Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus

by Velleius Paterculus

  Of this concurrence of similar geniuses in the same period, of their corresponding devotion to like pursuits, and their equality of progress, I often inquire for the causes, but find none that I can regard as satisfactory. Some, however, I discover that are probable; among which are the following. Emulation nourishes genius; and at one time envy, at another admiration, kindles a spirit of imitation. Any art, too, which is pursued with extreme zeal, will soon reach the height of excellence; and to stand still on the summit is difficult; as, in the natural course of things, what cannot advance, recedes. And as we are at first excited with ardour to overtake those whom we think our superiors, so, when we once despair of surpassing or equalling them, our zeal flags with our hope, ceases to pursue what it cannot attain, and, relinquishing that object as already pre-occupied, turns to something new. Declining any pursuit in which we cannot arrive at eminence, we endeavour to find one that will allow scope for our exertions; and the consequence is, that such changes, if frequent and unsteady, prove the greatest obstacle to perfection.

  XVIII

  Our wonder may well be transferred from ages to cities. One city in Attica was distinguished in eloquence for a greater number of years, and for more achievements in it, than all the rest of Greece; so that, though the natives of that country were dispersed through its different states, we might suppose its genius to have been confined entirely within the walls of Athens. Nor do I more wonder that this should have been the case, than that not a single orator of Argos, Thebes, or Lacedæmon, was thought worthy of notice during his life, or of remembrance after his death. In such studies, these, as well as many other cities, were wholly unproductive, except that the single muse of Pindar conferred some degree of lustre on Thebes. Alcman33 the Lacedæmonians falsely claim. * * * *

  ENDNOTES.

  1 I. [Epeus,] being parted, &c.] The name is wanting in the text at the commencement of this fragment. But it appears from Justin, xx., 2, as well as from Aristotle, De Miraculis, that it was Epeus, the builder of the Trojan horse, (doli fabricator Epeus, Virg. Æn., ii., 264,) who founded Metapontum.

  2 Metapontum] On the coast of Lucania, in the south of Italy.

  3 His brother] Ajax, who was refused the arms of Achilles.

  4 Phidippus] An inferior leader in the Trojan war, from the isles of Calydnæ, on the coast of Caria. Hom. Il., ii., 678.

  5 His cousin] Patruelis. He was son of Thyestes, brother of Atreus, Agamemnon’s father.

  6 Tyrrhenus] He gave name, it is said, to Tyrrhenia, Tuscia, or Etruria, in Italy. The story of his departure from Lydia is taken from Herod., i., 94.

  7 Without being known] Imprudenter. “He was slain by the enemy, not being aware that he was the king.” Lipsius.

  8 III. Thessalus, the son of Hercules] Father of Phidippus above mentioned. Homer, loc. cit.

  9 Rebuilt] Condidit. “Ex integro restituit.” Vossius.

  10 V. An exclusive right, &c.] Solus appellari poeta meruit. “Non summus modo; splendidum judicium.” Krause.

  11 VI. System of education most suitable] Disciplinæ convenientissimæ [vir]. I have omitted vir, which, as Ruhnken says, “nullo pacto tolerari potest.” Heinsius would alter it to virtuti; Ruhnken to viribus; and some other critics, as Krause signifies, having proposed viris.

  12 At the end of this chapter is inserted, in all the editions, a passage from Æmilius (or rather, as Krause thinks, Manilius) Sura. Some person, in old times, seems to have written it in the margin of his manuscript, whence it crept into the text. I have omitted it.

  13 VIII. Feast of Pales] April 21st.

  14 Patricians] Patricii, from patres. Comp. Flor., i., 1.

  15 IX. Proved a more powerful enemy] Here is a great hiatus, all the history of Rome being lost from the foundation of the city to the year U.C. 582. The commencement of the chapter stands thus: . . . . quam timuerit hostis, expetit. Lipsius, for expetit, would substitute extitit, and thinks that the author had written something to this effect: Populo Romano gravior, quam timuerat, hostis extitit, nempe Perses. See Florus, ii., 12.

  16 His brother’s] Attalus.

  17 Two hundred thousand sestertia] 1,776,041l. 13s. 4d.

  18 X. Partner with him in property] Consors. “Consortes are properly coheirs, inheriting a property in common, which they suffer to remain, at least for a time, undivided.” Burman.

  19 XI. Private custody] Liberâ custodiâ. See Sall., Cat., c. 47.

  20 The Achæans] Achæos. That is, the Greeks. The Romans called Greece, as their province, Achaia. See Florus, ii., 7.

  21 A temple of marble] Ædem ex marmore. Burman would take ædem for ædes, understanding a private house for Metellus himself; but this, as Krause says, is not only invitâ Latinitate, but invitâ historiâ; for marble was not used in the erection of private houses till a much later period.

  22 XIII. New man] See Sall., Cat., c. 23.

  23 XV. From the Lupercal] A Lupercali. “The Lupercal was a grotto sacred to Pan, near the Palatine mount.” Krause.

  24 When the great austerity of manners — prevented him, &c.] There are various readings of this passage, but all producing much the same sense. Krause reads, Cui (Cassio) id demoliendo — restitêre; that is, “the austerity of manners, and Scipio the consul, opposed Cassius by pulling it (the theatre) down.”

  25 Salyes] A people of Gallia Narbonensis.

  26 Carthage in Africa] A colony was established on the site of the old city by the Gracchi, and called Colonia Carthago.

  27 Bagienni] Otherwise called Vagienni, a people of Liguria, near the source of the Po.

  28 XVI. Torrent] Gurgitis. The words ac verticis, which follow this, and which Ruhnken and Krause think a mere gloss, I have omitted.

  29 Whom I have a little before enumerated] Quos paulo ante enumeravimus. In some part of the book which is now lost.

  30 Cæcilius, Terence, and Afranius] Why does he omit Plautus? “I must suppose either that the name of Plautus has dropped out of the text, or, what seems more probable, that Paterculus entertained the same opinion of Plautus as Horace expresses, De Arte Poeticâ, 270, and therefore intentionally omitted him.” Krause.

  31 Except such as lived in his time, or immediately succeeded it] Neminem — nisi aut ab illo visum, aut qui illum viderit. This is translated according to the interpretation of Krause. Those who were visi ab illo were his contemporaries, (some of them, perhaps, a little his seniors,) with whom he lived, as it were, face to face; those qui illum viderunt were the men of the succeeding generation, who were just old enough to have had a sight of him. Thus Ovid says of Virgil, Virgilium tantum vidi.

  32 Statuaries — sculptors] Plastis — scalptoribus. Plastes, one that makes figures of any soft matter, as clay; scalptor, or sculptor, one who works with harder material, as stone or wood.

  33 XVIII. Alcman] He was a native of Lydia, and brought to Lacedæmon when very young, as a slave.

  BOOK II.

  I. Declension of Roman virtue after the destruction of Carthage; wars with Viriathus and Numantia — II-III. Acts and death of Tiberius Gracchus — IV. Aristonicus defeated; Numantia overthrown; character and death of Publius Scipio — V. Acts of Aulus Brutus in Spain — VI. Proceedings and death of Caius Gracchus — VII. Cruelty of Opimius — VIII. Narbo Martius founded; Cato condemned for extortion; triumphs of the Metelli and Minutius — IX. Eminent Roman orators and writers — X. Severity of the censors; family of the Domitii — XI-XII. The Jugurthine war; the acts of Marius — XIII-XIV. Ill-fortune and death of Drusus — XV-XVI. The colony of Carthage; the Italian war — XVII. The civic franchise granted to the Italians; character of Sylla — XVIII. War with Mithridates commenced; acts of Sulpicius — XIX. Civil war between Marius and Sylla — XX. The consul Pompeius murdered by the soldiers; proceedings of Cinna — XXI. Cinna succeeds in recalling Marius — XXII. Marius’s proscription — XXIII. Marius’s death; success of Sylla against Mithridates — XXIV. Deaths of Fimbria, Lucilius, and Cinna — XXV-XXVI. Further proceedings of Sylla — XXVII. Fate
of Pontius Telesinus, and of the younger Marius — XXVIII. Sylla’s dictatorship and proscription — XXIX. Character of Pompey, afterwards called the Great — XXX. Death of Sertorius; triumphs of Metellus and Pompey; war with Spartacus — XXXI-XXXII. Pompey suppresses the pirates — XXXIII. Pompey receives the command of the Mithridatic war; acts of Lucullus — XXXIV. Conquest of Crete; conspiracy of Catiline — XXXV. Character of Cato; deaths of Catiline and the other conspirators — XXXVI. Augustus Cæsar born; learned men of that age — XXXVII. Tigranes surrenders to Pompey — XXXVIII-XXXIX. Names of Roman provinces, and by whom conquered — XL. Pompey conquers Mithridates, and triumphs — XLI-XLIII. Descent, character, and actions of Julius Cæsar — XLIV. First Triumvirate; consulship of Cæsar — XLV. Of Clodius, Cicero, and Cato — XLVI. Cæsar’s acts in Gaul; Crassus killed in Parthia — XLVII. Further proceedings of Cæsar; Clodius slain by Milo — XLVIII-LII. Civil war between Cæsar and Pompey — LIII. Death of Pompey — LIV-LV. Cæsar’s actions in Egypt, Africa, and Spain — LVI-LVII. Cæsar’s triumphs and death — LVIII. Proceedings of Brutus and Cicero — LIX. Opening of Cæsar’s will; family and character of Augustus — LX-LXI. Dissensions and war between Cæsar and Antony — LXII Provinces decreed to Brutus and Cassius by the senate; Cæsar slighted — LXIII. Antony joins the army of Lepidus — LXIV. Death of Decimus Brutus; banishment of Cicero — LXV. The second Triumvirate — LXVI. Another proscription; death of Cicero — LXVII. Conduct of the Romans at the time of the proscription — LXVIII. Of Cælius and Milo; of the clemency of Cæsar — LXIX. Of Dolabella, Vatinius, and the Pædian law — LXX. Proceedings of Brutus and Cassius; they are slain in the battle of Philippi — LXXI-LXXII. Consequences of the battle — LXXIII. Of Sextus Pompeius — LXXIV-LXXV. Of Antony, Cæsar, and Livia — LXXVI. Of Caius Velleius and Fulvia; peace between Cæsar and Antony — LXXVII. Peace with Sextus Pompeius — LXXVIII. Antony marries Octavia, Cæsar’s sister; Labienus overthrown — LXXIX. War resumed with Sextus Pompeius; Cæsar marries Livia — LXXX. Degradation of Lepidus — LXXXI. Cæsar suppresses a mutiny in the army — LXXXII. Antony invades Parthia — LXXXIII. Of Plancus — LXXXIV-LXXXVI. Battle of Actium, and what immediately followed it — LXXXVII. Death of Antony — LXXXVIII. Conspiracy, death, and character of Lepidus — LXXXIX. Cæsar’s triumphs and plans of government — XC. Reduction of Spain and Dalmatia — XCI. Roman ensigns recovered from the Parthians — XCII. Of Sentius Saturninus — XCIII. Of Marcellus and Agrippa — XCIV-XCVII. Expeditions of Tiberius and Drusus; death of Drusus — XCVIII. The Thracian war — XCIX. Tiberius retires to Rhodes — C. Hostilities resumed in Parthia and Germany; excesses of Julia — CI-CII. Caius Cæsar in Parthia; his death — CIII-CIV. Tiberius and Agrippa adopted by Augustus — CV-CIX. Acts of Tiberius in Germany — CX. Insurrection in Dalmatia — CXI-CXV. Proceedings of Tiberius against the Dalmatians and Pannonians; both are subdued — CXVI. Of some who were distinguished in this war — CXVII. Loss of the legions in Germany under Varus — CXVIII-CXIX. Of Arminius; death of Varus — CXX-CXXII. Tiberius conducts the German war; his triumphs — CXXIII. Death of Augustus — CXXIV. Tiberius succeeds him — CXXV. Mutiny in Germany and Illyricum suppressed — CXXVI. Government of Tiberius — CXXVII-CXXVIII. Of Sejanus — CXXIX-CXXX. Observations on Tiberius — CXXXI. Prayer for the prosperity of Rome.

  I

  The former Scipio had opened for the Romans the way to power; the latter1 opened that to luxury. For when their dread of Carthage was at an end, and their rival in empire was removed, the nation, deserting the cause of virtue, went over, not gradually, but with precipitation, to that of vice; the old rules of conduct were renounced, and new introduced; and the people turned themselves from activity to slumber, from arms to pleasure, from business to idleness. Then it was that Scipio built porticos on the Capitol; that Metellus erected those before mentioned2; and that Cnæus Octavius raised that pre-eminently delightful one in the Circus; and private luxury soon followed public magnificence.

  There soon succeeded a lamentable and disgraceful war in Spain, conducted by Viriathus, a captain of banditti; which, though it proceeded with various changes of fortune, was oftener adverse than favourable to the Romans. And Viriathus, rather through the treachery than valour of Servilius Cæpio, being killed, a still more violent war with Numantia burst forth. This city never had under arms more than ten thousand of its inhabitants, yet, whether from the obstinacy of their spirit, the inexperience of our generals, or the caprice of fortune, it compelled both Pompeius, a man of great reputation, (the first of the name who held the consulship,) to sign a treaty of peace on most dishonourable terms, and the consul Mancinus Hostilius to make another not less mean and disgraceful. Interest secured Pompey from punishment; but the modesty of Mancinus, by shrinking from no penalty3, led to his being surrendered by heralds to the enemy, stripped of his robes, and with his hands tied behind his back. But the Numantines, acting like the people of Caudium in former times, refused to receive him, saying that a public violation of faith was not to be expiated by the blood of an individual.

  II

  This surrender of Mancinus excited violent dissensions in the state. For Tiberius Gracchus, (son of a most illustrious and eminent citizen, and grandson, on his mother’s side, of Publius Africanus,) who had been quæstor at the time, and by whose encouragement that treaty had been concluded, was both grievously offended at the annulling of it, and entertained apprehensions for himself of a similar sentence or punishment; from which causes, though in his other conduct a man of the strictest integrity, endowed with the highest abilities, and pure and upright in his intentions, in short, adorned with every virtue of which man when perfected both by nature and cultivation is susceptible, he, on being appointed tribune of the people in the consulate of Publius Mutius Scævola and Lucius Calpurnius, a hundred and sixty-two years ago, deserted the worthy party, and by promising the rights of citizens to all the inhabitants of Italy, and proposing at the same time agrarian laws, threw all things, while all men were eager to secure a footing in the state4, into the utmost confusion, and brought the Commonwealth into imminent danger, of which it was for some time doubtful what would be the event. Octavius, one of his colleagues, who stood up in defence of the public good, he compelled to resign his office, and procured the election of himself, his father-in-law Appius, who had been consul, and his brother Gracchus, then very young, as commissioners to distribute lands, and settle colonies.

  III

  On this, Publius Scipio Nasica, grandson of him who had been pronounced by the senate the best man in the state, son of him who in his censorship had built the porticos to the Capitol, and great grandson of Cnæus Scipio, a man of very illustrious character, uncle of Publius Africanus; this Scipio, I say, though not invested with any military or public office, and though he was cousin to Tiberius Gracchus, yet, preferring his country to family connexion, and considering whatever injured the public as hurtful to each individual, (for which merits he was afterwards, in his absence, created chief pontiff; the first instance of the kind,) wrapped the lappet of his gown round his left arm, and mounted to the upper part of the Capitol; where, standing on the summit of the steps, he called on all that desired the safety of the Commonwealth to follow him. Immediately the chief of the nobility, the senate, the greater and better part of the equestrian body, and such plebeians as were unallured by the pernicious views of the Gracchi, rushed together against Gracchus, who, with some bands of his partisans, was standing in the court, haranguing a concourse of people from almost every part of Italy. Betaking himself to flight, he was struck, as he was running down the descent from the Capitol, with a piece of a broken bench, and thus prematurely closed a life which he might have passed with the greatest honour. This was the commencement of civil bloodshed, and of impunity to the sword, in Rome. Henceforward right was oppressed by strength; the more powerful were the more highly esteemed; disputes between citizens, which were formerly settled on amicable terms, were decided by the sword; and wars were undertaken, not for honourable
reasons, but from prospects of gain. Nor can this excite our wonder; for examples do not stop where they begin; but, if allowed to spread through a channel ever so narrow, make way for themselves to any extent; and, when men have once deviated from the right path, they are hurried headlong into wrong; and no one thinks that dishonourable to himself which is gainful to another.

  IV

  During the course of these transactions in Italy, Aristonicus, who, on the death of king Attalus, by whom Asia had been bequeathed to the people of Rome, (as Bithynia was afterwards bequeathed to them by Nicomedes,) pretending to be sprung from the royal family, had seized the government by force of arms, was conquered, and led in triumph by Marcus Perperna, and afterwards put to death by Manius Aquilius, for having, at the commencement of hostilities, killed the proconsul Crassus Mucianus, a man eminent for his knowledge of the law, as he was on his journey out of the country.

  After so many defeats experienced at Numantia, Publius Scipio Africanus Æmilianus, the destroyer of Carthage, being elected a second time consul, and sent into Spain, supported in that country the character for conduct and success that he had acquired in Africa, and within a year and three months after his arrival levelled Numantia, after surrounding and shaking it with batteries, to the ground. Nor did any man of any nation, before his time, consecrate his name to perpetual remembrance by a more remarkable destruction of cities; for, by the overthrow of Carthage and Numantia, he freed us from the dread of the one, and from the dishonour that we suffered from the other. It was this Scipio, who, being asked by Carbo, a tribune, what he thought of the killing of Tiberius Gracchus, replied, that if he had any thought of usurping the government, he was justly slain; and, when the whole assembly cried out against him, he exclaimed, “After having so often heard, without fear, the shouts of armed enemies, how can I be alarmed at the cries of such as you, to whom Italy is but a stepmother5?”