Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  159. Saepius.] Nepos mentions, however, only two occasions; and no more are discoverable from other authors.

  160. Collegae ejus.] His colleagues and himself.

  161. In periculo suo.] The word periculum, in this passage, greatly perplexed the old commentators; no one could find any satisfactory sense for it; and various conjectures were offered as to a substitute for it. At last Gebhard suggested that the passage might be interpreted “Epaminondam petiisse, ut in actis illis, in quibus suum periculum ad memoriam notetur, talia inscriberent,” so that periculum, in his opinion, would be the same as “adnotatio sive commemoratio periculi illius in tabulis publicis,” the record of his periculum in the public registers. Schoppius, Verisim. iv. 18, went farther, and said that periculum signified “libellum sive annalem publicum.” This interpretation was adopted by Bos and Fischer, and subsequently by Bremi and others, and is approved by Gesner in his Thesaurus sub voce. Tzschucke interprets it elogium damnationis, or scripta judicii sententia.

  162. Messene constituta.] He settled or built (e!ktise) Messene, and brought many colonists to it, says Diod. Sic. xv. 66. See Pausan. ix. 14, atque alibi.

  163. Quod liberos non relinqueret.] These words, in most editions, are placed lower down, after consulere diceret, where Lambinus was the first to put them. Bos suspects that they may be altogether spurious.

  164. Apud Cadmaeam.] The citadel of Thebes, said to have been founded by Cadmus.

  165. Aliena paruisse imperio.] By these words it is not signified that Thebes was actually subject to any other power, but that it always held a secondary place.

  166. Phoebidas was sent to assist Amyntas, king of Macedonia, who was going to besiege Olynthus with the aid of his allies the Lacedaemonians, because its inhabitants had refused to make satisfaction to him. See Diod. Sic. xv. 19. Fischer.

  167. Per Thebas.] This is evidently the sense.

  168. See Epaminondas, c. 10.

  169. Ut quemque ex proximo locum fors obtulisset, eo patriam recuperare niterentur.] “Opportunity” seems to be the sense of locus in this passage, as in Hamilc. c. 1, locus nocendi. Quemque is for quemcumquei as Van Staveren remarks.

  170. Tempus et dies.] Charon had not only settled the day, but the time of the day. Bos.

  171. Sejunctum ab re positâ.] By res, “the subject,” we must understand the life of Pelopidas. Yet no apology was necessary for introducing the remark, as it is extremely applicable to the enterprise which Nepos is relating.

  172. Hierophante.] A hierophantes was one who understood and could interpret religious mysteries. Archias was high-priest of the Eleusinian rites of Ceres.

  173. See Epaminondas, c. 8.

  174. In comitio.] A Latin word used by the author for the Greek, which would be e0forei=n, the court of the Ephori.

  175. Quod iter Xerxes anno vertente confecerat.] Anno vertente, sc. se, “a year turning itself or revolving,” i.e. in the course of a year, in a full year. In the Life of Themistocles, however, c. 5, Xerxes is said to have made the journey in six months.

  176. Supplicibus eorum.] Whether eorum refers to barbaros, which is nearer to it, or to deorum, which is farther from it, has been a question among the commentators. Bos refers it to deorum, and I think him right. A recent editor imagines that it is to be referred to simulacra arasque. Magius would read deorum instead of eorum, and his suggestion is approved by Bremi and Buchung.

  177. This appears to be an error; for Xenophon, Ages. 7, 5, and Plutarch, Vit. Ages, speak of Agesilaus as having heard about the battle; and it is therefore to be concluded, as Magius and Lambinus observe, that he was not present in it, but that it took place while he was on his march homeward.

  178. Ab insolentia gloriae.] “From the presumptuousness of boasting.”

  179. Quo ne proficisceretur exire noluit.] The conclusion of the sentence does not suit the commencement of it. It is a decided anacoluthon, as Harles, Bremi, and Bardilis observe.

  180. Nisi ille fuisset, Spartam futuram non fuisse.] “Unless he had been, Sparta would not have been.”

  181. Aucto numero eorum qui expertes erant consilii.] Bos suggests this explanation of the passage: that only a part of those who occupied the height intended to go over to the enemy, and designed, by force or persuasion, to bring over the others qui expertes erant consilii; but were deterred from doing so when the number of the true men was strengthened by the followers of Agesilaus. Bos, however, suggests at the same time, that we might read aucti numero eorum, which Bremi is inclined to adopt.

  182. Among whom were Tachos of Egypt, and Mausolus, king of Caria, from both of whom he received large presents; as he did also, probably, from Cotys and Autophradates. See Xen. Ages. 2, 26, 27.

  183. Huc.] That is, on the straw.

  184. Nectanabis II., nephew of Tachos, whom he dethroned with the aid of Agesilaus.

  185. Portum qui Menelai vocatur.] On the coast of Marmorica.

  186. Cyrenae, -arum, or Cyrene, -es, but the latter is the far more common form.

  187. Cardianus.] Cardia was a town in the Thracian Chersonese, on the gulf of Mêlas.

  188. Multo honorificentius.] Because freedmen and slaves, for the most part, purchased the office of scribe or secretary among the Romans with money, as is observed by Casaubon in Capitolin. Vit. Macrini, c. 7, and by Lipsius, Elect. i. 32. Loccenius. At Athens, however, Samuel Petit, Comm. in Leges Atticas, 1. iii. tit. 2, shows that the office of scribe was as little honourable as it was at Rome. -Bos. Such was doubtless the case throughout Greece a few of the more eminent secretaries might be held in esteem and respect, but the majority would be of just the same standing as at Rome.

  189. 9Etairikh i3ppoj, about a thousand or twelve hundred of the flower of the Macedonian cavalry. The name is from e3tairoj, a friend or companion, either because they were united with one another as friends, or because they were associates or companions of the king.

  190. Tradita esset tuenda eidem Perdiccae.] “Was committed, to be taken care of, to the same Perdiccas.”

  191. In suam tutelam pervertissent.] Should come “to their own guardianship,” should be out of their minority, and no longer under the guardianship of others.

  192. Industriam.

  193. A distinguished officer in the army of Alexander, after whose death he had the government of Phrygia on the Hellespont.

  194. Ad internecionem.] Properly, “to the utter destruction” of one of the two contending parties.

  195. Antipater, Craterus, and their supporters.

  196. A Seleuco et Antigono.] For Antigono it is now generally supposed that we should read Antigene, Antigenes being mentioned by Diod. Sic. xviii. 59, as one of the leaders of the Argyraspides; another being Teutamus. Antigenes was the first to attack Perdiccas, as Van Staveren observes, referring to Arrian apud Photium, p. 224. The same critic suggests that we might even, with some probability alter Seleuco into Teutamo, but does not wish to press this conjecture

  197. Plaga.] Meaning the death of Perdiccas.

  198. Callidum fuit ejus inventum, quemadmodum, &c.] “It was an ingenious contrivance of his, how the animal might be warmed,” &c.

  199. Caput.] Not only the head, however, but all the fore-part of the body must have been tied up, the strap being passed round the body behind the fore-legs.

  200. In principiis.] See note on Florus, iii. 10, Bonn’s Cl. Library. Eumenes, to give effect to this device, pretended, as Polyaenus tells us, to have received directions from the spirit of Alexander, which had appeared to him in a dream. It is strange that the Macedonian officers should have allowed themselves to be so deluded.

  201. De rebus summis.] “Of their chief concerns.”

  202. Non minus totidem dierum spatio.] “Not less than the space of just as many days.”

  203. Fructum oculis capere.] “To gain gratification for their eyes.”

  204. Ut deuteretur.] The word deutor is not found elsewhere. It seems not to be the same with abutor, as some suppose, but to have much the same sense as
the simple verb. But most editions have se uteretur, an alteration of Lambinus.

  205. This is so little of a reason for Eumenes’ success against his opponents in the field, that Buchner, Bos, and others, suppose that some words have been lost out of the text.

  206. The sentence begins with Sic Eumenes, and ends with talem habuit exitum vitae, a fault similar to that which has been noticed in Ages. c. 6.

  207. Memoria est nulla.] That is, no one thinks of praising his military exploits equally with his moral virtues.

  208. Quum adversus Charetem eum subornaret.] I have given to subornaret the sense to which Bos thinks it entitled. To what part of Phocion’s life this passage relates is uncertain. Bos refers to Plutarch, Phocion, c. 14, where it is stated that Phocion was sent to Byzantium with a force to accomplish what Chares had failed in doing. But no mention is made there of any support given to Phocion by Demosthenes.

  209. Capitis damnatos.] That is, made atimous, or infamous, deprived of civil rights, and condemned, perhaps, in addition, to exile or death.

  210. Philip Aridaeus, the half brother and nominal successor of Alexander the Great.

  211. An Athenian demagogue, who was put to death by the people of Athens soon after the death of Phocion.

  212. Undecim viris.] Eleven petty officers, whose duty was to see the sentences of the law put in execution.

  213. Namque huic uni contigit, quod nescio an nulli.] I have endeavoured to give a satisfactory turn in the English to that which is not very satisfactory in the Latin. “For (that) happened to (him) alone, (of) which I know not whether (it happened) to any one (else).” If it happened to him alone, it of course happened to no one else. Some editors read ulli: but nulli appears to be the right reading, nescio an being taken in the sense of ‘‘perhaps.”

  214. A barbaris.] The Carthaginians, when they were at war with the elder Dionysius.

  215. Soror ex iisdem parentibus nata.] She was whole sister to him and Timophanes.

  216. Fana deserta.] Bos retains deserta, in his text, but shows an inclination, in his note, to adopt the emendation of Lambinus, deleta; déserta, however, which is found, I believe, in all the manuscripts, is susceptible of a very good interpretation; for temples that were deserted or neglected might have fallen into decay, and require to be repaired or rebuilt.

  217. In theatrum.] Public assemblies were often held in theatres.

  218. Sacellum Au)tomati/aj.] A word compounded of au)toj, self, and ma&w, to desire or will, and applied to Fortune as acting from her own will or impulse.

  219. Se voti esse damnatum.] The meaning is, that he was now obliged to the fulfilment of that which he had vowed when he prayed for such a degree of freedom.

  220. Timoleonteum.] Sc. Gymnasium.

  221. Graecae gentis.] All the preceding biographies are those of Greeks, except that of Datames.

  222. Separatem sunt relatae.] In another book written by Nepos, which contained the lives of kings, as Lambinus thinks; and Vossius de Hist. Lat. i. 14, is of the same opinion. I rather imagine that the writings of other authors, who have spoken of the acts of kings, are intended; for if Nepos had meant a composition of his own, he would have said à me sunt relatae, as in the Life of Cato, c. 3, he says in eo libra quem separatim de eo fecimus. Bos.

  223. Macrochir, Longimanus, or “long-handed.” Mnemon, mnh&mwn, signifying one that has a good memory.

  224. There was no remarkable proof of his justice given on this occasion. His mother Parysatis poisoned his wife Statira; but he spared Parysatis, and put to death Gingis, who had merely been her tool. See Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes, c. 19.

  225. Morbo naturae debitum reddiderunt.] “Paid (their) debt to nature by disease.”

  226. Nunquam hosti cessit.] Not exactly true; but he doubtless resisted the enemy vigorously.

  227. Erycem.] Not the mountain, as Bos observes, but the town situated between the top and the foot of the mountain, of both of which the Romans had possession. See Polyb. i. 53; ii. 7; Diod. Sic. xxiv. 2; Cluverius, Sicil. Antiq. ii. 1.

  228. Three islands on the western coast of Sicily. This battle brought the first Punic war to an end.

  229. Son of Demetrius, and last king but one of Macedonia. See Justin, xxviii. 4; xxix. 1-4; xxx. 3; xxxii. 2.

  230. A Rubro Mari.] It is the Mare Erythraeum that is meant, lying between Arabia and India.

  231. Saltum Pyrenaeum.] The forest, i. e. the woody chain or range of the Pyrenees.

  232. Clastidio.] Clastidio, thus given by Bos, without a preposition or any word to govern it, cannot be right. It seems necessary either to read Clastidii, or, with Lambinus, de Clastidio. I have adopted the latter, as the termination in o is found in all the manuscripts. But no account of a battle between Hannibal and Scipio at Clastidium (a town of Gallia Cispadana, at no great distance from the Po), is found in any other author. Ithe has therefore ventured, somewhat boldly, to eject Clastidio from his text altogether.

  233. Quo repentino objectu viso.] “Which sudden appearance being seen” by the Romans.

  234. Absens sustulit.] The battle being fought by one of Hannibal’s generals in his absence.

  235. Circiter millia passuum trecenta.] One hundred and fifty miles is supposed to be nearer the truth.

  236. A town on the Liris, in the Volscian territory.

  237. Praetor.] This office seems, from what follows, to have been in a great degree financial; but judicial duties were probably combined in it.

  238. Rex.] The two annual magistrates at Carthage were called suffetes in the Punic tongue; the Greeks and Romans called them kings.

  239. Antiochus here suffered a defeat from the Romans.

  240. In Pamphylio mari.] The sea on the coast of Pamphylia in Asia Minor.

  241. Antiocho fugato.] Viz., in the battle near Magnesia, at the bottom of Mount Sipylus in Lydia.

  242. Principibus praesentibus.] Many of the old editions have Gortyniis praesentibus, a manifest error, as Bos observes. Principibus occurs in three manuscripts.

  243. Illud recusavit, ne id a se fieri postularent.] “He refused this, (requesting) that they would not require that to be done by him.”

  244. Cato the censor, the great grandfather of the Cato that killed himself at Utica.

  245. Situate about ten miles south-east of Rome, not far from the modern Frascati.

  246. Aedilis plebis.] There were two sorts of aediles, plebeian and curule.

  247. Privatus in urbe mansit.] That is, he did not take any other foreign province. Plutarch, however, in his life of Cato, says that Scipio was appointed to succeed Cato in Spain, but that, being unable to procure from the senate a vote of censure on Cato’s administration, he passed his term of office in inactivity.

  248. Edictum.] The code of regulations which a magistrate published on entering upon his office, adopting what he chose from the edicts of his predecessors, and adding what he thought proper of his own. See Adam’s Rom. Ant. p. 111, 8vo. ed.

  249. Circiter annos octoginta.] This passage is in some way faulty. Bos thinks that the number is corrupt, or that the three words have been intruded from the margin into the text. Pighius would read Vixit circiter annos octoginta, et, &c.

  250. A multis tentatus.] Plutarch, in his life of Cato, c. 15, says that Cato was attacked or accused about fifty times in the sourse of his political life. Bos.

  251. Ab origine ultima stirpis Romanae.] “From the most remote origin of the Roman race.” His family was so old that it reached back to the earliest age of Rome.

  252. Versuram facere.] Versura, according to Festus süb voce, properly signifies borrowing from one to pay another. Our language has no word corresponding to it.

  253. Septem modii.] This is the reading of the old editions, and of the manuscripts of Manutius, Gifanius, Schottus, Leid, and Medic. 2. But since it appears from Cicero in Verr. iii. 45, 46, 49, as well as from Ausonius, Suidas, and other ancient writers, that the medimnus contained six modii, Manutius, Faernus, and Ursinus, following Georg. Agr
icola de Mens. et Pond. Gr. et Rom. lib. ii., substituted sex for septem in this passage, and Lambinus, with all the subsequent editors of Nepos, adopted it. There seem, however, to have been variations in the content of the medimni and modii. According to the old author on measures, published by Rigaltius among the Auctores Finium Regundorum, p. 335, five modii made a medimnus; and Isidore, Orig. xvi. 25, makes the same statement . . . . . Phavorinus, again, says that the medimnus was mo&dioi e(pta. Bos. On the whole, therefore, Bos prefers that septem should stand. The modius was 1 gal. 7.8576 pints English.

  254. Phidiae.] Some editions have Piliae. “This was some Phidias, who, though unmentioned by any other writer, was known to Nepos through Atticus with whom he was intimate.” See c. 13. Van Staveren.

  255. About £1600 of our money.

  256. About £80,729 3s. 4d.

  257. Optimarum partium.] Ursinus and Schottus conjecture optimatum partium. Heusinger thinks optimarum right.

  258. Ad hastam publicam nunquam, accessit.] That is, to a sale of the property confiscated in the proscriptions. A hasta, or spear, set up, was the signal of an auction; a custom derived from the sale of spoils taken in war.

  259. Nullius rei neque praes, neque manceps factus est.] The farmers, mancipes, of the revenues were chiefly equités, but Atticus, though of that order, neither became a farmer himself, nor a surety, praes, for any farmer.

  260. Neque suo nomine neque subscribens.] He neither brought accusations against people himself, nor supported the accusations of others by setting his hand to them. This is said with reference to the time of the proscriptions.

  261. That he declined offices generally is stated above in this chapter; there is no particular mention that he declined the praetorship.

  262. Ejus observantia.] Observantia, as Bos and Fischer observe, is evidently to be understood actively.

  263. Secutum est illud, occiso Caesare, &c.] The commencement of this chapter is extremely bald. Whether tempus, which Bos understands with illud, has dropped out of the text, or whether the author purposely omitted it, must remain doubtful. Perhaps more words than one are lost.