Chapter 22

XXIX. At daybreak he called together his friends and sent for Themistokles, who augured nothing pleasant from the insults and abuse which he received from the people at the palace gates, when they heard his name. Moreover Roxanes the chiliarch, as Themistokles passed by him in silence into the king's presence, whispered, "Thou subtle serpent of Greece, the king's good genius has led thee hither." But when he was come before the king and had prostrated himself a second time, the king embraced him, and said in a friendly tone that he already owed him two hundred talents: for as he had brought himself he was clearly entitled to the reward which was offered to any one else who would do so. He also promised him much more than this, and encouraged him to speak at length upon the affairs of Greece. To this Themistokles answered, that human speech was like embroidered tapestry, because when spread out it shows all its figures, but when wrapped up it both conceals and spoils them, wherefore he asked for time. The king was pleased with his simile, and bade him take what time he chose. He asked for a year, during which he learned the Persian language sufficiently to talk to the king without an interpreter. This led the people to imagine that he discoursed about the affairs of Greece; but many changes were made at that time in the great officers of the court, and the nobles disliked Themistokles, imagining that he dared to speak about them to the king. Indeed, he was honoured as no other foreigner ever was, and went hunting with the king and lived in his family circle, so that he came into the presence of the king's mother, and became her intimate friend, and at the king's command was instructed in the mysteries of the Magi.

When Demaratus the Spartan was bidden to ask for a boon, he asked to be allowed to drive through Sardis wearing his tiara upright like that of the king. Mithropaustes, the king's cousin, took hold of Demaratus by his tiara, saying, "You have no brains for the king's tiara to cover; do you think you would become Zeus if you were given his thunderbolt to wield?" The king was very angry with Demaratus because of this request, but Themistokles by his entreaties restored him to favour. It is also said that the later Persian kings, whose politics were more mixed up with those of Greece, used to promise any Greek whom they wished to desert to them that they would treat him better than Themistokles. We are told that Themistokles himself, after he became a great man and was courted by many, was seated one day at a magnificent banquet, and said to his children, "My sons, we should have been ruined if it had not been for our ruin." Most writers agree that three cities, Magnesia, Lampsakus, and Myous, were allotted to him for bread, wine, and meat. To these Neanthes of Kyzikus and Phanias add two more, Perkote and Palaiskepsis, which were to supply bedding and clothing respectively.

XXX. On one occasion, when he went down to the seaside on some business connected with Greece, a Persian named Epixyes, Satrap of Upper Phrygia, plotted his assassination. He had long kept some Pisidians who were to kill him when he passed the night in the town of Leontokophalos, which means 'Lion's Head.' It is said that the mother of the gods appeared to him while he was sleeping at noon and said, "Themistokles, be late at Lion's Head, lest you fall in with a lion. As a recompense for this warning, I demand Mnesiptolema for my handmaid." Themistokles, disturbed at this, after praying to the goddess, left the highway and made a circuit by another road, avoiding that place; when it was night he encamped in the open country. As one of the sumpter cattle that carried his tent had fallen into a river, Themistokles's servants hung up the rich hangings, which were dripping with wet, in order to dry them. The Pisidians meanwhile came up to the camp with drawn swords, and, not clearly distinguishing in the moonlight the things hung out to dry, thought that they must be the tent of Themistokles, and that they would find him asleep within it. When they came close to it and raised the hangings, the servants who were on the watch fell upon them and seized them. Having thus escaped from danger, he built a temple to Dindymene at Magnesia to commemorate the appearance of the goddess, and appointed his daughter Mnesiptolema to be its priestess.

XXXI. When he came to Sardis, he leisurely examined the temples and the offerings which they contained, and in the temple of the mother of the gods, he found a bronze female figure called the Water-carrier, about two cubits high, which he himself, when overseer of the water supply of Athens, had made out of the fines imposed upon those who took water illegally.

Either feeling touched at the statue being a captive, or else willing to show the Athenians how much power he possessed in Persia, he proposed to the Satrap of Lydia to send it back to Athens. This man became angry at his demand, and said that he should write to the king, and tell him of it. Themistokles in terror applied himself to the harem of the Satrap, and by bribing the ladies there induced them to pacify him, while he himself took care to be more cautious in future, as he saw that he had to fear the enmity of the native Persians. For this reason, Theopompus tells us, he ceased to wander about Asia, but resided at Magnesia, where, receiving rich presents and honoured equally with the greatest Persian nobles, he lived for a long time in tranquillity; for the king's attention was so entirely directed to the affairs of the provinces of the interior that he had no leisure for operations against Greece. But when Egypt revolted, and the Athenians assisted it, and Greek triremes sailed as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Kimon was master of the sea, then the king determined to attack the Greeks, and prevent their development at his expense. Armies were put in motion, generals were appointed, and frequent messages were sent to Themistokles from the king, bidding him attack Greece and fulfil his promises. Themistokles, unmoved by resentment against his countrymen, and uninfluenced by the thought of the splendid position which he might occupy as commander-in-chief, possibly too, thinking that his task was an impossible one, as Greece possessed many great generals, especially Kimon, who had a most brilliant reputation, but chiefly because he would not soil his glory and disgrace the trophies which he had won, determined, as indeed was his best course, to bring his life to a fitting close. He offered sacrifice to the gods, called his friends together, and, having taken leave of them, drank bull's blood, according to the most common tradition, but according to others, some quickly-operating poison, and died at Magnesia in the sixty-fifth year of a life almost entirely spent in great political and military employments.

The King of Persia, when he heard of the manner of his death and his reasons for dying, admired him more than ever, and continued to treat his family and friends with kindness.

XXXII. Themistokles left five children, Neokles, Diokles, Archeptolis, Polyeuktus, Kleophantus, by his first wife Archippe, who was the daughter of Lysander, of the township of Alopekai. Of these Kleophantus is mentioned by Plato the philosopher as being an excellent horseman, but otherwise worthless. Of the elder ones, Neokles was bitten by a horse and died while still a child, and Diokles was adopted by his grandfather Lysander. He also had several daughters by his second wife, of whom Mnesiptolema married Archeptolis, her father's half-brother; Italia married Panthoides of the island of Chios, and Sybaris married Nikomedes, an Athenian. After Themistokles's death, his nephew Phrasikles sailed to Magnesia, and with her brother's consent married Nicomache, and also took charge of the youngest child, who was named Asia.

The people of Magnesia show a splendid tomb of Themistokles in their market-place; but with regard to the fate of his remains we must pay no attention to Andokides, who in his address to his friends, tells us that the Athenians stole them and tore them to pieces, because he would tell any falsehood to excite the hatred of the nobles against the people. Phylarchus, too, writes his history in such dramatic form that he all but resorts to the actual machinery of the stage, bringing forward one Neokles, and Demopolis as the children of Themistokles to make a touching scene, which anyone can see is untrue. Diodorus the topographer, in his treatise 'On Tombs' says, more as a conjecture than as knowing it for a fact, that in the great harbour of Peiraeus a kind of elbow juts out from the promontory of Alkimus, and that when one sails past this, going inwards, where the sea is most sheltered, there is a large foundation, and upon it the tomb of Themistokles, shaped like an altar. It is thought that the comic poet Plato alludes to this in the following verses:

"By the sea's margin, by the watery strand, Thy monument, Themistokles, shall stand; By this directed to thy native shore The merchant shall convey his freighted store; And when our fleets are summoned to the fight, Athens shall conquer with thy tomb in sight."

The descendants of Themistokles are given certain privileges at Magnesia even to the present day, for I know that Themistokles, an Athenian, my friend and fellow-student in the school of Ammonias the philosopher, enjoyed them.

LIFE OF CAMILLUS.

I. The strangest fact in the life of Furius Camillus is that, although he was a most successful general and won great victories, though he was five times appointed dictator, triumphed four times, and was called the second founder of Rome, yet he never once was consul. The reason of this is to be found in the political condition of Rome at that time; for the people, being at variance with the senate, refused to elect consuls, and chose military tribunes instead, who, although they had full consular powers, yet on account of their number were less offensive to the people than consuls. To have affairs managed by six men instead of two appears to have been a consolation to those who had suffered from the arbitrary rule of a few. It was during this period that Camillus reached the height of power and glory, and yet he would not become consul against the will of the people, although several occasions occurred when he might have been elected, but in his various appointments he always contrived, even when he had sole command, to share his power with others, while even when he had colleagues he kept all the glory for himself. His moderation prevented any one from grudging him power, while his successes were due to his genius, in which he confessedly surpassed all his countrymen.

II. The family of the Furii was not a very illustrious one before Camillus gained glory in the great battle with the Aequi and Volsci, where he served under the dictator Postumius Tubertus. Riding out before the rest of the army, he was struck in the thigh by a dart, but tore it out, assailed the bravest of the enemy, and put them to flight. After this, amongst other honours he was appointed censor, an office of great dignity at that time. One admirable measure is recorded of his censorship, that by arguments and threatening them with fines he persuaded the unmarried citizens to marry the widow women, whose number was very great on account of the wars. Another measure to which he was forced was that of taxing orphans, who had hitherto been exempt from taxation. This was rendered necessary by the constant campaigns which were carried on at a great expense, and more especially by the siege of Veii. Some call the inhabitants of this city Veientani. It was the bulwark of Etruria, possessing as many fighting men as Rome itself; the citizens were rich, luxurious, and extravagant in their habits, and fought bravely many times for honour and for power against the Romans. At this period, having been defeated in several great battles, the people of Veii had given up any schemes of conquest, but had built strong and high walls, filled their city with arms and provisions, and all kinds of material of war, and fearlessly endured a siege, which was long, no doubt, but which became no less irksome and difficult to the besiegers. Accustomed as the Romans had been to make short campaigns in summer weather, and to spend their winters at home, they were now for the first time compelled by their tribunes to establish forts and entrench their camp, and pass both summer and winter in the enemy's country for seven years in succession. The generals were complained of, and as they seemed to be carrying on the siege remissly, they were removed, and others appointed, among them Camillus, who was then tribune for the second time. But he effected nothing in the siege at that time, because he was sent to fight the Faliscans and Capenates, who had insulted the Roman territory throughout the war with Veii, when the Roman army was engaged elsewhere, but were now driven by Camillus with great loss to the shelter of their city walls.

III. After this, while the war was at its height, much alarm was caused by the strange phenomenon seen at the Alban lake, which could not be accounted for on ordinary physical principles. The season was autumn, and the summer had not been remarkable for rain or for moist winds, so that many of the streams and marshes in Italy were quite dried up, and others held out with difficulty, while the rivers, as is usual in summer, were very low and deeply sunk in their bed. But the Alban lake, which is self-contained, lying as it does surrounded by fertile hills, began for no reason, except it may be the will of Heaven, to increase in volume and to encroach upon the hillsides near it, until it reached their very tops, rising quietly and without disturbance. At first the portent only amazed the shepherds and herdsmen of the neighbourhood; but when the lake by the weight of its waters broke through the thin isthmus of land which restrained it, and poured down in a mighty stream through the fertile plains below to the sea, then not only the Romans, but all the people of Italy, thought it a portent of the gravest character. Much talk about it took place in the camp before Veii, so that the besieged also learned what was happening at the lake.

IV. As always happens during a long siege, where there are frequent opportunities of intercourse between the two parties, one of the Romans had become intimate with a citizen of Veii, who was learned in legendary lore, and was even thought to have supernatural sources of information. When this man heard of the overflowing of the lake, his Roman friend observed that he was overjoyed, and laughed at the idea of the siege being successful. The Roman told him that these were not the only portents which troubled the Romans at the present time, but that there were others stranger than this, about which he should like to consult him, and, if possible, save himself in the common ruin of his country. The man eagerly attended to his discourse, imagining that he was about to hear some great secrets. The Roman thus decoyed him away farther and farther from the city gate, when he suddenly seized him and lifted him from the ground. Being the stronger man, and being assisted by several soldiers from the camp, he overpowered him, and brought him before the generals. Here the man, seeing that there was no escape, and that no one can resist his destiny, told them of the ancient oracles about his city, how it could not be taken until its enemies drove back the waters of the Alban lake, and prevented its joining the sea. When the senate heard this they were at a loss what to do, and determined to send an embassy to Delphi to enquire of the God. The embassy consisted of men of mark and importance, being Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus. After a prosperous journey they returned with a response from Apollo, pointing out certain ceremonies which had been neglected in the feast of the Latin games, and bidding them, if possible, force the waters of the Alban lake away from the sea into its ancient course, or, if this could not be done, to divide the stream by canals and watercourses, and so to expend it in the plain. When the answer was brought back, the priests took the necessary steps about the sacrifices, while the people turned their attention to the diversion of the water.

V. In the tenth year of the war, the Senate recalled all the rest of the generals, and made Camillus Dictator. He chose Cornelius Scipio to be his Master of the Knights, and made a vow to the gods, that, if he succeeded in bringing the war to a glorious close, he would celebrate a great festival, and build a shrine to the goddess whom the Romans call _Mater Matuta_. This goddess, from the rites with which she is worshipped, one would imagine to be the same as the Greek Leukothea. For they bring a slave girl into the temple and beat her, and then drive her out; they take their brothers' children in their arms in preference to their own, and generally their ceremonies seem to allude to the nursing of Bacchus, and to the misfortunes which befell Ino because of her husband's concubine. After this, Camillus invaded the Faliscan territory, and in a great battle overthrew that people, and the Capenates who came to their assistance. Next, he turned his attention to the siege of Veii, and, perceiving that it would be a difficult matter to take the city by assault, he ordered mines to be dug, as the ground near the walls was easily worked, and the mines could be sunk to a sufficient depth to escape the notice of the besieged. As this work succeeded to his wish, he made a demonstration above ground to call the enemy to the walls and distract their attention, while others made their way unperceived through the mine to the Temple of Juno in the citadel, the largest and most sacred edifice in the city. Here, it is said, was the King of the Veientines, engaged in sacrificing. The soothsayer inspected the entrails, and cried with a loud voice, that the goddess would give the victory to whoever offered that victim. The Romans in the mine, hearing these words, quickly tore up the floor, and burst through it with shouts and rattling arms. The enemy fled in terror, and they seized the victims and carried them to Camillus. However, this story sounds rather fabulous.

The city was stormed, and the Romans carried off an enormous mass of plunder. Camillus, who viewed them from the citadel, at first stood weeping, but when, congratulated by the bystanders, raised his hands to heaven and said, "Great Jupiter, and all ye other gods, that see all good and evil deeds alike, ye know that it is not in unrighteous conquest, but in self-defence, that the Romans have taken this city of their lawless enemies. If," he continued, "there awaits us any reverse of fortune to counterbalance this good luck, I pray that it may fall, not upon the city or army of Rome, but, as lightly as may be, upon my own head." After these words he turned round to the right, as is the Roman habit after prayer, and while turning, stumbled and fell. All those present were terrified at the omen, but he recovered himself, saying that, as he had prayed, he had received a slight hurt to temper his great good fortune.

VI. When the city was sacked, he determined to send the statue of Juno to Rome, according to his vow. When workmen were assembled for this purpose, he offered sacrifice, and prayed to the goddess to look kindly on his efforts, and to graciously take up her abode among the gods of Rome. It is said that the statue answered that it wished to do so, and approved of his proceedings. But Livy tells us that Camillus offered his prayers while touching the statue, and that some of the bystanders said, "She consents, and is willing to come." However, those who insist on the supernatural form of the story have one great argument in their favour, in the marvellous fortune of Rome, which never could from such small beginnings have reached, such a pitch of glory and power without many direct manifestations of the favour of Heaven. Moreover, other appearances of the same kind are to be compared with it, such as that statues have often been known to sweat, have been heard to groan, and have even turned away and shut their eyes, as has been related by many historians before our own time. And I have heard of many miraculous occurrences even at the present day, resting on evidence which cannot be lightly impugned. However, the weakness of human nature makes it equally dangerous to put too much faith in such matters or to entirely disbelieve them, as the one leads to superstition and folly, and the other to neglect and contempt of the gods. Our best course is caution, and the "golden mean."

VII. Camillus, either because he was elated by the magnificence of his exploit in having taken a city as large as Rome after a ten years' siege, or else because he had been so flattered by his admirers that his pride overcame his sober judgment, conducted his triumph with great ostentation, especially in driving through Rome in a chariot, drawn by four white horses, which never was done by any general before or since, for this carriage is thought to be sacred to Jupiter, the king and father of the gods. The citizens, unaccustomed to splendour, were displeased with him for this, and their dislike was increased by his opposition to the law for a redistribution of the people. The tribunes proposed that the Senate and people should be divided into two parts, one of which should stay at Rome and the other remove to the captured city, because they would be more powerful if they possessed two great cities, instead of one, and held the land in common, still remaining one nation. The lower classes, which were numerous and poor, eagerly took up the scheme, and continually clamoured round the speakers at the rostra, demanding to have it put to the vote. But the Senate and the nobles thought that it was not a redistribution, but the absolute destruction of Rome which the tribunes were demanding, and in their anger rallied round Camillus. He, fearing to have a contest on the matter, kept putting off the people and inventing reasons for delay, so as to prevent the law being brought forward to be voted upon. This increased his unpopularity; but the greatest and most obvious reason for the dislike which the people bore him arose from his demand for the tenth part of the spoils; very naturally, though perhaps he scarcely deserved it. On his way to Veii it seems he had made a vow, that if he took the city he would dedicate the tenth part of the spoil to Apollo. But when the city was taken and plundered, he either was unwilling to interfere with his countrymen, or else forgot his vow, and allowed them to enrich themselves with the booty. Afterwards, when he had laid down his dictatorship, he brought the matter before the Senate, and the soothsayers declared that the victims for sacrifice showed, when inspected, that the gods were angry and must be propitiated.