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Part 1

This webpage reproduces part of the essay
Apophthegmata Romana

by
Plutarch

as published in Vol. III
of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1931

The text is in the public domain.

This page has been carefully proofread
and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

[A blank space]

(Vol. III) Plutarch, Moralia

 p197  Sayings of Romans
(Part 2 of 2)

(201f) Caecilius Metellus​115

1 When Caecilius Metellus was desirous of leading his men against a strongly fortified place, a centurion  p199 said that 202with the loss of only ten men Metellus could take the place. Metellus asked him if he wished to be one of the ten!

2 A certain centurion among the younger men inquired what he was going to do. "If I thought," said he, "that the shirt on my back knew what is in my mind, I would strip it off and put it in the fire."116

3 He was bitterly opposed to Scipio while Scipio lived,​117 but felt very sad when he died, and commanded his sons to take part in carrying the bier. He said that he felt grateful to the gods, for Rome's sake, that Scipio had not been born among another people.118

Gaius Marius​119

1 Gaius Marius came from an obscure family and advanced into political life through his military services. bHe announced himself a candidate for the greater​120 aedile­ship, but, perceiving that he was running behind, on the very same day went after the lesser.​121 Failing also to obtain that, he nevertheless did not give up the idea that he should some day be the first among the Romans.122

2 He had large varicose veins on both legs, and refusing to be fastened down, he submitted these to his physician for excision; and without a groan or even a contraction of his eyebrows he underwent the operation with fortitude. But as the physician  p201 turned his attention to the other leg, Marius would not consent, saying that the cure was not worth the pain.123

3 In his second consul­ship Lusius, his nephew, attempted an indecent assault on one of the youths in the army, by the name of Trebonius, and the youth killed Lusius. When many accused him of the crime, he did not deny that he had killed the officer, cand disclosed the circumstances; whereupon Marius ordered the crown which is given for deeds of supreme valour to be brought, and this he placed upon Trebonius.124

4 Encamped against the Teutons in a place which had little water, when the soldiers said they were thirsty, he pointed out to them a river flowing close by the enemy's palisade, saying, "There is drink for you which can be bought with blood." And they called upon him to lead them on while the blood within them was fluid and not all dried up by their thirst.125

5 In the Cimbrian wars a thousand men of Camerinum who had acquitted themselves bravely dhe made Roman citizens, in accord with no law. To those who complained he said that he did not hear the laws because of the clash of arms.126

6 In the Civil War,​127 when he found himself  p203 surrounded by a trench and cut off by the enemy, he held out and bided his own time. Pompaedius​128 Silo said to him, "If you are a great general, Marius, come down and fight it out." Marius, "If you are a great general, make me fight it out when I do not wish to do so!"129

Catulus Lutatius​130

Catulus Lutatius, in the Cimbrian War, was encamped beside the Atiso​131 River. eThe Romans, seeing the barbarians crossing to attack, retreated, and he, not being able to check them, made haste to put himself in the front rank of those who were running away so that they might not seem to flee from the enemy, but to be following their commander.132

Sulla​133

Sulla, who was called the Fortunate, counted two things among his greatest pieces of fortune: the friendship of Pius Metellus, and the fact that he had not razed Athens, but had spared the city.134

f Gaius Popillius​135

Gaius Popillius was sent​136 to Antiochus bearing a letter from the Senate commanding him to withdraw  p205 his army from Egypt, and not to usurp the kingdom of Ptolemy's children who were bereft of their parents. As he was making his approach through the camp, Antiochus welcomed him graciously while he was still a long way off, but he, without returning the salutation, delivered the document. When the king had read it, he said that he would think about it, and give his answer; whereupon Popillius drew a circle about him with his staff and said, "While you stand inside that line, think about it and answer." All were astounded at the man's lofty spirit, and Antiochus agreed to comply with the Roman decree; 203which done, Popillius saluted him and embraced him.137

Lucullus​138

1 Lucullus in Armenia with ten thousand men-at‑arms and a thousand horsemen was proceeding against Tigranes, who had an army of an hundred and fifty thousand men, on the sixth day of October, the day on which, some years before,​139 the force with Caepio had been annihilated by the Cimbrians. When somebody remarked that the Romans set that day aside as a dread day of expiation, he said, "Then let us on this day strive with might and main to make this, instead of an ill-omened and gloomy day, a glad and welcome day to the Romans."140

2 His soldiers feared most the men in full armour,  p207 but he bade them not to be afraid, bsaying that it would be harder work to strip these men than to defeat them. He was the first to advance against the hill, and observing the movement of the barbarians, he cried out, "We are victorious, my men," and, meeting no resistance, he pursued, losing only five Romans who fell, and he slew over an hundred thousand of the enemy.141

Gnaeus Pompey​142

1 Gnaeus Pompey was loved by the Romans as much as his father was hated.​143 In his youth he was heart and soul for Sulla's party, and without holding public office or being in the Senate, he enlisted many men in Italy for the army.​144 cWhen Sulla summoned him, he refused to present his troops before the commander-in‑chief without spoils and without their having been through bloodshed. And he did not come until after he had vanquished the generals of the enemy in many battles.145

When he was sent by Sulla to Sicily​146 in the capacity of general, he perceived that the soldiers on the marches kept dropping out of the ranks to do violence and to plunder, and so he punished those who were straggling and running about, and placed seals upon the swords of those who were officially sent by him.147

d3 The Mamertines, who had joined the other party, he was like to put to death to a man. But Sthennius, their popular leader, said that Pompey  p209 was not doing right in punishing many innocent men instead of one man who was responsible, and that this man was himself, who had persuaded his friends, and compelled his enemies, to choose the side of Marius. Much amazed, Pompey said that he could pardon the Mamertines if they had been persuaded by a man like him who valued his country above his own life; and thereupon he liberated both the city and Sthennius.148

4 He crossed over to Africa against Domitius​149 and overcame him in a mighty battle; then, when the soldiers were hailing him as commander-in‑chief, he said he could not accept the honour while the enemy's palisade still stood upright. eAnd they, in spite of a heavy rain that enveloped them, swept on and plundered the camp.150

5 When he returned, Sulla received him graciously with many honours, and was the first to call him 'Magnus' (The Great). He desired to celebrate a triumph, but Sulla would not allow him to do this, since he was not as yet a member of the Senate. When Pompey remarked to those present that Sulla did not realize that more people worship the rising than the setting sun, Sulla cried out, "Let him have his triumph!" fServilius, a man of noble family, was indignant, and many of the soldiers stood in his way with their demands of largess before his triumph. But when Pompey said that he would rather give up his triumph than curry favour with them, Servilius said that now he saw that Pompey was truly great, and deserved his triumph.151

6 It is a custom in Rome for the knights, when  p211 they have completed the regular term of service in the army, to lead their horses into the Forum, one at a time, before the two men whom they call censors, and after enumerating their campaigns and the generals under whom they served, 204to receive such commendation or censure as is fitting. Pompey, who was then consul, with his own hand led his horse before the censors, Gellius and Lentulus, and when they asked him, in conformity with the custom, whether he had served all his campaigns, he replied, "Yes, all, and under myself as commander-in‑chief."152

7 On gaining possession of the papers of Sertorius in Spain, among which were letters from many leading men inviting Sertorius to come to Rome with a view to fomenting a revolution and changing the government, he burned them all, thus offering an opportunity for the miscreants to repent and become better men.153

8 When Phraates, king of the Parthians, sent to him, claiming the right to set his boundary at the river Euphrates, he said that the Romans set justice as their boundary towards the Parthians.154

b9 Lucius Lucullus, after his campaigns, gave himself up to pleasures and lived very expensively, and strongly disapproved of Pompey's yearning for the strenuous life as something out of keeping with his years. But Pompey said that for an old man it was more out of keeping with his years to be a voluptuary than to hold office.155

 p213  10 When he was ill his physician prescribed a thrush as diet, but those who tried to get one did not find any, for thrushes were out of season; however, somebody said that they would be found at the house of Lucullus, where they were kept the year round. "So then," said Pompey, "if Lucullus were not a voluptuary, Pompey could not live!" and letting his physician go, he made his diet of things not so hard to procure.156

c11 At a time when there was a serious scarcity of grain in Rome​157 he was appointed nominally overseer of the market,​158 but actually supreme master on land and sea, and sailed to Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily. Having got together a great quantity of grain, he was eager to get to Rome. A great storm arose and the pilots were hesitating, when he, going on board first himself, gave orders to weigh anchor, crying out, "To sail is a necessity; to live is not a necessity."159

12 When his falling-out with Caesar came to light, one Marcellinus, who was among those reputed to have been advanced by Pompey but had gone over to Caesar, inveighed against him at great length in the Senate. d"Marcellinus," said Pompey, "are you not ashamed to revile me, when it is all owing to me that you, from being inarticulate, have become so fluent, and from being a starveling, are now able to eat and disgorge and eat again?"160

13 Cato assailed him bitterly, because when he himself had often foretold that Caesar's power and his  p215 rise to fame boded no good to the democracy, Pompey had taken the opposite side; whereupon Pompey replied, "Your words were more prophetic, but my actions were more friendly."161

14 Speaking frankly about himself, he said that he had attained every office sooner than he had expected, and laid it down sooner than had been expected.162

15 After the battle of Pharsalus​163 he fled to Egypt, and as he was about to transfer from the trireme eto a fishing-boat which the king had sent for him, he turned to his wife and son, and said never a word except the lines of Sophocles:

Whoever comes to traffic with a king
Is slave to him, however free he come.​164

Cicero​165

1 Cicero, the orator, was often twitted about his name, and his friends urged him to have it changed, but he said that he would make Cicero to be held in higher esteem than the Catos, the Catuli, and the Scauri.166

2 When he dedicated a silver goblet to the gods,  p217 fhe caused the engraver to cut the letters of his first two names, but instead of "Cicero" to engrave a chick-pea.167

3 He used to say that those of the orators who are given to violent vociferation rely on noise to carry them through because of weakness, just as lame men mount horses.168

4 Verres, who had a son that had been anything but virtuous when a boy, rebuked Cicero for effeminacy and called him a corruptor of youth. "Don't you know," said Cicero, "that it is proper for children to be scolded behind the doors of their own home?"169

5 Metellus Nepos said to him, "You have caused the death of more men by your testimony than you have saved by your advocacy." 205"Yes," said Cicero, "the reason is that I am endowed with more credibility than eloquence!"170

6 When Metellus kept asking him who his father was, Cicero said, "The answer to that same question your mother has made the more difficult for you!" For Metellus's mother was far from virtuous, and Metellus himself was light-minded, vacillating, and carried away by his impulses.171

7 When Diodotus, Metellus's teacher of oratory died, Metellus had a marble raven placed over his grave. "A very just tribute," said Cicero, "for he taught Metellus to be high-flown, but not to be a speaker."172

8 Vatinius, who was at odds with Cicero, and was a bad character generally, Cicero heard was dead, band then later discovered that he was alive. "Curses on the rascal who lied so!" said he.173

9 To a man who appeared to be of African race, and  p219 asserted that he could not hear Cicero when he spoke, Cicero retorted, "Yet you have ears that are not wanting in holes."174

10 Cicero summoned as a witness in a certain case Castus Popillius, who wanted to be a lawyer, but was ignorant and stupid. When he denied knowing anything, Cicero said, "Very likely you think you are being asked about some point of law!"175

11 Hortensius, the orator, received as a fee a silver sphinx from Verres. When Cicero used innuendo in something that he said, Hortensius declared that he had no skill in solving riddles. Cicero retorted, c"And yet you have the sphinx at your house!"176

12 Meeting Voconius with three daughters who had very ugly faces, he said softly to his friends,

Phoebus forbade when he his children got.​177

13 When Faustus, the son of Sulla, because of a multitude of debts, posted a notice of an auction of his goods, Cicero said, "I find this notice more welcome than the kind which his father used to post."178

14 When Pompey and Caesar took opposite sides, he said, "I know from whom I flee without knowing to whom to flee."179

15 He blamed Pompey for abandoning the city,  p221 dand imitating Themistocles rather than Pericles, when his situation was not like that of Themistocles, but rather than that of Pericles.180

16 When he went over to Pompey's side, changing his mind again, and was asked by Pompey where he had left Piso, his son-in‑law, he said, "With your father-in‑law!"181

17 One man changed from Caesar's side to Pompey's, and said that as the result of haste and eagerness he had left his horse behind. Cicero said that the man showed greater consideration — for his horse!

18 To the man who reported that Caesar's friends were downcast he retorted, "You speak as if they were Caesar's foes!"182

e19 After the battle of Pharsalus, when Pompey had fled, one Nonius declared that on their side were still seven eagles, and exhorted them, therefore, to have courage. "Your advice would be good," said Cicero, "if we were making war on jackdaws."183

20 After Caesar had conquered, he set up again with honour Pompey's statues which had been thrown down. Cicero, in speaking of him, said that Caesar, by restoring Pompey's statues, made his own secure.184

21 He set a very high value on excellent speaking, and strove especially for this, so much so that once, when he had a case to plead before the court of the centumviri, and the day was almost come, fand his  p223 slave Eros reported to him that the case had been postponed to the following day, he gave the slave his freedom.

Gaius Caesar​185

1 Gaius Caesar, while still a young man, in trying to escape from Sulla, fell into the hands of pirates. First of all, when demand was made upon him for a very large sum of money, he laughed at the robbers for their ignorance of the man they had in their power, and agreed to give double the sum. Later, being kept under guard while he was getting together the money, he enjoined upon the men that they should give him a quiet time for sleep and should not talk. He wrote speeches and poems, and read them to his captors, and those who did not speak very highly of them he called dull barbarians, and threatened laughingly to hang them. And this he actually did a little later. 206For when the ransom was brought, and he was set free, he got together men and ships from Asia Minor, seized the robbers, and crucified them.186

2 In Rome he entered into a contest against Catulus, the leading man among the Romans, for the office of Pontifex Maximus,​187 and, as he was accompanied to the door by his mother, he said, "To‑day, mother, you shall have as your son a Pontifex Maximus or an exile."188

3 He put away his wife Pompeia because her name was linked in gossip with Clodius, but later, when Clodius was brought to trial on this charge, and  p225 Caesar was cited as a witness, he spoke no evil of his wife. And when the prosecutor asked, "Then why did you put her out of the house?" he replied, b"Because Caesar's wife must be free from suspicion."189

4 While he was reading of the exploits of Alexander, he burst into tears, and said to his friends, "When he was of my age he had conquered Darius, but, up to now, nothing has been accomplished by me."190

5 As he was passing by a miserable little town in the Alps, his friends raised the question whether even here there were rival parties and contests for the first place. He stopped and becoming thoughtful said, "I had rather be the first here than the second in Rome."191

6 He said that the venturesome and great deeds of daring call for action cand not for thought.

7 And he crossed the river Rubicon from his province in Gaul against Pompey, saying before all, "Let the die be cast."192

8 When Pompey had fled to sea from Rome, Caesar wished to take money from the treasury, but Metellus, who was in charge, tried to stop him, and locked up the treasury, whereupon Caesar threatened  p227 to kill him. Metellus was astounded, but Caesar said, "Young man, that was harder for me to say than to do."193

9 As the transportation of his soldiers from Brundusium to Dyrrachium proceeded slowly, he, without being seen by anybody, embarked in a small boat, and attempted the passage through the open sea. dBut as the boat was being swamped by the waves, he disclosed his identity to the pilot, crying out, "Trust to Fortune, knowing it is Caesar you carry."194

10 At that time he was prevented from crossing, as the storm became violent, and his soldiers quickly gathered about him in a state of high emotion if it could be that he were waiting for other forces because he felt he could not rely on them. A battle was fought​195 and Pompey was victorious; he did not, however, follow up his success, but withdrew to his camp. Caesar said, "To‑day the victory was with the enemy, but they have not the man who knows how to be victorious."196

e11 At Pharsalus​197 Pompey gave the word for his regiments after they had formed for battle to stand in their tracks and meet the onset of the enemy. In this Caesar said that he made a mistake, inasmuch as he lost the effect on his soldiers of the intensity and excitement which comes from rushing to the onset with enthusiasm.198

 p229  12 After he had conquered Pharnaces of Pontus by a swift drive against him, he wrote to his friends "I came, saw, conquered."199

13 Following upon the flight of Scipio and his followers in Africa Cato took his own life; whereat Caesar said, "I begrudge you your death, Cato, for you begrudged me the saving of your life."200

f14 Some looked with suspicion upon Antony and Dolabella and urged Caesar to be on his guard, but he said that he did not fear these fat and sleek tradesmen and craftsmen but those lean and pale fellows, indicating Brutus and Cassius.201

15 When the conversation at dinner once digressed to the subject of death, regarding what kind of death is the best, he said, "Sudden death."202

Caesar Augustus​203

1 Caesar, who was the first to bear the title of Augustus, was only a youth when he made formal demand upon Antony for the million pounds​204 which  p231 had belonged to the first Caesar, who had been assassinated, and which Antony had transferred from Caesar's house to his own keeping; for Augustus wished to pay to the citizens of Rome the sum which had been left to them by Caesar, three pounds​205 to each man. But when Antony held fast to the money, 207and also suggested to Augustus that, if he had any sense, he had better forget about his demand, Augustus announced an auction of his ancestral property and sold it; and by paying the bequest he fostered popularity for himself and hatred for Antony on the part of the citizens.206

2 Rhoemetalces, king of the Thracians, who had changed his alliance from Antony to Augustus, could not practise moderation when there was any drinking going on, and gave much offence by his disparaging remarks about his new alliance, whereat Augustus, as he drank to one of the other kings, said, "I like treachery, but I cannot say anything good of traitors."207

3 After the capture of Alexandria, the people of the city were expecting to be treated with the most frightful severity, but when he had mounted the tribune and had directed bAreius of Alexandria to take a place beside him, he declared that he spared the city, first because of its greatness and beauty, secondly because of its founder, and thirdly because of Areius his own friend.208

4 When it was told him that Eros, procurator in Egypt, had bought a quail which had defeated all  p233 others in fighting and was the undisputed champion, and that Eros had roasted this quail and eaten it, the emperor sent for him and examined him regarding the charge; and when the man admitted the fact, the emperor ordered him to be nailed to a ship's mast.

5 In Sicily he appointed Areius procurator in place of Theodorus; and when someone handed him a paper on which was written, "Theodorus of Tarsus is a bald-pate or a thief; what opinion have you?" cCaesar, having read it, wrote underneath, "It is my opinion."

6 From Maecenas, his bosom-friend, he used to receive each year on his birthday a drinking-cup as a birthday present.

7 Athenodorus,​209 the philosopher, because of his advanced years begged to be dismissed and allowed to go home, and Augustus granted his request. But when Athenodorus, as he was taking leave of him, said, "Whenever you get angry, Caesar, do not say or do anything before repeating to yourself the twenty-four letters of the alphabet," Augustus seized his hand and said, "I still have need of your presence here," and detained him a whole year, saying,

d"No risk attends the meed that silence brings."​210

8 He learned that Alexander, having completed nearly all his conquests by the time he was thirty-two years old, was at an utter loss to know what he should do during the rest of his life, whereat Augustus expressed his surprise that Alexander did not regard it as a greater risk to set in order the empire which he had won than to win it.

 p235  9 After promulgating the law about adulterers,​211 in which it was specified how the accused were to be tried, and how the convicted were to be punished, he later, under stress of anger, fell upon a young man whose name had been linked in gossip with his daughter Julia, and struck him with his fists; but when the young man cried out, "You have made a law, Caesar," esuch a revulsion of feeling came over him that he refused food the rest of the day.

10 When he dispatched Gaius his daughter's son​212 into Armenia, he besought the gods that the popularity of Pompey, the daring of Alexander, and his own good luck might attend the young man.213

11 He said that he would leave to the Romans as his successor on the throne a man who never had deliberated twice about the same thing, meaning Tiberius.

12 When he was trying to quiet the young men in high station who were in an uproar, and they paid no heed, but continued with their uproar, he said, "Do you young men listen to an old man, to whom old men listened when he was young."214

f13 When, as it appeared, the Athenian people had committed some offence, he wrote from Aegina that he supposed they could not be unaware that he was angry; otherwise he would not have spent the whole winter in Aegina. But he neither said nor did anything else to them.215

14 One of the accusers of Eurycles​216 was unsparing  p237 and tiresome with his frank utterances, and went so far as to say, "If these things, Caesar, do not seem to you to be of high importance, order him to repeat for me the seventh​217 book of Thucydides"; and Augustus, much incensed, ordered the man away to prison, but, on learning that he was the sole survivor of Brasidas's descendants, he sent for him, and, after reproving him moderately, ordered that he be released.

208 15 When Piso​218 built his house with great care from the foundation to the roof-tree, Augustus said, "You make my heart glad by building thus, as if Rome is to be eternal."


The Editor's Notes:

115 Distinguished Roman general, consul 143 B.C.; sometimes confused with Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, whose life Plutarch either wrote or intended to write (Life of Marius, chap. xxix).

116 Cf. Moralia, 506D; Valerius Maximus, VII.4.5. Frontinus, Strategemata, I.1.12, attributes the remark to Metellus Pius (consul 52 B.C. with Pompey).

117 Cicero, De amicitia, 21 (77), and De officiis, I.25 (87).

118 Cf. Pliny, Natural History, VII.45 (144), and Valerius Maximus, IV.1.12.

119 Famous Roman general, seven times consul; he lived 157‑86 B.C.

120 The office of curule aedile.

121 That of plebeian aedile.

122 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. v (408A); Cicero, Pro Plancio, 21 (51).

123 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. vi (408E); Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, II.15 (35) and 22 (53); Pliny, Natural History, XI.104 (252).

124 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xiv (413B); Cicero, Oration for Milo, 4 (9); Valerius Maximus, VI.1.12.

125 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xviii (416A); Frontinus, Strategemata, II.7.12; Florus, Epitome of Roman History, I.38.8 ff.

126 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xxviii (421E); Cicero, Oration for Corn. Balbus, 20 (46); Valerius Maximus, V.2.8. Cf. also Cicero, Pro Milone, 4 (10), "silent enim leges inter arma."

127 Usually called the Social War (ὁ συμμαχικὸς πόλεμος), 90‑88 B.C.

128 Or possibly Poppaedius.

129 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xxxiii (424D).

130 Quintus Lutatius Catulus, consul 102 B.C. with C. Marius; general in the war against the Cimbri. The event here described happened in 101 B.C.

131 Presumably the same river which the Roman writers call the Athesis.

132 Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xxiii (418F).

133 L. Cornelius Sulla, 138‑78 B.C.; the dictator.

134 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Sulla, chap. vi (454D), chap. xi (460E), and the Comparison of Lysander and Sulla, chap. v (478B).

135 Consul 172 B.C.

136 In 168 B.C. to Antiochus IV (Epiphanes).

137 Cf. Polybius, XXIX.27; Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, 66; Cicero, Philippics, VIII.8 (23); Livy, XLV.12; Justin, Historiae Philippicae, XXXIV.3; Valerius Maximus, VI.4.3; Velleius Paterculus, I.10. In Pliny, Natural History, XXXIV.11 (24), Cn. Octavian is substituted for C. Popillius.

138 Roman general, friend of Sulla the dictator; he defeated Mithridates and Tigranes.

139 In 105 B.C.

140 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Lucullus, chap. xxviii (510C).

141 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Lucullus, chap. xxviii (510D-511B).

142 The triumvir.

143 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. i (619B).

144 Ibid. chap. vi (621D).

145 Ibid. 621F.

146 In 82 B.C.

147 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. x (624A).

148 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, 623F, where Sthen(n)nis stands instead of Sthennius (Sthennon, Moralia, 815E), and the Himerians instead of the Mamertines.

149 In 81 B.C.

150 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chaps. xi-xii (624C-E).

151 Ibid. chaps. xiii-xiv (625‑626B); Moralia, 804F.

152 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. xxii (630A).

153 Ibid. chap. xx (p629); similar stories are told of others, as, for example, of William III of England.

154 Ibid. chap. xxxiii (637C).

155 Ibid. chap. xlviii (644E); Life of Lucullus, chap. xxxviii (518B); Moralia, 785E.

156 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. ii (620B); Life of Lucullus, chap. xl (518F); Moralia, 786A. Stobaeus, Florilegium, XVII.43, quotes from Musonius a similar story about Zeno the philosopher.

157 In 57 B.C.

158 He was appointed praefectus annonae for five years.

159 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. xlix and l (645C-676A); Dio Cassius, XXXIX.9; Zonaras, X.5; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, IV.1.7.

160 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. li (646E).

161 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. lx (651E); Life of Cato Minor, chap. lii (787D).

162 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. liv (647F).

163 In 48 B.C.

164 Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Sophocles, no. 789; quoted by Plutarch also in Moralia, 33D and the Life of Pompey, chap. lxxviii (661A). Appian, Civil Wars, II.84, and Dio Cassius, XLII.4, also state that Pompey quoted these verses shortly before his death when he was slain by order of the king's counsellors.

165 Cicero had a collection of jokes in three volumes (Quintilian, Inst. Or. VI.3.5; Macrobius, Sat. II.1.12), so that the few found here can only be regarded as samples which have a personal touch.

166 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. i (861C).

167 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, where, a few lines earlier, the derivation of "Cicero " from cicer, "chick-pea," is explained.

168 Ibid. chap. v (863C).

169 Ibid. chap. vii (864C).

170 Ibid. chap. xxvi (873F); Moralia, 541F.

171 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi (874B).

172 Ibid.

173 Ibid. chap. xxvi (873E).

174 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi (873E). The story is told also in Moralia, 631D. The pierced ears suggest a slave.

175 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi (874A), where the name of the man is given as Publius Consta.

176 Life of Cicero, chap. vii (864D), where the sphinx is of ivory. Cf. also Pliny, Natural History, XXXIV.18 (48), and Quintilian, Inst. Or. VI.3.98. Intimacy with the sphinx, the author of riddles, should have helped Hortensius!

177 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvii (874D). The verse may possibly be from the Oedipus of Euripides. Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., adespota, no. 378.

178 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvii (874D), and Cicero, Letters to Atticus, IX.11. The reference, of course, is to the proscription lists of men condemned which Sulla posted.

179 Ibid. chap. xxxvii (879D); Cicero, Letters to Atticus, VIII.7.2 "ego vero quem fugiam habeo, quem sequar non habeo."

180 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. lxiii (652F); Cicero, Letters to Atticus, VII.11.3, and X.8.4.

181 Pompey married Caesar's daughter Julia as his fourth wife.

182 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxxviii (880B).

183 Ibid. 880C.

184 Plutarch repeats this story in Moralia, 91A; Life of Caesar, chap. lvii (734E); Life of Cicero, chap. xl (881D). cf. Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 75.

185 C. Julius Caesar also made a collection of apophthegms (Cicero, Letters, IX.16.4; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 56), and it is said that he possessed unusual discrimination in recognizing the genuine work of any writer.

186 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chaps. i-ii (708A‑D); Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 4; Velleius Paterculus, Roman History, II.41; Valerius Maximus, VI.9.15.

187 In 63 B.C.

188 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. vii (710D); Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 13.

189 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. x (712C); Life of Cicero, chap. xxix (875E); Dio Cassius, XXXVII.45; Suetonius, Divus Iulius 6 and 74.

190 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xi (712F) and Perrin's note in vol. VII of the L. C. L.; Dio Cassius, XXXVII.52.2; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 7.

191 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xi (712F).

192 Ibid. chap. xxxvii (723F); Life of Pompey, chap. ix (651D); Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 32 "iacta alea est" or "esto." The expression seems to have been proverbial; cf. Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, I p383 and the references; Aristophanes, Frag. 673 Kock, Com. Att. Frag. I p557 and Menander, Frag. 65, ibid. III p22.

193 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xxv (725C); Life of Pompey, chap. lxii (652C); Appian, The Civil Wars, II.41 and 138; Dio Cassius, XLI.17.2; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, X.4.8; Lucan, Pharsalia, III.114‑153.

194 The story is often told. Cf. for example, Moralia, 319B; Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xxxviii (726D); Appian, Roman History, the Civil Wars, II.57; Do Cassius, XLI.46; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 58; Lucan, Pharsalia, V.580; Valerius Maximus, IX.8.2.

195 At Dyrrachium, 48 B.C.

196 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xxxviii (726D) and xxxix (727B); Life of Pompey, chap. lxv (654A); Appian, Roman History, the Civil Wars, II.62; Dio Cassius, XLI.50; Suetonius, Divus Julius, 36.

197 In 48 B.C.

198 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xliv (729B); Life of Pompey, chap. lxix (656C); Caesar, Civil War, III.92. Appian (The Civil Wars, II.79) says that this statement was found in Caesar's letters.

199 In 47 B.C. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. i (731F); Appian, The Civil Wars, II.91; Dio Cassius, XLII.48. According to Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 37, these words ('veni, vidi, vici') were borne aloft in Caesar's triumph.

200 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. liv (733B); Life of Cato Minor, chap. lxxii (794C); Appian, The Civil Wars, II.99; Dio Cassius, XLIII.12.º

201 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. lxii (737C); Life of Antony, chap. xii (921B); Life of Brutus, chap. viii (987C). Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, i.2:

Let me have men about me that are fat;

Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

seems to incorporate all the terms used in the Lives, but to ignore βαναύσους in this passage.

202 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. lxiii (737F); Appian, The Civil Wars, II.115; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 87.

203 These sayings of Augustus were, beyond doubt, incorporated in the Life of Augustus which Plutarch wrote (No. 26 in Lamprias's list of Plutarch's writings). Augustus (Octavian) was Julius Caesar's grand-nephew.

204 Plutarch in his Life of Antony, chap. xv (922C), says 4000 talents, which would be the same as 24,000,000 drachmae (or denarii), a little less than the amount given here. Velleius Paterculus, II.60, says sestertium septiens miliens (= 700,000,000 sesterces), or about £6,000,000!

205 Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 83, says 300 sesterces, which is in agreement with the amount stated by Plutarch.

206 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xliii (883A); Life of Antony, chap. xvi (922D); Life of Brutus, chap. xxii (994B); Appian, The Civil Wars, III.28; Dio Cassius, XLV.3‑5; Velleius Paterculus, II.60.

207 Plutarch repeats this aphorism in his Life of Romulus, chap. xvii (28A). Stobaeus, LIV.63, quotes Philip of Macedon as the author of a similar remark.

208 Cf. Plutarch's Life of Antony, chap. lxxx (953A); Dio Cassius, LI.16; Julian, Letters, No. 51 (ad Alexandrinos); Suetonius, Augustus, 89.

209 A Stoic philosopher from Tarsus. Dio Cassius, LVI.43, relates a story about his practical instruction. He was later allowed to return home (Strabo, XIV.5.14, p674).

210 Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. III p417, Simonides, no. 66; or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L. C. L.), II p322.

211 Lex Iulia de adulteriis et de pudicitia Cf. Horace, Odes, IV.5.21; Dio Cassius, LIV.16.

212 C. Caesar, son of M. Agrippa and Julia.

213 Cf. Moralia, 319D.

214 Cf. Moralia, 784D.

215 Cf. Dio Cassius, LIV.7, who says, however, that Augustus spent the winter (21 B.C.) in Samos.

216 Presumably the Eurycles who pursued Cleopatra's ship (on board which was Antony) at Actium; cf. Plutarch's Life of Antony, chap. lxvii (947A).

217 The fourth book (which tells of Brasidas), as the books are now numbered, would be in point: but we know that anciently the history of Thucydides was divided into thirteen books (and into nine books) as well as into eight books.

218 Probably Cn. Calpurnius Piso, consul 7 B.C., but it may have been his father, of the same name, or L. Calpurnius Piso.


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