently he
took his banishment, he ventured to communicate it to him, and desired
his assistance, showing him the king of Persia's letters, and
exasperating him against the Greeks, as a villainous, ungrateful
people. However, Themistocles immediately rejected the proposals of
Pausanias, and wholly refused to be a party in the enterprise, though
he never revealed his communications, nor disclosed the conspiracy to
any man, either hoping that Pausanias would desist from his intentions,
or expecting that so inconsiderate an attempt after such chimerical
objects would be discovered by other means.
After that Pausanias was put to death, letters and writings being found
concerning this matter, which rendered Themistocles suspected, the
Lacedaemonians were clamorous against him, and his enemies among the
Athenians accused him; when, being absent from Athens, he made his
defense by letters, especially against the points that had been
previously alleged against him. In answer to the malicious detractions
of his enemies, he merely wrote to the citizens, urging that he who was
always ambitious to govern, and not of a character or a disposition to
serve, would never sell himself and his country into slavery to a
barbarous and hostile nation.
Notwithstanding this, the people, being persuaded by his accusers, sent
officers to take him and bring him away to be tried before a council of
the Greeks, but, having timely notice of it, he passed over into the
island of Corcyra, where the state was under obligations to him; for
being chosen as arbitrator in a difference between them and the
Corinthians, he decided the controversy by ordering the Corinthians to
pay down twenty talents, and declaring the town and island of Leucas a
joint colony from both cities. From thence he fled into Epirus, and,
the Athenians and Lacedaemonians still pursuing him, he threw himself
upon chances of safety that seemed all but desperate. For he fled for
refuge to Admetus, king of the Molossians, who had formerly made some
request to the Athenians, when Themistocles was in the height of his
authority, and had been disdainfully used and insulted by him, and had
let it appear plain enough, that could he lay hold of him, he would
take his revenge. Yet in this misfortune, Themistocles, fearing the
recent hatred of his neighbors and fellow-citizens more than the old
displeasure of the king, put himself at his mercy, and became a humble
suppliant to Admetus, after a peculiar manner, different from the
custom of other countries. For taking the king's son, who was then a
child, in his arms, he laid himself down at his hearth, this being the
most sacred and only manner of supplication, among the Molossians,
which was not to be refused. And some say that his wife, Phthia,
intimated to Themistocles this way of petitioning, and placed her young
son with him before the hearth; others, that king Admetus, that he
might be under a religious obligation not to deliver him up to his
pursuers, prepared and enacted with him a sort of stage-play to this
effect. At this time, Epicrates of Acharnae privately conveyed his wife
and children out of Athens, and sent them hither, for which afterwards
Cimon condemned him and put him to death, as Stesimbrotus reports, and
yet somehow, either forgetting this himself, or making Themistocles to
be little mindful of it, says presently that he sailed into Sicily, and
desired in marriage the daughter of Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse,
promising to bring the Greeks under his power; and, on Hiero refusing
him, departed thence into Asia; but this is not probable.
For Theophrastus writes, in his work on Monarchy, that when Hiero sent
race-horses to the Olympian games, and erected a pavilion sumptuously
furnished, Themistocles made an oration to the Greeks, inciting them to
pull down the tyrant's tent, and not to suffer his horses to run.
Thucydides says, that, passing over land to the Aegaean Sea, he took
ship at Pydna in the bay of Therme, not being known to any one in the
ship, till, being terrified to see the vessel driven by the winds near
to Naxos, which was then besieged by the Athenians, he made himself
known to the master and pilot, and, partly entreating them, partly
threatening that if they went on shore he would accuse them, and make
the Athenians to believe that they did not take him in out of
ignorance, but that he had corrupted them with money from the
beginning, he compelled them to bear off and stand out to sea, and sail
forward towards the coast of Asia.
A great part of his estate was privately conveyed away by his friends,
and sent after him by sea into Asia; besides which there was discovered
and confiscated to the value of fourscore talents, as Theophrastus
writes, Theopompus says a hundred; though Themistocles was never worth
three talents before he was concerned in public affairs.
When he arrived at Cyme, and understood that all along the coast there
were many laid wait for him, and particularly Ergoteles and Pythodorus
(for the game was worth the hunting for such as were thankful to make
money by any means, the king of Persia having offered by public
proclamation two hundred talents to him that should take him), he fled
to Aegae, a small city of the Aeolians, where no one knew him but only
his host Nicogenes, who was the richest man in Aeolia, and well known
to the great men of Inner Asia. While Themistocles lay hid for some
days in his house, one night, after a sacrifice and supper ensuing,
Olbius, the attendant upon Nicogenes's children, fell into a sort of
frenzy and fit of inspiration, and cried out in verse,--
Night shall speak, and night instruct thee,
By the voice of night conduct thee.
After this, Themistocles, going to bed, dreamed that he saw a snake
coil itself up upon his belly, and so creep to his neck; then, as soon
as it touched his face, it turned into an eagle, which spread its wings
over him, and took him up and flew away with him a great distance; then
there appeared a herald's golden wand, and upon this at last it set him
down securely, after infinite terror and disturbance.
His departure was effected by Nicogenes by the following artifice; the
barbarous nations, and amongst them the Persians especially, are
extremely jealous, severe, and suspicious about their women, not only
their wives, but also their bought slaves and concubines, whom they
keep so strictly that no one ever sees them abroad; they spend their
lives shut up within doors, and, when they take a journey, are carried
in close tents, curtained in on all sides, and set upon a wagon. Such a
traveling carriage being prepared for Themistocles, they hid him in it,
and carried him on his journeys and told those whom they met or spoke
with upon the road that they were conveying a young Greek woman out of
Ionia to a nobleman at court.
Thucydides and Charon of Lampsacus say that Xerxes was dead, and that
Themistocles had an interview with his son; but Ephorus, Dinon,
Clitarchus, Heraclides, and many others, write that he came to Xerxes.
The chronological tables better agree with the account of Thucydides,
and yet neither can their statements be said to be quite set at rest.
When Themistocles was come to the critical point, he applied himself
first to Artabanus, commander of a thousand men, telling him that he
was a Greek, and desired to speak with the king about important affairs
concerning which the king was extremely solicitous. Artabanus answered
him, "O stranger, the laws of men are different, and one thing is
honorable to one man, and to others another; but it is honorable for
all to honor and observe their own laws. It is the habit of the Greeks,
we are told, to honor, above all things, liberty and equality; but
amongst our many excellent laws, we account this the most excellent, to
honor the king, and to worship him, as the image of the great preserver
of the universe; if, then, you shall consent to our laws, and fall down
before the king and worship him, you may both see him and speak to him;
but if your mind be otherwise, you must make use of others to intercede
for you, for it is not the national custom here for the king to give
audience to anyone that doth not fall down before him." Themistocles,
hearing this, replied, "Artabanus, I that come hither to increase the
power and glory of the king, will not only submit myself to his laws,
since so it hath pleased the god who exalteth the Persian empire to
this greatness, but will also cause many more to be worshippers and
adorers of the king. Let not this, therefore, be an impediment why I
should not communicate to the king what I have to impart." Artabanus
asking him, "Who must we tell him that you are? for your words signify
you to be no ordinary person," Themistocles answered, "No man, O
Artabanus, must be informed of this before the king himself." Thus
Phanias relates; to which Eratosthenes, in his treatise on Riches,
adds, that it was by the means of a woman of Eretria, who was kept by
Artabanus, that he obtained this audience and interview with him.
When he was introduced to the king, and had paid his reverence to him,
he stood silent, till the king commanding the interpreter to ask him
who he was, he replied, "O king, I am Themistocles the Athenian, driven
into banishment by the Greeks. The evils that I have done to the
Persians are numerous; but my benefits to them yet greater, in
withholding the Greeks from pursuit, so soon as the deliverance of my
own country allowed me to show kindness also to you. I come with a mind
suited to my present calamities; prepared alike for favors and for
anger; to welcome your gracious reconciliation, and to deprecate your
wrath. Take my own countrymen for witnesses of the services I have done
for Persia, and make use of this occasion to show the world your
virtue, rather than to satisfy your indignation. If you save me, you
will save your suppliant; if otherwise, will destroy an enemy of the
Greeks." He talked also of divine admonitions, such as the vision which
he saw at Nicogenes's house, and the direction given him by the oracle
of Dodona, where Jupiter commanded him to go to him that had a name
like his, by which he understood that he was sent from Jupiter to him,
seeing that they both were great, and had the name of kings.
The king heard him attentively, and, though he admired his temper and
courage, gave him no answer at that time; but, when he was with his
intimate friends, rejoiced in his great good fortune, and esteemed
himself very happy in this, and prayed to his god Arimanius, that all
his enemies might be ever of the same mind with the Greeks, to abuse
and expel the bravest men amongst them. Then he sacrificed to the gods,
and presently fell to drinking, and was so well pleased, that in the
night, in the middle of his sleep, he cried out for joy three times, "I
have Themistocles the Athenian."
In the morning, calling together the chief of his court, he had
Themistocles brought before him, who expected no good of it, when he
saw, for example, the guards fiercely set against him as soon as they
learnt his name, and giving him ill language. As he came forward
towards the king, who was seated, the rest keeping silence, passing by
Roxanes, a commander of a thousand men, he heard him, with a slight
groan, say, without stirring out of his place, "You subtle Greek
serpent, the king's good genius hath brought thee hither." Yet, when he
came into the presence, and again fell down, the king saluted him, and
spoke to him kindly, telling him he was now indebted to him two hundred
talents; for it was just and reasonable that he should receive the
reward which was proposed to whosoever should bring Themistocles; and
promising much more, and encouraging him, he commanded him to speak
freely what he would concerning the affairs of Greece. Themistocles
replied, that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the
beautiful figures and patterns of which can only be shown by spreading
and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are
obscured and lost; and, therefore, he desired time. The king being
pleased with the comparison, and bidding him take what time he would,
he desired a year; in which time, having, learnt the Persian language
sufficiently, he spoke with the king by himself without the help of an
interpreter, it being supposed that he discoursed only about the
affairs of Greece; but there happening, at the same time, great
alterations at court, and removals of the king's favorites, he drew
upon himself the envy of the great people, who imagined that he had
taken the boldness to speak concerning them. For the favors shown to
other strangers were nothing in comparison with the honors conferred on
him; the king invited him to partake of his own pastimes and
recreations both at home and abroad, carrying him with him a-hunting,
and made him his intimate so far that he permitted him to see the
queen-mother, and converse frequently with her. By the king's command,
he also was made acquainted with the Magian learning.
When Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, being ordered by the king to ask
whatsoever he pleased, and it should immediately be granted him,
desired that he might make his public entrance, and be carried in state
through the city of Sardis, with the tiara set in the royal manner upon
his head, Mithropaustes, cousin to the king, touched him on the head,
and told him that he had no brains for the royal tiara to cover, and if
Jupiter should give him his lightning and thunder, he would not any the
more be Jupiter for that; the king also repulsed him with anger
resolving never to be reconciled to him, but to be inexorable to all
supplications on his behalf. Yet Themistocles pacified him, and
prevailed with him to forgive him. And it is reported, that the
succeeding kings, in whose reigns there was a greater communication
between the Greeks and Persians, when they invited any considerable
Greek into their service, to encourage him, would write, and promise
him that he should be as great with them as Themistocles had been. They
relate, also, how Themistocles, when he was in great prosperity, and
courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table turned
to his children and said, "Children, we had been undone if we had not
been undone." Most writers say that he had three cities given him,
Magnesia, Myus, and Lampsacus, to maintain him in bread, meat, and
wine. Neanthes of Cyzicus, and Phanias, add two more, the city of
Palaescepsis, to provide him with clothes, and Percote, with bedding
and furniture for his house.
As he was going down towards the sea-coast to take measures against
Greece, a Persian whose name was Epixyes, governor of the upper
Phrygia, laid wait to kill him, having for that purpose provided a long
time before a number of Pisidians, who were to set upon him when he
should stop to rest at a city that is called Lion's-head. But
Themistocles, sleeping in the middle of the day, saw the Mother of the
gods appear to him in a dream and say unto him, "Themistocles, keep
back from the Lion's-head, for fear you fall into the lion's jaws; for
this advice I expect that your daughter Mnesiptolema should be my
servant." Themistocles was much astonished, and, when he had made his
vows to the goddess, left the broad road, and, making a circuit, went
another way, changing his intended station to avoid that place, and at
night took up his rest in the fields. But one of the sumpter-horses,
which carried the furniture for his tent, having fallen that day into
the river, his servants spread out the tapestry, which was wet, and
hung it up to dry; in the mean time the Pisidians made towards them
with their swords drawn, and, not discerning exactly by the moon what
it was that was stretched out thought it to be the tent of
Themistocles, and that they should find him resting himself within it;
but when they came near, and lifted up the hangings, those who watched
there fell upon them and took them. Themistocles, having escaped this
great danger, in admiration of the goodness of the goddess that
appeared to him, built, in memory of it, a temple in the city of
Magnesia, which he dedicated to Dindymene, Mother of the gods, in which
he consecrated and devoted his daughter Mnesiptolema to her service.
When he came to Sardis, he visited the temples of the gods, and
observing, at his leisure, their buildings, ornaments, and the number
of their offerings, he saw in the temple of the Mother of the gods, the
statue of a virgin in brass, two cubits high, called the water-bringer.
Themistocles had caused this to be made and set up when he was surveyor
of waters at Athens, out of the fines of those whom he detected in
drawing off and diverting the public water by pipes for their private
use; and whether he had some regret to see this image in captivity, or
was desirous to let the Athenians see in what great credit and
authority he was with the king, he entered into a treaty with the
governor of Lydia to persuade him to send this statue back to Athens,
which so enraged the Persian officer, that he told him he would write
the king word of it. Themistocles, being affrighted hereat, got access
to his wives and concubines, by presents of money to whom, he appeased
the fury of the governor; and afterwards behaved with more reserve and
circumspection, fearing the envy of the Persians, and did not, as
Theopompus writes, continue to travel about Asia, but lived quietly in
his own house in Magnesia, where for a long time he passed his days in
great security, being courted by all, and enjoying rich presents, and
honored equally with the greatest persons in the Persian empire; the
king, at that time, not minding his concerns with Greece, being taken
up with the affairs of Inner Asia.
But when Egypt revolted, being assisted by the Athenians, and the Greek
galleys roved about as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Cimon had made
himself master of the seas, the king turned his thoughts thither, and,
bending his mind chiefly to resist the Greeks, and to check the growth
of their power against him, began to raise forces, and send out
commanders, and to dispatch messengers to Themistocles at Magnesia, to
put him in mind of his promise, and to summon him to act against the
Greeks. Yet this did not increase his hatred nor exasperate him against
the Athenians, neither was he any way elevated with the thoughts of the
honor and powerful command he was to have in this war; but judging,
perhaps, that the object would not be attained, the Greeks having at
that time, beside other great commanders, Cimon, in particular, who was
gaining wonderful military successes; but chiefly, being ashamed to
sully the glory of his former great actions, and of his many victories
and trophies, he determined to put a conclusion to his life, agreeable
to its previous course. He sacrificed to the gods, and invited his
friends; and, having entertained them and shaken hands with them, drank
bull's blood, as is the usual story; as others state, a poison
producing instant death; and ended his days in the city of Magnesia,
having lived sixty-five years, most of which he had spent in politics
and in the wars, in government and command. The king, being informed of
the cause and manner of his death, admired him more than ever, and
continued to show kindness to his friends and relations.
Themistocles left three sons by Archippe, daughter to Lysander of
Alopece, -- Archeptolis, Polyeuctus, and Cleophantus. Plato the
philosopher mentions the last as a most excellent horseman, but
otherwise insignificant person; of two sons yet older than these,
Neocles and Diocles, Neocles died when he was young by the bite of a
horse, and Diocles was adopted by his grandfather, Lysander. He had
many daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, whom he had by a second marriage,
was wife to Archeptolis, her brother by another mother; Italia was
married to Panthoides, of the island of Chios; Sybaris to Nicomedes the
Athenian. After the death of Themistocles, his nephew, Phrasicles, went
to Magnesia, and married, with her brothers' consent, another daughter,
Nicomache, and took charge of her sister Asia, the youngest of all the
children.
The Magnesians possess a splendid sepulchre of Themistocles, placed in
the middle of their market-place. It is not worthwhile taking notice of
what Andocides states in his Address to his Friends concerning his
remains, how the Athenians robbed his tomb, and threw his ashes into
the air; for he feigns this, to exasperate the oligarchical faction
against the people; and there is no man living but knows that
Phylarchus simply invents in his history, where he all but uses an
actual stage machine, and brings in Neocles and Demopolis as the sons
of Themistocles, to incite or move compassion, as if he were writing a
tragedy. Diodorus the cosmographer says, in his work on Tombs, but by
conjecture rather than of certain knowledge, that near to the haven of
Piraeus, where the land runs out like an elbow from the promontory of
Alcimus, when you have doubled the cape and passed inward where the sea
is always calm, there is a large piece of masonry, and upon this the
tomb of Themistocles, in the shape of an altar; and Plato the comedian
confirms this, he believes, in these verses,--
Thy tomb is fairly placed upon the strand,
Where merchants still shall greet it with the land;
Still in and out 'twill see them come and go,
And watch the galleys as they race below.
Various honors also and privileges were granted to the kindred of
Themistocles at Magnesia, which were observed down to our times, and
were enjoyed by another Themistocles of Athens, with whom I had an
intimate acquaintance and friendship in the house of Ammonius the
philosopher.
CAMILLUS
Among the many remarkable things that are related of Furius Camillus,
it seems singular and strange above all, that he, who continually was
in the highest commands, and obtained the greatest successes, was five
times chosen dictator, triumphed four times, and was styled a second
founder of Rome, yet never was so much as once consul. The reason of
which was the state and temper of the commonwealth at that time; for
the people, being at dissension with the senate, refused to return
consuls, but in their stead elected other magistrates, called military
tribunes, who acted, indeed, with full consular power, but were thought
to exercise a less obnoxious amount of authority, because it was
divided among a larger number; for to have the management of affairs
entrusted in the hands of six persons rather than two was some
satisfaction to the opponents of oligarchy. This was the condition of
the times when Camillus was in the height of his actions and glory,
and, although the government in the meantime had often proceeded to
consular elections, yet he could never persuade himself to be consul
against the inclination of the people. In all his other
administrations, which were many and various, he so behaved himself,
that, when alone in authority, he exercised his power as in common, but
the honor of all actions redounded entirely to himself, even when in
joint commission with others; the reason of the former was his
moderation in command; of the latter, his great judgment and wisdom,
which gave him without controversy the first place.
The house of the Furii was not, at that time of any considerable
distinction; he, by his own acts, first raised himself to honor,
serving under Postumius Tubertus, dictator, in the great battle against
the Aequians and Volscians. For riding out from the rest of the army,
and in the charge receiving a wound in his thigh, he for all that did
not quit the fight, but, letting the dart drag in the wound, and
engaging with the bravest of the enemy, put them to flight; for which
action, among other rewards bestowed on him, he was created censor, an
office in those days of great repute and authority. During his
censorship one very good act of his is recorded, that, whereas the wars
had made many widows, he obliged such as had no wives, some by fair
persuasion, others by threatening to set fines on their heads, to take
them in marriage; another necessary one, in causing orphans to be
rated, who before were exempted from taxes, the frequent wars requiring
more than ordinary expenses to maintain them. What, however, pressed
them most was the siege of Veii. Some call this people Veientani. This
was the head city of Tuscany, not inferior to Rome, either in number of
arms or multitude of soldiers, insomuch that, presuming on her wealth
and luxury, and priding herself upon her refinement and sumptuousness,
she engaged in many honorable contests with the Romans for glory and
empire. But now they had abandoned their former ambitious hopes, having
been weakened by great defeats, so that, having fortified themselves
with high and strong walls, and furnished the city with all sorts of
weapons offensive and defensive, as likewise with corn and all manner
of provisions, they cheerfully endured a siege, which, though tedious
to them, was no less troublesome and distressing to the besiegers. For
the Romans, having never been accustomed to stay away from home, except
in summer, and for no great length of time, and constantly to winter at
home, were then first compelled by the tribunes to build forts in the
enemy's country, and, raising strong works about their camp, to join
winter and summer together. And now, the seventh year of the war
drawing to an end, the commanders began to be suspected as too slow and
remiss in driving on the siege, insomuch that they were discharged and
others chosen for the war, among whom was Camillus, then second time
tribune. But at present he had no hand in the siege, the duties that
fell by lot to him being to make war upon the Faliscans and Capenates,
who, taking advantage of the Romans being occupied on all hands, had
carried ravages into their country, and, through all the Tuscan war,
given them much annoyance, but were now reduced by Camillus, and with
great loss shut up within their walls.
And now, in the very heat of the war, a strange phenomenon in the Alban
lake, which, in the absence of any known cause and explanation by
natural reasons, seemed as great a prodigy as the most incredible that
are reported, occasioned great alarm. It was the beginning of autumn,
and the summer now ending had, to all observation, been neither rainy
nor much troubled with southern winds; and of the many lakes, brooks,
and springs of all sorts with which Italy abounds, some were wholly
dried up, others drew very little water with them; all the rivers, as
is usual in summer, ran in a very low and hollow channel. But the Alban
lake, that is fed by no other waters but its own, and is on all sides
encircled with fruitful mountains, without any cause, unless it were
divine, began visibly to rise and swell, increasing to the feet of the
mountains, and by degrees reaching the level of the very tops of them,
and all this without any waves or agitation. At first it was the wonder
of shepherds and herdsmen; but when the earth, which, like a great dam,
held up the lake from falling into the lower grounds, through the
quantity and weight of water was broken down, and in a violent stream
it ran through the plowed fields and plantations to discharge itself in
the sea, it not only struck terror into the Romans, but was thought by
all the inhabitants of Italy to portend some extraordinary event. But
the greatest talk of it was in the camp that besieged Veii, so that in
the town itself, also, the occurrence became known.
As in long sieges it commonly happens that parties on both sides meet
often and converse with one another, so it chanced that a Roman had
gained much confidence and familiarity with one of the besieged, a man
versed in ancient prophecies, and of repute for more than ordinary
skill in divination. The Roman, observing him to be overjoyed at the
story of the lake, and to mock at the siege, told him that this was not
the only prodigy that of late had happened to the Romans; others more
wonderful yet than this had befallen them, which he was willing to
communicate to him, that he might the better provide for his private
interests in these public distempers. The man greedily embraced the
proposal, expecting to hear some wonderful secrets; but when, by little
and little, he had led him on in conversation, and insensibly drawn him
a good way from the gates of the city, he snatched him up by the
middle, being stronger than he, and, by the assistance of others that
came running from the camp, seized and delivered him to the commanders.
The man, reduced to this necessity, and sensible now that destiny was
not to be avoided, discovered to them the secret oracles of Veii; that
it was not possible the city should be taken, until the Alban lake,
which now broke forth and had found out new passages, was drawn back
from that course, and so diverted that it could not mingle with the
sea. The senate, having heard and satisfied themselves about the
matter, decreed to send to Delphi, to ask counsel of the god. The
messengers were persons of the highest repute, Licinius Cossus,
Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus; who, having made their voyage by
sea and consulted the god, returned with other answers, particularly
that there had been a neglect of some of their national rites relating
to the Latin feasts; but the Alban water the oracle commanded, if it
were possible, they should keep from the sea, and shut it up in its
ancient bounds; but if that was not to be done, then they should carry
it off by ditches and trenches into the lower grounds, and so dry it
up; which message being delivered, the priests performed what related
to the sacrifices, and the people went to work and turned the water.
And now the senate, in the tenth year of the war, taking away all other
commands, created Camillus dictator, who chose Cornelius Scipio for his
general of horse. And in the first place he made vows unto the gods,
that, if they would grant a happy conclusion of the war, he would
celebrate to their honor the great games, and dedicate a temple to the
goddess whom the Romans call Matuta the Mother, though, from the
ceremonies which are used, one would think she was Leucothea. For they
take a servant-maid into the secret part of the temple, and there cuff
her, and drive her out again, and they embrace their brothers' children
in place of their own; and, in general, the ceremonies of the sacrifice
remind one of the nursing of Bacchus by Ino, and the calamities
occasioned by her husband's concubine. Camillus, having made these
vows, marched into the country of the Faliscans, and in a great battle
overthrew them and the Capenates, their confederates; afterwards he
turned to the siege of Veii, and, finding that to take it by assault
would prove a difficult and hazardous attempt, proceeded to cut mines
under ground, the earth about the city being easy to break up, and
allowing such depth for the works as would prevent their being
discovered by the enemy. This design going on in a hopeful way, he
openly gave assaults to the enemy, to keep them to the walls, whilst
they that worked underground in the mines were, without being
perceived, arrived within the citadel, close to the temple of Juno,
which was the greatest and most honored in all the city. It is said
that the prince of the Tuscans was at that very time at sacrifice, and
that the priest, after he had looked into the entrails of the beast,
cried out with a loud voice that the gods would give the victory to
those that should complete those offerings; and that the Romans who
were in the mines, hearing the words, immediately pulled down the
floor, and, ascending with noise and clashing of weapons, frightened
away the enemy, and, snatching up the entrails, carried them to
Camillus. But this may look like a fable. The city, however, being
taken by storm, and the soldiers busied in pillaging and gathering an
infinite quantity of riches and spoil, Camillus, from the high tower,
viewing what was done, at first wept for pity; and when they that were
by congratulated his good success, he lifted up his hands to heaven,
and broke out into this prayer: "O most mighty Jupiter, and ye gods
that are judges of good and evil actions, ye know that not without just
cause, but constrained by necessity, we have been forced to revenge
ourselves on the city of our unrighteous and wicked enemies. But if, in
the vicissitude of things, there be any calamity due, to counterbalance
this great felicity, I beg that it may be diverted from the city and
army of the Romans, and fall, with as little hurt as may be, upon my
own head." Having said these words, and just turning about (as the
custom of the Romans is to turn to the right after adoration or
prayer), he stumbled and fell, to the astonishment of all that were
present. But, recovering himself presently from the fall, he told them
that he had received what he had prayed for, a small mischance, in
compensation for the greatest good fortune.
Having sacked the city, he resolved, according as he had vowed, to
carry Juno's image to Rome; and, the workmen being ready for that
purpose, he sacrificed to the goddess, and made his supplications that
she would be pleased to accept of their devotion toward her, and
graciously vouchsafe to accept of a place among the gods that presided
at Rome; and the statue, they say, answered in a low voice that she was
ready and willing to go. Livy writes, that, in praying, Camillus
touched the goddess, and invited her, and that some of the standers-by
cried out that she was willing and would come. They who stand up for
the miracle and endeavor to maintain it have one great advocate on
their side in the wonderful fortune of the city, which, from a small
and contemptible beginning, could never have attained to that greatness
and power without many signal manifestations of the divine presence and
cooperation. Other wonders of the like nature, drops of sweat seen to
stand on statues, groans heard from them, the figures seen to turn
round and to close their eyes, are recorded by many ancient historians;
and we ourselves could relate divers wonderful things, which we have
been told by men of our own time, that are not lightly to be rejected;
but to give too easy credit to such things, or wholly to disbelieve
them, is equally dangerous, so incapable is human infirmity of keeping
any bounds, or exercising command over itself, running off sometimes to
superstition and dotage, at other times to the contempt and neglect of
all that is supernatural. But moderation is best, and to avoid all
extremes.
Camillus, however, whether puffed up with the greatness of his
achievement in conquering a city that was the rival of Rome, and had
held out a ten years' siege, or exalted with the felicitations of those
that were about him, assumed to himself more than became a civil and
legal magistrate; among other things, in the pride and haughtiness of
his triumph, driving through Rome in a chariot drawn with four white
horses, which no general either before or since ever did; for the
Romans consider such a mode of conveyance to be sacred, and specially
set apart to the king and father of the gods. This alienated the hearts
of his fellow-citizens, who were not accustomed to such pomp and
display.
The second pique they had against him was his opposing the law by which
the city was to be divided; for the tribunes of the people brought
forward a motion that the people and senate should be divided into two
parts, one of which should remain at home, the other, as the lot should
decide, remove to the new-taken city. By which means they should not
only have much more room, but by the advantage of two great and
magnificent cities, be better able to maintain their territories and
their fortunes in general. The people, therefore, who were numerous and
indigent, greedily embraced it, and crowded continually to the forum,
with tumultuous demands to have it put to the vote. But the senate and
the noblest citizens, judging the proceedings of the tribunes to tend
rather to a destruction than a division of Rome, greatly averse to it,
went to Camillus for assistance, who, fearing the result if it came to
a direct contest, contrived to occupy the people with other business,
and so staved it off. He thus became unpopular. But the greatest and
most apparent cause of their dislike against him arose from the tenths
of the spoil; the multitude having here, if not a just, yet a plausible
case against him. For it seems, as he went to the siege of Veii, he had
vowed to Apollo that if he took the city he would dedicate to him the
tenth of the spoil. The city being taken and sacked, whether he was
loath to trouble the soldiers at that time, or that through the
multitude of business he had forgotten his vow, he suffered them to
enjoy that part of the spoils also. Some time afterwards, when his
authority was laid down, he brought the matter before the senate, and
the priests, at the same time, reported, out of the sacrifices, that
there were intimations of divine anger, requiring propitiations and
offerings. The senate decreed the obligation to be in force.
But seeing it was difficult for every one to produce the very same
things they had taken, to be divided anew, they ordained that every one
upon oath should bring into the public the tenth part of his gains.
This occasioned many annoyances and hardships to the soldiers, who were
poor men, and had endured much in the war, and now were forced, out of
what they had gained and spent, to bring in so great a proportion.
Camillus, being assaulted by their clamor and tumults, for want of a
better excuse, betook himself to the poorest of defenses, confessing he
had forgotten his vow; they in turn complained that he had vowed the
tenth of the enemy's goods, and now levied it out of the tenths of the
citizens. Nevertheless, every one having brought in his due proportion,
it was decreed that out of it a bowl of massy gold should be made, and
sent to Delphi. And when there was great scarcity of gold in the city,
and the magistrates were considering where to get it, the Roman ladies,
meeting together and consulting among themselves, out of the golden
ornaments they wore contributed as much as went to the making the
offering, which in weight came to eight talents of gold. The senate, to
give them the honor they had deserved, ordained that funeral orations
should be used at the obsequies of women as well as men, it having
never before been a custom that any woman after death should receive
any public eulogy. Choosing out, therefore, three of the noblest
citizens as a deputation, they sent them in a vessel of war, well
manned and sumptuously adorned. Storm and calm at sea may both, they
say, alike be dangerous; as they at this time experienced, being
brought almost to the very brink of destruction, and, beyond all
expectation, escaping. For near the isles of Solus the wind slacking,
galleys of the Lipareans came upon them, taking them for pirates; and,
when they held up their hands as suppliants, forbore indeed from
violence, but took their ship in tow, and carried her into the harbor,
where they exposed to sale their goods and persons as lawful prize,
they being pirates; and scarcely, at last, by the virtue and interest
of one man, Timesitheus by name, who was in office as general, and used
his utmost persuasion, they were, with much ado, dismissed. He,
however, himself sent out some of his own vessels with them, to
accompany them in their voyage and assist them at the dedication; for
which he received honors at Rome, as he had deserved.
And now the tribunes of the people again resuming their motion for the
division of the city, the war against the Faliscans luckily broke out,
giving liberty to the chief citizens to choose what magistrates they
pleased, and to appoint Camillus military tribune, with five
colleagues; affairs then requiring a commander of authority and
reputation, as well as experience. And when the people had ratified the
election, he marched with his forces into the territories of the
Faliscans, and laid seige to Falerii, a well-fortified city, and
plentifully stored with all necessaries of war. And although he
perceived it would be no small work to take it, and no little time
would be required for it, yet he was willing to exercise the citizens
and keep them abroad, that they might have no leisure, idling at home,
to follow the tribunes in factions and seditions; a very common remedy,
indeed, with the Romans, who thus carried off, like good physicians,
the ill humors of their commonwealth. The Falerians, trusting in the
strength of their city, which was well fortified on all sides, made so
little account of the siege, that all, with the exception of those that
guarded the walls, as in times of peace, walked about the streets in
their common dress; the boys went to school, and were led by their
master to play and exercise about the town walls; for the Falerians,
like the Greeks, used to have a single teacher for many pupils, wishing
their children to live and be brought up from the beginning in each
other's company.
This schoolmaster, designing to betray the Falerians by their children,
led them out every day under the town wall, at first but a little way,
and, when they had exercised, brought them home again. Afterwards by
degrees he drew them farther and farther, till by practice he had made
them bold and fearless, as if no danger was about them; and at last,
having got them all together, he brought them to the outposts of the
Romans, and delivered them up, demanding to be led to Camillus. Where
being come, and standing in the middle, he said that he was the master
and teacher of these children, but, preferring his favor before all
other obligations, he was come to deliver up his charge to him, and, in
that, the whole city. When Camillus had heard him out, he was astounded
at the treachery of the act, and, turning to the standers-by, observed,
that "war, indeed, is of necessity attended with much injustice and
violence! Certain laws, however, all good men observe even in war
itself; nor is victory so great an object as to induce us to incur for
its sake obligations for base and impious acts. A great general should
rely on his own virtue, and not on other men's vices." Which said, he
commanded the officers to tear off the man's clothes, and bind his
hands behind him, and give the boys rods and scourges, to punish the
traitor and drive him back to the city. By this time the Falerians had
discovered the treachery of the schoolmaster, and the city, as was
likely, was full of lamentations and cries for their calamity, men and
women of worth running in distraction about the walls and gates; when,
behold, the boys came whipping their master on, naked and bound,
calling Camillus their preserver and god and father. Insomuch that it
struck not only into the parents, but the rest of the citizens that saw
what was done, such admiration and love of Camillus's justice, that,
immediately meeting in assembly, they sent ambassadors to him, to
resign whatever they had to his disposal. Camillus sent them to Rome,
where, being brought into the senate, they spoke to this purpose: that
the Romans, preferring justice before victory, had taught them rather
to embrace submission than liberty; they did not so much confess
themselves to be inferior in strength, as they must acknowledge them to
be superior in virtue. The senate remitted the whole matter to
Camillus, to judge and order as he thought fit; who, taking a sum of
money of the Falerians, and, making a peace with the whole nation of
the Faliscans, returned home.
But the soldiers, who had expected to have the pillage of the city,
when they came to Rome empty-handed, railed against Camillus among
their fellow-citizens, as a hater of the people, and one that grudged
all advantage to the poor. Afterwards, when the tribunes of the people
again brought their motion for dividing the city to the vote, Camillus
appeared openly against it, shrinking from no unpopularity, and
inveighing boldly against the promoters of it, and so urging and
constraining the multitude, that, contrary to their inclinations, they
rejected the proposal; but yet hated Camillus. Insomuch that, though a
great misfortune befell him in his family (one of his two sons dying of
a disease), commiseration for this could not in the least make them
abate of their malice. And, indeed, he took this loss with immoderate
sorrow, being a man naturally of a mild and tender disposition, and,
when the accusation was preferred against him, kept his house, and
mourned amongst the women of his family.
His accuser was Lucius Apuleius; the charge, appropriation of the
Tuscan spoils; certain brass gates, part of those spoils, were said to
be in his possession. The people were exasperated against him, and it
was plain they would take hold of any occasion to condemn him.
Gathering, therefore, together his friends and fellow-soldiers, and
such as had borne command with him, a considerable number in all, he
besought them that they would not suffer him to be unjustly overborne
by shameful accusations, and left the mock and scorn of his enemies.
His friends, having advised and consulted among themselves, made
answer, that, as to the sentence, they did not see how they could help
him, but that they would contribute to whatsoever fine should be set
upon him. Not able to endure so great an indignity, he resolved in his
anger to leave the city and go into exile; and so, having taken leave
of his wife and his son, he went silently to the gate of the city, and,
there stopping and turning round, stretched out his hands to the
Capitol, and prayed to the gods, that if, without any fault of his own,
but merely through the malice and violence of the people, he was driven
out into banishment, the Romans might quickly repent of it; and that
all mankind might witness their need for the assistance, and desire for
the return of Camillus.
Thus, like Achilles, having left his imprecations on the citizens, he
went into banishment; so that, neither appearing nor making defense, he
was condemned in the sum of fifteen thousand asses, which, reduced to
silver, makes one thousand five hundred drachmas; for the as was the
money of the time, ten of such copper pieces making the denarius, or
piece of ten. And there is not a Roman but believes that immediately
upon the prayers of Camillus a sudden judgment followed, and that he
received a revenge for the injustice done unto him; which though we
cannot think was pleasant, but rather grievous and bitter to him, yet
was very remarkable, and noised over the whole world; such a punishment
visited the city of Rome, an era of such loss and danger and disgrace
so quickly succeeded; whether it thus fell out by fortune, or it be the
office of some god not to see injured virtue go unavenged.
The first token that seemed to threaten some mischief to ensue was the
death of the censor Julius; for the Romans have a religious reverence
for the office of a censor, and esteem it sacred. The second was that,
just before Camillus went into exile, Marcus Caedicius, a person of no
great distinction, nor of the rank of senator, but esteemed a good and
respectable man, reported to the military tribunes a thing worthy their
consideration: that, going along the night before in the street called
the New Way, and being called by somebody in a loud voice, he turned
about, but could see no one, but heard a voice greater than human,
which said these words, "Go, Marcus Caedicius, and early in the morning
tell the military tribunes that they are shortly to expect the Gauls."
But the tribunes made a mock and sport with the story, and a little
after came Camillus's banishment.
The Gauls are of the Celtic race, and are reported to have been
compelled by their numbers to leave their country, which was
insufficient to sustain them all, and to have gone in search of other
homes. And being, many thousands of them, young men and able to bear
arms, and carrying with them a still greater number of women and young
children, some of them, passing the Riphaean mountains, fell upon the
Northern Ocean, and possessed themselves of the farthest parts of
Europe; others, seating themselves between the Pyrenean mountains and
the Alps, lived there a considerable time, near to the Senones and
Celtorii; but, afterwards tasting wine which was then first brought
them out of Italy, they were all so much taken with the liquor, and
transported with the hitherto unknown delight, that, snatching up their
arms and taking their families along with them, they marched directly
to the Alps, to find out the country which yielded such fruit,
pronouncing all others barren and useless. He that first brought wine
among them and was the chief instigator of their coming into Italy is
said to have been one Aruns, a Tuscan, a man of noble extraction, and
not of bad natural character, but involved in the following misfortune.
He was guardian to an orphan, one of the richest of the country, and
much admired for his beauty, whose name was Lucumo. From his childhood
he had been bred up with Aruns in his family and when now grown up did
not leave his house, professing to wish for the enjoyment of his
society. And thus for a great while he secretly enjoyed Aruns's wife,
corrupting her, and himself corrupted by her. But when they were both
so far gone in their passion that they could neither refrain their lust
nor conceal it, the young man seized the woman and openly sought to
carry her away. The husband, going to law, and finding himself
overpowered by the interest and money of his opponent, left his
country, and, hearing of the state of the Gauls, went to them and was
the conductor of their expedition into Italy.
At their first coming they at once possessed themselves of all that
country which anciently the Tuscans inhabited, reaching from the Alps
to both the seas, as the names themselves testify; for the North or
Adriatic Sea is named from the Tuscan city Adria, and that to the south
the Tuscan Sea simply. The whole country is rich in fruit trees, has
excellent pasture, and is well watered with rivers. It had eighteen
large and beautiful cities, well provided with all the means for
industry and wealth, and all the enjoyments and pleasures of life. The
Gauls cast out the Tuscans, and seated themselves in them. But this was
long before.
The Gauls at this time were besieging Clusium, a Tuscan city. The
Clusinians sent to the Romans for succor desiring them to interpose
with the barbarians by letters and ambassadors. There were sent three
of the family of the Fabii, persons of high rank and distinction in the
city. The Gauls received them courteously, from respect to the name of
Rome, and, giving over the assault which was then making upon the
walls, came to conference with them; when the ambassadors asking what
injury they had received of the Clusinians that they thus invaded their
city, Brennus, king of the Gauls, laughed and made answer, "The
Clusinians do us injury, in that, being able only to till a small
parcel of ground, they must needs possess a great territory, and will
not yield any part to us who are strangers, many in number, and poor.
In the same nature, O Romans, formerly the Albans, Fidenates, and
Ardeates, and now lately the Veientines and Capenates, and many of the
Faliscans and Volscians, did you injury; upon whom ye make war if they
do not yield you part of what they possess, make slaves of them, waste
and spoil their country, and ruin their cities; neither in so doing are
cruel or unjust, but follow that most ancient of all laws, which gives
the possessions of the feeble to the strong; which begins with God and
ends in the beasts; since all these, by nature, seek, the stronger to
have advantage over the weaker. Cease, therefore, to pity the
Clusinians whom we besiege, lest ye teach the Gauls to be kind and
compassionate to those that are oppressed by you." By this answer the
Romans, perceiving that Brennus was not to be treated with, went into
Clusium, and encouraged and stirred up the inhabitants to make a sally
with them upon the barbarians, which they did either to try their
strength or to show their own. The sally being made, and the fight
growing hot about the walls, one of the Fabii, Quintus Ambustus, being
well mounted, and setting spurs to his horse, made full against a Gaul,
a man of huge bulk and stature, whom he saw riding out at a distance
from the rest. At the first he was not recognized, through the
quickness of the conflict and the glittering of his armor, that
precluded any view of him; but when he had overthrown the Gaul, and was
going to gather the spoils, Brennus knew him; and, invoking the gods to
be witnesses, that, contrary to the known and common law of nations,
which is holily observed by all mankind, he who had come as an
ambassador had now engaged in hostility against him, he drew off his
men, and, bidding Clusium farewell, led his army directly to Rome. But
not wishing that it should look as if they took advantage of that
injury, and were ready to embrace any occasion of quarrel, he sent a
herald to demand the man in punishment, and in the meantime marched
leisurely on.
The senate being met at Rome, among many others that spoke against the
Fabii, the priests called fecials were the most decided, who, on the
religious ground, urged the senate that they should lay the whole guilt
and penalty of the fact upon him that committed it, and so exonerate
the rest. These fecials Numa Pompilius, the mildest and justest of
kings, constituted guardians of peace, and the judges and determiners
of all causes by which war may justifiably be made. The senate
referring the whole matter to the people, and the priests there, as
well as in the senate, pleading against Fabius, the multitude, however,
so little regarded their authority, that in scorn and contempt of it
they chose Fabius and the rest of his brothers military tribunes. The
Gauls, on hearing this, in great rage threw aside every delay, and
hastened on with all the speed they could make. The places through
which they marched, terrified with their numbers and the splendor of
their preparations for war, and in alarm at their violence and
fierceness, began to give up their territories as already lost, with
little doubt but their cities would quickly follow; contrary, however,
to expectation, they did no injury as they passed, nor took anything
from the fields; and, as they went by any city, cried out that they
were going to Rome; that the Romans only were their enemies, and that
they took all others for their friends.
Whilst the barbarians were thus hastening with all speed, the military
tribunes brought the Romans into the field to be ready to engage them,
being not inferior to the Gauls in number (for they were no less than
forty thousand foot), but most of them raw soldiers, and such as had
never handled a weapon before. Besides, they had wholly neglected all
religious usages, had not obtained favorable sacrifices, nor made
inquiries of the prophets, natural in danger and before battle. No less
did the multitude of commanders distract and confound their
proceedings; frequently before, upon less occasions, they had chosen a
single leader, with the title of dictator, being sensible of what great
importance it is in critical times to have the soldiers united under
one general with the entire and absolute control placed in his hands.
Add to all, the remembrance of Camillus's treatment, which made it now
seem a dangerous thing for officers to command without humoring their
soldiers. In this condition they left the city, and encamped by the
river Allia, about ten miles from Rome, and not far from the place
where it falls into the Tiber; and here the Gauls came upon them, and,
after a disgraceful resistance, devoid of order and discipline, they
were miserably defeated. The left wing was immediately driven into the
river, and there destroyed; the right had less damage by declining the
shock, and from the low grounds getting to the tops of the hills, from
whence most of them afterwards dropped into the city; the rest, as many
as escaped, the enemy being weary of the slaughter, stole by night to
Veii, giving up Rome and all that was in it for lost.
This battle was fought about the summer solstice, the moon being at
full, the very same day in which the sad disaster of the Fabii had
happened, when three hundred of that name were at one time cut off by
the Tuscans. But from this second loss and defeat the day got the name
of Alliensis, from the river Allia, and still retains it. The question
of unlucky days, whether we should consider any to be so, and whether
Heraclitus did well in upbraiding Hesiod for distinguishing them into
fortunate and unfortunate, as ignorant that the nature of every day is
the same, I have examined in another place; but upon occasion of the
present subject, I think it will not be amiss to annex a few examples
relating to this matter. On the fifth of their month Hippodromius,
which corresponds to the Athenian Hecatombaeon, the Boeotians gained
two signal victories, the one at Leuctra, the other at Ceressus, about
three hundred years before, when they overcame Lattamyas and the
Thessalians, both which asserted the liberty of Greece. Again, on the
sixth of Boedromion, the Persians were worsted by the Greeks at
Marathon; on the third, at Plataea, as also at Mycale; on the
twenty-fifth, at Arbela. The Athenians, about the full moon in
Boedromion, gained their sea- victory at Naxos under the conduct of
Chabrias; on the twentieth, at Salamis, as we have shown in our
treatise on Days. Thargelion was a very unfortunate month to the
barbarians, for in it Alexander overcame Darius's generals on the
Granicus; and the Carthaginians, on the twenty- fourth, were beaten by
Timoleon in Sicily, on which same day and month Troy seems to have been
taken, as Ephorus, Callisthenes, Damastes, and Phylarchus state. On the
other hand, the month Metagitnion, which in Boeotia is called Panemus,
was not very lucky to the Greeks; for on its seventh day they were
defeated by Antipater, at the battle in Cranon, and utterly ruined; and
before, at Chaeronea, were defeated by Philip; and on the very same
day, same month, and same year, those that went with Archidamus into
Italy were there cut off by the barbarians. The Carthaginians also
observe the twenty-first of the same month, as bringing with it the
largest number and the severest of their losses. I am not ignorant,
that, about the Feast of Mysteries, Thebes was destroyed the second
time by Alexander; and after that, upon the very twentieth of
Boedromion, on which day they lead forth the mystic Iacchus, the
Athenians received a garrison of the Macedonians. On the selfsame day
the Romans lost their army under Caepio by the Cimbrians, and in a
subsequent year, under the conduct of Lucullus, overcame the Armenians
and Tigranes. King Attalus and Pompey died both on their birthdays. One
could reckon up several that have had variety of fortune on the same
day. This day, meantime, is one of the unfortunate ones to the Romans,
and for its sake two others in every month; fear and superstition, as
the custom of it is, more and more prevailing. But I have discussed
this more accurately in my Roman Questions.
And now, after the battle, had the Gauls immediately pursued those that
fled, there had been no remedy but Rome must have wholly been ruined,
and all those who remained in it utterly destroyed; such was the terror
that those who escaped the battle brought with them into the city, and
with such distraction and confusion were themselves in turn infected.
But the Gauls, not imagining their victory to be so considerable, and
overtaken with the present joy, fell to feasting and dividing the
spoil, by which means they gave leisure to those who were for leaving
the city to make their escape, and to those that remained, to
anticipate and prepare for their coming. For they who resolved to stay
at Rome, abandoning the rest of the city, betook themselves to the
Capitol, which they fortified with the help of missiles and new works.
One of their principal cares was of their holy things, most of which
they conveyed into the Capitol. But the consecrated fire the vestal
virgins took, and fled with it, as likewise their other sacred things.
Some write that they have nothing in their charge but the ever-living
fire which Numa had ordained to be worshipped as the principle of all
things; for fire is the most active thing in nature, and all production
is either motion, or attended with motion; all the other parts of
matter, so long as they are without warmth, lie sluggish and dead, and
require the accession of a sort of soul or vitality in the principle of
heat; and upon that accession, in whatever way, immediately receive a
capacity either of acting or being acted upon. And thus Numa, a man
curious in such things, and whose wisdom made it thought that he
conversed with the Muses, consecrated fire, and ordained it to be kept
ever burning, as an image of that eternal power which orders and
actuates all things. Others say that this fire was kept burning in
front of the holy things, as in Greece, for purification, and that
there were other things hid in the most secret part of the temple,
which were kept from the view of all, except those virgins whom they
call vestals. The most common opinion was, that the image of Pallas,
brought into Italy by Aeneas, was laid up there; others say that the
Samothracian images lay there, telling a story how that Dardanus
carried them to Troy, and, when he had built the city, celebrated those
rites, and dedicated those images there; that after Troy was taken,
Aeneas stole them away, and kept them till his coming into Italy. But
they who profess to know more of the matter affirm that there are two
barrels, not of any great size, one of which stands open and has
nothing in it, the other full and sealed up; but that neither of them
may be seen but by the most holy virgins. Others think that they who
say this are misled by the fact that the virgins put most of their holy
things into two barrels at this time of the Gaulish invasion, and hid
them underground in the temple of Quirinus; and that from hence that
place to this day bears the name of Barrels.
However it be, taking the most precious and important things they had,
they fled away with them, shaping their course along the river side,
where Lucius Albinius, a simple citizen of Rome, who among others was
making his escape, overtook them, having his wife, children, and goods
in a cart; and, seeing the virgins dragging along in their arms the
holy things of the gods, in a helpless and weary condition, he caused
his wife and children to get down, and, taking out his goods, put the
virgins in the cart, that they might make their escape to some of the
Greek cities. This devout act of Albinius, and the respect he showed
thus signally to the gods at a time of such extremity, deserved not to
be passed over in silence. But the priests that belonged to other gods,
and the most elderly of the senators, men who had been consuls and had
enjoyed triumphs, could not endure to leave the city; but, putting on
their sacred and splendid robes, Fabius the high-priest performing the
office, they made their prayers to the gods, and, devoting themselves,
as it were, for their country, sat themselves down in their ivory
chairs in the forum, and in that posture expected the event.
On the third day after the battle, Brennus appeared with his army at
the city, and, finding the gates wide open and no guards upon the
walls, first began to suspect it was some design or stratagem, never
dreaming that the Romans were in so desperate a condition. But when he
found it to be so indeed, he entered at the Colline gate, and took
Rome, in the three hundred and sixtieth year, or a little more, after
it was built; if, indeed, it can be supposed probable that an exact
chronological statement has been preserved of events which were
themselves the cause of chronological difficulties about things of
later date; of the calamity itself, however, and of the fact of the
capture, some faint rumors seem to have passed at the time into Greece.
Heraclides Ponticus, who lived not long after these times, in his book
upon the Soul, relates that a certain report came from the west, that
an army, proceeding from the Hyperboreans, had taken a Greek city
called Rome, seated somewhere upon the great sea. But I do not wonder
that so fabulous and high-flown an author as Heraclides should
embellish the truth of the story with expressions about Hyperboreans
and the great sea. Aristotle the philosopher appears to have heard a
correct statement of the taking of the city by the Gauls, but he calls
its deliverer Lucius; whereas Camillus's surname was not Lucius, but
Marcus. But this is a matter of conjecture.
Brennus, having taken possession of Rome, set a strong guard about the
Capitol, and, going himself down into the forum, was there struck with
amazement at the sight of so many men sitting in that order and
silence, observing that they neither rose at his coming, nor so much as
changed color or countenance, but remained without fear or concern,
leaning upon their staves, and sitting quietly, looking at each other.
The Gauls, for a great while, stood wondering at the strangeness of the
sight not daring to approach or touch them, taking them for an assembly
of superior beings. But when one, bolder than the rest, drew near to
Marcus Papirius, and, putting forth his hand, gently touched his chin
and stroked his long beard, Papirius with his staff struck him a severe
blow on the head; upon which the barbarian drew his sword and slew him.
This was the introduction to the slaughter; for the rest, following his
example, set upon them all and killed them, and dispatched all others
that came in their way; and so went on to the sacking and pillaging the
houses, which they continued for many days ensuing. Afterwards, they
burnt them down to the ground and demolished them, being incensed at
those who kept the Capitol, because they would not yield to summons;
but, on the contrary, when assailed, had repelled them, with some loss,
from their defenses. This provoked them to ruin the whole city, and to
put to the sword all that came to their hands, young and old, men,
women, and children.
And now, the siege of the Capitol having lasted a good while, the Gauls
began to be in want of provision; and dividing their forces, part of
them stayed with their king at the siege, the rest went to forage the
country, ravaging the towns and villages where they came, but not all
together in a body, but in different squadrons and parties; and to such
a confidence had success raised them, that they carelessly rambled
about without the least fear or apprehension of danger. But the
greatest and best ordered body of their forces went to the city of
Ardea, where Camillus then sojourned, having, ever since his leaving
Rome, sequestered himself from all business, and taken to a private
life; but now he began to rouse up himself, and consider not how to
avoid or escape the enemy, but to find out an opportunity to be
revenged upon them. And perceiving that the Ardeatians wanted not men,
but rather enterprise, through the inexperience and timidity of their
officers, he began to speak with the young men, first, to the effect
that they ought not to ascribe the misfortune of the Romans to the
courage of their enemy, nor attribute the losses they sustained by rash
counsel to the conduct of men who had no title to victory; the event
had been only an evidence of the power of fortune; that it was a brave
thing even with danger to repel a foreign and barbarous invader, whose
end in conquering was like fire, to lay waste and destroy, but if they
would be courageous and resolute, he was ready to put an opportunity
into their hands to gain a victory without hazard at all. When he found
the young men embraced the thing, he went to the magistrates and
council of the city, and, having persuaded them also, he mustered all
that could bear arms, and drew them up within the walls, that they
might not be perceived by the enemy, who was near; who, having scoured
the country, and now returned heavy-laden with booty, lay encamped in
the plains in a careless and negligent posture, so that, with the night
ensuing upon debauch and drunkenness, silence prevailed through all the
camp. When Camillus learned this from his scouts, he drew out the
Ardeatians, and in the dead of the night, passing in silence over the
ground that lay between, came up to their works, and, commanding his
trumpets to sound and his men to shout and halloo, he struck terror
into them from all quarters; while drunkenness impeded and sleep
retarded their movements. A few, whom fear had sobered, getting into
some order, for awhile resisted; and so died with their weapons in
their hands. But the greatest part of them, buried in wine and sleep,
were surprised without their arms, and dispatched; and as many of them
as by the advantage of the night got out of the camp were the next day
found scattered abroad and wandering in the fields, and were picked up
by the horse that pursued them.
The fame of this action soon flew through the neighboring cities, and
stirred up the young men from various quarters to come and join
themselves with him. But none were so much concerned as those Romans
who escaped in the battle of Allia, and were now at Veii, thus
lamenting with themselves, "O heavens, what a commander has Providence
bereaved Rome of, to honor Ardea with his actions! And that city, which
brought forth and nursed so great a man, is lost and gone, and we,
destitute of a leader and shut up within strange walls, sit idle, and
see Italy ruined before our eyes. Come, let us send to the Ardeatians
to have back our general, or else, with weapons in our hands, let us go
thither to him; for he is no longer a banished man, nor we citizens,
having no country but what is in the possession of the enemy." To this
they all agreed, and sent to Camillus to desire him to take the
command; but he answered, that he would not, until they that were in
the Capitol should legally appoint him; for he esteemed them, as long
as they were in being, to be his country; that if they should command
him, he would readily obey; but against their consent he would
intermeddle with nothing. When this answer was returned, they admired
the modesty and temper of Camillus; but they could not tell how to find
a messenger to carry the intelligence to the Capitol, or rather,
indeed, it seemed altogether impossible for any one to get to the
citadel whilst the enemy was in full possession of the city. But among
the young men there was one Pontius Cominius, of ordinary birth, but
ambitious of honor, who proffered himself to run the hazard, and took
no letters with him to those in the Capitol, lest, if he were
intercepted, the enemy might learn the intentions of Camillus; but,
putting on a poor dress and carrying corks under it, he boldly traveled
the greatest part of the way by day, and came to the city when it was
dark; the bridge he could not pass, as it was guarded by the
barbarians; so that taking his clothes, which were neither many nor
heavy, and binding them about his head, he laid his body upon the
corks, and, swimming with them, got over to the city. And avoiding
those quarters where he perceived the enemy was awake, which he guessed
at by the lights and noise, he went to the Carmental gate, where there
was greatest silence, and where the hill of the Capitol is steepest,
and rises with craggy and broken rock. By this way he got up, though
with much difficulty, by the hollow of the cliff, and presented himself
to the guards, saluting them, and telling them his name; he was taken
in, and carried to the commanders. And a senate being immediately
called, he related to them in order the victory of Camillus, which they
had not heard of before, and the proceedings of the soldiers; urging
them to confirm Camillus in the command, as on him alone all their
fellow-countrymen outside the city would rely. Having heard and
consulted of the matter, the senate declared Camillus dictator, and
sent back Pontius the same way that he came, who, with the same success
as before, got through the enemy without being discovered, and
delivered to the Romans outside the decision of the senate, who
joyfully received it. Camillus, on his arrival, found twenty thousand
of them ready in arms; with which forces, and those confederates he
brought along with him, he prepared to set upon the enemy.
But at Rome some of the barbarians, passing by chance near the place at
which Pontius by night had got into the Capitol, spied in several
places marks of feet and hands, where he had laid hold and clambered,
and places where the plants that grew to the rock had been rubbed off,
and the earth had slipped, and went accordingly and reported it to the
king, who, coming in person, and viewing it, for the present said
nothing, but in the evening, picking out such of the Gauls as were
nimblest of body, and by living in the mountains were accustomed to
climb, he said to them, "The enemy themselves have shown us a way how
to come at them, which we knew not of before, and have taught us that
it is not so difficult and impossible but that men may overcome it. It
would be a great shame, having begun well, to fail in the end, and to
give up a place as impregnable, when the enemy himself lets us see the
way by which it may be taken; for where it was easy for one man to get
up, it will not be hard for many, one after another; nay, when many
shall undertake it, they will be aid and strength to each other.
Rewards and honors shall be bestowed on every man as he shall acquit
himself."
When the king had thus spoken, the Gauls cheerfully undertook to
perform it, and in the dead of night a good party of them together,
with great silence, began to climb the rock, clinging to the
precipitous and difficult ascent, which yet upon trial offered a way to
them, and proved less difficult than they had expected. So that the
foremost of them having gained the top of all, and put themselves into
order, they all but surprised the outworks, and mastered the watch, who
were fast asleep; for neither man nor dog perceived their coming. But
there were sacred geese kept near the temple of Juno, which at other
times were plentifully fed, but now, by reason that corn and all other
provisions were grown scarce for all, were but in a poor condition. The
creature is by nature of quick sense, and apprehensive of the least
noise, so that these, being moreover watchful through hunger, and
restless, immediately discovered the coming of the Gauls, and, running
up and down with their noise and cackling, they raised the whole camp,
while the barbarians on the other side, perceiving themselves
discovered, no longer endeavored to conceal their attempt, but with
shouting and violence advanced to the assault. The Romans, every one in
haste snatching up the next weapon that came to hand, did what they
could on the sudden occasion. Manlius, a man of consular dignity, of
strong body and great spirit, was the first that made head against
them, and, engaging with two of the enemy at once, with his sword cut
off the right arm of one just as he was lifting up his blade to strike,
and, running his target full in the face of the other, tumbled him
headlong down the steep rock; then mounting the rampart, and there
standing with others that came running to his assistance, drove down
the rest of them, who, indeed, to begin, had not been many, and did
nothing worthy of so bold an attempt. The Romans, having thus escaped
this danger, early in the morning took the captain of the watch and
flung him down the rock upon the heads of their enemies, and to Manlius
for his victory voted a reward, intended more for honor than advantage,
bringing him, each man of them, as much as he received for his daily
allowance, which was half a pound of bread, and one eighth of a pint of
wine.
Henceforward, the affairs of the Gauls were daily in a worse and worse
condition; they wanted provisions, being withheld from foraging through
fear of Camillus, and sickness also was amongst them, occasioned by the
number of carcasses that lay in heaps unburied. Being lodged among the
ruins, the ashes, which were very deep, blown about with the winds and
combining with the sultry heats, breathed up, so to say, a dry and
searching air, the inhalation of which was destructive to their health.
But the chief cause was the change from their natural climate, coming
as they did out of shady and hilly countries, abounding in means of
shelter from the heat, to lodge in low, and, in the autumn season, very
unhealthy ground; added to which was the length and tediousness of the
siege, as they had now sat seven months before the Capitol. There was,
therefore, a great destruction among them, and the number of the dead
grew so great, that the living gave up burying them. Neither, indeed,
were things on that account any better with the besieged, for famine
increased upon them, and despondency with not hearing any thing of
Camillus, it being impossible to send any one to him, the city was so
guarded by the barbarians. Things being in this sad condition on both
sides, a motion of treaty was made at first by some of the outposts, as
they happened to speak with one another; which being embraced by the
leading men, Sulpicius, tribune of the Romans, came to a parley with
Brennus, in which it was agreed, that the Romans laying down a thousand
weight of gold, the Gauls upon the receipt of it should immediately
quit the city and territories. The agreement being confirmed by oath on
both sides, and the gold brought forth, the Gauls used false dealing in
the weights, secretly at first, but afterwards openly pulled back and
disturbed the balance; at which the Romans indignantly complaining,
Brennus in a scoffing and insulting manner pulled off his sword and
belt, and threw them both into the scales; and when Sulpicius asked
what that meant, "What should it mean," says he, "but woe to the
conquered?" which afterwards became a proverbial saying. As for the
Romans, some were so incensed that they were for taking their gold back
again, and returning to endure the siege. Others were for passing by
and dissembling a petty injury, and not to account that the indignity
of the thing lay in paying more than was due, since the paying anything
at all was itself a dishonor only submitted to as a necessity of the
times.
Whilst this difference remained still unsettled, both amongst
themselves and with the Gauls, Camillus was at the gates with his army;
and, having learned what was going on, commanded the main body of his
forces to follow slowly after him in good order, and himself with the
choicest of his men hastening on, went at once to the Romans; where all
giving way to him, and receiving him as their sole magistrate, with
profound silence and order, he took the gold out of the scales, and
delivered it to his officers, and commanded the Gauls to take their
weights and scales and depart; saying that it was customary with the
Romans to deliver their country with iron, not with gold. And when
Brennus began to rage, and say that he was unjustly dealt with in such
a breach of contract, Camillus answered that it was never legally made,
and the agreement of no force or obligation; for that himself being
declared dictator, and there being no other magistrate by law, the
engagement had been made with men who had no power to enter into it;
but now they might say anything they had to urge, for he was come with
full power by law to grant pardon to such as should ask it, or inflict
punishment on the guilty, if they did not repent. At this, Brennus
broke into violent anger, and an immediate quarrel ensued; both sides
drew their swords and attacked, but in confusion, as could not
otherwise be amongst houses, and ill narrow lanes and places where it
was impossible to form in any order. But Brennus, presently
recollecting himself, called off his men, and, with the loss of a few
only, brought them to their camp; and, rising in the night with all his
forces, left the city, and, advancing about eight miles, encamped upon
the way to Gabii. As soon as day appeared, Camillus came up with him,
splendidly armed himself, and his soldiers full of courage and
confidence; and there engaging with him in a sharp conflict, which
lasted a long while, overthrew his army with great slaughter, and took
their camp. Of those that fled, some were presently cut off by the
pursuers; others, and these were the greatest number, dispersed hither
and thither, and were dispatched by the people that came sallying out
from the neighboring towns and villages.
Thus Rome was strangely taken, and more strangely recovered, having
been seven whole months in the possession of the barbarians who entered
her a little after the Ides of July, and were driven out about the Ides
of February following. Camillus triumphed, as he deserved, having saved
his country that was lost, and brought the city, so to say, back again
to itself. For those that had fled abroad, together with their wives
and children, accompanied him as he rode in; and those who had been
shut up in the Capitol, and were reduced almost to the point of
perishing with hunger, went out to meet him, embracing each other as
they met, and weeping for joy and, through the excess of the present
pleasure, scarce believing in its truth. And when the priests and
ministers of the gods appeared, bearing the sacred things, which in
their flight they had either hid on the spot, or conveyed away with
them, and now openly showed in safety, the citizens who saw the blessed
sight felt as if with these the gods themselves were again returned
unto Rome. After Camillus had sacrificed to the gods, and purified the
city according to the direction of those properly instructed, he
restored the existing temples, and erected a new one to Rumour, or
Voice, informing himself of the spot in which that voice from heaven
came by night to Marcus Caedicius, foretelling the coming of the
barbarian army.
It was a matter of difficulty, and a hard task, amidst so much rubbish,
to discover and redetermine the consecrated places; but by the zeal of
Camillus, and the incessant labor of the priests, it was at last
accomplished. But when it came also to rebuilding the city, which was
wholly demolished, despondency seized the multitude, and a backwardness
to engage in a work for which they had no materials; at a time, too,
when they rather needed relief and repose from their past labors, than
any new demands upon their exhausted strength and impaired fortunes.
Thus insensibly they turned their thoughts again towards Veii, a city
ready-built and well-provided, and gave an opening to the arts of
flatterers eager to gratify their desires, and lent their ears to
seditious language flung out against Camillus; as that, out of ambition
and self-glory, he withheld them from a city fit to receive them,
forcing them to live in the midst of ruins, and to re-erect a pile of
burnt rubbish, that he might be esteemed not the chief magistrate only
and general of Rome, but, to the exclusion of Romulus, its founder,
also. The senate, therefore, fearing a sedition, would not suffer
Camillus, though desirous, to lay down his authority within the year,
though no other dictator had ever held it above six months.
They themselves, meantime, used their best endeavors, by kind
persuasions and familiar addresses, to encourage and to appease the
people, showing them the shrines and tombs of their ancestors, calling
to their remembrance the sacred spots and holy places which Romulus and
Numa or any other of their kings had consecrated and left to their
keeping; and among the strongest religious arguments, urged the head,
newly separated from the body, which was found in laying the foundation
of the Capitol, marking it as a place destined by fate to be the head
of all Italy; and the holy fire which had just been rekindled again,
since the end of the war, by the vestal virgins; "What a disgrace would
it be to them to lose and extinguish this, leaving the city it belonged
to, to be either inhabited by strangers and new-comers, or left a wild
pasture for cattle to graze on?" Such reasons as these, urged with
complaint and expostulation, sometimes in private upon individuals, and
sometimes in their public assemblies, were met, on the other hand, by
laments and protestations of distress and helplessness; entreaties,
that, reunited as they just were, after a sort of shipwreck, naked and
destitute, they would not constrain them to patch up the pieces of a
ruined and shattered city, when they had another at hand ready-built
and prepared.
Camillus thought good to refer it to general deliberation, and himself
spoke largely and earnestly in behalf of his country, as also many
others. At last, calling to Lucius Lucretius, whose place it was to
speak first, he commanded him to give his sentence, and the rest as
they followed, in order. Silence being made, and Lucretius just about
to begin, by chance a centurion, passing by outside with his company of
the day-guard, called out with a loud voice to the ensign-bearer to
halt and fix his standard, for this was the best place to stay in. This
voice, coming in that moment of time, and at that crisis of uncertainty
and anxiety for the future, was taken as a direction what was to be
done; so that Lucretius, assuming an attitude of devotion, gave
sentence in concurrence with the gods, as he said, as likewise did all
that followed. Even among the common people it created a wonderful
change of feeling; every one now cheered and encouraged his neighbor,
and set himself to the work, proceeding in it, however, not by any
regular lines or divisions, but every one pitching upon that plot of
ground which came next to hand, or best pleased his fancy; by which
haste and hurry in building, they constructed their city in narrow and
ill-designed lanes, and with houses huddled together one upon another;
for it is said that within the compass of the year the whole city was
raised up anew, both in its public walls and private buildings. The
persons, however, appointed by Camillus to resume and mark out, in this
general confusion, all consecrated places, coming, in their way round
the Palatium, to the chapel of Mars, found the chapel itself indeed
destroyed and burnt to the ground, like everything else, by the
barbarians; but whilst they were clearing the place, and carrying away
the rubbish, lit upon Romulus's augural staff, buried under a great
heap of ashes. This sort of staff is crooked at one end, and is called
lituus; they make use of it in quartering out the regions of the
heavens when engaged in divination from the flight of birds; Romulus,
who was himself a great diviner, made use of it. But when he
disappeared from the earth, the priests took his staff and kept it, as
other holy things, from the touch of man; and when they now found that,
whereas all other things were consumed, this staff had altogether
escaped the flames, they began to conceive happier hopes of Rome, and
to augur from this token its future everlasting safety.
And now they had scarcely got a breathing time from their trouble, when
a new war came upon them; and the Aequians, Volscians, and Latins all
at once invaded their territories, and the Tuscans besieged Sutrium,
their confederate city. The military tribunes who commanded the army,
and were encamped about the hill Maecius, being closely besieged by the
Latins, and the camp in danger to be lost, sent to Rome, where Camillus
was a third time chosen dictator. Of this war two different accounts
are given; I shall begin with the more fabulous. They say that the
Latins (whether out of pretense, or a real design to revive the ancient
relationship of the two nations) sent to desire of the Romans some
free- born maidens in marriage; that when the Romans were at a loss how
to determine (for on one hand they dreaded a war, having scarcely yet
settled and recovered themselves, and on the other side suspected that
this asking of wives was, in plain terms, nothing else but a demand for
hostages, though covered over with the specious name of intermarriage
and alliance), a certain handmaid, by name Tutula, or, as some call
her, Philotis, persuaded the magistrates to send with her some of the
most youthful and best looking maid-servants, in the bridal dress of
noble virgins, and leave the rest to her care and management; that the
magistrates consenting, chose out as many as she thought necessary for
her purpose, and, adorning them with gold and rich clothes, delivered
them to the Latins, who were encamped not far from the city; that at
night the rest stole away the enemy's swords, but Tutula or Philotis,
getting to the top of a wild fig-tree, and spreading out a thick woolen
cloth behind her, held out a torch towards Rome, which was the signal
concerted between her and the commanders, without the knowledge,
however, of any other of the citizens, which was the reason that their
issuing out from the city was tumultuous, the officers pushing their
men on, and they calling upon one another's names, and scarce able to
bring themselves into order; that setting upon the enemy's works, who
either were asleep or expected no such matter, they took the camp, and
destroyed most of them; and that this was done on the nones of July,
which was then called Quintilis, and that the feast that is observed on
that day is a commemoration of what was then done. For in it, first,
they run out of the city in great crowds, and call out aloud several
familiar and common names, Caius, Marcus, Lucius, and the like, in
representation of the way in which they called to one another when they
went out in such haste. In the next place, the maid-servants, gaily
dressed, run about, playing and jesting upon all they meet, and amongst
themselves, also, use a kind of skirmishing, to show they helped in the
conflict against the Latins; and while eating and drinking, they sit
shaded over with boughs of wild fig-tree, and the day they call Nonae
Caprotinae, as some think from that wild fig-tree on which the maid-
servant held up her torch, the Roman name for a wild fig-tree being
caprificus. Others refer most of what is said or done at this feast to
the fate of Romulus, for, on this day, he vanished outside the gates in
a sudden darkness and storm (some think it an eclipse of the sun), and
from this, the day was called Nonae Caprotinae, the Latin for a goat
being capra, and the place where he disappeared having the name of
Goat's Marsh, as is stated in his life.
But the general stream of writers prefer the other account of this war,
which they thus relate. Camillus, being the third time chosen dictator,
and learning that the army under the tribunes was besieged by the
Latins and Volscians, was constrained to arm, not only those under, but
also those over, the age of service; and taking a large circuit round
the mountain Maecius, undiscovered by the enemy, lodged his army on
their rear, and then by many fires gave notice of his arrival. The
besieged, encouraged by this, prepared to sally forth and join battle;
but the Latins and Volscians, fearing this exposure to an enemy on both
sides, drew themselves within their works, and fortified their camp
with a strong palisade of trees on every side, resolving to wait for
more supplies from home, and expecting, also, the assistance of the
Tuscans, their confederates. Camillus, detecting their object, and
fearing to be reduced to the same position to which he had brought
them, namely, to be besieged himself, resolved to lose no time; and
finding their rampart was all of timber, and observing that a strong
wind constantly at sun- rising blew off from the mountains, after
having prepared a quantity of combustibles, about break of day he drew
forth his forces, commanding a part with their missiles to assault the
enemy with noise and shouting on the other quarter, whilst he, with
those that were to fling in the fire, went to that side of the enemy's
camp to which the wind usually blew, and there waited his opportunity.
When the skirmish was begun, and the sun risen, and a strong wind set
in from the mountains, he gave the signal of onset; and, heaping in an
infinite quantity of fiery matter, filled all their rampart with it, so
that the flame being fed by the close timber and wooden palisades, went
on and spread into all quarters. The Latins, having nothing ready to
keep it off or extinguish it, when the camp was now almost full of
fire, were driven back within a very small compass, and at last forced
by necessity to come into their enemy's hands, who stood before the
works ready armed and prepared to receive them; of these very few
escaped, while those that stayed in the camp were all a prey to the
fire, until the Romans, to gain the pillage, extinguished it.
These things performed, Camillus, leaving his son Lucius in the camp to
guard the prisoners and secure the booty, passed into the enemy's
country, where, having taken the city of the Aequians and reduced the
Volscians to obedience, he then immediately led his army to Sutrium,
not having heard what had befallen the Sutrians, but making haste to
assist them, as if they were still in danger and besieged by the
Tuscans. They, however, had already surrendered their city to their
enemies, and destitute of all things, with nothing left but their
clothes, met Camillus on the way, leading their wives and children, and
bewailing their misfortune. Camillus himself was struck with
compassion, and perceiving the soldiers weeping, and commiserating
their case, while the Sutrians hung about and clung to them, resolved
not to defer revenge, but that very day to lead his army to Sutrium;
conjecturing that the enemy, having just taken a rich and plentiful
city, without an enemy left within it, nor any from without to be
expected, would be found abandoned to enjoyment and unguarded. Neither
did his opinion fail him; he not only passed through their country
without discovery, but came up to their very gates and possessed
himself of the walls, not a man being left to guard them, but their
whole army scattered about in the houses, drinking and making merry.
Nay, when at last they did perceive that the enemy had seized the city,
they were so overloaded with meat and wine, that few were able so much
as to endeavor to escape, but either waited shamefully for their death
within doors, or surrendered themselves to the conqueror. Thus the city
of the Sutrians was twice taken in one day; and they who were in
possession lost it, and they who had lost regained it, alike by the
means of Camillus. For all which actions he received a triumph, which
brought him no less honor and reputation than the two former ones; for
those citizens who before most regarded him with an evil eye, and
ascribed his successes to a certain luck rather than real merit, were
compelled by these last acts of his to allow the whole honor to his
great abilities and energy.
Of all the adversaries and enviers of his glory, Marcus Manlius was the
most distinguished, he who first drove back the Gauls when they made
their night attack upon the Capitol, and who for that reason had been
named Capitolinus. This man, affecting the first place in the
commonwealth, and not able by noble ways to outdo Camillus's
reputation, took that ordinary course towards usurpation of absolute
power, namely, to gain the multitude, those of them especially that
were in debt; defending some by pleading their causes against their
creditors, rescuing others by force, and not suffering the law to
proceed against them; insomuch that in a short time he got great
numbers of indigent people about him, whose tumults and uproars in the
forum struck terror into the principal citizens. After that Quintius
Capitolinus, who was made dictator to suppress these disorders, had
committed Manlius to prison, the people immediately changed their
apparel, a thing never done but in great and public calamities, and the
senate, fearing some tumult, ordered him to be released. He, however,
when set at liberty, changed not his course, but was rather the more
insolent in his proceedings, filling the whole city with faction and
sedition. They chose, therefore, Camillus again military tribune; and a
day being appointed for Manlius to answer to his charge, the prospect
from the place where his trial was held proved a great impediment to
his accusers; for the very spot where Manlius by night fought with the
Gauls overlooked the forum from the Capitol, so that, stretching forth
his hands that way, and weeping, he called to their remembrance his
past actions, raising compassion in all that beheld him. Insomuch that
the judges were at a loss what to do, and several times adjourned the
trial, unwilling to acquit him of the crime, which was sufficiently
proved, and yet unable to execute the law while his noble action
remained, as it were, before their eyes. Camillus, considering this,
transferred the court outside the gates to the Peteline Grove, from
whence there is no prospect of the Capitol. Here his accuser went on
with his charge, and his judges were capable of remembering and duly
resenting his guilty deeds. He was convicted, carried to the Capitol,
and flung headlong from the rock; so that one and the same spot was
thus the witness of his greatest glory, and monument of his most
unfortunate end. The Romans, besides, razed his house, and built there
a temple to the goddess they call Moneta, ordaining for the future that
none of the patrician order should ever dwell on the Capitoline.
And now Camillus, being called to his sixth tribuneship, desired to be
excused, as being aged, and perhaps not unfearful of the malice of
fortune, and those reverses which seem to ensue upon great prosperity.
But the most apparent pretense was the weakness of his body, for he
happened at that time to be sick; the people, however, would admit of
no excuses, but, crying that they wanted not his strength for horse or
for foot service, but only his counsel and conduct, constrained him to
undertake the command, and with one of his fellow-tribunes to lead the
army immediately against the enemy. These were the Praenestines and
Volscians, who, with large forces, were laying waste the territory of
the Roman confederates. Having marched out with his army, he sat down
and encamped near the enemy, meaning himself to protract the war, or if
there should come any necessity or occasion of fighting, in the mean
time to regain his strength. But Lucius Furius, his colleague, carried
away with the desire of glory, was not to be held in, but, impatient to
give battle, inflamed the inferior officers of the army with the same
eagerness; so that Camillus, fearing he might seem out of envy to be
wishing to rob the young men of the glory of a noble exploit,
consented, though unwillingly, that he should draw out the forces,
whilst himself, by reason of weakness, stayed behind with a few in the
camp. Lucius, engaging rashly, was discomfited, when Camillus,
perceiving the Romans to give ground and fly, could not contain
himself, but, leaping from his bed, with those he had about him ran to
meet them at the gates of the camp, making his way through the flyers
to oppose the pursuers; so that those who had got within the camp
turned back at once and followed him, and those that came flying from
without made head again and gathered about him, exhorting one another
not to forsake their general. Thus the enemy for that time, was stopped
in his pursuit. The next day Camillus drawing out his forces and
joining battle with them, overthrew them by main force, and, following
close upon them, entered pell-mell with them into their camp and took
it, slaying the greatest part of them. Afterwards, having heard that
the city Satricum was taken by the Tuscans, and the inhabitants, all
Romans, put to the sword, he sent home to Rome the main body of his
forces and heaviest-armed, and, taking with him the lightest and most
vigorous soldiers, set suddenly upon the Tuscans, who were in the
possession of the city, and mastered them, slaying some and expelling
the rest; and so, returning to Rome with great spoils, gave signal
evidence of their superior wisdom, who, not mistrusting the weakness
and age of a commander endued with courage and conduct, had rather
chosen him who was sickly and desirous to be excused, than younger men
who were forward and ambitious to command.
When, therefore, the revolt of the Tusculans was reported, they gave
Camillus the charge of reducing them, choosing one of his five
colleagues to go with him. And when every one was eager for the place,
contrary to the expectation of all, he passed by the rest and chose
Lucius Furius, the very same man who lately, against the judgment of
Camillus, had rashly hazarded and nearly lost a battle; willing, as it
should seem, to dissemble that miscarriage, and free him from the shame
of it. The Tusculans, hearing of Camillus's coming against them, made a
cunning attempt at revoking their act of revolt; their fields, as in
times of highest peace, were full of plowman and shepherds; their gates
stood wide open, and their children were being taught in the schools;
of the people, such as were tradesmen, he found in their workshops,
busied about their several employments, and the better sort of citizens
walking in the public places in their ordinary dress; the magistrates
hurried about to provide quarters for the Romans, as if they stood in
fear of no danger and were conscious of no fault. Which arts, though
they could not dispossess Camillus of the conviction he had of their
treason, yet induced some compassion for their repentance; he commanded
them to go to the senate and deprecate their anger, and joined himself
as an intercessor in their behalf, so that their city was acquitted of
all guilt and admitted to Roman citizenship, These were the most
memorable actions of his sixth tribuneship.
After these things, Licinius Stolo raised a great sedition in the city,
and brought the people to dissension with the senate, contending, that
of two consuls one should be chosen out of the commons, and not both
out of the patricians. Tribunes of the people were chosen, but the
election of consuls was interrupted and prevented by the people. And as
this absence of any supreme magistrate was leading to yet further
confusion, Camillus was the fourth time created dictator by the senate,
sorely against the people's will, and not altogether in accordance with
his own; he had little desire for a conflict with men whose past
services entitled them to tell him that he had achieved far greater
actions in war along with them than in politics with the patricians,
who, indeed, had only put him forward now out of envy; that, if
successful, he might crush the people, or, failing, be crushed himself.
However, to provide as good a remedy as he could for the present,
knowing the day on which the tribunes of the people intended to prefer
the law, he appointed it by proclamation for a general muster, and
called the people from the forum into the Campus, threatening to set
heavy fines upon such as should not obey. On the other side, the
tribunes of the people met his threats by solemnly protesting they
would fine him in fifty thousand drachmas of silver, if he persisted in
obstructing the people from giving their suffrages for the law. Whether
it were, then, that he feared another banishment or condemnation which
would ill become his age and past great actions, or found himself
unable to stem the current of the multitude, which ran strong and
violent, he betook himself, for the present, to his house, and
afterwards, for some days together, professing sickness, finally laid
down his dictatorship. The senate created another dictator; who,
choosing Stolo, leader of the sedition, to be his general of horse,
suffered that law to be enacted and ratified, which was most grievous
to the patricians, namely, that no person whatsoever should possess
above five hundred acres of land. Stolo was much distinguished by the
victory he had gained; but, not long after, was found himself to
possess more than he had allowed to others, and suffered the penalties
of his own law.
And now the contention about election of consuls coming on (which was
the main point and original cause of the dissension, and had
throughtout furnished most matter of division between the senate and
the people), certain intelligence arrived, that the Gauls again,
proceeding from the Adriatic Sea, were marching in vast numbers upon
Rome. On the very heels of the report followed manifest acts also of
hostility; the country through which they marched was all wasted, and
such as by flight could not make their escape to Rome were dispersing
and scattering among the mountains. The terror of this war quieted the
sedition; nobles and commons, senate and people together, unanimously
chose Camillus the fifth time dictator; who, though very aged, not
wanting much of fourscore years, yet, considering the danger and
necessity of his country, did not, as before, pretend sickness, or
depreciate his own capacity, but at once undertook the charge, and
enrolled soldiers. And, knowing that the great force of the barbarians
lay chiefly in their swords, with which they laid about them in a rude
and inartificial manner, hacking and hewing the head and shoulders, he
caused head-pieces entire of iron to be made for most of his men,
smoothing and polishing the outside, that the enemy's swords, lighting
upon them, might either slide off or be broken; and fitted also their
shields with a little rim of brass, the wood itself not being
sufficient to bear off the blows. Besides, he taught his soldiers to
use their long javelins in close encounter, and, by bringing them under
their enemy's swords, to receive their strokes upon them.
When the Gauls drew near, about the river Anio, dragging a heavy camp
after them, and loaded with infinite spoil, Camillus drew forth his
forces, and planted himself upon a hill of easy ascent, and which had
many dips in it, with the object that the greatest part of his army
might lie concealed, and those who appeared might be thought to have
betaken themselves, through fear, to those upper grounds. And the more
to increase this opinion in them, he suffered them, without any
disturbance, to spoil and pillage even to his very trenches, keeping
himself quiet within his works, which were well fortified; till, at
last, perceiving that part of the enemy were scattered about the
country foraging, and that those that were in the camp did nothing day
and night but drink and revel, in the nighttime he drew up his
lightest-armed men, and sent them out before to impede the enemy while
forming into order, and to harass them when they should first issue out
of their camp; and early in the morning brought down his main body, and
set them in battle array in the lower grounds, a numerous and
courageous army, not, as the barbarians had supposed, an inconsiderable
and fearful division. The first thing that shook the courage of the
Gauls was, that their enemies had, contrary to their expectation, the
honor of being aggressors. In the next place, the light-armed men,
falling upon them before they could get into their usual order or range
themselves in their proper squadrons, so disturbed and pressed upon
them, that they were obliged to fight at random, without any order at
all. But at last, when Camillus brought on his heavy-armed legions, the
barbarians, with their swords drawn, went vigorously to engage them;
the Romans, however, opposing their javelins and receiving the force of
their blows on those parts of their defenses which were well guarded
with steel, turned the edge of their weapons, being made of a soft and
ill-tempered metal, so that their swords bent and doubled up in their
hands; and their shields were pierced through and through, and grew
heavy with the javelins that stuck upon them. And thus forced to quit
their own weapons, they endeavored to take advantage of those of their
enemies, laid hold of the javelins with their hands, and tried to pluck
them away. But the Romans, perceiving them now naked and defenseless,
betook themselves to their swords, which they so well used, that in a
little time great slaughter was made in the foremost ranks, while the
rest fled over all parts of the level country; the hills and upper
grounds Camillus had secured beforehand, and their camp they knew it
would not be difficult for the enemy to take, as, through confidence of
victory, they had left it unguarded. This fight, it is stated, was
thirteen years after the sacking of Rome; and from henceforward the
Romans took courage, and surmounted the apprehensions they had hitherto
entertained of the barbarians, whose previous defeat they had
attributed rather to pestilence and a concurrence of mischances than to
their own superior valor. And, indeed, this fear had been formerly so
great, that they made a law, that priests should be excused from
service in war, unless in an invasion from the Gauls.
This was the last military action that ever Camillus performed; for the
voluntary surrender of the city of the Velitrani was but a mere
accessory to it. But the greatest of all civil contests, and the
hardest to be managed, was still to be fought out against the people;
who, returning home full of victory and success, insisted, contrary to
established law, to have one of the consuls chosen out of their own
body. The senate strongly opposed it, and would not suffer Camillus to
lay down his dictatorship, thinking, that, under the shelter of his
great name and authority, they should be better able to contend for the
power of the aristocracy. But when Camillus was sitting upon the
tribunal, dispatching public affairs, an officer, sent by the tribunes
of the people, commanded him to rise and follow him, laying his hand
upon him, as ready to seize and carry him away; upon which, such a
noise and tumult as was never heard before, filled the whole forum;
some that were about Camillus thrusting the officer from the bench, and
the multitude below calling out to him to bring Camillus down. Being at
a loss what to do in these difficulties, he yet laid not down his
authority, but, taking the senators along with him, he went to the
senate-house; but before he entered, besought the gods that they would
bring these troubles to a happy conclusion, solemnly vowing, when the
tumult was ended, to build a temple to Concord. A great conflict of
opposite opinions arose in the senate; but, at last, the most moderate
and most acceptable to the people prevailed, and consent was given,
that of two consuls, one should be chosen from the commonalty. When the
dictator proclaimed this determination of the senate to the people, at
the moment, pleased and reconciled with the senate, as indeed could not
otherwise be, they accompanied Camillus home, with all expressions and
acclamations of joy; and the next day, assembling together, they voted
a temple of Concord to be built, according to Camillus's vow, facing
the assembly and the forum; and to the feasts, called the Latin
holidays, they added one day more, making four in all; and ordained
that, on the present occasion, the whole people of Rome should
sacrifice with garlands on their heads.
In the election of consuls held by Camillus, Marcus Aemilius was chosen
of the patricians, and Lucius Sextius the first of the commonalty; and
this was the last of all Camillus's actions. In the year following, a
pestilential sickness infected Rome, which, besides an infinite number
of the common people, swept away most of the magistrates, among whom
was Camillus; whose death cannot be called immature, if we consider his
great age, or greater actions, yet was he more lamented than all the
rest put together that then died of that distemper.
PERICLES
Caesar once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying up and
down with them in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs and monkeys,
embracing and making much of them, took occasion not unnaturally to ask
whether the women in their country were not used to bear children; by
that prince-like reprimand gravely reflecting upon persons who spend
and lavish upon brute beasts that affection and kindness which nature
has implanted in us to be bestowed on those of our own kind. With like
reason may we blame those who misuse that love of inquiry and
observation which nature has implanted in our souls, by expending it on
objects unworthy of the attention either of their eyes or their ears,
while they disregard such as are excellent in themselves, and would do
them good.
The mere outward sense, being passive in responding to the impression
of the objects that come in its way and strike upon it, perhaps cannot
help entertaining and taking notice of everything that addresses it, be
it what it will, useful or unuseful; but, in the exercise of his mental
perception, every man, if he chooses, has a natural power to turn
himself upon all occasions, and to change and shift with the greatest
ease to what he shall himself judge desirable. So that it becomes a
man's duty to pursue and make after the best and choicest of
everything, that he may not only employ his contemplation, but may also
be improved by it. For as that color is most suitable to the eye whose
freshness and pleasantness stimulates and strengthens the sight, so a
man ought to apply his intellectual perception to such objects as, with
the sense of delight, are apt to call it forth, and allure it to its
own proper good and advantage.
Such objects we find in the acts of virtue, which also produce in the
minds of mere readers about them, an emulation and eagerness that may
lead them on to imitation. In other things there does not immediately
follow upon the admiration and liking of the thing done, any strong
desire of doing the like. Nay, many times, on the very contrary, when
we are pleased with the work, we slight and set little by the workman
or artist himself, as, for instance, in perfumes and purple dyes, we
are taken with the things themselves well enough, but do not think
dyers and perfumers otherwise than low and sordid people. It was not
said amiss by Antisthenes, when people told him that one Ismenias was
an excellent piper, "It may be so," said he, "but he is but a wretched
human being, otherwise he would not have been an excellent piper." And
king Philip, to the same purpose, told his son Alexander, who once at a
merry-meeting played a piece of music charmingly and skillfully, "Are
you not ashamed, son, to play so well?" For it is enough for a king, or
prince to find leisure sometimes to hear others sing, and he does the
muses quite honor enough when he pleases to be but present, while
others engage in such exercises and trials of skill.
He who busies himself in mean occupations produces, in the very pains
he takes about things of little or no use, an evidence against himself
of his negligence and indisposition to what is really good. Nor did any
generous and ingenuous young man, at the sight of the statue of Jupiter
at Pisa, ever desire to be a Phidias, or, on seeing that of Juno at
Argos, long to be a Polycletus, or feel induced by his pleasure in
their poems to wish to be an Anacreon or Philetas or Archilochus. For
it does not necessarily follow, that, if a piece of work please for its
gracefulness, therefore he that wrought it deserves our admiration.
Whence it is that neither do such things really profit or advantage the
beholders, upon the sight of which no zeal arises for the imitation of
them, nor any impulse or inclination, which may prompt any desire or
endeavor of doing the like. But virtue, by the bare statement of its
actions, can so affect men's minds as to create at once both admiration
of the things done and desire to imitate the doers of them. The goods
of fortune we would possess and would enjoy; those of virtue we long to
practice and exercise; we are content to receive the former from
others, the latter we wish others to experience from us. Moral good is
a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen, than it inspires an impulse
to practice; and influences the mind and character not by a mere
imitation which we look at, but, by the statement of the fact, creates
a moral purpose which we form.
And so we have thought fit to spend our time and pains in writing of
the lives of famous persons; and have composed this tenth book upon
that subject, containing the life of Pericles, and that of Fabius
Maximus, who carried on the war against Hannibal, men alike, as in
their other virtues and good parts, so especially in their mild and
upright temper and demeanor, and in that capacity to bear the
cross-grained humors of their fellow-citizens and colleagues in office
which made them both most useful and serviceable to the interests of
their countries. Whether we take a right aim at our intended purpose,
it is left to the reader to judge by what he shall here find.
Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and the township Cholargus, of the
noblest birth both on his father's and mother's side. Xanthippus, his
father, who defeated the king of Persia's generals in the battle at
Mycale, took to wife Agariste, the grandchild of Clisthenes, who drove
out the sons of Pisistratus, and nobly put an end to their tyrannical
usurpation, and moreover made a body of laws, and settled a model of
government admirably tempered and suited for the harmony and safety of
the people.
His mother, being near her time, fancied in a dream that she was
brought to bed of a lion, and a few days after was delivered of
Pericles, in other respects perfectly formed, only his head was
somewhat longish and out of proportion. For which reason almost all the
images and statues that were made of him have the head covered with a
helmet, the workmen apparently being willing not to expose him. The
poets of Athens called him Schinocephalos, or squill-head, from
schinos, a squill, or sea- onion. One of the comic poets, Cratinus, in
the Chirons, tells us that --
Old Chronos once took queen Sedition to wife;
Which two brought to life
That tyrant far-famed,
Whom the gods the supreme skull-compeller have named.
And, in the Nemesis, addresses him --
Come, Jove, thou head of gods.
And a second, Teleclides, says, that now, in embarrassment with
political difficulties, he sits in the city,--
Fainting underneath the load
Of his own head; and now abroad,
From his huge gallery of a pate,
Sends forth trouble to the state.
And a third, Eupolis, in the comedy called the Demi, in a series of
questions about each of the demagogues, whom he makes in the play to
come up from hell, upon Pericles being named last, exclaims,--
And here by way of summary, now we've done,
Behold, in brief, the heads of all in one.
The master that taught him music, most authors are agreed, was Damon
(whose name, they say, ought to be pronounced with the first syllable
short). Though Aristotle tells us that he was thoroughly practiced in
all accomplishments of this kind by Pythoclides. Damon, it is not
unlikely, being a sophist, out of policy, sheltered himself under the
profession of music to conceal from people in general his skill in
other things, and under this pretense attended Pericles, the young
athlete of politics, so to say, as his training-master in these
exercises. Damon's lyre, however, did not prove altogether a successful
blind; he was banished the country by ostracism for ten years, as a
dangerous intermeddler and a favorer of arbitrary power, and, by this
means, gave the stage occasion to play upon him. As, for instance,
Plato, the comic poet, introduces a character, who questions him --
Tell me, if you please,
Since you're the Chiron who taught Pericles.
Pericles, also, was a hearer of Zeno, the Eleatic, who treated of
natural philosophy in the same manner as Parmenides did, but had also
perfected himself in an art of his own for refuting and silencing
opponents in argument; as Timon of Phlius describes it, --
Also the two-edged tongue of mighty Zeno, who,
Say what one would, could argue it untrue.
But he that saw most of Pericles, and furnished him most especially
with a weight and grandeur of sense, superior to all arts of
popularity, and in general gave him his elevation and sublimity of
purpose and of character, was Anaxagoras of Clazomenae; whom the men of
those times called by the name of Nous, that is, mind, or intelligence,
whether in admiration of the great and extraordinary gift he displayed
for the science of nature, or because that he was the first of the
philosophers who did not refer the first ordering of the world to
fortune or chance, nor to necessity or compulsion, but to a pure,
unadulterated intelligence, which in all other existing mixed and
compound things acts as a principle of discrimination, and of
combination of like with like.
For this man, Pericles entertained an extraordinary esteem and
admiration, and, filling himself with this lofty, and, as they call it,
up-in-the-air sort of thought, derived hence not merely, as was
natural, elevation of purpose and dignity of language, raised far above
the base and dishonest buffooneries of mob-eloquence, but, besides
this, a composure of countenance, and a serenity and calmness in all
his movements, which no occurrence whilst he was speaking could
disturb, a sustained and even tone of voice, and various other
advantages of a similar kind, which produced the greatest effect on his
hearers. Once, after being reviled and ill-spoken of all day long in
his own hearing by some vile and abandoned fellow in the open
marketplace, where he was engaged in the dispatch of some urgent
affair, he continued his business in perfect silence, and in the
evening returned home composedly, the man still dogging him at the
heels, and pelting him all the way with abuse and foul language; and
stepping into his house, it being by this time dark, he ordered one of
his servants to take a light, and to go along with the man and see him
safe home. Ion, it is true, the dramatic poet, says that Pericles's
manner in company was somewhat over-assuming and pompous; and that into
his high bearing there entered a good deal of slightingness and scorn
of others; he reserves his commendation for Cimon's ease and pliancy
and natural grace in society. Ion, however, who must needs make virtue,
like a show of tragedies, include some comic scenes, we shall not
altogether rely upon; Zeno used to bid those who called Pericles's
gravity the affectation of a charlatan, to go and affect the like
themselves; inasmuch as this mere counterfeiting might in time
insensibly instill into them a real love and knowledge of those noble
qualities.
Nor were these the only advantages which Pericles derived from
Anaxagoras's acquaintance; he seems also to have become, by his
instructions, superior to that superstition with which an ignorant
wonder at appearances, for example, in the heavens possesses the minds
of people unacquainted with their causes, eager for the supernatural,
and excitable through an inexperience which the knowledge of natural
causes removes, replacing wild and timid superstition by the good hope
and assurance of an intelligent piety.
There is a story, that once Pericles had brought to him from a country
farm of his, a ram's head with one horn, and that Lampon, the diviner,
upon seeing the horn grow strong and solid out of the midst of the
forehead, gave it as his judgment, that, there being at that time two
potent factions, parties, or interests in the city, the one of
Thucydides and the other of Pericles, the government would come about
to that one of them in whose ground or estate this token or indication
of fate had shown itself. But that Anaxagoras, cleaving the skull in
sunder, showed to the bystanders that the brain had not filled up its
natural place, but being oblong, like an egg, had collected from all
parts of the vessel which contained it, in a point to that place from
whence the root of the horn took its rise. And that, for that time,
Anaxagoras was much admired for his explanation by those that were
present; and Lampon no less a little while after, when Thucydides was
overpowered, and the whole affairs of the state and government came
into the hands of Pericles.
And yet, in my opinion, it is no absurdity to say that they were both
in the right, both natural philosopher and diviner, one justly
detecting the cause of this event, by which it was produced, the other
the end for which it was designed. For it was the business of the one
to find out and give an account of what it was made, and in what manner
and by what means it grew as it did; and of the other to foretell to
what end and purpose it was so made, and what it might mean or portend.
Those who say that to find out the cause of a prodigy is in effect to
destroy its supposed signification as such, do not take notice that, at
the same time, together with divine prodigies, they also do away with
signs and signals of human art and concert, as, for instance, the
clashings of quoits, fire-beacons, and the shadows on sun-dials, every
one of which things has its cause, and by that cause and contrivance is
a sign of something else. But these are subjects, perhaps, that would
better befit another place.
Pericles, while yet but a young man, stood in considerable apprehension
of the people, as he was thought in face and figure to be very like the
tyrant Pisistratus, and those of great age remarked upon the sweetness
of his voice, and his volubility and rapidity in speaking, and were
struck with amazement at the resemblance. Reflecting, too, that he had
a considerable estate, and was descended of a noble family, and had
friends of great influence, he was fearful all this might bring him to
be banished as a dangerous person; and for this reason meddled not at
all with state affairs, but in military service showed himself of a
brave and intrepid nature. But when Aristides was now dead, and
Themistocles driven out, and Cimon was for the most part kept abroad by
the expeditions he made in parts out of Greece, Pericles, seeing things
in this posture, now advanced and took his side, not with the rich and
few, but with the many and poor, contrary to his natural bent, which
was far from democratical; but, most likely, fearing he might fall
under suspicion of aiming at arbitrary power, and seeing Cimon on the
side of the aristocracy, and much beloved by the better and more
distinguished people, he joined the party of the people, with a view at
once both to secure himself and procure means against Cimon.
He immediately entered, also, on quite a new course of life and
management of his time. For he was never seen to walk in any street but
that which led to the marketplace and the council-hall, and he avoided
invitations of friends to supper, and all friendly visiting and
intercourse whatever; in all the time he had to do with the public,
which was not a little, he was never known to have gone to any of his
friends to a supper, except that once when his near kinsman
Euryptolemus married, he remained present till the ceremony of the
drink-offering, and then immediately rose from table and went his way.
For these friendly meetings are very quick to defeat any assumed
superiority, and in intimate familiarity an exterior of gravity is hard
to maintain. Real excellence, indeed, is most recognized when most
openly looked into; and in really good men, nothing which meets the
eyes of external observers so truly deserves their admiration, as their
daily common life does that of their nearer friends. Pericles, however,
to avoid any feeling of commonness, or any satiety on the part of the
people, presented himself at intervals only, not speaking to every
business, nor at all times coming into the assembly, but, as Critolaus
says, reserving himself, like the Salaminian galley,@ for great
occasions, while matters of lesser importance were dispatched by
friends or other speakers under his direction. And of this number we
are told Ephialtes made one, who broke the power of the council of
Areopagus, giving the people, according to Plato's expression, so
copious and so strong a draught of liberty, that, growing wild and
unruly, like an unmanageable horse, it, as the comic poets say, --
" -- got beyond all keeping in,
Champing at Euboea, and among the islands leaping in."
The style of speaking most consonant to his form of life and the
dignity of his views he found, so to say, in the tones of that
instrument with which Anaxagoras had furnished him; of his teaching he
continually availed himself, and deepened the colors of rhetoric with
the dye of natural science. For having, in addition to his great
natural genius, attained, by the study of nature, to use the words of
the divine Plato, this height of intelligence, and this universal
consummating power, and drawing hence whatever might be of advantage to
him in the art of speaking, he showed himself far superior to all
others. Upon which account, they say, he had his nickname given him,
though some are of opinion he was named the Olympian from the public
buildings with which he adorned the city; and others again, from his
great power in public affairs, whether of war or peace. Nor is it
unlikely that the confluence of many attributes may have conferred it
on him. However, the comedies represented at the time, which, both in
good earnest and in merriment, let fly many hard words at him, plainly
show that he got that appellation especially from his speaking; they
speak of his "thundering and lightning" when he harangued the people,
and of his wielding a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue.
A saying also of Thucydides, the son of Melesias, stands on record,
spoken by him by way of pleasantry upon Pericles's dexterity.
Thucydides was one of the noble and distinguished citizens, and had
been his greatest opponent; and, when Archidamus, the king of the
Lacedaemonians, asked him whether he or Pericles were the better
wrestler, he made this answer: "When I," said he, "have thrown him and
given him a fair fall, by persisting that he had no fall, he gets the
better of me, and makes the bystanders, in spite of their own eyes,
believe him." The truth, however, is, that Pericles himself was very
careful what and how he was to speak, insomuch that, whenever he went
up to the hustings, he prayed the gods that no one word might unawares
slip from him unsuitable to the matter and the occasion.
He has left nothing in writing behind him, except some decrees; and
there are but very few of his sayings recorded; one, for example, is,
that he said Aegina must, like a gathering in a man's eye, be removed
from Piraeus; and another, that he said he saw already war moving on
its way towards them out of Peloponnesus. Again, when on a time
Sophocles, who was his fellow-commissioner in the generalship, was
going on board with him, and praised the beauty of a youth they met
with in the way to the ship, "Sophocles," said he, "a general ought not
only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes." And Stesimbrotus tells
us, that, in his encomium on those who fell in battle at Samos, he said
they were become immortal, as the gods were. "For," said he, "we do not
see them themselves, but only by the honors we pay them, and by the
benefits they do us, attribute to them immortality; and the like
attributes belong also to those that die in the service of their
country."
Since Thucydides describes the rule of Pericles as an aristocratical
government, that went by the name of a democracy, but was, indeed, the
supremacy of a single great man, while many others say, on the
contrary, that by him the common people were first encouraged and led
on to such evils as appropriations of subject territory; allowances for
attending theaters, payments for performing public duties, and by these
bad habits were, under the influence of his public measures, changed
from a sober, thrifty people, that maintained themselves by their own
labors, to lovers of expense, intemperance, and license, let us examine
the cause of this change by the actual matters of fact.
At the first, as has been said, when he set himself against Cimon's
great authority, he did caress the people. Finding himself come short
of his competitor in wealth and money, by which advantages the other
was enabled to take care of the poor, inviting every day some one or
other of the citizens that was in want to supper, and bestowing clothes
on the aged people, and breaking down the hedges and enclosures of his
grounds, that all that would might freely gather what fruit they
pleased, Pericles, thus outdone in popular arts, by the advice of one
Damonides of Oea, as Aristotle states, turned to the distribution of
the public moneys; and in a short time having bought the people over,
what with moneys allowed for shows and for service on juries, and what
with other forms of pay and largess, he made use of them against the
council of Areopagus, of which he himself was no member, as having
never been appointed by lot either chief archon, or lawgiver, or king,
or captain. For from of old these offices were conferred on persons by
lot, and they who had acquitted themselves duly in the discharge of
them were advanced to the court of Areopagus. And so Pericles, having
secured his power and interest with the populace, directed the
exertions of his party against this council with such success, that
most of those causes and matters which had been used to be tried there,
were, by the agency of Ephialtes, removed from its cognizance, Cimon,
also, was banished by ostracism as a favorer of the Lacedaemonians and
a hater of the people, though in wealth and noble birth he was among
the first, and had won several most glorious victories over the
barbarians, and had filled the city with money and spoils of war; as is
recorded in the history of his life. So vast an authority had Pericles
obtained among the people.
The ostracism was limited by law to ten years; but the Lacedaemonians,
in the mean time, entering with a great army into the territory of
Tanagra, and the Athenians going out against them, Cimon, coming from
his banishment before his time was out, put himself in arms and array
with those of his fellow-citizens that were of his own tribe, and
desired by his deeds to wipe off the suspicion of his favoring the
Lacedaemonians, by venturing his own person along with his country-men.
But Pericles's friends, gathering in a body, forced him to retire as a
banished man. For which cause also Pericles seems to have exerted
himself more in that than in any battle, and to have been conspicuous
above all for his exposure of himself to danger. All Cimon's friends,
also, to a man, fell together side by side, whom Pericles had accused
with him of taking part with the Lacedaemonians. Defeated in this
battle on their own frontiers, and expecting a new and perilous attack
with return of spring, the Athenians now felt regret and sorrow for the
loss of Cimon, and repentance for their expulsion of him. Pericles,
being sensible of their feelings, did not hesitate or delay to gratify
it, and himself made the motion for recalling him home. He, upon his
return, concluded a peace betwixt the two cities; for the
Lacedaemonians entertained as kindly feelings towards him as they did
the reverse towards Pericles and the other popular leaders.
Yet some there are who say that Pericles did not propose the order for
Cimon's return till some private articles of agreement had been made
between them, and this by means of Elpinice, Cimon's sister; that
Cimon, namely, should go out to sea with a fleet of two hundred ships,
and be commander-in-chief abroad, with a design to reduce the king of
Persia's territories, and that Pericles should have the power at home.
This Elpinice, it was thought, had before this time procured some favor
for her brother Cimon at Pericles's hands, and induced him to be more
remiss and gentle in urging the charge when Cimon was tried for his
life; for Pericles was one of the committee appointed by the commons to
plead against him. And when Elpinice came and besought him in her
brother's behalf, he answered, with a smile, "O Elpinice, you are too
old a woman to undertake such business as this." But, when he appeared
to impeach him, he stood up but once to speak, merely to acquit himself
of his commission, and went out of court, having done Cimon the least
prejudice of any of his accusers.
How, then, can one believe Idomeneus, who charges Pericles as if he had
by treachery procured the murder of Ephialtes, the popular statesman,
one who was his friend, and of his own party in all his political
course, out of jealousy, forsooth, and envy of his great reputation?
This historian, it seems, having raked up these stories, I know not
whence, has befouled with them a man who, perchance, was not altogether
free from fault or blame, but yet had a noble spirit, and a soul that
was bent on honor; and where such qualities are, there can no such
cruel and brutal passion find harbor or gain admittance. As to
Ephialtes, the truth of the story, as Aristotle has told it, is this:
that having made himself formidable to the oligarchical party, by being
an uncompromising asserter of the people's rights in calling to account
and prosecuting those who any way wronged them, his enemies, lying in
wait for him, by the means of Aristodicus the Tanagraean, privately
dispatched him.
Cimon, while he was admiral, ended his days in the Isle of Cyprus. And
the aristocratical party, seeing that Pericles was already before this
grown to be the greatest and foremost man of all the city, but
nevertheless wishing there should be somebody set up against him, to
blunt and turn the edge of his power, that it might not altogether
prove a monarchy, put forward Thucydides of Alopece, a discreet person,
and a near kinsman of Cimon's, to conduct the opposition against him;
who, indeed, though less skilled in warlike affairs than Cimon was, yet
was better versed in speaking and political business, and keeping close
guard in the city, and engaging with Pericles on the hustings, in a
short time brought the government to an equality of parties. For he
would not suffer those who were called the honest and good (persons of
worth and distinction) to be scattered up and down and mix themselves
and be lost among the populace, as formerly, diminishing and obscuring
their superiority amongst the masses; but taking them apart by
themselves and uniting them in one body, by their combined weight he
was able, as it were upon the balance, to make a counter-poise to the
other party.
For, indeed, there was from the beginning a sort of concealed split, or
seam, as it might be in a piece of iron, marking the different popular
and aristocratical tendencies; but the open rivalry and contention of
these two opponents made the gash deep, and severed the city into the
two parties of the people and the few. And so Pericles, at that time
more than at any other, let loose the reins to the people, and made his
policy subservient to their pleasure, contriving continually to have
some great public show or solemnity, some banquet, or some procession
or other in the town to please them, coaxing his countrymen like
children, with such delights and pleasures as were not, however,
unedifying. Besides that every year he sent out threescore galleys, on
board of which there went numbers of the citizens, who were in pay
eight months, learning at the same time and practicing the art of
seamanship.
He sent, moreover, a thousand of them into the Chersonese as planters,
to share the land among them by lot, and five hundred more into the
isle of Naxos, and half that number to Andros, a thousand into Thrace
to dwell among the Bisaltae, and others into Italy, when the city
Sybaris, which now was called Thurii, was to be repeopled. And this he
did to ease and discharge the city of an idle, and, by reason of their
idleness, a busy, meddling crowd of people; and at the same time to
meet the necessities and restore the fortunes of the poor townsmen, and
to intimidate, also, and check their allies from attempting any change,
by posting such garrisons, as it were, in the midst of them.
That which gave most pleasure and ornament to the city of Athens, and
the greatest admiration and even astonishment to all strangers, and
that which now is Greece's only evidence that the power she boasts of
and her ancient wealth are no romance or idle story, was his
construction of the public and sacred buildings. Yet this was that of
all his actions in the government which his enemies most looked askance
upon and caviled at in the popular assemblies, crying out how that the
commonwealth of Athens had lost its reputation and was ill-spoken of
abroad for removing the common treasure of the Greeks from the isle of
Delos into their own custody; and how that their fairest excuse for so
doing, namely, that they took it away for fear the barbarians should
seize it, and on purpose to secure it in a safe place, this Pericles
had made unavailable, and how that "Greece cannot but resent it as an
insufferable affront, and consider herself to be tyrannized over
openly, when she sees the treasure, which was contributed by her upon a
necessity for the war, wantonly lavished out by us upon our city, to
gild her all over, and to adorn and set her forth, as it were some vain
woman, hung round with precious stones and figures and temples, which
cost a world of money."
Pericles, on the other hand, informed the people, that they were in no
way obliged to give any account of those moneys to their allies, so
long as they maintained their defense, and kept off the barbarians from
attacking them; while in the meantime they did not so much as supply
one horse or man or ship, but only found money for the service; "which
money," said he, "is not theirs that give it, but theirs that receive
it, if so be they perform the conditions upon which they receive it."
And that it was good reason, that, now the city was sufficiently
provided and stored with all things necessary for the war, they should
convert the overplus of its wealth to such undertakings, as would
hereafter, when completed, give them eternal honor, and, for the
present, while in process, freely supply all the inhabitants with
plenty. With their variety of workmanship and of occasions for service,
which summon all arts and trades and require all hands to be employed
about them, they do actually put the whole city, in a manner, into
state-pay; while at the same time she is both beautified and maintained
by herself. For as those who are of age and strength for war are
provided for and maintained in the armaments abroad by their pay out of
the public stock, so, it being his desire and design that the
undisciplined mechanic multitude that stayed at home should not go
without their share of public salaries, and yet should not have them
given them for sitting still and doing nothing, to that end he thought
fit to bring in among them, with the approbation of the people, these
vast projects of buildings and designs of works, that would be of some
continuance before they were finished, and would give employment to
numerous arts, so that the part of the people that stayed at home
might, no less than those that were at sea or in garrisons or on
expeditions, have a fair and just occasion of receiving the benefit and
having their share of the public moneys.
The materials were stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony cypress-wood; and
the arts or trades that wrought and fashioned them were smiths and
carpenters, molders, founders and braziers, stone-cutters, dyers,
goldsmiths, ivory-workers, painters, embroiderers, turners; those again
that conveyed them to the town for use, merchants and mariners and
ship- masters by sea, and by land, cartwrights, cattle-breeders,
waggoners, rope-makers, flax-workers, shoe-makers and leather-dressers,
roadmakers, miners. And every trade in the same nature, as a captain in
an army has his particular company of soldiers under him, had its own
hired company of journeymen and laborers belonging to it banded
together as in array, to be as it were the instrument and body for the
performance of the service. Thus, to say all in a word, the occasions
and services of these public works distributed plenty through every age
and condition.
As then grew the works up, no less stately in size than exquisite in
form, the workmen striving to outvie the material and the design with
the beauty of their workmanship, yet the most wonderful thing of all
was the rapidity of their execution. Undertakings, any one of which
singly might have required, they thought, for their completion, several
successions and ages of men, were every one of them accomplished in the
height and prime of one man's political service. Although they say,
too, that Zeuxis once, having heard Agatharchus the painter boast of
dispatching his work with speed and ease, replied, "I take a long
time." For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting
solidity or exactness of beauty; the expenditure of time allowed to a
man's pains beforehand for the production of a thing is repaid by way
of interest with a vital force for its preservation when once produced.
For which reason Pericles's works are especially admired, as having
been made quickly, to last long. For every particular piece of his work
was immediately, even at that time, for its beauty and elegance,
antique; and yet in its vigor and freshness looks to this day as if it
were just executed. There is a sort of bloom of newness upon those
works of his, preserving them from the touch of time, as if they had
some perennial spirit and undying vitality mingled in the composition
of them.
Phidias had the oversight of all the works, and was surveyor-general,
though upon the various portions other great masters and workmen were
employed. For Callicrates and Ictinus built the Parthenon; the chapel
at Eleusis, where the mysteries were celebrated, was begun by Coroebus,
who erected the pillars that stand upon the floor or pavement, and
joined them to the architraves; and after his death Metagenes of Xypete
added the frieze and the upper line of columns; Xenocles of Cholargus
roofed or arched the lantern on the top of the temple of Castor and
Pollux; and the long wall, which Socrates says he himself heard
Pericles propose to the people, was undertaken by Callicrates. This
work Cratinus ridicules, as long in finishing, --
'Tis long since Pericles, if words would do it,
Talk'd up the wall; yet adds not one mite to it.
The Odeum, or music-room, which in its interior was full of seats and
ranges of pillars, and outside had its roof made to slope and descend
from one single point at the top, was constructed, we are told, in
imitation of the king of Persia's Pavilion; this likewise by Pericles's
order; which Cratinus again, in his comedy called The Thracian Women,
made an occasion of raillery, --
So, we see here,
Jupiter Long-pate Pericles appear,
Since ostracism time, he's laid aside his head,
And wears the new Odeum in its stead.
Pericles, also, eager for distinction, then first obtained the decree
for a contest in musical skill to be held yearly at the Panathenaea,
and he himself, being chosen judge, arranged the order and method in
which the competitors should sing and play on the flute and on the
harp. And both at that time, and at other times also, they sat in this
music-room to see and hear all such trials of skill.
The propylaea, or entrances to the Acropolis, were finished in five
years' time, Mnesicles being the principal architect. A strange
accident happened in the course of building, which showed that the
goddess was not averse to the work, but was aiding and cooperating to
bring it to perfection. One of the artificers, the quickest and the
handiest workman among them all, with a slip of his foot fell down from
a great height, and lay in a miserable condition, the physicians having
no hopes of his recovery. When Pericles was in distress about this,
Minerva appeared to him at night in a dream, and ordered a course of
treatment, which he applied, and in a short time and with great ease
cured the man. And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass
statue of Minerva, surnamed Health, in the citadel near the altar,
which they say was there before. But it was Phidias who wrought the
goddess's image in gold, and he has his name inscribed on the pedestal
as the workman of it; and indeed the whole work in a manner was under
his charge, and he had, as we have said already, the oversight over all
the artists and workmen, through Pericles's friendship for him; and
this, indeed, made him much envied, and his patron shamefully slandered
with stories, as if Phidias were in the habit of receiving, for
Pericles's use, freeborn women that came to see the works. The comic
writers of the town, when they had got hold of this story, made much of
it, and bespattered him with all the ribaldry they could invent,
charging him falsely with the wife of Menippus, one who was his friend
and served as lieutenant under him in the wars; and with the birds kept
by Pyrilampes, an acquaintance of Pericles, who, they pretended, used
to give presents of peacocks to Pericles's female friends. And how can
one wonder at any number of strange assertions from men whose whole
lives were devoted to mockery, and who were ready at any time to
sacrifice the reputation of their superiors to vulgar envy and spite,
as to some evil genius, when even Stesimbrotus the Thasian has dared to
lay to the charge of Pericles a monstrous and fabulous piece of
criminality with his son's wife? So very difficult a matter is it to
trace and find out the truth of anything by history, when, on the one
hand, those who afterwards write it find long periods of time
intercepting their view, and, on the other hand, the contemporary
records of any actions and lives, partly through envy and ill-will,
partly through favor and flattery, pervert and distort truth.
When the orators, who sided with Thucydides and his party, were at one
time crying out, as their custom was, against Pericles, as one who
squandered away the public money, and made havoc of the state revenues,
he rose in the open assembly and put the question to the people,
whether they thought that he had laid out much; and they saying, "Too
much, a great deal." "Then," said he, "since it is so, let the cost not
go to your account, but to mine; and let the inscription upon the
buildings stand in my name." When they heard him say thus, whether it
were out of a surprise to see the greatness of his spirit, or out of
emulation of the glory of the works, they cried aloud, bidding him to
spend on, and lay out what he thought fit from the public purse, and to
spare no cost, till all were finished.
At length, coming to a final contest with Thucydides, which of the two
should ostracize the other out of the country, and having gone through
this peril, he threw his antagonist out, and broke up the confederacy
that had been organized against him. So that now all schism and
division being at an end, and the city brought to evenness and unity,
he got all Athens and all affairs that pertained to the Athenians into
his own hands, their tributes, their armies, and their galleys, the
islands, the sea, and their wide-extended power, partly over other
Greeks and partly over barbarians, and all that empire, which they
possessed, founded and fortified upon subject nations and royal
friendships and alliances.
After this he was no longer the same man he had been before, nor as
tame and gentle and familiar as formerly with the populace, so as
readily to yield to their pleasures and to comply with the desires of
the multitude, as a steersman shifts with the winds. Quitting that
loose, remiss, and, in some cases, licentious court of the popular
will, he turned those soft and flowery modulations to the austerity of
aristocratical and regal rule; and employing this uprightly and
undeviatingly for the country's best interests, he was able generally
to lead the people along, with their own wills and consents, by
persuading and showing them what was to be done; and sometimes, too,
urging and pressing them forward extremely against their will, he made
them, whether they would or no, yield submission to what was for their
advantage. In which, to say the truth, he did but like a skillful
physician, who, in a complicated and chronic disease, as he sees
occasion, at one while allows his patient the moderate use of such
things as please him, at another while gives him keen pains and drugs
to work the cure. For there arising and growing up, as was natural, all
manner of distempered feelings among a people which had so vast a
command and dominion, he alone, as a great master, knowing how to
handle and deal fitly with each one of them, and, in an especial
manner, making that use of hopes and fears, as his two chief rudders,
with the one to check the career of their confidence at any time, with
the other to raise them up and cheer them when under any
discouragement, plainly showed by this, that rhetoric, or the art of
speaking, is, in Plato's language, the government of the souls of men,
and that her chief business is to address the affections and passions,
which are as it were the strings and keys to the soul, and require a
skillful and careful touch to be played on as they should be. The
source of this predominance was not barely his power of language, but,
as Thucydides assures us, the reputation of his life, and the
confidence felt in his character; his manifest freedom from every kind
of corruption, and superiority to all considerations of money.
Notwithstanding he had made the city Athens, which was great of itself,
as great and rich as can be imagined, and though he were himself in
power and interest more than equal to many kings and absolute rulers,
who some of them also bequeathed by will their power to their children,
he, for his part, did not make the patrimony his father left him
greater than it was by one drachma.
Thucydides, indeed, gives a plain statement of the greatness of his
power; and the comic poets, in their spiteful manner, more than hint at
it, styling his companions and friends the new Pisistratidae, and
calling on him to abjure any intention of usurpation, as one whose
eminence was too great to be any longer proportionable to and
compatible with a democracy or popular government. And Teleclides says
the Athenians had surrendered up to him --
The tribute of the cities, and with them, the cities too, to do with
them as he pleases, and undo;
To build up, if he likes, stone walls around a town; and again, if so he
likes, to pull them down;
Their treaties and alliances, power, empire, peace, and war, their
wealth and their success forevermore.
Nor was all this the luck of some happy occasion; nor was it the mere
bloom and grace of a policy that flourished for a season; but having
for forty years together maintained the first place among statesmen
such as Ephialtes and Leocrates and Myronides and Cimon and Tolmides
and Thucydides were, after the defeat and banishment of Thucydides, for
no less than fifteen years longer, in the exercise of one continuous
unintermitted command in the office, to which he was annually
reelected, of General, he preserved his integrity unspotted; though
otherwise he was not altogether idle or careless in looking after his
pecuniary advantage; his paternal estate, which of right belonged to
him, he so ordered that it might neither through negligence be wasted
or lessened, nor yet, being so full of business as he was, cost him any
great trouble or time with taking care of it; and put it into such a
way of management as he thought to be the most easy for himself, and
the most exact. All his yearly products and profits he sold together in
a lump, and supplied his household needs afterward by buying everything
that he or his family wanted out of the market. Upon which account, his
children, when they grew to age, were not well pleased with his
management, and the women that lived with him were treated with little
cost, and complained of this way of housekeeping, where everything was
ordered and set down from day to day, and reduced to the greatest
exactness; since there was not there, as is usual in a great family and
a plentiful estate, any thing to spare, or over and above; but all that
went out or came in, all disbursements and all receipts, proceeded as
it were by number and measure. His manager in all this was a single
servant, Evangelus by name, a man either naturally gifted or instructed
by Pericles so as to excel every one in this art of domestic economy.
All this, in truth, was very little in harmony with Anaxagoras's
wisdom; if, indeed, it be true that he, by a kind of divine impulse and
greatness of spirit, voluntarily quitted his house, and left his land
to lie fallow and to be grazed by sheep like a common. But the life of
a contemplative philosopher and that of an active statesman are, I
presume, not the same thing; for the one merely employs, upon great and
good objects of thought, an intelligence that requires no aid of
instruments nor supply of any external materials; whereas the other,
who tempers and applies his virtue to human uses, may have occasion for
affluence, not as a matter of mere necessity, but as a noble thing;
which was Pericles's case, who relieved numerous poor citizens.
However, there is a story, that Anaxagoras himself, while Pericles was
taken up with public affairs, lay neglected, and that, now being grown
old, he wrapped himself up with a resolution to die for want of food;
which being by chance brought to Pericles's ear, he was horror-struck,
and instantly ran thither, and used all the arguments and entreaties he
could to him, lamenting not so much Anaxagoras's condition as his own,
should he lose such a counselor as he had found him to be; and that,
upon this, Anaxagoras unfolded his robe, and showing himself, made
answer: "Pericles," said he, "even those who have occasion for a lamp
supply it with oil."
The Lacedaemonians beginning to show themselves troubled at the growth
of the Athenian power, Pericles, on the other hand, to elevate the
people's spirit yet more, and to raise them to the thought of great
actions, proposed a decree, to summon all the Greeks in what part
soever, whether of Europe or Asia, every city, little as well as great,
to send their deputies to Athens to a general assembly, or convention,
there to consult and advise concerning the Greek temples which the
barbarians had burnt down, and the sacrifices which were due from them
upon vows they had made to their gods for the safety of Greece when
they fought against the barbarians; and also concerning the navigation
of the sea, that they might henceforward all of them pass to and fro
and trade securely, and be at peace among themselves.
Upon this errand, there were twenty men, of such as were above fifty
years of age, sent by commission; five to summon the Ionians and
Dorians in Asia, and the islanders as far as Lesbos and Rhodes; five to
visit all the places in the Hellespont and Thrace, up to Byzantium; and
other five besides these to go to Boeotia and Phocis and Peloponnesus,
and from hence to pass through the Locrians over to the neighboring
continent, as far as Acarnania and Ambracia; and the rest to take their
course through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian Gulf, and to the
Achaeans of Phthiotis and the Thessalians; all of them to treat with
the people as they passed, and to persuade them to come and take their
part in the debates for settling the peace and jointly regulating the
affairs of Greece.
Nothing was effected, nor did the cities meet by their deputies, as was
desired; the Lacedaemonians, as it is said, crossing the design
underhand, and the attempt being disappointed and baffled first in
Peloponnesus. I thought fit, however, to introduce the mention of it,
to show the spirit of the man and the greatness of his thoughts.
In his military conduct, he gained a great reputation for wariness; he
would not by his good-will engage in any fight which had much
uncertainty or hazard; he did not envy the glory of generals whose rash
adventures fortune favored with brilliant success, however they were
admired by others; nor did he think them worthy his imitation, but
always used to say to his citizens that, so far as lay in his power,
they should continue immortal, and live forever. Seeing Tolmides, the
son of Tolmaeus, upon the confidence of his former successes, and
flushed with the honor his military actions had procured him, making
preparation to attack the Boeotians in their own country, when there
was no likely opportunity, and that he had prevailed with the bravest
and most enterprising of the youth to enlist themselves as volunteers
in the service, who besides his other force made up a thousand, he
endeavored to withhold him and to advise him from it in the public
assembly, telling him in a memorable saying of his, which still goes
about, that, if he would not take Pericles's advice, yet he would not
do amiss to wait and be ruled by time, the wisest counselor of all.
This saying, at that time, was but slightly commended; but within a few
days after, when news was brought that Tolmides himself had been
defeated and slain in battle near Coronea, and that many brave citizens
had fallen with him, it gained him great repute as well as good-will
among the people, for wisdom and for love of his countrymen.
But of all his expeditions, that to the Chersonese gave most
satisfaction and pleasure, having proved the safety of the Greeks who
inhabited there. For not only by carrying along with him a thousand
fresh citizens of Athens he gave new strength and vigor to the cities,
but also by belting the neck of land, which joins the peninsula to the
continent, with bulwarks and forts from sea to sea, he put a stop to
the inroads of the Thracians, who lay all about the Chersonese, and
closed the door against a continual and grievous war, with which that
country had been long harassed, lying exposed to the encroachments and
influx of barbarous neighbors, and groaning under the evils of a
predatory population both upon and within its borders.
Nor was he less admired and talked of abroad for his sailing round the
Peloponnesus, having set out from Pegae, or The Fountains, the port of
Megara, with a hundred galleys. For he not only laid waste the sea-
coast, as Tolmides had done before, but also, advancing far up into
main land with the soldiers he had on board, by the terror of his
appearance drove many within their walls; and at Nemea, with main
force, routed and raised a trophy over the Sicyonians, who stood their
ground and joined battle with him. And having taken on board a supply
of soldiers into the galleys, out of Achaia, then in league with Athens
he crossed with the fleet to the opposite continent, and, sailing along
by the mouth of the river Achelous overran Acarnania, and shut up the
Oeniadae within their city walls, and having ravaged and wasted their
country, weighed anchor for home with the double advantage of having
shown himself formidable to his enemies, and at the same time safe and
energetic to his fellow-citizens; for there was not so much as any
chance-miscarriage that happened, the whole voyage through, to those
who were under his charge.
Entering also the Euxine Sea with a large and finely equipped fleet, he
obtained for the Greek cities any new arrangements they wanted, and
entered into friendly relations with them; and to the barbarous
nations, and kings and chiefs round about them, displayed the greatness
of the power of the Athenians, their perfect ability and confidence to
sail wherever they had a mind, and to bring the whole sea under their
control. He left the Sinopians thirteen ships of war, with soldiers
under the command of Lamachus, to assist them against Timesileus the
tyrant; and when he and his accomplices had been thrown out, obtained a
decree that six hundred of the Athenians that were willing should sail
to Sinope and plant themselves there with the Sinopians, sharing among
them the houses and land which the tyrant and his party had previously
held.
But in other things he did not comply with the giddy impulses of the
citizens, nor quit his own resolutions to follow their fancies, when,
carried away with the thought of their strength and great success, they
were eager to interfere again in Egypt, and to disturb the king of
Persia's maritime dominions. Nay, there were a good many who were, even
then, possessed with that unblessed and inauspicious passion for
Sicily, which afterward the orators of Alcibiades's party blew up into
a flame. There were some also who dreamt of Tuscany and of Carthage,
and not without plausible reason in their present large dominion and
the prosperous course of their affairs.
But Pericles curbed this passion for foreign conquest, and unsparingly
pruned and cut down their ever busy fancies for a multitude of
undertakings; and directed their power for the most part to securing
and consolidating what they had already got, supposing it would be
quite enough for them to do, if they could keep the Lacedaemonians in
check; to whom he entertained all along a sense of opposition; which,
as upon many other occasions, so he particularly showed by what he did
in the time of the holy war. The Lacedaemonians, having gone with an
army to Delphi, restored Apollo's temple, which the Phocians had got
into their possession, to the Delphians; immediately after their
departure, Pericles, with another army, came and restored the Phocians.
And the Lacedaemonians having engraven the record of their privilege of
consulting the oracle before others, which the Delphians gave them,
upon the forehead of the brazen wolf which stands there, he, also,
having received from the Phocians the like privilege for the Athenians,
had it cut upon the same wolf of brass on his right side.
That he did well and wisely in thus restraining the exertions of the
Athenians within the compass of Greece, the events themselves that
happened afterward bore sufficient witness. For, in the first place,
the Euboeans revolted, against whom he passed over with forces; and
then, immediately after, news came that the Megarians were turned their
enemies, and a hostile army was upon the borders of Attica, under the
conduct of Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians. Wherefore Pericles
came with his army back again in all haste out of Euboea, to meet the
war which threatened at home; and did not venture to engage a numerous
and brave army eager for battle; but perceiving that Plistoanax was a
very young man, and governed himself mostly by the counsel and advice
of Cleandrides, whom the ephors had sent with him, by reason of his
youth, to be a kind of guardian and assistant to him, he privately made
trial of this man's integrity, and, in a short time, having corrupted
him with money, prevailed with him to withdraw the Peloponnesians out
of Attica. When the army had retired and dispersed into their several
states, the Lacedaemonians in anger fined their king in so large a sum
of money, that, unable to pay it, he quitted Lacedaemon; while
Cleandrides fled, and had sentence of death passed upon him in his
absence. This was the father of Gylippus, who overpowered the Athenians
in Sicily. And it seems that this covetousness was an hereditary
disease transmitted from father to son; for Gylippus also afterwards
was caught in foul practices, and expelled from Sparta for it. But this
we have told at large in the account of Lysander.
When Pericles, in giving up his accounts of this expedition, stated a
disbursement of ten talents, as laid out upon fit occasion, the people,
without any question, nor troubling themselves to investigate the
mystery, freely allowed of it. And some historians, in which number is
Theophrastus the philosopher, have given it as a truth that Pericles
every year used to send privately the sum of ten talents to Sparta,
with which he complimented those in office, to keep off the war; not to
purchase peace neither, but time, that he might prepare at leisure, and
be the better able to carry on war hereafter.
Immediately after this, turning his forces against the revolters, and
passing over into the island of Euboea with fifty sail of ships and
five thousand men in arms, he reduced their cities, and drove out the
citizens of the Chalcidians, called Hippobotae, horse-feeders, the
chief persons for wealth and reputation among them; and removing all
the Histiaeans out of the country, brought in a plantation of Athenians
in their room; making them his one example of severity, because they
had captured an Attic ship and killed all on board.
After this, having made a truce between the Athenians and
Lacedaemonians for thirty years, he ordered, by public decree, the
expedition against the Isle of Samos, on the ground, that, when they
were bid to leave off their war with the Milesians, they had not
complied. And as these measures against the Samians are thought to have
been taken to please Aspasia, this may be a fit point for inquiry about
the woman, what art or charming faculty she had that enabled her to
captivate, as she did, the greatest statesmen, and to give the
philosophers occasion to speak so much about her, and that, too, not to
her disparagement. That she was a Milesian by birth, the daughter of
Axiochus, is a thing acknowledged. And they say it was in emulation of
Thargelia, a courtesan of the old Ionian times, that she made her
addresses to men of great power. Thargelia was a great beauty,
extremely charming, and at the same time sagacious; she had numerous
suitors among the Greeks, and brought all who had to do with her over
to the Persian interest, and by their means, being men of the greatest
power and station, sowed the seeds of the Median faction up and down in
several cities. Aspasia, some say, was courted and caressed by Pericles
upon account of her knowledge and skill in politics. Socrates himself
would sometimes go to visit her, and some of his acquaintance with him;
and those who frequented her company would carry their wives with them
to listen to her. Her occupation was any thing but creditable, her
house being a home for young courtesans. Aeschines tells us also, that
Lysicles, a sheep-dealer, a man of low birth and character, by keeping
Aspasia company after Pericles's death, came to be a chief man in
Athens. And in Plato's Menexenus, though we do not take the
introduction as quite serious, still thus much seems to be historical,
that she had the repute of being resorted to by many of the Athenians
for instruction in the art of speaking. Pericles's inclination for her
seems, however, to have rather proceeded from the passion of love. He
had a wife that was near of kin to him, who had been married first to
Hipponicus, by whom she had Callias, surnamed the Rich; and also she
brought Pericles, while she lived with him, two sons, Xanthippus and
Paralus. Afterwards, when they did not well agree nor like to live
together, he parted with her, with her own consent, to another man, and
himself took Aspasia, and loved her with wonderful affection; every
day, both as he went out and as he came in from the marketplace, he
saluted and kissed her.
In the comedies she goes by the nicknames of the new Omphale and
Deianira, and again is styled Juno. Cratinus, in downright terms, calls
her a harlot.
To find him a Juno the goddess of lust Bore that harlot past shame,
Aspasia by name.
It should seem, also, that he had a son by her; Eupolis, in his Demi,
introduced Pericles asking after his safety, and Myronides replying,
"My son?" "He lives; a man he had been long,
But that the harlot-mother did him wrong."
Aspasia, they say, became so celebrated and renowned, that Cyrus also,
who made war against Artaxerxes for the Persian monarchy, gave her whom
he loved the best of all his concubines the name of Aspasia, who before
that was called Milto. She was a Phocaean by birth, the daughter of one
Hermotimus, and, when Cyrus fell in battle, was carried to the king,
and had great influence at court. These things coming into my memory as
I am writing this story, it would be unnatural for me to omit them.
Pericles, however, was particularly charged with having proposed to the
assembly the war against the Samians, from favor to the Milesians, upon
the entreaty of Aspasia. For the two states were at war for the
possession of Priene; and the Samians, getting the better, refused to
lay down their arms and to have the controversy betwixt them decided by
arbitration before the Athenians. Pericles, therefore, fitting out a
fleet, went and broke up the oligarchical government at Samos, and,
taking fifty of the principal men of the town as hostages, and as many
of their children, sent them to the isle of Lemnos, there to be kept,
though he had offers, as some relate, of a talent a piece for himself
from each one of the hostages, and of many other presents from those
who were anxious not to have a democracy. Moreover, Pissuthnes the
Persian, one of the king's lieutenants, bearing some good-will to the
Samians, sent him ten thousand pieces of gold to excuse the city.
Pericles, however, would receive none of all this; but after he had
taken that course with the Samians which he thought fit, and set up a
democracy among them, sailed back to Athens.
But they, however, immediately revolted, Pissuthnes having privily got
away their hostages for them, and provided them with means for the war.
Whereupon Pericles came out with a fleet a second time against them,
and found them not idle nor slinking away, but manfully resolved to try
for the dominion of the sea. The issue was, that, after a sharp
sea-fight about the island called Tragia, Pericles obtained a decisive
victory, having with forty-four ships routed seventy of the enemy's,
twenty of which were carrying soldiers.
Together with his victory and pursuit, having made himself master of
the port, he laid siege to the Samians, and blocked them up, who yet,
one way or other, still ventured to make sallies, and fight under the
city walls. But after that another greater fleet from Athens was
arrived, and that the Samians were now shut up with a close leaguer on
every side, Pericles, taking with him sixty galleys, sailed out into
the main sea, with the intention, as most authors give the account, to
meet a squadron of Phoenician ships that were coming for the Samians'
relief, and to fight them at as great distance as could be from the
island; but, as Stesimbrotus says, with a design of putting over to
Cyprus; which does not seem to be probable. But whichever of the two
was his intent, it seems to have been a miscalculation. For on his
departure, Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a philosopher, being at that
time general in Samos, despising either the small number of the ships
that were left or the inexperience of the commanders, prevailed with
the citizens to attack the Athenians. And the Samians having won the
battle, and taken several of the men prisoners, and disabled several of
the ships, were masters of the sea, and brought into port all
necessaries they wanted for the war, which they had not before.
Aristotle says, too, that Pericles himself had been once before this
worsted by this Melissus in a sea-fight.
The Samians, that they might requite an affront which had before been
put upon them, branded the Athenians, whom they took prisoners, in
their foreheads, with the figure of an owl. For so the Athenians had
marked them before with a Samaena, which is a sort of ship, low and
flat in the prow, so as to look snub-nosed, but wide and large and
well-spread in the hold, by which it both carries a large cargo and
sails well. And it was so called, because the first of that kind was
seen at Samos, having been built by order of Polycrates the tyrant.
These brands upon the Samians' foreheads, they say, are the allusion in
the passage of Aristophanes, where he says, --
For, oh, the Samians are a lettered people.
Pericles, as soon as news was brought him of the disaster that had
befallen his army, made all the haste he could to come in to their
relief, and having defeated Melissus, who bore up against him, and put
the enemy to flight, he immediately proceeded to hem them in with a
wall, resolving to master them and take the town, rather with some cost
and time, than with the wounds and hazards of his citizens. But as it
was a hard matter to keep back the Athenians, who were vexed at the
delay, and were eagerly bent to fight, he divided the whole multitude
into eight parts, and arranged by lot that that part which had the
white bean should have leave to feast and take their ease, while the
other seven were fighting. And this is the reason, they say, that
people, when at any time they have been merry, and enjoyed themselves,
call it white day, in allusion to this white bean.
Ephorus the historian tells us besides, that Pericles made use of
engines of battery in this siege, being much taken with the curiousness
of the invention, with the aid and presence of Artemon himself, the
engineer, who, being lame, used to be carried about in a litter, where
the works required his attendance, and for that reason was called
Periphoretus. But Heraclides Ponticus disproves this out of Anacreon's
poems, where mention is made of this Artemon Periphoretus several ages
before the Samian war, or any of these occurrences. And he says that
Artemon, being a man who loved his ease, and had a great apprehension
of danger, for the most part kept close within doors, having two of his
servants to hold a brazen shield over his head, that nothing might fall
upon him from above; and if he were at any time forced upon necessity
to go abroad, that he was carried about in a little hanging bed, close
to the very ground, and that for this reason he was called Periphoretus.
In the ninth month, the Samians surrendering themselves and delivering
up the town, Pericles pulled down their walls, and seized their
shipping, and set a fine of a large sum of money upon them, part of
which they paid down at once, and they agreed to bring in the rest by a
certain time, and gave hostages for security. Duris the Samian makes a
tragical drama out of these events, charging the Athenians and Pericles
with a great deal of cruelty, which neither Thucydides, nor Ephorus,
nor Aristotle have given any relation of, and probably with little
regard to truth; how, for example, he brought the captains and soldiers
of the galleys into the market-place at Miletus, and there having bound
them fast to boards for ten days, then, when they were already all but
half dead, gave order to have them killed by beating out their brains
with clubs, and their dead bodies to be flung out into the open streets
and fields, unburied. Duris, however, who even where he has no private
feeling concerned, is not wont to keep his narrative within the limits
of truth, is the more likely upon this occasion to have exaggerated the
calamities which befell his country, to create odium against the
Athenians. Pericles, however, after the reduction of Samos, returning
back to Athens, took care that those who died in the war should be
honorably buried, and made a funeral harangue, as the custom is, in
their commendation at their graves, for which he gained great
admiration. As he came down from the stage on which he spoke, the rest
of the women came and complimented him, taking him by the hand, and
crownings him with garlands and ribbons, like a victorious athlete in
the games; but Elpinice, coming near to him, said, "These are brave
deeds, Pericles, that you have done, and such as deserve our chaplets;
who have lost us many a worthy citizen, not in a war with Phoenicians
or Medes, like my brother Cimon, but for the overthrow of an allied and
kindred city." As Elpinice spoke these words, he, smiling quietly, as
it is said, returned her answer with this verse, --
Old women should not seek to be perfumed.
Ion says of him, that, upon this exploit of his, conquering the
Samians, he indulged very high and proud thoughts of himself: whereas
Agamemnon was ten years taking a barbarous city, he had in nine months'
time vanquished and taken the greatest and most powerful of the
Ionians. And indeed it was not without reason that he assumed this
glory to himself, for, in real truth, there was much uncertainty and
great hazard in this war, if so be, as Thucydides tells us, the Samian
state were within a very little of wresting the whole power and
dominion of the sea out of the Athenians' hands.
After this was over, the Peloponnesian war beginning to break out in
full tide, he advised the people to send help to the Corcyrseans, who
were attacked by the Corinthians, and to secure to themselves an island
possessed of great naval resources, since the Peloponnesians were
already all but in actual hostilities against them. The people readily
consenting to the motion, and voting an aid and succor for them, he
dispatched Lacedaemonius, Cimon's son, having only ten ships with him,
as it were out of a design to affront him; for there was a great
kindness and friendship betwixt Cimon's family and the Lacedaemonians;
so, in order that Lacedaemonius might lie the more open to a charge, or
suspicion at least, of favoring the Lacedaemonians and playing false,
if he performed no considerable exploit in this service, he allowed him
a small number of ships, and sent him out against his will; and indeed
he made it somewhat his business to hinder Cimon's sons from rising in
the state, professing that by their very names they were not to be
looked upon as native and true Athenians, but foreigners and strangers,
one being called Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus, and the third Eleus;
and they were all three of them, it was thought, born of an Arcadian
woman. Being, however, ill spoken of on account of these ten galleys,
as having afforded but a small supply to the people that were in need,
and yet given a great advantage to those who might complain of the act
of intervention, Pericles sent out a larger force afterward to Corcyra,
which arrived after the fight was over. And when now the Corinthians,
angry and indignant with the Athenians, accused them publicly at
Lacedaemon, the Megarians joined with them, complaining that they were,
contrary to common right and the articles of peace sworn to among the
Greeks, kept out and driven away from every market and from all ports
under the control of the Athenians. The Aeginetans, also, professing to
be ill-used and treated with violence, made supplications in private to
the Lacedaemonians for redress, though not daring openly to call the
Athenians in question. In the meantime, also, the city Potidaea, under
the dominion of the Athenians, but a colony formerly of the
Corinthians, had revolted, and was beset with a formal siege, and was a
further occasion of precipitating the war.
Yet notwithstanding all this, there being embassies sent to Athens, and
Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, endeavoring to bring the
greater part of the complaints and matters in dispute to a fair
determination, and to pacify and allay the heats of the allies, it is
very likely that the war would not upon any other grounds of quarrel
have fallen upon the Athenians, could they have been prevailed with to
repeal the ordinance against the Megarians, and to be reconciled to
them. Upon which account, since Pericles was the man who mainly opposed
it, and stirred up the people's passions to persist in their contention
with the Megarians, he was regarded as the sole cause of the war.
They say, moreover, that ambassadors went, by order from Lacedaemon to
Athens about this very business, and that when Pericles was urging a
certain law which made it illegal to take down or withdraw the tablet
of the decree, one of the ambassadors, Polyalces by name, said, "Well,
do not take it down then, but turn it; there is no law, I suppose,
which forbids that;" which, though prettily said, did not move Pericles
from his resolution. There may have been, in all likelihood, something
of a secret grudge and private animosity which he had against the
Megarians. Yet, upon a public and open charge against them, that they
had appropriated part of the sacred land on the frontier, he proposed a
decree that a herald should be sent to them, and the same also to the
Lacedaemonians, with an accusation of the Megarians; an order which
certainly shows equitable and friendly proceeding enough. And after
that the herald who was sent, by name Anthemocritus, died, and it was
believed that the Megarians had contrived his death, then Charinus
proposed a decree against them, that there should be an irreconcilable
and implacable enmity thenceforward betwixt the two commonwealths; and
that if any one of the Megarians should but set his foot in Attica, he
should be put to death; and that the commanders, when they take the
usual oath, should, over and above that, swear that they will twice
every year make an inroad into the Megarian country; and that
Anthemocritus should be buried near the Thriasian Gates, which are now
called the Dipylon, or Double Gate.
On the other hand, the Megarians, utterly denying and disowning the
murder of Anthemocritus, throw the whole matter upon Aspasia and
Pericles, availing themselves of the famous verses in the Acharnians,
To Megara some of our madcaps ran,
And stole Simaetha thence, their courtesan.
Which exploit the Megarians to outdo,
Came to Aspasia's house, and took off two.
The true occasion of the quarrel is not so easy to find out. But of
inducing the refusal to annul the decree, all alike charge Pericles.
Some say he met the request with a positive refusal, out of high spirit
and a view of the state's best interests, accounting that the demand
made in those embassies was designed for a trial of their compliance,
and that a concession would be taken for a confession of weakness, as
if they durst not do otherwise; while other some there are who say that
it was rather out of arrogance and a willful spirit of contention, to
show his own strength, that he took occasion to slight the
Lacedaemonians. The worst motive of all, which is confirmed by most
witnesses, is to the following effect. Phidias the Molder had, as has
before been said, undertaken to make the statue of Minerva. Now he,
being admitted to friendship with Pericles, and a great favorite of
his, had many enemies upon this account, who envied and maligned him;
who also, to make trial in a case of his, what kind of judges the
commons would prove, should there be occasion to bring Pericles himself
before them, having tampered with Menon, one who had been a workman
with Phidias, stationed him ill the market-place, with a petition
desiring public security upon his discovery and impeachment of Phidias.
The people admitting the man to tell his story, and the prosecution
proceeding in the assembly, there was nothing of theft or cheat proved
against him; for Phidias, from the very first beginning, by the advice
of Pericles, had so wrought and wrapt the gold that was used in the
work about the statue, that they might take it all off and make out the
just weight of it, which Pericles at that time bade the accusers do.
But the reputation of his works was what brought envy upon Phidias,
especially that where he represents the fight of the Amazons upon the
goddesses' shield, he had introduced a likeness of himself as a bald
old man holding up a great stone with both hands, and had put in a very
fine representation of Pericles fighting with an Amazon. And the
position of the hand, which holds out the spear in front of the face,
was ingeniously contrived to conceal in some degree the likeness,
which, meantime, showed itself on either side.
Phidias then was carried away to prison, and there died of a disease;
but, as some say, of poison, administered by the enemies of Pericles,
to raise a slander, or a suspicion, at least, as though he had procured
it. The informer Menon, upon Glycon's proposal, the people made free
from payment of taxes and customs, and ordered the generals to take
care that nobody should do him any hurt. About the same time, Aspasia
was indicted of impiety, upon the complaint of Hermippus the comedian,
who also laid further to her charge that she received into her house
freeborn women for the uses of Pericles. And Diopithes proposed a
decree, that public accusation should be laid against persons who
neglected religion, or taught new doctrines about things above,
directing suspicion, by means of Anaxagoras, against Pericles himself.
The people receiving and admitting these accusations and complaints, at
length, by this means, they came to enact a decree, at the motion of
Dracontides, that Pericles should bring in the accounts of the moneys
he had expended, and lodge them with the Prytanes; and that the judges,
carrying their suffrage from the altar in the Acropolis, should examine
and determine the business in the city. This last clause Hagnon took
out of the decree, and moved that the causes should be tried before
fifteen hundred jurors, whether they should be styled prosecutions for
robbery, or bribery, or any kind of malversation. Aspasia, Pericles
begged off, shedding, as Aeschines says, many tears at the trial, and
personally entreating the jurors. But fearing how it might go with
Anaxagoras, he sent him out of the city. And finding that in Phidias's
case he had miscarried with the people, being afraid of impeachment, he
kindled the war, which hitherto had lingered and smothered, and blew it
up into a flame; hoping, by that means, to disperse and scatter these
complaints and charges, and to allay their jealousy; the city usually
throwing herself upon him alone, and trusting to his sole conduct, upon
the urgency of great affairs and public dangers, by reason of his
authority and the sway he bore.
These are given out to have been the reasons which induced Pericles not
to suffer the people of Athens to yield to the proposals of the
Lacedaemonians; but their truth is uncertain.
The Lacedaemonians, for their part, feeling sure that if they could
once remove him, they might be at what terms they pleased with the
Athenians, sent them word that they should expel the "Pollution" with
which Pericles on the mother's side was tainted, as Thucydides tells
us. But the issue proved quite contrary to what those who sent the
message expected; instead of bringing Pericles under suspicion and
reproach, they raised him into yet greater credit and esteem with the
citizens, as a man whom their enemies most hated and feared. In the
same way, also, before Archidamus, who was at the head of the
Peloponnesians, made his invasion into Attica, he told the Athenians
beforehand, that if Archidamus, while he laid waste the rest of the
country, should forbear and spare his estate, either on the ground of
friendship or right of hospitality that was betwixt them, or on purpose
to give his enemies an occasion of traducing him, that then he did
freely bestow upon the state all that his land and the buildings upon
it for the public use. The Lacedaemonians, therefore, and their allies,
with a great army, invaded the Athenian territories, under the conduct
of king Archidamus, and laying waste the country, marched on as far as
Acharnae, and there pitched their camp, presuming that the Athenians
would never endure that, but would come out and fight them for their
country's and their honor's sake. But Pericles looked upon it as
dangerous to engage in battle, to the risk of the city itself, against
sixty thousand men-at- arms of Peloponnesians and Boeotians; for so
many they were in number that made the inroad at first; and he
endeavored to appease those who were desirous to fight, and were
grieved and discontented to see how things went, and gave them good
words, saying, that "trees, when they are lopped and cut, grow up again
in a short time but men, being once lost, cannot easily be recovered."
He did not convene the people into an assembly, for fear lest they
should force him to act against his judgment; but, like a skillful
steersman or pilot of a ship, who, when a sudden squall comes on, out
at sea, makes all his arrangements, sees that all is tight and fast,
and then follows the dictates of his skill, and minds the business of
the ship, taking no notice of the tears and entreaties of the sea-sick
and fearful passengers, so he, having shut up the city gates, and
placed guards at all posts for security, followed his own reason and
judgment, little regarding those that cried out against him and were
angry at his management, although there were a great many of his
friends that urged him with requests, and many of his enemies
threatened and accused him for doing as he did, and many made songs and
lampoons upon him, which were sung about the town to his disgrace,
reproaching him with the cowardly exercise of his office of general,
and the tame abandonment of everything to the enemy's hands.
Cleon, also, already was among his assailants, making use of the
feeling against him as a step to the leadership of the people, as
appears in the anapaestic verses of Hermippus.
Satyr-king, instead of swords, Will you always handle words? Very brave
indeed we find them, But a Teles lurks behind them.
Yet to gnash your teeth you're seen, When the little dagger keen,
Whetted every day anew, Of sharp Cleon touches you.
Pericles, however, was not at all moved by any attacks, but took all
patiently, and submitted in silence to the disgrace they threw upon him
and the ill-will they bore him; and, sending out a fleet of a hundred
galleys to Peloponnesus, he did not go along with it in person, but
stayed behind, that he might watch at home and keep the city under his
own control, till the Peloponnesians broke up their camp and were gone.
Yet to soothe the common people, jaded and distressed with the war, he
relieved them with distributions of public moneys, and ordained new
divisions of subject land. For having turned out all the people of
Aegina, he parted the island among the Athenians, according to lot.
Some comfort, also, and ease in their miseries, they might receive from
what their enemies endured. For the fleet, sailing round the
Peloponnese, ravaged a great deal of the country, and pillaged and
plundered the towns and smaller cities; and by land he himself entered
with an army the Megarian country, and made havoc of it all. Whence it
is clear that the Peloponnesians, though they did the Athenians much
mischief by land, yet suffering as much themselves from them by sea,
would not have protracted the war to such a length, but would quickly
have given it over, as Pericles at first foretold they would, had not
some divine power crossed human purposes.
In the first place, the pestilential disease, or plague, seized upon
the city, and ate up all the flower and prime of their youth and
strength. Upon occasion of which, the people, distempered and afflicted
in their souls, as well as in their bodies, were utterly enraged like
madmen against Pericles, and, like patients grown delirious, sought to
lay violent hands on their physician, or, as it were, their father.
They had been possessed, by his enemies, with the belief that the
occasion of the plague was the crowding of the country people together
into the town, forced as they were now, in the heat of the
summer-weather, to dwell many of them together even as they could, in
small tenements and stifling hovels, and to be tied to a lazy course of
life within doors, whereas before they lived in a pure, open, and free
air. The cause and author of all this, said they, is he who on account
of the war has poured a multitude of people from the country in upon us
within the walls, and uses all these many men that he has here upon no
employ or service, but keeps them pent up like cattle, to be overrun
with infection from one another, affording them neither shift of
quarters nor any refreshment.
With the design to remedy these evils, and do the enemy some
inconvenience, Pericles got a hundred and fifty galleys ready, and
having embarked many tried soldiers, both foot and horse, was about to
sail out, giving great hope to his citizens, and no less alarm to his
enemies, upon the sight of so great a force. And now the vessels having
their complement of men, and Pericles being gone aboard his own galley,
it happened that the sun was eclipsed, and it grew dark on a sudden, to
the affright of all, for this was looked upon as extremely ominous.
Pericles, therefore, perceiving the steersman seized with fear and at a
loss what to do, took his cloak and held it up before the man's face,
and, screening him with it so that he could not see, asked him whether
he imagined there was any great hurt, or the sign of any great hurt in
this, and he answering No, "Why," said he, "and what does that differ
from this, only that what has caused that darkness there, is something
greater than a cloak?" This is a story which philosophers tell their
scholars. Pericles, however after putting out to sea, seems not to have
done any other exploit befitting such preparations, and when he had
laid siege to the holy city Epidaurus, which gave him some hope of
surrender, miscarried in his design by reason of the sickness. For it
not only seized upon the Athenians, but upon all others, too, that held
any sort of communication with the army. Finding after this the
Athenians ill affected and highly displeased with him, he tried and
endeavored what he could to appease and re-encourage them. But he could
not pacify or allay their anger, nor persuade or prevail with them any
way, till they freely passed their votes upon him, resumed their power,
took away his command from him, and fined him in a sum of money; which,
by their account that say least, was fifteen talents, while they who
reckon most, name fifty. The name prefixed to the accusation was Cleon,
as Idomeneus tells us; Simmias, according to Theophrastus; and
Heraclides Ponticus gives it as Lacratidas.
After this, public troubles were soon to leave him unmolested; the
people, so to say, discharged their passion in their stroke, and lost
their stings in the wound. But his domestic concerns were in an unhappy
condition many of his friends and acquaintance having died in the
plague time, and those of his family having long since been in disorder
and in a kind of mutiny against him. For the eldest of his lawfully
begotten sons, Xanthippus by name, being naturally prodigal, and
marrying a young and expensive wife, the daughter of Tisander, son of
Epilycus, was highly offended at his father's economy in making him but
a scanty allowance, by little and little at a time. He sent, therefore,
to a friend one day, and borrowed some money of him in his father
Pericles's name, pretending it was by his order. The man coming
afterward to demand the debt, Pericles was so far from yielding to pay
it, that he entered an action against him. Upon which the young man,
Xanthippus, thought himself so ill used and disobliged, that he openly
reviled his father; telling first, by way of ridicule, stories about
his conversations at home, and the discourses he had with the sophists
and scholars that came to his house. As for instance, how one who was a
practicer of the five games of skill, having with a dart or javelin
unawares against his will struck and killed Epitimus the Pharsalian,
his father spent a whole day with Protagoras in a serious dispute,
whether the javelin, or the man that threw it, or the masters of the
games who appointed these sports, were, according to the strictest and
best reason, to be accounted the cause of this mischance. Besides this,
Stesimbrotus tells us that it was Xanthippus who spread abroad among
the people the infamous story concerning his own wife; and in general
that this difference of the young man's with his father, and the breach
betwixt them, continued never to be healed or made up till his death.
For Xanthippus died in the plague time of the sickness. At which time
Pericles also lost his sister, and the greatest part of his relations
and friends, and those who had been most useful and serviceable to him
in managing the affairs of state. However, he did not shrink or give in
upon these occasions, nor betray or lower his high spirit and the
greatness of his mind under all his misfortunes; he was not even so
much as seen to weep or to mourn, or even attend the burial of any of
his friends or relations, till at last he lost his only remaining
legitimate son. Subdued by this blow and yet striving still, as far as
he could, to maintain his principle and to preserve and keep up the
greatness of his soul when he came, however, to perform the ceremony of
putting a garland of flowers upon the head of the corpse, he was
vanquished by his passion at the sight, so that he burst into
exclamations, and shed copious tears, having never done any such thing
in all his life before.
The city having made trial of other generals for the conduct of war,
and orators for business of state, when they found there was no one who
was of weight enough for such a charge, or of authority sufficient to
be trusted with so great a command, regretted the loss of him, and
invited him again to address and advise them, and to reassume the
office of general. He, however, lay at home in dejection and mourning;
but was persuaded by Alcibiades and others of his friends to come
abroad and show himself to the people; who having, upon his appearance,
made their acknowledgments, and apologized for their untowardly
treatment of him, he undertook the public affairs once more; and, being
chosen general, requested that the statute concerning base-born
children, which he himself had formerly caused to be made, might be
suspended; that so the name and race of his family might not, for
absolute want of a lawful heir to succeed, be wholly lost and
extinguished. The case of the statute was thus: Pericles, when long ago
at the height of his power in the state, having then, as has been said,
children lawfully begotten, proposed a law that those only should be
reputed true citizens of Athens who were born of such parents as were
both Athenians. After this, the king of Egypt having sent to the
people, by way of present, forty thousand bushels of wheat, which were
to be shared out among the citizens, a great many actions and suits
about legitimacy occurred, by virtue of that edict; cases which, till
that time, had not been known nor taken notice of; and several persons
suffered by false accusations. There were little less than five
thousand who were convicted and sold for slaves; those who, enduring
the test, remained in the government and passed muster for true
Athenians were found upon the poll to be fourteen thousand and forty
persons in number.
It looked strange, that a law, which had been carried so far against so
many people, should be canceled again by the same man that made it; yet
the present calamity and distress which Pericles labored under in his
family broke through all objections, and prevailed with the Athenians
to pity him, as one whose losses and misfortunes had sufficiently
punished his former arrogance and haughtiness. His sufferings deserved,
they thought, their pity, and even indignation, and his request was
such as became a man to ask and men to grant; they gave him permission
to enroll his son in the register of his fraternity, giving him his own
name. This son afterward, after having defeated the Peloponnesians at
Arginusae, was, with his fellow-generals, put to death by the people.
About the time when his son was enrolled, it should seem, the plague
seized Pericles, not with sharp and violent fits, as it did others that
had it, but with a dull and lingering distemper, attended with various
changes and alterations, leisurely, by little and little, wasting the
strength of his body, and undermining the noble faculties of his soul.
So that Theophrastus, in his Morals, when discussing whether men's
characters change with their circumstances, and their moral habits,
disturbed by the ailings of their bodies, start aside from the rules of
virtue, has left it upon record, that Pericles, when he was sick,
showed one of his friends that came to visit him, an amulet or charm
that the women had hung about his neck; as much as to say, that he was
very sick indeed when he would admit of such a foolery as that was.
When he was now near his end, the best of the citizens and those of his
friends who were left alive, sitting about him, were speaking of the
greatness of his merit, and his power, and reckoning up his famous
actions and the number of his victories; for there were no less than
nine trophies, which, as their chief commander and conqueror of their
enemies, he had set up, for the honor of the city. They talked thus
together among themselves, as though he were unable to understand or
mind what they said, but had now lost his consciousness. He had
listened, however, all the while, and attended to all, and speaking out
among them, said, that he wondered they should commend and take notice
of things which were as much owing to fortune as to anything else, and
had happened to many other commanders, and, at the same time, should
not speak or make mention of that which was the most excellent and
greatest thing of all. "For," said he, "no Athenian, through my means,
ever wore mourning."
He was indeed a character deserving our high admiration, not only for
his equitable and mild temper, which all along in the many affairs of
his life, and the great animosities which he incurred, he constantly
maintained; but also for the high spirit and feeling which made him
regard it the noblest of all his honors that, in the exercise of such
immense power, he never had gratified his envy or his passion, nor ever
had treated any enemy as irreconcilably opposed to him. And to me it
appears that this one thing gives that otherwise childish and arrogant
title a fitting and becoming significance; so dispassionate a temper, a
life so pure and unblemished, in the height of power and place, might
well be called Olympian, in accordance with our conceptions of the
divine beings, to whom, as the natural authors of all good and of
nothing evil, we ascribe the rule and government of the world. Not as
the poets represent, who, while confounding us with their ignorant
fancies, are themselves confuted by their own poems and fictions, and
call the place, indeed, where they say the gods make their abode, a
secure and quiet seat, free from all hazards and commotions, untroubled
with winds or with clouds, and equally through all time illumined with
a soft serenity and a pure light, as though such were a home most
agreeable for a blessed and immortal nature; and yet, in the meanwhile,
affirm that the gods themselves are full of trouble and enmity and
anger and other passions, which no way become or belong to even men
that have any understanding. But this will, perhaps, seem a subject
fitter for some other consideration, and that ought to be treated of in
some other place.
The course of public affairs after his death produced a quick and
speedy sense of the loss of Pericles. Those who, while he lived,
resented his great authority, as that which eclipsed themselves,
presently after his quitting the stage, making trial of other orators
and demagogues, readily acknowledged that there never had been in
nature such a disposition as his was, more moderate and reasonable in
the height of that state he took upon him, or more grave and impressive
in the mildness which he used. And that invidious arbitrary power, to
which formerly they gave the name of monarchy and tyranny, did then
appear to have been the chief bulwark of public safety; so great a
corruption and such a flood of mischief and vice followed, which he, by
keeping weak and low, had withheld from notice, and had prevented from
attaining incurable height through a licentious impunity.
FABIUS
Having related the memorable actions of Pericles, our history now
proceeds to the life of Fabius. A son of Hercules and a nymph, or some
woman of that country, who brought him forth on the banks of Tiber,
was, it is said, the first Fabius, the founder of the numerous and
distinguished family of the name. Others will have it that they were
first called Fodii, because the first of the race delighted in digging
pitfalls for wild beasts, fodere being still the Latin for to dig, and
fossa for a ditch, and that in process of time, by the change of the
two letters they grew to be called Fabii. But be these things true or
false, certain it is that this family for a long time yielded a great
number of eminent persons. Our Fabius, who was fourth in descent from
that Fabius Rullus who first brought the honorable surname of Maximus
into his family, was also, by way of personal nickname, called
Verrucosus, from a wart on his upper lip; and in his childhood they in
like manner named him Ovicula, or The Lamb, on account of his extreme
mildness of temper. His slowness in speaking, his long labor and pains
in learning, his deliberation in entering into the sports of other
children, his easy submission to everybody, as if he had no will of his
own, made those who judged superficially of him, the greater number,
esteem him insensible and stupid; and few only saw that this tardiness
proceeded from stability, and discerned the greatness of his mind, and
the lionlikeness of his temper. But as soon as he came into
employments, his virtues exerted and showed themselves; his reputed
want of energy then was recognized by people in general, as a freedom
of passion; his slowness in words and actions, the effect of a true
prudence; his want of rapidity, and his sluggishness, as constancy and
firmness.
Living in a great commonwealth, surrounded by many enemies, he saw the
wisdom of inuring his body (nature's own weapon) to warlike exercises,
and disciplining his tongue for public oratory in a style comformable
to his life and character. His eloquence, indeed, had not much of
popular ornament, nor empty artifice, but there was in it great weight
of sense; it was strong and sententious, much after the way of
Thucydides. We have yet extant his funeral oration upon the death of
his son, who died consul, which he recited before the people.
He was five times consul, and in his first consulship had the honor of
a triumph for the victory he gained over the Ligurians, whom he
defeated in a set battle, and drove them to take shelter in the Alps,
from whence they never after made any inroad nor depredation upon their
neighbors. After this, Hannibal came into Italy, who, at his first
entrance, having gained a great battle near the river Trebia, traversed
all Tuscany with his victorious army, and, desolating the country round
about, filled Rome itself with astonishment and terror. Besides the
more common signs of thunder and lightning then happening, the report
of several unheard of and utterly strange portents much increased the
popular consternation. For it was said that some targets sweated blood;
that at Antium, when they reaped their corn, many of the ears were
filled with blood; that it had rained redhot stones; that the Falerians
had seen the heavens open and several scrolls falling down, in one of
which was plainly written, "Mars himself stirs his arms." But these
prodigies had no effect upon the impetuous and fiery temper of the
consul Flaminius, whose natural promptness had been much heightened by
his late unexpected victory over the Gauls, when he fought them
contrary to the order of the senate and the advice of his colleague.
Fabius, on the other side, thought it not seasonable to engage with the
enemy; not that he much regarded the prodigies, which he thought too
strange to be easily understood, though many were alarmed by them; but
in regard that the Carthaginians were but few, and in want of money and
supplies, he deemed it best not to meet in the field a general whose
army had been tried in many encounters, and whose object was a battle,
but to send aid to their allies, control the movements of the various
subject cities, and let the force and vigor of Hannibal waste away and
expire, like a flame, for want of aliment.
These weighty reasons did not prevail with Flaminius, who protested he
would never suffer the advance of the enemy to the city, nor be
reduced, like Camillus in former time, to fight for Rome within the
walls of Rome. Accordingly he ordered the tribunes to draw out the army
into the field; and though he himself, leaping on horseback to go out,
was no sooner mounted but the beast, without any apparent cause, fell
into so violent a fit of trembling and bounding that he cast his rider
headlong on the ground, he was no ways deterred; but proceeded as he
had begun, and marched forward up to Hannibal, who was posted near the
Lake Thrasymene in Tuscany. At the moment of this engagement, there
happened so great an earthquake, that it destroyed several towns,
altered the course of rivers, and carried off parts of high cliffs, yet
such was the eagerness of the combatants, that they were entirely
insensible of it.
In this battle Flaminius fell, after many proofs of his strength and
courage, and round about him all the bravest of the army, in the whole,
fifteen thousand were killed, and as many made prisoners. Hannibal,
desirous to bestow funeral honors upon the body of Flaminius, made
diligent search after it, but could not find it among the dead, nor was
it ever known what became of it. Upon the former engagement near
Trebia, neither the general who wrote, nor the express who told the
news, used straightforward and direct terms, nor related it otherwise
than as a drawn battle, with equal loss on either side; but on this
occasion, as soon as Pomponius the praetor had the intelligence, he
caused the people to assemble, and, without disguising or dissembling
the matter, told them plainly, "We are beaten, O Romans, in a great
battle; the consul Flaminius is killed; think, therefore, what is to be
done for your safety." Letting loose his news like a gale of wind upon
an open sea, he threw the city into utter confusion: in such
consternation, their thoughts found no support or stay. The danger at
hand at last awakened their judgments into a resolution to choose a
dictator, who, by the sovereign authority of his office and by his
personal wisdom and courage, might be able to manage the public
affairs. Their choice unanimously fell upon Fabius, whose character
seemed equal to the greatness of the office; whose age was so far
advanced as to give him experience, without taking from him the vigor
of action; his body could execute what his soul designed; and his
temper was a happy compound of confidence and cautiousness.
Fabius, being thus installed in the office of dictator, in the first
place gave the command of the horse to Lucius Minucius; and next asked
leave of the senate for himself, that in time of battle he might serve
on horseback, which by an ancient law amongst the Romans was forbid to
their generals; whether it were, that, placing their greatest strength
in their foot, they would have their commanders-in-chief posted amongst
them, or else to let them know, that, how great and absolute soever
their authority were, the people and senate were still their masters,
of whom they must ask leave. Fabius, however, to make the authority of
his charge more observable, and to render the people more submissive
and obedient to him, caused himself to be accompanied with the full
body of four and twenty lictors; and, when the surviving consul came to
visit him, sent him word to dismiss his lictors with their fasces, the
ensigns of authority, and appear before him as a private person.
The first solemn action of his dictatorship was very fitly a religious
one: an admonition to the people, that their late overthrow had not
befallen them through want of courage in their soldiers, but through
the neglect of divine ceremonies in the general. He therefore exhorted
them not to fear the enemy, but by extraordinary honor to propitiate
the gods. This he did, not to fill their minds with superstition, but
by religious feeling to raise their courage, and lessen their fear of
the enemy by inspiring the belief that Heaven was on their side. With
this view, the secret prophecies called the Sibylline Books were
consulted; sundry predictions found in them were said to refer to the
fortunes and events of the time; but none except the consulter was
informed. Presenting himself to the people, the dictator made a vow
before them to offer in sacrifice the whole product of the next season,
all Italy over, of the cows, goats, swine, sheep, both in the mountains
and the plains; and to celebrate musical festivities with an
expenditure of the precise sum of 333 sestertia and 333 denarii, with
one third of a denarius over. The sum total of which is, in our money,
83,583 drachmas and 2 obols. What the mystery might be in that exact
number is not easy to determine, unless it were in honor of the
perfection of the number three, as being the first of odd numbers, the
first that contains in itself multiplication, with all other properties
whatsoever belonging to numbers in general.
In this manner Fabius having given the people better heart for the
future, by making them believe that the gods took their side, for his
own part placed his whole confidence in himself, believing that the
gods bestowed victory and good fortune by the instrumentality of valor
and of prudence; and thus prepared he set forth to oppose Hannibal, not
with intention to fight him, but with the purpose of wearing out and
wasting the vigor of his arms by lapse of time, of meeting his want of
resources by superior means, by large numbers the smallness of his
forces. With this design, he always encamped on the highest grounds,
where the enemy's horse could have no access to him. Still he kept pace
with them; when they marched he followed them, when they encamped he
did the same, but at such a distance as not to be compelled to an
engagement, and always keeping upon the hills, free from the insults of
their horse; by which means he gave them no rest, but kept them in a
continual alarm.
But this his dilatory way gave occasion in his own camp for suspicion
of want of courage; and this opinion prevailed yet more in Hannibal's
army. Hannibal was himself the only man who was not deceived, who
discerned his skill and detected his tactics, and saw, unless he could
by art or force bring him to battle, that the Carthaginians, unable to
use the arms in which they were superior, and suffering the continual
drain of lives and treasure in which they were inferior, would in the
end come to nothing. He resolved, therefore, with all the arts and
subtilties of war to break his measures, and to bring Fabius to an
engagement; like a cunning wrestler, watching every opportunity to get
good hold and close with his adversary. He at one time attacked, and
sought to distract his attention, tried to draw him off in various
directions, endeavored in all ways to tempt him from his safe policy.
All this artifice, though it had no effect upon the firm judgment and
conviction of the dictator. yet upon the common soldier and even upon
the general of the horse himself, it had too great an operation:
Minucius, unseasonably eager for action, bold and confident, humored
the soldiery, and himself contributed to fill them with wild eagerness
and empty hopes, which they vented in reproaches upon Fabius, calling
him Hannibal's pedagogue, since he did nothing else but follow him up
and down and wait upon him. At the same time, they cried up Minucius
for the only captain worthy to command the Romans; whose vanity and
presumption rose so high in consequence, that he insolently jested at
Fabius's encampments upon the mountains, saying that he seated them
there as on a theater, to behold the flames and desolation of their
country. And he would sometimes ask the friends of the general, whether
it were not his meaning, by thus leading them from mountain to
mountain, to carry them at last (having no hopes on earth) up into
heaven, or to hide them in the clouds from Hannibal's army? When his
friends reported these things to the dictator, persuading him that, to
avoid the general obloquy, he should engage the enemy, his answer was,
"I should be more fainthearted than they make me, if, through fear of
idle reproaches, I should abandon my own convictions. It is no
inglorious thing to have fear for the safety of our country, but to be
turned from one's course by men's opinions, by blame, and by
misrepresentation, shows a man unfit to hold an office such as this,
which, by such conduct, he makes the slave of those whose errors it is
his business to control."
An oversight of Hannibal occurred soon after. Desirous to refresh his
horse in some good pasture-grounds, and to draw off his army, he
ordered his guides to conduct him to the district of Casinum. They,
mistaking his bad pronunciation, led him and his army to the town of
Casilinum, on the frontier of Campania which the river Lothronus,
called by the Romans Vulturnus, divides in two parts. The country
around is enclosed by mountains, with a valley opening towards the sea,
in which the river overflowing forms a quantity of marsh land with deep
banks of sand, and discharges itself into the sea on a very unsafe and
rough shore. While Hannibal was proceeding hither, Fabius, by his
knowledge of the roads, succeeded in making his way around before him,
and dispatched four thousand choice men to seize the exit from it and
stop him up, and lodged the rest of his army upon the neighboring hills
in the most advantageous places; at the same time detaching a party of
his lightest armed men to fall upon Hannibal's rear; which they did
with such success, that they cut off eight hundred of them, and put the
whole army in disorder. Hannibal, finding the error and the danger he
was fallen into, immediately crucified the guides; but considered the
enemy to be so advantageously posted, that there was no hopes of
breaking through them; while his soldiers began to be despondent and
terrified, and to think themselves surrounded with embarrassments too
difficult to be surmounted.
Thus reduced, Hannibal had recourse to stratagem; he caused two
thousand head of oxen which he had in his camp, to have torches or dry
fagots well fastened to their horns, and lighting them in the beginning
of the night, ordered the beasts to be driven on towards the heights
commanding the passages out of the valley and the enemy's posts; when
this was done, he made his army in the dark leisurely march after them.
The oxen at first kept a slow, orderly pace, and with their lighted
heads resembled an army marching by night, astonishing the shepherds
and herds men of the hills about. But when the fire had burnt down the
horns of the beasts to the quick, they no longer observed their sober
pace, but, unruly and wild with their pain, ran dispersed about,
tossing their heads and scattering the fire round about them upon each
other and setting light as they passed to the trees. This was a
surprising spectacle to the Romans on guard upon the heights. Seeing
flames which appeared to come from men advancing with torches, they
were possessed with the alarm that the enemy was approaching in various
quarters, and that they were being surrounded; and, quitting their
post, abandoned the pass, and precipitately retired to their camp on
the hills. They were no sooner gone, but the light-armed of Hannibal's
men, according to his order, immediately seized the heights, and soon
after the whole army, with all the baggage, came up and safely marched
through the passes.
Fabius, before the night was over, quickly found out the trick; for
some of the beasts fell into his hands; but for fear of an ambush in
the dark, he kept his men all night to their arms in the camp. As soon
as it was day, he attacked the enemy in the rear, where, after a good
deal of skirmishing in the uneven ground, the disorder might have
become general, but that Hannibal detached from his van a body of
Spaniards, who, of themselves active and nimble, were accustomed to the
climbing of mountains. These briskly attacked the Roman troops who were
in heavy armor, killed a good many, and left Fabius no longer in
condition to follow the enemy. This action brought the extreme of
obloquy and contempt upon the dictator; they said it was now manifest
that he was not only inferior to his adversary, as they had always
thought, in courage, but even in that conduct, foresight, and
generalship, by which he had proposed to bring the war to an end.
And Hannibal, to enhance their anger against him, marched with his army
close to the lands and possessions of Fabius, and, giving orders to his
soldiers to burn and destroy all the country about, forbade them to do
the least damage in the estates of the Roman general, and placed guards
for their security. This, when reported at Rome, had the effect with
the people which Hannibal desired. Their tribunes raised a thousand
stories against him, chiefly at the instigation of Metilius, who, not
so much out of hatred to him as out of friendship to Minucius, whose
kinsman he was, thought by depressing Fabius to raise his friend. The
senate on their part were also offended with him, for the bargain he
had made with Hannibal about the exchange of prisoners, the conditions
of which were, that, after exchange made of man for man, if any on
either side remained, they should be redeemed at the price of two
hundred and fifty drachmas a head. Upon the whole account, there
remained two hundred and forty Romans unexchanged, and the senate now
not only refused to allow money for the ransoms, but also reproached
Fabius for making a contract, contrary to the honor and interest of the
commonwealth, for redeeming men whose cowardice had put them in the
hands of the enemy. Fabius heard and endured all this with invincible
patience; and, having no money by him, and on the other side being
resolved to keep his word with Hannibal and not to abandon the
captives, he dispatched his son to Rome to sell land, and to bring with
him the price, sufficient to discharge the ransoms; which was
punctually performed by his son, and delivery accordingly made to him
of the prisoners, amongst whom many, when they were released, made
proposals to repay the money; which Fabius in all cases declined.
About this time, he was called to Rome by the priests, to assist,
according to the duty of his office, at certain sacrifices, and was
thus forced to leave the command of the army with Minucius; but before
he parted, not only charged him as his commander-in-chief, but besought
and entreated him, not to come, in his absence, to a battle with
Hannibal. His commands, entreaties, and advice were lost upon Minucius;
for his back was no sooner turned but the new general immediately
sought occasions to attack the enemy. And notice being brought him that
Hannibal had sent out a great part of his army to forage, he fell upon
a detachment of the remainder, doing great execution, and driving them
to their very camp, with no little terror to the rest, who apprehended
their breaking in upon them; and when Hannibal had recalled his
scattered forces to the camp, he, nevertheless, without any loss, made
his retreat, a success which aggravated his boldness and presumption,
and filled the soldiers with rash confidence. The news spread to Rome,
where Fabius, on being told it, said that what he most feared was
Minucius's success: but the people, highly elated, hurried to the forum
to listen to an address from Metilius the tribune, in which he
infinitely extolled the valor of Minucius, and fell bitterly upon
Fabius, accusing him for want not merely of courage, but even of
loyalty; and not only him, but also many other eminent and considerable
persons; saying that it was they that had brought the Carthaginians
into Italy, with the design to destroy the liberty of the people; for
which end they had at once put the supreme authority into the hands of
a single person, who by his slowness and delays might give Hannibal
leisure to establish himself in Italy, and the people of Carthage time
and opportunity to supply him with fresh succors to complete his
conquests
Fabius came forward with no intention to answer the tribune, but only
said, that they should expedite the sacrifices, that so he might
speedily return to the army to punish Minucius, who had presumed to
fight contrary to his orders; words which immediately possessed the
people with the belief that Minucius stood in danger of his life. For
it was in the power of the dictator to imprison and to put to death,
and they feared that Fabius, of a mild temper in general, would be as
hard to be appeased when once irritated, as he was slow to be provoked.
Nobody dared to raise his voice in opposition. Metilius alone, whose
office of tribune gave him security to say what he pleased (for in the
time of a dictatorship that magistrate alone preserves his authority),
boldly applied himself to the people in the behalf of Minucius: that
they should not suffer him to be made a sacrifice to the enmity of
Fabius, nor permit him to be destroyed, like the son of Manlius
Torquatus, who was beheaded by his father for a victory fought and
triumphantly won against order; he exhorted them to take away from
Fabius that absolute power of a dictator, and to put it into more
worthy hands, better able and more inclined to use it for the public
good. These impressions very much prevailed upon the people, though not
so far as wholly to dispossess Fabius of the dictatorship. But they
decreed that Minucius should have an equal authority with the dictator
in the conduct of the war; which was a thing then without precedent,
though a little later it was again practiced after the disaster at
Cannae; when the dictator, Marcus Junius, being with the army, they
chose at Rome Fabius Buteo dictator, that he might create new senators,
to supply the numerous places of those who were killed. But as soon as,
once acting in public, he had filled those vacant places with a
sufficient number, he immediately dismissed his lictors, and withdrew
from all his attendance, and, mingling like a common person with the
rest of the people, quietly went about his own affairs in the forum.
The enemies of Fabius thought they had sufficiently humiliated and
subdued him by raising Minucius to be his equal in authority; but they
mistook the temper of the man, who looked upon their folly as not his
loss, but like Diogenes, who, being told that some persons derided him,
made answer, "But I am not derided," meaning that only those were
really insulted on whom such insults made an impression, so Fabius,
with great tranquillity and unconcern, submitted to what happened, and
contributed a proof to the argument of the philosophers that a just and
good man is not capable of being dishonored. His only vexation arose
from his fear lest this ill counsel, by supplying opportunities to the
diseased military ambition of his subordinate, should damage the public
cause. Lest the rashness of Minucius should now at once run headlong
into some disaster, he returned back with all privacy and speed to the
army; where he found Minucius so elevated with his new dignity, that, a
joint-authority not contenting him, he required by turns to have the
command of the army every other day. This Fabius rejected, but was
contented that the army should be divided; thinking each general singly
would better command his part, than partially command the whole. The
first and fourth legion he took for his own division, the second and
third he delivered to Minucius; so also of the auxiliary forces each
had an equal share.
Minucius, thus exalted, could not contain himself from boasting of his
success in humiliating the high and powerful office of the
dictatorship. Fabius quietly reminded him that it was, in all wisdom,
Hannibal, and not Fabius, whom he had to combat; but if he must needs
contend with his colleague, it had best be in diligence and care for
the preservation of Rome; that it might not be said, a man so favored
by the people served them worse than he who had been ill-treated and
disgraced by them.
The young general, despising these admonitions as the false humility of
age, immediately removed with the body of his army, and encamped by
himself. Hannibal, who was not ignorant of all these passages, lay
watching his advantage from them. It happened that between his army and
that of Minucius there was a certain eminence, which seemed a very
advantageous and not difficult post to encamp upon; the level field
around it appeared, from a distance, to be all smooth and even, though
it had many inconsiderable ditches and dips in it, not discernible to
the eye. Hannibal, had he pleased, could easily have possessed himself
of this ground; but he had reserved it for a bait, or train, in proper
season, to draw the Romans to an engagement. Now that Minucius and
Fabius were divided, he thought the opportunity fair for his purpose;
and, therefore, having in the night time lodged a convenient number of
his men in these ditches and hollow places, early in the morning he
sent forth a small detachment, who, in the sight of Minucius, proceeded
to possess themselves of the rising ground. According to his
expectation, Minucius swallowed the bait, and first sends out his light
troops, and after them some horse, to dislodge the enemy; and, at last,
when he saw Hannibal in person advancing to the assistance of his men,
marched down with his whole army drawn up. He engaged with the troops
on the eminence, and sustained their missiles; the combat for some time
was equal; but as soon as Hannibal perceived that the whole army was
now sufficiently advanced within the toils he had set for them, so that
their backs were open to his men whom he had posted in the hollows, he
gave the signal; upon which they rushed forth from various quarters,
and with loud cries furiously attacked Minucius in the rear. The
surprise and the slaughter was great, and struck universal alarm and
disorder through the whole army. Minucius himself lost all his
confidence; he looked from officer to officer, and found all alike
unprepared to face the danger, and yielding to a flight, which,
however, could not end in safety. The Numidian horsemen were already in
full victory riding about the plain, cutting down the fugitives.
Fabius was not ignorant of this danger of his countrymen; he foresaw
what would happen from the rashness of Minucius, and the cunning of
Hannibal; and, therefore, kept his men to their arms, in readiness to
wait the event; nor would he trust to the reports of others, but he
himself, in front of his camp, viewed all that passed. When, therefore,
he saw the army of Minucius encompassed by the enemy, and that by their
countenance and shifting their ground, they appeared more disposed to
flight than to resistance, with a great sigh, striking his hand upon
his thigh, he said to those about him, "O Hercules! how much sooner
than I expected, though later than he seemed to desire, hath Minucius
destroyed himself!" He then commanded the ensigns to be led forward and
the army to follow, telling them, "We must make haste to rescue
Minucius, who is a valiant man, and a lover of his country; and if he
hath been too forward to engage the enemy, at another time we will tell
him of it." Thus, at the head of his men, Fabius marched up to the
enemy, and first cleared the plain of the Numidians; and next fell upon
those who were charging the Romans in the rear, cutting down all that
made opposition, and obliging the rest to save themselves by a hasty
retreat, lest they should be environed as the Romans had been.
Hannibal, seeing so sudden a change of affairs, and Fabius, beyond the
force of his age, opening his way through the ranks up the hill-side,
that he might join Minucius, warily forbore, sounded a retreat, and
drew off his men into their camp; while the Romans on their part were
no less contented to retire in safety. It is reported that upon this
occasion Hannibal said jestingly to his friends: "Did not I tell you,
that this cloud which always hovered upon the mountains would, at some
time or other, come down with a storm upon us?"
Fabius, after his men had picked up the spoils of the field, retired to
his own camp, without saying any harsh or reproachful thing to his
colleague; who also on his part, gathering his army together, spoke and
said to them: "To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is
above the force of human nature; but to learn and improve by the faults
we have committed, is that which becomes a good and sensible man. Some
reasons I may have to accuse fortune, but I have many more to thank
her; for in a few hours she hath cured a long mistake, and taught me
that I am not the man who should command others, but have need of
another to command me; and that we are not to contend for victory over
those to whom it is our advantage to yield. Therefore in everything
else henceforth the dictator must be your commander; only in showing
gratitude towards him I will still be your leader, and always be the
first to obey his orders." Having said this, he commanded the Roman
eagles to move forward, and all his men to follow him to the camp of
Fabius. The soldiers, then, as he entered, stood amazed at the novelty
of the sight, and were anxious and doubtful what the meaning might be.
When he came near the dictator's tent, Fabius went forth to meet him,
on which he at once laid his standards at his feet, calling him with a
loud voice his father; while the soldiers with him saluted the soldiers
here as their patrons, the term employed by freedmen to those who gave
them their liberty. After silence was obtained, Minucius said, "You
have this day, O dictator, obtained two victories; one by your valor
and conduct over Hannibal, and another by your wisdom and goodness over
your colleague; by one victory you preserved, and by the other
instructed us; and when we were already suffering one shameful defeat
from Hannibal, by another welcome one from you we were restored to
honor and safety. I can address you by no nobler name than that of a
kind father, though a father's beneficence falls short of that I have
received from you. From a father I individually received the gift of
life; to you I owe its preservation not for myself only, but for all
these who are under me." After this, he threw himself into the arms of
the dictator; and in the same manner the soldiers of each army embraced
one another with gladness and tears of joy.
Not long after, Fabius laid down the dictatorship, and consuls were
again created. Those who immediately succeeded, observed the same
method in managing the war, and avoided all occasions of fighting
Hannibal in a pitched battle; they only succored their allies, and
preserved the towns from falling off to the enemy. but afterwards, when
Terentius Varro, a man of obscure birth, but very popular and bold, had
obtained the consulship, he soon made it appear that by his rashness
and ignorance he would stake the whole commonwealth on the hazard. For
it was his custom to declaim in all assemblies, that, as long as Rome
employed generals like Fabius there never would be an end of the war;
vaunting that whenever he should get sight of the enemy, he would that
same day free Italy from the strangers. With these promises he so
prevailed, that he raised a greater army than had ever yet been sent
out of Rome. There were enlisted eighty-eight thousand fighting men;
but what gave confidence to the populace, only terrified the wise and
experienced, and none more than Fabius; since if so great a body, and
the flower of the Roman youth, should be cut off, they could not see
any new resource for the safety of Rome. They addressed themselves,
therefore, to the other consul, Aemilius Paulus, a man of great
experience in war, but unpopular, and fearful also of the people, who
once before upon some impeachment had condemned him; so that he needed
encouragement to withstand his colleague's temerity. Fabius told him,
if he would profitably serve his country, he must no less oppose
Varro's ignorant eagerness than Hannibal's conscious readiness, since
both alike conspired to decide the fate of Rome by a battle. "It is
more reasonable," he said to him, "that you should believe me than
Varro, in matters relating to Hannibal, when I tell you, that if for
this year you abstain from fighting with him, either his army will
perish of itself, or else he will be glad to depart of his own will.
This evidently appears, inasmuch as, notwithstanding his victories,
none of the countries or towns of Italy come in to him, and his army is
not now the third part of what it was at first." To this Paulus is said
to have replied, "Did I only consider myself, I should rather choose to
be exposed to the weapons of Hannibal than once more to the suffrages
of my fellow-citizens, who are urgent for what you disapprove; yet
since the cause of Rome is at stake, I will rather seek in my conduct
to please and obey Fabius than all the world besides."
These good measures were defeated by the importunity of Varro; whom,
when they were both come to the army, nothing would content but a
separate command, that each consul should have his day; and when his
turn came, he posted his army close to Hannibal, at a village called
Cannae, by the river Aufidus. It was no sooner day, but he set up the
scarlet coat flying over his tent, which was the signal of battle. This
boldness of the consul, and the numerousness of his army, double
theirs, startled the Carthaginians; but Hannibal commanded them to
their arms, and with a small train rode out to take a full prospect of
the enemy as they were now forming in their ranks, from a rising ground
not far distant. One of his followers, called Gisco, a Carthaginian of
equal rank with himself, told him that the numbers of the enemy were
astonishing; to which Hannibal replied, with a serious countenance,
"There is one thing, Gisco, yet more astonishing, which you take no
notice of;" and when Gisco inquired what, answered, that "in all those
great numbers before us, there is not one man called Gisco." This
unexpected jest of their general made all the company laugh, and as
they came down from the hill, they told it to those whom they met,
which caused a general laughter amongst them all, from which they were
hardly able to recover themselves. The army, seeing Hannibal's
attendants come back from viewing the enemy in such a laughing
condition, concluded that it must be profound contempt of the enemy,
that made their general at this moment indulge in such hilarity.
According to his usual manner, Hannibal employed stratagems to
advantage himself. In the first place, he so drew up his men that the
wind was at their backs, which at that time blew with a perfect storm
of violence, and, sweeping over the great plains of sand, carried
before it a cloud of dust over the Carthaginian army into the faces of
the Romans, which much disturbed them in the fight. In the next place,
all his best men he put into his wings; and in the body, which was
somewhat more advanced than the wings, placed the worst and the weakest
of his army. He commanded those in the wings, that, when the enemy had
made a thorough charge upon that middle advanced body, which he knew
would recoil, as not being able to withstand their shock, and when the
Romans, in their pursuit, should be far enough engaged within the two
wings, they should, both on the right and the left, charge them in the
flank, and endeavor to encompass them. This appears to have been the
chief cause of the Roman loss. Pressing upon Hannibal's front, which
gave ground, they reduced the form of his army into a perfect
half-moon, and gave ample opportunity to the captains of the chosen
troops to charge them right and left on their flanks, and to cut off
and destroy all who did not fall back before the Carthaginian wings
united in their rear. To this general calamity, it is also said, that a
strange mistake among the cavalry much contributed. For the horse of
Aemilius receiving a hurt and throwing his master, those about him
immediately alighted to aid the consul; and the Roman troops, seeing
their commanders thus quitting their horses, took it for a sign that
they should all dismount and charge the enemy on foot. At the sight of
this, Hannibal was heard to say, "This pleases me better than if they
had been delivered to me bound hand and foot." For the particulars of
this engagement, we refer our reader to those authors who have written
at large upon the subject.
The consul Varro, with a thin company, fled to Venusia; Aemilius
Paulus, unable any longer to oppose the flight of his men, or the
pursuit of the enemy, his body all covered with wounds, and his soul no
less wounded with grief, sat himself down upon a stone, expecting the
kindness of a dispatching blow. His face was so disfigured, and all his
person so stained with blood, that his very friends and domestics
passing by knew him not. At last Cornelius Lentulus, a young man of
patrician race, perceiving who he was, alighted from his horse, and,
tendering it to him, desired him to get up and save a life so necessary
to the safety of the commonwealth, which, at this time, would dearly
want so great a captain. But nothing could prevail upon him to accept
of the offer; he obliged young Lentulus, with tears in his eyes, to
remount his horse; then standing up, he gave him his hand, and
commanded him to tell Fabius Maximus that Aemilius Paulus had followed
his directions to his very last, and had not in the least deviated from
those measures which were agreed between them; but that it was his hard
fate to be overpowered by Varro in the first place, and secondly by
Hannibal. Having dispatched Lentulus with this commission, he marked
where the slaughter was greatest, and there threw himself upon the
swords of the enemy. In this battle it is reported that fifty thousand
Romans were slain, four thousand prisoners taken in the field, and ten
thousand in the camp of both consuls.
The friends of Hannibal earnestly persuaded him to follow up his
victory, and pursue the flying Romans into the very gates of Rome,
assuring him that in five days' time he might sup in the capitol; nor
is it easy to imagine what consideration hindered him from it. It would
seem rather that some supernatural or divine intervention caused the
hesitation and timidity which he now displayed, and which made Barcas,
a Carthaginian, tell him with indignation, "You know, Hannibal, how to
gain a victory, but not how to use it." Yet it produced a marvelous
revolution in his affairs; he, who hitherto had not one town, market,
or seaport in his possession, who had nothing for the subsistence of
his men but what he pillaged from day to day, who had no place of
retreat or basis of operation, but was roving, as it were, with a huge
troop of banditti, now became master of the best provinces and towns of
Italy, and of Capua itself, next to Rome the most flourishing and
opulent city, all which came over to him, and submitted to his
authority.
It is the saying of Euripides, that "a man is in ill-case when he must
try a friend," and so neither, it would seem, is a state in a good one,
when it needs an able general. And so it was with the Romans; the
counsels and actions of Fabius, which, before the battle, they had
branded as cowardice and fear, now, in the other extreme they accounted
to have been more than human wisdom; as though nothing but a divine
power of intellect could have seen so far, and foretold, contrary to
the judgment of all others, a result which, even now it had arrived,
was hardly credible. In him, therefore, they placed their whole
remaining hopes; his wisdom was the sacred altar and temple to which
they fled for refuge, and his counsels, more than anything, preserved
them from dispersing and deserting their city, as in the time when the
Gauls took possession of Rome. He, whom they esteemed fearful and
pusillanimous when they were, as they thought, in a prosperous
condition, was now the only man, in this general and unbounded
dejection and confusion, who showed no fear, but walked the streets
with an assured and serene countenance, addressed his fellow-citizens,
checked the women's lamentations, and the public gatherings of those
who wanted thus to vent their sorrows. He caused the senate to meet, he
heartened up the magistrates, and was himself as the soul and life of
every office.
He placed guards at the gates of the city to stop the frighted
multitude from flying; he regulated and controlled their mournings for
their slain friends, both as to time and place; ordering that each
family should perform such observances within private walls, and that
they should continue only the space of one month, and then the whole
city should be purified. The feast of Ceres happening to fall within
this time, it was decreed that the solemnity should be intermitted,
lest the fewness, and the sorrowful countenance of those who should
celebrate it, might too much expose to the people the greatness of
their loss; besides that, the worship most acceptable to the gods is
that which comes from cheerful hearts. But those rites which were
proper for appeasing their anger, and procuring auspicious signs and
presages, were by the direction of the augurs carefully performed.
Fabius Pictor, a near kinsman to Maximus, was sent to consult the
oracle of Delphi; and about the same time, two vestals having been
detected to have been violated, the one killed herself, and the other,
according to custom, was buried alive.
Above all, let us admire the high spirit and equanimity of this Roman
commonwealth; that when the consul Varro came beaten and flying home,
full of shame and humiliation, after he had so disgracefully and
calamitously managed their affairs, yet the whole senate and people
went forth to meet him at the gates of the city, and received him with
honor and respect. And, silence being commanded, the magistrates and
chief of the senate, Fabius amongst them, commended him before the
people, because he did not despair of the safety of the commonwealth,
after so great a loss, but was come to take the government into his
hands, to execute the laws, and aid his fellow-citizens in their
prospect of future deliverance.
When word was brought to Rome that Hannibal, after the fight, had
marched with his army into other parts of Italy, the hearts of the
Romans began to revive, and they proceeded to send out generals and
armies. The most distinguished commands were held by Fabius Maximus and
Claudius Marcellus, both generals of great fame, though upon opposite
grounds. For Marcellus, as we have set forth in his life, was a man of
action and high spirit, ready and bold with his own hand, and, as Homer
describes his warriors, fierce, and delighting in fights. Boldness,
enterprise, and daring, to match those of Hannibal, constituted his
tactics, and marked his engagements. But Fabius adhered to his former
principles, still persuaded that, by following close and not fighting
him, Hannibal and his army would at last be tired out and consumed,
like a wrestler in too high condition, whose very excess of strength
makes him the more likely suddenly to give way and lose it. Posidonius
tells us that the Romans called Marcellus their sword, and Fabius their
buckler; and that the vigor of the one, mixed with the steadiness of
the other, made a happy compound that proved the salvation of Rome. So
that Hannibal found by experience that, encountering the one, he met
with a rapid, impetuous river, which drove him back, and still made
some breach upon him; and by the other, though silently and quietly
passing by him, he was insensibly washed away and consumed; and, at
last, was brought to this, that he dreaded Marcellus when he was in
motion, and Fabius when he sat still. During the whole course of this
war, he had still to do with one or both of these generals; for each of
them was five times consul, and, as praetors or proconsuls or consuls,
they had always a part in the government of the army, till, at last,
Marcellus fell into the trap which Hannibal had laid for him, and was
killed in his fifth consulship. But all his craft and subtlety were
unsuccessful upon Fabius, who only once was in some danger of being
caught, when counterfeit letters came to him from the principal
inhabitants of Metapontum, with promises to deliver up their town if he
would come before it with his army, and intimations that they should
expect him, This train had almost drawn him in; he resolved to march to
them with part of his army, and was diverted only by consulting the
omens of the birds, which he found to be inauspicious; and not long
after it was discovered that the letters had been forged by Hannibal,
who, for his reception, had laid an ambush to entertain him. This,
perhaps, we must rather attribute to the favor of the gods than to the
prudence of Fabius.
In preserving the towns and allies from revolt by fair and gentle
treatment, and in not using rigor, or showing a suspicion upon every
light suggestion, his conduct was remarkable. It is told of him, that,
being informed of a certain Marsian, eminent for courage and good
birth, who had been speaking underhand with some of the soldiers about
deserting, Fabius was so far from using severity against him, that he
called for him, and told him he was sensible of the neglect that had
been shown to his merit and good service, which, he said, was a great
fault in the commanders who reward more by favor than by desert; "but
henceforward, whenever you are aggrieved," said Fabius, "I shall
consider it your fault, if you apply yourself to any but to me;" and
when he had so spoken, he bestowed an excellent horse and other
presents upon him; and, from that time forwards, there was not a
faithfuller and more trusty man in the whole army. With good reason he
judged, that, if those who have the government of horses and dogs
endeavor by gentle usage to cure their angry and untractable tempers,
rather than by cruelty and beating, much more should those who have the
command of men try to bring them to order and discipline by the mildest
and fairest means, and not treat them worse than gardeners do those
wild plants, which, with care and attention, lose gradually the
savageness of their nature, and bear excellent fruit.
At another time, some of his officers informed him that one of their
men was very often absent from his place, and out at nights; he asked
them what kind of man he was; they all answered, that the whole army
had not a better man, that he was a native of Lucania, and proceeded to
speak of several actions which they had seen him perform. Fabius made
strict inquiry, and discovered at last that these frequent excursions
which he ventured upon were to visit a young girl, with whom he was in
love. Upon which he gave private order to some of his men to find out
the woman and secretly convey her into his own tent; and then sent for
the Lucanian, and, calling him aside, told him, that he very well knew
how often he had been out away from the camp at night, which was a
capital transgression against military discipline and the Roman laws,
but he knew also how brave he was, and the good services he had done;
therefore, in consideration of them, he was willing to forgive him his
fault; but to keep him in good order, he was resolved to place one over
him to be his keeper, who should be accountable for his good behavior.
Having said this, he produced the woman, and told the soldier,
terrified and amazed at the adventure, "This is the person who must
answer for you; and by your future behavior we shall see whether your
night rambles were on account of love, or for any other worse design."
Another passage there was, something of the same kind, which gained him
possession of Tarentum. There was a young Tarentine in the army that
had a sister in Tarentum, then in possession of the enemy, who entirely
loved her brother, and wholly depended upon him. He, being informed
that a certain Bruttian, whom Hannibal had made a commander of the
garrison, was deeply in love with his sister, conceived hopes that he
might possibly turn it to the advantage of the Romans. And having first
communicated his design to Fabius, he left the army as a deserter in
show, and went over to Tarentum. The first days passed, and the
Bruttian abstained from visiting the sister; for neither of them knew
that the brother had notice of the amour between them. The young
Tarentine, however, took an occasion to tell his sister how he had
heard that a man of station and authority had made his addresses to
her; and desired her, therefore, to tell him who it was; "for," said
he, "if he be a man that has bravery and reputation, it matters not
what countryman he is, since at this time the sword mingles all
nations, and makes them equal; compulsion makes all things honorable;
and in a time when right is weak, we may be thankful if might assumes a
form of gentleness." Upon this the woman sends for her friend, and
makes the brother and him acquainted; and whereas she henceforth showed
more countenance to her lover than formerly, in the same degrees that
her kindness increased, his friendship, also, with the brother
advanced. So that at last our Tarentine thought this Bruttian officer
well enough prepared to receive the offers he had to make him; and that
it would be easy for a mercenary man, who was in love, to accept, upon
the terms proposed, the large rewards promised by Fabius. In
conclusion, the bargain was struck, and the promise made of delivering
the town. This is the common tradition, though some relate the story
otherwise, and say, that this woman, by whom the Bruttian was
inveigled, to betray the town, was not a native of Tarentum, but a
Bruttian born, and was kept by Fabius as his concubine; and being a
countrywoman and an acquaintance of the Bruttian governor, he privately
sent her to him to corrupt him.
Whilst these matters were thus in process, to draw off Hannibal from
scenting the design, Fabius sends orders to the garrison in Rhegium,
that they should waste and spoil the Bruttian country, and should also
lay siege to Caulonia, and storm the place with all their might. These
were a body of eight thousand men, the worst of the Roman army, who had
most of them been runaways, and had been brought home by Marcellus from
Sicily, in dishonor, so that the loss of them would not be any great
grief to the Romans. Fabius, therefore, threw out these men as a bait
for Hannibal, to divert him from Tarentum; who instantly caught at it,
and led his forces to Caulonia; in the meantime, Fabius sat down before
Tarentum. On the sixth day of the siege, the young Tarentine slips by
night out of the town, and, having carefully observed the place where
the Bruttian commander, according to agreement, was to admit the
Romans, gave an account of the whole matter to Fabius; who thought it
not safe to rely wholly upon the plot, but, while proceeding with
secrecy to the post, gave order for a general assault to be made on the
other side of the town, both by land and sea. This being accordingly
executed, while the Tarentines hurried to defend the town on the side
attacked, Fabius received the signal from the Bruttian, scaled the
walls, and entered the town unopposed.
Here, we must confess, ambition seems to have overcome him. To make it
appear to the world that he had taken Tarentum by force and his own
prowess, and not by treachery, he commanded his men to kill the
Bruttians before all others; yet he did not succeed in establishing the
impression he desired, but merely gained the character of perfidy and
cruelty. Many of the Tarentines were also killed, and thirty thousand
of them were sold for slaves; the army had the plunder of the town, and
there was brought into the treasury three thousand talents. Whilst they
were carrying off everything else as plunder, the officer who took the
inventory asked what should be done with their gods, meaning the
pictures and statues; Fabius answered, "Let us leave their angry gods
to the Tarentines." Nevertheless, he removed the colossal statue of
Hercules, and had it set up in the capitol, with one of himself on
horseback, in brass, near it; proceedings very different from those of
Marcellus on a like occasion, and which, indeed, very much set off in
the eyes of the world his clemency and humanity, as appears in the
account of his life.
Hannibal, it is said, was within five miles of Tarentum, when he was
informed that the town was taken. He said openly, "Rome, then, has also
got a Hannibal; as we won Tarentum, so have we lost it." And, in
private with some of his confidants, he told them, for the first time,
that he always thought it difficult, but now he held it impossible,
with the forces he then had, to master Italy.
Upon this success, Fabius had a triumph decreed him at Rome, much more
splendid than his first; they looked upon him now as a champion who had
learned to cope with his antagonist, and could now easily foil his arts
and prove his best skill ineffectual. And, indeed, the army of Hannibal
was at this time partly worn away with continual action, and partly
weakened and become dissolute with overabundance and luxury. Marcus
Livius, who was governor of Tarentum when it was betrayed to Hannibal,
and then retired into the citadel, which he kept till the town was
retaken, was annoyed at these honors and distinctions, and, on one
occasion, openly declared in the senate, that by his resistance, more
than by any action of Fabius, Tarentum had been recovered; on which
Fabius laughingly replied: "You say very true, for if Marcus Livius had
not lost Tarentum, Fabius Maximus had never recovered it." The people,
amongst other marks of gratitude, gave his son the consulship of the
next year; shortly after whose entrance upon his office, there being
some business on foot about provision for the war, his father, either
by reason of age and infirmity, or perhaps out of design to try his
son, came up to him on horseback. While he was still at a distance, the
young consul observed it, and bade one of his lictors command his
father to alight, and tell him that, if be had any business with the
consul, he should come on foot. The standers by seemed offended at the
imperiousness of the son towards a father so venerable for his age and
his authority, and turned their eyes in silence towards Fabius. He,
however, instantly alighted from his horse, and with open arms came up,
almost running, and embraced his son, saying, "Yes, my son, you do
well, and understand well what authority you have received, and over
whom you are to use it. This was the way by which we and our
forefathers advanced the dignity of Rome, preferring ever her honor and
service to our own fathers and children."
And, in fact, it is told that the great-grandfather of our Fabius, who
was undoubtedly the greatest man of Rome in his time, both in
reputation and authority, who had been five times consul, and had been
honored with several triumphs for victories obtained by him, took
pleasure in serving as lieutenant under his own son, when he went as
consul to his command. And when afterwards his son had a triumph
bestowed upon him for his good service, the old man followed, on
horseback, his triumphant chariot, as one of his attendants; and made
it his glory, that while he really was, and was acknowledged to be, the
greatest man in Rome, and held a father's full power over his son, he
yet submitted himself to the laws and the magistrate.
But the praises of our Fabius are not bounded here. He afterwards lost
this son, and was remarkable for bearing the loss with the moderation
becoming a pious father and a wise man, and, as it was the custom
amongst the Romans, upon the death of any illustrious person, to have a
funeral oration recited by some of the nearest relations, he took upon
himself that office, and delivered a speech in the forum, which he
committed afterwards to writing.
After Cornelius Scipio, who was sent into Spain, had driven the
Carthaginians, defeated by him in many battles, out of the country, and
had gained over to Rome many towns and nations with large resources, he
was received at his coming home with unexampled joy and acclamation of
the people; who, to show their gratitude, elected him consul for the
year ensuing. Knowing what high expectation they had of him, he thought
the occupation of contesting Italy with Hannibal a mere old man's
employment, and proposed no less a task to himself than to make
Carthage the seat of the war, fill Africa with arms and devastation,
and so oblige Hannibal, instead of invading the countries of others, to
draw back and defend his own. And to this end he proceeded to exert all
the influence he had with the people. Fabius, on the other side,
opposed the undertaking with all his might, alarming the city, and
telling them that nothing but the temerity of a hot young man could
inspire them with such dangerous counsels, and sparing no means, by
word or deed, to prevent it. He prevailed with the senate to espouse
his sentiments; but the common people thought that he envied the fame
of Scipio, and that he was afraid lest this young conqueror should
achieve some great and noble exploit, and have the glory, perhaps, of
driving Hannibal out of Italy, or even of ending the war, which had for
so many years continued and been protracted under his management.
To say the truth, when Fabius first opposed this project of Scipio, he
probably did it out of caution and prudence, in consideration only of
the public safety, and of the danger which the commonwealth might
incur; but when he found Scipio every day increasing in the esteem of
the people, rivalry and ambition led him further, and made him violent
and personal in his opposition. For he even applied to Crassus, the
colleague of Scipio, and urged him not to yield the command to Scipio,
but that, if his inclinations were for it, he should himself in person
lead the army to Carthage. He also hindered the giving money to Scipio
for the war; so that he was forced to raise it upon his own credit and
interest from the cities of Etruria, which were extremely attached to
him. On the other side, Crassus would not stir against him, nor remove
out of Italy, being, in his own nature, averse to all contention, and
also having, by his office of high priest, religious duties to retain
him. Fabius, therefore, tried other ways to oppose the design; he
impeded the levies, and he declaimed, both in the senate and to the
people, that Scipio was not only himself flying from Hannibal, but was
also endeavoring to drain Italy of all its forces, and to spirit away
the youth of the country to a foreign war, leaving behind them their
parents, wives, and children, and the city itself, a defenseless prey
to the conquering and undefeated enemy at their doors. With this he so
far alarmed the people, that at last they would only allow Scipio for
the war the legions which were in Sicily, and three hundred, whom he
particularly trusted, of those men who had served with him in Spain. In
these transactions, Fabius seems to have followed the dictates of his
own wary temper.
But, after that Scipio was gone over into Africa, when news almost
immediately came to Rome of wonderful exploits and victories, of which
the fame was confirmed by the spoils he sent home; of a Numidian king
taken prisoner; of a vast slaughter of their men; of two camps of the
enemy burnt and destroyed, and in them a great quantity of arms and
horses; and when, hereupon, the Carthaginians were compelled to send
envoys to Hannibal to call him home, and leave his idle hopes in Italy,
to defend Carthage; when, for such eminent and transcending services,
the whole people of Rome cried up and extolled the actions of Scipio;
even then, Fabius contended that a successor should be sent in his
place, alleging for it only the old reason of the mutability of
fortune, as if she would be weary of long favoring the same person.
With this language many did begin to feel offended; it seemed to be
morosity and ill-will, the pusillanimity of old age, or a fear, that
had now become exaggerated, of the skill of Hannibal. Nay, when
Hannibal had put his army on shipboard, and taken his leave of Italy,
Fabius still could not forbear to oppose and disturb the universal joy
of Rome, expressing his fears and apprehensions, telling them that the
commonwealth was never in more danger than now, and that Hannibal was a
more formidable enemy under the walls of Carthage than ever he had been
in Italy; that it would be fatal to Rome, whenever Scipio should
encounter his victorious army, still warm with the blood of so many
Roman generals, dictators, and consuls slain. And the people were, in
some degree, startled with these declamations, and were brought to
believe, that the further off Hannibal was, the nearer was their
danger. Scipio, however, shortly afterwards fought Hannibal, and
utterly defeated him, humbled the pride of Carthage beneath his feet,
gave his countrymen joy and exultation beyond all their hopes, and
"Long shaken on the seas restored the state."
Fabius Maximus, however, did not live to see the prosperous end of this
war, and the final overthrow of Hannibal, nor to rejoice in the
reestablished happiness and security of the commonwealth; for about the
time that Hannibal left Italy, he fell sick and died. At Thebes,
Epaminondas died so poor that he was buried at the public charge; one
small iron coin was all, it is said, that was found in his house.
Fabius did not need this, but the people, as a mark of their affection,
defrayed the expenses of his funeral by a private contribution from
each citizen of the smallest piece of coin; thus owning him their
common father, and making his end no less honorable than his life.
COMPARISON OF PERICLES WITH FABIUS
We have here had two lives rich in examples, both of civil and military
excellence. Let us first compare the two men in their warlike capacity.
Pericles presided in his commonwealth when it was in its most
flourishing and opulent condition, great and growing in power; so that
it may be thought it was rather the common success and fortune that
kept him from any fall or disaster. But the task of Fabius, who
undertook the government in the worst and most difficult times, was not
to preserve and maintain the well-established felicity of a prosperous
state, but to raise and uphold a sinking and ruinous commonwealth.
Besides, the victories of Cimon, the trophies of Myronides and
Leocrates, with the many famous exploits of Tolmides, were employed by
Pericles rather to fill the city with festive entertainments and
solemnities than to enlarge and secure its empire. Whereas Fabius, when
he took upon him the government, had the frightful object before his
eyes of Roman armies destroyed, of their generals and consuls slain, of
lakes and plains and forests strewed with the dead bodies, and rivers
stained with the blood of his fellow-citizens; and yet, with his mature
and solid cousels, with the firmness of his resolution, he, as it were,
put his shoulder to the falling commonwealth, and kept it up from
foundering through the failings and weakness of others. Perhaps it may
be more easy to govern a city broken and tamed with calamities and
adversity, and compelled by danger and necessity to listen to wisdom,
than to set a bridle on wantonness and temerity, and rule a people
pampered and restive with long prosperity as were the Athenians when
Pericles held the reins of government. But then again, not to be
daunted nor discomposed with the vast heap of calamities under which
the people of Rome at that time groaned and succumbed, argues a courage
in Fabius and a strength of purpose more than ordinary.
We may set Tarentum retaken against Samos won by Pericles, and the
conquest of Euboea we may well balance with the towns of Campania;
though Capua itself was reduced by the consuls Fulvius and Appius. I do
not find that Fabius won any set battle but that against the Ligurians,
for which he had his triumph; whereas Pericles erected nine trophies
for as many victories obtained by land and by sea. But no action of
Pericles can be compared to that memorable rescue of Minucius, when
Fabius redeemed both him and his army from utter destruction; a noble
act, combining the highest valor, wisdom, and humanity. On the other
side, it does not appear that Pericles was ever so overreached as
Fabius was by Hannibal with his flaming oxen. His enemy there had,
without his agency, put himself accidentally into his power, yet Fabius
let him slip in the night, and, when day came, was worsted by him, was
anticipated in the moment of success, and mastered by his prisoner. If
it is the part of a good general, not only to provide for the present,
but also to have a clear foresight of things to come, in this point
Pericles is the superior; for he admonished the Athenians, and told
them beforehand the ruin the war would bring upon them, by their
grasping more than they were able to manage. But Fabius was not so good
a prophet, when he denounced to the Romans that the undertaking of
Scipio would be the destruction of the commonwealth. So that Pericles
was a good prophet of bad success, and Fabius was a bad prophet of
success that was good. And, indeed, to lose an advantage through
diffidence is no less blamable in a general than to fall into danger
for want of foresight; for both these faults, though of a contrary
nature, spring from the same root, want of judgment and experience.
As for their civil policy, it is imputed to Pericles that he occasioned
the war, since no terms of peace, offered by the Lacedaemonians, would
content him. It is true, I presume, that Fabius, also, was not for
yielding any point to the Carthaginians, but was ready to hazard all,
rather than lessen the empire of Rome. The mildness of Fabius towards
his colleague Minucius does, by way of comparison, rebuke and condemn
the exertions of Pericles to banish Cimon and Thucydides, noble,
aristocratic men, who by his means suffered ostracism. The authority of
Pericles in Athens was much greater than that of Fabius in Rome. Hence
it was more easy for him to prevent miscarriages arising from the
mistakes and insufficiency of other officers; only Tolmides broke loose
from him, and, contrary to his persuasions, unadvisedly fought with the
Boeotians, and was slain. The greatness of his influence made all
others submit and conform themselves to his judgment. Whereas Fabius,
sure and unerring himself, for want of that general power, had not the
means to obviate the miscarriages of others; but it had been happy for
the Romans if his authority had been greater, for so, we may presume,
their disasters had been fewer.
As to liberality and public spirit, Pericles was eminent in never
taking any gifts, and Fabius, for giving his own money to ransom his
soldiers, though the sum did not exceed six talents. Than Pericles,
meantime, no man had ever greater opportunities to enrich himself,
having had presents offered him from so many kings and princes and
allies, yet no man was ever more free from corruption. And for the
beauty and magnificence of temples and public edifices with which he
adorned his country, it must be confessed, that all the ornaments and
structures of Rome, to the time of the Caesars, had nothing to compare,
either in greatness of design or of expense, with the luster of those
which Pericles only erected at Athens.
ALCIBIADES
Alcibiades, as it is supposed, was anciently descended from Eurysaces,
the son of Ajax, by his father's side; and by his mother's side from
Alcmaeon. Dinomache, his mother, was the daughter of Megacles. His
father Clinias, having fitted out a galley at his own expense, gained
great honor in the sea-fight at Artemisium, and was afterwards slain in
the battle of Coronea, fighting against the Boeotians. Pericles and
Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus, nearly related to him, became the
guardians of Alcibiades. It has been said not untruly that the
friendship which Socrates felt for him has much contributed to his
fame; and certain it is, that, though we have no account from any
writer concerning the mother of Nicias or Demosthenes, of Lamachus or
Phormion, of Thrasybulus or Theramenes, notwithstanding these were all
illustrious men of the same period, yet we know even the nurse of
Alcibiades, that her country was Lacedaemon, and her name Amycla; and
that Zopyrus was his teacher and attendant; the one being recorded by
Antisthenes, and the other by Plato.
It is not, perhaps, material to say anything of the beauty of
Alcibiades, only that it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life,
in his infancy, in his youth, and in his manhood; and, in the peculiar
character becoming to each of these periods, gave him, in every one of
them, a grace and a charm. What Euripides says, that
"Of all fair things the autumn, too, is fair,"
is by no means universally true. But it happened so with Alcibiades,
amongst few others, by reason of his happy constitution and natural
vigor of body. It is said that his lisping, when he spoke, became him
well, and gave a grace and persuasiveness to his rapid speech.
Aristophanes takes notice of it in the verses in which he jests at
Theorus; "How like a colax he is," says Alcibiades, meaning a corax; on
which it is remarked,
"How very happily he lisped the truth."
Archippus also alludes to it in a passage where he ridicules the son of
Alcibiades;
"That people may believe him like his father,
He walks like one dissolved in luxury,
Lets his robe trail behind him on the ground,
Carelessly leans his head, and in his talk affects to lisp."
His conduct displayed many great inconsistencies and variations, not
unnaturally, in accordance with the many and wonderful vicissitudes of
his fortunes; but among the many strong passions of his real character,
the one most prevailing of all was his ambition and desire of
superiority, which appears in several anecdotes told of his sayings
whilst he was a child. Once being hard pressed in wrestling, and
fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of his antagonist to his mouth,
and bit it with all his force; and when the other loosed his hold
presently, and said, "You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman." "No,"
replied he, "like a lion." Another time as he played at dice in the
street, being then but a child, a loaded cart came that way, when it
was his turn to throw; at first he called to the driver to stop,
because he was to throw in the way over which the cart was to pass; but
the man giving him no attention and driving on, when the rest of the
boys divided and gave way, Alcibiades threw himself on his face before
the cart, and, stretching himself out, bade the carter pass on now if
he would; which so startled the man, that he put back his horses, while
all that saw it were terrified, and, crying out, ran to assist
Alcibiades. When he began to study, he obeyed all his other masters
fairly well, but refused to learn upon the flute, as a sordid thing,
and not becoming a free citizen; saying, that to play on the lute or
the harp does not in any way disfigure a man's body or face, but one is
hardly to be known by the most intimate friends, when playing on the
flute. Besides, one who plays on the harp may speak or sing at the same
time; but the use of the flute stops the mouth, intercepts the voice,
and prevents all articulation. "Therefore," said he, "let the Theban
youths pipe, who do not know how to speak, but we Athenians, as our
ancestors have told us, have Minerva for our patroness, and Apollo for
our protector, one of whom threw away the flute, and the other stripped
the Flute-player of his skin." Thus, between raillery and good earnest,
Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from learning, as it
presently became the talk of the young boys, how Alcibiades despised
playing on the flute, and ridiculed those who studied it. In
consequence of which, it ceased to be reckoned amongst the liberal
accomplishments, and became generally neglected.
It is stated in the invective which Antiphon wrote against Alcibiades,
that once, when he was a boy, he ran away to the house of Democrates,
one of those who made a favorite of him, and that Ariphron had
determined to cause proclamation to be made for him, had not Pericles
diverted him from it, by saying, that if he were dead, the proclaiming
of him could only cause it to be discovered one day sooner, and if he
were safe, it would be a reproach to him as long as he lived. Antiphon
also says, that he killed one of his own servants with the blow of a
staff in Sibyrtius's wrestling ground. But it is unreasonable to give
credit to all that is objected by an enemy, who makes open profession
of his design to defame him.
It was manifest that the many well-born persons who were continually
seeking his company, and making their court to him, were attracted and
captivated by his brilliant and extraordinary beauty only. But the
affection which Socrates entertained for him is a great evidence of the
natural noble qualities and good disposition of the boy, which
Socrates, indeed, detected both in and under his personal beauty; and,
fearing that his wealth and station, and the great number both of
strangers and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might at last
corrupt him, resolved, if possible, to interpose, and preserve so
hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit came to
perfection. For never did fortune surround and enclose a man with so
many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so protect him
from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every access of
free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the
beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely his
gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to
listen to any real adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of
his genius, that he discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him,
whilst he drove away the wealthy and the noble who made court to him.
And, in a little time, they grew intimate, and Alcibiades, listening
now to language entirely free from every thought of unmanly fondness
and silly displays of affection, finding himself with one who sought to
lay open to him the deficiencies of his mind, and repress his vain and
foolish arrogance,
"Dropped like the craven cock his conquered wing."
He esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means which the
gods made use of for the care and preservation of youth, and began to
think meanly of himself, and to admire him; to be pleased with his
kindness, and to stand in awe of his virtue; and, unawares to himself,
there became formed in his mind that reflex image and reciprocation of
Love, or Anteros,@ that Plato talks of. It was a matter of general
wonder, when people saw him joining Socrates in his meals and his
exercises, living with him in the same tent, whilst he was reserved and
rough to all others who made their addresses to him, and acted, indeed,
with great insolence to some of them. As in particular to Anytus, the
son of Anthemion, one who was very fond of him, and invited him to an
entertainment which he had prepared for some strangers. Alcibiades
refused the invitation; but, having drunk to excess at his own house
with some of his companions, went thither with them to play some
frolic; and, standing at the door of the room where the guests were
enjoying themselves, and seeing the tables covered with gold and silver
cups, he commanded his servants to take away the one half of them, and
carry them to his own house; and then, disdaining so much as to enter
into the room himself, as soon as he had done this, went away. The
company was indignant, and exclaimed at his rude and insulting conduct;
Anytus, however, said, on the contrary he had shown great consideration
and tenderness in taking only a part, when he might have taken all.
He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him, except
only one stranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small
estate, sold it all for about a hundred staters, which he presented to
Alcibiades, and besought him to accept. Alcibiades, smiling and well
pleased at the thing, invited him to supper, and, after a very kind
entertainment, gave him his gold again, requiring him, moreover, not to
fail to be present the next day, when the public revenue was offered to
farm, and to outbid all others. The man would have excused himself,
because the contract was so large, and would cost many talents; but
Alcibiades, who had at that time a private pique against the existing
farmers of the revenue, threatened to have him beaten if he refused.
The next morning, the stranger, coming to the marketplace, offered a
talent more than the existing rate; upon which the farmers, enraged and
consulting together, called upon him to name his sureties, concluding
that he could find none. The poor man, being startled at the proposal,
began to retire; but Alcibiades, standing at a distance, cried out to
the magistrates, "Set my name down, he is a friend of mine; I will be
security for him." When the other bidders heard this, they perceived
that all their contrivance was defeated; for their way was, with the
profits of the second year to pay the rent for the year preceding; so
that, not seeing any other way to extricate themselves out of the
difficulty, they began to entreat the stranger, and offered him a sum
of money. Alcibiades would not suffer him to accept of less than a
talent; but when that was paid down, he commanded him to relinquish the
bargain, having by this device relieved his necessity.
Though Socrates had many and powerful rivals, yet the natural good
qualities of Alcibiades gave his affection the mastery. His words
overcame him so much, as to draw tears from his eyes, and to disturb
his very soul. Yet sometimes he would abandon himself to flatterers,
when they proposed to him varieties of pleasure, and would desert
Socrates; who, then, would pursue him, as if he had been a fugitive
slave. He despised everyone else, and had no reverence or awe for any
but him. Cleanthes the philosopher; speaking of one to whom he was
attached, says his only hold on him was by his ears, while his rivals
had all the others offered them; and there is no question that
Alcibiades was very easily caught by pleasures; and the expression used
by Thucydides about the excesses of his habitual course of living gives
occasion to believe so. But those who endeavored to corrupt Alcibiades,
took advantage chiefly of his vanity and ambition, and thrust him on
unseasonably to undertake great enterprises, persuading him, that as
soon as he began to concern himself in public affairs, he would not
only obscure the rest of the generals and statesmen, but outdo the
authority and the reputation which Pericles himself had gained in
Greece. But in the same manner as iron which is softened by the fire
grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed again; so, as
often as Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or pride,
he reduced and corrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and
modest, by showing him in how many things he was deficient, and how
very far from perfection in virtue.
When he was past his childhood, he went once to a grammar-school, and
asked the master for one of Homer's books; and he making answer that he
had nothing of Homer's, Alcibiades gave him a blow with his fist, and
went away. Another schoolmaster telling him that he had Homer corrected
by himself; "How," said Alcibiades, "and do you employ your time in
teaching children to read? You, who are able to amend Homer, may well
undertake to instruct men." Being once desirous to speak with Pericles,
he went to his house and was told there that he was not at leisure, but
busied in considering how to give up his accounts to the Athenians;
Alcibiades, as he went away, said, "It were better for him to consider
how he might avoid giving up his accounts at all."
Whilst he was very young, he was a soldier in the expedition against
Potidaea, where Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and stood
next him in battle. Once there happened a sharp skirmish, in which they
both behaved with signal bravery; but Alcibiades receiving a wound,
Socrates threw himself before him to defend him, and beyond any
question saved him and his arms from the enemy, and so in all justice
might have challenged the prize of valor. But the generals appearing
eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, because of his rank,
Socrates, who desired to increase his thirst after glory of a noble
kind, was the first to give evidence for him, and pressed them to crown
him, and to decree to him the complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in
the battle of Delium, when the Athenians were routed and Socrates with
a few others was retreating on foot, Alcibiades, who was on horseback,
observing it, would not pass on, but stayed to shelter him from the
danger, and brought him safe off, though the enemy pressed hard upon
them, and cut off many. But this happened some time after.
He gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias, whose
birth and wealth made him a person of great influence and repute. And
this he did unprovoked by any passion or quarrel between them, but only
because, in a frolic, he had agreed with his companions to do it.
People were justly offended at this insolence, when it became known
through the city; but early the next morning, Alcibiades went to his
house and knocked at the door, and, being admitted to him, took off his
outer garment, and, presenting his naked body, desired him to scourge
and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this Hipponicus forgot all his
resentment, and not only pardoned him, but soon after gave him his
daughter Hipparete in marriage. Some say that it was not Hipponicus,
but his son Callias, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades, together with a
portion of ten talents, and that after, when she had a child,
Alcibiades forced him to give ten talents more, upon pretense that such
was the agreement if she brought him any children. Afterwards, Callias,
for fear of coming to his death by his means, declared, in a full
assembly of the people, that if he should happen to die without
children, the state should inherit his house and all his goods.
Hipparete was a virtuous and dutiful wife, but, at last, growing
impatient of the outrages done to her by her husband's continual
entertaining of courtesans, as well strangers as Athenians, she
departed from him and retired to her brother's house. Alcibiades seemed
not at all concerned at this, and lived on still in the same luxury;
but the law requiring that she should deliver to the archon in person,
and not by proxy, the instrument by which she claimed a divorce, when,
in obedience to the law, she presented herself before him to perform
this, Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home through
the marketplace, no one daring to oppose him, nor to take her from him.
She continued with him till her death, which happened not long after,
when Alcibiades had gone to Ephesus. Nor is this violence to be thought
so very enormous or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to
be divorced appear in public, seems to design to give her husband an
opportunity of treating with her, and of endeavoring to retain her.
Alcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas, and was a very large
one, and very handsome. His tail, which was his principal ornament, he
caused to be cut off, and his acquaintance exclaiming at him for it,
and telling him that all Athens was sorry for the dog, and cried out
upon him for this action, he laughed, and said, "Just what I wanted has
happened, then. I wished the Athenians to talk about this, that they
might not say something worse of me."
It is said that the first time he came into the assembly was upon
occasion of a largess of money which he made to the people. This was
not done by design, but as he passed along he heard a shout, and
inquiring the cause, and having learned that there was a donative
making to the people, he went in amongst them and gave money also. The
multitude thereupon applauding him, and shouting, he was so transported
at it, that he forgot a quail which he had under his robe, and the
bird, being frighted with the noise, flew off; upon which the people
made louder acclamations than before, and many of them started up to
pursue the bird; and one Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and restored it
to him, for which he was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades.
He had great advantages for entering public life; his noble birth, his
riches, the personal courage he had shown in divers battles, and the
multitude of his friends and dependents, threw open, so to say, folding
doors for his admittance. But he did not consent to let his power with
the people rest on any thing, rather than on his own gift of eloquence.
That he was a master in the art of speaking, the comic poets bear him
witness; and the most eloquent of public speakers, in his oration
against Midias, allows that Alcibiades, among other perfections, was a
most accomplished orator. If, however, we give credit to Theophrastus,
who of all philosophers was the most curious inquirer, and the greatest
lover of history, we are to understand that Alcibiades had the highest
capacity for inventing, for discerning what was the right thing to be
said for any purpose, and on any occasion; but, aiming not only at
saying what was required, but also at saying it well, in respect, that
is, of words and phrases, when these did not readily occur, he would
often pause in the middle of his discourse for want of the apt word,
and would be silent and stop till he could recollect himself, and had
considered what to say.
His expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the number of
his chariots, were matter of great observation; never did anyone but
he, either private person or king, send seven chariots to the Olympic
games. And to have carried away at once the first, the second, and the
fourth prize, as Thucydides says, or the third, as Euripides relates
it, outdoes far away every distinction that ever was known or thought
of in that kind. Euripides celebrates his success in this manner:--
"--But my song to you, Son of Clinias, is due.
Victory is noble; how much more
To do as never Greek before;
To obtain in the great chariot race
The first, the second, and third place;
With easy step advanced to fame,
To bid the herald three times claim
The olive for one victor's name."
The emulation displayed by the deputations of various states, in the
presents which they made to him, rendered this success yet more
illustrious. The Ephesians erected a tent for him, adorned
magnificently; the city of Chios furnished him with provender for his
horses and with great numbers of beasts for sacrifice; and the Lesbians
sent him wine and other provisions for the many great entertainments
which he made. Yet in the midst of all this he escaped not without
censure, occasioned either by the ill-nature of his enemies or by his
own misconduct. For it is said, that one Diomedes, all Athenian, a
worthy man and a friend to Alcibiades, passionately desiring to obtain
the victory at the Olympic games, and having heard much of a chariot
which belonged to the state at Argos, where he knew that Alcibiades had
great power and many friends, prevailed with him to undertake to buy
the chariot. Alcibiades did indeed buy it, but then claimed it for his
own, leaving Diomedes to rage at him, and to call upon the gods and men
to bear witness to the injustice. It would seem there was a suit at law
commenced upon this occasion, and there is yet extant an oration
concerning the chariot, written by Isocrates in defense of the son of
Alcibiades. But the plaintiff in this action is named Tisias, and not
Diomedes.
As soon as he began to intermeddle in the government, which was when he
was very young, he quickly lessened the credit of all who aspired to
the confidence of the people, except Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus,
and Nicias, the son of Niceratus, who alone could contest it with him.
Nicias was arrived at a mature age, and was esteemed their first
general. Phaeax was but a rising statesman like Alcibiades; he was
descended from noble ancestors, but was his inferior, as in many other
things, so, principally, in eloquence. He possessed rather the art of
persuading in private conversation than of debate before the people,
and was, as Eupolis said of him,
"The best of talkers, and of speakers worst."
There is extant an oration written by Phaeax against Alcibiades, in
which, amongst other things, it is said, that Alcibiades made daily use
at his table of many gold and silver vessels, which belonged to the
commonwealth, as if they had been his own.
There was a certain Hyperbolus, of the township of Perithoedae, whom
Thucydides also speaks of as a man of bad character, a general butt for
the mockery of all the comic writers of the time, but quite unconcerned
at the worst things they could say, and, being careless of glory, also
insensible of shame; a temper which some people call boldness and
courage, whereas it is indeed impudence and recklessness. He was liked
by nobody, yet the people made frequent use of him, when they had a
mind to disgrace or calumniate any persons in authority. At this time,
the people, by his persuasions, were ready to proceed to pronounce the
sentence of ten years' banishment, called ostracism. This they made use
of to humiliate and drive out of the city such citizens as outdid the
rest in credit and power, indulging not so much perhaps their
apprehensions as their jealousies in this way. And when, at this time,
there was no doubt but that the ostracism would fall upon one of those
three, Alcibiades contrived to form a coalition of parties, and,
communicating his project to Nicias, turned the sentence upon
Hyperbolus himself. Others say, that it was not with Nicias, but
Phaeax, that he consulted, and, by help of his party, procured the
banishment of Hyperbolus, when he suspected nothing less. For, before
that time, no mean or obscure person had ever fallen under that
punishment, so that Plato, the comic poet, speaking of Hyperbolus,
might well say,
"The man deserved the fate; deny 't who can?
Yes, but the fate did not deserve the man;
Not for the like of him and his slave-brands
Did Athens put the sherd into our hands."
But we have given elsewhere a fuller statement of what is known to us
of the matter.
Alcibiades was not less disturbed at the distinctions which Nicias
gained amongst the enemies of Athens, than at the honors which the
Athenians themselves paid to him. For though Alcibiades was the proper
appointed person to receive all Lacedaemonians when they came to
Athens, and had taken particular care of those that were made prisoners
at Pylos, yet, after they had obtained the peace and restitution of the
captives, by the procurement chiefly of Nicias, they paid him very
special attentions. And it was commonly said in Greece, that the war
was begun by Pericles, and that Nicias made an end of it, and the peace
was generally called the peace of Nicias. Alcibiades was extremely
annoyed at this, and, being full of envy, set himself to break the
league. First, therefore, observing that the Argives, as well out of
fear as hatred to the Lacedaemonians, sought for protection against
them, he gave them a secret assurance of alliance with Athens. And
communicating, as well in person as by letters, with the chief advisers
of the people there, he encouraged them not to fear the Lacedaemonians,
nor make concessions to them, but to wait a little, and keep their eyes
on the Athenians, who, already, were all but sorry they had made peace,
and would soon give it up. And, afterwards, when the Lacedaemonians had
made a league with the Boeotians, and had not delivered up Panactum
entire, as they ought to have done by the treaty, but only after first
destroying it, which gave great offense to the people of Athens,
Alcibiades laid hold of that opportunity to exasperate them more
highly. He exclaimed fiercely against Nicias, and accused him of many
things, which seemed probable enough: as that, when he was general, he
made no attempt himself to capture their enemies that were shut up in
the isle of Sphacteria, but, when they were afterwards made prisoners
by others, he procured their release and sent them back to the
Lacedaemonians, only to get favor with them; that he would not make use
of his credit with them, to prevent their entering into this
confederacy with the Boeotians and Corinthians, and yet, on the other
side, that he sought to stand in the way of those Greeks who were
inclined to make an alliance and friendship with Athens, if the
Lacedaemonians did not like it.
It happened, at the very time when Nicias was by these arts brought
into disgrace with the people, that ambassadors arrived from
Lacedaemon, who, at their first coming, said what seemed very
satisfactory, declaring that they had full powers to arrange all
matters in dispute upon fair and equal terms. The council received
their propositions, and the people was to assemble on the morrow to
give them audience. Alcibiades grew very apprehensive of this, and
contrived to gain a secret conference with the ambassadors. When they
were met, he said: "What is it you intend, you men of Sparta? Can you
be ignorant that the council always act with moderation and respect
towards ambassadors, but that the people are full of ambition and great
designs? So that, if you let them know what full powers your commission
gives you, they will urge and press you to unreasonable conditions.
Quit therefore, this indiscreet simplicity, if you expect to obtain
equal terms from the Athenians, and would not have things extorted from
you contrary to your inclinations, and begin to treat with the people
upon some reasonable articles, not avowing yourselves
plenipotentiaries; and I will be ready to assist you, out of good-will
to the Lacedaemonians." When he had said thus, he gave them his oath
for the performance of what he promised, and by this way drew them from
Nicias to rely entirely upon himself, and left them full of admiration
of the discernment and sagacity they had seen in him. The next day,
when the people were assembled and the ambassadors introduced,
Alcibiades, with great apparent courtesy, demanded of them, With what
powers they were come? They made answer that they were not come as
plenipotentiaries.
Instantly upon that, Alcibiades, with a loud voice, as though he had
received and not done the wrong, began to call them dishonest
prevaricators, and to urge that such men could not possibly come with a
purpose to say or do anything that was sincere. The council was
incensed, the people were in a rage, and Nicias, who knew nothing of
the deceit and the imposture, was in the greatest confusion, equally
surprised and ashamed at such a change in the men. So thus the
Lacedaemonian ambassadors were utterly rejected, and Alcibiades was
declared general, who presently united the Argives, the Eleans, and the
people of Mantinea, into a confederacy with the Athenians.
No man commended the method by which Alcibiades effected all this, yet
it was a great political feat thus to divide and shake almost all
Peloponnesus, and to combine so many men in arms against the
Lacedaemonians in one day before Mantinea; and, moreover, to remove the
war and the danger so far from the frontier of the Athenians, that even
success would profit the enemy but little, should they be conquerors,
whereas, if they were defeated, Sparta itself was hardly safe.
After this battle at Mantinea, the select thousand of the army of the
Argives attempted to overthrow the government of the people in Argos,
and make themselves masters of the city; and the Lacedaemonians came to
their aid and abolished the democracy. But the people took arms again,
and gained the advantage, and Alcibiades came in to their aid and
completed the victory, and persuaded them to build long walls, and by
that means to join their city to the sea, and so to bring it wholly
within the reach of the Athenian power. To this purpose, he procured
them builders and masons from Athens, and displayed the greatest zeal
for their service, and gained no less honor and power to himself than
to the commonwealth of Athens. He also persuaded the people of Patrae
to join their city to the sea, by building long walls; and when some
one told them, by way of warning, that the Athenians would swallow them
up at last Alcibiades made answer, "Possibly it may be so, but it will
be by little and little, and beginning at the feet, whereas the
Lacedaemonians will begin at the head and devour you all at once." Nor
did he neglect either to advise the Athenians to look to their
interests by land, and often put the young men in mind of the oath
which they had made at Agraulos, to the effect that they would account
wheat and barley, and vines and olives, to be the limits of Attica; by
which they were taught to claim a title to all land that was cultivated
and productive.
But with all these words and deeds, and with all this sagacity and
eloquence, he intermingled exorbitant luxury and wantonness in his
eating and drinking and dissolute living; wore long purple robes like a
woman, which dragged after him as he went through the market-place;
caused the planks of his galley to be cut away, that so he might lie
the softer, his bed not being placed on the boards, but hanging upon
girths. His shield, again, which was richly gilded, had not the usual
ensigns of the Athenians, but a Cupid, holding a thunderbolt in his
hand, was painted upon it. The sight of all this made the people of
good repute in the city feel disgust and abhorrence, and apprehension
also, at his free-living, and his contempt of law, as things monstrous
in themselves, and indicating designs of usurpation. Aristophanes has
well expressed the people's feeling towards him:--
"They love, and hate, and cannot do without him."
And still more strongly, under a figurative expression,
"Best rear no lion in your state, 'tis true;
But treat him like a lion if you do."
The truth is, his liberalities, his public shows, and other munificence
to the people, which were such as nothing could exceed, the glory of
his ancestors, the force of his eloquence, the grace of his person, his
strength of body, joined with his great courage and knowledge in
military affairs, prevailed upon the Athenians to endure patiently his
excesses, to indulge many things to him, and, according to their habit,
to give the softest names to his faults, attributing them to youth and
good nature. As, for example, he kept Agatharcus, the painter, a
prisoner till he had painted his whole house, but then dismissed him
with a reward. He publicly struck Taureas, who exhibited certain shows
in opposition to him and contended with him for the prize. He selected
for himself one of the captive Melian women, and had a son by her, whom
he took care to educate. This the Athenians styled great humanity; and
yet he was the principal cause of the slaughter of all the inhabitants
of the isle of Melos who were of age to bear arms, having spoken in
favor of that decree. When Aristophon, the painter, had drawn Nemea
sitting and holding Alcibiades in her arms, the multitude seemed
pleased with the piece, and thronged to see it, but older people
disliked and disrelished it, and looked on these things as enormities,
and movements towards tyranny. So that it was not said amiss by
Archestratus, that Greece could not support a second Alcibiades. Once,
when Alcibiades succeeded well in an oration which he made, and the
whole assembly attended upon him to do him honor, Timon the misanthrope
did not pass slightly by him, nor avoid him, as he did others, but
purposely met him, and, taking him by the hand, said, "Go on boldly, my
son, and increase in credit with the people, for thou wilt one day
bring them calamities enough." Some that were present laughed at the
saying, and some reviled Timon; but there were others upon whom it made
a deep impression; so various was the judgment which was made of him,
and so irregular his own character.
The Athenians, even in the lifetime of Pericles, had already cast a
longing eye upon Sicily; but did not attempt any thing till after his
death. Then, under pretense of aiding their confederates, they sent
succors upon all occasions to those who were oppressed by the
Syracusans, preparing the way for sending over a greater force. But
Alcibiades was the person who inflamed this desire of theirs to the
height, and prevailed with them no longer to proceed secretly, and by
little and little, in their design, but to sail out with a great fleet,
and undertake at once to make themselves masters of the island. He
possessed the people with great hopes, and he himself entertained yet
greater; and the conquest of Sicily, which was the utmost bound of
their ambition, was but the mere outset of his expectation. Nicias
endeavored to divert the people from the expedition, by representing to
them that the taking of Syracuse would be a work of great difficulty;
but Alcibiades dreamed of nothing less than the conquest of Carthage
and Libya, and by the accession of these conceiving himself at once
made master of Italy and of Peloponnesus, seemed to look upon Sicily as
little more than a magazine for the war. The young men were soon
elevated with these hopes, and listened gladly to those of riper years,
who talked wonders of the countries they were going to; so that you
might see great numbers sitting in the wrestling grounds and public
places, drawing on the ground the figure of the island and the
situation of Libya and Carthage. Socrates the philosopher and Meton the
astrologer are said, however, never to have hoped for any good to the
commonwealth from this war; the one, it is to be supposed, presaging
what would ensue, by the intervention of his attendant Genius; and the
other, either upon rational consideration of the project, or by use of
the art of divination, conceived fears for its issue, and, feigning
madness, caught up a burning torch, and seemed as if he would have set
his own house on fire. Others report, that he did not take upon him to
act the madman, but secretly in the night set his house on fire, and
the next morning besought the people, that for his comfort, after such
a calamity, they would spare his son from the expedition. By which
artifice, he deceived his fellow-citizens, and obtained of them what he
desired.
Together with Alcibiades, Nicias, much against his will, was appointed
general: and he endeavored to avoid the command, not the less on
account of his colleague. But the Athenians thought the war would
proceed more prosperously, if they did not send Alcibiades free from
all restraint, but tempered his heat with the caution of Nicias. This
they chose the rather to do, because Lamachus, the third general,
though he was of mature years, yet in several battles had appeared no
less hot and rash than Alcibiades himself. When they began to
deliberate of the number of forces, and of the manner of making the
necessary provisions, Nicias made another attempt to oppose the design,
and to prevent the war; but Alcibiades contradicted him, and carried
his point with the people. And one Demostratus, an orator, proposing to
give the generals absolute power over the preparations and the whole
management of the war, it was presently decreed so. When all things
were fitted for the voyage, many unlucky omens appeared. At that very
time the feast of Adonis happened, in which the women were used to
expose, in all parts of the city, images resembling dead men carried
out to their burial, and to represent funeral solemnities by
lamentations and mournful songs. The mutilation, however, of the images
of Mercury, most of which, in one night, had their faces all
disfigured, terrified many persons who were wont to despise most things
of that nature. It was given out that it was done by the Corinthians,
for the sake of the Syracusans, who were their colony, in hopes that
the Athenians, by such prodigies, might be induced to delay or abandon
the war. But the report gained no credit with the people, nor yet the
opinion of those who would not believe that there was anything ominous
in the matter, but that it was only an extravagant action, committed,
in that sort of sport which runs into license, by wild young men coming
from a debauch. Alike enraged and terrified at the thing, looking upon
it to proceed from a conspiracy of persons who designed some commotions
in the state, the council, as well as the assembly of the people, which
was held frequently in a few days' space, examined diligently
everything that might administer ground for suspicion. During this
examination, Androcles, one of the demagogues, produced certain slaves
and strangers before them, who accused Alcibiades and some of his
friends of defacing other images in the same manner, and of having
profanely acted the sacred mysteries at a drunken meeting, where one
Theodorus represented the herald, Polytion the torch- bearer, and
Alcibiades the chief priest, while the rest of the party appeared as
candidates for initiation, and received the title of Initiates. These
were the matters contained in the articles of information, which
Thessalus, the son of Cimon, exhibited against Alcibiades, for his
impious mockery of the goddesses, Ceres and Proserpine. The people were
highly exasperated and incensed against Alcibiades upon this
accusation, which, being aggravated by Androcles, the most malicious of
all his enemies, at first disturbed his friends exceedingly. But when
they perceived that all the sea-men designed for Sicily were for him,
and the soldiers also, and when the Argive and Mantinean auxiliaries, a
thousand men at arms, openly declared that they had undertaken this
distant maritime expedition for the sake of Alcibiades, and that, if he
was ill-used, they would all go home, they recovered their courage, and
became eager to make use of the present opportunity for justifying him.
At this his enemies were again discouraged, fearing lest the people
should be more gentle to him in their sentence, because of the occasion
they had for his service. Therefore, to obviate this, they contrived
that some other orators, who did not appear to be enemies to
Alcibiades, but really hated him no less than those who avowed it,
should stand up in the assembly and say, that it was a very absurd
thing that one who was created general of such an army with absolute
power, after his troops were assembled, and the confederates were come,
should lose the opportunity, whilst the people were choosing his judges
by lot, and appointing times for the hearing of the cause. And,
therefore, let him set sail at once; good fortune attend him; and when
the war should be at an end, he might then in person make his defense
according to the laws.
Alcibiades perceived the malice of this postponement, and, appearing in
the assembly represented that it was monstrous for him to be sent with
the command of so large an army, when he lay under such accusations and
calumnies; that he deserved to die, if he could not clear himself of
the crimes objected to him; but when he had so done, and had proved his
innocence, he should then cheerfully apply himself to the war, as
standing no longer in fear of false accusers. But he could not prevail
with the people, who commanded him to sail immediately. So he departed,
together with the other generals, having with them near 140 galleys,
5,100 men at arms, and about 1,300 archers, slingers, and light-armed
men, and all the other provisions corresponding.
Arriving on the coast of Italy, he landed at Rhegium, and there stated
his views of the manner in which they ought to conduct the war. He was
opposed by Nicias, but Lamachus being of his opinion, they sailed for
Sicily forthwith, and took Catana. This was all that was done while he
was there, for he was soon after recalled by the Athenians to abide his
trial. At first, as we before said, there were only some slight
suspicions advanced against Alcibiades, and accusations by certain
slaves and strangers. But afterwards, in his absence, his enemies
attacked him more violently, and confounded together the breaking the
images with the profanation of the mysteries, as though both had been
committed in pursuance of the same conspiracy for changing the
government. The people proceeded to imprison all that were accused,
without distinction, and without hearing them, and repented now,
considering the importance of the charge, that they had not immediately
brought Alcibiades to his trial, and given judgment against him. Any of
his friends or acquaintance who fell into the people's hands, whilst
they were in this fury, did not fail to meet with very severe usage.
Thucydides has omitted to name the informers, but others mention
Dioclides and Teucer. Amongst whom is Phrynichus, the comic poet, in
whom we find the following:--
"O dearest Hermes! only do take care,
And mind you do not miss your footing there;
Should you get hurt, occasion may arise
For a new Dioclides to tell lies."
To which he makes Mercury return this answer:--
"I will so, for I feel no inclination
To reward Teucer for more information."
The truth is, his accusers alleged nothing that was certain or solid
against him. One of them, being asked how he knew the men who defaced
the images, replying, that he saw them by the light of the moon, made a
palpable misstatement, for it was just new moon when the fact was
committed. This made all men of understanding cry out upon the thing;
but the people were as eager as ever to receive further accusations,
nor was their first heat at all abated, but they instantly seized and
imprisoned every one that was accused. Amongst those who were detained
in prison for their trials was Andocides the orator, whose descent the
historian Hellanicus deduces from Ulysses. He was always supposed to
hate popular government, and to support oligarchy. The chief ground of
his being suspected of defacing the images was because the great
Mercury, which stood near his house, and was an ancient monument of the
tribe Aegeis, was almost the only statue of all the remarkable ones,
which remained entire. For this cause, it is now called the Mercury of
Andocides, all men giving it that name, though the inscription is
evidence to the contrary. It happened that Andocides, amongst the rest
who were prisoners upon the same account, contracted particular
acquaintance and intimacy with one Timaeus, a person inferior to him in
repute, but of remarkable dexterity and boldness. He persuaded
Andocides to accuse himself and some few others of this crime, urging
to him that, upon his confession, he would be, by the decree of the
people, secure of his pardon, whereas the event of judgment is
uncertain to all men, but to great persons, such as he was, most
formidable. So that it was better for him, if he regarded himself, to
save his life by a falsity, than to suffer an infamous death, as really
guilty of the crime. And if he had regard to the public good, it was
commendable to sacrifice a few suspected men, by that means to rescue
many excellent persons from the fury of the people. Andocides was
prevailed upon, and accused himself and some others, and, by the terms
of the decree, obtained his pardon, while all the persons named by him,
except some few who had saved themselves by flight, suffered death. To
gain the greater credit to his information, he accused his own servants
amongst others. But notwithstanding this, the people's anger was not
wholly appeased; and being now no longer diverted by the mutilators,
they were at leisure to pour out their whole rage upon Alcibiades. And,
in conclusion, they sent the galley named the Salaminian, to recall
him. But they expressly commanded those that were sent, to use no
violence, nor seize upon his person, but address themselves to him in
the mildest terms, requiring him to follow them to Athens in order to
abide his trial, and clear himself before the people. For they feared
mutiny and sedition in the army in an enemy's country, which indeed it
would have been easy for Alcibiades to effect, if he had wished it. For
the soldiers were dispirited upon his departure, expecting for the
future tedious delays, and that the war would be drawn out into a lazy
length by Nicias, when Alcibiades, who was the spur to action, was
taken away. For though Lamachus was a soldier, and a man of courage,
poverty deprived him of authority and respect in the army. Alcibiades,
just upon his departure, prevented Messena from falling into the hands
of the Athenians. There were some in that city who were upon the point
of delivering it up, but he, knowing the persons, gave information to
some friends of the Syracusans, and so defeated the whole contrivance.
When he arrived at Thurii, he went on shore, and, concealing himself
there, escaped those who searched after him. But to one who knew him,
and asked him if he durst not trust his own native country, he made
answer, "In everything else, yes; but in a matter that touches my life,
I would not even my own mother, lest she might by mistake throw in the
black ball instead of the white." When, afterwards, he was told that
the assembly had pronounced judgment of death against him, all he said
was, "I will make them feel that I am alive."
The information against him was conceived in this form:--
"Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the township of Lacia, lays information
that Alcibiades, the son of Clinias, of the township of the Scambonidae,
has committed a crime against the goddesses Ceres and Proserpine, by
representing in derision the holy mysteries, and showing them to his
companions in his own house. Where, being habited in such robes
as are
used by the chief priest when he shows the holy things, he named himself
the chief priest, Polytion the torch-bearer, and Theodorus, of the
township of Phegaea, the herald; and saluted the rest of his company as
Initiates and Novices. All which was done contrary to the laws and
institutions of the Eumolpidae, and the heralds and priests of the
temple at Eleusis."
He was condemned as contumacious upon his not appearing, his property
confiscated, and it was decreed that all the priests and priestesses
should solemnly curse him. But one of them, Theano, the daughter of
Menon, of the township of Agraule, is said to have opposed that part of
the decree, saying that her holy office obliged her to make prayers,
but not execrations.
Alcibiades, lying under these heavy decrees and sentences, when first
he fled from Thurii, passed over into Peloponnesus and remained some
time at Argos. But being there in fear of his enemies and seeing
himself utterly hopeless of return to his native country, he sent to
Sparta, desiring safe conduct, and assuring them that he would make
them amends by his future services for all the mischief he had done
them while he was their enemy. The Spartans giving him the security he
desired, he went eagerly, was well received, and, at his very first
coming, succeeded in inducing them, without any further caution or
delay, to send aid to the Syracusans; and so roused and excited them,
that they forthwith dispatched Gylippus into Sicily, to crush the
forces which the Athenians had in Sicily. A second point was, to renew
the war upon the Athenians at home. But the third thing, and the most
important of all, was to make them fortify Decelea, which above
everything reduced and wasted the resources of the Athenians.
The renown which he earned by these public services was equaled by the
admiration he attracted to his private life; he captivated and won over
everybody by his conformity to Spartan habits. People who saw him
wearing his hair close cut, bathing in cold water, eating coarse meal,
and dining on black broth, doubted, or rather could not believe, that
he ever had a cook in his house, or had ever seen a perfumer, or had
worn a mantle of Milesian purple. For he had, as it was observed, this
peculiar talent and artifice for gaining men's affections, that he
could at once comply with and really embrace and enter into their
habits and ways of life, and change faster than the chameleon. One
color, indeed, they say the chameleon cannot assume; it cannot make
itself appear white; but Alcibiades, whether with good men or with bad,
could adapt himself to his company, and equally wear the appearance of
virtue or vice. At Sparta, he was devoted to athletic exercises, was
frugal and reserved; in Ionia, luxurious, gay, and indolent; in Thrace,
always drinking; in Thessaly, ever on horseback; and when he lived with
Tisaphernes, the Persian satrap, he exceeded the Persians themselves in
magnificence and pomp. Not that his natural disposition changed so
easily, nor that his real character was so very variable, but, whenever
he was sensible that by pursuing his own inclinations he might give
offense to those with whom he had occasion to converse, he transformed
himself into any shape, and adopted any fashion, that he observed to be
most agreeable to them. So that to have seen him at Lacedaemon, a man,
judging by the outward appearance, would have said, "'Tis not
Achilles's son, but he himself, the very man" that Lycurgus designed to
form; while his real feelings and acts would have rather provoked the
exclamation, "'Tis the same woman still." For while king Agis was
absent, and abroad with the army, he corrupted his wife Timaea, and had
a child born by her. Nor did she even deny it, but when she was brought
to bed of a son, called him in public Leotychides, but, amongst her
confidants and attendants, would whisper that his name was Alcibiades.
To such a degree was she transported by her passion for him. He, on the
other side, would say, in his vain way, he had not done this thing out
of mere wantonness of insult, nor to gratify a passion, but that his
race might one day be kings over the Lacedaemonians.
There were many who told Agis that this was so, but time itself gave
the greatest confirmation to the story. For Agis, alarmed by an
earthquake, had quitted his wife, and, for ten months after, was never
with her; Leotychides, therefore, being born after those ten months, he
would not acknowledge him for his son; which was the reason that
afterwards he was not admitted to the succession.
After the defeat which the Athenians received in Sicily, ambassadors
were dispatched to Sparta at once from Chios and Lesbos and Cyzicus, to
signify their purpose of revolting from the Athenians. The Boeotians
interposed in favor of the Lesbians, and Pharnabazus of the Cyzicenes,
but the Lacedaemonians, at the persuasion of Alcibiades, chose to
assist Chios before all others. He himself, also, went instantly to
sea, procured the immediate revolt of almost all Ionia, and,
cooperating with the Lacedaemonian generals, did great mischief to the
Athenians. But Agis was his enemy, hating him for having dishonored his
wife, and also impatient of his glory, as almost every enterprise and
every success was ascribed to Alcibiades. Others, also, of the most
powerful and ambitious amongst the Spartans, were possessed with
jealousy of him, and, at last, prevailed with the magistrates in the
city to send orders into Ionia that he should be killed. Alcibiades,
however, had secret intelligence of this, and, in apprehension of the
result, while he communicated all affairs to the Lacedaemonians, yet
took care not to put himself into their power. At last he retired to
Tisaphernes, the king of Persia's satrap, for his security, and
immediately became the first and most influential person about him. For
this barbarian, not being himself sincere, but a lover of guile and
wickedness, admired his address and wonderful subtlety. And, indeed,
the charm of daily intercourse with him was more than any character
could resist or any disposition escape. Even those who feared and
envied him could not but take delight, and have a sort of kindness for
him, when they saw him and were in his company. So that Tisaphernes,
otherwise a cruel character, and, above all other Persians, a hater of
the Greeks, was yet so won by the flatteries of Alcibiades, that he set
himself even to exceed him in responding to them. The most beautiful of
his parks, containing salubrious streams and meadows, where he had
built pavilions, and places of retirement royally and exquisitely
adorned, received by his direction the name of Alcibiades, and was
always so called and so spoken of.
Thus Alcibiades, quitting the interests of the Spartans, whom he could
no longer trust, because he stood in fear of Agis, endeavored to do
them ill offices, and render them odious to Tisaphernes, who, by his
means, was hindered from assisting them vigorously, and from finally
ruining the Athenians. For his advice was to furnish them but sparingly
with money, and so wear them out, and consume them insensibly; when
they had wasted their strength upon one another, they would both become
ready to submit to the king. Tisaphernes readily pursued his counsel,
and so openly expressed the liking and admiration which he had for him,
that Alcibiades was looked up to by the Greeks of both parties, and the
Athenians, now in their misfortunes, repented them of their severe
sentence against him. And he, on the other side, began to be troubled
for them, and to fear lest, if that commonwealth were utterly
destroyed, he should fall into the hands of the Lacedaemonians, his
enemies.
At that time the whole strength of the Athenians was in Samos. Their
fleet maintained itself here, and issued from these head-quarters to
reduce such as had revolted, and protect the rest of their territories;
in one way or other still contriving to be a match for their enemies at
sea. What they stood in fear of, was Tisaphernes and the Phoenician
fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys, which was said to be already
under sail; if those came, there remained then no hopes for the
commonwealth of Athens. Understanding this, Alcibiades sent secretly to
the chief men of the Athenians, who were then at Samos, giving them
hopes that he would make Tisaphernes their friend; he was willing, he
implied, to do some favor, not to the people, nor in reliance upon
them, but to the better citizens, if only, like brave men, they would
make the attempt to put down the insolence of the people, and, by
taking upon them the government, would endeavor to save the city from
ruin. All of them gave a ready ear to the proposal made by Alcibiades,
except only Phrynichus of the township of Dirades, one of the generals,
who suspected, as the truth was, that Alcibiades concerned not himself
whether the government were in the people or the better citizens, but
only sought by any means to make way for his return into his native
country, and to that end inveighed against the people, thereby to gain
the others, and to insinuate himself into their good opinion. But when
Phrynichus found his counsel to be rejected, and that he was himself
become a declared enemy of Alcibiades, he gave secret intelligence to
Astyochus, the enemy's admiral, cautioning him to beware of Alcibiades,
and to seize him as a double dealer, unaware that one traitor was
making discoveries to another. For Astyochus, who was eager to gain the
favor of Tisaphernes, observing the credit Alcibiades had with him,
revealed to Alcibiades all that Phrynichus had said against him.
Alcibiades at once dispatched messengers to Samos, to accuse Phrynichus
of the treachery. Upon this, all the commanders were enraged with
Phrynichus, and set themselves against him, and he, seeing no other way
to extricate himself from the present danger, attempted to remedy one
evil by a greater. He sent to Astyochus to reproach him for betraying
him, and to make an offer to him at the same time, to deliver into his
hands both the army and the navy of the Athenians. This occasioned no
damage to the Athenians, because Astyochus repeated his treachery, and
revealed also this proposal to Alcibiades. But this again was foreseen
by Phrynichus, who, expecting a second accusation from Alcibiades, to
anticipate him, advertised the Athenians beforehand that the enemy was
ready to sail in order to surprise them, and therefore advised them to
fortify their camp, and to be in a readiness to go aboard their ships.
While the Athenians were intent upon doing these things, they received
other letters from Alcibiades, admonishing them to beware of
Phrynichus, as one who designed to betray their fleet to the enemy, to
which they then gave no credit at all, conceiving that Alcibiades, who
knew perfectly the counsels and preparations of the enemy, was merely
making use of that knowledge, in order to impose upon them in this
false accusation of Phrynichus. Yet, afterwards, when Phrynichus was
stabbed with a dagger in the market-place by Hermon, one of the guard,
the Athenians, entering into an examination of the cause, solemnly
condemned Phrynichus of treason, and decreed crowns to Hermon and his
associates. And now the friends of Alcibiades, carrying all before them
at Samos, dispatched Pisander to Athens, to attempt a change of
government, and to encourage the aristocratical citizens to take upon
themselves the government, and overthrow the democracy, representing to
them, that, upon these terms, Alcibiades would procure them the
friendship and alliance of Tisaphernes.
This was the color and pretense made use of by those who desired to
change the government of Athens to an oligarchy. But as soon as they
prevailed, and had got the administration of affairs into their hands,
under the name of the Five Thousand (whereas, indeed, they were but
four hundred), they slighted Alcibiades altogether, and prosecuted the
war with less vigor; partly because they durst not yet trust the
citizens, who secretly detested this change, and partly because they
thought the Lacedaemonians, who always befriended the government of the
few, would be inclined to give them favorable terms.
The people in the city were terrified into submission, many of those
who had dared openly to oppose the four hundred having been put to
death. But those who were at Samos, indignant when they heard this
news, were eager to set sail instantly for the Piraeus; and, sending
for Alcibiades, they declared him general, requiring him to lead them
on to put down the tyrants. He, however, in that juncture, did not, as
it might have been thought a man would, on being suddenly exalted by
the favor of a multitude, think himself under an obligation to gratify
and submit to all the wishes of those who, from a fugitive and an
exile, had created him general of so great an army, and given him the
command of such a fleet. But, as became a great captain, he opposed
himself to the precipitate resolutions which their rage led them to,
and, by restraining them from the great error they were about to
commit, unequivocally saved the commonwealth. For if they then had
sailed to Athens, all Ionia and the islands and the Hellespont would
have fallen into the enemies' hands without opposition, while the
Athenians, involved in civil war, would have been fighting with one
another within the circuit of their own walls. It was Alcibiades alone,
or, at least, principally, who prevented all this mischief; for he not
only used persuasion to the whole army, and showed them the danger, but
applied himself to them, one by one, entreating some, and constraining
others. He was much assisted, however, by Thrasybulus of Stiria, who,
having the loudest voice, as we are told of all the Athenians, went
along with him, and cried out to those who were ready to be gone. A
second great service which Alcibiades did for them was, his undertaking
that the Phoenician fleet, which the Lacedaemonians expected to be sent
to them by the king of Persia, should either come in aid of the
Athenians, or otherwise should not come at all. He sailed off with all
expedition in order to perform this, and the ships, which had already
been seen as near as Aspendus, were not brought any further by
Tisaphernes, who thus deceived the Lacedaemonians; and it was by both
sides believed that they had been diverted by the procurement of
Alcibiades. The Lacedaemonians, in particular, accused him, that he had
advised the Barbarian to stand still, and suffer the Greeks to waste
and destroy one another, as it was evident that the accession of so
great a force to either party would enable them to take away the entire
dominion of the sea from the other side.
Soon after this, the four hundred usurpers were driven out, the friends
of Alcibiades vigorously assisting those who were for the popular
government. And now the people in the city not only desired, but
commanded Alcibiades to return home from his exile. He, however,
desired not to owe his return to the mere grace and commiseration of
the people, and resolved to come back, not with empty hands, but with
glory, and after some service done. To this end, he sailed from Samos
with a few ships, and cruised on the sea of Cnidos, and about the isle
of Cos; but receiving intelligence there that Mindarus, the Spartan
admiral, had sailed with his whole army into the Hellespont, and that
the Athenians had followed him, he hurried back to succor the Athenian
commanders, and, by good fortune, arrived with eighteen galleys at a
critical time. For both the fleets having engaged near Abydos, the
fight between them had lasted till night, the one side having the
advantage on one quarter, and the other on another. Upon his first
appearance, both sides formed a false impression; the enemy was
encouraged, and the Athenians terrified. But Alcibiades suddenly raised
the Athenian ensign in the admiral ship, and fell upon those galleys of
the Peloponnesians which had the advantage and were in pursuit. He soon
put these to flight, and followed them so close that he forced them on
shore, and broke the ships in pieces, the sailors abandoning them and
swimming away, in spite of all the efforts of Pharnabazus, who had come
down to their assistance by land, and did what he could to protect them
from the shore. In fine, the Athenians, having taken thirty of the
enemy's ships, and recovered all their own, erected a trophy. After the
gaining of so glorious a victory, his vanity made him eager to show
himself to Tisaphernes, and, having furnished himself with gifts and
presents, and an equipage suitable to his dignity, he set out to visit
him. But the thing did not succeed as he had imagined, for Tisaphernes
had been long suspected by the Lacedaemonians, and was afraid to fall
into disgrace with his king, upon that account, and therefore thought
that Alcibiades arrived very opportunely, and immediately caused him to
be seized, and sent away prisoner to Sardis; fancying, by this act of
injustice, to clear himself from all former imputations.
But about thirty days after, Alcibiades escaped from his keepers, and,
having got a horse, fled to Clazomenae, where he procured Tisaphernes'
additional disgrace by professing he was a party to his escape. From
there he sailed to the Athenian camp, and, being informed there that
Mindarus and Pharnabazus were together at Cyzicus, he made a speech to
the soldiers, telling them that sea-fighting, land-fighting, and, by
the gods, fighting against fortified cities too, must be all one for
them, as, unless they conquered everywhere, there was no money for
them. As soon as ever he got them on shipboard, he hasted to
Proconnesus, and gave command to seize all the small vessels they met,
and guard them safely in the interior of the fleet, that the enemy
might have no notice of his coming; and a great storm of rain,
accompanied with thunder and darkness, which happened at the same time,
contributed much to the concealment of his enterprise. Indeed, it was
not only undiscovered by the enemy, but the Athenians themselves were
ignorant of it, for he commanded them suddenly on board, and set sail
when they had abandoned all intention of it. As the darkness presently
passed away, the Peloponnesian fleet were seen riding out at sea in
front of the harbor of Cyzicus. Fearing, if they discovered the number
of his ships, they might endeavor to save themselves by land, he
commanded the rest of the captains to slacken, and follow him slowly,
whilst he, advancing with forty ships, showed himself to the enemy, and
provoked them to fight. The enemy, being deceived as to their numbers;
despised them, and, supposing they were to contend with those only,
made themselves ready and began the fight. But as soon as they were
engaged, they perceived the other part of the fleet coming down upon
them, at which they were so terrified that they fled immediately. Upon
that, Alcibiades, breaking through the midst of them with twenty of his
best ships, hastened to the shore, disembarked, and pursued those who
abandoned their ships and fled to land, and made a great slaughter of
them. Mindarus and Pharnabazus, coming to their succor, were utterly
defeated. Mindarus was slain upon the place, fighting valiantly;
Pharnabazus saved himself by flight. The Athenians slew great numbers
of their enemies, won much spoil, and took all their ships. They also
made themselves masters of Cyzicus, which was deserted by Pharnabazus,
and destroyed its Peloponnesian garrison, and thereby not only secured
to themselves the Hellespont, but by force drove the Lacedaemonians
from out of all the rest of the sea. They intercepted some letters
written to the ephors, which gave an account of this fatal overthrow,
after their short laconic manner. "Our hopes are at an end. Mindarus is
slain. The men starve. We know not what to do."
The soldiers who followed Alcibiades in this last fight were so exalted
with their success, and felt that degree of pride, that, looking on
themselves as invincible, they disdained to mix with the other
soldiers, who had been often overcome. For it happened not long before,
Thrasyllus had received a defeat near Ephesus, and, upon that occasion,
the Ephesians erected their brazen trophy to the disgrace of the
Athenians. The soldiers of Alcibiades reproached those who were under
the command of Thrasyllus with this misfortune, at the same time
magnifying themselves and their own commander, and it went so far that
they would not exercise with them, nor lodge in the same quarters. But
soon after, Pharnabazus, with a great force of horse and foot, falling
upon the soldiers of Thrasyllus, as they were laying waste the
territory of Abydos, Alcibiades came to their aid, routed Pharnabazus,
and, together with Thrasyllus, pursued him till it was night; and in
this action the troops united, and returned together to the camp,
rejoicing and congratulating one another. The next day he erected a
trophy, and then proceeded to lay waste with fire and sword the whole
province which was under Pharnabazus, where none ventured to resist;
and he took divers priests and priestesses, but released them without
ransom. He prepared next to attack the Chalcedonians, who had revolted
from the Athenians, and had received a Lacedaemonian governor and
garrison. But having intelligence that they had removed their corn and
cattle out of the fields, and were conveying it all to the Bithynians,
who were their friends, he drew down his army to the frontier of the
Bithynians, and then sent a herald to charge them with this proceeding.
The Bithynians, terrified at his approach, delivered up to him the
booty, and entered into alliance with him.
Afterwards he proceeded to the siege of Chalcedon, and enclosed it with
a wall from sea to sea. Pharnabazus advanced with his forces to raise
the siege, and Hippocrates, the governor of the town, at the same time,
gathering together all the strength he had, made a sally upon the
Athenians. Alcibiades divided his army so as to engage them both at
once, and not only forced Pharnabazus to a dishonorable flight, but
defeated Hippocrates, and killed him and a number of the soldiers with
him. After this he sailed into the Hellespont, in order to raise
supplies of money, and took the city of Selymbria, in which action,
through his precipitation, he exposed himself to great danger. For some
within the town had undertaken to betray it into his hands, and, by
agreement, were to give him a signal by a lighted torch about midnight.
But one of the conspirators beginning to repent himself of the design,
the rest, for fear of being discovered, were driven to give the signal
before the appointed hour. Alcibiades, as soon as he saw the torch
lifted up in the air, though his army was not in readiness to march,
ran instantly towards the walls, taking with him about thirty men only,
and commanding the rest of the army to follow him with all possible
speed. When he came thither, he found the gate opened for him, and
entered with his thirty men, and about twenty more light-armed men, who
were come up to them. They were no sooner in the city, but he perceived
the Selymbrians all armed, coming down upon him; so that there was no
hope of escaping if he stayed to receive them; and, on the other hand,
having been always successful till that day, wherever he commanded, he
could not endure to be defeated and fly. So, requiring silence by sound
of a trumpet, he commanded one of his men to make proclamation that the
Selymbrians should not take arms against the Athenians. This cooled
such of the inhabitants as were fiercest for the fight, for they
supposed that all their enemies were within the walls, and it raised
the hopes of others who were disposed to an accommodation. Whilst they
were parleying, and propositions making on one side and the other,
Alcibiades's whole army came up to the town. And now, conjecturing
rightly, that the Selymbrians were well inclined to peace, and fearing
lest the city might be sacked by the Thracians, who came in great
numbers to his army to serve as volunteers, out of kindness for him, he
commanded them all to retreat without the walls. And upon the
submission of the Selymbrians, he saved them from being pillaged, only
taking of them a sum of money, and, after placing an Athenian garrison
in the town, departed.
During this action, the Athenian captains who besieged Chalcedon
concluded a treaty with Pharnabazus upon these articles: that he should
give them a sum of money; that the Chalcedonians should return to the
subjection of Athens; and that the Athenians should make no inroad into
the province whereof Pharnabazus was governor; and Pharnabazus was also
to provide safe conducts for the Athenian ambassadors to the king of
Persia. Afterwards, when Alcibiades returned thither, Pharnabazus
required that he also should be sworn to the treaty; but he refused it,
unless Pharnabazus would swear at the same time. When the treaty was
sworn to on both sides Alcibiades went against the Byzantines, who had
revolted from the Athenians, and drew a line of circumvallation about
the city. But Anaxilaus and Lycurgus, together with some others, having
undertaken to betray the city to him upon his engagement to preserve
the lives and property of the inhabitants, he caused a report to be
spread abroad, as if, by reason of some unexpected movement in Ionia,
he should be obliged to raise the siege. And, accordingly, that day he
made a show to depart with his whole fleet; but returned the same
night, and went ashore with all his men at arms, and, silently and
undiscovered, marched up to the walls. At the same time, his ships
rowed into the harbor with all possible violence, coming on with much
fury, and with great shouts and outcries. The Byzantines, thus
surprised and astonished, while they all hurried to the defense of
their port and shipping, gave opportunity to those who favored the
Athenians, securely to receive Alcibiades into the city. Yet the
enterprise was not accomplished without fighting, for the
Peloponnesians, Boeotians, and Megarians not only repulsed those who
came out of the ships, and forced them on board again, but, hearing
that the Athenians were entered on the other side, drew up in order,
and went to meet them. Alcibiades, however, gained the victory after
some sharp fighting, in which he himself had the command of the right
wing, and Theramenes of the left, and took about three hundred, who
survived of the enemy, prisoners of war. After the battle, not one of
the Byzantines was slain, or driven out of the city, according to the
terms upon which the city was put into his hands, that they should
receive no prejudice in life or property. And thus Anaxilaus, being
afterwards accused at Lacedaemon for this treason, neither disowned nor
professed to be ashamed of the action; for he urged that he was not a
Lacedaemonian, but a Byzantine and saw not Sparta, but Byzantium, in
extreme danger; the city so blockaded that it was not possible to bring
in any new provisions, and the Peloponnesians and Boeotians, who were
in garrison, devouring the old stores, whilst the Byzantines, with
their wives and children, were starving; that he had not, therefore,
betrayed his country to enemies, but had delivered it from the
calamities of war, and had but followed the example of the most worthy
Lacedaemonians, who esteemed nothing to be honorable and just, but what
was profitable for their country. The Lacedaemonians, upon hearing his
defense, respected it, and discharged all that were accused.
And now Alcibiades began to desire to see his native country again, or
rather to show his fellow-citizens a person who had gained so many
victories for them. He set sail for Athens, the ships that accompanied
him being adorned with great numbers of shields and other spoils, and
towing after them many galleys taken from the enemy, and the ensigns
and ornaments of many others which he had sunk and destroyed; all of
them together amounting to two hundred. Little credit, perhaps, can be
given to what Duris the Samian, who professed to be descended from
Alcibiades, adds, that Chrysogonus, who had gained a victory at the
Pythian games, played upon his flute for the galleys, whilst the oars
kept time with the music; and that Callippides, the tragedian, attired
in his buskins, his purple robes, and other ornaments used in the
theater, gave the word to the rowers, and that the admiral galley
entered into the port with a purple sail. Neither Theopompus, nor
Ephorus, nor Xenophon, mention them. Nor, indeed, is it credible, that
one who returned from so long an exile, and such variety of
misfortunes, should come home to his countrymen in the style of
revelers breaking up from a drinking-party. On the contrary, he entered
the harbor full of fear, nor would he venture to go on shore, till,
standing on the deck, he saw Euryptolemus, his cousin, and others of
his friends and acquaintance, who were ready to receive him, and
invited him to land. As soon as he was landed, the multitude who came
out to meet him scarcely seemed so much as to see any of the other
captains, but came in throngs about Alcibiades, and saluted him with
loud acclamations, and still followed him; those who could press near
him crowned him with garlands, and they who could not come up so close
yet stayed to behold him afar off, and the old men pointed him out, and
showed him to the young ones. Nevertheless, this public joy was mixed
with some tears, and the present happiness was allayed by the
remembrance of the miseries they had endured. They made reflections,
that they could not have so unfortunately miscarried in Sicily, or been
defeated in any of their other expectations, if they had left the
management of their affairs formerly, and the command of their forces,
to Alcibiades, since, upon his undertaking the administration, when
they were in a manner driven from the sea, and could scarce defend the
suburbs of their city by land, and, at the same time, were miserably
distracted with intestine factions, he had raised them up from this low
and deplorable condition, and had not only restored them to their
ancient dominion of the sea, but had also made them everywhere
victorious over their enemies on land.
There had been a decree for recalling him from his banishment already
passed by the people, at the instance of Critias, the son of
Callaeschrus, as appears by his elegies, in which he puts Alcibiades in
mind of this service:--
From my proposal did that edict come,
Which from your tedious exile brought you home;
The public vote at first was moved by me,
And my voice put the seal to the decree.
The people being summoned to an assembly, Alcibiades came in amongst
them, and first bewailed and lamented his own sufferings, and, in
gentle terms complaining of the usage he had received, imputed all to
his hard fortune, and some ill genius that attended him: then he spoke
at large of their prospects, and exhorted them to courage and good
hope. The people crowned him with crowns of gold, and created him
general, both at land and sea, with absolute power. They also made a
decree that his estate should be restored to him, and that the
Eumolpidae and the holy heralds should absolve him from the curses
which they had solemnly pronounced against him by sentence of the
people. Which when all the rest obeyed, Theodorus, the high-priest,
excused himself, "For," said he, "if he is innocent, I never cursed
him."
But notwithstanding the affairs of Alcibiades went so prosperously, and
so much to his glory, yet many were still somewhat disturbed, and
looked upon the time of his arrival to be ominous. For on the day that
he came into the port, the feast of the goddess Minerva, which they
call the Plynteria, was kept. It is the twenty-fifth day of Thargelion,
when the Praxiergidae solemnize their secret rites, taking all the
ornaments from off her image, and keeping the part of the temple where
it stands close covered. Hence the Athenians esteem this day most
inauspicious and never undertake any thing of importance upon it; and,
therefore, they imagined that the goddess did not receive Alcibiades
graciously and propitiously, thus hiding her face and rejecting him.
Yet, notwithstanding, everything succeeded according to his wish. When
the one hundred galleys, that were to return with him, were fitted out
and ready to sail, an honorable zeal detained him till the celebration
of the mysteries was over. For ever since Decelea had been occupied, as
the enemy commanded the roads leading from Athens to Eleusis, the
procession, being conducted by sea, had not been performed with any
proper solemnity; they were forced to omit the sacrifices and dances
and other holy ceremonies, which had usually been performed in the way,
when they led forth Iacchus. Alcibiades, therefore, judged it would be
a glorious action, which would do honor to the gods and gain him esteem
with men, if he restored the ancient splendor to these rites, escorting
the procession again by land, and protecting it with his army in the
face of the enemy. For either, if Agis stood still and did not oppose,
it would very much diminish and obscure his reputation, or, in the
other alternative, Alcibiades would engage in a holy war, in the cause
of the gods, and in defense of the most sacred and solemn ceremonies;
and this in the sight of his country, where he should have all his
fellow- citizens witnesses of his valor. As soon as he had resolved
upon this design, and had communicated it to the Eumolpidae and
heralds, he placed sentinels on the tops of the hills, and at the break
of day sent forth his scouts. And then taking with him the priests and
Initiates and the Initiators, and encompassing them with his soldiers,
he conducted them with great order and profound silence; an august and
venerable procession, wherein all who did not envy him said, he
performed at once the office of a high-priest and of a general. The
enemy did not dare to attempt any thing against them, and thus he
brought them back in safety to the city. Upon which, as he was exalted
in his own thought, so the opinion which the people had of his conduct
was raised to that degree, that they looked upon their armies as
irresistible and invincible while he commanded them; and he so won,
indeed, upon the lower and meaner sort of people, that they
passionately desired to have him "tyrant" over them, and some of them
did not scruple to tell him so, and to advise him to put himself out of
the reach of envy, by abolishing the laws and ordinances of the people,
and suppressing the idle talkers that were ruining the state, that so
he might act and take upon him the management of affairs, without
standing in fear of being called to an account.
How far his own inclinations led him to usurp sovereign power, is
uncertain, but the most considerable persons in the city were so much
afraid of it, that they hastened him on ship-board as speedily as they
could, appointing the colleagues whom he chose, and allowing him all
other things as he desired. Thereupon he set sail with a fleet of one
hundred ships, and, arriving at Andros, he there fought with and
defeated as well the inhabitants as the Lacedaemonians who assisted
them. He did not, however, take the city; which gave the first occasion
to his enemies for all their accusations against him. Certainly, if
ever man was ruined by his own glory, it was Alcibiades. For his
continual success had produced such an idea of his courage and conduct,
that, if he failed in anything he undertook, it was imputed to his
neglect, and no one would believe it was through want of power. For
they thought nothing was too hard for him, if he went about it in good
earnest. They fancied, every day, that they should hear news of the
reduction of Chios, and of the rest of Ionia, and grew impatient that
things were not effected as fast and as rapidly as they could wish for
them. They never considered how extremely money was wanting, and that,
having to carry on war with an enemy who had supplies of all things
from a great king, he was often forced to quit his armament, in order
to procure money and provisions for the subsistence of his soldiers.
This it was which gave occasion for the last accusation which was made
against him. For Lysander, being sent from Lacedaemon with a commission
to be admiral of their fleet, and being furnished by Cyrus with a great
sum of money, gave every sailor four obols a day, whereas before they
had but three. Alcibiades could hardly allow his men three obols, and
therefore was constrained to go into Caria to furnish himself with
money. He left the care of the fleet, in his absence, to Antiochus, an
experienced seaman, but rash and inconsiderate, who had express orders
from Alcibiades not to engage, though the enemy provoked him. But he
slighted and disregarded these directions to that degree, that, having
made ready his own galley and another, he stood for Ephesus, where the
enemy lay, and, as he sailed before the heads of their galleys, used
every provocation possible, both in words and deeds. Lysander at first
manned out a few ships, and pursued him. But all the Athenian ships
coming in to his assistance, Lysander, also, brought up his whole
fleet, which gained an entire victory. He slew Antiochus himself, took
many men and ships, and erected a trophy.
As soon as Alcibiades heard this news, he returned to Samos, and
loosing from thence with his whole fleet, came and offered battle to
Lysander. But Lysander, content with the victory he had gained, would
not stir. Amongst others in the army who hated Alcibiades, Thrasybulus,
the son of Thrason, was his particular enemy, and went purposely to
Athens to accuse him, and to exasperate his enemies in the city against
him. Addressing the people, he represented that Alcibiades had ruined
their affairs and lost their ships by mere self-conceited neglect of
his duties, committing the government of the army, in his absence, to
men who gained his favor by drinking and scurrilous talking, whilst he
wandered up and down at pleasure to raise money, giving himself up to
every sort of luxury and excess amongst the courtesans of Abydos and
Ionia, at a time when the enemy's navy were on the watch close at hand.
It was also objected to him, that he had fortified a castle near
Bisanthe in Thrace, for a safe retreat for himself, as one that either
could not, or would not, live in his own country. The Athenians gave
credit to these informations, and showed the resentment and displeasure
which they had conceived against him, by choosing other generals.
As soon as Alcibiades heard of this, he immediately forsook the army,
afraid of what might follow; and, collecting a body of mercenary
soldiers, made war upon his own account against those Thracians who
called themselves free, and acknowledged no king. By this means he
amassed to himself a considerable treasure, and, at the same time,
secured the bordering Greeks from the incursions of the barbarians.
Tydeus, Menander, and Adimantus, the new-made generals, were at that
time posted at Aegospotami, with all the ships which the Athenians had
left. From whence they were used to go out to sea every morning, and
offer battle to Lysander, who lay near Lampsacus; and when they had
done so, returning back again, lay, all the rest of the day, carelessly
and without order, in contempt of the enemy. Alcibiades, who was not
far off, did not think so slightly of their danger, nor neglect to let
them know it, but, mounting his horse, came to the generals, and
represented to them that they had chosen a very inconvenient station,
where there was no safe harbor, and where they were distant from any
town; so that they were constrained to send for their necessary
provisions as far as Sestos. He also pointed out to them their
carelessness in suffering the soldiers, when they went ashore, to
disperse and wander up and down at their pleasure, while the enemy's
fleet, under the command of one general, and strictly obedient to
discipline, lay so very near them. He advised them to remove the fleet
to Sestos. But the admirals not only disregarded what he said, but
Tydeus, with insulting expressions; commanded him to be gone, saying,
that now not he, but others, had the command of the forces. Alcibiades,
suspecting something of treachery in them, departed, and told his
friends, who accompanied him out of the camp, that if the generals had
not used him with such insupportable contempt, he would within a few
days have forced the Lacedaemonians, however unwilling, either to have
fought the Athenians at sea, or to have deserted their ships. Some
looked upon this as a piece of ostentation only; others said, the thing
was probable, for that he might have brought down by land great numbers
of the Thracian cavalry and archers, to assault and disorder them in
their camp. The event however, soon made it evident how rightly he had
judged of the errors which the Athenians committed. For Lysander fell
upon them on a sudden, when they least suspected it, with such fury
that Conon alone, with eight galleys, escaped him; all the rest, which
were about two hundred, he took and carried away, together with three
thousand prisoners, whom he put to death. And within a short time
after, he took Athens itself, burnt all the ships which he found there,
and demolished their long walls.
After this, Alcibiades, standing in dread of the Lacedaemonians, who
were now masters both at sea and land, retired into Bithynia. He sent
thither great treasure before him, took much with him, but left much
more in the castle where he had before resided. But he lost great part
of his wealth in Bithynia, being robbed by some Thracians who lived in
those parts, and thereupon determined to go to the court of Artaxerxes,
not doubting but that the king, if he would make trial of his
abilities, would find him not inferior to Themistocles, besides that he
was recommended by a more honorable cause. For he went, not as
Themistocles did, to offer his service against his fellow-citizens, but
against their enemies, and to implore the king's aid for the defense of
his country. He concluded that Pharnabazus would most readily procure
him a safe conduct, and therefore went into Phrygia to him, and
continued to dwell there some time, paying him great respect, and being
honorably treated by him. The Athenians, in the meantime, were
miserably afflicted at their loss of empire, but when they were
deprived of liberty also, and Lysander set up thirty despotic rulers in
the city, in their ruin now they began to turn to those thoughts which,
while safety was yet possible, they would not entertain; they
acknowledged and bewailed their former errors and follies, and judged
this second ill-usage of Alcibiades to be of all the most inexcusable.
For he was rejected, without any fault committed by himself; and only
because they were incensed against his subordinate for having
shamefully lost a few ships, they much more shamefully deprived the
commonwealth of its most valiant and accomplished general. Yet in this
sad state of affairs, they had still some faint hopes left them, nor
would they utterly despair of the Athenian commonwealth, while
Alcibiades was safe. For they persuaded themselves that if before, when
he was an exile, he could not content himself to live idly and at ease,
much less now, if he could find any favorable opportunity, would he
endure the insolence of the Lacedaemonians, and the outrages of the
Thirty. Nor was it an absurd thing in the people to entertain such
imaginations, when the Thirty themselves were so very solicitous to be
informed and to get intelligence of all his actions and designs. In
fine, Critias represented to Lysander that the Lacedaemonians could
never securely enjoy the dominion of Greece, till the Athenian
democracy was absolutely destroyed; and though now the people of Athens
seemed quietly and patiently to submit to so small a number of
governors, yet so long as Alcibiades lived, the knowledge of this fact
would never suffer them to acquiesce in their present circumstances.
Yet Lysander would not be prevailed upon by these representations, till
at last he received secret orders from the magistrates of Lacedaemon,
expressly requiring him to get Alcibiades dispatched: whether it was
that they feared his energy and boldness in enterprising what was
hazardous, or that it was done to gratify king Agis. Upon receipt of
this order, Lysander sent away a messenger to Pharnabazus, desiring him
to put it in execution. Pharnabazus committed the affair to Magaeus,
his brother, and to his uncle Susamithres. Alcibiades resided at that
time in a small village in Phrygia, together with Timandra, a mistress
of his. As he slept, he had this dream: he thought himself attired in
his mistress's habit, and that she, holding him in her arms, dressed
his head and painted his face as if he had been a woman; others say, he
dreamed that he saw Magaeus cut off his head and burn his body; at any
rate, it was but a little while before his death that he had these
visions. Those who were sent to assassinate him had not courage enough
to enter the house, but surrounded it first, and set it on fire.
Alcibiades, as soon as he perceived it, getting together great
quantities of clothes and furniture, threw them upon the fire to choke
it, and, having wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and holding his
naked sword in his right, he cast himself into the middle of the fire,
and escaped securely through it, before his clothes were burnt. The
barbarians, as soon as they saw him, retreated, and none of them durst
stay to expect him, or to engage with him, but, standing at a distance,
they slew him with their darts and arrows. When he was dead, the
barbarians departed, and Timandra took up his dead body, and, covering
and wrapping it up in her own robes, she buried it as decently and as
honorably as her circumstances would allow. It is said, that the famous
Lais, who was called the Corinthian, though she was a native of
Hyccara, a small town in Sicily, from whence she was brought a captive,
was the daughter of this Timandra. There are some who agree with this
account of Alcibiades's death in all points, except that they impute
the cause of it neither to Pharnabazus, nor Lysander, nor the
Lacedaemonians: but, they say, he was keeping with him a young lady of
a noble house, whom he had debauched, and that her brothers, not being
able to endure the indignity, set fire by night to the house where he
was living, and, as he endeavored to save himself from the flames, slew
him with their darts, in the manner just related.
CORIOLANUS
The patrician house of the Marcii in Rome produced many men of
distinction, and among the rest, Ancus Marcius, grandson to Numa by his
daughter, and king after Tullus Hostilius. Of the same family were also
Publius and Quintus Marcius, which two conveyed into the city the best
and most abundant supply of water they have at Rome. As likewise
Censorinus, who, having been twice chosen censor by the people,
afterwards himself induced them to make a law that nobody should bear
that office twice. But Caius Marcius, of whom I now write, being left
an orphan, and brought up under the widowhood of his mother, has shown
us by experience, that, although the early loss of a father may be
attended with other disadvantages, yet it can hinder none from being
either virtuous or eminent in the world, and that it is no obstacle to
true goodness and excellence; however bad men may be pleased to lay the
blame of their corruptions upon that misfortune and the neglect of them
in their minority. Nor is he less an evidence to the truth of their
opinion, who conceive that a generous and worthy nature without proper
discipline, like a rich soil without culture, is apt, with its better
fruits, to produce also much that is bad and faulty. While the force
and vigor of his soul, and a persevering constancy in all he undertook,
led him successfully into many noble achievements, yet, on the other
side, also, by indulging the vehemence of his passion, and through all
obstinate reluctance to yield or accommodate his humors and sentiments
to those of people about him, he rendered himself incapable of acting
and associating with others. Those who saw with admiration how proof
his nature was against all the softnesses of pleasure, the hardships of
service, and the allurements of gain, while allowing to that universal
firmness of his the respective names of temperance, fortitude, and
justice, yet, in the life of the citizen and the statesman, could not
choose but be disgusted at the severity and ruggedness of his
deportment, and with his overbearing, haughty, and imperious temper.
Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no greater
benefit on those that seek them, than these humanizing and civilizing
lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations
prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes.
Those were times at Rome in which that kind of worth was most esteemed
which displayed itself in military achievements; one evidence of which
we find in the Latin word for virtue, which is properly equivalent to
manly courage. As if valor and all virtue had been the same thing, they
used as the common term the name of the particular excellence. But
Marcius, having a more passionate inclination than any of that age for
feats of war, began at once, from his very childhood, to handle arms;
and feeling that adventitious implements and artificial arms would
effect little, and be of small use to such as have not their native and
natural weapons well fixed and prepared for service, he so exercised
and inured his body to all sorts of activity and encounter, that,
besides the lightness of a racer, he had a weight in close seizures and
wrestlings with an enemy, from which it was hard for any to disengage
himself; so that his competitors at home in displays of bravery, loath
to own themselves inferior in that respect, were wont to ascribe their
deficiencies to his strength of body, which they said no resistance and
no fatigue could exhaust.
The first time he went out to the wars, being yet a stripling, was when
Tarquinius Superbus, who had been king of Rome and was afterwards
expelled, after many unsuccessful attempts, now entered upon his last
effort, and proceeded to hazard all as it were upon a single throw. A
great number of the Latins and other people of Italy joined their
forces, and were marching with him toward the city, to procure his
restoration; not, however, so much out of a desire to serve and oblige
Tarquin, as to gratify their own fear and envy at the increase of the
Roman greatness, which they were anxious to check and reduce. The
armies met and engaged in a decisive battle, in the vicissitudes of
which, Marcius, while fighting bravely in the dictator's presence, saw
a Roman soldier struck down at a little distance, and immediately
stepped in and stood before him, and slew his assailant. The general,
after having gained the victory, crowned him for this act, one of the
first, with a garland of oaken branches; it being the Roman custom thus
to adorn those who had saved the life of a citizen; whether that the
law intended some special honor to the oak, in memory of the Arcadians,
a people the oracle had made famous by the name of acorn-eaters; or
whether the reason of it was because they might easily, and in all
places where they fought, have plenty of oak for that purpose; or,
finally, whether the oaken wreath, being sacred to Jupiter, the
guardian of the city, might, therefore, be thought a propel ornament
for one who preserved a citizen. And the oak, in truth, is the tree
which bears the most and the prettiest fruit of any that grow wild, and
is the strongest of all that are under cultivation; its acorns were the
principal diet of the first mortals, and the honey found in it gave
them drink. I may say, too, it furnished fowl and other creatures as
dainties, in producing mistletoe for birdlime to ensnare them. In this
battle, meantime, it is stated that Castor and Pollux appeared, and,
immediately after the battle, were seen at Rome just by the fountain
where their temple now stands, with their horses foaming with sweat,
and told the news of the victory to the people in the Forum. The
fifteenth of July, being the day of this conquest, became consequently
a solemn holiday sacred to the Twin Brothers.
It may be observed in general, that when young men arrive early at fame
and repute, if they are of a nature but slightly touched with
emulation, this early attainment is apt to extinguish their thirst and
satiate their small appetite; whereas the first distinctions of more
solid and weighty characters do but stimulate and quicken them and take
them away, like a wind, in the pursuit of honor; they look upon these
marks and testimonies to their virtue not as a recompense received for
what they have already done, but as a pledge given by themselves of
what they will perform hereafter, ashamed now to forsake or underlive
the credit they have won, or, rather, not to exceed and obscure all
that is gone before by the luster of their following actions. Marcius,
having a spirit of this noble make, was ambitious always to surpass
himself, and did nothing, how extraordinary soever, but he thought he
was bound to outdo it at the next occasion; and ever desiring to give
continual fresh instances of his prowess he added one exploit to
another, and heaped up trophies upon trophies, so as to make it a
matter of contest also among his commanders, the later still vying with
the earlier, which should pay him the greatest honor and speak highest
in his commendation. Of all the numerous wars and conflicts in those
days, there was not one from which he returned without laurels and
rewards. And, whereas others made glory the end of their daring, the
end of his glory was his mother's gladness; the delight she took to
hear him praised and to see him crowned, and her weeping for joy in his
embraces, rendered him, in his own thoughts, the most honored and most
happy person in the world. Epaminondas is similarly said to have
acknowledged his feeling, that it was the greatest felicity of his
whole life that his father and mother survived to hear of his
successful generalship and his victory at Leuctra. And he had the
advantage, indeed, to have both his parents partake with him, and enjoy
the pleasure of his good fortune. But Marcius, believing himself bound
to pay his mother Volumnia all that gratitude and duty which would have
belonged to his father, had he also been alive, could never satiate
himself in his tenderness and respect to her. He took a wife, also, at
her request and wish, and continued, even after he had children, to
live still with his mother, without parting families.
The repute of his integrity and courage had, by this time, gained him a
considerable influence and authority in Rome, when the senate, favoring
the wealthier citizens, began to be at variance with the common people,
who made sad complaints of the rigorous and inhuman usage they received
from the money-lenders. For as many as were behind with them, and had
any sort of property, they stripped of all they had, by the way of
pledges and sales; and such as through former exactions were reduced
already to extreme indigence, and had nothing more to be deprived of,
these they led away in person and put their bodies under constraint,
notwithstanding the scars and wounds that they could show in
attestation of their public services in numerous campaigns; the last of
which had been against the Sabines, which they undertook upon a promise
made by their rich creditors that they would treat them with more
gentleness for the future, Marcus Valerius, the consul, having, by
order from the senate, engaged also for the performance of it. But
when, after they had fought courageously and beaten the enemy, there
was, nevertheless, no moderation or forbearance used, and the senate
also professed to remember nothing of that agreement, and sat without
testifying the least concern to see them dragged away like slaves and
their goods seized upon as formerly, there began now to be open
disorders and dangerous meetings in the city; and the enemy, also,
aware of the popular confusion, invaded and laid waste the country. And
when the consuls now gave notice, that all who were of an age to bear
arms should make their personal appearance, but found no one regard the
summons, the members of the government, then coming to consult what
course should be taken, were themselves again divided in opinion: some
thought it most advisable to comply a little in favor of the poor, by
relaxing their overstrained rights, and mitigating the extreme rigor of
the law, while others withstood this proposal; Marcius in particular,
with more vehemence than the rest, alleging that the business of money
on either side was not the main thing in question, urged that this
disorderly proceeding was but the first insolent step towards open
revolt against the laws, which it would become the wisdom of the
government to check at the earliest moment.
There had been frequent assemblies of the whole senate, within a small
compass of time, about this difficulty, but without any certain issue;
the poor commonalty, therefore, perceiving there was likely to be no
redress of their grievances, on a sudden collected in a body, and,
encouraging each other in their resolution, forsook the city with one
accord and seizing the hill which is now called the Holy Mount, sat
down by the river Anio, without committing any sort of violence or
seditious outrage, but merely exclaiming, as they went along, that they
had this long time past been, in fact, expelled and excluded from the
city by the cruelty of the rich; that Italy would everywhere afford
them the benefit of air and water and a place of burial, which was all
they could expect in the city, unless it were, perhaps, the privilege
of being wounded and killed in time of war for the defense of their
creditors. The senate, apprehending the consequences, sent the most
moderate and popular men of their own order to treat with them.
Menenius Agrippa, their chief spokesman, after much entreaty to the
people, and much plain speaking on behalf of the senate, concluded, at
length, with the celebrated fable. "It once happened," he said, "that
all the other members of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they
accused as the only idle, uncontributing part in the whole body, while
the rest were put to hardships and the expense of much labor to supply
and minister to its appetites. The stomach, however, merely ridiculed
the silliness of the members, who appeared not to be aware that the
stomach certainly does receive the general nourishment, but only to
return it again, and redistribute it amongst the rest. Such is the
case," he said, "ye citizens, between you and the senate. The counsels
and plans that are there duly digested, convey and secure to all of
you, your proper benefit and support."
A reconciliation ensued, the senate acceding to the request of the
people for the annual election of five protectors for those in need of
succor, the same that are now called the tribunes of the people; and
the first two they pitched upon were Junius Brutus and Sicinnius
Vellutus, their leaders in the secession.
The city being thus united, the commons stood presently to their arms,
and followed their commanders to the war with great alacrity. As for
Marcius, though he was not a little vexed himself to see the populace
prevail so far and gain ground of the senators, and might observe many
other patricians have the same dislike of the late concessions, he yet
besought them not to yield at least to the common people in the zeal
and forwardness they now allowed for their country's service, but to
prove that they were superior to them, not so much in power and riches
as in merit and worth.
The Romans were now at war with the Volscian nation, whose principal
city was Corioli; when, therefore, Cominius the consul had invested
this important place, the rest of the Volscians, fearing it would be
taken, mustered up whatever force they could from all parts, to relieve
it, designing to give the Romans battle before the city, and so attack
them on both sides. Cominius, to avoid this inconvenience, divided his
army, marching himself with one body to encounter the Volscians on
their approach from without, and leaving Titus Lartius, one of the
bravest Romans of his time, to command the other and continue the
siege. Those within Corioli, despising now the smallness of their
number, made a sally upon them, and prevailed at first, and pursued the
Romans into their trenches. Here it was that Marcius, flying out with a
slender company, and cutting those in pieces that first engaged him,
obliged the other assailants to slacken their speed; and then, with
loud cries, called upon the Romans to renew the battle. For he had,
what Cato thought a great point in a soldier, not only strength of hand
and stroke, but also a voice and look that of themselves were a terror
to an enemy. Divers of his own party now rallying and making up to him,
the enemies soon retreated; but Marcius, not content to see them draw
off and retire, pressed hard upon the rear, and drove them, as they
fled away in haste, to the very gates of their city; where, perceiving
the Romans to fall back from their pursuit, beaten off by the multitude
of darts poured in upon them from the walls, and that none of his
followers had the hardiness to think of falling in pellmell among the
fugitives and so entering a city full of enemies in arms, he,
nevertheless, stood and urged them to the attempt, crying out, that
fortune had now set open Corioli, not so much to shelter the
vanquished, as to receive the conquerors. Seconded by a few that were
willing to venture with him, he bore along through the crowd, made good
his passage, and thrust himself into the gate through the midst of
them, nobody at first daring to resist him. But when the citizens, on
looking about, saw that a very small number had entered, they now took
courage, and came up and attacked them. A combat ensued of the most
extraordinary description, in which Marcius, by strength of hand, and
swiftness of foot, and daring of soul, overpowering every one that he
assailed, succeeded in driving the enemy to seek refuge, for the most
part, in the interior of the town, while the remainder submitted, and
threw down their arms; thus affording Lartius abundant opportunity to
bring in the rest of the Romans with ease and safety.
Corioli being thus surprised and taken, the greater part of the
soldiers employed themselves in spoiling and pillaging it, while
Marcius indignantly reproached them, and exclaimed that it was a
dishonorable and unworthy thing, when the consul and their
fellow-citizens had now perhaps encountered the other Volscians, and
were hazarding their lives in battle, basely to misspend the time in
running up and down for booty, and, under a pretense of enriching
themselves, keep out of danger. Few paid him any attention, but,
putting himself at the head of these, he took the road by which the
consul's army had marched before him, encouraging his companions, and
beseeching them, as they went along, not to give up, and praying often
to the gods, too, that he might be so happy as to arrive before the
fight was over, and come seasonably up to assist Cominius, and partake
in the peril of the action.
It was customary with the Romans of that age, when they were moving
into battle array, and were on the point of taking up their bucklers,
and girding their coats about them, to make at the same time an
unwritten will, or verbal testament, and to name who should be their
heirs, in the hearing of three or four witnesses. In this precise
posture Marcius found them at his arrival, the enemy being advanced
within view.
They were not a little disturbed by his first appearance, seeing him
covered with blood and sweat, and attended with a small train; but when
he hastily made up to the consul with gladness in his looks, giving him
his hand, and recounting to him how the city had been taken, and when
they saw Cominius also embrace and salute him, every one took fresh
heart; those that were near enough hearing, and those that were at a
distance guessing, what had happened; and all cried out to be led to
battle. First, however, Marcius desired to know of him how the
Volscians had arrayed their army, and where they had placed their best
men, and on his answering that he took the troops of the Antiates in
the center to be their prime warriors, that would yield to none in
bravery, "Let me then demand and obtain of you," said Marcius, "that we
may be posted against them." The consul granted the request, with much
admiration of his gallantry. And when the conflict began by the
soldiers darting at each other, and Marcius sallied out before the
rest, the Volscians opposed to him were not able to make head against
him; wherever he fell in, he broke their ranks, and made a lane through
them; but the parties turning again, and enclosing him on each side
with their weapons, the consul, who observed the danger he was in,
dispatched some of the choicest men he had for his rescue. The conflict
then growing warm and sharp about Marcius, and many falling dead in a
little space, the Romans bore so hard upon the enemies, and pressed
them with such violence, that they forced them at length to abandon
their ground, and to quit the field. And, going now to prosecute the
victory, they besought Marcius, tired out with his toils, and faint and
heavy through the loss of blood, that he would retire to the camp. He
replied, however, that weariness was not for conquerors, and joined
with them in the pursuit. The rest of the Volscian army was in like
manner defeated, great numbers killed, and no less taken captive.
The day after, when Marcius, with the rest of the army, presented
themselves at the consul's tent, Cominius rose, and having rendered all
due acknowledgment to the gods for the success of that enterprise,
turned next to Marcius, and first of all delivered the strongest
encomium upon his rare exploits, which he had partly been an eyewitness
of himself, in the late battle, and had partly learned from the
testimony of Lartius. And then he required him to choose a tenth part
of all the treasure and horses and captives that had fallen into their
hands, before any division should be made to others; besides which, he
made him the special present of a horse with trappings and ornaments,
in honor of his actions. The whole army applauded; Marcius, however,
stepped forth, and declaring his thankful acceptance of the horse, and
his gratification at the praises of his general, said, that all other
things, which he could only regard rather as mercenary advantages than
any significations of honor, he must waive, and should be content with
the ordinary proportion of such rewards. "I have only," said he; "one
special grace to beg, and this I hope you will not deny me. There was a
certain hospitable friend of mine among the Volscians, a man of probity
and virtue, who is become a prisoner, and from former wealth and
freedom is now reduced to servitude. Among his many misfortunes let my
intercession redeem him from the one of being sold as a common slave."
Such a refusal and such a request on the part of Marcius were followed
with yet louder acclamations; and he had many more admirers of this
generous superiority to avarice, than of the bravery he had shown in
battle. The very persons who conceived some envy and despite to see him
so specially honored, could not but acknowledge, that one who so nobly
could refuse reward, was beyond others worthy to receive it; and were
more charmed with that virtue which made him despise advantage, than
with any of those former actions that had gained him his title to it.
It is the hither accomplishment to use money well than to use arms; but
not to need it is more noble than to use it.
When the noise of approbation and applause ceased, Cominius, resuming,
said, "It is idle, fellow-soldiers, to force and obtrude those other
gifts of ours on one who is unwilling to accept them ; let us,
therefore, give him one of such a kind that he cannot well reject it;
let us pass a vote, I mean, that he shall hereafter be called
Coriolanus, unless you think that his performance at Corioli has itself
anticipated any such resolution." Hence, therefore, he had his third
name of Coriolanus, making it all the plainer that Caius was a personal
proper name, and the second, or surname, Marcius, one common to his
house and family; the third being a subsequent addition which used to
be imposed either from some particular act or fortune, bodily
characteristic, or good quality of the bearer. Just as the Greeks, too,
gave additional names in old time, in some cases from some achievement,
Soter, for example, and Callinicus; or personal appearance, as Physcon
and Grypus; good qualities, Euergetes and Philadelphus; good fortune,
Eudaemon, the title of the second Battus. Several monarchs have also
had names given them in mockery, as Antigonus was called Doson, and
Ptolemy, Lathyrus. This sort of title was yet more common among the
Romans. One of the Metelli was surnamed Diadematus, because he walked
about for a long time with a bandage on his head, to conceal a scar;
and another, of the same family, got the name of Celer, from the
rapidity he displayed in giving a funeral entertainment of gladiators
within a few days after his father's death, his speed and energy in
doing which was thought extraordinary. There are some, too, who even at
this day take names from certain casual incidents at their nativity; a
child that is born when his father is away from home is called
Proculus; or Postumus, if after his decease; and when twins come into
the world, and one dies at the birth, the survivor has the name of
Vopiscus. From bodily peculiarities they derive not only their Syllas
and Nigers, but their Caeci and Claudii; wisely endeavoring to accustom
their people not to reckon either the loss of sight, or any other
bodily misfortune, as a matter of disgrace to them, but to answer to
such names without shame, as if they were really their own. But this
discussion better befits another place.
The war against the Volscians was no sooner at an end, than the popular
orators revived domestic troubles, and raised another sedition, without
any new cause of complaint or just grievance to proceed upon, but
merely turning the very mischiefs that unavoidably ensued from their
former contests into a pretext against the patricians. The greatest
part of their arable land had been left unsown and without tillage, and
the time of war allowing them no means or leisure to import provision
from other countries, there was an extreme scarcity. The movers of the
people then observing, that there was no corn to be bought, and that,
if there had been, they had no money to buy it, began to calumniate the
wealthy with false stories, and whisper it about, as if they, out of
malice, had purposely contrived the famine. Meanwhile, there came an
embassy from the Velitrani, proposing to deliver up their city to the
Romans, and desiring they would send some new inhabitants to people it,
as a late pestilential disease had swept away so many of the natives,
that there was hardly a tenth part remaining of their whole community.
This necessity of the Velitrani was considered by all more prudent
people as most opportune in the present state of affairs; since the
dearth made it needful to ease the city of its superfluous members, and
they were in hope also, at the same time, to dissipate the gathering
sedition by ridding themselves of the more violent and heated
partisans, and discharging, so to say, the elements of disease and
disorder in the state. The consuls, therefore, singled out such
citizens to supply the desolation at Velitrae, and gave notice to
others, that they should be ready to march against the Volscians, with
the politic design of preventing intestine broils by employment abroad,
and in the hope, that when rich as well as poor, plebeians and
patricians, should be mingled again in the same army and the same camp,
and engage in one common service for the public, it would mutually
dispose them to reconciliation and friendship.
But Sicinnius and Brutus, the popular orators, interposed, crying out,
that the consuls disguised the most cruel and barbarous action in the
world under that mild and plausible name of a colony, and were simply
precipitating so many poor citizens into a mere pit of destruction,
bidding them settle down in a country where the air was charged with
disease, and the ground covered with dead bodies, and expose themselves
to the evil influence of a strange and angered deity. And then, as if
it would not satisfy their hatred to destroy some by hunger, and offer
others to the mercy of a plague, they must proceed to involve them also
in a needless war of their own making, that no calamity might be
wanting to complete the punishment of the citizens for refusing to
submit to that of slavery to the rich.
By such addresses, the people were so possessed, that none of them
would appear upon the consular summons to be enlisted for the war; and
they showed entire aversion to the proposal for a new plantation; so
that the senate was at a loss what to say or do. But Marcius, who began
now to bear himself higher and to feel confidence in his past actions,
conscious, too, of the admiration of the best and greatest men of Rome,
openly took the lead in opposing the favorers of the people. The colony
was dispatched to Velitrae, those that were chosen by lot being
compelled to depart upon high penalties; and when they obstinately
persisted in refusing to enroll themselves for the Volscian service, he
mustered up his own clients, and as many others as could be wrought
upon by persuasion, and with these made an inroad into the territories
of the Antiates, where, finding a considerable quantity of corn, and
collecting much booty, both of cattle and prisoners, he reserved
nothing for himself in private, but returned safe to Rome, while those
that ventured out with him were seen laden with pillage, and driving
their prey before them. This sight filled those that had stayed at home
with regret for their perverseness, with envy at their fortunate
fellow-citizens, and with feelings of dislike to Marcius, and hostility
to his growing reputation and power, which might probably be used
against the popular interest.
Not long after he stood for the consulship; when, however, the people
began to relent and incline to favor him, being sensible what a shame
it would be to repulse and affront a man of his birth and merit, after
he had done them so many signal services. It was usual for those who
stood for offices among them to solicit and address themselves
personally to the citizens, presenting themselves in the forum with the
toga on alone, and no tunic under it; either to promote their
supplications by the humility of their dress, or that such as had
received wounds might more readily display those marks of their
fortitude. Certainly, it was not out of suspicion of bribery and
corruption that they required all such petitioners for their favor to
appear ungirt and open, without any close garment; as it was much
later, and many ages after this, that buying and selling crept in at
their elections, and money became an ingredient in the public
suffrages; proceeding thence to attempt their tribunals, and even
attack their camps, till, by hiring the valiant, and enslaving iron to
silver, it grew master of the state, and turned their commonwealth into
a monarchy. For it was well and truly said that the first destroyer of
the liberties of a people is he who first gave them bounties and
largesses. At Rome the mischief seems to have stolen secretly in, and
by little and little, not being at once discerned and taken notice of.
It is not certainly known who the man was that did there first either
bribe the citizens, or corrupt the courts; whereas, in Athens, Anytus,
the son of Anthemion, is said to have been the first that gave money to
the judges, when on his trial, toward the latter end of the
Peloponnesian war, for letting the fort of Pylos fall into the hands of
the enemy; in a period while the pure and golden race of men were still
in possession of the Roman forum.
Marcius, therefore, as the fashion of candidates was showing the scars
and gashes that were still visible on his body, from the many conflicts
in which he had signalized himself during a service of seventeen years
together they were, so to say, put out of countenance at this display
of merit, and told one another that they ought in common modesty to
create him consul. But when the day of election was now come, and
Marcius appeared in the forum, with a pompous train of senators
attending him; and the patricians all manifested greater concern, and
seemed to be exerting greater efforts, than they had ever done before
on the like occasion, the commons then fell off again from the kindness
they had conceived for him, and in the place of their late benevolence,
began to feel something of indignation and envy; passions assisted by
the fear they entertained, that if a man of such aristocratic temper,
and so influential among the patricians, should be invested with the
power which that office would give him, he might employ it to deprive
the people of all that liberty which was yet left them. In conclusion,
they rejected Marcius. Two other names were announced, to the great
mortification of the senators, who felt as if the indignity reflected
rather upon themselves than on Marcius. He, for his part, could not
bear the affront with any patience. He had always indulged his temper,
and had regarded the proud and contentious element of human nature as a
sort of nobleness and magnanimity; reason and discipline had not imbued
him with that solidity and equanimity which enters so largely into the
virtues of the statesman. He had never learned how essential it is for
any one who undertakes public business, and desires to deal with
mankind, to avoid above all things that self-will, which, as Plato
says, belongs to the family of solitude; and to pursue, above all
things, that capacity so generally ridiculed, of submission to ill
treatment. Marcius, straightforward and direct, and possessed with the
idea that to vanquish and overbear all apposition is the true part of
bravery, and never imagining that it was the weakness and womanishness
of his nature that broke out, so to say, in these ulcerations of anger,
retired, full of fury and bitterness against the people. The young
patricians, too, all that were proudest and most conscious of their
noble birth, had always been devoted to his interest, and, adhering to
him now, with a fidelity that did him no good, aggravated his
resentment with the expression of their indignation and condolence. He
had been their captain, and their willing instructor in the arts of
war, when out upon expeditions, and their model in that true emulation
and love of excellence which makes men extol, without envy or jealousy,
each other's brave achievements.
In the midst of these distempers, a large quantity of corn reached
Rome, a great part bought up in Italy, but an equal amount sent as a
present from Syracuse, from Gelo, then reigning there. Many began now
to hope well of their affairs, supposing the city, by this means, would
be delivered at once, both of its want and discord. A council,
therefore, being presently held, the people came flocking about the
senate-house, eagerly awaiting the issue of that deliberation,
expecting that the market prices would now be less cruel, and that what
had come as a gift would be distributed as such. There were some within
who so advised the senate; but Marcius, standing up, sharply inveighed
against those who spoke in favor of the multitude, calling them
flatterers of the rabble traitors to the nobility, and alleging, that,
by such gratifications, they did but cherish those ill seeds of
boldness and petulance that had been sown among the people, to their
own prejudice, which they should have done well to observe and stifle
at their first appearance, and not have suffered the plebeians to grow
so strong, by granting them magistrates of such authority as the
tribunes. They were, indeed, even now formidable to the state, since
everything they desired was granted them; no constraint was put on
their will; they refused obedience to the consuls, and, overthrowing
all law and magistracy, gave the title of magistrate to their private
factious leaders. "When things are come to such a pass, for us to sit
here and decree largesses and bounties for them, like those Greeks
where the populace is supreme and absolute, what would it be else,"
said he, "but to take their disobedience into pay, and maintain it for
the common ruin of us all? They certainly cannot look upon these
liberalities as a reward of public service, which they know they have
so often deserted; nor yet of those secessions, by which they openly
renounced their country; much less of the calumnies and slanders they
have been always so ready to entertain against the senate; but will
rather conclude that a bounty which seems to have no other visible
cause or reason, must needs be the effect of our fear and flattery; and
will, therefore, set no limit to their disobedience, nor ever cease
from disturbances and sedition. Concession is mere madness; if we have
any wisdom and resolution at all, we shall, on the contrary, never rest
till we have recovered from them that tribunician power they have
extorted from us; as being a plain subversion of the consulship, and a
perpetual ground of separation in our city, that is no longer one, as
heretofore, but has in this received such a wound and rupture, as is
never likely to close and unite again, or suffer us to be of one mind,
and to give over inflaming our distempers, and being a torment to each
other."
Marcius, with much more to this purpose, succeeded, to an extraordinary
degree, in inspiring the younger men with the same furious sentiments,
and had almost all the wealthy on his side, who cried him up as the
only person their city had, superior alike to force and flattery; some
of the older men, however, opposed him, suspecting the consequences.
As, indeed, there came no good of it; for the tribunes, who were
present, perceiving how the proposal of Marcius took, ran out into the
crowd with exclamations, calling on the plebeians to stand together,
and come in to their assistance. The assembly met, and soon became
tumultuous. The sum of what Marcius had spoken, having been reported to
the people, excited them to such fury, that they were ready to break in
upon the senate. The tribunes prevented this, by laying all the blame
on Coriolanus, whom, therefore, they cited by their messengers to come
before them, and defend himself. And when he contemptuously repulsed
the officers who brought him the summons, they came themselves, with
the Aediles, or overseers of the market, proposing to carry him away by
force, and, accordingly, began to lay hold on his person. The
patricians, however, coming to his rescue, not only thrust off the
tribunes, but also beat the Aediles, that were their seconds in the
quarrel; night, approaching, put an end to the contest. But, as soon as
it was day, the consuls, observing the people to be highly exasperated,
and that they ran from all quarters and gathered in the forum, were
afraid for the whole city, so that, convening the senate afresh, they
desired them to advise how they might best compose and pacify the
incensed multitude by equitable language and indulgent decrees; since,
if they wisely considered the state of things, they would find that it
was no time to stand upon terms of honor, and a mere point of glory;
such a critical conjuncture called for gentle methods, and for
temperate and humane counsels. The majority, therefore, of the senators
giving way, the consuls proceeded to pacify the people in the best
manner they were able, answering gently to such imputations and charges
as had been cast upon the senate, and using much tenderness and
moderation in the admonitions and reproof they gave them. On the point
of the price of provisions, they said, there should be no difference at
all between them. When a great part of the commonalty was grown cool,
and it appeared from their orderly and peaceful behavior that they had
been very much appeased by what they had heard, the tribunes, standing
up, declared, in the name of the people, that since the senate was
pleased to act soberly and do them reason, they, likewise, should be
ready to yield in all that was fair and equitable on their side; they
must insist, however, that Marcius should give in his answer to the
several charges as follows: first, could he deny that he instigated the
senate to overthrow the government and annul the privileges of the
people? and, in the next place, when called to account for it, did he
not disobey their summons? and, lastly, by the blows and other public
affronts to the Aediles, had he not done all he could to commence a
civil war?
These articles were brought in against him, with a design either to
humble Marcius, and show his submission if, contrary to his nature, he
should now court and sue the people; or, if he should follow his
natural disposition, which they rather expected from their judgment of
his character, then that he might thus make the breach final between
himself and the people.
He came, therefore, as it were, to make his apology, and clear himself;
in which belief the people kept silence, and gave him a quiet hearing.
But when, instead of the submissive and deprecatory language expected
from him, he began to use not only an offensive kind of freedom,
seeming rather to accuse than apologize, but, as well by the tone of
his voice as the air of his countenance, displayed a security that was
not far from disdain and contempt of them, the whole multitude then
became angry, and gave evident signs of impatience and disgust; and
Sicinnius, the most violent of the tribunes, after a little private
conference with his colleagues, proceeded solemnly to pronounce before
them all, that Marcius was condemned to die by the tribunes of the
people, and bid the Aediles take him to the Tarpeian rock, and without
delay throw him headlong from the precipice. When they, however, in
compliance with the order, came to seize upon his body, many, even of
the plebeian party, felt it to be a horrible and extravagant act; the
patricians, meantime, wholly beside themselves with distress and
horror, hurried up with cries to the rescue; and while some made actual
use of their hands to hinder the arrest, and, surrounding Marcius, got
him in among them, others, as in so great a tumult no good could be
done by words, stretched out theirs, beseeching the multitude that they
would not proceed to such furious extremities; and at length, the
friends and acquaintance of the tribunes, wisely perceiving how
impossible it would be to carry off Marcius to punishment without much
bloodshed and slaughter of the nobility, persuaded them to forbear
everything unusual and odious; not to dispatch him by any sudden
violence, or without regular process, but refer the cause to the
general suffrage of the people. Sicinnius then, after a little pause,
turning to the patricians, demanded what their meaning was, thus
forcibly to rescue Marcius out of the people's hands, as they were
going to punish him; when it was replied by them, on the other side,
and the question put, "Rather, how came it into your minds, and what is
it you design, thus to drag one of the worthiest men of Rome, without
trial, to a barbarous and illegal execution?" "Very well," said
Sicinnius, "you shall have no ground in this respect for quarrel or
complaint against the people. The people grant your request, and your
partisan shall be tried. We appoint you, Marcius," directing his speech
to him, "the third market-day ensuing, to appear and defend yourself,
and to try if you can satisfy the Roman citizens of your innocence, who
will then judge your case by vote." The patricians were content with
such a truce and respite for that time, and gladly returned home,
having for the present brought off Marcius in safety.
During the interval before the appointed time (for the Romans hold
their sessions every ninth day, which from that cause are called
nundinae in Latin), a war fell out with the Antiates, likely to be of
some continuance, which gave them hope they might one way or other
elude the judgment. The people, they presumed, would become tractable,
and their indignation lessen and languish by degrees in so long a
space, if occupation and war did not wholly put it out of their mind.
But when, contrary to expectation, they made a speedy agreement with
the people of Antium, and the army came back to Rome, the patricians
were again in great perplexity, and had frequent meetings to consider
how things might be arranged, without either abandoning Marcius, or yet
giving occasion to the popular orators to create new disorders. Appius
Claudius, whom they counted among the senators most averse to the
popular interest, made a solemn declaration, and told them beforehand,
that the senate would utterly destroy itself and betray the government,
if they should once suffer the people to assume the authority of
pronouncing sentence upon any of the patricians; but the oldest
senators and most favorable to the people maintained, on the other
side, that the people would not be so harsh and severe upon them, as
some were pleased to imagine, but rather become more gentle and humane
upon the concession of that power, since it was not contempt of the
senate, but the impression of being contemned by it, which made them
pretend to such a prerogative. Let that be once allowed them as a mark
of respect and kind feeling, and the mere possession of this power of
voting would at once dispossess them of their animosity.
When, therefore, Marcius saw that the senate was in pain and suspense
upon his account, divided, as it were, betwixt their kindness for him
and their apprehensions from the people, he desired to know of the
tribunes what the crimes were they intended to charge him with, and
what the heads of the indictment they would oblige him to plead to
before the people; and being told by them that he was to be impeached
for attempting usurpation, and that they would prove him guilty of
designing to establish arbitrary government, stepping forth upon this,
"Let me go then," he said, "to clear myself from that imputation before
an assembly of them; I freely offer myself to any sort of trial, nor do
I refuse any kind of punishment whatsoever; only," he continued, "let
what you now mention be really made my accusation, and do not you play
false with the senate." On their consenting to these terms, he came to
his trial. But when the people met together, the tribunes, contrary to
all former practice, extorted first, that votes should be taken, not by
centuries, but tribes; a change, by which the indigent and factious
rabble, that had no respect for honesty and justice, would be sure to
carry it against those who were rich and well known, and accustomed to
serve the state in war. In the next place, whereas they had engaged to
prosecute Marcius upon no other head but that of tyranny, which could
never be made out against him, they relinquished this plea, and urged
instead, his language in the senate against an abatement of the price
of corn, and for the overthrow of the tribunician power; adding
further, as a new impeachment, the distribution that was made by him of
the spoil and booty he had taken from the Antiates, when he overran
their country, which he had divided among those that had followed him,
whereas it ought rather to have been brought into the public treasury;
which last accusation did, they say, more discompose Marcius than all
the rest, as he had not anticipated he should ever be questioned on
that subject, and, therefore, was less provided with any satisfactory
answer to it on the sudden. And when, by way of excuse, he began to
magnify the merits of those who had been partakers with him in the
action, those that had stayed at home, being more numerous than the
other, interrupted him with outcries. In conclusion, when they came to
vote, a majority of three tribes condemned him; the penalty being
perpetual banishment. The sentence of his condemnation being
pronounced, the people went away with greater triumph and exultation
than they had ever shown for any victory over enemies; while the senate
was in grief and deep dejection, repenting now and vexed to the soul
that they had not done and suffered all things rather than give way to
the insolence of the people, and permit them to assume and abuse so
great an authority. There was no need then to look at men's dresses, or
other marks of distinction, to know one from another: any one who was
glad was, beyond all doubt, a plebeian; any one who looked sorrowful, a
patrician.
Marcius alone, himself, was neither stunned nor humiliated. In mien,
carriage, and countenance, he bore the appearance of entire composure,
and while all his friends were full of distress, seemed the only man
that was not touched with his misfortune. Not that either reflection
taught him, or gentleness of temper made it natural for him, to submit:
he was wholly possessed, on the contrary, with a profound and deep-
seated fury, which passes with many for no pain at all. And pain, it is
true, transmuted, so to say, by its own fiery heat into anger, loses
every appearance of depression and feebleness; the angry man makes a
show of energy, as the man in a high fever does of natural heat, while,
in fact, all this action of the soul is but mere diseased palpitation,
distention, and inflammation. That such was his distempered state
appeared presently plainly enough in his actions. On his return home,
after saluting his mother and his wife, who were all in tears and full
of loud lamentations, and exhorting them to moderate the sense they had
of his calamity, he proceeded at once to the city gates, whither all
the nobility came to attend him; and so, not so much as taking anything
with him, or making any request to the company, he departed from them,
having only three or four clients with him. He continued solitary for a
few days in a place in the country, distracted with a variety of
counsels, such as rage and indignation suggested to him; and proposing
to himself no honorable or useful end, but only how he might best
satisfy his revenge on the Romans, he resolved at length to raise up a
heavy war against them from their nearest neighbors. He determined,
first to make trial of the Volscians, whom he knew to be still vigorous
and flourishing, both in men and treasure, and he imagined their force
and power was not so much abated, as their spite and auger increased,
by the late overthrows they had received from the Romans.
There was a man of Antium, called Tullus Aufidius, who, for his wealth
and bravery and the splendor of his family, had the respect and
privilege of a king among the Volscians, but whom Marcius knew to have
a particular hostility to himself, above all other Romans. Frequent
menaces and challenges had passed in battle between them, and those
exchanges of defiance to which their hot and eager emulation is apt to
prompt young soldiers had added private animosity to their national
feelings of opposition. Yet for all this, considering Tullus to have a
certain generosity of temper, and knowing that no Volscian, so much as
he, desired an occasion to requite upon the Romans the evils they had
done, he did what much confirms the saying, that
Hard and unequal is with wrath the strife, Which makes us buy its
pleasure with our life.
Putting on such a dress as would make him appear to any whom he might
meet most unlike what he really was, thus, like Ulysses, --
The town he entered of his mortal foes.
His arrival at Antium was about evening, and though several met him in
the streets, yet he passed along without being known to any, and went
directly to the house of Tullus, and, entering undiscovered, went up to
the fire-hearth, and seated himself there without speaking a word,
covering up his head. Those of the family could not but wonder, and yet
they were afraid either to raise or question him, for there was a
certain air of majesty both in his posture and silence, but they
recounted to Tullus, being then at supper, the strangeness of this
accident. He immediately rose from table and came in, and asked him who
he was, and for what business he came thither; and then Marcius,
unmuffling himself, and pausing awhile, "If," said he, "you cannot yet
call me to mind, Tullus, or do not believe your eyes concerning me, I
must of necessity be my own accuser. I am Caius Marcius, the author of
so much mischief to the Volscians; of which, were I seeking to deny it,
the surname of Coriolanus I now bear would be a sufficient evidence
against me. The one recompense I received for all the hardships and
perils I have gone through, was the title that proclaims my enmity to
your nation, and this is the only thing which is still left me. Of all
other advantages, I have been stripped and deprived by the envy and
outrage of the Roman people, and the cowardice and treachery of the
magistrates and those of my own order. I am driven out as an exile, and
become an humble suppliant at your hearth, not so much for safety and
protection (should I have come hither, had I been afraid to die?), as
to seek vengeance against those that expelled me; which, methinks, I
have already obtained, by putting myself into your hands. If,
therefore, you have really a mind to attack your enemies, come then,
make use of that affliction you see me in to assist the enterprise, and
convert my personal infelicity into a common blessing to the Volscians;
as, indeed, I am likely to be more serviceable in fighting for than
against you, with the advantage, which I now possess, of knowing all
the secrets of the enemy that I am attacking. But if you decline to
make any further attempts, I am neither desirous to live myself, nor
will it be well in you to preserve a person who has been your rival and
adversary of old, and now, when he offers you his service, appears
unprofitable and useless to you."
Tullus, on hearing this, was extremely rejoiced, and giving him his
right hand, exclaimed, "Rise, Marcius, and be of good courage; it is a
great happiness you bring to Antium, in the present you make us of
yourself; expect everything that is good from the Volscians." He then
proceeded to feast and entertain him with every display of kindness,
and for several days after they were in close deliberation together on
the prospects of a war.
While this design was forming, there were great troubles and commotions
at Rome, from the animosity of the senators against the people,
heightened just now by the late condemnation of Marcius. Besides that,
their soothsayers and priests, and even private persons, reported signs
and prodigies not to be neglected; one of which is stated to have
occurred as follows: Titus Latinus, a man of ordinary condition, but of
a quiet and virtuous character, free from all superstitious fancies,
and yet more from vanity and exaggeration, had an apparition in his
sleep, as if Jupiter came and bade him tell the senate, that it was
with a bad and unacceptable dancer that they had headed his procession.
Having beheld the vision, he said, he did not much attend to it at the
first appearance; but after he had seen and slighted it a second and
third time, he had lost a hopeful son, and was himself struck with
palsy. He was brought into the senate on a litter to tell this, and the
story goes, that he had no sooner delivered his message there, but he
at once felt his strength return, and got upon his legs, and went home
alone, without need of any support. The senators, in wonder and
surprise, made a diligent search into the matter. That which his dream
alluded to was this: some citizen had, for some heinous offense, given
up a servant of his to the rest of his fellows, with charge to whip him
first through the market, and then to kill him; and while they were
executing this command, and scourging the wretch, who screwed and
turned himself into all manner of shapes and unseemly motions, through
the pain he was in, the solemn procession in honor of Jupiter chanced
to follow at their heels. Several of the attendants on which were,
indeed, scandalized at the sight, yet no one of them interfered, or
acted further in the matter than merely to utter some common reproaches
and execrations on a master who inflicted so cruel a punishment. For
the Romans treated their slaves with great humanity in these times,
when, working and laboring themselves, and living together among them,
they naturally were more gentle and familiar with them. It was one of
the severest punishments for a slave who had committed a fault, to have
to take the piece of wood which supports the pole of a wagon, and carry
it about through the neighborhood; a slave who had once undergone the
shame of this, and been thus seen by the household and the neighbors,
had no longer any trust or credit among them, and had the name of
furcifer; furca being the Latin word for a prop, or support.
When, therefore, Latinus had related his dream, and the senators were
considering who this disagreeable and ungainly dancer could be, some of
the company, having been struck with the strangeness of the punishment,
called to mind and mentioned the miserable slave who was lashed through
the streets and afterward put to death. The priests, when consulted,
confirmed the conjecture; the master was punished; and orders given for
a new celebration of the procession and the spectacles in honor of the
god. Numa, in other respects also a wise arranger of religious offices,
would seem to have been especially judicious in his direction, with a
view to the attentiveness of the people, that, when the magistrates or
priests performed any divine worship, a herald should go before, and
proclaim with a loud voice, Hoc age, Do this you are about, and so warn
them to mind whatever sacred action they were engaged in, and not
suffer any business or worldly avocation to disturb and interrupt it;
most of the things which men do of this kind, being in a manner forced
from them, and effected by constraint. It is usual with the Romans to
recommence their sacrifices and processions and spectacles, not only
upon such a cause as this, but for any slighter reason. If but one of
the horses which drew the chariots called Tensae, upon which the images
of their gods were placed, happened to fail and falter, or if the
driver took hold of the reins with his left hand, they would decree
that the whole operation should commence anew; and, in latter ages, one
and the same sacrifice was performed thirty times over, because of the
occurrence of some defect or mistake or accident in the service. Such
was the Roman reverence and caution in religious matters.
Marcius and Tullus were now secretly discoursing of their project with
the chief men of Antium, advising them to invade the Romans while they
were at variance among themselves. And when shame appeared to hinder
them from embracing the motion, as they had sworn to a truce and
cessation of arms for the space of two years, the Romans themselves
soon furnished them with a pretense, by making proclamation, out of
some jealousy or slanderous report, in the midst of the spectacles,
that all the Volscians who had come to see them should depart the city
before sunset. Some affirm that this was a contrivance of Marcius, who
sent a man privately to the consuls, falsely to accuse the Volscians of
intending to fall upon the Romans during the games, and to set the city
on fire. This public affront roused and inflamed their hostility to the
Romans, and Tullus, perceiving it, made his advantage of it,
aggravating the fact, and working on their indignation, till he
persuaded them, at last, to dispatch ambassadors to Rome, requiring the
Romans to restore that part of their country and those towns which they
had taken from the Volscians in the late war. When the Romans heard the
message, they indignantly replied, that the Volscians were the first
that took up arms, but the Romans would be the last to lay them down.
This answer being brought back, Tullus called a general assembly of the
Volscians; and the vote passing for a war, he then proposed that they
should call in Marcius, laying aside the remembrance of former grudges,
and assuring themselves that the services they should now receive from
him as a friend and associate, would abundantly outweigh any harm or
damage he had done them when he was their enemy. Marcius was
accordingly summoned, and having made his entrance, and spoken to the
people, won their good opinion of his capacity, his skill, counsel, and
boldness, not less by his present words than by his past actions. They
joined him in commission with Tullus, to have full power as general of
their forces in all that related to the war. And he, fearing lest the
time that would be requisite to bring all the Volscians together in
full preparation might be so long as to lose him the opportunity of
action, left order with the chief persons and magistrates of the city
to provide other things, while he himself, prevailing upon the most
forward to assemble and march out with him as volunteers without
staying to be enrolled, made a sudden inroad into the Roman confines,
when nobody expected him, and possessed himself of so much booty, that
the Volscians found they had more than they could either carry away or
use in the camp. The abundance of provision which he gained, and the
waste and havoc of the country which he made, were, however, of
themselves and in his account, the smallest results of that invasion;
the great mischief he intended, and his special object in all, was to
increase at Rome the suspicions entertained of the patricians, and to
make them upon worse terms with the people. With this view, while
spoiling all the fields and destroying the property of other men, he
took special care to preserve their farms and lands untouched, and
would not allow his soldiers to ravage there, or seize upon anything
which belonged to them. From hence their invectives and quarrels
against one another broke out afresh, and rose to a greater height than
ever; the senators reproaching those of the commonalty with their late
injustice to Marcius; while the plebeians, on their side, did not
hesitate to accuse them of having, out of spite and revenge, solicited
him to this enterprise, and thus, when others were involved in the
miseries of a war by their means, they sat like unconcerned spectators,
as being furnished with a guardian and protector abroad of their wealth
and fortunes, in the very person of the public enemy. After this
incursion and exploit, which was of great advantage to the Volscians,
as they learned by it to grow more hardy and to contemn their enemy,
Marcius drew them off, and returned in safety.
But when the whole strength of the Volscians was brought together into
the field, with great expedition and alacrity, it appeared so
considerable a body, that they agreed to leave part in garrison, for
the security of their towns, and with the other part to march against
the Romans. Marcius now desired Tullus to choose which of the two
charges would be most agreeable to him. Tullus answered, that since he
knew Marcius to be equally valiant with himself, and far more
fortunate, he would have him take the command of those that were going
out to the war, while he made it his care to defend their cities at
home, and provide all conveniences for the army abroad. Marcius thus
reinforced, and much stronger than before, moved first towards the city
called Circaeum, a Roman colony. He received its surrender, and did the
inhabitants no injury; passing thence, he entered and laid waste the
country of the Latins, where he expected the Romans would meet him, as
the Latins were their confederates and allies, and had often sent to
demand succors from them. The people, however, on their part, showing
little inclination for the service, and the consuls themselves being
unwilling to run the hazard of a battle, when the time of their office
was almost ready to expire, they dismissed the Latin ambassadors
without any effect; so that Marcius, finding no army to oppose him,
marched up to their cities, and, having taken by force Toleria, Lavici,
Peda, and Bola, all of which offered resistance, not only plundered
their houses, but made a prey likewise of their persons. Meantime, he
showed particular regard for all such as came over to his party, and,
for fear they might sustain any damage against his will, encamped at
the greatest distance he could, and wholly abstained from the lands of
their property.
After, however, that he had made himself master of Bola, a town not
above ten miles from Rome, where he found great treasure, and put
almost all the adults to the sword; and when, on this, the other
Volscians that were ordered to stay behind and protect their cities,
hearing of his achievements and success, had not patience to remain any
longer at home, but came hastening in their arms to Marcius, saying
that he alone was their general and the sole commander they would own;
with all this, his name and renown spread throughout all Italy, and
universal wonder prevailed at the sudden and mighty revolution in the
fortunes of two nations which the loss and the accession of a single
man had effected.
All at Rome was in great disorder; they were utterly averse from
fighting, and spent their whole time in cabals and disputes and
reproaches against each other; until news was brought that the enemy
had laid close siege to Lavinium, where were the images and sacred
things of their tutelar gods, and from whence they derived the origin
of their nation, that being the first city which Aeneas built in Italy.
These tidings produced a change as universal as it was extraordinary in
the thoughts inclinations of the people, but occasioned a yet stranger
revulsion of feeling among the patricians. The people now were for
repealing the sentence against Marcius, an calling him back into the
city; whereas the senate, being assembled to preconsider the decree,
opposed and finally rejected the proposal, either out of the mere humor
of contradicting and withstanding the people in whatever they should
desire, or because they were unwilling, perhaps, that he should owe his
restoration to their kindness or having now conceived a displeasure
against Marcius himself, who was bringing distress upon all alike,
though he had not been ill treated by all, and was become, declared
enemy to his whole country, though he knew well enough that the
principal and all the better men condoled with him, and suffered in his
injuries.
This resolution of theirs being made public, the people could proceed
no further, having no authority to pass anything by suffrage, and enact
it for a law, without a previous decree from the senate. When Marcius
heard of this, he was more exasperated than ever, and, quitting the
seige of Lavinium, marched furiously towards Rome, and encamped at a
place called the Cluilian ditches, about five miles from the city. The
nearness of his approach did, indeed, create much terror and
disturbance, yet it also ended their dissensions for the present; as
nobody now, whether consul or senator, durst any longer contradict the
people in their design of recalling Marcius but, seeing their women
running affrighted up and down the streets, and the old men at prayer
in every temple with tears and supplications, and that, in short, there
was a general absence among them both of courage and wisdom to provide
for their own safety, they came at last to be all of one mind, that the
people had been in the right to propose as they did a reconciliation
with Marcius, and that the senate was guilty of a fatal error to begin
a quarrel with him when it was a time to forget offenses, and they
should have studied rather to appease him. It was, therefore,
unanimously agreed by all parties, that ambassadors should be
dispatched, offering him return to his country, and desiring he would
free them from the terrors and distresses of the war. The persons sent
by the senate with this message were chosen out of his kindred and
acquaintance, who naturally expected a very kind reception at their
first interview, upon the score of that relation and their old
familiarity and friendship with him; in which, however, they were much
mistaken. Being led through the enemy's camp, they found him sitting in
state amidst the chief men of the Volscians, looking insupportably
proud and arrogant. He bade them declare the cause of their coming,
which they did in the most gentle and tender terms, and with a behavior
suitable to their language. When they had made an end of speaking, he
returned them a sharp answer, full of bitterness and angry resentment,
as to what concerned himself, and the ill usage he had received from
them; but as general of the Volscians, he demanded restitution of the
cities and the lands which had been seized upon during the late war,
and that the same rights and franchises should be granted them at Rome,
which had been before accorded to the Latins; since there could be no
assurance that a peace would be firm and lasting, without fair and just
conditions on both sides. He allowed them thirty days to consider and
resolve.
The ambassadors being departed, he withdrew his forces out of the Roman
territory. This, those of the Volscians who had long envied his
reputation, and could not endure to see the influence he had with the
people laid hold of, as the first matter of complaint against him.
Among them was also Tullus himself, not for any wrong done him
personally by Marcius, but through the weakness incident to human
nature. He could not help feeling mortified to find his own glory thus
totally obscured, and himself overlooked and neglected now by the
Volscians, who had so great an opinion of their new leader that he
alone was all to them, while other captains, they thought, should be
content with that share of power, which he might think fit to accord.
From hence the first seeds of complaint and accusation were scattered
about in secret, and the malcontents met and heightened each other's
indignation, saying, that to retreat as he did was in effect to betray
and deliver up, though not their cities and their arms, yet what was as
bad, the critical times and opportunities for action, on which depend
the preservation or the loss of everything else; since in less than
thirty days' space, for which he had given a respite from the war,
there might happen the greatest changes in the world. Yet Marcius spent
not any part of the time idly, but attacked the confederates of the
enemy ravaged their land, and took from them seven great and populous
cities in that interval. The Romans, in the meanwhile, durst not
venture out to their relief; but were utterly fearful, and showed no
more disposition or capacity for action, than if their bodies had been
struck with a palsy, and become destitute of sense and motion. But when
the thirty days were expired, and Marcius appeared again with his whole
army, they sent another embassy- to beseech him that he would moderate
his displeasure, and would withdraw the Volscian army, and then make
any proposals he thought best for both parties; the Romans would make
no concessions to menaces, but if it were his opinion that the
Volscians ought to have any favor shown them, upon laying down their
arms they might obtain all they could in reason desire.
The reply of Marcius was, that he should make no answer to this as
general of the Volscians, but, in the quality still of a Roman citizen,
he would advise and exhort them, as the case stood, not to carry it so
high, but think rather of just compliance, and return to him, before
three days were at an end, with a ratification of his previous demands;
otherwise, they must understand that they could not have any further
freedom of passing through his camp upon idle errands.
When the ambassadors were come back, and had acquainted the senate with
the answer, seeing the whole state now threatened as it were by a
tempest, and the waves ready to overwhelm them, they were forced, as we
say in extreme perils, to let down the sacred anchor. A decree was
made, that the whole order of their priests, those who initiated in the
mysteries or had the custody of them, and those who, according to the
ancient practice of the country, divined from birds, should all and
every one of them go in full procession to Marcius with their
pontifical array, and the dress and habit which they respectively used
in their several functions, and should urge him, as before, to withdraw
his forces, and then treat with his countrymen in favor of the
Volscians. He consented so far, indeed, as to give the deputation an
admittance into his camp, but granted nothing at all, nor so much as
expressed himself more mildly; but, without capitulating or receding,
bade them once for all choose whether they would yield or fight, since
the old terms were the only terms of peace. When this solemn
application proved ineffectual, the priests, too, returning
unsuccessful, they determined to sit still within the city, and keep
watch about their walls, intending only to repulse the enemy, should he
offer to attack them, and placing their hopes chiefly in time and in
extraordinary accidents of fortune; as to themselves, they felt
incapable of doing any thing for their own deliverance; mere confusion
and terror and ill-boding reports possessed the whole city; till at
last a thing happened not unlike what we so often find represented,
without, however, being accepted as true by people in general, in
Homer. On some great and unusual occasion we find him say: --
But him the blue-eyed goddess did inspire;
and elsewhere: --
But some immortal turned my mind away,
To think what others of the deed would say;
and again: --
Were 't his own thought or were 't a god's command.
People are apt, in such passages, to censure and disregard the poet, as
if, by the introduction of mere impossibilities and idle fictions, he
were denying the action of a man's own deliberate thought and free
choice; which is not, in the least, the case in Homer's representation,
where the ordinary, probable, and habitual conclusions that common
reason leads to are continually ascribed to our own direct agency. He
certainly says frequently enough: --
But I consulted with my own great soul;
or, as in another passage: --
He spoke. Achilles, with quick pain possessed,
Revolved two purposes in his strong breast;
and in a third: --
-- Yet never to her wishes won
The just mind of the brave Bellerophon.
But where the act is something out of the way and extraordinary, and
seems in a manner to demand some impulse of divine possession and
sudden inspiration to account for it here he does introduce divine
agency, not to destroy, but to prompt the human will; not to create in
us another agency, but offering images to stimulate our own; images
that in no sort or kind make our action involuntary, but give occasion
rather to spontaneous action, aided and sustained by feelings of
confidence and hope. For either we must totally dismiss and exclude
divine influences from every kind of causality and origination in what
we do, or else what other way can we conceive in which divine aid and
cooperation can act? Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine beings
actually and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands and our
feet this way or that, to do what is right: it is obvious that they
must actuate the practical and elective element of our nature, by
certain initial occasions, by images presented to the imagination, and
thoughts suggested to the mind, such either as to excite it to, or
avert and withhold it from, any particular course.
In the perplexity which I have described, the Roman women went, some to
other temples, but the greater part, and the ladies of highest rank, to
the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus. Among these suppliants was Valeria,
sister to the great Poplicola, who did the Romans eminent service both
in peace and war. Poplicola himself was now deceased, as is told in the
history of his life; but Valeria lived still, and enjoyed great respect
and honor at Rome, her life and conduct no way disparaging her birth.
She, suddenly seized with the sort of instinct or emotion of mind which
I have described, and happily lighting, not without divine guidance, on
the right expedient, both rose herself, and bade the others rise, and
went directly with them to the house of Volumnia, the mother of
Marcius. And coming in and finding her sitting with her daughter-in-
law, and with her little grandchildren on her lap, Valeria, then
surrounded by her female companions, spoke in the name of them all:--
"We that now make our appearance, O Volumnia, and you, Vergilia, are
come as mere women to women, not by direction of the senate, or an order
from the consuls, or the appointment of any other magistrate; but the
divine being himself, as I conceive, moved to compassion by prayers,
prompted us to visit you in a body, and request a thing on which our own
and the common safety depends, and which, if you consent to it, will
raise your glory above that of the daughters of the Sabines, who won
over their fathers and their husbands from mortal enmity to peace and
friendship. Arise and come with us to Marcius; join in our
supplication, and bear for your country this true and just testimony on
her behalf: that, notwithstanding the many mischiefs that have
been
done her, yet she has never outraged you, nor so much as thought of
treating you ill, in all her resentment, but does now restore you safe
into his hands, though there be small likelihood she should obtain from
him any equitable terms."
The words of Valeria were seconded by the acclamations of the other
women, to which Volumnia made answer:--
"I and Vergilia, my countrywomen, have an equal share with you all in
the common miseries, and we have the additional sorrow, which is wholly
ours, that we have lost the merit and good fame of Marcius, and see his
person confined, rather than protected, by the arms of the enemy.
Yet I
account this the greatest of all misfortunes, if indeed the affairs of
Rome be sunk to so feeble a state as to have their last dependence upon
us. For it is hardly imaginable he should have any consideration
left
for us, when he has no regard for the country which he was wont to
prefer before his mother and wife and children. Make use,
however, of
our service; and lead us, if you please, to him; we are able, if nothing
more, at least to spend our last breath in making suit to him for our
country."
Having spoken thus, she took Vergilia by the hand, and the young
children, and so accompanied them to the Volscian camp. So lamentable a
sight much affected the enemies themselves, who viewed them in
respectful silence. Marcius was then sitting in his place, with his
chief officers about him, and, seeing the party of women advance toward
them, wondered what should be the matter; but perceiving at length that
his mother was at the head of them, he would fain have hardened himself
in his former inexorable temper, but, overcome by his feelings, and
confounded at what he saw, he did not endure they should approach him
sitting in state, but came down hastily to meet them, saluting his
mother first, and embracing her a long time, and then his wife and
children, sparing neither tears nor caresses, but suffering himself to
be borne away and carried headlong, as it were, by the impetuous
violence of his passion.
When he had satisfied himself, and observed that his mother Volumnia
was desirous to say something, the Volscian council being first called
in, he heard her to the following effect: "Our dress and our very
persons, my son, might tell you, though we should say nothing
ourselves, in how forlorn a condition we have lived at home since your
banishment and absence from us; and now consider with yourself, whether
we may not pass for the most unfortunate of all women, to have that
sight, which should be the sweetest that we could see, converted,
through I know not what fatality, to one of all others the most
formidable and dreadful, -- Volumnia to behold her son, and Vergilia
her husband, in arms against the walls of Rome. Even prayer itself,
whence others gain comfort and relief in all manner of misfortunes, is
that which most adds to our confusion and distress; since our best
wishes are inconsistent with themselves, nor can we at the same time
petition the gods for Rome's victory and your preservation, but what
the worst of our enemies would imprecate as a curse, is the very object
of our vows. Your wife and children are under the sad necessity, that
they must either be deprived of you, or of their native soil. As for
myself, I am resolved not to wait till war shall determine this
alternative for me; but if I cannot prevail with you to prefer amity
and concord to quarrel and hostility, and to be the benefactor to both
parties, rather than the destroyer of one of them, be assured of this
from me, and reckon steadfastly upon it, that you shall not be able to
reach your country, unless you trample first upon the corpse of her
that brought you into life. For it will be ill in me to wait and loiter
in the world till the day come wherein I shall see a child of mine,
either led in triumph by his own countrymen, or triumphing over them.
Did I require you to save your country by ruining the Volscians, then,
I confess, my son, the case would be hard for you to solve. It is base
to bring destitution on our fellow- citizens; it is unjust to betray
those who have placed their confidence in us. But, as it is, we do but
desire a deliverance equally expedient for them and us; only more
glorious and honorable on the Volscian side, who, as superior in arms,
will be thought freely to bestow the two greatest of blessings, peace
and friendship, even when they themselves receive the same. If we
obtain these, the common thanks will be chiefly due to you as the
principal cause; but if they be not granted, you alone must expect to
bear the blame from both nations. The chance of all war is uncertain,
yet thus much is certain in the present, that you, by conquering Rome,
will only get the reputation of having undone your country; but if the
Volscians happen to be defeated under your conduct, then the world will
say, that, to satisfy a revengeful humor, you brought misery on your
friends and patrons."
Marcius listened to his mother while she spoke, without answering her a
word; and Volumnia, seeing him stand mute also for a long time after
she had ceased, resumed: "O my son," said she, "what is the meaning of
this silence? Is it a duty to postpone everything to a sense of
injuries, and wrong to gratify a mother in a request like this? Is it
the characteristic of a great man to remember wrongs that have been
done him, and not the part of a great and good man to remember benefits
such as those that children receive from parents, and to requite them
with honor and respect? You, methinks, who are so relentless in the
punishment of the ungrateful, should not be more careless than others
to be grateful yourself. You have punished your country already; you
have not yet paid your debt to me. Nature and religion, surely,
unattended by any constraint, should have won your consent to petitions
so worthy and so just as these; but if it must be so, I will even use
my last resource." Having said this, she threw herself down at his
feet, as did also his wife and children; upon which Marcius, crying
out, "O mother! what is it you have done to me?" raised her up from the
ground, and pressing her right hand with more than ordinary vehemence,
"You have gained a victory," said he, "fortunate enough for the Romans,
but destructive to your son; whom you, though none else, have
defeated." After which, and a little private conference with his mother
and his wife, he sent them back again to Rome, as they desired of him.
The next morning, he broke up his camp, and led the Volscians homeward,
variously affected with what he had done; some of them complaining of
him and condemning his act, others, who were inclined to a peaceful
conclusion, unfavorable to neither. A third party, while much disliking
his proceedings, yet could not look upon Marcius as a treacherous
person, but thought it pardonable in him to be thus shaken and driven
to surrender at last, under such compulsion. None, however, opposed his
commands; they all obediently followed him, though rather from
admiration of his virtue, than any regard they now had to his
authority. The Roman people, meantime, more effectually manifested how
much fear and danger they had been in while the war lasted, by their
deportment after they were freed from it. Those that guarded the walls
had no sooner given notice that the Volscians were dislodged and drawn
off, but they set open all their temples in a moment, and began to
crown themselves with garlands and prepare for sacrifice, as they were
wont to do upon tidings brought of any signal victory. But the joy and
transport of the whole city was chiefly remarkable in the honors and
marks of affection paid to the women, as well by the senate as the
people in general; every one declaring that they were, beyond all
question, the instruments of the public safety. And the senate having
passed a decree that whatsoever they would ask in the way of any favor
or honor should be allowed and done for them by the magistrates, they
demanded simply that a temple might be erected to Female Fortune, the
expense of which they offered to defray out of their own contributions,
if the city would be at the cost of sacrifices, and other matters
pertaining to the due honor of the gods, out of the common treasury.
The senate, much commending their public spirit, caused the temple to
be built and a statue set up in it at the public charge; they, however,
made up a sum among themselves, for a second image of Fortune, which
the Romans say uttered, as it was putting up, words to this effect,
"Blessed of the gods, O women, is your gift."
These words they profess were repeated a second time, expecting our
belief for what seems pretty nearly an impossibility. It may be
possible enough, that statues may seem to sweat, and to run with tears,
and to stand with certain dewy drops of a sanguine color; for timber
and stones are frequently known to contract a kind of scurf and
rottenness, productive of moisture; and various tints may form on the
surfaces, both from within and from the action of the air outside; and
by these signs it is not absurd to imagine that the deity may forewarn
us. It may happen, also, that images and statues may sometimes make a
noise not unlike that of a moan or groan, through a rupture or violent
internal separation of the parts; but that an articulate voice, and
such express words, and language so clear and exact and elaborate,
should proceed from inanimate things, is, in my judgment, a thing
utterly out of possibility. For it was never known that either the soul
of man, or the deity himself, uttered vocal sounds and language, alone,
without an organized body and members fitted for speech. But where
history seems in a manner to force our assent by the concurrence of
numerous and credible witnesses, we are to conclude that an impression
distinct from sensation affects the imaginative part of our nature, and
then carries away the judgment, so as to believe it to be a sensation:
just as in sleep we fancy we see and hear, without really doing either.
Persons, however, whose strong feelings of reverence to the deity, and
tenderness for religion, will not allow them to deny or invalidate
anything of this kind, have certainly a strong argument for their
faith, in the wonderful and transcendent character of the divine power;
which admits no manner of comparison with ours, either in its nature or
its action, the modes or the strength of its operations. It is no
contradiction to reason that it should do things that we cannot do, and
effect what for us is impracticable: differing from us in all respects,
in its acts yet more than in other points we may well believe it to be
unlike us and remote from us. Knowledge of divine things for the most
part, as Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.
When Marcius came back to Antium, Tullus, who thoroughly hated and
greatly feared him, proceeded at once to contrive how he might
immediately dispatch him; as, if he escaped now, he was never likely to
give him such another advantage. Having, therefore, got together and
suborned several partisans against him, he required Marcius to resign
his charge, and give the Volscians all account of his administration.
He, apprehending the danger of a private condition, while Tullus held
the office of general and exercised the greatest power among his
fellow- citizens, made answer, that he was ready to lay down his
commission, whenever those from whose common authority he had received
it, should think fit to recall it; and that in the meantime he was
ready to give the Antiates satisfaction, as to all particulars of his
conduct, if they were desirous of it.
An assembly was called, and popular speakers, as had been concerted,
came forward to exasperate and incense the multitude; but when Marcius
stood up to answer, the more unruly and tumultuous part of the people
became quiet on a sudden, and out of reverence allowed him to speak
without the least disturbance; while all the better people, and such as
were satisfied with a peace, made it evident by their whole behavior,
that they would give him a favorable hearing, and judge and pronounce
according to equity.
Tullus, therefore, began to dread the issue of the defense he was going
to make for himself; for he was an admirable speaker, and the former
services he had done the Volscians had procured and still preserved for
him greater kindness than could be outweighed by any blame for his late
conduct. Indeed, the very accusation itself was a proof and testimony
of the greatness of his merits, since people could never have
complained or thought themselves wronged, because Rome was not brought
into their power, but that by his means they had come so near to taking
it. For these reasons, the conspirators judged it prudent not to make
any further delays, nor to test the general feeling; but the boldest of
their faction, crying out that they ought not to listen to a traitor,
nor allow him still to retain office and play the tyrant among them,
fell upon Marcius in a body, and slew him there, none of those that
were present offering to defend him. But it quickly appeared that the
action was in nowise approved by the majority of the Volscians, who
hurried out of their several cities to show respect to his corpse; to
which they gave honorable interment, adorning his sepulchre with arms
and trophies, as the monument of a noble hero and a famous general.
When the Romans heard tidings of his death, they gave no other
signification either of honor or of anger towards him, but simply
granted the request of the women, that they might put themselves into
mourning and bewail him for ten months, as the usage was upon the loss
of a father or a son or a brother; that being the period fixed for the
longest lamentation by the laws of Numa Pompilius, as is more amply
told in the account of him.
Marcius was no sooner deceased, but the Volscians felt the need of his
assistance. They quarreled first with the Aequians, their confederates
and their friends, about the appointment of the general of their joint
forces, and carried their dispute to the length of bloodshed and
slaughter; and were then defeated by the Romans in a pitched battle,
where not only Tullus lost his life, but the principal flower of their
whole army was cut in pieces; so that they were forced to submit and
accept of peace upon very dishonorable terms, becoming subjects of
Rome, and pledging themselves to submission.
COMPARISON OF ALCIBIADES WITH CORIOLANUS
Having described all their actions that seem to deserve commemoration,
their military ones, we may say, incline the balance very decidedly
upon neither side. They both, in pretty equal measure, displayed on
numerous occasions the daring and courage of the soldier, and the skill
and foresight of the general; unless, indeed, the fact that Alcibiades
was victorious and successful in many contests both by sea and land,
ought to gain him the title of a more complete commander. That so long
as they remained and held command in their respective countries, they
eminently sustained, and when they were driven into exile, yet more
eminently damaged the fortunes of those countries, is common to both.
All the sober citizens felt disgust at the petulance, the low flattery,
and base seductions which Alcibiades, in his public life, allowed
himself to employ with the view of winning the people's favor; and the
ungraciousness, pride, and oligarchical haughtiness which Marcius, on
the other hand, displayed in his, were the abhorrence of the Roman
populace. Neither of these courses can be called commendable; but a man
who ingratiates himself by indulgence and flattery, is hardly so
censurable as one who, to avoid the appearance of flattering, insults.
To seek power by servility to the people is a disgrace, but to maintain
it by terror, violence, and oppression, is not a disgrace only, but an
injustice.
Marcius, according to our common conceptions of his character, was
undoubtedly simple and straightforward; Alcibiades, unscrupulous as a
public man, and false. He is more especially blamed for the
dishonorable and treacherous way in which, as Thucydides relates, he
imposed upon the Lacedaemonian ambassadors, and disturbed the
continuance of the peace. Yet this policy, which engaged the city again
in war, nevertheless placed it in a powerful and formidable position,
by the accession, which Alcibiades obtained for it, of the alliance of
Argos and Mantinea. And Coriolanus also, Dionysius relates, used unfair
means to excite war between the Romans and the Volscians, in the false
report which he spread about the visitors at the Games; and the motive
of this action seems to make it the worse of the two; since it was not
done, like the other, out of ordinary political jealousy, strife, and
competition. Simply to gratify anger, from which, as Ion says, no one
ever yet got any return, he threw whole districts of Italy into
confusion, and sacrificed to his passion against his country numerous
innocent cities. It is true, indeed, that Alcibiades also, by his
resentment, was the occasion of great disasters to his country, but he
relented as soon as he found their feelings to be changed; and after he
was driven out a second time, so far from taking pleasure in the errors
and inadvertencies of their commanders, or being indifferent to the
danger they were thus incurring, he did the very thing that Aristides
is so highly commended for doing to Themistocles: he came to the
generals who were his enemies, and pointed out to them what they ought
to do. Coriolanus, on the other hand, first of all attacked the whole
body of his countrymen, though only one portion of them had done him
any wrong, while the other, the better and nobler portion, had actually
suffered, as well as sympathized, with him. And, secondly, by the
obduracy with which he resisted numerous embassies and supplications,
addressed in propitiation of his single anger and offense, he showed
that it had been to destroy and overthrow, not to recover and regain
his country, that he had excited bitter and implacable hostilities
against it. There is, indeed, one distinction that may be drawn.
Alcibiades, it may be said, was not safe among the Spartans, and had
the inducements at once of fear and of hatred to lead him again to
Athens; whereas Marcius could not honorably have left the Volscians,
when they were behaving so well to him: he, in the command of their
forces and the enjoyment of their entire confidence, was in a very
different position from Alcibiades, whom the Lacedaemonians did not so
much wish to adopt into their service, as to use, and then abandon.
Driven about from house to house in the city, and from general to
general in the camp, the latter had no resort but to place himself in
the hands of Tisaphernes; unless, indeed, we are to suppose that his
object in courting favor with him was to avert the entire destruction
of his native city, whither he wished himself to return.
As regards money, Alcibiades, we are told, was often guilty of
procuring it by accepting bribes, and spent it in in luxury and
dissipation. Coriolanus declined to receive it, even when pressed upon
him by his commanders as all honor; and one great reason for the odium
he incurred with the populace in the discussions about their debts was,
that he trampled upon the poor, not for money's sake, but out of pride
and insolence.
Antipater, in a letter written upon the death of Aristotle the
philosopher, observes, "Amongst his other gifts he had that of
persuasiveness;" and the absence of this in the character of Marcius
made all his great actions and noble qualities unacceptable to those
whom they benefited: pride, and self-will, the consort, as Plato calls
it, of solitude, made him insufferable. With the skill which Alcibiades
on the contrary, possessed to treat every one in the way most agreeable
to him, we cannot wonder that all his successes were attended with the
most exuberant favor and honor; his very errors, at times, being
accompanied by something of grace and felicity. And so, in spite of
great and frequent hurt that he had done the city, he was repeatedly
appointed to office and command; while Coriolanus stood in vain for a
place which his great services had made his due. The one, in spite of
the harm he occasioned, could not make himself hated, nor the other,
with all the admiration he attracted, succeed in being beloved by his
countrymen.
Coriolanus, moreover, it should be said, did not as a general obtain
any successes for his country, but only for his enemies against his
country. Alcibiades was often of service to Athens, both as a soldier
and as a commander. So long as he was personally present, he had the
perfect mastery of his political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in
his absence. Coriolanus was condemned in person at Rome; and in like
manner killed by the Volscians, not indeed with any right or justice,
yet not without some pretext occasioned by his own acts; since, after
rejecting all conditions of peace in public, in private he yielded to
the solicitations of the women, and, without establishing peace, threw
up the favorable chances of war. He ought, before retiring, to have
obtained the consent of those who had placed their trust in him; if
indeed he considered their claims on him to be the strongest. Or, if we
say that he did not care about the Volscians, but merely had prosecuted
the war, which he now abandoned, for the satisfaction of his own
resentment, then the noble thing would have been, not to spare his
country for his mother's sake, but his mother in and with his country;
since both his mother and his wife were part and parcel of that
endangered country. After harshly repelling public supplications, the
entreaties of ambassadors, and the prayers of priests, to concede all
as a private favor to his mother was less an honor to her than a
dishonor to the city which thus escaped, in spite, it would seem, of
its own demerits, through the intercession of a single woman. Such a
grace could, indeed, seem merely invidious, ungracious, and
unreasonable in the eyes of both parties; he retreated without
listening to the persuasions of his opponents, or asking the consent of
his friends. The origin of all lay in his unsociable, supercilious, and
self-willed disposition, which, in all cases, is offensive to most
people; and when combined with a passion for distinction passes into
absolute savageness and mercilessness. Men decline to ask favors of the
people, professing not to need any honors from them; and then are
indignant if they do not obtain them. Metellus, Aristides, and
Epaminondas certainly did not beg favors of the multitude; but that was
because they, in real truth, did not value the gifts which a popular
body can either confer or refuse; and when they were more than once
driven into exile, rejected at elections, and condemned in courts of
justice, they showed no resentment at the ill-humor of their
fellow-citizens, but were willing and contented to return and be
reconciled when the feeling altered and they were wished for. He who
least likes courting favor, ought also least to think of resenting
neglect: to feel wounded at being refused a distinction can only arise
from an overweening appetite to have it.
Alcibiades never professed to deny that it was pleasant to him to be
honored, and distasteful to him to be overlooked; and, accordingly, he
always tried to place himself upon good terms with all that he met;
Coriolanus's pride forbade him to pay attentions to those who could
have promoted his advancement, and yet his love of distinction made him
feel hurt and angry when he was disregarded. Such are the faulty parts
of his character, which in all other respects was a noble one. For his
temperance, continence, and probity, he might claim to be compared with
the best and purest of the Greeks; not in any sort or kind with
Alcibiades, the least scrupulous and most entirely careless of human
beings in all these points.
TIMOLEON
It was for the sake of others that I first commenced writing
biographies; but I find myself proceeding and attaching myself to it
for my own; the virtues of these great men serving me as a sort of
looking-glass, in which I may see how to adjust and adorn my own life.
Indeed, it can be compared to nothing but daily living and associating
together; we receive, as it were, in our inquiry, and entertain each
successive guest, view
Their stature and their qualities,
and select from their actions all that is noblest and worthiest to know.
Ah, and what greater pleasure could one have?
or, what more effective means to one's moral improvement? Democritus
tells us we ought to pray that of the phantasms appearing in the
circumambient air, such may present themselves to us as are propitious,
and that we may rather meet with those that are agreeable to our
natures and are good, than the evil and unfortunate; which is simply
introducing into philosophy a doctrine untrue in itself, and leading to
endless superstitions. My method, on the contrary, is, by the study of
history, and by the familiarity acquired in writing, to habituate my
memory to receive and retain images of the best and worthiest
characters. I thus am enabled to free myself from any ignoble, base, or
vicious impressions, contracted from the contagion of ill company that
I may be unavoidably engaged in, by the remedy of turning my thoughts
in a happy and calm temper to view these noble examples. Of this kind
are those of Timoleon the Corinthian, and Paulus Aemilius, to write
whose lives is my present business; men equally famous, not only for
their virtues, but success; insomuch that they have left it doubtful
whether they owe their greatest achievements to good fortune, or their
own prudence and conduct.
The affairs of the Syracusans, before Timoleon was sent into Sicily,
were in this posture: after Dion had driven out Dionysius the tyrant,
he was slain by treachery, and those that had assisted him in
delivering Syracuse were divided among themselves; and thus the city,
by a continual change of governors, and a train of mischiefs that
succeeded each other, became almost abandoned; while of the rest of
Sicily, part was now utterly depopulated and desolate through long
continuance of war, and most of the cities that had been left standing
were in the hands of barbarians and soldiers out of employment, that
were ready to embrace every turn of government. Such being the state of
things, Dionysius takes the opportunity, and in the tenth year of his
banishment, by the help of some mercenary troops he had got together,
forces out Nysaeus, then master of Syracuse, recovers all afresh, and
is again settled in his dominion; and as at first he had been strangely
deprived of the greatest and most absolute power that ever was, by a
very small party, so now in a yet stranger manner; when in exile and of
mean condition, he became the sovereign of those who had ejected him.
All, therefore, that remained in Syracuse, had to serve under a tyrant,
who at the best was of an ungentle nature, and exasperated now to a
degree of savageness by the late misfortunes and calamities he had
suffered. The better and more distinguished citizens, having timely
retired thence to Hicetes, ruler of the Leontines, put themselves under
his protection, and chose him for their general in the war; not that he
was much preferable to any open and avowed tyrant; but they had no
other sanctuary at present, and it gave them some ground of confidence,
that he was of a Syracusan family, and had forces able to encounter
those of Dionysius.
In the meantime, the Carthaginians appeared before Sicily with a great
navy, watching when and where they might make a descent upon the
island; and terror at this fleet made the Sicilians incline to send an
embassy into Greece to demand succors from the Corinthians, whom they
confided in rather than others, not only upon the account of their near
kindred, and the great benefits they had often received by trusting
them, but because Corinth had ever shown herself attached to freedom
and averse from tyranny, and had engaged in many noble wars, not for
empire or aggrandizement, but for the sole liberty of the Greeks. But
Hicetes, who made it the business of his command not so much to deliver
the Syracusans from other tyrants, as to enslave them to himself, had
already entered into some secret conferences with those of Carthage,
while in public he commended the design of his Syracusan clients, and
dispatched ambassadors from himself, together with theirs, into
Peloponnesus; not that he really desired any relief to come from there,
but, in case the Corinthians, as was likely enough, on account of the
troubles of Greece and occupation at home, should refuse their
assistance, hoping then he should be able with less difficulty to
dispose and incline things for the Carthaginian interest, and so make
use of these foreign pretenders, as instruments and auxiliaries for
himself, either against the Syracusans or Dionysius, as occasion
served. This was discovered a while after.
The ambassadors being arrived, and their request known, the
Corinthians, who had always a great concern for all their colonies and
plantations, but especially for Syracuse, since by good fortune there
was nothing to molest them in their own country, where they were
enjoying peace and leisure at that time, readily and with one accord
passed a vote for their assistance. And when they were deliberating
about the choice of a captain for the expedition, and the magistrates
were urging the claims of various aspirants for reputation, one of the
crowd stood up and named Timoleon, son of Timodemus, who had long
absented himself from public business, and had neither any thoughts of,
nor the least pretension to, an employment of that nature. Some god or
other, it might rather seem, had put it in the man's heart to mention
him; such favor and good-will on the part of Fortune seemed at once to
be shown in his election, and to accompany all his following actions,
as though it were on purpose to commend his worth, and add grace and
ornament to his personal virtues. As regards his parentage, both
Timodemus his father, and his mother Demariste, were of high rank in
the city; and as for himself, he was noted for his love of his country,
and his gentleness of temper, except in his extreme hatred to tyrants
and wicked men. His natural abilities for war were so happily tempered,
that while a rare prudence might be seen in all the enterprises of his
younger years, an equal courage showed itself in the last exploits of
his declining age. He had an elder brother, whose name was Timophanes,
who was every way unlike him, being indiscreet and rash, and infected
by the suggestions of some friends and foreign soldiers, whom he kept
always about him, with a passion for absolute power. He seemed to have
a certain force and vehemence in all military service, and even to
delight in dangers, and thus he took much with the people, and was
advanced to the highest charges, as a vigorous and effective warrior;
in the obtaining of which offices and promotions, Timoleon much
assisted him, helping to conceal or at least to extenuate his errors,
embellishing by his praise whatever was commendable in him, and setting
off his good qualities to the best advantage.
It happened once in the battle fought by the Corinthians against the
forces of Argos and Cleonae, that Timoleon served among the infantry,
when Timophanes, commanding their cavalry, was brought into extreme
danger; as his horse being wounded fell forward, and threw him headlong
amidst the enemies, while part of his companions dispersed at once in a
panic, and the small number that remained, bearing up against a great
multitude, had much ado to maintain any resistance. As soon, therefore,
as Timoleon was aware of the accident, he ran hastily in to his
brother's rescue, and covering the fallen Timophanes with his buckler,
after having received abundance of darts, and several strokes by the
sword upon his body and his armor, he at length with much difficulty
obliged the enemies to retire, and brought off his brother alive and
safe. But when the Corinthians, for fear of losing their city a second
time, as they had once before, by admitting their allies, made a decree
to maintain four hundred mercenaries for its security, and gave
Timophanes the command over them, he, abandoning all regard to honor
and equity, at once proceeded to put into execution his plans for
making himself absolute, and bringing the place under his own power;
and having cut off many principal citizens, uncondemned and without
trial, who were most likely to hinder his design, he declared himself
tyrant of Corinth; a procedure that infinitely afflicted Timoleon, to
whom the wickedness of such a brother appeared to be his own reproach
and calamity. He undertook to persuade him by reasoning, that,
desisting from that wild and unhappy ambition, he would bethink himself
how he should make the Corinthians some amends, and find out an
expedient to remedy and correct the evils he had done them. When his
single admonition was rejected and contemned by him, he makes a second
attempt, taking with him Aeschylus his kinsman, brother to the wife of
Timophanes, and a certain diviner, that was his friend, whom Theopompus
in his history calls Satyrus, but Ephorus and Timaeus mention in theirs
by the name of Orthagoras. After a few days, then, he returns to his
brother with this company, all three of them surrounding and earnestly
importuning him upon the same subject, that now at length he would
listen to reason, and be of another mind. But when Timophanes began
first to laugh at the men's simplicity, and presently broke out into
rage and indignation against them, Timoleon stepped aside from him and
stood weeping with his face covered, while the other two, drawing out
their swords, dispatched him in a moment.
On the rumor of this act being soon scattered about, the better and
more generous of the Corinthians highly applauded Timoleon for the
hatred of wrong and the greatness of soul that had made him, though of
a gentle disposition and full of love and kindness for his family,
think the obligations to his country stronger than the ties of
consanguinity, and prefer that which is good and just before gain and
interest and his own particular advantage. For the same brother, who
with so much bravery had been saved by him when he fought valiantly in
the cause of Corinth, he had now as nobly sacrificed for enslaving her
afterward by a base and treacherous usurpation. But then, on the other
side, those that knew not how to live in a democracy, and had been used
to make their humble court to the men of power, though they openly
professed to rejoice at the death of the tyrant, nevertheless, secretly
reviling Timoleon, as one that had committed an impious and abominable
act, drove him into melancholy and dejection. And when he came to
understand how heavily his mother took it, and that she likewise
uttered the saddest complaints and most terrible imprecations against
him, he went to satisfy and comfort her as to what had happened; and
finding that she would not endure so much as to look upon him, but
caused her doors to be shut, that he might have no admission into her
presence, with grief at this he grew so disordered in his mind and so
disconsolate, that he determined to put an end to his perplexity with
his life, by abstaining from all manner of sustenance. But through the
care and diligence of his friends, who were very instant with him, and
added force to their entreaties, he came to resolve and promise at
last, that he would endure living, provided it might be in solitude,
and remote from company; so that, quitting all civil transactions and
commerce with the world, for a long while after his first retirement he
never came into Corinth, but wandered up and down the fields, full of
anxious and tormenting thoughts, and spent his time in desert places,
at the farthest distance from society and human intercourse. So true it
is that the minds of men are easily shaken and carried off from their
own sentiments through the casual commendation or reproof of others,
unless the judgments that we make, and the purposes we conceive, be
confirmed by reason and philosophy, and thus obtain strength and
steadiness. An action must not only be just and laudable in its own
nature, but it must proceed likewise from solid motives and a lasting
principle, that so we may fully and constantly approve the thing, and
be perfectly satisfied in what we do; for otherwise, after having put
our resolution into practice, we shall out of pure weakness come to be
troubled at the performance, when the grace and goodliness, which
rendered it before so amiable and pleasing to us, begin to decay and
wear out of our fancy; like greedy people, who, seizing on the more
delicious morsels of any dish with a keen appetite, are presently
disgusted when they grow full, and find themselves oppressed and uneasy
now by what they before so greedily desired. For a succeeding dislike
spoils the best of actions, and repentance makes that which was never
so well done, become base and faulty; whereas the choice that is
founded upon knowledge and wise reasoning, does not change by
disappointment, or suffer us to repent, though it happen perchance to
be less prosperous in the issue. And thus Phocion, of Athens, having
always vigorously opposed the measures of Leosthenes, when success
appeared to attend them, and he saw his countrymen rejoicing and
offering sacrifice in honor of their victory, "I should have been as
glad," said he to them, "that I myself had been the author of what
Leosthenes has achieved for you, as I am that I gave you my own counsel
against it." A more vehement reply is recorded to have been made by
Aristides the Locrian, one of Plato's companions, to Dionysius the
elder, who demanded one of his daughters in marriage: "I had rather,"
said he to him, "see the virgin in her grave, than in the palace of a
tyrant." And when Dionysius, enraged at the affront, made his sons be
put to death a while after, and then again insultingly asked, whether
he were still in the same mind as to the disposal of his daughters, his
answer was, "I cannot but grieve at the cruelty of your deeds, but am
not sorry for the freedom of my own words." Such expressions as these
may belong perhaps to a more sublime and accomplished virtue.
The grief, however, of Timoleon at what had been done, whether it arose
from commiseration of his brother's fate, or the reverence he bore his
mother, so shattered and broke his spirits, that for the space of
almost twenty years, he had not offered to concern himself in any
honorable or public action. When, therefore, he was pitched upon for a
general, and joyfully accepted as such by the suffrages of the people,
Teleclides, who was at that time the most powerful and distinguished
man in Corinth, began to exhort him that he would act now like a man of
worth and gallantry: "For," said he, "if you do bravely in this
service, we shall believe that you delivered us from a tyrant; but if
otherwise, that you killed your brother." While he was yet preparing to
set sail, and enlisting soldiers to embark with him, there came letters
to the Corinthians from Hicetes, plainly disclosing his revolt and
treachery. For his ambassadors were no sooner gone for Corinth, but he
openly joined the Carthaginians, negotiating that they might assist him
to throw out Dionysius, and become master of Syracuse in his room. And
fearing he might be disappointed of his aim, if troops and a commander
should come from Corinth before this were effected, he sent a letter of
advice thither, in all haste, to prevent their setting out, telling
them they need not be at any cost and trouble upon his account, or run
the hazard of a Sicilian voyage, especially since the Carthaginians,
alliance with whom against Dionysius the slowness of their motions had
compelled him to embrace, would dispute their passage, and lay in wait
to attack them with a numerous fleet. This letter being publicly read,
if any had been cold and indifferent before as to the expedition in
hand, the indignation they now conceived against Hicetes so exasperated
and inflamed them all, that they willingly contributed to supply
Timoleon, and endeavored, with one accord, to hasten his departure.
When the vessels were equipped, and his soldiers every way provided
for, the female priests of Proserpina had a dream or vision, wherein
she and her mother Ceres appeared to them in a traveling garb, and were
heard to say that they were going to sail with Timoleon into Sicily;
whereupon the Corinthians, having built a sacred galley, devoted it to
them, and called it the galley of the goddesses. Timoleon went in
person to Delphi, where he sacrificed to Apollo, and, descending into
the place of prophecy, was surprised with the following marvelous
occurrence. A riband with crowns and figures of victory embroidered
upon it, slipped off from among the gifts that were there consecrated
and hung up in the temple, and fell directly down upon his head; so
that Apollo seemed already to crown him with success, and send him
thence to conquer and triumph. He put to sea only with seven ships of
Corinth, two of Corcyra, and a tenth which was furnished by the
Leucadians; and when he was now entered into the deep by night, and
carried with a prosperous gale, the heaven seemed all on a sudden to
break open, and a bright spreading flame to issue forth from it, and
hover over the ship he was in; and, having formed itself into a torch,
not unlike those that are used in the mysteries, it began to steer the
same course, and run along in their company, guiding them by its light
to that quarter of Italy where they designed to go ashore. The
soothsayers affirmed, that this apparition agreed with the dream of the
holy women, since the goddesses were now visibly joining in the
expedition, and sending this light from heaven before them: Sicily
being thought sacred to Proserpina, as poets feign that the rape was
committed there, and that the island was given her in dowry when she
married Pluto.
These early demonstrations of divine favor greatly encouraged his whole
army; so that, making all the speed they were able, by a voyage across
the open sea, they were soon passing along the coast of Italy. But the
tidings that came from Sicily much perplexed Timoleon, and disheartened
his soldiers. For Hicetes, having already beaten Dionysius out of the
field, and reduced most of the quarters of Syracuse itself, now hemmed
him in and besieged him in the citadel and what is called the Island,
whither he was fled for his last refuge; while the Carthaginians, by
agreement, were to make it their business to hinder Timoleon from
landing in any port of Sicily; so that he and his party being driven
back, they might with ease and at their own leisure divide the island
among themselves. In pursuance of which design, the Carthaginians sent
away twenty of their galleys to Rhegium, having aboard them certain
ambassadors from Hicetes to Timoleon, who carried instructions suitable
to these proceedings, specious amusements and plausible stories, to
color and conceal dishonest purposes. They had order to propose and
demand that Timoleon himself, if he liked the offer, should come to
advise with Hicetes, and partake of all his conquests, but that he
might send back his ships and forces to Corinth, since the war was in a
manner finished, and the Carthaginians had blocked up the passage,
determined to oppose them if they should try to force their way towards
the shore. When, therefore, the Corinthians met with these envoys at
Rhegium, and received their message, and saw the Phoenician vessels
riding at anchor in the bay, they became keenly sensible of the abuse
that was put upon them, and felt a general indignation against Hicetes,
and great apprehensions for the Siceliots, whom they now plainly
perceived to be as it were a prize and recompense to Hicetes on one
side for his perfidy, and to the Carthaginians on the other for the
sovereign power they secured to him. For it seemed utterly impossible
to force and overbear the Carthaginian ships that lay before them and
were double their number, as also to vanquish the victorious troops
which Hicetes had with him in Syracuse, to take the lead of which very
troops they had undertaken their voyage.
The case being thus, Timoleon, after some conference with the envoys of
Hicetes and the Carthaginian captains, told them he should readily
submit to their proposals (to what purpose would it be to refuse
compliance?): he was desirous only, before his return to Corinth, that
what had passed between them in private might be solemnly declared
before the people of Rhegium, a Greek city, and a common friend to the
parties; this, he said, would very much conduce to his own security and
discharge; and they likewise would more strictly observe articles of
agreement, on behalf of the Syracusans, which they had obliged
themselves to in the presence of so many witnesses. The design of all
which was, only to divert their attention, while he got an opportunity
of slipping away from their fleet: a contrivance that all the principal
Rhegians were privy and assisting to, who had a great desire that the
affairs of Sicily should fall into Corinthian hands, and dreaded the
consequences of having barbarian neighbors. An assembly was therefore
called, and the gates shut, that the citizens might have no liberty to
turn to other business; and a succession of speakers came forward,
addressing the people at great length, to the same effect, without
bringing the subject to any conclusion, making way each for another and
purposely spinning out the time, till the Corinthian galleys should get
clear of the haven; the Carthaginian commanders being detained there
without any suspicion, as also Timoleon still remained present, and
gave signs as if he were just preparing to make an oration. But upon
secret notice that the rest of the galleys were already gone on, and
that his alone remained waiting for him, by the help and concealment of
those Rhegians that were about the hustings and favored his departure,
he made shift to slip away through the crowd, and, running down to the
port, set sail with all speed; and having reached his other vessels,
they came all safe to Tauromenium in Sicily, whither they had been
formerly invited, and where they were now kindly received by
Andromachus, then ruler of the city. This man was father of Timaeus the
historian, and incomparably the best of all those that bore sway in
Sicily at that time, governing his citizens according to law and
justice, and openly professing an aversion and enmity to all tyrants;
upon which account he gave Timoleon leave to muster up his troops
there, and to make that city the seat of war, persuading the
inhabitants to join their arms with the Corinthian forces, and assist
them in the design of delivering Sicily.
But the Carthaginians who were left in Rhegium perceiving, when the
assembly was dissolved, that Timoleon had given them the go by, were
not a little vexed to see themselves outwitted, much to the amusement
of the Rhegians, who could not but smile to find Phoenicians complain
of being cheated. However, they dispatched a messenger aboard one of
their galleys to Tauromenium, who, after much blustering in the
insolent barbaric way, and many menaces to Andromachus if he did not
forthwith send the Corinthians off, stretched out his hand with the
inside upward, and then turning it down again, threatened he would
handle their city even so, and turn it topsy-turvy in as little time,
and with as much ease. Andromachus, laughing at the man's confidence,
made no other reply, but, imitating his gesture, bid him hasten his own
departure, unless he had a mind to see that kind of dexterity practiced
first upon the galley which brought him thither.
Hicetes, informed that Timoleon had made good his passage, was in great
fear of what might follow, and sent to desire the Carthaginians that a
large number of galleys might be ordered to attend and secure the
coast. And now it was that the Syracusans began wholly to despair of
safety, seeing the Carthaginians possessed of their haven, Hicetes
master of the town, and Dionysius supreme in the citadel; while
Timoleon had as yet but a slender hold of Sicily, as it were by the
fringe or border of it, in the small city of the Tauromenians, with a
feeble hope and a poor company; having but a thousand soldiers at the
most, and no more provisions, either of corn or money, than were just
necessary for the maintenance and the pay of that inconsiderable
number. Nor did the other towns of Sicily confide in him, overpowered
as they were with violence and outrage, and embittered against all that
should offer to lead armies, by the treacherous conduct chiefly of
Callippus, an Athenian, and Pharax, a Lacedaemonian captain, both of
whom, after giving out that the design of their coming was to introduce
liberty and depose tyrants, so tyrannized themselves, that the reign of
former oppressors seemed to be a golden age in comparison, and the
Sicilians began to consider those more happy who had expired in
servitude, than any that had lived to see such a dismal freedom.
Looking, therefore, for no better usage from the Corinthian general,
but imagining that it was only the same old course of things once more,
specious presences and false professions to allure them by fair hopes
and kind promises into the obedience of a new master, they all, with
one accord, unless it were the people of Adranum, suspected the
exhortations, and rejected the overtures that were made them in his
name. These were inhabitants of a small city, consecrated to Adranus, a
certain god that was in high veneration throughout Sicily, and, as it
happened, they were then at variance among themselves, insomuch that
one party called in Hicetes and the Carthaginians to assist them, while
the other sent proposals to Timoleon. It so fell out that these
auxiliaries, striving which should be soonest, both arrived at Adranum
about the same time; Hicetes bringing with him at least five thousand
fighting men, while all the force Timoleon could make did not exceed
twelve hundred. With these he marched out of Tauromenium, which was
about three hundred and forty furlongs distant from that city. The
first day he moved but slowly, and took up his quarters betimes after a
short journey; but the day following he quickened his pace, and, having
passed through much difficult ground, towards evening received advice
that Hicetes was just approaching Adranum, and pitching his camp before
it; upon which intelligence, his captains and other officers caused the
vanguard to halt, that the army being refreshed, and having reposed a
while, might engage the enemy with better heart. But Timoleon, coming
up in haste, desired them not to stop for that reason, but rather use
all possible diligence to surprise the enemy, whom probably they would
now find in disorder, as having lately ended their march, and being
taken up at present in erecting tents and preparing supper; which he
had no sooner said, but laying hold of his buckler and putting himself
in the front, he led them on as it were to certain victory. The
braveness of such a leader made them all follow him with like courage
and assurance. They were now within less than thirty furlongs of
Adranum, which they quickly traversed, and immediately fell in upon the
enemy, who were seized with confusion, and began to retire at their
first approaches; one consequence of which was that amidst so little
opposition, and so early and general a flight, there were not many more
than three hundred slain, and about twice the number made prisoners.
Their camp and baggage, however, was all taken. The fortune of this
onset soon induced the Adranitans to unlock their gates, and embrace
the interest of Timoleon, to whom they recounted, with a mixture of
affright and admiration, how, at the very minute of the encounter, the
doors of their temple flew open of their own accord, that the javelin
also, which their god held in his hand, was observed to tremble at the
point, and that drops of sweat had been seen running down his face:
prodigies that not only presaged the victory then obtained, but were an
omen, it seems, of all his future exploits, to which this first happy
action gave the occasion.
For now the neighboring cities and potentates sent deputies, one upon
another, to seek his friendship and make offer of their service. Among
the rest, Mamercus, the tyrant of Catana, an experienced warrior and a
wealthy prince, made proposals of alliance with him, and, what was of
greater importance still, Dionysius himself being now grown desperate,
and wellnigh forced to surrender, despising Hicetes who had been thus
shamefully baffled, and admiring the valor of Timoleon, found means to
advertise him and his Corinthians that he should be content to deliver
up himself and the citadel into their hands. Timoleon, gladly embracing
this unlooked for advantage, sends away Euclides and Telemachus, two
Corinthian captains, with four hundred men, for the seizure and custody
of the castle, with directions to enter not all at once, or in open
view, that being impracticable so long as the enemy kept guard, but by
stealth, and in small companies. And so they took possession of the
fortress, and the palace of Dionysius, with all the stores and
ammunition he had prepared and laid up to maintain the war. They found
a good number of horses, every variety of engines, a multitude of
darts, and weapons to arm seventy thousand men (a magazine that had
been formed from ancient time), besides two thousand soldiers that were
then with him, whom he gave up with the rest for Timoleon's service.
Dionysius himself, putting his treasure aboard, and taking a few
friends, sailed away unobserved by Hicetes, and being brought to the
camp of Timoleon, there first appeared in the humble dress of a private
person, and was shortly after sent to Corinth with a single ship and a
small sum of money. Born and educated in the most splendid court and
the most absolute monarchy that ever was, which he held and kept up for
the space of ten years succeeding his father's death, he had, after
Dion's expedition, spent twelve other years in a continual agitation of
wars and contests, and great variety of fortune, during which time all
the mischiefs he had committed in his former reign were more than
repaid by the ills he himself then suffered; since he lived to see the
deaths of his sons in the prime and vigor of their age, and the rape of
his daughters in the flower of their virginity, and the wicked abuse of
his sister and his wife, who, after being first exposed to all the
lawless insults of the soldiery, was then murdered with her children,
and cast into the sea; the particulars of which are more exactly given
in the life of Dion.
Upon the news of his landing at Corinth, there was hardly a man in
Greece who had not the curiosity to come and view the late formidable
tyrant, and say some words to him; part, rejoicing at his disasters,
were led thither out of mere spite and hatred, that they might have the
pleasure of trampling, as it were, on the ruins of his broken fortune;
but others, letting their attention and their sympathy turn rather to
the changes and revolutions of his life, could not but see in them a
proof of the strength and potency with which divine and unseen causes
operate amidst the weakness of human and visible things. For neither
art nor nature did in that age produce anything comparable to this work
and wonder of fortune, which showed the very same man, that was not
long before supreme monarch of Sicily, loitering about perhaps in the
fish-market, or sitting in a perfumer's shop, drinking the diluted wine
of taverns, or squabbling in the street with common women, or
pretending to instruct the singing women of the theater, and seriously
disputing with them about the measure and harmony of pieces of music
that were performed there. Such behavior on his part was variously
criticized. He was thought by many to act thus out of pure compliance
with his own natural indolent and vicious inclinations; while finer
judges were of opinion, that in all this he was playing a politic part,
with a design to be contemned among them, and that the Corinthians
might not feel any apprehension or suspicion of his being uneasy under
his reverse of fortune, or solicitous to retrieve it; to avoid which
dangers, he purposely and against his true nature affected an
appearance of folly and want of spirit in his private life and
amusements.
However it be, there are sayings and repartees of his left still upon
record, which seem to show that he not ignobly accommodated himself to
his present circumstances; as may appear in part from the ingenuousness
of the avowal he made on coming to Leucadia, which, as well as
Syracuse, was a Corinthian colony, where he told the inhabitants, that
he found himself not unlike boys who have been in fault, who can talk
cheerfully with their brothers, but are ashamed to see their father;
so, likewise, he, he said, could gladly reside with them in that
island, whereas he felt a certain awe upon his mind, which made him
averse to the sight of Corinth, that was a common mother to them both.
The thing is further evident from the reply he once made to a stranger
in Corinth, who deriding him in a rude and scornful manner about the
conferences he used to have with philosophers, whose company had been
one of his pleasures while yet a monarch, and demanding, in fine, what
he was the better now for all those wise and learned discourses of
Plato, "Do you think," said he, "I have made no profit of his
philosophy, when you see me bear my change of fortune as I do?" And
when Aristoxenus the musician, and several others, desired to know how
Plato offended him, and what had been the ground of his displeasure
with him, he made answer, that, of the many evils attaching to the
condition of sovereignty, the one greatest infelicity was that none of
those who were accounted friends would venture to speak freely, or tell
the plain truth; and that by means of such he had been deprived of
Plato's kindness. At another time, when one of those pleasant
companions that are desirous to pass for wits, in mockery to Dionysius,
as if he were still the tyrant, shook out the folds of his cloak, as he
was entering into the room where he was, to show there were no
concealed weapons about him, Dionysius, by way of retort, observed,
that he would prefer he would do so on leaving the room, as a security
that he was carrying nothing off with him. And when Philip of Macedon,
at a drinking party, began to speak in banter about the verses and
tragedies which his father, Dionysius the elder, had left behind him,
and pretended to wonder how he could get any time from his other
business to compose such elaborate and ingenious pieces, he replied,
very much to the purpose, "It was at those leisurable hours, which such
as you and I, and those we call happy men, bestow upon our cups." Plato
had not the opportunity to see Dionysius at Corinth, being already dead
before he came thither; but Diogenes of Sinope, at their first meeting
in the street there, saluted him with the ambiguous expression, "O
Dionysius, how little you deserve your present life!" Upon which
Dionysius stopped and replied, "I thank you, Diogenes, for your
condolence." "Condole with you!" replied Diogenes; "do you not suppose
that, on the contrary, I am indignant that such a slave as you, who, if
you had your due, should have been let alone to grow old, and die in
the state of tyranny, as your father did before you, should now enjoy
the ease of private persons, and be here to sport and frolic it in our
society?" So that when I compare those sad stories of Philistus,
touching the daughters of Leptines, where he makes pitiful moan on
their behalf, as fallen from all the blessings and advantages of
powerful greatness to the miseries of a humble life, they seem to me
like the lamentations of a woman who has lost her box of ointment, her
purple dresses, and her golden trinkets. Such anecdotes will not, I
conceive, be thought either foreign to my purpose of writing Lives, or
unprofitable in themselves, by such readers as are not in too much
haste, or busied and taken up with other concerns.
But if the misfortune of Dionysius appear strange and extraordinary, we
shall have no less reason to wonder at the good fortune of Timoleon,
who, within fifty days after his landing in Sicily, both recovered the
citadel of Syracuse, and sent Dionysius an exile into Peloponnesus.
This lucky beginning so animated the Corinthians, that they ordered him
a supply of two thousand foot and two hundred horse, who, reaching
Thurii, intended to cross over thence into Sicily; but finding the
whole sea beset with Carthaginian ships, which made their passage
impracticable, they were constrained to stop there, and watch their
opportunity: which time, however, was employed in a noble action. For
the Thurians, going out to war against their Bruttian enemies, left
their city in charge with these Corinthian strangers, who defended it
as carefully as if it had been their own country, and faithfully
resigned it up again.
Hicetes, in the interim, continued still to besiege the castle of
Syracuse, and hindered all provisions from coming in by sea to relieve
the Corinthians that were in it. He had engaged also, and dispatched
towards Adranum, two unknown foreigners to assassinate Timoleon, who at
no time kept any standing guard about his person, and was then
altogether secure, diverting himself, without any apprehension, among
the citizens of the place, it being a festival in honor of their gods.
The two men that were sent, having casually heard that Timoleon was
about to sacrifice, came directly into the temple with poniards under
their cloaks, and pressing in among the crowd, by little and little got
up close to the altar; but, as they were just looking for a sign from
each other to begin the attempt, a third person struck one of them over
the head with a sword, upon whose sudden fall, neither he that gave the
blow, nor the partisan of him that received it, kept their stations any
longer; but the one, making way with his bloody sword, put no stop to
his flight, till he gained the top of a certain lofty precipice, while
the other, laying hold of the altar, besought Timoleon to spare his
life, and he would reveal to him the whole conspiracy. His pardon being
granted, he confessed that both himself and his dead companion were
sent thither purposely to slay him. While this discovery was made, he
that killed the other conspirator had been fetched down from his
sanctuary of the rock, loudly and often protesting, as he came along,
that there was no injustice in the fact, as he had only taken righteous
vengeance for his father's blood, whom this man had murdered before in
the city of Leontini; the truth of which was attested by several there
present, who could not choose but wonder too at the strange dexterity
of fortune's operations, the facility with which she makes one event
the spring and motion to something wholly different, uniting every
scattered accident and lose particular and remote action, and
interweaving them together to serve her purposes; so that things that
in themselves seem to have no connection or interdependence whatsoever,
become in her hands, so to say, the end and the beginning of each
other. The Corinthians, satisfied as to the innocence of this
seasonable feat, honored and rewarded the author with a present of ten
pounds in their money, since he had, as it were, lent the use of his
just resentment to the tutelar genius that seemed to be protecting
Timoleon, and had not preexpended this anger, so long ago conceived,
but had reserved and deferred, under fortune's guidance, for his
preservation, the revenge of a private quarrel.
But this fortunate escape had effects and consequences beyond the
present, as it inspired the highest hopes and future expectations of
Timoleon, making people reverence and protect him as a sacred person
sent by heaven to avenge and redeem Sicily. Hicetes, having missed his
aim in this enterprise, and perceiving, also, that many went off and
sided with Timoleon, began to chide himself for his foolish modesty,
that, when so considerable a force of the Carthaginians lay ready to be
commanded by him, he had employed them hitherto by degrees and in small
numbers, introducing their reinforcements by stealth and clandestinely,
as if he had been ashamed of the action. Therefore, now laying aside
his former nicety, he calls in Mago, their admiral, with his whole
navy, who presently set sail, and seized upon the port with a
formidable fleet of at least a hundred and fifty vessels, landing there
sixty thousand foot which were all lodged within the city of Syracuse;
so that, in all men's opinion, the time anciently talked of and long
expected, wherein Sicily should be subjugated by barbarians, was now
come to its fatal period. For in all their preceding wars and many
desperate conflicts with Sicily, the Carthaginians had never been able,
before this, to take Syracuse; whereas Hicetes now receiving them, and
putting the city into their hands, you might see it become now as it
were a camp of barbarians. By this means, the Corinthian soldiers that
kept the castle found themselves brought into great danger and
hardship; as, besides that their provision grew scarce, and they began
to be in want, because the havens were strictly guarded and blocked up,
the enemy exercised them still with skirmishes and combats about their
walls, and they were not only obliged to be continually in arms, but to
divide and prepare themselves for assaults and encounters of every
kind, and to repel every variety of the means of offense employed by a
besieging army.
Timoleon made shift to relieve them in these straits, sending corn from
Catana by small fishing-boats and little skiffs, which commonly gained
a passage through the Carthaginian galleys in times of storm, stealing
up when the blockading ships were driven apart and dispersed by the
stress of weather; which Mago and Hicetes observing, they agreed to
fall upon Catana, from whence these supplies were brought in to the
besieged, and accordingly put off from Syracuse, taking with them the
best soldiers in their whole army. Upon this, Neon the Corinthian, who
was captain of those that kept the citadel, taking notice that the
enemies who stayed there behind were very negligent and careless in
keeping guard, made a sudden sally upon them as they lay scattered,
and, killing some and putting others to flight, he took and possessed
himself of that quarter which they call Acradina, and was thought to be
the strongest and most impregnable part of Syracuse, a city made up and
compacted as it were, of several towns put together. Having thus stored
himself with corn and money, he did not abandon the place, nor retire
again into the castle, but fortifying the precincts of Acradina, and
joining it by works to the citadel, he undertook the defense of both.
Mago and Hicetes were now come near to Catana, when a horseman,
dispatched from Syracuse, brought them tidings that Acradina was taken;
upon which they returned, in all haste, with great disorder and
confusion, having neither been able to reduce the city they went
against, nor to preserve that they were masters of.
These successes, indeed, were such as might leave foresight and courage
a pretence still of disputing it with fortune, which contributed most
to the result. But the next following event can scarcely be ascribed to
anything but pure felicity. The Corinthian soldiers who stayed at
Thurii, partly for fear of the Carthaginian galleys which lay in wait
for them under the command of Hanno, and partly because of tempestuous
weather which had lasted for many days, and rendered the sea dangerous,
took a resolution to march by land over the Bruttian territories, and,
what with persuasion and force together, made good their passage
through those barbarians to the city of Rhegium, the sea being still
rough and raging as before. But Hanno, not expecting the Corinthians
would venture out, and supposing it would be useless to wait there any
longer, bethought himself, as he imagined, of a most ingenious and
clever stratagem apt to delude and ensnare the enemy; in pursuance of
which he commanded the seamen to crown themselves with garlands, and,
adorning his galleys with bucklers both of the Greek and Carthaginian
make, he sailed away for Syracuse in this triumphant equipage, and
using all his oars as he passed under the castle with much shouting and
laughter, cried out, on purpose to dishearten the besieged, that he was
come from vanquishing and taking the Corinthian succors, which he fell
upon at sea as they were passing over into Sicily. While he was thus
biding and playing his tricks before Syracuse, the Corinthians, now
come as far as Rhegium, observing the coast clear, and that the wind
was laid as it were by miracle, to afford them in all appearance a
quiet and smooth passage, went immediately aboard on such little barks
and fishing-boats as were then at hand, and got over to Sicily with
such complete safety and in such an extraordinary calm, that they drew
their horses by the reins, swimming along by them as the vessels went
across.
When they were all landed, Timoleon came to receive them, and by their
means at once obtained possession of Messena, from whence he marched in
good order to Syracuse, trusting more to his late prosperous
achievements than his present strength, as the whole army he had then
with him did not exceed the number of four thousand; Mago, however, was
troubled and fearful at the first notice of his coming, and grew more
apprehensive and jealous still upon the following occasion. The marshes
about Syracuse, that receive a great deal of fresh water, as well from
springs as from lakes and rivers discharging themselves into the sea,
breed abundance of eels, which may be always taken there in great
quantities by any that will fish for them. The mercenary soldiers that
served on both sides, were wont to follow the sport together at their
vacant hours, and upon any cessation of arms, who being all Greeks, and
having no cause of private enmity to each other, as they would venture
bravely in fight, so in times of truce used to meet and converse
amicably together. And at this present time, while engaged about this
common business of fishing, they fell into talk together; and some
expressing their admiration of the neighboring sea, and others telling
how much they were taken with the convenience and commodiousness of the
buildings and public works, one of the Corinthian party took occasion
to demand of the others: "And is it possible that you who are Grecians
born, should be so forward to reduce a city of this greatness, and
enjoying so many rare advantages, into the state of barbarism; and lend
your assistance to plant Carthaginians, that are the worst and
bloodiest of men, so much the nearer to us? whereas you should rather
wish there were many more Sicilies to lie between them and Greece. Have
you so little sense as to believe, that they come hither with an army,
from the Pillars of Hercules and the Atlantic Sea, to hazard themselves
for the establishment of Hicetes? who, if he had had the consideration
which becomes a general, would never have thrown out his ancestors and
founders to bring in the enemies of his country in the room of them,
when he might have enjoyed all suitable honor and command, with consent
of Timoleon and the rest of Corinth." The Greeks that were in pay with
Hicetes, noising these discourses about their camp, gave Mago some
ground to suspect, as indeed he had long sought for a pretence to be
gone, that there was treachery contrived against him; so that, although
Hicetes entreated him to tarry, and made it appear how much stronger
they were than the enemy, yet, conceiving they came far more short of
Timoleon in respect of courage and fortune, than they surpassed him in
number, he presently went aboard, and set sail for Africa, letting
Sicily escape out of his hands with dishonor to himself, and for such
uncertain causes, that no human reason could give an account of his
departure.
The day after he went away, Timoleon came up before the city, in array
for a battle. But when he and his company heard of this sudden flight,
and saw the docks all empty, they could not forbear laughing at the
cowardice of Mago, and in mockery caused proclamation to be made
through the city, that a reward would be given to any one who could
bring them tidings whither the Carthaginian fleet had conveyed itself
from them. However, Hicetes resolving to fight it out alone, and not
quitting his hold of the city, but sticking close to the quarters he
was in possession of, places that were well fortified and not easy to
be attacked, Timoleon divided his forces into three parts, and fell
himself upon the side where the river Anapus ran, which was most strong
and difficult of access; and he commanded those that were led by Isias,
a Corinthian captain, to make their assault from the post of Acradina,
while Dinarchus and Demaretus, that brought him the last supply from
Corinth, were, with a third division, to attempt the quarter called
Epipolae. A considerable impression being made from every side at once,
the soldiers of Hicetes were beaten off and put to flight; and this, --
that the city came to be taken by storm, and fall suddenly into their
hands, upon the defeat and rout of the enemy, -- we must in all justice
ascribe to the valor of the assailants, and the wise conduct of their
general; but that not so much as a man of the Corinthians was either
slain or wounded in the action, this the good fortune of Timoleon seems
to challenge for her own work, as though, in a sort of rivalry with his
own personal exertions, she made it her aim to exceed and obscure his
actions by her favors, that those who heard him commended for his noble
deeds might rather admire the happiness, than the merit of them. For
the fame of what was done not only passed through all Sicily, and
filled Italy with wonder, but even Greece itself, after a few days,
came to ring with the greatness of his exploit; insomuch that those of
Corinth, who had as yet no certainty that their auxiliaries were landed
on the island, had tidings brought them at the same time that they were
safe and were conquerors. In so prosperous a course did affairs run,
and such was the speed and celerity of execution with which fortune, as
with a new ornament, set off the native lustres of the performance.
Timoleon, being master of the citadel, avoided the error which Dion had
been guilty of. He spared not the place for the beauty and
sumptuousness of its fabric, and, keeping clear of those suspicions
which occasioned first the unpopularity and afterwards the fall of
Dion, made a public crier give notice, that all the Syracusans who were
willing to have a hand in the work, should bring pick-axes and
mattocks, and other instruments, and help him to demolish the
fortifications of the tyrants. When they all came up with one accord,
looking upon that order and that day as the surest foundation of their
liberty, they not only pulled down the castle, but overturned the
palaces and monuments adjoining, and whatever else might preserve any
memory of former tyrants. Having soon leveled and cleared the place, he
there presently erected courts for administration of justice,
gratifying the citizens by this means, and building popular government
on the fall and ruin of tyranny. But since he had recovered a city
destitute of inhabitants, some of them dead in civil wars and
insurrections, and others being fled to escape tyrants, so that through
solitude and want of people the great marketplace of Syracuse was
overgrown with such quantity of rank herbage that it became a pasture
for their horses, the grooms lying along in the grass as they fed by
them; while also other towns, very few excepted, were become full of
stags and wild boars, so that those who had nothing else to do went
frequently a hunting, and found game in the suburbs and about the
walls; and not one of those who had possessed themselves of castles, or
made garrisons in the country, could be persuaded to quit their present
abode, or would accept an invitation to return back into the city, so
much did they all dread and abhor the very name of assemblies and forms
of government and public speaking, that had produced the greater part
of those usurpers who had successively assumed a dominion over them, --
Timoleon, therefore, with the Syracusans that remained, considering
this vast desolation, and how little hope there was to have it
otherwise supplied, thought good to write to the Corinthians,
requesting that they would send a colony out of Greece to repeople
Syracuse. For else the land about it would lie unimproved; and besides
this, they expected to be involved in a greater war from Africa, having
news brought them that Mago had killed himself, and that the
Carthaginians, out of rage for his ill conduct in the late expedition,
had caused his body to be nailed upon a cross, and that they were
raising a mighty force, with design to make their descent upon Sicily
the next summer.
These letters from Timoleon being delivered at Corinth, and the
ambassadors of Syracuse beseeching them at the same time, that they
would take upon them the care of their poor city, and once again become
the founders of it, the Corinthians were not tempted by any feeling of
cupidity to lay hold of the advantage. Nor did they seize and
appropriate the city to themselves, but going about first to the games
that are kept as sacred in Greece, and to the most numerously attended
religious assemblages, they made publication by heralds, that the
Corinthians, having destroyed the usurpation at Syracuse and driven out
the tyrant, did thereby invite the Syracusan exiles, and any other
Siceliots, to return and inhabit the city, with full enjoyment of
freedom under their own laws, the land being divided among them in just
and equal proportions. And after this, sending messengers into Asia and
the several islands where they understood that most of the scattered
fugitives were then residing, they bade them all repair to Corinth,
engaging that the Corinthians would afford them vessels and commanders,
and a safe convoy, at their own charges, to Syracuse. Such generous
proposals, being thus spread about, gained them the just and honorable
recompense of general praise and benediction, for delivering the
country from oppressors, and saving it from barbarians, and restoring
it at length to the rightful owners of the place. These, when they were
assembled at Corinth, and found how insufficient their company was,
besought the Corinthians that they might have a supplement of other
persons, as well out of their city as the rest of Greece, to go with
them as joint-colonists; and so raising themselves to the number of ten
thousand, they sailed together to Syracuse. By this time great
multitudes, also, from Italy and Sicily, had flocked in to Timoleon, so
that, as Athanis reports, their entire body amounted now to sixty
thousand men. Among these he divided the whole territory, and sold the
houses for a thousand talents; by which method, he both left it in the
power of the old Syracusans to redeem their own, and made it a means
also for raising a stock for the community, which had been so much
impoverished of late, and was so unable to defray other expenses, and
especially those of a war, that they exposed their very statues to
sale, a regular process being observed, and sentence of auction passed
upon each of them by majority of votes, as if they had been so many
criminals taking their trial: in the course of which it is said that
while condemnation was pronounced upon all other statues, that of the
ancient usurper Gelo was exempted, out of admiration and honor and for
the sake of the victory he gained over the Carthaginian forces at the
river Himera.
Syracuse being thus happily revived, and replenished again by the
general concourse of inhabitants from all parts, Timoleon was desirous
now to rescue other cities from the like bondage, and wholly and once
for all to extirpate arbitrary government out of Sicily. And for this
purpose, marching into the territories of those that used it, he
compelled Hicetes first to renounce the Carthaginian interest, and,
demolishing the fortresses which were held by him, to live henceforth
among the Leontinians as a private person. Leptines, also, the tyrant
of Apollonia and divers other little towns, after some resistance made,
seeing the danger he was in of being taken by force, surrendered
himself; upon which Timoleon spared his life, and sent him away to
Corinth, counting it a glorious thing that the mother city should
expose to the view of other Greeks these Sicilian tyrants, living now
in an exiled and a low condition. After this he returned to Syracuse,
that he might have leisure to attend to the establishment of the new
constitution, and assist Cephalus and Dionysius, who were sent from
Corinth to make laws, in determining the most important points of it.
In the meanwhile, desirous that his hired soldiers should not want
action, but might rather enrich themselves by some plunder from the
enemy, he dispatched Dinarchus and Demaretus with a portion of them
into the part of the island belonging to the Carthaginians, where they
obliged several cities to revolt from the barbarians, and not only
lived in great abundance themselves, but raised money from their spoil
to carry on the war.
Meantime, the Carthaginians landed at the promontory of Lilybaeum,
bringing with them an army of seventy thousand men on board two hundred
galleys, besides a thousand other vessels laden with engines of
battery, chariots, corn, and other military stores, as if they did not
intend to manage the war by piecemeal and in parts as heretofore, but
to drive the Greeks altogether and at once out of all Sicily. And
indeed it was a force sufficient to overpower the Siceliots, even
though they had been at perfect union among themselves, and had never
been enfeebled by intestine quarrels. Hearing that part of their
subject territory was suffering devastation, they forthwith made toward
the Corinthians with great fury, having Asdrubal and Hamilcar for their
generals; the report of whose numbers and strength coming suddenly to
Syracuse, the citizens were so terrified, that hardly three thousand,
among so many myriads of them, had the courage to take up arms and join
Timoleon. The foreigners, serving for pay, were not above four thousand
in all, and about a thousand of these grew fainthearted by the way, and
forsook Timoleon in his march towards the enemy, looking on him as
frantic and distracted, destitute of the sense which might have been
expected from his time of life, thus to venture out against an army of
seventy thousand men, with no more than five thousand foot and a
thousand horse; and, when he should have kept those forces to defend
the city, choosing rather to remove them eight days' journey from
Syracuse, so that if they were beaten from the field, they would have
no retreat, nor any burial if they fell upon it. Timoleon, however,
reckoned it some kind of advantage, that these had thus discovered
themselves before the battle, and, encouraging the rest, led them with
all speed to the river Crimesus, where it was told him the
Carthaginians were drawn together.
As he was marching up an ascent, from the top of which they expected to
have a view of the army and of the strength of the enemy, there met him
by chance a train of mules loaded with parsley; which his soldiers
conceived to be an ominous occurrence or ill-boding token, because this
is the herb with which we not unfrequently adorn the sepulchres of the
dead; and there is a proverb derived from the custom, used of one who
is dangerously sick, that he has need of nothing but parsley. So, to
ease their minds, and free them from any superstitious thoughts or
forebodings of evil, Timoleon halted, and concluded an address,
suitable to the occasion, by saying, that a garland of triumph was here
luckily brought them, and had fallen into their hands of its own
accord, as an anticipation of victory: the same with which the
Corinthians crown the victors in the Isthmian games, accounting
chaplets of parsley the sacred wreath proper to their country; parsley
being at that time still the emblem of victory at the Isthmian, as it
is now at the Nemean sports; and it is not so very long ago that the
pine first began to be used in its place.
Timoleon, therefore, having thus bespoke his soldiers, took part of the
parsley, and with it made himself a chaplet first, his captains and
their companies all following the example of their leader. The
soothsayers then, observing also two eagles on the wing towards them,
one of which bore a snake struck through with her talons, and the
other, as she flew, uttered a loud cry indicating boldness and
assurance, at once showed them to the soldiers, who with one consent
fell to supplicate the gods, and call them in to their assistance. It
was now about the beginning of summer, and conclusion of the month
called Thargelion, not far from the solstice; and the river sending up
a thick mist, all the adjacent plain was at first darkened with the
fog, so that for a while they could discern nothing from the enemy's
camp; only a confused buzz and undistinguished mixture of voices came
up to the hill from the distant motions and clamors of so vast a
multitude. When the Corinthians had mounted, and stood on the top, and
had laid down their bucklers to take breath and repose themselves, the
sun coming round and drawing up the vapors from below, the gross foggy
air that was now gathered and condensed above formed in a cloud upon
the mountains; and, all the under places being clear and open, the
river Crimesus appeared to them again, and they could descry the
enemies passing over it, first with their formidable four horse
chariots of war, and then ten thousand footmen bearing white shields,
whom they guessed to be all Carthaginians, from the splendor of their
arms, and the slowness and order of their march. And when now the
troops of various other nations, flowing in behind them, began to
throng for passage in a tumultuous and unruly manner, Timoleon,
perceiving that the river gave them opportunity to single off whatever
number of their enemies they had a mind to engage at once, and bidding
his soldiers observe how their forces were divided into two separate
bodies by the intervention of the stream, some being already over, and
others still to ford it, gave Demaretus command to fall in upon the
Carthaginians with his horse, and disturb their ranks before they
should be drawn up into form of battle; and coming down into the plain
himself, forming his right and left wing of other Sicilians,
intermingling only a few strangers in each, he placed the natives of
Syracuse in the middle, with the stoutest mercenaries he had about his
own person; and, waiting a little to observe the action of his horse,
when he saw they were not only hindered from grappling with the
Carthaginians by the armed chariots that ran to and fro before the
army, but forced continually to wheel about to escape having their
ranks broken, and so to repeat their charges anew, he took his buckler
in his hand, and crying out to the foot that they should follow him
with courage and confidence, he seemed to speak with a more than human
accent, and a voice stronger than ordinary; whether it were that he
naturally raised it so high in the vehemence and ardor of his mind to
assault the enemy, or else, as many then thought, some god or other
spoke with him. When his soldiers quickly gave an echo to it, all
besought him to lead them on without any further delay, he made a sign
to the horse, that they should draw off from the front where the
chariots were, and pass sidewards to attack their enemies in the flank;
then, making his vanguard firm by joining man to man and buckler to
buckler, he caused the trumpet to sound, and so bore in upon the
Carthaginians.
They, for their part, stoutly received and sustained his first onset;
and having their bodies armed with breastplates of iron, and helmets of
brass on their heads, besides great bucklers to cover and secure them,
they could easily repel the charge of the Greek spears. But when the
business came to a decision by the sword, where mastery depends no less
upon art than strength, all on a sudden from the mountain tops violent
peals of thunder and vivid dashes of lightning broke out; following
upon which the darkness, that had been hovering about the higher
grounds and the crests of the hills, descending to the place of battle
and bringing a tempest of rain and of wind and hail along with it, was
driven upon the Greeks behind, and fell only at their backs, but
discharged itself in the very faces of the barbarians, the rain beating
on them, and the lightning dazzling them without cessation; annoyances
that in many ways distressed at any rate the inexperienced, who had not
been used to such hardships, and, in particular, the claps of thunder,
and the noise of the rain and hail beating on their arms, kept them
from hearing the commands of their officers. Besides which, the very
mud also was a great hindrance to the Carthaginians, who were not
lightly equipped, but, as I said before, loaded with heavy armor; and
then their shirts underneath getting drenched, the foldings about the
bosom filled with water, grew unwieldy and cumbersome to them as they
fought, and made it easy for the Greeks to throw them down, and, when
they were once down, impossible for them, under that weight, to
disengage themselves and rise again with weapons in their hand. The
river Crimesus, too, swollen partly by the rain, and partly by the
stoppage of its course with the numbers that were passing through,
overflowed its banks; and the level ground by the side of it, being so
situated as to have a number of small ravines and hollows of the
hill-side descending upon it, was now filled with rivulets and currents
that had no certain channel, in which the Carthaginians stumbled and
rolled about, and found themselves in great difficulty. So that, in
fine, the storm bearing still upon them, and the Greeks having cut in
pieces four hundred men of their first ranks, the whole body of their
army began to fly. Great numbers were overtaken in the plain, and put
to the sword there; and many of them, as they were making their way
back through the river, falling foul upon others that were yet coming
over, were borne away and overwhelmed by the waters; but the major
part, attempting to get up the hills and so make their escape, were
intercepted and destroyed by the light-armed troops. It is said, that
of ten thousand who lay dead after the fight, three thousand, at least,
were Carthaginian citizens; a heavy loss and great grief to their
countrymen; those that fell being men inferior to none among them as to
birth, wealth, or reputation. Nor do their records mention that so many
native Carthaginians were ever cut off before in any one battle; as
they usually employed Africans, Spaniards, and Numidians in their wars,
so that if they chanced to be defeated, it was still at the cost and
damage of other nations.
The Greeks easily discovered of what condition and account the slain
were, by the richness of their spoils; for when they came to collect
the booty, there was little reckoning made either of brass or iron, so
abundant were better metals, and so common were silver and gold Passing
over the river, they became masters of their camp and carriages. As for
captives, a great many of them were stolen away, and sold privately by
the soldiers, but about five thousand were brought in and delivered up
for the benefit of the public; two hundred of their chariots of war
were also taken. The tent of Timoleon then presented a most glorious
and magnificent appearance, being heaped up and hung round with every
variety of spoils and military ornaments, among which there were a
thousand breastplates of rare workmanship and beauty, and bucklers to
the number of ten thousand. The victors being but few to strip so many
that were vanquished, and having such valuable booty to occupy them, it
was the third day after the fight before they could erect and finish
the trophy of their conquest. Timoleon sent tidings of his victory to
Corinth, with the best and goodliest arms he had taken as a proof of
it; that he thus might render his country an object of emulation to the
whole world, when, of all the cities of Greece, men should there alone
behold the chief temples adorned, not with Grecian spoils, nor
offerings obtained by the bloodshed and plunder of their own countrymen
and kindred, and attended, therefore, with sad and unhappy
remembrances, but with such as had been stripped from barbarians and
enemies to their nation, with the noblest titles inscribed upon them,
titles telling of the justice as well as fortitude of the conquerors;
namely, that the people of Corinth, and Timoleon their general, having
redeemed the Greeks of Sicily from Carthaginian bondage, made oblation
of these to the gods, in grateful acknowledgment of their favor.
Having done this, he left his hired soldiers in the enemy's country, to
drive and carry away all they could throughout the subject-territory of
Carthage, and so marched with the rest of his army to Syracuse, where
he issued an edict for banishing the thousand mercenaries who had
basely deserted him before the battle, and obliged them to quit the
city before sunset. They, sailing into Italy, lost their lives there by
the hands of the Bruttians, in spite of a public assurance of safety
previously given them; thus receiving, from the divine power, a just
reward of their own treachery. Mamercus, however, the tyrant of Catana,
and Hicetes, after all, either envying Timoleon the glory of his
exploits, or fearing him as one that would keep no agreement, nor have
any peace with tyrants, made a league with the Carthaginians, and
pressed them much to send a new army and commander into Sicily, unless
they would be content to hazard all, and to be wholly ejected out of
that island. And in consequence of this, Gisco was dispatched with a
navy of seventy sail. He took numerous Greek mercenaries also into pay,
that being the first time they had ever been enlisted for the
Carthaginian service; but then it seems the Carthaginians began to
admire them, as the most irresistible soldiers of all mankind. Uniting
their forces in the territory of Messena, they cut off four hundred of
Timoleon's paid soldiers, and within the dependencies of Carthage, at a
place called Hierae, destroyed, by an ambuscade, the whole body of
mercenaries that served under Euthymus the Leucadian; which accidents,
however, made the good fortune of Timoleon accounted all the more
remarkable, as these were the men that, with Philomelus of Phocis and
Onomarchus, had forcibly broken into the temple of Apollo at Delphi,
and were partakers with them in the sacrilege; so that, being hated and
shunned by all, as persons under a curse, they were constrained to
wander about in Peloponnesus; when, for want of others, Timoleon was
glad to take them into service in his expedition for Sicily, where they
were successful in whatever enterprise they attempted under his
conduct. But now, when all the important dangers were past, on his
sending them out for the relief and defense of his party in several
places, they perished and were destroyed at a distance from him, not
all together, but in small parties; and the vengeance which was
destined for them, so accommodating itself to the good fortune which
guarded Timoleon as not to allow any harm or prejudice for good men to
arise from the punishment of the wicked, the benevolence and kindness
which the gods had for Timoleon was thus as distinctly recognized in
his disasters as in his successes.
What most annoyed the Syracusans was their being insulted and mocked by
the tyrants; as, for example, by Mamercus, who valued himself much upon
his gift for writing poems and tragedies, and took occasion, when
coming to present the gods with the bucklers of the hired soldiers whom
he had killed, to make a boast of his victory in an insulting elegiac
inscription:
These shields, with purple, gold, and ivory wrought, Were won by us
that but with poor ones fought.
After this, while Timoleon marched to Calauria, Hicetes made an inroad
into the borders of Syracuse, where he met with considerable booty, and
having done much mischief and havoc, returned back by Calauria itself,
in contempt of Timoleon, and the slender force he had then with him.
He, suffering Hicetes to pass forward, pursued him with his horsemen
and light infantry, which Hicetes perceiving, crossed the river
Damyrias, and then stood in a posture to receive him; the difficulty of
the passage, and the height and steepness of the bank on each side,
giving advantage enough to make him confident. A strange contention and
dispute, meantime, among the officers of Timoleon, a little retarded
the conflict; no one of them was willing to let another pass over
before him to engage the enemy; each man claiming it as a right, to
venture first and begin the onset; so that their fording was likely to
be tumultuous and without order, a mere general struggle which should
be the foremost. Timoleon, therefore, desiring to decide the quarrel by
lot, took a ring from each of the pretenders, which he cast into his
own cloak, and, after he had shaken all together, the first he drew out
had, by good fortune, the figure of a trophy engraved as a seal upon
it; at the sight of which the young captains all shouted for joy, and,
without waiting any longer to see how chance would determine it for the
rest, took every man his way through the river with all the speed they
could make, and fell to blows with the enemies, who were not able to
bear up against the violence of their attack, but fled in haste and
left their arms behind them all alike, and a thousand dead upon the
place.
Not long after, Timoleon, marching up to the city of the Leontines,
took Hicetes alive, and his son Eupolemus, and Euthymus, the commander
of his horse, who were bound and brought to him by their own soldiers.
Hicetes and the stripling his son were then executed as tyrants and
traitors; and Euthymus, though a brave man, and one of singular
courage, could obtain no mercy, because he was charged with
contemptuous language in disparagement of the Corinthians when they
first sent their forces into Sicily: it is said that he told the
Leontini in a speech, that the news did not sound terrible, nor was any
great danger to be feared because of
Corinthian women coming out of doors.
So true is it that men are usually more stung and galled by reproachful
words than hostile actions; and they bear an affront with less patience
than an injury: to do harm and mischief by deeds is counted pardonable
from enemies, as nothing less can be expected in a state of war whereas
virulent and contumelious words appear to be the expression of needless
hatred, and to proceed from an excess of rancor.
When Timoleon came back to Syracuse, the citizens brought the wives and
daughters of Hicetes and his son to a public trial, and condemned and
put them to death. This seems to be the least pleasing action of
Timoleon's life; since if he had interposed, the unhappy women would
have been spared. He would appear to have disregarded the thing, and to
have given them up to the citizens, who were eager to take vengeance
for the wrongs done to Dion, who expelled Dionysius; since it was this
very Hicetes, who took Arete the wife, and Aristomache the sister of
Dion, with a son that had not yet passed his childhood, and threw them
all together into the sea alive, as related in the life of Dion.
After this, he moved towards Catana against Mamercus, who gave him
battle near the river Abolus, and was overthrown and put to flight,
losing above two thousand men, a considerable part of whom were the
Phoenician troops sent by Gisco to his assistance. After this defeat,
the Carthaginians sued for peace; which was granted on the conditions
that they should confine themselves to the country within the river
Lycus,@ that those of the inhabitants who wished to remove to the
Syracusan territories should be allowed to depart with their whole
families and fortunes, and, lastly, that Carthage should renounce all
engagements to the tyrants. Mamercus, now forsaken and despairing of
success, took ship for Italy with the design of bringing in the
Lucanians against Timoleon and the people of Syracuse; but the men in
his galleys turning back and landing again and delivering up Catana to
Timoleon, thus obliged him to fly for his own safety to Messena, where
Hippo was tyrant. Timoleon, however, coming up against them, and
besieging the city both by sea and land, Hippo, fearful of the event,
endeavored to slip away in a vessel; which the people of Messena
surprised as it was putting off, and seizing on his person, and
bringing all their children from school into the theater, to witness
the glorious spectacle of a tyrant punished, they first publicly
scourged and then put him to death. Mamercus made surrender of himself
to Timoleon, with the proviso, that he should be tried at Syracuse, and
Timoleon should take no part in his accusation. Thither he was brought
accordingly, and presenting himself to plead before the people, he
essayed to pronounce an oration he had long before composed in his own
defense; but finding himself interrupted by noise and clamors, and
observing from their aspect and demeanor that the assembly was
inexorable, he threw off his upper garment, and running across the
theater as hard as he could, dashed his head against one of the stones
under the seats with intention to have killed himself; but he had not
the fortune to perish, as he designed, but was taken up alive, and
suffered the death of a robber.
Thus did Timoleon cut the nerves of tyranny, and put a period to their
wars; and, whereas, at his first entering upon Sicily, the island was
as it were become wild again, and was hateful to the very natives on
account of the evils and miseries they suffered there, he so civilized
and restored it, and rendered it so desirable to all men, that even
strangers now came by sea to inhabit those towns and places which their
own citizens had formerly forsaken and left desolate. Agrigentum and
Gela, two famous cities that had been ruined and laid waste by the
Carthaginians after the Attic war, were then peopled again, the one by
Megellus and Pheristus from Elea, the other by Gorgus, from the island
of Ceos, partly with new settlers, partly with the old inhabitants whom
they collected again from various parts; to all of whom Timoleon not
only afforded a secure and peaceable abode after so obstinate a war,
but was further so zealous in assisting and providing for them that he
was honored among them as their founder. Similar feelings also
possessed to such a degree all the rest of the Sicilians, that there
was no proposal for peace, nor reformation of laws, nor assignation of
land, nor reconstitution of government, which they could think well of,
unless he lent his aid as a chief architect, to finish and adorn the
work, and superadd some touches from his own hand, which might render
it pleasing both to God and man.
Although Greece had in his time produced several persons of
extraordinary worth, and much renowned for their achievements, such as
Timotheus and Agesilaus and Pelopidas and (Timoleon's chief model)
Epaminondas, yet the lustre of their best actions was obscured by a
degree of violence and labor, insomuch that some of them were matter of
blame and of repentance; whereas there is not any one act of
Timoleon's, setting aside the necessity he was placed under in
reference to his brother, to which, as Timaeus observes, we may not
fitly apply that exclamation of Sophocles:
O gods! what Venus, or what grace divine, Did here with human
workmanship combine?
For as the poetry of Antimachus, and the painting of Dionysius, the
artists of Colophon, though full of force and vigor, yet appeared to be
strained and elaborate in comparison with the pictures of Nicomachus
and the verses of Homer, which, besides their general strength and
beauty, have the peculiar charm of seeming to have been executed with
perfect ease and readiness; so the expeditions and acts of Epaminondas
or Agesilaus, that were full of toil and effort, when compared with the
easy and natural as well as noble and glorious achievements of
Timoleon, compel our fair and unbiased judgment to pronounce the latter
not indeed the effect of fortune, but the success of fortunate merit.
Though he himself indeed ascribed that success to the sole favor of
fortune; and both in the letters which he wrote to his friends at
Corinth, and in the speeches he made to the people of Syracuse, he
would say, that he was thankful unto God, who, designing to save
Sicily, was pleased to honor him with the name and title of the
deliverance he vouchsafed it. And having built a chapel in his house,
he there sacrificed to Good Hap, as a deity that had favored him, and
devoted the house itself to the Sacred Genius; it being a house which
the Syracusans had selected for him, as a special reward and monument
of his brave exploits, granting him together with it the most agreeable
and beautiful piece of land in the whole country, where he kept his
residence for the most part, and enjoyed a private life with his wife
and children, who came to him from Corinth. For he returned thither no
more, unwilling to be concerned in the broils and tumults of Greece, or
to expose himself to public envy (the fatal mischief which great
commanders continually run into, from the insatiable appetite for
honors and authority); but wisely chose to spend the remainder of his
days in Sicily, and there partake of the blessings he himself had
procured, the greatest of which was, to behold so many cities flourish,
and so many thousands of people live happy through his means.
As, however, not only, as Simonides says, "On every lark must grow a
crest," but also in every democracy there must spring up a false
accuser, so was it at Syracuse: two of their popular spokesmen,
Laphystius and Demaenetus by name, fell to slander Timoleon. The former
of whom requiring him to put in sureties that he would answer to an
indictment that would be brought against him, Timoleon would not suffer
the citizens, who were incensed at this demand, to oppose it or hinder
the proceeding, since he of his own accord had been, he said, at all
that trouble, and run so many dangerous risks for this very end and
purpose, that every one who wished to try matters by law should freely
have recourse to it. And when Demaenetus, in a full audience of the
people, laid several things to his charge which had been done while he
was general, he made no other reply to him, but only said he was much
indebted to the gods for granting the request he had so often made
them, namely, that he might live to see the Syracusans enjoy that
liberty of speech which they now seemed to be masters of.
Timoleon, therefore, having by confession of all done the greatest and
the noblest things of any Greek of his age, and alone distinguished
himself in those actions to which their orators and philosophers, in
their harangues and panegyrics at their solemn national assemblies,
used to exhort and incite the Greeks, and being withdrawn beforehand by
happy fortune, unspotted and without blood, from the calamities of
civil war, in which ancient Greece was soon after involved; having also
given full proof, as of his sage conduct and manly courage to the
barbarians and tyrants, so of his justice and gentleness to the Greeks,
and his friends in general; having raised, too, the greater part of
those trophies he won in battle, without any tears shed or any mourning
worn by the citizens either of Syracuse or Corinth, and within less
than eight years' space delivered Sicily from its inveterate grievances
and intestine distempers, and given it up free to the native
inhabitants, began, as he was now growing old, to find his eyes fail,
and awhile after became perfectly blind. Not that he had done anything
himself which might occasion this defect, or was deprived of his sight
by any outrage of fortune; it seems rather to have been some inbred and
hereditary weakness that was founded in natural causes, which by length
of time came to discover itself. For it is said, that several of his
kindred and family were subject to the like gradual decay, and lost all
use of their eyes, as he did, in their declining years. Athanis the
historian tells us, that even during the war against Hippo and
Mamercus, while he was in his camp at Mylae, there appeared a white
speck within his eye, from whence all could foresee the deprivation
that was coming on him; this, however, did not hinder him then from
continuing the siege, and prosecuting the war, till he got both the
tyrants into his power; but upon his coming back to Syracuse, he
presently resigned the authority of sole commander, and besought the
citizens to excuse him from any further service, since things were
already brought to so fair an issue. Nor is it so much to be wondered,
that he himself should bear the misfortune without any marks of
trouble; but the respect and gratitude which the Syracusans showed him
when he was entirely blind, may justly deserve our admiration. They
used to go themselves to visit him in troops, and brought all the
strangers that traveled through their country to his house and manor,
that they also might have the pleasure to see their noble benefactor;
making it the great matter of their joy and exultation, that when,
after so many brave and happy exploits, he might have returned with
triumph into Greece, he should disregard all the glorious preparations
that were there made to receive him, and choose rather to stay here and
end his days among them. Of the various things decreed and done in
honor of Timoleon, I consider one most signal testimony to have been
the vote which they passed, that, whenever they should be at war with
any foreign nation, they should make use of none but a Corinthian
general. The method, also, of their proceeding in council, was a noble
demonstration of the same deference for his person. For, determining
matters of less consequence themselves, they always called him to
advise in the more difficult cases, and such as were of greater moment.
He was, on these occasions, carried through the market-place in a
litter, and brought in, sitting, into the theater, where the people
with one voice saluted him by his name; and then, after returning the
courtesy, and pausing for a time, till the noise of their gratulations
and blessings began to cease, he heard the business in debate, and
delivered his opinion. This being confirmed by a general suffrage, his
servants went back with the litter through the midst of the assembly,
the people waiting on him out with acclamations and applauses, and then
returning to consider other public matters, which they could dispatch
in his absence. Being thus cherished in his old age, with all the
respect and tenderness due to a common father, he was seized with a
very slight indisposition, which however was sufficient, with the aid
of time, to put a period to his life. There was an allotment then of
certain days given, within the space of which the Syracusans were to
provide whatever should be necessary for his burial, and all the
neighboring country people and strangers were to make their appearance
in a body; so that the funeral pomp was set out with great splendor and
magnificence in all other respects, and the bier, decked with ornaments
and trophies, was borne by a select body of young men over that ground
where the palace and castle of Dionysius stood, before they were
demolished by Timoleon. There attended on the solemnity several
thousands of men and women, all crowned with flowers, and arrayed in
fresh and clean attire, which made it look like the procession of a
public festival; while the language of all, and their tears mingling
with their praise and benediction of the dead Timoleon, manifestly
showed that it was not any superficial honor, or commanded homage,
which they paid him, but the testimony of a just sorrow for his death,
and the expression of true affection. The bier at length being placed
upon the pile of wood that was kindled to consume his corpse,
Demetrius, one of their loudest criers, proceeded to read a
proclamation to the following purpose: "The people of Syracuse has made
a special decree to inter Timoleon, the son of Timodemus, the
Corinthian, at the common expense of two hundred minas, and to honor
his memory forever, by the establishment of annual prizes to be
competed for in music, and horse races, and all sorts of bodily
exercise; and this, because he suppressed the tyrants, overthrew the
barbarians, replenished the principal cities, that were desolate, with
new inhabitants, and then restored the Sicilian Greeks to the privilege
of living by their own laws." Besides this, they made a tomb for him in
the marketplace, which they afterwards built round with colonnades, and
attached to it places of exercise for the young men, and gave it the
name of the Timoleonteum. And keeping to that form and order of civil
policy and observing those laws and constitutions which he left them,
they lived themselves a long time in great prosperity.
AEMILIUS PAULUS
Almost all historians agree that the Aemilii were one of the ancient
and patrician houses in Rome; and those authors who affirm that king
Numa was pupil to Pythagoras, tell us that the first who gave the name
to his posterity was Mamercus, the son of Pythagoras, who, for his
grace and address in speaking, was called Aemilius. Most of this race
that have risen through their merit to reputation, also enjoyed good
fortune; and even the misfortune of Lucius Paulus at the battle of
Cannae, gave testimony to his wisdom and valor. For, not being able to
persuade his colleague not to hazard the battle, he, though against his
judgment, joined with him in the contest, but was no companion in his
flight: on the contrary, when he that was so resolute to engage
deserted him in the midst of danger, he kept the field, and died
fighting. This Aemilius had a daughter named Aemilia, who was married
to Scipio the Great, and a son Paulus, who is the subject of my present
history.
In his early manhood, which fell at a time when Rome was flourishing
with illustrious characters, he was distinguished for not attaching
himself to the studies usual with the young men of mark of that age,
nor treading the same paths to fame. For he did not practice oratory
with a view to pleading causes, nor would he stoop to salute, embrace,
and entertain the vulgar, which were the usual insinuating arts by
which many grew popular. Not that he was incapable of either, but he
chose to purchase a much more lasting glory by his valor, justice, and
integrity, and in these virtues he soon outstripped all his equals.
The first honorable office he aspired to was that of aedile, which he
carried against twelve competitors of such merit, that all of them in
process of time were consuls. Being afterwards chosen into the number
of priests called augurs, appointed amongst the Romans to observe and
register divinations made by the flight of birds or prodigies in the
air, he so carefully studied the ancient customs of his country, and so
thoroughly understood the religion of his ancestors, that this office,
which was before only esteemed a title of honor and merely upon that
account sought after, by his means rose to the rank of one of the
highest arts, and gave a confirmation to the correctness of the
definition which some philosophers have given of religion, that it is
the science of worshiping the gods. When he performed any part of his
duty, he did it with great skill and utmost care, making it, when he
was engaged in it, his only business, not omitting any one ceremony, or
adding the least circumstance, but always insisting, with his
companions of the same order, even on points that might seem
inconsiderable, and urging upon them, that though they might think the
deity was easily pacified, and ready to forgive faults of inadvertency,
yet any such laxity was a very dangerous thing for a commonwealth to
allow: because no man ever began the disturbance of his country's peace
by a notorious breach of its laws; and those who are careless in
trifles, give a precedent for remissness in important duties. Nor was
he less severe, in requiring and observing the ancient Roman discipline
in military affairs; not endeavoring, when he had the command, to
ingratiate himself with his soldiers by popular flattery, though this
custom prevailed at that time amongst many, who, by favor and
gentleness to those that were under them in their first employment,
sought to be promoted to a second; but, by instructing them in the laws
of military discipline with the same care and exactness a priest would
use in teaching ceremonies and dreadful mysteries, and by severity to
such as transgressed and contemned those laws, he maintained his
country in its former greatness, esteeming victory over enemies itself
but as an accessory to the proper training and disciplining of the
citizens.
Whilst the Romans were engaged in war with Antiochus the Great, against
whom their most experienced commanders were employed, there arose
another war in the west, and they were all up in arms in Spain. Thither
they sent Aemilius, in the quality of praetor, not with six axes, which
number other praetors were accustomed to have carried before them, but
with twelve; so that in his praetorship he was honored with the dignity
of a consul. He twice overcame the barbarians in battle, thirty
thousand of whom were slain: successes chiefly to be ascribed to the
wisdom and conduct of the commander, who by his great skill in choosing
the advantage of the ground, and making the onset at the passage of a
river, gave his soldiers an easy victory. Having made himself master of
two hundred and fifty cities, whose inhabitants voluntarily yielded,
and bound themselves by oath to fidelity, he left the province in
peace, and returned to Rome, not enriching himself a drachma by the
war. And, indeed, in general, he was but remiss in making money; though
he always lived freely and generously on what he had, which was so far
from being excessive, that after his death there was but barely enough
left to answer his wife's dowry.
His first wife was Papiria, the daughter of Maso, who had formerly been
consul. With her he lived a considerable time in wedlock, and then
divorced her, though she had made him the father of noble children;
being mother of the renowned Scipio, and Fabius Maximus. The reason of
this separation has not come to our knowledge; but there seems to be a
truth conveyed in the account of another Roman's being divorced from
his wife, which may be applicable here. This person being highly blamed
by his friends, who demanded, Was she not chaste? was she not fair? was
she not fruitful? holding out his shoe, asked them, Whether it was not
new? and well made? Yet, added he, none of you can tell where it
pinches me. Certain it is, that great and open faults have often led to
no separation; while mere petty repeated annoyances, arising from
unpleasantness or incongruity of character, have been the occasion of
such estrangement as to make it impossible for man and wife to live
together with any content.
Aemilius, having thus put away Papiria, married a second wife, by whom
he had two sons, whom he brought up in his own house, transferring the
two former into the greatest and most noble families of Rome. The elder
was adopted into the house of Fabius Maximus, who was five times
consul; the younger, by the son of Scipio Africanus, his cousin-german,
and was by him named Scipio.
Of the daughters of Aemilius, one was married to the son of Cato, the
other to Aelius Tubero, a most worthy man, and the one Roman who best
succeeded in combining liberal habits with poverty. For there were
sixteen near relations, all of them of the family of the Aelii,
possessed of but one farm, which sufficed them all, whilst one small
house, or rather cottage, contained them, their numerous offspring, and
their wives; amongst whom was the daughter of our Aemilius, who,
although her father had been twice consul, and had twice triumphed, was
not ashamed of her husband's poverty, but proud of his virtue that kept
him poor. Far otherwise it is with the brothers and relations of this
age, who, unless whole tracts of land, or at least walls and rivers,
part their inheritances, and keep them at a distance, never cease from
mutual quarrels. History suggests a variety of good counsel of this
sort, by the way, to those who desire to learn and improve.
To proceed: Aemilius, being chosen consul, waged war with the
Ligurians, or Ligustines, a people near the Alps. They were a bold and
warlike nation, and their neighborhood to the Romans had begun to give
them skill in the arts of war. They occupy the further parts of Italy
ending under the Alps, and those parts of the Alps themselves which are
washed by the Tuscan sea and face towards Africa, mingled there with
Gauls and Iberians of the coast. Besides, at that time they had turned
their thoughts to the sea, and sailing as far as the Pillars of
Hercules in light vessels fitted for that purpose, robbed and destroyed
all that trafficked in those parts. They, with an army of forty
thousand, waited the coming of Aemilius, who brought with him not above
eight thousand, so that the enemy was five to one when they engaged;
yet he vanquished and put them to flight, forcing them to retire into
their walled towns, and in this condition offered them fair conditions
of accommodation; it being the policy of the Romans not utterly to
destroy the Ligurians, because they were a sort of guard and bulwark
against the frequent attempts of the Gauls to overrun Italy. Trusting
wholly therefore to Aemilius, they delivered up their towns and
shipping into his hands. He, at the utmost, razed only the
fortifications, and delivered their towns to them again, but took away
all their shipping with him, leaving them no vessels bigger than those
of three oars, and set at liberty great numbers of prisoners they had
taken both by sea and land, strangers as well as Romans. These were the
acts most worthy of remark in his first consulship.
Afterwards he frequently intimated his desire of being a second time
consul, and was once candidate; but, meeting with a repulse and being
passed by, he gave up all thought of it, and devoted himself to his
duties as augur, and to the education of his children, whom he not only
brought up, as he himself had been, in the Roman and ancient
discipline, but also with unusual zeal in that of Greece. To this
purpose he not only procured masters to teach them grammar, logic, and
rhetoric, but had for them also preceptors in modeling and drawing,
managers of horses and dogs, and instructors in field sports, all from
Greece. And, if he was not hindered by public affairs, he himself would
be with them at their studies, and see them perform their exercises,
being the most affectionate father in Rome.
This was the time, in public matters, when the Romans were engaged in
war with Perseus, king of the Macedonians, and great complaints were
made of their commanders, who, either through their want of skill or
courage, were conducting matters so shamefully, that they did less hurt
to the enemy than they received from him. They that not long before had
forced Antiochus the Great to quit the rest of Asia, to retire beyond
Mount Taurus, and confine himself to Syria, glad to buy his peace with
fifteen thousand talents; they that not long since had vanquished king
Philip in Thessaly, and freed the Greeks from the Macedonian yoke; nay,
had overcome Hannibal himself, who far surpassed all kings in daring
and power,—thought it scorn that Perseus should think himself an enemy
fit to match the Romans, and to be able to wage war with them so long
on equal terms, with the remainder only of his father's routed forces;
not being aware that Philip after his defeat had greatly improved both
the strength and discipline of the Macedonian army. To make which
appear, I shall briefly recount the story from the beginning.
Antigonus, the most powerful amongst the captains and successors of
Alexander, having obtained for himself and his posterity the title of
king, had a son named Demetrius, father to Antigonus, called Gonatas,
and he had a son Demetrius, who, reigning some short time, died and
left a young son called Philip. The chief men of Macedon, fearing great
confusion might arise in his minority, called in Antigonus,
cousin-german to the late king, and married him to the widow, the
mother of Philip. At first they only styled him regent and general,
but, when they found by experience that he governed the kingdom with
moderation and to general advantage, gave him the title of king. This
was he that was surnamed Doson, as if he was a great promiser, and a
bad performer. To him succeeded Philip, who in his youth gave great
hopes of equaling the best of kings, and that he one day would restore
Macedon to its former state and dignity, and prove himself the one man
able to check the power of the Romans, now rising and extending over
the whole world. But, being vanquished in a pitched battle by Titus
Flamininus near Scotussa, his resolution failed, and he yielded himself
and all that he had to the mercy of the Romans, well contented that he
could escape with paying a small tribute. Yet afterwards, recollecting
himself, he bore it with great impatience, and thought he lived rather
like a slave that was pleased with ease, than a man of sense and
courage, whilst he held his kingdom at the pleasure of his conquerors;
which made him turn his whole mind to war, and prepare himself with as
much cunning and privacy as possible. To this end, he left his cities
on the high roads and sea-coast ungarrisoned, and almost desolate, that
they might seem inconsiderable; in the mean time, collecting large
forces up the country, and furnishing his inland posts, strongholds,
and towns, with arms, money, and men fit for service, he thus provided
himself for war, and yet kept his preparations close. He had in his
armory arms for thirty thousand men; in granaries in places of
strength, eight millions of bushels of corn, and as much ready money as
would defray the charge of maintaining ten thousand mercenary soldiers
for ten years in defense of the country. But before he could put these
things into motion, and carry his designs into effect, he died for
grief and anguish of mind, being sensible he had put his innocent son
Demetrius to death, upon the calumnies of one that was far more guilty.
Perseus, his son that survived, inherited his hatred to the Romans as
well as his kingdom, but was incompetent to carry out his designs,
through want of courage, and the viciousness of a character in which,
among faults and diseases of various sorts, covetousness bore the chief
place. There is a statement also of his not being true born; that the
wife of king Philip took him from his mother Gnathaenion (a woman of
Argos, that earned her living as a seamstress), as soon as he was born,
and passed him upon her husband as her own. And this might be the chief
cause of his contriving the death of Demetrius; as he might well fear,
that so long as there was a lawful successor in the family, there was
no security that his spurious birth might not be revealed.
Notwithstanding all this, and though his spirit was so mean, and temper
so sordid, yet, trusting to the strength of his resources, he engaged
in a war with the Romans, and for a long time maintained it; repulsing
and even vanquishing some generals of consular dignity, and some great
armies and fleets. He routed Publius Licinius, who was the first that
invaded Macedonia, in a cavalry battle, slew twenty-five hundred
practiced soldiers, and took six hundr