Chapter 3

Laverna," that he may appear to be what he is not, an honest man, and that night and darkness may kindly cover his sins. The phænomenon which Sulla describes appears to have been of a volcanic character; and if so, it is the most recent on record within the volcanic region of the Seven Hills.]

[Footnote 184: Apparently Aulus Postumius Albinus, who was consul with Marcus Antonius B.C. 99. Valerius Maximus tells the story (ix. 8, 3).]

[Footnote 185: This was Sulla'a first consulship, B.C. 88. If he was now fifty, he was born B.C. 138. His colleague was Quintus Pompeius Rufus, who was killed in this same year at the instigation or at least with the approbation of Cn. Pompeius Strabo, the father of Pompeius Magnus. (Appian, _Civil Wars_, i. 63.)]

[Footnote 186: Cæcilia Metella was the fourth wife of Sulla. The other three are mentioned in this chapter. Ilia is perhaps a mistake for Julia. Sulla's fifth and last wife was Valeria, c. 35.]

[Footnote 187: Drumann (_Geschichte Roms_, Cæcilii) has shown that Plutarch is mistaken in supposing Cæcilia to be the daughter of Metellus Pius, who was consul with Sulla B.C. 80. She was the daughter of L. Metellus Dalmaticus, who was the brother of Metellus Numidicus and the uncle of Metellus Pius. Her first husband was M. Scaurus, consul B.C. 115, by whom she had several children, and among them the Scaurus whom Cicero defended. Metella had children by Sulla also. (See c. 36, notes.)]

[Footnote 188: The historian of Rome. These events belonged to the seventy-seventh book of Livius, which is lost. The Epitome shows what this book contained.]

[Footnote 189: This word occurs three times in this chapter. In the first instance, the word is _the dæmonium_; in the second it is _the god_ ([Greek: ho theos] ὁ θεός); in the third, it is _the dæmonium_ again.]

[Footnote 190: The Senate often met in the temple of Duellona or Bellona, the goddess of War. Duellona and Bellona are the same. Compare the Bacchanalian Inscription, and Livius (28, c. 9, &c.).

The last sentence of this chapter is corrupt, and the precise meaning is uncertain.]

[Footnote 191: See Marius, c. 35.]

[Footnote 192: A man might be manumitted so as either to have the complete citizenship or not. If Plutarch's account is true, the citizenship was sold to those libertini who were of the class Dediticii or Latini. (Gaius, i. 12, &c.)]

[Footnote 193: See the note on the Sumptuary Laws, c. 1.]

[Footnote 194: Plutarch here uses the same word ([Greek: apraxiai] ἀπράξιαι) which I have elsewhere translated by the Roman word Justitium. (Marius, c. 35.)]

[Footnote 195: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 57) says that all Sulla's officers left him, when he was going to march to Rome, except one quæstor. They would not serve against their country.]

[Footnote 196: That is Moon, Athena (Minerva), and Enyo (Bellona). It is difficult to conjecture what Cappadocian goddess Plutarch means, if it be not the Great Mother. (Marius, c. 17.)]

[Footnote 197: The place is unknown. There are some discrepancies between the narrative of these transactions in Plutarch and Appian. Appian's is probably the better (i. 58, &c.). The reading Pictæ has been suggested. (Strabo, p. 237.)]

[Footnote 198: The Roman word is Tellus. (Livius, 2, c. 41.) The temple was built on the ground occupied by the house of Spurius Cassius, which was pulled down after his condemnation. (Livius, 2, c. 41.)]

[Footnote 199: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 60) mentions the names of twelve persons who were proscribed. The attempt to rouse the slaves to rebellion was one of the grounds of this condemnation, and a valid ground.]

[Footnote 200: L. Cornelius Cinna and Cn. Octavius were consuls B.C. 87. the year in which Sulla left Italy to fight with Mithridates. Apuleius (_On the God of Sokrates_) thus alludes to the kind of oath which Cinna took--"Shall I swear by Jupiter, holding a stone in my hand, after the most ancient manner of the Romans? But if the opinion of Plato is true, that God never mingles himself with man, a stone will hear me more easily than Jupiter. This however is not true: for Plato will answer for his opinion by my voice. I do not, says he, assert that the gods are separated and alienated from us, so as to think that not even our prayers reach them; for I do not remove them from an attention to, but only from a contact with human affairs."]

[Footnote 201: Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 63, 64) gives another reason. Sulla was alarmed at the assassination of his colleague Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and left Rome by night for Capua, whence he set out for Greece.]

[Footnote 202: This was the country on the west coast of Asia Minor, of which the Romans had formed the province of Asia. Mithridates took advantage of the Romans being busied at home with domestic troubles to advance his interests in Asia, where he was well received by the people, who were disgusted with the conduct of the Roman governors. He had defeated the Roman generals L. Cassius, Manius Aquilius, and Q. Oppius. (Appian, _Mithridatic War_, c. 17, &c.) He also ordered all the Romans and Italians who were in Asia, with their wives and children, to be murdered on one day; which was done.]

[Footnote 203: The kingdom of Bosporus was a long narrow slip on the south-east coast of the peninsula now called the Crimea or Taurida. The name Bosporus was properly applied to the long narrow channel, now called the Straits of Kaffa or Yenikalé, which unites the Black Sea and the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff. Bosporus was also a name of Pantikapæum, one of the chief towns of the Bosporus. There was a series of Greek kings of the Bosporus, extending from B.C. 430 to B.C. 304, whose names are known; and there may have been others. In the time of Demosthenes, in the fourth century before the Christian æra, the Athenians imported annually a large quantity of corn from the Bosporus. This was the country that now belonged to Mithridates. (_Penny Cyclopædia_, article "Bosporus.")]

[Footnote 204: Kaltwasser conjectures that the son who is first mentioned was Mithridates, and he remarks that Appian (_Mithridatic War_, c. 64) calls him also Mithridates. But in place of the name Ariarathes, he reads Aciarathes, whom he makes to be the same as the Arcathias of Appian (c. 35). Ariarathes however was a son of Mithridates (_Mithridatic War_, 15); and according to Appian, it was a son Mithridates who held Pontus and the Bosporus. Ariarathes and Arcathias assisted their father in the war in Asia.]

[Footnote 205: This Archelaus was a native of Cappadocia, and probably of Greek stock. His name often occurs afterwards. (See "Archelaus," _Biograph. Dict._ of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.)]

[Footnote 206: The promontory of Malea, now Cape St. Angelo, is the most south-eastern point of the Peloponnesus. The expression of Plutarch is, "all the islands situated within Malea," by which he means all the islands of the Archipelago which are east of Malea, including the Cyclades, or the group which lies in somewhat of a circular form round the small rocky island of Delos.]

[Footnote 207: His name is Brettius in the MSS. of Plutarch. His Roman name is Bruttius, as Appian (_Mithridat. War_, i. 29) writes it. He took the island of Skiathus, where the enemy deposited their plunder; he hanged the slaves that he found there, and cut off the hands of the freemen. Cæsar, when he was in Gaul, cut off the hands of all the persons who had assisted in the defence of Uxellodunum against the Romans, according to the author of the eighth book of the _Gallic War_ (viii. 44).]

[Footnote 208: See the Life of Lucullus.]

[Footnote 209: He is called Athenion by Athenæus. His father was an Athenian citizen; his mother was an Egyptian woman. His political career began with his being sent by the Athenians on an embassy to Mithridates, and he ultimately persuaded the Athenians to join the king. This is the account of Posidonius as quoted by Athenæus (v. 211, &c. ed. Casaub.) Appian (_Mithridatic War_, 28, &c.) gives an account of his making himself a tyrant in Athens, which is somewhat different. He appears to have established himself in B.C. 88; and his power only lasted till B.C. 86. This Aristion was a philosopher, which gives occasion to some curious remarks by Appian (_Mithridatic War_, c. 28), who says, speaking of his enormities: "and all this he did though he was a follower of the Epicurean philosophy. But it was not Aristion only at Athens, nor yet Kritias before him, and all who were philosophers with Kritias and tyrants at the same time; but in Italy also, those who were Pythagoreans, and in Greece the Seven Sages as they are called, as many of them as engaged in public affairs,--all were chiefs and tyrants more cruel than tyrants who were not philosophers. So that one may doubt as to other philosophers, and have some suspicion, whether it was for virtue's sake, or merely to console them for their poverty and having nothing to do with political matters, that they adopted philosophy. There are now many philosophers in a private station and poor who consequently wrap themselves up in philosophy out of necessity, and bitterly abuse those who are rich or in power; and thereby do not so much get a reputation for despising wealth and power as being envious of them. But those whom they abuse act much more wisely in despising them." There was at least one exception to these philosophers, Marcus Antoninus, who was the head of the Roman State, and required in his exalted station all the comfort that philosophy could give.]

[Footnote 210: The Peiræus, one of the chief ports of Athens, is often used to express the maritime city generally and the lower city, as opposed to Athens, which was called the Upper City. The two cities were united by the Long Walls, about four miles in length.]

[Footnote 211: The Academia, one of the suburbs of Athens, was planted with trees, among others with the olive. It was on the north-west side of the city. In the Academia there was a Gymnasium, or exercise place, and here also Plato delivered his lectures; whence the name Academy passed into use as a term for a University (in the sense of a place of learning) in the Middle Ages, and has now other significations. The Lycæum was another similar place on the east side of Athens.]

[Footnote 212: This was Epidaurus on the east coast of Argolis in the Peloponnesus, which contained a temple of Æsculapius, the god of healing. Olympia on the Alpheius, in Elis, contained the great temple of Jupiter and immense wealth, which was accumulated by the offerings of many ages. This and other temples were also used as places of deposit for the preservation of valuable property. Pausanias (v. 21,