Parallel Lives, Volume II — Plutarch
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Translation/edition: Bernadotte Perrin
Language: English
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## Alcibiades

[Alc. 1.1] 191 1 1 The family of Alcibiades, it is thought, may be traced back to Eurysaces, the son of Aias, as its founder; and on his mother’s side he was an Alcmaeonid, being the son of Deinomache, the daughter of Megacles. His father, Cleinias, fitted out a trireme at his own cost and fought it gloriously at Artemisium. He was afterwards slain at Coroneia, fighting the Boeotians, and Alcibiades was therefore reared as the ward of Pericles and Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus, his near kinsmen.
[Alc. 1.2] 2 It is said, and with good reason, that the favour and affection which Socrates showed him contributed not a little to his reputation. Certain it is that Nicias, Demosthenes, Lamachus, Phormio, Thrasybulus, and Theramenes were prominent men, and his contemporaries, 192 and yet we cannot so much as name the mother of any one of them; whereas, in the case of Alcibiades, we even know that his nurse, who was a Spartan woman, was called Amycla, and his tutor Zopyrus. The one fact is mentioned by Antisthenes, the other by Plato.
[Alc. 1.3] 3 As regards the beauty of Alcibiades, it is perhaps unnecessary to say aught, except that it flowered out with each successive season of his bodily growth, and made him, alike in boyhood, youth and manhood, lovely and pleasant. The saying of Euripides, that “beauty’s autumn, too, is beautiful,” is not always true. But it was certainly the case with Alcibiades, as with few besides, because of his excellent natural parts. 4 Even the lisp that he had became his speech, they say, and made his talk persuasive and full of charm. Aristophanes notices this lisp of his in the verses wherein he ridicules Theorus: —
[Alc. 1.3b] (Sosias)”Then Alcibiades said to me with a lisp, said he,
‘Cwemahk Theocwus? What a cwaven’s head he has!’ “
(Xanthias)”That lisp of Alcibiades hit the mark for once!”
[Alc. 1.3c] And Archippus, ridiculing the son of Alcibiades, says: “He walks with utter wantonness, trailing his long robe behind him, that he may be thought the very picture of his father, yes,
[Alc. 1.3d] He slants his neck awry, and overworks the lisp.”
[Alc. 2.1] 2 1 His character, in later life, displayed many inconsistencies and marked changes, as was natural amid his vast undertakings and varied fortunes. He was naturally a man of many strong passions, the mightiest of which were the love of rivalry and the love of preëminence. This is clear from the story recorded of his boyhood.
[Alc. 2.2] 2 He was once hard pressed in wrestling, and to save himself from getting a fall, set his teeth in his opponent’s arms, where they clutched him, and was like to have bitten through them. His adversary, letting go his hold, cried: “You bite, Alcibiades, as women do!” “Not I,” said Alcibiades, but as lions do.”
[Alc. 2.3] While still a small boy, he was playing knuckle-bones in the narrow street, and just as it was his turn to throw, a heavy-laden waggon came along. 3 In the first place, he bade the driver halt, since his cast lay right in the path of the waggon. The driver, however, was a boorish fellow, and paid no heed to him, but drove his team along. Whereupon, while the other boys scattered out of the way, Alcibiades threw himself flat on his face in front of the team, stretched himself out at full length, and bade the driver go on if he pleased. At this the fellow pulled up his beasts sharply, in terror; the spectators, too, were affrighted, and ran with shouts to help the boy.
[Alc. 2.4] 4 At school, he usually paid due heed to his teachers, but he refused to play the flute, holding it to be an ignoble and illiberal thing. The use of the plectrum and the lyre, he argued, wrought no havoc with the bearing and appearance which were becoming to a gentleman; but let a man go to blowing a flute, and even his own kinsmen could scarcely recognize his features. 5 Moreover, the lyre blended its tones with the voice or song of its master; whereas the flute closed and barricaded the mouth, robbing its master both of voice and speech. “Flutes, then,” said he, “for the sons of Thebes; they know not how to converse. But we Athenians, as our fathers say, have Athene for foundress and Apollo for patron, one of whom cast the flute away in disgust, and the other flayed the presumptuous flute-player.” 6 Thus, half in jest and half in earnest, Alcibiades emancipated himself from this discipline, and the rest of the boys as well. For word soon made its way to them that Alcibiades loathed the art of flute-playing and scoffed at its disciples, and rightly, too. Wherefore the flute was dropped entirely from the programme of a liberal education and was altogether despised.
[Alc. 3.1] 3 1 Among the calumnies which Antiphon heaps upon him it is recorded that, when he was a boy, he ran away from home to Democrates, one of his lovers, and that Ariphron was all for having him proclaimed by town crier as a castaway. 193 But Pericles would not suffer it. “If he is dead,” said he, “we shall know it only a day the sooner for the proclamation; whereas, if he is still alive, he will, in consequence of it, be as good as dead for the rest of his life.” Antiphon says also that with a blow of his stick he slew one of his attendants in the palaestra of Sibyrtius. But these things are perhaps unworthy of belief, coming as they do from one who admits that he hated Alcibiades, and abused him accordingly.
[Alc. 4.1] 4 1 It was not long before many men of high birth clustered about him and paid him their attentions. Most of them were plainly smitten with his brilliant youthful beauty and fondly courted him. But it was the love which Socrates had for him that bore strong testimony to the boy’s native excellence and good parts. These Socrates saw radiantly manifest in his outward person, and, fearful of the influence upon him of wealth and rank and the throng of citizens, foreigners and allies who sought to preëmpt his affections by flattery and favour, he was fain to protect him, and not suffer such a fair flowering plant to cast its native fruit to perdition. 2 For there is no man whom Fortune so envelops and compasses about with the so called good things of life that he cannot be reached by the bold and caustic reasonings of philosophy, and pierced to the heart. And so it was that Alcibiades, although he was pampered from the very first, and was prevented by the companions who sought only to please him from giving ear to one who would instruct and train him, nevertheless, through the goodness of his parts, at last saw all that was in Socrates, and clave to him, putting away his rich and famous lovers. 3 And speedily, from choosing such an associate, and giving ear to the words of a lover who was in the chase for no unmanly pleasures, and begged no kisses and embraces, but sought to expose the weakness of his soul and rebuke his vain and foolish pride,
[Alc. 4.1b] “He crouched, though warrior bird, like slave, with drooping wings.”
[Alc. 4.4] And he came to think that the work of Socrates was really a kind of provision of the gods for the care and salvation of youth. 4 Thus, by despising himself, admiring his friend, loving that friend’s kindly solicitude and revering his excellence, he insensibly acquired an “image of love,” as Plato says, “to match love,” and all were amazed to see him eating, exercising, and tenting with Socrates, while he was harsh and stubborn with the rest of his lovers. Some of these he actually treated with the greatest insolence, as, for example, Anytus, the son of Anthemion.
[Alc. 4.5] 5 This man was a lover of his, who, entertaining some friends, asked Alcibiades also to the dinner. Alcibiades declined the invitation, but after having drunk deep at home with some friends, went in revel rout to the house of Anytus, took his stand at the door of the men’s chamber, and, observing the tables full of gold and silver beakers, ordered his slaves to take half of them and carry them home for him. He did not deign to go in, but played this prank and was off. The guests were naturally indignant, and declared that Alcibiades had treated Anytus with gross and overweening insolence. “Not so,” said Anytus, “but with moderation and kindness; he might have taken all there were: he has left us half.”
[Alc. 5.1] 5 1 He treated the rest of his lovers also after this fashion. There was one man, however, a resident alien, as they say, and not possessed of much, who sold all that he had, and brought the hundred staters which he got for it to Alcibiades, begging him to accept them. Alcibiades burst out laughing with delight at this, and invited the man to dinner. After feasting him and showing him every kindness, he gave him back his gold, and charged him on the morrow to compete with the farmers of the public revenues and outbid them all. The man protested, because the purchase demanded capital of many talents; but Alcibiades threatened to have him scourged if he did not do it, 194 because he cherished some private grudge against the ordinary contractors. In the morning, accordingly, the alien went into the market place and increased the usual bid for the public lands by a talent. The contractors clustered angrily above him and bade him name his surety, supposing that he could find none. The man was confounded and began to draw back, when Alcibiades, standing afar off, cried to the magistrates: “Put my name down; he is a friend of mine; I will be his surety.” 3 When the contractors heard this, they were at their wits’ end, for they were in the habit of paying what they owed on a first purchase with the profits of a second, and saw no way out of their difficulty. Accordingly, they besought the man to withdraw his bid, and offered him money so to do; but Alcibiades would not suffer him to take less than a talent. On their offering the man the talent, he bade him take it and withdraw. To this lover he was of service in such a way.
[Alc. 6.1] 6 1 But the love of Socrates, though it had many powerful rivals, somehow mastered Alcibiades. For he was of good natural parts, and the words of his teacher took hold of him and wrung his heart and brought tears to his eyes. But sometimes he would surrender himself to the flatterers who tempted him with many pleasures, and slip away from Socrates, and suffer himself to be actually hunted down by him like a runaway slave. And yet he feared and reverenced Socrates alone, and despised the rest of his lovers.
[Alc. 6.2] 2 It was Cleanthes who said that any one beloved of him must be “downed,” as wrestlers say, by the ears alone, though offering to rival lovers many other “holds” which he himself would scorn to take, — meaning the various lusts of the body. And Alcibiades was certainly prone to be led away into pleasure. That “lawless self-indulgence” of his, of which Thucydides speaks, leads one to suspect this. 3 However, it was rather his love of distinction and love of fame to which his corrupters appealed, and thereby plunged him all too soon into ways of presumptuous scheming, persuading him that he had only to enter public life, and he would straightway cast into total eclipse the ordinary generals and public leaders, and not only that, he would even surpass Pericles in power and reputation among the Hellenes. 4 Accordingly, just as iron, which has been softened in the fire, is hardened again by cold water, and has its particles compacted together, so Alcibiades, whenever Socrates found him filled with vanity and wantonness, was reduced to shape by the Master’s discourse, and rendered humble and cautious. He learned how great were his deficiencies and how incomplete his excellence.
[Alc. 7.1] 7 1 Once, as he was getting on past boyhood, he accosted a school-teacher, and asked him for a book of Homer. The teacher replied that he had nothing of Homer’s, whereupon Alcibiades fetched him a blow with his fist, and went his way. Another teacher said he had a Homer which he had corrected himself. “What!” said Alcibiades, “are you teaching boys to read when you are competent to edit Homer? You should be training young men.”
[Alc. 7.2] 2 He once wished to see Pericles, and went to his house. But he was told that Pericles could not see him; he was studying how to render his accounts to the Athenians. “Were it not better for him,” said Alcibiades, as he went away, “to study how not to render his accounts to the Athenians?”
[Alc. 7.3] While still a stripling, he served as a soldier in the campaign of Potidaea, and had Socrates for his tent-mate and comrade in action. 3 A fierce battle took place, wherein both of them distinguished themselves; but when Alcibiades fell wounded, it was Socrates who stood over him and defended him, and with the most conspicuous bravery saved him, armour and all. The prize of valour fell to Socrates, of course, on the justest calculation; but the generals, owing to the high position of Alcibiades, were manifestly anxious to give him the glory of it. 195 Socrates, therefore, wishing to increase his pupil’s honourable ambitions, led all the rest in bearing witness to his bravery, and in begging that the crown and the suit of armour be given to him.
[Alc. 7.4] 4 On another occasion, in the rout of the Athenians which followed the battle of Delium, Alcibiades, on horseback, saw Socrates retreating on foot with a small company, and would not pass him by, but rode by his side and defended him, though the enemy were pressing them hard and slaying many. This, however, was a later incident.
[Alc. 8.1] 8 1 He once gave Hipponicus a blow with his fist — Hipponicus, the father of Callias, a man of great reputation and influence owing to his wealth and family — not that he had any quarrel with him, or was a prey to anger, but simply for the joke of the thing, on a wager with some companions. The wanton deed was soon noised about the city, and everybody was indignant, as was natural. Early the next morning Alcibiades went to the house of Hipponicus, knocked at his door, and on being shown into his presence, laid off the cloak he wore and bade Hipponicus scourge and chastise him as he would. 2 But Hipponicus put away his wrath and forgave him, and afterwards gave him his daughter Hipparete to wife.
[Alc. 8.1b] Some say, however, that it was not Hipponicus, but Callias, his son, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades, with a dowry of ten talents; and that afterwards, when she became a mother, Alcibiades exacted other ten talents besides, on the plea that this was the agreement, should children be born. And Callias was so afraid of the scheming of Alcibiades to get his wealth, that he made public proffer to the people of his property and house in case it should befall him to die without lineal heirs.
[Alc. 8.3] 3 Hipparete was a decorous and affectionate wife, but being distressed because her husband would consort with courtezans, native and foreign, she left his house and went to live with her brother. Alcibiades did not mind this, but continued his wanton ways, and so she had to put in her plea for divorce to the magistrate, and that not by proxy, but in her own person. 4 On her appearing publicly to do this, as the law required, Alcibiades came up and seized her and carried her off home with him through the market place, no man daring to oppose him or take her from him. She lived with him, moreover, until her death, but she died shortly after this, when Alcibiades was on a voyage to Ephesus.
[Alc. 8.5] 5 Such violence as this was not thought lawless or cruel at all. Indeed, the law prescribes that the wife who would separate from her husband shall go to court in person, to this very end, it would seem, that the husband may have a chance to meet and gain possession of her.
[Alc. 9.1] 9 1 Possessing a dog of wonderful size and beauty, which had cost him seventy minas, he had its tail cut off, and a beautiful tail it was, too. His comrades chid him for this, and declared that everybody was furious about the dog and abusive of its owner. But Alcibiades burst out laughing and said: “That’s just what I want; I want Athens to talk about this, that it may say nothing worse about me.”
[Alc. 10.1] 10 1 His first entrance into public life, they say, was connected with a contribution of money to the state, and was not of design. He was passing by when the Athenians were applauding in their assembly, and asked the reason for the applause. On being told that a contribution of money to the state was going on, he went forward to the bema and made a contribution himself. The crowd clapped their hands and shouted for joy — so much so that Alcibiades forgot all about the quail which he was carrying in his cloak, and the bird flew away in a fright. Thereupon the Athenians shouted all the more, and many of them sprang to help him hunt the bird. The one who caught it and gave it back to him was Antiochus, the sea captain, who became in consequence a great favourite with Alcibiades.
[Alc. 10.2] 2 Though great doors to public service were opened to him by his birth, his wealth, and his personal bravery in battle; and though he had many friends and followers, 196 he thought that nothing should give him more influence with the people than the charm of his discourse. And that he was a powerful speaker, not only do the comic poets testify, but also the most powerful of the orators himself, who says, in his speech “Against Meidias,” that Alcibiades was a most able speaker in addition to his other gifts. 3 And if we are to trust Theophrastus, the most versatile and learned of the philosophers, Alcibiades was of all men the most capable of discovering and understanding what was required in a given case. But since he strove to find not only the proper thing to say, but also the proper words and phrases in which to say it; and since in this last regard he was not a man of large resources, he would often stumble in the midst of his speech, come to a stop, and pause a while, a particular phrase eluding him. Then he would resume, and proceed with all the caution in the world.
[Alc. 11.1] 11 His breeds of horses were famous the world over, and so was the number of his racing-chariots. No one else ever entered seven of these at the Olympic games — neither commoner nor king — but he alone. And his coming off first, second, and fourth victor (as Thucydides says; third, according to Euripides), transcends in the splendour of its renown all that ambition can aspire to in this field. 2 The ode of Euripides to which I refer runs thus:
[Alc. 11.1b] “Thee will I sing, O child of Cleinias;
A fair thing is victory, but fairest is what no other Hellene has achieved,
To run first, and second, and third in the contest of racing-chariots,
And to come off unwearied, and, wreathed with the olive of Zeus,
To furnish theme for herald’s proclamation.”
[Alc. 12.1] 12 1 Moreover, this splendour of his at Olympia was made even more conspicuous by the emulous rivalry of the cities in his behalf. The Ephesians equipped him with a tent of magnificent adornment; the Chians furnished him with provender for his horses and with innumerable animals for sacrifice; the Lesbians with wine and other provisions for his unstinted entertainment of the multitude. However, a grave calumny — or malpractice on his part — connected with this rivalry was even more in the mouths of men.
[Alc. 12.2] 2 It is said, namely, that there was at Athens one Diomedes, a reputable man, a friend of Alcibiades, and eagerly desirous of winning a victory at Olympia. He learned that there was a racing-chariot at Argos which was the property of that city, and knowing that Alcibiades had many friends and was very influential there, got him to buy the chariot. 3 Alcibiades bought it for his friend, and then entered it in the racing lists as his own, bidding Diomedes go hang. Diomedes was full of indignation, and called on gods and men to witness his wrongs. It appears also that a law-suit arose over this matter, and a speech was written by Isocrates for the son of Alcibiades “Concerning the Team of Horses.” In this speech, however, it is Tisias, not Diomedes, who is the plaintiff.
[Alc. 13.1] 13 1 On entering public life, though still a mere stripling, he immediately humbled all the other popular leaders except Phaeax, the son of Erasistratus, and Nicias, the son of Niceratus. These men made him fight hard for what he won. Nicias was already of mature years, and had the reputation of being a most excellent general; but Phaeax, like himself, was just beginning his career, and, though of illustrious parentage, was inferior to him in other ways, and particularly as a public speaker. 2 He seemed affable and winning in private conversation rather than capable of conducting public debates. In fact, he was, as Eupolis says,
[Alc. 13.1b] “A prince of talkers, but in speaking most incapable.”
[Alc. 13.1c] And there is extant a certain speech written by Phaeax “Against Alcibiades,” wherein, among other things, it is written that the city’s numerous ceremonial utensils of gold and silver were all used by Alcibiades at his regular table as though they were his own.
[Alc. 13.3] 3 Now there was a certain Hyperbolus, of the deme Perithoedae, whom Thucydides mentions as a base fellow, and who afforded all the comic poets, without any exception, constant material for jokes in their plays. But he was unmoved by abuse, and insensible to it, owing to his contempt of public opinion. This feeling some call courage and valour, but it is really mere shamelessness and folly. No one liked him, but the people often made use of him when they were eager to besmirch and calumniate men of rank and station. 4 Accordingly, at the time of which I speak, persuaded by this man, they were about to exercise the vote of ostracism, by which they cripple and banish whatever man from time to time may have too much reputation and influence in the city to please them, assuaging thus their envy rather than their fear. When it was clear that the ostracism would fall on one of three men — Phaeax, Alcibiades, or Nicias — Alcibiades had a conference with Nicias, united their two parties into one and turned the vote of ostracism upon Hyperbolus.
[Alc. 13.5] Some say, however, that it was not Nicias, but Phaeax, with whom Alcibiades had the conference which resulted in winning over that leader’s party and banishing Hyperbolus, who could have had no inkling of his fate. 5 For no worthless or disreputable fellow had ever before fallen under this condemnation of ostracism. As Plato, the comic poet, has somewhere said, in speaking of Hyperbolus,
[Alc. 13.5b] “And yet he suffered worthy fate for men of old;
A fate unworthy though of him and of his brands.
[Alc. 13.5c] For such as he the ostrakon was ne’er devised.”
[Alc. 13.5d] However, the facts which have been ascertained about this case have been stated more at length elsewhere.
[Alc. 14.1] 14 1 Alcibiades was sore distressed to see Nicias no less admired by his enemies than honoured by his fellow-citizens. For although Alcibiades was resident consul for the Lacedaemonians at Athens, and had ministered to their men who had been taken prisoners at Pylos, 2 still, they felt that it was chiefly due to Nicias that they had obtained peace and the final surrender of those men, and so they lavished their regard upon him. And Hellenes everywhere said that it was Pericles who had plunged them into war, but Nicias who had delivered them out of it, and most men called the peace the “Peace of Nicias.” Alcibiades was therefore distressed beyond measure, and in his envy planned a violation of the solemn treaty. 3 To begin with, he saw that the Argives hated and feared the Spartans and sought to be rid of them. So he secretly held out hopes to them of an alliance with Athens, and encouraged them, by conferences with the chief men of their popular party, not to fear nor yield to the Lacedaemonians, but to look to Athens and await her action, since she was now all but repentant, and desirous of abandoning the peace which she had made with Sparta.
[Alc. 14.4] 4 And again, when the Lacedaemonians made a separate alliance with the Boeotians, and delivered up Panactum to the Athenians not intact, as they were bound to do by the treaty, but dismantled, he took advantage of the Athenians’ wrath at this to embitter them yet more. He raised a tumult in the assembly against Nicias, and slandered him with accusations all too plausible. 5 Nicias himself, he said, when he was general, had refused to capture the enemy’s men who were cut off on the island of Sphacteria, and when others had captured them, he had released and given them back to the Lacedaemonians, whose favour he sought; and then he did not persuade those same Lacedaemonians, tried friend of theirs as he was, not to make separate alliance with the Boeotians or even with the Corinthians, and yet whenever any Hellenes wished to be friends and allies of Athens, he tried to prevent it, unless it were the good pleasure of the Lacedaemonians.
[Alc. 14.6] 6 Nicias was reduced to great straits by all this, but just then, by rare good fortune as it were, an embassy came from Sparta, with reasonable proposals to begin on, and with assurances that they came with full powers to adopt any additional terms that were conciliatory and just. The council received them favourably, and the people were to hold an assembly on the following day for their reception. But Alcibiades feared a peaceful outcome, and managed to secure a private conference with the embassy. When they were convened he said to them: 7 “What is the matter with you, men of Sparta? Why are you blind to the fact that the council is always moderate and courteous towards those who have dealings with it, while the people’s assembly is haughty and has great ambitions? If you say to them that you are come with unlimited powers, 198 they will lay their commands and compulsions upon you without any feeling. Come now, put away such simplicity as this, and if you wish to get moderate terms from the Athenians, and to suffer no compulsion at their hands which you cannot yourselves approve, then discuss with them what would be a just settlement of your case, assuring them that you have not full powers to act. I will coöperate with you, out of my regard for the Lacedaemonians.” 8 After this speech he gave them his oath, and so seduced them wholly away from the influence of Nicias. They trusted him implicitly, admired his cleverness and sagacity, and thought him no ordinary man.
[Alc. 14.9] On the following day the people convened in the assembly, and the embassy was introduced to them. On being asked by Alcibiades, in the most courteous tone, with what powers they had come, they replied that they were not come with full and independent powers. 9 At once, then, Alcibiades assailed them with angry shouts, as though he were the injured party, not they, calling them faithless and fickle men, who were come on no sound errand whatever. The council was indignant, the assembly was enraged, and Nicias was filled with consternation and shame at the men’s change of front. He was unaware of the deceitful trick which had been played upon him.
[Alc. 15.1] 15 1 After this fiasco on the part of the Lacedaemonians, Alcibiades was appointed general, and straightway brought the Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans into alliance with Athens. The manner of this achievement of his no one approved, but the effect of it was great. It divided and agitated almost all Peloponnesus; it arrayed against the Lacedaemonians at Mantinea so many warlike shields upon a single day; it set at farthest remove from Athens the struggle, with all its risks, in which, when the Lacedaemonians conquered, their victory brought them no great advantage, whereas, had they been defeated, the very existence of Sparta would have been at stake.
[Alc. 15.2] 2 After this battle of Mantinea, the oligarchs of Argos, “The Thousand,” set out at once to depose the popular party and make the city subject to themselves; and the Lacedaemonians came and deposed the democracy. But the populace took up arms again and got the upper hand. Then Alcibiades came and made the people’s victory secure. He also persuaded them to run long walls down to the sea, and so to attach their city completely to the naval dominion of Athens. 3 He actually brought carpenters and masons from Athens, and displayed all manner of zeal, thus winning favour and power for himself no less than for his city. In like manner he persuaded the people of Patrae to attach their city to the sea by long walls. Thereupon some one said to the Patrensians: “Athens will swallow you up!” “Perhaps so,” said Alcibiades, “but you will go slowly, and feet first; whereas Sparta will swallow you head first, and at one gulp.”
[Alc. 15.4] 4 However, he counselled the Athenians to assert dominion on land also, and to maintain in very deed the oath regularly propounded to their young warriors in the sanctuary of Agraulus. They take oath that they will regard wheat, barley, the vine, and the olive as the natural boundaries of Attica, and they are thus trained to consider as their own all the habitable and fruitful earth.
[Alc. 16.1] 16 1 But all this statecraft and eloquence and lofty purpose and cleverness was attended with great luxuriousness of life, with wanton drunkenness and lewdness, with effeminacy in dress, — he would trail long purple robes through the market place, — and with prodigal expenditures. He would have the decks of his triremes cut away that he might sleep more softly, his bedding being slung on cords rather than spread on the hard planks. He had a golden shield made for himself, bearing no ancestral device, 2 but an Eros armed with a thunderbolt. The reputable men of the city looked on all these things with loathing and indignation, and feared his contemptuous and lawless spirit. They thought such conduct as his tyrant-like and monstrous. 199 How the common folk felt towards him has been well set forth by Aristophanes in these words: —
[Alc. 16.1b] “It yearns for him, and hates him too, but wants him back;”
and again, veiling a yet greater severity in his metaphor:–
“A lion is not to be reared within the state;
But, once you’ve reared him up, consult his every mood.”
[Alc. 16.3] 3 And indeed, his voluntary contributions of money, his support of public exhibitions, his unsurpassed munificence towards the city, the glory of his ancestry, the power of his eloquence, the comeliness and vigour of his person, together with his experience and prowess in war, made the Athenians lenient and tolerant towards everything else; they were forever giving the mildest of names to his transgressions, calling them the product of youthful spirits and ambition.
[Alc. 16.4] 4 For instance, he once imprisoned the painter Agatharchus in his house until he had adorned it with paintings for him, and then dismissed his captive with a handsome present. And when Taureas was supporting a rival exhibition, he gave him a box on the ear, so eager was he for the victory. And he picked out a woman from among the prisoners of Melos to be his mistress, and reared a son she bore him. 5 This was an instance of what they called his kindness of heart, but the execution of all the grown men of Melos was chiefly due to him, since he supported the decree therefor.
[Alc. 16.4b] Aristophon painted Nemea with Alcibiades seated in her arms; whereat the people were delighted, and ran in crowds to see the picture. But the elders were indignant at this too; they said it smacked of tyranny and lawlessness. And it would seem that Archestratus, in his verdict on the painting, did not go wide of the mark when he said that Hellas could not endure more than one Alcibiades.
[Alc. 16.6] 6 Timon the misanthrope once saw Alcibiades, after a successful day, being publicly escorted home from the assembly. He did not pass him by nor avoid him, as his custom was with others, but met him and greeted him, saying: “It’s well you’re growing so, my child; you’ll grow big enough to ruin all this rabble.” At this some laughed, and some railed, and some gave much heed to the saying. So undecided was public opinion about Alcibiades, by reason of the unevenness of his nature.
[Alc. 17.1] 17 1 On Sicily the Athenians had cast longing eyes even while Pericles was living; and after his death they actually tried to lay hands upon it. The lesser expeditions which they sent thither from time to time, ostensibly for the aid and comfort of their allies on the island who were being wronged by the Syracusans, they regarded merely as stepping stones to the greater expedition of conquest. 2 But the man who finally fanned this desire of theirs into flame, and persuaded them not to attempt the island any more in part and little by little, but to sail thither with a great armament and subdue it utterly, was Alcibiades; he persuaded the people to have great hopes, and he himself had greater aspirations still. Such were his hopes that he regarded Sicily as a mere beginning, and not, like the rest, as an end of the expedition. 3 So while Nicias was trying to divert the people from the capture of Syracuse as an undertaking too difficult for them, Alcibiades was dreaming of Carthage and Libya, and, after winning these, of at once encompassing Italy and Peloponnesus. He almost regarded Sicily as the ways and means provided for his greater war. The young men were at once carried away on the wings of such hopes, and their elders kept recounting in their ears many wonderful things about the projected expedition. Many were they who sat in the palaestras and lounging-places mapping out in the sand the shape of Sicily and the position of Libya and Carthage.
[Alc. 17.4] 4 Socrates the philosopher, however, and Meton the astrologer, are said to have had no hopes that any good would come to the city from this expedition; Socrates, as it is likely, because he got an inkling of the future from the divine guide who was his familiar. Meton — whether his fear of the future arose from mere calculation or from his use of some sort of divination — feigned madness, 200 and seizing a blazing torch, was like to have set fire to his own house. 5 Some say, however, that Meton made no pretence of madness, but actually did burn his house down in the night, and then, in the morning, came before the people begging and praying that, in view of his great calamity, his son might be released from the expedition. At any rate, he succeeded in cheating his fellow citizens, and obtained his desire.
[Alc. 18.1] 18 1 Nicias was elected general against his will, and he was anxious to avoid the command most of all because of his fellow commander. For it had seemed to the Athenians that the war would go on better if they did not send out Alcibiades unblended, but rather tempered his rash daring with the prudent forethought of Nicias. As for the third general, Lamachus, though advanced in years, he was thought, age notwithstanding, to be no less fiery than Alcibiades, and quite as fond of taking risks in battle. 2 During the deliberations of the people on the extent and character of the armament, Nicias again tried to oppose their wishes and put a stop to the war. But Alcibiades answered all his arguments and carried the day, and then Demostratus, the orator, formally moved that the generals have full and independent powers in the matter of the armament and of the whole war.
[Alc. 18.3] After the people had adopted this motion and all things were made ready for the departure of the fleet, there were some unpropitious signs and portents, especially in connection with the festival, namely, the Adonia. 3 This fell at that time, and little images like dead folk carried forth to burial were in many places exposed to view by the women, who mimicked burial rites, beat their breasts, and sang dirges. Moreover, the mutilation of the Hermae, most of which, in a single night, had their faces and forms disfigured, confounded the hearts of many, even among those who usually set small store by such things. It was said, it is true, that Corinthians had done the deed, Syracuse being a colony of theirs, in the hope that such portents would check or stop the war. 4 The multitude, however, were not moved by this reasoning, nor by that of those who thought the affair no terrible sign at all, but rather one of the common effects of strong wine, when dissolute youth, in mere sport, are carried away into wanton acts. They looked on the occurrence with wrath and fear, thinking it the sign of a bold and dangerous conspiracy. They therefore scrutinized keenly every suspicious circumstance, the council and the assembly convening for this purpose many times within a few days.
[Alc. 19.1] 19 1 During this time Androcles, the popular leader, produce sundry aliens and slaves who accused Alcibiades and his friends of mutilating other sacred images, and of making a parody of the mysteries of Eleusis in a drunken revel. They said that one Theodorus played the part of the Herald, Pulytion that of the Torch-bearer, and Alcibiades that of the High Priest, and that the rest of his companions were there in the rôle of initiates, and were dubbed Mystae. 2 Such indeed was the purport of the impeachment which Thessalus, the son of Cimon, brought in to the assembly, impeaching Alcibiades for impiety towards the Eleusinian goddesses. The people were exasperated, and felt bitterly towards Alcibiades, and Androcles, who was his mortal enemy, egged them on. At first Alcibiades was confounded. 3 But perceiving that all the seamen and soldiers who were going to sail for Sicily were friendly to him, and hearing that the Argive and Mantinean men-at arms, a thousand in number, declared plainly that it was all because of Alcibiades that they were making their long expedition across the seas, and that if any wrong should be done him they would at once abandon it, he took courage, and insisted on an immediate opportunity to defend himself before the people. His enemies were now in their turn dejected; they feared lest the people should be too lenient in their judgement of him because they needed him so much.
[Alc. 19.4] 201 4 Accordingly, they devised that certain orators who were not looked upon as enemies of Alcibiades, but who really hated him no less than his avowed foes, should rise in the assembly and say that it was absurd, when a general had been appointed, with full powers, over such a vast force, and when his armament and allies were all assembled, to destroy his beckoning opportunity by casting lots for jurors and measuring out time for the case. “Nay,” they said, “let him sail now, and Heaven be with him! But when the war is over, then let him come and make his defence. The laws will be the same then as now.” 5 Of course the malice in this postponement did not escape Alcibiades. He declared in the assembly that it was a terrible misfortune to be sent off at the head of such a vast force with his case still in suspense, leaving behind him vague accusations and slanders; he ought to be put to death if he did not refute them; but if he did refute them and prove his innocence, he ought to proceed against the enemy without any fear of the public informers at home.
[Alc. 20.1] 20 1 He could not carry his point, however, but was ordered to set sail. So he put to sea along with his fellow generals, having not much fewer than one hundred and forty triremes; fifty-one hundred men-at arms; about thirteen hundred archers, slingers, and light-armed folk; and the rest of his equipment to correspond. 2 On reaching Italy and taking Rhegium, he proposed a plan for the conduct of the war. Nicias opposed it, but Lamachus approved it, and so he sailed to Sicily. He secured the allegiance of Catana, but accomplished nothing further, since he was presently summoned home by the Athenians to stand his trial.
[Alc. 20.3] At first, as I have said, sundry vague suspicions and calumnies against Alcibiades were advanced by aliens and slaves. 3 Afterwards, during his absence, his enemies went to work more vigorously. They brought the outrage upon the Hermae and upon the Eleusinian mysteries under one and the same design; both, they said, were fruits of a conspiracy to subvert the government, and so all who were accused of any complicity whatsoever therein were cast into prison without trial. The people were provoked with themselves for not bringing Alcibiades to trial and judgment at the time on such grave charges, and any kinsman or friend or comrade of his who fell foul of their wrath against him, found them exceedingly severe. Thucydides neglected to mention the informers by name, but others give their names as Diocleides and Teucer. For instance, Phrynichus the comic poet referred to them thus: —
[Alc. 20.3b] “Look out too, dearest Hermes, not to get a fall,
And mar your looks, and so equip with calumny
Another Diocleides bent on wreaking harm.”
[Alc. 20.3c] And the Hermes replies: —
“I’m on the watch; there’s Teucer, too; I would not give
A prize for tattling to an alien of his guilt.”
[Alc. 20.5] 5 And yet there was nothing sure or steadfast in the statements of the informers. One of them, indeed, was asked how he recognized the faces of the Hermae-defacers, and replied, “By the light of the moon.” This vitiated the whole story, since there was no moon at all when the deed was done. Sensible men were troubled thereat, but even this did not soften the people’s feeling towards the slanderous stories. As they had set out to do in the beginning, so they continued, haling and casting into prison any one who was denounced.
[Alc. 21.1] 21 1 Among those thus held in bonds and imprisonment for trial was Andocides the orator, whom Hellanicus the historian included among the descendants of Odysseus. He was held to be a foe to popular government, and an oligarch, but what most made him suspected of the mutilation of the Hermae, was the tall Hermes which stood near his house, a dedication of the Aegeïd tribe. 202 2 This was almost the only one among the very few statues of like prominence to remain unharmed. For this reason it is called to this day the Hermes of Andocides. Everybody gives it that name, in spite of the adverse testimony of its inscription.
[Alc. 21.3] Now it happened that, of all those lying in prison with him under the same charge, Andocides became most intimate and friendly with a man named Timaeus, of less repute than himself, it is true, but of great sagacity and daring. 3 This man persuaded Andocides to turn state’s evidence against himself and a few others. If he confessed, — so the man argued, — he would have immunity from punishment by decree of the people; whereas the result of the trial, while uncertain in all cases, was most to be dreaded in that of influential men like himself. It was better to save his life by a false confession of crime, than to die a shameful death under a false charge of that crime. One who had an eye to the general welfare of the community might well abandon to their fate a few dubious characters, if he could thereby save a multitude of good men from the wrath of the people. 4 By such arguments of Timaeus, Andocides was at last persuaded to bear witness against himself and others. He himself received the immunity from punishment which had been decreed; but all those whom he named, excepting such as took to flight, were put to death, and Andocides added to their number some of his own household servants, that he might the better be believed.
[Alc. 21.5] 5 Still, the people did not lay aside all their wrath at this point, but rather, now that they were done with the Hermae-defacers, as if their passion had all the more opportunity to vent itself, they dashed like a torrent against Alcibiades, and finally dispatched the Salaminian state-galley to fetch him home. They shrewdly gave its officers explicit command not to use violence, nor to seize his person, but with all moderation of speech to bid him accompany them home to stand trial and satisfy the people. 6 For they were afraid that their army, in an enemy’s land, would be full of tumult and mutiny at the summons. And Alcibiades might easily have effected this had he wished. For the men were cast down at his departure, and expected that the war, under the conduct of Nicias, would be drawn out to a great length by delays and inactivity, now that their goad to action had been taken away. Lamachus, it is true, was a good soldier and a brave man; but he lacked authority and prestige because he was poor.
[Alc. 22.1] 22 1 Alcibiades had no sooner sailed away than he robbed the Athenians of Messana. There was a party there who were on the point of surrendering the city to the Athenians, but Alcibiades knew them, and gave the clearest information of their design to the friends of Syracuse in the city, and so brought the thing to naught. Arrived at Thurii, he left his trireme and hid himself so as to escape all quest. 2 When some one recognised him and asked, “Can you not trust your country, Alcibiades?” “In all else,” he said, “but in the matter of life I wouldn’t trust even my own mother not to mistake a black for a white ballot when she cast her vote.” And when he afterwards heard that the city had condemned him to death, “I’ll show them,” he said, “that I’m alive.”
[Alc. 22.3] 3 His impeachment is on record, and runs as follows: “Thessalus, son of Cimon, of the deme Laciadae, impeaches Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, of the deme Scambonidae, for committing crime against the goddesses of Eleusis, Demeter and Cora, by mimicking the mysteries and showing them forth to his companions in his own house, wearing a robe such as the High Priest wears when he shows forth the sacred secrets to the initiates, and calling himself High Priest, Pulytion Torch-bearer, and Theodorus, of the deme Phegaea, Herald, and hailing the rest of his companions as Mystae and Epoptae, contrary to the laws and institutions of the Eumolpidae, Heralds, and Priests of Eleusis.” 4 His case went by default, his property was confiscated, and besides that, it was also decreed that his name should be publicly cursed by all priests and priestesses. Theano, the daughter of Menon, of the deme Agraule, they say, was the only one who refused to obey this decree. She declared that she was a praying, not a cursing priestess.
[Alc. 23.1] 23 1 When these great judgments and condemnations were passed upon Alcibiades, he was tarrying in Argos, 203 for as soon as he had made his escape from Thurii, he passed over into Peloponnesus. But fearing his foes there, and renouncing his country altogether, he sent to the Spartans, demanding immunity and confidence, and promising to render them aid and service greater than all the harm he had previously done them as an enemy. 2 The Spartans granted this request and received him among them. No sooner was he come than he zealously brought one thing to pass: they had been delaying and postponing assistance to Syracuse; he roused and incited them to send Gylippus thither for a commander, and to crush the force which Athens had there. A second thing he did was to get them to stir up the war against Athens at home; and the third, and most important of all, to induce them to fortify Deceleia. This more than anything else wrought ruin and destruction to his native city.
[Alc. 23.3] 3 At Sparta, he was held in high repute publicly, and privately was no less admired. The multitude was brought under his influence, and was actually bewitched, by his assumption of the Spartan mode of life. When they saw him with his hair untrimmed, taking cold baths, on terms of intimacy with their coarse bread, and supping on black porridge, they could scarcely trust their eyes, and doubted whether such a man as he now was had ever had a cook in his own house, had even so much as looked upon a perfumer, or endured the touch of Milesian wool. 4 He had, as they say, one power which transcended all others, and proved an implement of his chase for men: that of assimilating and adapting himself to the pursuits and lives of others, thereby assuming more violent changes than the chameleon. That animal, however, as it is said, is utterly unable to assume one colour, namely, white; but Alcibiades could associate with good and bad alike, and found naught that he could not imitate and practice. 5 In Sparta, he was all for bodily training, simplicity of life, and severity of countenance; in Ionia, for luxurious ease and pleasure; in Thrace, for drinking deep; in Thessaly, for riding hard; and when he was thrown with Tissaphernes the satrap, he outdid even Persian magnificence in his pomp and lavishness. It was not that he could so easily pass entirely from one manner of man to another, nor that he actually underwent in every case a change in his real character; but when he saw that his natural manners were likely to be annoying to his associates, he was quick to assume any counterfeit exterior which might in each case be suitable for them. 6 At all events, in Sparta, so far as the outside was concerned, it was possible to say of him, “ ‘No child of Achilles he, but Achilles himself,’ such a man as Lycurgus trained”; but judging by what he actually felt and did, one might have cried with the poet, “ ‘Tis the selfsame woman still!”
[Alc. 23.7] 7 For while Agis the king was away on his campaigns, Alcibiades corrupted Timaea his wife, so that she was with child by him and made no denial of it. When she had given birth to a male child, it was called Leotychides in public, but in private the name which the boy’s mother whispered to her friends and attendants was Alcibiades. Such was the passion that possessed the woman. But he, in his mocking way, said he had not done this thing for a wanton insult, nor at the behest of mere pleasure, but in order that descendants of his might be kings of the Lacedaemonians. 8 Such being the state of things, there were many to tell the tale to Agis, and he believed it, more especially owing to the lapse of time. There had been an earthquake, and he had run in terror out of his chamber and the arms of his wife, and then for ten months had had no further intercourse with her. And since Leotychides had been born at the end of this period, Agis declared that he was no child of his. For this reason Leotychides was afterwards refused the royal succession.
[Alc. 24.1] 24 1 After the Athenian disaster in Sicily, the Chians, Lesbians, and Cyzicenes sent embassies at the same time to Sparta, to discuss a revolt from Athens. But though the Boeotians supported the appeal of the Lesbians, and Pharnabazus that of the Cyzicenes, the Spartans, under the persuasion of Alcibiades, elected to help the Chians first of all. 204 Alcibiades actually set sail in person and brought almost all Ionia to revolt, and, in constant association with the Lacedaemonian generals, wrought injury to the Athenians. 2 But Agis was hostile to him because of the wrong he had suffered as a husband, and he was also vexed at the repute in which Alcibiades stood; for most of the successes won were due to him, as report had it. The most influential and ambitious of the other Spartans also were already envious and tired of him, and soon grew strong enough to induce the magistrates at home to send out orders to Ionia that he be put to death.
[Alc. 24.3] 3 His stealthy discovery of this put him on his guard, and while in all their undertakings he took part with the Lacedaemonians, he sedulously avoided coming into their hands. Then, resorting to Tissaphernes, the King’s satrap, for safety, he was soon first and foremost in that grandee’s favour. 4 For his versatility and surpassing cleverness were the admiration of the Barbarian, who was no straightforward man himself, but malicious and fond of evil company. And indeed no disposition could resist and no nature escape Alcibiades, so full of grace was his daily life and conversation. Even those who feared and hated him felt a rare and winning charm in his society and presence. 5 And thus it was that Tissaphernes, though otherwise the most ardent of the Persians in his hatred of the Hellenes, so completely surrendered to the flatteries of Alcibiades as to outdo him in reciprocal flatteries. Indeed, the most beautiful park he had, both for its refreshing waters and grateful lawns, with resorts and retreats decked out in regal and extravagant fashion, he named Alcibiades; everyone always called it by that name.
[Alc. 25.1] 25 1 Alcibiades now abandoned the cause of the Spartans, since he distrusted them and feared Agis, and began to malign and slander them to Tissaphernes. He advised him not to aid them very generously, and yet not to put down the Athenians completely, but rather by niggardly assistance to straiten and gradually wear out both, and so make them easy victims for King when they had weakened and exhausted each other. 2 Tissaphernes was easily persuaded, and all men saw that he loved and admired his new adviser, so that Alcibiades was looked up to by the Hellenes on both sides, and the Athenians repented themselves of the sentence they had passed upon him, now that they were suffering for it. Alcibiades himself also was presently burdened with the fear that if his native city were altogether destroyed, he might come into the power of the Lacedaemonians, who hated him.
[Alc. 25.3] 3 At this time almost all the forces of Athens were at Samos. From this island as their naval base of operations they were trying to win back some of their Ionian allies who had revolted, and were watching others who were disaffected. After a fashion they still managed to cope with their enemies on the sea, but they were afraid of Tissaphernes and of the fleet of one hundred and fifty Phoenician triremes which was said to be all but at hand; if this once came up, no hope of safety was left for their city. 4 Alcibiades was aware of this, and sent secret messages to the influential Athenians at Samos, in which he held out the hope that he might bring Tissaphernes over to be their friend. He did not seek, he said, the favour of the multitude, nor trust them, but rather that of the aristocrats, in case they would venture to show themselves men, put a stop to the insolence of the people, take the direction of affairs into their own hands, and save their cause and city.
[Alc. 25.5] 5 Now the rest of the aristocrats were much inclined to Alcibiades. But one of the generals, Phrynichus, of the deme Deirades, suspected (what was really the case) that Alcibiades had no more use for an oligarchy than for a democracy, but merely sought in one way or another a recall from exile, and therefore inveighed against the people merely to court betimes the favour of the aristocrats, and ingratiate himself with them. He therefore opposed him. When his opinion had been overborne and he was now become an open enemy of Alcibiades, 205 he sent a secret message to Astyochus, the enemy’s naval commander, bidding him beware of Alcibiades and arrest him, for that he was playing a double game. 6 But without his knowing it, it was a case of traitor dealing with traitor. For Astyochus was much in awe of Tissaphernes, and seeing that Alcibiades had great power with the satrap, he disclosed the message of Phrynichus to them both. Alcibiades at once sent men to Samos to denounce Phrynichus. All the Athenians there were incensed and banded themselves together against Phrynichus, who, seeing no other escape from his predicament, attempted to cure one evil by another and a greater. 7 He sent again to Astyochus, chiding him indeed for his disclosure of the former message, but announcing that he stood ready to deliver into his hands the fleet and army of the Athenians.
[Alc. 25.8] However, this treachery of Phrynichus did not harm the Athenians at all, because of the fresh treachery of Astyochus. This second message of Phrynichus also he delivered to Alcibiades. 8 But Phrynichus knew all the while that he would do so, and expected a second denunciation from Alcibiades. So he got the start of him by telling the Athenians himself that the enemy were going to attack them, and advising them to have their ships manned and their camp fortified. 9 The Athenians were busy doing this when again a letter came from Alcibiades bidding them beware of Phrynichus, since he had offered to betray their fleet to the enemy. This letter they disbelieved at the time, supposing that Alcibiades, who must know perfectly the equipment and purposes of the enemy, had used his knowledge in order to calumniate Phrynichus falsely. 10 Afterwards, however, when Hermon, one of the frontier guard, had smitten Phrynichus with a dagger and slain him in the open market-place, the Athenians tried the case of the dead man, found him guilty of treachery, and awarded crowns to Hermon and his accomplices.
[Alc. 26.1] 26 1 But at Samos the friends of Alcibiades soon got the upper hand, and sent Peisander to Athens to change the form of government. He was to encourage the leading men to overthrow the democracy and take control of affairs, with the plea that on these terms alone would Alcibiades make Tissaphernes their friend and ally. This was the pretence and this the pretext of those who established the oligarchy at Athens. 2 But as soon as the so called Five Thousand (they were really only four hundred) got the power and took control of affairs, they at once neglected Alcibiades entirely, and waged the war with less vigour, partly because they distrusted the citizens, who still looked askance at the new form of government, and partly because they thought that the Lacedaemonians, who always looked with favour on an oligarchy, would be more lenient towards them. 3 The popular party in the city was constrained by fear to keep quiet, because many of those who openly opposed the Four Hundred had been slain. But when the army in Samos learned what had been done at home, they were enraged, and were eager to sail forthwith to the Piraeus, and sending for Alcibiades, they appointed him general, and bade him lead them in putting down the tyrants.
[Alc. 26.4] 4 An ordinary man, thus suddenly raised to great power by the favour of the multitude, would have been full of complaisance, thinking that he must at once gratify them in all things and oppose them in nothing, since they had made him, instead of a wandering exile, leader and general of such a fleet and of so large an armed force. But Alcibiades, as became a great leader, felt that he must oppose them in their career of blind fury, and prevented them from making a fatal mistake. Therefore in this instance, at least, he was the manifest salvation of the city. 5 For had they sailed off home, their enemies might at once have occupied all Ionia, 206 the Hellespont without a battle, and the islands, while Athenians were fighting Athenians and making their own city the seat of war. Such a war Alcibiades, more than any other one man, prevented, not only persuading and instructing the multitude together, but also, taking them man by man, supplicating some and constraining others. 6 He had a helper, too, in Thrasybulus of Steiris, who went along with him and did the shouting; for he had, it is said, the biggest voice of all the Athenians.
[Alc. 26.7] A second honourable proceeding of Alcibiades was his promising to bring over to their side the Phoenician ships which the King had sent out and the Lacedaemonians were expecting, — or at least to see that those expectations were not realized, — and his sailing off swiftly on this errand. 7 The ships were actually seen off Aspendus, but Tissaphernes did not bring them up, and thereby played the Lacedaemonians false. Alcibiades, however, was credited with this diversion of the ships by both parties, and especially by the Lacedaemonians. The charge was that he instructed the Barbarian to suffer the Hellenes to destroy one another. For it was perfectly clear that the side to which such a naval force attached itself would rob the other altogether of the control of the sea.
[Alc. 27.1] 27 1 After this the Four Hundred were overthrown, the friends of Alcibiades now zealously assisting the party of the people. Then the city willingly ordered Alcibiades to come back home. But he thought he must not return with empty hands and without achievement, through the pity and favour of the multitude, but rather in a blaze of glory. So, to begin with, he set sail with a small fleet from Samos and cruised off Cnidus and Cos. 2 There he heard that Mindarus the Spartan admiral had sailed off to the Hellespont with his entire fleet, followed by the Athenians, and so he hastened to the assistance of their generals. By chance he came up, with his eighteen triremes, at just that critical point when both parties, having joined battle with all their ships off Abydos, and sharing almost equally in victory and defeat until evening, were locked in a great struggle. 3 The appearance of Alcibiades inspired both sides with a false opinion of his coming: the enemy were emboldened and the Athenians were confounded. But he quickly hoisted Athenian colours on his flagship and darted straight upon the victorious and pursuing Peloponnesians. Routing them, he drove them to land, and following hard after them, rammed and shattered their ships. Their crews swam ashore, and here Pharnabazus came to their aid with his infantry and fought along the beach in defence of their ships. 4 But finally the Athenians captured thirty of them, rescued their own, and erected a trophy of victory.
[Alc. 27.5] Taking advantage of a success so brilliant as this, and ambitious to display himself at once before Tissaphernes, Alcibiades supplied himself with gifts of hospitality and friendship and proceeded, at the head of an imperial retinue, to visit the satrap. 5 His reception, however, was not what he expected. Tissaphernes had for a long time been accused by the Lacedaemonians to the King, and being in fear of the King’s condemnation, it seemed to him that Alcibiades had come in the nick of time. So he arrested him and shut him up in Sardis, hoping that such an outrage upon him as this would dispel the calumnies of the Spartans.
[Alc. 28.1] 28 1 After the lapse of thirty days Alcibiades ran away from his guards, got a horse from some one or other, and made his escape to Clazomenae. To repay Tissaphernes, he alleged that he had escaped with that satrap’s connivance, and so brought additional calumny upon him. He himself sailed to the camp of the Athenians, where he learned that Mindarus, along with Pharnabazus, was in Cyzicus. 2 Thereupon he roused the spirits of the soldiers, declaring that they must now do sea-fighting and land-fighting and even siege-fighting, too, against their enemies, 207 for poverty stared them in the face unless they were victorious in every way. He then manned his ships and made his way to Proconnesus, giving orders at once to seize all small trading craft and keep them under guard, that the enemy might get no warning of his approach from any source so ever.
[Alc. 28.3] 3 Now it chanced that copious rain fell all of a sudden, and thunder-peals and darkness coöperated with him in concealing his design. Indeed, not only did he elude the enemy, but even the Athenians themselves had already given up all expectation of fighting, when he suddenly ordered them aboard ship and put out to sea. After a little the darkness cleared away, and the Peloponnesian ships were seen hovering off the harbour of Cyzicus. 4 Fearing then lest they catch sight of the full extent of his array and take refuge ashore, he ordered his fellow-commanders to sail slowly and so remain in the rear, while he himself, with only forty ships, hove in sight and challenged the foe to battle. The Peloponnesians were utterly deceived, and scorning what they deemed the small numbers of their enemy, put out to meet them, and closed at once with them in a grappling fight. Presently, while the battle was raging, the Athenian reserves bore down upon their foe, who were panic stricken and took to flight.
[Alc. 28.5] 5 Then Alcibiades with twenty of his best ships broke through their line, put to shore, and disembarking his crews, attacked his enemy as they fled from their ships, and slew many of them. Mindarus and Pharnabazus, who came to their aid, he overwhelmed; Mindarus was slain fighting sturdily, but Pharnabazus made his escape. 6 Many were the dead bodies and the arms of which the Athenians became masters, and they captured all their enemy’s ships. Then they also stormed Cyzicus, which Pharnabazus abandoned to its fate, and the Peloponnesians in it were annihilated. Thus the Athenians not only had the Hellespont under their sure control, but even drove the Lacedaemonians at a stroke from the rest of the sea. A dispatch was captured announcing the disaster to the ephors in true laconic style: “Our ships are lost; Mindarus is gone; our men are starving; we know not what to do.”
[Alc. 29.1] 29 1 But the soldiers of Alcibiades were now so elated and filled with pride that they disdained longer to mingle with the rest of the army, since it had often been conquered, while they were unconquered. For not long before this, Thrasyllus had suffered a reverse at Ephesus, and the Ephesians had erected their bronze trophy of victory, to the disgrace of the Athenians. 2 This was what the soldiers of Alcibiades cast in the teeth of Thrasyllus’ men, vaunting themselves and their general, and refusing to share either training or quarters in camp with them. But when Pharnabazus with much cavalry and infantry attacked the forces of Thrasyllus, who had made a raid into the territory of Abydos, Alcibiades sallied out to their aid, routed Pharnabazus, and pursued him till nightfall, along with Thrasyllus. Thus the two factions were blended, and returned to their camp with mutual friendliness and delight.
[Alc. 29.3] 3 On the following day Alcibiades set up a trophy of victory and plundered the territory of Pharnabazus, no one venturing to defend it. He even captured some priests and priestesses, but let them go without ransom. On setting out to attack Chalcedon, which had revolted from Athens and received a Lacedaemonian garrison and governor, he heard that its citizens had collected all their goods and chattels out of the country and committed them for safe keeping to the Bithynians, who were their friends. So he marched to the confines of Bithynia with his army, and sent on a herald with accusations and demands. The Bithynians, in terror, gave up the booty to him, and made a treaty of friendship.
[Alc. 30.1] 30 1 While Chalcedon was being walled in from sea to sea, Pharnabazus came to raise the siege, and at the same time Hippocrates, the Spartan governor, 208 led his forces out of the city and attacked the Athenians. But Alcibiades arrayed his army so as to face both enemies at once, put Pharnabazus to shameful flight, and slew Hippocrates together with many of his vanquished men.
[Alc. 30.2] 2 Then he sailed in person into the Hellespont and levied moneys there. He also captured Selymbria, where he exposed himself beyond all bounds. For there was a party in the city which offered to surrender it to him, and they had agreed with him upon the signal of a lighted torch displayed at midnight. But they were forced to give this signal before the appointed time, through fear of one of the conspirators, who suddenly changed his mind. So the torch was displayed before his army was ready; but Alcibiades took about thirty men and ran to the walls, bidding the rest of his force follow with all speed. 3 The gate was thrown open for him and he rushed into the city, his thirty men-at arms reinforced by twenty targeteers, but he saw at once that the Selymbrians were advancing in battle array to attack him. In resistance he saw no safety, and for flight, undefeated as he was in all his campaigns down to that day, he had too much spirit. He therefore bade the trumpet signal silence, and then ordered formal proclamation to be made that Selymbria must not bear arms against Athens. 4 This proclamation made some of the Selymbrians less eager for battle, if, as they supposed, their enemies were all inside the walls; and others were mollified by hopes of a peaceful settlement. While they were thus parleying with one another, up came the army of Alcibiades. Judging now, as was really the case, that the Selymbrians were disposed for peace, he was afraid that his Thracian soldiers might plunder the city. 5 There were many of these, and they were zealous in their service, through the favour and good will they bore Alcibiades. Accordingly, he sent them all out of the city, and then, at the plea of the Selymbrians, did their city no injury whatever, but merely took a sum of money from it, set a garrison in it, and went his way.
[Alc. 31.1] 31 1 Meanwhile the Athenian generals who were besieging Chalcedon made peace with Pharnabazus on condition that they receive a sum of money, that Chalcedon be subject again to Athens, that the territories of Pharnabazus be not ravaged, and that the said Pharnabazus furnish safe escort for an Athenian embassy to the King. 2 Accordingly, when Alcibiades came back from Selymbria, Pharnabazus demanded that he too take oath to the treaty; but Alcibiades refused to do so until Pharnabazus had taken his oath to it.
[Alc. 31.3] After the oaths had been taken, he went up against Byzantium, which was in revolt against Athens, and compassed the city with a wall. But after Anaxilaüs, Lycurgus, and certain men besides had agreed to surrender the city to him on condition that it be not plundered, he spread abroad the story that threatening complications in Ionia called him away. Then he sailed off in broad daylight with all his ships; 3 but in the night time stealthily returned. He disembarked with the men-at arms under his own command, and stationed himself quietly within reach of the city’s walls. His fleet, meanwhile, sailed to the harbour, and forcing its way in with much shouting and tumult and din, terrified the Byzantians by the unexpectedness of its attack, while it gave the party of Athens in the city a chance to admit Alcibiades in all security, since everybody had hurried off to the harbour and the fleet. 4 However, the day was not won without a battle. The Peloponnesians, Boeotians and Megarians who were in garrison at Byzantium routed the ships’ crews and drove them back on board again. Then, perceiving that the Athenians were inside the city, they formed in battle array and advanced to attack them. A fierce battle followed, but Alcibiades was victorious with the right wing, as well as Theramenes with the left, and they took prisoners no less than three hundred of the enemy who survived.
[Alc. 31.5] 5 Not a man of the Byzantians was put to death or sent into exile after the battle, 209 for it was on these conditions that the men who surrendered the city had acted, and this was the agreement with them; they exacted no special grace for themselves. Therefore it was that when Anaxilaüs was prosecuted at Sparta for treachery, his words showed clearly that his deeds had not been disgraceful. He said that he was not a Lacedaemonian, but a Byzantian, and it was not Sparta that was in peril. Considering therefore the case of Byzantium, he saw that the city was walled up, that no help could make its way in, 6 and that the provisions already in the city were being consumed by Peloponnesians and Boeotians, while the Byzantians were starving, together with their wives and children. He had, therefore, not betrayed the city to its enemies, but set it free from war and its horrors, therein imitating the noblest Lacedaemonians, in whose eyes the one unqualifiedly honourable and righteous thing is their country’s good. The Lacedaemonians, on hearing this, were moved with sincere respect, and acquitted the men.
[Alc. 32.1] 32 1 But Alcibiades, yearning at last to see his home, and still more desirous of being seen by his fellow citizens, now that he had conquered their enemies so many times, set sail. His Attic triremes were adorned all round with many shields and spoils of war; many that he had captured in battle were towed along in his wake; and still more numerous were the figure-heads he carried of triremes which had been overwhelmed and destroyed by him. There were not less than two hundred of these all together.
[Alc. 32.2] 2 Duris the Samian, who claims that he was a descendant of Alcibiades, gives some additional details. He says that the oarsmen of Alcibiades rowed to the music of a flute blown by Chrysogonus the Pythian victor; that they kept time to a rhythmic call from the lips of Callippides the tragic actor; that both these artists were arrayed in the long tunics, flowing robes, and other adornment of their profession; and that the commander’s ship put into harbours with a sail of purple hue, as though, after a drinking bout, he were off on a revel. 3 But neither Theopompus, nor Ephorus, nor Xenophon mentions these things, nor is it likely that Alcibiades put on such airs for the Athenians, to whom he was returning after he had suffered exile and many great adversities. Nay, he was in actual fear as he put into the harbour, and once in, he did not leave his trireme until, as he stood on deck, he caught sight of his cousin Euryptolemus on shore, with many other friends and kinsmen, and heard their cries of welcome.
[Alc. 32.4] 4 When he landed, however, people did not deign so much as to look at the other generals whom they met, but ran in throngs to Alcibiades with shouts of welcome, escorting him on his way, and putting wreaths on his head as they could get to him, while those who could not come to him for the throng, gazed at him from afar, the elderly men pointing him out to the young. Much sorrow, too, was mingled with the city’s joy, as men called to mind their former misfortunes and compared them with their present good fortune, counting it certain that they had neither lost Sicily, 5 nor had any other great expectation of theirs miscarried if they had only left Alcibiades at the head of that enterprise and the armament therefor. For now he had taken the city when she was almost banished from the sea, when on land she was hardly mistress of her own suburbs, and when factions raged within her walls, and had raised her up from this wretched and lowly plight, not only restoring her dominion over the sea, but actually rendering her victorious over her enemies everywhere on land.
[Alc. 33.1] 33 1 Now the decree for his recall had been passed before this, on motion of Critias, the son of Callaeschrus, as Critias himself has written in his elegies, where he reminds Alcibiades of the favour in these words: —
[Alc. 33.1b] “Mine was the motion that brought thee back; I made it in public;
Words and writing were mine; this the task I performed;
Signet and seal of words that were mine give warrant as follows.”
[Alc. 33.2] 2 At this time, therefore, the people had only to meet in assembly, and Alcibiades addressed them. 210 He lamented and bewailed his own lot, but had only little and moderate blame to lay upon the people. The entire mischief he ascribed to a certain evil fortune and envious genius of his own. Then he descanted at great length upon the vain hopes which their enemies were cherishing, and wrought his hearers up to courage. At last they crowned him with crowns of gold, and elected him general with sole powers by land and sea. 3 They voted also that his property be restored to him, and that the Eumolpidae and Heralds revoke the curses wherewith they had cursed him at the command of the people. The others revoked their curses, but Theodorus the High Priest said: “Nay, I invoked no evil upon him if he does no wrong to the city.”
[Alc. 34.1] 34 1 But while Alcibiades was thus prospering brilliantly, some were nevertheless disturbed at the particular season of his return. For he had put into harbour on the very day when the Plynteria of the goddess Athene were being celebrated. The Praxiergidae celebrate these rites on the twenty-fifth day of Thargelion, in strict secrecy, removing the robes of the goddess and covering up her images. Wherefore the Athenians regard this day as the unluckiest of all days for business of any sort. 2 The goddess, therefore, did not appear to welcome Alcibiades with kindly favour and good will, but rather to veil herself from him and repel him. However, all things fell out as he wished, and one hundred triremes were manned for service, with which he was minded to sail off again; but a great and laudable ambition took possession of him and detained him there until the Eleusinian mysteries.
[Alc. 34.3] 3 Ever since Deceleia had been fortified, and the enemy, by their presence there, commanded the approaches to Eleusis, the festal rite had been celebrated with no splendour at all, being conducted by sea. Sacrifices, choral dances, and many of the sacred ceremonies usually held on the road, when Iacchus is conducted forth from Athens to Eleusis, had of necessity been omitted. 4 Accordingly, it seemed to Alcibiades that it would be a fine thing, enhancing his holiness in the eyes of the gods and his good repute in the minds of men, to restore its traditional fashion to the sacred festival by escorting the rite with his infantry along past the enemy by land. He would thus either thwart and humble Agis, if the king kept entirely quiet, or would fight a fight that was sacred and approved by the gods, in behalf of the greatest and holiest interests, in full sight of his native city, and with all his fellow citizens eye-witnesses of his valour.
[Alc. 34.5] 5 When he had determined upon this course and made known his design to the Eumolpidae and Heralds, he stationed sentries on the heights, sent out an advance-guard at break of day, and then took the priests, mystae, and mystagogues, encompassed them with his men-at arms, and led them over the road to Eleusis in decorous and silent array. So august and devout was the spectacle which, as general, he thus displayed, that he was hailed by those who were not unfriendly to him as High Priest, rather, and Mystagogue. 6 No enemy dared to attack him, and he conducted the procession safely back to the city. At this he was exalted in spirit himself, and exalted his army with the feeling that it was irresistible and invincible under his command. People of the humbler and poorer sort he so captivated by his leadership that they were filled with an amazing passion to have him for their tyrant, and some proposed it, and actually came to him in solicitation of it. He was to rise superior to envy, abolish decrees and laws, and stop the mouths of the babblers who were so fatal to the life of the city, that he might bear an absolute sway and act without fear of the public informer.
[Alc. 35.1] 35 1 What thoughts he himself had about a tyranny, is uncertain. But the most influential citizens were afraid of it, and therefore anxious that he should sail away as soon as he could. They even voted him, besides everything else, the colleagues of his own choosing. Setting sail, therefore, with his one hundred ships, and assaulting Andros, he conquered the islanders in battle, as well as the Lacedaemonians who were there, 211 but he did not capture the city. This was the first of the fresh charges brought against him by his enemies.
[Alc. 35.2] 2 And it would seem that if ever a man was ruined by his own exalted reputation, that man was Alcibiades. His continuous successes gave him such repute for unbounded daring and sagacity, that when he failed in anything, men suspected his inclination; they would not believe in his inability. Were he only inclined to do a thing, they thought, naught could escape him. So they expected to hear that the Chians also had been taken, along with the rest of Ionia. 3 They were therefore incensed to hear that he had not accomplished everything at once and speedily, to meet their wishes. They did not stop to consider his lack of money. This compelled him, since he was fighting men who had an almoner of bounty in the Great King, to leave his camp frequently and sail off in quest of money for rations and wages. The final and prevailing charge against him was due to this necessity.
[Alc. 35.4] 4 Lysander, who had been sent out as admiral by the Lacedaemonians, paid his sailors four obols a day instead of three, out of the moneys he received from Cyrus; while Alcibiades, already hard put to it to pay even his three obols, was forced to sail for Caria to levy money. The man whom he left in charge of his fleet, Antiochus, was a brave captain, but otherwise a foolish and low-lived fellow. Although he had received explicit commands from Alcibiades not to hazard a general engagement even though the enemy sailed out to meet him, he showed such wanton contempt of them as to man his own trireme and one other and stand for Ephesus, indulging in many shamelessly insulting gestures and cries as he cruised past the prows of the enemy’s ships. 6 At first Lysander put out with a few ships only, and gave him chase. Then, when the Athenians came to the aid of Antiochus, Lysander put out with his whole fleet, won the day, slew Antiochus himself, captured many ships and men, and set up a trophy of victory. As soon as Alcibiades heard of this, he came back to Samos, put out to sea with his whole armament, and challenged Lysander to battle. But Lysander was satisfied with his victory, and would not put out to meet him.
[Alc. 36.1] 36 1 There were those who hated Alcibiades in the camp, and of these Thrasybulus, the son of Thraso, his particular enemy, set sail for Athens to denounce him. He stirred up the city against him by declaring to the people that it was Alcibiades who had ruined their cause and lost their ships by his wanton conduct in office. He had handed over — so Thrasybulus said — the duties of commander to men who won his confidence merely by drinking deep and reeling off sailors’ yarns, 2 in order that he himself might be free to cruise about collecting moneys and committing excesses of drunkenness and revelry with courtezans of Abydos and Ionia, and this while the enemy’s fleet lay close to him. His enemies also found ground for accusation against him in the fortress which he had constructed in Thrace, near Bisanthe. It was to serve, they said, as a refuge for him in case he either could not or would not live at home. 3 The Athenians were persuaded, and chose other generals in his place, thus displaying their anger and ill-will towards him. On learning this, Alcibiades was afraid, and departed from the camp altogether, and assembling mercenary troops made war on his own account against the Thracians who acknowledge no king. He got together much money from his captives, and at the same time afforded security from barbarian inroads to the Hellenes on the neighbouring frontier.
[Alc. 36.4] 4 Tydeus, Menander, and Adeimantus, the generals, who had all the ships which the Athenians could finally muster in station at Aegospotami, were wont to sail out at daybreak against Lysander, who lay with his fleet at Lampsacus, and challenge him to battle. Then they would sail back again, to spend the rest of the day in disorder and unconcern, since, forsooth, they despised their enemy. 212 5 Alcibiades, who was near at hand, could not see such conduct with calmness or indifference, but rode up on horseback and read the generals a lesson. He said their anchorage was a bad one; the place had no harbour and no city, but they had to get their supplies from Sestos, a long way off; and they permitted their crews, whenever they were on land, to wander and scatter about at their own sweet wills, while there lay at anchor over against them an armament which was trained to do everything silently at a word of absolute command.
[Alc. 37.1] 37 1 In spite of what Alcibiades said, and in spite of his advice to change their station to Sestos, the generals paid no heed. Tydeus actually insulted him by bidding him begone: he was not general now, but others. So Alcibiades departed, suspecting that some treachery was on foot among them. He told his acquaintances who were escorting him out of the camp that, had he not been so grievously insulted by the generals, within a few days he would have forced the Lacedaemonians to engage them whether they wished to do so or not, or else lose their ships. 2 Some thought that what he said was arrant boasting; but others that it was likely, since he had merely to bring up his numerous Thracian javelineers and horsemen to assault by land and confound the enemy’s camp.
[Alc. 37.3] However, that he saw only too well the errors of the Athenians the event soon testified. Lysander suddenly and unexpectedly fell upon them, and only eight of their triremes escaped with Conon; the rest, something less than two hundred, were captured and taken away. 3 Three thousand of their crews were taken alive and executed by Lysander. In a short time he also captured Athens, burned her ships, and tore down her long walls.
[Alc. 37.4] Alcibiades now feared the Lacedaemonians, who were supreme on land and sea, and betook himself into Bithynia, taking booty of every sort with him, but leaving even more behind him in the fortress where he had been living. 4 In Bithynia he again lost much of his substance, being plundered by the Thracians there, and so he determined to go up to the court of Artaxerxes. He thought to show himself not inferior to Themistocles if the King made trial of his services, and superior in his pretext for offering them. For it was not to be against his fellow countrymen, as in the case of that great man, but in behalf of his country that he would assist the King and beg him to furnish forces against a common enemy. Thinking that Pharnabazus could best give him facilities for safely making this journey up to the King, he went to him in Phrygia, and continued there with him, paying him court and receiving marks of honour from him.
[Alc. 38.1] 38 1 The Athenians were greatly depressed at the loss of their supremacy. But when Lysander robbed them of their freedom too, and handed the city over to thirty men, then, their cause being lost, their eyes were opened to the course they would not take when salvation was yet in their power. They sorrowfully rehearsed all their mistakes and follies, the greatest of which they considered to be their second outburst of wrath against Alcibiades. 2 He had been cast aside for no fault of his own; but they got angry because a subordinate of his lost a few ships disgracefully, and then they themselves, more disgracefully still, robbed the city of its ablest and most experienced general. And yet, in spite of their present plight, a vague hope still prevailed that the cause of Athens was not wholly lost so long as Alcibiades was alive. He had not, in times past, been satisfied to live his exile’s life in idleness and quiet; nor now, if his means allowed, would he tolerate the insolence of the Lacedaemonians and the madness of the Thirty.
[Alc. 38.3] 3 It was not strange that the multitude indulged in such dreams, when even the Thirty were moved to anxious thought and inquiry, and made the greatest account of what Alcibiades was planning and doing. 213 Finally, Critias tried to make it clear to Lysander that as long as Athens was a democracy the Lacedaemonians could not have safe rule over Hellas; 4 and that Athens, even though she were very peacefully and well disposed towards oligarchy, would not be suffered, while Alcibiades was alive, to remain undisturbed in her present condition. However, Lysander was not persuaded by these arguments until a dispatch-roll came from the authorities at home bidding him put Alcibiades out of the way; either because they too were alarmed at the vigour and enterprise of the man, or because they were trying to gratify Agis.
[Alc. 39.1] 39 1 Accordingly, Lysander sent to Pharnabazus and bade him do this thing, and Pharnabazus commissioned Magaeus, his brother, and Sousamithras, his uncle, to perform the deed. At that time Alcibiades was living in a certain village of Phrygia, where he had Timandra the courtezan with him, and in his sleep he had the following vision. 2 He thought he had the courtezan’s garments upon him, and that she was holding his head in her arms while she adorned his face like a woman’s with paints and pigments. Others say that in his sleep he saw Magaeus’ followers cutting off his head and his body burning. All agree in saying that he had the vision not long before his death.
[Alc. 39.3] The party sent to kill him did not dare to enter his house, but surrounded it and set it on fire. 3 When Alcibiades was aware of this, he gathered together most of the garments and bedding in the house and cast them on the fire. Then, wrapping his cloak about his left arm, and drawing his sword with his right, he dashed out, unscathed by the fire, before the garments were in flames, and scattered the Barbarians, who ran at the mere sight of him. Not a man stood ground against him, or came to close quarters with him, but all held aloof and shot him with javelins and arrows. 4 Thus he fell, and when the Barbarians were gone, Timandra took up his dead body, covered and wrapped it in her own garments, and gave it such brilliant and honourable burial as she could provide.
[Alc. 39.5] This Timandra, they say, was the mother of that Lais who was called the Corinthian, although she was a prisoner of war from Hyccara, a small city of Sicily. 5 But some, while agreeing in all other details of the death of Alcibiades with what I have written, say that it was not Pharnabazus who was the cause of it, nor Lysander, nor the Lacedaemonians, but Alcibiades himself. He had corrupted a girl belonging to a certain well known family, and had her with him; and it was the brothers of this girl who, taking his wanton insolence much to heart, set fire by night to the house where he was living, and shot him down, as has been described, when he dashed out through the fire.

## Coriolanus

[Cor. 1.1] 1 1 THE patrician house of the Marcii at Rome furnished many men of distinction. One of them was Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa by his daughter, and the successor of Tullus Hostilius in the kingship. To this family belonged also Publius and Quintus Marcius, the men who brought into Rome its best and most abundant supply of water. So likewise did Censorinus, whom the Roman people twice appointed censor, and then, at his own instance, made a law by which it was decreed that no one else should hold that office twice. 2 Caius Marcius, whose life I now write, lost his father at an early age, and was reared by his widowed mother. He showed, however, that such loss of a father, although otherwise bad for a boy, need not prevent him from becoming a worthy and excellent man, and that it is wrong for worthless men to lay upon it the blame for their perverted natures, which are due, as they say, to early neglect. On the other hand, the same Marcius bore witness for those who hold that a generous and noble nature, if it lack discipline, is apt to produce much that is worthless along with its better fruits, like a rich soil deprived of the husbandman’s culture. 3 For while the force and vigour of his intelligence, which knew no limitations, led him into great undertakings, and such as were productive of the highest results, still, on the other hand, since he indulged a vehement temper and displayed an unswerving pertinacity, it made him a difficult and unsuitable associate for others. They did indeed look with admiration upon his insensibility to pleasures, toils, and mercenary gains, to which they gave the names of self-control, fortitude, and justice; but in their intercourse with him as a fellow-citizen they were offended by it as ungracious, burdensome, and arrogant. 4 Verily, among all the benefits which men derive from the favour of the Muses, none other is so great as that softening of the nature which is produced by culture and discipline, the nature being induced by culture to take on moderation and cast off excess. It is perfectly true, however, that in those days Rome held in highest honour that phase of virtue which concerns itself with warlike and military achievements, and evidence of this may be found in the only Latin word for virtue, which signifies really manly valour; they made valour, a specific form of virtue, stand for virtue in general.
[Cor. 2.1] 2 1 And so Marcius, who was by nature exceedingly fond of warlike feats, began at once, from his very boyhood, to handle arms. And since he thought that adventitious weapons were of little avail to such as did not have their natural and native armour developed and prepared for service, he so practised himself in every sort of combat that he was not only nimble of foot, but had also such a weight in grapplings and wrestlings that an enemy found it hard to extricate himself. At any rate, those who from time to time contended with him in feats of courage and valour, laid the blame for their inferiority upon his strength of body, which was inflexible and shrank from no hardship.
[Cor. 3.1] 3 1 He made his first campaign while yet a stripling, when Tarquin, who had been king of Rome, and then had been expelled, after many unsuccessful battles, staked his all, as it were, upon a final throw. Most of the people of Latium and many also of the other peoples of Italy were assisting him and marching with him upon Rome, to reinstate him there, not so much from a desire to gratify him, as because fear and envy led them to try to overthrow the growing power of the Romans. 2 In the ensuing battle, which long favoured now this side and now that, Marcius, who was fighting sturdily under the eyes of the dictator, saw a Roman soldier struck down near by. He ran to him at once, stood in front of him, defended him, and slew his assailant. Accordingly, after the Roman general had won the day, he crowned Marcius, among the first, with a garland of oak leaves.
[Cor. 3.3] 3 This is the civic crown which the law bestows upon one who has saved the life of a fellow-citizen in battle, either because the oak was held in special honour for the sake of the Arcadians, who were called acorn-eaters in an oracle of Apollo; or because they could speedily find an abundance of oak wherever they fought; or because it was thought that the garland of oak leaves, being sacred to Jupiter, the city’s guardian, was fittingly bestowed upon one who saved the life of a citizen. The oak, moreover, has the most beautiful fruit of all wild trees, and is the sturdiest of all trees under cultivation. 4 Its acorn used to be food, and the honey found in it used to be drink for men, and it furnished them with the flesh of most grazing creatures and birds, since it bore the mistletoe, from which they made bird-lime for snares.
[Cor. 3.3b] In the battle of which I was speaking, it is said that Castor and Pollux appeared, and that immediately after the battle they were seen, their horses all a-drip with sweat, in the forum, announcing the victory, by the fountain where their temple now stands. Therefore the day on which this victory was won, the ides of July, was consecrated to the Dioscuri.
[Cor. 4.1] 4 1 It would seem that when a young man’s ambition is no integral part of his nature, it is apt to be quenched by an honourable distinction which is attained too early in life; his thirst and fastidious appetite are speedily satisfied. But serious and firm spirits are stimulated by the honours they receive, and glow brightly, as if roused by a mighty wind to achieve the manifest good. They do not feel that they are receiving a reward for what they have done, but rather that they are giving pledges of what they will do, and they are ashamed to fall behind their reputation instead of surpassing it by their actual exploits. 2 It was in this spirit that Marcius vied with himself in manly valour, and being ever desirous of fresh achievement, he followed one exploit with another, and heaped spoils upon spoils, so that his later commanders were always striving with their predecessors in their efforts to do him honour, and to surpass in their testimonials to his prowess. Many indeed were the wars and conflicts which the Romans waged in those days, and from none did he return without laurels and rewards of valour.
[Cor. 4.3] 3 But whereas other men found in glory the chief end of valour, he found the chief end of glory in his mother’s gladness. That she should hear him praised and see him crowned and embrace him with tears of joy, this was what gave him, as he thought, the highest honour and felicity. And it was doubtless this feeling which Epaminondas also is said to have confessed, in considering it his greatest good fortune that his father and mother lived to know of his generalship and victory at Leuctra. 4 But he was so blessed as to have both his parents share in his pleasure and success, whereas Marcius, who thought he owed his mother the filial gratitude also which would have been due to his father, could not get his fill of gladdening and honouring Volumnia, nay, he even married according to her wish and request, and continued to live in the same house with his mother after children were born to him.
[Cor. 5.1] 5 1 The reputation and influence procured by his valour were already great in the city, when the senate, taking the part of the wealthy citizens, began to be at variance with the common people, who thought they suffered many grievous ills at the hands of the money-lenders. For those of them that were possessed of moderate means were stripped of all they had by means of pledges and sales, while those who were altogether without resources were led away in person and put in prison, although their bodies bore many marks of wounds received and hardships undergone in campaigns for the defence of their country. 2 The last of these had been against the Sabines, and they had undertaken it upon a promise of their wealthiest creditors to deal moderately with them, and after a vote of the senate that Marcus Valerius, the consul, should guarantee the promise. But after they had fought zealously in that battle also, and had conquered the enemy, no consideration was shown them by their creditors, 3 and the senate did not even pretend to remember its agreements, but again suffered them to be seized in pledge of payments and haled away to prison. Then there were tumults and disorderly gatherings in the city, and the enemy, not unaware of the popular confusion, burst in and ravaged the country, and when the consuls summoned those of military age to arms, no one responded. In this crisis, the opinions of those in authority were again at variance. 4 Some thought that concessions should be made to the plebeians, and the excessive rigor of the law relaxed; but others opposed this, and among them was Marcius. He did not regard the financial difficulties as the main point at issue, and exhorted the magistrates to be wise enough to check and quell this incipient attempt at bold outrage on the part of a populace in revolt against the laws.
[Cor. 6.1] 6 1 The senate met to debate this question many times within the space of a few days, but came to no definite conclusion. The plebeians therefore banded together on a sudden, and after mutual exhortations forsook the city, and taking possession of what is now called the Sacred Mount, established themselves beside the river Anio. They committed no acts of violence or sedition, but only cried aloud that they had for a long time been banished from the city by the rich, and that Italy would everywhere afford them air, water, and a place of burial, 2 which was all they had if they dwelt in Rome, except for the privilege of wounds and death in campaigns for the defence of the rich.
[Cor. 6.3] These proceedings alarmed the senate, and it sent out those of its older members who were most reasonably disposed towards the people to treat with them. The chief spokesman was Menenius Agrippa, and after much entreaty of the people and much plain speaking in behalf of the senate, he concluded his discourse with a celebrated fable. 3 He said, namely, that all the other members of man’s body once revolted against the belly, and accused it of being the only member to sit idly down in its place and make no contribution to the common welfare, while the rest underwent great hardships and performed great public services only to minister to its appetites; but that the belly laughed at their simplicity in not knowing that it received into it all the body’s nourishment only to send it back again and duly distribute it among the other members. 4 “Such, then,” said again, “is the relation of the senate, my fellow-citizens, to you; the matters for deliberation which there receive the necessary attention and disposition bring to you all and severally what is useful and helpful.”
[Cor. 7.1] 7 1 A reconciliation followed, after the people had asked and obtained from the senate the privilege of electing five men as protectors of those who needed succour, the officers now called tribunes of the people. And the first whom they chose to this office were Junius Brutus and Sicinius Vellutus, who had been their leaders in the secession. When the city was thus united, the common people at once offered themselves as soldiers, and the consuls found them ready and eager for service in the war.
[Cor. 7.2] 2 As for Marcius, though he was displeased himself to have the people increase in power at the expense of the aristocracy, and though he saw that many of the other patricians were of the same mind, he nevertheless exhorted them not to fall behind the common people in contending for their country’s welfare, but to show that they were superior to them in valour rather than in political power.
[Cor. 8.1] 8 1 Among the Volscians, with whom the Romans were at war, the city of Corioli took highest rank. When, therefore, Cominius the consul had invested this place, the rest of the Volscians, fearing for its safety, came to its aid against the Romans from all parts, designing to give them battle in front of the city and to attack them on both sides. 2 Thereupon Cominius divided his forces, going forth himself to meet the Volscians who were coming up outside, and leaving Titus Lartius, one of the bravest Romans of his day, in charge of the siege. Then the men of Corioli, despising the forces that were left, sallied out against them, overcame them in battle at first, and pursued the Romans to their camp. 3 At this point Marcius darted out with a small band, and after slaying those who came to close quarters and bringing the rest of the assailants to a halt, called the Romans back to the fight with loud cries. For he had, as Cato thought a soldier should have, not only a vigour of stroke, but a voice and look which made him a fearful man for a foe to encounter, and hard to withstand. Many of his men rallied to support him, and the enemy withdrew in terror. 4 With this, however, he was not satisfied, but followed hard upon them, and drove them at last in headlong flight, up to the gate of their city. There, although he saw the Romans turning back from the pursuit, now that many missiles from the walls were reaching them, and although not a man of them dared to think of bursting into the city along with the fugitives, full as it was of enemies in arms, he nevertheless took his stand, and exhorted and encouraged them to the exploit, crying out that fortune had opened the city for the pursuers rather than for the pursued. 5 Only a few were willing to follow him, but he pushed his way through the enemy, leaped against the gate, and burst in along with them, no man daring to oppose him at first or resist him. Then, however, when the citizens saw that few of the enemy all told were inside, they rallied and attacked them. 6 Enveloped thus by friends and foes alike, Marcius is said to have waged a combat in the city which, for prowess of arm, speed of foot, and daring of soul, passes all belief; he overwhelmed all whom he assailed, driving some to the remotest parts of the city, while others gave up the struggle and threw down their arms. Thus he made it abundantly safe for Lartius to lead up the Romans who were outside.
[Cor. 9.1] 9 1 The city having been captured in this manner, most of the soldiers fell to plundering and pillaging it. At this Marcius was indignant, and cried out that he thought it a shame, when their consul and their fellow citizens who were with him had perhaps fallen in with the enemy and were fighting a battle with them, that they on their part should be going about after booty, or, under pretext of getting booty, should run away from the danger. Only a few paid any heed to his words, whereupon he took those who were willing to follow, and set out on the road by which, as he learned, the consul’s army had marched before him, often urging his companions on and beseeching them not to slacken their efforts, and often praying the gods that he might not be too late for the battle, but might come up in season to share in the struggles and perils of his fellow-citizens.
[Cor. 9.2] It was a custom with the Romans of that time, when they were going into action, and were about to gird up their cloaks and take up their bucklers, to make at the same time an unwritten will, naming their heirs in the hearing of three or four witnesses. 3 This was just what the soldiers were doing when Marcius overtook them, the enemy being now in sight. At first some of them were confounded when they saw that he had a small following and was covered with blood and sweat; but when he ran to the consul with a glad countenance, gave him his hand, and announced the capture of the city, and when Cominius embraced and kissed him, then they were encouraged, some hearing of the success which had been gained, and some but guessing at it, and all called loudly upon the consul to lead them into battle. 4 But Marcius asked Cominius how the enemy were arrayed, and where their best fighting men were placed. And when the consul told him he thought the troops in the centre were those of the Antiates, who were the most warlike of all and yielded to none in bravery, “I ask and demand of you, then,” said Marcius, “post us opposite these men.” The consul, accordingly, granted his request, astonished at his ardour.
[Cor. 9.5] 5 As soon as spears began to fly, Marcius darted out before the line, and the Volscians who faced him could not withstand his charge, but where he fell upon their ranks they were speedily cut asunder. Those on either side, however, wheeled about and encompassed him with their weapons, so that the consul, fearing for his safety, sent to his aid the choicest men he had about his person. 6 Then a fierce battle raged around Marcius, and many were slain in short space of time; but the Romans pressed hard upon their enemies and put them to rout, and as they set out in pursuit of them, they insisted that Marcius, who was weighed down with fatigue and wounds, should retire to the camp. He answered, however, that weariness was not for victors, and took after the flying foe. The rest of their army also was defeated, many were slain, and many taken captive.
[Cor. 10.1] 10 1 On the following day, when Lartius had come up, and the rest of the army was assembled before the consul, Cominius mounted the rostra, and after rendering to the gods the praise that was their due for such great successes, addressed himself to Marcius. In the first place, he rehearsed with praise his astonishing exploits, some of which he had himself beheld in battle, while to others Lartius bore witness. 2 Then, out of the abundant treasures and the many horses and prisoners that had been taken, he ordered him to choose out a tenth, before any distribution to the rest of the army; and besides all this, he presented him with a horse, duly caparisoned, as a prize of valour. After the Romans had applauded this speech, Marcius came forth and said that he accepted the horse, and was delighted with the praises of the consul, but that he declined the rest, holding it to be pay, not honour, and would be content with his single share of the booty. 3 “But I do ask one special favour,” he said, “and beg that I may receive it. I had a guest-friend among the Volscians, a man of kindliness and probity. This man is now a prisoner, and from wealth and happiness is reduced to subjection. Since, then, many evils have befallen him, let me at least free him from one, that of being sold into bondage.”
[Cor. 10.4] At such words as these still louder shouts greeted Marcius, and he found more admirers of his superiority to gain than of the bravery he had shown in war. 4 For the very ones who secretly felt a certain jealous envy of him for his conspicuous honours, now thought him worthy of great rewards because he would not take them; and they were more delighted with the virtue which led him to despise such great rewards, than with the exploits which made him worthy of them. For the right use of wealth is a fairer trait than excellence in arms; but not to need wealth is loftier than to use it.
[Cor. 11.1] 11 When the multitude had ceased shouting their applause, Cominius took up the word again and said: “Ye cannot, indeed, my fellow-soldiers, force these gifts of yours upon the man, when he does not accept them and is unwilling to take them; but there is a gift which he cannot refuse when it is offered. Let us give him this gift, and pass a vote that he be surnamed Coriolanus, unless, indeed, before such act of ours, his exploit has itself given him this name.” Thus came his third name of Coriolanus.
[Cor. 11.2] 2 From this it is perfectly clear that Caius was the proper name; that the second name, in this case Marcius, was the common name of family or clan; and that the third name was adopted subsequently, and bestowed because of some exploit, or fortune, or bodily feature, or special excellence in a man. So the Greeks used to give surnames from an exploit, as for instance, Soter and Callinicus; or from a bodily feature, as Physcon and Grypus; or from a special excellence, as Euergetes and Philadelphus; or from some good fortune, as Eudaemon, the surname of the second Battus. 3 And some of their kings have actually had surnames given them in mockery, as Antigonus Doson and Ptolemy Lathyrus. Surnames of this sort were even more common among the Romans. For instance, one of the Metelli was called Diadematus, because for a long time he suffered from a running sore and went about with a bandage on his forehead; another member of this family was called Celer, because he exerted himself to give the people funeral games of gladiators within a few days of his father’s death, and the speed and swiftness of his preparations excited astonishment. 4 And at the present day some of them are named from casual incidents at their birth, Proculus, for instance, if a child is born when his father is away from home; or Postumus, if after his death; and when one of twin children survives, while the other dies, he is called Vopiscus. Moreover, from bodily features they not only bestow such surnames as Sulla, Niger, and Rufus, but also such as Caecus and Claudius. And they do well thus to accustom men to regard neither blindness nor any other bodily misfortune as a reproach or a disgrace, but to answer to such names as though their own. This topic, however, would be more fittingly discussed elsewhere.
[Cor. 12.1] 12 1 The war was no sooner over than the popular leaders revived the internal dissensions, without any new cause of complaint, or just accusations, but making the very evils which had necessarily followed in the wake of their previous quarrels and disturbances a pretext for opposing the patricians. For the greater part of the land had been left unsown and untilled, and the war left no opportunity to arrange an importation of market supplies. 2 There was, therefore, a great scarcity of food, and when the popular leaders saw that there were no market supplies, and that if there were, the people had no money to buy them, they assailed the rich with slanderous accusations of purposely arraying the famine against them, in a spirit of revenge.
[Cor. 12.3] Moreover, there came an embassy from the people of Velitrae, who offered to hand their city over to the Romans, and begged them to send out colonists for it. For a pestilential disease had assailed them, and wrought such death and destruction among their citizens that hardly the tenth part of the whole number was left. 3 Accordingly, such of the Romans as were sensible thought that this request of the people of Velitrae had come at an advantageous and opportune time, since the scarcity of food made it needful to ease the city of its burdensome numbers; at the same time they also hoped to dissipate its sedition, if the most turbulent elements in it, and those which made most response to the exciting appeals of the popular leaders, should be purged away, like unhealthy and disturbing refuse from the body. 4 Such citizens, therefore, the consuls selected as colonists and ordered them forth to Velitrae. They also enlisted others in a campaign against the Volscians, contriving thus that there should be no leisure for intestine tumults, and believing that when rich and poor alike, plebeians as well as patricians, were once more united in military service and in common struggles for the public good, they would be more gently and pleasantly disposed towards one another.
[Cor. 13.1] 13 1 But the popular leaders, Sicinius and Brutus, with their following, at once rose up in opposition, crying out that the consuls were disguising a most cruel deed under that most inoffensive name, colony, and were really pushing poor men into a pit of death, as it were, by sending them forth into a city which was full of deadly air and unburied corpses, to be associated with a strange and abominable deity; 2 and then, as if not satisfied with destroying some of their fellow-citizens by famine, and exposing others to pestilence, they proceeded further to bring on a war of their own choosing, that no evil might spare the city, which had but refused to continue in servitude to the rich. With their ears full of such speeches as these, the people would neither answer the consular summons for enlistment, nor look with any favour on the colony.
[Cor. 13.3] 3 The senate was in perplexity. But Marcius, who was now full of importance, and had grown lofty in spirit, and was looked upon with admiration by the most powerful men of the city, openly took the lead in resisting the popular leaders. The colony was sent out, those that were chosen for it by lot being compelled to go forth under severe penalties; and when the people utterly refused military service, Marcius himself mustered his clients and as many others as he could persuade, and made an incursion into the territory of Antium. 4 There he found much corn, and secured large booty in cattle and captives, no part of which did he take out for himself, but brought his followers back to Rome laden with large spoils of every sort. The rest of the citizens therefore repented themselves, envied their more fortunate fellows, and were filled with hostility to Marcius, not being able to endure the reputation and power of the man, which was growing, as they thought, to be detrimental to the people.
[Cor. 14.1] 14 1 But not long after, when Marcius stood for the consulship, the multitude relented, and the people felt somewhat ashamed to slight and humble a man who was foremost in birth and valour and had performed so many and such great services. Now it was the custom with those who stood for the office to greet their fellow-citizens and solicit their votes, descending into the forum in their toga, without a tunic under it. This was either because they wished the greater humility of their garb to favour their solicitations, or because they wished to display the tokens of their bravery, in case they bore wounds. 2 It was certainly not owing to a suspicion of the dispensing of money in briberyd that the candidate for the votes of the citizens was required to present himself before them without a tunic and ungirt. For it was long after this time that the buying and selling of votes crept in and money became a feature of the elections. 3 But afterwards, bribery affected even courts and camps, and converted the city into a monarchy, by making armies the utter slaves of money. For it has been well said that he first breaks down the power of the people who first feasts and bribes them. But at Rome the mischief seems to have crept in stealthily and gradually, 4 and not to have been noticed at once. For we do not know who was the first man to bribe her people or her courts of law; whereas at Athens, Anytus, the son of Anthemion, is said to have been the first man to give money to jurors, when he was on trial for the treacherous failure to relieve Pylos, toward the close of the Peloponnesian war; a time when the pure race of the golden age still possessed the Roman forum.
[Cor. 15.1] 15 1 So when Marcius disclosed his many scars from many contests, wherein he had been a foremost soldier for seventeen years together, the people were put out of countenance by his valour, and agreed with one another to elect him. But when the day for casting their votes came, and Marcius made a pompous entry into the forum escorted by the senate, and all the patricians about him were clearly more bent on success than ever before, 2 the multitude fell away again from their good will towards him, and drifted into feelings of resentment and envy. These feelings were reinforced by their fear that if an aristocrat, who had such weight with the patricians, should become supreme in the government, he might altogether deprive the people of their liberties.
[Cor. 15.3] 3 So, being in such a state of mind, they rejected Marcius and others were proclaimed elected. The senators were indignant, thinking the insult directed rather at them than at Marcius, and he himself could not treat the occurrence with restraint or forbearance. He had indulged the passionate and contentious side of his nature, with the idea that there was something great and exalted in this, and had not been imbued, under the influence of reason and discipline, with that gravity and mildness which are the chief virtues of a statesman. 4 Nor did he know that one who undertakes public business must avoid above all things that self-will which, as Plato says, is the “companion of solitude”; must mingle with men, and be a lover of that submissiveness to injury which some people ridicule so much. But since he was ever a straightforward man and obstinate, and since he thought that conquest and mastery in all things and at all times was the prerogative of bravery, rather than of effeminate weakness (which breaks out in anger, like a swelling sore, from the troubled and wounded spirit), he went away full of indignation and bitterness towards the people. 5 The younger patricians, too, that element in the city which made most vaunt of noble birth and was most showy, had always been amazingly devoted to the man, and, adhering to him now, when their presence did him no good, fanned his anger by their sympathetic vexation and sorrow. For he was their leader and willing teacher of the art of war in their campaigns, and inspired them in their victories with a zeal for valour, which had no tinge of mutual jealousy.
[Cor. 16.1] 16 1 In the meantime grain came to Rome, a great part of it bought in Italy, but an equal amount sent as a present from Syracuse, where Gelo was tyrant. Most of the people were consequently in great hope, expecting that the city would be delivered both from its scarcity and its discord. The senate, accordingly, was convened at once, and the people, flocking about the senate-house, awaited the result of its deliberations. They expected that the market-price for grain would now be moderate, and that what had been sent as a present would be distributed gratis. For there were some in the senate who so advised that body. 2 But Marcius rose in his place and vehemently attacked those who favoured the multitude, calling them demagogues and betrayers of the aristocracy, and declaring that they were nourishing, to their own harm, the evil seeds of boldness and insolence which had been sown among the rabble; these they should have choked when they first sprang up, and not have strengthened the people by such a powerful magistracy as the tribunate. But now their body was formidable, because it got everything that it desired, allowed no constraint upon its will, and refused to obey the consuls, but had their own leaders in anarchy, whom they styled their rulers. 3 To sit there, moreover, voting such a people largesses and supplies, like those Greeks where democracy is most extreme, he said was nothing more nor less than maintaining them in their disobedience, to the common destruction of all. “For they surely will not say that they are getting these as a grateful return for the military services which they omitted, and the secessions by which they renounced their country, and the calumnies against the senate which they have countenanced. They will rather be confident that your fears drive you to subserviency and flattery when you make them these gifts and concessions, and will set no limit to their disobedience, nor cease from their quarrels and seditions. 4 Such action on our part would therefore be sheer madness; but if we are wise, we shall take their tribunate away from them, for it makes the consulship null and void, and divides the city. This is no longer one, as before, but has been cut in two, so that we can never grow together again, or be of one mind, or cease afflicting and confounding one another.”
[Cor. 17.1] 17 1 With many such words as these Marcius was beyond measure successful in filling the younger senators, and almost all the wealthy ones, with his own fierce enthusiasm, and they cried out that he was the only man in the city who disdained submission and flattery. But some of the older senators opposed him, suspecting the outcome. And the outcome was wholly bad. For the tribunes were present, and when they saw that the proposal of Marcius was likely to prevail, they ran out among the crowd with loud cries, calling upon the plebeians to rally to their help. 2 Then there was a stormy session of the assembly, and when the speech of Marcius was reported to it, the people were carried away with fury and almost burst in upon the senate. But the tribunes made their formal denunciation of Marcius, and summoned him by messenger to come before them and make his defence. And when he insolently drove away the officers who brought their message, they went themselves, attended by the aediles, to bring him by force, and tried to lay hands upon his person. But the patricians, banding together, drove the tribunes away, and actually beat the aediles.
[Cor. 17.3] 3 By this time, then, evening had fallen, which put an end to the tumult; but as soon as it was day, the exasperated people came running together from all quarters into the forum. When the consuls saw this, they were alarmed for the city, and convening the senate, urged them to consider how, by reasonable proposals and suitable resolutions, they might soothe and pacify the multitude, since it was not a time for ambitious rivalry, nor would they be wise in contending for their dignity, but the crisis was severe and critical, and demanded measures that were considerate and humane. 4 The majority of the senate acceding to these views, the consuls went out and reasoned with the people as well as they could, and tried to mollify them, answering their accusations in a reasonable manner, and making only a moderate use of admonition and rebuke; as regarded the price of provisions and market supplies, they declared there should be no difference between them.
[Cor. 18.1] 18 1 Accordingly, the greater part of the people showed signs of relenting, and it was evident, from their decorous and sober attention, that they were on the way to be controlled and won over. Then the tribunes rose and declared that since the senate was now acting soberly, the people in their turn would make such concessions as were fair and honourable. They insisted, however, that Marcius should make answer to the following charges: Could he deny that he had instigated the senate to violate the constitution and abrogate the powers of the people? When summoned to appear before them, had he not refused? 2 And finally, by insulting and beating the aediles in the forum, had he not done all in his power to incite the citizens to arms and bring about a civil war? They made this demand with a desire either that Marcius should be publicly humiliated, if, contrary to his nature, he curbed his haughty spirit and sued for the favour of the people; or, if he yielded to his natural promptings, that he should do something which would justify their wrath against him and make it implacable. The latter was what they the rather expected, and they rightly estimated the man’s character.
[Cor. 18.3] 3 For he came and stood before them as one who would defend himself, and the people were quiet and silent in his presence. But when, instead of the more or less deprecatory language expected by his audience, he began not only to employ an offensive boldness of speech, which at last became actual denunciation, but also to show, by the tone of his voice and the cast of his countenance, that his fearlessness was not far removed from disdain and contempt, 4 then the people were exasperated, and gave evident signs that his words roused their impatience and indignation. Upon this, Sicinius, the boldest of the tribunes, after a brief conference with his colleagues, made formal proclamation that Marcius was condemned to death by the tribunes of the people, and ordered the aediles to take him up to the Tarpeian rock at once, and cast him down the cliff below. 5 But when the aediles laid hold of his person, it seemed, even to many of the plebeians, a horrible and monstrous act; the patricians, moreover, utterly beside themselves, distressed and horror stricken, rushed with loud cries to his aid. Some of them actually pushed away the officers making the arrest, and got Marcius among themselves; 6 some stretched out their hands in supplication of the multitude, since words and cries were of no avail amid such disorder and confusion. At last the friends and kindred of the tribunes, perceiving that it was impossible, without slaying many patricians, to lead Marcius away and punish him, persuaded them to remit what was unusual and oppressive in his sentence, not to use violence and put him to death without a trial, but to surrender him and refer his case to the people. 7 Then Sicinius, becoming calm, asked the patricians what they meant by taking Marcius away from the people when it wished to punish him. But the patricians asked in their turn: “What then is your purpose, and what do ye mean, by thus dragging one of the foremost men of Rome, without a trial, to a savage and illegal punishment?” 8 “Well then,” said Sicinius, “ye shall not have any such excuse for factious quarrel with the people; for they grant your demand that the man have a trial. And we cite thee, Marcius, to appear before the citizens on the third market-day ensuing, and convince them, if you can, of your innocence, assured that they will decide your case by vote.”
[Cor. 19.1] 19 1 For the time being, then, the patricians were satisfied with this truce, and went away in glad possession of Marcius. But in the time which intervened before the third market-day (for the Romans hold their markets every ninth day, calling them, therefore, “nundinae”), a campaign was undertaken against the city of Antium, which led them to hope that the issue might be avoided altogether. The campaign would last long enough, they thought, for the people to become tractable, after their rage had languished or altogether disappeared by reason of their occupation with the war. 2 But presently, when the citizens returned home after a speedy settlement of their dispute with Antium, the patricians were in frequent conclave, being full of fear, and deliberating how they might not surrender Marcius, and yet prevent the popular leaders from throwing the people again into tumult and disorder. Appius Claudius, indeed, who was counted among the most hostile to the claims of the people, said with all solemnity that the senate would destroy itself and utterly betray the government of the city, if it should suffer the people to wield their vote in judgement on the patricians. 3 But the oldest senators, and those most inclined to favour the people, maintained on the contrary that it would not be rendered harsh or severe by its exercise of this power, but mild and humane; for since it did not despise the senate, but rather thought itself despised by that body, the prerogative of trying a senator would be a solace to its feelings and a mark of honour, so that as soon as it proceeded to vote it would lay aside its wrath.
[Cor. 20.1] 20 1 Marcius, therefore, seeing that the senate was in suspense between its kindly feelings towards him and its fear of the people, asked the tribunes what the accusations against him were, and on what charge he would be tried if they led him before the people. They replied that the charge against him was usurpation, and that they would prove him guilty of planning a usurpation of the government. Thereupon he rose of his own accord and said he was going at once before the people to make his defence, and would deprecate no manner of trial, nor, should he be found guilty, any form of punishment; “Only,” said he, “see that ye confine yourself to the charge mentioned, and do not play false with the senate.” The tribunes agreed to this, and on these terms the trial was held.
[Cor. 20.2] 2 But when the people were come together, in the first place, the tribunes insisted that the votes be cast not by centuries, but by tribes, thus making the indigent and officious rabble, which had no thought of honour, superior in voting power to the wealthy and well known citizens of the military class. 3 In the second place, abandoning the charge of usurpation, which could not be proven, they dwelt again upon the speech which Marcius had previously made in the senate, when he protested against the lowering of the market-price of grain, and urged them to take the tribunate away from the people. They also added a fresh charge against him, namely, his distribution of the spoils which he had taken from the country of Antium; these, they said, he had not turned into the public treasury, but had distributed them among those who made the campaign with him. 4 By this accusation Marcius is said to have been more disturbed than by all the rest. For he had not expected it, and was not ready at once with an answer which would satisfy the people, but began to praise those who had made the campaign, whereupon he was clamorously interrupted by those who had not made it, and they were the more numerous. In the end, therefore, the vote was taken by tribes, and a majority of three condemned him. The penalty assigned was perpetual banishment. 5 After the result was announced, the people went off in greater elation and delight than they had ever shown for any victory in battle over their enemies; but the senate was in distress and dire dejection, repenting now and vexed to the soul that they had not done and suffered all things rather than allow the people to insult them in the exercise of such great powers. And there was no need now of dress or other marks of distinction in telling one class from another, but it was clear at once that he who rejoiced was a plebeian, and he who was vexed, a patrician.
[Cor. 21.1] 21 1 Albeit Marcius himself, who was neither daunted nor humbled, but in mien, port, and countenance fully composed, seemed the only man among all the distressed patricians who was not touched by his evil plight. And this was not due to calculation, or gentleness, or to a calm endurance of his fate, but he was stirred by rage and deep resentment, and this, although the many know it not, is pain. 2 For when pain is transmuted into anger, it is consumed, as it were, by its flames, and casts off its own humility and sloth. Wherefore the angry man makes a show of activity, as he who has a fever is hot, his spirit being, so to speak, afflicted with throbbing, distention, and inflation. And that such was his condition, Marcius showed right quickly by his conduct.
[Cor. 21.3] 3 He went home, where his mother and his wife met him with wailings and loud lamentations, and after embracing them and bidding them to bear with equanimity the fate that had come upon them, he straightway departed and went to the city gate. Thither all the patricians in a body escorted him, but without taking anything or asking for anything he departed, having only three or four of his clients with him. 4 For a few days he remained by himself at some country place, torn by many conflicting counsels, such as his anger suggested to him, purposing no good or helpful thing at all, but only how he might take vengeance on the Romans. At last he determined to incite some neighbouring nation to a formidable war against them. Accordingly, he set out to make trial of the Volscians first, knowing that they were still abundantly supplied with men and money, and thinking that they had been not so much crippled in power by their recent defeats as filled with contentious wrath against the Romans.
[Cor. 22.1] 22 1 Now there was a certain man of Antium, Tullus Aufidius by name, who, by reason of his wealth and bravery and conspicuous lineage, had the standing of a king among all the Volscians. By this man Marcius knew himself to be hated as no other Roman was; for they had often exchanged threats and challenges in the battles which they had fought, and such emulous boastings as the ambitious ardour of youthful warriors prompts had given rise to a mutual hatred of their own, in addition to that of their peoples. 2 However, since he saw that Tullus had a certain grandeur of spirit, and that he, more than all other Volscians, was eager to retaliate upon the Romans, if they gave him any opportunity, Marcius bore witness to the truth of him who said: “With anger it is hard to fight; for whatsoe’er it wishes, that it buys, even at the cost of life.” For, putting on such clothing and attire as would make him seem, to any one who knew him, least like the man he was, like Odysseus,
[Cor. 22.1b] “He went into the city of his deadly foes.”
[Cor. 23.1] 23 1 It was evening, and many met him, but no man knew him. He proceeded, therefore, to the house of Tullus, and slipping in unawares, took his seat at the hearth in silence, covered his head, and remained there motionless. The people of the house were amazed, and did not venture to raise him up, for his mien and his silence gave him a certain dignity; but they told Tullus, who was at supper, what a strange thing had happened. 2 Tullus rose from table and came to him, and asked him who he was, and why he was come. At this, then, Marcius uncovered his head, and after a slight pause, said: “If thou doest not yet recognize me, Tullus, but disbelievest thine eyes, I must be my own accuser. I am Caius Marcius, he who has wrought thee and the Volscians most harm, and the surname of Coriolanus which I bear permits no denial of this. 3 I have won no other prize for all the toils and perils which I have undergone than the name which is a badge of my enmity to your people. This, indeed, cannot be taken away from me; but of everything else I have been stripped, through the envy and insolence of the Roman people, and the cowardly treachery of the magistrates and those of my own order. I have been driven into exile, too, and am become a suppliant at thy hearth, not for the sake of security and safety, — for why should I come hither if I were afraid of death? — but with a desire to take vengeance on those who have driven me forth, which I take at once when I put myself in thy power. 4 If, then, thou art eager to assail thine enemies, come, good Sir, take advantage of my calamities, and make my individual misfortune the good fortune of all the Volscians; I shall fight better for you than I have against you, in just so far as those who know the secrets of their enemies fight better than those who do not. But if thou hast given up hope, neither do I wish to live, nor is it for thine advantage to spare one who has long been an enemy and a foe, and now is unprofitable and useless.”
[Cor. 23.5] 5 When Tullus heard this, he was wonderfully pleased, and giving him his right hand, said: “Rise up, Marcius, and be of good courage. In giving thyself to us, thou bringest a great good, and thou mayest expect a greater one still from the Volscians.” Then he entertained Marcius at table with every mark of kindness, and during the ensuing days they took counsel together concerning the war.
[Cor. 24.1] 24 1 But at Rome, owing to the hatred of the people by the patricians, who were especially embittered by the condemnation of Marcius, there were great commotions, and many signs from heaven were reported by seers, priests, and private persons, which could not be ignored. One of these is said to have been as follows. There was one Titus Latinus, a man of no great prominence, but of quiet and modest life in general, and free from superstitious fears, as he was also, and yet more, from vain pretensions. 2 This man dreamed that Jupiter appeared to him, and bade him tell the senate that the dancer, whom they had appointed to head his procession, was a bad one, and gave him the greatest displeasure. After having this vision, Titius said, he gave it no thought at all at first, but after he had seen it a second and a third time, and still neglected it, he had suffered the loss of an excellent son by death, and had himself suddenly become palsied. 3 This story he told after having been brought into the senate on a litter, and no sooner had he told it, they say, than he at once felt the strength return to his body, and rose up, and went away, walking without aid. In amazement, then, the senators made a careful investigation of the matter.
[Cor. 24.4] Now, what had happened was this. A certain man had handed over one of his slaves to other slaves, with orders to scourge him through the forum, and then put him to death. 4 While they were executing this commission and torturing the poor wretch, whose pain and suffering made him writhe and twist himself horribly, the sacred procession in honour of Jupiter chanced to come up behind. Many of those who took part in it were, indeed, scandalized at the joyless sight and the unseemly contortions of the victim, but no one made any protest; they merely heaped abuse and curses on the head of a master who was inflicting such a cruel punishment. For in those days the Romans treated their slaves with great kindness, because they worked and even ate with them themselves, and were therefore more familiar and gentle with them. 5 And it was a severe punishment for a slave who had committed a fault, if he was obliged to take the piece of wood with which they prop up the pole of a waggon, and carry it around through the neighbourhood. For he who had been seen undergoing this punishment no longer had any credit in his own or neighbouring households. And he was called “furcifer”; for what the Greeks call a prop, or support, is called “furca” by the Romans.
[Cor. 25.1] 25 1 When, therefore, Latinus had reported this vision to the senators, and they were at a loss to know who the unpleasant and bad dancer was who had headed the procession referred to, some of them were led, owing to the extraordinary nature of his punishment, to think of the slave who had been scourged through the forum and then put to death. Accordingly, with the concurrence of the priests, the master of the slave was punished, and the procession and spectacles in honour of the god were exhibited anew.
[Cor. 25.2] 2 Now it would seem that Numa, who in other respects also was a very wise director of sacred rites, had very properly sought to secure the people’s reverent attention by means of the following ordinance. When, namely, magistrates or priests perform any religious function, a herald goes before, crying with a loud voice, “Hoc age.” The meaning of this cry is, Mind this! and it warns the people to give heed to the sacred rites, and suffer no task or demand of business to intervene, implying that men perform most of their duties under some sort of compulsion and by constraint. 3 And it is customary for the Romans to renew sacrifices and processions and spectacles, not only for such a reason as the above, but also for trivial reasons. For instance, if one of the horses drawing the sacred chariots called Tensae gives out; or again, if the charioteer takes hold of the reins with his left hand, they decree that the procession be renewed. And in later ages, a single sacrifice has been performed thirty times, because again and again some failure or offence was thought to occur. Such is the reverent care of the Romans in religious matters.
[Cor. 26.1] 26 1 But Marcius and Tullus were secretly conferring at Antium with the chief men, and were urging them to begin the war while the Romans were torn by internal dissensions. And when shame restrained them from this course, because they had agreed to a truce and cessation of hostilities for two years, the Romans themselves furnished them with a pretext, by making proclamation at the spectacles and games, because of some suspicion or slanderous report, that the visiting Volscians must leave the city before sunset. 2 Some say that this was due to a deceitful stratagem of Marcius, who sent a man to the consuls in Rome, bearing the false charge that the Volscians proposed to fall upon the Romans at the spectacles, and set the city on fire. This proclamation made all the Volscians more embittered against the Romans; and Tullus, magnifying the incident, and goading them on, at last persuaded them to send ambassadors to Rome and demand back the territory and the cities which had been taken from the Volscians in war. 3 But the Romans, after hearing the ambassadors, were full of indignation, and replied that the Volscians might be first to take up arms, but the Romans would be last to lay them down. Upon receiving this answer, Tullus called a general assembly of his people, and after they had voted for the war, advised them to call in Marcius, cherishing no resentment against him, but firmly convinced that he would be more helpful as an ally than he had been injurious as a foe.
[Cor. 27.1] 27 1 Marcius was therefore called in, and held a conference with the assembly; they saw from his speech that he was as eloquent as his exploits in arms had taught them that he was warlike, and were convinced of his surpassing intelligence and daring; so they appointed him general with Tullus, and gave him full powers to conduct the war. 2 Fearing, then, that the time needed to equip and marshal the Volscians would be so long as to rob him of his best opportunity for action, he left orders with the magistrates and chief men of the city to assemble and provide the remaining forces and supplies that were requisite, while he himself, after persuading the most ardent spirits to march forth as volunteers with him and not stop for formal enrolment, burst into the Roman territory of a sudden, when no one expected it. 3 Consequently he secured such abundance of booty that the Volscians had more than they could possibly do to use it in their camp or carry it off home. But the abundant supplies secured, and the great injury and damage done to the enemy’s country, were, in his eyes, the most insignificant result of that expedition; its chief result, and his main object in making it, was to furnish the people of Rome with fresh charges against the patricians. For while he maltreated and destroyed everything else, he kept a vigorous watch over the lands of the patricians, and would not suffer anyone to hurt them or take anything from them. 4 This led to still further accusations and broils between the parties in the city; the patricians accused the people of unjustly driving out an influential man, and the people charged the patricians with bringing Marcius up against them in a spirit of revenge, and then enjoying the spectacle of what others suffered by the war, while war itself protected their own wealth and property outside the city. After Marcius had accomplished his purposes, and greatly helped the Volscians towards courage and scorn of their enemies, he led his forces back in safety.
[Cor. 28.1] 28 1 The entire force of the Volscians was assembled with speed and alacrity, and was then seen to be so large that they determined to leave a part of it behind for the security of their cities, and with the other part to march against the Romans. Moreover, Marcius left it to the choice of Tullus which of the two divisions he would command. Then Tullus, remarking that Marcius was clearly in no wise inferior to himself in valour, and had enjoyed a better fortune in all his battles, bade him lead the division that was to take the field, and he himself would remain behind to guard the cities and provide what was requisite for the army abroad. 2 With a stronger force than before, then, Marcius set out first against Circeii, a city which was a colony of Rome; this surrendered to him of its own accord, and he did it no harm. Next, he laid waste the country of the Latins, where he expected that the Romans would engage him in defence of the Latins, who were their allies and by frequent messengers were calling upon them for help. 3 But the commons were indifferent to the appeal, the consuls were unwilling to risk a campaign during the short time left of their term of office, and therefore the Latin envoys were dismissed. Under these circumstances Marcius led his forces against their cities, and taking by assault those which offered resistance to him, namely, Tolerium, Lavicum, Pedum, and later Bola, he made slaves of the inhabitants and plundered their property. But for those who came over to him of their own accord he showed much concern, and that they might suffer no harm, even against his wishes, he encamped as far as he could from them, and held aloof from their territory.
[Cor. 29.1] 29 1 But after he had taken Bola, a city not more than twelve miles away from Rome, where he got much treasure and put almost all the adults to the sword; and after the Volscians even who had been ordered to remain in their cities grew impatient, and came trooping in arms to Marcius, declaring that he was the sole and only general whom they would recognize as their leader, then his name was great throughout all Italy, and men thought with amazement how the valour of a single man, upon his changing sides, had effected such a marvellous turn in affairs.
[Cor. 29.2] 2 At Rome, however, all was disorder; its citizens refused to fight, and spent their whole time in cabals and factious disputes with one another, until tidings came that the enemy had laid close siege to Lavinium, where the sacred symbols of the ancestral gods of the Romans were stored up, and from which their nation took its origin, since that was the first city which Aeneas founded. 3 This produced an astonishing and universal change of opinion in the commons, as well as one which was altogether strange and unexpected in the patricians. For the commons were eager to repeal the sentence against Marcius and invite him back to the city; whereas the senate, on assembling and considering the proposition, rejected and vetoed it; either because they were angrily bent on opposing all the people’s desires; 4 or else because they were unwilling that Marcius should owe his restoration to the kindness of the people; or because they were now angry at Marcius himself, seeing that he was injuring all alike, although he had not been ill-treated by all, and showed himself an enemy of his whole country, although he knew that the most influential and powerful men in it sympathised with him and shared in his wrongs. When this decision of the senate was made public, the people was powerless; it could not by its vote enact a law, without a previous decree of the senate.
[Cor. 30.1] 30 1 But Marcius, when he heard of it, was yet more exasperated, and raising the siege of Lavinium, marched against Rome in wrath, and encamped at the so called Fossae Cluiliae, only five miles distant from the city. Although the sight of him produced terror and great confusion there, still, it put a stop for the present to their dissensions; for no one longer, whether consul or senator, dared to oppose the people in the matter of restoring Marcius. 2 On the contrary, when they saw the women running frantic in the city, and the aged men resorting to the sacred shrines with suppliant tears and prayers, and everywhere an utter lack of courage and saving counsels, then all agreed that the people had done well to seek a reconciliation with Marcius, but that the senate had made a total mistake in beginning then to indulge its wrath and revengeful spirit, when it had been well to lay such feelings aside. It was, therefore, unanimously decided to send ambassadors to Marcius, offering him the privilege of returning to his country, and begging him to stop his war upon them. 3 Moreover, the messengers from the senate were kinsmen and friends of Marcius, and expected to be treated with great friendliness in their first interview with a man who was a relative and associate of theirs. But matters turned out quite otherwise; for after being led through the camp of the enemy, they found him seated in great state, and looking insufferably stern. 4 Surrounded by the chief men of the Volscians, he bade the Romans declare their wishes. They did so, in reasonable and considerate language, and with a manner suitable to their position, and when they had ceased, he made an answer which, so far as it concerned himself, was full of bitterness and anger at their treatment of him, and in behalf of the Volscians, as their general, he ordered the restitution of the cities and territory which had been torn from them in war, and the passage of a decree granting the Volscians, as allies, equal civic rights, as had been done for the Latins. 5 For no respite from the war would be secure and lasting, he said, except it be based on just and equal rights. Moreover, he gave them thirty days for deliberation, and when the ambassadors were gone, he immediately withdrew his forces from the country.
[Cor. 31.1] 31 1 This was the first ground of complaint against him which was laid hold of by those of the Volscians who had long been jealous of him, and uneasy at the influence which he had acquired. Among these was Tullus also, not because he had been personally wronged at all by Marcius, but because he was only too human. For he was vexed to find his reputation wholly obscured and himself neglected by the Volscians, who thought that Marcius alone was everything to them, and that their other leaders should be content with whatever share of influence and authority he might bestow upon them. 2 This was the reason why the first seeds of denunciation were sown in secret, and now, banding together, the malcontents shared their resentment with one another, and called the withdrawal of Marcius a betrayal, not so much of cities and armies, as of golden opportunities, which prove the salvation or the loss of these as well as of everything else; for he had granted a respite of thirty days from war, although in war the greatest changes might occur in much less time than this.
[Cor. 31.3] 3 And yet Marcius did not spend this time in idleness, but fell upon the enemy’s allies, harassed and ravaged their territories, and captured seven of their large and populous cities. And the Romans did not venture to come to their aid, but their spirits were full of hesitation, and their attitude toward the war was that of men who are completely benumbed and paralyzed. 4 And when the time had passed, and Marcius was at hand again with his entire force, they sent out another embassy to entreat him to moderate his wrath, withdraw the Volscian army from the country, and then make such proposals and settlements as he thought best for both nations; for the Romans would make no concessions through fear, but if he thought that the Volscians ought to obtain certain favours, all such would be granted them if they laid down their arms. 5 Marcius replied that, as general of the Volscians, he would make no answer to this, but as one who was still a citizen of Rome, he advised and exhorted them to adopt more moderate views of what justice required, and come to him in three days with a ratification of his previous demands; but if they should decide otherwise, they must know well that it was not safe for them to come walking into his camp again with empty phrases.
[Cor. 32.1] 32 1 When the embassy had returned and the senate had heard its report, it was felt that the city was tossing on the billows of a great tempest, and therefore the last and sacred anchor was let down. A decree was passed that all the priests of the gods, and the celebrants or custodians of the mysteries, and those who practised the ancient and ancestral art of divination from the flight of birds, — that all these should go to Marcius, arrayed as was the custom of each in the performance of their sacred rites, and should urge him in the same manner as before to put a stop to the war, and then to confer with his fellow-citizens regarding the Volscians. 2 He did, indeed, admit this embassy into his camp, but made no other concession, nor did he act or speak more mildly, but told them to make a settlement on his former terms, or else accept the war. Accordingly, when the priests had returned, it was decided to remain quietly in the city, guarding its walls, and repulsing the enemy, should he make an attack. 3 They put their hopes in time especially, and in the vicissitudes of fortune, since they knew not how to save themselves by their own efforts, but turmoil, terror, and rumours of evil possessed the city. At last something happened that was like what Homer often mentions, although people generally do not wholly believe it. 4 For when some great and unusual deed is to be done, that poet declares in his stately manner: —
[Cor. 32.1b] “He then was inspired by the goddess, flashing-eyed Athene”
;
and again: —
“But some immortal turned his mind by lodging in his heart
A fear of what the folk would say”
;
and again: —
“Either through some suspicion, or else a god so bade him do”
;
[Cor. 32.5] but people despise Homer and say that with his impossible exploits and incredible tales he makes it impossible to believe in every man’s power to determine his own choice of action. 5 This, however, is not what Homer does, but those acts which are natural, customary, and the result of reasoning, he attributes to our own volition, and he certainly says frequently: —
[Cor. 32.5b] “But I formed a plan within my lordly heart”
;
and also: —
“So he spake, and Peleus’ son was sore distressed, and his heart
Within his shaggy breast between two courses was divided”
;
and again: —
[Cor. 32.5c] “But him no whit Could she persuade from his integrity, the fiery-hearted Bellerophon”
[Cor. 32.5d] ;
[Cor. 32.6] 6 while in exploits of a strange and extraordinary nature, requiring some rush of inspiration, and desperate courage, he does not represent the god as taking away, but as prompting, a man’s choice of action; nor yet as creating impulses in a man, but rather conceptions which lead to impulses, and by these his action is not made involuntary, but his will is set in motion, while courage and hope are added to sustain him. 7 For either the influence of the gods must be wholly excluded from all initiating power over our actions, or in what other way can they assist and co-operate with men? They certainly do not mould our bodies by their direct agency, nor give the requisite change to the action of our hands and feet, but rather, by certain motives, conceptions, and purposes, they rouse the active and elective powers of our spirits, or, on the other hand, divert and check them.
[Cor. 33.1] 33 1 Now in Rome, at the time of which I speak, various groups of women visited the various temples, but the greater part of them, and those of highest station, carried their supplications to the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus. Among these was Valeria, a sister of that Publicola who had done the Romans so many eminent services both as warrior and statesman. Publicola, indeed, had died some time before, as I have related in his Life; but Valeria was still enjoying her repute and honour in the city, where her life was thought to adorn her lineage. 2 This woman, then, suddenly seized with one of those feelings which I have been describing, and laying hold of the right expedient with a purpose not uninspired of heaven, rose up herself, bade the other women all rise, and came with them to the house of Volumnia, the mother of Marcius. After entering and finding her seated with her daughter-in law, and holding the children of Marcius on her lap, Valeria called about her the women who had followed, and said: 3 “We whom thou seest here, Volumnia, and thou, Vergilia, are come as women to women, obeying neither senatorial edict nor consular command; but our god, as it would seem, taking pity on our supplication, put into our hearts an impulse to come hither to you and beseech you to do that which will not only be the salvation of us ourselves and of the citizens besides, but also lift you who consent to do it to a more conspicuous fame than that which the daughters of the Sabines won, when they brought the fathers and husbands out of war into friendship and peace. 4 Arise, come with us to Marcius, and join with us in supplicating him, bearing this just and true testimony in behalf of your country, that, although she has suffered much wrong at his hands, she has neither done nor thought of doing harm to you, in her anger, but restores you to him, even though she is destined to obtain no equitable treatment at his hands.”
[Cor. 33.5] 5 These words of Valeria were seconded by the cries of the other women with her, and Volumnia gave them this answer: “O women, not only have we an equal share with you in common calamities, but we have an additional misery of our own, in that we have lost the fame and virtue of Marcius, and see his person protected in command, rather than preserved from death, by the arms of our enemies. And yet it is the greatest of our misfortunes that our native city is become so utterly weak as to place her hopes in us. 6 For I know not whether the man will have any regard for us, since he has none for his country, which he once set before mother and wife and children. However, take us and use us and bring us to him; if we can do nothing else, we can at least breathe out our lives in supplications for our country.”
[Cor. 34.1] 34 1 After this, she took the children and Vergilia and went with the other women to the camp of the Volscians. The sight of them, and the pitifulness of it, produced even in their enemies reverence and silence. Now it chanced that Marcius was seated on a tribunal with his chief officers. 2 When, accordingly, he saw the women approaching, he was amazed; and when he recognized his mother, who walked at their head, he would fain have persisted in his previous inflexible and implacable course, but, mastered by his feelings, and confounded at what he saw, he could not endure to remain seated while they approached him, but descended quickly from the tribunal and ran to meet them. He saluted his mother first, and held her a long time in his embrace, and then his wife and children, sparing now neither tears nor caresses, but suffering himself as it were to be borne away by a torrent of emotion.
[Cor. 35.1] 35 1 But when he was sated with this, and perceived that his mother now wished to say something, he brought to his side the councillors of the Volscians, and heard Volumnia speak as follows: “Thou seest, my son, even if we do not speak ourselves, and canst judge from the wretchedness of our garb and aspect, to what a pitiful state thy banishment has reduced us. 2 And now be sure that we who come to thee are of all women most unhappy, since fortune has made the sight which should have been most sweet, most dreadful for us, as I behold my son, and this wife of thine her husband, encamped against the walls of our native city. And that which for the rest is an assuagement of all misfortune and misery, namely prayer to the gods, has become for us most impracticable; for we cannot ask from the gods both victory for our country and at the same time safety for thee, but that which any one of our foes might imprecate upon us as a curse, this must be the burden of our prayers. 3 For thy wife and children must needs be deprived either of their country or of thee. As for me, I will not wait to have the war decide this issue for me while I live, but unless I can persuade thee to substitute friendship and concord for dissension and hostility, and so to become a benefactor of both parties rather than a destroyer of one of them, then consider and be well assured that thou canst not assail thy country without first treading underfoot the corpse of her who bore thee. For it does not behoove me to await that day on which I shall behold my son either led in triumph by his fellow-citizens or triumphing over his country. 4 If, then, I asked you to save your country by ruining the Volscians, the question before thee would be a grievous one, my son, and hard to decide, since it is neither honourable for a man to destroy his fellow-citizens, nor just for him to betray those who have put their trust in him; but as it is, we ask only a relief from evils, something which would be salutary for both parties alike, but more conducive to fame and honour for the Volscians, because their superiority in arms will give them the appearance of bestowing the greatest of blessings, namely peace and friendship, although they get these no less themselves. If these blessings are realized, it will be chiefly due to thee; if they are not, then thou alone wilt bear the blame from both nations. 5 And though the issues of war are obscure, this is manifest, that if victorious, thou wilt only be thy country’s destroying demon, and if defeated, the world will think that, to satisfy thy wrath, thou didst bring down the greatest calamities upon men who were thy benefactors and friends.”
[Cor. 36.1] 36 1 While Volumnia was saying this, Marcius listened without making any answer, and after she had ceased also, he stood a long time in silence. Volumnia therefore began once more: “Why art thou silent, my son? Is it right to yield everything to wrath and resentment, but wrong to gratify a mother in such a prayer as this? 2 Or is the remembrance of his wrongs becoming to a great man, while the remembrance, with reverence and honour, of the benefits which children have received from their parents is not the duty of a great and good man? Surely for no man were it more seemly to cherish gratitude than for thee, who dost so bitterly proceed against ingratitude. 3 And yet, although thou hast already punished thy country severely, thou hast not shown thy mother any gratitude. It were, therefore, a most pious thing in thee to grant me, without any compulsion, so worthy and just a request as mine; but since I cannot persuade thee, why should I spare my last resource?” And with these words she threw herself at his feet, together with his wife and children. 4 Then Marcius, crying out “What hast thou done to me, my mother!” lifted her up, and pressing her right hand warmly, said: “Thou art victorious, and thy victory means good fortune to my country, but death to me; for I shall withdraw vanquished, though by thee alone.” When he had said this, and had held a little private conference with his mother and his wife, he sent them back again to Rome, as they desired, and on the next morning led away his Volscians, who were not at all affected in the same way nor equally pleased by what had happened. 5 For some found fault both with him and with what he had done; but others, who were favourably disposed towards a peaceful settlement of the dispute, with neither; while some, though displeased with his proceedings, nevertheless could not look upon Marcius as a bad man, but thought it pardonable in him to be broken down by such strong compulsions. No one, however, opposed him, but all followed him obediently, though rather out of admiration for his virtue than regard for his authority.
[Cor. 37.1] 37 1 But the Roman people showed more plainly, when they were set free from the war, the greatness of their fear and peril while it lasted. For as soon as those who manned the walls descried the Volscians drawing their forces off, every temple was thrown open, and the people crowned themselves with garlands and offered sacrifices as if for victory. But the joy of the city was most apparent in the honour and loving favour which both the senate and the whole people bestowed upon the women, declaring their belief that the city’s salvation was manifestly due to them. 2 When, however, the senate passed a decree that whatsoever they asked for themselves in the way of honour or favour, should be furnished and done for them by the magistrates, they asked for nothing else besides the erection of a temple of Women’s Fortune, the expense of which they offered to contribute of themselves, if the city would undertake to perform, at the public charge, all the sacrifices and honours, such as are due to the gods. 3 The senate commended their public spirit, and erected the temple and its image at the public charge, but they none the less contributed money themselves and set up a second image of the goddess, and this, the Romans say, as it was placed in the temple, uttered some such words as these: “Dear to the gods, O women, is your pious gift of me.”
[Cor. 38.1] 38 1 These words were actually uttered twice, as the story runs, which would have us believe what is difficult of belief and probably never happened. For that statues have appeared to sweat, and shed tears, and exude something like drops of blood, is not impossible; since wood and stone often contract a mould which is productive of moisture, and cover themselves with many colours, and receive tints from the atmosphere; and there is nothing in the way of believing that the Deity uses these phenomena sometimes as signs and portents. 2 It is possible also that statues may emit a noise like a moan or a groan, by reason of a fracture or a rupture, which is more violent if it takes place in the interior. But that articulate speech, and language so clear and abundant and precise, should proceed from a lifeless thing, is altogether impossible; since not even the soul of man, or the Deity, without a body duly organized and fitted with vocal parts, has ever spoken and conversed. 3 But where history forces our assent with numerous and credible witnesses, we must conclude that an experience different from that of sensation arises in the imaginative part of the soul, and persuades men to think it sensation; as, for instance, in sleep, when we think we see and hear, although we neither see nor hear. However, those who cherish strong feelings of good-will and affection for the Deity, and are therefore unable to reject or deny anything of this kind, have a strong argument for their faith in the wonderful and transcending character of the divine power. 4 For the Deity has no resemblance whatever to man, either in nature, activity, skill, or strength; nor, if He does something that we cannot do, or contrives something that we cannot contrive, is this contrary to reason; but rather, since he differs from us in all points, in His works most of all is He unlike us and far removed from us. But most of the Deity’s powers, as Heracleitus says, “escape our knowledge through incredulity.”
[Cor. 39.1] 39 1 But as for Marcius, when he came back to Antium from his expedition, Tullus, who had long hated him and been oppressed with jealousy of him, plotted to take him off at once, believing that if his enemy escaped him now, he would never give him another chance to seize him. Having, therefore, arrayed a large party against him, he bade him lay down his command and give the Volscians an account of his administration. 2 But Marcius, afraid of being reduced to private station when Tullus was in command and exercising the greatest influence among his own countrymen, said he would resign his command to the Volscians, if they bade him do so, since it was at their general bidding that he had assumed it; and that he was ready, and would not refuse even before that, to give a full account of his administration to all the people of Antium who desired it. An assembly was therefore held, at which the popular leaders who had been set to the work arose and tried to embitter the multitude against him. 3 But when Marcius rose to speak, the more disorderly part of his audience grew quiet, out of reverence for him, and gave him opportunity to speak fearlessly, while the best of the men of Antium, and those that were especially pleased with peace, made it clear that they would listen to him with favour and give a just decision. Tullus, therefore, began to fear the effect of the man’s plea in self-defence; for he was one of the most powerful speakers, and his earlier achievements secured him a gratitude which outweighed his later fault; nay more, the very charge against him was but so much proof of the great gratitude which was his due. 4 For they would not have thought themselves wronged in not getting Rome into their power, had not the efforts of Marcius brought them near to taking it.
[Cor. 39.5] Accordingly, the conspirators decided to make no more delay, and not to test the feelings of the multitude; but the boldest of them, crying out that the Volscians must not listen to the traitor, nor suffer him to retain his command and play the tyrant among them, fell upon him in a body and slew him, and no man present offered to defend him. 5 However, that the deed was not wrought with the approval of the majority of the Volscians, was seen at once from their coming out of their cities in concourse to his body, to which they gave honourable burial, adorning his tomb with arms and spoils, as that of a chieftain and general. But when the Romans learned of his death, they paid him no other mark either of honour or resentment, but simply granted the request of the women that they might mourn for him ten months, as was customary when any one of them lost a father, or a son, or a brother. For this was the period fixed for the longest mourning, and it was fixed by Numa Pompilius, as is written in his Life.
[Cor. 39.6] 6 The loss of Marcius was keenly felt at once by the Volscian state. For, in the first place, they quarrelled with the Aequians, who were their allies and friends, over the supreme command, and carried their quarrel to the length of bloodshed and slaughter; in the second place, they were defeated in battle by the Romans, wherein Tullus was slain and the very flower of their forces was cut to pieces, so that they were glad to accept most disgraceful terms, becoming subjects of Rome, and pledging themselves to obey her commands.

## Comparison of Alcibiades and Coriolanus

[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 1.1] 233 1 1 Now that all the deeds of these men are set forth, so far as we consider them worthy of recollection and record, it is plain that their military careers do not incline the balance either way very decidedly. For both alike gave many signal proofs of daring and valour as soldiers, as well as of skill and foresight as commanders; 2 except that some may give the preference to Alcibiades, because he was continually successful and victorious in many struggles by sea, as well as by land, and declare him therefore the more consummate general. It is certainly true of each that, when he was at home and in command, he always conducted his country’s cause with manifest success, and, contrariwise, inflicted even more manifest injury upon it when he went over to the enemy. 3 As statesmen, if the exceeding wantonness of Alcibiades, and the stain of dissoluteness and vulgarity upon all his efforts to win the favour of the multitude, won the loathing of sober-minded citizens, it was equally true that the utter ungraciousness of Marcius, together with his pride and oligarchical demeanour, won the hatred of the Roman people. 4 Neither course, then, is to be approved; although the man who seeks to win the people by his favours is less blameworthy than those who heap insults on the multitude, in order to avoid the appearance of trying to win them. For it is a disgrace to flatter the people for the sake of power; but to get power by acts of terror, violence, and oppression, is not only a disgrace, it is also an injustice.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 2.1] 2 1 Now, that Marcius is usually thought to have been rather simple in his nature, and straightforward, while Alcibiades was unscrupulous in his public acts, and false, is very clear. And Alcibiades is particularly denounced for the malicious deceit by which he cheated the Lacedaemonian ambassadors, as Thucydides relates, and put an end to the peace. 2 But this policy of his, although it did plunge the city again into war, made it nevertheless strong and formidable, by reason of the alliance with Mantineia and Argos which Alcibiades secured for it. And yet Marcius himself also used deceit to stir up war between the Romans and Volscians, when he brought a false charge against the visitors to the games, as Dionysius relates; and the motive for his action makes it the worse of the two. 3 For he was not influenced by ambition, or by rivalry in a political struggle, as Alcibiades was, but simply gave way to his anger, 234 from which passion, as Dion says, “no one ever gets a grateful return,” and threw many districts of Italy into confusion, and needlessly sacrificed many innocent cities to his rage against his country.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 2.4] It is true, indeed, that Alcibiades also, through his anger, was the cause of great calamities to his countrymen. 4 But just as soon as he saw that they were repentant, he showed them his goodwill, and after he had been driven away a second time, he did not exult over the mistakes of their generals, nor look with indifference upon their bad and perilous plans, but did precisely what Aristides is so highly praised for doing to Themistocles: he came to the men who were then in command, although they were not his friends, and told them plainly what they ought to do. 5 Marcius, however, in the first place, did injury to his whole city, although he had not been injured by the whole of it, but the best and strongest part of it shared his wrongs and his distress; in the second place, by resisting and not yielding to the many embassies and supplications with which his countrymen tried to heal his single wrath and folly, he made it clear that he had undertaken a fierce and implacable war for the overthrow and destruction of his country, not that he might recover and regain it. 6 Further, in this point it may be said there was a difference between them, namely, that Alcibiades, when he went over to the side of the Athenians, was moved by fear and hatred of the Spartans, who were plotting to take his life; whereas it was dishonourable for Marcius to leave the Volscians in the lurch when they were treating him with perfect fairness. 7 For he was appointed their leader, and had the greatest credit and influence among them, unlike Alcibiades, whom the Lacedaemonians misused rather than used, who wandered about aimlessly in their city, and again was tossed to and fro in their camp, and at last threw himself into the hands of Tissaphernes; unless, indeed, he was all the while paying him court in order that the Athens to which he longed to return might not be utterly destroyed.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 3.1] 3 1 Furthermore, in the matter of money, we are told that Alcibiades often got it ill by taking bribes, and spent it ill in luxury and dissipation; whereas Marcius could not be persuaded to take it even when it was offered to him as an honour by his commanders. And for this reason he was especially odious to the multitude in the disputes with the people concerning debts, because they saw that it was not for gain, but out of insolence and scorn, that he acted despitefully towards the poor.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 3.2] 2 Antipater, writing in one of his letters about the death of Aristotle the philosopher, says: “In addition to all his other gifts, the man had also that of persuasion”; and the absence of this gift in Marcius made his great deeds and virtues obnoxious to the very men whom they benefited, since they could not endure the arrogant pride of the man, and that self-will which is, as Plato says, “the companion of solitude.” Alcibiades, on the contrary, understood how to treat in a friendly manner those who met him, and we cannot wonder that when he was successful his fame was attended with goodwill and honour, and flowered luxuriantly, since some of his errors even had often charm and felicity. 3 This was the reason why, in spite of the great and frequent harm done by him to the city, he was nevertheless many times appointed leader and general; while Marcius, when he stood for an office which was his due in view of his valorous achievements, was defeated. And so it was that the one could not make himself hated by his countrymen, even when he was doing them harm; while the other was after all not beloved, even while he was admired.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 4.1] 4 1 For Marcius did not, as a commander, obtain any great successes for his city, but only for his enemies against his country; whereas Alcibiades was often of service to the Athenians, both as a private soldier and as a commander. When he was at home, he mastered his adversaries to his heart’s content; it was when he was absent that their calumnies prevailed. 2 Marcius, on the contrary, was with the Romans when they condemned him, and with the Volscians when they slew him. The deed was not in accordance with justice or right, it is true, and yet his own acts supplied an excuse for it, because, after rejecting the terms of peace publicly offered, 235 and suffering himself to be persuaded by the private solicitations of the women, he did not put an end to hostilities, but allowed the war to continue, while he threw away for ever its golden opportunity. 3 For he should have won the consent of those who had put their trust in him, before retiring from his position, if he had the highest regard for their just claims upon him. If, on the other hand, he cared nothing for the Volscians, but was prosecuting the war merely to satisfy his own anger, and then stopped it abruptly, the honourable course had been, not to spare his country for his mother’s sake, but his mother together with his country; since his mother and his wife were part and parcel of the native city which he was besieging. 4 But after giving harsh treatment to public supplications, entreaties of embassies, and prayers of priests, then to concede his withdrawal as a favour to his mother, was not so much an honour to that mother, as it was a dishonour to his country, which was thus saved by the pitiful intercession of a single woman, and held unworthy of salvation for its own sake. Surely the favour was invidious, and harsh, and really no favour at all, and unacceptable to both parties; for he retired without listening to the persuasions of his antagonists, and without gaining the consent of his comrades-in arms.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 4.5] 5 The cause of all this lay in his unsociable, very overweening, and self-willed disposition, which of itself is offensive to most people, and when combined with an ambitious spirit, becomes altogether savage and implacable. Such men pay no court to the multitude, professing not to want their honours, and then are vexed if they do not get them. Certainly there was no tendency to importune or court the favour of the multitude in men like Metellus, Aristides, and Epaminondas; 6 but owing to their genuine contempt for what a people has the power to give and take away, though they were repeatedly ostracised, defeated at elections, and condemned in courts of justice, they cherished no anger against their countrymen for their ingratitude, but showed them kindness again when they repented, and were reconciled with them when they asked it. Surely he who least courts the people’s favour, ought least to resent their neglect, since vexation over failure to receive their honours is most apt to spring from an excessive longing after them.
[Comp. Alc.–Cor. 5.1] 5 1 Well, then, Alcibiades would not deny that he rejoiced to be honoured, and was displeased to be overlooked, and he therefore tried to be agreeable and pleasant to his associates; but the overweening pride of Marcius would not suffer him to pay court to those who had the power to honour and advance him, while his ambition made him feel angry and hurt when he was neglected. 2 These are the blameworthy traits in the man, but all the rest are brilliant. And for his temperance and superiority to wealth, he deserves to be compared with the best and purest of the Greeks, not with Alcibiades, who, in these regards, was the most unscrupulous of men, and the most careless of the claims of honour.

## Timoleon

[Tim. pr. 1] I began the writing of my “Lives” for the sake of others, but I find that I am continuing the work and delighting in it now for my own sake also, using history as a mirror and endeavouring in a manner to fashion and adorn my life in conformity with the virtues therein depicted. 2 For the result is like nothing else than daily living and associating together, when I receive and welcome each subject of my history in turn as my guest, so to speak, and observe carefully “how large he was and of what mien,” and select from his career what is most important and most beautiful to know.
[Tim. pr. 3] 3 “And oh! what greater joy than this canst thou obtain,”
[Tim. pr. 4] 4 and more efficacious for moral improvement? Democritus says we ought to pray that we may be visited by phantoms which are propitious, and that from out the circumambient air such only may encounter us as are agreeable to our natures and good, rather than those which are perverse and bad, thereby intruding into philosophy a doctrine which is not true, and which leads astray into boundless superstitions. 5 But in my own case, the study of history and the familiarity with it which my writing produces, enables me, since I always cherish in my soul the records of the noblest and most estimable characters, to repel and put far from me whatever base, malicious, or ignoble suggestion my enforced associations may intrude upon me, calmly and dispassionately turning my thoughts away from them to the fairest of my examples. 6 Among these were Timoleon the Corinthian and Aemilius Paulus, whose Lives I have now undertaken to lay before my readers; 7 the men were alike not only in the good principles which they adopted, but also in the good fortune which they enjoyed in their conduct of affairs, 8 and they will make it hard for my readers to decide whether the greatest of their successful achievements were due to their good fortune or their wisdom.
[Tim. 1.1] 1 The state of affairs in Syracuse, before the expedition of Timoleon into Sicily, was as follows. 2 After Dion had driven out Dionysius the tyrant, he was at once treacherously slain, and those who had helped him to free Syracuse were divided among themselves. The city, therefore, was continually exchanging one tyrant for another, and owing to a multitude of ills was almost abandoned, 3 while as for the rest of Sicily, part of it was ruined and already wholly without inhabitants by reason of the wars, and most of the cities were occupied by Barbarians of mixed races and soldiers out of employment, who readily consented to the successive changes in the despotic power. 4 At last Dionysius, in the tenth year of his exile, collected mercenaries, drove out Nisaeus, who was at that time master of Syracuse, recovered the power again, and established himself as tyrant anew; he had been unaccountably deprived by a small force of the greatest tyranny that ever was, and now more unaccountably still he had become, from a lowly exile, master of those who drove him forth. 5 Accordingly, those of the Syracusans who remained in the city were the slaves of a tyrant who at all times was unreasonable, and whose spirit at this time was rendered altogether savage by misfortunes, 6 but the best and most distinguished of them had recourse to Hicetas the ruler of Leontini, put themselves under his protection, and chose him their general for the war; not that he was better than any acknowledged tyrant, but because they had no other refuge, and felt confidence in one who was a Syracusan by birth and possessed a force that was able to cope with that of Dionysius.
[Tim. 2.1] 2 Meanwhile the Carthaginians came with a large armament to Sicily and were watching their opportunity, and the Sicilian Greeks, in their fright, wished to send an embassy to Greece and ask for assistance from the Corinthians, 2 not only because they trusted them on account of their kinship and in consequence of the many benefits they had already received from them, but also in general because they saw that the city was always a lover of freedom and a hater of tyrants, and had waged the most and greatest of her wars, not for supremacy and aggrandizement, but for the liberty of the Greeks. 3 Hicetas, however, since he had made a tyranny for himself, and not the freedom of Syracuse, his sole object in taking the field, had already held secret conferences with the Carthaginians; yet openly he commended the plan of the Syracusans and joined them in sending the embassy to Peloponnesus, 4 not because he wished that an allied force should come from there, but because he hoped that if, as was likely, the Corinthians should refuse their assistance because the disturbed condition of Greece kept them busy at home, he might more easily turn the control of affairs into the hands of the Carthaginians and use these invaders as allies and helpers in a struggle against the Syracusans or against Dionysius. This, then, was fully proved a little later.
[Tim. 3.1] 3 But when the embassy arrived, the Corinthians, since they were wont to be ever solicitous for their colonial cities and for Syracuse in particular, and since by good fortune there was nothing in Greece at that time to disturb them, but they were enjoying peace and leisure, voted readily to give the assistance desired. 2 And while they were seeking for a commander, and the magistrates were writing down the names of those in the city who were eager for the honour and proposing them for election, one of the common people rose to his feet and nominated Timoleon the son of Timodemus, although he no longer took part in public business, and had no expectation or purpose of doing so; but some god, as it would seem, put it into the man’s mind to nominate him, 3 such was the kindliness of Fortune that shone forth at once upon his election, and such the grace that attended his subsequent actions and adorned his virtues.
[Tim. 3.4] 4 He was born of parents who were illustrious in the city, Timodemus and Demariste, and he was a lover of his country and exceedingly gentle, except as he was a hater of tyrants and of base men. 5 As a soldier his nature was so well and evenly attempered that great sagacity was manifested in the exploits of his youth, and no less bravery in those of his old age. 6 He had a brother Timophanes, older than he, not at all like him, but headstrong and filled with a ruinous passion for absolute power by worthless friends and foreign military adventurers who were ever about him, and having the reputation of being rather impetuous and fond of danger in military service. 7 Therefore he won followers among the citizens and as an efficient warrior was given posts of high command. And Timoleon aided him in obtaining these, trying to conceal his mistakes altogether or to make them seem trifling, and embellishing and enhancing his good natural qualities.
[Tim. 4.1] 4 1 In the battle fought by the Corinthians against the Argives and Cleonaeans, Timoleon was stationed among the men-at arms, and Timophanes, who commanded the cavalry, was overtaken by extreme peril. 2 For his horse was wounded and threw him in among the enemy, and of his comrades, some scattered in panic flight, while the few who remained fought against great numbers and were with difficulty holding their ground. 3 Accordingly, when Timoleon saw what had happened, he came running to the help of Timophanes and held his shield over him as he lay on the ground, and after receiving many javelins and many hand to hand blows upon his person and his armour, at last succeeded in repulsing the enemy and saving his brother.
[Tim. 4.4] 4 After this, the Corinthians, fearing lest they should suffer a second loss of their city through the treachery of their allies, voted to maintain four hundred mercenaries, and put Timophanes in command of them; 5 but he, without regard for honour and justice, at once took measures to bring the city under his own power, and after putting to death without a trial great numbers of the leading citizens, declared himself tyrant. At this, Timoleon was greatly distressed, and considering his brother’s baseness to be his own misfortune, he attempted to reason with him and exhort him to renounce that unfortunate and mad ambition of his and seek to make some amends for his transgressions against his fellow citizens. 6 But when his brother rejected his appeals with scorn, he took his kinsman Aeschylus, who was a brother of the wife of Timophanes, and his friend the seer whose name according to Theopompus, was Satyrus, but according to Ephorus and Timaeus, Orthagoras, and after waiting a few days went up again to his brother; 7 and the three, surrounding him, besought him even now to listen to reason and change his mind. 8 But Timophanes first mocked them, and then lost his temper and was violent, whereupon Timoleon withdrew a little space from him and stood weeping with muffled head, while the other two, drawing their swords, speedily despatched him.
[Tim. 5.1] 5 The deed having been noised abroad, the most influential Corinthians applauded Timoleon for his hatred of baseness and greatness of soul, in that, although a kindly man and fond of his family, he had nevertheless set his country before his family, and honour and justice before expediency; for when his brother was fighting valiantly for his country, Timoleon had saved his life, but after he had plotted against her and enslaved her, Timoleon had slain him. 2 However, those who were unable to live in a democracy and were accustomed to pay court to men in power, while they pretended to rejoice at the death of the tyrant, still, by their abuse of Timoleon as the perpetrator of an impious and abominable deed, drove him into despondency. 3 And now he learned that his mother was angry with him and uttered dreadful reproaches and fearful imprecations against him, and went to plead his cause with her; but she could not endure to see his face, and closed her house against him. Then indeed he became altogether a prey to grief and disordered in mind, and determined to starve himself to death; 4 but his friends would not suffer this, and brought all manner of entreaty and constraint to bear upon him, so that he made up his mind to live by himself, apart from the world. So he gave up all public life, and for a long while did not even return to the city, but spent his time wandering in great distress of mind among the most desolate parts of the country.
[Tim. 6.1] 6 So true is it that the purposes of men, unless they acquire firmness and strength from reason and philosophy for the activities of life, are unsettled and easily carried away by casual praise and blame, being forced out of their native reckonings. 2 For it would seem that not only our action must be noble and just, but the conviction also from which our action springs must be abiding and unchangeable, 3 in order that we may be satisfied with what we are about to do, and that mere weakness may not make us dejected over actions which have once been accomplished, when the fair vision of the Good fades away; just as gluttons who devour cloying viands with the keenest appetite are very soon sated and then disgusted with them. 4 For repentance makes even the noble action base; whereas the choice which springs from a wise and understanding calculation does not change, even though its results are unsuccessful. 5 For this reason Phocion the Athenian, after having opposed the activities of Leosthenes, when Leosthenes was thought to be successful and the Athenians were seen sacrificing and exulting over the victory, said he could have wished that the achievement were his own, but was glad that he counselled as he did. 6 And with more force Aristides the Locrian, one of Plato’s companions, when Dionysius the Elder asked him for one of his daughters in marriage, said he would be more pleased to see the maid dead than living with a tyrant; 7 and when, after a little while, Dionysius put his children to death and then asked him insultingly whether he was still of the same mind about giving his daughters in marriage, answered that he was afflicted by what had been done, but did not repent him of what had been said. Such utterances as these, betoken perhaps a larger and more consummate virtue.
[Tim. 7.1] 7 But the grief of Timoleon over what had been done, whether it was due to pity for his dead brother or to reverence for his mother, so shattered and confounded his mental powers that almost twenty years passed without his setting his hand to a single conspicuous or public enterprise. 2 Accordingly, when he had been nominated general, and the people had readily approved of it and given him their votes, Telecleides, who was at that time the foremost man in the city for reputation and influence, rose up and exhorted Timoleon to be a noble and brave man in his enterprises. “For if,” said he, “thou contendest successfully, we shall think of thee as a tyrannicide; but if poorly, as a fratricide.”
[Tim. 7.3] 3 But while Timoleon was getting ready for his voyage and collecting soldiers, a letter was brought to the Corinthians from Hicetas which disclosed his treacherous change of sides. 4 For as soon as he had sent out the embassy, he openly attached himself to the Carthaginians and acted with them in order to expel Dionysius from Syracuse and become its tyrant himself. 5 And fearing lest his opportunities for action should escape him if a general and an army came from Corinth in advance, he sent a letter to the Corinthians telling them that there was no need of their putting themselves to the trouble and expense of a voyage to Sicily with all its perils, 6 especially since the Carthaginians, with whom their delay had forced him to make an alliance against the tyrant, forbade their expedition and were on the watch for it with a large fleet. 7 When this letter had been read publicly, if any of the Corinthians had before been lukewarm towards the expedition, their wrath against Hicetas now incited them all, so that they eagerly joined in supplying Timoleon and helping him get ready for his voyage.
[Tim. 8.1] 8 When the fleet was ready, and the soldiers provided with what they needed, the priestesses of Persephone fancied they saw in their dream that goddess and her mother making ready for a journey, and heard them say that they were going to sail with Timoleon to Sicily. 2 Therefore the Corinthians equipped a sacred trireme besides, and named it after the two goddesses. Furthermore, Timoleon himself journeyed to Delphi and sacrificed to the god, and as he descended into the place of the oracle, he received the following sign. 3 From the votive offerings suspended there a fillet which had crowns and figures of Victory embroidered upon it slipped away and fell directly upon the head of Timoleon, so that it appeared as if he were being crowned by the god and thus sent forth upon his undertaking.
[Tim. 8.4] 4 And now, with seven Corinthian ships, and two from Corcyra, and a tenth which the Leucadians furnished, he set sail. 5 And at night, after he had entered the open sea and was enjoying a favouring wind, the heavens seemed to burst open on a sudden above his ship, and to pour forth an abundant and conspicuous fire. 6 From this a torch lifted itself on high, like those which the mystics bear, and running along with them on their course, darted down upon precisely that part of Italy towards which the pilots were steering. 7 The soothsayers declared that the apparition bore witness to the dreams of the priestesses, and that the goddesses were taking part in the expedition and showing forth the light from heaven; 8 for Sicily, they said, was sacred to Persephone, since mythology makes it the scene of her rape; and the island was given to her as a wedding present.
[Tim. 9.1] 9 Such, then, were the signs from Heaven which encouraged the expedition; and making haste, since they were crossing the open sea, they skirted the coast of Italy. 2 But the tidings from Sicily much perplexed Timoleon and disheartened his soldiers. 3 For Hicetas, after defeating Dionysius in battle and occupying most of the outlying portions of Syracuse, had shut the tyrant up in the acropolis and what was called The Island, where he was himself helping to besiege and wall him in, 4 while he ordered the Carthaginians to see to it that Timoleon should not land in Sicily, but that he and his forces should be repulsed, and that they themselves, at their leisure, should divide the island with one another. 5 So the Carthaginians sent twenty triremes to Rhegium, on board of which were envoys from Hicetas to Timoleon carrying proposals which conformed to his proceedings. 6 For they were specious and misleading suggestions covering base designs, the envoys demanding that Timoleon himself, if he wished, should come to Hicetas as counsellor and partner in all his successes, but that he should send his ships and his soldiers back to Corinth, since, as they claimed, the war was almost finished, and the Carthaginians were ready to prevent their passage and to fight them if they tried to force one. 7 When, therefore, the Corinthians, after putting in at Rhegium, met these envoys, and saw the Carthaginians riding at anchor not far off, they were indignant at the insult put upon them, and were all of them filled with rage at Hicetas and fear for the Sicilian Greeks, who, as they clearly saw, were left to be a prize and reward, to Hicetas on the one hand for his treachery, and to the Carthaginians on the other for making him tyrant. 8 Moreover, it seemed impossible to overcome both the ships of the Barbarians confronting them there with twice their numbers, and the force under Hicetas in Syracuse, where they had come to take command.
[Tim. 10.1] 10 1 However, after Timoleon had met the envoys of Hicetas and the commanders of the Carthaginians, he calmly said that he would obey their commands (for what would he accomplish by refusing?), but he wished that, before he went away, their proposals and his reply should be made in the presence of the people of Rhegium, a Greek city and a friend of both parties; 2 for this would conduce to his own safety, and they, on their part, would abide more firmly by their promises regarding the Syracusans if they made a people witness to the agreements into which they entered. 3 In making this overture to them he was contriving a deceit which should secure his safe passage across the strait, and the leaders of the Rhegian helped him contrive it, since they were all desirous that the affairs of the Sicilian Greeks should be in the hands of the Corinthians, and feared to have the Barbarians as neighbours. 4 Therefore they convened an assembly and closed the gates, in order that the citizens might not engage in any other business; then they came forward and addressed the multitude in lengthy speeches, one handing over to another the same topic and coming to no conclusion, but protracting the time to no apparent purpose, until the Corinthian triremes should have put to sea, and keeping the Carthaginians in the assembly free from all suspicion, since Timoleon also was there and led them to think that he was on the point of rising to address the people. 5 But when some one secretly brought him word that the other triremes had put to sea, and that one only, his own, had been left behind and was waiting for him, he slipped through the crowd unnoticed, with the connivance of the Rhegians about the bema, went down to the sea, and sailed off with all speed. 6 And they put in at Tauromenium in Sicily, whither they had been earnestly invited some time ago, and where they were now kindly received by Andromachus, the master and ruler of the city. 7 Andromachus was father of Timaeus the historian, and after making himself by far the most powerful of the rulers in Sicily at that time, not only led his own citizens in the ways of law and justice, but was also known to be always averse and hostile to tyrants. 8 Therefore at this time also he allowed Timoleon to make the city a base of operations, and persuaded his citizens to join the Corinthians in their struggle to set Sicily free.
[Tim. 11.1] 11 But the Carthaginians in Rhegium, after Timoleon had put to sea and the assembly had been dissolved, were indignant, and in their discomfiture afforded amusement to the Rhegians, seeing that, though Phoenicians, they were not pleased with what was effected by deceit. 2 Nevertheless, they sent an envoy aboard a trireme to Tauromenium, who, after a long conversation with Andromachus, in which he menaced him in insolent barbaric fashion if he did not expel the Corinthians as soon as possible, finally showed him his hand with the palm up, and then turning it down, threatened that he would turn his city as completely upside down. 3 Andromachus, however, with a laugh, made no further reply than to stretch out his hand, as the Barbarian had done, now palm up, and now palm down, and then order him to sail off, if he did not wish his ship to be turned upside down in the same fashion.
[Tim. 11.4] 4 But Hicetas was afraid when he learned that Timoleon had crossed the strait, and sent for great numbers of the Carthaginian triremes. 5 And now it was that the Syracusans altogether despaired of their deliverance, seeing their harbour in the power of the Carthaginians, their city in the hands of Hicetas, and their citadel in the possession of Dionysius; while Timoleon had but a hold as it were on the fringe of Sicily in the little city of Tauromenium, with a feeble hope and a small force to support him; for apart from a thousand soldiers and provisions barely sufficient for them, he had nothing. 6 Nor did the cities feel confidence in him, over full of ills as they were and embittered against all leaders of armies, particularly by reason of the perfidy of Callippus and Pharax, one of whom was an Athenian, and the other a Lacedaemonian; but both of them, while declaring that they came to secure the freedom of Sicily and wished to overthrow its tyrants, made the calamities of Sicily under her tyrants seem as gold in comparison, and brought her people to think those more to be envied who had perished in slavery than those who had lived to see her independence.
[Tim. 12.1] 12 Expecting, therefore, that the Corinthian leader would be no whit better than those who had preceded him, but that the same sophistries and lures were come to them again, and that with fair hopes and kind promises they were to be made docile enough to receive a new master in place of an old one, they all suspected and repulsed the appeals of the Corinthians except the people of Adranum. 2 These dwelt in a city that was small, but sacred to Adranus, a god highly honoured throughout all Sicily, and being at variance with one another, one party invited in Hicetas and the Carthaginians, while the other sent an invitation to Timoleon. 3 And by some freak of fortune, both generals hastening to answer the summons, both arrived at one and the same time. 4 But Hicetas came with five thousand soldiers, while Timoleon had no more than twelve hundred all told. 5 Taking these with him from Tauromenium, he set out for Adranum, which was three hundred and forty furlongs off. The first day he advanced only a small part of the journey and bivouacked for the night; but on the second day he quickened his pace, and after traversing difficult regions, when day was already declining he heard that Hicetas was just arriving at the little city and pitching his camp. 6 Accordingly, his captains and taxiarchs halted the van-guard, in order to give the men food and rest and so make them more ready to fight; but when Timoleon came up, he begged them not to do this, but to lead on with speed and engage the enemy while they were in disorder, as they were likely to be when just at the end of their march and busy with their tents and supper. 7 And as he thus spoke, he took his shield, put himself at the head, and led the soldiers on as if to certain victory. And they followed, emboldened by his example, being now distant from the enemy less than thirty furlongs. 8 And when they had traversed these too, they fell upon the enemy, who were confounded and took to flight as soon as they perceived them coming up; wherefore not many more than three hundred of them were slain, while twice as many were taken alive, and their camp was captured. 9 Moreover, the people of Adranum threw open their gates and joined Timoleon, reporting to him with terror and amazement that at the beginning of the battle the sacred portals of their temple flew open of their own accord, and the spear of the god was seen to be trembling to the tip of its point, while copious sweat ran down his face.
[Tim. 13.1] 13 These prodigies, as it would seem, were a sign not only of the victory which was then won, but also of the achievements succeeding them, to which that struggle afforded a propitious beginning. 2 For cities at once sent envoys to Timoleon and espoused his cause, and particularly Mamercus, the tyrant of Catana, a warlike and wealthy man, presented himself as an ally. 3 And what was most important, Dionysius himself, now grown desperate and almost forced to surrender, despised Hicetas for his shameful defeat, and in admiration of Timoleon sent to him and his Corinthians offering to surrender himself and the citadel to them. Timoleon accepted this unexpected good fortune, 4 and sent Eucleides and Telemachus, men of Corinth, into the acropolis, and with them four hundred soldiers, not all at once, nor openly, for this was impossible when an enemy was blockading the harbour; but they made their way in secretly and in small companies. 5 These soldiers, then, took over the acropolis and the castle of the tyrant, together with his equipment and stores for the war; 6 for there were many horses there, all sorts of engines of war, and a great quantity of missiles, and armour for seventy thousand men had been stored up there for a long time. 7 Dionysius also had with him two thousand soldiers; these, as well as the supplies, he turned over to Timoleon, while he himself, with his treasure and a few of his friends, sailed off without the knowledge of Hicetas. 8 And after he had been conveyed to the camp of Timoleon, where for the first time he was seen as a private person and in humble garb, he was sent off to Corinth with a single ship and a small treasure, 9 having been born and reared in a tyranny which was the greatest and most illustrious of all tyrannies, and having held this for ten years, and then for twelve other years, after the expedition of Dion, having been involved in harassing struggles and wars, and having surpassed in his sufferings all his acts of tyranny. 10 For he lived to see the violent deaths of his grown-up sons and the violation of his maiden daughters, and the shameful abuse of the person of his wife, who was at the same time his sister, and who, while living, was subjected to the most wanton pleasures of his enemies, and after being murdered, together with her children, was cast into the sea. These things, then, have been fully described in my Life of Dion.
[Tim. 14.1] 14 But as for Dionysius, after his arrival at Corinth there was no Greek who did not long to behold and speak to him. 2 But those who rejoiced in his misfortunes were led by their hatred to come together gladly that they might trample, as it were, upon one who had been cast down by Fortune; while those who regarded rather the reversal of his fortune and sympathised with him, saw strong proof, amid the weakness of things that are human and seen, of the power of causes that are unseen and divine. 3 For that age showed no work either of nature or of art that was comparable to this work of Fortune, namely, the recent tyrant of Sicily in Corinth, whiling his time away at a fishmonger’s or sitting in a perfumer’s shop, drinking diluted wine from the taverns and skirmishing in public with common prostitutes, or trying to teach music-girls in their singing, and earnestly contending with them about songs for the stage and melody in hymns. 4 Some thought that Dionysius did these things as an aimless loiterer, and because he was naturally easy-going and fond of license; but others thought that it was in order to be held in contempt and not in fear by the Corinthians, nor under suspicion of being oppressed by the change in his life and of striving after power, that he engaged in these practices and played an unnatural part, making a display of great silliness in the way he amused himself.
[Tim. 15.1] 15 1 However, certain sayings of his are preserved, from which it would appear that he accommodated himself to his present circumstances not ignobly. 2 Once, namely, when he landed at Leucadia, a city which had been colonized by Corinthians, just like Syracuse, he said he had the same feelings as young men who have been guilty of misdemeanours; 3 for just as these pass their time merrily with their brothers, but shun their fathers from a feeling of shame, so he was ashamed to live in their common mother-city, and would gladly dwell there with them. 4 And again, in Corinth, when a stranger somewhat rudely derided him about his associations with philosophers, in which he used to take delight when he was a tyrant, and finally asked him what good Plato’s wisdom did him now, “Dost thou think,” said he, “that I have had no help from Plato, when I bear my change of fortune as I do?” 5 Further, when Aristoxenus the musician and certain others inquired what his complaint against Plato was and what its origin, he told them that of the many ills with which tyranny abounded there was none so great as this, that not one of those reputed to be friends speaks frankly with the tyrant; for indeed it was by such friends that he himself had been deprived of Plato’s good will. 6 Again, when one of those who wish to be witty, in mockery of Dionysius shook out his robe on coming into his presence, as if into the presence of a tyrant, Dionysius turned the jest upon him by bidding him do so when he went out from his presence, that he might not take anything in the house away with him. 7 And when Philip of Macedon, at a banquet, began to talk in banter about the lyric poems and tragedies which Dionysius the Elder had left behind him, and pretended to wonder when that monarch found time for these compositions, Dionysius not inaptly replied by saying: “When thou and I and all those whom men call happy are busy at the bowl.”
[Tim. 15.8] 8 Now, Plato did not live to see Dionysius when he was in Corinth, but he was already dead; Diogenes of Sinope, however, on meeting him for the first time, said: “How little though deservest, Dionysius, thus to live!” 9 Upon this, Dionysius stopped and said: “It is good of thee, O Diogenes, to sympathize with me in my misfortunes.” “How is that?” said Diogenes; “Dost thou suppose that I am sympathizing with thee? Nay, I am indignant that such a slave as thou, and one so worthy to have grown old and died in the tyrant’s estate, just as thy father did, should be living here with us in mirth and luxury.” 10 Wherefore, when I compare with these words the mournful utterances of Philistus about the daughters of Leptines, how from the great blessings of the tyranny they fell to a lowly life, they seem the lamentations of a woman who pines for her alabaster caskets and purple gowns and golden trinkets.
[Tim. 15.11] 11 These details, then, will not seem foreign to my biography, I think, nor without usefulness, to readers who are not in haste, and are not occupied with other matters.
[Tim. 16.1] 16 1 But though the misfortune of Dionysius seemed extraordinary, none the less did the good fortune of Timoleon have something marvellous about it. 2 For within fifty days after his landing in Sicily the acropolis of Syracuse was surrendered to him and Dionysius was sent off to Peloponnesus. 3 Stimulated by this success, the Corinthians sent him two thousand men-at arms and two hundred horsemen. These got as far as Thurii, but seeing that their passage thence was impracticable, since the sea was beset with many Carthaginian ships, they were compelled to remain there quietly and await their opportunity, and therefore turned their leisure to advantage in a most noble action. 4 When the Thurians, namely, went on an expedition against the Bruttians, the Corinthians received their city in charge, and guarded it honestly and faithfully to the end, as though it were their own.
[Tim. 16.5] 5 But Hicetas kept the acropolis of Syracuse under siege and prevented the importation of food for the Corinthians there; he also sent to Adranum two foreigners whom he had engaged to assassinate Timoleon; for Timoleon at no time kept a guard in array about his person, and at this time in particular, owing to his trust in their god, he was altogether without anxiety or suspicion in his diversion with the people of Adranum. 6 The men who had thus been sent learned, as chance would have it, that he was about to offer a sacrifice, and therefore came into the sacred precinct with daggers under their robes, mingled with those who stood around the altar, and gradually drew nearer their intended victim. 7 And as they were just on the point of exhorting one another to begin their work, somebody smote one of them on the head with a sword and laid him low, whereupon neither he who had struck the blow nor the companion of him who had received it kept his place; but the one, with his sword still in hand, fled to a lofty rock and sprang upon it, while the other laid hold of the altar and begged immunity from Timoleon on the condition of his revealing everything. 8 And when he had obtained his request, he testified against himself and against his dead comrade that they had been sent to kill Timoleon. 9 Meanwhile others brought down the man who had fled to the rock, who kept crying out that he had done no wrong, but had justly slain the man on behalf of his dead father, who had been murdered by him some time ago in Leontini. 10 Some of the bystanders bore witness also to the truth of his words, and wondered, too, at the dexterity of Fortune, seeing how she makes some things lead up to others, brings all things together from afar, weaves together incidents which seem to be most divergent and to have nothing in common with one another, and so makes use of their reciprocal beginnings and endings.
[Tim. 16.11] 11 To this man, then, the Corinthians gave a reward of ten minas, because he had put his just resentment at the service of the deity who was guarding Timoleon, and had not at an earlier time expended the wrath which had long been in his heart, but with a personal motive had reserved it, under Fortune’s guidance, for the preservation of that general. 12 Moreover, their good fortune in the present crisis raised their hopes for the future also, and they anticipated that men would revere and protect Timoleon, looking upon him as a sacred personage, and one who had come under divine guidance to avenge the wrongs of Sicily.
[Tim. 17.1] 17 But when Hicetas had failed in this attempt and saw that many were now thronging to the support of Timoleon, he found fault with himself because, when so large a force of the Carthaginians was at hand, he was using it in small detachments and secretly, as though he were ashamed of it, bringing in his allied troops like a thief and by stealth; he therefore called in Mago their general together with his whole armament. 2 Thus Mago, with a formidable fleet of a hundred and fifty ships, sailed in and occupied the harbour, disembarking also sixty thousand of his infantry and encamping them in the city of Syracuse, so that all men thought that the barbarization of Sicily, long talked of and expected, had come upon her. 3 For never before in all their countless wars in Sicily had the Carthaginians succeeded in taking Syracuse; but now Hicetas admitted them and handed over to them the city, and men saw that it was a barbarian camp. 4 But those of the Corinthians who held the acropolis were beset with difficulty and danger; for they no longer had sufficient food, but suffered lack because the harbours were blockaded; and they were forever dividing up their forces in skirmishes and battles around the walls, and in repelling all sorts of engines and every species of siege warfare.
[Tim. 18.1] 18 However, Timoleon came to their aid by sending them grain from Catana in small fishing boats and light skiffs; these would make their way in, especially in stormy weather, by stealing along through the barbarian triremes, which lay at wide intervals from one another because of the roughness of the sea. 2 This soon came to the notice of Mago and Hicetas, who therefore determined to take Catana, from which provisions came in by sea to the besieged; so taking with them the best of their fighting men, they sailed forth from Syracuse. 3 But Neon the Corinthian (for he it was who commanded the besieged), observing from the citadel that the enemy who had been left behind were keeping an easy and careless watch, fell suddenly upon them as they were scattered apart; 4 some he slew, others he put to flight, and then mastered and took possession of the quarter called Achradina. This seems to have been the strongest and least vulnerable part of the city of Syracuse, which was, in a manner, an assemblage and union of several cities. 5 Having thus supplied himself with grain and money, he did not give up the place, nor did he go back again to the citadel, but fenced in the circumference of Achradina, united it by his fortifications with the acropolis, and guarded both. 6 Mago and Hicetas were already near Catana, when a horseman from Syracuse overtook them and told them of the capture of Achradina. 7 They were confounded by the tidings and went back in haste, having neither taken the city against which they went forth, nor kept the one they had.
[Tim. 19.1] 19 In these successes, then, foresight and valour might still dispute the claims of Fortune; but that which followed them would seem to have been wholly due to good fortune. 2 The Corinthian soldiers, namely, who were tarrying at Thurii, partly because they feared the Carthaginian triremes which were lying in wait for them under Hanno, and partly because a storm of many days’ duration had made the sea very rough and savage, set out to travel by land through Bruttium; 3 and partly by persuading, partly by compelling the Barbarians, they made their way down to Rhegium while a great storm was still raging at sea. 4 But the Carthaginian admiral, since he did not expect that the Corinthians would venture forth and thought his remaining there inactive an idle thing, after convincing himself that he had devised something clever and mischievous in the way of deceit, ordered his sailors to crown their heads with garlands, decorated his triremes with purple battle-flags and Greek shields, and sailed for Syracuse. 5 And as he passed the acropolis at a dashing speed amid clapping of hands and laughter, he shouted that he was come from conquering and capturing the Corinthians, whom he had caught at sea as they were trying to cross the strait; supposing, indeed, that he would thus greatly dishearten the besieged. 6 While he was thus babbling and playing the trickster, the Corinthians who had come down from Bruttium to Rhegium, since no one was lying in wait for them and the unexpected cessation of the storm had made the strait smooth and calm to look upon, speedily manned the ferry-boats and fishing craft which they found at hand, put off, and made their way across to Sicily, with such safety and in so great a calm that their horses also swam along by the side of the boats and were towed by the reins.
[Tim. 20.1] 20 When they had all crossed over, Timoleon took them and at once occupied Messana, then, uniting them with his other forces, marched against Syracuse, relying on the good fortune and success that attended his efforts rather than on the strength of his army; for his followers were not more than four thousand in number. 2 But when Mago got tidings of his approach, disturbed and fearful as he was, he was made still more suspicious for the following reason. 3 In the shoals about the city, which receive much fresh water from springs, and much from marshes and rivers emptying into the sea, great numbers of eels live, and there is always an abundance of this catch for anybody. 4 These eels the mercenary soldiers on both sides, when they had leisure or a truce was on, used to hunt together. 5 And since they were Greeks and had no reason for private hatred of one another, while in their battles they risked their lives bravely, in their times of truce they would visit and converse with one another. 6 And so now, as they were busy together with their fishing, they conversed, expressing their admiration of the richness of the sea and the character of the adjacent lands. 7 And one of those who were serving on the Corinthian side said: “Can it really be that you, who are Greeks, are eager to barbarize a city of such great size and furnished with such great advantages, thus settling Carthaginians, who are the basest and bloodiest of men, nearer to us, when you ought to pray for many Sicilies to lie as a barrier between Greece and them? 8 Or do you suppose that they have collected an army and are come hither from the pillars of Heracles and the Atlantic sea in order to risk their lives in behalf of the dynasty of Hicetas? 9 He, if he reasoned like a true leader, would not be casting out his kindred people, nor would he be leading against his country her natural enemies, but would be enjoying a befitting amount of honour and power, with the consent of Timoleon and the Corinthians.” 10 Such speeches as these the mercenaries disseminated in their camp, and made Mago suspicious of treachery, though he had long wanted a pretext for going away. 11 Therefore when Hicetas begged him to remain and tried to show him how much superior they were to their enemies, he thought rather that they were more inferior to Timoleon in bravery and good fortune than they surpassed him in the number of their forces, and weighing anchor at once, sailed off to Libya, thus letting Sicily slip out of his hands disgracefully and for no reason that man could suggest.
[Tim. 21.1] 21 On the day after his departure, Timoleon came up with his forces arrayed for battle. But when they learned of Mago’s flight and saw the docks empty of vessels, they could not help laughing at his cowardice, and went about the city proclaiming a reward for any one who told them whither the Carthaginian fleet had fled away from them. 2 However, since Hicetas was still eager for battle and would not let go his hold upon the city, but clung to the parts of it in his possession, which were strong and dangerous to attack, Timoleon divided his forces, he himself attacking along the river 3 and ordering others, under the lead of Isias the Corinthian, to make their attempt from Achradina. The third division was led against Epipolae by Deinarchus and Demaretus, who had brought the second reinforcement from Corinth. 4 The attack was made in all three places at once, and the troops of Hicetas were overwhelmed and took to flight. That the city was taken by storm and fell quickly into their hands after the enemy had been driven out, it is right to ascribe to the bravery of the soldiers and the ability of their general; 5 but that not one of the Corinthians was killed or even wounded, this the good fortune of Timoleon showed to be her own work, vying emulously, as it were, with his valour, in order that those who hear his story may wonder at his happy successes more than at his laudable efforts. 6 For his fame not only filled at once all Sicily and Italy, but within a few days Greece echoed with his great success, so that the city of Corinth, which was in doubt whether his armament had got across the sea, heard at one and the same time that it had safely crossed, and that it was victorious. 7 So prosperous was the course of his enterprises, and such was the speed with which Fortune crowned the beauty of his achievements.
[Tim. 22.1] 22 When he had become master of the citadel, he did not repeat the experience of Dion, nor did he spare the place on account of the beauty and great cost of its architecture, but guarding against the suspicions which had brought calumny and then destruction upon his predecessor, he made proclamation that all Syracusans who wished should come with implements of iron and help in the demolition of the tyrants’ bulwarks. 2 And when they had all come up, considering that day with its proclamation to be a most secure beginning of freedom, they overthrew and demolished, not only the citadel, but also the palaces and the tombs of the tyrants. 3 Then, as soon as he had levelled off the place, Timoleon built the courts of justice there, thus gratifying the citizens by making their democracy triumphant over tyranny.
[Tim. 22.4] 4 But the city which he had taken had not citizens enough, since some had perished in their wars and seditions, while others had gone into exile from tyrannical governments. Indeed, for lack of population the market place of Syracuse had produced such a quantity of dense herbage that horses were pastured in it, while their grooms lay down in the grass; 5 and the other cities, with almost no exceptions, were full of deer and wild swine, while in their suburbs and around their walls those who had leisure for it went hunting, 6 and not one of those who were established in fortresses and strongholds would hearken to any summons, or come down into the city, but fear and hatred kept all away from market place and civic life and public speaking, which had produced the most of their tyrants. 7 Therefore Timoleon and the Syracusans decided to write to the Corinthians urging them to send settlers to Syracuse from Greece. 8 For otherwise the land was likely to lie uncultivated, and they expected a great war from Africa, since they learned that the Carthaginians, after Mago’s suicide, had impaled his dead body, in their rage at his conduct of the expedition, and that they were assembling a great force with the intention of crossing into Sicily in the summer.
[Tim. 23.1] 23 When these letters from Timoleon had been delivered, and were accompanied by Syracusan envoys who begged them to take thought for their city and to become anew its founders, the Corinthians did not seize the opportunity for their own aggrandizement, 2 nor did they appropriate the city for themselves, but, in the first place, they visited the sacred games in Greece and the greatest festival assemblages, and proclaimed by heralds that the Corinthians had overthrown the tyranny in Syracuse, and driven out the tyrant, and now invited Syracusans, and any other Sicilian Greeks who wished, to people the city with free and independent citizens, allotting the land among them on equal and just terms. 3 In the second place, they sent messengers to Asia and the islands, where they learned that most of the scattered exiles were residing, and invited them all to come to Corinth, assuring them that the Corinthians, at their own expense, would furnish them with leaders and transports and a safe convoy to Syracuse. 4 By these proclamations the city of Corinth earned the justest praise and the fairest glory; she was freeing the land from its tyrants, saving it from the Barbarians, and restoring it to its rightful citizens.
[Tim. 23.5] 5 When these had assembled at Corinth, being too few in number, they begged that they might receive fellow colonists from Corinth and the rest of Greece; and after their numbers had risen to as many as ten thousand, they sailed to Syracuse. 6 But by this time many also from Italy and Sicily had flocked to Timoleon; and when their numbers had risen to sixty thousand, as Athanis states, Timoleon divided the land among them, and sold the houses of the city for a thousand talents, 7 thus at once reserving for the original Syracusans the power to purchase their own houses, and devising an abundance of money for the community; this had so little, both for other purposes, and especially for the war, that it actually sold its public statues at auction, a regular vote of condemnation being passed against each, as though they were men submitting their accounts. 8 It was at this time, they say, that the statue of Gelon, their ancient tyrant, was preserved by the Syracusans, though they condemned the rest, because they admired and honoured him for the victory which he had won over the Carthaginians at Himera.
[Tim. 24.1] 24 Seeing the city thus beginning to revive and fill itself with people, since its citizens were streaming into it from all sides, Timoleon determined to set the other cities also free, and utterly to root out all tyrannies from Sicily. He therefore made an expedition into their territories and compelled Hicetas to forsake the cause of Carthage, and to agree to demolish his citadels and live as a private person in Leontini. 2 And as for Leptines, who lorded it over Apollonia and numerous other strongholds, when he was in danger of being taken by main force, he surrendered himself; and Timoleon spared his life and sent him to Corinth, considering it a fine thing to have the tyrants of Sicily in the mother city where the Greeks could observe them living the lowly life of exiles. 3 Moreover, he wished that his mercenaries might get booty from the enemy’s country and not remain idle. Accordingly, while he himself returned to Syracuse in order to apply himself to the establishment of the civil polity and to assist the lawgivers who had come from Corinth, Cephalus and Dionysius, in arranging its most important details in the most attractive way, 4 he sent forth the troops under Deinarchus and Demaretus into that part of the island which the Carthaginians controlled, where they brought many cities to revolt from the Barbarians, and not only lived plenty themselves, but actually raised moneys for the war from the spoils they made.
[Tim. 25.1] 25 Meanwhile the Carthaginians put in at Lilybaeum with an army of seventy thousand men, two hundred triremes, and a thousand transports carrying engines of war, four-horse chariots, grain in abundance, and other requisite equipment. Their purpose was, not to carry on the war by piece-meal any more, but at one time to drive the invading Greeks out of all Sicily; 2 for their force would have been sufficient to capture the native Greeks, even though they had not been politically weak and utterly ruined by one another. 3 And on learning that the territory which they controlled was being ravaged by the Corinthians, they were furious, and straightway marched against them under the command of Hasdrubal and Hamilcar. 4 Tidings of this coming quickly to Syracuse, the Syracusans were so terrified at the magnitude of the enemy’s forces that only three thousand out of so many tens of thousands could with difficulty be brought to pluck up courage, take their arms, and go forth with Timoleon. 5 Furthermore, the mercenaries were only four thousand in number; and of these, again about a thousand played the coward on the march and went back to Syracuse, declaring that Timoleon was not in his right mind, but was more crazy than his years would lead one to expect, and was marching against seventy thousand of the enemy with five thousand foot and a thousand horse, and was taking his force a march of eight days away from Syracuse, so that those of them who fled from the field would find no safety, and those who fell upon it would have no burial. 6 As for these men, then, Timoleon counted it gain that they had shown what they were before the battle; the rest he encouraged and led them with all speed to the river Crimesus, where he heard that the Carthaginians also were concentrating.
[Tim. 26.1] 26 As he was marching up a hill, from the crest of which they expected to look down upon the camp and the forces of the enemy, there met them by chance some mules laden with parsley; 2 and it occurred to the soldiers that the sign was a bad one, because we are generally accustomed to wreath the tombs of the dead with parsley; and this has given rise to a proverb, namely, that one who is dangerously sick “needs only parsley.” 3 Accordingly, wishing to free them from their superstitious fears and take away their despondency, Timoleon halted them on their march, and after discoursing otherwise as befitted the occasion, said also that the wreath for their victory had come into their hands in advance and of its own accord, the wreath with which Corinthians crown the victors at the Isthmian games, considering the garland of parsley to be traditionally sacred in their country. 4 For at that time parsley was still used for wreaths at the Isthmian, as it is now at the Nemean games, and it was not long ago that the pine came into use instead. 5 Accordingly, when Timoleon had addressed his soldiers, as I have said, he took of the parsley and crowned himself with it first, and then the captains and the common soldiers about him did the same. 6 Moreover, the soothsayers, observing two eagles coming up on the wing, one of which bore a serpent pierced with its talons, while the other flew with a loud and inspiring cry, pointed them out to the soldiers, and all betook themselves to invoking the gods with prayers.
[Tim. 27.1] 27 Now, the season of the year was early summer, the month of Thargelion was drawing to a close, and the summer solstice was near; 2 the river exhaled a thick mist which at first hid the plain in darkness, and nothing could be seen in the enemy’s camp, only an inarticulate and confused noise made its way up to the hill, showing that the vast host was moving forward. 3 But after the Corinthians had ascended the hill, where they stopped, laid down their shields, and rested themselves, the sun was passing the meridian and drawing the vapours on high, the thick haze moved in masses towards the heights and hung in clouds about the mountain summits, 4 while the regions below cleared up, the Crimesus came into view, and the enemy were seen crossing it, in the van their four-horse chariots formidably arrayed for battle, and behind these ten thousand men-at arms with white shields. 5 These the Corinthians conjectured to be Carthaginians, from the splendour of their armour and the slowness and good order of their march. 6 After these the other nations streamed on and were making the crossing in tumultuous confusion. Then Timoleon, noticing that the river was putting it in their power to cut off and engage with whatever numbers of the enemy they themselves desired, and bidding the soldiers observe that the phalanx of the enemy was sundered by the river, since some of them had already crossed, while others were about to do so, ordered Demaretus to take the horsemen and fall upon the Carthaginians and throw their ranks into confusion before their array was yet formed. 7 Then he himself, descending into the plain, assigned the wings to the other Sicilian Greeks, uniting a few of his mercenaries with each wing, while he took the Syracusans and the best fighters among his mercenaries under his own command in the centre. 8 Then he waited a little while, watching what his horsemen would do, and when he saw that they were unable to come to close quarters with the Carthaginians on account of the chariots which coursed up and down in front of their lines, but were forced to wheel about continually that their ranks might not be broken, and to make their charges in quick succession after facing about again, 9 he took up his shield and shouted to his infantrymen to follow and be of good courage; and his voice seemed stronger than usual and more than human, whether it was from emotion that he made it so loud, in view of the struggle and the enthusiasm which it inspired, or whether, as most felt at the time, some deity joined in his utterance. 10 Then, his men re-echoing his shout, and begging him to lead them on without delay, he signalled to his horsemen to ride along outside and past the line of chariots and attack the enemy on the flank, while he himself made his vanguard lock their shields in close array, ordered the trumpet to sound the charge, and fell upon the Carthaginians.
[Tim. 28.1] 28 But these withstood his first onset sturdily, and owing to the iron breastplates and bronze helmets with which their persons were protected, and the great shields which they held in front of them, repelled the spear thrusts. 2 But when the struggle came to swords and the work required skill no less than strength, suddenly, from the hills, fearful peals of thunder crashed down, and vivid flashes of lightning darted forth with them. 3 Then the darkness hovering over the hills and mountain summits came down to the field of battle, mingled with rain, wind, and hail. It enveloped the Greeks from behind and smote their backs, but it smote the Barbarians in the face and dazzled their eyes, a tempest of rain and continuous flames dashing from the clouds. 4 In all this there was much that gave distress, and most of all to the inexperienced; and particularly, as it would seem, the peals of thunder worked harm, and the clatter of the armour smitten by the dashing rain and hail, which made it impossible to hear the commands of the leaders. 5 Besides, since the Carthaginians were not lightly equipped, but, as I have said, encased in armour, both the mud and the bosoms of their tunics filled with water impeded them, so that they were unwieldy and ineffective in their fighting, and easily upset by the Greeks, 6 and when they had once fallen it was impossible for them to rise again from the mud with their weapons. 7 For the Crimesus, having been already greatly swollen by the rains, was forced over its banks by those who were crossing it, and the adjacent plain, into which many glens and ravines opened from the hills, was filled with streams that hurried along no fixed channels, and in these the Carthaginians wallowed about and were hard beset. 8 Finally, the storm still assailing them, and the Greeks having overthrown their first rank of four hundred men, the main body was put to flight. 9 Many were overtaken in the plain and cut to pieces, and many the river dashed upon and carried away to destruction as they encountered those who were still trying to cross, but most of them the light-armed Greeks ran upon and despatched as they were making for the hills. 10 At any rate, it is said that among ten thousand dead bodies, three thousand were those of Carthaginians — a great affliction for the city. 11 For no others were superior to these in birth or wealth or reputation, nor is it recorded that so many native Carthaginians ever perished in a single battle before, but they used Libyans for the most part and Iberians and Numidians for their battles, and thus sustained their defeats at the cost of other nations.
[Tim. 29.1] 29 The rank of those who had fallen was made known to the Greeks from the spoils. For those who stripped the bodies made very little account of bronze and iron; so abundant was silver, so abundant gold. For they crossed the river and seized the camp with its baggage-trains. 2 As for the prisoners, most of them were stolen away and hidden by the soldiers, but as many as five thousand were delivered into the public stock; there were also captured two hundred of the four-horse chariots. 3 But the most glorious and magnificent sight was presented by the tent of Timoleon, which was heaped about with all sorts of spoils, among which a thousand breast-plates of superior workmanship and beauty and ten thousand shields were exposed to view. 4 And as there were but few to strip many, and the booty they came upon was great, it was the third day after the battle before they could erect their trophy.
[Tim. 29.5] 5 Along with the report of his victory Timoleon sent to Corinth the most beautiful of the captured armour, wishing that his own native city should be envied of all men, 6 when in her alone of Greek cities they saw the most conspicuous temples, not adorned with Greek spoils, nor possessed of joyless memorials in the shape of votive offerings from the slaughter of kinsmen and fellow citizens, but decked with barbarian spoils which set forth in fairest inscriptions the justice as well as the valour of the victors, declaring that Corinthians and Timoleon their general set the Greeks dwelling in Sicily free from Carthaginians, and thus dedicated thank-offerings to the gods.
[Tim. 30.1] 30 After this, he left his mercenaries in the enemy’s territory plundering the dominion of the Carthaginians, and went himself to Syracuse; 2 there he ordered out of Sicily the thousand mercenaries by whom he had been deserted before the battle, and compelled them to depart from Syracuse before the sun went down. 3 These, then, after crossing into Italy, were perfidiously slain by the Bruttians, thus receiving from the divine power a penalty for their treachery. 4 Mamercus, however, the tyrant of Catana, and Hicetas, whether through envy of the successes won by Timoleon, or because they feared him as one who distrusted tyrants and would make no peace with them, formed an alliance with the Carthaginians and urged them to send a general with an army if they did not wish to be cast out of Sicily altogether. 5 Accordingly, Gisco set sail with a fleet of seventy ships, and added Greek mercenaries to his forces, although the Carthaginians had never before employed Greek soldiers; they did so at this time, however, because they had come to admire them as the best and most irresistible fighters in the world. 6 After they had all united their forces in the territory of Messana, they slew four hundred of Timoleon’s mercenaries who had been sent thither as auxiliaries, and in that part of the island belonging to the Carthaginians, near the place called Ietae, they set an ambush for the mercenaries under Euthymus the Leucadian and cut them to pieces. 7 Herein even most of all did the good fortune of Timoleon become famous. For these were some of the men who, with Philomelus the Phocian and Onomarchus, had seized Delphi and shared in their spoliation of the sanctuary. 8 Then, since all mankind hated them and shunned them as men who had put themselves under a curse, they wandered about Peloponnesus, where they were enlisted in his service by Timoleon, in the dearth of other soldiers. 9 And after coming into Sicily, they were victorious in all the battles which they fought under his leadership, but when the most and greatest of his struggles were over, they were sent out by him to the assistance of others, and then perished utterly, not all at one time, but little by little. And Justice thus punished them, while at the same time she sustained the good fortune of Timoleon, in order that no harm might come to the good from the chastisement of the wicked. 10 So, then, the good will of the gods towards Timoleon was no less to be admired in his reverses than in his successes.
[Tim. 31.1] 31 But the people of Syracuse were vexed at the insults heaped upon them by the tyrants. For Mamercus, who valued himself highly as a writer of poems and tragedies, boasted of his victory over the mercenaries, and in dedicating their shields to the gods wrote the following insolent couplet: —
[Tim. 31.1b] “These bucklers, purple-painted, decked with ivory, gold, and amber,
We captured with our simple little shields.”
[Tim. 31.2] 2 And after this, when Timoleon was on an expedition to Calauria, Hicetas burst into the territory of Syracuse, took much booty, wrought much wanton havoc, and was marching off past Calauria itself, despising Timoleon, who had but few soldiers. 3 But Timoleon suffered him to pass on, and then pursued him with cavalry and light-armed troops. When Hicetas was aware of this, he crossed the river Damurias, and halted on the farther bank to defend himself; for the difficulty of the passage, and the steepness of the banks on either side, gave him courage. 4 Then among Timoleon’s cavalry officers an astonishing strife and contention arose which delayed the battle. 5 For not one of them was willing to cross the river against the enemy after another, but each demanded to begin the onset himself, and their crossing was likely to be without order if they crowded and tried to run past one another. 6 Timoleon, therefore, wishing to decide their order by lot, took a seal-ring from each of the leaders, and after casting all the rings into his own cloak and mixing them up, he showed the first that came out, and it had by chance as the device of its seal a trophy of victory. 7 When the young men saw it, they cried aloud for joy and would no longer wait for the rest of the lot, but all dashed through the river as fast as they could and closed with the enemy. 8 These could not withstand the violence of their onset, but fled, all alike losing their arms, and a thousand being left dead on the field.
[Tim. 32.1] 32 Not long afterwards Timoleon made an expedition into the territory of Leontini and captured Hicetas alive, together with his son Eupolemus and his master of horse Euthymus, who were bound and brought to Timoleon by his soldiers. 2 Hicetas, then, and his young son, were punished as tyrants and traitors and put to death, and Euthymus, though a brave man in action and of surpassing boldness, found no pity because of a certain insult to the Corinthians which was alleged against him. 3 It is said, namely, that when the Corinthians had taken the field against them, Euthymus told the men of Leontini in a public harangue that it was nothing fearful or dreadful if
[Tim. 32.1b] “Corinthian women came forth from their homes.”
[Tim. 32.4] 4 So natural is it for most men to be more galled by bitter words than hostile acts; since insolence is harder for them to bear than injury. Besides, defensive acts are tolerated in an enemy as a necessary right, but insults are thought to spring from an excess of hatred or baseness.
[Tim. 33.1] 33 After Timoleon had returned, the Syracusans brought the wives and daughters of Hicetas and his friends to public trial, and then put them to death. 2 And this would seem to have been the most displeasing thing in Timoleon’s career; for if he had opposed it, the women would not have been thus put to death. 3 But apparently he neglected them and abandoned them to the wrath of the citizens, who were bent on taking vengeance in behalf of Dion, who drove out Dionysius. 4 For Hicetas was the man who took Arete the wife of Dion, and Aristomache his sister, and his son, who was still a boy, and threw them into the sea alive, concerning which things I have written in my Life of Dion.
[Tim. 34.1] 34 After this, Timoleon made an expedition against Mamercus to Catana, conquered and routed him in a pitched battle near the stream of the Abolus, and slew above two thousand of his soldiers, a large part of whom were the Carthaginians sent him as auxiliaries by Gisco. 2 Thereupon the Carthaginians made a peace with him which they sought themselves; the terms were that they should keep the territory within the river Lycus, restoring their families and property to all who wished to change their homes from there to Syracuse, and renouncing their alliance with the tyrants. 3 Then Mamercus, despairing of success, took ship for Italy with the purpose of bringing the Lucanians against Timoleon and Syracuse; but his companions on the voyage turned their triremes back, sailed to Sicily, and handed Catana over to Timoleon, whereupon Mamercus himself also was compelled to seek refuge in Messana with Hippo the tyrant of that city. 4 But Timoleon came up against them and besieged them by land and sea, and Hippo was caught as he was trying to steal away on board a ship. Then the Messanians took him into the theatre, brought their children thither from their schools to behold, as a glorious spectacle, the tyrant’s punishment, and put him to torment and death. 5 As for Mamercus, he gave himself up to Timoleon on condition that he should undergo trial at Syracuse, and that Timoleon should not denounce him. 6 So he was brought to Syracuse, and when he came before the people, attempted to rehearse a speech composed by him a long time before; but being received with noise and clamour, and seeing that the assembly was inexorable, he flung away his mantle, ran right across the theatre, and dashed head foremost against one of the stone steps, hoping to kill himself. 7 However, he was not so fortunate as to die in this way, but was taken away, still living, and crucified like a robber.
[Tim. 35.1] 35 In this manner, then, did Timoleon extirpate the tyrannies and put a stop to their wars. He found the whole island reduced to a savage state by its troubles and hated by its inhabitants, but he made it so civilized and so desirable in the eyes of all men that others came by sea to dwell in the places from which their own citizens used to run away before. 2 Agrigentum and Gela, for instance, great cities which had been ruined and depopulated by the Carthaginians after the Attic war, were re-peopled at this time, one by Megellus and Pheristus from Velia, the other by Gorgus, who sailed from Ceos and brought with his company the old citizens. 3 To these settlers Timoleon not only afforded safety and calm after so long a storm of war, but also supplied their further needs and zealously assisted them, so that he was revered by them as a founder. 4 All the other inhabitants also cherished like feelings towards him, and no conclusion of war, no institution of laws, no settlement of victory, no arrangement of civil polity seemed satisfactory, unless he gave the finishing touches to it, like a master builder adding to a work that is drawing to completion some grace which pleases gods and men.
[Tim. 36.1] 36 1 At any rate, though in his time Greece produced many men who were great and wrought great things, such as Timotheus, Agesilaüs, Pelopidas, and Epaminondas (whom Timoleon most emulated), still, the lustre of their achievements was tarnished by a certain degree of violence and laborious effort, so that some of them were followed by censure and repentance; 2 whereas in the career of Timoleon, setting aside his necessary treatment of his brother, there is nothing to which it were not meet, as Timaeus says, to apply the words of Sophocles: —
[Tim. 36.1b] “Ye God, pray tell what Cypris or what winning love
Was partner in this work?”
[Tim. 36.3] 3 For just as the poetry of Antimachus and the pictures of Dionysius, both Colophonians, for all their strength and vigour, seem forced and laboured, while the paintings of Nicomachus and the verses of Homer not only have power and grace besides, but also give the impression of having been executed readily and easily; 4 so, if we compare the generalship of Epaminondas and Agesilaüs, which in both cases was full of toil and bitter struggles, with that of Timoleon, which was exercised with much ease as well as glory, it appears to men of just and careful reasoning a product, not of fortune, but of fortunate valour. 5 And yet all his successes were ascribed by him to fortune; for in his letters to his friends at home and in his public addresses to the Syracusans he often said he was thankful to God, who, desiring to save Sicily, gave him the name and title of its saviour. 6 Moreover, in his house he built a shrine for sacrifice to Automatia, or Chance, and the house itself he consecrated to man’s sacred genius. 7 And the house in which he dwelt was picked out for him by the Syracusans as a prize for his achievements in the field; they also gave him the pleasantest and most beautiful of their country estates, and at this he used to spend the greater part of his leisure time, after he had sent home for his wife and children. 8 For he did not return to Corinth, nor did he take part in the disturbances of Greece or expose himself to the jealousy of his fellow citizens, the rock on which most generals, in their insatiable greed for honours and power, make shipwreck; but he remained in Sicily, enjoying the blessings of his own creation, 9 the greatest of which was the sight of so many cities and myriads of people whose happiness was due to him.
[Tim. 37.1] 37 1 But since, as it would seem, not only all larks must grow a crest, as Simonides says, but also every democracy a false accuser, even Timoleon was attacked by two of the popular leaders at Syracuse, Laphystius and Demaenetus. 2 Of these, Laphystius once tried to make him give surety that he would appear at a certain trial, and Timoleon would not suffer the citizens to stop the man by their turbulent disapproval; for he himself, he said, had of his own accord endured all his toils and dangers in order that any Syracusan who wished might avail himself of the laws. 3 And when the other, Demaenetus, brought many denunciations in open assembly against his conduct in the field, to him, indeed, Timoleon made no answer, but said he owed thanks to the gods, for he had prayed them that he might live to see the Syracusans gain the right of free speech.
[Tim. 37.4] 4 So, then, having by general confession performed the greatest and most glorious deeds of any Greek of his time, and having been the only one to succeed in those achievements to which the rhetoricians, in their speeches at the national assemblies, were ever exhorting the Greeks; 5 having been removed betimes by a happy fortune, pure and unstained with blood, from the evils which were rife in the mother country, and having displayed ability and valour in his dealings with Barbarians and tyrants, as well as justice and gentleness in his dealings with the Greeks and his friends; 6 having set up most of the trophies of his contests without causing his fellow citizens either tears or mourning, and having in even less than eight years handed over to her inhabitants a Sicily purged of her perpetual intestine miseries and complaints; 7 at last, being now advanced in years, he began to lose his sight, and then, after a little, became completely blind. He had done nothing himself to occasion this, nor was he therein the sport and mockery of Fortune, but suffered from some congenital disease, as it would seem, which came upon him with his years; 8 for it is said that not a few of his kindred lost their sight in a similar way, when it was enfeebled by old age. 9 But Athanis says that while the war against Hippo and Mamercus was still in progress, in his camp at Mylae, his vision was obscured by a cataract in the eye, and it was plain to all that he was getting blind; he did not, however, desist from the siege on this account, but persisted in the war and captured the tyrants; 10 yet after his return to Syracuse, he at once laid aside the sole command and begged the citizens to excuse him from it, now that matters had reached the happiest conclusion.
[Tim. 38.1] 38 Well, then, that he himself should bear his misfortune without repining is less a matter for wonder; 2 but the gratitude and honour which the Syracusans showed him in his blindness are worthy of admiration. They often went to visit him in person, and brought strangers who were sojourning in the city to his house and to his country seat to see their benefactor, 3 exulting and proud that he chose to end his days among them; and thus made light of the brilliant return to Greece which had been prepared for him by reason of his successes. 4 And of the many great things decreed and done in his honour, nothing surpassed the vote passed by the people of Syracuse that whenever they went to war against alien peoples, they would employ a Corinthian as their general. 5 Moreover, the proceedings in their assemblies afforded a noble spectacle in his honour, since, while they decided other matters by themselves, for the more important deliberations they summoned him. 6 Then he would proceed to the theatre carried through the market place on a mule-car; and when the vehicle in which he sat was brought in, the people would greet him with one voice and call him by name, and he, after returning their greetings and allowing some time for their felicitations and praises, would then listen carefully to the matter under debate and pronounce opinion. 7 And when this opinion had been adopted, his retainers would conduct his car back again though the theatre, and the citizens, after sending him on his way with shouts of applause, would proceed at once to transact the rest of the public business by themselves.
[Tim. 39.1] 39 Cherished in old age amid such honour and good will, like a common father, a slight cause co-operated with his great age to bring him to his end. 2 A number of days having been allowed in which the Syracusans might prepare for his funeral, while the country folk and strangers came together, the whole ceremony was conducted with great magnificence, and besides, young men selected by lot carried his bier with all its decorations through the precinct where the palace of Dionysius had stood before Timoleon destroyed it. 3 The bier was escorted, too, by many thousands of men and women, whose appearance was one that became a festival, since all were crowned with garlands and wore white raiment; while cries and tears, mingled with benedictions upon the dead, betokened, not a formal tribute of respect, nor a service performed in obedience to public decree, but a just sorrow and a thankfulness arising from genuine good will. 4 And finally, when the bier had been placed upon the funeral pyre, Demetrius, who had the loudest voice of any herald of the time, read from manuscript the following decree: —
[Tim. 39.5] 5 “By the people of Syracuse, Timoleon, son of Timodemus, from Corinth, is here buried at a public cost of two hundred minas, and is honoured for all time with annual contests, musical, equestrian, and gymnastic, because he overthrew the tyrants, subdued the Barbarians, re-peopled the largest of the devastated cities, and then restored their laws to the Greeks of Sicily.”
[Tim. 39.6] 6 Furthermore, they buried his ashes in the market place, and afterwards, when they had surrounded it with porticoes and built palaestras in it, they set it apart as a gymnasium for their young men, and named it Timoleonteum. 7 And they themselves, using the civil polity and the laws which he had ordained, enjoyed a long course of unbroken prosperity and happiness.

## Aemilius Paulus

[Aem. 1.1] 1 1 A I began the writing of my “Lives” for the sake of others, but I find that I am continuing the work and delighting in it now for my own sake also, using history as a mirror and endeavouring in a manner to fashion and adorn my life in conformity with the virtues therein depicted. 2 For the result is like nothing else than daily living and associating together, when I receive and welcome each subject of my history in turn as my guest, so to speak, and observe carefully “how large he was and of what mien,” and select from his career what is most important and most beautiful to know.
[Aem. 1.3] 3 “And oh! what greater joy than this canst thou obtain,”
[Aem. 1.4] and more efficacious for moral improvement? 4 Democritus says we ought to pray that we may be visited by phantoms which are propitious, and that from out the circumambient air such only may encounter us as are agreeable to our natures and good, rather than those which are perverse and bad, thereby intruding into philosophy a doctrine which is not true, and which leads astray into boundless superstitions. 5 But in my own case, the study of history and the familiarity with it which my writing produces, enables me, since I always cherish in my soul the records of the noblest and most estimable characters, to repel and put far from me whatever base, malicious, or ignoble suggestion my enforced associations may intrude upon me, calmly and dispassionately turning my thoughts away from them to the fairest of my examples. 6 Among these were Timoleon the Corinthian and Aemilius Paulus, whose Lives I have now undertaken to lay before my readers; 7 the men were alike not only in the good principles which they adopted, but also in the good fortune which they enjoyed in their conduct of affairs, 8 and they will make it hard for my readers to decide whether the greatest of their successful achievements were due to their good fortune or their wisdom.
[Aem. 2.1] 2 1 That the Aemilii were one of the ancient and patrician houses at Rome, most writers agree. 2 And that the first of them, and the one who gave his surname to the family, was Mamercus, a son of Pythagoras the philosopher, who received the surname of Aemilius for the grace and charm of his discourse, is the statement of some of those writers who hold that Pythagoras was the educator of Numa the king. 3 Now, most of this family who rose to distinction by their cultivation of virtue, were blessed with good fortune; and in the case of Lucius Paulus, his misfortune at Cannae gave testimony alike to his wisdom and valour. 4 For when he could not dissuade his colleague from giving battle, he took part with him in the struggle, though reluctantly, but would not be a partner in his flight; nay, though the one who had brought on the peril left him in the lurch, he himself kept his post and died fighting the enemy.
[Aem. 2.5] 5 This Paulus had a daughter, Aemilia, who was the wife of Scipio the Great, and a son, Aemilius Paulus, whose Life I now write. He came of age at a time which abounded in men of the greatest reputation and most illustrious virtue, and yet he was a conspicuous figure, although he did not pursue the same studies as the young nobles of the time, nor set out on his career by the same path. 6 For he did not practise pleading private cases in the courts, and refrained altogether from the salutations and greetings and friendly attentions to which most men cunningly resorted when they tried to win the favour of the people by becoming their zealous servants; not that he was naturally incapable of either, but he sought to acquire for himself what was better than both, namely, a reputation arising from valour, justice, and trustworthiness. In these virtues he at once surpassed his contemporaries.
[Aem. 3.1] 3 1 At all events, when he sued for the first of the high offices in the state, the aedileship, he was elected over twelve competitors, all of whom, we are told, afterwards became consuls. 2 Moreover, when he was made one of the priests called Augurs, whom the Romans appoint as guardians and overseers of the art of divination from the flight of birds and from omens in the sky, he so carefully studied the ancestral customs of the city, and so thoroughly understood the religious ceremonial of the ancient Romans, 3 that his priestly function, which men had thought to be a kind of honour, sought merely on account of the reputation which it gave, was made to appear one of the higher arts, and testified in favour of those philosophers who define religion as the science of the worship of the gods. 4 For all the duties of this office were performed by him with skill and care, and he laid aside all other concerns when he was engaged in these, omitting nothing and adding nothing new, but ever contending even with his colleagues about the small details of ceremony, and explaining to them that, although the Deity was held to be good-natured and slow to censure acts of negligence, still, for the city at least it was a grievous thing to overlook and condone them; 5 for no man begins at once with a great deed of lawlessness to disturb the civil polity, but those who remit their strictness in small matters break down also the guard that has been set over greater matters.
[Aem. 3.6] 6 Furthermore, he showed a like severity in scrutinising and preserving his country’s military customs and traditions also, not courting popular favour when he was in command, nor yet, as most men did at this time, courting a second command during his first by gratifying his soldiers and treating them with mildness; 7 but, like a priest of other dread rites, he explained thoroughly all the details of military custom and was a terror to disobedient transgressors, and so restored his country to her former greatness, considering the conquest of his enemies hardly more than an accessory to the training of his fellow-citizens.
[Aem. 4.1] 4 1 After the Romans had gone to war with Antiochus the Great, and while their most experienced commanders were employed against him, another war arose in the West, and there were great commotions in Spain. 2 For this war Aemilius was sent out as praetor, not with the six lictors which praetors usually have, but adding another six to that number, so that his office had a consular dignity. 3 Well, then, he defeated the Barbarians in two pitched battles, and slew about thirty thousand of them; and it would seem that his success was conspicuously due to his generalship, since by choosing favourable ground and by crossing a certain river he made victory easy for his soldiers; moreover, he made himself master of two hundred and fifty cities, which yielded to him of their own accord. 4 He left the province in peace and bound by pledges of fidelity, and came back to Rome, nor was he richer by a single drachma from his expedition. 5 And, indeed, in all other ways he was a rather indifferent money-maker, and spent generously and without stint of his substance. But this was not large; indeed, after his death it barely sufficed to meet the dowry due to his wife.
[Aem. 5.1] 5 1 He married Papiria, a daughter of Maso, who was a man of consular dignity, and after he had lived with her a long time he divorced her, although she had made him father of most glorious sons; for she it was who bore him that most illustrious Scipio, and Fabius Maximus. 2 No documentary grounds for the divorce have come down to us, but there would seem to be some truth in a story told about divorce, which runs as follows. A Roman once divorced his wife, and when his friends admonished him, saying: “Is she not discreet? is she not beautiful? is she not fruitful?” he held out his shoe (the Romans call it “calceus”), saying: 3 “Is this not handsome? is it not new? but no one of you can tell me where it pinches my foot?” 4 For, as a matter of fact, it is great and notorious faults that separate many wives from their husbands; but the slight and frequent frictions arising from some unpleasantness or incongruity of characters, unnoticed as they may be by everybody else, also produce incurable alienations in those whose lives are linked together.
[Aem. 5.5] 5 So then Aemilius, having divorced Papiria, took another wife; and when she had borne him two sons he kept these at home, but the sons of his former wife he introduced into the greatest houses and the most illustrious families, the elder into that of Fabius Maximus, who was five times consul, while the younger was adopted by the son of Scipio Africanus, his cousin-german, who gave him the name of Scipio. 6 Of the daughters of Aemilius, one became the wife of the son of Cato, and the other of Aelius Tubero, a man of the greatest excellence, and one who, more than any other Roman, combined the greatest dignity with poverty. 7 For there were sixteen members of the family, all Aelii; and they had a very little house, and one little farm sufficed for all, where they maintained one home together with many wives and children. 8 Among these wives lived also the daughter of that Aemilius who had twice been consul and twice had celebrated a triumph, and she was not ashamed of her husband’s poverty, but admired the virtue that kept him poor. 9 Brethren and kinsmen of the present day, however, unless zones and rivers and walls divide their inheritances and wide tracts of land separate them from one another, are continually quarrelling. 10 These, then, are considerations and examples which history presents to those who are willing to profit by them.
[Aem. 6.1] 6 1 Aemilius, then, having been appointed consul, made an expedition against the Ligurians along the Alps, whom some call also Ligustines, a warlike and spirited folk, and one whose proximity to the Romans was teaching it skill in war. 2 For they occupy the extremities of Italy that are bounded by the Alps, and those parts of the Alps themselves that are washed by the Tuscan sea and face Africa, and they are mingled with Gauls and the Iberians of the coast. 3 At that time they had also laid hold of the sea with piratical craft, and were robbing and destroying merchandise, sailing out as far as the pillars of Hercules. 4 Accordingly, when Aemilius came against them, they withstood him with a force of forty thousand men; but he, with eight thousand men all told, engaged their fivefold numbers, and after routing them and shutting them up in their walled towns, gave them humane and conciliatory terms; 5 for it was not the wish of the Romans to extirpate altogether the Ligurian nation, since it lay like a barrier or bulwark against the movements of the Gauls, who were always threatening to descend upon Italy. 6 Accordingly, putting faith in Aemilius, they delivered their ships and cities into his hands. Their cities he restored to them, either doing them no harm at all, or simply razing their walls; but he took away all their ships, and left them no boat that carried more than three oars; 7 he also restored to safety those whom they had taken captive by land or sea, and these were found to be many, both Romans and foreigners. Such, then, were the conspicuous achievements of this first consulship.
[Aem. 6.8] 8 Afterwards he often made it clear that he was desirous of a second consulship, and once actually announced his candidacy, but when he was passed by and not elected, he made no further efforts to obtain the office, giving his attention to his duties as augur, and training his sons, not only in the nature and ancestral discipline in which he himself had been trained, but also, and with greater ardour, in that of the Greeks. 9 For not only the grammarians and philosophers and rhetoricians, but also the modellers and painters, the overseers of horses and dogs, and the teachers of the art of hunting, by whom the young men were surrounded, were Greeks. 10 And the father, unless some public business prevented, would always be present at their studies and exercises, for he was now become the fondest parent in Rome.
[Aem. 7.1] 7 1 As to public affairs, that was the period when the Romans were at war with Perseus, the king of Macedonia, and were taking their generals to task because their inexperience and cowardice led them to conduct their campaigns ridiculously and disgracefully, and to suffer more harm than they inflicted. 2 For the people which had just forced Antiochus, surnamed the Great, to retire from the rest of Asia, driven him over the Taurus mountains, and shut him up in Syria, where he had been content to buy terms with a payment of fifteen thousand talents; 3 which had a little while before set the Greeks free from Macedonia by crushing Philip in Thessaly; and which had utterly subdued Hannibal, to whom no king was comparable for power or boldness; 4 this people thought it unendurable that they should be compelled to contend with Perseus as though he were an even match for Rome, when for a long time already he had carried on his war against them with the poor remains of his father’s routed army; 5 for they were not aware that after his defeat Philip had made the Macedonian armies far most vigorous and warlike than before. This situation I will briefly explain from the beginning.
[Aem. 8.1] 8 1 Antigonus, who was the most powerful of Alexander’s generals and successors, and acquired for himself and his line the title of King, had a son Demetrius, and his son was Antigonus surnamed Gonatas. 2 His son in turn was Demetrius, who, after reigning himself for a short time, died, leaving a son Philip still in his boyhood. 3 The leading Macedonians, fearing the anarchy which might result, called in Antigonus, a cousin of the dead king, and married him to Philip’s mother, calling him first regent and general, and then, finding his rule moderate and conducive to the general good, giving him the title of King. He received the surname of Doson, which implied that he was given to promising but did not perform his engagements. 4 After him Philip succeeded to the throne, and, though still a youth, flowered out in the qualities which most distinguish kings, and led men to believe that he would restore Macedonia to her ancient dignity, and that he, and he alone, would check the power of Rome, which already extended over all the world. 5 But after he was defeated in a great battle at Scotussa by Titus Flamininus, for a time he took a humble posture, entrusted all his interests to the Romans, and was content to come off with a moderate fine. 6 Afterwards, however, his condition oppressed him, and thinking that to reign by the favour of the Romans was more the part of a captive satisfied with meat and drink than of a man possessed of courage and spirit, he turned his thoughts to war, and made his arrangements for it in secrecy and with cunning. 7 Thus, those of his cities which lay on the highroads and the seashore he suffered to become weak and rather desolate, so as to awaken contempt, while in the interior he was collecting a large force; he also filled the fortresses, strongholds, and cities of the interior with an abundance of arms, money, and men fit for service, in this way preparing himself for the war, and yet keeping it hidden away, as it were, and concealed. 8 Thus, he had arms to equip thirty thousand men laid up in reserve, eight million bushels of grain had been immured in his strongholds, and a sum of money sufficient to maintain for ten years ten thousand mercenaries fighting in defence of the country.
[Aem. 8.9] 9 But Philip, before he could put these plans and preparations into effect, died of grief and anguish of mind; for he came to know that he had unjustly put to death one of his sons, Demetrius, on false charges made by the other, who was his inferior. 10 The son, however, whom he left, Perseus, along with his father’s kingdom, inherited his hatred of the Romans, but was not equal to the burden because of the littleness and baseness of his character, in which, among all sorts of passions and distempers, avarice was the chief trait. 11 And it is said that he was not even a true-born son, but that Philip’s wife took him at his birth from his mother, a certain sempstress, an Argive woman named Gnathaenion, and passed him off as her own. 12 And this was the chief reason, as it would seem, why he feared Demetrius and compassed his death, lest the royal house having a true-born heir to the throne, should uncover his own spurious birth.
[Aem. 9.1] 9 1 However, although he was ignoble and mean, the strength of his position led him to undertake the war, and he kept up the struggle for a long time, repulsing Roman commanders of consular rank with great armies and fleets, and actually conquering some of them. 2 Publius Licinius, for example, who was the first that invaded Macedonia, he routed in a cavalry battle, slew twenty-five hundred good men, and took six hundred prisoners besides; 3 then he made an unexpected attack upon the Roman fleet which was lying at anchor near Oreus, seized twenty ships of burden with their cargoes, and sank the rest together with the grain that filled them; he also made himself master of four quinqueremes. 4 He fought a second battle, too, in which he repulsed the consul Hostilius as he was trying to force his way into Macedonia at Elimiae; and after Hostilius had broken into the country undetected by way of Thessaly, he gave him a challenge to battle which he was afraid to accept. 5 Furthermore, as a side issue of the war, he made an expedition against the Dardanians, implying that he ignored the Romans and that time hung heavy on his hands; he cut to pieces ten thousand of the Barbarians and drove off much booty. 6 He also secretly stirred up the Gauls settled along the Danube, who are called Basternae, an equestrian host and warlike; and he invited the Illyrians, through Genthius their king, to take part with him in the war. And a report prevailed that the Barbarians had been hired by him to pass through lower Gaul, along the coast of the Adriatic, and make an incursion into Italy.
[Aem. 10.1] 10 1 When the Romans learned of these things, they decided that they would bid good-bye to the favours and promises of those who wanted to be generals, and themselves summon to the leadership a man of wisdom who understood how to manage great affairs. 2 This man was Paulus Aemilius, now advanced in life and about sixty years of age, but in the prime of bodily vigour, and hedged about with youthful sons and sons-in law, and with a host of friends and kinsmen of great influence, all of whom urged him to give ear to the people when it summoned him to the consulship. 3 At first he was for declining the appeals of the multitude, and tried to avert their eager importunities, saying that he did not want office; but when they came daily to his house and called him forth into the forum and pressed him with their clamours, he yielded; 4 and when he presented himself at once among the candidates for the consulship, he did not appear to come into the Campus in order to get office, but as one who brought victory and might in war and offered them to the citizens. 5 With such eager hopes did all receive him, and they made him consul for the second time, and did not permit a lot to be cast for the provinces, as was the custom, but at once voted him the conduct of the Macedonian war. 6 And it is said that when he had been appointed general against Perseus, and had been escorted home in splendid fashion by the whole people, he found there his daughter Tertia, who was still a little child, in tears. 7 He took her in his arms, therefore, and asked her why she grieved. And she, embracing him and kissing him, said: “Pray dost thou not know, Father, that our Perseus is dead?” meaning a little pet dog of that name. 8 And Aemilius cried “Good fortune! my daughter, I accept the omen.” Such, then, is the story which Cicero the orator relates in his work “On Divination.”
[Aem. 11.1] 11 It was the custom for those who obtained the consulship to return thanks, as it were, for the great favour in a friendly speech to the people from the rostra; but Aemilius, having gathered an assembly of the citizens, said he had sued for his first consulship because he himself wanted office, but for his second because they wanted a general; 2 wherefore he was under no obligation to them; on the contrary, if they thought the war would be carried on better by another, he resigned the conduct of it; but if they had confidence in him they must not make themselves his colleagues in command, nor indulge in rhetoric about the war, but quietly furnish the necessary supplies for it, since, if they sought to command their commander, their campaigns would be still more ridiculous than they were already. 3 By these words he inspired the citizens with great reverence for himself, and with great expectations of the future, and all were glad that they had passed by the flatterers and chosen a general who had resolution and frankness of speech. 4 Thus was the Roman people, to the end that it might prevail and be greatest in the world, a servant of virtue and honour.
[Aem. 12.1] 12 1 Now, that Aemilius Paulus, after setting out upon his campaign, had a fortunate voyage and an easy passage and came speedily and safely to the Roman camp, I attribute to the favour of Heaven; 2 but when I see that the war under his command was brought to an end partly by his fierce courage, partly by his excellent plans, partly by the eager assistance of his friends, and partly by his resolute adoption of fitting conclusions in times of danger, I cannot assign his remarkable and brilliant success to his celebrated good fortune, as I can in the case of other generals. 3 Unless, indeed, it be said that the avaricious conduct of Perseus was good fortune for Aemilius, since it utterly subverted the great and brilliant prospects of the Macedonians for the war (wherein their hopes ran high), because Perseus played the coward with his money. 4 For there came to him from the Basternae, at his request, ten thousand horsemen with ten thousand men to run at their sides, all professional soldiers, men who knew not how to plough or to sail the seas, who did not follow the life of herdsmen, but who were ever practising one business and one art, that of fighting and conquering their antagonists. 5 And when these had encamped in Maedica and mingled with the soldiers of the king, — men of lofty stature, admirable in their discipline, great boasters, and loud in their threats against their enemies, — they inspired the Macedonians with courage and a belief that the Romans could not withstand them, but would be utterly terrified by their looks and movements, which were strange and repulsive. 6 But after Perseus had disposed the feelings of his men in this way and filled them with so great hopes, upon being asked to pay each captain of the mercenaries a thousand pieces, he was bewildered and crazed at the amount of gold required, and out of parsimony renounced and abandoned the alliance, as if he were a steward, rather than a foe, of the Romans, and was to give an exact account of his expenditures for the war to those against whom he waged it; 7 and yet he had his foes to give him lessons, for, apart from their other preparations, they had a hundred thousand men assembled and ready for their needs. 8 But he, though contending against so large a force, and in a war where such large reserves were maintained, measured out his gold and sealed it up in bags, as afraid to touch it as if it had belonged to others. 9 And this he did although he was no Lydian or Phoenician born, but laid claim to a share in the virtues of Alexander and Philip, whose descendant he was, — men who mastered the world through their belief that empire was to be bought with money, not money with empire. 10 At all events, it was a common saying that the cities of Greece were taken, not by Philip, but by Philip’s money. 11 And Alexander, when he was starting on his expedition to India, and saw that his Macedonians were dragging along after them their Persian wealth, which was already burdensome and heavy, set fire to the royal baggage-waggons first, and then persuaded his followers to do the same with theirs, and to set out for the war in light marching order, like men released from bondage. 12 But Perseus would not consent to pour out his gold upon himself, his children, and his kingdom, and thus purchase salvation with a small part of his treasures, but chose to be carried with many treasures as the wealthy captive, and to show the Romans how much he had saved and watched for them.
[Aem. 13.1] 13 1 For he not only sent away the Gauls after playing them false, but also, after inducing Genthius the Illyrian, on payment of three hundred talents, to assist him in the war, he showed to the king’s messengers the money all counted out, and suffered them to put their seals upon the bags; 2 then, when Genthius, convinced that he had the price he had asked, committed a dreadful and impious deed, arresting and imprisoning a Roman embassy that had been sent to him, Perseus, thinking that the money was no longer needed to make Genthius an enemy of Rome, since before getting it he had given a lasting earnest of his hatred and had involved himself in the war by the great wrong which he had done, 3 deprived the poor wretch of the three hundred talents, and suffered him in a little while to be taken from his kingdom with his wife and children, as birds from the nest, by Lucius Anicius, a general sent against him with an army.
[Aem. 13.4] 4 Aemilius, coming against such an adversary, scorned him indeed, but admired his preparations and his army. For Perseus had four thousand horsemen, and not much fewer than forty thousand heavy-armed footmen. 5 And planting himself with the sea behind him, along the foot-hills of Mount Olympus, on ground which nowhere afforded an approach, and which had been fortified on all sides by him with bulwarks and outworks of wood, he lay in great security, thinking that by delay and expense he would wear out Aemilius. 6 But Aemilius was a man who clung to his purpose, and tested every plan and method of attack; seeing, however, that his army, by reason of their former license, was impatient of delay, and inclined to dictate to their general many impracticable things, he rebuked them, and instructed them to take no thought or concern for anything, except how each man might keep himself and his armour in readiness for action, and ply his sword in Roman fashion, when their general gave them the opportunity. 7 Furthermore, he ordered the night watchmen to keep watch without their spears, with the idea that they would be more on the alert and would struggle more successfully against sleep, if they were unable to defend themselves against their enemies when they approached.
[Aem. 14.1] 14 1 But his men were annoyed especially by the lack of drinking water, since only a little of it issued forth and collected in pools at the very edge of the sea, and that was bad. Aemilius, therefore, seeing that the lofty and wooded mountain of Olympus lay near, and judging from the greenness of its trees that there were veins of water coursing under ground, dug a number of vents and wells for them along the foot of the mountain. 2 These were at once filled with streams of pure water, which, under the weight and impulse of the pressure that was upon them, discharged themselves into the vacuum afforded.
[Aem. 14.3] 3 And yet some deny that stores of ready water lie hidden away beneath the places from which springs flow, and that they merely come to light or force a passage when they issue forth; 4 they hold rather that the water is generated and comes into existence then and there through the liquefaction of matter, and that moist vapour is liquefied by density and cold, whenever, that is, it is compressed in the depths of earth and becomes fluid. 5 For, they argue, just as the breasts of women are not, like vessels, full of ready milk which flows out, but by converting the nourishment that is in them produce milk and strain it out; 6 so those places in the ground which are chilly and full of springs do not have hidden water, nor reservoirs which send forth the currents and deep waters of all our rivers from a source that is ready at hand, but by forcibly compressing and condensing vapour and air, they convert them into water. 7 At all events, those places which are dug open gush and flow more freely in response to such manipulation, just as the breasts of women do in response to sucking, because they moisten and soften the vapours; 8 whereas all places in the ground which are packed tight and unworked, are incapable of generating water, since they have not been subjected to the agitation which produces moisture. 9 But those who hold this doctrine give the sceptical occasion to object that, on this reasoning, there is no blood in living creatures, but it is generated in response to wounds by a transformation of some vapour or flesh, which causes its liquefaction and flow. 10 Moreover, they are refuted by the experience of men who dig mines, either for sieges or for metals, and in the depths encounter rivers of water, which are not gradually collected, as must naturally be the case if they come into existence at the instant that the earth is agitated, but pour forth in a great mass. 11 And again, when a mountain or rock is smitten asunder, a fierce torrent of water often gushes forth, and then ceases entirely. So much on this head.
[Aem. 15.1] 15 1 Aemilius kept still for several days, and they say that never was there such quiet when armies of such size had come so close together. 2 But when, as he was trying and considering everything, he learned that there was one passage and one only that still remained unguarded, namely, the one through Perrhaebia past the Pythium and Petra, he conceived more hope from the fact that the place was left unguarded than fear from the roughness and difficulty of it which caused it to be so left, and held a council of war upon the matter. 3 Among those present at the council, Scipio, surnamed Nasica, a son-in law of Scipio Africanus, and afterwards of the greatest influence in the senate, was first to offer himself as leader of the enveloping force. 4 And second, Fabius Maximus, the eldest of the sons of Aemilius, though he was still a young man, eagerly volunteered. 5 Aemilius, accordingly, delighted, gave them, not as many men as Polybius states, but as many as Nasica himself says they took, in a short letter which he wrote concerning these exploits to one of the kings, 6 that is, three thousand of his Italians who were not Romans, and his left wing numbering five thousand. 7 In addition to these, Nasica took a hundred and twenty horsemen, besides two hundred of the mixed Thracians and Cretans with Harpalus, set out on the road towards the sea, and encamped by the Heracleum, as though he intended to sail round by sea and envelope the camp of the enemy. 8 But when his soldiers had taken supper and darkness had come, he told his chief officers his real design, and then led his forces by night in the opposite direction, away from the sea, and halted below the Pythium, where he gave his army a rest. 9 From this point Olympus rises to a height of more than ten furlongs, as is signified in an inscription by the man who measured it: —
[Aem. 15.10] 10 “The sacred peak of Olympus, at Apollo’s Pythium, has a height, in perpendicular measurement, of ten full furlongs, and besides, a hundred feet lacking only four. It was the son of Eumelus who measured the distance, Xenagoras; so fare thee well, O King, and be propitious in thy gifts.”
[Aem. 15.11] 11 And yet the geometricians say that no mountain has a height, and no sea a depth, of more than ten furlongs. It would seem, however, that Xenagoras took his measurement, not carelessly, but according to rule and with instruments.
[Aem. 16.1] 16 1 Here, then, Nasica passed the night; but to Perseus, who did not infer what was going on because he saw Aemilius remaining quietly in his position, there came a Cretan deserter who had run away on the march, bringing him news of the circuit which the Romans had taken. 2 Though Perseus was confounded at this, he did not move his camp, but sent out ten thousand foreign mercenaries and two thousand Macedonians under Milo, with orders to make haste and occupy the passes. 3 These men, according to Polybius, were still asleep when the Romans fell upon them; but Nasica says that a sharp and perilous conflict took place for possession of the heights, and that he himself slew a Thracian mercenary, who engaged him, by striking him through the breast with his javelin, and that after the enemy had been driven away, and while Milo was flying most disgracefully without his armour or his cloak, he followed after them without danger, and brought his army with him down into the plain.
[Aem. 16.4] 4 After this disaster, Perseus hastily broke camp and retired; he had become exceedingly fearful, and his hopes were shattered. 5 But nevertheless he was under the necessity of standing his ground there in front of Pydna and risking a battle, or else of scattering his army about among the cities and so awaiting the issue of the war, which, now that it had once made its way into his country, could not be driven out without much bloodshed and slaughter. 6 In the number of his men, then, he was superior where he was, and they would fight with great ardour in defence of their wives and children, and with their king beholding all their actions and risking life in their behalf. 7 With such arguments his friends encouraged Perseus. So he pitched a camp and arranged his forces for battle, examining the field and distributing his commands, purposing to confront the Romans as soon as they came up. 8 The place afforded a plain for his phalanx, which required firm standing and smooth ground, and there were hills succeeding one another continuously, which gave his skirmishers and light-armed troops opportunity for retreat and flank attack. 9 Moreover, through the middle of it ran the rivers Aeson and Leucus, which were not very deep at that time (for it was the latter end of summer), but were likely, nevertheless, to give the Romans considerable trouble.
[Aem. 17.1] 17 1 Aemilius, after effecting a junction with Nasica, came down in battle array against the enemy. 2 But when he saw how they were drawn up, and in what numbers, he was amazed, and came to a halt, considering with himself. 3 His young officers, however, who were eager for battle, rode up and begged him not to delay, especially Nasica, who was emboldened by his success at Mount Olympus. 4 But Aemilius, with a smile, said to him: “Yes, if I had thy youth; but many victories teach me the mistakes of the vanquished, and forbid me to join battle, immediately after a march, with a phalanx which is already drawn up and completely formed.” 5 After this, he ordered his foremost troops, who were in sight of the enemy, to form into cohorts and give the appearance of a battle line, while the others, wheeling to the rear, dug trenches and marked out a camp. 6 And in this way, the troops next to the last wheeling off in due succession, before the enemy knew it he had broken up his battle line and brought all his men without confusion into their intrenchments.
[Aem. 17.7] 7 Now, when night had come, and the soldiers, after supper, were betaking themselves to rest and sleep, on a sudden the moon, which was full and high in the heavens, grew dark, lost its light, took on all sorts of colours in succession, and finally disappeared. 8 The Romans, according to their custom, tried to call her light back by the clashing of bronze utensils and by holding up many blazing fire-brands and torches towards the heavens; the Macedonians, however, did nothing of this sort, but amazement and terror possessed their camp, and a rumour quietly spread among many of them that the portent signified an eclipse of a king. 9 Now, Aemilius was not altogether without knowledge and experiences of the irregularities of eclipses, which, at fixed periods, carry the moon in her course into the shadow of the earth and conceal her from sight, until she passes beyond the region of shadow and reflects again the light of the sun; 10 however, since he was very devout and given to sacrifices and divination, as soon as he saw the moon beginning to emerge from the shadow, he sacrificed eleven heifers to her. 11 And as soon as it was day, he sacrificed as many as twenty oxen to Hercules without getting favourable omens; but with the twenty-first victim the propitious signs appeared and indicated victory if they stood on the defensive. 12 Accordingly, having vowed to the god a hecatomb and solemn games, he ordered his officers to put the army in array for battle; 13 but he himself, waiting for the sun to pass to the west and decline, in order that its morning light might not shine in the faces of his men as they fought, passed the time sitting in his tent, which was open towards the plain and the enemy’s encampment.
[Aem. 18.1] 18 1 Towards evening, Aemilius himself, as some say, devised a scheme for making the enemy begin the attack, and the Romans, pursuing a horse which they had driven forth without a bridle, came into collision with them, and the pursuit of this horse brought on a battle; 2 others say that Thracians, under the command of Alexander, set upon Roman beasts of burden that were bringing in forage, and that against these a sharp sally was made by seven hundred Ligurians, whereupon reinforcements were sent to either party, and thus the engagement became general. 3 So then Aemilius, like a pilot, judging from the surging commotion in the armies the greatness of the coming storm, came forth from his tent and went along in front of his legionary troops encouraging them, 4 and Nasica, after riding out to the skirmishers, saw that the whole force of the enemy was all but at close quarters.
[Aem. 18.5] 5 First the Thracians advanced, whose appearance, Nasica says, was most terrible, — men of lofty stature, clad in tunics which showed black beneath the white and gleaming armour of their shields and greaves, and tossing high on their right shoulders battle-axes with heavy iron heads. 6 Next to the Thracians, the mercenaries advanced to the attack; their equipment was of every variety, and Paeonians were mingled with them. 7 Next to these came a third division, picked men, the flower of the Macedonians themselves for youthful strength and valour, gleaming with gilded armour and fresh scarlet coats. 8 As these took their places in the line, they were illumined by the phalanx-lines of the Bronze-shields which issued from the camp behind them and filled the plain with the gleam of iron and the glitter of bronze, the hills, too, with the tumultuous shouts of their cheering. 9 And with such boldness and swiftness did they advance that the first to be slain fell only two furlongs from the Roman camp.
[Aem. 19.1] 19 1 As the attack began, Aemilius came up and found that the Macedonian battalions had already planted the tips of their long spears in the shields of the Romans, who were thus prevented from reaching them with their swords. 2 And when he saw that the rest of the Macedonian troops also were drawing their targets from their shoulders round in front of them, and with long spears set at one level were withstanding his shield-bearing troops, and saw too the strength of their interlocked shields and the fierceness of their onset, amazement and fear took possession of him, and he felt that he had never seen a sight more fearful; often in after times he used to speak of his emotions at that time and of what he saw. 3 But then, showing to his soldiers a glad and cheerful countenance, he rode past them without helmet or breastplate. 4 The king of the Macedonians, on the other hand, according to Polybius, as soon as the battle began, played the coward and rode back to the city, under pretence of sacrificing to Heracles, a god who does not accept cowardly sacrifices from cowards, nor accomplish their unnatural prayers. 5 For it is not in the nature of things that he who makes no shot should hit the mark exactly, or that he who does not hold his ground should win the day, or, in a word, that he who does nothing should be successful in what he does, or that a wicked man should be prosperous. 6 But the god listened to the prayers of Aemilius, who kept wielding his spear as he prayed for might and victory, and fought as he invited the god to fight with him.
[Aem. 19.7] 7 However, a certain Poseidonius, who says he lived in those times and took part in those actions, and who has written a history of Perseus in several books, says it was not out of cowardice, nor with the excuse of the sacrifice, that the king went away, but because on the day before the battle a horse had kicked him on the leg. 8 He says further that in the battle, although he was in a wretched plight, and although his friends tried to deter him, the king ordered a pack-horse to be brought to him, mounted it, and joined his troops in the phalanx without a breastplate; 9 and that among the missiles of every sort which were flying on all sides, a javelin made entirely of iron smote him, not touching him with its point, indeed, but coursing along his left side with an oblique stroke, and the force of its passage was such that it tore his tunic and made a dark red bruise upon his flesh, the mark of which remained for a long time. 10 This, then, is what Poseidonius says in defence of Perseus.
[Aem. 20.1] 20 1 The Romans, when they attacked the Macedonian phalanx, were unable to force a passage, and Salvius, the commander of the Pelignians, snatched the standard of his company and hurled it in among the enemy. 2 Then the Pelignians, since among the Italians it is an unnatural and flagrant thing to abandon a standard, rushed on towards the place where it was, and dreadful losses were inflicted and suffered on both sides. 3 For the Romans tried to thrust aside the long spears of their enemies with their swords, or to crowd them back with their shields, or to seize and put them by with their very hands; 4 while the Macedonians, holding them firmly advanced with both hands, and piercing those who fell upon them, armour and all, since neither shield nor breastplate could resist the force of the Macedonian long spear, hurled headlong back the Pelignians and Marrucinians, who, with no consideration but with animal fury rushed upon the strokes that met them, and a certain death. 5 When the first line had thus been cut to pieces, those arrayed behind them were beaten back; and though there was no flight, still they retired towards the mountain called Olocrus, 6 so that even Aemilius, as Poseidonius tells us, when he saw it, rent his garments. For this part of his army was retreating, and the rest of the Romans were turning aside from the phalanx, which gave them no access to it, but confronted them as it were with a dense barricade of long spears, and was everywhere unassailable.
[Aem. 20.7] 7 But the ground was uneven, and the line of battle so long that shields could not be kept continuously locked together, and Aemilius therefore saw that the Macedonian phalanx was getting many clefts and intervals in it, as is natural when armies are large and the efforts of the combatants are diversified; portions of it were hard pressed, and other portions were dashing forward. 8 Thereupon he came up swiftly, and dividing up his cohorts, ordered them to plunge quickly into the interstices and empty spaces in the enemy’s line and thus come to close quarters, not fighting a single battle against them all, but many separate and successive battles. 9 These instructions being given by Aemilius to his officers, and by his officers to the soldiers, as soon as they got between the ranks of the enemy and separated them, they attacked some of them in the flank where their armour did not shield them, 10 and cut off others by falling upon their rear, and the strength and general efficiency of the phalanx was lost when it was thus broken up; and now that the Macedonians engaged man to man or in small detachments, they could only hack with their small daggers against the firm and long shields of the Romans, and oppose light wicker targets to their swords, which, such was their weight and momentum, penetrated through all their armour to their bodies. They therefore made a poor resistance and at last were routed.
[Aem. 21.1] 21 1 But the struggle between them was fierce. Here, too, Marcus, the son of Cato and the son-in law of Aemilius, while displaying all possible prowess, lost his sword. 2 Since he was a young man of the most generous education and owed to a great father proofs of great valour, he thought life not worth the living if he abandoned such spoil of his own person to the enemy, and ran along the ranks telling every friend and companion whom he saw of his mishap and begging them for aid. 3 These made a goodly number of brave men, and making their way with one impulse through the rest, they put themselves under his head and fell upon the enemy. 4 With a great struggle, much slaughter, and many wounds, they drove them from the ground, and when they had won a free and empty place, they set themselves to looking for the sword. 5 And when at last it was found hidden among great heaps of armour and fallen bodies, they were filled with exceeding joy, and raising songs of triumph fell yet more impetuously upon those of the enemy who still held together. 6 Finally, the three thousand picked men of the Macedonians, who remained in order and kept on fighting, were all cut to pieces; and of the rest, who took to flight, the slaughter was great, so that the plain and the lower slopes of the hills were covered with dead bodies, and the waters of the river Leucus were still mingled with blood when the Romans crossed it on the day after the battle. 7 For it is said that over twenty-five thousand of their enemies were slain; while of the Romans there fell, according to Poseidonius, a hundred, according to Nasica, eighty.
[Aem. 22.1] 22 1 And this greatest of all struggles was most speedily decided; for the Romans began fighting at three o’clock in the afternoon, and were victorious within an hour; the rest of the day they spent in the pursuit, which they kept up for as many as a hundred and twenty furlongs, so that it was already late in the evening when they returned. 2 All the rest were met by their servants with torches and conducted with joyful shouts to their tents, which were ablaze with light and adorned with wreaths of ivy and laurel; but Aemilius their general was a prey to great sorrow. 3 For the two sons who were serving under him, the younger was nowhere to be found, and Aemilius loved him especially, and saw that he was by nature more prone to excellence than any of his brothers. 4 But he was of a passionate and ambitious spirit, and was still hardly more than a boy in years, and his father concluded that he had certainly perished, when, for lack of experience, he had become entangled among the enemy as they fought. 5 The whole army learned of the distress and anguish of their general, and springing up from their suppers, ran about with torches, many to the tent of Aemilius, and many in front of the ramparts, searching among the numerous dead bodies. 6 Dejection reigned in the camp, and the plain was filled with the cries of men calling out the name of Scipio. For from the very outset he had been admired by everybody, since, beyond any other one of his family, he had a nature adapted for leadership in war and public service.
[Aem. 22.7] 7 Well, then, when it was already late and he was almost despaired of, he came in from the pursuit with two or three comrades, covered with the blood of the enemies he had slain, having been, like a young hound of noble breed, carried away by the uncontrollable pleasure of the victory. 8 This was that Scipio who, in after times, destroyed Carthage and Numantia, and became by far the most noble and influential Roman of his day. 9 Thus Fortune, postponing to another season her jealous displeasure at the great success of Aemilius, restored to him then in all completeness his pleasure in his victory.
[Aem. 23.1] 23 1 But Perseus was away in flight from Pydna to Pella, since practically all his horsemen came safely off from the battle. 2 But when his footmen overtook his horsemen, and, abusing them as cowards and traitors, tried to push them from their horses and fell to beating them, the king, afraid of the tumult, turned his horse out of the road, drew his purple robe round and held it in front of him, that he might not be conspicuous, and carried his diadem in his hands. 3 And in order that he might also converse with his companions as he walked, he dismounted from his horse and led him along. 4 But of these companions, one pretended that he must fasten a shoe that had become loose, another that he must water his horse, another that he himself wanted water to drink, and so they gradually lagged behind and ran away, because they had more fear of his cruelty than of the enemy. 5 For he was lacerated by his misfortunes, and sought to turn the responsibility for his defeat away from himself and upon everybody else. 6 He entered Pella during the night, and when Euctus and Eulaeus, his treasurers, came to meet him, and, what with their censure for what had happened and their unseasonably bold speeches and counsels, enraged him, he slew them, smiting both of them himself with his small-sword. After this no one remained with him except Evander the Cretan, Archedamus the Aetolian, and Neon the Boeotian. 7 Of his soldiers, only the Cretans followed after him, not through good will, but because they were as devoted to his riches as bees to their honeycombs. 8 For he was carrying along vast treasures, and had handed out from them for distribution among the Cretans drinking cups and mixing bowls and other furniture of gold and silver to a value of fifty talents. 9 He arrived at Amphipolis first, and then from there at Galepsus, and now that his fear had abated a little, he relapsed into that congenital and oldest disease of his, namely, parsimony, and lamented to his friends that through ignorance he had suffered some of the gold plate of Alexander the Great to fall into the hands of the Cretans, and with tearful supplications he besought those who had it to exchange it for money. 10 Now those that understood him accurately did not fail to see that he was playing the Cretan against Cretans; but those who listened to him, and gave back the plate, were cheated. 11 For he did not pay them the money he had promised, but after craftily getting thirty talents from his friends, which his enemies were to get soon afterwards, he sailed across with them to Samothrace, where he took refuge as a suppliant in the temple of the Dioscuri.
[Aem. 24.1] 24 1 Now, the Macedonians are always said to have been lovers of their kings, but at this time, feeling that their prop was shattered and all had fallen with it, they put themselves into the hands of Aemilius, and in two days made him master of all Macedonia. 2 And this would seem to bear witness in favour of those who declare that these achievements of his were due to a rare good fortune. 3 And still further, that which befell him at his sacrifice was a token of divine favour. When, namely, Aemilius was sacrificing in Amphipolis, and the sacred rites were begun, a thunderbolt darted down upon the altar, set it on fire, and consumed the sacrifice with it. 4 But an altogether more signal instance of divine favour and good fortune is seen in the way the rumour of his victory spread. For it was only the fourth day after Perseus had been defeated at Pydna, and at Rome the people were watching equestrian contests, when suddenly a report sprang up at the entrance of the theatre that Aemilius had conquered Perseus in a great battle and reduced all Macedonia. 5 After this the rumour spread quickly among the multitude, and joy burst forth, accompanied by shouts and clapping of hands, and prevailed in the city all that day. 6 Then, since the story could not be traced to any sure source, but seemed to be current everywhere alike, for the time being the rumour vanished into thin air; but when, a few days afterwards, they were clearly informed of the matter, they were astonished at the tidings which had reached them first, seeing that in the fiction there was truth.
[Aem. 25.1] 25 1 It is said also that a report of the battle fought by the Italian Greeks at the river Sagra reached Peloponnesus on the same day, and so did that of the battle with the Medes at Mycale come on the same day to Plataea. 2 And when the Romans had conquered the Tarquins, who had taken the field against them with the Latins, two tall and beautiful men were seen at Rome a little while after, who brought direct tidings from the army. These were conjectured to be the Dioscuri. 3 The first man who met them in front of the spring in the forum, where they were cooling their horses, which were reeking with sweat, was amazed at their report of the victory. 4 Then, we are told, they touched his beard with their hands, quietly smiling the while, and the hair of it was changed at once from black to red, a circumstance which gave credence to their story, and fixed upon the man the surname of Ahenobarbus, that is to say, Bronze-beard. 5 And all this is made credible by that which has happened in our time. When, namely, Antonius was in revolt from Domitian, and a great war was expected from Germany, and Rome was in commotion, suddenly and spontaneously the people of their own accord spread abroad a report of a victory, and a story coursed through Rome that Antonius himself had been slain, and that of his defeated army not a portion was left alive. Belief in the story became so strong and distinct that many of the magistrates actually offered sacrifices. 6 When, however, the author of the story was sought, none could be found, but it eluded all pursuit from one man to another, and finally disappeared in the limitless throng, as in a yawning sea, and was seen to have no sure source. This rumour, then, quickly melted away in the city; but when Domitian was setting out with an army for the war and was already on the march, messages and letters announcing the victory came to meet him. 7 And the success itself was gained on the day when the rumour of it came to Rome, although the distance between the places was more than twenty thousand furlongs. These facts are known to every one of our time.
[Aem. 26.1] 26 1 But to resume, Gnaeus Octavius, the admiral of Aemilius, came to anchor off Samothrace, and while he allowed Perseus to enjoy asylum, out of respect to the gods, he took means to prevent him from escaping by sea. 2 However, Perseus somehow succeeded in persuading a certain Cretan named Oroandes, the owner of a small skiff, to take him on board with his treasures. 3 So Oroandes, true Cretan that he was, took the treasures aboard by night, and after bidding Perseus to come during the following night to harbour adjoining the Demetrium, with his children and necessary attendants, as soon as evening fell sailed off. 4 Now, Perseus suffered pitifully in letting himself down through a narrow window in the fortress, together with his wife and little children, who were unacquainted with wandering and hardships; but most pitiful of all was the groan he gave when some one told him, as he wandered along the shore, that he had seen Oroandes already out at sea and under full sail. 5 For day was beginning to dawn, and so, bereft of every hope, he fled back to the fortress with his wife, before the Romans could prevent him, though they saw him. 6 His children were seized and delivered to the Romans by Ion, who of old had been a favourite of Perseus, but now became his betrayer, and furnished the most compelling reason for his coming, as a wild beast will do when its young have been captured, and surrendering himself to those who had them in their power.
[Aem. 26.7] 7 Accordingly, having most confidence in Nasica, he called for him; but since Nasica was not there, after bewailing his misfortune and carefully weighing the necessity under which he lay, he gave himself into the power of Gnaeus, thus making it most abundantly clear that his avarice was a less ignoble evil than the love of life that was in him, and that led him to deprive himself of the only thing which Fortune cannot take away from the fallen, namely, pity. 8 For when at his request he was brought to Aemilius, Aemilius saw in him a great man whose fall was due to the resentment of the gods and his own evil fortune, and rose up and came to meet him, accompanied by his friends, and with tears in his eyes; 9 but Perseus, a most shameful sight, after throwing himself prone before him and then clasping his knees, broke out into ignoble cries and supplications. These Aemilius could not abide and would not hear; but looking upon him with a distressed and sorrowful countenance, said: 10 “Why, wretched man, dost thou free Fortune from thy strongest indictment against her, by conduct which will make men think that thy misfortunes are not undeserved, and that thy former prosperity, rather than thy present lot, was beyond thy deserts? 11 And why dost thou depreciate my victory, and make my success a meagre one, by showing thyself no noble or even fitting antagonist for Romans? 12 Valour in the unfortunate obtains great reverence even among their enemies, but cowardice, in Roman eyes, even though it meet with success, is in every way a most dishonourable thing.”
[Aem. 27.1] 27 1 Notwithstanding his displeasure, he raised Perseus up, gave him his hand, and put him in charge of Tubero, while he himself drew his sons, his sons-in law, and of the other officers especially the younger men, into his tent, where for a long time he sat in silent communion with himself, so that all wondered. 2 Then he began to discourse of Fortune and of human affairs, saying: “Is it, then, fitting that one who is mortal should be emboldened when success comes to him, and have high thoughts because he has subdued a nation, or a city, or a kingdom? or should his thoughts dwell rather on this reversal of fortune, which sets before the warrior an illustration of the weakness that is common to all men, and teaches him to regard nothing as stable or safe? 3 For what occasion have men to be confident, when their conquest of others gives them most cogent reason to be in fear of Fortune, and when one who exults in success is thrown, as I am, into great dejection by reflecting upon the allotments of Fate, which take a circling course, and fall now upon some and now upon others? 4 Or, when the succession of Alexander, who attained the highest pinnacle of power and won the greatest merit, has fallen in the space of a single hour and has been put beneath your feet, or when you see kings who but just now were surrounded by so many myriads of infantry and thousands of cavalry, receiving from their enemy’s hands the food and drink requisite for the day, can you suppose that we ourselves have any guarantee from Fortune that will avail against the attacks of time? 5 Abandon, then, young men, this empty insolence and pride of victory, and take a humble posture as you confront the future, always expectant of the time when the Deity shall at last launch against each one of you his jealous displeasure at your present prosperity.” 6 Many such words were uttered by Aemilius, we are told, and he sent the young men away with their vainglorious insolence and pride well curbed by his trenchant speech, as by a bridle.
[Aem. 28.1] 28 1 After this, he gave his army a chance to rest, while he himself went about to see Greece, occupying himself in ways alike honourable and humane. 2 For in his progress he restored the popular governments and established their civil polities; he also gave gifts to the cities, to some grain from the royal stores, to others oil. 3 For it is said that so great stores were found laid up that petitioners and receivers failed before the abundance discovered was exhausted. 4 At Delphi, he saw a tall square pillar composed of white marble stones, on which a golden statue of Perseus was intended to stand, and gave orders that his own statue should be set there, for it was meet that the conquered should make room for their conquerors. 5 And at Olympia, as they say, he made that utterance which is now in every mouth, that Pheidias had moulded the Zeus of Homer. 6 When the ten commissioners arrived from Rome, he restored to the Macedonians their country and their cities for free and independent residence; they were also to pay the Romans a hundred talents in tribute, a sum less than half of what they used to pay to their kings. 7 He also held all sorts of games and contests and performed sacrifices to the gods, at which he gave feasts and banquets, making liberal allowances therefor from the royal treasury, while in the arrangement and ordering of them, in saluting and seating his guests, and in paying to each one that degree of honour and kindly attention which was properly his due, he showed such nice and thoughtful perception that the Greeks were amazed, 8 seeing that not even their pastimes were treated by him with neglect, but that, although he was a man of such great affairs, he gave even to trifling things their due attention. 9 And he was also delighted to find that, though preparations for entertainment were ever so many and splendid, he himself was the pleasantest sight to his guests and gave them most enjoyment; and he used to say to those who wondered at his attention to details that the same spirit was required both in marshalling a line of battle and in presiding at a banquet well, the object being, in the one case, to cause most terror in the enemy, in the other, to give most pleasure to the company. 10 But more than anything else men praised his freedom of spirit and his greatness of soul; for he would not consent even to look upon the quantities of silver and the quantities of gold that were gathered together from the royal treasuries, but handed them over to the quaestors for the public chest. 11 It was only the books of the king that he allowed his sons, who were devoted to learning, to choose out for themselves, and when he was distributing rewards for valour in the battle, he gave Aelius Tubero, his son-in law, a bowl of five pounds weight. 12 This was the Tubero, who, as I have said, dwelt with fifteen relations, and a paltry farm supported them all. 13 And that is said to have been the first silver that ever entered the house of the Aelii, brought in as an honour bestowed upon valour, but up to that time neither they themselves nor their wives used either silver or gold.
[Aem. 29.1] 29 1 When he had put everything in good order, had bidden the Greeks farewell, and had exhorted the Macedonians to be mindful of the freedom bestowed upon them by the Romans and preserve it by good order and concord, he marched against Epirus, having an order from the senate to give the soldiers who had fought with him the battle against Perseus the privilege of pillaging the cities there. 2 Wishing to set upon the inhabitants all at once and suddenly, when no one expected it, he sent for the ten principal men of each city, and ordered them to bring in on a fixed day whatever silver and gold they had in their houses and temples. 3 He also sent with each of these bodies, as if for this very purpose, a guard of soldiers and an officer, who pretended to search for and receive the money. 4 But when the appointed day came, at one and the same time these all set out to overrun and pillage the cities, so that in a single hour a hundred and fifty thousand persons were made slaves, and seventy cities were sacked; 5 and yet from all this destruction and utter ruin each soldier received no more than eleven drachmas as his share, and all men shuddered at the issue of the war, when the division of a whole nation’s substance resulted in so slight a gain and profit for each soldier.
[Aem. 30.1] 30 1 Aemilius, then, after executing a commission so contrary to his mild and generous nature, went down to Oricus. 2 From there he crossed into Italy with his forces, and sailed up the river Tiber on the royal galley, which had sixteen banks of oars and was richly adorned with captured arms and cloths of scarlet and purple, so that the Romans actually came in throngs from out the city, 3 as it were to some spectacle of triumphant progress whose pleasures they were enjoying in advance, and followed along the banks as the splashing oars sent the ship slowly up the stream.
[Aem. 30.4] 4 But the soldiers, who had cast longing eyes upon the royal treasures, since they had not got as much as they thought they deserved, were secretly enraged on this account and bitterly disposed towards Aemilius, while openly they accused him of having been harsh and imperious in his command of them; they were therefore not very ready to second his eager desires for a triumph. 5 And when Servius Galba, who was an enemy of Aemilius, although he had been one of his military tribunes, perceived this, he made bold to declare openly that the triumph ought not to be allowed him. 6 He also sowed many calumnies against their general among the masses of the soldiery, and roused still further the resentment they already felt, and then asked the tribunes of the people for another day in which to bring his accusations, since that day was not sufficient, of which only four hours still remained. 7 But when the tribunes ordered him to speak, if he had anything to say, he began a speech which was long and full of all sorts of injurious statements, and so consumed the time remaining in the day. 8 When darkness came, the tribunes dissolved the assembly, but the soldiers, now grown bolder, flocked to Galba, formed themselves into a faction, and before it was light proceeded to take possession of the Capitol; for it was there that the tribunes proposed to hold the assembly.
[Aem. 31.1] 31 1 As soon as it was day the voting began, and the first tribe was voting against the triumph, when knowledge of the matter was brought down to the rest of the people and the senate. 2 The multitude, deeply grieved at the indignity offered to Aemilius, could only cry out against it in vain; but the most prominent senators, with shouts against the ignominy of the thing, exhorted one another to attack the bold license of the soldiers, which would proceed to any and every deed of lawlessness and violence if nothing were done to prevent their depriving Aemilius Paulus of the honours of his victory. 3 Then pushing their way through the throng and going up to the Capitol in a body, they told the tribunes to put a stop to the voting until they could finish what they wished to say to the people. 4 All voting stopped, silence was made, and one who had slain twenty-three foes in single combat, Marcus Servilius, a man of consular dignity, came forward and said that he knew now better than ever before how great a commander Aemilius Paulus was, when he saw how full of baseness and disobedience the army was which he had used in the successful accomplishment of such great and fair exploits; 5 and he was amazed that the people, while exulting in triumphs over Illyrians and Ligurians, begrudged itself the sight of the king of Macedonia taken alive and the glory of Alexander and Philip made spoil by Roman arms. 6 “For is it not a strange thing,” said he, “that when an unsubstantial rumour of victory came suddenly and prematurely to the city, you sacrificed to the gods and prayed that this report might speedily be verified before your eyes; but now that your general is come with his real victory, you rob the gods of their honour, and yourself of your joy in it, as though afraid to behold the magnitude of his successes, or seeking to spare the feelings of your enemy? 7 And yet it were better that out of pity towards him, and not out of envy towards your general, the triumph should be done away with. But,” said he, “to such great power is malice brought by you that a man without a wound to show, and whose person is sleek from delicate and cowardly effeminacy, dares to talk about the conduct of a general and his triumph to us who have been taught by all these wounds to judge the valour and the cowardice of generals.” 8 And with the words he parted his garment and displayed upon his breast an incredible number of wounds. Then wheeling about, he uncovered some parts of his person which it is thought unbecoming to have naked in a crowd, and turning to Galba, said: 9 “Thou laughest at these scars, but I glory in them before my fellow-citizens, in whose defence I got them, riding night and day without ceasing. 10 But come, take these people off to their voting; and I will come down and follow along with them all, and will learn who are base and thankless and prefer to be wheedled and flattered in war rather than commanded.”
[Aem. 32.1] 32 1 This speech, they tell us, so rebuffed the soldiery and changed their minds that the triumph was voted to Aemilius by all the tribes. 2 And it was conducted, they say, after the following fashion. The people erected scaffoldings in the theatres for equestrian contests, which they call circuses, and round the forum, occupied the other parts of the city which afforded a view of the procession, and witnessed the spectacle arrayed in white garments. 3 Every temple was open and filled with garlands and incense, while numerous servitors and lictors restrained the thronging and scurrying crowds and kept the streets open and clear. 4 Three days were assigned for the triumphal procession. The first barely sufficed for the exhibition of the captured statues, paintings, and colossal figures, which were carried on two hundred and fifty chariots. 5 On the second, the finest and richest of the Macedonian arms were borne along in many waggons. The arms themselves glittered with freshly polished bronze and steel, and were carefully and artfully arranged to look exactly as though they had been piled together in heaps and at random, 6 helmets lying upon shields and breast-plates upon greaves, while Cretan targets and Thracian wicker shields and quivers were mixed up with horses’ bridles, and through them projected naked swords and long Macedonian spears planted among them, 7 all the arms being so loosely packed that they smote against each other as they were borne along and gave out a harsh and dreadful sound, and the sight of them, even though they were spoils of a conquered enemy, was not without its terrors. 8 After the waggons laden with armour there followed three thousand men carrying coined silver in seven hundred and fifty vessels, each of which contained three talents and was borne by four men, 9 while still other men carried mixing-bowls of silver, drinking horns, bowls, and cups, all well arranged for show and excelling in size and in the depth of their carved ornaments.
[Aem. 33.1] 33 1 On the third day, as soon as it was morning, trumpeters led the way, sounding out no marching or processional strain, but such a one as the Romans use to rouse themselves to battle. 2 After these there were led along a hundred and twenty stall-fed oxen with gilded horns, bedecked with fillets and garlands. Those who led these victims to the sacrifice were young men wearing aprons with handsome borders, and boys attended them carrying gold and silver vessels of libation. 3 Next, after these, came the carriers of the coined gold, which, like the silver, was portioned out into vessels containing three talents; and the number of these vessels was eighty lacking three. 4 After these followed the bearers of the consecrated bowl, which Aemilius had caused to be made of ten talents of gold and adorned with precious stones, and then those who displayed the bowls known as Antigonids and Seleucids and Theracleian, together with all the gold plate of Perseus’s table. 5 These were followed by the chariot of Perseus, which bore his arms, and his diadem lying upon his arms. 6 Then, at a little interval, came the children of the king, led along as slaves, and with them a throng of foster-parents, teachers, and tutors, all in tears, stretching out their own hands to the spectators and teaching the children to beg and supplicate. 7 There were two boys, and one girl, and they were not very conscious of the magnitude of their evils because of their tender age; 8 wherefore they evoked even more pity in view of the time when their unconsciousness would cease, so that Perseus walked along almost unheeded, while the Romans, moved by compassion, kept their eyes upon the children, and many of them shed tears, and for all of them the pleasure of the spectacle was mingled with pain, until the children had passed by.
[Aem. 34.1] 34 1 Behind the children and their train of attendants walked Perseus himself, clad in a dark robe and wearing the high boots of his country, but the magnitude of his evils made him resemble one who is utterly dumbfounded and bewildered. 2 He, too, was followed by a company of friends and intimates, whose faces were heavy with grief, and whose tearful gaze continually fixed upon Perseus gave the spectators to understand that it was his misfortune which they bewailed, and that their own fate least of all concerned them. 3 And yet Perseus had sent to Aemilius begging not to be led in the procession and asking to be left out of the triumph. But Aemilius, in mockery, as it would seem, of the king’s cowardice and love of life, had said: “But this at least was in his power before, and is so now, if he should wish it,” 4 signifying death in preference to disgrace; for this, however, the coward had not the heart, but was made weak by no one knows what hopes, and became a part of his own spoils.
[Aem. 34.5] 5 Next in order to these were carried wreaths of gold, four hundred in number, which the cities had sent with their embassies to Aemilius as prizes for his victory. 6 Next, mounted on a chariot of magnificent adornment, came Aemilius himself, a man worthy to be looked upon even without such marks of power, wearing a purple robe interwoven with gold, and holding forth in his right hand a spray of laurel. 7 The whole army also carried sprays of laurel, following the chariot of their general by companies and divisions, and singing, some of them divers songs intermingled with jesting, as the ancient custom was, and others paeans of victory and hymns in praise of the achievements of Aemilius, who was gazed upon and admired by all, and envied by no one that was good. 8 But after all there is, as it seems, a divinity whose province it is to diminish whatever prosperity is inordinately great, and to mingle the affairs of human life, that no one may be without a taste of evil and wholly free from it, but that, as Homer says, those may be thought to fare best whose fortunes incline now one way and now another.
[Aem. 35.1] 35 1 For Aemilius had four sons, of whom two, as I have already said, had been adopted into other families, namely, Scipio and Fabius; and two sons still boys, the children of a second wife, whom he had in his own house. 2 One of these, fourteen years of age, died five days before Aemilius celebrated his triumph, and the death of the other, who was twelve years of age, followed three days after the triumph, 3 so that there was no Roman who did not share the father’s grief; nay, they all shuddered at the cruelty of Fortune, seeing that she had not scrupled to bring such great sorrow into a house that was full of gratulations, joy, and sacrifices, or to mingle lamentations and tears with paeans of victory and triumphs.
[Aem. 36.1] 36 1 Aemilius, notwithstanding, rightly considering that men have need of bravery and courage, not only against arms and long spears, but against every onset of Fortune as well, so adapted and adjusted the mingled circumstances of his lot that the bad was lost sight of in the good, and his private sorrow in the public welfare, thus neither lowering the grandeur nor sullying the dignity of his victory. 2 The first of his sons who died he buried, and immediately afterwards celebrated the triumph, as I have said; and when the second died, after the triumph, he gathered the Roman people into an assembly and spoke to them as a man who did not ask for comfort, but rather sought to comfort his fellow-citizens in their distress over his own misfortunes. 3 He said, namely, that he had never dreaded any human agency, but among agencies that were divine he had ever feared Fortune, believing her to be a most untrustworthy and variable thing; and since in this war particularly she had attended his undertakings like a prosperous gale, as it were, he had never ceased to expect some change and some reversal of the current of affairs. 4 “For in one day,” said he, “I crossed the Ionian Sea from Brundisium and put in at Corcyra; thence, in five days, I came to Delphi and sacrificed to the god; and again, in another five days, I took command of the forces in Macedonia, and after the usual lustration and review of them I proceeded at once to action, and in another fifteen days brought the war to the most glorious issue. 5 But I distrusted Fortune because the current of my affairs ran so smoothly, and now that there was complete immunity and nothing to fear from hostile attacks, it was particularly during my voyage home that I feared the reversal of the Deity’s favour after all my good fortune, since I was bringing home so large a victorious army, such spoils, and captured kings. 6 Nay more, even when I had reached you safely and beheld the city full of delight and gratulation and sacrifices, I was still suspicious of Fortune, knowing that she bestows upon men no great boon that is without alloy or free from divine displeasure. 7 Indeed, my soul was in travail with this fear and could not dismiss it and cease anxiously forecasting the city’s future, until I was smitten with this great misfortune in my own house, and in days consecrated to rejoicing had carried two most noble sons, who alone remained to be my heirs, one after the other to their graves. 8 Now, therefore, I am in no peril of what most concerned me, and am confident, and I think that Fortune will remain constant to our city and do her no harm. 9 For that deity has sufficiently used me and my afflictions to satisfy the divine displeasure at our successes, and she makes the hero of the triumph as clear an example of human weakness as the victim of the triumph; except that Perseus, even though conquered, has his children, while Aemilius, though conqueror, has lost his.”
[Aem. 37.1] 37 1 With such noble and lofty words, we are told, did Aemilius, from an unfeigned and sincere spirit, address the people. 2 But for Perseus, although he pitied him for his changed lot and was very eager to help him, he could obtain no other favour than a removal from the prison which the Romans called “carcer” to a clean place and kindlier treatment; and there, being closely watched, according to most writers the king starved himself to death. But some tell of a very unusual and peculiar way in which he died, as follows. 3 The soldiers who guarded him found some fault with him and got angry at him, and since they could not vex and injure him in any other way, they prevented him from sleeping, disturbing his repose by their assiduous attentions and keeping him awake by every possible artifice, until in this way he was worn out and died. 4 Two of his children also died. But the third, is said to have become expert in embossing and fine metal work; he also learned to write and speak the Roman language, and was secretary to the magistrates, in which office he proved himself to have skill and elegance.
[Aem. 38.1] 38 1 To the exploits of Aemilius in Macedonia is ascribed his most unbounded popularity with the people, since so much money was then brought into the public treasury by him that people no longer needed to pay special taxes until the times of Hirtius and Pansa, who were consuls during the first war between Antony and Octavius Caesar. 2 And this, too, was peculiar and remarkable in Aemilius, that although he was admired and honoured by the people beyond measure, he remained a member of the aristocratic party, and neither said or did anything to win the favour of the multitude, but always sided in political matters with the leading and most powerful men. 3 And this attitude of Aemilius was in after times cast in the teeth of Scipio Africanus by Appius. For these men, being then greatest in the city, were candidates for the censorship, the one having the senate and the nobles to support him, for this was the hereditary policy of the Appii, while the other, although great on his own account, nevertheless always made use of the great favour and love of the people for him. 4 When, therefore, Appius saw Scipio rushing into the forum attended by men who were of low birth and had lately been slaves, but who were frequenters of the forum and able to gather a mob and force all issues by means of solicitations and shouting, he cried with a loud voice and said: 5 “O Paulus Aemilius, groan beneath the earth when thou learnest that thy son is escorted to the censorship by Aemilius the common crier and Licinius Philonicus.” 6 But Scipio had the good will of the people because he supported them in most things, while Aemilius, although he sided with the nobles, was no less loved by the multitude than the one who was thought to pay most court to the people and to seek their favour in his intercourse with them. 7 And they made this manifest by conferring upon him, along with his other honours, that of the censorship, which is of all offices most sacred, and of great influence, both in other ways, and especially because it examines into the lives and conduct of men. 8 For it is in the power of the censors to expel any senator whose life is unbecoming, and to appoint the leader of the senate, and they can disgrace any young knight of loose habits by taking away his horse. They also take charge of the property assessments and the registry lists. 9 Accordingly, the number of citizens registered under Aemilius was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and fifty-two; he also declared Marcus Aemilius Lepidus first senator, a man who had already held this presidency four times, and he expelled only three senators, men of no note, and in the muster of the knights a like moderation was observed both by himself and by Marcius Philippus his colleague.
[Aem. 39.1] 39 1 After he had performed most of the more important duties of this office, he fell sick of a disease which at first was dangerous, but in time became less threatening, though it was troublesome and hard to get rid of. 2 Under the advice of his physicians he sailed to Velia in Italy, and there spent much time in country places lying by the sea and affording great quiet. Then the Romans longed for him, and often in the theatres gave utterance to eager desires and even prayers that they might see him. 3 At last, when a certain religious ceremony made his presence necessary, and his health seemed to be sufficient for the journey, he returned to Rome. 4 Here he offered the public sacrifice in company with the other priests, while the people thronged about with manifest tokens of delight; and on the following day he sacrificed again to the gods privately in gratitude for his recovery. 5 When the sacrifice had been duly performed, he returned to his house and lay down to rest, and then, before he could notice and be conscious of any change, he became delirious and deranged in mind, and on the third day after he died. He was fully blessed with everything that men think conducive to happiness. 6 For his funeral procession called forth men’s admiration, and showed a desire to adorn his virtue with the best and most enviable obsequies. 7 This was manifest, not in gold or ivory or the most ambitious and expensive preparations for such rites, but in good will and honour and gratitude on the part, not only of his fellow citizens, but also of his enemies. 8 At all events, out of all the Iberians and Ligurians and Macedonians who chanced to be present, those that were young and strong of body assisted by turns in carrying the bier, while the more elderly followed with the procession calling aloud upon Aemilius as benefactor and preserver of their countries. 9 For not only at the times of his conquests had he treated them all with mildness and humanity, but also during all the rest of his life he was ever doing them some good and caring for them as though they had been kindred and relations.
[Aem. 39.10] 10 His estate, we are told, hardly amounted to three hundred and seventy thousand drachmas, to which he left both his sons heirs; but the younger, Scipio, who had been adopted into the wealthier family of Africanus, allowed his brother to have it all. Such, as we are told, was the life and character of Paulus Aemilius.

## Comparison of Timoleon and Aemilius

[Comp. Tim.–Aem. 1.1] 1 1 SUCH being the history of these men, it is clear that our comparison of them will have few points of difference or dissimilarity to show. 2 For the wars which both conducted were against notable antagonists; in the one case against the Macedonians, in the other against the Carthaginians. Their victories, too, were far-famed: the one took Macedonia and brought the royal line of Antigonus to an end in its seventh king; the other abolished all the tyrannies in Sicily and set the island free. 3 One might, indeed, argue otherwise, and say that Perseus was strong and victorious over the Romans when Aemilius engaged him, while Dionysius, when Timoleon engaged him, was altogether crushed and desperate. 4 And, again, it might be said in favour of Timoleon that he conquered many tyrants and the force of the Carthaginians, large as it was, with what soldiers he could get, not having at his service, as Aemilius had, men who were experienced in war and taught to obey orders, but men who were hirelings and disorderly soldiers, accustomed to consult their own pleasure in their campaigns. 5 For when equal successes follow an unequal equipment, the greater credit accrues to the commander.
[Comp. Tim.–Aem. 2.1] 2 1 Further, in their administration of affairs both were just and incorruptible; but Aemilius, it would seem, was made so from the outset of his career by the laws and customs of his country, while Timoleon’s great probity was due to himself. 2 There is proof of this in the fact that the Romans in the time of Aemilius were, all alike, orderly in their lives, observant of usage, and wholesomely fearful of the laws and of their fellow citizens; whereas, of the Greek leaders and generals who took part in Sicilian affairs during the time of Timoleon, not one was free from corruption except Dion. 3 And Dion was suspected by many of being ambitious for a monarchy and dreaming of a kingdom like that in Sparta. 277 4 Furthermore, Timaeus says that even Gylippus was sent away in ignominy and dishonour by the Syracusans, because they found him guilty of avarice and greed while he was their general. 5 And how Pharax the Spartan and Callippus the Athenian violated laws and treaties in their hopes of ruling Sicily, has been told by many writers. 6 And yet who were these men, or of how large resources were they masters, that they entertained such hopes? One of them was a servile follower of Dionysius after he had been driven out of Syracuse, and Callippus was one of Dion’s captains of mercenaries. 7 But Timoleon, at the earnest request of the Syracusans, was sent to be their general, and needed not to seek power from them, but only to hold that which they had given him of their own free will, and yet he laid down his office and command when he had overthrown their unlawful rulers.
[Comp. Tim.–Aem. 2.8] 8 It is, however, worthy of admiration in Aemilius that, although he had subdued so great a kingdom, he did not add one drachma to his substance, nor would he touch or even look upon the conquered treasure; and yet he made many liberal gifts to others. 9 Now, I do not say that Timoleon is to be blamed for accepting a fine house and country estate, for acceptance under such circumstances is not disgraceful; but not to accept is better, and that is a surpassing virtue which shows that it does not want what it might lawfully have.
[Comp. Tim.–Aem. 2.10] 10 Furthermore, a body that can endure only heat or cold is less powerful than one that is well adapted by nature to withstand both extremes alike. In like manner a spirit is absolutely vigorous and strong if it is neither spoiled and elated by the insolence which prosperity brings, nor humbled by adversity. The character of Aemilius, therefore, was manifestly more perfect, since in the grievous misfortune and great sorrow brought upon him by the death of his sons he was seen to have no less greatness and no less dignity than in the midst of his successes; 11 whereas Timoleon, although he had acted in a noble way with regard to his brother, could not reason down his sorrow, but was prostrated with grief and repentance, and for twenty years could not endure the sight of bema or market-place. 12 One should scrupulously shun disgraceful deeds; but the anxious fear of every kind of ill report among men argues a nature which is indeed kindly and sensitive, but has not greatness.

## Pelopidas

[Pel. 1.1] 277 1 1 Cato the Elder, when certain persons praised a man who was inconsiderately rash and daring in war, told them there was a difference between a man’s setting a high value on valour and his setting a low value on life; and his remark was just. At any rate, there was a soldier of Antigonus who was venturesome, but had miserable health and an impaired body. When the king asked him the reason for his pallor, the man admitted that it was a secret disease, 2 whereupon the king took compassion on him and ordered his physicians, if there was any help for him, to employ their utmost skill and care. Thus the man was cured; but then the good fellow ceased to court danger and was no longer a furious fighter, so that even Antigonus rebuked him and expressed his wonder at the change. 278 The man, however, made no secret of the reason, but said: “O King, it is thou who hast made me less daring, by freeing me from those ills which made me set little value on life.” 3 On these grounds, too, as it would seem, a man of Sybaris said it was no great thing for the Spartans to seek death in the wars in order to escape so many hardships and such a wretched life as theirs. But to the Sybarites, who were dissolved in effeminate luxury, men whom ambition and an eager quest of honour led to have no fear of death naturally seemed to hate life; 4 whereas the virtues of the Lacedaemonians gave them happiness alike in living or dying, as the following elegy testifies: These, it says, died,
[Pel. 1.1b] “not deeming either life or death honourable in themselves,
But only the accomplishment of them both with honour.”
[Pel. 1.5] For neither is a man to be blamed for shunning death, if he does not cling to life disgracefully, nor to be praised for boldly meeting death, if he does this with contempt of life. 5 For this reason Homer always brings his boldest and most valiant heroes into battle well armed and equipped; and the Greek lawgivers punish him who casts away his shield, not him who throws down his sword or spear, thus teaching that his own defence from harm, rather than the infliction of harm upon the enemy, should be every man’s first care, and particularly if he governs a city or commands an army.
[Pel. 2.1] 2 1 For if, as Iphicrates analyzed the matter, the light-armed troops are like the hands, the cavalry like the feet, the line of men-at arms itself like chest and breastplate, and the general like the head, then he, in taking undue risks and being over bold, would seem to neglect not himself, but all, inasmuch as their safety depends on him, and their destruction too. Therefore Callicratidas, although otherwise he was a great man, did not make a good answer to the seer who begged him to be careful, since the sacrificial omens foretold his death; “Sparta,” said he, “does not depend upon one man.” 2 For when fighting, or sailing, or marching under orders, Callicratidas was “one man”; but as general, he comprised in himself the strength and power of all, so that he was not “one man,” when such numbers perished with him. Better was the speech of old Antigonus as he was about to fight a sea-fight off Andros, and someone told him that the enemy’s ships were far more numerous than his: “But what of myself.” said he, “how many ships wilt thou count me?” implying that the worth of the commander is a great thing, as it is in fact, when allied with experience and valour, and his first duty is to save the one who saves everything else. 3 Therefore Timotheus was right, when Chares was once showing the Athenians some wounds he had received, and his shield pierced by a spear, in saying: “But I, how greatly ashamed I was, at the siege of Samos, because a bolt fell near me; I thought I was behaving more like an impetuous youth than like a general in command of so large a force.” 4 For where the whole issue is greatly furthered by the general’s exposing himself to danger, there he must employ hand and body unsparingly, ignoring those who say that a good general should die, if not of old age, at least in old age; but where the advantage to be derived from his success is small, and the whole cause perishes with him if he fails, no one demands that a general should risk his life in fighting like a common soldier.
[Pel. 2.5] 5 Such is the preface I have thought fit to make for the Lives of Pelopidas and Marcellus, great men who rashly fell in battle. For both were most valiant fighters, did honour to their countries in most illustrious campaigns, and what is more, had the most formidable adversaries, one being the first, 279 as we are told, to rout Hannibal, who was before invincible, the other conquering in a pitched battle the Lacedaemonians, who were supreme on land and sea; and yet they were careless of their own lives, and recklessly threw them away at times when it was most important that such men should live and hold command. These are the resemblances between them which have led me to write their lives in parallel.
[Pel. 3.1] 3 1 Pelopidas the son of Hippoclus was of a highly honourable family in Thebes, as was Epaminondas, and having been reared in affluence, and having inherited in youth a splendid estate, he devoted himself to the assistance of worthy men who needed it, that he might be seen to be really master of his wealth, and not its slave. For most wealthy men, as Aristotle says, either make no use of their wealth through avarice, or abuse it through prodigality, and so they are forever slaves, these to their pleasures, those to their business. 2 The rest, accordingly, thankfully profited by the kindness and liberality of Pelopidas towards them; but Epaminondas was the only one of his friends whom he could not persuade to share his wealth. Pelopidas, however, shared the poverty of this friend, and gloried in modest attire, meagre diet, readiness to undergo hardships, and straightforward service as a soldier. 3 Like the Capaneus of Euripides, he “had abundant wealth, but riches did not make him arrogant at all,” and he was ashamed to let men think that he spent more upon his person than the poorest Theban. Now Epaminondas, whose poverty was hereditary and familiar, made it still more light and easy by philosophy, and by electing at the onset to lead a single life; 4 Pelopidas, on the contrary, made a brilliant marriage, and had children too, but nevertheless he neglected his private interests to devote his whole time to the state, and so lessened his substance. And when his friends admonished him and told him that the possession of money, which he scorned, was a necessary thing, “Yes indeed,” he said, “necessary for this Nicodemus here,” pointing to a man who was lame and blind.
[Pel. 4.1] 4 1 They were also fitted by nature for the pursuit of every excellence, and in like measure, except that Pelopidas delighted more in exercising the body, Epaminondas in storing the mind, so that the one devoted his leisure hours to bodily exercise and hunting, the other to lectures and philosophy. Both had many claims upon the world’s esteem, but wise men consider none of these so great as the unquestioned good will and friendship which subsisted between them from first to last through all their struggles and campaigns and civil services. 2 For if one regards the political careers of Themistocles and Aristides, or of Cimon and Pericles, or of Nicias and Alcibiades, which were so full of mutual dissensions, envyings, and jealousies, and then turns his eyes upon the honour and kindly favour which Pelopidas showed Epaminondas, he will rightly and justly call these men colleagues in government and command rather than those, who ever strove to get the better of one another rather than of the enemy. 3 And the true reason for the superiority of the Thebans was their virtue, which led them not to aim in their actions at glory or wealth, which are naturally attended by bitter envying and strife; on the contrary, they were both filled from the beginning with a divine desire to see their country become most powerful and glorious in their day and by their efforts, and to this end they treated one another’s successes as their own.
[Pel. 4.4] 4 However, most people think that their ardent friendship dated from the campaign at Mantineia, where they fought on the side of the Lacedaemonians, who were still their friends and allies, and who received assistance from Thebes. 280 For they stood side by side among the men-at arms and fought against the Arcadians, and when the Lacedaemonian wing to which they belonged gave way and was routed for the most part, they locked their shields together and repelled their assailants. 5 Pelopidas, after receiving seven wounds in front, sank down upon a great heap of friends and enemies who lay dead together; but Epaminondas, although he thought him lifeless, stood forth to defend his body and his arms, and fought desperately, single-handed against many, determined to die rather than leave Pelopidas lying there. And now he too was in a sorry plight, having been wounded in the breast with a spear and in the arm with a sword, when Agesipolis the Spartan king came to his aid from the other wing, and when all hope was lost, saved them both.
[Pel. 5.1] 5 1 After this the Spartans ostensibly treated the Thebans as friends and allies, but they really looked with suspicion on the ambitious spirit and the power of the city, and above all they hated the party of Ismenias and Androcleides, to which Pelopidas belonged, and which was thought to be friendly to freedom and a popular form of government. 2 Therefore Archias, Leontidas, and Philip, men of the oligarchical faction who were rich and immoderately ambitious, sought to persuade Phoebidas the Spartan, as he was marching past with an army, to take the Cadmeia by surprise, expel from the city the party opposed to them, and bring the government into subserviency to the Lacedaemonians by putting it in the hands of a few men. 3 Phoebidas yielded to their persuasions, made his attack upon the Thebans when they did not expect it, since it was the festival of the Thesmophoria, and got possession of the citadel. Then Ismenias was arrested, carried to Sparta, and after a little while put to death; all Pelopidas, Pherenicus, Androcleides and many others took to flight and were proclaimed outlaws. Epaminondas, however, was suffered to remain in the city, because his philosophy made him to be looked down upon as a recluse, and his poverty as impotent.
[Pel. 6.1] 6 1 But when the Lacedaemonians deprived Phoebidas of his command and fined him a hundred thousand drachmas, and yet held the Cadmeia with a garrison notwithstanding, all the rest of the Greeks were amazed at their inconsistency, since they punished the wrong-doer, but approved his deed. And as for the Thebans, they had lost their ancestral form of government and were enslaved by Archias and Leontidas, nor had they hopes of any deliverance from this tyranny, 2 which they saw was guarded by the dominant military power of the Spartans and could not be pulled down unless those Spartans should somehow be deposed from their command of land and sea. Nevertheless, Leontidas and his associates, learning that the fugitive Thebans were living at Athens, where they were not only in favour with the common people but also honoured by the nobility, secretly plotted against their lives, and sending men who were unknown, they treacherously killed Androcleides, but failed in their designs upon the rest. 3 There came also letters from the Lacedaemonians charging the Athenians not to harbour or encourage the exiles, but to expel them as men declared common enemies by the allied cities. 4 The Athenians, however, not only yielding to their traditional and natural injustices of humanity, but also making a grateful return for the kindness of the Thebans, who had been most ready to aid them in restoring their democracy, and had passed a decree that if any Athenians marched through Boeotia against the tyrants in Athens, no Boeotian should see or hear them, did no harm to the Thebans in their city.
[Pel. 7.1] 7 1 But Pelopidas, although he was one of the youngest of the exiles, kept inciting each man of them privately, 281 and when they met together pleaded before them that it was neither right nor honourable for them to suffer their native city to be garrisoned and enslaved, and, content with mere life and safety, to hang upon the decrees of the Athenians, and to be always cringing and paying court to such orators as could persuade the people; 2 nay, they must risk their lives for the highest good, and take Thrasybulus and his bold valour for their example, in order that, as he once sallied forth from Thebes and overthrew the tyrants in Athens, so they in their turn might go forth from Athens and liberate Thebes. When, therefore, they had been persuaded by his appeals, they sent secretly to the friends they had left in Thebes, and told them what they purposed. 3 These approved their plan; and Charon, a man of the highest distinction, agreed to put his house at their disposal, while Phillidas contrived to have himself appointed secretary to Archias and Philip, the polemarchs. Epaminondas, too, had long since filled the minds of the Theban youth with high thoughts; for he kept urging them in the gymnastic schools to try the Lacedaemonians in wrestling, and when he saw them elated with victory and mastery, he would chide them, telling them they ought rather to be ashamed, since their cowardice made them the slaves of the men whom they so far surpassed in bodily powers.
[Pel. 8.1] 8 1 A day for the enterprise having been fixed, the exiles decided that Pherenicus, with the rest of the party under his command, should remain in the Thriasian plain, while a few of the youngest took the risk of going forward into the city; and if anything happened to these at the hands of their enemies, the rest should all see to it that neither their children nor their parents came to any want. 2 Pelopidas was first to undertake the enterprise, then Melon, Damocleidas, and Theopompus, men of foremost families, and of mutual fidelity and friendship, although in the race for heroic achievement and glory they were constant rivals. When their number had reached twelve, they bade farewell to those who stayed behind, sent a messenger before them to Charon, and set out in short cloaks, taking hunting dogs and nets with them, that anyone who met them on the road might not suspect their purpose, but take them for hunters beating about the country.
[Pel. 8.3] 3 When their messenger came to Charon and told him they were on the way, Charon himself did not change his mind at all even though the hour of peril drew nigh, but was a man of his word and prepared his house to receive them; a certain Hipposthenidas, however, not a bad man, nay, both patriotic and well disposed towards the exiles, but lacking in that degree of boldness which the sharp crisis and the projected enterprise demanded, was made dizzy, so to speak, by the magnitude of the struggle now so close at hand, and at last comprehended that, 4 in undertaking to overthrow the armed force in the city, they were in a manner trying to shake the empire of the Lacedaemonians, and had placed their reliance on the hopes of men in exile and without resources. He therefore went quietly home, and sent one of his friends to Melon and Pelopidas, urging them to postpone the enterprise for the present, go back to Athens, and await a more favourable opportunity. Chlidon was the name of this messenger, and going to his own home in haste, he brought out his horse and asked for the bridle. 5 His wife, however, was embarrassed because she could not give it to him, and said she had lent it to a neighbour. Words of abuse were followed by imprecations, and his wife prayed that the journey might prove fatal both to him and to those that sent him. Chlidon, therefore, after spending a great part of the day in this angry squabble, and after making up his mind, too, that what had happened was ominous, gave up his journey entirely and turned his thoughts to something else. 282 So near can the greatest and fairest enterprises come, at the very outset, to missing their opportunity.
[Pel. 9.1] 9 1 But Pelopidas and his companions, after putting on the dress of peasants, and separating, entered the city at different points while it was yet day. There was some wind and snow as the weather began to change, and they were the more unobserved because most people had already taken refuge from the storm in their houses. Those, however, whose business it was to know what was going on, received the visitors as they came, and brought them at once to the house of Charon; and there were, counting the exiles, forty-eight of them.
[Pel. 9.2] 2 With the tyrants, matters stood as follows. Phillidas, their secretary, as I have said, was privy to the plans of the exiles and was co operating fully with them, and some time before had proposed for that day that Archias and his friends should have a drinking-bout, at which a few married women should join them, his scheme being that when they were full of wine and completely relaxed in their pleasures, he would deliver them into the hands of their assailants. 3 But before the party were very deep in their cups, some information was suddenly brought them, not false, indeed, but uncertain and very vague, that the exiles were concealed in the city. Although Phillidas tried to change the subject, Archias nevertheless sent one of his attendants to Charon, commanding him to come to him at once. It was evening, and Pelopidas and his companions in Charon’s house were getting themselves ready for action, having already put on their breastplates and taken up their swords. 4 Then there was a sudden knocking at the door. Someone ran to it, learned from the attendant that he was come from the polemarchs with a summons for Charon, and brought the news inside, much perturbed. All were at once convinced that their enterprise had been revealed, and that they themselves were all lost, before they had even done anything worthy of their valour. However, they decided that Charon must obey the summons and present himself boldly before the magistrates. Charon was generally an intrepid man and of a stern courage in the face of danger, 5 but in this case he was much concerned and frightened on account of his friends, and feared that some suspicion of treachery would fall upon him if so many and such excellent citizens now lost their lives. Accordingly, as he was about to depart, he brought his son from the women’s apartments, a mere boy as yet, but in beauty and bodily strength surpassing those of his years, and put him in the hands of Pelopidas, telling him that if he found any guile or treachery in the father, he must treat the son as an enemy and show him no mercy. 6 Many were moved to tears by the noble concern which Charon showed, and all were indignant that he should think any one of them so demoralized by the present peril and so mean-spirited as to suspect or blame him in the least. They also begged him not to involve his son with them, but to put him out of harm’s way, that he might escape the tyrants and live to become an avenger of his city and his friends. 7 Charon, however, refused to take his son away, asking if any kind of life or any safety could be more honourable for him than a decorous death with his father and all these friends. Then he addressed the gods in prayer, and after embracing and encouraging them all, went his way, striving so to compose his countenance and modulate his voice as not to betray what he was really doing.
[Pel. 10.1] 10 1 When he reached the door of the house, Archias came out to him, with Phillidas, and said: “Charon, I have heard that certain men have come and hid themselves in the city, and that some of the citizens are in collusion with them.” Charon was disturbed at first, but on asking who the men were that had come and who were concealing them, 283 he saw that Archias could give no clear account of the matter, and conjectured that his information had not come from any of those who were privy to the plot. He therefore said: “Do not, then, suffer any empty rumour to disturb you. However, I will look into the matter; for perhaps no story should be ignored.” 2 Phillidas, too, who stood by, approved of this, and a leading Archias back, got him to drink hard, and tried to protract the revel with hopes of a visit from the women. But Charon, when he got back home, and found the men there disposed, not to expect safety or victory at all, but to die gloriously after a great slaughter of their enemies, told the truth only to Pelopidas himself, while for the rest he concocted a false tale that Archias had talked with him about other matters.
[Pel. 10.3] 3 Before this first storm had yet blown over, fortune brought a second down upon the men. For there came a messenger from Athens, from Archias the hierophant to his namesake Archias, who was his guest-friend, bearing a letter which contained no empty nor false suspicion, but stated clearly all the details of the scheme that was on foot, as was subsequently learned. 4 At the time, however, Archias was drunk, and the bearer of the letter was brought to him and put it into his hands, saying: “The sender of this bade thee read it at once; for it is on serious business.” Then Archias answered with a smile: “Serious business for the morrow”; and when he had received the letter he put it under his pillow, and resumed his casual conversation with Phillidas. Wherefore these words of his are a current proverb to this day among the Greeks.
[Pel. 11.1] 11 Now that the fitting time for their undertaking seemed to have come, they sallied forth in two bands; one, under the lead of Pelopidas and Damocleidas, against Leontidas and Hypates, who lived near together; the other against Archias and Philip, under Charon and Melon, who had put on women’s apparel over their breastplates, and wore thick garlands of pine and fir which shaded their faces. 2 For this reason, when they stood at the door of the banquet-room, at first the company shouted and clapped their hands, supposing that the women they had long been expecting were come. But then, after surveying the banquet and carefully marking each of the reclining guests, the visitors drew their swords, and rushing through the midst of the tables at Archias and Philip, revealed who they were. 3 A few of the guests were persuaded by Phillidas to remain quiet, but the rest, who, with the polemarchs, offered resistance and tired to defend themselves, were dispatched without any trouble, since they were drunk.
[Pel. 11.4] Pelopidas and his party, however, were confronted with a harder task; for Leontidas, against whom they were going, was a sober and formidable man, and they found his house closed, since he had already gone to bed. For a long time no one answered their knocking, 4 but at last the attendant heard them and came out and drew back the bolt. As soon as the door yielded and gave way, they rushed in together, overturned the servant, and hastened towards bed-chamber. 5 But Leontidas, conjecturing what was happening by the very noise and trampling, rose from bed and drew his dagger, but he forgot to overthrow the lamps and make the men fall foul of one another in the darkness. On the contrary, exposed to view by an abundance of light, he went to meet them at the door of his chamber, and struck down the first one that entered, Cephisodorus. When his assailant had fallen, he engaged Pelopidas next; and their conflict was rendered troublesome and difficult by the narrowness of the door and by Cephisodorus, whose body, now dead, lay in their way. 6 But at last Pelopidas prevailed, 284 and after dispatching Leontidas, he and his followers went at once to attack Hypates. They broke into his house as they had done into the other, but he promptly perceived their design and fled for refuge to his neighbours. Thither they closely followed him, and caught him, and slew him.
[Pel. 12.1] 12 1 These things accomplished, they joined Melon’s party, and sent into Attica for the exiles they had left there. They also summoned the citizens to fight for their freedom, and armed those who came, taking from the porticos the spoils suspended there, and breaking open the neighbouring workshops of spear-makers and sword-makers. Epaminondas and Gorgidas also came to their aid with an armed following, composed of many young men and the best of the older men. 2 And now the city was all in a flutter of excitement, there was much noise, the houses had lights in them, and there was running to and fro. The people, however, did not yet assemble; they were terrified at what was going on, and had no clear knowledge of it, and were waiting for day. 3 Wherefore the Spartan commanders were thought to have made a mistake in not attacking and engaging at once, since their garrison numbered about fifteen hundred men, and many ran to join them out of the city; but the shouting, the fires, and the great throngs in motion everywhere, terrified them, and they kept quiet, holding the citadel itself in their possession. 4 At break of day the exiles came in from Attica under arms, and a general assembly of the people was convened. Then Epaminondas and Gorgidas brought before it Pelopidas and his companions, surrounded by the priests, holding forth garlands, and calling upon the citizens to come to the aid of their country and their gods. And the assembly, at the sight, rose to its feet with shouts and clapping of hands, and welcomed the men as deliverers and benefactors.
[Pel. 13.1] 13 1 After this, having been elected boeotarch, or governor of Boeotia, together with Melon and Charon, Pelopidas at once blockaded the acropolis and assaulted it on every side, being anxious to drive out the Lacedaemonians and free the Cadmeia before an army came up from Sparta. 2 And he succeeded by so narrow a margin that, when the men had surrendered conditionally and had been allowed to depart, they got no further than Megara before they were met by Cleombrotus marching against Thebes with a great force. Of the three men who had been harmosts, or governors, in Thebes, the Spartans condemned and executed Herippidas and Arcissus, and the third, Lysanoridas, was heavily fined and forsook the Peloponnesus.
[Pel. 13.3] 3 This exploit, so like that of Thrasybulus in the valour, the perils, and the struggles of its heroes, and, like that, crowned with success by fortune, the Greeks were wont to call a sister to it. For it is not easy to mention other cases where men so few in number and so destitute have overcome enemies so much more numerous and powerful by the exercise of courage and sagacity, and have thereby become the authors of so great blessings for their countries. 4 And yet the subsequent change in the political situation made this exploit the more glorious. For the war which broke down the pretensions of Sparta and put an end to her supremacy by land and sea, began from that night, in which people, not by surprising any fort or castle or citadel, but by coming into a private house with eleven others, loosed and broke in pieces, if the truth may be expressed in a metaphor, the fetters of the Lacedaemonian supremacy, which were thought indissoluble and not to be broken.
[Pel. 14.1] 14 1 The Lacedaemonians now invaded Boeotia with a large army, and the Athenians, having become fearful, renounced their alliance with the Thebans, and prosecuting those in their city who favoured the Boeotian cause, 285 put some of them to death, banished others, and others still they fined, so that the Thebans seemed to be in a desperate case with none to aid them. But Pelopidas and Gorgias, who were boeotarchs, plotted to embroil the Athenians again with the Lacedaemonians, and devised the following scheme. 2 Sphodrias, a Spartan, who had a splendid reputation as a soldier, but was rather weak in judgement and full of vain hopes and senseless ambition, had been left at Thespiae with an armed force to receive and succour the renegade Thebans. To this man Pelopidas and Gorgidas privately sent one of their friends who was a merchant, with money, and, what proved more persuasive than money with Sphodrias, this advice. He ought to put his hand to a large enterprise and seize the Piraeus, attacking it unexpectedly when the Athenians were off their guard; 3 for nothing would gratify the Lacedaemonians so much as the capture of Athens, and the Thebans, who were now angry with the Athenians and held them to be traitors, would give them no aid. Sphodrias was finally persuaded, and taking his soldiers, invaded Attica by night. He advanced as far as Eleusis, but there the hearts of his soldiers failed them and his design was exposed, and after having thus stirred up a serious and difficult war against the Spartans, he withdrew to Thespiae.
[Pel. 15.1] 15 1 After this, the Athenians with the greatest eagerness renewed their alliance with the Thebans, and began hostile operations against Sparta by sea, sailing about and inviting and receiving the allegiance of those Greeks who were inclined to revolt. The Thebans, too, by always engaging singly in Boeotia with the Lacedaemonians, and by fighting battles which, though not important in themselves, nevertheless afforded them much practice and training, 2 had their spirits roused and their bodies thoroughly inured to hardships, and gained experience and courage from their constant struggles. For this reason Antalcidas the Spartan, we are told, when Agesilaüs came back from Boeotia with a wound, said to him: Indeed, this is a fine tuition-fee which thou art getting from the Thebans, for teaching them how to war and fight when they did not wish to do it.” 3 But, to tell the truth, it was not Agesilaüs who was their teacher, but those leaders of theirs, who at the right time and place, gave the Thebans, like young dogs in training, experience in attacking their enemies, and then, when they had got a taste of victory and its ardours, brought them safely off; and of these leaders Pelopidas was in greatest esteem. For after his countrymen had once chosen him their leader in arms, there was not a single year when they did not elect him to office, but either as leader of the sacred band, or, for the most part, as boeotarch, he continued active until his death.
[Pel. 15.4] 4 Well, then, at Plataea the Lacedaemonians were defeated and put to flight, and at Thespiae, where, too, Phoebidas, who had seized the Cadmeia, was slain; and at Tanagra a large body of them was routed and Panthoidas the harmost was killed. But these combats, though they gave ardour and boldness to the victors, did not altogether break the spirits of the vanquished; 5 for they were not pitched battles, nor was the fighting in open and regular array, but it was by making well-timed sallies, and by either retreating before the enemy or by pursuing and coming to close quarters with them that the Thebans won their successes.
[Pel. 16.1] 16 1 But the conflict at Tegyra, which was a sort of prelude to that at Leuctra, raised high the reputation of Pelopidas; for it afforded his fellow commanders no rival claim in its success, and his enemies no excuse for their defeat. 286 Against the city of Orchomenus, which had chosen the side of the Spartans and received two divisions of them for its protection, he was ever laying plans and watching his opportunity, 2 and when he heard that its garrison had made an expedition into Locris, he hoped to find the city without defenders, and marched against it, having with him the sacred band and a few horsemen. But when, on approaching the city, he found that its garrison had been replaced with other troops from Sparta, he led his army back again through the district of Tegyra, that being the only way by which he could make a circuit along the foot of the mountains. 3 For all the intervening plain was made impassable by the river Melas, which no sooner begins to flow than it spreads itself out into navigable marshes and lakes.
[Pel. 16.4] A little below the marshes stands the temple of Apollo Tegyraeus, with an oracle which had not been long abandoned, but was flourishing down to the Persian wars, when Echecrates was prophet-priest. Here, according to the story, the god was born; and the neighbouring mountain is called Delos, and at its base the river Melas ceases to be spread out, 4 and behind the temple two springs burst forth with a wonderful flow of sweet, copious, and cool water. One of these we call Palm, the other Olive, to the present day, for it was not between two trees, but between two fountains, that the goddess Leto was delivered of her children. Moreover, the Ptoüm is near, from which, it is said, a boar suddenly came forth and frightened the goddess, and in like manner the stories of the Python and of Tityus are associated with the birth of Apollo in this locality. 5 Most of the proofs, however, I shall pass over; for my native tradition removes this god from among those deities who were changed from mortals into immortals, like Heracles and Dionysus, whose virtues enabled them to cast off mortality and suffering; but he is one of those deities who are unbegotten and eternal, if we may judge by what the most ancient and wisest men have said on such matters.
[Pel. 17.1] 17 1 So, then, as the Thebans entered the district of Tegyra on their way back from Orchomenus, the Lacedaemonians also entered it at the same time, returning in the opposite direction from Locris, and met them. As soon as they were seen marching through the narrow pass, some one ran up to Pelopidas and said: “We have fallen into our enemies’ hands!” “Why any more,” said he, “than they into ours?” 2 Then he at once ordered all his horsemen to ride up from the rear in order to charge, while he himself put his men-at arms, three hundred in number, into close array, expecting that wherever they charged he would be most likely to cut his way through the enemy, who outnumbered him. Now, there were two divisions of the Lacedaemonians, the division consisting of five hundred men, according to Ephorus, of seven hundred, according to Callisthenes, of nine hundred, according to certain other writers, among whom is Polybius. 3 Confident of victory, the polemarchs of the Spartans, Gorgoleon and Theopompus, advanced against the Thebans. The onset being made on both sides particularly where the commanders themselves stood, in the first place, the Lacedaemonian polemarchs clashed with Pelopidas and fell; 4 then, when those about them were being wounded and slain, their whole army was seized with fear and opened up a lane for the Thebans, imagining that they wished to force their way through to the opposite side and get away. But Pelopidas used the path thus opened to lead his men against those of the enemy who still held together, and slew them as he went along, so that finally all turned and fled. The pursuit, however, was carried but a little way, for the Thebans feared the Orchomenians, who were near, and the relief force from Sparta. 5 They had succeeded, however, in conquering their enemy outright and forcing their way victoriously through his whole army; 287 so they erected a trophy, spoiled the dead, and retired homewards in high spirits. For in all their wars with Greeks and Barbarians, as it would seem, never before had Lacedaemonians in superior numbers been overpowered by an inferior force, nor, indeed, in a pitched battle where the forces were evenly matched. 6 Hence they were of an irresistible courage, and when they came to close quarters their very reputation sufficed to terrify their opponents, who also, on their part, thought themselves no match for Spartans with an equal force. But this battle first taught the other Greeks also that it was not the Eurotas, nor the region between Babyce and Cnacion, which alone produced warlike fighting men, but that wheresoever young men are prone to be ashamed of baseness and courageous in a noble cause, shunning disgrace more than danger, these are most formidable to their foes.
[Pel. 18.1] 18 1 The sacred band, we are told, was first formed by Gorgidas, of three hundred chosen men, to whom the city furnished exercise and maintenance, and who encamped in the Cadmeia; for which reason, too, they were called the city band; for citadels in those days were properly called cities. But some say that this band was composed of lovers and beloved. 2 And a pleasantry of Pammenes is cited, in which he said that Homer’s Nestor was no tactician when he urged the Greeks to form in companies by clans and tribes,
[Pel. 18.1b] “That clan might give assistance unto clan, and tribes unto tribes,”
[Pel. 18.3] since he should have stationed lover by beloved. For tribesmen and clansmen make little account of tribesmen and clansmen in times of danger; whereas, a band that is held together by the friendship between lovers is indissoluble and not to be broken, since the lovers are ashamed to play the coward before their beloved, and the beloved before their lovers, and both stand firm in danger to protect each other. 3 Nor is this a wonder, since men have more regard for their lovers even when absent than for others who are present, as was true of him who, when his enemy was about to slay him where he lay, earnestly besought him to run his sword through his breast, “in order,” as he said, “that my beloved may not have to blush at sight of my body with a wound in the back.” 4 It is related, too that Iolaüs, who shared the labours of Heracles and fought by his side, was beloved of him. And Aristotle says that even down to his day the tomb of Iolaüs was a place where lovers and beloved plighted mutual faith. It was natural, then, that the band should also be called sacred, because even Plato calls the lover a friend “inspired of God.” 5 It is said, moreover, that the band was never beaten, until the battle of Chaeroneia; and when, after the battle, Philip was surveying the dead, and stopped at the place where the three hundred were lying, all where they had faced the long spears of his phalanx, with their armour, and mingled one with another, he was amazed, and on learning that this was the band of lovers and beloved, burst into tears and said: “Perish miserably they who think that these men did or suffered aught disgraceful.”
[Pel. 19.1] 19 1 Speaking generally, however, it was not the passion of Laius that, as the poets say, first made this form of love customary among the Thebans; but their law-givers, wishing to relax and mollify their strong and impetuous natures in earliest boyhood, gave the flute great prominence both in their work and in their play, bringing this instrument into pre-eminence and honour, and reared them to give love a conspicuous place in the life of the palaestra, thus tempering the dispositions of the young men. 288 2 And with this in view, they did well to give the goddess who was said to have been born of Ares and Aphrodite a home in their city; for they felt that, where the force and courage of the warrior are most closely associated and united with the age which possesses grace and persuasiveness, there all the activities of civil life are brought by Harmony into the most perfect consonance and order.
[Pel. 19.3] 3 Gorgidas, then, by distributing this sacred band among the front ranks of the whole phalanx of men-at arms, made the high excellence of the men inconspicuous, and did not direct their strength upon a common object, since it was dissipated and blended with that of a large body of inferior troops; but Pelopidas, after their valour had shone out at Tegyra, where they fought by themselves and about his own person, never afterwards divided or scattered them, but, treating them as a unit, put them into the forefront of the greatest conflicts. 4 For just as horses run faster when yoked to a chariot than when men ride them singly, not because they cleave the air with more impetus owing to their united weight, but because their mutual rivalry and ambition inflame their spirits; so he thought that brave men were most ardent and serviceable in a common cause when they inspired one another with a zeal for high achievement.
[Pel. 20.1] 20 1 But now the Lacedaemonians made peace with all the other Greeks and directed the war against the Thebans alone; Cleombrotus their king invaded Boeotia with a force of two thousand men-at arms and a thousand horse; a new peril confronted the Thebans, since they were openly threatened with downright dispersion; and an unprecedented fear reigned in Boeotia. It was at this time that Pelopidas, on leaving his house, when his wife followed him on his way in tears and begging him not to lose his life, said: 2 “This advice, my wife, should be given to private men; but men in authority should be told not to lose the lives of others.” And when he reached the camp and found that the boeotarchs were not in accord, he was first to side with Epaminondas in voting to give the enemy battle. Now Pelopidas, although he had not been appointed boeotarch, was captain of the sacred band, and highly trusted, as it was right that a man should be who had given his country such tokens of his devotion to freedom.
[Pel. 20.3] 3 Accordingly, it was decided to risk a battle, and at Leuctra they encamped over against the Lacedaemonians. Here Pelopidas had a dream which greatly disturbed him. Now, in the plain of Leuctra are the tombs of the daughters of Scedasus, who are called from the place Leuctridae, for they had been buried there, after having been ravished by Spartan strangers. 4 At the commission of such a grievous and lawless act, their father, since he could get no justice at Sparta, heaped curses upon the Spartans, and then slew himself upon the tombs of the maidens; and ever after, prophecies and oracles kept warning the Spartans to be on watchful guard against the Leuctrian wrath. Most of them, however, did not fully understand the matter, but were in doubt about the place, since in Laconia there is a little town near the sea which is called Leuctra, and near Megalopolis in Arcadia there is a place of the same name. This calamity, of course, occurred long before the battle of Leuctra.
[Pel. 21.1] 21 1 After Pelopidas had lain down to sleep in the camp, he thought he saw these maidens weeping at their tombs, as they invoked curses upon the Spartans, and Scedasus bidding him sacrifice to his daughters a virgin with auburn hair, if he wished to win the victory over his enemies. The injunction seemed a lawless and dreadful one to him, 289 but he rose upon and made it known to the seers and the commanders. 2 Some of these would not hear of the injunction being neglected or disobeyed, adducing as examples of such sacrifice among the ancients, Menoeceus, son of Creon, Macaria, daughter of Heracles; and, in later times, Pherecydes the wise man, who was put to death by the Lacedaemonians, and whose skin was preserved by their kings, in accordance with some oracle; and Leonidas, who, in obedience to the oracle, sacrificed himself, as it were, to save Greece; 3 and, still further, the youths who were sacrificed by Themistocles to Dionysus Carnivorous before the sea fight at Salamis; for the successes which followed these sacrifices proved them acceptable to the gods. Moreover, when Agesilaüs, who was setting out on an expedition from the same place as Agamemnon did, and against the same enemies, was asked by the goddess for his daughter in sacrifice, and had this vision as he lay asleep at Aulis, he was too tender-hearted to give her, and thereby brought his expedition to an unsuccessful and inglorious ending. 4 Others, on the contrary, argued against it, declaring that such a lawless and barbarous sacrifice was not acceptable to any one of the superior beings above us, for it was not the fabled typhons and giants who governed the world, but the father of all gods and men; even to believe in the existence of divine beings who take delight in the slaughter and blood of men was perhaps a folly, but if such beings existed, they must be disregarded, as having no power; for only weakness and depravity of soul could produce or harbour such unnatural and cruel desires.
[Pel. 22.1] 22 1 While, then, the chief men were thus disputing, and while Pelopidas in particular was in perplexity, a filly broke away from the herd of horses and sped through the camp, and when she came to the very place of their conference, stood still. The rest only admired the colour of her glossy mane, which was fiery red, her high mettle, and the vehemence and boldness of her neighing; 2 but Theocritus the seer, after taking thought, cried out to Pelopidas: “Thy sacrificial victim is come, good man; so let us not wait for any other virgin, but do thou accept and use the one which Heaven offers thee.” So they took the mare and led her to the tombs of the maidens, upon which, after decking her with garlands and consecrating her with prayers, they sacrificed her, rejoicing themselves, and publishing through the camp an account of the vision of Pelopidas and of the sacrifice.
[Pel. 23.1] 23 1 In the battle, while Epaminondas was drawing his phalanx obliquely towards the left, in order that the right wing of the Spartans might be separated as far as possible from the rest of the Greeks, and that he might thrust back Cleombrotus by a fierce charge in column with all his men-at arms, the enemy understood what he was doing and began to change their formation; 2 they were opening up their right wing and making an encircling movement, in order to surround Epaminondas and envelop him with their numbers. But at this point Pelopidas darted forth from his position, and with his band of three hundred on the run, came up before Cleombrotus had either extended his wing or brought it back again into its old position and closed up his line of battle, so that the Lacedaemonians were not standing in array, but moving confusedly about among each other when his onset reached them. 3 And yet the Spartans, who were of all men past masters in the art of war, trained and accustomed themselves to nothing so much as not to straggle or get into confusion upon a change of formation, but to take anyone without exception as neighbour in rank or in file, and wheresoever danger actually threatened, to seize that point and form in close array and fight as well as ever. 4 At this time, however, since the phalanx of Epaminondas bore down upon them alone and neglected the rest of their force, and since Pelopidas engaged them with incredible speed and boldness, their courage and skill were so confounded that there was a flight and slaughter of the Spartans such as had never before been seen. 290 Therefore, although Epaminondas was boeotarch, Pelopidas, who was not boeotarch, and commanded only a small portion of the whole force, won as much glory for the success of that victory as he did.
[Pel. 24.1] 24 1 Both were boeotarchs, however, when they invaded Peloponnesus and won over most of its peoples, detaching from the Lacedaemonian confederacy Elis, Argos, all Arcadia, and most of Laconia itself. Still, the winter solstice was at hand, and only a few days of the latter part of the last month of the year remained, and as soon as the first month of the new year began other officials must succeed them, or those who would not surrender their office must die. 2 The other boeotarchs, both because they feared this law, and because they wished to avoid the hardships of winter, were anxious to lead the army back home; but Pelopidas was first to add his vote to that of Epaminondas, and after inciting his countrymen to join them, led the army against Sparta and across the Eurotas. He took many of the enemy’s cities, and ravaged all their territory as far as the sea, leading an army of seventy thousand Greeks, of which the Thebans themselves were less than a twelfth part. 3 But the reputation of the two men, without a general vote or decree, induced all the allies to follow their leadership without a murmur. For the first and paramount law, as it would seem, namely, that of nature, subjects him who desires to be saved to the command of the man who can save him; just as sailors, when the weather is fair or they are lying off shore at anchor, treat their captains with bold insolence, but as soon as a storm arises and danger threatens, look to them for guidance and place their hopes in them. 4 And so Argives, Eleans, and Arcadians, who in their joint assemblies contended and strove with the Thebans for the supremacy, when battles were actually to be fought and perils to be faced, of their own will obeyed the Theban generals and followed them.
[Pel. 24.5] 5 On this expedition they united all Arcadia into one power; rescued the country of Messenia from the hands of its Spartan masters and called back and restored the ancient Messenian inhabitants, with whom they settled Ithome; and on their way back homewards through Cenchreae, conquered the Athenians when they tried to hinder their passage by skirmishing with them in the passes.
[Pel. 25.1] 25 1 In view of these achievements, all the rest of the Greeks were delighted with their valour and marvelled at their good fortune; but the envy of their own fellow-citizens, which was increasing with the men’s fame, prepared them a reception that was not honourable or fitting. For both were tried for their lives when they came back, because they had not handed over to others their office of boeotarch, as the law commanded, in the first month of the new year (which they call Boukatios), but had added four whole months to it, during which they conducted their campaign in Messenia, Arcadia, and Laconia.
[Pel. 25.2] 2 Well, then Pelopidas was first brought to trial, and therefore ran the greater risk, but both were acquitted. Epaminondas bore patiently with this attempt to calumniate him, considering that forbearance under political injury was a large part of fortitude and magnanimity; but Pelopidas, who was naturally of a more fiery temper, and who was egged on by his friends to avenge himself upon his enemies, seized the following occasion. 3 Menecleidas, the orator, was one of those who had gathered with Pelopidas and Melon at Charon’s house, and since he did not receive as much honour among the Thebans as the others, being a most able speaker, 291 but intemperate and malicious in his disposition, he gave his natural gifts employment in calumniating and slandering his superiors, and kept on doing so even after the trial. 4 Accordingly, he succeeded in excluding Epaminondas from the office of boeotarch, and kept him out of political leadership for some time; but he had not weight enough to bring Pelopidas into disfavour with the people, and therefore tried to bring him into collision with Charon.
[Pel. 25.5] And since it is quite generally a consolation to the envious, in the case of those whom they themselves cannot surpass in men’s estimation, to show these forth as somehow or other inferior to others, he was constantly magnifying the achievements of Charon, in his speeches to the people, and extolling his campaigns and victories. 5 Moreover, for the victory which the Theban cavalry won at Plataea, before the battle of Leuctra, under the command of Charon, he attempted to make the following public dedication. Androcydes of Cyzicus had received a commission from the city to make a picture of another battle, and was finishing the work at Thebes; but the city revolted from Sparta, and the war came on, before the picture was quite completed, and the Thebans now had it in their hands. 6 This picture, then, Menecleidas persuaded them to dedicate with Charon’s name inscribed thereon, hoping in this way to obscure the fame of Pelopidas and Epaminondas.
[Pel. 25.7] But the ambitious scheme was a foolish one, when there were so many and such great conflicts, to bestow approval on one action and one victory, in which, we are told, a certain Gerandas, an obscure Spartan, and forty others were killed, but nothing else of importance was accomplished. 7 This decree was attacked as unconstitutional by Pelopidas, who insisted that it was not a custom with the Thebans to honour any one man individually, but for the whole country to have the glory of a victory. And through the whole trial of the case he continued to heap generous praise upon Charon, while he showed Menecleidas to be a slanderous and worthless fellow, and asked the Thebans if they had done nothing noble themselves; the result was that Menecleidas was fined, and being unable to pay the fine because it was so heavy, he afterwards tried to effect a revolution in the government. This episode, then, has some bearing on the Life which I am writing.
[Pel. 26.1] 26 1 Now, since Alexander the tyrant of Pherae made open war on many of the Thessalians, and was plotting against them all, their cities sent ambassadors to Thebes asking for an armed force and a general. Pelopidas, therefore, seeing that Epaminondas was busy with his work in Peloponnesus, offered and assigned himself to the Thessalians, both because he could not suffer his own skill and ability to lie idle, and because he thought that wherever Epaminondas was there was no need of a second general. 2 Accordingly, after marching into Thessaly with an armed force, he straightway took Larissa, and when Alexander came to him and begged for terms, he tried to make him, instead of a tyrant, one who would govern the Thessalians mildly and according to law. But since the man was incurably brutish and full of savageness, and since there was much denunciation of his licentiousness and greed, Pelopidas became harsh and severe with him, whereupon he ran away with his guards. 3 Then Pelopidas, leaving the Thessalians in great security from the tyrant and in concord with one another, set out himself for Macedonia, where Ptolemy was at war with Alexander the king of the Macedonians. For both parties had invited him to come and be arbiter and judge between them, and ally and helper of the one that appeared to be wronged. 4 After he had come, then, and had settled their differences and brought home the exiles, he received as hostages Philip, the king’s brother, 292 and thirty other sons of the most illustrious men, and brought them to live at Thebes, thus showing the Greeks what an advance the Theban state had made in the respect paid to its power and the trust placed in its justice.
[Pel. 26.5] 5 This was the Philip who afterwards waged war to enslave the Greeks, but at this time he was a boy, and lived in Thebes with Pammenes. Hence he was believed to have become a zealous follower of Epaminondas, perhaps because he comprehended his efficiency in wars and campaigns, which was only a small part of the man’s high excellence; but in restraint, justice, magnanimity, and gentleness, wherein Epaminondas was truly great, Philip had no share, either naturally or as a result of imitation.
[Pel. 27.1] 27 1 After this, when the Thessalians again brought complaint against Alexander of Pherae as a disturber of their cities, Pelopidas was sent thither on an embassy with Ismenias; and since he brought no force from home with him, and did not expect war, he was compelled to employ the Thessalians themselves for the emergency. 2 At this time, too, Macedonian affairs were in confusion again, for Ptolemy had killed the king and now held the reins of government, and the friends of dead king were calling upon Pelopidas. Wishing, therefore, to appear upon the scene, but having no soldiers of his own, he enlisted some mercenaries on the spot, and with these marched at once against Ptolemy. 3 When, however, they were near each other, Ptolemy corrupted the mercenaries and bribed them to come over to his side; but since he feared the very name and reputation of Pelopidas, he met him as his superior, and after welcoming him and supplicating his favour, agreed to be regent for the brothers of the dead king, and to make an alliance with the Thebans; moreover, to confirm this, he gave him his son Philoxenus and fifty of his companions as hostages. These, then, Pelopidas sent off to Thebes; but he himself, being indignant at the treachery of his mercenaries, and learning that most of their goods, together with their wives and children, had been placed for safety at Pharsalus, so that by getting these into his power he would sufficiently punish them for their affront to him, he got together some of the Thessalians and came to Pharsalus. 5 But just as he got there, Alexander the tyrant appeared before the city with his forces. Then Pelopidas and Ismenias, thinking that he was come to excuse himself for his conduct, went of their own accord to him, knowing, indeed, that he was an abandoned and blood-stained wretch, but expecting that because of Thebes and their own dignity and reputation they would suffer no harm. 6 But the tyrant, when he saw them coming up unarmed and unattended, straightway seized them and took possession of Pharsalus. By this step he awoke in all his subjects a shuddering fear; they thought that after an act of such boldness and iniquity he would spare nobody, and in all his dealings with men and affairs would act as one who now utterly despaired of his own life.
[Pel. 28.1] 28 1 The Thebans, then, on hearing of this, were indignant, and sent out an army at once, although, since Epaminondas had somehow incurred their displeasure, they appointed other commanders for it. As for Pelopidas, after the tyrant had brought him back to Pherae, at first he suffered all who desired it to converse with him, thinking that his calamity had made him a pitiful and contemptible object; 2 but when Pelopidas exhorted the lamenting Pheraeans to be of good cheer, since now certainly the tyrant would meet with punishment, and when he sent a message to the tyrant himself, saying that it was absurd to torture and slay the wretched and innocent citizens day by day, while he spared him, a man most certain, as he knew, to take vengeance on him if he made his escape; 3 then the tyrant, amazed at his high spirit and his fearlessness, said: 293”And why is Pelopidas in haste to die?” To which Pelopidas replied: “That thou mayest the sooner perish, by becoming more hateful to the gods than now.” From that time the tyrant forbade those outside of his following to see the prisoner.
[Pel. 28.4] But Thebe, who was a daughter of Jason, and Alexander’s wife, learned from the keepers of Pelopidas how courageous and noble the man was, and conceived a desire to see him and talk with him. 4 But when she came to him, woman that she was, she could not at once recognize the greatness of his nature in such misfortune, but judging from his hair and garb and maintenance that he was suffering indignities which ill befitted a man of his reputation, she burst into tears. Pelopidas, not knowing at first what manner of woman she was, was amazed; but when he understood, he addressed her as daughter of Jason; for her father was a family friend of his. And when she said, “I pity thy wife,” he replied, “And I thee, in that thou wearest no chains, and yet endurest Alexander.” 5 This speech deeply moved the woman, for she was oppressed by the savage insolence of the tyrant, who, in addition to his other debaucheries, had made her youngest brother his paramour. Therefore her continued visits to Pelopidas, in which she spoke freely of her sufferings, gradually filled her with wrath and fierce hatred towards Alexander.
[Pel. 29.1] 29 1 When the Theban generals had accomplished nothing by their invasion of Thessaly, but owing to inexperience or ill fortune had retired disgracefully, the city fined each of them ten thousand drachmas, and sent out Epaminondas with an armed force. 2 At once, then, there was a great stir among the Thessalians, who were filled with high hopes in view of the reputation of this general, and the cause of the tyrant was on the very verge of destruction; so great was the fear that fell upon his commanders and friends, and so great the inclination of his subjects to revolt, and their joy at what the future had in store, for they felt that now they should behold the tyrant under punishment. 3 Epaminondas, however, less solicitous for his own glory than for the safety of Pelopidas, and fearing that if confusion reigned Alexander would get desperate and turn like a wild beast upon his prisoner, dallied with the war, and taking a roundabout course, kept the tyrant in suspense by his preparations and threatened movements, thus neither encouraging his audacity and boldness, nor rousing his malignity and passion. 4 For he had learned how savage he was, and how little regard he had for right and justice, in that sometimes he buried men alive, and sometimes dressed them in the skins of wild boars or bears, and then set his hunting dogs upon them and either tore them in pieces or shot them down, making this his diversion; and at Meliboea and Scotussa, allied and friendly cities, when the people were in full assembly, he surrounded them with his body-guards and slaughtered them from the youth up; he also consecrated the spear with which he had slain his uncle Polyphron, decked it with garlands, and sacrificed to it as to a god, giving it the name of Tycho. 5 Once when he was seeing a tragedian act the “Trojan Women” of Euripides, he left the theatre abruptly, and sent a message to the actor bidding him be of good courage and not put forth any less effort because of his departure, for it was not out of contempt for his acting that he had gone away, but because he was ashamed to have the citizens see him, who had never taken pity on any man that he had murdered, weeping over the sorrows of Hecuba and Andromache. 6 It was this tyrant, however, who, terrified at the name and fame and distinction of the generalship of Epaminondas,
[Pel. 29.1b] “Crouched down, though warrior bird, like slave, with drooping wings,”
[Pel. 29.1c] 294 and speedily sent a deputation to him which should explain his conduct. But Epaminondas could not consent that the Thebans should make peace and friendship with such a man; he did, however, make thirty days’ truce with him, and after receiving Pelopidas and Ismenias, returned home.
[Pel. 30.1] 30 1 Now, when the Thebans learned that ambassadors from Sparta and Athens were on their way to the Great King to secure an alliance, they also sent Pelopidas thither; and this was a most excellent plan, in view of his reputation. For, in the first place, he went up through the provinces of the king as a man of name and note; for the glory of his conflicts the Lacedaemonians had not made its way slowly or to any slight extent through Asia, 2 but, when once the report of the battle at Leuctra had sped abroad, it was ever increased by the addition of some new success, and prevailed to the farthest recesses of the interior; and, in the second place, when the satraps and generals and commanders at the King’s court beheld him, they spoke of him with wonder, saying that this was the man who had expelled the Lacedaemonians from land and sea, and shut up between Taÿgetus and the Eurotas that Sparta which, a little while before, through Agesilaüs, had undertaken a war with the Great King and the Persians for the possession of Susa and Ecbatana. 3 This pleased Artaxerxes, of course, and he admired Pelopidas for his high reputation, and loaded him with honours, being desirous to appear lauded and courted by the greatest men. But when he saw him face of the face, and understood his proposals, which were more trustworthy than those of the Athenians, and simpler than those of the Lacedaemonians, 4 he was yet more delighted with him, and, with all the assurance of a king, openly showed the esteem in which he held him, and allowed the other ambassadors to see that he made of account of him. And yet he is thought to have shown Antalcidas the Lacedaemonian more honour than any other Greek, in that he took the chaplet which he had worn at a banquet, dipped it in perfume, and sent it to him. 5 To Pelopidas, indeed, he paid no such delicate compliment, but he sent him the greatest and most splendid of the customary gifts, and granted him his demands, namely, that the Greeks should be independent, Messene inhabited, and the Thebans regarded as the king’s hereditary friends.
[Pel. 30.6] With these answers, but without accepting any gifts except such as were mere tokens of kindness and goodwill, he set out for home; and this conduct of his, more than anything else, was the undoing of the other ambassadors. 6 Timagoras, at any rate, was condemned and executed by the Athenians, and if this was because of the multitude of gifts which he took, it was right and just; for he took not only gold and silver, but also an expensive couch and slaves to spread it, since, as he said, the Greeks did not know how; and besides, eighty cows with their cow-herds, since, as he said, he wanted cows’ milk for some ailment; and, finally, he was carried down to the sea in a litter, and had a present of four talents from the King with which to pay his carriers. But it was not his taking of gifts, as it would seem, that most exasperated the Athenians. 7 At any rate, Epicrates, his shield-bearer, once confessed that he had received gifts from the King, and talked of proposing a decree that instead of nine archons, nine ambassadors to the King should be elected annually from the poor and needy citizens, in order that they might take his gifts and be wealthy men, whereat the people only laughed. But they were incensed because the Thebans had things all their own way, not stopping to consider that the fame of Pelopidas was more potent than any number of rhetorical discourses with a man who ever paid deference to those who were mighty in arms.
[Pel. 31.1] 31 1 This embassy, then, added not a little to the goodwill felt towards Pelopidas, on his return home, 295 because of the peopling of Messene and the independence of the other Greeks. But Alexander of Pherae had now resumed his old nature and was destroying not a few Thessalian cities; he had also put garrisons over the Achaeans of Phthiotis and the people of Magnesia. When, therefore, the cities learned that Pelopidas was returned, they at once sent ambassadors to Thebes requesting an armed force and him for its commander. 2 The Thebans readily decreed what they desired, and soon everything was in readiness and the commander about to set out, when the sun was eclipsed and the city was covered with darkness in the day-time. So Pelopidas, seeing that all were confounded at this manifestation, did not think it meet to use compulsion with men who were apprehensive and fearful, nor to run extreme hazard with seven thousand citizens, 3 but devoting himself alone to the Thessalians, and taking with him three hundred of the cavalry who were foreigners and who volunteered for the service, set out, although the seers forbade it, and the rest of the citizens disapproved; for the eclipse was thought to be a great sign from heaven, and to regard a conspicuous man. But his wrath at insults received made him very hot against Alexander, and, besides, his previous conversations with Thebe led him to hope that he should find the tyrant’s family already embroiled and disrupted. 4 More than anything else, however, the glory of the achievement invited him on, for he was ardently desirous, at a time when the Lacedaemonians were sending generals and governors to aid Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, and the Athenians were taking Alexander’s pay and erecting a bronze statue of him as their benefactor, to show the Greeks that the Thebans alone were making expeditions for the relief of those whom tyrants oppressed, and were overthrowing in Greece those ruling houses which rested on violence and were contrary to the laws.
[Pel. 32.1] 32 1 Accordingly, when he was come to Pharsalus, he assembled his forces and marched at once against Alexander. Alexander, also, seeing that the there were only a few Thebans with Pelopidas, while his own men-at arms were more than twice as many as the Thessalians, advanced as far as the temple of Thetis to meet him. When Pelopidas was told that the tyrant was coming up against him with a large force, “All the better,” he said, “for there will be more for us to conquer.”
[Pel. 32.2] 2 At the place called Cynoscephalae, steep and lofty hills jut out into the midst of the plain, and both leaders set out to occupy these with their infantry. His horsemen, however, who were numerous and brave, Pelopidas sent against the horsemen of the enemy, and they prevailed over them and chased them out into the plain. But Alexander got possession of the hills first, 3 and when the Thessalian men-at arms came up later and tried to storm difficult and lofty places, he attacked and killed the foremost of them, and the rest were so harassed with missiles that they could accomplish nothing. Accordingly, when Pelopidas saw this, he called back his horsemen and ordered them to charge upon the enemy’s infantry where it still held together, while he himself seized his shield at once and ran to join those who were fighting on the hills. 4 Through the rear ranks he forced his way to the front, and filled all his men with such vigour and ardour that the enemy also thought them changed men, advancing to the attack with other bodies and spirits. Two or three of their onsets the enemy repulsed, but, seeing that these too were now attacking with vigour, and that the cavalry was coming back from its pursuit, they gave way and retreated step by step. 5 Then Pelopidas, looking down from the heights and seeing that the whole army of the enemy, though not yet put to flight, was already becoming full of tumult and confusion, stood and looked about him in search of Alexander. 296 And when he saw him on the right wing, marshalling and encouraging his mercenaries, he could not subject his anger to his judgement, but, inflamed at the sight, 6 and surrendering himself and his conduct of the enterprise to his passion, he sprang out far in front of the rest and rushed with challenging cries upon the tyrant. He, however, did not receive nor await the onset, but fled back to his guards and hid himself among them. The foremost of the mercenaries, coming to close quarters with Pelopidas, were beaten back by him; some also were smitten and slain; 7 but most of them fought at longer range, thrusting their spears through his armour and covering him with wounds, until the Thessalians, in distress for his safety, ran down from the hills, when he had already fallen, and the cavalry, charging up, routed the entire phalanx of the enemy, and following on a great distance in pursuit, filled the country with their dead bodies, slaying more than three thousand of them.
[Pel. 33.1] 33 1 Now, that the Thebans who were present at the death of Pelopidas should be disconsolate, calling him their father and saviour and teacher of the greatest and fairest blessings, was not so much to be wondered at; but the Thessalians and allies also, after exceeding in their decrees every honour that can fitly be paid to human excellence, showed still more by their grief how grateful they were to him. 2 For it is said that those who were in the action neither took off their breastplates nor unbridled their horses nor bound up their wounds, when they learned of his death, but, still heated and in full armour, came first to the body, and as if it still had life and sense, heaped round it the spoils of the enemy, sheared their horses’ manes, and cut off their own hair; 3 and when they had gone to their tents, many neither kindled a fire nor took supper, but silence and dejection reigned through all the camp, as if they had not won a great and most brilliant victory, but had been defeated by the tyrant and made his slaves. 4 From the cities, too, when tidings of these things reached them, came the magistrates, accompanied by youths and boys and priests, to take up the body, and they brought trophies and wreaths and suits of golden armour. And when the body was to be carried forth for burial, the most reverend of the Thessalians came and begged the Thebans for the privilege of giving it burial themselves. And one of them said: “Friends and allies, we ask of you a favour which will be an honour to us in our great misfortune, and will give us consolation. 5 We men of Thessaly can never again escort a living Pelopidas on his way, nor pay him worthy honours of which he can be sensible; but if we may be permitted to compose and adorn his body with our own hands and give it burial, you will believe, we are persuaded, that this calamity is a greater one for Thessaly than for Thebes. For you have lost only a good commander; but we both that and freedom. For how shall we have the courage to ask another general from you, when we have not returned Pelopidas?” This request the Thebans granted.
[Pel. 34.1] 34 1 Those funeral rites were never surpassed in splendour, in the opinion of those who do not think splendour to consist in ivory, gold, and purple, like Philistus, who tells in wondering strains about the funeral of Dionysius, which formed the pompous conclusion of the great tragedy of his tyranny. 2 Alexander the Great, too, when Hephaestion died, not only sheared the manes of his horses and mules, but actually took away the battlements of the city-walls, in order that the cities might seem to be in mourning, assuming a shorn and dishevelled appearance instead of their former beauty. These honours, however, were dictated by despots, 297 were performed under strong compulsion, and were attended with envy of those who received them and hatred of those who enforced them; they were a manifestation of no gratitude or esteem whatever, but of barbaric pomp and luxury and vain-glory, on the part of men who lavished their superfluous wealth on vain and sorry practices. 3 But that a man who was a commoner, dying in a strange country, in the absence of wife, children, and kinsmen, none asking and none compelling it, should be escorted and carried forth and crowned by so many peoples and cities eager to show him honour, rightly seemed to argue him supremely fortunate. 4 For the death of men in the hour of their triumph is not, as Aesop used to say, most grievous, but most blessed, since it puts in safe keeping their enjoyment of their blessings and leaves no room for change of fortune. Therefore the Spartan’s advice was better, who, when he greeted Diagoras, the Olympian victor, who had lived to see his sons crowned at Olympia, yes, and the sons of his sons and daughters, said: “Die now, Diagoras; thou canst not ascend to Olympus.” 5 But one would not deign, I think, to compare all the Olympian and Pythian victories put together with one of the struggles of Pelopidas; these were many, and he made them successfully, and after living most of his life in fame and honour, at last, while boeotarch for the thirteenth time, performing a deed of high valour which aimed at a tyrant’s life, he died in defence of the freedom of Thessaly.
[Pel. 35.1] 35 1 The death of Pelopidas brought great grief to his allies, but even greater gain. For the Thebans, when they learned of it, delayed not their vengeance, but speedily made an expedition with seven thousand men-at arms and seven hundred horsemen, under the command of Malcitas and Diogeiton. 2 They found Alexander weakened and robbed of his forces, and compelled him to restore to the Thessalians the cities he had taken from them, to withdraw his garrisons and set free the Magnesians and the Achaeans of Phthiotis, and to take oath that he would follow the lead of the Thebans against any enemies according to their bidding. The Thebans, then, were satisfied with this; but the gods soon afterwards avenged Pelopidas, as I shall now relate.
[Pel. 35.3] 3 To begin with, Thebe, the tyrant’s wife, as I have said, had been taught by Pelopidas not to fear the outward splendour and array of Alexander, since these depended wholly on his armed guards; and now, in her dread of his faithlessness and her hatred of his cruelty, she conspired with her three brothers, Tisiphonus, Pytholaüs, and Lycophron, and made an attempt upon his life, as follows. 4 The rest of the tyrant’s house was guarded by sentries at night, but the bed-chamber, where he and his wife were wont to sleep, was an upper room, and in front of it a chained dog kept guard, which would attack everyone except his master and mistress and the one servant who fed him. When, therefore, Thebe was about to make her attempt, she kept her brothers hidden all day in a room hard by, 5 and at night, as she was wont, went in alone to Alexander. She found him already asleep, and after a little, coming out again, ordered the servant to take the dog outdoors, for his master wanted to sleep undisturbed; and to keep the stairs from creaking as the young men came up, she covered them with wool. 6 Then, after bringing her brothers safely up, with their swords, and stationing them in front of the door, she went in herself, and taking down the sword that hung over her husband’s head, showed it to them as a sign that he was fast asleep. Finding the young men terrified and reluctant, 298 she upbraided them, and swore in a rage that she would wake Alexander herself and tell him of the plot, and so led them, ashamed and fearful too, inside, and placed them round the bed, to which she brought the lamp. 7 Then one of them clutched the tyrant’s feet and held them down, another dragged his head back by the hair, and the third ran him through with his sword. The swiftness of it made his death a milder one, perhaps, than was his due; but since he was the only, or the first, tyrant to die at the hands of his own wife, and since his body was outraged after death, being cast out and trodden under foot by the Pheraeans, he may be thought to have suffered what his lawless deeds deserved.

## Marcellus

[Marc. 1.1] 1 1 MARCUS Claudius, who was five times consul of the Romans, was a son of Marcus, as we are told, and, according to Poseidonius, was the first of his family to be called Marcellus, which means Martial. For he was by experience a man of war, of a sturdy body and a vigorous arm. He was naturally fond of war, and in its conflicts displayed great impetuosity and high temper; 2 but otherwise he was modest, humane, and so far a lover of Greek learning and discipline as to honour and admire those who excelled therein, although he himself was prevented by his occupations from achieving a knowledge and proficiency here which corresponded to his desires. For if ever there were men to whom Heaven, as Homer says,
[Marc. 1.1b] “From youth and to old age appointed the accomplishment of laborious wars,”
[Marc. 1.3] 3 they were the chief Romans of that time, who, in their youth, waged war with the Carthaginians for Sicily; in their prime, with the Gauls to save Italy itself; and when they were now grown old, contended again with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, and did not have, like most men, that respite from service in the field which old age brings, but were called by their high birth and valour to undertake leaderships and commands in war.
[Marc. 2.1] 2 1 Marcellus was efficient and practised in every kind of fighting, but in single combat he surpassed himself, never declining a challenge, and always killing his challengers. In Sicily he saved his brother Otacilius from peril of his life, covering him with his shield and killing those who were setting upon him. 2 Wherefore, although he was still a youth, he received garlands and prizes from his commanders, and since he grew in repute, the people appointed him curule aedile, and the priests, augur. This is a species of priesthood, to which the law particularly assigns the observation and study of prophetic signs from the flight of birds.
[Marc. 2.3] 3 During his aedileship, he was compelled to bring a disagreeable impeachment into the senate. He had a son, named Marcus like himself, who was in the flower of his boyish beauty, and not less admired by his countrymen for his modesty and good training. To this boy Capitolinus, the colleague of Marcellus, a bold and licentious man, made overtures of love. The boy at first repelled the attempt by himself, but when it was made again, told his father. Marcellus, highly indignant, denounced the man in the senate. 4 The culprit devised many exceptions and ways of escape, appealing to the tribunes of the people, and when these rejected his appeal, he sought to escape the charge by denying it. There had been no witness of his proposals, and therefore the senate decided to summon the boy before them. When he appeared, and they beheld his blushes, tears, and shame mingled with quenchless indignation, they wanted no further proof, but condemned Capitolinus, and set a fine upon him. With this money Marcellus had silver libation-bowls made, and dedicated them to the gods.
[Marc. 3.1] 3 1 After the first Punic war had come to an end in its twenty-second year, Rome was called upon to renew her struggles with the Gauls. The Insubrians, a people of Celtic stock inhabiting that part of Italy which lies at the foot of the Alps, and strong even by themselves, called out their forces, and summoned to their aid the mercenary Gauls called Gaesatae. 2 It seemed a marvellous piece of good fortune that the Gallic war did not break out while the Punic war was raging, but that the Gauls, like a third champion sitting by and awaiting his turn with the victor, remained strictly quiet while the other two nations were fighting, and then only stripped for combat when the victors were at liberty to receive their challenge. Nevertheless, the Romans were greatly alarmed by the proximity of their country to the enemy, with whom they could wage war so near their own boundaries and homes, as well as by the ancient renown of the Gauls, whom the Romans seems to have feared more than any other people. 3 For Rome had once been taken by them, and from that time on a Roman priest was legally exempt from military service only in case no Gallic war occurred again. Their alarm was also shown by their preparations for the war (neither before nor since that time, we are told, were there so many thousands of Romans in arms at once), and by the extraordinary sacrifices which they made to the gods. 4 For though they have no barbarous or unnatural practices, but cherish towards their deities those mild and reverent sentiments which especially characterize Greek thought, at the time when this war burst upon them they were constrained to obey certain oracular commands from the Sibylline books, and to bury alive two Greeks, a man and a woman, and likewise two Gauls, in the place called the “forum boarium”, or cattle-market; and in memory of these victims, they still to this day, in the month of November, perform mysterious and secret ceremonies.
[Marc. 4.1] 4 1 The first conflicts of this war brought great victories and also great disasters to the Romans, and led to no sure and final conclusion; but at last Flaminius and Furius, the consuls, led forth large forces against the Insubrians. At the time of their departure, however, the river that flows through Picenum was seen to be running with blood, and it was reported that at Ariminum three moons had appeared in the heavens, 2 and the priests who watched the flight of birds at the time of the consular elections insisted that when the consuls were proclaimed the omens were inauspicious and baleful for them. At once, therefore, the senate sent letters to the camp, summoning the consuls to return to the city with all speed and lay down their office, and forbidding them, while they were still consuls, to take any steps against the enemy. 3 On receiving these letters, Flaminius would not open them before he had joined battle with the Barbarians, routed them, and overrun their country. Therefore, when he returned with much spoil, the people would not go out to meet him, but because he had not at once listened to his summons, and had disobeyed the letters, treating them with insolent contempt, they came near refusing him his triumph, and after his triumph, they compelled him to renounce the consulship with his colleague, and made him a private citizen. 4 To such a degree did the Romans make everything depend upon the will of the gods, and so intolerant were they of any neglect of omens and ancestral rites, even when attended by the greatest successes, considering it of more importance for the safety of the city that their magistrates should reverence religion than that they should overcome their enemies.
[Marc. 5.1] 5 1 For example, Tiberius Sempronius, a man most highly esteemed by the Romans for his valour and probity, proclaimed Scipio Nasica and Caius Marcius his successors in the consulship, but when they had already taken command in their provinces, he came upon a book of religious observances wherein he found a certain ancient prescript of which he had been ignorant. 2 It was this. Whenever a magistrate, sitting in a hired house or tent outside the city to take auspices from the flight of birds, is compelled for any reason to return to the city before sure signs have appeared, he must give up the house first hired and take another, and from this he must take the observations anew. Of this, it would seem, Tiberius was not aware, and had twice used the same house before proclaiming the men I have mentioned as consuls. But afterwards, discovering this error, he referred the matter to the senate. 3 This body did not make light of so trifling an omission, but wrote to the consuls about it; and they, leaving their provinces, came back to Rome with speed, and laid down their offices. This, however, took place at a later time. But at about the time of which I am speaking, two most illustrious priests were deposed from their priesthoods, Cornelius Cethegus, because he presented the entrails of his victim improperly, 4 and Quintus Sulpicius, because, while he was sacrificing, the peaked cap which the priests called flamens’ wear had fallen from his head. Moreover, because the squeak of a shrew-mouse (they call it “sorex”) was heard just as Minucius the dictator appointed Caius Flaminius his master of horse, the people deposed these officials and put others in their places. And although they were punctilious in such trifling matters, they did not fall into any superstition, because they made no change or deviation in their ancient rites.
[Marc. 6.1] 6 1 But to resume the story, after Flaminius and his colleague had renounced their offices, Marcellus was appointed consul by the so called “interreges”. He took the office, and appointed Gnaeus Cornelius his colleague. Now it has been said that, although the Gauls made many conciliatory proposals, and although the senate was peaceably inclined, Marcellus tried to provoke the people to continue the war. 2 However, it would seem that even after peace was made Gaesatae renewed the war; they crossed the Alps and stirred up the Insubrians. They numbered thirty thousand themselves, and the Insubrians, whom they joined, were much more numerous. With high confidence, therefore, they marched at once to Acerrae, a city situated to the north of the river Po. From thence Britomartus the king, taking with him ten thousand of the Gaesatae, ravaged the country about the Po. 3 When Marcellus learned of this, he left his colleague at Acerrae with all the heavy-armed infantry and a third part of the cavalry, while he himself, taking with him the rest of the cavalry and the most lightly equipped men-at arms to the number of six hundred, marched, without halting in his course day or night, until he came upon the ten thousand Gaesatae near the place called Clastidium, a Gallic village which not long before had become subject to the Romans. 4 There was no time for him to give his army rest and refreshment, for the Barbarians quickly learned of his arrival, and held in contempt the infantry with him, which were few in number all told, and, being Gauls, made no account of his cavalry. For they were most excellent fighters on horseback, and were thought to be specially superior as such, and, besides, at this time they far outnumbered Marcellus. Immediately, therefore, they charged upon him with great violence and dreadful threats, thinking to overwhelm him, their king riding in front of them. 5 But Marcellus, that they might not succeed in enclosing and surrounding him and his few followers, led his troops of cavalry forward and tried to outflank them, extending his wing into a thin line, until he was not far from the enemy. And now, just as he was turning to make a charge, his horse, frightened by the ferocious aspect of the enemy, wheeled about and bore mostly forcibly back. 6 But he, fearing lest this should be taken as a bad omen by the Romans and lead to confusion among them, quickly reined his horse round to the left and made him face the enemy, while he himself made adoration to the sun, implying that it was not by chance, but for this purpose, that he had wheeled about; for it is the custom with the Romans to turn round in this way when they make adoration to the gods. And in the moment of closing with the enemy he is said to have vowed that he would consecrate to Jupiter Feretrius the most beautiful suit of armour among them.
[Marc. 7.1] 7 1 Meanwhile the king of the Gauls espied him, and judging from his insignia that he was the commander, rode far out in front of the rest and confronted him, shouting challenges and brandishing his spear. His stature exceeded that of the other Gauls, and he was conspicuous for a suit of armour which was set off with gold and silver and bright colours and all sorts of broideries; it gleamed like lightning. 2 Accordingly, as Marcellus surveyed the ranks of the enemy, this seemed to him to be the most beautiful armour, and he concluded that it was this which he had vowed to the god. He therefore rushed upon the man, and by a thrust of his spear which pierced his adversary’s breastplate, and by the impact of his horse in full career, threw him, still living, upon the ground, where, with a second and third blow, he promptly killed him. 3 Then leaping from his horse and laying his hands upon the armour of the dead, he looked towards heaven and said: “O Jupiter Feretrius, who beholdest the great deeds and exploits of generals and commanders in wars and fightings, I call thee to witness that I have overpowered and slain this man with my own hand, being the third Roman ruler and general so to slay a ruler and king, and that I dedicate to thee the first and most beautiful of the spoils. Do thou therefore grant us a like fortune as we prosecute the rest of the war.”
[Marc. 7.4] 4 His prayer ended, the cavalry joined battle, fighting, not with the enemy’s horsemen alone, but also with their footmen who attacked them at the same time, and won a victory, in its sort and kind, was remarkable and strange. For never before or since, as we are told, have so few horsemen conquered so many horsemen and footmen together. After slaying the greater part of the enemy and getting possession of their arms and baggage, Marcellus returned to his colleague, who was hard put to it in his war with the Gauls near their largest and most populous city. 5 Mediolanum was the city’s name, and the Gauls considered it their metropolis; wherefore they fought eagerly in its defence, so that Cornelius was less besieger than besieged. But when Marcellus came up, and when the Gaesatae, on learning of the defeat and death of their king, withdrew, Mediolanum was taken, the Gauls themselves surrendered the rest of their cities, and put themselves entirely at the disposition of the Romans. They obtained peace on equitable terms.
[Marc. 8.1] 8 1 The senate decreed a triumph to Marcellus alone, his triumphal procession was seldom equalled in its splendour and wealth and spoils and captives of gigantic size; but besides this, the most agreeable and the rarest spectacle of all was afforded when Marcellus himself carried to the god the armour of the barbarian king. 2 He had cut the trunk of a slender oak, straight and tall, and fashioned it into the shape of a trophy; on this he bound and fastened the spoils, arranging and adjusting each piece in due order. When the procession began to move, he took the trophy himself and mounted the chariot, and thus a trophy-bearing figure more conspicuous and beautiful than any in his day passed in triumph through the city. The army followed, arrayed in the most beautiful armour, singing odes composed for the occasion, together with paeans of victory in praise of the god and their general. 3 Thus advancing and entering the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, he set up and consecrated his offering, being the third and last to do so, down to our time. The first was Romulus, who despoiled Acron the Caeninensian; the second was Cornelius Cossus, who despoiled Tolumnius the Tuscan; and after them Marcellus, who despoiled Britomartus, king of the Gauls; but after Marcellus, no man. 4 The god to whom the spoils were dedicated was called Jupiter Feretrius, as some say, because the trophy was carried on a “pheretron,” or car; this is a Greek word, and many such were still mingled at that time with the Latin; according to others, the epithet is given to Jupiter as wielder of the thunder-bolt, the Latin “ferire” meaning to smite. But others say the name is derived from the blow one gives an enemy, since even now in battles, when they are pursuing their enemies, they exhort one another with the word “feri,” which means smite! Spoils in general they call “spolia,” and these in particular, “opima.” 5 And yet they say that Numa Pompilius, in his commentaries, makes mention of three kinds of “opima,” prescribing that when the first kind are taken, they should be consecrated to Jupiter Feretrius, the second to Mars, and the third to Quirinus; also that the reward for the first should be three hundred asses, for the second two hundred, and for the third one hundred. However, the general and prevailing account is that only those spoils are “opima” which are taken first, in a pitched battle, where general slays general. So much, then, on this subject.
[Marc. 8.6] 6 The Romans were so overjoyed at this victory and the ending of the war that they sent to the Pythian Apollo at Delphi a golden bowl . . . as a thank-offering, gave a splendid share of the spoils to their allied cities, and sent many to Hiero, the king of Syracuse, who was their friend and ally.
[Marc. 9.1] 9 1 After Hannibal had invaded Italy, Marcellus was sent to Sicily with a fleet. And when the disaster at Cannae came, and many thousands of Romans had been slain in the battle, and only a few had saved themselves by flying to Canusium, and it was expected that Hannibal would march at once against Rome, now that he had destroyed the flower of her forces, 2 in the first place, Marcellus sent fifteen hundred men from his ships to protect the city; then, under orders from the senate, he went to Canusium, and taking the troops that had gathered there, led them out of the fortifications to show that he would not abandon the country. Most of the leaders and influential men among the Romans had fallen in battle; and as for Fabius Maximus, who was held in the greatest esteem for his sagacity and trustworthiness, his excessive care in planning to avoid losses was censured as cowardly inactivity. 3 The people thought they had in him a general who sufficed for the defensive, but was inadequate for the offensive, and therefore turned their eyes upon Marcellus; and mingling and uniting his boldness and activity with the caution and forethought of Fabius, they sometimes elected both to be consuls together, and some made them, by turns, consul and proconsul, and sent them into the field. 4 Poseidonius says that Fabius was called a shield, and Marcellus a sword. And Hannibal himself used to say that he feared Fabius as a tutor, but Marcellus as an adversary; for by the one he was prevented from doing any harm, while by the other he was actually harmed.
[Marc. 10.1] 10 1 To begin with, then, since Hannibal’s victory had made his soldiers very bold and careless, Marcellus set upon them as they straggled from their camp and overran the country, cut them down, and thus slowly diminished their forces; secondly, he brought aid to Neapolis and Nola. In Neapolis he merely confirmed the minds of the citizens, who were of their own choice steadfast friends of Rome; but on entering Nola, he found a state of discord, the senate being unable to regulate and manage the people, which favoured Hannibal. 2 For there was a man in the city of the highest birth and of illustrious valour, whose name was Bantius. This man had fought with conspicuous bravery at Cannae, and had slain many Carthaginians, and when he was at last found among the dead with his body full of missiles, Hannibal was struck with admiration of him, and not only let him go without a ransom, but actually added gifts, and made him his friend and guest. 3 In return for this favour, then, Bantius was one of those who eagerly favoured the cause of Hannibal, and was using his great influence to bring the people to a revolt. Marcellus thought it wrong to put to death a man so illustrious in his good fortune who had taken part with the Romans in their greatest conflicts, and, besides his natural kindliness, he had an address that was likely to win over a character whose ambition was for honour. One day, therefore, when Bantius saluted him, he asked him who he was, not that he had not known him for some time, but seeking occasion and excuse for conversation with him. 4 For when he said, “I am Lucius Bantius,” Marcellus, as if astonished and delighted, said: “What! are you that Bantius who is more talked of in Rome than any of those who fought at Cannae, as the only man who did not abandon Paulus Aemilius the consul, but encountered and received in his own body most of the missiles aimed at him?” 5 And when Bantius assented and showed him some of his scars, “Why, then,” said Marcellus, “when you bear such marks of your friendship towards us, did you not come to us at once? Can it be that you think us loath to requite valour in friends who are honoured even among our enemies?” These kindly greetings he followed up by making him presents of a war horse and five hundred drachmas in silver.
[Marc. 11.1] 11 After this Bantius was a most steadfast partisan and ally of Marcellus, and a most formidable denouncer and accuser of those who belonged to the opposite party. These were many, and they purposed, when the Romans went out against the enemy, to plunder their baggage. 2 Marcellus therefore drew up his forces inside the city, stationed his baggage-trains near the gates, and issued an edict forbidding the men of Nola to come near the city walls. Consequently there were no armed men to be seen, and Hannibal was thus induced to lead up his forces in some disorder, supposing the city to be in a tumult. But at this juncture Marcellus ordered the gate where he stood to be thrown open, and marched out, having with him the flower of his horsemen, and charging directly down upon the enemy joined battle with them. 3 After a little his footmen also, by another gate, advanced to the attack on the run and with shouts. And still again, while Hannibal was dividing his forces to meet these, the third gate was thrown open, and through it the rest rushed forth and fell upon their enemies on every side. These were dismayed by the unexpected onset, and made a poor defence against those with whom they were already engaged because of those who charged upon them later. Here for the first time the soldiers of Hannibal gave way before the Romans, being beaten back to their camp with much slaughter and many wounds. 4 For it is said that more than five thousand of them were slain, while they killed not more than five hundred of the Romans. Livy, however, will not affirm that the victory was so great nor that so many of the enemy were slain, but says that this battle brought a great renown to Marcellus, and to the Romans a wonderful courage after their disasters. They felt that they were contending, not against a resistless and unconquerable foe, but against one who was liable, like themselves, to defeat.
[Marc. 12.1] 12 1 For this reason, on the death of one of the consuls, the people called Marcellus home to succeed him, and, in spite of the magistrates, postponed the election until his return from the army. He was made consul by a unanimous vote, but there was a peal of thunder at the time, and since the augurs considered the omen unpropitious, but hesitated to make open opposition for fear of the people, he renounced the office of himself. 2 He did not, however, lay aside his military command, but having been declared proconsul, he returned to his army at Nola and proceeded to punish those who had espoused the cause of the Carthaginian. And when Hannibal came swiftly to their aid against him, and challenged him to a pitched battle, Marcellus declined an engagement; but as soon as his adversary had set the greater part of his army to plundering and was no longer expecting a battle, he led his forces out against him. He had distributed long spears used in naval combats among his infantry, and taught them to watch their opportunity and smite the Carthaginians at long range; these were not javelineers, but used short spears in hand-to hand fighting. 3 This seems to have been the reason why at that time all the Carthaginians who were engaged turned their backs upon the Romans and took to unhesitating flight, losing five thousand of their number slain, and six hundred prisoners; four of their elephants also were killed, and two taken alive. But what was most important, on the third day after the battle, more than three hundred horsemen, composed of Spaniards and Numidians, deserted from them. Such a disaster had not happened before this to Hannibal, but a barbarian army made up of varied and dissimilar peoples had for a very long time been kept by him in perfect harmony. These deserters, then, remained entirely faithful both to Marcellus himself, and to the generals who succeeded him.
[Marc. 13.1] 13 1 And now Marcellus, having been appointed consul for the third time, sailed to Sicily. For Hannibal’s successes in the war had encouraged the Carthaginians to attempt anew the conquest of the island, especially now that Syracuse was in confusion after the death of the tyrant Hieronymus. For this reason the Romans also had previously sent a force thither under the command of Appius. 2 As Marcellus took over this force, he was beset by many Romans who were involved in a calamity now to be described. Of those who had been drawn up against Hannibal at Cannae, some had fled, and others had been taken alive, and in such numbers that it was thought the Romans had not even men enough left to defend the walls of their city. 3 And yet so much of their high spirit and haughtiness remained that, although Hannibal offered to restore his prisoners of war for a slight ransom, they voted not to receive them, but suffered some of them to be put to death and others to be sold out of Italy; and as for the multitude who had saved themselves by flight, they sent them to Sicily, ordering them not to set foot in Italy as long as the war against Hannibal lasted. 4 These were the men who, now that Marcellus was come, beset him in throngs, and throwing themselves on the ground before him, begged with many cries and tears for an assignment to honourable military service, promising to show by their actions that their former defeat had been due to some great misfortune rather than to cowardice. Marcellus, therefore, taking pity on them, wrote to the senate asking permission to fill up the deficiencies in his army from time to time with these men. 5 But after much discussion the senate declared its opinion that the Roman commonwealth had no need of men who were cowards; if, however, as it appeared, Marcellus wished to use them, they were to receive from their commander none of the customary crowns or prizes for valour. This decree vexed Marcellus, and when he came back to Rome after the war in Sicily, he upbraided the senate for not permitting him, in return for his many great services, to redeem so many citizens from misfortune.
[Marc. 14.1] 14 1 But in Sicily, at the time of which I speak, his first proceeding, after wrong had been done him by Hippocrates, the commander of the Syracusans (who, to gratify the Carthaginians and acquire the tyranny for himself, had killed many Romans at Leontini), was to take the city of Leontini by storm. He did no harm, however, to its citizens, but all the deserters whom he took he ordered to be beaten with rods and put to death. 2 Hippocrates first sent a report to Syracuse that Marcellus was putting all of the men of Leontini to the sword, and then, when the city was in a tumult at the news, fell suddenly upon it and made himself master of it. Upon this, Marcellus set out with his whole army and came to Syracuse. He encamped near by, and sent ambassadors into the city to tell the people what had really happened at Leontini; but when this was of no avail and the Syracusans would not listen to him, the power being now in the hands of Hippocrates, 3 he proceeded to attack the city by land and sea, Appius leading up the land forces, and he himself having a fleet of sixty quinqueremes filled with all sorts of arms and missiles. Moreover, he had erected an engine of artillery on a huge platform supported by eight galleys fastened together, and with this sailed up to the city wall, confidently relying on the extent and splendour of his equipment and his own great fame. But all this proved to be of no account in the eyes of Archimedes and in comparison with the engines of Archimedes. 4 To these he had by no means devoted himself as work worthy of his serious effort, but most of them were mere accessories of a geometry practised for amusement, since in bygone days Hiero the king had eagerly desired and at last persuaded him to turn his art somewhat from abstract notions to material things, and by applying his philosophy somehow to the needs which make themselves felt, to render it more evident to the common mind.
[Marc. 14.5] 5 For the art of mechanics, now so celebrated and admired, was first originated by Eudoxus and Archytas, who embellished geometry with its subtleties, and gave to problems incapable of proof by word and diagram, a support derived from mechanical illustrations that were patent to the senses. For instance, in solving the problem of finding two mean proportional lines, a necessary requisite for many geometrical figures, both mathematicians had recourse to mechanical arrangements, adapting to their purposes certain intermediate portions of curved lines and sections. 6 But Plato was incensed at this, and inveighed against them as corrupters and destroyers of the pure excellence of geometry, which thus turned her back upon the incorporeal things of abstract thought and descended to the things of sense, making use, moreover, of objects which required much mean and manual labour. For this reason mechanics was made entirely distinct from geometry, and being for a long time ignored by philosophers, came to be regarded as one of the military arts.
[Marc. 14.7] 7 And yet even Archimedes, who was a kinsman and friend of King Hiero, wrote to him that with any given force it was possible to move any given weight; and emboldened, as we are told, by the strength of his demonstration, he declared that, if there were another world, and he could go to it, he could move this. 8 Hiero was astonished, and begged him to put his proposition into execution, and show him some great weight moved by a slight force. Archimedes therefore fixed upon a three-masted merchantman of the royal fleet, which had been dragged ashore by the great labours of many men, and after putting on board many passengers and the customary freight, he seated himself at a distance from her, and without any great effort, but quietly setting in motion with his hand a system of compound pulleys, drew her towards him smoothly and evenly, as though she were gliding through the water. 9 Amazed at this, then, and comprehending the power of his art, the king persuaded Archimedes to prepare for him offensive and defensive engines to be used in every kind of siege warfare. These he had never used himself, because he spent the greater part of his life in freedom from war and amid the festal rites of peace; but at the present time his apparatus stood the Syracusans in good stead, and, with the apparatus, its fabricator.
[Marc. 15.1] 15 1 When, therefore, the Romans assaulted them by sea and land, the Syracusans were stricken dumb with terror; they thought that nothing could withstand so furious an onset by such forces. But Archimedes began to ply his engines, and shot against the land forces of the assailants all sorts of missiles and immense masses of stones, which came down with incredible din and speed; nothing whatever could ward off their weight, but they knocked down in heaps those who stood in their way, and threw their ranks into confusion. 2 At the same time huge beams were suddenly projected over the ships from the walls, which sank some of them with great weights plunging down from on high; others were seized at the prow by iron claws, or beaks like the beaks of cranes, drawn straight up into the air, and then plunged stern foremost into the depths, or were turned round and round by means of enginery within the city, and dashed upon the steep cliffs that jutted out beneath the wall of the city, with great destruction of the fighting men on board, who perished in the wrecks. 3 Frequently, too, a ship would be lifted out of the water into mid-air, whirled hither and thither as it hung there, a dreadful spectacle, until its crew had been thrown out and hurled in all directions, when it would fall empty upon the walls, or slip away from the clutch that had held it. As for the engine which Marcellus was bringing up on the bridge of ships, and which was called “sambuca” from some resemblance it had to the musical instrument of that name, 4 while it was still some distance off in its approach to the wall, a stone of ten talents’ weight was discharged at it, then a second and a third; some of these, falling upon it with great din and surge of wave, crushed the foundation of the engine, shattered its frame-work, and dislodged it from the platform, so that Marcellus, in perplexity, ordered his ships to sail back as fast as they could, and his land forces to retire.
[Marc. 15.5] 5 Then, in a council of war, it was decided to come up under the walls while it was still night, if they could; for the ropes which Archimedes used in his engines, since they imparted great impetus to the missiles cast, would, they thought, send them flying over their heads, but would be ineffective at close quarters, where there was no place for the cast. Archimedes, however, as it seemed, had long before prepared for such an emergency engines with a range adapted to any interval and missiles of short flight, and through many small and contiguous openings in the wall short-range engines called scorpions could be brought to bear on objects close at hand without being seen by the enemy.
[Marc. 16.1] 16 1 When, therefore, the Romans came up under the walls, thinking themselves unnoticed, once more they encountered a great storm of missiles; huge stones came tumbling down upon them almost perpendicularly, and the wall shot out arrows at them from every point; they therefore retired. 2 And here again, when they were some distance off, missiles darted forth and fell upon them as they were going away, and there was great slaughter among them; many of their ships, too, were dashed together, and they could not retaliate in any way upon their foes. For Archimedes had built most of his engines close behind the wall, and the Romans seemed to be fighting against the gods, now that countless mischiefs were poured out upon them from an invisible source.
[Marc. 17.1] 17 1 However, Marcellus made his escape, and jesting with his own artificers and engineers, “Let us stop,” said he, “fighting against this geometrical Briareus, who uses our ships like cups to ladle water from the sea, and has whipped and driven off in disgrace our sambuca, and with the many missiles which he shoots against us all at once, outdoes the hundred-handed monsters of mythology.” 2 For in reality all the rest of the Syracusans were but a body for the designs of Archimedes, and his the one soul moving and managing everything; for all other weapons lay idle, and his alone were then employed by the city both in offence and defence. 3 At last the Romans became so fearful that, whenever they saw a bit of rope or a stick of timber projecting a little over the wall, “There it is,” they cried, “Archimedes is training some engine upon us,” and turned their backs and fled. Seeing this, Marcellus desisted from all fighting and assault, and thenceforth depended on a long siege.
[Marc. 17.4] And yet Archimedes possessed such a lofty spirit, so profound a soul, and such a wealth of scientific theory, that although his inventions had won for him a name and fame for superhuman sagacity, 4 he would not consent to leave behind him any treatise on this subject, but regarding the work of an engineer and every art that ministers to the needs of life as ignoble and vulgar, he devoted his earnest efforts only to those studies the subtlety and charm of which are not affected by the claims of necessity. These studies, he thought, are not to be compared with any others; in them the subject matter vies with the demonstration, the former supplying grandeur and beauty, the latter precision and surpassing power. 5 For it is not possible to find in geometry more profound and difficult questions treated in simpler and purer terms. Some attribute this success to his natural endowments; others think it due to excessive labour that everything he did seemed to have been performed without labour and with ease. For no one could by his own efforts discover the proof, and yet as soon as he learns it from him, he thinks he might have discovered it himself; so smooth and rapid is the path by which he leads one to the desired conclusion. 6 And therefore we may not disbelieve the stories told about him, how, under the lasting charm of some familiar and domestic Siren, he forgot even his food and neglected the care of his person; and how, when he was dragged by main force, as he often was, to the place for bathing and anointing his body, he would trace geometrical figures in the ashes, and draw lines with his finger in the oil with which his body was anointed, being possessed by a great delight, and in very truth a captive of the Muses. 7 And although he made many excellent discoveries, he is said to have asked his kinsmen and friends to place over the grave where he should be buried a cylinder enclosing a sphere, with an inscription giving the proportion by which the containing solid exceeds the contained.
[Marc. 18.1] 18 1 Such, then, was Archimedes, and, so far as he himself was concerned, he maintained himself and his city unconquered. But during the progress of the siege Marcellus captured Megara, one of the most ancient cities of Sicily; he also captured the camp of Hippocrates at Acrillae and killed more than eight thousand men, having attacked them as they were throwing up entrenchments; furthermore, he overran a great part of Sicily, brought cities over from the Carthaginians, and was everywhere victorious over those who ventured to oppose him. 2 Some time afterwards he made a prisoner of a certain Damippus, a Spartan who tried to sail away from Syracuse. The Syracusans sought to ransom this man back, and during the frequent meetings and conferences which he held with them about the matter, Marcellus noticed a certain tower that was carelessly guarded, into which men could be secretly introduced, since the wall near it was easy to surmount. 3 When, therefore, in his frequent approaches to it for holding these conferences, the height of the tower had been carefully estimated, and ladders had been prepared, he seized his opportunity when the Syracusans were celebrating a festival in honour of Artemis and were given over to wine and sport, and before they knew of his attempt not only got possession of the tower, but also filled the wall round about with armed men, before the break of day, and cut his way through the Hexapyla. 4 When the Syracusans perceived this and began to run about confusedly, he ordered the trumpets to sound on all sides at once and thus put them to flight in great terror, believing as they did that no part of the city remained uncaptured. There remained, however, the strongest, most beautiful, and largest part (called Achradina), because it had been fortified on the side towards the outer city, one part of which they call Neapolis, and another Tyche.
[Marc. 19.1] 19 1 When these parts also were in his possession, at break of day Marcellus went down into the city through the Hexapyla, congratulated by the officers under him. He himself, however, as he looked down from the heights and surveyed the great and beautiful city, is said to have wept much in commiseration of its impending fate, bearing in mind how greatly its form and appearance would change in a little while, after his army had sacked it. 2 For among his officers there was not a man who had the courage to oppose the soldiers’ demand for a harvest of plunder, nay, many of them actually urged that the city should be burned and razed to the ground. This proposal, however, Marcellus would not tolerate at all, but much against his will, and under compulsion, he permitted booty to be made of property and slaves, although he forbade his men to lay hands on the free citizens, and strictly ordered them neither to kill nor outrage nor enslave any Syracusan.
[Marc. 19.3] 3 However, although he seems to have acted with such moderation, he thought that the city suffered a lamentable fate, and amidst the great rejoicing of his followers his spirit nevertheless evinced his sympathy and commiseration when he saw a great and glorious prosperity vanishing in a brief time. For it is said that no less wealth was carried away from Syracuse now than at a later time from Carthage; for not long afterwards the rest of the city was betrayed and taken and subjected to pillage, excepting the royal treasure; this was converted into the public treasury.
[Marc. 19.4] 4 But what most of all afflicted Marcellus was the death of Archimedes. For it chanced that he was by himself, working out some problem with the aid of a diagram, and having fixed his thoughts and his eyes as well upon the matter of his study, he was not aware of the incursion of the Romans or of the capture of the city. Suddenly a soldier came upon him and ordered him to go with him to Marcellus. This Archimedes refused to do until he had worked out his problem and established his demonstration, 5 whereupon the soldier flew into a passion, drew his sword, and dispatched him. Others, however, say that the Roman came upon him with drawn sword threatening to kill him at once, and that Archimedes, when he saw him, earnestly besought him to wait a little while, that he might not leave the result that he was seeking incomplete and without demonstration; but the soldier paid no heed to him and made an end of him. 6 There is also a third story, that as Archimedes was carrying to Marcellus some of his mathematical instruments, such as sun-dials and spheres and quadrants, by means of which he made the magnitude of the sun appreciable to the eye, some soldiers fell in with him, and thinking that he was carrying gold in the box, slew him. However, it is generally agreed that Marcellus was afflicted at his death, and turned away from his slayer as from a polluted person, and sought out the kindred of Archimedes and paid them honour.
[Marc. 20.1] 20 1 The Romans were considered by foreign peoples to be skilful in carrying on war and formidable fighters; but of gentleness and humanity and, in a word, of civil virtues, they had given no proofs, and at this time Marcellus seems to have been the first to show the Greeks that the Romans were the more observant of justice. 2 For such was his treatment of those who had to do with him, and so many were the benefits which he conferred both upon cities and private persons, that, if the people of Enna or Megara or Syracuse met with any indignities, the blame for these was thought to belong to the sufferers rather than to the perpetrators. And I will mention one instance out of many. There is a city of Sicily called Engyium, not large, but very ancient, and famous for the appearance there of goddesses, who are called Mothers. 3 The temple is said to have been built by Cretans, and certain spears were shown there, and bronze helmets; some of these bore the name of Meriones, and others that of Ulysses (that is, Odysseus), who had consecrated them to the goddesses.
[Marc. 20.4] This city, which most ardently favoured the Carthaginian cause, Nicias, its leading citizen, tried to induce to go over to the Romans, speaking openly and boldly in the assemblies and arguing the unwisdom of his opponents. 4 But they, fearing his influence and authority, planned to arrest him and deliver him up to the Carthaginians. Nicias, accordingly, becoming aware at once of their design and of their secret watch upon him, gave utterance in public to unbecoming speeches about the Mothers, and did much to show that he rejected and despised the prevalent brief in their manifestations, his enemies meanwhile rejoicing that he was making himself most to blame for his coming fate. 5 But just as they were ready to arrest him, an assembly of the citizens was held, and here Nicias, right in the midst of some advice that he was giving to the people, suddenly threw himself upon the ground, and after a little while, amid the silence and consternation which naturally prevailed, lifted his head, turned it about, and spoke in a low and trembling voice, little by little raising and sharpening its tones.
[Marc. 20.6] And when he saw the whole audience struck dumb with horror, he tore off his mantle, rent his tunic, and leaping up half naked, ran towards the exit from the theatre, crying out that he was pursued by the Mothers. 6 No man venturing to lay hands upon him or even to come in his way, out of superstitious fear, but all avoiding him, he ran out to the gate of the city, freely using all the cries and gestures that would become a man possessed and crazed. His wife also, who was privy to his scheme, taking her children with her, first prostrated in supplication before the temples of the gods, and then, pretending to seek her wandering husband, no man hindering her, went safely forth out of the city. 7 Thus they all escaped to Marcellus at Syracuse. But when Marcellus, after many transgressions and insults on the part of the men of Engyium, came and put them all in chains in order to punish them, then Nicias, standing by, burst into tears, and finally, clasping the hands and knees of Marcellus, begged the lives of his fellow citizens, beginning with his enemies. Marcellus relented, set them all free, and did their city no harm; he also bestowed upon Nicias ample lands and many gifts. At any rate, this story is told by Poseidonius the philosopher.
[Marc. 21.1] 21 1 When Marcellus was recalled by the Romans to the war in their home territories, he carried back with him the greater part and the most beautiful of the dedicatory offerings in Syracuse, that they might grace his triumph and adorn his city. For before this time Rome neither had nor knew about such elegant and exquisite productions, nor was there any love there for such graceful and subtle art; 2 but filled full of barbaric arms and bloody spoils, and crowned round about with memorials and trophies of triumphs, she was not a gladdening or a reassuring sight, nor one for unwarlike and luxurious spectators. Indeed, as Epaminondas called the Boeotian plain a “dancing floor of Ares,” and as Xenophon speaks of Ephesus as a “work-shop of war,” so, it seems to me, one might at that time have called Rome, in the language of Pindar, “a precinct of much-warring Ares.” 3 Therefore with the common people Marcellus won more favour because he adorned the city with objects that had Hellenic grace and charm and fidelity; but with the elder citizens Fabius Maximus was more popular. For he neither disturbed nor brought away anything of the sort from Tarentum, when that city was taken, but while he carried off the money and the other valuables, he suffered the statues to remain in their places, adding the well-known saying: 4 “Let us leave these gods in their anger for the Tarentines.” And they blamed Marcellus, first, because he made the city odious, in that not only men, but even gods were led about in her triumphal processions like captives; 5 and again, because, when the people was accustomed only to war or agriculture, and was inexperienced in luxury and ease, but, like the Heracles of Euripides, was
[Marc. 21.1b] “Plain, unadorned, in a great crisis brave and true,”
[Marc. 21.1c] he made them idle and full of glib talk about art and artists, so that they spent a great part of the day in such clever disputation. Notwithstanding such censure, Marcellus spoke of this with pride even to the Greeks, declaring that he had taught the ignorant Romans to admire and honour the wonderful and beautiful productions of Greece.
[Marc. 22.1] 22 1 But when the enemies of Marcellus opposed his triumph, because something still remained to be done in Sicily and a third triumph would awaken jealousy, he consented of his own accord to conduct the complete and major triumph to the Alban mount, but to enter the city in the minor triumph; this is called “eua” by the Greeks, and “ova” by the Romans. 2 In conducting it the general does not mount upon a four-horse chariot, nor wear a wreath of laurel, nor have trumpets sounding about him; but he goes afoot with shoes on, accompanied by the sound of exceeding many flutes, and wearing a wreath of myrtle, so that his appearance is unwarlike and friendly rather than terrifying. And this is the strongest proof to my mind that in ancient times the two triumphs were distinguished, not by the magnitude, but by the manner, of the achievements which they celebrated. 3 For those who won the mastery by fighting and slaying their enemies celebrated, as it would seem, that martial and terrible triumph, after wreathing their arms and their men with abundant laurel, just as they were wont to do when they purified their armies with lustral rites; while to those generals who had had no need of war, but had brought everything to a good issue by means of conference, persuasion, and argument, the law awarded the privilege of conducting, like a paean of thanksgiving, this unwarlike and festal procession. 4 For the flute is an instrument of peace, and the myrtle is a plant of Aphrodite, who more than all the other gods abhors violence and wars. And this minor triumph is called “ova,” not from the Greek “euasmos,” as most think (since they conduct the major triumph also with songs and cries of “eua!”), but the name has been wrested by the Greeks into conformity with their speech, since they are persuaded that something of the honour has to do with Dionysus also, whom they call Euius and Thriambus. This, however, is not the true explanation; but it was the custom for commanders, in celebrating the major triumph, to sacrifice an ox, whereas in the minor triumph they sacrificed a sheep. Now, the Roman name for sheep is “ova,” and from this circumstance the lesser triumph is called ova. 5 And it is worth our while to notice that the Spartan lawgiver appointed his sacrifices in a manner opposite to that of the Romans. For in Sparta a returning general who had accomplished his plans by cunning deception or persuasion, sacrificed an ox; he who had won by fighting, a cock. For although they were most warlike, they thought an exploit accomplished by means of argument and sagacity greater and more becoming to a man than one achieved by violence and valour. How the case really stands, I leave an open question.
[Marc. 23.1] 23 1 While Marcellus was serving as consul for the fourth time, his enemies induced the Syracusans to come to Rome and accuse and denounce him before the senate for terrible wrongs which they had suffered contrary to the terms of surrender. It chanced, then, that Marcellus was performing a sacrifice on the Capitol, but, the senate being still in session, the Syracusans hurried before it and begged that they might have a hearing and justice. The colleague of Marcellus tried to have them expelled, 2 angrily explaining that Marcellus was not present; but Marcellus, when he heard of it, came at once. And first, sitting as consul in his curule chair, he transacted the routine business; then, when this was all ended, coming down from his curule chair and taking his stand as a private citizen in the place where men under accusation usually plead their cause, he gave the Syracusans opportunity to press their charge. 3 But they were terribly confounded by his dignity and confidence, and thought him yet more formidable and hard to confront in his robe of purple than he had been irresistible in arms. However, being encouraged by the rivals of Marcellus, they began their denunciation and rehearsed their demands for justice, which were mingled with much lamentation. 4 The gist of their plea was that, although they were allies and friends of the Romans, they had suffered at the hands of Marcellus what other generals allowed many of their enemies to escape. To this Marcellus made answer that in return for many injuries which they had done to the Romans, they had suffered nothing except what men whose city has been taken by storm in war cannot possibly be prevented from suffering; and that their city had been so taken was their own fault, because they had refused to listen to his many exhortations and persuasions. 5 For it was not by their tyrants that they had been forced into war, nay, they had elected those very tyrants for the purpose of going to war.
[Marc. 23.6] When the speeches were ended, and the Syracusans, as the custom was, withdrew from the senate, Marcellus went forth with them, after giving to his colleague the presidency of the senate, and lingered before the doors of the senate-house, allowing no change in his accustomed demeanour either because he feared the sentence, or was angry with the Syracusans, but with complete gentleness and decorum awaiting the issue of the case. 6 And when the votes had been cast, and he was proclaimed not guilty, the Syracusans fell at his feet, begging him with tears to remit his wrath against the embassy there present, and to take pity on the rest of the city, which always was mindful of the favours conferred upon it and grateful for them. Marcellus, accordingly, relented, and was reconciled with the embassy, and to the rest of the Syracusans was ever afterwards constant in doing good. 7 The freedom, also, which he had restored to them, as well as their laws and what was left of their possessions, the senate confirmed to them. Wherefore Marcellus received many surpassing honours from them, and particularly they made a law that whenever he or any one of his descendants should set foot in Sicily, the Syracusans should wear garlands and sacrifice to the gods.
[Marc. 24.1] 24 1 After this he moved at once against Hannibal. And although almost all the other consuls and commanders, after the disaster at Cannae, made the avoidance of all fighting their sole plan of campaign against the antagonist, no one had the courage to engage in a pitched battle with him, Marcellus himself took the opposite course, 2 thinking that before the time thought necessary for destroying Hannibal had elapsed, Italy would insensibly be worn out by him. He thought, too, that Fabius, by making safety his constant aim, was not taking the right course to deal with the malady of the country, since the extinction of the war for which he waited would be coincident with the exhaustion of Rome, just as physicians who are timid and afraid to apply remedies, consider the consumption of the patient’s powers to be the abatement of the disease. 3 First, then, he took the large cities of the Samnites which had revolted, and got possession of great quantities of grain which had been stored in them, besides money, and the three thousand soldiers of Hannibal who were guarding them. Next, after Hannibal had slain the proconsul Gnaeus Fulvius himself in Apulia, together with eleven military tribunes, and had cut to pieces the greater part of his army, Marcellus sent letters to Rome bidding the citizens be of good courage, for that he himself was already on the march to rob Hannibal of his joy. 4 Livy says that when these letters were read, they did not take away the grief of the Romans, but added to their fear; for they thought their present danger as much greater than the past as Marcellus was superior to Fulvius. But Marcellus, as he had written, at once pursued Hannibal into Lucania, and came up with him, and as he found him occupying a secure position on heights about the city of Numistro, he himself encamped in the plain. 5 On the following day he was first to array his forces when Hannibal came down into the plain, and fought a battle with him which, though indecisive, was desperate and long; for their engagement began at the third hour, and was with difficulty ended when it was already dark. But at daybreak Marcellus led his army forth again, put them in array among the dead bodies of the slain, and challenged Hannibal to fight it out with him for the victory. 6 And when Hannibal withdrew his forces, Marcellus stripped the dead bodies of the enemy, buried those of his own men, and pursued him again. And though his adversary laid many ambushes for him, he escaped them all, and by getting the advantage of him in all the skirmishes, won admiration for himself. For this reason, too, when the consular elections drew near, the senate decided that it was better to recall the other consul from Sicily than to disturb Marcellus in his grappling with Hannibal, and when he was come, it bade him declare Quintus Fulvius dictator.
[Marc. 24.7] 7 For a dictator cannot be chosen either by the people or by the senate, but one of the consuls or praetors comes before the assembled people and names as dictator the one whom he himself decides upon. And for this reason the one so named is called “dictator,” from the Latin “dicere,” to name or declare. Some, however, say that the dictator is so named because he puts no question to vote or show of hands, but ordains and declares of his own authority that which seems good to him; for the orders of magistrates, which the Greeks call “diatagmata,” the Romans call “edicta.”
[Marc. 25.1] 25 1 But the colleague of Marcellus, who had come back from Sicily, wished to appoint another man as dictator, and being unwilling to have his opinion overborne by force, sailed off by night to Sicily. Under these circumstances the people named Quintus Fulvius as dictator, and the senate wrote to Marcellus bidding him confirm the nomination. He consented, proclaimed Quintus Fulvius dictator, and so confirmed the will of the people; he himself was appointed proconsul for the ensuing year. 2 He then made an agreement with Fabius Maximus that, while Fabius should make an attempt upon Tarentum, he himself, by diverting Hannibal and engaging with him, should prevent him from coming to the relief of that place. He came up with Hannibal at Canusium, and as his adversary often shifted his camp and declined battle, he threatened him continually, and at last, by harassing him with his skirmishers, drew him out of his entrenchments. 3 But though battle was offered and accepted, night parted the combatants, and next day Marcellus appeared again with his army drawn up in battle array; so that Hannibal, in distress, called his Carthaginians together and besought them to make their fighting that day surpass all their previous struggles. “For you see,” he said, “that we cannot even take breath after all our victories, nor have respite though we are in the mastery, unless we drive this man away.”
[Marc. 25.4] 4 After this they joined battle and fought. And it would seem that Marcellus made an unseasonable movement during the action, and so met with disaster. For when his right wing was hard pressed, he ordered one of his legions to move up to the front. This change of position threw his army into confusion and gave the victory to the enemy, who slew twenty-seven hundred of the Romans. 5 Marcellus then withdrew to his camp, called his army together, and told them that he saw before him many Roman arms and Roman bodies, but not a single Roman. And when they asked for his pardon, he refused to give it while they were vanquished, but promised to do so if they should win a victory, assuring them that on the morrow they should fight again, in order that their countrymen might hear of their victory sooner than of their flight. 6 At the close of his speech, moreover, he gave orders that rations of barley instead of wheat should be given to the cohorts that had been worsted. Therefore, though many were in a wretched and dangerous plight after the battle, there was not a man of them, they say, to whom the words of Marcellus did not give more pain than his wounds.
[Marc. 26.1] 26 1 At daybreak the scarlet tunic, the usual signal of impending battle, was displayed, the cohorts under disgrace begged and obtained for themselves the foremost position in the line, and the tribunes led forth the rest of the army and put them in array. On hearing of this Hannibal said: “O Hercules! what can be done with a man who knows not how to bear either his worse or his better fortune? For he is the only man who neither gives a respite when he is victorious, nor takes it when he is vanquished, 2 but we shall always be fighting with him, as it seems, since both his courage in success and his shame in defeat are made reasons for bold undertaking”. Then the forces engaged; and since the men fought with equal success, Hannibal ordered his elephants to be stationed in the van, and to be driven against the ranks of the Romans. A great press and much confusion at once arose among their foremost lines, but one of the tribunes, Flavius by name, snatched up a standard, confronted the elephants, smote the leader with the iron spike of the standard, and made him wheel about. 3 The beast dashed into the one behind him and threw the whole onset into confusion. Observing this, Marcellus ordered his cavalry to charge at full speed upon the disordered mass and throw the enemy still more into confusion. The horsemen made a brilliant charge and cut the Carthaginians down as far as to their camp, and the greatest slaughter among them was caused by their killed and wounded elephants. 4 For more than eight thousand are said to have been slain; and on the Roman side three thousand were killed, and almost all were wounded. This gave Hannibal opportunity to break camp quietly in the night and move to a great distance from Marcellus. For Marcellus was unable to pursue him, owing to the multitude of his wounded, but withdrew by easy marches into Campania, and spent the summer at Sinuessa recuperating his soldiers.
[Marc. 27.1] 27 1 But Hannibal, now that he had torn himself away from Marcellus, made free use of his army, and going fearlessly round about, wasted all Italy with fire. Meantime, at Rome, Marcellus was in ill repute, and his enemies incited Publicius Bibulus, one of the tribunes of the people, a powerful speaker and a man of violence, to bring a denunciation against him. 2 This man held frequent assemblies of the people and tried to persuade them to put the forces of Marcellus in charge of another general, “since Marcellus,” as he said, “after giving himself a little exercise in the war, has withdrawn from it as from a palaestra, and betaken himself to warm baths for refreshment.” On learning of this, Marcellus left his legates in charge of his army, while he himself went up to Rome to make answer to the accusations against him. 3 There he found an impeachment prepared against him which was drawn from these accusations. Accordingly, on a day set for the trial, when the people had come together in the Flaminian circus, Bibulus rose up and denounced him. Then Marcellus spoke briefly and simply in his own defence, and the leading and most reputable citizens, with great boldness of speech and in glowing terms, exhorted the people not to show themselves worse judges than the enemy by convicting Marcellus of cowardice, whom alone of their leaders Hannibal avoided, and continually contrived not to fight with him, that he might fight with the rest. 4 When these speeches were ended, the accuser was so far disappointed in his hope of obtaining the verdict that Marcellus was not only acquitted of the charges against him, but actually appointed consul for the fifth time.
[Marc. 28.1] 28 1 After assuming his office, he first quelled a great agitation for revolt in Etruria, and visited and pacified the cities there; next, he desired to dedicate to Honour and Virtue a temple that he had built out of his Sicilian spoils, but was prevented by the priests, who would not consent that two deities should occupy one temple; he therefore began to build another temple adjoining the first, although he resented the priests’ opposition and regarded it as ominous. 2 And indeed many other portents disturbed him: sundry temples were struck by lightning, and in that of Jupiter, mice had gnawed the gold; it was reported also that an ox had uttered human speech, and that a boy had been born with an elephant’s head; moreover, in their expiatory rites and sacrifices, the seers received bad omens, and therefore detained him at Rome, though he was all on fire and impatient to be gone. For no man ever had such a passion for any thing as he had for fighting a decisive battle with Hannibal. 3 This was his dream at night, his one subject for deliberation with friends and colleagues, his one appeal to the gods, namely, that he might find Hannibal drawn up to meet him. And I think he would have been most pleased to have the struggle decided with both armies enclosed by a single wall or rampart; and if he had not been full already of abundant honour, and if he had not given abundant proof that he could be compared with any general whomsoever in solidity of judgement, I should have said that he had fallen a victim to a youthful ambition that ill became such a great age as his. For he had passed his sixtieth year when he entered upon his fifth consulship.
[Marc. 29.1] 29 1 However, after the ceremonies of sacrifice and purification which the seers prescribed had been performed, he set out with his colleague for the war, and gave much annoyance to Hannibal in his encampment between Bantia and Venusia. Hannibal would not give battle, but having been made aware that the Romans had sent some troops against Locri Epizephyrii, he set an ambush for them at the hill of Petelia, and slew twenty-five hundred of them. 2 This filled Marcellus with mad desire for the battle, and breaking camp, he brought his forces nearer to the enemy.
[Marc. 29.3] Between the camps was a hill which could be made tolerably secure, and was full of all sorts of woody growth; it had also lookout-places that sloped in either direction, and streams of water showed themselves running down its sides. The Romans therefore wondered that Hannibal, who had come first to a place of natural advantages, had not occupied it, but left in this way for his enemies. Now, to Hannibal the place did seem good an encampment, but far better for an ambuscade, and to this use he preferred to put it. He therefore filled its woods and hollows with a large force of javelineers and spearmen, convinced that the place of itself would attract the Romans by reason of its natural advantages. 4 Nor was he deceived in his expectations; for straightaway there was much talk in the Roman camp about the necessity of occupying the place, and they enumerated all the strategic advantages which they would gain over their enemies, particularly by encamping there, but if not that, by fortifying the hill. Marcellus accordingly decided to ride up to it with a few horsemen and inspect it. So he summoned his diviner and offered sacrifice, and when the first victim had been slain, the diviner showed him that the liver had no head. 5 But on his sacrificing for the second time, the head of the liver was of extraordinary size and the other tokens appeared to be wonderfully propitious, and the fear which the first had inspired seemed to be dissipated. But the diviners declared that they were all the more afraid of these and troubled by them; for when very propitious omens succeeded those which were most inauspicious and threatening, the strangeness of the change was ground for suspicion. But since, as Pindar says,
[Marc. 29.3b] “Allotted fate not fire, not wall of iron, will check,”
[Marc. 29.6] Marcellus set out, taking with him his colleague Crispinus, his son, who was a military tribune, and two hundred and twenty horsemen all told. 6 Of these, not one was a Roman, but they were all Etruscans, except forty men of Fregellae, who had given Marcellus constant proof of their valour and fidelity. Now, the crest of the hill was covered with woods, and on its summit a man had been stationed by the enemy to keep a lookout; he could not be seen himself, but kept the Roman camp in full view. 7 This man, then, told those who lay in ambush what was going on, and they, after permitting Marcellus to ride close up to them, rose up on a sudden, and encompassing him on all sides, hurled their javelins, smote with their spears, pursued the fugitives, and grappled with those who made resistance. These were the forty men of Fregellae, 8 who, though the Etruscans at the very outset took to flight, banded themselves together and fought in defence of the consuls, until Crispinus, smitten with two javelins, turned his horse and fled, and Marcellus was run through the side with a broad spear (the Latin name for which is “lancea”). Then the surviving men of Fregellae, few all told, left him where he lay dead, snatched up his son who was wounded, and fled to their camp. 9 Hardly more than forty were slain, but five lictors were taken prisoners, and eighteen horsemen. Crispinus also died of his wounds not many days after. Such a disaster as this had never happened to the Romans before: both their consuls were killed in a single action.
[Marc. 30.1] 30 1 Hannibal made very little account of the rest, but when he learned that Marcellus had fallen, he ran out to the place himself, and after standing by the dead body and surveying for a long time its strength and mien, he uttered no boastful speech, nor did he manifest his joy at the sight, as one might have done who had slain a bitter and troublesome foe; 2 but after wondering at the unexpectedness of his end, he took off his signet-ring, indeed, but ordered the body to be honourably robed, suitably adorned, and burned. Then he collected the remains in a silver urn, placed a golden wreath upon it, and sent it back to his son. But some of the Numidians fell in with those who were carrying the urn and attempted to take it away from them, and when they resisted, fought with them, and in the fierce struggle scattered the bones far and wide. 3 When Hannibal learned of this, he said to the bystanders: “You see that nothing can be done against the will of God.” Then he punished the Numidians, but took no further care to collect and send back the remains, feeling that it was at some divine behest that Marcellus had died and been deprived of burial in this strange manner. 4 Such, then, is the account given by Cornelius Nepos and Valerius Maximus; but Livy and Augustus Caesar state that the urn was brought to his son and buried with splendid rites.
[Marc. 30.5] Besides the dedications which Marcellus made in Rome, there was a gymnasium at Catana in Sicily, and statues and paintings from the treasures of Syracuse both at Samothrace, in the temple of the gods called Cabeiri, and at Lindus in the temple of Athena. 5 There, too, there was a statue of him, according to Poseidonius, bearing this inscription:
[Marc. 30.5b] “This, O stranger, was the great star of his country, Rome, — Claudius Marcellus of illustrious line, who seven times held the consular power in time of war, and poured much slaughter on his foes.”
[Marc. 30.6] For the author of the inscription has added his two proconsulates to his five consulates. 6 And his line maintained its splendour down to Marcellus the nephew of Augustus Caesar, who was a son of Caesar’s sister Octavia by Caius Marcellus, and who died during his aedileship at Rome, having recently married a daughter of Caesar. In his honour and to his memory Octavia his mother dedicated the library, and Caesar the theatre, which bear his name.

## Comparison of Pelopidas and Marcellus

[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 1.1] 316 1 1 This is what I have thought worthy of record in what historians say about Marcellus and Pelopidas. In their natures and disposition they were almost exactly alike, since both were valiant, laborious, passionate, and magnanimous; and there would seem to have been this difference only between them, that Marcellus committed slaughter in many cities which he reduced, while Epaminondas and Pelopidas never put any one to death after their victories, nor did they sell cities into slavery. And we are told that, had they been present, the Thebans would not have treated the Orchomenians as they did.
[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 1.2] 2 As for their achievements, those of Marcellus against the Gauls were great and astonishing, since he routed such a multitude of horse and foot with the few horsemen in his following (an action not easily found recorded of any other general), and slew the enemies’ chieftain; whereas in this regard Pelopidas failed, for he set out to do the same thing, but suffered what he meant to inflict, and was slain first by the tyrant. 3 However, with these exploits of Marcellus one may compare the battles of Leuctra and Tegyra, greatest and most illustrious of actions; and we have no exploit of Marcellus accomplished by stealth and ambuscade which we can compare with what Pelopidas did in coming back from exile and slaying tyrants in Thebes, nay, that seems to rank far higher than any other achievement of secrecy and cunning. 4 Hannibal was, it is true, a most formidable enemy for the Romans, but so, assuredly, were the Lacedaemonians in the time of Pelopidas for the Thebans, 317 and that they were defeated by Pelopidas at Tegyra and Leuctra is an established fact; whereas Hannibal, according to Polybius, was not even once defeated by Marcellus, but continued to be invincible until Scipio came. 5 However, I believe, with Livy, Caesar, and Nepos, and, among Greek writers, with King Juba, that sundry defeats and routs were inflicted by Marcellus upon the troops of Hannibal, although these had no great influence upon the war; indeed, the Carthaginian would seem to have practised some ruse in these engagements. 6 But that which reasonably and fittingly called for admiration was the fact that the Romans, after the rout of so many armies, the slaughter of so many generals, and the utter confusion of the whole empire, still had the courage to face their foes. For there was one man who filled his army again with ardour and ambition to contend with the enemy, instead of the great fear and consternation which had long oppressed them, 7 inspiring and encouraging them not only to yield the victory reluctantly, but also to dispute it with all eagerness, and this man was Marcellus. For when their calamities had accustomed them to be satisfied whenever they escaped Hannibal by flight, he taught them to be ashamed to survive defeat, to be chagrined if they came within a little of yielding, and to be distressed if they did not win the day.
[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 2.1] 2 1 Since, then, Pelopidas was never defeated in a battle where he was in command, and Marcellus won more victories than any Roman of his day, it would seem, perhaps, that the multitude of his successes made the difficulty of conquering the one equal to the invincibility of the other. Marcellus, it is true, took Syracuse, while Pelopidas failed to take Sparta. 2 But I think that to have reached Sparta, and to have been the first of men to cross the Eurotas in war, was a greater achievement than the conquest of Sicily; unless, indeed, it should be said that this exploit belongs rather to Epaminondas than to Pelopidas, as well as the victory at Leuctra, while Marcellus shared with no one the glory of his achievements. For he took Syracuse all alone, and routed the Gauls without his colleague, and when no one would undertake the struggle against Hannibal, but all declined it, he took the field against him, changed the aspect of the war, and was the first leader to show daring.
[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 3.1] 3 1 I cannot, indeed, applaud the death of either of them, nay, I am distressed and indignant at their unreasonableness in the final disaster. And I admire Hannibal because, in battles so numerous that one would weary of counting them, he was not even wounded. I am delighted, too, with Chrysantes, in the “Cyropaedia,” who though his blade was lifted on high and he was about to smite an enemy, when the trumpet sounded a retreat, let his man go, and retired with all gentleness and decorum. 2 Pelopidas, however, was somewhat excusable, because, excited as he always was by an opportunity for battle, he was now carried away by a generous anger to seek revenge. For the best thing is that a general should be victorious and keep his life, “but if he must die,” he should “conclude his life with valour,” as Euripides says; for then he does not suffer death, but rather achieves it. 3 And besides his anger, Pelopidas saw that the consummation of his victory would be the death of the tyrant, and this not altogether unreasonably invited his effort; for it would have been hard to find another deed of prowess with so fair and glorious a promise. But Marcellus, when no great need was pressing, and when he felt none of that ardour which in times of peril unseats the judgment, plunged heedlessly into danger, and died the death, not of a general, but a mere skirmisher or scout, 4 having cast his five consulates, 318 his three triumphs, and the spoils and trophies which he had taken from kings, under the feet of Iberians and Numidians who had sold their lives to the Carthaginians. And so it came to pass that these very men were loath to accept their own success, when a Roman who excelled all others in valour, and had the greatest influence and the most splendid fame, was uselessly sacrificed among the scouts of Fregellae.
[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 3.5] 5 This, however, must not be thought a denunciation of these men, but rather an indignant and outspoken protest in their own behalf against themselves and their valour, to which they uselessly sacrificed their other virtues, in that they were unsparing of their lives; as if their death affected themselves alone, and not rather their countries, friends, and allies.
[Comp. Pel.–Marc. 3.6] 6 After his death, Pelopidas received burial from his allies, in whose behalf he fell; Marcellus from his enemies, by whose hands he fell. An enviable and happy lot was the former, it is true; but better and greater than the goodwill which makes grateful return for favours done, is the hatred which admires a valour that was harassing. For in this case it is worth alone which receives honour; whereas in the other, personal interests and needs are more regarded than excellence.

## Aristides

[Arist. 1.1] 318 1 1 Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, belonged to the tribe Antiochis, and to the deme Alopecé. As regards his substance, stories differ, some having it that he passed all the days of his life in severe poverty, and that at his death he left behind him two daughters who for a long time were not sought in marriage because of their indigence. 2 But in contradiction of this story which so many writers give, Demetrius of Phalerum, in his “Socrates,” says he knows of an estate in Phalerum which belonged to Aristides — the one in which he lies buried, and regards as proof of his opulent circumstances, first, his office of Archon Eponymous, which only he could hold who obtained it by lot from among the families carrying the highest property-assessments (these were called Pentacosiomedimni, or Five hundred-bushellers); second, his banishment in ostracism, 3 for no poor men, but only men from great houses which incurred envy because of their family prestige, were liable to ostracism; third, and last, the fact that he left in the precinct of Dionysus as offerings for victory some choregic tripods, which, even in our day, were pointed out as still bearing the inscription: “The tribe Antiochis was victorious; Aristides was Choregus; Archestratus was Poet.”
[Arist. 1.4] 4 Now this last argument, though it seems very strong, is really very weak. For both Epaminondas, who as all men know, was reared and always lived in great poverty, and Plato the philosopher, took it upon themselves to furnish munificent public performances, the first, of men trained to play the flute, the second, of boys trained to sing and dance; but Plato received the money that he spent thereon from Dion of Syracuse, and Epaminondas from Pelopidas. 5 Good men wage no savage war against the gifts of friends, but while they look upon gifts taken to be stored away 319 and increase the receiver’s wealth as ignoble and mean, they refuse none which promote an unselfish and splendid munificence.
[Arist. 1.6] However, as regards the tripod, Panaetius tries to show that Demetrius was deceived by identity of name. 6 From the Persian wars, he says, down to the end of the Peloponnesian war, only two Aristides are recorded as victorious choregi, and neither of them is identical with the son of Lysimachus. One was the son of Xenophilus, and the other lived long afterwards, as is proved by the inscription itself, which is written in the character used after Eucleides, as well as by the last name, Archestratus, of whom there is no record during the Persian wars, while during the time of the Peloponnesian war his name often appears as that of a choral poet.
[Arist. 1.7] 7 This argument of Panaetius should be more closely examined as to its validity; but to banishment in ostracism every one was liable who was superior to the common run of men in reputation, or lineage, or eloquence. And so it was that Damon, the teacher of Pericles, was ostracized because he was thought to be rather extraordinary in his wisdom. 8 Furthermore, Idomeneus says that Aristides obtained the office of archon, not by lot, but by the election of the Athenians. And if he was made archon after the battle of Plataea, as Demetrius himself has written, it is certainly very credible that in view of such a reputation and such successes as he there won, he should be deemed worthy, for his valour, of an office which men who drew lots for it obtained for their wealth. 9 In fact, Demetrius is clearly ambitious to rescue not only Aristides, but also Socrates from what he deems the great evil of poverty, for he says that Socrates owned not only his house, but also seventy minas out at interest with Crito.
[Arist. 2.1] 2 1 Aristides was an intimate friend of that Cleisthenes who set the state in order after the expulsion of the tyrants. He also admired and emulated, above all other statesmen, Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian. He therefore favoured an aristocratic form of government, and ever had opposed to him, as champion of the people, Themistocles the son of Neocles. Some say that even as boys and fellow-pupils, from the outset, in every word and deed, whether serious or trivial, they were at variance with one another, 2 and that by this very rivalry their natures were straightway made manifest, the one as dexterous, reckless, and unscrupulous, easily carried with impetuosity into any and every undertaking; the other as established on a firm character, intent on justice, and admitting no falsity or vulgarity or deceit, not even in any sport whatsoever.
[Arist. 2.3] But Ariston of Ceos says that this enmity of theirs, which came to be so intense, had its origin in a love affair. 3 They were both enamoured of Stesilaüs, who was of Ceian birth, and in beauty of person the most brilliant of youths; and they cherished their passion so immoderately, that not even after the boy’s beauty had faded did they lay aside their rivalry, but, as though they had merely taken preliminary practice and exercise in that, they presently engaged in matters of state also with passionate heat and opposing desires.
[Arist. 2.4] 4 Themistocles joined a society of political friends, and so secured no inconsiderable support and power. Hence when some one told him that he would only be fair and impartial to all, he replied: “Never may I sit on a tribunal where my friends are to get no more advantage from me than strangers.” 5 But Aristides walked the way of statesmanship by himself, on a private path of his own, as it were, because, in the first place, he was unwilling to join with any comrades in wrong-doing, or to vex them by withholding favours; and, in the second place, he saw that power derived from friends incited many to do wrong, and so was on his guard against it, deeming it right that the good citizen should base his confidence only on serviceable and just conduct.
[Arist. 3.1] 3 1 However, since Themistocles was a reckless agitator, and opposed and thwarted him in every measure of state, Aristides himself also was almost compelled — 320 partly in self-defence, and partly to curtail his adversary’s power, which was increasing through the favour of the many — to set himself in opposition to what Themistocles was trying to do, thinking it better that some advantages should escape the people than that his adversary, by prevailing everywhere, should become too strong. 2 Finally there came a time when he opposed and defeated Themistocles in an attempt to carry some really necessary measure. Then he could no longer hold his peace, but declared, as he left the Assembly, that there was no safety for the Athenian state unless they threw both Themistocles and himself into the death-pit. On another occasion he himself introduced a certain measure to the people, and was carrying it through successfully, in spite of the attacks of the opposition upon it, but just as the presiding officer was to put it to the final vote, perceiving, from the very speeches that had been made in opposition to it, the inexpediency of his measure, he withdrew it without a vote. 3 And oftentimes he would introduce his measures through other men, that Themistocles might not be driven by the spirit of rivalry with him to oppose what was expedient for the state.
[Arist. 3.4] Altogether admirable was his steadfast constancy amid the revulsions of political feeling. He was not unduly lifted up by his honours, and faced adversity with a calm gentleness, while in all cases alike he considered it his duty to give his services to his country freely and without any reward, either in money, or, what meant far more, in reputation. 4 And so it befell, as the story goes, that when the verses composed by Aeschylus upon Amphiaraüs were recited in the theatre: —
[Arist. 3.4b] “He wishes not to seem, but rather just to be,
And reap a harvest from deep furrows in a mind
From which there spring up honourable counsellings,”
[Arist. 3.4c] all the spectators turned their eyes on Aristides, feeling that he, above all men, was possessed of such excellence.
[Arist. 4.1] 4 1 It was not only against the inclinations of his good-will and personal favour that he was a most strenuous champion of justice, but also against those of his anger and hatred. At any rate a story is told, how he was once prosecuting an enemy in court, and after he had made his accusation the judges were loath to hear the defendant at all, and demanded that their vote be taken against him straightway; but Aristides sprang to his feet and seconded the culprit’s plea for a hearing and the usual legal procedure. 2 And again, when he was serving as private arbitrator between two men, on one of them saying that his opponent had done Aristides much injury, “Tell me rather,” he said, “whether he has done thee any wrong; it is for thee, not for myself, that I am seeking justice.” When he was elected overseer of the public revenues, he proved clearly that large sums had been embezzled, not only by his fellow-officials, but also by those of former years, and particularly by Themistocles: —
[Arist. 4.1b] “The man was clever, but of his hand had no control.”
[Arist. 4.3] 3 For this cause, Themistocles banded many together against Aristides, prosecuted him for theft at the auditing of his accounts, and actually got a verdict against him, according to Idomeneus. But the first and best men of the city were incensed at this, and he was not only exempted from his fine, but even appointed to administer the same charge again. Then he pretended to repent him of his former course, and made himself more pliable, thus giving pleasure to those who were stealing the common funds by not examining them or holding them to strict account, 4 so that they gorged themselves with the public moneys, and then lauded Aristides to the skies, and pleaded with the people in his behalf, eagerly desirous that he be once more elected to his office. But just as they were about to vote, Aristides rebuked the Athenians. “Verily,” said he, “when I served you in office with fidelity and honour, I was reviled and persecuted; but now that I am flinging away much of the common fund to thieves, I am thought to be an admirable citizen. 5 For my part, I am more ashamed of my present honour than I was of my former condemnation, and I am sore distressed for you, because it is more honourable in your eyes to please base men than to guard the public moneys.” 321 By these words, as well as by exposing their thefts, he did indeed stop the mouths of the men who were then testifying loudly in his favour, but he won genuine and just praise from the best citizens.
[Arist. 5.1] 5 1 Now when Datis, on being sent by Darius ostensibly to punish the Athenians for burning Sardis, but really to subdue all the Hellenes, put in at Marathon with all his armament and went to ravaging the country, then, of the ten generals appointed by the Athenians for the conduct of the war, it was Miltiades who enjoyed the greatest consideration, but in reputation and influence Aristides was second. 2 By adopting at that time the opinion of Miltiades about the battle to be fought, he did much to turn the scale in its favour. And since each general held the chief authority for a single day in turn, when the command came round to him, he handed it over to Miltiades, thereby teaching his fellow-officers that to obey and follow men of wisdom is not disgraceful, but dignified and salutary. By thus appeasing the jealousy of his colleagues and inducing them to be cheerfully contented in the adoption of a single opinion (and that the best), he confirmed Miltiades in the strength which comes from an unrestricted power. For each of the other generals at once relinquished his own right to command for a day in turn, and put himself under the orders of Miltiades.
[Arist. 5.3] 3 In the battle, the Athenian centre was the hardest pressed, and it was there that the Barbarians held their ground the longest, over against the tribes Leontis and Antiochis. There, then, Themistocles and Aristides fought brilliantly, ranged side by side; for one was a Leontid, the other an Antiochid. 4 When the Athenians had routed the Barbarians and driven them aboard their ships, and saw that they were sailing away, not toward the islands, but into the gulf toward Attica under compulsion of wind and wave, then they were afraid lest the enemy find Athens empty of defenders, and so they hastened homeward with nine tribes, and reached the city that very day. 5 But Aristides was left behind at Marathon with his own tribe, to guard the captives and booty. Nor did he belie his reputation, but though silver and gold lay about in heaps, and though there were all sorts of raiment and untold wealth besides in the tents and captured utensils, he neither desired to meddle with it himself, nor would he suffer any one else to do so, although certain ones helped themselves without his knowledge. Among these was Callias the Torch-bearer.
[Arist. 5.6] 6 Some Barbarian, it seems, rushed up to this man, supposing him to be a king from his long hair and the headband that he wore, made obeisance to him, and taking him by the hand in suppliant fashion, showed him a great mass of gold buried up in a sort of pit. Callias, most savage and lawless of men, took up the gold; but the man, to prevent his betraying the matter to others, he slew. From this circumstance, they say, his descendants are called by the comic poets “Laccopluti,” or “Pit-wealthies,” in sly allusion to the place where Callias found his gold.
[Arist. 5.7] 7 Aristides at once received the office of Archon Eponymous. And yet Demetrius of Phalerum says that it was a little while before his death, and after the battle of Plataea, that the man held this office. But in the official records, after Xanthippides, in whose year of office Mardonius was defeated at Plataea, you cannot find, long as the list is, so much as the name Aristides; whereas immediately after Phaenippus, in whose year of office the victory at Marathon was won, an Aristides is recorded as archon.
[Arist. 6.1] 6 1 Of all his virtues, it was his justice that most impressed the multitude, because of its most continual and most general exercise. Wherefore, though poor and a man of the people, he acquired that most kingly and godlike surname of “The Just.” 2 This no kings or tyrants ever coveted, 322 nay, they rejoiced to be surnamed “Besiegers,” or “Thunderbolts,” or “Conquerors,” and some “Eagles,” or “Hawks,” cultivating the reputation which is based on violence and power, as it seems, rather than on virtue. And yet divinity, to which such men are eager to adapt and conform themselves, is believed to have three elements of superiority, — incorruption, power, and virtue; and the most reverend, the divinest of these, is virtue. 3 For vacuum and the ultimate elements partake of incorruption; and great power is exhibited by earthquakes and thunderbolts, and rushing tornadoes, and invading floods; but in fundamental justice nothing participates except through the exercise of intelligent reasoning powers.
[Arist. 6.4] Therefore, considering the three feelings which are generally entertained towards divinity, — envy, fear, and honourable regard, men seem to envy and felicitate the deities for their incorruption and perpetuity; to dread and fear them for their sovereignty and power; but to love and honour and revere them for their justice. 4 And yet, although men are thus disposed, it is immortality, of which our nature is not capable, and power, the chief disposal of which is in the hands of fortune, that they eagerly desire; while as for virtue, the only divine excellence within our reach, they put it at the bottom of the list, unwisely too, since a life passed in power and great fortune and authority needs justice to make it divine; by injustice it is made bestial.
[Arist. 7.1] 7 1 Now, to resume, it befell Aristides to be loved at first because of this surname, but afterwards to be jealously hated, especially when Themistocles set the story going among the multitude that Aristides had done away with the public courts of justice by his determining and judging everything in private, and that, without any one perceiving it, he had established for himself a monarchy, saving only the armed body-guard. And besides, the people too must by this time have become greatly elated over their victory; they thought nothing too good for themselves, and were therefore vexed with those who towered above the multitude in name and reputation. 2 So they assembled in the city from all the country round, and ostracized Aristides, giving to their envious dislike of his reputation the name of fear of tyranny.
[Arist. 7.3] Now the sentence of ostracism was not a chastisement of base practices, nay, it was speciously called a humbling and docking of oppressive prestige and power; but it was really a merciful exorcism of the spirit of jealous hate, which thus vented its malignant desire to injure, not in some irreparable evil, but in a mere change of residence for ten years. 3 And when ignoble men of the baser sort came to be subjected to this penalty, it ceased to be inflicted at all, and Hyperbolus was the last to be ostracized. It is said that Hyperbolus was ostracized for the following reason. Alcibiades and Nicias had the greatest power in the state, and were at odds. Accordingly, when the people were about to exercise the ostracism, and were clearly going to vote against one or the other of these two men, they came to terms with one another, united their opposing factions, and effected the ostracism of Hyperbolus. 4 The people were incensed at this for they felt that the institution had been insulted and abused, and so they abandoned it utterly and put an end to it.
[Arist. 7.5] The method of procedure — to give a general outline — was as follows. Each voter took an ostrakon, or potsherd, wrote on it the name of that citizen whom he wished to remove from the city, and brought it to a place in the agora which was all fenced about with railings. 5 The archons first counted the total number of ostraka cast. For if the voters were less than six thousand, the ostracism was void. Then they separated the names, and the man who had received the most votes they proclaimed banished for ten years, with the right to enjoy the income from his property.
[Arist. 7.6] 323 Now at the time of which I was speaking, as the voters were inscribing their ostraka, it is said that an unlettered and utterly boorish fellow handed his ostrakon to Aristides, and asked him to write Aristides on it. 6 He, astonished, asked the man what possible wrong Aristides had done him. “None whatever,” was the answer, “I don’t even know the fellow, but I am tired of hearing him everywhere called ‘The Just.’ “ On hearing this, Aristides made no answer, but wrote his name on the ostrakon and handed it back. Finally, as he was departing the city, he lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed — a prayer the opposite, as it seems, of that which Achilles made — that no crisis might overtake the Athenians which should compel the people to remember Aristides.
[Arist. 8.1] 8 1 But in the third year thereafter, when Xerxes was marching through Thessaly and Boeotia against Attica, they repealed their law of ostracism, and voted that those who had been sent away under it might return. The chief reason for this was their fear of Aristides, lest he attach himself to the enemy’s cause, and corrupt and pervert many of his fellow-citizens to the side of the Barbarian. But they much misjudged the man. Even before this decree of theirs, he was ever inciting and urging the Hellenes to win their freedom; and after it was passed, when Themistocles was general with sole powers, he assisted him in every undertaking and counsel, although he thereby, for the sake of the general safety, made his chiefest foe the most famous of men.
[Arist. 8.2] 2 Thus when Eurybiades wished to abandon Salamis, but the Barbarian triremes, putting out by night, had encompassed the strait where he lay round about, and had beset the islands therein, and no Hellene knew of this encompassment, Aristides came over to them from Aegina, venturously sailing through the enemy’s ships. He went at once by night to the tent of Themistocles, and called him forth alone. 3 “O Themistocles,” said he, “if we are wise, we shall at last lay aside our vain and puerile contention, and begin a salutary and honourable rivalry with one another in emulous struggles to save Hellas, thou as commanding general, I as assistant counsellor, since at the very outset I learn that thou art the only one who has adopted the best policy, urging as thou dost to give a decisive sea-fight here in the narrows as soon as may be. 4 And though thine allies oppose thee, thy foes would seem to assist thee; for the sea round about and behind us is already filled with hostile ships, so that even our unwilling ones must now of necessity be brave men and fight. Indeed, no way of escape is left.” 5 To this Themistocles replied: “I should not have wished, O Aristides, to find thee superior to me here; but I shall try to emulate thy fair beginning, and to surpass thee in my actions.” At the same time he told Aristides of the trick he had contrived against the Barbarian, and entreated him to show Eurybiades convincingly, inasmuch as he had the greater credit with that commander, that there was no safety except in a sea-fight. 6 So it happened in the council of generals that Cleocritus the Corinthian declared to Themistocles that Aristides also was opposed to his plan, since he, though present, held his peace. Aristides at once replied that he would not have held his peace had not Themistocles counselled for the best; but as it was, he kept quiet, not out of any good-will to the man, but because he approved of his plan.
[Arist. 9.1] 9 1 While the captains of the Hellenes were acting on this plan, Aristides noticed that Psyttaleia, a small island lying in the straits in front of Salamis, was full of the enemy. He therefore embarked in small boats the most ardent and the most warlike of the citizens, made a landing on Psyttaleia, joined battle with the Barbarians, and slew them all, save the few conspicuous men who were taken alive. Among these were three sons of the King’s sister Sandaucé, whom he straightway sent to Themistocles, 324 2 and it is said that, in obedience to some oracle or other, they were sacrificed to Dionysus Carnivorous. Then Aristides lined the islet all round with his hoplites, and lay in wait for any who should be cast up there, that no friend might perish, and no foe escape. For the greatest crowding of the ships, and the most strenuous part of the battle, seems to have been in this region. And for this reason a trophy was erected on Psyttaleia.
[Arist. 9.3] 3 After the battle, Themistocles, by way of sounding Aristides, said that the deed they had now performed was a noble one, but a greater still remained, and that was to capture Asia in Europe, by sailing up to the Hellespont as fast as they could and cutting in twain the bridges there. But Aristides cried out with a loud voice and bade him abandon the proposal, and seek rather with all diligence how they might most speedily expel the Mede from Hellas, 4 lest, being shut in and unable to make his escape, from sheer necessity he throw this vast force of his upon the defensive. So Themistocles sent once more the eunuch Arnaces, a prisoner of war, bidding him tell the King that the Hellenes had actually set out on a voyage to attack the bridges, but that he, Themistocles, had succeeded in turning them back, wishing to save the King.
[Arist. 10.1] 10 1 At this Xerxes grew exceedingly fearful, and hurried straight to the Hellespont; but Mardonius, with the flower of the army, to the number of three hundred thousand men, was left behind. He was a formidable adversary, and because his confidence in his infantry was strong, he wrote threateningly to the Hellenes, saying: 2 “Ye have conquered with your maritime timbers landsmen who know not how to ply the oar; but now, broad is the land of Thessaly and fair the plain of Boeotia for brave horsemen and men-at arms to contend in.” But to the Athenians he sent separate letters and proposals from the King, who promised to rebuild their city, give them much money, and make them lords of the Hellenes, if only they would cease fighting against him.
[Arist. 10.3] 3 When the Lacedaemonians learned this, they took fright, and sent an embassy to Athens, begging the Athenians to despatch their wives and children to Sparta, and to accept from her a support for their aged and infirm; for great was the distress among the people, since it had so recently lost both land and city. 4 However, after listening to the embassy, on motion of Aristides, they answered with an admirable answer, declaring that they could be tolerant with their foes for supposing that everything was to be bought for wealth and money, since their foes could conceive of nothing higher than these things; but they were indignant at the Lacedaemonians for having an eye only to the penury and indigence that now reigned at Athens, and for being so unmindful of the valour and ambition of the Athenians as to exhort them to contend for Hellas merely to win their rations. 5 When Aristides had made this motion and had introduced the waiting embassies into the Assembly, he bade the Lacedaemonians tell their people that there was not bulk of gold above or below ground so large that the Athenians would take it in payment for the freedom of the Hellenes; and to the messengers of Mardonius he said, pointing to the sun: “As long as yonder sun journeys his appointed journey, so long will the Athenians wage war against the Persians in behalf of the land which has been ravaged by them and of the temples which they have defiled and consumed with fire.” 6 Still further, he made a motion that the priests should solemnly curse all who came to a parley with the Medes or forsook the alliance of the Hellenes.
[Arist. 10.7] When Mardonius for the second time invaded Attica, again the people crossed over to Salamis. Then Aristides, who had been sent as envoy to Lacedaemon, inveighed against their sluggishness and indifference, in that they had once more abandoned Athens to the Barbarian, and demanded that they go to the aid of what was still left of Hellas. 325 7 On hearing this, the Ephors, as long as it was day, publicly disported themselves in easy-going festival fashion; for it was their festival of the Hyacinthia. But in the night they selected five thousand Spartans, each of whom had seven Helots to attend upon him, and sent them forth without the knowledge of the Athenians. So when Aristides came before them with renewed invectives, they laughed and said he was but a sleepy babbler, for that their army was already in Arcadia on its march against the “strangers” (they called the Persians strangers). 8 But Aristides declared they were jesting out of all season, forasmuch as they were deceiving their friends instead of their enemies. This is the way Idomeneus tells the story. But in the decree which Aristides caused to be passed, he himself is not named as envoy, but Cimon, Xanthippus, and Myronides.
[Arist. 11.1] 11 Having been elected general with sole powers in view of the expected battle, he came to Plataea at the head of eight thousand Athenian hoplites. There Pausanias also, the commander in chief of the whole Hellenic army, joined him with his Spartans, and the forces of the rest of the Hellenes kept streaming up. 2 Now, generally speaking, there was no limit to the encampment of the Barbarians as it lay stretched out along the river Asopus, so vast was it; but round their baggage trains and chief headquarters they built a quadrangular wall, whereof each side was ten stadia in length.
[Arist. 11.3] To Pausanias and all the Hellenes under him Tisamenus the Eleian made prophecy, and foretold victory for them if they acted on the defensive and did not advance to the attack. 3 But Aristides sent to Delphi and received from the god response that the Athenians would be superior to their foes if they made vows to Zeus, Cithaeronian Hera, Pan, and the Sphragitic nymphs; paid sacrifices to the heroes Androcrates, Leucon, Pisandrus, Damocrates, Hypsion, Actaeon, and Polyidus; and if they sustained the peril of battle on their own soil, in the plain of Eleusinian Demeter and Cora. 4 When this oracle was reported to Aristides, it perplexed him greatly. The heroes to whom he was to sacrifice were, it was true, ancient dignitaries of the Plataeans; and the cave of the Sphragitic nymphs was on one of the peaks of Cithaeron, facing the summer sunsets, and in it there was also an oracle in former days, as they say, and many of the natives were possessed of the oracular power, and these were called nympholepti, or “nymph-possessed.” 5 But the plain of Eleusinian Demeter, and the promise of victory to the Athenians if they fought the battle in their own territory, called them back, as it were, to Attica, and changed the seat of war.
[Arist. 11.6] At this time the general of the Plataeans, Arimnestus, had a dream in which he thought he was accosted by Zeus the Saviour and asked what the Hellenes had decided to do, and replied: “On the morrow, my Lord, we are going to lead our army back to Eleusis, and fight out our issue with the Barbarians there, in accordance with the Pythian oracle.” 6 Then the god said they were entirely in error, for the Pythian oracle’s places were there in the neighbourhood of Plataea, and if they sought them they would surely find them. All this was made so vivid to Arimnestus that as soon as he awoke he summoned the oldest and most experienced of his fellow-citizens. By conference and investigation with these he discovered that near Hysiae, at the foot of mount Cithaeron, there was a very ancient temple bearing the names of Eleusinian Demeter and Cora. 7 Straightway then he took Aristides and led him to the spot. They found that it was naturally very well suited to the array of infantry against a force that was superior in cavalry, since the spurs of Cithaeron made the edges of the plain adjoining the temple unfit for horsemen. There, too, was the shrine of the hero Androcrates hard by, enveloped in a grove of dense and shady trees. 8 And besides, that the oracle might leave no rift in the hope of victory, the Plataeans voted, on motion of Arimnestus, 326 to remove the boundaries of Plataea on the side toward Attica, and to give this territory to the Athenians, that so they might contend in defence of Hellas on their own soil, in accordance with the oracle.
[Arist. 11.9] 9 The munificence of the Plataeans became so celebrated that Alexander, many years afterwards, when he was now King of Asia, built the walls of Plataea, and had proclamation made by herald at the Olympic games that the King bestowed this grace upon the Plataeans in return for their bravery and magnanimity in freely bestowing their territory upon the Hellenes in the Median war, and so showing themselves most zealous of all.
[Arist. 12.1] 12 1 Now with the Athenians the men of Tegea came to strife regarding their position in the line. They claimed that, as had always been the case, since the Lacedaemonians held the right wing, they themselves should hold the left, and in support of their claim they sounded loudly the praises of their ancestors. The Athenians were incensed, and Aristides came forward and made this speech: “To argue with the men of Tegea about noble birth and bravery, there is surely no time now; but we declare to you, O Spartans, and to the rest of the Hellenes, that valour is not taken away from a man, nor is it given him, by his position in the line. Whatsoever post ye shall assign to us, we will endeavour to maintain and adorn it, and so bring no disgrace upon the contests we have made before. 2 We are come, not to quarrel with our allies, but to do battle with our foes; not to heap praises on our fathers, but to show ourselves brave men in the service of Hellas. It is this contest which will show how much any city or captain or private soldier is worth to Hellas.” On hearing this, the councillors and leaders declared for the Athenians, and assigned to them the other wing.
[Arist. 13.1] 13 1 While Hellas was thus in suspense and Athens especially in danger, certain men of that city who were of prominent families and large wealth, but had been impoverished by the war, saw that with their riches all their influence in the city and their reputation had departed, while other men now had the honours and offices. They therefore met secretly at a certain house in Plataea, and conspired to overthrow the democracy; or, if their plans did not succeed, to injure the general cause and betray it to the Barbarians.
[Arist. 13.2] 2 Such was the agitation of the camp, and many had already been corrupted, when Aristides got wind of the matter, and, fearful of the crisis that favoured the plot, determined not to leave the matter in neglect, nor yet to bring it wholly to the light, since it could not be known how many would be implicated by a test which was based on justice rather than expediency. 3 Accordingly, he arrested some eight or so of the many conspirators. Two of these, against whom the charge was first formally brought, and who were really the most guilty ones, Aeschines of Lamptrae and Agesias of Acharnae, fled the camp. The rest he released, affording thus an opportunity for encouragement and repentance to those who still thought they had escaped detection, and suggested to them that the war was a great tribunal for their acquittal from the charges made against them, provided they took sincere and righteous counsel in behalf of their country.
[Arist. 14.1] 14 1 After this, Mardonius made trial of the Hellenes with that arm of his service in which he thought himself most superior. He despatched all his cavalry against them as they lay encamped at the foot of Cithaeron, in positions that were rugged and rocky — all except the Megarians. These, to the number of three thousand, were encamped the rather in open plain. For this reason they suffered severely at the hands of the cavalry, which poured in tides against them, and found access to them on every side. 2 Accordingly, they sent a messenger in haste to Pausanias, bidding him come to their aid, since they were unable of themselves to withstand the host of the Barbarians. Pausanias, on hearing this, and seeing at once that the camp of the Megarians was as good as hidden from view by the multitude of the enemy’s javelins and arrows, and that its defenders were huddled together in narrow quarters, 327 on his own part had no way of rendering them aid against horsemen, since his phalanx of Spartans was full-armoured and slow of movement; 3 but to the rest of the generals and captains of the Hellenes who were about him he proposed, in order to stir up their valour and ambition, that some of them should volunteer to make contention for the succour of the Megarians. The rest all hesitated, but Aristides, in behalf of the Athenians, undertook the task, and despatched his most zealous captain, Olympiodorus, with the three hundred picked men of his command, and archers mingled with them.
[Arist. 14.4] 4 These quickly arrayed themselves and advanced to the attack on the run. Masistius, the commander of the Barbarian cavalry, a man of wonderful prowess and of surpassing stature and beauty of person, saw them coming, and at once wheeled his horse to face them and charged down upon them. Then there was a mighty struggle between those who withstood and those who made the charge, since both regarded this as a test of the whole issue between them. 5 Presently the horse of Masistius was hit with an arrow, and threw his rider, who lay where he fell, unable to raise himself, so heavy was his armour; and yet he was no easy prey to the Athenians, though they pressed upon him and smote him. For not only his chest and head, but also his limbs were encased in gold and bronze and iron. But at last, with the spike of a javelin, through the eye-hole of his helmet, he was smitten to the death, and the rest of the Persians abandoned his body and fled. 6 The magnitude of their success was known to the Hellenes, not from the multitude of those they slew, for few had fallen, but from the grief of the Barbarians. For they shore their own hair in tribute to Masistius, and that of their horses and mules, and filled the plain with their wailing cries. They felt that they had lost a man who, after Mardonius himself, was by far the first in valour and authority.
[Arist. 15.1] 15 1 After this cavalry battle, both sides refrained from further fighting for a long time, since only as they acted on the defensive would victory be theirs — so the soothsayers interpreted the sacrifices alike for Persians and Hellenes, — but if they attacked, defeat. At last Mardonius, since he had supplies remaining for only a few days, and since the Hellenes were ever increasing in number as fresh bodies joined them, impatiently determined to wait no longer, but to cross the Asopus at daybreak and attack the Athenians unexpectedly. During the evening he gave the watchword to his commanders.
[Arist. 15.2] 2 But about midnight a solitary horseman quietly approached the camp of the Hellenes and falling in with the outposts, ordered that Aristides the Athenian come to him. He was speedily obeyed, and then said: “I am Alexander the Macedonian, and I am come at the greatest peril to myself, out of my good-will toward you, that no suddenness of attack may frighten you into inferior fighting. 3 Mardonius will surely give battle on the morrow, not because he has substantial hope or even courage, but because he is destitute of provisions. His soothsayers, indeed, are trying to keep him from battle by unpropitious sacrifices and oracular utterances, while his army is full of dejection and consternation; but he must needs boldly try his fortune, or sit still and endure extremest destitution.” 4 When he had told him this, Alexander begged Aristides to keep the knowledge to himself and bear it well in mind, but to tell it to none other. Aristides replied that it was not honourable to conceal this knowledge from Pausanias, since it was on him that the supreme command devolved, but that it should not be told the other leaders before the battle; though in case Hellas were victorious, no man should remain ignorant of Alexander’s zeal and valour. 5 After this conversation, the king of the Macedonians rode off back again, 328 and Aristides went to the tent of Pausanias and told him all that had been said. Then they summoned the other leaders and gave them orders to keep the army in array, since there was to be a battle.
[Arist. 16.1] 16 1 At this juncture, as Herodotus relates, Pausanias sent word to Aristides, demanding that the Athenians change their position and array themselves on the right wing, over against the Persians, where they would contend better, he said, since they were versed already in the Persian style of fighting, and emboldened by a previous victory over them; the left wing, where the Medising Hellenes were going to attack, should be intrusted to himself and his Spartans.
[Arist. 16.2] 2 The rest of the Athenian generals thought it inconsiderate and annoying in Pausanias to leave the rest of his line in the position assigned, while he moved them, and them only, back and forth like Helots, and put them forward where the fighting was to be hottest. But Aristides declared that they were utterly wrong; they had contended emulously with the Tegeans, but a little while back, for the occupation of the left wing, and plumed themselves on being preferred before those rivals; 3 but now, when the Lacedaemonians of their own accord vacated the right wing for them, and after a fashion proffered them the leadership among the Hellenes, they neither welcomed the reputation thus to be won, nor counted it gain that their contention would thus be, not with men of the same tribes and kindreds, but rather with Barbarians and natural enemies. Upon this the Athenians very willingly exchanged posts with the Spartans, 4 and the word passed from lip to lip far through the ranks that their enemies would attack them with no better arms and with no braver spirits than at Marathon, nay, with the same kind of archery as then, and with the same variegated vesture and gold adornments to cover soft bodies and unmanly spirits; “while we have not only like arms and bodies with greater courage which is born of our victories; and our contest is not alone for land and city, as theirs was, but also for the trophies which they set up at Marathon and Salamis, in order that the world may think that not even those were due to Miltiades only, or to fortune, but to the Athenians.”
[Arist. 16.5] 5 The Spartans and Athenians, then, were busily engaged in exchanging posts; but the Thebans heard of it from deserters and told Mardonius. He, at once, whether through fear of the Athenians or out of ambition to engage with the Lacedaemonians, counterchanged his Persians to the right wing, and ordered the Hellenes with him to set themselves against the Athenians. 6 When this change in his enemy’s order of battle was manifest, Pausanias returned and occupied the right wing again, whereupon Mardonius also resumed his own left wing, just as he stood at the beginning, facing the Lacedaemonians. And thus the day came to an end without action. The Hellenes, on deliberation, decided to change their camp to a position farther on, and to secure a spot where there was plenty of good water, since the neighbouring springs were defiled and ruined by the Barbarians’ superior force of cavalry.
[Arist. 17.1] 17 1 Night came on, and the generals set out to lead their forces to the appointed encampment. The soldiers, however, showed no great eagerness to follow in close order, but when they had once abandoned their first defences, most of them hurried on toward the city of Plataea, and there tumult reigned as they scattered about and encamped in no order whatsoever. But it chanced that the Lacedaemonians were left alone behind the others, and that too against their will. 2 For Amompharetus, a man of a fierce and venturesome spirit, who had long been mad for battle and distressed by the many postponements and delays, now at last lost all control of himself, denounced the change of position as a runaway flight and declared that he would not abandon his post, but stay there with his company and await the onset of Mardonius. 3 And when Pausanias came up and told him that their action had been formally voted by the Hellenes in council, Amompharetus picked up a great stone and threw it down at the feet of Pausanias, 329 saying that was his personal vote for battle, and he cared not a whit for the cowardly counsels and votes of the rest. Pausanias, perplexed at the case, sent to the Athenians, who were already moving off, begging them to wait and make the march in company with him, and then began to lead the rest of his troops toward Plataea, with the idea that he would thus force Amompharetus from his position.
[Arist. 17.4] 4 At this point day overtook them, and Mardonius, who did not fail to notice that the Hellenes had abandoned their encampment, with his force in full array, bore down upon the Lacedaemonians, with great shouting and clamour on the part of the Barbarians, who felt that there would be no real battle, but that the Hellenes had only to be snatched off as they fled. And this lacked but little of coming to pass. 5 For Pausanias, on seeing the situation, though he did check his march and order every man to take post for battle, forgot, either in his rage at Amompharetus or his confusion at the speed of the enemy, to give the signal for battle to the confederate Hellenes. For this reason they did not come to his aid at once, nor in a body, but in small detachments and straggling, after the battle was already joined.
[Arist. 17.6] 6 When Pausanias got no favourable omens from his sacrifices, he ordered his Lacedaemonians to sit quiet with their shields planted in front of them, and to await his orders, making no attempt to repulse their enemies, while he himself went to sacrificing again. By this time the horsemen were charging upon them; presently their missiles actually reached them, and many a Spartan was smitten. 7 And then it was that Callicrates, said to be the fairest of the Hellenes to look upon, and the tallest man in their whole army, was shot, and, dying, said he did not grieve at death, since he had left his home to die for Hellas, but at dying without striking a single blow. Their experience was indeed a terrible one, but the restraint of the men was wonderful. They did not try to repel the enemy who were attacking them, but awaited from their god and their general the favourable instant, while they endured wounds and death at their posts.
[Arist. 17.8] 8 Some say that as Pausanias was sacrificing and praying, a little to one side of his line of battle, some Lydians suddenly fell upon him and rudely hurled away the sacrificial offerings; and that Pausanias and his attendants, being without weapons, smote the intruders with the sacrificial staves and goads; wherefore, to this day, in imitation of this onslaught, the ceremonies of beating the young warriors round the altar at Sparta, and of the procession of the Lydians which follows this, are duly celebrated as rites.
[Arist. 18.1] 18 1 Then, in distress at this state of affairs, while the seer slew victim after victim, Pausanias turned his face, all tears, toward the Heraeum, and with hands uplifted prayed Cithaeronian Hera and the other gods of the Plataean land that, if it was not the lot of the Hellenes to be victorious, they might at least do great deeds before they fell, and show to a certainty that their enemies had marched out against men who were brave and who knew how to fight. 2 While Pausanias was thus calling on the gods, right in the midst of his prayers, the sacrifices showed themselves propitious and the seer announced victory. Word was at once passed all along the line to set themselves in motion against the enemy, and the phalanx suddenly had the look of a fierce beast bristling up to defend itself. The Barbarians then got assurance that their contest was to be with men who would fight to the death. 3 Therefore they made a rampart of their wicker targets and shot their arrows into the ranks of the Lacedaemonians. These, however, kept their shields closely locked together as they advanced, fell upon their foemen, tore away their wicker targets, and then, smiting the Persians in face and breast with their long spears, they slew many, who nevertheless did great deeds of courage before they fell. 330 For they grasped the long spears with their naked hands, fractured them for the most part, and then took to short-range fighting with a will, plying their daggers and scimetars, tearing away their enemies’ shields, and locking them in close embrace; and so they held out a long time.
[Arist. 18.4] 4 The Athenians, meanwhile, were quietly awaiting the Lacedaemonians. But when the shouts of those engaged in battle fell loud upon their ears, and there came, as they say, a messenger from Pausanias telling them what was happening, they set out with speed to aid him. However, as they were advancing through the plain to his aid, the medising Hellenes bore down upon them. 5 Then Aristides, to begin with, when he saw them, went far forward and shouted to them, invoking the gods of Hellas, that they refrain from battle, and oppose not nor hinder those who were bearing aid to men standing in the van of danger for the sake of Hellas. But as soon as he saw that they paid no heed to him, and were arrayed for battle, then he turned aside from rendering aid where he had proposed, and engaged with these, though they were about fifty thousand in number. 6 But the greater part of them at once gave way and withdrew, especially as the Barbarians had also retired, and the battle is said to have been fought chiefly with the Thebans, whose foremost and most influential men were at that time very eagerly medising, and carried with them the multitude, not of choice, but at the bidding of the few.
[Arist. 19.1] 19 1 The contest thus begun in two places, the Lacedaemonians were first to repulse the Persians. Mardonius was slain by a man of Sparta named Arimnestus, who crushed his head with a stone, even as was foretold him by the oracle in the shrine of Amphiaraüs. Thither he had sent a Lydian man, and a Carian beside to the oracle of Trophonius. This latter the prophet actually addressed in the Carian tongue; 2 but the Lydian, on lying down in the precinct of Amphiaraüs, dreamed that an attendant of the god stood by his side and bade him be gone, and on his refusal, hurled a great stone upon his head, insomuch that he died from the blow (so ran the man’s dream). These things are so reported. Furthermore, the Lacedaemonians shut the flying Persians up in their wooden stockade.
[Arist. 19.3] Shortly after this it was that the Athenians routed the Thebans, after slaying three hundred, their most eminent leaders, in the actual battle. 3 After the rout was effected, and more might have been slain, there came a messenger to the Athenians, telling them that the Barbarian force was shut up and besieged in their stockade. So they suffered the Hellenes in front of them to make good their escape, while they themselves marched to the stockade. They brought welcome aid to the Lacedaemonians, who were altogether inexperienced and helpless in storming walled places, and captured the camp with great slaughter of the enemy. 4 Out of three hundred thousand, only forty thousand, it is said, made their escape with Artabazus. Of those who contended in behalf of Hellas, there fell in all one thousand three hundred and sixty. Of these, fifty-two were Athenians, all of the Aeantid tribe, according to Cleidemus, which made the bravest contest 5 (for which reason the Aeantids used to sacrifice regularly to the Sphragitic nymphs the sacrifice ordained by the Pythian oracle for the victory, receiving the expenses therefor from the public funds); ninety-one were Lacedaemonians, and sixteen were men of Tegea.
[Arist. 19.6] Astonishing, therefore, is the statement of Herodotus, where he says that these one hundred and fifty-nine represented the only Hellenes who engaged the enemy, and that not one of the rest did so. Surely the total number of those who fell, as well as the monuments erected over them, testifies that the success was a common one. 6 Besides, had the men of three cities only made the contest, while the rest sat idly by, the altar would not have been inscribed as it was: —
[Arist. 19.6b] “Here did the Hellenes, flushed with a victory granted by Ares
Over the routed Persians, together, for Hellas delivered,
Build them an altar of Zeus, Zeus as Deliverer known.”
[Arist. 19.7] 7 This battle was fought on the fourth of the month Boëdromion, as the Athenians reckon time; but according to the Boeotian calendar, on the twenty-seventh of the month Panemus, 331 the day when, down to the present time, the Hellenic council assembles in Plataea, and the Plataeans sacrifice to Zeus the Deliverer for the victory. We must not wonder at the apparent discrepancy between these dates, since, even now that astronomy is a more exact science, different peoples have different beginnings and endings for their months.
[Arist. 20.1] 20 1 After this, the Athenians would not grant the Spartans the highest meed of valour, nor allow them to erect a general trophy, and the cause of the Hellenes had certainly gone at once to destruction from their armed contention, had not Aristides, by abundant exhortation and admonition, checked his fellow-generals, especially Leocrates and Myronides, and persuaded them to submit the case to the Hellenes for decision. 2 Thereupon, in the council of the Hellenes, Theogeiton the Megarian said that the meed of valour must be given to some third city, unless they desired the confusion of a civil war. At this point Cleocritus the Corinthian rose to speak. Every one thought he would demand the meed of valour for the Corinthians, since Corinth was held in greatest estimation after Sparta and Athens. But to the astonishment and delight of all, he made a proposition in behalf of the Plataeans, and counselled to take away contention by giving them the meed of valour, since at their honour neither claimant could take offence. 3 To this proposal Aristides was first to agree on behalf of the Athenians, then Pausanias on behalf of the Lacedaemonians. Thus reconciled, they chose out eighty talents of the booty for the Plataeans, with which they rebuilt the sanctuary of Athena, and set up the shrine, and adorned the temple with frescoes, which continue in perfect condition to the present day; then the Lacedaemonians set up a trophy on their own account, and the Athenians also for themselves.
[Arist. 20.4] 4 When they consulted the oracle regarding the sacrifice to be made, the Pythian god made answer that they were to erect an altar of Zeus the Deliverer, but were not to sacrifice upon it until they had extinguished the fire throughout the land, which he said had been polluted by the Barbarians, and kindled it fresh and pure from the public hearth at Delphi. Accordingly the commanders of Hellenes went about straightway and compelled all who were using fire to extinguish it, while Euchidas, who promised to bring the sacred fire with all conceivable speed, went from Plataea to Delphi. 5 There he purified his person by sprinkling himself with the holy water, and crowned himself with laurel. Then he took from the altar the sacred fire and started to run back to Plataea. He reached the place before the sun had set, accomplishing thus a thousand furlongs in one and the same day. He greeted his countrymen, handed them the sacred fire, and straightway fell down, and after a little expired. In admiration of him the Plataeans gave him burial in the sanctuary of Artemis Eucleia, and inscribed upon his tomb this tetrameter verse: —
[Arist. 20.4b] “Euchidas, to Pytho running, came back here the selfsame day.”
[Arist. 20.6] 6 Now Eucleia is regarded by most as Artemis, and is so addressed; but some say she was a daughter of Heracles and of that Myrto who was daughter of Menoetius and sister of Patroclus, and that, dying in virginity, she received divine honours among the Boeotians and Locrians. For she has an altar and an image built in every market place, and receives preliminary sacrifices from would be brides and bridegrooms.
[Arist. 21.1] 21 1 After this, there was a general assembly of the Hellenes, at which Aristides proposed a decree to the effect that deputies and delegates from all Hellas convene at Plataea every year, and that every fourth year festival games of deliverance be celebrated — the Eleutheria; also that a confederate Hellenic force be levied, consisting of ten thousand shield, one thousand horse, and one hundred ships, to prosecute the war against the Barbarian; also that the Plataeans be set apart as inviolable and consecrate, that they might sacrifice to Zeus the Deliverer in behalf of Hellas.
[Arist. 21.2] 332 2 These propositions were ratified, and the Plataeans undertook to make funeral offerings annually for the Hellenes who had fallen in battle and lay buried there. And this they do yet unto this day, after the following manner. On the sixteenth of the month Maimacterion (which is the Boeotian Alalcomenius), they celebrate a procession. 3 This is led forth at break of day by a trumpeter sounding the signal for battle; waggons follow filled with myrtle-wreaths, then comes a black bull, then free-born youths carrying libations of wine and milk in jars, and pitchers of oil and myrrh (no slave may put hand to any part of that ministration, because the men thus honoured died for freedom); 4 and following all, the chief magistrate of Plataea, who may not at other times touch iron or put on any other raiment than white, at this time is robed in a purple tunic, carries on high a water-jar from the city’s archive chamber, and proceeds, sword in hand, through the midst of the city to the graves; 5 there he takes water from the sacred spring, washes off with his own hands the gravestones, and anoints them with myrrh; then he slaughters the bull at the funeral pyre, and, with prayers to Zeus and Hermes Terrestrial, summons the brave men who died for Hellas to come to the banquet and its copious draughts of blood; next he mixes a mixer of wine, drinks, and then pours a libation from it, saying these words: “I drink to the men who died for the freedom of the Hellenes.” These rites, I say, are observed by the Plataeans down to this very day.
[Arist. 22.1] 22 1 After the Athenians had returned to their own city, Aristides saw that they desired to receive the more popular form of government. He thought the people worthy of consideration because of its sturdy valour, and he saw also that it was no longer easy to be forced out of its desires, since it was powerful in arms, and greatly elated by its victories. So he introduced a decree that the administration of the city be the privilege of all classes, and that the archons be chosen from all the Athenians.
[Arist. 22.2] 2 Themistocles once declared to the people that he had devised a certain measure which could not be revealed to them, though it would be helpful and salutary for the city, and they ordered that Aristides alone should hear what it was and pass judgment on it. So Themistocles told Aristides that his purpose was to burn the naval station of the confederate Hellenes, for that in this way the Athenians would be greatest, and lords of all. Then Aristides came before the people and said of the deed which Themistocles purposed to do, that none other could be more advantageous, and none more unjust. On hearing this, the Athenians ordained that Themistocles cease from his purpose. So fond of justice was the people, and so loyal and true to the people was Aristides.
[Arist. 23.1] 23 1 When he was sent out as general along with Cimon to prosecute the war, and saw that Pausanias and the other Spartan commanders were offensive and severe to the allies, he made his own intercourse with them gentle and humane, and induced Cimon to be on easy terms with them and to take an actual part in their campaigns, so that, before the Lacedaemonians were aware, not by means of hoplites or ships or horsemen, but by tact and diplomacy he had stripped them of the leadership. 2 For, well disposed as the Hellenes were towards the Athenians on account of the justice of Aristides and the reasonableness of Cimon, they were made to long for their supremacy still more by the rapacity of Pausanias and his severity. The commanders of the allies ever met with angry harshness at the hands of Pausanias, and the common men he punished with stripes, or by compelling them to stand all day long with an iron anchor on their shoulders. 3 No one could get bedding or fodder or go down to a spring for water before the Spartans, nay, their servants armed with goads would drive away such as approached. On these grounds Aristides once had it in mind to chide and admonish him, but Pausanias scowled, said he was busy, and would not listen.
[Arist. 23.4] 333 4 Subsequently the captains and generals of the Hellenes, and especially the Chians, Samians, and Lesbians, came to Aristides and tried to persuade him to assume the leadership and bring over to his support the allies, who had long wanted to be rid of the Spartans and to range themselves anew on the side of the Athenians. He replied that he saw the urgency and the justice of what they proposed, but that to establish Athenian confidence in them some overt act was needed, the doing of which would make it impossible for the multitude to change their allegiance back again. 5 So Uliades the Samian and Antagoras the Chian conspired together, and ran down the trireme of Pausanias off Byzantium, closing in on both sides of it as it was putting out before the line. When Pausanias saw what they had done, he sprang up and wrathfully threatened to show the world in a little while that these men had run down not so much his ship as their own native cities; but they bade him be gone, and be grateful to that force which fought in his favour at Plataea; it was because the Hellenes still stood in awe of this, they said, that they did not punish him as he deserved. And finally they went off and joined the Athenians.
[Arist. 23.6] 6 Then indeed was the lofty wisdom of the Spartans made manifest in a wonderful way. When they saw that their commanders were corrupted by the great powers entrusted to them, they voluntarily abandoned the leadership and ceased sending out generals for the war, choosing rather to have their citizens discreet and true to their ancestral customs than to have the sway over all Hellas.
[Arist. 24.1] 24 1 The Hellenes used to pay a sort of contribution for the war even while the Lacedaemonians had the leadership, but now they wished to be assessed equably city by city. So they asked the Athenians for Aristides, and commissioned him to inspect their several territories and revenues, and then to fix the assessments according to each member’s worth and ability to pay. 2 And yet, though he became master of such power, and though after a fashion Hellas put all her property in his sole hands, poor as he was when he went forth on this mission, he came back from it poorer still, and he made his assessments of money not only with purity and justice, but also to the grateful satisfaction and convenience of all concerned. Indeed, as men of old hymned the praises of the age of Cronus — the golden age, so did the allies of the Athenians praise the tariff of Aristides, calling it a kind of blessed happening for Hellas, especially as, after a short time, it was doubled and then again trebled. 3 For the tax which Aristides laid amounted to four hundred and sixty talents only; but Pericles must have added almost a third to this, since Thucydides says that when the war began the Athenians had a revenue of six hundred talents from their allies. And after the death of Pericles the demagogues enlarged it little by little, and at last brought the sum total up to thirteen hundred talents, not so much because the war, by reason of its length and vicissitudes, became extravagantly expensive, as because they themselves led the people off into the distribution of public moneys for spectacular entertainments, and for the erection of images and sanctuaries.
[Arist. 24.4] 4 So then Aristides had a great and admirable name for his adjustment of the revenues. But Themistocles is said to have ridiculed him, claiming that the praise he got therefor was not fit for a man, but rather for a mere money-wallet. He came off second best, however, in this retort upon the plain speech of Aristides, who had remarked, when Themistocles once declared to him the opinion that the greatest excellence in a general was the anticipation of the plans of his enemies: “That is indeed needful, Themistocles, but the honourable thing, and that which makes the real general, is his mastery over his fingers.”
[Arist. 25.1] 25 1 Aristides did, indeed, bind the Hellenes by an oath, and took oath himself for the Athenians, 334 to mark his imprecations casting iron ingots into the sea; but afterwards, when circumstances, forsooth, compelled a more strenuous sway, he bade the Athenians lay the perjury to his own charge, and turn events to their own advantage. 2 And in general, as Theophrastus tells us, while the man was strictly just in his private relations to his fellow-citizens, in public matters he often acted in accordance with the policy which his country had adopted, feeling that this required much actual injustice. For instance, he says that when the question of removing the moneys of the confederacy from Delos to Athens, contrary to the compacts, was being debated, and even the Samians proposed it, Aristides declared that it was unjust, but advantageous. 3 And yet, although he at last established his city in its sway over so many men, he himself abode by his poverty, and continued to be no less content with the reputation he got from being a poor man, than with that based on his trophies of victory. This is clear from the following story.
[Arist. 25.4] Callias the Torch-bearer was a kinsman of his. This man was prosecuted by his enemies on a capital charge, and after they had brought only moderate accusations against him within the scope of their indictment, they went outside of it and appealed to the judges as follows: 4 “You know Aristides the son of Lysimachus,” they said, “how he is admired in Hellas; what do you suppose his domestic circumstances are when you see him entering the public assembly in such a scanty cloak as that? Is it not likely that a man who shivers in public goes hungry at home, and is straitened for the other necessaries of life? Callias, however, who is the richest man of Athens (and his cousin at that), allows him to suffer want with his wife and children, though he has often had service of the man, and many times reaped advantage from his influence with you.” 5 But Callias, seeing that his judges were very turbulent at this charge, and bitterly disposed toward him, summoned Aristides and demanded his testimony before the judges that though often proffered aid from him and importuned to accept it, he had refused it, with the answer that it more became him to be proud of his poverty than Callias of his wealth; for many were to be seen who use wealth well or ill, but it was not easy to find a man who endured poverty with a noble spirit; and those only should be ashamed of poverty who could not be otherwise than poor. 6 When Aristides had borne this witness for Callias, there was no one of his hearers who did not go home preferring to be poor with Aristides rather than to be rich with Callias. This, at any rate, is the story told by Aeschines the Socratic. And Plato maintains that of all those who had great names and reputations at Athens, this man alone was worthy of regard. Themistocles, he says, and Cimon, and Pericles, filled the city with porches and moneys and no end of nonsense; but Aristides squared his politics with virtue.
[Arist. 25.7] 7 There are also strong proofs of his reasonableness to be seen in his treatment of Themistocles. This man he had found to be his foe during almost all his public service, and it was through this man that he was ostracized; but when Themistocles was in the same plight, and was under accusation before the city, Aristides remembered no evil; nay, though Alcmeon and Cimon and many others denounced and persecuted the man, Aristides alone did and said no meanness, nor did he take any advantage of his enemy’s misfortune, just as formerly he did not grudge him his prosperity.
[Arist. 26.1] 26 1 As touching the death of Aristides, some say he died in Pontus, on an expedition in the public service; others at Athens, of old age, honoured and admired by his countrymen. But Craterus the Macedonian tells something like this about the death of the man. After the exile of Themistocles, he says, the people waxed wanton, as it were, and produced a great crop of sycophants, who hounded down the noblest and most influential men, 335 and subjected them to the malice of the multitude, now exalted with its prosperity and power. 2 Among these he says that Aristides also was convicted of bribery, on prosecution of Diophantus of the deme Amphitropé, for having taken money from the Ionians when he was regulating the tributes; and, further, that being unable to pay the judgment, which was fifty minas, he sailed away and died somewhere in Ionia. But Craterus furnishes no documentary proof of this, — no judgment of the court, no decree of indictment, — although he is wont to record such things with all due fulness, and to adduce his authorities.
[Arist. 26.3] 3 All the rest, as I may venture to say, — all who rehearse the shortcomings of the people in dealing with their leaders, — compile and descant upon the exile of Themistocles, the imprisonment of Miltiades, the fine of Pericles, the death of Paches in the court room, — he slew himself on the rostrum when he saw that he was convicted, — and many such a case, and they put into the list the ostracism of Aristides, but of such a condemnation as this for bribery they make no mention whatsoever.
[Arist. 27.1] 27 1 Moreover, his tomb is pointed out at Phalerum, and they say the city constructed it for him, since he did not leave even enough to pay for his funeral. And they tell how his daughters were married from the prytaneium at the public cost, the city bestowing the dowry for the marriage and voting outright three thousand drachmas to each daughter, while to Lysimachus his son, the people gave one hundred minas in silver, as many acres of vineyard land, and besides this a pension of four drachmas per diem, — 2 all in a bill which was brought in by Alcibiades. And further, Lysimachus left a daughter, Polycrité, according to Callisthenes, and the people voted for her a public maintenance, in the style of their Olympic victors. Again, Demetrius the Phalerean, Hieronymus the Rhodian, Aristoxenus the Musician, and Aristotle (provided the book “On Nobility of Birth” is to be ranked among the genuine works of Aristotle) relate that Myrto, the granddaughter of Aristides, lived in wedlock with Socrates the Sage. He had another woman to wife, but took this one up because her poverty kept her a widow, and she lacked the necessaries of life. 3 To these, however, Panaetius, in his work on Socrates, has made sufficient reply.
[Arist. 27.1b] And the Phalerean says, in his “Socrates,” that he remembers a grandson of Aristides, Lysimachus, a very poor man, who made his own living by means of a sort of dream-interpreting tablet, his seat being near the so called Iaccheium. To this man’s mother and to her sister, Demetrius persuaded the people to give, by formal decree, a pension of three obols per diem; though afterwards, in his capacity of sole legislator, he himself, as he says, assigned a drachma instead of three obols to each of the women.
[Arist. 27.4] 4 It is not to be wondered at that the people took such thought for families in the city, since on learning that the granddaughter of Aristogeiton was living humbly in Lemnos, unmarried because of her poverty, they brought her back to Athens, consorted her with a well-born man, and gave her the estate in Potamus for her dowry. For such humanity and benevolence, of which the city still gives illustrious examples even in my own day, she is justly admired and lauded.

## Cato the Elder

[Cat. Ma. 1.1] 1 1 THE family of Marcus Cato, it is said, was of Tusculan origin, though he lived, previous to his career as soldier and statesman, on an inherited estate in the country of the Sabines. His ancestors commonly passed for men of no note whatever, but Cato himself extols his father, Marcus, as a brave man and good soldier. He also says that his grandfather, Cato, often won prizes for soldierly valour, and received from the state treasury, because of his bravery, the price of five horses which had been killed under him in battle. 2 The Romans used to call men who had no family distinction, but were coming into public notice through their own achievements, “new men,” and such they called Cato. But he himself used to say that as far as office and distinction went, he was indeed new, but having regard to ancestral deeds of valour, he was oldest of the old. His third name was not Cato at first, but Priscus. Afterwards he got the surname of Cato for his great abilities. The Romans call a man who is wise and prudent, catus.
[Cat. Ma. 1.3] 3 As for his outward appearance, he had reddish hair, and keen grey eyes, as the author of the well-known epigram ill-naturedly gives us to understand: —
[Cat. Ma. 1.3b] Red-haired, snapper and biter, his grey eyes flashing defiance,
Porcius, come to the shades, back will be thrust by their Queen.
[Cat. Ma. 1.4] His bodily habit, since he was addicted from the very first to labour with his own hands, a temperate mode of life, and military duties, was very serviceable, and disposed alike to vigour and health. 4 His discourse, — a second body, as it were, and, for the use of a man who would live neither obscurely nor idly, an instrument with which to perform not only necessary, but also high and noble services, — this he developed and perfected in the villages and towns about Rome, where he served as advocate for all who needed him, and got the reputation of being, first a zealous pleader, and then a capable orator. Thenceforth the weight and dignity of his character revealed themselves more and more to those who had dealings with him; they saw that he was bound to be a man of great affairs, and have a leading place in the state. 5 For he not only gave his services in legal contests without fee of any sort, as it would seem, but did not appear to cherish even the repute won in such contests as his chief ambition. Nay, he was far more desirous of high repute in battles and campaigns against the enemy, and while he was yet a mere stripling, had his breast covered with honourable wounds. 6 He says himself that he made his first campaign when he was seventeen years old, at the time when Hannibal was consuming Italy with the flames of his successes.
[Cat. Ma. 1.7] In battle, he showed himself effective of hand, sure and steadfast of foot, and of a fierce countenance. With threatening speech and harsh cries he would advance upon the foe, for he rightly thought, and tried to show others, that often-times such action terrifies the enemy more than the sword. 7 On the march, he carried his own armour on foot, while a single attendant followed in charge of his camp utensils. With this man, it is said, he was never wroth, and never scolded him when he served up a meal, nay, he actually took hold himself and assisted in most of such preparations, provided he was free from his military duties. Water was what he drank on his campaigns, except that once in a while, in a raging thirst, he would call for vinegar, or, when his strength was failing, would add a little wine.
[Cat. Ma. 2.1] 2 1 Near his fields was the cottage which had once belonged to Manius Curius, a hero of three triumphs. To this he would often go, and the sight of the small farm and the mean dwelling led him to think of their former owner, who, though he had become the greatest of the Romans, had subdued the most warlike nations, and driven Pyrrhus out of Italy, nevertheless tilled this little patch of ground with his own hands and occupied this cottage, after three triumphs. 2 Here it was that the ambassadors of the Samnites once found him seated at his hearth cooking turnips, and offered him much gold; but he dismissed them, saying that a man whom such a meal satisfied had no need of gold, and for his part he thought that a more honourable thing than the possession of gold was the conquest of its possessors. Cato would go away with his mind full of these things, and on viewing again his own house and lands and servants and mode of life, would increase the labours of his hands and lop off his extravagancies.
[Cat. Ma. 2.3] 3 When Fabius Maximus took the city of Tarentum, it chanced that Cato, who was then a mere stripling, served under him, and being lodged with a certain Nearchus, of the sect of the Pythagoreans, he was eager to know of his doctrines. When he heard this man holding forth as follows, in language which Plato also uses, condemning pleasure as “the greatest incentive to evil,” and the body as “the chief detriment to the soul, from which she can release and purify herself only by such reasonings as most do wean and divorce her from bodily sensations,” he fell still more in love with simplicity and restraint. 4 Further than this, it is said, he did not learn Greek till late in life, and was quite well on in years when he took to reading Greek books; then he profited in oratory somewhat from Thucydides, but most from Demosthenes. However, his writings are moderately embellished with Greek sentiments and stories, and many literal translations from the Greek have found a place among his maxims and proverbs.
[Cat. Ma. 3.1] 3 1 There was at Rome a certain man of the highest birth and greatest influence, who had the power to discern excellence in the bud, and the grace to cultivate it and bring it into general esteem. This man was Valerius Flaccus. He had a farm next to that of Cato, and learned from Cato’s servants of their master’s laborious and frugal way of living. He was amazed to hear them tell how Cato, early in the morning, went on foot to the market-place and pleaded the cases of all who wished his aid; 2 then came back to his farm, where, clad in a working blouse if it was winter, and stripped to the waist if it was summer, he wrought with his servants, then sat down with them to eat of the same bread and drink of the same wine. They told Valerius many other instances of Cato’s fairness and moderation, quoting also sundry pithy sayings of his, until at last Valerius gave command that Cato be invited to dine with him. 3 After this, discovering by converse with him that his nature was gentle and polite, and needed, like a growing tree, only cultivation and room to expand, Valerius urged and at last persuaded him to engage in public life at Rome. Accordingly, taking up his abode in the city, his own efforts as an advocate at once won him admiring friends, and the favour of Valerius brought him great honour and influence, so that he was made military tribune first, and then quaestor. 4 After this, being now launched on an eminent and brilliant career, he shared the highest honours with Valerius, becoming consul with him, and afterwards censor.
[Cat. Ma. 3.5] Of the elder statesmen, he attached himself most closely to Fabius Maximus, who was of the highest reputation and had the greatest influence, but this was more by way of setting before himself the character and life of the man as the fairest examples he could follow. 5 In the same spirit he did not hesitate to oppose the great Scipio, a youthful rival of Fabius, and thought to be envious of him. When he was sent out with Scipio as quaestor for the war in Africa, he saw that the man indulged in his wonted extravagance, and lavished money without stint on his soldiery. 6 He therefore made bold to tell him that the matter of expense was not the greatest evil to be complained of, but the fact that he was corrupting the native simplicity of his soldiers, who resorted to wanton pleasures when their pay exceeded their actual needs. Scipio replied that he had no use for a parsimonious quaestor when the winds were bearing him under full sail to the war; he owed the city an account of his achievements, not of its moneys. 7 Cato therefore left Sicily, and joined Fabius in denouncing before the Senate Scipio’s waste of enormous moneys, and his boyish addiction to palaestras and theatres, as though he were not commander of an army, but master of a festival. As a result of these attacks, tribunes were sent to bring Scipio back to Rome, if the charges against him should turn out to be true. 8 Well then, Scipio convinced the tribunes that victory in war depended on the preparations made for it; showed that he could be agreeable in his intercourse with his friends when he had leisure for it, but was never led by his sociability to neglect matters of large and serious import; and sailed off for his war in Africa.
[Cat. Ma. 4.1] 4 1 The influence which Cato’s oratory won for him waxed great, and men called him a Roman Demosthenes; but his manner of life was even more talked about and noised abroad. For his oratorical ability only set before young men a goal which many already were striving eagerly to attain; but a man who wrought with his own hands, as his fathers did, and was contented with a cold breakfast, a frugal dinner, simple raiment, and a humble dwelling, — one who thought more of not wanting the superfluities of life than of possessing them, — such a man was rare. 2 The commonwealth had now grown too large to keep its primitive integrity; the sway over many realms and peoples had brought a large admixture of customs, and the adoption of examples set in modes of life of every sort. It was natural, therefore, that men should admire Cato, when they saw that, whereas other men were broken down by toils and enervated by pleasures, 3 he was victor over both, and this too, not only while he was still young and ambitious, but even in his hoary age, after consulship and triumph. Then, like some victorious athlete, he persisted in the regimen of his training, and kept his mind unaltered to the last.
[Cat. Ma. 4.4] He tells us that he never wore clothing worth more than a hundred drachmas; that he drank, even when he was praetor or consul, the same wine as his slaves; that as for fish and meats, he would buy thirty asses’ worth for his dinner from the public stalls, and even this for the city’s sake, that he might not live on bread alone, but strengthen his body for military service; 4 that he once fell heir to an embroidered Babylonian robe, but sold it at once; that not a single one of his cottages had plastered walls; that he never paid more than fifteen hundred drachmas for a slave, since he did not want them to be delicately beautiful, but sturdy workers, such as grooms and herdsmen, and these he thought it his duty to sell when they got oldish, instead of feeding them when they were useless; and that in general, he thought nothing cheap that one could do without, but that what one did not need, even if it cost but a penny, was dear; also that he bought lands where crops were raised and cattle herded, not those where lawns were sprinkled and paths swept.
[Cat. Ma. 5.1] 5 1 These things were ascribed by some to the man’s parsimony; but others condoned them in the belief that he lived in this contracted way only to correct and moderate the extravagance of others. However, for my part, I regard his treatment of his slaves like beasts of burden, using them to the uttermost, and then, when they were old, driving them off and selling them, as the mark of a very mean nature, which recognizes no tie between man and man but that of necessity. 2 And yet we know that kindness has a wider scope than justice. Law and justice we naturally apply to men alone; but when it comes to beneficence and charity, these often flow in streams from the gentle heart, like water from a copious spring, even down to dumb beasts. A kindly man will take good care of his horses even when they are worn out with age, and of his dogs, too, not only in their puppyhood, but when their old age needs nursing.
[Cat. Ma. 5.3] 3 While the Athenians were building the Parthenon, they turned loose for free and unrestricted pasturage such mules as were seen to be most persistently laborious. One of these, they say, came back to the works of its own accord, trotted along by the side of its fellows under the yoke, which were dragging the waggons up to the Acropolis, and even led the way for them, as though exhorting and inciting them on. The Athenians passed a decree that the animal be maintained at the public cost as long as it lived. 4 Then there were the mares of Cimon, with which he won three victories at Olympia; their graves are near the tombs of his family. Dogs also that have been close and constant companions of men, have often been buried with honour. Xanthippus, of olden time, gave the dog which swam along by the side of his trireme to Salamis, when the people were abandoning their city, honourable burial on the promontory which is called to this day Cynossema, or Dog’s Mound.
[Cat. Ma. 5.5] 5 We should not treat living creatures like shoes or pots and pans, casting them aside when they are bruised and worn out with service, but, if for no other reason, for the sake of practice in kindness to our fellow men, we should accustom ourselves to mildness and gentleness in our dealings with other creatures. I certainly would not sell even an ox that had worked for me, just because he was old, much less an elderly man, removing him for his habitual place and customary life, as it were from his native land, for a paltry price, useless as he is to those who sell him and as he will be to those who buy him. 6 But Cato, exulting as it were in such things, says that he left in Spain even the horse which had carried him through his consular campaign, that he might not tax the city with the cost of its transportation. Whether, now, these things should be set down to greatness of spirit or littleness of mind, is an open question.
[Cat. Ma. 6.1] 6 1 But in other matters, his self-restraint was beyond measure admirable. For instance, when he was in command of an army, he took for himself and his retinue not more than three Attic bushels of wheat a month, and for his beasts of burden, less than a bushel and a half of barley a day. 2 He received Sardinia as his province, and whereas his predecessors were wont to charge the public treasury with their pavilions, couches, and apparel, while they oppressed the province with the cost of their large retinues of servants and friends, and of their lavish and elaborate banquets, his simple economy stood out in an incredible contrast. He made no demands whatever upon the public treasury, and made his circuit of the cities on foot, followed by a single public officer, who carried his robe and chalice for sacrifices. 3 And yet, though in such matters he showed himself mild and sparing to those under his authority, in other ways he displayed a dignity and severity which fully corresponded, for in the administration of justice he was inexorable, and in carrying out the edicts of the government was direct and masterful, so that the Roman power never inspired its subjects with greater fear or affection.
[Cat. Ma. 7.1] 7 1 Much the same traits are revealed in the man’s oratory. It was at once graceful and powerful, pleasant and compelling, facetious and severe, sententious and belligerent. So Plato says of Socrates that from the outside he impressed his associates as rude, uncouth, and wanton; but within he was full of earnestness, and of matters that moved his hearers to tears and wrung their hearts. 2 Wherefore I know not what they can mean who say that Cato’s oratory most resembled that of Lysias. However, such questions must be decided by those who are more capable than I am of discerning the traits of Roman oratory, and I shall now record a few of his famous sayings, believing that men’s characters are revealed much more by their speech than, as some think, by their looks.
[Cat. Ma. 8.1] 8 1 He once wished to dissuade the Roman people from insisting unseasonably upon a distribution of corn, and began his speech with these words: “It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.” Again, inveighing against the prevalent extravagance, he said: “It is a hard matter to save a city in which a fish sells for more than an ox.” 2 Again, he said the Romans were like sheep; for as these are not to be persuaded one by one, but all in a body blindly follow their leaders, “so ye,” he said, “though as individuals ye would not deign to follow the counsels of certain men, when ye are got together ye suffer yourself to be led by them.” Discoursing on the power of women, he said: “All other men rule their wives; we rule all other men, and our wives rule us.” 3 This, however, is a translation from the sayings of Themistocles. He, finding himself much under his son’s orders through the lad’s mother, said: “Wife, the Athenians rule the Hellenes, I rule the Athenians, thou rulest me, and thy son thee. Therefore let him make sparing use of that authority which makes him, child though he is, the most powerful of the Hellenes.”
[Cat. Ma. 8.4] 4 The Roman people, Cato said, fixed the market value not only of dyes, but also of behaviour. “For,” said he, “as dyers most affect that dye which they see pleases you, so your young men learn and practice that which wins your praise.” 5 And he exhorted them, in case it was through virtue and temperance that they had become great, to make no change for the worse; but if it was through intemperance and vice, to change for the better; these had already made them great enough. Of those who were eager to hold high office frequently, he said that like men who did not know the road, they sought to be ever attended on their way by lictors, lest they go astray. 6 He censured his fellow citizens for choosing the same men over and over again to high office. “You will be thought,” said he, “not to deem your offices worth much, or else not to deem many men worthy of your offices.” Of one of his enemies who had the name of leading a disgraceful and disreputable life, he said: “This man’s mother holds the wish that he may survive her to be no pious prayer, but a malignant curse.” 7 Pointing to a man who had sold his ancestral fields lying near the sea, he pretended to admire him, as stronger than the sea. “This man,” said he, “has drunk down with ease what the sea found it hard to wash away.”
[Cat. Ma. 8.8] When King Eumenes paid a visit to Rome, the Senate received him with extravagant honours, and the chief men of the city strove who should be most about him. But Cato clearly looked upon him with suspicion and alarm. 8 “Surely,” some one said to him, “he is an excellent man, and a friend of Rome.” “Granted,” said Cato, “but the animal known as king is by nature carnivorous.” He said further that not one of the kings whom men so lauded was worthy of comparison with Epaminondas, or Pericles, or Themistocles, or Manius Curius, or with Hamilcar, surnamed Barcas. 9 His enemies hated him, he used to say, because he rose every day before it was light and, neglecting his own private matters, devoted his time to the public interests. He also used to say that he preferred to do right and get no thanks, rather than to do ill and get no punishment; and that he had pardon for everybody’s mistakes except his own.
[Cat. Ma. 9.1] 9 1 The Romans once chose three ambassadors to Bithynia, of whom one was gouty, another had had his head trepanned, and the third was deemed a fool. Cato made merry over this, and said that the Romans were sending out an embassy which had neither feet, nor head, nor heart. 2 His aid was once solicited by Scipio, at the instance of Polybius, in behalf of the exiles from Achaia, and after a long debate upon the question in the Senate, where some favoured and some opposed their return home, Cato rose and said: “Here we sit all day, as if we had naught else to do, debating whether some poor old Greeks shall be buried here or in Achaia.” 3 The Senate voted that the men be allowed to return, and a few days afterwards Polybius tried to get admission to that body again, with a proposal that the exiles be restored to their former honours in Achaia, and asked Cato’s opinion on the matter. Cato smiled and said that Polybius, as if he were another Odysseus, wanted to go back into the cave of the Cyclops for a cap and belt which he had left there.
[Cat. Ma. 9.4] 4 Wise men, he said, profited more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise. He said he liked to see blushes on a young man’s face rather than pallor, and that he had no use for a soldier who plied his hands on the march, and his feet in battle, and whose snore was louder than his war-cry. 5 Railing at the fat knight, he said, “Where can such a body be of service to the state, when everything between its gullet and its groins is devoted to belly?” A certain epicure wished to enjoy his society, but he excused himself, saying that he could not live with a man whose palate was more sensitive than his heart. As for the lover, he said his soul dwelt in the body of another. 6 And as for repentance, he said he had indulged in it himself but thrice in his whole life: once when he entrusted a secret to his wife; once when he paid ship’s fare to a place instead of walking thither; and once when he remained intestate a whole day. To an old man who was steeped in iniquity he said: “Man, old age has disgraces enough of its own; do not add to them the shame of vice.” 7 To a tribune of the people who had been accused of using poison, and who was trying to force the passage of a useless bill, he said: “Young man, I know not which is worse, to drink your mixtures, or to enact your bills.” And when he was reviled by a man who led a life of shameless debauchery, he said: “I fight an unequal battle with you: you listen to abuse calmly, and utter it glibly; while for me it is unpleasant to utter it, and unusual to hear it.”
[Cat. Ma. 9.4b] Such, then, is the nature of his famous sayings.
[Cat. Ma. 10.1] 10 1 Having been elected consul with Valerius Flaccus, his intimate friend, the province which the Romans call Hither Spain was allotted to his charge. Here, while he was subduing some of the tribes, and winning over others by diplomacy, a great host of Barbarians fell upon him, and threatened to drive him disgracefully out of the province. He therefore begged the neighbouring Celtiberians to become his allies. 2 On their demanding two hundred talents pay for such assistance, all his officers thought it intolerable that Romans should agree to pay Barbarians for assistance. But Cato said there was nothing terrible in it; should they be victorious, they could pay the price with the spoils taken from the enemy, not out of their own purse, whereas, should they be vanquished, there would be nobody left either to pay or to ask the price. In this battle he was completely victorious, and the rest of his campaign was a brilliant success. 3 Polybius indeed says that in a single day the walls of all the cities on this side the river Baetis — and they were very many, and full of warlike men — were torn down at his command. And Cato himself says that he took more cities than he spent days in Spain, nor is this a mere boast, since, in fact, there were four hundred of them.
[Cat. Ma. 10.4] 4 His soldiers got large booty in this campaign, and he gave each one of them a pound of silver besides, saying that it was better to have many Romans go home with silver in their pocketsd than a few with gold. But in his own case, he says that no part of the booty fell to him, except what he ate and drank. “Not that I find fault,” he says, “with those who seek to profit by such a case, but I prefer to strive in bravery with the bravest, rather than in wealth with the richest, and in greed for money with the greediest.” And he strove to keep not only himself, but also his associates, free from all taint of gain. He had five attendants with him in the field. One of these, whose name was Paccus, bought three boys for his own account from among the public prisoners, but finding that Cato was aware of the transaction, or ever he had come into his presence, went and hanged himself. Cato sold the boys, and restored the money to the public treasury.
[Cat. Ma. 11.1] 11 While Cato still tarried in Spain, Scipio the Great, who was his enemy, and wished to obstruct the current of his successes and take away from him the administration of affairs in Spain, got himself appointed his successor in command of that province. Then he set out with all the speed possible, and brought Cato’s command to an end. But Cato took five cohorts of men-at arms and five hundred horsemen as escort on his way home, and on the march subdued the tribe of the Lacetanians, and put to death six hundred deserters whom they delivered up to him. 2 Scipio was enraged at this proceeding, but Cato, treating him with mock humility, said that only then would Rome be at her greatest, when her men of high birth refused to yield the palm of virtue to men of lower rank, and when plebeians like himself contended in virtue with their superiors in birth and reputation. However, in spite of Scipio’s displeasure, the Senate voted that no change whatever be made in what Cato had ordered and arranged, and so the administration of Scipio was marked by inactivity and idleness, and detracted from his own, rather than from Cato’s reputation. 3 Cato, on the other hand, celebrated a triumph. Most men who strive more for reputation than for virtue, when once they have attained the highest honours of consulship and triumphs, straightway adjust their future lives to the enjoyment of a pleasurable ease, and give up their public careers. But Cato did not thus remit and dismiss his virtue, nay, rather, like men first taking up the public service and all athirst for honour and reputation, he girt his loins anew, and held himself ever ready to serve his friends and fellow-citizens, either in the forum or in the field.
[Cat. Ma. 12.1] 12 1 And so it was that he assisted Tiberius Sempronius the consul in subduing the regions in Thrace and on the Danube, acting as his ambassador; and as legionary tribune under Manius Acilius, he marched into Greece against Antiochus the Great, who gave the Romans more to fear than any man after Hannibal. For he won back almost all of Seleucus Nicator’s former dominions in Asia, reduced to subjection many warlike nations of Barbarians, and was eager to engage the Romans, whom he deemed the only worthy foemen left for him. 2 So he crossed into Greece with an army, making the freeing of the Greeks a specious ground for war. This they did not need at all, since they had recently been made free and independent of Philip and the Macedonians by grace of the Romans. Greece was at once a stormy sea of hopes and fears, being corrupted by her demagogues with expectations of royal bounty. 3 Accordingly, Manius sent envoys to the several cities. Most of those which were unsettled in their allegiance Titus Flamininus restrained without ado, and quieted down, as I have written in his Life, but Corinth, Patrae, and Aegium were brought over to Rome by Cato.
[Cat. Ma. 12.4] 4 He also spent much time at Athens. And we are told that a certain speech of his is extant, which he addressed to the Athenian people in Greek, declaring that he admired the virtues of the ancient Athenians, and was glad to behold a city so beautiful and grand as theirs. But this is not true. On the contrary, he dealt with Athenians through an interpreter. He could have spoken to them directly, but he always clung to his native ways, and mocked at those who were lost in admiration of anything that was Greek. 5 For instance, he poked fun at Postumius Albinus, who wrote a history in Greek, and asked the indulgence of his readers. Cato said they might have shown him indulgence had he undertaken his task in consequence of a compulsory vote of the Amphictyonic Assembly. Moreover, he says the Athenians were astonished at the speed and pungency of his discourse. For what he himself set forth with brevity, the interpreter would repeat to them at great length and with many words; and on the whole he thought the words of the Greeks were born on their lips, but those of the Romans in their hearts.
[Cat. Ma. 13.1] 13 1 Now Antiochus had blocked up the narrow pass of Thermopylae with his army, adding trenches and walls to the natural defences of the place, and sat there, thinking he had locked the war out of Greece. And the Romans did indeed despair utterly of forcing a direct passage. But Cato, calling to mind the famous compass and circuit of the pass which the Persians had once made, took a considerable force and set out under cover of darkness. 2 They climbed the heights, but their guide, who was a prisoner of war, lost the way, and wandered about in impracticable and precipitous places until he had filled the soldiers with dreadful dejection and fear. Cato, seeing their peril, bade the rest remain quietly where they were, 3 while he himself, with a certain Lucius Manlius, an expert mountain-climber, made his way along, with great toil and hazard, in the dense darkness of a moonless night, his vision much impeded and obscured by wild olive trees and rocky peaks, until at last they came upon a path.
[Cat. Ma. 13.4] This, they thought, led down to the enemy’s camp. So they put marks and signs on some conspicuous cliffs which towered over Mount Callidromus, 4 and then made their way back again to the main body. This too they conducted to the marks and signs, struck into the path indicated by these, and started forward. But when they had gone on a little way, the path failed them, and a ravine yawned to receive them. Once more dejection and fear were rife. They did not know and could not see that they were right upon the enemy whom they sought. But presently gleams of daylight came, here and there a man thought he heard voices, and soon they actually saw a Greek outpost entrenched at the foot of the cliffs. 5 So then Cato halted his forces there, and summoned the men of Firmume to a private conference. These soldiers he had always found trusty and zealous in his service.
[Cat. Ma. 13.6] When they had run up and stood grouped about him, he said: “I must take one of the enemy’s men alive, and learn from him who they are that form this advance guard, what their number is, and with what disposition and array their main body awaits us. 6 But the task demands the swift and bold leap of lions fearlessly rushing all unarmed upon the timorous beasts on which they prey.” So spake Cato, and the Firmians instantly started, just as they were, rushed down the mountain-side, and ran upon the enemy’s sentinels. Falling upon them unexpectedly, they threw them all into confusion and scattered them in flight; one of them they seized, arms and all, and delivered him over to Cato. 7 From the captive Cato learned that the main force of the enemy was encamped in the pass with the king himself, and that the detachment guarding the pass over the mountains was composed of six hundred picked Aetolians.
[Cat. Ma. 13.7] Despising their small numbers and their carelessness, he led his troops against them at once, with bray of trumpet and battle-cry, being himself first to draw his sword. But when the enemy saw his men pouring down upon them from the cliffs, they fled to the main army, and filled them all with confusion.
[Cat. Ma. 14.1] 14 1 Meanwhile Manius also, down below, threw his whole force forward into the pass and stormed the enemy’s fortifications. Antiochus, being hit in the mouth with a stone which knocked his teeth out, wheeled his horse about for very anguish. Then his army gave way everywhere before the Roman onset. 2 Although flight for them meant impracticable roads and helpless wanderings, while deep marshes and steep cliffs threatened those who slipped and fell, still, they poured along through the pass into these, crowding one another on in their fear of the enemy’s deadly weapons, and so destroyed themselves.
[Cat. Ma. 14.3] Cato, who was ever rather generous, it would seem, in his own praises, and did not hesitate to follow up his great achievements with boastings equally great, is very pompous in his account of this exploit. 3 He says that those who saw him at that time pursuing the enemy and hewing them down, felt convinced that Cato owed less to Rome than Rome to Cato; also that the consul Manius himself, flushed with victory, threw his arms about him, still flushed with his own victory, and embraced him for a long time, crying out for joy that neither he himself nor the whole Roman people could fittingly requite Cato for his benefactions. 4 Immediately after the battle he was sent to Rome as the messenger of his own triumphs. He had a fair passage to Brundisium, crossed the peninsula from there to Tarentum in a single day, travelled thence four days more, and on the fifth day after landing reached Rome, where he was the first to announce the victory. He filled the city full of joy and sacrifices, and the people with the proud feeling that it was able to master every land and sea.
[Cat. Ma. 15.1] 15 1 These are perhaps the most remarkable features of Cato’s military career. In political life, he seems to have regarded the impeachment and conviction of malefactors as a department worthy of his most zealous efforts. For he brought many prosecutions himself, assisted others in bringing theirs, and even instigated some to begin prosecutions, as for instance Petillius against Scipio. 2 That great man, however, trampled the accusations against him under foot, as the splendour of his house and his own inherent loftiness of spirit prompted him to do, and Cato, unable to secure his capital conviction, dropped the case. But he so co-operated with the accusers of Lucius, Scipio’s brother, as to have him condemned to pay a large fine to the state. This debt Lucius was unable to meet, and was therefore liable to imprisonment. Indeed, it was only at the intercession of the tribunes that he was at last set free.
[Cat. Ma. 15.3] 3 We are also told that a certain young man, who had got a verdict of civil outlawry against an enemy of his dead father, was passing through the forum on the conclusion of the case, and met Cato, who greeted him and said: “These are the sacrifices we must bring to the spirits of our parents; not lambs and kids, but the condemnations and tears of their enemies.” However, he himself did not go unscathed, but wherever in his political career he gave his enemies the slightest handle, he was all the while suffering prosecutions and running risk of condemnation. 4 It is said that he was defendant in nearly fifty cases, and in the last one when he was eighty-six years of age. It was in the course of this that he uttered the memorable saying: “It is hard for one who has lived among men of one generation, to make his defence before those of another.” And even with this case he did not put an end to his forensic contests, but four years later, at the age of ninety, he impeached Servius Galba. 5 Indeed, he may be said, like Nestor, to have been vigorous and active among three generations. For after many political struggles with Scipio the Great, as told above, he lived to be contemporary with Scipio the Younger, who was the Elder’s grandson by adoption, and the son of that Paulus Aemilius who subdued Perseus and the Macedonians.
[Cat. Ma. 16.1] 16 1 Ten years after his consulship, Cato stood for the censorship. This office towered, as it were, above every other civic honour, and was, in a way, the culmination of a political career. The variety of its powers was great, including that of examining into the lives and manners of the citizens. Its creators thought that no one should be left to his own devices and desires, without inspection and review, either in his marriage, or in the begetting of his children, or in the ordering of his daily life, or in the entertainment of his friends. 2 Nay, rather, thinking that these things revealed a man’s real character more than did his public and political career, they set men in office to watch, admonish, and chastise, that no one should turn aside to wantonness and forsake his native and customary mode of life. They chose to this office one of the so called patricians, and one of the plebeians. These officers were called censors, and they had authority to degrade a knight, or to expel a senator who led an unbridled and disorderly life. 3 They also revised the assessments of property, and arranged the citizens in lists according to their social and political classes. There were other great powers also connected with the office.
[Cat. Ma. 16.4] Therefore, when Cato stood for it, nearly all the best known and most influential men of the senatorial party united to oppose him. The men of noble parentage among them were moved by jealousy, thinking that nobility of birth would be trampled in the mire if men of ignoble origin forced their way up to the summits of honour and power; 4 while those who were conscious of base practices and of a departure from ancestral customs, feared the severity of the man, which was sure to be harsh and inexorable in the exercise of power. Therefore, after due consultation and preparation, they put up in opposition to Cato seven candidates for the office, who sought the favour of the multitude with promises of mild conduct in office, supposing, forsooth, that it wanted to be ruled with a lax and indulgent hand. 5 Cato, on the contrary, showed no complaisance whatever, but plainly threatened wrong-doers in his speeches, and loudly cried that the city had need of a great purification. He adjured the people, if they were wise, not to choose the most agreeable physician, but the one who was most in earnest. He himself, he said, was such a physician, and so was Valerius Flaccus, of the patricians. With him as colleague, and him alone, he thought he could cut and sear to some purpose the hydra-like luxury and effeminacy of the time. As for the rest of the candidates, he saw that they were all trying to force their way into the office in order to administer it badly, since they feared those who would administer it well. 6 And so truly great was the Roman people, and so worthy of great leaders, that they did not fear Cato’s rigour and haughty independence, but rejected rather those agreeable candidates who, it was believed, would do every thing to please them, and elected Flaccus to the office along with Cato. To Cato they gave ear, not as to one soliciting office, but as to one already in office and issuing his decrees.
[Cat. Ma. 17.1] 17 1 As censor, then, Cato made Lucius Valerius Flaccus, his colleague and friend, chief senator. He also expelled many members of the Senate, including Lucius Quintius. This man had been consul seven years before, and, a thing which gave him more reputation than the consulship even, was brother of the Titus Flamininus who conquered King Philip. 2 The reason for his expulsion was the following. There was a youth who, ever since his boyhood, had been the favourite of Lucius. This youth Lucius kept ever about him, and took with him on his campaigns in greater honour and power than any one of his nearest friends and kinsmen had. He was once administering the affairs of his consular province, and at a certain banquet this youth, as was his wont, reclined at his side, and began to pay his flatteries to a man who, in his cups, was too easily led about. “I love you so much,” he said, “that once, when there was a gladiatorial show at home, a thing which I had never seen, I rushed away from it to join you, although my heart was set on seeing a man slaughtered.” 3 “Well, for that matter,” said Lucius, “don’t lie there with any grudge against me, for I will cure it.” Thereupon he commanded that one of the men who were lying under sentence of death be brought to the banquet, and that a lictor with an axe stand by his side. Then he asked his beloved if he wished to see the man smitten. The youth said he did, and Lucius ordered the man’s head to be cut off.
[Cat. Ma. 17.4] 4 This is the version which most writers give of the affair, and so Cicero has represented Cato himself as telling the story in his dialogue “On Old Age.” But Livy says the victim was a Gallic deserter, and that Lucius did not have the man slain by a lictor, but smote him with his own hand, and that this is the version of the story in a speech of Cato’s.
[Cat. Ma. 17.5] 5 On the expulsion of Lucius from the Senate by Cato, his brother was greatly indignant, and appealed to the people, urging that Cato state his reasons for the expulsion. Cato did so, narrating the incident of the banquet. Lucius attempted to make denial, but when Cato challenged him to a formal trial of the case with a wager of money upon it, he declined. 6 Then the justice of his punishment was recognized. But once when a spectacle was given in the theatre, he passed along by the senatorial seats, and took his place as far away from them as he could. Then the people took pity upon him and shouted till they had forced him to change his seat, thus rectifying, as far as was possible, and alleviating the situation.
[Cat. Ma. 17.7] 7 Cato expelled another senator who was thought to have good prospects for the consulship, namely, Manilius, because he embraced his wife in open day before the eyes of his daughter. For his own part, he said, he never embraced his wife unless it thundered loudly; and it was a pleasantry of his to remark that he was a happy man when it thundered.
[Cat. Ma. 18.1] 18 1 Cato was rather bitterly censured for his treatment of Lucius, the brother of Scipio, whom, though he had achieved the honour of a triumph, he expelled from the equestrian order. He was thought to have done this as an insult to the memory of Scipio Africanus. But he was most obnoxious to the majority of his enemies because he lopped off extravagance in living. This could not be done away with outright, since most of the people were already infected and corrupted by it, and so he took a roundabout way. 2 He had all apparel, equipages, jewellery, furniture and plate, the value of which in any case exceeded fifteen hundred drachmas, assessed at ten times its worth, wishing by means of larger assessments to make the owners’ taxes also larger. Then he laid a tax of three on every thousand asses thus assessed, in order that such property holders, burdened by their charges, and seeing that people of equal wealth who led modest and simple lives paid less into the public treasury, might desist from their extravagance. 3 As a result, both classes were incensed against them, but those who endured the taxes for the sake of their luxury, and those no less who put away their luxury because of the taxes. For most men think themselves robbed of their wealth if they are prevented from displaying it, and that display of it is made in the superfluities, not in the necessaries of life. This, we are told, is what most astonished Ariston the philosopher, namely, that those possessed of the superfluities of life should be counted happy, rather than those well provided with life’s necessary and useful things. 4 Scopas the Thessalian, when one of his friends asked for something of his which was of no great service to him, with the remark that he asked for nothing that was necessary and useful, replied: “And yet my wealth and happiness are based on just such useless and superfluous things.” Thus the desire for wealth is no natural adjunct of the soul, but is imposed upon it by the false opinions of the outside world.
[Cat. Ma. 19.1] 19 1 However, Cato paid not the slightest heed to his accusers, but grew still more strict. He cut off the pipes by which people conveyed part of the public water into their private houses and gardens; he upset and demolished all buildings that encroached on public land; he reduced the cost of public works to the lowest, and forced the rent of public lands to the highest possible figure. 2 All these things brought much odium upon him. Titus Flamininus headed a party against him which induced the Senate to annul as useless the outlays and payments which he had authorised for temples and public works, and incited the boldest of the tribunes to call him to account before the people and fine him two talents. The Senate also strongly opposed the erection of the basilica which he built at the public cost below the council-house in the Forum, and which was called the Basilica Porcia.
[Cat. Ma. 19.3] 3 Still, it appears that the people approved of his censorship to an amazing extent. At any rate, after erecting a statue to his honour in the temple of Health, they commemorated in the inscription upon it, not the military commands nor the triumph of Cato, but, as the inscription may be translated, the fact “that when the Roman state was tottering to its fall, he was made censor, and by helpful guidance, wise restraints, and sound teachings, restored it again.” 4 And yet, before this time he used to laugh at those who delighted in such honours, saying that, although they knew it not, their pride was based simply on the work of statuaries and painters, whereas his own images, of the most exquisite workmanship, were borne about in the hearts of his fellow citizens. And to those who expressed their amazement that many men of no fame had statues, while he had none, he used to say: “I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one.” 5 In short, he thought a good citizen should not even allow himself to be praised, unless such praise was beneficial to the commonwealth.
[Cat. Ma. 19.6] And yet of all men he has heaped most praises upon himself. He tells us that men of self-indulgent lives, when rebuked for it, used to say; “We ought not to be blamed; we are no Catos.” Also that those who imitated some of his practices and did it clumsily, were called “left-handed Catos.” 6 Also that the Senate looked to him in the most dangerous crises as seafarers to their helmsman, and often, if he was not present, postponed its most serious business. These boasts of his are confirmed, it is true, by other witnesses, for he had great authority in the city, alike for his life, his eloquence, and his age.
[Cat. Ma. 20.1] 20 1 He was also a good father, a considerate husband, and a household manager of no mean talent, nor did he give only a fitful attention to this, as a matter of little or no importance. Therefore I think I ought to give suitable instances of his conduct in these relations. He married a wife who was of gentler birth than she was rich, thinking that, although the rich and high-born may be alike given to pride, still, women of high birth have such a horror of what is disgraceful that they are more obedient to their husbands in all that is honourable. 2 He used to say that the man who struck his wife or child, laid violent hands on the holiest of holy things. Also that he thought it more praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator, nay, there was nothing else to admire in Socrates of old except that he was always kind and gentle in his intercourse with a shrewish wife and stupid sons. After the birth of his son, no business could be so urgent, unless it had a public character, as to prevent him from being present when his wife bathed and swaddled the babe. 3 For the mother nursed it herself, and often gave suck also to the infants of her slaves, that so they might come to cherish a brotherly affection for her son. As soon as the boy showed signs of understanding, his father took him under his own charge and taught him to read, although he had an accomplished slave, Chilo by name, who was a school-teacher, and taught many boys. 4 Still, Cato thought it not right, as he tells us himself, that his son should be scolded by a slave, or have his ears tweaked when he was slow to learn, still less that he should be indebted to his slave for such a priceless thing as education. He was therefore himself not only the boys’ reading-teacher, but his tutor in law, and his athletic trainer, and he taught his son not merely to hurl the javelin and fight in armour and ride the horse, but also to box, to endure heat and cold, and to swim lustily through the eddies and billows of the Tiber. 5 His History of Rome, as he tells us himself, he wrote out with his own hand and in large characters, that his son might have in his own home an aid to acquaintance with his country’s ancient traditions. He declares that his son’s presence put him on his guard against indecencies of speech as much as that of the so called vestal Virgins, and that he never bathed with him. This, indeed, would seem to have been a general custom with the Romans, for even fathers-in law avoided bathing with their sons-in law, because they were ashamed to uncover their nakedness. 6 Afterwards, however, when they had learned from the Greeks their freedom in going naked, they in their turn infected the Greeks with the practice even when women were present.
[Cat. Ma. 20.7] So Cato wrought at the fair task of moulding and fashioning his son to virtue, finding his zeal blameless, and his spirit answering to his good natural parts. But since his body was rather too delicate to endure much hardship, he relaxed somewhat in his favour the excessive rigidity and austerity of his own mode of life. 7 But his son, although thus delicate, made a sturdy soldier, and fought brilliantly under Paulus Aemilius in the battle against Perseus. On that occasion his sword either was smitten from his hand or slipped from his moist grasp. Distressed at this mishap, he turned to some of his companions for aid, and supported by them rushed again into the thick of the enemy. After a long and furious struggle, he succeeded in clearing the place, and found the sword at last among the many heaps of arms and dead bodies where friends and foes alike lay piled upon one another. 8 Paulus, his commander, admired the young man’s exploit, and there is still extant a letter written by Cato himself to his son, in which he heaps extravagant praise upon him for this honourable zeal in recovering his sword. The young man afterwards married Tertia, a daughter of Paulus and a sister of the younger Scipio, and his admission into such a family was due no less to himself than to his father. Thus Cato’s careful attention to the education of his son bore worthy fruit.
[Cat. Ma. 21.1] 21 1 He owned many domestics, and usually bought those prisoners of war who were young and still capable of being reared and trained like whelps or colts. Not one of his slaves ever entered another man’s house unless sent thither by Cato or his wife, and when such an one was asked what Cato was doing, he always answered that he did not know. 2 A slave of his was expected either to be busy about the house, or to be asleep, and he was very partial to the sleepy ones. He thought these gentler than the wakeful ones, and that those who had enjoyed the gift of sleep were better for any kind of service than those who lacked it. In the belief that his slaves were led into most mischief by their sexual passions, he stipulated that the males should consort with the females at a fixed price, but should never approach any other woman.
[Cat. Ma. 21.3] 3 At the outset, when he was still poor and in military service, he found no fault at all with what was served up to him, declaring that it was shameful for a man to quarrel with a domestic over food and drink. But afterwards, when his circumstances were improved and he used to entertain his friends and colleagues at table, no sooner was the dinner over than he would flog those slaves who had been remiss at all in preparing or serving it. 4 He was always contriving that his slaves should have feuds and dissensions among themselves; harmony among them made him suspicious and fearful of them. He had those who were suspected of some capital offence brought to trial before all their fellow servants, and, if convicted, put to death.
[Cat. Ma. 21.5] 5 However, as he applied himself more strenuously to money-getting, he came to regard agriculture as more entertaining than profitable, and invested his capital in business that was safe and sure. He bought ponds, hot springs, districts given over to fullers, all of which brought him in large profits, and “could not,” to use his own phrase, “be ruined by Jupiter.” 6 He used to loan money also in the most disreputable of all ways, namely, on ships, and his method was as follows. He required his borrowers to form a large company, and when there were fifty partners and as many ships for his security, he took one share in the company himself, and was represented by Quintio, a freedman of his, who accompanied his clients in all their ventures. In this way his entire security was not imperilled, but only a small part of it, and his profits were large. He used to lend money also to those of his slaves who wished it, and they would buy boys with it, and after training and teaching them for a year, at Cato’s expense, would sell them again. Many of these boys Cato would retain for himself, reckoning to the credit of the slave the highest price bid for his boy. 8 He tried to incite his son also to such economies, by saying that it was not the part of a man, but of a widow woman, to lessen his substance. But that surely was too vehement a speech of Cato’s, when he went so far as to say that a man was to be admired and glorified like a god if the final inventory of his property showed that he had added to it more than he had inherited.
[Cat. Ma. 22.1] 22 1 When he was now well on in years, there came as ambassadors from Athens to Rome, Carneades the Academic, and Diogenes the Stoic philosopher, to beg the reversal of a certain decision against the Athenian people, which imposed upon them a fine of five hundred talents. The people of Oropus had brought the suit, the Athenians had let the case go by default, and the Sicyonians had pronounced judgment against them. 2 Upon the arrival of these philosophers, the most studious of the city’s youth hastened to wait upon them, and became their devoted and admiring listeners. The charm of Carneades especially, which had boundless power, and a fame not inferior to its power, won large and sympathetic audiences, and filled the city, like a rushing mighty wind, with the noise of his praises. 3 Report spread far and wide that a Greek of amazing talent, who disarmed all opposition by the magic of his eloquence, had infused a tremendous passion into the youth of the city, in consequence of which they forsook their other pleasures and pursuits and were “possessed” about philosophy. The other Romans were pleased at this, and glad to see their young men lay hold of Greek culture and consort with such admirable men. 4 But Cato, at the very outset, when this zeal for discussion came pouring into the city, was distressed, fearing lest the young men, by giving this direction to their ambition, should come to love a reputation based on mere words more than one achieved by martial deeds. And when the fame of the visiting philosophers rose yet higher in the city, and their first speeches before the Senate were interpreted, at his own instance and request, by so conspicuous a man as Gaius Acilius, Cato determined, on some decent pretext or other, to rid and purge the city of them all. 5 So he rose in the Senate and censured the magistrates for keeping in such long suspense an embassy composed of men who could easily secure anything they wished, so persuasive were they. “We ought,” he said, “to make up our minds one way or another, and vote on what the embassy proposes, in order that these men may return to their schools and lecture to the sons of Greece, while the youth of Rome give ear to their laws and magistrates, as heretofore.”
[Cat. Ma. 23.1] 23 1 This he did, not, as some think, out of personal hostility to Carneades, but because he was wholly averse to philosophy, and made mock of all Greek culture and training, out of patriotic zeal. He says, for instance, that Socrates was a mighty prattler, who attempted, as best he could, to be his country’s tyrant, by abolishing its customs, and by enticing his fellow citizens into opinions contrary to the laws. 2 He made fun of the school of Isocrates, declaring that his pupils kept on studying with him till they were old men, as if they were to practise their arts and plead their cases before Minos in Hades. And seeking to prejudice his son against Greek culture, he indulges in an utterance all too rash for his years, declaring, in the tone of a prophet or a seer, that Rome would lose her empire when she had become infected with Greek letters. 3 But time has certainly shown the emptiness of this ill-boding speech of his, for while the city was at the zenith of its empire, she made every form of Greek learning and culture her own.
[Cat. Ma. 23.4] It was not only Greek philosophers that he hated, but he was also suspicious of Greeks who practised medicine at Rome. He had heard, it would seem, of Hippocrates’ reply when the Great King of Persia consulted him, with the promise of a fee of many talents, namely, that he would never put his skill at the service of Barbarians who were enemies of Greece. He said all Greek physicians had taken a similar oath, 4 and urged his son to beware of them all. He himself, he said, had written a book of recipes, which he followed in the treatment and regimen of any who were sick in his family. He never required his patients to fast, but fed them on greens, on bits of duck, pigeon, or hare. Such a diet, he said, was light and good for sick people, except that it often causes dreams. By following such treatment and regimen he said he had good health himself, and kept his family in good health.
[Cat. Ma. 24.1] 24 1 Such presumption on his part seems not to have gone unpunished, for he lost his wife and his son. He himself was well confirmed in bodily health and vigour, and long withstood the assaults of age. Even when an old man he was prone to indulge his sexual appetite, and at last married a wife when he was long past the marrying age. This was the way it came about. After the death of his wife, he married his son to the daughter of Aemilius Paulus, the sister of Scipio, but he himself, in his widowhood, took solace with a slave girl who secretly visited his bed. 2 Of course, in a small house with a married woman in it, the matter was discovered, and once, when the girl seemed to flaunt her way rather too boldly to the chamber, the old man could not help noticing that his son, although he said nothing, looked very sour, and turned away. Perceiving that the thing displeased his children, Cato did not upbraid or blame them at all, but as he was going down in his usual way to the forum with his clients, called out with a loud voice to a certain Salonius, who had been one of his under-secretaries, and was now in his train, asking him if he had found a good husband for his young daughter. 3 The man said he had not, and would not do so without first consulting his patron. “Well then,” said Cato, “I have found a suitable son-in law for you, unless indeed his age should be displeasing; in other ways no fault can be found with him, but he is a very old man.” Salonius at once bade him take the matter in charge and give the maid to the man of his choice, since she was a dependant of his and in need of his kind services. Then Cato, without any more ado, said that he asked the damsel to wife for himself. 4 At first, as was natural, the proposal amazed the man, who counted Cato far past marriage, and himself far beneath alliance with a house of consular dignity and triumphal honours; but when he saw that Cato was in earnest, he gladly accepted his proposal, and as soon as they reached the forum the banns were published.
[Cat. Ma. 24.5] While the marriage was in hand, Cato’s son, accompanied by his friends, asked his father if it was because he had any complaint to make against him that he was now foisting a step-mother upon him. 5 “Heaven forbid! my son,” cried Cato, “all your conduct towards me has been admirable, and I have no fault to find with you; but I desire to bless myself and my country with more such sons.” However, they say that this sentiment was uttered long before by Peisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, who gave his grown up sons a step-mother in the person of Timonassa of Argolis, by whom he is said to have had Iophon and Thessalus. 6 Of this second marriage a son was born to Cato, who was named Salonius, after his mother’s father. But his elder son died in the praetorship. Cato often speaks of him in his books as a brave and worthy man, and is said to have borne his loss with all the equanimity of a philosopher, remitting not a whit because of it his ardour in the public service. 7 For he was not, like Lucius Lucullus and Metellus Pius in after times, too enfeebled by old age to serve the people, regarding the service of the state as a burdensome duty; nor did he, like Scipio Africanus before him, because of envious attacks upon his reputation, turn his back upon the people and make leisure his end and aim for the rest of his life; 8 but rather, as someone persuaded Dionysius to regard his sovereignty as his fairest winding-sheet, so he held public service to be the fairest privilege of old age. For recreation and amusement, when he had leisure therefor, he resorted to the writing of books and to farming.
[Cat. Ma. 25.1] 25 1 He composed speeches, then, on all sorts of subjects, and histories, and as for farming, he followed it in earnest when he was young and poor, — indeed, he says he then had only two ways of getting money, farming and frugality, — but in later life he was only a theoretical and fancy farmer. He also composed a book on farming, in which he actually gave recipes for making cakes and preserving fruit, so ambitious was he to be superior and peculiar in everything. 2 The dinners, too, which he gave in the country, were quite plentiful. He always asked in congenial country neighbours, and made merry with them, and not only did those of his own age find in him an agreeable and much desired companion, but also the young. For he was a man of large experience, who had read and heard much that was well worth repeating. 3 He held the table to be the very best promoter of friendship, and at his own, the conversation turned much to the praise of honourable and worthy citizens, greatly to the neglect of those who were worthless and base. About such Cato suffered no table-talk, either by way of praise or blame.
[Cat. Ma. 26.1] 26 1 The last of his public services is supposed to have been the destruction of Carthage. It was Scipio the Younger who actually brought the task to completion, but it was largely in consequence of the advice and counsel of Cato that the Romans undertook the war. It was on this wise. Cato was sent on an embassy to the Carthaginians and Masinissa the Numidian, who were at war with one another, to inquire into the grounds of their quarrel. Masinissa had been a friend of the Roman people from the first, and the Carthaginians had entered into treaty relations with Rome after the defeat which the elder Scipio had given them. The treaty deprived them of their empire, and imposed a grievous money tribute upon them. 2 Cato, however, found the city by no means in a poor and lowly state, as the Romans supposed, but rather teeming with vigorous fighting men, overflowing with enormous wealth, filled with arms of every sort and with military supplies, and not a little puffed up by all this. He therefore thought it no time for the Romans to be ordering and arranging the affairs of Masinissa and the Numidians, but that unless they should repress a city which had always been their malignant foe, now that its power was so incredibly grown, they would be involved again in dangers as great as before. 3 Accordingly, he returned with speed to Rome, and advised the Senate that the former calamitous defeats of the Carthaginians had diminished not so much their power as their foolhardiness, and were likely to render them in the end not weaker, but more expert in war; their present contest with Numidia was but a prelude to a contest with Rome, while peace and treaty were mere names wherewith to cover their postponement of war till a fit occasion offered.
[Cat. Ma. 27.1] 27 1 In addition to this, it is said that Cato contrived to drop a Libyan fig in the Senate, as he shook out the folds of his toga, and then, as the senators admired its size and beauty, said that the country where it grew was only three days’ sail from Rome. And in one thing he was even more savage, namely, in adding to his vote on any question whatsoever these words: “In my opinion, Carthage must be destroyed.” Publius Scipio Nasica, on the contrary, when called upon for his vote, always ended his speech with this declaration: “In my opinion, Carthage must be spared.” 2 He saw, probably, that the Roman people, in its wantonness, was already guilty of many excesses, in the pride of its prosperity, spurned the control of the Senate, and forcibly dragged the whole state with it, whithersoever its mad desires inclined it. He wished, therefore, that the fear of Carthage should abide, to curb the boldness of the multitude like a bridle, believing her not strong enough to conquer Rome, nor yet weak enough to be despised. 3 But this was precisely what Cato dreaded, when the Roman people was inebriated and staggering with its power, to have a city which had always been great, and was now but sobered and chastened by its calamities, for ever threatening them. Such external threats to their sovereignty ought to be done away with altogether, he thought, that they might be free to devise a cure for their domestic failings.
[Cat. Ma. 27.4] 4 In this way Cato is said to have brought to pass the third and last war against Carthage, but it had no sooner begun than he died, having first prophesied of the man who was destined to end it. This man was then young, but as tribune in the army, he was giving proofs of judgment and daring in his engagements with the enemy. Tidings of this came to Rome, and Cato is said to have cried on hearing them: —
[Cat. Ma. 27.4b] “Only he has wits, but the rest are fluttering shadows.”
[Cat. Ma. 27.5] 5 This utterance of Cato’s, Scipio speedily confirmed by his deeds. Cato left one son by his second wife, whose surname, as we have already remarked, was Salonius; and one grandson by the son who died before him. Salonius died in the praetorship, but the son whom he left, Marcus, came to be consul. This Marcus was the grandfather of Cato the philosopher, who was the best and most illustrious man of his time.

## Comparison of Aristides and Cato

[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 1.1] 353 1 1 Now that I have recorded the most noteworthy things in the careers of these men also, if one compare the entire life of the one with that of the other, it will not be easy to mark the difference between them, obscured as it is by many great resemblances. And even if, in our comparison, we analyse each life, as we would a poem or a picture, we shall find that the rise to political power and repute in consequence of innate excellence and strength, rather than of inherited advantages, is common to both. 2 But in the case of Aristides, Athens was not yet great when he rose to eminence, and the leaders and generals with whom he dealt were men of moderate and uniform fortunes. The highest assessment of property in those days was five hundred bushels of grain, the second three hundred, the third and last two hundred. 3 Whereas Cato, coming from a little town and from ways of life deemed rustic, plunged headlong into the boundless sea of Roman politics when they were no longer conducted by such men as Curius, Fabricius, and Atilius, nor welcomed as magistrates and leaders poor men who had mounted the rostrum after working with their own hands at the plough and the mattock, but were wont to have regard rather for great families and their wealth, largesses, and solicitation, while those who sought office, such was now the power and arrogance of the people, were wantonly handled. 4 It was not the same thing to have Themistocles for a rival, who was of no illustrious family and had only moderate possessions (he is said to have been worth three, or, at most, five talents when he entered public life), as it was to compete for pre-eminence with such men as Scipio Africanus, Servius Galba, and Quintius Flamininus, having no other advantage than a tongue which spoke boldly for the right.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 2.1] 2 1 Besides, at Marathon, and again at Plataea, Aristides was only one of ten generals, while Cato was elected one of two consuls out of many competitors, and one of two censors over the heads of seven of the foremost and most illustrious Romans, who stood for the office with him. Furthermore, Aristides was not the foremost man in any one of his victories, but Miltiades has the chief honour of Marathon, Themistocles of Salamis, and at Plataea, Herodotus says it was Pausanias who won that fairest of all victories, 2 while even for second honours Aristides has such rivals as Sophanes, Ameinias, Callimachus, and Cynaegeirus, who displayed the greatest valour in those actions. Cato, on the other hand, was not only chief in the plans and actions of the Spanish war during his own consulate, but also at Thermopylae, when he was but a tribune in the army and another was consul, he got the glory of the victory, opening up great mountain passes for the Romans to rush through upon Antiochus, and swinging the war round into the king’s rear, when he had eyes only for what was in front of him. 3 That victory was manifestly the work of Cato, and it not only drove Asia out of Hellas, but made it afterwards accessible to Scipio.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 2.4] It is true that both were always victorious in war, but in politics Aristides got a fall, being driven into a minority and ostracised by Themistocles. Cato, on the contrary, though he had for his antagonists almost all the greatest and ablest men in Rome, and though he kept on wrestling with them up to his old age, never lost his footing. 4 He was involved in countless civil processes, both as plaintiff and defendant; as plaintiff, he often won his case, as defendant, he never lost it, thanks to that bulwark and efficacious weapon of his life, his eloquence. To this, more justly than to fortune and the guardian genius of the man, we may ascribe the fact that he was never visited with disgrace. 354 That was a great tribute which was paid Aristotle the philosopher by Antipater, when he wrote concerning him, after his death, that in addition to all his other gifts, the man had also the gift of persuasion.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 3.1] 3 1 Man has no higher capacity than that for conducting cities and states, as is generally admitted. But the ability to conduct a household enters in no small degree into this higher political capacity, as most believe. For the city is but an organised sum of households, and has public vigour only as its citizens prosper in their private lives. When Lycurgus banished both silver and gold from Sparta, 2 and introduced there a coinage of iron that had been ruined by fire, he did not set his fellow citizens free from the duty of domestic economy. He merely removed the swollen and feverish wantonness of wealth, and so provided that all alike might have an abundance of the necessary and useful things of life. He did this because, better than any other ancient legislator, he foresaw that the helpless, homeless, and poverty-stricken citizen was a greater menace to the commonwealth than one who was rich and ostentatious. 3 Cato, then, was no whit less efficient in the conduct of his household than in that of the city. He not only increased his own substance, but became a recognized teacher of domestic economy and agriculture for others, and compiled many useful precepts on these subjects. Aristides, on the other hand, was so poor as to bring even his righteousness into disrepute, as ruining a household, reducing a man to beggary, and profiting everybody rather than its possess or. 4 And yet Hesiod has much to say by way of exhorting us to righteousness allied with domestic economy, and abuses idleness as a source of injustice; Homer also says well: —
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 3.1b] “Labour I never liked,
Nor household thrift, which breeds good children.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 3.1c] But ships equipped with oars were ever my delight,
Battles and polished javelins and arrows,”
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 3.5] implying that the men who neglect their households are the very ones to live by injustice. 5 Oil, as physicians tell us, is very beneficial when used externally applied, though very injurious when used internally. He is not helpful to others, while heedless of himself and his family. Indeed, the poverty of Aristides would seem to have been a blemish on his political career, if, as most writers state, he had not foresight enough to leave his poor daughters a marriage portion, or even the cost of his own burial. 6 And so it fell out that the family of Cato furnished Rome with praetors and consuls down to the fourth generation, for his grandsons, and their sons after them, filled the highest offices of state. Whereas, though Aristides was foremost of the Greeks, the abject poverty of his descendants forced some to ply a fortune-teller’s trade, and others, for very want, to solicit the public bounty, while it robbed them all of every ambition to excel, or even to be worthy of their great ancestor.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 4.1] 4 1 Possibly this point invites discussion. Poverty is never dishonourable in itself, but only when it is a mark of sloth, intemperance, extravagance, or thoughtlessness. When, on the other hand, it is the handmaid of a sober, industrious, righteous, and brave man, who devotes all his powers to the service of the people, it is the sign of a lofty spirit that harbours no mean thoughts. 2 It is impossible for a man to do great things when his thoughts are busy with little things; nor can he aid the many who are in need when he himself is in need of many things. A great equipment for public service consists, not in wealth, but in contented independence, which requires no private superfluities, and so puts no hindrance in the way of serving the commonwealth. God alone is absolutely free from wants; but that is the most perfect and god-like quality in human excellence which reduces man’s wants to their lowest terms. 355 3 For as a body which is well tempered and vigorous needs no superfluous food or raiment, so a healthy individual or family life can be conducted with the simplest outlays. A man should make his gains tally with his needs. He who heaps up much substance and uses little of it, is not contented and independent. If he does not need it, he is a fool for providing what he does not crave; and if he craves it, he makes himself wretched by parsimoniously curtailing his enjoyment of it.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 4.4] Indeed, I would fain ask Cato himself this question: 4 “If wealth is a thing to be enjoyed, why do you plume yourself on being satisfied with little when possessed of much?” But if it be a fine thing, as indeed it is, to eat ordinary bread, and to drink such wine as labourers and servants drink, and not to want purple robes nor even plastered houses, then Aristides and Epaminondas and Manius Curius and Gaius Fabricius were perfectly right in turning their backs on the gaining of what they scorned to use. 5 Surely it was not worth while for a man who, like Cato, esteemed turnips a delectable dish and cooked them himself, while his wife was kneading bread, to babble so much about a paltry copper, and write on the occupation in which one might soonest get rich. Great is the simple life, and great its independence, but only because it frees a man from the anxious desire of superfluous things. 6 Hence it was that Aristides, as we are told, remarked at the trial of Callias that only those who were poor in spite of themselves should be ashamed of their poverty; those who, like himself, chose poverty, should glory in it. And surely it were ridiculous to suppose that the poverty of Aristides was due to his sloth, when, without doing anything disgraceful, but merely by stripping a single Barbarian, or seizing a single tent, he might have made himself rich. So much on this head.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 5.1] 5 1 The military campaigns of Cato made no great addition to the Roman empire, which was great already; but those of Aristides include the fairest, most brilliant, and most important actions of the Greeks, namely, Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea. And certainly Antiochus is not worthy to be compared with Xerxes, nor the demolition of the walls of the Spanish cities with the destruction of so many myriads of Barbarians both by land and sea. 2 On these occasions Aristides was inferior to no one in actual service, but he left the glory and the laurels, as he did wealth and substance, to those who wanted them more, because he was superior to all these things also.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 5.3] For my own part, I do not blame Cato for his constant boasting, and for rating himself above everybody else, although he does say, in one of his speeches, that self-praise and self-depreciation are alike absurd. But I regard the man who is often lauding himself as less complete in excellence than one who does not even want others to do so. 3 Freedom from ambition is no slight requisite for the gentleness which should mark a statesman; and, on the contrary, ambition is harsh, and the greatest fomenter of envy. From this spirit Aristides was wholly free, whereas Cato was very full of it. For example, Aristides co operated with Themistocles in his greatest achievements, and as one might say, stood guard over him while he was in command, and thereby saved Athens; 4 while Cato, by his opposition to Scipio, almost vitiated and ruined that wonderful campaign of his against the Carthaginians, in which he overthrew the invincible Hannibal, and finally, by perpetually inventing all sorts of suspicions and calumnies against him, drove him out of Rome, and brought down on his brother’s head a most shameful condemnation for embezzlement.
[Comp. Arist.–Cat. 6.1] 6 1 Once more, that temperance which Cato always decked out with the fairest praises, Aristides maintained and practised in unsullied purity; whereas Cato, by marrying unworthily and unseasonably, fell under no slight or insignificant censure in this regard. 356 It was surely quite indecent that a man of his years should bring home as stepmother to his grown up son and that son’s bride, a girl whose father was his assistant and served the public for hire. Whether he did this merely for his own pleasure, or in anger, to punish his son for objecting to his mistress, both what he did and what led him to do it were disgraceful. 2 And the sarcastic reason for it which he gave his son was not a true one. For had he wished to beget more sons as good, he should have planned at the outset to marry a woman of family, instead of contenting himself, as long as he could do so secretly, with the society of a low concubine, and when he was discovered, making a man his father-in law whom he could most easily persuade, rather than one whose alliance would bring him most honour.

## Philopoemen

[Phil. 1.1] 1 1 CLEANDER was a man of the highest lineage and greatest influence among the citizens of Mantineia, but he met with reverses and was exiled from his native city. He then betook himself to Megalopolis, chiefly because of Craugis, the father of Philopoemen, a man in every way illustrious, and attached to him by ties of personal friendship. 2 As long as Craugis lived, Cleander’s wants were all supplied, and when Craugis died, Cleander, wishing to requite him for his hospitality, undertook the rearing of his orphan son, just as Homer says that Achilles was reared by Phoenix, so that the boy’s character took on from the very outset a noble and kingly mould and growth. But as soon as Philopoemen had ceased to be a boy, Ecdemus and Megalophanes, of Megalopolis, were put in charge of him. They had been comrades of Arcesilaüs at the Academy, and beyond all men of their day had brought philosophy to bear upon political action and affairs of state. 3 They freed their own native city from tyranny, by secretly procuring men to kill Aristodemus; they joined with Aratus in expelling Nicocles the tyrant of Sicyon; and at the request of the people of Cyrene, whose city was full of confusion and political distemper, they sallied thither, introduced law and order, and arranged matters in the city most happily. 4 They themselves, however, counted the education of Philopoemen also among their many achievements, believing that their philosophical teachings had made him a common benefit to Greece. For since he was the child, as it were, of her late old age and succeeded to the virtues of her ancient commanders, Greece loved him surpassingly, and as his reputation grew, increased his power. And a certain Roman, in praising him, called him the last of the Greeks, implying that Greece produced no great man after him, nor one worthy of her.
[Phil. 2.1] 2 1 In looks he was not, as some suppose, ill-favoured; for a statue of him is still to be seen at Delphi; and the mistake of his Megarian hostess was due, as we are told, to a certain indifference and simplicity on his part. This woman, learning that the general of the Achaeans was coming to her house, in great confusion set about preparing supper; besides, her husband chanced to be away from home. 2 Just then Philopoemen came in, wearing a simple soldier’s cloak, and the woman, thinking him to be one of his servants who had been sent on in advance, invited him to help her in her housework. So Philopoemen at once threw off his cloak and fell to splitting wood. Then his host came in, and seeing him thus employed, said: “What does this mean, Philopoemen?” “What else,” said Philopoemen in broad Doric, “than that I am paying a penalty for my ill looks?” 3 And once Titus Flamininus, making fun of certain parts of his figure, said: “Philopoemen, what fine arms and legs thou hast; but belly thou hast not”; for Philopoemen was quite slender at the waist. This piece of fun, however, was aimed the rather at his resources. For though he had excellent men-at arms and horsemen, he was often at a loss for money. However, these stories are told of Philopoemen in the schools of philosophy.
[Phil. 3.1] 3 1 But the love of distinction which marked his character was not altogether free from contentiousness nor devoid of anger; and although he desired to pattern himself most of all after Epaminondas, it was the energy, sagacity, and indifference to money in Epaminondas which he strenuously imitated, while his proneness to anger and contentiousness made him unable to maintain that great leader’s mildness, gravity, and urbanity in political disputes, so that he was thought to be endowed with military rather than with civic virtues. 2 For from his very boyhood he was fond of a soldier’s life, and readily learned the lessons which were useful for this, such as those in heavy-armed fighting and horsemanship. He was also thought to be a good wrestler, but when some of his friends and directors urged him to take up athletics, he asked them if athletics would not be injurious to his military training. 3 They told him (and it was the truth) that the habit of body and mode of life for athlete and soldier were totally different, and particularly that their diet and training were not the same, since the one required much sleep, continuous surfeit of food, and fixed periods of activity and repose, in order to preserve or improve their condition, which the slightest influence or the least departure from routine is apt to change for the worse; whereas the soldier ought to be conversant with all sorts of irregularity and all sorts of inequality, and above all should accustom himself to endure lack of food easily, 4 and as easily lack of sleep. On hearing this, Philopoemen not only shunned athletics himself and derided them, but also in later times as a commander banished from the army all forms of them, with every possible mark of reproach and dishonour, on the ground that they rendered useless for the inevitable struggle of battle men who would otherwise be most serviceable.
[Phil. 4.1] 4 1 And when, set free from teachers and tutors, he took part in the incursions into Spartan territory which his fellow-citizens made for the sake of booty and plunder, he accustomed himself to march first as they went out, but last as they came back. And when he had leisure, he would give his body hard exercise in hunting, thus rendering it agile and at the same time sturdy, or in cultivating the soil. 2 For he had a fine farm twenty furlongs from the city. To this he would go every day after dinner or after supper, and would throw himself down upon an ordinary pallet-bed, like anyone of his labourers, to sleep for the night. Then, early in the morning, he would rise and go to work along with his vine-dressers or his herdsmen, after which he would go back again to the city and busy himself about public matters with his friends or with the magistrates.
[Phil. 4.3] 3 As for what he got from his campaigning, he used to spend it on horses, or armour, or the ransoming of captives; but his own property he sought to increase by agriculture, which is the justest way to make money. Nor did he practise agriculture merely as a side issue, but he held that the man who purposed to keep his hands from the property of others ought by all means to have property of his own. He also listened to the discourses and applied himself to the writings of philosophers — not all of them, but those whom he thought helpful to him in his progress towards virtue. 4 And as for the poems of Homer, whatever in them was thought by him to rouse and stimulate the activities of the soul which made for valour, to this he would apply himself. Among other writings, however, he was most of all devoted to the “Tactics” of Evangelus, and was familiar with the histories of Alexander, thinking that literature was conducive to action, unless it were prosecuted merely to while away the time and afford themes for fruitless small talk. 5 Indeed, he would ignore the charts and diagrams for the illustration of tactical principles, and get his proofs and make his studies on the ground itself. The ways in which places slope to meet one another, and level plains come to an abrupt end, and all the vicissitudes and shapes of a phalanx when it is elongated and contracted again in the vicinity of ravines or ditches or narrow defiles, these he would investigate by himself as he wandered about, and discuss them with his companions. 6 For it would seem that he brought more zeal than was necessary to the study of military science, setting his affections on war as affording a most manifold basis for the practice of virtue, and despising as unsuccessful men those who left it to others.
[Phil. 5.1] 5 1 He was now thirty years of age, when Cleomenes, King of the Lacedaemonians, suddenly attacked Megalopolis by night, forced the guard, made his way into the city, and occupied the market-place. Philopoemen came to the help of the citizens, but had not force enough to drive the enemy out, although he fought with vigour and daring. He did, however, steal the citizens out of the city, as it were, by attacking their pursuers and drawing Cleomenes against himself, so that with the greatest difficulty he got away last of all, after losing his horse and receiving a wound. 2 Moreover, when Cleomenes sent to them at Messene, whither they had gone, and offered to give them back their city with its valuables and their territory, Philopoemen, seeing that the citizens would be glad to accept the offer and were eager to go back home, opposed and dissuaded them from it, showing them that Cleomenes was not so much offering to restore their city as he was trying to win over to himself its citizens, that so he might have the city also more securely in his possession; for he would not be able, Philopoemen said, to remain there and guard empty houses and walls, but the solitude would force him to abandon these also. By this speech Philopoemen diverted the citizens from their purpose, but furnished Cleomenes with an excuse for devastating and demolishing the greater part of the city and marching off loaded with booty.
[Phil. 6.1] 6 1 Soon, however, Antigonus the king marched with the Achaeans to give aid against Cleomenes, and finding that his enemy was occupying the heights and passes about Sellasia, he drew up his forces near by with the purpose of attacking him and forcing a passage. Philopoemen was stationed among the Macedonian cavalry with his own fellow-citizens, and had as a support the Illyrians, a large body of good fighters, who closed up the line of battle. 2 They had been ordered to lie quietly in reserve until, from the other wing, a signal should be made by the king with a scarlet coat stretched upon a spear. But the Illyrians, at the command of their officers, tried to force back the Lacedaemonians, while the Achaeans, as they had been ordered to do, kept quietly waiting at their post. Therefore Eucleidas, the brother of Cleomenes, who noticed the gap thus made in the enemies’ line, quickly sent round the most agile of his light-armed troops, with orders to attack the Illyrians in the rear and rout them, now that they had lost touch with the cavalry.
[Phil. 6.3] 3 These orders were carried out, and the light-armed troops were driving the Illyrians before them in confusion, when Philopoemen perceived that it would be no great task to attack the light-armed troops, and that the occasion prompted this step. At first he pointed this out to the king’s officers. Then, when they were not to be persuaded by him, but looked down upon him as a madman (since his reputation was not yet great enough to justify his being entrusted with so important a manoeuvre), he took matters into his own hands, formed his fellow-citizens into a wedge, and charged upon the enemy. 4 At first the light-armed troops were thrown into confusion, then put to rout with great slaughter. And now Philopoemen, wishing to encourage still further the king’s troops and bring them swiftly upon the enemy thus thrown into disorder, quitted his horse, and with grievous difficulty forced his way along on foot, in his horseman’s breastplate and heavy equipment, towards ground that was irregular and full of water-courses and ravines. Here he had both his thighs pierced through by a thonged javelin. The wound was not fatal, though severe, and the head of the weapon came out on the other side. 5 At first, then, he was held fast as by a fetter, and was altogether helpless; for the fastening of the thong made it difficult to draw the weapon back through the wound. But since those about him hesitated to attempt this, and since, now that the battle was at its hottest, the ardour of his ambition made him impatient to join in the struggle, by moving his legs backward and forward he broke the shaft of the weapon in two in the middle, and then ordered each fragment to be drawn out separately. 6 Thus set free, he drew his sword and made his way through the front ranks against the enemy, thereby greatly animating the combatants and inspiring them with a desire to emulate his valour. After his victory, therefore, Antigonus put the Macedonians to the question, and asked them why, without his orders, they had brought the cavalry into action. 7 They defended themselves by saying that they had been forced against their will to attack the enemy, because a young man of Megalopolis had first led a charge against them. At this, Antigonus gave a laugh and said: “Well, then, that young man behaved like a great commander.”
[Phil. 7.1] 7 1 This naturally brought Philopoemen into high repute. Antigonus was eager that he should take service under him, and offered him command and pay. These Philopoemen declined, chiefly because he well knew that it was naturally unpleasant and hard for him to be under another man’s orders. Not wishing, however, to be inactive and idle, for the sake of training and practice in war he sailed to Crete in search of military service. 2 In Crete he practised himself for a long time among men who were not only warlike and versed in many kinds of warfare, but also still moderate and restrained in their ways of living, and he came back to the Achaeans with such distinction that they at once made him commander of their cavalry. 3 But he found that the horsemen whom he was to command used worthless animals acquired at random, whenever a campaign was to be undertaken; that they shirked most campaigns themselves, and sent others out in their places; that they were all characterized by a shocking lack of experience, together with its resultant cowardice; and that their commanders always overlooked these things because the knights had the greatest power and influence among the Achaeans and the chief voice in the assignment of rewards and punishments. 4 Philopoemen, however, did not yield or give way to them. He went round to the different cities and roused the spirit of ambition in each young man individually, punished those who needed compulsion, introduced drills, parades, and competitive contests in places where there would be large bodies of spectators and thus in a short time inspired them all with an astonishing vigour and zeal, 5 and, what is of the greatest importance in tactics, rendered them agile and swift in wheeling and deploying by squadrons, and in wheeling and turning by single trooper, making the dexterity shown by the whole mass in its evolutions to be like that of a single person moved by an impulse from within.
[Phil. 7.6] 6 Moreover, in the fierce battle which they fought at the river Larissus against Aetolians and Eleians, the commander of the Eleian cavalry, Damophantus, rode out from the ranks and charged upon Philopoemen. But Philopoemen received his onset, was first to drive home a spear-thrust, and threw Damophantus to the ground. 7 Their leader fallen, the enemy at once took to flight, and Philopoemen was in high renown, as one who yielded to none of the young men in personal prowess, and to none of the elder men in sagacity, but both in fighting and in commanding was most capable.
[Phil. 8.1] 8 1 The commonwealth of the Achaeans was first raised to dignity and power by Aratus, who consolidated it when it was feeble and disrupted, and inaugurated an Hellenic and humane form of government. Then, just as in running waters, after a few small particles have begun to take a fixed position, others presently are swept against the first, adhere and cling to them, and thus form a fixed and solid mass by mutual support, 2 so the Achaeans, at a time when Greece was weak and easily dissolved and drifting along by individual cities, first united themselves together, and then, by receiving into their number some of the cities round about which they had aided and assisted in shaking off their tyrants, and by uniting others with themselves in a harmonious civil polity, they purposed to form the Peloponnesus into a single political body and one power. 3 As long, however, as Aratus lived, they were dependent for the most part on Macedonian armies, paying court to Ptolemy, and then again to Antigonus and Philip, all of whom busied themselves in the affairs of Greece. But when Philopoemen was advanced to leadership among them, they were at last capable of contending alone with their most powerful neighbours, and ceased to rely upon foreign protectors. 4 Aratus, indeed, who was thought to be too sluggish for warlike contests, accomplished most of his undertakings by conference, urbanity, and royal friendships, as I have written in his Life; whereas Philopoemen, who was a good warrior and effective with his weapons, besides proving himself fortunate and successful in his very first battles, increased not only the power but also the courage of the Achaeans, who were accustomed to be victorious under him and to win success in most of their contests.
[Phil. 9.1] 9 1 In the first place, however, he changed the faulty practice of the Achaeans in drawing up and arming their soldiers. For they used bucklers which were easily carried because they were so light, and yet were too narrow to protect the body; and spears which were much shorter than the Macedonian pike. For this reason they were effective in fighting at a long distance, because they were so lightly armed, but when they came to close quarters with the enemy they were at a disadvantage. 2 Moreover, a division of line and formation into cohorts was not customary with them, and since they employed a solid phalanx without either levelled line of spears or wall of interlocking shields such as the Macedonian phalanx presented, they were easily dislodged and scattered. Philopoemen showed them all this, and persuaded them to adopt long pike and heavy shield instead of spear and buckler, to protect their bodies with helmets and breastplates and greaves, and to practise stationary and steadfast fighting instead of the nimble movements of light-armed troops. 3 After he had persuaded those of military age to arm themselves in this manner, in the first place he inspired them with confidence that they had thus become invincible, and then made most excellent reforms in their luxurious and extravagant ways of living. For it was not possible to remove altogether their empty and idle emulation from a people long addicted to it. They were fond of costly apparel, the coverings of their couches were dyed purple, and they vied with one another in banquets and table array. 4 But he made a beginning by diverting their love of show from what was unnecessary to what was serviceable and honourable, and speedily persuaded and incited them all to check their daily expenditures upon bodily wants, and to find their chief adornment in military and warlike equipments. 5 And so one might have seen the workshops filled with goblets and Therycleian plate which were being broken up, with breastplates being gilded, with shields and bridles being silvered over, while in the places of exercise colts were being broken in and young men were learning the use of heavy armour, and in the hands of women there were helmets and plumes for dyeing, and horsemen’s tunics or soldiers’ cloaks for embroidering. 6 The sight of all this increased men’s courage, called forth their energies, and made them venturesome and ready to incur dangers. 7 For extravagance in other objects of display induces luxury and implants effeminacy in those who use them, since something like a pricking and tickling of the senses breaks down serious purpose; but when it is seen in the trappings of war it strengthens and exalts the spirit, just as Homer represented Achilles, when his new armour was laid down near him, as exulting at the sight and all on fire to get to work with it.
[Phil. 9.8] After he had thus arrayed and adorned the young men, Philopoemen exercised and drilled them, and they eagerly and emulously obeyed his instructions. 8 For the new order of battle pleased them wonderfully, since it seemed to secure a close array that could not be broken; and the armour which they used became light and manageable for them, since they wore or grasped it with delight because of its beauty and splendour, and wished to get into action with it and fight a decisive battle with their enemies as soon as possible.
[Phil. 10.1] 10 1 At this time the Achaeans were carrying on war with Machanidas the tyrant of Sparta, who, relying upon his large and strong forces, was scheming to get control of the whole Peloponnesus. Accordingly, when word came that the tyrant had invaded the territory of Mantineia, Philopoemen quickly led his army out against him. They drew up in battle array near the city, both parties having many mercenaries and almost all their citizen soldiery. 2 When battle was joined, Machanidas with his mercenaries routed the javelineers and Tarentines who had been stationed in front of the Achaean line, and then, instead of advancing directly against the main body of the enemy and breaking up their close array, he dashed off in pursuit of the fugitives, and so passed by the phalanx of the Achaeans, which remained drawn up in position. 3 Then Philopoemen, although so great a disaster had occurred at the outset and his cause was thought to be utterly lost and ruined, professed to ignore and make light of it, and seeing what a great mistake the enemy had made by going off in pursuit, thus breaking away from his phalanx and leaving a vacant space there, did not oppose or resist their chase after the fugitives, 4 but let them pass him by and make a great gap.
[Phil. 10.4] Then he led straight against the Lacedaemonian heavy-armed, seeing that their phalanx had been left exposed, and fell upon them in a flank attack, while their commander was away and they were not expecting to fight; for they thought they were victorious and getting the upper hand altogether, since they saw Machanidas pursuing. 5 After Philopoemen had routed these with great slaughter (more than four thousand of them are said to have fallen), he set out against Machanidas, who was returning with his mercenaries from the pursuit. But a broad and deep ditch stretched between them, along which the two leaders rode opposite each other, one wishing to get across and escape, the other to prevent this. 6 The spectacle was not that of two commanders fighting, but that of a powerful hunter attacking a wild beast that has been forced to turn at bay, and Philopoemen was the hunter.
[Phil. 10.6] And now the tyrant’s horse, which was vigorous and high-spirited and felt the bloody spurs in his sides, essayed to make the leap across, and striking against edge of the ditch with his breast, was struggling with his fore-feet to extricate himself. 7 At this point Simmias and Polyaenus, who were always at Philopoemen’s side when he was fighting and protected him with their shields, rode up both at the same time and levelled their spears at the horse. But Philopoemen was before them in attacking Machanidas, and seeing that the tyrant’s horse was lifting its head up in front of its rider’s body, he gave his own horse a little swerve to one side, and then, clasping his spear firmly in the middle, pushed it home with all his weight and overturned his enemy. 8 This is the attitude in which he is represented by a bronze statue set up at Delphi by the Achaeans, who admired especially both his deed of prowess and his generalship on that day.
[Phil. 11.1] 11 1 Moreover, we are told that at the celebration of the Nemean games, when he was general of the Achaeans for the second time and had recently won his victory at Mantineia, but was at leisure the while on account of the festival, Philopoemen in the first place displayed before the assembled Greeks his phalanx, with its splendid array, and performing its tactical evolutions, as it was wont to do, with speed and vigour. 2 Then, while the minstrels were contending for the prize, he came into the theatre with his young men. They wore their soldiers’ cloaks and their purple tunics, were all in the prime of their strength and of the same age, and showed not only great respect for their commander, but also that high spirit which young men have after many honourable contests. And just as they made their entrance it chanced that Pylades the minstrel was chanting the opening verse of the Persians of Timotheus —
[Phil. 11.1b] “Glorious the crown of freedom which he fashioneth for Hellas”
;
[Phil. 11.3] 3 whereupon, as the splendid voice of the singer fitly sustained the majesty of the poet’s words, all the spectators turned their eyes upon Philopoemen and gave him glad applause; for in their hopes the Greeks were recovering their ancient dignity, and in their courage they were making the nearest approach to the high spirit of their fathers.
[Phil. 12.1] 12 1 But when it came to perils and battles, just as young horses long for their accustomed riders and if they have others on their backs, are shy and wild, so the Achaean army, when someone other than Philopoemen was commander-in chief, would be out of heart, would keep looking eagerly for him, and if he but came in sight, would at once be alert and efficient because of the courage he inspired. For they perceived that he was the one general whom their enemies were unable to face, and whose name and fame they feared, as was evident from what they did. 2 For Philip the king of Macedon, thinking that if Philopoemen could be got out of the way the Achaeans would again submit abjectly to his sway, secretly sent men to Argos who were to assassinate him; but the plot became known, and Philip was utterly condemned and hated among the Greeks. 3 Again, the Boeotians were besieging Megara and had hopes of its speedy capture, when suddenly a report reached their ears (and it was a false report) that Philopoemen was coming to the aid of the besieged and was close at hand; so they abandoned their scaling-ladders, which were already planted against the walls of the city, and fled away. 4 And once again, when Nabis, who succeeded Machanidas as tyrant of Sparta, suddenly seized Messene, it chanced that Philopoemen was out of office and had no force under his command; but since Lysippus, the commander-in chief of the Achaeans, could not be persuaded by him to go to the rescue of the Messenians, because, as he said, the city was utterly lost now that the enemy were inside, Philopoemen himself went to their rescue, taking with him his fellow-citizens of Megalopolis, who did not wait for any law or commission, but followed the man whom nature had made superior as though he were always in command. 5 And when Nabis heard that Philopoemen was also close at hand, he did not wait for him to come up, although he was encamped in the city, but stole out by an opposite gate and led his forces off as fast as he could, thinking that he would be fortunate if he should escape; and he did escape, and Messene was set free.
[Phil. 13.1] 13 1 All these things, then, made for the honour of Philopoemen; but his going away to Crete again at the request of the Gortynians, who wanted him to be their general in their war, brought calumny upon him, and it was said that when his native city was at war with Nabis, he was away, either to avoid fighting or to show kindness out of all season to others. And yet so continuously were the Megalopolitans under hostile attack all that time that they lived upon their walls and planted their grain in the streets, since their fields were ravaged and the enemy were encamped almost in their gates. 2 Philopoemen, however, was waging war in Crete all that while, and serving as general across the sea, and so afforded his enemies a chance to accuse him of running away from the war at home. But there were some who said that since the Achaeans chose other men as their generals and Philopoemen was without public office, he merely put the leisure which belonged to him at the service of the Gortynians when they asked him to be their leader. 3 For he was averse to inactivity, and wished to keep his skill as a commander in war, like any other possession, all the while in use and exercise. And he made this evident by what he once said about King Ptolemy. When certain persons were extolling that monarch because he carefully drilled his army day by day, and carefully and laboriously exercised himself in arms, “And yet who,” said Philopoemen, “can admire a king of his years for always practising but never performing anything?”
[Phil. 13.4] 4 The Megalopolitans, nevertheless, were displeased at this absence, and looking upon it in the light of a betrayal, undertook to make him an exile; but the Achaeans prevented this by sending to Megalopolis Aristaenus, their commander-in chief, who, although politically at variance with Philopoemen, would not suffer sentence of condemnation to be passed upon him. 5 In consequence of this displeasure, Philopoemen was ignored by his fellow-citizens, and therefore induced many of their outlying villages to secede from them, instructing them to say that they did not belong to the city and were not under their rule; and when they made this plea, he openly supported them in their contention and helped them to raise a faction against the city in the assembly of the Achaeans. This, however, was at a later time.
[Phil. 13.6] 6 In Crete he waged war in the service of the Gortynians; not the straightforward and honourable warfare of a Peloponnesian and Arcadian, but one in which he adopted the Cretan practices, and turning their tricks and wiles and stolen marches and ambuscades against themselves, speedily showed them that they were children opposing foolish and vain mischievousness to genuine military experience.
[Phil. 14.1] 14 1 Having thus won admiration, and having come back to Peloponnesus with a brilliant reputation from his exploits in Crete, he found that Philip had been defeated and subdued by Titus Flamininus, and that the Achaeans and the Romans were waging war upon Nabis. He was at once chosen general against Nabis, and by hazarding the issue on a naval battle would seem to have fared as Epaminondas once did, since he fought on the sea in a manner which fell far short of his great reputation. 2 Epaminondas, however, as some say, was reluctant to give his fellow-citizens a taste of the advantages accruing from naval superiority, in order that they might not surprise him by becoming, instead of “steadfast hoplites,” to use Plato’s words, degenerate mariners; and therefore he purposely came back from Asia and the islands without achieving anything. 3 Philopoemen, on the other hand, was persuaded that his skill in handling land forces would suffice to give him success in fighting also on the sea, and therefore learned to his cost how large a part of superior excellence consists in practice, and how much additional power it gives to men who have accustomed themselves to all methods of fighting. For not only was he worsted in the sea-fight, owing to his lack of experience, but he actually launched an old but famous ship after forty years of disuse, and manned her, the result being that her seams took in water and her crew came into peril of their lives.
[Phil. 14.4] 4 Understanding that in consequence of this disaster his enemies despised him, thinking that he had altogether given up activity on the sea, and that they were insolently besieging Gythium, he promptly sailed against them when they did not expect it and were careless because of their victory. He landed his soldiers by night and led them to the attack, set fire to the enemy’s tents, burned down his camp, and slew many of his men. 5 A few days afterward, as he was marching through a rough country, Nabis came suddenly upon him and threw the Achaeans into a fright; they despaired of saving themselves from a position which was difficult and already commanded by the enemy. But Philopoemen waited a little while, surveyed the nature of the ground, and then demonstrated that skill in drawing up an army is the crowning feature in the art of war. For by changing his order of battle a little and adapting it to the present exigency, with no confusion and no trouble he evaded the difficulty, and charging upon the enemy put them to utter rout. 6 Then, observing that they were not fleeing towards the city, but scattering themselves hither and thither through the region (which was woody, entirely surrounded by hills, and impracticable for cavalry owing to water-courses and ravines), he checked his pursuit and encamped while it was still light. But judging that the enemy after their flight would steal back to the city by ones and twos under cover of the night, he placed large numbers of his Achaeans armed with swords in ambush among the water-courses and hills about the city. 7 Here very many of the followers of Nabis met their death; for since they did not make their return in a body, but as the chances of flight disposed them severally, they fell into the hands of their enemies and were caught like birds about the city.
[Phil. 15.1] 15 1 In consequence of this exploit Philopoemen was beloved by the Greeks and conspicuously honoured by them in their theatres, thus giving secret umbrage to Titus Flamininus, who was an ambitious man. For as Roman consul he thought himself more worthy of the Achaeans’ admiration than a man of Arcadia, and he considered that his benefactions far exceeded those of Philopoemen, since by a single proclamation he had set free all those parts of Greece which had been subject to Philip and the Macedonians.
[Phil. 15.2] 2 After this Flamininus made peace with Nabis, and Nabis was treacherously put to death by the Aetolians. Sparta was therefore in a state of confusion, and Philopoemen, seizing his opportunity, fell upon the city with an armed force, and partly by compulsion, partly by persuasion, brought it over to his purposes and made it a member of the Achaean league. 3 This achievement brought him an amazing repute among the Achaeans, since through his efforts they had acquired a city of so great dignity and power (and indeed it was no slight matter that Sparta had become a member of the Achaean league); moreover, Philopoemen carried with him the principal men among the Spartans, who hoped to have in him a guardian of their liberties. 4 Therefore, after they had confiscated the house and property of Nabis and obtained thereby a hundred and twenty talents, they voted to make a present of the money to Philopoemen, and to send an embassy to Megalopolis on the matter. Here, indeed, it became perfectly clear that Philopoemen not only seemed to be, but actually was, a most excellent man. For, to begin with, no Spartan was willing to confer with a man of his character about the acceptance of a gift, but they were all so reluctant and afraid to do it that they entrusted the business to a guest-friend of his, Timolaüs. 5 And in the second place, Timolaüs himself, when he came to Megalopolis, having been entertained at the house of Philopoemen, and having learned thoroughly how dignified he was in his converse with others, how simple his ways of living, and how his character was nowhere to be approached and much less easy to be overcome by bribes, held his peace about the gift of money, and after giving some other excuse for his visit to him, went back home. And when he was sent a second time on the same errand, he did as before. 6 On his third visit, however, he at last got so far as to acquaint Philopoemen with the earnest desire of his city. Then Philopoemen, who was pleased by what he heard, went in person to Sparta, and counselled the people there not to try to bribe good men who were their friends, and by whose virtues they could profit without payment of money, but rather to buy up and corrupt the bad men who were ruining the city by their factious conduct in the assembly, to the end that such might have their mouths stopped in consequence of their venality, and so be less annoying to their fellow-citizens; for it was better, he said, to take away freedom of speech from their enemies rather than from their friends. Such was his splendid spirit in matters of money.
[Phil. 16.1] 16 1 Soon, however, Diophanes, the general of the Achaean league, hearing that the Lacedaemonians were once more agitating for a change, determined to punish them, and the Lacedaemonians determining upon war, were throwing the Peloponnesus into confusion. Here Philopoemen tried to mollify Diophanes and put a stop to his wrath, showing him what the occasion demanded, and that since King Antiochus and the Romans were hovering about in Greece with armies so great, it behoved the general of the league to pay attention to them, and not to stir up domestic troubles, but even to be somewhat oblivious to the transgressions of his colleagues. 2 Diophanes, however, paid no heed to this advice, but invaded Laconia along with Titus Flamininus, and marched directly upon the city of Sparta. Incensed at this, Philopoemen ventured upon an act which was not lawful, nor even exactly just, but great and prompted by a great spirit. He went on past them into Sparta, and, private man though he was, shut out therefrom both the general of the Achaean league and the Roman consul, put an end to the disorders in the city, and brought the Lacedaemonians back again into the league, as they were at the outset.
[Phil. 16.3] 3 At a later time, however, when he had some ground for accusation against the Lacedaemonians, as general of the league Philopoemen brought back its exiles to the city, and put to death eighty Spartans, according to Polybius, or according to Aristocrates, three hundred and fifty. 4 He also tore down the walls of the city, and cutting off a large part of its territory, annexed it to Megalopolis; moreover, in the case of those who had been made citizens of Sparta by the tyrants, he removed them all into Achaia, with the exception of three thousand who would not obey him and were unwilling to go away from Sparta. These he sold into slavery, and then, as if in mockery of their fate, erected a portico in Megalopolis with the money which they brought. 5 And now, glutting his anger at the Lacedaemonians and unworthily trampling upon them in their misery, he treated their constitution in the most cruel and most lawless fashion. For he took away and abolished the system of training which Lycurgus had instituted, and compelled their boys and their young men to adopt the Achaean in place of their hereditary discipline, being convinced that while they were under the laws of Lycurgus they would never be humble.
[Phil. 16.6] 6 For the time being, then, owing to their great calamities, the Spartans suffered Philopoemen to cut away, as it were, the sinews of their city, and became tractable and submissive; but a while afterwards, having obtained permission from the Romans, they abandoned the Achaean polity, and resumed and re-established that which had come down from their fathers, so far as was possible after their many misfortunes and great degeneration.
[Phil. 17.1] 17 1 When the Romans went to war with Antiochus in Greece, Philopoemen was without command, and seeing that Antiochus himself was sitting idly down in Chalcis and spending his time in a courtship and marriage which were not suited to his years, while his Syrian troops, in great disorder and without leaders, were wandering about among the cities and living luxuriously, he was distressed because he was not general of the Achaeans at that time, and kept saying that he begrudged the Romans their victory. “For if I had been general,” he said, “I would have cut off all these fellows in their taverns.” 2 But soon the Romans, after conquering Antiochus, applied themselves more closely to the affairs of Greece. They encompassed the Achaean league with their power, since the popular leaders gradually inclined to their support; their strength, under the guidance of the heavenly powers, grew great in all directions; and the consummation was near to which the fortunes of Greece must come in their allotted revolution. Here Philopoemen, like a good helmsman contending against a high sea, was in some points compelled to give in and yield to the times; but in most he continued his opposition, and tried to draw to the support of freedom the men who were powerful in speech or action.
[Phil. 17.3] 3 Aristaenus the Megalopolitan was a man of the greatest influence among the Achaeans, but he always paid court to the Romans and thought that the Achaeans ought not to oppose or displease them in any way. As this man was once speaking in the assembly, we are told that Philopoemen listened to him a while in silent indignation, but at last, overcome by anger, said to him: “My man, why art thou eager to behold the fated end of Greece?” 4 Again, Manius, the Roman consul, after his victory over Antiochus, asked the Achaeans to permit the exiles from Sparta to go back home, and Titus Flamininus joined Manius in making this request. But Philopoemen successfully opposed the request, not out of hostility to the exiles, but from a desire that they should owe this favour to himself and the Achaeans, and not to Flamininus and the Romans; indeed, as general for the following year he restored the exiles to their city. To such a degree did his lofty spirit lead him to strive and contend against men in power.
[Phil. 18.1] 18 1 But being now seventy years of age, and for the eighth time general of the Achaeans, he hoped not only to pass that year of office without war, but also that affairs would permit him to spend the rest of his life in peace and quiet. For as our diseases seem to lose their virulence as our bodily strength declines, so among the Greek cities the spirit of contention lapsed as their power waned. 2 Nevertheless, some divine displeasure threw him down, like an all but victorious runner, at the very goal of his life. For it is recorded that at some conference, when others present were lavishing praise upon one who was reputed to be a redoubtable general, Philopoemen contemptuously said: “Yet why should any account be made of this man, who has been taken alive by his enemies?” 3 And a few days afterwards Deinocrates the Messenian, a man who had a private quarrel with Philopoemen and was obnoxious to everybody else because of his baseness and unbridled life, induced Messene to revolt from the Achaean league, and was reported about to seize the village called Colonis.
[Phil. 18.3] Philopoemen at the time lay sick of a fever at Argos, but on learning these facts, he hastened to Megalopolis in a single day, a journey of more than four hundred furlongs. 4 From there he at once set out for the rescue, taking with him the horsemen. These were the city’s most prominent men, but altogether young, and serving as volunteers under Philopoemen out of good will and admiration for him. They rode off towards Messene and encountered Deinocrates, who came to meet them at Evander’s hill. 5 Him they put to flight; but the five hundred men who were guarding the open country of Messene suddenly attacked them, and when those who had before been worsted saw this, they collected together along the hills. Then Philopoemen, fearing that he would be enveloped, and trying to spare his horsemen, withdrew over difficult ground, bringing up the rear himself and frequently riding out against the enemy, and trying to draw their attacks entirely upon himself.
[Phil. 18.6] They did not venture, however, to return his attacks, but merely shouted and threatened his flanks. 6 Withdrawing from the line frequently, then, to spare his young men, and sending them one by one into safety, before he was aware of it he was left alone among numerous enemies. Even then no one ventured to come to close quarters with him, but he was pelted with missiles from a distance and forced upon rocky and precipitous places, so that he had difficulty in managing his horse and kept tearing him with the spur. 7 His age, owing to his generous exercise, was not burdensome, and in no way impeded his escape; but at that time his body was enfeebled by sickness and worn out with a long journey, so that he was heavy and stiff, and at length his horse stumbled and threw him to the ground. His fall was a heavy one and his head was hurt, and he lay for a long time speechless, so that his enemies thought him dead and tried to turn his body over and strip it of its armour. 8 But when he raised his head and opened his eyes, they threw themselves in a throng upon him, tied his hands behind his back, and led him away, treating with great insolence and contumely a man who could never have dreamed that he would suffer such a fate at the hands of Deinocrates.
[Phil. 19.1] 19 1 The people of Messene, wonderfully elated at the news, gathered in throngs at the gates. But when they saw Philopoemen dragged along in a manner unworthy of his fame and of his former exploits and trophies, most of them were struck with pity and felt sympathy for him, so that they actually shed tears and spoke with bitterness of the inconstancy and vanity of human greatness. 2 And so, little by little, many were led to say humanely that they ought to remember his former benefactions, and especially how he had restored to them their freedom by expelling the tyrant Nabis. But there were a few who, to gratify Deinocrates, urged that the captive should be tortured and put to death as a stern and implacable enemy, and one more than ever to be feared by Deinocrates himself in case he made his escape after having been taken prisoner and loaded by insults by him. 3 However, they carried Philopoemen into the Thesaurus, as it was called, a subterranean chamber which admitted neither air nor light from outside and had no door, but was closed by dragging a huge stone in front of it. Here they placed him, and after planting the stone against it, set a guard of armed men round about.
[Phil. 19.4] 4 Meanwhile the horsemen of the Achaeans recovered themselves after their flight, and when Philopoemen was nowhere to be seen, but was thought to be dead, they stood for a long time calling aloud upon their leader and reproaching one another for having won an unlawful and shameful safety by abandoning to the enemy their general, who had been prodigal of his life for their sakes. 5 Then they went forward in a body, and by diligent effort learned of his capture, and sent word of it to the cities of the Achaeans. The Achaeans felt that they had suffered a great calamity, and determined to send an embassy and demand Philopoemen from the Messenians, while they themselves prepared an expedition against the city.
[Phil. 20.1] 20 1 The Achaeans, then, were thus engaged. But Deinocrates, who feared that delay was the one thing most likely to save Philopoemen, and wished to forestall the efforts of the Achaeans, when night came on and the multitude of Messene had dispersed, opened the prison and sent in a public official with poison, ordering him to give it to Philopoemen and to stand by his side until he had drunk it. 2 Now, Philopoemen was lying down wrapped with his soldier’s cloak, not sleeping, but overwhelmed with trouble and grief. When, however, he saw a light and a man standing by him holding the cup of poison, he pulled himself together as much as his weakness permitted and sat up. Then taking the cup he asked the man if he had heard anything about the horsemen, and particularly about Lycortas, 3 and on being told by him that the greater part of them had escaped, he nodded his head, and with a kindly look at the man said to him: “That is good news, if we have not wholly lost.” Without another word and even without a sigh he drained the cup and laid himself down again. He did not give the poison much to do, but breathed his last speedily, so weak was he.
[Phil. 21.1] 21 1 Accordingly, when the report of his death reached the Achaeans, their cities were filled with general dejection and grief, and the men of military age, together with the members of the council, assembled at Megalopolis. With no delay whatsoever they proceeded to take revenge. They chose Lycortas general, invaded Messenia, and ravaged the country, until the Messenians with one consent received them into their city. 2 Deinocrates anticipated their vengeance by making away with himself, but all the others who had voted to put Philopoemen to death they slew, and as for those who would have had him tortured also, these Lycortas seized and held for a more excruciating death. Then they burned Philopoemen’s body, collected his ashes in an urn, and set out for home, not in loose or promiscuous order, but with a blending of triumphal procession and funeral rites. 3 For their heads were wreathed with garlands while their eyes were full of tears, and they led their foes along with them in chains. The urn itself, almost hidden from sight by a multitude of fillets and wreaths, was borne by Polybius, the son of the Achaean general, and about him were the chief men of the Achaeans. The soldiers followed after, in full armour themselves, and with their horses decorated; they were neither dejected in view of their great affliction nor exultant over their victory. 4 Moreover, the people from the cities and villages on the way came to meet them, as if receiving Philopoemen on his return from an expedition; they laid their hands upon his urn, and accompanied him to Megalopolis. And so when they had been joined by the old men and by the women and children, a lamentation at once spread through the entire army and into the city, which longed for the presence of Philopoemen and was grievously cast down at his death, feeling that with him it had lost its supremacy among the Achaeans.
[Phil. 21.5] 5 He was buried, then, as was fitting, with conspicuous honours, and at his tomb the captive Messenians were stoned to death. Many statues of him were erected and many honours decreed him by the cities. All these a Roman, in the disastrous days of Greece following the fall of Corinth, attempted to have removed, and he attacked the memory of Philopoemen himself, accusing him, as if still alive, of having been a malevolent enemy of the Romans. 6 After the proposal had been discussed and Polybius had spoken in opposition to Philopoemen’s detractor, neither Mummius nor the members of the commission would consent that the honours paid to an illustrious man should be obliterated, although he had made no little opposition to Flamininus and Manius. These judges distinguished, as it would appear, between virtue and necessity, between honour and advantage. They rightly and fitly considered that benefactors ought always to receive reward and gratitude from their beneficiaries, and good men honour from the good.
[Phil. 21.5b] So much concerning Philopoemen.

## Flamininus

[Flam. 1.1] 1 1 IN parallel with Philopoemen we shall put Titus Quintius Flamininus. What his outward appearance was may be seen by those who wish it from the bronze statue of him at Rome. It stands by the side of the great Apollo from Carthage, opposite the Circus, and has upon it an inscription in Greek characters. As to his disposition, he is said to have been quick to show anger as well as to confer favours, though not in like extent. 2 For he was gentle in his punishments and not persistent, whereas in his favours he was unremitting, always well disposed towards his beneficiaries as though they were his benefactors, and eager to protect at all times and preserve those who had ever met with kindness at his hands, as though they were his choicest possessions. But since he was covetous of honour and fame, he desired that his nobles and greatest achievements should be the result of his own efforts, and he took more pleasure in those who wanted to receive kindness than in those who were able to bestow it, considering that the former were objects upon which he could exercise his virtue, while the latter were his rivals, so to speak, in the struggle for fame.
[Flam. 1.3] 3 From his earliest years he was trained in the arts of war, since at that time Rome was carrying on many great contests and her young men from the very outset were taught by service as soldiers how to command soldiers. To begin with, then, he served as military tribune in the war against Hannibal under Marcellus the consul. 4 Marcellus fell into an ambush and lost his life, but Titus was appointed governor of the country about Tarentum and of Tarentum itself, now captured for the second time. Here he won a good name, no less for his administration of justice than for his conduct in the field. For this reason he was also chosen director-in chief of the colonists sent out to the two cities of Narnia and Cosa.
[Flam. 2.1] 2 1 This success more than anything else so exalted his ambition that he ignored the intervening offices which young men generally sought, the offices of tribune, praetor, and aedile, and thought himself worthy at once of a consulship; so he became a candidate for that office, with the eager support of his colonists. But the tribunes Fulvius and Manius opposed his course, and said that it was a monstrous thing for a young man to force his way into the highest office contrary to the laws, before he had been initiated, as it were, into the first rites and mysteries of government. 2 The senate, however, referred the matter to the votes of the people, and the people elected him consul along with Sextus Aelius, although he was not yet thirty years old. The lot assigned him to the war with Philip and the Macedonians, and it was a marvellous piece of good fortune for the Romans that he was thus designated for a field of activity where the people did not require a leader relying entirely upon war and violence, but rather to be won over by persuasion and friendly intercourse. 3 For the realm of Macedonia afforded Philip a sufficiently strong force for actual battle, but in a war of long duration his phalanx was dependent for its vigour, its support, its places of refuge, and in a word for its entire effectiveness, upon the states of Greece, and unless these were detached from Philip, the war with him would not be a matter of a single battle. 4 Greece, however, had not yet been brought into much contact with the Romans, and now for the first time was drawn into political relations with them. Unless, therefore, the Roman commander had been a man of native goodness who relied upon argument more than upon war, and unless he had been persuasive when he asked an audience and kind when he granted one, ever laying the greatest stress upon what was right and just, Greece would not so easily have been satisfied with a foreign supremacy instead of those to which she had been accustomed. However, this will be made clear in the story of his achievements.
[Flam. 3.1] 3 1 Titus learned that the generals who had preceded him in this field, first Sulpicius, and then Publius Villius, had invaded Macedonia late in the season, had prosecuted the war slowly, and had wasted time in manoeuvring for position or in long range skirmishes with Philip to secure roads and provisions. 2 These men had squandered the year of their consulship at home in the honours and political activities of their office, and afterwards had set out on their campaigns. But Titus did not think it right to imitate them and thus add a year to his term of office, acting as magistrate during one, and as general for a second. On the contrary, he was ambitious to prosecute the war at the same time that he served as consul, and therefore renounced his honours and special privileges in the city, 3 and after asking the senate that his brother Lucius might accompany him on his expedition as naval commander, he took with him as the main part of his force those of Scipio’s soldiers who were still in full vigour of body and spirit after conquering Hasdrubal in Spain and Hannibal himself in Africa (they were three thousand in number), and crossed safely into Epirus. He found Publius Villius encamped with his forces over against Philip, who for a long time now had been guarding the narrow passes along the river Apsus. 4 Publius was making no progress, owing to the strength of his adversary’s position, and Titus therefore took over his army, sent Publius home, and began an examination of the ground. It has no less natural strength than the Vale of Tempe, but is without the beautiful trees, green woods, agreeable haunts, and pleasant meadows which there abound. 5 Great and lofty mountains on either side slope down and form a single very large and deep ravine, and through this the Apsus dashes with a volume and speed which make it the equal of the Peneius. Its water covers all the rest of the ground at the foot of the mountains, but leaves a cut, precipitous and narrow, for a path along past its current; this path would not be easy for an army to traverse at any time, and when guarded, it would be utterly impossible.
[Flam. 4.1] 4 1 There were some, therefore, who tried to have Titus lead his forces by a roundabout way through Dassaretis towards Lycus, a safe and easy road. But he was afraid that if he went far away from the sea and got into regions that were poorly tilled and barren, while Philip avoided battle, lack of provisions would compel him to come back again to the sea with his task undone, like the general who had preceded him. He therefore determined to attack with all his might, and force his passage through the heights. 2 But Philip was occupying the mountains with his phalanx, and on the flanks of the Romans javelins and arrows came flying from all directions against them. Sharp encounters took place, men were wounded and men fell dead on both sides, and no end of the war was in sight. But at last some herdsmen of the vicinity came to Titus and told him of a roundabout path which the enemy was neglecting to guard; over this they promised to lead his army and bring it, in three days at the farthest, to a position on the heights. 3 As surety and voucher for their good faith they brought Charops the son of Machatas, a leading man in Epirus, who was well-disposed to the Romans and was secretly co-operating with them through fear of Philip. In him Titus put confidence, and sent out a military tribune with four thousand foot-soldiers and three hundred horsemen. They were conducted by the herdsmen, who were in bonds. By day they rested under cover of caves or woody places, and they travelled in the night, by the light of the moon, which was at the full.
[Flam. 4.4] 4 After sending off this detachment, Titus kept his army quiet for two days, except so far as he drew off the enemy’s attention by skirmishes; but when the day came on which the enveloping party were expected to show themselves on the heights, at daybreak he put all his heavy-armed and all his light-armed troops in motion. Dividing his forces into three parts, he himself led his cohorts in column formation up into the narrowest part of the ravine along the stream, pelted with missiles by the Macedonians and engaging at close quarters with those who confronted him at each difficult spot; 5 the other divisions, one on either side, strove to keep pace with him, and grappled eagerly with the difficulties presented by the rough ground. Meanwhile the sun rose, and a smoke — not clearly defined, but resembling a mountain mist — lifted itself and came into view from afar. The enemy did not notice it, for it was behind them, where the heights were already occupied, and the Romans were of doubtful mind about it, but as they struggled and laboured on, they let their wishes determine their hopes. 6 But when the smoke increased in size and darkened the air, and ascending in great volume was clearly seen to be a fire-signal from their friends, then the Romans below raised great shouts of triumph and dashed upon their foes and crowded them together into the roughest places, while the Romans behind the enemy sent down answering shouts from the heights.
[Flam. 5.1] 5 1 At once, then, the enemy fled precipitately, but not more than two thousand of them fell; for the difficulties of the ground made pursuit impossible. However, the Romans made spoil of their money, tents, and slaves, mastered the pass, and traversed all parts of Epirus, but in such an orderly mention and with so great restraint that, although they were far from their fleet and the sea, and although their monthly rations of grain had not been measured out to them and they could buy little, they nevertheless refrained from plundering the country, which offered abundant booty. 2 For Titus had learned that Philip, in passing through Thessaly like a fugitive, was driving the inhabitants from their cities into the mountains, burning down the cities, and allowing his soldiers to plunder the wealth which was too abundant or too heavy to be carried away, thus in a manner ceding the country already to the Romans. Titus was therefore ambitious, and exhorted his soldiers accordingly to spare the country in marching through it, and to treat it as though it had been handed over to them and were their own. 3 And indeed the results showed them at once the advantages of this orderly conduct. For as soon as they reached Thessaly the cities came over to them, the Greeks south of Thermopylae were all eagerness and excitement to find Titus, and the Achaeans, renouncing their alliance with Philip, voted to join the Romans in making war upon him. 4 The Opuntians, moreover, although the Aetolians, who were at that time fighting most zealously on the side of the Romans, asked permission to take Opus in charge and protect the city, would not grant the request, but sent for Titus and gave themselves with the fullest confidence into his hands.
[Flam. 5.5] Now, we are told that Pyrrhus, when for the first time he beheld from a look-out place the army of the Romans in full array, had said that he saw nothing barbaric in the Barbarians’ line of battle; and so those who for the first time met Titus were compelled to speak in a similar strain. 5 For they had heard the Macedonians say that a commander of a barbarian host was coming against them, who subdued and enslaved everywhere by force of arms; and then, when they met a man who was young in years, humane in aspect, a Greek in voice and language, and a lover of genuine honour, they were wonderfully charmed, and when they returned to their cities they filled them with kindly feelings towards him and the belief that in him they had a champion of their liberties. 6 After this Titus had a meeting with Philip (who seemed disposed to make terms), and proffered him peace and friendship on condition that he allowed the Greeks to be independent and withdraw his garrisons from their cities; but this proffer Philip would not accept. Then at last it became clear even to the partisans of Philip that the Romans were come to wage war, not upon the Greeks, but upon the Macedonians in behalf of the Greeks.
[Flam. 6.1] 6 1 Accordingly, the other parts of Greece came over to the side of Titus without any trouble; but as he was entering Boeotia without hostile demonstrations, the leading men of Thebes came to meet him. They were in sympathy with the Macedonian cause through the efforts of Brachyllas, but welcomed Titus and showed him honour, professing to be on friendly terms with both parties. 2 Titus met and greeted them kindly, and then proceeded quietly on his journey, sometimes asking questions for his own information and sometimes discoursing at length, and purposely diverting them until his soldiers should come up from their march. 3 Then he led them forward and entered the city along with the Thebans, who were not at all pleased thereat, but hesitated to oppose him, since a goodly number of soldiers were in his following. Titus, however, just as though the city were not in his power, came before their assembly and tried to persuade them to side with the Romans, and Attalus the king seconded them in his appeals and exhortations to the Thebans. But Attalus, as it would appear, in his eagerness to play the orator for Titus, went beyond his aged strength, and in the very midst of his speech, being seized with a vertigo or an apoplexy, suddenly fainted and fell, and shortly afterwards was conveyed by his fleet to Asia, where he died. The Boeotians allied themselves with the Romans.
[Flam. 7.1] 7 1 Philip now sent an embassy to Rome, and Titus therefore dispatched thither his own representatives, who were to induce the senate to vote him an extension of command in case the war continued, or, if it did not, the power to make peace. For he was covetous of honour, and was greatly afraid that he would be robbed of his glory if another general were sent to carry on the war. 2 His friends managed matters so successfully for him that Philip failed to get what he wanted and the command in the war was continued to Titus. On receiving the decree of the senate, he was lifted up in his hopes and at once hastened into Thessaly to prosecute the war against Philip. He had over twenty-six thousand soldiers, of whom six thousand infantry and four hundred cavalry were furnished by the Aetolians. Philip’s army also was of about the same size.
[Flam. 7.3] 3 The two armies advanced against each other until they came into the neighbourhood of Scotussa, and there they proposed to decide the issue by battle. Their mutual proximity did not inspire them with fear, as might have been expected; on the contrary, they were filled with ardour and ambition. For the Romans hoped to conquer the Macedonians, whose reputation for prowess and strength Alexander had raised to a very high pitch among them; and the Macedonians, who considered the Romans superior to the Persians, hoped, in case they prevailed over them, to prove Philip a more brilliant commander than Alexander. 4 Accordingly, Titus exhorted his soldiers to show themselves brave men and full of spirit, assured that they were going to contend against the bravest of antagonists in that fairest of all theatres, Greece; and Philip, too, began a speech of exhortation to his soldiers, as is the custom before a battle. But, either by chance or from ignorance due to an inopportune haste, he had ascended for this purpose a lofty mound outside his camp, beneath which many men lay buried in a common grave, and a dreadful dejection fell upon his listeners in view of the omen, so that he was deeply troubled and refrained from battle that day.
[Flam. 8.1] 8 1 Towards morning on the following day, after a mild and damp night, the clouds turned to mist, the whole plain was filled with profound darkness, a dense air came down from the heights into the space between the two camps, and as soon as day advanced all the ground was hidden from view. The parties sent out on either side for purposes of ambush and reconnaissance encountered one another in a very short time and went to fighting near what are called the Cynoscephalae, or Dog’s Heads. These are the sharp tops of hills lying close together alongside one another, and got their name from a resemblance in their shape. 2 As was natural on a field so difficult, each party sending out aid from their camps to those who from time to time were getting the worst of it and retreating, until at last, when the air cleared up and they could see what was going on, they engaged with all their forces.
[Flam. 8.3] With his right wing, then, Philip had the advantage, since from higher ground he threw his entire phalanx upon the Romans, who could not withstand the weight of its interlocking shields and the sharpness of its projecting pikes; 3 but his left wing was broken up and scattered along the hills, and Titus, despairing of his defeated wing, rode swiftly along to the other, and with it fell upon the Macedonians. These were unable to hold their phalanx together and maintain the depth of its formation (which was the main source of their strength), being prevented by the roughness and irregularity of the ground, while for fighting man to man they had armour which was too cumbersome and heavy. 4 For the phalanx is like an animal of invincible strength as long as it is one body and can keep its shields locked together in a single formation; but when it has been broken up into its parts, each of its fighting men loses also his individual force, as well because of the manner in which he is armed as because his strength lies in the mutual support of the parts of the whole body rather than in himself. This wing of the Macedonians being routed, some of the Romans pursued the fugitives, while others dashed out upon the flank of the enemy who were still fighting and cut them down, so that very soon their victorious wing also faced about, threw away their weapons, and fled. 5 The result was that no fewer than eight thousand Macedonians were slain, and five thousand were taken prisoners. Philip, however, got safely away, and for this the Aetolians were to blame, who fell to sacking and plundering the enemy’s camp while the Romans were still pursuing, so that when the Romans came back to it they found nothing there.
[Flam. 9.1] 9 1 This, to begin with, gave rise to mutual quarrels and recriminations; but afterwards the Aetolians vexed Titus more and more by ascribing the victory to themselves and prepossessing the minds of the Greeks with the fame of it, so that they were mentioned first in the writings and songs of poets and historians who celebrated the event. 2 Of these the one most in vogue was the following epigram in elegiac verses: —
[Flam. 9.1b] “Unwept and without graves are we, O traveller, who on this ridge of Thessaly lie dead, in number thirty thousand, subdued by the sword of the Aetolians, and of the Latins whom Titus led from spacious Italy, Emathia’s great bane. And the bold spirit that Philip had displayed was gone; it showed itself more agile than swift deer.”
[Flam. 9.3] 3 This poem was composed by Alcaeus in mockery of Philip, and its author exaggerated the number of the slain; however, being recited in many places and by many persons, it gave more annoyance to Titus than to Philip. For Philip simply made fun of Alcaeus with an answering elegiac distich: —
[Flam. 9.3b] “Leafless and without bark, O traveller, on this ridge
A cross is planted for Alcaeus, and it towers in the sun”
[Flam. 9.4] 4 but Titus was ambitious to stand well with the Greeks, and such things irritated him beyond measure. For this reason he conducted the rest of his business by himself, and made very little account of the Aetolians. They on their part were displeased at this, and when Titus received an embassy from the Macedonian king with proposals for an agreement, they went round to the other cities vociferously charging him with selling peace to Philip, when it was in his power to eradicate the war entirely and destroy a power by which the Greek world had first been enslaved. 5 While the Aetolians were making these charges and trying to make trouble among the Roman allies, Philip himself removed all grounds for suspicion by coming to terms and putting himself and his realm in the hands of Titus and the Romans. And in this manner Titus put an end to the war; he returned to Philip his kingdom of Macedonia, but ordained that he should keep aloof from Greece, exacted from him an indemnity of a thousand talents, took away all his ships except ten, and taking one of his sons, Demetrius, to serve as hostage, sent him off to Rome, thus providing in the best manner for the present and anticipating the future.
[Flam. 9.6] 6 For Hannibal the African, a most inveterate enemy of Rome and an exile from his native country, had already at that time come to the court of King Antiochus, and was trying to incite him to further achievements while fortune gave his power successful course. Antiochus himself also, in consequence of the magnitude of his achievements, by which he had won the title of Great, was already fixing his eyes on universal dominion, and had a particular hostility to the Romans. 7 Therefore, had not Titus, in view of all this, made favourable terms of peace, and had the war with Antiochus in Greece found the war with Philip still in progress there, and had a common cause brought these two greatest and most powerful kings of the time into alliance against Rome, that city would have undergone fresh struggles and dangers not inferior to those which marked her war with Hannibal. 8 But as it was, by interposing an opportune peace between the two wars, and by cutting short the existing war before the threatening war began, Titus took away the last hope from Philip, and the first from Antiochus.
[Flam. 10.1] 10 1 And now the ten commissioners, who had been sent to Titus by the senate, advised him to give the rest of the Greeks their freedom, but to retain Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias under garrisons, as a safeguard against Antiochus. Thereupon the Aetolians stirred up the cities with the most vociferous denunciations, ordering Titus to strike off the shackles of Greece (for that is what Philip was wont to call these three cities), 2 and asking the Greeks whether they were glad to have a fetter now which was smoother than the one they had worn before, but heavier; and whether they admired Titus as a benefactor because he had unshackled the foot of Greece and put a collar round her neck. Titus was troubled and distressed at this, and by labouring with the commission finally persuaded it to free these cities also from their garrisons, in order that his gift to the Greeks might be whole and entire.
[Flam. 10.3] 3 Accordingly, at the Isthmian games, where a great throng of people were sitting in the stadium and watching the athletic contests (since, indeed, after many years Greece had at last ceased from wars waged in hopes of freedom, and was now holding festival in time of assured peace), the trumpet signalled a general silence, 4 and the herald, coming forward into the midst of the spectators, made proclamation that the Roman senate and Titus Quintius Flamininus proconsular general, having conquered King Philip and the Macedonians, restored to freedom, without garrisons and without imposts, and to the enjoyment of their ancient laws, the Corinthians, the Locrians, the Phocians, the Euboeans, the Achaeans of Phthiotis, the Magnesians, the Thessalians, and the Perrhaebians. At first, then, the proclamation was by no means generally or distinctly heard, but there was a confused and tumultuous movement in the stadium of people who wondered what had been said, and asked one another questions about it, and called out to have the proclamation made again; 5 but when silence had been restored, and the herald in tones that were louder than before and reached the ears of all, had recited the proclamation, a shout of joy arose, so incredibly loud that it reached the sea. The whole audience rose to their feet, and no heed was paid to the contending athletes, but all were eager to spring forward and greet and hail the saviour and champion of Greece.
[Flam. 10.6] 6 And that which is often said of the volume and power of the human voice was then apparent to the eye. For ravens which chanced to be flying overhead fell down into the stadium. The cause of this was the rupture of the air; for when the voice is borne aloft loud and strong, the air is rent asunder by it and will not support flying creatures, but lets them fall, as if they were over a vacuum, unless, indeed, they are transfixed by a sort of blow, as of a weapon, and fall down dead. It is possible, too, that in such cases there is a whirling motion of the air, which becomes like a waterspout at sea with a refluent flow of the surges caused by their very volume.
[Flam. 11.1] 11 Be that as it may, had not Titus, now that the spectacle was given up, at once foreseen the rush and press of the throng and taken himself away, it would seem that he could hardly have survived the concourse of so many people about him at once and from all sides. But when they were tired of shouting about his tent, and night was already come, then, with greetings and embraces for any friends and fellow citizens whom they saw, they betook themselves to banqueting and carousing with one another. 2 And here, their pleasure naturally increasing, they were moved to reason and discourse about Greece, saying that although she had waged many wars for the sake of her freedom, she had not yet obtained a more secure or more delightful exercise of it than now, when others had striven in her behalf, and she herself, almost without a drop of blood or a pang of grief, had borne away the fairest and most enviable of prizes. Verily, they would say, valour and wisdom are rare things among men, but the rarest of all blessings is the just man. 3 For men like Agesilaüs, or Lysander, or Nicias, or Alcibiades could indeed conduct wars well, and understood how to be victorious commanders in battles by land and sea, but they would not use their successes so as to win legitimate favour and promote the right. Indeed, if one excepts the action at Marathon, the sea-fight at Salamis, Plataea, Thermopylae, and the achievements of Cimon at the Eurymedon and about Cyprus, Greece has fought all her battles to bring servitude upon herself, and every one of her trophies stands as a memorial of her own calamity and disgrace, since she owed her overthrow chiefly to the baseness and contentiousness of her leaders. 4 Whereas men of another race, who were thought to have only slight sparks and insignificant traces of a common remote ancestry, from whom it was astonishing that any helpful word or purpose should be vouchsafed to Greece — these men underwent the greatest perils and hardships in order to rescue Greece and set her free from cruel despots and tyrants.
[Flam. 12.1] 12 1 So ran the thoughts of the Greeks; and the acts of Titus were consonant with his proclamations. For at once he sent Lentulus to Asia to set Bargylia free, and Stertinius to Thrace to deliver the cities and islands there from Philip’s garrisons. Moreover, Publius Villius sailed to have a conference with Antiochus concerning the freedom of the Greeks who were under his sway. 2 Titus himself also paid a visit to Chalcis, and then sailed from there to Magnesia, removing their garrisons and restoring to the peoples their constitutions. He was also appointed master of ceremonies for the Nemeian games at Argos, where he conducted the festival in the best possible manner, and once more publicly proclaimed freedom to the Greeks. 3 Then he visited the different cities, establishing among them law and order, abundant justice, concord, and mutual friendliness. He quieted their factions and restored their exiles, and plumed himself on his persuading and reconciling the Greeks more than on his conquest of the Macedonians, so that their freedom presently seemed to them the least of his benefactions.
[Flam. 12.4] 4 Xenocrates the philosopher, as the story runs, was once being haled away to prison by the tax-collectors for not having paid the alien’s tax, but was rescued out of their hands by Lycurgus the orator, who also visited the officials with punishment for their impudence. Xenocrates afterwards met the sons of Lycurgus, and said: “My boys, I am making a noble return to your father for his kindness towards me; for all the world is praising him for what he did.” In the case of Titus and the Romans, however, gratitude for their benefactions to the Greeks brought them, not merely praises, but also confidence among all men and power, and justly too. 5 For men not only received the officers appointed by them, but actually sent for them and invited them and put themselves in their hands. And this was true not only of people and cities, nay, even kings who had been wronged by other kings fled for refuge into the hands of Roman officials, so that in a short time — and perhaps there was also divine guidance in this — everything became subject to them. But Titus himself took most pride in his liberation of Greece. 6 For in dedicating at Delphi some silver bucklers and his own long shield, he provided them with this inscription: —
[Flam. 12.4b] “O ye sons of Zeus, whose joy is in swift horsemanship. O ye Tyndaridae, princes of Sparta, Titus, a descendant of Aeneas, has brought you a most excellent gift, he who for the sons of the Greeks wrought freedom.”
[Flam. 12.7] 7 He also dedicated a golden wreath to Apollo, and it bore this inscription: —
[Flam. 12.7b] “This will fitly lie on thine ambrosial locks, O son of Leto, this wreath with sheen of gold; it is the gift of the great leader of the children of Aeneas. Therefore, O Far-darter, bestow upon the god-like Titus the glory due to his prowess.”
[Flam. 12.8] 8 It follows, then, that the city of Corinth has twice now been the scene of the same benefaction to the Greeks; for it was in Corinth that Titus at this time, and at Corinth that Nero again in our own times — in both cases at the Isthmian games — made the Greeks free and self-governing, Titus by voice of herald, but Nero in a public address which he delivered in person, on a tribunal in the market-place amidst the multitude. This, however, came at a later time.
[Flam. 13.1] 13 1 Titus now began a most honourable and righteous war, the war against Nabis, the most pernicious and lawless tyrant of Sparta, but in the end he disappointed the hopes of Greece. For though it was in his power to capture the tyrant, he refused to do so, and made peace with him, thus leaving Sparta to the fate of an unworthy servitude. He was led to this step either by his fear that a protraction of the war would bring another general from Rome to succeed him and rob him of his glory, or by his jealous displeasure at the honours paid to Philopoemen. 2 For in all other matters Philopoemen was a most capable man among the Greeks, and in that war particularly he displayed astonishing deeds of ability and daring, so that he was extolled by the Achaeans as much as Titus, and equally honoured in their theatres. This annoyed Titus, who thought it out of keeping that a man of Arcadia, who had held command in small border wars, should receive just as much admiration from the Achaeans as a Roman consul, who was waging war in behalf of Greece. 3 However, Titus himself had this to say in defence of his course, namely, that he put an end to the war when he saw that the destruction of the tyrant would involve the rest of the Spartans also in serious disaster.
[Flam. 13.4] The Achaeans voted Titus many honours, none of which seemed commensurate with his benefactions except one gift, and this caused him as much satisfaction as all the rest put together. 4 And this was the gift: The Romans who were unhappily taken prisoners in the war with Hannibal had been sold about hither and thither, and were serving as slaves. In Greece there were as many as twelve hundred of them. The change in their lot made them pitiful objects always, but then even more than ever, naturally, when they fell in with sons, or brothers, or familiar friends, as the case might be, slaves with freemen and captives with victors. 5 These men Titus would not take away from their owners, although he was distressed at their condition, but the Achaeans ransomed them all at five minas the man, collected them together, and made a present of them to Titus just as he was about to embark, so that he sailed for home with a glad heart; his noble deeds had brought him a noble recompense, and one befitting a great man who loved his fellow citizens. 6 This appears to have furnished his triumph with its most glorious feature. For these men shaved their heads and wore felt caps, as it is customary for slaves to do when they are set free, and in this habit followed the triumphal car of Titus.
[Flam. 14.1] 14 1 But a more beautiful show was made by the spoils of war which were displayed in the procession — Greek helmets and Macedonian bucklers and pikes. Besides, the amount of money exhibited was large. Tuditanusa records that there were carried in the procession three thousand seven hundred and thirteen pounds of gold bullion, forty-three thousand two hundred and seventy pounds of silver, 2 and fourteen thousand five hundred and fourteen gold coins bearing Philip’s effigy. And apart from this money Philip owed his fine of a thousand talents. This fine, however, the Romans were afterwards persuaded to remit to Philip, and this was chiefly due to the efforts of Titus; they also made Philip their ally, and sent back his son whom they held as hostage.
[Flam. 15.1] 15 1 Presently, however, Antiochus crossed into Greece with many ships and a large army, and began to stir the cities into faction and revolt. The Aetolians made common cause with him, a people who had long been most inimically disposed towards the Romans, and they suggested to him, as a pretext that would account for the war, that he should offer the Greeks their freedom. The Greeks did not want to be set free, for they were free already; 2 but for the lack of a more appropriate ground for his action the Aetolians taught Antiochus to make use of that fairest of all names. The Romans, greatly alarmed by reports of defection among the Greeks and of the power of Antiochus, sent out Manius Acillius as consular general for the war, but made Titus his lieutenant to please the Greeks. The mere sight of him confirmed some of these in their loyalty to Rome, while to others, who were beginning to be infected with disloyalty, he administered a timely medicine, as it were, in the shape of good will towards himself, and thus checked their malady and prevented them from going wrong. 3 A few, however, escaped his influence, having been already won over beforehand and totally corrupted by the Aetolians, but even these, in spite of his vexation and anger, were spared by him after the battle. For Antiochus was defeated at Thermopylae and put to flight, and at once sailed back to Asia; while Manius the consul went against some of the Aetolians himself and besieged them, leaving others to King Philip to destroy. 4 And so it came about that the Dolopians and Magnesians here, the Athamanians and Aperantians there, were harried and plundered by the Macedonians, while Manius himself, after sacking Heracleia, was engaged in the siege of Naupactus, which the Aetolians held. Then Titus, out of pity for the Greeks, sailed across from Peloponnesus to the consul. At first he chided Manius because, although the victory was his own, he was permitting Philip to carry off the prizes of the war, and to gratify his anger was wasting time in the siege of a single city, while the Macedonians were subduing many nations and kingdoms. 5 Then, when the besieged citizens caught sight of him from their walls and called aloud upon him and stretched out their hands to him imploringly, he turned away, burst into tears, and left the place, without saying anything more at the time; afterwards, however, he had an interview with Manius, put an end to his wrath, and induced him to grant the Aetolians a truce, and time in which to send an embassy to Rome with a plea for moderate terms.
[Flam. 16.1] 16 1 But the hardest toils and struggles fell to Titus when he interceded with Manius in behalf of the Chalcidians. They had incurred the consul’s wrath because of the marriage which Antiochus had made in their city after the war had already begun, a marriage which was not only unseasonable, but unsuitable for the king’s years, since he was an elderly man and had fallen in love with a girl (the girl was a daughter of Cleoptolemus, and is said to have been most beautiful among maidens). 2 This marriage induced the Chalcidians to take the king’s side most zealously and allow their city to be his base of operations for the war. Antiochus, therefore, fleeing with all speed after the battle at Thermopylae, came to Chalcis, and taking with him his girl-wife, his treasure, and his friends, sailed back to Asia; but Manius immediately marched against Chalcis in a rage. He was accompanied, however, by Titus, who tried to mollify and intercede with him and at last won him over and calmed him down by entreaties addressed both to him and the other Romans in authority.
[Flam. 16.3] 3 Having been thus saved by Titus, the Chalcidians dedicated to him the largest and most beautiful of the votive offerings in their city, and on them such inscriptions as these are still to be seen: “This gymnasium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Heracles,” and again in another place, “This Delphinium is dedicated by the people to Titus and Apollo.” 4 Moreover, even down to our own day a priest of Titus is duly elected and appointed, and after sacrifice and libations in his honour, a set hymn of praise to him is sung: it is too long to be quoted entire, and so I will give only the closing words of the song:
[Flam. 16.3b] “And the Roman faith we revere, which we have solemnly vowed to cherish; sing, then, ye maidens, to great Zeus, to Rome, to Titus, and to the Roman faith: hail, Paean Apollo! hail, Titus our saviour!”
[Flam. 17.1] 17 1 He also received from the rest of the Greeks fitting honours, and these were made sincere by the astonishing good will which his equitable nature called forth. For even if the conduct of affairs or the spirit of rivalry brought him into collision with any of them, as, for instance, with Philopoemen, and again with Diophanes the general of the Achaeans, his resentment was not heavy, nor did it carry him into violent acts, but when it had vented itself in the outspoken language of free public debate, there was an end of it. 2 However, he was never bitter, although many imputed hastiness and levity to his nature, and in general he was a most agreeable companion and able to say a graceful thing with force. For instance, when he was trying to dissuade the Achaeans from appropriating the island of Zacynthos, he said it would be dangerous for them, like a tortoise, to stick their head out of its Peloponnesian shell. Again, when he held his first conference with Philip concerning a truce and peace, and Philip remarked that Titus had come with many attendants while he himself had come alone, Titus answered, “Yes, thou hast made thyself alone by slaying thy friends and kindred.” 3 Again, when Deinocrates the Messenian, who had taken too much wine at a drinking-party in Rome, and after putting on a woman’s robe had executed a dance, on the following day asked Titus to assist him in his plan to separate Messene from the Achaean league, Titus said he would consider the matter; “But I am amazed,” said he, “that when thou hast matters of so great moment in hand, thou canst dance and sing at a drinking-party.” 4 And once more, when an embassy from Antiochus was recounting to the Achaeans the vast multitude of the king’s forces and enumerating them all by their various appellations, Titus said that once, when he was dining with a friend, he criticized the multitude of meats that were served, wondering where he had obtained so varied a supply; whereupon his host told him they were all swine’s flesh, and differed only in the way they were cooked and dressed. 5 “And so in your case,” said he, “men of Achaia, do not be astonished when you hear of the Spear-bearers and Lance-bearers and Foot-companions in the army of Antiochus; for they are all Syrians and differ only in the way they are armed.”
[Flam. 18.1] 18 1 After his achievements in Greece and the war with Antiochus, Titus was appointed censor. This is the highest office at Rome, and in a manner the culmination of a political career. Titus had as colleague in this office a son of the Marcellus who had been five times consul, and the two censors ejected from the senate four men of lesser note, and received into citizenship all who offered themselves for enrolment, provided they were born of free parents. To this step they were forced by the tribune Terentius Culeo, who wanted to spite the nobility and so persuaded the people to vote the measure.
[Flam. 18.2] 2 The two men of his time who were most notable and had the greatest influence in the city, Scipio Africanus and Marcus Cato, were at variance with one another. Of these, Titus appointed Scipio to be Dean of the Senate, believing him to be its best and foremost man; but with Cato he came into hostile relations, owing to the following unfortunate circumstances. Titus had a brother, Lucius, who was unlike him in all other ways, and especially in his shameful addiction to pleasure and his utter contempt of decency. 3 This brother had as a companion a young boy whom he loved, and took him about and kept him always in his train, whether he was commanding an army or administering a province. At some drinking party, then, this boy was playing the coquet with Lucius, and said he loved him so ardently that he had come away from a show of gladiators in order to be with him, although he had never in all his life seen a man killed; and he had done so, he said, because he cared more for his lover’s pleasure than for his own. Lucius was delighted at this, and said: “Don’t worry about that! I will give thee thy heart’s desire.” 4 Then ordering a man who had been condemned to death to be brought forth from his prison, and sending for a lictor, he commanded him to strike off the man’s head there in the banquet-hall. Valerius Antias, however, says it was not a lover, but a mistress whom Lucius thus sought to gratify. And Livy says that in a speech of Cato himself it is written that a Gaulish deserter had come to the door with his wife and children, and that Lucius admitted him into the banquet-hall and slew him with his own hand to gratify his lover. 5 This feature, however, was probably introduced by Cato to strengthen the force of his denunciation; for that it was not a deserter, but a prisoner, who was put to death, and one who had been condemned to die, is the testimony of many others, and especially of Cicero the orator in his treatise “On Old Age,” where he puts the story in the mouth of Cato himself.
[Flam. 19.1] 19 1 In view of this, when Cato became censor and was purging the senate of its unworthy members, he expelled from it Lucius Flamininus, although he was a man of consular dignity, and although his brother Titus was thought to be involved in his disgrace. Therefore the two brothers came before the people in lowly garb and bathed in tears, and made what seemed a reasonable request of their fellow citizens, namely, that Cato should state the reasons which had led him to visit a noble house with a disgrace so great. 2 Without any hesitation, then, Cato came forward, and standing with his colleague before Titus, asked him if he knew about the banquet. Titus said he seems, whereupon Cato related the incident and formally challenged Lucius to say whether any part of the story told was not true. But Lucius was dumb, and the people therefore saw that he had been justly disgraced, and gave Cato a splendid escort away from the rostra. 3 Titus, however, was so affected by the misfortune of his brother that he leagued himself with those who had long hated Cato, and after getting the upper hand in the senate, revoked and annulled all the public rentals and leases and contracts which Cato had made, besides bringing many heavy indictments against him. That he acted the part of a good man or a good citizen I cannot affirm, in thus cherishing an incurable hatred against a lawful magistrate and a most excellent citizen on account of a man who, though a kinsman, was nevertheless unworthy and had suffered only what he deserved. 4 However, as the Roman people was once enjoying a spectacle in the theatre, and the senate, according to custom, had seats of honour in the foremost rows, Lucius was seen sitting somewhere in the rear among the poor and lowly, and excited men’s pity. The multitude could not bear the sight, but kept shouting to him to change his place, until he did change his place, and was received among their own number by the men of consular rank.
[Flam. 20.1] 20 1 Now, the native ambition of Titus, as long as it had sufficient material to gratify it in the wars which I have mentioned, met with praise, as, for instance, when he served a second time as military tribune after having been consul, though there was no necessity for it; but after he had ceased to hold office and was well on in years, he met the rather with censure, because, although the portion of life which still remained to him did not admit of great activity, he was unable to restrain his passion for glory and his youthful ardour. 2 For by some such fierce impulse, as it would seem, he was led to his treatment of Hannibal, which made him odious to most people. Hannibal had secretly fled from his native Carthage and spent some time at the court of Antiochus; but when Antiochus, after the battle in Phrygia, had gladly accepted terms of peace, Hannibal took to flight once more, and after many wanderings, finally settled down at the court of Prusias in Bithynia. No one at Rome was ignorant of this, but all ignored him on account of his weakness and old age, regarding him as a castaway of Fortune. 3 Titus, however, who had been sent by the senate as ambassador to the court of Prusias on some other business, and saw that Hannibal was staying there, was incensed that he should be alive, and although Prusias made many fervent intercessions in behalf of a man who was a suppliant and a familiar friend, would not relent. There was an ancient oracle, as it would appear, concerning Hannibal’s death, and it ran as follows: —
[Flam. 20.1b] “Libyssan earth shall cover the form of Hannibal.”
[Flam. 20.4] Hannibal thought this referred to Libya and a burial at Carthage, and believed that he would end his days there; 4 but there is a sandy tract in Bithynia on the sea-shore, and on its border a large village called Libyssa. Near this village Hannibal was living. But he had always distrusted the weakness of Prusias and feared the Romans, and therefore even before this time his house had been provided with seven underground exits leading from his own chamber. These ran in different directions beneath the surface of the ground, but all had secret issues far away. 5 Accordingly, when he now heard of the behest of Titus, he set out to make his escape by way of the underground passages, but encountered guards of the king, and therefore determined to take his own life. Some say that he wound his cloak about his neck and then ordered a servant to plant his knee in the small of his back, pull the rope towards him with all his might until it was twisted tight, and so to choke and kill him; some, too, say that he drank bull’s blood in imitation of Themistocles and Midas; but Livy says that he had poison which he ordered to be mixed, and took the cup with these words: “Let us now put an end to the great anxiety of the Romans, who have thought it too long and hard a task to wait for the death of a hated old man. Nevertheless, Titus will not bear away an enviable victory, nor one worthy of his forefathers, who sent secret information to Pyrrhus, when he was at war with them and a victor over them, of the poisoning that was going to be attempted.”
[Flam. 21.1] 21 1 Such are the accounts of the death of Hannibal. When the story of it was brought to the senate, many of them thought the conduct of Titus odious, officious, and cruel; for he had killed Hannibal when he was like a bird permitted to live a tame and harmless life because too old to fly and without a tail, and there had been no necessity for his doing this, but he did it to win fame, that his name might be associated with the death of Hannibal. 2 Men also pointed to the clemency and magnanimity of Scipio Africanus and admired it all the more, since after defeating a Hannibal who had not been conquered before and was filling Africa with fear, he neither drove him from the country nor demanded his surrender by his fellow citizens, nay, he actually gave him a kindly greeting when he held conference with him before the battle, and after the battle, in making terms of peace, he did not insult or trample upon the fortunes of his foe. 3 Moreover, we are told that the two men met again at Ephesus, and in the first place, that when, as they were walking about together, Hannibal took the side which more properly belonged to Scipio as the superior, Scipio suffered it and walked about without paying any heed to it; and again, that when they fell to discussing generals and Hannibal declared Alexander to have been the mightiest of generals, and next to him Pyrrhus, and third himself, Scipio asked with a quiet smile, “And what wouldst thou have said if I had not conquered thee?” 4 To which Hannibal replied, “In that case, Scipio, I should not have counted myself third, but first of generals.”
[Flam. 21.5] Such conduct on the part of Scipio most people admired, and they blamed Titus for having laid violent hands on one whom another had slain. But some there were who praised what he had done and thought that Hannibal, as long as he was alive, was a consuming fire which needed only to be fanned; 5 for when he was in his prime, they said, it was not his body nor his arm that had been formidable to the Romans, but his ability and experience coupled with his ingrained bitterness and hostility, and from these naught is subtracted by old age, but the natural characteristics remain unchanged: whereas fortune does not remain the same, but changes sides, and summons with hope to fresh undertakings those whom hatred makes perpetual foes. 6 And subsequent events were perhaps still more a justification of Titus; for Aristonicus, the son of a harpist’s daughter, used his reputed connexion with Eumenes to fill all Asia with wars and rebellions, and Mithridates, notwithstanding his defeats by Sulla and Fimbria and his great losses in armies and generals, rose once more to be a formidable antagonist of Lucullus by land and sea.
[Flam. 21.7] 7 However, not even Hannibal was reduced to a lower level than Caius Marius. For Hannibal had a king as his friend, and his days as usual were occupied with ships and horses and the care of soldiers; whereas Marius in his misfortunes was a laughing-stock to the Romans as he wandered about and begged his way in Africa, though after a little while he was in Rome with his axes at their necks and his rods at their backs, and they were humbly begging his mercy. So true is it that nothing in the present is either small or great in view of what may happen in the future, but change, like life, can only end with death. 8 For this reason some say that Titus did not take this step on his own account, but that he was sent as ambassador with Lucius Scipio, and their embassy had no other object than the death of Hannibal.
[Flam. 21.7b] We do not find that Titus was active after this, either as statesman or soldier, and his end was a peaceful one. It is therefore time to think of our comparison.

## Comparison of Philopoemen and Titus

[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 1.1] 1 1 ACCORDINGLY, in the magnitude of their benefactions to the Greeks, neither Philopoemen nor any one of the Greeks who were better men than Philopoemen is worthy of comparison with Titus. For they were Greeks and waged their wars against Greeks; whereas Titus was not a Greek and waged war in behalf of Greeks; and at a time when Philopoemen was unable to defend his own countrymen from the attacks of their enemies, and had gone off into Crete, at that very time Titus won a victory over Philip in the heart of Greece and set her peoples and all her cities free. 2 And if we examine into the battles which each fought, we shall find that the Greeks slain by Philopoemen as general of the Achaeans were more in number than the Macedonians slain by Titus as helper of the Greeks.
[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 1.3] And then as to their errors, in the one they were due to ambition, in the other to a spirit of contention. For Titus preserved Philip’s royal dignity and showed favour to the Aetolians; whereas the anger of Philopoemen led him to rob his native city of its supremacy over the surrounding villages. 3 And further, the one was always constant towards his beneficiaries, while the other, to indulge his wrath, was ever ready to cancel a kindness. For instance, though he had once been a benefactor of Sparta, he afterwards tore down her walls, reduced her territory, and finally altered and destroyed her very constitution. And it would appear that he threw away his life in a fit of anger and contentiousness, by hastening to attack Messene before occasion offered and more quickly than was feasible; for he did not, like Titus, conduct all his military operations with deliberation and a due regard for safety.
[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 2.1] 2 1 But surely the multitude of his wars and trophies put the military experience of Philopoemen on a firmer basis. For the campaign of Titus against Philip was decided by two conflicts, whereas Philopoemen was successful in countless battles and left no room for the claim that his victories were due to fortune rather than to skill. And besides, Titus, in his quest of fame, availed himself of the culminating power of Rome; whereas Philopoemen flourished when Greece was all in declension. Therefore the success of Philopoemen was his own work, while that of Titus was the result of a community of effort; for the latter was commander of good soldiers, while the former, as commander, had to make his soldiers good. 2 And surely the fact that Philopoemen’s conflicts were with Greeks furnished a proof of his valour which was convincing even though unfortunate: for where other things are equal, they prevail who surpass in valour. And so it was that although he carried on war with the most warlike of the Greeks, namely, the Cretans and Lacedaemonians, he surpassed the first in wiles, though they were most crafty, and the second in daring, though they were most brave.
[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 2.3] 3 In addition to this it may be said that Titus won his victories by using what lay ready to his hand, since he availed himself of styles of armour and formation which had come down to him, whereas Philopoemen won his successes by making contributions and changes of his own in these matters, so that in the one case what was most essential for victory did not exist and had to be discovered, while in the other it lay ready for service. In the way of personal prowess, moreover, Philopoemen performed much that was great, but Titus nothing at all; nay, an Aetolian named Archedemus mocked at him because, when he himself had drawn his sword and was running at full speed against the Macedonians who were holding together and fighting, Titus was standing with his hands stretched up towards heaven and praying for help.
[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 3.1] 3 1 And further, Titus was either a commander or an ambassador when he did all his noble deeds, whereas Philopoemen showed himself no less active and effective for the Achaeans when he was a private citizen than when he was their general. For it was as a private citizen that he expelled Nabis from Messene and set the Messenians free, and as a private citizen that he shut the gates of Sparta against the coming of Diophanes the general and Titus, so saved the Lacedaemonians. Having this natural gift of leadership, he not only knew how to use it in accordance with the laws, but also how to dominate the laws for the common good; he did not think it necessary to be appointed commander by the people, but took them under his command when occasion required it, considering that he who took wise counsel in their behalf, rather than he who had been elected by them, was their real general.
[Comp. Phil.–Flam. 3.3] 3 Nobly generous, then, was the clemency and humanity which Titus showed to the Greeks, but more nobly generous was the firmness and love of freedom with which Philopoemen opposed the Romans; for it is easier to confer favours on suppliants than it is to vex with opposition those who are more powerful. But since, after this examination, the difference between the two men is hard to define, I leave it to my reader to say whether, if we award to the Greek the crown for military experience and generalship, and to the Roman that for justice and goodness of heart, we shall not make a fair decision.