Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus

by Velleius Paterculus

  [23] (1) Cinna then entered upon his second consulship, and Marius upon his seventh, only to bring dishonour upon his former six. An illness which came upon Marius at the very beginning of his year of office ended the life of this man, who, impatient as he was of tranquillity, was as dangerous to his fellow-citizens in peace as he had been in war to Rome’s enemies. (2) In his place was chosen as consul suffectus Valerius Flaccus, the author of a most disgraceful law, by which he had ordained that one-fourth only of a debt should be paid to the creditors, an act for which a well-deserved punishment overtook him within two years. (3) During this time, while Cinna held the reins of power in Italy, a large proportion of the nobles took refuge with Sulla in Achaea, and afterwards in Asia.

  In the meantime Sulla fought with the generals of Mithridates at Athens, in Boeotia, and in Macedonia with such success that he recovered Athens, and, after surmounting many difficulties in overcoming the manifold fortifications of Piraeus, slew more than two hundred thousand of the enemy and made prisoners of as many more. (4) If anyone regards this period of rebellion, during which Athens suffered siege at the hands of Sulla, as a breach of good faith on the part of the Athenians, he shows a strange ignorance of the facts of history; for so constant was the loyalty of the Athenians towards the Romans that always and invariably, whenever the Romans referred to any act of unqualified loyalty, they called it an example of “Attic faith.” (5) But at this time, overwhelmed as they were by the arms of Mithridates, the Athenians were in a most unhappy plight. Held in subjection by their enemies and besieged by their friends, although in obedience to necessity they kept their bodies within the walls, their hearts were outside their fortifications. (6) After the capture of Athens Sulla crossed into Asia, where he found Mithridates submissive to all his demands and in the attitude of a suppliant. He compelled him, after paying a fine in money and giving up half his fleet, to evacuate Asia and all the other provinces which he had seized; he also secured the return of all prisoners, inflicted punishment upon deserters and others who had been in any way culpable, and obliged Mithridates to be satisfied with the boundaries of his inheritance, that is to say, with Pontus.

  XXIV

  C.Flavius Fimbria, qui praefectus equitum ante adventum Sullae Valerium Flaccum consularem virum interfecerat exercituque occupato imperator appellatus forti Mithridatem pepulerat proelio, sub adventu Sullae se ipse interemit, adulescens, quae pessime ausus erat, fortiter executus. Eodem anno P. Laenas tribunus plebis Sex.Lucilium, qui priore anno tribunus plebis fuerat, saxo Tarpeio deiecit, et cum collegae eius, quibus diem dixerat, metu ad Sullam profugissent, aqua ignique iis interdixit. Tum Sulla compositis transmarinis rebus, cum ad eum primum omnium Romanorum legati Parthorum venissent, et in iis quidam magi ex notis corporis respondissent caelestem eius vitam et memoriam futuram, revectus in Italiam haud plura quam triginta armatorum milia adversum ducenta amplius hostium exposuit Brundusii. Vix quidquam in Sullae operibus clarius duxerim, quam quod cum per triennium Cinnanae Marianaeque partes Italiam obsiderent, neque inlaturum se bellum iis dissimulavit nec quod erat in manibus omisit, existimavitque ante frangendum hostem quam ulciscendum civem, repulsoque externo metu, ubi quod alienum esset vicisset, superaret quod erat domesticum. Ante adventum L.Sullae Cinna seditione orta ab exercitu interemptus est, vir dignior, qui arbitrio victorum moreretur quam iracundia militum. De quo vere dici potest, ausum esse eum quae nemo auderet bonus, perfecisse quae a nullo nisi fortissimo perfici possent, et fuisse eum in consultando temerarium, in exequendo virum. Carbo nullo suffecto collega solus toto anno consul fuit.

  [24] (1) Before the arrival of Sulla, Gaius Flavius Fimbria, prefect of horse, had put to death Valerius Flaccus, a man of consular rank, had taken command of his army, by which he was saluted as imperator, and had succeeded in defeating Mithridates in battle. Now, on the eve of Sulla’s arrival, he took his own life. He was a young man who, however reprehensible his bold designs might be, at any rate executed them with bravery. (2) In the same year Publius Laenas, tribune of the people, threw Sextus Lucilius, tribune of the previous year, from the Tarpeian rock. When his colleagues, whom he also indicted, fled in fear to Sulla, he had a decree of banishment passed against them.

  (3) Sulla had now settled affairs across the sea. There came to him ambassadors of the Parthians — he was the first of the Romans to be so honoured — and among them some wise men who, from the marks on his body, foretold that his life and his fame would be worthy of a god. Returning to Italy he landed at Brundisium, having not more than thirty thousand men to face more than two hundred thousand of the enemy. (4) Of all the exploits of Sulla there is nothing that I should consider more noteworthy than that, during the three years in which the party of Marius and Cinna were continuously masters of Italy, he never hid from them his intention to wage war on them, but at the same time he did not interrupt the war which he then had on his hands. He considered that his duty was to crush the enemy before taking vengeance upon citizens, and that after he had repelled the menace of the foreigner and won a victory in this way abroad, he should then prove himself the master in a war at home. (5) Before Luciusº Sulla’s arrival Cinna was slain in a mutiny of his army. He was a man who deserved to die by the sentence of his victorious enemies rather than at the hands of his angry soldiers. Of him one can truly say that he formed daring plans, such as no good citizen would have conceived, and that he accomplished what none but a most resolute man could have accomplished, and that he was foolhardy enough in the formulation of his plans, but in their execution a man. Carbo remained sole consul throughout the year without electing a colleague in the place of Cinna.

  XXV

  Putares Sullam venisse in Italiam non belli vindicem, sed pacis auctorem: tanta cum quiete exercitum per Calabriam Apuliamque cum singulari cura frugum, agrorum, hominum, urbium perduxit in Campaniam temptavitque iustis legibus et aequis condicionibus bellum componere; sed iis, quibus et res pessima et immodica cupiditas erat, non poterat pax placere. Crescebat interim in dies Sullae exercitus confluentibus ad eum optimo quoque et sanissimo. Felici deinde circa Capuam eventu Scipionem Norbanumque consules superat, quorum Norbanus acie victus, Scipio ab exercitu suo desertus ac proditus inviolatus a Sulla dimissus est. Adeo enim Sulla dissimilis fuit bellator ac victor, ut dum vincit, mitis ac iustissimo lenior, post victoriam audito fuerit crudelior. Nam et consulem, ut praediximus, exarmatum Quintumque Sertorium, pro quanti mox belli facem! et multos alios, potitus eorum, dimisit incolumes, credo ut in eodem homine duplicis ac diversissimi animi conspiceretur exemplum. Post victoriam — namque ascendens montem Tifata cum C. Norbano concurrerat — Sulla gratis Dianae, cuius numini regio illa sacrata est, solvit; aquas salubritate medendisque corporibus nobiles agrosque omnis addixit deae. Huius gratae religionis memoriam et inscriptio templi adfixa posti hodieque et tabula testatur aerea intra aedem.

  [25] (1) One would think that Sulla had come to Italy, not as the champion of war but as the establisher of peace, so quietly did he lead his army through Calabria and Apulia into Campania, taking unusual care not to inflict damage on crops, fields, men, or cities, and such efforts did he make to end the war on just terms and fair conditions. But peace could not be to the liking of men whose cause was wicked and whose cupidity was unbounded. (2) In the meantime Sulla’s army was daily growing, for all the better and saner citizens flocked to his side. By a fortunate issue of events he overcame the consuls Scipio and Norbanus near Capua. Norbanus was defeated in battle, while Scipio, deserted and betrayed by his army, was allowed by Sulla to go unharmed. (4) So different was Sulla the warrior from Sulla the victor that, while his victory was in progress he was mild and more lenient than was reasonable, but after it was won his cruelty was unprecedented. For instance, as we have already said, he disarmed the consul and let him go, and after gaining possession of many leaders including Quintus Sertorius, so soon to become the firebrand of a great war, he dismissed them unharmed. The reason, I suppose, was that we might have a notable example of a double and utterly contradic
tory personality in one and the same man.

  It was while Sulla was ascending Mount Tifata that he had encountered Gaius Norbanus. After his victory over him he paid a vow of gratitude to Diana, to whom that region is sacred, and consecrated to the goddess the waters renowned for their salubrity and water to heal, as well as all the lands in the vicinity. The record of this pleasing act of piety is witnessed to this day by an inscription on the door of the temple, and a bronze tablet within the edifice.

  XXVI

  Deinde consules Carbo tertium et C.Marius, septiens consulis filius, annos natus sex et viginti, vir animi magis quam aevi paterni, multa fortiterque molitus neque usquam inferior nomine suo. Is apud Sacriportum pulsus a Sulla acie Praeneste, quod ante natura munitum praesidiis firmaverat, se exercitumque contulit. Ne quid usquam malis publicis deesset, in qua civitate semper virtutibus certatum erat, certabatur sceleribus, optimusque sibi videbatur, qui fuerat pessimus. Quippe dum ad Sacriportum dimicatur, Damasippus praetor Domitium consularem, Scaevolam Mucium, pontificem maximum et divini humanique iuris auctorem celeberrimum, et C. Carbonem praetorium, consulis fratrem, et Antistium aedilicium velut faventis Sullae partibus in curia Hostilia trucidavit. Non perdat nobilissimi facti gloriam Calpurnia, Bestiae filia, uxor Antistii, quae iugulato, ut praediximus, viro gladio se ipsa transfixit. Quantum huius gloriae famaeque accessit nunc virtute feminae! nec propria latet.

  [26] (1) Carbo now became consul for the third time, in conjunction with Gaius Marius, now aged twenty-six, the son of a father who had been seven times consul. He was a man who showed his father’s spirit, though not destined to reach his years, who displayed great fortitude in the many enterprises he undertook, and never belied the name. Defeated by Sulla at Sacriportus he retired with his army to Praeneste, which town, though already strong by nature, he had strengthened by a garrison.

  (2) In order that nothing should be lacking to the calamities of the state, in Rome, a city in which there had already been rivalry in virtues, there was now a rivalry in crimes, and that man now regarded himself as the best citizen who had formerly been the worst. While the battle was being fought at Sacriportus, within the city the praetor Damasippus murdered in the Curia Hostilia, as supposed partisans of Sulla, Domitius, a man of consular rank; Scaevola Mucius, pontifex maximus and famous author of works on religious and civil law; Gaius Carbo, a former praetor, and brother of the consul, and Antistius, a former aedile. (3) May Calpurnia, the daughter of Bestia and wife of Antistius, never lose the glory of a noble deed; for, when her husband was put to death, as I have just said, she pierced her own breast with the sword. What increment has his glory and fame received through this brave act of a woman! and yet his own name is by no means obscure.

  XXVII

  At Pontius Telesinus, dux Samnitium, vir domi bellique fortissimus penitusque Romano nomini infestissimus, contractis circiter quadraginta milibus fortissimae pertinacissimaeque in retinendis armis iuventutis, Carbone ac Mario consulibus abhinc annos centum et novem Kal. Novembribus ita ad portam Collinam cum Sulla dimicavit, ut ad summum discrimen et eum et rem publicam perduceret, quae non maius periculum adiit Hannibalis intra tertium miliarium castra conspicata, quam eo die, quo circumvolans ordines exercitus sui Telesinus dictitansque adesse Romanis ultimum diem vociferabatur eruendam delendamque urbem, adiiciens numquam defuturos raptores Italicae libertatis lupos, nisi silva, in quam refugere solerent, esset excisa. Post primam demum horam noctis et Romana acies respiravit et hostium cessit. Telesinus postera die semianimis repertus est, victoris magis quam morientis vultum praeferens, cuius abscisum caput ferro figi gestarigue circa Praeneste Sulla iussit. Tum demum desperatis rebus suis C.Marius adulescens per cuniculos, qui miro opere fabricati in diversas agrorum partis ferebant, conatus erumpere, cum foramine e terra emersisset, a dispositis in id ipsum interemptus est. Sunt qui sua manu, sunt qui concurrentem mutuis ictibus cum minore fratre Telesini una obsesso et erumpente occubuisse prodiderint. Utcumque cecidit, hodieque tanta patris imagine non obscuratur eius memoria. De quo iuvene quid existimaverit Sulla, in promptu est; occiso enim demum eo Felicis nomen adsumpsit, quod quidem usurpasset iustissime, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem habuisset. Oppugnationi autem Praenestis ac Marii praefuerat Ofella Lucretius, qui cum antea Marianarum fuisset partium praetor, ad Sullam transfugerat. Felicitatem diei, quo Samnitium Telesinique pulsus est exercitus, Sulla perpetua ludorum circensium honoravit memoria, qui sub eius nomine Sullanae Victoriae celebrantur.

  [27] (1) While Carbo and Marius were still consuls, one hundred and nine years ago, on the Kalends of November, Pontius Telesinus, a Samnite chief, brave in spirit and in action and hating to the core the very name of Rome, having collected about him forty thousand of the bravest and most steadfast youth who still persisted in retaining arms, fought with Sulla, near the Colline gate, a battle so critical as to bring both Sulla and the city into the gravest peril. (2) Rome had not faced a greater danger when she saw the camp of Hannibal within the third milestone, than on this day when Telesinus went about from rank to rank exclaiming: “The last day is at hand for the Romans,” and in a loud voice exhorted his men to overthrow and destroy their city, adding: “These wolves that made such ravages upon Italian liberty will never vanish until we have cut down the forest that harbours them.” (3) It was only after the first hour of the night that the Roman army was able to recover its breath, and the enemy retired. The next day Telesinus was found in a half-dying condition, but with the expression of a conqueror upon his face rather than that of a dying man. Sulla ordered his severed head to be fixed upon a spear point and carried around the walls of Praeneste.

  (4) The young Marius, now at last despairing of his cause, endeavoured to make his way out of Praeneste through the tunnels, wrought with great engineering skill, which led into the fields in different directions; but, on emerging from the exit, he was cut off by men who had been stationed there for that purpose. (5) Some authorities have asserted that he died by his own hand, some that he died in company with the younger brother of Telesinus, who was also besieged and was endeavouring to escape with him, and that each ran upon the other’s sword. Whatever the manner of his death, his memory is not obscured even to‑day by the great figure of his father. Sulla’s estimate of the young man is manifest; for it was only after he was slain that he took the name of Felix, a name which he would have been completely justified in assuming had his life ended with his victory.

  (6) The siege of Marius in Praeneste was directed by Ofella Lucretius, who had been a general on the Marian side but had deserted to Sulla. Sulla commemorated the great good fortune which fell to him on this day by instituting an annual festival of games held in the circus, which are still celebrated as the games of Sulla’s victory.

  XXVIII

  Paulo ante quam Sulla ad Sacriportum dimicaret, magnificis proeliis partium eius viri hostium exercitum fuderant, duo Servilii apud Clusium, Metellus Pius apud Faventiam, M.Lucullus circa Fidentiam. Videbantur finita belli civilis mala, cum Sullae crudelitate aucta sunt. Quippe dictator creatus (cuius honoris usurpatio per annos centum et viginti intermissa; nam proximus post annum quam Hannibal Italia excesserat, uti adpareat populum Romanum usum dictatoris ut in metu desiderasse tali quo timuisset potestatem) imperio, quo priores ad vindicandam maximis periculis rem publicam olim usi erant, eo in inmodicae crudelitatis licentiam usus est. Primus ille, et utinam ultimus, exemplum proscriptionis invenit, ut in qua civitate petulantis convicii iudicium histrioni ex albo redditur, in ea iugulati civis Romani publice constitueretur auctoramentum, plurimumque haberet, qui plurimos interemisset, neque occisi hostis quam civis uberius foret praemium fieretque quisque merces mortis suae. Nec tantum in eos, qui contra arma tulerant, sed in multos insontis saevitum. Adiectum etiam, ut bona proscriptorum venirent exclusique paternis opibus liberi etiam petendorum honorum iure prohiberentur simulque, quod indignissimum est, senatorum filii et onera ordinis sustinerent et iura perderent.

  [28] (1) Shortly before Sulla’s victory at Sacriportus, several le
aders of his party had routed the enemy in successful engagements; the two Servilii at Clusium, Metellus Pius at Faventia, and Marcus Lucullus in the vicinity of Fidentia.

  (2) The terrors of the civil war seemed nearly at an end when they received fresh impetus from the cruelty of Sulla. Being made dictator (the office had been obsolete for one hundred and twenty years, and had been last employed in the year after Hannibal’s departure from Italy; it is therefore clear that the fear which caused the Roman people to feel the need of a dictator was outweighed by the fear of his excessive power) Sulla now wielded with unbridled cruelty the powers which former dictators had employed only to save their country in times of extreme danger. (3) He was the first to set the precedent for proscription — would that he had been the last! The result was that in the very state in which an actor who had been hissed from the stage has legal redress for wilful abuse, a premium for the murder of a citizen was now publicly announced; that the richest man was he who had slain the greatest number; that the bounty for slaying an enemy was no greater than that for slaying a citizen; and that each man became the prize set up for his own death. (4) Nor was vengeance wreaked upon those alone who had borne arms against him, but on many innocents as well. In addition the goods of the proscribed were sold, and their children were not only deprived of their fathers’ property but were also debarred from the right of seeking public office, and to cap the climax of injustice, the sons of senators were compelled to bear the burdens and yet lose the rights pertaining to their rank.