Parallel Lives, Volume I — Plutarch
===================================
Translation/edition: Bernadotte Perrin
Language: English
Read in Plato Scroll: https://plato-scroll.com/s/plut-lives-1/
This file: https://plato-scroll.com/text/plut-lives-1.txt
Other editions of this work:
  - Greek text: https://plato-scroll.com/text/plut-lives-1-e.txt
Sources and licences: https://plato-scroll.com/attribution.html
Numbers in [brackets] are the edition's reference loci (Stephanus, Bekker, book.line, page...). Superscript numerals refer to the Notes at the end.


## Theseus

[Thes. 1.1] 1 Just as geographers, O Sossius Senecio, crowd on to the outer edges of their maps the parts of the earth which elude their knowledge, with explanatory notes that “What lies beyond is sandy desert without water and full of wild beasts,” or “blind marsh,” or “Scythian cold,” or “frozen sea,” so in the writing of my Parallel Lives, now that I have traversed those periods of time which are accessible to probable reasoning and which afford basis for a history dealing with facts, I might well say of the earlier periods: “What lies beyond is full of marvels and unreality, a land of poets and fabulists, of doubt and obscurity.” 2 But after publishing my account of Lycurgus the lawgiver and Numa the king, I thought I might not unreasonably go back still farther to Romulus, now that my history had brought me near his times. And as I asked myself,
[Thes. 1.1b] “With such a warrior” (as Aeschylus says) “who will dare to fight?”
[Thes. 1.1c] “Whom shall I set against him? Who is competent?”
[Thes. 1.3] it seemed to me that I must make the founder of lovely and famous Athens the counterpart and parallel to the father of invincible and glorious Rome. 3 May I therefore succeed in purifying Fable, making her submit to reason and take on the semblance of History. But where she obstinately disdains to make herself credible, and refuses to admit any element of probability, I shall pray for kindly readers, and such as receive with indulgence the tales of antiquity.
[Thes. 2.1] 2 1 It seemed to me, then, that many resemblances made Theseus a fit parallel to Romulus. For both were of uncertain and obscure parentage, and got the reputation of descent from gods;
[Thes. 2.1b] “Both were also warriors, as surely the whole world knoweth,”
[Thes. 2.2] and with their strength, combined sagacity. Of the world’s two most illustrious cities, moreover, Rome and Athens, Romulus founded the one, and Theseus made a metropolis of the other, and each resorted to the rape of women. 2 Besides, neither escaped domestic misfortunes and the resentful anger of kindred, but even in their last days both are said to have come into collision with their own fellow-citizens, if there is any aid to the truth in what seems to have been told with the least poetic exaggeration.
[Thes. 3.1] 3 1 The lineage of Theseus, on the father’s side, goes back to Erechtheus and the first children of the soil; on the mother’s side, to Pelops. For Pelops was the strongest of the kings in Peloponnesus quite as much on account of the number of his children as the amount of his wealth. He gave many daughters in marriage to men of the highest rank, and scattered many sons among the cities as their rulers. One of these, named Pittheus, the grandfather of Theseus, founded the little city of Troezen, and had the highest repute as a man versed in the lore of his times and of the greatest wisdom. 2 Now the wisdom of that day had some such form and force as that for which Hesiod was famous, especially in the sententious maxims of his “Works and Days.” One of these maxims is ascribed to Pittheus, namely: —
[Thes. 3.1b] “Payment pledged to a man who is dear must be ample and certain.”
[Thes. 3.1c] At any rate, this is what Aristotle the philosopher says, and Euripides, when he has Hippolytus addressed as “nursling of the pure and holy Pittheus,” shows what the world thought of Pittheus.
[Thes. 3.3] 3 Now Aegeus, king of Athens, desiring to have children, is said to have received from the Pythian priestess the celebrated oracle in which she bade him to have intercourse with no woman until he came to Athens. But Aegeus thought the words of the command somewhat obscure, and therefore turned aside to Troezen and communicated to Pittheus the words of the god, which ran as follows: —
[Thes. 3.3b] “Loose not the wine-skin’s jutting neck, great chief of the people,
Until thou shalt have come once more to the city of Athens.”
[Thes. 3.4] 4 This dark saying Pittheus apparently understood, and persuaded him, or beguiled him, to have intercourse with his daughter Aethra. Aegeus did so, and then learning that it was the daughter of Pittheus with whom he had consorted, and suspecting that she was with child by him, he left a sword and a pair of sandals hidden under a great rock, which had a hollow in it just large enough to receive these objects. 5 He told the princess alone about this, and bade her, if a son should be born to her from him, and if, when he came to man’s estate, he should be able to lift up the rock and take away what had been left under it, to send that son to him with the tokens, in all secrecy, and concealing his journey as much as possible from everybody; for he was mightily in fear of the sons of Pallas, who were plotting against him, and who despised him on account of his childlessness; and they were fifty in number, these sons of Pallas. Then he went away.
[Thes. 4.1] 4 1 When Aethra gave birth to a son, he was at once named Theseus, as some say, because the tokens for his recognition had been placed in hiding; but others say that it was afterwards at Athens, when Aegeus acknowledged him as his son. He was reared by Pittheus, as they say, and had an overseer and tutor named Connidas. To this man, even down to the present time, the Athenians sacrifice a ram on the day before the festival of Theseus, remembering and honouring him with far greater justice than they honour Silanio and Parrhasius, who merely painted and moulded likenesses of Theseus.
[Thes. 5.1] 5 1 Since it was still a custom at that time for youth who were coming of age to go to Delphi and sacrifice some of their hair to the god, Theseus went to Delphi for this purpose, and they say there is a place there which still to this day is called the Theseia from him. But he sheared only the fore part of his head, just as Homer said the Abantes did, and this kind of tonsure was called Theseïs after him.
[Thes. 5.2] 2 Now the Abantes were the first to cut their hair in this manner, not under instruction from the Arabians, as some suppose, nor yet in emulation of the Mysians, but because they were war-like men and close fighters, who had learned beyond all other men to force their way into close quarters with their enemies. Archilochus is witness to this in the following words: —
[Thes. 5.3] 3 “Not many bows indeed will be stretched tight, nor frequent slings
Be whirled, when Ares joins men in the moil of war
Upon the plain, but swords will do their mournful work;
For this is the warfare wherein those men are expert
Who lord it over Euboea and are famous with the spear.”
[Thes. 5.4] 4 Therefore, in order that they might not give their enemies a hold by their hair, they cut it off. And Alexander of Macedon doubtless understood this when, as they say, he ordered his generals to have the beards of their Macedonians shaved, since these afforded the readiest hold in battle.
[Thes. 6.1] 6 1 During the rest of the time, then, Aethra kept his true birth concealed from Theseus, and a report was spread abroad by Pittheus that he was begotten by Poseidon. For Poseidon is highly honoured by the people of Troezen, and he is the patron god of their city; to him they offer first fruits in sacrifice, and they have his trident as an emblem on their coinage. 2 But when, in his young manhood, Theseus displayed, along with his vigour of body, prowess also, and a firm spirit united with intelligence and sagacity, then Aethra brought him to the rock, told him the truth about his birth, and bade him take away his father’s tokens and go by sea to Athens. 3 Theseus put his shoulder to the rock and easily raised it up, but he refused to make his journey by sea, although safety lay in that course, and his grandfather and his mother begged him to take it. For it was difficult to make the journey to Athens by land, since no part of it was clear nor yet without peril from robbers and miscreants.
[Thes. 6.4] 4 For verily that age produced men who, in work of hand and speed of foot and vigour of body, were extraordinary and indefatigable, but they applied their powers to nothing that was fitting or useful. Nay rather, they exulted in monstrous insolence, and reaped from their strength a harvest of cruelty and bitterness, mastering and forcing and destroying everything that came in their path. And as for reverence and righteousness, justice and humanity, they thought that most men praised these qualities for lack of courage to do wrong and for fear of being wronged, and considered them no concern of men who were strong enough to get the upper hand. 5 Some of these creatures Heracles cut off and destroyed as he went about, but some escaped his notice as he passed by, crouching down and shrinking back, and were overlooked in their abjectness. And when Heracles met with calamity and, after the slaying of Iphitus, removed into Lydia and for a long time did slave’s service there in the house of Omphale, then Lydia indeed obtained great peace and security; but in the regions of Hellas the old villainies burst forth and broke out anew, there being none to rebuke and none to restrain them.
[Thes. 6.6] 6 The journey was therefore a perilous one for travellers by land from Peloponnesus to Athens, and Pittheus, by describing each of the miscreants at length, what sort of a monster he was, and what deeds he wrought upon strangers, tried to persuade Theseus to make his journey by sea. But he, as it would seem, had long since been secretly fired by the glorious valour of Heracles, and made the greatest account of that hero, and was a most eager listener to those who told what manner of man he was, and above all to those who had seen him and been present at some deed or speech of his. 7 And it is altogether plain that he then experienced what Themistocles many generations afterwards experienced, when he said that he could not sleep for the trophy of Miltiades. In like manner Theseus admired the valour of Heracles, until by night his dreams were of the hero’s achievements, and by day his ardour led him along and spurred him on in his purpose to achieve the like.
[Thes. 7.1] 7 1 And besides, they were kinsmen, being sons of cousins-german. For Aethra was daughter of Pittheus, as Alcmene was of Lysidice, and Lysidice and Pittheus were brother and sister, children of Hippodameia and Pelops. 2 Accordingly, he thought it a dreadful and unendurable thing that his famous cousin should go out against the wicked everywhere and purge land and sea of them, while he himself ran away from the struggles which lay in his path, disgracing his reputed father by journeying like a fugitive over the sea, and bringing to his real father as proofs of his birth only sandals and a sword unstained with blood, instead of at once offering noble deeds and achievements as the manifest mark of his noble birth. In such a spirit and with such thoughts he set out, determined to do no man any wrong, but to punish those who offered him violence.
[Thes. 8.1] 8 1 And so in the first place, in Epidauria, when Periphetes, who used a club as his weapon and on this account was called Club-bearer, laid hold of him and tried to stop his progress, he grappled with him and slew him. And being pleased with the club, he took it and made it his weapon and continued to use it, just as Heracles did with the lion’s skin. That hero wore the skin to prove how great a wild beast he had mastered, and so Theseus carried the club to show that although it had been vanquished by him, in his own hands it was invincible.
[Thes. 8.2] 2 On the Isthmus, too, he slew Sinis the Pine-bender in the very manner in which many men had been destroyed by himself, and he did this without practice or even acquaintance with the monster’s device, but showing that valour is superior to all device and practice. Now Sinis had a very beautiful and stately daughter, named Perigune. This daughter took to flight when her father was killed, and Theseus went about in search of her. But she had gone off into a place which abounded greatly in shrubs and rushes and wild asparagus, and with exceeding innocence and childish simplicity was supplicating these plants, as if they understood her, and vowing that if they would hide and save her, she would never trample them down nor burn them. 3 When, however, Theseus called upon her and gave her a pledge that he would treat her honourably and do her no wrong, she came forth, and after consorting with Theseus, bore him Melanippus, and afterwards lived with Deïoneus, son of Eurytus the Oechalian, to whom Theseus gave her. From Melanippus the son of Theseus, Ioxus was born, who took part with Ornytus in leading a colony into Caria; whence it is ancestral usage with the Ioxids, men and women, not to burn either the asparagus-thorn or the rush, but to revere and honour them.
[Thes. 9.1] 9 1 Now the Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was no insignificant creature, but fierce and hard to master. This sow he went out of his way to encounter and slay, that he might not be thought to perform all his exploits under compulsion, and at the same time because he thought that while the brave man ought to attack villainous men only in self defence, he should seek occasion to risk his life in battle with the nobler beasts. However, some say that Phaea was a female robber, a woman of murderous and unbridled spirit, who dwelt in Crommyon, was called Sow because of her life and manners, and was afterwards slain by Theseus.
[Thes. 10.1] 10 1 He also slew Sciron on the borders of Megara, by hurling him down the cliffs. Sciron robbed the passers by, according to the prevalent tradition; but as some say, he would insolently and wantonly thrust out his feet to strangers and bid them wash them, and then, while they were washing them, kick them off into the sea. 2 Megarian writers, however, taking issue with current report, and, as Simonides expresses it, “waging war with antiquity,” say that Sciron was neither a violent man nor a robber, but a chastiser of robbers, and a kinsman and friend of good and just men. For Aeacus, they say, is regarded as the most righteous of Hellenes, and Cychreus the Salaminian has divine honours at Athens, and the virtues of Peleus and Telamon are known to all men. 3 Well, then, Sciron was a son-in law of Cychreus, father-in law of Aeacus, and grandfather of Peleus and Telamon, who were the sons of Endeïs, daughter of Sciron and Chariclo. It is not likely, then, they say, that the best of men made family alliances with the basest, receiving and giving the greatest and most valuable pledges. It was not, they say, when Theseus first journeyed to Athens, but afterwards, that he captured Eleusis from the Megarians, having circumvented Diocles its ruler, and slew Sciron. Such, then, are the contradictions in which these matters are involved.
[Thes. 11.1] 11 In Eleusis, moreover, he out-wrestled Cercyon the Arcadian and killed him; and going on a little farther, at Erineüs, he killed Damastes, surnamed Procrustes, by compelling him to make his own body fit his bed, as he had been wont to do with those of strangers. And he did this in imitation of Heracles. For that hero punished those who offered him violence in the manner in which they had plotted to serve him, and therefore sacrificed Busiris, wrestled Antaeus to death, slew Cycnus in single combat, and killed Termerus by dashing in his skull. 2 It is from him, indeed, as they say, that the name “Termerian mischief” comes, for Termerus, as it would seem, used to kill those who encountered him by dashing his head against theirs. Thus Theseus also went on his way chastising the wicked, who were visited with the same violence from him which they were visiting upon others, and suffered justice after the manner of their own injustice.
[Thes. 12.1] 12 1 As he went forward on his journey and came to the river Cephisus, he was met by men of the race of the Phytalidae, who greeted him first, and when he asked to be purified from bloodshed, cleansed him the customary rites, made propitiatory sacrifices, and feasted him at their house. This was the first kindness which he met with on his journey.
[Thes. 12.2] It was, then, on the eighth day of the month Cronius, now called Hecatombaeon, that he is said to have arrived at Athens. And when he entered the city, he found public affairs full of confusion and dissension, and the private affairs of Aegeus and his household in a distressing condition. 2 For Medea, who had fled thither from Corinth, and promised by her sorceries to relieve Aegeus of his childlessness, was living with him. She learned about Theseus in advance, and since Aegeus was ignorant of him, and was well on in years and afraid of everything because of the faction in the city, she persuaded him to entertain Theseus as a stranger guest, and take him off by poison. Theseus, accordingly, on coming to the banquet, thought best not to tell in advance who he was, but wishing to give his father a clue to the discovery, when the meats were served, he drew his sword, as if minded to carve with this, and brought it to the notice of his father. 3 Aegeus speedily perceived it, dashed down the proffered cup of poison, and after questioning his son, embraced him, and formally recognized him before an assembly of the citizens, who received him gladly because of his manly valour. And it is said that as the cup fell, the poison was spilled where now is the enclosure in the Delphinium, for that is where the house of Aegeus stood, and the Hermes to the east of the sanctuary is called the Hermes at Aegeus’s gate.
[Thes. 13.1] 13 1 Now the sons of Pallas had before this themselves hoped to gain possession of the kingdom when Aegeus died childless. But when Theseus was declared successor to the throne, exasperated that Aegeus should be king although he was only an adopted son of Pandion and in no way related to the family of Erechtheus, and again that Theseus should be prospective king although he was an immigrant and a stranger, they went to war. 2 And dividing themselves into two bands, one of these marched openly against the city from Sphettus with their father; the other hid themselves at Gargettus and lay in ambush there, intending to attack their enemies from two sides. But there was a herald with them, a man of Agnus, by name Leos. This man reported to Theseus the designs of the Pallantidae. 3 Theseus then fell suddenly upon the party lying in ambush, and slew them all. Thereupon the party with Pallas dispersed. This is the reason, they say, why the township of Pallene has no intermarriage with the township of Agnus, and why it will not even allow heralds to make their customary proclamation there of “Akouete leoi” (Hear, ye people!). For they hate the word on account of the treachery of the man Leos.
[Thes. 14.1] 14 1 But Theseus, desiring to be at work, and at the same time courting the favour of the people, went out against the Marathonian bull, which was doing no small mischief to the inhabitants of the Tetrapolis. After he had mastered it, he made a display of driving it alive through the city, and then sacrificed it to the Delphinian Apollo. 2 Now the story of Hecale and her receiving and entertaining Theseus on this expedition seems not to be devoid of all truth. For the people of the townships round about used to assemble and sacrifice the Hecalesia to Zeus Hecalus, and they paid honours to Hecale, calling her by the diminutive name of Hecaline, because she too, when entertaining Theseus, in spite of the fact that he was quite a youth, caressed him as elderly people do, and called him affectionately by such diminutive names. 3 And since she vowed, when the hero was going to his battle with the bull, that she would sacrifice to Zeus if he came back safe, but died before his return, she obtained the above mentioned honours as a return for her hospitality at the command of Theseus, as Philochorus has written.
[Thes. 15.1] 15 1 Not long afterwards there came from Crete for the third time the collectors of the tribute. Now as to this tribute, most writers agree that because Androgeos was thought to have been treacherously killed within the confines of Attica, not only did Minos harass the inhabitants of that country greatly in war, but Heaven also laid it waste, for barrenness and pestilence smote it sorely, and its rivers dried up; also that when their god assured them in his commands that if they appeased Minos and became reconciled to him, the wrath of Heaven would abate and there would be an end of their miseries, they sent heralds and made their supplication and entered into an agreement to send him every nine years a tribute of seven youths and as many maidens. 2 And the most dramatic version of the story declares that these young men and women, on being brought to Crete, were destroyed by the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, or else wandered about at their own will and, being unable to find an exit, perished there; and that the Minotaur, as Euripides says, was
[Thes. 15.1b] “A mingled form and hybrid birth of monstrous shape,”
“Two different natures, man and bull, were joined in him.”
[Thes. 16.1] 16 1 Philochorus, however, says that the Cretans do not admit this, but declare that the Labyrinth was a dungeon, with no other inconvenience than that its prisoners could not escape; and that Minos instituted funeral games in honour of Androgeos, and as prizes for the victors, gave these Athenian youth, who were in the meantime imprisoned in the Labyrinth; and that the victor in the first games was the man who had the greatest power at that time under Minos, and was his general, Taurus by name, who was not reasonable and gentle in his disposition, but treated the Athenian youth with arrogance and cruelty. 2 And Aristotle himself also, in his “Constitution of Bottiaea,” clearly does not think that these youths were put to death by Minos, but that they spent the rest of their lives as slaves in Crete. And they say that the Cretans once, in fulfilment of an ancient vow, sent an offering of their first-born to Delphi, and that some descendants of those Athenians were among the victims, and went forth with them; and that when they were unable to support themselves there, they first crossed over into Italy and dwelt in that country round about Iapygia, and from there journeyed again into Thrace and were called Bottiaeans; and that this was the reason why the maidens of Bottiaea, in performing a certain sacrifice, sing as an accompaniment: “To Athens let us go!”
[Thes. 16.3] And verily it seems to be a grievous thing for a man to be at enmity with a city which has a language and a literature. 3 For Minos was always abused and reviled in the Attic theatres, and it did not avail him either that Hesiod called him “most royal,” or that Homer styled him “a confidant of Zeus,” but the tragic poets prevailed, and from platform and stage showered obloquy down upon him, as a man of cruelty and violence. And yet they say that Minos was a king and lawgiver, and that Rhadamanthus was a judge under him, and a guardian of the principles of justice defined by him.
[Thes. 17.1] 17 1 Accordingly, when the time came for the third tribute, and it was necessary for the fathers who had youthful sons to present them for the lot, fresh accusations against Aegeus arose among the people, who were full of sorrow and vexation that he who was the cause of all their trouble alone had no share in the punishment, but devolved the kingdom upon a bastard and foreign son, and suffered them to be left destitute and bereft of legitimate children. 2 These things troubled Theseus, who, thinking it right not to disregard but to share in the fortune of his fellow-citizens, came forward and offered himself independently of the lot. The citizens admired his noble courage and were delighted with his public spirit, and Aegeus, when he saw that his son was not to be won over or turned from his purpose by prayers and entreaties, cast the lots for the rest of the youths.
[Thes. 17.3] 3 Hellanicus, however, says that the city did not send its young men and maidens by lot, but that Minos himself used to come and pick them out, and that he now pitched upon Theseus first of all, following the terms agreed upon. And he says the agreement was that the Athenians should furnish the ship, and that the youths should embark and sail with him carrying no warlike weapon, and that if the Minotaur was killed the penalty should cease.
[Thes. 17.4] 4 On the two former occasions, then, no hope of safety was entertained, and therefore they sent the ship with a black sail, convinced that their youth were going to certain destruction; but now Theseus encouraged his father and loudly boasted that he would master the Minotaur, so that he gave the pilot another sail, a white one, ordering him, if he returned with Theseus safe, to hoist the white sail, but otherwise to sail with the black one, and so indicate the affliction.
[Thes. 17.5] 5 Simonides, however, says that the sail given by Aegeus was not white, but “a scarlet sail dyed with the tender flower of luxuriant holm-oak,” and that he made this a token of their safety. Moreover, the pilot of the ship was Phereclus, son of Amarsyas, as Simonides says; 6 but Philochorus says that Theseus got from Scirus of Salamis Nausithoüs for his pilot, and Phaeax for his look-out man, the Athenians at that time not yet being addicted to the sea, and that Scirus did him this favour because one of the chosen youths, Menesthes, was his daughter’s son. And there is evidence for this in the memorial chapels for Nausithoüs and Phaeax which Theseus built at Phalerum near the temple of Scirus, and they say that the festival of the Cybernesia, or Pilot’s Festival, is celebrated in their honour.
[Thes. 18.1] 18 1 When the lot was cast, Theseus took those upon whom it fell from the prytaneium and went to the Delphinium, where he dedicated to Apollo in their behalf his suppliant’s badge. This was a bough from the sacred olive-tree, wreathed with white wool. Having made his vows and prayers, he went down to the sea on the sixth day of the month Munychion, on which day even now the Athenians still send their maidens to the Delphinium to propitiate the god. 2 And it is reported that the god at Delphi commanded him in an oracle to make Aphrodite his guide, and invite her to attend him on his journey, and that as he sacrificed the usual she-goat to her by the sea-shore, it became a he-goat (“tragos”) all at once, for which reason the goddess has the surname Epitragia.
[Thes. 19.1] 19 1 When he reached Crete on his voyage, most historians and poets tells us that he got from Ariadne, who had fallen in love with him, the famous thread, and that having been instructed by her how to make his way through the intricacies of the Labyrinth, he slew the Minotaur and sailed off with Ariadne and the youths. And Pherecydes says that Theseus also staved in the bottoms of the Cretan ships, thus depriving them of the power to pursue. 2 And Demon says also that Taurus, the general of Minos, was killed in a naval battle in the harbour as Theseus was sailing out. But as Philochorus tells the story, Minos was holding the funeral games, and Taurus was expected to conquer all his competitors in them, as he had done before, and was grudged his success. For his disposition made his power hateful, and he was accused of too great intimacy with Pasiphaë. Therefore when Theseus asked the privilege of entering the lists, it was granted him by Minos. 3 And since it was the custom in Crete for women to view the games, Ariadne was present, and was smitten with the appearance of Theseus, as well as filled with admiration for his athletic prowess, when he conquered all his opponents. Minos also was delighted with him, especially because he conquered Taurus in wrestling and disgraced him, and therefore gave back the youths to Theseus, besides remitting its tribute to the city.
[Thes. 19.4] 4 Cleidemus, however, gives a rather peculiar and ambitious account of these matters, beginning a great way back. There was, he says, a general Hellenic decree that no trireme should sail from any port with a larger crew than five men, and the only exception was Jason, the commander of the Argo, who sailed about scouring the sea of pirates. Now when Daedalus fled from Crete in a merchant-vessel to Athens, Minos, contrary to the decrees, pursued him with his ships of war, and was driven from his course by a tempest to Sicily, where he ended his life. 5 And when Deucalion, his son, who was on hostile terms with the Athenians, sent to them a demand that they deliver up Daedalus to him, and threatened, if they refused, to put to death the youth whom Minos had received from them as hostages, Theseus made him a gentle reply, declining to surrender Daedalus, who was his kinsman and cousin, being the son of Merope, the daughter of Erechtheus. But privately he set himself to building a fleet, part of it at home in the township of Thymoetadae, far from the public road, and part of it under the direction of Pittheus in Troezen, wishing his purpose to remain concealed. 6 When his ships were ready, he set sail, taking Daedalus and exiles from Crete as his guides, and since none of the Cretans knew of his design, but thought the approaching ships to be friendly, Theseus made himself master of the harbour, disembarked his men, and got to Gnossus before his enemies were aware of his approach. Then joining battle with them at the gate of the Labyrinth, he slew Deucalion and his body-guard. 7 And since Ariadne was now at the head of affairs, he made a truce with her, received back the youthful hostages, and established friendship between the Athenians and the Cretans, who took oath never to begin hostilities.
[Thes. 20.1] 20 1 There are many other stories about these matters, and also about Ariadne, but they do not agree at all. Some say that she hung herself because she was abandoned by Theseus; others that she was conveyed to Naxos by sailors and there lived with Oenarus the priest of Dionysus, and that she was abandoned by Theseus because he loved another woman: —
[Thes. 20.1b] “Dreadful indeed was his passion for Aigle child of Panopeus.”
[Thes. 20.2] 2 This verse Peisistratus expunged from the poems of Hesiod, according to Hereas the Megarian, just as, on the other hand, he inserted into the Inferno of Homer the verse: —
[Thes. 20.2b] “Theseus, Peirithous, illustrious children of Heaven,”
[Thes. 20.2c] and all to gratify the Athenians. Moreover, some say that Ariadne actually had sons by Theseus, Oenopion and Staphylus, and among these is Ion of Chios, who says of his own native city: —
[Thes. 20.2d] “This, once, Theseus’s son founded, Oenopion.”
[Thes. 20.3] Now the most auspicious of these legendary tales are in the mouths of all men, as I may say; but a very peculiar account of these matters is published by Paeon the Amathusian. 3 He says that Theseus, driven out of his course by a storm to Cyprus, and having with him Ariadne, who was big with child and in sore sickness and distress from the tossing of the sea, set her on shore alone, but that he himself, while trying to succour the ship, was borne out to sea again. The women of the island, accordingly, took Ariadne into their care, and tried to comfort her in the discouragement caused by her loneliness, brought her forged letters purporting to have been written to her by Theseus, ministered to her aid during the pangs of travail, and gave her burial when she died before her child was born. 4 Paeon says further that Theseus came back, and was greatly afflicted, and left a sum of money with the people of the island, enjoining them to sacrifice to Ariadne, and caused two little statuettes to be set up in her honour, one of silver, and one of bronze. He says also that at the sacrifice in her honour on the second day of the month Gorpiaeus, one of their young men lies down and imitates the cries and gestures of women in travail; and that they call the grove in which they show her tomb, the grove of Ariadne Aphrodite.
[Thes. 20.5] 5 Some of the Naxians also have a story of their own, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, one of whom, they say, was married to Dionysus in Naxos and bore him Staphylus and his brother, and the other, of a later time, having been carried off by Theseus and then abandoned by him, came to Naxos, accompanied by a nurse named Corcyne, whose tomb they show; and that this Ariadne also died there, and has honours paid her unlike those of the former, for the festival of the first Ariadne is celebrated with mirth and revels, but the sacrifices performed in honour of the second are attended with sorrow and mourning.
[Thes. 21.1] 21 1 On his voyage from Crete, Theseus put in at Delos, and having sacrificed to the god and dedicated in his temple the image of Aphrodite which he had received from Ariadne, he danced with his youths a dance which they say is still performed by the Delians, being an imitation of the circling passages in the Labyrinth, and consisting of certain rhythmic involutions and evolutions. 2 This kind of dance, as Dicaearchus tells us, is called by the Delians The Crane, and Theseus danced it round the altar called Keraton, which is constructed of horns (“kerata”) taken entirely from the left side of the head. He says that he also instituted athletic contests in Delos, and that the custom was then begun by him of giving a palm to the victors.
[Thes. 22.1] 22 1 It is said, moreover, that as they drew nigh the coast of Attica, Theseus himself forgot, and his pilot forgot, such was their joy and exultation, to hoist the sail which was to have been the token of their safety to Aegeus, who therefore, in despair, threw himself down from the rock and was dashed in pieces. But Theseus, putting in to shore, sacrificed in person the sacrifices which he had vowed to the gods at Phalerum when he set sail, and then dispatched a herald to the city to announce his safe return. 2 The messenger found many of the people bewailing the death of their king, and others full of joy at his tidings, as was natural, and eager to welcome him and crown him with garlands for his good news. The garlands, then, he accepted, and twined them about his herald’s staff, and on returning to the seashore, finding that Theseus had not yet made his libations to the gods, remained outside the sacred precincts, not wishing to disturb the sacrifice. 3 But when the libations were made, he announced the death of Aegeus. Thereupon, with tumultuous lamentation, they went up in haste to the city. Whence it is, they say, that to this day, at the festival of the Oschophoria, it is not the herald that is crowned, but his herald’s staff, and those who are present at the libations cry out: “Eleleu! Iou! Iou!” the first of which cries is the exclamation of eager haste and triumph, the second of consternation and confusion.
[Thes. 22.4] 4 After burying his father, Theseus paid his vows to Apollo on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion; for on that day they had come back to the city in safety. Now the custom of boiling all sorts of pulse on that day is said to have arisen from the fact that the youths who were brought safely back by Theseus put what was left of their provisions into one mess, boiled it in one common pot, feasted upon it, and ate it all up together. 5 At that feast they also carry the so called “eiresione,” which is a bough of olive wreathed with wool, such as Theseus used at the time of his supplication, and laden with all sorts of fruit-offerings, to signify that scarcity was at an end, and as they go they sing: —
[Thes. 22.4b] “Eiresione for us brings figs and bread of the richest,
Brings us honey in pots and oil to rub off from the body,
Strong wine too in a beaker, that one may go to bed mellow.”
[Thes. 22.4c] Some writers, however, say that these rites are in memory of the Heracleidae, who were maintained in this manner by the Athenians; but most put the matter as I have done.
[Thes. 23.1] 23 1 The ship on which Theseus sailed with the youths and returned in safety, the thirty-oared galley, was preserved by the Athenians down to the time of Demetrius Phalereus. They took away the old timbers from time to time, and put new and sound ones in their places, so that the vessel became standing illustration for the philosophers in the mooted question of growth, some declaring that it remained the same, others that it was not the same vessel.
[Thes. 23.2] 2 It was Theseus who instituted also the Athenian festival of the Oschophoria. For it is said that he did not take away with him all the maidens on whom the lot fell at that time, but picked out two young men of his acquaintance who had fresh and girlish faces, but eager and manly spirits, and changed their outward appearance almost entirely by giving them warm baths and keeping them out of the sun, by arranging their hair, and by smoothing their skin and beautifying their complexions with unguents; he also taught them to imitate maidens as closely as possible in their speech, their dress, and their gait, and to leave no difference that could be observed, and then enrolled them among the maidens who were going to Crete, and was undiscovered by any. 3 And when he was come back, he himself and these two young men headed a procession, arrayed as those are now arrayed who carry the vine-branches. They carry these in honour of Dionysus and Ariadne, and because of their part in the story; or rather, because they came back home at the time of the vintage. And the women called Deipnophoroi, or supper-carriers, take part in the procession and share in the sacrifice, in imitation of the mothers of the young men and maidens on whom the lot fell, for these kept coming with bread and meat for their children. And tales are told at this festival, because these mothers, for the sake of comforting and encouraging their children, spun out tales for them. At any rate, these details are to be found in the history of Demon. Furthermore, a sacred precinct was also set apart for Theseus, and he ordered the members of the families which had furnished the tribute to the Minotaur to make contributions towards a sacrifice to himself. This sacrifice was superintended by the Phytalidae, and Theseus thus repaid them for their hospitality.
[Thes. 24.1] 24 1 After the death of Aegeus, Theseus conceived a wonderful design, and settled all the residents of Attica in one city, thus making one people of one city out of those who up to that time had been scattered about and were not easily called together for the common interests of all, nay, they sometimes actually quarrelled and fought with each other. 2 He visited them, then, and tried to win them over to his project township by township and clan by clan. The common folk and the poor quickly answered to his summons; to the powerful he promised government without a king and a democracy, in which he should only be commander in war and guardian of the laws, while in all else everyone should be on an equal footing. 3 Some he readily persuaded to this course, and others, fearing his power, which was already great, and his boldness, chose to be persuaded rather than forced to agree to it. Accordingly, after doing away with the town-halls and council-chambers and magistracies in the several communities, and after building a common town-hall and council-chamber for all on the ground where the upper town of the present day stands, he named the city Athens, and instituted a Panathenaic festival. 4 He instituted also the Metoecia, or Festival of Settlement, on the sixteenth day of the month Hecatombaeon, and this is still celebrated. Then, laying aside the royal power, as he had agreed, he proceeded to arrange the government, and that too with the sanction of the gods. For an oracle came to him from Delphi, in answer to his enquiries about the city, as follows: —
[Thes. 24.5] 5 “Theseus, offspring of Aegeus, son of the daughter of Pittheus,
Many indeed the cities to which my father has given
Bounds and future fates within your citadel’s confines.
[Thes. 24.5b] Therefore be not dismayed, but with firm and confident spirit
Counsel only; the bladder will traverse the sea and its surges.”
[Thes. 24.5c] And this oracle they say the Sibyl afterwards repeated to the city, when she cried: —
[Thes. 24.5d] “Bladder may be submerged; but its sinking will not be permitted.”
[Thes. 25.1] 25 1 Desiring still further to enlarge the city, he invited all men thither on equal terms, and the phrase “Come hither all ye people,” they say was a proclamation of Theseus when he established a people, as it were, of all sorts and conditions. However, he did not suffer his democracy to become disordered or confused from an indiscriminate multitude streaming into it, but was the first to separate the people into noblemen and husbandmen and handicraftsmen. 2 To the noblemen he committed the care of religious rites, the supply of magistrates, the teaching of the laws, and the interpretation of the will of Heaven, and for the rest of the citizens he established a balance of privilege, the noblemen being thought to excel in dignity, the husbandmen in usefulness, and the handicraftsmen in numbers. And that he was the first to show a leaning towards the multitude, as Aristotle says, and gave up his absolute rule, seems to be the testimony of Homer also, in the Catalogue of Ships, where he speaks of the Athenians alone as a “people.”
[Thes. 25.3] 3 He also coined money, and stamped it with the effigy of an ox, either in remembrance of the Marathonian bull, or of Taurus, the general of Minos, or because he would invite the citizens to agriculture. From this coinage, they say, “ten oxen” and “a hundred oxen” came to be used as terms of valuation. Having attached the territory of Megara securely to Attica, he set up that famous pillar on the Isthmus, and carved upon it the inscription giving the territorial boundaries. It consisted of two trimeters, of which the one towards the east declared: —
[Thes. 25.3b] “Here is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia;”
and the one towards the west: —
“Here is the Peloponnesus, not Ionia.”
[Thes. 25.4] 4 He also instituted the games here, in emulation of Heracles, being ambitious that as the Hellenes, by that hero’s appointment, celebrated Olympian games in honour of Zeus, so by his own appointment they should celebrate Isthmian games in honour of Poseidon. For the games already instituted there in honour of Melicertes were celebrated in the night, and had the form of a religious rite rather than of a spectacle and public assembly. But some say that the Isthmian games were instituted in memory of Sciron, and that Theseus thus made expiation for his murder, because of the relationship between them; for Sciron was a son of Canethus and Henioche, who was the daughter of Pittheus. 5 And others have it that Sinis, not Sciron, was their son, and that it was in his honour rather that the games were instituted by Theseus. However that may be, Theseus made a formal agreement with the Corinthians that they should furnish Athenian visitors to the Isthmian games with a place of honour as large as could be covered by the sail of the state galley which brought them thither, when it was stretched to its full extent. So Hellanicus and Andron of Halicarnassus tell us.
[Thes. 26.1] 26 1 He also made a voyage into the Euxine Sea, as Philochorus and sundry others say, on a campaign with Heracles against the Amazons, and received Antiope as a reward of his valour; but the majority of writers, including Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and Herodorus, say that Theseus made this voyage on his own account, after the time of Heracles, and took the Amazon captive; and this is the more probable story. For it is not recorded that any one else among those who shared his expedition took an Amazon captive. 2 And Bion says that even this Amazon he took and carried off by means of a stratagem. The Amazons, he says, were naturally friendly to men, and did not fly from Theseus when he touched upon their coasts, but actually sent him presents, and he invited the one who brought them to come on board his ship; she came on board, and he put out to sea.
[Thes. 26.3] And a certain Menecrates, who published a history of Bithynian city of Nicaea, says that Theseus, with Antiope on board his ship, spent some time in those parts, 3 and that there chanced to be with him on this expedition three young men of Athens who were brothers, Euneos, Thoas, and Soloïs. This last, he says, fell in love with Antiope unbeknown to the rest, and revealed his secret to one of his intimate friends. That friend made overtures to Antiope, who positively repulsed the attempt upon her, but treated the matter with discretion and gentleness, and made no denunciation to Theseus. 4 Then Soloïs, in despair, threw himself into a river and drowned himself, and Theseus, when he learned the fate of the young man, and what had caused it, was grievously disturbed, and in his distress called to mind a certain oracle which he had once received at Delphi. For it had there been enjoined upon him by the Pythian priestess that when, in a strange land, he should be sorest vexed and full of sorrow, he should found a city there, and leave some of his followers to govern it. 5 For this cause he founded a city there, and called it, from the Pythian god, Pythopolis, and the adjacent river, Soloïs, in honour of the young man. And he left there the brothers of Soloïs, to be the city’s presidents and law-givers, and with them Hermus, one of the noblemen of Athens. From him also the Pythopolitans call a place in the city the House of Hermes, incorrectly changing the second syllable, and transferring the honour from a hero to a god.
[Thes. 27.1] 27 1 Well, then, such were the grounds for the war of the Amazons, which seems to have been no trivial nor womanish enterprise for Theseus. For they would not have pitched their camp within the city, nor fought hand to hand battles in the neighbourhood of the Pnyx and the Museum, had they not mastered the surrounding country and approached the city with impunity. 2 Whether, now, as Hellanicus writes, they came round by the Cimmerian Bosporus, which they crossed on the ice, may be doubted; but the fact that they encamped almost in the heart of the city is attested both by the names of the localities there and by the graves of those who fell in battle.
[Thes. 27.3] Now for a long time there was hesitation and delay on both sides in making the attack, but finally Theseus, after sacrificing to Fear, in obedience to an oracle, joined battle with the women. 3 This battle, then, was fought on the day of the month Boëdromion on which, down to the present time, the Athenians celebrate the Boëdromia. Cleidemus, who wishes to be minute, writes that the left wing of the Amazons extended to what is now called the Amazoneum, and that with their right they touched the Pnyx at Chrysa; that with this left wing the Athenians fought, engaging the Amazons from the Museum, and that the graves of those who fell are on either side of the street which leads to the gate by the chapel of Chalcodon, which is now called the Peiraïc gate. 4 Here, he says, the Athenians were routed and driven back by the women as far as the shrine of the Eumenides, but those who attacked the invaders from the Palladium and Ardettus and the Lyceum, drove their right wing back as far as to their camp, and slew many of them. And after three months, he says, a treaty of peace was made through the agency of Hippolyta; for Hippolyta is the name which Cleidemus gives to the Amazon whom Theseus married, not Antiope.
[Thes. 27.5] But some say that the woman was slain with a javelin by Molpadia, while fighting at Theseus’s side, and that the pillar which stands by the sanctuary of Olympian Earth was set up in her memory. 5 And it is not astonishing that history, when dealing with events of such great antiquity, should wander in uncertainty, indeed, we are also told that the wounded Amazons were secretly sent away to Chalcis by Antiope, and were nursed there, and some were buried there, near what is now called the Amazoneum. But that the war ended in a solemn treaty is attested not only by the naming of the place adjoining the Theseum, which is called Horcomosium, but also by the sacrifice which, in ancient times, was offered to the Amazons before the festival of Theseus. 6 And the Megarians, too, show a place in their country where Amazons were buried, on the way from the market-place to the place called Rhus, where the Rhomboid stands. And it is said, likewise, that others of them died near Chaeroneia, and were buried on the banks of the little stream which, in ancient times, as it seems, was called Thermodon, but nowadays, Haemon; concerning which names I have written in my Life of Demosthenes. It appears also that not even Thessaly was traversed by the Amazons without opposition, for Amazonian graves are to this day shown in the vicinity of Scotussa and Cynoscephalae.
[Thes. 28.1] 28 1 So much, then, is worthy of mention regarding the Amazons. For the “Insurrection of the Amazons,” written by the author of the Theseïd, telling how, when Theseus married Phaedra, Antiope and the Amazons who fought to avenge her attacked him, and were slain by Heracles, has every appearance of fable and invention. 2 Theseus did, indeed, marry Phaedra, but this was after the death of Antiope, and he had a son by Antiope, Hippolytus, or, as Pindar says, Demophoön. As for the calamities which befell Phaedra and the son of Theseus by Antiope, since there is no conflict here between historians and tragic poets, we must suppose that they happened as represented by the poets uniformly.
[Thes. 29.1] 29 1 There are, however, other stories also about marriages of Theseus which were neither honourable in their beginnings nor fortunate in their endings, but these have not been dramatised. For instance, he is said to have carried off Anaxo, a maiden of Troezen, and after slaying Sinis and Cercyon to have ravished their daughters; also to have married Periboea, the mother of Aias, and Phereboea afterwards, and Iope, the daughter of Iphicles; 2 and because of his passion for Aegle, the daughter of Panopeus, as I have already said, he is accused of the desertion of Ariadne, which was not honourable nor even decent; and finally, his rape of Helen is said to have filled Attica with war, and to have brought about at last his banishment and death, of which things I shall speak a little later.
[Thes. 29.3] 3 Of the many exploits performed in those days by the bravest men, Herodorus thinks that Theseus took part in none, except that he aided the Lapithae in their war with the Centaurs; but others say that he was not only with Jason at Colchis, but helped Meleager to slay the Calydonian boar, and that hence arose the proverb “Not without Theseus”; that he himself, however, without asking for any ally, performed many glorious exploits, and that the phrase “Lo! another Heracles” became current with reference to him. 4 He also aided Adrastus in recovering for burial the bodies of those who had fallen before the walls of the Cadmeia, not by mastering the Thebans in battle, as Euripides has it in his tragedy, but by persuading them to a truce; for so most writers say, and Philochorus adds that this was the first truce ever made for recovering the bodies of those slain in battle, 5 although in the accounts of Heracles it is written that Heracles was the first to give back their dead to his enemies. And the graves of the greater part of those who fell before Thebes are shown at Eleutherae, and those of the commanders near Eleusis, and this last burial was a favour which Theseus showed to Adrastus. The account of Euripides in his “Suppliants” is disproved by that of Aeschylus in his “Eleusinians,” where Theseus is made to relate the matter as above.
[Thes. 30.1] 30 1 The friendship of Peirithoüs and Theseus is said to have come about in the following manner. Theseus had a very great reputation for strength and bravery, and Peirithoüs was desirous of making test and proof of it. Accordingly, he drove Theseus’s cattle away from Marathon, and when he learned that their owner was pursuing him in arms, he did not fly, but turned back and met him. 2 When, however, each beheld the other with astonishment at his beauty and admiration of his daring, they refrained from battle, and Peirithoüs, stretching out his hand the first, bade Theseus himself be judge of his robbery, for he would willingly submit to any penalty which the other might assign. Then Theseus not only remitted his penalty, but invited him to be a friend and brother in arms; whereupon they ratified their friendship with oaths.
[Thes. 30.3] 3 After this, when Peirithoüs was about to marry Deidameia, he asked Theseus to come to the wedding, and see the country, and become acquainted with the Lapithae. Now he had invited the Centaurs also to the wedding feast. And when these were flown with insolence and wine, and laid hands upon the women, the Lapithae took vengeance upon them. Some of them they slew upon the spot, the rest they afterwards overcame in war and expelled from the country, Theseus fighting with them at the banquet and in the war. 4 Herodorus, however, says that this was not how it happened, but that the war was already in progress when Theseus came to the aid of the Lapithae; and that on his way thither he had his first sight of Heracles, having made it his business to seek him out at Trachis, where the hero was already resting from his wandering and labours; and he says the interview passed with mutual expressions of honour, friendliness, and generous praise. 5 Notwithstanding, one might better side with those historians who say that the heroes had frequent interviews with one another, and that it was at the instigation of Theseus that Heracles was initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis, and purified before his initiation, when he requested it on account of sundry rash acts.
[Thes. 31.1] 31 1 Theseus was already fifty years old, according to Hellanicus, when he took part in the rape of Helen, who was not of marriageable age. Wherefore some writers, thinking to correct this heaviest accusation against him, say that he did not carry off Helen himself, but that when Idas and Lynceus had carried her off, he received her in charge and watched over her and would not surrender her to the Dioscuri when they demanded her; or, if you will believe it, that her own father, Tyndareüs, entrusted her to Theseus, for fear of Enarsphorus, the son of Hippocoön, who sought to take Helen by force while she was yet a child. But the most probable account, and that which has the most witnesses in its favour, is as follows.
[Thes. 31.2] 2 Theseus and Peirithoüs went to Sparta in company, seized the girl as she was dancing in the temple of Artemis Orthia, and fled away with her. Their pursuers followed them no farther than Tegea, and so the two friends, when they had passed through Peloponnesus and were out of danger, made a compact with one another that the one on whom the lot fell should have Helen to wife, but should assist the other in getting another wife. 3 With this mutual understanding they cast lots, and Theseus won, and taking the maiden, who was not yet ripe for marriage, conveyed her to Aphidnae. Here he made his mother a companion of the girl, and committed both to Aphidnus, a friend of his, with strict orders to guard them in complete secrecy. 4 Then he himself, to return the service of Peirithoüs, journeyed with him to Epirus, in quest of the daughter of Aïdoneus the king of the Molossians. This man called his wife Phersephone, his daughter Cora, and his dog Cerberus, with which beast he ordered that all suitors of his daughter should fight, promising her to him that should overcome it. However, when he learned that Peirithoüs and his friend were come not to woo, but to steal away his daughter, he seized them both. Peirithoüs he put out of the way at once by means of the dog, but Theseus he kept in close confinement.
[Thes. 32.1] 32 1 Meanwhile Menestheus, the son of Peteos, grandson of Orneus, and great-grandson of Erechtheus, the first of men, as they say, to affect popularity and ingratiate himself with the multitude, stirred up and embittered the chief men in Athens. These had long been hostile to Theseus, and thought that he had robbed each one of the country nobles of his royal office, and then shut them all up in a single city, where he treated them as subjects and slaves. The common people also he threw into commotion by his reproaches. They thought they had a vision of liberty, he said, but in reality they had been robbed of their native homes and religions in order that, in the place of many good kings of their own blood, they might look obediently to one master who was an immigrant and an alien. 2 While he was thus busying himself, the Tyndaridae came up against the city, and the war greatly furthered his seditious schemes; indeed, some writers say outright that he persuaded the invaders to come.
[Thes. 32.3] At first, then, they did no harm, but simply demanded back their sister. When, however, the people of the city replied that they neither had the girl nor knew where she had been left, they resorted to war. 3 But Academus, who had learned in some way or other of her concealment at Aphidnae, told them about it. For this reason he was honoured during his life by the Tyndaridae, and often afterwards when the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica and laid waste all the country round about, they spared the Academy, for the sake of Academus. 4 But Dicaearchus says that Echedemus and Marathus of Arcadia were in the army of the Tyndaridae at that time, from the first of whom the present Academy was named Echedemia, and from the other, the township of Marathon, since in accordance with some oracle he voluntary gave himself to be sacrificed in front of the line of battle.
[Thes. 32.5] To Aphidnae, then, they came, won a pitched battle, and stormed the town. 5 Here he says that among others Alycus, the son of Sciron, who was at that time in the army of the Dioscuri, was slain, and that from him a place in Megara where he was buried is called Alycus. But Hereas writes that Alycus was slain at Aphidnae by Theseus himself, and cites in proof these verses about Alycus: —
[Thes. 32.5b] “whom once in the plain of Aphidnae,
Where he was fighting, Theseus, ravisher of fair-haired Helen,
Slew.”
[Thes. 32.5c] However, it is not likely that Theseus himself was present when both his mother and Aphidnae were captured.
[Thes. 33.1] 33 1 At any rate, Aphidnae was taken and the city of Athens was full of fear, but Menestheus persuaded its people to receive the Tyndaridae into the city and show them all manner of kindness, since they were waging war upon Theseus alone, who had committed the first act of violence, but were benefactors and saviours of the rest of mankind. And their behaviour confirmed his assurances, for although they were masters of everything, they demanded only an initiation into the mysteries, since they were no less closely allied to the city than Heracles. 2 This privilege was accordingly granted them, after they had been adopted by Aphidnus, as Pylius had adopted Heracles. They also obtained honours like those paid to gods, and were addressed as “Anakes,” either on account of their stopping hostilities, or because of their diligent care that no one should be injured, although there was such a large army within the city; for the phrase “anakos echein” is used of such as care for, or guard anything, and perhaps it is for this reason that kings are called “Anaktes.” There are also those who say that the Tyndaridae were called “Anakes” because of the appearance of their twin stars in the heavens, since the Athenians use “anekas” and “anekathen” for “ano” and “anothen,” signifying above or on high.
[Thes. 34.1] 34 1 He says that Aethra, the mother of Theseus, who was taken captive at Aphidnae, was carried away to Lacedaemon, and from thence to Troy with Helen, and that Homer bears witness to this when he mentions as followers of Helen: —
[Thes. 34.1b] “Aethra of Pittheus born, and Clymene large-eyed and lovely.”
[Thes. 34.2] But some reject this verse of Homer’s, as well as the legend of Munychus, who was born in secret to Laodice from Demophoön, and whom Aethra helped to rear in Ilium. 2 But a very peculiar and wholly divergent story about Aethra is given by Ister in the thirteenth book of his “Attic History.” Some write, he says, that Alexander (Paris) was overcome in battle by Achilles and Patroclus in Thessaly, along the banks of the Spercheius, but that Hector took and plundered the city of Troezen, and carried away Aethra, who had been left there. This, however, is very doubtful.
[Thes. 35.1] 35 1 Now while Heracles was the guest of Aïdoneus the Molossian, the king incidentally spoke of the adventure of Theseus and Peirithoüs, telling what they had come there to do, and what they had suffered when they were found out. Heracles was greatly distressed by the inglorious death of the one, and by the impending death of the other. As for Peirithoüs, he thought it useless to complain, but he begged for the release of Theseus, and demanded that this favour be granted him. 2 Aïdoneus yielded to his prayers, Theseus was set free, and returned to Athens, where his friends were not yet altogether overwhelmed. All the sacred precincts which the city had previously set apart for himself, he now dedicated to Heracles, and called them Heracleia instead of Theseia, four only excepted, as Philochorus writes. But when he desired to rule again as before, and to direct the state, he became involved in factions and disturbances; he found that those who hated him when he went away, had now added to their hatred contempt, and he saw that a large part of the people were corrupted, and wished to be cajoled into service instead of doing silently what they were told to do. 3 Attempting, then, to force his wishes upon them, he was overpowered by demagogues and factions, and finally, despairing of his cause, he sent his children away privately into Euboea, to Elephenor, the son of Chalcodon, while he himself, after invoking curses upon the Athenians at Gargettus, where there is to this day the place called Araterion, sailed away to the island of Scyros, where the people were friendly to him, as he thought, and where he had ancestral estates. Now Lycomedes was at that time king of Scyros. 4 To him therefore Theseus applied with the request that his lands should be restored to him, since he was going to dwell there, though some say that he asked his aid against the Athenians. But Lycomedes, either because he feared a man of such fame, or as a favour to Menestheus, led him up to the high places of the land, on pretence of showing him from thence his lands, threw him down the cliffs, and killed him. Some, however, say that he slipped and fell down of himself while walking there after supper, as was his custom. 5 At the time no one made any account of his death, but Menestheus reigned as king at Athens, while the sons of Theseus, as men of private station, accompanied Elephenor on the expedition to Ilium; but after Menestheus died there, they came back by themselves and recovered their kingdom. In after times, however, the Athenians were moved to honour Theseus as a demigod, especially by the fact that many of those who fought at Marathon against the Medes thought they saw an apparition of Theseus in arms rushing on in front of them against the Barbarians.
[Thes. 36.1] 36 1 And after the Median wars, in the archonship of Phaedo, when the Athenians were consulting the oracle at Delphi, they were told by the Pythian priestess to take up the bones of Theseus, give them honourable burial at Athens, and guard them there. But it was difficult to find the grave and take up the bones, because of the inhospitable and savage nature of the Dolopians, who then inhabited the island. However, Cimon took the island, as I have related in his Life, and being ambitious to discover the grave of Theseus, saw an eagle in a place where there was the semblance of a mound, pecking, as he says, and tearing up the ground with his talons. 2 By some divine ordering he comprehended the meaning of this and dug there, and there was found a coffin of a man of extraordinary size, a bronze spear lying by its side, and a sword. When these relics were brought home on his trireme by Cimon, the Athenians were delighted, and received them with splendid processions and sacrifices, as though Theseus himself were returning to his city. And now he lies buried in the heart of the city, near the present gymnasium, and his tomb is a sanctuary and place of refuge for runaway slaves and all men of low estate who are afraid of men in power, since Theseus was a champion and helper of such during his life, and graciously received the supplications of the poor and needy. 3 The chief sacrifice which the Athenians make in his honour comes on the eighth day of the month Pyanepsion, the day on which he came back from Crete with the youths. But they honour him also on the eighth day of the other months, either because he came to Athens in the first place, from Troezen, on the eighth day of the month Hecatombaeon, as Diodorus the Topographer states, or because they consider this number more appropriate for him than any other since he was said to be a son of Poseidon. 4 For they pay honours to Poseidon on the eighth day of every month. The number eight, as the first cube of an even number and the double of the first square, fitly represents the steadfast and immovable power of this god, to whom we give the epithets of Securer and Earth-stayer.

## Romulus

[Rom. 1.1] 1 1 FROM whom, and for what reason the great name of Rome, so famous among mankind, was given to that city, writers are not agreed. Some say that the Pelasgians, after wandering over most of the habitable earth and subduing most of mankind, settled down on that site, and that from their strength in war they called their city Rome. 2 Others say that at the taking of Troy some of its people escaped, found sailing vessels, were driven by storms upon the coast of Tuscany, and came to anchor in the river Tiber; that here, while their women were perplexed and distressed at thought of the sea, one of them, who was held to be of superior birth and the greatest understanding, and whose name was Roma, proposed that they should burn the ships; 3 that when this was done, the men were angry at first, but afterwards, when they had settled of necessity on the Palatine, seeing themselves in a little while more prosperous than they had hoped, since they found the country good and the neighbours made them welcome, they paid high honours to Roma, and actually named the city after her, since she had been the occasion of their founding it. 4 And from that time on, they say, it has been customary for the women to salute their kinsmen and husbands with a kiss; for those women, after they had burned the ships, made use of such tender salutation as they supplicated their husbands and sought to appease their wrath.
[Rom. 2.1] 2 1 Others again say that the Roma who gave her name to the city was a daughter of Italus and Leucaria, or, in another account, of Telephus the son of Heracles; and that she was married to Aeneas, or, in another version, to Ascanius the son of Aeneas. Some tell us that it was Romanus, a son of Odysseus and Circe, who colonized the city; others that it was Romus, who was sent from Troy by Diomedes the son of Emathion; and others still that it was Romis, tyrant of the Latins, after he had driven out the Tuscans, who passed from Thessaly into Lydia, and from Lydia into Italy. Moreover, even those writers who declare, in accordance with the most authentic tradition, that it was Romulus who gave his name to the city, do not agree about his lineage. 2 For some say that he was a son of Aeneas and Dexithea the daughter of Phorbas, and was brought to Italy in his infancy, along with his brother Romus; that the rest of the vessels were destroyed in the swollen river, but the one in which the boys were was gently directed to a grassy bank, where they were unexpectedly saved, and the place was called Roma from them. 3 Others say it was Roma, a daughter of the Trojan woman I have mentioned, who was wedded to Latinus the son of Telemachus and bore him Romulus; others that Aemilia, the daughter of Aeneas and Lavinia, bore him to Mars; and others still rehearse what is altogether fabulous concerning his origin.
[Rom. 2.4] For instance, they say that Tarchetius, king of the Albans, who was most lawless and cruel, was visited with a strange phantom in his house, namely, a phallus rising out of the hearth and remaining there many days. 4 Now there was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany, from which there was brought to Tarchetius a response that a virgin must have intercourse with this phantom, and she should bear a son most illustrious for his valour, and of surpassing good fortune and strength. Tarchetius, accordingly, told the prophecy to one of his daughters, and bade her consort with the phantom; but she disdained to do so, and sent a handmaid in to it. 5 When Tarchetius learned of this, he was wroth, and seized both the maidens, purposing to put them to death. But the goddess Hestia appeared to him in his sleep and forbade him the murder. He therefore imposed upon the maidens the weaving of a certain web in their imprisonment, assuring them that when they had finished the weaving of it, they should then be given in marriage.
[Rom. 2.6] By day, then, these maidens wove, but by night other maidens, at the command of Tarchetius, unravelled their web. And when the handmaid became the mother of twin children by the phantom, Tarchetius gave them to a certain Teratius with orders to destroy them. 6 This man, however, carried them to the river-side and laid them down there. Then a she-wolf visited the babes and gave them suck, while all sorts of birds brought morsels of food and put them into their mouths, until a cow-herd spied them, conquered his amazement, ventured to come to them, and took the children home with him. Thus they were saved, and when they were grown up, they set upon Tarchetius and overcame him. At any rate, this is what a certain Promathion says, who compiled a history of Italy.
[Rom. 3.1] 3 1 But the story which has the widest credence and the greatest number of vouchers was first published among the Greeks, in its principal details, by Diocles of Peparethus, and Fabius Pictor follows him in most points. Here again there are variations in the story, but its general outline is as follows. 2 The descendants of Aeneas reigned as kings in Alba, and the succession devolved at length upon two brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius divided the whole inheritance into two parts, setting the treasures and gold which had been brought from Troy over against the kingdom, and Numitor chose the kingdom. Amulius, then, in possession of the treasure, and made more powerful by it than Numitor, easily took the kingdom away from his brother, and fearing lest that brother’s daughter should have children, made her a priestess of Vesta, bound to live unwedded and a virgin all her days. 3 Her name is variously given as Ilia, or Rhea, or Silvia. Not long after this, she was discovered to be with child, contrary to the established law for the Vestals. She did not, however, suffer the capital punishment which was her due, because the king’s daughter, Antho, interceded successfully in her behalf, but she was kept in solitary confinement, that she might not be delivered without the knowledge of Amulius. Delivered she was of two boys, and their size and beauty were more than human. 4 Wherefore Amulius was all the more afraid, and ordered a servant to take the boys and cast them away. This servant’s name was Faustulus, according to some, but others give this name to the man who took the boys up. Obeying the king’s orders, the servant put the babes into a trough and went down towards the river, purposing to cast them in; but when he saw that the stream was much swollen and violent, he was afraid to go close up to it, and setting his burden now near the bank, went his way. 5 Then the overflow of the swollen river took and bore up the trough, floating it gently along, and carried it down to a fairly smooth spot which is now called Kermalus, but formerly Germanus, perhaps because brothers are called “germani.”
[Rom. 4.1] 4 1 Now there was a wild fig-tree hard by, which they called Ruminalis, either from Romulus, as is generally thought, or because cud-chewing, or ruminating, animals spent the noon-tide there for the sake of the shade, or best of all, from the suckling of the babes there; for the ancient Romans called the teat “ruma,” and a certain goddess, who is thought to preside over the rearing of young children, is still called Rumilia, in sacrificing to whom no wine is used, and libations of milk are poured over her victims. 2 Here, then, the babes lay, and the she-wolf of story here gave them suck, and a woodpecker came to help in feeding them and to watch over them. Now these creatures are considered sacred to Mars, and the woodpecker is held in especial veneration and honour by the Latins, and this was the chief reason why the mother was believed when she declared that Mars was the father of her babes. And yet it is said that she was deceived into doing this, and was really deflowered by Amulius himself, who came to her in armour and ravished her.
[Rom. 4.3] 3 But some say that the name of the children’s nurse, by its ambiguity, deflected the story into the fabulous. For the Latins not only called she-wolves “lupae,” but also women of loose character, and such a woman was the wife of Faustulus, the foster-father of the infants, Acca Larentia by name. Yet the Romans sacrifice also to her, and in the month of April the priest of Mars pours libations in her honour, and the festival is called Larentalia.
[Rom. 5.1] 5 1 They pay honours also to another Larentia, for the following reason. The keeper of the temple of Hercules, being at a loss for something to do, as it seems, proposed to the god a game of dice, with the understanding that if he won it himself, he should get some valuable present from the god; but if he lost, he would furnish the god with a bounteous repast and a lovely woman to keep him company for the night. 2 On these terms the dice were thrown, first for the god, then for himself, when it appeared that he had lost. Wishing to keep faith, and thinking it right to abide by the contract, he prepared a banquet for the god, and engaging Larentia, who was then in the bloom of her beauty, but not yet famous, he feasted her in the temple, where he had spread a couch, and after the supper locked her in, assured of course that the god would take possession of her. 3 And verily it is said that the god did visit the woman, and bade her go early in the morning to the forum, salute the first man who met her, and make him her friend. She was met, accordingly, by one of the citizens who was well on in years and possessed of a considerable property, but childless, and unmarried all his life, by name Tarrutius. 4 This man took Larentia to his bed and loved her well, and at his death left her heir to many and fair possessions, most of which she bequeathed to the people. And it is said that when she was now famous and regarded as the beloved of a god, she disappeared at the spot where the former Larentia also lies buried. 5 This spot is now called Velabrum, because when the river overflowed, as it often did, they used to cross it at about this point in ferry-boats, to go to the forum, and their word for ferry is “velatura.” But some say that it is so called because from that point on, the street leading to the Hippodrome from the forum is covered over with sails by the givers of a public spectacle, and the Roman word for sail is “velum.” It is for these reasons that honours are paid to this second Larentia amongst the Romans.
[Rom. 6.1] 6 1 As for the babes, they were taken up and reared by Faustulus, a swineherd of Amulius, and no man knew of it; or, as some say with a closer approach to probability, Numitor did know of it, and secretly aided the foster-parents in their task. And it is said that the boys were taken to Gabii to learn letters and the other branches of knowledge which are meet for those of noble birth. 2 Moreover, we are told that they were named, from “ruma,” the Latin word for teat, Romulus and Romus (or Remus), because they were seen sucking the wild beast. Well, the noble size and beauty of their bodies, even when they were infants, betokened their natural disposition; and when they grew up, they were both of them courageous and manly, with spirits which courted apparent danger, and a daring which nothing could terrify. But Romulus seemed to exercise his judgement more, and to have political sagacity, while in his intercourse with their neighbours in matters pertaining to herding and hunting, he gave them the impression that he was born to command rather than to obey. 3 With their equals or inferiors they were therefore on friendly terms, but they looked down upon the overseers, bailiffs, and chief herdsmen of the king, and disregarded both their threats and their anger. They also applied themselves to generous occasions and pursuits, not esteeming sloth and idleness generous, but rather bodily exercise, hunting, running, driving off robbers, capturing thieves, and rescuing the oppressed from violence. For these things, indeed, they were famous far and near.
[Rom. 7.1] 7 1 When a quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Numitor and Amulius, and some of the latter’s cattle were driven off, the brothers would not suffer it, but fell upon the robbers, put them to flight, and intercepted most of the booty. To the displeasure of Numitor they gave little heed, but collected and took into their company many needy men and many slaves, exhibiting thus the beginnings of seditious boldness and temper. 2 But once when Romulus was busily engaged in some sacrifice, being fond of sacrifices and of divination, the herdsmen of Numitor fell in with Remus as he was walking with a few companions, and a battle ensued. After blows and wounds given and received on both sides, the herdsmen of Numitor prevailed and took Remus prisoner, who was then carried before Numitor and denounced. Numitor himself did not punish his prisoner, because he was in fear of his brother Amulius, who was severe, but went to Amulius and asked for justice, since he was his brother, and had been insulted by the royal servants. 3 The people of Alba, too, were incensed, and thought that Numitor had been undeservedly outraged. Amulius was therefore induced to hand Remus over to Numitor himself, to treat him as he saw fit.
[Rom. 7.4] When Numitor came home, after getting Remus into his hands, he was amazed at the young man’s complete superiority in stature and strength of body, and perceiving by his countenance that the boldness and vigour of his soul were unsubdued and unharmed by his present circumstances, and hearing that his acts and deeds corresponded with his looks, 4 but chiefly, as it would seem, because a divinity was aiding and assisting in the inauguration of great events, he grasped the truth by a happy conjecture, and asked him who he was and what were the circumstances of his birth, while his gentle voice and kindly look inspired the youth with confidence and hope. 5 Then Remus boldly said: “Indeed, I will hide nothing from thee; for thou seemest to be more like a king than Amulius; thou hearest and weighest before punishing, but he surrenders men without a trial. Formerly we believed ourselves (my twin brother and I) children of Faustulus and Larentia, servants of the king; but since being accused and slandered before thee and brought in peril of our lives, we hear great things concerning ourselves; whether they are true or not, our present danger is likely to decide. 6 Our birth is said to have been secret, and our nursing and nurture as infants stranger still. We were cast out to birds of prey and wild beasts, only to be nourished by them, — by the dugs of a she-wolf and the morsels of a woodpecker, as we lay in a little trough by the side of the great river. The trough still exists and is kept safe, and its bronze girdles are engraved with letters now almost effaced, which may perhaps hereafter prove unavailing tokens of recognition for our parents, 7 when we are dead and gone.”
[Rom. 7.7] Then Numitor, hearing these words, and conjecturing the time which had elapsed from the young man’s looks, welcomed the hope that flattered him, and thought how he might talk with his daughter concerning these matters in a secret interview; for she was still kept in the closest custody.
[Rom. 8.1] 8 1 But Faustulus, on hearing that Remus had been seized and delivered up to Numitor, called upon Romulus to go to his aid, and then told him clearly the particulars of their birth; before this also he had hinted at the matter darkly, and revealed enough to give them ambitious thoughts when they dwelt upon it. He himself took the trough and went to see Numitor, full of anxious fear lest he might not be in season. 2 Naturally enough, the guards at the king’s gate were suspicious of him, and when he was scrutinized by them and made confused replies to their questions, he was found to be concealing the trough in his cloak. Now by chance there was among the guards one of those who had taken the boys to cast them into the river, and were concerned in their exposure. This man, now seeing the trough, and recognizing it by its make and inscription, conceived a suspicion of the truth, and without any delay told the matter to the king, and brought the man before him to be examined. 3 In these dire and pressing straits, Faustulus did not entirely hold his own, nor yet was his secret wholly forced from him. He admitted that the boys were alive and well, but said they lived at a distance from Alba as herdsmen; he himself was carrying the trough to Ilia, who had often yearned to see and handle it, in confirmation of her hope for the children.
[Rom. 8.4] 4 As, then, men naturally fare who are confounded, and act with fear or in a passion, so it fell out that Amulius fared. For he sent in all haste an excellent man and a friend of Numitor’s, with orders to learn from Numitor whether any report had come to him of the children’s being alive. 5 When, accordingly, the man was come, and beheld Remus almost in the affectionate embraces of Numitor, he confirmed them in their confident hope, and entreated them to proceed at once to action, promptly joining their party himself and furthering their cause. And the opportunity admitted of no delay, even had they wished it; for Romulus was now close at hand, and many of the citizens who hated and feared Amulius were running forth to join him. 6 He was also leading a large force with him, divided into companies of a hundred men, each company headed by a man who bore aloft a handful of hay and shrubs tied round a pole (the Latin word for handful is “manipulus,” and hence in their armies they still call the men in such companies “manipulares.”). And when Remus incited the citizens within the city to revolt, and at the same time Romulus attacked from without, the tyrant, without taking a single step or making any plan for his own safety, from sheer perplexity and confusion, was seized and put to death.
[Rom. 8.7] 7 Although most of these particulars are related by Fabius and Diocles of Peparethus, who seems to have been the first to publish a “Founding of Rome,” some are suspicious of their fictitious and fabulous quality; but we should not be incredulous when we see what a poet fortune sometimes is, and when we reflect that the Roman state would not have attained to its present power, had it not been of a divine origin, and one which was attended by great marvels.
[Rom. 9.1] 9 1 Amulius being now dead, and matters settled in the city, the brothers were neither willing to live in Alba, unless as its rulers, nor to be its rulers while their grandfather was still alive. Having therefore restored the government to him and paid fitting honours to their mother, they resolved to dwell by themselves, and to found a city in the region where, at the first, they were nourished and sustained; this surely seems a most fitting reason for their course. 2 But perhaps it was necessary, now that many slaves and fugitives were gathered about them, either to disperse these and have no following at all, or else to dwell apart with them. For that the residents of Alba would not consent to give the fugitives the privilege of intermarriage with them, nor even receive them as fellow-citizens, is clear, in the first place, from the rape of the Sabine women, which was not a deed of wanton daring, but one of necessity, owing to the lack of marriages by consent; for they certainly honoured the women, when they had carried them off, beyond measure. 3 And in the second place, when their city was first founded, they made a sanctuary of refuge for all fugitives, which they called the sanctuary of the God of Asylum. There they received all who came, delivering none up, neither slave to masters, nor debtor to creditors, nor murderer to magistrates, but declaring it to be in obedience to an oracle from Delphi that they made the asylum secure for all men. Therefore the city was soon full of people, for they say that the first houses numbered no more than a thousand. This, however, was later.
[Rom. 9.4] 4 But when they set out to establish their city, a dispute at once arose concerning the site. Romulus, accordingly, built Roma Quadrata (which means square), and wished to have a city on that site; but Remus laid out a strong precinct on the Aventine hill, which was named from him Remonium, but now is called Rignarium. 5 Agreeing to settle their quarrel by the flight of birds of omen, and taking their seats on the ground apart from one another, six vultures, they say, were seen by Remus, and twice that number by Romulus. Some, however, say that whereas Remus truly saw his six, Romulus lied about his twelve, but that when Remus came to him, then he did see the twelve. Hence it is that at the present time also the Romans chiefly regard vultures when they take auguries from the flight of birds.
[Rom. 9.6] Herodorus Ponticus relates that Hercules also was glad to see a vulture present itself when he was upon an exploit. 6 For it is the least harmful of all creatures, injures no grain, fruit-tree, or cattle, and lives on carrion. But it does not kill or maltreat anything that has life, and as for birds, it will not touch them even when they are dead, since they are of its own species. But eagles, owls, and hawks smite their own kind when alive, and kill them. And yet, in the words of Aeschylus: —
[Rom. 9.6b] How shall a bird that preys on fellow bird be clean?”
[Rom. 9.7] 7 Besides, other birds are, so to speak, always in our eyes, and let themselves be seen continually; but the vulture is a rare sight, and it is not easy to come upon a vulture’s young, nay, some men have been led into a strange suspicion that the birds come from some other and foreign land to visit us here, so rare and intermittent is their appearance, which soothsayers think should be true of what does not present itself naturally, nor spontaneously, but by a divine sending.
[Rom. 10.1] 10 1 When Remus knew of the deceit, he was enraged, and as Romulus was digging a trench where his city’s wall was to run, he ridiculed some parts of the work, and obstructed others. At last, when he leaped across it, he was smitten (by Romulus himself, as some say; according to others, by Celer, one of his companions), and fell dead there. 2 Faustulus also fell in the battle, as well as Pleistinus, who was a brother of Faustulus, and assisted him in rearing Romulus and Remus. Celer, at any rate, betook himself to Tuscany, and from him the Romans call such as are swift and speedy, “celeres.” Quintus Metellus, for instance, when his father died, took only a few days to provide gladiatorial contests in his honour, and the people were so amazed at his speed in preparing them that they gave him the surname of Celer.
[Rom. 11.1] 11 Romulus buried Remus, together with his foster-fathers, in the Remonia, and then set himself to building his city, after summoning from Tuscany men who prescribed all the details in accordance with certain sacred ordinances and writings, and taught them to him as in religious rite. A circular trench was dug around what is now the Comitium, and in this were deposited the first-fruits of all things the use of which was sanctioned by custom as good and by nature as necessary; and finally, every man brought a small portion of the soil of his native land, and these were cast in among the first-fruits and mingled with them. 2 They call this trench, as they do the heavens, by the name of “mundus.” Then, taking this as a centre, they marked out the city in a circle round it. And the founder, having shod a plough with a brazen ploughshare, and having yoked to it a bull and a cow, himself drove a deep furrow round the boundary lines, while those who followed after him had to turn the clods, which the plough threw up, inwards towards the city, and suffer no clod to lie turned outwards. 3 With this line they mark out the course of the wall, and it is called, by contraction, “pomerium,” that is, “post murum,” behind or next the wall. And where they purposed to put in a gate, there they took the share out of the ground, lifted the plough over, and left a vacant space. And this is the reason why they regard all the wall as sacred except the gates; but if they held the gates sacred, it would not be possible, without religious scruples, to bring into and send out of the city things which are necessary, and yet unclean.
[Rom. 12.1] 12 1 Now it is agreed that the city was founded on the twenty-first of April, and this day the Romans celebrate with a festival, calling it the birthday of their country. And at first, as it is said, they sacrificed no living creature at that festival, but thought they ought to keep it pure and without stain of blood, since it commemorated the birth of their country. However, even before the founding of the city, they had a pastoral festival on that day, and called it Parilia.
[Rom. 12.2] 2 At the present time, indeed, there is no agreement between the Roman and Greek months, but they say that the day on which Romulus founded his city was precisely the thirtieth of the month, and that on that day there was a conjunction of the sun and moon, with an eclipse, which they think was the one seen by Antimachus, the epic poet of Teos, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad. 3 And in the times of Varro the philosopher, a Roman who was most deeply versed in history, there lived Tarutius, a companion of his, who, besides being a philosopher and a mathematician, had applied himself to the art of casting nativities, in order to indulge a speculative turn of mind, and was thought to excel in it. 4 To this man Varro gave the problem of fixing the day and hour of the birth of Romulus, making his deductions from the conjunctions of events reported in the man’s life, just as the solutions of geometrical problems are derived; for the same science, he said, must be capable not only of foretelling a man’s life when the time of his birth is known, but also, from the given facts of his life, of hunting out the time of his birth. 5 This task, then, Tarutius performed, and when he had taken a survey of the man’s experiences and achievements, and had brought together the time of his life, the manner of his death, and all such details, he very courageously and bravely declared that Romulus was conceived in his mother’s womb in the first year of the second Olympiad, in the month Choeac of the Egyptian calendar, on the twenty-third day, and in the third hour, when the sun was totally eclipsed; and that he was born in the month Thoth, on the twenty-first day, at sun-rise; 6 and that Rome was founded by him on the ninth day of the month Pharmuthi, between the second and third hour: for it is thought that a city’s fortune, as well as that of a man, has a decisive time, which may be known by the position of the stars at its very origin. These and similar speculations will perhaps attract readers by their novelty and extravagance, rather than offend them by their fabulous character.
[Rom. 13.1] 13 1 When the city was built, in the first place, Romulus divided all the multitude that were of age to bear arms into military companies, each company consisting of three thousand footmen and three hundred horsemen. Such a company was called a “legion,” because the warlike were selected out of all. In the second place, he treated the remainder as a people, and this multitude was called “populus”; a hundred of them, who were the most eminent, he appointed to be councillors, calling the individuals themselves “patricians,” and their body a “senate.” 2 Now the word “senate” means literally a Council of elders, and the councillors were called “patricians,” as some say, because they were fathers of lawful children; or rather, according to others, because they could tell who their own fathers were, which not many could do of those who first streamed into the city; according to others still, from “patronage,” which was their word for the protection of inferiors, and is so to this day; and they suppose that a certain Patron, one of those who came to Italy with Evander, was a protector and defender of the poor and needy, and left his own name in the word which designates such activity. 3 But the most reasonable opinion for any one to hold is that Romulus thought it the duty of the foremost and most influential citizens to watch over the more lowly for fatherly care and concern, while he taught the multitude not to fear their superiors nor be vexed at their honours, but to exercise goodwill towards them, considering them and addressing them as fathers, whence their name of Patricii. 4 For down to the present time foreign peoples call the members of their senate “chief men,” but the Romans themselves call them “conscript fathers,” using that name which has the greatest dignity and honour, and awakens the least envy.
[Rom. 13.5] At first, then, they called them simply “fathers,” but later, when more had been added to their number, they addressed them as “Conscript fathers.” 5 By this more imposing title Romulus distinguished the senate from the commonalty, and in other ways, too, he separated the nobles from multitude, calling the one “patrons,” that is to say, protectors, and the other “clients,” that is to say, dependants. At the same time he inspired both classes with an astonishing goodwill towards each other, and one which became the basis of important rights and privileges. For the patrons advised their clients in matters of custom, and represented them in courts of justice, in short, were their counsellors and friends in all things; 6 while the clients were devoted to their patrons, not only holding them in honour, but actually, in cases of poverty, helping them to dower their daughters and pay their debts.
[Rom. 13.5b] And there was neither any law nor any magistrate that could compel a patron to bear witness against a client, or a client against a patron. But in later times, while all other rights and privileges remained in force, the taking of money by those of high degree from the more lowly was held to be disgraceful and ungenerous. So much, then, on these topics.
[Rom. 14.1] 14 1 It was in the fourth month after the founding of the city, as Fabius writes, that the rape of the Sabine women was perpetrated. And some say that Romulus himself, being naturally fond of war, and being persuaded by sundry oracles, too, that it was the destiny of Rome to be nourished and increased by wars till she became the greatest of cities, thereby merely began unprovoked hostilities against the Sabines; for he did not take many maidens, but thirty only, since what he wanted was war rather than marriages. 2 But this is not likely. On the contrary, seeing his city filling up at once with aliens, few of whom had wives, while the greater part of them, being a mixed rabble of needy and obscure persons, were looked down upon and expected to have no strong cohesion; and hoping to make the outrage an occasion for some sort of blending and fellowship with the Sabines after their women had been kindly entreated, he set his hand to the task, and in the following manner.
[Rom. 14.3] 3 First a report was spread abroad by him that he had discovered an altar of a certain god hidden underground. They called this god Consus, and he was either a god of counsel (for “consilium” is still their word for counsel, and they call their chief magistrates “consuls,” that is to say, counsellors), or an equestrian Neptune. For the altar is in the Circus Maximus, and is invisible at all other times, but at the chariot-races it is uncovered. 4 Some, however, simply say that since counsel is secret and unseen, it is not unreasonable that an altar to the god of counsel should be hidden underground. Now when this altar was discovered, Romulus appointed by proclamation a splendid sacrifice upon it, with games, and a spectacle open to all people. And many were the people who came together, while he himself sat in front, among his chief men, clad in purple. 5 The signal that the time had come for the onslaught was to be his rising and folding his cloak and then throwing it round him again. Armed with swords, then, many of his followers kept their eyes intently upon him, and when the signal was given, drew their swords, rushed in with shouts, and ravished away the daughters of the Sabines, but permitted and encouraged the men themselves to escape. 6 Some say that only thirty maidens were seized, and that from these the Curiae were named; but Valerius Antias puts the number at five hundred and twenty-seven, and Juba at six hundred and eighty-three, all maidens. And this was the strongest defence which Romulus could make, namely, that they took only one married woman, Hersilia, and her by mistake, since they did not commit the rape out of wantonness, nor even with a desire to do mischief, but with the fixed purpose of uniting and blending the two peoples in the strongest bonds. 7 As for this Hersilia, some say that she was married to Hostilius, a most eminent Roman, and others, to Romulus himself, and that she also bore him children: one daughter, Prima, so called from the order of birth, and one son only, whom Romulus named Aollius, from the great concourse of citizens under him, but later ages Avillius. However, Zenodotus of Troezen, who gives us this account, is contradicted by many.
[Rom. 15.1] 15 1 Among those who ravished away the maidens at that time, it chanced, they say, that certain men of meaner sort were dragging along a damsel who far surpassed the rest in beauty and stature; and when some men of superior rank met them and tried to rob them of their prize, they cried out that they were conducting the girl to Talasius, a young man, but one of excellent repute. 2 The other party, then, on hearing this, shouted and clapped their hands in approval, and some of them actually turned back accompanied them, out of good will and favour to Talasius, shouting his name as they went along. Hence, indeed, down to the present time, Talasius is the nuptial cry of the Romans, as Hymenaeus is of the Greeks; for they say that Talasius was fortunate in his wife.
[Rom. 15.3] But Sextius Sulla, the Carthaginian, a man who lacks neither learning nor charm, told me that Talasius was the word which Romulus gave as a watchword for the rape. 3 All those, therefore, who took the maidens away, shouted “Talasius!” and on this account the custom now prevails at marriages. 3 But most writers are of the opinion — and Juba is one of them — that the cry is an exhortation and incitement to industry and “talasia,” as the Greeks call spinning, Italian words having not yet at that time entirely submerged the Greek. Now if this is right, and the Romans did at that time use the word “talasia” for spinning, as we do, then a more credible reason for the custom might be conjectured as follows. 4 When the Sabines, after their war against the Romans, were reconciled with them, it was agreed that their women should perform no other tasks for their husbands than those which were connected with spinning. It was customary, therefore, at subsequent marriages, for those who gave the bride away, or escorted her to her new home, or simply looked on, to cry “Talasius!” merrily, in testimony that the woman was led home for no other task than that of spinning. 5 And it continues to be a custom down to the present time that the bride shall not of herself cross the threshold into her new home, but be lifted up and carried in, because the Sabine women were carried in by force, and did not go in of their own accord. And some say also that the custom of parting the bride’s hair with the head of a spear is a reminder that the first marriage was attended with war and fighting; on which topic I have spoken more fully in my “Roman Questions.”
[Rom. 15.3b] Leaving such matters aside, the rape was committed on the eighteenth day of the month once called Sextilis, but now, August, on which day the festival of the Consualia is celebrated.
[Rom. 16.1] 16 1 Now the Sabines were a numerous and warlike people, and dwelt in unwalled villages, thinking that it behoved them, since they were Lacedaemonian colonists, to be bold and fearless. 2 Nevertheless, seeing themselves bound by precious hostages, and fearing for their daughters, they sent ambassadors with reasonable and moderate demands, namely, that Romulus should give back to them their maidens, disavow his deed of violence, and then, by persuasion and legal enactment, establish a friendly relationship between the two peoples. But Romulus would not surrender the maidens, and demanded that the Sabines should allow community of marriage with the Romans, 3 whereupon they all held long deliberations and made extensive preparations for war. But there was one exception. Acron, king of the Caeninenses, a man of courageous spirit and skilled in war, had been suspicious of the daring deeds of Romulus from the beginning, and now that this violence had been done the women, thinking him a menace to all peoples, and intolerable unless chastised, at once rose up in arms, and with a great force advanced against him. Romulus also marched out to meet him. 4 But when they were face to face and had surveyed each other, they challenged mutually to single combat before battle, while their armies remained quiet under arms. Romulus, then, after making a vow that if he should conquer and overthrow his adversary, he would carry home the man’s armour and dedicate it in person to Jupiter, not only conquered and overthrew him, but also routed his army in the battle which followed, and took his city as well. To the captured citizens, however, he did no harm beyond ordering them to tear down their dwellings and accompany him to Rome, where, he promised them, they should be citizens on equal terms with the rest.
[Rom. 16.5] 5 Now this, more than anything else, was what gave increase to Rome: she always united and incorporated with herself those whom she conquered. But Romulus, after considering how he might perform his vow in a manner most acceptable to Jupiter and accompany the performance with a spectacle most pleasing to the citizens, cut down a monstrous oak that grew in the camp, hewed it into the shape of a trophy, and fitted and fastened to it the armour of Acron, each piece in its due order. Then he himself, girding his raiment about him and wreathing his flowing locks with laurel, 6 set the trophy on his right shoulder, where it was held erect, and began a triumphal march, leading off in a paean of victory which his army sang as it followed under arms, and being received by the citizens with joyful amazement. This procession was the origin and model of all subsequent triumphs, and the trophy was styled a dedication to Jupiter Feretrius, so named from the Roman word “ferire,” to smite; for Romulus vowed to smite his foe and overthrow him. 7 And such spoils were called “opima,” because as Varro says, “opes” is the Roman word for richness; but it would be more plausible to say that they were so called from the deed of valour involved, since “opus” is the Roman word for deed or exploit. And only to a general who with his own hand has performed the exploit of slaying an opposing general, has the privilege of dedicating the “spolia opima” been granted.
[Rom. 16.8] Furthermore, only three Roman leaders have attained this honour: Romulus first, for slaying Acron the Caeninensian; next, Cornelius Cossus, for killing Tolumnius the Tuscan; and lastly, Claudius Marcellus, for overpowering Britomartus, king of the Gauls. 8 Cossus indeed, and Marcellus, already used a four-horse chariot for their entrance into the city, carrying the trophies themselves, but Dionysius is incorrect in saying that Romulus used a chariot. For it is matter of history that Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, was first of the kings to lift triumphs up to such pomp and ceremony, although others say that Publicola was first to celebrate a triumph riding on a chariot. And the statues of Romulus bearing the trophies are, as may be seen in Rome, all on foot.
[Rom. 17.1] 17 1 After the capture of the Caeninensians, while the rest of the Sabines were still busy with their preparations, the people of Fidenae, Crustumerium, and Antemnae banded together against the Romans, and in a battle which ensued, they were likewise defeated, and surrendered to Romulus their cities to be seized, their territory to be divided, and themselves to be transported to Rome. Romulus distributed among the citizens all the territory thus acquired, excepting that which belonged to the parents of the ravished maidens; this he suffered its owners to keep for themselves.
[Rom. 17.2] 2 At this the rest of the Sabines were enraged, and after appointing Tatius their general, marched upon Rome. The city was difficult of access, having as its fortress the present Capitol, on which a guard had been stationed, with Tarpeius as its captain, — not Tarpeia, a maiden, as some say, thereby making Romulus a simpleton. But Tarpeia, a daughter of the commander, betrayed the citadel to the Sabines, having set her heart on the golden armlets which she saw them wearing, and she asked as payment for her treachery that which they wore on their left arms. 3 Tatius agreed to this, whereupon she opened one of the gates by night and let the Sabines in. Antigonus was not alone, then, in saying that he loved men who offered to betray, but hated those who had betrayed; nor yet Caesar, in saying of the Thracian Rhoemetalces, that he loved treachery but hated a traitor; but this is very general feeling towards the base on the part of those who need their services, just as they need certain wild creatures for their venom and gall; for while they feel the need of them, they put up with them, but abhor their vileness when they have obtained from them what they want. 4 This, too, was the feeling which Tatius then had towards Tarpeia, when he ordered his Sabines, mindful of their agreement, not to begrudge the girl anything they wore on their left arms. And he was first to take from his arm not only his armlet, but at the same time his shield, and cast them upon her. All his men followed his example, and the girl was smitten by the gold and buried under the shields, and died from the number and weight of them. 5 And Tarpeius also was convicted of treason when prosecuted by Romulus, as, according to Juba, Sulpicius Galba relates. Of those who write differently about Tarpeia, they are worthy of no belief at all who say that she was a daughter of Tatius, the leader of the Sabines, and was living with Romulus under compulsion, and acted and suffered as she did, at her father’s behest; of these, Antigonus is one. And Simylus the poet is altogether absurd in supposing that Tarpeia betrayed the Capitol, not to the Sabines, but to the Gauls, because she had fallen in love with their king. These are his words: —
[Rom. 17.2b] And Tarpeia, who dwelt hard by the Capitolian steep,
Became the destroyer of the walls of Rome;
She longed to be the wedded wife of the Gallic chieftain,
And betrayed the homes of her fathers.”
[Rom. 17.2c] And a little later, speaking of her death: —
“Here the Boii and the myriad tribes of Gauls
Did not, exulting, cast amid the currents of the Po;
But hurled the shields from their belligerent arms
Upon the hateful maid, and made their ornament her doom.”
[Rom. 18.1] 18 1 However, Tarpeia was buried there, and the hill was called from her Tarpeius, until King Tarquin dedicated the place to Jupiter, when her bones were removed and the name of Tarpeia died out, except that a cliff on the Capitol is still called the Tarpeian Rock, from which they hurl malefactors.
[Rom. 18.2] 2 The citadel thus occupied by the Sabines, Romulus angrily challenged them to battle, and Tatius was bold enough to accept, since he saw that the Sabines, if worsted, had a strong place of retreat. For the intervening space, in which they were to join battle, being surrounded by many hills, seemed to impose upon both parties a sharp and grievous contest, owing to the difficulties of the field, where flight and pursuit must be narrowly confined and short. 3 It happened, too, since the river had overflowed not many days before, that a deep and blind slime had been left in the valley where the forum is now. Wherefore it was not apparent to the eye, nor yet easy to avoid, and besides it was soft beneath the surface and dangerous. On to this the Sabines were ignorantly rushing, when a piece of good fortune befell them. 4 Curtius, a conspicuous man among them, eager for glory and high design, was advancing on horseback far in front of the rest, when his horse sank in the gulf of mud.
[Rom. 18.5] For some time he tried to drive him out, with blows and cries of encouragement, but since it was impossible, he abandoned his horse and saved himself. Accordingly, the place to this day is called from him “lacus Curtius.” But the Sabines, having avoided this peril, fought a sturdy fight, and one which was indecisive, although many fell, among whom was Hostilius. 5 This man, they say, was husband of Hersilia and grandfather to the Hostilius who was king after Numa. Afterwards many conflicts raged within a short time, as might be expected, but one is most memorable, namely the last, in which Romulus was hit on the head with a stone and almost fell to the ground, abandoning his resistance to the Sabines. The Romans thereupon gave way and began to fly to the Palatine, now that they were repulsed from the plain. 5 But presently Romulus, recovering from his blow, wished to stem the tide of fugitives and renew the battle, and called upon them with a loud voice to stand and fight.
[Rom. 18.7] But as the waves of flight encompassed him and no man dared to face about, he stretched his hands towards heaven and prayed Jupiter to stay his army and not suffer the Roman cause to fall, but to restore it. 7 No sooner was his prayer ended than many stopped out of reverence for their king, and courage returned to the fugitives. They made their first stand, then, where now is the temple of Jupiter Stator, which epithet might be interpreted as Stayer. Then they closed their ranks again and drove the Sabines back to where the so called Regia now stands, and the temple of Vesta. 19 1 Here, as they were preparing to renew the battle, they were checked by a sight that was wonderful to behold and a spectacle that passes description. The ravished daughters of the Sabines were seen rushing from every direction, with shouts and lamentations, through the armed men and the dead bodies, as if in a frenzy of possession, up to their husbands and their fathers, some carrying young children in their arms, some veiled in their dishevelled hair, and all calling with the most endearing names now upon the Sabines and now upon the Romans. 2 So then both armies were moved to compassion, and drew apart to give the women place between the lines of battle; sorrow ran through all the ranks, and abundant pity was stirred by the sight of the women, and still more by their words, which began with argument and reproach, and ended with supplication and entreaty.
[Rom. 19.3] “Wherein, pray (they said), 3 have we done you wrong or harm, that we must suffer in the past, and must still suffer now, such cruel evils? We were violently and lawlessly ravished away by those to whom we now belong, but though thus ravished, we were neglected by our brethren and fathers and kinsmen until time had united us by the strongest ties with those whom we had most hated, and made us now fear for those who had treated us with violence and lawlessness, when they go to battle, and mourn for them when they are slain. 4 For ye did not come to avenge us upon our ravishers while we were still maidens, but now ye would tear wives from their husbands and mothers from their children, and the succour wherewith ye would now succour us, wretched women that we are, is more pitiful than your former neglect and abandonment of us. Such is the love which we have here enjoyed, such the compassion shown to us by you.
[Rom. 19.5] Even if we were fighting on other grounds, it were meet that ye should cease for our sakes, now that ye are become fathers-in law and grandsires and have family ties among your enemies. 5 If, however, the war is on our behalf, carry us away with your sons-in law and their children, and so restore us to our fathers and kindred, but do not rob us of our children and husbands. Let us not, we beseech you, become prisoners of war again.”
[Rom. 19.6] Many such appeals were made by Hersilia, and the other women added their entreaties, until a truce was made and the leaders held a conference. 6 Meanwhile the women brought their husbands and their children and presented them to their fathers and brothers; they also carried food and drink to those that wanted, and bore the wounded to their homes for tender nursing; here they also made it evident that they were mistresses of their own households, and that their husbands were attentive to them and showed them all honour with good will. 7 Thereupon agreements were made that such women as wished to do so might continue to live with their husbands, exempt, as aforesaid, from all labour and all drudgery except spinning; also that the city should be inhabited by Romans and Sabines in common; and that the city should be called Rome, from Romulus, but all its citizens Quirites, from the native city of Tatius; and that Romulus and Tatius should be joint kings and leaders of the army. The place where these agreements were made is to this day called Comitium, from the Roman word “conire,” or “coire,” to come together.
[Rom. 20.1] 20 1 The city thus doubled in its numbers, a hundred of the Sabines were added by election to the Patricii, and the legions were enlarged to six thousand footmen and six hundred horsemen. The people, too, were arranged in three bodies, the first called Ramnenses, from Romulus; the second Tatienses, from Tatius; and the third Lucerenses, from the grove into which many betook themselves for refuge, when a general asylum was offered, and then became citizens. Now the Roman word for grove is “lucus.” 2 That these bodies were three in number, their very name testifies, for to this day they call them tribes, and their chief officers, tribunes. And each tribe had ten phratries, or brotherhoods, which, as some say, were named after the thirty Sabine women; but this seems to be false, since many of them bear the names of places. 3 However, they did make many other concessions to women, to do them honour, some of which follow: to give them the right of way when walking; not to utter any indecent word in the presence of a woman; that no man should be seen naked by them, or else that he be liable to prosecution before the judges of homicide; and that their children should wear a sort of necklace, the “bulla,” so called from its shape (which was that of a bubble), and a robe bordered with purple.
[Rom. 20.4] 4 The two kings did not at once hold council in common with one another, but each at first sat with his own hundred councillors apart, then afterwards they united them all into one body, as at the present time. Tatius dwelt where now is the temple of Moneta, and Romulus beside the so called Steps of Fair Shore; these are near the descent into the Circus Maximus from the Palatine. 5 There also, it is said, grew the sacred cornel-tree, of which the following tale is told. Romulus, once, in trial of his strength, cast thither from the Aventine hill a spear, the shaft of which was made of cornel-wood; the head of the spear sank deep into the ground, and no one had strength to pull it up, though many tried, but the earth, which was fertile, cherished the wooden shaft, and sent up shoots from it, and produced a cornel-trunk of good size. Those who came after Romulus preserved this with religious care as one of the most sacred objects, and walled it in. 6 And if any visitor thought that it was not green nor flourishing, but likely to wither away and die, he immediately proclaimed it loudly to all he met, and these, as though helping to save a house on fire, would cry “Water! Water!” and run together from all sides carrying full buckets to the place. But when Caius Caesar, as they say, was repairing the steps about the enclosure, and the workmen dug here and there in the neighbourhood, the roots were inadvertently destroyed and the tree withered away.
[Rom. 21.1] 21 1 The Sabines, then, adopted the Roman months, about which I have written sufficiently in my Life of Numa. Romulus, on the other hand, made use of their oblong shields, and changed his own armour and that of the Romans, who before that carried round shields of the Argive pattern. Feasts and sacrifices they shared with one another, not discarding any which the two peoples had observed before, but instituting other new ones. One of these is the Matronalia, which was bestowed upon the women to commemorate their putting a stop to the war; and another is the Carmentalia. 2 This Carmenta is thought by some to be a Fate presiding over human birth, and for this reason she is honoured by mothers. Others, however, say that the wife of Evander the Arcadian, who was a prophetess and inspired to utter oracles in verse, was therefore surnamed Carmenta, since “carmina” is their word for verses, her own proper name being Nicostrate. As to her own name there is general agreement, but some more probably interpret Carmenta as meaning bereft of mind, because of her ecstasies under inspiration, since “carere” is the Roman word for to be bereft, and “mens” for mind. 3 Of the Parilia I have spoken before. As for the Lupercalia, judging by the time of its celebration, it would seem to be a feast of purification, for it is observed on the inauspicious days of the month of February, which name can be interpreted to mean purification, and the very day of the feast was anciently called Febrata. But the name of the festival has the meaning of the Greek “Lycaea,” or feast of wolves, which makes it seem of great antiquity and derived from the Arcadians in the following of Evander. 4 Indeed, this meaning of the name is commonly accepted; for it can be connected with the she-wolf of story. And besides, we see that Luperci begin their course around the city at that point where Romulus is said to have been exposed. However, the actual ceremonies of the festival are such that the reason for the name is hard to guess. For the priests slaughter goats, and then, after two youths of noble birth have been brought to them, some of them touch their foreheads with a bloody knife, and others wipe the stain off at once with wool dipped in milk. 5 The youths must laugh after their foreheads are wiped. After this they cut the goats’ skins into strips and run about, with nothing on but a girdle, striking all who meet them with the thongs, and young married women do not try to avoid their blows, fancying that they promote conception and easy child-birth. A peculiarity of the festival is that the Luperci sacrifice a dog also.
[Rom. 21.6] 6 A certain Butas, who wrote fabulous explanations of Roman customs in elegiac verse, says that Romulus and Remus, after their victory over Amulius, ran exultantly to the spot where, when they were babes, the she-wolf gave them suck, and that the festival is conducted in imitation of this action, and that the two youths of noble birth run
[Rom. 21.6b] “Smiting all those whom they meet, as once with brandished weapons,
Down from Alba’s heights, Remus and Romulus ran.”
[Rom. 21.7] And that the bloody sword is applied to their foreheads as a symbol of the peril and slaughter of that day, while the cleansing of their foreheads with milk is in remembrance of the nourishment which the babes received. 7 But Caius Acilius writes that before the founding of the city Romulus and his brother once lost their flocks, and after praying to Faunus, ran forth in quest of them naked, that they might not be impeded by sweat; and that this is the reason why the Luperci run about naked. If the sacrifice is a purification, one might say that the dog is sacrificed as being a suitable victim for such rites, 8 since the Greeks, in their rites of purification, carry forth puppies for burial, and in many places make use of the rites called “periskulakismoi;” and if these rites are performed in grateful remembrance of the she-wolf that nourished and preserved Romulus, it is not without reason that the dog is slain, since it is an enemy to wolves, unless, indeed, the animal is thus punished for annoying the Luperci when they run about.
[Rom. 22.1] 22 1 It is said also that Romulus first introduced the consecration of fire, and appointed holy virgins to guard it, called Vestals. Others attribute this institution to Numa, although admitting that Romulus was in other ways eminently religious, and they say further that he was a diviner, and carried for purposes of divination the so called “lituus,” a crooked staff with which those who take auguries from the flight of birds mark out the regions of the heavens. 2 This staff, which was carefully preserved on the Palatine, is said to have disappeared when the city was taken at the time of the Gallic invasion; afterwards, however, when the Barbarians had been expelled, it was found under deep ashes unharmed by the fire, although everything about it was completely destroyed.
[Rom. 22.3] 3 He also enacted certain laws, and among them one of severity, which forbids a wife to leave her husband, but permits a husband to put away his wife for using poisons, for substituting children, and for adultery; but if a man for any other reason sends his wife away, the law prescribes that half his substance shall belong to his wife, and the other half be consecrate to Ceres; and whosoever puts away his wife, shall make a sacrifice to the gods of the lower world. 4 It is also a peculiar thing that Romulus ordained no penalty for parricides, but called all murder parricide, looking upon one as abominable, and upon the other as impossible. And for many ages his judgement of such a crime seemed to have been right, for no one did any such deed at Rome for almost six hundred years; but after the war with Hannibal, Lucius Hostius is reported to have been the first parricide. So much, then, may suffice concerning these matters.
[Rom. 23.1] 23 1 In the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some retainers and kinsmen of his, falling in with ambassadors from Laurentum on their way to Rome, attempted to rob them of their money, and when they would not stand and deliver, slew them. It was a bold and dreadful crime, and Romulus thought its perpetrators ought to be punished at once, but Tatius tried to put off and turn aside the course of justice. 2 This was the sole occasion of open variance between them; in all other matters they acted in the utmost concert and administered affairs with unanimity. The friends of the slain ambassadors, shut out as they were from all lawful redress, through the efforts of Tatius, fell upon him as he was sacrificing with Romulus at Lavinium, and killed him, but escorted Romulus on his way with loud praises of his justice. 3 Romulus brought the body of Tatius home and gave it honourable burial, and it lies near the so called Armilustrium, on the Aventine hill; but he took no steps whatsoever to bring his murderers to justice. And some historians write that the city of Laurentum, in terror, delivered up the murderers of Tatius, but that Romulus let them go, saying that murder had been requited with murder. 4 This led some to say and suspect that he was glad to be rid of his colleague, but it caused no disturbance in the government, nor did it lead the Sabines into faction, nay, some through the good-will they had for him, others through fear of his power, and others because they regarded him as a benevolent god, all continued to hold him in reverence to the end.
[Rom. 23.5] 5 Romulus was held in reverence also by many foreign peoples, and the earlier Latins sent ambassadors and established friendship and alliance with him. Fidenae, a neighbouring city to Rome, he took, as some say, by sending his horsemen of a sudden with orders to cut away the pivots of the gates, and then appearing himself unexpectedly; 6 but others say that the men of Fidenae first made an incursion, driving off booty and devastating the territory and outskirts of the city, and that Romulus set an ambush for them, killed many of them, and took their city. He did not, however, destroy or raze it to the ground, but made it a colony of Rome, and sent thither twenty-five hundred colonists, on the Ides of April.
[Rom. 24.1] 24 1 After this, a plague fell upon the land, bringing sudden death without previous sickness upon the people, and afflicting the crops with unfruitfulness and the cattle with barrenness. There was a rain of blood also in the city, so that many superstitious fears were added to their unavoidable sufferings. And when similar calamities visited the people of Laurentum, all agreed at once that it was the miscarriage of justice for the death of Tatius and the slain ambassadors which brought the wrath of heaven down upon both cities. 2 The murderers, therefore, were delivered up on both sides and punished, and the mischief visibly abated. Romulus also purified the cities with lustral rites, which they say are celebrated to this day at the Ferentine gate.
[Rom. 24.3] But before the pestilence had ceased, the people of Cameria attacked the Romans and overran their territory, thinking them incapable of defending themselves by reason of their distress. 3 Romulus therefore at once marched against them, overcame them in battle, and killed six thousand of them. He also took their city, transplanted half of the survivors to Rome, and sent to Cameria as colonists from Rome twice the number he had left there, and this on the first of August. So many citizens had he to spare after dwelling in Rome less than sixteen years. Among other spoils he brought also a bronze four-horse chariot from Cameria, and dedicated it in the temple of Vulcan. For it he had a statue made of himself, with a figure of Victory crowning him.
[Rom. 25.1] 25 1 The Roman state thus gathering strength, its weaker neighbours submitted to it, and were satisfied to be let alone; but the powerful ones, out of fear and jealousy, thought they ought not to tolerate, but resist and check the growing power of Romulus. And of the Tuscans, the people of Veii, who possessed much territory and dwelt in a great city, were the first to begin war with a demand for Fidenae, which they said belonged to them. 2 Now this was not only unjust, it was actually ridiculous, that they, who had not come to the aid of the people of Fidenae when they were in the perils of war, but suffered them to perish, then demanded their houses and land from those who had come into possession of them. Accordingly, Romulus gave them contemptuous answers, upon which they divided themselves into two armies, attacked Fidenae with one, and confronted Romulus with the other. Before Fidenae, then, they overpowered two thousand Romans and slew them; but they were defeated by Romulus with a loss of eight thousand men. 3 Once more a battle was fought near Fidenae, and here all agree that the victory was chiefly due to Romulus himself, who displayed every possible combination of skill and bravery, and seemed endowed with strength and swiftness far beyond the lot of man. But there is a statement made by some writers which is altogether fabulous, nay rather, wholly incredible, namely, that of the fourteen thousand Tuscans who fell in this battle, more than half were slain by Romulus with his own hand; for even the Messenians seem to have been boastfully extravagant in saying that Aristomenes thrice offered sacrifice for a hundred Lacedaemonian enemies slain.
[Rom. 25.4] 4 After the rout of the enemy, Romulus suffered the survivors to escape, and moved upon their city itself. But they could not hold out after so great a reverse, and suing for peace, made a treaty of friendship for a hundred years, giving up a large portion of their territory, called Septempagium, or the Seven Districts, abandoning their salt-works along the river, and delivering up fifty of their chief men as hostages. 5 Romulus also celebrated a triumph for this victory on the Ides of October, having in his train, besides many other captives, the leader of the Veientes, an elderly man, who seems to have conducted the campaign unwisely, and without the experience to be expected of his years. Wherefore to this very day, in offering a sacrifice for victory, they lead an old man through the forum to the Capitol, wearing a boy’s toga with a bulla attached to it, while the herald cries: “Sardians for sale!” For the Tuscans are said to be colonists from Sardis, and Veii is a Tuscan city.
[Rom. 26.1] 26 1 This was the last war waged by Romulus. Afterwards, like many, nay, like almost all men who have been lifted by great and unexpected strokes of good fortune to power and dignity, even he was emboldened by his achievements to take on a haughtier bearing, to renounce his popular ways, and to change to the ways of a monarch, which were made hateful and vexatious first by the state which he assumed. For he dressed in a scarlet tunic, 2 and wore over it a toga bordered with purple, and sat on a recumbent throne when he gave audience. And he had always about him some young men called Celeres, from their swiftness in doing service. Others, too, went before him with staves, keeping off the populace, and they were girt with thongs, with which to bind at once those whom he ordered to be bound.
[Rom. 26.3] 3 To bind, in the Latin language, was formerly “ligare,” though now it is “alligare”; whence the wand-bearers are called “lictores,” and the wands themselves “bacula,” from the use, in the time of Romulus, of “bakteriai,” which is the Greek word for staves. But it is likely that the “c” in the word “lictores,” as now used, has been added, and that the word was formerly “litores,” which is the Greek “leitourgoi,” meaning public servants. For the Greeks still call a public hall “leïton,” and the people “laos.”
[Rom. 27.1] 27 1 But when his grandfather Numitor died in Alba, and its throne devolved upon Romulus, he courted the favour of the people by putting the government in their hands, and appointed an annual ruler for the Albans. In this way he taught the influential men at Rome also to seek after a form of government which was independent and without a king, where all in turn were subjects and rulers. For by this time not even the so called patricians had any share in the administration of affairs, but a name and garb of honour was all that was left them, and they assembled in their council-chamber more from custom than for giving advice. 2 Once there, they listened in silence to the commands of the king, and went their way with this advantage only over the multitude, that they learned earlier what he had decreed. The rest of his proceedings were of lesser importance; but when of his own motion merely he divided the territory acquired in war among his soldiers, and gave back their hostages to the Veientes, without the consent or wish of the patricians, he was thought to be insulting their senate outright. 3 Wherefore suspicion and calumny fell upon that body when he disappeared unaccountably a short time after. He disappeared on the Nones of July, as they now call the month, then Quintilis, leaving no certain account nor even any generally accepted tradition of his death, aside from the date of it, which I have just given. For on that day many ceremonies are still performed which bear a likeness to what then came to pass.
[Rom. 27.4] 4 Nor need we wonder at this uncertainty, since although Scipio Africanus died at home after dinner, there is no convincing proof of the manner of his end, but some say that he passed away naturally, being of a sickly habit, some that he died of poison administered by his own hand, and some that his enemies broke into his house at night and smothered him. 5 And yet Scipio’s dead body lay exposed for all to see, and all who beheld it formed therefrom some suspicion and conjecture of what had happened to it; whereas Romulus disappeared suddenly, and no portion of his body or fragment of his clothing remained to be seen. But some conjectured that the senators, convened in the temple of Vulcan, fell upon him and slew him, then cut his body in pieces, put each a portion into the folds of his robe, and so carried him away. 6 Others think that it was neither in the temple of Vulcan nor when the senators alone were present that he disappeared, but that he was holding an assembly of the people outside the city near the so called Goat’s Marsh, when suddenly strange and unaccountable disorders with incredible changes filled the air; the light of the sun failed, and night came down upon them, not with peace and quiet, but with awful peals of thunder and furious blasts driving rain from every quarter, 7 during which the multitude dispersed and fled, but the nobles gathered closely together; and when the storm had ceased, and the sun shone out, and the multitude, now gathered together again in the same place as before, anxiously sought for their king, the nobles would not suffer them to inquire into his disappearance nor busy themselves about it, but exhorted them all to honour and revere Romulus, since he had been caught up into heaven, and was to be a benevolent god for them instead of a good king. 8 The multitude, accordingly, believing this and rejoicing in it, went away to worship him with good hopes of his favour; but there were some, it is said, who tested the matter in a bitter and hostile spirit, and confounded the patricians with the accusation of imposing a silly tale upon the people, and of being themselves the murderers of the king.
[Rom. 28.1] 28 1 At this pass, then, it is said that one of the patricians, a man of noblest birth, and of the most reputable character, a trusted and intimate friend also of Romulus himself, and one of the colonists from Alba, Julius Proculus by name, went into the forum and solemnly swore by the most sacred emblems before all the people that, as he was travelling on the road, he had seen Romulus coming to meet him, fair and stately to the eye as never before, and arrayed in bright and shining armour. 2 He himself, then, affrighted at the sight, had said: “O King, what possessed thee, or what purpose hadst thou, that thou hast left us patricians a prey to unjust and wicked accusations, and the whole city sorrowing without end at the loss of its father?” Whereupon Romulus had replied: “It was the pleasure of the gods, O Proculus, from whom I came, that I should be with mankind only a short time, and that after founding a city destined to be the greatest on earth for empire and glory, I should dwell again in heaven. So farewell, and tell the Romans that if they practise self-restraint, and add to it valour, they will reach the utmost heights of human power. And I will be your propitious deity, Quirinus.” 3 These things seemed to the Romans worthy of belief, from the character of the man who related them, and from the oath which he had taken; moreover, some influence from heaven also, akin to inspiration, laid hold upon their emotions, for no man contradicted Proculus, but all put aside suspicion and calumny and prayed to Quirinus, and honoured him as a god.
[Rom. 28.4] 4 Now this is like the fables which the Greeks tell about Aristeas of Proconnesus and Cleomedes of Astypaleia. For they say that Aristeas died in a fuller’s shop, and that when his friends came to fetch away his body, it had vanished out of sight; and presently certain travellers returning from abroad said they had met Aristeas journeying towards Croton. Cleomedes also, who was of gigantic strength and stature, of uncontrolled temper, and like a mad man, is said to have done many deeds of violence, and finally, in a school for boys, he smote with his fist the pillar which supported the roof, broke it in two, and brought down the house. 5 The boys were killed, and Cleomedes, being pursued, took refuge in a great chest, closed the lid down, and held it so fast that many men with their united strength could not pull it up; but when they broke the chest to pieces, the man was not to be found, alive or dead. In their dismay, then, they sent messengers to consult the oracle at Delphi, and the Pythian priestess gave them this answer: —
[Rom. 28.4b] “Last of the heroes he, Cleomedes, Astypalaean.”
[Rom. 28.6] 6 It is said also that the body of Alcmene disappeared, as they were carrying her forth for burial, and a stone was seen lying on the bier instead. In short, many such fables are told by writers who improbably ascribe divinity to the mortal features in human nature, as well as to the divine.
[Rom. 28.6b] At any rate, to reject entirely the divinity of human virtue, were impious and base; but to mix heaven with earth is foolish. Let us therefore take the safe course and grant, with Pindar, that
[Rom. 28.6c] “Our bodies all must follow death’s supreme behest,
But something living still survives, an image of life, for this alone
Comes from the gods.”
[Rom. 28.7] 7 Yes, it comes from them, and to them it returns, not with its body, but only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled. For “a dry soul is best,” according to Heracleitus, and it flies from the body as lightning flashes from a cloud. But the soul which is contaminated with body, and surfeited with body, like a damp and heavy exhalation, is slow to release itself and slow to rise towards its source. 8 We must not, therefore, violate nature by sending the bodies of good men with their souls to heaven, but implicitly believe that their virtues and their souls, in accordance with nature and divine justice, ascend from men to heroes, from heroes to demi-gods, and from demi-gods, after they have been made pure and holy, as in the final rites of initiation, and have freed themselves from mortality and sense, to gods, not by civic law, but in very truth and according to right reason, thus achieving the fairest and most blessed consummation.
[Rom. 29.1] 29 1 To the surname of Quirinus bestowed on Romulus, some give the meaning of Mars, others that of Citizen, because the citizens were called Quirites; but others say that the ancients called the spear-head (or the whole spear) “quiris,” and gave the epithet Quiritis to the Juno whose statue leans upon a spear, and the name Mars to a spear consecrated in the Regia, and a spear as well as a prize to those who performed great exploits in war; and that Romulus was therefore called Quirinus as a martial, or spear-wielding, god. 2 However that may be, a temple in his honour is built on the hill called Quirinalis after him, and the day on which he vanished is called People’s Flight, and Capratine Nones, because they go out of the city and sacrifice at the Goat’s Marsh; and “capra” is their word for she-goat. And as they go forth to the sacrifice, they shout out many local names, like Marcus, Lucius, and Caius, in imitation of the way in which, on the day when Romulus disappeared, they called upon one another in fear and confusion.
[Rom. 29.3] 3 Some, however, say that this imitation is not one of flight, but of haste and eagerness, and explain it as referring to the following occasion. After the Gauls had captured Rome and been driven out by Camillus, and when the city was still too weak to recover itself readily, an expedition was made against it by many of the Latins, under the command of Livius Postumius. This general stationed his army not far from Rome, and sent a herald with the message that the Latins wished to renew their ancient relationship and affinity with the Romans, by fresh intermarriages between the two peoples. 4 If, therefore, the Romans would send them a goodly number of virgins and their widows, they should have peace and friendship, such as they had formerly made with the Sabines on like terms. On hearing this message, the Romans hesitated between going to war, which they feared, and the surrender of their women, which they thought no more desirable to have them captured. But while they were in this perplexity, a serving-maid called Philotis (or, as some say, Tutola) advised them to do neither, but by the use of a stratagem to escape alike the war and the giving of hostages. 5 Now the stratagem was this, that they should send to the enemy Philotis herself, and with her other comely serving-maids arrayed like free-born women; then in the night Philotis was to display a signal-fire, at which the Romans were to come in arms and deal with their enemies while asleep. This was done, with the approval of the Latins, and Philotis displayed the signal-fire from a certain wild fig-tree, screening it behind with coverlets and draperies, so that its light was unseen by the enemy, but visible to the Romans. 6 When, accordingly, they beheld it, they sallied forth at once in great haste, and because of their haste calling upon one another many times at the gates. They fell upon their enemies when they least expected it and mastered them, and now celebrate this festival in memory of their victory. And the Nones on which it falls are called Capratine from the wild fig-tree, the Roman name for which is “caprificus,” and they feast the women outside the city in booths made of fig-tree boughs. Then the serving-maids run about in companies and play, after which they strike and throw stones at one another, in token that on that earlier day they assisted the Romans and shared with them in their battle.
[Rom. 29.7] 7 These details are accepted by many historians, but their calling out one another’s names in the day time, and their marching out to the Goat’s Marsh as for sacrifice, seem to be more consonant with the former story, unless, to be sure, both actions happened to take place on the same day in different periods. Romulus is said to have been fifty-four years of age, and in the thirty-eighth year of his reign when he disappeared from among men.

## Comparison of Theseus and Romulus

[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 1.1] 1 1 SUCH, then, are the memorable things about Romulus and Theseus which I have been able to learn. And it appears, first of all, that Theseus, of his own choice, when no one compelled him, but when it was possible for him to reign without fear at Troezen as heir to no inglorious realm, of his own accord reached out after great achievements; whereas Romulus, to escape present servitude and impending punishment, became simply “courageous out of fear,” as Plato phrases it, and through the dread of extreme penalties proceeded to perform great exploits under compulsion. 2 In the second place, the chief deed of Romulus was the slaying of a single tyrant of Alba; whereas for mere by adventures and preliminary struggles Theseus had Sciron, Sinis, Procrustes and Corynetes, by slaying and chastising whom he freed Greece from dreadful tyrants before those who were saved by him knew who he was. Theseus might have travelled to Athens by sea without any trouble, and suffering no outrage at the hands of those robbers; whereas Romulus could not be without trouble while Amulius lived. 3 And there is strong proof of this; for Theseus, although he had suffered no wrong at their hands himself, sallied out in behalf of others against those miscreants; while Romulus and Remus, as long as they themselves were not harmed by the tyrant, suffered him to wrong everybody else. And surely, if it was a great thing for Romulus to be wounded in a battle with the Sabines, and to slay Acron, and to conquer many enemies in battle, with these exploits we may compare, on the part of Theseus, his battle with the Centaurs and his campaign against the Amazons; 4 but as for the daring which he showed about the Cretan tribute, whether that was food for some monster, or a sacrifice on the tomb of Androgeos, or whether — and this is the mildest form of the story — he offered himself for inglorious and dishonourable servitude among insolent and cruel men when he volunteered to sail away with maidens and young boys, words cannot depict such courage, magnanimity, righteous zeal for the common good, or yearning for glory and virtue. 5 It is therefore my opinion that the philosophers give an excellent definition of love when they call it “a ministration of the gods for the care and preservation of the young.” For Ariadne’s love seems to have been, more than anything else, a god’s work, and a device whereby Theseus should be saved. And we should not blame her for loving him, but rather wonder that all men and women were not thus affected towards him; and if she alone felt this passion, I should say, for my part, that she was properly worthy of a god’s love, since she was fond of virtue, fond of goodness, and a lover of the highest qualities in man.
[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 2.1] 2 1 Although Theseus and Romulus were both statesmen by nature, neither maintained to the end the true character of a king, but both deviated from it and underwent a change, the former in the direction of democracy, the latter in the direction of tyranny, making thus the same mistake through opposite affections. For the ruler must preserve first of all the realm itself, and this is preserved no less by refraining from what is unbecoming than by cleaving to what is becoming. 2 But he who remits or extends his authority is no longer a king or a ruler; he becomes either a demagogue or a despot, and implants hatred or contempt in the hearts of his subjects. However, the first error seems to arise from kindliness and humanity; the second from selfishness and severity.
[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 3.1] 3 1 Again, if the misfortunes of men are not to be attributed altogether to fortune, but to the different habits and passions which will be found underlying them, then no one shall acquit Romulus of unreasoning anger or hasty and senseless wrath in dealing with his brother, nor Theseus in dealing with his son, although the cause which stirred his anger leads us to be more lenient towards the one who was overthrown by a stronger provocation, as by a heavier blow. 2 For since the difference between Romulus and his brother arose from a deliberate investigation of the common welfare, there could have been no good reason for his flying into such a passion; while Theseus was impelled to wrong his son by love, jealousy, and a woman’s slanders, the overmastering power of which very few men have escaped. And what is of great weight, the anger of Romulus vented itself in action and a deed of most unfortunate issue; whereas the wrath of Theseus got no farther than words of abuse and an old man’s curse, and the rest of the youth’s calamities seem to have been due to fortune. On these counts, therefore, one would give his vote of preference to Theseus.
[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 4.1] 4 1 But Romulus has, in the first place, this great superiority, that he rose to eminence from the smallest beginnings. For he and his brother were reputed to be slaves and sons of swineherds, and yet they not only made themselves free, but freed first almost all the Latins, enjoying at one and the same time such most honourable titles as slayers of their foes, saviours of their kindred and friends, kings of races and peoples, founders of cities; not transplanters, as Theseus was, who put together and consolidated one dwelling-place out of many, but demolished many cities bearing the names of ancient kings and heroes. 2 Romulus, it is true, did this later, compelling his enemies to tear down and obliterate their dwellings and enrol themselves among their conquerors; but at first, not by removing or enlarging a city which already existed, but by creating one from nothing, and by acquiring for himself at once territory, country, kingdom, clans, marriages and relationships, he ruined no one and killed no one, but was a benefactor of men without homes and hearths, who wished instead to be a people and citizens of a common city. Robbers and miscreants, it is true, he did not slay, but he subdued nations in war, laid cities low, and triumphed over kings and commanders.
[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 5.1] 5 1 Besides, there is dispute as to who actually slew Remus, and most of the blame for the deed is put upon others than Romulus; but Romulus did unquestionably save his mother from destruction, and he set his grandfather, who was living in inglorious and dishonourable subjection, upon the throne of Aeneas. Moreover, he did him many favours of his own accord, and did him no harm, not even inadvertently. Theseus, on the contrary, for his forgetfulness and neglect of the command about the sail, can hardly, I think, escape the charge of parricide, be the plea of his advocate ever so long and his judges ever so lenient. Indeed, a certain Attic writer, conscious that would be defenders of Theseus have a difficult task, feigns that Aegeus, on the approach of the ship, ran up to the acropolis in his eagerness to catch sight of her, and stumbled and fell down the cliff; as though he were without a retinue, or was hurrying down to the sea without any servants.
[Comp. Thes.–Rom. 6.1] 6 1 Furthermore, the transgressions of Theseus in his rapes of women admit of no plausible excuse. This is true, first, because there were so many; for he carried off Ariadne, Antiope, Anaxo of Troezen, and at last Helen, when he was past his prime and she had not reached her prime, but was an unripe child, while he was already of an age too great for even lawful wedlock. It is true, secondly, because of the reason for them; for the daughters of Troezenians and Laconians and Amazons were not betrothed to him, and were no worthier, surely, to be the mothers of his children than the daughters of Erechtheus and Cecrops at Athens. 2 But one may suspect that these deeds of his were done in lustful wantonness. Romulus, on the other hand, in the first place, although he carried off nearly eight hundred women, took them not all to wife, but only one, as he says, Hersilia, and distributed the rest among the best of the citizens. And in the second place, by the subsequent honour, love, and righteous treatment given to these women, he made it clear that his deed of violence and injustice was a most honourable achievement, and one most adapted to promote political partnership. 3 In this way he intermixed and blended the two peoples with one another, and supplied his state with a flowing fountain of strength and good will for the time to come. And to the modesty, tenderness, and stability which he imparted to the marriage relation, time is witness. For in two hundred and thirty years no man ventured to leave his wife, nor any woman her husband; but, just as the very curious among the Greeks can name the first parricide or matricide, so the Romans all know that Spurius Carvilius was the first to put away his wife, accusing her of barrenness. 4 And the immediate results of his act, as well as the long lapse of time, witness in favour of Romulus. For the two kings shared the government in common, and the two peoples the rights and duty of citizenship, because of that intermarriage; whereas from the marriages of Theseus the Athenians got no new friends at all, nor even any community of enterprise whatsoever, but enmities, wars, slaughters of citizens, and at last the loss of Aphidnae, and an escape from the fate which Troy suffered by reason of Alexander, only because their enemies took compassion on them when they called upon them worshipfully as gods. 5 However, the mother of Theseus was not only in danger, but actually suffered the fate of Hecuba when she was deserted and abandoned by her son, unless, indeed, the tale of her captivity is fictitious, and it may well be false, as well as most of the other stories. For example, the tales told of divine intervention in their lives are in great contrast; for Romulus was preserved by a signal favour of the gods, while the oracle given to Aegeus, forbidding him to approach a woman while in a foreign land, seems to indicate that the birth of Theseus was not agreeable to the will of the gods.

## Lycurgus

[Lyc. 1.1] (39) 1 1 Concerning Lycurgus the lawgiver, in general, nothing can be said which is not disputed, since indeed there are different accounts of his birth, his travels, his death, and above all, of his work as lawmaker and statesman; and there is least agreement among historians as to the times in which the man lived. Some say that he flourished at the same time with Iphitus, and in concert with him established the Olympic truce. Among these is Aristotle the philosopher, and he alleges as proof the discus at Olympia on which an inscription preserves the name of Lycurgus. 2 But those who compute the time by the successions of kings at Sparta, like Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, prove that Lycurgus was many years earlier than the first Olympiad. And Timaeus conjectures that there were two Lycurgus at Sparta, at different times, and that to one of them the achievements of both were ascribed, owing to his greater fame; he thinks also that the elder of the two lived not far from the times of Homer, and some assert that he actually met Homer face to face. 03 Xenophon, also, makes an impression of simplicity in the passage where he says that Lycurgus lived in the time of the Heracleidae. For in lineage, of course, the latest of the Spartan kings were also Heracleidae; but Xenophon apparently wishes to use the name Heracleidae of the first and more immediate descendants of Heracles, so famous in story.
[Lyc. 1.4] However, although the history of these times is such a maze, I shall try, in presenting my narrative, to follow those authors who are least contradicted, or who have the most notable witnesses for what they have written about the man. 4 For instance, Simonides the poet says that Lycurgus was not the son of Eunomus, but that both Lycurgus and Eunomus were sons of Prytanis; whereas most writers give a different genealogy, as follows: Aristodemus begat Procles, Procles begat Soüs, Soüs begat Eurypon, and he begat Prytanis, from whom sprang Eunomus, and from Eunomus Polydectes by a first wife, and Lycurgus, who was a younger son by a second wife, Dionassa, as Dieutychidas has written, making Lycurgus sixth from Procles, and eleventh from Heracles.
[Lyc. 2.1] 2 1 Of these ancestors of Lycurgus, Soüs was most famous, under whom the Spartans made the Helots their slaves, and acquired by conquest from the Arcadians a large additional tract of land. It is also related of this Soüs that when he was besieged by the Cleitorians in a rough and waterless place, he agreed to surrender to them the land which he had conquered if he himself and all his men with him should drink from the adjacent spring. 2 After the oaths to this agreement were taken, he assembled his men and offered his kingdom to the one who should not drink; no one of them, however, could forbear, but all of them drank, whereupon Soüs himself went down last of all to the water, sprinkled his face merely, while the enemy were still at hand to see, and then marched away and retained his territory, on the plea that all had not drunk.
[Lyc. 2.3] But although on these grounds he was held in great admiration, his royal line was not named from him, but were called Eurypontids from his son, because Eurypon appears to have been the first king to relax the excessive absolutism of his sway, seeking favour and popularity with the multitude. 3 But in consequence of such relaxation the people grew bold, and succeeding kings were some of them hated for trying to force their way with the multitude, and some were brought low by their desire for favour or through weakness, so that lawlessness and confusion prevailed at Sparta for a long time; and it was owing to this that the father of Lycurgus, a reigning king, lost his life. For as he was trying to separate some rioters, he was stabbed to death with a butcher’s knife, leaving the kingdom to his elder son, Polydectes.
[Lyc. 3.1] 3 1 Polydectes also died soon afterwards, and then, as was generally thought, the kingdom devolved upon Lycurgus; and until his brother’s wife was known to be with child, he was king. But as soon as he learned of this, he declared that the kingdom belonged to her offspring, if it should be male, and himself administered the government only as guardian. Now the guardians of fatherless kings are called “prodikoi” by the Lacedaemonians. 2 Presently, however, the woman made secret overtures to him, proposing to destroy her unborn babe on condition that he would marry her when he was a king of Sparta; and although he detested her character, he did not reject her proposition, but pretended to approve and accept it. He told her, however, that she need not use drugs to produce a miscarriage, thereby injuring her health and endangering her life, for he would see to it himself that as soon as her child was born it should be put out of the way. 3 In this manner he managed to bring the woman to her full time, and when he learned that she was in labour, he sent attendants and watchers for her delivery, with orders, if a girl should be born, to hand it over to the women, but if a boy, to bring it to him, no matter what he was doing. 41 And it came to pass that as he was at supper with the chief magistrates, a male child was born, and his servants brought the little boy to him. 4 He took it in his arms, as we are told, and said to those who were at table with him, “A king is born unto you, O men of Sparta;” then he laid it down in the royal seat and named it Charilaüs, or People’s Joy, because all present were filled with joy, admiring as they did his lofty spirit and his righteousness. And so he was king only eight months in all. But on other accounts also he was revered by his fellow-citizens, and more than those who obeyed because he was guardian of the king and had royal power in his hands, were those who clave to him for his virtues and were ready and willing to do his bidding.
[Lyc. 3.5] 5 There was a party, however, which envied him and sought to impede the growing power of so young a man, especially the kinsmen and friends of the queen-mother, who thought she had been treated with insolence. Her brother, Leonidas, actually railed at Lycurgus once quite boldly, assuring him that he knew well that Lycurgus would one day be king, thereby promoting suspicion and paving the way for the accusation, in case any thing happened to the king, that he had plotted against his life. Some such talk was set in circulation by the queen-mother also, in consequence of which Lycurgus was sorely troubled and fearful of what might be in store for him. He therefore determined to avoid suspicion by travelling abroad, and to continue his wanderings until his nephew should come of age and beget a son to succeed him on the throne.
[Lyc. 4.1] 4 1 With this purpose, he set sail, and came first to Crete. Here he studied the various forms of government and made the acquaintance of their most distinguished men. Of some things he heartily approved, and adopted some of their laws, that he might carry them home with him and put them in use; for some things he had only contempt. One of the men regarded there as wise statesmen was Thales, whom Lycurgus persuaded, out of favour and friendship, to go on a mission to Sparta. Now Thales passed as a lyric poet, and screened himself behind this art, but in reality he did the work of one of the mightiest lawgivers. 2 For his odes were so many exhortations to obedience and harmony, and their measured rhythms were permeated with ordered tranquillity, so that those who listened to them were insensibly softened in their dispositions, insomuch that they renounced the mutual hatreds which were so rife at that time, and dwelt together in a common pursuit of what was high and noble. Thales, therefore, after a fashion, was a forerunner in Sparta of Lycurgus and his discipline.
[Lyc. 4.3] 3 From Crete, Lycurgus sailed to Asia, with the desire, as we are told, of comparing with the Cretan civilization, which was simple and severe, that of the Ionians, which was extravagant and luxurious, just as a physician compares with healthy bodies those which are unsound and sickly; he could then study the difference in their modes of life and forms of government. 4 There too, as it would appear, he made his first acquaintance with the poems of Homer, which were preserved among the posterity of Creophylus; and when he saw that the political and disciplinary lessons contained in them were worthy of no less serious attention than the incentives to pleasure and license which they supplied, he eagerly copied and compiled them in order to take them home with him. For these epics already had a certain faint reputation among the Greeks, and a few were in possession of certain portions of them, as the poems were carried here and there by chance; but Lycurgus was the very first to make them really known.
[Lyc. 4.5] 5 The Aegyptians think that Lycurgus visited them also, and so ardently admired their separation of the military from the other classes of society that he transferred it to Sparta, and by removing mechanics and artisans from participation in the government, made his civil polity really refined and pure. At any rate, this assertion of the Aegyptians is confirmed by some Greek historians. 426 But that Lycurgus visited Libya and Iberia also, and that he wandered over India and had conferences with the Gymnosophists, no one has stated, so far as I know, except Aristocrates the son of Hipparchus, the Spartan.
[Lyc. 5.1] 5 1 The Lacedaemonians missed Lycurgus sorely, and sent for him many times. They felt that their kings were such in name and station merely, but in everything else were nothing better than their subjects, while in him there was a nature fitted to lead, and a power to make men follow him. However, not even the kings were averse to having him at home, but hoped that in his presence their subjects would treat them with less insolence. 2 Returning, then, to a people thus disposed, he at once undertook to revolutionize the civil polity. He was convinced that a partial change of the laws would be of no avail whatsoever, but that he must proceed as a physician would with a patient who was debilitated and full of all sorts of diseases; he must reduce and alter the existing temperament by means of drugs and purges, and introduce a new and different regimen. 3 Full of this determination, he first made a journey to Delphi, and after sacrificing to the god and consulting the oracle, he returned with that famous response in which the Pythian priestess addressed him as “beloved of the gods, and rather god than man,” and said that the god had granted his prayer for good laws, and promised him a constitution which should be the best in the world.
[Lyc. 5.4] 4 Thus encouraged, he tried to bring the chief men of Sparta over to his side, and exhorted them to put their hands to the work with him, explaining his designs secretly to his friends at first, then little by little engaging more and uniting them to attempt the task. And when the time for action came, he ordered thirty of the chief men to go armed into the market-place at break of day, to strike consternation and terror into those of the opposite party. The names of twenty of the most eminent among them have been recorded by Hermippus; but the man who had the largest share in all the undertakings of Lycurgus and co-operated with him in the enactment of his laws, bore the name of Arthmiadas. 5 When the tumult began, King Charilaüs, fearing that the whole affair was a conspiracy against himself, fled for refuge to the Brazen House; but he was soon convinced of his error, and having exacted oaths for his safety from the agitators, left his place of refuge, and even joined them in their enterprise, being of a gentle and yielding disposition, so much so, indeed, that Archelaüs, his royal colleague, is said to have remarked to those who were extolling the young king, “How can Charilaüs be a good man, when he has no severity even for the bad?”
[Lyc. 5.6] 6 Among the many innovations which Lycurgus made, the first and most important was his institution of a senate, or Council of Elders, which, as Plato says, by being blended with the “feverish” government of the kings, and by having an equal vote with them in matters of the highest importance, brought safety and due moderation into counsels of state. For before this the civil polity was veering and unsteady, inclining at one time to follow the kings towards tyranny, and at another to follow the multitude towards democracy; 7 but now, by making the power of the senate a sort of ballast for the ship of state and putting her on a steady keel, it achieved the safest and the most orderly arrangement, since the twenty-eight senators always took the side of the kings when it was a question of curbing democracy, and, on the other hand, always strengthened the people to withstand the encroachments of tyranny. The number of the senators was fixed at twenty-eight because, according to Aristotle, two of the thirty original associates of Lycurgus abandoned the enterprise from lack of courage. 8 But Sphaerus says that this was originally the number of those who shared the confidence of Lycurgus. Possibly there is some virtue in this number being made up of seven multiplied by four, apart from the fact that, being equal to the sum of its own factors, it is the next perfect number after six. But in my own opinion, Lycurgus made the senators of just that number in order that the total might be thirty 43 when the two kings were added to the eight and twenty.
[Lyc. 6.1] 6 1 So eager was Lycurgus for the establishment of this form of government, that he obtained an oracle from Delphi about it, which they call a “rhetra.” And this is the way it runs: “When thou hast built a temple to Zeus Syllanius and Athena Syllania, divided the people into ‘phylai’ and into ‘obai,’ and established a senate of thirty members, including the ‘archagetai,’ then from time to time ‘appellazein’ between Babyca and Cnacion, and there introduce and rescind measures; but the people must have the deciding voice and the power.” 2 In these clauses, the “phylai” and the “obai” refer to divisions and distributions of the people into clans and phratries, or brotherhoods; by “archagetai” the kings are designated, and “appellazein” means to assemble the people, with a reference to Apollo, the Pythian god, who was the source and author of the polity. The Babyca is now called Cheimarrus, and the Cnacion Oenus; but Aristotle says that Cnacion is a river, and Babyca a bridge. 3 Between these they held their assemblies, having neither halls nor any other kind of building for the purpose. For by such things Lycurgus thought good counsel was not promoted, but rather discouraged, since the serious purposes of an assembly were rendered foolish and futile by vain thoughts, as they gazed upon statues and paintings, or scenic embellishments, or extravagantly decorated roofs of council halls. When the multitude was thus assembled, no one of them was permitted to make a motion, but the motion laid before them by the senators and kings could be accepted or rejected by the people. 4 Afterwards, however, when the people by additions and subtractions perverted and distorted the sense of motions laid before them, Kings Polydorus and Theopompus inserted this clause into the rhetra: “But if the people should adopt a distorted motion, the senators and kings shall have power of adjournment”; that is, should not ratify the vote, but dismiss outright and dissolve the session, on the ground that it was perverting and changing the motion contrary to the best interests of the state. 5 And they were actually able to persuade the city that the god authorized this addition to the rhetra, as Tyrtaeus reminds us in these verses: —
[Lyc. 6.1b] “Phoebus Apollo’s the mandate was which they brought from Pytho,
Voicing the will of the god, nor were his words unfulfilled:
Sway in the council and honours divine belong to the princes
Under whose care has been set Sparta’s city of charm;
Second to them are the elders, and next come the men of the people
Duly confirming by vote unperverted decrees.”
[Lyc. 7.1] 7 1 Although Lycurgus thus tempered his civil polity, nevertheless the oligarchical element in it was still unmixed and dominant, and his successors, seeing it “swelling and foaming,” as Plato says, “imposed as it were a curb upon it, namely, the power of the ephors.” It was about a hundred and thirty years after Lycurgus that the first ephors, Elatus and his colleagues, were appointed, in the reign of Theopompus. 2 This king, they say, on being reviled by his wife because the royal power, when he handed it over to his sons, would be less than when he received it, said: “Nay, but greater, in that it will last longer.” And in fact, by renouncing excessive claims and freeing itself from jealous hate, royalty at Sparta escaped its perils, so that the Spartan kings did not experience the fate which the Messenians and Argives inflicted upon their kings, who were unwilling to yield at all or remit their power in favour of the people. And this brings into the clearest light the wisdom and foresight of Lycurgus, when we contrast the factions and misgovernment of the peoples and kings of Messenia and Argos, who were kinsmen and neighbours of the Spartans. 3 They were on an equality with the Spartans in the beginning, and in the allotment of territory were thought to be even better off than they, and yet their prosperity did not last long, but what with the insolent temper of their kings and the unreasonableness of their peoples, their established institutions were confounded, 44 and they made it clear that it was in very truth a divine blessing which the Spartans had enjoyed in the man who framed and tempered their civil polity for them. These events, however, were of later date.
[Lyc. 8.1] 8 1 A second, and a very bold political measure of Lycurgus, is his redistribution of the land. For there was a dreadful inequality in this regard, the city was heavily burdened with indigent and helpless people, and wealth was wholly concentrated in the hands of a few. Determined, therefore, to banish insolence and envy and crime and luxury, and those yet more deep-seated and afflictive diseases of the state, poverty and wealth, 2 he persuaded his fellow-citizens to make one parcel of all their territory and divide it up anew, and to live with one another on a basis of entire uniformity and equality in the means of subsistence, seeking preëminence through virtue alone, assured that there was no other difference or inequality between man and man than that which was established by blame for base actions and praise for good ones.
[Lyc. 8.3] 3 Suiting the deed to the word, he distributed the rest of the Laconian land among the “perioeci,” or free provincials, in thirty thousand lots, and that which belonged to the city of Sparta, in nine thousand lots, to as many genuine Spartans. But some say that Lycurgus distributed only six thousand lots among the Spartans, and that three thousand were afterwards added by Polydorus; others still, that Polydorus added half of the nine thousand to the half distributed by Lycurgus. 4 The lot of each was large enough to produce annually seventy bushels of barley for a man and twelve for his wife, with a proportionate amount of wine and oil. Lycurgus thought that a lot of this size would be sufficient for them, since they needed sustenance enough to promote vigour and health of body, and nothing else. And it is said that on returning from a journey some time afterwards, as he traversed the land just after the harvest, and saw the heaps of grain standing parallel and equal to one another, he smiled, and said to them that were by: “All Laconia looks like a family estate newly divided among many brothers.”
[Lyc. 9.1] 9 1 Next, he undertook to divide up their movable property also, in order that every vestige of unevenness and inequality might be removed; and when he saw that they could not bear to have it taken from them directly, he took another course, and overcame their avarice by political devices. In the first place, he withdrew all gold and silver money from currency, and ordained the use of iron money only. Then to a great weight and mass of this he gave a trifling value, so that ten minas’ worth required a large store-room in the house, and a yoke of cattle to transport it. 2 When this money obtained currency, many sorts of iniquity went into exile from Lacedaemon. For who would steal, or receive as a bribe, or rob, or plunder that which could neither be concealed, nor possessed with satisfaction, nay, nor even cut to pieces with any profit? For vinegar was used, as we are told, to quench the red-hot iron, robbing it of its temper and making it worthless for any other purpose, when once it had become brittle and hard to work.
[Lyc. 9.3] 3 In the next place, he banished the unnecessary and superfluous arts. And even without such banishment most of them would have departed with the old coinage, since there was no sale for their products. For the iron money could not be carried into the rest of Greece, nor had it any value there, but was rather held in ridicule. It was not possible, therefore, to buy any foreign wares or bric-à brac; no merchant-seamen brought freight into their harbours; no rhetoric teacher set foot on Laconian soil, no vagabond soothsayer, no keeper of harlots, no gold—or silver-smith, since there was no money there. 4 But luxury, thus gradually deprived of that which stimulated and supported it, died away of itself, 45 and men of large possessions had no advantage over the poor, because their wealth found no public outlet, but had to be stored up at home in idleness. In this way it came about that such common and necessary utensils as bedsteads, chairs, and tables were most excellently made among them, and the Laconian “kothon,” or drinking-cup, was in very high repute for usefulness among soldiers in active service, as Critias tells us. 5 For its colour concealed the disagreeable appearance of the water which they were often compelled to drink, and its curving lips caught the muddy sediment and held it inside, so that only the purer part reached the mouth of the drinker. For all this they had to thank their lawgiver; since their artisans were now freed from useless tasks, and displayed the beauty of their workmanship in objects of constant and necessary use.
[Lyc. 10.1] 10 1 With a view to attack luxury still more and remove the thirst for wealth, he introduced his third and most exquisite political device, namely, the institution of common messes, so that they might eat with one another in companies, of common and specified foods, and not take their meals at home, reclining on costly couches at costly tables, delivering themselves into the hands of servants and cooks to be fattened in the dark, like voracious animals, 2 and ruining not only their characters but also their bodies, by surrendering them to every desire and all sorts of surfeit, which call for long sleeps, hot baths, abundant rest, and, as it were, daily nursing and tending. This was surely a great achievement, but it was a still greater one to make wealth “an object of no desire,” as Theophrastus says, and even “unwealth,” by this community of meals and simplicity of diet. 3 For the rich man could neither use nor enjoy nor even see or display his abundant means, when he went to the same meal as the poor man; so that it was in Sparta alone, of all the cities under the sun, that men could have that far-famed sight, a Plutus blind, and lying as lifeless and motionless as a picture. For the rich could not even dine beforehand at home and then go to the common mess with full stomachs, but the rest kept careful watch of him who did not eat and drink with them, and reviled him as a weakling, and one too effeminate for the common diet.
[Lyc. 11.1] 11 It was due, therefore, to this last political device above all, that the wealthy citizens were incensed against Lycurgus, and banding together against him, denounced him publicly with angry shouts and cries; finally many pelted him with stones, so that he ran from the market-place. He succeeded in reaching sanctuary before the rest laid hands on him; but one young man, Alcander, otherwise no mean nature, but hasty and passionate, pressed hard upon him, and as he turned about, smote him with his staff and put out one of his eyes. Lycurgus, however, in memory of his misfortune, built a temple to Athena Optilitis, so called from “optilus,” which is the local Doric word for eye. Some writers, however, of whom one is Dioscorides, who wrote a treatise on the Spartan civil polity, say that although Lycurgus was struck in the eye, his eye was not blinded, but he built the temple to the goddess as a thank-offering for its healing. Be that as it may, the Spartan practice of carrying staves into their assemblies was abandoned after this unfortunate accident.
[Lyc. 12.1] 12 1 As for the public messes, the Cretans call them “andreia,” but the Lacedaemonians, “phiditia,” either because they are conducive to friendship and friendliness, “phiditia” being equivalent to “philitia”; or, because they accustom men to simplicity and thrift, for which their word is “pheido.” But it is quite possible, as some say, that the first letter of the word “phiditia” has been added to it, making “phiditia” out of “editia,” which refers merely to meals and eating. 2 They met in companies of fifteen, a few more or less, and each one of the mess-mates contributed monthly a bushel of barley-meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two and a half pounds of figs, and in addition to this, a very small sum of money for such relishes as flesh and fish. Besides this, whenever any one made a sacrifice of first fruits, or brought home game from the hunt, he sent a portion to his mess. For whenever any one was belated by a sacrifice or the chase, he was allowed to sup at home, but the rest had to be at the mess. 3 For a long time this custom of eating at common mess-tables was rigidly observed. For instance, when King Agis, on returning from an expedition in which he had been victorious over the Athenians, wished to sup at home with his wife, and sent for his rations, the polemarchs refused to send them to him; and when on the following day his anger led him to omit the customary sacrifice, they laid a fine upon him.
[Lyc. 12.4] 4 Boys also used to come to these public messes, as if they were attending schools of sobriety; there they would listen to political discussions and see instructive models of liberal breeding. There they themselves also became accustomed to sport and jest without scurrility, and to endure jesting without displeasure. Indeed, it seems to have been especially characteristic of a Spartan to endure jesting; but if any one could not bear up under it, he had only to ask it, and the jester ceased. 5 As each one came in, the eldest of the company pointed to the door and said to him: “Through that door no word goes forth outside.” And they say that a candidate for membership in one of these messes underwent the following ordeal. Each of the mess-mates took in his hand a bit of soft bread, and when a servant came along with a bowl upon his head, then they cast it into this without a word, like a ballot, leaving it just as it was if he approved of the candidate, but if he disapproved, squeezing it tight in his hand first. 6 For the flattened piece of bread had the force of a perforated, or negative, ballot. And if one such is found in the bowl, the candidate is not admitted to the mess, because they wish all its members to be congenial. The candidate thus rejected is said to have been “caddished,” for “caddichus” is the name of the bowl into which they cast the pieces of bread. Of their dishes, the black broth is held in the highest esteem, so that the elderly men do not even ask for a bit of meat, but leave it for the young men, while they themselves have the broth poured out for their meals. 7 And it is said that one of the kings of Pontus actually bought a Spartan cook for the sake of having this broth, and then, when he tasted it, disliked it; whereupon the cooks said: “O King, those who relish this broth must first have bathed in the river Eurotas.” After drinking moderately, they go off home without a torch; for they are not allowed to walk with a light, either on this or any other occasion, that they may accustom themselves to marching boldly and without fear in the darkness of night. Such, then, is the fashion of their common messes.
[Lyc. 13.1] 47 13 1 None of his laws were put into writing by Lycurgus, indeed, one of the so called “rhetras” forbids it. For he thought that if the most important and binding principles which conduce to the prosperity and virtue of a city were implanted in the habits and training of its citizens, they would remain unchanged and secure, having a stronger bond than compulsion in the fixed purposes imparted to the young by education, which performs the office of a law-giver for every one of them. 2 And as for minor matters, such as business contracts, and cases where the needs vary from time to time, it was better, as he thought, not to hamper them by written constraints or fixed usages, but to suffer them, as occasion demanded, to receive such modifications as educated men should determine. Indeed, he assigned the function of law-making wholly and entirely to education.
[Lyc. 13.3] 3 One of his rhetras accordingly, as I have said, prohibited the use of written laws. Another was directed against extravagance, ordaining that every house should have its roof fashioned by the axe, and its doors by the saw only, and by no other tool. For, as in later times Epaminondas is reported to have said at his own table, that such a meal did not comport with treachery, so Lycurgus was the first to see clearly that such a house does not comport with luxury and extravagance. 4 Nor is any man so vulgar and senseless as to introduce into a simple and common house silver-footed couches, purple coverlets, gold drinking-cups, and all the extravagance which goes along with these, but one must of necessity adapt and proportion his couch to his house, his coverlets to the couch, and to this the rest of his supplies and equipment. 5 It was because he was used to this simplicity that Leotychides the Elder, as we are told, when he was dining in Corinth, and saw the roof of the house adorned with costly panellings, asked his host if trees grew square in that country.
[Lyc. 13.6] A third rhetra of Lycurgus is mentioned, which forbids making frequent expeditions against the same enemies, in order not to accustom such enemies to frequent defence of themselves, which would make them warlike. 6 And this was the special grievance which they had against King Agesilaüs in later times, namely, that by his continual and frequent incursions and expeditions into Boeotia he rendered the Thebans a match for the Lacedaemonians. And therefore, when Antalcidas saw the king wounded, he said: “This is a fine tuition-fee which thou art getting from the Thebans, for teaching them how to fight, when they did not wish to do it, and did not know how.” Such ordinances as these were called “rhetras” by Lycurgus, implying that they came from the god and were oracles.
[Lyc. 14.1] 14 1 In the matter of education, which he regarded as the greatest and noblest task of the law-giver, he began at the very source, by carefully regulating marriages and births. For it is not true that, as Aristotle says, he tried to bring the women under proper restraint, but desisted, because he could not overcome the great licence and power which the women enjoyed on account of the many expeditions in which their husbands were engaged. During these the men were indeed obliged to leave their wives in sole control at home, and for this reason paid them greater deference than was their due, and gave them the title of Mistress. But even to the women Lycurgus paid all possible attention. 2 He made the maidens exercise their bodies in running, wrestling, casting the discus, and hurling the javelin, in order that the fruit of their wombs might have vigorous root in vigorous bodies and come to better maturity, and that they themselves might come with vigour to the fulness of their times, and struggle successfully and easily with the pangs of child-birth. He freed them from softness and delicacy and all effeminacy by accustoming the maidens no less than the youths to wear tunics only in processions, 48 and at certain festivals to dance and sing when the young men were present as spectators. 3 There they sometimes even mocked and railed good-naturedly at any youth who had misbehaved himself; and again they would sing the praises of those who had shown themselves worthy, and so inspire the young men with great ambition and ardour. For he who was thus extolled for his valour and held in honour among the maidens, went away exalted by their praises; while the sting of their playful raillery was no less sharp than that of serious admonitions, especially as the kings and senators, together with the rest of the citizens, were all present at the spectacle.
[Lyc. 14.4] 4 Nor was there anything disgraceful in this scant clothing of the maidens, for modesty attended them, and wantonness was banished; nay, rather, it produced in them habits of simplicity and an ardent desire for health and beauty of body. It gave also to woman-kind a taste of lofty sentiment, for they felt that they too had a place in the arena of bravery and ambition. Wherefore they were led to think and speak as Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, is said to have done. When some foreign woman, as it would seem, said to her: “You Spartan women are the only ones who rule their men,” she answered: “Yes, we are the only ones that give birth to men.”
[Lyc. 15.1] 15 1 Moreover, there were incentives to marriage in these things, — I mean such things as the appearance of the maidens without much clothing in processions and athletic contests where young men were looking on, for these were drawn on by necessity, “not geometrical, but the sort of necessity which lovers know,” as Plato says. Nor was this all; Lycurgus also put a kind of public stigma upon confirmed bachelors. They were excluded from the sight of the young men and maidens at their exercises, and in winter the magistrates ordered them to march round the market-place in their tunics only, 2 and as they marched, they sang a certain song about themselves, and its burden was that they were justly punished for disobeying the laws. Besides this, they were deprived of the honour and gracious attentions which the young men habitually paid to their elders. Therefore there was no one to find fault with what was said to Dercyllidas, reputable general though he was. As he entered a company, namely, one of the younger men would not offer him his seat, but said: “Indeed, thou hast begotten no son who will one day give his seat to me.”
[Lyc. 15.3] 3 For their marriages the women were carried off by force, not when they were small and unfit for wedlock, but when they were in full bloom and wholly ripe. After the woman was thus carried off, the bride’s-maid, so called, took her in charge, cut her hair off close to the head, put a man’s cloak and sandals on her, and laid her down on a pallet, on the floor, alone, in the dark. Then the bride-groom, not flown with wine nor enfeebled by excesses, but composed and sober, after supping at his public mess-table as usual, slipped stealthily into the room where the bride lay, loosed her virgin’s zone, and bore her in his arms to the marriage-bound. 4 Then, after spending a short time with his bride, he went away composedly to his usual quarters, there to sleep with the other young men. And so he continued to do from that time on, spending his days with his comrades, and sleeping with them at night, but visiting his bride by stealth and with every precaution, full of dread and fear lest any of her household should be aware of his visits, his bride also contriving and conspiring with him that they might have stolen interviews as occasion offered. 5 And this they did not for a short time only, but long enough for some of them to become fathers before they had looked upon their own wives by daylight. Such interviews not only brought into exercise self-restraint and moderation, but united husbands and wives when their bodies were full of creative energy and their affections new and fresh, not when they were sated and dulled by unrestricted intercourse; and there was always left behind in their hearts some residual spark of longing and delight.
[Lyc. 15.6] 496 After giving marriage such traits of reserve and decorum, he none the less freed men from the empty and womanish passion of jealous possession, by making it honourable for them, while keeping the marriage relation free from all wanton irregularities, to share with other worthy men in the begetting of children, laughing to scorn those who regard such common privileges as intolerable, and resort to murder and war rather than grant them. 7 For example, an elderly man with a young wife, if he looked with favour and esteem on some fair and noble young man, might introduce him to her, and adopt her offspring by such a noble father as his own. And again, a worthy man who admired some woman for the fine children that she bore her husband and the modesty of her behaviour as a wife, might enjoy her favours, if her husband would consent, thus planting, as it were, in a soil of bountiful fruitage, and begetting for himself noble sons, who would have the blood of noble men in their veins. 8 For in the first place, Lycurgus did not regard sons as the peculiar property of their fathers, but rather as the common property of the state, and therefore would not have his citizens spring from random parentage, but from the best there was. In the second place, he saw much folly and vanity in what other peoples enacted for the regulation of these matters; in the breeding of dogs and horses they insist on having the best sires which money or favour can secure, but they keep their wives under lock and key, demanding that they have children by none but themselves, even though they be foolish, or infirm, or diseased; 9 as though children of bad stock did not show their badness to those first who possessed and reared them, and children of good stock, contrariwise, their goodness. The freedom which thus prevailed at that time in marriage relations was aimed at physical and political well-being, and was far removed from the licentiousness which was afterwards attributed to their women, so much so that adultery was wholly unknown among them. 10 And a saying is reported of one Geradas, a Spartan of very ancient type, who, on being asked by a stranger what the punishment for adulterers was among them, answered: “Stranger, there is no adulterer among us.” “Suppose, then,” replied the stranger, “there should be one.” “A bull,” said Geradas, “would be his forfeit, a bull so large that it could stretch over Mount Taÿgetus and drink from the river Eurotas.” Then the stranger was astonished and said: “But how could there be a bull so large?” To which Geradas replied, with a smile: “But how could there be an adulterer in Sparta?” Such, then, are the accounts we find of their marriages.
[Lyc. 16.1] 16 1 Offspring was not reared at the will of the father, but was taken and carried by him to a place called Lesche, where the elders of the tribes officially examined the infant, and if it was well-built and sturdy, they ordered the father to rear it, and assigned it one of the nine thousand lots of land; but if it was ill-born and deformed, they sent it to the so called Apothetae, a chasm-like place at the foot of Mount Taÿgetus, 2 in the conviction that the life of that which nature had not well equipped at the very beginning for health and strength, was of no advantage either to itself or the state. On the same principle, the women used to bathe their new-born babes not with water, but with wine, thus making a sort of test of their constitutions. For it is said that epileptic and sickly infants are thrown into convulsions by the strong wine and loose their senses, while the healthy ones are rather tempered by it, like steel, and given a firm habit of body. 3 Their nurses, too, exercised great care and skill; they reared infants without swaddling-bands, and thus left their limbs and figures free to develop; besides, they taught them to be contented and happy, not dainty about their food, nor fearful of the dark, nor afraid to be left alone, nor given to contemptible peevishness and whimpering. This is the reason why foreigners sometimes brought Spartan nurses for their children. Amycla, for instance, the nurse of the Athenian Alcibiades, is said to have been a Spartan.
[Lyc. 16.4] 4 And yet Alcibiades, as Plato says, had for a tutor, set over him by Pericles, one Zopyrus, who was just a common slave. 50 But Lycurgus would not put the sons of Spartans in charge of purchased or hired tutors, nor was it lawful for every father to rear or train his son as he pleased, but as soon as they were seven years old, Lycurgus ordered them all to be taken by the state and enrolled in companies, where they were put under the same discipline and nurture, and so became accustomed to share one another’s sports and studies. 5 The boy who excelled in judgement and was most courageous in fighting, was made captain of his company; on him the rest all kept their eyes, obeying his orders, and submitting to his punishments, so that their boyish training was a practice of obedience. Besides, the elderly men used to watch their sports, and by ever and anon egging them on to mimic battles and disputes, learned accurately how each one of them was naturally disposed when it was a question of boldness and aggressiveness in their struggles.
[Lyc. 16.6] 6 Of reading and writing, they learned only enough to serve their turn; all the rest of their training was calculated to make them obey commands well, endure hardships, and conquer in battle. Therefore, as they grew in age, their bodily exercise was increased; their heads were close-clipped, and they were accustomed to going bare-foot, and to playing for the most part without clothes. When they were twelve years old, they no longer had tunics to wear, received one cloak a year, had hard, dry flesh, and knew little of baths and ointments; only on certain days of the year, and few at that, did they indulge in such amenities. 7 They slept together, in troops and companies, on pallet-beds which they collected for themselves, breaking off with their hands — no knives allowed — the tops of the rushes which grew along the river Eurotas. In the winter-time, they added to the stuff of these pallets the so called “lycophon,” or thistle-down, which was thought to have warmth in it.
[Lyc. 17.1] 17 1 When the boys reached this age, they were favoured with the society of lovers from among the reputable young men. The elderly men also kept close watch of them, coming more frequently to their places of exercises, and observing their contests of strength and wit, not cursorily, but with the idea that they were all in a sense the fathers and tutors and governors of all the boys. In this way, at every fitting time and in every place, the boy who went wrong had someone to admonish and chastise him. Nor was this all; 2 one of the noblest and best men of the city was appointed paedonome, or inspector of the boys, and under his directions the boys, in their several companies, put themselves under the command of the most prudent and warlike of the so called Eirens. This was the name given to those who had been for two years out of the class of boys, and Melleirens, or Would be Eirens, was the name for the oldest of the boys. This eiren, then, a youth of twenty years, commands his subordinates in their mimic battles, and in doors makes them serve him at his meals. 3 He commissions the larger ones to fetch wood, and the smaller ones potherbs. And they steal what they fetch, some of them entering the gardens, and others creeping right slyly and cautiously into the public messes of the men; but if a boy is caught stealing, he is soundly flogged, as a careless and unskilful thief. They steal, too, whatever food they can, and learn to be adept in setting upon people when asleep or off their guard. 4 But the boy who is caught gets a flogging and must go hungry. For the meals allowed them are scanty, in order that they may take into their own hands the fight against hunger, and so be forced into boldness and cunning.
[Lyc. 17.5] This is the main object of their spare diet; a secondary one is to make them grow tall. For it contributes to height of stature when the vitality is not impeded and hindered by a mass of nourishment which forces it into thickness and width, 51 but ascends of its own lightness, and when the body grows freely and easily. 5 The same thing seems also to conduce to beauty of form; for lean and meagre habits yield more readily to the force of articulation, whereas the gross and over-fed are so heavy as to resist it. Just so, we may be sure, women who take physic while they are pregnant, bear children which are lean, it may be, but well-shaped and fine, because the lightness of the parent matter makes it more susceptible to moulding. However, the reason for this I must leave for others to investigate.
[Lyc. 18.1] 18 1 The boys make such a serious matter of their stealing, that one of them, as the story goes, who was carrying concealed under his cloak a young fox which he had stolen, suffered the animal to tear out his bowels with its teeth and claws, and died rather than have his theft detected. And even this story gains credence from what their youths now endure, many of whom I have seen expiring under the lash at the altar of Artemis Orthia.
[Lyc. 18.2] 2 The eiren, as he reclined after supper, would order one of the boys to sing a song, and to another would put a question requiring a careful and deliberate answer, as, for instance, “Who is the best man in the city?” or, “What thinkest thou of this man’s conduct?” In this way the boys were accustomed to pass right judgements and interest themselves at the very outset in the conduct of the citizens. For if one of them was asked who was a good citizen, or who an infamous one, and had no answer to make, he was judged to have a torpid spirit, and one that would not aspire to excellence. 3 And the answer must not only have reasons and proof given for it, but also be couched in very brief and concise language, and the one who gave a faulty answer was punished with a bite in the thumb from the eiren. Often-times, too, the eiren punished the boys in the presence of the elders and magistrates, thus showing whether his punishments were reasonable and proper or not. While he was punishing them, he suffered no restraint, but after the boys were gone, he was brought to an account if his punishments were harsher than was necessary, or, on the other hand, too mild and gentle.
[Lyc. 18.4] 524 The boys’ lovers also shared with them in their honour or disgrace; and it is said that one of them was once fined by the magistrates because his favourite boy had let an ungenerous cry escape him while he was fighting. Moreover, though this sort of love was so approved among them that even the maidens found lovers in good and noble women, still, there was no jealous rivalry in it, but those who fixed their attentions on the same boys made this rather a foundation for friendship with one another, and persevered in common efforts to make their loved one as noble as possible.
[Lyc. 19.1] 19 1 The boys were also taught to use a discourse which combined pungency with grace, and condensed much observation into a few words. His iron money, indeed, Lycurgus made of large weight and small value, as I have observed, but the current coin of discourse he adapted to the expression of deep and abundant meaning with simple and brief diction, by contriving that the general habit of silence should make the boys sententious and correct in their answers. For as sexual incontinence generally produces unfruitfulness and sterility, so intemperance in talking makes discourse empty and vapid. 2 King Agis, accordingly, when a certain Athenian decried the Spartan swords for being so short, and said that jugglers on the stage easily swallowed them, replied: “And yet we certainly reach our enemies with these daggers.” And I observe that although the speech also of the Spartans seems short, yet it certainly reaches the point, and arrests the thought of the listener.
[Lyc. 19.3] 3 And indeed Lycurgus himself seems to have been short and sententious in his speech, if we may judge from his recorded sayings; that, for instance, on forms of self-government, to one who demanded the establishment of democracy in the city: “Go thou,” said he, “and first establish democracy in thy household.” That, again, to one who inquired why he ordained such small and inexpensive sacrifices: “That we may never omit,” said he, “to honour the gods.” 4 Again, in the matter of athletic contests, he allowed the citizens to engage only in those where there was no stretching forth of hands. There are also handed down similar answers which he made by letter to his fellow-citizens. When they asked how they could ward off an invasion of enemies, he answered: “By remaining poor, and by not desiring to be greater the one than the other.” And when they asked about fortifying their city, he answered: “A city will be well fortified which is surrounded by brave men and not by bricks.” Now regarding these and similar letters, belief and scepticism are alike difficult.
[Lyc. 20.1] 20 1 Of their aversion to long speeches, the following apophthegms are proof. King Leonidas, when a certain one discoursed with him out of all season on matters of great concern, said: “My friend, the matter urges, but not the time.” Charilaüs, the nephew of Lycurgus, when asked why his uncle had made so few laws, answered: “Men of few words need few laws.” 2 Archidamidas, when certain ones found fault with Hecataeus the Sophist for saying nothing after being admitted to their public mess, answered: “He who knows how, knows also when to speak.” Instances of the pungent sayings not devoid of grace, of which I spoke, are the following. Demaratus, when a troublesome fellow was pestering him with ill-timed questions, and especially with the oft repeated query who was the best of the Spartans, answered at last: “He who is least like thee.” 3 And Agis, when certain ones were praising the Eleians for their just and honourable conduct of the Olympic games, said: “And what great matter is it for the Eleians to practise righteousness one day in five years?” And Theopompus, when a stranger kept saying, as he showed him kindness, that in his own city he was called a lover of Sparta, remarked: “My good Sir, it were better for thee to be called a lover of thine own city.” 4 And Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, when an Athenian orator declared that the Lacedaemonians had no learning, said: “True, we are indeed the only Hellenes who have learned no evil from you.” And Archidamus, when some one asked him how many Spartans there were, replied: “Enough, good Sir, to keep evil men away.”
[Lyc. 20.5] 5 And even from their jests it is possible to judge of their character. For it was their wont never to talk at random, and to let slip no speech which did not have some thought or other worth serious attention. For instance, when one of them was invited to hear a man imitate the nightingale, he said: “I have heard the bird herself.” And another, on reading the epitaph: —
[Lyc. 20.5b] “Tyranny’s fires they were trying to quench when panoplied Ares
Slew them; Selinus looked down from her gates on their death,”
[Lyc. 20.6] said: “The men deserved to die; they should have let the fires burn out entirely.” 6 And a youth, when some one promised to give him game-cocks that would die fighting, said, “Don’t do that, but give me some of the kind that kill fighting.” Another, seeing men seated on stools in a privy, said: “May I never sit where I cannot give place to an elder.” The character of their apophthegms, then, was such as to justify the remark that love of wisdom rather than love of bodily exercise was the special characteristic of a Spartan.
[Lyc. 21.1] 53 21 1 Nor was their training in music and poetry any less serious a concern than the emulous purity of their speech, nay, their very songs had a stimulus that roused the spirit and awoke enthusiastic and effectual effort; the style of them was simple and unaffected, and their themes were serious and edifying. They were for the most part praises of men who had died for Sparta, calling them blessed and happy; censure of men who had played the coward, picturing their grievous and ill-starred life; and such promises and boasts of valour as befitted the different ages. 2 Of the last, it may not be amiss to cite one, by way of illustration. They had three choirs at their festivals, corresponding to the three ages, and the choir of old men would sing first: —
[Lyc. 21.1b] “We once did deeds of prowess and were strong young men.”
[Lyc. 21.1c] Then the choir of young men would respond: —
“We are so now, and if you wish, behold and see.”
[Lyc. 21.1d] And then the third choir, that of the boys, would sing: —
“We shall be sometime mightier men by far than both.”
[Lyc. 21.3] 3 In short, if one studies the poetry of Sparta, of which some specimens were still extant in my time, and makes himself familiar with the marching songs which they used, to the accompaniment of the flute, when charging upon their foes, he will conclude that Terpander and Pindar were right in associating valour with music. The former writes thus of the Lacedaemonians: —
[Lyc. 21.3b] “Flourish there both the spear of the brave and the Muse’s clear message,
Justice, too, walks the broad streets — .”
[Lyc. 21.4] 4 And Pindar says: —
“There are councils of Elders,
And young men’s conquering spears,
And dances, the Muse, and joyousness.”
[Lyc. 21.4b] The Spartans are thus shown to be at the same time most musical and most warlike;
[Lyc. 21.4c] “In equal poise to match the sword hangs the sweet art of the harpist,”
[Lyc. 21.4d] as their poet says. For just before their battles, the king sacrificed to the Muses, reminding his warriors, as it would seem, of their training, and of the firm decisions they had made, in order that they might be prompt to face the dread issue, and might perform such martial deeds as would be worthy of some record.
[Lyc. 22.1] 22 1 In time of war, too, they relaxed the severity of the young men’s discipline, and permitted them to beautify their hair and ornament their arms and clothing, rejoicing to see them, like horses, prance and neigh for the contest. Therefore they wore their hair long as soon as they ceased to be youths, and particularly in times of danger they took pains to have it glossy and well-combed, remembering a certain saying of Lycurgus, that a fine head of hair made the handsome more comely still, and the ugly more terrible. 2 Their bodily exercises, too, were less rigorous during their campaigns, and in other ways their young warriors were allowed a regimen which was less curtailed and rigid, so that they were the only men in the world with whom war brought a respite in the training for war. And when at last they were drawn up in battle array and the enemy was at hand, the king sacrificed the customary she-goat, commanded all the warriors to set garlands upon their heads, and ordered the pipers to pipe the strains of the hymn to Castor; 3 then he himself led off in a marching paean, and it was a sight equally grand and terrifying when they marched in step with the rhythm of the flute, without any gap in their line of battle, and with no confusion in their souls, but calmly and cheerfully moving with the strains of their hymn into the deadly fight. Neither fear nor excessive fury is likely to possess men so disposed, but rather a firm purpose full of hope and courage, believing as they do that Heaven is their ally.
[Lyc. 22.4] 4 The king marched against the enemy in close companionship with one who had been crowned victor in the great games. 54 And they tell of a certain Spartan who refused to be bought off from a contest at Olympia by large sums of money, and after a long struggle outwrestled his antagonist. When some one said to him then: “What advantage, O Spartan, hast thou got from thy victory? he answered, with a smile: “I shall stand in front of my king when I fight our enemies.” 5 When they had conquered and routed an enemy, they pursued him far enough to make their victory secure by his flight, and then at once retired, thinking it ignoble and unworthy of a Hellene to hew men to pieces who had given up the fight and abandoned the field. And this was not only a noble and magnanimous policy, but it was also useful. For their antagonists, knowing that they slew those who resisted them, but showed mercy to those who yielded to them, were apt to think flight more advantageous than resistance.
[Lyc. 23.1] 23 1 Hippias the Sophist says that Lycurgus himself was very well versed in war and took part in many campaigns, and Philostephanus attributes to him the arrangement of the Spartan cavalry by “oulamoi,” explaining that the “oulamos,” as constituted by him, was a troop of fifty horsemen in a square formation. But Demetrius the Phalerean says he engaged in no warlike undertakings, and established his constitution in a time of peace. 2 And indeed the design of the Olympic truce would seem to bespeak a man of gentleness, and predisposed to peace. And yet there are some who say, as Hermippus reminds us, that at the outset Lycurgus had nothing whatever to do with Iphitus and his enterprise, but happened to come that way by chance, and be a spectator at the games; that he heard behind him, however, what seemed to be a human voice, chiding him and expressing amazement that he did not urge his fellow-citizens to take part in the great festival; and since, on turning round, he did not see the speaker anywhere, he concluded that the voice was from heaven, and therefore betook himself to Iphitus, and assisted him in giving the festival a more notable arrangement and a more enduring basis.
[Lyc. 24.1] 24 1 The training of the Spartans lasted into the years of full maturity. No man was allowed to live as he pleased, but in their city, as in a military encampment, they always had a prescribed regimen and employment in public service, considering that they belonged entirely to their country and not to themselves, watching over the boys, if no other duty was laid upon them, and either teaching them some useful thing, or learning it themselves from their elders. 2 For one of the noble and blessed privileges which Lycurgus provided for his fellow-citizens, was abundance of leisure, since he forbade their engaging in any mechanical art whatsoever, and as for money-making, with its laborious efforts to amass wealth, there was no need of it at all, since wealth awakened no envy and brought no honour. 3 Besides, the Helots tilled their ground for them, and paid them the produce mentioned above. Therefore it was that one of them who was sojourning at Athens when the courts were in session, and learned that a certain Athenian had been fined for idleness and was going home in great distress of mind and attended on his way by sympathetic and sorrowing friends, begged the bystanders to show him the man who had been fined for living like a freeman. So servile a thing did they regard the devotion to the mechanical arts and to money-making. 4 And law-suits, of course, vanished from among them with their gold and silver coinage, for they knew neither greed nor want, but equality in well-being was established there, and easy living based on simple wants. Choral dances and feasts and festivals and hunting and bodily exercise and social converse occupied their whole time, when they were not on a military expedition.
[Lyc. 25.1] 25 1 Those who were under thirty years of age did not go into the market-place at all, 55 but had their household wants supplied at the hands of their kinsfolk and lovers. And it was disreputable for the elderly men to be continually seen loitering there, instead of spending the greater part of the day in the places of exercise that are called “leschai.” For if they gathered in these, they spent their time suitably with one another, making no allusions to the problems of money-making or of exchange, 2 nay, they were chiefly occupied there in praising some noble action or censuring some base one, with jesting and laughter which made the path to instruction and correction easy and natural. For not even Lycurgus himself was immoderately severe; indeed, Sosibius tells us that he actually dedicated a little statue of Laughter, and introduced seasonable jesting into their drinking parties and like diversions, to sweeten, as it were, their hardships and meagre fare.
[Lyc. 25.3] 3 In a word, he trained his fellow-citizens to have neither the wish nor the ability to live for themselves; but like bees they were to make themselves always integral parts of the whole community, clustering together about their leader, almost beside themselves with enthusiasm and noble ambition, and to belong wholly to their country. This idea can be traced also in some of their utterances. 4 For instance, Paedaretus, when he failed to be chosen among the three hundred best men, went away with a very glad countenance, as if rejoicing that the city had three hundred better men than himself. And again, Polycratidas, one of an embassy to the generals of the Persian king, on being asked by them whether the embassy was there in a private or a public capacity, replied: “If we succeed, in a public capacity; if we fail, in a private.” 5 Again, Argileonis, the mother of Brasidas, when some Amphipolitans who had come to Sparta paid her a visit, asked them if Brasidas had died nobly and in a manner worthy of Sparta. Then they greatly extolled the man and said that Sparta had not such another, to which she answered: “Say not so, Strangers; Brasidas was noble and brave, but Sparta has many better men than he.”
[Lyc. 26.1] 26 1 The senators were at first appointed by Lycurgus himself, as I have said, from those who shared his counsels; but afterwards he arranged that any vacancy caused by death should be filled by the man elected as most deserving out of those above sixty years of age. And of all the contests in the world this would seem to have been the greatest and the most hotly disputed. For it was not the swiftest of the swift, nor the strongest of the strong, but the best and wisest of the good and wise who was to be elected, and have for the rest of his life, as a victor’s prize for excellence, what I may call the supreme power in the state, lord as he was of life and death, honour and dishonour, and all the greatest issues of life. 2 The election was made in the following manner. An assembly of the people having been convened, chosen men were shut up in a room near by so that they could neither see nor be seen, but only hear the shouts of the assembly. For as in other matters, so here, the cries of the assembly decided between the competitors. These did not appear in a body, but each one was introduced separately, as the lot fell, and passed silently through the assembly. 3 Then the secluded judges, who had writing-tablets with them, recorded in each case the loudness of the shouting, not knowing for whom it was given, but only that he was introduced first, second, or third, and so on. Whoever was greeted with the most and loudest shouting, him they declared elected. The victor then set a wreath upon his head and visited in order the temples of the gods. He was followed by great numbers of young men, who praised and extolled him, as well as by many women, who celebrated his excellence in songs, and dwelt on the happiness of his life. 564 Each of his relations and friend set a repast before him, saying: “The city honours thee with this table.” When he had finished his circuit, he went off to his mess-table. Here he fared in other ways as usual, but a second portion of food was set before him, which he took and put by. After the supper was over, the women who were related to him being now assembled at the door of the mess-hall, he called to him the one whom he most esteemed and gave her the portion he had saved, saying that he had received it as a meed of excellence, and as such gave it to her. Upon this, she too was lauded by the rest of the women and escorted by them to her home.
[Lyc. 27.1] 27 1 Furthermore, Lycurgus made most excellent regulations in the matter of their burials. To begin with, he did away with all superstitious terror by allowing them to bury their dead within the city, and to have memorials of them near the sacred places, thus making the youth familiar with such sights and accustomed to them, so that they were not confounded by them, and had no horror of death as polluting those who touched a corpse or walked among graves. In the second place, he permitted nothing to be buried with the dead; they simply covered the body with a scarlet robe and olive leaves when they laid it away. 2 To inscribe the name of the dead upon the tomb was not allowed, unless it were that of a man who had fallen in war, or that of a woman who had died in sacred office. He set apart only a short time for mourning, eleven days; on the twelfth, they were to sacrifice to Demeter and cease their sorrowing. Indeed, nothing was left untouched and neglected, but with all the necessary details of life he blended some commendation of virtue or rebuke of vice; and he filled the city full of good examples, whose continual presence and society must of necessity exercise a controlling and moulding influence upon those who were walking the path of honour.
[Lyc. 27.3] 3 This was the reason why he did not permit them to live abroad at their pleasure and wander in strange lands, assuming foreign habits and imitating the lives of peoples who were without training and lived under different forms of government. Nay more, he actually drove away from the city the multitudes which streamed in there for no useful purpose, not because he feared they might become imitators of his form of government and learn useful lessons in virtue, as Thucydides says, but rather that they might not become in any wise teachers of evil. 4 For along with strange people, strange doctrines must come in; and novel doctrines bring novel decisions, from which there must arise many feelings and resolutions which destroy the harmony of the existing political order. Therefore he thought it more necessary to keep bad manners and customs from invading and filling the city than it was to keep out infectious diseases.
[Lyc. 28.1] 28 1 Now in all this there is no trace of injustice or arrogance, which some attribute to the laws of Lycurgus, declaring them efficacious in producing valour, but defective in producing righteousness. The so called “krupteia,” or secret service, of the Spartans, if this be really one of the institutions of Lycurgus, as Aristotle says it was, may have given Plato also this opinion of the man and his civil polity. 2 This secret service was of the following nature. The magistrates from time to time sent out into the country at large the most discreet of the young warriors, equipped only with daggers and such supplies as were necessary. In the day time they scattered into obscure and out of the way places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet; but in the night they came down into the highways and killed every Helot whom they caught. 3 Oftentimes, too, they actually traversed the fields where Helots were working and slew the sturdiest and best of them. So, too, Thucydides, in his history of the Peloponnesian war, tells us that the Helots who had been judged by the Spartans to be superior in bravery, 57 set wreaths upon their heads in token of their emancipation, and visited the temples of the gods in procession, but a little afterwards all disappeared, more than two thousand of them, in such a way that no man was able to say, either then or afterwards, how they came by their deaths. 4 And Aristotle in particular says also that the ephors, as soon as they came into office, made formal declaration of war upon the Helots, in order that there might be no impiety in slaying them.
[Lyc. 28.5] And in other ways also they were harsh and cruel to the Helots. For instance, they would force them to drink too much strong wine, and then introduce them into their public messes, to show the young men what a thing drunkenness was. They also ordered them to sing songs and dance dances that were low and ridiculous, but to let the nobler kind alone. 5 And therefore in later times, they say, when the Thebans made their expedition into Laconia, they ordered the Helots whom they captured to sing the songs of Terpander, Alcman, and Spendon the Spartan; but they declined to do so, on the plea that their masters did not allow it, thus proving the correctness of the saying: “In Sparta the freeman is more a freeman than anywhere else in the world, and the slave more a slave.” 6 However, in my opinion, such cruelties were first practised by the Spartans in later times, particularly after the great earthquake, when the Helots and Messenians together rose up against them, wrought the widest devastation in their territory, and brought their city into the greatest peril. I certainly cannot ascribe to Lycurgus so abominable a measure as the “krupteia,” judging of his character from his mildness and justice in all other instances. To this the voice of the god also bore witness.
[Lyc. 29.1] 29 1 When his principal institutions were at last firmly fixed in the customs of the people, and his civil polity had sufficient growth and strength to support and preserve itself, just as Plato says that Deity was rejoiced to see His universe come into being and make its first motion, so Lycurgus was filled with joyful satisfaction in the magnitude and beauty of his system of laws, now that it was in operation and moving along its pathway. He therefore ardently desired, so far as human forethought could accomplish the task, to make it immortal, and let it go down unchanged to future ages. 2 Accordingly, he assembled the whole people, and told them that the provisions already made were sufficiently adapted to promote the prosperity and virtue of the state, but that something of the greatest weight and importance remained, which he could not lay before them until he had consulted the god at Delphi. They must therefore abide by the established laws and make no change nor alteration in them until he came back from Delphi in person; then he would do whatsoever the god thought best. 3 When they all agreed to this and bade him set out on his journey, he exacted an oath from the kings and the senators, and afterwards from the rest of the citizens, that they would abide by the established polity and observe it until Lycurgus should come back; then he set out for Delphi.
[Lyc. 29.4] On reaching the oracle, he sacrificed to the god, and asked if the laws which he had established were good, and sufficient to promote a city’s prosperity and virtue. 4 Apollo answered that the laws which he had established were good, and that the city would continue to be held in highest honour while it kept to the polity of Lycurgus. This oracle Lycurgus wrote down, and sent it to Sparta. But for his own part, he sacrificed again to the god, took affectionate leave of his friends and of his son, and resolved never to release his fellow-citizens from their oath, but of his own accord to put an end to his life where he was. He had reached an age in which life was not yet a burden, and death no longer a terror; when he and his friends, moreover, appeared to be sufficiently prosperous and happy. 585 He therefore abstained from food till he died, considering that even the death of a statesman should be of service to the state, and the ending of his life not void of effect, but recognized as a virtuous deed. As for himself, since he had wrought out fully the noblest tasks, the end of life would actually be a consummation of his good fortune and happiness; and as for his fellow-citizens, he would make his death the guardian, as it were, of all the blessings he had secured for them during his life, since they had sworn to observe and maintain his polity until he should return. 6 And he was not deceived in his expectations, so long did his city have the first rank in Hellas for good government and reputation, observing as she did for five hundred years the laws of Lycurgus, in which no one of the fourteen kings who followed him made any change, down to Agis the son of Archidamus. For the institution of the ephors did not weaken, but rather strengthened the civil polity, and though it was thought to have been done in the interests of the people, it really made the aristocracy more powerful.
[Lyc. 30.1] 30 1 But in the reign of Agis, gold and silver money first flowed into Sparta, and with money, greed and a desire for wealth prevailed through the agency of Lysander, who, though incorruptible himself, filled his country with the love of riches and with luxury, by bringing home gold and silver from the war, and thus subverting the laws of Lycurgus. 2 While these remained in force, Sparta led the life, not of a city under a constitution, but of an individual man under training and full of wisdom. Nay rather, as the poets weave their tale of Heracles, how with his club and lion’s skin he traversed the world chastising lawless and savage tyrants, so we may say that Sparta, simply with the dispatch-staff and cloak of her envoys, kept Hellas in willing and glad obedience, put down illegal oligarchies and tyrannies in the different states, arbitrated wars, and quelled seditions, often without so much as moving a single shield, but merely sending one ambassador, whose commands all at once obeyed, just as bees, when their leader appears, swarm together and array themselves about him. Such a surplus fund of good government and justice did the city enjoy.
[Lyc. 30.3] 3 Wherefore, I for one am amazed at those who declare that the Lacedaemonians knew how to obey, but did not understand how to command, and quote with approval the story of King Theopompus, who, when some one said that Sparta was safe and secure because her kings knew how to command, replied: “Nay, rather because her citizens know how to obey.” 4 For men will not consent to obey those who have not the ability to rule, but obedience is a lesson to be learned from a commander. For a good leader makes good followers, and just as the final attainment of the art of horsemanship is to make a horse gentle and tractable, so it is the task of the science of government to implant obedience in men. And the Lacedaemonians implanted in the rest of the Greeks not only a willingness to obey, but a desire to be their followers and subjects. 5 People did not send requests to them for ships, or money, or hoplites, but for a single Spartan commander; and when they got him, they treated him with honour and reverence, as the Sicilians treated Gylippus; the Chalcidians, Brasidas; and all the Greeks resident in Asia, Lysander, Callicratidas, and Agesilaüs. These men, wherever they came, were styled regulators and chasteners of peoples and magistrates, and the city of Sparta from which they came was regarded as a teacher of well-ordered private life and settled civil polity. 6 To this position of Sparta Stratonicus would seem to have mockingly alluded when, in jest, he proposed a law that the Athenians should conduct mysteries and processions, and that the Eleians should preside at games, since herein lay their special excellence, but that the Lacedaemonians should be cudgelled if the others did amiss. This was a joke; but Antisthenes the Socratic, when he saw the Thebans in high feather after the battle of Leuctra, 59 said in all seriousness that they were just like little boys strutting about because they had thrashed their tutor.
[Lyc. 31.1] 31 1 It was not, however, the chief design of Lycurgus then to leave his city in command over a great many others, but he thought that the happiness of an entire city, like that of a single individual, depended on the prevalence of virtue and concord within its own borders. The aim, therefore, of all his arrangements and adjustments was to make his people free-minded, self-sufficing, and moderate in all their ways, and to keep them so as long as possible. 2 His design for a civil polity was adopted by Plato, Diogenes, Zeno, and by all those who have won approval for their treatises on the subject, although they left behind them only writings and words. Lycurgus, on the other hand, produced not only writings and words, but an actual polity which was beyond imitation, and because he gave, to those who maintain that the much talked of natural disposition to wisdom exists only in theory, an example of an entire city given to the love of wisdom, his family rightly transcended that of all who ever founded polities among the Greeks. 3 Therefore Aristotle says that the honours paid him in Sparta were less than he deserved, although he enjoys the highest honours there. For he has a temple, and sacrifices are offered to him yearly as to a god. It is also said that when his remains were brought home, his tomb was struck by lightning, and that this hardly happened to any other eminent man after him except Euripides, who died and was buried at Arethusa in Macedonia. The lovers of Euripides therefore regard it as a great testimony in his favour that he alone experienced after death what had earlier befallen a man who was most holy and beloved of the gods.
[Lyc. 31.4] 4 Some say that Lycurgus died in Cirrha; Apollothemis, that he was brought to Elis and died there; Timaeus and Aristoxenus, that he ended his days in Crete; and Aristoxenus adds that his tomb is shown by the Cretans in the district of Pergamus, near the public highway. It is also said that he left an only son, Antiorus, on whose death without issue, the family became extinct. 5 His friends and relations, however, instituted a periodical assembly in his memory, which continued to be held for many ages, and they called the days on which they came together, Lycurgidae. Aristocrates the son of Hipparchus says that the friends of Lycurgus, after his death in Crete, burned his body and scattered the ashes into the sea, and that this was done at his request, and because he wished to prevent his remains from ever being carried to Sparta, lest the people there should change his polity, on the plea that he had come back, and that they were therefore released from their oaths. This, then, is what I have to say about Lycurgus.

## Numa

[Num. 1.1] 1 1 THERE is likewise a vigorous dispute about the time at which King Numa lived, although from the beginning down to him the genealogies seem to be made out accurately. But a certain Clodius, in a book entitled “An Examination of Chronology,” insists that the ancient records were lost when the city was sacked by the Gauls, and that those which are now exhibited as such were forged, their compilers wishing to gratify the pride of certain persons by inserting their names among the first families and the most illustrious houses, where they had no cause to appear. 2 Accordingly, when it is said that Numa was an intimate friend of Pythagoras, some deny utterly that Numa had any Greek culture, holding either that he was naturally capable of attaining excellence by his own efforts, or that the culture of the king was due to some Barbarian superior to Pythagoras. Others say that Pythagoras the philosopher lived as many as five generations after Numa, 3 but that there was another Pythagoras, the Spartan, who was Olympic victor in the foot-race for the sixteenth Olympiad (in the third year of which Numa was made king), and that in his wanderings about Italy he made the acquaintance of Numa, and helped him arrange the government of the city, whence it came about that many Spartan customs were mingled with the Roman, as Pythagoras taught them to Numa. And at all events, Numa was of Sabine descent, and the Sabines will have it that they were colonists from Lacedaemon. 4 Chronology, however, is hard to fix, and especially that which is based upon the names of victors in the Olympic games, the list of which is said to have been published at a late period by Hippias of Elis, who had no fully authoritative basis for his work. I shall therefore begin at a convenient point, and relate the noteworthy facts which I have found in the life of Numa.
[Num. 2.1] 2 1 For thirty-seven years, now, Rome had been built and Romulus had been its king; and on the fifth of the month of July, which day they now call the Capratine Nones, Romulus was offering a public sacrifice outside the city at the so called Goat’s Marsh, in the presence of the senate and most of the people. 2 Suddenly there was a great commotion in the air, and a cloud descended upon the earth bringing with it blasts of wind and rain. The throng of common folk were terrified and fled in all directions, but Romulus disappeared, and was never found again either alive or dead. Upon this a grievous suspicion attached itself to the patricians, and an accusing story was current among the people to the effect that they had long been weary of kingly rule, and desired to transfer the power to themselves, and had therefore made away with the king. And indeed it had been noticed for some time that he treated them with greater harshness and arrogance. 3 This suspicion the patricians sought to remove by ascribing divine honours to Romulus, on the ground that he was not dead, but blessed with a better lot. And Proculus, a man of eminence, took oath that he had seen Romulus ascending to heaven in full armour, and had heard his voice commanding that he be called Quirinus.
[Num. 2.4] 4 The city was now beset with fresh disturbance and faction over the king to be appointed in his stead, for the new comers were not yet altogether blended with original citizens, but the commonalty was still like a surging sea, and the patricians full of jealousy towards one another on account of their different nationalities. It is indeed true that it was the pleasure of all to have a king, but they wrangled and quarrelled, not only about the man who should be their leader, but also about the tribe which should furnish him. 5 For those who had built the city with Romulus at the outset thought it intolerable that the Sabines, after getting a share in the city and its territory, should insist on ruling those who had received them into such privileges; and the Sabines, since on the death of their king Tatius they had raised no faction against Romulus, but suffered him to rule alone, had a reasonable ground for demanding now the ruler should come from them. They would not admit that they had added themselves as inferiors to superiors, but held rather that their addition had brought the strength of numbers and advanced both parties alike to the dignity of a city. On these questions, then, they were divided into factions.
[Num. 2.6] 6 But in order that their factions might not produce utter confusion from the absence of all authority, now that the administration of affairs was suspended, it was arranged by the senators, who were one hundred and fifty in number, that each of them in his turn should assume the insignia of royalty, make the customary sacrifices to the gods, and transact public business, for the space of six hours by day and six hours by night. 7 The distribution of times seemed well adapted to secure equality between the two factions, and the transfer of power likely to remove all jealousy on the part of the people, when they saw the same man, in the course of a single day and night, become king and then a private citizen again. This form of government the Romans call “interregnum.”
[Num. 3.1] 3 1 But although in this way the senators were thought to rule constitutionally and without oppression, they roused suspicions and clamorous charges that they had changed the form of government to an oligarchy, and were holding the state in tutelage among themselves, and were unwilling to be ruled by a king. Therefore it was agreed by both factions that one should appoint a king from the other. 2 This was thought the best way to end their prevailing partisanship, and the king thus appointed would be equally well-disposed to both parties, being gracious to the one as his electors, and friendly to the other because of his kinship with them. Then, as the Sabines gave the Romans their option in the matter, it seemed to them better to have a Sabine king of their own nomination, than to have a Roman made king by the Sabines. 3 They took counsel, therefore, among themselves, and nominated Numa Pompilius from among the Sabines, a man who had not joined the emigrants to Rome, but was so universally celebrated for his virtues that, when he was nominated, the Sabines accepted him with even greater readiness than those who had chosen him. Accordingly, after making their decision known to the people, the leading senators of both parties were sent as ambassadors to Numa, begging him to come and assume the royal power.
[Num. 3.4] 4 Numa belonged to a conspicuous city of the Sabines called Cures, from which the Romans, together with the incorporated Sabines, took the joint name of Quirites. He was a son of Pompon, an illustrious man, and was the youngest of four brothers. He was born, moreover, by some divine felicity, on the very day when Rome was founded by Romulus, that is, the twenty-first day of April. 5 By natural temperament he was inclined to the practice of every virtue, and he had subdued himself still more by discipline, endurance of hardships, and the study of wisdom. He had thus put away from himself not only the infamous passions of the soul, but also that violence and rapacity which are in such high repute among Barbarians, believing that true bravery consisted in the subjugation of one’s passions by reason. 6 On this account he banished from his house all luxury and extravagance, and while citizen and stranger alike found in him a faultless judge and counsellor, he devoted his hours of privacy and leisure, not to enjoyments and money-making, but to the service of the gods, and the rational contemplation of their nature and power. In consequence he had a great name and fame, so that Tatius, the royal colleague of Romulus at Rome, made him the husband of his only daughter, Tatia. 7 He was not, however, so exalted by his marriage as to go to dwell with his royal father-in law, but remained among the Sabines ministering to his aged father. Tatia, too, preferred the quiet life which her husband led as a private citizen to the honour and fame which she had enjoyed at Rome because of her father. But she died, as we are told, in the thirteenth year after her marriage.
[Num. 4.1] 4 1 Then Numa, forsaking the ways of city folk, determined to live for the most part in country places, and to wander there alone, passing his days in groves of the gods, sacred meadows, and solitudes. This, more than anything else, gave rise to the story about his goddess. It was not, so the story ran, from any distress or aberration of spirit that he forsook the ways of men, 2 but he had tasted the joy of more august companionship and had been honoured with a celestial marriage; the goddess Egeria loved him and bestowed herself upon him, and it was his communion with her that gave him a life of blessedness and a wisdom more than human. However, that this story resembles many of the very ancient tales which the Phrygians have received and cherished concerning Attis, the Bithynians concerning Herodotus, the Arcadians concerning Endymion, and other peoples concerning other mortals who were thought to have achieved a life of blessedness in the love of the gods, is quite evident. 3 And there is some reason in supposing that Deity, who is not a lover of horses or birds, but a lover of men, should be willing to consort with men of superlative goodness, and should not dislike or disdain the company of a wise and holy man. But that an immortal god should take carnal pleasure in a mortal body and its beauty, this, surely, is hard to believe.
[Num. 4.4] 4 And yet the Aegyptians make a distinction here which is thought plausible, namely, that while a woman can be approached by a divine spirit and made pregnant, there is no such thing as carnal intercourse and communion between a man and a divinity. But they lose sight of a fact that intercourse is a reciprocal matter, and that both parties to it enter into a like communion. However, that a god should have affection for a man, and a so called love which is based upon affection, and takes the form of solicitude for his character and his virtue, is fit and proper. 5 And therefore it is no mistake when the ancient poets tell their tales of the love Apollo bore Phorbas, Hyacinthus, and Admetus, as well as the Sicyonian Hippolytus also, of whom it is said, that, as often as he set out to sail from Sicyon to Cirrha, the Pythian priestess, as though the god knew of his coming and rejoiced thereat, chanted this prophetic verse:
[Num. 4.4b] “Lo, once more doth beloved Hippolytus hither make voyage.”
[Num. 4.6] 6 There is a legend, too, that Pan became enamoured of Pindar and his verses. And the divine powers bestowed signal honour on Archilochus and Hesiod after their deaths, for the sake of the Muses. Again, there is a story, still well attested, that Sophocles, during his life, was blessed with the friendship of Aesculapius, and that when he died, another deity procured him fitting burial. 7 Is it worth while, then, to disbelieve that Zaleucus, Minos, Zoroaster, Numa, and Lycurgus, who piloted kingdoms and formulated constitutions, had frequent audience of the Deity? Is it not likely, rather, that the gods are in earnest when they hold converse with such men as these, in order to instruct and advise them in the highest and best way, but use poets and warbling singers, if at all, for their own diversion? 8 However, if any one is otherwise minded, I say with Bacchylides, “Broad is the way.” Indeed there is no absurdity in the other account which is given of Lycurgus and Numa and their like, namely, that since they were managing headstrong and captious multitudes, and introducing great innovations in modes of government, they pretended to get a sanction from the god, which sanction was the salvation of the very ones against whom it was contrived.
[Num. 5.1] 5 1 But to resume the story, Numa was already completing his fortieth year when the embassy came from Rome inviting him to take the throne. The speakers were Proculus and Velesus, one or the other of whom the people was expected to choose as their king, Proculus being the favourite of the people of Romulus, and Velesus of the people of Tatius. These speakers, then, were brief, supposing that Numa would welcome his good fortune. 2 It was, however, no slight task, but one requiring much argument and entreaty, to persuade and induce a man who had lived in peace and quiet, to accept the government of a city which owed its existence and growth, in a fashion, to war. His reply, therefore, in the presence of his father and one of his kinsmen named Marcius, was as follows. “Every change in a man’s life is perilous; but when a man knows no lack, and has no fault to find with his present lot, nothing short of madness can change his purposes and remove him from his wonted course of life, which, even though it have no other advantage, is at least fixed and secure, and therefore better than one which is all uncertain. 3 But the lot of one who becomes your king cannot even be called uncertain, judging from the experience of Romulus, since he himself was accused of basely plotting against his colleague Tatius, and involved the patricians in the charge of having basely put their king out of the way. And yet those who bring these accusations laud Romulus as a child of the gods, and tell how he was preserved in an incredible way and fed in a miraculous manner when he was an infant. But I am of mortal birth, and I was nourished and trained by men whom you know. 4 Moreover, the very traits in my disposition which are to be commended, are far from marking a man destined to be a king, namely, my great love of retirement, my devotion to studies inconsistent with the usual activities of men, and my well-known strong and inveterate love of peace, of unwarlike occupations, and of men who come together only for the worship of the gods and for friendly intercourse, but who otherwise live by themselves as tillers of the soil or herdsmen. 5 Whereas, unto you, O Romans, whether you want them or not, Romulus has bequeathed many wars, and to make head against these the city needs a king with a warrior’s experience and strength. Besides, the people has become much accustomed to war, and eager for it because of their successes, and no one is blind to their desire for growth by conquest. I should therefore become a laughing-stock if I sought to serve the gods, and taught men to honour justice and hate violence and war, in a city which desires a leader of its armies rather than a king.”
[Num. 6.1] 6 1 With such words did Numa decline the kingdom. Then the Romans put forth every effort to meet his objections, and begged him not to plunge them again into faction and civil war, since there was none other on whom both parties could unite. His father also and Marcius, when the envoys had withdrawn, beset him privately, and tried to persuade him to accept so great a gift of the gods. 2 “Even though,” they said, “thou neither desirest wealth for thyself, because thou hast enough, nor covetest the fame which comes from authority and power, because thou hast the greater fame which comes from virtue, yet consider that the work of a true king is a service rendered to God, who now rouses up and refuses to leave dormant and inactive the great righteousness which is within thee. Do not, therefore, avoid nor flee from this office, which a wise man will regard as a field for great and noble actions, where the gods are honoured with magnificent worship, and the hearts of men are easily and quickly softened and inclined towards piety, through the moulding influence of their ruler. 3 This people loved Tatius, though he was a foreign prince, and they pay divine honours to the memory of Romulus. And who knows but that the people, even though victorious, is sated with war, and, now that it is glutted with triumphs and spoils, is desirous of a gentle prince, who is a friend of justice, and will lead them in the paths of order and peace? But if, indeed, they are altogether intemperate and mad in their desire for war, then were it not better that thou, holding the reins of government in thy hand, shouldst turn their eager course another way, and that thy native city and the whole Sabine nation should have in thee a bond of goodwill and friendship with a vigorous and powerful city?” 4 These appeals were strengthened, we are told, by auspicious omens and by the zealous ardour of his fellow-citizens, who, when they learned of the embassy from Rome, begged him to return with it and assume the royal power there, in order to unite and blend together the citizens.
[Num. 7.1] 7 1 Numa therefore decided to yield, and after sacrificing to the gods, set out for Rome. The senate and people met him on his way, filled with a wondrous love of the man; women welcomed him with fitting cries of joy; sacrifices were offered in the temples, and joy was universal, as if the city were receiving, not a king, but a kingdom. When they were come down into the forum, Spurius Vettius, whose lot it was to be “interrex” at that hour, called for a vote of the citizens, and all voted for Numa. But when the insignia of royalty were brought to him, he bade the people pause, and said his authority must first be ratified by Heaven. 2 Then taking with him the augurs and priests, he ascended the Capitol, which the Romans of that time called the Tarpeian hill. There the chief of the augurs turned the veiled head of Numa towards the south, while he himself, standing behind him, and laying the right hand on his head, prayed aloud, and turned his eyes in all directions to observe whatever birds or other omens might be sent from the gods. 3 Then an incredible silence fell upon the vast multitude in the forum, who watched in eager suspense for the issue, until at last auspicious birds appeared and approached the scene on the right. Then Numa put on his royal robes and went down from the citadel to the multitude, where he was received with glad cries of welcome as the most pious of men and most beloved of the gods.
[Num. 7.4] 4 His first measure on assuming the government was to disband the body of three hundred men that Romulus always kept about his person, and called “Celeres” (that is, swift ones); for he would not consent to distrust those who trusted him, nor to reign over those who distrusted him. His second measure was to add to the two priests of Jupiter and Mars a third priest of Romulus, whom he called the Flamen Quirinalis. 5 Now before this time the Romans called their priests “flamines,” from the close-fitting “piloi,” or caps, which they wear upon their heads, and which have the longer name of “pilamenai,” as we are told, there being more Greek words mingled with the Latin at that time than now. Thus also the name “laena,” which the Romans give to the priestly mantle, Juba says is the same as the Greek “chlaina”; and that the name Camillus, which the Romans give to the boy with both parents living who attends upon the priest of Jupiter, is the same as that which some of the Greeks give to Hermes, from his office of attendant.
[Num. 8.1] 8 1 After taking such measures to secure the goodwill and favour of the people, Numa straightway attempted to soften the city, as iron is softened in the fire, and change its harsh and warlike temper into one of greater gentleness and justice. For if a city was ever in what Plato calls a “feverish” state, Rome certainly was at that time. It was brought into being at the very outset by the excessive daring and reckless courage of the boldest and most warlike spirits, who forced their way thither from all parts, 2 and in its many expeditions and its continuous wars it found nourishment and increase of its power; and just as what is planted in the earth gets a firmer seat the more it is shaken, so Rome seemed to be made strong by its very perils. And therefore Numa, judging it to be no slight or trivial undertaking to mollify and newly fashion for peace so presumptuous and stubborn a people, called in the gods to aid and assist him. 3 It was for the most part by sacrifices, processions, and religious dances, which he himself appointed and conducted, and which mingled with their solemnity a diversion full of charm and a beneficent pleasure, that he won the people’s favour and tamed their fierce and warlike tempers. At times, also, by heralding to them vague terrors from the god, strange apparitions of divine beings and threatening voices, he would subdue and humble their minds by means of superstitious fears. 4 This was the chief reason why Numa’s wisdom and culture were said to have been due to his intimacy with the Pythagoreans; for in the philosophy of the one, and in the civil polity of the other, religious services and occasions have a large place. It is said also that the solemnity of his outward demeanour was adopted by him because he shared the feelings of Pythagoras about it. 5 That philosopher, indeed, is thought to have tamed an eagle, which he stopped by certain cries of his, and brought down from his lofty flight; also to have disclosed his golden thigh as he passed through the assembled throngs at Olympia. And we have reports of other devices and performances of his which savoured of the marvellous, regarding which Timon the Phliasian wrote: —
[Num. 8.1b] “Down to a juggler’s level he sinks with his cheating devices,
Laying his nets for men, Pythagoras, lover of bombast.”
[Num. 8.6] 6 In like manner Numa’s fiction was the love which a certain goddess or mountain nymph bore him, and her secret meetings with him, as already mentioned, and his familiar converse with the Muses. For he ascribed the greater part of his oracular teachings to the Muses, and he taught the Romans to pay especial honours to one Muse in particular, whom he called Tacita, that is, the silent, or speechless one; thereby perhaps handing on and honouring the Pythagorean precept of silence.
[Num. 8.7] 7 Furthermore, his ordinances concerning images are altogether in harmony with the doctrines of Pythagoras. For that philosopher maintained that the first principle of being was beyond sense or feeling, was invisible and uncreated, and discernible only by the mind. And in like manner Numa forbade the Romans to revere an image of God which had the form of man or beast. Nor was there among them in this earlier time any painted or graven likeness of Deity, 8 but while for the first hundred and seventy years they were continually building temples and establishing sacred shrines, they made no statues in bodily form for them, convinced that it was impious to liken higher things to lower, and that it was impossible to apprehend Deity except by the intellect. Their sacrifices, too, were altogether appropriate to the Pythagorean worship; for most of them involved no bloodshed, but were made with flour, drink-offerings, and the least costly gifts.
[Num. 8.9] 9 And apart from these things, other external proofs are urged to show that the two men were acquainted with each other. One of these is that Pythagoras was enrolled as a citizen of Rome. This fact is recorded by Epicharmus the comic poet, in a certain treatise which he dedicated to Antenor; and Epicharmus was an ancient, and belonged to the school of Pythagoras. Another proof is that one of the four sons born to king Numa was named Mamercus, after the son of Pythagoras. 10 And from him they say that the patrician family of the Aemilii took its name, Aemilius being the endearing name which the king gave him for the grace and winsomeness of his speech. Moreover, I myself have heard many people at Rome recount how, when an oracle once commanded the Romans to erect in the city monuments to the wisest and the bravest of the Greeks, they set up in the forum two statues in bronze, one of Alcibiades, and one of Pythagoras. However, since the matter of Numa’s acquaintance with Pythagoras is involved in much dispute, to discuss it at greater length, and to win belief for it, would savour of youthful contentiousness.
[Num. 9.1] 9 1 To Numa is also ascribed the institution of that order of high priests who are called Pontifices, and he himself is said to have been the first of them. According to some they are called Pontifices because employed in the service of the gods, who are powerful and supreme over all the world; and “potens” is the Roman word for powerful. 2 Others say that the name was meant to distinguish between possible and impossible functions; the lawgiver enjoining upon these priests the performance of such sacred offices only as were possible, and finding no fault with them if any serious obstacle prevented. But most writers give an absurd explanation of the name; Pontifices means, they say, nothing more nor less than bridge-builders, from the sacrifices which they performed at the bridge over the Tiber, sacrifices of the greatest antiquity and the most sacred character; for “pons” is the Latin word for bridge. 3 They say, moreover, that the custody and maintenance of the bridge, like all the other inviolable and ancestral rites, attached to the priesthood, for the Romans held the demolition of the wooden bridge to be not only unlawful, but actually sacrilegious. It is also said that it was built entirely without iron and fastened together with wooden pins in obedience to an oracle. The stone bridge was constructed at a much later period, when Aemilius was quaestor. 4 However, it is said that the wooden bridge also was later than the time of Numa, and was completed by Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa by his daughter, when he was king.
[Num. 9.5] The chief of the Pontifices, the Pontifex Maximus, had the duty of expounding and interpreting the divine will, or rather of directing sacred rites, not only being in charge of public ceremonies, but also watching over private sacrifices, and preventing any departure from established custom, as well as teaching whatever was requisite for the worship or propitiation of the gods. 5 He was also overseer of the holy virgins called Vestals; for to Numa is ascribed the consecration of the Vestal virgins, and in general the worship and care of the perpetual fire entrusted to their charge. It was either because he thought the nature of fire pure and uncorrupted, and therefore entrusted it to chaste and undefiled persons, or because he thought of it as unfruitful and barren, and therefore associated it with virginity. Since wherever in Greece a perpetual fire is kept, as at Delphi and Athens, it is committed to the charge, not of virgins, but of widows past the age of marriage. 6 And if by any chance it goes out, as at Athens during the tyranny of Aristion the sacred lamp is said to have been extinguished, and at Delphi when the temple was burned by the Medes, and as during the Mithridatic and the Roman civil wars the altar was demolished and the fire extinguished, then they say it must not be kindled again from other fire, but made fresh and new, by lighting a pure and unpolluted flame from the rays of the sun. 7 And this they usually effect by means of metallic mirrors, the concavity of which is made to follow the sides of an isosceles rectangular triangle, and which converge from their circumference to a single point in the centre. When, therefore, these are placed opposite the sun, so that its rays, as they fall upon them from all sides, are collected and concentrated at the centre, the air itself is rarefied there, and very light and dry substances placed there quickly blaze up from its resistance, the sun’s rays now acquiring the substance and force of fire. 8 Some, moreover, are of the opinion that nothing but this perpetual fire is guarded by the sacred virgins; while some say that certain sacred objects, which none others may behold, are kept in concealment by them. What may lawfully be learned and told about these things, I have written in my Life of Camillus.
[Num. 10.1] 10 1 In the beginning, then, they say that Gegania and Verenia were consecrated to this office by Numa, who subsequently added to them Canuleia and Tarpeia; that at a later time two others were added by Servius, making the number which has continued to the present time. It was ordained by the king that the sacred virgins should vow themselves to chastity for thirty years; during the first decade they are to learn their duties, during the second to perform the duties they have learned, and during the third to teach others these duties. 2 Then, the thirty years being now passed, any one who wishes has liberty to marry and adopt a different mode of life, after laying down her sacred office. We are told, however, that few have welcomed the indulgence, and that those who did so were not happy, but were a prey to repentance and dejection for the rest of their lives, thereby inspiring the rest with superstitious fears, so that until old age and death they remained steadfast in their virginity.
[Num. 10.3] 3 But Numa bestowed great privileges upon them, such as the right to make a will during the life time of their fathers, and to transact and manage their other affairs without a guardian, like the mothers of three children. When they appear in public, the fasces are carried before them, and if they accidentally meet a criminal on his way to execution, his life is spared; but the virgin must make oath that the meeting was involuntary and fortuitous, and not of design. He who passes under the litter on which they are borne, is put to death. 4 For their minor offences the virgins are punished with stripes, the Pontifex Maximus sometimes scourging the culprit on her bare flesh, in a dark place, with a curtain interposed. But she that has broken her vow of chastity is buried alive near the Colline gate. Here a little ridge of earth extends for some distance along the inside of the city-wall; the Latin word for it is “agger.” 5 Under it a small chamber is constructed, with steps leading down from above. In this are placed a couch with its coverings, a lighted lamp, and very small portions of the necessaries of life, such as bread, a bowl of water, milk, and oil, as though they would thereby absolve themselves from the charge of destroying by hunger a life which had been consecrated to the highest services of religion. Then the culprit herself is placed on a litter, over which coverings are thrown and fastened down with cords so that not even a cry can be heard from within, and carried through the forum. All the people there silently make way for the litter, and follow it without uttering a sound, in a terrible depression of soul. No other spectacle is more appalling, nor does any other day bring more gloom to the city than this. 7 When the litter reaches its destination, the attendants unfasten the cords of the coverings. Then the high-priest, after stretching his hands toward heaven and uttering certain mysterious prayers before the fatal act, brings forth the culprit, who is closely veiled, and places her on the steps leading down into the chamber. After this he turns away his face, as do the rest of the priests, and when she has gone down, the steps are taken up, and great quantities of earth are thrown into the entrance to the chamber, hiding it away, and make the place level with the rest of the mound. Such is the punishment of those who break their vow of virginity.
[Num. 11.1] 11 Furthermore, it is said that Numa built the temple of Vesta, where the perpetual fire was kept, of a circular form, not in imitation of the shape of the earth, believing Vesta to be the earth, but of the entire universe, at the centre of which the Pythagoreans place the element of fire, and call it Vesta and Unit. 2 And they hold that the earth is neither motionless nor situated in the centre of surrounding space, but that it revolves in a circle around the central fire, not being one of the most important, nor even one of the primary elements of the universe. This is the conception, we are told, which Plato also, in his old age, had of the earth, namely that it is established in a secondary space, and that the central and sovereign space is reserved for some other and nobler body.
[Num. 12.1] 12 1 The Pontifices also explain and direct the ancestral rites of burial for those who desire it, and they were taught by Numa not to regard any such offices as a pollution, but to honour the gods below also with the customary rites, since they receive into their keeping the most sovereign part of us, and particularly the goddess called Libitina, who presides over the solemn services for the dead, whether she is Proserpina, or, as the most learned Romans maintain, Venus; thereby not inaptly connecting man’s birth and death with the power of one and the same goddess. 2 Numa himself also regulated the periods of mourning according to ages. For instance, over a child of less than three years there was to be no mourning at all; over one older than that, the mourning was not to last more months than it had lived years, up to ten; and no age was to be mourned longer than that, but ten months was the period for the longest mourning. This is also the period during which women who have lost their husbands remain in widowhood, and she who took another husband before this term was out, was obliged by the laws of Numa to sacrifice a cow with calf.
[Num. 12.3] 3 Numa also established many other orders of priesthood, of which I shall mention two, besides, those of the Salii and the Fetiales, which more than any others give evidence of the man’s reverent piety. The Fetiales were guardians of peace, so to speak, and in my opinion took their name from their office, which was to put a stop to disputes by oral conference, or parley; and they would not suffer a hostile expedition to be made before every hope of getting justice had been cut off. 4 For the Greeks call it peace when two parties settle their quarrels by mutual conference, and not by violence. And the Roman Fetiales often went to those who were doing them a wrong and made personal appeals for fair treatment; but if the unfair treatment continued, they called the gods to witness, invoked many dreadful evils upon themselves and their country in case they resorted to hostilities unjustly, and so declared war upon them. 5 But if they forbade it or withheld their consent, neither soldier nor king of Rome could lawfully take up arms. War had to begin with their verdict that it was just, and the ruler, on receiving this verdict, must then deliberate on the proper way to wage it. And it is said that the dreadful disaster which the city experienced at the hands of the Gauls was in consequence of the illegal treatment of these priests.
[Num. 12.6] 6 For when the Barbarians were besieging Clusium, Fabius Ambustus was sent from Rome to their camp to bring about a cessation of hostilities on behalf of the besieged. But on receiving an unseemly answer, he thought his office of ambassador was at an end, and committed the youthful folly of taking up arms for the Clusians and challenging the bravest of the Barbarians to single combat. 7 Fabius fought successfully, unhorsed his adversary, and stripped him of his armour. But when the Gauls discovered who he was, they sent a herald to Rome denouncing Fabius for violating a truce, breaking his oath, and fighting against them before war was formally declared. At Rome the Fetiales tried to persuade the senate to deliver Fabius into the hands of the Gauls, but he took refuge with the multitude, and through the favour of the populace evaded his punishment. After a little, therefore, the Gauls came up and sacked Rome, with the exception of the Capitol. But this story is more fully given in my Life of Camillus.
[Num. 13.1] 13 1 The priesthood of the Salii is said to have been established for the following reason. In the eighth year of his reign a pestilence, which traversed Italy, distracted Rome also. The story goes that while the people were disheartened by this, a bronze buckler fell from heaven, which came into the hands of Numa, and a wonderful account of it was given by the king, which he learned from Egeria and the Muses. 2 The buckler came, he said, for the salvation of the city, and must be carefully preserved by making eleven others of like fashion, size, and shape, in order that the resemblance between them might make it difficult for a thief to distinguish the one that fell from heaven. He said further that the spot where it fell, and the adjacent meadows, where the Muses usually had converse with him, must be consecrated to them; and that the spring which watered the spot should be declared holy water for the use of the Vestal virgins, who should daily sprinkle and purify their temple with it. 3 Moreover, they say that the truth of all this was attested by the immediate cessation of the pestilence. When Numa showed the buckler to the artificers and bade them do their best to make others like it, they all declined, except Veturius Mamurius, a most excellent workman, who was so happy in his imitation of it, and made all the eleven so exactly like it, that not even Numa himself could distinguish them. For the watch and care of these bucklers, then, he appointed the priesthood of the Salii. 4 Now the Salii were so named, not, as some tell the tale, from a man of Samothrace or Mantinea, named Salius, who first taught the dance in armour; but rather from the leaping which characterized the dance itself. This dance they perform when they carry the sacred buckler through the streets of the city in the month of March, clad in purple tunics, girt with broad belts of bronze, wearing bronze helmets on their heads, and carrying small daggers with which they strike the shields. 5 But the dance is chiefly a matter of step; for they move gracefully, and execute with vigour and agility certain shifting convolutions, in quick and oft-recurring rhythm.
[Num. 13.6] The bucklers themselves are called “ancilia,” from their shape; for this is not round, nor yet completely oval, like that of the regular shield, but has a curving indentation, the arms of which are bent back and united with each other at the top and bottom; 6 this makes the shape “ancylon,” the Greek for curved. Or, they are named from the elbow on which they are carried, which, in Greek, is “ankon.” This is what Juba says, who is bent on deriving the name from the Greek. But the name may come from the Greek “anekathen,” inasmuch as the original shield fell from on high; or from “akesis,” because it healed those who were sick of the plague; or from “auchmon lysis,” because it put an end to the drought; or, further, from “anaschesis,” because it brought a cessation of calamities, just as Castor and Pollux were called Anakes by the Athenians; if, that is, we are bound to derive the name from the Greek.
[Num. 13.7] 7 We are told that Mamurius was rewarded for his wonderful art by having his name mentioned in a song which the Salii sing as they perform their war-dance. Some, however, say that the song does not commemorate Veturius Mamurius, but “veterem memoriam,” that is to say, ancient remembrance.
[Num. 14.1] 14 1 After Numa had thus established and regulated the priestly orders, he built, near the temple of Vesta, the so called Regia, or royal house. Here he passed most of his time, performing sacred functions, or teaching the priests, or engaged in the quiet contemplation of divine things. He also had another house on the Quirinal hill, the site of which is still pointed out. At all public and solemn processions of the priests, heralds were sent on before through the city, bidding the people make holiday, and putting a stop to all labour. 2 For, just as it is said that the Pythagoreans do not allow men to worship and pray to their gods cursorily and by the way, but would have them go from their homes directly to this office, with their minds prepared for it, so Numa thought that his citizens ought neither to hear nor see any divine service while they were occupied with other matters and therefore unable to pay attention. They should rather be free from all distractions and devote their thoughts to the religious ceremony as a matter of the highest importance. They should also rid their streets of noise and clatter and clamour, and all such accompaniments of menial and manual labour, and clear them for the sacred ceremonies. And the Romans still preserve some traces of this earlier feeling. When a magistrate is busy taking auspices or sacrificing, the people cry “Hoc age,” which means “Mind this,” and helps to make the bystanders attentive and orderly.
[Num. 14.3] 3 Many of his other precepts also resembled those of the Pythagoreans. For instance, the Pythagoreans said; “Don’t use a quart-measure as a seat”; “Don’t poke the fire with a sword”; “When you set out for foreign parts, don’t turn back”; and “To the celestial gods sacrifice an odd number, but an even number to the terrestrial”; and the meaning of all these precepts they would keep hidden from the vulgar. So in some of Numa’s rules the meaning is hidden; as, for instance, “Don’t offer to the gods wine from unpruned vines”; “Don’t make a sacrifice without a meal”; “Turn round as you worship”; and “Sit down after worship.” 4 The first two rules would seem to teach that the subjection of the earth is a part of religion; and the worshippers’ turning round is said to be an imitation of the rotary motion of the universe; but I would rather think that the worshipper who enters a temple, since temples face the east and the Sun, has his back towards the sunrise, and therefore turns himself half round in that direction, and then wheels fully round to face the god of the temple, thus making a complete circle, and linking the fulfilment of his prayer with both deities; 5 unless, indeed, this change of posture, like the Aegyptian wheels, darkly hints and teaches that there is no stability in human affairs, but that we must contentedly accept whatever twists and turns our lives may receive from the Deity. And as for the sitting down after worship, we are told that it is an augury of the acceptance of the worshipper’s prayers and the duration of his blessings. We are also told, that, as different acts are separated by an interval of rest, 6 so the worshipper, having completed one act, sits down in the presence of the gods, in order that he may begin another with their blessing. But this, too, can be brought into agreement with what was said above: the lawgiver is trying to accustom us not to make our petitions to the Deity when we are busied with other matters and in a hurry, as it were, but when we have time and are at leisure.
[Num. 15.1] 15 1 By such training and schooling in religious matters the city became so tractable, and stood in such awe of Numa’s power, that they accepted his stories, though fabulously strange, and thought nothing incredible or impossible which he wished them to believe or do. 2 At any rate, the story goes that he once invited a large number of the citizens to his table, and set before them mean dishes and a very simple repast; but just as they began to eat, he surprised them by saying that the goddess with whom he consorted was come to visit him, and lo, on a sudden, the room was full of costly beakers and the tables were laden with all sorts of meats and abundant furniture. 3 But nothing can be so strange as what is told about his conversation with Jupiter. When the Aventine hill — so runs the tale — was not yet a part of the city nor even inhabited, but abounded in springs and shady dells, two demi-gods, Picus and Faunus, made it their haunt. In other ways these divinities might be likened to Satyrs or Pans, but they are said to have used powerful drugs and practised clever incantations, and to have traversed Italy playing the same tricks as the so called Idaean Dactyli of the Greeks. 4 These demi-gods Numa is said to have caught, by mixing wine and honey with the water of the spring from which they were wont to drink. When captured, they dropped their own forms and assumed many different shapes, presenting hideous and dreadful appearances. But when they perceived that they were fast caught and could not escape, they foretold to Numa many things that would come to pass, and taught him besides the charm against thunder and lightning, which is still practised with onions, hair, and sprats. 5 Some, however, say that it was not the imps themselves who imparted the charm, but that they called Jupiter down from heaven by their magic, and that this deity angrily told Numa that he must charm thunder and lightning with “heads.” “Of onions?” asked Numa, filling out the phrase. “Of men,” said Jupiter. Thereupon Numa, trying once more to avert the horror of the prescription, asked “with hair?” “Nay,” answered Jupiter, “with living— “sprats?” added Numa, as he had been taught by Egeria to say. 6 Then the god returned to heaven in a gracious mood,— “hileos,” as the Greeks say, — and the place was called Ilicium from this circumstance; and that is the way the charm was perfected. These stories, fabulous and ridiculous as they are, show us the attitude which the men of that time, from force of custom, took towards the gods. And Numa himself, as they say, had such implicit confidence in the gods, when a message was brought to him that enemies were coming up against the city, he smiled and said: “But I am sacrificing.”
[Num. 16.1] 16 1 He was also the first, they say, to build temples to Faith and Terminus; and he taught the Romans their most solemn oath by Faith, which they still continue to use. Terminus signifies boundary, and to this god they make public and private sacrifices where their fields are set off by boundaries; of living victims nowadays, but anciently the sacrifice was a bloodless one, since Numa reasoned that the god of boundaries was a guardian of peace and a witness of just dealing, and should therefore be clear from slaughter. 2 And it is quite apparent that it was this king who set bounds to the territory of the city, for Romulus was unwilling to acknowledge, by measuring off his own, how much he had taken away from others. He knew that a boundary, if observed, fetters lawless power; and if not observed, convicts of injustice. And indeed the city’s territory was not extensive at first, but Romulus acquired most of it later with the spear. 3 All this was distributed by Numa among the indigent citizens. He wished to remove the destitution which drives men to wrongdoing, and to turn the people to agriculture, that they might be subdued and softened along with the soil they tilled. For there is no other occasion which produces so keen and quick a relish for peace as that of a farmer’s life, where so much of the warrior’s daring as prompts a man to fight for his own, is always preserved, while the warrior’s licence to indulge in rapacity and injustice is extirpated. 4 Numa, therefore, administering agriculture to his citizens as a sort of peace-potion, and well pleased with the art as fostering character rather than wealth, divided the city’s territory into districts, to which he gave the name of “pagi,” and in each of them he set overseers and patrols. But sometimes he would inspect them in person, and judging of the characters of the citizens from the condition of their farms, would advance some to positions of honour and trust; while others, who were indolent and careless, he would chide and reproach, and so try to make them sensible.
[Num. 17.1] 17 1 But of all his measures, the one most admired was his distribution of the people into groups according to their trades or arts. For the city was supposed to consist of two tribes, as has been said, although it had no consistency, but was rather divided into two tribes, and utterly refused to become united, or to blot out its diversities and differences. On the contrary, it was filled with ceaseless collisions and contentions between its component parts. Numa, therefore, aware that hard substances which will not readily mingle may be crushed and pulverized, and then more easily mix and mingle with each other 2 owing to the smallness of their particles, determined to divide the entire body of the people into a greater number divisions, and so, by merging it in other distinctions, to obliterate the original and great distinction, which would be lost among the lesser ones. He distributed them, accordingly, by arts and trades, into musicians, goldsmiths, carpenters, dyers, leather-workers, curriers, braziers, and potters. The remaining trades he grouped together, and made one body out of all who belonged to them. 3 He also appointed social gatherings and public assemblies and rites of worship befitting each body. And thus, at last, he banished from the city the practice of speaking and thinking of some citizens as Sabines, and of others as Romans; or of some as subjects of Tatius, and others of Romulus, so that his division resulted in a harmonious blending of them all together.
[Num. 17.4] 4 Praise is also given to that measure of his whereby the law permitting fathers to sell their sons was amended. He made an exception of married sons, provided they had married with the consent and approval of their fathers. For he thought it a hard thing that a woman who had married a man whom she thought free, should find herself living with a slave.
[Num. 18.1] 18 1 He applied himself, also, to the adjustment of the calendar, not with exactness, and yet not altogether without careful observation. For during the reign of Romulus, they had been irrational and irregular in their fixing of the months, reckoning some at less than twenty days, some at thirty-five, and some at more; they had no idea of the inequality of the annual motions of the sun and moon, but held to this principle only, that the year should consist of three hundred and sixty days. 2 But Numa, estimating the extent of the inequality at eleven days, since the lunar year had three hundred and fifty-four days, but the solar year three hundred and sixty-five, doubled these eleven days, and every other year inserted after the month of February the intercalary month called Mercedinus by the Romans, which consisted of twenty-two days. 3 This correction of the inequality which he made was destined to require other and greater corrections in the future.
[Num. 18.4] He also changed the order of the months. March, which had been first, he made the third month, and January, which had been the eleventh month under Romulus, he made the first month; February, which had been twelfth and last, thus became the second month, as now. But there are many who say that these months of January and February were added to the calendar by Numa, 4 and that at the outset the Romans had only ten months in their year, as some Barbarians have three, and as, among the Greeks, the Arcadians have four, and the Acarnanians six; the Aegyptian year had at first only a single month in it, afterwards four, as we are told. And therefore, though they inhabit a very recent country, they have the credit of being a very ancient people, and load their genealogies with a prodigious number of years, since they really count their months as so many years.
[Num. 19.1] 19 1 That the Romans had at first only ten months in their year, and not twelve, is proved by the name of their last month; for they still call it December, or the tenth month. And that March used to be their first month, is proved by the sequence of months after it; for the fifth month after it used to be called Quintilis, the sixth Sextilis, and so on with the rest. Therefore, when they placed January and February before March, they were guilty of naming the above-mentioned month Quintilis, or fifth, but counting it seventh. 2 And besides, it was reasonable that March, which is consecrate to Mars, should be put in the first place by Romulus, and April in the second place, since this month is named after Aphrodite. In it they sacrificed to this goddess, and on its first day the women bathe with myrtle garlands on their heads. Some, however, say that April, with its smooth “p,” cannot be derived from Aphrodite, with its rough “ph,” but that this month of high spring time is called April because it opens and discloses the buds and shoots in vegetation, this being the meaning of the word “aperio.” 3 The next month in order is called May, from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom it is sacred; and June is so named from Juno. There are some, however, who say that these months get their name from an age, older and younger; for “majores” is their name for the elder, “juniores” for the younger men. Each of the remaining months they named from its arithmetical position in the list, the fifth Quintilis, the sixth Sextilis, and so on with September, October, November, and December. 4 Afterwards the fifth month was named Julius, from Julius Caesar, the conqueror of Pompey; and the sixth month Augustus, from the second Caesar, who was given that title. The seventh and eighth months bore for a short time the names Germanicus and Domitianus, which the emperor Domitian gave them; but when he was slain, they resumed their old names of September and October. Only the last two months, November and December, preserved the names derived from their position in the list just as they were at the outset.
[Num. 19.5] 5 Of the months which were added or transposed by Numa, February must have something to do with purification, for this is nearest to the meaning of the word, and in this month they make offerings to the dead and celebrate the festival of the Lupercalia, which, in most of its features, resembles a purification. The first month, January, is so named from Janus. And I think that March, which is named from Mars, was moved by Numa from its place at the head of the months because he wished in every case that martial influences should yield precedence to civil and political. 6 For this Janus, in remote antiquity, whether he was a demi-god or a king, was a patron of civil and social order, and is said to have lifted human life out of its bestial and savage state. For this reason he is represented with two faces, implying that he brought men’s lives out of one sort and condition into another.
[Num. 20.1] 20 1 He also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. 2 But in the time of Augustus Caesar it was closed, after he had overthrown Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened. During the reign of Numa, however, it was not seen open for a single day, but remained shut for the space of forty-three years together, so complete and universal was the cessation of war. 3 For not only was the Roman people softened and charmed by the righteousness and mildness of their king, but also the cities round about, as if some cooling breeze or salubrious wind were wafted upon them from Rome, began to experience a change of temper, and all of them were filled with a longing desire to have good government, to be at peace, to till the earth, to rear their children in quiet, and to worship the gods. 4 Festivals and feasts, hospitalities and friendly converse between people who visited one another promiscuously and without fear, — these prevailed throughout Italy, while honour and justice flowed into all hearts from the wisdom of Numa, as from a fountain, and the calm serenity of his spirit diffused itself abroad.
[Num. 20.5] Thus even the hyperboles of the poets fall short of picturing the state of man in those days: 5 “And on the iron-bound shield-handles lie the tawney spiders’ webs”; and, “rust now subdues the sharp-pointed spears and two-edged swords; no longer is the blast of brazen trumpets heard, nor are the eyelids robbed of delicious sleep.” For there is no record either of war, or faction, or political revolution while Numa was king. Nay more, no hatred or jealousy was felt towards his person, nor did ambition lead men to plot and conspire against his throne. 6 On the contrary, either fear of the gods, who seemed to have him in their especial care, or reverence for his virtue, or a marvellous felicity, which in his days kept life free from the taint of every vice, and pure, made him a manifest illustration and confirmation of the saying which Plato, 8 many generations later, ventured to utter regarding government, 7 namely, that human ills would only then cease and disappear when, by some divine felicity, the power of a king should be united in one person with the insight of a philosopher, thereby establishing virtue in control and mastery over vice.
[Num. 20.8] “Blessed,” indeed, is such a wise man “in himself, and blessed, too, are those who hear the words of wisdom issuing from his lips.” 8 For possibly there is no need of any compulsion or menace in dealing with the multitude, but when they see with their own eyes a conspicuous and shining example of virtue in the life of their ruler, they will of their own accord walk in wisdom’s ways, and unite with him in conforming themselves to a blameless and blessed life of friendship and mutual concord, attended by righteousness and temperance. Such a life is the noblest end of all government, and he is most a king who can inculcate such a life and such a disposition in his subjects. This, then, as it appears, Numa was preeminent in discerning.
[Num. 21.1] 21 1 As regards his marriages and offspring, historians are at variance. Some say that he had no other wife than Tatia, and no other child than one daughter, Pompilia. Others ascribe to him four sons besides, Pompon, Pinus, Calpus, and Mamercus, each one of whom was the founder of an honourable family. 2 From Pompon the Pomponii are descended, from Pinus the Pinarii, from Calpus the Calpurnii, and from Mamercus the Mamercii, who for this reason had also the surname of Reges, or Kings. But there is a third class of writers who accuse the former of paying court to these great families by forging for them lines of descent from Numa, and they say that Pompilia was not the daughter of Tatia, but of Lucretia, another wife whom Numa married after he became king. 3 However, all are agreed that Pompilia was married to Marcius. Now this Marcius was a son of the Marcius who induced Numa to accept the throne. That Marcius accompanied Numa to Rome, and there was honoured with membership in the Senate. After Numa’s death, he competed for the throne with Hostilius, and being defeated, starved himself to death. But his son Marcius, the husband of Pompilia, remained at Rome, and begat Ancus Marcius, who succeeded Tullus Hostilius in the kingdom. 4 This Ancus Marcius is said to have been only five years old when Numa died, not a speedy nor a sudden death, but wasting away gradually from old age and a mild disorder, as Piso writes. He was something over eighty years old when he died.
[Num. 22.1] 22 1 His obsequies were as much to be envied as his life. The peoples which were in alliance and friendship with Rome assembled at the rites with public offerings and crowns; the senators carried his bier, the priests of the gods served as its escort, and the rest of the people, including women and children, followed with groans and lamentations, not as though they were attending the funeral of an aged king, but as though each one of them was burying some dearest relation taken away in the flower of life. 2 They did not burn his body, because, as it is said, he forbade it; but they made two stone coffins and buried them under the Janiculum. One of these held his body, and the other the sacred books which he had written out with his own hand, as the Greek lawgivers their tablets. But since, while he was still living, he had taught the priests the written contents of the books, and had inculcated in their hearts the scope and meaning of them all, he commanded that they should be buried with his body, convinced that such mysteries ought not to be entrusted to the care of lifeless documents. 3 This is the reason, we are told, why the Pythagoreans also do not entrust their precepts to writing, but implant the memory and practice of them in living disciples worthy to receive them. And when their treatment of the abstruse and mysterious processes of geometry had been divulged to a certain unworthy person, they said the gods threatened to punish such lawlessness and impiety with some signal and wide-spread calamity. 4 Therefore we may well be indulgent with those who are eager to prove, on the basis of so many resemblances between them, that Numa was acquainted with Pythagoras.
[Num. 22.5] Antias, however, writes that it was twelve pontifical books, and twelve others of Greek philosophy, which were placed in the coffin. And about four hundred years afterwards, when Publius Cornelius and Marcus Baebius were consuls, heavy rains fell, and the torrent of water tore away the earth and dislodged the coffins. 5 When their lids had fallen off, one coffin was seen to be entirely empty, without any trace whatever of the body, but in the other the writings were found. These Petilius, who was then praetor, is said to have read, and then brought to the senate, declaring that, in his opinion, it was not lawful or proper that the writings should be published abroad. The books were therefore carried to the comitium and burned.
[Num. 22.6] 6 It is true, indeed, of all just and good men, that they are praised more after they have left the world than before, since envy does not long survive them, and some even see it die before them; but in Numa’s case the misfortunes of the kings who followed him made his fame shine all the brighter. For of the five who came after him, the last was dethroned and grew old in exile, and of the other four, not one died a natural death. Three of them were conspired against and slain; 7 and Tullus Hostilius, who reigned next after Numa, and who mocked and derided most of his virtues, and above all his devotion to religion, declaring that it made men idle and effeminate, turned the minds of the citizens to war. He himself, however, did not abide by his presumptuous folly, but was converted by a grievous and complicated disease, and gave himself over to a superstition which was far removed from the piety of Numa. His subjects, too, were even more affected with superstition, as we are told, when he died by a stroke of lightning.

## Comparison of Lycurgus and Numa

[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 1.1] (75) 1 1 Now that we have recounted the lives of Numa and Lycurgus, and both lie clearly before us, we must attempt, even though the task be difficult, to assemble and put together their points of difference. For their points of likeness are obvious from their careers: their wise moderation, their piety, their talent for governing and educating, and their both deriving their laws from a divine source. But each also performed noble deeds peculiar to himself. To begin with, Numa accepted, but Lycurgus resigned, a kingdom. 2 One got it without asking for it, the other had it and gave it up. One was made by others their sovereign, though a private person and a stranger; the other made himself a private person, though he was a king. It was a noble thing, of course, to win a kingdom by righteousness; but it was also a noble thing to set righteousness above a kingdom. For it was virtue which rendered the one so famous as to be judged worthy of a kingdom, and virtue, too, which made the other so great as to scorn a kingdom.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 1.3] 3 In the second place, then, it is granted that, just as musicians tune their lyres, so Lycurgus tightened the strings at Sparta, which he found relaxed with luxury, and Numa loosened the strings at Rome, where the tones were sharp and high; but the task was more difficult in the case of Lycurgus. For his efforts were to persuade the citizens, not to take off their breast-plates and lay aside their swords, but to cast away gold and silver, and abandon costly couches and tables; not to cease from wars and hold festivals and sacrifices, but to give up feasting and drinking and practise laboriously as soldiers and athletes. 4 Wherefore the one accomplished all his ends by persuasion, through the good-will and honour in which his people held him; but the other had to risk his life and suffer wounds, and scarcely then prevailed.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 1.5] Numa’s muse, however, was gentle and humane, and he converted his people to peace and righteousness, and softened their violent and fiery tempers. And if we must ascribe to the administration of Lycurgus the treatment of the Helots, 5 a most savage and lawless practice, we shall own that Numa was far more Hellenic as a lawgiver, since he gave acknowledged slaves a taste of the dignity of freedom, by making it the custom for them to feast in the company of their masters during the Saturnalia. For this too was one of the institutions of Numa, as we are told, who thereby admitted to the enjoyment of the yearly fruits of the earth those who had helped to produce them. Some, however, fancy that this custom was a reminder of the equality which characterized the famous Saturnian age, when there was neither slave nor master, but all were regarded as kinsmen and equals.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 2.1] 2 1 In general, both alike manifestly strove to lead their peoples to independence and sobriety; but as regards the other virtues, the one set his affections more on bravery, the other on righteousness; unless, indeed, the different natures or usages on which the government of each was based required different provisions. 762 For it was not out of cowardice that Numa put a stop to the waging of war, but to prevent the commission of injustice; neither was it to promote the commission of injustice that Lycurgus made his people warlike, but that they might not suffer injustice. Accordingly, in removing the excesses and supplying the deficiencies of their citizens, both were forced to make great innovations.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 2.3] 3 And surely, as regards the arrangement and classification of the citizens under their respective governments, Numa’s was strongly popular and inclined to favour the masses, resulting in a promiscuous and variegated community of goldsmiths, musicians, and leather-workers; but that of Lycurgus was rigid and aristocratic, relegating the mechanical arts into the hands of slaves and aliens, but confining the citizens themselves to the use of the shield and the spear, so that they were artificers of war and servants of Ares, but knew and cared for nothing else than to obey their commanders and master their enemies. 4 For freemen were not even permitted to transact business, that they might be entirely and forever free, but the whole apparatus of business was turned over to slaves and Helots, just like the preparation and serving of their meals. Numa, on the contrary, made no such distinctions, but, while he put a stop to military rapacity, he prohibited no other gainful occupation. Nor did he reduce the great inequalities resulting therefrom, 5 but left the acquisition of wealth wholly unrestricted, and paid no attention to the great increase of poverty and its gradual influx into the city. And yet it was his duty at the very outset, while as yet there was no general or great disparity of means, but people still lived on much the same plane, to make a stand against rapacity, as Lycurgus did, and take measures of precaution against its mischiefs; for these were not trifling, but furnished the seed and source of the most and greatest evils of after times. 6 But as regards the redistribution of land, Lycurgus, in my opinion, is not to be censured for making it, nor Numa for not making it. In the one case, the resulting equality was the foundation and base of his polity; but in the other, since the allotment of lands was recent, there was no urgent reason for introducing another division, or for disturbing the first assignment, which probably was still in force.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.1] 3 1 With regard to community in marriage and parentage, though both, by a sound policy, inculcated in husbands a freedom from selfish jealousy, still, their methods were not entirely alike. The Roman husband, if he had a sufficient number of children to rear, and another, who lacked children, could persuade him to the step, relinquished his wife to him, having the power of surrendering her entirely, or only for a season; but the Spartan, while his wife remained in his house, and the marriage retained its original rights and obligations, might allow any one who gained his consent to share his wife for the purpose of getting children by her. 2 And many husbands, as we have said, would actually invite into their homes men whom they thought most likely to procure them handsome and noble children. What, then, is the difference between the two customs? We may say, perhaps, that the Spartan implies a complete indifference to the wife, and to the jealous emotions which confound and consume the hearts of most men; while the Roman, as if with shame-faced modesty, makes a veil of the new betrothal, and concedes that community of wives is really insupportable.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.3] 3 Still further, Numa’s watchful care of young maidens was more conducive to feminine decorum; but the treatment of them by Lycurgus, being entirely unconfined and unfeminine, has given occasion to the poets. They call them “phainomerides,” bare-thighed (so Ibycus), and revile them as mad after men. Thus Euripides says: —
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.3b] “They leave their homes to mingle with the youths;
Their thighs are naked, flying free their robes.”
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.4] 774 For in fact the flaps of the tunic worn by their maidens were not sewn together below the waist, but would fly back and lay bare the whole thigh as they walked. Sophocles pictures the thing very clearly in these words: —
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.4b] And that young maid, whose tunic, still unsewn,
Lays bare her gleaming thigh
Between its folds, Hermione.”
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 3.5] 5 And so their women, it is said, were too bold, putting on men’s airs with their husbands even, to begin with, since they ruled their houses absolutely, and besides, on public occasions, taking part in debate and the freest speech on the most important subjects. But Numa, while carefully preserving to the matrons that dignified and honourable relation to their husbands which was bestowed on them by Romulus, when he tried by kindly usage to efface the memory of the violence done them, nevertheless enjoined great modesty upon them, forbade them all busy intermeddling, taught them sobriety, and accustomed them to be silent; wine they were to refrain from entirely, and were not to speak, even on the most necessary topics, unless their husbands were with them. 6 At any rate, it is said that when a woman once pleaded her own cause in the forum, the senate sent to inquire of an oracle what the event might portend for the city. And for their usual gentleness and readiness to obey, there is strong evidence in the specific mention made of those who were less amenable. For just as our Greek historians record the names of those who first slew kinsfolk, or made war on their brothers, or were parricides, or matricides, 7 so the Romans make record of the fact that Spurius Carvilius was the first to divorce his wife, two hundred and thirty years after the founding of Rome, there being no precedent for it; also that the wife of Pinarius, Thalaea by name, was the first woman to quarrel with her own mother-in law, Gegania, in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus. In such fitting and proper manner were marriages regulated by their lawgiver.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 4.1] 4 1 Further, the practice of the two peoples in the matter of giving their young maids in marriage conforms to their education of them in general. Lycurgus made them brides only when they were fully ripe and eager for it, in order that intercourse with a husband, coming at time when nature craved it, might produce a kindly love, instead of the timorous hate that follows unnatural compulsion; also that their bodies might be vigorous enough to endure the strain of conception and child-birth, convinced as he was that marriage had no other end than the production of children. The Romans, on the other hand, gave their maidens in marriage when they were twelve years old, or even younger. In this way more than any other, it was thought, both their bodies and their dispositions would be pure and undefiled when their husbands took control of them. 2 It is clear, therefore, that one practice regarded nature more, with children in view; the other regarded more the formation of character, with married life in view.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 4.3] But surely, by his careful attention to boys, by their collection into companies, their discipline and constant association, and by his painstaking arrangements for their meals and bodily exercise and sports, Lycurgus proves that Numa was no more than an ordinary lawgiver. For Numa left the bringing up of youths to the wishes or necessities of their fathers. 3 A father might, if he wished, make his son a tiller of the soil, or a shipwright, or might teach him to be a smith or a flute-player, as if it were not important that all of them should be trained with one and the same end in view from the onset, and have their dispositions formed alike; but rather as if they were like passengers on a ship, each coming with a different object and purpose, and each therefore uniting with the rest for the common good only in times of peril, through fear of private loss, but otherwise consulting only his own interests. 4 Now, it is not worth while to censure the common run of legislators, who fail through ignorance or weakness. But when a wise man had consented to be king over a people newly constituted and pliant to his every wish, what should have been his first care, unless it was the rearing of boys and the training of youths so that there might be no confusing differences in their characters, 78 but that they might be moulded and fashioned from the very outset so as to walk harmoniously together in the same path of virtue? 5 This, indeed, was what helped Lycurgus to secure, among other things, the stability and permanence of his laws. The Spartans took oaths to maintain these laws, it is true, but this would have availed little had he not, by means of his training and education of the boys, infused his laws, as it were, into their characters, and made the emulous love of his government an integral part of their rearing. The result was that for more than five hundred years the sovereign and fundamental features of his legislation remained in force, like a strong and penetrating dye.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 4.6] 6 But that which was the end and aim of Numa’s government, namely, the continuance of peace and friendship between Rome and other nations, straightway vanished from the earth with him. After his death the double doors of the temple which he had kept continuously closed, as if he really had war caged and confined there, were thrown wide open, and Italy was filled with the blood of the slain. Thus not even for a little time did the beautiful edifice of justice which he had reared remain standing, because it lacked the cement of education.
[Comp. Lyc.–Num. 4.7] 7 “What, then!” some one will say, “was not Rome advanced and bettered by her wars?” That is a question which will need a long answer, if I am to satisfy men who hold that betterment consists in wealth, luxury and empire, rather than in safety, gentleness, and that independence which is attended by righteousness. However, it will be thought, I suppose, to favour the superior claims of Lycurgus, that, whereas the Romans increased in power as they did after abandoning the institutions of Numa’s time, 8 the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, just as soon as they forsook the precepts of Lycurgus, sank from the highest to the lowest place, lost their supremacy over the Greeks, and were in danger of utter destruction. Nevertheless, this remains a great feature in Numa’s career, and one really divine, that he was a stranger, and yet was summoned to the throne, where he changed the whole nature of the state by force of persuasion alone, and mastered a city which was not yet in sympathy with his views; and that he accomplished this without appeal to arms or any violence (unlike Lycurgus, who led the nobles in arms against the commons), but by his wisdom and justice won the hearts of all the citizens and brought them into harmony.

## Solon

[Sol. 1.1] (78) 1 1 Didymus the grammarian, in his reply to Asclepiades on Solon’s tables of law, mentions a remark of one Philocles, in which it is stated that Solon’s father was Euphorion, contrary to the opinion of all others who have written about Solon. For they all unite in saying that he was a son of Execestides, a man of moderate wealth and influence in the city, but a member of its foremost family, being descended from Codrus. 2 Solon’s mother, according to Heracleides Ponticus, was a cousin of the mother of Peisistratus. And the two men were at first great friends, largely because of their kinship, 79 and largely because of the youthful beauty of Peisistratus, with whom, as some say, Solon was passionately in love. And this may be the reason why, in later years, when they were at variance about matters of state, their enmity did not bring with it any harsh or savage feelings, but their former amenities lingered in their spirits, and preserved there,
[Sol. 1.1b] “smouldering with a lingering flame of Zeus-sent fire,”
[Sol. 1.3] the grateful memory of their love. 3 And that Solon was not proof against beauty in a youth, and made not so bold with Love as “to confront him like a boxer, hand to hand,” may be inferred from his poems. He also wrote a law forbidding a slave to practise gymnastics or have a boy lover, thus putting the matter in the category of honour and dignified practices, and in a way inciting the worthy to that which he forbade the unworthy. 4 And it is said that Peisistratus also had a boy lover, Charmus, and that he dedicated the statue of Love in the Academy, where the runners in the sacred torch race light their torches.
[Sol. 2.1] 2 1 Solon, then, after his father had impaired his estate in sundry benevolent charities, as Hermippus tells us, might have found friends enough who were willing to aid him. But he was ashamed to take from others, since he belonged to a family which had always helped others, and therefore, while still a young man, embarked in commerce. And yet some say that he travelled to get experience and learning rather than to make money. 2 For he was admittedly a lover of wisdom, since even when he was well on in years he would say that he “grew old ever learning many things”; and he was not an admirer of wealth, but actually says that two men are alike wealthy of whom one
[Sol. 2.1b] “much silver hath,
And gold, and wide domains of wheat-bearing soil,
Horses and mules; while to the other only enough belongs
To give him comfort of food, and clothes, and shoes,
Enjoyment of child and blooming wife, when these too come,
And only years commensurate therewith are his.”
[Sol. 2.3] 3 However, in another place he says: —
“Wealth I desire to have; but wrongfully to get it,
I do not wish. Justice, even if slow, is sure.”
[Sol. 2.4] And there is no reason why a good statesman should either set his heart too much on the acquisition of superfluous wealth, or despise unduly the use of what is necessary and convenient. In those earlier times, to use the words of Hesiod, “work was no disgrace,” nor did a trade bring with it social inferiority, and the calling of a merchant was actually held in honour, since it gave him familiarity with foreign parts, friendships with foreign kings, and a large experience in affairs. 4 Some merchants were actually founders of great cities, as Protis, who was beloved by the Gauls along the Rhone, was of Marseilles. Thales is said to have engaged in trade, as well as Hippocrates the mathematician; and Plato defrayed the expenses of his sojourn in Egypt by the sale of oil.
[Sol. 3.1] 3 1 Accordingly, if Solon’s way of living was expensive and profuse, and if, in his poems, he speaks of pleasure with more freedom than becomes a philosopher, this is thought to be due to his mercantile life; he encountered many and great dangers, and sought his reward therefor in sundry luxuries and enjoyments. 2 But that he classed himself among the poor rather than the rich, is clear from these verses: —
[Sol. 3.1b] “For often evil men are rich, and good men poor;
But we will not exchange with them
Our virtue for their wealth, since one abides alway,
While riches change their owners every day.”
[Sol. 3.3] 803 And he seems to have composed his poetry at first with no serious end in view, but as amusement and diversion in his hours of leisure. Then later, he put philosophic maxims into verse, and interwove many political teachings in his poems, not simply to record and transmit them, but because they contained justifications of his acts, and sometimes exhortations, admonitions, and rebukes for the Athenians. 4 Some say, too, that he attempted to reduce his laws to heroic verse before he published them, and they give us this introduction to them: —
[Sol. 3.3b] “First let us offer prayers to Zeus, the royal son of Cronus,
That he may give these laws of ours success and fame.”
[Sol. 3.3c] In philosophy, he cultivated chiefly the domain of political ethics, like most of the wise men of the time; and in physics, he is very simple and antiquated, as is clear from the following verses: —
[Sol. 3.5] 5 “From clouds come sweeping snow and hail,
And thunder follows on the lightning’s flash.
[Sol. 3.5b] By winds the sea is lashed to storm, but if it be
Unvexed, it is of all things most amenable.”
[Sol. 3.5c] And in general, it would seem that Thales was the only wise man of the time who carried his speculations beyond the realm of the practical; the rest got the name of wisdom from their excellence as statesmen.
[Sol. 4.1] 4 1 They are all said to have met together at Delphi, and again in Corinth, where Periander arranged something like a joint conference for them, and a banquet. But what contributed still more to their honour and fame was the circuit which the tripod made among them, its passing round through all their hands, and their mutual declination of it, with generous expressions of goodwill. 2 Some Coans, as the story goes, were dragging in a net, and some strangers from Miletus bought the catch as yet unseen. It proved to contain a golden tripod which Helen, on her voyage from Troy, is said to have thrown in there, when she called to mind a certain ancient oracle. First the strangers had a dispute with the fishermen about the tripod, and then their cities took up the quarrel and went at last to war, whereupon the Pythian priestess of Apollo told both parties in an oracle that the tripod must be given to the wisest man. 3 So in the first place it was sent to Thales at Miletus, the Coans willingly bestowing upon him alone that for which they had waged war against all the Milesians together. But Thales declared that Bias was a wiser man than he, and the tripod was sent to Bias. From Bias, in his turn, it was dispatched to another, as wiser than he. So it went the rounds and was sent away by each in turn, until at last it came to Thales for the second time. Finally, it was carried from Miletus to Thebes and dedicated to Ismenian Apollo.
[Sol. 4.4] 4 Theophrastus, however, says that the tripod was sent in the first place to Bias at Priene, and in the second place to Thales at Miletus, at the instance of Bias, and so passed through the hands of all the wise men until it came round again to Bias, and finally was sent to Delphi. These, then, are the more common versions of the tale. But some say that the gift thus passed from hand to hand was not the tripod now seen at Delphi, but a bowl sent there by Croesus; and others that it was a beaker left there by Bathycles.
[Sol. 5.1] 5 1 In particular we are told of private intercourse between Solon and Anacharsis, and between Solon and Thales, of which the following accounts are given. Anacharsis came to Athens, knocked at Solon’s door, and said that he was a stranger who had come to make ties of friendship and hospitality with him. On Solon’s replying that it was better to make one’s friendships at home, “Well then,” said Anacharsis, “do thou, who art at home, make me thy friend and guest.” 2 So Solon, admiring the man’s ready wit, received him graciously and kept him with him some time. This was when he was already engaged in public affairs and compiling his laws. 81 Anacharsis, accordingly, on learning what Solon was about, laughed at him for thinking that he could check the injustice and rapacity of the citizens by written laws, which were just like spiders’ webs; they would hold the weak and delicate who might be caught in their meshes, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful. 3 To this Solon is said to have answered that men keep their agreements with each other when neither party profits by the breaking of them, and he was adapting his laws to the citizens in such a manner as to make it clear to all that the practice of justice was more advantageous than the transgression of the laws. But the results justified the conjecture of Anacharsis rather than the hopes of Solon. It was Anacharsis, too, who said, after attending a session of the assembly, that he was amazed to find that among the Greeks, the wise men pleaded causes, but the fools decided them.
[Sol. 6.1] 6 1 On his visit to Thales at Miletus, Solon is said to have expressed astonishment that his host was wholly indifferent to marriage and the getting of children. At the time Thales made no answer, but a few days afterwards he contrived to have a stranger say that he was just arrived after a ten days’ journey from Athens. When Solon asked what news there was at Athens, the man, who was under instructions what to say, answered: “None other than the funeral of a young man, who was followed to the grave by the whole city. 2 For he was the son, as I was told, of an honoured citizen who excelled all others in virtue; he was not at the funeral of his son; they told me that he had been travelling abroad for a long time.” “O the miserable man!” said Solon; “pray, what was his name?” “I heard the name,” the man said, “but I cannot recall it; only there was great talk of his wisdom and justice.” Thus every answer heightened Solon’s fears, and at last, in great distress of soul, he told his name to the stranger and asked him if it was Solon’s son that was dead. 3 The man said it was; whereupon Solon began to beat his head and to do and say everything else that betokens a transport of grief. But Thales took him by the hand and said, with a smile, “This it is, O Solon, which keeps me from marriage and the getting of children; it overwhelms even thee, who art the most stout-hearted of men. But be not dismayed at this story, for it is not true.” Such, at any rate, according to Hermippus, is the story of Pataecus, who used to boast that he had Aesop’s soul.
[Sol. 7.1] 7 1 However, it is irrational and ignoble to renounce the acquisition of what we want for fear of losing it; for on this principle a man cannot be gratified by the possession of wealth, or honour, or wisdom, for fear he may be deprived of them. Indeed, even virtue, the most valuable and pleasing possession in the world, is often banished by sickness and drugs. And Thales himself, though unmarried, was nevertheless not wholly free from apprehension, unless he also avoided having friends, or relations, or country. 2 On the contrary, he had a son by his own adoption, as we are told, Cybisthus, his sister’s son. For the soul has in itself a capacity for affection, and loves just as naturally as it perceives, understands, and remembers. It clothes itself in this capacity, and attaches itself to those who are not akin to it, and just as if it were a house or an estate that lacks lawful heirs, this craving for affection is entered and occupied by alien and illegitimate children, or retainers, who, along with love for them, inspire anxiety and fear in their behalf. 3 So that you will find men of a somewhat rugged nature who argue against marriage and the begetting of children, 82 and then, when children of their servants, or offspring of their concubines fall sick and die, these same men are racked with sorrow and lament abjectly. Some, too, at the death even of dogs and horses, have been plunged into shameful and intolerable grief. But others have borne the loss of noble sons without terrible sorrow or unworthy conduct, and have conformed the rest of their lives to the dictates of reason. 4 For it is weakness, not kindness, that brings men into endless pains and terrors when they are not trained by reason to endure the assaults of fortune. Such men do not even enjoy what they long for when they get it, but are filled with continual pangs, tremors, and struggles by the fear of future loss. However, we must be fortified not by poverty against deprivation of worldly goods, nor by friendlessness against loss of friends, nor by childlessness against death of children, but by reason against all adversities. This, under present circumstances, is more than enough on this head.
[Sol. 8.1] 8 1 Once when the Athenians were tired out with a war which they were waging against the Megarians for the island of Salamis, they made a law that no one in future, on pain of death, should move, in writing or orally, that the city take up its contention for Salamis. Solon could not endure the disgrace of this, and when he saw that many of the young men wanted steps taken to bring on the war, but did not dare to take those steps themselves on account of the law, he pretended to be out of his head, and a report was given to the city by his family that he showed signs of madness. 2 He then secretly composed some elegiac verses, and after rehearsing them so that he could say them by rote, he sallied out into the market-place of a sudden, with a cap upon his head. After a large crowd had collected there, he got upon the herald’s stone and recited the poem which begins: —
[Sol. 8.1b] “Behold in me a herald come from lovely Salamis,
With a song in ordered verse instead of a harangue.”
[Sol. 8.3] 3 This poem is entitled “Salamis,” and contains a hundred very graceful verses. When Solon had sung it, his friends began to praise him, and Peisistratus in particular urged and incited the citizens to obey his words. They therefore repealed the law and renewed the war, putting Solon in command of it.
[Sol. 8.4] 4 The popular account of his campaign is as follows. Having sailed to Cape Colias with Peisistratus, he found all the women of the city there, performing the customary sacrifice to Demeter. He therefore sent a trusty man to Salamis, who pretended to be a deserter, and bade the Megarians, if they wished to capture the principal women of Athens, to sail to Colias with him as fast as they could. The Megarians were persuaded by him, and sent off some men in his ship. 5 But when Solon saw the vessel sailing back from the island, he ordered the women to withdraw, and directed those of the younger men who were still beardless, arraying themselves in the garments, head-bands, and sandals which the women had worn, and carrying concealed daggers, to sport and dance on the sea shore until the enemy had disembarked and the vessel was in their power. 6 This being done as he directed, the Megarians were lured on by what they saw, beached their vessel, and leapt out to attack women, as they supposed, vying with one another in speed. The result was that not a man of them escaped, but all were slain, and the Athenians at once set sail and took possession of the island.
[Sol. 9.1] 9 1 Others, however, say that the island was not taken this way, but that Solon first received this oracle from the god at Delphi: —
[Sol. 9.1b] “The tutelary heroes of the land where once they lived, with sacred rites
Propitiate, whom the Asopian plain now hides in its bosom;
83 There they lie buried with their faces toward the setting sun.”
[Sol. 9.2] Thereupon Solon sailed by night to the island and made sacrifices to the heroes Periphemus and Cychreus. 2 Then he took five hundred Athenian volunteers, a decree having been made that these should be supreme in the government of the island if they took it, and setting sail with a number of fishing boats convoyed by a thirty-oared ship, he anchored off the island of Salamis, at a point of land looking towards Euboea. But the Megarians in the city of Salamis, hearing only an uncertain report of what had happened, armed themselves hurriedly and set out for the place, at the same time dispatching a ship to spy out the enemy. 3 This ship came near and was captured by Solon, who put her crew in confinement. Then he manned her with the best of his Athenians, and ordered them to sail against the city, keeping themselves as much concealed as was feasible. At the same time, with the rest of his Athenians, he engaged the Megarians on land, and while the fight was still raging, the crew of the ship succeeded in capturing the city.
[Sol. 9.4] 4 Now there seems to be a confirmation of this story in certain ceremonies afterwards established. Namely, an Attic ship would approach the island in silence at first, then its crew would make an onset with shouts and cries, and one man in full armour would leap out with a shout of triumph and run to the promontory of Sciradium to inform those who were attacking by land. Hard by that place is the temple of Enyalius which was erected by Solon. For he conquered the Megarians, and all who were not slain in the battle were released on parole.
[Sol. 10.1] 10 1 Notwithstanding all this, the Megarians persisted in their opposition, and both sides inflicted and suffered many injuries in the war, so that finally they made the Lacedaemonians arbiters and judges of the strife. Accordingly, most writers say that the fame of Homer favoured the contention of Solon; for after himself inserting a verse into the Catalogue of Ships, he read the passage at the trial thus: —
[Sol. 10.1b] “Ajax from Salamis brought twelve ships,
And bringing, stationed them near the Athenian hosts.”
[Sol. 10.2] 2 The Athenians themselves, however, think this an idle tale, and say that Solon proved to the judges that Philaeus and Eurysaces, the sons of Ajax, became citizens of Athens, made over their island to them, and took up their residence in Attica, one at Brauron, and the other at Melité; and they have a township named after Philaeus, namely Philaïdae, to which Peisistratus belonged. 3 They say, too, that Solon, wishing to refute the claims of the Megarians still further, made the point that the dead on the island of Salamis were not buried after the Megarian, but after the Athenian fashion. For the Megarians bury their dead facing the east, but the Athenians facing the west. However, Hereas the Megarian denies this, and says that the Megarians also turn the faces of their dead to the west. And what is still more important than this, he says that the Athenians use one tomb for each body, whereas the Megarians (like the early inhabitants of Salamis) place three or four bodies in one tomb. 4 However, they say that Solon was further supported by sundry Pythian oracles, in which the god spoke of Salamis as Ionian. This case was decided by five Spartans, Critolaïdas, Amompharetus, Hypsechidas, Anaxilas, and Cleomenes.
[Sol. 11.1] 11 These events, then, presently made Solon famous and powerful. But he was even more admired and celebrated among the Greeks for what he said in behalf of the temple at Delphi, namely, that the Greeks must come to its relief, and not suffer the people of Cirrha to outrage the oracle, but aid the Delphians in maintaining the honour of the god. For it was by his persuasion that the Amphictyons undertook the war, as Aristotle, among others, testifies, in his list of the victors at the Pythian games, where he ascribes the measure to Solon. 842 He was not, however, appointed general for this war, as Evanthes the Samian says (according to Hermippus), for Aeschines the orator makes no such statement, and in the records of Delphi it is stated that Alcmaeon, and not Solon, commanded the Athenians.
[Sol. 12.1] 12 1 Now the Cylonian pollution had for a long time agitated the city, ever since Megacles the archon had persuaded Cylon and his fellow-conspirators, who had taken sanctuary in the temple of Athena, to come down and stand their trial. They fastened a braided thread to the image of the goddess and kept hold of it, but when they reached the shrine of the Erinyes on their way down, the thread broke of its own accord, upon which Megacles and his fellow-archons rushed to seize them, on the plea that the goddess refused them the rights of suppliants. Those who were outside of sacred precincts were stoned to death, and those who took refuge at the altars were slaughtered there; only those were spared who made supplication to the wives of the archons. 2 Therefore the archons were called polluted men and were held in execration. The survivors of the followers of Cylon also recovered strength, and were forever at variance with the descendants of Megacles. At this particular time the quarrel was at its height and the people divided between the two factions. Solon, therefore, being now in high repute, interposed between them, along with the noblest of the Athenians, and by his entreaties and injunctions persuaded the men who were held to be polluted to submit to a trial, and to abide by the decision of three hundred jurors selected from the nobility. 3 Myron of Phlya conducted the prosecution, and the family of Megacles was found guilty. Those who were alive were banished, and the bodies of the dead were dug up and cast forth beyond the borders of the country. During these disturbances the Megarians also attacked the Athenians, who lost Nisaea, and were driven out of Salamis once more. The city was also visited with superstitious fears and strange appearances, and the seers declared that their sacrifices indicated pollutions and defilements which demanded expiation.
[Sol. 12.4] 4 Under these circumstances they summoned to their aid from Crete Epimenides of Phaestus, who is reckoned as the seventh Wise Man by some of those who refuse Periander a place in the list. He was reputed to be a man beloved of the gods, and endowed with a mystical and heaven-sent wisdom in religious matters. Therefore the men of his time said that he was the son of a nymph named Balte, and called him a new Cures. On coming to Athens he made Solon his friend, assisted him in many ways, and paved the way for his legislation. 5 For he made the Athenians decorous and careful in their religious services, and milder in their rites of mourning, by attaching certain sacrifices immediately to their funeral ceremonies, and by taking away harsh and barbaric practices in which their women had usually indulged up to that time. Most important of all, by sundry rites of propitiation and purification, and by sacred foundations, he hallowed and consecrated the city, and brought it to be observant of justice and more easily inclined to unanimity. It is said that when he had seen Munychia and considered it for some time, he remarked to the bystanders that man was indeed blind to the future; 6 for if the Athenians only knew what mischiefs the place would bring upon their city, they would devour it with their own teeth. A similar insight into futurity is ascribed to Thales. They say that he gave directions for his burial in an obscure and neglected quarter of the city’s territory, predicting that it would one day be the market-place of Miletus. Well then, Epimenides was vastly admired by the Athenians, who offered him much money and large honours; but he asked for nothing more than a branch of the sacred olive-tree, with which he returned home.
[Sol. 13.1] 13 1 But the Athenians, now that the Cylonian disturbance was over and the polluted persons banished, as described, relapsed into their old disputes about the form of government, the city being divided into as many parties as there were diversities in its territory. 85 The Hill-men favoured an extreme democracy; the Plain-men an extreme oligarchy; the Shore-men formed a third party, which preferred an intermediate and mixed form of government, was opposed to the other two, and prevented either from gaining the ascendancy. 2 At that time, too, the disparity between the rich and the poor had culminated, as it were, and the city was in an altogether perilous condition; it seemed as if the only way to settle its disorders and stop its turmoils was to establish a tyranny. All the common people were in debt to the rich. For they either tilled their lands for them, paying them a sixth of the increase (whence they were called Hectemorioi and Thetes), or else they pledged their persons for debts and could be seized by their creditors, some becoming slaves at home, and others being sold into foreign countries. 3 Many, too, were forced to sell their own children (for there was no law against it), or go into exile, because of the cruelty of the money-lenders. But the most and sturdiest of them began to band together and exhort one another not to submit to their wrongs, but to choose a trusty man as their leader, set free the condemned debtors, divide the land anew, and make an entire change in the form of government.
[Sol. 14.1] 14 1 At this point, the wisest of the Athenians cast their eyes upon Solon. They saw that he was the one man least implicated in the errors of the time; that he was neither associated with the rich in their injustice, nor involved in the necessities of the poor. They therefore besought him to come forward publicly and put an end to the prevailing dissensions. And yet Phanias the Lesbian writes that Solon of his own accord played a trick upon both parties in order to save the city, and secretly promised to the poor the distribution of land which they desired, and to the rich, validation of their securities. 2 But Solon himself says that he entered public life reluctantly, and fearing one party’s greed and the other party’s arrogance. However, he was chosen archon to succeed Philombrotus, and made mediator and legislator for the crisis, the rich accepting him readily because he was well-to do, and the poor because he was honest. It is also said that a certain utterance of his which was current before his election, to the effect that equality bred no war, pleased both the men of substance and those who had none; the former expecting to have equality based on worth and excellence, the latter on measure and count. 3 Therefore both parties were in high hopes, and their chief men persistently recommended a tyranny to Solon, and tried to persuade him to seize the city all the more confidently now that he had it completely in his power. Many citizens, too, who belonged to neither party, seeing that it would be a laborious and difficult matter to effect a change by means of argument and law, were not reluctant to have one man, the justest and wisest of all, put at the head of the state. 4 Furthermore, some say that Solon got an oracle at Pytho which ran as follows: —
[Sol. 14.1b] “Take thy seat amidships, the pilot’s task is thine;
Perform it; many in Athens are thine allies.”
[Sol. 14.1c] And above all, his familiar friends chid him for being averse to absolute power because of the name of tyranny, as if the virtues of him who seized it would not at once make it a lawful sovereignty. Euboea (they argued) had formerly found this true of Tynnondas, and so had the Mitylenaeans, now that they had chosen Pittacus to be their tyrant.
[Sol. 14.5] 5 None of these things shook Solon from his resolution. To his friends he said, as we are told, that a tyranny was a lovely place, but there was no way down from it. And in his poems he writes to Phocus: —
[Sol. 14.5b] 86”And if,” he said, “I spared my land,
My native land, and unto tyranny and violence implacable
Did not set hand, polluting and disgracing my fair fame,
I’m not ashamed; in this way rather shall my name be set above
That of all other men.”
[Sol. 14.6] From this it is clear that even before his legislation he was in high repute. 6 And as for the ridicule which many heaped upon him for refusing the tyranny, he has written as follows: —
[Sol. 14.6b] “Solon was a shallow thinker and a man of counsel void;
When the gods would give him blessings, of his own will he refused.
[Sol. 14.6c] When his net was full of fish, amazed, he would not pull it in,
All for lack of spirit, and because he was bereft of sense.
[Sol. 14.6d] I had certainly been willing, for the power, and boundless wealth,
And to be tyrant over Athens no more than a single day,
Then to have a pouch flayed from me, and my lineage blotted out.”
[Sol. 15.1] 15 1 Thus he represents the multitude and men of low degree as speaking of him. However, though he rejected the tyranny, he did not administer affairs in the mildest possible manner, nor in the enactment of his laws did he show a feeble spirit, nor make concessions to the powerful, nor consult the pleasure of his electors. Nay, where a condition was as good as it could well be, he applied no remedy, and introduced no innovation, fearing lest, after utterly confusing and confounding the city, he should be too weak to establish it again and recompose it for the best. 2 But those things wherein he hoped to find them open to persuasion or submissive to compulsion, these he did,
[Sol. 15.1b] “Combining both force and justice together,”
[Sol. 15.1c] as he says himself. Therefore when he was afterwards asked if he had enacted the best laws for the Athenians, he replied, “The best they would receive.”
[Sol. 15.3] Now later writers observe that the ancient Athenians used to cover up the ugliness of things with auspicious and kindly terms, giving them polite and endearing names. 3 Thus they called harlots “companions,” taxes “contributions,” the garrison of a city its “guard,” and the prison a “chamber.” But Solon was the first, it would seem, to use this device, when he called his cancelling of debts a “disburdenment.” For the first of his public measures was an enactment that existing debts should be remitted, and that in future no one should lend money on the person of a borrower. 4 Some writers, however, and Androtion is one of them, affirm that the poor were relieved not by a cancelling of debts, but by a reduction of the interest upon them, and showed their satisfaction by giving the name of “disburdenment” to this act of humanity, and to the augmentation of measures and the purchasing power of money which accompanied it. For he made the mina to consist of a hundred drachmas, which before had contained only seventy-three, so that by paying the same amount of money, but money of lesser value, those who had debts to discharge were greatly benefited, and those who accepted such payments were no losers. 5 But most writers agree that the “disburdenment” was a removal of all debt, and with such the poems of Solon are more in accord. For in these he proudly boasts that from the mortgaged lands
[Sol. 15.3b] “He took away the record-stones that everywhere were planted;
Before, Earth was in bondage, now she is free.”
[Sol. 15.3c] And of the citizens whose persons had been seized for debt, some he brought back from foreign lands,
[Sol. 15.3d] “uttering no longer Attic speech,
So long and far their wretched wanderings;
And some who here at home in shameful servitude
Were held”
he says he set free.
[Sol. 15.6] 6 This undertaking is said to have involved him in the most vexatious experience of his life. For when he had set out to abolish debts, and was trying to find arguments and a suitable occasion for the step, he told some of his most trusted and intimate friends, namely, Conon, Cleinias, and Hipponicus, that he was not going to meddle with the land, but had determined to cancel debts. 87 They immediately took advantage of this confidence and anticipated Solon’s decree by borrowing large sums from the wealthy and buying up great estates. 7 Then, when the decree was published, they enjoyed the use of their properties, but refused to pay the moneys due their creditors. This brought Solon into great condemnation and odium, as if he had not been imposed upon with the rest, but were a party to the imposition. However, this charge was at once dissipated by his well-known sacrifice of five talents. For it was found that he had lent so much, and he was the first to remit this debt in accordance with his law. Some say that the sum was fifteen talents, and among them is Polyzelus the Rhodian. But his friends were ever after called “chreocopidae,” or debt-cutters.
[Sol. 16.1] 16 1 He pleased neither party, however; the rich were vexed because he took away their securities for debt, and the poor still more, because he did not re distribute the land, as they had expected, nor make all men equal and alike in their way of living, as Lycurgus did. But Lycurgus was eleventh in descent from Heracles, and had been king in Lacedaemon for many years. He therefore had great authority, many friends, and power to support his reforms in the commonwealth. He also employed force rather than persuasion, insomuch that he actually lost his eye thereby, and most effectually guaranteed the safety and unanimity of the city by making all its citizens neither poor nor rich. 2 Solon, on the contrary, could not secure this feature in his commonwealth, since he was a man of the people and of modest station; yet he in no wise acted short of his real power, relying as he did only on the wishes of the citizens and their confidence in him. Nevertheless he gave offence to the greater part of them, who expected different results, as he himself says of them in the lines: —
[Sol. 16.1b] “Then they had extravagant thoughts of me, but now, incensed,
All look askance at me, as if I were their foe.”
[Sol. 16.1c] And yet had any other man, he says, acquired the same power,
“He had not held the people down, nor made an end
Until he had confounded all, and skimmed the cream.”
[Sol. 16.3] 3 Soon, however, they perceived the advantages of his measure, ceased from their private fault-finding, and offered a public sacrifice, which they called Seisactheia, or Disburdenment. They also appointed Solon to reform the constitution and make new laws, laying no restrictions whatever upon him, but putting everything into his hands, magistracies, assemblies, court-of law, and councils. He was to fix the property qualification for each of these, their numbers, and their times of meeting, abrogating and maintaining existing institutions at his pleasure.
[Sol. 17.1] 17 1 In the first place, then, he repealed the laws of Draco, all except those concerning homicide, because they were too severe and their penalties too heavy. For one penalty was assigned to almost all transgressions, namely death, so that even those convicted of idleness were put to death, and those who stole salad or fruit received the same punishment as those who committed sacrilege or murder. 2 Therefore Demades, in later times, made a hit when he said that Draco’s laws were written not with ink, but blood. And Draco himself, they say, being asked why he made death the penalty for most offences, replied that in his opinion the lesser ones deserved it, and for the greater ones no heavier penalty could be found.
[Sol. 18.1] 18 1 In the second place, wishing to leave all the magistracies in the hands of the well-to do, as they were, but to give the common people a share in the rest of the government, of which they had hitherto been deprived, Solon made an appraisement of the property of the citizens. Those who enjoyed a yearly increase of five hundred measure (wet and dry), he placed in the first class, and called them Pentakosiomedimnoi; 88 the second class were composed of those who were able to keep a horse, or had a yearly increase of three hundred measures, 2 and they were called Hippada Telountes, since they paid a Knight’s tax; the members of the third class, whose yearly increase amounted to two hundred measures (wet and dry together), were called Zeugitai. All the rest were called Thetes; they were not allowed to hold any office, but took part in the administration only as members of the assembly and as jurors. This last privilege seemed at first of no moment, but afterwards proved to be of the very highest importance, since most disputes finally came into the hands of these jurors. For even in cases which Solon assigned to the magistrates for decision, he allowed also an appeal to a popular court when any one desired it. 3 Besides, it is said that his laws were obscurely and ambiguously worded on purpose to enhance the power of the popular courts. For since parties to a controversy could not get satisfaction from the laws, the result was that they always wanted jurors to decide it, and every dispute was laid before them, so that they were in a manner masters of the laws. 4 And he himself claims the credit for this in the following words: —
[Sol. 18.1b] “For to the common people I gave so much power as is sufficient,
Neither robbing them of dignity, nor giving them too much;
And those who had power, and were marvellously rich,
Even for these I contrived that they suffered no harm.
[Sol. 18.1c] I stood with a mighty shield in front of both classes,
And suffered neither of them to prevail unjustly.”
[Sol. 18.5] 5 Moreover, thinking it his duty to make still further provision for the weakness of the multitude, he gave every citizen the privilege of entering suit in behalf of one who had suffered wrong. If a man was assaulted, and suffered violence or injury, it was the privilege of any one who had the ability and the inclination, to indict the wrong-doer and prosecute him. The law-giver in this way rightly accustomed the citizens, as members of one body, to feel and sympathize with one another’s wrongs. And we are told of a saying of his which is consonant with this law. Being asked, namely, what city was best to live in, “That city,” he replied, “in which those who are not wronged, no less than those who are wronged, exert themselves to punish the wrongdoers.”
[Sol. 19.1] 19 1 After he had established the council of the Areiopagus, consisting of those who had been archons year by year (and he himself was a member of this body, since he had been archon), he observed that the common people were uneasy and bold in consequence of their release from debt, and therefore established another council besides, consisting of four hundred men, one hundred chosen from each of the four tribes. These were to deliberate on public matters before the people did, and were not to allow any matter to come before the popular assembly without such private deliberation. 2 Then he made the upper council a general overseer in the state, and guardian of the laws, thinking that the city with its two councils, riding as it were at double anchor, would be less tossed by the surges, and would keep its populace in greater quiet.
[Sol. 19.3] Now most writers say that the council of the Areiopagus, as I have stated, was established by Solon. And their view seems to be strongly supported by the fact that Draco nowhere makes any mention whatsoever of Areiopagites, but always addresses himself to the “ephetai” in cases of homicide. 3 Yet Solon’s thirteenth table contains the eighth of his laws recorded in these very words: “As many of the disfranchised as were made such before the archonship of Solon, shall be restored to their rights and franchises, except such as were condemned by the Areiopagus, or by the ephetai, or in the prytaneium by the kings, on charges of murder or homicide, or of seeking to establish a tyranny, and were in exile when this law was published.” 4 This surely proves to the contrary that the council of the Areiopagus was in existence before the archonship and legislation of Solon. For how could men have been condemned in the Areiopagus before the time of Solon, if Solon was the first to give the council of the Areiopagus its jurisdiction? 89 Perhaps, indeed, there is some obscurity in the document, or some omission, and the meaning is that those who had been convicted on charges within the cognizance of those who were Areiopagites and ephetai and prytanes when the law was published, should remain disfranchised, while those convicted on all other charges should recover their rights and franchises. This question, however, my reader must decide for himself.
[Sol. 20.1] 20 1 Among his other laws there is a very peculiar and surprising one which ordains that he shall be disfranchised who, in time of faction, takes neither side. He wishes, probably, that a man should not be insensible or indifferent to the common weal, arranging his private affairs securely and glorying in the fact that he has no share in the distempers and distresses of his country, but should rather espouse promptly the better and more righteous cause, share its perils and give it his aid, instead of waiting in safety to see which cause prevails. 2 That law, too, seems absurd and ridiculous, which permits an heiress, in case the man under whose power and authority she is placed by law is himself unable to consort with her, to be married by one of his next of kin. Some, however, say that this was a wise provision against those who are unable to perform the duties of a husband, and yet, for the sake of their property, marry heiresses, and so under cover of law, do violence to nature. For when they see that the heiress can consort with whom she pleases, they will either desist from such a marriage, or make it to their shame, and be punished for their avarice and insolence. 3 It is a wise provision, too, that the heiress may not choose her consort at large, but only from the kinsmen of her husband, that her offspring may be of his family and lineage. Conformable to this, also, is the requirement that the bride eat a quinceb and be shut up in a chamber with the bridegroom; and that the husband of an heiress shall approach her thrice a month without fail. For even though they have no children, still, this is a mark of esteem and affection which a man should pay to a chaste wife; it removes many of the annoyances which develop in all such cases, and prevents their being altogether estranged by their differences.
[Sol. 20.4] 4 In all other marriages he prohibited dowries; the bride was to bring with her three changes of raiment, household stuff of small value, and nothing else. For he did not wish that marriage should be a matter of profit or price, but that man and wife should dwell together for the delights of love and the getting of children. Dionysius, indeed, when his mother asked him to give her in marriage to one of his citizens, said that, although he had broken the laws of the city by being its tyrant, he could not outrage the laws of nature by giving in marriage where age forbade. 5 And so our cities should not allow this irregularity, nor tolerate unions which age forbids and love does not invite, which do not fulfil the function of marriage, and defeat its object. Nay, for an old man who is marrying a young wife, any worthy magistrate or lawgiver might say what is said to Philoctetes:
[Sol. 20.4b] “Indeed, poor wretch, thou art in fine state for marrying!”
[Sol. 20.4c] And if he discovers a young man in the house of a rich and elderly woman, waxing fat, like a cock-partridge, in her service, he will remove him and give him to some marriageable maid that wants a husband. Thus much, then, on this head.
[Sol. 21.1] 21 1 Praise is given also to that law of Solon which forbids speaking ill of the dead. For it is piety to regard the deceased as sacred, justice to spare the absent, and good policy to rob hatred of its perpetuity. He also forbade speaking ill of the living in temples, court-of law, public offices, and at festivals; the transgressor must pay three drachmas to the person injured, and two more into the public treasury. For never to master one’s anger is a mark of intemperance and lack of training; but always to do so is difficult, and for some, impossible. 90 And a law must regard the possibilities in the case, if its maker wishes to punish a few to some purpose, and not many to no purpose.
[Sol. 21.2] 2 He was highly esteemed also for his law concerning wills. Before his time, no will could be made, but the entire estate of the deceased must remain in his family. Whereas he, by permitting a man who had no children to give his property to whom he wished, ranked friendship above kinship, and favour above necessity, and made a man’s possessions his own property. 3 On the other hand, he did not permit all manner of gifts without restriction or restraint, but only those which were not made under the influence of sickness, or drugs, or imprisonment, or when a man was the victim of compulsion or yielded to the persuasions of his wife. He thought, very rightly and properly, that being persuaded into wrong was no better than being forced into it, and he placed deceit and compulsion, gratification and affliction, in one and the same category, believing that both were alike able to pervert a man’s reason.
[Sol. 21.4] 4 He also subjected the public appearances of the women, their mourning and their festivals, to a law which did away with disorder and licence. When they went out, they were not to wear more than three garments, they were not to carry more than an obol’s worth of food or drink, nor a pannier more than a cubit high, and they were not to travel about by night unless they rode in a waggon with a lamp to light their way. Laceration of the flesh by mourners, and the use of set lamentations, and the bewailing of any one at the funeral ceremonies of another, he forbade. 5 The sacrifice of an ox at the grave was not permitted, nor the burial with the dead of more than three changes of raiment, nor the visiting of other tombs than those of their own family, except at the time of interment. Most of these practices are also forbidden by our laws, but ours contain the additional proviso that such offenders shall be punished by the board of censors for women, because they indulge in unmanly and effeminate extravagances of sorrow when they mourn.
[Sol. 22.1] 22 1 Observing that the city was getting full of people who were constantly streaming into Attica from all quarters for greater security of living, and that most of the country was unfruitful and worthless, and that seafaring men are not wont to import goods for those who have nothing to give them in exchange, he turned the attention of the citizens to the arts of manufacture, and enacted a law that no son who had not been taught a trade should be compelled to support his father. 2 It was well enough for Lycurgus, whose city was free from swarms of strangers, and whose country was, in the words of Euripides,
[Sol. 22.1b] “For many large, for twice as many more than large,”
[Sol. 22.3] and because, above all, that country was flooded with a multitude of Helots, whom it was better not to leave in idleness, but to keep down by continual hardships and toil, — it was well enough for him to set his citizens free from laborious and mechanical occupations and confine their thoughts to arms, giving them this one trade to learn and practice. 3 But Solon, adapting his laws to the situation, rather than the situation to his laws, and observing that the land could give but a mere subsistence to those who tilled it, and was incapable of supporting an unoccupied and leisured multitude, gave dignity to all the trades, and ordered the council of the Areiopagus to examine into every man’s means of livelihood, and chastise those who had no occupation.
[Sol. 22.4] 4 But that provision of his was yet more severe, which, as Heracleides Ponticus informs us, relieved the sons who were born out of wedlock from the necessity of supporting their fathers at all. For he that avoids the honourable state of marriage, clearly takes a woman to himself not for the sake of children, but of pleasure; and he has his reward, in that he robs himself of all right to upbraid his sons for neglecting him, since he has made their very existence a reproach to them.
[Sol. 23.1] 23 1 But in general, Solon’s laws concerning women seem very absurd. For instance, he permitted an adulterer caught in the act to be killed; but if a man committed rape upon a free woman, he was merely to be fined a hundred drachmas; and if he gained his end by persuasion, twenty drachmas, 91 unless it were with one of those who sell themselves openly, meaning of course the courtesans. For these go openly to those who offer them their price. 2 Still further, no man is allowed to sell a daughter or a sister, unless he find that she is no longer a virgin. But to punish the same offence now severely and inexorably, and now mildly and pleasantly, making the penalty a slight fine, is unreasonable; unless money was scarce in the city at that time, and the difficulty of procuring it made these monetary punishments heavy.3 In the valuations of sacrificial offerings, at any rate, a sheep and a bushel of grain are reckoned at a drachma; the victor in the Isthmian games was to be paid a hundred drachmas, and the Olympic victor five hundred; the man who brought in a wolf, was given five drachmas, and for a wolf’s whelp, one; the former sum, according to Demetrius the Phalerian, was the price of an ox, the latter that of a sheep. For although the prices which Solon fixes in his sixteenth table are for choice victims, and naturally many times as great as those for ordinary ones, still, even these are low in comparison with present prices. 4 Now the Athenians were from of old great enemies of wolves, since their country was better for pasturage than for tillage. And there are those who say that their four tribes were originally named, not from the sons of Ion, but from the classes into which the occupations were divided; thus the warriors were called Hoplitai, the craftsmen Ergadeis; and of the remaining two, the farmers were called Geleontes, the shepherds and herdsmen Aigikoreis.
[Sol. 23.5] 5 Since the country was not supplied with water by ever-flowing rivers, or lakes, or copious springs, but most of the inhabitants used wells which had been dug, he made a law that where there was a public well within a “hippikon,” a distance of four furlongs, that should be used, but where the distance was greater than this, people must try to get water of their own; if, however, after digging to a depth of ten fathoms on their own land, they could not get water, then they might take it from a neighbour’s well, filling a five-gallon jar twice a day; for he thought it his duty to aid the needy, not to provision the idle. 6 He also showed great experience in the limits which he set to the planting of trees; no one could set out a tree in a field within five feet of his neighbour’s field, or, in case it was a fig-tree or an olive-tree, within nine. For these reach out farther with their roots, and injure some trees by their proximity, taking away their nourishment, and emitting an exhalation which is sometimes noxious. He that would dig a pit or a trench, must dig it at the distance of its own depth from his neighbor’s; and he that would set out hives of bees, must put them three hundred feet away from those which another had already installed.
[Sol. 24.1] 24 1 Of the products of the soil, he allowed oil only to be sold abroad, but forbade the exportation of others; and if any did so export, the archon was to pronounce curses upon them, or else himself pay a hundred drachmas into the public treasury. One cannot, therefore, wholly disbelieve those who say that the exportation of figs was anciently forbidden, and that the one who showed up, or pointed out such exporters, was called a “sycophant,” or fig-shower. He also enacted a law concerning injuries received from beasts, according to which a dog that had bitten anybody must be delivered up with a wooden collar three cubits long fastened to it; a happy device this for promoting safety.
[Sol. 24.2] 2 But the law concerning naturalized citizens is of doubtful character. He permitted only those to be made citizens who were permanently exiled from their own country, or who removed to Athens with their entire families to ply a trade. 92 This he did, as we are told, not so much to drive away other foreigners, as to invite these particular ones to Athens with the full assurance of becoming citizens; he also thought that reliance could be placed both on those who had been forced to abandon their own country, and on those who had left it with a fixed purpose. 3 Characteristic of Solon also was his regulation of the practice of eating at the public table in the townhall, for which his word was “parasitein.” The same person was not allowed to eat there often, but if one whose duty it was to eat there refused, he was punished. Solon thought the conduct of the first grasping; that of the second, contemptuous of the public interests.
[Sol. 25.1] 25 1 All his laws were to have force for a hundred years, and they were written on “axones,” or wooden tablets, which revolved with the oblong frames containing them. Slight remnants of these were still preserved in the Prytaneium when I was at Athens, and they were called, according to Aristotle, “kyrbeis.” Cratinus, also, the comic poet, somewhere says: —
[Sol. 25.1b] “By Solon, and by Draco too I make mine oath,
Whose kyrbeis now are used to parch our barleycorns.”
[Sol. 25.2] 2 But some say that only those tablets which relate to sacred rites and sacrifices are properly called “kyrbeis,” and the rest are called “axones.” However that may be, the council took a joint oath to ratify the laws of Solon, and each of the “thesmothetai,” or guards of the statutes, swore separately at the herald’s stone in the market-place, vowing that if he transgressed the statutes in any way, he would dedicate at Delphi a golden statue of commensurate worth.
[Sol. 25.3] 3 Observing the irregularity of the month, and that the motion of the moon does not always coincide with the rising and setting of the sun, but that often she overtakes and passes the sun on the same day, he ordered that day to be called the Old and New, assigning the portion of it which preceded the conjunction to the expiring month, and the remaining portion to the month that was just beginning. He was thus the first, as it would seem, to understand Homer’s verse, which speaks of a day when
[Sol. 25.3b] “This month is waning, and the next is setting in,”
[Sol. 25.3c] and the day following this he called the first of the month. After the twentieth he did not count the days by adding them to twenty, but by subtracting them from thirty, on a descending scale, like the waning of the moon.
[Sol. 25.4] 4 No sooner were the laws of Solon put into operation than some would come to him every day with praise or censure of them, or with advice to insert something into the documents, or take something out. Very numerous, too, were those who came to him with inquiries and questions about them, urging him to teach and make clear to them the meaning and purpose of each several item. 5 He saw that to do this was out of the question, and that not to do it would bring odium upon him, and wishing to be wholly rid of these perplexities and to escape from the captiousness and censoriousness of the citizens (for “in great affairs,” as he says himself, “it is difficult to please all”), he made his ownership of a vessel an excuse for foreign travel, and set sail, after obtaining from the Athenians leave of absence for ten years. In this time he hoped they would be accustomed to his laws.
[Sol. 26.1] 26 1 In the first place, then, he went to Egypt, and lived, as he himself says,
[Sol. 26.1b] “Where Nile pours forth his floods, near the Canobic shore.”
[Sol. 26.2] He also spent some time in studies with Psenophis of Heliopolis and Sonchis of Saïs, who were very learned priests. From these, as Plato says, he heard the story of the lost Atlantis, and tried to introduce it in a poetical form to the Greeks. 2 Next he sailed to Cyprus, and was greatly beloved of Philocyprus, one of the kings of the island. This prince had a small city, founded by Demophon, the son of Theseus, and lying near the river Clarius, in a position which was strong, but otherwise incommodious and sorry. 93 Solon therefore persuaded him to remove the city to the fair plain which lay below it, and make it more spacious and pleasant. 3 He also remained and took charge of the new city’s consolidation, and helped to arrange it in the best possible manner both for convenience of living and for safety. The result was that many colonists flocked to Philocyprus, and he was the envy of the other kings. He therefore paid Solon the honour of naming the new city after him, and called it Soli; its name had been Aipeia. 4 Solon himself also makes mention of this consolidation. In his elegies, namely, he addressed Philocyprus, and says: —
[Sol. 26.2b] “Now mayest thou long time be lord and master of the Solii here,
Dwelling in this city thyself, and thy family after thee;
But may I and my swift ship, as we leave this storied isle,
Be brought upon our way in safety by Cypris of the violet crown.
[Sol. 26.2c] Upon this settlement of thine may she bestow favour and glory;
And upon me an auspicious return to my fatherland.”
[Sol. 27.1] 27 1 As for his interview with Croesus, some think to prove by chronology that it is fictitious. But when a story is so famous and so well-attested, and, what is more to the point, when it comports so well with the character of Solon, and is so worthy of his magnanimity and wisdom, I do not propose to reject it out of deference to any chronological canons, so called, which thousands are to this day revising, without being able to bring their contradictions into any general agreement. 2 So then, they say that Solon, on visiting Sardis at the invitation of Croesus, had much the same experience as an inland man who goes down for the first time to the sea. For just as such a man thinks each successive river that he sees to be the sea, so Solon, as he passed through the court and beheld many of the king’s retainers in costly apparel and moving proudly amid a throng of courtiers and armed guards, thought each in turn to be Croesus, until he was brought to the king himself, who was decked out with everything in the way of precious stones, dyed raiment, and wrought gold that men deem remarkable, or extravagant, or enviable, in order that he might present a most august and gorgeous spectacle. 3 But when Solon, in this presence, neither showed any astonishment at what he saw, nor made any such comments upon it as Croesus had expected, but actually made it clear to all discerning eyes that he despised such vulgarity and pettiness, the king ordered his treasure chambers to be thrown open for the guest, and that he should be led about to behold the rest of his sumptuous equipment.
[Sol. 27.4] Of this there was no need, for the man himself sufficed to give Solon an understanding of his character. 4 However, when Solon had seen everything and had been conducted back again, Croesus asked him if he had ever known a happier man than he. Solon said he had, and that the man was Tellus, a fellow-citizen of his own; Tellus, he went on to say, had proved himself an honest man, had left reputable sons behind him, and had closed a life which knew no serious want with a glorious display of valour in behalf of his country. Croesus at once judged Solon to be a strange and uncouth fellow, since he did not make an abundance of gold and silver his measure of happiness, but admired the life and death of an ordinary private man more than all this display of power and sovereignty. 5 Notwithstanding, he asked him again whether, next to Tellus, he knew any other man more fortunate than he.
[Sol. 27.6] Again Solon said he did, naming Cleobis and Bito, men surpassing all others in brotherly love and in dutiful affection towards their mother; 94 for once, he said, when the car in which she was riding was delayed by the oxen, they took the yoke upon their own shoulders and brought their mother to the temple of Hera, where her countrymen called her a happy woman and her heart was rejoiced; then, after sacrifice and feasting, they laid themselves to rest, and never rose again, but were found to have died a painless and tranquil death with so great honour fresh upon them. 6 “What!” said Croesus, who by this time was angered, “dost thou not count us among happy men at all?” Then Solon, who was unwilling to flatter him and did not wish to exasperate him further, said: “O king of Lydia, as the Deity has given us Greeks all other blessings in moderation, so our moderation gives us a kind of wisdom which is timid, in all likelihood, and fit for common people, not one which is kingly and splendid.
[Sol. 27.7] This wisdom, such as it is, observing that human life is ever subject to all sorts of vicissitudes, forbids us to be puffed up by the good things we have, or to admire a man’s felicity while there is still time for it to change. 7 For the future which is advancing upon every one is varied and uncertain, but when the Deity bestows prosperity on a man up to the end, that man we consider happy; to pronounce any one happy, however, while he is still living and running the risks of life, is like proclaiming an athlete victorious and crowning him while he is still contending for the prize; the verdict is insecure and without authority.” When he had said this, Solon departed, leaving Croesus vexed, but none the wiser for it.
[Sol. 28.1] 28 1 Now it so happened that Aesop, the writer of fables, was in Sardis, having been summoned thither by Croesus, and receiving much honour at his hands. He was distressed that Solon met with no kindly treatment, and said to him by way of advice: “O Solon, our converse with kings should be either as rare, or as pleasing as is possible.” “No indeed!” said Solon, “but either as rare or as beneficial as possible.”
[Sol. 28.2] 2 At this time, then, Croesus held Solon in a contempt like this; but afterwards he encountered Cyrus, was defeated in battle, lost his city, was taken alive and condemned to be burnt; and then, as he lay bound upon the pyre in the sight of all the Persians and of Cyrus himself, with all the reach and power of which his voice was capable, he called out thrice: “O Solon!” Cyrus, then, astonished at this, sent men to ask him what man or god this Solon was on whom alone he called in his extremity. 3 And Croesus, without any concealment, said: “This man was one of the sages of Greece, and I sent for him, not with any desire to hear or learn the things of which I stood in need, but in order that he might behold, and, when he left me, bear testimony to the happiness I then enjoyed, the loss of which I now see to be a greater evil than its possession was a good. For when it was mine, the good I derived from it was matter of report and men’s opinion, but its departure from me issues in terrible sufferings and irreparable calamities which are real. 4 And that man, conjecturing this future from what he then saw, bade me look to the end of my life, and not let insecure conjectures embolden me to be proud and insolent.” When this was reported to Cyrus, since he was a wiser man than Croesus, and saw the word of Solon confirmed in the example before him, he not only released Croesus, but actually held him in honour as long as he lived. And thus Solon had the reputation of saving one king and instructing another by means of a single saying.
[Sol. 29.1] 29 1 But the people of Athens were again divided into factions while Solon was away. The Plain-men were headed by Lycurgus; the Shore-men by Megacles the son of Alcmaeon, and the Hill-men by Peisistratus. Among the last was the multitude of Thetes, who were the bitter enemies of the rich. As a consequence, though the city still observed the new laws, yet all were already expecting a revolution and desirous of a different form of government, not in hopes of an equality, but each party thinking to be bettered by the change, and to get the entire mastery of its opponents. 2 Such was the state of affairs when Solon returned to Athens. 95 He was revered and honoured by all, but owing to his years he no longer had the strength or the ardour to speak and act in public as before. He did, however, confer privately with the chiefs of the opposing factions, endeavouring to reconcile and harmonize them, and Peisistratus seemed to pay him more heed than the others. For Peisistratus had an insinuating and agreeable quality in his address, he was ready to help the poor, and was reasonable and moderate in his enmities. 3 Even those virtues which nature had denied him were imitated by him so successfully that he won more confidence than those who actually possessed them. He was thought to be a cautious and order-loving man, one that prized equality above all things, and would take it ill if any one disturbed the existing order and attempted a change. On these points, indeed, he completely deceived most people. But Solon quickly detected his real character, and was the first to perceive his secret designs. He did not, however, treat him as an enemy, but tried to soften and mould him by his instructions. He actually said to him and to others that if the desire for pre-eminence could but be banished from his soul, and his eager passion for the tyranny be cured, no other man would be more naturally disposed to virtue, or a better citizen.
[Sol. 29.4] 4 Thespis was now beginning to develop tragedy, and the attempt attracted most people because of its novelty, although it was not yet made a matter of competitive contest. Solon, therefore, who was naturally fond of hearing and learning anything new, and who in his old age more than ever before indulged himself in leisurely amusement, yes, and in wine and song, went to see Thespis act in his own play, as the custom of the ancient poets was. 5 After the spectacle, he accosted Thespis, and asked him if he was not ashamed to tell such lies in the presence of so many people. Thespis answered that there was no harm in talking and acting that way in play, whereupon Solon smote the ground sharply with his staff and said: “Soon, however, if we give play of this sort much praise and honour, we shall find it in our solemn contracts.”
[Sol. 30.1] 30 1 Now when Peisistratus, after inflicting a wound upon himself, came into the market-place riding in a chariot, and tried to exasperate the populace with the charge that his enemies had plotted against his life on account of his political opinions, and many of them greeted the charge with angry cries, Solon drew near and accosted him, saying: “O son of Hippocrates, thou art playing the Homeric Odysseus badly; for when he disfigured himself it was to deceive his enemies, but thou doest it to mislead thy fellow-citizens.” 2 After this the multitude was ready to fight for Peisistratus, and a general assembly of the people was held. Here Ariston made a motion that Peisistratus be allowed a body-guard of fifty club-bearers, but Solon formally opposed it, and said many things which were like what he has written in his poems: —
[Sol. 30.1b] “Ye have regard indeed to the speech and words of a wily man.
[Sol. 30.1c] Yet every one of you walks with the steps of a fox,
And in you all dwells an empty mind.”
[Sol. 30.3] 3 But when he saw that the poor were tumultuously bent on gratifying Peisistratus, while the rich were fearfully slinking away from any conflict with him, he left the assembly, saying that he was wiser than the one party, and braver than the other; wiser than those who did not understand what was being done, and braver than those who, though they understood it, were nevertheless afraid to oppose the tyranny. So the people passed the decree, and then held Peisistratus to no strict account of the number of his club-bearers, but suffered him to keep and lead about in public as many as he wished, until at last he seized the acropolis.
[Sol. 30.4] 4 When this had been done, and the city was in an uproar, Megacles straightway fled, with the rest of the Alcmaeonidae. 96 But Solon, although he was now a very old man, and had none to support him, went nevertheless into the market-place and reasoned with the citizens, partly blaming their folly and weakness, and partly encouraging them still and exhorting them not to abandon their liberty. 5 Then it was, too, that he uttered the famous saying, that earlier it had been easier for them to hinder the tyranny, while it was in preparation; but now it was a greater and more glorious task to uproot and destroy it when it had been already planted and was grown. No one had the courage to side with him, however, and so he retired to his own house, took his arms, and placed them in the street in front of his door, saying: “I have done all I can to help my country and its laws.” 6 From that time on he lived in quiet retirement, and when his friends urged him to fly, he paid no heed to them, but kept on writing poems, in which he heaped reproaches on the Athenians: —
[Sol. 30.4b] “If now ye suffer grievously through cowardice all your own,
Cherish no wrath against the gods for this,
For you yourselves increased the usurper’s power by giving him a guard,
And therefore are ye now in base subjection.”
[Sol. 31.1] 31 1 In view of this, many warned him that the tyrant would put him to death, and asked him on what he relied that he was so lost to all sense, to which he answered, “My old age.” However, when Peisistratus had become master of the situation, he paid such court to Solon by honouring him, showing him kindness, and inviting him to his palace, that Solon actually became his counsellor and approved of many of his acts. For he retained most of Solon’s laws, observing them first himself, and compelling his friends to do so. 2 For instance, he was summoned before the Areiopagus on a charge of murder, when he was already tyrant, and presented himself there to make his defence in due form, but his accuser did not put in an appearance. He also made other laws himself, one of which provides that those who are maimed in war shall be maintained at the public charge. But Heracleides says that even before that Solon had caused a decree to be passed to this effect in the case of Thersippus, who had been so maimed, and that Peisistratus was following his example. Moreover, Theophrastus writes that the law against idleness, in consequence of which the country became more productive and the city more tranquil, was not made by Solon, but by Peisistratus.
[Sol. 31.3] 3 Now Solon, after beginning his great work on the story or fable of the lost Atlantis, which, as he had heard from the learned men of Saïs, particularly concerned the Athenians, abandoned it, not for lack of leisure, as Plato says, but rather because of his old age, fearing the magnitude of the task. For that he had abundant leisure, such verses as these testify: —
[Sol. 31.3b] “But I grow old ever learning many things;”
and again,
“But now the works of the Cyprus-born goddess are dear to my soul,
Of Dionysus, too, and the Muses, which impart delights to men.”
[Sol. 32.1] 32 1 Plato, ambitious to elaborate and adorn the subject of the lost Atlantis, as if it were the soil of a fair estate unoccupied, but appropriately his by virtue of some kinship with Solon, began the work by laying out great porches, enclosures, and courtyards, such as no story, tale, or poesy ever had before. 2 But he was late in beginning, and ended his life before his work. Therefore the greater our delight in what he actually wrote, the greater is our distress in view of what he left undone. For as the Olympieium in the city of Athens, so the tale of the lost Atlantis in the wisdom of Plato is the only one among many beautiful works to remain unfinished.
[Sol. 32.3] 3 Well, then, Solon lived on after Peisistratus had made himself tyrant, as Heracleides Ponticus states, a long time; but as Phanias of Eresos says, less than two years. 97 For it was in the archonship of Comeas that Peisistratus began his tyranny, and Phanias says that Solon died in the archonship of Hegestratus, the successor of Comeas. 4 The story that his body was burned and his ashes scattered on the island of Salamis is strange enough to be altogether incredible and fabulous, and yet it is given by noteworthy authors, and even by Aristotle the philosopher.

## Publicola

[Publ. 1.1] 1 1 SUCH was Solon, and with him we compare Publicola, to whom the Roman people gave this surname later as a mark of honour. Before that he was called Publius Valerius, and was reputed to be a descendant of that ancient Valerius who was most instrumental in making the Romans and the Sabines one people instead of enemies; for it was he more than anyone else that persuaded their kings to come together, and settled their differences. 2 Such being his lineage, Valerius, as we are told, while Rome was still a kingdom, was conspicuous for his eloquence and wealth, always employing the one with integrity and boldness in the service of justice, while with the other he gave liberal and kindly aid to the poor and needy. It was therefore clear that, should Rome become a democracy, he would at once be one of its foremost men.
[Publ. 1.3] 3 Now Tarquinius Superbus had not acquired this power honourably, but by the violation of divine and human laws; nor did he exercise it in kingly fashion, but after the manner of an insolent and haughty tyrant. The people therefore hated him, resented his oppressions, and found occasion for revolt in the fate of Lucretia, who made away with herself after violence had been done to her. Lucius Brutus, engaging in the revolution, came to Valerius first of all, and with his most zealous assistance drove out the kings. Then, as long as the people was likely to elect one man as their commander in place of the king, 4 Valerius acquiesced, thinking it more fitting that Brutus should have the office, because he had led the way to freedom. But the very name of monarchy was odious to the people, who thought that it would be less vexatious to submit to an authority which was divided, and therefore proposed and demanded that two men should be elected to the highest office. 5 Then Valerius, who hoped that he would be chosen next to Brutus, and would be consul with him, was disappointed. For against the wishes of Brutus, Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia, was elected as his colleague, instead of Valerius. He was a man of no greater excellence than Valerius, but the influential citizens were afraid of the kings, who were still putting forth many efforts outside, and trying to appease resentment inside the city, and they therefore desired to have as their commander the most pronounced enemy of the royal family, believing that he would make no concessions to them.
[Publ. 2.1] 2 1 Valerius, accordingly, vexed that his desire to do his utmost for his country should be doubted, merely because he had received no private injury at the hands of the tyrants, withdrew from the senate, gave up his practice as an advocate, and abandoned entirely his public activities. This caused anxious remark among the multitude. They feared lest, in his wrath, he should attach himself to the royal exiles, and subvert the established order of the city, which was in a dangerous pass. 2 But when Brutus, who had his suspicions of certain others also, desired the senators to take a sacrificial oath, and set a day for the ceremony, Valerius went down with a glad countenance into the forum, and was the first to take oath that he would make no submission or concession to the Tarquins, but would fight with all his might in defence of freedom. This pleased the senate and inspired the consuls with courage. And his actions speedily confirmed his oath. 3 For envoys came from Tarquin bringing letters calculated to seduce the people, and specious words by which they thought the multitude were most likely to be corrupted, coming as they did from a king who seemed to have humbled himself, and to ask only moderate terms. These envoys the consuls thought should be brought before the assembled people, but Valerius would not suffer it. He was unalterably opposed to giving poor men, who considered war a greater burden than tyranny, occasions and excuses for revolution.
[Publ. 3.1] 3 1 After this, other envoys came announcing that Tarquin abdicated his throne and ceased to wage war upon the city, but demanded for himself, his friends, and his kinsmen, their moneys and effects, wherewith to maintain themselves in exile. Many were inclined to grant this favour, and Collatinus in particular joined in advocating it, but Brutus, a man of harsh and unyielding temper, ran forth into the forum and denounced his colleague as a traitor, because he would bestow the means for waging war and maintaining tyranny on men to whom it were a terrible mistake to vote even a bare subsistence in exile. 2 And when an assembly of the citizens was held, the first to speak among them was Caius Minucius, a private man, who exhorted Brutus and advised the Romans to see to it that the treasures fought with them against the tyrants, rather than with the tyrants against them. However, the Romans decided that, since they had the liberty for which they were at war, they would not sacrifice peace for the sake of wealth, but cast this also out along with the tyrants.
[Publ. 3.3] Now the wealth, of course, was of very slight consequence to Tarquin, but the demand for it was at once a test of the people’s disposition and a means of instigating treachery among them. 3 And it was with this that the envoys busied themselves, making the property merely a pretext for remaining in the city, and saying that they were selling part of it, and reserving part, and sending part of it away. At last they succeeded in corrupting two of the noble families of Rome, that of the Aquillii, which had three senators, and that of the Vitellii, which had two. All these, by the mother’s side, were nephews of Collatinus the consul, and besides, the Vitellii were related in another manner to Brutus. For Brutus had married a sister of theirs, and she had borne him several sons. 4 Two of these, who had come to manhood, and were their near kindred and close companions, the Vitellii won over and persuaded to join the plot for betraying the city, to ally themselves with the great family and the royal expectations of the Tarquins, and rid themselves of the stupidity and cruelty of their father. For they gave the name of cruelty to that father’s inexorable treatment of criminals, and as for his stupidity, he had for a long time, as it appears, feigned and assumed this, to insure his safety from the cruel designs of the tyrants, and afterwards the surname of Brutus, which had been given him for it, clung to him.
[Publ. 4.1] 4 1 When, accordingly, the youths had been persuaded and held conference with the Aquillii, it was decided that all the conspirators should swear a great and dreadful oath, pouring in libation the blood of a slain man, and touching his entrails. For this purpose they met at the house of the Aquillii. Now the room in which the ceremony was to be held was, as was natural, dark and somewhat desolate. Without their knowing it, therefore, a slave named Vindicius had concealed himself therein, not with design, or with any inkling of what was to happen there; 2 he merely chanced to be there, and when they came in with anxious haste, he was afraid to be seen by them, and hid himself behind a chest that lay there, so that he saw what they did, and heard what they resolved upon. Their decision was to kill the consuls, and when they had written letters to Tarquin to this effect, they gave them to his envoys, who were living there as guests of the Aquilii, and were then present at the conspiracy.
[Publ. 4.3] 3 Their business transacted, the conspirators departed, and then Vindicius stole secretly away from the house. He knew not what use to make of what had befallen him, but was at a loss, considering it a dreadful thing, as it really was, to arraign the sons of Brutus before their father, or the nephews of Collatinus before their uncle, on the most abominable charges, and yet believing that no Roman in a private station could be entrusted with such important secrets. 4 The last thing that he could do, however, was to hold his peace, and driven on by his knowledge of the affair, he made his way somehow to Valerius, attracted especially by the affable and kindly ways of the man. For he was easily accessible to all the needy, always kept open house, and never refused to hear or help one of the lowly.
[Publ. 5.1] 5 1 Accordingly, when Vindicius came to him and told him the whole story, in the presence of his brother Marcus only, and of his wife, Valerius was struck with consternation and fear, and would not now let the man go, but shut him up in a room and set his own wife to guard the door. Then he ordered his brother to surround the royal residence, seize the letters, if possible, and take the servants into custody. He himself, with the numerous clients and friends who were always about him, and with a large company of retainers, went to the house of the Aquillii, who were not at home. 2 Therefore, to the surprise of everybody, he forced the door, and came upon the letters lying in the quarters where the envoys were lodging. Meantime the Aquillii came up in hot haste, joined battle at the door, and sought to take away the letters. But Valerius and his party resisted the attack, threw their togas about their opponents’ necks, and after much struggling on both sides, at last succeeded in pushing them through the streets into the forum. The same success was had at the royal residence, where Marcus laid hands on other letters which were to be conveyed away in the baggage, seized as many of the king’s people as he could, and haled them to the forum.
[Publ. 6.1] 6 1 When the consuls had quieted the tumult, Valerius ordered Vindicius to be brought from his house, the denunciation was made, the letters were read aloud, and the accused had no courage to reply. Most of the people held their peace for very sorrow, but a few spoke of exile as a penalty, wishing to do Brutus a kindness. They were also somewhat encouraged to hope by the tears of Collatinus and the silence of Valerius. But Brutus, calling each of his sons by name, said: “Come, Titus, come Tiberius, why do ye not defend yourselves against this denunciation?” 2 But when they made no answer, though he put his question to them thrice, he turned to the lictors and said: “It is yours now to do the rest.” These straightway seized the young men, tore off their togas, bound their hands behind their backs, and scourged their bodies with their rods. 3 The rest could not endure to look upon the sight, but it is said that the father neither turned his gaze away, nor allowed any pity to soften the stern wrath that sat upon his countenance, but watched the dreadful punishment of his sons until the lictors threw them on the ground and cut off their heads with the axe. Then he rose and went away, after committing the other culprits to the judgement of his colleague. He had done a deed which it is difficult for one either to praise or blame sufficiently. 4 For either the loftiness of his virtue made his spirit incapable of suffering, or else the magnitude of his suffering made it insensible to pain. In neither case was his act a trivial one, or natural to a man, but either god-like or brutish. However, it is right that our verdict should accord with the reputation of the man, rather than that his virtue should be discredited through weakness in the judge. For the Romans think that the work of Romulus in building the city was not so great as that of Brutus in founding and establishing its form of government.
[Publ. 7.1] 7 1 After Brutus had left the forum at this time, for a long while consternation, horror, and silence prevailed among all who remained, as they thought of what had been done. But soon the weakness and hesitation of Collatinus gave the Aquillii fresh courage; they demanded time in which to make their defence, and the surrender of Vindicius to them, since he was their slave, and ought not to be in the hands of their accusers. 2 Collatinus was willing to grant this request, and was about to dissolve the assembly with this understanding; but Valerius was neither able to surrender the slave, who had mingled with the throng about him, nor would he suffer the people to release the traitors and withdraw. So at last he seized the persons of the Aquillii and summoned Brutus to the scene, crying aloud that Collatinus was acting shamefully in laying upon his colleague the necessity of killing his own sons, and then thinking it necessary for himself to bestow upon their wives the lives of his country’s betrayers and foes. 3 The consul was indignant at this, and ordered that Vindicius should be taken away, whereupon the lictors pushed their way through the crowd, seized the man, and beat those who tried to rescue him. Then Valerius and his friends stood forth in the man’s defence, while the people shouted for Brutus to come. He turned back, therefore, and came, and when silence had been made for him, said that for his sons, he himself sufficed as judge, but he would leave the fate of the other traitors to the votes of the citizens, who were free, and any one who wished might speak and try to persuade the people. However, by this time there was no need of oratory, but a vote was taken which unanimously condemned the men, and they were beheaded.
[Publ. 7.4] 4 Collatinus, as it would seem, was already under some suspicion on account of his relationship to the royal family, and the second of his names also was hateful to the people, who loathed the sound of Tarquin. But after these recent events, he saw that he was altogether obnoxious, and withdrew secretly from the city. A new election was consequently held, and Valerius was triumphantly declared consul, thus receiving a worthy reward for his zeal. 5 In this reward he thought that Vindicius ought to share, and therefore had a decree passed which made him, first of all freedmen, a citizen of Rome, and entitled him to vote with any curia in which he chose to be enrolled. Other freedmen received the right of suffrage in much later times from Appius, who thus courted popularity. And from this Vindicius, as they say, a perfect manumission is to this day called “vindicta.”
[Publ. 8.1] 8 1 After this, the property of the royal family was given to the Romans to plunder, and their house and palace were razed to the ground. But the pleasantest part of the field of Mars, which had belonged to Tarquin, was dedicated to that god. Now it chanced that it had just been reaped, and the grain still lay upon the ground; but since the field had been consecrated, they thought it not right to thresh it or use it in any way. They therefore with one accord carried the sheaves to the river and cast them in. 2 In like manner also they cast in the trees which had been cut, and left the place wholly untilled and barren for the god of war. The quantities of stuff thus heaped together were not borne along by the current very far, but the advanced portions stopped and accumulated at the shallows which they encountered. The portions that followed these could not get through them, but impinged upon them and blended inextricably with them, and the aggregation was made increasingly firm and fast by the action of the stream. 3 For this brought along great quantities of mud, the addition of which increased the size and cohesion of the mass. And besides, the impacts of the current were not rude, but with a gentle pressure pushed and moulded everything together. Owing to its size and position the mass acquired fresh size, and an extent sufficient to receive most of what was brought down by the river. It is now a sacred island over against the city, containing temples of the gods and covered walks, and is called in the Latin tongue “Inter duos pontes.”
[Publ. 8.4] 4 Some, however, say that this did not happen when the field of Tarquin was consecrated, but in later times, when Tarquinia devoted another field adjacent to this. Now Tarquinia was a holy virgin, one of the Vestals, and received great honours for this act, among which was this, that of all women her testimony alone be received. The people also voted her permission to marry, but she did not avail herself of it. This is how the thing happened, as the tale runs.
[Publ. 9.1] 9 1 But Tarquin, despairing of attempts to regain his throne by treachery, was eagerly welcomed by the Tuscans, who set out to restore him with a great force. The consuls led the Romans out to meet them, and arrayed their forces in certain sacred precincts, one of which was called the Arsian grove, the other the Aesuvian meadow. When the engagement began, Aruns the son of Tarquin and Brutus the Roman consul encountered each other. It was not by chance, but both were driven on by hatred and wrath, 2 the one to attack a tyrant and foe of his country, the other to avenge himself on the author of his exile. They urged their horses to the combat, but since they engaged with fury rather than calculation, they were reckless of themselves, and fell by one another’s hands. The battle which had such a dreadful beginning, ended no less disastrously; the armies, after inflicting and suffering equal losses, were separated by a tempest.
[Publ. 9.3] 3 Valerius was therefore in perplexity, not knowing what the issue of the battle was, but seeing his soldiers as much disheartened by their own losses as they were encouraged by those of their enemies. So undistinguishable and equal was the slaughter on both sides. Each army, however, was more convinced of defeat by the near sight of its own dead, than it could be of victory by conjecturing those of the enemy. 4 But when such a night came on as must needs follow such a battle, and both camps were quiet, they say that the grove was shaken, and a loud voice issued from it declaring that the Tuscans had lost one more man in the battle than the Romans. The utterance was manifestly from some god, for at once the Romans were inspired by it to loud shouts of courage, while the Tuscans were panic-stricken, abandoned their camp in confusion, and were for the most part dispersed. 5 As for those that remained, a little less than five thousand in number, the Romans fell upon them, took them prisoners, and plundered the camp. And when the dead on both sides were numbered, those of the enemy were found to be eleven thousand and three hundred, and those of the Romans as many less one.
[Publ. 9.6] It is said that this battle was fought on the last day of February. Valerius celebrated a triumph for it, being the first consul to drive into the city on a four-horse chariot. 6 And the proceeding afforded a spectacle which was imposing and magnificent, not odious and offensive to the spectators, as some say; otherwise it would not have been continued with such ardour and emulation for countless years. The people were also pleased with the honours which Valerius bestowed upon his colleague at the funeral ceremonies. 7 He even delivered a funeral oration in his honour, which was so admired by the Romans and won such favour that from that time on, when their great and good men died, encomiums were pronounced upon them by the most distinguished citizens. And this funeral oration of his is said to have been earlier than any among the Greeks, unless Anaximenes the orator is right in saying that the custom originated with Solon.
[Publ. 10.1] 10 1 But that which the rather displeased and offended the people in Valerius was this. Brutus, whom they regarded as the father of their liberties, would not consent to rule alone, but once and again chose a colleague to rule with him. “But this Valerius,” they said, “in concentrating all power upon himself, is not a successor to the consulate of Brutus, to which he has no right, but to the tyranny of Tarquin. 2 Yet why should he extol Brutus in words, while in deeds he imitates Tarquin, descending to the forum alone, escorted by all the rods and axes together, from a house no less stately than the royal house which he demolished?” For, as a matter of fact, Valerius was living in a very splendid house on the so called Velia. It hung high over the forum, commanded a view of all that passed there, and was surrounded by steeps and hard to get at, so that when he came down from it the spectacle was a lofty one, and the pomp of his procession worthy of a king. 3 Accordingly, Valerius showed what a good thing it is for men in power and high station to have ears which are open to frankness and truth instead of flattery. For when he heard from his friends, who spared him no detail, that he was thought by the multitude to be transgressing, he was not obstinate nor exasperated, by quickly got together a large force of workmen, and while it was still night tore the house down, and razed it all to the ground. 4 In the morning, therefore, the Romans saw what had happened, and came flocking together. They were moved to love and admiration by the man’s magnanimity, but were distressed for the house, and mourned for its stately beauty, as if it had been human, now that envy had unjustly compassed its destruction. They were also distressed for their ruler, who, like a homeless man, was now sharing the homes of others. For Valerius was received into the houses of his friends until the people gave him a site and built him a house, of more modest dimensions than the one he had lived in before, where now stands the temple of Vica Pota, so called.
[Publ. 10.5] 5 Wishing now to make not only himself but also the government, instead of formidable, submissive and agreeable to the multitude, he removed the axes from the lictors’ rods, and when he came into the assembly, inclined and lowered the rods themselves to the people, emphasizing the majesty of the democracy. This custom the consuls observe to this day. 6 And before the multitude were aware of it, he had succeeded, not by humbling himself, as they thought, but by checking and removing their envious feelings through such moderation on his part, in adding to his real influence over them just as much as he had seemed to take away from his authority, and the people submitted to him with pleasure and bore his yoke willingly. They therefore called him Publicola, a name which signifies people-cherisher. This name prevailed over the older names which he had borne, and it is the name which I shall use for him in the remainder of this Life.
[Publ. 11.1] 11 For he permitted any who wished to enter the lists and sue for the consulship. But before the installation of his colleague, not knowing who he would be, but fearing an opposition due to some jealousy or ignorance, he used his sole authority for the enactment of his best and most important measures. In the first place, he filled up the senate, which was much reduced in numbers; for some had long before been put to death by Tarquin, and of this had recently fallen in the battle with the Tuscans. 2 Those who were enrolled in this body by him amounted, they say, to a hundred and sixty-four. After this he enacted several laws, one of which especially strengthened the position of the commons by allowing a defendant to appeal to the people from the judgement of the consuls. A second made it a capital offence to assume a magistracy which the people had not bestowed. 3 A third, following these, came to the relief of the poor; it lifted the taxes from the citizens, so that all engaged more zealously in manufactures and commerce. And the one which was enacted against disobedience to the consuls was thought to be no less popular in its character, and to be in the interest of the many rather than of the powerful. For the fine which it imposed on disobedience was only the worth of five oxen and two sheep. 4 Now the value of a sheep was ten obols, and that of an ox, a hundred, for the Romans at that time did not use much coined money, but their wealth consisted in flocks and herds. Therefore to this day they call their substance “peculium,” from “pecus,” cattle; and their oldest coins are stamped with the figure of an ox, a sheep, or a hog. And they actually gave their own sons such surnames as Suillius, Bubulcus, Caprarius, and Porcius; the last two from “capra” and “porcus,” their words for goat and pig.
[Publ. 12.1] 12 1 But although in these particulars he showed himself a popular and moderate lawgiver, in the case of an immoderate offence he made the penalty severe. For he enacted a law by which any one who sought to make himself tyrant might be slain without trial, and the slayer should be free from blood-guiltiness if he produced proofs of the crime. For although it is impossible for one who attempts so great a task to escape all notice, it is not impossible for him to do so long enough to make himself too powerful to be brought to trial, which trial his very crime precludes. He therefore gave any one who was able to do so the privilege of anticipating the culprit’s trial.
[Publ. 12.2] 2 He also received praise for his law concerning the public treasury. When it was necessary for the citizens to contribute from their substance means for carrying on the war, he was unwilling to assume the administration of it himself, or to allow his friends to do so, or, indeed, to have the public moneys brought into any private house. He therefore made the temple of Saturn a treasury, as it is to this day, and gave the people the privilege of appointing two young men as quaestors, or treasurers. 3 The first to be thus appointed were Publius Veturius and Marcus Minucius, and large sums of money were collected. One hundred and thirty thousand names were on the assessment lists, orphans and widows being excused from the contribution.
[Publ. 12.4] 4 This matter regulated, he caused Lucretius, the father of Lucretia, to be appointed his colleague in the consulship. To him he yielded the precedence, as the elder man, and committed to him the so called “fasces,” a privilege of seniority which has continued from that day to this. But Lucretius died a few days afterwards, and in a new election Marcus Horatius was chosen consul, and shared the office with Publicola for the remainder of the year.
[Publ. 13.1] 13 1 While Tarquin was stirring up in Tuscanya another war against the Romans, a thing of great portent is said to have happened. When Tarquin was still king, and had all but completed the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, either in consequence of an oracle, or else of his own good pleasure, he commissioned certain Tuscan craftsmen of Veii to place upon its roof a chariot of terra cotta. 2 The Tuscans, however, modelled the chariot and put it in a furnace for firing, but the clay did not contract and shrink in the fire, as it usually does, when its moisture evaporates. Instead of this, it expanded and swelled and took on such size, strength, and hardness, that it could with difficulty be removed, even after the roof of the furnace had been taken off and its sides torn away. 3 To the seers, accordingly, this seemed a divine portent of prosperity and power for those who should possess the chariot, and the people of Veii determined not to give it up. When the Romans asked for it, they were told that it belonged to the Tarquins, not to those who had expelled the Tarquins. But a few days afterwards there were chariot races at Veii. Here the usual exciting spectacles were witnessed, but when the charioteer, with his garland on his head, was quietly driving his victorious chariot out of the race-course, 4 his horses took a sudden fright, upon no apparent occasion, but either by some divine ordering or by merest chance, and dashed off at the top of their speed towards Rome, charioteer and all. It was of no use for him to rein them in or try to calm them with his voice; he was whirled helplessly along until they reached the Capitol and threw him out there, at the gate now called Ratumena. The Veientines were amazed and terrified at this occurrence, and permitted the workmen to deliver their chariot.
[Publ. 14.1] 14 1 The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus had been vowed by Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, when he was at war with the Sabines, but it was actually built by Tarquinius Superbus, the son, or grandson, of him who vowed it. He did not, however, get so far as to consecrate it, but was driven out before it was quite completed. Accordingly, now that it was completely finished and had received all the ornaments that belonged to it, Publicola was ambitious to consecrate it. 2 But this excited the jealousy of many of the nobility. They could better brook his other honours, to which, as legislator and military commander, he had a rightful claim. But this one they thought he ought not to have, since it was more appropriate for others, and therefore they encouraged and incited Horatius to claim the privilege of consecrating the temple. At a time, then, when Publicola was necessarily absent on military service, they got a vote passed that Horatius should perform the consecration, and conducted him up to the Capitol, feeling that they could not have gained their point had Publicola been in the city. 3 Some, however, say that Publicola was designated by lot, against his inclination, for the expedition, and Horatius for the consecration. And it is possible to infer how the matter stood between them from what happened at the consecration. It was the Ides of September, a day which nearly coincides with the full moon of the Attic month Metageitnion; the people were all assembled on the Capitol, silence had been proclaimed, 4 and Horatius, after performing the other ceremonies and laying hold upon the door of the temple, as the custom is, was pronouncing the usual words of consecration. But just then Marcus, the brother of Publicola, who had long been standing by the door and was watching his opportunity, said: “O Consul, thy son lies dead of sickness in the camp.” 5 This distressed all who heard it; but Horatius, not at all disturbed, merely said: “Cast forth the dead then whither ye please, for I take no mourning upon me,” and finished his consecration. Now the announcement was not true, but Marcus thought by his falsehood to deter Horatius from his duty. Wonderful, therefore, was the firm poise of the man, whether he at once saw through the deceit, or believed the story without letting it overcome him.
[Publ. 15.1] 15 1 A similar fortune seems to have attended the dedication of the second temple. The first, as I have said, was built by Tarquin, but consecrated by Horatius; this was destroyed by fire during the civil wars. The second temple was built by Sulla, but Catulus was commissioned to consecrate it, after the death of Sulla. 2 This temple, too, was destroyed, during the troublous times of Vitellius, and Vespasian began and completely finished the third, with the good fortune that attended him in all his undertakings. He lived to see it completed, and did not live to see it destroyed, as it was soon after; and in dying before his work was destroyed he was just so much more fortunate than Sulla, who died before his was consecrated. For upon the death of Vespasian the Capitol was burned.
[Publ. 15.3] 3 The fourth temple, which is now standing on the same site as the others, was both completed and consecrated by Domitian. It is said that Tarquin expended upon its foundations forty thousand pounds of silver. But the greatest wealth now attributed to any private citizen of Rome would not pay the cost of the gilding alone of the present temple, which was more than twelve thousand talents. 4 Its pillars are of Pentelic marble, and their thickness was once most happily proportioned to their length; for we saw them at Athens. But when they were recut and scraped at Rome, they did not gain as much in polish as they lost in symmetry and beauty, and they now look too slender and thin. 5 However, if anyone who is amazed at the costliness of the Capitol had seen a single colonnade in the palace of Domitian, or a basilica, or a bath, or the apartments for his concubines, then, as Epicharmus says to the spendthrift,
[Publ. 15.3b] “ ‘Tis not beneficent thou art; thou art diseased;
thy mania is to give,”
[Publ. 15.3c] so he would have been moved to say to Domitian: “ ‘Tis not pious, nor nobly ambitious that thou art; thou art diseased; thy mania is to build; like the famous Midas, thou desirest that every thing become gold and stone at thy touch.” So much, then, on this head.
[Publ. 16.1] 16 1 But to return to Tarquin, after the great battle in which he lost his son in a duel with Brutus, he fled for refuge to Clusium, and became a suppliant of Lars Porsena, the most powerful king in Italy, who was thought also to be a man of worth and noble ambitions. He promised Tarquin his aid and assistance. So in the first place he sent to Rome and ordered them to receive Tarquin as their king. Then when the Romans refused, he declared war upon them, proclaimed the time and place of his attack, and marched thither with a great force. 2 Publicola was chosen consul for the second time, in his absence, and Titus Lucretius as his colleague. Returning, therefore, to Rome, and wishing, in the first place, to surpass Porsenna in the loftiness of his spirit, he built the city of Sigliuria, although his adversary was already near at hand. After he had fortified it at great expense, he sent to it a colony of seven hundred men, indicating that he had no concern or fear about the war. 3 However, a sharp assault was made upon its wall by Porsena, and its garrison was driven out. They fled to Rome, where the pursuing enemy almost followed them into the city. But Publicola promptly sallied out to their aid in front of the gate, joined battle by the river side with the enemy, who pressed on in great numbers, and held out against them until he was desperately wounded and carried bodily out of the battle. 4 The same fate overtook Lucretius, his colleague, also, so that dismay fell upon the Romans, and they fled for safety towards the city. But as the enemy were forcing their way onto the wooden bridge, Rome was in danger of being taken by storm. Horatius Cocles, however, first, and with him two of the most illustrious men of the city, Herminius and Lartius, defended the wooden bridge against them. 5 Horatius had been given his surname of Cocles because he had lost one of his eyes in the wars. Some, however, say that his nose was flat and sunken, so that there was nothing to separate his eyes, and his eye-brows ran together, and that for this reason the multitude wished to call him Cyclops, but by a slip of the tongue the name of Cocles became generally prevalent instead. 6 This Cocles, standing at the head of the bridge, kept the enemy back until his companions had cut the bridge in two behind him. Then, all accoutred as he was, he plunged into the river and swam across to the other side, in spite of a wound in the buttocks from a Tuscan spear. 7 Publicola, out of admiration for his valour, proposed that every Roman should at once contribute for him as much provision as each consumed in a day, and that afterwards he should be given as much land as he could plough round in a day. Besides this, they set up a bronze statue of him in the temple of Vulcan, to console him with honour for the lameness consequent upon his wound.
[Publ. 17.1] 17 1 While Porsena was closely investing the city, a famine afflicted the Romans, and another Tuscan army on its own account invaded their territory. Publicola, who was now consul for the third time, thought that Porsena must be met by a quiet and watchful resistance within the city; but he sallied out upon the other Tuscan army, engaged it, routed it, and slew five thousand of them.
[Publ. 17.2] The story of Mucius has been often and variously told, but I must give it as it seems most credible to me. 2 He was a man endowed with every virtue, but most excellent in war. Designing to kill Porsena, he stole into his camp, wearing a Tuscan habit, and using a speech to correspond. After walking around the tribunal where the king was sitting with others, not knowing him certainly, and fearing to inquire about him, he drew his sword and slew that one of the group whom he thought most likely to be the king. 3 Upon this he was seized, and was being questioned, when a sort of pan containing live coals was brought to Porsena, who was about to offer sacrifice. Mucius held his right hand over the flames and, while the flesh was burning, stood looking at Porsena with a bold and steadfast countenance, until the king was overcome with admiration and released him, and handed him back his sword, reaching it down to him from the tribunal. Mucius stretched out his left hand and took it (on which account, they say, he received the surname of Scaevola, which means Left-handed). 4 Then he said that although he had conquered the fear which Porsena inspired, he was vanquished by the nobility which he displayed, and would reveal out of gratitude what he would not have disclosed under compulsion. “Three hundred Romans, then,” said he, “with the same resolution as mine, are now prowling about in thy camp and watching their opportunity. I was chosen by lot to make the first attempt upon thee, and I am not distressed at what has happened, so noble is the man whom I failed to kill, and so worthy to be a friend rather than an enemy of the Romans.” 5 On hearing this, Porsena believed it to be true, and felt more inclined to come to terms, not so much, I suppose, through fear of the three hundred, as out of wondering admiration for the lofty spirit and bravery of the Romans.
[Publ. 17.2b] All other writers agree in giving this Mucius the surname of Scaevola, but Athenodorus, the son of Sandon, in his book addressed to Octavia, the sister of Augustus Caesar, says that his surname was Postumus.
[Publ. 18.1] 18 1 Publicola himself, moreover, thinking that Porsena would be more valuable as a friend and ally of the city than he was dangerous as its enemy, did not shrink from making the king an arbitrator in his dispute with Tarquin, but often boldly challenged Tarquin to do so, confident of proving that he was the basest of men and justly deprived of his kingdom. And when Tarquin gave him a rough answer, saying that he would make no man his judge, least of all Porsena, seeing that he was swerving from his alliance with him, 2 Porsena was displeased and perceived the weakness of his cause. His son Aruns also pleaded earnestly with him in behalf of the Romans. Consequently, he put an end to his war against them, on condition that they give up the territory of Tuscany which they had taken, sent back their prisoners of war, and received back their deserters. In confirmation of these conditions, the Romans gave as hostages ten young men from their noblest families, and as many maidens, of whom Valeria, a daughter of Publicola, was one.
[Publ. 19.1] 19 1 After these stipulations had been carried out, and when Porsena had already remitted all his warlike preparations through his confidence in the treaty, these Roman maidens went down to the river to bathe, at a place where the curving bank formed a bay and kept the water especially still and free from waves. As they saw no guard near, nor any one else passing by or crossing the stream, they were seized with a desire to swim away, notwithstanding the depth and whirl of the strong current. 2 And some say that one of them, named Cloelia, crossed the stream on horseback, exhorting and encouraging the rest as they swam. But when they were come in safety to Publicola, he bestowed no admiration or affection upon them, but was distressed because he would be thought less true to his word than Porsena, and because the daring exploit of the maidens would be called a base fraud on the part of the Romans. He seized them, therefore, and sent them back again to Porsena. 3 But Tarquin and his men got timely intelligence of this, set an ambush for the convoy of the maidens, and attacked them in superior numbers as they passed along. The party attacked defended themselves, nevertheless, and Valeria, the daughter of Publicola, darted through the combatants and fled, and with the help of three attendants who broke through the crowd with her, made good her escape. The rest of the maidens were mingled with the combatants and in peril of their lives. But Aruns, the son of Porsena, learning of the affair, came with all speed to their assistance, put their enemies to flight, and rescued the Romans.
[Publ. 19.4] 4 When Porsena saw the maidens thus brought back, he asked for the one who had begun the enterprise and encouraged the rest in it. And when he heard Cloelia named as the one, he looked upon her with a gracious and beaming countenance, and ordering one of the royal horses to be brought, all fittingly caparisoned, he made her a present of it. Those who say that Cloelia, and Cloelia alone, crossed the river on horseback, produce this fact in evidence. 5 Others dispute the inference, and say that the Tuscan merely honoured in this way the maiden’s courage. But an equestrian statue of her stands by the Via Sacra, as you go to the Palatine, though some say it represents not Cloelia, but Valeria.
[Publ. 19.6] Porsena, thus reconciled with the Romans, gave the city many proofs of his magnanimity. In particular, he ordered his Tuscan soldiers, when they evacuated their camp, to take with them their arms only, and nothing else, 6 leaving it full of abundant provisions and all sorts of valuables, which he turned over to the Romans. Therefore it is that down to this very day, when there is a sale of public property, Porsena’s goods are cried first, and thus the man’s kindness is honoured with perpetual remembrance. Moreover, a bronze statue of him used to stand near the senate-house, of simple and archaic workmanship.
[Publ. 20.1] 20 1 After this, when the Sabines invaded the Roman territory, Marcus Valerius, a brother of Publicola, was made consul, and with him Postumius Tubertus. Inasmuch as the most important steps were taken with the advice and assistance of Publicola, Marcus was victorious in two great battles, and in the second of them, without losing a single Roman, slew thirteen thousand of the enemy. 2 Besides his triumphs, he also obtained the honour of a house built for him at the public charge on the Palatine. And whereas the doors of other houses at that time opened inwards into the vestibule, they made the outer door of his house, and of his alone, to open outwards, in order that by this concession he might be constantly partaking of public honour.
[Publ. 20.3] 3 They say that all Greek doors used to open outwards in this way, and the conclusion is drawn from their comedies, where those who about to go out of a house beat noisily on the inside of their own doors, in order that persons passing by or standing in front of them may hear, and not be taken by surprise when the doors open out into the street.
[Publ. 21.1] 21 1 In the following year Publicola was consul again, for the fourth time, when there was expectation of a war with the Sabines and Latins combined. At the same time also a sort of superstitious terror seized upon the city because all the women who were pregnant were delivered of imperfect offspring, and all births were premature. Wherefore, by direction of the Sibylline books, Publicola made propitiatory sacrifices to Pluto, and renewed certain games that had been recommended by Apollo, and after he had thus made the city more careful in its hopes and expectations from the gods, he turned his attention to what it feared from men. For their enemies were plainly making great preparations and a powerful league against them.
[Publ. 21.2] 2 Now there was among the Sabines one Appius Clausus, a man whose wealth made him powerful, as his personal prowess made him illustrious, but who was most eminent for his lofty character and for his great eloquence. He could not, however, escape the fate of all great men, but was an object of jealous hate, and when he tried to stop the war, those who hated him charged him with trying to increase the power of Rome, with a view to making himself tyrant and master of his own country. 3 Perceiving that the multitude gave a ready ear to these stories, and that he himself was obnoxious to the war party and the military, he feared the issue, but with a large and powerful coterie of friends and kinsmen to defend him, continued his opposition. This made the Sabines put off and delay the war.
[Publ. 21.4] 4 Publicola, accordingly, making it his business not only to know about these matters, but also to foment and promote the faction, kept some of his followers employed in bringing to Clausus from him such messages as this: “Publicola thinks thee too worthy and just a man to inflict any evil upon thy fellow citizens in self-defence, even though thou art wronged by them. But if thou wishest, for thine own safety, to change thine allegiance and flee from those who hate thee, he will receive thee with public and private honours which are worthy of thine own excellence and the splendour of Rome.” 5 On repeated consideration of the matter, this course seemed to Clausus the best that was open to him; he therefore summoned his friends, who in like manner persuaded many more, to join him, and taking five thousand families from their homes, wives and children included, the most peaceful folk among the Sabines, of gentle and sedate lives, he led them to Rome. Publicola knew beforehand of their coming, and gave them an eager and a kindly welcome, admitting them to all rights and privileges. 6 For he at once incorporated the families in the Roman state, and gave each one two acres of land on the river Anio. To Clausus, however, he gave twenty-five acres of land, and enrolled him among the senators. This was the beginning of a political power which he used so wisely that he mounted to the highest dignity and acquired great influence. The Claudian family, which is descended from him, is no less illustrious than any in Rome.
[Publ. 22.1] 22 1 Though the schism among the Sabines was thus removed by the emigration of these men, their popular leaders would not suffer them to settle down into quiet, but complained bitterly that Clausus, by becoming an exile and an enemy, should bring to pass what he could not effect by his persuasions at home, namely, that Rome pay no penalty for her outrages. Setting out, therefore, with a large army, they encamped near Fidenae, and placed two thousand men-at arms in ambush just outside of Rome in wooded hollows. Their intention was that a few of their horsemen, as soon as it was day, should boldly ravage the country. 2 But these had been ordered, whenever they approached the city and were attacked, to retire gradually until they had drawn the enemy into the ambuscade. That very day Publicola learned of this plan from deserters, and took measures accordingly, dividing up his forces. Postumius Balbus, his son-in law, while it was yet evening, went out with three thousand men-at arms, occupied the hills under which the Sabines were lying in ambush, and kept the enemy under observation; 3 Lucretius, his colleague, retaining in the city the lightest armed and most impetuous troops, was ordered to attack the enemy’s horsemen as they ravaged the country; he himself took the rest of the army and encircled the enemy in their camp. Favoured by a heavy fog, at break of day Postumius, with loud shouts, fell upon the ambuscade from the heights, while Lucretius hurled his troops upon the horsemen when they rode towards the city, and Publicola attacked the camp of the enemy. 4 At all points, then, the Sabines were worsted and undone. Wherever they were, they made no defence, but fled, and the Romans straightway slew them. The very hopes they placed in one another proved most fatal to them. For each party, supposing that the other was safe, had no thought of holding their ground and fighting, but those in the camp ran towards those in the ambuscade, 5 while these, on their part, ran to those in the camp, so that fugitives encountered fugitives, and found those needing succour from whom they expected succour themselves. And all the Sabines would have perished, had not the neighbouring city of Fidenae afforded a refuge to some, especially to those who fled from the camp when it was captured. All who did not gain this city were either slain or brought back to Rome as prisoners.
[Publ. 23.1] 23 1 This success the Romans, although they were wont to attribute all such events to the influence of the gods, considered to be the work of their general alone. And the first thing his soldiers were heard to say was that Publicola had delivered their enemies into their hands lame, blind, and all but imprisoned, to be dispatched by their swords. Great wealth also accrued to the people from the spoils and prisoners.
[Publ. 23.2] 2 But Publicola, immediately after celebrating his triumph and handing the city over to the consuls appointed to succeed him, died. So far as it can possibly be achieved by men who are regarded as honourable and good, he had brought his life to perfection. The people, as if they had done nothing to show their esteem for him while he was alive, but owed him every homage, decreed that his body should be buried at the public charge, and that every man should contribute a quadrans towards the honour. 3 The women also, by private agreement amongst themselves, mourned a whole year for him, with a mourning which was honourable and enviable. He was buried, too, by express vote of the citizens, within the city, near the so called Velia, and all his family were to have privilege of burial there. Now, however, none of the family is actually buried there, but the body is carried thither and set down, and some one takes a burning torch and holds it under the bier for an instant, and then takes it away, attesting by this act that the deceased has the right of burial there, but relinquishes the honour. After this the body is borne away.

## Comparison of Solon and Publicola

[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 1.1] 109 1 1 There is, then, something peculiar in this comparison, and something that has not been true of any other thus far, namely, that the second imitated the first, and the first bore witness for the second. For it must be plain that the verdict concerning happiness which Solon pronounced to Croesus, is more applicable to Publicola than to Tellus. 2 Tellus, whom Solon pronounced the most blessed man he knew, because of his fortunate lot, his virtue, and his goodly offspring, was not celebrated in Solon’s poems as a good man, nor did his children or any magistracy of his achieve a reputation; whereas Publicola, while he lived, was foremost among the Romans in influence and repute for virtue, and since his death the most illustrious family lines of our own day, like the Publicolae, the Messalae, and the Valerii, for six hundred years ascribed the glory of their noble birth to him. 3 Tellus, moreover, though he kept his post and fought like a brave man, died at the hands of his enemies; whereas Publicola slew his enemies, which is a better fortune than to be slain by them, saw his country victorious through his efforts as consul and general, and enjoyed honours and triumphs before he came to the end which Solon pronounced so enviable and blest. 4 Still further, what Solon says to Mimnermus, in arguing with him on the proper duration of human life,
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 1.1b] “May not an unlamented death be mine, but unto friends
Let me be cause, when dead, for sorrow and for sighing,”
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 1.5] 110 argues Publicola a happy man. For when he died, his loss filled not only friends and kindred, but the entire city, numbering many tens of thousands, with weeping and yearning and sorrow. For the women of Rome mourned for him as though they had lost a son, or a brother, or a common father. 5 Wealth I desire to have,” says Solon, “but wrongfully to get it, I do not wish,” believing that punishment would follow. And Publicola’s wealth was not only not ill got, but also nobly spent in benefactions to the needy. So that if Solon was the wisest, Publicola was the most happy of men, since what Solon prayed for as the greatest and fairest of blessings, these Publicola was privileged to win and continue to enjoy until the end.
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 2.1] 2 1 Thus did Solon enhance the fame of Publicola. And Publicola, too, in his political activities, enhanced the fame of Solon, by making him the fairest of examples for one who was arranging a democracy. For he took away the arrogant powers of the consulship and made it gracious and acceptable to all, and he adopted many of Solon’s laws. For instance, he put the appointment of their rulers in the power of the people, and gave defendants the right of appealing to the people, as Solon to the jurors. He did not, indeed, create a new senate, as Solon did, but he increased the one already existing to almost double its numbers. 2 And his appointment of quaestors over the public moneys had a like origin. Its purpose was that the consul, if a worthy officer, might not be without leisure for his more important duties, and, if unworthy, might not have greater opportunities for injustice by having both the administration and the treasury in his hands. Hatred of tyranny was more intense in Publicola than in Solon. For in case any one attempted to usurp the power, by Solon’s law he could be punished only after conviction, whereas Publicola made it lawful to kill him before any trial. 3 Moreover, though Solon rightly and justly plumes himself on rejecting absolute power even when circumstances offered it to him and his fellow-citizens were willing that he should take it, it redounds no less to the honour of Publicola that, when he had received a tyrannical power, he made it more democratic, and did not use even the prerogatives which were his by right of possession. And of the wisdom of such a course Solon seems to have been conscious even before Publicola, when he says that a people
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 2.1b] “then will yield the best obedience to its guides
When it is neither humoured nor oppressed too much.”
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 3.1] 3 1 Peculiar to Solon was his remission of debts, and by this means especially he confirmed the liberties of the citizens. For equality under the law is of no avail if the poor are robbed of it by their debts. Nay, in the very places where they are supposed to exercise their liberties most, there they are most in subjection to the rich, since in the courts of justice, the offices of state, and in public debates, they are under their orders and do them service. 2 And what is of greater moment here, though sedition always follows an abolition of debts, in this case alone, by employing opportunity, as it were, a dangerous but powerful medicine, Solon actually put an end to the sedition that was already rife, for his own virtue and high repute prevailed over the ill-repute and odium of the measure.
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 3.3] As regards their political careers in general, Solon’s was more brilliant in the beginning. For he led the way and followed no man, and it was alone and without colleagues that he effected the most and greatest of his public measures. 3 But in the ending, the other was more fortunate and enviable. For Solon lived to see with his own eyes the dissolution of his polity, while that of Publicola preserved order in the city down to the civil wars. Solon, as soon as he had made his laws, left them inscribed on wooden tables and destitute of a defender, and departed from Athens; whereas Publicola, by remaining in the city, serving as consul, and busying himself with public affairs, firmly and safely established his form of government. 4 And further, though Solon knew beforehand of the designs of Peisistratus, he was not able to hinder them, but yielded to his tyranny in its incipiency; 111 whereas Publicola subverted and drove out a kingly power which was strong with the might which many ages bring. Thus, while exhibiting virtues equal to Solon’s, and a purpose identical with his, he enjoyed a good fortune and an efficacious power which supplemented his virtues.
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 4.1] 4 1 When we consider their military careers, moreover, Daïmachus of Plataea does not allow Solon even the conduct of the war against the Megarians, as we have described it; but Publicola, fighting and commanding in person, brought the greatest struggles to a successful issue. And still further, comparing their political activities, Solon, in play, so to speak, and counterfeiting madness, went forth to plead for the recovery of Salamis; 2 but Publicola, without any subterfuges, ran the greatest risks, set himself in opposition to the party of the Tarquins, and detected their treachery. Then, after being mainly instrumental in the capture and punishment of the traitors, he not only drove the tyrants themselves from the city, but extirpated their very hopes of return. And if he thus sturdily and resolutely confronted situations which called for active and spirited opposition, still better did he deal with those which required peaceable intercourse and gentle persuasion, as when he tactfully won over Porsena, an invincible and formidable foe, and made him a friend of Rome.
[Comp. Sol.–Publ. 4.3] 3 But here, perhaps, some one will say that Solon won back Salamis for the Athenians when they had given it up, whereas Publicola relinquished territory which the Romans had acquired. But we must view men’s actions in the light of the times which call them forth. The subtle statesman will handle each issue that arises in the most feasible manner, and often saves the whole by relinquishing a part, and by yielding small advantages secures greater ones. 4 And so Publicola, in that instance, by yielding the territory which belonged to others, saved all that was assuredly his own, and procured besides, for those who were hard put to it to save their city, the camp of their besiegers with all its stores. He made his adversary judge in the controversy, won his case, and received besides what his people would gladly have given for the victory. For Porsena put a stop to the war, and left the Romans all his provisions for carrying it on, owing to the confidence in their virtue and nobility with which their consul had inspired him.

## Themistocles

[Them. 1.1] 111 1 1 In the case of Themistocles, his family was too obscure to further his reputation. His father was Neocles, — no very conspicuous man at Athens, — a Phrearrhian by deme, of the tribe Leontis; and on his mother’s side he was an alien, as her epitaph testifies: —
[Them. 1.1b] Abrotonon was I, and a woman of Thrace, yet I brought forth
That great light of the Greeks, — know! ‘twas Themistocles.”
[Them. 1.2] 2 Phanias, however, writes that the mother of Themistocles was not a Thracian, but a Carian woman, and that her name was not Abrotonon, but Euterpe. 112 And Neanthes actually adds the name of her city in Caria, — Halicarnassus.
[Them. 1.2b] It was for the reason given, and because the aliens were wont to frequent Cynosarges, — this is a place outside the gates, a gymnasium of Heracles; for he too was not a legitimate god, but had something alien about him, from the fact that his mother was a mortal, — that Themistocles sought to induce certain well-born youths to go out to Cynosarges and exercise with him; and by his success in this bit of cunning he is thought to have removed the distinction between aliens and legitimates.
[Them. 1.3] 3 However, it is clear that he was connected with the family of the Lycomidae, for he caused the chapel shrine at Phlya, which belonged to the Lycomidae, and had been burned by the Barbarians, to be restored at his own costs and adorned with frescoes, as Simonides has stated.
[Them. 2.1] 2 1 However lowly his birth, it is agreed on all hands that while yet a boy he was impetuous, by nature sagacious, and by election enterprising and prone to public life. In times of relaxation and leisure, when absolved from his lessons, he would not play or indulge his ease, as the rest of the boys did, but would be found composing and rehearsing to himself mock speeches. These speeches would be in accusation or defence of some boy or other. 2 Wherefore his teacher was wont to say to him: “My boy, thou wilt be nothing insignificant, but something great, of a surety, either for good or evil.” Moreover, when he was set to study, those branches which aimed at the formation of character, or ministered to any gratification or grace of a liberal sort, he would learn reluctantly and sluggishly and to all that was said for the cultivation of sagacity or practical efficiency, he clearly showed an indifference far beyond his years, as though he put his confidence in his natural gifts alone.
[Them. 2.3] 3 Thus it came about that, in after life, at entertainments of a so called liberal and polite nature, he was forced to defend himself rather rudely, saying that tuning the lyre and handling the harp were no accomplishments of his, but rather taking in hand a city that was small and inglorious and making it glorious and great. And yet Stesimbrotus says that Themistocles was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and a disciple of Melissus the physicist; but he is careless in his chronology. It was Pericles, a much younger man than Themistocles, whom Melissus opposed at the siege of Samos, and with whom Anaxagoras was intimate.
[Them. 2.4] 4 Rather, then, might one side with those who say that Themistocles was a disciple of Mnesiphilus the Phrearrhian, a man who was neither a rhetorician nor one of the so called physical philosophers, but a cultivator of what was then called “sophia” or wisdom, although it was really nothing more than cleverness in politics and practical sagacity. Mnesiphilus received this “sophia,” and handed it down, as though it were the doctrine of a sect, in unbroken tradition from Solon. His successors blended it with forensic arts, and shifted its application from public affairs to language, and were dubbed “sophists.” It was this man, then, to whom Themistocles resorted at the very beginning of his public life.
[Them. 2.5] 5 But in the first essays of his youth he was uneven and unstable, since he gave his natural impulses free course, which, without due address and training, rush to violent extremes in the objects of their pursuit, and often degenerate; as he himself in later life confessed, when he said that even the wildest colts made very good horses, if only they got the proper breaking and training. 6 What some story-makers add to this, however, to the effect that his father disinherited him, and his mother took her own life for very grief at her son’s ill-fame, this I think is false. And, in just the opposite vein, there are some who say that his father fondly tried to divert him from public life, pointing out to him old triremes on the sea-shore, all wrecked and neglected, and intimating that the people treated their leaders in like fashion when these were past service.
[Them. 3.1] 3 1 Speedily, however, as it seems, and while he was still in all the ardour of youth, public affairs laid their grasp upon Themistocles, and his impulse to win reputation got strong mastery over him. 113 Wherefore, from the very beginning, in his desire to be first, he boldly encountered the enmity of men who had power and were already first in the city, especially that of Aristides the son of Lysimachus, who was always his opponent. And yet it is thought that his enmity with this man had an altogether puerile beginning. 2 They were both lovers of the beautiful Stesilaüs, a native of Ceos, as Ariston the philosopher has recorded, and thenceforward they continued to be rivals in public life also. However, the dissimilarity in their lives and characters is likely to have increased their variance. Aristides was gentle by nature, and a conservative in character. He engaged in public life, not to win favour or reputation, but to secure the best results consistent with safety and righteousness, and so he was compelled, since Themistocles stirred the people up to many novel enterprises and introduced great innovations, to oppose him often, and to take a firm stand against his increasing influence.
[Them. 3.3] 3 It is said, indeed, that Themistocles was so carried away by his desire for reputation, and such an ambitious lover of great deeds, that though he was still a young man when the battle with the Barbarians at Marathon was fought and the generalship of Miltiades was in everybody’s mouth, he was seen thereafter to be wrapped in his own thoughts for the most part, and was sleepless o’ nights, 4 and refused invitations to his customary drinking parties, and said to those who put wondering questions to him concerning his change of life that the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep. Now the rest of his countrymen thought that the defeat of the Barbarians at Marathon was the end of the war; but Themistocles thought it to be only the beginning of greater contests, and for these he anointed himself, as it were, to be the champion of all Hellas, and put his city into training, because, while it was yet afar off, he expected the evil that was to come.
[Them. 4.1] 4 1 And so, in the first place, whereas the Athenians were wont to divide up among themselves the revenue coming from the silver mines at Laureium, he, and he alone, dared to come before the people with a motion that this division be given up, and that with these moneys triremes be constructed for the war against Aegina. This was the fiercest war then troubling Hellas, and the islanders controlled the sea, owing to the number of their ships. 2 Wherefore all the more easily did Themistocles carry his point, not by trying to terrify the citizens with dreadful pictures of Darius or the Persians — these were too far away and inspired no very serious fear of their coming, but by making opportune use of the bitter jealousy which they cherished toward Aegina in order to secure the armament he desired. The result was that with those moneys they built a hundred triremes, with which they actually fought at Salamis against Xerxes.
[Them. 4.3] 3 And after this, by luring the city on gradually and turning its progress toward the sea, urging that with their infantry they were no match even for their nearest neighbours, but that with the power they would get from their ships they could not only repel the Barbarians but also take the lead in Hellas, he made them, instead of “steadfast hoplites” — to quote Plato’s words, sea-tossed mariners, and brought down upon himself this accusation: “Themistocles robbed his fellow-citizens of spear and shield, and degraded the people of Athens to the rowing-pad and the oar.” And this he accomplished in triumph over the public opposition of Miltiades, as Stesimbrotus relates.
[Them. 4.4] 4 Now, whether by accomplishing this he did injury to the integrity and purity of public life or not, let the philosopher rather investigate. But that the salvation which the Hellenes achieved at that time came from the sea, and that it was those very triremes which restored again the fallen city of Athens, Xerxes himself bore witness, not to speak of other proofs. For though his infantry remained intact, he took to flight after the defeat of his ships, because he thought he was not a match for the Hellenes, and he left Mardonius behind, as it seems to me, rather to obstruct their pursuit than to subdue them.
[Them. 5.1] 114 5 1 Some say that Themistocles was an eager money-maker because of his liberality; for since he was fond of entertaining, and lavished money splendidly on his guests, he required a generous budget. Others, on the contrary, denounce his great stinginess and parsimony, claiming that he used to sell the very food sent in to him as a gift. 2 When Philides the horse-breeder was asked by him for a colt and would not give it, Themistocles threatened speedily to make his house a wooden horse; thereby darkly intimating that he would stir up accusations against him in his own family, and lawsuits between the man and those of his own household.
[Them. 5.3] In his ambition he surpassed all men. For instance, while he was still young and obscure, he prevailed upon Epicles of Hermione, a harpist who was eagerly sought after by the Athenians, to practise at his house, because he was ambitious that many should seek out his dwelling and come often to see him. 3 Again, on going to Olympia, he tried to rival Cimon in his banquets and booths and other brilliant appointments, so that he displeased the Hellenes. For Cimon was young and of a great house, and they thought they must allow him in such extravagances; but Themistocles had not yet become famous, and was thought to be seeking to elevate himself unduly without adequate means, and so was charged with ostentation. 4 And still again, as choregus, or theatrical manager, he won a victory with tragedies, although even at that early time this contest was conducted with great eagerness and ambition, and set up a tablet commemorating his victory with the following inscription: “Themistocles the Phrearrhian was Choregus; Phrynichus was Poet; Adeimantus was Archon.”
[Them. 5.5] However, he was on good terms with the common folk, partly because he could call off-hand the name of every citizen, and partly because he rendered the service of a safe and impartial arbitrator in cases of private obligation and settlement out of court; and so he once said to Simonides of Ceos, who had made an improper request from him when he was magistrate: “You would not be a good poet if you should sing contrary to measure; nor I a clever magistrate if I should show favour contrary to the law.” 5 And once again he banteringly said to Simonides that it was nonsense for him to abuse the Corinthians, who dwelt in a great and fair city, while he had portrait figures made of himself, who was of such an ugly countenance. And so he grew in power, and pleased the common folk, and finally headed a successful faction and got Aristides removed by ostracism.
[Them. 6.1] 6 1 At last, when the Mede was descending upon Hellas and the Athenians were deliberating who should be their general, all the rest, they say, voluntarily renounced their claims to the generalship, so panic-stricken were they at the danger; but Epicydes, the son of Euphemides, a popular leader who was powerful in speech but effeminate in spirit and open to bribes, set out to get the office, and was likely to prevail in the election; so Themistocles, fearing lest matters should go to utter ruin in case the leadership fell to such a man, bribed and bought off the ambition of Epicydes.
[Them. 6.2] 2 Praise is given to his treatment of the linguist in the company of those who were sent by the King to demand earth and water as tokens of submission: this interpreter he caused to be arrested, and had him put to death by special decree, because he dared to prostitute the speech of Hellas to Barbarian stipulations. 3 Also to his treatment of Arthmius of Zeleia: on motion of Themistocles this man was entered on the list of the disfranchised, with his children and his family, because he brought the gold of the Medes and offered it to the Hellenes. But the greatest of all his achievements was his putting a stop to Hellenic wars, and reconciling Hellenic cities with one another, persuading them to postpone their mutual hatreds because of the foreign war. To which end, they say, Cheileos the Arcadian most seconded his efforts.
[Them. 7.1] 7 1 On assuming the command, 115 he straightway went to work to embark the citizens on their triremes, and tried to persuade them to leave their city behind them and go as far as possible away from Hellas to meet the Barbarians by sea. But many opposed this plan, and so he led forth a large army to the vale of Tempe, along with the Lacedaemonians, in order to make a stand there in defence of Thessaly, which was not yet at that time supposed to be medising. 2 But soon the army came back from this position without accomplishing anything, the Thessalians went over to the side of the King, and everything was medising as far as Boeotia, so that at last the Athenians were more kindly disposed to the naval policy of Themistocles, and he was sent with a fleet to Artemisium, to watch the narrows.
[Them. 7.3] It was at this place that the Hellenes urged Eurybiades and the Lacedaemonians to take the lead, but the Athenians, since in the number of their ships they surpassed all the rest put together, disdained to follow others, — a peril which Themistocles at once comprehended. 3 He surrendered his own command to Eurybiades, and tried to mollify the Athenians with the promise that if they would show themselves brave men in the war, he would induce the Hellenes to yield a willing obedience to them thereafter. Wherefore he is thought to have been the man most instrumental in achieving the salvation of Hellas, and foremost in leading the Athenians up to the high repute of surpassing their foes in valour and their allies in magnanimity.
[Them. 7.4] 4 Now Eurybiades, on the arrival of the Barbarian armament at Aphetae, was terrified at the number of ships that faced him, and, learning that two hundred ships more were sailing around above Sciathus to cut off his retreat, desired to proceed by the shortest route down into Hellas, to get into touch with Peloponnesus and encompass his fleet with his infantry forces there, because he thought the power of the King altogether invincible by sea. Therefore the Euboeans, fearing lest the Hellenes abandon them to their fate, held secret conference with Themistocles, and sent Pelagon to him with large sums of money. 5 This money he took, as Herodotus relates, and gave to Eurybiades.
[Them. 7.6] Meeting with most opposition among his fellow-citizens from Architeles, who was captain on the sacred state galley, and who, because he had no money to pay the wages of his sailors, was eager to sail off home, Themistocles incited his crew all the more against him, so that they made a rush upon him and snatched away his dinner. 6 Then, while Architeles was feeling dejected and indignant over this, Themistocles sent him a dinner of bread and meat in a box at the bottom of which he had put a talent of silver, and bade him dine without delay, and on the morrow satisfy his crew; otherwise he said he would denounce him publicly as the receiver of money from the enemy. At any rate, such is the story of Phanias the Lesbian.
[Them. 8.1] 8 1 The battles which were fought at that time with the ships of the Barbarians in the narrows were not decisive of the main issue, it is true, but they were of the greatest service to the Hellenes in giving them experience, since they were thus taught by actual achievements in the face of danger that neither multitudes of ships nor brilliantly decorated figure-heads nor boastful shouts or barbarous battle-hymns have any terror for men who know how to come to close quarters and dare to fight there; but that they must despise all such things, rush upon the very persons of their foes, grapple with them, and fight it out to the bitter end. 2 Of this Pindar seems to have been well aware when he said of the battle of Artemisium: —
[Them. 8.1b] “Where Athenians’ valiant sons set in radiance eternal
Liberty’s corner-stone.”
[Them. 8.1c] For verily the foundation of victory is courage.
[Them. 8.3] Artemisium is a part of Euboea above Hestiaea, — a sea-beach stretching away to the north, — and just about opposite to it lies Olizon, in the territory once subject to Philoctetes. It has a small temple of Artemis 116 surnamed Proseoea, which is surrounded by trees and enclosed by upright slabs of white marble. This stone, when you rub it with your hand, gives off the colour and the odour of saffron. 3 On one of these slabs the following elegy was inscribed: —
[Them. 8.3b] “Nations of all sorts of men from Asia’s boundaries coming,
Sons of the Athenians once, here on this arm of the sea,
Whelmed in a battle of ships, and the host of the Medes was destroyèd;
These are the tokens thereof, built for the Maid Artemis.”
[Them. 8.3c] And a place is pointed out on the shore, sea sand all about it, which supplies from its depths a dark ashen powder, apparently the product of fire, and here they are thought to have burned their wrecks and dead bodies.
[Them. 9.1] 9 1 However, when they learned by messengers from Thermopylae to Artemisium that Leonidas was slain and that Xerxes was master of the pass, they withdrew further down into Hellas, the Athenians bringing up the extreme rear because of their valour, and greatly elated by their achievements. As Themistocles sailed along the coasts, wherever he saw places at which the enemy must necessarily put in for shelter and supplies, he inscribed conspicuous writings on stones, 2 some of which he found to his hand there by chance, and some he himself caused to be set near the inviting anchorages and watering places. In these writings he solemnly enjoined upon the Ionians, if it were possible, to come over to the side of the Athenians, who were their ancestors, and who were risking all in behalf of their freedom; but if they could not do this, to damage the Barbarian cause in battle, and bring confusion among them. By this means he hoped either to fetch the Ionians over to his side, or to confound them by bringing the Barbarians into suspicion of them.
[Them. 9.3] 3 Although Xerxes had made a raid up through Doris into Phocis, and was burning the cities of the Phocians, the Hellenes gave them no succour. The Athenians, it is true, begged them to go up into Boeotia against the enemy, and make a stand there in defence of Attica, as they themselves had gone up by sea to Artemisium in defence of others. But no one listened to their appeals. All clung fast to the Peloponnesus, and were eager to collect all the forces inside the Isthmus, and were building a rampart across the Isthmus from sea to sea. 4 Then the Athenians were seized alike with rage at this betrayal, and with sullen dejection at their utter isolation. Of fighting alone with an army of so many myriads they could not seriously think; and as for the only thing left them to do in their emergency, namely, to give up their city and stick to their ships, most of them were distressed at the thought, saying that they neither wanted victory nor understood what safety could mean if they abandoned to the enemy the shrines of their gods and the sepulchres of their fathers.
[Them. 10.1] 10 1 Then indeed it was that Themistocles, despairing of bringing the multitude over to his views by any human reasonings, set up machinery, as it were, to introduce the gods to them, as a theatrical manager would for a tragedy, and brought to bear upon them signs from heaven and oracles. As a sign from heaven he took the behaviour of the serpent, which is held to have disappeared about that time from the sacred enclosure on the Acropolis. When the priests found that the daily offerings made to it were left whole and untouched, they proclaimed to the multitude, — Themistocles putting the story into their mouths, — that the goddess had abandoned her city and was showing them their way to the sea. 2 Moreover, with the well-known oracle he tried again to win the people over to his views, saying that its “wooden wall” meant nothing else than their fleet; and that the god in this oracle called Salamis “divine,” not “dreadful” nor “cruel,” for the very reason that the island would sometime give its name to a great piece of good fortune for the Hellenes. At last his opinion prevailed, and so he introduced a bill providing that the city be entrusted for safe keeping “to Athena the patroness of Athens,” but that all the men of military age embark on the triremes, after finding their children, wives, such safety as each best could. 3 Upon the passage of this bill, most of the Athenians bestowed their children and wives in Troezen, where the Troezenians very eagerly welcomed them. 117 They actually voted to support them at the public cost, allowing two obols daily to each family, and to permit the boys to pluck of the vintage fruit everywhere, and besides to hire teachers for them. The bill was introduced by a man whose name was Nicagoras.
[Them. 10.4] 4 Since the Athenians had no public moneys in hand, it was the Senate of Areiopagus, according to Aristotle, which provided each of the men who embarked with eight drachmas, and so was most instrumental in manning the triremes; but Cleidemus represents this too as the result of an artifice of Themistocles. He says that when the Athenians were going down to the Piraeus and abandoning their city, the Gorgon’s head was lost from the image of the god; and then Themistocles, pretending to search for it, and ransacking everything, thereby discovered an abundance of money hidden away in the baggage, which had only to be confiscated, and the crews of the ships were well provided with rations and wages.
[Them. 10.5] 5 When the entire city was thus putting out to sea, the sight provoked pity in some, and in others astonishment at the hardihood of the step; for they were sending off their families in one direction, while they themselves, unmoved by the lamentations and tears and embraces of their loved ones, were crossing over to the island where the enemy was to be fought. Besides, many who were left behind on account of their great age invited pity also, and much affecting fondness was shown by the tame domestic animals, which ran along with yearning cries of distress by the side of their masters as they embarked. 6 A story is told of one of these, the dog of Xanthippus the father of Pericles, how he could not endure to be abandoned by his master, and so sprang into the sea, swam across the strait by the side of his master’s trireme, and staggered out on Salamis, only to faint and die straightway. They say that the spot which is pointed out to this day as “Dog’s Mound” is his tomb.
[Them. 11.1] 11 These were surely great achievements of Themistocles, but there was a greater still to come. When he saw that the citizens yearned for Aristides, and feared lest out of wrath he might join himself to the Barbarian and so subvert the cause of Hellas, — he had been ostracized before the war in consequence of political defeat at the hands of Themistocles, — he issued a bill providing that those who had been removed for a time be permitted to return home and devote their best powers to the service of Hellas along with the other citizens.
[Them. 11.2] 2 When Eurybiades, who had the command of the fleet on account of the superior claims of Sparta, but who was faint-hearted in time of danger, wished to hoist sail and make for the Isthmus, where the infantry also of the Peloponnesians had been assembled, it was Themistocles who spoke against it, and it was then, they say, that these memorable sayings of his were uttered. When Eurybiades said to him, “Themistocles, at the games those who start too soon get a caning,” “Yes,” said Themistocles, “but those who lag behind get no crown.” 3 And when Eurybiades lifted up his staff as though to smite him, Themistocles said: “Smite, but hear me.” Then Eurybiades was struck with admiration at his calmness, and bade him speak, and Themistocles tried to bring him back to his own position. But on a certain one saying that a man without a city had no business to advise men who still had cities of their own to abandon and betray them, Themistocles addressed his speech with emphasis to him, saying: 4 “It is true, thou wretch, that we have left behind us our houses and our city walls, not deeming it meet for the sake of such lifeless things to be in subjection; but we still have a city, the greatest in Hellas, our two hundred triremes, which now are ready to aid you if you choose to be saved by them; but if you go off and betray us for the second time, straightway many a Hellene will learn that the Athenians have won for themselves a city that is free and a territory that is far better than the one they cast aside.” 5 When Themistocles said this, Eurybiades began to reflect, and was seized with fear lest the Athenians go away and abandon him. 118 And again, when the Eretrian tried to argue somewhat against him, “Indeed!” said he, “what argument can ye make about war, who, like the cuttle-fish, have a long pouch in the place where your heart ought to be?”
[Them. 12.1] 12 1 Some tell the story that while Themistocles was thus speaking from off the deck of his ship, an owl was seen to fly through the fleet from the right and alight in his rigging; wherefore his hearers espoused the opinion most eagerly and prepared to do battle with their ships. 2 But soon the enemy’s armament beset the coast of Attica down to the haven of Phalerum, so as to hide from view the neighbouring shores; then the King in person with his infantry came down to the sea, so that he could be seen with all his hosts; and presently, in view of this junction of hostile forces, the words of Themistocles ebbed out of the minds of the Hellenes, and the Peloponnesians again turned their eyes wistfully towards the Isthmus and were vexed if any one spake of any other course; nay, they actually decided to withdraw from their position in the night, and orders for the voyage were issued to the pilots. 3 Such was the crisis when Themistocles, distressed to think that the Hellenes should abandon the advantages to be had from the narrowness of the straits where they lay united, and break up into detachments by cities, planned and concocted the famous affair of Sicinnus.
[Them. 12.4] This Sicinnus was of Persian stock, a prisoner of war, but devoted to Themistocles, and the paedagogue of his children. 4 This man was sent to Xerxes secretly with orders to say: “Themistocles the Athenian general elects the King’s cause, and is the first one to announce to him that the Hellenes are trying to slip away, and urgently bids him not to suffer them to escape, but, while they are in confusion and separated from their infantry, to set upon them and destroy their naval power.” 5 Xerxes received this as the message of one who wished him well, and was delighted, and at once issued positive orders to the captains of his ships to man the main body of the fleet at their leisure, but with two hundred ships to put out to sea at once, and encompass the strait round about on every side, including the islands in their line of blockade, that not one of the enemy might escape.
[Them. 12.6] 6 While this was going on, Aristides the son of Lysimachus, who was the first to perceive it, came to the tent of Themistocles, who was no friend of his, nay, through whom he had even been ostracized, as I have said; and when Themistocles came from the tent, Aristides told him how the enemy surrounded them. Themistocles, knowing the tried nobility of the man, and filled with admiration for his coming at that time, told him all about the Sicinnus matter, and besought him to join in this desperate attempt to keep the Hellenes where they were, — admitting that he had the greater credit with them, — in order that they might make their sea-fight in the narrows. 7 Aristides, accordingly, after bestowing praise upon Themistocles for his stratagem, went round to the other generals and trierarchs inciting them to battle. And while they were still incredulous in spite of all, a Tenian trireme appeared, a deserter from the enemy, in command of Panaetius, and told how the enemy surrounded them, so that with a courage born of necessity the Hellenes set out to confront the danger.
[Them. 13.1] 13 1 At break of day, Xerxes was seated on a high place and overlooking the disposition of his armament. This place was, according to Phanodemus, above the Heracleium, where only a narrow passage separates the island from Attica; but according to Acestodorus, it was in the border-land of Megara, above the so called “Horns.” Here a gilded throne had been set for him at his command, and many secretaries stationed near at hand, whose task it was to make due record of all that was done in the battle.
[Them. 13.2] 2 But Themistocles was sacrificing alongside the admiral’s trireme. There three prisoners of war were brought to him, of visage most beautiful to behold, conspicuously adorned with raiment and with gold. They were said to be the sons of Sandaucé, the King’s sister, and Artaÿctus. When Euphrantides the seer caught sight of them, since at one and the same moment a great and glaring flame shot up from the sacrificial victims 119 and a sneeze gave forth its good omen on the right, he clasped Themistocles by the hand and bade him consecrate the youths, and sacrifice them all to Dionysus Carnivorous, with prayers of supplication; for on this wise would the Hellenes have a saving victory. 3 Themistocles was terrified, feeling that the word of the seer was monstrous and shocking; but the multitude, who, as is wont to be the case in great struggles and severe crises, looked for safety rather from unreasonable than from reasonable measures, invoked the god with one voice, dragged the prisoners to the altar, and compelled the fulfilment of the sacrifice, as the seer commanded. At any rate, this is what Phanias the Lesbian says, and he was a philosopher, and well acquainted with historical literature.
[Them. 14.1] 14 1 As regards the number of the Barbarian ships, Aeschylus the poet, in his tragedy of “The Persians,” as though from personal and positive knowledge, says this: —
[Them. 14.1b] “But Xerxes, and I surely know, had a thousand ships
In number under him; those of surpassing speed
Were twice five score beside and seven; so stands the count.”
[Them. 14.1c] The Attic ships were one hundred and eighty in number, and each had eighteen men to fight upon the decks, of whom four were archers, and the rest men-at arms.
[Them. 14.2] 2 Themistocles is thought to have divined the best time for fighting with no less success than the best place, inasmuch as he took care not to send his triremes bow on against the Barbarian vessels until the hour of day had come which always brought the breeze fresh from the sea and a swell rolling through the strait. This breeze wrought no harm to the Hellenic ships, since they lay low in the water and were rather small; but for the Barbarian ships, with their towering sterns and lofty decks and sluggish movements in getting under way, it was fatal, since it smote them and slewed them round broadside to the Hellenes, who set upon them sharply, keeping their eyes on Themistocles, because they thought he saw best what was to be done, 3 and because confronting him was the admiral of Xerxes, Ariamenes, who being on a great ship, kept shooting arrows and javelins as though from a city wall, — brave man that he was, by far the strongest and most just of the King’s brothers. It was upon him that Ameinias the Deceleian and Socles the Paeanian bore down, — they being together on one ship, — and as the two ships struck each other bow on, crashed together, and hung fast by their bronze beaks, he tried to board their trireme; but they faced him, smote him with their spears, and hurled him into the sea. His body, as it drifted about with other wreckage, was recognised by Artemisia, who had it carried to Xerxes.
[Them. 15.1] 15 1 At this stage of the struggle they say that a great light flamed out from Eleusis, and an echoing cry filled the Thriasian plain down to the sea, as of multitudes of men together conducting the mystic Iacchus in procession. Then out of the shouting throng a cloud seemed to lift itself slowly from the earth, pass out seawards, and settle down upon the triremes. Others fancied they saw apparitions and shapes of armed men coming from Aegina with their hands stretched out to protect the Hellenic triremes. These, they conjectured, were the Aeacidae, who had been prayerfully invoked before the battle to come to their aid.
[Them. 15.2] 2 Now the first man to capture an enemy’s ship was Lycomedes, an Athenian captain, who cut off its figure-head and dedicated it to Apollo the Laurel-bearer at Phlya. Then the rest, put on an equality in numbers with their foes, because the Barbarians had to attack them by detachments in the narrow strait and so ran foul of one another, routed them, though they resisted till the evening drew on, and thus “bore away,” as Simonides says, “that fair and notorious victory, than which no more brilliant exploit was ever performed upon the sea, either by Hellenes or Barbarians, through the manly valour and common ardour of all who fought their ships, but through the clever judgment of Themistocles.”
[Them. 16.1] 120 16 1 After the sea-fight, Xerxes, still furious at his failure, undertook to carry moles out into the sea on which he could lead his infantry across to Salamis against the Hellenes, damming up the intervening strait. But Themistocles, merely by way of sounding Aristides, proposed, as though he were in earnest, to sail with the fleet to the Hellespont and break the span of boats there, “in order,” said he, “that we may capture Asia in Europe.” 2 Aristides, however, was displeased with the scheme and said: “Now indeed the Barbarian with whom we have fought consults his ease and pleasure, but should we shut up in Hellas and bring under fearful compulsion a man who is lord of such vast forces, he will no longer sit under a golden parasol to view the spectacle of the battle at his ease, but he will dare all things, and, superintending everything in person, because of his peril, will rectify his previous remissness and take better counsel for the highest issues thus at stake. 3 We must not, then,” said he, “tear down the bridge that is already there, Themistocles, nay rather, we must build another alongside it, if that be possible, and cast the fellow out of Europe in a hurry.” “Well, then,” said Themistocles, “if that is what is thought for the best, it is high time for us all to be studying and inventing a way to get him out of Hellas by the speediest route.”
[Them. 16.4] 4 As soon as this policy had been adopted, he sent a certain royal eunuch whom he discovered among the prisoners of war, by name Arnaces, with orders to tell the King that the Hellenes had decided, since their fleet now controlled the sea, to sail up into the Hellespont, where the strait was spanned, and destroy the bridge; but that Themistocles, out of regard for the King, urged him to hasten into home waters and fetch his forces across; he himself, he said, would cause the allies all sorts of delays and postponements in their pursuit. 5 No sooner did the Barbarian hear this than he was seized with exceeding fear and speedily began his retreat. This thoughtful prudence on the part of Themistocles and Aristides was afterwards justified by the campaign with Mardonius, since, although they fought at Plataea with the merest fraction of the armies of Xerxes, they yet staked their all upon the issue.
[Them. 17.1] 17 1 Among the cities, now, Herodotus says that Aegina bore away the prize of valour; but among individuals, all virtually awarded the first place to Themistocles, though their envy made them unwilling to do this directly. For when the generals withdrew to the Isthmus and solemnly voted on this question, taking their ballots from the very altar of the god there, each one declared for himself as first in valour, but for Themistocles as second after himself. Then the Lacedaemonians brought him down to Sparta, and while they gave Eurybiades the prize for valour, to him they gave one for wisdom, — a crown of olive in each case, — and they presented him with the best chariot there was in the city, and sent three hundred picked youth along with him to serve as his escort to the boundary. 2 And it is said that when the next Olympic festival was celebrated, and Themistocles entered the stadium, the audience neglected the contestants all day long to gaze on him, and pointed him out with admiring applause to visiting strangers, so that he too was delighted, and confessed to his friends that he was now reaping in full measure the harvest of his toils in behalf of Hellas.
[Them. 18.1] 18 1 And indeed he was by nature very fond of honour, if we may judge from his memorable sayings and doings. When, for example, the city had chosen him to be admiral, he would not perform any public or private business at its proper time, but would postpone the immediate duty to the day on which he was to set sail, in order that then, because he did many things all at once and had meetings with all sorts of men, he might be thought to be some great personage and very powerful.
[Them. 18.2] 2 Surveying once the dead bodies of the Barbarians which had been cast up along the sea, he saw that they were decked with golden bracelets and collars, and yet passed on by them himself, 121 while to a friend who followed he pointed them out and said: “Help thyself, thou art not Themistocles.” Again, to one who had once been a beauty, Antiphates, and who had at that time treated him disdainfully, but afterwards courted him because of the reputation he had got, “Young man,” said he, “ ‘tis late, ‘tis true, but both of us have come to our senses.” 3 Also he used to say of the Athenians that they did not really honour and admire him for himself, but treated him for all the world like a plane-tree, running under his branches for shelter when it stormed, but when they had fair weather all about them, plucking and docking him. And when he was told by the Seriphian that it was not due to himself that he had got reputation, but to his city, “True,” said he, “but neither should I, had I been a Seriphian, have achieved reputation, nor wouldst thou, hadst thou been an Athenian.”
[Them. 18.4] 4 Again, when one of his fellow-generals who thought he had done some vast service to the city, grew bold with Themistocles, and began to compare his own services with his, “With the Festival-day,” said he, “the Day After once began a contention, saying: ‘Thou art full of occupations and wearisome, but when I come, all enjoy at their leisure what has been richly provided beforehand’; to which the Festival-day replied: ‘True, but had I not come first, thou hadst not come at all.’ So now,” said he, “had I not come at that day of Salamis, where would thou and thy colleagues be now?” 5 Of his son, who lorded it over his mother, and through her over himself, he said, jestingly, that the boy was the most powerful of all the Hellenes; for the Hellenes were commanded by the Athenians, the Athenians by himself, himself by the boy’s mother, and the mother by her boy. Again, with the desire to be somewhat peculiar in all that he did, when he offered a certain estate for sale, he bade proclamation to be made that it had an excellent neighbour into the bargain. Of two suitors for his daughter’s hand, he chose the likely man in preference to the rich man, saying that he wanted a man without money rather than money without a man. Such were his striking sayings.
[Them. 19.1] 19 1 After the great achievements now described, he straightway undertook to rebuild and fortify the city, — as Theopompus relates, by bribing the Spartan Ephors not to oppose the project; but as the majority say, by hoodwinking them. He came with this object to Sparta, ostensibly on an embassy, and when the Spartans brought up the charge that the Athenians were fortifying their city, and Polyarchus was sent expressly from Aegina with the same accusation, 2 he denied that it was so, and bade them send men to Athens to see for themselves, not only because this delay would secure time for the building of the wall, but also because he wished the Athenians to hold these envoys as hostages for his own person. And this was what actually happened. When the Lacedaemonians found out the truth they did him no harm, but concealed their displeasure and sent him away.
[Them. 19.3] After this he equipped the Piraeus, because he had noticed the favourable shape of its harbours, and wished to attach the whole city to the sea; thus in a certain manner counteracting the policies of the ancient Athenian kings. 3 For they, as it is said, in their efforts to draw the citizens away from the sea and accustom them to live not by navigation but by agriculture, disseminated the story about Athena, how when Poseidon was contending with her for possession of the country, she displayed the sacred olive-tree of the Acropolis to the judges, and so won the day. But Themistocles did not, as Aristophanes the comic poet says, “knead the Piraeus on to the city,” nay, he fastened the city to the Piraeus, and the land to the sea. 4 And so it was that he increased the privileges of the common people as against the nobles, and filled them with boldness, since the controlling power came now into the hands of skippers and boatswains and pilots. Therefore it was, too, that the bema in Pnyx, which had stood so as to look off toward the sea, was afterwards turned by the thirty tyrants so as to look inland, because they thought that maritime empire was the mother of democracy, and that oligarchy was less distasteful to tillers of the soil.
[Them. 20.1] 20 1 But Themistocles cherished yet greater designs even for securing the naval supremacy. 122 When the fleet of the Hellenes, after the departure of Xerxes, had put in at Pagasae and was wintering there, he made a harangue before the Athenians, in which he said that he had a certain scheme in mind which would be useful and salutary for them, but which could not be broached in public. 2 So the Athenians bade him impart it to Aristides alone, and if he should approve of it, to put it into execution. Themistocles accordingly told Aristides that he purposed to burn the fleet of the Hellenes where it lay; but Aristides addressed the people, and said of the scheme which Themistocles purposed to carry out, that none could be either more advantageous or more iniquitous. The Athenians therefore ordered Themistocles to give it up.
[Them. 20.3] 3 At the Amphictyonic or Holy Alliance conventions, the Lacedaemonians introduced motions that all cities be excluded from the Alliance which had not taken part in fighting against the Mede. So Themistocles, fearing lest, if they should succeed in excluding the Thessalians and the Argives and the Thebans too from the convention, they would control the votes completely and carry through their own wishes, spoke in behalf of the protesting cities, and changed the sentiments of the delegates 4 by showing that only thirty-one cities had taken part in the war, and that the most of these were altogether small; it would be intolerable, then, if the rest of Hellas should be excluded and the convention be at the mercy of the two or three largest cities. It was for this reason particularly that he became obnoxious to the Lacedaemonians, and they therefore tried to advance Cimon in public favour, making him the political rival of Themistocles.
[Them. 21.1] 21 1 He made himself hateful to the allies also, by sailing round to the islands and trying to exact money from them. When, for instance, he demanded money of the Andrians, Herodotus says he made a speech to them and got reply as follows: he said he came escorting two gods, Persuasion and Compulsion; and they replied that they already had two great gods, Penury and Powerlessness, 2 who hindered them from giving him money.
[Them. 21.2] Timocreon, the lyric poet of Rhodes, assailed Themistocles very bitterly in a song, to the effect that for bribes he had secured the restoration of other exiles, but had abandoned him, through a host and a friend, and all for money. The song runs thus: —
[Them. 21.2b] “Come, if thou praisest Pausanias, or if Xanthippus,
Or if Leotychidas, then I shall praise Aristides,
The one best man of all
Who came from sacred Athens; since Leto loathes Themistocles,
[Them. 21.3] 3 “
The liar, cheat, and traitor, who, though Timocreon was his host,
By knavish moneys was induced not to bring him back
Into his native Ialysus,
But took three talents of silver and went cruising off, — to perdition,
“Restoring some exiles unjustly, chasing some away, and slaying some,
[Them. 21.3b] Gorged with moneys; yet at the Isthmus he played ridiculous host with the stale meats set before his guests;
[Them. 21.3c] Who ate thereof and prayed Heaven ‘no happy return of the day for Themistocles!’ “
[Them. 21.4] 4 Much more wanton and extravagant was the raillery which Timocreon indulged in against Themistocles after the latter’s own exile and condemnation. Then he composed the song beginning: —
[Them. 21.4b] “O Muse, grant that this song
Be famed throughout all Hellas,
As it is meet and just.”
[Them. 21.5] It is said that Timocreon was sent into exile on a charge of Medising, and that Themistocles concurred in the vote of condemnation. 5 Accordingly, when Themistocles also was accused of Medising, Timocreon composed these lines upon him: —
[Them. 21.5b] “Not Timocreon alone, then, made compacts with the Medes,
But there are other wretches too; not I alone am brushless,
There are other foxes too.”
[Them. 22.1] 123 22 1 And at last, when even his fellow-citizens were led by the jealousy of his greatness to welcome such slanders against him, he was forced to allude to his own achievements when he addressed the Assembly, till he became tiresome thereby, and he once said to the malcontents: “Why are ye vexed that the same men should often benefit you?’ “ He offended the multitude also by building the temple of Artemis, whom he surnamed Aristoboulé, or Best Counsellor, intimating thus that it was he who had given the best counsel to the city and to the Hellenes. 2 This temple he established near his house in Melité, where now the public officers cast out the bodies of those who have been put to death, and carry forth the garments and the nooses of those who have dispatched themselves by hanging. A portrait-statue of Themistocles stood in this temple of Aristoboulé down to my time, from which he appears to have been a man not only of heroic spirit, but also of heroic presence.
[Them. 22.3] 3 Well then, they visited him with ostracism, curtailing his dignity and pre-eminence, as they were wont to do in the case of all whom they thought to have oppressive power, and to be incommensurate with true democratic equality. For ostracism was not a penalty, but a way of pacifying and alleviating that jealousy which delights to humble the eminent, breathing out its malice into this disfranchisement.
[Them. 23.1] 23 1 After he had been thus banished from the city, and while he was sojourning at Argos, circumstances connected with the death of Pausanias gave his enemies at Athens ground for proceeding against him. The one who actually brought in the indictment against him for treason was Leobotes the son of Alcmeon, of the deme Agraulé, but the Spartans supported him in the accusation. Pausanias, while engaged in his grand scheme of treachery, at first kept it concealed from Themistocles; 2 but when he saw him thus banished from his state and in great bitterness of spirit, he made bold to invite him into partnership in his own undertakings, showing him a letter he had received from the King, and inciting him against the Hellenes as a base and thankless people. Themistocles rejected the solicitation of Pausanias, and utterly refused the proffered partnership; and yet he disclosed the propositions to no one, nor did he even give information of the treacherous scheme, because he expected either that Pausanias would give it up of his own accord, or that in some other way he would be found out, since he was so irrationally grasping after such strange and desperate objects.
[Them. 23.3] 3 And so it was that, when Pausanias had been put to death, certain letters and documents regarding these matters were discovered which cast suspicion on Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians cried him down, and his envious fellow-citizens denounced him, though he was not present to plead his cause, but defended himself in writing, making particular use of earlier accusations brought against him. 4 Since he was once slanderously accused by his enemies before his fellow-citizens — so he wrote, as one who ever sought to rule, but had no natural bent nor even the desire to be ruled, he could never have sold himself with Hellas to Barbarians, much less to foemen. The people, however, were overpersuaded by his accusers, and sent men with orders to arrest him and bring him up in custody to stand trial before a Congress of Hellenes.
[Them. 24.1] 24 1 But he heard of this in advance, and crossed over to Corcyra, where he had been recognized as a public benefactor of the city. For he had served as arbiter in a dispute between them and the Corinthians, and settled the quarrel by deciding that the Corinthians should pay an indemnity of twenty talents, and administer Leucas as a common colony of both cities. Thence he fled to Epirus, and being pursued by the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, he threw himself upon grievous and desperate chances of escape by taking refuge with Admetus, who was king of the Molossians, 2 and who, since he had once asked some favour of the Athenians and had been insultingly refused it by Themistocles, then at the height of his political influence, 124 was angry with him ever after, and made it plain that he would take vengeance on him if he caught him. But in the desperate fortune of that time Themistocles was more afraid of kindred and recent jealousy than of an anger that was of long standing and royal, and promptly cast himself upon the king’s mercy, making himself the suppliant of Admetus in a way quite peculiar and extraordinary. 3 There is to say, he took the young son of the king in his arms and threw himself down at the hearth; a form of supplication which the Molossians regarded as most sacred, and as almost the only one that might not be refused. Some, it is true, say that it was Phthia, the wife of the king, who suggested this form of supplication to Themistocles, and that she seated her son on the hearth with him; and certain others that Admetus himself, in order that he might give a religious sanction to the necessity that was upon him of not surrendering the man, arranged beforehand and solemnly rehearsed with him the supplication scene.
[Them. 24.4] 4 Thither his wife and children were privily removed from Athens and sent to him by Epicrates of the deme Acharnae, who, for this deed, was afterwards convicted by Cimon and put to death, as Stesimbrotus relates. Then, somehow or other, Stesimbrotus forgets this, or makes Themistocles forget it, and says he sailed to Sicily and demanded from Hiero the tyrant the hand of his daughter in marriage, promising as an incentive that he would make the Hellenes subject to his sway; but that Hiero repulsed him, and so he set sail for Asia.
[Them. 25.1] 25 1 But it is not likely that this was so. For Theophrastus, in his work “On Royalty,” tells how, when Hiero sent horses to compete at Olympia, and set up a sort of booth there with very costly decorations, Themistocles made a speech among the assembled Hellenes, urging them to tear down the booth of the tyrant and prevent his horses from competing. 2 And Thucydides says that he made his way across the country to the sea, and set sail from Pydna, no one of the passengers knowing who he was until, when the vessel had been carried by a storm to Naxos, to which the Athenians at that time were laying siege, he was terrified, and disclosed himself to the master and the captain of the ship, and partly by entreaties, partly by threats, actually declaring that he would denounce and vilify them to the Athenians as having taken him on board at the start in no ignorance but under bribes, — in this way compelled them to sail by and make the coast of Asia. 3 Of his property, much was secretly abstracted for him by his friends and sent across the sea to Asia but the sum total of that which was brought to light and confiscated amounted to one hundred talents, according to Theopompus, — Theophrastus says eighty, — and yet Themistocles did not possess the worth of three talents before he entered political life.
[Them. 26.1] 26 1 After landing at Cymé, and learning that many people on the coast were watching to seize him, and especially Ergoteles and Pythodorus, — for the chase was a lucrative one to such as were fond of getting gain from any and every source, since two hundred talents had been publicly set upon his head by the King, — he fled to Aegae, a little Aeolic citadel. Here no one knew him except his host Nicogenes, the wealthiest man in Aeolia, and well acquainted with the magnates of the interior. 2 During this time, after the dinner which followed a certain sacrifice, Olbius, the paedagogue of the children of Nicogenes, becoming rapt and inspired, lifted up his voice and uttered the following verse: —
[Them. 26.1b] “Night shall speak, and night instruct thee, night shall give thee victory.”
[Them. 26.3] And in the night that followed, Themistocles, as he lay in bed, thought he saw in a dream that a serpent wound itself along over his body and crept up to his neck, 3 then became an eagle as soon as it touched his face, enveloped him with its wings and lifted him on high and bore him a long distance, when there appeared as it were a golden herald’s wand, on which it set him securely down, freed from helpless terror and distress.
[Them. 26.4] 125 However the may be, he was sent on his way by Nicogenes, who devised the following scheme for his safety. Most barbarous nations, and the Persians in particular, are savage and harsh in their jealous watchfulness over their women. 4 Not only their wedded wives, but also their boughten slaves and concubines are strictly guarded, so that they are seen by no outsiders, but live at home in complete seclusion, and even on their journeys are carried in tents closely hung about with curtains and set upon four-wheeled waggons. Such a vehicle was made ready for Themistocles, and safely ensconced in this he made his journey, while his attendants replied in every case to those who met them with enquiries, that they were conducting a Hellenic woman, fair but frail, to one of the King’s courtiers.
[Them. 27.1] 27 1 Now Thucydides and Charon of Lampsacus relate that Xerxes was dead, and that it was his son Artaxerxes with whom Themistocles had his interview; but Ephorus and Dinon and Clitarchus and Heracleides and yet more besides have it that it was Xerxes to whom he came. With the chronological data Thucydides seems to me more in accord, although these are by no means securely established. 2 Be that as it may, Themistocles, thus at the threshold of the dreadful ordeal, had audience first with Artabanus the Chiliarch, or Grand Vizier, and said that he was a Hellene, and that he desired to have an audience with the King on matters which were of the highest importance and for which the monarch entertained the most lively concern. Whereupon the Chiliarch replied: “O Stranger, men’s customs differ; different people honour different practices; but all honour the exaltation and maintenance of their own peculiar ways. 3 Now you Hellenes are said to admire liberty and equality above all things; but in our eyes, among many fair customs, this is the fairest of all, to honour the King, and to pay obeisance to him as the image of that god who is the preserver of all things. If, then, thou approvest our practice and wilt pay obeisance, it is in thy power to behold and address the King; but if thou art otherwise minded, it will be needful for thee to employ messengers to him in thy stead, for it is not a custom of this country that the King give ear to a man who has not paid him obeisance.” 4 When Themistocles heard this, he said to him: “Nay, but I am come, Artabanus, to augment the King’s fame and power, and I will not only myself observe your customs, since such is the pleasure of the god who exalts the Persians, but I will induce more men than do so now to pay obeisance to the King. Therefore let this matter by no means stand in the way of the words I wish to speak to him.” 5 “And what Hellene,” said Artabanus, “shall I say thou art who hast thus come? Verily, thou dost not seem to be a man of ordinary understanding.” And Themistocles said: “This, Artabanus, no one may learn before the King.”
[Them. 27.1b] So indeed Phanias says, and Eratosthenes, in his book “On Wealth,” adds the statement that it was through a woman of Eretria, whom the Chiliarch had to wife, that Themistocles obtained interview and conference with him.
[Them. 28.1] 28 1 That may or may not be so. But when he was led into the presence of the King and had made him obeisance, and was standing in silence, the King ordered the interpreter to ask him who he was, and, on the interpreter’s asking, he said: “I who thus come to thee, O King, am Themistocles the Athenian, an exile, pursued by the Hellenes; and to me the Persians are indebted for many ills, but for more blessings, since I hindered the pursuit of the Hellenes, at a time when Hellas was brought into safety, and the salvation of my own home gave me an opportunity for showing some favour also to you. 2 Now, therefore, I may look for any sequel to my present calamities, and I come prepared to receive the favour of one who benevolently offers reconciliation, or to deprecate the anger of one who cherishes the remembrance of injuries. But do thou take my foes to witness for the good I wrought the Persians, and now use my misfortunes for the display of thy virtue rather for the satisfaction of thine anger. For it is a suppliant of thine whom thou wilt save, but an enemy of the Hellenes whom thou wilt destroy.” 126 3 After these words Themistocles spoke of divine portents in his favour, enlarging upon the vision which he saw at the house of Nicogenes, and the oracle of Dodonaean Zeus, how when he was bidden by it to proceed to the namesake of the god, he had concluded that he was thereby sent to him, since both were actually “Great Kings,” and were so addressed.
[Them. 28.4] On hearing this the Persian made no direct reply to him, although struck with admiration at the boldness of his spirit; 4 but in converse with his friends it is said that he congratulated himself over what he called the greatest good fortune, and prayed Arimanius ever to give his enemies such minds as to drive their best men away from them; and then sacrificed to the gods, and straightway betook himself to his cups; and in the night, in the midst of his slumbers, for very joy called out thrice: “I have Themistocles the Athenian.”
[Them. 29.1] 29 1 At daybreak he called his friends together and bade Themistocles to be introduced, who expected no favourable outcome, because he saw that the guards at the gates, when they learned the name of him who was going in, were bitterly disposed and spoke insultingly to him. And besides, Roxanes the Chiliarch, when Themistocles came along opposite him, — the King being seated and the rest hushed in silence, — said in an angry undertone: “Thou subtle serpent of Hellas, the King’s good genius hath brought thee hither.” 2 However, when he had come into the King’s presence, and had once more paid him obeisance, the King welcomed him and spake him kindly, and said he already owed him two hundred talents, for since he had delivered himself up it was only just that he himself should receive the reward proclaimed for his captor. And he promised him much more besides, and bade him take heart, and gave him leave to say whatever he wished concerning the affairs of Hellas, with all frankness of speech.
[Them. 29.3] 3 But Themistocles made answer that the speech of man was like embroidered tapestries, since like them this too had to be extended in order to display its patterns, but when it was rolled up it concealed and distorted them. Wherefore he had need of time. The King at once showed his pleasure at this comparison by bidding him take time, and so Themistocles asked for a year, and in that time he learned the Persian language sufficiently to have interviews with the King by himself without interpreters. 4 Outsiders thought these conferences concerned Hellenic matters merely; but since about that time many innovations were introduced by the King at court and among his favourites, the magnates became jealous of Themistocles, on the ground that he had made bold to use his freedom of speech with the King to their harm. For the honours he enjoyed were far beyond those paid to other foreigners; nay, he actually took part in the King’s hunts and in his household diversions, so far that he even had access to the queen-mother and became intimate with her, and at the King’s bidding heard expositions also of the Magian lore. 5 And when Demaratus the Spartan, being bidden to ask a gift, asked that he might ride in state through Sardis, wearing his tiara upright after the manner of the Persian kings, Mithropaustes the King’s cousin said, touching the tiara of Demaratus: “This tiara of thine hath no brains to cover; indeed thou wilt not be Zeus merely because thou graspest the thunderbolt.” 6 The King also repulsed Demaratus in anger at his request, and was minded to be inexorable towards him, and yet Themistocles begged and obtained a reconciliation with him.
[Them. 29.7] And it is said that later kings also, in whose reigns Persia and Hellas came into closer relations, as often as they asked for a Hellene to advise them, promised him in writing, every one, that he should be more influential at court than Themistocles. 7 And Themistocles himself, they say, now become great and courted by many, said to his children, when a splendid table was once set for him: “My children, we should now have been undone, had we not been undone before.” 127 Three cities, as most writers say, were given him for bread, wine, and meat, namely: Magnesia, Lampsacus, and Myus; and two others are added by Neanthes of Cyzicus and by Phanias, namely: Percoté and Palaescepsis; these for his bedding and raiment.
[Them. 30.1] 30 1 Now as he was going down to the sea on his commission to deal with Hellenic affairs, a Persian, Epixyes by name, satrap of Upper Phrygia, plotted against his life, having for a long time kept certain Pisidians in readiness to slay him whenever he should reach the village called Lion’s Head, and take up his night’s quarters there. But while Themistocles was asleep at midday before, it is said that the Mother of the Gods appeared to him in a dream and said: “O Themistocles, shun a head of lions, that thou mayest not encounter a lion. And for this service to thee, I demand of thee Mnesiptolema to be my handmaid.” 2 Much disturbed, of course, Themistocles, with a prayer of acknowledgment to the goddess, forsook the highway, made a circuit by another route, and passing by that place, at last, as night came on, took up his quarters.
[Them. 30.3] Now, since one of the beasts of burden which carried the equipage of his tent had fallen into the river, the servants of Themistocles hung up the curtains which had got wet, and were drying them out. The Pisidians, at this juncture, sword in hand, made their approach, and since they could not see distinctly by the light of the moon what it was that was being dried, they thought it was the tent of Themistocles, and that they would find him reposing inside. 3 But when they drew near and lifted up the hanging, they were fallen upon by the guards and apprehended. Thus Themistocles escaped the peril, and because he was amazed at the epiphany of the goddess, he built a temple in Magnesia in honour of Dindymené, and made his daughter Mnesiptolema her priestess.
[Them. 31.1] 31 1 When he had come to Sardis and was viewing at his leisure the temples built there and the multitude of their dedicatory offerings, and saw in the temple of the Mother the so called Water-carrier, — a maid in bronze, two cubits high, which he himself, when he was water commissioner at Athens, had caused to be made and dedicated from the fines he exacted of those whom he convicted of stealing and tapping the public water, — whether it was because he felt some chagrin at the capture of the offering, or because he wished to show the Athenians what honour and power he had in the King’s service, he addressed a proposition to the Lydian satrap and asked him to restore the maid to Athens. 2 But the Barbarian was incensed and threatened to write a letter to the King about it; whereat Themistocles was afraid, and so had recourse to the women’s chambers, and, by winning the favour of the satrap’s concubines with money, succeeded in assuaging his anger. Thereafter he behaved more circumspectly, fearing now even the jealousy of the Barbarians. For he did not wander about over Asia, as Theopompus says, but had a house in Magnesia, and gathered in large gifts, and was honoured like the noblest Persians, and so lived on for a long time without concern, because the King paid no heed at all to Hellenic affairs, owing to his occupation with the state of the interior.
[Them. 31.3] 3 But when Egypt revolted with Athenian aid, and Hellenic triremes sailed up as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Cimon’s mastery of the sea forced the King to resist the efforts of the Hellenes and to hinder their hostile growth; and when at last forces began to be moved, and generals were despatched hither and thither, and messages came down to Themistocles saying that the King commanded him to make good his promises by applying himself to the Hellenic problem, 4 then, neither embittered by anything like anger against his former fellow-citizens, nor lifted up by the great honour and power he was to have in the war, but possibly thinking his task not even approachable, both because Hellas had other great generals at the time, 128 and especially because Cimon was so marvellously successful in his campaigns; yet most of all out of regard for the reputation of his own achievements and the trophies of those early days; having decided that his best course was to put a fitting end to his life, 5 he made a sacrifice to the gods, then called his friends together, gave them a farewell clasp of his hand, and, as the current story goes, drank bull’s blood, or as some say, took a quick poison, and so died in Magnesia, in the sixty-fifth year of his life, most of which had been spent in political leadership. They say that the King, on learning the cause and the manner of his death, admired the man yet more, and continued to treat his friends and kindred with kindness.
[Them. 32.1] 32 1 Themistocles left three sons by Archippé, the daughter of Lysander, of the deme Alopecé, namely: Archeptolis, Polyeuctus and Cleophantus, the last of whom Plato the philosopher mentions as a capital horseman, but good for nothing else. One of his two oldest sons, Neocles, died in boyhood from the bite of a horse, and Diocles was adopted by his grandfather Lysander. 2 He had several daughters, of whom Mnesiptolema, born of his second wife, became the wife of Archeptolis her half-brother, Italia of Panthoides the Chian, and Sybaris of Nicomedes the Athenian. Nicomaché was given in marriage by her brothers to Phrasicles, the nephew of Themistocles, who sailed to Magnesia after his uncle’s death, and who also took charge of Asia, the youngest of all the children.
[Them. 32.3] 3 The Magnesians have a splendid tomb of Themistocles in their market place; and with regard to his remains, Andocidesb is worthy of no attention when he says, in his Address to his Associates, that the Athenians stole away those remains and scattered them abroad, for he is trying by his lies to incite the oligarchs against the people; and Phylarchus, too, when, as if in a tragedy, he all but erects a theatrical machine for this story, and brings into the action a certain Neocles, forsooth, and Demopolis, sons of Themistocles, wishes merely to stir up tumultuous emotion; his tale even an ordinary person must know is fabricated. 4 Diodorus the Topographer, in his work “On Tombs,” says, by conjecture rather than from actual knowledge, that near the large harbour of the Piraeus a sort of elbow juts out from the promontory opposite Alcimus, and that as you round this and come inside where the water of the sea is still, there is a basement of goodly size, and that the altar-like structure upon this is the tomb of Themistocles. 5 And he thinks that the comic poet Plato is a witness in favour of his view when he says: —
[Them. 32.3b] “Thy tomb is mounded in a fair and sightly place;
The merchantmen shall ever hail it with glad cry;
It shall behold those outward, and those inward bound,
And all the emulous rivalry of racing ships.”
[Them. 32.3c] For the lineal descendants of Themistocles there were also certain dignities maintained in Magnesia down to my time, and the revenues of these were enjoyed by a Themistocles of Athens, who was my intimate and friend in the school of Ammonius the philosopher.

## Camillus

[Cam. 1.1] 1 1 TURNING now to Furius Camillus, among the many notable things that are told of him, this seems the most singular and strange, namely, that although in other offices of command he won many and great successes, and although he was five times chosen dictator, four times celebrated a triumph, and was styled a Second Founder of Rome, not even once was he consul. 2 The reason for this lay in the political conditions of his time. The common people, being at variance with the Senate, strove against the appointment of consuls, and elected military tribunes to the command instead. These, although they had always acted with consular authority and power, were less obnoxious in their sway because of their number. For the fact that six men instead two stood at the head of affairs, was some comfort to those who were bitterly set against the rule of the few.
[Cam. 1.3] 3 Now it was at this period that Camillus came to the height of his achievements and fame, and he would not consent to become consul over a reluctant people, although during his career the city tolerated consular elections many times. But in the many other and varied offices which he held, he so conducted himself that even when the authority rightly belonged to him alone, it was exercised in common with others; while the glory that followed such exercise was his alone, even when he shared the command. In the first case, it was his moderation that kept his rule from exciting envy; in the second, it was his ability that gave him the first place with none to dispute it.
[Cam. 2.1] 2 1 At a time when the house of the Furii was not yet very conspicuous, he, by his own efforts, was the first of his clan to achieve fame. This he did in the great battle with the Aequians and Volscians, serving under Postumius Tubertus the dictator. Dashing out on his horse in front of the army, he did not abate his speed when he got a wound in the thigh, but dragging the missile along with him in its wound, he engaged the bravest of the enemy and put them to flight. 2 For this exploit, among other honours bestowed upon him, he was appointed censor, in those days an office of great dignity. There is on record a noble achievement of his censorship, that of bringing the unmarried men, partly by persuasion and partly by threatening them with fines, to join in wedlock with the women who were living in widowhood, and these were many because of the wars; likewise a necessary achievement, that of making the orphans, who before this had contributed nothing to the support of the state, subject to taxation. 3 The continuous campaigns, demanding great outlays of money, really required this. Especially burdensome was the siege of Veii (some call the people Veientani).
[Cam. 2.4] This city was the barrier and bulwark of Tuscany, in quantity of arms and multitude of soldiery no whit inferior to Rome. Indeed, pluming herself on her wealth, and on the refinement, luxury, and sumptuousness in which her citizens lived, she had waged many noble contests for glory and power in her wars with the Romans. 4 At this time, however, she had been crushed in great battles, and had given up her former ambitious pretensions. But her people built their walls high and strong, filed the city full of armour, missiles, grain, and every possible provision, and confidently endured their siege, which, though long, was no less laborious and difficult for the besiegers. 5 These had been accustomed to short campaigns abroad as the summer season opened, and to winters at home; but then for the first time they had been compelled by their tribunes to build forts and fortify their camp and spend both summer and winter in the enemy’s country, the seventh year of the war being now nearly at an end. For this their rulers were held to blame, and finally deprived of their rule, because they were thought to conduct the siege without energy. Others were chosen to carry on the war, and one of these was Camillus, now tribune for the second time. 6 But for the present he had nothing to do with the siege, since it fell to his lot to wage war with the Falerians and the Capenates, who, while the Romans had their hands full, had often harried their territory, and during all the Tuscan war had given them annoyance and trouble. These were overwhelmed by Camillus in battle and shut up in their fastnesses with great loss of life.
[Cam. 3.1] 3 1 And now, when the war was at its climax, the calamity of the Alban lake added its terrors. It seemed a most incredible prodigy, without familiar cause or natural explanation. For the season was autumn, and the summer just ended had, to all observation, been neither rainy nor vexed by south winds. 2 Of the lakes, rivers, and streams of all sizes with which Italy abounds, some had failed utterly, others barely managed to hold out, and all the rivers ran low, between high banks, as was always the case in summer. But the Alban lake, which had its source and outlet within itself, and was girt about with fertile mountains, for no reason, except it be that heaven willed it, was observed to increase and swell until it reached the skirts of the mountains and gradually touched their highest ridges. All this rise was without surge or billow. 3 At first it was a prodigy for neighbouring shepherds and herdsmen. But when the volume and weight of water broke away the barrier which, like an isthmus, had kept the lake from the country lying below it, and a huge torrent poured down through the fields and vineyards and made its way to the sea, then not only were the Romans themselves dismayed, but all the inhabitants of Italy thought it a sign of no small evil to come. There was much talk about it in the army that was besieging Veii, so that even the besieged themselves heard of the calamity.
[Cam. 4.1] 4 1 As was to be expected in a long siege requiring many meetings for conference with the enemy, it fell out that a certain Roman became intimate and confidential with one of the citizens of Veii, a man versed in ancient oracles, and reputed wiser than the rest from his being a diviner. The Roman saw that this man, on hearing the story of the lake, was overjoyed and made mock of the siege. He therefore told him this was not the only wonder which the passing days had brought, but that other and stranger signs than this had been given to the Romans, of which he was minded to tell him, in order that, if possible, he might better his own private case in the midst of the public distresses. 2 The man gave eager hearing to all this, and consented to a conference, supposing that he was going to hear some deep secrets. But the Roman led him along little by little, conversing as he went, until they were some way beyond the city gate, when he seized him boldly, being a sturdier man than he, and with the help of comrades who came running up from the camp, mastered him completely and handed him over to the generals. 3 Thus constrained, and perceiving that fate’s decrees were not to be evaded, the man revealed secret oracles regarding his native city, to the effect that it could not be captured until the Alban lake, after leaving its bed and making new channels for itself, should be driven back by the enemy, deflected from its course, and prevented from mingling with the sea.
[Cam. 4.4] 4 The Senate, on hearing this, was at great loss what to do, and thought it well to send an embassy to Delphi to consult the god. The envoys were men of great repute and influence, Cossus Licinius, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus, who made their voyage and came back with the responses of the god. One of these told them that certain ancestral rites connected with the so called Latin festivals had been unduly neglected; 5 another bade them by all means to keep the water of the Alban lake away from the sea and force it back into its ancient bed, or, if they could not effect this, by means of canals and trenches to divert it into the plain and dissipate it. On receipt of these responses the priests performed the neglected sacrifices, and the people sallied out into the fields and diverted the course of the water.
[Cam. 5.1] 5 1 In the tenth year of the war, the Senate abolished the other magistracies and appointed Camillus dictator. After choosing Cornelius Scipio as his master of horse, in the first place he made solemn vows to the gods that, in case the war had a glorious ending, he would celebrate the great games in their honour, and dedicate a temple to a goddess whom the Romans call Mater Matuta.
[Cam. 5.2] 2 From the sacred rites used in the worship of this goddess, she might be held to be almost identical with Leucothea. The women bring a serving-maid into the sanctuary and beat her with rods, then drive her forth again; they embrace their nephews and nieces in preference to their own children; and their conduct at the sacrifice resembles that of the nurses of Dionysus, or that of Ino under the afflictions put upon her by her husband’s concubine.
[Cam. 5.3] After his vows, Camillus invaded the country of the Faliscans and conquered them in a great battle, together with the Capenates who came up to their aid. 3 Then he turned to the siege of Veii, and seeing that direct assault upon the city was a grievous and difficult matter, he went to digging mines, since the region round the city favoured such works, and allowed their being carried to a great depth without the enemy’s knowing about it. So then, when his hopes were well on their way to fulfilment, he himself assaulted the city from the outside, and thus called the enemy away to man their walls; while others secretly made their way along the mines and reached unnoticed the interior of the citadel, where the temple of Juno stood, the largest temple in the city, and the one most held in honour.
[Cam. 5.4] 4 There, it is said, at this very juncture, the commander of the Tuscans chanced to be sacrificing, and his seer, when he beheld the entrails of the victim, cried out with a loud voice and said that the god awarded victory to him who should fulfill that sacrifice. The Romans in the mines below, hearing this utterance, quickly tore away the pavement of the temple and issued forth with battle cries and clash of arms, whereat the enemy were terrified and fled away. The sacrificial entrails were then seized and carried to Camillus. 5 But possibly this will seem like fable.
[Cam. 5.6] At any rate the city was taken by storm, and the Romans were pillaging and plundering its boundless wealth, when Camillus, seeing from the citadel what was going on, at first burst into tears as he stood, and then, on being congratulated by the bystanders, lifted up his hands to the gods and prayed, saying: 6 “O greatest Jupiter, and ye gods who see and judge men’s good and evil deeds, ye surely know that it is not unjustly, but of necessity and in self-defence that we Romans have visited this iniquity upon this city of hostile and lawless men. But if, as counterpoise to this our present success, some retribution is due to come upon us, spare, I beseech you, the city and the army of the Romans, and let it fall upon my own head, though with as little harm as may be.” With these words, as the Romans’ custom is after prayer and adoration, he wheeled himself about to the right, but stumbled and fell as he turned. The bystanders were confounded, but he picked himself up again from his fall and said: “My prayer is granted! a slight fall is my atonement for the greatest good fortune.”
[Cam. 6.1] 6 1 After he had utterly sacked the city, he determined to transfer the image of Juno to Rome, in accordance with his vows. The workmen were assembled for the purpose, and Camillus was sacrificing and praying the goddess to accept of their zeal and to be a kindly co-dweller with the gods of Rome, when the image, they say, spoke in low tones and said she was ready and willing. 2 But Livy says that Camillus did indeed lay his hand upon the goddess and pray and beseech her, but that it was certain of the bystanders who gave answer that she was ready and willing and eager to go along with him.
[Cam. 6.3] Those who insist upon and defend the marvel have a most powerful advocate for their contention in the fortune of the city, which, from its small and despised beginning, could never have come to such a pinnacle of glory and power had God not dwelt with her and made many great manifestations of himself from time to time. 3 Moreover, they adduce other occurrences of a kindred sort, such as statues often dripping with sweat, images uttering audible groans, turning away their faces, and closing their eyes, as not a few historians in the past have written. And we ourselves might make mention of many astonishing things which we have heard from men of our own time, — things not lightly to be despised. 4 But in such matters eager credulity and excessive incredulity are alike dangerous, because of the weakness of our human nature, which sets no limits and has no mastery over itself, but is carried away now into vain superstition, and now into contemptuous neglect of the gods. Caution is best, and to go to no extremes.
[Cam. 7.1] 7 1 Whether it was due to the magnitude of his exploit in taking a city which could vie with Rome and endure a siege of ten years, or to the congratulations showered upon him, Camillus was lifted up to vanity, cherished thoughts far from becoming to a civil magistrate subject to the law, and celebrated a triumph with great pomp: he actually had four white horses harnessed to a chariot on which he mounted and drove through Rome, a thing which no commander had ever done before or afterwards did. For they thought such a car sacred and devoted to the king and father of the gods. 2 In this way he incurred the enmity of the citizens, who were not accustomed to wanton extravagance. They had also a second grievance against him in that he opposed himself to a law dividing the city. The tribunes introduced a measure dividing the people and the Senate into two parts, one to remain and dwell there, and the one on which the lot fell to remove into the city they had captured, on the ground that they would thus be more commodiously bestowed, and with two large and fair cities could better protect their territory as well as their prosperity in general. 3 Accordingly the people, which was now become numerous and poor, welcomed the measure with delight, and was for ever thronging tumultuously about the rostra with demands that it be put to vote. But the Senate and the most influential of the other citizens considered that the measure proposed by the tribunes meant not division but destruction for Rome, and in their aversion to it went to Camillus for aid and succour. 4 He, dreading the struggle, always contrived to keep the people busy with other matters, and so staved off the passage of the bill. For this reason, then, they were vexed with him.
[Cam. 7.5] But the strongest and most apparent reason why the multitude hated him was based on the matter of the tenth of the spoil of Veii, and herein they had a plausible, though not a very just ground of complaint. 5 He had vowed, as it seems, on setting out against Veii, that if he should take the city, he would consecrate the tenth of its booty to the Delphian god. But after the city had been taken and sacked, he allowed his soldiers full enjoyment of their plunder, either because he shrank from annoying them, or because, in the multitude of his activities, he as good as forgot his vow. At a later time, when he had laid down his command, he referred the matter to the Senate, and the seers announced tokens in their sacrifices that the gods were angry, and must be propitiated with due offerings.
[Cam. 8.1] 8 1 The Senate voted, not that the booty should be redistributed, for that would have been a difficult matter, but that those who had got it should, in person and under oath, bring the tenth thereof to the public treasury. This subjected the soldiers to many vexations and constraints. They were poor men, who had toiled hard, and yet were now forced to contribute a large share of what they had gained, yes, and spent already. 2 Beset by their tumultuous complaints, and at loss for a better excuse, Camillus had recourse to the absurdest of all explanations, and admitted that he had forgotten his vow. The soldiers were filled with indignation at the thought that it was the goods of the enemy of which he had once vowed a tithe, but the goods of his fellow citizens from which he was now paying the tithe. However, all of them brought in the necessary portion, and it was decided to make a bowl of massive gold and send it to Delphi. 3 Now there was a scarcity of gold in the city, and the magistrates knew not whence it could be had. So the women, of their own accord, determined to give the gold ornaments which they wore upon their persons for the offering, and these amounted to eight talents weight. The women were fittingly rewarded by the Senate, which voted that thereafter, when women died, a suitable eulogy should be spoken over them, as over men. For it was not customary before that time, when a woman died, that a public encomium should be pronounced. 4 Then they chose three of the noblest citizens as envoys, manned with its full complement of their best sailors a ship of war decked out in festal array, and sent them on their way.
[Cam. 8.5] Calm at sea has its perils as well as storm, it would seem, at least so it proved in this case. Envoys and crew came within an ace of destruction, and found escape from their peril when they least expected it. Off the Aeolian isles, as the wind died down, some Liparian galleys put out against them, taking them for pirates. 5 The enemy had sufficient regard to their prayers and supplications not to run their vessel down, but they took it in tow, brought it to land, and proclaimed their goods and persons for sale, adjudging them piratical. At last, and with much ado, through the brave intercession of a single man, Timesitheus, their general, the Liparians were persuaded to let the captives go. This man then launched boats of his own, convoyed the suppliants on their way, and assisted them in the dedication of their offering. For this he received suitable honours at Rome.
[Cam. 9.1] 9 1 Once more the tribunes of the people urged the passage of the law for the division of the city, but the war with the Faliscans came on opportunely and gave the leading men occasion to hold such elective assemblies as they wished, and to appoint Camillus military tribune, with five others. The emergency was thought to demand a leader with the dignity and reputation which experience alone could give. 2 After the people had ratified the election, Camillus, at the head of his army, invaded the territory of the Faliscans and laid siege to Falerii, a strong city, and well equipped with all the munitions of war. It was not that he thought its capture would demand slight effort or short time, but he wished to turn the thoughts of the citizens to other matters and keep them busy therein, that they might not be able to stay at home and become the prey of seditious leaders. This was a fitting and sovereign remedy which the Romans used, like good physicians, thereby expelling from the body politic its troublesome distempers.
[Cam. 10.1] 10 1 The Falerians, relying on the great strength of their city at all points, made so light of the siege that, with the exception of the defenders of the walls, the rest went up and down the city in their garb of peace. The boys went to school as usual, and were brought by their teacher along the walls outside to walk about and get their exercise. For the Falerians, like the Greeks, employed one teacher in common, wishing their boys, from the very start, to herd with one another and grow up together. 2 This teacher, then, wishing to betray Falerii by means of its boys, led them out every day beyond the city walls, at first only a little way, and then brought them back inside when they had taken their exercise. Presently he led them, little by little, farther and farther out, accustomed them to feel confident that there was no danger at all, and finally pushed in among the Roman outposts with his whole company, handed them over to the enemy, and demanded to be led to Camillus. 3 So led, and in that presence, he said he was a boys’ school-teacher, but chose rather to win the general’s favour than to fulfil the duties of his office, and so had come bringing to him the city in the persons of its boys. It seemed to Camillus, on hearing him, that the man had done a monstrous deed, and turning to the bystanders he said: “War is indeed a grievous thing, and is waged with much injustice and violence; 4 but even war has certain laws which good and brave men will respect, and we must not so hotly pursue victory as not to flee the favours of base and impious doers. The great general will wage war relying on his own native valour, not on the baseness of other men.” Then he ordered his attendants to tear the man’s clothing from him, tie his arms behind his back, and put rods and scourges in the hands of the boys, that they might chastise the traitor and drive back into the city.
[Cam. 10.5] 5 The Falerians had just become aware of the teacher’s treachery, and the whole city, as was natural, was filled with lamentation over a calamity so great. Men and women alike rushed distractedly to the walls and gates, when lo! there came the boys, bringing their teacher back stripped, bound, and maltreated, while they called Camillus their saviour, their father, and their god. 6 On this wise not only the parents of the boys, but the rest of the citizens as well, when they beheld the spectacle, were seized with admiration and longing for the righteousness of Camillus. In haste they held an assembly and sent envoys to him, entrusting him with their lives and fortunes. These envoys Camillus sent to Rome. 7 Standing in the Senate, they declared that the Romans, by esteeming righteousness above victory, had taught them to love defeat above freedom; not so much because they thought themselves inferior in strength, as because they confessed themselves vanquished in virtue. On the Senate’s remanding to Camillus the decision and disposition of the matter, he took a sum of money from the Falerians, established friendship with all the Faliscans, and withdrew.
[Cam. 11.1] 11 But the soldiers thought to have had the sacking of Falerii, and when they came back to Rome empty-handed, they denounced Camillus to the rest of the citizens as a hater of the common people, and as begrudging to the poor the enjoyment of their rightful booty. And when the tribunes once more put forward the law for the division of the city and summoned the people to vote upon it, then Camillus, shunning no hatred nor any boldness of utterance, was manifestly the chief one in forcing the multitude away from its desires. Therefore, they did indeed reject the law, much against their will, 2 but they were wroth with Camillus, so that even when he met with domestic affliction and lost one of his two sons by sickness, their wrath was in no wise softened by pity. And yet he set no bounds to his sorrow, being by nature a gentle and kindly man, but even after the indictment against him had been published, he suffered his grief to keep him at home, in close seclusion with the women of his household.
[Cam. 12.1] 12 1 Well, then, his accuser was Lucius Apuleius, and the charge was theft of Tuscan goods. It was said, forsooth, that certain bronze doors belonging to the booty had been seen at his house. But the people were exasperated, and would plainly lay hold of any pretext whatever for condemning him. 2 So then he assembled his friends and comrades in arms, who were many in number, and begged them not to suffer him to be convicted on base charges and to be made a laughing-stock by his foes. When his friends had laid their heads together and discussed the case, they answered that, as regarded his trial, they thought they could be of no help to him; but if he were punished with a fine, they would help him pay it. This he could not endure, and in his wrath determined to depart the city and go into exile. 3 Accordingly, after he had kissed his wife and son good-bye, he went from his house in silence as far as the gate of the city. There he stopped, turned himself about, and stretching his hands out towards the Capitol, prayed the gods that, if with no justice, but through the wantonness of the people and the abuse of the envious he was now being driven from his country, the Romans might speedily repent, and show to all men that they needed and longed for Camillus.
[Cam. 13.1] 13 1 After he had thus, like Achilles, invoked curses upon his fellow citizens, he removed from out the city. His case went by default, and he was fined fifteen thousand asses.
[Cam. 13.1b] This sum, reduced to our money, is fifteen hundred drachmas. For the as was the current copper coin, and the silver coin worth ten of these pieces was for that reason called the denarius, which is equivalent to the drachma.
[Cam. 13.2] 2 Now there is no Roman who does not believe that justice followed hard upon the imprecations of Camillus, and that he received a requital for his wrongs which was not pleasing to him, but painful: certainly it was notable and famous. For a great retribution encompassed Rome, and a season of dire destruction and peril not unmixed with disgrace assailed the city, whether fortune so brought things to pass, or whether it is the mission of some god not to neglect virtue that goes unrequited.
[Cam. 14.1] 14 1 In the first place, then, it seemed to be a sign of great evil impending when Julius the censor died. For the Romans specially revere and hold sacred the office of censor. In the second place, before Camillus went into exile, a man who was not conspicuous, to be sure, but who was esteemed honest and kindly, Marcus Caedicius, informed the military tribunes of a matter well worth their attention. He said that during the night just passed, as he was going along the so called New Street, he was hailed by someone in clear tones, and turned, and saw no man, but heard a voice louder than man’s saying: “Hark thou! Marcus Caedicius, early in the morning go and tell the magistrates that within a little time they must expect the Gauls.” At this story the tribunes mocked and jested. And a little while after, Camillus suffered his disgrace.
[Cam. 15.1] 15 1 The Gauls were of the Celtic stock, and their numbers were such, as it is said, that they abandoned their own country, which was not able to sustain them all, and set out in quest of another. They were many myriads of young warriors, and they took along with them a still greater number of women and children. Some of them crossed the Rhipaean mountains, streamed off towards the northern ocean, and occupied the remotest parts of Europe; 2 others settled between the Pyrenees and the Alps, near the Senones and the Celtorians, and dwelt there a long time. But at last they got a taste of wine, which was then for the first time brought them from Italy. They admired the drink so much, and were all so beside themselves with the novel pleasure which it gave, that they seized their arms, took along their families, and made off to the Alps, in quest of the land which produced such fruit, considering the rest of the world barren and wild.
[Cam. 15.3] 3 The man who introduced wine to them, and was first and foremost in sharpening their appetite for Italy, is said to have been Arron, a Tuscan. He was a man of prominence, and by nature not prone to evil, but had met with the following misfortune. He was guardian of an orphan boy who was heir to the greatest wealth in the city, and of amazing beauty, Lucumo by name. This Lucumo from his youth up had lived with Arron, and when he came to man’s estate, did not leave his house, but pretended to take delight in his society. He had, however, corrupted Arron’s wife, and been corrupted by her, and for a long time kept the thing a secret. 4 But at last the passions of both culprits increased upon them so that they could neither put away their desires nor longer hide them, wherefore the young man made open attempt to remove the woman and have her to wife. Her husband brought the case to trial, but was defeated by Lucumo, owing to the multitude of his friends and his lavish outlays of money, and forsook the city. Learning about the Gauls, he betook himself to them, and led them on their expedition to Italy.
[Cam. 16.1] 16 1 The Gauls burst in and straightway mastered all the country which the Tuscans occupied of old, namely, that stretching from the Alps down to both seas, the names of which bear witness to the story. For the northern sea is called Adria, from the Tuscan city of Adria; the southern is called outright the Tuscan Sea. 2 This whole country is studded with trees, has excellent pasturage for flocks and herds, and an abundance of rivers. It had also eighteen cities, large and fair, well equipped for profitable commerce and for sumptuous living. These the Gauls took away from the Tuscans and occupied themselves. But this happened long before the time of which I speak.
[Cam. 17.1] 17 1 At this time the Gauls had marched against the Tuscan city of Clusium and were laying siege to it. The Clusians applied for assistance to the Romans, and begged them to send ambassadors in their behalf with a letter to the Barbarians. So there were sent three men of the Fabian gens who were of great repute and honour in the city. 2 The Gauls received them courteously, because of the name of Rome, ceased their attacks upon the city walls, and held conference with them. When they were asked what wrong they had suffered at the hands of the Clusians that they had come up against their city, Brennus, the king of the Gauls, burst into a laugh and said: “The Clusians wrong us in that, being able to till only a small parcel of earth, they yet are bent on holding a large one, and will not share it with us, who are strangers, many in number and poor. 3 This is the wrong which ye too suffered, O Romans, formerly at the hands of the Albans, Fidenates, and Ardeates, and now lately at the hands of the Veientines, Capenates, and many of the Faliscans and Volscians. Ye march against these peoples, and if they will not share their goods with you, ye enslave them, despoil them, and raze their cities to the ground; not that in so doing ye are in any wise cruel or unjust, 4 nay, ye are but obeying that most ancient of laws which gives to the stronger the goods of his weaker neighbours, the world over, beginning with God himself and ending with the beasts that perish. For these too are so endowed by nature that the stronger seeks to have more than the weaker. Cease ye, therefore, to pity the Clusians when we besiege them, that ye may not teach the Gauls to be kind and full of pity towards those who are wronged by the Romans.”
[Cam. 17.5] 5 From this speech the Roman envoys saw that there was no coming to terms with Brennus, and so they slipped into Clusium, and emboldened and incited its citizens to sally out against the Barbarians with them, either because they wished to discover the prowess of those warriors or display their own. The Clusians made a sally, and in the fight which raged along the walls one of the Fabii, Quintus Ambustus, drove his horse straight at a stately and handsome Gaul who was riding far out in front of the rest. At first he was not recognized, because the conflict came swiftly to pass and his dazzling armour hid his face. 6 But when he had conquered and unhorsed his foe and was stripping his arms from him, then Brennus recognized him, and called upon the gods to witness how, contrary to the general practice of all mankind, which was deemed just and holy, he had come as an ambassador, but had wrought as an enemy. Then, putting a stop to the battle, he straightway let the Clusians alone, and led his host against Rome. But not wishing to have it thought that his people were rejoiced at the outrage, and only wanted some pretext for war, he sent and demanded the offender for punishment, and in the meantime advanced but slowly.
[Cam. 18.1] 18 1 When the Senate convened in Rome, many denounced the Fabii, and especially the priests called Fetiales were instant in called upon the Senate in the name of all the gods to turn the curse of what had been done upon the one guilty man, and so to make expiation for the rest.
[Cam. 18.1b] These Fetiales were instituted by Numa Pompilius, gentlest and justest of kings, to be the guardians of peace, as well as judges and determiners of the grounds on which war could justly be made.
[Cam. 18.2] 2 The Senate referred the matter to the people, and although the priests with one accord denounced Fabius, the multitude so scorned and mocked at religion as to appoint him military tribune, along with his brothers. The Gauls, on learning this, were wroth, and suffered nothing to impede their haste, but advanced with all speed. 3 What with their numbers, the splendour of their equipment, and their furious violence, they struck terror wherever they came. Men thought the lands about their cities lost already, and their cities sure to follow at once. But contrary to all expectation the enemy did them no harm, nor took aught from their fields, but even as they passed close by their cities shouted out that they were marching on Rome and warred only on the Romans, but held the rest as friends.
[Cam. 18.4] 4 Against this onset of the Barbarians the military tribunes led the Romans forth to battle. They were not inferior in numbers, being no fewer than forty thousand men-at arms, but most of them were untrained, and had never handled weapons before. Besides, they had neglected all religious rites, having neither sacrificed with good omens, nor consulted the prophets as was meet before the perils of battle. 5 But what most of all confounded their undertakings was the number of their commanders. And yet before this, and on the brink of lesser struggles, they had often chosen a single commander, with the title of Dictator, not unaware how great an advantage it is, when confronting a dangerous crisis, to be of one mind in paying obedience to an authority which is absolute, and holds the scales of justice in its own hands. 6 Moreover, their unfair treatment of Camillus was in no slight degree fatal to discipline, since it was now dangerous to hold command without paying regard to the pleasure and caprice of the people.
[Cam. 18.7] They advanced from the city about eleven miles, and encamped along the river Allia, not far from its confluence with the Tiber. There the Barbarians came suddenly upon them, and after a disorderly and shameful struggle, they were routed. 7 Their left wing was at once driven into the river by the Gauls and destroyed; their right wing was less cut up, because it withdrew before the enemy’s onset from the plain to the hills, from which most of them made their way back to the city. The rest, as many as escaped the enemy’s hands, which were weary with slaughter, fled by night to Veii. They thought that Rome was lost and all her people slain.
[Cam. 19.1] 19 1 The battle took place just after the summer solstice when the moon was near the full, on the very day of a former great disaster, when three hundred men of the Fabian gens had been cut to pieces by the Tuscans. But the second defeat was so much the worse that the day on which it fell is called down to the present time “dies Alliensis,” from the river.
[Cam. 19.2] Now concerning “dies nefasti,” or unlucky days, whether we must regard some as such, or whether Heracleitus was right in rebuking Hesiod for calling some days good and some bad, in his ignorance that the nature of every day is one and the same, — this question has been fully discussed elsewhere. 2 Still, even in what I am now writing, the mention of a few examples may not be amiss. To begin with, then, it was on the fifth day of the month of Hippodromius (which the Athenians call Hecatombaeon) that the Boeotians won two illustrious victories which set the Greeks free: that at Leuctra, and that at Ceressus more than two hundred years earlier, when they conquered Lattamyas and the Thessalians. 3 Again, on the sixth day of the month of Boedromion the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon, on the third day at Plataea and Mycale together, and on the twenty-sixth day at Arbela. Moreover, it was about full moon of the same month that the Athenians won their sea-fight off Naxos, under the command of Chabrias, and about the twentieth, that at Salamis, as has been set forth in my treatise “On days.” 4 Further, the month of Thargelion has clearly been a disastrous one for the Barbarians, for in that month the generals of the King were conquered by Alexander at the Granicus, and on the twenty-fourth of the month the Carthaginians were worsted by Timoleon off Sicily. On this day, too, of Thargelion, it appears that Ilium was taken, as Ephorus, Callisthenes, Damastes, and Phylarchus have stated. 5 Contrarywise, the month of Metageitnion (which the Boeotians call Panemus) has not been favourable to the Greeks. On the seventh of this month they were worsted by Antipater in the battle of Crannon, and utterly undone; before this they had fought Philip unsuccessfully at Chaeroneia on that day of the month; and in the same year, and on the same day of Metageitnion, Archidamus and his army, who had crossed into Italy, were cut to pieces by the Barbarians there. The Carthaginians also regard with fear the twenty-second of this month, because it has ever brought upon them the worst and greatest of their misfortunes.
[Cam. 19.7] I am not unaware that, at about the time when the mysteries are celebrated, Thebes was razed to the ground for the second time by Alexander, and that afterwards the Athenians were forced to receive a Macedonian garrison on the twentieth of Boedromion, the very day on which they escort the mystic Iacchus forth in procession. 7 And likewise the Romans, on the self-same day, saw their army under Caepio destroyed by the Cimbri, and later, when Lucullus was their general, conquered Tigranes and the Armenians. Both King Attalus and Pompey the Great died on their own birth-days. In short, one can adduce many cases where the same times and seasons have brought opposite forces upon the same men.
[Cam. 19.8] 8 But this day of the Allia is regarded by the Romans as one of the unluckiest, and its influence extends over two other days of each month throughout the year, since in the presence of calamity, timidity and superstition often overflow all bounds. However, this subject has been more carefully treated in my “Roman Questions.”
[Cam. 20.1] 20 1 Now had the Gauls, after this battle, followed hard upon the fugitives, naught would have hindered Rome from being utterly destroyed and all those who remained in her from perishing, such was the terror which the fugitives infused into the occupants of the city, and with such confusion and delirium were they themselves once more filled. 2 But as it was, the Barbarians could not realize the magnitude of their victory, and in the excess of their joy, turned to revelry and the distribution of the good things captured in the enemy’s camp. For this reason the throngs who were for abandoning the city had ample time for flight, and those who were for remaining plucked up hope and prepared to defend themselves. Abandoning the rest of the city, they fenced the Capitol with ramparts and stocked it with missiles. 3 But their first care was for their sacred things, most of which they carried away to the Capitol; the fire of Vesta, however, was snatched up and carried off by the vestal virgins in their flight, along with the other sacred things entrusted to their care.
[Cam. 20.4] However, some writers state that these virgins have watch and ward over nothing more than the ever-living fire, which Numa the King appointed to be worshipped as the first cause of all things. 4 For fire produces more motion than anything else in nature, and all birth is a mode of motion, or is accompanied by motion. All other portions of matter, in the absence of heat, lie inert and dead, yearning for the force of fire to inform them, like a spirit, and on its accession in any manner soever, they become capable of acting and being acted upon. This principle of fire, then, Numa, who was an extraordinary man, and whose wisdom gave him the repute of holding converse with the Muses, is said to have hallowed and ordered to be kept sleepless, that it might image forth the ever-living force which orders the universe aright. 5 Others say that this fire is kept burning before the sacred things by way of purification, as among the Greeks, and that other objects within the temple are kept hidden from the gaze of all except these virgins, whom they call Vestals. And a very prevalent story had it that the famous Palladium of Troy was hidden away there, having been brought to Italy by Aeneas. There are some who say that it is the Samothracian images which are hidden there, and they tell the tale of Dardanus bringing these to Troy, after he had founded that city, and consecrating them there with celebration of their rites; and of Aeneas, at the capture of Troy, stealing them away and preserving them until he settled in Italy. 6 Others still, pretending to have larger knowledge in these matters, say that two small jars are stored away there, of which one is open and empty, and the other full and sealed up, and that both are visible only to the holy virgins. But others think that these knowing ones have been led astray by the fact that the virgins, at the time of which I am now speaking, cast the most of their sacred treasures into two jars, and hid them underground in the temple of Quirinus, whence that place, down to the present time, has the name of “Doliola,” or “Jars.”
[Cam. 21.1] 21 1 However that may be, these virgins took the choicest and most important of the sacred objects and fled away along the river. There it chanced that Lucius Albinius, a man of the common people, was among the fugitives, carrying off his wife and little children, with the most necessary household goods, upon a waggon. When he saw the virgins with the sacred symbols in their bosoms, making their way along unattended and in great distress, he speedily took his wife, with the children and the household goods, down from the waggon, and suffered the virgins to mount upon it and make their escape to a Greek city. 2 This pious act of Albinius, and the conspicuous honour which he showed the gods in a season of the greatest danger, could not well be passed over in silence.
[Cam. 21.1b] But the priests of the other gods, and the aged men who had been consuls and celebrated triumphs, could not endure to leave the city. So they put on their robes of state and ceremony, following the lead of Fabius, the pontifex maximus, and vowed the gods that they would devote themselves to death in their country’s behalf. Then they sat themselves down, thus arrayed, on their ivory chairs in the forum, and awaited their fate.
[Cam. 22.1] 22 1 On the third day after the battle, Brennus came up to the city with his army. Finding its gates open and its walls without defenders, at first he feared a treacherous ambush, being unable to believe that the Romans were in such utter despair. But when he realised the truth, he marched in by the Colline gate, and took Rome. This was a little more than three hundred and sixty years from her foundation, if one can believe that any accurate chronology has been preserved in this matter, when that of even later events is disputed, owing to the confusion caused by this very disaster. 2 However, it would seem that some vague tidings of the calamity and capture of the city made their way at once to Greece. For Heracleides Ponticus, who lived not long after that time, in his treatise “On the soul,” says that out of the West a story prevailed, how an army of Hyperboreans had come from afar and captured a Greek city called Rome, situated somewhere on the shores of the Great Sea. 3 Now I cannot wonder that so fabulous and fictitious a writer as Heracleides should deck out the true story of the capture of Rome with his “Hyperboreans” and his “Great Sea.” But Aristotle the philosopher clearly had accurate tidings of the capture of the city by the Gauls, and yet he says that its saviour was Lucius, although the forename of Camillus was not Lucius, but Marcus. However, these details were matters of conjecture.
[Cam. 22.4] 4 When he had occupied Rome, Brennus surrounded the Capitol with a guard. He himself went down through the forum, and was amazed to see the men sitting there in public state and perfect silence. They neither rose up to meet their enemies when they approached, nor did they change countenance or colour, but sat there quietly, at ease and without fear, leaning on their staves and gazing into one another’s faces. 5 The Gauls were amazed and perplexed at the unwonted sight, and for a long time hesitated to approach and touch them, regarding them as superior beings. But at last one of them, plucking up his courage, drew near Papirius Marcus, and stretching out his hand, gently grasped his chin and stroked his long beard, whereupon Papirius, with his staff, smote him a crushing blow on the head. Then the Barbarian drew his sword and killed him. 6 After that, they fell upon the rest and slew them, made away with every one else they met, sacked and plundered the houses of the city for many days together, and finally burned them down and levelled them with the ground, in their wrath at the defenders of the Capitol. For these would not surrender at their summons, but when they were attacked, actually repulsed their foes from the ramparts with loss. Therefore the Gauls inflicted every outrage upon the city, and put to the sword all whom they captured, men and women, old and young alike.
[Cam. 23.1] 23 1 The siege lasted a long time, and the Gauls began to lack provisions. They therefore divided their forces. Some remained with their king and watched the Capitol, others ravaged the country round about, falling upon the villages and sacking them, not all together in one body, but scattered about by commands and companies, some here, some there, moved by their successes to great confidence and the fear of nothing. 2 The largest and best disciplined body of them marched upon the city of Ardea, where Camillus was staying since his exile. He lived in complete retirement and privacy, it is true, but cherished the hopes and plans not of a man who eagerly desired to escape the notice and hands of the enemy, but of one who sought to avenge himself upon them if occasion offered. 3 Wherefore, seeing that the Ardeans were of sufficient numbers, but lacked courage, through the inexperience and effeminacy of their generals, he began to reason with the young men first, to the effect that the mishap of the Romans ought not to be laid to the valour of the Gauls, nor the sufferings of that infatuated people to the prowess of men who did not deserve their victory, but rather to the dictates of fortune. 4 It was a fine thing, he said, even at dangerous risks, to repel the attack of an alien and barbarous folk, whose only end in getting the mastery was, as in the work of fire, the utter destruction of what it conquered. But in the present case, if they were bold and zealous, he would find occasion to give them a victory without any danger.
[Cam. 23.5] After gaining the support of the young men, Camillus went to the rulers and councillors of Ardea, and when he had won them over also, he armed all who were any other age for service and kept them together within the walls, that they might not be perceived by the enemy, who were near. 5 These had scoured the country round about, and encamped in the plain, without care or concern, and heavily encumbered with their abundant booty. When night had fallen upon them, putting an end to their carousals, and silence reigned throughout their camp, Camillus, acquainted with this by his scouts, led forth the Ardeans. Passing quietly over the intervening space, they reached the camp about midnight, and with shouts and trumpet blasts on every hand confounded the men, who were scarcely brought to their senses by the din, heavy as they were with drunkenness and sleep. 6 A few of them were sobered by fear, armed themselves, and made resistance to Camillus and his men, so that they fell fighting; but most were still mastered by sleep and wine when they were fallen upon and slain without their arms. A few only ran from the camp, under cover of darkness, and when day came, were seen straggling about the fields, but horsemen pursued them and cut them to pieces.
[Cam. 24.1] 24 1 Rumour quickly carried news of this exploit to the neighbouring cities, and called to arms many of those who were of age for service, particularly the Romans who had made their escape from the battle on the Allia, and were in Veii. These lamented among themselves, saying: “Of what a leader has heaven robbed Rome in Camillus, only to adorn Ardea with his victories! The city which bore and reared such a hero is dead and gone, and we, for lack of generals, sit pent up within alien walls, and see Italy ruined before our very eyes. 2 Come! let us send to Ardea and demand our own general, or take our arms and go ourselves to him! For he is no longer an exile, nor are we citizens, now that our country is no more, but is mastered by the enemy.” So said, so done, and they sent and asked Camillus to take the command. 3 But he refused to do so before the citizens on the Capitol had legally elected him. They were preserving the country, as he thought, and if they had commands for him, he would gladly obey, but against their wishes he would meddle with nothing whatsoever. This noble restraint on the part of Camillus was much admired, but it was hard to see how the matter could be referred to the Capitol. Nay rather, it seemed utterly impossible, while the enemy held the city, for a messenger to elude them and reach the acropolis.
[Cam. 25.1] 25 1 But there was a certain young man, Pontius Cominius by name, who was, in spite of his ordinary birth, a lover of glory and honour. He volunteered to attempt the task. He took no letter with him to the defenders of the Capitol, lest this, in the event of his capture, should help the enemy to discover the purpose of Camillus; but under the coarse garments which he wore, he carried some pieces of cork. The greater part of his journey was made by daylight and without fear; but as night came on he found himself near the city. He could not cross the river by the bridge, since the Barbarians were guarding it, 2 so he wrapped his light and scanty garments about his head, fastened the corks to his body, and thus supported, swam across, came out on the other side, and went on towards the city. Always giving a wide berth to those of the enemy who were watchful and wakeful, as he judged by their fires and noise, he made his way to the Carmental gate, where there was the most quiet, at which the Capitoline hill was most sheer and steep, and which was girt about by a huge and jagged cliff. Up this he mounted unperceived, and finally reached, with great pains and difficulty, the sentries posted where the wall was lowest. 3 Hailing them, and telling them who he was, he was pulled up over the wall, and taken to the Roman magistrates. The Senate quickly convening, he appeared before it, announced the victory of Camillus, about which they had not heard, and explained to them the will and pleasure of his fellow-soldiers. He exhorted them to confirm Camillus in his command, since he was the only man whom the citizens outside would obey. 4 When the Senate had heard his message and deliberated upon it, they appointed Camillus dictator, and sent Pontius back again by the way he had come, wherein he repeated his former good fortune. For he eluded the enemy’s notice and brought the Senate’s message to the Romans outside the city.
[Cam. 26.1] 26 1 These gave eager welcome to the tidings, so that when Camillus came, he found twenty thousand men already under arms. He collected still more from the allies, and made preparations for his attack. Thus Camillus was chosen dictator for the second time, and proceeding to Veii, he put himself at the head of the soldiers there, and collected more from the allies, with the purpose of attacking the enemy.
[Cam. 26.2] But in Rome, some of the Barbarians chanced to pass by the spot where Pontius had made his way by night up to the Capitol, and noticed in many places the marks made by his hands and feet in clambering up, and many places also where the plants that grew upon the rocks had been torn away, and the earth displaced. They advised their king of this, 2 and he too came and made inspection. At the time he said nothing, but when evening came, he assembled the nimblest men and the best mountain-climbers of the Gauls and said to them: “The enemy have shown us that there is a way up to them of which we knew not, and one which men can traverse and tread. It would be a great shame for us, after such a beginning as we have made, to fail at the end, and to give the place up as impregnable, when the enemy themselves show us where it can be taken. For where it is easy for one man to approach it, there it will be no difficult matter for many to go one by one, nay, they will support and aid one another greatly in the undertaking. Gifts and honours befitting his valour shall be given to every man.”
[Cam. 27.1] 27 1 So spake their king, and the Gauls eagerly undertook to do his will. About midnight a large band of them scaled the cliff and made their way upward in silence. They climbed on all fours over places which were precipitous and rough, but which yielded to their efforts better than they had expected, 2 until the foremost of them reached the heights, put themselves in array, and had all but seized the outwork and fallen upon the sleeping watch. Neither man nor dog were aware of their approach. But there were some sacred geese near the temple of Juno, which were usually fed without stint, but at that time, since provisions barely sufficed for the garrison alone, they were neglected and in evil plight. 3 The creature is naturally sharp of hearing and afraid of every noise, and these, being specially wakeful and restless by reason of their hunger, perceived the approach of the Gauls, dashed at them with loud cries, and so waked all the garrison. At once the Barbarians, now that they were detected, spared no noise, and came on more impetuously to the attack. 4 The defenders, snatching up in haste whatever weapon came to hand, made the best shift they could. Manlius first of all, a man of consular dignity, mighty in body and exceeding stout of heart, confronting two of the enemy at once, cut off the right hand of one of them with his sword as he was lifting his battle-axe, and dashing his shield into the face of the other, tumbled him backwards down the cliff. 5 Then, taking his stand on the wall with those who ran to his aid and formed about him, he repulsed the rest of the enemy, who had reached the top in no great numbers, and showed no prowess to match their daring. So the Romans escaped out of their peril. At break of day, they cast the captain of the watch down the cliff among the enemy, but voted to Manlius a meed of victory which did him more honour than service. They collected for him the rations which each man of them received for one day, namely, half a pound of native spelt, Roman weight, and an eighth of a pint of wine, Greek measure.
[Cam. 28.1] 28 1 After this, the case of the Gauls was less hopeful. They lacked provisions, being shut off from foraging through fear of Camillus, and disease lurked among them. They were encamped amid ruins, where a multitude of corpses had been cast at random, and besides, an air made dry and acrid by vast quantities of ashes which wind and heat sent flying abroad, made breathing hurtful. 2 But what most of all affected them was the complete change in their mode of life. They had come all at once from regions of shade, where easy refuge could be had from the heats of summer, into a land which was low lying and had an unnatural climate towards autumn. Then there was their long and idle sitting down before the Capitol, — they were now whiling away the seventh month in its siege. For all these reasons the mortality was great in their camp; so many were the dead that they could no longer be buried.
[Cam. 28.3] 3 All this, however, brought no relief to the besieged, for famine increased upon them, and their ignorance of what Camillus was doing made them dejected. No messenger could come from him because the city was now closely watched by the Barbarians. Wherefore, both parties being in such a plight, a compromise was proposed, at first by the outposts as they encountered one another. 4 Then, since those in authority thought it best, Sulpicius, the military tribune of the Romans, held a conference with Brennus, and it was agreed that on the delivery of a thousand pounds of gold by the Romans, the Gauls should straightaway depart out of the city and the country. Oaths were sworn to these terms, and the gold was brought to be weighed. But the Gauls tampered with the scales, secretly at first, then they openly pulled the balance back out of its poise. 5 The Romans were incensed at this, but Brennus, with a mocking laugh, stripped off his sword, and added, belt and all, to the weights. When Sulpicius asked, “What means this?” “What else,” said Brennus, “but woe to the vanquished?” and the phrase passed at once into a proverb. Some of the Romans were incensed, and thought they ought to go back again with their gold, and endure the siege. Others urged acquiescence in the mild injustice. Their shame lay, they argued, not in giving more, but in giving at all. This they consented to do because of the emergency; it was not honourable, but it was necessary.
[Cam. 29.1] 29 1 While they were thus at odds in the matter, both with the Gauls and with themselves, Camillus led his army up to the gates of the city. On learning what was going on, he ordered the rest of his army to follow in battle array and deliberately, while he himself, with the flower of his men, pressed on, and presently came to the Romans. 2 These all made way for him, in decorous silence acknowledging him as their dictator. Thereupon he lifted the gold from the scales and gave it to his attendants, and then ordered the Gauls to take their scales and weights and be off, saying that it was the custom with the Romans to deliver their city with iron and not with gold. When Brennus in wrath declared that he was wronged by this breaking of the agreement, Camillus answered that the compact was not legally made nor binding, 3 since he himself had already been chosen dictator and there was no other legal ruler; the agreement of the Gauls had therefore been made with men who had no power in the case. Now, however, they must say what they wanted, for he was come with legal authority to grant pardon to those who asked it, and to inflict punishment on the guilty, unless they showed repentance. 4 At this, Brennus raised a clamour and began a skirmish, in which both sides got no further than drawing their swords and pushing one another confusedly about, since the action took place in the heart of the ruined city, where no battle array was possible. But Brennus soon came to his senses, and led his Gauls off to their camp, with the loss of a few only. During the ensuing night he broke camp and abandoned the city with his whole force, and after a march of about eight miles, encamped along the Gabinian way. 5 At break of day Camillus was upon him, in glittering array, his Romans now full of confidence, and after a long and fierce battle, routed the enemy with great slaughter and took their camp. Of the fugitives, some were at once pursued and cut down, but most of them scattered abroad, only to be fallen upon and slain by the people of the surrounding villages and cities.
[Cam. 30.1] 30 1 So strangely was Rome taken, and more strangely still delivered, after the Barbarians had held it seven months in all. They entered it a few days after the Ides of July, and were driven out about the Ides of February. Camillus celebrated a triumph, as it was meet that a man should do who had saved a country that was lost, and who now brought the city back again to itself. 2 For the citizens outside, with their wives and children, accompanied his triumphal chariot as it entered the city, and those who had been besieged on the Capitol, and had narrowly escaped death by starvation, came forth to meet them, all embracing one another, and weeping for the joy that was theirs. The priests and ministrants of the gods, bringing whatever sacred objects they had either buried on the spot or carried off with them when they took to flight, displayed them, thus preserved in safety, to the citizens, who caught the welcome sights with delight, believing in their hearts that the gods themselves were now coming back to Rome with them. 3 After Camillus had made sacrifices to the gods and purified the city, in the manner prescribed by those who were versed in such rites, he restored the existing temples, and erected a new one to Rumour and Voice, having sought out carefully the spot where by night the voice from Heaven, announcing the coming of the Barbarian host, had fallen upon the ears of Marcus Caedicius.
[Cam. 31.1] 31 1 Owing to the zeal of Camillus and the abundant labours of the priesthood, the sites of the temples were at last uncovered, but it proved a grievous undertaking. And since the city had also to be built up again from a state of utter destruction, the multitude were overwhelmed with despair at the task, and shrank from it. They were bereft of all things, and for the present needed some rest and repose after their sufferings, instead of toiling and wearing themselves out on a task for which they had neither means nor strength. 2 And so it was that insensibly their thoughts turned again to Veii, a city which remained intact and was equipped with all things needful. This gave opportunity for mischievous agitations to such as were wont to consult only the people’s will and pleasure, and ready ear was given to seditious speeches against Camillus. He had an eye, it was said, only to his own ambition and fame, when he would deprive them of a city that stood ready to receive them, and force them to pitch their tents among a mass of ruins, while they rebuilt what had become a monstrous funeral pyre. He wished not merely to be a leader and general of Rome, but to thrust Romulus to one side and be styled its founder.
[Cam. 31.3] 3 The Senate, therefore, fearful of this clamour, would not suffer Camillus, much as he wished it, to lay down his office within a year, although no other dictator had served more than six months. Meanwhile the Senators, by dint of kindly greetings and persuasive words, tried to soften and convert the people, pointing out the sepulchres and tombs of their fathers, and calling to their remembrance the shrines and holy places which Romulus, or Numa, or some other king, had consecrated and left to their care. 4 Among other signs from Heaven, they laid chief stress on the newly severed head that was found when the foundations of the Capitol were dug, showing, as it did, that the place where it was found was fated to be the head of Italy; also on the sacred fire of Vesta, which had been kindled anew by her virgins after the war. If they should quench and extinguish this again by their abandonment of the city, it would be a disgrace to them, whether they saw that city occupied by immigrants and aliens, or abandoned to flocks and herds.
[Cam. 31.5] 5 Thus did the Senators remonstrate with the people, both individually and in private, and often in the public assemblies. They, in their turn, were moved to compassion by the wailing complaints of the multitude, who lamented the helplessness to which they were come, and begged, now that they had been saved alive as it were from a shipwreck, in nakedness and destitution, that they be not forced to piece together the fragments of their ruined city, when another stood all ready to receive them.
[Cam. 32.1] 32 1 Accordingly, Camillus decided that the question should be debated and settled in council. He himself spoke at great length, in exhortation to preserve their common country, and every one else who wished did likewise. Finally, he called upon Lucius Lucretius, to whom custom gave the first vote, and bade him declare his opinion first, and then the other senators in the order due. 2 Silence fell, and Lucretius was on the point of beginning, when it chanced that a centurion with a squad of the day watch passed outside, and called with a loud voice on the man who led with the standard, bade him halt and plant his standard there, for that was the best place to settle down and stay in. The utterance fell at the crisis of their anxious thought for the uncertain future, and Lucretius said, with a devout obeisance, that he cast his vote with the god. The rest, one by one, followed his example. 3 Then the inclinations of the multitude were marvellously changed. They exhorted and incited one another to the work, and pitched upon their several sites, not by any orderly assignment, but as each man found it convenient and desirable. Therefore the city was rebuilt with confused and narrow streets and a maze of houses, owing to their haste and speed. Within a year’s time, it is said, a new city had arisen, with walls to guard it and homes in which to dwell.
[Cam. 32.4] 4 Those who had been deputed by Camillus to recover and mark out anew the sacred places, found them all in utter confusion. When they came to the shrine of Mars, in their circuit of the Palatium, they found that it had been demolished and burnt by the barbarians, like the rest, but as they were clearing away and renovating the place, they came upon the augural staff of Romulus, buried deep in a great heap of ashes. 5 The augural staff is curved at one end, and is called lituus. It is used to mark off the different quarters of the heavens, in the ceremonies of divination by the flight of birds, and so Romulus had used this one, for he was a great diviner. But when he vanished from among men, the priests took this staff and kept it inviolate, like any other sacred object. Their finding this at that time unscathed, when all the rest had perished, gave them more pleasing hopes for Rome. They thought it a token that assured her of everlasting safety.
[Cam. 33.1] 33 1 They were not yet done with these pressing tasks when a fresh war broke upon them. The Aequians, Volscians, and Latins burst into their territory all at once, and the Tuscans laid siege to Sutrium, a city allied with Rome. The military tribunes in command of the army, having encamped near Mount Marcius, were besieged by the Latins, and were in danger of losing their camp. Wherefore they sent to Rome for aid, and Camillus was appointed dictator for the third time. 2 Two stories are told about this war, and I will give the fabulous one first.
[Cam. 33.3] They say that the Latins, either as a pretext for war, or because they really wished to revive the ancient affinity between the two peoples, sent and demanded from the Romans free-born virgins in marriage. The Romans were in doubt what to do, for they dreaded war in their unsettled and unrestored condition, and yet they suspected that this demand for wives was really a call for hostages disguised under the specious name of intermarriage. In their perplexity, a serving-maid named Tutula, 3 or, as some call her, Philotis, advised the magistrates to send her to the enemy with some maid-servants of the comeliest sort and most genteel appearance, all arrayed like free-born brides; she would attend to the rest. The magistrates yielded to her persuasions, chose out as many maid-servants as she thought meet for her purpose, arrayed them in fine raiment and gold, and handed them over to the Latins, who were encamped near the city. 4 In the night, the rest of the maidens stole away the enemy’s swords, while Tutula, or Philotis, climbed a wild fig-tree of great height, and after spreading out her cloak behind her, held out a lighted torch towards Rome, this being the signal agreed upon between her and the magistrates, though no other citizen knew of it. Hence it was that the soldiers sallied out of the city tumultuously, as the magistrates urged them on, calling out one another’s names, and with much ado getting into rank and file. They stormed the entrenchments of the enemy, who were fast asleep and expecting nothing of the sort, captured their camp, and slew most of them. 5 This happened on the Nones of what was then called Quintilis, now July, and the festival since held on that day is in remembrance of the exploit. For, to begin with, they run out of the city gate in throngs, calling out many local and common names, such as Gaius, Marcus, Lucius, and the like, in imitation of the way the soldiers once called aloud upon each other in their haste. 6 Next, the maid-servants, in gay attire, run about jesting and joking with the men they met. They have a mock battle, too, with one another, implying that they once took a hand in the struggle with the Latins. And as they feast, they sit in the shade of a fig-tree’s branches. The day is called the “Capratine Nones,” from the wild fig-tree, as they suppose, from which the maid held forth her torch; this goes by the name of caprificus.
[Cam. 33.7] 7 But others say that most of what is said and done at this festival has reference to the fate of Romulus. For on this same day he vanished from sight, outside the city gates, in sudden darkness and tempest, and, as some think, during an eclipse of the sun. The day, they say, is called the “Capratine Nones” from the spot where he thus vanished. For the she-goat goes by the name of capra, and Romulus vanished from sight while haranguing an assembly of the people at the Goat’s Marsh, as has been stated in his Life.
[Cam. 34.1] 34 1 But most writers adopt the other account of this war, which runs thus. Camillus, having been appointed dictator for the third time, and learning that the army under the military tribunes was besieged by the Latins and Volscians, was forced to put under arms even those of the citizens who were exempt from military duty by reason of advancing years. 2 Fetching a long circuit around Mount Marcius and thus eluding the enemy’s notice, he planted his army securely in their rear, and then by lighting many fires made known his presence there. The besieged Romans at once took heart and purposed to sally out and join battle. 3 But the Latins and Volscians retired within their trenches, fenced themselves in with a great wooden palisade, and barricaded their camp on all sides, for they now had a hostile force in front and rear, and were determined to await reinforcements from home. At the same time they expected aid from the Tuscans also. Camillus, perceiving their design, and fearful of being himself surrounded by the enemy as he had surrounded them, made haste to improve his opportunity. 4 The enemy’s barricades were of wood, and a strong wind blew down from the mountains at sun-rise. Accordingly, he equipped himself with fiery darts, and leading his forces out towards day-break, ordered part of them to attack with missiles and loud cries at an opposite point, while he himself, with those appointed to hurl fire, took his post where the wind was wont to smite the enemy’s trenches with the greatest force, and awaited the propitious moment. When battle had been joined and the sun rose and the wind burst forth with fury, he gave orders for an onset, and scattered no end of fiery darts along the trenches. 5 The flames speedily found food in the crowded timbers of the wooden palisades and spread in all directions. The Latins had nothing at hand with which to ward off or quench them, and when at length their camp was full of fire, they were huddled together into a small space, and at last forced to dash out against an enemy who were drawn up in full battle array in front of the trenches. Few of them made their escape, and those who were left behind in the camp were all a prey to the fire until the Romans put it out and fell upon their booty.
[Cam. 35.1] 35 1 This business dispatched, he left his son Lucius in command of the camp to guard the captives and the booty, while he himself invaded the enemy’s country. He captured the city of the Aequians, brought the Volscians to terms, and straightway led his army towards Sutrium. He was not yet apprised of the fate of the Sutrians, but thought they were still in peril of siege by the Tuscans, and so hastened to relieve them. 2 But they had already surrendered their city to the enemy, and been sent off in utter destitution, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. As Camillus came marching along they met him, with their wives and children, all lamenting their misfortunes. Camillus himself was filled with compassion at the sight, and noticed that his Romans too, with the Sutrians hanging upon their necks in supplication, were moved to tears and anger at their lot. He therefore determined to make no postponement of his vengeance, 3 but to march straight upon Sutrium that very day. He reasoned that men who had just taken a prosperous and opulent city, leaving none of their enemies in it, and expecting none from without, would be found wholly relaxed in discipline and off their guard; and he reasoned correctly. He not only passed unnoticed through the city’s territory, but was actually at its gates and in command of its walls before the enemy knew it. For not a man of them was on guard, but they were all scattered among the houses of the city drinking and feasting. 4 And even when they perceived that their enemies already had the mastery, they were so sluggishly disposed by reason of satiety and drunkenness that many did not so much as try to flee, but awaited there in the houses the most shameful of deaths, or gave themselves up to their enemies. The city of Sutrium was thus twice captured in a single day, and it came to pass that those who had won it, lost it, and those who had first lost it, won it back, and all by reason of Camillus.
[Cam. 36.1] 36 1 The triumph decreed him for these victories brought him no less favour and renown than the first two had done, and those citizens who had been most envious of him and preferred to ascribe all his successes to an unbounded good fortune rather than to a native valour, were forced by these new exploits to set the man’s glory to the credit of his ability and energy. 2 Now of all those who fought him with hatred and envy, the most conspicuous was Marcus Manlius, the man who first thrust the Gauls down the cliff when they made their night attack upon the Capitol, and for this reason had been surnamed Capitolinus. This man aspired to be chief in the city, and since he could not in the fairest way outstrip Camillus in the race for glory, 3 he had recourse to the wonted and usual arts of those that would found a tyranny. He courted, that is, the favour of the multitude, especially of the debtor class, defending some and pleading their causes against their creditors; snatching others from arrest and preventing their trial by process of law. In this way great numbers of indigent folk soon formed a party about him, and their bold and riotous conduct in the forum gave the best citizens much to fear. 4 To quell their disorder, Quintus Capitolinus was made dictator, and he cast Manlius into prison. Thereupon the people put on the garb of mourners, a thing done only in times of great public calamity, and the Senate, cowed by the tumult, ordered that Manlius be released. He, however, when released, did not mend his ways, but grew more defiantly seditious, and filled the whole city with faction. Accordingly, Camillus was again made military tribune.
[Cam. 36.5] 5 When Manlius was brought to trial, the view from the place was a great obstacle in the way of his accusers. For the spot where Manlius had stood when he fought his night battle with the Gauls, overlooked the forum from the Capitol, and moved the hearts of the spectators to pity. Manlius himself, too, stretched out his hands toward the spot, and wept as he called to men’s remembrance his famous struggle there, so that the judges knew not what to do, and once and again postponed the case. They were unwilling to acquit the prisoner of his crime when the proofs of it were so plain; and they were unable to execute the law upon him when, owing to the place of trial, his saving exploit was, so to speak, in every eye. 6 So Camillus, sensible of all this, transferred the court outside the city to the Peteline Grove, whence there is no view of the Capitol. There the prosecutor made his indictment, and the judges were able to forget the man’s past services in their righteous anger at his present crimes. 7 So then Manlius was convicted, carried to the Capitol, and thrust down the rock, thus making one and the same spot a monument of his most fortunate actions and of his greatest misfortunes. The Romans, besides, razed his house to the ground, and built there a temple to the goddess they call Moneta. They decreed also that in future no patrician should ever have a house on the Capitoline hill.
[Cam. 37.1] 37 1 Camillus, called now to be military tribune for the sixth time, declined the honour, being already well on in years, and fearful perhaps of the envy of men and the resentment of the gods which often follows upon such glorious successes as his. But the most manifest reason was his bodily weakness, for it chanced that in those days he was sick. 2 The people, however, would not relieve him of the office. He had no need, they cried, to fight in the ranks of the cavalry or the men-at arms, but only to counsel and ordain; and so they forced him to undertake the command, and with one of his colleagues, Lucius Furius, to lead the army at once against the enemy. These were the Praenestines and Volscians, who, with a large force, were laying waste the lands of the Roman allies. 3 Marching forth, therefore, and encamping near the enemy, he himself thought it best to protract the war, that so, in case a battle should at last be necessary, he might be strong of body for the decisive struggle. But Lucius, his colleague, carried away by his desire for glory, would not be checked in his ardour for battle, and incited the same feelings in the inferior officers of the army. So Camillus, fearing lest it be thought that out of petty jealousy he was trying to rob younger men of the successes to which they eagerly aspired, consented, with reluctance, that Lucius should lead the forces out to battle, while he himself, on account of his sickness, was left behind in camp with a few followers. 4 Lucius conducted the battle rashly and was discomfited, whereupon Camillus, perceiving the rout of the Romans, could not restrain himself, but sprang up from his couch and ran with his attendants to the gate of the camp. Through the fugitives he pushed his way to their pursuers. Those of his men who had passed him into the camp, wheeled about at once and followed him, and those who came bearing down on him from outside, halted and formed their lines about him, exhorting one another not to abandon their general. 5 In this way, for that day, the enemy were turned back from their pursuit. On the next day, Camillus led his forces out, joined battle with the enemy, defeated them utterly, and took their camp, actually bursting into it along with those who fled to it, and slaying most of them. After this, learning that the city of Satricum had been taken by the Tuscans, and its inhabitants, all Romans, put to the sword, he sent back to Rome the main body of his army, comprising the men-at arms, while he himself, with the youngest and most ardent of his men, fell suddenly upon the Tuscans who held the city and mastered them, expelling some and slaying the rest.
[Cam. 38.1] 38 1 He returned with much spoil to Rome, having proved that those citizens were the most sensible of all who did not fear the bodily age and weakness of a leader possessed of experience and courage, but chose him out, though he was ill and did not wish it, rather than younger men who craved and solicited the command. They showed the same good sense, when the Tusculans were reported to be on the brink of a revolt, in ordering Camillus to select one of his five colleagues as an aid, and march out against them. 2 Although all the five wished and begged to be taken, Camillus passed the rest by and selected Lucius Furius, to everyone’s surprise. For he was the man who had just now been eager to hazard a struggle with the enemy against the judgment of Camillus, and had been worsted in the battle. But Camillus wished, as it would seem, to hide away the misfortune and wipe away the disgrace of the man, and so preferred him above all the rest. 3 But the Tusculans, when once Camillus was on the march against them, set to rectifying their transgression as craftily as they could. Their fields were found full of men tilling the soil and pasturing flocks, as in times of peace; their gates lay wide open; their boys were at school conning their lessons; and of the people, the artizans were to be seen in their workshops plying their trades, the men of leisure sauntered over the forum clad in their usual garb, while the magistrates bustled about assigning quarters for the Romans, as though they expected and were conscious of no evil. 4 Their performances did not bring Camillus into any doubt of their intended treachery, but out of pity for the repentance that followed so close upon their treachery, he ordered them to go to the Senate and beg for a remission of its wrath. He himself also helped to make their prayers effectual, so that their city was absolved from all charges and received the rights of Roman citizenship. Such were the most conspicuous achievements of his sixth tribuneship.
[Cam. 39.1] 39 1 After this, Licinius Stolo stirred up the great dissension in the city which brought the people into collision with the Senate. The people insisted that, when two consuls were appointed, one of them must certainly be a plebeian, and not both patricians. Tribunes of the people were chosen, but the multitude prevented the consular elections from being duly held. 2 Owing to this lack of magistrates, matters were getting more and more confused, and so Camillus was for the fourth time appointed dictator by the Senate, though much against the wishes of the people. He was not eager for the office himself, nor did he wish to oppose men whose many and great struggles gave them the right to say boldly to him: “Your achievements have been in the field with us, rather than in politics with the patricians; it is through hate and envy that they have now made you dictator; they hope that you will crush the people if you prevail, or be crushed yourself if you fail.” 3 However, he tried to ward off the threatening evils. Having learned the day on which the tribunes intended to propose their law, he issued proclamation making it a day of general muster, and summoned the people from the forum into the Campus Martius, with threats of heavy fines upon the disobedient. 4 The tribunes, on the contrary, for their part, opposed his threats with solemn oaths that they would fine him fifty thousand silver drachmas if he did not cease trying to rob the people of its vote and its law. Then, either because he feared a second condemnation to exile, a penalty unbecoming to a man of his years and achievements, or because he was not able, if he wished, to overcome the might of the people which was now become resistless and invincible, he withdrew to his house, and after alleging sickness for several days, resigned his office.
[Cam. 39.5] 5 But the Senate appointed another dictator, and he, after making Stolo himself, the very leader of the sedition, his master of horse, suffered the law to be enacted. It was a most vexatious law for the patrician, for it prohibited anyone from owning more than five hundred acres of land. At that time, then, Stolo was a resplendent figure, owing to his victory at the polls; but a little while after, he himself was found to be possessed of what he forbade others to own, and so paid the penalty fixed by his own law.
[Cam. 40.1] 40 1 There remained, however, the strife over the consular elections, which was the main problem in the dissensions, as it was its first cause, and gave the Senate most concern in its contention with the people. But suddenly clear tidings came that the Gauls had once more set out from the Adriatic Sea, many myriads strong, and were marching on Rome. 2 With the word, the actual deeds of war kept pace. The country was ravaged, and its population, all who could not more easily fly to Rome for refuge, scattered among the mountains. This terror put an end to the dissension in the city, and brought together into conference both the rich and the poor, the Senate and the people. All with one mind chose Camillus dictator for the fifth time. 3 He was now quite old, lacking little of eighty years; but recognizing the peril and the necessity which it laid upon him, he neither made excuse, as before, nor resorted to pretext, but instantly took upon him the command and went to levying his soldiers.
[Cam. 40.4] Knowing that the prowess of the barbarians lay chiefly in their swords, which they plied in true barbaric fashion, and with no skill at all, in mere slashing blows at head and shoulders, 4 he had helmets forged for most of his men which were all iron and smooth of surface, that the enemy’s swords might slip off from them or be shattered by them. He also had the long shields of his men rimmed round with bronze, since their wood could not of itself ward off the enemy’s blows. The soldiers themselves he trained to use their long javelins like spears, — to thrust them under the enemy’s swords and catch the downward strokes upon them.
[Cam. 41.1] 41 1 When the Gauls were near at hand, being encamped on the Anio and encumbered with untold plunder, Camillus led his forces out and posted them in a gently sloping glade with many hollows, so that the largest part of them were concealed, and the part that could be seen had the look of shutting themselves up in hilly places out of fear. 2 This opinion of them Camillus wished to strengthen, and therefore made no defence of those who were plundered even at his very feet, but fenced in his trenches and lay quiet, until he saw that some of the enemy were scattered abroad in foraging parties, while those in the camp did nothing but gorge themselves with meat and drink. 3 Then, while it was yet night, he sent his light-armed troops forward to hinder the Barbarians from falling into battle-array and throw them into confusion as they issued from their camp. Just before dawn, he led his men-at arms down into the plain and drew them up in battle-array, many in number and full of spirit, as the Barbarians now saw, not few and timid, as they had expected. To begin with, it was this which shattered the confidence of the Gauls, who thought it beneath them to be attacked first. Then again, the light-armed folk fell upon them, forced them into action before they had taken their usual order and been arrayed in companies, and so compelled them to fight at random and in utter disorder. 4 Finally, when Camillus led his men-at arms to the attack, the enemy raised their swords on high and rushed for close quarters. But the Romans thrust their javelins into their faces, received their strokes on the parts that were shielded by iron, and so turned the edge of their metal, which was soft and weakly tempered, so much so that their swords quickly bent up double, while their shields were pierced and weighed down by the javelins which stuck in them. 5 They actually abandoned their own weapons and tried to possess themselves of those of their enemies, and to turn aside the javelins by grasping them in their hands. But the Romans, seeing them thus disarmed, at once took to using their swords, and there was a great slaughter of their foremost ranks, while the rest fled every whither over the plain; the hill tops and high places had been occupied beforehand by Camillus, and they knew that their camp could easily be taken, since, in their overweening confidence, they had neglected to fortify it.
[Cam. 41.6] 6 This battle, they say, was fought thirteen years after the capture of Rome, and produced in the Romans a firm feeling of confidence regarding the Gauls. They had mightily feared these Barbarians, who had been conquered by them in the first instance, as they felt, in consequence of sickness and extraordinary misfortunes, rather than of any prowess in their conquerors. At any rate, so great had their terror been that they made a law exempting priests from military service, except in case of a Gallic war.
[Cam. 42.1] 42 1 This was the last military exploit performed by Camillus, for the capture of Velitrae was a direct sequel of this campaign, and it yielded to him without a struggle. But the greatest of his civil contests yet remained and it was harder to wage it now against a people which had come back flushed with victory, and bent on electing a plebeian consul, contrary to the established law. But the Senate opposed their demands, and would not suffer Camillus to lay aside his office, thinking that, with the aid of his great power and authority, they could make a better fight in defence of their aristocracy. 2 But once when Camillus was seated in state and despatching public business in the forum, an officer, sent by the tribunes of the people, ordered him to follow, actually laying hands upon him as though to hale him away. All at once such cries and tumult as had never been heard before filled the forum, the friends of Camillus thrusting the plebeian officer down from the tribunal, and the multitude below ordering him to drag the dictator away. Camillus, perplexed at the issue, did not renounce his office, but taking the senators with him, marched off to their place of meeting. 3 Before he entered this, turning to the Capitol, he prayed the gods to bring the present tumults to their happiest end, solemnly vowing to build a temple to Concord when the confusion was over.
[Cam. 42.4] In the Senate there was a great conflict of opposing views, but nevertheless, the milder course prevailed, concession was made to elect one of the consuls from their own body. 4 When the dictator announced this to the people as the will and pleasure of the Senate, at once, as was to be expected, they were delighted to be reconciled with the Senate, and escorted Camillus to his home with loud applause. On the following day they held an assembly and voted to build a temple of Concord, as Camillus had vowed, and to have it face the forum and place of assembly, to commemorate what had now happened. 5 They voted also to add a day to the so called Latin festival, and thereafter to celebrate four days, and that all Romans at once perform sacrifices with garlands on their heads. At the elections held by Camillus, Marcus Aemilius was chosen consul from the patricians, and Lucius Sextus first consul from the plebeians. This was the last public act of Camillus.
[Cam. 43.1] 43 1 In the year following, a pestilential sickness visited Rome, carrying off an incalculable number of the common people, and most of the magistrates. Camillus also died at this time, and he was full ripe for death, if any man ever was, considering his years and the completeness of his life; yet his loss grieved the Romans more than that of all those who perished of the plague at this time.

## Pericles

[Per. 1.1] 152 1 1 On seeing certain wealthy foreigners in Rome carrying puppies and young monkeys about in their bosoms and fondling them, Caesar asked, we are told, if the women in their country did not bear children, thus in right princely fashion rebuking those who squander on animals that proneness to love and loving affection which is ours by nature, and which is due only to our fellow-men. 2 Since, then, our souls are by nature possessed of great fondness for learning and fondness for seeing, it is surely reasonable to chide those who abuse this fondness on objects all unworthy either of their eyes or ears, to the neglect of those which are good and serviceable. Our outward sense, since it apprehends the objects which encounter it by virtue of their mere impact upon it, must needs, perhaps, regard everything that presents itself, be it useful or useless; 3 but in the exercise of his mind every man, if he pleases, has the natural power to turn himself away in every case, and to change, without the least difficulty, to that object upon which he himself determines. It is meet, therefore, that he pursue what is best, to the end that he may not merely regard it, but also be edified by regarding it. A colour is suited to the eye if its freshness, and its pleasantness as well, stimulates and nourishes the vision; and so our intellectual vision must be applied to such objects as, by their very charm, invite it onward to its own proper good.
[Per. 1.4] 4 Such objects are to be found in virtuous deeds; these implant in those who search them out a great and zealous eagerness which leads to imitation. In other cases, admiration of the deed is not immediately accompanied by an impulse to do it. Nay, many times, on the contrary, while we delight in the work, we despise the workman, as, for instance, in the case of perfumes and dyes; we take a delight in them, but dyers and perfumers we regard as illiberal and vulgar folk. 5 Therefore it was a fine saying of Antisthenes, when he heard that Ismenias was an excellent piper: “But he’s a worthless man,” said he, “otherwise he wouldn’t be so good a piper.” And so Philip once said to his son, who, as the wine went round, plucked the strings charmingly and skilfully, “Art not ashamed to pluck the strings so well?” It is enough, surely, if a king have leisure to hear others pluck the strings, and he pays great deference to the Muses if he be but a spectator of such contests.
[Per. 2.1] 153 2 1 Labour with one’s own hands on lowly tasks gives witness, in the toil thus expended on useless things, to one’s own indifference to higher things. No generous youth, from seeing the Zeus at Pisa, or the Hera at Argos, longs to be Pheidias or Polycleitus; nor to be Anacreon or Philetas or Archilochus out of pleasure in their poems. 2 For it does not of necessity follow that, if the work delights you with its grace, the one who wrought it is worthy of your esteem. Wherefore the spectator is not advantaged by those things at sight of which no ardour for imitation arises in the breast, nor any uplift of the soul arousing zealous impulses to do the like. But virtuous action straightway so disposes a man that he no sooner admires the works of virtue than he strives to emulate those who wrought them. 3 The good things of Fortune we love to possess and enjoy; those of Virtue we long to perform. The former we are willing should be ours at the hands of others; the latter we wish that others rather should have at our hands. The Good creates a stir of activity towards itself, and implants at once in the spectator an active impulse; it does not form his character by ideal representation alone, but through the investigation of its work it furnishes him with a dominant purpose.
[Per. 2.4] 4 For such reasons I have decided to persevere in my writing of Lives, and so have composed this tenthb book, containing the life of Pericles, and that of Fabius Maximus, who waged such lengthy war with Hannibal. The men were alike in their virtues, and more especially in their gentleness and rectitude, and by their ability to endure the follies of their peoples and of their colleagues in office, they proved of the greatest service to their countries. But whether I aim correctly at the proper mark must be decided from what I have written.
[Per. 3.1] 3 1 Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, of the deme Cholargus, and of the foremost family and lineage on both sides. His father, Xanthippus, who conquered the generals of the King at Mycale, married Agariste, granddaughter of that Cleisthenes who, in such noble fashion, expelled the Peisistratidae and destroyed their tyranny, instituted laws, and established a constitution best attempered for the promotion of harmony and safety. 2 She, in her dreams, once fancied that she had given birth to a lion, and a few days after bore Pericles. His personal appearance was unimpeachable, except that his head was rather long and out of due proportion. For this reason the images of him, almost all of them, wear helmets, because the artists, as it would seem, were not willing to reproach him with deformity. The comic poets of Attica used to call him “Schinocephalus,” or Squill-head (the squill is sometimes called “schinus”). 3 So the comic poet Cratinus, in his “Cheirons,” says: “Faction and Saturn, that ancient of days, were united in wedlock; their offspring was of all tyrants the greatest, and lo! he is called by the gods the head-compeller.” And again in his “Nemesis”: “Come, Zeus! of guests and heads the Lord!” 4 And Telecleides speaks of him as sitting on the acropolis in the greatest perplexity, “now heavy of head, and now alone, from the eleven-couched chamber of his head, causing vast uproar to arise.” And Eupolis, in his “Demes,” having inquiries made about each one of the demagogues as they come up from Hades, says, when Pericles is called out last: —
[Per. 3.1b] “The very head of those below hast thou now brought.”
[Per. 4.1] 4 1 His teacher in music, most writers state, was Damon (whose name, they say, should be pronounced with the first syllable short); but Aristotle says he had a thorough musical training at the hands of Pythocleides. Now Damon seems to have been a consummate sophist, but to have taken refuge behind the name of music in order to conceal from the multitude his real power, 154 and he associated with Pericles, that political athlete, as it were, in the capacity of rubberc and trainer. 2 However, Damon was not left unmolested in this use of his lyre as a screen, but was ostracized for being a great schemer and a friend of tyranny, and became a butt of the comic poets. At all events, Plato represented some one as inquiring of him thus: —
[Per. 4.1b] “In the first place tell me then, I beseech thee, thou who art
The Cheiron, as they say, who to Pericles gave his craft.”
[Per. 4.3] 3 Pericles was also a pupil of Zeno the Eleatic, who discoursed on the natural world, like Parmenides, and perfected a species of refutative catch which was sure to bring an opponent to grief; as Timon of Phlius expressed it: —
[Per. 4.3b] “His was a tongue that could argue both ways with a fury resistless,
Zeno’s; assailer of all things.”
[Per. 4.4] 4 But the man who most consorted with Pericles, and did most to clothe him with a majestic demeanour that had more weight than any demagogue’s appeals, yes, and who lifted on high and exalted the dignity of his character, was Anaxagoras the Clazomenian, whom men of that day used to call “Nous,” either because they admired that comprehension of his, which proved of such surpassing greatness in the investigation of nature; or because he was the first to enthrone in the universe, not Chance, nor yet Necessity, as the source of its orderly arrangement, but Mind (Nous) pure and simple, which distinguishes and sets apart, in the midst of an otherwise chaotic mass, the substances which have like elements.
[Per. 5.1] 5 1 This man Pericles extravagantly admired, and being gradually filled full of the so called higher philosophy and elevated speculation, he not only had, as it seems, a spirit that was solemn and a discourse that was lofty and free from plebeian and reckless effrontery, but also a composure of countenance that never relaxed into laughter, a gentleness of carriage and cast of attire that suffered no emotion to disturb it while he was speaking, a modulation of voice that was far from boisterous, and many similar characteristics which struck all his hearers with wondering amazement. 2 It is, at any rate, a fact that, once on a time when he had been abused and insulted all day long by a certain lewd fellow of the baser sort, he endured it all quietly, though it was in the market-place, where he had urgent business to transact, and towards evening went away homewards unruffled, the fellow following along and heaping all manner of contumely upon him. 3 When he was about to go in doors, it being now dark, he ordered a servant to take a torch and escort the fellow in safety back to his own home.
[Per. 5.4] The poet Ion, however, says that Pericles had a presumptuous and somewhat arrogant manner of address, and that into his haughtiness there entered a good deal of disdain and contempt for others; he praises, on the other hand, the tact, complaisance, and elegant address which Cimon showed in his social intercourse. 4 But we must ignore Ion, with his demand that virtue, like a dramatic tetralogy, have some sort of a farcical appendage. Zeno, when men called the austerity of Pericles a mere thirst for reputation, and swollen conceit, urged them to have some such thirst for reputation themselves, with the idea that the very assumption of nobility might in time produce, all unconsciously, something like an eager and habitual practice of it.
[Per. 6.1] 6 1 These were not the only advantages Pericles had of his association with Anaxagoras. It appears that he was also lifted by him above superstition, that feeling which is produced by amazement at what happens in regions above us. It affects those who are ignorant of the causes of such things, and are crazed about divine intervention, and confounded through their inexperience in this domain; whereas the doctrines of natural philosophy remove such ignorance and inexperience, and substitute for timorous and inflamed superstition that unshaken reverence which is attended by a good hope.
[Per. 6.2] 2 A story is told that once on a time the head of a one-horned ram was brought to Pericles from his country-place, and that Lampon the seer, when he saw how the horn grew strong and solid from the middle of the forehead, declared that, whereas there were two powerful parties in the city, 155 that of Thucydides and that of Pericles, the mastery would finally devolve upon one man, — the man to whom this sign had been given. Anaxagoras, however, had the skull cut in two, and showed that the brain had not filled out its position, but had drawn together to a point, like an egg, at that particular spot in the entire cavity where the root of the horn began. 3 At that time, the story says, it was Anaxagoras who won the plaudits of the bystanders; but a little while after it was Lampon, for Thucydides was overthrown, and Pericles was entrusted with the entire control of all the interests of the people.
[Per. 6.4] Now there was nothing, in my opinion, to prevent both of them, the naturalist and the seer, from being in the right of the matter; the one correctly divined the cause, the other the object or purpose. It was the proper province of the one to observe why anything happens, and how it comes to be what it is; of the other to declare for what purpose anything happens, and what it means. 4 And those who declare that the discovery of the cause, in any phenomenon, does away with the meaning, do not perceive that they are doing away not only with divine portents, but also with artificial tokens, such as the ringing of gongs, the language of fire-signals, and the shadows of the pointers on sundials. Each of these has been made, through some casual adaptation, to have some meaning. However, perhaps this is a matter for a different treatise.
[Per. 7.1] 7 1 As a young man, Pericles was exceedingly reluctant to face the people, since it was thought that in feature he was like the tyrant Peisistratus; and when men well on in years remarked also that his voice was sweet, and his tongue glib and speedy in discourse, they were struck with amazement at the resemblance. Besides, since he was rich, of brilliant lineage, and had friends of the greatest influence, he feared that he might be ostracized, and so at first had naught to do with politics, but devoted himself rather to a military career, where he was brave and enterprising. 2 However, when Aristides was dead, and Themistocles in banishment, and Cimon was kept by his campaigns for the most part abroad, then at last Pericles decided to devote himself to the people, espousing the cause of the poor and the many instead of the few and the rich, contrary to his own nature, which was anything but popular. 3 But he feared, as it would seem, to encounter a suspicion of aiming at tyranny, and when he saw that Cimon was very aristocratic in his sympathies, and was held in extraordinary affection by the party of the “Good and True,” he began to court the favour of the multitude, thereby securing safety for himself, and power to wield against his rival.
[Per. 7.4] 4 Straightway, too, he made a different ordering in his way of life. On one street only in the city was he to be seen walking, — the one which took him to the market-place and the council-chamber. Invitations to dinner, and all such friendly and familiar intercourse, he declined, so that during the long period that elapsed while he was at the head of the state, there was not a single friend to whose house he went to dine, except that when his kinsman Euryptolemus gave a wedding feast, he attended until the libations were made, and then straightway rose up and departed. 5 Conviviality is prone to break down and overpower the haughtiest reserve, and in familiar intercourse the dignity which is assumed for appearance’s sake is very hard to maintain. Whereas, in the case of true and genuine virtue, “fairest appears what most appears,” and nothing in the conduct of good men is so admirable in the eyes of strangers, as their daily walk and conversation is in the eyes of those who share it.
[Per. 7.6] And so it was that Pericles, seeking to avoid the satiety which springs from continual intercourse, made his approaches to the people by intervals, as it were, not speaking on every question, nor addressing the people on every occasion, but offering himself like the Salaminian trireme, as Critolaüs says, for great emergencies. The rest of his policy he carried out by commissioning his friends and other public speakers. 6 One of these, as they say, was Ephialtes, who broke down the power of the Council of the Areiopagus, and so poured out for the citizens, to use the words of Plato, too much “undiluted freedom,” by which the people was rendered unruly, just like a horse, and, as the comic poets say, “no longer had the patience to obey the rein, 156 but nabbed Euboea and trampled on the islands.”
[Per. 8.1] 8 1 Moreover, by way of providing himself with a style of discourse which was adapted, like a musical instrument, to his mode of life and the grandeur of his sentiments, he often made an auxiliary string of Anaxagoras, subtly mingling, as it were, with his rhetoric the dye of natural science. It was from natural science, as the divine Plato says, that he “acquired his loftiness of thought and perfectness of execution, in addition to his natural gifts,” and by applying what he learned to the art of speaking, he far excelled all other speakers. 2 It was thus, they say, that he got his surname; though some suppose it was from the structures with which he adorned the city, and others from his ability as a statesman and a general, that he was called Olympian. It is not at all unlikely that his reputation was the result of the blending in him of many high qualities. 3 But the comic poets of that day, who let fly, both in earnest and in jest, many shafts of speech against him, make it plain that he got this surname chiefly because of his diction; they spoke of him as “thundering” and “lightening” when he harangued his audience, and as “wielding a dread thunderbolt in his tongue.”
[Per. 8.4] There is on record also a certain saying of Thucydides, the son of Melesias, touching the clever persuasiveness of Pericles, a saying uttered in jest. 4 Thucydides belonged to the party of the “Good and True,” and was for a very long time a political antagonist of Pericles. When Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, asked him whether he or Pericles was the better wrestler, he replied: “Whenever I throw him in wrestling, he disputes the fall, and carries his point, and persuades the very men who saw him fall.”
[Per. 8.5] The truth is, however, that even Pericles, with all his gifts, was cautious in his discourse, so that whenever he came forward to speak he prayed the gods that there might not escape him unawares a single word which was unsuited to the matter under discussion. 5 In writing he left nothing behind him except the decrees which he proposed, and only a few in all of his memorable sayings are preserved, as, for instance, his urging the removal of Aegina as the “eye-sore of the Piraeus,” and his declaring that he “already beheld war swooping down upon them from Peloponnesus.” Once also when Sophocles, who was general with him on a certain naval expedition, praised a lovely boy, he said: “It is not his hands only, Sophocles, that a general must keep clean, but his eyes as well.” 6 Again, Stesimbrotus says that, in his funeral oration over those who had fallen in the Samian War, he declared that they had become immortal, like the gods; “the gods themselves,” he said, “we cannot see, but from the honours which they receive, and the blessings which they bestow, we conclude that they are immortal.” So it was, he said, with those who had given their lives for their country.
[Per. 9.1] 9 1 Thucydides describes the administration of Pericles as rather aristocratic,— “in name a democracy, but in fact a government by the greatest citizen.” But many others say that the people was first led on by him into allotments of public lands, festival-grants, and distributions of fees for public services, thereby falling into bad habits, and becoming luxurious and wanton under the influence of his public measures, instead of frugal and self-sufficing. Let us therefore examine in detail the reason for this change in him.
[Per. 9.2] 2 In the beginning, as has been said, pitted as he was against the reputation of Cimon, he tried to ingratiate himself with the people. And since he was the inferior in wealth and property, by means of which Cimon would win over the poor, — furnishing a dinner every day to any Athenian who wanted it, bestowing raiment on the elderly men, and removing the fences from his estates that whosoever wished might pluck the fruit, — 157 Pericles, outdone in popular arts of this sort, had recourse to the distribution of the people’s own wealth. This was on the advice of Damonides, of the Deme Oa, as Aristotle has stated. 3 And soon, what with festival-grants and jurors’ wages and other fees and largesses, he bribed the multitude by the wholesale, and used them in opposition to the Council of the Areiopagus. Of this body he himself was not a member, since the lot had not made him either First Archon, or Archon Thesmothete, or King Archon, or Archon Polemarch. These offices were in ancient times filled by lot, and through them those who properly acquitted themselves were promoted into the Areiopagus. 4 For this reason all the more did Pericles, strong in the affections of the people, lead a successful party against the Council of the Areiopagus. Not only was the Council robbed of most of its jurisdiction by Ephialtes, but Cimon also, on the charge of being a lover of Sparta and a hater of the people, was ostracized, — a man who yielded to none in wealth and lineage, who had won most glorious victories over the Barbarians, and had filled the city full of money and spoils, as is written in his Life. Such was the power of Pericles among the people.
[Per. 10.1] 10 1 Now ostracism involved legally a period of ten years’ banishment. But in the meanwhile the Lacedaemonians invaded the district of Tanagra with a great army, and the Athenians straightway sallied out against them. So Cimon came back from his banishment and stationed himself with his tribesmen in line of battle, and determined by his deeds to rid himself of the charge of too great love for Sparta, in that he shared the perils of his fellow-citizens. But the friends of Pericles banded together and drove him from the ranks, on the ground that he was under sentence of banishment. 2 For which reason, it is thought, Pericles fought most sturdily in that battle, and was the most conspicuous of all in exposing himself to danger. And there fell in this battle all the friends of Cimon to a man, whom Pericles had accused with him of too great love for Sparta. Wherefore sore repentance fell upon the Athenians, and a longing desire for Cimon, defeated as they were on the confines of Attica, and expecting as they did a grievous war with the coming of spring. 3 So then Pericles, perceiving this, hesitated not to gratify the desires of the multitude, but wrote with his own hand the decree which recalled the man. Whereupon Cimon came back from banishment and made peace between the cities. For the Lacedaemonians were as kindly disposed towards him as they were full of hatred towards Pericles and the other popular leaders.
[Per. 10.4] 4 Some, however, say that the decree for the restoration of Cimon was not drafted by Pericles until a secret compact had been made between them, through the agency of Elpinicé, Cimon’s sister, to the effect that Cimon should sail out with a fleet of two hundred ships and have command in foreign parts, attempting to subdue the territory of the King, while Pericles should have supreme power in the city. 5 And it was thought that before this, too, Elpinice had rendered Pericles more lenient towards Cimon, when he stood his trial on the capital charge of treason. Pericles was at that time one of the committee of prosecution appointed by the people, and on Elpinice’s coming to him and supplicating him, said to her with a smile, “Elpinice, thou art an old woman, thou art an old woman, to attempt such tasks.” However, he made only one speech, by way of formally executing his commission, and in the end did the least harm to Cimon of all his accusers.
[Per. 10.6] 6 How, then, can one put trust in Idomeneus, who accuses Pericles of assassinating the popular leader Ephialtes, though he was his friend and a partner in his political program, out of mere jealousy and envy of his reputation? These charges he has raked up from some source or other and hurled them, as if so much venom, against one who was perhaps not in all points irreproachable, but who had a noble disposition and an ambitious spirit, wherein no such savage and bestial feelings can have their abode. 158 7 As for Ephialtes, who was a terror to the oligarchs and inexorable in exacting accounts from those who wronged the people, and in prosecuting them, his enemies laid plots against him, and had him slain secretly by Aristodicus of Tanagra, as Aristotle says. As for Cimon, he died on his campaign in Cyprus.
[Per. 11.1] 11 Then the aristocrats, aware even some time before this that Pericles was already become the greatest citizen, but wishing nevertheless to have some one in the city who should stand up against him and blunt the edge of his power, that it might not be an out and out monarchy, put forward Thucydides of Alopecé, a discreet man and a relative of Cimon, to oppose him. 2 He, being less of a warrior than Cimon, and more of a forensic speaker and statesman, by keeping watch and ward in the city, and by wrestling bouts with Pericles on the bema, soon brought the administration into even poise.
[Per. 11.3] He would not suffer the party of the “Good and True,” as they called themselves, to be scattered up and down and blended with the populace, as heretofore, the weight of their character being thus obscured by numbers, but by culling them out and assembling them into one body, he made their collective influence, thus become weighty, as it were a counterpoise in the balance. 3 Now there had been from the beginning a sort of seam hidden beneath the surface of affairs, as in a piece of iron, which faintly indicated a divergence between the popular and the aristocratic programme; but the emulous ambition of these two men cut a deep gash in the state, and caused one section of it to be called the “Demos,” or the People, and the other the “Oligoi,” or the Few. 4 At this time, therefore, particularly, Pericles gave the reins to the people, and made his policy one of pleasing them, ever devising some sort of a pageant in the town for the masses, or a feast, or a procession, “amusing them like children with not uncouth delights,” and sending out sixty triremes annually, on which large numbers of the citizens sailed about for eight months under pay, practising at the same time and acquiring the art of seamanship. 5 In addition to this, he despatched a thousand settlers to the Chersonesus, and five hundred to Naxos, and to Andros half that number, and a thousand to Thrace to settle with the Bisaltae, and others to Italy, when the site of Sybaris was settled, which they named Thurii. All this he did by way of lightening the city of its mob of lazy and idle busybodies, rectifying the embarrassments of the poorer people, and giving the allies for neighbours an imposing garrison which should prevent rebellion.
[Per. 12.1] 12 1 But that which brought most delightful adornment to Athens, and the greatest amazement to the rest of mankind; that which alone now testifies for Hellas that her ancient power and splendour, of which so much is told, was no idle fiction, — I mean his construction of sacred edifices, — this, more than all public measures of Pericles, his enemies maligned and slandered. They cried out in the assemblies: “The people has lost its fair fame and is in ill repute because it has removed the public moneys of the Hellenes from Delos into its own keeping, 2 and that seemliest of all excuses which it had to urge against its accusers, to wit, that out of fear of the Barbarians it took the public funds from that sacred isle and was now guarding them in a stronghold, of this Pericles has robbed it. And surely Hellas is insulted with a dire insult and manifestly subjected to tyranny when she sees that, with her own enforced contributions the war, we are gilding and bedizening our city, which, for all the world like a wanton woman, adds to her wardrobe precious stones and costly statues and temples worth their millions.”
[Per. 12.3] 3 For his part, Pericles would instruct the people that it owed no account of their moneys to the allies provided it carried on the war for them and kept off the Barbarians; “not a horse do they furnish,” said he, “not a ship, not a hoplite, but money simply; 159 and this belongs, not to those who give it, but to those who take it, if only they furnish that for which they take it in pay. 4 And it is but meet that the city, when once she is sufficiently equipped with all that is necessary for prosecuting the war, should apply her abundance to such works as, by their completion, will bring her everlasting glory, and while in process of completion will bring that abundance into actual service, in that all sorts of activity and diversified demands arise, which rouse every art and stir every hand, and bring, as it were, the whole city under pay, so that she not only adorns, but supports herself as well from her own resources.”
[Per. 12.5] 5 And it was true that his military expeditions supplied those who were in the full vigour of manhood with abundant resources from the common funds, and in his desire that the unwarlike throng of common labourers should neither have no share at all in the public receipts, nor yet get fees for laziness and idleness, he boldly suggested to the people projects for great constructions, and designs for works which would call many arts into play and involve long periods of time, in order that the stay-at homes, no whit less than the sailors and sentinels and soldiers, might have a pretext for getting a beneficial share of the public wealth. 6 The materials to be used were stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress-wood; the arts which should elaborate and work up these materials were those of carpenter, moulder, bronze-smith, stone-cutter, dyer, worker in gold and ivory, painter, embroiderer, embosser, to say nothing of the forwarders and furnishers of the material, such as factors, sailors and pilots by sea, and, by land, wagon-makers, trainers of yoked beasts, and drivers. 7 There were also rope-makers, weavers, leather-workers, road-builders, and miners. And since each particular art, like a general with the army under his separate command, kept its own throng of unskilled and untrained labourers in compact array, to be as instrument unto player and as body unto soul in subordinate service, it came to pass that for every age, almost, and every capacity the city’s great abundance was distributed and scattered abroad by such demands.
[Per. 13.1] 13 1 So then the works arose, no less towering in their grandeur than inimitable in the grace of their outlines, since the workmen eagerly strove to surpass themselves in the beauty of their handicraft. And yet the most wonderful thing about them was the speed with which they rose. Each one of them, men thought, would require many successive generations to complete it, but all of them were fully completed in the heyday of a single administration. 2 And yet they say that once on a time when Agatharchus the painter was boasting loudly of the speed and ease with which he made his figures, Zeuxis heard him, and said, “Mine take, and last, a long time.” And it is true that deftness and speed in working do not impart to the work an abiding weight of influence nor an exactness of beauty; whereas the time which is put out to loan in laboriously creating, pays a large and generous interest in the preservation of the creation. 3 For this reason are the works of Pericles all the more to be wondered at; they were created in a short time for all time. Each one of them, in its beauty, was even then and at once antique; but in the freshness of its vigour it is, even to the present day, recent and newly wrought. Such is the bloom of perpetual newness, as it were, upon these works of his, which makes them ever to look untouched by time, as though the unfaltering breath of an ageless spirit has been infused into them.
[Per. 13.4] 4 His general manager and general overseer was Pheidias, although the several works had great architects and artists besides. Of the Parthenon, for instance, with its cella of a hundred feet in length, Callicrates and Ictinus were the architects; it was Coroebus who began to build the sanctuary of the mysteries at Eleusis, and he planted the columns on the floor and yoked their capitals together with architraves; but on his death Metagenes, of the deme Xypete, carried up the frieze and the upper tier of columns; 160 5 while Xenocles, of the deme Cholargus, set on high the lantern over the shrine. For the long wall, concerning which Socrates says he himself heard Pericles introduce a measure, Callicrates was the contractor. Cratinus pokes fun at this work for its slow progress, and in these words: —
[Per. 13.4b] “Since ever so long now
In word has Pericles pushed the thing; in fact he does not budge it.”
[Per. 13.6] The Odeum, which was arranged internally with many tiers of seats and many pillars, and which had a roof made with a circular slope from a single peak, they say was an exact reproduction of the Great King’s pavilion, and this too was built under the superintendence of Pericles. 6 Wherefore Cratinus, in his “Thracian Women,” rails at him again: —
[Per. 13.6b] “The squill-head Zeus! lo! here he comes,
The Odeum like a cap upon his cranium,
Now that for good and all the ostracism is o’er.”
[Per. 13.6c] Then first did Pericles, so fond of honour was he, get a decree passed that a musical contest be held as part of the Panathenaic festival. He himself was elected manager, and prescribed how the contestants must blow the flute, or sing, or pluck the zither. These musical contests were witnessed, both then and thereafter, in the Odeum.
[Per. 13.7] 7 The Propylaea of the acropolis were brought to completion in the space of five years, Mnesicles being their architect. A wonderful thing happened in the course of their building, which indicated that the goddess was not holding herself aloof, but was a helper both in the inception and in the completion of the work. 8 One of its artificers, the most active and zealous of them all, lost his footing and fell from a great height, and lay in a sorry plight, despaired of by the physicians. Pericles was much cast down at this, but the goddess appeared to him in a dream and prescribed a course of treatment for him to use, so that he speedily and easily healed the man. It was in commemoration of this that he set up the bronze statue of Athena Hygieia on the acropolis near the altar of that goddess, which was there before, as they say.
[Per. 13.9] 9 But it was Pheidias who produced the great golden image of the goddess, and he is duly inscribed on the tablet as the workman who made it. Everything, almost, was under his charge, and all the artists and artisans, as I have said, were under his superintendence, owing to his friendship with Pericles. This brought envy upon the one, and contumely on the other, to the effect that Pheidias made assignations for Pericles with free-born women who would come ostensibly to see the works of art. 10 The comic poets took up this story and bespattered Pericles with charges of abounding wantonness, connecting their slanders with the wife of Menippus, a man who was his friend, and a colleague in the generalship, and with the bird-culture of Pyrilampes, who, since he was the comrade of Pericles was accused of using his peacocks to bribe the women with whom Pericles consorted.
[Per. 13.11] 11 And why should any one be astonished that men of wanton life lose no occasion for offering up sacrifices, as it were, of contumelious abuse of their superiors, to the evil deity of popular envy, when even Stesimbrotus of Thasos has ventured to make public charge against Pericles of a dreadful and fabulous impiety with his son’s wife? 12 To such degree, it seems, is truth hedged about with difficulty and hard to capture by research, since those who come after the events in question find that lapse of time is an obstacle to their proper perception of them; while the research of their contemporaries into men’s deeds and lives, partly through envious hatred and partly through fawning flattery, defiles and distorts the truth.
[Per. 14.1] 14 1 Thucydides and his party kept denouncing Pericles for playing fast and loose with the public moneys and annihilating the revenues. Pericles therefore asked the people in assembly whether they thought he had expended too much, and on their declaring that it was altogether too much, “Well then,” said he, “let it not have been spent on your account, but mine, and I will make the inscriptions of dedication in my own name.” 2 When Pericles had said this, whether it was that they admired his magnanimity 161 or vied with his ambition to get the glory of his works, they cried out with a loud voice and bade him take freely from the public funds for his outlays, and to spare naught whatsoever. And finally he ventured to undergo with Thucydides the contest of the ostracism, wherein he secured his rival’s banishment, and the dissolution of the faction which had been arrayed against him.
[Per. 15.1] 15 1 Thus, then, seeing that political differences were entirely remitted and the city had become a smooth surface, as it were, and altogether united, he brought under his own control Athens and all the issues dependent on the Athenians, — tributes, armies, triremes, the islands, the sea, the vast power derived from Hellenes, vast also from Barbarians, and a supremacy that was securely hedged about with subject nations, royal friendships, and dynastic alliances. 2 But then he was no longer the same man as before, nor alike submissive to the people and ready to yield and give in to the desires of the multitude as a steersman to the breezes. Nay rather, forsaking his former lax and sometimes rather effeminate management of the people, he struck the high and clear note of an aristocratic and kingly statesmanship, and employing it for the best interests of all in a direct and undeviating fashion, he led the people, for the most part willingly, by his persuasions and instructions. 3 And yet there were times when they were sorely vexed with him, and then he tightened the reins and forced them into the way of their advantage with a master’s hand, for all the world like a wise physician, who treats a complicated disease of long standing occasionally with harmless indulgences to please his patient, and occasionally, too, with caustics and bitter drugs which work salvation. 4 For whereas all sorts of distempers, as was to be expected, were rife in a rabble which possessed such a vast empire, he alone was so endowed by nature that he could manage each one of these cases suitably, and more than anything else he used the people’s hopes and fears, like rudders, so to speak, giving timely check to their arrogance, and allaying and comforting their despair. Thus he proved that rhetoric, or the art of speaking, is, to use Plato’s words, “an enchantment of the soul,” and that her chiefest business is a careful study of the affections and passions, which are, so to speak, strings and stops of the soul, requiring a very judicious fingering and striking. 5 The reason for his success was not his power as a speaker merely, but, as Thucydides says, the reputation of his life and the confidence reposed in him as one who was manifestly proven to be utterly disinterested and superior to bribes. He made the city, great as it was when he took it, the greatest and richest of all cities, and grew to be superior in power to kings and tyrants. Some of these actually appointed him guardian of their sons, but he did not make his estate a single drachma greater than it was when his father left it to him.
[Per. 16.1] 16 1 Of his power there can be no doubt, since Thucydides gives so clear an exposition of it, and the comic poets unwittingly reveal it even in their malicious gibes, calling him and his associates “new Peisistratidae,” and urging him to take solemn oath not to make himself a tyrant, on the plea, forsooth, that his preëminence was incommensurate with democracy and too oppressive. 2 Telecleides says that the Athenians had handed over to him
[Per. 16.1b] “With the cities’ assessments the cities themselves, to bind or release as he pleases,
[Per. 16.1c] Their ramparts of stone to build up if he likes, and then to pull down again straightway,
[Per. 16.1d] Their treaties, their forces, their might, peace, and riches, and all the fair gifts of good fortune.”
(Rogers.)
[Per. 16.3] And this was not the fruit of a golden moment, nor the culminating popularity of an administration that bloomed but for a season; nay rather he stood first for forty years among such men as Ephialtes, Leocrates, Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides, 3 and after the deposition of Thucydides and his ostracism, for no less than fifteen of these years did he secure an imperial sway that was continuous and unbroken, by means of his annual tenure of the office of general. 162 During all these years he kept himself untainted by corruption, although he was not altogether indifferent to money-making; indeed, the wealth which was legally his by inheritance from his father, that it might not from sheer neglect take to itself wings and fly away, nor yet cause him much trouble and loss of time when he was busy with higher things, he set into such orderly dispensation as he thought was easiest and most exact. 4 This was to sell his annual products all together in the lump, and then to buy in the market each article as it was needed, and so provide the ways and means of daily life. For this reason he was not liked by his sons when they grew up, nor did their wives find in him a liberal purveyor, but they murmured at his expenditure for the day merely and under the most exact restrictions, there being no surplus of supplies at all, as in a great house and under generous circumstances, but every outlay and every intake proceeding by count and measure. 5 His agent in securing all this great exactitude was a single servant, Evangelus, who was either gifted by nature or trained by Pericles so as to surpass everybody else in domestic economy.
[Per. 16.6] It is true that this conduct was not in accord with the wisdom of Anaxagoras, since that philosopher actually abandoned his house and left his land to lie fallow for sheep-grazing, owing to the lofty thoughts with which he was inspired. 6 But the life of a speculative philosopher is not the same thing, I think, as that of a statesman. The one exercises his intellect without the aid of instruments and independent of external matters for noble ends; whereas the other, inasmuch as he brings his superior excellence into close contact with the common needs of mankind, must sometimes find wealth not merely one of the necessities of life, but also one of its noble things, as was actually the case with Pericles, who gave aid to many poor men. 7 And, besides, they say that Anaxagoras himself, at a time when Pericles was absorbed in business, lay on his couch all neglected, in his old age, starving himself to death, his head already muffled for departure, and that when the matter came to the ears of Pericles, he was struck with dismay, and ran at once to the poor man, and besought him most fervently to live, bewailing not so much that great teacher’s lot as his own, were he now to be bereft of such a counsellor in the conduct of the state. Then Anaxagoras — so the story goes — unmuffled his head and said to him, “Pericles, even those who need a lamp pour oil therein.”
[Per. 17.1] 17 1 When the Lacedaemonians began to be annoyed by the increasing power of the Athenians, Pericles, by way of inciting the people to cherish yet loftier thoughts and to deem itself worthy of great achievements, introduced a bill to the effect that all Hellenes wheresoever resident in Europe or in Asia, small and large cities alike, should be invited to send deputies to a council at Athens. This was to deliberate concerning the Hellenic sanctuaries which the Barbarians had burned down, concerning the sacrifices which were due to the gods in the name of Hellas in fulfilment of vows made when they were fighting with the Barbarians, and concerning the sea, that all might sail it fearlessly and keep the peace. 2 To extend this invitation, twenty men, of such as were above fifty years of age, were sent out, five of whom invited the Ionians and Dorians in Asia and on the islands between Lesbos and Rhodes; five visited the regions on the Hellespont and in Thrace as far as Byzantium; five others were sent into Boeotia and Phocis and Peloponnesus, and from here by way of the Ozolian Locrians into the neighbouring continent as far as Acarnania and Ambracia; 3 while the rest proceeded through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Maliac Gulf and the Phthiotic Achaeans and the Thessalians, urging them all to come and take part in the deliberations for the peace and common welfare of Hellas. But nothing was accomplished, nor did the cities come together by deputy, owing to the opposition of the Lacedaemonians, as it is said, since the effort met with its first check in Peloponnesus. I have cited this incident, however, to show forth the man’s disposition and the greatness of his thoughts.
[Per. 18.1] 163 18 1 In his capacity as general, he was famous above all things for his saving caution; he neither undertook of his own accord a battle involving much uncertainty or peril, nor did he envy and imitate those who took great risks, enjoyed brilliant good-fortune, and so were admired as great generals; and he was for ever saying to his fellow-citizens that, so far as lay in his power, they would remain alive forever and be immortals.
[Per. 18.2] 2 So when he saw that Tolmides, son of Tolmaeus, all on account of his previous good-fortune and of the exceeding great honour bestowed upon him for his wars, was getting ready, quite inopportunely, to make an incursion into Boeotia, and that he had persuaded the bravest and most ambitious men of military age to volunteer for the campaign, — as many as a thousand of them, aside from the rest of his forces, — he tried to restrain and dissuade him in the popular assembly, uttering then that well remembered saying, to wit, that if he would not listen to Pericles, he would yet do full well to wait for that wisest of all counsellors, Time. 3 This saying brought him only moderate repute at the time; but a few days afterwards, when word was brought that Tolmides himself was dead after defeat in battle near Coroneia, and that many brave citizens were dead likewise, then it brought Pericles great repute as well as goodwill, for that he was a man of discretion and patriotism.
[Per. 19.1] 19 1 Of all his expeditions, that to the Chersonesus was held in most loving remembrance, since it proved the salvation of the Hellenes who dwelt there. Not only did he bring thither a thousand Athenian colonists and stock the cities anew with vigorous manhood, but he also belted the neck of the isthmus with defensive bulwarks from sea to sea, and so intercepted the incursions of the Thracians who swarmed about the Chersonesus, 2 and shut out the perpetual and grievous war in which the country was all the time involved, in close touch as it was with neighbouring communities of Barbarians, and full to overflowing of robber bands whose haunts were on or within its borders. But he was admired and celebrated even amongst foreigners for his circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus, when he put to sea from Pegae in the Megarid with a hundred triremes. 3 He not only ravaged a great strip of seashore, as Tolmides had done before him, but also advanced far into the interior with the hoplites from his ships, and drove all his enemies inside their walls in terror at his approach, excepting only the Sicyonians, who made a stand against him in Nemea, and joined battle with him; these he routed by main force and set up a trophy for his victory. 4 Then from Achaea, which was friendly to him, he took soldiers on board his triremes, and proceeded with his armament to the opposite mainland, where he sailed up the Acheloüs, overran Acarnania, shut up the people of Oeniadae behind their walls, and after ravaging and devastating their territory, went off homewards, having shown himself formidable to his enemies, but a safe and efficient leader for his fellow-citizens. For nothing untoward befell, even as result of chance, those who took part in the expedition.
[Per. 20.1] 20 1 He also sailed into the Euxine Sea with a large and splendidly equipped armament. There he effected what the Greek cities desired, and dealt with them humanely, while to the neighbouring nations of Barbarians with their king and dynasts he displayed the magnitude of his forces and the fearless courage with which they sailed whithersoever they pleased and brought the whole sea under their own control. He also left with the banished Sinopians thirteen ships of war and soldiers under command of Lamachus to aid them against Timesileos. When the tyrant and his adherents had been driven from the city, Pericles got a bill passed providing that six hundred volunteers of the Athenians should sail to Sinope and settle down there with the Sinopians, dividing up among themselves the houses and lands which the tyrant and his followers had formerly occupied.
[Per. 20.3] But in other matters he did not accede to the vain impulses of the citizens, nor was he swept along with the tide when they were eager, from a sense of their great power and good fortune, 164 to lay hands again upon Egypt and molest the realms of the King which lay along the sea. 3 Many also were possessed already with that inordinate and inauspicious passion for Sicily which was afterwards kindled into flame by such orators as Alcibiades. And some there were who actually dreamed of Tuscany and Carthage, and that not without a measure of hope, in view of the magnitude of their present supremacy and the full-flowing tide of success in their undertakings.
[Per. 21.1] 21 1 But Pericles was ever trying to restrain this extravagance of theirs, to lop off their expansive meddlesomeness, and to divert the greatest part of their forces to the guarding and securing of what they had already won. He considered it a great achievement to hold the Lacedaemonians in check, and set himself in opposition to these in every way, as he showed, above all other things, by what he did in the Sacred War. 2 The Lacedaemonians made an expedition to Delphi while the Phocians had possession of the sanctuary there, and restored it to the Delphians; but no sooner had the Lacedaemonians departed than Pericles made a counter expedition and reinstated the Phocians. And whereas the Lacedaemonians had had the “promanteia,” or right of consulting the oracle in behalf of others also, which the Delphians had bestowed upon them, carved upon the forehead of the bronze wolf in the sanctuary, he secured from the Phocians this high privilege for the Athenians, and had it chiselled along the right side of the same wolf.
[Per. 22.1] 22 1 That he was right in seeking to confine the power of the Athenians within lesser Greece, was amply proved by what came to pass. To begin with, the Euboeans revolted, and he crossed over to the island with a hostile force. Then straightway word was brought to him that the Megarians had gone over to the enemy, and that an army of the enemy was on the confines of Attica under the leadership of Pleistoanax, the king of the Lacedaemonians. 2 Accordingly, Pericles brought his forces back with speed from Euboea for the war in Attica. He did not venture to join battle with hoplites who were so many, so brave, and so eager for battle, but seeing that Pleistoanax was a very young man, and that out of all his advisers he set most store by Cleandridas, whom the ephors had sent along with him, by reason of his youth, to be a guardian and an assistant to him, he secretly made trial of this man’s integrity, speedily corrupted him with bribes, and persuaded him to lead the Peloponnesians back out of Attica.
[Per. 22.3] 3 When the army had withdrawn and had been disbanded to their several cities, the Lacedaemonians, in indignation, laid a heavy fine upon their king, the full amount of which he was unable to pay, and so betook himself out of Lacedaemon, while Cleandridas, who had gone into voluntary exile, was condemned to death. He was the father of that Gylippus who overcame the Athenians in Sicily. And nature seems to have imparted covetousness to the son, as it were a congenital disease, owing to which he too, after noble achievements, was caught in base practices and banished from Sparta in disgrace. This story, however, I have told at length in my life of Lysander.
[Per. 23.1] 23 1 When Pericles, in rendering his accounts for this campaign, recorded an expenditure of ten talents as “for sundry needs,” the people approved it without officious meddling and without even investigating the mystery. But some writers, among whom is Theophrastus the philosopher, have stated that every year ten talents found their way to Sparta from Pericles, and that with these he conciliated all the officials there, and so staved off the war, not purchasing peace, but time, in which he could make preparations at his leisure and then carry on war all the better. 2 However that may be, he again turned his attention to the rebels, and after crossing to Euboea with fifty ships of war and five thousand hoplites, he subdued the cities there. Those of the Chalcidians who were styled Hippobotae, or Knights, and who were preëminent for wealth and reputation, he banished from their city, and all the Hestiaeans he removed from the country and settled Athenians in their places, 165 treating them, and them only, thus inexorably, because they had taken an Attic ship captive and slain its crew.
[Per. 24.1] 24 1 After this, when peace had been made for thirty years between the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, he got a decree passed for his expedition to Samos, alleging against its people that, though they were ordered to break off their war against the Milesians, they were not complying.
[Per. 24.2] Now, since it is thought that he proceeded thus against the Samians to gratify Aspasia, this may be a fitting place to raise the query what great art or power this woman had, that she managed as she pleased the foremost men of the state, and afforded the philosophers occasion to discuss her in exalted terms and at great length. 2 That she was a Milesian by birth, daughter of one Axiochus, is generally agreed; and they say that it was in emulation of Thargelia, an Ionian woman of ancient times, that she made her onslaughts upon the most influential men. This Thargelia came to be a great beauty and was endowed with grace of manners as well as clever wits. Inasmuch as she lived on terms of intimacy with numberless Greeks, and attached all her consorts to the king of Persia, she stealthily sowed the seeds of Persian sympathy in the cities of Greece by means of these lovers of hers, who were men of the greatest power and influence. 3 And so Aspasia, as some say, was held in high favour by Pericles because of her rare political wisdom. Socrates sometimes came to see her with his disciples, and his intimate friends brought their wives to her to hear her discourse, although she presided over a business that was anything but honest or even reputable, since she kept a house of young courtesans. 4 And Aeschines says that Lysicles the sheep-dealer, a man of low birth and nature, came to be the first man at Athens by living with Aspasia after the death of Pericles. And in the “Menexenus” of Plato, even though the first part of it be written in a sportive vein, there is, at any rate, thus much of fact, that the woman had the reputation of associating with many Athenians as a teacher of rhetoric. 5 However, the affection which Pericles had for Aspasia seems to have been rather of an amatory sort. For his own wife was near of kin to him, and had been wedded first to Hipponicus, to whom she bore Callias, surnamed the Rich; she bore also, as the wife of Pericles, Xanthippus and Paralus. After, since their married life was not agreeable, he legally bestowed her upon another man, with her own consent, and himself took Aspasia, and loved her exceedingly. 6 Twice a day, as they say, on going out and on coming in from the market-place, he would salute her with a loving kiss.
[Per. 24.2b] But in the comedies she is styled now the New Omphale, new Deianeira, and now Hera. Cratinus flatly called her a prostitute in these lines: —
[Per. 24.2c] “As his Hera, Aspasia was born, the child of Unnatural Lust,
A prostitute past shaming.”
[Per. 24.2d] And it appears also that he begat from her that bastard son about whom Eupolis, in his “Demes,” represented him as inquiring with these words: —
[Per. 24.2e] “And my bastard, doth he live?”
[Per. 24.2f] to which Myronides replies: —
“Yea, and long had been a man,
Had he not feared the mischief of his harlot-birth.”
[Per. 24.7] 7 So renowned and celebrated did Aspasia become, they say, that even Cyrus, the one who went to war with the Great King for the sovereignty of the Persians, gave the name of Aspasia to that one of his concubines whom he loved best, who before was called Milto. She was a Phocaean by birth, daughter of one Hermotimus, and, after Cyrus had fallen in battle, was carried captive to the King, and acquired the greatest influence with him. These things coming to my recollection as I write, it were perhaps unnatural to reject and pass them by.
[Per. 25.1] 25 1 But to return to the war against the Samians, they accuse Pericles of getting the decree for this passed at the request of Aspasia and in the special behalf of the Milesians. 166 For the two cities were waging their war for the possession of Priene, and the Samians were getting the better of it, and when the Athenians ordered them to stop the contest and submit the case to arbitration at Athens, they would not obey. So Pericles set sail and broke up the oligarchical government which Samos had, and then took fifty of the foremost men of the state, with as many of their children, as hostages, and sent them off to Lemnos. 2 And yet they say that every one of these hostages offered him a talent on his own account, and that the opponents of democracy in the city offered him many talents besides. And still further, Pissouthnes, the Persian satrap, who had much good-will towards the Samians, sent him ten thousand gold staters and interceded for the city. However, Pericles took none of these bribes, but treated the Samians just as he had determined, set up a democracy and sailed back to Athens. 3 Then the Samians at once revolted, after Pissouthnes had stolen away their hostages from Lemnos for them, and in other ways equipped them for the war. Once more, therefore, Pericles set sail against them. They were not victims of sloth, nor yet to abject terror, but full of exceeding zeal in their determination to contest the supremacy of the sea. In a fierce sea-fight which came off near an island called Tragia, Pericles won a brilliant victory, with four and forty ships outfighting seventy, twenty of which were infantry transports.
[Per. 26.1] 26 1 Close on the heels of his victorious pursuit came his seizure of the harbour, and then he laid formal siege to the Samians, who, somehow or other, still had the daring to sally forth and fight with him before their walls. But soon a second and a larger armament came from Athens, and the Samians were completely beleaguered and shut in. Then Pericles took sixty triremes and sailed out into the main sea, as most authorities say, because he wished to meet a fleet of Phoenician ships which was coming to the aid of the Samians, and fight it as great a distance from Samos as possible; but according to Stesimbrotus, because he had designs on Cyprus, which seems incredible. 2 But in any case, whichever design he cherished, he seems to have made a mistake. For no sooner had he sailed off than Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a philosopher who was then acting as general at Samos, despising either the small number of ships that were left, or the inexperience of the generals in charge of them, persuaded his fellow-citizens to make an attack upon the Athenians. In the battle that ensued the Samians were victorious, taking many of their enemy captive, and destroying many of their ships, so that they commanded the sea and laid in large store of such necessaries for the war as they did not have before. 3 And Aristotle says that Pericles was himself also defeated by Melissus in the sea-fight which preceded this.
[Per. 26.4] The Samians retaliated upon the Athenians by branding their prisoners in the forehead with owls; for the Athenians had once branded some of them with the samaena. Now the samaena is a ship of war with a boar’s head design for prow and ram, but more capacious than usual and paunchlike, so that it is a good deep-sea traveller and a swift sailer too. 4 It got this name because it made its first appearance in Samos, where Polycrates the tyrant had some built. To these brand-marks, they say, the verse of Aristophanes made riddling reference: —
[Per. 26.4b] “For oh! how lettered is the folk of the Samians!”
[Per. 27.1] 27 1 Be that true or not, when Pericles learned of the disaster which had befallen his fleet, he came speedily to its aid. And though Melissus arrayed his forces against him, he conquered and routed the enemy and at once walled their city in, preferring to get the upper hand and capture it at the price of money and time, rather than of the wounds and deadly perils of his fellow-citizens. 2 And since it was a hard task for him to restrain the Athenians in their impatience of delay and eagerness to fight, he separated his whole force into eight divisions, had them draw lots, and allowed the division which got the white bean to feast and take their ease, while the others did the fighting. And this is the reason, as they say, why those who have had a gay and festive time call it a “white day,” — from the white bean.
[Per. 27.3] 167 3 Ephorus says that Pericles actually employed siege-engines, in his admiration of their novelty, and that Artemon the engineer was with him there, who, since he was lame, and so had to be brought on a stretcher to the works which demanded his instant attention, was dubbed Periphoretus. Heracleides Ponticus, however, refutes this story out of the poems of Anacreon, in which Artemon Periphoretus is mentioned many generations before the Samian War and its events. 4 And he says that Artemon was very luxurious in his life, as well as weak and panic-stricken in the presence of his fears, and therefore for the most part sat still at home, while two servants held a bronze shield over his head to keep anything from falling down upon it. Whenever he was forced to go abroad, he had himself carried in a little hammock which was borne along just above the surface of the ground. On this account he was called Periphoretus.
[Per. 28.1] 28 1 After eight months the Samians surrendered, and Pericles tore down their walls, took away their ships of war, and laid a heavy fine upon them, part of which they paid at once, and part they agreed to pay at a fixed time, giving hostages therefor. To these details Duris the Samian adds stuff for tragedy, accusing the Athenians and Pericles of great brutality, which is recorded neither by Thucydides, nor Ephorus, nor Aristotle. 2 But he appears not to speak the truth when he says, forsooth, that Pericles had the Samian trierarchs and marines brought into the market-place of Miletus and crucified there, and that then, when they had already suffered grievously for ten days, he gave orders to break their heads in with clubs and make an end of them, and then cast their bodies forth without burial rites. 3 At all events, since it is not the wont of Duris, even in cases where he has no private and personal interest, to hold his narrative down to the fundamental truth, it is all the more likely that here, in this instance, he has given a dreadful portrayal of the calamities of his country, that he might calumniate the Athenians.
[Per. 28.4] When Pericles, after his subjection of Samos, had returned to Athens, he gave honourable burial to those who had fallen in the war, and for the oration which he made, according to the custom, over their tombs, he won the greatest admiration. 4 But as he came down from the bema, while the rest of the women clasped his hand and fastened wreaths and fillets on his head, as though he were some victorious athlete, Elpinice drew nigh and said: “This is admirable in thee, Pericles, and deserving of wreaths, in that thou hast lost us many brave citizens, not in a war with Phoenicians or Medes, like my brother Cimon, but in the subversion of an allied and kindred city.” 5 On Elpinice’s saying this, Pericles, with a quiet smile, it is said, quoted to her the verse of Archilochus: —
[Per. 28.4b] “Thou hadst not else, in spite of years, perfumed thyself.”
[Per. 28.6] Ion says that he had the most astonishingly great thoughts of himself for having subjected the Samians; whereas Agamemnon was all of ten years in taking a barbarian city, he had in nine months time reduced the foremost and most powerful people of Ionia. 6 And indeed his estimate of himself was not unjust, nay, the war actually brought with it much uncertainty and great peril, if indeed, as Thucydides says, the city of Samos came within a very little of stripping from Athens her power on the sea.
[Per. 29.1] 29 1 After this, when the billows of the Peloponnesian War were already rising and swelling, he persuaded the people to send aid and succour to the Corcyraeans in their war with the Corinthians, and so to attach to themselves an island with a vigorous naval power at a time when the Peloponnesians were as good as actually at war with them. 2 But when the people had voted to send the aid and succour, he despatched Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, with only ten ships, as it were in mockery of him. Now there was much good-will and friendship on the part of the house of Cimon towards the Lacedaemonians. In order, therefore, 168 that in case no great or conspicuous achievement should be performed under the generalship of Lacedaemonius, he might so be all the more calumniated for his laconism, or sympathy with Sparta, Pericles gave him only a few ships, and sent him forth against his will. 3 And in general he was prone to thwart and check the sons of Cimon, on the plea that not even in their names were they genuinely native, but rather aliens and strangers, since one of them bore the name of Lacedaemonius, another that of Thessalus, and a third that of Eleius. And they were all held to be the sons of a woman of Arcadia.
[Per. 29.1b] Accordingly, being harshly criticised because of these paltry ten ships, on the ground that he had furnished scanty aid and succour to the needy friends of Athens, but a great pretext for war to her accusing enemies, he afterwards sent out other ships, and more of them, to Corcyra, — the ones which got there after the battle.
[Per. 29.4] 4 The Corinthians were incensed at this procedure, and denounced the Athenians at Sparta, and were joined by the Megarians, who brought their complaint that from every market-place and from all the harbours over which the Athenians had control, they were excluded and driven away, contrary to the common law and the formal oaths of the Greeks; the Aeginetans also, deeming themselves wronged and outraged, kept up a secret wailing in the ears of the Lacedaemonians, since they had not the courage to accuse the Athenians openly. At this juncture Potidaea, too, a city that was subject to Athens, although a colony of Corinth, revolted, and the siege laid to her hastened on the war all the more.
[Per. 29.5] 5 Notwithstanding all, since embassies were repeatedly sent to Athens, and since Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, tried to bring to a peaceful settlement most of the accusations of his allies and to soften their anger, it does not seem probable that the war would have come upon the Athenians for any remaining reasons, if only they could have been persuaded to rescind their decree against the Megarians and be reconciled with them. And therefore, since it was Pericles who was most of all opposed to this, and who incited the people to abide by their contention with the Megarians, he alone was held responsible for the war.
[Per. 30.1] 30 1 They say that when an embassy had come from Lacedaemon to Athens to treat of these matters, and Pericles was shielding himself behind the plea that a certain law prevented his taking down the tablet on which the decree was inscribed, Polyalces, one of the ambassadors, cried: “Well then, don’t take it down, but turn the tablet to the wall; surely there’s no law preventing that.” Clever as the proposal was, however, not one whit the more did Pericles give in. 2 He must have secretly cherished, then, as it seems, some private grudge against the Megarians; but by way of public and open charge he accused them of appropriating to their own profane uses the sacred territory of Eleusis, and proposed a decree that a herald be sent to them, the same to go also to the Lacedaemonians with a denunciation of the Megarians. 3 This decree, at any rate, is the work of Pericles, and aims at a reasonable and humane justification of his course. But after the herald who was sent, Anthemocritus, had been put to death through the agency of the Megarians, as it was believed, Charinus proposed a decree against them, to the effect that there be irreconcilable and implacable enmity on the part of Athens towards them, and that whosoever of the Megarians should set foot on the soil of Attica be punished with death; and that the generals, whenever they should take their ancestral oath of office, add to their oath this clause, that they would invade the Megarid twice during each succeeding year; and that Anthemocritus be buried honourably at the Thriasian gates, which are now called the Dipylum.
[Per. 30.4] 4 But the Megarians denied the murder of Anthemocritus, and threw the blame for Athenian hate on Aspasia and Pericles, appealing to those far-famed and hackneyed versicles of the “Acharnians”: —
[Per. 30.4b] “Simaetha, harlot, one of Megara’s womankind,
Was stolen by gilded youths more drunk than otherwise;
And so Megarians, pangs of wrath all reeking hot,
Paid back the theft and raped of Aspasia’s harlots two.”
[Per. 31.1] 169 31 1 Well, then, whatever the original ground for enacting the decree, — and it is no easy matter to determine this, — the fact that it was not rescinded all men alike lay to the charge of Pericles. Only, some say that he persisted in his refusal in a lofty spirit and with a clear perception of the best interests of the city, regarding the injunction laid upon it as a test of its submissiveness, and its compliance as a confession of weakness; while others hold that it was rather with a sort of arrogance and love of strife, as well as for the display of his power, that he scornfully defied the Lacedaemonians.
[Per. 31.2] 2 But the worst charge of all, and yet the one which has the most vouchers, runs something like this. Pheidias the sculptor was contractor for the great statue, as I have said, and being admitted to the friendship of Pericles, and acquiring the greatest influence with him, made some enemies through the jealousy which he excited; others also made use of him to test the people and see what sort of a judge it would be in a case where Pericles was involved. These latter persuaded one Menon, an assistant of Pheidias, to take a suppliant’s seat in the market-place and demand immunity for punishment in case he should bring information and accusation against Pheidias. 3 The people accepted the man’s proposal, and formal prosecution of Pheidias was made in the assembly. Embezzlement, indeed, was not proven, for the gold of the statue, from the very start, had been so wrought upon and cast about it by Pheidias, at the wise suggestion of Pericles, that it could all be taken off and weighed, and this is what Pericles actually ordered the accusers of Pheidias to do at this time.
[Per. 31.4] 4 But the reputation of his works nevertheless brought a burden of jealous hatred upon Pheidias, and especially the fact that when he wrought the battle of the Amazons on the shield of the goddess, he carved out a figure that suggested himself as a bald old man lifting on high a stone with both hands, and also inserted a very fine likeness of Pericles fighting with an Amazon. And the attitude of the hand, which holds out a spear in front of the face of Pericles, is cunningly contrived as it were with a desire to conceal the resemblance, which is, however, plain to be seen from either side.
[Per. 31.5] 5 Pheidias, accordingly, was led away to prison, and died there of sickness; but some say of poison which the enemies of Pericles provided, that they might bring calumny upon him. And to Menon the informer, on motion of Glycon, the people gave immunity from taxation, and enjoined upon the generals to make provision for the man’s safety.
[Per. 32.1] 32 1 About this time also Aspasia was put on trial for impiety, Hermippus the comic poet being her prosecutor, who alleged further against her that she received free-born women into a place of assignation for Pericles. And Diopeithes brought in a bill providing for the public impeachment of such as did not believe in the gods, or who taught doctrines regarding the heavens, directing suspicion against Pericles by means of Anaxagoras. 2 The people accepted with delight these slanders, and so, while they were in this mood, a bill was passed, on motion of Dracontides, that Pericles should deposit his accounts of public moneys with the prytanes, and that the jurors should decide upon his case with ballots which had lain upon the altar of the goddess on the acropolis. But Hagnon amended this clause of the bill with the motion that the case be tried before fifteen hundred jurors in the ordinary way, whether one wanted to call it a prosecution for embezzlement and bribery, or malversation.
[Per. 32.3] 3 Well, then, Aspasia he begged off, by shedding copious tears at the trial, as Aeschines says, and by entreating the jurors; and he feared for Anaxagoras so much that he sent him away from the city. And since in the case of Pheidias he had come into collision with the people, he feared a jury in his own case, and so kindled into flame the threatening and smouldering war, hoping thereby to dissipate the charges made against him and allay the people’s jealousy, inasmuch as when great undertakings were on foot, and great perils threatened, the city entrusted herself to him and to him alone, by reason of his worth and power. 170 Such, then, are the reasons which are alleged for his not suffering the people to yield to the Lacedaemonians; but the truth about it is not clear.
[Per. 33.1] 33 1 The Lacedaemonians, perceiving that if he were deposed they would find the Athenians more pliant in their hands, ordered them to drive out the Cylonian pollution, in which the family of Pericles on his mother’s side was involved, as Thucydides states. But the attempt brought a result the opposite of what its makers designed, for in place of suspicion and slander, Pericles won even greater confidence and honour among the citizens than before, because they saw that their enemies hated and feared him above all other men. 2 Therefore also, before Archidamus invaded Attica with the Peloponnesians, Pericles made public proclamation to the Athenians, that in case Archidamus, while ravaging everything else, should spare his estates, either out of regard for the friendly tie that existed between them, or with an eye to affording his enemies grounds for slander, he would make over to the city his lands and the homesteads thereon.
[Per. 33.3] 3 Accordingly, the Lacedaemonians and their allies invaded Attica with a great host under the leadership of Archidamus the king. And they advanced, ravaging the country as they went, as far as Acharnae, where they encamped, supposing that the Athenians would not tolerate it, but would fight with them out of angry pride. 4 Pericles, however, looked upon it as a terrible thing to join battle with sixty thousand Peloponnesian and Boeotian hoplites (those who made the first invasion were as numerous as that), and stake the city itself upon the issue. So he tried to calm down those who were eager to fight, and who were in distress at what the enemy was doing, by saying that trees, though cut and lopped, grew quickly, but if men were destroyed it was not easy to get them again. 5 And he would not call the people together into an assembly, fearing that he would be constrained against his better judgement, but, like the helmsman of a ship, who, when a stormy wind swoops down upon it in the open sea, makes all fast, takes in sail, and exercises his skill, disregarding the tears and entreaties of the sea-sick and timorous passengers, so he shut the city up tight, put all parts of it under safe garrison, and exercised his own judgement, little heeding the brawlers and malcontents. 6 And yet many of his friends beset him with entreaties, and many of his enemies with threats and denunciations, and choruses sang songs of scurrilous mockery, railing at his generalship for its cowardice, and its abandonment of everything to the enemy. Cleon, too, was already harassing him, taking advantage of the wrath with which the citizens regarded him to make his own way toward the leadership of the people, 7 as these anapaestic verses of Hermippus show: —
[Per. 33.3b] “Thou king of the Satyrs, why pray wilt thou not
Take the spear for thy weapon, and stop the dire talk
With the which, until now, thou conductest the war,
While the soul of a Teles is in thee?
[Per. 33.3c] If the tiniest knife is but laid on the stone
To give it an edge, thou gnashest thy teeth,
As if bitten by fiery Cleon.”
[Per. 34.1] 34 1 However, Pericles was moved by no such things, but gently and silently underwent the ignominy and the hatred, and, sending out an armament of a hundred ships against the Peloponnesus, did not himself sail with it, but remained behind, keeping the city under watch and ward and well in hand, until the Peloponnesians withdrew. Then, by way of soothing the multitude, who, in spite of their enemies’ departure, were distressed over the war, he won their favour by distributions of moneys and proposed allotments of conquered lands; the Aeginetans, for instance, he drove out entirely, and parcelled out their island among the Athenians by lot. And some consolation was to be had from what their enemies suffered. 2 For the expedition around the Peloponnesus ravaged much territory and sacked villages and small cities, while Pericles himself, by land, invaded the Megarid and razed it all. 171 Wherein it was also evident that though their enemies did the Athenians much harm by land, they suffered much too at their hands by sea, and therefore would not have protracted the war to such a length, but would have speedily given up, just as Pericles prophesied in the beginning, had not a terrible visitation from heaven thwarted human calculations.
[Per. 34.3] 3 As it was, in the first place, a pestilential destruction fell upon them and devoured clean the prime of their youth and power. It weakened them in body and in spirit, and made them altogether wild against Pericles, so that, for all the world as the mad will attack a physician or a father, so they, in the delirium of the plague, attempted to do him harm, persuaded thereto by his enemies. 4 These urged that the plague was caused by the crowding of the rustic multitudes together into the city, where, in the summer season, many were huddled together in small dwellings and stifling barracks, and compelled to lead a stay-at home and inactive life, instead of being in the pure and open air of heaven as they were wont. They said that Pericles was responsible for this, who, because of the war, had poured the rabble from the country into the walled city, and then gave that mass of men no employment whatever, but suffered them, thus penned up like cattle, to fill one another full of corruption, and provided them no change or respite.
[Per. 35.1] 35 1 Desiring to heal these evils, and at the same time to inflict some annoyance upon the enemy, he manned a hundred and fifty ships of war, and, after embarking many brave hoplites and horsemen, was on the point of putting out to sea, affording great hope to the citizens, and no less fear to the enemy in consequence of so great a force. But when the ships were already manned, and Pericles had gone aboard his own trireme, it chanced that the sun was eclipsedf and darkness came on, and all were thoroughly frightened, looking upon it as a great portent. 2 Accordingly, seeing that his steersman was timorous and utterly perplexed, held up his cloak before the man’s eyes, and, thus covering them, asked him if he thought it anything dreadful, or portentous of anything dreadful. “No,” said the steersman. “How then,” said Pericles, “is yonder event different from this, except that it is something rather larger than my cloak which has caused the obscurity?” At any rate, this tale is told in the schools of philosophy.
[Per. 35.3] 3 Well, then, on sailing forth, Pericles seems to have accomplished nothing worthy of his preparations, but after laying siege to sacred Epidaurus, which awakened a hope that it might be captured, he had no such good fortune, because of the plague. Its fierce onset destroyed not only the Athenians themselves, but also those who, in any manner soever, had dealings with their forces. 4 The Athenians being exasperated against him on this account, he tried to appease and encourage them. He did not, however, succeed in allaying their wrath, nor yet in changing their purposes, before they got their hostile ballots into their hands, became masters of his fate, stripped him of his command, and punished him with a fine. The amount of this was fifteen talents, according to those who give the lowest, and fifty, according to those who give the highest figures. The public prosecutor mentioned in the records of the case was Cleon, as Idomeneus says, but according to Theophrastus it was Simmias, and Heracleides Ponticus mentions Lacratides.
[Per. 36.1] 36 1 So much, then, for his public troubles; they were likely soon to cease, now that the multitude had stung him, as it were, and left their passion with their sting; but his domestic affairs were in a sorry plight, since he had lost not a few of his intimate friends during the pestilence, and had for some time been rent and torn by a family feud. The eldest of his legitimate sons, Xanthippus, who was naturally prodigal, and had married a young and extravagant wife, the daughter of Tisander, the son of Epilycus, was much displeased at his father’s exactitude in making him but a meagre allowance, and that a little at a time. 172 2 Accordingly, he sent to one of his father’s friends and got money, pretending that Pericles bade him do it. When the friend afterwards demanded repayment of the loan, Pericles not only refused it, but brought suit against him to boot. So the young fellow, Xanthippus, incensed at this, fell to abusing his father, publishing abroad, to make men laugh, his conduct of affairs at home, and the discourses which he held with the sophists. 3 For instance, a certain athlete had hit Epitimus the Pharsalian with a javelin, accidentally, and killed him, and Pericles, Xanthippus said, squandered an entire day discussing with Protagoras whether it was the javelin, or rather the one who hurled it, or the judges of the contests, that “in the strictest sense” ought to be held responsible for the disaster. Besides all this, the slanderous charge concerning his own wife Stesimbrotus says was sown abroad in public by Xanthippus himself, and also that the quarrel which the young man had with his father remained utterly incurable up to the time of his death, — for Xanthippus fell sick and died during the plague.
[Per. 36.4] 4 Pericles lost his sister also at that time, and of his relatives and friends the largest part, and those who were most serviceable to him in his administration of the city. He did not, however, give up, nor yet abandon his loftiness and grandeur of spirit because of his calamities, nay, he was not even seen to weep, either at the funeral rites, or at the grave of any of his connections, until indeed he lost the very last remaining one of his own legitimate sons, Paralus. 5 Even though he was bowed down at this stroke, he nevertheless tried to persevere in his habit and maintain his spiritual greatness, but as he laid a wreath upon the dead, he was vanquished by his anguish at the sight, so that he broke out into wailing, and shed a multitude of tears, although he had never done any such thing in all his life before.
[Per. 37.1] 37 1 The city made trial of its other generals and counsellors for the conduct of the war, but since no one appeared to have weight that was adequate or authority that was competent for such leadership, it yearned for Pericles, and summoned him back to the bema and the war-office. He was lying dejectedly at home because of his sorrow, but was persuaded by Alcibiades and his other friends to resume his public life. 2 When the people had apologized for their thankless treatment of him, and he had undertaken again the conduct of the state, and been elected general, he asked for a suspension of the law concerning children born out of wedlock, — a law which he himself had formerly introduced, — in order that the name and lineage of his house might not altogether expire through lack of succession.
[Per. 37.3] 3 The circumstances of this law were as follows. Many years before this, when Pericles was at the height of his political career and had sons born in wedlock, as I have said, he proposed a law that only those should be reckoned Athenians whose parents on both sides were Athenians. And so when the king of Egypt sent a present to the people of forty thousand measures of grain, and this had to be divided up among the citizens, there was a great crop of prosecutions against citizens of illegal birth by the law of Pericles, who had up to that time escaped notice and been overlooked, and many of them also suffered at the hands of informers. 4 As a result, a little less than five thousand were convicted and sold into slavery, and those who retained their citizenship and were adjudged to be Athenians were found, as a result of this scrutiny, to be fourteen thousand and forty in number. 5 It was, accordingly, a grave matter, that the law which had been rigorously enforced against so many should now be suspended by the very man who had introduced it, and yet the calamities which Pericles was then suffering in his family life, regarded as a kind of penalty which he had paid for his arrogance and haughtiness of old, broke down the objections of the Athenians. They thought that what he suffered was by way of retribution, and that what he asked became a man to ask and men to grant, and so they suffered him to enroll his illegitimate son in the phratry-lists and to give him his own name. This was the son who afterwards conquered the Peloponnesians in a naval battle at the Arginusae islands, and was put to death by the people along with his fellow-generals.
[Per. 38.1] 173 38 1 At this time, it would seem, the plague laid hold of Pericles, not with a violent attack, as in the case of others, nor acute, but one which, with a kind of sluggish distemper that prolonged itself through varying changes, used up his body slowly and undermined the loftiness of his spirit. 2 Certain it is that Theophrastus, in his “Ethics,” querying whether one’s character follows the bent of one’s fortunes and is forced by bodily sufferings to abandon its high excellence, records this fact, that Pericles, as he lay sick, showed one of his friends who was come to see him an amulet that the women had hung round his neck, as much as to say that he was very badly off to put up with such folly as that.
[Per. 38.3] 3 Being now near his end, the best of the citizens and those of his friends who survived were sitting around him holding discourse of his excellence and power, how great they had been, and estimating all his achievements and the number of his trophies, — there were nine of these which he had set up as the city’s victorious general. 4 This discourse they were holding with one another, supposing that he no longer understood them but had lost consciousness. He had been attending to it all, however, and speaking out among them said he was amazed at their praising and commemorating that in him which was due as much to fortune as to himself, and which had fallen to the lot of many generals besides, instead of mentioning his fairest and greatest title to their admiration; “for,” said he, “no living Athenian ever put on mourning because of me.”
[Per. 39.1] 39 1 So, then, the man is to be admired not only for his reasonableness and the gentleness which he maintained in the midst of many responsibilities and great enmities, but also for his loftiness of spirit, seeing that he regarded it as the noblest of all his titles to honour that he had never gratified his envy or his passion in the exercise of his vast power, nor treated any one of his foes as a foe incurable. 2 And it seems to me that his otherwise puerile and pompous surname is rendered unobjectionable and becoming by this one circumstance, that it was so gracious a nature and a life so pure and undefiled in the exercise of sovereign power which were called Olympian, inasmuch as we do firmly hold that the divine rulers and kings of the universe are capable only of good, and incapable of evil. 3 In this we are not like the poets, who confuse us with their ignorant fancies, and are convicted of inconsistency by their own stories, since they declare that the place where they say the gods dwell is a secure abode and tranquil, without experience of winds and clouds, but gleaming through all the unbroken time with the soft radiance of purest light, — implying that some such a manner of existence is most becoming to the blessed immortal; and yet they represent the gods themselves as full of malice and hatred and wrath and other passions which ill become even men of any sense. But this, perhaps, will be thought matter for discussion elsewhere.
[Per. 39.4] 4 The progress of events wrought in the Athenians a swift appreciation of Pericles and a keen sense of his loss. For those who, while he lived, were oppressed by a sense of his power and felt that it kept them in obscurity, straightway on his removal made trial of other orators and popular leaders, only to be led to the confession that a character more moderate than his in its solemn dignity, and more august in its gentleness, had not been created. 5 That objectionable power of his, which they had used to call monarchy and tyranny, seemed to them now to have been a saving bulwark of the constitution, so greatly was the state afflicted by the corruption and manifold baseness which he had kept weak and grovelling, thereby covering it out of sight and preventing it from becoming incurably powerful.

## Fabius Maximus

[Fab. 1.1] 1 1 SUCH were the memorable things in the career of Pericles, as we have received them, and now let us change the course of our narrative and tell of Fabius. It was a nymph, they say, or a woman native to the country, according to others, who consorted with Hercules by the river Tiber, and became by him the mother of Fabius, the founder of the family of the Fabii, which was a large one, and of high repute in Rome. 2 But some writers state that the first members of the family were called Fodii in ancient times, from their practice of taking wild beasts in pitfalls. For down to the present time “fossae” is the Latin for ditches, and “fodere” for to dig. In course of time, by a change of two letters, they were called Fabii. This family produced many great men, and from Rullus, the greatest of them, and on this account called Maximus by the Romans, the Fabius Maximus of whom we now write was fourth in descent.
[Fab. 1.3] 3 He had the surname of Verrucosus from a physical peculiarity, namely, a small wart growing above his lip: and that of Ovicula, which signifies Lambkin, was given him because of the gentleness and gravity of his nature when he was yet a child. Indeed, the calmness and silence of his demeanour, the great caution with which he indulged in childish pleasures, the slowness and difficulty with which he learned his lessons, and his contented submissiveness in dealing with his comrades, led those who knew him superficially to suspect him of something like foolishness and stupidity. Only a few discerned the inexorable firmness in the depth of his soul, and the magnanimous and leonine qualities of his nature. 4 But soon, as time went on and he was roused by the demands of active life, he made it clear even to the multitude that his seeming lack of energy was only lack of passion, that his caution was prudence, and that his never being quick nor even easy to move made him always steadfast and sure. He saw that the conduct of the state was a great task, and that wars must be many; he therefore trained his body for the wars (nature’s own armour, as it were), and his speech as an instrument of persuasion with the people, giving it a form right well befitting his manner of life. 5 For it had no affectation, nor any empty, forensic grace, but an import of peculiar dignity, rendered weighty by an abundance of maxims. These, they say, most resembled those which Thucydides employs. And a speech of his is actually preserved, which was pronounced by him before the people in eulogy of his son, who died consul.
[Fab. 2.1] 2 1 The first of the five consulships in which he served brought him the honour of a triumph over the Ligurians. These were defeated by him in battle, with heavy loss, and retired into the Alps, where they ceased plundering and harrying the parts of Italy next to them. 2 But Hannibal now burst into Italy, and was at first victorious in battle at the river Trebia. Then he marched through Tuscany, ravaging the country, and smote Rome with dire consternation and fear. Signs and portents occurred, some familiar to the Romans, like peals of thunder, others wholly strange and quite extraordinary. 3 For instance, it was said that shields sweated blood, that ears of corn were cut at Antium with blood upon them, that blazing, fiery stones fell from on high, and that the people of Falerii saw the heavens open and many tablets fall down and scatter themselves abroad, and that on one of these was written in letters plain to see, “Mars now brandisheth his weapons.” 4 The consul, Gaius Flaminius, was daunted by none of these things, for he was a man of a fiery and ambitious nature, and besides, he was elated by great successes which he had won before this, in a manner contrary to all expectation. He had, namely, although the senate dissented from his plan, and his colleague violently opposed it, joined battle with the Gauls and defeated them. Fabius also was less disturbed by the signs and portents, because he thought it would be absurd, although they had great effect upon many. 5 But when he learned how few in number the enemy were, and how great was their lack of resources, he exhorted the Romans to bide their time, and not to give battle to a man who wielded an army trained by many contests for this very issue, but to send aid to their allies, to keep their subject cities well in hand, and to suffer the culminating vigour of Hannibal to sink and expire of itself, like a flame that flares up from scant and slight material.
[Fab. 3.1] 3 1 Flaminius, however, was not persuaded, but declared that he would not suffer the war to be brought near Rome, and that he would not, like Camillus of old, fight in the city for the city’s defence. Accordingly, he ordered the tribunes to lead the army forth. But as Flaminius himself sprang upon his horse, for no apparent reason, and unaccountably, the animal was seized with quivering fright, and he was thrown and fell head foremost to the ground. Nevertheless, he in no wise desisted from his purpose, but since he had set out at the beginning to face Hannibal, drew up his forces near the lake called Thrasymené, in Tuscany.
[Fab. 3.2] 2 When the soldiers of both armies had engaged, at the very crisis of the battle, an earthquake occurred, by which cities were overthrown, rivers diverted from their channels, and fragments of cliffs torn away. And yet, although the disaster was so violent, no one of the combatants noticed it at all. 3 Flaminius himself, then, while displaying many deeds of daring and prowess, fell, and round about him the flower of his army. The rest were routed with much slaughter. Fifteen thousand were cut to pieces, and as many more taken prisoners. The body of Flaminius, to which Hannibal was eager to give honourable burial because of his valour, could not be found among the dead, but disappeared, no one ever knowing how.
[Fab. 3.4] 4 Now of the defeat sustained at the Trebia, neither the general who wrote nor the messenger who was sent with the tidings gave a straightforward account, the victory being falsely declared uncertain and doubtful; but as soon as Pomponius the praetor heard of this second defeat, he called an assembly of the people, faced it, and without roundabout or deceptive phrases, but in downright fashion, said: “Men of Rome, we have been beaten in a great battle; our army has been cut to pieces; our consul, Flaminius, is dead. Take ye therefore counsel for your own salvation and safety.” 5 This speech of his fell like a tempest upon the great sea of people before him, and threw the city into commotion, nor could deliberate reasoning hold its own and stay the general consternation. But all were brought at last to be of one mind, namely, that the situation demanded a sole and absolute authority, which they call a dictatorship, and a man who would wield this authority with energy and without fear; 6 that Fabius Maximus, and he alone, was such a man, having a spirit and a dignity of hand that fully matched the greatness of the office, and being moreover at the time of life when bodily vigour still suffices to carry out the counsels of the mind, and courage is tempered with prudence.
[Fab. 4.1] 4 1 Accordingly, this course was adopted, and Fabius was appointed dictator. He himself appointed Marcus Minucius to be his Master of Horse, and then at once asked permission of the senate to use a horse himself when in the field. For this was not his right, but was forbidden by an ancient law, either because the Romans placed their greatest strength in their infantry, and for this reason thought that their command ought to be with the phalanx and not leave it; or because they wished, since the power of the office in all other respects is as great as that of a tyrant, that in this point at least the dictator should be plainly dependent on the people. 2 However, Fabius himself was minded to show forth at once the magnitude and grandeur of his office, that the citizens might be more submissive and obedient to his commands. He therefore appeared in public attended by a united band of twenty-four lictors with their fasces, and when the remaining consul was coming to meet him, sent his adjutant to him with orders to dismiss his lictors, lay aside the insignia of his office, and meet him as a private person.
[Fab. 4.3] 3 After this, he began with the gods, which is the fairest of all beginnings, and showed the people that the recent disaster was due to the neglect and scorn with which their general had treated religious rites, and not to the cowardice of those who fought under him. He thus induced them, instead of fearing their enemies, to propitiate and honour the gods. It was not that he filled them with superstition, but rather that he emboldened their valour with piety, allaying and removing the fear which their enemies inspired, with hopes of aid from the gods. 4 At this time, moreover, many of the so called Sibylline books, containing secrets of service to the state, were consulted, and it is said that some of the oracular sayings therein preserved corresponded with the fortunes and events of the time. What was thus ascertained, however, could not be made public, but the dictator, in the presence of all the people, vowed to sacrifice to the gods an entire year’s increase in goats, swine, sheep, and cattle, that is, all that Italy’s mountains, plains, rivers, and meadows should breed in the coming spring. He likewise vowed to celebrate a musical and dramatic festival in honour of the gods, which should cost three hundred and thirty-three sestertia, plus three hundred and thirty-three denarii, plus one third of a denarius. 5 This sum, in Greek money, amounts to eighty-three thousand five hundred and eighty-three drachmas, plus two obols. Now the reason for the exact prescription of this particular number is hard to give, unless it was thereby desired to laud the power of the number three, as being a perfect number by nature, the first of odd numbers, the beginning of quantity, and as containing in itself the first differences and the elements of every number mingled and blended together.
[Fab. 5.1] 5 1 By thus fixing the thoughts of the people upon their relations with Heaven, Fabius made them more cheerful regarding the future. But he himself put all his hopes of victory in himself, believing that Heaven bestowed success by reason of wisdom and valour, and turned his attentions to Hannibal. He did not purpose to fight out the issue with him, but wished, having plenty of time, money, and men, to wear out and consume gradually his culminating vigour, his scanty resources, and his small army. 2 Therefore, always pitching his camp in hilly regions so as to be out of reach of the enemy’s cavalry, he hung threateningly over them. If they sat still, he too kept quiet; but if they moved, he would fetch a circuit down from the heights and show himself just far enough away to avoid being forced to fight against his will, and yet near enough to make his very delays inspire the enemy with the fear that he was going to give battle at last. But for merely consuming time in this way he was generally despised by his countrymen, and roundly abused even in his own camp. Much more did his enemies think him a man of no courage and a mere nobody, — all except Hannibal. 3 He, and he alone, comprehended the cleverness of his antagonist, and the style of warfare which he had adopted. He therefore made up his mind that by every possible device and constraint his foe must be induced to fight, or else the Carthaginians were undone, since they were unable to use their weapons, in which they were superior, but were slowly losing and expending to no purpose their men and moneys, in which they were inferior. He therefore resorted to every species of strategic trick and artifice, and tried them all, seeking, like a clever athlete, to get a hold upon his adversary. Now he would attack Fabius directly, now he would seek to throw his forces into confusion, now he would try to lead him off every whither, in his desire to divorce him from his safe, defensive plans.
[Fab. 5.4] 4 But the purpose of Fabius, confident of a favourable issue, remained consistent and unchangeable. He was annoyed, however, by his Master of Horse, Minucius, who was eager to fight all out of season, and over bold, and who sought to win a following in the army, which he filled with mad impetuosity and empty hopes. The soldiers railed at Fabius and scornfully called him Hannibal’s pedagogue; but Minucius they considered a great man, and a general worthy of Rome. 5 All the more therefore did he indulge his arrogance and boldness, and scoffed at their encampments on the heights, where, as he said, the dictator was always arranging beautiful theatres for their spectacle of Italy laid waste with fire and sword. And he would ask the friends of Fabius whether he was taking his army up into heaven, having lost all hope of earth, or whether he wrapped himself in clouds and mists merely to run away from the enemy. 6 When his friends reported this to Fabius, and advised him to do away with the opprobrium by risking battle, “In that case, surely,” said he, “I should be a greater coward than I am now held to be, if through fear of abusive jests I should abandon my fixed plans. And verily the fear which one exercises in behalf of his country is not shameful; but to be frightened from one’s course by the opinions of men, and by their slanderous censures, that marks a man unworthy of so high an office as this, who makes himself the slave of the fools over whom he is in duty bound to be lord and master.”
[Fab. 6.1] 6 1 After this, Hannibal fell into a grievous error. He wished to draw his army off some distance beyond Fabius, and occupy plains affording pasturage. He therefore ordered his native guides to conduct him, immediately after supper, into the district of Casinum. But they did not hear the name correctly, owing to his foreign way of pronouncing it, and promptly hurried his forces to the edge of Campania, into the city and district of Casilinum, through the midst of which flows a dividing river, called Vulturnus by the Romans. 2 The region is otherwise encompassed by mountains, but a narrow defile opens out towards the sea, in the vicinity of which it becomes marshy, from the overflow of the river, has high sand-heaps, and terminates in a beach where there is no anchorage because of the dashing waves. While Hannibal was descending into this valley, Fabius, taking advantage of his acquaintance with the ways, marched round him, and blocked up the narrow outlet with a detachment of four thousand heavy infantry. The rest of his army he posted to advantage on the remaining heights, while with the lightest and readiest of his troops he fell upon the enemy’s rear-guard, threw their whole army into confusion, and slew about eight hundred of them. 3 Hannibal now perceived the mistake in his position, and its peril, and crucified the native guides who were responsible for it. He wished to effect a retreat, but despaired of dislodging his enemies by direct attack from the passes of which they were masters. All his men, moreover, were disheartened and fearful, thinking that they were surrounded on all sides by difficulties from which there was no escape. He therefore determined to cheat his enemies by a trick, the nature of which was as follows.
[Fab. 6.4] 4 He gave orders to take about two thousand of the cattle which they had captured, fasten to each of their horns a torch consisting of a bundle of withes or faggots, and then, in the night, at a given signal, to light the torches and drive the cattle towards the passes, along the defiles guarded by the enemy. As soon as his orders had been obeyed, he decamped with the rest of his army, in the darkness which had now come, and led it slowly along. 5 The cattle, as long as the fire was slight, and consumed only the wood, went on quietly, as they were driven, towards the slopes of the mountains, and the shepherds and herdsmen who looked down from the heights were amazed at the flames gleaming on the tips of their horns. They thought an army was marching in close array by the light of many torches. 6 But when the torches had been burned down to the roots, and the live flesh felt the flames, and the cattle, at the pain, shook and tossed their heads, and so covered one another with quantities of fire, then they kept no order in their going, but, in terror and anguish, went dashing down the mountains, their foreheads and tails ablaze, and setting fire also to much of the forest through which they fled. 7 It was, of course, a fearful spectacle to the Romans guarding the passes. For the flames seemed to come from torches in the hands of men who were running hither and thither with them. They were therefore in great commotion and fear, believing that the enemy were advancing upon them from all quarters and surrounding them on every side. Therefore they had not the courage to hold their posts, but withdrew to the main body of the army on the heights, and abandoned the defiles. Instantly the light-armed troops of Hannibal came up and took possession of the passes, and the rest of his forces presently joined them without any fear, although heavily encumbered with much spoil.
[Fab. 7.1] 7 1 It was still night when Fabius became aware of the ruse, for some of the cattle, in their random flight, were captured by his men; but he was afraid of ambushes in the darkness, and so kept still, with his forces under arms. When it was day, however, he pursued the enemy, and hung upon their rear-guard, and there was hand-to hand fighting over difficult ground, and much tumult and confusion. At last Hannibal sent back from his van a body of Spaniards, — nimble, light-footed men, and good mountaineers, who fell upon the heavy-armed Roman infantry, cut many of them to pieces, and forced Fabius to turn back. 2 And now more than ever was Fabius the mark for scorn and abuse. He had renounced all bold and open fighting, with the idea of conquering Hannibal by the exercise of superior judgment and foresight, and now he was clearly vanquished himself by these very qualities in his foes, and out-generalled.
[Fab. 7.3] Hannibal, moreover, wishing to inflame still more the wrath of the Romans against Fabius, on coming to his fields, gave orders to burn and destroy everything else, but had these spared, and these alone. He also set a guard over them, which suffered no harm to be done them, and nothing to be taken from them. 3 When this was reported at Rome, it brought more odium upon Fabius. The tribunes of the people also kept up a constant denunciation of him, chiefly at the instigation and behest of Metilius; not that Metilius hated Fabius, but he was a kinsman of Minucius, the Master of Horse, and thought that slander of the one meant honour and fame for the other. The senate also was in an angry mood, and found particular fault with Fabius for the terms he had made with Hannibal concerning the prisoners of war. 4 They had agreed between them to exchange the captives man for man, and if either party had more than the other, the one who recovered these was to pay two hundred and fifty drachmas per man. Accordingly, after the exchange of man for man was made, it was found that Hannibal still had two hundred and forty Romans left. The senate decided not to send the ransom money for these, and found fault with Fabius for trying, in a manner unbecoming and unprofitable for the state, to recover men whose cowardice had made them a prey to the enemy. 5 When Fabius heard of this, he bore the resentment of his fellow-citizens with equanimity, but since he had no money, and could not harbour the thought of cheating Hannibal and abandoning his countrymen to their fate, he sent his son to Rome with orders to sell his fields and bring the money to him at once, at camp. The young man sold the estates and quickly made his return, whereupon Fabius sent the ransom money to Hannibal and got back the prisoners of war. Many of these afterwards offered to pay him the price of their ransom, but in no case did he take it, remitting it rather for all.
[Fab. 8.1] 8 1 After this he was summoned to Rome by the priests to assist in sundry sacrifices, and put his forces in charge of Minucius, who was not to give battle, nor engage the enemy in any way. Such were not only the commands of Fabius as dictator, but also his reiterated counsels and requests. To all these Minucius gave little heed, and straightway began to threaten the enemy. 2 One day he noticed that Hannibal had sent the larger part of his army off to forage, whereupon he attacked the residue, drove them headlong inside their trenches, slew many of them, and inspired them all with the fear of being held in siege by him. When Hannibal’s forces were reunited in their camp, Minucius effected a safe retreat, thereby filling himself with measureless boastfulness and his soldiery with boldness. 3 An exaggerated version of the affair speedily made its way to Rome, and Fabius, when he heard it, said he was more afraid of the success of Minucius than he would be of his failure. But the people were exalted in spirit and joyfully ran to a meeting in the forum. There Metilius their tribune mounted the rostra and harangued them, extolling Minucius, but denouncing Fabius, not as a weakling merely, nor yet as a coward, but actually as a traitor. 4 He also included in his accusations the ablest and foremost men of the state besides. They had brought on the war at the outset, he said, in order to crush the people, and had at once flung the city into the hands of a man with sole and absolute authority, that he might, by his dilatory work, give Hannibal an assured position and time to reinforce himself with another army from Libya, on the plea that he had Italy in his power.
[Fab. 9.1] 9 1 Then Fabius came forward to speak, but wasted no time on a defence of himself against the tribune. He simply said that the sacrifices and sacred rites must be performed as quickly as possible, so that he might proceed to the army and punish Minucius for engaging the enemy contrary to his orders. Thereupon a great commotion spread swiftly through the people; they realized the peril that threatened Minucius. For the dictator has the power to imprison and put to death without trial, and they thought that the wrath of Fabius, provoked in a man of his great gentleness, would be severe and implacable. 2 Wherefore they were all terrified and held their peace, excepting only Metilius. He enjoyed immunity of person as tribune of the people (for this is the only magistracy which is not robbed of its power by the election of a dictator; it abides when the rest are abolished), and vehemently charged and prayed the people not to abandon Minucius, nor permit him to suffer the fate which Manlius Torquatus inflicted upon his son, whom he beheaded although crowned with laurel for the greatest prowess, but to strip Fabius of his tyrant’s power and entrust the state to one who was able and willing to save it.
[Fab. 9.3] 3 The rabble were moved by such utterances. They did not dare to force Fabius to resign his sovereignty, unpopular as he was, but they voted that Minucius should have an equal share in the command, and should conduct the war with the same powers as the dictator, — a thing which had not happened before in Rome. A little while afterwards, it is true, it happened again, namely, after the disaster at Cannae. 4 At that time Marcus Junius the dictator was in the field, and at home it became necessary that the senate should be filled up, since many senators had perished in the battle. They therefore elected Fabius Buteo a second dictator. But he, after acting in that capacity and choosing the men to fill up the senate, at once dismissed his lictors, eluded his escort, plunged into the crowd, and straightway went up and down the forum arranging some business matter of his own and engaging in affairs like a private citizen.
[Fab. 10.1] 10 1 Now that they had invested Minucius with the same powers as the dictator, the people supposed that the latter would feel shorn of strength and altogether humble, but they did not estimate the man aright. For he did not regard their mistake as his own calamity, but was like Diogenes the wise man, who, when some one said to him, “These folk are ridiculing you,” said, “But I am not ridiculed.” He held that only those are ridiculed who are confounded by such treatment and yield their ground. 2 So Fabius endured the situation calmly and easily, so far as it affected himself, thereby confirming the axiom of philosophy that a sincerely good man can neither be insulted nor dishonoured. But because it affected the state, he was distressed by the folly of the multitude. 3 They had given opportunities to a man with a diseased military ambition, and fearful lest this man, utterly crazed by his empty glory and prestige, should bring about some great disaster before he could be checked, he set out in all secrecy from the city. When he reached the camp, he found that Minucius was no longer to be endured. He was harsh in his manner, puffed up with conceit, and demanded the sole command in his due turn. This Fabius would not grant, feeling that the sole command of a part of the army was better than the command of the whole in his turn. 4 The first and fourth legions he therefore took himself, and gave the second and third to Minucius, the allied forces also being equally divided between them. When Minucius put on lofty airs and exulted because the majesty of the highest and greatest office in the state had been lowered and insulted on his account, Fabius reminded him that his contention was not with Fabius, but rather, were he wise, with Hannibal. 5 If, however, he was bent on rivalry with his colleague in office, he must see to it that the man who had been triumphantly honoured by his fellow-citizens should not be proved more careless of their salvation and safety than the man who had been ingloriously outraged by them.
[Fab. 11.1] 11 But Minucius regarded all this as an old man’s dissimulation, and taking the forces allotted to him, went into camp apart by himself, while Hannibal, not unaware of what was going on, kept a watchful eye on everything. Now there was a hill between him and the Romans which could be occupied with no difficulty, and which, if occupied, would be a strong site for a camp and in every way sufficient. The plain round about, when viewed from a distance, was perfectly smooth and level, but really had sundry small ditches and other hollow places in it. 2 For this reason, though it would have been very easy for him to get possession of the hill by stealth, Hannibal had not cared to do so, but had left it standing between the two armies in the hope that it might bring on a battle. But when he saw Minucius separated from Fabius, in the night he scattered bodies of his soldiers among the ditches and hollows, and at break of day, with no attempt at concealment, sent a few to occupy the hill, that he might seduce Minucius into an engagement for it.
[Fab. 11.3] 3 And this actually came to pass. First Minucius sent out his light-armed troops, then his horsemen, and finally, when he saw Hannibal coming to the support of his troops on the hill, he descended into the plain with all his forces in battle array. In a fierce battle he sustained the discharge of missiles from the hill, coming to close quarters with the enemy there and holding his advantage, until Hannibal, seeing that his enemy was happily deceived and was exposing the rear of his line of battle to the troops who had been placed in ambush, raised the signal. 4 At this the men rose up on all sides, attacked with loud cries, and slew their foes who were in the rear ranks. Then indescribable confusion and fright took possession of the Romans. Minucius himself felt all his courage shattered, and looked anxiously now to one and now to another of his commanders, no one of whom dared to hold his ground, nay, all urged their men to flight, and a fatal flight too. For the Numidians, now masters of the situation, galloped round the plain and slew them as they scattered themselves about.
[Fab. 12.1] 12 1 Now that the Romans were in such an evil pass, Fabius was not unaware of their peril. He had anticipated the result, as it would seem, and had his forces drawn up under arms, wisely learning the progress of events not from messengers, but by his own observations in front of his camp. Accordingly, when he saw the army of Minucius surrounded and confounded, and when their cries, as they fell upon his ears, showed him that they no longer stood their ground, 2 but were already panic-stricken and routed, he smote his thigh, and with a deep groan said to the bystanders: “Hercules! how much sooner than I expected, but later than his own rash eagerness demanded, has Minucius destroyed himself!” Then ordering the standards to be swiftly advanced and the army to follow, he called out with a loud voice: “Now, my soldiers, let every man be mindful of Marcus Minucius and press on to his aid; for he is a brilliant man, and a lover of his country. And if his ardent desire to drive away the enemy has led him into any error, we will charge him with it later.”
[Fab. 12.3] 3 Well then, as soon as he appeared upon the scene, he routed and dispersed the Numidians who were galloping about in the plain. Then he made against those who were attacking the rear of the Romans under Minucius, and slew those whom he encountered. But the rest of them, ere they were cut off and surrounded in their own turn, as the Romans had been by them, gave way and fled. 4 Then Hannibal, seeing the turn affairs had taken, and Fabius, with a vigour beyond his years, ploughing his way through the combatants up to Minucius on the hill, put an end to the battle, signalled a retreat, and led his Carthaginians back to their camp, the Romans also being glad of a respite. It is said that as Hannibal withdrew, he addressed to his friends some such pleasantry as this about Fabius: “Verily, did I not often prophesy to you that the cloud which we saw hovering above the heights would one day burst upon us in a drenching and furious storm?”
[Fab. 13.1] 13 1 After the battle, Fabius despoiled all of the enemy whom he had slain, and withdrew to his camp, without indulging in a single haughty or invidious word about his colleague. And Minucius, assembling his own army, said to them: “Fellow-soldiers, to avoid all mistakes in the conduct of great enterprises is beyond man’s powers; but when a mistake has once been made, to use his reverses as lessons for the future is the part of a brave and sensible man. 2 I therefore confess that while I have some slight cause of complaint against fortune, I have larger grounds for praising her. For what I could not learn in all the time that preceded it, I have been taught in the brief space of a single day, and I now perceive that I am not able to command others myself, but need to be under the command of another, and that I have all the while been ambitious to prevail over men of whom to be outdone were better. Now in all other matters the dictator is your leader, but in the rendering of thanks to him I myself will take the lead, and will show myself first in following his advice and doing his bidding.”
[Fab. 13.3] 3 After these words, he ordered the eagles to be raised and all to follow them, and led the way to the camp of Fabius. When he had entered this, he proceeded to the general’s tent, while all were lost in wonder. When Fabius came forth, Minucius had the standards planted in front of him, and addressed him with a loud voice as Father, while his soldiers greeted the soldiers of Fabius as Patrons, the name by which freedmen address those who have set them free. 4 When quiet prevailed, Minucius said; “Dictator, you have on this day won two victories, one over Hannibal through your valour, and one over your colleague through your wisdom and kindness. By the first you saved our lives, and by the second you taught us a great lesson, vanquished as we were by our enemy to our shame, and by you to our honour and safety. 5 I call you by the excellent name of Father, because there is no more honourable name which I can use; and yet a father’s kindness is not so great as this kindness bestowed by you. My father did but beget me, while to you I owe not only my own salvation, but also that of all these men of mine.” So saying, he embraced Fabius and kissed him, and the soldiers on both sides in like manner embraced and kissed each other, so that the camp was filled with joy and tears of rejoicing.
[Fab. 14.1] 14 1 After this, Fabius laid down his office, and consuls were again appointed. The first of these maintained the style of warfare which Fabius had ordained. They avoided a pitched battle with Hannibal, but gave aid and succour to their allies, and prevented their falling away. But when Terentius Varro was elevated to the consulship, a man whose birth was obscure and whose life was conspicuous for servile flattery of the people and for rashness, it was clear that in his inexperience and temerity he would stake the entire issue upon the hazard of a single throw. 2 For he used to shout in the assemblies that the war would continue as long as the city employed men like Fabius as its generals; but that he himself would conquer the enemy the very day he saw them. And not only did he make such speeches, but he also assembled and enrolled a larger force than the Romans had ever employed against any enemy. Eighty-eight thousand men were arrayed for battle, to the great terror of Fabius and all sensible Romans. For they thought their city could not recover if she lost so many men in the prime of life.
[Fab. 14.3] 3 Now, Paulus Aemilius was the colleague of Terentius, a man of experience in many wars, but not acceptable to the people, and crushed in spirit by a fine which they had imposed upon him. Therefore Fabius tried to rouse and encourage him to restrain the madness of his colleague, showing him that he must struggle to save his country not so much from Hannibal as from Terentius. The latter, he said, was eager to fight because he did not see where his strength lay; the former, because he saw his own weakness. 4 “But,” said he, “it is to me, O Paulus, that more credence should be given in regard to Hannibal’s affairs, and I solemnly assure you that, if no one shall give him battle this year, the man will remain in Italy only to perish, or will leave it in flight, since even now, when he is thought to be victorious and to be master of the country, not one of his enemies has come over to his side, and not even so much as the third part of the force which he brought from home is still left.” 5 To this Paulus is said to have answered: “If I consult my own interests, O Fabius, it is better for me to encounter the spears of the enemy than to face again the votes of my fellow-citizens. But if the state is in such a pass, I will try to be a good general in your opinion, rather than in that of all the rest who so forcibly oppose you.” With this determination, Paulus went forth to the war.
[Fab. 15.1] 15 1 But Terentius, insisting on his right to command a day in turn, and then encamping over against Hannibal by the river Aufidus and the town called Cannae, at break of day put out the signal for battle, — a scarlet tunic displayed above the general’s tent. At this even the Carthaginians were confounded at first, seeing the boldness of the Roman general and the number of his army, which was more than double their own. 2 But Hannibal ordered his forces to arm for battle, while he himself, with a few companions, rode to the top of a gently sloping ridge, from which he watched his enemies as they formed in battle array. When one of his companions, named Gisco, a man of his own rank, remarked that the number of the enemy amazed him, Hannibal put on a serious look and said: “Gisco, another thing has escaped your notice which is more amazing still.” And when Gisco asked what it was, “It is the fact,” said he, “that in all this multitude there is no one who is called Gisco.” 3 The jest took them all by surprise and set them laughing, and as they made their way down from the ridge, they reported the pleasantry to all who met them, so that great numbers were laughing heartily, and Hannibal’s escort could not even recover themselves. The sight of this infused courage into the Carthaginians. They reasoned that their general must have a mighty contempt for the enemy if he laughed and jested so in the presence of danger.
[Fab. 16.1] 16 1 In the battle Hannibal practiced a double strategy. In the first place, he took advantage of the ground to put the wind at his back. This wind came down like a fiery hurricane, and raised a huge cloud of dust from the exposed and sandy plains and drove it over the Carthaginian lines hard into the faces of the Romans, who turned away to avoid it, and so fell into confusion. 2 In the second place, he formed his troops as follows: the sturdiest and most warlike part of his force he stationed on either side of the centre, and manned the centre itself with his poorest soldiers, intending to use this as a wedge jutting out far in advance of the rest of his line. But orders were given to the picked troops, when the Romans should have cut the troops in the centre to pieces, pursued them hotly as they retreated and formed a deep hollow, and so go within their enemy’s line of battle, — then to turn sharply from either side, smite them on the flanks, and envelop them by closing in upon their rear. 3 And it was this which seems to have produced the greatest slaughter. For the centre gave way and was followed by the Romans in pursuit, Hannibal’s line of battle thus changing its shape into that of a crescent; and the commanders of the picked troops on his wings wheeled them swiftly to left and right and fell upon the exposed sides of their enemy, all of whom, except those who retired before they were surrounded, were then overwhelmed and destroyed.
[Fab. 16.4] 4 It is said, further, that a strange calamity befell the Roman cavalry also. The horse of Paulus, as it appears, was wounded and threw its rider off, and one after another of his attendants dismounted and sought to defend the consul on foot. When the horsemen saw this, supposing that a general order had been given, they all dismounted and engaged the enemy on foot. On seeing this, Hannibal said: “This is more to my wish than if they had been handed over to me in fetters.” 5 But such particulars as these may be found in the detailed histories of the war.
[Fab. 16.6] As for the consuls, Varro galloped off with a few followers to the city of Venusia, but Paulus, caught in the deep surges of that panic flight and covered with many missiles which hung in his wounds, weighed down in body and spirit by so vast a misfortune, sat down, leaning against a stone, and waiting for an enemy to dispatch him. 6 His head and face were so profusely smeared with blood that few could recognize him; even his friends and retainers passed him by without knowing him. Only Cornelius Lentulus, a young man of the patrician order, saw who he was, and leaping from his horse, led him to Paulus and besought the consul to take him and save himself for the sake of his fellow-citizens, who now more than ever needed a brave commander. 7 But Paulus rejected this prayer, and forced the youth, all tears, to mount his horse again, and then rose up and clasped his hand and said: “Lentulus, tell Fabius Maximus, and be thyself a witness to what thou tellest, that Paulus Aemilius was true to his precepts up to the end, and broke not one of the agreements made with him, but was vanquished first by Varro, and then by Hannibal.” 8 With such injunctions, he sent Lentulus away, then threw himself into the midst of the slaughter and perished. And it is said that fifty thousand Romans fell in that battle, that four thousand were taken alive, and that after the battle there were captured in both consular camps no less than ten thousand.
[Fab. 17.1] 17 1 In view of such a complete success, Hannibal’s friends urged him to follow up his good fortune and dash into their city on the heels of the flying enemy, assuring him in that case that on the fifth day after his victory he would sup on the Capitol. It is not easy to say what consideration turned him from this course, nay, it would rather seem that his evil genius, or some divinity, interposed to inspire him with the hesitation and timidity which he now showed. Wherefore, as they say, Barca, the Carthaginian, said to him angrily: “Thou canst win a victory, but thy victory thou canst not use.” 2 And yet his victory wrought a great change in his circumstances. Before the battle, he had not a city, not a trading-place, not a sea-port in Italy, and could with difficulty barely supply his army with provisions for foraging, since he had no secure base of supplies for the war, but wandered hither and thither with his army as if it were a great horde of robbers. After the battle, however, he brought almost all Italy under his sway. 3 Most of its peoples, and the largest of them too, came over to him of their own accord, and Capua, which is the most considerable city after Rome, attached herself firmly to his cause.
[Fab. 17.4] Not only, then, does it work great mischief, as Euripides says, to put friends to the test, but also prudent generals. For that which was called cowardice and sluggishness in Fabius before the battle, immediately after the battle was thought to be no mere human calculation, nay, rather, a divine and marvellous intelligence, since it looked so far into the future and foretold a disaster which could hardly be believed by those who experienced it. 4 In him, therefore, Rome at once placed her last hopes; to his wisdom she fled for refuge as to the temple and altar, believing that it was first and chiefly due to his prudence that she still remained a city, and was not utterly broken up, as in the troublous times of the Gallic invasion. 5 For he who, in times of apparent security, appeared cautious and irresolute, then, when all were plunged in boundless grief and helpless confusion, was the only man to walk the city with calm step, composed countenance, and gracious address, checking effeminate lamentation, and preventing those from assembling together who were eager to make public their common complaints. He persuaded the senate to convene, heartened up the magistrates, and was himself the strength and power of every magistracy, since all looked to him for guidance.
[Fab. 18.1] 18 1 Accordingly, he put guards at the gates, in order to keep the frightened throng from abandoning the city, and set limits of time and place to the mourning for the dead, ordering any who wished to indulge in lamentation, to do so at home for a period of thirty days; after that, all mourning must cease and the city be purified of such rites. 2 And since the festival of Ceres fell within these days, it was deemed better to remit entirely the sacrifices and the procession, rather than to emphasize the magnitude of their calamity by the small number and dejection of the participants. For the gods’ delight is in honours paid them by the fortunate. 3 However, all the rites which the augurs advocated for the propitiation of the gods, or to avert inauspicious omens, were duly performed. And besides, Pictor, a kinsman of Fabius, was sent to consult the oracle at Delphi; and when two of the vestal virgins were found to have been corrupted, one of them was buried alive, according to the custom, and the other slew herself.
[Fab. 18.4] 4 But most all was the gentle dignity of the city to be admired in this, that when Varro, the consul, came back from his flight, as one would come back from a most ill-starred and disgraceful experience, in humility and dejection, the senate and the whole people met him at the gates with a welcome. 5 The magistrates and the chief men of the senate, of whom Fabius was one, praised him, as soon as quiet was restored, because he had not despaired of the city after so great a misfortune, but was at hand to assume the reins of government, and to employ the laws and his fellow-citizens in accomplishing the salvation which lay within their power.
[Fab. 19.1] 19 1 When they learned that Hannibal, after the battle, had turned aside into other parts of Italy, they plucked up courage and sent out commanders with armies. The most illustrious of these were Fabius Maximus and Claudius Marcellus, men who were similarly admired for directly opposite characters. 2 The latter, as has been stated in his Life, was a man of splendid and impetuous actions, with an arm of ready vigour, and by nature like the men whom Homer is wont to call “fond of battle, and “eager for the fray.” He therefore conducted his first engagements in the venturesome and reckless style of warfare which met the daring of such a man as Hannibal with an equal daring. 3 Fabius, on the contrary, clung to his first and famous convictions, and looked to see Hannibal, if only no one fought with him or harassed him, become his own worst enemy, wear himself out in the war, and speedily lose his high efficiency, like an athlete whose bodily powers have been overtaxed and exhausted. It was for these reasons, as Poseidonius says, that the Romans called Fabius their buckler, and Marcellus their sword, and that the mingling of the firm steadfastness of the one with the versatility of the other proved the salvation of Rome. 4 By his frequent encounters with Marcellus, whose course was like that of a swiftly-flowing river, Hannibal saw his forces shaken and swept away; while by Fabius, whose course was slow, noiseless, and unceasing in its stealthy hostility, they were imperceptibly worn away and consumed. And finally he was brought to such a pass that he was worn out with fighting Marcellus, and afraid of Fabius when not fighting.
[Fab. 19.5] 5 For it was with these two men that he fought almost all the time, as they held the offices of praetor, pro-consul, or consul; and each of them was consul five times. However, when Marcellus was serving as consul for the fifth time, Hannibal led him into an ambush and slew him; but he had no success against Fabius, although he frequently brought all sorts of deceitful tests to bear upon him. Once, it is true, he did deceive the man, and came near giving him a disastrous overthrow. 6 He composed and sent to Fabius letters purporting to come from the chief men of Metapontum, assuring him that their city would be surrendered to him if he should come there, and that those who were contriving the surrender only waited for him to come and show himself in the neighbourhood. These letters moved Fabius to action, and he proposed to take a part of his force and set out by night. Then he got unfavourable auspices and was turned from his purpose by them, and in a little while it was discovered that the letters which had come to him were cunning forgeries by Hannibal, who had laid an ambush for him near the city. The escape, however, may be laid to the favour of the gods.
[Fab. 20.1] 20 1 Fabius thought that the revolts of the cities and the agitations of the allies ought to be restrained and discountenanced rather by mild and gentle measures, without testing every suspicion and showing harshness in every case to be suspected. It is said, for instance, that when he learned about a Marsian soldier, eminent among the allies for valour and high birth, who had been talking with some of the soldiers in the camp about deserting to the enemy, he was not incensed with him, but admitted frankly that he had been unduly neglected; 2 so far, he said, this was the fault of the commanders, who distributed their honours by favour rather than for valour, but in the future it would be the man’s own fault if he did not come to him and tell him when he wanted anything. These words were followed by the gift of a warhorse and by other signal rewards for bravery, and from that time on there was no more faithful and zealous man in the service. 3 Fabius thought it hard that, whereas the trainers of horses and dogs relied upon care and intimacy and feeding rather than on goads and heavy collars for the removal of the animal’s obstinacy, anger, and discontent, the commander of men should not base the most of his discipline on kindness and gentleness, but show more harshness and violence in his treatment of them than farmers in their treatment of wild fig-trees, wild pear-trees, and wild olive-trees, which they reclaim and domesticate till they bear luscious olives, pears, and figs.
[Fab. 20.4] 4 Accordingly, when another soldier, a Lucanian, was reported by his officers as frequently quitting his post and roaming away from the camp, Fabius asked them what kind of a man they knew him to be in other respects. All testified that such another soldier could not easily be found, and rehearsed sundry exploits of his wherein he had shown conspicuous bravery. Fabius therefore inquired into the cause of the man’s irregularity, and discovered that he was deeply in love with a maid, and risked his life in long journeys from the camp every time he visited her. 5 Accordingly, without the man’s knowledge, Fabius sent and arrested the girl and hid her in his own tent. Then he called the Lucanian to him privately and said: “It is well known that, contrary to Roman custom and law, you often pass the night away from camp; but it is also well known that you have done good service in the past. Your transgressions shall therefore be atoned for by your deeds of valour, but for the future I shall put another person in charge over you.” 6 Then, to the soldier’s amazement, he led the girl forth and put her in his hands, saying: “This person pledges herself that you will hereafter remain in camp with us, and you will now show plainly whether or not you left us for some other and base purpose, making this maid and your love for her a mere pretext.” Such is the story which is told about this matter.
[Fab. 21.1] 21 1 The city of Tarentum, which had been lost to the Romans by treachery, Fabius recovered in the following manner. There was a young man of Tarentum in his army, and he had a sister who was very faithfully and affectionately disposed towards him. 2 With this woman the commander of the forces set by Hannibal to guard the city, a Bruttian, was deeply enamoured, and the circumstance led her brother to hope that he could accomplish something by means of it. He therefore joined his sister in Tarentum, ostensibly as a deserter from the Romans, though he was really sent into the city by Fabius, who was privy to his scheme. Some days passed, accordingly, during which the Bruttian remained at home, since the woman thought that her amour was unknown to her brother. Then her brother had the following words with her: “I would have you know that a story was very current out there in the Roman camp that you have interviews with a man in high authority. Who is this man? For if he is, as they say, a man of repute, and illustrious for his valour, war, that confounder of all things, makes very little account of race. Nothing is disgraceful if it is done under compulsion, nay, we may count it rare good fortune, at a time when right is weak, to find might very gentle with us.” 3 Thereupon the woman sent for her Bruttian and made her brother acquainted with him. The Barbarian’s confidence was soon gained, since the brother fostered his passion and plainly induced the sister to be more complacent and submissive to him than before, so that it was not difficult, that man being a lover and a mercenary as well, to change his allegiance, in anticipation of the large gifts which it was promised that he should receive from Fabius.
[Fab. 21.4] 4 This is the way the story is usually told. But some writers say that the woman by whom the Bruttian was won over, was not a Tarentine, but a Bruttian, and a concubine of Fabius, and that when she learned that the commander of the Bruttian garrison was a fellow-countryman and an acquaintance of hers, she told Fabius, held a conference with the man beneath the walls of the city, and won him completely over.
[Fab. 22.1] 22 1 While this plot was under way, Fabius schemed to draw Hannibal away from the neighbourhood, and therefore gave orders to the garrison at Rhegium to overrun Bruttium and take Caulonia by storm. This garrison numbered eight thousand, most of them deserters, and the refuse of the soldiers sent home from Sicily in disgrace by Marcellus, men whose loss would least afflict and injure Rome. 2 Fabius expected that by casting these forces, like a bait, in front of Hannibal, he would draw him away from Tarentum. And this was what actually happened. For Hannibal immediately swept thither in pursuit with his army. But five days after Fabius had laid siege to Tarentum, the youth who, with his sister, had come to an understanding with the Bruttian commander in the city, came to him by night. He had seen and knew precisely the spot at which the Bruttian was watching with the purpose of handing the city over to its assailants. Fabius, however, would not suffer his enterprise to depend wholly upon the betrayal of the city. 3 While, therefore, he himself led a detachment quietly to the appointed spot, the rest of his army attacked the walls by land and sea, with great shouting and tumult, until most of the Tarentines had run to the aid of those who were defending them. Then the Bruttian gave Fabius the signal, and he scaled the walls and got the mastery of the city.
[Fab. 22.4] 4 At this point, however, Fabius seems to have been overcome by his ambition, for he ordered his men to put the Bruttians first of all to the sword, that his possession of the city might not be known to be due to treachery. He not only failed to prevent this knowledge, but incurred also the reproach of perfidy and cruelty. Many of the Tarentines also were slain, thirty thousand of them were sold into slavery, their city was plundered by the Roman army, and three thousand talents were thereby brought into the public treasury. 5 While everything else was carried off as plunder, it is said that the accountant asked Fabius what his orders were concerning the gods, for so he called the pictures and statues; and that Fabius answered: “Let us leave their angered gods for the Tarentines.” 6 However, he removed the colossal statue of Heracles from Tarentum, and set it up on the Capitol, and near it an equestrian statue of himself, in bronze. He thus appeared far more eccentric in these matters than Marcellus, nay rather, the mild and humane conduct of Marcellus was thus made to seem altogether admirable by contrast, as has been written in his Life.
[Fab. 23.1] 23 1 It is said that Hannibal had got within five miles of Tarentum when it fell, and that openly he merely remarked: “It appears, then, that the Romans have another Hannibal, for we have lost Tarentum even as we look at it”; but that in private he was then for the first time led to confess to his friends that he had long seen the difficulty, and now saw the impossibility of their mastering Italy with their present forces. 2 For this success, Fabius celebrated a second triumph most splendid than his first, since he was contending with Hannibal like a clever athlete, and easily baffling all his undertakings, now that his hugs and grips no longer had their old time vigour. For his forces were partly enervated by luxury and wealth, and partly blunted, as it were, and worn out by their unremitting struggles.
[Fab. 23.3] 3 Now there was a certain Marcus Livius, who commanded the garrison of Tarentum when Hannibal got the city to revolt. He occupied the citadel, however, and was not dislodged from this position, but held it until the Romans again got the upper hand of the Tarentines. This man was vexed by the honours paid to Fabius, and once, carried away by his jealousy and ambition, said to the senate that it was not Fabius, but himself, who should be credited with the capture of Tarentum. At this Fabius laughed, and said: “You are right; had you not lost the city, I had not taken it.”
[Fab. 24.1] 24 1 Among the other marks of high favour which the Romans conferred upon Fabius, they made his son Fabius consul. When this son had entered upon the office and was arranging some matter pertaining to the war, his father, either by reason of his age and weakness, or because he was putting his son to the test, mounted his horse and rode towards him through the throng of bystanders. The young man caught sight of his father at a distance and would not suffer what he did, but sent a lictor with orders for him to dismount and come to the consul on foot if he had any need of his offices. 2 All the rest were offended at this command, and implied by their silent gaze at Fabius that this treatment of him was unworthy of his high position. But Fabius himself sprang quickly from his horse, almost ran to his son, and embraced him affectionately. “My son,” he said, “you are right in thought and act. You understand what a people has made you its officer, and what a high office you have received from them. It was in this spirit that our fathers and we ourselves have exalted Rome, a spirit which makes parents and children ever secondary to our country’s good.”
[Fab. 24.3] 3 And of a truth it is reported of the great-grandfather of our Fabius, that though he had the greatest reputation and influence in Rome, and though he had himself been consul five times and had celebrated the most splendid triumphs for the greatest wars, he nevertheless, when his son was consul, went forth to war with him as his lieutenant, and in the triumph that followed, while the son entered the city on a four-horse chariot, the father followed on horseback with the rest of the train, exulting in the fact that, though he was master of his son, and was the greatest of the citizens both in name and in fact, he yet put himself beneath the law and its official. However, this was not the only admirable thing about him.
[Fab. 24.4] 4 But the son of our Fabius, as it happened, died, and this affliction he bore with equanimity, like a wise man and a good father. The funeral oration, which is pronounced at the obsequies of illustrious men by some kinsman, he delivered himself from his place in the forum, and then wrote out the speech and published it.
[Fab. 25.1] 25 1 But now Cornelius Scipio was sent into Spain, where he not only conquered the Carthaginians in many battles, and drove them out of the country, but also won over a multitude of nations, and took great cities with splendid spoils, so that, on his return to Rome, he enjoyed an incomparable favour and fame, and was made consul. 2 Perceiving that the people demanded and expected a great achievement from him, he regarded the hand to hand struggle with Hannibal there in Italy as very antiquated and senile policy, and purposed to fill Libya at once, and the territory of Carthage itself, with Roman arms and soldiery, and ravage them, and thus to transfer the war from Italy thither. To this policy he urged the people with all his soul. But just at this point Fabius tried to fill the city with all sorts of fear. They were hurrying, he said, under the guidance of a foolhardy young man, into the remotest and greatest peril, 3 and he spared neither word nor deed which he thought might deter the citizens from this course. He brought the senate over to his views; but the people thought that he attacked Scipio through jealousy of his success, and that he was afraid lest, if Scipio performed some great and glorious exploit and either put an end to the war entirely or removed it out of Italy, his own failure to end the war after all these years would be attributed to sloth and cowardice.
[Fab. 25.4] 4 Now it is likely that Fabius began this opposition out of his great caution and prudence, in fear of the danger, which was great; but that he grew more violent and went to greater lengths in his opposition out of ambition and rivalry, in an attempt to check the rising influence of Scipio. For he even tried to persuade Crassus, Scipio’s colleague in the consulship, not to surrender the command of the army and not to yield the time of Scipio, but to proceed in person against Carthage, if that policy were adopted. He also prevented the granting of moneys for the war. 5 As for moneys, since he was obliged to provide them for himself, Scipio collected them on his private account from the cities of Etruria, which were devotedly attached to him; and as for Crassus, it was partly his nature, which was not contentious, but gentle, that kept him at home, and partly also a religious custom, for he was pontifex maximus, or High Priest.
[Fab. 26.1] 26 1 Accordingly, Fabius took another way to oppose Scipio, and tried to hinder and restrain the young men who were eager to serve under him, crying out in sessions of the senate and the assembly that it was not Scipio himself only who was running away from Hannibal, but that he was sailing off from Italy with her reserve forces, playing upon the hopes of her young men, and persuading them to abandon their parents, their wives, and their city, although the enemy still sat at her gates, masterful and undefeated. And verily he frightened the Romans with these speeches, 2 and they decreed that Scipio should employ only the forces which were then in Sicily, and take with him only three hundred of the men who had been with him in Spain, — men who had served him faithfully. In this course, at any rate, Fabius seems to have been influenced by his own cautious temper.
[Fab. 26.3] But as soon as Scipio had crossed into Africa, tidings were brought to Rome of wonderful achievements and of exploits transcendent in magnitude and splendour. These reports were confirmed by abundant spoils which followed them; the king of Numidia was taken captive; 3 two of the enemy’s camps were at once destroyed by fire, and in them a great number of men, arms, and horses; embassies were sent from Carthage to Hannibal urgently calling upon him to give up his fruitless hopes in Italy and come to the aid of his native city; 4 and when every tongue in Rome was dwelling on the theme of Scipio’s successes, then Fabius demanded that a successor should be sent out to replace him. He gave no other reason, but urged the well remembered maxim that it was dangerous to entrust such vast interests to the fortune of a single man, since it was difficult for the same man to have good fortune always. By this course he gave offence now to many, who thought him a captious and malicious man, or one whose old age had robbed him utterly of courage and confidence, so that he was immoderately in awe of Hannibal. 5 For not even after Hannibal and his army had sailed away from Italy would he suffer the rejoicing and fresh courage of the citizens to be undisturbed and assured, but then even more than ever he insisted that the city was running into the extremest peril and that her affairs were in a dangerous plight. For Hannibal, he said, would fall upon them with all the greater effect in Africa at the gates of Carthage, and Scipio would be confronted with an army yet warm with the blood of many imperators, dictators, and consuls. Consequently, the city was once more confounded by these speeches, and although the war had been removed to Africa, they thought its terrors were nearer Rome.
[Fab. 27.1] 27 1 But shortly afterward Scipio utterly defeated Hannibal himself in battle, humbled and trod under foot the pride of fallen Carthage, restored to his fellow-citizens a joy that surpassed all their hopes, and in very truth “righted once more” the ship of their supremacy, which had been “shaken in a heavy surge.” Fabius Maximus, however, did not live to see the end of the war, nor did he even hear of Hannibal’s defeat, nor behold the great and assured prosperity of the country, but at about the time when Hannibal set sail from Italy, he fell sick and died. 2 Epaminondas, it is true, was buried by the Thebans at the public cost, because of the poverty in which he died, for it is said that nothing was found in his house after his death except a piece of iron money. Fabius, however, was not buried by the Romans at the public charge, but each private citizen contributed the smallest coin in his possession, not because his poverty called for their aid, but because the people felt that it was burying a father, whose death thus received honour and regard befitting his life.

## Comparison of Pericles and Fabius Maximus

[Comp. Per.–Fab. 1.1] 353 1 1 Such is the story of these men’s lives, and since both left behind them many examples of civil as well as military excellence, let us consider, in the first place, the matter of their military achievements. Pericles was at the head of his people when its prosperity was greatest, when its own strength was at the full, and its imperial power culminating. Apparently, therefore, it was the general good fortune and vigour that kept him free from stumbling and falling, 2 whereas the achievements of Fabius, who took charge of his city at times of the greatest disgrace and misfortune, did not maintain her safely in her prosperity, but rather lifted her out of disaster into a better state. And besides, the victories of Cimon, and the trophies of Myronides and Leocrates, and the many great successes of Tolmides, made it the privilege of Pericles, during his administration, to enrich the city with holidays and public festivals, rather than to enlarge and protect her dominion by war. 3 Fabius, on the contrary, whose eyes beheld many disgraceful defeats, many cruel deaths of imperators and generals, lakes and plains and forests filled with slain armies, and rivers flowing with blood and slaughter to the sea, put helping and supporting hands to his city, and by his firm and independent course, prevented her from utter exhaustion through the disasters brought upon her by others. 4 And yet it would appear to be not so difficult a task to manage a city when she is humbled by adversity and rendered obedient to wisdom by necessity, as it is to bridle a people which is exalted by prosperity and swollen with insolence and boldness, which is precisely the way in which Pericles governed Athens. Still, the magnitude and multitude of evils which afflicted the Romans revealed the steadfast purpose and the greatness of the man who was not confounded by them, and would not abandon his own principles of action.
[Comp. Per.–Fab. 2.1] 2 1 Over against the capture of Samos by Pericles, it is fair to set the taking of Tarentum by Fabius, and against Euboea, the cities of Campania (Capua itself was reduced by the consuls Fulvius and Appius). In open and regular battle, Fabius seems to have won no victory except that for which he celebrated his first triumph; whereas Pericles set up nine trophies for his wars on land and sea. 2 However, no such exploit is recorded of Pericles as that by which Fabius snatched Minucius from the hands of Hannibal, and preserved an entire Roman army; the deed was certainly a noble one, and showed a combination of valour, wisdom, and kindness alike. So, on the other hand, no such defeat is recorded of Pericles as that which Fabius suffered when he was outwitted by Hannibal’s stratagem of the oxen; he had his enemy imprisoned in the narrow defile which he had entered of his own accord and accidentally, but let him slip away unnoticed in the night, force his way out when day came, take advantage of his adversary’s delays, and so conquer his captor. 3 And if it is the part of a good general not only to improve the present, but also to judge correctly of the future, then Pericles was such a general, for the war which the Athenians were waging came to an end as he had foreknown and foretold; for they undertook too much and lost their empire. But it was contrary to the principles of Fabius that the Romans sent Scipio against Carthage and were completely victorious, not through the favour of fortune, but through the wisdom and valour of the general who utterly conquered their enemies. 4 Therefore the very disasters of his country bear witness to the sagacity of Pericles; while the successes of the Romans proved that Fabius was completely in the wrong. And it is just as great a failing in a general to involve himself in disaster from want of foresight, as it is to throw away an opportunity for success from want of confidence. Inexperience, it would seem, is to blame in each case, which both engenders rashness in a man, and robs a man of courage. So much for their military abilities.
[Comp. Per.–Fab. 3.1] 3 1 As for their statesmanship, the Peloponnesian war was a ground of great complaint against Pericles. For it is said to have been brought on by his contention that no concession should be made to Sparta. I think, however, that not even Fabius Maximus would have made any concessions to Carthage, but would have nobly undergone the peril needful to maintain the Roman supremacy. Nevertheless, the courteous and gentle conduct of Fabius towards Minucius contrasts forcibly with the factious opposition of Pericles to Cimon and Thucydides, who were both good and true men and of the highest birth, and yet were subjected by him to ostracism and banishment. 2 But Pericles had greater influence and power than Fabius. For this reason he did not suffer any other general to bring misfortune upon the city by his evil counsels, except that Tolmides broke away from his guidance, carried through by main force a plan for attacking Boeotia, and met with disaster; but the rest all attached themselves submissively to his opinion, owing to the greatness of his influence. 3 Fabius, on the other hand, though sure and unerring in his own conduct of affairs, seems to have fallen short through his inability to restrain others. Surely the Romans would not have suffered so many disasters if Fabius had been as influential with them as Pericles was at Athens.
[Comp. Per.–Fab. 3.4] And further, as regards their freedom from mercenary views, Pericles displayed it by never taking any gifts at all; Fabius by his liberality to the needy, when he ransomed at his own costs his captured soldiers, 4 albeit the amount of his property was not great, but about six talents. And Pericles, though he had opportunities, owing to his authority and influence, to enrich himself from obsequious allies and kings beyond all possible estimates, nevertheless kept himself pre-eminently superior to bribes and free from corruption.
[Comp. Per.–Fab. 3.5] 5 By the side of the great public works, the temples, and the stately edifices, with which Pericles adorned Athens, all Rome’s attempts at splendour down to the times of the Caesars, taken together, are not worthy to be considered, nay, the one had a towering pre-eminence above the other, both in grandeur of design, and grandeur of execution, which precludes comparison.