Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  63. Omnes Hermae.] Mercury was reckoned the god of thieves, and therefore they used to erect his statues before their doors by way of prevention against the attempts of robbers and house-breakers. Clarice.

  64. Itaque ille postea Mercurius Andocidis vocitatus est.] This is the reading of Bos and Van Staveren. Many other editions have, instead of these words, Andocidisque Hermes vocatus est.

  65. Quod non ad privatam, sed ad publicam rem pertineret.] A manuscript of Boeder’s has quae, but, as I suppose, from a fancy of the transcriber, who thought that the word must be a pronoun, referring to consensione, whereas it is a conjunction, showing the reason why “great dread was excited” by this occurrence “among the multitude,” namely, because a union of many in the affair indicated a conspiracy, and must have respect to something of a public nature. Bos.

  66. Mysteria.] The mysteries of Ceres; the Eleusinian mysteries.

  67. They thought that there was some conspiracy under the cloak of it.

  68. Consuetudinem.] Knowing the fickle character of the Athenians,

  69. Crimine invidiae.] This is evidently the sense. Crimine invidiae for crimine invidioso.

  70. Licentia.] The license of the populace, which could scarcely be controlled.

  71. Ab hoc destitutus.] On the contrary, he was, according to Thucydides, viii. 49, 53, supported by Pisander. Bos.

  72. A considerable town of Aeolia. But it was at Notium, near Ephesus, not at Cyme, that the affair that caused the unpopularity of Alcibiades took place, through the folly of his lieutenant-general Antiochus, who, during his absence, brought on an engagement with Lysander, contrary to the express orders of Alcibiades.

  73. A city on the isthmus of the Thracian Chersonese. Most editions, previous to that of Bos, had Perinthus, from a conjecture of Longolius.

  74. Primus Graeciae civitatis.] He was the first man of Greece that penetrated into that part of Thrace which was free, and where no colonies of Greeks had been established. Fischer.

  75. Agere.] In its rhetorical sense, to state, plead, declare.

  76. Quem manu superari posse diffidebant.] “Whom they despaired would be able (i.e. whom they expected or thought would be unable) to be overcome by the hand.”

  77. Emanus.] Bos would omit this word, as wanting authority.

  78. Matrem timidi flere non solere.] I have translated this according to the notion of Bremi, who says that timidus here means a cautious person, one who takes care of himself, and is on his guard against contingencies. Most translators have rendered it “the mother of a coward,” &c., in which sense it would seem that the proverb was generally used.

  79. One of the minor harbours of Athens.

  80. Quae ad victum pertinebant.] “Things which pertained to sustenance,” i.e. provisions.

  81. Superioris more crudelitatis erant usi.] “Had used the manner of the former cruelty.”

  82. Jugerum.] Though the juger or jugerum is generally rendered an acre, it in reality contained little more than half an acre. The juger was 240 feet long and 120 broad, containing therefore 28,800 square feet; the content of an English acre is 43,566 square feet.

  83. Non propria esse consueverunt.] By propria, is meant “peculiarly one’s own, and likely to continue so; appropriated to one’s self.” I have rendered it by “permanent;” most other translators have given something similar. Bos gives this remark about gifts to Nepos; other editors give it to Pittacus.

  84. Ex oppido.] The town was Aspendus, as appears from Xen. Hell. iv. 8, 30; Diod. Sic. xiv. 99.

  85. Apud quem ut multùm gratia valeret effecit.] With whom he brought it to pass that he prevailed much by personal influence.

  86. What Nepos says here, as to the Lacedaemonians being persuaded by Tissaphernes to go to war with Persia, is scarcely reconcileable with fact, as Fischer observes, or with what is stated in the second chapter of the life of Agesilaus. Yet Schlegel and Wetzel, he adds, have made strong efforts to justify or excuse his statement. Thirlwall, however, seems to come nearer to the truth in his History of Greece, c. xxxv. The reader may also consult Smith’s Biog. Dictionary, art. Tissaphernes.

  87. Chiliarchum.] “Captain of a thousand.” He is generally considered to have been chief of the life-guards, and to have been responsible, consequently, for the safety of the king’s person.

  88. Sine hoc.] Some consider hoc masculine, referring to the chiliarchus.

  89. If this statement respecting Conon be true, his conduct in the matter is not to be reckoned among pia et probanda, “patriotic and deserving of praise.” But it would appear from Diod. Sic. xiv. 85, and Xen. Hell. iv. 8, that the charge against him arose from envy on the part of Tithraustes and the other Persians.

  90. He was the father of Cleitarchus, who wrote a history of Alexander the Great’s expedition. See Plin. H. N. x. 70. From what Pliny says of him, he seems to have been extremely credulous.

  91. Utrâque implicatus tyrannide Dionysiorum.] “Involved in,” or “connected with, each tyranny of the Dionysii.” For utroque Dionysio tyranno.

  92. Dionysius married two wives in the same day, Doris, a native of Locris, and Aristomache, the sister of Dion. But Dionysius the Younger was the son of Doris; so that, if Nepos is correct in saying that Sophrosyne was the daughter of Aristomache, he married his half-sister. See Plut. Vit. Dion. c. 3.

  93. Dion, therefore, as Ernstius observes, married his own niece.

  94. Quae non minimum commendatur.] “Which is not in the lowest degree (i.e. which is in the highest degree) commended.” Lambinus, from conjecture, read commendat, sc. hominem, which is more elegant (as Bos admits), and has been generally adopted by editors.

  95. Suorum causa.] For the sake of Aristomache and her children.

  96. Legationes.] Most editions have omnes after legationes. Bos and Van Staveren omit it.

  97. Uni huic maxime indulgeret.] “He indulged him alone most”

  98. Ambitione.] Exquisito apparatu et ambitioso comitatu. Gebhard. It was not, however, the elder, but the younger Dionysius, that received Plato with such ceremony. See Plato’s Epist. 3 and 7; Plutarch, Vit. Dion., and Aelian, Var. Hist. iv. 18. Plato visited Sicily three times; the ostentatious reception occurred on the second occasion.

  99. Quippe quem venundari jussisset.] Bremi conjectures quippe qui eum, &c, which the sense indeed requires. Consult Plutarch, Vit. Dion., who, however, relates the matter a little differently. Lucian says that Plato was sent to a parasite, because he was ignorant of the parasite’s art. See Diod. Sic. xv. 7; Diog. Laërt. iii. 18, 21. Bos.

  100. That is, the portion of Italy, or Great Greece, which had been under the power of the elder Dionysius, part of which was still retained by his son.

  101. Lambinus first saw that we ought to read Dionysius, not Dion, Bos, Mosche, and most other editors, approve Lambinus’s suggestion. Van Staveren omits the name altogether the sense being sufficiently clear without it.

  102. Ver. 204.

  103. Offensa in eum militum voluntate.] Yet Nepos says above, in this same chapter, that Dion “had gained the soldiery.” Quum milites reconciliâsset, amitteret optimates.

  104. The ancients were accustomed, when they wished to devote themselves to prayer, or to do anything in private, to go up into the higher part of the house, or to keep a chamber in that part for that particular purpose. So Suetonius says of Augustus, c. 72, Si quando quid secreto aut sine interpellatione agere proposuisset, erat illi locus in edito sincularis. So Tacitus of Tiberius, Ann. vi. 21, Quoties super negotio Consultaret, edita domus parte utebatur. Bos. He also refers to Judith, c. 8, and to Acts x. 9.

  105. Illi ipsi custodes.] The guards that had been stationed by Callicrates round Dion’s house.

  106. Peltam pro parmâ fecit.] The pelta, was smaller than the parma, but both were smaller than the clypeus. Bos.

  107. Apud Corinthum.] In the war generally called the Corinthian war, carried on by the Athenians, Thebans, and Argives, against the Lacedaemonians. See Diod. Sic. xiv. 86; Xen. Hell. iv.
4.

  108. From Xenophon, de Rep. Lacedaem., we learn that the mora consisted of 400 men; for it had four lochagi and eight pentecosteres. Fischer. This seems to have been the regular and original number appointed by Lycurgus, but it varied afterwards according to times and circumstances. In the time of Xenophon (Hell. iv. 5) it appears to have consisted usually of 600. At other times it contained five, seven, or nine hundred. See Plutarch. Pelop. c. 17; Thucyd. v. 68, ibique Schol. Smith’s Dict. of G. and R. Ant. art. Army, Greek.

  109. His name was Acoris; he had assisted Evagoras of Cyprus against Artaxerxes Mnemon. See Diod. Sic. xv. 29. He appears to have been the immediate predecessor of Nectanebis.

  110. Fabiani.] If the Roman soldiers were used to be called Fabians, which is an account given by none but our author, that I know of, it was occasioned by the gallantry of the Fabian family, that undertook to manage the war against the Vejentes by themselves, and were cut off, 300 of them in one battle. Clarke. Others think that the name must have been derived from Fabius Cunctator. None of the better commentators say anything on the point.

  111. Nisi ejus adventus appropinquasset.] “Unless his approach, had been drawing near.”

  112. The father of Philip, and grandfather of Alexander the Great. “This subject is more fully noticed by Aeschines de Fals. Leg. haud longe à principio.” -Bos. See Justin, vii. 4.

  113. Bella Sociali.] A war in which Byzantium, Rhodes, Chios, and Cos leagued themselves against the Athenians, from their alliance with whom they had revolted. See Diod. Sic. xv. 78; xvi. 7, Ferizon. ad Aelian. Var. Hist. ii. 10. Comp. Life of Chabrias, c. 4.

  114. Phalanx is here used as a general term for a body of troops in close array.

  115. Artifices.] This word is here used in a very comprehensive sense, including actors, musicians, and every other kind of public exhibitors.

  116. Often written Nectanebis. “Diodorus Siculus has it either Nektenabwj or Nektanebw&j.” Bos.

  117. A quitus magnas proedas Agesilaus rex eorum faciebat.] Attempts to interpret this passage have much exercised the ingenuity of the learned. Heusinger would have à quibus to signify “on whose side,” or the same as pro quibus, but this Van Staveren justly rejects, and I, as well as he and Schmieder, doubt whether pro aliquo proedam facere can be regarded as good Latin. . . . For myself, I know not what to make of the passage, unless we receive the cautious interpretation of Harles, Ithius, and Bremi, who understand proedam in a large or metaphorical sense for gain, presents, or a large sum of money, which Agesilaus either received from the Egyptians by agreement, or exacted from them, so that it might not improperly be regarded as proeda. Concerning the signification of this word, see Heyne ad Tibull. ii. 3, 38. Fischer.

  118. See Life of Iphicrates, c. 3.

  119. Id restituit.] Many editions, for id, have hanc, sc. pecuniam, but “id” says Bos, “for argentum or argentipondus, is perfectly correct.”

  120. A prince of Thrace. Comp. Iphic. c. 3.

  121. A strong city of the Propontis, on an island of the same name. It was besieged on this occasion, as Mitford supposes, by a force sent thither by Epaminondas, who was endeavouring to make Thebes a naval power to rival Athens.

  122. Satrap of Phrygia, who had revolted from Artaxerxes. “This war is mentioned by Demosthenes de Rhodior. Libertate.” Fischer.

  123. A city on the Hellespont, in the Thracian Chersonese, mentioned by Scylax, Stephanus de Urb., Strabo, and Pliny. The introduction of the name of this city into the text is due to Gebhard. Previously the common reading was Ericthonem, of which nobody knew what to make.

  124. ¶ The Ionian Sea.

  125. A pulvinus or pulvinar was a cushion, pillow, or bolster, and to support the arm or side of those who reclined on couches, like the bolsters on sofas in the present day. Pulvinar was afterwards used for the entire couch, on which the statues of the gods were placed on solemn occasions, as in the Roman lectisternia.

  126. That is, the cities on the Hellespont.

  127. Cui oppositus Chares quum esset, non satis in eo praesidii putabatur.] “To whom, when Chares had been opposed, there was not thought to be sufficient defence in him.” Chares was a vain and ignorant braggart. See Diod. Sic. xvi. 86.

  128. In consilium.] The words quorum consilio uteretur, which occur a little below, are not translated, as they appear, in the judgment of Bos and others, to be a mere interpolation.

  129. Classem suppresserunt.] Probably that they might not be driven on shore.

  130. It does not appear what place this was.

  131. Jason tyrannus.] He was tyrant of Pherae in Thessaly, and was, as it were, from his great power, king of the whole country. By calling him the “most powerful of all men,” omnium potentissimus, Nepos seems to mean that he was more powerful than any single individual that had at that time to do with Greece.

  132. De famâ.] For his honour as a citizen. Conviction, on this occasion, would have subjected him, it appears, to loss of civil rights, or a)timi/a.

  133. Unless we except Phocion, whose military character, however, was not very high.

  134. Pylaemenes was not killed by Patroclus, but by Menelaus; Hom. Il. v. 576.

  135. Agresti duplici amiculo.] Called duplex because it was thick and stout, woven of thread of a double thickness; or because it was made of cloth doubled. The Greeks called it xlai=na diplh~. Fischer. A modern annotator thinks that duplica refers to the “folding” of the cloak as it was worn, not to the “texture!”

  136. Qui tantum quod ad hostes pervenerat.] This reading is an emendation of Lambinus, and it is extremely doubtful whether it ought to have been so favourably regarded by Van Steveren and Bos, who have admitted it into their texts. Some of the manuscripts have qui dum ad hostes pervenerat. Heusinger thinks we might read tantum qui dum, or qui tantum dum, tantum dum, being a form of expression similar to vixdum, nondum. The Ed. Ultraject. has qui tantum non ad, &c. Most of the older common editions have qui nondum ad, &c.

  137. Cilciae vortae.] A pass so called.

  138. A body of soldiery among the Persians, mentioned by Strabo, Plutarch, Arrian, Pausanias, and others. Hesychras thinks that they had their name from some place or tribe.

  139. Captianorum. A people unknown to geographers. Schottus suggested that we should read, with a slight alteration, Caspianorum, people from the borders of the Caspian sea. Bos. Bos, on the whole, approves this suggestion.

  140. Quibus fretus.] I have given the quibus that sense which it evidently requires.

  141. Peace and friendship with himself, preparatory to his being received into favour by the kiag. This is Nipperdey’s explanation. Other editors have merely complained of the apparent tautology in

  142. A rege missam.] These words are wanting in some editions. The king presented his right hand to some person, in order that that person might present his own to Mithridates in the king’s name.

  143. . In vitiis poni.] “Is accounted among disparagements, disgraces, or vices.”

  144. A plurimis omnium anteponuntur virtutibus.] “Are by many preferred to the best qualities of all.” Many would rather hear of the actions than of the virtues of eminent men.

  145. Damon was an Athenian, mentioned by Plutarch de Musicâ, Plato, de Rep., lib. iv., and Athenaeus, xiv. 11. Lamprus is also noticed by Plutarch in the same treatise, by Plato in his Menexenus, and by Athenœus, i. 16, ii. 2. Damon is said to have taught Pericles, and Lamprus Sophocles.

  146. Tibiis.] See the note on this word in the preface.

  147. See Cic. de Orat. iii. 34; Off. i. 4; Diod. Sic. lib. vi. in Exc. Peiresc. p. 247; Pausanias, ix. 13; Aelian, V. H. iii. 17; Porphyr. Vit. Pythag. extr.; Jamblich. Vit. Pythag. c. 35. . A letter of his to a certain Hipparchus is among the Epistles of the Greeks published by Aldus, and also among the fragments of the Pythagoreans added by Casaubon to Diogenes Laertius. Bos.

  148. Tristem et severum senem in familiaritate antepossuerit.] “He preferred a grave and austere old man in familiarity,” i. e. as an associate.
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br />   149. Levia et potius contemnenda.] The study of philosophy, at least in the time of Nepos, was not numbered by the Romans among despicable pursuits.

  150. Ad eum finem quoad, &c.] Ad eum finem, as Bos observes, is the same as usque eo.

  151. Multis millibus versuum.] “In many thousands of verses.” Versus was used by the Roman as well for a line in prose as for a line in poetry.

  152. Indidem Thebis.] That is, “from the same place, Thebes.”

  153. Castris est vobis utendum, non palaestra.] That is, you must give your serious attention to the one more than to the other. You may in the palaestra inure yourselves to exercise; but you must remember that your thoughts are to be directed beyond the palaestra to the camp.

  154. Hîc.] Some read huic, “to him.”

  155. The argument of Epaminondas, in these observations, is this, referring properly only to Orestes and Oedipus: that they were born, it must be granted, the one at Argos, and the other at Thebes, but that, as they were born innocent, neither of those cities can be blamed merely for having been their birth-place; after they were polluted with crimes, however, and were in consequence expelled from their native cities, they were received by the Athenians, who, by sheltering them, might be considered to have become partakers in their guilt.

  156. Legati ante pugnam Leuctricam.] These words are rejected by Longolius, Magius, Lambinus, and Schottus, as a gloss that has intruded itself from the margin into the text. But as they are found in the best copies, Bos, who cannot but suspect them, is content with including them in brackets.

  157. This was the army that was sent into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas from Alexander of Pherae. See Diod. Sic. xv. 71, 72.

  158. He had been accused of treachery, and the people in consequence had taken from him his Boiwtarxi/a, and reduced him to a private station. Diod. Sic. ibid.