Lucullus
Page 28
11. For the Caligulan story, see Juvenal, Satire VI.615–620; also chapter 50 of the Suetonian life of the emperor. The love potion in Caligula’s case was allegedly administered by his wife Caesonia. Certainly the story fits with the general tenor of Caligula’s reign, and scholars are right to question the story. But far stranger things were true in his brief principate.
12. Cf. Keaveney, 2009, p.211, with reference to the critical verdict on Lucullus by Sir Ronald Syme in his magisterial The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939), p.23. On the problem of determining who exactly was an Epicurean, note, e.g., C.J. Castner, ‘Difficulties in Identifying Roman Epicureans: Orata in Cicero De Div. 2.22.70’, The Classical Journal 81.2 (1985–1986), pp.138–47.
13. We cannot date Lucretius’ death with precision: 55 or 54 BC is often cited on account of, e.g., the aforementioned passage of Cicero to his brother Quintus; most would date Lucullus’ death before the poet’s, but there is no definitive evidence to support this chronology. It appears likely that the two men died fairly close together in time; as for the story of the amatorium, we cannot be sure of whom it was first related.
14. But for caution, cf. A. Palmer, Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014), pp. 127–28. In the present instance, the case is perhaps more, however, than one of two men with vaguely similar names, both said to have died as a result of amatoria.
15. Cf. Greenhalgh, 1980, p.75: ‘With success so nearly in his grasp Lucullus was defeated by the weather and the temper of his troops. However much booty they had amassed and however much more they could expect to find at Artaxata, there was little consolation in carrying it further and further from home into unknown country beset by the ice and snow of autumn. They refused to advance further, and Lucullus had no option but to turn south again.’
16. Keaveney, 2009, p.237.
17. Keaveney, 2009, p.243.
18. Finley Hooper writes in Roman Realities (Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1979), p. 221: ‘Centuries before, the mighty Alexander had found that no army could defeat him save his own. Like Alexander, too, it was Lucullus’ own self-confident determination that had taken him so far. He was a brilliant man of good intentions, who treasured the satisfaction of a job well done. He was especially proud that his campaign had not cost the government a single sesterce. Did a man need more than virtue and skill for success? His officers and men thought so. Having worked hard and risked their lives, they wanted something to show for it. Lucullus forgot that they had hearts and minds of their own. Whether that particular lapse was a fault or not, it ruined him.’
Selected Bibliography
The following titles represent but a sampling of the books that have been used in the composition of this work; it makes no pretense to comprehensiveness. Other sources (including scholarly articles) appear in the end notes to the volume. For definitive survey of the Lucullan bibliography, recourse should be made to Keaveney, 2009.
Adler, Eric, Valorizing the Barbarians: Enemy Speeches in Roman Historiography. (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2011).
Antonelli, Giuseppe, Lucullo: La vera storia … (Roma: Newton Compton Editori, 1989).
Arnaud-Lindet, M.-P., Orose: Histoires contre les païens: Tome II, Livres IV-VI. (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1991).
Badian, Ernst, Foreign Clientelae (263–70 BC) (Oxford: 1958).
Badian, Ernst, Studies in Greek and Roman History (Oxford: 1964).
Badian, Ernst, Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1968).
Bennett, Charles E., Frontinus: Stratagems, Aqueducts of Rome, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1925).
Brennan, T. Corey, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, Volume II (Oxford: 2000).
Brunt, P.A., Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971).
Brunt, P.A., The Fall of the Roman Republic and Related Essays (Oxford: 1988).
Cary, Earnest, Dio’s Roman History, Volume III, Books XXXVI-XL, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914).
Chaplin, John D., (tr.) Livy: Rome’s Mediterranean Empire, Books 41–45 and the Periochae, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: 2007).
Crawford, Michael, The Roman Republic (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978; second edition, 1992).
Crook, J.A., Lintott, A., and Rawson, E., (eds) The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume IX, The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 BC, Second Edition (Cambridge: 1994).
Debevoise, Neilson C., A Political History of Parthia (Chicago: 1938).
de Blois, Lukas, The Roman Army and Politics in the First Century BC (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, Publisher, 1987).
Dugan, John, Making a New Man: Ciceronian Self-Fashioning in the Rhetorical Works (Oxford: 2005).
Earl, Donald, The Moral and Political Tradition of Rome (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967).
Edwards, Catherine, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge: 1993).
Evans, Rhiannon, Utopia Antiqua: Readings of the Golden Age and Decline at Rome (London/New York: Routledge, 2007).
Evans, Richard, Roman Conquests: Asia Minor, Syria and Armenia (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2011).
Flower, Harriet I., The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic (Cambridge: 2004).
Forster, Edward Seymour, Florus: Epitome of Roman History (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1929; with the Loeb Nepos, separate edition, 1984).
Fratantuono, Lee, A Reading of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2015).
Gärtner, Hans, (ed.) Plutarchus: Vitae Parallelae, Volumen I, Fasciculus I (Stuttgart: K.G. Saur Verlag, 2000), fifth revised edition of the first volume of the Bibliotheca Teubneriana edition of Plutarch’s lives.
Gelzer, M., Caesar: Politician and Statesman (trans. Peter Needham) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1968).
Goldsworthy, Adrian, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2006).
Goldsworthy, Adrian, Pax Romana: Peace and Conquest in the Roman World (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2016).
Gorman, R.J., and Gorman, V.B., Corrupting Luxury in Ancient Greek Literature (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2014).
Grainger, John D., The Fall of the Seleukid Empire, 187–75 BC (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2015).
Greenhalgh, P.A.L., Pompey, the Roman Alexander (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980).
Greenhalgh, P.A.L., Pompey, the Republican Prince (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981).
Gruen, Erich S., The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: The University of California Press, 1974).
Gruen, Erich S., Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992).
Harris, William V., War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327–70 BC (Oxford: 1985).
Hellegouarc’h, Joseph, Eutrope: Abrégé d’histoire romaine (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1999).
Henry, René, Photius: Bibliothèque, Tome IV: Codices 223–229 (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1965).
Hooper, Finley, Roman Realities (Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1979).
Kaster, Robert A., Cicero: Speech on behalf of Publius Sestius (Oxford: 2006).
Keaveney, Arthur Peter, Lucullus, A Life (London/New York: Routledge 1992; second edition, with a new postscript, Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2009).
Keaveney, Arthur Peter, Sulla, the Last Republican (London/Canberra: Croom Helm, 1982; second edition, Routledge: 2005).
Keppie, Lawrence, The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire (Norman: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1998; original edition, London: B.T. Batsford, 1984).
King, J.R., M. Tulli Ciceronis: Pro Lege Manilia (Oxford: 1917).
Konrad, Christopher F., Plutarch’s Sertoriu
s: A Historical Commentary (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994).
Leach, John, Pompey the Great (London: Croom Helm, 1978).
Lintott, Andrew, Cicero As Evidence: A Historian’s Companion (Oxford: 2008).
Martin, Paul Marius, Les hommes illustres de la ville de Rome (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2016).
Matyszak, Philip, Mithridates: Rome’s Indomitable Enemy (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2009).
Matyszak, Philip, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2013).
Matyszak, Philip, Cataclysm 90 BC: The Forgotten War That Almost Destroyed Rome (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014).
Mayor, Adrienne, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World (New York: Overlook Press, 2003).
Mayor, Adrienne, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithridates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton: 2009).
McGing, Brian C., The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator King of Pontus (Leiden: Brill, 1986).
McGushin, Patrick, Sallust: The Histories, Volume 2 (Books III-V) (Oxford: 1994).
Nikolaidis, Anastasios G., (ed.) The Unity of Plutarch’s Work: ‘Moralia’ Themes in the ‘Lives’, Features of the ‘Lives’ in the ‘Moralia’ (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008).
Osgood, Josiah, Caesar’s Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire (Cambridge: 2006).
Palmer, Ada, Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014).
Perrin, Bernadotte, (tr.) Plutarch: Lives, Volume II, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914).
Rackham, H., Cicero: De Natura Deorum and Academica, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933; revised, 1951).
Ramsey, John T., Sallust: Fragments of the Histories, Letters to Caesar, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2015).
Rawson, Elizabeth, Cicero: A Portrait (London: Penguin Books, 1975; revised edition, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1985).
Reid, James S., M. Tulli Ciceronis pro A. Licinio Archia poeta ad iudices: Edited for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: 1897).
Richardson, J.S., Appian: Wars of the Romans in Iberia (Warminster: Aris and Phillips Ltd., 2000).
Riggsby, Andrew M., Crime and Community in Ciceronian Rome (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1999).
Rodgers, William Ledyard, Greek and Roman Naval Warfare: A Study of Strategy, Tactics, and Ship Design from Salamis (480 BC) to Actium (31 BC) (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1937/1964).
Salmon, E.T., The Making of Roman Italy (London: Thames and Hudson, 1982).
Schlesinger, Arthur C., (tr.) Livy: Summaries, Fragments, and Obsequens, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1959; revised, 1967).
Scott-Kilvert, Ian, and Pelling, Christopher, Rome in Crisis: Nine Lives by Plutarch (London: Penguin Books, 2010) (Pelling is responsible for the translation of the Lucullus).
Seager, Robin, Pompey the Great: A Political Biography (Oxford: 1979; second edition, Oxford: 2002).
Shaw, Brent D., (tr. and ed.) Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents (London: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001).
Sherwin-White, A.N., The Roman Citizenship (Oxford, 1939; ‘new edition’, 1973).
Shipley, Frederick W., Velleius Paterculus and Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1924).
Skinner, Marilyn B., Clodia Metelli: The Tribune’s Sister (Oxford: 2011).
Spann, P.O., Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla (Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 1987).
Strauss, Barry S., The Spartacus War (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009).
Syme, Sir Ronald, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: 1939).
Takács, Sarolta, Vestal Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons: Women in Roman Religion (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2008).
Tatum, W. Jeffrey, The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (Chapel Hill/London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999).
Telford, Lynda, Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2014).
Tröster, Manuel, Themes, Character, and Politics in Plutarch’s Life of Lucullus: The Construction of a Roman Aristocrat (Historia Einzelschriften 201. (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2008).
van Ooteghem, Jules, Lucius Licinius Lucullus (Bruxelles: Palais des Académies, 1959).
White, Horace, Appian’s Roman History, Volume II, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1912).
Wiseman, T.P., New Men in the Roman Senate (Oxford: 1971).
From one hill to another, a view of the celebrated Acropolis in Athens. (© Katie McGarr)
The new dispersed around the old is a constant reminder of a once. (© Katie McGarr)
The traditional gateway to the underworld: the lair of Hades at Eleusis. (© Katie McGarr)
Vis, Croatia, a key island for viticulture and wine production in the Mediterranean. (© Katie McGarr)
A view of the countryside of the island of Naxos, where Theseus was said to have abandoned Ariadne. (© Katie McGarr)
The famous temple of the goddess Demeter on Naxos. (© Katie McGarr)
Sunset in Naxos, one of the many fiery skies seen by Lucullus and his Roman sailors as they pursued their military campaigns in the eastern Mediterranean. (© Katie McGarr)
Night-time in Larnaca: A Cypriot sunset on the island of the goddess Venus. (© Katie McGarr)
Paphos, Cyprus: A stroll down the beach that once witnessed the birth of the goddess Venus. (© Katie McGarr)
Salamis, Northern Cyprus. (© Katie McGarr)
The agora at Salamis, Northern Cyprus. (© Katie McGarr)
The amphitheatre at Salamis, Northern Cyprus. (© Katie McGarr)
Olympos, Turkey. (© Katie McGarr)
A view of the sea from the top of the castle in Kekova, Turkey. (© Katie McGarr)
A turquoise getaway on the island of Solta, Croatia, once a staging ground for Roman naval manoeuvres. (© Katie McGarr)
Stone cold Medusa supports the structure of a basilica cistern in Istanbul, Turkey. (© Katie McGarr)
A crisp walk through one of the canyons in Cappadocia, Turkey. (© Katie McGarr)
Cave dwellings, known for being cool in the summer and warm in the winter, are still used for housing today by Cappadocians. (© Katie McGarr)
A crisp, autumn stroll through Goreme National Park in Cappadoccia.. (© Katie McGarr)
A sunrise view from a hot air balloon . the best way to get an aerial view of the famous tent rocks in Cappadocia. (© Katie McGarr)
A traditional dish of lamb and cabbage, cooked by the peka method that is native to Vis, Croatia. The dish cooks for three hours over the fire, which marries the flavours. (© Katie McGarr)
Lucullus Taverna on Naxos, which claims to be the oldest restaurant on the island. (© Katie McGarr)
Wine and restaurant view at the taverna on Naxos that was named after Lucullus himself.. (© Katie McGarr)