Dio's Rome, Vol VI.
by
Cassius Dio
Part 2 out of 4
with other qualifications, that it actually bestows understanding upon
the ignorant.] But his army made a very weak fight and the men would not
have stood their ground, had not Maesa and Soaemias [for they were already
in the boy's retinue] leaped down from their vehicles and, rushing among
the fugitives, by their lamentations restrained them from flight, and
had not the lad himself been seen by them (by some divine disposition of
affairs) with drawn sword on horseback charging the enemy. Even so they
would have turned their backs again, had not Macrinus fled at sight of
their resistance.
[Sidenote:--39--] The latter, having been thus defeated on the eighth of
June, sent his son in charge of Epagathus and some other attendants, to
Artabanus, king of the Parthians. He himself went to Antioch, giving out
that victory was his, to the end that he might be offered shelter there.
Then, when the news of his defeat became noised abroad, in the midst of
many consequent slaughters both along the roads and in the city,
springing from somebody's favoring the one side or the other, he made
his escape. From Antioch he proceeded by night, on horseback, with his
head and whole chin shaved, and attired in a dark garment worn over his
purple robe in order that he might, so far as possible, resemble an
ordinary citizen. In this way, with a few companions, he reached AEgae in
Cilicia, and there, by pretending to be one of the soldiers that carried
messages, he got a wagon, on which he drove through Cappadocia and
Galatia and Bithynia as far as the shipyard of Eribolus, which is
opposite the city of Nicomedea. It was his intention to make his way
back to Rome, expecting that there he could gain some assistance from
the senate and from the people. And, if he had escaped thither, he would
certainly have accomplished something. For their disposition was
decidedly more favorable to him, in view of the hardihood of the
Syrians, the age of the False Antoninus, and the uncontrolledness of
Gannys and Comazon, so that even the soldiers would either
voluntarily [Footnote: Reading [Greek: 'hechhontast'] instead of
[Greek: thnheschontast].] have changed their attitude or, refusing to do
so, would have been overpowered. As it turned out, however, if any one
recognized him in the course of his journey so far described, at least
no one ventured to lay hands on him: but he came to grief on his voyage
from Eribolus to Chalcedon. He did not dare to enter Nicomedea [through
fear of the governor of Bithynia, Caecilius Aristo], and so he sent to
one of the procurators asking for money, and in this way he became
known. He was overtaken [while still] in Chalcedon and, on the arrival
of those sent by the False Antoninus in order that [lacuna] now if ever
[lacuna] he was arrested [by Aurelius Celsus, a centurion,] and taken to
Cappadocia [like a man held in no honor]. Ascertaining there that his
son had also been captured [(Claudius Pollio, the centurion of the
legion, had arrested him while driving through Zeugma, where, in the
course of a previous journey, he had been designated Caesar)], he threw
himself from the conveyance (for he had not been bound) and at the time
suffered a fracture of his shoulder; but subsequently (though not a
great deal later) being sentenced to die before entering Antioch, he was
slain by Marcianus Taurus, a centurion, and his body remained unburied
until the False Antoninus could come from Syria into Bithynia and gloat
over it.
[Sidenote:--40--] So Macrinus, when an old man,--for he was fifty-four
years of age [lacking three or five days],--and eminent in experience of
affairs, displaying some degree of excellence and commanding so many
legions, was overthrown by a mere child of whose very name he had
previously been ignorant,--even as the oracle had foretold to him;
[[lacuna]] for upon his applying [to Zeus Belus] it had answered him:
"Old man, verily warriors young harass and exhaust thee:
Utterly spent is thy strength, and a grievious eld comes upon thee!"
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, VIII, verses 102-103.]
And fleeing [lacuna] or [lacuna], having played part of runaway slave
through the provinces which he had ruled, arrested like some robber by
common officers, beholding himself with villains most dishonored
[lacuna] guarded before whom often many senators had been brought; and
_his_ death was ordered who had the authority to punish or to release
any Roman whomsoever, and he was arrested and beheaded by centurions,
when he had authority to put to death both them and others, inferior and
superior. And his son likewise perished.
[Sidenote:--41--] This proves that no one, even of those whose
foundations seem unshakable, is sure of his position, but the exceeding
prosperous, equally with the rest, are poised in the balance.
And this man would have been lauded beyond all mankind, if he had not
himself desired to become emperor, but had chosen some person enrolled
in the senate to stand at the head of the Roman empire and had
appointed him emperor; and only in this way could he have avoided blame
for the plot against Caracalla, for by such action he would have
demonstrated that he resorted to it to secure his own safety and not on
account of a desire for supremacy. Whereas, instead, he got himself into
disrepute and ruined his career, becoming subject to reproach, and
finally falling a victim to a disaster that he richly deserved. And
having grasped at sole sovereignty before he had even the title of
senator, he lost it very quickly and in the most disappointing way. He
had ruled only a year and two months, lacking three days (a result
obtained by reckoning to the date of the battle).
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
79
Dio's Roman History 79:--
About Avitus, called also Pseudantoninus, and the slaughter that he
wrought (chapters 1-7).
About his transgression of law and how he married the Vestal (chapters
8-10).
About Eleogabalus [Footnote: It will be noted that the spelling of this
word in the Greek "arguments" of the MSS. differs from that in the
Greek text of the same.] and how he summoned Urania to Rome and united
her in bonds of wedlock with Eleogabalus (chapters 11-12).
About his licentiousness (chapters 13-16).
How he adopted his cousin and also renamed him Alexander (chapters 17,
18).
How he was overthrown and slain (chapters 19-21).
DURATION OF TIME.
The remainder of the consulship of Macrinus and Adventus, together with
four additional years, in which there were the following magistrates,
here enumerated. Pseudantoninus (II) and Q. Tineius Sacerdos. (A.D. 219
= a.u. 972 = Second of Eleogabalus, from June 8th.)
Pseudantoninus (III) and M. Valerius Comazon. (A.D. 220 = a.u. 973 =
Third of Elagabalus.)
C. Vettius Gratus Sabinianus and M. Flavius Vitellius Seleucus. (A.D.
221 = a.u. 974 = Fourth of Elagabalus.)
Pseudantoninus (IV) and M. Amelius Severus Alexander. (A.D. 222 = a.u.
975 = Fifth of Elagabalus to March 11th.)
(BOOK 80, BOISSEVAIN.)
[Sidenote: A.D. 218 (_a.u._ 971)] [Sidenote:--1--] Now Avitus, alias
False Antoninus, alias Assyrian or again Sardanapalus and also Tiberinus
(he secured the last appellation after he had been slain and his body
thrown into the Tiber) [on the very next day after the victory entered
Antioch, first promising the soldiers attending him five hundred denarii
apiece on condition that they should not sack the town,--a thing which
they were very anxious to do. This amount he levied upon the people. And
he sent to Rome such a despatch as might have been expected, speaking
much evil of Macrinus, especially with reference to his low birth and
his plot against Antoninus. Here is a sample of what he said: "He who
was not permitted to enter even the senate-house after the proclamation
debarring everybody other than senators from doing so, this man, I say,
dared treacherously to murder the emperor whom he had been trusted to
guard, dared to appropriate his office and to become emperor before he
was senator." About himself he made many promises, not only to the
soldiers but also to the senate and the people. He asserted that he
should do everything without exception to emulate Augustus (to whose
youth he likened his own) and also Marcus Antoninus. Yes, and he wrote
also the following, alluding to the derogatory remarks made about him
by Macrinus: "He undertook to censure my age, when he himself appointed
a five-year old son."
[Sidenote:--2--] Besides forwarding this communication to the senate, he
sent to the senate the records discovered among the soldiers and the
letters of Macrinus written, to Maximus, and sent them likewise to the
legions, hoping that these would cause them to hold the preceding
emperor's memory in greater detestation, and to feel greater affection
for him. In both the despatch to the senate and the letter to the people
he subscribed himself as emperor and Caesar, son of Antoninus, grandson
of Severus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, proconsul, and holder of the
tribunician power, assuming these titles before they were voted,[lacuna]
the [lacuna] not the [lacuna] but the [lacuna] of [lacuna]
used [Footnote: Illegible MS.--Boissevain conjectures: "And he used not
the name of Avitus, but that of his father."] [lacuna] the records of
the soldiers [lacuna] for of Macrinus [lacuna] Caesar [lacuna] Pretorians
and Alban legionaries who were in Italy [lacuna] and as consul should
proclaim [Footnote: "He sent another letter to the Pretorians and to the
Alban legionaries who were in Italy, in which he stated incidentally
that he was consul and high-priest." (Boissevain's conjecture.)]
[lacuna] and the [lacuna] Marius Censorinus [lacuna] superintendence
[lacuna] accepted [lacuna] Macrinus [lacuna] himself since not
sufficiently by his own voice [lacuna] public [lacuna] read [lacuna] the
letters of Sardanapalus [lacuna] registered among the ex-consuls and
gave him injunctions that if any one should resist him he should use the
band of soldiers. As a consequence, though against its will, it read
everything to those [lacuna] [Footnote: "Most of it Marius Censorinus,
who was their commandant, read aloud, but the news about Macrinus he
suppressed, because he thought that his single voice could not give it
sufficient publicity; at the same time, however, he took it upon himself
to have the letter of Sardanapalus read to the senate through the medium
of Claudius Pollio, who had been enrolled among the ex-consuls; thus, if
any opposition should develop, he would be in a position to use the band
of soldiers. As a consequence the senate, though against its will, read
everything to those enlisted." (Boissevain's conjecture.)]
For, by reason of the necessity thrust upon them, they were not able to
do anything that they should or had better have done [lacuna] but were
panic-stricken by fear [lacuna] and Macrinus, whom they had often
commended, they voted should be regarded as a public enemy and they
abused him, together with his son; and Tarautas, whom they had often
wished to declare an enemy, they now exalted and of course prayed that
his son might be like him.
[Sidenote:--3--] This was in Rome. And Avitus assigned [lacuna] Pollio
to govern [lacuna] Germany [lacuna] since the latter had very rapidly
reduced Bithynia to subjection. He himself, after sojourning some months
in Antioch until he had established his authority there in every
direction, went into Bithynia, coadjutor [lacuna] often [lacuna] making
Gannys, as had been his custom in the case of Antioch.
Having passed the winter here he proceeded into Italy through Thrace and
Moesia and both the Pannonias, and there he abode to the end of his
life. One action of his was worthy of a thoroughly good emperor: for,
whereas many individuals and communities alike,
including the Romans themselves,
both knights and senators,
had privately and publicly, by word and deed, heaped insults upon [both
Caracalla and] himself as a result of the letters of Macrinus, he
[neither threatened to make reprisals] in the case of a single person,
nor did he make reprisals. But on the other hand he drifted into all the
most obscene and lawless and bloodthirsty practices. [Some of them never
before known in Rome, took root and grew like ancestral institutions.
Others, taken up tentatively from one time [Footnote: Reading [Greek:
allote] (Bekker, Dindorf) in place of [Greek: alla te].] to another by
various individuals] flourished for the three years and nine months and
four days during which he ruled (to compute from the battle in which he
gained supreme control). [In Syria, he caused the assassination of
Nestor and Fabius Agrippinus, the governor of the country, as well as of
the foremost knights belonging to the party of Macrinus; but he
inflicted a similar fate upon men in Rome who were on most friendly
terms with him. In Arabia, he executed Pica Caesianus, [Footnote: _P.
Numicius Pica Caesianus_.] entrusted with the administration, because he
had not immediately declared his allegiance; and, in Cyprus, Claudius
Attalus, because he had fallen out with Comazon. Attalus had once been
governor of Thrace, had been expelled from the senate by Severus in the
war with Niger, but was restored to it by Tarautas, and had at this time
been assigned to Cyprus, as the lot directed. He had incurred Comazon's
ill-will by having formerly reduced him to the position of rower in a
trireme as a punishment for some villany which the latter committed
while serving in Thrace.]
[Sidenote:--4--] This incident sheds some light on the character of
Comazon, who got this name from mimes and buffoonery. [Footnote: This
statement is an error on the part of Xiphilinus, who thought that
"Comazon" (in Greek=The Reveler) was a nickname for a certain
Eutychianus. Investigations, however, show that there was a M. Valerius
Comazon prominent at this time and that the word should be taken as a
proper and not as a vulgar noun.] He commanded the Pretorians and,
though holding no position of management or superintendence whatever,
except over the camp, [he obtained the consular honors] and subsequently
actually became consul. [Also he became city prefect] not merely once,
but twice and thrice, as could be recorded in no other case. Wherefore
this, too, must be enumerated among the most illegal proceedings. [It
was on his account, then, that Attalus was put to death.
Triccianus came to his end on account of the Alban legion, which he
commanded with good discipline during Macrinus's reign, and Castinus
[Footnote: _C. Iulius Septimius Castinus_.] because he was energetic and
was known to many soldiers in consequence of the commands he had held
and his association with Antoninus. He had accordingly been sent out in
advance by Macrinus without reference to other events and was living in
Bithynia. The emperor put him to death in spite of having written
concerning him to the senate that Triccianus had been banished from
Rome, like Julius Asper, by Macrinus, and that he had restored him. He
took similar vengeance on Sulla, who had been governing Cappadocia but
had relinquished it, because Sulla both meddled in some matters that did
not concern him and when summoned to Rome by Elagabalus had managed to
meet the Celtic soldiers returning home after their winter in Bithynia,
a period during which they had raised some little disturbance. These men
perished for the reasons specified and no statements about them were
communicated to the senate. Seius Carus, the descendant of Fuscianus,
who had been city prefect, was killed because he was rich, great, and
sensible, on the pretext that he was forming a league of some of the
soldiers belonging to the Alban legion; and, on the basis of some
charges preferred by the emperor alone, he was accused in the palace,
where he was also slain.] Valerianus Paetus lost his life because he had
stamped some likeness of himself upon gold pieces to serve as ornaments
for his mistresses. [This led to the accusation that he intended to
remove to Cappadocia, a country bordering on his own (he was a Gaul),
for the purpose of starting a revolution, and that this was why he made
gold pieces bearing his own figure.
[Sidenote:--5--] On these charges] Silius Messala and Pomponius Bassus
[also were condemned to death by the senate: they] incurred blame
because they were not pleased with what he was doing. He did not
hesitate to write this statement about them to the senate, and called
them investigators of his habits of life and censors of proceedings in
the palace. ["The proofs of their plot I have not sent you," he said,
"because it would be useless to read them, in view of the fact that the
men are already dead."] There was another cause of dislike underlying
[the case against Messala,--the point, namely, that he sturdily made
public many facts in the senate. This was what led the emperor at the
outset to send for him to come to Syria, pretending to have very great
need of him, whereas his real fear was that Messala might bring about a
change of attitude on the part of the senators.
The cause in] the case of Bassus was that he had a wife both fair to
look upon and of noble rank; she was a descendant of Claudius Severus
and of Marcus Antoninus. Indeed, the prince married her, not allowing
her even to mourn the catastrophe. Now of his marriages, in which he
both married and was bestowed in marriage, an account will be given
presently. He appeared both as man and as woman, and performed the
functions of both in the most licentious fashion [lacuna] about [lacuna]
and [lacuna] by whom [lacuna] own [lacuna] Sergius [lacuna] and [lacuna]
out of [lacuna] any [lacuna] making [lacuna] him [lacuna] blame for
[lacuna] slaughter the [Sidenote:--6--] [lacuna] and of knights [lacuna]
Caesarians [lacuna] [lacuna] were destroyed [lacuna] nothing [lacuna] but
by killing in Nicomedea at the very start of his reign Gannys, who had
arranged the uprising, who had introduced him into the camp and had
likewise caused [the soldiers to revolt, who had presented him with the
victory over Macrinus, one who had reared and managed him,--by this act
he came to be regarded as the most impious of men. To be sure, Gannys
was living rather luxuriously and was fond of accepting bribes, but for
all that he brought no injury upon anybody and bestowed many benefits
upon many people. Most of all, he always showed a deep respect for the
emperor, and he was thoroughly satisfactory to Maesa and Soaemias, suiting
the former because she had brought him up and the latter because he
practically lived with her. But these were not the reasons why the
emperor put him out of the way, seeing that he was willing to give him a
marriage contract and appoint him Caesar. It was rather that Gannys
compelled him to live temperately and prudently. And his own hand was
the first to give his minister a mortal blow, since no one of the
soldiers had the hardihood to take the initiative in his murder.--These
events, then, took place in this way.
[Sidenote:--7--] [lacuna] Another pair executed were Verus, who had
likewise mustered courage to make an attempt upon the sovereignty while
in the midst of the third (Gallic) legion, which he was commanding; and
Gellius Maximus, on the same sort of charge, though he was lieutenant in
Syria proper and at the head of the fourth (Scythian) legion. For to
such an extent had everything got upside down, that these men, too, one
of whom had been enrolled in the senate from the ranks of the centurions
and the other of whom was the son of a physician, took it into their
heads to aim at the imperial office. I have mentioned them alone by
name, not so much because they were the only ones who appeared entirely
insane as because they belonged to the senate; for other attempts were
made. A certain centurion's son undertook to throw into disorder the
same Gallic legion, and another, a worker in wool, tampered with the
Fourth, and a third, a private citizen, with the fleet in harbor at
Cyzicus when the False Antoninus was wintering at Nicomedea. And there
were many others elsewhere, so that it became a very ordinary thing for
those who so wished to hazard the chance of fomenting rebellion and
becoming emperor. They were encouraged partly by the fact that many
persons had entered upon the supreme office without expecting or
deserving it. Let no one be incredulous of my statements, for the facts
about the private citizens I ascertained from men who are worthy of
confidence, and of what I have written about the fleet I gained an exact
knowledge in Pergamum, close at hand, the affairs of which, as also of
Smyrna, I managed, having been assigned to duty there by Macrinus. And
in view of this attempt none of the others seemed at all incredible to
me.
[Sidenote:--8--] This is what he did in the way of murders. His acts
which varied from our ancestral precedents, however, were of simple
character and inflicted no great harm upon us. Some noteworthy
innovations were his applying to himself certain titles connected with
his sovereignty before they had been voted, as I have already described,
[Footnote: See Chapter 2.] and again his enrolling himself in the
consulship in place of Macrinus when he had not been elected to it and
did not enter upon any of its duties (the time expiring too soon): yet
at first, in three letters, he had referred to the year by the name of
Adventus, as if assuming that the latter had been sole consul. Other
points were that he undertook to be consul a second time, without having
secured any office previously or the privileges of any office, and that
while consul in Nicomedea he did not employ the triumphal costume on the
Day of Vows. [Footnote: Translated by Sturz "_votivorum ludorum die_."
What festival is meant is uncertain, but it is probably _not_ the
Compitalia (III. Non. Ian.). [Sidenote:--11--] With his infractions of
law is connected also the matter of Elagabalus. The offence consisted,
not in his introducing a foreign god into Rome, or in his exalting him
in very strange ways, but in his placing him before even Jupiter and
having himself voted his priest, in his circumcising his foreskin and
abstaining from swine's flesh [on the ground that his devotion would be
purer by this means. He had thought of cutting off his genitals
altogether, but that was an idea prompted by salaciousness; the
circumcision which he actually accomplished was a part of the priestly
requirements of Elagabalus. Hence he mutilated in like manner numerous
of his associates.] A further offence was his being frequently seen in
public clad in the barbaric dress which the Syrian priests employ, a
circumstance which had more to do than anything else with his getting
the name of "The Assyrian."
[Sidenote:--12--] ¶ A golden statue of False Antoninus was erected,
distinguished by its great and varied adornment.
¶ Macrinus, though he found considerable money in the treasury,
squandered it all, and incomes did not suffice for expenditures.
[Sidenote: A.D. 219 (_a.u._ 972)] [Sidenote:--9--] As to his marriage.
He espoused Cornelia Paula in order that he might sooner (these are his
words) become a father,--he, who could not even be a man. On the
occasion of his marriage not only the senate and the equestrian order
but also the wives of the senators received some distribution of
presents. The people were given a banquet at the per capita rate of one
hundred and fifty denarii, and the soldiers had one that cost a hundred
more. There were contests of gladiators at which the prince wore a
purple-bordered toga, the same as he had done at the ludi votivi.
Various beasts were slain, among them an elephant and fifty-one tigers,
a greater number than had ever yet been despatched at one time.
Afterwards he dismissed Paula on the pretext that she had some blemish
on her person and cohabited with Aqulia Severa,--a most flagrant breach
of law. She was consecrated to Vesta and yet he most sinfully ravished
her and actually dared to say: "I did it in order that godlike children
may spring from me, the high-priest, and from her, the high-priestess."
He felicitated himself on an act which was destined to lead to his being
maltreated in the Forum and thrown into prison and subsequently put to
death. However, he did not keep even this woman for long, but married a
second, and then a third, and still another; after that he went back to
Severa.
[Sidenote:--10--] Portents had been taking place in Rome, one of them on
the statue of Isis, which is borne upon a dog above the pediment of her
temple: it consisted in her turning her face towards the
interior.--Sardanapalus was conducting games and numerous spectacles,
in which Helix, the athlete, won renown. How far he surpassed his
adversaries is shown by his wishing to contend in both wrestling and
pancratium at Olympia, and by his winning victories in both at the
Capitolina. The Eleans, being jealous of him, and through fear that he
might prove the eighth from Hercules (as the saying is), [Footnote:
The history and significance of this proverb are not known.] would not
call any wrestler into the stadium, in spite of their having inscribed
this contest on the bulletin-board. But in Rome he won each of the two
games,--a feat that no one else had accomplished.
[Sidenote:--11--] And here I must omit mention of the barbaric chants
which Sardanapalus chanted to Elagabalus, and his mother and
grandmother, all three, as also of the secret sacrifices that he offered
to him: at these he slaughtered boys, and used charms, besides shutting
up in the god's temple a live lion and monkey and snake, throwing in
among them human genitals, and practicing other unholy rites, while he
wore invariably innumerable amulets. [Sidenote:--12--] But to run
briefly over these matters, he actually (most ridiculous of all) courted
a wife for Elagabalus, on the assumption that the god wanted marriage
and children. Such a wife might be neither poor nor low-born, and so he
chose the Carthaginian Urania, summoned her to come thence, and
established her in the palace. He gathered wedding gifts for her from
all his subjects, as he might have done in the case of his own wives.
All these presents that were given during his lifetime were exacted
later, but in the way of dowry he declared that nothing should be
brought save the gold lions, which were melted down.
[Sidenote:--13--] But this Sardanapalus, who thought it right to make
the gods cohabit under the form of marriage, himself lived from first to
last most licentiously. [He married many women] and had liaisons with
many more [without any lawful title], yet it was not that he cared about
them; he simply wanted to imitate their actions when he should lie with
his lovers [and get accomplices in his excesses by returning to them
indiscriminately]. He used his body for doing and allowing many unheard
of things which no one would endure telling or hearing, but his most
conspicuous acts, which it would be impossible to conceal, were the
following. He would go by night, wearing a wig of long hair, into the
taverns and ply the trade of a female huckster. He frequented the
notorious brothels, drove out the prostitutes, and prostituted himself.
Finally, he set aside a room in the palace and there committed his
indecencies, standing all the time naked at the door of it, as the
harlots do, and shaking the curtain, which was fastened by gold rings,
the while in a soft and melting voice he solicited the passers-by.
Certain persons had been given special orders to let themselves be
attracted to his abode. For, as in other matters, so in this business,
too, he had numerous detectives through whom he sought out the persons
who could please him most by their foulness. He would collect money from
his Patrons and put on airs over his gains: he would also dispute with
his associates in this shameful occupation, saying that he had more
lovers than they and took in more money. [Sidenote:--14--] This is the
way he behaved to all alike that enjoyed his services. But he had,
besides, one chosen man whom he accordingly desired to appoint Caesar.
Also, arrayed in the Green uniform, he drove a chariot privately and at
home,--if one can call that place home where contests were conducted by
the foremost of his suite [and knights and Caesarians], the very
prefects, his grandmother, his mother, his women, and likewise several
members of the senate, including Leo, the praefectus urbi, and where they
watched him playing charioteer and begging gold coin like any vagabond,
and bowing down before the managers of the games and the members of the
factions.
[Now in trying anybody in court he really did have the appearance of a
man, but everywhere else his actions and the quality of his voice showed
the wantonness of youth. For instance, he used to dance not only in the
orchestra but more or less also while walking, performing sacrifice,
greeting friends or making speeches.
And finally (to go back now to the story which I began) he was bestowed
in marriage and was termed wife, mistress, queen. He worked in wool,
sometimes wore a hair-net, painted his eyes [daubing them with white
lead and alkanet], and once he shaved his chin and celebrated a festival
to mark the event. After that he went with smooth face, because it would
help him appear like a woman, and he often reclined while greeting the
senators. [Sidenote:--15--] "Her" husband was Hierocles, a Carian slave
[once the favorite of Gordius], from whom he had learned
chariot-driving. It was in this connection, also, that by a most
unexpected chance he won the imperial approbation. At a horse-race
Heirocles fell out of his chariot just opposite the seat of
Sardanapalus, losing his helmet in his fall. Being still beardless and
adorned with a crown of yellow hair, he attracted the attention of the
prince and was at once carried hastily to the palace; and by his
nocturnal feats he captivated Sardanapalus more than ever and rose to
still greater power. Consequently his influence became even greater than
his patron's and it was thought a small thing that his mother, while
still a slave, should be brought to Rome by soldiers and be numbered
among the wives of ex-consuls. Certain other persons, too, were not
seldom honored by the emperor and became powerful, some because they had
joined in his uprising and others because they committed adultery with
him. For he was anxious to have the reputation of committing adultery,
that in this respect, too, he might imitate the most lascivious women;
and he would often get caught voluntarily and in the very act. Then, for
his conduct, he would be brutally abused by his husband and would be
beaten, so that he had black eyes. His affection for this "husband" was
no light inclination, but a serious matter and a firmly fixed passion,
so much so that he did not become vexed at any such harsh treatment, but
on the contrary loved him the more for it and actually wished to appoint
him Caesar;--he threatened his grandmother when she interfered, and
chiefly on this man's account he became at odds with the soldiers. It
was this that was destined to lead his destruction.
[Sidenote:--16--] As for Aurelius Zoticus, a native of Smyrna, whom they
also called "Cook" (from his father's trade), he incurred the
sovereign's thorough love and thorough hatred, and consequently his life
was saved. This Aurelius had a body that was beautiful all over, as if
ready for a gymnastic contest, and he surpassed everybody in the size of
his private parts. The fact was reported to the emperor by those who
were on the lookout for such features and the man was suddenly snatched
away from the games and taken to Rome, accompanied by an immense
procession, larger than Abgarus had in the reign of Severus or Tiridates
in that of Nero. He was appointed cubicularius before he had been even
seen by the emperor, [was honored by the name of his grandfather,
Avitus, was adorned with garlands as at a festival,] and entered the
palace the center of a great glare of lights. Sardanapalus, on seeing
him, rose with modesty; the newcomer addressed him, as was usual, "My
Lord Emperor, hail!" whereupon the other, bending his neck so as to
assume a ravishing feminine pose, and turning his eyes wide open upon
him, answered without hesitation: "Call me Not Lord, for I am a Lady."
Then Sardanapalus immediately took a bath with him, and, finding his
guest when stripped to correspond to the report of him, burned with even
greater lust, reposed upon his breast, and took dinner, like some loved
mistress, in his bosom. Hierocles began to fear that Zoticus would bring
the emperor into a greater state of subjection than he himself was able
to effect, and that he might suffer some terrible fate at his hands, as
often happens in the case of rival lovers. Therefore he had the
wine-bearers, who were well-disposed to him, administer some drug that
abated the visitor's ferocity. And so Zoticus after a whole night of
embarrassment, being unable to secure an erection, was deprived of all
that he had obtained, and was driven out of the palace, out of Rome, and
later out of the remainder of Italy; and this saved his life. [However,
the emperor drove himself to such a frenzy of lewdness that he asked the
physicians to contrive a woman's vagina in his person by means of an
incision, and held out to them the hope of great pay for this
achievement.]
[Sidenote:--17--] Sardanapalus himself was destined not much later to
receive his well-deserved pay for his own defilement. For his acting in
this way and for making himself the object of these actions he became
hated by the populace and by the soldiers to whom he was most attached,
and at last he was slain by them in the very camp.
¶The False Antoninus was despised and put out of the way by the
soldiers. When any persons, particularly if armed, have accustomed
themselves to feel contempt for their rulers, they set no limits on
their right to do what they please but keep their arms ready to use even
against the very man who gave them whatever rights they possess.
[Sidenote: A.D. 221 (_a.u._ 974)] This is how it happened. He introduced
his cousin Bassianus before the senate, and, having stationed Maesa and
Soaemias on either hand, adopted him as his child. Then did he
congratulate himself on being suddenly the father of so large a child
(as if he surpassed him in age) and declared that he needed no other
offspring to keep his house free from despondency.
Elagabalus, he said, had ordered him to do this and further to call his
son's name Alexander. And I for my part am persuaded that it came about
in very truth by some divine intention, and I base my inference not upon
what he said but upon what was said to him by some one, viz., that an
Alexander would come from Emesa to succeed him, and again on what took
place in upper Moesia and in Thrace. [Sidenote:--18--] A little before
this a spirit, declaring that he was the famous Alexander of Macedon,
wearing his appearance and all his apparatus, started from the regions
near the Ister, appearing there in I know not what way. It traversed
Thrace and Asia, reveling in company with four hundred male attendants,
who were equipped with thyrsi and fawn-skins and did no harm. The fact
was admitted by all those who lived in Thrace at that time that lodgings
and all the provisions for It were provided at public expense. And no
one dared to oppose It either by word or by deed,--no governor, no
soldier, no procurator, no heads of provinces,--but It proceeded, as if
in a daylight procession prescribed by proclamation, to the confines of
Bithynia. Leaving that point, it approached the Chalcedonian land and
there, after performing some sacred rite by night and burying a wooden
horse, it vanished. These facts I ascertained while still in Asia, as I
stated, and before anything at all had been done about Bassianus in
Rome.
¶One day the same man said this: "I have no need of titles
derived, from war and blood. It suffices me to have you call me
'Pious' and 'Fortunate'."
¶The False Antoninus on receiving praise from the senate one
day remarked: "Yes, you love me and, by Jupiter, so does the
populace and likewise the foreign legions. But I do not satisfy
the Pretorians, to whom I keep giving so much."
[Sidenote: A.D. 222 (_a.u._ 975)] [Sidenote:--19--] So long as
Sardanapalus continued to love his cousin, he was safe. But, since he
was suspicious of all men, and learned that their favor was turning
solely and absolutely to the boy, he dared to change his mind and worked
in every way to effect his overthrow.
¶Some persons were conversing with the False Antoninus and
remarked how fortunate he was to be consul along with his son. He
rejoined: "I shall be more fortunate next year, for then I'm
going to be consul with my truly-begotten son."
The moment, though, that he tried to destroy him, he not only
accomplished nothing but ran the risk of being killed himself.
Alexander was sedulously guarded by his mother and his grandmother and
the soldiers, and the Pretorians, on becoming aware of the attempt of
Sardanapalus, raised a terrible tumult. They would not cease their
rebellious attitude until Sardanapalus, with Alexander, visited the
camp; and he poured out his supplications and under compulsion gave up
such of his companions in lewdness as the soldiers demanded. In behalf
of Hierocles he pled piteously and lamented him with tears, foretelling
his own death, and adding: "Grant me this one man, whatever you are
pleased to suspect about him, or else kill me!" and thus with difficulty
he succeeded in appeasing them. On this occasion, then, he was saved,
though with difficulty. His grandmother hated him for his practices
(which seemed to show that he was not the son of Antoninus) and was
coming to favor Alexander, as being really sprung from him.
[Sidenote:--20--] Later he again made a plot against Alexander and, as
the Pretorians raised an outcry at this, entered the camp with him.
Then, he became aware that he was under guard and awaiting execution,
for the mothers of the two, being more openly at variance with each
other than before, were stirring up the soldiers to action. He then made
an attempt to flee, and intended to escape to some point by being placed
in a box, but was discovered and slain, having reached eighteen years of
age. His mother, who embraced and clung tightly to him, perished with
him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped
naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the woman's trunk
was cast off in some corner, while his was thrown into the river.
[Sidenote:--21--] With him perished Hierocles, and others, and the
prefects; and Aurelius Eubulus, who was an Emesenian by race [and had
gone so far in lewdness and defilement that his surrender had earlier
been demanded by the populace]. He had been entrusted with the general
accounts [Footnote: One of the _rationales summarum_.] and there was
nothing that escaped his confiscations. So now he was torn to pieces by
the populace and the soldiers, and Fulvius, the city prefect, with him.
Comazon succeeded the latter, as he had succeeded Fulvius's predecessor.
Just as a mask used to be carried into the theatres to occupy the stage
during the intervals in the acting, when it was left vacant by the
comedians, so was Comazon put in the vacant place of the men who had
been prefects in his day over the city of Rome.--As for
Elagabalus, [Footnote: Elagabalus, the god.] he was banished from Rome
altogether.
Such was the story of Tiberinus: and none of those even who helped him
arrange the uprising and attained great power in return, save perhaps a
single individual, [Footnote: This probably refers to Comazon.] survived.
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
80
Why Dio was not able to relate in detail the history of the reign of
Alexander (chapter 1).
About Ulpian, Pretorian Prefect, and his death (chapter 2).
Undertakings of Artaxerxes the Persian against the Parthians and Romans
(chapters 3, 4).
Dio's second consulship, his return to his own country, and conclusion
of the History (chapter 5).
DURATION OF TIME.
Duration of time eight years, in which the following are enumerated as
consuls.
Antoninus Elagabalus (IV), M. Aurelius Severus Alexander Coss. (A.D. 222
= a.u. 975 = First of Alexander, from March 11th.)
L. Marius Maximus (II), L. Roscius AElianus. (A.D. 223 = a.u. 976 =
Second of Alexander.)
Iulianus (II), Crispinus. (A.D. 224 = a.u. 977 = Third of Alexander.)
Fuscus (II), Dexter. (A.D. 225 = a.u. 978 = Fourth of Alexander.)
Alexander Aug. (II), C. Marcellus Quintilianus (II). (A.D. 226 = a.u.
979 = Fifth of Alexander.)
Lucius Albinus, Max. AEmilius AEmilianus. (A.D. 227 = a.u. 980 = Sixth of
Alexander.)
T. Manilius Modestus, Ser. Calpurnius Probus. (A.D. 228 = a.u. 981 =
Seventh of Alexander.)
Alexander Aug. (III), Cassius Dio (II). (A.D. 229 = a.u. 982 = Eighth
of Alexander.)
[Sidenote: A.D. 222-229 (_a.u._ 975-982)] [Sidenote:--1--] Alexander
became emperor immediately after him [and at once proclaimed Augusta,
his own mother, Mammaea, who had in hand the administration of affairs
and gathered wise men about her son, that by their guidance he might be
duly trained in morals; and she chose out of the senate the better class
of counselors, to whom she communicated everything that had to be done].
He entrusted to one Domitius Ulpianus the command of the Pretorians and
the remaining business of the empire.--These matters I have set down in
detail, so far as I was able, in each case, but of the rest I have not
found it feasible to give a detailed account, for the reason that for a
long time I did not sojourn in Rome. After going from Asia to Bithynia I
fell sick, and from there I hurried to my duties as head of Africa. On
returning to Italy I was almost immediately sent to govern in Dalmatia
and from there into Upper Pannonia. After that I came back to Rome and
on reaching Campania at once set out for home.
[Sidenote:--2--] For these reasons, then, I have not been able to
compile an account of what follows similar to that which precedes. I
will narrate briefly, however, all the things that were done up to the
time of my second consulship.
Ulpianus corrected many of the irregular practices instituted by
Sardanapalus; but, after putting to death Flavianus and Chrestus, that
he might succeed them, he was himself before long slain by the
Pretorians, who attacked him in the night; and it availed nothing that
ran to the palace and took refuge with the emperor himself and the
latter's mother.--Even during his lifetime a great dispute had arisen
between the populace and the Pretorians, from some small cause, with the
result that they fought each other for three days, and many were lost by
both sides. The soldiers, on getting the worst of it, directed their
efforts to firing the buildings, and so the populace, fearing that the
whole city would be destroyed, reluctantly came to terms with them.
Besides these occurrences, Epagathus, who was believed to have been
chiefly [Footnote: Reading [Greek: to pleon] (Reimar, Bekker,
Boissevain).] responsible for the death of Ulpianus, was sent into
Egypt, supposedly to govern it, but really to prevent any disturbance
taking place in Rome when he met with punishment. From there he was
taken to Crete and executed. [Alexander's mother, being a slave to
money, gathered funds from all sources. She also brought home for her
son a spouse, whom she would not allow to be addressed as Augusta. After
a time, however, she separated her from her son and drove her away to
Libya, in spite of the woman's possessing his affections. Alexander,
however, could not oppose his mother, for she ruled him absolutely.]
[Sidenote:--3--] Many uprisings were made by many persons, some of which
caused serious alarm, but they were all checked. But affairs in
Mesopotamia were still more terrifying, and provoked in the hearts of
all, not merely the men of Rome but the rest of mankind, a fear that had
a truer foundation. Artaxerxes, a Persian, having conquered the
Parthians in three battles and killed their king, Artabanus, [made a
campaign against Hatra, which he endeavored to take as a base for
attacking the Romans. He did make a breach in the wall but, as he lost a
number of soldiers through an ambuscade, he transferred his position
into Media. Of this district, as also of Parthia, he acquired no small
portion, partly by force and partly by intimidation, and then] marched
against Armenia. Here he suffered a reverse at the hands of the natives,
some Medes, and the children of Artabanus, and either fled (as some say)
or (as others assert) retired to prepare a larger expedition.
[Sidenote:--4--] He accordingly became a source of fear to us; for he
was encamped with a large army over against not Mesopotamia only but
Syria also and boasted that he would win back everything that the
ancient Persians had once held, as far as the Grecian Sea. It was, he
said, his rightful inheritance from his forefathers. He was of no
particular account himself, but our military affairs are in such a
condition that some joined his cause and others refused to defend
themselves. The troops are so distinguished by wantonness, and
arrogance, and freedom from reproof, that those in Mesopotamia dared to
kill their commander, Flavius Heracleo, and the Pretorians found fault
with me before Ulpianus because I ruled the soldiers in Pannonia with a
strong hand; and they demanded my surrender, through fear that some one
might compel them to submit to a regime similar to that of the Pannonian
troops.
[Sidenote:--5--] Alexander, however, paid no attention to them, but
promoted me in various ways, appointing me to be consul for the second
time, as his colleague, and taking upon himself personally the
responsibility of meeting the expenditures of my office. As the
malcontents evinced displeasure at this, he became afraid that they
might kill me if they saw me in the insignia of my office, and he bade
me spend the period of my consulship in Italy, somewhere outside of
Rome. Later, accordingly, I came both to Rome and to Campania to visit
him. After spending a few days in his company, during which the soldiers
saw me without offering to do me any harm, I started for home, being
released on account of the trouble with my feet. Consequently, I expect
to spend all the remainder of my life in my own country, as the Divine
Presence revealed to me most clearly at the time I was in Bithynia.
Once, in a dream there, I thought I saw myself commanded by it to write
at the close of my work the following verses:
"Hector was led of Zeus far out of the range of the missiles,
Out of the dust and the slaying of men, out of blood and of uproar."
[Footnote: From Homer's Iliad, XI, verses 163-4.]
* * * * *
PRESERVED FROM BOOKS
PRECEDING No. 36.
* * * * *
(The "Fragments" of Dio.)
[Frag. I]
1. Dio says: "I am anxious to write a history of all (that is worth
remembering) done by the Romans both at peace and in war, so as to have
nothing essential lacking, either of those matters or of others.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
2[lacuna] everything about them, so to speak, that has been written
by any persons, and I have put in my history not everything but what I
have selected. However, let no one entertain any suspicions (as has
happened in the case of some other writers), regarding the truth of it
merely because I have used elaborate diction to whatever extent the
subject matter permitted; for I have been anxious to be equally perfect
in both respects so far as was possible. I will begin at the point where
I have obtained the clearest accounts of what is reported to have taken
place in this land which we inhabit.
This territory in which the city of Rome has been built" [Lacuna]
(Mai, p. 135.)
[Frag. II]
1. Ausonia, as Dio Cocceianus writes, is properly the land of the
Aurunci only, lying between the Campanians and Volsci along the
sea-coast. Many persons, however, thought that Ausonia extended even as
far as Latium, so that all of Italy was called from it Ausonia. (Isaac
Tzetzes on Lycophron, 44. and 615, 702.)
2. Where now Chone is there was formerly a district called Oenotria, in
which Philoctetes settled after the sack of Troy as Dionysius and Dio
Cocceianus and all those who write the story of Rome relate. (Idem, v.
912.)
3. ¶ About the Etruscans Dio says: "These facts about them required to
be written at this point in the narrative, and elsewhere something else
and later some still different fact will be told as occasion demands, in
whatever way the course of the history may chance to prepare the point
temporarily under discussion. Let this same explanation be sufficient
[Footnote: The MS. here has [Greek: ekontes] = "being (plural)
sufficient." I have adopted the reading [Greek: eketo], suggested by
Melber.] to cover also the remaining matters of importance. For I shall
recount to the best of my ability all the exploits of the Romans, but as
to the rest only what has a bearing on the Romans will be written."
(Mai, p. 136.)
[Frag. III]
1. Dio and Dionysius give the story of Cacus (Tzetzes, History, 5,
21).
2. In this way the country was called Italy. Picus was the first king of
it, and after him his son Faunus, when Heracles came there with the rest
of the kine of Geryon. And he begat Latinus by the wife of Faunus, who
was king of the people there, and from him all were called Latins. In
the fifty-fifth year after Heracles this AEneas, subsequent to the
capture of Troy, came, as we have remarked, to Italy and the Latins. He
landed near Laurentum, called also Troy, near the River Numicius along
with his own son by Creusa, Ascanius or Ilus. There his followers ate
their tables, which were of parsley or of the harder portions of bread
loaves (they had no real tables), and likewise a white sow leaped from
his boat and running to the Alban mount, named from her, gave birth to a
litter of thirty, by which she indicated that in the thirtieth year his
children should get fuller possession of both land and sovereignty. As
he had heard of this beforehand from an oracle he ceased his
wanderings, sacrificed the sow, and prepared to found a city. Latinus
would not put up with him, but being defeated in war gave AEneas his
daughter Lavinia in marriage. AEneas then founded a city and called it
Lavinium. When Latinus and Thurnus, king of the Rutuli, perished in war
each at the other's hands, AEneas became king. After AEneas had been
killed in war at Laurentum by the same Rutuli and Mezentius the
Etruscan, and Lavinia the wife of AEneas was pregnant (of Silvius
[Footnote: Reimar thinks this word a later interpolation.]), Ascanius
the child of Creusa was king. He finally conquered Mezentius, who had
opposed him in war and had refused to receive his embassies but sought
to command all the dependents of Latinus for an annual tribute. When the
Latins had grown strong because of the arrival of the thirtieth year,
they scorned Lavinium and founded a second city named from the sow Alba
Longa, i. e. "long white,"--and likewise called the mountain there
Albanus. Only, the images from Troy turned back a second time to
Lavinium.
After the death of Ascanius it was not Ascanius's son Iulus who became
king, but AEneas's son by Lavinia, Silvius,--or, according to some
Ascanius's son Silvius. Silvius again begat another AEneas, and he
Latinus, and he Capys. Capys had a child Tiberinus, whose son was
Amulius, whose son was Aventinus.
So far regarding Alba and Albanians. The story of Rome follows.
Aventinus begat Numitor and Amulius. Numitor while king was driven out
by Amulius, who killed Numitor's son AEgestes in a hunting party and
made the sister of AEgestes, daughter of the aforesaid Numitor, Silvia
or Rhea Ilia, a priestess of Vesta, so that she might remain a virgin.
He stood in terror of an oracle which foretold his death at the hands
of the children of Numitor. For this reason he had killed AEgestes and
made the other a priestess of Vesta, that she might continue a virgin
and childless. But she while drawing water in Mars's grove conceived,
and bore Romulus and Remus. The daughter of Amulius by supplication
rescued her from being put to death, but the babes she gave to
Faustulus, a shepherd, husband of Laurentia, to expose in the vicinity
of the river Tiber. These the shepherd's wife took and reared up; for
it happened that she had about that time brought forth a still-born
infant.
When Romulus and Remus were grown they kept flocks in the fields of
Amulius, but as they killed some of the shepherds of their grandfather
Numitor a watch was set for them. Remus being arrested, Romulus ran
and told Faustulus, and he ran to narrate everything to Numitor.
Finally Numitor recognized them to be his own daughter's children.
They with the assistance of many persons killed Amulius, and after
bestowing the kingdom of Alba on their grandfather Numitor themselves
made a beginning of founding Rome in the eighteenth year of Romulus's
life. Prior to this great Rome, which Romulus founded on the Palatine
mount about the dwelling of Faustulus, another Rome in the form of a
square had been founded by a Romulus and Remus older than these.
(Is. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1232. Consequently Dio must have written
what is found in Zonaras 7, 3 [vol. II, p. 91, 7-10:]) "Romulus has
been described as eighteen years old when he joined in settling Rome.
He founded it around the dwelling of Faustulus. The place had been
named Palatium."
3. I have related previously at some length the story how AEneas
founded Lavinium, though these ignorant persons say Rome. See how
_they_ tell the story. AEneas received an oracle to found the city on
the spot where his companions should devour their own tables. Now when
they came to Italy and were in want of tables they used loaves instead
of tables. Finally they ate also the tables--or the loaves. AEneas,
consequently, understanding the oracle founded there the Lavinian
city, even if the ignorant do say Rome. (Is. Tzetz. on Lycophr. 1250.)
(Cp. Frag. III, 4.)
4. ¶Rome is part of the Latin country and the Latins have the same
name as Latinus, who is said to be the son of Odysseus and Circe, and
the Tiber, once called Albulus, received its change of name from the
fact that King Tiberius lost his life in it; this is proclaimed by
Dio's history among others. The Tiberius here meant by the history is
not the one subsequent to Augustus, but another who came earlier. He,
they say, died in battle and was carried away by the stream, and so
left his own name to the river. (Eustathius on Dionysius, 350.)
5. Arceisius--Laertes was a son of Arceisius who was so called either
from [Greek: arkeo arkeso] [Footnote: These are the first two principal
parts of a Greek verb meaning "to be sufficient."] as if he were able
merely to be sufficient ([Greek: eparkeo]), whence comes the epithet
[Greek: podarkaes] (sufficient with the feet) or else because an _arkos_
or _arktos_ (bear) suckled him, just as some one else was suckled by a
horse or goat, and still others by a wolf, among whom were also the
Roman chiefs (according to Dio),--Remus, that is to say, and Romulus,
whom a wolf (lykaina) suckled, called by the Italians _lupa_; this name
has been aptly used metaphorically as a title for the _demi-monde_.
(Eustathius on the Odyssey, p. 1961, 13-16.)
[Frag. IV]
1. [Lacuna] [lacuna] (for it is not possible that one who is a mortal
should either foresee everything, or find a way to turn aside what is
destined to occur) children to punish his wrongdoing were born
[infinitive] of that maiden. [Footnote: I.e., Rhea Sylvia.] (Mai, p.
136.)
2. ¶Romulus and Remus, by their quarrel together, made it plain that
some can bear dangers straight through life altogether more easily
than good fortune. (Mai, p. 136.)
3. On Romulus and Remus Dionysius of Halicarnassus makes remarks in
his History, and so do Dio and Diodorus. (Scholia of Io. Tzetzes in
Exeg. Hom. II. p. 141, 20.)
4. After they had set about the building of the city a dispute arose
between the brothers regarding the sovereignty and regarding the city,
and they got into a conflict in which Remus was killed. (Zonaras, 7,
3, vol. II, p-90, 7 sqq.) (Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
5. Whence also the custom arose that he who dared to cross the trench
of the camp otherwise than by the usual paths should be put to death.
(Zonaras, ib., p. 90, 16-18.)
6. They themselves [Footnote: The Caeninenses, Crustumini, and
Antemnates are meant (Bekker).--Compare Livy, I, 10, 11.] learned well
and taught others the lesson that those who take vengeance on others are
not certainly right merely because the others have previously done
wrong, and that those who make demands on stronger men do not
necessarily get them, but often lose the rest besides. (Mai, p. 136.)
7. ¶Hersilia and the rest of the women of her kin on discovering them
one day drawn up in opposing ranks ran down from the Palatine with
their little children (children had already been born), and rushing
suddenly into the space between the armies aroused much pity by their
words and their actions. Looking now at the one side and now at the
other they cried: "Why, fathers, do you do this? Why, husbands, do you
do it? When will you stop fighting? When will you stop hating each
other? Make peace with your sons-in-law! Make peace with your
fathers-in-law! For Pan's sake spare your children, for Quirinus's
sake your grandchildren! Pity your daughters, pity your wives! For if
you refuse to make peace and some bolt of madness has fallen upon your
heads to drive you to frenzy, then kill at once us, the causes of
your contention, and slay at once the little children whom you hate,
that with no longer any name or bond of kinship between you you may
gain the greatest of evils--to slay the grandsires of your children
and the fathers of your grandchildren." As they said this they tore
open their garments and exposed their breasts and abdomens, while some
pressed themselves against the swords and others threw their children
against them. Moved by such sounds and sights the men began to weep,
so that they desisted from battle and came together for a conference
there, just as they were, in the _comitium_, which received its name
from this very event. (Mai, p. 137.)
8. Tribous Trittys; or a third part. Romulus's heavy-armed men, three
thousand in number (as Dio tells us in the first book of his History),
were divided into three sections called _tribous_, i. e. trittyes,
which the Greeks also termed "tribes." Each trittys was separated into
ten _Curiae_ or "thinking bodies"--_cura_ meaning thoughtfulness--and
the men who were appointed to each particular _curia_ came together
and thought out the business in hand.
Among the Greeks the _curiae_ are called _phratriae_ and
_phatriae_--in other words _associations, brotherhoods unions,
guilds_--from the fact that men of the same _phratry phrased_ or
revealed to one another their own intentions without scruple or fear.
Hence fathers or kinsmen or teachers are _phrators_,--those who share
in the same _phratry_. But possibly it was derived from the Roman word
_frater_, which signifies "brother." (--Glossar. Nom. Labbaei.)
9. (And he named the people _populus_.) Hence in the Law Books the
popular assembly has the name _popularia_. (Zonaras 7, 3 (vol. 11, p.
91, 17 and 18.) Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
10. She [i. e. Tarpeia] having come down for water was seized and
brought to Tatius, and was induced to betray the fathers. (Zonaras,
ib., p. 93, 15-17.)
11. It is far better for them [senate-houses?] to be established anew
than having existed previously to be named over. (Mai, p. 137.)
12. ¶Romulus assumed a rather harsh attitude toward the senate and
behaved toward it rather like a tyrant, and the hostages of the Veientes
he returned [Footnote: Mai supplies the missing verb.] on his own
responsibility and not by common consent, as was usually done. When he
perceived them vexed at this he made a number of unpleasant remarks,
and finally said: "I have chosen you, Fathers, not for the purpose of
your ruling me, but that I might give directions to you." (Mai, p. 138.)
[What is said of Romulus in John of Antioch, Frag. 32 (Mueller) to
have been drawn from the extant books of Dio. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_
XIV.]
13. Dio I: "Thus by nature, doubtless, mankind will not endure to be
ruled by what is similar and ordinary partly through jealousy, partly
through contempt of it." [Footnote: This is probably a remark in regard
to the quarrels of the Roman elders over the kingdom after the death of
Romulus.--Compare Livy. I, 17.] (--Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 15.)
14. Dio in I: "What time he threw both body and soul into the balance,
encountering danger in your behalf." [Footnote: Perhaps a reference to
the father of Horatius defending his son, or even to Romulus.] (Ib. p.
165, 27.)
[Frag. V] 1. Romulus had a crown and a sceptre with an eagle on the
top and a white cloak reaching to the feet striped with purple
embroideries from the shoulders to the feet: the name of the cloak was
toga, i. e. "covering," from _tegere_ the corresponding verb (this is
the word the Romans use for "cover") and a purple shoe which was
called _cothurnus_, as Cocceius says. (Io. Laur. Lydus, De Magis.
Reip. Rom. 1, pp. 20-22.)
Therefore the words of Zonaras II, p. 96, 5, may be attributed to Dio:
"(Romulus) also used red sandals."
2. "Shedding ashes from the hearth over the earth, they skillfully
traced the prophesies with this wand, as they gazed at the sun and
foretold the future. This wand Plutarch terms _lituos_, but _lituoi_
is what Cocceianus Cassius Dio says." (Io. Tzetzes, Alleg. Iliadis 1,
28.)
3. Numa dwelt on a hill called Quirinal, because he was a Sabine, but
he had his official residence in the Sacred Way and used to spend his
time near the temple of Vesta and sometimes even remained on the spot.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
4. For since he understood well that the majority of mankind hold in
contempt what is of like nature and consorts with them through a
feeling that it is no better than themselves, but cultivate what is
obscure and foreign as being superior, because they believe it divine,
he dedicated a certain lot of land to the Muses [lacuna] (Mai, p. 138.)
5. ¶The gods, as guardians of peace and justice, must be pure of
murder; and not listen to or look at anything pertaining to divinity
in a cursory or neglectful manner, but must exist enjoying leisure
from other affairs and fixing their attention on the practice of piety
as the most important act.--Zonaras, 7, 5 (vol. II, p. 100).
6. Dio, Book I: "This, then, is what Numa thought" (Bekker, Anecd. p.
158, 23.)
7. Furthermore, also, that they became composed at that time through
their own efforts, and took the sacred oath; after which they
themselves continued at peace both with one another and with the
outside tribes throughout the entire reign of Numa, and they seemed to
have lighted upon him by divine guidance no less than in the case of
Romulus. Men who know Sabine history best declare that he was born on
the same day that Rome was founded. In this way, because of both them
the city quickly became strong and well adorned: for the one gave it
practice in warfare,--of necessity, since it was but newly
founded,--and the other taught it besides the art of peace, so that it
was equally distinguished in each of these two particulars. (Valesius,
p. 569.)
8. Dio the Roman says that Janus, an ancient hero, because of his
entertainment of Saturn, received the knowledge of the future and of
the past, and that on this account he was represented with two faces
by the Romans. From him the month of January was named, and the
beginning of the year comes in the same month. (Cedrenus, Vol. 1, p.
295, 10, Bekker.)
9. Book 1, Dio:--"For in some beginnings, when grasping at ends, the
costs that we endure are not unwelcome." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 161, 3.)
10. (Numa) having lived for a period of three more than eighty years,
and having been king forty and three years.--Zonaras, 7, 5. (Cp.
Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
[Frag. VI]
1. Dio, Book 2: "that their [Footnote: Probably refers to the people of
Alba.] reputation would stand in the way of their growth." (Bekker,
Anecd., p. 139, 12.)
2. ¶Neither of the two [Tullus or Mettius] sanctioned the removal, but
both championed their own pretensions. For Tullus in view of the report
about Romulus and the power they possessed was elated and so was
Fufetius in view of the age of Alba and because it was the mother city
not only of the Romans themselves but of many others; and both felt no
little pride. For these reasons they withdrew from that dispute but
plunged into a new quarrel about the sovereignty: for they saw that it
was impossible [Footnote: Refers to the Romans.] to keep them free from
party feeling, dwelling with them in safety on fair terms; and this was
due to the inherent disposition of men to quarrel with their equals, and
to desire to rule others. Many claims also regarding this they preferred
against each other, to see if by any means the one party would
voluntarily concede either of the two favors to the other. They
accomplished nothing, but formed a compact to struggle in her behalf.
(Mai, p. 139.)
3. Dio, Book 2.--"and attacking them who expected no further danger."
(Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 15.)
4. ¶Tullus was deemed most able against the enemy, but absolutely
despised and neglected religion until, during the recurrence of a
plague, he himself fell sick. Then, indeed, he paid the strictest
regard to all the gods, and furthermore established the Salii Collini.
(Valesius, p. 569.)
[Frag. VII]
¶Marcius, comprehending how it is not sufficient for men who wish to
remain at peace to refrain from wrongdoing, and that refusing to
molest others, without active measures, is not a means of safety, but
the more one longs for it the more vulnerable does one become to the
mass of mankind, changed his course. He saw that a desire for quiet
was not a power for protection unless accompanied by equipment for
war: he perceived also that delight in freedom from foreign broils
very quickly and very easily ruined men who were unduly enthusiastic
over it. For this reason he thought that war was nobler and safer,
both as a preparation and as forethought, than was peace, and so
whatever he was unable to obtain from the Latins with their consent,
and without harming them, he took away against their will by means of
a military expedition. (Mai, p. 139.)
[Frag. VIII]
¶Tarquinius, by using wealth, knowledge, and great wit opportunely
everywhere, put Marcius in such a frame of mind than he was enrolled
by the latter among the patricians and among the senators, was often
appointed general and was entrusted with the guardianship of his
children and of the kingdom. He was no less agreeable to the rest, and
consequently ruled them with their consent. The reason was that while
he took all measures from which he might derive strength he did not
lose his head, but though among the foremost humbled himself. Any
laborious tasks he was willing to undertake openly in the place of
others, but in pleasure he willingly made way for others while he
himself obtained either nothing or but little, and that unnoticed. The
responsibility for what went well he laid upon any one sooner than
upon himself and placed the resulting advantages within the reach of
the public for whoever desired them, but more unsatisfactory issues he
never laid to the charge of any one else, nor attempted to divide the
blame. Besides, he favored all the friends of Marcius individually
both by deeds and by words. Money he spent without stint and was ready
to offer his services if any one wanted anything of him. He neither
said nor did anything mean against any one, and did not fall into
enmity with any one if he could help it. Furthermore, whatever
benefits he received from any persons he always exaggerated, but
unpleasant treatment he either did not notice at all or minimized it
and regarded it is of very slight importance: not only did he refuse
to take offensive measures in return, but he conferred kindnesses
until he won the man over entirely. This gained him a certain
reputation for cleverness, because he had mastered Marcius and all the
latter's followers, but through subsequent events he caused the
majority of men to be distrusted, either as being deceitful by nature
or as changing their views according to their own influence and
fortunes. (Valesius, p. 570.)
[Frag. IX]
Second Book of Dio: "As there was nothing in which they did not yield
him obedience." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 19.)
[Frag. X] 1. Dio, Book 2.--"Because his brother did not cooperate
with him he secretly put him out of the way by poison through the
agency of his wife." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 17. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 9.)
2. ¶Tarquinius, when he had equipped himself sufficiently to reign over
them even if they were unwilling, first arrested the most powerful
members of the senate and next some of the rest, and put to death many
publicly, when he could bring some real charge against them, and many
besides secretly, while some he banished. Not merely because some of
them loved Tullius more than him, nor because they had family, wealth,
intelligence, and displayed conspicuous bravery and distinguished wisdom
did he destroy them, out of jealousy and out of a suspicion likewise
that their dissimilarity of character must force them to hate him, the
while he defended himself against some and anticipated the attack of
others; no, he slew all his bosom friends who had exerted themselves to
help him get the kingship no less than the rest; for he thought that
impelled by the audacity and fondness for revolution through which they
had obtained dominion for him they might equally well give it to some
one else. So he made away with the best part of the senate and of the
knights and did not appoint to those orders any one at all in place of
the men who had been destroyed: he understood that he was hated by the
entire populace and was anxious to render the classes mentioned
extremely weak through paucity of men. Yes, he even undertook to abolish
the senate altogether, since he believed that every gathering of men and
especially of chosen persons who had some pretence of prestige from
antiquity, was most hostile to a tyrant. But as he was afraid that the
multitude or else his body-guards themselves, in their capacity as
citizens, might by reason of vexation at the change in government
revolt, he refrained from doing this openly, but effected it in a
conveniently outrageous way. He failed to introduce any new member into
the senate to make up the loss, and to those who were left he
communicated nothing of importance. He called the senators together not
to help him in the administration of any important business; no, this
very act was to give them a proof of their littleness, and thereby to
enable him to humiliate and show scorn for them. Most of his business he
carried on by himself or with the aid of his sons, in the first place to
the end that no one else should have any power, and secondly because he
shrank from publishing matters involving his own wrongdoing. He was
difficult of access and hard to accost, and showed such great
haughtiness and brutality toward all alike that he received the nickname
among them of "Proud." Among other decidedly tyrannical deeds of himself
and his children might be mentioned the fact that he once had some
citizens bound naked to some crosses in the Forum and before the
eyes of the citizens, and had them shamefully beaten to death with rods.
This punishment, invented by him at that time, has often been
inflicted. (Valesius, p. 573.)
3. Dio in 2nd Book: "Publicly and by arrangement reviling his father
in many unusual ways on the ground that he was a tyrant and was
forsworn." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 155, 1.)
4. The Sibyl about whom Lycophron is now speaking was the Cumaean, who
died in the time of Tarquin the Proud and left behind three or nine of
her prophetic books. Of these the Romans bought either one or three,
after the Sibyl's servant had destroyed the rest by fire because they
would not give her as much gold as she wanted. This they did later and
bought up either one that was left over or else three, and gave them to
Marcus Acilius to keep. Him they cast alive into the skin of an ox and
put to death because he had given them to be copied: but for the book or
books they dug a hole in the Forum and buried them along with a chest.
(Ioannes Tzetzes, scholia on Lycophr. 1279.)
5. ¶Lucius Junius, a son of Tarquinius's sister, in terror after the
king had killed his father and had moreover taken his property away
from him feigned madness, to the end that he might possibly survive.
For he well understood that every person possessed of sense,
especially when he is of a distinguished family, becomes an object of
suspicion to tyrants. And when once he had started on this plan he
acted it out with great precision, and for that reason was called
Brutus. This is the name that the Latins gave to idiots. Sent along
with Titus and Arruns as if he were a kind of plaything he carried a
staff as a votive offering, he said, to the gods, though it had no
great value so far as anyone could see. (Mai, p. 139.)
6. Dio in Book 2: "After that he was found in the Pythian god's
temple." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 21.)
7. ¶They made sport of the gift [i. e. the staff] of Brutus, and when to
the enquiry of the ambassadors as to who should succeed to the kingdom
of their father the oracle replied that the first to kiss his mother
should hold dominion over the Romans, he kissed the earth, pretending to
have fallen down by accident, for he regarded her as the mother of all
mankind. (Mai, p. 140.)
8. ¶Brutus overthrew the Tarquins for the following reason. During the
siege of Ardea the children of Tarquin were one day dining with Brutus
and Collatinus, since these two were of their own age and relatives;
and they fell into a discussion and finally into a dispute about the
virtue of their wives,--each one giving the preference to his own
spouse. And, as all the women happened to be absent from the camp,
they decided straightaway that night, before they could be announced,
to take horse and ride away to all of them simultaneously. This they
did, and found all engaged in a carousal except Lucretia, wife of
Collatinus, whom they discovered at work on wool. This fact about her
becoming noised abroad led Sextus to desire to outrage her. Perchance
he even felt some love for her, since she was of surpassing beauty;
still it was rather her reputation than her body that he desired to
ruin. He watched for an opportunity when Collatinus was among the
Rutuli, hurried to Collatia, and coming by night to her house as that
of a kinswoman obtained both food and lodging. At first he tried to
persuade her to grant her favors to him, but as he could not succeed
he attempted force. When he found he could make no progress by this
means either, he devised a plan by which in the most unexpected way he
compelled her to submit voluntarily to be debauched. To his
declaration that he would cut her throat she paid no attention, and
his statement that he would make away with one of the servants she
listened to in contempt. When, however, he threatened to lay the body
of the servant beside her and spread the report that he had found them
sleeping together and killed them he was no longer to be resisted: and
she, fearing it might be believed that this had so happened, chose to
yield to him and die after giving an account of the affair rather than
lose her good name in perishing at once. For this reason she did not
refuse to commit adultery, but afterward she made ready a dagger
beneath the pillow and sent for her husband and her father. As soon as
they had come she shed many tears, then spoke with a sigh: "Father, I
utter your name because I have disgraced it less than my husband's.
It is no honorable deed I have done this last night, but Sextus forced
me, threatening to kill me and a slave together and pretend he had
found me sleeping with the man. This threat compelled me to sin, to
prevent you from believing that such a thing had taken place. And I,
because I am a woman, will treat my case as becomes me: but do you, if
you are men and care for your wives and for your children, avenge me,
free yourselves, and show the tyrants what manner of creatures you are
and what manner of woman they have outraged." Having spoken to this
effect she did not wait for any reply but immediately drawing the
dagger from its hiding place stabbed herself. (Valesius, p. 574.)
9. Dio, Second Book: "And he [Footnote: Van Herweiden's reading is the
one adopted in this doubtful passage.] went outside of Roman territory
making frequent trials of neighboring peoples." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164,
25.)
1. ¶All crowds of people judge measures according to the men who
direct them, and of whatever sort they ascertain the men to be, they
believe that the measures are of the same sort. (Mai, p. 140.)
[Frag. XI]
2. Every one prefers the untried to the well known, attaching great
hope to the uncertain in comparison with what has already gained his
hatred. (Ib.)
3. All changes are very dangerous, and especially do those in
governments work the greatest and most numerous evils to both
individuals and state. Sensible men, therefore, decide to remain under
the same forms continually, even if they be not very good, rather than
by changing to have now one, now another, and be continually
wandering. (Ib.)
4. Dio, 2nd Book: "When he had learned this he accordingly both came
to them the following day [lacuna]" (Bekker, Anecd., p. 178, 20.)
5. In 3rd Book of Dio: "Whose father also ruled you blamelessly."
(Ib., p. 120, 24.)
6. Dio's 3rd Book: "Of the fact that he loves you, you could get no
greater proof than his eagerness to live in your midst and his action
in having his possessions long since brought here." (Ib., p. 139, 26,
and p. 164, 28.)
7. Dio's 3rd Book: "How would it pay any one to do this?" (Ib, p.
155,14.)
8. Dio's 3rd Book: "As Romulus also enjoined upon us." (Ib., p. 139,
29.)
9. ¶Every person comes to possess wishes and desires according to his
fortune and whatever his circumstances be, of like nature are also the
opinions he acquires. (Mai, p. 141.)
10. ¶The business of kingship, more than any other, demands not merely
virtue, but also great understanding and intelligence, and it is not
possible without these qualities for the man who takes hold of it to
show moderation. Many, for example, as if raised unexpectedly to some
great height, have not endured their elevation, but startled from
their senses have fallen and made failures of themselves and have
shattered all the interests of their subjects. (Mai, ib.)
11. With regard to the future form a judgment from what they have
done, but do not be deceived by what they as suppliants falsely
pretend. Unholy deeds proceed in every case from a man's real purpose,
but any one may concoct creditable phrases. Hence judge from what a
man has done, not from what he says he will do. (Mai, ib.)
12. 3rd Book of Dio: "It is done not merely by the actual men who rule
them, but also by those who share the power with those rulers."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.130, 23, and p.164, 32.)
In the preceding fragment we have, apparently, some comment of Dio
himself on the change in the Roman government (from monarchy to
republic) together with scraps of two speeches,--namely, that of the
envoys of Tarquinius to the Roman people, and that of Brutus in reply.
[Frag. XII]
1. ¶Valerius, the colleague of Brutus, although he had proved himself
the most democratic of men came near being murdered in short order by
the multitude: they suspected him, in fact, of being eager to become
sole sovereign. They would have slain him, indeed, had he not quickly
anticipated their action by courting their favor. He entered the
assembly and bent the rods which he had formerly used straight, and
took away the surrounding axes that were bound in with them. After he
had in this way assumed an attitude of humility, he kept a sad
countenance for some time and shed tears: and when he at last managed
to utter a sound, he spoke in a low fearful voice with a suggestion of
a quaver. [The general subject is speechmaking.] (Mai, p. 141.)
2. On account of whom (plur.) also [Collatinus] was enraged.
Consequently Brutus so incited the populace against him that they came
near slaying him on the spot. They did not quite do this, however, but
compelled him to resign without delay. They chose as colleague to the
consul in his place Publius Valerius, who had the additional title of
Poplicola. This appellation translated into Greek signifies "friend of
the people" or "most democratic." (Zonaras, 7, 12. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_
XIV.)
[Frag. XIII]
¶The temple of Jupiter was dedicated by Horatius, as determined by
lot, although Valerius made the declaration that his son was dead, and
arranged to have this news brought to him during the very performance
of his sacred office, with the purpose that Horatius under the blow of
the misfortune and because in general it was impious for any one in
grief to fulfill the duties of priest, should yield to him the
dedication of the structure. The other did not refuse credence to the
report--for it was noised abroad by many trustworthy persons--yet he
did not surrender his ministry: on the contrary, after bidding some
men to leave unburied the body of his son, as if it were a stranger's,
in order that he might seem unconcerned regarding the rites due to it,
he then performed all the necessary ceremonies. (Valesius, p.577.)
[Frag. XIV]
1. (Tarquinius continued to supplicate Klara Porsina.) (Zonaras, 7,
12. Cp. Tzetz. Hist. 6, 201. Plutarch, Poplic. 16, has "Lara
Porsina.")
2. Dio in 4th Book: "But they overran the Roman territory and harried
everything up to the wall." (Bekker, Anecd. p.152, 3 and 1.) 3.
Larta Porsenna, an Etruscan, or, perhaps, Klara Porsenna, was
proceeding against Rome with a great army. But Mucius, a noble Roman
soldier, after equipping himself in arms and dress of Etruscans then
started to spy upon them, wishing to kill Porsenna. Beside the latter
at that time was sitting his secretary, who in the Etruscan tongue was
called Clusinus; and Mucius, doubtful which might be the king, killed
Clusinus instead of the king. The man was arrested, and when Porsenna
asked him: "Why in the world did you do this thing? What injury had
you received from him?" the other cried out: "I happen to be not
Etruscan but Roman; and three hundred others of like mind with me who
are now hunting thee to slay thee." This he had spoken falsely; and,
with his right hand thrust into the fire, he gazed on Porsenna as
though another were suffering: and when the prince enquired: "Why do
you look fixedly upon us?" he said: "Reflecting how I erred in failing
to slay thee and in thy stead killed one whom I thought Porsenna." And
when Porsenna exclaimed: "You shall now become my friend!" Mucius
rejoined: "If thou becom'st a Roman." Porsenna admiring the man for
his uprightness becomes a friend to the Romans and checks the tide of
battle. (Tzetzes, Chiliades, VI, 201-223.)
(Cp. Scholia on John Tzetzes's Letters in Cramer's Anecd. Oxon., vol.
III, p.360, 30: "Clusinus was the name of Porsenna's secretary,
according to what Dio says"; and Zonaras, 7, 12: "Drawing his sword he
killed his secretary, who was sitting beside him and was similarly
arrayed.")
4. Dio's 4th Book: "And he [Footnote: Porsenna.] presented to the maiden
[Footnote: Claelia] both arms (or so some say) and a horse." (Bekker,
Anecd. p.133, 8.)
5. After this the Tarquins endeavored on several occasions, by forming
alliances with tribes bordering on Roman dominions, to recover the
kingdom; but they were all destroyed in the battles save the sire,
who, moreover, was called Superbus (or, as a Greek would say, Proud).
Subsequently he found his way to Cyme of Opicia and there died. Thus
the careers of the Tarquins reached a conclusion. And after their
expulsion from the kingdom consuls, as has been stated, were chosen by
the Romans. One of these was Publius Valerius, who became consul four
times,--the one to whom also the name Poplicola was applied. (Zonaras
7, 12 sq. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)
6. And the management of the funds they assigned to others in order
that the men holding the consular office might not possess the great
influence that would spring from their having the revenues in their
power. Now for the first time "stewards" began to be created and they
called them _quaestors_. These in the first place tried capital cases,
from which fact they have obtained this title,--on account of their
_questionings_ and on account of their search for truth as the result
of _questionings_. But later they acquired also management of the
public funds and received the additional name of Stewards ([Greek:
tamiai]). After a time the courts were delivered over to different
persons, while these officials were managers of the funds. (Zonaras 7,
13. Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_, XIV.)
7. Dio's 4th Book: "And they provided them [Footnote: Probably a
reference to the quaestors.] with separate titles besides in general
making very different provision for them in the different cases."
(Bekker, Anecd. p.133, 16.)
8. Dio in 5th Book: "The lords filling them with hope on certain
points." (Ib. p.140, 10.)
9. Dio in 5th Book: "With this accordingly he honored him." (Ib.
p.175, 19.)
[Frag. XV]
¶To a large extent success consists in planning secretly, acting at the
opportune moment, following one's own counsel somewhat, and in having no
chance to fall back upon any one else, but being obliged to take upon
one's self the responsibility for the issue, however it turns out.
[Footnote: Fragment XV may perhaps be a comment on dictatorships.]
(Mai, p.142.)
[Frag. XVI]
1. They had recourse to civil strife. And the reason is plain. Those
whose money gave them influence desired to surpass their inferiors in
all respects as though they were their sovereigns, and the weaker
citizens, sure of their own equal rights, were unwilling to obey them
even in some small point. The one class, insatiate of freedom, sought
to enjoy the property of the other; and this other, uncontrolled in
its pride of place, to enjoy the fruits of the former's labors. So it
was that they sundered their former relations, wherein they were wont
harmoniously to assist each other with mutual profit, and no longer
made distinctions between foreign and native races. Indeed, both
disdained moderation, and the one class set its heart upon an extreme
of dominion, the other upon an extreme of resistance to voluntary
servitude; consequently they missed the results accomplished by their
previous allied efforts and inflicted many striking injuries, partly
in defence against each other's movements and partly by way of
anticipating them. More than all the rest of mankind they were at
variance save in the midst of particularly threatening dangers that
they incurred in the course of successive wars,--wars due chiefly to
their own dissensions; and for the sake of the respite many prominent
men on several occasions brought on these conflicts purposely. This,
then, was the beginning of their suffering more harm from each other
than from outside nations. And the complexion of their difficulties
inspires me to pronounce that it was impossible that they should be
deprived of either their power or their sway, unless they should lose
it through their own contentions. (Mai, ib.)
2. They were especially irritated that the senators were not of the
same mind after obtaining something from them as they were while
requesting it, but after making them numbers of great promises while
in the midst of danger failed to perform the slightest one of them
when safety had been secured. (Mai, p.143.)
3. So to the end that they might not fight in a compact mass, but each
division struggle separately for its own position and so become easier
to handle, they divided the army. [Footnote: Cp. Livy, II, 30.] (Ib.)
4. ¶The populace, as soon as Valerius the dictator became a private
citizen, began a most bitter contest, going so far even as to overturn
the government. The well-to-do classes insisted, in the case of debts,
upon the very letter of the agreement, refusing to abate one iota of
it, and so they both failed to secure its fulfillment and came to be
deprived of many other advantages; they had failed to recognize the
fact that an extreme of poverty is the heaviest of curses and that the
desperation which results from it is, especially if shared by a large
number of persons, very difficult to combat. This is why not a few
politicians voluntarily choose the course which is expedient in
preference to that which is absolutely just. Justice is often worsted
in an encounter with human nature and sometimes suffers total
extinction, whereas expediency, by parting with a mere fragment of
justice, preserves the greater portion of it intact.
Now the cause of most of the troubles that the Romans had lay in the
unyielding attitude adopted by the more powerful class toward its
inferiors. Many remedies were afforded them against delays in payment
of debts, one of which was that in case it happened that several
persons had been lending to anybody, they had authority to divide his
body piecemeal according to the proportionate amounts that he was
owing. Yet, however much this principle had been declared legal, still
it had surely never been put into practice. For how could a nation
have proceeded to such lengths of cruelty when it frequently granted
to those convicted of some crime a refuge for their preservation and
allowed such as were thrust from the cliffs of the Capitoline to live
in case they should survive the experience? (Mai, p.143. Cp. Zonaras.
7, 14.)
5. ¶Those who were owing debts took possession of a certain hill and
having placed one Gaius at their head proceeded to secure their food
from the country as from hostile territory, thereby demonstrating that
the laws were weaker than arms, and justice than their desperation.
The senators being in terror both that this party might become more
estranged and that the neighboring tribes in view of the crisis might
join in an attack upon them proposed terms to the rebels offering
everything that they hoped might please them. The seceders at first
were for brazening it out, but were brought to reason in a remarkable
way. When they kept up a series of disorderly shouts, Agrippa, one of
the envoys, begged them to hearken to a fable and having obtained
their consent spoke as follows. Once all the Members of Man began a
contention against the Belly, saying that they worked and toiled
without food or drink, being at the beck and call of the Belly in
everything, whereas it endured no labor and alone got its fill of
nourishment. And finally they voted that the Hands should no longer
convey aught to the Mouth nor the latter receive anything, to the end
that the Belly might so far as possible come to lack both food and
drink and so perish. Now when this measure was determined and put into
execution, at first the entire body began to wither away and next it
collapsed and gave out. Accordingly, the members through their own
evil state grew conscious that the Belly was the salvation of them and
restored to it its nourishment.
On hearing this the multitude comprehended that the abundance of the
prosperous also supports the condition of the poor; therefore they
showed greater mildness and accepted a reconciliation on being granted
a release from their debts and from seizures therefor. This then, was
voted by the senate. (Mai, p.144. Cp. Zonaras 7, 14.) The account of
John of Antioch, frag. 46 (Mueller, fr. hist gr. IV, p.556) regarding
this secession of the plebs seems to have been taken from intact books
of Dio. (Cp. Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV, p.44, note 1; also G. Sotiriadis,
Zur Kritik des Johannes von Antiochia, Supplem. annal. philol. vol.
XVI, p.50.)
6. And it seemed to be most inconsistent with human conditions, and to
many others also, some willingly, some unwillingly [lacuna]
¶Whenever many men gathered in a compact body seek their own
advantage by violence, for the time being they have some equitable
agreement and display boldness, but later they become separated and
are punished on various pretexts. (Mai, p.146. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 15.)
7. Through the tendency, natural to most persons, to differ with their
fellows in office (it is always difficult for a number of men to
attain harmony, especially in a position of any influence)--through
this natural tendency, then, all their power was dissipated and torn
to shreds. None of their resolutions was valid in case even one of
them opposed it. They had originally received their office for no
other purpose than to resist such as were oppressing their
fellow-citizens, and thus he who tried to prevent any measure from
being carried into effect was sure to prove stronger than those who
supported it. (Mai, ib. Cp. Zonaras 7, 15.)
[Frag. XVII]
1. For it is not easy for a man either to be strong at all points or
to possess excellence in both departments,--war and peace,--at once.
Those who are physically strong are, as a rule, weak-minded and
success that has come in unstinted measure generally does not
luxuriate equally well everywhere. This explains why after having
first been exalted by the citizens to the foremost rank he was not
much later exiled by them, and how it was that after making the city
of the Volsci a slave to his country he with their aid brought his own
land in turn into an extremity of danger. (Mai, p. 146. Cp. Zonaras
7,16.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 491 (_a.u._ 263)] 2. ¶The same man wished to be made
praetor, and upon failing to secure the office became angry at the
populace; and in his displeasure at the great influence of the tribunes
he employed greater frankness in speaking to that body than was
attempted by others whose deeds entitled them to the same rank as
himself. A severe famine occurring at the same time that a town Norba
needed colonizing, the multitude censured the powerful classes on both
these points, maintaining that they were being deprived of food and were
being purposely delivered into the hands of enemies for manifest
destruction. Whenever persons come to suspect each other, they take
amiss everything even that is done in their behalf, and yield wholly to
their belligerent instincts. Coriolanus had invariably evinced contempt
for the people, and after grain had been brought in from many sources
(most of it sent as a gift from princes in Sicily) he would not allow
them to receive allotments of it as they were petitioning. Accordingly,
the tribunes, whose functions he was especially eager to abolish,
brought him to trial before the populace on a charge of aiming at
tyranny and drove him into exile. It availed nothing that all his peers
exclaimed and expressed their consternation at the fact that tribunes
dared to pass such sentences upon _their_ order. So on being expelled he
betook himself, raging at his treatment, to the Volsci, though they had
been his bitterest foes. His valor, of which they had had a taste, and
the wrath that he cherished toward his fellow-citizens gave him reason
to expect that they would receive him gladly, since they might hope,
thanks to him, to inflict upon the Romans injuries equal to what they
had endured, or even greater. When one has suffered particular damage at
the hands of any party, one is strongly inclined to believe in the
possibility of benefit from the same party in case it is willing and
also able to confer favors. (Mai, p.147. Cp. Zonaras 7, 16.) 3. For he
was very angry that they, who were incurring danger for their own
country would not even under these conditions withdraw from the
possessions of others. When, accordingly, this news also was brought,
the men did not cease any the more from factional strife. They were,
indeed, so bitterly at variance that they could be reconciled not even
by dangers. But the women, Volumnia the wife of Coriolanus and Veturia
his mother, gathering a company of the other most eminent ladies visited
him in camp and took his children with them; and they caused him to end
the war not only without requiring the submission of the country, but
without even demanding restoration from exile. For he admitted them at
once as soon as he learned they were there, and granted them a
conversation, the course of which was as follows. While the rest wept
without speaking Veturia began: "Why are you surprised, my child? Why
are you startled? We are not deserters, but the country has sent to you,
if you should yield, your mother and wife and children, if otherwise,
your spoil; hence, if even now you still are angry, kill us first. Why
do you weep? Why turn away? Can you fail to know how we have just ceased
lamenting the affairs of state, in order that we might see you? Be
reconciled to us, then, and retain no longer your anger against your
citizens, friends, temples, tombs; do not come rushing down into the
city with hostile wrath nor take by storm your native land in which you
were born, were reared, and became Coriolanus, bearer of this great
name. Yield to me, my child, and send me not hence without result,
unless you would see me dead by own hand."
At the end of this speech she sighed aloud, and tearing open her
clothing showed her breasts, and touching her abdomen exclaimed: "See,
my child, this brought you forth, these reared you up." When she had
said this, his wife and the children and the rest of the women joined
in the lament, so that he too was cast into grief. Recovering himself
at length with difficulty he embraced his mother and at the same time
kissing her replied: "Mother, I yield to you. Yours is the victory,
and let the other men, too, bestow their gratitude for this upon you.
For I can not endure even to see them, who after receiving such great
benefits at hands have treated me in such a way. Hence I never even
enter the city. Do you keep the country instead of me, since you have
so wished it, and I will take myself out of the way of you all."
Having spoken thus he withdrew. For through fear of the multitude and
shame before his peers, in that he had made an expedition against them
at all he would not accept even the safe return offered him, but
retired among the Volsci, and there, either as the result of a plot or
from old age, died. (Mai, p.148. Zonaras, 7, 16. Cp. John Tzetzes,
Letters, 6, p.9, 16.)
4. Dio Cocceianus himself and numberless others who have set forth the
deeds of the Romans, tell the story of this Marcus Coriolanus. This
Marcus, as he was formerly called and later Gnaeus, had along with
these the name of Coriolanus. When the Romans were warring against the
city of Coriolanus [_sic_], and had all turned to flight at full
speed, the man himself turned toward the hostile city and finding it
open alone set fire to it. As the flames rose brilliantly he mounted
his horse and with great force fell upon the rear of the barbarians,
who were bringing headlong flight upon the Romans. They wheeled about
and when they saw the fire consuming the city, thinking it was sacked
they fled in another direction. He, having saved the Romans and sacked
the city, which we have already said was called Coriolanus, received,
in addition to his former names Marcus and Gnaeus, the title of
Coriolanus, from the rout. But (the usual treatment that jealousy
accords to benefactors) after a little in the course of reflections
they fine the man. The man excessively afflicted with most just wrath
leaves his wife, his mother, and his country, and goes to the Corioli,
and they receive the man. Then after that they arrayed themselves
against the Romans. And had not his spouse and mother at the breaking
out of that war run and torn apart their tunics and stood about him
naked,--Veturia and Volumnia were their names,--and checked him with
difficulty from the battle against the Romans, Rome would have made a
resolve to honor benefactors. But brought to a halt by the prayers of
his mother and of his spouse he stopped the war against the Romans,
and he himself leaving behind the Corioli and the Romans hurried to
another land, smitten by sorrow. (Tzetzes, Hist. 6, 527-560. Cp.
Haupt, _Hermes_, XIV.)
5. I pass over mention of the noble Marcus Coriolanus, and with Marcus
himself also Marcus Corvinus; of whom the one, having sacked unaided a
city named Coriolanus and burned it down, although the entire army of
the Romans had been routed, was called Coriolanus, though otherwise
termed Marcus. (Tzetzes, Hist. 3, 856-861.)
[Frag. XVIII]
[Sidenote: B.C. 486 (_a.u._ 268)] Cassius after benefiting the Romans
was put to death by that very people. So that thereby it is made plain
that there is no element deserving confidence in multitudes. On the
contrary they destroy men who are altogether devoted to them no less
than men guilty of the greatest wrongs. With respect to the interest of
the moment on various occasions they deem those great who are the cause
of benefits to them, but when they have profited to the full by such
men's services they no longer regard them as having any nearer claims
than bitterest foes. For Cassius, although he indulged them, they killed
because of the very matters on which he prided himself: and it is
manifest that he perished through envy and not as a result of some
injustice committed. (Mai, p.150.)
[Frag. XIX]
1. For the men from time to time in power when they became unable to
restrain them by any other method stirred up purposely wars after wars
in order that they might be kept busy attending to those conflicts and
not disturb themselves about the land. (Mai, ib. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. At any rate they were so inflamed with rage by each of the two as
to promise with an oath victory to their generals: with regard to the
immediate attack they thought themselves actually lords of fortune.
(Mai, p.150.)
3. ¶It is natural for the majority of the human race to quarrel with
any opposing force even beyond what is to its own advantage and upon
those who yield to bestow a benefit in turn even beyond its power.
(Mai, p.151.)
[Frag. XX]
[Sidenote: B.C. 477 (_a.u._ 277)] 1. ¶The Fabii, who on the basis of
birth and wealth made pretensions equal with the noblest, very quickly
indeed saw that they were dejected. For when persons involve themselves
in many undertakings that are at the same time hard to manage, they can
discover no device for confronting the multitude and array of dangers,
and give up as hopeless quite easy projects: after which their sober
judgments and, contrary to what one would expect, their very opinions
cause them to lose heart and they voluntarily abandon matters in hand
with the idea that their labor will be but vain; finally they surrender
themselves to unforseen dispensations of Heaven and await whatever
Chance may bring. (Mai, p.151. Zonaras 7,17.)
2. ¶The Fabii, three hundred and six in number, were killed, by the
Etruscans. Thus the arrogance which arises from confidence in valor is
ofttimes ruined by its very boldness, and the boastfulness which comes
from good fortune runs mad and suffers a complete reverse. (Mai, ib.
Zonaras 7, 17.)
3. For whom (plur.) the Romans grieved, both in private and with
public demonstrations, to a greater degree than the number of the lost
would seem to warrant. That number was not small, especially since it
was composed entirely of patricians, but they further felt, when they
stopped to consider the reputation and the resolute spirit of these
men that all their strength had perished. For this reason they
inscribed among the accursed days that one on which they had been
destroyed and put under the ban the gates through which they had
marched out, so that no magistrate might pass through them. And they
condemned Titus Menenius the praetor,--it was in his year that the
disaster took place,--when he was later accused before the people of
not having assisted the unfortunates and of having been subsequently
defeated in battle. (Valesius, p.578.)
[Frag. XXI]
1. ¶The patricians openly took scarcely any retaliatory measures,
except in a few cases, where they adjured some one of the gods, but
secretly slaughtered a number of the boldest spirits. Nine tribunes on
one occasion were delivered to the flames by the populace. This did
not, however, restrain the rest: on the contrary, those who in turn
held the tribuneship after that occurrence were rather filled with
hope in the matter of their own quarrels than with fear as a result of
the fate of their predecessors. Hence, so far from being calmed, they
were even the more emboldened by those very proceedings. For they put
forward the torture of the former tribunes as a justification of the
vengeance they would take really in their own behalf; and they got
great pleasure out of the idea that they might possibly, contrary to
expectation, survive without harm. The consequence was that some of
the patricians, being unable to accomplish anything in the other way,
transferred themselves to the ranks of the populace: they thought its
humble condition far preferable, considered in the light of their
desire for the tribunician power, to the weakness of their own
ornamental titles,--especially so because many held the office a
second and third and even greater number of times in succession,
although there was a prohibition against any one's taking the position
twice. (Mai, p. 152. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. ¶ The populace was incited to this course by the patricians
themselves. For the policy which the latter pursued with an eye to
their own advantage, that of always having some wars in readiness for
them, so that the people might be compelled by the dangers from
without to practice moderation,--this policy, I say, only rendered the
people bolder. By refusing to go on a campaign unless they obtained
in each instance the objects of their striving and by contending
listlessly whenever they did take the field, they accomplished all
that they desired. Meanwhile, as a matter of fact, not a few of the
neighboring tribes, relying on the dissension of their foes more than
on their own power, kept revolting. (Mai, ib. Zonaras 7, 17.)
[Frag. XXII]
1. ¶The AEqui after capturing Tusculum and conquering Marcus [Footnote:
Other accounts give his name as _Lucius_ or _Quintus_.] Minucius became
so proud that, in the case of the Roman ambassadors whom the latter
people sent to chide them regarding the seizure of the place, they made
no answer at all to the censure but after designating by the mouth of
their general, Cloelius Gracchus, a certain oak, bade them speak to it,
if they desired aught. (Ursinus, p.373. Zonaras 7, 17.)
2. That the Romans on learning that Minucius with some followers had
been intercepted in a low-lying, bushy place elected as dictator
against the enemy Lucius Quintius, in spite of the fact that he was a
poor man and at the time was engaged in tilling with his own hands the
little piece of ground which was his sole possession: for in general
he was the peer in valor of the foremost and was distinguished by his
wise moderation; though he did let his hair grow in curls, from which
practice he received the nickname of Cincinnatus. (Valesius, p.578.
Zonaras 7, 17.)
[Sidenote: B.C. 449 (_a.u._ 305)] 2. ¶Affairs of state and camp alike
were thrown into confusion. For the men under arms in their zealous
eagerness that no success should attend those who held the power
voluntarily surrendered both public and private interests. The other
side, too, took no pleasure in the death of their own members at the
hands of opponents, but themselves likewise destroyed in some convenient
manner many of the most active persons who espoused the cause of the
populace. As a result no small contention arose between them. (Mai,
p.153. Zonaras, 7, 18.)
3. For they [Footnote: This must mean the "military tribunes with
consular powers."]reached such a pitch of emulation and next of jealous
rivalry of one another that they no longer, as the custom had been, all
held office as one body, but each of them individually in turn; and the
consequence was by no means beneficial. Since each one of them had in
view his own profit and not the public weal and was more willing that
the State should be injured, if it so happened, than that his colleagues
should obtain credit, many unfortunate occurrences took place. (Mai,
ib.)
4. ¶Democracy consists not in all winning absolutely the same prizes,
but in every man's obtaining his deserts. [Footnote: Seemingly an excerpt
from a speech of one of the optimates, though possibly a remark by Dio
himself.] (Mai, p.154.)
[Frag. XXIII]
1[lacuna]. to have happened as the law of triumphs enjoins, about which
Dio Cocceianus writes. And if it seems to you an irksome thing to delve
into books of ancient writers, at all events I will explain cursorily,
as best I may, the entertainments pertaining to the triumph. They cause
the celebrator of the triumph to ascend a car, smear his face with earth
of Sinope or cinnabar (representing blood) to screen his blushes, fasten
armlets on his arms, and put a laurel wreath and a branch of laurel in
his right hand. Upon his head they also place a crown of some kind of
wood having inscribed upon it his exploits or his experiences. A public
slave, standing in the back part of the chariot holds up the crown,
saying in his ear: "See also what comes after." Bells and a whip dangle
from the pole of the chariot. Next he runs thrice about the place in a
circle, mounts the stairs on his knees and there lays aside the
garlands. After that he departs home, accompanied by musicians. (Tzetzes
Epist. 107, p. 86.)
[Therefore the following words of Zonaras (7, 21) correspond nearly
with those of Dio, concerning the popular anger against Camillus on
account of his triumph (according to Plutarch's Camillus, Chap.
7).--Editor]
The celebration of the triumphal festivities, which they called
_thriambos_, was of somewhat the following nature. When any great
success, worthy of a triumph, had been gained, the general was
immediately saluted as imperator by the soldiers, and he would bind
twigs of laurel upon the rods and deliver them to the runners to
carry, who announced the victory to the city. On arriving home he
would assemble the senate and ask to have the triumph voted him. And
if he obtained a vote from the senate and from the people, his title
of imperator was confirmed. If he still held the office in the course
of which he happened to be victorious, he continued to enjoy it while
celebrating the festival; but if the term of his office had expired,
he received some other name connected with it, since it was forbidden
a private individual to hold a triumph. Arrayed in the triumphal dress
he took armlets, and with a laurel crown upon his head and holding a
branch in his right hand he called together the people. After praising
his comrades of the campaign he presented some both publicly and
privately with money: he honored them also with decorations, and upon
some he bestowed armlets and spears without the iron; crowns, too, he
gave to some of gold and to others of silver, bearing the name of each
man and the representation of his particular feat. For example, either
a man had been first to mount a wall and the crown bore the figure of
a wall, or he had captured some point by storm, and a likeness of that
particular place had been made. A man might have won a battle at sea
and the crown had been adorned with ships, or one might have won a
cavalry fight and some equestrian figure had been represented. He who
had rescued a citizen from battle or other peril, or from a siege, had
the greatest praise and would receive a crown fashioned of oak, which
was esteemed as far more honorable than all, both the silver and the
gold. And these rewards would be given not only to men singly, as each
had shown his prowess, but were also bestowed upon cohorts and whole
armies. Much of the spoils was likewise assigned to the sharers in the
campaign. Some have been known to extend their distributions even to
the entire populace and have gone to expense for the festival and
obtained public appropriations: if anything was left over, they would
spend it for temples, porticos or for some public work.
After these ceremonies the triumphator ascended his chariot. Now the
chariot did not resemble one used in games or in war, but had been
made in the shape of a round tower. And he would not be alone in the
chariot, but if he had children or relatives he would make the girls
and the infant male children get up beside him in it and place those
who were grown upon the horses, outriggers as well as the yoke-pair.
If these were many, they would accompany the procession on chargers,
riding along beside the triumphator. None of the rest rode, but all
went on foot wearing laurel wreaths. A public servant, however, rode
also upon the chariot itself holding over him the crown made of
precious stones set in gold and kept saying to him "Look behind!", the
"behind" meaning naturally "Look ahead at the ensuing years of life,
and do not be elated or puffed up by your present fortune." Both a
bell and a whip were fastened to the chariot, signifying that it was
possible for him to meet misfortune as well, to the extent of being
disgraced or condemned to death. It was customary for those who had
been condemned to die for any offence to wear a bell, to the end that
no one should approach them as they walked along and so be affected
Back to Full Books
|