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Plutarch's Lives

Translated by Aubrey Stewart and George Long
Volume II

Index

LIFE OF LUCULLUS

I. The grandfather of Lucullus[315] was a man of consular rank, and his uncle on the mother's side was Metellus,[316] surnamed Numidicus. His father was convicted of peculation, and his mother, Cæcilia, had a bad name as a woman of loose habits. Lucullus, while he was still a youth, before he was a candidate for a magistracy and engaged in public life, made it his first business to bring to trial his father's accuser, Servilius the augur, as a public offender; and the matter appeared to the Romans to be creditable to Lucullus, and they used to speak of that trial as a memorable thing. It was, indeed, the popular notion, that to prefer an accusation was a reputable measure, even when there was no foundation for it, and they were glad to see the young men fastening on offenders, like well-bred whelps laying hold of wild beasts. However, there was much party spirit about that trial, [Pg 415]and some persons were even wounded and killed; but Servilius was acquitted. Lucullus had been trained to speak both Latin and Greek competently, so that Sulla, when he was writing his memoirs,[317] dedicated them to Lucullus as a person who would put them together and arrange his history better than himself; for the style of the oratory of Lucullus was not merely suited to business and prompt, like that of the other orators which disturbed the Forum—

"As a struck tunny throws about the sea,"[318]

but when it is out of the Forum is

"Dry, and for want of true discipline half dead"—

but he cultivated the appropriate and so-called liberal sciences, with a view to self-improvement, from his early youth. When he was more advanced in years he let his mind, as it were, after so many troubles, find tranquillity and repose in philosophy, rousing to activity the contemplative portion of his nature, and seasonably terminating and cutting short his ambitious aspirations after his difference with Pompeius. Now, as to his love of learning, this also is reported, in addition to what has been mentioned: when he was a young man, in a conversation with Hortensius,[319] the orator, and Sisenna,[320] the historian, which [Pg 416]began in jest, but ended in a serious proposition, he agreed that if they would propose a poem and a history, Greek and Roman, he would treat the subject of the Marsic war in whichsoever of these two languages the lot should decide; and it seems that the lot resulted in a Greek history, for there is still extant a Greek history of the Marsic war by Lucullus.[321] Of his affection to his brother Marcus[322] there were many proofs, but the Romans speak most of the first; being older than his brother, he did not choose to hold a magistracy by himself, but he waited till his brother was of the proper age, and so far gained the public favour that his brother in his absence was elected ædile jointly with him.

II. Though he was a young man during the Marsic war, he gave many proofs of courage and prudence; but it was rather on account of the solidity of his character and the mildness of his temper that Sulla attached Lucullus to himself, and from the beginning he constantly employed him in affairs of the greatest importance; one of which was the matter relating to the coinage. It was Lucullus who superintended the coining of most of the money in the Peloponnesus during the Mithridatic war, and it was named Lucullean after him, and continued for a long time to have a ready circulation, in consequence of the demands of the war. Afterwards, Sulla, who was in possession of the country about Athens,[323] but was shut out from supplies by sea by the enemy, who had the command of it, sent Lucullus to Egypt and Libya to get ships there. It was now the depth of winter, but still he set sail with three Greek piratical ships, and the same number of Rhodian biremes, exposing himself to a wide sea and to [Pg 417]hostile vessels, which, owing to their having the superiority, were cruising about in great numbers and in all directions. However, he landed at Crete, and made the people friendly to his cause; and, finding the Cyrenæans in a state of confusion, owing to continual tyrannies and wars, he tranquillised and settled the state, by reminding the citizens of a certain expression of Plato, which the philosopher had addressed to them in a prophetic spirit. They asked him, as it appears, to draw up laws for them, and to settle their democracy after the model of a well-ordered polity; but he replied that it was difficult to legislate for the Cyrenæans while they were so prosperous. Nothing, indeed, is more difficult to govern than a man who considers himself prosperous; and, on the other hand, there is nothing more obedient to command than a man when he is humbled by fortune. And it was this that made the Cyrenæans tractable to Lucullus in his legislation for them. Sailing from Cyrene[324] to Egypt, he lost most of his vessels by an attack of pirates; but he escaped himself, and entered Alexandria in splendid style; for the whole fleet came out to meet him, as it was used to do when a king entered the port, equipped magnificently. The young king, Ptolemæus,[325] showed him other surprising marks of attention, and gave him a lodging and table in the palace, though no foreign general had ever before been lodged there. He also offered him an allowance for [Pg 418]his expenditure, not such as he used to offer to others, but four times as much; Lucullus, however, would not receive anything more than his necessities required, nor yet any present, though the king sent presents to the value of eighty talents. It is said that Lucullus did not go up to Memphis,[326] nor make inquiry about any other of the wondrous and far-famed things in Egypt; he said that such things befitted an idle spectator, and one who had only to enjoy himself: not a man like himself, who had left the Imperator encamped under the bare sky, and close to the enemy's battlements.

Plutarch begins his Treatise which is intitled To an Uninstructed Prince with the same story about Plato and the Cyrenæans (Moralia, ed. Wyttenbach, vol. iv.).]

III. Ptolemæus declined the alliance, being afraid of the war; but he gave Lucullus ships to convoy him as far as Cyprus, and when he was setting sail he embraced him and paid him great attention, and presented him with an emerald set in gold, of great price. Lucullus at first begged to be excused from taking the present; but when the king showed him that the engraving contained his royal likeness, Lucullus was afraid to refuse the present, lest, if he should be supposed to sail away at complete enmity with the king, he might be plotted against on the sea. In his voyage along the coast Lucullus got together a number of vessels from the maritime towns except such as participated in piratical iniquities, and passed over to Cyprus, where, hearing that his enemies were lying in wait for him with their ships at the headlands, he drew up all his vessels, and wrote to the cities about winter quarters and supplies, as if he intended to stay there till the fine season. As soon as a favourable opportunity offered for his voyage, he launched his ships and got out to sea, and by sailing during the day with his sails down and low, and putting them up at night, he got safe to Rhodes. The Rhodians supplied him with some more ships, and he persuaded the people of Kos and Knidus to quit the king's side, and join him in an attack on the Samians. He drove the king's party also out of Chios, and he gave the people of Kolophon freedom by seizing Epigonus, their tyrant. It happened about this time that Mithridates had left [Pg 419]Pergamum, and was shut up in Pitane.[327] While Fimbria[328] was keeping the king blockaded there on the land side and pressing the siege, Mithridates, looking to the sea, got together and summoned to him ships from every quarter, having given up all design of engaging and fighting with Fimbria, who was a bold man and had defeated him. Fimbria observing this, and being deficient in naval force, sent to Lucullus, and prayed him to come with his fleet and help him to take the most detested and the most hostile of kings, in order that Mithridates, the great prize, which had been followed through many contests and labours, might not escape the Romans, now that he had given them a chance of seizing him, and was caught within the nets. He said, if Mithridates was taken, no one would have more of the glory than he who stopped his flight and laid hold of him when he was trying to steal away; that if Mithridates were shut out from the land by him, and excluded from the sea by Lucullus, there would be a victory for both of them, and that as to the vaunted exploits of Sulla at Orchomenus and Chæronea,[329] the Romans would think nothing of them in comparison with this. There was nothing unreasonable in all that Fimbria said; and it was plain to every man that if Lucullus, who was at no great distance, had then accepted the proposal of Fimbria, and led his ships there and blockaded the port with his fleet, the war would have been at an end, and all would have been delivered from innumerable calamities. But whether it was that Lucullus regarded his duty to Sulla above all private and public interests, or that he detested Fimbria, who was an abandoned man, and had lately murdered his own friend and general,[330] merely from ambition to command, or whether it was through chance, as the Deity would have it, that he spared Mithridates, and reserved him for his own antagonist—he would not listen to [Pg 420]Fimbria, but allowed Mithridates to escape by sea, and to mock the force of Fimbria. Lucullus himself, in the first place, defeated off Lektum in the Troad,[331] the king's ships, which showed themselves there, and again observing that Neoptolemus was stationed at Tenedos with a larger force, he sailed against him ahead of all the rest, in a Rhodian galley of five banks which was commanded by Demagoras, a man well affected to the Romans, and exceedingly skilful in naval battles. Neoptolemus came against him at a great rate, and ordered the helmsman to steer the ship right against the vessel of Lucullus; but Demagoras, fearing the weight of the king's vessel and the rough brass that she was fitted with, did not venture to engage head to head, but he quickly turned his ship round and ordered them to row her stern foremost,[332] and the vessel being thus depressed at the stern received the blow, which was rendered harmless by falling on those parts of the ship which were in the water. In the meantime his friends coming to his aid, Lucullus commanded them to turn his ship's head to the enemy; and, after performing many praiseworthy feats, he put the enemy to flight, and pursued Neoptolemus.

IV. After this, Lucullus joined Sulla in the Chersonesus, as he was going to cross the Hellespont, and he made the passage safe for him, and assisted his army in getting over. When the treaty was made, and Mithridates had sailed off to the Euxine, and Sulla had imposed a contribution[333] of twenty thousand talents on Asia, and Lucullus had been appointed to collect the money, and to strike coin, it appeared some small consolation to the cities of Asia for the harshness of Sulla that Lucullus not only behaved with honesty and justice, but conducted himself mildly in the discharge of so oppressive and disagreeable a duty. Though the [Pg 421]Mitylenæans had openly revolted, Lucullus wished them to come to their senses, and to submit to some reasonable penalty for their ill-conduct in the matter of Marius;[334] but perceiving that they were under the influence of some evil dæmon, he sailed against them, and defeated them in a battle, and, after shutting them up in their walls, and establishing a blockade, he sailed out in open day to Elæa,[335] but he returned by stealth, and laying an ambuscade near the city, kept quiet. The Mitylenæans approached in disorder, and with confidence in the expectation of plundering a deserted camp; but Lucullus falling on them took a great number alive, and killed five hundred of them who made resistance. He also took six thousand slaves, and the rest of the booty was past count. But in the miseries which Sulla and Marius were at that time bringing on the people of Italy, without limit and of every kind, he had no share, being detained by his business in Asia by some happy fortune. Nevertheless, he had not less favour with Sulla than the rest of his friends; for, as I have said Sulla dedicated his memoirs to Lucullus, as a token of his affection, and finally he appointed him the guardian of his son, and passed by Pompeius. And this was probably the origin of the difference and the jealousy between Lucullus and Pompeius; for they were both young, and burning for distinction.

V. Shortly after Sulla's death, Lucullus was consul[336] with Marcus Cotta, about the hundred and seventy-sixth Olympiad. Many persons were again attempting to stir up the Mithridatic war, and Marcus said that the war was not ended, but only stopped for a time. It was for this reason that Lucullus was annoyed at the lot giving him for his province Gaul within (south of) the Alps, which offered no opportunity for great exploits. But the reputation of Pompeius, who was now in Iberia, stung him most, as it was expected that Pompeius, in preference to any one [Pg 422]else, would be forthwith chosen to the command of the war against Mithridates, if it should happen that the Iberian war should be brought to a close. Accordingly, when Pompeius asked for money,[337] and wrote to say that if they did not send it he would leave Iberia and Sertorius, and lead his troops hack to Italy, Lucullus did all he could to get money sent, and to prevent Pompeius returning from Iberia on any pretence whatever while he was consul; for he considered that the whole State would be at the disposal of Pompeius if he were at Rome with so large an army. Cethegus,[338] also, who had then the power in his hands by always speaking and acting with a view to popularity, was at enmity with Lucullus, who detested his habits of life, which were nothing but a course of unnatural lusts, insolence, and violence. With Cethegus then Lucullus was at open war. There was, indeed another demagogue, Lucius Quintius,[339] who had set himself against Sulla's measures, and attempted to disturb the present settlement of affairs; but Lucullus, by much persuasion in private and reproof in public, drew him from his designs, and quieted his ambition, in as politic and wholesome a way as a man could do, by taking in hand so great a disease at its commencement.

VI. In the meantime news arrived of the death of Octavius,[340] the Governor of Cilicia. Now there were many eager competitors for the province, who courted Cethegus as the person who was best able to help them to it. As to Cilicia itself, Lucullus made no great account of that province; but, inasmuch as he thought, if he should get [Pg 423]Cilicia, which bordered on Cappadocia, no one else would be sent to conduct the war against Mithridates, he left no means untried to prevent the province falling into other hands; and, at last, contrary to his natural disposition, he submitted from necessity to do an act which was not creditable, or commendable, though it was useful towards the end he had in view. There was a woman named Præcia, who was famed through Rome for her beauty and gallantry, and though in other respects she was no better than a common prostitute, yet, as she availed herself of her influence with those who visited her and talked to her, for the purpose of forwarding the interests and political views of her friends, she added to her other attractions the reputation of being a woman who was much attached to her friends, and very active in accomplishing anything, and she obtained great influence. Cethegus, who was then at the height of his popularity, and directed the administration, was captivated by Præcia, and began to cohabit with her, and thus the whole power of the State fell into her hands; for no public measure was transacted if Cethegus was not for it, and if Præcia did not recommend it to Cethegus. Now Lucullus gained over Præcia by presents and flattery; and, indeed, it was in itself a great boon to a proud woman, fond of public display, to be seen using her influence on behalf of Lucullus; and thus he soon had Cethegus speaking in his favour, and trying to get Cilicia for him. When Lucullus had once gained the province of Cilicia, it was no longer necessary for him to call in the aid of Præcia or Cethegus, but all alike readily put into his hands the conduct of the Mithridatic war, believing that it could not be managed better by any other person; for Pompeius was still fighting against Sertorius, and Metellus[341] had withdrawn from service by reason of his age, and these were the only persons who could be considered as rivals to Lucullus in any dispute about the command in the war. However, Cotta, the colleague of Lucullus, after making earnest application to the Senate, was sent with some ships to watch the Propontis,[342] and to defend Bithynia.

[Pg 424]VII. Lucullus, with one legion which he had raised at home, crossed over into Asia, where he took the command of the rest of the forces, all of whom had long been spoiled by luxurious habits and living at free quarters; and the soldiers of Fimbria were said to have become difficult to manage, from being accustomed to obey no commander. They were the men who joined Fimbria in putting to death Flaccus, who was a consul and their general, and who gave up Fimbria himself to Sulla[343]—self-willed and lawless men, but brave and full of endurance, and experienced soldiers. However, in a short time, Lucullus took down the insolence of these soldiers, and changed the character of the rest, who then, for the first time, as it seems, knew what it was to have a genuine commander and leader; for under other generals, they were used to be courted, and spirited on to military service in such wise as was agreeable to them. As to the enemy, matters were thus: Mithridates, like most of the sophists,[344] full of boasting at first, and rising up against the Romans arrogantly, with an army unsubstantial in fact, but in appearance brilliant and pompous, had failed in his undertaking, and exposed himself to ridicule: but now, when he was going to commence the war a second time, taught by experience he concentrated his powers in a real and effectual preparation. Rejecting those motley numbers and many-tongued threats of the barbarians, and arms ornamented with gold and precious stones, which he considered to be the spoils of the victors, and to give no strength to those who possess them, he set about having Roman swords [Pg 425]made, and heavy shields manufactured; and he got together horses which were well trained, instead of horses which were well caparisoned; and one hundred and twenty thousand foot-soldiers who were disciplined to the Roman order of battle, and sixteen thousand horse-soldiers, without reckoning the scythe-bearing four-horse chariots, and these were a hundred; besides, his ships were not filled with tents embroidered with gold, nor with baths for concubines, nor apartments for the women luxuriously furnished; but fitting them out fully with arms, missiles, and stores, he invaded Bithynia, where he was again gladly received by the cities, and not by these cities only, for a return of their former calamities had visited all Asia, which was suffering past endurance from the Roman money-lenders[345] and farmers of the taxes.[346] These men, who, like so many harpies, were plundering the people of their substance, Lucullus afterwards drove out; but, for the time, he endeavoured by reproof to make them more moderate in their conduct, and he stopped the insurrection of the towns, when, so to speak, not a single man in them was quiet.

VIII. While Lucullus was busied about these matters, Cotta, thinking it a good opportunity for himself, was preparing to fight with Mithridates; and, though many persons brought him intelligence that Lucullus was encamped in Phrygia on his advanced march, Cotta, thinking that he had the triumph all but in his hands, hastened to engage, that Lucullus might have no share in it. But he was defeated by land and by sea at the same time; and he lost sixty vessels with all the men in them, and four [Pg 426]thousand foot-soldiers, and he was shut up in Chalkedon[347] and besieged there, and obliged to look for help at the hands of Lucullus. Now there were some who urged Lucullus not to care for Cotta, but to advance forward, as he would be able to seize the kingdom of Mithridates, which was unprotected; and this was the language of the soldiers especially, who were indignant that Cotta, not satisfied with ruining himself and those with him by his imprudent measures, should be a hindrance to their getting a victory without a contest when it was in their power; but Lucullus said in reply to all this in an harangue, that he would rather save one Roman from the enemy than get all that the enemy had. And when Archelaus,[348] who had commanded [Pg 427]for Mithridates in Bœotia, and afterwards had left him, and was now in the Roman army, maintained that if Lucullus would only show himself in Pontus, he might make himself master of everything at once, Lucullus replied that he was not a greater coward than huntsmen, which he should be if he passed by the wild beasts and went to their empty dens. Saying this he advanced against Mithridates, with thirty thousand foot-soldiers and two thousand five hundred cavalry. On arriving in sight of the enemy, he was startled at their numbers, and wished to avoid a battle and to protract the time. Marius, however, whom Sertorius had sent from Iberia to Mithridates in command of a force, came out to meet Lucullus, and challenged him to the contest, on which Lucullus put his army in order of battle; and they were just on the point of commencing the engagement, when, without any evident change, but all at once, the sky opened, and there appeared a huge flame-like body, which came down between the two armies, in form most like a cask, and in colour resembling molten silver, so that both armies were alarmed at the sight and separated. This, it is said, took place in Phrygia, at a place called Otryæ. Lucullus, considering that it was not possible for any human resources or wealth to maintain for any length of time, and in the presence of an enemy, so many thousands as Mithridates had, ordered one of the prisoners to be brought to him, and asked him first how many messmates he had, and then how much provision he had left in his tent. When the man had given his answer, he ordered him to be removed, and he put the same question to a second, and to a third. Then comparing the amount of provisions that the enemy had with the number of those who were to be fed, he concluded that the enemy's provisions would fail them in three or four days. He now stuck still more closely to his plan of protracting the time, and he employed himself in getting into his camp a great store of [Pg 428]provision, that he might have abundance himself, and so wait till the enemy was reduced to want.

IX. In the meantime Mithridates resolved to attack the Kyzikeni,[349] who had received a blow in the battle at Chalkedon, for they had lost three thousand men and ten ships. Accordingly, wishing to give Lucullus the slip, he put himself in motion immediately after supper, taking advantage of a dark and rainy night; and he succeeded in planting his force at daybreak right opposite to the city, at the base of the mountain tract of the Adrasteia.[350] Lucullus, who perceived his movements and followed him, was well satisfied that he had not come up with the enemy while his own troops were out of battle order; and he posted his army near the village named Thrakia, in a position excellently adapted to command the roads and the places from which and through which the soldiers of Mithridates must bring their supplies. Now, as he had in his own mind a clear comprehension of the issue, he did not conceal it from his men; but as soon as he had chosen his ground, and the men had finished the entrenchments, he summoned them together, and confidently told them that he would, in a few days, give them a victory which would cost no blood. Mithridates had hemmed in the Kyzikeni with ten camps on the land side, and towards the sea with his ships, by blocking up the narrow channel which separates the city from the mainland, and thus he [Pg 429]was besieging them on both sides. Though the citizens were disposed to resist the enemy boldly, and had determined to sustain all hardships for the sake of the Romans, they were troubled at not knowing where Lucullus was, and at having heard nothing of him. Yet the army of Lucullus was visible and in sight of the city; but the citizens were deceived by the soldiers of Mithridates, who pointed to the Romans in their entrenchments on the higher ground, and said, "Do you see them? That is the army of the Armenians and Medes, which Tigranes has sent to support Mithridates."

The Kyzikeni were alarmed to see such a host of enemies around them, and they had no hopes that they could be released, even if Lucullus should come. However, Demonax, who was sent to them by Archelaus, was the first to inform them of Lucullus being there. While they were distrusting his intelligence, and thinking that he had merely invented this story to comfort them in their difficulties, there came a youth, who had been captured by the enemy and made his escape. On their asking him where he supposed Lucullus to be, he laughed outright, for he thought they were making sport of him; but, seeing that they were in earnest, he pointed with his hand to the Roman camp, and the citizens again took courage. Now the lake Daskylitis[351] is navigable for boats of a considerable size, and Lucullus, drawing up the largest of them, and conveying it on a waggon to the sea-coast, put into it as many soldiers as it would hold. The soldiers crossed over by night unobserved, and got into the city.

X. It appears that the deity, also, admiring the bravery of the Kyzikeni, encouraged them by other manifest signs, and especially by this: the festival called Persephassia[352] was at hand, and as they had not a black cow to sacrifice, they made one of dough, and placed it at the altar. The [Pg 430]cow which was intended to be the victim, and was fattening for the goddess, was pasturing, like the other animals of the Kyzikeni, on the opposite mainland; but on that day, leaving the rest of the herd by itself, it swam over the channel to the city and presented itself to be sacrificed. The goddess also appeared in a dream to Aristagoras, the town-clerk,[353] and said: "For my part, I am come, and I bring the Libyan fifer against the Pontic trumpeter. Bid the citizens, then, be of good cheer." The Kyzikeni were wondering at these words, when at daybreak the sea began to be disturbed by an unsteady, changing wind that descended upon it, and the engines of the king, which were placed near the walls—admirable contrivances of Nikonides the Thessalian—by their creaking and rattling showed what was going to happen: then a south-west wind, bursting forth with incredible fury, broke to pieces the other engines in a very short time, and shook and threw down the wooden tower, which was a hundred cubits high. It is told that Athena appeared to many of the people in Ilium in their sleep, streaming with copious sweat, showing part of her peplus rent, and saying that she had just returned from helping the Kyzikeni. And the people of Ilium used to show a stele[354] which contained certain decrees and an inscription about these matters.

[Pg 431]XI. Mithridates, so long as he was deceived by his generals and kept in ignorance of the famine in his army, was annoyed at the Kyzikeni holding out against the blockade. But his ambition and his haughtiness quickly oozed away when he had discovered the straits in which his army was held, and that they were eating one another; for Lucullus was not carrying on the war in a theatrical way, nor with mere show; but, as the proverb says, was kicking against the belly, and contriving every means how he should cut off the food. Accordingly, while Lucullus was engaged in besieging a certain garrisoned post, Mithridates, seizing the opportunity, sent off into Bithynia nearly all his cavalry, with the beasts of burden, and all his superfluous infantry. Lucullus hearing of this, returned to his camp during the night, and early in the following morning, it being winter time, getting ready ten cohorts and the cavalry, he followed the troops of Mithridates, though it was snowing, and his soldiers suffered so much that many of them gave in by reason of the cold, and were left behind: however, with the rest he came up with the enemy at the river Rhyndakus,[355] and gave them such a defeat that the women came from the town of Apollonia and carried off the baggage and stripped the dead. Many fell in the battle, as might be supposed, but there were taken six thousand horses, with a countless number of baggage-beasts, and fifteen thousand men, all whom he led back past the camp of the enemy. I wonder at Sallustius saying that this was the first time that the Romans saw the camel;[356] for he must have supposed that the soldiers of Scipio, who some time before had defeated Antiochus, and those who had also fought with Archelaus [Pg 432]at Orchomenus and Chæronea, were unacquainted with the camel. Now Mithridates had determined to fly as soon as he could; but, with the view of contriving something which should draw Lucullus in the other direction, and detain him in his rear, he sent his admiral, Aristonikus, to the Grecian sea, and Aristonikus was just on the point of setting sail when he was betrayed to Lucullus, who got him into his power, together with ten thousand pieces of gold which he was carrying to bribe a part of the Roman army with. Upon this Mithridates fled to the sea, and his generals led the land forces off. But Lucullus falling upon them at the river Granikus,[357] took many prisoners, and slew twenty thousand of them. It is said that near three hundred thousand persons were destroyed out of the whole number of camp-followers and fighting-men.

XII. Upon entering Kyzikus, Lucullus took his pleasure, and enjoyed a friendly reception suitably to the occasion; he next visited the Hellespont, and got his navy equipped. Arriving at the Troad,[358] he placed his tent within the sacred precincts of Aphrodite, and as he was sleeping there he thought that he saw the goddess in the night standing by him, saying:

"Why slumber, lion of the mighty heart?
The fawns are near at hand."

Waking from sleep, Lucullus called his friends and told them his dream, while it was still night; and there came persons from Ilium, who reported that thirteen of the king's quinqueremes had been seen near the Achæan harbour, moving in the direction of Lemnos. Immediately [Pg 433]setting sail, Lucullus captured these vessels and killed their commander, Isidorus, and he then advanced against the other captains. Now, as they happened to be at anchor, they drew all their vessels together up to the land, and, fighting from the decks, dealt blows on the men of Lucullus; for the ground rendered it impossible to sail round to the enemy's rear, and, as the ships of Lucullus were afloat, they could make no attack on those of the enemy, which were planted close to the land and securely situated. However, with some difficulty, Lucullus landed the bravest of his soldiers in a part of the island which was accessible, who, falling on the rear of the enemy, killed some and compelled the rest to cut their cables and make their escape from the land, and so to drive their vessels foul of one another, and to be exposed to the blows of the vessels of Lucullus. Many of the enemy perished; but among the captives there was Marius,[359] he who was sent from Sertorius. Marius had only one eye, and the soldiers had received orders from Lucullus, as they were setting out on the expedition, to kill no one-eyed man; for Lucullus designed to make Marius die a shameful and dishonourable death.

XIII. As soon as he had accomplished this, Lucullus hastened in pursuit of Mithridates; for he expected still to find him about Bithynia, and watched by Voconius, whom he had sent with ships to Nikomedia[360] to follow up the pursuit. But Voconius lingered in Samothrakia,[361] where he was getting initiated into mysteries and celebrating festivals. Mithridates, who had set sail with his armament, and was in a hurry to reach Pontus before Lucullus returned, was overtaken by a violent storm, by [Pg 434]which some of his ships were shattered and others were sunk; and all the coast for many days was filled with the wrecks that were cast up by the waves. The merchant-vessel in which Mithridates was embarked could not easily be brought to land by those who had the management of it, by reason of its magnitude, in the agitated state of the water, and the great swell, and it was already too heavy to hold out against the sea, and was water-logged; accordingly the king got out of the vessel into a piratical ship, and, intrusting his person to pirates, contrary to expectation and after great hazard he arrived at Heraklea[362] in Pontus. Now it happened that the proud boast of Lucullus to the Senate brought on him no divine retribution.[363] The Senate was voting a sum of three thousand talents to equip a navy for the war, but Lucullus stopped the measure by sending a letter, couched in vaunting terms, in which he said, that without cost and so much preparation, he would with the ships of the allies drive Mithridates from the sea. And he did this with the aid of the deity; for it is said that it was owing to the anger of Artemis Priapine[364] that the storm fell on the Pontic soldiers, who had plundered her temple and carried off the wooden statue.

[Pg 435]XIV. Though many advised Lucullus to suspend the war, he paid no heed to them: but, passing through Bithynia and Galatia, he invaded the country of the king. At first he wanted provisions, so that thirty thousand Galatians followed him, each carrying on his shoulders a medimnus of wheat; but as he advanced and reduced all into his power, he got into such abundance of everything that an ox was sold in the camp for a drachma, and a slave for four drachmæ; and, as to the rest of the booty, it was valued so little that some left it behind, and others destroyed it; for there were no means of disposing of anything to anybody when all had abundance. The Roman army had advanced with their cavalry and carried their incursions as far as Themiskyra and the plains on the Thermodon,[365] without doing more than wasting and ravaging the country, when the men began to blame Lucullus for peaceably gaining over all the cities, and they complained that he had not taken a single city by storm, nor given them an opportunity of enriching themselves by plunder. "Nay, even now," they said, "we are quitting Amisus,[366] a prosperous and wealthy city, which it would be no great matter to take, if any one would press the siege, and the general is leading us to fight with Mithridates in the wilds of the Tibareni and Chaldæans."[367] Now, if [Pg 436]Lucullus had supposed that these notions would have led the soldiers to such madness as they afterwards showed he would not have overlooked or neglected these matters, nor have apologised instead to those men who were blaming his tardiness for thus lingering in the neighbourhood of insignificant villages for a long time, and allowing Mithridates to increase his strength. "This is the very thing," he said, "that I wish, and I am sitting here with the design of allowing the man again to become powerful, and to get together a sufficient force to meet us, that he may stay, and not fly from us when we advance. Do you not see that a huge and boundless wilderness is in his rear, and the Caucasus[368] is near, and many mountains which are full of deep valleys, sufficient to hide ten thousand kings who decline a battle, and to protect them? and it is only a few days' march from Kabeira[369] into Armenia, and above the plains of Armenia Tigranes[370] the King of Kings has his residence, with a force which enables him to cut the Parthian off from Asia, and he removes the inhabitants of the Greek cities up into Media, and he is master of Syria and Palestine, and the kings, the descendants of Seleucus, he puts to death, and carries off their daughters and wives captives. Tigranes is the kinsman and son-in-law of Mithridates. Indeed, he will not quietly submit to receive Mithridates as a suppliant; but he will war against us, and, if we strive to eject Mithridates from his kingdom we shall run the risk of drawing upon us Tigranes, who has long been seeking for a pretext against us, and he could [Pg 437]not have a more specious pretext than to be compelled to aid a man who is his kinsman and a king. Why, then, should we bring this about, and show Mithridates, who does not know it, with whose aid he ought to carry on the war against us? and why should we drive him against his wish, and ingloriously, into the arms of Tigranes, instead of giving him time to collect a force out of his own resources and to recover his courage, and so fight with the Kolchi, and Tibareni, and Cappadocians, whom we have often defeated, rather than fight with the Medes and Armenians?"

XV. Upon such considerations as these, Lucullus protracted the time before Amisus without pushing the siege; and, when the winter was over, leaving Murena to blockade the city, he advanced against Mithridates, who was posted at Kabeira, and intending to oppose the Romans, as he had got together a force of forty thousand infantry and four thousand horse on whom he relied most. Crossing the river Lykus into the plain, Mithridates offered the Romans battle. A contest between the cavalry ensued, in which the Romans fled, and Pomponius, a man of some note, being wounded, was taken prisoner, and brought to Mithridates while he was suffering from his wounds. The king asked him if he would become his friend if his life were spared, to which Pomponius replied, "Yes, if you come to terms with the Romans; if not, I shall be your enemy." Mithridates admired the answer, and did him no harm. Now, Lucullus was afraid to keep the plain country, as the enemy were masters of it with their cavalry, and he was unwilling to advance into the hilly region, which was of great extent and wooded and difficult of access; but it happened that some Greeks were taken prisoners, who had fled into a cave, and the eldest of them, Artemidorus, promised Lucullus to be his guide, and to put him in a position which would be secure for his army, and also contained a fort that commanded Kabeira. Lucullus, trusting the man, set out at nightfall after lighting numerous fires, and getting through the defiles in safety; he gained possession of the position; and, when the day dawned, he was seen above the enemy, posting his soldiers in a place which gave him the opportunity of making an attack if [Pg 438]he chose to fight, and secured him against any assault if he chose to remain quiet. At present neither general had any intention of hazarding a battle; but it is said, that while some of the king's men were pursuing a deer, the Romans met them and attempted to cut off their retreat, and this led to a skirmish, in which fresh men kept continually coming up on both sides. At last the king's men had the better, and the Romans, who from the ramparts saw their comrades falling, were in a rage, and crowded about Lucullus, praying him to lead them on, and calling for the signal for battle. But Lucullus, wishing them to learn the value of the presence and sight of a prudent general in a struggle with an enemy and in the midst of danger, told them to keep quiet; and, going down into the plain and meeting the first of the fugitives, he ordered them to stand, and to turn round and face the enemy with him. The men obeyed, and the rest also facing about and forming in order of battle, easily put the enemy to flight, and pursued them to their camp. Lucullus, after retiring to his position, imposed on the fugitives the usual mark of disgrace, by ordering them to dig a trench of twelve feet in their loose jackets, while the rest of the soldiers were standing by and looking on.

XVI. Now there was in the army of Mithridates a prince of the Dandarii,[371] named Olthakus (the Dandarii are one of the tribes of barbarians that live about the Mæotis), a man distinguished in all military matters where strength and daring are required, and also in ability equal to the best, and moreover a man who knew how to ingratiate himself with persons, and of insinuating address. Olthakus, who was always engaged in a kind of rivalry for distinction with one of the princes of the kindred tribes, and was jealous of him, undertook a great exploit for Mithridates, which was to kill Lucullus. The king approved of his design, and purposely showed him some indignities, at which, pretending to be in a rage, Olthakus rode off to [Pg 439]Lucullus, who gladly received him, for there was a great report of him in the Roman army; and Lucullus, after some acquaintance with him, was soon pleased with his acuteness and his zeal, and at last admitted him to his table and made him a member of his council. Now when the Dandarian thought he had a fit opportunity, he ordered the slaves to take his horse without the ramparts, and, as it was noontide and the soldiers were lying in the open air and taking their rest, he went to the general's tent, expecting that nobody would prevent him from entering, as he was on terms of intimacy with Lucullus, and said that he was the bearer of some important news. And he would have entered the tent without any suspicion, if sleep, that has been the cause of the death of many generals, had not saved Lucullus; for he happened to be asleep, and Menedemus, one of his chamber-attendants, who was standing by the door, said that Olthakus had not come at a fit time, for Lucullus had just gone to rest himself after long wakefulness and many toils. As Olthakus did not go away when he was told, but said that he would go in, even should Menedemus attempt to prevent him, because he wished to communicate with Lucullus about a matter of emergency and importance, Menedemus began to get in a passion, and, saying that nothing was more urgent than the health of Lucullus, he shoved the man away with both his hands. Olthakus being alarmed stole out of the camp, and, mounting his horse, rode off to the army of Mithridates, without effecting his purpose. Thus, it appears, it is with actions just as it is with medicines—time and circumstance give to the scales that slight turn which saves alive, as well as that which kills.

XVII. After this Sornatius, with ten cohorts, was sent to get supplies of corn. Being pursued by Menander, one of the generals of Mithridates, Sornatius faced about and engaged the enemy, of whom he killed great numbers and put the rest to flight. Again, upon Adrianus being sent with a force, for the purpose of getting an abundant supply of corn for the army, Mithridates did not neglect the opportunity, but sent Menemachus and Myron at the head of a large body of cavalry and infantry. All this force, as it is said, was cut to pieces by the Romans, with the [Pg 440]exception of two men. Mithridates concealed the loss, and pretended it was not so great as it really was, but a trifling loss owing to the unskilfulness of the commanders. However, Adrianus triumphantly passed by the camp of the enemy with many waggons loaded with corn and booty, which dispirited Mithridates, and caused irremediable confusion and alarm among his soldiers. Accordingly it was resolved not to stay there any longer. But, while the king's servants were quietly sending away their own property first, and endeavouring to hinder the rest, the soldiers, growing infuriated, pushed towards the passages that led out of the camp, and, attacking the king's servants, began to seize the luggage and massacre the men. In this confusion Dorylaus the general, who had nothing else about him but his purple dress, lost his life by reason of it, and Hermæus, the sacrificing priest, was trampled to death at the gates. The king himself,[372] without attendant or groom to accompany him, fled from the camp mingled with the rest, and was not able to get even one of the royal horses, till at last the eunuch Ptolemæus, who was mounted, spied him as he was hurried along in the stream of fugitives, and leaping down from his horse gave it to the king. The Romans, who were following in pursuit, were now close upon the king, and so far as it was a matter of speed they were under no difficulty about taking him, and they came very near it; but greediness and mercenary motives snatched from the Romans the prey which they had so long followed up in many battles and great dangers, and robbed Lucullus of the crowning triumph to his victory; for the horse which was carrying Mithridates was just within reach of his pursuers, when it happened that one of the mules which was conveying the king's gold either fell into the hands of the enemy accidentally, or was purposely thrown in their way by the king's orders, and while the soldiers were plundering it and getting together the gold, and fighting with one another, they were left behind. And this was not the only loss that Lucullus sustained from [Pg 441]their greediness; he had given his men orders to bring to him Kallistratus, who had the charge of all the king's secrets; but those who were taking him to Lucullus, finding that he had five hundred gold pieces in his girdle, put him to death. However, Lucullus allowed his men to plunder the camp.

XVIII. After taking Kabeira and most of the other forts Lucullus found in them great treasures, and also places of confinement, in which many Greeks and many kinsmen of the king were shut up; and, as they had long considered themselves as dead, they were indebted to the kindness of Lucullus, not for their rescue, but for restoration to life and a kind of second birth. A sister also of Mithridates, Nyssa, was captured, and so saved her life; but the women who were supposed to be the farthest from danger, and to be securely lodged at Phernakia,[373] the sisters and wives of Mithridates, came to a sad end, pursuant to the order of Mithridates, which he sent Bacchides,[374] a eunuch, to execute, when he was compelled [Pg 442]to take to flight. Among many other women there were two sisters of the king, Roxana and Statira, each about forty years of age and unmarried; and two of his wives, Ionian women, one of them named Berenike from Chios, and the other Monime a Milesian. Monime was much talked of among the Greeks, and there was a story to this effect, that though the king tempted her with an offer of fifteen thousand gold pieces, she held out until a marriage contract was made, and he sent her a diadem[375] with the title of queen. Now Monime hitherto was very unhappy, and bewailed that beauty which had given her a master instead of a husband, and a set of barbarians to watch over her instead of marriage and a family; and she lamented that she was removed from her native country, enjoying her anticipated happiness only in imagination, while she was deprived of all those real pleasures which she might have had at home. When Bacchides arrived, and told the women to die in such manner as they might judge easiest and least painful, Monime pulled the diadem from her head, and, fastening it round her neck, hung herself. As the diadem soon broke, "Cursed rag!" she exclaimed, "you won't even do me this service;" and, spitting on it, she tossed it from her, and presented her throat to Bacchides. Berenike took a cup of poison, and gave a part of it to her mother, who was present, at her own request. Together they drank it up; and the strength of the poison was sufficient for the weaker of the two, but it did not carry off Berenike, who had not drunk enough, and, as she was long in dying, she was strangled with the assistance of Bacchides. Of the two unmarried sisters of Mithridates it is said, that one of them, after uttering many imprecations on her brother and much [Pg 443]abuse, drank up the poison. Statira did not utter a word of complaint, or anything unworthy of her noble birth; but she commended her brother for that he had not neglected them at a time when his own life was in danger, and had provided that they should die free and be secure against insult. All this gave pain to Lucullus, who was naturally of a mild and humane temper.

XIX. Lucullus advanced as far as Talaura,[376] whence four days before Mithridates had fled into Armenia to Tigranes. From Talaura Lucullus took a different direction, and after subduing the Chaldæi and Tibareni, and taking possession of the Less Armenia, and reducing forts and cities, he sent Appius to Tigranes to demand Mithridates; but he went himself to Amisus, which was still holding out against the siege. This was owing to Kallimachus the commander, who by his skill in mechanical contrivances, and his ingenuity in devising every resource which is available in a siege, gave the Romans great annoyance, for which he afterwards paid the penalty. Now, however, he was out-generailed by Lucullus, who, by making a sudden attack, just at that time of the day when he was used to lead his soldiers off and to give them rest, got possession of a small part of the wall, upon which Kallimachus quitted the city, having first set fire to it, either because he was unwilling that the Romans should get any advantage from their conquest, or with the view of facilitating his own escape. For no one paid any attention to those who were sailing out; but when the flames had sprung up with violence, and got hold of the walls, the soldiers were making ready to plunder. Lucullus, lamenting the danger in which the city was of being destroyed, attempted from the outside to help the citizens against the fire, and ordered it to be put out; yet nobody attended to him, and the soldiers called out for booty, and shouted and struck their armour, till at last Lucullus was compelled to let them have their way, expecting that he should thus save the city at least from the fire. But the soldiers did just the contrary; for, as they rummaged every place by the aid of torches, and carried about lights in all [Pg 444]directions, they destroyed most of the houses themselves, so that Lucullus, who entered the city at daybreak, said to his friends with tears in his eyes, that he had often considered Sulla a fortunate man, but on this day of all others he admired the man's good fortune, in that when he chose to save Athens he had also the power; "but upon me," he said, "who have been emulous to imitate his example, the dæmon has instead brought the reputation of Mummius."[377] However, as far as present circumstances allowed, he endeavoured to restore the city. The fire indeed was quenched by the rains that chanced to fall, as the deity would have it, at the time of the capture, and the greatest part of what had been destroyed Lucullus rebuilt while he stayed at Amisus; and he received into the city such of the Amisenes as had fled, and settled there any other Greeks who were willing to settle, and added to the limits of the territory a tract of one hundred and twenty stadia. Amisus was a colony[378] of the Athenians, planted, as one might suppose, at that period in which their power was at its height and had the command of the sea. And this was the reason why many who wished to escape from the tyranny of Aristion[379] sailed to the Euxine and settled at Amisus, where they became citizens; but it happened that by flying from misfortune at home they came in for a share of the misfortunes of others. Lucullus, however, clothed all of them who survived the capture of the city, and, after giving each two hundred drachmæ besides, he sent them back to their home. On this occasion, Tyrannio[380] the grammarian was taken prisoner. Murena [Pg 445]asked him for himself, and on getting Tyrannio set him free, wherein he made an illiberal use of the favour that he had received; for Lucullus did not think it fitting that a man who was esteemed for his learning should be made a slave first and then a freedman; for the giving him an apparent freedom was equivalent to the depriving him of his real freedom. But it was not in this instance only that Murena showed himself far inferior to his general in honourable feeling and conduct.

XX. Lucullus now turned to the cities of Asia, in order that while he had leisure from military operations he might pay some attention to justice and the law, which the province had now felt the want of for a long time, and the people had endured unspeakable and incredible calamities, being plundered and reduced to slavery by the Publicani and the money-lenders, so that individuals were compelled to sell their handsome sons and virgin daughters, and the cities to sell their sacred offerings, pictures and statues. The lot of the citizens was at last to be condemned to slavery themselves, but the sufferings which preceded were still worse—the fixing of ropes and barriers,[381] and horses, and standing under the open sky, during the heat in the sun, and during the cold when they were forced into the mud or the ice; so that slavery was considered a relief from the burden of debt, and a blessing. Such evils as these Lucullus discovered in the cities, and in a short time he relieved the sufferers from all of them. In the first place, he declared that the rate of interest should be reckoned at the hundredth part,[382] and no more; in the second, he cut off all the interest which exceeded the capital; thirdly, what [Pg 446]was most important of all, he declared that the lender should receive the fourth part of the income of the debtor; but any lender who had tacked the interest to the principal was deprived of the whole: thus, in less than four years all the debts were paid, and their property was given back to them free from all encumbrance. Now the common debt originated in the twenty thousand talents which Sulla had laid on Asia as a contribution, and twice this amount was repaid to the lenders, though they had indeed now brought the debt up to the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand talents by means of the interest. The lenders, however, considered themselves very ill used, and they raised a great outcry against Lucullus at Rome, and they endeavoured to bribe some of the demagogues to attack him; for the lenders had great influence, and had among their debtors many of the men who were engaged in public life. But Lucullus gained the affection of the cities which had been favoured by him, and the other provinces also longed to see such a man over them, and felicitated those who had the good luck to have such a governor.

XXI. Appius Clodius,[383] who was sent to Tigranes (now Clodius was the brother of the then wife of Lucullus), was at first conducted by the king's guides through the upper part of the country, by a route unnecessarily circuitous and roundabout, and one that required many days' journeying; but, as soon as the straight road was indicated to him by a freedman, a Syrian by nation, he quitted that tedious and tricky road, and, bidding his barbarian guides farewell, he crossed the Euphrates in a few days, and arrived at Antiocheia,[384] near Daphne. There he [Pg 447]waited for Tigranes, pursuant to the king's orders (for Tigranes was absent, and still engaged in reducing some of the Phœnician cities), and in the meantime he gained over many of the princes who paid the Armenian a hollow obedience, among whom was Zarbienus, King of Gordyene,[385] and he promised aid from Lucullus to many of the enslaved cities, which secretly sent to him—bidding them, however, keep quiet for the present. Now the rule of the Armenians was not tolerable to the Greeks, but was harsh; and what was worse, the king's temper had become violent and exceedingly haughty in his great prosperity; for he had not only everything about him which the many covet and admire, but he seemed to think that everything was made for him. Beginning with expectations which were slight and contemptible, he had subdued many nations, and humbled the power of the Parthians as no man before him had done; and he filled Mesopotamia with Greeks, many from Cilicia and many from Cappadocia, whom he removed and settled. He also removed from their abodes the Skenite Arabians,[386] and settled them near him, that he might with their aid have the benefit of commerce. Many were the kings who were in attendance on him; but there were four who were always about him, like attendants or guards, and when he mounted his horse they ran by his side in jackets; and when he was seated and transacting business, they stood by with their hands clasped together, which was considered to be of all attitudes the most expressive of servitude, as if they had sold their freedom, and were presenting their bodies to their master in a posture indicating readiness to suffer rather than to act. Appius, however, was not alarmed or startled at the tragedy show; but, as soon as he had an opportunity of addressing the king, he told him plainly that he was come to take back Mithridates, as one who [Pg 448]belonged to the triumphs of Lucullus, or to denounce war against Tigranes. Though the king made an effort to preserve a tranquil mien, and affected a smile while he was listening to the address, he could not conceal from the bystanders that he was disconcerted by the bold speech of the youth, he who had not for near five-and-twenty years[387] heard the voice of a free man; for so many years had he been king, or rather tyrant. However, he replied to Appius that he would not give up Mithridates, and that he would resist the Romans if they attacked him. He was angry with Lucullus because he addressed him in his letter by the title of King only, and not King of Kings, and, accordingly in his reply, Tigranes did not address Lucullus by the title of Imperator. But he sent splendid presents to Appius, and when they were refused he sent still more. Appius, not wishing to appear to reject the king's presents from any hostile feeling, selected from among them a goblet, and sent the rest back; and then with all speed set off to join the Imperator.

XXII. Now, up to this time, Tigranes had not deigned to see Mithridates,[388] nor to speak to him, though Mithridates was allied to him by marriage, and had been ejected from so great a kingdom; but, in a degrading and insulting manner, he had allowed Mithridates to be far removed from him, and, in a manner, kept a prisoner in his abode, which was a marshy and unhealthy place. However, he now sent for him with demonstrations of respect and friendship. In a secret conference which took place in the palace, they endeavoured to allay their mutual suspicions, by turning the blame on their friends, to their ruin. One of them was Metrodorus[389] of Skepsis, an agreeable speaker, and a man of great acquirements, who enjoyed so high a degree of favour with Mithridates that he got the name of the king's father. Metrodorus, as it seems, had once been sent on an embassy from Mithridates to [Pg 449]Tigranes, to pray for aid against the Romans, on which occasion Tigranes asked him, "But you, Metrodorus, what do you advise me in this matter?" Metrodorus, either consulting the interests of Tigranes, or not wishing Mithridates to be maintained in his kingdom, replied, that, as ambassador, he requested him to send aid, but, in the capacity of adviser, he told him not to send any. Tigranes reported this to Mithridates, to whom he gave the information, not expecting that he would inflict any extreme punishment on Metrodorus. But Metrodorus was forthwith put to death, and Tigranes was sorry for what he had done, though he was not altogether the cause of the misfortune of Metrodorus: indeed what he had said merely served to turn the balance in the dislike of Mithridates towards Metrodorus; for Mithridates had for a long time disliked Metrodorus, and this was discovered from his private papers, that fell into the hands of the Romans, in which there were orders to put Metrodorus to death. Now, Tigranes interred the body with great pomp, sparing no expense on the man, when dead, whom he had betrayed when living. Amphikrates the rhetorician also lost his life at the court of Tigranes, if he too deserves mention for the sake of Athens. It is said that he fled to Seleukeia,[390] on the Tigris, and that when the citizens there asked him to give lectures on his art, he treated them with contempt, saying, in an arrogant way, that a dish would not hold a dolphin. Removing himself from Seleukeia, he betook himself to Kleopatra, who was the daughter of Mithridates, and the wife of Tigranes; but he soon fell under suspicion, and, being excluded from all communion with the Greeks, he starved himself to death. Amphikrates also received an honourable interment from Kleopatra, and his body lies at Sapha, a place in those parts so called.

XXIII. After conferring on Asia, the fulness of good [Pg 450]administration and of peace, Lucullus did not neglect such things as would gratify the people and gain their favour; but during his stay at Ephesus he gained popularity in the Asiatic cities by processions and public festivals in commemoration of his victories, and by contests of athletes and gladiators. The cities on their side made a return by celebrating festivals, called after the name of Lucullus, to do honour to the man; and they manifested towards him what is more pleasing than demonstrations of respect, real affection. Now, when Appius had returned, and it appeared that there was to be war with Tigranes, Lucullus again advanced into Pontus, and, getting his troops together, he besieged Sinope,[391] or rather the Cilicians of the king's party, who were in possession of the city; but the Cilicians made their escape by night, after massacring many of the Sinopians, and firing the city. Lucullus, who saw what was going on, made his way into the city, and slaughtered eight thousand of the Cilicians, who were left there; but he restored to the rest of the inhabitants their property, and provided for the interests of Sinope, mainly by reason of a vision of this sort: he dreamed that a man stood by him in his sleep, and said, "Advance a little, Lucullus; for Autolykus is come, and wishes to meet with you." On waking, Lucullus could not conjecture what was the meaning of the vision; but he took the city on that day, and, while pursuing the Cilicians, who were escaping in their ships, he saw a statue lying on [Pg 451]the beach, which the Cilicians had not had time to put on board; and the statue was the work of Sthenis,[392] one of his good performances. Now, somebody told Lucullus that it was the statue of Autolykus, the founder of Sinope. Autolykus is said to have been one of those who joined Herakles from Thessalia, in his expedition against the Amazons, and a son of Deimachus. In his voyage home, in company with Demoleon and Phlogius, he lost his ship, which was wrecked at the place called Pedalium, in the Chersonesus:[393] but he escaped with his arms and companions to Sinope, which he took from the Syrians: for Sinope was in possession of the Syrians, who were descended from Syrus, the son of Apollo, according to the story, and Sinope, the daughter of Asopus. On hearing this, Lucullus called to mind the advice of Sulla, who in his 'Memoirs' advised to consider nothing so trustworthy and safe as that which is signified in dreams. Lucullus was now apprised that Mithridates and Tigranes were on the point of entering Lycaonia and Cilicia, with the intention of anticipating hostilities by an invasion of Asia, and he was surprised that the Armenian, if he really intended to attack the Romans, did not avail himself of the aid of Mithridates, in the war when he was at the height of his power, nor join his forces to those of Mithridates when he was strong but allowed him to be undone and crushed; and now began a war that offered only cold hopes, and throw himself on the ground to join those who were already there and unable to rise.

XXIV. Now, when Machares also, the son of Mithridates, who held the Bosporus, sent to Lucullus a crown worth one thousand gold pieces, and prayed to be acknowledged [Pg 452]a friend and ally[394] of the Romans, Lucullus, considering that the former war was at an end, left Sornatius in those parts to watch over the affairs of Pontus with six thousand soldiers. He set out himself with twelve thousand foot soldiers, and not quite three thousand horse, to commence a second campaign, wherein he seemed to be making a hazardous move, and one not resting on any safe calculation; for he was going to throw himself among warlike nations and many thousands of horsemen, and to enter a boundless tract, surrounded by deep rivers and by mountains covered with perpetual snow; so that his soldiers, who were generally not very obedient to discipline, followed unwillingly and made opposition: and at Rome the popular leaders raised a cry against him, and accused him of seeking one war after another, though the State required no wars, that he might never lay down his arms so long as he had command, and never stop making his private profit out of the public danger; and in course of time the demagogues at Rome accomplished their purpose. Lucullus, advancing by hard marches to the Euphrates, found the stream swollen and muddy, owing to the winter season, and he was vexed on considering that it would cause loss of time and some trouble if he had to get together boats to take his army across and to build rafts. However, in the evening the water began to subside, and it went on falling all through the night, and at daybreak the bed of the river was empty. The natives observing that some small islands in the river had become visible, and that the stream near them was still, made their obeisance to Lucullus; for this had very seldom happened before, and they considered it a token that the river had purposely made itself tame and gentle for Lucullus, and was offering him an easy and ready passage. Accordingly, Lucullus took advantage of the opportunity, and carried his troops over: and a favourable sign accompanied the passage of the army. Cows feed in that neighbourhood, which are sacred to Artemis Persia, a deity whom the barbarians on the farther side of the Euphrates [Pg 453]venerate above all others; they use the cows only for sacrifice, which at other times ramble at liberty about the country, with a brand upon them, in the form of the torch of the goddess, and it is not very easy, nor without much trouble, that they can catch the cows when they want them. After the army had crossed the Euphrates one of these cows came to a rock, which is considered sacred to the goddess, and stood upon it, and there laying down its head, just as a cow does when it is held down tight by a rope, it offered itself to Lucullus to be sacrificed. Lucullus also sacrificed a bull to the Euphrates, as an acknowledgment for his passage over the river. He encamped there for that day, and on the next and the following days he advanced through Sophene[395] without doing any harm to the people, who joined him and gladly received the soldiers; and when the soldiers were expressing a wish to take possession of a fortress, which was supposed to contain much wealth, "That is the fortress," said Lucullus, "which we must take first," pointing to the Taurus[396] in the distance; "but this is reserved for the victors." He now continued his route by hard marches, and, crossing the Tigris, entered Armenia.

XXV. Now, as the first person who reported to Tigranes that Lucullus was in the country got nothing for his pains, but had his head cut off, nobody else would tell him, and Tigranes was sitting in ignorance while the fires of war were burning round him, and listening to flattering words, That Lucullus would be a great general if he should venture to stand against Tigranes at Ephesus, and should not flee forthwith from Asia, at the sight of so many tens [Pg 454]of thousands. So true it is, that it is not every man who can bear much wine, nor is it any ordinary understanding that in great prosperity does not lose all sound judgment. The first of his friends who ventured to tell him the truth was Mithrobarzanes; and he, too, got no reward for his boldness in speaking; for he was sent forthwith against Lucullus, with three thousand horsemen and a very large body of infantry, with orders to bring the general alive, and to trample down his men. Now, part of the army of Lucullus was preparing to halt, and the rest was still advancing. When the scouts reported that the barbarian was coming upon them, Lucullus was afraid that the enemy would fall upon his troops while they were divided and not in battle order, and so put them into confusion. Lucullus himself set to work to superintend the encampment, and he sent Sextilius, one of his legati, with sixteen hundred horsemen, and hoplitæ[397] and light-armed troops, a few more in number, with orders to approach close to the enemy, and wait till he should hear that the soldiers who were with him had made their encampment. Sextilius wished to follow his orders; but he was compelled to engage by Mithrobarzanes, who was confidently advancing against him. A battle ensued, in which Mithrobarzanes fell fighting; and the rest, taking to flight, were all cut to pieces with the exception of a few. Upon this Tigranes left Tigranocerta,[398] a large city which he had founded, and retreated to the Taurus, and there began to get together his forces from all parts: but Lucullus, allowing him no time for preparation, sent Murena to harass and cut off those who were collecting to join Tigranes, and Sextilius on the other side to check a large body of Arabs, who were [Pg 455]approaching to the king. It happened just at the same time that Sextilius fell on the Arabs as they were encamping and killed most of them, and Murena, following Tigranes, took the opportunity of attacking him as he was passing through a rough and narrow defile with his army in a long line. Tigranes fled, and left behind him all his baggage; and many of the Armenians were killed and still more taken prisoners.

XXVI. After this success Lucullus broke up his camp and marched against Tigranocerta, which he surrounded with his lines, and began to besiege. There were in the city many Greeks, a part of those who had been removed from Cilicia, and many barbarians who had fared the same way with the Greeks, Adiabeni,[399] and Assyrians, and Gordyeni and Cappadocians, whose native cities Tigranes had digged down, and had removed the inhabitants and settled them there. The city was also filled with wealth and sacred offerings, for every private individual and prince, in order to please the king, contributed to the increase and ornament of the city. For this reason Lucullus pressed the siege, thinking that Tigranes would not endure this, but even contrary to his judgment, would come down in passion and fight a battle; and he was not mistaken. Now, Mithridates, both by messengers and letters, strongly advised Tigranes not to fight a battle, but to cut off the enemy's supplies by means of his cavalry; and Taxiles[400] also, who had come from Mithridates to join Tigranes, earnestly entreated the king to keep on the defensive, and to avoid the arms of the Romans, as being invincible. Tigranes at first readily listened to this advice: but when the Armenians and Gordyeni had joined him with all their forces, and the kings were come, bringing with them all the power of the Medes and Adiabeni, and many Arabs had arrived from the sea that borders on Babylonia, and many Albanians from the Caspian, and Iberians, who are neighbours of the Albanians; and not a few of the tribes about [Pg 456]the Araxes,[401] who are not governed by kings, had come to join him, induced by solicitations and presents, and the banquets of the king were filled with hopes and confidence and barbaric threats, and his councils also,—Taxiles narrowly escaped death for opposing the design of fighting, and it was believed that Mithridates wished to divert Tigranes from obtaining a great victory, merely from envy. Accordingly, Tigranes would not even wait for Mithridates, for fear he should share in the glory; but he advanced with all his force, and greatly complained to his friends, it is said, that he would have to encounter Lucullus alone, and not all the Roman generals at once. And his confidence was not altogether madness nor without good grounds, when he looked upon so many nations and kings following him, and bodies of hoplitæ, and tens of thousands of horsemen; for he was at the head of twenty thousand bowmen and slingers and fifty-five thousand horsemen, of whom seventeen thousand were clothed in armour of mail, as Lucullus said in his letter to the Senate, and one hundred and fifty thousand hoplitæ, some of whom were drawn up in cohorts and others in phalanx; and of road-makers, bridge-makers, clearers of rivers, timber-cutters, and labourers for other necessary purposes, there were thirty-five thousand, who, being placed behind the fighting men, added to the imposing appearance and the strength of the army.

XXVII. When Tigranes had crossed the Taurus, and, showing himself with all his forces, looked down on the Roman army, which was encamped before Tigranocerta, the barbarians in the city hailed his appearance with shouts and clapping of hands, and from their walls with threats pointed to the Armenians. As Lucullus was considering about the battle, some advised him to give up the siege, and march against Tigranes; others urged him not to leave so many enemies in his rear, nor to give up the siege. Lucullus replied, that singly they did not advise well, but that taken both together the counsel was good; on which he divided his army. He left Murena with six [Pg 457]thousand foot to maintain the siege; and himself taking twenty-four cohorts, among which there were not above ten thousand hoplitæ, with all his cavalry and slingers and bowmen, to the number of about one thousand, advanced against the enemy. Lucullus, encamping in a large plain by the bank of the river, appeared contemptible to Tigranes, and furnished matter for amusement to the king's flatterers. Some scoffed at him, and others, by way of amusement, cast lots for the spoil, and all the generals and kings severally applied to the king, and begged the matter might be intrusted to each of them singly, and that Tigranes would sit as a spectator. Tigranes also attempted to be witty, and, in a scoffing manner, he uttered the well-known saying, "If they have come as ambassadors, there are too many of them; if as soldiers, too few." Thus they amused themselves with sarcastic sayings and jokes. At daybreak Lucullus led out his troops under arms. Now the barbarian army was on the east side of the river; but, as the river makes a bend towards the west, at a part where it was easiest to ford, Lucullus led his troops out, and hurried in that direction, which led Tigranes to think that he was retreating; and calling Taxiles to him he said, with a laugh, "Don't you see that these invincible Roman warriors are flying?" Taxiles replied: "I should be pleased, O king, at any strange thing happening which should be lucky to you; but the Roman soldiers do not put on their splendid attire when they are on a march; nor have they then their shields cleaned, and their helmets bare, as they now have, by reason of having taken off the leathern coverings; but this brightness of their armour is a sign they are going to fight, and are now marching against their enemies." While Taxiles was still speaking the first eagle came in sight; for Lucullus had now faced about, and the cohorts were seen taking their position in manipuli for the purpose of crossing the river: on which Tigranes, as if he were hardly recovering from a drunken bout, called out two or three times, "What, are they coming against us?" and so, with much confusion, the enemy's soldiers set about getting into order, the king taking his position in the centre, and giving the left wing to the King of the Adiabeni, and the [Pg 458]right to the Mede, on which wing also were the greater part of the soldiers, clad in mail, occupying the first ranks. As Lucullus was going to cross the river, some of the officers bade him beware of the day, which was one of the unlucky days which the Romans call black days; for on that day Cæpio[402] and his army were destroyed in a battle with the Cimbri. Lucullus replied in these memorable words: "Well, I will make it a lucky day for the Romans." The day was the sixth of October.

XXVIII. Saying this, and bidding his men be of good cheer, Lucullus began to cross the river, and advanced against the enemy, at the head of his soldiers, with a breastplate of glittering scaly steel, and a cloak with a fringed border, and he just let it be seen that his sword was already bare, thereby indicating that they must forthwith come to close quarters with the enemy, who fought with missiles, and by the rapidity of the attack cut off the intervening space, within which the barbarians could use their bows. Observing that the mailed cavalry, which had a great reputation, were stationed under an eminence, crowned by a broad level space, and that the approach to it was only a distance of four stadia, and neither difficult nor rough, he ordered the Thracian cavalry and the Gauls who were in the army, to fall on them in the flank, and to beat aside their long spears with their swords. Now the mailed horsemen rely solely on their long spears, and they can do nothing else, either in their own defence or against the enemy, owing to the weight and rigidity of their armour, and they look like men who are walled up in it. Lucullus himself, with two cohorts, pushed on vigorously to the hill, followed by his men, who were encouraged by seeing him in his armour, enduring all the fatigue on foot, and pressing forwards. On reaching the summit, Lucullus stood on a conspicuous spot, and called [Pg 459]out aloud: "We have got the victory! Fellow soldiers, we have got the victory!" With these words he led his men against the mailed horsemen, and ordered them not to use their javelins yet, but every man to hold them in both hands, and to thrust against the enemy's legs and thighs, which are the only parts of these mailed men that are bare. However, there was no occasion for this mode of fighting; for the enemy did not stand the attack of the Romans, but, setting up a shout and flying most disgracefully, they threw themselves and their horses, with all their weight, upon their own infantry, before the infantry had begun the battle, so that so many tens of thousands were defeated before a wound was felt or blood was drawn. Now the great slaughter began when the army turned to flight, or rather attempted to fly, for they could not really fly, owing to the closeness and depth of their ranks, which made them in the way of one another. Tigranes, riding off at the front, fled with a few attendants, and, seeing that his son was a partner in his misfortune, he took off the diadem from his head, and, with tears, presented it to him, at the same time telling him to save himself, as he best could, by taking some other direction. The youth would not venture to put the diadem on his head, but gave it to the most faithful of his slaves to keep. This slave, happening to be taken, was carried to Lucullus, and thus the diadem of Tigranes, with other booty, fell into the hands of the Romans. It is said that above one hundred thousand of the infantry perished, and very few of the cavalry escaped. On the side of the Romans, a hundred were wounded, and five killed. Antiochus[403] the philosopher, who mentions this battle in his 'Treatise on the Gods,' says that the sun never saw a battle like it. Strabo, another philosopher,[404] in his 'Historical Memoirs,' says that the Romans were ashamed, and laughed at one another, for requiring arms against such a set of slaves. And Livius[405] observed that the Romans never engaged with an enemy with such inferiority of numbers on their side, for the victors [Pg 460]were hardly the twentieth part of the defeated enemy, but somewhat less. The most skilful of the Roman generals, and those who had most military experience, commended Lucullus chiefly for this, that he had out-generalled the two most distinguished and powerful kings by two most opposite manœuvres, speed and slowness; for he wore out Mithridates, at the height of his power, by time and protracting the war; but he crushed Tigranes by his activity: and he was one of the very few commanders who ever employed delay when he was engaged in active operations, and bold measures when his safety was at stake.

XXIX. Mithridates made no haste to be present at the battle, because he supposed that Lucullus would carry on the campaign with his usual caution and delay; but he was advancing leisurely to join Tigranes. At first he fell in with a few Armenians on the road, who were retreating in great alarm and consternation, and he conjectured what had happened, but as he soon heard of the defeat from a large number whom he met, who had lost their arms and were wounded, he set out to seek Tigranes. Though he found Tigranes destitute of everything, and humbled, Mithridates did not retaliate for his former haughty behaviour, but he got down from his horse, and lamented with Tigranes their common misfortunes; he also gave Tigranes a royal train that was attending on him, and encouraged him to hope for the future. Accordingly, the two kings began to collect fresh forces. Now, in the city of Tigranocerta[406] the Greeks had fallen to quarrelling with the barbarians, and were preparing to surrender the place to Lucullus, on which he assaulted and took it. Lucullus appropriated to himself the treasures in the city, but he gave up the city to be plundered by the soldiers, which contained eight thousand talents of coined money, with other valuable booty. Besides this, Lucullus gave to each man eight hundred drachmæ out of the produce of the spoils. Hearing that many actors had been taken in the city, whom Tigranes had collected from all quarters, with the view of opening the theatre which he had constructed, [Pg 461]Lucullus employed them for the games and shows in celebration of the victory. The Greeks he sent to their homes, and supplied them with means for the journey, and in like manner those barbarians who had been compelled to settle there; the result of which was that the dissolution of one city was followed by the restoration of many others, which thus recovered their citizens, by whom Lucullus was beloved as a benefactor and a founder. Everything else also went on successfully and conformably to the merits of the general, who sought for the praise that is due to justice and humanity, and not the praise that follows success in war: for the success in war was due in no small degree, to the army and to fortune, but his justice and humanity proved that he had a mild and well-regulated temper; and it was by these means that Lucullus now subdued the barbarians without resorting to arms; for the kings of the Arabs came to him to surrender all that they had, and the Sopheni also came over to him. He also gained the affection of the Gordyeni so completely that they were ready to leave their cities, and to follow him, as volunteers, with their children and wives, the reason of which was as follows: Zarbienus, the King of the Gordyeni, as it has been already told, secretly communicated, through Appius, with Lucullus about an alliance, being oppressed by the tyranny of Tigranes; but his design was reported to Tigranes, and he was put to death, and his children and wife perished with him, before the Romans invaded Armenia. Lucullus did not forget all this; and, on entering Gordyene, he made a funeral for Zarbienus, and, ornamenting the pile with vests, and the king's gold, and the spoils got from Tigranes, he set fire to it himself, and poured libations on the pile, with the friends and kinsmen of the king, and gave him the name of friend and ally of the Roman people. He also ordered a monument to be erected to him at great cost; for a large quantity of gold and silver was found in the palace of Zarbienus, and there were stored up three million medimni of wheat, so that the soldiers were well supplied, and Lucullus was admired, that without receiving a drachma from the treasury, he made the war support itself.

XXX. While Lucullus was here, there came an embassy [Pg 462]from the King of the Parthians[407] also, who invited him to friendship and an alliance. This proposal was agreeable to Lucullus, and in return he sent ambassadors to the Parthian, who discovered that he was playing double and secretly asking Mesopotamia from Tigranes as the price of his alliance. On hearing this Lucullus determined to pass by Tigranes and Mithridates as exhausted antagonists, and to try the strength of the Parthians, and to march against them, thinking it a glorious thing, in one uninterrupted campaign, like an athlete, to give three kings in succession the throw, and to have made his way through three empires, the most powerful under the sun, unvanquished and victorious. Accordingly he sent orders to Sornatius and the other commanders in Pontus to conduct the army there to him, as he was intending to advance from Gordyene farther into Asia. These generals had already found that the soldiers were difficult to manage and mutinous; but now they made the ungovernable temper of the soldiers quite apparent, being unable by any means of persuasion or compulsion to move the soldiers, who, with solemn asseverations, declared aloud that they would not stay even where they were, but would go and leave Pontus undefended. Report of this being carried to the army of Lucullus effected the corruption of his soldiers also, who had been made inert towards military service by the wealth they had acquired and their luxurious living, and they wanted rest; and, when they heard of the bold words of the soldiers in Pontus, they said they were men, and their example ought to be followed, for they had done enough to entitle them to be released from military service, and to enjoy repose.

XXXI. Lucullus, becoming acquainted with these and other still more mutinous expressions, gave up the expedition against the Parthians, and marched a second time against Tigranes. It was now the height of summer; and Lucullus was dispirited after crossing the Taurus, to see [Pg 463]that the fields were still green,[408] so much later are the seasons, owing to the coldness of the air. However, he descended from the Taurus, and, after defeating the Armenians, who twice or thrice ventured to attack him, he plundered the villages without any fear; and, by seizing the corn which had been stored up by Tigranes, he reduced the enemy to the straits which he was apprehending himself. Lucullus challenged the Armenians to battle by surrounding their camp with his lines and ravaging the country before their eyes; but, as this did not make them move after their various defeats, he broke up and advanced against Artaxata, the royal residence of Tigranes, where his young children and wives were, thinking that Tigranes would not give them up without a battle. It is said that Hannibal the Carthaginian, after the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans, went to Artaxas the Armenian, to whose notice he introduced many useful things; and, observing a position which possessed great natural advan[Pg 464]tages and was very pleasant, though at that time unoccupied and neglected, he made the plan of a city on the ground, and, taking Artaxas there, showed it to him, and urged him to build up the place. The king, it is said, was pleased, and asked Hannibal to superintend the work; and thereupon a large and beautiful city sprung up, and, being named after the king, was declared to be the capital of Armenia. Tigranes did not let Lucullus quietly march against Artaxata, but, moving with his forces on the fourth day, he encamped opposite to the Romans, placing the river Arsanias between him and the enemy, which river the Romans must of necessity cross on their route to Artaxata. After sacrificing to the gods, Lucullus, considering that he had the victory in his hands, began to lead his army across the river, with twelve cohorts in the van, and the rest placed as a reserve to prevent the enemy from attacking his flank. There was a large body of picked cavalry opposed to the Romans, and in front of them Mardi mounted archers, and Iberians[409] armed with spears, on whom Tigranes relied more than any of his mercenaries, as being the most warlike of all. However, they showed no gallant spirit; but, after a slight skirmish with the Roman cavalry, they did not venture to stand the attack of the infantry, and separating and taking to flight on both sides they drew after them the cavalry in the pursuit. At the moment when this part of the enemy was dispersed, the cavalry, which was about Tigranes, rode forward, and Lucullus was alarmed when he saw their brave appearance and numbers. He recalled the cavalry from the pursuit, and himself was the first to meet the Satrapeni,[410] who were posted opposite to him with the king's chief officers; but before they came to close quarters, the enemy was panic-struck and turned to flight. Of three kings at the same time opposed to the Romans, Mithridates of Pontus appears to have fled most disgrace[Pg 465]fully; for he did not stay to hear even the shouts of the Romans. The pursuit was continued for a great distance and all night long, and the Romans were wearied with killing and taking prisoners, and getting valuables and booty. Livius[411] says that in the former battle a greater number of the enemy, but in this more men of rank fell and were taken prisoners.

XXXII. Elated and encouraged by this victory, Lucullus was intending to advance farther into the country, and to subdue the barbarian; but contrary to what one would have expected at the season of the autumnal equinox, they were assailed by heavy storms, generally snow-storms, and, when the sky was clear, there was hoar-frost and ice, owing to which the horses could not well drink of the rivers, by reason of the excessive cold; and they were difficult to ford, because the ice broke, and the rough edges cut the horses' sinews. And as the greater part of the country was shaded and full of defiles and wooded, the soldiers were kept continually wet, being loaded with snow while they were marching, and spending the night uncomfortably in damp places. Accordingly, they had not followed Lucullus for many days after the battle when they began to offer resistance, at first making entreaties and also sending the tribunes to him, and then collecting in a tumultuous manner, with loud shouts in their tents by night, which is considered to be an indication that an army is in a state of mutiny. Yet Lucullus urged them strongly, and called on them to put endurance in their souls till they had taken and destroyed the Armenian Carthage, the work of their greatest enemy, meaning Hannibal. Not being able to prevail on them, he led them back by a different pass over the Taurus, and descended into the country called Mygdonike, which is fertile and warm, and contains a large and populous city, which the barbarians called Nisibis,[412] [Pg 466]but the Greeks Antiocha Mygdonike. The city was defended in name by Gouras, a brother of Tigranes, but in fact by the experience and mechanical skill of Kallimachus, who had given Lucullus great trouble in the siege of Amisus also. Lucullus seated himself before the city, and, by availing himself of every mode of pressing a siege, in a short time he took the city by storm. Gouras, who surrendered himself to Lucullus, was treated kindly; but he would not listen to Kallimachus, though he promised to discover concealed treasures of great value; and he ordered him to be brought in chains to be punished for the conflagration by which he destroyed Amisus and deprived Lucullus of the object of his ambition and an opportunity of displaying his friendly disposition to the Greeks.

XXXIII. So far one may say that fortune accompanied Lucullus and shared his campaigns: but from this time, just as if a wind had failed him, trying to force everything and always meeting with obstacles, he displayed indeed the courage and endurance of a good commander, but his undertakings produced him neither fame nor good opinion, and even the reputation that he had he came very near losing by his want of success and his fruitless disputes. Lucullus himself was in no small degree the cause of all this; for he was not a man who tried to gain the affection of the soldiery, and he considered everything that was done to please the men as a disparagement to the general's power, and as tending to destroy it. But, what was worst of all, he was not affable to the chief officers and those of the same rank as himself; he despised everybody, and thought no man had any merit compared with his own.[413] [Pg 467]These bad qualities, it is said, that Lucullus had, though he possessed many merits. He was tall and handsome, a powerful speaker, and equally prudent in the Forum and the camp. Now, Sallustius says that the soldiers were ill-disposed towards him at the very commencement of the war before Kyzikus, and again at Amisus, because they were compelled to spend two winters in succession in camp. They were also vexed about the other winters, for they either spent them in a hostile country, or encamped among the allies under the bare sky; for Lucullus never once entered a Greek and friendly city with his army. While the soldiers were in this humour, they received encouragement from the demagogues at Rome, who envied Lucullus, and charged him with protracting the war through love of power and avarice. They said that he all but held at once Cilicia, Asia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Pontus, Armenia, and the parts as far as the Phasis, and that at last he had plundered even the palace of Tigranes, as if he had been sent to strip kings and not to conquer them. This, it is said, was urged by one of the prætors, Lucius Quintus,[414] by whom they were mainly persuaded to pass a decree to send persons to supersede Lucullus in his province. They also decreed that many of the soldiers under Lucullus should be released from service.

XXXIV. To these causes, in themselves so weighty, there was added another that, most of all, ruined the measures of Lucullus; and this was Publius Clodius, a violent man, and full of arrogance and audacity. He was the brother of the wife of Lucullus, a woman of most dissolute habits, whom he was also accused of debauching. At this time he was serving with Lucullus, and he did not get all the distinction to which he thought himself entitled. In fact, he aspired to the first rank, and, as there were many preferred before him, in consequence of his [Pg 468]character, he secretly endeavoured to win the favour of Fimbria's army, and to excite the soldiers against Lucullus, by circulating among them words well suited to those who were ready to hear them, and were not unaccustomed to be courted. These were the men whom Fimbria had persuaded to kill the consul Flaccus, and to choose himself for their general. Accordingly, they gladly listened to Clodius, and called him the soldier's friend, for he pretended to feel indignant at their treatment. "Was there never to be an end," he would say, "to so many wars and dangers, and were they to wear out their lives in fighting with every nation, and wandering over every country, and getting no equivalent for so much service, but, instead thereof, were they to convoy waggons and camels of Lucullus, loaded with cups of gold, set with precious stones, while the soldiers of Pompeius were now living as citizens,[415] and with their wives and children were sitting quiet in the enjoyment of fertile lands and cities, though they had not driven Mithridates and Tigranes into uninhabited wildernesses, nor pulled down the palaces of Asia, but had fought with exiles in Iberia, and runaway slaves in Italy? Why, then, if there is never to be an end of our service, do we not reserve what remains of our bodies and our lives for a general who considers the wealth of the soldiers his chief glory?" By such causes as these the army of Lucullus was corrupted, and his soldiers refused to follow him either against Tigranes or against Mithridates, who immediately made an irruption from Armenia into Pontus, and endeavoured to recover his power; but alleging the winter as an excuse, the soldiers lingered in Gordyene, expecting every moment that Pompeius, or some other commander,[416] would arrive to supersede Lucullus.

[Pg 469]XXXV. But when news came that Mithridates had defeated Fabius,[417] and was marching against Sornatius and Triarius, through very shame the soldiers followed Lucullus. Triarius, being ambitious to snatch the victory which he thought was in his grasp, before Lucullus, who was near, should arrive, was defeated in a great battle. It is said that above seven thousand Romans fell, among whom were a hundred and fifty centurions, and twenty-four tribunes; and Mithridates took the camp. Lucullus arrived a few days after, and secreted from the soldiers Triarius, whom in their passion, they wore looking for; and, as Mithridates was not willing to fight, but was waiting for Tigranes, who was already coming down with a large force, Lucullus determined to march back, and to fight with Tigranes before he and Mithridates could unite. As he was on his march the soldiers of Fimbria mutinied, and left their ranks, considering that they were released from service by the decree of the Senate, and that Lucullus had no longer any right to the command, now that the provinces were assigned to others. Upon this there was nothing, however inconsistent with his dignity, which Lucullus did not submit to do—supplicating the soldiers individually, and going about from tent to tent in humble manner, and with tears in his eyes, and sometimes even taking the soldiers by the hand. But they rejected his proffered hand, and threw down before him their empty purses, and told him to fight with the enemy himself, for he was the only person who knew how to get rich from them. However, at the request of the rest of the army, the soldiers of Fimbria were constrained, and agreed to stay to the end of summer, and if, in the meantime, no enemy should come down to fight them, they were then to be released. Lucullus was of necessity obliged to acquiesce in this, or else to be left alone, and give up the country to the barbarians. He therefore kept the soldiers together, without making any further attempt to force them, or lead them out to battle, for he was well content if they would stay with him, and he allowed Cappadocia to be ravaged by Tigranes, and Mithridates to resume his [Pg 470]arrogance, as to whom he had written to the Senate, to inform them that he was completely subdued; and the commissioners[418] were now with him who had been sent to settle the affairs of Pontus, on the supposition that the country was completely in the power of the Romans. Indeed, the commissioners were now witnesses that Lucullus was not his own master, but was treated with contumely and insult by the soldiers, who carried their audacity towards their commander so far, that, at the close of the summer, they put on their armour, and drawing their swords, challenged to battle the enemy who were no longer there, but had already moved off. After uttering the war shout, and flourishing their swords in the air, they left the camp, declaring that the time was up which they had agreed to stay with Lucullus. The rest of the soldiers were summoned by Pompeius by letter, for he had been appointed to the command[419] in the war against Mithridates and Tigranes, by the favour of the people, and through the influence of the demagogues; though the Senate and the nobles thought that Lucullus was wronged, inasmuch as he was not superseded in a war, but in a triumph; and it was not the command, but the honours of the command that he was compelled to divest himself of, and to surrender to others.

XXXVI. But it appeared a still greater wrong to those who were with Lucullus in Asia, that Lucullus had not the power either to reward or punish for anything that was done in the war; nor did Pompeius allow any person to go to him, nor to pay any attention to the orders and regulations that he was making in concert with the ten commissioners, but he obstructed him by publishing counter edicts, and by the fear which he inspired from having a larger force. However, their friends agreed to bring them together, and they met in a village of Galatia, where they [Pg 471]saluted one another in a friendly manner, and each congratulated the other on his victories. Lucullus was the elder, but Pompeius had the greater reputation, because he had oftener had the command, and enjoyed two triumphs. Fasces, wreathed with bay,[420] were carried before both generals in token of their victories. But, as Pompeius had made a long march through a country without water and arid, the bays upon his fasces were withered, which the lictors of Lucullus observing, in a friendly manner gave them bays out of their own, which were fresh and green. And this the friends of Pompeius interpreted as a good omen; for, in fact, the exploits of Lucullus served to set off the command of Pompeius. But the conference[421] resulted in no amicable arrangement, and they separated with increased aversion towards each other. Pompeius also annulled the regulations of Lucullus, and he took off with him all the soldiers with the exception of sixteen hundred, whom he left to Lucullus for his triumph; and even these did not follow him very willingly: so ill suited was the temper of Lucullus, or so unlucky was he in securing that which, of all things, is the chief and greatest in a general; for, if he had possessed this quality, with the other many and great virtues that he had, courage, activity, judgment, and justice, the Roman empire would not have had the Euphrates for its limit, but the remotest parts of Asia, and the Hyrkanian Sea;[422] for all the other nations had already been defeated by Tigranes, and the Parthian power was not such as it afterwards showed itself to be in the campaign of Crassus,[423] nor so well combined, but owing to intestine and neighbouring wars, was not even strong enough to repel the attacks of the Armenians. But it seems to me that the services of Lucullus to his country were less than the harm he did it in other things; for his trophies in [Pg 472]Armenia, which were erected on the borders of Parthia, and Tigranocerta, and Nisibis, and the great wealth that was brought from these cities to Rome, and the display of the diadem of Tigranes in his triumph, urged Crassus to attack Asia, and to think that the barbarians were only spoil and booty, and nothing else. But Crassus soon felt the Parthian arrows, and so proved that Lucullus had got the advantage over the enemy, not through their want of skill or cowardice, but by his own courage and ability. This, however, happened afterwards.

XXXVII. When Lucullus returned to Rome, first of all he found that his brother Marcus was under prosecution by Caius Memmius,[424] for what he had done in his quæstorship at the command of Sulla. Upon Marcus being acquitted, Memmius transferred his attack to Lucullus himself, and endeavoured to excite the people against him, and persuaded them not to give him a triumph, on the ground that he had appropriated to himself much of the spoils, and had prolonged the war. Now that Lucullus was involved in a great struggle, the first and most powerful men, mingling themselves among the tribes, by much entreaty and exertion with difficulty persuaded the people to allow Lucullus to have a triumph;[425] not, however, like some, a triumph which was striking and bustling, from [Pg 473]the length of the procession, and the quantity of things that were displayed, but he decorated the circus of Flaminius with the arms of the enemy, of which he had a great quantity, and with the royal engines of war; and it was a spectacle in itself far from being contemptible. In the procession a few of the mailed horsemen, and ten of the scythe-bearing chariots moved along, with sixty of the king's friends and generals, and a hundred and ten brazen-beaked ships of war also were carried in the procession, and a gold statue of Mithridates six feet high, and a shield ornamented with precious stones, and twenty litters loaded with silver vessels, and two-and-thirty loaded with golden cups, armour, and money. All this was carried on men's shoulders; but there were eight mules that bore golden couches, and fifty-six carried silver in bars, and a hundred and seven others carried silver coin to the amount of near two million seven hundred thousand pieces. There were also tablets, on which was written the amount of money that Lucullus had supplied Pompeius with for the pirates' war, and the amount that he had paid to those who had the care of the ærarium; and besides this, it was added that every soldier received nine hundred and fifty drachmæ. After this Lucullus feasted all the city in a splendid style, and the surrounding villages which the Romans call Vici.

XXXVIII. After Lucullus had divorced Clodia, who was a loose and unprincipled woman, he married Servilia,[426] the sister of Cato, but neither was this a happy marriage; for he thus escaped only one of the misfortunes that resulted from his union with Clodia, the scandal about her brothers: in every other respect Servilia was as abominable [Pg 474]as Clodia and a licentious woman, and yet Lucullus was obliged to bear with her from regard to Cato; but at last he put her away. Lucullus had raised the highest expectations in the Senate, who hoped to find in him a counterpoise to the overbearing conduct of Pompeius and a defender of the aristocracy,[427] inasmuch as he had the advantage of great reputation and influence; but he disappointed these hopes and gave up political affairs, either because he saw that they were already in a difficult position and not in a healthy state, or, as some say, because he was satisfied with glory, and wished to fall back to an easy and luxurious life, after his many contests and dangers, which had not been followed by the most fortunate of results. Some commend him for making such a change, whereby he avoided what had befallen Marius, who, after his Cimbrian victories and that great and glorious success, did not choose to dedicate himself to honour so great and to be an object of admiration, but through insatiate desire of glory and power, though an old man, entered into political warfare with young men, and so ended his career in dreadful acts, and in sufferings more dreadful than acts; and they say that Cicero also would have had a better old age if he had withdrawn from public life after the affair of Catiline, and Scipio after he had added the conquest of Numantia to that of Carthage, if he had then stopped; for there is a close to a political period also, and political contests as well as those of athletes are censured when a man's vigour and prime have failed him. But Crassus and Pompeius sneered[428] at Lucullus for giving himself up to pleasure and extravagant living, as if a luxurious life was not more unsuitable to persons of his age than affairs of state and military command.

[Pg 475]XXXIX. Now in the life of Lucullus, as in an ancient comedy, we may read, in the first part, of political measures and military command, and, in the last part, of drinking and feasts, and hardly anything but revels, and torches, and all kinds of amusement; for I reckon among amusements, expensive buildings, and construction of ambulatories and baths, and still more paintings and statues, and eagerness about works of this kind, all which he got together at great cost, and to this end spent profusely the wealth which he had accumulated to a large and splendid amount in his military command; for, even now, when luxury of this kind has increased, the gardens of Lucullus are reckoned among the most sumptuous of the imperial gardens.[429] But with respect to his works on the sea-coast and in the neighbourhood of Neapolis, where he suspended as it were hills by digging great tunnels,[430] and threw around his dwelling-places circular pieces of sea-water and channels for the breeding of fish, and built houses in the sea, Tubero the Stoic,[431] on seeing them, called him Xerxes in a toga. He had also country residences in the neighbourhood of Tusculum, and towers commanding prospects,[432] and open apartments and ambu[Pg 476]latories, which Pompeius on visiting found fault with Lucullus, that he had arranged his house in the best way for summer, but had made it unfit to live in during the winter. On which Lucullus said, with a smile, "You think, then, I have less sense than the cranes and storks, and do not change my residence according to the seasons." On one occasion, when a prætor was ambitious to signalize himself in the matter of a public spectacle, and asked of Lucullus some purple cloaks for the dress of a chorus, Lucullus replied, that he would see if he had any and would give them to him; and the day after he asked the prætor how many he wanted. The prætor said that a hundred would be enough, on which Lucullus told him to take twice as many; in allusion to which the poet Flaccus[433] has remarked, that he does not consider a man to be rich, if the property that he cares not for and knows nothing about is not more than that which he sees.

XL. The daily meals of Lucullus were accompanied with all the extravagance of newly-acquired wealth; for it was not only by dyed coverlets for his couches, and cups set with precious stones, and choruses and dramatic entertainments, but by abundance of all kinds of food and dainty dishes, curiously prepared, that he made himself an object of admiration to the uninstructed. Now Pompeius gained a good reputation in an illness that he had; for the physician had ordered him to eat a thrush, and, on his domestics telling him that a thrush could not be found in the summer season except at the house of Lucullus, where they were fed, Pompeius would not consent to have one got from there; but remarking to his physician, "What, if Lucullus were not so luxurious, could not Pompeius live?" bade them get for him something else that could be easily procured. Cato, who was his friend and connected with him by marriage, was so much annoyed at his life and habits that, on one occasion, when a young man had delivered in the senate a tedious and lengthy discourse, quite out of season, on frugality and temperance, Cato got up and said, "Won't you stop, you who are as rich as Crassus, and live like Lucullus, and speak [Pg 477]like Cato?" Some say that a remark to this effect was made, but that it was not by Cato.

XLI. That Lucullus was not merely pleased with this mode of living, but prided himself upon it, appears from the anecdotes that are recorded. It is said, that he feasted for many days some Greeks who visited Rome, and that they, feeling as Greeks would do[434] on the occasion, began to be ashamed and to decline the invitation, on the ground that he was daily incurring so much expense on their account; but Lucullus said to them with a smile, "It is true, Greeks, that this is partly done on your account, but mainly on the account of Lucullus." One day, when he was supping alone, a single course and a moderate repast had been prepared for him, at which he was angry, and called for the slave whose business it was to look after such matters. The slave said, that he did not suppose that he would want anything costly, as no guest was invited. "What sayest thou?" said Lucullus, "didst thou not know that to-day Lucullus sups with Lucullus?" Now, this matter being much talked of in the city, as one might expect, there came up to Lucullus, as he was idling in the Forum, Cicero and Pompeius, of whom Cicero was among his most intimate friends; but between Lucullus and Pompeius there was some difference, arising out of the affair of the command in the Mithridatic war, and yet they were accustomed to associate and talk together frequently in a friendly manner. Accordingly, Cicero saluted him, and asked him how he was disposed to receive visitors, to which Lucullus replied, "Exceedingly well," and invited them to pay him a visit. "We wish," said Cicero, "to sup with you to-day, just in the same way as if preparation were made for yourself only." Lucullus began to make some difficulty, and to ask them to allow him to name another day; but they said they would not, nor would they let him speak to his servants, that he might not have the opportunity of ordering anything more than what was preparing for himself. However, at his request, they allowed him just to tell one of his slaves in their presence, [Pg 478]that he would sup on that day in the Apollo; for this was the name of one of his costly apartments. This trick of Lucullus was not understood by his guests; for it is said that to every banqueting-room there was assigned the cost of the feast there, and every room had its peculiar style of preparation and entertainment, so that when the slaves heard in which room their master intended to sup, they also knew what was to be the cost of the supper and the kind of decoration and arrangement. Now, Lucullus was accustomed to sup in the Apollo at the cost of fifty thousand drachmas, and this being the cost of the entertainment on the present occasion, Pompeius and Cicero were surprised at the rapidity with which the banquet had been got ready and the costliness of the entertainment. In this way, then, Lucullus used his wealth, capriciously, just as if it were a captive slave and a barbarian.

XLII. What he did as to his collection of books is worth notice and mention. He got together a great number of books which were well transcribed, and the mode in which they were used was more honourable to him than the acquisition of them; for the libraries were open to all, and the walking-places which surrounded them, and the reading rooms were accessible to the Greeks without any restriction, and they went there as to an abode of the Muses, and spent the day there in company with one another, gladly betaking themselves to the libraries from their other occupations. Lucullus himself often spent some time there with the visitors, walking about in the ambulatories, and he used to talk there with men engaged in public affairs on such matters as they might choose; and altogether his house was a home and a Greek prytaneum[435] to those who came to Rome. He was fond of philosophy [Pg 479]generally, and well disposed to every sect, and friendly to them all; but from the first he particularly admired and loved the Academy,[436] not that which is called the New Academy, though the sect was then flourishing by the propagation of the doctrines of Karneades by Philo, but Old Academy, which at that time had for its head a persuasive man and a powerful speaker, Antiochus of Askalon, whom Lucullus eagerly sought for his friend and companion, and opposed to the followers of Philo, of whom Cicero also was one. Cicero wrote an excellent treatise upon the doctrines of this sect, in which he made Lucullus[437] the speaker in favour of the doctrine of comprehension[438] and himself the speaker on the opposite side. [Pg 480]The book is entitled 'Lucullus.' Lucullus and Cicero were, as I have said, great friends, and associated in their political views, for Lucullus had not entirely withdrawn from public affairs, though he had immediately on his return to Rome surrendered to Crassus and Cato the ambition and the struggle to be the first man in the state and have the greatest power, considering that the struggle was not free from danger and great mortification; for those who looked with jealousy on the power of Pompeius put Crassus and Cato at the head of their party in the Senate, when Lucullus declined to take the lead, but Lucullus used to go to the Forum to support his friends, and to the Senate whenever it was necessary to put a check on any attempt or ambitious design of Pompeius. The arrangements which Pompeius made after his conquest of the kings, Lucullus contrived to nullify, and when Pompeius proposed a distribution of lands[439] Lucullus with the assist[Pg 481]ance of Cato prevented it from being made, which drew Pompeius to seek the friendship of Crassus and Cæsar, or rather to enter into a combination with them, and by filling the city with arms and soldiers he got his measures ratified after driving out of the Forum the partisans of Cato and Lucullus. The nobles being indignant at these proceedings, the party of Pompeius produced one Vettius,[440] whom, as they said, they had detected in a design on the life of Pompeius. When Vettius was examined before the Senate, he accused others, and before the popular assembly he named Lucullus as the person by whom he had been suborned to murder Pompeius. But nobody believed him, and it soon became clear that the man had been brought forward by the partisans of Pompeius to fabricate a false charge, and to criminate others, and the fraud was made still more apparent, when a few days after the dead body of Vettius was thrown out of the prison; for, though it was given out that he died a natural death[441] there were marks of strangulation and violence on the body, and it was the opinion that he had been put to death by those who suborned him.

XLIII. This induced Lucullus still more to withdraw from public affairs; and when Cicero was banished from Rome, and Cato[442] was sent to Cyprus, he retired [Pg 482]altogether. Before he died, it is said that his understanding was disordered and gradually failed. Cornelius Nepos says that Lucullus did not die of old age nor of disease, but that his health was destroyed by potions given him by Callisthenes, one of his freedmen, and that the potions were given him by Callisthenes with the view of increasing his master's affection for him, a power which the potions were supposed to have, but they so far disturbed and destroyed his reason, that during his lifetime his brother managed his affairs. However, when Lucullus died, the people grieved just as much as if he had died at the height of his military distinction and his political career, and they flocked together and had his body carried to the Forum by the young men of the highest rank and were proceeding forcibly to have it interred in the Campus Martius where Sulla was interred; but, as nobody had expected this, and it was not easy to make the requisite preparations, the brother of Lucullus prayed and prevailed on the people to allow the funeral ceremony to take place on the estate at Tusculum, where preparations for it had been made. Nor did he long survive; but as in age and reputation he came a little after Lucullus, so he died shortly after him, a most affectionate brother.

[316] This Metellus was the conqueror of Jugurtha; he was consul B.C. 109. See the Life of Marius, c. 7. His sister Cæcilia was the wife of L. Licinius Lucullus, the father of Plutarch's Lucullus; she was also the mother of Marcus the brother of Lucius Lucullus.

[317] See Life of Sulla, c. 6.

[318] This line is also quoted by Plutarch in his Treatise 'De Sera Numinis Vindicta,' c. 10.

[319] I should have translated the Greek word ( δικολόγος) "orator." Jurist in Plutarch is νομοδείκτης (Plutarch, Tib. Gracchus, c. 9) or νομικός. Quintus Hortensius Ortalus, the orator, was a friend and rival of Cicero, who often speaks of him. He began his career as a pleader in the courts at the age of nineteen, and continued his practice for forty-four years. (Brutus, c. 64, and the note in H. Meyer's edition.)

[320] L. Cornelius Sisenna, a man of patrician family, was prætor, B.C. 119, and in the next year he was governor of Sicily. He and Hortensius defended C. Verres against Cicero. He wrote the history of the Marsic war and of the war of Sulla in Italy, which he continued to the death of Sulla. The historical work of Sallustius began where that of Sisenna ended. Cicero (De Legg. i. 2) says that Sisenna was the best historical writer that had then appeared at Rome. He wrote other works also, and he translated into Latin the lewd stories of Aristides the Milesian (Plutarch, Crassus, c. 32; Ovidius, Tristia, ii. v. 443).

See Cicero, Brutus, c. 64, and the notes in Meyer's edition; Krause, Vitæ et Frag. Vet. Histor. Roman. p. 299.

[321] It appears from this that the History of the Marsic war by Lucullus was extant in the time of Plutarch. Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 19) mentions this Greek history of Lucullus.

[322] This Marcus was adopted by M. Terentius Varro, whence after his adoption he was called M. Terentius Varro Lucullus. The curule ædileship of the two brothers belongs to the year B.C. 79, and the event is here placed, after Plutarch's fashion, not in the proper place in his biography, but the story is told incidentally as a characteristic of Lucullus. I have expressed myself ambiguously at the end of this chapter. It should be "that Lucullus in his absence was elected ædile with his brother." (Cicero, Academ. Prior. ii. 1.)

[323] See Life of Sulla, c. 13, &c.

[324] Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Licinii Luculli, p. 121, n. 80) observes that this winter expedition of Lucullus was "not after the capture of Athens, as Plutarch, Lucullus, c. 2," states, and he refers to Appian (Mithridat. c. 33). But Plutarch's account is not what Drumann represents it to be. This expedition was in the winter of B.C. 87 and 86. Ælian (Var. Hist. ii. 42) tells a similar story of Plato and the Arcadians, and Diogenes Lærtius (iii. 17) has a like story about Plato and the Arcadians and Thebans.

[325] This can only be Ptolemæus VIII., sometimes called Soter II. and Lathyrus, who was restored to his kingdom B.C. 89-8. The difficulty that Kaltwasser raises about Lathyrus being in Cyprus at this time is removed by the fact that he had returned from Cyprus. As to Plutarch calling him a "young man," that is a mistake; or Plutarch may have confounded him with his younger brother Alexander.

[326] Plutarch is alluding to the Pyramids, and to the great temples of Memphis.

[327] Pitane was one of the old Greek towns of Æolis, situated on the coast at the mouth of the Evenus, and opposite to the island of Lesbos, now Mytilene.

[328] See Life of Sulla, c. 12.

[329] See Life of Sulla, c. 21.

[330] This was the consul L. Valerius Flaccus. See the Life of Sulla, c. 20.

[331] Lektum is a promontory of the Troad, which is that district of Asia Minor that took its name from the old town of Troja or Troia, and lay in the angle between the Hellespont (the Dardanelles), and the Ægean or Archipelago. It is fully described by Strabo, lib. xiii.

[332] Kaltwasser has translated this passage differently from his predecessors: "turned his ship aside by a quick movement and made all his men crowd to the stern." But his version is probably wrong. The expression ἐπὶ πρύμναν ώασθαι is perhaps equivalent to πρύμνον κρούεσθαι. (Thucydides, i. 50.)

[333] See Life of Sulla, c. 24, 25.

[334] It is conjectured by Leopoldus that there is an error here, and that the name should be Manius, and that Manius Aquilius is meant, whom, together with others, the Mitylenæans gave up in chains to Mithridates. (Vell. Paterc. ii. 18.)

[335] This is a place on the coast of the mainland, and east of Pitane.

[336] Lucullus was consul B.C. 74, with M. Aurelius Cotta for his colleague.

[337] See the Life of Pompeius, c. 20, and the Life of Sertorius, c. 21.

[338] P. Cornelius Cethegus originally belonged to the party of Marius, and he accompanied the younger Marius in his flight to Africa B.C. 88 (Life of Marius, c. 40). He returned to Rome B.C. 87, and in the year B.C. 83 he attached himself to Sulla after his return from Asia and was pardoned. After Sulla's death he had great influence at Rome, though he never was consul. Cicero (Brutus, c. 48), speaks of him as thoroughly acquainted with all the public business and as having great weight in the Senate.

[339] He is commemorated by Cicero (Brutus, c. 62) as a man well fitted for speaking in noisy assemblies. He was a tribune in the year of the consulship of Lucullus.

[340] This was L. Octavius, who was consul with C. Aurelius Cotta B.C. 75.

[341] Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius. See the Life of Sertorius.

[342] This is the closed sea that lies between the two channels, by one of which, the Thracian Bosporus or the channel of Constantinople, it is connected with the Euxine or Black Sea, and by the other, the Hellespontus or Dardanelles, it is connected with the Ægean Sea or the Archipelago. This is now the Sea of Marmora. Part of the southern and eastern coast belonged to Bithynia. The city of Kyzikus was within the Propontis.

[343] See the Life of Sulla, c. 25.

[344] The sophists of Plutarch's time were rhetoricians, who affected to declaim on any subject, which they set off with words and phrases and little more. One of the noted masters of this art, Aristides of Bithynia, might have been known to Plutarch, though he was younger than Plutarch. Many of his unsubstantial declamations are extant. Plutarch in his Life of Lucullus, c. 22, has mentioned another of this class.

[345] The Romans carried on a thriving trade in this way in the provinces. In Cicero's period we find that many men of rank did not scruple to enrich themselves in this manner; and they were unsparing creditors.

[346] The word (τελώναι) which I have elsewhere translated by the Roman word Publicani, means the men who farmed the taxes in the provences. The Publicani at this period belonged to the order of the Equites. A number of them associated themselves in a partnership (societas) for the farming of the taxes of some particular province. These associations had their agents in the provinces and a chief manager (magister) at Rome. The collection of the taxes gave employment to a great number of persons; and thus the Publicani had at their disposal numerous places in the provinces, which gave them great influence at Rome. (Cicero, Pro Cn. Plancio, c. 19.) The taxes were taken at some sum that was agreed upon; and we find an instance mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 17) in which their competition or their greediness led them to give too much and to call on the Senate to cancel the bargain. The Romans at this time derived little revenue from Italy, and the large expenditure had to be supplied out of the revenue raised in the provinces and collected by the Publicani. The Publicani thus represented the monied interest of modern times, and the state sometimes required their assistance to provide the necessary supplies.

It seems probable that the Publicani who farmed the taxes of a province, underlet them to others; which would be one cause of oppression. These Collectors (τελώναι) are called Publicans in the English version of the New Testament, where they are no doubt very justly coupled with sinners.

[347] Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 71) states that Mithridates invaded Bithynia, for King Nikomedes had just died childless and left his kingdom to the Romans. Cotta fled before him and took refuge in Chalkedon, a city situated on the Asiatic side of the Thracian Bosporus opposite to the site of Constantinople. The consul would not go out to meet the enemy, but his admiral Nudus with some troops occupied the strongest position in the plain. However, he was defeated by Mithridates and with difficulty got again into the city. In the confusion about the gates the Romans lost three thousand men. Mithridates also broke through the chain that was thrown across the harbour and burnt four ships and towed the other sixty off. His whole loss was only twenty men.

[348] See the Life of Sulla, c. 11. Mithridates was much dissatisfied with the terms of the peace that had been brought about by Archelaus, who fearing for his life went over to Murena, who was left by Sulla in the command in Asia. At the instigation of Archelaus, Murena attacked and plundered Comana in Cappadocia, which belonged to Mithridates, and contained a temple of great sanctity and wealth. Mithridates in vain complained to Murena, and then sent an embassy to Rome. Appian considers this conduct of Murena as the commencement of the Second Mithridatic War, B.C. 83. The Third commenced B.C. 74 with the league of Mithridates and Sertorius. (Appian, Mithridat. 64-68; Life of Sertorius, c. 24.)

[349] Kyzikus. The ruins of this ancient city, now Bal Kiz, that is Palæa Kyzikus, lie near to the east of the sandy isthmus which now connects the peninsula of Kyzikus with the mainland. Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, &c., London, 1842, ii. 102), says that "the loose and rubbly character of the buildings of Kyzikus little accords with the celebrity of its architects; and although some appear to have been cased with marble, none of them give an idea of the solid grandeur of the genuine Greek style." Yet Strabo (p. 575) describes this city as among the first of Asia. In his time the present peninsula was an island, which was connected with the mainland by two bridges: the city was near the bridges, and had two harbours that could be closed. Under the Romans in Strabo's time, Kyzikus was a Free City (Libera Civitas).

[350] This range is described by Strabo as opposite to Kyzikus, on the mainland. Kaltwasser states that Strabo called the Adrasteia of Plutarch by the name Dindymus; but this is a mistake, in which he is not singular. Dindymus was a solitary hill, and on the peninsula near the town of Kyzikus.

[351] This is a small lake near the coast of the Propontis, at the back of which and more inland are two larger lakes, called respectively by ancient geographers, Miletopolitis (now Moniyas) and Apollonias (now Abullionte). The lake Daskylitis is not marked in the map which accompanies Hamilton's work.

[352] Persephassa, or Persephone, whom the Romans call Proserpina, was the patron goddess of Kyzikus. Compare Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 75).

[353] What he was I don't know. Kaltwasser translates the word (γραμματιστῇ) "the public schoolmaster;" but he is inclined to take Reiske's conjecture γραμματεῖ because the grammateus was an important functionary in the Greek towns, and a "public schoolmaster" is not mentioned as an ordinary personage at this period. But Kaltwasser has not observed that γραμματιστής signifies a clerk or secretary in various passages (Herodotus, iii. 123, 128; vii. 100). If γραμματιστής could only signify a schoolmaster, it would be necessary to alter the reading. One cannot suppose that the goddess would reveal herself to a schoolmaster; or that a schoolmaster could venture to announce that he had received the honour of such a communication. When Romulus after his sudden disappearance again appeared to assure the anxious citizens, Julius Proculus was selected by him as the person to whom he showed himself; or Julius Proculus was one of the few who could claim to have the story of such an appearance believed. (Liv. i. 16.)

[354] I have kept the Greek word (στήλη), for no English word exactly expresses the thing. It was a stone placed upright, with an inscription on a flat surface, the summit of which sometimes ended with an ornamental finish. There are several in the British Museum.

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

[356] Kaltwasser remarks that Livius (37, c. 40) mentions camels as being in the army of Antiochus. The passage of Sallustius must have been in his Roman History.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[366] Amisus, now Samsun, is on the coast of the Black Sea, between the Halys, Kizil Ermak, and the Iris, Yechil Ermak. The ruins of the old town are about a mile and a half N.N.W. of the modern town. "The pier which defended the ancient harbour may be distinctly traced, running out about 300 yards to the S.E., but chiefly under water. It consists of large blocks of a volcanic conglomerate, some of which measure nineteen feet by six or eight, and ten feet in thickness; whilst a little farther north another wall extends E.N.E. to a natural reef of rocks." (Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, &c. i. 290.)

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

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

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

[370] The reign of Tigranes in Armenia began about B.C. 96. Little is known of his early history. He become King of Syria about B.C. 83, and thus he supplanted the kings, the descendants of Seleukus. He lost Syria after his defeat by Lucullus, B.C. 69; and he was finally reduced to the limits of his native kingdom by Pompeius, B.C. 66. (See the Life of Pompeius, c. 23.)

[371] Some writers read Dardarii. The Dandarii are mentioned by Strabo (p. 495) as one of the tribes on the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff. Mithridates held the parts on the Bosporus. Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 79) has this story of Olthakus, whom he names Olkades, but he calls him a Scythian.

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

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

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

[375] I have kept the Greek word. The description shows what it was. The diadem was a mark of royal rank among the Asiatic nations. Aurelian is said to have been the first Roman Emperor who adopted the diadem, which appears on some of his coins. (Rasche, Lex. Rei Numariæ.)

[376] The site of this place is unknown. Mithridates (Appian, Mithridat. War, c. 115) kept his valuables here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[387] The embassy of Appius to Tigranes was in B.C. 71. See c. 14, notes.

[388] Compare Appian, Mithridat. War, c. 82.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[397] This is the Greek word which I have sometimes kept. Plutarch means the soldiers of the Roman legion.

[398] This termination Certa or Cirta is common to many Asiatic towns (See chapter 21). It is probably the same termination as in the Persian Parsagarda; and signified town or inclosure. The site of Tigranocerta is not certain. There appears to be no reason for identifying it with Sert except the resemblance of name. St. Martin contends that Amida on the east bank of the Tigris, occupied the site of Tigranocerta. The modern Diyarbeker is on the west bank of the Tigris opposite to Amida. (London Geog. Journal, viii. 77). Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 84) speaks of the foundation of Tigranocerta.

[399] The Adiabeni occupied a tract that was apparently a part of the old Assyria on the east side of the Tigris. The element diab perhaps exists in the Zab, one of the rivers which flow in the Tigris.

[400] The same name occurs in the Life of Sulla, c. 15. See Life of Alexander, c. 59, note.

[401] This is the river now generally called the Aras, which flows into the Caspian on the south-west side. Before it enters the sea, it is joined by the Cyrus, now the Cur.

[402] See the Life of Sertorius, c. 3. The rout of this large army of Tigranes is described by Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 85). The day was the 6th of October, and the year B.C. 69. The loss that is reported in some of these ancient battles seems hardly credible; but it is explained here. There was in fact no battle: the enemy were struck with a panic and fled. An immense multitude if seized with alarm requires no enemy to kill them. The loss of life that may occur in a frightened crowd is enormous.

[403] See chapter 42.

[404] See Life of Sulla, c. 26, Notes.

[405] This part of Livius is lost; but it belonged to the ninety-eighth book, as we see from the Epitome.

[406] The capture is described by Appian (Mithridat. War, c, 86), and by Dion Cassius (35, c. 2).

[407] Compare Appian, c. 87, and Dion Cassius (35, c. 3). Sallustius in the fourth book of his History has given a long letter, which we may presume to be his own composition, from Mithridates to Arsakes, this Parthian king, in which he urges him to fight against the Romans. (Fragmenta Hist. ed. Corte.)

[408] Lucullus was marching northward, and he had to ascend from the lower country to the high lands of Armenia, where the seasons are much later than in the lower country. He expected to find the corn ripe. Nothing precise as to his route can be collected from Plutarch. He states that Lucullus came to the Arsanias, a river which he must cross before he could reach Artaxata. Strabo (p. 528) describes Artaxata as situated on a peninsula formed by the Araxes (Aras) and surrounded by the stream, except at the isthmus which joined it to the mainland; the isthmus was defended by a ditch and rampart. The ruins called Takt Tiridate, the Throne of Tiridates, which have been supposed to represent Artaxata, are twenty miles from the river, and the place where they stand owed its strength solely to the fortifications. Below the junction of the Zengue and Aras, which unite near Erivan, "the river (Aras) winds very much, and at least twenty positions nearly surrounded by the river presented themselves." Colonel Monteith, who makes this remark (London Geog. Journal, iii. 47), found no ruins on the banks of the river which answered to the description of Artaxata; for what he describes as near the remains of a Greek or Roman bridge over the Aras do not correspond to the description of Strabo. The remains of Artaxata, if they exist, must be looked for on some of the numerous positions which are nearly surrounded by the river.

The Arsanias is described by Plinius (Hist. Nat. v. 24) as flowing into the Euphrates, and, it appears, into the Murad or eastern branch which rises at no great distance S.W. of Ararat. It is probable that Lucullus entered Armenia by some of the passes west of Lake Van; but his route can hardly be conjectured.

[409] The Mardi were a nation that lived south of the Caspian and bordered on the Hyrkani. As to the Iberians of Asia, see the Life of Tiberius Gracchus, c. 7, Notes. It is incorrectly stated there that Lucullus invaded the country of the Iberians.

[410] This word is probably corrupted. See the note of Sintenis. The simplest correction is "Atropateni."

[411] Appian (Mithridat. War, c. 87) gives a very confused account of this campaign. It is briefly described by Dion Cassius (35, c. 5).

[412] This is the modern Nisibin in 37° N. lat. on the Jakhjakhah, the ancient Mygdonius. The Mygdonius is a branch of the Chaborras, which flows into the Euphrates. Nisibin is now a small place with "about a hundred well-built houses, and a dozen shops kept by Christians" (Forbes, London Geog. Journal, ix. 241). Two tall columns of marble and the church of St. James, which is built from fragments of Nisibis, are the only remains of a city which is often mentioned in the ancient history of the East.

The town is mentioned by Tacitus (Annal. xv. 35) under the name of Nisibis, and he places it thirty-nine Roman miles from Tigranocerta. Nisibis is also the name in Ammianus Marcellinus. Dion Cassius (36, c. 6, 7) describes the siege and capture of Nisibis. This event belongs to the year B.C. 68.

[413] Compare Dion Cassius (36, c. 16) as to the behaviour of Lucullus. He was too strict a disciplinarian for soldiers who were accustomed to licence; and he did not even attempt to win the love of his men by kindness. The mutinous army that he could not control was quiet and obedient to Pompeius.

[414] This is the same person who is mentioned in c. 5. The Roman name is Quinctius, which is corrupted in the MSS. of Plutarch. This Lucius was tribune of the Plebs B.C. 74, the year of the consulship of Lucullus. In this chapter Plutarch calls him one of the Prætors (ἑνα τῶν στρατηγῶν), which Kaltwasser has translated "one of the tribunes of the people."

[415] This, I think, is the sense of the passage, to which Reiske gives a very different meaning. I have given the same meaning that Kaltwasser and Coræs have. See the note in Schæfer's edition.

[416] Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul B.C. 67, was first appointed to succeed Lucullus; but Pompeius contrived to get the command given to himself B.C. 66. "Plutarch, who refers elsewhere to the appointment of Glabrio (Pomp. c. 30) has not here (c. 33, 34) sufficiently distinguished it from that of Pompey, which he has anticipated. For Pompey was not appointed till the following year" (Clinton, Fasti Hellen.).

[417] Compare Dion Cassius, 35, c. 10, &c.; and Appian, c. 88, &c.

[418] When a country was conquered and it was intended to make of it a Roman province, commissioners were sent out, usually Senators, to assist the general in organizing the provincial government. Compare Livius, 45, c. 17.

[419] Pompeius was appointed by a Lex Manilia, in favour of which Cicero spoke in an oration, which is still extant, Pro Lege Manilia. See the Life of Pompeius, c. 30.

[420] This is the Greek δάφνη, and the Roman Laurus, which is incorrectly translated "laurel."

[421] Compare Life of Pompeius, c. 31, Dion Cassius, 36, c. 29. and Velleius Patercules, ii. 33.

[422] The Caspian Lake was sometimes so called from the Hyrkani, who occupied the country on the south-east side of this great lake.

[423] See the Life of Crassus.

[424] This Caius Memmius was tribune of the Plebs in the year B.C. 66, in which year Lucullus returned to Rome. Memmius was not satisfied with prosecuting M. Lucullus; he revenged himself for his failure by debauching his wife, to which Cicero alludes in the following passage (Ad Attic. i. 18): "C. Memmius has initiated the wife of M. Lucullus in his own sacred rites. Menelaus (M. Lucullus) did not like this, and has divorced his wife. Though that shepherd of Ida insulted Menelaus only; this Paris of ours has not considered either that Menelaus or Agamemnon should be free." Cicero is here alluding to the opposition which Memmius made to the triumph of L. Lucullus. Memmius was a man of ability, but of dissolute habits. He was accused of bribery at the consular election, and being convicted, retired to Athens. Several letters of Cicero to him are still extant. Lucretius dedicated his poem to Memmius. See the Note of Manutius on Cicero, Ad Familiares, xiii. 1.

Orelli (Onomastic. C. Memmius Gemillus) refers to Cicero, Pro Balbo, c. 2, to show that this Memmius was quæstor under Pompeius in his Spanish campaign. But according to Plutarch, a Memmius fell in battle in this war (Life of Sertorius, c. 21).

[425] Lucullus triumphed B.C. 63, in the consulship of Cicero. (Cicero, Academ. Prior, ii. 1.)

[426] Servilia was the half sister of M. Porcius Cato the younger. Livia, the daughter of M. Livius Drusus, who was consul B.C. 112 and the sister of the tribune M. Livius Drusus B.C. 91, was married to M. Porcius Cato, by whom she became the mother of M. Porcius Cato the younger, or of Utica. She was divorced from Cato, and then married Q. Servilius Cæpio, the brother of the Cæpio who was defeated by the Cimbri. Some critics made Cæpio her first husband. She had by Cæpio a daughter Servilia, who married L. Lucullus, and another Servilia, who married M. Junius Brutus and was the mother of M. Junius Brutus, one of the assassins of C. Julius Cæsar. Plutarch in various passages clearly distinguishes these two women, though some critics think there was only one Servilia. Cæsar was a lover of the mother of Brutus, and he gave her an estate at Naples. (Cicero, Ad Attic, xiv. 21.)

[427] This is the word of Plutarch ( τῆς ἀριστοκρατιᾶς), which he seems to use here like the Roman "Nobilitas" to express the body of the Nobiles or Optimates, as they were called by a term which resembled the Greek άριστοι. (See Tiberius Gracchus, c. 10, notes.)

[428] The original is made somewhat obscure by the words ὥσπερ οὐ, which introduce the concluding sentence; it is not always easy to see in such cases whose is the opinion that is expressed. Plutarch means to say that Lucullus thought that luxury was more suitable to his years than war or affairs of state, and that Pompeius and Crassus differed from him on this point. Compare the Life of Pompeius, c. 48.

[429] These gardens in the reign of Claudius belonged to Valerius Asiaticus. Messalina the wife of Claudius, coveted the gardens, and Valerius, after being charged with various offences was graciously allowed by the emperor to choose his own way of dying. In these same gardens Messalina was put to death. (Tacitus, Ann. xi. 1. 37.)

[430] There is the tunnel near Naples, called Posilipo, which is a Roman work, and is described by Strabo (p. 246); but its date is unknown.

[431] Tubero the Stoic was Q. Ælius Tubero, who was Tribune of the Plebs B.C. 133 and opposed Tiberius Gracchus. He was also an opponent of Caius (Cicero, Brutus, c. 31, and Meyer's notes). But this cannot be the contemporary of Lucullus, and Plutarch either means Q. Ælius Tubero the historian, or he has mistaken the period of Tubero the Stoic. Ruhnken proposes to read in the text of Plutarch "historian" for "stoic," but it is better to suppose that Plutarch was mistaken, about the age of the Stoic. The ownership of good sayings is seldom undisputed. Velleius Paterculus (ii. 83) attributes this to Pompeius Magnus. The allusion is to Xerxes the Persian, who dug a canal through the flat isthmus which connects the rocky peninsula of Athos with the mainland (Herodotus, vii. 22), which still exists.

[432] There is some corruption in the text; but the general meaning is clear enough.

[433] This is the story which Q. Horatius Flaccus tells in his Epistolæ, Lib. i. Ep. 6.

[434] This is one of many like indications in Plutarch of his good opinion of his countrymen. Compare the life of Crassus, c. 8, where he is speaking of Spartacus.

[435] Plutarch's allusion would be intelligible to a Greek, but hardly so to a Roman, unless he was an educated man. A prytaneum in a Greek city was a building belonging to the community, on the altar of which was kept the ever-burning fire. In the prytaneum of Athens, entertainments were given both to foreign ambassadors and to citizens who had merited the distinction of dining in the prytaneum, a privilege that was given sometimes for life, and sometimes for a limited period. As the town-hall of any community is in a manner the common home of the citizens, so Plutarch compares the house of Lucullus, which was open to all strangers, with the public hall of a man's own city.

[436] Plato established his school in the Academia, a grove near Athens; whence the name of the place, Academia, was used to signify the opinions of the school of Plato and of those schools which were derived from his. Speusippus, the nephew of Plato, was his successor in the Academy, and he was followed by Xenokrates, and other teachers who belong to the Old Academy, as it is called, among whom were Polemo, Krates, and Krantor. The New Academy, that is, the philosophical sect so called, was established by Arcesilaus; who was succeeded by several teachers of little note. Karneades, a native of Cyrene, the man mentioned by Plutarch, was he who gave to the New Academy its chief repute. Philo was not the immediate pupil of Karneades. He was a native of Larissa, and during the war with Mithridates he came to Rome, where he delivered lectures. Cicero was one of his hearers, and often mentions him. Philo according to Cicero (Academ. i. i) denies that there were two Academies. Antiochus, of Askalon, was a pupil of Philo, but after he had founded a school of his own he attempted to reconcile the doctrines of the Old Academy with those of the Peripatetics and Stoics; and he became an opponent of the New Academy. Antiochus was with Lucullus in Egypt. (Cicero, Academ. Prior. ii. c. 4.) The usual division of the Academy is into the Old and New; but other divisions also were made. The first and oldest was the school of Plato, the second or middle was that of Arkesilaus, and the third was that of Karneades and Kleitomachus. Some make a fourth, the school of Philo and Charmidas; and a fifth, which was that of Antiochus. (Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrh. Hypot. i. 220.)

[437] This is the Second Book of the Academica Priora, in which Lucullus, Catulus, Cicero, and Hortensius arr represented as discussing the doctrines of the Academy in the villa of Hortensius at Bauli.

[438] Plutarch's word is κατάληψις, the word that was used by the Academics. Cicero translates κατάληψις by the Latin word Comprehensio. The doctrine which Lucullus maintains is that the sensuous perception is true. "If all perceptions are such, as the New Academy maintained them to be, that they may be false or cannot be distinguished from what are true, how, it is asked, can we say of anyone that he has come to a conclusion or discovered anything?" (Academ. Prior, ii. c. 9.) The doctrine as to the impossibility of knowing anything, as taught by Karneades, is explained by Sextus Empiricus (Advers. Mathematicos, vii. 159). The doctrine of the incomprehensible nature of things, that there is nothing certain to be collected either from the sense or the understanding, that there is no κατάληψις (comprehensio), comprehension, may be collected from the passages given in Ritter and Preller, Historia Philosophiæ Græco-Romanæ, p. 396, Academic Novi.

[439] Dion Cassius (37, c. 49) states that during the consulship of Lucius Afranius and Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60, Pompeius, who had brought about their election, attempted to carry a law for the distribution of lauds among his soldiers and the ratification of all his acts during his command. This is the Agrarian Law which was proposed by the tribune Flavius, but opposed by the Senate. (Cicero, Ad Attic. i. 19.) Afranius was, if we may trust Cicero, a contemptible fellow; and Metellus now quarrelled with Pompeius, because Pompeius had divorced Mucia, the sister of Metellus, as Dion calls her, for incontinence during his absence. Cicero says that the divorce was much approved. Mucia was not the sister of Metellus; but she was probably a kinswoman. The divorce, however, could only have been considered a slight affair; for Mucia was incontinent, and divorces were no rare things at Rome. The real ground of the opposition of Metellus to Pompeius was fear of his assumption of still further power. From this time Horatius (Carm. ii. 1, "Motum ex Metello Consule civicum") dates the beginning of the Civil Wars of his period. See Life of Pompeius, c. 46, and of Cato the Younger, c. 31.

[440] It is Brettius in the text of Plutarch, which is evidently a mistake for Bettius, that is, Vettius. This affair of Vettius cannot be cleared up. He had been an informer in the matter of Catiline's conspiracy, and he had attempted to implicate C. Julius Cæsar in it: which of the two parties caused him to be assassinated is doubtful. This affair of Vettius is spoken of by Cicero, Ad Attic. ii. 24, Dion Cassius, 38, c. 9, Appian, Civil Wars, ii. 12. The history of this affair of Vettius is given by Drumann, Geschichte Roms, ii. 334, P. Clodius.

[441] Kaltwasser translates it "he put himself to death:" perhaps the words may have either meaning.

[442] See the Life of Cicero, c. 31, and Life of Cato, c. 34.

Cicero was banished B.C. 58, and Cato was sent to Cyprus in the same year. Lucullus probably did not survive beyond the year B.C. 56. He was older than Cn. Pompeius Magnus, who was born B.C. 106.

The character of Lucullus may be collected from Plutarch. He was a man of talent and of taste, a brave soldier, a skilful general and a man of letters. Cicero in the first chapter of the second book of the Academica Priora has passed a high eulogium on him. He was fond of wealth and luxury, but humane and of a mild temper. He was no match for the cunning of Pompeius, or the daring temper of Cæsar; and he was not cruel enough to have acted with the decision which the troublesome times required that he just lived to see. The loss of his History of the Marsic War is much to be lamented. It is singular that Sulla's Memoirs which he revised, and his own work, have not been preserved, for we must suppose that copies of them were abundant; and they were extant in Plutarch's time.

The history of the campaigns of Lucullus in Asia would have been interesting. It is worth recording that we are indebted to him for the cherry, which he brought from Cerasus (Plin. Hist. Nat. xv. 30) into Europe; the name of the fruit still records the place from which it was brought. As a collector of books, a lover of ornamental gardening and parks stocked with animals, and a friend to all the arts and sciences, Lucullus was of all the luxurious Romans the most magnificent and the most refined. He left a son by Servilia, whose name was probably Lucius. This son joined the party of Cato and M. Brutus. After the battle of Philippi B.C. 42, he was overtaken in the pursuit, and put to death at the command of M. Antonius. No children of this son are mentioned.

Marcus, the brother of Plutarch's Lucius Licinius, was consul B.C. 73. It is not known how long he survived his brother, but he died before the commencement of the second Civil War (Vell. Paterc. ii. 49), that which broke out between Cæsar and Pompeius B.C. 50.

Index