Plutarch’s – Plutarch’s Lives – Volume 4

Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch’s Lives, is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably written at the beginning of the second century AD.

Life Of Phokion.

Life Of Phokion: I

The orator Demades, who became one of the chief men in Athens by his subservience to the Macedonians and Antipater, and who was forced to say and to write much that was derogatory to the glory and contrary to the traditional policy of Athens, used to excuse himself by pleading that he did not come to the helm before the vessel of the State was an utter wreck. This expression, which seems a bold one when used by Demades, might with great truth have been applied to the policy of Phokion. Indeed Demades himself wrecked Athens by his licentious life and policy, and when he was an old man Antipater said of him that he was like a victim which has been cut up for sacrifice, for there was nothing left of him but his tongue and his paunch; while the true virtue of Phokion was obscured by the evil days for Greece during which he lived, which prevented his obtaining the distinction which he deserved. We must not believe Sophokles, when he says that virtue is feeble and dies out in men:

“Why, not the very mind that’s born with man,
When he’s unfortunate, remains the same.”

Yet we must admit that fortune has so much power even over good men, that it has sometimes withheld from them their due meed of esteem and praise, has sullied their reputations with unworthy calumnies, and made it difficult for the world to believe in their virtue.

Life Of Phokion: II

It would seem that democracies, when elated by success, are especially prone to break out into wanton maltreatment of their greatest men; and this is also true in the opposite case: for misfortunes render popular assemblies harsh, irritable, and uncertain in temper, so that it becomes a dangerous matter to address them, because they take offence at any speaker who gives them wholesome counsel. When he blames them for their mistakes, they think that he is reproaching them with their misfortunes, and when he speaks his mind freely about their condition, they imagine that he is insulting them. Just as honey irritates wounds and sores, so does true and sensible advice exasperate the unfortunate, if it be not of a gentle and soothing nature: exactly as the poet calls sweet things agreeable, because they agree with the taste, and do not oppose or fight against it. An inflamed eye prefers the shade, and shuns strong lights: and a city, when involved in misfortunes, becomes timid and weak through its inability to endure plain speaking at a time when it especially needs it, as otherwise its mistakes cannot be repaired. For this reason the position of a statesman in a democracy must always be full of peril; for if he tries merely to please the people he will share their ruin, while if he thwarts them he will be destroyed by them.

Astronomers teach us that the sun does not move in exactly the same course as the stars, and yet not in one which is opposed to them, but by revolving in an inclined and oblique orbit performs an easy and excellent circuit through them all, by which means everything is kept in its place, and its elements combined in the most admirable manner. So too in political matters, the man who takes too high a tone, and opposes the popular will in all cases, must be thought harsh and morose, while on the other hand he who always follows the people and shares in all their mistakes pursues a dangerous and ruinous policy. The art of government by which states are made great consists in sometimes making concessions to the people, and gratifying them when they are obedient to authority, and at the same time insisting upon salutary measures. Men willingly obey and support such a ruler if he does not act in a harsh and tyrannical fashion: but he has a very difficult and laborious part to play, and it is hard for him to combine the sternness of a sovereign with the gentleness of a popular leader, If, however, he succeed in combining these qualities, they produce the truest and noblest harmony, like that by which God is said to regulate the universe, as everything is brought about by gentle persuasion, and not by violence.

Life Of Phokion: III

All this was exemplified in the case of the younger Cato: for he had not the art of persuasion and was unacceptable to the people, nor did he rise to eminence by the popular favour, but Cicero says that he lost his consulship because he acted as if he were living in the Republic of Plato, and not in the dregs of Romulus. Such men seem to me to resemble fruits which grow out of season: for men gaze upon them with wonder, but do not eat them: and the stern antique virtue of Cato, displayed as it was in a corrupt and dissolute age, long after the season for it had gone by, gained him great glory and renown, but proved totally useless, as it was of too exalted a type to suit the political exigencies of the day. When Cato began his career, his country was not already ruined, as was that of Phokion. The ship of the state was indeed labouring heavily in the storm, but Cato, although he was not permitted to take the helm and guide the vessel, exerted himself so manfully, and gave so much assistance to those who were more powerful than himself, that he all but triumphed over fortune. The constitution was, no doubt, finally overthrown; but its ruin was due to others, and only took place after a long and severe struggle, during which Cato very nearly succeeded in saving it. I have chosen Phokion to compare with him, not because of the general resemblance of their characters as good and statesmanlike men, for a man may possess the same quality in various forms, as, for example, the courage of Alkibiades was of a different kind to that of Epameinondas; the ability of Themistokles was different to that of Aristeides; and the justice of Numa Pompilius was different to that of Agesilaus. But in the case of Phokion and Cato, their virtues bore the same stamp, form, and ethical complexion down to the most minute particulars. Both alike possessed the same mixture of kindness and severity, of caution and daring: both alike cared for the safety of others and neglected their own: both alike shrank from baseness, and were zealous for the right; so that one would have to use a very nice discrimination to discover the points of difference between their respective dispositions.

Life Of Phokion: IV

Cato is admitted by all writers to have been a man of noble descent, as will be explained in his life: and I imagine that the family of Phokion was not altogether mean and contemptible. If his father had really been a pestle maker, as we are told by Idomeneus, who may be sure that Glaukippus, the son of Hypereides, who collected and flung at him such a mass of abuse, would not have omitted to mention his low birth, nor would he have been so well brought up as to have been a scholar of Plato while a lad, and afterwards to have studied under Xenokrates in the Academy; while from his youth up he always took an interest in liberal branches of learning. We are told by the historian Douris that scarcely any Athenian ever saw Phokion laughing or weeping, or bathing in the public baths, or with his hand outside of his cloak, when he wore one. Indeed when he was in the country or on a campaign he always went barefooted and wore only his tunic, unless the cold was excessively severe; so that the soldiers used to say in jest that it was a sign of wintry weather to see Phokion wearing his cloak.

Life Of Phokion: V

Though one of the kindest and most affable of men, he was of a forbidding and severe countenance, so that men who did not know him well feared to address him when alone. Once when Chares in a speech mentioned Phokion’s gloomy brow, the Athenians began to laugh. “Yet,” said he, “his brow has never harmed you: but the laughter of these men has brought great sorrow upon the state.” In like manner also the oratory of Phokion was most valuable, as it incited his countrymen to win brilliant successes, and to form lofty aspirations. He spoke in a brief, harsh, commanding style, without any attempt to flatter or please his audience. Just as Zeno says that a philosopher ought to steep his words in meaning, so Phokion’s speeches conveyed the greatest possible amount of meaning in the smallest compass. It is probably in allusion to this that Polyeuktus of Sphettus said that Demosthenes was the best orator, but that Phokion was the most powerful speaker. As the smallest coins are those which have the greatest intrinsic value, so Phokion in his speeches seemed to say much with few words. We are told that once while the people were flocking into the theatre Phokion was walking up and down near the stage, plunged in thought. “You seem meditative, Phokion,” said one of his friends. “Yes, by Zeus,” answered he, “I am considering whether I can shorten the speech which I am going to make to the Athenians.” Demosthenes himself, who despised the other orators, when Phokion rose used to whisper to his friends, “Here comes the cleaver of my harangues.” Much of his influence, however, must be ascribed to his personal character; since a word or a gesture of a truly good man carries more weight than ten thousand eloquently argued speeches.

Life Of Phokion: VI

While yet a youth Phokion especially attached himself to the general Chabrias, and followed him in his campaigns, in which he gained considerable military experience, and in some instances was able to correct the strange inequalities of his commander’s temperament. Chabrias, usually sluggish and hard to rouse, when in action became vehemently excited, and tried to outdo the boldest of his followers in acts of daring: indeed he lost his life at Chios by being the first to run his ship on shore and to try to effect a landing in the face of the enemy. Phokion, who was a man of action, and cautious nevertheless, proved most useful in stirring up Chabrias when sluggish, and again in moderating his eagerness when roused. In consequence of this, Chabrias, who was of a kindly and noble disposition, loved Phokion and promoted him to many responsible posts, so that his name became well known throughout Greece, as Chabrias entrusted him with the management of the most important military operations. At the battle of Naxos he enabled Phokion to win great glory, by placing him in command of the left wing, where the most important struggle took place, and where the victory was finally decided. As this was the first sea fight, since the capture and ruin of Athens, which the Athenians won by themselves, without allies, over other Greeks, they were greatly pleased with Chabrias, and Phokion was henceforth spoken of as a man of military genius. The battle was won during the performance of the Great Mysteries at Eleusis; and every year afterwards, on the sixteenth day of the month Böedromion, Chabrias used to entertain the Athenians, and offer libations of wine to the gods.

Life Of Phokion: VII

After this Chabrias sent Phokion to visit the islands and exact tribute from them, giving him an escort of twenty ships of war: upon which Phokion is said to have remarked, that if he was sent to fight the islanders, he should require a larger force, but that if he was going to the allies of Athens, one ship would suffice for him. He sailed in his own trireme, visited all the states, simply and unassumingly explained the objects of his mission to their leading men, and returned home with a large fleet, which the allies despatched to convey their tribute safe to Athens.

He not only esteemed and looked up to Chabrias while he lived, but after his death he took care of his family, and endeavoured to make a good man of his son Ktesippus; and though he found this youth stupid and unmanageable, he never ceased his efforts to amend his character and to conceal his faults. Once only we are told that when on some campaign the young man was tormenting him with unreasonable questions, and offering him advice as though he were appointed assistant-general, Phokion exclaimed, “O Chabrias, Chabrias, I do indeed prove myself grateful for your friendship for me, by enduring this from your son!” Observing that the public men of the day had, as if by lot, divided the duties of the war-office and of the public assembly amongst themselves, so that Eubulus, Aristophon, Demosthenes, Lykurgus, and Hypereides did nothing except make speeches to the people and bring forward bills, while Diopeithes, Menestheus, Leosthenes, and Chares rose entirely by acting as generals and by making war, Phokion wished to restore the era of Perikles, Aristeides, and Solon, statesmen who were able to manage both of these branches of the administration with equal success. Each one of those great men seemed to him, in the words of Archilochus, to have been

“A man, who served the grisly god of arms,
Yet well could comprehend the Muses’s charms.”

The tutelary goddess of Athens herself, he remarked, presided equally over war and over domestic administration, and was worshipped under both attributes.

Life Of Phokion: VIII

With this object in view Phokion invariably used his political influence in favour of peace, but nevertheless was elected general more times not only than any of his contemporaries, but also than any of his predecessors: yet he never canvassed his countrymen or made any effort to obtain the office, though he did not refuse to fill it at his country’s bidding. All historians admit that he was elected general five-and-forty times, and never once missed being elected, since even when he was absent the Athenians used to send for him to come home and be elected; so that his enemies used to wonder that Phokion, who always thwarted the Athenians and never flattered them either by word or deed, should be favoured by them, and were wont to say that the Athenians in their hours of relaxation used to amuse themselves by listening to the speeches of their more lively and brilliant orators, just as royal personages are said to amuse themselves with their favourites after dinner, but that they made their appointments to public offices in a sober and earnest spirit, choosing for that purpose the most severe and sensible man in Athens, and the one too, who alone, or at any rate more than any one else, was in the habit of opposing their impulses and wishes. When an oracle was brought from Delphi and read before the assembly, which said that when all the Athenians were of one mind, one man would be opposed to the state, Phokion rose and said that he was the man in question, for he disapproved of the whole of their policy. And once when he made some remark in a speech which was vociferously applauded, and he saw the whole assembly unanimous in its approval of his words, he turned to some of his friends and said, “Have I inadvertently said something bad?”

Life Of Phokion: IX

Once when the Athenians were asking for subscriptions for some festival, and all the others had paid their subscriptions, Phokion, after he had been frequently asked to subscribe, answered, “Ask these rich men: for my part I should be ashamed of myself if I were to give money to you, and not pay what I owe to this man here,” pointing to Kallikles the money-lender. As the people did not cease shouting and abusing him, he told them a fable: “A cowardly man went to the wars, and when he heard the cawing of the crows, he laid down his arms and sat still. Then he took up his arms and marched on, and they again began to caw, so he halted again. At last he said, ‘You may caw as loud as you please, but you shall never make a meal of me.'” On another occasion when the Athenians wished to send him to meet the enemy, and when he refused, called him a coward, he said, “You are not able to make me brave, nor am I able to make you cowards. However, we understand one another.” At some dangerous crisis the people were greatly enraged with him, and demanded an account of his conduct as general. “I hope,” said he, “my good friends, that you will save yourselves first.” As the Athenians, when at war, were humble-spirited, and full of fears, but after peace was made became bold, and reproached Phokion for having lost them their chance of victory, he said, “You are fortunate in having a general who understands you; for if you had not, you would long ago have been ruined.” When the Athenians wished to decide some dispute about territory by arms instead of by arbitration, Phokion advised them to fight the Bœotians with words, in which they were superior, not with arms, in which they were inferior to them. Once when they would not attend to his words, or listen to him, he said, “You are able to force me to do what I do not wish, but you shall never force me to counsel what I do not approve.” When Demosthenes, one of the orators of the opposite party, said to him, “Phokion, the Athenians will kill you, if they lose their senses.” He answered, “Yes, but they will kill you, if they regain them.” When he saw Polyeuktus of Sphettus in a great heat urging the Athenians to go to war with Philip, panting and sweating profusely, as he was a very fat man, and drinking great draughts of water, he said, “Ought you to believe what this man says, and vote for war? What sort of a figure will he make in a suit of armour and with a shield to carry, when the enemy are at hand, if he cannot explain his thoughts to you without nearly choking himself?” When Lykurgus abused him freely in the public assembly and above all, reproached him with having advised the people to deliver up ten citizens to Alexander when he demanded them, he said, “I have often given the people good advice, but they will not obey me.”

Life Of Phokion: X

There was one Archibiades, who was surnamed the Laconizer, who grew a great beard, wore a Spartan cloak, and affected a stern demeanour like a Spartan. Once when Phokion was being violently attacked in the assembly he called upon this man to bear witness to the truth of what he said, and to assist him. Archibiades now rose and said what he thought would please the Athenians, upon which Phokion, seizing him by the beard, exclaimed, “Why then, Archibiades, do you not shave?” When Aristogeiton, the informer, who made warlike speeches in the public assembly, and urged the people to action, came to be enrolled on the list for active service leaning on a stick, with his legs bandaged, Phokion, catching sight of him from the tribune where he stood, called out “Write down Aristogeiton, a cripple and a villain.” From this it appears strange that so harsh and ungenial a man should have been named “The Good.”

It is difficult, I imagine, but not impossible, for the same man to be like wine, both sweet and harsh: just as other men and other wines seem at first to be pleasant, but prove in the end both disagreeable and injurious to those who use them. We are told that Hypereides once said to the Athenians, “Men of Athens, do not think whether I am harsh or not, but whether I am harsh for nothing;” as if it was only covetousness that made men hated, and as if those persons were not much more generally disliked who used their power to gratify their insolence, their private grudges, their anger, or their ambition. Phokion never harmed any Athenian because he disliked him, and never accounted any man his enemy, but merely showed himself stern and inexorable to those who opposed his efforts to save his country, while in the rest of his life he was so kind and amiable to all men, that he often helped his opponents, and came to the aid of his political antagonists when they were in difficulties. Once when his friends reproached him for having interceded in court for some worthless man who was being tried, he answered that good men do not need any intercessor. When Aristogeiton, after he had been condemned, sent for Phokion, and begged him to visit him, he at once started to go to the prison; and when his friends tried to prevent him, he said, “My good sirs, let me go; for where would one wish to meet Aristogeiton rather than in prison?”

Life Of Phokion: XI

Indeed, if any other generals were sent out to the allies and people of the islands, they always treated them as enemies, fortified their walls, blocked up their harbours, and sent their slaves and cattle, their women and children, into their cities for shelter; but when Phokion was in command they came out a long way to meet him with their own ships, crowned with flowers, and led him rejoicing into their cities.

Life Of Phokion: XII

When Philip stealthily seized Eubœa, landed a Macedonian army there, and began to win over the cities by means of their despots, Plutarchus of Eretria sent to Athens and begged the Athenians to rescue the island from the Macedonians. Phokion was now sent thither in command of a small force, as it was expected that the people of the country would rally round him. He found, however, nothing but treachery and corruption, as all patriotism had been undermined by the bribes of Philip, and soon was brought into great danger. He established himself upon a hill which was cut off by a ravine from the plain near the city of Tamynæ, and there collected the most trustworthy part of his forces, bidding his officers take no heed of the undisciplined mass of talkers and cowards who deserted from his camp and made their way home, observing that they were useless in action because they would not obey orders, and only hindered the fighting men, while at Athens the consciousness of their baseness would prevent their bringing false accusations against him.

Life Of Phokion: XIII

When the enemy drew near, he ordered his troops to remain quiet under arms until he had finished offering sacrifice. Either the sacrifices were unfavourable, or else he designedly wasted time, wishing to bring the enemy as close as possible. The result was that Plutarchus, imagining that the Athenians were terror-stricken and hanging back, rushed to attack the enemy at the head of the Eubœans. Seeing this, the Athenian cavalry could no longer endure to remain idle, but charged at once, pouring out of their camp in scattered bodies and with much confusion. These first troops were defeated, and Plutarchus himself took to flight. Some of the enemy now came close up to the rampart of the Athenian camp, and began to tear down the stakes of which it was formed as though they were already completely victorious.

At this crisis the sacrifices proved favourable, and the Athenian infantry, sallying out of their camp, routed and overthrew all whom they found near their ramparts. Phokion now ordered his main body to remain in reserve, in order to give those who had been scattered in the former skirmish a point to rally on, while he himself, with some picked men, charged the enemy. A severe battle now took place, in which all exerted themselves with the most reckless bravery. Thallus, the son of Kineas, and Glaukus, the son of Polymedes, who fought by the side of the general himself, were especially distinguished. Kleophanes also did most excellent service on this occasion, for he rallied the scattered horsemen, called upon them to help their general in his utmost need, and prevailed upon them to return and complete the victory which the infantry had gained. After this, Phokion banished Plutarchus from Eretria, and captured a fort named Zaretra, which commanded the narrowest part of the island. He set free all the Greek captives, because he feared that the Athenian orators might urge the people in their anger to treat them with undue severity.

Life Of Phokion: XIV

After Phokion had accomplished this, he sailed away to Athens; and the allies soon found cause to wish for his goodness and justice, while the Athenians soon learned to value his courage and military skill. Molossus, his successor, managed the war so unsuccessfully that he himself was made a prisoner by the enemy. Shortly afterwards Philip, full of great designs, proceeded with all his army to the Hellespont, in order to take Perinthus, Byzantium, and the Chersonese at one blow. The Athenians were eager to help these cities, and the orators succeeded in getting Chares sent thither in command of an army. However, when he arrived he effected nothing of importance, for the cities would not admit his troops within their walls, and viewed him with suspicion, so that he was reduced to roaming about the country, exacting contributions of money from the allies of Athens, and regarded with contempt by the enemy. Upon this the people, exasperated by the speeches of the orators, became much enraged, and regretted that they had sent any assistance to the people of Byzantium: but Phokion rose, and said that they ought not be angry with their allies for not trusting them, but with their generals for not being trustworthy. “These men,” he remarked, “make you feared even by those who cannot be saved without your assistance.”

The Athenians were much moved by these words. They repented of their anger, and ordered Phokion himself to take a second armament and proceed to the assistance of their allies on the Hellespont. The reputation of Phokion had been very great even before this, but now, since Leon, the leading man in Byzantium, who had been a fellow-student in the Academy with Phokion, made himself answerable for his good faith, the Byzantines would not permit him to carry out his intention of encamping outside their walls, but opened their gates and received the Athenians into their houses. Phokion’s men proved not only irreproachable in their conduct, but repaid the confidence which had been shown them by fighting on all occasions with the utmost bravery. Thus was Philip this time driven from the Hellespont, and regarded with contempt as a coward and a runaway, while Phokion took several of his ships, recovered some towns which had received Macedonian garrisons, and landed at various points on the coast to ravage and overrun the country, until at last he was wounded by the enemy and forced to return home.

Life Of Phokion: XV

Once when the people of Megara secretly invited Phokion to come to their aid, as he was afraid that the Bœotians might hear of his intentions and cut off the proposed reinforcements, he called a meeting of the Assembly at daybreak, laid the Megarian proposals before the Athenians, and as soon as a decree had been passed to aid them, ordered the trumpet to sound, bade his troops leave the Assembly and get under arms at once, and led them straightway to Megara. The people of Megara gladly welcomed him, and he not only fortified Nisæa, but built two long walls from the city to its seaport, thus joining Megara to the sea in such a fashion that the city no longer feared its enemies by land, and cheerfully threw in its lot with the Athenians.

Life Of Phokion: XVI

When Philip was viewed with hostility by every state in Greece, and other generals had been elected in Phokion’s absence to make war against him, Phokion, when he returned from his tour among the islands, advised them to make peace, and come to terms with Philip, who on his part was quite willing to do so, and feared to go to war. On this occasion a pettifogging Athenian, who spent all his time in the law courts, opposed Phokion, and said, “Do you dare, Phokion, to advise the Athenians to turn back when they have arms already in their hands?” “Yes, I do,” answered he, “and that too although I know that in time of war I shall be your master, and in time of peace you will be mine.” As Phokion did not succeed, but Demosthenes carried his point, and counselled the Athenians to fight as far as possible from Attica, he said to him: “My good sir, let us not consider where we are to fight, but how we can win the victory. If we are victorious, the war will be kept at a distance, but all the horrors of war always press closely upon the vanquished.” After the defeat, the noisy revolutionary party dragged Charidemus to the tribune, and bade him act as general. All the more respectable citizens were much alarmed at this. They appealed to the council of the Areopagus to aid them, addressed the people with tears and entreaties, and prevailed upon them to place the city under the charge of Phokion. Phokion now considered it necessary to submit with a good grace to the pleasure of Philip, and when Demades moved that Athens should share the general peace and take part in the congress of the Greek states, Phokion objected to the motion before it was known what Philip wished the Greeks to do. His opposition was fruitless, because of the critical state of affairs; but when afterwards he saw the Athenians bitterly repenting of what they had done, because they were obliged to furnish Philip with ships of war and cavalry, he said: “It was because I feared this that I opposed the motion of Demades: but now that you have passed that motion you must not be grieved and downcast, but remember that your ancestors were sometimes independent and sometimes subject to others, but that they acted honourably in either case, and saved both their city and the whole of Greece.” On the death of Philip he opposed the wish of the Athenians to hold a festival because of the good news: for he said that it was an unworthy thing for them to rejoice, because the army which had defeated them at Chæronea had been weakened by the loss of only one man.

Life Of Phokion: XVII

When Demosthenes spoke abusively of Alexander, who was even then at the gates of Thebes, Phokion said to him, in the words of Homer,

“‘Rash man, forbear to rouse the angry chief,’

who is also a man of unbounded ambition. When he has kindled such a terrible conflagration close by, why do you wish our city to fan the flame? I, however, will not permit these men to ruin us, even though they wish it, for that is why I have undertaken the office of general.”

After Thebes was destroyed, Alexander demanded Demosthenes and his party, with Lykurgus, Hypereides, and Charidenus to be delivered up to him. The whole assembly, on hearing this proposal, cast its eyes upon Phokion, and, after calling upon him repeatedly by name, induced him to rise. Placing by his side his most beloved and trusted friend, he said: “These men have brought the city to such a pass, that if any one were to demand that Nikokles here should be delivered up to him, I should advise you to give him up. For my own part, I should account it a happy thing to die on behalf of all of you. I feel pity also, men of Athens,” said he, “for those Thebans who have fled hither for refuge; but it is enough that Greece should have to mourn for the loss of Thebes. It is better then, on behalf of both the Thebans and ourselves, to deprecate the wrath of our conqueror rather than to oppose him.”

We are told that when the decree refusing to give up the persons demanded was presented to Alexander, he flung it from him and refused to listen to the envoys; but he received a second embassy headed by Phokion, because he was told by the older Macedonians that his father had always treated him with great respect. He not only conversed with Phokion, and heard his petition, but even asked his advice. Phokion advised him, if he desired quiet, to give up war; and if he wished for glory, to turn his arms against the Persians, and leave the Greeks unmolested. Phokion conversed much with Alexander, and, as he had formed a shrewd estimate of his character, was so happy in his remarks that he entirely appeased his anger, and even led him to say that the Athenians must watch the progress of events with care, since, if anything were to happen to him, it would be their duty to take the lead in Greece. Alexander singled out Phokion in a special manner as his guest and friend, and treated him with a degree of respect which he showed to few even of his own companions. The historian Douris tells us in confirmation of this that after Alexander had conquered Darius, and had become a great man, he omitted the usual words of greeting from all his letters, except from those which he wrote to Phokion, addressing him alone as he addressed Antipater (his viceroy), with the word ‘Hail.’ This is also recorded by the historian Chares.

Life Of Phokion: XVIII

With regard to money matters, all writers agree in saying that Alexander sent Phokion a hundred talents as a present. When this money arrived at Athens Phokion enquired of those who brought it why Alexander should give all this money to him alone, when there were so many other citizens in Athens? They answered, “Because he thinks that you alone are a good and honourable man.” “Then,” said Phokion, “let him allow me still to be thought so, and to remain so.” When the men who brought the treasure followed him into his house, and saw its frugal arrangements, and his wife making bread, while Phokion with his own hands drew water from the well and washed their feet, they pressed the money upon him yet more earnestly, and expressed their disappointment at his refusal, saying that it was a shameful thing for a friend of King Alexander to live so poorly. Phokion, seeing a poor old man walk by clad in a ragged cloak, asked them whether they thought him to be a worse man than that. They begged him not to say such things, but he answered. “And yet that man lives on slenderer means than mine, and finds that they suffice him. Moreover,” he continued, “if I received such a mass of gold and did not use it, I should reap no advantage from it, while, if I did use it, I should destroy both my own character and that of the giver.” So the treasure was sent back from Athens, and proved that the man who did not need such a sum was richer than he who offered it. As Alexander was displeased, and wrote to Phokion saying that he did not regard as his friends those who asked him for nothing, Phokion did not even then ask for money, but begged for the release of Echekrates the sophist, Athenodorus of Imbros, and of two Rhodians, Demaratus and Sparton, who had been arrested, and were imprisoned at Sardis. Alexander immediately set these men at liberty, and sending Kraterus to Macedonia bade him hand over to Phokion whichever he might choose of the Asiatic cities of Kius, Gergithus, Mylassa, and Elæa; showing all the more eagerness to make him a present because he was angry at his former refusal. Phokion however would not take them, and Alexander shortly afterwards died. The house of Phokion may be seen at the present day in Melite. It is adorned with plates of copper, but otherwise is very plain and simple.

Life Of Phokion: XIX

We have no information about Phokion’s first wife, except that she was the sister of Kephisodotus the modeller in clay. His second wife was no less renowned in Athens for her simplicity of life then was Phokion himself for his goodness. Once when the Athenians were witnessing a new play, the actor who was to play the part of the king demanded from the choragus a large troop of richly-attired attendants, and, as he did not obtain them, refused to appear upon the stage, and kept the audience waiting: At last Melanthius, the choragus, shoved him on to the stage, exclaiming. “Do you not see the wife of Phokion there, who always goes about with only one maidservant to wait upon her, and are you going to give yourself ridiculous airs and lead our wives into extravagance?” These words were heard by the audience, and were received with great cheering and applause. Once, when an Ionian lady was displaying a coronet and necklace of gold and precious stones to her, she said, “My only ornament is that this is the twentieth year that Phokion has been elected general by the Athenians.”

Life Of Phokion: XX

As his son Phokus wished to contend in the games at the Panathenaic Festival, he entered him for the horse race, not because he cared about his winning the prize, but because he thought that the youth, who was addicted to wine and of licentious life, would be benefited by the strict training and exercise which he would have to undergo. The young man won the race, and was invited by many of his friends to dine with them to celebrate his victory. Phokion excused him to all but one, with whom he permitted him to dine in honour of his success. When, however, he came to the dinner and saw footpans filled with wine and aromatic herbs offered to the guests as they entered to wash their feet in, he turned to his son, and said, “Phokus, why do you not prevent your friend from spoiling your victory.” As he wished to remove his son altogether from the influence of Athenian life he took him to Lacedæmon, and placed him with the young men who were undergoing the Spartan training there. The Athenians were vexed at this, because Phokion appeared to despise and undervalue the institutions of his own country. Once Demades said to him “Phokion, why should we not advise the Athenians to adopt the Spartan constitution; if you bid me, I am quite willing to make a speech and bring forward a motion in the assembly for doing so.” “Indeed,” answered Phokion “it would suit a man who is scented like you, and wears so rich a robe, to talk about plain Spartan fare and Lykurgus to the Athenians!”

Life Of Phokion: XXI

When Alexander wrote to the Athenians ordering them to send ships of war to him, some of the orators were against doing so, and the senate asked Phokion to speak. “I say,” remarked he, “that we ought either to conquer, or else to keep on good terms with our conqueror.” “When Pytheas first began to make speeches, as he was even then fluent and impudent, Phokion said, “Will you not be silent, and remember that you are only a newly-bought servant of the people.” When Harpalus fled from Asia with a large amount of treasure and came to Athens, where all the venal politicians paid great court to him, he gave them but a very small part of his hoard, but sent a present of seven hundred talents to Phokion, placing all his other property and his person in his hands. Phokion returned a rough answer, telling Harpalus that if he continued corrupting the Athenians he would sorely repent of it. For the moment Harpalus desisted from his offers, but shortly afterwards when the Athenians were met together in the assembly he observed that those who had received his bribes all turned against him and spoke ill of him, that they might not be suspected, while Phokion, who had taken nothing from him, nevertheless showed some interest in his safety as well as in the welfare of Athens. Harpalus now was induced to pay his court to him a second time, but after assailing him on all sides found that he was impregnable by bribes. However Harpalus made a friend and companion of his son-in-law Charikles, who entirely lost his reputation in consequence, as Harpalus entrusted him with the entire management of his affairs.

Life Of Phokion: XXII

Moreover, upon the death of Pythionike, the courtezan, whose lover Harpalus had been, and who had borne him a daughter, as he desired to erect a very costly monument to her memory, he appointed Charikles to superintend the building of it. Charikles was mean enough to accept this commission; and he incurred even more disgrace from the appearance of the tomb when it was completed. It stands at the present day in the precinct of Hermes, on the road from Athens to Eleusis, and cannot have cost anything like thirty talents, which sum is said to have been paid to Charikles by Harpalus for its construction. Besides this, after his death, his daughter was adopted by Charikles and Phokion, and received every attention from them. When, however, Charikles was prosecuted for having taken a share of the treasure of Harpalus, and begged Phokion to come into court and speak in his favour, Phokion refused, saying “Charikles, I chose you to be my son-in-law in all honesty.”

When Asklepiades, the son of Hipparchus, first brought the news of Alexander’s death to Athens, Demades advised the people not to believe it. Such a corpse, he declared, must have been smelt throughout the world. Phokion, seeing that the people were excited at the report, endeavoured to soothe and pacify them. Upon this many rushed to the tribune, and loudly declared that Asklepiades had brought true tidings, and that Alexander was really dead. “If,” replied Phokion, “he is dead to-day, he will be dead to-morrow and the day after, so that we may quietly, and with all the greater safety, take counsel as to what we are to do.”

Life Of Phokion: XXIII

When Leosthenes plunged the city into the war for the liberation of Greece, as Phokion opposed him, he sneeringly asked him what good he had done the city during the many years that he had been general. “No small good,” retorted Phokion, “I have caused the Athenians to be buried at home in their own sepulchres.” As Leosthenes spoke in a boastful and confident manner before the public assembly, Phokion said, “Your speeches, young man, are like cypress trees; they are tall and stately, but they bear no fruit.” When Hypereides rose and asked Phokion when he would advise the Athenians to go to war; “When,” answered he, “I see young men willing to observe discipline, the rich subscribing to the expenses, and the orators leaving off embezzling the public funds.” As many admired the force which Leosthenes got together, and inquired of Phokion whether he thought that sufficient preparations had been made, he answered, “Enough for the short course; but I fear for Athens if the race of war is to be a long one, since she has no reserves, either of money, ships, or men.” The events of the war bore out the justice of his remark; for at first Leosthenes was elated by his great success, as he defeated the Bœotians in a pitched battle, and drove Antipater into Lamia. The Athenians were now full of hope, and did nothing but hold high festival to welcome the good news, and offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods. Phokion, however, when asked whether he did not wish that he had done all this, answered, “Certainly I do; but I wish that quite the contrary policy had been adopted.” Again, when despatch after despatch kept arriving from the camp, announcing fresh successes, he said, “I wonder when we shall leave off being victorious.”

Life Of Phokion: XXIV

After the death of Leosthenes, those who feared that, if Phokion were made commander-in-chief, he would put an end to the war, suborned an obscure person to rise in the assembly and say that, as a friend and associate of Phokion, he should advise them to spare him, and keep him safe, since they had no one else like him in Athens, and to send Antiphilus to command the army. The Athenians approved of this advice, but Phokion came forward and declared that he had never associated with the man, or had any acquaintance with him. “From this day forth, however,” said he, “I regard you as my friend and companion, for you have given advice which suits me.” When the Athenians were eager to invade Bœotia, he at first opposed them; and when some of his friends told him that he would be put to death if he always thwarted the Athenians, he answered, “I shall suffer death unjustly, if I tell them what is to their advantage, but justly if I do wrong.” When he saw that they would not give up the project, but excitedly insisted on it, he bade the herald proclaim that all Athenians who had arrived at manhood from sixty years and under, should take provisions for five days and follow him to Bœotia at once. Upon this a great disturbance took place, as the older citizens leaped to their feet, and clamoured loudly. “There is nothing strange in the proclamation,” said Phokion, “for I, who am eighty years of age, shall be with you as your general.” Thus he managed to quiet them, and induced them to give up their intention.”

Life Of Phokion: XXV

As the seaboard of Attica was being plundered by Mikion, who had landed at Rhamnus with a large force of Macedonians and mercenary soldiers, and was overrunning the country, Phokion led out the Athenians to attack him. As men kept running up to him and pestering him with advice, to seize this hill, to despatch his cavalry in that direction, to make his attack in this other place, he said “Herakles, how many generals I see, and how few soldiers.” While he was arraying his hoplites in line, one of them advanced a long way in front, and then, fearing one of the enemy, retired. “Young man,” said Phokion, “are you not ashamed of having deserted two posts, that in which you were placed by your general and that in which you placed yourself?” He now charged the enemy and overthrew them, slaying Mikion himself and many others. Meanwhile the Greek army in Thessaly fought a battle with Leonnatus, who was coming to join Antipater with a Macedonian army from Asia. Antiphilus led the infantry and Menon, a Thessalian, the cavalry. In the battle Leonnatus himself was slain, and his troops defeated.

Life Of Phokion: XXVI

Shortly afterwards Kraterus crossed over from Asia with a large force, and a second battle took place at Krannon. The Greeks were defeated, but not in a crushing manner or with much loss. Yet, as the Greek commanders were young men, unable to maintain discipline, and, as at the same time, Antipater was tampering with the loyalty of the cities from which the army came, the whole force broke up, and most disgracefully betrayed the cause of Grecian liberty. Antipater at once marched upon Athens with his army. Demosthenes and Hypereides at once fled from Athens, but Demades, who had not been able to pay any part of the money which he had been condemned to pay to the state (for he had been convicted of making illegal proposals on seven separate occasions, and had become disfranchised and disqualified from addressing the people), now set the laws at defiance, and proposed that ambassadors, with full powers, should be sent to Antipater to sue for peace. The people were greatly alarmed, and called upon Phokion, saying that they could trust no one else. “If I had always been trusted,” said he, “we should not now be discussing such matters as these.” The motion was carried, and Phokion was sent to Antipater, who was encamped in the Kadmeia of Thebes, and preparing to invade Attica. Phokion’s first request was that he would stay where he was and arrange terms. Upon hearing this Kraterus said, “Phokion advises us to do what is unjust, when he bids us remain here, doing evil to the country of our friends and allies, while we might do ourselves good in that of our enemies.” Antipater, however, seized him by the hand and said, “We must yield to Phokion in this.” With regard to terms, he said that he required the same terms from the Athenians which Leosthenes had demanded from himself at Lamia.

Life Of Phokion: XXVII

When Phokion returned to Athens, as the people had no choice but to submit to these terms, he went back again to Thebes with the other ambassadors; for the Athenians had appointed the philosopher Xenokrates as an additional ambassador, because his virtue, wisdom, and intellectual power was so renowned that they imagined that no man’s heart could be so arrogant, cruel, and savage as not to be touched by some feeling of reverence and awe at the sight of Xenokrates.

However, their expectations were entirely disappointed by the ignorance and hatred of good men displayed by Antipater. In the first place, though he shook hands with the others, he bestowed no greeting upon Xenokrates; upon which Xenokrates is said to have remarked that Antipater did well in showing that he felt shame before him for the treatment which he was about to inflict upon the city. After this Xenokrates began to make him a speech, but Antipater would not suffer him to proceed, and by rude interruptions reduced him to silence. After Phokion and Demades had spoken, Antipater stated his willingness to make peace and become an ally of the Athenians, if they would deliver up Demosthenes, Hypereides, and some other orators to him, re-establish their original government, in which the magistrates were chosen according to property, receive a garrison in Munychia, and pay the whole expenses of the war, besides a fine. The ambassadors thought that they ought to be contented and thankful for these terms, with the exception of Xenokrates, who said, “If Antipater looks upon us as slaves, the terms are moderate; if as free men, they are severe.” When Phokion earnestly begged Antipater not to send a garrison to Athens, he is said to have said in reply, “Phokion, I am willing to grant you any request you please, unless it be one which would be fatal both to you and to myself.” Some say that this is not the true version of the incident, but that Antipater enquired of Phokion whether, if he did not place a garrison in Athens, Phokion would guarantee that the city would abide by the terms of the peace, and not intrigue with a view of regaining its independence: and as Phokion was silent and hesitated how to reply, Kallimedon, surnamed ‘the crab’ a man of a fierce and anti-democratical temper, exclaimed: “If, Antipater, this man should talk nonsense, will you believe him, and not do what you have decided upon?”

Life Of Phokion: XXVIII

Thus it came to pass that the Athenians received into their city a Macedonian garrison, whose commander was Menyllus, an amiable man and a friend of Phokion himself. It was thought that the sending of the garrison was a mere piece of arrogance on Antipater’s part, and to be more due to an insolent desire to show the extent of his power than to any real necessity. The time, too, at which it was sent, rendered its arrival especially galling to the Athenians: for it was during the celebration of the mysteries, on the twentieth day of the month Bœdromion, that the garrison entered the city. On that day, Iacchus used to be carried in procession from Athens to Eleusis, but now the whole ritual was marred, and the Athenians sadly contrasted this celebration of the mysteries with those of former years. In earlier times, when the city was powerful and flourishing, the splendid spectacle of the celebration of the mysteries used to strike awe and terror into the hearts of the enemies of Athens, but now at these same rites the gods seemed to look on unmoved at the disasters of Greece, while the most sacred season was desecrated, and that which had been the pleasantest time of the year now served merely to remind them of their greatest misfortunes. A few years before this, the priestesses of Dodona had sent an oracular warning to Athens, bidding the Athenians guard the extremities of Artemis. In those days the fillets which are wound round the couches of the gods which are carried in the mysteries were dyed of a yellow instead of a crimson colour, and presented a corpse-like appearance, and, what was more remarkable, the fillets dyed by private persons at the same time, all were of the same colour. One of the initiated also, while washing a little pig in the harbour of Kantharus, was seized by a shark, who swallowed all the lower part of his body. By this portent, Heaven clearly intimated to the Athenians that they were to lose the lower part of their city, and their command of the sea, but to keep the upper part. As for the Macedonian garrison, Menyllus took care that the Athenians suffered no inconvenience from it; but more than twelve thousand of the citizens were disfranchised under the new constitution, on account of their poverty. Of these men, those who remained in Athens were thought to have been shamefully ill treated, while those who left the city in consequence of this measure and proceeded to Thrace, where Antipater provided them with a city and with territory, looked like the inhabitants of a town which has been taken by storm.

Life Of Phokion: XXIX

The deaths of Demosthenes at Kalauria, and of Hypereides at Kleonæ, which I have recounted elsewhere, very nearly led the Athenians to look back with regret upon the days of Alexander and Philip. In later times, after Antigonus had been assassinated, and his murderers had begun a career of violence and extortion, some one seeing a countryman in Phrygia digging in the ground, asked him what he was doing, the man replied with a sigh, “I am seeking for Antigonus.” Just so at this time it recurred to many to reflect on the noble and placable character of those princes, and to contrast them with Antipater, who, although he pretended to be only a private citizen, wore shabby clothes, and lived on humble fare, really tyrannized over the Athenians in their distress more grievously than either of them.

Phokion, however, managed to save many from exile, by supplicating Antipater on their behalf, and in the case of the exiles he obtained this much favour, that they were not transported quite out of Greece, beyond the Keraunian mountains and Cape Tænarus, as were the exiles from the other Greek cities, but were settled in Peloponnesus. Among these was Hagnonides, the informer. Phokion now devoted his attention to the management of the internal politics of Athens in a quiet and law-abiding fashion. He contrived to have good and sensible men always appointed as magistrates, and by excluding the noisy and revolutionary party from the public offices, made them less inclined to create a disturbance, and taught them to be content with their country as it was, and to turn their minds to agricultural pursuits. When he saw Xenokrates paying his tax as a resident alien, he wished to enrol him as a citizen; but Xenokrates refused, saying that he would not put himself under the new constitution after he had gone on an embassy to prevent its being established.

Life Of Phokion: XXX

When Menyllus offered him presents, Phokion replied that he did not consider him to be a better man than Alexander, and saw no greater reason why he should accept a present now than when Alexander offered it to him. As Menyllus begged his son Phokus to accept it, Phokion said, “If Phokus alters his nature, and becomes frugal, his father’s property will be enough for him; but, as it is, nothing will satisfy him.”

He gave a sharp reply to Antipater, who asked him to perform some disgraceful service for him. “I cannot,” said he, “be Antipater’s friend and his toady at the same time.”

Antipater himself is said to have remarked that he had two friends at Athens, Phokion and Demades, the one of whom he could not persuade to take a bribe, while the other took bribes and never was satisfied. Phokion indeed considered it a great proof of his virtue that he had grown old in poverty, after having so many times been elected general of the Athenians, and having been the friend of kings; while Demades openly prided himself both upon his wealth and his contempt for the laws. Although there was a law in force at Athens at that period, which forbade foreigners to appear in a chorus, and imposed a fine of one thousand drachmas upon the choragus who allowed them to do so, Demades exhibited a chorus of one hundred foreigners, and publicly paid in the theatre a fine of a thousand drachmas for each of them. On the occasion of the marriage of his son Demeas, he said, “My boy, when I married your mother, our next-door neighbours heard nothing of it; but kings and potentates shall attend your nuptials.”

Although the Athenians tormented Phokion with requests that he would use his influence with Antipater to get the Macedonian garrison withdrawn, he always contrived to postpone making this application, either because he knew that it would not be granted, or because he thought that the fear of the Macedonian troops compelled the Athenians to live in a quiet and orderly fashion; but, on the other hand, he induced Antipater to postpone indefinitely his demand for money from the city. The Athenians now betook themselves to Demades, who eagerly promised his services, and, together with his son, started for Macedonia, to which country it seems as if he was brought by the direct agency of the gods at a time when Antipater was on a sick bed, and Kassander, who was now at the head of affairs, had discovered a letter addressed by Demades to Antigonus in Asia, inviting him to cross over into Greece and Macedonia, and free them from their dependence on an old and rotten warp -by which expression he meant to sneer at Antipater. As soon as Kassander saw Demades arrive in Macedonia he had him arrested, and first led his son close to him and then stabbed him, so that his robe was covered with his son’s blood, and then, after bitterly upbraiding him with his ingratitude and treason, killed him also.

Life Of Phokion: XXXI

Antipater on his death-bed appointed Polysperchon to the supreme command, and gave Kassander the post of chiliarch, or general of the body guard. Kassander, however, instantly began to plot against Polysperchon, and taking time by the forelock, sent Nikanor in haste to supersede Menyllus, before the news of the death of Antipater became publicly known, with orders to make himself master of Munychia. This was done, and when after a few days the Athenians heard that Antipater was dead they blamed Phokion, insinuating that he had been told of the death of Antipater, but said nothing about it, and so encouraged the designs of Nikanor. Phokion took no notice of this scandalous talk, but put himself in communication with Nikanor, and prevailed upon him to treat the Athenians with mildness, and even induced him to act as president of the games, in the performance of which office he took considerable pride and incurred some expense.

Life Of Phokion: XXXII

Meanwhile Polysperchon, who was now regent of the Macedonian empire, and had put down Kassander, sent a letter to the Athenians to the effect that “the king restored the democracy at Athens, and bade the Athenians govern themselves according to the customs of their fathers.” This was merely a trick to ruin Phokion, for Polysperchon, whose design, as his acts shortly afterwards proved, was to gain over the city of Athens to his side, had no hopes of succeeding in this unless Phokion were driven out of Athens; while he expected that Phokion would be driven out when all the exiled citizens returned, and when the informers and mob orators again occupied the bema. As the Athenians were excited at this intelligence, Nikanor desired to discuss the matter with them, and appeared at a conference held in Peiræus, having received from Phokion a pledge for his personal safety. Derkyllus, the local commander, tried to seize him, but Nikanor escaped, and at once began to take measures for the defence of Peiræus against the Athenians. Phokion, when blamed for having permitted Nikanor to escape, answered that he felt confidence in Nikanor, and did not expect that he would do any harm; and even if he did, he preferred suffering wrong to doing it. This was no doubt a most magnanimous sentiment; but when a man on such grounds risks the freedom of his country, especially when he is acting as general, I am inclined to think that he breaks an older and more important law, that, namely, of his duty to his fellow-citizens. We cannot argue that Phokion refrained from seizing Nikanor because he feared to involve his country in war, and it was absurd of him to plead that good faith and justice demanded that Nikanor should be left alone, on the understanding that he would feel bound to abstain from any acts of violence. The real truth seems to have been that Phokion had a firm belief in Nikanor’s honesty, since he refused to believe those who told him that Nikanor was plotting the capture of Peiræus, and had sent Macedonian soldiers into Salamis, and had even corrupted some of the inhabitants in Peiræus itself. Even when Philomelus of Lamptra moved a resolution that all Athenians should get under arms and be ready to follow their general Phokion, he refused to act, until Nikanor marched his troops out of Munychia and fortified Peiræus with a trench and palisade.

Life Of Phokion: XXXIII

When this took place Phokion, who was now quite willing to lead the Athenians to attack Nikanor, was insulted and treated with contempt; and now Alexander the son of Polysperchon arrived with a military force, nominally with the intention of assisting the citizens against Nikanor, but really meaning if possible to make himself master of the city while it was divided against itself. The exiled Athenians who accompanied him at once entered the city, and as the disfranchised inhabitants joined them, a disorderly and informal assembly was held, in which Phokion was removed from his office, and other men were appointed generals. Had it not been that Alexander and Nikanor were observed to hold frequent conferences together alone outside the walls, the city could not have been saved. Hagnonides the informer now at once began to accuse Phokion and his party of treason; upon which Charikles and Kallimedon left the city in terror, while Phokion and those of his friends who stood by him proceeded to Polysperchon himself. They were accompanied, out of regard for Phokion, by Solon of Platæa and Deinarchus of Corinth, who were thought to be intimate friends of Polysperchon. As Deinarchus was sick, they waited for some days at Elatea, and in the meantime, at the instigation of Hagnonides, although Archestratus brought forward the motion for it in the assembly, the Athenians sent an embassy to the court of Macedonia to accuse Phokion of treason. Both met Polysperchon at the same time, as he with the king was passing through a village of Phokis named Pharyges, which lies at the foot of the Akrousian mountain, now called Galate. Here Polysperchon set up the throne with the gilt ceiling, under which he placed the king and his friends. He ordered Deinarchus at once to be seized, tortured, and put to death, but he allowed the Athenians to plead their cause before him. They however made a great disturbance by contradicting and abusing one another, so that Hagnonides said, “Pack us all into one cage and send us back to Athens to be tried.” At this the king laughed, but the Macedonians and others who were present wished to hear what each side had to say, and bade the two embassies state their case. They were not, however, fairly treated, for Polysperchon several times interrupted Phokion during his speech, until at last he struck the ground with his staff in a rage and held his peace. When Hegemon too said that Polysperchon himself knew him to be a friend to the people of Athens, Polysperchon angrily exclaimed “Do not slander me to the king.” At this the king himself leaped to his feet, and would have struck Hegemon with a spear, but was quickly seized by Polysperchon, upon which the court broke up.

Life Of Phokion: XXXIV

Phokion and his companions were now taken into custody: upon which such of his friends as saw this from a distance covered their faces with their cloaks and made their escape. Kleitus conducted the prisoners back to Athens, nominally to be tried there, but really already under sentence of death. The procession was a sad one, as they were brought in carts through the Kerameikus to the theatre, where Kleitus kept them until the archons had convened the assembly. From this assembly neither slaves, foreigners, nor disfranchised citizens were excluded, but every one, men and women alike, were allowed to be present and to address the people. After the king’s letter was read, in which he said that he was convinced that these men were traitors, but sent them to Athens for trial because that city was free and independent, Kleitus brought in the prisoners. At the sight of Phokion the better class of citizens covered their faces and silently wept, and one of them had the courage to rise and say that, as the king had allowed the Athenian people to conduct so important a trial, all slaves and foreigners ought to leave the assembly. The populace, however, would not hear of this, but cried, “Down with the oligarchs who hate the people.” As no other friend of Phokion dared to speak, he himself, after obtaining a hearing with difficulty, asked “Do you wish to condemn us to death justly or unjustly?” As some answered “justly,” he said, “How can you be sure of this, if you will not hear us?” As however the people paid no more attention to him, he came nearer to them and said, “For my own part, I admit that I have done wrong, and I consider that my political acts deserve to be punished with death; but, men of Athens, why will you kill these others, who have done no wrong?” When many voices answered, “Because they are your friends,” Phokion retired and held his peace. Hagnonides now read the motion which he was about to put to the meeting which called upon the people to decide by a show of hands whether the men were guilty or not; and in case they were found guilty, to put them to death.

Life Of Phokion: XXXV

When this decree was read some wished to add to it that they should be put to death with torture, and bade Hagnonides send for the rack and the executioners; but Hagnonides, seeing that even the Macedonian Kleitus was disgusted at this proposal, and thought it a savage and wicked action, said, “Men of Athens, when we catch the villain Kallimedon, we will put him to the torture; but I will make no such proposal in the case of Phokion.” Upon this one of the better class cried out, “And quite right too; for if we torture Phokion, what shall we do to you?” When the decree was passed by show of hands, no one sat still, but the whole people, many of them wearing garlands of flowers, rose and voted for the death of the accused. These, besides Phokion, consisted of Nikokles, Thodippus, Hegemon, and Pythokles: while sentence of death in their absence was passed against Demetrius Phalereus, Kallimedon, Charikles, and some others.

Life Of Phokion: XXXVI

When after the assembly broke up the condemned men were being taken to prison, the others threw themselves into the arms of their friends and relations, and walked along with tears and lamentations; but when they saw that the countenance of Phokion was as calm as when he used as general to be conducted in state out of the assembly, they wondered at his composure and greatness of soul. His enemies accompanied him and abused him, and one even came up to him and spat in his face. At this outrage it is said that Phokion looked towards the archons, and said, “Will no one make this fellow behave himself?” As Thodippus in prison, when he saw the hemlock being prepared, bewailed his fate, and said that he did not deserve to perish with Phokion, Phokion said, “Are you not satisfied then to die in Phokion’s company?” When one of his friends asked him if he had any message for his son Phokus, he answered, “Yes, tell him not to bear any malice against the Athenians.” When Nikokles, the most trusty of his friends, begged to be allowed to drink the poison before him, he answered, “Your request is one which it grieves me to grant; but, as I have never refused you anything in your life, I agree even to this.” When all his friends had drunk, the poison ran short, and the executioner refused to prepare any more unless he were paid twelve drachmas, the price of that weight of hemlock. After a long delay, Phokion called one of his friends to him, and, saying that it was hard if a man could not even die gratis at Athens, bade him give the man the money he wanted.

Life Of Phokion: XXXVII

The day of Phokion’s death was the nineteenth of the month Munychion, and the knights rode past the prison in solemn procession to the temple of Zeus. Some of them took off their garlands from their heads, while others came in tears to the gates of the prison and looked in. All whose better feelings were not utterly overpowered by passion and hatred agreed in thinking it a very indecent proceeding not to have waited one day for the execution, and so to have avoided the pollution of the festival by the death of the prisoners. Moreover, the enemies of Phokion, as if they had not even yet satisfied their spite, passed a decree excluding his body from burial, and forbidding any Athenian to furnish fire to burn it. In consequence of this, no one of his friends dared to touch the body, but one Konopion, a man who was accustomed to deal with such cases for hire, conveyed the body beyond Eleusis, obtained fire from Megara over the Attic frontier, and burned it. Phokion’s wife, who was present with her maids, raised an empty tomb on the spot, placed the bones in her bosom, and carried them by night into her own house, where she buried them beside the hearth, saying, “To thee, dear hearth, I entrust these remains of a good man; do you restore them to his fathers’ tomb when the Athenians recover their senses.”

Life Of Phokion: XXXVIII

After a short time, however, when circumstances had taught them what a protector and guardian of virtue they had lost, the Athenians set up a brazen statue of Phokion, and gave his remains a public burial. They themselves condemned and executed Hagnonides, while Phokion’s son followed Epikurus and Demophilus, who fled the country, discovered their place of refuge, and avenged himself upon them. He is said to have been far from respectable in character; and once, when attached to a common prostitute, who was the slave of a brothel-keeper, he happened to attend one of the lectures of Theodorus, who was surnamed “the atheist,” in the Lyceum. As he heard him say that “if it be noble to ransom one’s male friends from captivity, it must be equally so to ransom one’s female friends; and that, if it be right for a man to set free the man whom he loves, it must be his duty to do likewise to the woman whom he loves,” he determined to use this argument for the gratification of his own passion, and to conclude that the philosopher bade him purchase the freedom of his mistress.

The treatment of Phokion reminded the Greeks of that of Sokrates, as both the crime and the misfortune of the city in both cases was almost exactly the same.

Life Of Cato.

Life Of Cato: I

Cato’s family derived the origin of its splendour and reputation from his great-grandfather Cato, a man who had reputation and power chief among the Romans by reason of his merit, as it has been written in his Life. Cato was left an orphan with his brother Cæpio and a sister Porcia. Servilia also was a sister of Cato by the same mother. All of them were brought up and lived with Livius Drusus, their mother’s uncle, who was then the chief political leader; for he was a most powerful speaker, and also a man of the best regulated habits, and in lofty bearing inferior to no Roman. It is said that Cato from his childhood both in his voice and the expression of his countenance and even in his amusements gave indication of a character immovable and impassive and firm in everything. His purposes displayed a strength in accomplishing his ends which was above his age: and while he was rough and stubborn towards those who attempted to flatter him, still more did he show his mastery over all who would try to terrify him by threats. He was also difficult to move to laughter, and his countenance was seldom relaxed even into a smile; he was not quick nor prone to anger, but when he had been moved to anger, he was hard to pacify. Accordingly when he began to learn, he was dull and slow to conceive, but when he had conceived, he held fast and remembered well. And it is generally the case that those who have a good natural capacity are more ready at recollection, but those have a strong memory who learn with labour and trouble; for all learning is in a manner a branding on the mind. It appears too that Cato’s difficulty of persuasion made learning a matter of more labour to him; for learning is in truth a kind of passive condition, and to be easily persuaded is incident to those who have less power of resistance. It is for this reason that young men are more easily persuaded than old men, and sick persons than those who are whole; and generally, with those in whom the doubting faculty is weakest, that which is proposed meets the readiest acceptance. However, they say that Cato was obedient to his pædagogus and did everything that he was bid, but he would ask for the reason of everything, and inquire the Why. His pædagogus also was a good-tempered man, and was readier at a reason than a blow: his name was Sarpedon.

Life Of Cato: II

While Cato was still a boy, the Allies of the Romans were agitating to obtain the Roman franchise; and a certain Pompædius Sillo, a man of military talent and of the highest repute, and a friend of Drusus, lodged with him several days, during which he became familiar with the youths, and he said, “Come now, pray your uncle on our behalf to exert himself to get the franchise for us.” Now, Cæpio with a smile nodded assent, but as Cato made no answer and looked on the strangers steadily and sternly, Pompædius said, “But you, young man, what reply have you for us? Can you not help the strangers with your uncle, like your brother?” As Cato still would not speak, but by his silence and his expression showed that he rejected their entreaty, Pompædius took him up and holding him through the window as if he intended to drop him down, told him either to assent or he would let him fall, and at the same time he assumed an angry tone and several times he swung the boy backwards and forwards as he held him in his hands. Now, when Cato had borne this for some time, unmoved and fearless, Pompædius gently putting him down said to his friends, “What a blessing to Italy that he is a child; for if he were a man, I do not think we should have a single vote among the people.” On another occasion when a kinsman on his birthday invited to supper other boys and Cato with them, in order to pass the time they played in a part of the house by themselves, younger and older mixed together; and the game consisted of trials, and accusations, and carrying off those who were convicted. Now, one of the boys convicted, who was of a handsome presence, being dragged off by an older boy to a chamber and shut up, called on Cato for aid. Cato soon perceiving what was going on came to the door, and pushing through those who were standing before it and endeavouring to stop him, took the boy out; and in a passion he went off home with him and other boys accompanied him.

Life Of Cato: III

Cato was so much talked off that when Sulla was preparing for exhibition the sacred horse race called Troja, in which youths are the actors, and had got together the boys of noble birth and appointed two captains, the boys submitted to the one for his mother’s sake, for he was a son of Metella, Sulla’s wife; but the other, who was a nephew of Pompeius and named Sextus, they would not have, nor would they go through their exercise nor follow him; and on Sulla asking whom they would have, they all called out “Cato,” and Sextus himself gave way and yielded the honour to Cato as his better. It happened that Sulla was an old friend of Cato’s family, and sometimes he had the children brought to him and talked with them, a kind of friendship which he showed to few, by reason of the weight and state of the office and power that he held. Sarpedon considering this a great matter both as regarded the honour and security of the youth, constantly took Cato to pay his respects to Sulla at his house, which at that time to all outward appearance differed not from a place of torture for criminals, so great was the number of those who were dragged there and put to the rack. Cato was at this time in his fourteenth year, and seeing the heads of persons who were said to be men of distinction brought out, and those who were present lamenting inwardly, he asked his pædagogus why nobody killed this man. Sarpedon replied, “Because they fear him, child, more than they hate him.” “Why, then,” said Cato, “do you not give me a sword that I might kill him, and so free my country from slavery?” Hearing these words and at the same time observing his eyes and countenance to be filled with passion and resolve, Sarpedon was so afraid that henceforward he kept a close look and watch upon him, that he should not venture on any desperate measure. Now when he was still a little boy, and some persons asked him whom he loved most, he replied his brother; when he was asked whom he loved next, he gave the same answer, his brother; and so on to the third question, until the questioner was tired out by always getting the same answer. When he arrived at man’s estate, he strengthened still more his affection to his brother; for when he was twenty years of age he never supped, he never went abroad, never came into the Forum without Cæpio. When Cæpio used perfumes, Cato would not have them; and in all other respects he was strict and frugal in his way of living. Accordingly Cæpio, who was admired for his temperance and moderation, admitted that he was indeed temperate and moderate when contrasted with others, “but,” said he, “when I compare my life with Cato’s, I seem to myself to differ not at all from Sippius;” which was the name of a man notorious at that time for luxury and effeminacy.

Life Of Cato: IV

After Cato obtained the priesthood of Apollo, he changed his residence, and taking his portion of his paternal property, which portion was a hundred and twenty talents, he contracted his style of living still further, and making his companion of Antipater of Tyrus, a Stoic, he attached himself mainly to Ethical and Political studies, occupying himself with every virtue as if he were possessed by some divine influence; but above all that part of the beautiful which consists in steady adherence to justice and in inflexibility towards partiality or favour was his great delight. He disciplined himself also in the kind of speaking which works upon numbers, considering that, as in a great state, so in political philosophy, there should be nurtured with it something of the contentious quality. Yet he did not practise his exercises in company with others, nor did any one hear him when he was declaiming; but to one of his companions who observed, “Men find fault, Cato, with your silence,” he replied, “I only hope they may not find fault with my life. But I will begin to speak, when I am not going to say something that were better unsaid.”

Life Of Cato: V

The Basilica called Porcia was a censorial dedication of the old Cato. Now, as the tribunes were accustomed to transact business here, and there was a pillar which was considered to be in the way of their seats, they resolved to take it away or to remove it to another spot. This was the first occasion that brought Cato into the Forum, and against his will; for he opposed the tribunes, and he gained admiration by this sample of his eloquence and elevated character. His speech contained nothing juvenile or artificial, but it was straightforward, full to overflowing, and rough. However there was diffused over the roughness of the sentiments a charm which led the ear, and his own character intermingled with it gave to the dignity of his address a certain pleasingness and placidity, that were not ill calculated to win men’s favour. His voice was loud and powerful enough to reach to so large a multitude, and it had a strength and tone which could neither be broken nor tired; for he often spoke for a whole day without being wearied. On this occasion he got the better in the matter in dispute, and then again wrapped himself up in silence and his discipline. He used to harden his body by vigorous exercises, training himself to endure both heat and snow with uncovered head, and to walk along the roads in all seasons without a vehicle. His friends who used to accompany him on his journeys employed horses, and Cato would often go side by side with each of them in turns, and talk to them, himself walking while they rode. He showed in his complaints also wonderful endurance and self-denial; for when he had a fever, he would spend the day quite alone without permitting any person to approach him, until he felt certain relief, and that the disease was going away.

Life Of Cato: VI

At entertainments he used to cast lots for the parts, and if he failed, and his friends urged him to begin first, he would say that it was not right to do so against the will of Venus. And at first he would get up from supper after drinking once, but in course of time he stuck to drinking more than anybody, so that he often continued over his wine till daybreak. His friends said that the cause of this was the administration and public affairs, in which Cato being engaged all day and hindered from literary pursuits, associated with philosophers during the night and over his cups. Accordingly when one Memmius observed in company that Cato was intoxicated all night long, Cicero rejoined, “But you do not say that he also plays at dice all day long.” Altogether Cato thought that he ought to walk a course the opposite to the then modes of life and usages, which he considered to be bad and to require a great change, and observing that a purple dress of a deep bright was much in fashion, he himself wore the dark. He would go into public without shoes and tunic after dinner, not seeking for reputation by the strangeness of the practice, but habituating himself to be ashamed only of what was shameful, and to despise everything else as indifferent. The inheritance of his cousin Cato of the value of a hundred talents having been added to his property, he turned it into money and let any of his friends make use of it who needed, without paying interest. Some also pledged to the treasury both lands and slaves of his, which Cato himself offered for this purpose and confirmed the pledge.

Life Of Cato: VII

When he considered that he was ripe for marriage, without ever having had to do with any woman, he betrothed Lepida, who had before been promised in marriage to Scipio Metellus, but at that time was disengaged, for Scipio had repudiated her, and the betrothment was cancelled. However before the marriage Scipio again changed his mind, and by using every exertion got the maid. Cato, who was greatly irritated and stung, made preparation to prosecute the matter in legal form, but on his friends preventing him, in his passion and youthful fervour he betook himself to iambic verses and vented much injurious language upon Scipio, employing the bitterness of Archilochus, but dropping his ungoverned licence and childish manner. He married Atilia, the daughter of Soranus, and this was the first woman with whom he came together, but not the only woman, like Lælius the companion of Scipio; for Lælius was more fortunate in having known during his long life only one woman and that his wife.

Life Of Cato: VIII

When the Servile War was on foot, which they called the war of Spartacus, Gellius was commander, but Cato joined the service as a volunteer for his brother’s sake, for his brother Cæpio was a tribune. He had not indeed the opportunity of displaying as much as he wished his zeal and his discipline in virtue owing to the war being ill conducted; but notwithstanding this, by showing, in contrast to the great effeminacy and luxury of those who were engaged in that campaign, orderly behaviour and bravery when it was required, and courage and prudence in all things, he was considered in no degree to fall short of the old Cato. Gellius assigned to him special distinctions and honours, which Cato would not take nor allow, saying that he had done nothing worthy of honour. In consequence of this he was considered a strange kind of fellow; and when a law was made, that those who were candidates for an office should not be accompanied by nomenclators, he was the only person when a candidate for a tribuneship who observed the law; and having himself made it his business to salute and address those whom he met with, he did not escape censure even from those who praised him, for the more they perceived the honourable nature of his conduct, the more they were annoyed at the difficulty of imitating it.

Life Of Cato: IX

Upon being appointed a tribune he was sent to Macedonia to Rubrius the Prætor. On that occasion it is told that his wife being troubled and shedding tears, one of the friends of Cato, Munatius, said, “Atilia, be of good cheer; I will take care of him for you.” “It shall be so,” replied Cato; and after they had advanced one day’s journey, he said immediately after supper, “Come, Munatius, and keep your promise to Atilia by not separating yourself from me either by day or by night.” Upon this he ordered two beds to be placed in the same chamber and Munatius always slept thus, being watched in jest by Cato. There accompanied him fifteen slaves, and two freedmen and four friends, and while they rode on horseback, Cato himself always went on foot, keeping by the side of each of them in turns and talking with them. When he arrived at the camp, where there were several legions, being appointed to the command of one legion by the general, he considered the display of his own merit, being only one thing, as a small matter and nothing kingly, but being chiefly ambitious to make those who were under him like himself, he did not deprive his power of its terrors, but he added to it reason, by means of which persuading and instructing his men about every thing—honour and punishment following; whether he made his soldiers more peaceable or warlike or more full of zeal or just, it is difficult to say, so formidable did they become to the enemy, and gentle to the allies, and so little disposed to wrong, and so ambitious of praise. But that which Cato cared least for, he had most of, both good opinion, and popularity, and honour above measure, and affection from the soldiers. For by voluntarily labouring at that which he imposed on others, and in his dress and way of living and marching on foot making himself like them rather than the commander, and in his morals and in his noble bearing, and in eloquence surpassing all who were intitled Imperators and generals, by such means he imperceptibly produced in the men at the same time good will towards himself. For no true emulation after virtue is bred except from perfect good will and respect towards him who commends it: but those who having no love, praise the brave, respect their character, though they admire not their virtue, nor do they imitate it.

Life Of Cato: X

Hearing that Athenodorus named Kordylion, who had great skill in the Stoic philosophy, was living at Pergamus, being now an old man, and having most resolutely resisted all intimacy and friendship with governors and kings, Cato thought that he should get nothing by sending and writing to him, but as he had a furlough of two months allowed by the law, he made a voyage to Asia to the man, in the confidence that through his own merits he should not fail in the chase. After discoursing with Athenodorus and getting the victory over him and drawing him from his settled purpose, he returned with him to the camp, overjoyed and greatly elated at having made the noblest capture and got a more splendid booty than the nations and kingdoms which Pompeius at that time and Lucullus were subduing in their campaigns.

Life Of Cato: XI

While Cato was still engaged in the service, his brother, who was on his road to Asia, fell sick at Ænus, in Thrace; and a letter immediately came to Cato, and though the sea was very stormy, and there was no vessel at hand of sufficient size, taking only two friends with him and three slaves, he set sail from Thessalonike in a small trading ship. After narrowly escaping being drowned at sea, he was saved by unexpected good luck, but he found Cæpio already dead. He was considered to have borne the misfortune with more of passion than philosophy, not only in his lamentations and his embracings of the dead body and the heaviness of his grief, but also in his expenditure about the interment, and the trouble that he took about fragrant spices and costly vests which were burnt with the body, and a monument of polished Thasian stone of the cost of eight talents which was constructed in the Agora of Ænus. These things there were some who found fault with by comparison with Cato’s freedom from all display in other matters, not seeing how much mildness and affection there was in the man who was inflexible and firm against pleasures and fears and shameless entreaties. For the celebration of the funeral both cities and princes offered to send him many things to do honour to the dead, from none of whom however would he receive valuables, but he accepted fragrant spices and vests, paying the price to those who sent the things. Though the succession came to him and the young daughter of Cæpio, he did not claim back in the division of the property any thing that he had expended about the funeral. And though he did such things as these and continued to do such, there was one who wrote, that he passed the ashes of the dead through a sieve and sifted them to search for the gold that was burnt. So far did the writer allow, not to his sword only, but also to his stilus, irresponsibility and exemption from all account.

Life Of Cato: XII

When the time of Cato’s service was at an end, he was attended on his departure, not with good wishes, which is usual, nor yet with praises, but with tears and never-satisfied embraces, the soldiers placing their garments under his feet on the way by which he went and kissing his hands, which the Romans of that day hardly ever did to any of their Imperators. As he wished, before engaging in public affairs, at the same time to travel about to make himself acquainted with Asia, and to see with his own eyes the customs and mode of living and power of each province, and at the same time not to give any offence to the Galatian Deiotarus, who prayed Cato to come to him on account of the ancient ties of hospitality and friendship that subsisted between him and Cato’s family, he made his sojourning after this fashion. At daybreak he used to send forward his bread-maker and cook to the place where he intended to lodge; and it was their practice to enter the city with great decorum and no stir, and if there happened to be no ancient friend of Cato’s family there or no acquaintance, they would prepare for his reception in an inn without troubling anybody; and if there was no inn, they would in that case apply to the magistrates and gladly accept what accommodation was offered. And oftentimes getting no credit, and being neglected because they did not apply to the magistrates about these matters with noise or threats, Cato came upon them before they had accomplished their business, and when he was seen, he was still more despised; and because he would sit silently on the baggage, he gave them the notion of being a person of mean condition and a very timid man. However Cato would call them to him, and would say, “Ye miserable wretches, lay aside this inhospitable practice. All those who come to you will not be Catos. Dull by your kind reception the power of those who only want a pretext to take by force what they cannot get from you with your consent.”

Life Of Cato: XIII

In Syria a laughable incident is said to have happened to him. For as he was walking to Antiocheia, he saw near the gates on the outside a number of men arranged on each side of the road, among whom young men by themselves in cloaks and boys on the other side stood in orderly wise, and some had white vests and crowns, and these were priests of the gods or magistrates. Now Cato, being quite sure that some honourable reception was preparing for him by the city, was angry with those of his own people who had been sent on, for not having prevented this, and he bade his friends get off their horses and he proceeded with them on foot. But when they came near, he who was arranging all this ceremony and setting the folk in order, a man somewhat advanced in years, holding a rod in his hand and a chaplet, advanced in front of the rest, and meeting Cato, without even saluting him, asked where they had left Demetrius and when he would be there. Demetrius had been a slave of Pompeius, but at this time, as all the world, so to speak, had their eyes on Pompeius, Demetrius was courted above his merits on account of his great influence with Pompeius. Now the friends of Cato were seized with such a fit of laughter that they could not contain themselves as they walked through the crowd, but Cato, who at the time was vehemently disconcerted, uttered the words, “O ill-fated city,” and nothing more; afterwards however he was accustomed to laugh at the matter himself both when he told the story and when he thought of it.

Life Of Cato: XIV

However Pompeius himself reproved those who thus misbehaved themselves towards Cato in their ignorance. For when Cato on his arrival at Ephesus went to pay his respects to Pompeius as his elder, and much his superior in reputation and then at the head of the greatest armies, Pompeius observing him did not wait or allow Cato to approach him as he was seated, but springing up as to a man of superior rank, he met him and gave him his right hand. And Pompeius passed many encomiums on the merit of Cato while treating him as a friend and showing him attention during his stay, and still more when he had departed, so that all persons being admonished and now directing their observation to Cato admired him for the things for which he was despised, and studied his mildness and magnanimity. Yet it did not escape notice that the great attention of Pompeius to him proceeded more from respect than from love, and people discerned that Pompeius honoured him while he was present, and was glad when he went away. For the other young men who came to him, he was ambitious to keep with him, and he wished them to stay, but he asked of Cato nothing of the kind, and as if he were not commander with irresponsible power while Cato was there, he was glad to get rid of him; and yet he was almost the only person among those who were sailing to Rome to whom Pompeius commended his children and wife, who however were connected with Cato by kinship. In consequence of this there was high regard and great exertion and emulation in the cities towards Cato, and suppers and invitations, wherein Cato bade his friends keep a watch upon him, lest he should unawares make good what Curio had said. For Curio, who was annoyed at the austerity of Cato, who was his friend and intimate, asked him if he should like to visit Asia after he had served his time in the army. And on Cato saying that he should like it very much, “You say well,” replied Curio, “for you will be more agreeable when you return thence, and tamer,” using some such words as these.

Life Of Cato: XV

Deiotarus the Galatian, who was now an old man, sent for Cato, wishing to intrust to him his children and his family; and on his arrival he offered him all manner of presents, and tried and entreated him in every way till he so irritated Cato, that after arriving in the evening and staying all night, he set off on the following day about the third hour. However when he had advanced one day’s journey, he found in Possinus more presents than before awaiting him there, and letters from the Galatian begging him to receive them; and if he should not be disposed to take them, to let his friends at least receive favours on his account, as they well deserved it, and Cato had not much of his own. But Cato did not give in even to these arguments, though he saw that some of his friends were beginning to be softened and were inclined to blame him; but observing that all receiving of gifts might find a good excuse, and his friends should share in all that he got honourably and justly, he sent back the presents to Deiotarus. As he was about to set sail to Brundisium, his friends thought that they ought to put the ashes of Cæpio in another vessel, but Cato, saying that he would rather part with his life than the ashes of his brother, set sail. And indeed it is said that it chanced that he had a very dangerous passage, though the rest got to Brundisium with little difficulty.

Life Of Cato: XVI

On his return to Rome he spent his time either at home in the company of Athenodorus, or in the Forum assisting his friends. Though the office of Quæstor was now open to him, he did not become a candidate for it till he had read the laws relating to the quæstorship, and had learned all particulars from the experienced, and had comprehended the powers of the office in a certain shape. Accordingly as soon as he was established in the office, he made a great change in the servants and clerks about the treasury, for as they constantly had in hand the public accounts and the laws, and had young superiors who, by reason of their inexperience and ignorance, in fact required others to teach and direct them, they did not allow their superiors to have any power, but were the superior officers themselves, until Cato vigorously applied himself to the business, not having the name only and the honour of a magistrate, but understanding and judgment and apt expression; and he resolved to make the clerks into servants as they really were, in some things detecting their evil doings, and in others correcting their errors which arose from inexperience. But as the clerks were insolent, and attempted to ingratiate themselves with and to flatter the other quæstors, and resisted him, he expelled from the treasury the first among them whom he had detected in knavish dealings in a matter of trust concerning an inheritance, and he brought another to trial for dishonesty. This second person Catulus Lutatius the censor came forward to defend, a man who had great dignity from his office, and the greatest from his merit, being considered superior to all the Romans in integrity and temperance; and he was also an admirer and intimate friend of Cato all through his life. Now, when Catulus found that the justice of the case was against him and openly asked to have the man acquitted for his sake, Cato would not allow him to act so: and when he still continued to urge his request, Cato said, “It were a scandalous thing, Catulus, for you, who are the censor, and whose duty it is to examine into our lives, to be turned out by our officers.” When Cato had uttered these words, Catulus looked at him as if he were going to reply, but he said nothing, and either being angry or ashamed he went away in silence and perplexed. However the man was not convicted, for when the votes for condemnation had exceeded those for acquittal by a single vote, and Lollius Marcus, one of the colleagues of Cato, owing to sickness had not attended at the trial, Catulus sent to him and prayed him to give his support to the man; and he was carried thither in a litter after the trial and gave the vote which acquitted. However Cato did not employ the clerk nor give him his pay, nor did he take any reckoning at all of the vote of Lollius.

Life Of Cato: XVII

Having thus humbled the clerks and reduced them to obedience, by managing the accounts in his own way, he made the treasury in a short time more respected than the Senate, so that every body said and considered that Cato had surrounded the quæstorship with the dignity of the consulship. For in the first place finding that many persons owed old debts to the state and that the state was indebted to many, he at the same time put an end to the state being wronged and wronging others, by demanding the money from those who owed it vigorously and without relenting at all, and paying the creditors speedily and readily, so that the people respected him when they saw those pay who expected to defraud the state, and those recover who never expected it. In the next place, it was the general practice to bring in writings without observing the proper forms, and previous quæstors used to receive false decrees to please persons, and at their request. Cato however let nothing of this kind escape his notice, and on one occasion being in doubt about a decree, whether it was really ratified, though many persons testified to the fact, he would not trust them, nor did he allow it to be deposited until the consuls came and by oath confirmed its genuineness. Now there were many whom Sulla had rewarded for killing proscribed persons at the rate of twelve thousand drachmæ apiece, and though all detested them as accursed and abominable wretches, no one ventured to bring them to punishment; but Cato, calling to account every man who had public money by unfair means, made him give it up and at the same time upbraided him for his unholy and illegal acts with passion and argument. Those whom this befel were immediately charged with murder and were brought before the judices in a manner prejudged, and were punished, to the joy of all who considered that the tyranny of those former times was at the same time blotted out and that they witnessed Sulla himself punished.

Life Of Cato: XVIII

The many were captivated by his persevering and unwearied industry: for none of his colleagues went up earlier to the treasury or came away after him. He never omitted attending any meeting of the people and of the Senate, for he feared and kept a watch on those who were ready to vote for remissions of debts and taxes and for gifts in favour of any body. By proving that the treasury was inaccessible and free from intrigues, and full of money, he showed that they could be rich without doing wrong. Though at first he appeared to be disliked by and odious to some of his colleagues, he afterwards gained their good-will by subjecting himself on behalf of them all to the hatred that was incurred by not giving away the public money and by not deciding dishonestly, and by furnishing them with an answer to those who preferred their requests and urged them, that nothing could be done if Cato did not consent. On the last day of his office when he had been accompanied to his house by almost all the citizens, he heard that many who were intimate with Marcellus, and men of influence, had fallen upon him at the treasury and having got round him were forcing him to sign a certain payment of money that was due. Marcellus from his boyhood had been a friend of Cato and together with him had been a most excellent magistrate, but by himself he was easily led by others through false shame, and was ready to oblige any body. Accordingly Cato immediately returned to the treasury, and finding that Marcellus had been prevailed upon to sign the payment asked for the tablets and erased what was written, while Marcellus stood by and said not a word. Having done this Cato conducted him down from the treasury and put him in his house; and Marcellus neither then nor afterwards found fault with Cato, but continued on intimate terms with him all along. Nor did Cato when he had quitted the treasury leave it destitute of protection, but slaves of his were there daily who copied out the transactions, and he himself purchased for five talents books which contained the public accounts from the times of Sulla to his own quæstorship, and he always had them in his hands.

Life Of Cato: XIX

He used to go into the Senate house the first, and he was the last to come away; and often while the rest were slowly assembling, he would sit and read quietly, holding his toga before the book. He never went abroad when there was to be a meeting of the Senate; but afterwards when Pompeius saw that Cato could not be prevailed upon, and could never be brought to comply with the unjust measures on which he was intent, he used to contrive to engage him in giving his aid to some friend in a matter before the courts, or in arbitrations, or in discharging some business. But Cato quickly perceiving his design, refused all such engagements and made it a rule to do nothing else while the Senate was assembled. For it was neither for the sake of reputation, nor self-aggrandisement, nor by a kind of spontaneous movement, nor by chance, like some others, that he was thrown into the management of state affairs, but he selected a public career as the proper labour of a good man, and thought that he ought to attend to public concerns more than the bee to its cells, inasmuch as he made it his business to have the affairs of the provinces and decrees and trials and the most important measures communicated to him by his connections and friends in every place. On one occasion by opposing Clodius the demagogue, who was making a disturbance and laying the foundation for great charges, and calumniating to the people the priests and priestesses, among whom was also Fabia, the sister of Terentia, Cicero’s wife, he was in great danger, but he involved Clodius in disgrace and compelled him to withdraw from the city; and when Cicero thanked him, Cato said that he ought to reserve his gratitude for the state, as it was for the sake of the state that he did every thing and directed his political measures. In consequence of this there was a high opinion of him, so that an orator said to the judices on a certain trial when the evidence of a single person was produced, that it was not right to believe a single witness even if he was Cato; and many persons now were used to say when speaking of things incredible and contrary to all probability, as by way of proverb, that this could not be believed even if Cato said it. And when a man of bad character and great expense delivered a discourse in the senate in favour of frugality and temperance, Amnæus rose up and said, “My man, who will endure you, you who sup like Crassus, and build like Lucullus, and harangue us like Cato.” Others also who were people of bad character and intemperate, but in their language dignified and severe, they used to call by way of mockery, Catos.

Life Of Cato: XX

Though many invited him to the tribuneship, he did not think it well to expend the power of a great office and magistracy, no more than that of a strong medicine, on matters wherein it was not required. At the same time as he had leisure from public affairs, he took books and philosophers with him and set out for Lucania, for he had lands there on which there was no unseemly residence. On the road he met with many beasts of burden and baggage and slaves, and learning that Nepos Metellus was returning to Rome for the purpose of being a candidate for the tribuneship, he halted without speaking, and after a short interval ordered his people to turn back. His friends wondering at this, he said, “Don’t you know that even of himself Metellus is a formidable man by reason of his violence; and now that he has come upon the motion of Pompeius, he will fall upon the state like a thunderbolt and put all in confusion? It is therefore not a time for leisure or going from home, but we must get the better of the man or die nobly in defence of liberty.” However at the urgency of his friends he went first to visit his estates, and after staying no long time he returned to the city. He arrived in the evening, and as soon as day dawned, he went down into the Forum to be a candidate for the tribuneship and to oppose Metellus. For this magistracy gives more power to check than to act; and even if all the rest of the tribunes save one should assent to a measure, the power lies with him who does not consent or permit.

Life Of Cato: XXI

At first there were few of Cato’s friends about him, but when his views became public, in a short time all the people of character and distinction crowded together and cheered and encouraged him, for they said it was no favour that he was receiving, but he was conferring the greatest favour on his country and the most honest of the citizens, for that when it was often in his power to hold a magistracy without any trouble, he now came down to contend on behalf of freedom and the constitution, not without danger. It is said that owing to many persons through zeal and friendly disposition crowding towards him he was in some danger, and with difficulty on account of the crowd he made his way to the Forum. Being elected tribune with others and with Metellus, and observing that the consular comitia were accompanied with bribery, he rated the people, and at the close of his speech he swore that he would prosecute the briber, whoever he might be, with the exception of Silanus, on account of his connection with him; for Silanus had to wife Servilia, a sister of Cato. For this reason he passed over Silanus, but he prosecuted Lucius Murena, on the charge of having secured his election with Silanus by bribery. There was a law according to which the accused had always the power to appoint a person to watch the accuser, in order that it might not be unknown what he was getting together and preparing to support the prosecution. Now he who was appointed by Murena to watch Cato used to accompany him and observe his conduct, and when he saw that Cato was doing nothing with unfair design or contrary to equity, but honourably and in a kindly spirit was going a simple and straightforward course towards the prosecution, he had such admiration of his noble bearing and morality that he would come up to Cato in the Forum, or go to his door and ask, whether he intended that day to attend to any matters that concerned the prosecution, and if he said that he did not, he would take his word and go away. When the trial came on, Cicero, who was then consul and one of the advocates of Murena, on account of Cato’s connection with the Stoics, ridiculed and mocked these philosophers and their so-called paradoxes, and thus made the judices laugh. On which it is said that Cato, with a smile, observed to those who were present, “My friends, what a ridiculous consul we have.” Murena, who was acquitted, did not display towards Cato the temper of a bad or a foolish man, for in his consulship he used to ask his advice in the most important affairs, and all along in every other matter showed him respect and confidence. Cato’s own conduct was the cause of this, for while he was severe and terrible on the judgment seat and in the Senate on behalf of justice, he was benevolent and friendly in all his social intercourse.

Life Of Cato: XXII

Before Cato entered on the tribuneship, during Cicero’s consulship he supported his administration in many other difficulties, and he put the finishing stroke to the measures relating to Catiline, which were the most important and glorious of all. Catiline himself, who was designing to effect a pernicious and complete change in the Roman state, and was at the same time stirring up insurrection and war, being convicted by Cicero, fled from the city; but Lentulus and Cethegus and many others with them, who had taken up the conspiracy, upbraiding Catiline with cowardice and want of spirit in his designs, were plotting to destroy the city with fire, and to subvert the supremacy of Rome by the revolt of nations and by foreign wars. Their schemes having been discovered in the manner told in the Life of Cicero, he laid the matter before the Senate for their deliberation, whereupon Silanus, who spoke first, gave his opinion that the men ought to suffer the extreme punishment, and those who followed him spoke to the same effect, till it came to Cæsar’s turn. Cæsar now rose, and as he was a powerful speaker and wished rather to increase all change and disturbance in the state than to allow it to be quenched, considering it as the stuff for his own designs to work upon, he urged many arguments of a persuasive and humane kind to the effect that the men ought not to be put to death without trial, and he advised that they should be confined in prison: and he wrought so great a change in the opinion of the Senate, who were afraid of the people, that even Silanus retracted what he had said, and affirmed that neither had he recommended that they should be put to death, but that they should be imprisoned; for to a Roman this was the extreme of punishment.

Life Of Cato: XXIII

Such had been the change, and all the Senators in a body had gone over to the milder and more humane proposal, when Cato rising to deliver his opinion, commenced his speech in anger and passion, abusing Silanus for changing his mind, and attacking Cæsar, whom he charged with a design to overturn the State under a popular guise and pretext of humanity, and with making the Senate alarmed at things at which he himself ought to be alarmed, and therewith well content, if he escaped unharmed on account of what had passed and without suspicion, when he was so openly and audaciously endeavouring to rescue the common enemies of all, and admitting that he had no pity for the state, such and so great though it was, and though it had so narrowly escaped destruction, but was shedding tears and lamenting because those who ought never to have existed or been born would by their death release the state from great bloodshed and danger. They say that this is the only speech of Cato which is preserved, and that it was owing to Cicero the consul, who had previously instructed those clerks who surpassed the rest in quick writing in the use of certain signs which comprehended in their small and brief marks the force of many characters and had placed them in different parts of the Senate house. For the Romans at this time were not used to employ nor did they possess what are called note-writers, but it was on this occasion, as they say, that they were first established in a certain form. However, Cato prevailed and changed the opinion of the Senate, who condemned the men to death.

Life Of Cato: XXIV

Now as we perhaps ought not to omit even the slight tokens of character when we are delineating as it were a likeness of the soul, it is reported that on this occasion when Cæsar was making much exertion and a great struggle against Cato, and the attention of the Senate was fixed on both of them, a small letter was brought in for Cæsar from the outside. Cato attempted to fix suspicion on this matter, and alleged that some of the senators were disturbed at it and he bade him read the writing, on which Cæsar handed the letter to Cato who was standing near him. Cato read the letter, which was an amatory epistle addressed to Cæsar by his sister Servilia who was enamoured of Cæsar and had been debauched by him, and throwing it at Cæsar he said, “Take it, drunkard,” and so resumed his speech. Indeed in the female part of his family Cato appears to have always been unlucky. For this sister had a bad report in respect of Cæsar; and the conduct of the other Servilia, also a sister of Cato, was still more unseemly. For though she was married to Lucullus, a man who was among the first of the Romans in reputation, and bore him a child, she was driven from his house for incontinence. And what was most scandalous of all, even Cato’s wife Atilia was not free from such vices, for though he had two children by her, he was compelled to put her away for her unseemly behaviour.

Life Of Cato: XXV

Cato then married Marcia, a daughter of Philippus, who had the character of being an honest woman, and about whom a good deal is said; but just as in a drama, this part of Cato’s life is a difficult and perplexed matter. However it was after the following manner, as Thrasea writes, who refers as his authority to Munatius, a companion and intimate associate of Cato. Among the numerous friends and admirers of Cato there were some more conspicuous and distinguished than others, of whom one was Quintus Hortensius, a man of splendid reputation and honest morals. Now as Hortensius was desirous to be not merely an intimate friend and companion of Cato, but in a manner to unite in kinship and community the whole family and stock, he endeavoured to persuade Cato, whose daughter Porcia was the wife of Bibulus and had born him two sons, to give her in turn to him as a fertile soil to beget children in. He said that according to men’s opinion such a thing was strange, but that according to nature it was good and for the advantage of states, that a woman who was in her youth and perfection should neither lie idle and check her procreative power, nor yet should by breeding more children than enough cause trouble to her husband and impoverish him when he wanted no more children; but that if there was a community of offspring among worthy men, it would make virtue abundant and widely diffused among families, and would mingle the state with itself by these family relationships. If Bibulus, he said, was greatly attached to his wife, he would return her as soon as she had born a child, and he had become more closely united both with Bibulus and Cato by a community of children. Cato replied that he loved Hortensius and valued his kinship, but he considered it strange for Hortensius to speak about the marriage of his daughter who had been given to another; on which Hortensius changing his proposal and disclosing himself did not hesitate to ask the wife of Cato, who was still young enough to bear children, while Cato himself had children enough. And it cannot be said that Hortensius did this because he knew that Cato paid no attention to Marcia, for they say that she happened to be with child at the time. Accordingly Cato seeing the earnestness and eagerness of Hortensius did not refuse, but he said that Philippus the father of Marcia must also approve of it. When they had seen Philippus and informed him of the agreement, he did not give Marcia in marriage, except in the presence of Cato, and Cato joined in giving her away. Though this took place later, it seemed convenient to me to anticipate the time as I had made mention of the female part of Cato’s family.

Life Of Cato: XXVI

When Lentulus and his associates had been executed, and Cæsar, on account of the charges and insinuations made against him before the Senate, betook himself to the people for protection and was stirring up the numerous diseased and corrupted members of the state and collecting them about him, Cato, being alarmed, persuaded the Senate to relieve the crowd of poor who had no property by an allowance of grain, the expenditure for which purpose was to the amount of twelve hundred and fifty talents annually; and the threats of Cæsar were manifestly rendered futile by this liberality and bounty. After this, Metellus, as soon as he had entered on the tribuneship, got together tumultuous meetings and proposed a law that Pompeius Magnus should hasten to Italy with his forces and should undertake the protection of the city, which it was alleged was in danger from Catiline. This was in appearance a specious proposal, but the real object and end of the law was to put affairs in the hands of Pompeius and to surrender to him the supremacy. When the Senate was assembled and Cato did not in his usual way fall violently on Metellus, but advised him with much forbearance and moderation, and at last even betook himself to entreaty and praised the family of the Metelli for having always been aristocratic, Metellus becoming much emboldened and despising Cato, whom he supposed to be giving way and cowering, broke out in extravagant threats and arrogant expressions, as if he would accomplish every thing in spite of the Senate. On this Cato, changing his attitude and tone and language, and concluding all that he said with a vehement affirmation that so long as he lived Pompeius should not come into the city with his soldiers, brought the Senate to this opinion, that neither he nor Metellus was in a sober mind and that neither of them was guided by sound considerations, but that the measures of Metellus were madness which from excess of depravity was loading to the destruction and confusion of every thing, and those of Cato an enthusiasm of virtue struggling in behalf of honour and justice.

Life Of Cato: XXVII

But when the people were going to vote on the law, and armed strangers and gladiators and slaves had come to the Forum arrayed to support Metellus, and that part of the people which longed for Pompeius from desire of change was not small, and there was also great support from Cæsar who was then prætor, and the first men of the citizens rather shared in the indignation and wrongs of Cato than joined him in making resistance, and great depression and alarm prevailed in his family, so that some of his friends taking no food watched all night with one another in perplexed deliberation on his behalf, and his wife and sisters also were lamenting and weeping, Cato himself displayed a fearless and confident behaviour to all, and cheered them, and he took his supper, as usual, and after resting all night was roused from a deep sleep by Minucius Thermus one of his colleagues; and they went down to the Forum with a few persons accompanying them, though many met them and urged them to be on their guard. When Cato stopped and saw the temple of the Dioscuri surrounded by armed men and the steps guarded by gladiators, and Metellus himself with Cæsar sitting above, he turned to his friends and said, “O the daring and cowardly men, to collect such a force of soldiery against a single man unarmed and defenceless.” Saying this he advanced straight forwards with Thermus; and those who occupied the steps made way for them but they let nobody else pass, except that Cato with difficulty pulled Munatius by the hand and got him up, and then advancing right onwards, he flung himself between Metellus and Cæsar and there took his seat, and so cut off their communications. Cæsar and Metellus were disconcerted, but the better part of the people seeing and admiring the noble bearing and spirit of Cato came nearer, and with shouts encouraged Cato to be of good heart, and they urged one another to stay and keep close together and not to betray their liberty and the man who was contending in defence of it.

Life Of Cato: XXVIII

The clerk now produced the law, but Cato would not let him read it, and when Metellus took it and began to read, Cato snatched the writing from him; and when Metellus who knew the law by heart was beginning to declare it orally, Thermus held his mouth with his hand and stopped his voice, till at last Metellus seeing that the men were making an opposition which he could not resist and that the people were beginning to give way to what was best and to change, he ordered armed men to hurry thither from his house with threats and shouts. This being done, and all having been dispersed except Cato, who stood there, though he was pelted with stones and pieces of wood from above, Murena, who had been brought to trial and prosecuted by Cato, did not remain indifferent, but holding his toga in front of him and calling out to those who were throwing missiles, to stop, and finally persuading Cato himself and taking him in his arms, led him off to the temple of the Dioscuri. Now when Metellus saw that all was clear about the Rostra, and that his opponents were flying through the Forum, being quite confident that he had got the victory, he ordered the armed men to go away, and coming forward in an orderly manner he attempted to conduct the proceedings about the law. But his opponents quickly recovering themselves from their rout again advanced with loud and confident shouts, so that the partizans of Metellus were seized with confusion and fear, for they thought that their opponents were falling on them with arms which they had provided themselves with from some place or other, and not one of them stood his ground, but all ran away from the Rostra. When they were thus dispersed, and Cato coming forward partly commended and partly encouraged the people, the people prepared themselves to put down Metellus by every means, and the Senate assembling declared anew that they would support Cato and resist the law, which they considered to be introducing discord and civil war into Rome.

Life Of Cato: XXIX

Metellus himsalf was unmoved from his purpose and still bold, but seeing that his partizans were struck with great terror at Cato, and considered him invincible and that it was impossible to overpower him, he suddenly hurried out to the Forum, and assembling the people he said many things calculated to bring odium on Cato, and crying out that he was flying from his tyranny and the conspiracy against Pompeius, for which the city would speedily repent and for their disgracing so great a man, he forthwith set out to Asia to lay all these charges before Pompeius. Now the fame of Cato was great inasmuch as he had eased the state of the no small burden of the tribuneship, and in a manner had put down the power of Pompeius in the person of Metellus; but he got still more credit by not consenting that the Senate, who were minded to do it, should degrade Metellus, and by opposing the measure and praying them not to pass it. For the majority considered it a token of a humane and moderate temper not to trample on his enemy nor insult him after he had got the victory; and to the prudent it appeared wise and politic in him not to irritate Pompeius. After this, Lucullus, who had returned from his campaign, the conclusion and the glory of which Pompeius was considered to have snatched from him, ran the risk of not having a triumph, owing to Caius Memmius stirring up the people and bringing charges against him, rather to please Pompeius than out of any private ill-will. But Cato, being connected with Lucullus by Lucullus having married Cato’s sister Servilia, and also thinking it a scandalous affair, resisted Memmius and exposed himself to much calumny and many imputations. Finally an attempt being made to eject Cato from his office, on the ground that he was exercising tyrannical power, he so far prevailed as to compel Memmius himself to desist from his prosecution and to give up the contest. Lucullus accordingly had a triumph, in consideration of which he stuck still more closely to the friendship of Cato, which was to him a protection and bulwark against the power of Pompeius.

Life Of Cato: XXX

Pompeius returning from his military command with great reputation, and relying on the splendour and heartiness of his reception for getting everything from the citizens that he asked for, sent a message to the Senate before his arrival at Rome, to ask them to put off the Comitia, that he might be present to assist Piso at his canvass. The majority were ready to give way, but Cato who did not consider the putting off the Comitia as the chief matter, and wished to cut short the attempts and the hopes of Pompeius, opposed the request and induced the Senate to change their mind and reject it. This gave Pompeius no little uneasiness, and considering that he should find no slight obstacle in Cato, if he did not make him his friend, he sent for Munatius, an intimate of Cato, and as Cato had two marriageable nieces, he asked for the elder for his own wife, and the younger for his son. Some say that the suit was not for the nieces, but the daughters of Cato. When Munatius made the proposal to Cato and his wife and sisters, the women were delighted above measure at the prospect of the alliance by reason of the greatness and reputation of the man; but Cato, without pause or deliberation, with passion forthwith replied, “Go, Munatius, go, and tell Pompeius, that Cato is not to be caught by approaching him through the women’s chamber, but that he is well content to have the friendship of Pompeius, and if Pompeius will act rightly, Cato will show him a friendship more sure than any marriage connection, but he will not give up hostages to the reputation of Pompeius contrary to the interests of his country.” The women were vexed at these words, and Cato’s friends blamed his answer as both rude and insolent. The next thing, however, was that Pompeius while trying to secure the consulship for one of his friends, sent money for the tribes, and the bribery was notorious, the money being counted out in his gardens. Accordingly when Cato observed to the women, that he who was connected with Pompeius by marriage, must of necessity participate in such measures and be loaded with the disgrace of them, they admitted that he had judged better in rejecting the alliance of Pompeius. But if we may judge by the result, Cato appears to have made a complete mistake in not accepting the proposed alliance with Pompeius, and allowing him to turn to Cæsar and to contract a marriage, which, by uniting the power of Pompeius and Cæsar, nearly overthrew the Roman state and did destroy the constitution, nothing of which probably would have happened if Cato had not, through fear of the small errors of Pompeius, overlooked the greatest, which was the allowing him to increase the power of another.

Life Of Cato: XXXI

These things, however, were still in the future. Now when Lucullus was engaged in a contest with Pompeius respecting the arrangements made in Pontus, for each of them wished his own arrangements to be confirmed, and Cato gave his aid to Lucullus, who was manifestly wronged, Pompeius being worsted in the Senate and seeking to make himself popular, proposed a division of lands among the soldiery. But when Cato opposed him in this measure also and frustrated the law, Pompeius next attached himself to Clodius, the boldest of the demagogues at that time, and gained over Cæsar, to which Cato in a manner gave occasion. For Cæsar, who had returned from his prætorship in Iberia, at the same time wished to be a candidate for the consulship and asked for a triumph. But as it was the law that those who were candidates for a magistracy should be present, and those who were going to have a triumph should stay outside the walls, Cæsar asked permission of the Senate to solicit the office through means of others. Many were willing to consent, but Cato spoke against it, and when he saw that the Senators were ready to oblige Cæsar, he took up the whole day in talking, and thus frustrated the designs, of the Senate. Cæsar accordingly giving up his hopes of a triumph, entered the city, and immediately attached himself to Pompeius, and sought the consulship. Being elected consul, Cæsar gave Julia in marriage to Pompeius, and the two now coalescing against the state, the one introduced laws for giving to the poor allotments and a distribution of land, and the other assisted in supporting these measures. But Lucullus and Cicero siding with Bibulus, the other consul, opposed the measures, and Cato most of all, who already suspected that the friendship and combination of Cæsar and Pompeius had no just object, and said that he was not afraid of the distribution of the land, but of the reward for it which those would claim who were gratifying the multitude, and alluring them by this bait.

Life Of Cato: XXXII

By these arguments Cato brought the Senate to an unanimous opinion; and of those without the Senate no small number supported the senators, being annoyed at the unusual measures of Cæsar: for what the boldest and most reckless tribunes were used to propose for popularity’s sake, these very measures Cæsar in the possession of consular power adopted, basely and meanly endeavouring to ingratiate himself with the people. Cæsar’s party, therefore, being alarmed, had recourse to violence, and first of all a basket of ordure was thrown upon Bibulus as he was going down to the Forum, and then the people fell on his lictors and broke the fasces; finally missiles being thrown about, and many being wounded, all the rest ran away from the Forum except Cato, who walked away slowly, every now and then turning round and cursing the citizens. Accordingly Cæsar’s partisans not only passed the law for the distribution of land, but they added to it a clause to compel all the Senate to swear that they would maintain the law, and give their aid against any one who should act contrary to it, and they enacted heavy penalties against those who did not swear. All swore to maintain the law under compulsion, bearing in mind what befell Metellus of old, whom the people allowed to be driven from Italy because he would not swear to observe a like enactment. For this reason the women of Cato’s family with tears earnestly entreated him to yield and take the oath, and also his friends and intimate acquaintance. But the person who most persuaded and induced Cato to take the oath was Cicero the orator, who argued and urged that perhaps it was not even right for him to think that he was the only man who ought to refuse obedience to what had been determined by the common voice; and when it was impossible to undo what had been done, it was altogether senseless and mad to have no regard for himself; and of all evils, he argued, it was the greatest to give up and surrender the state, to the interests of which all his actions were directed, to those who were plotting against it, as if he were glad to be released from all struggles in its behalf; for if Cato did not stand in need of Rome, Rome stood in need of Cato, and all his friends also did; and among them Cicero said that he was the first, being the object of the designs of Clodius, who was clearly proceeding to attack him by means of the tribunitian office. By these and the like arguments and entreaties, both at home and in the Forum, it is said that Cato was induced to relent, and was prevailed upon with difficulty, and that he came forward to take the oath last of all, except Favonius, one of his friends and intimates.

Life Of Cato: XXXIII

Cæsar being encouraged, introduced another law for the division of nearly the whole of Campania among the poor and needy. Nobody spoke against it except Cato; and him Cæsar caused to be dragged from the Rostra to prison, Cato the while remitting nothing of his freedom of speech, but as he went along, at the same time speaking about the law and advising them to cease attempting such political measures. The Senate followed with downcast countenances, and the best part of the people, much annoyed and troubled, though they said nothing, so that Cæsar did not fail to see that they were displeased; but out of self-will and expectation that Cato would appeal and have recourse to entreaties, he continued leading him to prison. But when it was plain that Cato intended to do nothing at all, Cæsar, overcome by shame and the ill opinion of the thing, privately persuaded one of the tribunes to rescue Cato. By these laws, however, and these grants of land, they so cajoled the people, that they voted to Cæsar the government of Illyricum and all Gaul with four legions for five years, though Cato warned them that they would by their own votes plant the tyrant in the Acropolis; and they transferred by illegal means Publius Clodius from the patrician order to the plebeians, and made the man a tribune, who was willing to do anything in his public capacity to serve them, on condition that they would let Cicero be driven out; and they made consuls Piso Calpurnius, the father of Cæsar’s wife, and Gabinius Aulus, a man from the lap of Pompeius, as those say who were acquainted with his habits and life.

Life Of Cato: XXXIV

But though Cæsar and his party had thus violently got possession of the power, and had one part of the citizens at their command through their grants, and another part through fear, they still dreaded Cato. For even when they did get the advantage over him, the fact that it was with difficulty and labour, and not without shame and exposure that they hardly forced their purpose, was annoying and vexatious. Clodius, indeed, did not expect to be able to put down Cicero so long as Cato was at home, and as he was contriving how to effect this, he sent for Cato as soon as he was in his office, and addressed him to the effect that he considered Cato to be the purest man of all the Romans, and he was ready to prove the sincerity of his opinion by his acts, and he said that though many persons were soliciting the commission to Cyprus and Ptolemæus, and asking to be sent, he thought Cato alone worthy of it, and that he gladly offered him the favour. On Cato crying out that the thing was a snare and insult and not a favour, Clodius replied in an insolent and contemptuous manner, “Well, if you don’t like it, you shall make the voyage against your liking;” and immediately going before the people he got the mission of Cato confirmed by a law. When Cato was leaving Rome, Clodius allowed him neither ship nor soldier nor attendant except two clerks, one of whom was a thief and a thorough knave, and the other was a client of Clodius. And as if he had given him but small occupations with the affairs of Cyprus and Ptolemæus, Clodius commissioned him also to restore the Byzantine fugitives, his wish being that Cato should be as long as possible from Rome during his tribuneship.

Life Of Cato: XXXV

Being under such compulsion, Cato advised Cicero, who was pressed by his enemies, not to raise any commotion nor to involve the city in a contest and bloodshed, but by yielding to the times to be again the saviour of his country; and sending forward to Cyprus Canidius, one of his friends, he prevailed on Ptolemæus to yield without a struggle, assuring him that he should want neither money nor respect, for that the people would give him the priesthood of the goddess at Paphos. Cato himself stayed in Rhodes making preparation and waiting for the answers. In the meantime Ptolemæus, King of Egypt, left Alexandria in anger after quarrelling with the citizens, and set sail for Rome in the hope that Cæsar and Pompeius would restore him with a military force; and as he wished to see Cato he sent a message, expecting that Cato would come to him. Cato happened to be then undergoing a purging, and he answered that Ptolemæus must come, if he wished to see him; and when the king did come, Cato neither advanced to meet him nor rose, but saluted him as one of his ordinary visitors and bade him be seated; and by this behaviour the king was at first disturbed, and was amazed at the contrast between Cato’s haughty behaviour and rough manners, and the meanness and simplicity of the man’s attire. But when he had begun to talk with him about his own affairs, and listened to words full of wisdom and plain-speaking, for Cato reproved him and showed what a happy condition he had left and to what servitude and toils and corruption and love of aggrandisement in the chief men of the Romans he was subjecting himself, whom scarcely Egypt would satisfy if it were all turned into silver, and Cato advised the king to return and be reconciled to his people, and said that he was ready to sail with him and assist in bringing about an accommodation, the king, as if he had been brought to his senses from some madness or delirium by the words of Cato, and perceiving the integrity and judgment of the man, was resolved to follow his advice. However, the king was again turned by his friends to his original design, but as soon as he was in Rome and was approaching the door of one of the magistrates, he groaned over his ill resolve, as if he had rejected, not the advice of a good man, but the prophetic warning of a deity.

Life Of Cato: XXXVI

The Ptolemæus in Cyprus, to Cato’s good luck, poisoned himself; and as it was said that he had left a large sum of money, Cato determined to go to Byzantium himself, and he sent his nephew Brutus to Cyprus, because he did not altogether trust Canidius. After bringing the exiles to terms with their fellow-citizens and leaving Byzantium at peace with itself, he sailed to Cyprus. Now as there was a great quantity of movables, such as suited a royal household, consisting of cups, tables, precious stones and purple, all which was to be sold and turned into money, Cato being desirous to do everything with the greatest exactness and to bring up everything to the highest price, and to be present everywhere and to apply the strictest reckoning, would not trust even to the usages of the market, but suspecting all alike, assistants, criers, purchasers and friends, in fine, by talking to the purchasers singly and urging them to bid, he in this way got most of the things sold that were put up for sale. Cato thus offended the rest of his friends by showing that he did not trust them, and Munatius, the most intimate of all, he put into a state of resentment that was well nigh past cure; so that when Cæsar was writing his book against Cato, this passage in the charges against him furnished matter for the most bitter invective.

Life Of Cato: XXXVII

Munatius, however, states that his anger against Cato arose not by reason of Cato’s distrust of him, but his contemptuous behaviour, and a certain jealousy of his own in regard to Canidius; for Munatius also published a book about Cato, which Thrasea chiefly followed. He says that he arrived after the rest in Cyprus and found very poor accommodation prepared for him; and that on going to Cato’s door he was repulsed, because Cato was engaged about some matters in the house with Canidius, and when he complained of this in reasonable terms, he got an answer which was not reasonable and to the effect: That excessive affection, as Theophrastus says, is in danger of often becoming the cause of hatred, “for,” continued Cato, “you, by reason of your very great affection for me, are vexed when you suppose that you receive less respect than is your due. But I employ Canidius because I have made trial of him and trust him more than others, for he came at the first and has shown himself to be an honest man.” This, says Munatius, Cato said to him, when they two were alone, but that Cato afterwards told it to Canidius; and accordingly when Munatius heard of it, as he says, he did not go to Cato’s table nor to his counsels when he was invited; and when Cato threatened that he would take pledges from him, which the Romans do in the case of those who refuse to obey a command, that without caring for Cato’s threats he sailed away from Cyprus and for a long time continued to be angry with him. That afterwards Marcia, for she was still the wife of Cato, having spoken with Cato, both Cato and he happened to be invited to supper by Barcas; and Cato, who came in after the guests were seated, asked where he should recline. Upon Barcas answering, “Where he pleased,” Cato looking about him said he would take his place near Munatius; and going round he did take his place near him, but showed him no other sign of friendly feeling during the supper. However, upon Marcia preferring a second request, Cato wrote to him to say that he wished to see him on some matter, and that he went early in the morning to the house and was detained by Marcia till all the rest went way, when Cato came in and throwing both his arms round him saluted and received him with all signs of friendship. Now I have told this at some length, because I consider such things to contain a certain evidence for the exhibition and perception of character no less than public and great acts.

Life Of Cato: XXXVIII

Cato got together nearly seven thousand talents of silver, and being afraid of the length of the voyage, he had many vessels made, each of which contained two talents and five hundred drachmæ, and he fastened to each vessel a long rope, to the end of which was attached a very large piece of cork, with the view, that if the ship were wrecked, the cork holding the vessels suspended in the deep sea might indicate the place. Now the money, with the exception of a small part, was safely conveyed; but though he had accounts of all his administration carefully drawn up in two books, he saved neither of them. One of them was in the care of his freedman Philargyros, who set sail from Kenchreæ, but was wrecked, and lost the book and all the cargo with it: the other he had safely carried as far as Corcyra, where he pitched his tent in the Agora; but the sailors on account of the cold having lighted many fires, the tents were burnt in the night, and the book was destroyed. The king’s managers who were present were ready to stop the mouths of the enemies and detractors of Cato; but the matter gave him annoyance for other reasons. For it was not to prove his own integrity, but to set an example of exact dealing to others that he was ambitious to produce his accounts, and this was the cause of his vexation.

Life Of Cato: XXXIX

Cato’s arrival with the ships did not pass unobserved by the Romans, for all the magistrates and priests, and all the Senate and a great part of the people met him at the river, so that both the banks were covered, and Cato’s voyage upwards was not inferior to a triumph in show and splendour. Yet it seemed to some to be a perverse and stubborn thing, that though the consuls and prætors were present, Cato neither landed to meet them nor stopped his course, but sweeping along the shore in a royal galley of six banks, he never stopped till he had moored his ships in the dockyard. However, when the money was carried along through the Forum, the people were amazed at the quantity, and the Senate assembling voted together with suitable thanks that an extraordinary prætorship should be given to Cato, and that he should wear a dress with a purple border when he was present at the public spectacles. Cato protested against both these distinctions, but he recommended the Senate to emancipate Nikias, the king’s steward, to whose care and integrity he bore testimony. At that time Philippus, the father of Marcia, was consul, and in a manner the dignity and power of the office were transferred to Cato, for the colleague of Philippus paid no less respect to Cato on account of his merit than on account of his relationship to Philippus.

Life Of Cato: XL

When Cicero had returned from the exile into which he was driven by Clodius, and was now a powerful man, he forcibly pulled down and destroyed in the absence of Clodius, the tribunitian tablets which Clodius had recorded and placed in the Capitol; and the Senate having been assembled about this business, and Clodius making it a matter of accusation, Cicero said that inasmuch as Clodius had been made tribune in an illegal manner, all that had been done during his tribunate and recorded ought to be ineffectual and invalid. But Cato took exception to what Cicero said, and at length he rose and declared, that he was of opinion that there was nothing sound or good in any degree in the administration of Clodius, but that if any man was for rescinding all that Clodius had done in his tribunate, all his own measures relating to Cyprus were thereby rescinded, and his mission had not been legal, having been proposed by a man who was not legally tribune: he maintained that Clodius had not been illegally elected tribune by virtue of being adopted out of the patrician body into a plebeian family, for the law allowed this; but if he had been a bad magistrate, like others, it was fitting to call to account the man who had done wrong, and not to annul the office which had been wronged also. In consequence of this, Cicero was angry with Cato, and for a long time ceased all friendly intercourse with him: however, they were afterwards reconciled.

Life Of Cato: XLI

After this Pompeius and Crassus had a meeting with Cæsar, who had come across the Alps, in which they agreed that they should seek a second consulship; and when they were established in it, they should cause another period in Cæsar’s government as long as the first to be given him by the vote of the people, and to themselves the chief of the provinces and money and military forces: the which was a conspiracy for the division of the supreme power and the destruction of the constitution. Now though many honest men were at this time preparing to be candidates for the consulship, they were deterred by seeing Pompeius and Crassus canvassing; but Lucius Domitius alone, the husband of Porcia, the sister of Cato, was induced by Cato not to give way or to yield, as the contest was not for office but for the liberty of Rome. And indeed it was currently said among that part of the citizens who were still of sober thoughts, that they ought not to allow the consular office to become completely overbearing and oppressive by permitting the power of Crassus and Pompeius to be combined, but that they should deprive one of them of the office. And they ranged themselves on the side of Domitius, urging and encouraging him to keep to his purpose; for many, they argued, even of those who said nothing by reason of fear, would help him with their votes. The party of Pompeius and Crassus fearing this, laid an ambuscade for Domitius as he was going down to the Campus Martius early in the morning, by torch-light. First of all the man who was lighting Domitius and standing close by him was struck and fell down dead; and after him others also being wounded, there was a general flight of all except Cato and Domitius; for Cato held Domitius though he himself was wounded in the arm, and urged him to stay and so long as there was breath in them, not to give up the struggle for liberty against the tyrants who showed how they would use their power, by making their way to it through such acts of wrong.

Life Of Cato: XLII

Domitius, however, did not face the danger, but fled to his house, upon which Pompeius and Crassus, were elected. Yet Cato did not give up the contest, but came forward as a candidate for a prætorship, because he wished to have a strong position in his struggles with them and not to be himself a private man while he was opposing those who were in office. Pompeius and Crassus being afraid of this, and considering that the prætorship by reason of Cato would become a match for the consulship, in the first place on a sudden and without the knowledge of many of the body, summoned the Senate, and got a vote passed that those who were elected prætors should enter on office forthwith and should not let the time fixed by law intervene, during which time prosecutions were allowed of those who had bribed the people. In the next place, now that they had by the vote of the Senate made bribery free from all responsibility, they brought forward their own tools and friends as candidates for the prætorship, themselves giving the bribe-money, and themselves standing by while the voting was going on. But when the merit and good name of Cato were getting the superiority even over all this, the many for very shame considering it a great crime by their votes to sell Cato, whom it were even honourable to purchase for the state as prætor, and the tribe which was first called voted for him, Pompeius all at once, falsely saying he had heard thunder, dissolved the assembly, for it was the custom of the Romans to view such tokens as inauspicious, and not to ratify anything when there had been signs from heaven. Thereafter, by employing excessive bribery and driving all the honest folks from the Campus they brought about by violence that Vatinius should be elected prætor instead of Cato. Upon this it is said that those who had given their votes thus illegally and dishonestly, forthwith skulked away; and a certain tribune forming on the spot a meeting of those who were assembling together and expressing their dissatisfaction, Cato came before them, and as if inspired by the gods, foretold everything that would happen to the state, and urged the citizens to oppose Pompeius and Crassus as being privy to such measures and engaging in a course of policy, on account of which they feared Cato lest, if he were prætor, he should get the advantage over them. And finally as he went home, he was attended by such a crowd as not even all the prætors together, who were elected, had to accompany them.

Life Of Cato: XLIII

When Caius Trebonius drew up a law for the division of the provinces between the consuls, to the effect that one of them should have the government of Iberia and Libya, and the other Syria and Egypt, to attack and carry on war against whom they pleased with naval and military forces, the rest despairing of all opposition and hindrance even desisted from speaking against the measure, and when Cato got up on the Rostra before the question was put to the vote, and expressed a wish to speak, he with difficulty obtained leave to speak for two hours. After Cato had occupied this time with much speaking, and alleging of arguments and prophetic warnings, they would not let him speak longer, but an officer went up and pulled him down while he was still keeping his place on the Rostra. But inasmuch as he continued to cry out from the place where he was standing below, and had persons to listen to him and join in his dissatisfaction, the officer again laid hold of him and taking him away, put him out of the Forum. But scarcely was he let loose when he returned and made his way to the Rostra with loud shouts, urging the citizens to aid him. This being repeated several times, Trebonius in a passion ordered him to be led to prison, and the crowd followed listening to him talking as he went along, so that Trebonius was afraid and let him go. In this manner Cato took up all that day: but on the following days by terrifying some of the citizens and gaining over others by favours and by bribes, and with armed men preventing Aquilius one of the tribunes from coming out of the senate house, and by ejecting from the Forum Cato himself, who called out that there had been thunder, and by wounding no small number, and even killing some, they forcibly carried the law, in consequence of which many persons in passion crowded together and pelted the statues of Pompeius. Cato, however, who came up to them stopped this; and further, when a law was proposed respecting the provinces and armies of Cæsar, Cato no longer addressed himself to the people, but turning to Pompeius himself he adjured and forewarned him, that he did not see that he was now taking up Cæsar on his shoulders, but that when he began to feel the weight of his burden and to be mastered by it, having neither power to rid himself of it nor strength to bear it, he would fall with it upon the state, and then he would remember Cato’s advice and see that it concerned no less the interests of Pompeius than honour and justice. Though Pompeius heard this often, he cared not for it and let it pass, not believing there would be any change in Cæsar, because he trusted in his own good fortune and power.

Life Of Cato: XLIV

For the following year Cato was chosen prætor, but he was considered not to add so much dignity and honour to the office by his good administration, as to detract from it and bring it into disrepute by often going to the Rostra without his shoes and his tunic, and in this attire presiding at trials of men of rank in matters of life and death. Some also say that even after dinner, when he had drunk wine, he would transact business; but this at least is untruly said. The people being now corrupted by the bribery of those who were ambitious of office, and the majority being accustomed to receive money for their votes as if in the way of a regular trade, Cato wishing to eradicate completely this disease in the state, persuaded the Senate to make a decree, that if those who were elected magistrates should have none ready to accuse them, they should themselves be compelled to come forward before a sworn court and give an account of their election. The candidates for magistracies were vexed at this, and still more vexed were the mass who received the bribe-money. Accordingly in the morning when Cato had gone to the tribunal, the people in a body pressing upon him, cried out, abused him, and pelted him so that every person fled from the tribunal, and Cato himself being shoved from his place by the crowd and carried along with it, with difficulty laid hold of the Rostra. Thereupon getting up, by the boldness and firmness of his demeanour, Cato forthwith mastered the tumult, and stopped the shouting, and after saying what was suitable to the occasion and being listened to with perfect quiet, he put an end to the disturbance. When the Senate were bestowing praise upon him, he said, “But I cannot praise you, who left a prætor in danger and did not come to his help.” But of the candidates for magistracies every man felt himself in a difficult position, being afraid to give bribes himself, and being afraid that he should lose the office if another did it. Accordingly it was agreed among them that they should come together to one place, and each lay down one hundred and twenty-five thousand drachmæ of silver, and all should then seek the office in a right and just way, and that he who broke the terms and employed bribery, should lose his money. Having agreed to these terms they chose Cato as depositary and umpire and witness, and bringing the money, they offered to place it with him; and they had the terms of the agreement drawn up before him, but Cato took sureties instead of the money, and would not receive the money itself. When the day for the election came, Cato taking his place by the presiding tribune and watching the vote, discovered that one of those who had entered into the engagement, was playing foul, and he ordered him to pay the money to the rest. But they, commending his uprightness and admiring it, waived the penalty, considering that they had sufficient satisfaction from the wrong-doer; but Cato offended all the rest and got very great odium from this, it being as if he assumed to himself the power of the Senate and of the courts of justice and of the magistrates. For the opinion and the credit of no one virtue makes people more envious than that of justice, because both æpower and credit among the many follow it chiefly. For people do not merely honour the just, as they do the brave, nor do they admire them, as they do the wise, but they even love the just, and have confidence in them and give them credit. But as to the brave and wise, they fear the one, and give no credit to the other; and besides this, they think that the brave and the wise excel by nature rather than by their own will; and with respect to courage and wisdom, they consider the one to be a certain sharpness, and the other a firmness of soul; but inasmuch as any man who chooses, has it in his power to be just, they have most abhorrence of injustice as badness that is without excuse.

Life Of Cato: XLV

Wherefore all the great were enemies of Cato, as being reproved by his conduct: and as Pompeius viewed Cato’s reputation even as a nullification of his own power, he was continually setting persons on to abuse him, among whom Clodius also was one, the demagogue, who had again insensibly attached himself to Pompeius, and was crying out against Cato on the ground that he had appropriated to his own purposes much money in Cyprus, and was hostile to Pompeius because Pompeius had rejected a marriage with Cato’s daughter. Cato replied that he had brought to the city from Cyprus, without the aid of a single horse or soldier, more money than Pompeius had brought back from so many wars and triumphs after disturbing the habitable world, and that he never chose Pompeius to make a marriage alliance with, not because he considered Pompeius unworthy, but because he saw the difference between his polity and that of Pompeius. “For my part,” continued Cato, “I declined a province when it was offered to me after my prætorship, but Pompeius has got some provinces, and he also offers some to others; and now, last of all, he has lent to Cæsar a force of six thousand legionary soldiers for Gaul, which neither did Cæsar ask of you, nor did Pompeius give with your assent; but forces to such an amount and arms and horses are gifts from private persons and things of mutual exchange. And being called Imperator and governor he has given up to others the armies and the provinces, and he himself sits down close to the city raising commotions at the elections and contriving disturbances, from which it is manifest that he is intriguing to get by means of anarchy a monarchy for himself.”

Life Of Cato: XLVI

In this fashion Cato defended himself against Pompeius. But Marcus Favonius, an intimate friend and admirer of Cato, just as Apollodorus of Phalerum is said to have been of Socrates of old, being a passionate man and one who was violently moved by his principles, did not with any temper or moderation, but intemperately attack Pompeius, like a man under the influence of drink and somewhat mad. Favonius was a candidate for the ædileship and was losing his election, when Cato, who was present, observed that the voting tablets were written in one hand, and so proved the knavery, and by appealing to the tribunes stopped the return. Afterwards when Favonius was made ædile, Cato both administered the other duties of the ædileship, and superintended the exhibitions in the theatre, giving to the actors not crowns of gold, but as is the fashion of Olympia, crowns of wild olive, and instead of costly presents, giving to the Greeks, turnips and lettuces and radishes and parsley; and to the Romans, earthen jars of wine, and hogs’ flesh, and figs and gourds, and bundles of wood, at the thrift of which gifts some laughed, but others treated the matter in a respectful way, seeing the austere and serious countenance of Cato imperceptibly assuming a pleasant expression. Finally, Favonius, mingling with, the crowd and sitting among the spectators, applauded Cato, and called out to him to give to those who were distinguishing themselves, and to honour them, and he urged the spectators to the same effect, inasmuch as he had surrendered all his authority to Cato. Now in the other theatre, Curio, the colleague of Favonius, was conducting the celebration in splendid style, but still the people left him to go to the other place, and they readily joined in the amusement of Favonius playing a private part and Cato the part of the superintendent of the exhibitions. And Cato did this to disparage the thing and to show that when a man is in sport he should use sportive ways, and accompany it with unpretending kindness rather than with much preparation and great cost, bestowing great care and trouble on things of no value.

Life Of Cato: XLVII

Now when Scipio and Hypsæus and Milo were candidates for the consulship, and were employing not merely those wrongful ways that were now familiar and had become usual in matters political, the giving of gifts and bribery, but were plainly pushing on through arms and slaughter to civil war, in their daring and madness, and some persons were urging Pompeius to preside over the comitia, Cato at first opposed this and said, that the laws should not owe their maintenance to Pompeius, but that Pompeius should owe his security to the laws. However, when there had been an anarchy for some time, and three armies were occupying the Forum daily, and the mischief had well nigh become past checking, he determined in favour of putting affairs in the hands of Pompeius before the extreme necessity arrived, by the voluntary favour of the Senate, and by employing the most moderate of unconstitutional means as a healing measure for the settlement of what was most important, to bring on the monarchy rather than to let the civil dissensions result in a monarchy. Accordingly Bibulus, who was a friend of Cato, proposed that they ought to elect Pompeius sole consul, for that either matters would be put into a good condition by his settlement of them, or that the state would be enslaved by the best man in it. Cato rose and spoke in favour of the proposal, which nobody could have expected, and recommended any government as better than no government; and he added, that he expected that Pompeius would manage present affairs best, and would protect the state with which he was intrusted.

Life Of Cato: XLVIII

Pompeius being thus declared consul prayed Cato to come to him to the suburbs: and on his arrival Pompeius received him in a friendly manner with salutations and pressing of hands, and after acknowledging his obligations he entreated Cato to be his adviser and his assessor in the consulship. But Cato replied, that neither had he said what he first said out of evil disposition towards Pompeius, nor had he said what he last said in order to win his favour, but everything for the interest of the state; accordingly he observed that he would give Pompeius his advice when he was privately invited, but that in public, even if he should not be invited, he would certainly say what he thought. And he did as he said. In the first place, when Pompeius was proposing laws with new penalties and severe proceedings against those who had already bribed the people, Cato advised him not to care about the past, but to attend to the future, for he said, it was not easy to determine at what point the inquiry into past offences should stop, and if penalties be imposed after the offences, those would be hardly dealt with who were punished by a law which they were not breaking at the time of their wrong-doing. In the next place, when many men of rank were under trial, some of whom were friends and relations of Pompeius, Cato observing that Pompeius was giving way to the greater part of them and yielding, rebuked him firmly and roused him up. Though Pompeius himself had caused a law to be passed which did not allow the panegyrics which used to be pronounced on those who were under trial, he wrote a panegyric on Munatius Plancus on the occasion of his trial and handed it in, but Cato by stopping his ears with his hands, for he happened to be one of the judices, prevented the testimonial from being read. Plancus challenged Cato as one of the judices after the speeches, but nevertheless he was convicted. And altogether Cato was a kind of thing difficult and unmanageable for persons accused, as they were neither willing to have him to be a judex, nor could they venture to challenge him. For not a few were convicted because, by being unwilling to have Cato for one of their judices, they were considered to show that they had no confidence in the justice of their cause; and their revilers even charged it upon some as matter of great reproach that they would not have Cato as one of their judices when he was proposed.

Life Of Cato: XLIX

Now when Cæsar, though he kept close to his armies in Gaul and stuck to arms, was still employing gifts and money and friends to secure his power in the city, Cato’s admonitions roused Pompeius from his former long continued state of incredulity, and he began to be afraid of the danger; but as he was somewhat hesitating and spiritlessly procrastinating all attempts at prevention, Cato resolved to be a candidate for the consulship with the view of either forthwith wresting Cæsar’s arms from him or demonstrating his designs. But the rival candidates were both popular men: and Sulpicius had already derived much advantage from Cato’s reputation in the state and his influence. He therefore seemed to be doing what was neither just nor grateful, but yet Cato found no fault with him. “What is it strange,” said he, “if a man does not give up to another the thing which he thinks to be the greatest of goods?” But Cato by persuading the Senate to pass a Consultum that those who were candidates for the office should canvass the people themselves, and should not solicit through any other person, not even by such person going about to see the citizens on their behalf, still more irritated the citizens, in that by depriving them not only of the opportunity of receiving money, but even of conferring a favour, he rendered the people at once poor and dishonoured. In addition to this, as Cato had neither any persuasive manners in canvassing for himself, but wished to maintain the dignity of his life in his character rather than to add to it that of the consulship by shaking hands with the electors, and as he would not allow his friends to do the things by which the mass are taken and gained over, he lost the office.

Life Of Cato: L

Though the matter caused not only to those who failed, but to their friends and kin a certain degree of shame and depression and sorrow for many days, Cato bore what had happened with so little concern, that after anointing himself in the Campus he exercised at ball, and again after dinner, according to his wont, he went down into the Forum without his shoes and tunic, and walked about with his intimates. But Cicero blames him, that when the times required such a magistrate, he used no exertion nor tried to gain the favour of the people by friendly intercourse with them, but for the future ceased to make any effort and gave up the contest, though he was again a candidate for the prætorship. Cato, however, said, that he lost the prætorship not by the real will of the majority, but because they were forced or corrupted; whereas in the voting for the consulship, in which there was no foul play, he further perceived that he had displeased the people by his manners, which it was not the part of a man of sense to change in order to please others, nor, if he still kept to the like manners, to subject himself to the like treatment.

Life Of Cato: LI

When Cæsar had attacked warlike nations and had conquered them with great hazard, and when it was the opinion that he had fallen upon the Germans even after a truce had been made, and had destroyed three hundred thousand of them, the rest indeed were promising to the people to offer sacrifices for the victory, but Cato urged that they should give up Cæsar to those who had been wronged, and should not turn the guilt upon themselves nor allow it to fall on the state. “However,” said he, “let us still sacrifice to the gods, that they do not turn their vengeance for the madness and desperation of the commander upon the soldiers, and that they spare the city.” Upon this Cæsar wrote and sent a letter to the Senate; and when the letter had been read, which contained much abuse of Cato and many charges against him, Cato got up, and not under the influence of passion or personal animosity, but as if it were on good consideration and due preparation, showed that the charges against him were in the nature of abuse and insult, and were pure trifling and mockery on Cæsar’s part. Then taking hold of all Cæsar’s measures from the first, and unveiling all his plans, not as if he were an enemy, but a fellow conspirator and participator, he proved to them that they had no reason to fear the sons of the Britons nor yet the Celts, but Cæsar himself, if they were prudent; and he so worked on and excited them that the friends of Cæsar repented of having read the letter in the Senate, and so given Cato an opportunity of making a fair statement and true charges. Nothing, however, was done, but it was merely said that it would be well for a successor to Cæsar to be appointed. But when Cæsar’s friends required that Pompeius also should lay down his arms and give up his provinces, or that Cæsar should not, Cato cried out, that now what he foretold them had come to pass, and that the man was having recourse to force and was openly employing the power which he had got by deceiving and gulling the state; yet Cato could do nothing out of doors, because the people all along wished Cæsar to have the chief power, and he found the Senate ready to assent to his measures, but afraid of the people.

Life Of Cato: LII

But when Ariminum was captured, and news came that Cæsar with his army was advancing against the city, then indeed all men turned their eyes on Cato, both the people and Pompeius, as the only man who from the first had foreseen and who had first clearly shown the designs of Cæsar. Accordingly Cato said, “Men, if any among you had listened to what I had all along been foretelling and advising, you would neither have to fear a single man now, nor would you have to rest all your hopes on a single man.” Upon Pompeius saying that Cato had indeed spoken more like a prophet, but that he had acted more like a friend, Cato advised the Senate to place affairs in the hands of Pompeius alone, for it was the business of those who caused great evils to put an end to them. Now as Pompeius had not a force in readiness, and he saw that the troops which he was then levying had no zeal, he left Rome. Cato having determined to follow Pompeius in his flight, sent his younger son into the country of the Bruttii to Munatius for safe keeping, but the elder he took with him. And as his household and daughters required some one to look after them, he took again Marcia, who was now a widow with a large estate, for Hortensius at his death had made her his heir. It was with reference to this that Cæsar vented most abuse on Cato, and charged him with covetousness and making a traffic of his marriage; for why should he give up his wife, said Cæsar, if he still wanted one, or why should he take her back, if he did not want one? if it was not that from the first the woman was put as a bait in the way of Hortensius, and Cato gave her up when she was young that he might have her back when she was rich. Now, in reply to these charges, this from Euripides suffices:—

“First then what can’t be said, for of this kind
I deem thy so call’d cowardice, O Hercules.”

For to accuse Cato of filthy lucre is like upbraiding Hercules with cowardice. But whether the matter of the marriage was not well in other respects is a thing for inquiry. However, Cato did espouse Marcia, and intrusting to her his family and daughters, hurried after Pompeius.

Life Of Cato: LIII

From that day it is said that Cato never cut the hair of his head or beard, nor put on a chaplet, but maintained till his death the same outward signs of sorrow and depression of spirits and grief over the misfortunes of his country, just the same when his party was victorious and when it was vanquished. At that time having got by lot Sicily as his province, he crossed over to Syracuse, and on hearing that Asinius Pollio had arrived from the enemy with a large force at Messene, he sent to him to demand the reason of his coming. But Cato in turn being asked for the reason of the change in affairs, and having heard that Pompeius had completely deserted Italy and was encamped in Dyrrachium, he said that there was great perplexity and uncertainty in matters appertaining to the gods. Pompeius, who had always been invincible while he was doing what was not honest or just, now when he wished to save his country and fight in defence of liberty, was deserted by his good fortune. As to Asinius, he said that he was able to drive him out of Sicily, but as another greater force was coming against him, he did not choose to ruin the island by a war; and after advising the Syracusans to join the victorious party and to take care of themselves, he sailed away. When he came to Pompeius, he kept steadily to one opinion, to prolong the war, for he expected some terms of reconciliation and did not wish that the state should be worsted in a battle and suffer from itself the extreme of sufferings by having its fate determined by the sword. And he persuaded Pompeius and his council to other determinations akin to these, neither to plunder any city that was subject to the Romans, nor to put to death any Roman except on the field of battle; and he gained good opinion and brought over many to the side of Pompeius, who were pleased with his moderation and mildness.

Life Of Cato: LIV

Being sent to Asia to help those there who were collecting vessels and an army, he took with him his sister Servilia and her young child by Lucullus. For Servilia, who was now a widow, followed Cato, and she removed much of the evil report about her licentious conduct by voluntarily subjecting herself to the guardianship of Cato and his wanderings and mode of life. But Cæsar did not spare his abuse of Cato even with respect to Servilia. However as it seems the generals of Pompeius did not want the assistance of Cato at all; and after persuading the Rhodians to join the side of Pompeius and leaving Servilia and the child there, he returned to Pompeius, who had already a splendid military force and a naval power with him. Here indeed Pompeius appeared most clearly to show his mind; for at first he intended to give to Cato the command of the ships, and the fighting vessels were not fewer than five hundred, and the Liburnian and spy ships and open boats were very numerous: but having soon perceived, or it having been hinted to him by his friends, that it was the one chief thing in all the policy of Cato to liberate his country, and that if he should have the command of so great a force, the very day on which they should defeat Cæsar, Cato would require Pompeius also to lay down his arms and to follow the laws, he changed his mind though he had already spoken with him, and he appointed Bibulus commander of the ships. Yet he found not Cato’s zeal dulled by this; for it is told that when Pompeius was urging his troops to a battle before Dyrrachium and bidding each of the commanders say something and to encourage the men, the soldiers heard them with listlessness and silence; but when Cato, after the rest, had gone through all the topics derived from philosophy that were suitable to the occasion to be said about liberty and virtue, and death and good fame, with great emotion on his part, and finally addressed himself to invoke the gods as being there present and watching over the struggle on behalf of their country, there was so loud an acclamation and so great a movement in the whole army thus excited, that all the commanders hastened to the contest full of hopes. The soldiers of Pompeius routed and defeated the enemy, but the dæmon of Cæsar prevented the completion of the victory by taking advantage of the caution of Pompeius and his want of confidence in his success. Now this is told in the Life of Pompeius. But while all were rejoicing and magnifying the victory, Cato wept for his country and bewailed the love of power that brought destruction and misfortune with it, when he saw that many brave citizens had fallen by the hands of one another.

Life Of Cato: LV

When Pompeius in order to pursue Cæsar broke up his camp to march into Thessaly, he left at Dyrrachium a great quantity of arms and stores, and many kinsmen and friends, and he appointed Cato commander and guardian over all with fifteen cohorts, both because he trusted and feared the man. For if he were defeated, he considered that Cato would be his surest support; but that if he were victorious, Cato would not, if he were present, let him manage matters as he chose. Many men of rank also were left behind in Dyrrachium with Cato. When the defeat at Pharsalus took place, Cato resolved that if Pompeius were dead, he would take over to Italy those who were with him, and himself would live an exile as far from the tyranny as possible; but if Pompeius were alive, that he would by all means keep together the force for him. Accordingly having crossed over to Cercyra, where the navy was, he proposed to give up the command to Cicero, who was a consular, while he was only of prætorian rank; but when Cicero would not accept the command and set off for Italy, Cato observing that Pompeius through his stubborn self-will and unreasonable temper was desirous of punishing those who were sailing away, privately admonished and pacified him, by which Cato manifestly saved Cicero from death and secured the safety of the rest.

Life Of Cato: LVI

Conjecturing that Pompeius Magnus would make his escape to Egypt or to Libya, and being in haste to join him, Cato with all whom he had about him weighed anchor and set sail after permitting all those to go away or stay behind who were not ready to accompany him. He reached Libya, and coasting along he fell in with Sextus, the younger son of Pompeius, who reported to him his father’s death in Egypt. Now they were all much troubled, and no one after the death of Pompeius would obey any other commander while Cato was present. Wherefore Cato, out of respect to those who were with him, and because he had not heart to desert and leave in difficulties the brave men who had given proof of their fidelity, undertook the command and went along the coast till he came to Cyrene; for the people received him though a few days before they had shut out Labienus. Upon hearing that Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompeius, had been well received by King Juba, and that Varus Attius, who had been appointed governor of Libya by Pompeius, was with them with a force, he set out by land in the winter season, having got together a number of asses to carry water, and driving along with him a quantity of cattle, and also taking chariots and the people called Psylli, who cure the bites of serpents by sucking out the poison with their mouths, and deaden and soothe the serpents themselves by charming them with music. Though the march was seven days in succession, Cato led at the head of his men without using horse or beast of burden. And he continued to sup in a sitting posture from the day that he heard of the defeat at Pharsalus, and he added this further sign of his sorrow, never to lie down except when he was sleeping. Having spent the winter in Libya he led forth his army; and the men were near ten thousand.

Life Of Cato: LVII

Matters were in bad plight between Scipio and Varus, for in consequence of their disagreement and disunion they were secretly trying to win the favour of Juba, who was intolerable for the arrogance of his temper and his haughtiness by reason of his wealth and power. When he was going to have his first interview with Cato, Juba placed his seat between the seats of Scipio and Cato. However, when Cato observed it, he took up his seat and moved it to the other side so as to leave Scipio in the middle, though Scipio was his enemy, and had published a certain writing which contained abuse of Cato. This, indeed, people make no account of; but they blame Cato that in Sicily he placed Philostratus in the middle, as he was walking about with him, to do honour to philosophy. On this occasion, however, he checked Juba, who had all but made Scipio and Varus his satraps, and he reconciled them. Though all invited Cato to the command, and Scipio and Varus were the first to surrender and give it up to him, he said that he would not break the laws in defence of which they were fighting against him who broke them, nor would he place himself, who was a proprætor, before a proconsul who was present. For Scipio had been appointed proconsul, and the majority, on account of the name, had confidence that they should be successful, if a Scipio commanded in Libya.

Life Of Cato: LVIII

However when Scipio immediately on receiving the command, wished to please Juba by putting to death all the people of Utica who were capable of bearing arms, and to dig down the city, because it favoured Cæsar, Cato would not endure this, but with adjurations and loud cries in the council and by appealing to the gods he with difficulty rescued the people from their cruelty; and partly at the request of the citizens of Utica and partly at the instance of Scipio, he undertook to keep guard in the city, that it should not either involuntarily or voluntarily join Cæsar. For the place was in all respects advantageous, and defensible by those who held it; and it was strengthened still more by Cato. For he brought abundance of corn into the city, and he strengthened the walls by raising towers, and making strong ditches and palisado-work in front of the city. To the people of Utica who were able to bear arms he assigned the palisado-work as their quarter, and made them give up their arms to him; but he kept the rest in the city, and took great care that they should not be wronged and should suffer no harm from the Romans. He also sent out a great quantity of arms, supplies and grain to those in camp, and altogether he made the city the storehouse for the war. But the advice which he gave Pompeius before, and gave Scipio then, not to fight with a man of a warlike turn and great ability, but to take advantage of time which wastes all the vigour wherein the strength of tyranny lies, Scipio through self-will despised; and on one occasion he wrote to Cato upbraiding him with cowardice, in that he was not content to sit down within a city and walls, but would not even let others boldly use their own judgment as opportunity offered. To this Cato replied, that he was ready to take the legionary soldiers and horsemen whom he had brought into Libya, and carry them over to Italy, and so make Cæsar change his place and to turn him from them to himself. And when Scipio mocked at this also, it was clear that Cato was much annoyed that he had declined the command, for he saw that Scipio would neither conduct the war well, nor, if he should succeed contrary to expectation, would he behave with moderation to the citizens in his victory. Accordingly Cato formed the opinion and mentioned it to some of his friends, that he had no good hopes of the war on account of the inexperience and confidence of the commanders, but if there should be any good fortune, and Cæsar should be worsted, he would not stay in Rome, and would fly from the harshness and cruelty of Scipio, who was even then uttering dreadful and extravagant threats against many. But it turned out worse than he expected; and late in the evening there arrived a messenger from the camp who had been three days on the road, with the news that a great battle had been fought at Thapsus in which their affairs were entirely ruined, that Cæsar was in possession of the camps, Scipio and Juba had escaped with a few men, and the rest of the army was destroyed.

Life Of Cato: LIX

On the arrival of this intelligence, the city, as was natural on the receipt of such news by night and in time of war, nearly lost its reason, and hardly contained itself within the walls; but Cato coming forward, whenever he met with any one running about and calling out, laid hold of him, and cheering him took away the excessive fright and confusion of his alarm, by saying that matters perchance were not so bad as they had been reported, but were magnified by rumour; and so he stayed the tumult. At daybreak he made proclamation that the three hundred, whom he had as a Senate, and these were Romans, and were carrying on business in Libya as merchants and money-lenders, should assemble at the temple of Jupiter, and also all the Roman senators who were present and their sons. While they were still assembling, Cato advanced, without hurry and with a tranquil countenance, as if nothing new had happened, holding a book in his hand, which he was reading; and this was a register of the military engines, arms, corn, bows, and legionary soldiers. When they had come together, beginning with the three hundred, and commending at some length the zeal and fidelity which they had displayed in aiding with their means and persons and advice, he exhorted them not to let their hopes be destroyed, and not severally to provide for their flight or escape. For, he said, that if they would keep together, Cæsar would despise them less if they made resistance, and would spare them more if they asked his mercy. And he urged them to deliberate about themselves, and that he would not find fault with their deciding either way, and if they should be disposed to turn to the fortunate side, he should attribute the change to necessity; but if they preferred to oppose the danger and to undertake the hazard in defence of liberty, he should not only commend them, but admire their virtue, and make himself their commander and fellow-combatant, till they had tried the last fortune of their country, which was not Utica or Adrumetum only, but Rome, that had often by her might recovered from greater falls. And they had many grounds for safety and security; and chief of all, that they were warring against a man who was pulled in many directions by the circumstances of the times, for Iberia had gone over to Pompeius the young, and Rome herself had not yet altogether received the bit for want of being used to it, but was impatient of suffering and ready to rise up collected upon every change, and danger was not a thing to fly from, but they should take as a pattern the enemy, who was not sparing of his life for accomplishing the greatest wrongs, and for whom the uncertainty of the war had not the same result as for them, to whom it would bring the happiest life, if they were successful, and the most glorious death if they failed. However, he said they ought to deliberate by themselves, and he joined them in praying that in consideration of their former virtue and zeal what they resolved might be for the best.

Life Of Cato: LX

When Cato had spoken to this effect, some of them indeed were brought to confidence by his words; but the greater part seeing his fearlessness and noble and generous temper, nearly forgot present circumstances, and considering him alone as an invincible leader and superior to all fortune, prayed him to use their persons and property and arms as he judged best, for they said it was better to die in obedience to him than to save their lives by betraying such virtue. On a certain person observing that they should declare freedom to the slaves, and most of them assenting to this, Cato said he would not do so, for it was not lawful nor yet right; but if the masters were ready to give up their slaves, they should receive those who were of military age. Many offers were made, and Cato, after telling them to enrol every man who was willing, retired. Shortly after there came to him letters from Juba and Scipio; from Juba, who was hid in a mountain with a few men, asking him what he had resolved to do; and that if Cato left Utica he would wait for him, and if he stood a siege he would come to aid him with an army; from Scipio, who was in a vessel off a certain point not far from Utica, and waiting with the same views.

Life Of Cato: LXI

Accordingly Cato determined to detain the letter-carriers till he had confirmed the resolution of the three hundred. For the senators were zealous, and immediately manumitted their slaves, and set about arming them. But with respect to the three hundred, inasmuch as they were men engaged in maritime affairs and money lending, and had the chief part of their substance in slaves, the words of Cato stood no long time in them, but oozed out, just as bodies which have a great degree of rarity easily receive heat and again part with it, being cooled when the fire is removed; in like manner Cato, while they saw him, fanned the flame and warmed those men; but when they began to reflect by themselves, the fear of Cæsar drove out of them all regard to Cato and to honour. “Who are we,” said they, “and who is the man whose commands we are refusing to obey? Is not this Cæsar, to whom the whole power of the Romans has been transferred? and not one of us is a Scipio, nor a Pompeius, nor a Cato. But at a time when all men by reason of fear are humbled in mind more than is fitting, at such a time shall we fight in defence of the liberty of the Romans, and contend in Utica against a man before whom Cato with Pompeius Magnus fled and gave up Italy; and shall we manumit our slaves to oppose Cæsar, we who have only as much freedom as he shall choose to give? No, even yet, miserable wretches, let us know our own weakness, and deprecate the conqueror, and send persons to supplicate him.” This was what the most moderate among the three hundred recommended; but the majority were forming a design on the senatorial class, with the hope that, if they seized them, they would pacify Cæsar’s rage against themselves.

Life Of Cato: LXII

Though Cato suspected the change, he took no notice of it. However he wrote to Scipio and Juba to tell them to keep away from Utica, because he distrusted the three hundred, and he sent off the letter-carriers. But the horsemen who had escaped from the battle, no contemptible number, riding up to Utica, sent to Cato three men, who did not bring the same message from all; for one party was bent on going to Juba, another wished to join Cato, and a third was afraid of entering Utica. Cato on hearing this ordered Marcus Rubrius to observe the three hundred and quietly to receive the registrations of those who manumitted their slaves without forcing any one; and himself taking the senatorial men went out of Utica, and meeting with the commanders of the cavalry he besought them not to betray so many Roman senators, nor to choose Juba for their commander in place of Cato but to secure their own safety and that of the rest by coming into a city which could not be taken by storm, and contained both corn and other resources for many years. The senatorial men joined in this prayer and wept; and the commanders conferred with the cavalry, while Cato sat down on a mound with the senatorial men and waited for the answer.

Life Of Cato: LXIII

In the meantime Rubrius came in a passion, charging the three hundred with great disorder and tumult, inasmuch, as they were falling off and disturbing the city. On which the rest, altogether despairing, fell to weeping and lamentation, but Cato attempted to cheer them, and sent to the three hundred and bade them wait. But the representatives on the part of the horsemen came with no reasonable requisitions: for they said that they neither wanted Juba for their pay-master, nor were they afraid of Cæsar if they had Cato to command them, but it was a dangerous thing to shut themselves up with the citizens of Utica, who were Phœnicians and an inconstant people; and if they should keep quiet now, they would set upon them and betray them, when Cæsar came. If then any man wanted their aid in war and their presence, he must eject or kill all the people of Utica, and then invite them into a city free from enemies and barbarians. Cato considered this to be an excessively savage and barbarous proposal, but he answered mildly and said that he would consult with the three hundred. When he had returned into the city he found the men no longer making pretexts or evasions out of respect to him, but openly complaining that any one should force them to fight with Cæsar when they were neither able nor willing. Some even whispered with respect to the senatorial men, that they ought to keep them in the city, since Cæsar was near. Cato let this pass as if he did not hear it, and indeed he was somewhat deaf; but when one came up to him and reported that the horsemen were going away, Cato, fearing that the three hundred might do something desperate to the senatorial men, got up with his friends and set out walking; but observing that they had already advanced some distance, he seized a horse and rode to them. The horsemen were glad to see him approach, and received him and urged him to save himself with them. Then it is said that Cato even shed tears, beseeching on behalf of the senatorial men and holding forth his hands, and turning back the horses of some and laying hold of their arms, until he prevailed on them to abide there for that day at least, and secure the senatorial men in their flight.

Life Of Cato: LXIV

When Cato arrived with the horsemen, and had posted some at the gates, and had delivered the citadel to others to watch, the three hundred, who were afraid that they should be punished for their change, sent to Cato and prayed him by all means to come to them. But the senatorial men crowding round him would not let him go, and they declared that they would not give up their guardian and saviour to faithless men and traitors. For a most lively perception, as it appears, and affection and admiration of Cato’s virtue had been implanted in all alike who were in Utica, inasmuch as nothing spurious or deceitful was mingled with what he did. And as the man had long resolved to kill himself, he laboured with prodigious toil, and had care and pain on behalf of others, in order that after placing all in safety he might be released from life. For his resolution to die was no secret, though he said nothing. Accordingly he complied with the wish of the three hundred after comforting the senatorial men, and he went alone to the three hundred, who thanked him, and prayed him to employ them and trust them in everything else, and if they are not Catos, and not capable of the lofty mind of Cato, he should have pity on their weakness; and as they had determined to supplicate Cæsar and to send to him, on Cato’s behalf chiefly and for him first of all they would prefer their prayer; and if they could not prevail on Cæsar, neither would they receive the grace if it were offered to themselves, but so long as they breathed would fight for him. In reply to this Cato commended their good intentions, but said that they ought for their own safety’s sake to send quickly, and not to offer any petition on his behalf, for entreaty belonged to the vanquished, and deprecation of vengeance to those who were wrongdoers; that he had not only been unvanquished all through life, but that he was victorious as far as he chose to be, and had the superiority over Cæsar in things honourable and just, and that Cæsar was the party who was captured and conquered; for what he used to deny that he was doing against his country long ago, he was now convicted of and detected therein.

Life Of Cato: LXV

Having thus spoken to the three hundred he went away, and hearing that Cæsar at the head of all his army was already on his march, “Ha!” said he, “he considers that he has to deal with men;” and turning to the senators he urged them not to delay, but to make their escape while the horsemen were still staying there. He also closed the gates, except one that led to the sea, where he assigned vessels to those under his command and preserved order by stopping wrong-doing and settling disturbances, and supplying with stores those who were ill provided. And when Marcus Octavius with two legions had encamped near, and had sent a message to Cato, in which he called on Cato to come to some terms with him about the command, Cato gave him no answer, but he said to his friends, “Do we wonder why our affairs are ruined, when we see that love of power abides among us even when we are in the midst of ruin?” In the mean time hearing that the horsemen, as they were leaving the city, were pillaging and plundering the people of Utica, as if their property was booty, Cato hurried to them as fast as he could run, and took the plunder from the first that he met with, and the rest made haste to throw it away or set it down on the ground, and all of them for very shame retired in silence and with downcast looks. Cato having called together the people of Utica in the city, entreated them not to irritate Cæsar against the three hundred, but to unite altogether to secure their safety. Then again betaking himself to the sea he inspected the persons who were embarking, and all his friends and acquaintance whom he could persuade to go away, he embraced and accompanied to the shore. But he did not recommend his son to take shipping, nor did he think it his duty to turn him from his purpose of sticking to his father. There was one Statyllius, in years a young man, but one who aimed at being resolute in character and an imitator of the indifference of Cato. This man Cato entreated to embark, for he was notoriously a hater of Cæsar; and-when he would not go, Cato looking on Apollonides the Stoic and Demetrius the Peripatetic said—”It is your business to soften this stubborn man and to fashion him to his own interests.” But Cato himself was busied all the night and the greatest part of the following day in assisting the rest in making their escape and helping those who wanted his aid.

Life Of Cato: LXVI

When Lucius Caæsar, who was a kinsman of Cæsar, and about to go to him as ambassador on behalf of the three hundred, urged Cato to help him in devising some plausible speech which he should employ on behalf of the three hundred, “for on thy behalf,” he continued, “it is becoming for me to touch the hands and to fall down at the knees of Cæsar,” Cato would not allow him to do this, and said, “For my part, if I wished to save my life by Cæsar’s favour, I ought to go to him myself. But I do not choose to thank a tyrant for his illegal acts; and he acts illegally in sparing as master those whom he has no right to lord it over. However, if you please, let us consider how you shall get pardon for the three hundred.” After talking with Lucius on this matter he presented his son and his friends to him as he was departing, and after accompanying him some distance and taking leave of him he returned home, and then calling together his son and his friends he spoke on many subjects, among which he forbade his son to meddle in political matters, for, he said, circumstances no longer allowed him to act as befitted a Cato, and to act otherwise was base. At evening he went to the bath. While he was bathing, he remembered Statyllius, and calling out aloud he said, “Apollonides, have you sent Statyllius away, and brought him down from his stubborn temper, and has the man gone without even taking leave of us?” “By no means,” replied Apollonides, “though we said much to him, but he is lofty and immovable and says he will stay and do whatever you do.” On this they say that Cato smiled and replied, “Well, this will soon be shown.”

Life Of Cato: LXVII

After taking the bath he supped in much company, still sitting as his fashion had been since the battle, for he never reclined except when he was sleeping; and there were at supper with him all his friends and the magistrates of Utica. After supper the drinking went on with much gaiety and enjoyment, one philosophical subject after another taking its turn, till at last the enquiry came round to the so-called paradoxes of the Stoics, that the good man alone is free, and that all the bad are slaves. Hereupon the Peripatetic making objections, as one might expect, Cato broke in with great vehemence, and with a loud tone and harsh voice maintained his discourse at great length, and displayed wonderful energy, so that no one failed to observe that he had resolved to end his life and relieve himself from present troubles. Wherefore as there was silence and depression of spirits among all the company, after he had done speaking, with the view of cheering them up and diverting their suspicions, Cato again begun to put questions and to express anxiety about the state of affairs, and his fears for those who had sailed away, and also for those who were going through a waterless and barbarian desert.

Life Of Cato: LXVIII

At the end of the entertainment he took his usual walk with his friends after supper, and after giving the officers of the watch the proper orders, he retired to his chamber, but he first embraced his son and his friends with more than his usual expression of kindness, which again made them suspect what was going to happen. On entering his chamber and lying down he took Plato’s dialogue on the Soul, and when he had gone through the greater part of it, he looked up over his head, and not seeing his sword hanging there, for his son had caused it to be taken away while he was at supper, he called a slave and asked who had taken his sword. The slave made no answer and Cato was again at the book, but after a short interval, as if he were in no haste or hurry, and was merely looking for his sword, he bade the slave bring it. As there was some delay and nobody brought it, after having read the dialogue through he again called his slaves one by one, and raising his voice demanded his sword; and striking the mouth of one of them with his fist he bruised his hand, being in a great passion and calling out aloud that he was surrendered defenceless to the enemy by his son and his slaves, till at last his son ran in weeping with his friends, and embracing him fell to lamentations and entreaties. But Cato rising up looked sternly and said, “When and where have I been proved, and without knowing it, to have lost my reason, that no one instructs me or teaches me in the matters wherein I am judged to have determined ill, but I am hindered from using my own reasonings and am deprived of my weapons? Why don’t you put your father in chains also, generous son, and his hands behind his back, till C&aeaelig;sar shall come and find me unable even to defend myself? For I need not a sword to kill myself, when it is in my power to die by holding my breath for a short time and giving my head a single blow against the wall.”

Life Of Cato: LXIX

As he said this the youth went out weeping, and all the rest, except Demetrius and Apollonides, to whom when they were left by themselves Cato begun to speak in milder terms, and said, “I suppose you too have resolved by force to keep alive a man of my age and to sit here in silence and to watch him, or are you come to prove that it is neither a shocking nor a shameful thing for Cato, when he has no other way to save his life, to wait for mercy from his enemy? Why then do you not speak and convince me of this and teach me a new doctrine, that we may cast away those former opinions and reasons in which we lived together, and being made wiser through Cæsar owe him the greater thanks for it? And yet for my part I have come to no resolve about myself, but it is necessary that when I have resolved I have power to do what I have determined. And I will deliberate in a manner together with you, deliberating with the reasons which even you in your philosophy follow. Go away then in good heart and tell my son not to force his father when he cannot persuade him.”

Life Of Cato: LXX

Upon this Demetrius and Apollonides without making any reply retired weeping. The sword was sent in by a child, and when Cato received it he drew it and looked at it. Seeing that the point was entire and the edge preserved, he said, “Now I am my own master,” and laying the sword down, he began reading the book again, and he is said to have read it through twice. He then fell into so sound a sleep that those who were outside the chamber were aware of it, and about midnight he called his freedmen Cleanthes the physician and Butas whom he employed chief of all in public matters. He sent Butas to the sea to examine if all had set sail and to report to him, and he presented his hand to the physician to tie it up, as it was inflamed from the blow which he gave the slave. And this made them all more cheerful, for they thought that Cato was inclined to live. In a little time Butas came and reported that all had set sail except Crassus, who was detained by some business, and that even he was now all but on board, and that a violent storm and wind prevailed at sea. Cato hearing this groaned for pity of those who were at sea and he sent Butas again to the sea, to learn if any one were driven back and waited any necessaries, and to let him know. And now the birds were beginning to sing, and he sank asleep again for a while. When Butas had returned and reported that all was quiet about the ports, Cato, bidding him close the door, threw himself on the bed as if he were going to sleep for the rest of the night. When Butas had gone out, he drew the sword and thrust it beneath his chest, but as he used his hand with less effect owing to the inflammation, he did not immediately despatch himself, and having some difficulty in dying he fell from the bed and made a noise by overturning a little abacus of the geometrical kind that stood by, which his attendants perceiving called out and his son and his friends immediately ran in. Seeing him smeared with blood and the greater part of his bowels protruding, though he was still alive and his eyes were open, they were all dreadfully alarmed, and the physician going up to him attempted to replace his bowels, which remained uninjured, and to sew up the wound. But when Cato recovered and saw this, he pushed the physician away, and tearing the bowels with his hands and at the same time rending the wound he died.

Life Of Cato: LXXI

. In a space of time which one would not have thought enough for all in the house to have heard of the event, there were present at the door the three hundred, and soon after the people of Utica were assembled, with one voice calling Cato benefactor and saviour and the only free man, the only unvanquished. And this they did though it was told that Cæsar was advancing; but neither fear nor subserviency towards the conqueror nor their mutual differences and quarrels dulled them towards doing honour to Cato. They decorated the body in splendid style, and made a pompous procession and interred him near the sea, where a statue of him now stands with a sword in his hand, and then they began to think how they should save themselves and their city.

Life Of Cato: LXXII

Cæsar hearing from those who came to him that Cato was staying in Utica and not flying away, and that he was sending off the rest, while himself and his companions and his son were fearlessly going about, thought it difficult to ascertain the intentions of the man, but as he made most account of him he advanced with his force by quick marches. When he heard of his death, it is reported that he said this, “Cato, I grudge thee thy death, for thou hast grudged me thy safety.” For in fact if Cato had submitted to receive his life from Cæsar, he would not have been considered to have lowered his own fame so much as to have added to the splendour of Cæsar’s. What would have been done is uncertain, but with respect to Cæsar the milder measures are more probable.

Life Of Cato: LXXIII

When Cato died he was fifty years of age save two. His son received no harm from Cæsar, but he is said to have been fond of pleasure and not free from blame with regard to women. In Cappadocia he had as his host Marphadates, one of the royal family, who possessed a handsome wife, and as Cato stayed longer with them than was decent, he was satirized in such terms as these:

“To-morrow Cato goes away, to-morrow thirty days.”

And:

“Porcius and Marphadates, friends are two, but Psyche one.”

For the wife of Marphadates was named Psyche (Soul). And again:

“Of noble blood and splendid fame, Cato has a royal Soul.”

But he blotted out and destroyed all such ill report by his death; for while fighting at Philippi against Cæsar and Antonius in defence of liberty, and the line was giving way, not deigning either to fly or to secrete himself, but challenging the enemy and showing himself in front of them and cheering on those who kept the ground with him he fell after exhibiting to his adversaries prodigies of valour. And still more, the daughter of Cato being inferior neither in virtue nor courage (for she was the wife of Brutus who killed Cæsar) was both privy to the conspiracy and parted with life in a manner worthy of her noble birth and merit, as is told in the Life of Brutus. Statyllius, who said that he would follow Cato’s example, was prevented indeed at the time by the philosophers, though he wished to kill himself, but afterwards he showed himself most faithful to Brutus and most serviceable at Philippi, and there he died.

Life Of Agis.

Life Of Agis: I

Many writers have very naturally conceived that the myth of Ixion, who is fabled to have embraced a cloud instead of Hera, and so to have begotten the centaurs, is really typical of ambitious men; for, although they aim at obtaining glory, and set before themselves a lofty ideal of virtue, yet they never succeed in producing any very distinct result, because all their actions are coloured by various human passions and prejudices, just as the herdsmen with their flocks say in Sophokles’s play:—

“We needs must serve them, though their lords we be,
And to their mute commands obedience pay.”

These verses really represent the state of those who, in order to obtain the empty title of statesmen and popular leaders, govern a country by following the caprices and impulses of the people. Just as the men stationed in the bows of a ship see what is coming before the steersmen, but yet look up to them as their chiefs and execute their orders; so they who govern with a view solely to their own popularity, although they may be called rulers, are, in truth, nothing more than slaves of the people.

Life Of Agis: II

An absolutely perfect man would not even wish for popularity, except so far as it enabled him to take part in politics, and caused him to be trusted by the people; yet a young and ambitious man must be excused if he feels pride in the glory and reputation which he gains by brilliant exploits. For, as Theophrastus says, the virtue which buds and sprouts in youthful minds is confirmed by praise, and the high spirit thus formed leads it to attempt greater things. On the other hand, an excessive love of praise is dangerous in all cases, but, in statesmen, utterly ruinous; for when it takes hold of men in the possession of great power it drives them to commit acts of sheer madness, because they forget that honourable conduct must increase their popularity, and think that any measure that increases their popularity must necessarily be a good one. We ought to tell the people that they cannot have the same man to lead them and to follow them, just as Phokion is said to have replied to Antipater, when he demanded some disgraceful service from him, “I cannot be Antipater’s friend and his toady at the same time.” One might also quote the fable of the serpent’s tail which murmured against the head and desired sometimes to take the lead, and not always follow the head, but which when allowed to lead the way took the wrong path and caused the head to be miserably crushed, because it allowed itself to be guided by that which could neither see nor hear. This has been the fate of many of those politicians who court the favour of the people; for, after they have once shared their blind impulses, they lose the power of checking their folly, and of restoring good discipline and order. These reflections upon the favour of the people occurred to me when I thought of its power, as shown in the case of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, men who were well born, well educated, and began their political career with great promise, and yet were ruined, not so much by an excessive craving for popular applause as by a very pardonable fear of disgrace. They both received at the outset great proofs of their countrymen’s goodwill, but felt ashamed to remain as it were in their debt, and they ever strove to wipe out their obligations to the people by legislation on their behalf, and by their beneficent measures continually increased their popularity, until, in the heat of the rivalry thus created, they found themselves pledged to a line of policy in which they could not even pause with honour, and which they could not desist from without disgrace. The reader, however, will be able to form his own opinion about them from their history, and I shall now write, as a parallel to them, the lives of that pair of Laconian reformers, Agis and Kleomenes, kings of Sparta, who, like the Gracchi, increased the power of the people, and endeavoured to restore an admirable and just constitution which had fallen into desuetude; but who, like them, incurred the hatred of the governing class, who were unwilling to relinquish their encroachments and privileges. These Lacedæmonians were not indeed brothers, yet they pursued a kindred policy, with the same objects in view.

Life Of Agis: III

After the desire for silver and gold had penetrated into Sparta, the acquisition of wealth produced greed and meanness, while the use and enjoyment of riches was followed by luxury, effeminacy, and extravagance. Thus it fell out that Sparta lost her high and honoured position in Greece, and remained in obscurity and disgrace until the reign of Agis and Leonidas. Agis was of the Eurypontid line, the son of Eudamidas, and the sixth in descent from king Agesilaus, who invaded Asia, and became the most powerful man in Greece. This Agesilaus had a son named Archidamus, who fell in battle against the Messapians at the battle of Mandurium1 in Italy. He was succeeded by his eldest son Agis, who, being killed by Antipater near Megalopolis, and leaving no issue, was succeeded by his brother, Eudamidas; he, by a son named Archidamus; and Archidamus by another Eudamidas, the father of Agis, the subject of this memoir.

Leonidas, the son of Kleonymus, was of the other royal family, that of the Agiadæ, and was eighth in descent from Pausanias who conquered Mardonius at the battle of Plataea. Pausanias had a son named Pleistoanax, whose son was again named Pausanias. This Pausanias fled for his life from Sparta to Tegea, and was succeeded by his eldest son Agesipolis; and he, dying childless, by his younger brother Kleombrotus. Kleombrotus left two sons, Agesipolis and Kleomenes, of whom Agesipolis reigned but a short time, and left no children. Kleomenes succeeded his brother Agesipolis on the throne. Of his two sons, the elder, Akrotatus, died during his father’s lifetime, and the younger, Kleonymus, never reigned, as the throne was occupied by Areus the grandson of Kleomenes, and the son of Akrotatus. Areus perished in battle before Corinth, and was succeeded by his son Akrotatus. This Akrotatus was defeated and slain near the city of Megalopolis by the despot Aristodemus, leaving his wife pregnant. When she bore a son, Leonidas the son of Kleonymus was appointed his guardian, and, as the child died before reaching manhood, he succeeded to the throne although he was far from being an acceptable personage to his countrymen; for, though the Spartans at this period had all abandoned their original severe simplicity of living, yet they found the manners of Leonidas in offensive contrast to their own. Indeed, Leonidas, who had spent much of his life at the courts of Asiatic potentates, and had been especially attached to that of Seleukus, seemed inclined to outrage the political feeling of the Greeks by introducing the arrogant tone of an Oriental despot into the constitutional monarchy of Sparta.

Life Of Agis: IV

On the other hand, the goodness of heart and intellectual power of Agis proved so greatly superior not only to that of Leonidas, but of every king since Agesilaus the Great, that before he arrived at his twentieth year, in spite of his having been brought up in the greatest luxury by his mother Agesistrata and his grandmother Archidamia, the two richest women in Sparta, he abjured all frivolous indulgence, laid aside all personal ornament, avoided extravagance of every kind, prided himself on practising the old Laconian habits of dress, food, and bathing, and was wont to say that he would not care to be king unless he could use his position to restore the ancient customs and discipline of his country.

Life Of Agis: V

The corruption of the Lacedæmonians began at the time when, after having overthrown the Athenian empire, they were able to satiate themselves with the possession of gold and silver. Nevertheless, as the number of houses instituted by Lykurgus was still maintained, and each father still transmitted his estate to his son, the original equal division of property continued to exist and preserved the state from disorder. But a certain powerful and self-willed man, named Epitadeus, who was one of the Ephors, having quarrelled with his son, proposed a rhetra permitting a man to give his house and land to whomsoever he pleased, either during his life, or by his will after his death. This man proposed the law in order to gratify his own private grudge; but the other Spartans through covetousness eagerly confirmed it, and ruined the admirable constitution of Lykurgus. They now began to acquire land without limit, as the powerful men kept their relatives out of their rightful inheritance; and as the wealth of the country soon got into the hands of a few, the city became impoverished, and the rich began to be viewed with dislike and hatred. There were left at that time no more than seven hundred Spartans, and of these about one hundred possessed an inheritance in land, while the rest, without money, and excluded from all the privileges of citizenship, fought in a languid and spiritless fashion in the wars, and were ever on the watch for some opportunity to subvert the existing condition of affairs at home.

Life Of Agis: VI

Agis, therefore, thinking that it would be an honourable enterprise, as indeed it was, to restore these citizens to the state and to re-establish equality for all, began to sound the people themselves as to their opinion about such a measure. The younger men quickly rallied round him, and, with an enthusiasm which he had hardly counted upon, began to make ready for the contest; but most of the elder men, who had become more thoroughly tainted by the prevailing corruption, feared to be brought back to the discipline of Lykurgus as much as a runaway slave fears to be brought back to his master, and they bitterly reviled Agis when he lamented over the condition of affairs and sighed for the ancient glories of Sparta. His enthusiastic aspirations, however, were sympathised with by Lysander the son of Libys, Mandrokleidas the son of Ekphanes, and Agesilaus. Lysander was the most influential of all the Spartans, while Mandrokleidas was thought to be the ablest politician in Greece, as he could both plot with subtlety and execute with boldness. Agesilaus was the uncle of King Agis and a fluent speaker, but of a weak and covetous disposition. It was commonly supposed that he was stirred to action by the influence of his son Hippomedon, who had gained great glory in the wars and was exceedingly popular among the younger citizens; but what really determined him to join the reformers was the amount of his debts, which he hoped would be wiped out by a revolution. As soon as Agis had won over this important adherent, he began to try to bring over his mother to his views, who was Agesilaus’s sister, and who, from the number of her friends, debtors, and dependants, was very powerful in the state, and took a large share in the management of public affairs.

Life Of Agis: VII

When she first heard of Agis’s designs she was much startled, and dissuaded the youth from an enterprise which she thought neither practicable nor desirable. However, when Agesilaus pointed out to her what a notable design it was, and how greatly to the advantage of all, while the young king himself besought his mother to part with her wealth in order to gain him glory, arguing that he could not vie with other kings in riches, as the servants of Persian satraps, and the very slaves of the intendants of Ptolemy and Seleukus possessed more money than all the kings that ever reigned in Sparta; but that, if he could prove himself superior to those vanities by his temperance, simplicity of life, and true greatness of mind, and could succeed in restoring equality among his fellow-countrymen, he would be honoured and renowned as a truly great king. By this means the youth entirely changed his mother’s mind, and so fired her with his own ambition, as if by an inspiration from heaven, that she began to encourage Agis and urge him on, and invited her friends to join them, while she also communicated their design to the other women, because she knew that the Lacedæmonians were in all things ruled by their women, and that they had more power in the state than the men possessed in their private households. Most of the wealth of Lacedæmon had fallen into female hands at this time, and this fact proved a great hindrance to the accomplishment of Agis’s schemes of reform; for the women offered a vehement opposition to him, not merely through a vulgar love for their idolised luxury, but also because they saw that they would lose all the influence and power which they derived from their wealth. They betook themselves to Leonidas, and besought him, as being the elder man, to restrain Agis, and check the development of his designs. Leonidas was willing enough to assist the richer class, but he feared the people, who were eager for reform, and would not openly oppose Agis, although he endeavoured secretly to ruin his scheme, and to prejudice the Ephors against him, by imputing to him the design of hiring the poor to make him despot with the plunder of the rich, and insinuating that by his redistribution of lands and remission of debts he meant to obtain more adherents for himself instead of more citizens for Sparta.

Life Of Agis: VIII

In spite of all this, Agis contrived to get Lysander appointed one of the Ephors, and immediately brought him to propose a rhetra before the Gerusia, or Senate, the main points of which were that all debts should be cancelled; that the land4 should be divided, that between the valley of Pellene and Mount Taygetus, Malea, and Sellasia into four thousand five hundred lots, and the outlying districts into fifteen thousand: that the latter district should be distributed among the Periœki of military age, and the former among the pure Spartans: that the number of these should be made up by an extension of the franchise to Periœki or even foreigners of free birth, liberal education, and fitting personal qualifications: and that these citizens should be divided into fifteen companies some of four hundred, and some of two hundred, for the public meals, and should conform in every respect to the discipline of their forefathers.

Life Of Agis: IX

When, this rhetra was proposed, as the Senate could not agree whether it should become law, Lysander convoked a popular assembly and himself addressed the people. Mandrokleidas and Agesilaus also besought them not to allow a few selfish voluptuaries to destroy the glorious name of Sparta, but to remember the ancient oracles, warning them against the sin of covetousness, which would prove the ruin of Sparta, and also of the responses which they had recently received from the oracle of Pasiphae. The temple and oracle of Pasiphae at Thalamae was of peculiar sanctity. Pasiphae is said by some writers to have been one of the daughters of Atlas, and to have become the mother of Ammon by Zeus, while others say that Kassandra the daughter of Priam died there, and was called Pasiphae because her prophecies were plain to all men. Phylarchus again tells us that Daphne the daughter of Amyklas, while endeavouring to escape from the violence of Apollo, was transformed into the laurel,5 which bears her name, and was honoured by the god and endowed by him with the gift of prophecy. Be this as it may, the oracular responses which were brought from this shrine bade the Spartans all become equal according as Lykurgus had originally ordained. After these speeches had been delivered, King Agis himself came forward, and, after a few introductory words, said that he was giving the strongest possible pledges of his loyalty to the new constitution; for he declared his intention of surrendering to the state, before any one else, his own property, consisting of a vast extent of land, both arable and pasture, besides six thousand talents of money; and he assured the people that his mother and her friends, the richest people in Sparta, would do the same.

Life Of Agis: X

The people were astounded at the magnanimity of the youth, and were filled with joy, thinking that at last, after an interval of three hundred years, there had appeared a king worthy of Sparta. Leonidas, on the other hand, opposed him as vigorously as he could, reflecting that he would be forced to follow his example, and divest himself of all his property, and that Agis, not he, would get the credit of the act. He therefore inquired of Agis whether he thought Lykurgus to have been a just and well-meaning man. Receiving an affirmative reply, he again demanded, “Where, then, do we find that Lykurgus approved of the cancelling of debts, or of the admission of foreigners to the franchise, seeing that he did not think that the state could prosper without a periodical expulsion of foreigners?” To this Agis answered, that it was not to be wondered at if Leonidas, who had lived in a foreign country, and had a family by the daughter of a Persian satrap, should be ignorant that Lykurgus, together with coined money, had banished borrowing and lending from Sparta, and that he had no hatred for foreigners, but only for those whose profession and mode of life made them unfit to associate with his countrymen. These men Lykurgus expelled, not from any hatred of their persons, but because he feared that their manners and habits would infect the citizens with a love of luxury, effeminacy, and avarice. Terpander, Thales, and Pherekydes were all foreigners, but, since they sang and taught what Lykurgus approved, they lived in Sparta, and were treated with especial honour. “Do you,” asked he, “praise Ekprepus, who when Ephor cut off with a hatchet the two additional strings which Phrynis the musician had added to the original seven strings of the lyre, and those who cut the same strings off the harp of Timotheus, and yet do you blame us when we are endeavouring to get rid of luxury, extravagance, and frivolity, just as if those great men did not merely mean thereby to guard against vain refinements of music, which would lead to the introduction of extravagant and licentious manners, and cause the city to be at discord and variance with itself?”

Life Of Agis: XI

After this the people espoused the cause of Agis, while the rich begged Leonidas not to desert them, and by their entreaties prevailed upon the senators, who had the power of originating all laws, to throw out the rhetra by a majority of only one vote. Lysander, who was still one of the Ephors, now proceeded to attack Leonidas, by means of a certain ancient law, which forbade any descendant of Herakles to beget children by a foreign wife, and which bade the Spartans put to death any citizen who left his country to dwell in a foreign land. He instructed his adherents to revive the memory of this law, and threaten Leonidas with its penalties, while he himself with the other Ephors watched for the sign from heaven. This ceremony is conducted as follows:—Every ninth year the Ephors choose a clear moonless night, and sit in silence watching the heavens. If a star shoots across the sky, they conclude that the kings must have committed some act of impiety, and they suspend them from their office, until they were absolved by a favourable oracle from Delphi or Olympia. Lysander now declared that he had beheld this sign, and impeached Leonidas, bringing forward witnesses to prove that he had two children born to him by an Asiatic wife, the daughter of one of the lieutenants of Seleukus, and that having quarrelled with his wife and become hated by her he had unexpectedly returned home, and in default of a direct heir, had succeeded to the throne. At the same time Lysander urged Kleombrotus, the son-in-law of Leonidas, who was also of the royal family, to claim the throne for himself. Leonidas, terrified at this, took sanctuary in the temple of Athena of the Brazen House, and was joined there by his daughter, who left her husband Kleombrotus. When the trial came on, Leonidas did not appear in court, he was removed from the throne, and Kleombrotus was appointed in his stead.

Life Of Agis: XII

At this crisis Lysander was forced to lay down his office, as the year for which he had been elected had expired. The Ephors at once took Leonidas under their protection, restored him to the throne, and impeached Lysander, and Mandrokleidas as the authors of illegal measures in the cancelling of debts and the redistribution of the land. As these men were now in danger of their lives, they prevailed upon the two kings to act together and overrule the decision of the Ephors; for this, they declared, was the ancient rule of the constitution, that if the kings were at variance, the Ephors were entitled to support the one whom they judged to be in the right against the other, but their function was merely to act as arbitrators and judges between the kings when they disagreed, and not to interfere with them when they were of one mind. Both the kings agreed to act upon this advice, and came with their friends into the assembly, turned the Ephors out of their chairs of office, and elected others in their room, one of whom was Agesilaus. They now armed many of the younger citizens, released the prisoners, and terrified their opponents by threatening a general massacre. No one, however, was killed by them; for although Agesilaus desired to kill Leonidas, and when he withdrew from Sparta to Tegea, sent men to waylay and murder him on the road, Agis, hearing of his intention, sent others on whom he could rely, who escorted Leonidas safely as far as Tegea.

Life Of Agis: XIII

Thus far all had gone well, and no one remained to hinder the accomplishment of the reforms; but now Agesilaus alone upset and ruined the whole of this noble and truly Spartan scheme by his detestable vice of covetousness. He possessed a large quantity of the best land in the country, and also owed a great sum of money, and as he desired neither to pay his debts nor to part with his land, he persuaded Agis that it would be too revolutionary a proceeding to carry both measures at once, and that, if the moneyed class were first propitiated by the cancelling of debts, they would afterwards be inclined to submit quietly to the redistribution of lands. Lysander and the rest were deceived by Agesilaus into consenting to this, and they brought all the written securities for money which had been given by debtors, which are called by them klaria, into the market-place, collected them into one heap, and burned them. As the flames rose up, the rich and those who had lent money went away in great distress, but Agesilaus, as if exulting at their misfortune, declared that he had never seen a brighter blaze or a purer fire. As the people at once demanded the division of the land, and called upon the kings to distribute it among them, Agesilaus put them off with various excuses, and managed to spin out the time till Agis was sent out of the country on military service, as the Achæans, who were allies, had demanded a reinforcement from Sparta, because the Ætolians threatened to invade Peloponnesus through the territory of Megara, and Aratus, the general of the Achæans, who was collecting an army to resist them, sent to Sparta demanding assistance.

Life Of Agis: XIV

The Spartans at once despatched Agis at the head of an army, whose high spirits and devotion to his person filled him with delight. The men were nearly all young and poor; and as they were now relieved from the pressure of their debts, and expected that on their return the land would be distributed amongst them, they behaved with the most admirable discipline. They marched through Peloponnesus without doing the least damage, without offending any one, almost without noise; so that all the cities were astonished at the spectacle thus afforded them, and men began to wonder what a Lacedæmonian army must have been like when led by Agesilaus or Lysander the Great, or by the ancient hero Leonidas, if such awe and reverence was paid by the soldiers to one who was nearly the youngest of them all. Their youthful leader himself was worthy of admiration, and was looked up to by the men because of his simple hard-working habits, and the pride which he took in wearing the same dress and using the same arms as the common soldiers. The revolution which he had effected, however, was very distasteful to the rich, who feared lest it might be taken as an example by the people in other states and lead to further disturbances.

Life Of Agis: XV

Agis joined Aratus at Corinth, while the question of how to repel the invasion was still being debated. His advice was spirited, without being rash or foolhardy. He gave it as his opinion that it was their duty to fight, and not abandon the gate of Peloponnesus and let the enemy into the country, but that he would defer to the decision of Aratus, who was an older man than himself, and was the general of the Achæans, and that he had not come to give them advice or to take the command of them, but to reinforce them and serve as their ally. The historian Baton of Sinope declares that Agis declined to fight although Aratus wished him to do so; but he is mistaken, and clearly has not read the justification which Aratus has written of his conduct, namely, that as the farmers had nearly all finished gathering in their harvest, he thought it better to allow the enemy to enter the country than to hazard everything upon the issue of a single battle. As Aratus decided not to fight, and dismissed his allies with thanks, Agis returned home, greatly honoured by those under his orders, and found the internal affairs of Sparta in great turmoil and confusion.

Life Of Agis: XVI

Agesilaus, who was now Ephor, and who was no longer restrained by the presence of those of whom he had formerly stood in awe, was using the most disgraceful expedients to extort money from the people, and had even intercalated a thirteenth month in the year, although the state of the calendar did not require it, and caused taxes to be paid for it. As he feared those whom he had wronged, and was an object of universal hatred, he had taken a body-guard of swordsmen into his pay, and walked through the city accompanied by them. As for the kings, he regarded Kleombrotus with contempt, and though he still paid some respect to Agis, he wished it to be thought that he did so because he was nearly related to himself, not because he was king. He also gave out that he intended to remain in office as Ephor for the next year as well. In consequence of this his enemies determined to bring matters to a crisis. They assembled in force, brought back Leonidas publicly from Tegea, and reinstated him as king, to the great joy of most of the citizens, who were angry with the other party because they had been deceived by them about the redistribution of the land. Agesilaus was able to leave the country in safety, owing to the intercession of his son Hippomedon, who was very popular with all classes on account of his bravery. Of the two kings, Agis fled to the temple of Athena of the Brazen House, while Kleombrotus took sanctuary in the temple of Poseidon.6 It appeared that Leonidas hated Kleombrotus most of the two; for he passed by Agis, but marched in pursuit of Kleombrotus with an armed force, and angrily reproached him that being his own son-in-law he had conspired against him, dethroned him, and driven him into exile.

Life Of Agis: XVII

Kleombrotus could find nothing to say in his defence, and sat silent and helpless; but Chilonis, the daughter of Leonidas, who formerly had taken offence at her father’s injurious treatment, and when Kleombrotus usurped the throne had left him, and showed her sympathy with Leonidas in his misfortune by accompanying him in the temple where he took sanctuary, and after he left the country by mourning for him and remaining at variance with her husband Kleombrotus, now changed sides with his changing fortunes, and appeared sitting by her husband’s side as a suppliant to the god with him, with her arms cast round him, and her two children on each side of her. All stood amazed and were moved to tears by her noble and affectionate conduct, and she, pointing to her mean dress and dishevelled hair, said, “Father, I have not adopted this posture and this dress out of pity for Kleombrotus, but I have so long been in mourning for your misfortunes and your banishment that it has become customary with me. Am I now to remain in mourning while you are victorious and reign in Sparta, or am I to dress myself in fine clothes as becomes a princess, while I see my husband murdered by your hand? Unless he can move you to compassion, and obtain your pity by the tears of his wife and children, he will suffer a more terrible penalty for his misconduct than you wish to impose, by seeing me his dearest wife die before him; for how can I endure to live among other women, if I prove unable to move either my husband or my father to compassion? Both as a wife and as a daughter I have been fated to suffer with my own kin and to be despised with them. If there is anything which can be urged on behalf of my husband’s conduct, I have made it impossible to plead it for him by the part which I have taken in protesting against his conduct to you; but you yourself suggest a sufficient apology for his crime, by showing that you think royalty so great and precious a thing, that to obtain it you are willing to murder your son-in-law and neglect your own child.”

Life Of Agis: XVIII

Chilonis, after speaking thus, nestled her face against that of her husband, and glanced round at the spectators with red and tearful eyes. Leonidas, after a short consultation with his friends, bade Kleombrotus rise and leave the country, but besought his daughter to remain with him, and not to leave him who loved her so dearly, and had just spared her husband’s life in consequence of her entreaties. He could not, however, prevail upon her to stay, but she rose up with her husband, took one child in her arms, and led the other, and so, after kneeling before the altar, followed her husband, who, if his mind was not entirely corrupted by vain ambition, must have thought exile with such a wife preferable to royalty. After driving Kleombrotus from the throne, ejecting the Ephors from office and substituting others chosen by himself, Leonidas addressed himself to Agis. At first he tried to persuade him to come out of sanctuary and reign as his colleague, saying that the citizens had forgiven him, because they knew that he was young and impetuous, and had been deceived by Agesilaus. However, as Agis saw through these devices and remained where he was, Leonidas left off making these hypocritical offers. Amphares, Damochares, and Arkesilaus were in the habit of going to the temple and conversing with him; and once he came out of the temple in their company to take a bath, and after bathing was conducted back again by them in safety. All three were on intimate terms with him, but Amphares, who had lately borrowed some rich clothing and valuable plate from Agesistrata, was inclined to plot against the king and the royal ladies, that he might not be obliged to restore them. He, therefore, we are told, lent a ready ear to Leonidas’s plans, and excited the zeal of the Ephors, one of whom he was.

Life Of Agis: XIX

Since Agis lived entirely in the temple, and only left it in order to bathe, they determined to seize him when he came out for this purpose. Having one day watched him bathing they came up and greeted him in a friendly way, and walked along with him talking and jesting as young men who are on intimate terms are wont to do. When they reached the place where a road branches off to the public prison, Amphares, in virtue of his Ephorship, laid hold of Agis and said: “Agis, I must lead you before the Ephors to give an account of your conduct.” At the same time Damochares, a tall and strong man, threw his cloak round Agis’s neck and dragged him along by it. Others now appeared by previous arrangement, and pushed him from behind, and as no one came to help him, he was forced into the prison. Hereupon, Leonidas appeared with a band of mercenaries, and surrounded the prison. The Ephors now went in to Agis, and sent for all the senators of their way of thinking to come to the prison in order to go through the form of a trial. Agis laughed at their hypocrisy, but Amphares told him that it was no laughing matter, and that he would soon pay a bitter penalty for his rashness. Another of the Ephors, wishing to offer a means of escape to Agis, inquired of him whether he had acted on his own responsibility, or had been compelled to do so by Agesilaus and Lysander. Agis answered that no man had compelled him, but that he admired and imitated Lykurgus, and had aimed at reviving his institutions. Upon this the same Ephor asked him whether he repented of what he had done. When the brave youth answered that he never would repent of his glorious designs, whatever tortures he might have to suffer for them, the assembly at once condemned him to death, and bade the prison officials at once remove him to the place called Dechas, which is a part of the prison in which criminals are strangled. Seeing that the servants would not lay hands upon Agis, and that even those mercenaries who were present shrunk from such work, because it was held to be unlawful and impious to lay hands upon the person of the king, Damochares, after threatening and abusing them, dragged Agis with his own hands to the place of execution. Many of the citizens had by this time heard of his arrest, and many men had assembled with torches in their hands and were clamouring at the gate of the prison. The mother and grandmother of Agis were also present, and loudly demanded that the king of Sparta should have a fair trial in the presence of his countrymen. For this reason they within hurried on the execution, as they feared that if a larger crowd collected Agis would be rescued during the night.

Life Of Agis: XX

While Agis was being led to execution, he saw one of the servants of the prison weeping and in great distress. “My man,” said he, “do not weep for me, for I am a better man than those who are murdering me in this cruel and illegal fashion.” With these words he, of his own accord, put the noose round his neck. Meanwhile Amphares proceeded to the prison gate. Here Agesistrata fell at his feet, believing him still to be her friend. Amphares raised her, saying that Agis would suffer no violent treatment, and bade her, if she wished, go in and see her son. As she asked to be accompanied by her mother, Amphares said that there was no objection to that, and after receiving them both within the walls, ordered the prison gates to be closed. He first sent Archidamia, who was now very old, and greatly respected by her countrywomen, to the place of execution, and when she was dead, bade Agesistrata enter. When she saw the corpse of her son lying on the ground, and her mother hanging by a halter, she herself assisted the servants to take her down, laid her body beside that of Agis, and arranged and covered up the two corpses. She then knelt and kissed the face of her son, saying, “My child, thy great piety, goodness, and clemency has brought thee and us to this death.” Upon this Amphares, who was watching and listening at the door, came into the room, and said angrily to Agesistrata, “If you approve of your son’s deeds, you shall suffer with him.” At these words Agesistrata rose and offered her neck to the halter, saying, “I only pray that this may be for the good of Sparta.”

Life Of Agis: XXI

When the sad news was known throughout the city, and the three corpses brought out of the prison, the terror which was inspired did not prevent the citizens from manifesting their sorrow at the deed, and their hatred of Leonidas and Amphares. No such wicked or cruel deed, they declared, had been committed in Sparta since the Dorians settled in Peloponnesus. The very enemies of the Lacedæmonians generally seemed unwilling to lay violent hands on their kings when they met them in battle, and turned aside through reverence of their exalted position. For this reason, in all the battles which the Lacedæmonians had fought against the Greeks before the era of Philip of Macedon, only one king, Kleombrotus, had fallen on the field of Leuktra; for though the Messenians aver that Theopompus, a king of Lacedæmon, was slain by Aristomenes, the Lacedæmonians deny it, and say that he was only wounded. This matter is doubtful, but Agis was the first king who was put to death by the Ephors in Lacedæmon, because he had conceived a noble design and one which was worthy of Sparta. He was of an age when men’s shortcomings deserve to be pardoned; and deserves to be blamed by his friends more than by his enemies, because with an ill-judged clemency he spared the life of Leonidas, and trusted in the professions of the rest of his political enemies.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: I

Having finished the first History, it remains to contemplate equal calamities in the pair of Roman Lives, in a comparison of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus with Agis and Kleomenes. Tiberius and Caius were the sons of Tiberius Gracchus, who was censor and twice consul, and celebrated two triumphs, but was still more distinguished for his personal character, to which he owed the honour of having for his wife Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio, the conqueror of Hannibal, whom he married after Scipio’s death, though Tiberius had not been a friend of Scipio, but rather a political opponent. A story is told that Tiberius once caught a couple of snakes in his bed, and the diviners, after consulting on the matter, told him that he must not kill both nor yet let both go; as to the male, they said, if it were killed, the death of Tiberius would follow, and if the female were killed, Cornelia would die. Now Tiberius, who loved his wife and thought it would be more suitable for him to die first, as he was an elderly man and his wife was still young, killed the male snake and let the female go; and he died no long time after, leaving twelve children by Cornelia, Cornelia undertook the care of her family and her husband’s property, and showed herself so prudent, so fond of her children, and of so exalted a character, that Tiberius was judged to have done well in dying in place of such a wife. And though Ptolemæus, the king of Egypt, invited Cornelia to share his crown, and wooed her for his wife, she refused the offer and continued a widow. All her children died before her, except one daughter, who married the younger Scipio, and two sons, of whom I am going to speak, Tiberius and Caius, who were brought up by their mother so carefully that they became, beyond dispute, the most accomplished of all the Roman youth, which they owed, perhaps, more to their excellent education than even to their natural good qualities.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: II

Now as the figures of the Dioscuri, whether sculptured or painted, though resembling one another, still present such an amount of difference as appears when we contrast a boxer with a runner, so in these two youths, with all their resemblance in courage, temperance, generous temper, eloquence, and magnanimity, yet great contrasts also in their actions and polity blossomed forth, so to speak, and displayed themselves, which I think it well to set forth. First in the character and expression of his countenance, and in his movements, Tiberius was mild and sedate; Caius was animated and impetuous. When Tiberius harangued the people, he would stand composedly on one spot; but Caius was the first Roman who moved about on the rostra and pulled his toga from his shoulder while he was speaking, as Kleon the Athenian is said to have been the first popular orator at Athens who threw his cloak from him and struck his thigh. The manner of Caius was awe-striking and vehemently impassioned; the manner of Tiberius was more pleasing and calculated to stir the sympathies: the language of Tiberius was pure and elaborated to great nicety; that of Caius was persuasive and exuberant. In like manner, in his mode of life and his table, Tiberius was frugal and simple; compared with others, Caius was moderate and austere, but, contrasted with his brother, luxurious and curious, as we see by Drusus charging him with buying silver dolphins at the price of twelve hundred and fifty drachmæ for every pound that they weighed. The differences in their character corresponded to their respective styles of speaking: Tiberius was moderate and mild; Caius was rough and impetuous, and it often happened that in his harangues he was carried away by passion, contrary to his judgment, and his voice became shrill, and he fell to abuse, and grew confused in his discourse. To remedy this fault, he employed Licinius, a well-educated slave, who used to stand behind him when he was speaking, with a musical instrument, such as is used as an accompaniment to singing, and whenever he observed that the voice of Caius was becoming harsh and broken through passion, he would produce a soft note, upon which Caius would immediately moderate his vehemence and his voice, and become calm.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: III

Such were the contrasts between the two brothers, but in courage against the enemy, in justice to the subject nations, in vigilance in the discharge of public duties, and in self-control over indulgence, they were both alike. Tiberius was the elder by nine years, a circumstance which caused their political career to be separated by an interval, and greatly contributed to the failure of their measures, for they did not rise to eminence at the same time nor unite their strength in one effort, which from their union, would have been powerful and irresistible. I must accordingly speak of each separately, and of the elder first.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: IV

Immediately on attaining man’s estate, Tiberius had so great a reputation that he was elected a member of the college of augurs, rather for his excellent qualities than his noble birth. Appius Claudius, a man of consular and censorian rank, who in consideration of his dignity was appointed Princeps Senatus, and in loftiness of character surpassed all his contemporaries, showed his opinion of Tiberius; for when the augurs were feasting together, Appius addressed Tiberius with many expressions of friendship, and solicited him to take his daughter to wife. Tiberius gladly accepted the proposal, and the agreement was forthwith made. As Appius was entering the door on his return home, he called out to his wife in a loud voice, “Antistia, I have given our daughter Claudia to wife.” Antistia in surprise replied, “What is the need or the hurry, unless you have got Tiberius Gracchus for her husband?” I am aware that some writers tell this story of Tiberius the father of the Gracchi and of Scipio Africanus; but the majority have the story as I give it, and Polybius says that after the death of Scipio Africanus, his kinsmen selected Tiberius to be the husband of Cornelia, and that she had neither been given in marriage nor betrothed by her father in his lifetime. Now the younger Tiberius served in the army in Africa with the second Scipio, who had married his sister, and by living in the general’s tent he soon learned his character, which exhibited many and great qualities for virtuous emulation and practical imitation. Tiberius, also, soon surpassed all the young soldiers in attention to discipline and in courage; and he was the first to mount the enemy’s wall, as Fannius says, who also asserts that he mounted the wall with Tiberius and shared the honour with him. While he was in the army Tiberius won the affection of all the soldiers, and was regretted when he went away.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: V

After that expedition he was elected quæstor, and it fell to his lot to serve in that capacity under the consul Caius Mancinus, no bad man, but the most unlucky of Roman generals. Accordingly in adverse fortune and critical affairs the prudence and courage of Tiberius became the more conspicuous, and not only his prudence and courage, but what was truly admirable, his consideration and respect for his general, whose reverses almost made him forget who he was. Having been defeated in several great battles, Mancinus attempted to leave his camp by night and make a retreat. The Numantines, however, perceived his movements, and immediately seizing the camp, fell on the Romans in their flight and killed those in the rear; and at last, when they were surrounding the whole army and driving them to unfavourable ground, from which escape was impossible, Mancinus, despairing of all chance of saving himself by resistance, sent to treat for a truce and terms of peace. But the Numantines declared that they would trust nobody except Tiberius, and they bade Mancinus send him. The Numantines had come to this resolution as well from a knowledge of the young man’s character, for there was much talk about him in this campaign, as from the remembrance of his father Tiberius, who, after carrying on war against the Iberians and subduing many of them, made peace with the Numantines, and always kept the Roman people to a fair and just observance of it. Accordingly Tiberius was sent, and had a conference with the Numantines, in which he got some favourable conditions, and, by making some concessions, obtained a truce, and thus saved twenty thousand Roman citizens, besides the slaves and camp-followers.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: VI

All the property that was taken in the camp became the booty of the Numantines; and among it were the tablets of Tiberius, which contained the entries and accounts of his administration as quæstor. Being very anxious to recover them, though the army had already advanced some distance, he returned to the city with three or four companions, and calling forth the magistrates of Numantia, he begged to have back his tablets, in order that his enemies might not have an opportunity of calumniating him if he should not be able to give an account of his administration of the public money. The Numantines were pleased at the opportunity of doing him a service, and invited him to enter the city; and when he stood hesitating, they came near and clung to his hands, and were urgent in entreating him not to consider them as enemies any longer, but as friends, and to trust them. Tiberius determined to do so, as he was very anxious to get the tablets, and feared to irritate the Numantines if he should seem to distrust them. When he had entered the city, the first thing they did was to prepare an entertainment, and to urge him most importunately to sit down and eat with them. They afterwards gave him back the tablets, and bade him take anything else he liked. Tiberius, however, would have nothing except the frankincense which he wanted for the public sacrifices, and after a friendly embrace he took his leave of them.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: VII

On his return to Rome, the whole transaction was greatly blamed as dishonourable and disgraceful to Rome. The kinsfolk and friends of the soldiers, who were a large part of the people, crowded about Tiberius, charging the general with the disgraceful part of what had happened, and declaring that Tiberius had been the saviour of so many citizens. Those who were the most vexed at the events in Iberia, recommended that they should follow the example of their ancestors; for in former times the Romans stripped of their clothes and delivered up to the Samnites those who had purchased their safety on dishonourable terms, both the generals and all who had any share or participation in the treaty, quæstors and tribunes all alike, and on their heads they turned the violation of the oaths and the infraction of the agreement. It was on this occasion particularly, that the people showed their affection and zeal towards Tiberius: for they decided to deliver up the consul, stripped and in chains, to the Numantines, but they spared all the rest on account of Tiberius. It appears that Scipio also, who was then the most powerful man in Rome, gave his assistance in this matter, but nevertheless he was blamed for not saving Mancinus, and not making any exertion to ratify the treaty with the Numantines, which had been concluded by his relation and friend Tiberius. But whatever difference there was between Scipio and Tiberius on this occasion, perhaps originated mainly in jealousy and was owing to the friends of Tiberius and the sophists, who endeavoured to prejudice him against Scipio. There was, however, no irreconcilable breach made between them, and no bad result from this affair; indeed, it seems to me that Tiberius would never have been involved in those political measures which cost him his life, if Scipio Africanus had been at Rome while they were going on. But it was while Scipio was carrying on the war at Numantia that Tiberius commenced his legislation, to which he was led from the following motives.

VIII. Whatever territory the Romans acquired from their neighbours in war, they sold part, and retaining the other part as public property, they gave it to the poorer citizens to cultivate, on the payment of a small sum to the treasury. But as the rich began to outbid the poor, and so to drive them out, a law was passed which forbade any one to have more than five hundred jugera of land. This law restrained the greediness of the rich for a short time, and was a relief to the poor, who remained on the land which they had hired, and cultivated the several portions which they originally had. But in course of time their rich neighbours contrived to transfer the holdings to themselves in the names of other persons, and at last openly got possession of the greater part of the public lands in their own names, and the poor, being expelled, were not willing to take military service and were careless about bringing up families, in consequence of which there was speedily a diminution in the number of freemen all through Italy, and the country was filled with ergastula of barbarian slaves, with whom the rich cultivated the lands from which they had expelled the citizens. Now Caius Lælius, the friend of Scipio, attempted to remedy this mischief, but he desisted through fear of the disturbances that were threatened by the opposition of the rich, whence he got the name of wise or prudent, for such is the signification of the Roman word “sapiens.” Tiberius, on being elected tribune, immediately undertook the same measures, as most say, at the instigation of the orator Diophanes and the philosopher Blossius. Diophanes was an exile from Mitylene: Blossius was an Italian from Cumæ, and had been an intimate at Rome with Antipater of Tarsus, who had done him the honour of dedicating to him some of his philosophical writings. Some give part of the blame to Cornelia also, the mother of Tiberius, who frequently reproached her sons that the Romans still called her the mother-in-law of Scipio, but not yet the mother of the Gracchi. Others say that jealousy of one Spurius Postumius, a contemporary of Tiberius, and a rival of his reputation as an orator, was the immediate motive: for it is said that when Tiberius returned to Rome from his military service, he found that Postumius had far out-stripped him in reputation and influence, and seeing the distinction that Postumius had attained, he determined to get the advantage over him by engaging in measures which were attended with hazard, but promised great results. But his brother Caius in a certain book has recorded, that as Tiberius was passing through Tyrrhenia (Tuscany), on his road to Numantia, he observed the deserted state of the country, and that the cultivators and shepherds were foreign slaves and barbarians; and that he then for the first time conceived those political measures which to them were the beginning of infinite calamities. But the energy and ambition of Tiberius were mainly excited by the people, who urged him by writing on the porticoes, the walls, and on the tombs, to recover the public land for the poor.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: IX

He did not, however, draw up the law without assistance, but took the advice of the citizens most eminent for character and reputation, among whom were Crassus the pontifex maximus, Mucius Scævola, the jurist, who was then consul, and Claudius Appius, his father-in-law. Never was a measure directed against such wrong and aggression conceived in more moderate and gentle terms; for though the rich well deserved to be punished for their violation of law and to be compelled to surrender under penalties the land which they had been illegally enjoying, the law merely declared that they should give up their unjust acquisitions upon being paid the value of them, and should allow the lands to be occupied by the citizens who were in want of this relief. Though the reform of this abuse was so moderate and reasonable, the people were satisfied to take no notice of the past and to secure themselves against wrong for the future. But the rich and those who had possessions detested the proposed law because of their greediness, and the proposer of it was the object of their indignation and jealousy; and accordingly they attempted to divert the people from the measure, by insinuating that Tiberius was proposing a division of land merely to disturb the state and to bring about a revolution. But they failed altogether; for Tiberius, supporting a measure in itself honourable and just, with an eloquence calculated to set off even a meaner subject, showed his power and his superiority over his opponents, whenever the people were crowded round the rostra and he addressed them about the poor. “The wild beasts of Italy,” he would say, “had their dens and holes and hiding-places, while the men who fought and died in defence of Italy enjoyed, indeed, the air and the light, but nothing else: houseless and without a spot of ground to rest upon, they wander about with their wives and children, while their commanders, with a lie in their mouth, exhort the soldiers in battle to defend their tombs and temples against the enemy, for out of so many Romans not one has a family altar or ancestral tomb, but they fight to maintain the luxury and wealth of others, and they die with the title of lords of the earth, without possessing a single clod to call their own.”

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: X

Such language as this, proceeding from a lofty spirit and genuine feeling, and delivered to the people, who were vehemently excited and roused, none of the enemies of Tiberius attempted to refute. Abandoning, therefore, all idea of opposing him by words, they addressed themselves to Marcus Octavius, one of the tribunes, a young man of sober and orderly disposition, and a companion and friend of Tiberius. At first Octavius, from regard to Tiberius, evaded the proposals, but being urged and importuned by many of the powerful nobles, and as it were, driven to it, he set himself in opposition to Tiberius, and prevented the passing of the law. Now all the power is virtually in the hands of the dissentient tribune, for the rest can do nothing if a single tribune oppose them. Irritated at this, Tiberius withdrew his moderate measure and introduced another, more agreeable to the people and more severe against the illegal possessors of land; this new measure ejected persons out of the lands which they had got possession of contrary to existing laws. There was a daily contest between him and Octavius at the rostra, but though they opposed one another with great earnestness and rivalry, it is said they never uttered a disparaging word against one another, and that no unbecoming expression ever escaped either of them against the other. It is not, then, in bacchanalian revelries only, as it seems, but also in ambitious rivalry and passion, that to be of noble nature and to have been well brought up, restrains and governs the mind. Tiberius, observing that Octavius himself was obnoxious to the law and possessed a considerable tract of the public land, begged him to desist from his opposition, offering to pay him the value of the land out of his own purse, though he was by no means in affluent circumstances. Upon Octavius rejecting the proposal, Tiberius by an edict forbade all the other magistrates to transact any public business until the people had voted upon his law; and he placed his private seals on the temple of Saturn, that the quæstors might not be able to take anything out of it or pay anything in, and he gave public notice that a penalty would be imposed on the prætors if they disobeyed; in consequence of which all the magistrates were afraid and ceased from discharging their several functions. Upon this the possessors changed their dress and went about the Forum in a piteous and humble guise, but in secret they plotted against Tiberius and endeavoured to procure assassins to take him off; in consequence of which, Tiberius, as everybody knew, wore under his dress a short sword, such as robbers use, which the Romans call dolo.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XI

When the day came and Tiberius was calling the people to the vote, the voting-urns were seized by the rich and the proceedings were put into great confusion. However, as the partisans of Tiberius, who had the superiority in numbers, were collecting in order to make resistance, Manlius and Fulvius, both consular men, falling down at the knees of Tiberius, and clinging to his hands with tears, begged him to desist. Tiberius, seeing that matters were near coming to extremities, and from regard to the men also, asked them what they would have him do; to which they replied, that they were not competent to advise on so important a matter, and they urged him to refer it to the senate, and at last he consented. The senate met, but did nothing, owing to the opposition of the rich, who had great influence in the body; upon which Tiberius had recourse to the unconstitutional and violent measure of depriving Octavius of his office, finding it impossible to put his proposed law to the vote in any other way. In the first place, he publicly entreated Octavius, addressing him affectionately and clinging to his hands, to yield to and gratify the people, who asked for nothing but their rights, and would only get a small matter in return for great dangers and sufferings. Octavius rejected this proposition; upon which Tiberius reminded him that both of them were magistrates and were contending with equal power on a weighty matter, and that it was not possible for this struggle to continue without coming to open hostility; that he saw no remedy except for one of them to give up his office; and he bade Octavius put it to the people to vote on his case first, and said that he would immediately descend to the station of a private man, if the citizens should desire it. As Octavius refused this proposal also, Tiberius said that he would put the question about Octavius retiring from the tribunate to the people, if Octavius did not change his resolution.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XII

Thus ended the assembly of that day. On the following day Tiberius mounted the rostra and again endeavoured to persuade Octavius; but as he would not yield, Tiberius proposed a law by which Octavius should be deprived of his tribunate, and he forthwith summoned the citizens to vote upon it. Now, there were five and thirty tribes, and when seventeen of them had already given their vote, and the addition of one more tribe would reduce Octavius to a private condition, Tiberius stopped the voting, and again entreated Octavius, embracing him in the presence of the people and urgently praying him not to be careless about being deprived of his office, and not to bring on him the blame of so severe and odious a measure. It is said that Octavius was not entirely untouched or unmoved by these entreaties, and his eyes were filled with tears and he was silent for some time. But when he looked to the rich and the possessors, who were standing together in one body, through fear of losing their good opinion, as it seems, he boldly determined to run every risk, and he told Tiberius to do what he pleased. Accordingly the law was passed, and Tiberius ordered one of his freedmen to drag Octavius from the rostra, for Tiberius employed his own freedmen as officers; a circumstance which made the spectacle of Octavius dragged from the rostra with contumely still more deplorable. At the same time the people made an assault on Octavius, and though the rich all ran to his assistance and disengaged him from their hands, it was not without difficulty that he was rescued and made his escape from the mob. But one of his faithful slaves, who had placed himself in front of his master to defend him, had his eyes torn out. This violence was quite contrary to the wishes of Tiberius, who, on seeing what was going on, speedily made his way to the disturbance.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XIII

The law about the land was now immediately carried, and triumviri were appointed for ascertaining its bounds and distributing it; the triumviri were Tiberius, and his father-in-law Claudius Appius, and Caius Gracchus, his brother, who, however, was not at Rome, but serving under Scipio against Numantia. All this Tiberius accomplished quietly without any opposition, and he also procured to be elected tribune in the room of Octavius, not a person of rank, but one Mucius a client of his own. The nobles, who were vexed at all these measures and feared the growing power of Tiberius, treated him in the senate with contumely; and upon his asking, according to custom, for a tent from the treasury for his use while he was distributing the land, they refused it to him, though others had often had one allowed them on less important occasions; and they only gave him for his expenses nine oboli a day, which was done on the motion of Publius Nasica, who entered violently into the opposition against Tiberius, for he was in possession of a very large amount of public land, and was greatly annoyed at being forcibly ejected from it. But the people now became still more violent. A friend of Tiberius happened to die suddenly, and suspicious marks immediately showed themselves on the body. The people cried out that he was poisoned, and collecting in great numbers at the funeral, they carried the bier and stood by while the body was burnt. And the suspicion of poison appeared to have some reason, for the body burst on the pile and sent forth such a quantity of corrupt humours as to quench the flame; and though a light was again applied, the body would not burn till it was removed to another place, where, after much trouble, the fire at last laid hold of it. Upon this Tiberius, with the view of exciting the people still more, changed his dress, and showing his children to the people, begged that they would protect them and their mother, for he now despaired of his own safety.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XIV

On the death of Attalus Philometor, Eudemus of Pergamum brought his will to Rome, in which the Roman people were made the king’s heir. In order to please the people, Tiberius promulgated a law to the effect that as soon as the king’s treasures were received, they should be distributed among those who had assignments of land, in order to enable them to stock the farms and to assist them in their cultivation. With respect to the cities included within the kingdom of Attalus, he said that the senate had no right to decide about them, but he would bring the subject before the popular assembly. This measure gave violent offence to the senate, and Pompeius getting up, said that he lived near Tiberius, and so knew that Eudemus of Pergamum had given a diadem out of the royal treasures and a purple robe to Tiberius, who designed to make himself king in Rome. Quintus Metellus reproached Tiberius by reminding him, that whenever his father, during his censorship, was returning home from supper, the citizens used to put out the lights for fear it might be supposed that they were indulging too much in entertainments and drinking, but that the most insolent and needy of the citizens accompanied Tiberius with lights at night. Titus Annius, who was not a man of good repute or sober behaviour, but in any contest of words by way of question and answer was considered to be unequalled, challenged Tiberius to answer definitely whether he had or had not branded with infamy his brother tribune, though by the law he was sacred and inviolable. As the question was received with signs of approbation, Tiberius, hastily quitting the senate-house, convoked the people and ordered Annius to be brought before them, with the intention of accusing him. But Annius, who was much inferior to Tiberius both in eloquence and reputation, had recourse to his tricks, and called on Tiberius to answer a few questions before he began his speech. Tiberius assented, and as soon as there was silence, Annius said, “If you intend to deprive me of my rank, and disgrace me, and I appeal to one of your brother tribunes, and he shall come to my aid, and you shall then fall into a passion, will you deprive him of his office?” On this question being put, it is said that Tiberius, though no man was readier in words or bolder in action, was so confused that he made no reply.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XV

For the present Tiberius dissolved the assembly, seeing that his proceedings with respect to Octavius were not liked either by the nobles or the people, for they considered that the high and honourable dignity of the tribunate, which had been kept unimpaired up to that time, had been destroyed and trampled upon. He made an harangue to the people, a few of the arguments of which it will not be out of place to mention, for the purpose of showing the persuasive eloquence and the subtlety of the man. He said that a tribune was sacred and inviolate, only because he was dedicated to the people and was the guardian of the people. If then a tribune should deviate from his duty and wrong the people, abridge their power and deprive them of the opportunity of voting, he had by his own act deprived himself of his rank, by not fulfilling the conditions on which he received it. Now we must consider a tribune to be still a tribune, though he should dig down the Capitol and burn the naval arsenal. If he should commit such excesses as these, he is a bad tribune; but if he should attempt to deprive the people of their power, he is not a tribune at all. And is it not a monstrous thing if a tribune shall have power to order a consul to be put in prison, and the people shall not be able to deprive a tribune of his power when he is using it against the people who gave it to him? for both tribune and consul are equally chosen by the people. Now the kingly office, besides comprehending within it all civil power, is consecrated to the divinity by the discharge of the chief ceremonials of religion; and yet the state ejected Tarquinius for his wrong-doing, and for the violence of one man the ancient power which established Rome was overthrown. And what is there at Rome so sacred, so venerated as the virgins who guard the ever-burning fire? but if any of them offends, she is buried alive; for when they sin against the gods, they no longer retain that inviolable sanctity which they have by being devoted to the gods. In like manner, neither has a tribune when he is wronging the people any right to retain the inviolable character which he receives from the people, for he is destroying the very power which is the origin of his own power. And indeed, if he has legally received the tribunitian power by the votes of a majority of the tribes, how is it that he cannot even still more legally be deposed by the vote of all the tribes? Now, nothing is so sacred and inviolable as things dedicated to the gods; but yet no one has ever hindered the people from using such things, moving them, and changing their places as they please. It is therefore legal for the people to transfer the tribunate, as a consecrated thing, from one man to another. And that the tribunate is not an inviolable thing, nor an office of which a man cannot be divested, is clear from this that many magistrates have abdicated their office and prayed to be excused from it of their own free will.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XVI

Such were the heads of the justification of Tiberius. His friends, seeing the threats of his enemies and their combination, thought that he ought to be a candidate for the tribunate for the next year; and Tiberius attempted to strengthen his popularity by promising to carry new measures, such as a diminution of the period of military service, an appeal to the people from the judices, an intermixture of an equal number of the Equites with the Senators, from whom alone the judices were then taken; and in every way he attempted to abridge the power of the Senate, influenced rather by passion and ambition, than justice and the interests of the state. While the voting was going on, the friends of Tiberius, seeing that their enemies were gaining the advantage, for all the people were not present, at first attempted to prolong the time by abusing the other tribunes, and next they dissolved the meeting and appointed it for the following day. Tiberius, going down to the Forum, supplicated the citizens in humble manner and with tears in his eyes; he then said that he feared his enemies would break into his house by night and kill him, and thus he induced a great number of the citizens to take their station about his house and watch there all night.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XVII

At daybreak the man came to bring the birds which the Romans use in their auspices, and he threw them food. But the birds would not come out of the basket with the exception of one, though the man shook it hard; and even this one would not touch the food, but after raising its left wing and stretching out a leg it ran back to the basket. This reminded Tiberius of another omen that had happened. He had a helmet which he wore in battle, elaborately worked and splendid. Some snakes had got into the helmet unobserved, and laid their eggs and hatched them there. This made Tiberius still more uneasy about the signs from the fowls. Nevertheless he advanced up the city on hearing that the people was assembled about the Capitol; but before he got out of the house he stumbled over the threshold, and the blow was so violent that the nail of his great toe was broken, and the blood ran out through his shoe. He had not got far before some crows were seen fighting on the roof of a house on the left hand, and though a great crowd was passing by, as was natural on such an occasion, a stone which was pushed off by one of the crows fell by the feet of Tiberius. This made even the boldest of his adherents hesitate; but Blossius of Cumæ, who was present, said it would be a shame and a great disgrace if Tiberius, a son of Gracchus and a grandson of Scipio Africanus, and a defender of the Roman people should not obey the summons of the people for fear of a crow, and that his enemies would not treat this cowardly act as a matter of ridicule, but would make it the ground of calumniating him to the people as playing the tyrant and treating them with contempt. At the same time many persons ran up to Tiberius with a message from his friends in the Capitol, to hasten there, as all was going on favourably. And indeed everything promised well at first, for as soon as he appeared he was greeted with friendly cheers, and as he ascended the Capitol he was joyfully received, and the people crowded about him to prevent any stranger from approaching.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XVIII

Now, Mucius began to summon the tribes again, but nothing could be conducted with the usual forms on account of the confusion that prevailed among those who were on the outskirts of the assembly, where they were struggling with their opponents, who were attempting to force their way in and mingle with the rest. At this juncture Flavius Flaccus, a senator, posted himself in a conspicuous place, and as it was not possible to make his voice heard so far, he made a signal with his hand that he wished to say something in private to Tiberius. Tiberius bade the crowd let Flaccus pass, who, with great difficulty making his way up to Tiberius, told him that the Senate was sitting, that as they could not prevail on the consul, the rich were resolving to kill Tiberius themselves, and that they had armed many of their slaves and friends for this purpose.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XIX

Upon Tiberius reporting this to those who were standing about him, they forthwith tucked up their dress, and breaking the staves which the officers use to keep the crowd back, distributed the fragments among them and made ready to defend themselves against their assailants. While those at a distance were wondering at what was going on, and asking what it meant, Tiberius touched his head with his hand, since his voice could not be heard, intending thereby to signify to the people that his life was in danger. His enemies on seeing this ran to the Senate and told them that Tiberius was asking for a crown, and that his touching his head was a proof of it. On this the whole body was greatly disturbed; Nasica entreated the consul to protect the state and put down the tyrant. The consul however answered mildly that he would not be the first to use violence, and that he would not take any citizen’s life without a regular trial; if however, he said, the people should come to an illegal vote at the instigation of Tiberius, or from compulsion, he would not respect any such decision. Upon this Nasica springing up exclaimed, “Well then, as the consul betrays the state, do you who wish to maintain the laws follow me.” As he uttered these words he drew the skirt of his dress over his head, and hastened to the Capitol; and the senators who followed him, wrapping their dress about them with one hand, pushed all the people they met out of the way, no one opposing them, from respect to their rank, but taking to flight and trampling down one another. The followers of the senators had clubs and sticks which they had brought from home; but the senators seizing the fragments and legs of the benches which were broken by the people in their hurry to escape, made right to Tiberius, and struck all those who were in their road. The people were all put to flight or killed. As Tiberius was attempting to make his escape, some one laid hold of his dress, on which he dropped his toga and fled in his tunic; but he stumbled over some persons who were lying on the ground and was thrown down. While he was endeavouring to rise, he received the first blow, as it is universally admitted, from Publius Satyreius, one of his colleagues, who struck him on the head with the leg of a bench. Lucius Rufus claimed the credit of giving him the second blow, as if that were a thing to be proud of. Above three hundred persons lost their lives by sticks and stones, but none by the sword.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XX

This is said to have been the first disturbance at Rome since the abolition of the kingly power, which ended in bloodshed and the death of citizens. All previous disputes, though they were neither trifling nor about trifling matters, were settled by mutual concession: the nobles yielded through fear of the people, and the people yielded from respect to the Senate. Even on this occasion it is probable that Tiberius would have given way to persuasion without any difficulty, and still more readily if his assailants had not come to bloodshed and blows, for those about him were not above three thousand in number. But the combination against him seems to have proceeded rather from the passion and hatred of the rich citizens, than from the reasons which they alleged; and the brutal and indecent treatment of his dead body is a proof of this. For they would not listen to his brother’s request to take up the body and bury it at night, but it was thrown into the Tiber with the other bodies. And this was not all; they banished some of his friends without trial, and others they seized and put to death, among whom was Diophanes the orator. One Caius Villius they shut up in a vessel with snakes and vipers, and thus he died. Blossius of Cumæ, being brought before the consuls and questioned about what had passed, admitted that he had done everything at the bidding of Tiberius. On Nasica asking him, “What if Tiberius had told you to burn the Capitol?” Blossius said, that Tiberius would never have given him any such order. The same question being often put to him, and by several persons, he said, “If he had commanded me to burn the Capitol, it would have been a good deed for me to do; for Tiberius would not have given such an order unless it were for the interest of the people.” Blossius, however, was set at liberty, and afterwards went to Aristonikus in Asia, on the ruin of whose affairs he killed himself.

Life Of Tiberius Gracchus: XXI

The Senate, under present circumstances, endeavoured to soothe the people; they made no opposition to the distribution of the public land, and they allowed the people to elect another commissioner in place of Tiberius. Having come to a vote, they elected Publius Crassus a relation of Gracchus, for his daughter Licinia was the wife of Caius Gracchus. Cornelius Nepos, indeed, says that Caius did not marry the daughter of Crassus, but the daughter of Brutus who triumphed over the Lusitanians: however, the majority of writers state the matter as I have done. Now, as the people were sore about the death of Tiberius, and were manifestly waiting for an opportunity to be revenged, and Nasica was threatened with prosecutions, the Senate, fearing for his safety, made a decree for sending him to Asia, though they had nothing for him to do there. For when men met Nasica they did not conceal their hostility, but broke out into violence, and abused him wherever they fell in with him, calling him accursed, and tyrant, who had stained with the blood of an inviolable and sacred functionary the most sacred and revered of all the holy places in the city. Accordingly, Nasica left Italy, though bound by the most sacred functions, for he was Pontifex Maximus; and, rambling about despised from place to place, he died no long time after in the neighbourhood of Pergamum. It is no wonder if Nasica was so much hated by the people, when even Scipio Africanus, whom the Romans considered inferior to no man in integrity, and loved as well as any, narrowly escaped losing the popular favour, because, on receiving the news of the death of Tiberius, at Numantia, he exclaimed in the verse of Homer,

So perish all who do the like again.

Subsequently, when Caius and Fulvius asked him, before an assembly of the people, what he thought of the death of Tiberius, he showed by his answer that he was not pleased with the measures of Tiberius. This made the people interrupt him with their shouts when he was speaking, as they had never done before; and Scipio was so far transported with passion as to break out into invectives against them. But of this I have spoken more particularly in the Life of Scipio.

Life Of Caius Gracchus.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: I

Caius Gracchus at first, either through fear of his enemies or with the view of making them odious, withdrew from the Forum and kept quiet at home, like a man humbled for the present, and intending for the future to keep aloof from public affairs; which gave occasion for some people to say that he disliked the measures of Tiberius, and had abandoned them. He was also still quite a youth, for he was nine years younger than his brother, and Tiberius was not thirty when he was killed. But in the course of time, as his character gradually displayed itself in his aversion to indolence, luxury, wine, and all matters of private profit, and it was clear, from his application to the study of eloquence, that he was preparing, as it were, his pinions for public life, and that he would not remain quiet; and further, when he showed by his defence of Vettius, one of his friends, who was under prosecution, the people all around him being wild and frantic with delight, that the rest of the orators were mere children, the nobles were again alarmed, and there was much talk among them that they would not allow Caius to obtain the tribunate. It happened without any set design that the lot fell on him to go as quæstor to Sardinia, under Orestes the consul, which pleased his enemies, and was not disagreeable to Caius. For he was fond of war, and equally disciplined for military service and speaking in the courts of justice; but he still shrunk from public affairs and the Rostra, and as he could not resist the invitations of the people and his friends, he was well pleased with this opportunity of leaving Rome. It is true it is a common opinion that Caius was a pure demagogue, and much more greedy of popular favour than Tiberius. But it was not so in fact, and Caius seems to have been involved in public affairs rather through a kind of necessity than choice. Cicero the orator also says that Caius declined all offices, and had determined to live in retirement, but that his brother appeared to him in a dream, and said, “Caius, why do you linger? There is no escape: one life for both of us, and one death in defence of the people is our fate.”

Life Of Caius Gracchus: II

Now, Caius during his stay in Sardinia exhibited his excellent qualities in every way; he far surpassed all the young men in military courage, in upright conduct to the subject people, in loyalty and respect to the commander; and in temperance, frugality, and attention to his duties he excelled even his elders. The winter having been severe and unhealthy in Sardinia, the general demanded clothing for his soldiers from the cities, upon which they sent to Rome to pray to be relieved from this imposition. The Senate granted their petition, and ordered the general to get supplies for the troops by other means; but as the general was unable to do this, and the soldiers were suffering, Caius went round to the cities and induced them voluntarily to send clothing and to assist the Romans. This, being reported to Rome, made the Senate uneasy, for they viewed it as a preliminary to popular agitation. Ambassadors also arrived at Rome from Libya, with a message from King Micipsa, that the king had sent corn to the commander in Sardinia, out of respect for Caius Gracchus. The Senate, taking offence at the message, would not receive the ambassadors, and they passed a decree that fresh troops should be sent out to replace those in Sardinia, but that Orestes should stay; intending by this measure to keep Caius there also, in respect of his office. On this being done, Caius immediately set sail in a passion, and appearing at Rome contrary to all expectation, was not only blamed by his enemies, but even the people considered it a strange thing for the quæstor to leave his general behind. However, when the matter was brought before the Censors, he asked for permission to make his defence, and he produced such a change in the opinions of his audience, that he was acquitted, and considered to have been exceedingly ill used: he said that he had served in the army for twelve years, while others were only required to serve ten years, and that he had exercised the functions of quæstor to the commander for three years, though the law allowed him to return after one year’s service; he added that he was the only soldier who took out a full purse with him and brought it back empty, while the rest took out with them only jars of wine, which they had emptied in Sardinia, and brought them back full of gold and silver.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: III

After this, his enemies brought fresh charges against him, and harassed him with prosecutions on the ground of causing the defection of the allies and having participated in the conspiracy which had been detected at Fregellæ. But he cleared himself of all suspicion, and having established his innocence, immediately set about canvassing for the tribunate. All the men of distinction, without exception, opposed him; and so great a multitude flocked to Rome from all parts of Italy, to the Comitia, that many of them could not find lodgings, and the Campus Martius being unable to contain the numbers, they shouted from the house-tops and tilings. However, the nobility so far prevailed against the people as to disappoint the hopes of Caius, inasmuch as he was not returned first, as he expected, but only fourth. But upon entering on his office he soon made himself first, for he surpassed every Roman in eloquence, and his misfortunes gave him a licence for speaking freely when lamenting the fate of his brother. He took every opportunity of directing the thoughts of the people to this subject, reminding them of former times, and contrasting the conduct of their ancestors, who went to war with the Falisci on behalf of Gemicius, a tribune, who had been insulted by them, and condemned Caius Veturius to death because he was the only man that did not make way for a tribune as he was passing through the Forum. “But before your eyes,” he exclaimed, “these men beat Tiberius to death with staves, and his body was dragged through the midst of the city to be thrown into the Tiber; and all his friends who were caught were put to death without trial. And yet it is an old usage among us, if a man is accused of a capital charge and does not appear, for a trumpeter to come to the door of his house in the morning and summon him by the sound of the trumpet, and the judices cannot vote upon the charge till this has been done. So circumspect and careful were the Romans of old in the trials of persons accused.”

Life Of Caius Gracchus: IV

Having first stirred up the people by such harangues as these (and he had a very loud voice, and was most vigorous in speech), he promulgated two laws: one, to the effect that if the people had deprived any magistrate of his office, he should be incapacitated from holding office a second time; and the other, which rendered a magistrate liable to a public prosecution if he had banished any citizen without trial. One of these rogations had the direct effect of branding with infamy Marcus Octavius, who had been deprived of the tribunate by Tiberius; and Popillius came within the penalties of the other, for during his prætorship he had banished the friends of Tiberius. Popillius did not stand his trial, and he fled from Italy; but the other law Caius himself withdrew, saying that he refrained from touching Octavius at the request of his mother Cornelia. The people admired his conduct on this occasion, and gave their consent, for they respected Cornelia no less for the sake of her sons than her father; and afterwards they set up a bronze statue of her, with the inscription—Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi. There are recorded several things that Caius said in defence of his mother in a rhetorical and coarse way, in reply to one of his enemies. “What,” said he, “do you abuse Cornelia, the mother of Tiberius?” And as the man laboured under the imputation of being a dissolute fellow, he added, “How can you have the impudence to compare yourself with Cornelia? Have you been a mother, as she has?”—and more to the like effect, but still coarser. Such was the bitterness of his language, and many like things occur in his writings.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: V

Of the laws which he promulgated with the view of gaining the popular favour and weakening the Senate, one was for the establishment of colonies and the distribution of Public Land among the poor; another provided for supplying the soldiers with clothing at the public expense, without any deduction on this account being made from their pay, and exempted youths under seventeen years of age from being drafted for the army; a third was in favour of the allies, and put the Italians on the same footing as the citizens with respect to the suffrage; another related to grain, and had for its object the lowering of the price for the poor; the last related to the judices, a measure which most of all encroached on the privileges of the senate—for the senate alone supplied judices for the trials, and this privilege rendered that body formidable both to the people and the equites. The law of Gracchus added three hundred equites to the senate, who were also three hundred in number, and it made the judices eligible out of the whole six hundred. In his endeavours to carry this law he is said to have made every exertion; and in particular it is recorded that all the popular leaders who preceded him turned their faces to the senate and the comitium while they were speaking, but he was the first who turned his face the other way to the Forum while haranguing the people, and he continued to do so; and by a small deviation and alteration in attitude he stirred a great question, and in a manner transformed the government from an aristocratical to a democratical form, by this new attitude intimating that the orators should direct their speeches to the many and not to the senate.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: VI

The people not only passed this law, but empowered Gracchus to select from the equites those who were to act as judices, which conferred on him a kind of monarchical authority, and even the senate now assented to the measures which he proposed in their body. But all the measures which he proposed were honourable to the senate; such, for instance, was the very equitable and just decree about the grain which Fabius the proprætor sent from Iberia. Gracchus induced the senate to sell the grain and to return the money which it produced to the Iberian cities, and further to censure Fabius for making the Roman dominion heavy and intolerable to the subject nations; this measure brought him great reputation and popularity in the provinces. He also introduced measures for sending out colonies, the construction of roads, and the building of public granaries; and he made himself director and superintendent for the carrying all these measures into effect. Though engaged in so many great undertakings, he was never wearied, but with wonderful activity and labour he effected every single object as if he had for the time no other occupation, so that even those who thoroughly hated and feared him were struck with amazement at the rapidity and perfect execution of all that he undertook. But the people looked with admiration on the man himself, seeing him attended by crowds of building-contractors, artificers, ambassadors, magistrates, soldiers, and learned men, to all of whom he was easy of access; and while he maintained his dignity, he was affable to all, and adapted his behaviour to the condition of every individual, and so proved the falsehood of those who called him tyrannical or arrogant or violent. He thus showed himself more skilful as a popular leader in his dealings with men, and in his conduct, than in his harangues from the Rostra.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: VII

But Caius busied himself most about the construction of roads, having in view utility, convenience, and ornament. The roads were made in a straight line, right through the country, partly of quarried stone and partly with tight-rammed masses of earth. By filling up the depressions, and throwing bridges across those parts which were traversed by winter torrents or deep ravines, and raising the road on both sides to the same uniform height, the whole line was made level and presented an agreeable appearance. He also measured all the roads by miles (the Roman mile is not quite eight Greek stadia), and fixed stone blocks to mark the distances. He placed other stones at less distances from one another on each side of the road, that persons might thus easily mount their horses without assistance.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: VIII

As the people extolled him for all these services, and were ready to show their good will towards him in any way, he said on one occasion when he was addressing them, that he would ask a favour, which he would value above everything if it was granted, but if it were refused, he should not complain. It was accordingly expected that he would ask for the consulship, and everybody supposed that he would be a candidate for the consulship and the tribunate at the same time. When the consular comitia were near, and all were at the highest point of expectation, Caius appeared conducting Caius Fannius into the Campus Martius, and canvassing with his friends for Fannius. This gave Fannius a great advantage. Fannius was elected consul, and Caius tribune for the second time, though he was neither a candidate nor canvassed, but his election was entirely due to the zeal of the people. Perceiving, however, that the senate was clearly opposed to him, and that the kind feeling of Fannius towards him cooled, he forthwith endeavoured to attach the people by other measures, by proposing to send colonies to Tarentum and Capua, and by inviting the Latins to a participation in the Roman franchise. The senate, fearing that Gracchus would become irresistible, attempted a new and unusual method of diverting the people from him, by opposing popular measures to his, and by gratifying the people, contrary to sound policy. Livius Drusus was one of the colleagues of Caius, a man by birth and education inferior to none in Rome, and in character, eloquence, and wealth equal to any who enjoyed either honour or power by the aid of these advantages. To him accordingly the chief nobles applied, and they urged him to attack Caius, and to unite with them against him, not by adopting violent measures, nor coming into collision with the many, but by a course of administration adapted to please, and by making such concessions as it would have been honourable to refuse, even at the risk of unpopularity.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: IX

Livius, having agreed to employ his tribunitian authority on the side of the senate, framed measures which had neither any honourable nor any useful object: he only had in view to outbid Caius in the popular favour, just as it is in a comedy, by making himself busy and vying with his rival. This showed most clearly that the senate were not displeased with the measures of Caius, but only wished to destroy him or completely humble him. When Caius proposed to send out ten colonies consisting of citizens of the best character, the senate accused him of truckling to the people; but they co-operated with Livius, who proposed twelve colonies, each of which was to consist of three thousand needy citizens. They set themselves in opposition to Caius when he proposed to distribute land among the poor, subject to a yearly payment to the treasury from each, on the ground that he was trying to gain the popular favour; but they were satisfied when Livius proposed to relieve the colonists even from this payment. Further, Caius gave them offence by proposing to confer on the Latins the Roman suffrage; but when Livius brought forward a measure which forbade any Latin to be beaten with rods even while serving in the army, they supported it. And indeed Livius himself, in his harangues to the people, always said that he only proposed what was agreeable to the senate, who had a regard for the many; which indeed was the only good that resulted from his measures. For the people became more pacifically disposed towards the senate; and though the most distinguished of them were formerly suspected and hated by the people, Livius did away with and softened their recollection of past grievances and their ill feeling, by giving out that it was in accordance with the wish of the senate that he had entered upon his popular career and framed measures to please the many.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: X

But the best proof to the people of the good intentions and honesty of Livius was, that he proposed nothing for himself or in behalf of his own interests; for he appointed other persons to superintend the establishment of the colonies, and he did not meddle with the administration of the money, while Caius had assigned to himself most of such functions, and the most important of them. It happened that Rubrius, one of the tribunes, had proposed a measure for the colonisation of Carthage, which had been destroyed by Scipio; and as the lot fell on Caius, he set sail to Libya to found the colony. In his absence, Drusus, making still further advances, insinuated himself into the favour of the people, and gained them over mainly by calumniating Fulvius. This Fulvius was a friend of Caius and a joint commissioner for the distribution of lands; but he was a noisy fellow, and specially disliked by the senate; he was also suspected by others of stirring up the allies, and secretly encouraging the Italians to revolt; and though this was said without proof or inquiry, Fulvius himself gave it credit by his unwise and revolutionary policy. This more than anything else destroyed the popularity of Caius, who came in for his share of the odium against Fulvius. And when Scipio Africanus died without any obvious cause, and certain signs of blows and violence were supposed to be visible on the body, as I told in the Life of Scipio, the suspicion fell chiefly on Fulvius, who was his enemy, and on that day had abused Scipio from the Rostra. Suspicion attached to Caius also. So abominable a crime committed against the first and greatest of the Romans went unpunished, and there was not even an inquiry; for the many opposed it and stopped the investigation through fear for Caius, lest he should be discovered to be implicated in the murder. These events, indeed, belong to an earlier period.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XI

In Libya, as to the foundation of Carthage, which Caius named Junonia, which is the same as Heraea, it is said there were many supernatural hindrances. For the first standard was seized and broken by a violent gust of wind, though the standard-bearer stuck to it vigorously; and the victims which were lying on the altars were dispersed by a tempest, and scattered beyond the stakes which marked the limits of the city, and the stakes were torn up by the wolves and carried a long way off. However Caius, after settling and arranging everything in seventy days, returned to Rome upon hearing that Fulvius was hard pressed by Drusus, and that affairs required his presence. Lucius Opimius, a man who belonged to the faction of the oligarchs, and had great influence in the senate, failed on a former occasion when he was a candidate for the consulship, at the time when Caius brought forward Fannius and canvassed against Opimius; but now, being supported by a powerful party, it was expected that Opimius would be elected consul and would put down Caius, whose influence was already in some degree on the wane, and the people also were tired of such measures as his, for there were many who sought their favour, and the senate easily gave way.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XII

On his return from Libya, Caius removed from the Palatium to the neighbourhood of the Forum, as being a more popular place of residence, for it happened that most of the lowest classes of the poor lived there; he next promulgated the rest of his measures, intending to take the vote of the people upon them. As crowds were collecting from all parts to support Caius, the senate prevailed on the consul Fannius to drive out of the city all who were not Romans. Accordingly a strange and unusual proclamation was made, to the effect that none of the allies or friends of the Roman state should appear in Rome during those days; on which Caius published a counter edict, in which he criminated the consul and promised his support to the allies if they remained in Rome. But he did not keep his promise; for though he saw one of them, who was his own friend and intimate, dragged off by the officers of Fannius, he passed by without helping him, whether it was that he feared to put to the test his power which was now on the decline, or that he did not choose, as he said, to give his enemies the opportunity which they were seeking of coming to a collision and a struggle. It also chanced that he had incurred the ill-will of his fellow-colleagues, in the following manner:—The people were going to see an exhibition of gladiators in the Forum, and most of the magistrates had constructed seats round the place, with the intention of letting them for hire. But Caius urged them to remove the seats, that the poor might be able to see the show without paying. As no one took any notice of what he said, he waited till the night before the show, when he went with the workmen whom he had under him, and removed the seats, and at daybreak he pointed out to the people that the place was clear; for which the many considered him a man, but he offended his colleagues, who viewed him as an audacious and violent person. Owing to this circumstance, it is supposed, he lost his third tribunate, though he had most votes, for it is said that his colleagues acted illegally and fraudulently in the proclamation and return. This, however, was disputed. Caius did not bear his failure well: and to his enemies, who were exulting over him, he is said to have observed, with more arrogance than was befitting, that their laugh was a sardonic laugh, for they knew not what a darkness his political measures had spread all around them.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XVI

After effecting the election of Opimius to the consulship, the enemies of Caius began to repeal many of his laws and to disturb the settlement of Carthage, for the purpose of irritating Caius, in order that he might give them some cause of quarrel, and so be got rid of. He endured this for some time, but his friends, and especially Fulvius, beginning to urge him on, he again attempted to combine his partisans against the consul. On this occasion it is said that his mother also helped him, by hiring men from remote parts and sending them to Rome in the disguise of reapers, for it is supposed that these matters are obscurely alluded to in her letters to her son. Others, on the contrary, say that this was done quite contrary to the wishes of Cornelia. On the day on which the party of Opimius intended to repeal the laws of Caius, the Capitol had been occupied by the opposite faction early in the morning. The consul had offered the sacrifices, and one of his officers, named Quintus Antyllius, was carrying the viscera to another part, when he said to the partisans of Fulvius, “Make way for honest men, you rascals.” Some say that as he uttered these words he also held out his bare arm with insulting gestures. However this may be, Antyllius was killed on the spot, being pierced with large styles said to have been made expressly for the purpose. The people were greatly disturbed at the murder, but it produced exactly opposite effects on the leaders of the two parties. Caius was deeply grieved at what had happened, and abused his party for having given a handle to their enemies, who had long been looking for it; but Opimius, as if he had got the opportunity which he wanted, was highly elated, and urged the people to avenge the murder.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XIV

A torrent of rain happened to fall just then, and the meeting was dissolved. Early on the following day Opimius summoned the senate to transact business. In the mean time the naked body of Antyllius was placed on a bier, and, according to arrangement, carried through the Forum past the senate-house with loud cries and lamentations. Opimius, though he knew what was going on, pretended to be surprised at the noise, and the senators went out to see what was the matter. When the bier had been set down in the midst of the crowd, the senators began to express their indignation at so horrible and monstrous a crime; but this only moved the people to hate and execrate the oligarchs, who, after murdering Tiberius Gracchus in the Capitol, a tribune, had treated his body with insult; while Antyllius, a mere servant, who perhaps had not deserved his fate, yet was mainly to blame for what happened, was laid out in the Forum, and surrounded by the Roman senate lamenting and assisting at the funeral of a hireling; and all this merely to accomplish the ruin of the only remaining guardian of the people’s liberties. On returning to the senate-house, the senators passed a decree by which the consul Opimius was directed to save the state in such way as he could, and to put down the tyrants. Opimius gave notice to the senators to arm, and each eques was commanded to bring in the morning two armed slaves. On the other side, Fulvius also made preparation and got together a rabble; but Caius as he left the Forum stood opposite his father’s statue, and looking at it for some time without speaking, at last burst into tears, and fetching a deep sigh, walked away. The sight of this moved many of the spectators to compassion, and blaming themselves for deserting the man and betraying him, they came to the house of Caius and passed the night at his door; but not in the same manner as those who watched about the house of Fulvius, for they spent the night in tumult and shouting, drinking, and bragging what they would do. Fulvius himself, who was the first to get drunk, spoke and acted in a way quite unseemly for a man of his age. The followers of Caius, viewing the state of affairs as a public calamity, kept quiet, thinking of the future, and they passed the night watching and sleeping in turns.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XV

At daybreak Fulvius was with difficulty roused from his drunken sleep, and his partisans, arming themselves with the warlike spoils in his house, which he had taken in his victory over the Gauls during his consulship, with loud threats and shouts went to seize the Aventine Hill. Caius would not arm, but went out in his toga just as if he was proceeding to the Forum, with only a short dagger at his side. As he was going out at the door, his wife met him, and throwing one arm round him, while she held in the other their little child, said, “Caius, not as in time past do I take my leave of you going to the Rostra as tribune and as legislator, nor yet going to a glorious war, where, if you died in the service of your country, you would still leave me an honoured grief; but you are going to expose yourself to the murderers of Tiberius: ’tis right indeed to go unarmed, and to suffer rather than do wrong, but you will perish without benefiting the state. The worst has now prevailed; force and the sword determine all controversies. If your brother had died at Numantia, his body would have been restored to us on the usual terms of war; but now perchance I too shall have to supplicate some river or the sea to render up to me your corpse from its keeping. What faith can we put in the laws or in the deities since the murder of Tiberius?” While Licinia was thus giving vent to sorrow, Gracchus gently freed himself from his wife’s embrace, and went off in silence with his friends. Licinia, as she attempted to lay hold of his dress, fell down on the floor, and lay there some time speechless, until her slaves took her up fainting, and carried her to her brother Crassus.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XVI

When they were all assembled, Fulvius, at the request of Caius, sent his younger son with a caduceus to the Forum. He was a most beautiful youth, and with great decorum and modesty, and with tears in his eyes he addressed to the consul and the senate the message of conciliation. The majority who were present were not disinclined to come to terms; but Opimius replied, that Fulvius and Gracchus must not attempt to bring the senate to an accommodation through the medium of a messenger; they must consider themselves as citizens who had to account for their conduct, and come down and surrender, and then beg for mercy; he further told the youth that these were the terms on which he must come a second time, or not at all. Now Caius, it is said, wished to go and clear himself before the senate, but as no one else assented, Fulvius again sent his son to address the senate on their behalf in the same terms as before. But Opimius, who was eager to come to blows, forthwith ordered the youth to be seized and put in prison, and advanced against the party of Fulvius with many legionary soldiers and Cretan bowmen who mainly contributed to put them into confusion by discharging their arrows and wounding them. The partisans of Fulvius being put to flight, he made his escape into a bath that was not used where he was soon discovered and put to death with his elder son. Caius was not observed to take any part in the contest, but greatly troubled at what was taking place, he retired to the temple of Diana, and was going to kill himself there, but was prevented by his faithful friends Pomponius and Licinius, who took the sword away and induced him to fly. It is said that he went down on his knees in the temple, and stretching out his hands to the statue of the goddess, prayed that the Roman people, for their ingratitude and treachery to him, might always be slaves; for the greater part of them had openly gone over to the other side upon an amnesty being proclaimed.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XVII

In his flight Caius was followed by his enemies, who were near overtaking him at the wooden bridge, but his two friends, bidding him make his escape, opposed the pursuers and allowed no man to pass the head of the bridge till they were killed. Caius was accompanied by a single slave, named Philocrates, and though all the spectators urged him to fly, just as if they were shouting at a race, yet no one, though he prayed for it, would come to his aid or lend him a horse: for the pursuers were close upon him. He just escaped into a sacred grove of the Furies, and there he fell by the hand of Philocrates, who killed himself on the body of his master. Some say both of them were taken alive by their enemies, and that the slave embraced his master so closely, that Caius could not be struck until the slave had been dispatched first, and with many blows. It is said that a man cut off the head of Caius and was carrying it away, but it was taken from him by a friend of Opimius named Septimuleius; for proclamation had been made at the beginning of the contest, that those who brought the heads of Caius and Fulvius should have their weight in gold. The head of Caius was brought to Opimius by Septimuleius stuck on a spear, and it weighed seventeen pounds and two-thirds in the scales. Septimuleius was a scoundrel and a knave here also, for he had taken out the brain and dropped melted lead in its place. Those who brought the head of Fulvius got nothing, for they belonged to the lower class. The bodies of Caius and Fulvius and their partisans were thrown into the river, the number of dead being three thousand: their property was sold and the produce paid into the treasury. They also forbade the women to lament for their relatives, and Licinia was deprived of her marriage portion. But their conduct was most cruel to the younger son of Fulvius, who had neither raised up his hand against them nor been among the combatants; for he was seized before the battle, when he came to treat of terms, and was put to death after the battle. But what most of all vexed the people was the circumstance of Opimius erecting a temple to Concord, which was viewed as an evidence of his insolence and arrogance, and as a kind of triumph for the slaughter of so many citizens. Accordingly by night some person wrote under the inscription on the temple the following line:—

The work of Discord makes the temple of Concord.

XVIII. This Opimius, the first man that ever exercised the dictatorial power in the office of consul, and who had condemned without trial three thousand citizens, and among them Caius Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus—Flaccus, a consular, who had enjoyed a triumph; Gracchus, the first man of his age in character and reputation—this Opimius did not keep himself free from corruption. Being sent as a commissioner to Jugurtha, the Numidian, he was bribed by him, and being convicted of most shameful corruption, he spent the last years of his life in infamy, hated and insulted by the people, who, though humbled and depressed for the time, soon showed how much they desired and regretted the Gracchi. For they had statues of the two brothers made and set up in public places, and the spots on which they fell were declared sacred ground, to which people brought all the first fruits of the seasons, and many persons daily offered sacrifices there and worshipped, just as at the temples of the gods.

Life Of Caius Gracchus: XIX

Cornelia is said to have borne her misfortunes with a noble and elevated spirit, and to have said of the sacred ground on which her sons were murdered, that they had a tomb worthy of them. She resided in the neighbourhood of Misenum, without making any change in her usual mode of life. She had many friends, and her hospitable table was always crowded with guests; Greeks and learned men were constantly about her, and kings sent and received presents from her. To all her visitors and friends she was a most agreeable companion: she would tell them of the life and habits of her father Africanus, and, what is most surprising, would speak of her sons without showing sorrow or shedding a tear, relating their sufferings and their deeds to her inquiring friends as if she was speaking of the men of olden time. This made some think that her understanding had been impaired by old age or the greatness of her sorrows, and that she was dull to all sense of her misfortunes, while in fact such people themselves were too dull to see what a support it is against grief to have a noble nature, and to be of honourable lineage and honourably bred; and that though fortune has often the advantage over virtue in its attempts to guard against evils, yet she cannot take away from virtue the power of enduring them with fortitude.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes: I

Now that we have completed the narrative of these men’s lives, it remains for us to compare them with one another. As for the Gracchi, not even their bitterest enemies could deny that they were the most virtuous of all the Romans, or that they were excellently well nurtured and educated; while Agis and Kleomenes appear to have excelled them in strength of mind, because they both, after having been brought up in the same fashion by which their elders had been corrupted, became the restorers of temperance and simplicity of life. Furthermore, the Gracchi, who lived at a period when Rome was at the height of its greatness and renown, felt ashamed to fall short of the glorious achievements of their forefathers; while the virtuous impulses of the others were not checked by their fathers having pursued the opposite course of policy, or by the miserable and distracted condition of their country. The greatest proof of the unselfishness and indifference to money of the Gracchi is that they filled various offices in the state, and yet kept their hands clean from dishonest gains; while it would be an insult to Agis to praise him for not having taken other men’s money, as he gave up to his countrymen his own private property, which alone was worth six hundred talents. If then he thought it discreditable for him to be richer than any of his countrymen, even though his riches were lawfully acquired, what must have been his abhorrence of those who obtain money wrongfully.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes: II

There was also a great difference in the boldness and extent of their schemes of reform. The Gracchi were chiefly engaged in the construction of roads and the founding of cities, and Tiberius’s most important measure of reform was the division of the public lands among the people, while the best act of his brother Caius was the establishment of a mixed tribunal by adding to the three hundred Senators three hundred Roman Knights. The revolution effected by Agis and Kleomenes was of quite a different kind. They thought, in Plato’s words, that to proceed by slow degrees was merely cutting off the heads of the hydra, and therefore they by one comprehensive measure swept away all abuses at once: although it would be nearer the truth to say that they swept all abuses out of the state by restoring to it its original constitution. It may also be observed that the reforms of the Gracchi were opposed by some of the most powerful men in Rome, whereas the legislation which was begun by Agis, and completed by Kleomenes, followed a famous and ancient precedent, the rhetras on sobriety and equality which had been communicated to their ancestors by Lykurgus with the sanction of the Pythian Apollo. It is also most important to notice that the reforms of the Gracchi made Rome no greater than she was before, while the acts of Kleomenes enabled him in a short time to make Sparta mistress of the whole of Peloponnesus, and to engage in a contest with the most powerful man of his time, with the object of ridding Greece from Illyrian and Gaulish mercenary troops, and of renewing its ancient glories under the rule of the Herakleidæ.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes: III

I think too that the deaths of these men show a certain difference in their courage. The Gracchi fought with their countrymen, and were slain by them while flying, while of the other two, Agis may almost be said to have died voluntarily, because he would not put a citizen to death, while Kleomenes, when insulted and ill-treated, fiercely attempted to avenge himself, and as circumstances prevented his succeeding, bravely killed himself. It may be said on the other side that Agis never distinguished himself in the field, and we may set against the many brilliant victories of Kleomenes the scaling of the wall of Carthage by Tiberius Gracchus, no slight achievement, and the peace which he made with the Numantines, by which he saved the lives of twenty thousand Roman soldiers, who could not otherwise have hoped to survive; while Caius, in several campaigns both in Italy and Sardinia, showed great military skill; so that they both might have rivalled the fame of the greatest generals of Rome, had they not been cut off so soon.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes: IV

In political matters Agis appears to have shown weakness, as he allowed Agesilaus to cheat the citizens out of their promised redistribution of lands, and in a feeble and vacillating manner announced his intention and then abandoned it. The cause of his irresolution was his extreme youth; while Kleomenes on the other hand effected his revolution with too great promptitude and daring, putting the Ephors to death without a trial, when it would have been easy for him to have won them over to his side, and banishing many of the citizens. It is not the part either of a wise physician or of a good politician to use the knife except in the last extremity, but it shows a want of skill in both, and in the latter case it is unjust as well as cruel. Of the Gracchi, neither would begin a civil war, and Caius is said not even to have defended himself when struck, but though forward enough in battle he was loth to fight in a party quarrel; for he appeared in public unarmed, and retired when fighting began, and evidently took more pains not to do any harm than not to suffer any. For this reason we must regard the flight of both the Gracchi as a proof, not of cowardice, but of caution; for they must either have retreated when attacked or have retaliated upon their opponents.

Comparison Of Tiberius And Caius Gracchus With Agis And Kleomenes: V

The heaviest charge that can be brought against Tiberius is that he deposed his colleague from the tribuneship, and afterwards sought a second tribuneship for himself. As for the murder of Antyllius, Caius Gracchus was most falsely and unjustly accused of it, for he did not wish him to die, and was grieved at his death. Again Kleomenes, not to speak of his massacre of the Ephors, set all the slaves at liberty, and practically made himself despot of the kingdom, although for form’s sake he associated his brother with him, who was of the same family. And when Archidamus, who was the next heir to the throne of the other royal house, was persuaded by him to return from Messene to Sparta, as Kleomenes did not avenge his death, he caused men to suspect that he himself had some share in it. Yet Lykurgus, whom he affected to imitate, abdicated the throne of his own free will in favour of his nephew Charilaus, and fearing that if the child died by any mischance he might be thought guilty of having caused its death, he travelled abroad for a long time and did not return until Charilaus had begotten a son to succeed him. However, no Greek can bear comparison with Lykurgus; yet we have proved that Kleomenes effected greater reforms, and showed less respect to the laws than any of the others. Both the Greeks have been blamed for having from the very outset aimed at being nothing more than warlike despots; while the worst enemies of the Romans only charge them with an immoderate ambition, and admit that they became so excited by the contest with their political opponents that the natural heat of their temper drove them in spite of themselves like a baleful gust of wind to advocate extreme measures. What indeed can be more just or honourable than the objects with which they started; for their troubles were brought upon them by the opposition which the rich offered to their laws, so that the one was forced to fight to save his own life, while the other endeavoured to avenge his brother, who was slain without law or justice? From what has been said the reader can himself form an opinion about their respective merits, but if I must say what I think of each, I should give the highest place in respect of virtue to Tiberius Gracchus; I think that the young Agis committed the fewest crimes; while in daring and action Caius fell far short of Kleomenes.

Life Of Demosthenes.

Life Of Demosthenes: I

The writer of the Ode to Alkibiades on the occasion of his winning the chariot-race at Olympia, whether he was Euripides, as is commonly supposed, or some other poet, my friend Sossius, tells us that the first thing necessary for a perfectly happy man is that he should be born a citizen of some famous city. But for my own part I believe that for the enjoyment of true happiness, which depends chiefly upon a man’s character and disposition, it makes no difference whether he be born in an obscure state or of an ill-favoured mother, or not. It would indeed be absurd if one were to suppose that the town of Iulis, which is only a small part of the little island of Keos or Ægina, which some Athenian bade his countrymen clear away because it was an eyesore to Peiræus, should be able to produce good actors and poets, and yet be unable to bring forth a just, virtuous, sensible and high-minded man. We may reasonably expect that those arts by which men gain glory or profit should be neglected and fall into decay in small and obscure towns; but virtue, like a hardy plant, can take root in any country where it meets with noble natures and industrious disposition. I myself therefore must lay the blame of my intellectual and moral shortcomings, not upon the insignificance of my native city, but upon myself.

Life Of Demosthenes: II

However, when a man is engaged in compiling a history from materials which are not ready to his hand, but for the most part are to be found scattered through other foreign towns, it becomes really of the first importance that he should live in some famous, cultivated, and populous city, where he can have unlimited access to books of all kinds, and where he can also personally collect and inquire into the truth of those stories which, though not reduced to writing, are all the more likely to be true because they rest upon universal popular tradition. The work of a historian who is deprived of these advantages must necessarily be defective in many essential particulars. Now I, who belong to a small city, and who love to live in it lest it should become even smaller, when I was at Rome, and during my travels in Italy, found my time so taken up with political business and with the care of my pupils in philosophy, that I had no leisure to learn the Roman language, and have only applied myself to Latin literature at a very advanced period of life. In this reading of Latin books, singular as it may appear, I did not find that the words assisted me to discover the meaning, but rather that my knowledge of the history enabled me to find out the meaning of the words. I think that to speak the Latin language with elegance, to understand it readily, and to use its various idioms and phrases correctly, is for a literary man both useful and interesting; but the amount of study and practice which it requires is considerable and should only be undertaken by those who are younger than myself, and who have more leisure time to devote to the acquisition of such accomplishments.

Life Of Demosthenes: III

In consequence of these considerations, in this my fifth book of Parallel Lives, which deals with the lives of Demosthenes and Cicero, I intend to describe their several characters, and to compare them with one another by means of their political acts, but I do not mean to examine minutely into their respective speeches, or to decide which of the two was the more pleasing or the more able orator. Were I to attempt such a task, I should be forgetting Ion’s proverb about a “fish out of water,” like the all-accomplished Cæcilius, who has boldly taken upon himself to write a comparison of Demosthenes with Cicero. Perhaps, however, we might begin to doubt the divine origin of the commandment “know thyself,” if we found men always ready to apply it. Indeed Heaven appears to have originally intended to form the characters of Demosthenes and Cicero on the same model, and in some instances to have implanted in them precisely the same qualities, such as great personal ambition, love of freedom, and want of courage in the wars, yet to have left much to chance. I think it would be difficult to find an instance of any two other orators who both rose from a humble station to great power and influence, who both opposed absolute monarchs, both lost favourite daughters, were both exiled and brought back with honour, who both when flying from their country a second time fell into the hands of their enemies, and with whose deaths the liberties of their countrymen were finally extinguished; so that it is hard to say whether their resemblance is due more to nature, which originally moulded their characters alike, or to fortune, which placed then in exactly similar circumstances. First, then, I will relate the life of the elder of the two.

Life Of Demosthenes: IV

The father of Demosthenes was also named Demosthenes, and belonged, according to Theopompus, to the best class of Athenian citizens. He was commonly called “the sword cutler,” because he possessed a large workshop and many slaves skilled in cutlery. As for the accusation which the orator Æschines brings against his mother, that she was the daughter of one Gylon, who was banished for treason, by a foreign woman, we cannot tell whether it is true or only a calumnious imputation. Demosthenes was left an orphan at the age of seven years, and was the heir to considerable property, amounting in all to no less than fifteen talents. He was scandalously ill-used by his guardians, who appropriated much of his income, and neglected the rest so much that he was unable to pay his teachers. He grew up ignorant of much that a boy of good birth is expected to learn, partly for this reason, and partly on account of his weak health, which caused his mother to keep him away from school. He was a sickly child, and it is said that the opprobrious nickname of Batalus was bestowed upon him by his school-fellows because of his bodily weakness. Batalus, according to some writers, was an effeminate flute-player, whose habits were satirized in a comic drama written by Antiphanes. Others assert that Batalus was a poet who wrote in a drunken licentious style; and there seems also some foundation for the belief that this word was used for a certain part of the human body by the Athenians of that time. The other nickname of Demosthenes, Argas, either alludes to his savage and harsh temper, for some poets use the word to mean a snake; or else it refers to his speeches, as wearying those who heard them; for Argas was the name of a poet whose verses were bad and tiresome. And, as Plato says, so much for this.

Life Of Demosthenes: V

We are told that he was first led to turn his attention, to oratory by the following incident. When Kallistratus was going to make a speech in court about the affair of Oropus great interest was taken in the trial because of the ability of the orator, who at that time was at the height of his reputation, and also because of the important character of the law suit. Demosthenes, hearing his teachers and attendants making arrangement to be present at the trial, persuaded his own servant by great entreaties to take him to hear the speeches. The man, who was intimate with the doorkeepers of the court, managed to obtain a place for Demosthenes, in which the boy could sit unseen by the public and hear all that was said. Kallisthenes spoke very brilliantly and was much admired. He excited the envy of Demosthenes by the honours which he received, as he was escorted home by a long train of friends who congratulated him upon his success; but the boy was even more impressed by the power of his eloquence, which enabled him to deal with everything just as he pleased. In consequence of this Demosthenes neglected all other branches of learning, neglected all the sports of childhood, and laboriously practised and exercised himself in the art of oratory, meaning some day to become an orator himself. He studied rhetoric under Isaeus, although Isokrates was giving lessons at the same time, either, according to some writers, because, being an orphan, he was unable to raise the sum of ten minæ which Isokrates demanded as a fee, or because he thought that the vigorous invective of Isaeus was more what he required to learn. Hermippus informs us that he read in some anonymous work that Demosthenes was a scholar of Plato, and learned much of the art of speaking from him, while he mentions having heard from Ktesibius that Demosthenes had been lent the works of Isokrates and Alkidamas by one Kallias, a Syracusan, and some others, and that he used to read and practise himself in them in secret.

Life Of Demosthenes: VI

. When he came of age he at once brought a series of actions against his guardians for malversation of his property, while they resorted to every species of legal subtlety and chicanery to avoid making restitution. By publicly pleading his cause, as Thucydides says, “he learned his trade by dangers,” and succeeded in recovering some of his paternal estate, though but a small part of that to which he was entitled. He gained, however, confidence and practice as a public speaker, and the fascinating excitement and sense of power which he experienced in these contests emboldened him to become a professional orator and to deal with political matters. We are told that Laomedon of Orchomenus, by the advice of his physicians, used to run long distances as a remedy for a disease of the spleen from which he suffered, until he not only overcame his disorder, but was able to enter for races at the games, and became one of the best long-distance runners of his time. Even so Demosthenes, who was forced by his private misfortunes to make his first appearance as a speaker, gained such skill and power by his success in the law-courts that he soon took the lead among the speakers in the public assembly. Yet when he first addressed the people he was violently coughed down, interrupted and ridiculed, because his speech was found dull and tiresome, being confused in style and strained and artificial in argument. It is said that his voice was weak, and his pronunciation indistinct, and that, as he was frequently obliged to pause for want of breath, it was difficult to follow the meaning of his sentences. At last he left the public assembly and wandered about Peiræus in despair. Here he was met by an old man named Eunomus of Thriasia, who reproved him and told him that he did himself great wrong, because, having a manner of speech extremely like that of Perikles, he permitted himself to be disheartened by failure, and did not face the clamour of the rabble boldly, and did not train his body to be strong enough to support the strain of such contests, but allowed himself to fall into a weakly and effeminate condition.

Life Of Demosthenes: VII

After a second failure, as he was going home overwhelmed with shame hiding his face in his cloak, Satyrus the actor is said to have followed him and joined him. Demosthenes told him with tears in his eyes that although he had taken more pains than any other speaker, and had devoted all his energes to the study of eloquence, yet he could not gain the ear of the people, but that ignorant drunken sailors were listened to when they mounted the tribune, while he was treated with scorn. On hearing this Satyrus answered, “Demosthenes, what you say is very true, but I will soon apply a remedy, if you will recite to me one of the long speeches from the plays of Sophokles or Euripides.” After Demosthenes had recited a speech, Satyrus recited the same speech in turn, and so altered it and gave it so much more grace, by throwing into it the expression which the verses required, that it appeared to Demosthenes to be quite different. Having thus learned how much a speech gains by a really artistic delivery, Demosthenes perceived that it was of but little use for him to study the matter of a speech, unless he also paid attention to the form in which it was to be presented to his audience. He now built for himself an underground study, which remained entire down to the present day, where he daily practised himself in gesture and declamation, and exercised his voice, and where he sometimes spent two or three months at a time with half of his head shaved, so that even if he wished he could not go out of doors.

Life Of Demosthenes: VIII

He took, however, his themes and subjects for declamation from the various topics of the day, which he learned from those who came to visit him. As soon as they left him he used to return to his study, and repeated aloud in the form of a speech all the news which he had heard, and made comments upon it. He also used to work up any conversations which he heard, into sentences and periods for his orations, and would alter, correct and paraphrase both his own remarks and those of his friends. This gave rise to the opinion that he was not really a man of ability, but that his power and skill as an orator was obtained by laborious study. A great proof of this was thought to be that Demosthenes seldom spoke on the spur of the moment, but often when he was present in the assembly and was called upon by the people to speak, he would remain silent unless he had prepared and meditated over his speech. Many of the other orators ridiculed him for this, and Pytheas in derision said that his arguments smelt of the lamp. To this Demosthenes made the bitter retort, “My lamp, Pytheas, sees very different work from yours.” In conversation with others, however, he did not altogether deny the practice, but said that although he never spoke without having made notes, yet that he often spoke without having written down everything that he was going to say. He used to say that this careful preparation of his speeches showed that he was a true lover of the people, and felt a due reverence for them; while, on the contrary, to speak without caring how the people take one’s words proves a man to be of an overbearing oligarchical disposition, who would use force rather than persuasion. Many writers allege, as a proof that Demosthenes dared not speak on the spur of the moment, that when he attacked Demades he was always immediately answered by him, but that he never so answered Demades.

Life Of Demosthenes: IX

How then, one might ask, was it that Æschines in his orations speaks of Demosthenes as a man of unbounded impudence? or how was it that when Python of Byzantium was pouring forth a flood of invective against Athens, Demosthenes alone rose and answered him? Moreover, when Lamachus of Mytilene, who had written an encomium upon the Kings of Macedon, Philip and Alexander, which was full of abuse of the Thebans and Olynthians, read his composition in public at the Olympic festival, Demosthenes came up to him and in a fine speech proved from history how great things the Thebans and inhabitants of Chalkidike had done for Greece, and what evils had arisen from the baseness of those who flattered the Macedonians, till the audience were so much wrought upon by his eloquence that Lamachus was forced to flee for his life. The answer to this appears to be that Demosthenes, although he did not copy Perikles in all respects, imitated his reserve and dignity of manner, and his reluctance to speak upon every trivial occasion; and that he was not so much attracted by the credit which he might gain by engaging in these encounters, as he was unwilling rashly to place his power and reputation at the mercy of fortune. Indeed, his spoken orations had more fire and daring than the written ones, if we may trust Eratosthenes, Demetrius of Phalerum, and the comic poets. Eratosthenes tells us that in his speeches he used to rave like a Bacchanal, while Demetrius says that once, as if inspired, he recited the metrical oath:

“By earth, by fountains, and by waterfloods.”

One of the comic poets also calls him “the random talker,” while another mocks at his fondness for antithesis in the following verses:

“1st Citizen. He got it as he got it back.
2nd Citizen. Demosthenes would willingly have spoken words like these.”

Unless indeed Antiphanes meant by this to allude to the oration on Halonesus, in which Demosthenes advised the Athenians not to take that island, but to take it back from Philip.

Life Of Demosthenes: X

Yet all admitted that Demades, by his own natural wit, without art, was invincible; and that he often, speaking on the spur of the moment, would demolish the carefully studied orations of Demosthenes. Ariston of Chios has preserved the opinion of Theophrastus about these two orators. Theophrastus, when asked what kind of orator he thought Demosthenes to be, replied, “an orator worthy of Athens.” When again asked his opinion of Demades, he replied that he thought him “Too great for Athens.” The same philosopher relates that Polyeuktus of Sphettus, one of the chief Athenian statesmen of the time, used to declare that Demosthenes was the best orator, but that Phokion was the most powerful speaker, because his speeches contained the greatest possible amount of meaning in the fewest words. Demosthenes himself, whenever Phokion rose to answer him, was wont to whisper to his friends, “Here comes the cleaver of my harangues.” It is not clear whether by this Demosthenes alluded to Phokion’s oratorical skill, or to his blameless life and high reputation, meaning that the slightest sign given by a man in whom the people felt such confidence carried more weight than the longest oration by anyone else.

Life Of Demosthenes: XI

Demetrius of Phalerum has recorded the devices by which Demosthenes overcame his bodily defects, which he says he heard from Demosthenes’s own lips when he was an old man. He corrected the indistinctness of his articulation and his tendency to lisp by declaiming long speeches with pebbles in his mouth, while he strengthened his voice by running or walking up hill, talking the while, and repeating orations or verses. He also had a large mirror in his house, and used to stand before it and study oratorical gestures. We are told that once a man called upon him and asked him to act as his counsel in a lawsuit against a man by whom he had been beaten. “But,” said Demosthenes, “you have not suffered any of this ill-treatment which you complain of.” At this the man raised his voice and excitedly exclaimed, “Do you say, Demosthenes, that I have not been ill-treated?” “Yes,” answered he, “now I hear the voice of one who has really been ill-used.” So important did he think the action and the tone of voice of a speaker to be in carrying conviction to the minds of his hearers. His manner in speaking marvellously pleased the common people, though men of taste, such as Demetrius of Phalerum, thought it vulgar and affected. Hermippus informs us that Aesion, when asked to give his opinion about the orators of former times and those of his own day, said that the ancient orators used to address the people in a surprisingly decorous and dignified manner, but that the speeches of Demosthenes when read aloud, appeared to him to be much more carefully constructed and more forcible. It is indeed unnecessary to say that the written speeches of Demosthenes are bitter and angry compositions; but in his impromptu repartees, he often was genuinely witty and pleasant. As for example, when Demades exclaimed, “Demosthenes teach me! Will a sow teach Athena?”

Demosthenes answered, “This Athena was caught in adultery in Kollytus the other day.” And when the thief who was surnamed Chalkus, that is, Brazen-face, attempted to sneer at him for sitting up late at night writing, Demosthenes answered, “I know that my habit of burning a lamp at night must disconcert you. But, men of Athens, need we wonder at the thefts which take place, when we see that our thieves are brazen, and our walls are only made of clay.” However, although I could relate several more anecdotes of this kind, I must now stop, as we ought to discover what remains of the disposition and character of Demosthenes from a survey of his political acts.

Life Of Demosthenes: XII

He first began to take an active part in public affairs during the Phokian war, as we learn from his own words, and as we may also gather from his Philippic orations, some of which were pronounced after that war was ended, while the earlier ones touch on those matters most nearly connected with it. It is evident that when he prepared the oration against Meidias he was thirty-two years of age, and had not as yet acquired any fame or reputation. This appears to me to be the chief reason for his having made up his quarrel with Meidias for a sum of money, for he was far from being a “mild-mannered” man, but keen and savage in avenging the injuries which he received. It must have been because he saw, that to ruin a man who was so rich, so able a speaker, and so well-befriended as Meidias, was too difficult a task for a man of his political power, and so yielded to the entreaties of those who begged him to let the action drop; for I do not believe that the bribe of three thousand drachmae which he received would by itself have caused Demosthenes to lay aside the rancorous hatred which he bore to Meidias, if he had entertained any hopes of obtaining a verdict against him.

In the defence of the liberties of Greece against the encroachments of Philip, Demosthenes found a noble theme for political oratory, which he treated in a manner worthy of the subject, and soon acquired such renown by his able and fearless speeches, that he was courted by the king of

Persia himself, and was more talked about in the court of Philip than any of the other statesmen of the time, while even his bitterest antagonists admitted that they had to deal with no mean adversary; for both Æschines and Hypereides own as much in their invectives against him.

XIII. I cannot, therefore, understand what Theopompus meant by saying that he was of an inconstant disposition, and not able to remain long associated with any party or any line of policy. It appears rather that he remained throughout the consistent advocate of the same principles, and a member of the same political party to which he originally belonged, and that he not only never changed his politics in his life, but even lost his life because he would not change them. He was not like Demades, who to excuse himself for changing sides pleaded that he had oftentimes gone against his own words, but never against the interests of the state. Still less can he be compared with Melanopus, the political opponent of Kallistratus, who was often bribed by him to allow some measure to pass, and on these occasions would say to the people, “The man is my personal enemy, but I postpone my personal feelings to the good of my country.” Nikodemus of Messene, who first took up with Kassander, and afterwards became the advocate of Demetrius, used to declare that he never was inconsistent, because it was always best to obey the strongest party. But in the case of Demosthenes, unlike these men, we can say that he never deviated either in word or deed from the one direct line of policy which he unswervingly pursued to the end. The philosopher Panætius declares that in most of his orations, as in that about the Crown, that against Aristokrates, that on behalf of the persons exempted from taxation (against Leptines), and in the Philippics, we can trace the principle that honour ought to be pursued for its own sake; for in all these he urges his countrymen not to adopt the most pleasant, the most easy, or the most profitable line of policy, but often thinks that caution and even safety should be regarded as of less importance than honourable conduct; so that if to his noble principles and high-minded eloquence he had joined warlike courage and clean hands from bribery, he would have been worthy to rank, not with Mœrokles, Polyeuktus, and Hypereides, but with Kimon, Thucydides, Perikles, and other great men of old.

Life Of Demosthenes: XIV

Indeed, of his contemporaries, Phokion, although we cannot approve of the strong Macedonian bias of his policy, was nowise inferior to Ephialtes, Aristeides, or Kimon, either in courage or in just dealing; while Demosthenes, who could not be trusted, as we are told by Demetrius, to stand his ground in battle, and who was not altogether proof against the seductions of money—for though he never would receive a bribe from Philip or from Macedonia, yet he was overwhelmed by the torrent of gold which poured from Susa and Ekbatana—was better able than any one else to praise the great deeds of his ancestors, but was not equally capable of imitating them. Yet in spite of these shortcomings, his life was more virtuous than that of any statesman of his time, with the exception of Phokion. He used plainer language to the people than any one else, opposed their wishes, and sharply reproved them for their mistakes, as we learn from his orations. Theopompus has recorded that once when the Athenians called upon him to impeach some person, and became riotous when he refused, he rose and said, “Men of Athens, I will always give you my advice, whether you bid me or not; but I will not accuse men falsely because you bid me.” His mode of dealing with Antiphon also was by no means like that of a man who courts the favour of the people, for when the public assembly acquitted Antiphon, Demosthenes dragged him before the court of the Areopagus, and in defiance of the expressed opinion of the people, proved him guilty of having promised Philip that he would set fire to the dockyard. The wretched man was condemned by the court and executed. He also impeached the priestess Theoris for various evil practices, and especially for teaching slaves to cheat their masters. He obtained a verdict against her, and caused her also to be put to death.

Life Of Demosthenes: XV

It is stated that the speech by which Apollodorus obtained sentence against the general Timotheus, and had him condemned to pay a large fine, was written for him by Demosthenes: and he also wrote the speeches against Phormio and Stephanus, which, as may be supposed, brought great disgrace upon him. For Phormio actually used a speech written by Demosthenes to combat Apollodorus, which was just as if out of one armourer’s shop he had sold them each daggers to kill one another with. Of his public speeches, those against Androtion, Timokrates and Aristokrates were written for other persons, as he had not at the time of their composition began to speak in public, being only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. The oration against Aristogeiton, he himself pronounced, as he did also that against Leptines, out of regard for Ktesippus the son of Chabrias, according to his own account of the matter, though some say that he was paying his addresses to the young man’s mother at the time. He did not, however, marry her, but married a Samian woman, as we learn from the treatise of Demetrius of Magnesia on Synonyms. It is not clear whether the oration against Æschines for the dishonest embassage was ever spoken; although we are told by Idomeneus that Æschines was only acquitted by thirty votes. This, however, cannot be true, judging from the speeches of Demosthenes and Æschines “on the Crown:” for neither of them distinctly alludes to that affair as having ever come into court. This point, therefore, I shall leave for others to determine.

Life Of Demosthenes: XVI

Before the war broke out no one could doubt which side Demosthenes would take, as he never allowed any act of the King of Macedonia to pass unnoticed, but seized every opportunity of rousing and exciting his countrymen to oppose him. In consequence of this his name became well known at the court of Philip, and when he was sent with nine others to Macedonia on an embassy, Philip listened to the speeches of them all, but replied to his speech with the greatest care. He did not, however, pay so much attention to Demosthenes in the entertainment which he provided for the ambassadors, but took especial pains to win the favour of Æschines and Philokrates. Hence, when these men praised Philip as being more eloquent, more handsome, and to crown all, able to drink more than any one else, Demosthenes sneeringly replied that the first of these qualities was excellent in a sophist, the second in a woman, and the third in a sponge, but that they were none of them such as became a king.

XVII. When war finally broke out, as Philip was unable to remain quiet, while the Athenians were urged on by Demosthenes, his first measure was to prevail upon the Athenians to recover Eubœa, which had been handed over to Philip by its local rulers. In pursuance of a decree which bore the name of Demosthenes, the Athenians crossed into the island and drove out the Macedonians. Next, as Philip was besieging Byzantium and Perinthus, Demosthenes prevailed upon his countrymen to lay aside their anger and forget the wrongs which they had received from the people of those cities in the social war, and to send them a reinforcement by which they were saved. After this he travelled through Greece, exciting a spirit of resistance to Philip by his speeches, until he succeeded in forming nearly all the Greek cities into a confederacy against Philip, organised an army of fifteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, besides the local forces of each city, and induced them to subscribe cheerfully for the maintenance of the mercenaries and the expenses of the war. At this time, we are told by Theophrastus that, when the allies demanded that their contributions should be limited to some fixed sum, Krobylus the Athenian orator answered that war feeds not by a fixed allowance. Greece was now in a flutter of expectation, and the people of Eubœa, Achaia, Corinth, Megara, Leukas and Korkyra were all in arms. Yet the hardest task of all still remained for Demosthenes to accomplish, namely, to induce the Thebans to join the alliance, because their territory bordered upon that of Athens, and their army was very important, for at that time Thebes was the most warlike state in Greece. It was no easy matter to win over the Thebans, who had just received signal assistance from Philip in their war against the Phokians, and so were inclined to take his side, besides which, their being such near neighbours to the Athenians caused perpetual jealousies and quarrels between the two countries, which were renewed upon the most trifling occasions.

XVIII. Yet when Philip, excited by his success at Amphissa, suddenly marched to Elatea and made himself master of Phokis, when all the Athenians were panic-stricken, and no one dared to ascend the bema, or knew what to say, Demosthenes alone came forward and advised them to stand by the Thebans; and after having, after his wont, encouraged and comforted the people, he was sent with some others as ambassador to Thebes. We learn from the historian Marsyas that Philip, too, sent the Macedonians Amyntas and Klearchus, the Thessalian Daochus, and Thrasydaeus to Thebes to argue on his behalf. The Thebans on this occasion saw clearly enough on which side their interests lay, for the sufferings they had just endured in the Phokian war were still fresh in their memories; but we read in the history of Theopompus that the eloquence of Demosthenes so roused and inflamed their courage that all cold-blooded calculation of the chances, fear of the enemy, and considerations of expediency were entirely lost sight of in the honourable enthusiasm created by his speech. So powerful did his oratory prove, that Philip at once sent an embassy to ask for terms of peace, while Greece stood erect and watchful. Not only the Athenian generals, but even the Boeotarchs took their orders from Demosthenes, and he was as powerful in the public assembly of the Thebans as in that of Athens, being beloved by both nations and possessed of a power which was not beyond his deserts, as Theopompus says, but which he well deserved.

Life Of Demosthenes: XIX

But some fatal destiny seemed now to have brought round the hour for the extinction of the liberties of Greece, and both counteracted his efforts, and also gave many ominous indications of what was to come. The Pythia at Delphi uttered terrible predictions, and an old oracle of the Sibyls was in every one’s mouth, which ran as follows:—

“Far from the battle, on that fatal day
Beside Thermodon may I flee away,
Or view it as an eagle from the sky;
There shall the vanquished weep, the victor die.”

It is said that the Thermodon is a little rivulet near my own town of Chæronea which runs into the Kephisus. We Chæroneans nowadays do not know of any rivulet which is so called, but we suppose that the stream which we call Hæmon was at that period called the Thermodon; for it runs past the temple of Herakles, where the Greek army encamped: and we imagine that when the battle took place this stream was filled with blood and corpses, and became known by its present name. Yet the historian Douris writes that the Thermodon was not a river at all, but that some men while digging a trench round their tent found a small stone image, with an inscription saying that it represented a man named Thermodon carrying a wounded Amazon in his arms. Concerning this there was another oracle current, as follows:—

Watch for Thermodon’s field, thou sable crow,
There shalt thou feed on human flesh enow.

Life Of Demosthenes: XX

It is hard in these matters to determine the exact truth: but, be this as it may, Demosthenes was greatly encouraged to see such a force of armed Greeks at his disposal, and, elated by their confidence and eagerness for battle would not allow them to pay any attention to oracles and predictions, but hinted that the Pythia was in Philip’s pay, and reminded the Thebans of Epameinondas, and the Athenians of Perikles, both of whom regarded such considerations as mere pretexts for cowardice. Up to this point he behaved as a brave man should; but in the battle itself he performed no honourable exploit worthy of his speeches, but left his place in the ranks and ran away in a most shameful manner, throwing away his arms that he might run faster, and not hesitating to disgrace the motto of “Good Luck,” which Pytheas tells us was written in golden letters upon his shield. Immediately after the victory Philip, in insolent delight at his success, danced in a drunken revel among the corpses and sang the opening words of a decree of Demosthenes, which happened to form an iambic verse, as follows:—

“Demosthenes Pæanian, son of Demosthenes,” &c.

When, however, he came to himself, and comprehended how great his danger had been, he trembled at the ability and power of an orator who had been able to force him in a few hours of one day to risk both his empire and his life. The fame of Demosthenes reached even to the King of Persia, and he sent letters to the Satraps who governed the provinces near the sea, bidding them offer money to Demosthenes, and pay him more attention than any other Greek, because he was able to effect a diversion in favour of Persia by keeping the King of Macedonia’s hands full. This was afterwards discovered by Alexander, who found at Sardis letters from Demosthenes and papers belonging to the King’s lieutenant, containing an account of the various sums of money which they had transmitted to him.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXI

When this great misfortune befell Greece, the political opponents of Demosthenes at once impeached him for his conduct; but the people not only acquitted him of the charges which they brought against him, but continued to treat him with great honour, and to ask for his advice. When the remains of those who had fallen at Chæronea were brought home and buried, they chose him to make the funeral oration over them, and generally they bore their misfortunes with a noble spirit, not being excessively humbled and cast down, as Theopompus relates in his history, with a view to dramatic effect, but by showing especial honour and esteem for their principal adviser they proved that they did not repent of the policy which they had followed. Demosthenes pronounced the funeral oration over the fallen, but he never again proposed a decree in the popular assembly in his own name, but always in that of some one of his friends, in order to avoid the evil omen of his own unlucky name, until he again took courage at the death of Philip, which took place shortly after his victory at Chæronea. This, it seems, was the meaning of the last verse of the oracle,

“There shall the vanquished weep, the victor die.”

XXII. Demosthenes had secret intelligence of Philip’s death, before it was publicly known. In order to inspirit the Athenians, he went with a cheerful countenance into the senate, and declared that he had dreamed that some great good fortune was in store for them. Not long afterwards messengers arrived with the news of Philip’s death. Upon this the Athenians made sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods, and decreed a crown to Pausanias who slew Philip. Demosthenes also came abroad in a gay dress, and wearing a garland of flowers on his head, although his daughter had only been dead seven days. This circumstance is reported by Æschines, who reviles him for his conduct, and calls him an unnatural father, though he only proves the weakness and vulgarity of his own nature by supposing that noisy demonstrations of grief show tenderness of heart, and blaming those who bear their sorrows with dignity and composure. Yet I will not say that the Athenians did right to wear garlands and make merry at the death of a king who, after his victory, had dealt so gently with them when they were at his mercy; for it deserved the anger of the gods, and was a thoroughly low-minded act to honour a man while he lived and elect him a citizen of Athens, and then when he fell by the hand of a stranger not to be able to contain themselves for joy, but to dance over his corpse and to sing pæans of victory, as if they themselves had done some great feat of arms. On the other hand, I praise Demosthenes for leaving his own home troubles to be wept for by the women of his household, and himself coming forward and doing what he imagined was best for his country. This shows a manly and patriotic spirit, which ever looks to the good of the community at large; and I think that in forcing his private grief to give way to the public joy he acted well, and even outdid those actors who represent kings and autocrats on the stage, and who laugh or wail not as their own feelings bid them, but as the argument of the play requires. Apart from these considerations, it is our duty not to forsake a man when he is in sorrow, but to administer consolation to him and to turn his thoughts to pleasanter subjects, as physicians bid weak-eyed patients turn their eyes away from a distressing glare of light and direct them to green and soothing colours; and what better means of consolation could one possibly find when one’s country is fortunate, than to bid one’s friend merge his private grief in the public joy? I have been led to make these reflections by observing that this speech of Æschines has had undue influence with many persons, because it makes a mistaken appeal to their tenderer feelings.

XXIII. Now Demosthenes a second time began to rouse the states of Greece and reorganise the confederacy. The Thebans attacked their Macedonian garrison, and killed many of them, with arms furnished by Demosthenes, and the Athenians began to prepare to fight as their allies. Demosthenes reigned supreme in the popular assembly, and wrote to the Persian generals in Asia endeavouring to induce them to attack Alexander, whom he scoffed at as a child, and nicknamed Margites. But when Alexander, after settling the affairs of his kingdom, marched with his army into Bœotia, the courage of the Athenians deserted them. Demosthenes himself quailed in terror, and the Thebans, forsaken by their allies, fought against Alexander alone, and were utterly ruined. Upon this the Athenians, in an agony of terror, sent Demosthenes and several other orators on an embassy to Alexander; but he, fearing Alexander’s fury, went no further than Mount Kithæron, and then returned home. Alexander now at once sent to Athens to demand that ten of her chief orators should be given up to him, according to the historians Idomeneus and Douris, though most of the more trustworthy writers say that he only asked for the eight following:—Demosthenes, Polyeuktus, Ephialtes, Lykurgus, Mœrokles, Demon, Kallisthenes and Charidemus. On this occasion Demosthenes told the people the fable of the sheep who gave up their watch-dogs to the wolves, explaining that he and the other orators were the watch-dogs who guarded the people, and calling Alexander the “great wolf of Macedon.” “Moreover,” said he, “by delivering us up you really deliver up yourselves also, just as you see merchants selling whole cargoes of corn by small samples of a few grains which they carry about in a cup.” This we learn from Aristobulus of Kassandrea. As the Athenians were quite at their wit’s end, and knew not what to do, Demades at last agreed with the orators whose extradition was demanded, that in consideration of a sum of five talents he would himself go to the king of Macedonia and intercede for them, either because he trusted in the friendship which existed between him and Alexander, or because he thought that he should find him like a lion that has been satiated with slaughter. Demades succeeded in saving their lives, and arranged terms of peace between the Athenians and Alexander.

XXIV. After Alexander’s departure Demades and his party were all powerful at Athens, and Demosthenes was completely humbled. He made an effort to assist the abortive attempts of Agis King of Sparta, but as the Athenians would not take part in the proposed rising, and the Lacedæmonians were crushed, he again retired into obscurity. At this time also the action bought by Æschines against Ktesiphon about the Crown came on for trial. This action had been formally begun during the archonship of Chærondas, a short time before the battle of Chæronea, but it was not decided until ten years later, in the archonship of Aristophon. This, although a private action, attracted greater interest than any public one, both on account of the eloquence of the speakers on both sides and the spirited behaviour of the judges, who refused to truckle to the party in power, which had banished Demosthenes and which was slavishly subservient to Macedonia, but acquitted Demosthenes by such a splendid majority that Æschines did not obtain the fifth part of the votes. He in consequence at once left the city, and spent the remainder of his life at Rhodes and the other cities of the Ionian coast as a sophist and teacher of rhetoric.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXV

Shortly after this, Harpalus arrived in Athens from Asia, fleeing from Alexander, whom he feared to meet, both because he had grossly misconducted himself while in command of a province, and because Alexander had now become a capricious tyrant, terrible even to his friends. When he sought refuge with the Athenians, and placed himself, his ships, and his treasure in their hands, the other orators, casting longing glances at his wealth, at once pleaded for him, and advised the Athenians to receive and protect the suppliant. Demosthenes at first advised them to send Harpalus away, and take care not to involve the city in war by such unjust and uncalled-for proceedings: but a few days afterwards when an inventory was being taken of Harpalus’s property, he, seeing that Demosthenes was admiring a golden Persian drinking cup and examining the sculptures with which it was enriched, bade him take it in his hands and observe the weight of the gold. Demosthenes was surprised at the weight, and asked how much it would fetch. Harpalus answered with a smile, “It will fetch you twenty talents:” and as soon as it was dark he sent the cup and the twenty talents to the house of Demosthenes. Harpalus had very cleverly fathomed the character of Demosthenes by observing the loving and eager glances with which he eyed this cup; for he received the bribe and went over to the side of Harpalus, just as if he were a city which had received a foreign garrison. Next morning he carefully bandaged his throat with woollen wrappers, and proceeded to the assembly, where, when called upon to rise and speak, he made signs that he had lost his voice. Witty men said that the orator had not caught a sore throat, but a silver quinsy during the night. Soon the whole people learned that he had been bribed, and as they would not listen to him when he rose to explain his conduct, but hooted and groaned, some one rose and said, “Men of Athens, will you not listen to a man who has such a golden tongue?” The people thereupon sent Harpalus away, and fearing that inquiry might be made after the treasure which the orators had received, they instituted a vigorous search through every man’s house, except that of Kallikles the son of Arrhenides, which they would not allow to be searched because his newly-married wife was there. These particulars we learn from the history of Theopompus.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXVI.

Demosthenes, wishing to put a good face on the matter, passed a decree in the assembly, that the senate of the Areopagus should enquire into the matter, and punish those who were found guilty. However he was one of the first whom the senate found guilty: and, although he came into court and pleaded his cause, he was condemned to pay a fine of fifty talents, and was imprisoned in default. Overwhelmed with shame at this disgrace, and being also in weak health, he could not bear to remain in prison, and made his escape with the secret assistance of his keepers. We read that after he had got a short distance from Athens he saw that he was being pursued by several of his political opponents, and tried to hide from them. When, however, they came up to him, addressed him by his name, and begged him to receive money for his journey from them, assuring him that they had brought it to give to him and had pursued him for no other reason, Demosthenes burst into tears and exclaimed: “I may well be sorry to leave a home where my very enemies treat me with more kindness than any friends I am likely to find abroad will do.” Demosthenes was much depressed by his banishment, and spent most of his time in Troezene or Aegina, looking towards Attica with tears in his eyes. He is said during his exile to have uttered many unmanly sentiments, very unworthy of his bold speeches when in power. On leaving the city he stretched out his hands towards the Acropolis and exclaimed: “Athena, patroness of Athens, why dost thou delight in those three savage creatures, the owl, the snake, and the people?” He used to dissuade the young men whom he met and conversed with during his travels from taking part in political life, and would say that such were the miseries, the fears, the jealousies, backbitings, and ceaseless struggles by which a public man is beset, that if at the outset of his life he had known them, and had been offered his choice between two courses, one leading to the bema and the public assembly, and the other to utter annihilation, he would unhesitatingly have chosen the latter.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXVII

While he was in exile Alexander died, and the Hellenic confederacy was again revived under Leosthenes, a brave general, who shut up Antipater in Lauria and besieged him there. Now, Pytheas the orator and Kallimedon, surnamed the “crab,” who were exiled from Athens, joined Antipater, and travelled about Greece in company with his friends and ambassadors, urging the cities not to join the Athenians and revolt from Macedonia. Demosthenes, on the other hand, joined the embassy sent out by Athens and co-operated with them, striving to induce the Greeks to rise against the Macedonians and drive them out of Greece. In Arcadia, Phylarchus tells us that a wordy battle took place between Pytheas and Demosthenes at a public meeting in which Pytheas was advocating the cause of Macedonia, and Demosthenes that of Greece. Pytheas said that we may always know that there is sickness in a house if we see asses’ milk carried into it, and that a city must be in a bad way if it received an embassy from Athens. To this Demosthenes answered by turning his own illustration against him, for, he said, asses’ milk is brought into houses to cure the sick, and Athenians come into other cities to save them from ruin. The people of Athens were so delighted with the conduct of Demosthenes in this matter that they decreed his restoration. The decree was proposed by Demon, one of the township of Paeania, and a cousin of Demosthenes; and a trireme was sent to Aegina to fetch him home. When he landed at Peiræus he was met by the whole people, and by all the priests and archons, all of whom greeted him warmly. On this occasion, Demetrius of Magnesia relates that he raised his hands to heaven and congratulated himself on having returned home more gloriously than Alkibiades, because he had persuaded, not forced, his countrymen to receive him back. As the fine imposed upon him still remained in force, for the people could not alter a verdict at their pleasure, they made use of a legal fiction. It was the custom at the festival of Zeus the Preserver to pay a sum of money to those who ornamented the altar for the sacrifice: they charged Demosthenes with this office, and ordered him to execute it for the sum of fifty talents, which was the amount of his fine.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXVIII.

He did not, however, long enjoy his restoration, for the Greeks were soon utterly ruined. In the month of Metageitnion the battle of Krannon took place, in Bœdromion a Macedonian garrison entered Munychia, and in Pyanepsion Demosthenes was put to death in the following manner:—As soon as it became known that Antipater and Kraterus were marching upon Athens, Demosthenes and his party escaped out of the city, and the people, at the instance of Demades, condemned them to death. As they had dispersed to all quarters of Greece, Antipater sent men in pursuit of them, the chief of whom was Archias, who was surnamed the Exile-hunter. This man, who was a citizen of Thurii, is said once to have been a tragic actor, and to have studied his art under the celebrated Polus of Ægina. Hermippus reckons Archias among the pupils of the orator Lakritus, while Demetrius tells us that he was a student of philosophy of the school of Anaximenes. This Archias tore away from the shrine of Æakus at Ægina the orator Hypereides, Aristonikus of Marathon, and Himeræus, the brother of Demetrius of Phalerum, who had taken sanctuary there, and sent them to Antipater at Kleonæ, where they were put to death. It is even said that Hypereides had his tongue cut out.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXIX.

Hearing that Demosthenes was sitting as a suppliant in the temple of Poseidon at Kalauria, Archias crossed over thither in some small boats with a guard of Thracian mercenaries, and tried to persuade Demosthenes to leave the temple and accompany him to Antipater, promising that he should not be ill-treated. Demosthenes had a strange dream the night before that he was contending with Archias in acting a play, and that although he acted well and delighted his audience, yet he was beaten by Archias, who was better furnished with stage properties and appliances. Wherefore, when Archias tried to cajole him, Demosthenes looked him full in the face, and, without rising, said, “Archias, your acting never affected me on the stage, nor will your promises now.” Upon this Archias became angry, and savagely threatened him. “Now,” said Demosthenes, “you speak like the true Macedonian that you are; but just now you were acting a part. So now wait for a little while until I have sent a letter home.” Saying this, he retired into the inner part of the temple, took his tablets as though about to write, placed his pen in his mouth and bit it, as he was wont to do when meditating what he should write, and after remaining so for some time, covered his head with his robe and leaned it on his arms. The soldiers standing at the door of the temple jeered at him for a coward, and Archias walked up to him and bade him rise, repeating his assurance that he would make Antipater his friend. Demosthenes, as soon as he perceived that the poison was beginning to work upon him, uncovered his head, and, looking steadfastly at Archias, said, “Now, as soon as you please, you may play the part of Kreon in the play, and throw my body to the dogs without burial. But I, good Poseidon, leave thy temple while I am yet alive, and will not profane the sanctuary by my death there, though Antipater and his Macedonians have not feared to pollute it with murder.” Having spoken these words, he asked them to support him by the arms, as his strength was fast failing him, and as they were assisting him to walk past the altar he fell with a groan and died there.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXX

As for the poison, Ariston says that it was contained in his pen, as has been related. But one Pappas, from whom Hermippus has borrowed his account of the scene, says that when Demosthenes fell before the altar, in his tablets were found written the opening words of a letter, “Demosthenes to Antipater,” and nothing more. All were surprised at the suddenness of his death, but the Thracian mercenaries at the door declared that they saw him take the poison out of a little cloth and put it into his mouth. They imagined that what he swallowed was gold; but a maid-servant that waited on him told Archias, in answer to his inquiries, that Demosthenes had for a long time carried about a packet containing poison, to be used in case of need. Eratosthenes himself writes that Demosthenes carried the poison in a hollow bracelet which he wore on his arm. It would be tedious to notice all the discrepancies to be found in the numerous accounts which have been written of the death of Demosthenes; but I will mention that Demochares, a relative of Demosthenes, states his belief that he did not die by poison, but by the provident care of the gods, who rescued him from the cruelty of the Macedonians by a swift and painless death. He perished on the sixteenth day of the month Pyanepsion, which is observed as a day of the strictest fasting and humiliation by the women who celebrate the festival of the Thesmophoria. The people of Athens soon afterwards bestowed on Demosthenes the honours which he deserved, by erecting a brazen statue in memory of him, and decreeing that the eldest of his family should be maintained in the Prytaneum for ever. On the base of the statue was inscribed the celebrated couplet:

“Could’st thou have fought as well as thou could’st speak,
The Macedonian ne’er had ruled the Greek.”

It is a complete mistake to suppose, as some writers do, that Demosthenes himself composed this couplet in Kalauria just before he took the poison.

Life Of Demosthenes: XXXI.

A short time before my own first visit to Athens, the following incident is said to have taken place. A soldier, being summoned by his commanding officer to be tried for some offence, placed all his money in the hands of the statue of Demosthenes, which are represented as clasped together. Beside the statue grew a small plane-tree, and several leaves of this tree, either blown there by chance, or placed there on purpose by the soldier, concealed and covered up the money, so that it remained there a long while. At last the soldier returned and found it, and as the circumstance became widely known, many literary men seized the opportunity of making epigrams on this striking proof of the incorruptible honesty of Demosthenes.

Demades did not long enjoy the honour which he had won, for the gods, in order to avenge Demosthenes, led him to Macedonia, where he perished miserably by the hands of those whose favour he had so basely courted. He had long been disliked by the Macedonian court, and at last a clear proof of his treasonable practices was discovered in an intercepted letter of his to Perdikkas, in which he urged him to seize the throne of Macedonia and save the Greeks, who were now hanging by an old and rotten thread (meaning Antipater). On the evidence of this letter, Deinarchus of Corinth charged him with treason, and Kassander was so infuriated at his perfidy that he first stabbed Demades’s own son while in his father’s arms, and then ordered him to be put to death. Thus, by inflicting on him the greatest misery which a man could suffer, he proved to him the truth of that saying of Demosthenes which he had never before believed, that traitors first of all betray themselves. You now, my friend Sossius, know all that I have either read or heard concerning the life of Demosthenes.

Life Of Cicero.

Life Of Cicero: I

They say that Cicero’s mother Helvia was of good family and conversation, but as to his father the accounts are in opposite extremes. For some say that the man was born and brought up in a fuller’s workshop; but others carry back his pedigree to Tullus Attius, who reigned with distinction among the Volsci and fought against the Romans with no small vigour. However, the first of the family who got the cognomen of Cicero must have been a man of note, and this was the reason why his descendants did not reject the name, but were well pleased with it, though it was a matter of jeering to many: for the Latins call a vetch Cicer, and the first Cicero had at the end of his nose a cleft or split, slightly marked as we may suppose, like the cleft in a vetch, whence he got the cognomen. Indeed Cicero himself, the subject of this Life, on his friends advising him when he was first a candidate for office and began to engage in public life, to get rid of the name and take another, is reported to have boldly replied that he would strive to make the name of Cicero more glorious than that of Scaurus and Catulus. While he was quæstor in Sicily, and causing a silver offering to the gods to be made, he had inscribed on it his first two names, Marcus and Tullius, but in place of the third he jocosely ordered the artist to cut the figure of a vetch by the side of the characters. This then is what is recorded about the name.

Life Of Cicero: II

They say that Cicero’s mother gave birth to him, after a painless and easy labor, on the third day of the new calends, on which the magistrates now offer up prayers and sacrifices on behalf of the Emperor. It is said that a vision appeared to his nurse and foretold her that she was nurturing a great blessing for all Romans. Such things as these are generally considered to be mere dreams and idle talk, but in his case Cicero soon showed that it was a real prophecy when he was of age to be taught, for he was conspicuous for his natural talent and got a name and reputation among the boys, so that their fathers used to visit the schools out of desire to see Cicero, and to inquire of his famed quickness and capacity for learning; but the ill-educated part were angry with their sons when they saw them giving Cicero a place in the midst of them in the public roads by way of honour. Cicero, who had a talent, such as Plato requires in a nature that loves learning and loves wisdom, for embracing all knowledge and undervaluing no kind of learning and discipline, happened to show a strong inclination to poetry: and indeed a small poem of his is still preserved, which was written when he was a boy: it is entitled Pontius Glaucus, and is in tetrameter verse. In the course of time he applied himself to the Muse of such arts with still more versatility, and got the reputation of being not only the first orator, but also the best poet among the Romans. Now his oratorical reputation continues to the present day, though there has been no small innovation in matters that concern eloquence; but as to his poetical reputation, owing to many poets of genius who have come after him, its fate has been to die away altogether unknown to fame and unhonoured.

Life Of Cicero: III

After being released from his youthful studies, he heard Philo of the Academy, whom of all the scholars of Kleitomachus, the Romans admired most for his eloquence and loved most for his manners. At the same time by his intimacy with the Mucii, who were statesmen and leaders in the Senate, he was aided in getting some knowledge of the law; and for a time, also, he served in the army under Sulla in the Marsic war. But seeing that matters were coming to a civil war, and from a civil war to a pure monarchy, betaking himself to a life of quiet and contemplation, he kept company with learned Greeks and applied himself to the sciences, until Sulla had got the mastery, and the state seemed to have received a settlement. During this time Chrysogonus, a freedman of Sulla, having laid an information about a man’s property as being one of those who were put to death during the proscriptions, bought it for two thousand drachmæ. Roscius, the son and heir of the dead man, complained of this, and showed that the property was of the value of two hundred and fifty talents, on which Sulla, being convicted, was angry, and with the assistance of Chrysogonus instituted a prosecution against Roscius for parricide. No one gave Roscius help, but all were deterred through fear of the severity of Sulla, on which the young man in his desolate condition had recourse to Cicero, who was also importuned by his friends, who urged that he would never again have a more splendid opportunity of gaining a reputation nor a more honourable. Accordingly Cicero undertook the defence, and gained credit by his success; but, being afraid of Sulla, he went into Greece, giving out that his bodily health required care. And indeed he was lean and had little flesh, and owing to weakness of stomach, he took little food, and that of a light kind late in the day; his voice was full and good, but hard and unmanageable, and owing to the vehemence and passion of his language being continually carried through the higher notes it gave him alarm about his health.

Life Of Cicero: IV

On his arrival at Athens he became a hearer of Antiochus of Askalon, being pleased with the easy flow of his speech and his graceful manner, but he did not like his doctrinal innovations. For Antiochus was now seceding from what is called the New Academy, and deserting the sect of Karneades; whether it was that he was influenced by the evidence and by the senses, or as some say, through rivalry and differences with the followers of Kleitomachus and the partisans of Philo, he was changing to be a cultivator of the Stoic principle in most things. But Cicero liked the other doctrines better, and attached himself to them in preference, intending, if he should altogether be excluded from public affairs, to remove himself to Athens from the Forum and public life and live there in tranquillity with philosophy. But when news came that Sulla was dead, and his body being strengthened by discipline was attaining a vigorous habit, and his voice being now brought under management had become pleasant to the ear and powerful, and was suitably adapted to his habit of body, and his friends from Rome were sending him many letters and exhortations, and Antiochus strongly urged him to engage in public affairs, he began anew to fashion his oratorical power, as if it were an instrument, and to rouse afresh his political capacity, by exercising himself in the proper discipline and attending the rhetoricians of repute. Accordingly he sailed to Asia and Rhodes; and among the Asiatic orators he attended the instruction of Xenokles of Adramyttium, and Dionysius of Magnesia, and Menippus of Caria; and in Rhodes, the rhetorician Apollonius, the son of Molo, and the philosopher Poseidonius. It is said that Apollonius, who did not understand the Latin language, requested Cicero to perform his exercises in Greek; and that Cicero readily complied, thinking that his faults would thus be better corrected. When he had finished his exercise, all the rest were amazed, and vied with one another in their praises, but Apollonius, while he was listening to Cicero, showed no approbation, and when Cicero had finished he sat for a long time wrapped in thought; and as Cicero showed his dissatisfaction, he said, “You indeed, Cicero, I commend and admire, but I pity the fortune of Greece, seeing that the only excellent things which were left to us have been transferred to the Romans by you, learning and eloquence.”

Life Of Cicero: V

Now Cicero, full of hope in his course to a political career, had his ardour dulled by an oracular answer. For on consulting the god at Delphi how he might get most fame, the Pythia bade him make his own nature, and not the opinion of the many, his guide in life. At first he lived with reserve at Rome, and was slow in offering himself for magistracies, and was undervalued, being called Greek and pedant, names current among and familiar to the lowest citizens. But as he was naturally ambitious and was urged on by his father and friends, he devoted himself to assisting persons in their causes, and he did not approach the highest distinction by gradual steps, but at once blazed forth in reputation, and was far superior to those who exerted themselves in the Forum. It is said that he was as defective as Demosthenes in action, and that accordingly he carefully devoted himself first to Roscius the comedian, and then to Æsopus the tragedian. Of this Æsopus it is told, that when he was representing on the stage Atreus deliberating how he should revenge himself on Thyestes, and one of the servants suddenly ran past him, being transported out of his reason by his feelings he struck the man with his sceptre and killed him. Cicero derived no small power of persuasion from his action. He used scoffingly to say of the orators who bawled loud, that because of their weakness they had recourse to shouting, like lame men leaping on horses. His readiness at sarcasm and other sharp sayings was considered well adapted to courts of justice and clever, but by over use of it he gave offence to many and got the character of an ill-disposed person.

Life Of Cicero: VI

Being elected quæstor at a time of scarcity of corn, and having got Sicily as his province, he gave offence to the people at first by compelling them to send corn to Rome. But afterwards, when they had proof of his care and justice and mildness, they respected him as they never had any governor before. And when many young Romans of good repute and noble birth, who were under a charge of neglect of discipline and bad behaviour in the war, were sent up to the prætor of Sicily, Cicero pleaded for them in a remarkable manner, and gained their acquittal. Being accordingly greatly elated at all this, on his journey to Rome, as he tells us, a ludicrous incident happened to him. In Campania falling in with a man of rank, whom he considered to be a friend of his, he asked him what the Romans said about his conduct in Sicily, and what they thought of it, supposing that the city was full of his name and of his measures, and upon the man replying, “But where have you been all this time Cicero?” he was completely dispirited that his fame was lost in the city as in a boundless sea and had produced no glorious result to his reputation; but on reflection he abated much of his ambition, considering that he was striving for fame as for a thing indefinite and one which had no attainable limit. However all along there abided in him an exceeding love of praise and a strong passion for fame, which, often disturbed much of his sound judgment.

Life Of Cicero: VII

But when he began to engage more actively in public concerns, he thought it a shame that artisans, who make use of inanimate instruments and tools, should be acquainted with the name of each and its place and use, and that the political man, whose public acts are effected by the agency of men, should be indolent and indifferent about the knowledge of his fellow-citizens. Accordingly he not only accustomed himself to remember persons’ names, but he also knew the place in which every man of note dwelt, and the spot where he had his property, and the friends with whom he was familiar and his neighbours; and whatever road in Italy he was traversing, Cicero could easily tell and point out the lands and houses of his friends. As he had only a small property, though sufficient and adequate to his expenses, he obtained credit by accepting neither pay nor presents for his services as an advocate, and most particularly by his undertaking the prosecution against Verres, who had been prætor of Sicily. Verres, who had been guilty of great malversation, was prosecuted by the Sicilians, and Cicero caused his conviction, not by speeches, but in a manner, as one may say, by not speaking at all. For as the prætors favoured Verres, and were putting off the trial to the last day by adjournments and tricks, and it was clear that the space of one day would not be sufficient for the speeches and the trial would not be brought to a conclusion, Cicero got up and said that the case required no speeches, and bringing forward the witnesses and taking their evidence he told the judices to give their vote. Yet many lively sayings of his at that trial are recorded. The Romans call a castrated hog “verres.” Now when a man of the class of libertini named Cæcilius, who was under the imputation of Judaism, wished to put aside the Siceliots and be the prosecutor of Verres, Cicero said “What has a Jew to do with a verres?” Verres also had a son grown up, who was reputed not to have regard to his youthful beauty as a person of free birth ought to have. Accordingly when Cicero was reviled for his effeminacy by Verres, he replied, “A man should find fault with his sons at home.” The orator Hortensius did not venture directly to defend the cause of Verres, yet he was induced to give him his assistance when the damages were assessed, for which he had received an ivory sphinx as his reward. Upon Cicero saying something to him in an oblique way, and Hortensius replying that he had no skill in solving ænigmas, Cicero answered, “And yet you have the sphinx at home.”

VIII. Verres being convicted, Cicero laid the damages at seventy-five ten thousands, and yet he fell under suspicion of having lowered the damages for a bribe. However the Siceliots were grateful, and during his ædileship they came and brought many things from the island, from none of which did Cicero make any gain, but he availed himself of the men’s desire to honour him so far as to cheapen the market. He possessed a fine place at Arpi, and he had an estate near Naples, and another near Pompeii, neither of them large: he had also the marriage portion of his wife Terentia to the amount of ten ten thousands, and a bequest which amounted to nine ten thousands of denarii. With these means he lived honourably and moderately, enjoying the company of the Greeks who were familiar with him, and of the Romans of learning: he rarely, if ever, lay down to table before sunset, and not so much because of his occupations, as because of his health, which suffered much from the stomach. He was also exact and careful in other matters that concerned the care of his body, and he employed both friction and walking a fixed number of times. By thus regulating his habit of body he maintained it free from disease, and equal to undergo many and great trials and labours. He gave up his father’s house to his brother, and he fixed his own residence on the Palatine, in order that those who paid their respects to him might not be troubled by coming a great distance; and people used to come daily to his doors to pay their respects, no fewer than those who waited on Crassus because of his wealth, and on Pompeius because of his influence with the soldiers, which two were at that time highest in repute and chief of the Romans. Pompeius also courted Cicero, and Cicero’s policy contributed greatly to the power and credit of Pompeius.

Life Of Cicero: IX

Though there were many candidates with him for the prætorship, and men of note, he was proclaimed first of all; and he was considered to have discharged his judicial functions with integrity and skill. It is said that Licinius Macer, a man who of himself had great weight in the city, and who was also supported by Crassus, being tried before Cicero for peculation, was so confident in his power and the exertions made on his behalf, that while the judices were giving their votes he went home, and after cutting his hair with all speed, and putting on a clean dress, as if he had been acquitted, he was about to return to the Forum; but on Crassus meeting him near the hall door and telling him that he was condemned by all the votes, he turned back, took to his bed and died. And the circumstance brought Cicero credit for his careful administration of justice. Vatinius was a man whose manner was somewhat rough and contemptuous towards the magistrates when he was pleading before them, and his neck was full of swellings: on one occasion when he was before Cicero, he made a certain demand, and as Cicero did not grant it forthwith, but deliberated some time, Vatinius said that he should not hesitate about it if he were prætor, on which Cicero quickly answered, “But I have not such a neck as you.”

While Cicero had still two or three days in his office, some person brought Manilius before him on a charge of peculation; but Manilius had the goodwill of the people and their zeal in his favour, as it was considered that he was attacked on account of Pompeius, whose friend he was. On Manilius asking for time Cicero gave him only one day, which was the next; and the people were angry, inasmuch as the prætors were accustomed to allow ten days at least to those who were accused. The tribunes also brought Cicero to the Rostra and found fault with him, but he prayed to be heard, and he said that as he had always behaved to accused persons with forbearance and kindness, so far as the laws allowed, he thought it would be harsh not to do so in the case of Manilius, and accordingly he had purposely limited him to the only day which was at his disposal as prætor, for that to throw the trial into the period of another prætor’s jurisdiction was not the part of one who was willing to help another. These words wrought a wonderful change in the people, and with many expressions of goodwill they prayed him to undertake the defence of Manilius. Cicero readily undertook it, and chiefly for the sake of Pompeius who was absent, and coming before the people he again harangued them, in bold terms censuring the oligarchal faction and the enviers of Pompeius.

Life Of Cicero: X

Cicero was invited to the consulship no less by the aristocratical party than by the many who for the interest of the state gave him their aid, and for the following reason. The changes which Sulla had introduced into the constitution at first appeared unseasonable, but now they seemed to the many by length of time and usage to have received a kind of settlement, and not a bad one; but there were those who sought to shake and change the present condition of affairs for the sake of their own gain and not for the public good, while Pompeius was still fighting with the kings in Pontus and Armenia, and there was no power in Rome able to resist those who were for change. These men had for their head a bold man and an ambitious and one of versatile temper, Lucius Catilina, who in addition to other great crimes had once laboured under the imputation of unlawful commerce with his virgin daughter, and of murdering his own brother, and being afraid of being punished for this he persuaded Sulla to proscribe his brother among those who were doomed to die, as if he were still alive. Him the evil-minded took for their leader, and they gave various pledges to one another, and among these they sacrificed a man and ate of his flesh. Catilina had corrupted a large part of the youth in the city by supplying every one of them with pleasure and banquets, and amours with women, and furnishing unsparingly the expense for all this. All Etruria was roused to revolt, and the greater part of Gaul within the Alps: and Rome was exposed to the greatest hazard of change, on account of the inequality in properties, for those who had most reputation and lofty bearing had impoverished themselves by theatrical expenses and entertainments, and love of magistracies and building, and the wealth had all come into the hands of men of mean birth and low persons, so that things needed only a slight inclination, and it was in the power of every man who had courage for the thing to unsettle the state, which of itself was in a diseased condition.

Life Of Cicero: XI

However Catilina, wishing to secure a stronghold, was a candidate for the consulship, and he was high in hope that he should be the colleague of Caius Antonius, a man who of himself was not calculated to be a leader either for good or bad, but one who would add force to another who was a leader. It was from seeing this that the majority of the honourable and the good encouraged Cicero to the consulship, and as the people readily seconded them, Catilina was rejected, and Cicero and Caius Antonius were elected. And yet Cicero alone of the candidates was the son of an eques, not of a senator.

Life Of Cicero: XII

Now the designs of Catilina still remained unknown to the many, but great struggles awaited the consulship of Cicero. For in the first place, those who by the laws of Sulla were excluded from magistracies, being neither weak nor few, became candidates and attempted to gain popular favour, and they made many charges against the tyranny of Sulla which were indeed true and just, but yet they were disturbing the state of affairs at an unfit time and out of season; and in the next place the tribunes brought forward measures to the same purpose, in which they proposed an administration composed of ten men with full powers, whose instructions were to have authority to sell the public property in all Italy and in all Syria, and all that had lately been acquired by Pompeius, to try whom they pleased, to send them into exile, to colonise cities, to take money from the treasury, and to maintain and raise as many soldiers as they might require. Accordingly others of the nobles were in favour of the law, and especially Antonius, the colleague of Cicero, who expected to be one of the ten. It was supposed also that he was acquainted with the designs of Catilina, and was not averse to them on account of the magnitude of his debts, which chiefly gave alarm to the nobles. And this was the first object that Cicero directed his attention to, and he caused the province of Macedonia to be given to Antonius, and Gaul, which was offered to himself, he declined; and by these favours he gained over Antonius like a hired actor to play a second part to himself on behalf of his country. Now when Antonius was gained and had become tractable, Cicero, being emboldened, opposed himself to those who were for making change. Accordingly, in the Senate, he made an attack upon the law, and so alarmed the promoters of it that they had nothing to say against him. When they made a second attempt, and being fully prepared invited the consuls to appear before the people, Cicero, nothing alarmed, bade the Senate follow him, and coming forward, he not only caused the rejection of the law, but made the tribunes give up even the rest of their measures and to yield to his overpowering eloquence.

XIII. For this man most of all showed the Romans what a charm eloquence adds to a good thing, and that justice is invincible if it be rightly expressed in words, and that it befits him who duly directs political affairs, always in his acts to choose the good instead of that which merely pleases, and in his speech to deprive what is useful of that which gives pain. And a sample of his persuasive eloquence was what happened in his consulship with respect to the public exhibitions. In former times those of the equestrian class were mingled with the crowd in the theatres and were spectators among the people, just as chance would have it; but Marcus Otho in his prætorship was the first who, for the sake of distinction, separated the equites from the rest of the citizens, and gave them a particular place, which they still retain. The people took this as a disparagement of themselves, and when Otho appeared in the theatre, they hissed for the purpose of insulting him, but the equites received him with loud applause. Again the people began to hiss louder, and the equites to make still greater plaudits. Upon this they fell to abusing one another, and kept the theatre in confusion. When Cicero heard of this he came, and summoning the people to the temple of Bellona both rebuked and admonished them, on which they went back to the theatre and loudly applauded Otho, and vied with the equites in doing honour to the man and showing their respect.

Life Of Cicero: XIV

The conspirators with Catilina at first crouched and were afraid, but they recovered heart, and assembling together urged one another to take matters in hand with more courage before Pompeius returned, who was said to be now coming home with his force. Catilina was chiefly stirred up by the old soldiers of Sulla, who were planted all through Italy, but the greatest number and the most warlike of them were distributed in the Tuscan cities, and were again forming visions of robbery and plunder of the wealth that existed. These men, with Manlius for their leader, one of those who had served with, distinction under Sulla, were on the side of Catilina, and came to Rome to assist at the Comitia; for Catilina was again a candidate for the consulship, and had resolved to kill Cicero in the tumult of the elections. The dæmon also seemed to pre-signify what was going on by earthquakes and lightnings and sights. The information from human testimony was indeed clear, but not sufficient for conviction of a man of reputation and great power, like Catilina. Wherefore Cicero deferred the day of election, and summoning Catilina to the Senate questioned him about what was reported. Catilina, thinking that there were many in the Senate who were desirous of change, and at the same time wishing to make a display before the conspirators, gave Cicero an insane answer: “What am I doing so strange, if when there are two bodies, one lean and wasted, but with a head, and the other headless, but strong and large, I myself furnish it with a head?” This allusion of his was to the Senate and to the people, which made Cicero more alarmed, and putting on his armour he was conducted by all the nobles from his house and by many of the young men to the Campus Martius. And he purposely let the people have a glimpse of his armour by loosing his tunic from his shoulders, and he showed the spectators there was danger. The people were enraged and rallied round him, and at last by their votes they again rejected Catilina, and chose Silanus and Murena consuls.

Life Of Cicero: XV

Not long after the men in Etruria came together to support Catilina, and were forming themselves into companies; and the appointed day for executing their plan was near, when there came to Cicero’s house about midnight men who were among the first and most powerful in Rome, Marcus Crassus, and Marcus Marcellus, and Scipio Metellus; and knocking at the door and calling the doorkeeper, they bade him rouse Cicero and tell him that they were there. And the matter was thus: after Crassus had supped, the doorkeeper gave him letters brought by some unknown man, which were addressed to different persons, and one to Crassus himself without a signature. Crassus, having read this letter only, and seeing that the letter intimated that there would be great bloodshed caused by Catilina and that it urged him to quit the city, did not open the rest, but went forthwith to Cicero in alarm at the danger, and desiring to acquit himself somewhat of the blame which he bore on account of his friendship with Catilina. Accordingly Cicero after deliberating convened the Senate at daybreak, and taking the letters gave them to the persons to whom they were directed, and bade them read the letters aloud: and all the letters alike gave notice of a conspiracy. When Quintus Arrius, a man of prætorian rank, reported the forming of armed companies in Etruria, and news arrived that Manlius with a large force was hovering about those cities expecting every moment something new from Rome, a decree of the Senate was made to put affairs in the hands of the consuls, and that the consuls on receiving this commission should administer the state as they best could, and save it. The Senate is not used to do this frequently, but only when they apprehend great danger.

Life Of Cicero: XVI

Cicero upon receiving this authority intrusted affairs out of the city to Quintus Metellus; he undertook the care of the city himself, and he daily went forth guarded by so large a body of men, that when he entered the Forum those who accompanied him occupied a large part of the ground, whereupon Catilina, no longer enduring delay, resolved to make his escape to Manlius, and he commissioned Marcius and Cethegus to arm themselves with swords, and going to Cicero’s door in the morning on pretence of paying their respects, to fall on him and kill him. Fulvia, a woman of rank, reported this to Cicero by night, and exhorted him to be on his guard against Cethegus and his associate. The men came at daybreak, and as they were not permitted to enter, they fell to railing and abuse at the doors, which made them still more suspected. Cicero going out called the Senate to the temple of Jupiter the Stayer, whom the Romans call Stator, which is situated at the commencement of the Sacred Road as you go up to the Palatine. Catilina also came there with the rest to make his defence, but none of the senators would sit down with him, and all moved from the bench. Catilina began to speak, but he was interrupted by cries, and at last Cicero got up and bade him leave the city; for he said it was fit that as he was administering affairs with words and Catilina with arms, there should be a wall between them. Accordingly Catilina immediately left the city with three hundred armed men, and surrounding himself with fasces and axes as if he were a magistrate, and raising standards he marched to Manlius; and as about twenty thousand men altogether were collected, he visited the cities and endeavoured to persuade them to revolt, so that there was open war, and Antonius was sent to fight with the now rebels.

XVII. Those who remained in the city of the persons who had been corrupted by Catilina were assembled and encouraged by Cornelius Lentulus Sura, a man of illustrious birth, but who had lived a bad life and been already expelled from the Senate on account of his licentious habits. He was then prætor for the second time, as is the custom for those who recover the senatorial dignity. It is said that he got the name Sura from the following circumstance. In the times of Sulla he was quæstor, and lost and wasted much of the public money. Sulla was angry at this, and called him to account before the Senate; but Lentulus, coming forward in a very indifferent and contemptuous way, said that he had no account to give, but he offered his leg, as boys were wont to do when they had made a miss in playing at ball. From this he got the nickname of Sura, for the Romans call the leg ‘sura.’ Again, being brought to trial he bribed some of the judices, and was acquitted by two votes only, whereon he said that what he had given to one of the judices was fairly wasted, for it was enough to be acquitted by a single vote. Such being the character of the man, and being stirred up by Catilina, he was further corrupted by the vain hopes held out by false prophets and jugglers, who recited forged verses and predictions, alleged to be from the Sibylline books, which declared that it was the law of fate that three Cornelii should be monarchs in Rome, two of whom had fulfilled their destiny, Cinna and Sulla, and that the dæmon was come and had brought the monarchy to him the third of the Cornelii, and he ought by all means to accept it, and not to spoil the critical opportunity by delay like Catilina.

XVIII. Accordingly Lentulus designed nothing small or trivial, but he determined to kill all the senators, and as many of the rest of the citizens as he could, and to burn the city, and spare nobody except the children of Pompeius, whom they intended to seize and keep in their power as securities for coming to terms with Pompeius, for already there was strong and sure report of his returning to Rome from his great expedition. A night had been fixed for the attempt, one of the Saturnalia, and they took and hid in the house of Cethegus swords and tow and brimstone. They also appointed a hundred men, and assigned by lot as many parts of Rome to each, in order that by means of many incendiaries the city might be in a blaze in a short time on all sides. Others were to stop up the water conduits and to kill those who attempted to get water. While this was going on, there happened to be at Rome two ambassadors of the Allobroges, a nation which especially at that time was in a bad condition and oppressed by the supremacy of Rome. The partizans of Lentulus, considering them suitable persons for stiring up Gaul to revolt, made them privy to the conspiracy. They gave these men letters to their Senate and letters to Catilina, promising liberty to the Senate, and urging Catilina to free the slaves and to march upon Rome. They also sent with them to Catilina one Titus of Croton to carry the letters. But inasmuch as the conspirators were unsteady men, who for the most part met one another over wine and in company with women, and Cicero followed up their designs with labour and sober consideration and unusual prudence, and had many men out of their body to keep watch and to help him in tracking out their doings, and as he had secret conversation with many of those who were considered to be in the conspiracy and whom he trusted, he became acquainted with their communication with the strangers, and laying an ambuscade by night he seized the man of Croton and the letters, with the secret assistance of the Allobroges.

Life Of Cicero: XIX

At daybreak Cicero, assembling the Senate at the temple of Concord, read the letters and examined the informers. Silanus Junius also said that some persons had heard Cethegus say, that three consuls and four prætors were going to be killed. Piso, a man of consular rank, gave evidence to the same effect. Caius Sulpicius, one of the prætors, being sent to the house of Cethegus, found there many missiles and arms, and a great quantity of swords and knives newly sharpened. At length the Senate having by a vote promised a pardon to the man of Croton on condition of his giving information, Lentulus being convicted abdicated his office, for he happened to be prætor, and laying down his robe with the purple hem before the Senate assumed a dress suitable to the occasion. Lentulus and his associates were delivered up to the prætors to be kept in custody, but without chains. It was now evening, and the people in crowds were waiting about the temple, when Cicero came forth and told the circumstance to the citizens, by whom he was conducted to the house of a neighbouring friend, for his own house was occupied by the women who were celebrating the mysterious rites to a goddess whom the Romans called Bona, and the Greeks call Gynæceia. A sacrifice is made to the goddess annually in the house of the consul by his wife or his mother in the presence of the Vestal Virgins. Cicero, going into the house, deliberated with a very few persons what he should do with the men: for he had some scruples about inflicting the extreme punishment and that which was due to such great crimes; and he hesitated about it both from the humanity of his disposition, and because he feared that he might seem to be too much elated with his power and to be handling severely men who were of the highest rank and had powerful friends in the State; and if he treated them leniently, he dreaded danger from them. For he considered that they would not be well content if they were punished short of death, but would break forth in all extravagance of audacity and add fresh indignation to their old villainy; and that he should be judged a coward and a weak man, especially as the many had by no means a good opinion of his courage.

Life Of Cicero: XX

While Cicero was thus doubting, there was a sign to the women who were sacrificing: for though the fire seemed to have gone out, the altar sent forth from the ashes and burnt bark a large and brilliant blaze. This alarmed the women, except the sacred virgins, who urged Terentia, the wife of Cicero, to go with all speed to her husband and tell him to take in hand what he had resolved on behalf of his country, for the goddess was displaying a great light to lead him to safety and honour. Terentia, who generally was not a woman of a mild temper nor naturally without courage, but an ambitious woman, and as Cicero himself says, more ready to share in his political perplexities than to communicate to him her domestic matters, reported this to her husband and stimulated him against the conspirators: in like manner too his brother Quintus and Publius Nigidius, one of his philosophical companions, whose advice he used in the most and chiefest of his political measures. On the following day there was a discussion in the Senate about the punishment of the conspirators, when Silanus, who was first asked his opinion, said that they ought to be taken to prison and suffer the extreme punishment: and all who spoke in succession acceded to this opinion, till it came to the turn of Caius Cæsar, who was afterwards Dictator. Cæsar, who was then a young man and in the very beginning of his rise to power, and already in his policy and his hopes had entered on that road by which he changed the state of Rome into a monarchy, though he eluded the penetration of the rest, caused great suspicion to Cicero, without however giving him any hold for complete proof; but there were some heard to say that he came near being caught and yet had escaped from Cicero. However, some say that Cicero purposely overlooked and neglected the information against Cæsar through fear of his friends and his power, for it was plain to every man, that the conspirators would rather become an appendage to Cæsar’s acquittal, than Cæsar would become an appendage to their punishment.

Life Of Cicero: XXI

When, then, it came to Cæsar’s turn to deliver his opinion, he rose and expressed it against putting the men to death, but he proposed to confiscate their property and remove them to the cities of Italy of which Cicero might approve, and there keep them confined till Catilina was defeated. The proposal was merciful and the speaker most eloquent, and Cicero added to it no small weight, for when Cicero rose he handled the matter both ways, partly arguing in favour of the first opinion and partly in favour of Cæsar’s; and all his friends thinking that Cæsar’s opinion was for the advantage of Cicero, for he would be subject to less blame if he did not condemn the men to death, chose the second opinion rather, so that even Silanus himself changed and made his explanation, saying that neither had he delivered his opinion for death, for that the extreme punishment to a Roman senator was the prison. After the opinion was given, Catulus Lutatius was the first to oppose it; and he was followed by Cato, who in his speech vehemently urged suspicion against Cæsar, and so filled the Senate with passion and resolution that they passed a vote of death against the men. With respect to the confiscation of their property Cæsar made opposition, for he did not think it fair that they should reject the merciful part of his proposition and adopt the most severe part. As many of them made violent resistance, he invoked the tribunes, who however paid no attention to the call, but Cicero himself gave way and remitted that part of the vote which was for confiscation.

XXII. Cicero went with the Senate to the conspirators, who were not all in the same place, but kept by the different prætors. He first took Lentulus from the Palatine and led him through the Sacred Road and the middle of the Forum, with the men of highest rank in a body around him as his guards, the people the while shuddering at what was doing and passing by in silence, and chiefly the youth, who felt as if they were being initiated with fear and trembling in certain national rites of a certain aristocratical power. When Cicero had passed through the Forum and come to the prison, he delivered Lentulus to the executioner and told him to put him to death; he then took down Cethegus and every one of the rest in order and had them put to death. Seeing that there were still many members of the conspiracy standing together in the Forum, who did not know what had been done and were waiting for the night, supposing that the men were still alive and might be rescued, Cicero said to them in a loud voice, “They have lived.” In these terms the Romans are used to speak of death when they do not choose to use words of bad omen. It was now evening, and Cicero went up from the Forum to his house, the citizens no longer accompanying him in silence or in order, but receiving him with shouts and clapping as he passed along and calling him the saviour and founder of his country. And numerous lights illuminated the streets, for people placed lamps and torches at their doors. The women too showed lights from the roofs to honour the man and in order to see him going home, honourably attended by the nobles; most of whom, having brought to an end great wars and entered the city in triumph, and added to the Roman possessions no small extent of land and sea, walked along confessing to one another that the Roman people were indebted for wealth and spoils and power to many living commanders and generals, but for their security and safety to Cicero alone, who had removed from them so great a danger. For it was not the preventing of what was in preparation and the punishing of the doers which appeared worthy of admiration, but that he had quenched the greatest of dangers that ever threatened the State with the least evils, and without disturbance and tumult. For most of those who had flocked to Catilina as soon as they heard of the fate of Lentulus and Cethegus left him and went away: and Catilina, after fighting a battle with those who remained with him against Antonius, perished and his army with him.

XXIII. However there were some who were ready to abuse Cicero for this and to do him harm, and they had for their leader among those who were going to hold magistracies, Cæsar as prætor, and Metellus and Bestia as tribunes. Upon entering on office, while Cicero had still a few days in authority, they would not let him address the people, and placing their seats above the Rostra they would not permit him to come forward to speak; they told him that he might, if he chose, take the oath usual on giving up office and then go down. Upon this Cicero came forward as if he were going to take the oath, and when he had procured silence, he swore not the usual oath, but one of his own and a new oath, to the effect that he had saved his country and preserved the supremacy of Rome: and the whole people confirmed the truth of his oath. At this Cæsar and the tribunes, being still more vexed, contrived other cavils against Cicero, and a law was brought forward by them that Pompeius and his army should be recalled on the pretext of putting down the power of Cicero. But Cato, who was then tribune, was a great help to Cicero and to the whole State, and he opposed himself to Cæsar’s measures with equal authority and greater good opinion. For he easily stopped other measures, and he so extolled the consulship of Cicero in a speech to the people, that they voted to him the greatest honours that had ever been conferred and called him the father of his country; for it seems that Cicero was the first on whom this title was conferred, upon Cato having so entitled him before the people.

XXIV. Cicero, who had at that time the chief power in the State, made himself generally odious, not by any ill acts, but by always praising and glorifying himself to the great annoyance of many people. For there was neither assembly of Senate nor people nor court of justice in which a man had not to hear Catilina talked of and Lentulus. Finally, he filled his books and writings with his own praises, and though his oratory was most agreeable and had the greatest charm, he made it wearisome and odious to the hearers by his unseemly habit, which stuck to him like a fatality. However, though he had such unmingled ambition, he was far removed from envying others, for he was most bountiful in his praises of those before him and those of his own time, as we may see from his writings. There are also many sayings of his recorded; for instance, he said of Aristotle, that he was a river of flowing gold, and of the dialogues of Plato, that Jupiter, if it were his nature to use language, would speak like him. Theophrastus he was used to call his own special luxury. Being asked about the speeches of Demosthenes, which he thought the best, he answered, the longest. Yet some of those who pretend to be imitators of Demosthenes, dwell on an expression of Cicero, which is used in a letter to one of his friends, that Demosthenes sometimes nodded in his speeches; but the great and admirable praise which he often bestows on the man, and that he entitled his own orations on which he bestowed most labour, those against Antonius, Philippics, they say nothing about. Of the men of his own time who gained a reputation for eloquence and learning, there is not one whose reputation he did not increase either by speaking or writing in favourable terms of him. When Cæsar was in power he obtained from him the Roman citizenship for Kratippus the Peripatetic, and he prevailed on the Areopagus to pass a vote and to request him to stay in Athens and instruct the young, as being an ornament to the city. There are letters from Cicero to Herodes, and others to his son, in which he exhorts to the study of philosophy under Kratippus. He charged Gorgias the rhetorician with leading the young man to pleasure and drinking, and banished him from his society. This and a letter to Pelops of Byzantium are almost the only Greek letters of his which are written with any passion, in which he properly rebukes Gorgias, if he was worthless and intemperate, as he was considered to be; but his letter to Pelops is in a mean and complaining tone, and charges Pelops with having neglected to procure for him certain honours and public testimonials from the Byzantines.

Life Of Cicero: XXV

All this proceeded from his ambition, and also the circumstance that he was often carried away by the impetuosity of his oratory to disregard propriety. He once spoke in favour of Munatius, who after being acquitted prosecuted Sabinus, a friend of Cicero, who is said to have been so transported with passion as to say, “Do you suppose, Munatius, that you were acquitted on your trial for your own merits, and not because I spread much darkness over the court when there was light?” He gained applause by a panegyric on Marcus Crassus from the Rostra, and a few days after he abused him, on which Crassus observed, “Did you not lately praise me in the same place?” to which Cicero replied, “Yes, for practice sake, exercising my eloquence on a mean subject.” Crassus having remarked on one occasion that none of the Crassi had lived in Rome to be more than sixty years of age, and afterwards denying that he had said so, and observing, What could have led him to say this? Cicero replied, “You know that the Romans would be glad to hear it and so you wished to get their favour.” When Crassus observed that he liked the Stoics, because they proved that the good man was rich, “Consider,” said Cicero, “if they do not rather prove that the wise man possesses everything.” Now Crassus was charged with being fond of money. One of the sons of Crassus who was considered to resemble a certain Axius, and so to attach ill fame to his mother in respect to Axius, had made a speech in the Senate with applause, and Cicero being asked what he thought of him said, He is Axius Crassus.

XXVI. When Crassus was about to set out for Syria, he wished Cicero to be his friend rather than his enemy, and he said in a friendly manner that he wished to sup with him, and Cicero received him readily. A few days after when some of his friends spoke with him about Vatinius, and said that Vatinius sought a recollection and to be on good terms with him, for he was then at enmity with Cicero. “Surely,” said Cicero, “Vatinius too does not want to sup with me.” Such was his behaviour to Crassus. As to Vatinius, who had tumours in his neck, and was on one occasion pleading a cause, Cicero called him a tumid orator. Hearing that Vatinius was dead, and being shortly after certainly informed that he was still living, “Ill betide the man,” said he, “who lied so ill.” Many of the senators were dissatisfied with Cæsar’s carrying a measure for the distribution of the land in Campania among the soldiers, and Lucius Gellius, who was also one of the oldest of them, said, that it should never take place while he lived. “Let us wait,” said Cicero, “for Gellius asks for no long delay.” There was a certain Octavius who had the ill-repute of being a native of Libya, and on the occasion of a certain trial he said that he could not hear Cicero. “And yet,” said Cicero, “your ear is not without a hole in it.” Metellus Nepos observing that Cicero by giving testimony against persons had caused more to be condemned than he had caused to be acquitted by undertaking their cause, “Well,” said he, “I admit that I have more credit than eloquence.” A certain youth who was charged with giving poison to his father in a cake, spoke with great confidence, and said that he would abuse Cicero; “I would rather have this from you,” said Cicero, “than a cake.” Publius Sextius had Cicero with others as his advocate in a cause, but he chose to say everything himself and would let nobody else speak, and when it was plain that he would be acquitted and the judices were giving their votes, Cicero said, “Make the most of your opportunity to-day, for to-morrow you will be a mere nobody.” One Publius Consta, who set up for a lawyer, but was an ignorant and stupid fellow, was called as a witness by Cicero on a trial. On Consta saying that he knew nothing, “Perhaps,” said Cicero, “you suppose that you are asked about legal matters.” Metellus Nepos during a dispute with Cicero often repeated, “Who is your father?” on which Cicero said, “As for yourself, your mother has made this answer rather difficult for you.” Now the mother of Nepos was considered to be an unchaste woman, and himself a fickle kind of man. On one occasion he suddenly deserted his office of tribune and sailed off to join Pompeius in Syria, whence he returned with just as little reason. Nepos had buried his teacher Philagrus with more than usual respect, and set upon his tomb a raven of stone: “In this,” said Cicero, “you have acted wiser than your wont, for he taught you to fly rather than to speak.” Marcus Appius in a certain trial prefaced his speech with saying that his friend had prayed him to exhibit vigilance and judgment and fidelity: “Are you then,” said Cicero, “so iron-hearted as to exhibit not one of such great qualities as your friend prayed you to do?”

XXVII. Now the use of bitterish taunts against enemies or opposing advocates may be considered as belonging to the orator’s business; but the attacking of any persons whom he fell in with, for the purpose of making them ridiculous, brought great odium upon him. I will record a few instances of this also. He called Marcus Aquinius, Adrastus, because he had two sons-in-law who were in exile. Lucius Cotta, who held the office of censor, was very fond of wine, and it happened that Cicero during his canvass for the consulship was athirst, and as his friends stood around him while he was drinking, “You have good reason to be afraid,” said he, “lest the censor should deal harshly with me for drinking water.” Meeting Voconius, who was conducting three very ugly daughters, he said aloud:

Marcus Gellius, who was supposed not to be the son of free parents, was once reading some letters to the Senate with a clear and loud voice, when Cicero said, “Don’t be surprised; he too is one of those who have practised their voices.” When Faustus, the son of Sulla who had been dictator in Rome and proscribed many to the death, having got into debt and squandered most of his substance, advertised his household stuff for sale, Cicero said that he liked this proscription better than his father’s.

XXVIII. He thus became odious to many, and the partizans of Clodius combined against him on the following occasion. Clodius was a man of noble birth, young in years, but bold and impudent in his designs. Being in love with Pompeia, Cæsar’s wife, he got into his house secretly by assuming the dress and the guise of a lute-player; for the women were celebrating in Cæsar’s house those mysterious rites which the men were not allowed to see; and as there was no man there, Clodius being still a youth and not yet bearded hoped to slip through to Pompeia with the women. But as it was night when he got into a large house, he was perplexed by the passages; and as he was rambling about a female slave of Aurelia, Cæsar’s mother, saw him and asked him his name. Being compelled to speak, he said that he was looking for a servant of Pompeia, named Abra, but the woman perceiving that it was not a female voice cried out and called the women together. They shut the doors and searching every place found Clodius, who had hid himself in the chamber of the girl with whom he came into the house. The affair being noised abroad Cæsar put away Pompeia, and a prosecution for an offence against religion was instituted against Clodius.

XXIX. Now Cicero was a friend of Clodius, and in the affair of Catilina found him a most zealous assistant and guardian of his person; but as Clodius in answer to the charge relied on not having been in Rome at the time, and maintained that he was staying in places at a very great distance, Cicero bore testimony that Clodius had come to his house and spoken with him on certain matters; which was true. However people did not suppose that Cicero gave his testimony from regard to truth, but by way of justifying himself to his wife Terentia. For Terentia had a grudge against Clodius on account of his sister Clodia, who was supposed to wish to marry Cicero, and to be contriving this by the aid of one Tullus, who was one of the nearest companions and intimates of Cicero, and as Tullus was going to Clodia, who lived near, and paying attention to her, he excited suspicion in Terentia. Now as Terentia was of a sour temper and governed Cicero, she urged him to join in the attack on Clodius and to give testimony against him. Many men also of the highest character charged Clodius by their testimony with perjury, disorderly conduct, bribing of the masses, and debauching of women. Lucullus also produced female slaves to testify that Clodius had sexual commerce with his youngest sister when she was the wife of Lucullus. There was also a general opinion that Clodius debauched his other two sisters, of whom Marcius Rex had Terentia and Metellus Celer had Clodia to wife, who was called Quadrantaria, because one of her lovers put copper coins for her in a purse pretending they were silver and sent them to her; now the smallest copper coin the Romans called Quadrans. It was with regard to this sister that Clodius was most suspected. However as the people on that occasion set themselves against those who bore testimony and combined against Clodius, the judices being afraid procured a guard for their protection, and most of them gave in their tablets with the writing on them confused. It turned out that those who were for acquitting him were the majority, and some bribery was also said to have been used. This led Catulus to say when he met the judices, “Indeed you did ask for a guard to protect you, for you were afraid that some one should take your money from you.” Upon Clodius saying to Cicero that his evidence had no credit with the judices, Cicero replied, “However, five-and-twenty of the judices gave me credit, for so many of them voted against you; but thirty of them gave you no credit, for they did not vote for your acquittal till they had received their money.” Cæsar, however, when called, gave no evidence against Clodius, and he denied that he had convicted his wife of adultery, but that he had put her away, because Cæsar’s wife ought not only to be free from a shameful act, but even the report of it.

Life Of Cicero: XXX

Clodius, having escaped the danger, as soon as he was elected tribune commenced his attack on Cicero, drawing together and agitating against him every thing and all persons. For he gained the favour of the people by popular laws, and caused great provinces to be assigned to each of the consuls, Macedonia to Piso and Syria to Gabinius, and he contrived to associate many of the poor citizens in his designs and kept armed slaves about him. Of the three men who then had the chief power, Crassus was openly at enmity with Cicero, and Pompeius was playing an affected part towards both; and as Cæsar was about to march into Gaul with his army, Cicero paying court to him, though he was not his friend, but an object of suspicion owing to the affair of Catilina, asked to accompany him as a legatus. Cæsar accepted the proposal, but Clodius, seeing that Cicero was escaping from his tribunitian power, pretended to be disposed to come to terms with him, and by laying most blame on Terentia, and always speaking of Cicero in moderate terms and using words which imported a favourable disposition, as a man who had no hatred or ill feeling towards him, but had certain reasonable grounds of complaint to be urged in a friendly way, he completely stopped Cicero’s fears, so that he declined a legation under Cæsar and again applied himself to public affairs. At which Cæsar, being irritated, encouraged Clodius against Cicero, and completely alienated Pompeius from him, and he himself declared before the people that he did not consider it right or lawful for men to be put to death without trial, like Lentulus and Cethegus. For this was the charge, and to this Cicero was called to answer. Being therefore in danger and under prosecution he changed his dress and with his hair unshorn went about supplicating the people. But Clodius met him everywhere in the streets with violent and audacious men about him, who, with many insolent jeers at Cicero’s reverse and attire, and after pelting him with mud and stones, hindered his suppliant applications.

XXXI. However at first nearly all the body of equites changed their dress when Cicero did, and not less than twenty thousand young men accompanied him with their hair uncut and joined in his suppliant entreaties. When the Senate had met in order to pass a vote that the people should change their dress as a public calamity, and the consuls opposed it, and Clodius was in arms about the Senate-house, no small number of the senators ran out tearing their clothes and calling aloud. But as this sight neither procured respect nor pity, and Cicero must either go into exile or try force and the sword against Clodius, he entreated Pompeius to aid him, who had purposely gone out of the way and was staying on his estate at the Alban hills. And first he sent his son-in-law Piso to entreat for him, and then he went himself. Pompeius hearing of his coming did not wait to see him, for he had a strong feeling of shame towards a man who had made great efforts on his behalf, and had carried many public measures to please him, but as he was Cæsar’s son-in-law, he gave up old obligations at his request, and slipping out by a different door evaded meeting with Cicero. Cicero being thus betrayed by him and left deserted, fled for refuge to the consuls. Gabinius still maintained his hostility, but Piso spoke more kindly, and advised him to go out of the way and to yield to the impetuosity of Clodius and to submit to the change in circumstances, and again to be the saviour of his country, which was involved in civil commotion and misfortune through Clodius. Having got this answer Cicero consulted with his friends, of whom Lucullus advised him to stay and said that he would gain the superiority; but others advised him to fly, inasmuch as the people would soon long for him when they were satiated with the madness and desperation of Clodius. This was Cicero’s own judgment; and he carried to the Capitol the statue of Athene, which for a long time had stood in his house, and to which he paid especial honour, and dedicated it with the inscription, “To Athene the guardian of Rome;” and receiving from his friends persons to conduct him safely, he left the city about midnight and went by land through Lucania, designing to stay in Sicily.

XXXII. When it was known that he had fled, Clodius put to the vote the question of his banishment, and issued an edict to exclude him from fire and water, and that no one should furnish him with a shelter within five hundred miles of Italy. Now others paid not the slightest regard to the edict, for they respected Cicero, and showed him all manner of kindness and set him on his way: but in Hipponium, a city of Lucania, which the Romans call Vibo, Vibius, a Sicilian, who had derived many advantages from Cicero’s friendship and had been præfect of the Fabri during his consulship, would not receive Cicero in his house, but sent him word that he would assign him a spot of ground; and Caius Vergilius, the prætor of Sicily, who had been most intimate with Cicero, wrote to tell him to keep away from Sicily. Whereat desponding he set out for Brundusium, and thence attempted to pass over to Dyrrachium with a fair wind; but as it began to blow against him when he was out at sea, he came back the day after, and again set sail. It is said that when he had reached Dyrrachium and was going to land, there was a shaking of the earth and a violent motion in the sea at the same time; from which the diviners prognosticated that his flight would not be lasting, for these were signs of change. And though many men visited him from good will and the Greek cities vied in sending deputations to him, yet he passed his time in despondency and exceeding grief, for the most part looking to Italy, like those who are desperately in love, and in his bearing became very mean and humbled by reason of his calamity, and so downcast as no one would have expected from a man who had spent his life in such philosophical pursuits. And yet he often asked his friends to call him not an orator, but a philosopher, for he said that he had chosen philosophy as his occupation, but that he employed oratory as an instrument for his purposes in his public life. But opinion is powerful to wash out reason from the mind as if it were dye, and to imprint the affects of the many by the force of intercourse and familiarity on those who engage in public life, unless a man be strictly on his guard and come in contact with things external in such wise as to have communion with the things themselves, not with the affects towards the things.

XXXIII. Clodius, after driving out Cicero, burnt his villas, and burnt his house, and built on the ground a temple to Liberty: the rest of Cicero’s property he offered for sale, and announced it daily, but nobody would buy. In consequence of these measures being formidable to the aristocratical party, and dragging along with him the people, who were let loose to great violence and daring, he made an attack on Pompeius, ripping up some of the things that were settled by him in his military command. By which Pompeius losing some of his reputation blamed himself for giving up Cicero; and changing again he used every effort in conjunction with Cicero’s friends to effect his return. As Clodius resisted this, the Senate resolved to ratify nothing in the mean time and to do no public business, unless Cicero was restored. When Lentulus was consul, and the disorder went on increasing so that tribunes were wounded in the Forum, and Quintus the brother of Cicero only escaped by lying among the bodies as if he were dead, the people began to undergo a change of opinion, and one of the tribunes, Annius Milo, was the first to venture to bring Clodius to trial for violence, and many sided with Pompeius both from among the people and the neighbouring cities. Coming forward with them and driving Clodius from the Forum, he called the citizens to the vote: and it is said that the people never confirmed any measure with so much unanimity. The Senate vying with the people passed a decree in honour of those cities which had served Cicero in his exile, and for the restoration at the public expense of his house and villas, which Clodius had destroyed. Cicero was restored in the sixteenth month after his exile, and so great was the joy of the cities and the zeal of all men to meet him, that what was afterwards said by Cicero fell short of the truth: for he said that Italy bore him on her shoulders and carried him into Rome. On which occasion Crassus also, who was his enemy before his exile, readily met him, and was reconciled to him, to please his son Publius, as he said, who was an admirer of Cicero.

XXXIV. After the lapse of no long time, watching the opportunity when Clodius was away, Cicero went with a number of persons to the Capitol and pulled down and broke the tribunitian tablets which contained the records of the administration. When Clodius made this a charge against him, Cicero said that Clodius had illegally passed from the patrician body to the tribunate, and that none of his acts were valid, at which Cato took offence and spoke against him, not indeed in commendation of Clodius, but expressing his mortification at his measures; however he showed that it was an unusual and violent measure for the Senate to vote for the rescinding of so many decrees and acts, among which was his own administration at Cyprus and Byzantium. This led to a collision between him and Cicero, which did not proceed to anything open, but the consequence was that their friendly disposition to one another was weakened.

XXXV. After this Clodius was killed by Milo, who being prosecuted for murder got Cicero for his advocate. But the Senate, being afraid lest there should be some disturbance in the city on the trial of Milo, who was a man of high repute and bold spirit, intrusted to Pompeius the superintendence of this and other trials, and commissioned him to provide for the security of the city and of the courts of justice. Pompeius in the night surrounded the Forum with soldiers on the heights, and Milo, fearing that Cicero might be disturbed at the unusual sight and manage his case worse, persuaded him to be carried in a litter to the Forum and to rest there till the judices met and the court was formed. But Cicero, as it appears, was not only without courage in arms, but was timid even when he commenced speaking, and hardly ceased shaking and trembling in many trials till his eloquence had reached its height and attained steadiness. When he was the advocate of Murena, on his prosecution by Cato, he was ambitious to surpass Hortensius, who spoke with great applause, and he took no rest the night before, in consequence of which exceeding anxiety and wakefulness, his powers were impaired and he was considered to have fallen short of his fame. On this occasion when he came

out of the litter to the trial of Milo and saw Pompeius seated on an elevated place as in a camp and arms flashing all around the Forum, he was confounded and scarcely commenced his speech for trembling and hesitation, though Milo himself bravely and courageously assisted at the trial and would not deign to let his hair grow or to change his dress for a dark one, which seems in no small degree to have contributed to his condemnation. But Cicero in all this was considered rather to have shown his attachment to his friend than any cowardice.

XXXVI. Cicero became also one of the priests, whom the Romans called Augurs, in place of the younger Crassus after his death among the Parthians. The province of Cilicia being allotted to him and an army of twelve thousand legionary soldiers and two thousand six hundred horse, he set sail with instructions to keep Cappadocia friendly and obedient to Ariobarzanes. He accomplished this, and arranged it without any blame and without war; and as he observed that the Cilicians were inclined to a rising on occasion of the defeat of the Romans by the Parthians and the movements in Syria, he pacified them by a mild administration. Nor would he receive any presents when the kings offered them, and he relieved the provincials from giving entertainments: and he himself daily received those who were agreeable to him at banquets, not in a costly way, but liberally. And there was no doorkeeper to his house, nor was he ever seen by any one lying down, but in the morning he would be standing or walking about in front of his chamber, where he received those who paid their respects to him. It is said that he neither punished any one with rods nor allowed any man’s garment to be rent, nor vented abuse in passion, nor inflicted any penalty accompanied with contumelious treatment. By discovering that much of the public property was embezzled he enriched the cities, and he maintained in their civil rights those who made restoration, without letting them suffer anything further. He engaged also in a war in which he defeated the robbers of Mount Amanus, for which he was saluted by his soldiers with the title of Imperator. When Cæcilius the orator requested Cicero to send him panthers from Cilicia to Rome for a certain spectacle, Cicero, who was proud of his exploits, wrote in reply that there were no panthers in Cilicia, for they had fled into Caria, indignant that they were the only things warred upon, while all others were enjoying peace. On his voyage back from his province he first put in at Rhodes, and next tarried at Athens with gladness out of the pleasant recollection of his former residence. After associating with men the first for wisdom, and visiting his old friends and intimates and receiving due honours from Greece, he returned to Rome at a time when affairs, as if from violent inflammation, were bursting out into the Civil War.

XXXVII. In the Senate, when they were proposing to vote him a triumph, he said that he would more gladly follow Cæsar in his triumph, if a settlement could be effected; and he privately gave much advice by writing to Cæsar, and much by entreating Pompeius, and attempting to mollify and pacify both of them. But when things were past remedy, and Cæsar was advancing, and Pompeius did not stay, but quitted the city with many men of character, Cicero did not join in this flight, and it was supposed that he was attaching himself to Cæsar. And it is plain that in his resolves he was much perplexed both ways and suffered much; for he says in his letters that he did not know which way to turn himself, and that Pompeius had an honourable and good cause to fight for, but that Cæsar managed things better and was better able to save himself and the citizens, so that he knew whom to fly from, but not whom to fly to. Trebatius, one of Cæsar’s friends, wrote to the purport, that Cæsar thought that before all things Cicero ought to put himself on Cæsar’s side and to share his hopes, but if he declined by reason of his age, he advised him to go to Greece and there to seat himself quietly out of the way of both; but Cicero, being surprised that Cæsar himself did not write, replied in passion that he would do nothing unworthy of his political life. What appears in his letters is to this effect.

XXXVIII. When Cæsar had set out to Iberia, Cicero immediately sailed to Pompeius. The rest were well pleased that he was come, but Cato on seeing him rated him in private greatly for joining Pompeius: he said it was not seemly in himself to desert that line of policy which he had chosen from the first; but that Cicero, though he could do more good to his country and his friends if he remained at Rome an indifferent spectator and shaped his conduct by the result, without any reason or necessity had become an enemy of Cæsar and had come there to share in great danger. These words disturbed the resolve of Cicero, and also that Pompeius did not employ him in anything of weight. But he was the cause of this himself, inasmuch as he made no secret of repenting of what he had done, and depreciated the resources of Pompeius, and privately showed his dissatisfaction at his plans, and abstained not from scoffing and saying any sharp thing of the allies, though he himself always went about in the camp without a smile and with sorrowful countenance; but he gave cause of laughter to others who had no occasion for it. It is better to mention a few of these things. Domitius was placing in a post of command a man of no warlike turn, and said, How modest he is in his manner and how prudent; “Why then,” said Cicero, “do you not keep him to take care of your children?” When some were commending Theophanes the Lesbian, who was a Præfectus of Fabri in the camp, for his excellent consolation of the Rhodians on the loss of their fleet, “What a huge blessing it is,” he said, “to have a Greek Præfect!” When Cæsar was successful in most things and in a manner was blockading them, he replied to the remark of Lentulus that he heard that Cæsar’s friends were dispirited, “You mean to say that they are ill-disposed to Cæsar?” One Marcius, who had just arrived from Rome, said that a report prevailed in Rome that Pompeius was blockaded. “I suppose you sailed hither then,” said Cicero, “that you might see it with your own eyes and believe.” After the defeat Nonnius observed that they ought to have good hopes, for that seven eagles were left in the camp of Pompeius, “Your advice would be good,” said Cicero, “if we were fighting with jack-daws.” When Labienus was relying on certain oracular answers, and saying that Pompeius must get the victory, “Yes,” said Cicero, “it is by availing ourselves of such generalship as this that we have lost the camp.”

Life Of Cicero: XXXIX

After the battle at Pharsalus, in which he was not present by reason of illness, and when Pompeius had fled, Cato, who had a large army at Dyrrachium and a great fleet, asked Cicero to take the command according to custom, and as he had the superior dignity of the consulship. But as Cicero rejected the command and altogether was averse to joining the armament, he narrowly escaped being killed, for the young Pompeius and his friends called him a traitor and drew their swords, but Cato stood in the gap and with difficulty rescued Cicero and let him go from the army. Having put in at Brundusium he stayed there waiting for Cæsar, who was delayed by affairs in Asia and in Egypt. But when news came that Cæsar was landed at Tarentum; and was coming round by land to Brundusium, Cicero went to him, not being altogether without hope, but feeling shame in the presence of many persons to make trial of a man who was his enemy and victorious. However there was no need for him to do or say anything unworthy of himself; for when Cæsar saw Cicero coming to meet him at a great distance before all the rest, he got down, and embraced him and talking with him alone walked several stadia. From this time he continued to show respect to Cicero and friendly behaviour, so that even in his reply to Cicero, who had written a panegyric on Cato, he commended his eloquence and his life, as most resembling those of Perikles and Theramenes. Cicero’s discourse was called Cato, and Cæsar’s was entitled Anticato. It is said also that when Quintus Ligarius was under prosecution, because he had been one of Cæsar’s enemies and Cicero was his advocate, Cæsar said to his friends, “What hinders us listening after so long an interval to Cicero’s speech, since the man has long been adjudged a villain and an enemy?” But when Cicero had begun to speak and was making a wonderful sensation, and his speech as he proceeded was in feeling varied and in grace admirable, the colour often changed in Cæsar’s face, and it was manifest that he was undergoing divers emotions in his mind; but at last when the orator touched upon the battle at Pharsalus, he was so affected that his body shook and he dropped some of the writings from his hands. Accordingly he acquitted the man of the charge perforce.

Life Of Cicero: XL

After this, as the constitution was changed to a monarchy, Cicero detaching himself from public affairs applied himself to philosophy with such young men as were disposed; and mainly from his intimacy with the noblest born and the first in rank, he again got very great power in the state. His occupation was to compose philosophical dialogues and to translate and to transfer into the Roman language every dialectical or physical term; for it is he, as they say, who first or mainly formed for the Romans the terms Phantasia, Syncatathesis, Epoche, and Catalepsis, and also Atom, and Indivisible, and Vacuum, and many other like terms, some of which by metaphor, and others by other modes of assimilation he contrived to make intelligible and to bring into common use: and he employed his ready turn for poetry to amuse himself. For it is said that when he was disposed that way, he would make five hundred verses in a night. The greatest part of his time he now spent in his lands at Tusculum, and he used to write to his friends that he was living the life of Laertes, whether it was that he said this in jest, as his manner was, or whether from ambition he was bursting with desire to participate in public affairs and was dissatisfied with matters as they were. He seldom went down to the city, and when he did, it was to pay court to Cæsar, and he was foremost among those who spoke in favour of the honours given to him and were eager always to be saying something new about the man and his acts. Of this kind is what he said about the statues of Pompeius, which Cæsar ordered to be set up after they had been taken away and thrown down, and they were set up again. For Cicero said that by this mild behaviour Cæsar placed the statues of Pompeius, but firmly fixed his own.

Life Of Cicero: XLI

His intention being, as it is said, to comprehend in one work the history of his country and to combine with it much of Greek affairs and in fine to place there the stories and myths which he had collected, he was prevented by public and many private affairs contrary to his wish, and by troubles, most of which seem to have been of his own causing. For first of all, he divorced his wife Terentia, because he had been neglected by her during the war, so that he set out in want even of necessaries for his journey, and did not even on his return to Italy find her well-disposed to him. For she did not go to him, though he was staying some time in Brundusium, and when her daughter, who was a young woman, was going so long a journey, she did not supply her with suitable attendance, nor any means, but she even made Cicero’s house void of everything and empty, besides incurring many great debts. These are the most decent reasons for the separation which are mentioned. But Terentia denied that these were the reasons, and Cicero made her defence a complete one by marrying no long time after a maid; as Terentia charged it, through passion for her beauty, but as Tiro the freedman of Cicero has recorded it, to get means for paying his debts. For the young woman was very rich and Cicero had the care of her property, being left fiduciary heir. Being in debt to the amount of many ten thousands he was persuaded by his friends and relatives to marry the girl, notwithstanding the disparity of age, and to get rid of his creditors by making use of her property. But Antonius, who made mention of the marriage in reply to the Philippics, says that he put out of doors his wife with whom he had grown old, and at the same time he made some cutting jibes on the housekeeping habits of Cicero as a man unfit for action and for arms. No long time after his marriage Cicero’s daughter died in child-birth, for she had married Lentulus after the death of her former husband Piso. The philosophers from all quarters came together to console Cicero, but he bore his misfortune very ill, and even divorced his wife because he thought that she was pleased at the death of Tullia.

Life Of Cicero: XLII

Such were Cicero’s domestic affairs. He had no share in the design that was forming against Cæsar, though he was one of the most intimate friends of Brutus and was supposed to be annoyed at the present state of affairs and so long for the old state more than anybody else. But the men feared his temper as being deficient in daring, and the occasion was one in which courage fails even the strongest natures. When the deed was accomplished by the partisans of Brutus and Cassius, and Cæsar’s friends were combining against the conspirators, and there was fear of the city again being involved in civil wars, Antonius, who was consul, brought the Senate together and said a few words about concord; and Cicero, after speaking at length and suitably to the occasion, persuaded the Senate to imitate the Athenians and decree an amnesty for what had been done to Cæsar, and to give provinces to Brutus and Cassius. But none of these things came to a conclusion. For the people of themselves being transported to pity, when they saw the corpse carried through the Forum, and Antonius showed them the garments filled with blood and slashed in every part by the swords, maddened by passion sought for the men in the Forum and ran with fire in their hands to their houses to burn them. The conspirators escaped the danger by being prepared for it, but as they expected other great dangers, they quitted the city.

Life Of Cicero: XLIII

Antonius was forthwith elated, and was formidable to all, as about to become sole ruler; but to Cicero most formidable. For Antonius seeing that Cicero’s power was recovering strength in the State, and knowing that he was closely allied with Brutus, was annoyed at his presence. And there existed even before this some ill-will between them on account of the unlikeness and difference in their lives. Cicero fearing these things, first made an attempt to go with Dolabella to Syria as legatus: but the consuls for the next year, Irtius and Pansa, who were good men and admirers of Cicero, prayed him not to desert them, and they undertook if he were present to put down Antonius. Cicero, neither distrusting altogether nor trusting gave up his design as to Dolabella, and agreed with Irtius to spend the summer in Athens, and when they had entered on their office, to come back, and he sailed off by himself. But as there was some delay about the voyage, and new reports, as the wont is, reached him from Rome that Antonius had undergone a wonderful change, and was doing and administering everything conformably to the pleasure of the Senate, and that matters only required his presence to be brought to the best arrangement, himself blaming his excessive caution turned back to Rome. And he was not deceived in his first expectations, so great a crowd of people through joy and longing for him poured forth to meet him, and near a whole day was taken up at the gates and upon his entrance with greetings and friendly reception. On the following day Antonius summoned a Senate and invited Cicero, who did not come, but was lying down pretending to be indisposed from fatigue. But the truth appeared to be that he was afraid of some design against him, in consequence of certain suspicions and of information which reached him on the road. Antonius was irritated at the calumny and sent soldiers with orders to bring Cicero or burn his house, but as many persons opposed Antonius and urged him by entreaties he took securities only and desisted. And henceforward they continued to pass by without noticing one another and to be mutually on their guard, till the young Cæsar having arrived from Apollonia took possession of the inheritance of the elder Cæsar, and came to a quarrel with Antonius about the two thousand five hundred ten thousands which Antonius detained of his substance.

XLIV. Upon this, Philippus who was married to young Cæsar’s mother, and Marcellus, who was married to his sister, came with the young man to Cicero, and made a compact that Cicero should lend to Cæsar both in the Senate and before the people the power that he derived from his eloquence and his political position, and that Cæsar should give to Cicero the security that could be derived from money and from arms. For the young man had about him many of those who had served under Cæsar. There appeared also to have been some stronger reason for Cicero readily accepting the friendship of Cæsar. For, as the story goes, while Pompeius and Cæsar were living, Cicero dreamed that some one summoned the sons of the senators to the Capitol, as Jupiter was going to appoint one of them chief of Rome, and that the citizens ran eagerly and placed themselves around the temple and the youths seated themselves in their prætextæ in silence. The doors opened suddenly and one by one the youths rising walked round before the god, who looked at them all and dismissed them sorrowing. But when young Cæsar was advancing towards him, the god stretched out his hand and said, “Romans, there is an end to civil wars when this youth becomes your leader.” They say that Cicero having had such a dream as this had imprinted on his memory the appearance of the youth and retained it distinctly, but he did not know him. The following day as he was going down to the Campus Martius, the boys who had taken their exercise were returning, and the youth was then seen by Cicero for the first time just as he appeared to him in his dream, and being struck with surprise Cicero asked who were his parents. Now his father was Octavius, not a man of very illustrious station, but his mother was Attia, a niece of Cæsar. Accordingly Cæsar, who had no children of his own, gave the youth his property and family name by his will. After this they say that Cicero took pains to notice the youth when he met him, and the youth received well his friendly attentions; for it had also happened that he was born in Cicero’s consulship.

Life Of Cicero: XLV

These were the reasons which were mentioned; but his hatred of Antonius in the chief place, and then his disposition, which was governed by ambition, attached him to Cæsar in the expectation of adding to his own political influence Cæsar’s power. For the young man went so far in paying his court to Cicero as to call him father. At which Brutus being much annoyed blamed Cicero in his letters to Atticus, that through fear of Antonius he was courting Cæsar and was thus manifestly not procuring liberty for his country, but wooing for himself a kind master. However Cicero’s son, who was studying philosophy at Athens, was engaged by Brutus and employed in command in many things which he did successfully. Cicero’s power in the city was then at its height, and as he could do what he liked, he drove Antonius out and raised a faction against him and sent out the two consuls Irtius and Pansa to fight against him, and he persuaded the Senate by a vote to give Cæsar lictors and the insignia of a prætor, as if he were fighting in defence of their country. But when Antonius had been defeated and on the death of the two consuls after the battle the forces joined Cæsar, and the Senate through fear of a youth who had enjoyed splendid success was attempting by honours and gifts to call away from him the armies, and to divide his power, on the ground that there was no need of troops to defend the state now that Antonius was fled, under these circumstances Cæsar being alarmed secretly sent messengers to Cicero, to entreat and urge Cicero to get the consulship for the two, but to manage matters as he thought best, and to have the power, and to direct the young man who was only desirous of a name and reputation. And Cæsar himself admitted that it was through fear of his troops being disbanded and the danger of being left alone, that he had availed himself in a time of need of Cicero’s love of power by urging him to take the consulship, and promising that he would act with him and assist in the canvass at the same time.

Life Of Cicero: XLVI

In this way indeed Cicero being very greatly pushed on, he an old man by a young one, and cajoled, assisted at the canvass of Cæsar and got the Senate in his favour, for which he was blamed by his friends at the time, and he shortly after saw that he had ruined himself and betrayed the liberty of the people. For when the youth was strengthened and had got the consulship, he gave himself no concern about Cicero, but making friends with Antonius and Lepidus and uniting his forces with theirs, he divided the chief power with them, just as if it were a piece of property. And a list of above two hundred men was made out, who were doomed to die. The proscription of Cicero caused most dispute among them in their discussions, for Antonius was not inclined to come to any terms unless Cicero was the first to be doomed to death, and Lepidus sided with Antonius, but Cæsar held out against both. They held their meeting by themselves in secret near the city Bononia for three days, and they met in a place at some distance from the camps which was surrounded by a river. It is said that during the first two days Cæsar struggled in behalf of Cicero, but that he yielded on the third and gave up the man. And the matter of their mutual surrender was thus. Cæsar was to give up Cicero, and Lepidus his brother Paulus, and Antonius was to give up Lucius Cæsar, who was his uncle on the mother’s side. So far did they through resentment and rage throw away all human feeling, or rather they showed that no animal is more savage than man when he has gotten power added to passion.

Life Of Cicero: XLVII

While this was going on, Cicero was on his lands at Tusculum, and his brother with him; and on hearing of the proscriptions they determined to remove to Astura, a place belonging to Cicero on the sea-coast, and thence to sail to Macedonia to Brutus, for there was already a rumour about him that he had a force. They were conveyed in litters, being worn out by grief; and halting by the way and placing their litters side by side they lamented to one another. Quintus was the more desponding, and he began to reflect on his needy condition, for he said that he had brought nothing from home; and indeed Cicero was but scantily provided for his journey; it was better then, he said, for Cicero to hurry on in his flight, and for him to hasten back and to provide himself from home with what he wanted. This was agreed, and embracing one another with tears they separated. Now Quintus, not many days after, was betrayed by his slaves to those who were in search of him and put to death with his son. Cicero arrived at Astura, and finding a vessel he immediately embarked, and sailed along the coast to Circæum, the wind in his favour.

When the sailors were wishing to set sail immediately from thence, whether it was that he feared the sea, or had not quite despaired of all trust in Cæsar, he landed, and went on foot about a hundred stadia on the road to Rome. But again perplexed and changing his mind he went down to the sea of Astura; and there he spent the night in dreadful and desperate reflections, so that he even formed a design to get secretly into Cæsar’s house, and by killing himself on the hearth to fasten on him an avenging dæmon. But the fear of tortures drove him from this measure also; and after perplexing himself with other schemes and shifting from one to another, he put himself in the hands of his slaves to convey him by sea to Capitæ, for he had lands there and a place of retreat which was very agreeable in summer, when the Etesian winds blow most softly. The place has also a temple of Apollo, a little above the sea. A flock of crows winging their flight from thence with loud cawing approached the vessel of Cicero as it was rowing to land, and settling at each end of the sail-yard some made a noise, and others gnawed the end of the ropes, and all were of opinion that the omen was bad. Cicero landed, and going to the villa he lay down to rest. But most of the crows perched themselves on different parts of the window, cawing clamorously; and one of them, going down to the couch where Cicero lay wrapped up, by degrees removed with its beak the covering from his face. The slaves seeing this, and considering it a reproach to them if they should wait to be spectators of their master’s murder, while even brute beasts came to his aid and cared for him in his unmerited misfortune, but they themselves were giving no help, partly by entreaty, partly using force, took him up and carried him in a litter towards the sea.

Life Of Cicero: XLVIII

In the meantime the murderers with their helpers came on, Herennius a centurion, and Popilius a tribune, who had once been prosecuted for parricide and Cicero was his advocate. Finding the doors closed they broke them open, and as Cicero was not seen and those who were within denied that they knew where he was, it is said that a youth who had been brought up by Cicero in liberal studies and learning, and was a freedman of Cicero’s brother Quintus, Philologus by name, told the tribune that the litter was being conveyed through the wooded and shady paths to the sea. Accordingly the tribune, taking a few men with him, ran round to the outlet. And as Herennius was running along the paths, Cicero saw him and bade the slaves place down the litter there; and, as his wont was, holding his chin with his left hand he looked steadily on the murderers, being all squalid and unshorn, and his countenance wasted by care, so that most of them covered their faces while Herennius was killing him. He stretched his neck out of the litter and was killed, being then in his sixty-fourth year. Herennius cut off his head and the hands, pursuant to the command of Antonius, with which he wrote the Philippics. For Cicero himself entitled Philippics the speeches which he wrote against Antonius, and to the present day they are called Philippics.

Life Of Cicero: XLIX

When the head and hands were brought to Rome, Antonius happened to be holding an election of magistrates, and when he heard the news and saw what had been done, he called out that the proscriptions were now at an end. He ordered the head and hands to be placed above the Rostra on the place whence the orators spoke, a sight that made the Romans shudder, who thought that they saw, not the face of Cicero, but an image of the soul of Antonius. Still he showed herein one sentiment of just dealing, for he delivered up Philologus to Pomponia the wife of Quintus, who having got him into her power, inflicted terrible vengeance upon him, and among other things compelled him to cut off his flesh bit by bit, and to roast and eat it. Thus some of the historians have told the story, but Tiro, who was Cicero’s freedman, makes no mention at all of the treachery of Philologus. I have heard that Cæsar a long time after once went to see one of his daughter’s sons, and as the youth had in his hands one of Cicero’s writings, he was afraid and hid it in his vest; the which Cæsar observing took the book and read a good part of it while he was standing, and then returning the book to the boy said, “A wise man, my boy, a wise man and a lover of his country.” As soon as Cæsar had finally defeated Antonius, he took Cicero’s son to be his colleague in the consulship, in whose magistracy the Senate threw down the statues of Antonius and destroyed all other testimonials in honour of him, and further decreed that no Antonius should bear the name of Marcus. That the dæmon reserved for the family of Cicero the final vengeance on Antonius.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero: I

The above is all I have been able to find out that is worth being recorded about Demosthenes and Cicero. Without attempting to compare their different styles of oratory, I think it necessary to remark that Demosthenes devoted all his powers, natural and acquired, to the study of eloquence alone, so that he surpassed all his rivals in the law courts and public assembly in perspicuity and ability, all the writers of declamations in splendour and pomp of diction, and all the professional sophists in accuracy and scientific method. Cicero, on the other hand, was a man of great learning and various literary accomplishments. He wrote a considerable number of philosophic treatises modelled on the works of the Academic school, and in all his forensic and political speeches we can detect a desire to let his audience know that he was a man of letters. In their speeches, too, we can discern the impress of their respective characters. The eloquence of Demosthenes never stoops to jest, and is utterly without ornament, but has a terrible concentrated earnestness, which does not smell of the lamp, as Pytheas sneeringly said, but which reminds us of the ungenial, painstaking, acrimonious nature of the man: while Cicero often is carried by his love of jesting to the verge of buffoonery, and in his pleadings treats serious matters in a tone of most unbecoming levity and flippancy, as in the oration for Cæcilius he argues that in an age of such luxury and extravagance there can be nothing to wonder at if a man takes his pleasure; for not to help oneself to the pleasures which are within one’s reach is the part of a madman, seeing that the most eminent philosophers have declared the chief felicity of man to consist in pleasure. It is related that when Cato prosecuted Murena, Cicero, who was consul at the time, defended him, and cracked many jokes on Cato as an adherent of the Stoic philosophy, and on the absurdity of the paradoxes which it maintains. The audience, and even the judges, laughed heartily; but Cato merely remarked to those near him, with a quiet smile, “Gentlemen, what a witty consul we have.” Cicero, indeed, seems to have been fond of laughter and mirth, and his countenance was calm and smiling; while that of Demosthenes always bore the marks of gloomy, anxious thought, which caused his enemies, as he himself tells us, to call him disagreeable and ill-natured.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero: II

In their speeches we may observe that Demosthenes praises himself with great moderation, in a manner which can offend no one, and only when he has some more important object in view, while he is usually modest and cautious in his language; whereas Cicero’s show a ridiculous amount of egotism and craving for applause, when, he demands that “arms shall yield to the toga, and the triumphal laurel give place to his tongue.” At last he took to praising not only his own deeds, but even his spoken and written orations, as though he were engaged in some contest with professional rhetoricians like Isokrates or Anaximenes, rather than endeavouring to lead and reform the Roman people—

“Savage and rude, whose sole delight
Was with their foes to strive in fight.”

A politician must of necessity be a powerful speaker, but it is a contemptible thing for him to be too greedy and covetous of applause for his fine speeches. Wherefore, in this respect Demosthenes appears far graver, and of a nobler nature; for he himself declared that his eloquence came only by practice, and depended on the favour of his audience, and that he regarded those who boasted of their oratorical powers as vulgar and despicable characters.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero: III

They were both alike in their power and influence with the people, which caused even the commanders of armies in the field to look to them for support; for Demosthenes was courted by Chares, Diopeithes, and Leosthenes, as was Cicero by Pompeius and the younger Cæsar, as Cæsar himself admits in his memoirs addressed to Mæcenas and Agrippa. We cannot judge of Demosthenes by that which is said to afford the most certain test of a man’s true character—his conduct when in power—for he has not afforded us any opportunity of doing so, as he would not even take the command of the confederacy which he himself organised to oppose Philip. Now Cicero was sent to Sicily as quæstor, and to Cilicia and Cappadocia as proconsul, at a period when the love of wealth was at its height, and when the Roman generals and governors, thinking it beneath them to steal money, used to resort to open robbery. It was not thought discreditable to plunder a province, but he who did so with moderation was esteemed as an excellent governor. Cicero on these occasions gained great credit by the many proofs which he gave of indifference to money, and of goodness and kindness of heart. At Rome itself also, he was elected nominally consul, but really dictator with unlimited powers to deal with Catilina’s conspiracy, and he then proved the truth of Plato’s aphorism, that a state finds rest from its misfortunes when by good luck a powerful and able man is found to rule it with justice. Demosthenes again is said to have made money dishonourably by writing speeches for other men, as in the case of the speeches with which he secretly furnished Phormio and Apollodorus, when they were opposed to one another. He also was suspected of receiving bribes from the King of Persia, and was caught in the act of taking a bribe from Harpalus. Even if we suppose these charges, supported as they are by the testimony of so many writers, to be false, yet it is impossible to deny that Demosthenes, who trafficked in that peculiarly discreditable form of usury, marine insurances, would not have been able to refuse a present offered in all honour by a king, while we have already related how Cicero refused to take money from the Sicilians when he was quæstor, and from the Cappadocians when he was proconsul, and even from his friends, who pressed him to accept large sums when he was exiled from Rome.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero: IV

Moreover, Demosthenes was exiled in great disgrace, after he had been convicted of having received a bribe, while Cicero’s banishment was the consequence of the noblest action of his life, the ridding his country of wicked men. Wherefore, no one could plead for Demosthenes when he left the country, but the Senate publicly put on mourning for Cicero, grieved for his absence, and refused to transact any business before voting that he should be restored to Rome. Yet Cicero spent his exile idly in Macedonia, while Demosthenes carried out an important part of his policy while in exile; for, as has been related, he accompanied the Athenian embassy to the various states of Greece, discomfited the Macedonian ambassadors, and proved himself a far better citizen than Themistokles or Alkibiades under similar circumstances: moreover, after his restoration to Athens, he continued to pursue the same policy of unceasing opposition to Antipater and the Macedonians, while Lælius reproached Cicero for sitting silent in the senate-house when young Octavius Cæsar, before his beard was grown, petitioned to be allowed to sue for the consulship in spite of the law. Brutus also blamed him for having fostered a greater and harsher tyranny than that which he put down.

Comparison Of Demosthenes And Cicero: V

In conclusion, we must regard the death of Cicero as most pitiable, that an old man, through cowardice, should be carried hither and thither by his slaves, seeking to escape death, and hiding himself from his foes, although he could in any case have but a short time to live, and then be murdered after all; while Demosthenes, though he did beg somewhat for his life, must be admired for his forethought in providing himself with the poison, and also for the use which he made of it, to escape from the cruelty of Antipater even when surrounded by his soldiers, and to betake himself to a greater sanctuary, as that of the god was unable to protect him.

Life Of Demetrius.

Life Of Demetrius: I

He who first compared the arts to our senses seems to me to have especially alluded to the power which they both exhibit of dealing with objects of completely contrary qualities. In this respect they coincide; but they differ in respect of the use and purpose of the object of which they take cognisance. Our senses are influenced indifferently by things white or black, sweet or bitter, soft or hard, for the proper function of each sense is merely to receive all these impressions and to convey them to the mind. But the arts, which have been invented in order to cultivate the qualities proper to their own nature and to eschew those which are foreign to it, view some with especial favour, as partaking of their own essence, and avoid others as mere untoward accidents. Thus the art of medicine deals with diseases and the art of music deals with discord merely with a view to produce their respective opposites; while self-control, justice and wisdom, which are the most perfect of all arts, because they decide not only what is honourable, righteous and useful but likewise what is hurtful, shameful, and unjust, do not praise innocency which prides itself upon inexperience of evil, but think it to be folly and ignorance of what all who intend to live as becomes them ought to know. The ancient Spartans at their feasts used to compel their helots to drink a large quantity of wine, and then brought them into the banqueting-hall, in order to show the young Spartans what drunkenness was like. I think that to instruct one class of men by the ruin of another is neither humane nor politic, yet I conceive that it may be useful to insert among my Parallel Lives some examples of men who have been careless of their own reputation, and who have used their great place and power only to make themselves notorious for evil. The description of such men’s lives is not indeed an agreeable task, or a pleasant mode of employing my leisure, still, as Ismenias the Theban, when instructing his scholars how to play the flute, used to say, “Thus you should play;” and again, “Thus you should not play,” while Antigenides even thought that the young would take more pleasure in listening to good flute-players, if they had first heard bad ones, so I think that we shall be more inclined both to admire and to imitate the lives of good men, if we are well acquainted with those of bad ones. This book, then, will contain the lives of Demetrius, surnamed the City-taker, and of Antonius the Triumvir, men who bear signal witness to the truth of Plato’s remark, that great men have great vices as well as great virtues. Both alike loved passionately, drank deep, and fought bravely; both were freehanded, extravagant and arrogant. Fortune served them both alike, not only in their lives, for each of them had great successes and great disasters, each won great empire and lost it again, each unexpectedly fell and rose again; but also in their deaths, as the one was captured by his enemies, and the same fate all but befell the other.

Life Of Demetrius: II

Antigonus had two sons by Stratonike the daughter of Korragus, one of whom he named Demetrius after his brother, and the other Philip after his father. This is the account given by most historians, though some say that Demetrius was not the son, but the nephew, of Antigonus; but that, as his father died while he was still an infant and his mother at once married Antigonus, he was commonly regarded as his son. His brother Philip, who was a few years younger than himself, died soon, but Demetrius grew up to be a tall man, though not so tall as his father. His face and figure were of extraordinary beauty, which baffled all the attempts of painters and sculptors to do it justice. His expression was at once sweet, commanding and terrible; and his countenance showed all the eagerness and fire of youth combined with the calm dignity of a hero and a king. In like manner his disposition was one which was equally capable of inspiring terror or love. He was the pleasantest of companions, more given to wine-drinking and the enjoyment of luxurious idleness than any other king of his age, and yet he displayed remarkable energy and persistence in action; so that he emulated the fame of the god Dionysus, being like him a famous warrior, and when the war was over most capable of thoroughly enjoying the arts of peace.

Life Of Demetrius: III

He was remarkably fond of his father; and the love and respect which he paid to his father and mother seem to have been prompted by true affection, not by a wish to stand well with those in power. Once when Antigonus was receiving an embassy from some foreign state, Demetrius, who had been out hunting, came up to his father, kissed him, and sat down beside him just as he was, with his javelins still in his hand. When the ambassadors had transacted their business and were about to leave his presence, Antigonus said to them in a loud voice, “And, gentlemen, you may carry home this news about me and my son, that these are the terms on which we live,” thinking that so great a proof of his trust in his son’s loyalty would add considerable strength to his throne. So much mistrust and suspicion is bred by absolute power, and so hard a thing is it for a king to have a companion, that the eldest and greatest of the successors of Alexander publicly boasted that he was not afraid to have his own son sitting by his side with a spear in his hand. Indeed, this was the only royal family which through many generations remained unpolluted by this species of crime, for of all the successors of Antigonus only one, Philip, assassinated his son. All the records of other dynasties are full of murders of sons, mothers and wives; for the murder of brothers had grown to be considered, like an axiom in mathematics, as a necessary precaution to be taken by all kings on ascending to the throne.

Life Of Demetrius: IV

The following anecdote seems to prove that Demetrius when young was of a kind and loving nature. Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes, was his friend and companion, and was a good subject of Antigonus, of thorough and unsuspected loyalty, but at length incurred the suspicion of Antigonus in consequence of a dream. Antigonus dreamed that he walked over a large and fair plain, sowing it with gold dust; and that shortly afterwards, returning that way again, he found nothing but stubble left. While grieving over this he heard some men say that Mithridates had gone away to Pontus on the Euxine, after having gathered the golden harvest. Antigonus was much disturbed at this vision, and after having compelled his son to swear that he would keep silence about it, told him of the vision, and added that he had made up his mind to make away with the man. Demetrius was greatly grieved at hearing this, and when the young man, as he was wont to do, again joined him, and spent the day with him, Demetrius dared not tell him by word of mouth what danger he was in, because of the oath; but he drew him aside into a quiet place, and there, as soon as they were alone together, he wrote on the ground with the but-end of his spear, in sight of the other, the words “Fly, Mithridates!” Mithridates understood his meaning, and ran away that very night to Cappadocia. Not long afterwards, he showed Antigonus what was the real meaning of his dream; for he made himself master of an extensive territory, and became the founder of the dynasty of the kings of Pontus, which was overthrown by the Romans in about the eighth generation after him. By this example we may perceive the noble and loyal nature of Demetrius.

Life Of Demetrius: V

As the elements, because of their mutual attraction and repulsion, are, according to Empedokles, always at variance with one another, and especially with those with which they happen to be in contact, so, while all the successors of Alexander were always at war, circumstances from time to time caused hostilities between two or more of them to take an especially active form. At this time Antigonus was at war with Ptolemy, and, hearing that Ptolemy had left the island of Cyprus, had landed in Syria and was ravaging that country, he himself remained in Phrygia, but sent his son Demetrius to oppose him. Demetrius was now two and twenty years of age, and was now for the first time entrusted with the sole management of an important campaign. As might be expected of so young and untried a commander, when pitted against a man trained to war under Alexander, and who had since his death waged many wars with success, Demetrius was defeated near the city of Gaza with a loss of fifteen thousand killed and eight thousand prisoners. He also lost his own tent, his property, and all his personal attendants. These, however, were restored to him, with all his captured friends, by Ptolemy, who sent him a kindly-worded message to the effect that they ought not to fight as mortal foes, but only for honour and empire.

Demetrius, after receiving this message and his property, prayed to the gods that he might not long remain in Ptolemy’s debt, but that he might soon recompense him in like manner. He did not behave himself like a youth who has received a check at the outset of his first campaign, but repaired his failure like an old and wary commander, enrolling fresh soldiers, providing new supplies of arms, keeping a firm hold over the cities near him and carefully drilling his new levies.

Life Of Demetrius: VI

Antigonus when he heard of the defeat remarked that Ptolemy had conquered beardless boys, but that he would have to fight his next battle with grown men. He yielded however to his son’s entreaty to be allowed to repair his fault by himself, and, as he did not wish to damp his spirits, left him in sole command. Soon after this Killes, Ptolemy’s lieutenant, arrived in Syria with a large force, meaning to chase Demetrius, whom he supposed to be disheartened by his defeat, quite out of Syria. But Demetrius by a sudden attack surprised his army and struck it with panic. He captured the enemy’s camp and their general, and took eight thousand prisoners and a great quantity of booty. He was overjoyed at this, not because he meant to keep what he had won, but to give it back, and did not so much value the glory and wealth which he had gained as the opportunity now offered him for repaying the courtesy of Ptolemy. He did not presume to do this on his own responsibility, but wrote first to his father. On receiving permission from him to deal as he pleased with the fruits of his victory, he gave costly presents to Killes and his friends, and sent them back to Ptolemy. This battle forced Ptolemy to retire from Syria, and brought Antigonus from Kelænæ rejoicing at the victory and eager to see his son.

Life Of Demetrius: VII

After this Demetrius was sent to subdue the Nabathean Arabs, in performing which service he incurred great danger by journeying through waterless deserts; but his intrepid courage overawed the barbarians, and he returned loaded with plunder, having captured seven hundred camels.

Seleukus had once lost his capital city, Babylon, which Antigonus took from him; but he had since recovered it by his own arms, and at this time was marching with an army to attempt the conquest of the nations bordering upon India, and the provinces near mount Caucasus. Demetrius, hoping that he might find Mesopotamia in a defenceless condition, suddenly crossed the Euphrates, took Babylon by surprise, and made himself master of one of its two citadels, driving out the garrison placed there by Seleukus. Demetrius placed seven thousand of his own troops in the citadel, ordered his troops to enrich themselves by the plunder of the surrounding country, and then returned to the sea-coast, leaving Seleukus more firmly established on his throne than before; for by plundering the country he seemed to admit that he had no claim to it. As Ptolemy was now besieging Halikarnassus, he quickly marched thither and succeeded in saving the city.

VIII. As the glory which he won by this action was very great, he and his father Antigonus conceived a strong desire to liberate the whole of Greece from the tyranny of Ptolemy and Kassander. None of the successors of Alexander ever waged a more just or honourable war than this; for Demetrius and Antigonus, to gain themselves honour by freeing the Greeks, spent upon them the treasure which they had won in their victories over the barbarians. They determined first of all to attack Athens, and when one of the friends of Antigonus advised him, if he captured that city, to keep it in his own hands because it was the key of Greece, Antigonus replied that the best key to a country was the goodwill of its people, and that Athens was the watch-tower of the world, from whence the glory of his deeds should shine like a beacon-light to all mankind.

Demetrius now set sail for Athens with five thousand talents of silver, and a fleet of two hundred and fifty vessels. At this time Demetrius of Phalerum governed the city as Kassander’s lieutenant, and a garrison was placed in Munychia. By good fortune and good management the fleet arrived on the twenty-fifth day of the month Thargelion, without anyone being aware of its coming. When the ships were seen, they were thought to form part of Ptolemy’s fleet, and preparations were made to give them a friendly reception. At last the officers in command discovered their mistake, and a scene of great confusion ensued, as they hastily made preparations to resist the enemy, who were already in the act of disembarking; for Demetrius, finding the mouths of the harbours open, sailed straight in, and could be seen distinctly by all standing on the deck of the ship, and making signs to the Athenians to be quiet and keep silence. When this was done, he bade a herald proclaim that his father Antigonus had sent him thither in an auspicious hour to liberate the Athenians, drive out their Macedonian garrison, and restore to them their own laws and ancient constitution.

Life Of Demetrius: IX

Upon hearing this proclamation the greater part of the people laid down their shields at their feet, clapped their hands, and shouted to Demetrius to come ashore, calling him their saviour and benefactor; while Demetrius of Phalerum thought it necessary to admit so powerful a man to the city, even though he might have no intention of performing any of his promises. He therefore sent ambassadors to make their submission. Demetrius received them graciously and sent back with them Aristodemus of Miletus, one of his father’s friends. As the Phalerean, in consequence of this sudden turn of fortune, was more afraid of his own countrymen than of the enemy, Demetrius, who admired his courage and public spirit, took care to have him conveyed in safety to Thebes, to which town he himself wished to go. Demetrius himself now declared that, although he was very eager to view the city, he would not do so until he had completely set it free and expelled its garrison. He therefore surrounded Munychia with a ditch and rampart, cutting it off from the rest of the city, and then sailed to attack Megara, which town was held by a garrison of Kassander’s troops.

As he heard that Kratesipolis, the wife of Alexander the son of Polysperchon, a celebrated beauty, was at Patræ, and was not unwilling to grant him an interview, he left his army encamped in the territory of Megara and proceeded thither with only a few lightly equipped followers. When he was near the place, he pitched his own tent apart from his men, that the lady might not be seen when she came to visit him. Some of the enemy discovered this, and made a sudden attack upon him. He only escaped by putting on a mean cloak and running away alone; so that his licentiousness very nearly exposed him to ignominious capture. When Megara was taken the soldiers were about to plunder the city, but the Athenians with great difficulty prevailed upon Demetrius to spare it. He drove out the Macedonian garrison and made the city independent. While he was doing this he remembered Stilpon the philosopher, who was reputed to have chosen for himself a life of retirement and study. Demetrius sent for him, and inquired whether anything had been stolen from him. “Nothing,” replied Stilpon. “I saw no one taking away any knowledge.” As, however, nearly all the slaves were stolen, after Demetrius had talked graciously to Stilpon and at length dismissed him with the words, “My Stilpon, I leave you a free city;” “Quite true,” replied Stilpon, “for you have not left us a single slave.”

Life Of Demetrius: X

Demetrius now returned to Munychia, encamped before it, dislodged the garrison, and demolished the fort. And now at the invitation of the Athenians he proceeded into the city, where he assembled the people and re-established the ancient constitution. He also promised that his father Antigonus would send them one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of wheat and timber enough to build a fleet of one hundred ships of war. Thus did the Athenians recover their democratic constitution fifteen years after it had been dissolved; for during the period between the Lamian war and the battle of Krannon their government had nominally been an oligarchy, but practically had been a despotism, on account of the great power of Demetrius of Phalerum.

The benefits which Demetrius conferred upon the Athenians rendered him indeed great and glorious; but they rendered his fame invidious by the extravagant honours which they conferred upon him. They were the first of all men who bestowed upon Antigonus and Demetrius the title of Kings, a name which they greatly disliked because of its association, and which moreover belonged at that time in an especial manner to the descendants of Philip and Alexander, being the only one of their ensigns of royalty which had not been adopted by other princes. The Athenians too were the only people who styled Antigonus and Demetrius their saviour gods, and they even abolished the ancient office of the archon from whom the year received its name, and elected in his place every year a priest to minister at the altar of the saviour gods. They also decreed that their images should be woven into the sacred peplus of Athena, with those of the gods. They consecrated the spot where Demetrius first set his foot on the ground when he alighted from his chariot, and built an altar upon it which was called the altar of “The Descending Demetrius.” They added two to the number of their tribes, and called them Demetrias and Antigonis; and consequently they raised the number of the senators from five to six hundred, because each tribe supplied it with fifty members.

Life Of Demetrius: XI

But the most outrageous of these devices of Stratokles, for it was he who invented all these new extravagancies of adulation, was a decree that ambassadors sent to Antigonus or to Demetrius should wear the same holy title which had hitherto been given to the envoys who conducted the public sacrifices to the great festivals at Olympia and at Delphi. Indeed, in all other respects Stratokles was a man of shameless effrontery and debauched life, who appeared to imitate the scurrility of Kleon in ancient times by the reckless contempt with which he treated the people. He publicly kept a courtesan named Phylakion; and one day when she had bought some necks and brains in the market, he said to her, “Why, you have bought us the same things for dinner which we politicians play at ball with.”

When the Athenians were defeated in the great sea-fight at Amorgos, he reached Athens before the news of the disaster, and drove though the Kerameikus with a garland on his head, telling all the people that a victory had been won. He decreed a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and had meat publicly distributed among the tribes for entertainments. Shortly afterwards the scattered ships began to arrive, coming home as well as they could after the defeat. When the people angrily turned upon him, resenting the trick which he had played them, he met their clamour with the utmost impudence, and said, “What harm have I done you, in giving you two days of happiness?” Such was the audacity of Stratokles.

Life Of Demetrius: XII

There were, however, other marks of servility, “hotter than fire,” as Aristophanes calls it. One Athenian surpassed Stratokles himself by passing a decree that Demetrius, whenever he visited Athens, should be received with the same divine honours which were paid to Demeter and Dionysius, and that money should be granted from the public treasury to the person who should celebrate the festival of the reception with the greatest magnificence, in order that with it he might erect some memorial of his success. At last the name of the month Munychion was changed to Demetrion, and the first day of it named Demetrias, while the name of the festival of the Dionysia was changed to Demetria.

Most of these acts produced manifest signs of the displeasure of the gods. The peplus, upon which, according to the decree, the images of Zeus and Athena were woven together with those of Antigonus and Demetrius, was rent in two by a violent gust of wind as it was being conveyed in procession through the Kerameikus, while a great quantity of hemlock grew up round the altars which were erected in their honour, although it was not a common plant in the neighbourhood. On the day of the festival of Dionysius the procession was put a stop to by excessive cold, which came entirely out of season, and a severe frost not only destroyed all the fig-trees and vines, but even cut off a great part of the corn in the blade. In consequence of this, Philippides, who was an enemy of Stratokles, made the following allusion to him in one of his comedies:

This Philippides was a friend of Lysimachus, who for his sake conferred many benefits on the Athenians. Lysimachus imagined that the sight of Philippides before any campaign or expedition was a certain omen of good luck; while Philippides was beloved by him on other grounds, because he gave no trouble and never veiled his thoughts in courtly periphrases. Once Lysimachus, meaning to be very civil to him said, “Philippides, which of my possessions shall I bestow upon you?” “Whichever you please,” answered he, “except your secrets.” I have mentioned these incidents in the life of Philippides, in order to mark the distinction between the comic poet and the mob-orator.

XIII. The most extraordinary of all the honours conferred upon Demetrius was the proposal made by Demokleides of Sphettus to go and ask for an oracular response from him about the consecration of the shields at Delphi. I will write down the exact words of the law as it was proposed. “In a happy hour the people decree that one man shall be chosen from the citizens of Athens, who shall go to our saviour, and after he has done sacrifice unto him, shall ask Demetrius, our saviour, in what manner the people may, with greatest holiness and without delay, make consecration of their offerings; and whatever oracle it shall please him to give them, the people shall perform it.” By this absurd flattery the intellect of Demetrius, at no time very powerful, was thrown completely off its balance.

Life Of Demetrius: XIV

While he was living at Athens he married Eurydike, a descendant of the ancient hero Miltiades, who was the widow of Opheltas, King of Cyrene, and had returned to Athens after her husband’s death. The Athenians were greatly delighted at this marriage, which they regarded as an honour to their city; though Demetrius made no sort of difficulty about marriage, and had many wives at the same time. The chief of his wives, and the one whom he most respected, was Phila, the daughter of Antipater, and the widow of Kraterus, who was the most popular with the Macedonians of all the successors of Alexander during his life, and the most lamented by them after his death. Demetrius when very young was forced by his father to marry this woman, who was too old to be a suitable match for him. It is said that when Demetrius expressed his unwillingness to marry her, his father whispered in his ear the line of Euripides:

substituting the word “marriage” for “bondage,” which occurs in the original. However, the respect which Demetrius paid to her and to his other wives did not prevent his intriguing with various courtesans and mistresses, but he had a worse reputation in this respect than any other king of his age.

Life Of Demetrius: XV

His father now ordered him to proceed to Cyprus, and to attack Ptolemy, who was in possession of that island. He was forced to obey this summons, but as he was very unwilling to desist from the war in defence of the liberties of Greece, a much more noble and glorious struggle, he first endeavoured to bribe Ptolemy’s lieutenant in command of the garrison of Sikyon and Corinth to evacuate those cities and render them independent. As this attempt failed he quickly set sail, collected a large force, and proceeded to Cyprus. Here he fought a battle with Menelaus, Ptolemy’s brother, and at once defeated him. Shortly afterwards Ptolemy himself came to Cyprus with an immense fleet and army. The two commanders now interchanged messages of scornful defiance. Ptolemy bade Demetrius put to sea before his own host assembled and overwhelmed him, while Demetrius offered to permit Ptolemy to withdraw from Cyprus on condition that he would give up Corinth and Sikyon. The battle which ensued was one of the deepest interest, not merely to the combatants themselves, but to all the other princes, since its issue would determine not only the fate of Cyprus and Syria, but would at once render the victor the most powerful man in all the world.

Life Of Demetrius: XVI

Ptolemy advanced with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, and ordered Menelaus, when the battle was at its hottest, to sally out from Salamis with his sixty ships and throw the fleet of Demetrius into disorder by attacking it in the rear. Demetrius sent ten ships to oppose these sixty, for the mouth of the harbour (of Salamis) was so narrow that this number sufficed to close it. He himself now got his land force under arms, disposed it upon several neighbouring promontories, and put to sea with one hundred and eighty ships. He bore straight down upon the enemy’s fleet, and completely defeated it. Ptolemy himself, when all was lost, escaped with only eight ships, the sole survivors of his fleet. All the rest were sunk, except seventy which were captured with their crews on board. All his numerous train of servants, friends and wives, all his arms, money and military engines, which were stationed near the fleet in transports, were captured by Demetrius, who at once conveyed them to his own camp.

Among the spoil was the celebrated Lamia, who had at first been brought into notice by her musical skill, for she was an admirable flute-player, and who had afterwards become notorious by her amours. Her beauty was at this time somewhat faded, yet, although Demetrius was much younger than herself, she so fascinated and enslaved him by her charms, that, though many other women wished for his love, he cared only for her.

After the sea-fight, Menelaus held out no longer, but surrendered Salamis to Demetrius, with all his ships, and a land army of twelve hundred cavalry and twelve thousand heavy-armed infantry.

XVII. Demetrius added to the glory of this brilliant victory by his generous and humane conduct in burying the enemy’s dead with great honour, and in setting free all his prisoners. He sent a present to the Athenians of twelve hundred complete suits of armour from the spoils which he had taken. He also sent Aristodemus of Miletus to bear the news of the victory to his father. Of all his courtiers, this man was the boldest flatterer, and on this occasion he surpassed himself. After his passage from Cyprus, he would not allow his ship to approach the land, but cast anchor, bade all the crew remain on board, and himself rowed ashore in a small boat. He now walked up to the palace of Antigonus, who was in a state of great excitement and impatience to learn the issue of the battle, as may easily be imagined, considering the importance of the stake. When he heard that Aristodemus was come, his anxiety reached its highest pitch. He could scarcely keep himself indoors, and sent messenger after messenger, both servants and his own friends, to learn from Aristodemus what had taken place. Aristodemus returned no answer to any of them, but walked leisurely on with immovable countenance. Antigonus could bear the suspense no longer, but came to the door of his palace to meet Aristodemus, who was now accompanied by a large crowd. When he came near, he stretched forth his right hand, and in a loud voice exclaimed, “Hail, King Antigonus. We have defeated Ptolemy in a sea-fight. We are masters of Cyprus, and have taken sixteen thousand eight hundred prisoners.” To this Antigonus answered, “Hail to you, also; but you shall pay the penalty of having tortured us so long: you shall wait long before you receive the reward for your good news.”

XVIII. After this success, the people for the first time saluted Antigonus and Demetrius with the title of kings. The friends of Antigonus at once placed a diadem upon his head, and he sent one to Demetrius, with a letter in which he addressed him as king. The Egyptians, when they heard of this, also proclaimed Ptolemy king, that they might not appear to be dispirited by their defeat. Their example was soon followed by the other successors of Alexander, out of rivalry, for Lysimachus and Seleukus now began to wear the diadem in the presence of Greeks, though Seleukus had long before adopted the royal style in his dealings with Asiatics. Kassander, however, although every one both in interviews and letters addressed him as king, never used the title in his own letters, but signed them simply with his own name as he had been wont to do.

The assumption of this title produced more important results than a mere empty change of name and style. It caused its bearers to be more exalted in their ideas, more extensive in their ambition, and more pompous and stately in their demeanour, just as actors when they put on royal robes adopt also the lofty port and the haughty voice and carriage of a king. They also became more severe in their administration of justice, because they now laid aside that dissimulation by which they had hitherto concealed their power, and which had rendered them so much more lenient and gentle in their treatment of their subjects. So great was the power of the voice of one flatterer, and such great changes did it effect in the entire world.

Life Of Demetrius: XIX

Antigonus, elated by the successes of Demetrius at Cyprus, at once marched to attack Ptolemy. He himself led the land force, while Demetrius accompanied him along the coast with an enormous fleet. But Medius, a friend of Antigonus, was warned in a dream of what was destined to be the issue of the campaign. He dreamed that Antigonus with all his army was running a race in the circus. At first he appeared to be running strongly and fast, but soon his strength seemed to be ebbing away, and at last when he turned round the extreme point of the course and began to return, he was so weak and out of breath that he could hardly recover himself.

Indeed Antigonus by land met with many disasters, while Demetrius at sea met with a terrible storm, and narrowly escaped being driven ashore upon an iron-bound coast. He lost many ships, and returned without having accomplished anything. Antigonus was now very near eighty years of age, and was incapacitated for active service by his size and unwieldiness rather than by his age. He consequently entrusted the management of the war to Demetrius, who had already by his good fortune and skill conducted several most important campaigns with success.

Antigonus was not alarmed at his amours, his extravagancies, or his carousals, for he knew that, although in time of peace Demetrius used to indulge unrestrainedly in these pleasures, yet that in war he was as sober as though it were natural to him to be so. It is said that, in allusion to the empire which Lamia had now gained over Demetrius, once when he affectionately embraced his father on his return from a journey, Antigonus said, “My boy, you seem to think that you are caressing Lamia.” Another time, when Demetrius spent several days in drinking, and excused himself by saying that he had been laid up with a severe cold, Antigonus answered, “So I understood, but was the cold Chian or Thasian?” Once Antigonus heard that Demetrius had a fever, and went to see him. At the door he met one of his favourites coming out. He went in, sat down by his bedside, and took him by the hand. When Demetrius said that the fever had just left him, Antigonus answered, “Yes, I met it just now at the door.” So gently did he deal with the vices of Demetrius, because of his many other good qualities. The Scythians have a custom of twanging their bows while they are drinking and carousing, as though to recall their courage while it is melting away in pleasure; but Demetrius used to give up his whole thoughts at one time to pleasure, and at another to serious work, concentrating his entire attention upon the matter in hand, so that his amusements never interfered with his preparations for war.

Life Of Demetrius: XX

He appears indeed to have been better able to make preparations for war than to use them, for he always liked to be more than sufficiently provided with stores of every kind, and always wished to construct larger ships, and more powerful battering engines, in the working of which he took an especial delight. He was intelligent and clever, and did not waste his mechanical ingenuity in mere pastime, like other princes, who have amused themselves by playing on the flute, painting, or working in metal. Æropus, king of Macedonia, used to employ his leisure time in making little tables and lamps; while Attalus, surnamed Philometor, amused himself by cultivating poisonous herbs, not merely hyoscyamus and hellebore, but even hemlock, aconite and dorycnium. These he used to plant and tend with his own hands in the royal gardens, and made it his business to know their various juices and fruit, and to gather it in due season. The kings of Parthia, too, used to pride themselves upon sharpening the points of their own javelins. But the mechanics of Demetrius were always upon a royal scale, and his engines were of enormous size, showing by their admirable and ingenious construction the grand ideas of their inventor; for they appeared worthy not only of the genius and wealth, but of the hand of a king. Their size astonished his friends, while their beauty charmed even his enemies, and this praise is far from being as exaggerated as it sounds; for his enemies actually stood in crowds along the sea-shore to admire his ships of fifteen and sixteen banks of oars, while his “city-takers” were regarded as wonders even by the towns against which they were employed, as we may see in a notable example. Lysimachus, who of all the kings of his time was the bitterest enemy of Demetrius, when he was endeavouring to force Demetrius to raise the siege of Soli in Cilicia, sent a message to him asking to be allowed to see his siege engines and his ships of war. Demetrius indulged his curiosity, and after viewing them he retired home. The Rhodians also, after they had stood a long siege, when they came to terms with Demetrius, begged for some of his machines, which they wished to keep both as a memorial of his power and of their own courage.

Life Of Demetrius: XXI

Demetrius went to war with the Rhodians because they were the allies of Ptolemy, and brought up to their walls his largest “city-taker,” a machine with a square base, each side of which measured eight-and-forty cubits at the bottom. It was sixty-six cubits in height, and its upper part was much narrower than the base. Within, it was divided into many separate storeys and chambers, with windows on each storey opening towards the enemy, through which missiles of every kind could be shot, as it was full of soldiers armed with every kind of weapon. It never shook nor trembled, but rolled steadily onwards, upright and firm, with a regular, equable motion, which filled all spectators with terror and delight. Two steel corslets were brought from Cyprus for Demetrius to use in this war, each of which weighed forty minæ. The maker, Zoilus, in order to show their strength and power of resisting a blow, bade Demetrius shoot a dart out of a catapult at one of them at a distance of twenty paces. Where it struck, the iron remained unbroken, and only showed a trifling scratch, such as might be made by a stilus, or iron pen for writing on wax. This corslet Demetrius wore himself. He gave the other to Alkimus of Epirus, the bravest and most warlike man in all his army, who wore a suit of armour weighing two talents, while that of all the rest weighed only one talent. This man fell during the siege of Rhodes, in a battle near the theatre.

XXII. The Rhodians defended themselves with great spirit, and Demetrius was unable to accomplish anything against them; but he still continued the siege out of anger, because they had captured a ship in which his wife Phila had sent him letters, clothes and bedding, and had sent it at once to Ptolemy, just as it was. In this they were far from imitating the courtesy of the Athenians, who, when Philip was at war with them, captured a messenger and read all the letters which he carried except one written by Olympias, which they did not open, but sent it on to him with the seal unbroken. However, although Demetrius was much nettled by the conduct of the Rhodians, he did not stoop to retaliation upon them, although he soon had an opportunity of doing so. Protogenes of Kaunus happened at that time to be painting a picture of Ialysus for the Rhodians, and Demetrius found the picture very nearly completed in one of the suburbs of the city. The Rhodians sent a herald and begged him to spare the work, and not destroy it, to which he answered, that he would rather burn his father’s statues than such a precious work of art. Apelles tells us that when he saw this picture, the sight at first took Òaway his breath; and that at last he said, “Indeed this is a wonderful piece of work, and must have cost great labour.” Yet it has not that grace which gives so divine a charm to the works of Apelles himself. This picture shared the common lot of all Greek works of art, being taken to Rome, where it was destroyed by fire. As the Rhodians gallantly held their own in the war, Demetrius became weary of the siege, and gladly accepted the offer of the Athenians to act as mediators. They made peace between them on condition that the Rhodians should act as the allies of Antigonus and Demetrius, except against Ptolemy.

XXIII. The Athenians now invited Demetrius to come to their aid, as Kassander was besieging Athens. Demetrius arrived with three hundred and thirty ships, and a large land force. He not only drove Kassander out of Attica, but pursued him as far as Thermopylæ, where he defeated him in a battle, and gained possession of the city of Heraklea, which voluntarily surrendered to him. A body of six thousand Macedonians also deserted from Kassander and joined him. On his return he freed the Greeks south of Thermopylæ from Macedonian domination, formed an alliance with the Boeotians and took Kenchreæ. He destroyed the forts at Phyle and Panaktum in Attica, which had been garrisoned by Kassander’s troops, and restored them to the Athenians. They, although they appeared to have exhausted every possible form of adulation during his former visit, yet contrived to flatter him by the invention of fresh honours. They assigned the interior of the Parthenon to him for his lodging; and there he dwelt with the title of “the guest of Athena,” though he was a very ill-behaved guest to be quartered in the house of a virgin goddess. Yet once, when his father heard that his brother Philip was staying in a house where there were three young women, he said nothing to Philip, but in his presence sent for the quartermaster and said to him, “Will you be so good as to find some less crowded quarters for my son.”

XXIV. Demetrius, however, without paying the least respect to Athena, although he was wont to call her his elder sister, filled the Acropolis with such a series of outrages on well-born youths and women of the upper classes that the place became comparatively decent when he contented himself with holding an orgie in the society of the celebrated courtesans, Chrysis, Lamia, Demo and Antikyra. For the sake of the city I will say no more about his other debaucheries, but I cannot refrain from mentioning the virtue and chastity shown by Demokles. He was very young, and his beauty did not escape the notice of Demetrius; indeed his nickname betrayed him, for he was always spoken of as Demokles the Handsome. He turned a deaf ear to all advances, presents, or threats, and at last ceased to frequent the gymnasium and the palæstra, and used only a private bath. Demetrius watched his opportunity, and surprised him there alone. The boy, when he saw that he was caught where no one could help him, rather than suffer violence, took off the lid of the copper, leaped into the boiling water, and destroyed himself. He deserved a better fate, but the spirit which prompted the act was worthy of his country and of his beauty, and was very different to that of Kleaenetus the son of Kleomedon, who, when his father was condemned to pay a fine of fifty talents, obtained a remission of it from Demetrius, and showed a letter from Demetrius to the Athenian people signifying his pleasure in the matter; by which conduct Kleaenetus not only disgraced himself, but threw the whole city into a ferment. Kleomedon’s fine was remitted, but the people decreed that no citizen should ever again bring them a letter from Demetrius. However, as Demetrius was greatly incensed at this, and did not conceal his displeasure, the Athenians in terror not only reversed the decree, but put to death some of those who had advocated it, and banished others. Moreover, they actually decreed that “the entire people of Athens should regard anything which King Demetrius might be pleased to command as both righteous in respect of the gods, and legal as regards men.” When one of the better class of citizens observed that Stratokles must be mad to propose such a decree, Demochares of Leukonoe answered “He would be mad not to be mad,” for Stratokles made a great fortune by his flattery of Demetrius. This speech was reported to Stratokles, and Demochares was forced to go into exile. Such was the conduct of the Athenians when they were relieved of their Macedonian garrison and were thought to have become a free people.

Life Of Demetrius: XXV

Demetrius now proceeded to Peloponnesus, where he met with no resistance, as the enemy fled before him, and surrendered their cities to him. He made himself master of the district known as Akte, and of the whole of Arcadia, except Mantinea, while he set free Argos, Sikyon and Corinth, by bribing their garrisons to evacuate them with a hundred talents. At Argos he acted as president of the games at the festival of Hera, which took place whilst he was there. On this occasion he held a solemn assembly of all the Greeks, and publicly married Deidameia, a daughter of Æakides, king of the Molossi, and sister of Pyrrhus. He remarked to the people of Sikyon that they lived out of their proper city, and prevailed upon them to remove to the spot which they now inhabit. He changed the name as well as the situation of the city, and instead of Sikyon named it Demetrias.

At a largely attended meeting held at the Isthmus, Demetrius was proclaimed chief of Greece, as Philip and Alexander had been in former days; though Demetrius considered himself to be not a little superior to either of them, being elated by his good fortune and the immense force at his disposal. Alexander never deprived a king of his title, nor did he ever call himself king of kings, though he raised many to the dignity and style of kings; but Demetrius scoffed at those who called any one king, except himself and his father, and was much pleased at his carousals to hear toasts drunk to the health of Demetrius the King, Seleukus the Commander of the Elephants,

Ptolemy the Admiral, Lysimachus the Treasurer, and Agathokles of Sicily the Lord of the Isles. The other princes laughed at these sallies of Demetrius, and only Lysimachus was angry that Demetrius should think him a eunuch; for it was a pretty general custom to appoint eunuchs to the post of treasurer. Indeed Lysimachus hated him more bitterly than all of the rest, and, sneering at his passion for Lamia, used to declare that he had never before seen a whore act in a tragedy: to which Demetrius retorted that his whore was a more respectable woman than Lysimachus’s Penelope.

XXVI. Demetrius now set out for Athens, and sent a letter to the Athenians informing them that he desired to be initiated, and that he wished to go through the whole course, including both the lesser and the greater mysteries. This is not lawful, and never took place before, as the minor initiation used to take place in the month Anthesterion, and the greater in Bœdromion. When the letter was read, no one ventured to offer any opposition except Pythodorus the torchbearer, and he effected nothing; for, at the instance of Stratokles, the Athenians decreed that the month Munychion should be called Anthesterion, and in it celebrated the mysteries of Demeter which are held at Agræ. After this the name of the month Munychion was changed again from Anthesterion to Bœdromion, and Demetrius was admitted to the second degree, and allowed the privileges of an “epoptes.” In allusion to this Philippides rails at Stratokles in his verses as the man

And, in allusion to the lodging of Demetrius in the Parthenon, he wrote

XXVII. But of all the outrages and illegal acts of which Demetrius was guilty at this period, nothing seems to have enraged the Athenians so much as his ordering them speedily to levy a sum of two hundred and fifty talents, which, when it had been raised by a most harsh and pitiless series of exactions, was publicly presented by Demetrius to Lamia and her sisterhood to furnish their toilet-tables. It was the disgrace of the whole business and the scorn which it brought upon them, which stung them to the quick, more than the loss of the money. Some writers say that it was the people of Thessaly, not the Athenians, whom he treated in this manner. However, besides this, Lamia extorted money from many citizens on pretence of providing a supper for the king. This supper was so famous on account of the enormous sum which it cost, that a history of it was written by Lynkeus of Samos. For this reason one of the comic poets very cleverly called Lamia a “city-taker.” Demochares of Soli called Demetrius himself “Mythus,” or “Fable,” because he too had his Lamia.

Indeed the passion of Demetrius for Lamia caused not only his wives but his friends to dislike her and be jealous of her. Some of them went on an embassy to Lysimachus, and he when at leisure showed them on his thighs and arms the scars of deep wounds caused by a lion’s claws, telling them of how King Alexander had fastened him in the same cage with the beast, and the battle he had fought with it. On hearing this they laughingly said that their master also frequently showed upon his neck the marks of a savage beast called Lamia, which he kept. The wonder was that Demetrius, who had objected to Phila as being past her first youth, should yet be so captivated by Lamia, who was now far advanced in years. Once when Lamia was playing on the flute at a banquet, Demetrius asked the courtesan Demo, who was surnamed Mania, what she thought of her. “I think her an old woman, my king,” replied she. Again when the sweetmeats were placed on the table, Demetrius said to Demo, “Do you see what fine things Lamia sends me?” “My mother,” answered Demo, “will send you many more if only you will sleep with her.” A saying of Lamia’s about the well-known judgment of Bocchoris has been recorded.

A certain Egyptian became enamoured of the courtesan Thonis, but she set too high a price upon her favours for him. Afterwards he dreamed that he had enjoyed her, and his passion for her cooled. Upon this Thonis sued him in court for the money, and Bocchoris, having heard the case argued, ordered the man to place the exact sum which she demanded in a glass vessel, and to wave it backwards and forwards while she clutched at the shadow, because the young man’s dream had been a shadow of the reality. Lamia said that she did not think this decision a just one, because the woman’s desire for the gold was not satisfied by the shadow, as the young man’s passion had been by his dream.

XXVIII. But now the fortunes and deeds of the subject of our narrative force us to pass from a comic to a tragic scene, for all the other kings conspired against Antigonus, and united their forces together. Demetrius hereupon sailed away from Greece and joined his father, who was making wonderful exertions for a man of his age, and who was greatly encouraged by his son’s arrival. Yet it appears as though Antigonus, if only he would have made some small concessions and restrained his excessive love of power, might have enjoyed his supreme dignity to the end of his life, and might have bequeathed to his son his position of chief of all the successors of Alexander. Being, however, by nature haughty and disdainful, and even harsher in word than in deed, he alienated from himself and exasperated many young and powerful men; and even now he boasted that he would scatter the confederacy by which he was menaced as easily as a man scares a flock of birds away from a field. He took the field with more than seventy thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and seventy-five elephants, while his enemies’ army numbered sixty-four thousand infantry, five hundred more cavalry than his own, four hundred elephants, and one hundred and twenty war-chariots. When they drew near he became less hopeful rather than less determined. He was always wont to show a lofty and boastful spirit in the hour of danger, speaking in a loud tone, using confident language, and after making some jest when in the presence of the enemy, to show his own assurance of success and contempt for his opponents. Now, however, he was thoughtful and silent, and presented his son to the army as his successor. But what astonished every one most of all was that he held council with Demetrius alone in the tent, although he never before had shared his secret thoughts even with his son, but had always privately formed his own plans, and publicly carried them out on his own responsibility. It is said that Demetrius, when still very young, once asked him at what hour he proposed to march, to which Antigonus angrily answered, “Do you fear, that you alone will not hear the sound of the trumpet?”

XXIX. On this occasion it appears that they were also disheartened by sinister omens. Demetrius dreamed that Alexander appeared before him in shining armour, and inquired what would be their watchword for the battle. When Demetrius answered “Zeus and victory,” Alexander replied, “I will go away now, and tell this to the enemy; for I am going over to them.” Antigonus, too, as he stepped out of his tent to see his line formed stumbled and fell heavily upon his face. When he rose, he lifted his hands to heaven and prayed to the gods that they would either grant him victory or a painless death before his army was routed.

When the battle began, Demetrius with the flower of the cavalry charged Antiochus the son of Seleukus, and brilliantly routed the enemy, but he lost the day by his headstrong eagerness to pursue too far. He was unable to rejoin the infantry, for the enemy’s elephants interposed between him and the phalanx, which was thus left without any cavalry to cover its flanks. Seeing this, Seleukus kept the rest of his cavalry ever threatening to charge, but never actually doing so, hovering near the phalanx and both terrifying it and giving the men an opportunity of changing sides, which indeed took place; for a great mass of Antigonus’s infantry came over to Seleukus, and the rest fled. Many enemies now beset Antigonus, and one of his attendants said to him, “My king, it is you whom they are making for.” “Why,” replied he, “what other mark could they have but me? But Demetrius will soon be here to the rescue.” While he looked round hoping in vain to see his son, a shower of darts fell, and laid him low. All his friends and attendants now fled, except one named Thorax, a native of Larissa, who remained by the corpse.

Life Of Demetrius: XXX

After this battle the victorious kings proceeded to divide the empire of Antigonus and Demetrius amongst them, each annexing the portion which lay nearest to his own dominions, as though they were cutting slices out of some huge slaughtered beast. Demetrius fled with five thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, and directed his march with the utmost speed towards Ephesus. All imagined that in his distress for money he would not spare the rich temple there, and he himself, fearing lest his soldiers should do so, set sail as quickly as possible for Greece, as his chief hopes now lay in Athens. Indeed he had left there a part of his fleet, some treasure and his wife Deidameia, and imagined that he could find no surer refuge in his adversity than Athens, where he felt assured of the loyalty of the people. But while he was passing the Cyclades he met an embassy from Athens begging him not to approach that city, since the people had decreed that none of the kings should be admitted within its walls. The ambassadors added that his wife Deidameia had been escorted with due honour and respect to Megara. On hearing this, Demetrius, who had borne the rest of his misfortunes with the utmost serenity, and had never hitherto allowed an unworthy expression to escape him, became transported with anger. He was, in truth, bitterly grieved at being thus unexpectedly betrayed by the Athenians, and at finding that their apparent enthusiasm in his cause had all the while been unreal and fictitious. Apparently the bestowal of excessive honours upon kings and potentates by the people is but a poor test of their real loyalty, for the essence of these honours lies in their being freely offered, and they are worthless if prompted by fear; and men fawn upon those they fear just as they do upon those whom they really love. For this reason sensible men know how to value the erection of their statues, flattering decrees, and other public honours, by reflecting upon what they themselves have done for their admirers; for by this means they can discern whether these are really genuine expressions of respect, or are extorted by terror; for peoples frequently confer these very distinctions upon men whom they hate and abhor, but whom they are forced to honour against their will.

XXXI. Demetrius, although he considered that he had been very badly treated by the Athenians, was powerless to resent their conduct. He sent an embassy to Athens, gently complaining of their conduct, and requesting that they would restore his ships, one of which was a vessel of thirteen banks of oars. Having received them he coasted along as far as the Isthmus, where he found that all his garrisons had been driven out of the cities, and that the whole country had gone over to his enemies. He now left Pyrrhus to act as his lieutenant in Greece, and himself sailed to the Chersonese. Here he enriched his troops at the expense of Lysimachus by plundering the country, and soon found means again to collect a very considerable army. The other kings paid no regard to Lysimachus, thinking that he was no better a man than Demetrius, and more to be feared because he was more powerful.

Not long after this Seleukus sent an embassy to Demetrius to make proposals for the hand of Stratonike, the daughter of Demetrius by his wife Phila. Seleukus already had one son named Antiochus by his wife Apama, a Persian lady, but he thought that his empire would suffice for more than one heir, and he desired to form an alliance with Demetrius, because Lysimachus had recently married one of Ptolemy’s daughters himself, and taken the other for his son Agathokles. To Demetrius this offer of marriage from Seleukus was a most unexpected piece of good fortune. He placed his daughter on board ship, and sailed with his entire fleet to Syria. On his way he was forced to land several times to obtain supplies, especially on the coast of Cilicia, which province, after the battle in which Antigonus fell, had been bestowed upon Pleistarchus, the brother of Kassander. Pleistarchus took umbrage at the intrusion of Demetrius into his territory, and retired to Macedonia to complain to his brother that Seleukus was betraying the other kings by making terms with the common enemy of them all.

XXXII. Demetrius, when he discovered the intentions of Pleistarchus, proceeded at once to Quinda, where he found the sum of twelve hundred talents still remaining. Having made himself master of this, he quickly reembarked and put to sea. He was now joined by his wife Phila, and met Seleukus at Rhossas. Here the two princes conversed together in a truly royal style, without the least suspicion or fear of treachery. First Seleukus feasted Demetrius in his tent in the midst of his camp, and afterwards Demetrius entertained him at a banquet on board his great thirteen-banked ship. They also talked freely together for a long time, spending several days in friendly intercourse without any body-guard or arms, till at length Seleukus took Stratonike, and escorted her with great pomp to Antiocheia. Demetrius now made himself master of Cilicia, and sent his wife Phila to her brother, Kassander, to answer the accusations brought against him by Pleistarchus. During this time Deidameia sailed from Greece and joined Demetrius, but not long after her arrival she sickened and died. By the good offices of Seleukus, Demetrius was now reconciled with Ptolemy, and arranged to take Ptolemäis, Ptolemy’s daughter, for his wife. So far Seleukus behaved very well; but he could not prevail upon Demetrius to give up Cilicia to him for a sum of money, and when he angrily demanded the surrender of Tyre and Sidon, his conduct appears very overbearing and ungenerous, as though he, who had made himself master of all the country between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, were so poor and needy as to be obliged to squabble with his father-in-law about two cities, at a time, too, when the latter was suffering from a great reverse of fortune. How strongly does this bear out the truth of Plato’s maxim, that he who wishes to be really rich ought to lessen his desires rather than increase his property, because if a man places no bounds to his covetousness, he never will be free from want and misery.

XXXIII. Demetrius on this occasion showed no want of spirit. He declared that not if he had lost ten thousand fields like Ipsus would he consent to buy Seleukus for his son-in-law. He strengthened the garrisons of the cities, and hearing that Lachares, taking advantage of the factions into which the Athenians were divided, had made himself despot of that city, he thought that if he only were to show himself before Athens he might easily obtain possession of it. He crossed the sea in safety with a large fleet, but when off the coast of Attica he encountered a violent storm, in which he lost most of his ships and a great number of his men. He himself escaped unhurt, and at once began to make war against the Athenians. As, however, he could not effect anything, he sent his lieutenants to collect another fleet, and meanwhile proceeded to Peloponnesus. Here he laid siege to Messene, and during an assault nearly lost his life, for he was struck full in the face by a dart from a catapult, which pierced through his jaw into his mouth. He recovered from his wound, received the submission of several insurgent cities, and returned to Attica, where he made himself master of Eleusis and Rhamnus, and ravaged the country. He captured a ship loaded with wheat bound for Athens, and hanged the captain and pilot, which measure terrified the other merchants so much that they avoided Athens, and a terrible famine took place there, and the want of food brought about a scarcity of everything else. A medimnus of salt was sold for forty drachmas, and a modius of corn sold for three hundred drachmas.

The Athenians gained a short respite from their sufferings by the appearance near Ægina of a fleet of a hundred and fifty sail, which was sent by Ptolemy to aid them. Soon, however, Demetrius collected from Peloponnesus and Cyprus a fleet of three hundred ships, before which those of Ptolemy were forced to retire. Upon this the despot Lachares made his escape and abandoned the city to its fate.

XXXIV. The Athenians, although they had decreed that anyone who proposed to make peace and come to terms with Demetrius should be put to death, now at once opened their nearest gates and sent an embassy to him; not that they expected to be well treated by him, but acting under the pressure of starvation. It was said that, among other painful incidents, it happened that a father and a son were sitting in the same room, without any hopes of surviving, when a dead mouse fell from the roof, upon which they both started up and began to fight for it. We are told that during this time the philosopher Epikurus kept his disciples alive by counting out to them a fixed allowance of beans every day. This was the condition of the city when Demetrius made his entry into it. He ordered all the Athenians to assemble in the theatre, occupied the stage with armed men, placing his own body-guard round the part usually reserved for the actors, and made his appearance, like a tragic actor, through the entrance at the back. The Athenians were greatly terrified at these proceedings, but the first words of his address put an end to their fears. He spoke in a mild and conciliatory tone, briefly and gently, complained of their conduct towards him, and announced his forgiveness of them. He distributed among them one hundred thousand medimni of wheat, and appointed the most popular men in the city to the vacant magistracies. Dromokleides the orator, seeing that the people could scarcely find enough means to express their delight, and that they were eager to outdo the panegyrics which were being lavished upon Demetrius from the bema, proposed that the ports of Peiræus and Munychia should be handed over to King Demetrius. When this was agreed to, Demetrius himself placed a garrison in the Museum, by which he intended to curb the people in case they should grow restive and take off his attention from his other enterprises.

XXXV. Being now master of Athens, Demetrius at once began to attack Lacedæmon. He met the King of Sparta, Archidamus, near Mantinea, defeated him, and invaded Laconia, driving the beaten army before him. He fought a second battle before the walls of Sparta itself, in which he killed two hundred Spartans, and took five hundred prisoners; and he very nearly took the city itself, which up to that time had never been taken. Fortune, however, seems to have introduced greater and more sudden vicissitudes into the life of Demetrius than into that of any other prince, for he was constantly rising from the most abject poverty to the highest pinnacles of wealth and power, and then being as suddenly cast down again. He himself is said, when his fortunes were at their lowest, to have quoted the verse of Æschylus,

So at this time, when everything seemed to be succeeding, and his empire and power constantly increasing, Demetrius received the news that Lysimachus had taken all the cities in Asia which had belonged to him, and that Ptolemy had made himself master of Cyprus with the exception of Salamis, which he was besieging, in which city was the mother and the children of Demetrius. Yet, like the woman spoken of by the poet Archilochus, who deceitfully offers water in one hand, while she holds a firebrand in the other, the fortune of Demetrius, after soaring him away from the conquest of Sparta by these terrifying pieces of intelligence, at once offered him hopes of accomplishing a new and mighty enterprise, in the following manner.

XXXVI. After the death of Kassander, his eldest son Philip ascended the throne, but not long afterwards died. Upon this Kassander’s two younger sons each aspired to the crown. One of them, Antipater, murdered his mother Thessalonike, upon which the other invited Pyrrhus to come from Epirus, and Demetrius from Peloponnesus, to support his claims. Pyrrhus was the first to arrive, and demanded so large a portion of the kingdom of Macedonia as the price of his assistance, that he soon became an object of terror to Alexander. When Demetrius, in answer to the appeal of Alexander, arrived with his army, Alexander was even more terrified, because of his great renown. He met Demetrius near Dium, and welcomed him as an honoured guest, but gave him to understand that he no longer stood in need of his services. Upon this each began to suspect the other, and Demetrius, when he was proceeding to a banquet to which he had been invited by the young prince, was warned that his host intended to assassinate him while they were drinking after dinner. Demetrius was not in the least disturbed at this intelligence, but merely delayed going to the banquet for a short time, while he ordered his officers to keep their men under arms, and bade his personal followers and pages, who far out-numbered the retinue of Alexander, to enter the banqueting hall with him, and to remain there until he left the table. Alarmed by these precautions, Alexander did not venture to offer him any violence; and Demetrius soon left the room, excusing himself on the ground that his health would not permit him to drink wine. On the following day Demetrius made preparations for departure, announcing that he had received news which made this necessary. He begged Alexander to pardon him for so sudden a retreat, and promised that when he was more at leisure he would pay him another visit. Alexander was delighted at this, thinking that Demetrius was leaving the country of his own free-will, and not as an enemy; and he escorted him as far as the borders of Thessaly. When they reached Larissa, each again invited the other to a banquet, each intending to murder the other. This decided the fall of Alexander, who fell into his own trap, being loth to show any distrust of Demetrius, lest Demetrius should distrust him. He accepted Demetrius’s invitation to a banquet, during which Demetrius suddenly rose. Alexander in alarm also started to his feet, and followed Demetrius towards the door. Demetrius as he passed the door said to his body-guard, “Kill the man who follows me,” and walked on. Alexander, who followed him, was cut down by the guard, as were his friends, who rushed to his assistance. One of these men when dying is said to have remarked that Demetrius had got the start of them by one day.

XXXVII. The night was spent in tumult and alarm. At daybreak the Macedonians, who had feared an attack from the army of Demetrius, became reassured, as nothing of the kind took place; and when Demetrius intimated to them his wish to address them and to explain his conduct, they received him in a friendly manner. When he appeared, he had no need to make a long speech, for the Macedonians, who hated Antipater for having murdered his mother, and who knew not where to look for a better sovereign, saluted Demetrius as King of the Macedonians, and at once conducted him into Macedonia. The new reign was not displeasing to the remainder of the Macedonians, who had never forgotten the disgraceful conduct of Kassander after the death of Alexander. If any remembrance of the moderation of their old governor Antipater still remained amongst them, Demetrius reaped the benefit of it, as his wife Phila was the daughter of Antipater, and his son, by her, who was nearly grown up, and accompanied his father on this campaign, was now the heir to the throne.

XXXVIII. After this brilliant piece of good fortune, Demetrius received the news that his mother and children had been set at liberty by Ptolemy, who had given them presents and treated them with respect; while he also heard that his daughter, who had been given in marriage to Seleukus, was living with his son Antiochus, with the title of “queen of the native tribes of the interior.” It appears that Antiochus fell violently in love with Stratonike, who was quite a young girl, though she had already borne a child to Seleukus. After making many fruitless efforts to resist his passion, he reflected upon the wickedness of indulging a love which he was unable to restrain, and decided that he would put an end to his life. Under pretence of illness he refused to take nourishment, neglected his person, and was quietly sinking. Erasistratus, his physician, had without much difficulty perceived that he was in love, but could not guess with whom. He consequently spent the entire day in the same room with Antiochus, and whenever any young persons came to visit him, narrowly watched his countenance and those parts by which emotion is especially betrayed. He found that his condition was unaltered except when Stratonike came to see him, either alone or with her husband, Seleukus, and that then all the symptoms mentioned by

Sappho were visible in him, such as stammering, fiery blushes, failure of eyesight, violent perspiration, disturbed and quickened pulse, and at length, as his passions gained the mastery over him, pallor and bewilderment. Erasistratus, after making these observations, reflected that it was not probable that the king’s son would starve himself to death in silence for love of any other woman than his mother-in-law. He judged it to be a perilous enterprise to explain the real state of the case, but, nevertheless, trusting to the love of Seleukus for his son, he one day ventured to tell him that love was really the disorder from which young Antiochus was suffering, and that it was a hopeless and incurable passion. “How incurable?” inquired Seleukus. “Because,” answered Erasistratus, “he is in love with my wife.” “Well, then,” said Seleukus, “will you not give her up, Erasistratus, and marry her to my son, who is your friend, especially as that is the only way out of this trouble for us?” “No,” said Erasistratus, “I will not. Why, you yourself, although you are his father, would not do this, if Antiochus were enamoured of Stratonike.” To this Seleukus replied, “My friend, I would that by any means, human or divine, his passion could be directed to her; for I would willingly even give up my crown if I could thereby save Antiochus.”

When Seleukus, in a tone of deep feeling and with tears in his eyes, made this avowal, Erasistratus took him by the hand, in token of good faith, and declared that his own services were quite useless, for that Seleukus himself was best able to heal the disorders which had arisen in his household. After this Seleukus convoked a general assembly of his people, and declared to them that he had determined to nominate Antiochus king, and Stratonike queen of all the nations of the interior, and that they were to be married. He believed, he said, that his son, who had always been accustomed to obey him, would raise no objection to the marriage; and that if his wife was discontented with it on the ground of its illegality, he begged his friends to argue with her and persuade her to regard everything as legal and honourable which the king decided upon as expedient. In this manner it is said to have come to pass that Antiochus was married to Stratonike.

XXXIX. After obtaining Macedonia, Demetrius made himself master of Thessaly also. As he possessed the greater part of Peloponnesus, besides Megara and Athens, he now marched against Bœotia. At first the Bœotians came to terms, and formed an alliance with him, but afterwards, when Kleonymus of Sparta came to Thebes with an army, and Pisis, the most influential citizen of Thespiæ, encouraged them to recover their liberty, they revolted from Demetrius. Upon this, Demetrius brought up his famous siege train to attack their cities. Kleonymus was so terrified that he secretly withdrew, and the Bœotians were scared into submission. Demetrius, though he garrisoned all their cities with his own troops, levied a large sum of money, and left Hieronymus the historian as governor of the province, was thought to have dealt very mildly with the Bœotians, especially because of his treatment of Pisis; for he not only dismissed him unharmed when brought before him as a prisoner, but conversed with him in a friendly manner, and nominated him polemarch of Thespiæ.

Not long after these events, Lysimachus was taken prisoner by Dromichætus. Upon this, Demetrius at once hurriedly marched towards Thrace, hoping to find it unguarded. The Bœotians seized the opportunity of his absence to revolt, while news was brought to Demetrius that Lysimachus had been dismissed by his captors. Enraged at this, he speedily returned, and finding that the Bœotians had been defeated in a pitched battle by his son Antigonus, he a second time laid siege to Thebes.

Life Of Demetrius: XL

However, as Pyrrhus was now overrunning Thessaly, and had pushed even as far as Thermopylæ, Demetrius left Antigonus to prosecute the siege, and himself marched to attack Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus beat a hasty retreat, and Demetrius, leaving ten thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry in Thessaly, returned to press the siege of Thebes. He now brought up his great machine, called the “City-taker,” which was moved by levers with great difficulty on account of its enormous weight; so that it is said that in two months it hardly moved two furlongs, The Bœotians made a vigorous defence, and Demetrius frequently forced his soldiers to engage in battle with them, more out of arrogance than through any real necessity for fighting. After one of these battles, Antigonus, grieved at the number of men who had fallen, said, “My father, why do we allow all these men to perish, when there is no occasion for it?” Demetrius sharply answered, “Why do you take offence at this? Do you have to pay the dead?” Yet Demetrius, not wishing it to be thought that he was lavish of other men’s blood and not of his own, but being anxious to fight among the foremost, was wounded by a dart thrown from a catapult, which pierced through his neck. He suffered much from this wound, but still continued the siege, and at length took Thebes for the second time. When he entered the city, he inspired the citizens with the most intense terror, as they expected to be treated with the greatest severity. He was satisfied, however, with putting to death thirteen of the citizens, and banishing a few others. Thus was Thebes taken twice within less than ten years since it was first rebuilt.

As the time for the Pythian games had now come round, Demetrius took upon himself to make a most startling innovation. As the passes leading to Delphi were held by the Ætolians, he celebrated the games in Athens, declaring that it was right that especial honour should be paid there to Apollo, who is the tutelary god of the Athenians, and is said to have been the founder of their race.

Life Of Demetrius: XLI

Demetrius now returned to Macedonia. As he could not bear a life of repose, and found that his subjects were more easily governed on a campaign, since they were troublesome and turbulent when at home, he marched against the Ætolians. After laying waste their country he left Pantauchus there with a large portion of his army, and with the rest marched to attack Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus was equally eager to meet him, but they missed each other, so that Demetrius invaded and ravaged Epirus, while Pyrrhus fell in with Pantauchus and fought with him. He himself exchanged blows with Pantauchus and put him to flight, killing many of his followers, and taking five thousand prisoners. This did more damage to the cause of Demetrius than anything else; for Pyrrhus was not so much disliked for the harm which he had done them, as he was admired for his personal prowess. His fame became great in Macedonia after this battle, and many Macedonians were heard to say that he alone, of all the princes of the time, revived the image of Alexander’s daring courage, while the rest, and especially Demetrius, only imitated his demeanour by their theatrical pomp and trappings of royalty. Indeed, Demetrius gave himself the most extravagant airs, wearing magnificent purple robes and hats with a double crown, and even wore shoes of purple felt embroidered with gold. There was a cloak which was for a long time being embroidered for his use, a most extravagantly showy piece of work, upon which was depicted a figure of the world and of the heavenly bodies. This cloak was left unfinished when Demetrius lost his crown, and none of his successors on the throne of Macedonia ever presumed to wear it, although some of them were very ostentatious princes.

Life Of Demetrius: XLII.

The spectacle of this unusual pomp irritated the Macedonians, who were not accustomed to see their kings thus attired, while the luxury and extravagance of Demetrius’s mode of life also gave offence to them. They were especially enraged at his haughty reserve, and the difficulty of obtaining access to him; for he either refused to grant an interview, or else treated those who were admitted to his presence with harshness and insolence. He kept an embassy of the Athenians, whom he respected beyond all other Greeks, waiting for two years for an audience; and when one ambassador arrived from Lacedæmon, he construed it as a mark of disrespect, and was angry. But when Demetrius said to the ambassador:—“What is this that you tell me? the Lacedæmonians have sent one ambassador!” “Yes,” answered he cleverly and laconically, “one ambassador to one king.”

One day when Demetrius came out of his palace he appeared to be in a more affable humour than usual, and willing to converse with his subjects. Upon this, many persons ran to present him with written statements of their grievances. As he received them all and placed them in the folds of his cloak, the petitioners were greatly delighted, and accompanied him; but when he came to the bridge over the Axius, he emptied them all out of his cloak into the river. This conduct greatly exasperated the Macedonians, who declared that they were insulted instead of being governed by him, and who remembered or were told by older men how gentle and easy of access Philip was always wont to be.

Once an old woman met him when he was walking, and begged repeatedly for a hearing. When he replied that he had no leisure to attend to her, she loudly cried out, “Then be king no more.” Stung by this taunt he returned to his palace, and gave audiences to all who wished it, beginning with the old woman, and so continued for many days. Indeed nothing becomes a king so much as to do justice to his subjects. As Timotheus the poet has it, Ares is a despot, but Pindar tells us that law is lord of all. Homer also says that kings have been entrusted by Zeus, not with City-takers or brazen-bound ships, but with justice, which they must keep and respect; and that Zeus does not love the most warlike or the most unjust of kings, but the most righteous, and calls him his friend and disciple. Demetrius however rejoiced in being called by a name most unlike that of the Lord of Heaven, for his title is “The Preserver of Cities,” while Demetrius was known as “The Besieger.” Thus through the worship of mere brute force, the bad gradually overcame the good side of his character, and his fame became sullied by the unworthy acts with which it was associated.

Life Of Demetrius: XLIII.

While Demetrius lay dangerously ill at Pella, he very nearly lost his kingdom, as Pyrrhus invaded the country and briskly overran it as far as Edessa. However, on his recovery, Demetrius easily drove Pyrrhus out of Macedonia, and then made terms with him, because he did not wish to be entangled in a border warfare, which would interfere with the realisation of his more important projects. He meditated a colossal enterprise indeed, nothing less than the recovery of the whole of his father’s empire. His preparations were on a commensurate scale, for he had collected a force of ninety-eight thousand foot soldiers and nearly twelve thousand horse, while at Peiræus, Corinth, Chalkis, and the ports near Pella he was engaged in the construction of a fleet of five hundred ships. He himself personally superintended the works, visiting each dockyard and giving directions to the artificers; and all men were astounded not only at the number, but at the size of the vessels which were being built. Before his time no one had ever seen a ship of fifteen or sixteen banks of oars, although in later times Ptolemy Philopator built a ship of forty banks of oars, which measured two hundred and eighty cubits in length, and forty-eight cubits in height. This ship was navigated by four hundred sailors, four thousand rowers, and, besides all these, had room upon its decks for nearly three thousand soldiers. But this ship was merely for show, and differed little from a fixed building, being totally useless, and only moved with great risk and labour; whereas the beauty of the ships of Demetrius did not render them less serviceable, nor was their equipment so elaborate as to interfere with their use, but they were no less admirable for speed and strength as for greatness of size.

Life Of Demetrius: XLIV.

When this great armament, the largest ever collected since the death of Alexander, began to menace Asia, the three princes, Ptolemy, Seleukus, and Lysimachus, formed a confederation to oppose it. They next sent a joint letter to Pyrrhus, in which they urged him to attack Macedonia, and not to pay any regard to a peace by which Demetrius had not made any engagement not to go to war with him, but had merely obtained time to attack the others first. Pyrrhus agreed to this proposal, and Demetrius, before his preparations were completed, found himself involved in a war of considerable magnitude: for Ptolemy sailed to Greece with a large fleet and caused it to revolt from Demetrius, while Lysimachus from Thrace and Pyrrhus from Epirus invaded Macedonia and ravaged the country. Demetrius left his son to command in Greece, and himself marched to attack Lysimachus, in order to free Macedonia from the enemy. He shortly, however, received the news that Pyrrhus had taken the city of Berœa, and when the Macedonians heard this, there was an end to all discipline, for the camp was full of tears and lamentations, and abuse of Demetrius. The men no longer cared to remain with him, but became eager to go away, nominally to their homes, but really to desert to Lysimachus. Demetrius upon this determined to place the greatest possible distance between Lysimachus and himself, and accordingly marched to attack Pyrrhus; reasoning that Lysimachus was a native of Macedonia, and was popular with many of the Macedonians because he had been a companion of Alexander, while he thought that the Macedonians would not prefer a foreigner like Pyrrhus to himself. However, in this expectation he was greatly deceived: for as soon as he encamped near Pyrrhus, his soldiers had a constant opportunity of admiring his personal prowess in battle, and they had from the most ancient times been accustomed to think that the best warrior is the best king. When besides this they learned how leniently Pyrrhus had dealt with the captives, as they had long been determined to transfer their allegiance from Demetrius to some one else, they now gladly agreed that it should be to Pyrrhus. At first they deserted to him secretly and few at a time; but soon the whole camp became excited and disturbed, and at last some had the audacity to present themselves before Demetrius, and bid him seek safety in flight, for the Macedonians were tired of fighting to maintain his extravagance. Compared with the harsh language held by many other Macedonians, this appeared to Demetrius to be very reasonable advice, and so proceeding to his tent, as though he were really a play-actor and not a king, he changed his theatrical cloak for one of a dark colour, and made his way out of the camp unobserved. Most of his soldiery at once betook themselves to plundering, and while they were quarrelling with one another over the spoils of the royal tent, Pyrrhus appeared, encountered no resistance, and made himself master of the camp. Pyrrhus and Lysimachus now divided between them the kingdom of Macedonia, which had for seven consecutive years been ruled by Demetrius.

Life Of Demetrius: XLV

After this great disaster, Demetrius retired to Kassandreia. His wife Phila was greatly grieved at his fall, and could not bear to see Demetrius a miserable fugitive and exile after having been a king. Despairing of ever seeing better days, and bitterly reflecting how far her husband’s good luck was outweighed by his misfortunes, she ended her life by poison. Now Demetrius, anxious to save what he could from the wreck of his fortunes, proceeded to Greece, and there collected his generals and forces. The verses spoken by Menelaus in Sophokles’s play—

“But ever whirling on the wheel of fate
My fortune changes, like the changing moon
That never keeps her form two nights the same.
At first she comes with flattering countenance
And fills her orb; but when she is most bright
She wanes again, and loses all her light,”

seems to express very well the strange waxing and waning of the fortunes of Demetrius, who, as in the present instance, sometimes appeared to be quite extinguished, and then burst forth again as brilliant as ever, as little by little his power increased until he was able to carry out his plans. At first he visited the various cities of Greece dressed as a private man, without any of the insignia of royalty. One of the Thebans seeing him in this guise, cleverly applied to him the verses of Euripides:

“A god no more, but dressed in mortal guise,
He comes to where the springs of Dirké rise.”

XLVI. When he again hoped to regain the style of royalty, and began to gather around him the form and substance of an empire, he permitted the Thebans to remain independent. The Athenians, however, revolted from him. They erased the name of Diphilus, who was inscribed upon the rolls as “priest of the Saviours,” and decreed that archons should be elected after their ancestral custom; and they also sent to Macedonia to invite Pyrrhus to come and help them, as they perceived that Demetrius was becoming more powerful than they had expected. Demetrius indeed angrily marched upon Athens, and began to besiege the city, but the philosopher Krates, an able

Õand eloquent man, who was sent to make terms with him by the Athenian people, partly by entreaties, and partly by pointing out in what quarter his true interests lay, prevailed upon him to raise the siege. Demetrius now collected what ships he could, and with eleven thousand infantry and a few cavalry soldiers sailed to Asia, intending to detach the provinces of Lydia and Karia from Lysimachus’s dominions. At Miletus he was met by Eurydike, the sister of Phila, who brought him her daughter Ptolemäis, who had been long before promised to him in the treaty concluded by the mediation of Seleukus. Demetrius married her, and immediately after the wedding betook himself to gaining over the cities of Ionia, some of which joined him of their own accord, while others were forced to yield to his arms. He also captured Sardis, and several of the officers of Lysimachus deserted to him, bringing him both soldiers and money. When, however, Lysimachus’s son Agathokles came to attack him with a large force, he withdrew into Phrygia, meaning if possible to gain possession of Armenia, stir up Media to revolt, and make himself master of the provinces in the interior, among which a fugitive could easily find an abundance of places of refuge. Agathokles pressed him hard, and Demetrius, although victorious in all the skirmishes which took place, was reduced to great straits, as he was cut off from his supplies of provisions and forage, while his soldiers began to suspect him of meaning to lead them to Armenia and Media. Famine now began to distress his army, and he also lost a large body of men, who were swept away in crossing the river Lykus through mistaking the ford. Yet the men did not cease to joke; and one of them wrote before the tent of Demetrius the first verses of the play of [Oe]dipus at Kolonus, slightly altered:

“Child of Antigonus, the blind old man,
What place is this, at which we have arrived?”

XLVII. At last famine, as usually happens, produced a pestilence, because the men ate whatever they could find; and Demetrius, after losing no less than eight thousand, gave up his project, and led back the remainder. He proceeded to Tarsus, and would, if possible, have abstained from living on the neighbouring country which belonged to Seleukus, and so giving him an excuse for attacking him. However, this was impossible, as his soldiers were reduced to the last extremities of want, and Agathokles had fortified the passes of the Taurus range of mountains. Demetrius now wrote a letter to Seleukus, containing a long and piteous account of his misfortunes, and begging Seleukus as a relative to take pity on one who had suffered enough to make even his enemies feel compassion for him. Seleukus seems to have been touched by this appeal. He wrote to his generals, ordering them to show Demetrius the respect due to royalty, and to supply his troops with provisions; but now Patrokles, who was thought to be a man of great wisdom, and who was a friend of Seleukus, pointed out to him that the expense of feeding the troops of Demetrius was not a matter of great importance, but that it was a grievous error to allow Demetrius himself to remain in his territory. He reminded him that Demetrius had always been the most turbulent and enterprising of princes, and that he was now in a position which would urge the most moderate and peaceable of men to deeds of reckless daring and treachery. Struck by this reasoning, Seleukus started for Cilicia in person, at the head of a large army. Demetrius, astonished and alarmed at this rapid change in Seleukus’s attitude, retreated to a strong position at the foot of the Taurus mountains, and in a second letter requested Seleukus to allow him to conquer some native territory occupied by independent tribes, in which he might repose after his wanderings, or at least to let him maintain his forces in Cilicia during the winter, and not to drive him out of the country and expose him to his enemies in a destitute condition.

XLVIII. Seleukus viewed all these proposals with suspicion, and offered to let him pass two months of the winter in Cataonia, but demanded his chief officers as hostages, and at the same time began to secure the passes leading into Syria. Demetrius, who was now shut up like a wild beast in a trap, was driven to use force, overran the country, and fought several slight actions successfully with Seleukus. On one occasion he withstood a charge of scythed chariots, and routed the enemy, and he also drove away the garrison of one of the passes, and gained the command of the road to Syria. He now became elated by success, and perceiving that his soldiers had recovered their confidence, he determined to fight Seleukus for his kingdom. Seleukus himself was now in difficulties. He had refused Lysimachus’s offer of assistance, through suspicion, and he feared to engage with Demetrius in battle, dreading the effects of his despair and the sudden turns of his fortune. However, at this crisis Demetrius was seized by a disorder which nearly carried him off, and utterly ruined his prospects; for some of his soldiers deserted to the enemy, and some dispersed to their own homes. After forty days he was able to place himself at the head of the remaining troops, and with them marched so as to lead the enemy to suppose that he meant to return to Cilicia; but as soon as it was dark he started without any sound of trumpet in the opposite direction, crossed the pass of Amanus, and began to plunder the plain of Kyrrhestis.

XLIX. Shortly afterwards Seleukus made his appearance, and pitched his camp hard by. Demetrius now got his men under arms in the night and started to surprise Seleukus, whose army expected no attack, and was for the most part asleep. When he was informed of his danger by some deserters he leaped up in terror, and began putting on his boots and shouting to his friends that a savage beast was coming to attack them. Demetrius, observing from the noise which filled the enemy’s camp that they had notice of his attempt, quickly marched back again. He was attacked at daybreak by Seleukus, and gained some advantage by a flank attack. But now Seleukus himself dismounted, took off his helmet, and with only a small shield in his hand went up to the mercenary troops of Demetrius, showing himself to them and inviting them to join him. They knew that he had for a long time refrained from attacking them out of a wish to spare their lives, and not for the sake of Demetrius; and they all greeted him, saluted him as King, and joined his army. Demetrius, who had seen so many turns of good and ill fortune, felt that this blow was final. He fled towards the pass of Amanus, and with a few friends and attendants took refuge in a thick wood for the night, hoping to be able to gain the road to Kaunus and so to reach the sea, where he hoped to find his fleet assembled. But when he found that his party had not enough money to procure them provisions even for one day, he was forced to adopt other plans. Soon, however, he was joined by Sosigenes, one of his friends, who had four hundred gold pieces in his belt, and with this treasure they hoped to be able to reach the sea, and started as soon as it grew dark to make their way over the mountains. But when they saw the enemy’s watch-fires blazing all along the heights, they despaired of effecting their passage by that route, and returned to the place whence they had set out, diminished in numbers, for some had deserted, and greatly disheartened. When one of them ventured to hint that Demetrius ought to surrender himself to Seleukus, Demetrius seized his sword and would have made away with himself, but his friends stood round him, and at length talked him over into giving himself up. He sent a messenger to Seleukus, putting himself unreservedly in his hands.

Life Of Demetrius: L

Seleukus, when he heard what had happened, said that it was his own good fortune, not that of Demetrius, which had saved Demetrius’s life, and had given himself an opportunity of displaying his clemency and goodness as well as his other virtues. He at once sent for his servants and bade them construct a royal tent, and make every preparation for the reception of Demetrius in a magnificent fashion. There was one Apollonides at the court of Seleukus, who had been an intimate friend of Demetrius, and Seleukus at once sent him to Demetrius, to bid him be of good cheer, and not fear to meet his friend and relative Seleukus. When the King’s pleasure became known, a few at first, but afterwards the greater part of his followers, eagerly flocked to pay their court to Demetrius, who they imagined would become the second man in the kingdom. This ill-judged zeal of theirs turned the compassion of Seleukus into jealousy, and enabled mischief-makers to defeat his kindly intentions by warning him that as soon as Demetrius was seen in his camp all his troops would rise in mutiny against him. Apollonides had just reached Demetrius in high spirits, and others were arriving with wonderful stories about the goodness of Seleukus. Demetrius himself was just recovering his spirits after his disaster, was beginning to think that he had been wrong in his reluctance to surrender himself, and was full of hope for the future, when Pausanias appeared with about a thousand horse and foot-soldiers. He suddenly surrounded Demetrius with these troops, separated him from his friends, and, instead of bringing him into the presence of Seleukus, conducted him to the Syrian Chersonese, where, though strongly guarded, he was supplied by Seleukus with suitable lodging and entertainment, and allowed to take the air and hunt in the royal park which adjoined his dwelling. He was permitted to associate with any of the companions of his exile whom he wished to see, and many polite messages were sent to him from Seleukus to the effect that as soon as Antiochus and Stratonike arrived, they would come to some amicable arrangement.

Life Of Demetrius: LI

Demetrius now despatched letters to his son, and to the commanders of his garrisons at Athens and Corinth, warning them not to pay any attention to any despatches which they might receive in his name, or even to his royal signet, but to regard him as practically dead, and to hold the cities in trust for his heir Antigonus. His son was much grieved at hearing of his father’s capture, put on mourning, and sent letters to all the other kings, and to Seleukus himself, begging for his father’s liberation. He offered to give up all the places which he still held, and even proposed to surrender himself as a hostage in place of his father. Many cities and princes supported his request, except Lysimachus, who offered to give Seleukus a large sum of money if he would put Demetrius to death. But Seleukus, who had always disliked Lysimachus, now regarded him with abhorrence as a savage villain, and still continued to keep Demetrius in captivity, under the pretext that he was waiting for the arrival of his son Antiochus and Stratonike, that they might have the pleasure of restoring him to liberty.

Life Of Demetrius: LII

Demetrius at first bore up manfully against his misfortunes, and learned to endure captivity, taking exercise as well as he could, by hunting in the park, and by running; but, little by little, he neglected these amusements, addicted himself to drinking and dicing, and thus spent most of his time; either in order to escape from the thoughts of his present condition by intoxication, or else because he felt that this was the life which he had always wished to lead, and that he had caused great suffering both to himself and to others by fighting by sea and land in order to obtain that comfort which he had now unexpectedly discovered in repose and quiet. What, indeed, is the object of the wars and dangers which bad kings endure, in their folly, unless it be this? although they not only strive after luxury and pleasure, instead of virtue and honour, but do not even understand in what real luxury and enjoyment consist. Be that as it may, Demetrius, after living in confinement in the Chersonese for three years, died of laziness, surfeit and over-indulgence in wine, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Seleukus was greatly blamed for the suspicions which he had entertained about Demetrius, and greatly repented that he had not imitated the wild Thracian Dromichætes, who dealt so kindly and royally with Lysimachus when he had taken him prisoner.

LIII. Even the funeral of Demetrius had an air of tragedy and theatrical display. His son Antigonus, as soon as he heard that the ashes of his father were being brought to him, collected all his fleet and met the vessels of Seleukus near the Cyclades. Here he received the relics in a golden urn on board of his own flagship, the largest of his fleet. At every port at which they touched the citizens laid garlands upon the urn, and sent deputies in mourning to attend the funeral. When the fleet arrived at Corinth, the urn was beheld in a conspicuous place upon the stern of the ship, adorned with a royal robe and diadem, and surrounded by-armed soldiers of the king’s body-guard. Near it was seated the celebrated flute-player Xenophantus, playing a sacred hymn; and the measured dip of the oars, keeping time to the music, sounded like the refrain of a dirge. The crowds who thronged the sea-shore were especially touched by the sight of Antigonus himself, towed down with grief and with his eyes full of tears. After due honours had been paid to the relics at Corinth, he finally deposited them, in the city of Demetrias, which was named after his father, and which had been formed by amalgamating the small villages in the neighbourhood of Iolkos. Demetrius, by his wife Phila, left one son, Antigonus, and one daughter, Stratonike. He also had two sons named Demetrius, one, known as Leptus, by an Illyrian woman, and the other, who became ruler of Cyrene, by Ptolemais. By Deidameia he had a son named Alexander, who spent his life in Egypt. It is said, too, that he had a son named Korrhagus by Eurydike. His family retained the throne of Macedonia for many generations, until it ended in Perseus, during whose reign the Romans conquered that country. So now that we have brought the career of the Macedonian hero to a close, it is time for us to bring the Roman upon the stage.

Life Of Antonius.

Life Of Antonius: I

The grandfather of Antonius was the orator Antonius, who belonged to the party of Sulla and was put to death by Marius. His father was Antonius, surnamed Creticus, not a man of any great note or distinction in political affairs, but of good judgment and integrity, and also liberal in his donations, as one may know from a single instance. He had no large property and for this reason he was prevented by his wife from indulging his generous disposition. On one occasion when an intimate friend came to him who was in want of money, and Antonius had none, he ordered a young slave to put some water into a silver vessel and to bring it; and when it was brought, he moistened his chin as if he were going to shave himself. The slave being sent away on some other business, Antonius gave the cup to his friend and bade him make use of it; but as a strict inquiry was made among the slaves, and Antonius saw that his wife was vexed and intended to torture them one by one, he acknowledged what he had done and begged her pardon.

Life Of Antonius: II

His wife was Julia of the family of the Cæsars, a woman who could compare with the noblest and most virtuous of that day. She brought up her son Antonius, having married after his father’s death Cornelius Lentulus, who was one of the conspirators with Catilina and was put to death by Cicero. This appears to be the reason and the foundation of the violent enmity between Antonius and Cicero. Now Antonius says that even the corpse of Lentulus was not given up to them until his mother begged it of the wife of Cicero. But this is manifestly false, for no one of those who were then punished by Cicero was deprived of interment. Antonius was of distinguished appearance in his youth, but his friendship and intimacy with Curio fell upon him, as they say, like some pestilence, for Curio himself was intemperate in his pleasures, and he hurried Antonius, in order to make him more manageable, into drinking and the company of women and extravagant and licentious expenditure. All this brought on him a heavy debt, and out of all bounds for his age, of two hundred and fifty talents. Curio became security for all this, and when his father heard of it he banished Antonius from the house. Antonius for a short time mixed himself up with the violence of Clodius, the most daring and scandalous of the demagogues of the day, which was throwing every thing into confusion; but becoming soon satiated with that madness and being afraid of those who were combining against Clodius, he left Italy for Greece and spent some time there, exercising his body for military contests and practising oratory. He adopted what was called the Asiatic style of oratory, which flourished most at that time, and bore a great resemblance to his mode of life, which was boastful and swaggering and full of empty pride and irregular aspiration after distinction.

Life Of Antonius: III

When Gabinius, a man of consular rank, was sailing for Syria, he endeavoured to persuade Antonius to join the expedition. Antonius said that he would not go out with him as a private individual, but on being appointed commander of the cavalry, he did go with him. In the first place he was sent against Aristobulus, who was stirring the Jews to revolt, and he was the first man to mount the largest of the fortifications; and he drove Aristobulus from all of them. He next joined battle with him and with the few men that he had put to flight the forces of Aristobulus, which were much more numerous, and killed all but a few; and Aristobulus was captured with his son. After this Ptolemæus attempted to persuade Gabinius for ten thousand talents to join him in an invasion of Egypt and to recover the kingdom for him; but most of the officers opposed the proposal, and Gabinius himself was somewhat afraid of the war, though he was hugely taken with the ten thousand talents; but Antonius, who was eager after great exploits and wished to gratify the request of Ptolemæus, persuaded Gabinius and urged him to the expedition. They feared more than the war the march to Pelusium, which was through deep sand where there was no water along the Ecregma and the Serbonian marsh, which the Egyptians call the blasts of Typhon, but which really appears to be left behind by the Red Sea and to be caused by the filtration of the waters at the part where it is separated by the narrowest part of the isthmus from the internal sea. Antonius being sent with the cavalry not only occupied the straits, but taking Pelusium also, a large city, and the soldiers in it, he at the same time made the road safe for the army and gave the general sure hopes of victory. Even his enemies reaped advantage from his love of distinction; for when Ptolemæus entered Pelusium, and through his passion and hatred was moved to massacre the Egyptians, Antonius stood in the way and stopped him. And in the battles and the contests which were great and frequent, he displayed many deeds of daring and prudent generalship, but most signally in encircling and surrounding the enemy in the rear, whereby he secured the victory to those in front, and received the rewards of courage and fitting honours. Nor did the many fail to notice his humanity towards Archelaus after his death; for Antonius, who had been his intimate and friend, fought against him during his lifetime of necessity, but when he found the body of Archelaus, who had fallen, he interred it with all honours and in kingly fashion. He thus left among the people of Alexandria the highest reputation, and was judged by the Roman soldiers to be a most illustrious man.

Life Of Antonius: IV

With these advantages he possessed a noble dignity of person; and his well-grown beard, his broad forehead and hooked nose appeared to express the manly character which is observed in the paintings and sculptures of Hercules. And there was an old tradition that the Antonii were Herakleidæ, being sprung from Anton, a son of Hercules. This tradition Antonius thought that he strengthened by the character of his person, as it has been observed, and by his dress. For on all occasions, when he was going to appear before a number of persons, he had his tunic girded up to his thigh, and a large sword hung by his side, and a thick cloak thrown round him. Besides, that which appeared to others to be offensive, his great boasting and jesting and display of his cups, and his sitting by the soldiers when they were eating, and his eating himself as he stood by the soldiers’ table—it is wonderful how much affection and attachment for him it bred in the soldiers. His amorous propensities, too, had in them something that was not without a charm, but even by these he won the favour of many, helping them in their love affairs and submitting to be joked with good humour about his own amours. His liberality and his habit of gratifying the soldiers and his friends in nothing with a stinted or sparing hand, both gave him a brilliant foundation for power, and, when he had become great, raised his power still higher, though it was in danger of being subverted by ten thousand other faults. I will relate one instance of his profusion. He ordered five-and-twenty ten thousands to be given to one of his friends; this sum the Romans express by Decies. But as his steward wondered thereat, and to show him how much it was, placed the money out, he asked as he was passing by, What that was. The steward replying that this was what he had ordered to be given, Antonius, who conjectured his trickery, said, “I thought a Decies was more: this is a small matter; and therefore add to it as much more.”

Life Of Antonius: V

Now these things belong to a later period. But when matters at Rome came to a split, the aristocratical party joining Pompeius who was present, and the popular party inviting Cæsar from Gaul, who was in arms, Curio, the friend of Antonius, changing sides in favour of Cæsar, brought Antonius over; and as he had great influence among the many by his eloquence, and spent money lavishly, which was supplied by Cæsar, he got Antonius appointed tribune, and then one of the priests over the birds, whom the Romans call Augurs. As soon as Antonius entered on his office, he was of no small assistance to those who were directing public affairs on Cæsar’s behalf. In the first place, when Marcellus the consul attempted to give to Pompeius the troops that were already levied, and to empower him to raise others, Antonius opposed him by proposing an order, that the collected force should sail to Syria and assist Bibulus, who was warring with the Parthians, and that the troops which Pompeius was levying should not pay any regard to him: and, in the second place, when the Senate would not receive Cæsar’s letters, nor allow them to be read, Antonius, whose office gave him power, did read them, and he changed the disposition of many, who judged from Cæsar’s letters that he only asked what was just and reasonable. Finally, when two questions were proposed in the Senate, of which one was, whether Pompeius should disband his troops, and the other, whether Cæsar should do it, and there were a few in favour of Pompeius laying down his arms, and all but a few were for Cæsar doing so, Antonius arose and put the question, Whether the Senate was of opinion that Pompeius and Cæsar at the same time should lay down their arms and disband their forces. All eagerly accepted this proposal, and with shouts praising Antonius, they urged to put the question to the vote. But as the consuls would not consent, the friends of Cæsar again made other proposals, which were considered reasonable, which Cato resisted, and Lentulus, who was consul, ejected Antonius from the Senate. Antonius went out uttering many imprecations against them, and assuming the dress of a slave, and in conjunction with Cassius Quintus hiring a chariot he hurried to Cæsar; and as soon as they were in sight, they called out that affairs at Rome were no longer in any order, since even tribunes had no liberty of speech, but every one was driven away and in danger who spoke on the side of justice.

Life Of Antonius: VI

Upon this Cæsar with his army entered Italy. Accordingly Cicero, in his Philippica, said that Helen was the beginning of the Trojan war, and Antonius of the civil war, wherein he is manifestly stating a falsehood. For Caius Cæsar was not such a light person, or so easy to be moved from his sound judgment by passion, if he had not long ago determined to do this, as to have made war on his country all of a sudden, because he saw Antonius in a mean dress and Cassius making their escape to him in a hired chariot; but this gave a ground and specious reason for the war to a man who had long been wanting a pretext. He was led to war against the whole world, as Alexander before him and Cyrus of old had been, by an insatiable love of power and a frantic passion to be first and greatest: and this he could not obtain, if Pompeius was not put down. He came then and got possession of Rome, and drove Pompeius out of Italy; and determining to turn first against the forces of Pompeius in Iberia, and then, when he had got ready a fleet, to cross over to attack Pompeius, he entrusted Rome to Lepidus, who was prætor, and the forces and Italy to Antonius, who was tribune. Antonius forthwith gained the favour of the soldiers by taking his exercises with them, and by generally living with them, and making them presents out of his means; but to everybody else he was odious. For owing to his carelessness he paid no attention to those who were wronged, and listened with ill-temper to those who addressed him, and had a bad repute about other men’s wives. In fine, Cæsar’s friends brought odium on Cæsar’s power, which, so far as concerned Cæsar’s acts, appeared to be anything rather than a tyranny: and of those friends Antonius, who had the chief power and committed the greatest excesses, had most of the blame.

Life Of Antonius: VII

However, upon his return from Iberia, Cæsar overlooked the charges against him, and employing him in war because of his energy, his courage, and his military skill, he was never disappointed in him. Now Cæsar, after crossing the Ionian Gulf from Brundusium with a few men, sent his ships back, with orders to Gabinius and Antonius to put the troops on board and carry them over quickly to Macedonia. Gabinius was afraid of the voyage, which was hazardous in the winter season, and led his army by land a long way about; but Antonius being alarmed for Cæsar, who was hemmed in by many enemies, repulsed Libo, who was blockading the mouth of the harbour, by surrounding his gallies with many light boats, and embarking in his vessels eight thousand legionary soldiers he set sail. Being discovered by the enemy and pursued, he escaped all danger from them in consequence of a strong south wind bringing a great swell and tempestuous sea upon his gallies; but as he was carried in his ships towards precipices and cliffs with deep water under them, he had no hope of safety. But all at once there blew from the bay a violent south-west wind and the swell ran from the land to the sea, and Antonius getting off the land and sailing in gallant style saw the shore full of wrecks. For thither the wind had cast up the gallies that were in pursuit of him and no small number of them was destroyed; and Antonius made many prisoners and much booty, and he took Lissus, and he gave Cæsar great confidence by coming at a critical time with so great a force.

VIII. There were many and continuous fights, in all of which Antonius was distinguished: and twice he met and turned back the soldiers of Cæsar, who were flying in disorder, and by compelling them to stand and to fight again with their pursuers he gained the victory. There was accordingly more talk of him in the camp than of any one else after Cæsar. And Cæsar showed what opinion he had of him; for when he was going to fight the last battle and that which decided everything at Pharsalus, he had the right wing himself, but he gave the command of the left to Antonius as being the most skilful and bravest officer that he had. After the battle Cæsar was proclaimed dictator, and he set out in pursuit of Pompeius, but he appointed Antonius master of the horse and sent him to Rome: this is the second office in rank when the dictator is present; but if he is not, it is the first and almost the only one. For the tribuneship continues, but they put down all the other functionaries when a dictator is chosen.

Life Of Antonius: IX

However Dolabella, who was then a tribune, a young man who aimed at change, introduced a measure for the annulling of debts, and he persuaded Antonius, who was a friend of his and always wished to please the many, to work with him and to take a part in this political measure. But Asinius and Trebellius gave him the contrary advice, and it happened that a strong suspicion came on Antonius, that he was wronged in the matter of his wife by Dolabella. And as he was much annoyed thereat, he not only drove his wife from his house, who was his cousin, for she was the daughter of Caius Antonius who was consul with Cicero, but he joined Asinius and resisted Dolabella. Dolabella occupied the Forum with the design of carrying the law by force, but Antonius, after the Senate had declared by a vote that it was needful to oppose Dolabella with arms, came upon him and joining battle killed some of the men of Dolabella and lost some of his own. This brought on Antonius the hatred of the many, and he was not liked by the honest and sober on account of his habits of life, as Cicero says, but was detested; for people were disgusted at his drunkenness at unseasonable hours, and his heavy expenditure, and his intercourse with women, and his sleeping by day, and walking about with head confused and loaded with drink, and by night his revellings and theatres and his presence at the nuptials of mimi and jesters. It is said indeed that after being present at the entertainment on the marriage of Hippias the mime, and drinking all night, when the people summoned him early in the morning to the Forum, he came there still full of food and vomited, and one of his friends placed his vest under to serve him. Sergius the mime was one of those who had the greatest influence over him, and Cytheris from the same school, a woman whom he loved, and whom when he visited the cities he took round with him in a litter; and there were as many attendants to follow the litter as that of his mother. People were also vexed at the sight of golden cups carried about in his excursions as in processions, and fixing of tents in the ways, and the laying out of costly feasts near groves and rivers, and lions yoked to chariots, and houses of orderly men and women used as quarters for prostitutes and lute-players. For it was considered past all endurance that, while Cæsar was lodging in the open field out of Italy, clearing up the remnant of war with great labour and danger, others, through means of Cæsar’s power, were indulging in luxury and insulting the citizens.

Life Of Antonius: X

These things appear also to have increased the disorder and to have given the soldiers licence to commit shameful violence and robbery. Wherefore, when Cæsar returned, he pardoned Dolabella; and being elected consul for the third time he chose not Antonius, but Lepidus for his colleague. Antonius bought the house of Pompeius when it was sold, but he was vexed when he was asked for the money; and he says himself that this was the reason why he did not join Cæsar in his Libyan expedition, having had no reward for his former successes. However Cæsar is considered to have cured him of the chief part of his folly and extravagance by not allowing his excesses to pass unnoticed. For he gave up that course of life and turned his thoughts to wedlock, taking for his wife Fulvia, who had been the wife of the demagogue Clodius, a woman who troubled herself not about domestic industry or housekeeping, nor one who aspired to rule a private man, but her wish was to rule a ruler and command a general: so that Cleopatra was indebted to Fulvia for training Antonius to woman-rule, inasmuch as Cleopatra received him quite tamed and disciplined from the commencement to obey women. However Antonius attempted by sportive ways and youthful sallies to make Fulvia somewhat merrier; as for example, on the occasion when many went to meet Cæsar after his victory in Iberia,

Antonius also went; but as a report suddenly reached Italy that Cæsar was dead and the enemy were advancing, he returned to Rome, and taking a slave’s dress he came to the house by night, and saying that he brought a letter from Antonius to Fulvia, he was introduced to her wrapped up in his dress. Fulvia, who was in a state of anxiety, asked, before she took the letter, whether Antonius was alive; but without speaking a word he held out the letter to her, and when she was beginning to open and read it, he embraced and kissed her. These few out of many things I have produced by way of instance.

Life Of Antonius: XI

When Cæsar was returning from Iberia all the first people went several days’ journey to meet him; but Antonius was specially honoured by Cæsar. For in his passage through Italy he had Antonius in the chariot with him, and behind him Brutus Albinus and Octavianus the son of his niece, who was afterwards named Cæsar and ruled the Romans for a very long time. When Cæsar was appointed consul for the fifth time, he immediately chose Antonius for his colleague, and it was his design to abdicate the consulship and give it to Dolabella; and this he proposed to the Senate. But as Antonius violently opposed this, and vented much abuse of Dolabella and received as much in return, Cæsar, being ashamed of these unseemly proceedings, went away. Afterwards when he came to proclaim Dolabella, upon Antonius calling out that the birds were opposed to it, Cæsar yielded and gave up Dolabella, who was much annoyed. But it appeared that Cæsar abominated Dolabella as much as he did Antonius; for it is said, that when some person was endeavouring to excite his suspicions against both, Cæsar said that he was not afraid of those fat and long-haired fellows, but those pale and thin ones, meaning Brutus and Cassius, who afterwards conspired against him and slew him.

Life Of Antonius: XII

And Antonius without designing it gave them a most specious pretext. It was the feast of the Lykæa among the Romans, which they call Lupercalia, and Cæsar dressed in a triumphal robe and sitting on the Rostra in the Forum viewed the runners. Now many youths of noble birth run the race, and many of the magistrates, anointed with oil, and with strips of hide they strike by way of sport those whom they meet. Antonius running among them paid no regard to the ancient usage, but wrapping a crown of bay round a diadem he ran to the Rostra, and being raised up by his companions in the race he placed it on Cæsar’s head, intimating that he ought to be King. But as Cæsar affected to refuse it and put his head aside, the people were pleased and clapped their hands; then Antonius again offered the crown, and Cæsar again rejected it. This contest went on for some time, only a few of the friends of Antonius encouraging him in his pressing the offer, but all the people shouted and clapped when Cæsar refused; which indeed was surprising, that while in reality they submitted to be ruled over with kingly power they eschewed the name of King as if it were the destruction of their freedom. Accordingly Cæsar rose from the Rostra much annoyed, and taking the robe from his neck called out that he offered his throat to any one who would have it. The crown which was placed on one of his statues certain tribunes tore off, and the people followed them with loud expressions of goodwill and clapping of hands; but Cæsar deprived them of their office.

XIII. This confirmed Brutus and Cassius, and when they were enumerating the friends whom they could trust in the undertaking, they deliberated about Antonius. The rest were for adding Antonius to their number, but Trebonius opposed it; for he said that at the time when they went to meet Cæsar on his return from Iberia, and Antonius was in the same tent with him and journeyed with him, he tried his disposition in a quiet way and with caution, and he said that Antonius understood him, though he did not respond to the proposal, nor yet did he report it to Cæsar, but faithfully kept the words secret. Upon this they again deliberated whether they should kill Antonius after they had killed Cæsar; but Brutus opposed this, urging that the act which was adventured in defence of the laws and of justice must be pure and free from injustice. But as they were afraid of the strength of Antonius and the credit that his office gave him, they appointed some of the conspirators to look after him in order that when Cæsar entered the Senate house and the deed was going to be done, they might detain him on the outside in conversation about some matter and on the pretence of urgent business.

Life Of Antonius: XIV

This being accomplished according as it was planned and Cæsar having fallen in the Senate house, Antonius immediately put on a slave’s attire and hid himself. But when he learned that the men were not attacking any one, but were assembled in the Capitol, he persuaded them to come down after giving them his son as a hostage; and he entertained Cassius at supper, and Brutus entertained Lepidus. Antonius having summoned the Senate spoke about an amnesty and a distribution of provinces among Brutus and Cassius and their partizans, and the Senate ratified these proposals, and decreed not to alter anything that had been done by Cæsar. Antonius went out of the Senate the most distinguished of men, being considered to have prevented a civil war and to have managed most prudently and in a most statesmanlike manner circumstances which involved difficulties and no ordinary causes of confusion. But from such considerations as these he was soon disturbed by the opinion that he derived from the multitude, that he would certainly be the first man in Rome, if Brutus were put down. Now it happened that when Cæsar’s corpse was carried forth, as the custom was, he pronounced an oration over it in the Forum; and seeing that the people were powerfully led and affected, he mingled with the praises of Cæsar commiseration and mighty passion over the sad event, and at the close of his speech, shaking the garments of the dead, which were blood-stained and hacked with the swords, and calling those who had done these things villains and murderers, he inspired so much indignation in the men that they burnt the body of Cæsar in the Forum, heaping together the benches and the tables; and snatching burning faggots from the pile they ran to the houses of the assassins and assaulted them.

Life Of Antonius: XV

For this reason Brutus and his party left the city, and the friends of Cæsar joined Antonius; and Cæsar’s wife Calpurnia trusting to him had the chief part of the treasures transferred to Antonius from her house, to the amount in all of four thousand talents. He received also the writings of Cæsar, in which there were entries made of what he had determined and decreed; and Antonius inserting entries in them, named many to offices just as he pleased, and many he named senators, and he restored some who were in exile and released others who were in prison, as if Cæsar had determined all this. Wherefore the Romans by way of mockery named all these persons Charonitæ, because when they were put to the proof they had to take refuge in the memoranda of the deceased. And Antonius managed everything else as if he had full power, being consul himself, and having his brothers also in office, Gaius as prætor and Lucius as tribune.

Life Of Antonius: XVI

While affairs were in this state, young Cæsar arrived at Rome, being the son of the niece of the deceased, as it has been told, and left the heir of his substance; and he was staying in Apollonia at the time of Cæsar’s assassination. He went forthwith to pay his respects to Antonius, as being his father’s friend, and reminded him of the money deposited with him; for he had to pay to every Roman seventy-five drachmæ, which Cæsar had given by his will. Antonius, at first despising his youth, said that he was not in his senses, and that being destitute of all sound reason and friends he was taking up the succession of Cæsar, which was a burden too great for him to bear; but as Cæsar did not yield to these arguments and demanded the money, Antonius went on saying and doing many things to insult him. For he opposed him in seeking a tribuneship, and when he was preparing to set up a golden chair of his father, as it had been voted by the Senate, he threatened to carry him off to prison, if he did not stop his attempts to win the popular favour. But when the youth, by giving himself up to Cicero and the rest who hated Antonius, by means of them made the Senate his friends, and he himself got the favour of the people and mustered the soldiers from the colonies, Antonius being alarmed came to a conference with him in the Capitol, and they were reconciled. Antonius in his sleep that night had a strange dream; he thought that his right hand was struck by lightning; and a few days after a report reached him that Cæsar was plotting against him. Cæsar indeed made an explanation, but he did not convince Antonius; and their enmity was again in full activity, and both of them roaming about Italy endeavoured to stir up by large pay the soldiers who were planted in the colonies, and to anticipate one another in gaining over those who were still under arms.

XVII. Of those in the city Cicero had the greatest influence; and by inciting everybody against Antonius he finally persuaded the Senate to vote Antonius to be an enemy, and to send Cæsar lictors and the insignia of a prætor, and to despatch Pansa and Hirtius to drive Antonius out of Italy. They were consuls for that year; and engaging with Antonius near the city of Mutina, on which occasion Cæsar was present and fought with them, they defeated the enemy, but fell themselves. Many great difficulties befell Antonius in his flight; but the greatest was famine. But it was the nature of Antonius to show his best qualities in difficulties, and in his misfortune he was as like as may be to a good man; for it is common to those who are hard pressed by straits to perceive what virtue is, but all have not strength enough in reverses to imitate what they admire and to avoid what they do not approve; but some rather give way to their habits through weakness and let their judgment be destroyed. Now Antonius in these circumstances was a powerful pattern to the soldiers, for though he was fresh from the enjoyment of so much luxury and expense, he drank foul water without complaining, and ate wild fruits and roots. Bark too was eaten, as it was said, and in their passage over the Alps they fed on animals that had never been eaten before.

XVIII. His design was to fall in with the troops there which Lepidus commanded, who was considered to be a friend of Antonius and to have derived through him much advantage from the friendship of Cæsar. Having arrived there and encamped near, he found no friendly signs, on which he resolved to try a bold stroke. Antonius had neglected his hair and he had allowed his beard to grow long immediately after his defeat; and putting on a dark garment he approached the lines of Lepidus and began to speak. As many of the soldiers were moved at the sight and affected by his words, Lepidus in alarm ordered the trumpets to sound all at once and so to prevent Antonius from being heard. But the soldiers pitied the more, and held communication with him by means of Lælius and Clodius, whom they secretly sent to him in the dress of women who followed the camp, and the messengers urged

Antonius boldly to attack the lines, for there were many, they said, would undertake even to kill Lepidus, if he wished. Antonius would not consent to their touching Lepidus, but on the next day he began to cross the river with his army. Antonius entered the river first and advanced to the opposite bank, for he saw already many of the soldiers of Lepidus stretching out their hands to him and tearing down the ramparts. When he had entered and made himself master of all, he approached Lepidus with the greatest kindness, for he embraced him and called him father; and in fact he was master of all, but he continued to preserve to Lepidus the name and honour of an Imperator. This caused also Plancus Munatius to join him, for Plancus was at no great distance with a large force. Being thus raised anew to great power he crossed the Alps into Italy at the head of seventeen legions of infantry and ten thousand cavalry; besides this he left to guard Gaul six legions with Varius, one of his intimates and boon companions, whom they called Cotylon.

Life Of Antonius: XIX

Now Cæsar no longer cared for Cicero when he saw that he clung to liberty, but he invited Antonius through the mediation of his friends to come to terms. The three met together in a small island in the middle of a river and sat together for three days. All the rest was easily agreed on, and they distributed the empire among them as if it were a paternal inheritance, but the discussion about the men who were destined to perish caused them most trouble, each claiming to get rid of his enemies and to save his relations. But at length surrendering to their passion against those whom they hated both the honour due to their kinsmen and their goodwill to their friends, Cæsar surrendered Cicero to Antonius, and Antonius surrendered to him Lucius Cæsar, who was his uncle on the mother’s side; Lepidus also was allowed to put to death his brother Paulus; but others say that

Lepidus gave up his brother to Cæsar and Antonius, who required his death. I think nothing could be more cruel or savage than this exchange; for by exchanging murder for murder they equally destroyed those whom they surrendered and those whom they put to death, but they acted more unjustly to their friends, whom they caused to die even without bearing them any hatred.

Life Of Antonius: XX

After this settlement, the soldiers, who were around them, required that Cæsar should strengthen their friendship by marriage, and should take to wife Clodia, the daughter of Fulvia, the wife of Antonius. This also being agreed to, three hundred persons were by proscription put to death by them. When Cicero was murdered, Antonius ordered the head to be cut off and the right hand, with which Cicero wrote the speeches against him. When they were brought, Antonius looked on them with delight and broke out a laughing several times through joy; then being satiated with the sight he ordered them to be placed above the Rostra in the Forum, as if he were insulting the dead, and not showing his own arrogance in his good fortune and abusing his power. His uncle Cæsar being sought and pursued fled for refuge to his sister, who, when the assassins were standing by and trying to force their way into her chamber, fixing herself at the door and spreading out her arms, called out repeatedly, “You shall not kill Cæsar Lucius, unless you kill me first, me the mother of the Imperator.” By such her conduct she rescued and saved her brother.

Life Of Antonius: XXI

The dominion of the three was in most respects hateful to the Romans; but Antonius had most of the blame, as he was older than Cæsar, and had more influence than Lepidus, and threw himself without restraint into his former luxurious and intemperate habits as soon as he had shaken off all trouble about affairs. There was added to his general bad repute the hatred against him on account of the house that he inhabited, which had been the house of Pompeius Magnus, a man no less admired for his temperance and his orderly and citizenlike mode of life than for his three triumphs. For they were vexed to see his house generally closed to commanders, magistrates and ambassadors, who were insolently thrust from the doors, while it was filled with mimi and jugglers and drunken flatterers, upon whom was expended most of the money which was got by the most violent and harsh means. For the three not only sold the substance of those who were murdered, bringing false charges against their kinsmen and wives, and tried all kinds of imposts; but hearing that there were deposits with the Vestal Virgins made both by strangers and citizens, they went and seized them. Now as nothing was enough for Antonius, Cæsar claimed to share the money with him; and they also distributed the army between them, and both went together into Macedonia to oppose Brutus and Cassius; and they intrusted Rome to Lepidus.

XXII. Crossing over the sea they commenced the campaign and encamped by the enemy, Antonius being opposed to Cassius, and Cæsar to Brutus, wherein no great deed was performed on the part of Cæsar, but it was Antonius who gained all the victory and had all the success. In the first battle, Cæsar, being completely routed by Brutus, lost his camp and narrowly escaped from his pursuers; but, as he says in his Memoirs, he retired before the battle in consequence of one of his friends having had a dream. But Antonius defeated Cassius; though some have written that Antonius was not in the battle, but came up after the battle to join in the pursuit. Pindarus, one of the faithful freedmen of Cassius, killed him at his request and order, for Cassius did not know that Brutus was victorious. After an interval of a few days they fought a second battle, in which Brutus being defeated killed himself, and Antonius carried off the chief credit of the victory, inasmuch as Cæsar was sick. Standing over the corpse of Brutus he upbraided it gently for the death of his brother Caius, for Brutus had put Caius to death in Macedonia to revenge Cicero; but declaring that he blamed Hortensius more than Brutus for the murder of his brother, Antonius ordered him to be massacred on his tomb; and he threw over the body of Brutus his own purple cloak, which was of great value, and commanded one of his freedmen to look after the interment. He afterwards found out that this fellow did not burn the cloak with the corpse and that he had purloined a large part of the expenditure destined for the interment, whereon he put him to death.

XXIII. After this Cæsar went back to Rome, and it was supposed that he would not live long on account of his illness. Antonius crossed over into Greece with a large army, intending to levy money in all the eastern provinces; for as they had promised to every soldier five thousand drachmæ, they required more vigorous measures for raising money and collecting contributions. Towards the Greeks his conduct was neither unusual nor oppressive at first, but his love of amusement led him to listen to the discourses of the learned and to the sight of games and religious solemnities; and in his decisions he was equitable, and was delighted at being called a Philhellen, but still more in being addressed as Philathenæus; and he made rich gifts to the city. The people of Megara also wishing to show him something fine, by way of rivalry with Athens, and requesting him to see the Senate-house, he went up and looked at it, and on their asking what he thought of it: “Small, it is true,” he said, “and yet all in decay.” He also caused the temple of the Pythian Apollo to be surveyed, as if he intended to repair it; for he made this promise to the Senate.

XXIV. Leaving Lucius Censorinus over the affairs of Greece he crossed to Asia; and when he had touched the wealth there, and kings used to come to his door, and wives of kings vying with one another in their presents and their beauty let themselves be corrupted in order to win his favour, and while Cæsar at Rome was worn out with civil commotions and war, he enjoying perfect leisure and tranquillity was carried back by his passions to his usual habits of life, and Anaxenor a lute-player and Xuthus a piper and Metrodorus a dancer, and other such rout of Asiatic theatrical folks who surpassed in impudence and shamelessness the pests from Italy, had crept in and managed his residence—it was past all bearing, for everything was wasted on these extravagancies. For all Asia, like that city in Sophocles, at the same time was filled with incense burning,

Thus, when he was entering Ephesus, women clothed like Bacchæ, and men and boys equipped like Satyrs and Pans led the way; and the city was filled with ivy and thyrsi and psalteries and pipes and flutes, the people calling him Dionysus, Giver of Joy and Beneficent. He was this, it is true, to some; but to the many Omestes and Agrionius. For he took their property from well-born men and gave it to worthless men and flatterers; and certain persons got the substance of many who were still alive by asking for it as if they were dead. He gave the house of a citizen of Magnesia to a cook, who, as it is said, had distinguished himself by a single entertainment. Finally, when he was imposing a second contribution on the citizens, Hybreas was bold enough in speaking on behalf of Asia to use these words, which were indeed such as the common folks would have in their mouths, but were not ill adapted to flatter the vanity of Antonius, “If thou canst take contributions twice in one year, thou canst also make for us summer twice and harvest-time twice;” but he concluded with these practical and bold words, that Asia had given twenty ten thousands of talents; and “if thou hast not had them, demand them of those who have received the money; but if thou hast received and hast them not, we are undone.” By these words he made a strong impression on Antonius, for he was ignorant of the greater part of what was going on; and not so much because he was indolent, as because in his simplicity he trusted those about him. For there was in his character simplicity and slow perception; but when he did perceive his errors, there was strong repentance, and acknowledgment to those who had been wronged, and excess both in the restitution that he made and the punishment that he inflicted. Yet he was considered to surpass the bounds of moderation rather in conferring favours than in punishing. His rudeness in mirth and bantering carried its own remedy with it; for a man might return him as good as he gave; and he took as much pleasure in being laughed at as in laughing at others. And this did him mischief in most things; for he could not believe that those who spoke so freely in jest, could flatter him in earnest, and as he was easily caught by praise, not knowing that some persons by mingling freedom of expression, like a sharpish sauce, with flattery, took away from flattery its nauseating insipidity, by their boldness and babbling over their cups striving to make their yielding in matters of business and their assent appear, not the way of persons who keep about a man merely to please him, but of those who are overpowered by superior wisdom.

Life Of Antonius: XXV

Such was the disposition of Antonius, upon which a crowning evil the love for Cleopatra supervening, and stirring up and maddening many of the passions that were still concealed in him and lying quiet, caused to vanish and utterly destroyed whatever of goodness and of a saving nature still made resistance in him. And he was captured in this fashion. When he was preparing for the Parthian war, he sent her orders to meet him in Cilicia to give an account of the charges made against her of supplying Cassius with much money and contributions for the war. Dellius, who was sent, observing her person and marking her cleverness in speaking and her versatility, soon perceived that Antonius would never even think of doing such a woman any harm, but that she would have the greatest influence with him; and he applied himself to paying his court to her, and he encouraged the Egyptian, in the words of Homer, to go to Cilicia bedecked in her best fashion and not to be afraid of Antonius, who was the most pleasant and kindest of generals. Being persuaded by Dellius, and collecting from the proofs of her charms upon Caius Cæsar and Cnæus the son of Pompeius, she had hopes that she should more easily win over Antonius. For they knew her when she was yet a girl and inexperienced in affairs, but she was going to visit Antonius at an age in which women have the most brilliant beauty and their understanding has attained its perfection. Accordingly she got together many presents and money and ornaments, such as one might suppose that she could bring from the greatness of her estate and the wealth of her kingdom, but she went to Cilicia relying chiefly on herself and the seductions and charms of her own person.

XXVI. Though Cleopatra received many letters of summons both from Antonius and his friends, she so despised and mocked the man, that she sailed up the Cydnus in a vessel with a gilded stern, with purple sails spread, and rowers working with silver oars to the sound of the flute in harmony with pipes and lutes. Cleopatra reclined under an awning spangled with gold, dressed as Venus is painted, and youths representing the Cupids in pictures stood on each side fanning her. In like manner the handsomest of her female slaves in the dress of Nereids and Graces, were stationed some at the rudders and others at the ropes. And odours of wondrous kind from much incense filled the banks. Some of the people accompanied her immediately from the entrance of the river on both sides, and others went down from the city to see the sight. As the crowd from the Agora also poured forth, Antonius was finally left on the tribunal sitting alone. A rumour went abroad that Venus was coming to revel with Bacchus for the good of Asia. Now Antonius sent to invite Cleopatra to supper, but she on her part said that he should rather come to her. Antonius accordingly, wishing to display some good nature and kindness, obeyed and came. He found a preparation greater than he expected, but he was most surprised at the number of the lights: for it is said that so many lights were hung down and shewn on all sides at once and arranged and put together in such inclinations and positions with respect to one another in the form of squares and circles, that of the few things that are beautiful and worthy of being seen this sight was one.

XXVII. On the following day when Antonius feasted her in turn he was ambitious to surpass her splendour and taste, but he was left behind and inferior in both, and in these very things he was the first to scoff at the coarseness and rusticity of his own entertainment. Cleopatra, observing in the jests of Antonius much of the soldier and the unpolished man, adopted the same manner towards him freely and boldly. Now her beauty, as they say, was not in itself altogether incomparable nor such as to strike those who saw her; but familiarity with her had an irresistible charm, and her form, combined with her persuasive speech and with the peculiar character which in a manner was diffused about her behaviour, produced a certain piquancy. There was a sweetness also in the sound of her voice when she spoke; and as she could easily turn her tongue, like a many-stringed instrument, to any language that she pleased, she had very seldom need of an interpreter for her communication with barbarians, but she answered most by herself, as Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians. She is said also to have learned the language of many other peoples, though the kings her predecessors had not even taken the pains to learn the Egyptian language, and some of them had even given up the Macedonian dialect.

XXVIII. Now she so captivated Antonius, that though his wife Fulvia was carrying on war at Rome against Cæsar on behalf of the interests of Antonius, and a Parthian army was hovering about Mesopotamia, of which the king’s generals had named Labienus Parthian governor, and they were about to enter Syria, he allowed himself to be carried off by her to Alexandria; and there staying and amusing himself like a young man who had leisure, he consumed and expended upon pleasure the most costly of all things, as Antiphon said, Time. They had a kind of company called Inimitable Livers; and they daily feasted one another, making an incredible profusion in their expenditure. Now Philotas of Amphissa, a physician, used to relate to my grandfather Lamprias, that he was then in Alexandria learning his profession, and having got acquainted with one of the royal cooks, he was persuaded by him, as was natural in a young man, to view the costliness and the preparation for the table. Accordingly he was introduced into the kitchen, where he saw everything in great abundance, and eight wild boars roasting, which made him wonder at the number of the guests. Hereupon the cook laughed and said, the party at supper was not large, only about twelve; but it was necessary that everything which was served up should be in perfection, which a moment of time would spoil. He said it might happen that Antonius should wish to sup immediately, and if it so happened, he might defer it by asking for a cup or by falling into some conversation; and accordingly, he continued, not one supper is prepared, but many, for the exact time is difficult to conjecture. This is what Philotas used to tell; and in the course of time, as he related, he was among those who attended on the eldest son of Antonius, whom he had by Fulvia, and he supped with him with the rest of his companions, as a general rule, when he did not sup with his father. On one occasion there was a physician present who was bragging greatly and much annoying the company at supper, but Philotas stopped him by a sophism of this kind: “If a man has fever in some degree, we must give him cold water; but every man who has fever has fever in some degree; we must therefore give cold water to every man who has fever.” The man was confounded and put to silence, whereat the youth being pleased, laughed and said, “All this, Philotas, I give you,” pointing to a table full of many large cups. Philotas acknowledged his intended kindness, though he was far from thinking that a boy of his age had authority to make such a present; but after awhile one of the young slaves took hold of the cups and bringing them in a vessel bade him put a seal on it. As Philotas made objections and was afraid to take the things. “Why, you fool,” said the man, “do you hesitate? Don’t you know that the giver is the son of Antonius, and that he has permission to give so many things of gold? If however you take my advice, you will exchange the whole with us for a sum of money; for perchance the youth’s father might call for some of the vessels, which are old and valued for their workmanship.” Such anecdotes as these my grandfather used to say that Philotas would occasionally tell.

XXIX. But Cleopatra, by distributing flattery not, as Plato says, in four ways, but in many ways, and by always adding some new pleasure and charm to whatever was either serious or mirthful, completely ruled Antonius, never leaving him by night nor by day. For she played at dice with him, and drank with him, and hunted with him, and was a spectator when he was exercising in arms, and by night when he was standing at the doors and windows of the common people and jesting with those within, she accompanied him in his rambles and freaks, in the dress of a female slave; for Antonius also used to dress himself in this style. Accordingly he would return home always well loaded with coarse abuse and sometimes with blows. With the greater part he was in no good credit; however the Alexandrines took delight in his extravagances, and joined in his follies without any lack of cleverness or humour, being pleased therewith and saying that Antonius put on the tragic mask to the Romans, but the comic mask to them. Now to relate the greater part of his follies would be mere trifling. However on one occasion when he was fishing and was vexed at his bad sport, Cleopatra also being present, he ordered the fisherman to dive under the water and secretly to fasten to the hook some fishes that had been already caught; and he pulled up two or three times, but not without being detected by the Egyptian. Pretending to admire, she spoke to her friends and invited them to come as spectators on the following day. A number of them got into the fishing boats, and when Antonius had let down his line, she ordered one of her own men to anticipate him by diving to the hook and to fasten to it a Pontic salted fish. Antonius thinking that he had caught something pulled up, on which there was, as was natural, great laughter, whereat Cleopatra said, “Give up the fishing-rod, Imperator, to us the kings of Pharos and Canopus; your sport is cities and kings and continents.”

Life Of Antonius: XXX

While Antonius was spending his time in such trifles and extravagances, he was surprised by intelligence from two different quarters; from Rome, that Lucius his brother and Fulvia his wife, having first been at variance with one another and then having warred with Cæsar, were completely defeated and flying from Italy; the other intelligence was in no wise more favourable, which was that Labienus at the head of the Parthians had subdued

Asia from the Euphrates and Syria as far as Lydia and Ionia. With difficulty then, like a man roused from sleep and a drunken debauch, he set out to oppose the Parthians, and advanced as far as Phœnice, but as Fulvia sent him letters full of lamentations he turned towards Italy, with two hundred ships. On this voyage he took up his friends who had fled from Italy, and learned from them that Fulvia had been the cause of the war, for she was naturally a busy and bold woman; but her hope was to draw away Antonius from Cleopatra, if their should be any disturbance in Italy. It happened that Fulvia, who was sailing to meet him, died at Sikyon of some disease, which rendered a reconciliation with Cæsar more easy. For when Antonius approached Italy, and Cæsar was evidently not intending to make any charge against him, and Antonius was ready to fix on Fulvia the blame of what he was charged with, their friends would not let them come to any explanation of these grounds, but brought them both to terms and distributed the empire, making the Ionian gulf the boundary, and giving the eastern parts to Antonius and the western to Cæsar; Lepidus was allowed to keep Libya; and it was settled that the friends of each in turns should be consuls, when it did not please themselves to be.

XXXI. This arrangement seemed to be good, but it required a stronger security, and fortune offered one. Octavia was a sister of Cæsar, older than Cæsar, but not by the same mother; for she was the daughter of Ancharia, but he was born afterwards of Atia. Cæsar was very greatly attached to his sister, and it is said she was a most admirable woman. Octavia was now a widow, for her husband Caius Marcellus had not long been dead. As Fulvia was dead, Antonius also was considered to be a widower; he did not deny that he had Cleopatra, but he did not admit that he had her as a wife, and he was still struggling in his judgment on this point against his love for the Egyptian. Everybody was proposing this marriage in the hope that Octavia, who in addition to great beauty possessed dignity of character and good sense, if she were united to Antonius and were beloved by him, as it was reasonable to suppose that such a woman must be, would be the conservation and cause of union between them in all respects. This being arranged between them, they went up to Rome where the marriage of Octavia was celebrated, though the law did not allow a woman to marry till ten months after her husband’s decease, but the Senate in this case remitted the time by a decree.

XXXII. As Sextus Pompeius was still in possession of Sicily and was ravaging Italy, and with his numerous piratical ships, of which Menas the pirate and Menekrates were commanders, had rendered the sea unsafe to vessels, and as he seemed to be in a friendly disposition towards Antonius, for he had received his mother when she had fled from Rome with Fulvia, it was resolved to come to terms with him also. They met at the promontory of Misenum and the mound, the fleet of Pompeius being anchored close by them, while the forces of Antonius and Cæsar were arranged by the side of them. Having agreed that Pompeius should have Sardinia and Sicily on condition of keeping the sea clear of pirates and sending to Rome a certain quantity of grain, they invited one another to an entertainment. They cast lots on the occasion, and it was the lot of Pompeius to feast them first. Upon Antonius asking him where they should sup, “There,” said he, pointing to the commander’s ship of six banks of oars, “for this is all the paternal residence that is left for Pompeius.” This he said to reproach Antonius, who had the house that had belonged to the father of Sextus. Fixing his ship at anchor and making a kind of bridge from the promontory, he received them with a hearty welcome. When the banquet was at its height and jokes against Cleopatra and Antonius were plentiful, Menas the pirate approaching Pompeius said to him, so that the rest could not hear, “Will you let me cut off the anchors of the ship and make you master not of Sicily and Sardinia, but of the Roman empire?” Pompeius, on hearing this, considered with himself for a short time, and said, “You ought to have done it, Menas, without mentioning it to me: but now let us be satisfied with things as they are; perjury is not for me.” Pompeius, after being feasted by Cæsar and Antonius in turn, sailed back to Sicily.

XXXIII. After the settlement of affairs, Antonius sent forward Ventidius into Asia to prevent the Parthians from advancing further, and, in order to please Cæsar, he was appointed priest of the former Cæsar; and everything else that concerned public affairs they transacted in common and in a friendly way. But their games of amusement caused annoyance to Antonius, as he always carried off therein less than Cæsar. Now there was with Antonius a man skilled in divinations, an Egyptian, one of those who cast nativities, who, whether it was to please Cleopatra, or whether he said it in good faith, spoke freely to Antonius, saying that his fortune, though most splendid and great, was obscured by that of Cæsar, and he advised him to remove as far as possible from the young man: “For thy dæmon,” he said, “is afraid of the dæmon of Cæsar, and though it is proud and erect when it is by itself, it is humbled by his dæmon when it is near, and becomes cowed.” And indeed the things which were happening seemed to confirm the Egyptian; for it is said that when they were casting lots by way of amusement, in whatever they might happen to be engaged, and throwing dice, Antonius came off with disadvantage. They frequently matched cocks, and fighting quails, and those of Cæsar were always victorious. Whereat Antonius being annoyed, though he did not show it, and paying more regard to the Egyptian, departed from Italy, leaving the management of his affairs to Cæsar; and he took with him Octavia as far as Greece, there having been a daughter born to them. While he was spending the winter in Athens, he received intelligence of the first successes of Ventidius, who had defeated the Parthians in a battle, in which Labienus lost his life and Pharnapates, the most skilful of the generals of King Hyrodes. On the occasion of this victory Antonius feasted the Greeks; and he acted as gymnasiarch for the Athenians, and leaving at home the insignia of his rank, he went forth with the rods of a gymnasiarch and the dress and white shoes; and he took the youths by the neck when he separated them.

XXXIV. As he was going to set out for the war, he took a crown from the sacred olive, and in conformity to a certain oracle, he filled a vessel with water from the Clepsydra, and carried it with him. In the mean time Pacorus, the king’s son, with a large Parthian army again advanced against Syria, but Ventidius engaged with him in Cyrrhestica and put his army to flight with great loss; Pacorus himself fell among the first. This exploit, which was one of the most celebrated, gave the Romans full satisfaction for the defeat of Crassus, and again confined the Parthians within Media and Mesopotamia, after being defeated in three successive battles. Ventidius gave up all intention of pursuing the Parthians further, because he feared the jealousy of Antonius, but he visited those who had revolted and brought them into subjection, and besieged Antiochus of Commagene in the city Samosata. The king proposed to pay a thousand talents and to obey the order of Antonius, but Ventidius told him to send his proposal to Antonius; for he had now advanced near, and he would not allow Ventidius to make peace with Antiochus, because he wished that this single exploit at least should bear his name, and that everything should not be accomplished by Ventidius. As, however, the siege was protracted, and the citizens, after despairing of coming to terms, betook themselves to a vigorous defence, Antonius, who was making no progress, but was ashamed and repented of his conduct, was glad to make peace with Antiochus and to take three hundred talents; and after settling some trifling matters in Syria, he returned to Athens, and sent Ventidius to enjoy a triumph after bestowing on him the suitable decorations. Ventidius is the only Roman to the present time who has had a triumph over the Parthians; and he was a man of obscure birth, but the friendship of Antonius gave him the opportunity of doing great deeds, of which he made the best use, and so confirmed what was generally said of Antonius and Cæsar, that they were more successful as generals through others than of themselves. For Sossius also, a legatus of Antonius, had great success in Syria; and Canidius, who was left by Antonius in Armenia, defeated the Armenians and the kings of the Iberians and Albanians, and advanced as far as the Caucasus. All this success increased the name and the fame of the power of Antonius among the barbarians.

XXXV. Antonius being again irritated against Cæsar by certain calumnies, sailed to Italy with three hundred vessels; but as the people of Brundusium would not receive his fleet, he sailed round and anchored at Tarentum. There he sent Octavia, for she accompanied him from Greece, at her request, to her brother: she was then pregnant, and had already borne him two daughters. She met Cæsar on the way, and after gaining over his friends Agrippa and Mæcenas, she prayed him with much urgency and much entreaty not to let her become a most wretched woman after being most happy. For now, she said, all men turned their eyes upon her, who was the wife of one Imperator and the sister of another; “but if the worse should prevail,” she continued, “and there should be war, it is uncertain which of you must be the victor and which the vanquished; but I shall be unfortunate both ways.” Cæsar, being moved by these words, came in a friendly manner to Tarentum, and those who were present saw a most noble spectacle, a large army on land tranquil, and many ships quietly holding on the shore, and the meeting and friendly salutations of the two Imperators and their friends. Antonius gave an entertainment first, which Cæsar consented to for his sister’s sake. It being agreed that Cæsar should give Antonius two legions for the Parthian war, and that Antonius should give Cæsar a hundred brazen-beaked vessels. Octavia, independently of what had been agreed, asked for her brother twenty light ships from her husband, and for her husband a thousand soldiers from her brother. Accordingly, separating from one another, the one immediately engaged in the war against Pompeius, being desirous to get Sicily; and Antonius, entrusting to Cæsar Octavia and his children by her and by Fulvia, crossed over to Asia.

XXXVI. That great evil, which had long slept, the passion for Cleopatra, which appeared to be put to rest and to have been tranquillised by better considerations, blazed forth again and recovered strength as Antonius approached Syria. And finally (as Plato says of the stubborn and ungovernable beast of the soul), kicking away everything that was good and wholesome, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra to Syria. On her arrival he gave and added to her dominions nothing small or trifling, but Phœnice, Cœle Syria, Cyprus, a large part of Cilicia, and further, that part of Judæa which produces the balsam, and all the part, of Arabia Nabathæa which was turned towards the external sea. These donations caused the Romans the greatest vexation; though he gave tetrarchies and kingdoms of great nations to many private persons, and took kingdoms from many, as for instance Antigonus the Jew, whom he brought out and beheaded, though no king before had been punished in this way. But the scandal of the thing was that which gave more offence than all the honours conferred on Cleopatra. The evil report was increased by his acknowledging his twin children by Cleopatra, one of whom he called Alexander and the other Cleopatra; and he gave to one the surname of Sun, and the other of Moon. However, he had some dexterity in putting a good face on bad things, for he said that the greatness of the Roman power was shown not in what they received, but in what they gave; and that noble families were extended by a succession and progeny of many kings. Thus, for instance, he said, that his own ancestor was begotten by Hercules, who did not deposit his successors in a single womb, nor did he fear laws like Solon’s and penalties for conception, but gave nature her course to leave many beginnings and foundations of families.

XXXVII. When Phraates had killed his father Hyrodes and got possession of the kingdom, other Parthians fled, not few in number; and among them Monæses, a man of illustrious rank and great power, fled to Antonius, who likening the fortune of Monæses to that of Themistocles and comparing his own means and magnanimity to those of the Persian kings, gave him three cities, Larissa and Arethusa and Hierapolis, which was before called Bambyce. Upon the Parthian king sending to Monæses a right hand, Antonius gladly despatched Monæses to him, having resolved to deceive Phraates with a pretence of peace, but claiming the restoration of the standards taken in the time of Crassus and such of the prisoners as still survived. Antonius having sent Cleopatra back to Egypt, marched through Arabia and Armenia to a place where he reviewed his army, which had assembled there, and also the troops of the confederate kings; and they were many, but the greatest of all was Artavasdes, king of Armenia, who supplied six thousand horse and seven thousand foot soldiers. There were of the Romans sixty thousand foot soldiers, and the cavalry which was classed with the Romans was ten thousand Iberians and Celts; and of the other nations there were thirty thousand together with cavalry and light-armed troops. Yet so great a preparation and power, which alarmed even the Indians beyond Bactria and shook all Asia, it is said, was made of no avail to him by reason of Cleopatra. For through his eagerness to spend the winter with her, he opened the campaign before the fit time and conducted everything in a disorderly way, not having the mastery over his own judgment, but through the influence of some drugs or magic always anxiously looking towards her, and thinking more of his speedy return than of conquering the enemy.

XXXVIII. Now, in the first place, though it was his business to winter there in Armenia and to give his army rest, which was worn out by a march of eight thousand stadia, and before the Parthians moved from their winter-quarters in the commencement of spring, to occupy Media, he did not wait for the time, but immediately led forward his army, leaving Armenia on the left and touching on Atropatene, which he ravaged. In the next place, the engines which were necessary for sieges were carried along with the army in three hundred waggons, and among them was a ram eighty feet long; and it was not possible for any one of them, if it was damaged, to be repaired when it was wanted, because the upper country only produced wood of insufficient length and hardness: accordingly in his hurry he left all the engines behind as encumbrances to his speed, after appointing a watch and Statianus as commander over the waggons; and he commenced the siege of Phraata, a large city, in which were the children and wives of the king of Media. But the difficulties soon proved what an error he had committed in leaving behind the engines; and as he wished to come to close quarters with the enemy, he commenced erecting a mound against the city, which rose slowly and with much labour. In the meantime Phraates came down with a great force, hearing of the waggons being left behind that carried the machines, and sent many horsemen against them, by whom Statianus was hemmed in and killed and ten thousand men with him. The barbarians took possession of the engines and destroyed them. They also took many prisoners, among whom was king Polemon.

XXXIX. This misfortune greatly annoyed, as we may suppose, all the soldiers of Antonius, who at the commencement of the war had received this unexpected blow; and the Armenian Artavasdes despairing of the success of the Romans went off with his troops, though he had been the chief cause of the war. The Parthians now showed themselves to the besiegers in gallant array and insultingly threatened them, on which Antonius, not wishing to let despondency and dejection abide in his army by their being quiet and to increase, took ten legions and three prætorian cohorts of heavy-armed men and all the cavalry, and led them out to forage in the hope that the enemy would thus be drawn on, and that a regular battle would ensue. After advancing one day’s march, he saw that the Parthians were spreading themselves around him and seeking to attack him on the march, on which he hung out in the camp the sign of battle, but at the same time he ordered the tents to be taken down, as if his intention were not to fight but to lead off his troops; and he passed along the line of the barbarians, which was in the form of a crescent, having given orders, as soon as the first ranks of the enemy should be within reach of the heavy-armed soldiers, for the cavalry to ride at them. To the Parthians who stood opposed to the Romans, their discipline appeared to be something indescribable; and they observed the Romans as they marched past at equal intervals without disorder and in silence, brandishing their spears. But when the standard was raised and the cavalry facing about rushed upon the enemy, the Parthians received their onset and repelled it, though the Romans were all at once too close to allow them to use their arrows; but when the heavy-armed soldiers joined in the conflict at the same time with shouts and the clatter of arms, the Parthian horses were frightened and gave way and the Parthians fled before they came to close quarters. Antonius pressed on the pursuit, and had great hopes that he had finished the whole war or the chief part in that battle. But when the infantry had followed up the pursuit for fifty stadia and the cavalry for three times that distance, looking at those of the enemy who had fallen and were captured, they found only thirty captives and eighty corpses, which caused dismay and despondency in all the army, when they reflected that though victorious they had killed so few, and that when defeated they must sustain such a loss as they had near the waggons. On the following day they broke up their encampment and took the road towards Phraata and the camp. On their march they fell in at first with a few of the enemy, and then a greater number, and finally with all, who, as if they were unvanquished and fresh, challenged them and fell upon them from all sides, so that with difficulty and much labour they got safe to their camp. As the Medes made a sally against the mound and terrified those who were defending it, Antonius being enraged put in practice what is called decimation against the cowards; for he divided the whole number into tens, and put to death one out of each ten who was chosen by lot; and to the rest he ordered barley to be measured out, instead of wheat.

Life Of Antonius: XL

The war was attended with great hardship to both sides, and the future was still more alarming, as Antonius was expecting famine, for it was no longer possible to get forage without many of the soldiers being wounded and killed. Phraates knowing that the Parthians were able to bear anything rather than to endure hardship in the winter and to encamp in the open air, was afraid lest, if the Romans held out and abided there, his troops would leave him, as the atmosphere was beginning to grow heavy after the autumnal equinox. Accordingly he planned such a stratagem as this. The chiefs of the Parthians, both in the forages and on other occasions when they met the Romans, made less vigorous resistance, both allowing them to take some things and commending their valour in that they were most courageous men, and were justly admired by their king. After this, riding up nearer to them, and quietly placing their horses near the Romans, they would abuse Antonius, saying that though Phraates wished to come to terms and to spare so many brave men, Antonius would not give him the opportunity, but sat there awaiting those dangerous and powerful enemies, hunger and winter, from whom it would be difficult for them to escape, even under convoy of the Parthians. Many persons reported this to Antonius, and though he was softened by hope, still he did not send heralds to the Parthians until he inquired from the barbarians who assumed this friendly demeanour, whether what they said really expressed the king’s meaning. On their saying that it was so, and urging him not to fear or distrust, he sent some of his companions to demand back the standards and the captives, that it might not be supposed that he was so eager to make his escape and get away. The Parthian told him not to trouble himself about that matter, but promised him peace and security if he would depart forthwith; whereupon in a few days Antonius got his baggage together and broke up his camp. Though Antonius had great powers of persuasion before a popular assembly, and was skilled above every man of the age in leading an army by his words, he was unable through shame and depression of spirits to encourage the soldiers, and he bade Domitius Ænobarbus do this. Some of the soldiers took this amiss, considering it as a token of contempt towards them, but the majority were affected by it, and perceived the reason, and they thought that they ought on this account the more to show their respect and obedience to the commander.

Life Of Antonius: XLI

As Antonius was intending to lead the troops back by the same road, which was through a plain country without trees, a man, by nation a Mardian, who was well acquainted with the Parthian habits, and had already shown himself faithful to the Romans in the battle at the waggons, came up to Antonius and advised him in his flight to keep to the mountains on his right, and not to expose a force, in heavy armour and encumbered, to so numerous a cavalry and to the arrows in bare and open tracts, which was the very thing that Phraates designed when he induced him by friendly terms to raise the siege; and that he would lead them a shorter road, where he would find a better supply of necessaries. Antonius on hearing this deliberated; he did not wish to appear to distrust the Parthians after the truce, yet as he approved of the shorter road, and the line of march being along inhabited villages, he asked the Mardian for a pledge of his fidelity. The Mardian offered himself to be put in chains until he should place the army in Armenia; and he was put in chains, and he conducted them for two days without their meeting with any opposition. On the third day, when Antonius had completely ceased to think of the Parthians, and was advancing in a careless way by reason of his confidence, the Mardian observed that an embankment against the overflowing of a river had been recently broken, and that the stream was flowing in a great current on the road by which they had to pass, and he knew that the Parthians had done this with the intention of making the river an obstacle to the Roman march by the difficulty and delay that it would occasion; and he bade Antonius look out and be on his guard, as the enemy was near. Just while he was placing the heavy-armed men in order, and taking measures for the javelin-men and slingers to make an attack through their ranks upon the enemy, the Parthians appeared and rode round them with the design of encircling the Romans and putting them in disorder on all sides. The light-armed troops made a sally against them, and the Parthians, after inflicting some wounds with their arrows and receiving as many from the leaden bullets and javelins of the Romans, retreated. The Parthians then commenced a second attack, which continued until the Celtæ in a mass drove their horses against them and dispersed them; and the Parthians showed themselves no more on that day.

Life Of Antonius: XLII.

From this experience Antonius, learning what he ought to do, covered not only the rear, but also both flanks with many javelin men and slingers, and led his army in the form of a quadrangle; and the cavalry received orders to repel the attack of the enemy, but when they had repulsed them, not to pursue far, in consequence of which the Parthians during the four following days sustained as much damage as they inflicted, and their ardour being dulled they thought of retiring, as an excuse for which they alleged the approach of winter. On the fifth day Flavius Gallus, a man of military talent and great activity, who held a command, came and asked Antonius for more light-armed troops for the rear, and for some of the cavalry from the van, in the expectation of having great success. Antonius gave him the troops, and when the enemy made his attack, he fell upon them, not as on former occasions, at the same time withdrawing towards the heavy-armed soldiers and retreating, but resisting them and engaging with the enemy in a desperate way. The commanders of the rear seeing that he was being separated from them, sent and called him back, but he would not listen to them. They say that Titius the quæstor, seizing the standards, turned them round and abused Gallus for throwing away the lives of many brave men. But as Gallus abused him in turn, and urged those about him to remain, Titius retreated. While Gallus was pushing forwards against the enemy in front, a large body of those in the rear got round him before he perceived it. Being now attacked on all sides he sent for aid; but the commanders of the heavy-armed troops, among whom was Canidius, a man who had the greatest influence with Antonius, are considered to have committed a great mistake. For when they ought to have moved the whole line against the enemy, they sent a few at a time to help against them; and again when these were being worsted, they sent others, and thus these came near filling the whole army with defeat and flight before they were aware of it; but Antonius himself quickly came with the heavy-armed men from the van to meet the enemy, and the third legion quickly pushing through the fugitives against the enemy stopped their further pursuit.

XLIII. There fell no fewer than three thousand; and there were carried to the tents five thousand wounded, and among them Gallus, who was pierced with five arrows in front. Gallus did not recover from his wounds; but Antonius, going about, visited the rest of the wounded, and he encouraged them with tears in his eyes and deep sympathy. The men, cheerfully grasping his right hand, begged him to go and take care of his health and not to trouble himself about them, calling him Imperator, and saying that they were all secure if he was only safe. For altogether it seems that no Imperator of that age got together an army more distinguished by courage or endurance or strength; but the respect towards the commander himself, and the obedience combined with affection, and the circumstance that all alike, those of good reputation, those of bad, commanders, private soldiers, preferred honour and favour from Antonius to their own lives and safety, left nothing even for the ancient Romans to surpass, and of this there were several reasons, as we have said before; noble birth, powerful eloquence, simplicity, generosity and munificence, affability in his pleasures and conversation. On that occasion, by the pains that he took and his sympathy with the wounded, and by sharing with them whatever they wanted, he made the sick and wounded more full of alacrity than those who were whole.

XLIV. However the victory so elated the enemy, who were already worn out and exhausted, and they despised the Romans so much that they even passed the night close to the camp, expecting that they should soon plunder the deserted tents and the baggage of the Romans skulking away. At daybreak the enemy crowded upon them in still greater numbers, and there are said to have been not fewer than forty thousand horseman, as the king had sent even those who were always placed around himself, as to certain and secure success; for the king himself was never present in any battle. But Antonius, wishing to harangue the soldiers, asked for a dark garment that he might appear more piteous. But as his friends opposed him, he came forward in the purple dress of a general and addressed the troops, praising those who had been victorious, and upbraiding those who had fled. The former exhorted him to be of good cheer, and the others making their apology offered themselves to him either to be decimated or to be punished in any other way; only they prayed him to cease being troubled and grieved. Hereupon, raising his hands, he prayed to the gods, that if any reverse of fortune should follow on account of his former prosperity, it might come upon him, but that they would give safety and victory to the rest of the army.

Life Of Antonius: XLV

On the following day they advanced under better protection; and when the Parthians made their attack, the result was very contrary to their expectations. For they expected to advance to plunder and booty, and not to battle; but as they were assailed by many missiles, and saw that the Romans were encouraged and fresh with alacrity, they were again completely wearied of the contest. However the Parthians again fell upon them as they were descending some steep hills, and galled them with arrows as they were slowly retreating, whereon the shield-bearers faced about and placing the light-armed troops within their ranks, dropped down on one knee and held their shields before them; those behind held their shields before the front rank, and those who were behind the second rank did the same. This form, which very much resembles a roof, presents a theatrical appearance, and is the safest of bulwarks against the arrows, which thus glance off. But the Parthians, who thought that the Romans bending on one knee was a sign of exhaustion and fatigue, laid aside their bows, and grasping their spears by the middle, came to close quarters. But the Romans with one shout all at once sprang up, and pushing with their javelins which they held in their hands, killed the foremost and put all the rest to flight. This took place also on the following days, the Romans making only small way. Famine also attacked the army, which could get little grain and that with fighting, and they had few implements for grinding; for the greater part were left behind, owing to some of the beasts dying, and others being employed in carrying the sick and wounded. It is said that an Attic chœnix of wheat was sold for fifty drachmæ; and they sold barley loaves for their weight in silver. Then they betook themselves to vegetables and roots; but they found few of the kind that they were accustomed to, and being compelled to make trial of what they had never tasted before, they ate of one herb that caused madness and then death. For he who had eaten of it recollected nothing, and understood nothing, and busied himself about nothing except one sole thing, which was to move and turn every stone, as if he were doing something of great importance. The plain was full of men stooping to the ground and digging round stones and moving them; and finally they vomited bile and died, for wine, which was the only remedy, failed them. As many were dying and the Parthians did not desist from their attack, they say that Antonius often cried out “O the ten thousand!” whereby he expressed his admiration of the ten thousand, that though they marched even a greater distance, from Babylonia, and fought with many more enemies, yet they made good their retreat.

XLVI. The Parthians, not being able to break through the Roman army nor yet to separate their ranks, and being already often defeated and put to flight, again mingled in a friendly way with those who went out for grass or corn, and pointing to the strings of their bows which were unstrung, said, that they were going back and this was the end of their attack; but that a few of the Medes would follow still one or two days’ journey without annoying them at all, and for the purpose of protecting the more distant villages. To these words were added embraces and signs of friendship, so that the Romans were again of good cheer; and Antonius hearing this resolved to keep nearer to the plains, as the road through the mountains was said to be waterless. While he was intending to do this, there came to the camp a man from the enemy, named Mithridates, a cousin of Monæses, of him who had been with Antonius and had received the three cities as a present. And he asked for some one to come near to him who could speak the Parthian or the Syrian language. Alexander of Antioch came to him, and he was an intimate friend of Antonius, whereupon Mithridates, saying who he was, and intimating that they must thank Monæses for what he was going to say, asked Alexander, if he saw in the distance a continuous range of lofty mountains. On Alexander saying that he saw them, he replied, “Under those mountains the Parthians with all their forces lie in ambush for you. For the great plains border on these mountains, and they expect that you will be deceived by them and will turn in that direction and leave the road through the mountains. The way over the mountains is attended with thirst and labour to which you are accustomed, but if Antonius goes by the plain, let him be assured that the fate of Crassus awaits him.”

XLVII. Having said this, he went away; and Antonius, who was troubled at these words, called together his friends and the Mardian who was their guide, and had exactly the same opinion. For even if there were no enemy, he knew that the want of roads in the plains and the mistakes in the track which they might make there were matters of hazard and difficulty; but he declared that the road over the mountains presented no other risk than the want of water for a single day. Accordingly Antonius turned aside and led his army by this route by night, having given orders to the men to take water with them. But the greater part had no vessels, and accordingly they filled their helmets with water and carried them, and others took it in skins. As soon as Antonius began to advance, the Parthians had intelligence of it, and contrary to their custom they commenced the pursuit while it was still night. Just as the sun was rising, they came up with the rear, which was in weak condition through want of sleep and fatigue: for they had accomplished two hundred and forty stadia in the night; and the enemy coming upon them so suddenly when they did not expect it, dispirited them. The contest increased their thirst, for they still advanced while they were defending themselves. Those who were in the first ranks, as they were marching onwards, came to a river, the water of which was cool and pellucid, but salt and of a medicinal nature; and this water, when drank of immoderately, caused pains with purging and augmentation of the thirst: and though the Mardian had warned them of this, the soldiers nevertheless forced away those who tried to hinder them and drank of the water. Antonius went round to the men and prayed them to hold out for a short time, and he said there was another river not far off, and besides this, the rest of the route was impracticable for horses and rough, so that the enemy must certainly turn back. At the same time he summoned those who were engaged in the fight and gave the signal for pitching the tents, that the soldiers might at least enjoy the shade a little.

XLVIII. While then the tents were being fixed and the Parthians as usual were immediately retiring, Mithridates came again, and upon Alexander going up to him, he advised him to put the army in motion after it had rested a little and to hasten to the river: for he said that the Parthians would not cross it, but would follow up the pursuit as far as the river. Alexander reported this to Antonius, and then brought out from him numerous gold cups and goblets, of which Mithridates taking as many as he could hide in his dress, rode off. As it was still daylight, they broke up their tents and advanced, without being annoyed by the enemy; but they made that night of all others the most painful and frightful to themselves. For they killed and plundered those who had silver or gold, and took the things that were carried by the beasts; and finally falling upon the baggage of Antonius, they cut in pieces and divided among them cups and costly tables, there being great disturbance and confusion through the whole army; for they thought that the enemy had fallen upon them and that flight and dispersion had ensued, Antonius called one of the freedmen, who was on his guard, named Rhamnus, and bound him by oath when he gave him the order, to push his sword through him and to cut off his head, that he might neither be taken alive by the enemy nor be recognised when dead. His friends broke out in tears, but the Mardian encouraged Antonius by telling him that the river was near; for a moist breeze blowing and a cooler air meeting them made their respiration more agreeable; and he said that the time they had been on the march confirmed his estimate of the distance, for what now remained of the night was not much. At the same time others reported that the disorder was owing to their own wrongful deeds and rapacity. Accordingly Antonius, wishing to bring the army into order from their state of disorder and confusion, commanded the signal to be given for pitching the tents.

XLIX. Day was now dawning, and as the army was beginning to get into certain order and tranquillity, the arrows of the Parthians fell upon the rear, and the signal for battle was given to the light-armed troops. The heavy-armed troops again covering one another in like manner as before with their shields, stood the assault of the missiles, the enemy not venturing to come near. The first ranks advancing slowly in this form, the river was seen; and Antonius drawing up his cavalry on the banks in face of the enemy, took across the weak first. Those who were fighting were now relieved from apprehension, and had the opportunity of drinking; for when the Parthians saw the river, they unstrung their bows and bade the Romans pass over in confidence, with great encomiums on their valour. Accordingly, they crossed, and recruited themselves quietly; and then they marched forwards, but yet not with full confidence in the Parthians. On the sixth day after the last battle they reached the river Araxes, which is the boundary between Media and Armenia. It appeared dangerous both for its depth and roughness, and a rumour went through the army that the enemy was in ambush there, and would fall on them as they were crossing. When they had safely crossed and had set foot in Armenia, as if they had just got sight of that land from the sea, they saluted it and fell to shedding of tears and embracing of one another for joy. In their progress through a fertile country, during which they used everything freely after having suffered great want, they were subject to dropsical and bowel complaints.

Life Of Antonius: L

Antonius there made a review of his men, and he found that twenty thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry had perished; not all by the enemy, but above half by disease. They marched from Phraata twenty-seven days, and they defeated the Parthians in eighteen battles; but these victories brought neither strength nor security, because their pursuits were short and ineffectual. And this mainly showed that it was Artavasdes the Armenian who had deprived Antonius of the means of bringing that war to an end. For if the sixteen thousand horsemen whom he drew out of Media had been present, who were equipped like the Parthians, and were accustomed to fight against them, and if, while the Romans put to flight the fighting enemy, they had overtaken the fugitives, it would not have been in their power after a defeat to recover themselves and venture again so often. All the army accordingly in passion endeavoured to incite Antonius to punish the Armenian. But Antonius upon considerations of prudence neither reproached him for his treachery nor abated of his usual friendly behaviour and respect towards him, being weak in numbers and in want of supplies. Afterwards, however, when he again broke into Armenia, and by many promises and invitations, persuaded Artavasdes to come into his hands, he seized him and took him in chains to Alexandria, where he was led in triumph. And herein chiefly he offended the Romans, by giving to the Egyptians for the sake of Cleopatra the honourable and solemn ceremonial of his native country. This however took place later.

Life Of Antonius: LI

Antonius now pressed on his march, the winter having already set in with severity, through incessant snow-storms, in which he lost eight thousand men on the route. Going down to the sea-coast with a very small body of men, he waited for Cleopatra in a place between Berytus and Sidon, called “White village”; and as she was slow in coming, he became uneasy and restless, soon giving himself up to drinking and intoxication, but yet being unable to continue at table; for while his companions were drinking he would rise and often spring up to look out, till Cleopatra arrived there by sea bringing a quantify of clothes and supplies for the soldiers. There are some who say that Antonius received the clothes from her, but that the money was his own, though he distributed it as if it were a present to him from Cleopatra.

Life Of Antonius: LII

A quarrel arose between the king of the Medes and Phraortes the Parthian, which originated, as they say, about the Roman spoils, but caused the Mede to have suspicions and fear of being deprived of his dominions. For this reason he sent to invite Antonius, and proffered to join him in a war with his own forces. Antonius accordingly being put in great hope—for the only thing as he thought which had been the cause of his failing to subdue the Parthians, his having gone against them without many horsemen and bowmen, he now saw was offered to him in such way that his part was rather to do a favour by accepting than to ask for one—was preparing again to march into the upper country through Armenia, and after joining the Mede near the Araxes, then to recommence the war.

LIII. At Rome Octavia was desirous of going to Antonius, and Cæsar gave her permission; as the greater part say, not with the design of pleasing her, but in order that if she were greatly insulted and neglected, he might have a specious pretext for the war. On reaching Athens she received letters from Antonius, in which he told her to stay there, and informed her of his intended expedition. Though Octavia was annoyed, and saw that this was only a pretext, she wrote to him to ask to what place he would have the things sent which she was bringing to him. And she was taking a great quantity of clothing for the army, many beasts, and money and presents for his officers and friends; and besides this, two thousand picked soldiers equipped as prætorian cohorts, with splendid armour. A certain Niger, a friend of Antonius, who was sent by Octavia, reported this to him, and he added commendation of Octavia such as she merited and was just. But Cleopatra, seeing that Octavia was entering into a contest with her, and fearing that if to the dignity of her behaviour and the power of Cæsar she added the pleasure of social intercourse and attention to Antonius, she would be invincible and get complete mastery over her husband, pretended to be desperately in love with Antonius, and she wasted her body by spare diet; and she put on the expression of strong passion when he approached her, and of sorrow and depression when he went away. She also contrived to be often seen in tears, which she would all at once wipe away and affect to conceal, as if she did not wish Antonius to observe it. She practised these arts while Antonius was preparing for his expedition from Syria against the Mede. Flatterers, too, who were busy in her behalf, abused Antonius as a hard and unfeeling man, who was causing the death of a woman who was devoted to him alone. As to Octavia, she came to meet Antonius upon business on her brother’s account, and enjoyed the name of wife of Antonius; but Cleopatra, who was the queen of so many people, was only called the beloved of Antonius, and she did not shun nor disdain this name, so long as she could see Antonius and live with him; but if she were driven away from him, she would not survive. At last they so melted and softened the man, that through fear that Cleopatra might destroy herself, he returned to Alexandria, and put off the Mede to the summer season, though the affairs of Parthia were said to be in a state of anarchy. However, he went up into the country, and brought over the king to friendly terms, and after betrothing to one of his sons by Cleopatra one of the daughters of the king, who was still a young child, he returned, being now engaged in preparing for the civil war.

Life Of Antonius: LIV

When Octavia returned from Athens, as Cæsar conceived her to have been insulted, he ordered her to dwell in her own house. But she refused to leave her husband’s house, and she advised her brother, if he had not for other reasons determined to go to war with Antonius, to let her affairs alone, for it was not even decent to be said, that of the greatest Imperators, one through love for a woman, and the other through jealousy, brought the Romans to civil war. This she said, and she confirmed what she said by her acts; for she lived in her husband’s house, just as if he were at home, and she took care of the children, both her own and those of Fulvia, in an honourable and liberal way; she also received the friends of Antonius who were sent to Rome to get offices or on business, and assisted them in obtaining from Cæsar what they wanted. She thus unintentionally damaged Antonius, for he was hated for wronging such a woman. He was also hated for the division which he made among his children at Alexandria, which appeared to be tragical and arrogant, and to show hatred of the Romans. For he filled the gymnasium with a crowd, and caused to be placed on a tribunal of silver two thrones of gold, one for himself, and the other for Cleopatra, and for the children other thrones which were lower; and first of all he declared Cleopatra Queen of Egypt and Cyprus and Libya and Cœle Syria, with Cæsarion as co-regent, who was believed to be the son of the former Cæsar, who left Cleopatra pregnant; in the next place he proclaimed his sons and Cleopatra’s to be Kings of Kings; and to Alexander he gave Armenia, and Media, and Parthia, when he should have subdued it, and to Ptolemæus he gave Phœnice and Syria and Cilicia. At the same time also he led forth Alexander, dressed in a Median vest with a tiara and cittaris upright, and Ptolemæus in boots, and a chlamys, and a causia with a diadem attached to it; for this was the dress of the kings who followed Alexander, and the other was the dress of the Medes and Armenians. After the children had embraced their parents, a guard of Armenians was placed around the one, and of Macedonians around the other. Cleopatra, both on that occasion and on other occasions when she went out before the people, used to put on a dress sacred to Isis, different from her ordinary dress, and she was called the new Isis.

Life Of Antonius: LV

By bringing these matters before the Senate, and often complaining of them before the people, Cæsar excited the multitude against Antonius. Antonius also sent and made recriminations against Cæsar. The chief charges which Antonius made against him were, in the first place, that though he had taken Sicily from Pompeius, he did not give him a part of the island; second, that Cæsar had borrowed ships from him for the war and had kept them; third, that after ejecting his colleague Lepidus from his authority and degrading him, Cæsar kept the army and territory and revenues that were assigned to Lepidus; and, finally, that he had distributed nearly all Italy in allotments among his own soldiers, and had left nothing for the soldiers of Antonius. To these charges Cæsar replied, that he had deprived Lepidus of his authority because he was abusing it, and as to what he had acquired in war, he would share it with Antonius, when Antonius should share Armenia with him. He further said that the soldiers of Antonius had no claim to any share of Italy, for that they had Media and Parthia, which they had added to the Roman possessions by their brave conduct in war under their Imperator.

Life Of Antonius: LVI

Antonius heard of this while he was tarrying in Armenia; and he immediately gave orders to Canidius to take sixteen legions and to go down to the sea. Himself taking Cleopatra with him went to Ephesus. Here the navy collected from all quarters, eight hundred ships, including merchant vessels, of which Cleopatra furnished two hundred, and twenty thousand talents and supplies for the war for all the army. Antonius, being persuaded by Domitius and some others, told Cleopatra to sail to Egypt and there to wait the result of the war. But as Cleopatra feared that there would again be a reconciliation through Octavia, she persuaded Canidius by a large bribe to speak to Antonius about her, and to say, that it was neither just for a woman to be kept away from the war, who supplied so many large contributions, nor was it to the interest of Antonius to dispirit the Egyptians, who composed a large part of the naval force; and besides this, he did not see to which of the kings who joined the expedition Cleopatra was inferior in understanding, she who for a long time by herself had governed so large a kingdom, and had long enjoyed his company, and had learned to manage great affairs. These arguments prevailed, for it was fated that all the power should come into Cæsar’s hands; and after the forces had come together, they sailed to Samos and enjoyed themselves there. For as orders had been given to kings and rulers and tetrarchs and nations and all the cities between Syria and the Mæotis and Armenia and the Illyrians to send and bring their supplies for the war, so all the persons who assisted at theatrical entertainments were required to meet Antonius at Samos; and while nearly all the world around was lamenting and groaning, one island for many days resounded with pipes and stringed instruments, and the theatres were filled and the chori were vying with one another. Every city also joined in the celebration by sending an ox, and kings rivalled one another in giving entertainments and presents. So that it went abroad and was said, how will persons behave in the rejoicings after a victory, who make such costly banquets to celebrate the preparations for war?

LVII. After these amusements were over, Antonius gave to the theatrical company Priene for their dwelling; and sailing to Athens he again gave himself up to pleasure and theatres. Cleopatra, who was jealous of the honours that had been paid to Octavia in the city, for Octavia was very much beloved by the Athenians, attempted to gain the popular favour by many acts of liberality. The Athenians after voting to her honorable distinctions, sent a deputation to her residence to carry the record of the vote, and Antonius was one of them, as being an Athenian citizen; and coming before her he went through an harangue on behalf of the city. He sent persons to Rome to eject Octavia from his house; and it is said that when she left it, she took all the children of Antonius with her except the eldest of the children by Fulvia, for he was with his father, and that she wept and lamented that she too would be considered one of the causes of the war. And the Romans pitied not her, but they pitied Antonius, and those chiefly who had seen Cleopatra, a woman who had not the advantage over Octavia either in beauty or in youth.

LVIII. Cæsar was alarmed when he heard of the rapidity and the greatness of the preparation of Antonius, lest he should be compelled to come to a decisive battle during that summer. For he was deficient in many things, and the exaction of taxes vexed people; for the free men, being compelled to contribute a fourth of their income, and the class of freedmen to contribute an eighth part of their property, cried out against Cæsar, and tumults arising from these causes prevailed over all Italy. Accordingly the delay in the war is reckoned among the greatest faults of Antonius; for it gave time to Cæsar to make preparation, and it put an end to the disturbances among the people; for while the money was being exacted from them they were irritated, but when it had been exacted and they had paid it they remained quiet. Titius and Plancus, friends of Antonius and men of consular rank, being insulted by Cleopatra, for they made the most opposition to her joining the expedition, escaped to Cæsar, and they gave him information about the will of Antonius, as they were acquainted with the contents of it. The will was placed with the Vestal Virgins, and when Cæsar asked for it, they would not give it to him, but they told him, if he wished to have it, to come and take it himself. And he did go and take it; and first of all he read it over by himself, and marked certain passages which furnished ready matter of accusation; in the next place he assembled the Senate and read the will, to the dissatisfaction of the greater part; for they considered it to be altogether unusual and a hard matter for a man to be called to account in his lifetime for what he wished to be done after his death. Cæsar dwelt most on that part of the will which related to the interment; for Antonius directed that his body, even if he should die in Rome, should be carried in procession through the Forum and sent to Alexandria to Cleopatra. Calvisius, an intimate friend of Cæsar, brought forward also these charges against Antonius in reference to Cleopatra: that he had given her the libraries from Pergamum, in which there were two hundred thousand single books; and that at an entertainment in the presence of many people he stood up and rubbed her feet in compliance with a certain arrangement and agreement; and that he allowed the Ephesians in his presence to salute Cleopatra as mistress; and that frequently when he was administering justice to tetrarchs and kings on his tribunal, he would receive from her love-billets written on onyx or crystal and read them. Furnius also, who was a man of distinction and the most powerful orator among the Romans, said that Cleopatra was being carried in a litter through the Forum, and that Antonius when he saw her, sprung up and left the judgment-seat and accompanied her hanging on the litter.

Life Of Antonius: LIX

In most of these matters Calvisius was supposed to be lying. But the friends of Antonius going about in Rome entreated the people for his sake, and they sent Geminius, one of their body, to entreat Antonius not to be regardless about being deprived of his authority by a vote and declared an enemy of the Romans. Geminius having sailed to Greece became suspected by Cleopatra of acting on the behalf of Octavia, and, though he was continually ridiculed at supper and insulted by having unsuitable places at the feast assigned to him, he submitted to this and waited for an opportunity of an interview; and when he was told at supper to say what he had come about, he replied that all his communication was to be made when he was sober, except one thing, which he knew whether he was sober or drunk; and it was this, that all would be well if Cleopatra would go off to Egypt. Antonius was irritated at this, but Cleopatra said, “You have done well, Geminius, in having confessed the truth without tortures.” After a few days accordingly Geminius made his escape to Rome. The flatterers of Cleopatra drove away also many of the other friends of Antonius, who could not endure their excesses over wine and their coarse behaviour; and among these were Marcus Silanus and Dellius the historian. Dellius says that he was also afraid of some design from Cleopatra, of which he had been informed by Glaucus the physician. He had offended Cleopatra at supper by saying that they had to drink vinegar, while Sarmentus at Rome was drinking Falernian. Now Sarmentus was a youth, one of Cæsar’s favourites, such as the Romans call Deliciæ.

Life Of Antonius: LX

When Cæsar had made preparation sufficient, he got a vote passed for war against Cleopatra and for depriving Antonius of the authority which he had surrendered to Cleopatra. Cæsar also said that Antonius, owing to draughts that had been administered to him, was not in his senses, and those whom the Romans had to fight against were Mardion the eunuch, and Potheinus, and Iras the tire-woman of Cleopatra, and Charmion, by whom all the chief matters of administration were directed. These signs, it is said, happened before the war. Pisaurum, a city that had been colonised by Antonius, which was situated near the Adriatic, was swallowed up by the opening of chasms in the earth. From one of the stone statues of Antonius at Alba sweat oozed for many days, and it did not cease, though there were persons who wiped it off. While he was staying at Patræ, the Herakleium was destroyed by lightning; at Athens the Dionysius, one of the figures in the Battle of the Giants, was blown down by the winds and carried into the theatre. Now Antonius claimed kinship with Hercules by descent and with Dionysius by imitating his manner of life, as it has been said, and he was called young Dionysius. The same tempest also fell on the colossal statues of Eumenes and Attalus, on which the name of Antonius had been inscribed, and threw them down alone out of a large number. The admiral’s ship of Cleopatra was called Antonias, and a bad omen appeared as to it: some swallows had made their nest under the stern, but other swallows attacked and drove them out and destroyed the young.

Life Of Antonius: LXI

They were now coming together for the war; and the fighting ships of Antonius were not fewer than five hundred, among which were many vessels of eight and ten banks of oars fitted out in proud and pompous style; of the land forces there were one hundred thousand, and twelve thousand horsemen. There were on his side of subject kings, Bocchus the king of the Libyans, and Tarcondemus the king of Upper Cilicia, and Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, and Philadelphus of Paphlagonia, and Mithridates of Commagene, and Sadalas of Thrace. These were with him. From Pontus Polemon sent a force, and Malchus from Arabia, and Herodes, the Jew; and besides these, Amyntas, the king of the Lycaonians and Galatians. There was also help sent from the king of the Medes. Cæsar had two hundred and fifty ships of war, and eighty thousand infantry, and about the same number of horsemen as the enemy. The dominion of Antonius extended over the country from the Euphrates to the Ionian sea and the Illyrians; and that of Cæsar from the Illyrians over the country that reached to the Western Ocean, and over the country from the ocean to the Tuscan and Sicilian sea. Of Libya Cæsar had the part which extended opposite to Italy and Gaul and Iberia as far as the pillars of Hercules; and Antonius had the part from Cyrene to Ethiopia.

LXII. Antonius was so mere an appendage to Cleopatra that though he had a great superiority in land forces, he wished the decision of the affair to depend on the navy, to please Cleopatra: and this, though he saw that through want of a crew, men were being seized by the trierarchs out of Greece, which had indeed suffered much, travellers, ass-drivers, reapers, youths, and that even by these means the ships were not manned, but the greater part were deficient and were ill manœuvred. Cæsar’s navy consisted of ships not built to a great height nor yet for the purpose of making a show, but adapted for easy and quick movement and well manned; and he kept his fleet together in Tarentum and Brundusium, and sent to Antonius to ask him not to waste the time, but to come with his forces, and that he would provide his armament with naval stations free from all hindrance, and harbours, and that he would retreat with his land forces a day’s journey for a horseman from the sea, until Antonius had safely landed and encamped. Antonius replied in like strain to this bragging language by challenging Cæsar to single combat, though he was older than Cæsar; and if Cæsar declined this, he proposed that they should decide the matter with their armies at Pharsalus, as Cæsar and Pompeius had done before. While Antonius was taking his station near Actium, where Nicopolis is now built, Cæsar contrived to cross the Ionian sea and to get possession of a place in Epirus, called Torune; and as the friends of Antonius were uneasy, because their land force had not yet come up, Cleopatra, jesting, said, “What is the harm if Cæsar is sitting by a torune?”

LXIII. At daybreak the advance of the enemy’s fleet alarmed Antonius, lest they should seize the ships which were without crews, and accordingly he armed the rowers and placed them on the decks to make a show, and raising the ships’ oars and making them ready for plying, he kept his ships on each side in the channel near Actium, prow to prow, as if they were fit to be put in motion and prepared to fight. Cæsar, being frustrated by this manœuvre, retired. Antonius also by some well contrived works shut in the water and deprived his enemies of it; and the surrounding spots had only little water, and that was bad. He behaved with magnanimity to Domitius also, and contrary to the judgment of Cleopatra. Domitius, who was already suffering from fever, got into a small boat and went over to Cæsar, on which Antonius, though much annoyed, sent him all his baggage together with his friends and slaves. Domitius indeed, as if he were repenting after the discovery of his faithlessness and treachery, died immediately. There were also defections among the kings, for Amyntas and Deiotarus went over to Cæsar. Now as the navy was in all things unlucky and always too late to give any help, Antonius was again compelled to turn his thoughts to his land forces. Canidius also, who commanded the land forces, changed his opinion at the sight of the danger, and he advised Antonius to send Cleopatra away, and to retreat to Thrace or Macedonia, and then to decide the matter by a battle. For Dicomes, the king of the Getæ, promised to help him with a large force; and Canidius urged that there would be no disgrace, if they should give up the sea to Cæsar, who had been disciplined in the Sicilian war, but it would be a strange thing if Antonius, who was excellently versed in military operations, should not avail himself of his strength and his resources of so many heavy-armed soldiers, and should instead thereof distribute his troops among vessels and fritter them away. Notwithstanding this the advice of Cleopatra prevailed that the war should be decided by a naval battle, though she was already contemplating flight and making arrangements for her own position, not with a view to contribute to the victory, but to have the best place to retreat from if their cause should be ruined. Now there were long lines which extended from the camp to the naval station, and Antonius was accustomed to pass without suspecting any danger; and as a slave of Cæsar told him that it would be possible to seize Antonius as he went down through the lines, Cæsar sent men to lie in ambush for him. They came so near accomplishing their purpose as this, that by rising up too soon they seized the man who was advancing in front of Antonius; and Antonius escaped with difficulty by running.

LXIV. When it had been resolved to make a sea fight, Antonius burned all the Egyptian ships except sixty; but he manned the best and largest, from three to ten banks of oars, with twenty thousand heavy-armed soldiers and two thousand bowmen. Hereupon it is said that one of the centurions, who had already fought many battles for Antonius and was covered with wounds, wept as Antonius was passing by, and said; “Imperator, why do you distrust these wounds or this sword and rest your hopes in miserable logs of wood? Let Egyptians and Phœnicians fight on sea, but give us land, on which we are accustomed to stand and to die or to vanquish our enemies.” Without making any reply, but merely by a motion of his hand and the expression of his countenance encouraging the man to be of good cheer, Antonius passed by, without however having any good hopes himself, inasmuch as when the masters of the vessels were desirous to leave the sails behind, he ordered them to be put on board and taken with them, observing that not a single fugitive of the enemy should be allowed to escape.

Life Of Antonius: LXV

Now on that day and the three following days the sea was agitated by a strong wind which prevented an engagement, but on the fifth, there being no wind and the sea being quite calm, they came to an engagement. Antonius and Publicola commanded the right wing, and Cœlius the left; and in the centre were Marcus Octavius and Marcus Insteius. Cæsar placed Agrippa on the left, and reserved the right wing for himself. Canidius drew up the army of Antonius, and Taurus that of Cæsar on the shore, and remained without moving. As to the two commanders-in-chief, Antonius visited all his vessels in a row-boat and exhorted his soldiers to trust to the weight of their ships and to fight as if they were on land, without changing their position, and he urged the masters of the ships to receive the shock of the enemy with their vessels as if they were quietly at anchor, and to avoid the difficult spots about the entrance of the bay: and Cæsar, it is said, while it was still dark, left his tent, and as he was going round to the ships, he met a man driving an ass, who being asked his name and knowing Cæsar, replied, “My name is Goodluck, and my ass’s name is Victor.” For this reason when Cæsar afterwards ornamented the place with the beaks of ships, he set up a bronze figure of an ass and a man. After observing the arrangement of the other part of his fleet, he went in a boat to the right wing and was surprised to see the enemy resting quietly in the straits; for the vessels had the appearance of being moored at their anchors; and as he was for a long time convinced of this, he kept his own ships at the distance of eight stadia from the enemy. It was now the sixth hour, and a wind beginning to rise from the sea, the soldiers of Antonius were impatient at the delay, and, trusting to the height and magnitude of their ships as making them unassailable, they put the left wing in motion. Cæsar, delighted to see this, ordered his right wing to row backwards with the design of drawing the enemy still further out of the gulf and the straits, and by surrounding them with his own light vessels to come to close quarters with the enemy’s ships, which, owing to their size and the insufficiency of their crews, were cumbersome and slow.

Life Of Antonius: LXVI.

Though the two fleets were beginning to come together, they did not drive the ships against, nor strive to crush one another, for the ships of Antonius, owing to their weight, were unable to move forwards with any force, which mainly gives effect to the blows of the beaks, and those of Cæsar not only avoided meeting front to front the strong and rough brass work of the enemy, but did not even venture to strike against them on the flank. For the beaks would easily have been broken off by coming in contact with the hulls of the enemy’s vessels, which were protected by large square pieces of timber fastened to one another with iron. The battle therefore was like a land fight, or, to speak more exactly, like the assailing of a fortress; for three and four of Cæsar’s ships at the same time were engaged about one of the ships of Antonius, and the men fought with light shields and spears and poles and fiery missiles; the soldiers of Antonius assailed them also with catapults from wooden towers. While Agrippa was extending the left wing with a view to surround the enemy, Publicola, being compelled to advance to meet him, was separated from the centre, which fell into confusion, and was also closely engaged with Arruntius. While the sea fight was still undecided and equally favourable to both sides, all at once the sixty ships of Cleopatra were seen raising their sails for the purpose of making off, and flying through the centre of the combatants; for they were stationed behind the large vessels and they caused confusion by making their way through them. The enemy looked on with wonder, seeing them take advantage of the wind and shape their course towards the Peloponnesus. On this occasion Antonius clearly showed that he was not governed by the considerations that befit either a commander or a man, or even by his own judgment, but, as some one observed in jest, that the soul of the lover lives in another person’s body, so was he dragged along by the woman as if he had grown to her and moved together with her. For no sooner did he see her ship sailing away, than, forgetting everything, and deserting and skulking away from those who were fighting and dying in his cause, he got into a five-oared galley with only Alexas the Syrian and Skellius to attend him, and followed after her who had already ruined him and was destined to complete his ruin.

Life Of Antonius: LXVII.

Cleopatra, having recognised the vessel of Antonius, raised a signal; and Antonius accordingly, coming up to her and being taken into her ship, neither saw Cleopatra nor was seen by her, but advancing close to the prow he sat down by himself in silence holding his head with both his hands. In the meantime there were seen Liburnian ships from Cæsar’s fleet in pursuit; but Antonius, by ordering his men to turn his vessel’s head towards them, kept them all in check, except the ship of Eurykles, the Lacedæmonian, who proudly pressed on, brandishing a spear on the deck, as if to hurl it at Antonius. Standing on the prow of his vessel Antonius asked who it was that was pursuing Antonius? The reply was, “I am Eurykles, the son of Lachares, and by the help of Cæsar’s fortune I am avenging my father’s death.” Now Lachares had been beheaded by Antonius in consequence of being involved in a charge of robbery. However Eurykles did not fall upon the ship of Antonius, but he dashed against the other of the admiral-ships (for there were two) with the brazen beak, and made it spin round, and as the ship fell off from its course he took it, and also another ship which contained costly vessels for table use. When this assailant had retired, Antonius, again settling down in the same posture, remained without moving, and, after spending three days at the prow by himself, either because of his passion or that he was ashamed to see Cleopatra, he put in at Tænarus. Here the women who were in attendance on Cleopatra first of all brought them to speak to one another, and next they persuaded them to sup and sleep together. And already not a few of the transport ships and some of their friends after the defeat began to collect around them; and they brought intelligence of the destruction of the navy, but they supposed that the army still kept together. Antonius sent messengers to Canidius with orders for him to retreat quickly through Macedonia with his army into Asia; and as it was his intention to cross over from Tænarus to Libya, he selected one of the store-ships which conveyed much money and many royal utensils in silver and in gold of great value, and gave them to his friends, telling them to divide the things among them and to look after their safety. As they refused and wept, he comforted them with much affection and kindness, and by his entreaties induced them to depart; and he wrote to Theophilus, his steward in Corinth, to provide for the safety of the men and to conceal them until they should be able to make their peace with Cæsar. This Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus, who had the greatest influence with Antonius, and was the first of his freedmen who went over to Cæsar, and he afterwards lived in Corinth.

LXVIII. Such was the condition of affairs with Antonius. At Actium the naval force, after resisting Cæsar a long time and being very greatly damaged by the heavy sea that set against them ahead, hardly gave up the contest at the tenth hour. The dead were said not to be more than five thousand, but there were taken three hundred ships, as Cæsar has recorded. There were not many who knew that Antonius had fled, and those who heard of it could not at first believe that he had gone and left them, when he had nineteen legions of unvanquished soldiers and twelve thousand horsemen; as if he had not often experienced fortune both ways, and were not exercised in the reverses of innumerable contests and wars. The soldiers longed and expected to see him, hoping that he would soon show himself from some quarter or other; and they displayed so much fidelity and courage that, even when his flight was well known, they kept together seven days and paid no regard to Cæsar’s messages to them. But at last, when their general Canidius had stolen away by night and left the camp, being now deserted of all and betrayed by their commanders, they went over to the conqueror. Upon this Cæsar sailed to Athens, and having come to terms with the Greeks, he distributed the grain that remained over after the war among the cities, which were in a wretched condition and stripped of money, slaves and beasts of burden. Now my great-grandfather Nikarchus used to relate that all the citizens were compelled to carry down on their shoulders a certain quantity of wheat to the sea at Antikyra, and that their speed was quickened by the whip; they had carried, he said, one supply in this manner, and had just measured out another and were about to set out, when news came that Antonius was defeated, and this saved the city; for the agents and soldiers of Antonius immediately fled, and they divided the corn among themselves.

Life Of Antonius: LXIX.

When Antonius had reached the coast of Libya, and had sent Cleopatra forwards to Egypt from Parætonium, he had his fill of solitude, wandering and rambling about with two friends, one a Greek, Aristokrates, a rhetorician, and the other a Roman, Lucilius, about whom I have said elsewhere that at Philippi, in order that Brutus might escape, he had surrendered to the pursuers, pretending that he was Brutus, and his life being spared by Antonius on that account, he remained faithful to him and firm to the last critical times. When the general to whom he had intrusted the troops in Libya had caused their defection, Antonius made an effort to kill himself, but he was prevented by his friends and conveyed to Alexandria, where he found Cleopatra contemplating a hazardous and great undertaking. The isthmus which separates the Red Sea from the sea of Egypt and is considered to be the boundary between Asia and Libya, in the part where it is most contracted by the sea, and the width is least, is about three hundred stadia across; and here Cleopatra undertook to raise her ships out of the water and to drag them across the neck of land, and so bringing her ships into the Arabian gulf with much money and a large force, to settle beyond the limits of Egypt and to escape from slavery and war. But as the Arabs of Petra burnt the first ships which were drawn up, and Antonius thought that the army at Actium still kept together, Cleopatra desisted from her design and guarded the approaches to Egypt. Antonius now leaving the city and the company of his friends, built for himself a dwelling in the sea, near the Pharos, by throwing forward a mole into the water; and here he lived a fugitive from men, and he said that he was content with Timon’s life and admired it, considering himself in like plight with Timon; for he too had been wronged by his friends and had experienced their ingratitude, and that therefore he distrusted and disliked all men.

Life Of Antonius: LXX

Timon was an Athenian, who lived about the time of the Peloponnesian war, as we may conclude from the plays of Aristophanes and Plato; for he is brought forward in them as peevish and misanthropical. Though he avoided and rejected all intercourse with men, yet he received in a friendly manner Alkibiades, who was a young audacious fellow, and showed him great affection. And when Apemantus wondered at this and asked the reason, he said that he liked the young man because he knew that he would be the cause of much ill to the Athenians. Apemantus was the only person whom he sometimes allowed to approach him, because he was like himself and imitated his mode of life. On one occasion, during the festival called Choes, when the two were feasting together, Apemantus said, “How delightful the entertainment is, Timon;” “Yes, if you were not here,” was the reply. It is said that when the Athenians were in public assembly, Timon ascended the bema and called for silence, which raised great expectation on account of the unusual nature of the circumstance: he then said, “I have a small plot of building-ground, men of Athens, and there is a fig-tree growing on it, on which many of the citizens have already hanged themselves. Now as I intend to build on the ground, I wished to give public notice that, if any of you choose, they may hang themselves before the fig-tree is cut down.” After his death he was buried at Halæ, near the sea; but the shore in front of the place slipped down, and the sea surrounding the tomb made it inaccessible and unapproachable. The inscription on the tomb was:

Here from the load of life released I lie:
Ask not my name: but take my curse, and die.

And they say that he wrote this inscription during his lifetime; but that which is commonly circulated as the inscription is by Callimachus:

Timon misanthropist I am. Away!
Curse, an’ thou will’t, but only do not stay.

LXXI. These are a few things out of many about Timon. Canidius himself brought intelligence to Antonius of the loss of his forces at Actium, and he heard that Herodes, the Jew, who had certain legions and cohorts, had gone over to Cæsar, and that the rest of the princes in like manner were revolting, and that none of his troops out of Egypt still kept together. However, none of these things disturbed him; but, as if he gladly laid aside hope as he did care, he left that dwelling on the sea, which he called Timoneium, and being taken by Cleopatra into the palace, he turned the city to feasting and drinking and distribution of money, registering the son of Cleopatra and Cæsar among the young men, and putting on Antyllus, his son by Fulvia, the vest without the purple hem, which marked the attainment of full age, on which occasion banquets and revellings and feasts engaged Alexandria for many days. They themselves put an end to that famed company of the Inimitable Livers, and they formed another, not at all inferior to that in refinement and luxury and expense, which they called the company of those who would die together. For the friends of Antonius registered themselves as intending to die together, and they continued enjoying themselves in a succession of banquets. Cleopatra got together all kinds of deadly poisons, and she tried the painless character of each by giving them to those who were in prison under sentence of death. When she discovered that the quick poisons brought on a speedy death with pain, and the less painful were not quick, she made trial of animals, which in her presence were set upon one another. And she did this daily; and among nearly all she found that the bite of the asp alone brought on without spasms and groans a sleepy numbness and drowsiness, with a gentle perspiration on the face, and dulling of the perceptive faculties, which were softly deprived of their power, and made resistance to all attempts to awake and arouse them, as is the case with those who are in a deep sleep.

Life Of Antonius: LXXII.

At the same time they sent also ambassadors to Cæsar into Asia, Cleopatra requesting the dominion of Egypt for her children, and Antonius asking to be allowed to live as a private person at Athens, if he could not be permitted to stay in Egypt. Through the want of friends and their distrust owing to the desertions, Euphronius, the instructor of the children, was sent on the embassy. For Alexas, of Laodiceia, who at Rome had become known to Antonius through Timagenes, and possessed most influence of all the Greeks, who also had been the most active of the instruments of Cleopatra against Antonius, and had overthrown all the reflections which rose in his mind about Octavia, had been sent to King Herodes to keep him from changing; and having stayed there and betrayed Antonius, he had the impudence to go into the presence of Cæsar, relying on Herodes. But Herodes helped him not, but being forthwith confined and carried in chains to his own country, he was put to death there by order of Cæsar. Such was the penalty for his infidelity that Alexas paid to Antonius in his lifetime.

Life Of Antonius: LXXIII.

Cæsar would not listen to what was said on behalf of Antonius; but as to Cleopatra, he replied that she should not fail to obtain anything that was reasonable if she would kill Antonius or drive him away. He also sent with the ambassadors of Antonius and Cleopatra one Thyrsus, a freedman of his, a man not devoid of judgment, nor, as coming from a young general, one who would fail in persuasive address to a haughty woman who was wonderfully proud of her beauty. This man, having longer interviews with Cleopatra than the rest, and being specially honoured, caused Antonius to have suspicions, and he seized and whipped him; and he then sent him back to Cæsar with a letter to the effect that Thyrsus, by giving himself airs and by his insolent behaviour, had irritated him, who was easily irritated by reason of his misfortunes. “But you,” he said, “if you do not like the thing, have my freedman Hipparchus. Hang him up and whip him, that we may be on equal terms.” Upon this Cleopatra, with the view of doing away with his cause of complaint and suspicions, paid more than usual court to Antonius: she kept her own birthday in a mean manner and a way suitable to her condition, but she celebrated the birthday of Antonius with an excess of splendour and cost, so that many of those who were invited to the feast came poor and went away rich. Agrippa in the meantime called Cæsar back, frequently writing to him from Rome, and urging that affairs there required his presence.

Life Of Antonius: LXXIV.

Accordingly for the time the war was suspended; but when the winter was over, Cæsar advanced through Syria and his generals through Libya. Pelusium was taken, and it was said that Seleukus gave it up, not without the consent of Cleopatra. But Cleopatra surrendered to Antonius the wife and children of Seleukus to be put to death; and as she had a tomb and a monument constructed of unusual beauty and height, which she had built close to the temple of Isis, she collected there the most precious of the royal treasures, gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory, and cinnamon, and also a great quantity of fire-wood and tow; so that Cæsar, being afraid about the money, lest Cleopatra becoming desperate should destroy and burn the wealth, kept continually forwarding to her hopes of friendly treatment while he was advancing with his army against the city. When Cæsar had taken his position near the hippodrome, Antonius sallied forth and fought gallantly, and he put Cæsar’s cavalry to flight and pursued them to the camp. Elated with his victory, he entered the palace and embraced Cleopatra in his armour, and presented to her one of the soldiers who had fought most bravely. Cleopatra gave the soldier as a reward of his courage a golden breastplate and a helmet. The man took them, and in the night deserted to Cæsar.

Life Of Antonius: LXXV.

Again, Antonius sent to Cæsar and challenged him to single combat. Cæsar replied that Antonius had many ways of dying, on which Antonius, reflecting that there was no better mode of death for him than in battle, determined to try a land battle and a naval battle at the same time. And at supper, it is said, he bade the slaves to pour out and feast him cheerfully, for it was uncertain whether they would do that on the morrow or would be serving other masters, while he should lie a corpse and should be a nothing. Seeing that his friends shed tears at his words, he said that he would not lead them out to a battle from which he would seek for himself a glorious death rather than safety and victory. During this night, it is said, about the middle thereof, while the city was quiet and depressed through fear and expectation of the future, all at once certain harmonious sounds from all kinds of instruments were heard, and shouts of a crowd with Evoes and satyric leapings, as if some company of revellers not without noise were going out of the city; and the course of the procession seemed to be through the middle of the city to the gate leading outwards in the direction of the enemy, and at this point the tumult made its way out, being loudest there. And those who reflected on the sign were of opinion that the god to whom Antonius all along most likened himself and most claimed kinship with was deserting him.

Life Of Antonius: LXXVI.

At daybreak Antonius posted his troops on the hills in front of the city, and watched his ships, which were put in motion and advancing against those of the enemy; and as he expected to see something great done by them, he remained quiet. But when the men of Antonius came near, they saluted with their oars Cæsar’s men, and as they returned the salute, the men of Antonius changed sides, and the fleet becoming one by the junction of all the ships, sailed with the vessels’ heads turned against the city. As soon as Antonius saw this, he was deserted by the cavalry, who changed sides, and being defeated with his infantry he retired into the city, crying out that he was betrayed by Cleopatra to those with whom he was warring on her account. Cleopatra, fearing his anger and despair, fled to the tomb and let down the folding doors which were strengthened with bars and bolts; and she sent persons to Antonius to inform him that she was dead. Antonius, believing the intelligence, said to himself, “Why dost thou still delay, Antonius? fortune has taken away the sole remaining excuse for clinging to life.” He then entered his chamber, and loosing his body armour and taking it in pieces, he said: “Cleopatra, I am not grieved at being deprived of thee, for I shall soon come to the same place with thee; but I am grieved that I, such an Imperator, am shown to be inferior to a woman in courage.” Now Antonius had a faithful slave named Eros, whom he had long before exhorted, if the necessity should arise, to kill him; and he now claimed the performance of the promise. Eros drew his sword and held it out as if he were going to strike his master, but he turned away his face and killed himself. As Eros fell at his master’s feet Antonius said, “Well done, Eros, though you are not able to do this for me, you teach me what I ought to do;” and piercing himself through the belly he threw himself on the bed. But the wound was not immediately mortal; and accordingly, as the flow of blood ceased when he lay down, he came to himself and requested the bystanders to finish him. But they fled from the chamber while he was calling out and writhing in pain, till Diomedes the secretary came from Cleopatra with orders to convey him to her to the tomb.

Life Of Antonius: LXXVII.

When he learned that she was alive, he eagerly commanded his slaves to take him up, and he was carried in their arms to the doors of the chamber. Cleopatra did not open the doors, but she appeared at a window, from which she let down cords and ropes; and when the slaves below had fastened Antonius to them, she drew him up with the aid of the two women whom alone she had admitted into the tomb with her. Those who were present say that there never was a more piteous sight; for stained with blood and struggling with death he was hauled up, stretching out his hands to her, while he was suspended in the air. For the labour was not light for women, and Cleopatra with difficulty, holding with her hands and straining the muscles of her face, pulled up the rope, while those who were below encouraged her and shared in her agony. When she had thus got him in and laid him down, she rent her garments over him, and beating her breasts and scratching them with her hands, and wiping the blood off him with her face, she called him master and husband and Imperator; and she almost forgot her own misfortunes through pity for his. Antonius, stopping her lamentations, asked for wine to drink, whether it was that he was thirsty or that he expected to be released more speedily. When he had drunk it, he advised her, if it could be done with decency, to look after the preservation of her own interests, and to trust to Procleius most of the companions of Cæsar; and not to lament him for his last reverses, but to think him happy for the good things that he had obtained, having become the most illustrious of men and had the greatest power, and now not ignobly a Roman by a Roman vanquished.

Life Of Antonius: LXXVIII.

Just as Antonius died, Procleius came from Cæsar; for after Antonius had wounded himself and was carried to Cleopatra, Derketæus, one of his guards, taking his dagger and concealing it, secretly made his way from the palace, and running to Cæsar, was the first to report the death of Antonius, and he showed the blood-stained dagger. When Cæsar heard the news, he retired within his tent and wept for a man who had been related to him by marriage, and his colleague in command, and his companion in many struggles and affairs. He then took the letters that had passed between him and Antonius, and calling his friends, read them, in order to show in what a reasonable and fair tone he had written himself, and how arrogant and insolent Antonius had always been in his answers. Upon this he sent Procleius with orders, if possible, above all things to secure Cleopatra alive; for he was afraid about the money, and he thought it a great thing for the glory of his triumph to lead her in the procession. However Cleopatra would not put herself in the hands of Procleius; but they talked together while he was standing on the outside close to the building near a door on a level with the ground, which was firmly secured, but allowed a passage for the voice. In their conversation Cleopatra entreated that her children might have the kingdom, and Procleius bade her be of good cheer and trust to Cæsar in all things.

Life Of Antonius: LXXIX.

After Procleius had inspected the place and reported to Cæsar, Gallus was sent to have another interview with her; and having come to the door he purposely prolonged the conversation. In the meantime Procleius applied a ladder and got through the window by which the women took in Antonius; and he immediately went down with two slaves to the door at which Cleopatra stood with her attention directed to Gallus. One of the women who were shut up with Cleopatra called out, “Wretched Cleopatra, you are taken alive,” on which she turned round, and seeing Procleius, attempted to stab herself, for she happened to have by her side a dagger such as robbers wear: but Procleius, quickly running up to her and holding her with both his hands, said, “You wrong yourself, Cleopatra, and Cæsar too by attempting to deprive him of the opportunity of a noble display of magnanimity and to fix on the mildest of commanders the stigma of faithlessness and implacability.” At the same time he took away her dagger and shook her dress to see if she concealed any poison. There was also sent from Cæsar one of his freedmen, Epaphroditus, whose orders were to watch over her life with great care, but as to the rest to give way in all things that would make her most easy and be most agreeable to her.

Life Of Antonius: LXXX.

Cæsar entered the city talking with Areius the philosopher, and he had given Areius his right hand, that he might forthwith be conspicuous among the citizens and be admired on account of the special respect that he received from Cæsar. Entering the gymnasium and ascending a tribunal that was made for him, the people the while being terror-struck and falling down before him, he bade them get up, and he said that he acquitted the people of all blame, first on account of the founder Alexander, second because he admired the beauty and magnitude of the city, and third, to please his friend Areius. Such honour Areius obtained from Cæsar, and he got the pardon of many others; and among them was Philostratus, a man of all sophists the most competent to speak on the sudden, but one who claimed to be of the Academy without just grounds. Wherefore Cæsar, who abominated his habits, would not listen to his entreaties. But Philostratus, letting his white beard grow and putting on a dark vest, followed behind Areius, continually uttering this verse:

Wise save the wise, if wise indeed they be.

Cæsar hearing of this, pardoned Philostratus, wishing rather to release Areius from odium than Philostratus from fear.

Life Of Antonius: LXXXI.

Of the children of Antonius, Antyllus, the son of Fulvia, was given up by his pædagogus Theodorus and put to death; and when the soldiers had cut off his head, the pædagogus took the most precious stone which he wore about his neck and sewed it in his belt; and though he denied the fact, he was convicted of it and crucified. The children of Cleopatra were guarded together with those who had charge of them, and they had a liberal treatment; but as to Cæsarion, who was said to be Cleopatra’s son by Cæsar, her mother sent him to India with much treasure by way of Ethiopia; but another pædagogus like Theodorus, named Rhodon, persuaded him to return, saying that Cæsar invited him to take the kingdom. While Cæsar was deliberating about Cæsarion, it is said that Areius observed: “Tis no good thing, a multitude of Cæsars.”

Life Of Antonius: LXXXII.

Now Cæsar put Cæsarion to death after the death of Cleopatra. Though many asked for the body of Antonius to bury it, both kings and commanders, Cæsar did not take it from Cleopatra, but it was interred by her own hands sumptuously and royally, and she received for that purpose all that she wished. In consequence of so much grief and pain, for her breasts were inflamed by the blows that she had inflicted and were sore, and a fever coming on, she gladly availed herself of this pretext for abstaining from food and with the design of releasing herself from life without hindrance. There was a physician with whom she was familiar, Olympus, to whom she told the truth, and she had him for her adviser and assistant in accomplishing her death, as Olympus said in a history of these transactions which he published. Cæsar suspecting her design, plied her with threats and alarms about her children, by which Cleopatra was thrown down as by engines of war, and she gave up her body to be treated and nourished as it was wished.

Life Of Antonius: LXXXIII.

Cæsar himself came a few days after to see her and pacify her. Cleopatra happened to be lying on a mattress meanly dressed, and as he entered she sprang up in a single vest and fell at his feet with her head and face in the greatest disorder, her voice trembling and her eyes weakened by weeping. There were also visible many marks of the blows inflicted on her breast; and in fine her body seemed in no respect to be in better plight than her mind. Yet that charm and that saucy confidence in her beauty were not completely extinguished, but, though she was in such a condition, shone forth from within and showed themselves in the expression of her countenance. When Cæsar had bid her lie down and had seated himself near her, she began to touch upon a kind of justification, and endeavoured to turn all that had happened upon necessity and fear of Antonius; but as Cæsar on each point met her with an answer, being confuted, she all at once changed her manner to move him by pity and by prayers, as a person would do who clung most closely to life. Finally she handed to him a list of all the treasures that she had; and when Seleukus, one of her stewards, declared that she was hiding and secreting some things, she sprang up and laying hold of his hair, belaboured him with many blows on the face. As Cæsar smiled and stopped her, she said, “But is it not scandalous, Cæsar, that you have condescended to come to me and speak to me in my wretched condition, and my slaves make it a matter of charge against me if I have reserved some female ornaments, not for myself forsooth, wretch that I am, but that I may give a few things to Octavia and your wife Livia, and so through their means make you more favourable to me and more mild.” Cæsar was pleased with these words, being fully assured that she wished to live. Accordingly, after saying that he left these matters to her care and that in everything else he would behave to her better than she expected, he went away, thinking that he had deceived her; but he had deceived himself.

Life Of Antonius: LXXXIV.

Now there was Cornelius Dolabella, a youth of rank, and one of the companions of Cæsar. He was not without a certain liking towards Cleopatra; and now, in order to gratify her request, he secretly sent and informed her that Cæsar himself was going to march with his troops through Syria, and that he had determined to send off her with her children on the third day. On hearing this, Cleopatra first entreated Cæsar to permit her to pour libations on the tomb of Antonius; and when Cæsar permitted it, she went to the tomb, and embracing the coffin in company with the women who were usually about her, said, “Dear Antonius, I buried thee recently with hands still free, but now I pour out libations as a captive and so watched that I cannot either with blows or sorrow disfigure this body of mine now made a slave and preserved to form a part in the triumph over thee. But expect not other honours or libations, for these are the last which Cleopatra brings. Living, nothing kept us asunder, but there is a risk of our changing places in death; thou a Roman, lying buried here, and I, wretched woman, in Italy, getting only as much of thy country as will make me a grave. But if indeed there is any help and power in the gods there (for the gods of this country have deserted us), do not deliver thy wife up alive, and let not thyself be triumphed over in me, but hide me here with thee and bury thee with me; for though I have ten thousand ills, not one of them is so great and grievous as this short time which I have lived apart from thee!”

Life Of Antonius: LXXXV.

After making this lamentation and crowning and embracing the coffin, she ordered a bath to be prepared for her. After bathing, she lay down and enjoyed a splendid banquet. And there came one from the country bringing a basket; and on the guards asking what he brought, the man opened it, and taking off the leaves showed the vessel full of figs. The soldiers admiring their beauty and size, the man smiled and told them to take some, whereon, without having any suspicion, they bade him carry them in. After feasting, Cleopatra took a tablet, which was already written, and sent it sealed to Cæsar, and, causing all the rest of her attendants to withdraw except those two women, she closed the door. As soon as Cæsar opened the tablet and found in it the prayers and lamentations of Cleopatra, who begged him to bury her with Antonius, he saw what had taken place. At first he was for setting out himself to give help, but the next thing that he did was to send persons with all speed to inquire. But the tragedy had been speedy; for, though they ran thither and found the guards quite ignorant of everything, as soon as they opened the door they saw Cleopatra lying dead on a golden couch in royal attire. Of her two women, Eiras was dying at her feet, and Charmion, already staggering and drooping her head, was arranging the diadem on the forehead of Cleopatra. One of them saying in passion, “A good deed this, Charmion;” “Yes, most goodly,” she replied, “and befitting the descendant of so many kings.” She spake not another word, but fell there by the side of the couch.

Life Of Antonius: LXXXVI.

Now it is said that the asp was brought with those figs and leaves, and was covered with them; for that Cleopatra had so ordered, that the reptile might fasten on her body without her being aware of it. But when she had taken up some of the figs and saw it, she said, “Here then it is,” and baring her arm, she offered it to the serpent to bite. Others say that the asp was kept in a water-pitcher, and that Cleopatra drew it out with a golden distaff and irritated it till the reptile sprang upon her arm and clung to it. But the real truth nobody knows; for it was also said that she carried poison about her in a hollow comb, which she concealed in her hair; however, no spots broke out on her body, nor any other sign of poison. Nor yet was the reptile seen within the palace; but some said that they observed certain marks of its trail near the sea, in that part towards which the chamber looked and the windows were. Some also say that the arm of Cleopatra was observed to have two small indistinct punctures; and it seems that Cæsar believed this, for in the triumph a figure of Cleopatra was carried with the asp clinging to her. Such is the way in which these events are told. Though Cæsar was vexed at the death of Cleopatra, he admired her nobleness of mind, and he ordered the body to be interred with that of Antonius in splendid and royal style. The women of Cleopatra also received honourable interment by his orders. Cleopatra at the time of her death was forty years of age save one, and she had reigned as queen two-and-twenty years, and governed together with Antonius more than fourteen. Antonius, according to some, was six years, according to others, three years above fifty. Now the statues of Antonius were thrown down, but those of Cleopatra remained standing, for Archibius, one of her friends, gave Cæsar two thousand talents that they might not share the same fate as those of Antonius.

Life Of Antonius: LXXXVII.

Antonius by his three wives left seven children, of whom Antyllus, the eldest, was the only one who was put to death by Cæsar; the rest Octavia took and brought them up with her own children. Cleopatra, the daughter of Cleopatra, she married to Juba, the most accomplished of kings; and Antonius, the son of Fulvia, she raised so high that, while Agrippa held the first place in Cæsar’s estimation, and the sons of Livia the second, Antonius had and was considered to have the third. Octavia had by Marcellus two daughters, and one son, Marcellus, whom Cæsar made both his son and son-in-law, and he gave one of the daughters to Agrippa. But as Marcellus died very soon after his marriage, and it was not easy for Cæsar to choose from the rest of his friends a son-in-law whom he could trust, Octavia proposed to him that Agrippa should take Cæsar’s daughter and put away her daughter. Cæsar was first persuaded and then Agrippa, whereupon Octavia took her own daughter back and married her to Antonius; and Agrippa married Cæsar’s daughter. There were two daughters of Antonius and Octavia, of whom Domitius Ænobarbus took one to wife; and the other, who was famed for her virtues and her beauty, Antonia, was married to Drusus, the son of Livia, and step-son of Cæsar. From the marriage of Drusus and Antonia came Germanicus and Claudius, of whom Claudius afterwards ruled; and of the children of Germanicus, Caius, who ruled with distinction for no long time, was destroyed together with his child and wife; and Agrippina, who had by Ænobarbus a son, Lucius Domitius, married Claudius Cæsar; and Claudius adopting her son, named him Nero Germanicus. Nero, who ruled in my time, slew his mother, and through his violence and madness came very near subverting the supremacy of Rome, being the fifth from Antonius in the order of succession.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: I

Since, then, great changes of fortune took place in each of their lives, let us first consider their power and renown. The position of Demetrius was inherited and already made for him, as Antigonus was the most powerful of the successors of Alexander, and, before Demetrius came of age, had overrun and conquered the greater part of Asia: while Antonius, whose father, though an excellent man, was no soldier, and left him no renown, yet dared to seize upon the empire of Cæsar, with which he was in no way connected, and constituted himself the heir of what Cæsar had won by the sword. Starting as a mere private person, he raised himself to such a height of power as to be able to divide the world into two, and to select and obtain the fairer half for his own, while, without his being even present, his lieutenants and agents inflicted several defeats upon the Parthians, and conquered all the nations of Asia as far as the Caspian Sea. Even that for which he is especially reproached proves the greatness of his power. Demetrius’s father was well pleased at getting Phila, the daughter of Antipater, as a wife for his son, in spite of the disparity of their ages, because he regarded her as his son’s superior; while it was thought to be a disgrace for Antonius to ally himself with Cleopatra, a woman who excelled in power and renown all the Kings of her age, except Arsakes himself. Antonius had made himself so great that men thought him entitled to more even than he himself desired.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: II

Demetrius, however, cannot be blamed for attempting to make himself king over a people accustomed to servitude, while it appeared harsh and tyrannical for Antonius to try to enslave the people of Rome just after they had been set free from the rule of Cæsar: and the greatest of his exploits, the war against Brutus and Cassius, was waged with the intention of depriving his countrymen of their liberty. Demetrius, before he became involved in difficulties, used always to act as a liberator towards Greece, and to drive out the foreign garrisons from her cities, and did not act like Antonius, who boasted that he had slain the would-be liberators of Rome in Macedonia. And though Antonius is especially commended for his magnificent generosity, yet Demetrius so far surpassed him as to bestow more upon his enemies than Antonius would upon his friends. It is true that Antonius gained great credit for having caused Brutus to be honourably buried; but Demetrius buried all his enemy’s slain, gave money and presents to his prisoners, and sent them back to Ptolemy.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: III

Both were arrogant when in prosperity, and set no bounds to their luxury and pleasures. Yet it cannot be said that Demetrius was ever so immersed in enjoyments as to let slip the time for action, but he only dedicated the superfluity of his leisure to enjoyment, and used his Lamia, like the mythical nightmare, only when he was half asleep or at play. When he was preparing for war, no ivy wreathed his spear, no perfume scented his helmet, nor did he go forth from his bed-chamber to battle covered with finery, but, as Euripides says, he laid the Bacchic wand aside, and served the unhallowed god of war, and, indeed, never suffered any reverse through his own carelessness or love of pleasure. But just as in pictures we often see Omphale stealing the club and stripping off the lion’s skin from Herakles, so Cleopatra frequently would disarm Antonius and turn his mind to pleasure, persuading him to give up mighty enterprises and even necessary campaigns to wander and sport with her on the shores of Canopus and beside the tomb of Osiris. At last, like Paris, he fled from battle to nestle on her breast, though Paris only took refuge in his chamber after he had been defeated in battle, while Antonius, by his pursuit of Cleopatra, gave up his chance of victory.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: IV

Moreover, in marrying several wives, Demetrius did not break through any custom, for he only did what had been usual for the kings of Macedonia since the days of Philip and Alexander, and what was done by Lysimachus and Ptolemy in his own time; and he showed due respect to all his wives; while Antonius, in the first place, married two wives at the same time, which no Roman had ever dared to do before, and then drove away his own countrywoman and his legitimate wife to please a foreigner, and one to whom he was not legally married. Yet with all his excesses Antonius was never led by his vices into such sacrilegious impiety as is recorded of Demetrius. We are told that no dogs are allowed to enter the Acropolis, because these animals copulate more openly than any others; but Demetrius consorted with harlots in the very temple of the virgin goddess, and debauched many of the Athenian citizens, while, although one would have imagined that a man of such a temperament would be especially averse to cruelty, Demetrius must be charged with this in allowing, or rather compelling, the most beautiful and modest of the Athenians to suffer death in order to avoid outrage. To sum up, the vices of Antonius were ruinous to himself, while those of Demetrius were ruinous to others.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: V

Yet Demetrius always behaved well to his parents, whereas Antonius allowed his mother’s brother to perish in order that he might compass the death of Cicero, which was of itself so odious a crime that we should scarcely think Antonius justified if by Cicero’s death he had saved his uncle’s life. With regard to the perjuries and breaking of their words which they both committed, the one in seizing Artabazus, and the other in murdering Alexander, Antonius has a satisfactory defence; for he himself was first deserted and betrayed by Artabazus in Media: while many writers say that Demetrius himself invented false pretexts for his treatment of Alexander, and accused a man whom he had wronged with a design on his life, instead of defending himself against one who was already his enemy. Again, the exploits of Demetrius were all accomplished by himself in person; while, on the other hand, Antonius won some of his most important battles by his lieutenants, without himself being present.

Comparison Of Demetrius And Antonius: VI

The ruin of both was due to themselves, though in a different manner, for the Macedonians deserted from Demetrius, while Antonious deserted his own troops when they were risking their lives in his defence; so that we must blame the former for having rendered his army so hostile to him, and the latter for betraying so much loyalty and devotion. In their manner of death neither can be praised, but that of Demetrius seems the less creditable of the two, for he endured to be taken prisoner, and when in confinement willingly spent three years in drinking and gluttony, like a wild beast that has been tamed; while Antonius, though he killed himself like a coward, and in a piteous and dishonourable fashion, nevertheless died before he fell into the hands of his enemy.