Although it was probably not written by Plutarch himself, this entertaining collection of sayings shares his desire to illustrate the character of great men. It contains quotations gathered from the Parallel Lives, as well as many from other sources.
Translated by F.C. Babbitt (1931). Click on ** to go to the translator's footnotes. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. Click on the G symbols to go to the Greek text of each section.
THE ELDER SCIPIO G
1. Scipio the Elder used to spend on literature all the leisure he could win from his military and political duties, and he used to say that he was busiest whenever he had nothing to do. **
2. When he captured Carthago by assault, some of his soldiers, having taken captive a comely maiden, came to him with her, and offered to give her to him. "I would gladly take her," said he, "if I were a private and not a commander." **
3. While he was besieging the city of Baria, ** in which was visible a temple of Venus overtopping all else, he ordered that in giving sureties for appearance they should specify that place, since he purposed two days hence to hear litigants in this temple of Venus. And so he did, as he had foretold, after the city had been taken. **
4. When somebody inquired in Sicily on what he placed his reliance in purposing to take his army across to Carthage, he pointed out to the inquirer three hundred men ** in armour, who were drilling, and also a lofty tower which overlooked the sea. "There is not one of these men," said he, "who would not go up to the top of that tower and throw himself down head first at my command."
5. When he had crossed over, and was master of the land, and had burned the enemy's camps, the Carthaginians sent to him and made a treaty of peace, agreeing to surrender their elephants and ships, and to pay an indemnity. ** But when Hannibal had sailed back from Italy, they were sorry because of their agreement, since they did not now feel afraid. Scipio, learning this, said that, not even if they wished it, would he keep the compact unless they paid five thousand talents more, because they had sent for Hannibal. **
6. When the Carthaginians had been utterly overthrown, they sent envoys to him to negotiate a treaty of peace, but he ordered those who had come to go away at once, refusing to listen to them before they brought Lucius Terentius. This Terentius was a Roman, a man of good talents, who had been taken prisoner by the Carthaginians. And when they came bringing the man, Scipio seated him on the tribune next to himself in the conference, and, this done, he took up the negotiations with the Carthaginians, and terminated the war. **
7. Terentius marched behind him in the triumphal procession, wearing a felt cap just like an emancipated slaved. ** And when Scipio died, Terentius provided wine with honey for all who attended the funeral to drink their fill, and did everything else connected with his burial on a grand scale. But this, of course, was later. **
8. Antiochus the king, after the Romans had crossed over to attack him, sent to Scipio to ask about terms of peace. "This should have been done before," said Scipio, "but not now, when you have taken the bit and the rider is in the saddle." **
9. The Senate voted that he should receive a sum of money from the treasury, but the treasurers were not willing to open it on that day ; whereupon he said that he would open it himself, for the reason it was kept closed, he declared, was because he had filled it with so much money. **
10. When Petillius and Quintus brought before the people many accusations against him, he remarked that on this very day he had conquered the Carthaginians and Hannibal, and he said that he himself, with a garland on, was on his way up to the Capitol to offer sacrifice, and he bade anyone who so wished to give in his vote about him. [197] With these words he went his way, and the people followed after, leaving behind his accusers still speaking. **
TITUS QUINTIUS G
1. Titus Quintius, from the very first, was a man of such conspicuous talent that he was chosen consul without having been tribune, praetor, or aedile. He was sent in command of the army against Philip, and was prevailed upon to meet him in conference. Philip insisted that he ought to receive some Romans as a guarantee of his safety, since Quintius was accompanied by many of his countrymen and he all alone represented the Macedonians. "The truth is," said Quintius, "that it is you who have made yourself all alone by putting to death your friends and kindred." **
2. Having vanquished Philip in battle, ** he proclaimed at the Isthmian games that henceforth he left the Greeks free and independent. ** Whereupon, all the Romans who had been taken captive in the days of Hannibal and were the slaves of Greek masters the Greeks purchased from their owners at twenty pounds for each man, and gave them as a present to Quintius ; and these followed him in his triumphal procession wearing felt caps on their heads as is the custom for slaves that have been emancipated. **
3. When the Achaeans were minded to send an army against the island of the Zacynthians, he bade them beware lest, if they extended their head, tortoise-like, outside of the Peloponnese they should find themselves in danger. **
4. When Antiochus the king, with a great force, arrived in Greece, and all were terror-stricken at the great numbers of the men and their armament, Flamininus told a story for the benefit of the Achaeans as follows : He said he was in Chalcis dining with a friend, and was amazed at the great number of the meats served. But his friend said that these were all pork, differing only in their seasoning and the way they were cooked. " So then," he said, "do not you, either, be amazed at the king's forces when you hear the names : 'pikemen,' 'panoplied,' 'foot-guards,' 'archers with two horses.' For all these are but Syrians differing from one another only in their paraphernalia." **
5. He made a joke at the expense of Philopoemen, general of the Achaeans, who had plenty of horsemen and men-at-arms, but was not well off for money ; Quintius said that Philopoemen had arms and legs but no belly. As a matter of fact, Philopoemen, in physical appearance, was something like this. **
GNAEUS DOMITIUS G
Gnaeus Domitius, whom Scipio the Great appointed in his stead as a colleague for his brother Lucius in the war against Antiochus, when he had inspected the battle-line of the enemy, and the officers of his staff urged him to attack at once, said that there was not time enough to hew down so many thousands, plunder their baggage, return to camp, and enjoy their usual comforts ; but all this they would do on the morrow at the right time. And on the next day he engaged the enemy, and slew fifty thousand of them. **
PUBLIUS LICINIUS G
Publius Licinius, consul in command of the army, was defeated by Perseus, king of the Macedonians, in a cavalry battle, with the loss of two thousand eight hundred men killed or captured. After the battle, when Perseus sent envoys regarding a treaty of peace, the vanquished bade the victor submit his case to the Romans. **
PAULUS AEMILIUS G
1. Paulus Aemilius, when he was a candidate for a second term as consul, failed to be elected. But when the war against Perseus and the Macedonians dragged on because of the inexperience and effeminacy of the generals, the people appointed him consul. But he said he owed no thanks to them ; for it was not because he wanted office, but because they wanted an officer, that he was chosen general. **
2. Coming home from the forum and finding Tertia, his little daughter, in tears, he asked the reason. [198] And she said, "Our Perseus is dead." (It was a pet dog which had that name.) "Good luck be with me, my girl," said he ; "I accept the omen." **
3. Finding at camp much boldness and talk on the part of would-be generals and meddlers, he told them to keep quiet, and only sharpen their swords, and he would attend to everything else. **
4. He gave orders that the sentinels at night should stand guard without spear or sword, so that, with no hope of defending themselves against the enemy, they might better contend against sleep. **
5. Having invaded Macedonia by way of the mountains, and seeing the enemy standing in battle array, he said, in answer to Nasica's urgings to attack at once, "Oh yes, if I were of your age ; but much experience forbids me to fight, immediately after a march, against an army standing in battle array." **
6. Having vanquished Perseus, he said, as he was carrying out the entertainments to celebrate the victory, that it was a part of the same proficiency to provide an army most terrifying to an enemy and a party most agreeable to friends. **
7. Perseus, having been made a prisoner, indignantly spurned the thought of being made a part of his victor's triumph. "That rests with you," said Aemilius, thereby giving him leave to make away with himself. **
8. Of the unlimited treasure which was found he took nothing himself, but to his son-in-law Tubero ** he gave a silver goblet of five pounds weight in recognition of his supreme valour. And this, they say, is the first silver heirloom that ever found its way into the Aelian house. **
9. Of the four male children that were born to him, two he happened to have given to others for adoption. ** Of the two that were at home one died five days before his triumph, at the age of fourteen, and the other five days after the triumph, at the age of twelve. When he went forth, and the people expressed their compassion and sympathy, he said that now he had no fears or misgivings about his country, since Fortune had thrust upon his house the retribution due for all their good fortune, and he had received this in behalf of all. **
CATO THE ELDER G
1. The Elder Cato, in assailing the profligacy and extravagance rife among the people, said that it was hard to talk to a belly which had no ears. **
2. He said he wondered how a city could continue to exist unscathed in which a fish sold for more than an ox ! **
3. In bitter criticism of the prevalent domination of women, he said, "All mankind rules its women, and we rule all mankind, but our women rule us." **
4. He said that he preferred to receive no thanks when he had done a favour rather than to suffer no punishment when he had done a wrong, and that he always granted pardon to all who erred, with the single exception of himself. **
5. In trying to stimulate the officials to administer sharp rebuke to the erring, he used to say that, if those who have the power to discourage crime do not discourage it, then they encourage it. **
6. He said that it gave him more joy to see those of the youth that blushed than those that blanched. **
7. He said that he hated a soldier who plied his hands in marching and his feet in fighting, and whose snore was louder than his battle-cry. **
8. He said that the worst ruler is one who cannot rule himself. **
9. He thought it especially necessary for every man to respect himself, since no man is ever separated from himself.
10. Seeing that statues were being set up in honour of many men, he said, "As for myself, I had rather that men should ask why there is not a statue of Cato than why there is." **
11. He charged those in power to be sparing of their authority, so that authority might continue always to be theirs.
12. He used to say that those who rob virtue of honour rob youth of virtue.
13. An official or a judge, he said, ought neither to require importuning to grant what is right nor to yield to importuning to grant what is wrong.
[199] 14. Wrongdoing, he used to say, even if it brings no risk to its authors, brings risk to all.
15. He used to say that, since there are so many odious things connected with old age, it is only right not to add the odium which comes from vice. **
16. He had an idea that the man who has lost his temper differs from him who has lost his mind only in duration of time. **
17. He said that those who use their good fortune reasonably and moderately are least envied ; for people envy not us but our surroundings.
18. He used to say that those who are serious in ridiculous matters will be ridiculous in serious matters.
19. He used to say that it is necessary to make good deeds secure by means of good deeds, so that they may not fall off in their repute.
20. He used to rebuke the citizens for electing always the same men to office. "For," said he, "you will give the impression that you hold office to be of no great worth, or else that you hold not many men to be worthy of office."
21. He pretended to be amazed at the man who had sold his lands bordering on the sea as being himself stronger than the sea. "For," said he, "what the sea only laps, this man has easily drunk up." **
22. When he was a candidate for the censorship, and saw the other candidates soliciting the populace and flattering them, he himself cried out that the people had need of a stern physician and a thorough cleansing ; they must choose not the most agreeable but the most inexorable man. As a result of his words he was the first choice of the electors. **
23. In instructing the young men to fight boldly, he said that often talk is better than the sword and the voice better than the hand to rout and bewilder the enemy. **
24. When he was waging war against the peoples living by the river Baetis, he was put in great peril by the vast numbers of the enemy. The Celtiberians were ready and willing to come to his aid for two huundred talents, but the other Romans were against agreeing to pay barbarian men. Cato said they were all wrong ; for if they were victorious, the payment would come not from themselves, but from the enemy ; and if they were vanquished there would be no debtors and no creditors. **
25. He captured cities more in number, as he says, than the days he spent among the enemy, yet he himself took nothing from the enemy's country beyond what he ate and drank.
26. He distributed to each soldier a pound of silver, saying it was better that many should return from the campaign with silver than a few with gold. For the officials, he said, ought to accept no other increase in the provinces except the increase of their repute. **
27. He had five persons to wait upon him in the campaign, one of whom bought three of the captives. But when he discovered that Cato knew of it, he did not wait to come before his master, but hanged himself. **
28. He was urged by Scipio Africanus to lend his influence to help the banished Achaeans to return to their homes, but he made as though he cared nothing about the matter ; in the Senate, however, where the subject aroused much discussion, he arose and said, "We sit here as if we had nothing to do, debating about some poor old Greeks whether they shall be carried to their graves by bearers who live in our country or in Greece." **
29. Postumius Albinus wrote a history in the Greek language, in which he craved the indulgence of his readers. Cato said sarcastically that he ought to be granted indulgence if he had written the book under compulsion by a decree of the Ampictyonic Council ! **
1. The Younger Scipio, they say, in the fifty-four years of his life bought nothing, sold nothing, built nothing, and left only thirty-three pounds of silver and two of gold in a great estate. So little he left, in spite of the fact that he was master of Carthage, and was the one among the generals who had made his soldiers richest. **
2. He observed the precept of Polybius, and tried never to leave the forum before he had in some way made an acquaintance and friend of somebody among those who spoke with him. **
[200] 3. While he was still a young man he had such repute for bravery and sagacity that when Cato the Elder was asked about the men in the army at Carthage, of whom Scipio was one, he said, He, and he only, has wisdom ; the rest are but fluttering shadows. **
4. When he came to Rome from a campaign, the people called him to office, ** not by way of showing favour to him, but hoping through him to capture Carthage speedily and easily.
5. After he had passed the outer wall, the Carthaginians stoutly defended themselves in the citadel. He perceived that the sea lying between was not very deep, and Polybius advised him to scatter in it iron balls with projecting points, or else to throw into it planks full of spikes so that the enemy might not cross and attack the Roman ramparts. ** But Scipio said that it was ridiculous, after they were in possession of the walls and well within the city, to endeavour to avoid fighting the enemy. **
6. He found the city full of Greek statues and votive offerings, which had come from Sicily, and so he caused proclamation to be made that the men from those cities who were there might identify them and carry them away. **
7. He would not allow either slave or freedman of his to take anything or even buy anything from the spoil, when everybody was engaged in looting and plundering. **
8. He was active in the support of Gaius Laelius, the dearest of his friends, when he was a candidate for the consulship, and he inquired of Pompeius whether he also was a candidate. (It was reputed that Pompeius was the son of a flute-player.) Pompeius said that he was not a candidate, and offered to take Laelius about with him and help him in his canvass, and they, believing his words and waiting for his co-operation, were completely deceived. For it was reported that Pompeius was himself going about and soliciting the citizens. The others were indignant, but Scipio laughed and said, "It is because of our own stupidity ; for, just as if we were intending to call not upon men but upon gods, we have been wasting any amount of time in waiting for a flute-player !" **
9. When Appius Claudius was his rival for the censorship, and asserted that he greeted all the Romans by name, while Scipio knew hardly one of them, Scipio said, "You are quite right ; for I have not taken such pains to know many as to be unknown to none." **
10. He bade the people, inasmuch as they happened to be waging war against the Celtiberians, to send out both himself and his rival either as legates or tribunes of the soldiers, and take the word and judgement of the fighting men in regard to the valour of each.
11. After he was made censor, he deprived a young knight of his horse because, at the time when war was being waged against Carthage, this young man had given an expensive dinner for which he had ordered an honey-cake to be made in the form of the city, and, calling this Carthage, he set it before the company for them to plunder. When the young man asked the reason why he had been degraded, Scipio said, "Because you plundered Carthage before I did !"
12. Seeing Gaius Licinius coming before him, he said, "I know that this man is guilty of perjury, but, since no one accuses him, I cannot myself be both accuser and judge." **
13. He was sent out by the Senate a third time for the purpose, as Cleitomachus ** says, of
Looking upon men's arrogant acts and their acts of good order, **
that is, as an inspector of cities, peoples, and kings ; and when he arrived at Alexandria and, after disembarking, was walking with his toga covering his head, the Alexandrians quickly surrounded him, and insisted that he uncover and show his face to their yearning eyes. And so he uncovered amid shouting and applause. The king could hardly keep up with them in walking because of his inactive life and his pampering of his body, ** and Scipio whispered softly to Panaetius, [201] "Already the Alexandrians have received some benefit from our visit. For it is owing to us that they have seen their king walk." **
14. His one companion on his travels was a friend Panaetius, a philosopher, and there were five servants. When one of these died in a foreign land, he did not wish to buy another, and so sent for one from Rome. **
15. Inasmuch as the Numantians seemed invincible in battle and had vanquished many generals, the people made Scipio consul the second time for this war. When many were eager to enlist for the campaign, the Senate intervened, on the ground that Italy would be unprotected. Moreover, they would not allow him to take money from what was already on hand, but set aside for his use the revenues from taxes not yet due. Scipio said that he did not need money, for his own and that of his friends would be sufficient ; but in regard to the soldiers he did find fault. ** For he said that the war was a hard war ; if it was owing to the bravery of the enemy that they had been vanquished so many times, then it was hard because it was against such men ; if it was owing to the want of bravery in their own citizens, then it was hard because it must be conducted with such men.
16. When he arrived at the camp, and found there much disorder, licentiousness, superstition, and luxury, he straightway drove out the soothsayers, diviners, and panders, and issued orders to send away all camp-utensils except a pot, a spit, and an earthenware drinking-cup. But he conceded a goblet of silverware of not more than two pounds weight to those who wished to keep such. He forbade bathing, and of those who took a rub-down he required that each man should rub himself, saying that the pack-animals, not being provided with hands, needed somebody to rub them. He also issued orders that the soldiers should eat their luncheon standing, and that it should be something uncooked, but that they might recline at dinner, and this should be bread or porridge simply, and meat roasted or boiled. He himself went about with a black cloak pinned around him, saying that he was in mourning for the disgrace of the army. **
17. He detected in the baggage carried by the pack-animals of Memmius, a military tribune, wine-coolers set with precious stones, the work of Thericles, ** and said to him, "By such conduct you have made yourself useless to me and your country for thirty days, but useless to yourself for your whole lifetime." **
18. When another man showed him a shield beautifully ornamented, he said, "A fine shield, young sir ; but it is more fitting that a Roman rest his hopes in his right hand rather than in his left." **
19. Another carrying a timber for the palisade said that it was awfully heavy. "Very likely," said Scipio, "for you put more trust in this wood than in your sword." **
20. Observing the recklessness of the enemy, he said that he himself was buying security with time ; for a good general, like a physician, needed to operate with steel only as a last resort. ** Nevertheless he attacked at the proper time and routed the Numantians. **
21. When the older men asked the defeated soldiers why they were such cowards as to flee from the men they had so often pursued, one of the Numantians is said to have replied that the sheep were still the same sheep, but another man was their shepherd.
22. After he had captured Numantia and celebrated his second triumph, he had a falling out with Gaius Gracchus in regard to the Senate and the allies ; and the people, feeling much aggrieved, set out to shout him down on the rostra. But he said, "The battle-cry of armed hosts has never discomfited me, and much less can that of a rabble of whom I know full well that Italy is not their real mother, but their stepmother." **
23. When the men about Gracchus cried out, "Kill the tyrant," he said, "Very naturally those who feel hostile towards our country wish to make away with me first ; for it is not possible for Rome to fall while Scipio stands, nor for Scipio to live when Rome has fallen."
CAECILIUS METELLUS G
1. When Caecilius Metellus was desirous of leading his men against a strongly fortified place, a centurion said [202] that with the loss of only ten men Metellus could take the place. Metellus asked him if he wished to be one of the ten !
2. A certain centurion among the younger men inquired what he was going to do. "If I thought," said he, "that the shirt on my back knew what is in my mind, I would strip it off and put it in the fire." **
3. He was bitterly opposed to Scipio while Scipio lived, but felt very sad when he died, and commanded his sons to take part in carrying the bier. He said that he felt grateful to the gods, for Rome's sake, that Scipio had not been born among another people. **
GAIUS MARIUS G
Gaius Marius came from an obscure family and advanced into political life through his military services. He announced himself a candidate for the greater aedileship, but, perceiving that he was running behind, on the very same day he went after the lesser. ** Failing also to obtain that, he nevertheless did not give up the idea that he should some day be the first among the Romans. **
2. He had large varicose veins on both legs, and, refusing to be fastened down, he submitted these to his physician for excision ; and without a groan or even a contraction of his eyebrows he underwent the operation with fortitude. But as the physician turned his attention to the other leg, Marius would not consent, saying that the cure was not worth the pain. **
3. In his second consulship Lusius, his nephew, attempted an indecent assault on one of the youths in the army, by the name of Trebonius, and the youth killed Lusius. When many accused him of the crime, he did not deny that he had killed the officer, and disclosed the circumstances ; whereupon Marius ordered the crown which is given for deeds of supreme valour to be brought, and this he placed upon Trebonius. **
4. Encamped against the Teutones in a place which had little water, when the soldiers said they were thirsty, he pointed out to them a river flowing close by the enemy's palisade, saying, "There is drink for you which can be bought with blood." And they called upon him to lead them on while the blood within them was fluid and not all dried up by their thirst. **
5. In the Cimbrian wars a thousand men of Camerinum who had acquitted themselves bravely he made Roman citizens, in accord with no law. To those who complained he said that he did not hear the laws because of the clash of arms. **
6. In the Civil War, ** when he found himself surrounded by a trench and cut off by the enemy, he held out and bided his own time. Pompaedius Silo said to him, "If you are a great general, Marius, come down and fight it out." Marius replied, "If you are a great general, make me fight it out when I do not wish to do so !" **
CATULUS LUTATIUS G
Catulus Lutatius, in the Cimbrian War, was encamped beside the Atiso ** River. The Romans, seeing the barbarians crossing to attack, retreated, and he, not being able to check them, made haste to put himself in the front rank of those who were running away so that they might not seem to flee from the enemy, but to be following their commander. **
SULLA G
Sulla, who was called the Fortunate, counted two things among his greatest pieces of fortune : the friendship of Pius Metellus, and the fact that he had not razed Athens, but had spared the city. **
GAIUS POPILLIUS G
Gaius Popillius was sent to Antiochus bearing a letter from the Senate commanding him to withdraw his army from Egypt, and not to usurp the kingdom of Ptolemy's children who were bereft of their parents. As he was making his approach through the camp, Antiochus welcomed him graciously while he was still a long way off, but he, without returning the salutation, delivered the document. When the king had read it, he said that he would think about it, and give his answer ; whereupon Popillius drew a circle about him with his staff and said, "While you stand inside that line, think about it and answer." All were astounded at the man's lofty spirit, and Antiochus agreed to comply with the Roman decree ; [203] which done, Popillius saluted him and embraced him. **
LUCULLUS G
1. Lucullus in Armenia with ten thousand men-at-arms and a thousand horsemen was proceeding against Tigranes, who had an army of an hundred and fifty thousand men, on the sixth day of October, the day on which, some years before, the force with Caepio had been annihilated by the Cimbrians. When somebody remarked that the Romans set that day aside as a dread day of expiation, he said, "Then let us on this day strive with might and main to make this, instead of an ill-omened and gloomy day, a glad and welcome day to the Romans." **
2. His soldiers feared most the men in full armour, but he bade them not to be afraid, saying that it would be harder work to strip these men than to defeat them. He was the first to advance against the hill, and observing the movement of the barbarians, he cried out, "We are victorious, my men," and, meeting no resistance, he pursued, losing only five Romans who fell, and he slew over an hundred thousand of the enemy. **
GNAEUS POMPEY G
1. Gnaeus Pompey was loved by the Romans as much as his father was hated. ** In his youth he was heart and soul for Sulla's party, and without holding ** public office or being in the Senate, he enlisted many men in Italy for the army. ** When Sulla summoned him, he refused to present his troops before the commander-in-chief without spoils and without their having been through bloodshed. And he did not come until after he had vanquished the generals of the enemy in many battles. **
2. When he was sent by Sulla to Sicily in the capacity of general, he perceived that the soldiers on the marches kept dropping out of the ranks to do violence and to plunder, and so he punished those who were straggling and running about, and placed seals upon the swords of those who were officially sent by him. **
3. The Mamertines, who had joined the other party, he was like to put to death to a man. But Sthennius, their popular leader, said that Pompey was not doing right in punishing many innocent men instead of one man who was responsible, and that this man was himself, who had persuaded his friends, and compelled his enemies, to choose the side of Marius. Much amazed, Pompey said that he could pardon the Mamertines if they had been persuaded by a man like him who valued his country above his own life ; and thereupon he liberated both the city and Sthennius. **
4. He crossed over to Africa against Domitius and overcame him in a mighty battle ; then, when the soldiers were hailing him as commander-in-chief, he said he could not accept the honour while the enemy's palisade still stood upright. And they, in spite of a heavy rain that enveloped them, swept on and plundered the camp. **
5. When he returned, Sulla received him graciously with many honours, and was the first to call him 'Magnus' {The Great}. He desired to celebrate a triumph, but Sulla would not allow him to do so, since he was not as yet a member of the Senate. When Pompey remarked to those present that Sulla did not realize that more people worship the rising than the setting sun, Sulla cried out, "Let him have his triumph!" Servilius, a man of noble family, was indignant, and many of the soldiers stood in his way with their demands of largess before his triumph. But when Pompey said that he would rather give up his triumph than curry favour with them, Servilius said that now he saw that Pompey was truly great, and deserved his triumph. **
6. It is a custom in Rome for the knights, when they have completed the regular term of service in the army, to lead their horses into the forum, one at a time, before the two men whom they call censors, and after enumerating their campaigns and the generals under whom they served, [204] to receive such commendation or censure as is fitting. Pompey, who was then consul, with his own hand led his horse before the censors, Gellius and Lentulus, and when they asked him, in conformity with the custom, whether he had served all his campaigns, he replied, "Yes, all, and under myself as commander-in-chief." **
7. On gaining possession of the papers of Sertorius in Spain, among which were letters from many leading men inviting Sertorius to come to Rome with a view to fomenting a revolution and changing the government, he burned them all, thus offering an opportunity for the miscreants to repent and become better men. **
8. When Phraates, king of the Parthians, sent to him, claiming the right to set his boundary at the river Euphrates, he said that the Romans set justice as their boundary towards the Parthians. **
9. Lucius Lucullus, after his campaigns, gave himself up to pleasures and lived very expensively, and strongly disapproved of Pompey 's yearning for the strenuous life as something out of keeping with his years. But Pompey said that for an old man it was more out of keeping with his years to be a voluptuary than to hold office. **
10. When he was ill his physician prescribed a thrush as diet, but those who tried to get one did not find any, for thrushes were out of season ; however, somebody said that they would be found at the house of Lucullus, where they were kept the year round. "So then," said Pompey, "if Lucullus were not a voluptuary, Pompey could not live !" and letting his physician go, he made his diet of things not so hard to procure. **
11. At a time when there was a serious scarcity of grain in Rome he was appointed nominally overseer of the market, ** but actually supreme master on land and sea, and sailed to Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily. Having got together a great quantity of grain, he was eager to get to Rome. A great storm arose and the pilots were hesitating, when he, going on board first himself, gave orders to weigh anchor, crying out, "To sail is a necessity ; to live is not a necessity." **
12. When his falling-out with Caesar came to light, one Marcellinus, who was among those reputed to have been advanced by Pompey but had gone over to Caesar, inveighed against him at great length in the Senate. "Marcellinus," said Pompey, "are you not ashamed to revile me, when it is all owing to me that you, from being inarticulate, have become so fluent, and from being a starveling, are now able to eat and disgorge and eat again ?" **
13. Cato assailed him bitterly, because when he himself had often foretold that Caesar's power and his rise to fame boded no good to the democracy, Pompey had taken the opposite side ; whereupon Pompey replied, "Your words were more prophetic, but my actions were more friendly." **
14. Speaking frankly about himself, he said that he had attained every office sooner than he had expected, and laid it down sooner than had been expected. **
15. After the battle of Pharsalus he fled to Egypt, and as he was about to transfer from the trireme to a fishing-boat which the king had sent for him, he turned to his wife and son, and said never a word except the lines of Sophocles :
Whoever comes to traffic with a king
Is slave to him, however free he come. **
When he landed, he was struck with a sword, and uttering one groan, he covered his face and surrendered himself to be slain.
1. Cicero, the orator, was often twitted about his name, and his friends urged him to have it changed, but he said that he would make Cicero to be held in higher esteem than the Catos, the Catuli, and the Scauri. **
2. When he dedicated a silver goblet to the gods, he caused the engraver to cut the letters of his first two names, but instead of "Cicero" to engrave a chick-pea. **
3. He used to say that those of the orators who are given to violent shouting rely on noise to carry them through because of weakness, just as lame men mount horses. **
4. Verres, who had a son that had been anything but virtuous when a boy, rebuked Cicero for effeminacy and called him a corrupter of youth. "Don't you know," said Cicero, "that it is proper for children to be scolded behind the doors of their own home ?" **
5. Metellus Nepos said to him, "You have caused the death of more men by your testimony than you have saved by your advocacy." [205] "Yes," said Cicero, " the reason is that I am endowed with more credibility than eloquence !" **
6. When Metellus kept asking him who his father was, Cicero said, "The answer to that same question your mother has made the more difficult for you !" For Metellus s mother was far from virtuous, and Metellus himself was light-minded, vacillating, and carried away by his impulses.
7. When Diodotus, Metellus's teacher of oratory died, Metellus had a marble raven placed over his grave. "A very just tribute," said Cicero, "for he taught Metellus to be high-flown, but not to be a speaker." **
8. Vatinius, who was at odds with Cicero, and was a bad character generally, Cicero heard was dead, and then later discovered that he was alive. "Curses on the rascal who lied so !" said he. **
9. To a man who appeared to be of African race, and asserted that he could not hear Cicero when he spoke, Cicero retorted, "Yet you have ears that are not wanting in holes." **
10. Cicero summoned as a witness in a certain case Castus Popillius, who wanted to be a lawyer, but was ignorant and stupid. When he denied knowing anything, Cicero said, "Very likely you think you are being asked about some point of law !" **
11. Hortensius, the orator, received as a fee a silver sphinx from Verres. When Cicero used innuendo in something that he said, Hortensius declared that he had no skill in solving riddles. Cicero retorted, "And yet you have the sphinx at your house !" **
12. Meeting Voconius with three daughters who had very ugly faces, he said softly to his friends,
Phoebus forbade when he his children got. **
13. When Faustus, the son of Sulla, because of a multitude of debts, posted a notice of an auction of his goods, Cicero said, "I find this notice more welcome than the kind which his father used to post." **
14. When Pompey and Caesar took opposite sides, he said, "I know from whom I flee without knowing to whom to flee." **
15. He blamed Pompey for abandoning the city, and imitating Themistocles rather than Pericles, when his situation was not like that of Themistocles, but rather that of Pericles. **
16. When he went over to Pompey's side, changing his mind again, and was asked by Pompey where he had left Piso, his son-in-law, he said, "With your father-in-law !" **
17. One man changed from Caesar's side to Pompey's, and said that as the result of haste and eagerness he had left his horse behind. Cicero said that the man showed greater consideration - for his horse!
18. To the man who reported that Caesar's friends were downcast he retorted, "You speak as if they were Caesar's foes! " **
19. After the battle of Pharsalus, when Pompey had fled, one Nonius declared that on their side were still seven eagles, and exhorted them, therefore, to have courage. "Your advice would be good," said Cicero, "if we were making war on jackdaws." **
20. After Caesar had conquered, he set up again with honour Pompey's statues which had been thrown down. Cicero, in speaking of him, said that Caesar, by restoring Pompey 's statues, made his own secure. **
21. He set a very high value on excellent speaking, and strove especially for this, so much so that once, when he had a case to plead before the court of the centumviri, and the day was almost come, and his slave Eros reported to him that the case had been postponed to the following day, he gave the slave his freedom.
GAIUS CAESAR G
1. Gaius Caesar, while still a young man, in trying to escape from Sulla, fell into the hands of pirates. First of all, when demand was made upon him for a very large sum of money, he laughed at the robbers for their ignorance of the man they had in their power, and agreed to give double the sum. Later, being kept under guard while he was getting together the money, he enjoined upon the men that they should give him a quiet time for sleep and should not talk. He wrote speeches and poems, and read them to his captors, and those who did not speak very highly of them he called dull barbarians, and threatened laughingly to hang them. And this he actually did a little later. [206] For when the ransom was brought, and he was set free, he got together men and ships from Asia Minor, seized the robbers, and crucified them. **
2. In Rome he entered into a contest against Catulus, the leading man among the Romans, for the office of pontifex maximus, and, as he was accompanied to the door by his mother, he said, "To-day, mother, you shall have as your son a pontifex maximus or an exile." **
3. He put away his wife Pompeia because her name was linked in gossip with Clodius, but later, when Clodius was brought to trial on this charge, and Caesar was cited as a witness, he spoke no evil of his wife. And when the prosecutor asked, "Then why did you put her out of the house ? " he replied, "Because Caesar's wife must be free from suspicion." **
4. While he was reading of the exploits of Alexander, he burst into tears, and said to his friends, "When he was of my age he had conquered Darius, but, up to now, nothing has been accomplished by me." **
5. As he was passing by a miserable little town in the Alps, his friends raised the question whether even here there were rival parties and contests for the first place. He stopped and becoming thoughtful said, "I had rather be the first here than the second in Rome." **
6. He said that the venturesome and great deeds of daring call for action and not for thought.
7. And he crossed the river Rubicon from his province in Gaul against Pompey, saying before all, "Let the die be cast." **
8. When Pompey had fled to sea from Rome, Caesar wished to take money from the treasury, but Metellus, who was in charge, tried to stop him, and locked up the treasury, whereupon Caesar threatened to kill him. Metellus was astounded, but Caesar said, "Young man, that was harder for me to say than to do." **
9. As the transportation of his soldiers from Brundusium to Dyrrachium proceeded slowly, he, without being seen by anybody, embarked in a small boat, and attempted the passage through the open sea. But as the boat was being swamped by the waves, he disclosed his identity to the pilot, crying out, "Trust to Fortune, knowing it is Caesar you carry." **
10. At that time he was prevented from crossing, as the storm became violent, and his soldiers quickly gathered about him in a state of high emotion if it could be that he were waiting for other forces because he felt he could not rely on them. A battle was fought and Pompey was victorious ; he did not, however, follow up his success, but withdrew to his camp. Caesar said, "To-day the victory was with the enemy, but they have not the man who knows how to be victorious." **
11. At Pharsalus Pompey gave the word for his regiments after they had formed for battle to stand in their tracks and meet the onset of the enemy. In this Caesar said that he made a mistake, inasmuch as he lost the effect on his soldiers of the intensity and excitement which comes from rushing to the onset with enthusiasm. **
12. After he had conquered Pharnaces of Pontus by a swift drive against him, he wrote to his friends, "I came, saw, conquered." **
13. Following upon the flight of Scipio and his followers in Africa Cato took his own life ; whereat Caesar said, "I begrudge you your death, Cato, for you begrudged me the saving of your life." **
14. Some looked with suspicion upon Antonius and Dolabella and urged Caesar to be on his guard, but he said that he did not fear these fat and sleek tradesmen and craftsmen but those lean and pale fellows, indicating Brutus and Cassius. **
15. When the conversation at dinner once digressed to the subject of death, regarding what kind of death is the best, he said, "Sudden death." **
1. Caesar, who was the first to bear the title of Augustus, was only a youth when he made formal demand upon Antonius for the twenty-five million drachmas ** which had belonged to the first Caesar, who had been assassinated, and which Antonius had transferred from Caesar's house to his own keeping ; for Augustus wished to pay to the citizens of Rome the sum which had been left to them by Caesar, seventy-five drachmas ** to each man. But when Antonius held fast to the money, [207] and also suggested to Augustus that, if he had any sense, he had better forget about his demand, Augustus announced an auction of his ancestral property and sold it ; and by paying the bequest he fostered popularity for himself and hatred for Antonius on the part of the citizens. **
2. Rhoemetalces, king of the Thracians, who had changed his alliance from Antonius to Augustus, could not practise moderation when there was any drinking going on, and gave much offence by his disparaging remarks about his new alliance, whereat Augustus, as he drank to one of the other kings, said, "I like treachery, but I cannot say anything good of traitors." **
3. After the capture of Alexandria, the people of the city were expecting to be treated with the most frightful severity, but when he had mounted the tribune and had directed Areius of Alexandria to take a place beside him, he declared that he spared the city, first because of its greatness and beauty, secondly because of its founder, Alexander, and thirdly because of Areius his own friend. **
4. When it was told him that Eros, procurator in Egypt, had bought a quail which had defeated all others in fighting and was the undisputed champion, and that Eros had roasted this quail and eaten it, the emperor sent for him and examined him regarding the charge ; and when the man admitted the fact, the emperor ordered him to be nailed to a ship's mast.
5. In Sicily he appointed Areius procurator in place of Theodorus ; and when someone handed him a paper on which was written, "Theodorus of Tarsus is a bald-pate or a thief ; what opinion have you ?" Caesar, having read it, wrote underneath, "It is my opinion."
6. From Maecenas, his bosom-friend, he used to receive each year on his birthday a drinking-cup as a birthday present.
7. Athenodorus, the philosopher, because of his advanced years begged to be dismissed and allowed to go home, and Augustus granted his request. But when Athenodorus, as he was taking leave of him, said, "Whenever you get angry, Caesar, do not say or do anything before repeating to yourself the twenty-four letters of the alphabet," Augustus seized his hand and said, "I still have need of your presence here," and detained him a whole year, saying,
"No risk attends the meed that silence brings." **
8. He learned that Alexander, having completed nearly all his conquests by the time he was thirty-two years old, was at an utter loss to know what he should do during the rest of his life, whereat Augustus expressed his surprise that Alexander did not regard it as a greater task to set in order the empire which he had won than to win it.
9. After promulgating the law about adulterers, ** in which it was specified how the accused were to be tried, and how the convicted were to be punished, he later, under stress of anger, fell upon a young man whose name had been linked in gossip with his daughter Julia, and struck him with his fists ; but when the young man cried out, "You have made a law, Caesar," such a revulsion of feeling came over him that he refused food the rest of the day.
10. When he dispatched Gaius his daughter's son into Armenia, he besought the gods that the popularity of Pompey, the daring of Alexander, and his own good luck might attend the young man. **
11. He said that he would leave to the Romans as his successor on the throne a man who never had deliberated twice about the same thing, meaning Tiberius.
12. When he was trying to quiet the young men in high station who were in an uproar, and they paid no heed, but continued with their uproar, he said, "Do you young men listen to an old man, to whom old men listened when he was young." **
13. When, as it appeared, the Athenian people had committed some offence, he wrote from Aegina that he supposed they could not be unaware that he was angry ; otherwise he would not have spent the whole winter in Aegina. But he neither said nor did anything else to them. **
14. One of the accusers of Eurycles ** was unsparing and tiresome with his frank utterances, and went so far as to say, "If these things, Caesar, do not seem to you to be of high importance, order him to repeat for me the seventh ** book of Thucydides " ; and Augustus, much incensed, ordered the man away to prison, but, on learning that he was the sole survivor of Brasidas's descendants, he sent for him, and, after reproving him moderately, ordered that he be released.
[208] 15. When Piso ** built his house with great care from the foundation to the roof-top, Augustus said, "You make my heart glad by building thus, as if Rome is to be eternal."
367. Cf. Cicero, De officiis, iii. 1 "numquam se minus otiosum esse quam cum otiosus . . . esset."
369. In Spain, 210 B.C. Cf. Polybius, x. 19 ; Polyaenus, Strategemata, viii. 16.6; Livy, xxvi. 50 ; Valerius Maximus, iv. 3. 1 ; Frontinus, Strategemata, ii. 11. 5 ; Aulus Gellius, vii, (vi.) 8.
370. Baria, attested by inscriptions, is probably the right spelling (variants : Barea, Bareia, Badia, Batheia), if the same town is meant.
371. Cf. Valerius Maximus, iii. 7. 1 ; and Aulus Gellius, vi. 1.
372. As in Livy, xxix. 1 ; Valerius Maximus, vii. 3. 3.
373. Polybius, xv. 18, and Livy, xxx. 16, indicate similar terms.
374. Not noted in Livy, xxx. 35, nor elsewhere, apparently.
375. Cf. Livy, xxx. 43.
376. Cf. Livy, xxx. 45 ; Valerius Maximus, v. 2. 5.
377. Cf. Livy, xxxviii. 55.
379. Cf. Polybius, xxi. 15 ; Livy, xxxvii. 36 ; Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, vi. 29.
380. Cf. Polybius, xxxiii. 14 ; and Valerius Maximus, iii. 7. 1.
381. There are many references to this incident. Cf. Moralia, 540 f ; Plutarch's Life of Cato Major, chap. xv. (344 d), Polybius, xxiii. 14 ; Livy, xxxviii. 50-51 ; Aulus Gellius, iv. 18. See also the note on the similar action of Epameinondas, Moralia, 194 b, supra.
383. That is, without passing through the regular "cursus honorum." Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. ii.
384. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. ; Polybius, xviii. 7.
385. At Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C. : see Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. viii. ; Polybius, xviii. 20-27; Livy, xxxiii. 7-10.
386. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. x. ; Livy, xxxiii. 32.
387. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. xiii. ; Livy, xxxiv. 52 ; Valerius Maximus, v. 2. 6.
388. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. ; Livy, xxxvi. 32.
389. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Flamininus, chap. xvii. ; Livy, xxxv. 49.
390. Cf Plutarch's Life of Philopoemen, chap. ii. .
392. Cf. Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, vi. 30-36 ; Livy, xxxviii. 39.
394. Cf. Polybius, xxvii. 8 ; Livy, xlii. 62,
396. Cf Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. vi. (253 b), chap. ix. (259 c), chap. xi. (260 c).
397. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. x. (260 b), quoted from Cicero, De divinatione, i. 46 (103) ; see too Valerius Maximus, i. 5. 3.
398. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xiii. (261 f), and chap. xi. (260 c) ; Livy, xliv. 22 and 34.
399. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xiii. (262 a) ; Livy, xliv. 33, says "without shield."
400. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. xvii. (263 f).
401. Ibid. chap, xxviii. (270 d) ; Moralia, 615 e. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, xviii. 22.
402. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap, xxxiv. (273 c).
403. Cf Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap. v. (257 c).
404. Ibid, chap, xxviii. (270 e) ; cf also Pliny, Natural History, xxxiii. 50 (142) ; and Valerius Maximus, iv. 4. 9.
405. To the houses of Scipio and of Fabius.
406. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chaps, xxxv. and xxxvi. (274 a and f) ; Seneca, Ad Marciam de consolatione, 13 ; Valerius Maximus, v. 10. 2 ; Velleius Paterculus, i. 10. Cicero refers briefly to Aemilius's fortitude (De amicit. 2 (9) ; Tusc. Disput. iii. 28 (70) ; Letters, iv. 6).
408. Cf. Moralia, 131 d and 996 d, and Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. viii. (340 a).
409. Ibid, and Moralia, 668 b.
410. See the note on Moralia, 185 d (10), supra.
411. Cf. Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. viii. (340 f).
412. Cf. the somewhat similar sentiment attributed to Pythagoras in Stobaeus, Florilegium, xlviii. 112.
413. Cf Moralia, 29 e and 528 r, and the Life of M. Cato, chap. ix. (341 c).
414. Life of M. Cato, ibid.
415. Cf. Moralia, 210 f (33), infra.
416. Cf. Moralia, 820 b, and the Life of M. Cato, chap. xix.
417. Cf Moralia, 784 a and 829 f ; and Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. ix. (341 d).
418. Cf. Horace, Epistles, i. 2. 62 ; Seneca, De ira, i. 1. 2.
419. Cf. Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. viii. (340 d).
420. Cf. Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. xvi. (345 d).
421. Ibid. chap. i. (336 e) ; cf also Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus, chap. viii. (216 f); Life of M. Cato, chap. x. (241 f).
423. In 195 B.C. in Spain. Cf. Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. x. (341 f).
424. Ibid, chap. x. (342 a).
425. Cf. Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap. x. (342 b).
426. Ibid. chap. ix. (341 a, = Polybius, xxxv. 6).
427. Ibid. chap. xii. (343 b) ; Polybius, xxxix. 12 (=xl. 6).
428. Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus (Minor), 185-129 b.c; conqueror of Carthage in 147-146 b.c ; friend of Polybius the historian. His life (now lost) was written by Plutarch (No. 28 in the catalogue of Lamprias ; see also the Life of Tib. Gracchus, chap. xxi. 834 d, and Life of C. Gracchus, chap. x. 839 c) ; and without doubt many of the sayings found here were incorporated in it.
429. Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, xi. 9 ; Polybius, xviii. 35 ; Pliny, Natural History, xxxiii. 50 (141).
430. Cf. Moralia, 659 e. Aelian, Varia Historia, xiv. 33, speaks of the advice as given by Epameinondas to Pelopidas, possibly confusing the two Scipios, and the two Lives (of Epameinondas and the elder Scipio) !
431. Cf. Moralia, 805 a ; Plutarch's Life of M. Cato, chap, xxvii. (352 f) ; Livy, Epitome of Book xlix. It may be inferred from Suidas, s.v. ἀίσσουσιν, that the original source was Polybius. The Homeric quotation is from the Odyssey, x. 495.
432. The consulship in 147 B.C. Cf. Velleius Paterculus, i. 12. 3.
433. Cf. Zonaras, ix. 29.
434. An account of the capture of Carthage is given by Diodorus, xxxii. 23-25, and Appian, Roman History, the Punic Wars, xix. 127-132. Cf. also Valerius Maximus, iii. 7. 2.
435. Cf. Diodorus, xxxii. 25 ; Cicero, Against Verres, ii. 35 (86) and iv. 33 (73) ; Livy, Epitome of Book li. ; Valerius Maximus, v. 1. 6.
436. Cf. Moralia, 97 c.
438. Cf. Cicero, De amicitia, 21 (77).
440. In 142 B.C. Cf Plutarch's Life of Aemilius Paulus, chap, xxxviii. (275 c).
441. Cf. Cicero, Oration for Cluentius, 48 (134) ; Valerius Maximus, iv. 1. 10.
442. Poseidonius (instead of Cleitomachus) is found in Moralia, 777 a, and is also suggested by Athenaeus, 549 d.
443. Homer, Od. xvii. 487. Scipio's journeyings, beginning in 141 B.C., took him over most of the countries around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.
444. Ptolemy VII., called 'Physcon' by the Alexandrians because of his fat and unwieldy body.
445. Cf. Moralia, 777 a ; Diodorus, xxxiii. 28a ; Athenaeus, 549 d ; Cicero, Academics, ii. 2 (5) ; Justin, Historiae Philippicae. xxxviii. 8. 8.
446. Cf. Athenaeus, 273 a (Polybius, Frag. 166, ed. Hultsch) ; Valerius Maximus, iv. 3. 13.
448. Cf Appian, Roman History, the Wars in Spain, xiv. 84.
449. Appian, Roman History, The Wars in Spain, xiv. 85 ; Polyaenus, Strategemata, viii. 16. 2 ; Livy, Epitome of Book lvii. ; Valerius Maximus, ii. 7. 1.
450. A famous Corinthian potter.
451. Presumably the period of his disgrace and punishment. Cf. Frontinus, Strategemata, iv. 1. 1.
452. So in Aelian, Varia Historia, xi. 9. Slightly variant versions are to be found in Polyaenus, Strategemata, viii. 16. 4 ; Frontinus, Strategemata, iv. 1.5; Livy, Epitome of Book lvii.
453. Cf. Polyaenus. Strategemata, viii. 16. 3 ; Livy, Epitome of Book lvii.
454. Cf. Aulus Gellius, xiii. 3. 6, where Scipio quotes a similar aphorism of his father's.
455. Appian relates that Numantia was reduced by systematic siege (Wars in Spain, 89 ff.).
456. Cf. Polyaenus, Strategemata, viii. 16. 5 ; Velleius Paterculus, ii. 4 ; Valerius Maximus, vi. 2. 3.
458. Cf. Moralia, 506 d ; Valerius Maximus, vii. 4. 5. Frontinus, Strategemata, i. 1. 12, attributes the remark to Metellus Pius (consul 52 B.C. with Pompey).
459. Cf. Pliny, Natural History, vii. 45 (144), and Valerius Maximus, iv. 1. 12. For the rivalry between Scipio and Metellus, cf. Cicero, De amicitia, 21 (77), and De officiis, i. 25 (87).
462. The "lesser" is plebeian aedile, and the "greater" is curule aedile.
462. Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. v. (408 a); Cicero, Pro Plancio, 21 (51).
463. Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. vi. (408 e) ; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, ii. 15 (35) and 22 (53) ; Pliny, Natural History, xi. 104. (252).
464. Cf Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap. xiv. (413 b) ; Cicero, Oration for Milo, 4 (9) ; Valerius Maximus, vi. 1. 12.
465. Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap, xviii. (416 a); Frontinus, Strategemata, ii. 7. 12 ; Florus, Epitome of Roman History, i. 38. 8 ff.
466. Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap, xxviii. (421 e) ; Cicero, Oration for Corn. Balbus, 20 (46) ; Valerius Maximus, v. 2. 8. Cf also Cicero, Pro Milone, 4 (10), "silent enim leges inter arma."
467. Usually called the Social War, 90-88 B.C.
468. Cf Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap, xxxiii. (424 d). The name of the opposing general may be Poppaedius rather than Pompaedius.
470. Presumably the same river which the Roman writers call the Athesis.
471. Cf. Plutarch's Life of C. Marius, chap, xxiii. (418 f).
473. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Sulla, chap. vi. (454 d), chap, xiv. (460 e), and the Comparison of Lysander and Sulla, chap. v. (478 b).
476. In 168 B.C. Cf. Polybius, xxix. 27 ; Appian, Roman History, the Syrian Wars, 66 ; Cicero, Philippics, viii. 8 (23) ; Livy, xlv. 12; Justin, Historian Philippicae, xxxiv. 3; Valerius Maximus, vi. 4. 3 ; Velleius Paterculus, i. 10. In Pliny, Natural History, xxxiv. 11 (24), Cn. Octavian is substituted for C. Popillius.
479. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Lucullus, chap, xxviii. (510 c).
480. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Lucullus, chap, xxviii. (510 d-511 b).
482. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. i. (619 b).
483. Ibid. chap. vi. (621 d).
484. Ibid. 631 f.
486. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. x. (624 a).
487. Cf Plutarch's Life of Pompey, 623 f, where Sthen(n)is stands instead of Sthennius (Sthennon, Moralia, 815 e), and the Himerians instead of the Mamertines.
489. In 81 B.C. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey , chaps, xi.-xii. (624 c-e).
491. Ibid, chaps, xiii.-xiv. (625-626 b) ; Moralia, 804 f.
492. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. xxii. (630 a).
493. Ibid. chap. xx. (p. 629) ; similar stories are told of others, as, for example, of William III. of England.
494. Ibid. chap, xxxiii. (637 c).
495. Ibid. chap, xlviii. (644 e) ; Life of Lucullus, chap, xxxviii. (518 b) ; Moralia, 785 e.
496. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. ii. (620 b) ; Life of Lucullus, chap. xl. (518 f) ; Moralia, 786 a. Stobaeus, Florilegium, xvii. 43, quotes from Musonius a similar story about Zeno the philosopher.
498. In 57 B.C. he was appointed praefectus annonae for five years.
499. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. xlix. and 1. (645 c- 676 a) ; Dio Cassius, xxxix. 9 ; Zonaras, x. 5 ; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, iv. 1. 7.
500. Cf, Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. li. (646 e).
501. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. lx. (651 e) ; Life of Cato Minor, chap. Hi. (787 d).
502. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap. liv. (647 r).
504. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Sophocles, no. 789 ; quoted by Plutarch also in Moralia, 33 d and the Life of Pompey, chap, lxxviii. (661 a). Appian, Civil Wars, ii. 84, and Dio Cassius, xlii. 4, also state that Pompey quoted these verses shortly before his death when he was slain by order of the king's counsellors.
505. Cicero had a collection of jokes in three volumes (Quintilian, Inst, Or, vi. 3. 5 ; Macrobius, Sat. ii. 1. 12), so that the few found here can only be regarded as samples which have a personal touch.
506. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. i.
507. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, where, a few lines earlier, the derivation of "Cicero" from cicer, "chick-pea," is explained.
508. Ibid. chap. v.
509. Ibid. chap, vii.
510. Ibid. chap. xxvi. ; Moralia, 541 f.
511. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi.
512. Ibid. chap. xxvi.
513. Cf Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi. The story is told also in Moralia, 631 d. The pierced ears suggest a slave.
514. Cf Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap. xxvi., where the name of the man is given as Publius Consta.
515. Life of Cicero, chap. vii., where the sphinx is of ivory. Cf. also Pliny, Natural History, xxxiv. 18 (48), and Quintilian, Inst. Or, vi. 3. 98. Intimacy with the sphinx, the author of riddles, should have helped Hortensius !
516. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap, xxvii. The verse may possibly be from the Oedipus of Euripides. Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., adespota, no. 378.
517. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap, xxvii., and Cicero, Letters to Atticus, ix. 11. The reference, of course, is to the proscription lists of men condemned which Sulla posted.
518. Ibid. chap, xxxvii.; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, viii. 7. 2 "ego vero quem fugiam habeo, quem sequar non habeo."
519. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Pompey, chap, lxiii. ; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, vii. 11.3, and x. 8. 4.
520. Pompey married Caesar's daughter Julia as his fourth wife.
521. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap, xxxviii. (880 b).
522. Ibid. 880 c.
523. Plutarch repeats this story in Moralia, 91 a ; Life of Caesar, chap. lvii. (734 e) ; Life of Cicero, chap. xl. (881 d). Cf. Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 75.
525. Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chaps, i.-ii. (708 a-d) ; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 4 ; Velleius Paterculus, Roman History, ii. 41 ; Valerius Maximus, vi. 9. 15.
527. In 63 B.C. Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. vii. (710 d); Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 13.
528. Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. x. (712 c) ; Life of Cicero, chap. xxix. (875 e) ; Dio Cassius, xxxvii. 45 ; Suetonius, Divus lulius 6 and 74.
529. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xi. (712 f) and Perrin's note in vol. vii. of the L.C.L. ; Dio Cassius, xxxvii. 52. 2; Suetonius, Divus lulius, 7.
530. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xi. (712 r).
531. Ibid, chap, xxxii. (723 f) ; Life of Pompey, chap. lx. (651 d) ; Suetonius, Divus lulius, 32 "iacta alea est" or "esto." The expression seems to have been proverbial; cf, Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, i. p. 383 and the references ; Aristophanes, Frag. 673 Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 557 and Menander, Frag, 65, ibid, iii. p. 22.
532. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xxv. (725 c) ; Life of Pornpey, chap. lxii. (652 c) ; Appian, The Civil Wars, ii. 41 and 138 ; Dio Cassius, xli. 17. 2 ; Cicero, Letters to Atticus, x. 4. 8 ; Lucan, Pharsalia, iii. 114-153.
533. The story is often told. Cf. for example, Moralia, 319 b ; Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap, xxxviii. (726 d) ; Appian, Roman History, the Civil Wars, ii. 57 ; Dio Cassius, xli. 46 ; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 58 ; Lucan, Pharsalia, v. 580 ; Valerius Maximus, ix. 8. 2.
535. At Dyrrachium, 48 B.C. Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap, xxxviii. (726 d) and xxxix. (727 b) ; Life of Pompey, chap. lxv. (654 a).
537. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. xliv. (729 b); Life of Pompey, chap. lxix. (656 c) ; Caesar, Civil War, iii. 92. Appian (The Civil Wars, ii. 79) says that this statement was found in Caesar's letters.
538. In 47 B.C. Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. l. (731 f); Appian, The Civil Wars, ii. 91 ; Dio Cassius, xlii. 48. According to Suetonius, Divus Julius, 37, these words ('veni, vidi, vici') were borne aloft in Caesar's triumph.
539. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. liv. (733 b) ; Life of Cato Minor, chap, lxxii. (794 c) ; Appian, The Civil Wars, ii. 99 ; Dio Cassius, xlii. 12.
540. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap. lxii. (737 c) ; Life of Antony, chap. xii. (921 b) ; Life of Brutus, chap, viii. (987 c). Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, i. 2 :
Let me have men about me that are fat :
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights :
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ;
He thinks too much : such men are dangerous.
541 Cf Plutarch's Life of Caesar, chap, lxiii. (737 f); Appian, The Civil Wars, ii. 115 ; Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 87.
542. These sayings of Augustus were, beyond doubt, incorporated in the Life of Augustus which Plutarch wrote (No. 26 in Lamprias's list of Plutarch's writings).
543. Plutarch in his Life of Antony, chap. xv. (922 c), says 4000 talents, which would be the same as 24,000,000 drachmae (or denarii), a little less than the amount given here. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 60, says sestertium septiens milieus ( = 700,000,000 sesterces).
544. Suetonius, Divus Iulius, 83, says 300 sesterces, which is in agreement with the amount stated by Plutarch.
545. Cf Plutarch's Life of Cicero, chap, xliii. (883 a); Life of Antony, chap. xvi. (922 d) ; Life of Brutus, chap, xxii. (994 b) ; Appian, The Civil Wars, iii. 28 ; Dio Cassius, xlv. 3-5 ; Velleius Paterculus, ii. 60.
546. Plutarch repeats this aphorism in his Life of Romulus, chap. xvii. (28 a). Stobaeus, liv. 63, quotes Philip of Macedon as the author of a similar remark.
547. Cf. Plutarch's Life of Antony, chap. lxxx. (953 a) ; Dio Cassius, li. 16; Julian, Letters, No. 51 (ad Alexandrinos) ; Suetonius, Augustus, 89.
549. Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 417, Simonides, no. 66 ; or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), ii. p. 322. Athenodorus was later allowed to return home (Strabo, xiv. 5. 14, p. 674).
550. Lex Iulia de adulteriis et de pudicitia. Cf. Horace, Odes, iv. 5.21 ; Dio Cassius, liv. 16.
552. Cf. Moralia, 319 d.
553. Cf Moralia, 785 d.
554. Cf Dio Cassius, liv. 7, who says, however, that Augustus spent the winter (21 B.C.) in Samos.
555. Presumably the Eurycles who pursued Cleopatra's ship (on board which was Antony) at Actium ; cf. Plutarch, Life of Antony, chap, lxvii. (947 a).
556. The fourth book (which tells of Brasidas), as the books are now numbered, would be in point : but we know that anciently the history of Thucydides was divided into thirteen books (and into nine books) as well as into eight books.
557. Probably Cn. Calpurnius Piso, consul 7 B.C., but it may have been his father, of the same name, or L. Calpurnius Piso.
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