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PLUTARCH'S LIVES,
THE
TRANSLATED
FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK;
WITH
NOTES, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL;
AND
A LIFE
OF
PLUTARCH.
BY
JOHN LANGHORNE, M.D., AND WILLIAM
LANGHORNE, M.A.
CAREFULLY CORRECTED, AND PRINTED FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION
IN TOUR
VOLUMES.
VOL. I
WOLUNUN
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET
1 8 4 1.


Recaf Jan 13 28 BF
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
PAGE
1
.
:
29
57
91
96
132
161
167
200
Plutarch
Theseus
::::
Romulus
Romulus and Theseus compared
Lycurgus
Numa
Numa and Lycurgus compared
Solon
Publicola
Solon and Publicola compared
(Themistocles
Camillus
Pericles
Fabius Maximus
Pericles and Fabius Maximus compared
Alcibiades
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
Alcibiades and Coriolanus compared
.
221
225
258
296
334
361
364
403
436


TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD FOLKESTONE.
MY LORD,
The style and genius of dedications, in general,
have neither done honour to the patron nor to the
author. Sensible of this, we intended to have
published a work, which has been the labour of
years, without the usual mode of soliciting pro-
tection. An accident has brought us into the
number of dedicators. Had not you accompanied
your noble father to our humble retreat, we should
still have been unacquainted with your growing
virtues,
your extraordinary erudition, and per-
fect knowledge of the Greek language and learn-
ing; and Plutarch would have remained as he did
in his retirement at Chæronea, where he sought
no patronage but in the bosom of philosophy.
Accept, my Lord, this honest token of respect,
from men, who, equally independent and unam-
1*

IV
DEDICATION.
bitious, wish only for the countenance of genius
and friendship. Praise, my Lord, is the usual
language of dedications: But will our praise be
of value to you? —Will any praise be of value
to you, but that of your own heart? Follow the
example of the EARL OF RADNOR, your illustrious
father. Like him maintain that temperate spirit
of policy, which consults the dignity of govern-
ment, while it supports the liberty of the subject.
But we put into your hands the best of political
preceptors,—a preceptor who trained to virtue
the greatest monarch upon earth; and, by giving
happiness to the world, enjoyed a pleasure some-
thing like that of the Benevolent Being who
created it. We are, MY LORD,
Your LORDSHIP's
Most obedient, and
Very humble Servanw,
J. & W. LANGHORNE

PREFACE.
If the merit of a work may be estimated from
the universality of its reception, Plutarch's Lives
have a claim to the first honours of literature. No
book has been more generally sought after, or read
with greater avidity. It was one of the first that
were brought out of the retreats of the learned, and
translated into the modern languages. Amiot,
Abbé of Bellozane, published a French translation
of it in the reign of Henry II.; and from that work
it was translated into English, in the time of queen
Elizabeth.
It is said by those who are not willing to allow
Shakspeare much learning, that he availed him-
self of the last-mentioned translation, but they
seem to forget, that, in order to support their argu-
ments of this kind, it is necessary for them to prove
that Plato, too, was translated into English at the
same time; for the celebrated soliloquy, “ To be,
or not to be,” is taken, almost verbatim, from that
philosopher; yet we have never found that Plato
was translated in those times.
Amiot was a man of great industry and conside-
rable learning. He sought diligently in the libra-
ries of Rome and Venice for those Lives of Plutarch
which are lost; and though his search was unsuc-
cessful, it had this good effect, that, by meeting
with a variety of manuscripts, and comparing them
with the printed copies, he was enabled, in many

viii
PREFACE.
places, to rectify the text. This was a very essen-
tial circumstance; for few ancient writers had
suffered more than Plutarch from the carelessness
of printers and transcribers; and, with all his
merit, it was his fate, for a long time, to find no
able restorer. The schoolmen despised his Greek,
because it had not the purity of Xenophon, nor the
Attic terseness of Aristophanes; and, on that ac-
count, very unreasonably bestowed their labours
on those that wanted them less. Amiot's transla-
tion was published in the year 1558; but no re-
putable edition of the Greek text of Plutarch
appeared till that of Paris in 1624. The above-
mentioned translation, however, though drawn
from an imperfect text, passed through many edi-
tions, and was still read, till Dacier, under better
auspices, and in better times, attempted a new one,
which he executed with great elegance, and tole-
rable accuracy. The text he followed was not so
correct as might have been wished; for the London
edition of Plutarch was not then published. How-
ever, the French language being at that time in
great perfection, and the fashionable language of
almost every court in Europe, Dacier's translation
came not only into the libraries, but into the hands
of men. Plutarch was universally read, and no
book in those times had a more extensive sale, or
went through a greater number of impressions.
The translator had, indeed, acquitted himself in
one respect with great happiness. His book was
not found to be French Greek. He had carefully
followed that rule, which no translator ought ever
to lose sight of, the great rule of humouring the
genius, and maintaining the structure of his.own
language. For this purpose he frequently broke
the long and embarrassed periods of the Greek;
and by dividing and shortening them in his transla-

PREFACE.
ix
tion, he gave them greater perspicuity, and a more
easy movement. Yet still he was faithful to his
original; and where he did not mistake him,
which, indeed, he seldom did, conveyed his ideas
with clearness, though not without verbosity. His
translation had another distinguished advantage.
He enriched it with a variety of explanatory notes.
There are so many readers who have no competent
acquaintance with the customs of antiquity, the
laws of the ancient states, the ceremonies of their
religion, and the remoter and minuter parts of their
history and genealogy, that to have an account of
these matters ever before the eye, and to travel
with a guide who is ready to describe to us every
object we are unacquainted with, is a privilege
equally convenient and agreeable. But here the
annotator ought to have stopped. Satisfied with
removing the difficulties usually arising in the cir-
cumstances above-mentioned, he should not have
swelled his pages with idle declamations on trite
morals, and obvious sentiments. Amiot's margins,
indeed, are every where crowded with such. In
those times they followed the method of the old
divines, which was to make practical improve-
ments of every matter; but it is somewhat strange
that Dacier, who wrote in a more enlightened age,
should fall into that beaten track of insipid moraliz-
ing, and be at pains to say what every one must
know. Perhaps, as the commentator of Plutarch,
he considered himself as a kind of travelling com-
panion to the reader; and, agreeably to the man-
ners of his country, he meant to show his politeness
by never holding his peace. The apology he makes
for deducing and detailing these flat precepts, is
the view of instructing younger minds. He had
not philosophy enough to consider, that to antici-
pate the conclusions of such minds, in their pursuit
VOL. I.
B

X
PREFACE.
of history and characters, is to prevent their proper
effect. When examples are placed before them,
they will not fail to make right inferences; but if
those are made for them, the didactic air of infor-
mation destroys their influence.
After the old English translation of Plutarch,
which was professedly taken from Amiot's French,
no other appeared till the time of Dryden. That
great man, who is never to be mentioned without
pity and admiration, was prevailed upon, by his
necessities, to head a company of translators, and
to lend the sanction of his glorious name to a trans-
lation of Plutarch, written, as he himself acknow-
ledges, by almost as many hands as there were
lives. That this motley work was full of errors,
inequalities, and inconsistencies, is not in the least
to be wondered at. Of such a variety of transla-
tors, it would have been very singular if some had
not failed in learning, and some in language. The
truth is, that the greatest part of them were defi-
cient in both. Indeed, their task was not easy.
To translate Plutarch, under any circumstances,
would require no ordinary skill in the language and
antiquities of Greece; but to attempt it whilst the
text was in a depraved state; unsettled and unrec-
tified ; abounding with errors, misnomers, and
transpositions; this required much greater abilities
than fell to the lot of that body of translators in
general. It appears, however, from the execution
of their undertaking, that they gave themselves no
great concern about the difficulties that attended
it. Some few blundered at the Greek; some drew
from the Scholiast's Latin; and others, more hum-
ble, trod scrupulously in the paces of Amiot. Thus
copying the idioms of different languages, they pro-
ceeded
like the workmen at Babel, and fell into a
confusion of tongues, while they attempted to

PREFACE.
xi
speak the same. But the diversities of style were
not the greatest faults of this strange translation.
It was full of the grossest errors. Ignorance on the
one hand, and hastiness or negligence on the other,
had filled it with absurdities in every life, and in-
accuracies in almost every page. The language,
in general, was insupportably tame, tedious, and
embarrassed. The periods had no harmony; the
phraseology had no elegance, no spirit, no precision.
Yet this is the last translation of Plutarch's Lives
that has appeared in the English language, and the
only one that is now read.
It must be owned, that when Dacier's translation
came abroad, the proprietor of Dryden's copy en-
deavoured to repair it. But how was this done?
Not by the application of learned men, who might
have rectified the errors by consulting the original,
but by a mean recourse to the labours of Dacier.
Where the French translator had differed from the
English, the opinions of the latter were religiously
given up; and sometimes a period, and sometimes
a page, were translated anew from Dacier; while,
in due compliment to him, the idiom of his lan-
guage, and every tour d'expression, were most scru-
pulously preserved. Nay, the editors of that edi-
tion, which was published in 1727, did more.
They not only paid Dacier the compliment of
mixing his French with their English, but while
they borrowed his notes, they adopted even the
most frivolous and superfluous comments that
escaped his pen.
Thus the English Plutarch's Lives, at first so
heterogeneous and absurd, received but little benefit
from this whimsical reparation. Dacier's best
notes were, indeed, of some value; but the patch-
work alterations the editors had drawn from his
translation, made their book appear still more like

xii
PREFACE.
Otway's Old Woman, whose gown of many co-
lours spoke
variety of wretchedness.
This translation continued in the same form up-
wards of thirty years. But in the year 1758, the
proprietor engaged a gentleman of abilities, very
different from those who had formerly been em-
ployed, to give it a second purgation. He suc-
ceeded as well as it was possible for any man of
the best judgment and learning to succeed, in an
attempt of that nature; that is to say, he rectified
a multitude of errors, and in many places endea-
voured to mend the miserable language. Two of
the Lives he translated anew; and this he executed
in such a manner, that, had he done the whole, the
present translators would never have thought of
the undertaking. But two Lives out of fifty made
a very small part of this great work; and though
he rectified many errors in the old translation, yet,
where almost every thing was error, it is no won-
der if many escaped him. This was indeed the
case. In the course of our Notes, we had remarked
a great number; but, apprehensive that such a con-
tinual attention to the faults of a former translation
might appear invidious, we expunged the greatest
part of the remarks, and suffered such only to re-
main as might testify the propriety of our present
undertaking. Besides, though the ingenious reviser
of the edition of 1758 might repair the language
where it was most palpably deficient, it was im-
possible for him to alter the cast and complexion
of the whole. It would still retain its inequalities,
its tameness, and heavy march; its mixture of
idioms, and the irksome train of far-connected pe-
riods. These it still retains; and, after all the ope-
rations it has gone through, remains

PREFACE.
xili
Like some patch'd dog-hole, eked with ends of wall!
In this view of things the necessity of a new trans-
lation is obvious; and the hazard does not appear
to be great. With such competitors for the public
favour, the contest has neither glory nor danger
attending it. But the labour and attention neces-
sary, as well to secure as to obtain that favour, nei-
ther are nor ought to be less; and with whatever
success the present translators may be thought to
have executed their undertaking, they will always
at least have the merit of a diligent desire to dis-
charge this public duty faithfully.
Where the text of Plutarch appeared to them
erroneous, they have spared no pains, and neglected
no means in their power, to rectify it.
Sensible that the great art of a translator is to
prevent the peculiarities of his author's language.
from stealing into his own, they have been particu-
larly attentive to this point, and have generally
endeavoured to keep their English unmixed with
Greek. At the same time, it must be observed,
that there is frequently a great similarity in the
structure of the two languages; yet that resem-
blance, in some instances, makes it more necessary
to guard against it on the whole. This care is of
the greater consequence, because Plutarch's Lives
generally pass through the hands of young people,
who ought to read their own language in its native
purity, unmixed and untainted with the idioms of
different tongues. For their sakes, too, as well as
for the sake of readers of a different class, we have
omitted some passages in the text, and have only
signified the omission by asterisms. Some, per-
haps, may censure us for taking too great a liberty
with our author in this circumstance. However,
we must beg leave, in that instance, to abide by our
2

xiv
PREFACE.
Could every
own opinion; and sure we are, that we should have
censured no translator for the same.
thing of that kind have been omitted, we should
have been still less dissatisfied; but sometimes the
chain of the narrative would not admit of it, and
the disagreeable parts were to be got over with as
much decency as possible.
In the descriptions of battles, camps, and sieges,
it is more than probable that we may sometimes be
mistaken in the military terms. We have endea-
voured, however, to be as accurate in this respect as
possible, and to acquaint ourselves with this kind
of knowledge as well as our situations would per-
mit; but we will not promise the reader that we
have always succeeded. Where something seemed
to have fallen out of the text, or where the ellipsis
was too violent for the forms of our language, we
have not scrupled to maintain the tenor of the nar-
rative, or the chain of reason, by such little inser-
tions as appeared to be necessary for the purpose.
These short insertions we at first put between
hooks; but as that deformed the page, without an-
swering any material purpose, we soon rejected it.
Such are the liberties we have taken with Plu-
tarch; and the learned, we flatter ourselves, will
not think them too great. Yet there is one more,
which, if we could have presumed upon it, would
have made his book infinitely more uniform and
agreeable. We often wished to throw out of the
text into the notes those tedious and digressive com-
ments that spoil the beauty and order of his narra-
tive, mortify the expectation, frequently when it is
most essentially interested; and destroy the natural
influence of his story, by turning the attention into
a different channel. What, for instance, can be
more irksome and impertinent, than a long disser-

PREFACE.
tation on a point of natural philosophy starting up
at the very crisis of some important action? Every
reader of Plutarch must have felt the pain of these
unseasonable digressions; but we could not, upon
our own pleasure or authority, remove them.
In the Notes we have prosecuted these several
intentions. We have endeavoured to bring the
English reader acquainted with the Greek and
Roman antiquities; where Plutarch had omitted
any thing remarkable in the Lives, to supply it
from other authors, and to make his book in some
measure a general history of the periods under his
pen. In the Notes, too, we have assigned reasons
for it, where we have differed from the former
translators.
This part of our work is neither wholly bor-
rowed, nor altogether original. Where Dacier or
other annotators offered us any thing to the pur-
pose, we have not scrupled to make use of it; and,
to avoid the endless trouble of citations, we make
this acknowledgment once for all. The number
of original Notes the learned reader will find to be
very considerable: but there are not so many notes
of any kind in the latter part of the work; because
the manners and customs, the religious ceremonies,
laws, state-offices, and forms of government, among
the ancients, being explained in the first Lives,
much did not remain for the business of infor-
mation.
Four of Plutarch’s Parallels are supposed to be
lost; those of Themistocles and Camillus; Pyrrhus
and Marius; Phocion and Cato; Alexander and
Cæsar. These Dacier supplies by others of his
own composition, but so different from those of
Plutarch, that they have little right to be incorpo-
rated with his works.

PREFACE.
The necessary Chronological Tables, together
with Tables of Money, Weights, and Measures,
and a copious Index, have been provided for this
translation; of which we may truly say, that it
wants no other advantages than such as the trans-
lators had not power to give.

THE
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
AS, in the progress of life, we first pass through scenes of
innocence, peace and fancy, and afterwards encounter the
vices and disorders of society; so we shall here amuse our-
selves awhile in the peaceful solitude of the philosopher, be-
fore we proceed to those more animated, but less pleasing ob-
jects he describes.
Nor will the view of a philosopher's life be less instructive
than his labours. If the latter teach us how great vices, ac-
companied with great abilities, may tend to the ruin of a
state;—if they inform us how ambition, attended with magna-
nimity, how avarice, directed by political sagacity, how envy
and revenge, armed with personal valour and popular support,
will destroy the most sacred establishments, and break through
every
barrier of human repose and safety; the former will
convince us that equanimity is more desirable than the high-
est privileges of mind, and that the most distinguished situa-
tions in life, are less to be envied than those quiet allotments,
where science
is the support of virtue.
Pindar and Epaminondas had, long before Plutarch's time,
redeemed, in some measure, the credit of Bæotia, and rescued
the inhabitants of that country from the proverbial imputation
of stupidity. When Plutarch appeared, he confirmed the re-
putation it had recovered. He showed that genius is not the
growth of any particular soil, and that its cultivation requires
no peculiar qualities of climate.
Chæronea, a town in Baotia, between Phocis and Attica,
had the honour to give him birth. This place was remark
able for nothing but the tameness and servility of its inhabi-
tants, whom Antony's soldiers made beasts of burden, and
obliged to carry their corn upon their shoulders to the coast.
As it lay between two seas, and was partly shut up by moun-
tains, the air of course was heavy, and truly Baotian. But
VOL. I. -C
2*

2
LIFE OF PLUTARCH,
situations as little favoured by nature as Chæronea, have giv-
en birth to the greatest men; of which the celebrated Locke,
and many others, are instances.
Plutarch himself acknowledges the stupidity of the Boo-
tians in general; but he imputes it rather to their diet than to
their air; for, in his Treatise on Animal Food, he intimates
that a gross indulgence in that article, which was usual with
his countrymen, contributes greatly to obscure the intellectu-
al faculties.
It is not easy to ascertain in what year he was born. Ruauld
places it about the middle of the reign of Claudius; others,
towards the end of it. The following circumstance is the only
foundation they have for their conjectures.
Plutarch says, that he studied philosophy under Ammonius,
at Delphi, when Nero made his progress into Greece. This,
we know, was in the twelfth year of that emperor's
reign, in
the consulship of Paulinus Suetonius and Pontius Telesinus,
the second year of the Olympiad 211, and the sixty-sixth of
the Christian era. Dacier observes, that Plutarch must have
been seventeen or eighteen at least, when he was engaged in
the abstruse studies of philosophy; and he, therefore, fixes his
birth about five or six years before the death of Claudius.
This, however, is bare supposition; and that, in our opinion,
not of the most probable kind. The youth of Greece studied
under the philosophers very early; for their works, with those
of the poets and rhetoricians, formed their chief course of dis-
cipline.
But to determine whether he was born under the reign of
Claudius, or in the early part of Nero's reign (which we the
rather believe, as he says himself that he was very young
when Nero entered Greece;) to make it clearly understood,
whether he studied at Delphi at ten, or at eighteen years of
age, is of much less consequence, than it is to know by what
means, and under what auspices, he acquired that humane and
rational philosophy which is distinguished in his works.
Ammonius was his preceptor; but of him we know little
more than what his scholar has accidentally let fall concerning
him. He mentions a singular instance of his manner of cor-
recting his pupils:« Our master,” says he, “ having one
day observed that we had indulged ourselves too luxuriously
at dinner, at his afternoon lecture, ordered his freed-man to
give his own son the discipline of the whip, in our presence;
signifying, at the same time, that he suffered this punishment
because he could not eat his victuals without sauce. The phi-
losopher all the while had his eye upon us, and we knew well
for whom this example of punishment was intended.” This
circumstance shows, at least, that Ammonius was not of the

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
S
school of Epicurus. The severity of his discipline, indeed,
seems rather of the Stoic cast; but it is most probable, that he
belonged to the Academicians;
for their schools, at that time,
had the greatest reputation in Greece.
It was a happy circumstance in the discipline of those
schools, that the parent only had the power of corporal pun-
ishment: the rod and the ferula were snatched from the hand
of the petty tyrant; his office alone was to inform the mind;
he had no authority to dastardise the spirit; he had no power
to extinguish the generous flame of freedom, or to break down
the noble independency of soul, by the slavish, debasing, and
degrading application of the rod. This mode of punishment
in our public schools is one of the worst remains of barbarism
that prevails among us. Sensible minds, however volatile and
inattentive in early years, may be drawn to their duty by
many means, which shame, and fears of a more liberal nature
than those of corporal punishment, will supply. Where there
is but little sensibility, the effect which that mode of punish-
ment produces is not more happy. It destroys that little;
though it should be the first care and labour of the preceptor
to increase it. To beat the body, is to debase the mind. No-
thing so soon, or so totally abolishes the sense of shame; and
yet that sense is at once the best preservative of virtue, and
the greatest incentive to every species of excellence.
Another principal advantage, which the ancient mode of
the Greek education gave its pupils, was their early access to
every branch of philosophical learning. They did not, like
us, employ their youth in the acquisition of words; they were
engaged in pursuits of a higher nature; in acquiring the know-
ledge of things. They did not, like us, spend seven or ten
years of scholastic labour, in making a general acquaintance
with two dead languages. Those years were employed in the
study of nature, and in gaining the elements of philosophical
knowledge from her original economy and laws. Hence all
that Dacier has observed concerning the probability of Plu-
tarch's being seventeen or eighteen years of age when he stu-
died under Ammonius, is without the least weight.
The way to mathematical and philosophical knowledge was,
indeed, much more easy among the ancient Greeks than it can
ever be with us. Those, and every other science, are bound
up in terms, which we can never understand precisely, till
we become acquainted with the languages from which they are
derived. Plutarch, when he learnt the Roman language, which
was not till he was somewhat advanced in life, observed, that
he got the knowledge of words from his knowledge of things.
But we lie under the necessity of reversing his method; and

4
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
before we can arrive at the knowledge of things, we must first
labour to obtain the knowledge of words.
However, though the Greeks had access to science without
the acquisition of other languages, they were, nevertheless,
sufficiently attentive to the cultivation of their own. Philolo-
8Ꭹ2
after the mathematics and philosophy, was one of their
principal studies; and they applied themselves considerably
to critical investigation.
A proof of this we find in that Dissertation which Plutarch
hath given us on the word εt, engraved on the temple of Apollo
at Delphi. In this tract he introduces the scholastic disputes,
wherein he makes a principal figure. After giving us the va-
rious significations which others assigned to this word, he
adds his own idea of it; and that is of some consequence to us,
because it shows us that he was not a polytheist:--- Et, says
he, Thou art; as if it were εtev, Thou art one. I mean not in
the aggregate sense, as we say, one army, or one body of men
composed of many individuals; but that which exists distinct-
ly must necessarily be one; and the very idea of Being implies
individuality. One is that, which is a simple being, free from
mixture and composition. To be one, therefore, in this sense,
is consistent only with a nature entire in its first principle,
and incapable of alteration or decay."
So far we are perfectly satisfied with Plutarch's creed, but
not with his criticism. To suppose that the word should
signify the existence of one God only, is to hazard too much
upon conjecture; and the whole tenor of the heathen theology
makes against it.
Nor can we be better pleased with the other interpretations
of this celebrated word. We can never suppose, that it bare-
ly signified if; intimating thereby, that the business of those
who visited the temple was inquiry, and they that camc to ask
the Deity, if such events should come to pass. This construc-
tion is too much forced; and it would do as well, or even better,
were the εt interpreted, if you make large presents to the gods,
if you pay the priest.
Were not this inscription an object of attention among the
learned, we should not, at this distant period of time, have
thought it worth mentioning, otherwise than as it gives us an
idea of one branch of Plutarch's education. But, as a single
word, inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, can not but
be matter of curiosity with those who carry their inquiries
into remote antiquity, we shall not scruple to add one more
to the other conjectures concerning it.
We will suppose, then, that the word εt was here used in
the Ionic dialect, for elbe, I wish. This perfectly expressed
the state of mind of all that entered the temple on the business
واع

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
5
of consultation; and it might be no less emphatical in the Greek
than Virgil's Quanquam 0! was in the Latin. If we carry this
conjecture farther, and think it probable, that this word might,
as the initial word of a celebrated line in the third book of
the Odyssey, stand there to signify the whole line, we shall
reach a degree of probability almost bordering on certainty.
The verse we allude to is this:
Ει γαρ εμοι τοσσηνδε θεοι δυναμιν παραθειες! !
“O that the gods would empower me to obtain my wishes!"
What
prayer more proper on entering the temples of the gods,
particularly with the view of consulting them on the events
of life.
If it should be thought that the initial word is insufficient
to represent a whole verse, we have to answer, that it was
agreeable to the custom of the ancients. They not only con-
veyed the sense of particular verses by their initial words,
but frequently of large passages by the quotation of a single
line, or even of half a line; some instances of which occur in
the following Lives. The reason of this is obvious: The
works of their best poets were almost universally. committed
to memory;
and the smallest quotation was sufficient to con:
vey the sense of a whole
passage.
These observations are matters of mere curiosity indeed;
but they have had their use; for they have naturally pointed
out to us another instance of the excellence of that education
which formed our young philosopher.
This was the improvement of the memory by means of ex-
ercise.
Mr. Locke has justly, though obviously enough, observed,
that nching so much strengthens this faculty as the employ-
ment of it.
The Greek mode of education must have had a wonderful
effect in this case. The continual exercise of the memory in
laying up the treasures of their poets, the precepts of their
philosophers, and the problems of their mathematicians, must
have given it that mechanical power of retention which no-
thing could easily escape. Thus Pliny* tells us of a Greek
called Charmidas, who could repeat from memory the con-
tents of the largest library.
The advantages Plutarch derived from this exercise appear
in every part of his works. As the writings of poets lived in
his memory, they were ready for use and application on every
apposite occasion. They were always at hand, either to con
* Hist. Nat. lib. vii. cap. 24.

6
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
firm the sentiments, or justify the principles of his heroes, to
support his own, or to illustrate both.
By the aid of a cultivated memory, too, he was enabled to
write a number of contemporary Lives, and to assign to each
such a portion of business in the general transactions of the
times, as might be sufficient to delineate the character, with-
out repeated details of the same actions and negociations.
This made a very difficult part of his work, and he acquitted
himself here with great management and address. Sometimes,
indeed, he has repeated the same circumstances in contempo-
rary Lives, but it was hardly avoidable. The great wonder
is, that he has done it so seldom.
But though an improved memory might, in this respect,
be of service to him, as undoubtedly it was, there were others
in which it was rather a disadvantage. By trusting too much
to it, he has fallen into inaccuracies and inconsistencies, where
he was professedly drawing from preceding writers; and we
have often been obliged to rectify his mistakes, by consulting
those authors, because he would not be at the pains to consult
them himself.
If Plutarch might properly be said to belong to any sect of
philosophers, his education, the rationality of his principles,
and the modesty of his doctrines, would incline us to place
him with the latter Academy; at least, when he left his mas-
ter Ammonius, and came into society, it is more than proba-
ble, that he ranked particularly with that sect.
His writings, however, furnish us with many reasons for
thinking that he afterwards became a citizen of the philosophi-
cal world. He appears to have examined every sect with a
calm and unprejudiced attention; to have selected what he
found of use for the purposes of virtue and happiness; and to
have left the rest for the portion of those whose narrowness
of mind could think either science or felicity confined to any
denomination of men.
From the Academicians he took their modesty of opinion,
and left them their original scepticism; he borrowed their ra-
tional theology, and gave up to them, in a great measure, their
metaphysical refinements, together with their vain, though
seductive enthusiasm.
With the Peripatetics, he walked in search of natural
science, and of logic; but, satisfied with whatever practical
knowledge might be acquired, he left them to dream over the
hypothetical part of the former, and to chase the shadows of
reason through the mazes of the latter.
To the Stoics, he was indebted for the belief of a particular
Providence; but he could not enter into their idea of future
rewards and punishments. He knew not how to reconcile

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
7
the present agency of the Supreme Being with his judicial
character hereafter; though Theodoret tells us, that he had
heard of the Christian religion, and inserted several of its
mysteries in his works. * From the Stoics, too, he borrowed
the doctrine of fortitude; but he rejected the unnatural foun:
dation on which they erected that virtue. He went back to
Socrates for principles whereon to rest it.
With the Epicureans he does not seem to have had much
intercourse, though the accommodating philosophy of Aris-
tippus entered frequently into his politics, and sometimes in-
to the general economy of his life. In the little states of
Greece that philosophy had not much to do: but had it been
adopted in the more violent measures of the Roman adminis-
tration, our celebrated biographer would not have had such
scenes of blood and ruin to describe; for emulation, prejudice,
and opposition, upon whatever principles they might plead
their apology, first struck out the fire that laid the Common-
wealth in ashes. If Plutarch borrowed any thing more from
Epicurus, it was his rational idea of enjoyment. That such
was his idea, it is more than probable; for it is impossible to
believe the tales that the heathen bigots have told of him, or
to suppose that the cultivated mind of a philosopher should
pursue its happiness out of the temperate order of nature. His
irreligious opinions he left to him, as he had left to the other
sects their vanities and absurdities.
But when we bring him to the school of Pythagoras, what
idea shall we entertain of him? Shall we consider him any
longer as an Academician, or as a citizen of the philosophical
world? Naturally benevolent and humane, he finds a system
of divinity and philosophy perfectly adapted to his natural
sentiments. The whole animal creation he had originally
looked upon with an instinctive tenderness; but when the
amiable Pythagoras, the priest of Nature, in defence of the
common privileges of her creatures, had called religion into
their cause;—when he sought to soften the cruelty that man
had exercised against them, by the honest art of insinuating
the doctrine of transmigration, how could the humane and
benevolent Plutarch refuse to serve under this priest of Na-
ture? It was impossible. He adopted the doctrine of the
Metempsychosis. He entered into the merciful scheme of
Pythagoras, and, like him, diverted the cruelty of the human
species, by appealing to the selfish qualities of their nature, by
subduing their pride, and exciting their sympathy, while he
*
Nothing of Plutarch's is now extant from which we can infer that he was
acquainted with the Christian religion.

8
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
showed them that their future existence might be the con-
dition of a reptile.
This spirit and disposition break strongly from him in his
observations on the elder Cato. And as nothing can exhibit
a more lively picture of him than these paintings of his own,
we shall not scruple to introduce them here:- For
my part,
I can not but charge his using his servants like so many beasts
of burden, and turning them off, or selling them when they
grew old, to the account of a mean and ungenerous spirit,
which thinks that the sole tie between man and man is inter-
est or necessity. But goodness moves in a larger sphere than
justice. The obligations of law and equity reach only to man-
kind, but kindness and beneficence should be extended to
creatures of every species; and these still flow from the breast
of a well natured man, as streams that issue from the living
fountain. A good man will take care of his horses and dogs,
not only while they are young, but when old and past service.
Thus the people of Athens, when they had finished the tem-
ple called Hecatompedon, set at liberty the beasts of burden
that had been chiefly employed in the work, suffering them
to pasture at large, free from any other service. It is said,
that one of these afterwards came of its own accord to work,
and putting itself at the head of the labouring cattle, marched
before them to the citadel. This pleased the people, and they
made a decree, that it should be kept at the public charge so
long as it lived. The graves of Cimon's mares, with which
he thrice conquered at the Olympic games, are still to be seen
near his own tomb. Many have shown particular marks of
regard, in burying the dogs which they had cherished and
been fond of; and amongst the rest, Xanthippus of old, whose
dog swam by the side of his galley to Salamis, when the
Athenians were forced to abandon their city, and was after-
wards buried by him upon a promontory, which, to this day,
is called the Dog's Grave. We certainly ought not to treat
living creatures like shoes or household goods, which, when
worn out with use, we throw away; and were it only to learn
benevolence to human kind, we should be merciful to other
ereatures. For my own part, I would not sell even an old ox
that had laboured for me; much less would I remove, for the
sake of a little money, a man grown old in my service, from
his usual lodgings and diet; for to him, poor man, it would be
as bad as banishment, since he could be of no more use to the
buyer than he was to the seller. But Cato, as if he took a
pride in these things, tells us that, when consul, he left his
war-horse in Spain, to save the public the charge of his con-
veyance. Whether such things as these are instances of
great-
ness or littleness of soul, let the reader judge for himself!”

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
9
means
What an amiable idea of our benevolent philosopher! How
worthy the instructions of the priest of Nature!' How hon-
ourable to that great master of truth and universal science,
whose sentiments were decisive in every doubtful matter, and
whose maxims were received with silent conviction ! *
Wherefore should we wonder to find Plutarch more particu-
larly attached to the opinions of this great man? Whether we
consider the immensity of his erudition, or the benevolence of
his system, the motives for that attachment were equally pow-
erful. Pythagoras had collected all the stores of human learn-
ing, and had reduced them into one rational and useful body
of science. Like our glorious Bacon, he led philosophy forth
from the jargon of schools, and the fopperies of sectš. He
made her what she was originally designed to be, the handmaid
of Nature; friendly to her creatures, and faithful to her laws.
Whatever knowledge could be gained by human industry, by
the most extensive inquiry and observation, he had every
and opportunity to obtain. The priests of Egypt un-
folded to him their mysteries and their learning: they led him
through the records of the remotest antiquity, and opened all
those stores of science that had been amassing through a mul-
titude of ages. The Magi of Persia co-operated with the
priests of Egypt in the instruction of this wonderful philoso-
pher. They taught him those higher parts of science, by
which they were themselves so much distinguished, —astrono-
my and the system of the universe. The laws of moral life,
and the institutions of civil societies, with their several excel-
lencies and defects, he learned from the various states and es-
tablishments of Greece. Thus accomplished, when he came
to dispute in the Olympic contests, he was considered as a
prodigy of wisdom and learning; but when the choice of his
title was left to him, he modestly declined the appellation of
a wise man, and was contented only to be called a lover of wise
dom. +
Shall not Plutarch then meet with all imaginable indulgence,
if, in his veneration for this great man, he not only adopted
the nobler parts of his philosophy, but (what he had avoided
with regard to the other sects) followed him too in his errors?
Such, in particular, was his doctrine of dreams; to which our
biographer, we must confess, has paid too much attention.
Yet absolutely to condemn him for this, would perhaps be
hazarding as much as totally to defend him. We must ac-
knowledge, with the elder Pliny, Si exemplis agatur, profecto
paria fiant; f or in the language of honest Sir Roger de Cover-
# Hist. Nat. lib. X. cap. 79.
* Val. Max. lib. vii. cap. 15.
+ Val. Max. lib. vi. cap. 7.
VOL. I.--D

10
LIFE ON PLUTARCH,
ley, “Much may be said on both sides."* However, if
Pliny, whose complaisance for the credit of the marvellous in
particular was very great, could be doubtful about this matter,
we of little faith may be allowed to be more so Yet Plutarch,
in his Treatise on Oracles, has maintained his doctrine by
such powerful testimonies, that if any regard is to be paid to
his veracity, some attention should be given to his opinion.
We shall therefore leave the point, where Mr. Addison
thought proper to leave a more improbable doctrine,-in sus-
pense.
When Zeno consulted the oracle in what manner he should
live, the answer was, that " he should inquire of the dead."
Assiduous and indefatigable application to reading made a con-
siderable part of the Greek education; and in this our bio-
grapher seems to have exerted the greatest industry. The
number of books he has quoted, to which he has referred, and
from which he has written, seems almost incredible, when it
is considered, that the art of printing was not known in his
time, and that the purchase of manuscripts was difficult and
dear.
His family, indeed, was not without wealth. In his Sym-
posiacs, he tells us, that it was ancient in Chæronea; and that
his ancestors had been invested with the most considerable
offices in the magistracy. He mentions in particular his great-
grandfather Nicarchus, whom he had the happiness of know-
ing; and relates, from his authority, the misfortunes of his fel-
low-citizens, under the severe discipline of Antony's soldiers.
His grandfather Lamprias, he tells us, was a man of great
eloquence, and of a brilliant imagination. He was distin-
guished by his merit as a convivial companion; and was one
of those happy mortals, who, when they sacrifice to Bacchus,
are favoured by Mercury. His good humour and pleasantry
increased with his cups; and he used to say, that wine had the
same effect upon him that fire has on incense, which causes
the finest and richest essences to evaporate.
Plutarch has mentioned his father likewise; but has not
given us his name in any of those writings that are come down
However, he has borne honourable testimony to his
memory; for he tells us, that he was a learned and a virtuous
well acquainted with the philosophy and theology of his
time, and conversant with the works of the poets. Plutarch,
in his Political Precepts, mentions an instance of his father's
discretion, which does him great honour:-“ I remember,"
says he, “that I was sent, when a very young man, along
with another citizen of Chæronea, on an embassy to the pro-
to us.
man,
Spectator, No. 122.

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
11
consul. My colleague being, by some accident, obliged to
stop in the way, I proceeded without him, and executed our
commission. Upon my return to Chæronea, when I was to
give an account in public of my negociation, my father took
me aside, and said, My son, take care that in the account
you are about to give, you do not mention yourself distinctly,
but jointly with your colleague. Say not, I went, I spoke, I exe-
cuted, but we went, we spoke, we executed. Thus, though your
colleague was incapable of attending you, he will share in the
honour of your success, as well as in that of your appoint-
ment; and you will avoid that envy which necessarily follows
all arrogated merit.” »
Plutarch had two brothers, whose names were Timon and
Lamprias. These were his associates in study and amuse-
ment; and he always speaks of them with pleasure and affec-
tion. Of Timon in particular he says,—6. Though Fortune
has, on many occasions, been favourable to me, yet I have no
obligations to her so great as the enjoyment of my brother
Timon's invariable friendship and kindness.” Lamprias too
he mentions as inheriting the lively disposition and good hu-
mour of his grandfather, who bore the same name.
Some writers have asserted, that Plutarch passed into Egypt.
Others allege, that there is no authority for that assertion; and
it is true, that we have no written record concerning it. Never-
theless, we incline to believe, that he did travel into that coun-
try; and we found our opinion on the following reasons:-In
the first place, this tour was a part of liberal education among
the Greeks; and Plutarch, being descended from a family of
distinction, was therefore likely to enjoy such a privilege.
In
the next place, his treatise of Isis and Osiris, shows that he had
a more than common knowledge of the religious mysteries of
the Egyptians; and it is therefore highly probable, that he ob-
tained this knowledge by being conversant amongst them.
To have written a treatise on so abstruse a subject, without
some more eminent advantages than other writers might af-
ford him, could not have been agreeable to the genius, or con-
sistent with the modesty of Plutarch.
However, supposing it doubtful whether he passed into
Egypt, there is no doubt at all that he travelled into Italy.
Upon what occasion he visited that country, it is not quite so
certain; but he probably went to Rome, in a public capacity,
on the business of the Chæroneans; for, in the Life of Demos-
thenes, he tells us, that he had no leisure, in his journey to
Italy, to learn the Latin language, on the account of public
business.
As the passage here referred to affords us further matter of
speculation for the Life of Plutarch, we shall give it as we

12
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
find it:—An author who would write a history of events
which happened in a foreign country, and can not be come at
in his own, as he has his materials to collect from a variety of
books, dispersed in different libraries, his first care should be
to take up his residence in some populous town which has an
ambition
for literature. There he will meet with many cu-
rious and valuable books; and the particulars that are wanting
in writers, he may, upon inquiry, be supplied with, by those
who have laid them up in the faithful repository of memory.
This will prevent his work from being defective in any mate-
rial point." As to myself, I live in a little town; and I choose
to live there, lest it should become still less. When I was in
Rome, and other parts of Italy, I had not leisure to study
the
Latin tongue, on account of the public commissions with
which I was charged, and the number of people who came to
be instructed by me in philosophy. It was not, therefore, till
a late period in life that I began to read the Roman authors.”
From this short account, we may collect, with tolerable
certainty, the following circumstances:-
In the first place, Plutarch tells us, that while he was resi-
dent in Rome, public business and lectures in philosophy
left him no time for learning the Latin language; and yet, a
little before, he had observed, that those who write a history
of foreign characters and events ought to be conversant with
the historians of that country where the character existed, and
the scene is laid; but he acknowledges, that he did not learn the
Latin language till he was late in life, because, when at Rome
he had not time for that purpose.
We may therefore conclude, that he wrote his Morals at
Rome, and his Lives at Chæronea. For the composition of
the former, the knowledge of the Roman language was not
necessary; the Greek tongue was then generally understood
in Rome, and he had no necessity for making use of any other
when he delivered his lectures of philosophy to the people.
Those lectures, it is more than probable, made
up
that col-
lection of Morals, which is come down to us.
Though he could not avail himself of the Roman historians
in the great purpose of writing his Lives, for want of a com-
petent acquaintance with the language in which they wrote,
yet, by conversing with the principal citizens in the Greek
tongue, he must have collected many essential circumstances,
and anecdotes of characters and events, that promoted his de-
sign, and enriched the plan of his work. The treasures he
acquired of this kind he secured by means of a common-place
book, which he constantly carried about with him; and as it
appears that he was in Rome, and other parts of Italy, from
the beginning of Vespasian's reign to the end of Trajan's, he

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
13
ours.
must have had sufficient time and opportunity to procure ma-
terials of every kind; for this was a period of almost forty
years.
We shall the more readily enter into the belief that Plutarch
collected his materials chiefly from conversation, when we
consider in what manner, and on what subjects, the ancients
used to converse. The discourse of people of education and
distinction in those days was somewhat different from that of
It was not on the powers or pedigree of a horse; it was
not on a match of travelling between geese and turkeys; it was
not on a race of maggots, started against each other on the table,
when they first came to day-light from the shell of a filbert,
it was noť by what part you may suspend a spaniel the longest
without making him whine; it was not on the exquisite finesse,
and the highest maneuvres of play; the old Romans had no
ambition for attainments of this nature. They had no such
masters in science as Heber and Hoyle. The taste of their
day did not run so high. The powers of poetry and philoso-
phy, the economy of human life and manners, the cultivation
of the intellectual faculties, the enlargement of the mind, his-
torical and political discussions on the events of their country;
these, and such subjects as these, made the principal part of
their conversation. Of this Plutarch has given us at once
a proof and a specimen, in what he calls his Symposiacs, or,
as our Selden calls it, his Table-Talk. From such conversa-
tions as these, then, we can not wonder that he was able to
collect such treasures as were necessary for the maintenance
of his biographical undertaking.
In the sequel of the last quoted passage, we find another
argument, which confirms us in the opinion that Plutarch's
knowledge of the Roman history was chiefly of colloquial
acquisition:—“My method of learning the Roman language,”
may seem strange, and yet it is very true. I did
not so much gain the knowledge of things by the words, as
words by the knowledge I had of things. This plainly im-
plies, that he was previously acquainted with the events de-
scribed in the language he was learning.
It must be owned that the Roman history had been already
written in Greek by Polybius; and that, indeed, somewhat
invalidates the last-mentioned argument. Nevertheless, it has
still sufficient evidence for its support. There are a thousand
circumstances in Plutarch's Lives which could not be collect-
ed from Polybius; and it is clear to us, that he did not make
much use of his Latin reading.
He acknowledges that he did not apply himself to the ac-
quisition of that language till he was far advanced in life; pos-
sibly it might be about the latter part of the reign of Trajan,
says he, 66
3*

14
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
whose kind disposition towards his country rendered the
weight of public and political business easy to him.
But whenever he might begin to learn the language of
Rome, it is certain that he made no great progress in it. This
appears as well from the little comments he has occasionally
given us on certain Latin words, as from some passages in his
Lives, where he has professedly followed the Latin historians,
and yet followed them in an uncertain and erroneous manner.
That he wrote the Lives of Demosthenes and Cicero at Chæ-
ronea, it is clear from his own account; and it is more than
probable, too, that the rest of his Lives were written in that
retirement; for if, while he was at Rome, he could scarcely
find time to learn the language, it is hardly to be supposed
that he could do more than lay up materials for composition.
A circumstance arises here, which confirms to us an opin-
ion we have long entertained, that the Book of Apophthegms;
which is said to have been written by Plutarch, is really not
his work. This book is dedicated to Trajan; and the dedica-
tor assuming the name and character of Plutarch, says, he had,
before this, written the Lives of illustrious Men; but Plutarch
wrote those Lives at Chæronea, and he did not retire to Chæ«:
ronea till after the death of Trajan.
There are other proofs, if others were necessary, to show
that this work was supposititious; for, in this dedication to Tra-
jan, not the least mention is made of Plutarch's having been his
preceptor, of his being raised by him to the consular dignity,
or of his being appointed governor of Illyria. Dacier, observ-
ing this, has drawn a wrong conclusion from it, and, contrary
to the assertion of Suidas, will have it, that Plutarch was nei-
ther preceptor to Trajan, nor honoured with any appointments
under him. Had it occurred to him that the Book of Apoph-
thegms could not be Plutarch's book, but that it was merely
an extract made from his real works by some industrious
grammarian, he would not have been under the necessity of
hazarding so much against the received opinion of his con-
nexions with Trajan; nor would he have found it necessary
to allow so little credit to his letter addressed to that emperor
which we have upon record. The letter is as follows:-
PLUTARCH TO TRAJAN.
“I am sensible that you sought not the empire. Your na-
tural modesty would not suffer you to apply for a distinction
to which you were always entitled by the excellency of your
manners. That modesty, however, makes you still more wor-
thy of those honours you had no ambition to solicit. Should
your future government prove in any degree answerable to

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
15
master.
your former merit, I shall have reason to congratulate both your
virtue and my own good fortune on this great event. But, if
otherwise, you have exposed yourself to danger, and me to
obloquy; for Rome will never endure an emperor unworthy
of her; and the faults of the scholar will be imputed to the
Seneca is reproached, and his fame still suffers for the
vices of Nero; the reputation of Quintilian is hurt by the ill
conduct of his scholars; and even Socrates is accused of negli-
gence in the education of Alcibiades. Of you, however, 1
have better hopes, and flatter myself that your administration
will do honour to your virtues. Only continue to be what
you are.
Let your government commence in your breast,
and lay the foundation of it in the command of your passions.
If
you make virtue the rule of your conduct and the end of
your actions, every thing will proceed in harmony and order.
I have explained to you the spirit of those laws and constitu-
tions that were established by your predecessors, and you
have nothing to do but to carry them into execution. If this
should be the case, I shall have the glory of having formed an
emperor to virtue; but, if otherwise; let this letter remain a
testimony with succeeding ages, that you did not ruin the Ro-
man empire under pretence of the counsels or the authority
of Plutarch.”
Why Dacier should think that this letter is neither worthy
of the pen, nor written in the manner of Plutarch, it is not
easy to conceive; for it has all the spirit, the manly freedom,
and the sentimental turn of that philosopher.
We shall find it no very difficult matter to account for his
connection with Trajan, if we attend to the manner in which
he lived, and to the reception he met with in Rome. During
his residence in that city, his house was the resort of the prin-
cipal citizens. All that were distinguished by their rank,
taste, learning, or politeness, sought his conversation and at-
tended his lectures. The study of the Greek language, and
philosophy, was at that time the greatest pursuits of the Roman
nobility, and even the emperors honoured the most celebrated
professors with their presence and support. Plutarch, in his
treatise on Curiosity, has introduced a circumstance, which
places the attention that was paid to his lectures in a very
strong light:—“ It once happened,” says he, « that when I
was speaking in public at Rome, Arulenus Rusticus, the same
whom Domitian, through envy of his growing reputation, af-
terwards put to death, was one of my hearers. When I was
in the middle of my discourse, a soldier came in, and brought
him a letter from the emperor. Upon this there was a gen-
aral silence through the audience, and I stopped to give him

18
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
time to peruse this letter; but he would not suffer it; nor did
he open the letter till I had finished my lecture, and the au-
dience was dispersed.”
To understand the importance of this compliment, it will
be necessary to consider the quality and character of the
per-
son who paid it. Arulenus was one of the greatest men in
Rome, distinguished as well by the lustre of his family, as by
an honourable ambition and thirst of glory. He was tribune
of the people when Nero caused Pætus and Soranus to be
capitally condemned by a decree of the senate. When So-
ranus was deliberating with his friends whether he should at-
tempt or give up his defence, Arulenus had the spirit to pro-
pose an opposition to the decree of the senate, in his capacity
of tribune; and he would have carried it into execution, had
he not been overruled by Pætus, who remonstrated, that by
such a measure he would destroy himself, without the satis-
faction of serving his friend. He was afterwards prætor un-
der Vitellius, whose interests he followed with the greatest
fidelity. But his spirit and magnanimity do him the greatest
honour, in that eulogy which he wrote on Pætus and Helvi-
dius Priscus. His whole conduct was regulated by the pre-
cepts of philosophy; and the respect he showed to Plutarch on
this occasion was a proof of his attachment to it.
Such was
the man who postponed the letter of a prince to the lecture of
a philosopher.
But Plutarch was not only treated with general marks of
distinction by the superior people in Rome; he had particular
and very respectable friendships. Sossius Senecio, who was
four times consul, once under Nerva, and thrice under Trajan,
was his most intimate friend. To him he addresses his Lives,
except that of Aratus, which is inscribed to Polycrates of
Sicyon, the grandson of Aratus. With Senecio he not only
lived in the strictest friendship whilst he was in Rome, but
corresponded with him after he retired to Greece. And is it
not easy to believe, that through the interest of this zealous
and powerful friend, Plutarch might not only be appointed
tutor to Trajan, but be advanced likewise to the consular dig-
nity? When we consider Plutarch’s eminence in Rome as a
teacher of philosophy, nothing can be more probable than the
former; when we remember the consular interest of Senecio
under Trajan, and his distinguished regard for Plutarch, no-
thing can be more likely than the latter.
The honour of being preceptor to such a virtuous prince as
Trajan, is so important a point in the Life of Plutarch, that it
must not hastily be given up.
Suidas has asserted it. The
letter above quoted, if it be, as we have no doubt of its being,
the genuine composition of Plutarch, has confirmed it. Pe

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
17
trarch has maintained it. Dacier only has doubted, or rather
denied it. But upon what evidence has he grounded his
opinion? Plutarch, he says, was but three or four years older
than Trajan, and therefore was unfit to be his preceptor in
philosophy. Now, let us inquire into the force of this argu-
ment. *Trajan spent the early part of his life in arms; Plu-
tarch in the study of the sciences. When that prince applied
himself to literary pursuits, he was somewhat advanced in life;
Plutarch must have been more so. And why a man of sci-
ence should be an unfit preceptor in philosophy to a military
man, though no more than four years older, the reason, we
apprehend, will be somewhat difficult to discover.
Dacier, moreover, is reduced to a petitio principii, when he
says that Plutarch was only four years older than Trajan; for
we have seen that it is impossible to ascertain the time of Plu-
tarch's birth; and the date which Dacier assigns it is purely
conjectural. We will, therefore, conclude with those learn-
ed men who have formerly allowed Plutarch the honour of
being preceptor to Trajan, that he certainly was so. There
is little doubt that they grounded their assertions upon proper
authority; and, indeed, the internal evidence arising from the
nature and effects of that education, which did equal honour
to the scholar and to the master, comes in aid of the argu-
ment.
Some chronologers have taken upon them to ascertain the
time when Plutarch's reputation was established in Rome.
Peter of Alexandria fixes it in the thirteenth year of the reign
of Nero, in the consulate of Capito and Rufus:-“ Lucian,”
says he, “was at this time in great reputation amongst the
Romans; and Musonius and Plutarch were well known.'
Eusebius brings it one year lower, and tells us, that, in the
fourteenth year of Nero's reign, Musonius and Plutarch were
in great reputation. Both these writers are palpably mista-
ken. We have seen, that, in the twelfth year of Nero, Plu
tarch was yet at school under Ammonius; and it is not very
probable
that a school-boy should be celebrated as a philoso-
pher in Rome, within a year or two after. Indeed Eusebius
contradicts himself; for, on another occasion, he places him
in the reign of Adrian, the third year of the Olympiad two
hundred and twenty-four, of the Christian era one hundred
and twenty:-“In this year,” says he, “the philosophers,
Plutarch of Chæronea, Sextus, and Agathobulus, flourished.
Thus he carries him as much too low, as he had before placed
him too high. It is certain, that he first grew into reputation
under the reign of Vespasian, and that his philosophical fame
was established in the time of Trajan.
It seems that the Greek and Latin writers of those times
VOL. I. LE

18
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
tatio!
were either little acquainted with each other's works, or that
there were some literary jealousies and animosities between
them. When Plutarch flourished, there were several con-
temporary writers of distinguished abilities; Perseus, Lucan,
Silius Italicus, Valerius Flaccus, the younger Pliny, Solinus,
Martial, Quintilian, and many more. Yet none of those have
made the least mention of him. Was this envy, or was it Ro-
man pride? Possibly, they could not bear that a Greek sophist,
a native of such a contemptible town as Chæronea, should en-
joy the palm of literary praise in Rome. It must be observed,
at the same time, that the principal Roman writers had con-
ceived a jealousy of the Greek philosophers, which was very
prevailing in that age. Of this we find a strong testimony in
the elder Pliny, where, speaking of Cato the Censor's disap-
proving and dismissing the Grecian orators, and
of the younger
Cato's bringing in triumph a sophist from Greece, he ex-
claims, in terms that signify contempt, Quanta morum commu-
However, to be undistinguished by the encomiums of con-
temporary writers, was by no means a thing peculiar to Plu-
tarch. It has been, and still is the fate of superior genius, to
be beheld either with silent or abusive envy. It makes its
way like the sun, which we look upon with pain, unless some-
thing passes over him that obscures his glory. We then view
with eagerness the shadow, the cloud, or the spot, and are
pleased with what eclipses the brightness we otherwise can
not bear.
Yet, if Plutarch, like other great men, found—“ Envy
never conquered but by death,” his manes have been appeas-
ed by the amplest atonements. Amongst the many that have
done honour to his memory, the following eulogiums deserve
to be recorded.
Aulus Gellius compliments him with the highest distinction
in science. *
Taurus, quoted by Gellius, calls him a man of the most con-
summate learning and wisdom.†
Eusebius places him at the head of the Greek philosophers. I
Sardianus, in his preface to the Lives of the Philosophers,
calls him the most divine Plutarch, the beauty and harmony
of philosophy.
Petrach, in his moral writings, frequently distinguishes him
by the title of the great Plutarch.
Honour has been done to him likewise by Origen, Hime-
rius the sophist, Cyrillus, Theodoret, Suidas, Photius, Xi
* A Gellius, lib. iv. cap. 7.
+ Gell. lib. i. cap. 26,
# Euseb. Præp. lib, iü. init.

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
19
philinus, Joannes Sarisberiensis, Victorius, Lipsius, and Aga-
thias, in the epigram which is thus translated by Dryden:-
Chæronean Plutarch, to thy deathless praise
Does martial Rome this grateful statue raise;
Because both Greece and she thy fame have shar'd,
Their heroes written and their lives compard.
But thou thyself could'st never write thy own;
Their lives have parallels, but thine has none.
But this is perfectly extravagant. We are much better pleas-
ed with the Greek verses of the honest metropolitan under
Constantine Monomachus. They deserve to be translated:-
Lord of that light, that living power, to save,
Which her lost sons no Heathen SCIENCE gave:
If aught of these thy mercy means to spare,
Yield PLATO, Lord,-yield PLUTARCH to my prayer.
Led by no grace, no new conversion wrought,
They felt thy own divinity of thought.
That grace exerted, spare the partial rod;
The last, best witness, that thou art their d!
Theodore Gaza, who was a man of considerable learning,
and a great reviver of letters, had a particular attachment to
our biographer. When he was asked, in case of a general de-
struction of books, what author he would wish to save from
the ruin, he answered, -Plutarch. He considered his histo-
rical and philosophical writings as the most beneficial to socie-
ty, and of course the best substitute for all other books.
Were it necessary to produce further suffrages for the merit
of Plutarch, it would be sufficient to say, that he has been
praised by Montaigne, St. Evremond, and Montesquieu, the
best critics and the ablest writers of their time.
After receiving the most distinguished honours that a phi-
losopher could enjoy; after the god-like office of teaching wis-
dom and goodness to the metropolis of the world; after having
formed an emperor to virtue; and after beholding the effects
of his precepts in the happiness of human kind, Plutarch re-
tired to his native country. The death of this illustrious prince
and pupil, to a man of his sensibility, must have rendered
Rome even painful; for whatever influence philosophy may
have on the cultivation of the mind, we find that it has very
little
power over the interests of the heart.
It must have been in the decline of life that Plutarch retired
to Chæronea. But though he withdrew from the busier scenes
of the world, he fled not to an unprofitable or inactive solitude.
In that retirement he formed the great work for which he had
so long been preparing materials, his Lives of illustrious

20
LIFE OF PLUTARCH,
Men; a work which, as Scaliger says, non solum fuit in manie
bus hominum, at etiam humani generis memoriam occupavit.
To recommend by encomiums what has been received with
universal approbation, would be superfluous. But to observe
where the biographer has excelled, and in what he has failed;
to make a due estimate as well of the defects as of the merits
of his work, may have its use.
Lipsius has observed, that he does not write history, but
scraps of history, non historiam, sed particulas historiæ. *This
is said of his Lives; and in one sense it is true. No single
life that he has written will afford a sufficient history of its
proper period; neither was it possible that it should do so. As
his plan comprised a number of contemporary Lives, most of
which were in public characters, the business of their period
was to be divided amongst them. The general history of the
time was to be thrown into separate portions; and those por-
tions were to be allotted to such characters as had the princi-
pal interest in the several events.
This was in some measure done by Plutarch; but it was not
done with great art or accuracy. At the same time, as we have
already observed, it is not to be wondered, if there were some
repetitions, when the part which the several characters bore
in the principal events, was necessary to be pointed out.
Yet these scraps of history, thus divided and dispersed,
when seen in a collective form, make no very imperfect nar-
rative of the times within their view. The biographer's at-
tention to the minuter circumstances of character, his disqui-
sitions of principles and manners, and his political and philo-
sophical discussions, lead us in an easy and intelligent man
ner to the events he describes.
It is not to be denied, that his narratives are sometimes dis-
orderly, and too often encumbered with impertinent digres-
sions. By pursuing with too much indulgence the train of
ideas, he has frequently destroyed the order of facts, brought
together events that lay at a distance from each other, called
forward those circumstances to which he should have made
a regular progress, and made no other apology for these idle
excursions, but by telling us that he is out of the order of
time.
Notes, in the time of Plutarch, were not in use. Had he
known the convenience of marginal writing, he would certain-
ly have thrown the greatest part of his digressions into that
form. They are undoubtedly tedious and disgustful; and all
we can do to reconcile ourselves to them, is to remember,
that, in the first place, marginal writing was a thing unknown;
and that the benevolent desire of conveying instruction, was
the greatest motive with the biographer for introducing them,

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
21
This appears at least from the nature of them; for they are
chiefly disquisitions in natural history and philosophy.
In painting the manners of men, Plutarch is truly excel-
lent. Nothing can be more clear than his moral distinctions;
nothing finer than his delineations of the mind.
The spirit of philosophical observation and inquiry, which,
when properly directed, is the great ornament and excellence
of historical composition, Plutarch possessed in an eminent
degree. His biographical writings teach philosophy at once
by precept and by example. His morals and his characters
mutually explain and give force to each other.
His sentiments of the duty of a biographer were peculiarly
just and delicate. This will appear from his strictures on
those historians who wrote of Philistus:-“ It is plain,” says
he, “ that Timæus takes every occasion, from Philistus'
known adherence to arbitrary power, to load him with the
heaviest reproaches. Those whom he injured, are in some
degree excusable, if, in their resentment, they treated him
with indignities after death. But wherefore should his bio-
graphers, whom he never injured, and who have had the
benefit of his works; wherefore should they exhibit him with
all the exaggerations of scurrility, in those scenes of distress
to which fortune sometimes reduces the best of men? On the
other hand, Ephorus is no less extravagant in his encomiums
on Philistus. He knows well how to throw into shades the
foibles of the human character, and to give an air of plausi-
bility to the most indefensible conduct; but with all his ele-
gance, with all his art, he can not rescue Philistus from the
imputation of being the most strenuous supporter of arbitrary
power, of being the fondest follower and admirer of the luxu-
ry, the magnificence, the alliance of tyrants. Upon the whole,
he who neither defends the principles of Philistus; nor insults
over his misfortunes, will best discharge the duty of the his-
torian.”
There is such a thing as constitutional religion. There is a
certain temper and frame of mind naturally productive of de-
votion. There are men who are born with the original prin-
ciples of piety; and in this class we need not hesitate to place
Plutarch.
If this disposition has sometimes made him too indulgent to
superstition, and too attentive to the less rational circumstan-
ces of the heathen theology, it is not to be wondered. But,
upon the whole, he had consistent and honourable notions of
the Supreme Being.
That he believed the unity of the Divine Nature, we have
already seen in his observations on the word et, engraved on
Apollo's temple. The same opinion too is found in his trea-
Voll.

22
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
mons.
tise on the Cessation of Oracles; where, in the character of a
Platonist, he argues against the Stoics, who denied the plu-
rality of worlds;—“If there are many worlds,” said the Stoics,
“ why then is there only one fate, and one providence to
guide them? for the Platonists allow that there is but one.
Why should not many Jupiters, or gods, be necessary for the
government of many worlds?” To this Plutarch answers,-
Where is the necessity of supposing many Jupiters for this
plurality of worlds? Is not one Excellent Being, endued with
reason and intelligence, such as he is whom we acknowledge
to be the Father and Lord of all things, sufficient to direct and
rule these worlds? If there were more supreme agents, their
decrees would be vain, and contradictory to each other.”
But though Plutarch acknowledged the individuality of the
Supreme Being, he believed, nevertheless, in the existence of
intermediate beings of an inferior order, between the divine
and the human nature. These beings he calls genii, or dæ-
It is impossible, he thinks, from the general order
and principles of creation, that there should be no mean be-
twist the two extremes of a mortal and immortal being; that
there can not be in nature so great a vacuum, without some
intermediate species of life, which might in some measure
partake of both. And as we find the connection between soul
and body to be made by means of the animal spirits, so these
dæmons are intelligences between divinity and humanity.
Their nature, however, is believed to be progressive. At first
they are supposed to have been virtuous men, whose souls
being refined from the gross parts of their former existence,
are admitted into the higher order of genii, and are from
thence either raised to a more exalted mode of ethereal being,
or degraded to mortal forms, according to their merit, or their
degeneracy. One order of these genii, he supposes, presided
over oracles; others administered, under the Supreme Being,
the affairs and the fortunes of men, supporting the virtuous,
punishing the bad, and sometimes even communicating with
the best and purest natures. Thus the genius of Socrates still
warned him of approaching danger, and taught him to avoid it.
It is this order of beings which the late Mr. Thomson, who
in enthusiasm was a Platonist, and in benevolence a Pythago-
rean, has so beautifully described in his Seasons; and, as if the
good bard had believed the doctrine, he pathetically invokes
a favourite spirit which had lately forsaken its former man-
sion:
And art thou, Stanley, of that sacred band?
Alas! for us too soon!

LIFE OF PLUTARCH,
23
Such were Plutarch's religious principles; and as a proof
that he thought them of consequence, he entered, after his re-
tirement, into a sacred character, and was consecrated priest
of Apollo.
This was not his sole appointment, when he returned to
Chæronea. He united the sacerdotal with the magistratial
character, and devoted himself at once to the service of the
gods, and to the duties of society. He did not think that
philosophy, or the pursuit of letters, ought to exempt any man
from personal service in the community to which he belong-
ed; and though his literary labours were of the greatest im-
portance to the world, he sought no excuse in those from dis-
charging offices of public trust in his little city of Chæronea.
It appears that he passed through several of these offices,
and that he was at last appointed archon, or chief magistrate
of the city. Whether he retained his superintendency of
Illyria after the death of Trajan, we do not certainly know;
but, in this humble sphere, it will be worth our while to in-
quire in what manner a philosopher would administer justice.
With regard to the inferior offices that he bore, he looked
upon them in the same light as the great Epaminondas had
done, who, when he was appointed to a commission beneath
his rank, observed, —– That no office could give dignity to
him that held it; but that he who held it might give dignity
to any office.” It is not unentertaining to hear our philoso-
pher apologize for his employment, when he discharges the
office of commissioner of sewers and public buildings.--"I
make no doubt,” says he, “that the citizens of Chæronea of-
ten smile, when they see me employed in such offices as these.
On such occasions, I generally call to mind what is said of
Antisthenes. When he was bringing home, in his own hands,
a dirty fish from the market, some, who observed it, expressed
their surprise. It is for myself, said Antisthenes, that I carry
this fish. On the contrary, for my own part, when I am ral-
lied for measuring tiles, or for calculating a quantity of stones
or mortar, I answer, that it is not for myself I do these things,
but for my country. For, in all things of this nature, the
public utility takes off the disgrace; and the meaner the office
you sustain may be, the greater is the compliment that you
pay to the public."
Plutarch, in the capacity of a public magistrate, was inde-
fatigable in recommending unanimity to the citizens. To
carry this point more effectually, he lays it down as a first
principle, that a magistrate should be affable and easy of ac-
cess; that his house should always be open as a place of refuge
for those who sought for justice; and that he should not satisfy
himself merely with allotting certain hours of the day to sit

24
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
vate men,
for the despatch of business, but that he should employ a part
of his time in private negociations, in making up domestic
quarrels, and reconciling divided friends. This employment
he regarded as one of the principal parts of his office; and, in-
deed, he might properly consider it in a political light; for it
too frequently happens, that the most dangerous public fac-
tions are at first kindled by private misunderstandings. Thus,
in one part of his works, he falls into the same sentiment:
“ As public conflagrations,” says he, “do not always begin
in public edifices, but are caused more frequently by some
lamp neglected in a private house; so, in the administration
of states, it does not always happen that the flame of sedition
arises from political differences, but from private dissensions,
which, running through a long chain of connections, at length
affect the whole body of the people. For this reason, it is
one of the principal duties of a minister of state or magistrate,
to heal these private animosities, and to prevent them from
growing into public divisions.” After these observations, he
mentions several states and cities which had owed their ruin
to the same little causes; and then adds, that we ought not by
any means to be inattentive to the misunderstandings of
pri-
but apply to them the most timely remedies; for,
py proper care, as Cato observes, what is great becomes little,
and what is little is reduced to nothing. Of the truth of these
observations, the annals of our own country, we wish we had
no reason to say our own times, have presented us with many
melancholy instances.
As Plutarch observed that it was a fashionable fault amongst
men of fortune to refuse a proper respect to magistrates of in-
ferior rank, he endeavoured to remove this impolitic evil as
well by preceptas by example:-“ To learn obedience and de-
ference to the magistrate,” says he, “is one of the first and
best principles of discipline; nor ought these by any means to
be dispensed with, though that magistrate should be inferior
to us in figure or in fortune. For how absurd is it, if, in the-
atrical exhibitions, the meanest actor, that wears a momentary
diadem, shall receive his due respect from superior players;
and yet, in civil life, men of greater power or wealth shall
withhold the deference that is due to the magistrate! In this
case, however, they should remember, that while they con-
sult their own importance, they detract from the honour of
the state. Private dignity ought always to give place to pub-
lic authority; as, in Spartă, it was usual for the kings to rise
in compliment to the ephori.”
With regard to Plutarch's political principles, it is clear
that he was, even whilst at Rome, a republican in heart and
a friend to liberty. But this does him no peculiar honour

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
25
Such privileges are the birth-right of mankind; and they are
never parted with but through fear or favour. At Rome, he
acted like a philosopher of the world: Quando noi siamo in Roma,
noi faciamo come eglino fanno in Roma. He found a constitution
which he had not power to alter; yet, though he could not
make mankind free, he made them comparatively happy, by
teaching clemency to their temporary ruler.
At Chæronea we find him more openly avowing the prin-
ciples of liberty. During his residence at Rome, he had re-
marked an essential error in the police. In all complaints and
processes, however trifling, the people had recourse to the
first officers of state. By this means they supposed that their
interest would be promoted; but it had a certain tendency to
enslave them still more, and to render them the tools and de-
pendents of court power. Of these measures the archon of
Chæronea thus expresses his disapprobation:—66 At the same
time,” says he, 65 that we endeavour to render a city obedi-
ent to its magistrates, we must beware of reducing it to a ser-
vile or too humiliating a condition. Those who carry every
trifle to the cognizance of the supreme magistrate, are con-
tributing all they can to the servitude of their country.” And
it is undoubtedly true, that the habitual and universal exertion
of authority has a natural tendency to arbitrary dominion.
We have now considered Plutarch in the light of a philo-
sopher, a biographer, and a magistrate; we have entered into
his moral, religious, and political character, as well as the in-
formations we could obtain would enable us. It only remains
that we view him in the domestic sphere of life—that little
but trying sphere, where we act wholly from ourselves, and
assume no character but that which nature and education has
given us.
Dacier, on falling into this part of Plutarch's history, has
made a whimsical observation:-“ There are two cardinal
points,” says he, “in a man's life, which determine his hap-
piness or his misery. These are, his birth, and his marriage.
It is in vain for a man to be born fortunate, if he be unfortu-
nate in his marriage.” How Dacier could reconcile the as-
trologers to this new doctrine, it is not easy to say; for, upon
this principle a man must at least have two good stars, one for
his birth-day, the other for his wedding-day; as it seems that
the influence of the natal star could not extend beyond the
bridal morn, but that a man then falls under a different do-
minion.
At what time Plutarch entered into this state, we are not
quite certain; but as it is not probable that a man of his wis-
dom would marry at an advanced time of life, and as his wife
was a native of Chæronea, we may conclude that he married
VOL. I. -F

26
LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
before he went to Rome. However that might be, it appears
that he was fortunate in his choice; for his wife was not only
well born, and well bred, but a woman of distinguished sense
and virtue. Her name was Timoxena.
Plutarch appears to have had at least five children by her,
four sons and a daughter, whom out of regard for her mother,
he called Timoxena. He has given us a proof that he had all
the tenderness of an affectionate father for these children, by
recording a little instance of his daughter's natural benevo-
lence:-“When she was very young,” says he, “she would
frequently beg of her nurse to give the breast not only to the
other children, but to her babies and dolls, which she consi-
dered as her dependents, and under her protection.” Who
does not see, in this simple circumstance, at once the fondness
of the parent, and the benevolent disposition of the man?
But the philosopher soon lost his little blossom of humani-
ty. His Timoxena died in her infancy; and, if we may judge
from the consolatory letter he wrote to her mother on the oc-
casion, he bore the loss as became a philosopher:-66 Consi-
der,” said he, “that death has deprived your Timoxena only
of small enjoyments. The things she knew were of little con-
sequence, and she could be delighted only with trifles.” In
this letter we find a portrait of his wife, which does her
the greatest honour. From the testimony given by her hus-
band, it appears that she was far above the general weakness
and affectation of her sex. She had no passion for the expen-
siveness of dress, or the parade of public appearances. She
thought every kind of extravagance blameable; and her ambi
tion went not beyond the decencies and proprieties of life.
Plutarch had, before this, buried two of his sons, his eldest
son, and a younger named Charon; and it appears, from the
above-mentioned letter, that the conduct of Timoxena, on
these events, was worthy the wife of a philosopher. She did
not disfigure herself by change of apparel, or give way to the
extravagance of grief, as women in general do on such occa-
sions, but supported the dispensations of Providence with a
solemn and rational submission, even when they seemed to be
most severe. She had taken unwearied pains, and undergone
the greatest sufferings to nurse her son Charon at her own
breast, at a time when an abscess, formed near the part, had
obliged her to undergo an incision; yet, when the child, rear-
ed with so much tender pain and difficulty, died, those who
went to visit her on the melancholy occasion, found her house
in no more disorder than if nothing distressful had happened.
She received her friends as Admetus entertained Hercules;
who, the same day that he buried Alceste, betrayed not the
least confusion before his heroic guest.

LIFE OF PLUTARCH.
27
With a woman of so much dignity of mind and excellence
of disposition, a man of Plutarch's wisdom and humanity must
have been infinitely happy;and, indeed, it appears from those
precepts of conjugal happiness and affection which he has left
us, that he has drawn his observations from experience, and
that the rules he recommended had been previously exempli-
fied in his own family.
It is said that Plutarch had some misunderstanding with his
wife's relations; upon which Timoxena, fearing that it might
affect their union, had duty and religion enough to go as far
as Mount Helicon, and sacrifice to Love, who had a celebra-
ted temple there.
He left two sons, Plutarch and Lamprias. The latter ap-
pears to have been a philosopher, and it is to him we are in-
debted for a catalogue of his father's writings, which, how-
ever, one can not look upon, as Mr. Dryden says, without
the
same emotions that a merchant must feel in perusing a bill of
freight, after he has lost his vessel. i The writings, no longer
extant, are these:
Hercules,
Hesiod,
Pindar,
Crates and Diaphantus, with a Parallel,
Leonidas,
Aristomenes,
Scipio Africanuś, junior, and Metellus,
The Lives of Augustus,
Tiberius,
Claudius,
Nero,
Caligula,
Vitellius,
Epaminondas and the Elder Scipio, with
Parallel.
Four Books of Commentaries on Homer.
Four Books of Commentaries on Hesiod.
Five Books to Empedocles, on the Quintessence.
Five Books of Essays.
Three Books of Fables.
Three Books of Rhetoric.
Three Books on the Introduction of the Soul.
Two Books of Extracts from the Philosophers.
Three Books on Sense.
Three Books on the great Actions of Cities.
Iwo Books on Politics.

28
LIFE OF PLUTARCI
An Essay on Opportunity, to Theophrastus.
Four Books on the Obsolete Parts of History.
Two Books of Proverbs.
Eight Books on the Topics of Aristotle.
Three Books on Justice, to Chrysippus.
An Essay on Poetry.
A Dissertation on the Difference between the Pyrrhonians and
the Academicians.
A Treatise to prove that there was but one Academy of Plato.
Aulus Gellius has taken a long story from Taurus, about
Plutarch's method of correcting a slave, in which there is no-
thing more than this, that he punished him like a philosopher,
and gave him his discipline without being out of temper.
Plutarch had a nephew named Sextus, who bore a consid-
erable reputation in the world of letters, and taught the Greek
language and learning to Marcus Antonius. The character
which that philosopher has given him, in his First Book of
Reflections, may, with great propriety, be applied to his
uncle:-66 Sextus, by his example, taught me mildness and
humanity; to govern my house like a good father of a family;
to fall into an easy and unaffected gravity of manners; to live
agreeably to nature; to find out the art of discovering and pre-
venting the wants of my friends; to connive at the noisy fol-
lies of the ignorant and impertinent; and to comply with the
understandings and the humours of men.
One of the rewards of philosophy is long life; and it is clear
that Plutarch enjoyed this; but of the time, or the circum-
stances of his death, we have no satisfactory account.

PLUTARCH'S LIVES.
THE
LIFE OF THESEUS.
As geographers thrust into the extremities of their maps
those countries that are unknown to them, remarking at the
same time, that all beyond is hills of sand, and haunts of wild
beasts, frozen seas, marshes and mountains that are inaccessi-
ble to human courage or industry; so, in comparing the lives
of illustrious men, when I have past through those periods of
time which may be described with probability, and where his-
tory may find firm footing in facts, I may say, my Senecio, *
of the remoter ages, that all beyond is full of prodigy and fic-
tion, the regions of poets and fabulists, wrapt in clouds, and
unworthy of belief.f Yet since I had given an account of
Lycurgus and Numa, I thought I might, without impropriety,
ascend to Romulus, as I had approached his times. But con-
sidering
Who, for the palm, in contest high shall join?
Or who in equal ranks shall stand?
(as Æschylus expresses it,) it appeared to me, that he who
peopled the beautiful and famed city of Athens, might be best
contrasted and compared with the father of the magnificent
and invincible Rome. Permit us then to take from Fable her
extravagance, and make her yield to, and accept the form of
History; but where she obstinately despises probability, and
refuses to mix with what is credible, we must implore the
* Sossius Senecio, a man of consular dignity, who flourished under Nerva
and Trajan, and to whom Pliny addressed some of his Epistles: not the Se-
necio put to death by Domitian.
+ The wild fictions of the fabulous ages may partly be accounted for from
the genius of the writers, who, as Plutarch observes, were chiefly poets;
and partly from an affectation of something extraordinary or preternatura]
in antiquity, which has generally prevailed, both in nations and families.

30
THESEUS.
candour of our readers, and their kind allowance for the tales
of antiquity,
Theseus, then, appeared to answer to Romulus in many par-
ticulars. Both were of uncertain parentage, born out of wed-
lock; and both had the repute of being sprung from the gods
Both stood in the first rank of warriors; for both had great
powers of mind, with great strength of body. One was the
founder of Rome, and one peopled Athens, the most illustri-
ous cities in the world. Both carried off women by violence;
both were involved in domestic miseries, and exposed to
family resentment;* and both, towards the end of their lives,
are said to have offended their respective citizens, if we may
believe what seems to be delivered with the least mixture of
poetical fiction.
The lineage of Theseus, by his father's side, stretches to
Erectheus and the first inhabitants of his country;t by his
mother's side to Pelops,# who was the most powerful of all
the Peloponnesian kings, not only on account of his great
opulence, but the number of his children; for he married his
daughters to persons of the first dignity, and found means to
place his sons at the head of the chief states. One of them,
named Pittheus, grandfather to Theseus, founded the small
city of Trozene, and was esteemed the most learned, and the
wisest man of his age. The essence of the wisdom of those
days consisted in such moral sentences as Hesiodſ is cele-
brated for in his Book of Works. One of these is ascribed i
to Pittheus:
Blast not the hope which friendship has conceived,
But fill its measure high.
*Ουδετερος δε δυςυχιαν περι τα οικεία και νεμεσον εγγενη διεφυγεν. .
+ Theseus was the sixth in descent from Erectheus, or Ericthonius, said
to be the son of Vulcan and Minerva, or Cranaë, granddaughter of Cranaus,
the second king of Athens; so that Plutarch very justly says, that Theseus
was descended from the Autocthones, or first inhabitants of Attica, who
were so called, because they pretended to be born in that very country. It
is generally allowed, however, that this kingdom was founded by Cecrops,
an Egyptian, who brought hither a colony of Saites, about the year of the
world 2448, before Christ 1556. The inhabitants of Attica, were, indeed,
a more ancient people than those of many other districts of Greece, which
being of a more fertile soil, often changed their masters, while few were am-
bitious of settling in a barren country.
# Pelops was the son of Tantalus, and of Phrygian extraction. He car.
ried with him immense riches into Peloponnesus, which he had dug out of
the mines of Mount Sypilus. By means of this wealth, he got the govern-
ment of the most considerable towns for his sons, and married his daughters
to princes,
$ Hesiod flourished about five mindred years after Pittheus. Solomon
wrote his Moral Sentences two or three hundred years after Pitthers.

THESEUS.
31
This is confirmed by Aristotle. And Euripides, in saying
that Hippolytus was taught by “the sage and venerable Pit-
theus,” gives him a very honourable testimony.
Ægeus, wanting to have children, is said to have received,
from the oracle at Delphi, that celebrated answer, which com-
manded him not to approach any woman before he returned
to Athens. But as the oracle seemed not to give him clear
instruction, he came to Troezene, and communicated it to Pit-
theus in the following terms:-
52
« The mystic vessel shall untouch'd remain,"
Till in thy native realm.
It is uncertain what Pittheus saw in this oracle; however,
either by persuasion or deceit, he drew Ægeus into conver-
sation with his daughter Æthra. Ægeus afterwards coming
to know that she whom he had lain with was Pittheus's daugh-
ter, and suspecting her to be with child, hid a sword and a
pair of sandals under a large stone, which had a cavity for the
purpose. Before his departure, he told the secret to the prin-
cess only, and left orders, that if she brought forth a son, who,
when he came to a man's estate, should be able to remove the
stone, and take away the things left under it, she should send
him with those tokens to him, with all imaginable privacy; for
he was very much afraid that some plot would be formed
against him by the Pallantidæ, who despised him for his want
of children. These were fifty brothers, the sons of Pallas. *
Æthra was delivered of a son; and some say he was imme-
diately named Theseus,t because of the laying up of the to-
kens; others, that he received his name afterwards at Athens,
when Ægeus acknowledged him for his son. He was brought
up by Pittheus, and had a tutor named Connidas, to whom the
Athenians, even in our times, sacrifice a ram, on the day pre-
ceding the Theséan feasts, giving this honour to his memory
upon a much juster account than that which they pay to Sila-
nion and Parrhasius, who only made statues and pictures of
Theseus.
his son,
* Pallas was brother to Ægeus; and as Egeus was supposed to have no
children, the Pallantidæ considered the kingdom of Athens as their undoubt-
ed inheritance. It was natural, therefore, for Egeus to conclude, that if they
came to know he had a son, they would attempt to assassinate either him or
f The Greeks, as well as the Hebrews, gave names both to persons and
things from some event or circumstance attending that which they were to
name. The Greek word Thesis signifies laying up, and the thai vion, to
acknowledge, or rather to adopt a son. Ægeus did both; the ceremony of
adoption being necessary to enable Theseus, who was not a legitimate song
to inherit the crown.

82
THESEUS.
As it was then the custom for such as had arrived at man's
estate, to go to Delphi to offer the first-fruits of their hair to
Apollo, Theseus went thither, and the place where this cere-
mony is performed, from him, is said to be yet called Theséa.
He shaved, however, only the fore-part of his head, as Ho-
mer tells us the Abantes did;* and this kind of tonsure, on his
account, was called Theséïs. The Abantes first cut their hair
in this manner, not in imitation of the Arabians, as some ima-
gine, nor yet of the Mysians, but because they were a war-
like people, who loved close fighting, and were more expert
in it than any other nation. Thus Archilochust-
These twang not bows, nor sling the hissing stone,
When Mars exults, and fields with armies groan:
Far nobler skill Eubea's sons display,
And with the thundering sword decide the fray.
That they might not, therefore, give advantage to their ene-
mies by their hair, they took care to cut it off. And we are
informed, that Alexander of Macedon, having made the same
observation, ordered his Macedonian troops to cut off their
beards, these being a ready handle in battle.
For some time Æthra declared not the real father of The-
seus; but the report propagated by Pittheus was that he was
the son of Neptune; for the Træzenians principally worship
that god: he is the patron of their city; to him they offer their
first-fruits; and their money bears the impression of a trident.
Theseus, in his youth discovering not only great strength of
body, but firmness and solidity of mind, together with a large
share of understanding and prudence, Æthra led him to the
stone, and having told him the truth concerning his origin,
ordered him to take up his father's tokens, and sail to Athens.
He easily removed the stone, but refused to go by sea, though
he might have done it with great safety, and though he was
pressed to it by the entreaties of his grandfather and mother;
while it was hazardous, at that time, to go by land to Athens,
because no part was free from the danger of ruffians and rob-
bers. Those times, indeed, produced men of strong and in-
defatigable powers of body, of extraordinary swiftness and
agility; but they applied those powers to nothing just or use-
ful. On the contrary, their genius, their disposition, their
* The Abantes were the inhabitants of Eubæa, but originally of Abae, a
town in Thrace.
† Archilochus was a Greek poet, who lived about the time of Romulus.
Homer had given the same account of the Abantes above three hundred
years before; for, in the second book of the Iliad, he tells us, the Abantes
pierced the breast-plates of their enemies with extended spears or pikes; that
is to say, they fought hand to hand.

THESEUS.
33
It was
pleasures, tended only to insolence, to violence, and to rapine.
As for modesty, justice, equity, and humanity, they looked
upon them as qualities in which those who had it in their
power to add to their possessions, had no manner of concern;
virtues praised only by such as were afraid of being injured,
and who abstained from injuring others out of the same prin-
ciple of fear. Some of these ruffians were cut off by Hercules
in his peregrinations, while others escaped to their lurking
holes, and were spared by the hero in contempt of their cow-
ardice. But when Hercules had unfortunately killed Iphitus,
he retired to Lydia, where, for a long time, he was a slave to
Omphale, * a punishment which he imposed upon himself for
the murder. “The Lydians then enjoyed great quiet and se-
curity; but in Greece the same kind of enormities broke out
anew, there being no one to restrain or quell them.
therefore extremely dangerous to travel by land from Pelo-
ponnesus to Athens; and Pittheus, acquainting Theseus with
the number of these ruffians, and with their cruel treatment of
strangers, advised him to go by sea. But he had long secretly
been fired with the glory of Hercules, whom he held in the
highest esteem, listening with great attention to such as re-
lated his achievements, particularly to those that had seen him,
conversed with him, and had been witnesses to his prowess.
He was affected in the same manner as Themistocles after-
wards was, when he declared that the trophies of Miltiades
would not suffer him to sleep. The virtues of Hercules were
his dream by night, and by day emulation led him out, and
spurred him on to perform some exploits like his. Besides,
they were nearly related, being born of cousin-germans, for
Æthra was the daughter of Pittheus, and Alcmena of Lysi-
dice, and Pittheus and Lysidice were brother and sister by
Pelops and Hippodamia. He considered it, therefore, as an
insupportable dishonour, that Hercules should traverse both
sea and land to clear them of these villains, while he himself
declined such adventures as occurred to him; disgracing his
reputed father, if he took his voyage, or rather flight by sea;
and carrying to his real father a pair of sandals and a sword
unstained with blood, instead of the ornament of great and
good actions, to assert and add lustre to his noble birth. With
such thoughts and resolutions as these he set forward, deter-
mining to injure no one, but to take vengeance of such as
should offer him any violence.
He was first attacked by Periphetes, in Epidauria, whose
* Those who had been guilty of murder, became voluntary exiles and im-
posed on themselves a certain penance, which they continued till they
thought their crime expiated.
5
VOL. 1.
G

34
THESEUS,
weapon was a club, and who, on that account, was called Co-
rynetes, or the Club-bearer. He engaged with him, and slew
him. Delighted with the club, he took it for his weapon, and
used it as Hercules did the lion's skin. The skin was a proof
of the vast size of the wild beast which that hero had slain;
and Theseus carried about with him this club, whose stroke
he had been able to parry, but which, in his hand, was irre-
sistible. In the Isthmus he slew Sinnis the Pine-bender, * in
the same manner as he had destroyed many others; and this he
did, not as having learned or practised the bending of those
trees, but to show that natural strength is above all art. Sinnis
had a daughter remarkable for her beauty and stature, named
Perigune, who had concealed herself when her father was
killed. Theseus made diligent search for her, and found at
last that she had retired into a place overgrown with shrubs,
and rushes, and wild asparagus. In her childish simplicity,
she addressed her prayers and vows to these plants and bushes,
as if they could have a sense of her misfortune, promising, if
they would save and hide her, that she would never burn or
destroy them. But when Theseus pledged his honour for
treating her politely, she came to him, and in due time brought
him a son named Melanippus. Afterwards, by Theseus's per-
mission, she married Deïoneus, the son of Eurytus the (Echa-
lian. Melanippus had a son named löxus, who joined with
Ornytus in planting a colony in Caria; whence the löxides;
with whom it is an inviolable rule, not to burn either rushes
or wild asparagus, but to honour and worship them.
About this time Crommyon was infested by a wild sow
named Phæa, a fierce and formidable creature.
he attacked and killed,f going out of his way to engage her
and thereby showing an act of voluntary valour; for he be-
lieved it equally became a brave man to stand upon his de-
fence against abandoned ruffians, and to seek out, and begin
the combat with strong and savage animals. But some say,
that Phæa was an abandoned female robber, who dwelt in
Crommyon; that she had the name of Sow from her life and
manners; and was afterwards slain by Theseus.
On the borders of Megara he destroyed Sciron, a robber,
by casting him headlong from a precipice, as the story gene-
rally goes; and it is added, that in wanton villany, this Sciron
used to make strangers wash his feet, and to take those oppor-
This savage
* Sinnis was so called from his bending the heads of two pines, and tying
passengers between the opposite branches, which by their sudden return,
tore them to pieces.
† In this instance our hero deviated from the principle he set out upon,
which was never to be the aggressor in any engagement. The wild sow
was certainly no less respectable an animal than the pine-bender,

THESEUS.
35
tunities to push them into the sea. But the writers of Me-
gara, in contradiction to this report, and, as Simonides ex-
presses it, fighting with all antiquity, asserts, that Sciron was
neither a robber nor a ruffian, but, on the contrary, a destroyer
of robbers, and a man whose heart and house were ever open
to the good and the honest. For Æacus, say they, was looked
upon as the justest man in Greece, Cychreus of Salamis had
divine honours paid him at Athens, and the virtue of Peleus
and Telamon too was universally known. Now, Sciron was
son-in-law to Cychreus, father-in-law to Æacus, and grand-
father to Peleus and Telamon, who were both of them sons of
Endëis, the daughter of Sciron and Chariclo; therefore, it was
not probable that the best of men should make such alliances
with one of so vile a character, giving and receiving the
greatest and dearest pledges. Besides, they tell us, that The-
seus did not slay Sciron in his first journey to Athens, but
afterwards, when he took Eleusis from the Megarensians,
having expelled Diocles, its chief magistrate, by a stratagem.
In such contradictions are these things involved.
At Eleusis he engaged in wrestling with Cercyon the Arca-
dian, and killed him on the spot. Proceeding to Hermione, *
he put a period to the cruelties of Damastes, sirnamed Pro-
crustes, making his body fit the size of his own beds, as he
had served strangers. These things he did in imitation of
Hercules, who always returned upon the aggressors the same
sort of treatment which they intended for him; for that hero
sacrificed Busiris, killed Antæus in wrestling, Cygnus in sin-
gle combat, and broke the skull of Termerus; whence this is
Called the Termerian mischief; for Termerus, it seems, destroy-
ed the passengers he met, by dashing his head against theirs.
Thus Theseus pursued his travels, to punish abandoned
wretches, who suffered the same kind of death from him that
they inflicted on others, and were requited with vengeance
suitable to their crimes.
In his progress he came to the Cephisus, where he was first
saluted by some of the Phytalidæ. † Upon his desire to have
the customary purifications, they gave him them in due form,
and having offered propitiatory sacrifices, invited him to their
houses. This was the first hospitable treatment he met with
* This seems to be a mistake; for we know of no place called Harmione,
or Hermione, between Eleusis and Athens. Pausanias calls it Erione; and
the authors of the Universal History, after Philocorus, call it Termione.
+ These were the descendants of Phytalus, with whom Ceres intrusted the
superintendence of her holy mysteries, in recompense for the hospitality
with which she had been treated at his house. Theseus thought himself
unfit to be admitted to those mysteries without expiation, because he had
dipped his hands in blood, though it was only that of thieves and robbers.

36
THESEUS.
on the road. He is said to have arrived at Athens on the
eighth day of the month Cronius, which they now called He-
catomboon (July). There he found the state full of troubles
and distraction, and the family of Ægeus in great disorder;
for Medea, who had fled from Corinth, promised, by her art,
to enable Ægeus to have children, and was admitted to his
bed. She first discovering Theseus, whom as yet Ægeus did
not know, persuaded him, now in years, and full of jealousies
and suspicions, on account of the faction that prevailed in the
city, to prepare an entertainment for him as a stranger, and
take him off by poison. Theseus, coming to the banquet, did
not intend to declare himself first, but, willing to give his fa-
ther occasion to find him out, when the meat was served
up,
he
drew his sword, * as if he designed to carve with it, and took
care it should attract his notice. Ægeus quickly perceiving
it, dashed down the cup of poison, and, after some questions,
embraced him as his son; then assembling the people, he ac-
knowledged him also before them, who received him with
great satisfaction, on account of his valour. The cup is said
to have fallen, and the poison to have been spilt, where the
enclosure now is, in the place called Delphinium; for there it
was that Ægeus dwelt; and the Mercury which stands on
the east side of the temple, is yet called the Mercury of
Ægeus's gate.
The Pallantidæ, who hoped to recover the kingdom; if
Ægeus died childless, lost all patience when Theseus was de
clared his successor. Exasperated at the thought that Ægeus,
who was not in the least allied to the Erechthide, but only
adopted by Pandion,t should first gain the crown, and after.
wards Theseus, who was an emigrant and a stranger, they
prepared for war; and dividing their forces, one party marched
openly, with their father, from Sphettus to the city; and the
other concealing themselves in Gargettus, lay in ambush,
with
a design to attack the enemy from two severaſ quarters. They
had with them a herald, named Leos, of the tribe of Agnus.
This man carried to Theseus an account of all the designs of
the Pallantidæ; and he immediately fell upon those that lay in
ambush, and destroyed them. Pallas and his company being
informed of this, thought fit to disperse. Hence it is said to
be, that the tribe of Pallene never intermarry with the Ag-
* Some needless learning has been adduced to show, that in the heroic
times they carved with a cutlass or large knife, and not with a sword; and
that, consequently, Plutarch here must certainly be mistaken; but as pesexcepce
signifies either a cutlass or a sword, how do we know that it was a sword,
and not a cutlass, which Ægeus hid under the stone?
+ It has been actually reported, that Ægeus was not the son of Pandion,
but of Scyrias.

THESEUS.
37
nusians, nor suffer any proclamation to begin with these words,
Akouete Leoi, (Hear, 6 ye people;) for they hate the very
name of Leos, on account of the treachery of that herald.
Theseus, desirous to keep himself in action, and at the same
time courting the favour of the people, went against the Mara-
thonian bull, which did no small mischief to the inhabitants
of Tetrapolis. When he had taken him, he brought him alive
in triumph through the city, and afterwards sacrificed him to
the Delphinian Apollo. Hecale also, and the story of her re-
ceiving and entertaining Theseus, does not appear destitute
of all foundation; for the people in that neighbourhood assem-
ble to perform the Hecalesian rites to Jupiter Hecalus; they
honour Hecale too, calling her by the diminutive, Hecalene,
because, when she entertained Theseus while he was but a
youth, she caressed him as persons in years used to do chil-
dren, and called him by such tender diminutive names. She
vowed, moreover, when he went to battle, to offer sacrifices
to Jupiter, if he returned safe; but as she died before the end
of the expedition, Theseus performed those holy rites in tes-
timony of the grateful sense he had of her hospitality. So
Philochorus relates the story.*
Not long after, there came the third time from Crete the
collectors of the tribute, exacted on the following occasion.
Androgeust being treacherously slain in Attica, a very fatal
war was carried on against that country by Minos, and divine
vengeance laid it waste; for it was visited by famine and pes-
tilence, and want of water increased their misery. The re-
medy that Apollo proposed, was that they should appease Mi-
nos, and be reconciled to him; whereupon the wrath of heaven
would cease, and their calamities come to a period. In con-
sequence of this, they sent ambassadors with their submission;
and, as most writers agree; engaged themselves, by treaty, to
send every ninth year a tribute of seven young men, and as
many virgins. When these were brought into Crete, the
fabulous account informs us, that they were destroyed by the
Minotaurț in the labyrinth, or that, lost in its mazes, and
* Philochorus was an Athenian historian, who flourished in the reign of
Ptolemy Philopater, about two hundred years before the birth of our Saviour
He wrote many valuable pieces, of which nothing remains but some frag-
ments preserved by other writers.
† Some say Ægeus caused him to be murdered, because he was in the
interest of the Pallantidæ; others, that he was killed by the Marathonian
bull.
# Feigned by the poets to have been begot by a bull upon Pasiphaë,
Minos's queen, who was inspired, it seems, with this horrid passion by Nep-
tune, in revenge for Minos's refusing him a beautiful bull, which he expeat.
ed as an offering
5*

38
THESEUS.
unable to find the way out, they perished there. The Mino-
taur was, as Euripides tells us,
A mingled form, prodigious to behold.
Half bull, half man!
But Philochorus says the Cretans deny this, and will not al-
low the labyrinth to have been any thing but a prison, which
had no other inconvenience than this, that those who were
confined there could not escape; and Minos having instituted
games in honour of Androgeus, the prize for the victors was
those youths, who had been kept till that time in the labyrinth.
He that first won the prizes in those games, was a person of
great authority in the court of Minos, and general of his ar-
mies, named Taurus, who being unmerciful and savage in his
nature, had treated the Athenian youths with great insolence
and cruelty. And it is plain that Aristotle himself, in his ac-
count of the Bottican government, does not suppose that the
young men were put to death by Minos, but that they lived,
some of them to old age, in servile employments in Crete.
He adds, that the Cretans, in pursuance of an ancient vow,
once sent a number of their first-born to Delphi, among whom
were some of the descendants of these Athenian slaves, who
not being able to support themselves there, first passed from
thence into Italy, where they settled about Iapygia; and froin
thence they removed again into Thrace, and were called Bot-
ticeans. Wherefore the Botticean virgins, in some solemnities
of religion, sing—66 To Athens let us go.” And, indeed, it
seems dangerous to be at enmity with a city which is the seat
of eloquence and learning; for Minos always was satirized on
the Athenian stage; nor was his fame sufficiently rescued by
Hesiod's calling him “ Supreme of Kings,” or Homer's say-
ing, that he conversed with Jove;" for the writers of tragedy
prevailing, represented him as a man of vicious character,
violent and implacable; yet, inconsistently enough, they say
that Minos was a king and a lawgiver, and that Rhadamanthus
was an upright judge, and guardian of the laws which Minos
had made.
When the time of the third tribute came, and those parents
who had sons not arrived at full maturity, were obliged to re-
sign them to the lot, complaints against Ægeus sprung up
again among the people, who expressed their grief and resent-
ment, that he who was the cause of all their misfortunes, bore
* This is a mistake into which Plutarch and several other writers have
fallen. There were two of the name of Minos; one was the son of Jupiter
and Europa, and a just and exellent prince; the other his grandson, and son
of Lycaster, was a tyrant,

THESEUS.
89
no part of the punishment, and while he was adopting, and
raising to the succession, a stranger of spurious birth, took no
thought for them who lost their legitimate children. Those
things were matter of great concern to Theseus, who, to ex-
press his regard for justice, and take his share in the common
fortune, voluntarily offered himself as one of the seven, without
lot. The citizens were charmed with this proof of his mag-
nanimity and public spirit; and Ægeus himself, when he saw
that no entreaties or persuasions availed to turn him from it,
gave out the lots for the rest of the young men. But Hel-
linachus
says, that the youths and virgins which the city fur-
nished, were not chosen by lot, but that Minos came in per-
son and selected them, and Theseus before the rest, upon
these conditions:
-That the Athenians should furnish a ves-
sel, and the young men embark and sail along with him, but
carry no arms; and that if they could kill the Minotaur, there
should be an end of the tribute. There appearing no hopes of
safety for the youths in the two former tributes, they sent out
a ship with the black sail, as carrying them to certain ruin.
But when Theseus encouraged his father by his confidence of
success against the Minotaur, he gave another sail, a white
one, to the pilot, ordering him, if he brought Theseus safe
back, to hoist the white; but if not, to sail with the black one
in token of his misfortune. Simonides, however, tells us, that
it was not a white sail which Ægeus gave, but a scarlet one,
dyed with the juice of the flower of a very flourishing holm
oak,* and that this was to be the signal that all was well. He
adds, that Phereclus, the son of Amarsyas, was pilot of the
ship; but Philochorus says, that Theseus had a pilot sent him
by Sciras, from Salamis, named Nausitheus, and one Phæax
to be at the prow, because as yet the Athenians had not applied
themselves to navigation;t and that Sciras did this, because
one of the young men, named Menesthes, was his daughter's
This is confirmed by the monuments of Nausitheus and
Phæax, built by Theseus, at Phalerum, near the temple of
Sciron; and the feast called Cybernesia, or the Pilots Feast,
is said to be kept in honour of them.
When the lots where cast, Theseus taking with him, out of
the Prytaneum, those upon whom they fell, went to the Del-
phinian temple, and made an offering to Apollo for them. This
offering was a branch of consecrated olive, bound about with
son.
* It is not the flower, but the fruit of the ilex, full of little worms which
the Arabians call Kermes, from which a scarlet dye is procured.
† The Athenians, according to Homer, sent fifty ships to Troy; but those
were only transport ships. Thucydides assures us, that they did not begin
to make any figure at sea till ten or twelve years after the battle of Mara.
thon, near seven. hundred years after the siege of Troy.

40
THESEUS
white wool. Having paid his devotions, he embarked on the
sixth of April; at which time they still sent the virgins to Del-
phinium to propitiate the god. It was reported that the ora-
cle at Delphi commanded him to take Venus for his guide, and
entreat her to be his companion in the voyage; and when he
sacrificed to her a she-goat on the sea-shore, its sex was im-
mediately changed; hence the goddess had the name of Epi-
tragia.
When he arrived in Crete, according to most historians and
poets, Ariadne, falling in love with him, gave him a clue of
thread, and instructed him how to pass with it through the in
tricacies of the labyrinth. Thus assisted, he killed the Mi.
notaur, and then set sail, carrying off Ariadne, together with
the
young men; Pherecydes says, that Theseus broke up the
keels of the Cretan ships, to prevent their pursuit. But, as
Demon has it, he killed Taurus, Minos's commander, who en-
gaged him in the harbour, just as he was ready to sail out.
Again, according to Philochorus, when Minos celebrated the
games in honour of his son, it was believed that Taurus would
bear away the prizes in them as formerly; and every one
grudged him that honour; for his excessive power and haugh-
ty behaviour were intolerable; and, besides, he was accused
of too great a familiarity with Pasiphaë; therefore, when The-
seus desired the combat, Minos permitted it. In Crete it was
the custom for the women, as well as the men, to see the
games; and Ariadne, being present, was struck with the per-
son of Theseus, and with his superior vigour and address in
the wrestling-ring. Minos too was greatly delighted, espe-
cially when he saw Taurus vanquished and disgraced, and
this induced him to give up the young men to Theseus, and to
remit the tribute. Clidemus, beginning higher, gives a prolix
account of these matters, according to his manner. There was,
it seems, a decree throughout all Greece, that no vessel should
sail with more than five hands, except the Argo commanded
by Jason, who was appointed to clear the sea of pirates. But
when Dædalus escaped by sea to Athens, Minos, pursuing
him with his men of war, contrary to the decree, was driven
by a storm to Sicily, and there ended his life. And when
Deucalion, his successor, pursuing his father's quarrels with
the Athenians, demanded that they should deliver up
Dada-
lus, and threatened, if they did not, to make way with the
hostages that Minos had received, Theseus gave him a mild
answer, alleging that Dædalus was his relation, nearly allied
in blood, being son to Merope, the daughter of Erectheus.
But privately he prepared a fleet, part of it among the Thy-
mætadæ, at a distance from any public road, and part under
the direction of Pittheus, at Trozene. When it was ready, he

THESEUS.
41
set sail, taking Dædalus, and the rest of the fugitives from
Crete for his guide. The Cretans receiving no information of
the matter, and when they saw his fleet, taking them for friends
he easily gained the harbour, and making a descent, proceed-
ed immediately to Gnossus. There he engaged with Deucalion
and his guards, before the gates of the labyrinth, and slew
then. The government by this means falling to Ariadne,
he entered into an agreement with her, by which he received
the young captives, and made a perpetual league between the
Athenians and the Cretans, both sides swearing to proceed to
hostilities no more.
There are many other reports about these things, and as
many concerning Ariadne, but none of any certainty. For
some say, that being deserted by Theseus she hanged herself;
others, that she was carried by the mariners to Naxos, and
there married Onarus, the priest of Bacchus, Theseus having
left her for another mistress:
For Ægle's charms had pierc'd the hero's heart.
Whereas the Megarensian tells us, that Pisistratus struck the
line out of Hesiod; as, on the contrary, to gratify the Athe-
nians, he added this other to Homer's description of the state
of the dead:-
The God-like Theseus and the great Pirithöus.
Some say Ariadne had two sons by Theseus, Enopion and
Staphylus. With these agrees Ion of Chios, who says of his
native city, that it was built by Enopion, the son of Theseus.
But the most striking passages of the poets, relative to those
things, are in every body's mouth. Something more particu-
lar is delivered by Pæon the Amathusian. He relates, that
Theseus, being driven by a storm to Cyprus; and having with
him Ariadne, who was big with child, and extremely discom
posed with the agitation of the sea, he set her on shore, and
left her alone, while he returned to take care of the ship; but
by a violent wind was forced out again to sea; that the women
of the country received Ariadne kindly, consoled her under
her loss, and brought her feigned letters as from Theseus; that
they attended and assisted her, when she fell in labour; and,
as she died in child-bed, paid her the funeral honours; that
Theseus, on his return, greatly afflicted at the news, left mo-
ney with the inhabitants, ordering them to pay divine honours
to Ariadne; and that he caused two little statues of her to be
made, one of silver, and the other of brass; that they cele-
brated her festival on the second of September, when a young
man lies down, and imitates the cries and gesture of a woman
VOL. I.-H

42
THESEUS.
in travail; and that the Amathusians call the grove in which
they show her tomb, the grove of Venus Ariadne.
Some of the Naxian writers relate, that there were two Mi-
noses, and two Ariadnes; one of which was married to Bac-
chus in Naxos, and had a son named Staphylus; the other, of
a later age, being carried off by Theseus, and afterwards de-
serted, came to Naxos, with her nurse Corcyne, whose tomb
is still shown. That this Ariadne died there, and had differ-
ent honours paid her from the former; for the feasts of one
were celebrated with mirth and revels, while the sacrifices of
the other were mixed with sorrow and mourning.
Theseus, in his return from Crete, put in at Delos;t and
having sacrificed to Apollo, and dedicated a statue of Venus,
which he received from Ariadne, he joined with the young
men in a dance, which the Delians are said to practise at this
day. It consists in an imitation of the mazes and outlets of
the labyrinth, and, with various involutions and evolutions, is
performed in regular time. This kind of dance, as Dicæar-
chus informs us, is called by the Delians the Crane. $. He
danced it round the altar Keraton, which was built entirely of
the left-side horns of beasts. He is also said to have insti-
tuted games in Delos, where he began the custom of giving a
palm to the victors.
When they drew near to Attica, both Theseus and the pilot
were so transported with joy, that they forgot to hoist the sail
which was to be the signal to Ægeus of their safety; who,
therefore, in despair, threw himself from the rock, and was
dashed to pieces." Theseus disembarked, and
performed those
sacrifices to the gods which he had vowed at Phalerum, when
he set sail, and
sent a herald to the city, with an account of his
safe return. The messenger met with numbers, lamenting
the fate of the king, and others rejoicing, as it was natural to
expect, at the return of Theseus, welcoming him with the
greatest kindness, and ready to crown him with flowers for
his good news. He received the chaplets, and twined them
round his herald's staff
. Returning to the sea-shore, and find-
ing that Theseus had not yet finished his libations, he stopped
without, not choosing to disturb the sacrifice. When the li-
bations were over, he announced the death of Ægeus. Upon
this, they hastened, with sorrow and tumultuous lamenta-
* The feasts of Ariadne, the wife of Bacchus, were celebrated with joy, to
denote that she was become a divinity; those of the other Ariadne signified
that she fell like a mere mortal.
† Hence came the custom of sending annually a deputation from Athens to
Delos, to sacrifice to Apollo.
This dance, Callimachus tells us, was a particular one; and probably it
was called the Crane, because cranes commonly fly in the figure of a circle.

THESEUS.
43
tions, to the city. Hence they tell us, it is, that, in the Os-
chophoria, or Feast of Boughs, to this day the herald is not
crowned, but his staff; and those who are present at the liba-
tions cry out, Eleleu! Ioü, loü!* The former is the exclamation
of haste and triumph, and the latter of trouble and confusion.
Theseus, having buried his father, paid his vows to Apollo on
the seventh of October; for on that day they arrived safe at
Athens. The boiling of all sorts of pulse at that time is said
to take its rise from their mixing the remains of their provi-
sions, when they found themselves safe ashore, boiling them
in one pot, and feasting upon them all together. In that feast
they also carry a branch bound about with wool, such as they
then made use of in their supplications, which they call Eire-
sione, laden with all sorts of fruits; and, to signify the ceas-
ing of scarcity at that time, they sing this strain:
The golden ear, th' ambrosial hive,
In fair Eiresione thrive.
See the juicy figs appear!
Olives crown the wealthy year!
See the cluster-bending vine!
See, and drink, and drop supine!
Some pretend that this ceremony is retained in memory
of
the Heraclidæ,t who were entertained in that manner by the
Athenians; but the greater part relate it as above delivered.
The vessel in which Theseus sailed, and returned safe, with
those young men, went with thirty oars. It was preserved
by the Athenians to the times of Demetrius Phalereus;}
being
so pieced and new framed with strong plank, that it afforded
an example to the philosophers, in their disputations concern-
ing the identity of things that are changed by growth; some
contending that it was the same, and others that it was not.
The feast called Oschophoria, $ which the Athenians still
* Eleleu denotes the joy and precipitation with which Theseus marched
towards Athers; and Joi, ioii, his sorrow for the death of his father,
+ The descendants of Hercules, being driven out of Peloponnesus and all
Greece, applied to the Athenians for their protection, which was granted;
and as they went as suppliants, they went with branches in their hands.
This subject is treated by Euripides in his Heraclida.
# That is near 1000 years; for Theseus returned from Crete about the year
before Christ 1235, and Callimachus, who was contemporary with Deme-
trius, and who tells us the Athenians continued to send this ship to Delos
in his time, flourished about the year before Christ 280.
$ This ceremony was performed in the following manner:-They made
choice of a certain number of youths of the most noble families in each tribe,
whose fathers and mothers both were living. They bore vine-branches in
their hands, with grapes upon them, and ran from the temple of Bacchus to
that of Minerva Sciradia, which was near the Phalerean gate. He that ar-

THESEUS
es.
„elebrate, was then first instituted by Theseus. For he did
not take with him all the virgins upon whom the lot had fall-
en, but selected two young men of his acquaintance who had
feminine and florid aspects, but were not wanting in spirit and
presence of mind. These, by. warm bathing, and keeping
them out of the sun, by providing unguents for their hair and
complexions, and every thing necessary for their dress, by
forming their voice, their manner, and their step, he so effec-
tually altered, that they passed among the virgins designed
for Crete, and no one could discern the difference.
At his return, he walked in procession with the same young
men dressed in the manner of those who now carry the branch-
These are carried in honour of Bacchus and Ariadne,
on account of the story before related; or rather because they
returned at the time of gathering ripe fruits. The Deipno-
phoræ, (women who carry the provisions,) bear a part in the
solemnity, and have a share in the sacrifice, to represent the
mothers of those upon whom the lots fell, who brought their
children provisions for the voyage. Fables and tales are the
chief discourse, because the women then told their children
stories to comfort them and keep up their spirits. These par-
ticulars are taken from the history of Demon. There was a
place consecrated, and a temple erected to Theseus; and those
families which would have been liable to the tribute, in case
it had continued, were obliged to pay a tax to the temple for
sacrifices. These were committed to the care of the Phy-
talidæ, Theseus doing them that honour in recompense of
their hospitality
After the death of Ægeus, he undertook and effected
prodigious work. He settled all the inhabitants of Attica in
Athens, and made them one people in one city, who before
were scattered up and down, and could with difficulty be as-
sembled on any pressing occasion for the public good. Nay,
often such differences had happened between them as ended in
bloodshed. The method he took was to apply to them in par-
ticular by their tribes and families. Private persons and the
poor easily listened to his summons. To the rich and great
he represented the advantage of a government without a king,
where the chief power should be in the people, while he him-
self only desired to command in war, and to be the guardian
rived there first drank off a cup of wine mingled with honey, cheese, meal,
and oil. They were followed by a chorus conducted by two young men
dressed in women's apparel, the chorus singing a song in praise of those
young men. Certain women, with baskets on their heads, attended them,
and were chosen for that office from among the most wealthy of the citizens.
The whole procession was headed by a herald, bearing a staff encircled
with boughs.

THESEUS.
45
of the laws; in all the rest every one would be upon an equal
footing. Part of them hearkened to his persuasions; and
others, fearing his power, which was already very great, as
well as his enterprising spirit, chose rather to be persuaded,
than to be forced to submit. Dissolving, therefore, the cor-
porations, the councils, and courts in each particular town, he
built one common Prytaneum and court-hall, where it stands
to this day. The citadel, with its dependencies, and the city,
or the old and new town, he united under the common name
of Athens, and instituted the Panathenæa as a common sacri-
fice. *
He appointed also the Metæcia, or feast of Migration, t
and fixed it to the sixteenth of July, and so it still continues.
the kingly power, as he had promised, he settled
the commonwealth under the auspices of the gods; for he con-
sulted the Oracle at Delphi concerning his new government,
and received this answer:-
Giving up
From royal stems thy honour, Theseus springs;
By Jove beloved, the sire supreme of kings.
See rising towns, see wide-extended states,
On thee dependent, ask their future fates!
Hence, hence with fear! Thy favoured bark shall ride
Safe o'er the surges of the foamy tide!$
Wich this agrees the Sibyl's prophecy, which, we are told,
she delivered long after, concerning Athens:-
The bladder may be dipp'd but never drown'd.
Desiring yet farther to enlarge tue city, he invited all stran-
gers to equal privileges in it; and the words still in use,
* The Athenæa were celebrated before, in honour of the goddess Minerva,
but as that was a feast peculiar to the city of Athens, Theseus enlarged it,
and made it common to all the inhabitants of Attica; and therefore it was
called Panathenæa. There were the greater and the less Panathenæa,
The less were kept annually, and the greater every fifth year. In the lat-
ter, they carried, in procession the mysterious peplum, or veil of Minerva;
on which were embroidered the victory of the gods over the giants, and the
most remarkable achievements of their heroes.
† In memory of their quitting the boroughs, and uniting in one city.
On this occasion, he likewise instituted, or at least restored, the famous
Isthmian games, in honour of Neptune. All these were chiefly designed to
draw a concourse of strangers; and, as a farther encouragement for them to
come and settle in Athens, he gave them the privileges of natives.
# In the original it is, “ Safe like a bladder,”' &c. °When Sylla had taken
Athens, and exercised all manner of cruelties there, some Athenians went
to Delphi, to inquire of the oracle, whether the last hour of their city was
come? and the priestess, according to Pausanias, made answer, ta dIG TOY
Axxov exovray That which belongs to the bladder now has an end; plainly refer-
ring to the old prophecy here delivered.
1
6

46
THESEUS.
66 Come hither, all ye people,” are said to be the beginning
of a proclamation, which Theseus, ordered to be made when
he composed a commonwealth, as it were, of all nations. Yet
he left it not in the confusion and disorder likely to ensue
from the confluence and strange mixture of people, but dis-
tinguished them into noblemen, husbandmen, and mechanics.
The nobility were to have the care of religion, to supply the
city with magistrates, to explain the laws, and to interpret
whatever related to the worship of the gods. As to the rest,
he balanced the citizens against each other as nearly as possi-
ble; the nobles excelling in dignity, the husbandmen in use-
fulness, and the artificers in number. It appears from Aris-
totle, that Theseus was the first who inclined to a democracy,
and gave up the regal power; and Homer also seems to bear
witness to the same in his catalogue of ships, where he gives
the name of People to the Athenians only. To his money he
gave the impression of an ox, either on account of the Mara-
thonian bull, or because of Minos's general 'Taurus, or because
he would encourage the citizens in agriculture. Hence came
the expression of a thing being worth ten or a hundred oxen.
Having also inade a secure acquisition of the country about
Megara to the territory of Athens, he set up the famed pillar
in the Isthmus, * and inscribed it with two verses to distin-
guish the boundaries. That on the east side ran thus:-
This is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia;
and that on the west was:
This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia.
He likewise instituted games, in imitation of Hercules; being
ambitious, that as the Greeks, in pursuance of that hero's ap-
pointment, celebrated the Olympic games in honour of Jupi-
ter, so they should celebrate the Isthmian in honour of Nep-
tune; for the rites performed there before, in memory of Me-
licertes, were observed in the night, and had more the air of
mysteries, than of a public spectacle and assembly. But some
say the Isthmian games were dedicated to Sciron, Theseus in-
clining to expiate his untimely fate, by reason of their being
so nearly related; for Sciron was the son of Canethus and
Henioche, the daughter of Pittheus. Others will have it, that
* This pillar was erected by the common consent of the Ionians and Pe.
loponnesians, to put an end to the disputes about their boundaries; and it
continued to the reign of Codrus, during which it was demolished by the
Heraclidæ, who had made themselves masters of the territory of Megara,
which thereby passed from the Ionians to the Dorians.---Strabo, lib. ix,

THESEUS.
47
This par-
sus.
Sinnis was their son, and that to him, and not to Sciron, the
games were dedicated. He made an agreement too with the
Corinthians, that they should give the place of honour to the
Athenians who came to the Isthmian games, as far as the
ground could be covered with the sail of the public ship that
brought them, when stretched to its full extent.
ticular we learn from Hellanicus, and Andron of Halicarnas-
Philochorus and some others relate, that he sailed, in com-
pany with Hercules, into the Euxine sea, to carry on war with
the Amazons, * and that he received Antiopet as the reward
of his valour; but the greater number, among whom are
Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and Herodotus, tell us, that Theseus
made that voyage, with his own fleet only, sometime after
Hercules, and took that Amazon captive, which is indeed the
more probable account; for we do not read that any other of
his fellow-warriors made any Amazon prisoner. But Bion
says, he took and carried her off by a stratagem. The Ama-
zons, being naturally lovers of men, were so far from avoiding
Theseus, when he touched upon their coasts, that they sent
him presents. Theseus invited Antiope, who brought them
into his ship, and as soon as she was aboard, set sail. But the
account of one Menecrates, who published a history of Nice,
in Bithynia, is, that Theseus, having Antiope aboard his ves-
sel remained in those parts some time; and that he was attend-
ed in that expedition by three young men of Athens, who
were brothers, Euneos, Thoas, and Solöon. The last of these,
unknown to the rest, fell in love with Antiope, and commu-
nicated his passion to one of his companions, who applied to
Antiope about the affair. She firmly rejected his pretensions,
but treated him with civility, and prudently concealed the
matter from Theseus. But Soloon, in despair, having leaped
into a river and drowned himself, Theseus, then sensible of
the cause, and the young man's passion, lamented his fate, and,
in his sorrow, recollected an oracle which he had formerly
received at Delphi. The priestess had ordered, that when, in
some foreign country, he should labour under the greatest af-
fliction, he should build a city there, and leave some of his
followers to govern it. Hence he called the city, which he
built Pythopolis, after the Pythian god, and the neighbouring
river Solöon, in honour of the young man. He left the two
.
* Nothing can be more fabulous than the whole history of the Amazons.
Strabo observes, that the most credible of Alexander's historians have not
so much as mentioned them: and, indeed, if they were a Scythian nation,
how came they all to have Greek names.
† Justin says Hercules gave Hippolyte to Theseus, and kept Antiope for
himself,

48
THESEUS.
surviving brothers to govern it, and give it laws; and along
with them Hermus, who was of one of the best families in
Athens. From him the inhabitants of Pythopolis call a cer-
tain place in their city Hermus's house (Hermoû oikia, ) and by
misplacing an accent, transfer the honour from the hero to the
god Mercury.
Hence the war with the Amazons took its rise. And it
appears to have been no slight or womanish enterprise; for
they could not have encamped in the town, or joined battle on
the ground about the Pynx* and the Museum, † or fallen in so
intrepid a manner upon the city of Athens, unless they had
first reduced the country about it. It is difficult, indeed, to
believe (though Hellanicus has related it) that they crossed
the Cimmerian Bosphorus upon the ice; but that they encamp-
ed almost in the heart of the city is confirmed by the names of
places, and by the tombs of those that fell.
There was a long pause and delay before either army would
begin the attack. At last, Theseus, by the direction of some
oracle, offered a sacrifice to Fear, † and after that immediately
engaged. The battle was fought in the month Boëdromion
(September), the day on which the Athenians still celebrate
the feast called Boëdromia. Clidemus, who is willing to be
very particular, writes, that the left wing of the Amazons
moved towards what is now called the Amazonium; and that
the right extended as far as the Pynx, near Chrysa; that the
Athenians first engaged with the left wing of the Amazons,
falling upon them from the Museum; and that the tombs of
those that fell in the battle are in the street which leads to the
gate called Piraica, which is by the monument erected in ho-
nour of Chalcodon, where the Athenians were routed by the
Amazons, and fled as far as the temple of the Furies; but that
the left wing of the Athenians, which charged from the Pal-
ladium, Ardettus, and Lyceum, drove the right wing of the
enemy to their camp, and slew many of them; that after four
months, a peace was concluded by means of Hippolyte; for
so this author calls the Amazon that attended with Theseus,
not Antiope. But some say this heroine fell fighting by The-
seus' side, being pierced with a dart by Molpadia, and that a
pillar, by the temple of the Olympian Earth, $ was set up over
* The Pynx was a place (near the citadel) where the people of Athens
used to assemble, and where the orators spoke to them about public affairs.
† The Museum was upon a little hill over against the citadel, and proba-
bly so called from a temple of the Muses there.
# The heathens considered not only the passions, but even distempers,
storms, and tempests, as divinities, and worshipped them, that they might
do them no harm.
☆ By this is meant the moon, so called (as Plutarch supposes, in his Trea-

THESEUS.
49
her
grave. Nor is it to be wondered, that, in the account of
things so very ancient, history should be thus uncertain, since
they tell us that some Amazons, wounded by Antiope, were
privately sent to Chalcis to be cured, and that some were
buried there, at a place now called Amazonium. But that
the war was ended by a league, we may assuredly gather from
a place called Horcomosium, near the temple of Theseus,
where it was sworn to, as well as from an ancient sacrifice,
which is offered to the Amazons the day before the feast of
Theseus. The people of Megara, too, show a place, in the
figure of a lozenge, where some Amazons were buried, as you
go from the market-place to the place called Rhus. Others
also are said to have died by Chæronea, and to have been bu-
ried by the rivulet, which, it seems, was formerly called
Thermodon, but now Hæmon; of which I have given a fur-
ther account in the life of Demosthenes. It appears, likewise,
that the Amazons traversed Thessaly, not without opposition;
for their sepulchres are shown to this day, between Scotus-
sæa and Cynoscephalæ.
This is all that is memorable in the story of the Amazons;
for as to what the author of the Theséid relates, of the Ama-
zons rising to take vengeance for Antiope, when Theseus
quitted her, and married Phædra, and of their being slain by
Hercules, it has plainly the air of fable. Indeed he married
Phædra after the death of Antiope, having by the Amazon a
son named Hippolytus, * or, according to Pindar, Demophöon.
As to the calamities which befel Phædra and Hippolytus, since
tise on the Cessation of Oracles), because, like the Genii or Demons, she is
neither so perfect as the gods, nor so imperfect as human kind. But as
some of the philosophers, we mean the Pythagoreans, had astronomy enough
afterwards to conclude that the sun is the centre of this system, we presume
it might occur to thinking men in the more early ages, that the moon was
an opaque, and, therefore, probably a terrene body.
* Theseus had a son, by the Amazonian queen, named Hippolytus: having
soon after married Phædra, the sister of Deucalion, the son and successor
of Minos, by whom he had two sons; he sent Hippolytus to be brought up
by his own mother Æthra, queen of Træzene: but he coming afterwards to
be present at some Athenian games, Phædra fell in love with him; and hav-
ing solicited him in vain to a compliance, in a fit of resentment, accused him
to Theseus of having made an attempt upon her chastity. The fable says,
that Theseus prayed to Neptune to punish him by some violent death. And
all solemn execrations, according to the notions of the heathens, certainly
taking effect, as Hippolytus was riding along the sea-shore, Neptune sent
two sea-calves, who frightened the horses, overturned the chariot, and tore
him to pieces. The poets add, that the lustful queen hanged herself for grief;
but as for Hippolytus, Diana being taken with his chastity, and pitying the
sad fate it had brought upon him, prevailed upon Æsculapius to restore him
to life to be a companion of her diversions.
I
VOL. I.
6*

50
THESEUS.
the historians do not differ from what the writers of tragedy
have said of them, we may look upon them as matters of fact.
Some other marriages of Theseus are spoken of, but have
not been represented on the stage, which had neither an hon-
ourable beginning, nor a happy conclusion. He is said also
to have forcibly carried off® Anaxo of Træezene, and having
slain Sinnis and Cercyon, to have committed rapes upon their
daughters; to have married Periboea, the mother of Ajax, too,
and Pherobeea, and Iope the daughter of Iphicles. Besides,
they charge him with being enamoured of Ægle, the daugh-
ter of Panopeus (as above related, and, for her, leaving Ari-
adne, contrary to the rules both of justice and honour; but,
above all, with the rape of Helen, which involved Attica in
war, and ended in his banishment and death; of which we
shall speak more at large by and bye.
Though there were many expeditions undertaken by the
heroes of those times, Herodotus thinks that Theseus was not
concerned in any of them, except in assisting the Lapithæ
against the Centaurs. Others write, that he attended Jason
to Colchos, and Meleager in killing the boar; and that hence
came the proverb,—“ Nothing without Theseus.” It is al-
lowed, however, that Theseus, without any assistance, did
himself perform many great exploits; and that the extraordi-
nary instances of his valour gave occasion to the saying,-
" This man is another Hercules." Theseus was likewise as-
sisting to Adrastus, in recovering the bodies of those that fell
before Thebes; not by defeating the Thebans in battle, as
Euripides has it in his tragedy, but by persuading them to a
truce; for so most writers agree: and Philochorus is of opin-
ion, that this was the first truce ever known for burying the
dead. But Hercules was, indeed, the first who gave up.
their
dead to the enemy, as we have shown in his life. The bury-
ing-place of the common soldiers is to be seen at Eleutheræ,
and of the officers at Eleusis; in which particular Theseus
gratified Adrastus. Æschylus, in whose tragedy of the Eleu-
sians Theseus is introduced, relating the matter as above,
contradicts what Euripides has delivered in his Suppliants.
The friendship between Theseus and Pirithöus is said to
have commenced on this occasion. Theseus being much cele-
brated for his strength and valour, Pirithöus was desirous to
prove it, and therefore drove away his oxen from Marathon.
When he heard that Theseus pursued him in arms, he did not
fly, but turned back to meet him. But, as soon as they beheld
one another, each was so struck with admiration of the other's
person and courage, that they laid aside all thoughts of fight-
ing; and Pirithöus first giving Theseus his hand, bade him be
judge in this cause himself, and he would willingly abide by

THESEUS.
51
his sentence. Theseus, in his turn, left the cause to him, and
desired him to be his friend and fellow-warrior. Then they
confirmed their friendship with an oath. Pirithöus afterwards
marrying Deïdamia, * entreated Theseus to visit his country;
and to become acquainted with the Lapithæ.† He had also
invited the Centaurs to the entertainment. These, in their
cups, behaving with insolence and indecency, and not even
refraining from the women, the Lapithæ rose up in their de-
fence, killed some of the Centaurs upon the spot, and soon
after beating them in a set battle, drove them out of the coun-
try with the assistance of Theseus. Herodotus relates the
matter differently. He says, that hostilities being already
begun, Theseus came in aid to the Lapithæ, and then had the
first sight of Hercules, having made it his business to find him
out at Trachin, where he reposed himself after all his wander-
ings and labours; and that this interview passed in marks of
great respect, civility, and mutual compliments. But we are
rather to follow those historians, who write that they had
very frequent interviews; and that, by means of Theseus,
Hercules was initiated into the mysteries of Ceres, having
first obtained lustration, as he desired, on account of several
involuntary pollutions.
Theseus was now fifty years old, according to Hellanicus,
when he was concerned in the rape of Helen, † who had not
yet arrived at years of maturity. Some writers, thinking this
one of the heaviest charges against him, endeavour to correct
it by saying that it was not Theseus that carried off Helen,
but Idas and Lynceus, who committed her to his care, and
that therefore he refused to give her up, when demanded by
Castor and Pollux; or rather, that she was delivered to him
by Tyndarus himself, to keep her from Enarsphorus, the son
of Hippocöon, who endeavoured to possess himself by vio-
lence of Helen, that was yet but a child. But what authors
generally agree in, as most probable, is as follows:—The two
friends went together to Sparta, and having seen the girl danc-
ing in the temple of Diana Orthia, carried her off, and fled.
The
pursuers that were sent after them following no farther
than Tegea, they thought themselves secure; and having tra-
versed Peloponnesus, they entered into an agreement, that he
* All other writers call her Hippodamia, except Propertius, who calls her
Ischomache. She was the daughter of Adrastus.
† Homer calls the Lapithæ heroes. The Centaurs are feigned to have
been half-men half-horses, either from their brutality, or because (if not the
inventors of horsemanship, yet) they generally appeared on horseback.
* This princess was the reputed daughter of Jupiter, by Leda the wife
of Tyndarus, king of @balia, in Peloponnesus; and though then but nine
vears old, was reckoned the greatest beauty in the world.

52
THESEUS.
who should gain Helen by lot, should have her to wife, but
be obliged to assist in procuring a wife for the other. In con-
sequence of these terms, the lots being cast, she fell to The-
seus, who received the virgin, and conveyed her as she was
not yet marriageable, to Aphidnæ. Here he placed his mo-
ther with her, and committed them to the care of his friend
Aphidnus, charging him to keep them in the utmost secrecy
and safety; whilst, to pay his debt of service to Pirithöus,
himself travelled with him into Epirus, with a view to the
daughter of Aïdoneus, king of the Molossians. This prince
named his wife Proserpine, * his daughter Coré, and his dog
Cerberus: with this dog he commanded all his daughter's suit-
ors to fight, promising her to him that should overcome him.
But understanding that Pirithöus came not with an intention
to court his daughter, but to carry her off by force, he seized
both him and his friend, destroyed Pirithöus immediately, by
means of his dog, and shut up Theseus in close prison.
Mean time Menestheus, the son of Peteus, grandson of Or-
neus, and great-grandson of Erechtheus, is said to be the first
of mankind that undertook to be a demagogue, and, by his
eloquence, to ingratiate himself with the people. He endea-
voured also to exasperate and
inspire the nobility with sedition,
who had but ill borne with Theseus for some time, reflecting
that he had deprived every person of family of his govern-
ment and command, and shut them up together in one city,
where he used them as his subjects and slaves. Among the
common people he sowed disturbances, by telling them, that
though they pleased themselves with the dream of liberty, in
fact, they were robbed of their country and religion; and, in-
stead of many good and native kings, were lorded over by
one man, who was a new-comer and a stranger. Whilst he
was thus busily employed, the war declared by the Tynda-
ridæ greatly helped forward the sedition. Some say plainly,
they were invited by Menestheus to invade the country. At
first they proceeded not in a hostile manner, only demanding
their sister; but the Athenians answering, that they neither
had her among them, nor knew where she was left, they be-
gan
their warlike operations. Academus, however, finding
it out by some means or other, told them she was concealed
at Aphidnæ. Hence, not only the Tyndaridæ treated him
honourably in his life time, but the Lacedæmonians, who, in
Proserpine and Coré was the same person, daughter to Aïdoneus, whose
wife was named Ceres. Plutarch himself tells us so in his Morals, where he
adds, that by Proserpine is meant the Moon, whom Pluto, or the God of
Darkness, sometimes carries off. Indeed, Coré signifies nothing more than
young woman or daughter; and they might say a daughter of Epirus, as we
say a daughter of France, or of Spain.

THESEUS.
53
after-times, often made inroads into Attica, and laid waste all
the country besides, spared the Academy for his sake. But
Dicæarchus says, that' Echedemus and Marathus, two Arca-
dians, being allies to the Tyndaridæ in that war, the place
which now goes by the name of the Academy, was first called
Echedemy, from one of them; and that from the other the
district of Marathon had its name, because he freely offered
himself, in pursuance of some oracle, to be sacrificed at the
head of the army. To Aphidnæ then they came, where they
beat the enemy in a set battle, and then took the city, and
razed it to the ground. There, they tell us, Alycus, the son
of Sciron, was slain, fighting for Castor and Pollux; and that
a certain place, within the territories of Megara, is called
Alycus, from his being buried there; and Hereas writes, that
Alycus received his death from Theseus's own hand. These
verses also are alleged as a proof in point:-
For bright-hair'd Helen he was slain
By Theseus, on Aphidnæ's plain.
But it is not probable that Aphidnæ
would have been taken,
and his mother made prisoner, had Theseus been present.
Aphidnæ, however, was taken, and Athens in danger.
Menestheus took this opportunity to persuade the people to
admit the Tyndaridæ into the city, and to treat them hospita-
bly, since, they only levied war against Theseus, who began
with violence first, but that they were benefactors and deliver-
ers to the rest of the Athenians. Their behaviour also con-
firmed what was said; for, though conquerors, they desired
nothing but to be admitted to the mysteries, to which they had
no less
claim than Hercules, * since they were equally allied
to the city. This request was easily granted them, and they
were adopted by Aphidnus, as Hercules was by Pylias. They
had also divine honours paid them, with the title of Anakes,
which was given them, either on account of the truce (anoche)
which they made, or because of their great care that no one
should be injured, though there were so many troops in the
city; for the phrase anakós echein signifies to keep or take care
of any thing; and for this reason, perhaps, kings are called
Anaktes. Some again say, they were called Anakes, because
of the appearance of their stars; for the Athenians used the
word anekas and anekathen, instead of ano and anothen, that is,
above or on high.
* For Castor and Pollux, like him, were sons of Jupiter, from whom the
Athenians too pretended to derive their origin. It was necessary, however,
that they should be naturalized before they were admitted to the mysteries,
and, accordingly, they were naturalized by adoption.

54
THESEUS.
We are told that Æthra, the mother of Theseus, who was
now a prisoner, was carried to Lacedæmon, and from thence,
with Helen, to Troy; and that Homer confirms it, when
speaking of those that waited upon Helen, he mentions-
The beauteous Clymene,
And #thra born of Pittheus.
Others reject this verse as none of Homer's, as they do also
the story of Munychus, who is said to have been the fruit of
a secret commerce between Demophoon and Loadice, and
brought up by Æthra at Troy. But Ister, in the thirteenth
book of his history of Attica, gives an account of Æthra dif-
ferent from all the rest. He was informed, it seems, that after
the battle in which Alexander or Paris was routed by Achilles
and Patroclus, in Thessaly, near the river Sperchius, Hector
took and plundered the city of Trezene, and carried off Æthra,
who had been left there. But this is highly improbable.
It happened that Hercules, in passing through the country
of the Molossians, was entertained by Aïdoneus the king,
who accidentally made mention of the bold attempts of These-
us and Pirithöus, and of the manner in which he had pun-
ished them, when discovered. Hercules was much disturbed
to hear of the inglorious death of the one, and the danger of
the other. As to Pirithöus, he thought it in vain to expostu-
late about him; but he begged to have Theseus released, and
Aïdoneus granted it. Theseus, thus set at liberty, returned
to Athens, where his party was not yet entirely suppressed;
and whatever temples and groves the city had assigned him,
he consecrated them all, but four, to Hercules, and called
them (as Philochorus relates), instead of Theséa, Heraclea.
But desiring to preside in the commonwealth, and direct it as
before, he found himself encompassed with faction and sedi-
tion; for those that were his enemies before his departure,
had now added to their hatred a contempt of his authority;
and he beheld the people so generally corrupted, that they
wanted to be flattered into their duty, instead of silently exe-
cuting his commands. When he attempted to reduce them
by force he was overpowered by the prevalence of faction;
and, in the end, finding his affairs desperate, he privately sent
his children into Euboea, to Elephenor, the son of Chalcodon;
and himself, having uttered solemn execrations against the
Athenians at Gargettus, where there is still a place thence
called Araterion, sailed to Scyros. * He imagined that there
* The ungrateful Athenians were, in process of time, made so sensible of
the effects of his curse, that, to appease his ghost, they appointed solemn
sacrifices, and divine honours, to be paid to him.

THESEUS.
55
he should find hospitable treatment as he had a paternal estate
in that island. Lycomedes was then king of the Scyrians.
To him therefore, he applied, and desired to be put in posses-
sion of the lands, as intending to settle there. Some say he
asked assistance of him against the Athenians. But Lyco-
medes, either jealous of the glory of Theseus, or willing to
oblige Menestheus, having led him to the highest cliffs of the
country, on pretence of showing him from thence his lands,
threw him down headlong from the rocks, and killed him.
Others say he fell of himself, missing his step, when he took
a walk, according to his custom, after supper. At that time
his death was disregarded, and Menestheus quietly possessed
the kingdom of Athens, while the sons of Theseus attended
Elephenor, as private persons, to the Trojan war. But Me-
nestheus dying in the same expedition, they returned and re-
covered the kingdom. In succeeding ages, the Athenians
honoured Theseus as a demi-god, induced to it as well by
other reasons, as because, when they were fighting the Medes
at Marathon, a considerable part of the army thought they
saw the apparition of Theseus, completely armed, and bearing
down before them upon the barbarians.
After the Median war, when Phædon was archon,* the
Athenians, consulting the Oracle of Apollo, were ordered by
the priestess to take up the bones of Theseus, and lay them in
an honourable place at Athens, where they were to be kept
with the greatest care.
But it was difficult to take them up,
or even to find out the grave, on account of the savage and in-
hospitable disposition of the barbarians who dwelt in Scyros.
Nevertheless, Cimon having taken the island (as is related in
his life), and being very desirous to find out the place where
* Codrus, the seventeenth king of Athens, contemporary with Saul, de-
voted himself to death for the sake of his country, in the year before Christ
1068; having learned that the Oracle had promised its enemies, the Dorians
and the Heraclidæ, victory, if they did not kill the king of the Athenians.
His subjects, on this account, conceived such veneration for him, that they
esteemed none worthy to bear the royal title after him, and, therefore, com.
mitted the management of the state to elective magistrates, to whom they
gave the title of archons, and chose Medon, the eldest son of Codrus, to this
new dignity. Thus ended the legal succession, and title of king of Athens,
after it had continued, without any interruption, 487 years, from Cecrops to
Codrus. The archon acted with sovereign authority, but was accountable to
the people whenever it was required. There were thirteen perpetual ar-
chons in the space of 325 years. After the death of Alcmæon, who was the
last of them, this charge was continued to the person elected for ten years
only; but always in the same family, till the death of Eryxias, or, according
to others, of Theseus, the seventh and last decennial archon. For the family
of Codrus, or of the Medontidæ, ending in him, the Athenians created annual
archons, and, instead of one, they appointed nine every year. See a farther
Account of the archons in the Notes on the Life of Solon.

56
THESEUS.
Theseus was buried, by chance saw an eagle on a certain emi-
nence, breaking the ground (as they tell us), and scratching it
up with her talons. This he considered as a divine direction,
and digging there, found the coffin of a man of extraordinary
size, with a lance of brass, and a sword lying by it. When
these remains were brought to Athens in Cimon's galley, the
Athenians received them with splendid processions and sacri-
fices, and were as much transported as if Theseus himself had
returned to the city. He lies interred in the middle of the
town, near the Gymnasium; and his oratory is a place of re-
fuge for servants and all persons of mean condition, who fly
from men in power, as Theseus, while he lived, was a humane
and benevolent patron, who graciously received the petitions
of the poor. The chief sacrifice is offered to him on the 8th
of October, the day on which he returned with the young men
from Crete. They sacrifice to him likewise on each 8th day
of the other months, either because he first arrived from
Trozene on the 8th of July, as Diodorus the geographer re-
lates; or else thinking this number, above all others, to be most
proper
to him, because he was said to be the son of Neptune;
the solemn feasts of Neptune being observed on the 8th day of
every month. For the number eight, as the first cube of an
even number, and the double of the first square, properly re-
presents the firmness and immoveable power of this god, who
thence has the names of Asphalius and Gaieochus.

THE
LIFE OF ROMULUS.
FROM whom, and from what cause the city of Rome obtain-
ed that name, whose glory has diffused itself over the world,
historians are not agreed. * Some say the Pelasgi, after they
had overrun great part of the globe, and conquered many na-
tions, settled there, and gave their city the name of Rome,
on account of their strength in war. Others tell us, that when
Troy was taken, some of the Trojans having escaped and
gained their ships, put to sea, and being driven by the winds
upon the coast of Tuscany, came to an anchor in the river Ti-
ber; that here, their wives being much fatigued, and no long-
er able to bear the hardships of the sea, one of them, superior
to the rest in birth and prudence, named Roma, proposed that
they should burn the fleet; that this being effected, the men at
first were much exasperated, but afterwards, through neces-
sity, fixed their seat on the Palatine hill, and in a short time
things succeeded beyond their expectation; for the country
was good, † and the people hospitable; that therefore, besides
other honours paid to Roma, they called their city, as she was
the cause of its being built, after her name. Hence, too, we
are informed, the custom arose for the women to salute their
relations and husbands with a kiss; because those women,
when they had burnt the ships, used such kind of endearments
to appease the resentment of their husbands.
Among the various accounts of historians, it is said, that
Roma was the daughter of Italus and Leucaria; or else the
* Such is the uncertainty of the origin of imperial Rome, and indeed of
most cities and nations that are of any considerable antiquity. That of Rome
might be the more uncertain, because its first inhabitants, being a collection
of mean persons, fugitives and outlaws, from other nations, could not be
supposed to leave histories behind them. Livy, however, and most of the
Latin historians, agree that Rome was built by Romulus, and both the city
and people named after him: while the vanity of the Greek writers wants
to ascribe almost every thing, and Rome among the rest, to a Grecian
original.
to f Pwuen, Rome signifies strength.
# Whatever desirable thing's nature has scattered frugally in other coun-
tries, were formerly found in Italy, as in their original seminary. But there
has been so little encouragement given to the cultivation of the soil in the
time of the pontiffs, that it is now comparatively barren.
VOL. I.
-K
7

58
ROMULUS.
daughter of Telephus the son of Hercules, and married to
Æneas; or that she was the daughter of Ascanius, * the son of
Æneas, and gave name to the city; or that Romanus, the son
of Ulysses and Circe, built it; or Romus, the son of Æmathion,
whom Diomedes sent from Troy: or else Romus, king of the
Latins, after he had expelled the Tuscans, who passed origi-
nally from Thessaly into Lydia, and from Lydia into Italy.
Even they who with the greatest probability, declare that the
city had its name from Romulus, do not agree about his ex-
traction; for some say he was son of Æneas and Dexithea, the
daughter of Phorbus, and was brought an infant into Italy
with his brother Remus, that all the other vessels were lost by
the violence of the flood, except that in which the children
were, which, driving gently asħore where the bank was level,
they were saved, beyond expectation, and the place from them
was called Rome. Some will have it, that Roma, daughter
of that Trojan woman who was married to Latinus, the son of
Telemachus, was mother to Romulus. Others say, that Æme-
lia, the daughter of Æneas and Lavinia, had him by Mars; and
others again give an account of his birth, which is entirely
fabulous. There appeared, it seems, to Tarchetius, king of
the Albans, who was the most wicked and most cruel of men,
a supernatural vision in his own house, the figure of Priapus
rising out of the chimney-hearth, and staying there many
days. The goddess Tethys had an oracle in Tuscany,t which
being consulted, gave this
answer to Tarchetius,--
That it was
necessary some virgin should accept of the embraces of
the phantom, the fruit whereof would be a son, eminent for
valour, good fortune, and strength of body. Hereupon Tar-
chetius acquainted one of his daughters with the prediction,
and ordered her to entertain the apparition; but she declining
it, sent her maid. When Tarchetius came to know it, he
was highly offended, and confined them both, intending to
put them to death. But Vesta appeared to him in a dream,
and forbade him to kill them; but ordered that the young
women should weave a certain web in their fetters, and when
that was done, be given in marriage. They weaved therefore
in the day-time; but others, by Tarchetius's order, unravelled
it in the night. The woman having twins by this commerce,
Tarchetius delivered them to one Teratius, with orders to de
stroy them; but instead of that, he exposed them by a river
side, where a she-wolf came and gave them suck, and various
* Οι δ' Ασκανια τα Αινειά [θυγατερα sc.] λέγεσι τενομα θεσθαι τη πογεί. The
former English translation, and the French in this place, are erroneous.
† There was no oracle of Tethys, but of Themis there was. Themis was
the same with Carmenta, the mother of Evander, which last name she had,
because she delivered her oracles in carmine, in verses,

ROMULUS.
59
sorts of birds brought food and fed the infants, till at last a
herdsman, who beheld these wonderful things ventured to
approach and take
up
the children. Thus secured from dan-
ger, they grew up, and then attacked Tarchetius, and over-
came him. This is the account Promathion gives in his his-
tory of Italy.
But the principal parts of that account, which deserve the
most credit, and have the most vouchers, were first published
among the Greeks by Diocles the Peparethian, whom Fabius
Pictor commonly follows; and though there are different rela-
tions of the matter, yet, to despatch it in a few words, the
story is this:--The kings of Alba* descending lineally from
Æneas, the succession fell to two brothers, Numitor and Amu-
lius. The latter divided the whole inheritance into two parts,
setting the treasures brought from Troy against the kingdom;
and Numitor made choice of the kingdom. Amulius then
having the treasures, and consequently being more powerful
than Numitor, easily possessed himself of the kingdom too;
and fearing the daughter of Numitor might have children, he
appointed her priestess of Vesta, in which capacity she was
always to live unmarried and a virgin. Some say her name
was Ilia, some Rhea, and others Sylvia. But she was soon
discovered to be with child, contrary to the law of the vestals.
Antho, the king's daughter, by much entreaty, prevailed with
her father that she should not be capitally punished. She was
confined, however, and excluded from society, lest she should
be delivered without Amulius's knowledge. When her time
was completed, she was delivered of two sons of uncommon
size and beauty; whereupon Amulius, still more alarmed, or-
dered one of his servants to destroy them. Some say the name
of this servant was Faustulus; others, that that was the name
of a person that took them up. Pursuant to his orders, he
put the children into a small trough or cradle, and went down
towards the river, with a design to cast them in; but seeing it
very rough, and running with a strong current, he was afraid
to approach it. He therefore laid them down near the bank,
and departed. The flood increasing continually, set the trough
afloat, and carried it gently down to a pleasant place, now
called Cermanum, but formerly (as it should seem) Germanum,
denoting that the brothers arrived there.
Near this place was a wild fig-tree, which they called Ru-
* From Æneas down to Numitor and Amulius, there were thirteen kings of
the same race, but we scarce know any thing of them, except their names
and the years of their respective reigns. Amulius, the last of them, who
surpassed his brother in courage and understanding, drove him from the
throne, and, to secure it for himself, murdered Egestus, Numitor's only son,
and consecrated his daughter Rhea Sylvia to the worship of Vesta,

60
ROMULUS.
minalis, either on account of Romulus, as is generally sup-
posed, or because the cattle there ruminated, or chewed the
cud, during the noon-tide, in the shade; or rather, because of
the suckling of the children there; for the ancient Latins called
the breast ruma, and the goddess who presides over the nur-
sery Rumilia, * whose rites they celebrated without wine, and
only with libations of milk. The infants, as the story goes,
lying there, were suckled by a she-wolf, and fed and taken
care of by a wood-pecker. These animals are sacred to Mars;
and the wood-pecker is held in great honour and veneration
by the Latins. Such wonderful events contributed not a lit-
tle to gain credit to the mother's report, that she had the chil-
dren by Mars; though in this they tell us, she was herself de-
ceived, having suffered violence from Amulius, who came to
her, and lay with her in armour. Some say, the ambiguity
of the nurse's name gave occasion to the fable; for the Latins
call not only she-wolves, but prostitutes, lupæ; and such was
Acca Larentia, the wife of Faustulus, the foster-father of the
children. To her also the Romans offer sacrifice, and the
priest of Mars honours her with libations in the month of
April, when they celebrate her feast Larentialia.
They worship also another Larentia, on the following ac-
count: -The keeper of the temple of Hercules having, it seems,
little else to do, proposed to play a game at dice with the god,
on condition that, if he won, he should have something valua-
ble of that deity; but if he lost, he should provide a noble en-
tertainment for him, and a beautiful woman to lie with him.
Then throwing the dice, first for the god, and next for him-
self, it appeared that he had lost. Willing, however, to stand
to his bargain, and to perform the conditions agreed upon, he
prepared a supper, and engaging for the purpose one La-
rentia, who was very handsome, but as yet little known, he
treated her in the temple, where he had provided a bed, and,
after supper, left her for the enjoyment of the god. It is said,
that the deity had some conversation with her, and ordered
her to go early in the morning to the market-place, salute the
first man she should meet, and make him her friend. The
man that met her was one far advanced in years, and in opu-
lent circumstances, Tarrutius by name, who had no children,
and never had been married. This man took Larentia to his
bed, and loved her so well that at his death he left her heir to
his whole estate, which was very considerable; and she after-
wards bequeathed the greatest part of it by will to the people.
It is said, that at the time when she was in high reputation,
and considered as the favourite of a god, she suddenly disap-
* The Romans called that goddess, not Rumilia, but Rumina.

ROMULUS.
81
rum.
peared about the place where the former Larentia was laid.
It is now called Velabrum, because the river often overflow-
ing, they passed it at this place in ferry-boats, to go to the fo-
This kind of passage they call velatura. Others derive
the name from velum, a sail, because they who have the exhib-
iting of the public shows, beginning at Velabrum, overshade
all the way that leads from the forum to the Hippodrome with
canvas; for a sail in Latin is velum. On these accounts is the
second Larentia so much honoured among the Romans.
In the mean time Faustulus Amulius's herdsman, brought
up the children entirely undiscovered; or rather, as others with
greater probability assert, Numitor knew it from the first,
and privately supplied the necessaries for their maintenance.
It is also said that they were sent to Gabii, and there instruct-
ed in letters, and other branches of education suitable to their
birth; and history informs us that they had the names of Ro-
mulus and Remus, from the teat of the wild animal which they
were seen to suck. The beauty and dignity of their persons,
even in their childhood, promised a generous disposition;
and as they grew up, they both discovered great courage and
bravery, with an inclination to hazardous attempts, and a spirit
which nothing could subdue. But Romulus seemed more to
cultivate the powers of reason, and to excel in political know-
ledge; whilst by his deportment among his neighbours, in the
employments of pasturage and hunting, he convinced them
that he was born to command rather than to obey. To their
equals and inferiors they behaved very courteously; but they
despised the king's bailiffs and chief herdsmen, as not superi-
or to themselves in courage, though they were in authority,
disregarding at once their threats and their anger. They ap-
plied themselves to generous exercises and pursuits, looking
upon idleness and inactivity as illiberal things, but on hunt-
ing, running, banishing or apprehending robbers, and deliver-
ing such as were oppressed by violence, as the employments
of honour and virtue. By these things they gained great re-
A dispute arising between the herdsmen of Numitor and
Amulius, and the former having driven away some cattle be-
longing to the latter, Romulus and Remus fell upon them, put
them to flight and recovered the greatest part of the booty.
At this conduct Numitor was highly offended; but they little
regarded his resentment. The first steps they took on this oc-
nown.
* Numitor might build upon this the hopes of his re-establishment; but
his knowing the place where the children were brought up, and supplying
them with necessaries, is quite inconsistent with the manner of their disco-
very when grown up, which is the most agreeable part of the story.
7

62
ROMULUS.
casion were to collect, and receive into their company, per:
sons of desperate fortunes, and a great number of slaves; a
measure which gave alarming proofs of their bold and sedi-
tious inclinations. It happened, that when Romulus was em-
ployed in sacrificing, for to that and divination he was much
inclined, Numitor's herdsmen met with Remus, as he was
walking with a small retinue, and fell upon him. After some
blows exchanged, and wounds given and received, Numitor's
people prevailed, and took Remus prisoner. He was carried
before Numitor, and had several things laid to his charge; but
Numitor did not choose to punish him himself, for fear of his
brother's resentment. To him, therefore, he applied for jus-
tice, which he had all the reason in the world to expect, since,
though brother to the reigning prince, he had been injured by
his servants, who presumed upon his authority. The people
of Alba, moreover, expressing their uneasiness, and thinking
that Numitor suffered great indignities, Amulius, moved with
their complaints, delivered Remus to him, to be treated as he
should think proper. When the youth was conducted to his
house, Numitor was greatly struck with his appearance, as he
was very remarkable
for size and strength; he observed, too,
his presence of mind, and the steadiness of his looks, which
had nothing servile in them, nor were altered with the sense
of his present danger; and he was informed, that his actions
and whole behaviour were suitable to what he saw. But, above
all, some divine influence, as it seems, directing the beginnings
of the great events that were to follow, Numitor, by his saga-
city, or by a fortunate conjecture, suspecting the truth, ques-
tioned him concerning the circumstances of his birth; speak-
ing mildly at the same time, and regarding him with a gra-
cious eye.
He boldly answered,
—- I will hide nothing from
you,
for
you behave in a more princely manner than Amulius,
since you hear and examine before you punish; but he has de-
livered us up without inquiring into the matter. I have a twin-
brother, and heretofore we believed ourselves the sons of
Faustulus and Larentia, servants to the king; but since we
were accused before you, and so pursued by slander, as to be
in danger of our lives, we hear nobler things concerning our
birth. Whether they are true the present crisis will show
Our birth is said to have been secret, our support in our infan-
cy miraculous. We were exposed to birds and wild beasts,
and by them nourished; suckled by a she-wolf, and fed by the
attentions of a wood-pecker, as we lay in a trough by the
great river. The trough is still preserved, bound about with
For if they were true, the god who miraculously protected them in their
infancy, would deliver Remus from his present danger.

ROMULUS.
63
brass bands, and inscribed with letters partly faded; which
may prove perhaps, hereafter, very useful tokens to our pa-
rents, when we are destroyed.” Numitor hearing this, and
comparing the time with the young man's looks, was confirm-
ed in the pleasing hope he had conceived, and considered how
he might consult his daughter about this affair; for she was
still kept in close custody.
Meanwhile Faustulus, having heard that Remus was taken
and delivered up to punishment, desired Romulus to assist his
brother, informing him then clearly of the particulars of his
birth; for before he had only given dark hints about it, and
signified just so much as might take off the attention of his
wards from every thing that was mean. He himself took the
trough, and in all the tumult of concern and fear, carried it to
Numitor. His disorder raised some suspicion in the king's
guards at the gate; and that disorder increasing while they
looked earnestly upon him, and perplexed him with their
questions, he was discovered to have a trough under his cloak.
There happened to be among them one of those who had it in
charge to throw the children into the river, and who was con-
cerned in the exposing of them. This man seeing the trough,
and knowing it by its make and inscription, rightly guessed
the business; and thinking it an affair not to be neglected,
immediately acquainted the king with it, and put him upon
inquiring into it. In these great and pressing difficulties,
Faustulus did not preserve entirely his presence of mind, nor
yet fully discover the matter. He acknowledged that the
children were saved indeed, but said that they kept cattle at a
great distance from Alba; and that he was carrying the trough
to Ilia, who had often desired to see it, that she might enter-
tain the better hopes that her children were alive. Whatever
persons perplexed and actuated with fear or anger use to suf-
fer, Amulius then suffered; for in his hurry he sent an honest
man, a friend of Numitor's to inquire of him whether he had
any account that the children were alive. When the man was
come, and saw Remus almost in the embraces of Numitor, he
endeavoured to confirm him in the persuasion that the youth
was really his grandson; begging him, at the same time, im-
mediately to take the best measures that could be thought of,
and offering his best assistance to support their party. The
occasion admitted of no delay, if they had been inclined to it;
for Romulus was now at hand, and a good number of the citi-
zens were gathered about him, either out of hatred or fear of
Amulius. He brought also a considerable force with him,
divided into companies of a hundred men each, headed by an
officer who bore a handful of grass and shrubs upon a pole.
These the Latins called Manipuliz and hence it is, that to this

64
ROMULUS.
day soldiers of the same company are called Manipulares.
Remus then, having gained those within, and Romulus as-
saulting the palace without, the tyrant knew not how to do,
or whom he should consult; but amidst his doubts and per-
plexity was taken and slain. These particulars, though most-
ly related by Fabius, and Diocles the Peparethian, who seems
to have been the first that wrote about the founding of Rome,
are yet suspected by some as fabulous and groundless. Per-
haps, however, we should not be so incredulous, when we
see what extraordinary events fortune produces; nor, when we
consider what height of greatness Rome attained to, can we
think it could ever have been effected without some super-
natural assistance at first, and an origin more than human.
Amulius being dead, and the troubles composed, the two
brothers were not willing to live in Alba without governing
there, nor yet to take the government upon them during their
grandfather's life. Having, therefore, invested him with it,
and paid due honours to their mother, they determined to
dwell in a city of their own, and, for that purpose, to build
one in the place where they had their first nourishment. This
seems, at least, to be the most plausible reason of their quit-
ting Alba; and perhaps, too, it was necessary, as a great num-
ber of slaves and fugitives was collected about them, either to
see their affairs entirely ruined, if these should disperse, or
with them to seek another habitation; for that the people of
Alba refused to permit the fugitives to mix with them, or te
receive them as citizens, sufficiently appears from the rape of
the women, which was not undertaken out of a licentious hu-
mour, but deliberately, and through necessity, from the want
of wives, since, after they seized them, they treated them
very honourably.
As soon as the foundation of the city was laid, they opened
a place of refuge for fugitives, which they called the temple
of the Asylæan God. * Here they received all that came,
and would neither deliver up the slave to his master, the
debtor to his creditor, nor the murderer to the magistrate, de-
claring that they were directed by the Oracle of Apollo to
preserve the asylum from all violation. Thus the city was
soon peopled;t for it is said, that the houses at first did not
exceed a thousand. But of that hereafter.
* It is not certain who this God of Refuge was. Dionysius of Halicarnas
sus tells us, that, in his time, the place where the asylum had been, was
consecrated to Jupiter. Romulus did not at first receive the fugitives and
outlaws within the walls, but allowed them the hill Saturnius, afterwards
called Capitolinus, for their habitation.
† Most of the Trojans, of whom there still remained fifty families in Au-

ROMULUS.
65
While they were intent upon building, a dispute soon arose
about the place. Romulus having built a square, which he
called Rome, would nave the city there; but Remus marked
out a more secure situation on mount Aventine, which, from
him, was called Remonium,* but now has the name of Rigna-
riumi. The dispute was referred to the decision of augury;
and for this purpose they set down in the open air, when Re-
mus, as they tell us, saw six vultures, and Romulus twice as
many. Some say Remus's account of the number he had seen
was true, and that of Romulus not so; but when Remus came
up to him, he did really see twelve. Hence the Romans, in
their divination by the flight of birds, chiefly regard the vul-
ture; though Herodotus of Pontus relates, that Hercules used
to rejoice when a vulture appeared to him as he was going
upon any great action. This was probably because it is a
creature the least mischievous of any, pernicious neither to
corn, plants, nor cattle. It only feeds upon dead carcasses,
but neither kills nor preys upon any thing that has life. As
for birds, it does not touch them even when dead, because they
are of its own nature; while eagles, owls, and hawks, tear
and kill their own kind; and, as Æschylus has it:
What bird is clean that fellow-birds devours?
Besides, other birds are frequently seen, and may be found
at any time; but a vulture is an uncommon sight, and we have
seldom met with any of their young; so that the rarity of them
has occasioned an absurd opinion in some, that they come to
us from other countries; and soothsayers judge every unusual
appearance to be preternatural, and the effect of a divine
power.
When Remus knew that he was imposed upon, he was high-
ly incensed; and as Romulus was opening a ditch round the
place where the walls were to be built, he ridiculed some
parts of the work, and obstructed others; at last, as he pre-
sumed to leap over it, some say he fell by the hand of Romu-
lus;ť others by that of Celer, one of his companions. Faus-
gustus's time, chose to follow the fortune of Romulus and Remus, as did also
the inhabitants of Pallantium and Saturnia, two small towns.
* We find no mention either of Remonium or Rignarium, in any other
writer. An anonymous MS. reads Remoria; and Festus tells us (De Ling.
Latin. lib. i.) the summit of mount Aventine was called Remuria, from the
time Remus resolved to build the city there. But Dionysius of Halicarnas-
sus speaks of mount Aventine and Remuria as two different places; and Ste-
phanus will have Remuria to have been a city in the neighbourhood of
Rome.
† The two brothers first differed about the place where their new city was
to be built, and referring the matter to their grandfather, he advised them
VOL. I. -L

66
ROMULUS.
tulus also fell in the scuffle; and Plistinus, who, being brother
to Faustulus, is said to have assisted in bringing Romulus up.
Celer fled into Tuscany; and from him such as are swift of
foot, or expeditious in business, are by the Romans called
celeres. Thus, when Quintus Metellus, within a few days
after his father's death, provided a show of gladiators, the
people admiring his quick despatch, gave him the name of
Celer.
Romulus buried his brother Remus, together with his fos-
ter-fathers, in Remonia, and then built his city, having sent
for persons from Hetruria, * who (as is usual in sacred mys-
teries), according to stated ceremonies and written rules, were
to order and direct how every thing was to be done. First, a
circular ditch was dug about what is now called the Comitium,
or Hall of Justice, and the first fruits of every thing that is
reckoned either good by use, or necessary by nature, were
cast into it; and then each, bringing a small quantity of the
earth of the country from whence he came, threw it in pro-
miscuously." This ditch had the name of Mundus, the same
with that of the universe. In the next place, they marked
out the city, like a circle, round this centre; and the founder
having fitted to a plough a brazen plough-share, and yoked a
bull and cow himself, drew a deep furrow round the bounda-
ries. The business of those that followed was to turn all the
clods raised by the plough inwards to the city, and not to suf-
fer
any
to remain outwards. This line described the compass
of the city; and between it and the walls is a space called, by
to have it decided by augury. In this augury Romulus imposed upon Re-
mus; and when the former prevailed that the city should be built upon
mount Palatine, the builders being divided into two companies, were no
better than two factions. At last Remus in contempt leaped over the work,
and said, “ Just so will the enemy leap over it;" whereupon Celer gave
him a deadly blow, and answered, —" In this manner will our citizens re-
pulse the enemy.” Some say, that Romulus was so afflicted at the death
of his brother, that he would have laid violent hands upon himself, if he had
not been prevented.
* The Hetrurians or Tuscans had, as Festus informs us, a sort of ritual
wherein were contained the ceremonies that were to be observed in building
cities, temples, altars, walls, and gates. They were instructed in augury
and religious rites by Tages, who is said to have been taught by Mercury.
† Ovid does not say it was a handful of the earth each had brought out of
his own country, but of the earth he had taken from his neighbours; which
was done to signify, that Rome would soon subdue the neighbouring nations.
But Isidorus (lib xxv. cap. 2,) is of opinion, that by throwing the first-fruits
and a handful of earth into the trench, they admonish the heads of the colo-
ny, that it ought to be their chief study to procure for their fellow-citizens
all the conveniencies of life, to maintain peace and union amongst a people
come together from different parts of the world, and by this to form them-
selyes into a body never to be dissolved.

ROMULUS.
67
contraction, Pomerium, as lying behind or beyond the wall.
Where they designed to have a gate, they took the plough-
share out of the ground, and lifted up the plough, making a
break for it. Hence they look upon the whole wall as sacred
except the gateways. If they considered the gates in the same
light as the rest, it would be deemed unlawful either to re-
ceive the necessaries of life by them, or to carry out whịt is
unclean.
The day on which they began to build the city is univer-
sally allowed to be the 21st of April and is celebrated annual-
ly by the Romans as the birth-day of Rome. At first, we
are told, they sacrificed nothing that had life, persuaded that
they ought to keep the solemnity sacred to the birth of their
country pure, and without bloodshed. Nevertheless, before
the city was built, on that same day, they had kept a pastoral
feast called Palilia. * At present, indeed, there is very little
analogy between the Roman and the Grecian months; yet the
day on which Romulus founded the city is strongly affirmed
to be the 30th of the month. On that day, too, we are in-
formed, there was a conjunction of the sun and moon, attend-
ed with an eclipse; the same that was observed by Antimachus
the Teian poet, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad.
Varro the philosopher, who of all the Romans was most
skilled in history, had an acquaintance named Tarutius, who,
besides his knowledge in philosophy and the mathematics, to
indulge his speculative turn, had applied himself to astrology,
and was thought to be a perfect master of it. To him Varro
proposed to find out the day and hour of Romulus's birth,
making his calculation from the known events of his life, as
problems in geometry are solved by the analytic method; for
it belongs to the same science, when a man's nativity is given,
to predict his life, and when his life is given, to find out his
nativity. Tarutius complied with the request; and when he
had considered the dispositions and actions of Romulus, how
long he lived, and in what manner he died, and had put all
these things together, he affirmed, without doubt or hesita-
tion, that his conception was in the first year of the second
Olympiad, on the 23rd day of the month which the Egyptians
call Choeac (December), at the third hour, when the sun was
totally eclipsed;t and that his birth was on the 23rd day of
* The Palilia, or Feast of Pales, is sometimes called Parilia, from the
Latin word, parere, to bring forth, because prayers were then made for the
fruitfulness of the sheep. According to Ovid (Fast. lib. iv.) the shepherds
then made a great feast at night, and concluded the whole with dancing
over the fires they had made in the fields with heaps of straw.
+ There was no total eclipse of the sun in the first year of the second
Olympiad, but in the second year of that Olympiad there was. If Romulus

68
ROMULUS.
the month Thoth (September), about sun-rise; and that he
founded Rome on the 9th of the month Pharmuthi (April),
between the second and third hour;* for it is supposed that
the fortunes of cities, as well as men, have their proper pe-
riods determined by the positions of the stars at the time of their
nativity. These, and the like relations, may, perhaps, rather
please the reader, because they are curious, than disgust him,
because they are fabulous.
When the city was built, Romulus divided the younger
part of the inhabitants into battalions. Each corps consisted
of three thousand foot, and three hundred horse, and was call-
ed a legion, because the most warlike persons were selected. †
The rest of the multitude he called the People. A hundred
of the most considerable citizens he took for his council, with
the title of Patricians, † and the whole body was called the Sen-
ate, which signifies an Assembly of Old Men. Its members
were styled Patricians; because, as some say, they were fa-
thers of free-born children; or rather, according to others, be-
cause they themselves had fathers to show, which was not
the case with many of the rabble that first flocked to the city
Others derive the title from Patrocinium, or Patronage, attri-
buting the origin of the term to one Patron, who came over
with Evander, and was remarkable for his humanity and care
of the distressed. But we shall be nearer the truth, if we con-
of
was conceived in the year last named, it will agree with the common opin-
ion, that he was eighteen years old when he founded Rome, and that Rome
was founded in the first year of the seventh Olympiad.
* There is great disagreement among historians and chronologers, as to
the year of the foundation of Rome. Varro places it in the third year of the
sixth Olympiad, 752 years before the Christian era; and Fabius Pictor, who
is the most ancient of all the Roman writers, and followed by the learned
Usher, places it in the end of the seventh Olympiad, which, according to
that prelate, was in the year of the world 3256, and 748 before Christ. But
Dionysius Halicarnassus, Solinus, and Eusebius, place it in the first year
the seventh Olympiad.
† Instead of this, Dionysius of Halicarnassus tells us (lib. i. p. 76,) the
whole colony consisted of but 3300 men. These Romulus divided into three
equal parts, which he called tribes or thirds, each of which was to be com-
manded by its præfect or tribune. The tribes were divided into ten curæ,
and these subdivided into ten decuræ. The number of houses, or rather
huts, which was but a thousand, bears witness to the truth of Dionysius's
assertion. But it is probable the mean rabble, who took the protection of
the asylum, and who might be very numerous, were not reckoned among
the 3300 first colonists, though they were afterwards admitted to the privi-
leges of citizens.
# The choice of these hundred persons was not made by the king himself;
each tribe chose three senators, and each of the thirty curæ the like number,
which made in all the number of ninety-nine; so that Romulus named only
the hundredth, who was the head, or prince of the senate, and the chief gov-
ernor of the city, when the king was in the field.

ROMULUS.
69
clude that Romulus styled them Patricians, as expecting these
respectable persons would watch over those in humble stations
with a paternal care and ragard: and teaching the common-
alty in their turn not to fear or envy the power of their su-
periors, but to behave to them with love and respect, both
looking upon them as fathers, and honouring them with that
name. For at this very time, foreign nations call the senators
lords, but the Romans themselves call them conscript fathers,
a style of greater dignity and honour, and withal much less
invidious. At first, indeed, they were called fathers only;
but afterwards, when more were enrolled in their body, con-
script fathers. With this venerable title, then, he distin-
guished the senate from the people. He likewise made ano-
ther distinction between the nobility and the commons, call-
ing the former patrons,* and the other clients; which was the
source of mutual kindness and many good offices between
them. For the patrons were to those they had taken under
their protection, counsellors and advocates in their suits at
law, and advisers and assistants on all occasions. On the
other hand, the clients failed not in their attentions, whether
they were to be shown in deference and respect, or in provid-
ing their daughters' portions, or in satisfying their creditors,
if their circumstances happened to be narrow. No law or
magistrate obliged the patron to be evidence against his client,
or the client against his patron. But in after-times, though
the other claims continued in full force, it was looked upon as
ungenerous for persons of condition to take money of those
below them.
In the fourth month after the building of the city,t as Fa-
bius informs
rape of the Sabine women was put in exe-
cution. Some say, Romulus himself, who was naturally war-
like, and persuaded by certain oracles, that the Fates had de-
creed Rome to obtain her greatness by military achievements,
began hostilities against the Sabines, and seized only thirty
virgins, being more desirous of war than of wives for his peo-
ple. But this is not likely; for, as he saw his city soon filled
us,
the
* This patronage was as effectual as any consanguinity or alliance, and
had a wonderful effect towards maintaining union among the people for the
space of six hundred and twenty years, during which time we find no dis-
sensions or jealousies between the patrons and their clients, even in the time
of the republic, when the populace frequently mutinied against those who
were most powerful in the city. At last the great sedition raised by Caius
Gracchus, broke in upon that harmony. Indeed, a client who was wanting
in his duty to his patron, was deemed a traitor and an outlaw, and liable to
be put to death by any person whatever. It may be proper to observe,
that not only plebeians chose their patrons, but in time cities and states put
themselves under the like protection.
+ Gelius says, it was in the fourth year.
8

170
ROMULUS.
with inhabitants, very few of which were married, the great-
est part consisting of a mixed rabble of mean and obscure per-
sons, to whom no regard was paid, and who were not expect-
ing to settle in any place whatever, the enterprise naturally
took that turn; and he hoped that from this attempt, though
not a just one, some alliance and union with the Sabines would
be obtained, when it appeared that they treated the women
kindly. In order to this, he first gave out that he had found
the altar of some god, which had been covered with earth.
This deity they called Consus, meaning either the God of
Counsel (for with them the word consilium has that significa-
tion, and their chief magistrates afterwards were Consuls, per-
sons who were to consult the public good), or else the Eques-
trian Neptune; for the altar in the Circus Maximus* is not
visible at other times, but during the Circensian games it is
uncovered. Some say, it was proper that the altar of that god
should be under ground, because counsel should be as private
and secret as possible. Upon this discovery, Romulus, by
proclamation, appointed a day for a splendid sacrifice, with
public games and shows. Multitudes assembled at the time,
and he himself presided, sitting among his nobles, clothed in
purple. As a signal for the assault, he was to rise, gather up
his robe, and fold it about him. Many of his people wore
swords that day, and kept their eyes upon him, watching for
the signal; which was no sooner given than they drew them,
and, rushing on with a shout, seized the daughters of the Sa-
bines, but quietly suffered the men to escape. Some say only
thirty were carried off, who each gave name to a tribe; but
Valerius Antius makes their number five hundred and twenty-
seven; and, according to Juba,t there were six hundred and
eighty-three, all virgins. This was the best apology for Ro-
mulus; for they had taken but one married woman, named
Hersilia, who was afterwards chiefly concerned in reconciling
them; and her they took by mistake, as they were not incited
to this violence by lust or injustice, but by their desire to con-
ciliate and unite the two nations in the strongest ties. Some
tell us Hersilia was married to Hostilius, one of the most
eminent men among the Romans; others, that Romulus him-
self married her, and had two children by her; a daughter
named Prima, on account of her being first-born, and an only
son, whom he called Aollius, because of the great concourse
* That is to say, in the place where Ancus Martius afterwards built the
great Circus for horse and chariot races.
+ This was the son of Juba, king of Mauritania, who, being brought very
young a captive to Rome, was instructed in the Roman and Grecian litera-
ture, and became an excellent historian. Dionysius of Halicarnassus has
followed his account.

ROMULUS.
71
of people to him, but after-ages Abillius. This account we
have from Zenodotus of Treezene, but he is contradicted in it
by many other historians.
Among those that committed this rape, we are told, some of
the meaner sort happened to be carrying off a virgin of uncom-
mon beauty and stature; and when some of superior rank that
met them attempted to take her from them, they cried out they
were conducting her to Talasius, a young man of excellent
character. When they heard this, they applauded their design;
and some even turned back and accompanied them with the
utmost satisfaction, all the way exclaiming Talasius. Hence
this became a term in the nuptial songs of the Romans, as
Hymenæus is in those of the Greeks;
for Talasius is said to
have been very happy in marriage. But Sextius Sylla, the
Carthaginian, a man beloved both by the Muses and Graces,
told me, that this was the word which Romulus gave as a sig-
nal for the rape.
All of them, therefore, as they were carry-
ing off the virgins, cried out Talasius; and thence it still con-
tinues the custom at marriages. Most writers, however, and
Juba in particular, are of opinion, that it is only an incite-
ment to good housewifery and spinning, which the word Ta-
lasia signifies; Italian terms being at that time thus mixed with
Greek. * If this be right, and the Romans did then use the
* The original, which runs thus, O. de TREISTOL VOPS OWV, v sou o Toßees ostis
παρακλήσιν ειναι 8!ς φιλεργίαν και ταλασιαν, 8πω τοτε τοις Ελληνικους ονομασι των
Iramenov 27'ineXulegywy, is manifestly corrupted; and all the former translations,
following corrupt reading, assert what is utterly false, namely,-—" that no
Greek terms were then mixed with the language of Italy.” The contrary
appears from Plutarch's life of Numa, where Greek terms are mentioned as
frequently used by the Romans, των Ελληνικων ονομάτων τοτε μάλλον και νυν τοις
Λατινοις ανακάκρωμενων. .
But, not to have recourse to facts, let us inquire into the several former
translations. The Latin runs thus:-Plerique inter quos est Juba ) adhorta-
tionem et incitationem ad laboris sedulitatem et lanificium, quòd Græci tandolay
dicunt, censent, nondum id temporis Italicis verbis cum Græcis confusis. The
English thus:-- But most are of opinion, and Juba in particular, that this
word Talasius was used to new-married women, by way of incitement to
housewifery; for the Greek word Talasia signifies spinning, and the lan-
guage of Italy was not yet mixed with the Greek.". The French of Dacier
thus—“ Cependant la plûpart des auteurs croient, et Juba est même de
cette opinion, que ce mot n'étoit qu'une exhortation qu'on faisoit aux ma-
riées d'aimer le travail, qui consiste à filer de la laine, que les Grecs appel-
lent Talasia; car en ce tems-là la langue Grecque n'avoit pas encore été cor-
rumpue par les mots Latins.” Thus they declare with one consent, that
the language of Italy was not yet mixed with the Greek; though it ap-
pears, from what was said immediately before, that Talasia, a Greek term,
was made use of in that language. Instead, therefore of 8770, not yet, we
should most certainly read ετo, thus: απο ποτε τοις Ελληνικους ονομασι των Ιταλικων
επικεχυμένων, , “ the language of Italy being at that time thus mixed with
Greek terms; for instance, Talasia," By this emendation, which consists

72
ROMULUS.
word Talasia in the same sense with the Greeks, another and
more probable reason of the custom may be assigned. For
when the Sabines, after the war with the Romans, were re-
conciled, conditions were obtained for the women, that they
should not be obliged by their husbands to do any other work
besides spinning. It was customary, therefore, ever after, that
they who gave the bride, or conducted her home, or were pre-
sent on the occasion, should cry out, amidst the mirth of the
wedding, Talasius; intimating that she was not to be employed
in
any labour but that of spinning. And it is a custom still
observed for the bride not to go over the threshold of her hus-
band's house herself, but to be carried over, because the Sabine
virgins did not go in voluntarily, but were carried in by vio-
lence. Some add, that the bride's hair is parted with the
point of a spear, in memory of the first marriages being
brought about in a warlike manner; of which we have spoken
more fully in the Book of Questions. This rape was commit-
ted on the eighteenth day of the month then called Sextilis,
now August, at which time the feast of the Consualia is kept.
The Sabines were a numerous and warlike people, but they
dwelt in unwalled towns; thinking it became them, who were
a colony of the Lacedæmonians, te be bold and fearless. But
as they saw themselves bound by such pledges, and were very
solicitous for their daughters, they sent ambassadors to Romu-
lus with moderate and equitable demands; that he should re-
turn them the young women, and disavow the violence, and
then the two nations should proceed to establish a correspon-
dence, and contract alliances in a friendly and legal way.
Romulus, however, refused to part with the young women,
and entreated the Sabines to give their sanction to what had
been done; whereupon some of them lost time in consulting
and making preparations. But Acron, king of the Ceninen-
sians, a man of spirit, and an able general, suspected the ten-
dency of Romulus's first enterprises; and, when he had be-
haved so boldly in the rape, looked upon him as one that
would grow formidable, and indeed insufferable to his neigh-
only of the small alteration of the 7 into T, the sense is easy; the context
clear; Plutarch is reconciled to himself, and freed from the charge of con-
tradicting in one breath what he had asserted in another.
If this wanted any other support, we might allege a passage from Plu-
tarch's Marcellus, which, as well as that in the life of Numa, is express and
decisive. Speaking there of the derivation of the word Feretrius, an ap-
pellation which Jupiter probably first had in the time of Romulus, on occa-
sion of his consecrating to him the spolia opima, one account he gives of
the matter is, that Feretrius might be derived from pegerpoy, the vehicle on
which the trophy was carried, κατα την Ελληνιδα γλωσσαν 4Tι πολλήν τοτι
συμμεμιγμένην τη Λατινων; « for at that time the Greek language was much
mixed with the Latin."

ROMULUS.
73
bours, except he were chastised. Acron, therefore, went to
seek the enemy, and Romulus prepared to receive him.
When they came in sight, and had well viewed each other, a
challenge for a single combat was mutually given, their forces
standing under arms in silence. Romulus on this occasion
made a vow, that if he conquered his enemy, he would him-
self dedicate his adversary's arms to Jupiter. In consequence
of which, he both overcame Acron, and, after battle was join-
ed, routed his army and took his city; but he did no injury to
its inhabitants, unless it were such to order them to demol-
ish their houses, and follow him to Rome, as citizens entitled
to equal privileges with the rest. Indeed, there was nothing
that contributed more to the greatness of Rome, than that
she was always uniting and incorporating with herself those
whom she conquered. Romulus having considered how he
should perform his vow in the most acceptable manner to Ju-
piter, and withal make the procession most agreeable to his
people, cut down a great oak that grew in the camp, and
hewed it into the figure of a trophy; to this he fastened
Acron's whole suit of armour, disposed in its proper form;
then he put on his own robes, and wearing a crown of laurel
on his head, his hair gracefully flowing, he took the trophy
erect upon his right shoulder, and so marched on, singing the
song of victory before his troops, which followed, completely
armed, while the citizens received him with joy and admira-
tion. This procession was the origin and model of future
triumphs. The trophy was dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius,
so called from the Latin word ferire, * to smite; for Romulus
had prayed that he might have power to smite his adversary,
and kill him. Varro says, this sort of spoils is termed opima, t
from opes, which signifies riches; but more probably they are
so styled from opus, the meaning of which is action; for when
the general of an army kills the enemy's general with his
own hand, then only he is allowed to consecrate the spoils
called opima, as the sole performer of that action. I This ho-
* Or from the word ferre, to carry, because Romulus had himself carried
to the temple of Jupiter the armour of the king he had killed; or, more
probably, from the Greek word pheretron, which Livy calls in Latin ferculum,
and which properly signifies a trophy.
+ Festus clerives the word opima from ops, which signifies the earth, and
the riches it produces; so that opina spolit, according to that writer, signify
rich spoils.
# This is Livy's account of the matter; but Varro, as quoted by Festus,
tells us, a Roman might be entitled to the spolia opina, though but a pri-
vate soldier, miles manipularis, provided he killed and despoiled the
enemy's general. Accordingly, Cornelius Cossus had them for killing To-
lumnius, king of the Tuscans, though Cossus was but a tribune, who
fought under the command of Emilius. Cossus, therefore, in all probabili.
VOL 1.-M
S*

74
ROMULUS.
nour has been conferred only on three Roman chiefs; first, on
Romulus, when he slew Acron the Ceninensian; next, on
Cornelius Cossus, for killing Tolumnius the Tuscan; and last-
ly, on Claudius Marcellus, when Viridomarus, king of the
Gauls, fell by his hand. Cossus and Marcellus bore, indeed,
the trophies themselves, but drove into Rome in triumphal
chariots. But Dionysius is mistaken in saying that Romulus
made use of a chariot; for some historians assert, that Tarqui-
nius, the son of Demaratus, was the first of the kings that ad-
vanced triumphs to this
pomp
and grandeur. Others say,
Publicola was the first that led up his triumph in a chariot.
However, there are statues of Romulus bearing these trophies
yet to be seen in Rome, which are all on foot.
After the defeat of the Ceninenses, while the rest of the Sa-
bines were busied in preparations, the people of Fidenæ,
Crustumenium, and Antemnæ, united against the Romans. A
battle ensued, in which they were likewise defeated, and sur-
rendered to Romulus their cities to be spoiled, their lands to
be divided, and themselves to be transplanted to Rome. All
the lands thus acquired he distributed among the citizens, ex-
cept what belonged to the parents of the stolen virgins; for
those he left in the possession of their former owners. The
rest of the Sabines, enraged at this, appointed Tatius their
general, and carried war to the gates of Rome. The city
was difficult of access, having a strong garrison on the hill
where the Capitol now stands, commanded by Tarpeius, not
by the virgin Tarpeia, as some say, who in this represent Ro-
very weak man. However, this Tarpeia, the go-
vernor's daughter; charmed with the golden bracelets of the
Sabines, betrayed the fort into their hands, and asked, in re-
turn for her treason, what they wore on their left arms. Ta
tius agreeing to the condition, she opened one of the gates by
night, and let in the Sabines. It seems it was not the senti-
ment of Antigonus alone, who said,—“He loved men while
they were betraying, but hated them when they had betray-
ed; nor of Cæsar, who said, in the case of Rhymitalces the
Thracian,—“He loved the treason, but hated the traitor;"
but men are commonly affected towards villains, whom they
have occasion for, just as they are towards venomous crea-
tures, which they have need of for their poison and their gall.
While they are of use they love them, but abhor them when
their
purpose
is effected. Such were the sentiments of Tatius
with regard to Tarpeia, when he ordered the Sabines to re-
member their promise, and to grudge her nothing which they
ty, did not enter Rome in a triumphal chariot, but followed that of his
general, with the trophy on his shoulder.

ROMULUS.
75
As every
had on their left arms. He was the first to take off his brace-
let, and throw it to her, and with that his shield. *
one did the same, she was overpowered by the gold and
shields thrown upon her, and, sinking under the weight, ex-
pired. Tarpeius, too, was taken, and condemned by Romu-
lus for treason, as Juba writes after Sulpitius Galba. As for
the account given of Tarpeia by other writers, among whom
Antigonus is one, it is absurd and incredible. They say, that
she was daughter to Tatius the Sabine general, and being com-
pelled to live with Romulus, she acted and suffered thus by
her father's contrivance. But the poet Simulus makes a most
egregious blunder, when he says, Tarpeia betraying the Capi-
tol, not to the Sabines, but to the Gauls, having fallen in love
with their king. Thus he writes:-
From her high dome, Tarpeia, wretched maid,
To the fell Gauls the Capitol betray'd;
The hapless victim of unchaste desires,
She lost the fortress of her sceptred sires.
And a little after concerning her death,
No amorous Celt, no fierce barbarian bore
The fair Tarpeia to his stormy shore;
Press'd by those shields, whose splendour she admir'd,
She sunk, and in the shining death expir'd.
From the place where Tarpeia was buried, the hill had the
name of the Tarpeian, till Tarquin consecrated the place to
Jupiter, at which time her bones were removed, and so it lost
her name, except that part of the Capitol from which male-
factors are thrown down, which is still called the Tarpeian
rock. The Sabines thus possessed of the fort, Romulus in
great fury offered them battle, which Tatius did not decline,
as he saw he had a place of strength to retreat to in case he
was worsted; and, indeed the spot on which he was to engage
being surrounded with hills, seemed to promise on both sides
a sharp and bloody contest, because it was so confined, and the
outlets were so narrow, that it was not easy either to fly or to
pursue. It happened, too, that, a few days before, the river
had overflowed, and left a deep mud on the plain, where the
forum now stands, which, as it was covered with a crust, was
not easily discoverable by the eye, but at the same time was
soft underneath, and impracticable. The Sabines, ignorant
* Piso and other historians say, that Tatius treated her in this manner, be-
cause she acted a double part, and endeavoured to betray the Sabines to
Romulus, while she was pretending to betray the Romans to them.

76
ROMULUS.
of this, were pushing forward into it, but by good fortune
were prevented; for Curtius, a man of high distinction and
spirit, being mounted on a good horse, advanced a considera-
ble way before the rest. * Presently his horse plunged into the
slough, and for a while he endeavoured to disengage him, en-
couraging him with his voice, and urging him with blows; but
finding all ineffectual, he quitted him, and saved himself.
From him the place to this very time is called the Curtian lake.
The Sabines, having escaped this danger, began the fight with
great bravery: The victory inclined to neither side, though
many were slain, and among the rest Hostilius, who, they
say, was husband to Hersilia, and grandfather to that Hosti-
lius who reigned after Numa. It is probable there were many
other battles in a short time; but the most memorable was the
last, in which Romulus having received a blow upon the head
with a stone, was almost beaten down to the ground, and no
longer able to oppose the enemy; then the Romans gave way,
and were driven from the plain as far as the Palatine hill. By
this time Romulus, recovering from the shock, endeavoured
by force to stop his men in their flight, and loudly called up-
on them to stand and renew the engagement; but when he saw
the rout was general, and that no one had courage to face
about, he lifted up his hands towards heaven, and prayed
to Jupiter to stop the army, and to re-establish and maintain
the Roman cause, which was now in extreme danger. When
the prayer ended, many of the fugitives were struck with re-
verence for their king, and their fear was changed into cou-
rage. They first stopped, where now stands the temple of
Jupiter Stator, so called, from his putting a stop to their flight.
There they engaged again, and repulsed
the Sabines as far as
the palace now
called Regia, and the temple of Vesta.
When they were preparing here to renew the combat, with
the same animosity as at first, their ardour was repressed by
an astonishing spectacle, which the powers of language are
us,
* Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus relate the matter otherwise. They
tell that Curtius at first repulsed the Romans; but being in his turn over-
powered by Romulus, and endeavouring to make good his retreat, he hap-
pened to fall into the lake, which from that time bore his name; for it was
called Lacus Curtius, even when it was dried up, and almost in the centre
of the Roman forum. Procilius says, that the earth having opened, the
Aruspices declared it necessary, for the safety of the republic, that the
bravest man in the city should throw himself into the gulf; whereupon one
Curtius, mounting on horseback, leaped (armed) into it, and the gulf im-
mediately closed. Before the building of the common sewers, this pool was
a sort of sink, which received all the filth of the city. Some writers think
that it received its name from Curtius the consul, colleague to M. Genucius,
because he caused it to be walled in, by the advice of the Aruspices, after
it had been struck with lightning. Varro de Ling. Lat. 1. iv.

ROMULUS.
777
unable to describe. The daughters of the Sabines, that had
been forcibly carried off, appeared rushing this way and that,
with loud cries and lamentations, like persons distracted,
amidst the drawn swords, and over the dead bodies, to come
at their husbands and fathers; some carrying their infants in
their arms, some darting forward, with dishevelled hair, but
all calling, by turns, both upon the Sabines and the Romans
by the tenderest names. Both parties were extremely moved,
and room was made for them between the two armies. Their
lamentations pierced to the utmost ranks, and all were deep-
ly affected, particularly, when their upbraiding and complaints
ended in supplication and entreaty.-
:- What great injury have
we done you,” said they, “ that we have suffered, and do still
suffer, so many miseries? We were carried off by those who
now have us violently and illegally; after this violence we were
so long neglected by our brothers, our fathers, and relations,
that we were necessitated to unite in the strongest ties with
those that were the objects of our hatred; and we are now
brought to tremble for the men that had injured us so much
when we see them in danger, and to lament them when they
fall; for you came not to deliver us from violence, while vir-
gins, or to avenge our cause, but now you tear the wives from
their husbands, and the mothers from their children; an assist-
ance more grievous to us than all your neglect and disregard.
Such love we experienced from them, and such compassion
from you. Were the war undertaken in some other cause,
yet surely you would stop its ravages for us, who have made
you
fathers-in-law and grandfathers, or otherwise placed you
in some near affinity to those whom you seek to destroy; but
if the war be for us, take us, with your sons-in-law and their
children, and restore us to our parents and kindred; but do
not, we beseech you, rob us of our children and husbands, lest
we become captives again.' Hersilia having said a great
deal to this purpose, and others joining in the same request,
a truce was agreed upon, and the generals proceeded to a con-
ference. In the meantime, the women presented their hus-
bands and children to their fathers and brothers, brought re-
freshments to those that wanted them, and carried the wound-
ed home to be cured. Here they showed them, that they had
the ordering of their own houses, what attentions their hus-
bands paid them, and with what respect and indulgence they
were treated. Upon this a peace was concluded, the condi-
tions of which were, that such of the women as chose to re-
main with their husbands, should be exempt from all labour
and drudgery, except spinning, as we have mentioned above;
that the city should be inhabited by the Romans and Sabines,
in common, with the name of Rome, from Romulus; but that

78
ROMULUS,
all the citizens, from Cures, the capital of the Sabines, and the
country of Tatius, should be called Quirites;* and that the
regal power, and the command of the army, should be
equally shared between them. The place where these articles
were ratified, is still called Comitium,t from the Latin word
coire, which signifies to assemble.
The city having doubled the number of its inhabitants, a
hundred additional senators were elected from among the Sa-
bines, and the legions were to consist of six thousand foot, and
six hundred horse. Į The people, too, were divided into
three tribes, called Rhamnenses, from Romulus; Tatienses,
from Tatius; and Lucerenses, from the Lucus or Grove, where
the asylum stood, whither many had fled, and were admit-
ted citizens. That they were precisely three, appears from
the very name of Tribes, and that of their chief officers, who
were called Tribunes. Each tribe contained ten Curiæ, or
wards, which some say were called after the Sabine women.
But this seems to be false, for many of them have their names
from the several quarters of the city which were assigned to
them. Many honourable privileges, however, were confer-
red upon the women; some of which were these: that the men
should give them the way, wherever they met them; that
they should not mention an obscene word, or appear naked,
before them; that, in case of their killing any person, they
should not be tried before the ordinary judges; and that their
* The word Quiris, in the Sabine language, signified both a dart, and a
warlike deity armed with a dart. It is uncertain whether the god gave
name to the dart, or the dart to the god; but however that be, this god
Quiris or Quirinus, was either Mars, or some other god of war, and was wor-
shipped in Rome till Romulus, who, after his death, was honoured with the
name Quirinus, took his place,
# The Comitium was at the foot of the hill Palatinus, over-against the
Capitol. Not far from thence the two kings built the temple of Vulcan,
where they usually met to consult the senate about the most important af-
fairs.
# Ruauld, in his animadversions upon Plutarch, has discovered two con-
siderable errors in this place. The first is, that Plutarch affirms there
were six hundred horse put by Romulus in every legion; whereas there
never were, at any time, so many in any of the legions. For there were at
first two hundred horse in each legion; after that, they rose to three hun-
dred, and at last to four hundred, but never came up to six hundred. In
the second place, he tells us, that Romulus made the legion to consist of six
thousand foot: whereas, in his time, it was never more than three thousand.
It is said by some, that Marius was the first who raised the legion to six
thousand; but Livy informs us, that that augmentation was made by Scipio
Africanus, long before Marius. After the expulsion of the kings, it was
augmented from three to four thousand, and some time after to five, and at
last by Scipio (as we have said) to six. But this was never done but upon
pressing occasions. The stated force of a legion was four thousand foot,
and two hundred horse.

ROMULUS.
79
children should wear an ornament about their necks, called
Bulla, * from its likeness to a bubble, and a garment bordered
with purple. The two kings did not presently unite their
councils, each meeting, for some time, their hundred senators
apart; but afterwards they all assembled together. Tatius dwelt
where the temple of Moneta now stands, and Romulus by the
Steps of the Fair Shore, as they are called, at the descent from
the Palatine hill to the Great Circus. There, we are told,
grew the sacred Cornel-tree, the fabulous account of which is,
that Romulus once, to try his strength, threw a spear, whose
shaft was of cornel-wood, from Mount Aventine to that place;
the head of which stuck so deep in the ground, that no one
could pull it out, though many tried; and the soil being rich,
so nourished the wood, that it shot forth branches, and became
a trunk of cornel, of considerable bigness. This posterity
preserved with a religious care, as a thing eminently sacred,
and, therefore, built a wall about it; and when any one that
approached it, saw it not very flourishing and green, but in-
clining to fade and wither, he presently proclaimed it to all he
met, who, as if they were to assist in case of fire, cried out
for water, and ran from all quarters with full vessels to the
place. But when Caius Cæsar ordered the steps to be repair-
ed, and the workmen were digging near it, it is said, they in-
advertently injured the roots in such a manner, that the tree
withered away.
The Sabines received the Roman months. All that is of
importance on this subject is mentioned in the life of Numa.
Romulus, on the other hand, came into the use of their shields,
making an alteration in his own armour, and that of the Ro-
mans, who before wore bucklers in the manner of the Greeks.
They mutually celebrated each other's feasts and sacrifices,
not abolishing those of either nation, but over and above ap-
pointing some new ones; one of which is the Matronalia, t
* The young men, when they took upon them the Toga virilis, or man's
robe, quitted the Bulla, which is supposed to have been a little hollow ball
of gold, and made an offering of it to the Dii Lares, or household gods. As
to the Prætexta, or robe edged with purple, it was worn by girls, till their
marriage, and by boys, till they were seventeen. But what in the time of
Romulus was a mark of distinction for the children of the Sabine women,
became afterwards very common; for even the children of the Liberti, or
freedmen, wore it.
† During this feast, such of the Roman women as were married, served
their slaves at table, and received presents from their husbands, as the hus-
bands did from their wives in the time of the Saturnalia. As the festival of
the Matronalia was not only observed in honour of the Sabine women, but
consecrated to Mars, and, as some will have it, to Juno Lucina, sacrifices
were offered to both these deities. This feast was the subject of Horace's
Ode, Martiis coelebs quid agam calendis, &c. and Oxid describes it at large

80
ROMULUS.
instituted in honour of the
women, for their putting an end to
the war; and another, the Carmentalia. * Carmenta is by some
supposed to be one of the destinies who presides over human
nativities; therefore, she is particularly worshipped by mo-
thers. Others say, she was wife to Evander the Arcadian,
and a woman addicted to divination, who received inspirations
from Apollo, nd delivered oracles in verse; thence called
Carmenta, for carmina signifies verse; but her proper name
as is agreed on all hands, was Nicostrata. Others again, with
greater probability assert, that the former name was given her
because she was distracted with enthusiastic fury; for carere
mente signifies to be insane. Of the feast of Palilia we have al-
ready given an account. As for the Lupercalia, † by the time, it
should seem to be a feast of lustration; for it was celebrated
on one of the inauspicious days of the month of February,
which name denotes it to be the month of purifying; and the
day was formerly called Februata. But the true meaning of
Lupercalia is the feast of wolves; and it seems, for that reason,
to be very ancient, as received from the Arcadians who came
over with Evander. This is the general
opinion.
But the
term may be derived from lupa a she-wolf; for we see the Lu-
perci begin their course from the place where they say Ro-
mulus was exposed. However, if we consider the ceremo-
nies, the reason of the name seems hard to guess: for first,
goats are killed; then two noblemen's sons are introduced,
and some are to stain their foreheads with a bloody knife,
others to wipe off the stain directly, with wool steeped in
milk, which they bring for that purpose. When it is wip-
ed off, the young men are to laugh. After this they cut
the goats' skins in pieces, and run about all naked, except their
middle, and lash with those thongs all they meet. The young
women avoid not the stroke, as they think it assists concep-
tion and child-birth. Another thing proper to this feast is,
for the Luperci to sacrifice a dog. Butas, who in his Elegies
has given a fabulous account of the origin of the Roman in-
stitutions, writes, that when Romulus had overcome Amulius,
in the transports of victory, he ran with great speed to the
place where the wolf suckled him and his brother, when in-
fants; and that this feast is celebrated, and the young noble-
in the Third Book of Fasti. Dacier says, by mistake, that this feast was
kept on the 1st of April, instead of the 1st of March, and the former En-
glish annotator has followed him.
* This is a very solemn feast, kept on the 11th of January, under the
Capitol, near the Carmental gate. They begged of this goddess to render
their women fruitful, and to give them happy deliveries.
† This festival was celebrated on the 11th of February, in honour of the
g'od Pan.

ROMULUS.
31
inen run, in imitation of that action, striking all that are in
their way:-
As the fam'd twins of Rome, Amulius slain,
From Alba pour'd, and with their reeking swords
Saluted all they met.
And the touching of the forehead with a vioody knife, is a
symbol of that slaughter and danger, as the wiping off the
blood with milk is in memory of their first nourishment. But
Caius Acilius relates, that before the building of Rome, Romu-
lus and Remus having lost their cattle, first prayed to Faunus
for success in the search of them, and then ran out naked to
seek them, that they might not be incommoded with sweat;
therefore the Luperci run about naked. As to the dog, if
this be a feast of lustration, we may suppose it is sacrificed, in
order to be used in purifying; for the Greeks, in their puri-
fications, make use of dogs, and perform the ceremonies which
they call Periskulakismoi. But if these rites are observed, in
gratitude to the wolf that nourished and preserved Romulus,
it is with propriety they kill a dog, because it is an enemy to
wolves; yet, perhaps, nothing more was meant by it than to
punish that creature for disturbing the Luperci in their run-
ning
Romulus is likewise said to have introduced the sacred fire,
and to have appointed the holy virgins called Vestals. * Others
attribute this to Numa, but allow that Romulus was remark-
ably strict in observing other religious rites, and skilled in
divination; for which purpose he bore the Lituus. This is a
crooked staff, with which those that sit to observe the flight
of birds, † describe the several quarters of the heavens. It was
kept in the Capitol, but lost when Rome was taken by the
Gauls; afterwards, when the barbarians had quitted it, it was
found buried deep in ashes, untouched by the fire, whilst every
thing about it was destroyed and consumed. Romulus also
enacted some laws; amongst the rest that severe one, which
forbids the wife in any case to leave her husband, I but gives
* Plutarch means that Romulus was the first who introduced the sacred
fire at Rome. That there were vestal virgins, however, before this, at Alba,
we are certain, because the mother of Romulus was one of them. The sa-
cred and perpetual fire was not only kept up in Italy, but in Egypt, in Per-
sia, in Greece, and almost in all nations.
† The Augurs.
# Yet this privilege, which Plutarch thinks a hardship upon the women,
was indulged the men by Moses in greater latitude. The women, however,
among the Romans, came at length to divorce their husbands, as appears
from Juvenal (Sat. ix.) and Martial (l. x. ep. 41.) At the same time, it
must be observed, to the honour of Roman virtue, that no divorce wus
VOL. I. _N

82
ROMULUS.
the husband power to divorce his wife, in case of her poison-
ing his children, or counterfeiting his keys, or being guilty of
adultery. But if, on any other occasion, he put her away, she
was to have one moiety of his goods, and the other was to be
consecrated to Ceres; and whoever put away his wife was to
make an atonement to the gods of the earth. It is something
particular, that Romulus appointed no punishment for actual
parricides, but called all murder parricide, looking upon this
as abominable; and the other as impossible. For many ages,
indeed, he seemed to have judged rightly; no one was guilty
of that crime in Rome for almost six
hundred years; and Lu-
cius Ostius, after the wars of Hannibal, is recorded to have
been the first that murdered his father.
In the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some of his friends
and kinsmen meeting certain ambassadors who were going
from Laurentum to Rome, * attempted to rob them on the
road, and, as they would not suffer it, but stood in their own
defence, killed them. As this was an atrocious crime, Romu-
lus required that those who committed it should immediately
be punished, but Tatius hesitated and put it off. This was
the first occasion of any open variance between them; for till
now they had behaved themselves as if directed by one soul,
and the administration had been carried on with all possible
unanimity. The relations of those that were murdered, find-
ing they could have no legal redress from Tatius, fell upon
him and slew him at Lavinium, as he was offering sacrifice
with Romulus;ť but they conducted Romulus back with ap-
plause, as a prince who paid all proper regard to justice. To
the body of Tatius he gave an honourable interment, at Armi-
lustrium,f on Mount Aventine; but he took no care to re-
venge his death on the persons that killed him. Some histo-
rians write, that the Laurentians in great terror gave up
the
murderers of Tatius; but Romulus let them go, saying-
“Blood with blood should be repaid.” This occasioned a re-
known at Rome for five hundred and twenty years.
One P. Servilius, or
Carvilius Spurius, was the first of the Romans that ever put away his wife.
* Dionysius of Halicarnassus says, they were ambassadors from Lavinium,
who had been at Rome to complain of the incursions made by some of Ta-
tius's friends upon their territories; and that as they were returning, the
Sabines lay in wait for them on the road, stripped them, and killed several
of them. Lavinium and Laurentum were neighbouring towns in Latium.
+ Probably this was a sacrifice to the Dii Indigenes of Latium, in vich
Rome was included. But Licinius writes, that Tatius went not thither with
Romulus, nor on account of the sacrifice, but that he went alone to persuade
the inhabitants to pardon the murderers.
# The place was so called, because of a ceremony of the same name, cee
lebrated every year on the 19th of October, when the troops were muster.
ecl, and purified hy sacrifices.

ROMULUS.
83
The an-
port, and, indeed a strong suspicion, that he was not sorry to
get rid of his partner in the government. None of these
things, however, occasioned any disturbance or sedition
among the Sabines; but partly out of regard for Romulus,
partly out of fear of his power, or because they reverenced
him as a god, they all continued well affected to him. This
veneration for him extended to many other nations.
cient Latins sent ambassadors, and entered into league and
alliance with him. Fidenæ, a city in the neighbourhood of
Rome, he took, as some say, by sending a body of horse be-
fore with orders to break the hinges of the gates, and then
appearing unexpectedly in person. Others will have it, that
the Fidenates first attacked and ravaged the Roman territo-
ries, and were carrying off considerable booty, when Romulus
lay in ambush for them, cut many of them off, and took their
city. He did not, however, demolish it, but made it a Roman
colony, and sent into it two thousand five hundred inhabit-
ants on the 13th of April.
After this, a plague broke out, so fatal, that people died of
it without any previous sickness; while the scarcity of fruits,
and barrenness of the cattle, added to the calamity. It rained
blood too in the city; so that their unavoidable sufferings
were increased with the terrors of superstition: and when the
destruction spread itself to Laurentum, then all agreed it was
for neglecting to do justice to the murderers of the ambassa-
dors and of Tatius, that the divine vengeance pursued both
cities. Indeed, when those murderers were given up and
punished by both parties, their calamities visibly abated; and
Romulus purified the city with lustrations, which, they tell
us, are yet celebrated at the Ferentine gate. Before the pesti-
lence ceased, the people of Cameria* attacked the Romans,
and overran the country, thinking them incapable of resist-
ance by reason of the sickness. But Romulus soon met them
in the field, gave them battle, in which he killed six thousand
of them, took their city, and transplanted half its remaining
inhabitants to Rome; adding, on the first of August, to those
he left in Cameria, double their number from Rome; so many
people had he to spare in about sixteen years time from the
building of the city. Among other spoils, he carried from
Cameria a chariot of brass, which he consecrated in the tem-
ple of Vulcan, placing upon it his own statue crowned by
victory.
His affairs thus flourishing, the weaker part of his neigh-
bours submitted, satisfied, if they could but live in peace; but
* This was a town which Romulus had taken before, Its old inhabitants
took this opportunity to rise in arms, and kill the Roman garrison.

84
ROMULUS.
the more powerful, dreading or envying Romulus, thought
they should not by any means let him go unnoticed, but op-
pose and put a stop to his growing greatness. The Veientes,
who had a strong city and extensive country, * were the first
of the Tuscans who began the war, demanding Fidenæ as
their property. But it was not only unjust, but ridiculous,
that they, who had given the people of Fidenæ no assistance
in the greatest extremities, but had suffered them to perish,
should challenge their houses and lands now in the possession
of other masters. Romulus, therefore, gave them a con-
temptuous answer; upon which they divided their forces into
two bodies; one attacked the garrison of Fidenæ, and the
other went to meet Romulus. That which went against Fi-
denæ defeated the Romans, and killed two thousand of them;
but the other was beaten by Romulus, with the loss of more
than eight thousand men. They gave battle, however, once
more at Fidenæ, where all allow the victory was chiefly owing
to Romulus himself, whose skill and courage were then re-
markably displayed, and
whose strength and swiftness appear-
ed more than human. But what some report is entirely fabu-
lous, and utterly incredible, that there fell that day fourteen
thousand men, above half of whom Romulus slew with his
own hand. For even the Messenians seem to have been ex-
travagant in their boasts, when they tell us Aristomenes of-
fered a hecatomb three several times, for having as often
killed a hundred Lacedæmonians. † After the Veientes were
thus ruined, Romulus suffered the scattered remains to escape,
and marched directly to their city. The inhabitants could
not bear up after so dreadful a blow, but humbly suing for a
peace, obtained a truce for a hundred years, by giving up a
considerable part of their territory called Septempagium,
which signifies a district of seven towns, together with the
salt-pits by the river; besides which, they delivered into his
hands fifty of their nobility as hostages. He triumphed for
this on the 15th of October, leading up, among many other
captives, the general of the Veientes, a man in years, who
seemed on this occasion not to have behaved with the pru-
dence which might have been expected from his age.
Hence
it is that, to this day, when they offer a sacrifice for victory,
they lead an old man through the forum to the Capitol, in a
* Veii, the capital of Tuscany, was situated on a craggy rock, about one
hundred furlongs from Rome; and is compared by Dionysius of Halicarnassus
to Athens for extent and riches.
+ Pausanias confirms this account, mentioning both the time and place of
these achievements, as well as the hecatombs offered on account of them to
Jupiter Ithomates. Those wars between the Messenians and Spartans,
were about the time of Tullus Hostilius.

ROMULUS.
85
boy's robe, edged with purple, with a bulla about his neck,
and the herald cries,—66 Sardians to be sold;"* for the Tus-
cans are said to be a colony of the Sardians, and Veii is a city
of Tuscany.
This was the last of the wars of Romulus. After this he be-
haved as almost all men do who rise by some great and unex-
pected good fortune to dignity and power; for, exalted with
his exploits, and loftier in his sentiments, he dropped his
popular affability, and assumed the monarch to an odious de-
gree. He gave the first offence by his dress; his habit being
a purple vest, over which he wore a robe bordered with
pur-
ple. He gave audience in a chair of state. He had always
about him a number of young men called Celeres, t from their
despatch in doing business; and before him went men with
staves to keep off the populace, who also wore thongs of lea-
ther at their girdles, ready to bind directly any person he
should order to be bound. This binding the Latins formerly
called ligare, I now alligare, whence those serjeants are called
Lictores, and their rods fasces; for the sticks they used on that
occasion were small; though, perhaps, at first they were call-
ed Litores, and afterwards, by putting in a c, Lictores; for they
are the same that the Greeks called Leitourgoi (officers for the
people); and leitos in Greek still signifies the people, but laos the
populace.
When his grandfather Numitor died in Alba, though the
crown undoubtedly belonged to him, yet, to please the people,
he left the administration in their own hands; and over the
Sabines (in Rome) he appointed yearly a particular magis-
trate; thus teaching the great men of Rome to seek a free
commonwealth without a king, and by turns to rule and to
obey; for now the patricians had no share in the government,
but only an honourable title and appearance, assembling in the
senate-house more for form than business. There, with si-
lent attention, they heard the king give his orders, and differ-
ed only from the rest of the people in this, that they went
home with the first knowledge of what was determined. This
* The Veientes, with the other Hetrurians, were a colony of Lydians,
whose metropolis was the city of Sardis. Other writers date this custom
from the time of the conquest of Sardinia by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus,
when such a number of slaves was brought from that island, that none were
to be seen in the market but Sardinians.
+ Romulus ordered the Curiæ to choose him a guard of three hundred
men, ten out of each Curiæ; and these he called Celeres, for the reason
which Plutarch has assigned.
# Plutarch had no critical skill in the Latin language.
$ Xylander and H. Stephanus are rationally enough of opinion, that in-
stead of Sabines we should read Albans; and so the Latin translator ren.
ders it.
9*

86
ROMULUS.
the
treatment they digested as well as they could; but when, of
his own authority, he divided the conquered lands among
soldiers, and restored the Veientes their hostages, without
the consent or approbation of the senate, they considered it as
an intolerable insult. Hence arose strong suspicions against
them, and Romulus soon after unaccountably disappeared.
This happened on the 7th of July (as it is now called,) then
Quintilis; and we have no certainty of any thing about it but
the time; various ceremonies being still performed on that day
with reference to the event. Nor need we wonder at this
uncertainty, since, when Scipio Africanus was found dead in
his house after supper, * there was no clear proof of the man-
ner of his death; for some say, that being naturally infirm, he
died suddenly; some, that he took poison; and others that his
enemies broke into his house by night and strangled him.
Besides, all were admitted to see Scipio’s dead body, and
every one, from the sight of it, had his own suspicion or opin-
ion of the cause. But as Romulus disappeared on a sudden,
and no part of his body, or even his garments could be found,
some conjectured, that the senators, who were convened in
the temple of Vulcan, fell upon him and killed him, after
which each carried a part away under his gown. Others say,
that his exit did not happen in the temple of Vulcan, nor in
presence of the senators only, but while he was holding an
assembly of the people without the city, at a place called the
Goat's Marsh. The air, on that occasion, was suddenly con-
vulsed and altered in a wonderful manner; for the light of the
sun failed,t and they were involved in an astonishing darkness,
attended on every side with dreadful thunderings, and tem-
pestuous winds. "The multitude then dispersed and fled, but
the nobility gathered into one body. When the tempest was
over, and the light appeared again, the people returned to the
same place, and a very anxious inquiry was made for the king;
but the patricians would not suffer them to look closely into
the matter. They commanded them to honour and worship
the
nus.
* This was Scipio, the son of Paulus Æmilius, adopted by Scipio Africa-
As he constantly opposed the designs of the Gracchi, it was supposed
that his wife Sempronia, who was sister to those seditious men, took him
off by poison. According to Valerius Maximus, no judicial inquiry was
made into the cause of his death; and Victor tells us, the corpse was carried
out, with the face covered with a linen cloth, that the blackness of it might
not appear.
† Cicero mentions this remakable darkness in a fragment of his sixth book
de Repub. And it appears from the astronomical tables, that there was a
great eclipse of the sun in the first year of the sixteenth Olympiad, suppos-
ed to be the year that Romulus died, on the 26th of May; which, consider-
ing the little exactness there was then in the Roman calendar, might very
well coincide with the month of July.

ROMULUS,
87
armour.
ours,
Romulus, who was caught up to heaven, and who, as he had
been a gracious king, would be to the Romans a propitious
deity. Upon this, the multitude went away with great satis-
faction, and worshipped him, in hopes of his favour and protec-
tion. Some, however, searching more minutely into the affair,
gave the patricians no small uneasiness; they even accused
them of imposing upon the people a ridiculous tale, when they
had murdered the king with their own hands.
While things were in this disorder, a senator, we are told,
of great distinction, and famed for sanctity of manners, Julius
Proculus by name, * who came from Alba with Romulus, and
had been his faithful friend, went into the forum, and declar-
ed
upon the most solemn oaths, before all the people, that as he
was travelling on the road, Romulus met him, in a form more
noble and august than ever, and clad in bright and dazzling
Astonished at the sight, he said to him,—" For
what misbehaviour of O king, or by what accident, have
you so untimely left us, to labour under the heaviest calum-
nies, and the whole city to sink under inexpressible sorrow?"
To which he answered," It pleased the gods, my good
Proculus, that we should dwell with men for a time; and after
having founded a city, which will be the most powerful and
glorious in the world, return to heaven, from whence we
came. Farewell, then, and go tell the Romans that, by the
exercise of temperance and fortitude, they shall attain the
highest pitch of human greatness, and I, the god Quirinus, will
ever be propitious to you.” This, by the character and oath
of the relater, gained credit with the Romans, who were
caught with the enthusiasm, as if they had been actually in-
spired; and, far from contradicting what they had heard, bade
adieu to all their suspicions of the nobility, united in the dei-
fying of Quirinus, and addressed their devotions to him.
This is very like the Grecian fables concerning_Aristeas the
Proconnesian, and Cleomedes the Astypalesian. For Aristeas,
as they tell us, expired in a fuller's shop; and when his friends
came to take away the body, it could not be found. Soon af-
ter, some persons coming in from a journey, said they met
Aristeas travelling towards Croton. As for Cleomedes, their
account of him is, that he was a man of gigantic size and
strength; but behaving in a foolish and frantic manner, he
guilty of many acts of violence. At last he went into a school,
where he struck the pillar that supported the roof with his
fist, and broke it asunder, so that the roof fell in and destroyed
the children. Pursued for this, he took refuge in a great
chest, and having shut the lid upon him, he held it down so
was
A descendant of Iülus, or Ascanius.

88
ROMULUS.
fast, that many men together could not force it open; when
they had cut the chest in pieces, they could not find him either
dead or alive. Struck with this strange affair, they sent to
consult the oracle at Delphi, and had from the priestess this
answer:
The race of heroes ends in Cleomedes.
It is likewise said that the body of Alcmena was lost, as
they were carrying it to the grave, and a stone was seen lying
on the bier in its stead. Many such improbable tales are told
by writers who wanted to deify beings naturally mortal. It is
indeed impious and illiberal to leave nothing of divinity to
virtue; but at the same time, to unite heaven and earth in the
same subject, is absurd. We should therefore reject fables,
when we are possessed of undeniable truth; for according to
Pindar:
The body yields to death's all-powerful summons,
While the bright image of eternity
Survives.
This alone is from the gods; from heaven it comes, and to
heaven it returns; not indeed with the body; but when it is
entirely set free and separate from the body, when it becomes
disengaged from every thing sensual and unholy. For, in
the language of Heraclitus, the pure soul is of superior excel-
lence,* darting from the body like a flash of lightning from a
cloud; but the soul that is carnal and immersed in sense, † like
* This is a very difficult passage. The former translator, with an unjusti-
fiable liberty, has turned autu gde toxn Enga agist), A virtuous soul is pure and
unmixed light; which, however excellent the sentiment, as borrowed from
the scripture, where he had found that God is light, is by no means the sense
of the original.
Dacier has translated it literally l'âme seche, and remarks the propriety of
the expression, with respect to that position of Heraclitus, that fire is the
first principle of all things. The French critic went upon the supposed an-
alogy between fire and dryness; but there is a much more natural and more
obvious analogy, which may help us to the interpretation of this passage;
that is, the near relation which dryness has to purity or cleanliness; and in-
deed we find the word Engos used metaphorically in the latter sense-&ngas
TOUT OL.
| Milton, in his Comus, uses the same comparison; for which, however, he
is indebted rather to Plato than to Plutarch:
The lavish act of sin
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by contagion,
Imbodies, and imbrutes, till she quite lose
The divine property of her first being.
Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp,
Oft seen in charnal vaults and sepulchres,

ROMULUS.
89
ness,
a heavy and dark vapour, with difficulty is kindled and as-
pires. There is therefore no occasion, against nature, to send
the bodies of good men to heaven; but we are to conclude,
that virtuous souls, by nature and the divine justice, rise from
men to heroes, from heroes to genii; and at last, if, as in the
Mysteries, they be perfectly cleansed and purified, shaking
off all remains of mortality, and all the power of the passions,
then they finally attain the most glorious and perfect happi-
and ascend from genii to gods, not by the vote of the
people, but by the just and established order of nature.
The sirname that Romulus had of Quirinus, some think was
given him as (another) Mars; others, because they call the
Roman citizens Quirites; others, again, because the ancients
gave the name of Quiris to the point of a spear, or to the spear
itself; and that of Juno Quiritus to the statues of Juno, when
she was represented leaning on a spear. Moreover, they
styled a certain spear, which was consecrated in the palace,
Mars; and those that distinguished themselves in war were
rewarded with a spear. Romulus, then, as a martial or war-
rior god, was named Quirinus; and the hill on which his tem-
ple stands, has the name of Quirinalis on his account. The
day on which he disappeared, is called the flight of the people
and Nonæ Caprotinæ, because then they go out of the city to
offer sacrifice at the Goats Marsh. On this occasion they pro-
nounce aloud some of their proper names, Marcus and Caius
for instance, representing the flight that then happened, and
their calling upon one another, amidst the terror and confu-
sion. Others, however, are of opinion that this is not a re-
presentation of flight, but of haste and eagerness, deriving the
ceremony from this source. When the Gauls, after the tak-
ing of Rome, were driven out by Camillus, and the city,
thus weakened, did not easily recover itself, many of the La-
tins, under the conduct of Livius Posthumus, marched against
it. This army sitting down before Rome, a herald was sent
to signify, that the Latins were desirous to renew their old
alliance and affinity, which was now declining, by new inter-
marriages. If, therefore, they would send them a good num-
ber of their virgins and widows, peace and friendship should
Lingøring and sitting by a new-made grave,
As loth to leave the body that it lov'd;
And links itself by carnal sensuality,
To a degenerate and degraded state.
* Hesiod was the first who distinguished those four natures, men, heroes,
genü, and gods. He saw room, it seems, for perpetual progression and
improvement in a state of immortality. And when the heathens tell us, that
before the last degree, that of divinity, is reached, those beings are liable
to be replunged into their primitive state of darkness, one would imagine
they had heard something of the fallen angels,
-0
VOL. I.

90
ROMULUS.
be established between them, as it was before with the Sabines
on the like occasion. When the Romans heard this, though
they were afraid of war, yet they looked upon the giving up
of their women as not at all more eligible than captivity.
While they were in this suspense, a servant maid named Phi-
lotis, or, according to others, Tutola, advised them to do nei-
ther, but by a stratagem, which she had thought of, to avoid
both the war and the giving of hostages. The stratagem was
to dress Philotis herself, and other handsome female slaves,
in good attire, and send them, instead of free-born virgins, to
the enemy. Then, in the night, Philotis was to light up a
torch (as a signal,) for the Romans to attack the enemy, and
despatch them in their sleep.
heir sleep. The Latins were satisfied, and
the scheme put in practice. For accordingly Philotis did set
up a torch on a wild fig-tree, screening it behind with curtains
and coverlets from the sight of the enemy, whilst it was visi-
ble to the Romans. As soon as they beheld it, they set out in
great haste, often calling upon each other at the gates to be
expeditious. Then they fell upon the Latins, who expected
nothing less, and cut them in pieces. Hence, this feast, in
memory of the victory. The day was called Nona Caprotinæ,
on account of the wild fig-tree, in the Roman tongue capri ficus.
The women are entertained in the fields in booths made of the
branches of the fig-tree; and the servant-maids, in companies,
run about and play; afterwards they come to blows, and throw
stones at one another; in remembrance of their then assisting
and standing by the Romans in the battle. These particulars
are admitted but by few historians. Indeed their calling upon
each others' names in the day-time, and their walking in pro-
cession to the Goats Marsh, * like persons that were going to
a sacrifice, seems rather to be placed to the former account;
though possibly both these events might happen, in distant
periods, on the same day. Romulus is said to have been fifty-
four years of age, and in the thirty-eighth of his reign,t when
he was taken from the world.
* Instead of ws ett Janettely, the reading in Bryan's text, which has no
tolerable sense, an anonymous copy gives us asasg andrase. And that to
sacrifice, or rather to offer up prayers at a sacrifice, is in one sense of ananasuv,
appears from the scholiast on Sophocles' Trachiniæ, where he explains
αλαλαγμις by ταις επι των θυσιων ευχαις. This signification, we suppose it
gained from the loud accent in which those prayers were said or sung.
† Dionysius of Halicarnassus (and indeed Plutarch himself, in the begin-
ning of the life of Numa) says, that Romulus left the world in the thirty-se-
venth year after the foundation of Rome. But perhaps those two historians
may be reconciled as to the age he died at; for Plutarch says, he was then
full fifty-four years of age, and Dionysius that he was in his fifty-fifth year.

ROMULUS AND THESEUS
COMPARED.
THIS is all I have met with that deserves to be related con-
cerning Romulus and Theseus. And to come to the compa-
rison;* first it appears, that Theseus was inclined to great en-
terprises, by his own proper choice, and compelled by no
necessity, since he might have reigned in peace at Træzene,
over a kingdom by no means contemptible, which would have
fallen to him by succession; whereas Romulus, in order to
avoid present slavery and impending punishment, became
valiant (as Plato expresses it) through fear, and was driven,
by the terror of extreme sufferings, to arduous attempts. Be-
sides, the greatest action of Romulus was the killing of one
tyrant in Alba: but the first exploits of Theseus, performed
occasionally, and by way of prelude only, were those of de-
stroying Sciron, Sinnis, Procrustes, and the club-bearer; by
whose punishment and death he delivered Greece from seve-
ral cruel tyrants, before they for whose preservation he was
labouring, knew him. Moreover, he might have gone safely
to Athens by sea, without any danger from robbers. But
Romulus could have no security while Amulius lived. This
difference is evident. Theseus, when unmolested himself,
went forth to rescue others from their oppressors. On the
other hand, Romulus and his brother, while they were unin-
jured by the tyrant themselves, quietly suffered him to exer-
cise his cruelties. And, if it was a great thing for Romulus
to be wounded in the battle with the Sabines, to kill Acron,
and to conquer many other enemies, we may set against these
distinctions the battle with the Centaurs, and the war with
the Amazons.
But as to Theseus's enterprise with respect to the Cretan
tribute, when he voluntarily offered to go among the young
men and virgins, whether he was to expect to be food for
some wild beast, or to be sacrificed at Androgeus's tomb, or,
which is the lightest of all the evils said to be prepared for
him, to submit to a vile and dishonourable slavery, it is not
*
Nothing can be more excellent than these parallels of Plutarch. He
weighs the virtues and vices of men in so just a balance, and puts so true
an estimate on their good and bad qualities, that the reader can not attend
to them without infinite advantage.

92
ROMULUS AND THESEUS COMPARED.
tue.
casy to express his courage and magnanimity, his regard for
justice and the public good; and his love of glory and of vir-
On this occasion, it appears to me that the philosophers
have not ill defined love to be a remedy provided by the gods for
the safety and preservation of youth. *
For Ariadne's love seems
to have been the work of some god, who designed by that
means to preserve this great man.
Nor should we blame her
for her passion, but rather wonder that all were not alike af-
fected towards him. And if she alone was sensible of that
tenderness, I may justly pronounce her worthy the love of a
god, † as she showed so great a regard for virtue and excellence
in her attachment to so worthy a man.
Both Theseus and Romulus were born with political talents;
yet neither of them preserved the proper character of a king,
but deviated from the due medium, the one erring on the side
of democracy, the other on that of absolute power, according
to their different tempers. For a prince's first concern is to
preserve the government itself; and this is effected, no less by
avoiding whatever is improper, than by cultivating what is
suitable
to his dignity. He who gives up or extends his authority,
continues not a prince or a king, but degenerates into a republican or
a tyrant, and thus incurs either the hatred or contempt of his
subjects. The former seems to be the error of a mild and hu-
mane disposition, the latter of self-love and severity.
If, then, the calamities of mankind are not to be entirely
attributed to fortune, but we are to seek the cause in their dif-
ferent manners and passions, here we shall find, that unrea-
sonable anger, with quick and unadvised resentment, is to be
imputed both to Romulus, in the case of his brother, and to
Theseus in that of his son. But, if we consider whence their
anger took its rise, the latter seems the more excusable, from
the greater cause he had for resentment, as yielding to the
heavier blow. For, as the dispute began when Romulus was
in cool consultation for the common good, † one would think
he could not presently have given way to such a passion;
whereas Theseus was urged against his son, by emotions
# Vide Plat. Conviv.
+ Plutarch here enters into the notion of Socrates, who teaches, that it is
the love of virtue and real excellence which alone can unite us to the Su-
preme Being. But though this maxim is good, it is not applicable to Ari-
adne. For where is the virtue of that princess, who fell in love with a
stranger at first sight, and hastened to the completion of her wishes through
the ruin of her kindred and her country.
# Plutarch does not seem to have had a just idea of the contest between
Romulus and Remus. The two brothers were not so solicitous about the
situation of their new city, as which of them should have the command in
when it was built.

ROMULUS AND THESEUS COMPARED.
93
which few men have seen able to withstand, proceeding from
love, jealousy, and the false suggestions of his wife. What
is more, the anger of Romulus discharged itself in an action
of most unfortunate consequence; but that of Theseus pro-
ceeded no further than words, reproaches, and imprecations,
the usual revenge of old men. The rest of the young man's
misery seems to have been owing to fortune. Thus far The-
seus seems to deserve the preference.
But Romulus has, in the first place, this great advantage,
that he rose to distinction from very small beginnings. For
the two brothers were reputed slaves and sons of herdsmen;
and yet before they attained to liberty themselves, they be-
stowed it on almost all the Latins; gaining at once the most
glorious title, as destroyers of their enemies, deliverers of their
kindred, kings of nations, and founders of cities, not trans-
planters, as Theseus was, who filled indeed one city with peo-
ple, but it was by ruining many others, which bore the names
of ancient kings and heroes. And Romulus afterwards effect-
ed the same, when he compelled his enemies to demolish
their habitations, and incorporate with their conquerors. He
had not, however, a city ready built, to enlarge, or to trans-
plant inhabitants to from other towns, but he created one,
gaining to himself lands, a country, a kingdom, children,
wives, alliances; and this without destroying or ruining any
On the contrary, he was a great benefactor to persons
who, having neither house nor habitation, willingly became
his citizens and people. He did not, indeed, like Theseus,
destroy robbers and ruffians, but he subdued nations, took
cities, and triumphed over kings and generals.
As for the fate of Remus, it is doubtful by what hand he
fell; most writers ascribing it to others, and not to Romulus.
But, in the face of all the world, he saved his mother from
destruction; and placed his grandfather, who lived in mean
and dishonourable subjection, upon the throne of Æneas.
Moreover, he voluntarily did him many kind offices, but
never injured him, not even inadvertently. On the other
hand, I think, Theseus, in forgetting or neglecting the com-
mand about the sail, can scarcely, by any excuses, or before
the mildest judges, avoid the imputation of parricide. Sensi-
ble how difficult the defence of this affair would be to those
who should attempt it, a certain 'Athenian writer feigns, that
when the ship approached, Ægeus ran in great haste to the
citadel for the better view of it, and missing his step, fell
down; as if he were destitute of servants, or went, in what-
ever hurry, unattended to the sea.
Moreover, Theseus's rapes and offences, with respect to
women, admit of no plausible excuse; because, in the first
one.
10

94
ROMULUS AND THESEUS COMPARED.
place, they were committed often; for he carried off Ariadne,
Antiope, and Anaxo the Træzenian; after the rest, Helen;
though she was a girl not yet come to maturity, and he so far
advanced in years, that it was time for him to think no more
even of lawful marriage. The next aggravation is the cause;
for the daughters of the Træzenians, the Lacedæmonians, and
the Amazons, were not more fit to bring children, than those
of the Athenians, sprung from Erechtheus and Cecrops.
These things, therefore, are liable to the suspicion of a wanton
and licentious appetite. On the other hand, Romulus, having
carried off at once almost eight hundred women, did not take
them all, but only Hersilia, as it is said, for himself, and dis-
tributed the rest among the most respectable citizens. And
afterwards, by the honourable and affectionate treatment he
procured them, he turned that injury and violence into a glo-
rious exploit, performed with a political view to the good of
society. Thus he united and cemented the two nations to-
gether, and opened a source of future kindness, and of addi-
tional power. Time bears witness to the conjugal modesty,
tenderness, and fidelity, which he established; for during twɔ
hundred and thirty years no man attempted to leave his wife,
nor any woman her husband.* And, as the very curious
among
the Greeks can tell you, who was the first person that
killed his father and mother, so all the Romans know, that
Spurius Carvilius was the first that divorced his wife, alleg.
ing her barrenness. The immediate effects, as well as length
of time, attest what I have said. For the two kings shared
the kingdom, and the two nations came under the same go-
vernment, by means of these alliances. But the marriages of
Theseus procured the Athenians no friendship with any other
state; on the contrary, enmity, wars, the destruction of their
citizens, and at last the loss of Aphidnæ; which only through.
the compassion of the enemy, whom the inhabitants supplica-
ted and honoured like gods, escaped the fate that befel Troy
by means of Paris. However, the mother of Theseus, de-
serted and given up by her son, was not only in danger of, but
really did suffer the misfortunes of Hecuba, if her captivity
be not a fiction, as a great deal besides may very well be. As
* These numbers are wrong in Plutarch: for Dionysius of Halicarnassus
marks the time with great exactness, acquainting us, that it was 520 years
after the building of Rome, in the consulate of M. Pomponius Matho and C.
Papirius Masso.
† Carvilius made oath before the censors, that he had the best regard for
his wife, and that it was solely in compliance with the sacred engagement
of marriage, the design of which was to have children, that he divorced her.
But this did not hinder his character from being ever after odious to the peo-
ple, who thought he had set a very pernicious example,

ROMULUS AND THESEUS COMPARED.
95
to the stories we have concerning both, of a supernatural kind,
the difference is great. For Romulus was preserved by the
signal favour of heaven; but as the oracle which commanded
Ægeus not to approach any woman in a foreign country, was
noť observed, the birth of Theseus appears to have been un-
acceptable to the gods.

THE
LIFE OF LYCURGUS.*
Of Lycurgus the lawgiver we have nothing to relate that
is certain and uncontroverted. For there are different accounts
of his birth, his travels, his death, and especially of the laws
and form of government which he established. But least of
all are the times agreed upon in which this great man lived.
For some say he flourished at the same time with Iphitus,
and joined with him in settling the cessation of arms during
the Olympic games. Among these is Aristotle the philoso-
pher, who alleges for proof an Olympic quoit, on which was
preserved the inscription of Lycurgus's name. But others
who, with Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, compute the time by
the successions of the Spartan kings, 5 place him much earlier
* The life of Lycurgus was the first which Plutarch published, as he him-
self observes in the life of Theseus. He seems to have had a strong attach-
ment to the Spartans and their customs, as Xenophon likewise had: for, be-
sides this life, and those of several other Spartan chiefs, we have a treatise
of his on the laws and customs of the Lacedæmonians, and another of Laco-
nic Apophthegms. He makes Lycurgus in all things a perfect hero, and
alleges his behaviour as a proof, that the wise man, so often described by
the philosophers, was not a mere ideal character, unattainable by human
nature. It is certain, however, that the encomiums bestowed upon him
and his laws by the Delphic oracle, were merely a contrivance between the
Pythoness and himself; and some of his laws, for instance, that concerning
the women, were unexceptionable.
+ Iphitus, king of Elis, is said to have instituted, or rather restored, the
Olympic games, 108 years before what is commonly reckoned the first Olym-
piad, which commenced in the year before Christ 776, or, as some will have
it, 774, and bore the name of Corcbus, as the following Olympiads did those
of other victors.
Iphitus began with offering a sacrifice to Hercules, whom the Eleans be-
lieved to have been upon some account exasperated against them. He next
ordered the Olympic games, the discontinuance of which was said to have
caused a pestilence, to be proclaimed all over Greece, with a promise of
free admission to all comers, and fixed the time for the celebration of them.
He likewise took upon himself to be sole president and judge of those
games, a privilege which the Piseans had often disputed with his prede-
cessors, and which continued to his descendants, as long as the real dignity
subsisted. After this, the people appointed two presidents, which in time
increased to ten, and at length to twelve.
# Strabo says, that Lycurgus, the lawgiver, certainly lived in the fifth
generation after Althemenes, who led a colony into Crete. This Altheme

LYCURGUS.
97
than the first Olympiad. Timæus, however, supposes, that, as
there were two Lycurguses in Sparta, at different times, the
actions of both are ascribed to one, on account of his particular
renown; and that the more ancient of them lived not long after
Homer. Nay, some say he had seen him. Xenophon, too,
confirms the opinion of his antiquity, when he makes him con-
temporary with the Heraclidæ. It is true, the latest of the
Lacedæmonian kings were of the lineage of the Heraclidæ.
But Xenophon there seems to speak of the first and more im-
mediate descendants of Hercules. * As the history of those
times is thus involved, in relating the circumstances of Lycur-
gus's life, we shall endeavour to select such as are least con-
troverted, and follow authors of the greatest credit.
Simonides, the poet, tells us that Pritanisn, or Eunomus,
was father to Lycurgus. But most writers give us the gene-
alogy of Lycurgus and Eunomus in a different manner; for,
according to them, Sous was the son of Patrocles, and grand-
son of Aristodemus, Eurytion the son of Soüs, Prytanus of Eu-
rytion, and Eunomus of Prytanis; to this Eunomus was born
Polydectes, by a former wife, and by a second, named Dia-
nassa, Lycurgus. Eutychides, however, says Lycurgus was
the sixth from Patrocles, and the eleventh from Hercules. The
most distinguished of his ancestors was Soüs, under whom the
Lacedæmonians made the Helotes their slaves, † and gained an
extensive tract of land from the Arcadians. Of this Soüs it is
related, that being besieged by the Clitorians in a difficult post
where there was no water, he agreed to give up all his con-
quests, provided that himself and all his army should drink of
the neighbouring spring. When these conditions were sworn
to, he assembled his forces, and offered his kingdom to the
man that would forbear drinking; not one of them, however,
could deny himself, but they all drank. Then Soüs went
down to the spring himself, and having only sprinkled his face
in the sight of the enemy, he marched off, and still held the
country, because all had not drank. Yet though he was highly
honoured for this, the family had not their name from him,
nes was the son of Cissus, who founded Argos at the same time that Patro-
cles, Lycurgus's ancestor in the fifth degree, laid the foundation of Sparta.
So that Lycurgus flourished some short time after Solomon, about 900 years
before the Christian era.
* This passage is in Xenophon's excellent treatise concerning the republic
of Sparta, from which Plutarch has taken the best part of this life.
+ The Helotes, or llotes, were inhabitants of Helos, a maritime town of
Laconia. The Lacedæmonians having conquered and made slaves of them,
called not only them, but all the other slaves they happened to have, by the
name of Helotes. It is certain, however, that the descendants of the origi.
nal Helotes, though they were extremely ill treated, and some of them assas-
sinated, subsisted many ages in Laconia.
VOL I-P
10*

98
LYCURGUS.
but, from his son, were called Eurytionidæ, * and this, because
Eurytion seems to be the first who relaxed the strictness of
kingly government, inclining to the interest of the people, and
ingratiating himself with them. Upon this relaxation, their
encroachments increased, and the succeeding kings, either be-
coming odious, treating them with greater rigour, or else giv-
ing way through weakness, or in hopes of favour, for a long
time anarchy and confusion prevailed in Sparta; by which one
of its kings, the father of Lycurgus, lost his life. For while
he was endeavouring to part some persons who were concern-
ed in a fray, he received a wound by a kitchen-knife, of which
he died, leaving the kingdom to his eldest son, Polydectes.
But he, too, dying soon after, the general voice gave it for
Lycurgus to ascend the throne; and he actually did so, till it
appeared that his brother's widow was pregnant. As soon as
he perceived this, he declared that the kingdom belonged to
her issue, provided it were male, and he kept the administra-
tion in his hands only as his guardian. This he did with the
title of Prodicos, which the Lacedæmonians give to the guar-
dians of infant kings. Soon after the queen made him a pri-
vate overture, that she would destroy her child upon condi-
tion that he would marry her, when king of Sparta. Though
he detested her wickedness, he said nothing against the pro
posal, but pretending to approve it, charged her not to take any
drugs to procure an abortion, lest she should endanger her own
health or life; for he would take care that the child, as soon
as born, should be destroyed. Thus he artfully drew on the
woman to her full time; and, when he heard she was in la-
bour, he sent persons to attend and watch her delivery, with
orders, if it were a girl, to give it to the women, but if a boy,
to bring it to him, in whatever business he might be engaged.
It happened that he was at supper, with the magistrates when
she was delivered of a boy, and his servants, who were pre-
sent, carried the child to him. When he received it, he is re-
* It may be proper here to give the reader a short view of the regal go-
vernment of Lacedæmon, under the Herculean line. The Heraclidæ having
driven out Tisamenes the son of Orestes, Eurysthenes and Procles, the sons
of Aristodemus, reigned in that kingdom. Under them the government took
a new form, and, instead of one sovereign became subject to two. These
two brothers did not divide the kingdom between them, neither did they
agree to reign alternately, but they resolved to govern jointly, and with
equal power and authority. What is surprising is, that, notwithstanding
their mutual jealousy, this diarchy did not end with these two brothers, but
continued under a succession of thirty princes of the line of Eurysthenes,
and twenty-seven of that of Procles. Eurysthenes was succeeded by his
son Agis, from whom all the descendants of that line were surnamed Agidæ,
as the other line took the name of Eurytionidæ, from Eurytion, the grand-
son of Procles, Petrocles, or Protocles.-Pausan. Strab, et al.

LYCURGUS,
99
ported to have said to the company, “Spartans, see here your
new-born king.” He then laid him down upon the chair of
state, and named him Charilaus, because of the joy and admi
ration of his magnanimity and justice, testified by all present.
Thus the reign of Lycurgus lasted only eight months. But
the citizens had a great veneration for him on other accounts;
and there were more that paid him their attentions, and were
ready to execute his commands, out of regard to his virtues,
than those that obeyed him as a guardian to the king, and di-
rector of the administration. There were not, however, want-
ing those that envied him, and opposed his advancement, as
too high for so young a man; particularly the relations and
friends of the queen-mother, who seemed to have been treated
with contempt. Her brother, Leonidas, one day boldly at-
tacked him with virulent language, and scrupled not to tell
him, that he was well assured he would soon be king; thus
preparing suspicions, and matter of accusation against Lycur-
gus, in case any accident should befall the king. Insinuations
of the same kind were likewise spread by the queen-mother.
Moved with this ill-treatment, and fearing some dark design,
he determined to get clear of all suspicion, by travelling into
other countries till his nephew should be grown up, and have
a son to succeed him in the kingdom.
He set sail, therefore, and landed in Crete. There, having
observed the forms of government, and conversed with the
most illustrious personages, he was struck with admiration of
some of their laws,* and resolved at his return to make use of
them in Sparta. Some others he rejected. Among the friends
he gained in Crete was Thales, † with whom he had interest
enough to persuade him to go and settle at Sparta. Thales
was famed for his wisdom and political abilities; he was withal
a lyric poet, who, under colour of exercising his art, perform-
ed as great things as the most excellent lawgivers. For his
odes were so many persuasives to obedience and unanimity;
as by means of melody and numbers they had great grace and
* The most ancient writers, as Ephorus, Callisthenes, Aristotle, and Plato,
are of opinion, that Lycurgus adopted many things in the Cretan polity.
But Polybius will have it that they are all mistaken:-“ At Sparta,” says he
(in his sixth book), “ the lands are equally divided among all the citizens;
wealth is banished; the crown is hereditary; whereas in Crete the contrary
obtains.” But this does not prove that Lycurgus might not take some good
laws and usages from Crete, and leave what he thought defective. There
is, indeed, so great a conformity between the laws of Lycurgus and those
of Minos, that we must believe, with Strabo, that these were the foundation
of the other.
+ This Thales, who was a poet and musician, must be distinguished from
Thales the Milesian, who was one of the seven wise men of Greece. The
poet lived 250 years before the philosopher.

100
LYCURGUS.
power, they softened insensibly the manners of the audience,
drew them off from the animosities which then prevailed, and
united them in zeal for excellence and virtue. So that, in
some measure, he prepared the way for Lycurgus towards the
instruction of the Spartans. From Crete Lycurgus passed to
Asia, desirous, as is said, to compare the Ionian* expense and
luxury with the Cretan frugality and hard diet, so as to judge
what effect each had on their several manners and govern-
ments; just as physicians compare bodies that are weak and
sickly with the healthy and robust. There also,
There also, probably,+
he met with Homer's poems, which were preserved by the
posterity of Cleophylus. Observing that many moral sen-
tences, and much political knowledge, were intermixed with
his stories, which had an irresistible charm, he collected them
into one body, and transcribed them with pleasure, in order
to take them home with him. For his glorious poetry was
not yet fully known in Greece; only some particular pieces
were in a few hands, as they happened to be dispersed. Ly-
curgus was the first that made them generally known. The
Egyptians likewise suppose that he visited them; and as of all
their institutions he was most pleased with their distinguishing
the military men from the rest of the people, † he took the
same method at Sparta, and, by separating from these the me-
chanics and artificers, he rendered the constitution more noble
and more of a piece. This assertion of the Egyptians is con-
firmed by some of the Greek writers. But we know of no
one, except Aristocrates, son of Hipparchus, and a Spartan,
who has affirmed that he went to Libya and Spain, and in his
Indian excursions conversed with the Gymnosophists. S
* The Ionians sent a colony from Attica into Asia Minor, about 1050 years
before the Christian era, and 150 before Lycurgus. And though they might
not be greatly degenerated in so short a time, yet our lawgiver could judge
of the effect which the climate and Asiatic plenty had upon them.
† He adds probably, as glomeV, because some Greek authors have affirmed
that Lycurgus saw Homer himself, who was at that time at Chios. But Plu-
tarch's opinion is more to be relied on. Homer died before Lycurgus was
born. Before the time of Lycurgus, they had nothing in Greece of Homer,
but some detached pieces, which were severally named from the different
subjects treated of in them, such as, The Valour of Diomede, Hector's Ran-
som, and the like.
# The ancient Egyptians kept not only the priests and military men, who
consisted chiefly of the nobility, distinct from the rest of the people; but the
other employments, viz. those of herdsmen, shepherds, merchants, interpre.
ters, and seamen, descended in particular tribes from father to son.
$ Indian priests and philosophers who went almost naked, and lived in
woods. The Brahmans were one of their sects. They had a great aversion
to idleness. Apuleius tells us, every pupil of theirs was obliged to give ac-
count every day of some good he had done, either by meditation or action,
before he was admitted to sit down to dinner. So thoroughly were they

LYCURGUS.
101
The Lacedæmonians found the want of Lycurgus when ab-
sent, and sent many embassies to entreat him to return. For
they perceived that their kings had barely the title and out-
ward appendages of royalty, but in nothing else differed from
the multitude; whereas Lycurgus had abilities from nature to
guide the measures of government, and powers of persuasion
that drew the hearts of men to him. The kings, however,
were consulted about his return, and they hoped that in his
presence they should experience less insolence amongst the
people. Returning then to a city thus disposed, he imme-
diately applied himself to alter the whole frame of the consti-
tution; sensible that a partial change, and the introducing of
some new laws, would be of no sort of advantage; but as in
the case of a body diseased and full of bad humours, whose
temperament is to be corrected and new formed by medicines,
it was necessary to begin a new regimen. With these senti-
ments he wenť to Delphi; and when he had offered sacrifice
and consulted the god, * he returned with that celebrated ora-
cle, in which the priestess called him: “ Beloved of the gods,
and rather a god than a man." As to his request that he might
enact good laws, she told him Apollo had heard his request,
and promised that the constitution he should establish, would
be the most excellent in the world. Thus encouraged, he ap-
plied to the nobility, and desired them to put their hands to
the work; addressing himself privately at first to his friends,
and afterwards, by degrees, trying the disposition of others,
and preparing them to concur in the business. When matters
were ripe, he ordered thirty of the principal citizens to appear
armed in the market place by break of day, to strike terror
into such as might desire to oppose him. Hermippus has giv-
en us the names of twenty of the most eminent of them; but he
that had the greatest share in the whole enterprise, and gave
Lycurgus the best assistance in the establishing of his laws,
was called Arithmiades. Upon the first alarm king Charilaus,
apprehending it to be a design against his person,
took refuge
persuaded of the transmigration of the soul, and a happy one for themselves,
that they used to commit themselves to the flames, when they had lived to
satiety, or were apprehensive of any misfortune. But we are afraid it was
vanity that induced one of them to burn himself before Alexander the
Great, and another to do the same before Augustus Cæsar.
* As Minos had persuaded the Cretans, that his laws were delivered to
him from Jupiter, so Lycurgus, his imitator, was willing to make the Spar-
tans believe that he did every thing by the direction of Apollo. Other
legislatures have found it very convenient to propagate an opinion that their
institutions were from the gods. For that self-love in human nature, which
would but ill have borne with the superiority of genius, that must have been
acknowledged in an unassisted lawgiver, found an ease and satisfaction in
admitting his new regulations, when they were said to come from heaven

102
LYCURGUS.
in the Chalcioicos. * But he was soon satisfied, and accepted
of their oath. Nay, so far from being obstinate, he joined in
the undertaking. Indeed, he was so remarkable for the gen-
tleness of his disposition, that Archelaus, his partner in the
throne, is reported to have said to some that were praising the
young king,
—“Yes, Charilaus is a good man to be sure,
who
can not find in his heart to punish the bad.” Among the many
new institutions of Lycurgus, the first and most important
was that of a senate; which sharing, as Plato says,t in the
power of the kings, too imperious and unrestrained before, and
having equal authority with them, was the means of keeping
them within the bounds of moderation, and highly contribut-
ed to the preservation of the state; for before it had been veer-
ing and unsettled, sometimes inclining to arbitrary power, and
sometimes towards a pure democracy; but this establishment
of a senate, an intermediate body, like ballast, kept it in a just
equilibrium, and put it in a safe posture; the twenty-eight
senators adhering to the kings, whenever they saw the people
too encroaching, and on the other hand, supporting the
peo-
ple, when the kings attempted to make themselves absolute.
This, according to Aristotle, was the number of senators fixed
upon, because two of the thirty associates of Lycurgus desert-
ed the business through fear. But Sphærus tells us there
were only twenty-eight at first entrusted with the design.
Something, perhaps, there is in its being a perfect number,
formed of seven multiplied by four, and withal the first num-
* That is, the brazen temple. It was standing in the time of Pausanias,
who lived in the reign of Marcus Antoninus.
+ The passage to which Plutarch refers, is in Plato's third book of laws,
where he is examining into the causes of the downfall of states. An Athe-
nian is introduced thus speaking to a Lacedæmonian:-“Some god, I be-
lieve, in his care for your state, and in his foresight of what would happen,
has given you two kings of the same family, in order that, reigning jointly,
they might govern with the more moderation, and Sparta experience the
greater tranquillity. After this, when the regal authority was grown again
too absolute and imperious, a divine spirit residing in a human nature (i. e.
Lycurgus), reduced it within the bounds of equity and moderation, by the
wise provision of a senate, whose authority was to be equal to that of the
king's.” Aristotle finds fault with this circumstance in the institution of the
senate, that the senators were to continue for life; for as the mind grows old
with the body, he thought it unreasonable to put the fortunes of the citizens
into the power of men who through age might become incapable of judg-
ing. He likewise thought it very unreasonable that they were not made ac-
countable for their actions. But for the latter inconvenience sufficient
pro-
vision seems to have been made afterwards, by the institution of the Ephori,
who had it chiefly in charge to defend the rights of the people; and there-
fore Plato adds, --- A third blessing to Sparta was the prince, who finding
the power of the senate and the king's too arbitrary and uncontrolled, con
trived the authority of the Ephori, as a restraint upon it,” &c.

LYCURGUS.
103
ber after six, that is equal to all its parts. But I rather think,
just so many senators were created, that, together with the
two kings, the whole body might consist of thirty members.
He had this institution so much at heart, that he obtained
from Delphi an oracle in its behalf, called rhetra, or the decree.
This was couched in very ancient and uncommon terms, which
interpreted ran thus; “When you have built a temple to the
Syllanian Jupiter and the Syllanian Minerva, * divided the
people into tribes and classes, and established a senate of thirty
persons, including the two kings, you shall occasionally sum-
mon the people to an assembly between Babyce and Cnacion,
and they shall have the determining voice.” Babyce and
Cnacion are now called Enus; but Aristotle thinks, by Cna-
cion is meant the river, and by Babyce the bridge. Between
these they held their assemblies, having neither halls, nor
any kind of building for that purpose. These things he
thought of no advantage to their councils, but rather a disser-
vice, as they distracted the attention, and turned it upon trifles,
on observing the statues and pictures, the splendid roofs, and
every other theatrical ornament. The people thus assembled
had no right to propose any subject of debate, and were only
authorized to ratify or reject what might be proposed to them
by the senate and the kings. But because, in process of time,
the people, by additions or retrenchments, changed the terms,
and perverted the sense of the decrees, the kings Polydorus
and Theopompus inserted in the rhetra this clause:-6. If the
people attempt to corrupt any law, the senate and chiefs shall
retire;” that is, they shall dissolve the assembly and annul
the alterations. And they found means to persuade the Spar-
tans that this too was ordered by Apollo, as we learn fron.
these verses of Tyrtæus:-
Ye sons of Sparta, who at Phoebus' shrine
Your humble vows prefer, attentive hear
The god's decision. O'er your beauteous lands,
Two guardian kings, a senate, and the voice
Of the concurring people, lasting laws
Shall with joint power establish.
Though the government was thus tempered by Lycurgus,
yet soon after it degenerated into an oligarchy, whose
power
was exercised with such wantonness and violence, that it
wanted indeed a bridle, as Plato expresses it. This curb they
* As no account can be given of the meaning of the word Syllanian, it is
supposed it should be either read Sellasian, from Sellasia, a town of Laco-
nia upon the Eurotas; or else Hellanian, as much as to say, the Grecian Ju-
piter, &c.

104
LYCURGUS.
found in the authority of the Ephori,* about a hundred and
thirty years after Lycurgus. Élatus was the first invested
with this dignity in the reign of Theopompus, who, when his
wife upbraided him that he would leave the regal power to
his children less than he received it, replied,—“ Nay, but
greater, because more lasting.” And in fact, the prerogative,
so stripped of all extravagant pretensions, no longer occasion-
ed either envy or danger to its possessors. By these means
they escaped the miseries which befel the Messenian and Ar-
give kings; who would not in the least relax the severity of
their power in favour of the people. Indeed, from nothing
more does the wisdom and foresight of Lycurgus appear,
than
from the disorderly governments, and the bad understanding
that subsisted between the kings and people of Messene and
Argos, neighbouring states, and related in blood to Sparta; for
as at first they were in all respects equal to her, and possessed
of a better country, and yet preserved no lasting happiness,
but, through the insolence of the kings, and disobedience of
the people, were harassed with perpetual troubles, they made
it very evident that it was really a felicity more than human,
a blessing from heaven to the Spartans, to have a legislator
who knew so well how to frame and temper their govern-
ment. † But this was an event of a later date.
* Herodotus (1. i. c. 65,) and Xenophon (de Repub. Lac. ) tells us, the
Ephori were appointed by Lycurgus himself. But the account which Plu
tarch gives us from Aristotle (Polit. 1. v.) and others, of their being institu-
ted long after, seems more agreeable to reason; for it is not likely that Lycur-
gus, who in all things endeavoured to support the aristocracy, and left the
people only the right of assenting or dissenting to what was proposed to
them, would appoint a kind of tribunes of the people, to be masters as it
were both of the kings and the senate. Some, indeed, suppose the Ephori
to have been at first the king's friends, to whom they delegated their au-
thority when they were obliged to be in the field. But it is very clear, that
they were elected by the people out of their own body, and sometimes out
of the very dregs of it, for the boldest citizen, whoever he was, was most.
likely to be chosen to this office, which was intended as a check on the sen-
ate and the kings. They were five in number, like the Quinqueviri in the
republic of Carthage. They were annually elected; and in order to effect
any thing, the unanimous voice of the college was requisite. Their authori-
ty, though well designed at first, came at length to be in a manner boundless.
They presided in popular assemblies, collected their suffrages, declared war,
made peace, treated with foreign princes, determined the number of forces
to be raised, appointed the funds to maintain them, and distributed rewards
and punishments, in the name of the state. They likewise held a court of -
justice, inquired into the conduct of all magistrates, inspected into the be-
haviour and education of youths, had a particular jurisdiction over the He-
lotes, and, in short, by degrees, drew the whole administration into their hands.
They even went so far as to put king Agis to death under a form of justice,
and were themselves at last killed by Cleomenes.
† Whatever Plutarch might mean by TŁUTA PL8v 89 ustigcy, it is certain that

LYCURGUS.
105
A second and bolder political enterprise of Lycurgus was a
new division of the lands; for he found a prodigious inequality,
the city overcharged with many indigent persons who had no
land, and the wealth centred in the hands of a few. Deter-
mined, therefore, to root out the evils of insolence, envy,
avarice, and luxury, and those distempers of a state still more
inveterate and fatal, I mean poverty and riches, he persuaded
them to cancel all former divisions of land, and to make new
ones, in such a manner that they might be perfectly equal in
their possessions and way of living. Hence, if they were am-
bitious of distinction, they might seek it in virtue, as no other
difference was left between them but that which arises from
the dishonour of base actions and the praise of good ones.
His proposal was put in practice. He made nine thousand
lots for the territory of Sparta, which he distributed among so
many citizens, and thirty thousand for the inhabitants of the
rest of Laconia. But some say he made only six thousand
shares for the city, and that Polydorus added three thousand
afterwards; others, that Polydorus doubled the number ap-
pointed by Lycurgus, which were only four thousand five
hundred. Each lot was capable of producing (one year with
another) seventy bushels of grain for each man, * and twelve
for each woman, besides a quantity of wine and oil in propor-
tion. Such a provision they thought sufficient for health and
a good habit of body, and they wanted nothing more. A
story goes of our legislator, that some time after, returning
from a journey through the fields just reaped, and seeing the
shocks standing parallel and equal, he smiled, and said to
some that were by,--" How like is Laconia to an estate new-
ly divided among many brothers!”
After this he attempted to divide also the moveables, in or
der to take away all appearance of inequality; but he soon per-
ceived that they could not bear to have their goods directly
taken from them, and therefore took another method, counter
working their avarice by a stratagem.† First he stopped the
kingly power was abolished in the states of Messene and Argos long before
the time of Lycurgus the lawgiver, and a democracy had taken place in those
cities. Indeed, those states experienced great internal troubles, not only
while under the government of kings, but when in the form of common-
wealths, and never, after the time of Lycurgus, made any figure equal to
Lacedæmon.
* By a man is meant a master of a family, whose household was to subsist
upon these seventy bushels.
† For a long time after Lycurgus, the Spartans gloriously opposed the
growth of avarice, insomuch, that a young man, who bought an estate at a
great advantage, was called to account for it, and a fine set upon him; for,
besides the injustice he was guilty of, in buying a thing for less than it was
Q
11
VOL. I.

106
LYCURGUS.
currency of the gold and silver coin, and ordered that they
should make use of iron money only; then to a great quantity
and weight of this he assigned but a very small value; so that
to lay up ten minæ, * a whole room was required, and to re-
move it, nothing less than a yoke of oxen. When this be-
came current, many kinds of injustice ceased in Lacedæmon.
Who would steal or take a bribe, who would defraud or rob,
when he could not conceal the booty, when he could neither
be dignified by the possession of it, nor, if cut in pieces, be serv-
ed by its use? For we are told, that when hot they quenched
it in vinegar, to make it brittle and unmalleable, and conse-
quently unfit for any other service. In the next place, he
excluded unprofitable and superfluous arts. Indeed, if he had
not done this, most of them would have fallen of themselves
when the new money took place, as the manufactures could
not be disposed of. Their iron coin would not pass in the
rest of Greece, but was ridiculed and despised; so that the
Spartans had no means of purchasing any foreign or curious
wares; nor did any merchant ship unlade in their harbours.
There were not even to be found in all their country either so-
phists, wandering fortune-tellers, keepers of infamous houses,
or dealers in gold and silver trinkets, because there was
no money. Thus luxury, losing by degrees the means that
cherished and supported it, died away of itself. Even they
who had great possessions had no advantage from them,
since they could not be displayed in public, but must lie use-
less in unregarded repositories. Hence it was that excellent
workmanship was shown in their useful and necessary furni-
ture, as beds, chairs and tables; and the Lacedæmonian cup,
called cothon, as Critias informs us, was highly valued, par-
ticularly in campaigns; for the water which must then of ne-
cessity be drunk, though it would often otherwise offend he
sight, had its muddiness concealed by the colour of the cup,
and the thick part stopping at the shelving brim, it came clear-
er to the lips. Of these improvements the lawgiver was the
cause; for the workman having no more employment in mat-
worth, they judged that he was too desirous of gain, since his mind was em-
ployed in getting at an age when others think of nothing but spending,
But when the Spartans, no longer satisfied with their own ter ories (as
Lycurgus had enjoined them to be,) came to be engaged in for an wars,
their
m.oney not being passable in other countries, they found themselves
obliged to apply to the Persians, whose gold and silver dazzled their
eyes;
and their covetousness grew at length so infamous, that it occasioned the
proverb mentioned by Plato, “ One may see a great deal of money carried
into Lacedæmon, but one never sees any of it brought out again,
* Thirty-two pounds, five shillings, and ten pence sterling.
29

LYCURGUS.
107
ters of mere curiosity, showed the excellence of their art in
necessary things.
Desirous to complete the conquest of luxury, and extermi-
nate the love of riches, he introduced a third institution, which
was wisely enough and ingeniously contrived. This was the
use of public tables, * where all were to eat in common of the
same meat, and such kinds of it as were appointed by law.
At the same time, they were forbidden to eat at home, upon
expensive couches and tables, to call in the assistance of butch-
ers and cooks, or to fatten like voracious animals in private;
for so not only their manners would be corrupted, but their
bodies disordered; abandoned to all manner of sensuality and
dissoluteness, they would require long sleep, warm baths,
and the same indulgence as in perpetual sickness. To effect
this was certainly very great; but it was greater still to secure
riches from rapine and from envy, as Theophrastus expresses
it; or rather, by their eating in common, and by the frugality
of their table, to take from
riches their very being; for
what
use or enjoyment of them, what peculiar display of magnifi-
cence could there be, where the poor man went to the same
refreshment with the rich? Hence the observation, that it
was only at Sparta, where Plutus (according to the proverb)
was kept blind, and, like an image, destitute of life or motion.
It must further be observed, that they had not the privilege
to eat at home, and so to come without appetite to the public
repast. They made a point of it to observe any one that did
not eat and drink with them, and to reproach him as an in-
temperate and effeminate person, that was sick of the com-
mon diet.
The rich, therefore (we are told), were more offended with
this regulation than with any other, and, rising in a body, they
lor dly expressed their indignation; nay, they proceeded so
eat.
* Xenophon seems to have penetrated farther into the reason of this insti.
tution than any other author, as indeed he had better opportunity to do.
The rest only say, that this was intended to repress luxury; but he very
wisely remarks, that it was also intended to serve for a kind of school or
academy, where the young were instructed by the old, the latter relating
the great things that had been performed within their memory, and thereby
exciting ‘he growing generation to distinguish themselves by performances
equally
But as it was found impracticable for all the citizens to eat in common,
when the number of them came to exceed the number of the lots of land,
Dacier thinks it might have been better if the lawgiver had ordained that
those public tables should be maintained at the expense of the public, as it
was done in Crete. But it must be considered, that while the discipline of
Lycurgus was kept up in its purity, they provided against any inconvenience
from the increase of citizens, by sending out colonies; and Lacedæmon was
not burdened with poor till the declension of that state.

108
LYCURGUS.
far as to assault Lycurgus with stones, so that he was forced
to fly from the assembly, and take refuge in a temple. Un-
happily, however, before he reached it, a young man named
Alcander, hasty in his resentments, though not otherwise ill-
tempered, came up with him, and, upon his turning round,
struck out one of his eyes with a stick. Lycurgus then stop-
ped short, and, without giving way to passion, showed the
people his eye beat out, and his face streaming with blood.
They were so struck with shame and horror at the sight, that
they surrendered Alcander to him, and conducted him home
with the utmost expressions of regret. Lycurgus thanked
them for the care of his person, and dismissed them all except
Alcander. He took him into his house, but showed him no
ill treatment, either by word or action, only ordering him to
wait upon him instead of his usual servants and attendants.
The youth, who was of an ingenuous disposition, without mur-
muring, did as he was commanded. Living in this manner
with Lycurgus, and having an opportunity to observe the
mildness and goodness of his heart, his strict temperance and
indefatigable industry, he told his friends that Lycurgus was
not that proud and severe man he might have been taken for,
but above all others, gentle and engaging in his behaviour.
This, then, was his chastisement, and this punishment he suf-
fered, of a wild and headstrong young man, to become a very
modest and prudent citizen. In memory of his misfortune
Lycurgus built a temple to Minerva Optiletis, so called by him
from a term which the Dorians use for the eye. Yet Diosco-
rides, who wrote a treatise concerning the Lacedæmonian
government, and others, relate, that his eye was hurt, but not
put out, and that he built the temple in gratitude to the god-
dess for his cure. However, the Spartans never carried staves
to their assemblies afterwards.
The public repasts were called by the Cretans Andria; but
the Lacedæmonians styled them Phiditia, either from their ten-
dency to friendship and mutual benevolence, phiditia being used
instead of philitia; or else from their teaching frugality and
parsimony, which the word pheido signifies. But it is not at all
impossible that the first letter might by some means or other
be added, and so phiditia take place of editid, which barely
signifies eating. There were fifteen persons to a table, or a few
more or less. Each of them was obliged to bring in monthly
a bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese,
two pounds and a half of figs, and a little money to buy flesh
and fish. If any of them happened to offer a sacrifice of first-
fruits, or to kill venison, he sent a part of it to the public table;
for after a sacrifice or hunting, he was at liberty to sup at home,
but the rest were to appear at the usual place. For a long time

LYCURGUS.
109
there."
this eating in common was observed with great exactness; so
that when king Agis returned from a successful expedition
against the Athenians, and, from a desire to sup with his wife,
requested to have his portion at home, * the Polemarchs refused
to send it;t nay, when through resentment, he neglected the
day following to offer the sacrifice usual on occasion of victory,
they set a fine upon him. Children also were introduced at
these public tables, as so many schools of sobriety. There they
heard discourses concerning government, and were instructed
in the most liberal breeding. There they were allowed to jest
without scurrility, and were not to take it ill when the raillery
was returned. For it was reckoned worthy of a Lacedæmonian
to bear a jest; but if any one's patience failed, he had only to
desire them to be quiet, and they left off immediately. When
they first entered, the oldest man present pointed to the door,
and said,—“ Not a word spoken in this company goes out
The admitting of any man to a particular table was
under the following regulation:–Each member of that small
society took a little ball of soft bread in his hand; this he was
to drop, without saying a word, into a vessel called caddos,
which the waiter carried upon his head. In case he approved
of the candidate, he did it without altering the figure, if not,
he first pressed it flat in his hand; for a flatted ball was consid-
ered as a negative; and if but one such was found, the person
was not admitted, as they thought it proper that the whole
company should be satisfied with each other. He who was thus
rejected, was said to have no luck in the caddos. The dish that
was in the highest esteem amongst them was the black broth.
The old men were so fond of it, that they ranged themselves
on one side and ate it, leaving the meat to the young people.
It is related of a king of Pontus, † that he purchased a Lacedæ-
monian cook, for the sake of this broth. But when he came
to taste it, he strongly expressed his dislike; and the cook made
answer, “ Sir, to make this broth relish, it is necessary first
to bathe in the Eurotas.” After they had drunk moderately,
they went home without lights. Indeed, they were forbidden
to walk with a light, either on this or any other occasion, that
they might accustom themselves to march in the darkest night
* The king's of Sparta had always double commons allowed thern; not that
they were permitted to indulge their appetites more than others, but that
they might have an opportunity of sharing their portion with some brave
man whom they chose to distinguish with that honour.
+ The Polemarchs were those who had commanded the army under the
kings. The principal men in the state always divided the commons.
# This story is elsewhere told by Plutarch of Dionysius, the tyrant af Si
cily; and Cicero confirms it, that he was the person.
11*

110
LYCURGUS.
boldly and resolutely. Such was the order of their public
repasts.
Lycurgus left none of his laws in writing ; it was ordered in
one of the Rhetræ that none should be written: for what he
thought most conducive to the virtue and happiness of a city,
was principles interwoven with the manners and breeding of
the people. These would remain immoveable, as founded in
inclination, and be the strongest and most lasting tie; and the
habits which education produced in the youth, would answer
in each the purpose of a lawgiver. As for smaller matters,
contracts about property, and whatever occasionally varied, it
was better not to reduce these to a written form and unalter-
able method, but to suffer them to change with the times, and
to admit of additions or retrenchments at the pleasure of per-
sons so well educated. For he resolved the whole business of
legislation into the bringing up of youth. And this, as we
have observed, was the reason why one of his ordinances for-
bade them to have any written laws.
Another ordinance, levelled against magnificence and ex-
pense, directed that the ceilings of houses should be wrought
with no tool but the axe, and the doors with nothing but the
saw. For, as Epaminondas is reported to have said afterwards,
of his table,-“ Treason lurks not under such a dinner;" so
Lycurgus perceived before him, that such a house admits not
of luxury and needless splendour. Indeed, no man could be
so absurd, as to bring into a dwelling so homely and simple,
bedsteads with silver feet, purple coverlets, golden cups, and
a train of expense that follows these; but all would necessarily
have the bed suitable to the room, the coverlet to the bed, and
the rest of their utensils and furniture to that. From this plain
sort of dwellings, proceeded the question of Leotychidas the
elder to his host, when he supped at Corinth, and saw the ceil-
ing of the room very splendid and curiously wrought, “ Whe
ther trees grew square in his country?"*
A third ordinance of Lycurgus was, that they should not
often make war against the same enemy, lest, by being fre-
quently put upon defending themselves, they too should be-
come able warriors in their turn. And this they most blam-
ed king Agesilaus for afterwards, that by frequent and con-
tinued incursions into Bootiat, he taught the Thebans to make
head against the Lacedæmonians. This made Antalcidas say,
* This is rendered by the former English translator, as if Leotychidas's
question proceeded from ignorance, whereas it was really an arch sneer upon
the sumptuous and expensive buildings of Corinth.
+ This appeared plainly at the battle of Leuctra, where the Lacedæmoni-
ans were overthrown by Epaminondas, and lost their king Cleombrotus, to-
gether with the flower of their army.

LYCURGUS.
111
when he saw him wounded,“ The Thebans pay you well
for making them good soldiers, who neither were willing nor
able to fight you before.” These ordinances he called Rhe-
træ, as if they had been oracles and decrees of the Deity him-
self.
As for the education of youth, which he looked upon as the
greatest and most glorious work of a lawgiver, he began with
it at the very source, taking into consideration_their concep-
tion and birth, by regulating the marriages. For he did not
(as Aristotle says) desist from his attempt to bring the women
under sober rules. ->They had, indeed, assumed great liberty
and power on account of the frequent expeditions of their hus-
bands, during which they were left sole mistresses at home,
and so gained an undue deference and improper titles; but,
notwithstanding this, he took all possible care of them. He
ordered the virgins to exercise themselves in running, wrest-
ling, and throwing quoits and darts; that their bodies being
strong and vigorous, the children afterwards produced from
them might be the same; and that, thus fortified by exercise,
they might the better support the pangs of child-birth, and be
delivered with safety. In order to take away the excessive
tenderness and delicacy of the sex, the consequence of a re-
cluse life, he accustumed the virgins occasionally to be seen
naked as well as the young men, and to dance and sing in
their presence on certain festivals. There they sometimes
indulged in a little raillery upon those that had misbehaved
themselves, and sometimes they sung encomiums on such as
deserved them, thus exciting in the young men an useful
emulation and love of glory. For he who was praised for his
bravery, and celebrated among the virgins, went away per-
fectly happy; while their satirical glances, thrown out in sport,
were no less cutting than serious admonitions; especially as
the kings and senate went with the other citizens to see all
that passed. As for the virgins appearing naked, there was
nothing disgraceful in it, because every thing was conducted
with modesty, and without one indecent word or action. Nay,
it caused a simplicity of manners and an emulation for the
best habit of body; their ideas too were naturally enlarged,
while they were not excluded from their share of bravery and
honour. Hence they were furnished with sentiments and lan-
guage, such as Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, is said to have
made use of. When a woman of another country said to her,
“You of Lacedæmon are the only women in the world that
rule the men;" she answered, “We are the only women
that bring forth men.
These publie dances and other exercises of the young mai-
dens naked, in sight of the young men, were, moreover, incen-

112
focus childLYCURGUSon
.
tives to marriage; and, to use Plato's expression, drew them
almost as necessarily by the attractions of love, as a geometri-
cal conclusion follows from the premises. To encourage it
still more, -some marks of infamy were set upon those who
continued bachelors;* for they were not permitted to see these
exercises of the naked virgins; and the magistrates command-
ed them to march naked round the market-place in the win-
ter, and to sing a song composed against themselves, which
expressed how justly they were punished for their disobedi-
ence to the laws. They were also deprived of that honour
and respect which the younger people paid to the old; so that
nobody found fault with what was said to Dercyllidas, though
an eminent commander. It seems, when he came one day
into company, a young man, instead of rising up and giving
him place told him.-" You have no child to give place to
me, when I am old.”
In their marriages, the bridegroom carried off the bride by
violence; and she was never chosen in a tender age, but when
she had arrived at full maturity. Then the woman that had
the direction of the wedding, cut the bride's hair close to the
skin, dressed her in man's clothes, laid her upon a mattress,
and left her in the dark. The bridegroom,
ed with wine, nor enervated with luxury, but perfectly sober,
as having always supped at the common table, went in pri-
vately, untied her girdle, and carried her to another bed.
Having stayed there a short time, he modestly retired to his
usual apartment, to sleep with the other young men; and he
observed the same conduct afterwards, spending the day with
his companions, and reposing himself with them in the night,
nor even visiting his bride, but with great caution and appre-
hensions of being discovered by the rest of the family; the
bride, at the same time, exerted all her art to contrive conveni-
ent opportunities for their private meetings. And this they
did not for a short time only, but some of them even had chil-
dren before they had an interview with their wives in the
day-time. This kind of commerce not only exercised their
temperance and chastity, but kept their bodies fruitful, and
the first ardour of their love fresh and unabated; for as they
were not satiated like those that are always with their wives,
there still was place for unextinguished desire. When he had
thus established a proper regard to modesty and decorum,
* The time of marriage was fixed; and if a man did not marry when he
was of full age, he was liable to a prosecution; as were such also who mar-
ried above or below themselves. Such as had three children had
great
im-
munities, and those that had four were free from all taxes. Virgins were
married without portions, because neither want should hinder a man, nor
riches induce him to marry contrary to his inclinations.

LYCURGUS.
113
* that so
with respect to marriage, he was equally studious to drive
from that state the vain and womanish passion of jealousy, by
making it quite as reputable to have children in common with
persons of merit, as to avoid all offensive freedom in their own
behaviour to their wives.
He laughed at those who revenge,
with wars and bloodshed, the communication of a married
woman's favours; and allowed, that if a man in years should
have a young wife, he might introduce to her some handsome
and honest young man, whom he most approved of, and when
she had a child of this generous race, bring it up as his own.
On the other hand, he allowed, that if a man of character
should entertain a passion for a married woman, on account
of her modesty, and the beauty of her children, he might treat
with her husband for admission to her company,
planting in a beauty-bearing soil, he might produce excellent
children,t the congenial offspring of excellent parents. For,
in the first place, Lycurgus considered children, not so much
the property of their parents, as of the state; and therefore,
he would not have them begot by ordinary persons, but by the
best men in it. In the next place, he observed the vanity and
absurdity of other nations, where people study to have their
horses and dogs of the finest breed they can procure, either
by interest or money, and keep their wives shut
up,
that they
may
have children by none but themselves, though they may
happen to be doating, decrepit, or infirm. As if children,
when sprung from a bad stock, and, consequently, good for
nothing, were no detriment to those whom they belong to,
and who have the trouble of bringing them up, nor any ad
vantage, when well descended, and of a generous disposition.
These regulations tending to secure a healthy offspring, and,
consequently beneficial to the state, were so far from en-
couraging that licentiousness of the women which prevailed
afterwards, that adultery was not known amongst them. A
saying, upon this subject, of Geradas, an ancient Spartan, is
thus related:--A stranger had asked him, “What punishment
their law appointed for adulterers?” He answered, “My
friend, there are no adulterers in our country.” The other
replied, “But what if there should be one?" "Why, then,”
says Geradas, “ he must forfeit a bull so large, that he
might drink of the Eurotas from the top of mount Tagetus.”
When the stranger expressed his surprise at this, and said,
“How can such a bull be found?” Geradas answered with a
* In this case the kings were excepted; for they were not at liberty to
lend their wives.
† The English translation, published in 1758, has here, to possess all the
valuable qualifications of their parents, which is not the meaning of agad more
gudrys su OUyqesis 800218s.
VOL. I.R

114
LYCURGUS.
smile,—“How can an adulterer be found in Sparta?” This is
the account we have of their marriages.
It was not left to the father to rear what children he pleas-
ed, but he was obliged to carry the child to a place called Lesche,
to be examined by the most ancient men of the tribe, who were
assembled there. If it was strong, and well proportioned,
they gave orders for its education, and assigned it one of the
nine thousand shares of land; but if it was weakly and deform-
ed, they ordered it to be thrown into the place called Apothetæ,
which is a deep cavern near the mountain Taygetus; conclud-
ing that its life could be no advantage either to itself or to the
public, since nature had not given it at first any strength or
goodness of constitution. For the same reason, the women
did not wash their new-born infants with water, but with
wine, thus making some trial of their habit of body; imagin-
ing that sickly and epileptic childen sink and die under the
experiment, while the healthy become more vigorous and
hardy. Great care and art was also exerted by the nurses;
for as they never swathed the infants, their limbs had a freer
turn, and their countenances a more liberal air; besides, they
used them to any sort of meat, to have no terrors in the dark,
nor to be afraid of being alone, and to leave all ill-humour and
unmanly crying. Hence people of other countries purchased
Lacedæmonian nurses for their children; and Alcibiades the
Athenian, is said to have been nursed by Amycla, a Spartan.
But if he was fortunate in a nurse, he was not so in a precep-
tor: for Zopyrus, appointed to that office by Pericles, was, as
Plato tells us, no better qualified than a common slave. The
Spartan children were not in that manner under tutors, pur-
chased or hired with money, nor were the parents at liberty
to educate them as they pleased; but as soon as they were se-
ven years old, Lycurgus ordered them to be enrolled in com-
panies, where they were all kept under the same order and dis-
cipline, and had their exercises and recreations in common. He
who showed the most conduct and courage amongst them, was
inade captain of the company. The rest kept their eyes upon
him, obeyed his orders, and bore, with patience, the punish-
ments he inflicted; so that their whole education was an exer-
cise of obedience. The old men were present at their diver-
sions, and often suggested some occasion of dispute or quarrel,
* The general expediency of this law may well be disputed, though it
suited the martial constitution of Sparta; since many persons of weak con-
stitutions, make up in ingenuity what they want in strength, and so become
more valuable members of the community than the most robust. It seems,
however, to have had one good effect, viz. making women very careful dur-
ing their pregnancy, of either eating, drinking, or exercising to excess. It
made them also excellent nurses, as is observed just below.

LYCURGUS.
115
years of
that they might observe with exactness, the spirit of each,
and their firmness in battle.
As for learning, * they had just what was absolutely necessa-
ry. All the rest of their education was calculated to make
them subject to command, to endure labour, to fight and con-
quer. They added, therefore, to their discipline, as they ad-
vanced in age, cutting their hair very close, making them go
barefoot, and play, for the most part, quite naked. At twelve
age,
their under-garment was taken away, and but
one upper one a-year allowed them. Hence they were neces-
sarily dirty in their persons, and not indulged the great favour
of baths and oil, except on some particular days of the year.
They slept in companies, in beds made of the tops of reeds,
which they gathered with their own hands, without knives,
and brought from the banks of the Eurotas. In winter they
were permitted to add a little thistle down, as that seemed to
have some warmth in it.
At this age, the most distinguished amongst them became
favourite companions of the elder;t and the old men attended
more constantly their places of exercise, observing their trials
of strength and wit, not slightly and in a cursory manner, but
as their fathers, guardians, and governors; so that there was
neither time nor place where persons were wanting to instruct
and chastise them. One of the best and ablest men in the city
* The plainness of their manners, and their being so very much addicted
to war, made the Lacedæmonians less fond of the sciences than the rest of
the Greeks. If they wrote to be read, and spoke to be understood, it was all
they sought. For this the Athenians, who were excessively vain of their learn-
ing, held them in great contempt, insomuch, that Thucydides himself, in
drawing the character of Brasidas, says, he spoke well enough for a Lacedæ-
monian. On this occasion, it is proper to mention the answer of a Spartan
to a learned Athenian, who upbraided him with the ignorance of his country
All you say may be true, and yet it amounts to no more, than that we only
amongst the Greeks have learned no evil customs from you. The Spartans,
however, had a force and poignancy of expression, which cut down all the
flowers of studied elegance. This was the consequence of their concise way
of speaking, and their encouraging, on all occasions, decent repartee. Arts
were in no greater credit with them than sciences. Theatrical diversions
found no countenance; temperance and exercise made the physician un-
necessary; their justice left no room for the practice of the lawyer; and
all the trades that minister to luxury, were unknown. As for agriculture,
and such mechanic business as was absolutely necessary, it was left to the
slaves.
+ Though the youth of the male sex were much cherished and beloved, as
those that were to build up the future glory of the state; yet, in Sparta it
was a virtuous and modest affection, untinged with that sensuality which
was so scandalous at Athens and other places. Xenophon says, these lovers
lived with those they were attached to, as a father does with his children, or
a brother with his brethren. The good effects of this part of Lycurgus's in-
stitutions were seen in the union that reigned among the citizens.

116
LYCURGUS.
was, moreover, appointed inspector of the youth; and he
gave
the command of each company to the discreetest and most
spirited of those called Irens. An Iren was one that had been
two years out of the class of boys; a Melliren one of the oldest
lads. This Iren, then a youth twenty years old, gives orders
to those under his command, in their little battles, and has
them to serve him at his house. He sends the oldest of them
to fetch wood, and the younger to gather pot-herbs; these they
steal where they can find them, * either slyly getting into gar-
dens, or else craftily and warily creeping
to the common tables;
but if any one be caught, he is severely flogged for negligence
or want of dexterity. They steal too whatever victuals they
possibly can, ingeniously contriving to do it when persons are
asleep, or keep but indifferent watch. If they are discovered,
they are punished, not only with whipping, but with hunger.
Indeed, their supper is but slender at all times, that, to fence
against want, they may be forced to exercise their courage
and address. This is the first intention of their spare diet; a
subordinate one is, to make them grow tall; for when the ani-
mal spirits are not too much oppressed by a great quantity of
food, which stretches itself out in breadth and thickness, they
inount upwards by their natural lightness, and the body easily
and freely shoots up in height. This also contributes to make
them handsome; for thin and slender habits yield more freely
to nature, which then gives a fine proportion to the limbs;
whilst the heavy and gross resist her by their weight. So
women that take physic during their pregnancy, have slighter
children indeed, but of a finer and more delicate turn, because
the suppleness of the matter more readily obeys the plastic
power. However, these are speculations which we shall leave
to others.
The boys steal with so much caution, that one of them, hay-
ing conveyed a young fox under his garment, suffered the
creature to tear out his bowels with his teeth and claws, choos-
ing rather to die than to be detected. Nor does this
appear
incredible, if we consider what their young men can endure to
this day; for we have seen many of them expire under the
lash at the altar of Diana Orthia. |
Not that the Spartans authorized thefts and robberies; for as all was in
common in their republic, those vices could have no place there. But the
design was to accustom children who were destined for war, to surprise the
vigilance of those who watched over them, and to expose themselves cour-
ageously to the severest punishments, in case they failed of that dexterity
which was exacted of them. A dexterity that would have been attended
with fatal effects to the morals of any youth but the Spartan, educated as
that was to contemn riches and superfluities, and guarded in all other re-
spects by the severest virtue.
† This is supposed to be the Diana Taurica, whose statue Orestes is said

LYCURGUS.
117
The Iren, reposing himself after supper, used to order one
of the boys to sing a song; to another he put some question
which required a judicious answer; for example, “Who was
the best man in the city?” or “ What he thought of such an
action?” This accustomed them from their childhood to judge
of the virtues, to enter into the affairs of their countrymen.
For if one of them was asked, Who is a good citizen, or who
an infamous one? and hesitated in his answer, he was consi-
dered as a boy of slow parts, and of a soul that would not as-
pire to honour. The answer was likewise to have a reason
assigned for it, and proof conceived in few words. He
whose account of the matter was wrong, by way of punish-
ment, had his thumb bit by the Iren. The old men and ma-
gistrates often attended these little trials, to see whether the
Iren exercised his authority in a rational and proper manner.
He was permitted, indeed, to inflict the penalties; but when
the boys were gone, he was to be chastised himself, if he had
punished them either with too much severity or remissness.
The adopters of favourites also shared both in the honour
and disgrace of their boys; and one of them is said to have
been mulcted by the magistrates, because the boy whom he
had taken into his affections, let some ungenerous word or cry
escape him as he was fighting. This love was so honourable,
and in so much esteem, that the virgins too had their lovers
amongst the most virtuous matrons. A competition of affec-
tion caused no misunderstanding, but rather a mutual friend-
ship between those that had fixed their regards upon the same
youth, and an united endeavour to make him as accomplished
as possible.
The boys were also taught to use sharp repartee, seasoned
with humour; and whatever they said, was to be concise and
pithy. For Lycurgus, as we have observed, fixed but a small
value on a considerable quantity of his iron-money; but, on
the contrary, the worth of speech was to consist in its being
comprised in a few plain words, pregnant with a great deal of
sense; and he contrived, that by long silence, they might learn
to be sententious and acute in their replies. As debauchery
often causes weakness and sterility in the body, so the intem-
to have brought to Lacedæmon, and to whom human victims were offered.
It is pretended that Lycurgus abolished these sacrifices, and substituted in
their room the flagellation of young men, with whose blood the altar was,
at least, to be sprinkled. But, in truth, a desire of overcoming all the weak-
nesses of human nature, and, thereby, rendering his Spartans not only su-
perior to their neighbours, but to their species, runs through many of the
institutions of Lycurgus; which principle, if well attended to, thoroughly
explains them, and, without attending to which, it is impossible to give any
account at all of some of them.
12

118
LYCURGUS.
*
perance of the tongue makes conversation empty and insipid.
King Agis, therefore, when a certain Athenian laughed at
the Lacedæmonian short swords, and said, ---- The jugglers
would swallow them with ease upon the stage," answered in
his laconic way, “ And yet we can reach our enemies' hearts
with them.” Indeed, to me, there seems to be something in
this concise manner of speaking, which immediately reaches
the object aimed at, and forcibly strikes the mind of the hear-
er. Lycurgus himself was short and sententious in his dis-
course, if we may judge by some of his answers which are
recorded; that, for instance, concerning the constitution:
When one advised him to establish a popular government in
Lacedæmon,—“Go,” said he, " and first make a trial of it
in thy own family.” That again, concerning sacrifices to the
Deity, when he was asked,
why he appointed them so trifling;
and of so little value?—66 That we may never be in want,
says he, “ of something to offer him. 39 Once more, when
they inquired of him, what sort of martial exercises hé allow-
ed öf, he answered, “ All except those in which you stretch
out your hands.” Several such-like replies of his are said to
be taken from the letters which he wrote to his countrymen;
as to their question,—6 How shall we best guard against the
invasion of an enemy?" “ By continuing poor, and not de-
siring in your possessions to be one above another.” And to
the question, whether they should inclose Sparta with walls?
“ That city is well fortified, which has a wall of men instead
of brick.” Whether these, and some other letters ascribed
to him, are genuine or not, is no easy matter to determine.
However, that they hated long speeches, the following apoph-
thegms are a farther proof. King Leonidas said to one, who
discoursed at an improper time about affairs of some con-
cern, .66 My friend, you should not talk so much to the pur-
pose, of what it is not to the purpose to talk of.” Charilaus,
the nephew of Lycurgus, being asked why his uncle had
made so few laws? answered,- - To men of few words, few
laws are sufficient.” Some people finding fault with Hecatæus
the sophist, because, when admitted to one of the public re-
pasts, he said nothing all the time, Archidamidas replied,
“He who knows how to speak, knows also when to speak.”
The manner of their repartees, which, as I said, were sea-
soned with humour, may be gathered from these instances.
When a troublesome fellow was pestering Demaratus with
impertinent questions, and this in particular several times re-
peated, - -“Who is the best man in Sparta?” he answered,
He that is least like you.” To some who were commending
* This was the form of demanding quarter in battle.

LYCURGUS.
119
the Eleans for managing the Olympic games with so much
justice and propriety, Agis said, "What great matter is it,
if the Eleans do justice once in five years?” When a stranger
was professing his regard for Theopompus, and saying that
his own countrymen called him Philolacon (a lover of the La-
cedæmonians), the king answered him, —- My good friend,
it were much better if they called you Philopolites” (a lover
of your own countrymen). Plistonax, the son of Pausanias,
replied to an orator of Athens, who said the Lacedæmonians
had no learning,—“True, for we are the only people of
Greece that have learnt no ill of you.” To one who asked
what number of men their was in Sparta, Archidamidas said,
“Enough to keep bad men at a distance.”
Even when they indulged a vein of pleasantry, one might
perceive, that they would not use one unnecessary word, nor
let an expression escape them that had not some sense worth
attending to. For one being asked to go and hear a person
who imitated the nightingale to perfection, answered, --" I
have heard the nightingale herself.” Another said, upon
reading this epitaph:
Victims of Mars, at Selinus they fell,
Who quench'd the rage of tyranny-
« And they deserved to fall, for, instead of quenching it, they
should have let it burn out." A
young man answered one
that promised him some game cocks that would stand their
death, 66 Give me those that will be the death of others."
Another, seeing some people carried into the country in lit-
ters, said,—“May I never sit in any place where I can not
rise before the aged!”. This was the manner of their apoph-
thegms; so that it has been justly enough observed, that the
term lakonizein (to act the Lacedæmonian) is to be referred
rather to the exercises of the mind, than those of the body.
Nor were poetry and music less cultivated among them,
than a concise dignity of expression. Their songs had a spirit,
which could rouse the soul, and impel it in an enthusiastic man-
ner to action. The language was plain and manly, the sub-
ject serious and moral. For they consisted chiefly of the
praises of heroes that had died for Sparta, or else of
expres-
sions of detestation for such wretches as had declined the glo-
rious opportunity, and rather chose to drag on life in misery
and contempt. Nor did they forget to express an ambition
for glory suitable to their respective ages. Of this it may not
be amiss to give an instance. There were three choirs on
their festivals, corresponding with the three ages of man.
The old men began:

120
LYCURGUS.
Once in battle bold we shone;
the young men answered, -
Try us, our vigour is not gonez
and the boys concluded, -
The palm remains for us alone.
Indeed, if we consider with some attention such of the Lace-
dæmonian poems as are still extant, and get into those airs
which were played upon the flute when they marched to battle,
we must agree that Terpander* and Pindar have very fitly
joined valour and music together. The former thus speaks of
Lacedæmon:-
There gleams the youth's bright falchion; there the muse
Lifts her sweet voice; there awful Justice opes
Her wide pavilion,
And Pindar sings:-
There in grave council sits the sage;
There burns the youth's resistless rage
To hurl the quiv’ring lance;
The Muse with glory crowns their arms,
And Melody exerts her charms,
And Pleasure leads the dance.
Thus we are informed, not only of their warlike turn, but
their skill in music. For as the Spartan poet says:-
To swell the bold notes of the lyre
Becomes the warrior's lofty fire.
And the king always offered sacrifice to the Musest before a
battle, putting his troops in mind, I suppose, of their early
education, and of the judgment that would be passed upon
them, as well as that those divinities might teach them to
despise danger, while they performed some exploit fit for them
to celebrate.
On those occasions] they relaxed the severity of their dis-
* Terpander was a poet and musician too (as, indeed, they of those times
were in general), who added three strings to the harp, which till then had
but four. He flourished about a hundred and twenty years after Homer.
† Xenophon says, the king who commanded the army, sacrificed to Ju-
piter and Minerva on the frontier of his kingdom. Probably the Muses
were joined with Minerva, the patroness of science.
# The true reason of this was, in all probability, that war might be less
burdensome to them; for to render them bold and warlike was the reignings

LYCURGUS.
121
cipline, permitting the men to be curious in dressing their
hair, and elegant in their arms and apparel, while they ex-
pressed their alacrity, like horses full of fire, and neighing for
the race.
They let their hair, therefore, grow from their
youth, but took more particular care, when they expected an
action, to have it well combed and shining, remembering a
saying of Lycurgus, that “ a large head of hair made the hand-
some more graceful, and the ugly more terrible.” The exer-
cises, too, of the young men, during the campaigns, were more
moderate, their diet not so hard, and their whole treatment
more indulgent; so that they were the only people in the world
with whom military discipline wore, in time of war, a gentler
face than usual. When the army was drawn up, and the ene-
my near, the king sacrificed a goat, and commanded them all
to set garlands upon their heads, and the musicians to play
Castor's march, while himself began the pæan, which was the
signal to advance. It was at once a solemn and dreadful sight
to see them measuring their steps to the sound of music, and,
without the least disorder in their ranks, or tumult of spirits,
moving forward cheerfully and composedly, with harmony,
to battle. Neither fear nor rashness was likely to approve men
so disposed, possessed as they were of a firm presence of mind,
with courage and confidence of success, as under the conduct
of heaven. When the king advanced against the enemy,
he had always with him some one that had been crowned
in the public games of Greece. And they tell us, that a La-
cedæmonian, when large sums were offered him on condition
that hervould not enter the Olympic lists, refused them; hay-
ing with much difficulty thrown his antagonist, one put this
question to him,—“ Spartan, what will you get by this vic-
tory?" He answered with a smile,—I shall have the honour
to fight foremost in the ranks before my prince.” When they
had routed the enemy, they continued the pursuit till they
were assured of the victory; after that they immediately de-
sisted; deeming it neither generous nor worthy of a Grecian, to
destroy those who made no further resistance. This was not
only a proof of magnanimity, but of great service to their
cause. For when their adversaries found that they killed such
passion of their legislator. Under this article we may add, that they were
forbidden to remain long encamped in the same place, as well to hinder their
being surprised, as that they might be more troublesome to their enemies,
by wasting every corner of their country. They were also forbidden to
fight the same enemy often. They slept all night in their armour; but their
out-guards were not allowed their shields, that, being unprovided of de-
fence, they might not dare to sleep. In all expeditions they were careful
in the performance of religious rites: and, after their evening meal was over,
the soldiers sung together hymns to their gods.
VOL. I. -S
12*

122
LYCURGUS.
able man.
as stood it out, but spared the fugitives, they concluded it
was better to fly than to meet their fate upon the spot.
Hippias, the sophist, tells us, that Lycurgus himself was a
man of great personal valour, and an experienced commander. *
Philostephanus also ascribes to him the first division of the
cavalry into troops of fifty, who were drawn up in a square
body. But Demetrius, the Phalerean, says, that he never had
any military employment, and that there was the profoundest
peace imaginable when he established the constitution of
Sparta. His providing for a cessation of arms during the
Olympic games, is likewise a mark of the humane and peace-
Some, however, acquaint us, and among the rest
Hermippus, that Lycurgus at first had no communication with
Iphitus; but coming that way, and happening to be a specta-
tor, he heard behind him a human voice (as he thought),
which expressed some wonder and displeasure that he did not
put his countrymen upon resorting to so great an assembly. .
He turned round immediately, to discover whence the voice
came, and as there was no man to be seen, concluded it was
from heaven. He joined Iphitus therefore; and ordering, along
with him, the ceremonies of the festival, rendered it more
magnificent and lasting.
The discipline of the Lacedæmonians continued after they
were arrived at years of maturity. For no man was at lib-
erty to live as he pleased, the city being like one great
camp,
where all had their stated allowance, and knew their
public charge, each man concluding that he was born, not for
himself, but for his country. Hence, if they had no particu-
lar orders, they employed themselves in inspecting the boys,
and teaching them something useful, or in learning of those
that were older than themselves. One of the greatest privi-
leges that Lycurgus procured his countrymen, was, the en-
joyment of leisure, the consequence of his forbidding them to
exercise any mechanic trade. "It was not worth their while to
take great pains to raise a fortune, since riches there were of
no account; and the Helotes, who tilled the ground, were an-
swerable for the produce above mentioned.
To this purpose
we have a story of a Lacedæmonian, who happening to be at
Athens while the court sat, was informed of a man who was
fined for idleness; and when the poor fellow was returning
home in great dejection, attended by his consoling friends, he
desired the company to show him the person that was con-
* Xenophon, in his treatise of the Spartan commonwealth, says, Lycurgus
brought military discipline to great perfection, and gives us a detail of his
regulations and improvements in the art of war; some of which I have men-
tioned in the foregoing note.

LYCURGUS.
123
demned for keeping up his dignity. So much beneath them
they reckoned all attention to mechanic arts and all desire of
riches!
Law-suits were banished from Lacedæmon with money.
The Spartans knew neither riches nor poverty, but possessed
an equal competency, and had a cheap and easy way of
sup-
plying their few wants. Hence, when they were not engaged
in war, their time was taken up with dancing, feasting, hunting,
or meeting to exercise, or converse. They went not to mar-
ket under thirty years of age, * all their necessary concerns
being managed by their relations and adopters. Nor was it
reckoned a credit to the old to be seen sauntering in the mar-
ket-place; it was deemed more suitable for them to pass great
part of the day in the schools of exercise, or places of con-
versation. Their discourse seldom turned upon money, or
business, or trade, but upon the praise of the excellent, or the
contempt of the worthless; and the last was expressed with
that pleasantry and humour, which conveyed instruction and
correction, without seeming to intend it. Nor was Lycurgus
himself immoderately severe in his manner; but, as Sosibius
tells us, he dedicated a little statue to the god of laughter, in
each hall. He considered facetiousness as a seasoning of their
hard exercise and diet, and therefore ordered it to take place
on all proper occasions, in their common entertainments and
parties of pleasure.
Upon the whole, he taught his citizens to think nothing
more disagreeable than to live by (or for) themselves. Like
bees, they acted with one impulse for the public good, and
always assembled about their prince. They were possessed
with a thirst of honour, an enthusiasm bordering upon insanity,
and had not a wish but for their country. These sentiments
are confirmed by some of their aphorisms. When Pædaretus
lost his election for one of the three hundred, he went away
rejoicing that there were three hundred better men than him-
self found in the city.t Pisistratidas going with some others,
ambassador to the king of Persia's lieutenants, was asked
whether they came with a public commission, or on their own
account? to which he answered, “ If successful, for the pub-
lic; if unsuccessful, for ourselves.” Agrileonis, the mother
* This also is said to have been the age when they began to serve in the
army. But as they were obliged to forty years service before the law ex-
empted them from going into the field, I incline to the opinion of those
writers who think that the military age is not well ascertained.
+ Xenophon says, it was the custom for the Ephori to appoint three offi.
cers, each of whom was to select a hundred men, the best he could find;
and it was a point of great emulation to be one of these three hundred.

124
LYCURGUS.
of Brasidas, * asking some Amphipolitans that waited upon
her at her house, whether Brasidas died honourably, and as
became a Spartan? they greatly extolled his merit, and said,
there was not such a man left in Sparta: whereupon she re-
plied, “Say not so, my friends; for Brasidas was indeed a
man of honour, but Lacedæmon can boast of many better men
than he."
The senate, as I said before, consisted at first of those that
were assistants to Lycurgus in his great enterprise. After-
wards, to fill up any vacancy that might happen, he ordered
the most worthy man to be selected of those that were full
threescore years old. This was the most respectable dispute
in the world, and the contest was truly glorious; for it wa.
not who should be swiftest among the swift, or strongest of
the strong, but who was the wisest and best among the good
and wise. He who had the preference was to bear this mark
of superior excellence through life, this great authority, which
put into his hands the lives and honour of the citizens, and
every other important affair. The manner of the election was
this:—When the people were assembled, some persons, ap-
pointed for the purpose, were shut up in a room near the place,
where they could neither see nor be seen, and only hear the
shouts of the constituents;t for by them they decided this and
most other affairs. Each candidate walked silently through
the assembly, one after another, according to lot. Those that
were shut up had writing-tables, in which they set down in
different columns the number and loudness of the shouts,
without knowing who they were for; only they marked them
as first, second, third, and so on, according to the number of
competitors. He that had the most and loudest acclamations,
was declared duly elected. Then he was crowned with a
garland, and went round to give thanks to the gods; a num-
ber of young men followed, striving which should extol him
most, and the women celebrated his virtues in their songs, and
blessed his worthy life and conduct. Each of his relations
offered him a repast, and their address on the occasion was-
“Sparta honours you with this collation." When he had
finished the procession, he went to the common table, and
lived as before. Only two portions were set before him, one
* Brasidas, the Lacedæmonian general, defeated the Athenians in a battle
fought near Amphipolis, a town of Macedonia, on the banks of the Strymon,
but lost his life in the action.-Thucydid. lib. v.
† As this was a tumultuary and uncertain way of deciding who had the
majority, they were often obliged to separate the people and count the
Aristotle thinks, that in such a case, persons should not offer them,
selves candidates, or solicit the office or employment, but be called to it
merely for their abilities and their merit.
votes.

LYCURGUS.
125
of which he carried away; and as all the women related to him
attended at the gates of the public hall, he called her for whom
he had the greatest esteem, and presented her with the por-
tion, saying at the same time: “That which I received as a
mark of honour, I give to you.” Then she was conducted
home with great applause by the rest of the women.
Lycurgus likewise made good regulations with respect to
burials. In the first place, to take away all superstition, he
ordered the dead to be buried in the city, and even permitted
their monuments to be erected near the temples, accustoming
the youth to such sights from their infancy, that they might
have no uneasiness from them, nor any horror for death, as
if people were polluted with the touch of a dead body, or with
treading upon a grave. In the next place, he suffered nothing
to be buried with the corpse, except the red cloth and the
olive leaves in which it was wrapped. * Nor would he suffer
the relations to inscribe any names upon the tombs, except of
those men that fell in battle, or those women who died in some
sacred office. He fixed eleven days for the time of mourning;
on the twelfth they were to put an end to it, after offering
sacrifice to Ceres. No part of life was left vacant and unim-
proved, but even with their necessary actions he interwove
the praise of virtue and the contempt of vice; and he so filled
the city with living examples, that it was next to impossible
for persons who had these from their infancy before their eyes
not to be drawn and formed to honour.
For the same reason he would not permit all that desired it,
to go abroad and see other countries, lest they should contract
foreign manners, gain traces of a life of little discipline, and
of a different form of government. He forbade strangers toot
to resort to Sparta, who could not assign a good reason for
their coming; not as Thucydides says, out of fear they should
imitate the constitution of that city, and make improvements
in virtue, but lest they should teach his own people some evil.
For along with foreigners come new subjects of discourse;$
Ælian tells us (1. vi. c. 6,) that not all the citizens indifferently were
buried in the red cloth and olive leaves, but only such as had distinguished
themselves particularly in the field.
+ He received with pleasure such strangers as came and submitted to his
laws, and assigned them shares of land, which they could not alienate. In-
deed, the lots of all the citizens were unalienable.
# Xenophon, who was an eye-witness, imputes the changes in the Spar-
tan discipline to foreign manners; but in fact they had a deeper root. When
the Lacedæmonians, instead of keeping to their lawgiver's injunction, only
to defend their own country, and to make no conquests, carried their vic-
torious arms over all Greece, and into Asia itself, then foreign gold and for-
eign manners came into Sparta, corrupted the simplicity of its institutions,
and at last overturned that republic.

126
LYCURGUS.
new discourse produces new opinions; and from these there
necessarily spring new passions and desires, which, like dis-
cords in music, would disturb the established government.
He, therefore, thought it more expedient for the city to keep
out of it corrupt customs and manners, than even to prevent
the introduction of a pestilence.
Thus far, then, we can perceive no vestiges of a disregard
to right and wrong, which is the fault some people find with
the laws of Lycurgus, allowing them well enough calculated
to produce valour, but not to promote justice. Perhaps it was
the Cryptia, * as they called it, or ambuscade, if that was really
one of this lawgiver's institutions, as Aristotle says it was,
which
Plato so bad an impression both of Lycurgus and
his laws. The governors of the youth ordered the shrewdest
of them from time to time to disperse themselves in the coun-
try, provided only with daggers and some necessary provi-
sions. In the day time they hid themselves, and rested in the
most private places they could find, but at night they sallied
out into the roads and killed all the Helotes they could meet
with. Nay, sometimes by day, they fell upon them in the
fields, and murdered the ablest and strongest of them. Thucy-
dides relates, in his history of the Peloponnesian war, that the
Spartans selected such of them as were distinguished for their
courage, to the number of two thousand or more, declared
them free, crowned them with garlands, and conducted them
to the temples of the gods; but soon after they all disappeared;
and no one could, either then or since, give account in what
gave
The cruelty of the Lacedæmonians towards the Helotes is frequently
spoken of, and generally decried by all authors; though Plutarch, who was a
great admirer of the Spartans, endeavours to palliate it as much as may be.
These poor wretches were marked out for slaves in their dress, their ges-
ture, and, in short, in every thing. They wore dog-skin bonnets and sheep-
skin vests; they were forbidden to learn any liberal art, or to perform any
act worthy of their masters. Once a day they received a certain number of
stripes, for fear they should forget they were slaves; and, to crown all, they
were liable to this cryptid, which was sure to be executed on all such as
spoke, looked, or walked like freemen; a cruel and unnecessary expedient,
and unworthy of a virtuous people. The Ephori, indeed, declared war against
them. Against whom? why, against poor naked slaves, who tilled their lands,
dressed their food, and did all those offices for them which they were too
proud to do for themselves. Plutarch, according to custom, endeavours to
place all this cruelty far lower than the times of Lycurgus, and alleges that
it was introduced on account of the Helotes joining with the Messenians, af-
ter a terrible earthquake that happened about 467 years before the birth of
Christ, whereby a great part of Lacedæmon was overthrown, and in which
above twenty thousand Spartans perished. But Ælian tells us expressly
(Hist. Var. 1. ii.) that it was the common opinion in Greece, that this very
earthquake was a judgment from heaven upon the Spartans for treating
these Helotes with such inhumanity.

LYCURGUS.
127
manner they were destroyed. Aristotle particularly says, that
the Ephori, as soon as they were invested in their office, de-
clared war against the Helotes, that they might be massacred
under pretence of law. In other respects they treated them
with great inhumanity; sometimes they made them drink till
they were intoxicated, and in that condition led them into the
public halls, to show the young men what drunkenness was.
They ordered them to sing mean songs, and to dance ridicu-
lous dances, but not to meddle with any that were genteel and
graceful. Thus they tell us, that when the Thebans afterwards
invaded Laconia, and took a great number of the Helotes pri-
soners, they ordered them to sing the odes of Terpander,
Alcman, or Spendon the Lacedæmonian, but they excused
themselves, alleging that it was forbidden by their masters.
Those who say, that a freeman in Sparta was most a freeman,
and a slave most a slave, seem well to have considered the
difference of states. But, in my opinion, it was in after-times
that these cruelties took place among the Lacedæmonians;
chiefly after the great earthquake, when, as history informs us,
the Hélotes, joining the Messenians, attacked them, did infinite
damage to the country, and brought the city to the greatest
extremity. I can never ascribe to Lycurgus so abominable
an act as that of the ambuscade. I would judge in this case by
the mildness and justice which appeared in the rest of his
conduct, to which also the gods gave their sanction.
When his principal institutions had taken root in the man-
ners of the people, and the government was come to Sabe ma-
turity as to be able to support and preserve itself, then, as
Plato says of the Deity, that he rejoiced when he had created
the world, and given it its first motion; so Lycurgus was
charmed with the beauty and greatness of his political esta-
blishment, when he saw it exemplified in fact, and move on in
due order. He was next desirous to make it immortal, so far
as human wisdom could effect it, and to deliver it down un-
changed to the latest times. For this purpose he assembled
all the people, and told them, the provisions he had already
made for the state were indeed sufficient for virtue and happi-
ness, but the greatest and most important matter was still be-
hind, which he could not disclose to them till he had consult-
ed the oracle; that they must therefore inviolably observe his
laws, without altering any thing in them, till he returned from
Delphi; and then he would acquaint them with the pleasure of
Apollo. When they had all promised to do so, and desired
nim to set forward, he took an oath of the kings and senators,
and afterwards of all the citizens, that they would abide by the
present establishment till Lycurgus came back. He then
took his journey to Delphi.

128
LYCURGUS.
When he arrived there, he offered sacrifice to the gods, and
consulted the oracle, whether his laws were sufficient to pro-
mote virtue and secure the happiness of the state. Apollo an-
swered, that the laws were excellent, and that the city which
kept to the constitution he had established would be the most
glorious in the world. This oracle Lycurgus took down in
writing, and sent it to Sparta. He then offered another sacri-
fice, and embraced his friends and his son, determined never
to release his citizens from their oath, but voluntarily there to
put a period to his life,* when he was yet of an age when life
was not a burden, when death was not desirable, and while he
was not unhappy in any one circumstance. He therefore de-
stroyed himself by abstaining from food, persuaded that the
very death of lawgivers should have its use, and their exit, so
far from being insignificant, have its share of virtue to be con-
sidered as a great action. To him, indeed, whose perform
ances were so illustrious, the conclusion of life was the crown
of happiness; and his death was left guardian of those invalua-
ble blessings he had procured his countrymen through life, as
they had taken an oath not to depart from his establishment
till his return. Nor was he deceived in his expectations.
Sparta continued superior to the rest of Greece both in its
vernment at home and reputation abroad, so long as it retain-
ed the institution of Lycurgus; and this it did during the
space
of five hundred years, and the reign of fourteen successive
kings, down to Agis the son of Archidamus. As for the ap-
pointment of the Ephori, it was so far from weakening the
constitution, that it gave it additional vigour; and though it
seemed to be established in favour of the people, it strength-
ened the aristocracy.t
But in the reign of Agis money found its way into Sparta,
and with money came its inseparable attendant, avarice. This
was by means of Lysander; who, though himself incapable of
being corrupted by money, filled his country with the love of
it and with luxury too. He brought both gold and silver from
the wars, I and thereby broke through the laws of Lycurgus.
* Yet Lucian says that Lycurgus died at the age of eighty-five.
† After all this pompous account, Plutarch himself acknowledges, that au-
thors are not well agreed how and where this great man died. That he
starved himself is improbable; but that he returned no more to his country,
seems to be perfectly agreeable to his manner of acting, as well as to the
current of history.
# Xenophon acquaints us, that when Lysander had taken Athens, he sent
to Sparta many rich spoils and 470 talents of silver. The coming of this huge
mass of wealth created great disputes at Sparta. Many celebrated Lysan-
der's praises, and rejoiced exceedingly at this good fortune, as they called
it; others, who were better acquainted with the nature of things, and with
their constitution, were of quite another opinion; they looked upon the re-

LYCURGUS.
129
While these were in force, Sparta was not so much under the
political regulations of a commonwealth, as the strict rules of
a philosophic life; and as the poets feign of Hercules, that only
with a club and lion's skin he travelled over the world, clear-
ing it of lawless ruffians and cruel tyrants; so the Lacedæmoni-
ans, with a piece of parchment* and a coarse coat, kept Greece
in a voluntary obedience, destroyed usurpation and tyranny
in the states, put an end to wars, and laid seditions asleep, very
often without either shield or lance, and only by sending one
ambassador; to whose directions all parties concerned imme-
diately submitted. Thus bees, when their prince appears, com-
pose their quarrels, and unite in one swarm. So much did
justice and good government prevail in that state, that I am
surprised at those who say, the Lacedæmonians knew indeed
how to obey, but not how to govern; and on this occasion
quote the saying of king Theopompus, who, when one told
him, that -- Sparta was preserved by the good administra-
tion of its kings,” replied, “ Nay, rather by the obedience
of their subjects. It is certain that people will not continue
pliant to those who know not how to command; but it is the
part of a good governor to teach obedience. He who knows
how to lead well, is sure to be well followed; and as it is by
the art of horsemanship that a horse is made gentle and tracta-
ble, so it is by the abilities of him that fills the throne that the
people become ductile and submissive. Such was the conduct
of the Lacedæmonians, that people
did not only endure, but
even desired to be their subjects. They asked not of them
either ships, money, or troops, but only a Spartan general.
When they had received him, they treated him with the
greatest honour and respect; so Gylippus was revered by the
Sicilians, Brasidas by the Chalcidians, Lysander, Callicrati-
das, and Agesilaus, by all the people of Asia. These, and
ceipt of this treasure as an open violation of the laws of Lycurgus; and they
expressed their apprehensions loudly, that in process of time they might, by
a change in their manners, pay infinitely more for this money than it was
worth. The event justified their fears.
* This was the scytale, the nature and use of which Plutarch explains in
the life of Lysander. He tells us, that when the magistrates gave their com-
mission to any admiral or general, they took two round pieces of wood,
both exactly equal in breadth and thickness (Thucydides adds that they
were smooth and long;) one they kept themselves, the other was delivered
to their officer. When they had any thing of moment which they would
secretly convey to him, they cut a long narrow scroll of parchment, and
rolling it about their own staff, one fold close upon another, they wrote their
business on it, when they had wrote what they had to say, they took off the
parchment, and sent it to the general; and he applying it to his own staff,
the characters which before were confused and unintelligible appeared then
very plainly.
VOL. I. ---T
13

130
LYCURGUS.
like so many
master.
such as these, wherever they came, were called moderators
and reformers, both of the magistrates and people, and Sparta.
itself was considered as a school of discipline, where the beau-
ty of life and political order were taught in the utmost perfec-
tion. Hence Stratonicus seems facetiously enough to have
said, -" That he would order the Athenians to have the con-
duct of mysteries and processions; the Eleans to preside in
games, as their particular province; and the Lacedæmonians
to be beaten if the others did amiss."* This was spoken in
jest: but Antisthenes, one of the scholars of Socrates, said
(more seriously) of the Thebans, when he saw them pluming
themselves upon their success at Leuctra,—"They were just
school-boys rejoicing that they had beaten their
It was not, however, the principle design of Lycurgus, that
his city should govern many others, but he considered its hap-
piness, like that of a private man, as flowing from virtue and
self-consistency; he therefore, so ordered and disposed it,
that by the freedom and sobriety of its inhabitants, and
their having a sufficiency within themselves, its continuance
might be the more secure. Plato, Diogenes, Zeno, and other
writers upon government, have taken Lycurgus for their mo-
del; and these have attained great praise, though they left only
an idea of something excellent. Yet he who, not in idea and
in words, but in fact, produced a most inimitable form of
go-
vernment, and by showing a whole city of philosophers, † con-
founded those who imagine, that the so much talked of strict-
ness of a philosophic life is impracticable; he, I say, stands in
the rank of glory far before the founders of all the other Gre-
cian states. I Therefore Aristotle is of opinion, that the ho-
nours paid him in Lacedæmon were far beneath his merit.
Yet those honours were very great; for he has a temple there,
* Because the teachers should be answerable for the faults of their pu-
pils. The pleasantry of the observation seems to be this: That as the La-
cedæmonians used to punish the parents or adopters of those young people
that behaved amiss; now that they were the instructors of other nations, they
should suffer for their faults. Bryan's latin text has it, that the Lacedæmo-
nians should beat them. But there is no joke in that.
† Aristotle and Plato differ in this from Plutarch. Even Polybius, who
was so great an admirer of the Spartan government, allows, that though the
Spartans, considered as individuals, were wise and virtuous, yet, in their col-
lective capacity, they paid but little regard to justice and moderation.
# Solon, though a person of different temper, was no less disinterested
than Lycurgus. He settled the Athenian commonwealth, refused the sove.
reignty when offered him, travelled to avoid the importunities of his coun-
trymen, opposed tyranny in his old age, and when he found his opposition
vain, went into voluntary exile. Lycurgus and Solon were both great men;
but the former had the stronger, the latter the milder genius: the effects of
which appeared in the commonwealths they founded.

LYCURGUS.
131
and they offer him a yearly sacrifice, as a god. It is also said,
that when his remains were brought home, his tomb was
struck with lightning; a seal of divinity which no other man,
however eminent, has had, except Euripides, who died and
was buried at Arethusa in Macedonia. This was matter of
great satisfaction and triumph to the friends of Euripides, that
the same thing should befall him after death, which had for-
merly happened to the most venerable of men, and the most
favoured of heaven. Some say Lycurgus died at Cirrha; but
Apollothemis will have it that he was brought to Elis and died
there; and Timæus and Aristoxenus write, that he ended his
days in Crete; nay, Aristoxenus adds, that the Cretans show
his tomb at Pergamia, near the high-road. We are told he
left an only son named Antiorus: and as he died without issue,
the family was extinct. His friends and relations observed
his anniversary, which subsisted for many ages, and the days
on which they met for that purpose they called Lycurgidæ.
Aristocrates, the son of Hipparchus, relates, that the friends
of Lycurgus, with whom he sojourned, and at last died in
Crete, burned his body, and, at his request threw his ashes
into the sea. Thus he guarded against the possibility of his
remains being brought back to Sparta by the Lacedæmonians,
lest they should then think themselves released from their
oath, on the pretence that he was returned, and make innova-
tions in the government. This is what we had to say of Ly-
curgus.
gar 20.gr

THE
LIFE OF NUMA.
Some say,
THERE is likewise a great diversity amongst historians
about the time in which king Numa lived, though some fami-
lies seem to trace their genealogy up to him with sufficient
accuracy. However, a certain writer, called Clodius, in his
emendations of chronology, affirms, that the ancient archives
were destroyed when Rome was sacked by the Gauls; and
that those which are now shown as such, were forged in favour
of some persons who wanted to stretch their lineage far back,
and to deduce it from the most illustrious houses.
that Numa was the scholar of Pythagoras;* but others con-
tend, that he was unacquainted with the Grecian literature,
either alleging, that his own genius was sufficient to conduct
him to excellence, or that he was instructed by some barbarian
philosopher, superior to Pythagoras. Some, again, affirm
that Pythagoras of Samos flourished about five generations
below the times of Numa; but that Pythagoras the Spartan,
who won the prize at the Olympic race in the sixteenth
Olympiad (about the third year of which it was that Numa
came to the throne,) travelling into Italy, became acquaint-
ed with that prince, and assisted him in regulating the go-
Hence many Spartan customs, taught by Pytha-
goras, were intermixed with the Roman. But this mixture
might have another cause, as Numa was of Sabine extraction,
and the Sabines declare themselves to have been a Lacedæmo-
nian colony.† It is difficult, however, to adjust the times ex-
vernment.
Pythagoras the philosopher went not into Italy till the reign of the elder
Tarquin, which was in the fifty-first Olympiad, and four generations (as
Dionysius of Halicarnassus tells us) after Numa.
+ The same Dionysius informs us, that he found, in the history of the Sa-
bines, that while Lycurgus was guardian to his nephew Euromus (Charilaus
it should be,) some of the Lacedæmonians, unable to endure the severity
of his laws, fled into Italy, and settled first at Pometia; from whence several
of them removed into the country of the Sabines, and uniting with that peo
ple, taught them their customs; particularly those relating to the conduct
of war, to fortitude, patience, and a frugal and absterious manner of living.
This colony, then, settled in Italy a hundred and twenty years before the
birth of Numa.

NUMA.
133
manner.
actly, particularly those that are only distinguished with the
names of the Olympic conquerors; of which, we are told,
Hippias the Elean, made a collection at a late period, without
sufficient vouchers. We shall now relate what we have met
with most remarkable concerning Numa, beginning from that
point of time which is most suitable to our purpose.
It was in the thirty-seventh year from the building of Rome,
and of the reign of Romulus, on the seventh of the month of
July (which day is now called Nonæ Caprotinæ,) when that
prince went out of the city to offer a solemn sacrifice at a place
called the Goats-Marsh, in the presence of the senate and
great part of the people. Suddenly there happened a great
alteration in the air, and the clouds burst in a storm of wind
and hail. The rest of the assembly were struck with terror,
and fled, but Romulus disappeared, and could not be found
either alive or dead. Upon this the senators fell under a vio-
lent suspicion, and a report was propagated against them
among the people, that having long been weary of the yoke
of kingly government, and desirous to get the power into their
own hands, they had murdered the king; particularly as he
had treated them for some time in an arbitrary and imperious
But they found means to obviate this suspicion, by
paying divine honours to Romulus, as a person that had been
privileged from the fate of other mortals, and was only remov-
ed to a happier scene. Moreover, Proculus, a man of high
rank, made oath that he saw Romulus carried up to heaven in
complete armour, and heard a voice commanding that he
should be called Quirinus.
Fresh disturbances and tumults arose in the city about the
election of a new king, the later inhabitants being not yet
thoroughly incorporated with the first, the commonalty fluc-
tuating and unsettled in itself, and the patricians full of ani-
mosity and jealousies of each other. All, indeed, agreed that
a king should be appointed, but they differed and debated,
not only about the person to be fixed upon, but from which
of the two nations he should be elected. For neither could
they who with Romulus built the city, endure, that the Sa-
bines, who had been admitted citizens, and obtained a share
of the lands, should attempt to command those from whom
they had received such privileges; nor yet could the Sabines
depart from their claim of giving a king in their turn to Rome,
having this good argument in their favour, that upon the death
of Tatius, they had suffered Romulus peaceably to enjoy the
throne, without a colleague. It was also to be considered,
that they did not come as inferiors to join a superior people,
but by their rank and number added strength and dignity to
the city that received them. These were the arguments on
13*

134
NUMA.
which they founded their claims. Lest this dispute should
produce an utter confusion, whilst there was no king, nor any
steersman at the helm, the senators made an order that the hun-
dred and fifty members who composed their body, * should
each, in their turns, be attired in the robes of state, in the
room of Quirinus; offer the stated sacrifices to the gods, and
despatch the whole public business, six hours in the day, and
six hours at night. This distribution of time seemed well con-
trived, in point of equality amongst the regents, and the change
of power from hand to hand, prevented its being obnoxious to
the people, who saw the same person, in one day and one night,
reduced from a king to a private man.
This occasional ad-
ministration the Romans call an Interregnum.
But though the matter was managed in this moderate and
popular way, the senators could not escape the suspicions and
complaints of the people, that they were changing the govern-
ment into an oligarchy, and, as they had the direction of all
affairs in their hands, were unwilling to have a king. At last
it was agreed between the two parties, that one nation should
choose a king out of the whole body of the other. This was
considered as the best means of putting a stop to the present
contention, and of inspiring the king with an affection for both
parties, since he would be gracious to these, because they had
elected him, and to those as his kindred and countrymen.
The Sabines leaving the Romans to their option, they prefer-
red a Sabine king of their own electing, to a Roman chosen
by the Sabines. Consulting, therefore, among themselves, t
they fixed upon Numa Pompilius, a Sabine, who was not of
the number of those that had migrated to Rome, but so cele-
brated for virtue, that the Sabines received the nomination
even with greater applause than the Romans themselves. When
they had acquainted the people with their resolution, they sent
* According to our author, in the life of Romulus, the number of the
senators was two hundred. Indeed, Dionysius says, that writers differed
in this particular, some affirming, that one hundred senators were added to
the original number, upon the union of the Sabines with the Romans; and
others, that only fifty were added. Livy gives the most probable account
of the manner of the interregnum. The senators, he says, divided them-
selves into decuries or tens. These decuries drew lots which should govern
first; and the decury to whose lot it fell, enjoyed the supreme authority for
five days; yet, in such a manner, that one person only of the governing
decury had the ensigns of sovereignty at a time.
† The interrex, for the time being, having summoned the people, address-
ed them thus:--- Romans, elect yourselves a king; the senate give their
consent; and, if you choose a prince worthy to succeed Romulus, the senate
will confirm your choice.” The people were so well pleased with this con-
descension of the senate, that they remitted the choice to them.

NUMA,
135
reason.
the most eminent personages of both nations ambassadors, to
entreat him to come and take upon him the government.
Numa was of Cures, a considerable city of the Sabines, from
which the Romans, together with the incorporated Sabines,
took the name of Quirites. He was the son of a person of dis-
tinction, named Pomponius, and the youngest of four brothers.
It seemed to be by the direction of the gods, that he was born
the twenty-first of April, the same day that Rome was founded
by Romulus. His mind was naturally disposed to virtue; and
he still farther subdued it by discipline, patience and philoso-
phy; not only purging it of the grosser and more infamous
passions, but even of that ambition and rapaciousness which
was reckoned honourable amongst the barbarians; persuaded
that true fortitude consists in the conquest of appetites by
On this account, he banished all luxury and splen-
dour from his house; and both the citizens and strangers found
in him a faithful counsellor, and an upright judge. As for
his hours of leisure, he spent them not in the pursuits of plea-
sure, or schemes of profit, but in the worship of the gods, and
in rational inquiries into their nature, and their power. His
name became at length so illustrious, that Tatius, who was
the associate of Romulus in the kingdom, having an only
daughter named Tatia, bestowed her upon him. He was not,
however, so much elated with this match as to remove to the
court of his father-in-law, but continued in the country of the
Sabines, paying his attentions to his own father, who was now
grown
old. Tatia was partaker of his retirement and prefer-
red the calm enjoyment of life with her husband in privacy,
to the honours and distinction in which she might have lived
with her father at Rome. Thirteen years after their marriage
she died.
Numa then left the society of the city, and passed his time
in wandering about alone in the sacred groves and lawns, in
the most retired and solitary places. Hence the report con-
cerning the goddess Egeria chiefly took its rise;* and it was
* Numa's inclination to solitude, and his custom of retiring into the secret
places of the forest of Aricia, gave rise to several popular opinions. Some
believed, that the nymph Egeria herself dictated to him the laws, both civil
and religious, which he established. And, indeed, he declared so himself,
in order to procure a divine sanction to them. But, as no great man is with-
out aspersions, others have thought, that, under this affected passion for
woods and caves, was concealed another, more real and less chaste. This
gave occasion to that sarcasm of Juvenal, in speaking of the grove of Ege-
ria, (Sat. iii. ver. 12,)
Hic, ubi nocturnæ Numa constituebat amica.
Ovid says, that, to remove her grief for the loss of Numa, Diana changed
her into a fountain which still bears her name. Metam. 1. xy.

136
NUMA.
believed that it was not from any inward sorrow or melan-
choly turn that he avoided human conversation, but from his
being admitted to that which was more venerable and excel-
lent, from the honour he had of a familiar intercourse with a
divinity that loved him, which led him to happiness and know-
ledge more than mortal. It is obvious enough, how much
this resembles many of the ancient stories received and de-
livered down by the Phrygians of Atys,* the Bythenians of
Herodotus, and the Arcadians of Endymion; to whom might
be added many others, who were thought to have attained to
superior felicity, and to be beloved in an extraordinary man-
ner by the gods. And, indeed, it is rational enough to sup-
pose, that the deity would not place his affection upon horses
or birds, but rather upon human beings, eminently distin-
guished by virtue; and that he neither dislikes nor disdains to
hold conversation with a man of wisdom and piety. But that
a divinity should be captivated with the external beauty of
any
human body, is irrational to believe. The Egyptians, indeed,
make a distinction in this case, which they think not an absurd
one, that it is not impossible for a woman to be impregnated
by the approach of some divine spirit; but that a man can have
no corporeal intercourse with a goddess. But they do not,
however, consider that a mixture, be it of what sort it may,
equally communicates its being. In short, the regard which
the gods have for men, though, like a human passion, it be
called love, must be employed in forming their manners, and
raising them to higher degrees of virtue. In this sense we
may admit the assertion of the poets, that Phorbas, † Hyacin-
thus, and Admetus, were beloved by Apollo; and that Hip-
polytus the Sicyonian, was equally in his favour; so that
whenever he sailed from Cirrha to Sicyon, the priestess, to
signify Apollo's satisfaction, repeated this heroic verse:-
类
​Atys was said to be beloved by the goddess Cybele, and Endymion by
Diana; but we believe there is nowhere else any mention made of this Hero-
dotus, or Rhodotus, as Dacier from his manuscript calls him.
† Phorbas was the son of Triopas, king of Argos. He delivered the Rho.
dians from a prodigious number of serpents that infested their island, and
particularly from one furious dragon, that had devoured a great many peo-
ple. He was, therefore, supposed to be dear to Apollo, who had slain the
Python. After his death he was placed in the heavens, with the dragon he
had destroyed, in the constellation Ophiucus, or Serpentarius.
** Hyacinthus was the son of Amyclas, founder of the city of Amyclæ, near
Sparta. He was beloved by Apollo and Zephyrus, and was killed in a fit of
jealousy by the latter, who, with a puff of wind, caused a quoit thrown by
Apollo to fall upon his head. He was changed into a flower which bears
his name. Vide Pausan, de Laconic. 1. üi. et Ovid. Metam. 1. x. fab. 5.
Admetus was the son of Pheres, king of Thessaly. It is said that Apollo
kept his sheep.

NUMA.
137
He comes, again the much-loved hero comes.
It is also fabled, that Pan was in love with Pindar, * on ac-
count of his poetry; and that Archilochus and Hesiod,t after
their death, were honoured by the heavenly powers for the
same reason. Sophocles, too (as the story goes) was blessed in
his lifetime with the conversation of the god Æsculapius, of
which many proofs still remain; and another deity procured
him burial. † Now, if we admit that these were so highly fa-
voured, shall we deny that Zaleucus, Minos, Zoroaster, Nu-
ma, and Lycurgus, kings and lawgivers, were happy in the
same respect? Nay, rather, we shall think, that the gods
might seriously converse with such excellent persons as these,
to instruct and encourage them in their great attempts; where-
as, if they indulged poets and musicians in the same grace, it
must be by way of diversion. To such as are of another
opinion, I shall say, however, with Bacchylides, The way is
broad. For it is no unplausible account of the matter which
others give, when they tell us that Lycurgus, Numa, and
other great men, finding their people difficult to manage, and
alterations to be made in their several governments, pretend-
ed commissions from heaven, which were salutary, at least to
those for whom they were invented.
Numa was now in his fortieth year, when ambassadors came
from Rome to make him an offer of the kingdom. The speak-
ers were Proculus and Velesus, whom the people before had
cast their eyes upon for the royal dignity, the Romans being
attached to Proculus and the Sabines to Velesus.
As they
imagined that Numa would gladly embrace his good fortune,
they made but a short speech. They found it, however, no
easy matter to persuade him, but were obliged to make use of
much entreaty to draw him from that peaceful retreat he was
so fond of, to the government of a city, born, as it were, and
* Pindar had a particular devotion for the god Pan, and therefore took up
his abode near the temple of Rhea and Pan. He composed the hymns
which the Theban virgins sung on the festival of that deity; and, it is said, he
had the happiness to hear Pan himself singing one of his odes.
† Archilochus was slain by a soldier of Naxos, who was obliged by the
priestess of Apollo to make expiation for having killed a man consecrated to
the Muses.-As for Hesiod, the Orchomenians, a people of Bæotia, being ter-
ribly afflicted by a plague, were ordered by the oracle to remove the bones
of that poet, from Naupactus in Ætolia, into their country.
# Sophocles died at Athens, while Lysander was carrying on the siege of
the city; and Bacchus is said to have appeared to the Spartan general in a
dream, and ordered him to permit the new Athenian Syren to be buried at
§ Zaleucus gave laws to the Locrians in Magna Græcia; Zoroaster, one of
the magi, and king of the Bactrians, to his own subjects; and Minos to the
people of Crete.
VOL. I. ---U
Decelea.

138
NUMA.
brought up in war. In the presence, therefore, of his father,
and one of his kinsmen, named Marcius, he gave them this
answer:—- Every change of human life has its dangers; but
when a man has a sufficiency for every thing, and there is no-
thing in his present situation to be complained of, what but
madness can lead him from his usual track of life, which, if it
has no other advantage, has that of certainty, to experience
another as yet doubtful and unknown? But the dangers that
attend this government are beyond an uncertainty, if we may
form a judgment from the fortunes of Romulus, who laboured
under the suspicion of taking off Tatius, his colleague, and was
supposed to have lost his own life with equal injustice. Yet
Romulus is celebrated as a person of divine origin, as super-
naturally nourished when an infant, and most wonderfully pre-
served. For my part, I am only of mortal race, and you are
sensible my nursing and education boast of nothing extraordi-
nary. As for my character, if it has any distinction, it has been
gained in a way not likely to qualify me for a king, in scenes of
repose and employments by no means arduous. My genius is
inclined to peace, my love has long been fixed upon it, and I
have studiously avoided the confusion of war; I have also
drawn others, so far as my influence extended, to the worship
of the gods, to mutual offices of friendship, and to spend the rest
of their time in tilling the ground, and feeding cattle. The
Romans may have unavoidable wars left upon their hands by
their late king, for the maintaining of which you have need of
another more active and more enterprising. Besides, the
people are of a warlike disposition, spirited with success, and
plainly enough discover their inclination to extend their con-
quests. Of course, therefore, a person who has set his heart
upon the promoting of religion and justice, and drawing men
off from the love of violence and war, would soon become
ridiculous and contemptible to a city that has more occasion
for a general than a king.
Numa in this manner declining the crown, the Romans, on
the other hand exerted all their endeavours to obviate his ob-
jections, and begged of him not to throw them into confusion
and civil war again, as there was no other whom both parties
would unanimously elect. When the ambassadors had retired,
his father and his friend Marcius privately urged him, by all
the arguments in their power, to receive this great and valua-
ble gift of heaven;—“If contented,” said they, “with a com-
petence, you desire not riches, nor aspire after the honour of
sovereignty, having a higher and better distinction in virtue;
yet consider that a king is the minister of God, who now awa-
kens, and puts in action your native wisdom and justice. De-
cline not, therefore, an authority which to a wise man is a
92

NUMA
139
field for great and good actions; where dignity may be added
to religion, and men may be brought over to piety, in the
easiest and readiest way, by the influence of the prince. Ta-
tius, though a stranger, was beloved by his people; and they
pay divine honours to the memory of Romulus. Besides,
who knows, as they are victorious, but they may be satiated
with war, and having no farther wish for triumphs and spoils,
may be desirous of a mild and just governor for the establish-
ing of good laws, and the settling of peace? But should they
be ever so ardently inclined to war, yet is it not better to turn
their violence another way, and to be the centre of union and
friendship between the country of the Sabines and so great
and flourishing a state as that of Rome?" These inducements,
we are told, were strengthened by auspicious omens, and by
the zeal and ardour of his fellow-citizens, who, as soon as they
had learned the subject of the embassy, went in a body to en-
treat him to take the government upon him, as the only means
to appease all dissensions, and effectually incorporate the two
nations into one.
When he had determined to go, he offered sacrifice to the
gods, and then set forward to Rome. Struck with love and
admiration of the man, the senate and people met him on the
way; the women welcomed him with blessings and shouts of
joy; the temples were crowded with sacrifices; and so univer-
sal was the satisfaction, that the city might seem to have re-
ceived a kingdom, instead of a king. When they were come
into the forum, Spurius Vettius, whose turn it then was to be
Interrex, put it to the vote whether Numa should be king, and
all the citizens agreed to it with one voice. The robes and
other distinctions of royalty then were offered him, but he
comnianded them to stop, as his authority yet wanted the sanc-
tion of heaven. Taking, therefore, with him the priests and
augurs, he went up to the Capitol, which the Romans at that
time called the Tarpeian rock. There the chief of the augurs
covered the head of Numa, * and turned his face towards the
south; then standing behind him, and laying his right hand
upon
his head, he offered up his devotions, and looked around
him, in hopes of seeing birds, or some other signal from the
* So it is in the text of Plutarch, as it now stands; but it appears from
Livy, that the augur covered his own head, not that of Numa, Augur ad
lævam ejus, capite velato, sedem cepit, &c. And, indeed, the augur always
covered his head in a gown peculiar to his office, called Lænæ, when he
made his observations. Mezeray reconciles these writers, and removes the
seeming mistake of Plutarch, by a reading which Francis Robortel had
found in an ancient manuscript, τον μεν οις μεσιεμβριαν τρεψας, εγκεκαλυμμενος αυτός,
HAL A'apestas acove sv. If this be considered only as an emendation, it is a very
good one.

140
NUMA.
gods. An incredible silence reigned among the people, anx
ious for the event, and lost in suspense, till the auspicious birds
appeared, and passed on the right hand. Then Numa took
the royal robe, and went down from the mount to the people,
who received him with loud acclamations, as the most pious
of men, and most beloved of the gods.
His first act of government was to discharge the body of
three hundred men, called Celeres, * whom Romulus always
kept about his person as guards; for he neither chose to dis-
trust those who put confidence in him, nor to reign over a
people that could distrust him. In the next place, to the
priests of Jupiter and Mars he added one for Romulus, whom
he styled Flumen Quirinalis. Flamines was a common name for
priests before that time, and it is said to have been corrupted
from Pilamines, a term derived from Piloi, which in Greek sig-
nifies capst (for they wore, it seems, a kind of caps or hoods);
and the Latin language had many more Greek words mixed
with it then than it has at this time. Thus royal mantles
were by the Romans called Lænæ, which Juba assures us was
from the Greek Chlænæ; and the name of Camillusț, given to
the youth who served in the temple of Jupiter, and who was
to have both his parents alive, was the same which some of
the Greeks give to Mercury, on account of his being an at-
tendant of that god.
Numa having settled these matters with a view to establish
himself in the people's good graces, immediately after at-
tempted to soften them as iron is softened by fire, and to
bring them from a violent and warlike disposition to a juster
and more gentle temper. For, if any city ever was in a
state of inflammation, as Plato expresses it, Rome certainly
was, being composed at first of the most hardy and resolute
men, whom boldness and despair had driven thither from all
quarters, nourished and grown up to power by a series of wars,
and strengthened even by blows and conflicts, as piles fixed
in the ground become firmer under the strokes of the rammer.
Persuaded that no ordinary means were sufficient to form and
* Numa did not make use of them as guards, but as inferior ministers,
who were to take care of the sacrifices, under the direction of the tribunes,
who had commanded them in their military capacity.
Others think they took their names from the flame-coloured tufts they
had on their caps. They were denominated from the particular god to
whom their ministry was confined, as Flamen Dialis, the priest of Jupiter;
Flamen Martialis, the priest of Mars.
* Camillus is derived from the Bæotic nuducnos, which properly signifies a
servitay. In overy temple there was a youth of quality, whose business it
was to minister to the priest. It was necessary that the father and mother
of the youth should be both alive; for which reason Plutarch makes use of
the word of Jan, which the Latins call patrimum et matrimum.

NUMA.
141
reduce so high-spirited and untractable a people to mildness
and peace, he called in the assistance of religion. By sacrifi-
ces, religious dances, and processions, which he appointed, and
wherein himself officiated, he contrived to mix the charms of
festivity and social pleasure with the solemnity of the ceremo-
nies. Thus he soothed their minds, and calmed their fierce-
ness and martial fire. Sometimes, also, by acquainting them
with prodigies from heaven, by reports of dreadful appari-
tions and menacing voices, he inspired them with terror, and
humbled them with superstition. This was the principal cause
of the report that he drew his wisdom from the sources of
Pythagoras; for a great part of the philosophy of the latter, as
well as the government of the former, consisted in religious
attentions and the worship of the gods. It is likewise said,
that his solemn appearance and air of sanctity was copied from
Pythagoras. That philosopher had so far tamed an eagle,
that, by pronouncing certain words, he could stop it in its
flight, or bring it down; and passing through the multitudes
assembled at the Olympic games, he showed them his golden
thigh; besides other arts and actions, by which he pretended
to something supernatural. This led l'imon the Phliasian to
write,
To catch applause, Pythagoras affects
A solemn air and grandeur of expression.
But Numa feigned that some goddess or mountain nymph
favoured him with her private regards (as we have already ob-
served), and that he had moreover frequent conversations
with the Muses. To the latter he ascribed most of his revela-
tions; and there was one in particular that he called Tacita, as
much as to say, the Muse of silence* whom he taught the Ro-
mans to distinguish with their veneration. By this, too, he
seemed to show his knowledge and approbation of the Pytha-
gorean precept of silence.
His regulations concerning images seem likewise to have
some relation to the doctrine of Pythagoras, who was of opi-
nion, that the First Cause was not an object of sense, nor lia-
ble to passion, but invisible, incorruptible, and discernible
only by the mind. Thus Numa forbade the Romans to re-
present the Deity in the form either of man or beast. Nor
* The common reading of the text is, olov Olmanam » vedv.
The word vecky
signifies young; but it should undoubtedly be read cvecv, silent, mute, not
only from the analogy of the sense, and the conjecture of Stephens, but on
the authority of a manuscript. In the city of Erythru there was a temple
of Minerva, where the priestess was called Hesychia, that is, the composed,
the silent.
14

142
NUMA.
was there among them formerly any image or statue of the
Divine Being. During the first hundred and seventy years
they built temples, indeed, and other sacred domes, but placed
in them no figure of any kind, persuaded that it is impious to
represent things divine by what is perishable, and that we
can have no conception of God but by the understanding.
His sacrifices, too, resembled the Pythagorean worship; for
they were without any effusion of blood, consisting chiefly of
flour, libations of wine, and other very simple and unexpen-
sive things.
To these arguments other circumstances are added, to prove
that these two great men were acquainted with each other;
one of which is, that Pythagoras was enrolled a citizen of
Rome. This account we have in an address to Antenor from
Epicharmus, a writer of comedy, and a very ancient author,
who was himself of the school of Pythagoras. * Another is,
that Numa having four sons, t called one of them Mamercus,
after the name of a son of Pythagoras. From him, too, they
tell us, the Æmilian family is descended, which is one of the
noblest in Rome; the king having given him the surname of
Æmilius, on account of his graceful and engaging manner of
speaking. And I have myself been informed by several
per-
sons in Rome, that the Romans being commanded by the ora-
cle to erect two statues, † one to the wisest, and the other to
the bravest of the Grecians, set up in brass the figures of Py-
thagoras and Alcibiades. But as these matters are very dubi-
ous, to support or refute them farther would look like the
juvenile affectation of dispute.
To Numa is attributed the institution of that high order of
priests, called Pontificess, over which he is said to have pre-
* As Πυθαγορικής διατριβης μεσχηκως does not necessarily signify scholars to
Pythagoras, we have rendered it of the school of Pythagoras, or a Pythago-
rean, to avoid involving Plutarch in a glaring anachronism. According to
the Marmora Oxon. Epicharmus flourished in the year before Christ 472;
and it is certain it must have been about that time, because he was at the
court of Hiero.
† Some writers, to countenance the vanity of certain noble families in
Rome, in deducing their genealogy from Numa, have given that prince
four sons.
But the common opinion is that he had only one daughter, nam-
ed Pompilia. The Æmilii were one of the most considerable families in
Rome, and branched into the Lepidi, the Pauli, and the Papi. The word
Aimulus, or Æmylus, in Greek, signifies gentle, graceful.
# Pliny tells us (1. xxxiv. c. 5,) it was in the time of their war with the
Samnites that the Romans were ordered to set up these statues; that they
were accordingly placed in the comitium, and that they remained there till
the dictatorship of Sylla. The oracle, by this direction, probably intimated,
that the Romans, if they desired to be victorious, should imitate the wisdom
and valour of the Greeks.
§ Numa created four, who were all patricians. But, in the year of Rome,

NUMA.
143
sided himself. Some say they were called Pontifices, as em-
ployed in the service of those powerful gods that govern the
world; for potens in the Roman language signifies powerful.
Others, from their being ordered by the lawgiver to perform
such secret offices as were in their power, and standing excused
when there was some great impediment. But most writers
assign a ridiculous reason for the term, as if they were called
Pontifices from their offering sacrifices upon the bridge, which
the Latins call pontem, such
kind of ceremonies it seems being
looked upon as the most sacred, and of greatest antiquity.
These priests, too, are said to have been commissioned to
keep the bridges in repair, as one of the most indispensable
parts of their holy office. For the Romans considered it as
an execrable impiety to demolish the wooden bridge; which,
we are told, was built without iron, and put together with
pins of wood only, by the direction of some oracle. The
stone bridge was built many ages after, when Æmilius was
quæstor. Some, however, inform us, that the wooden bridge
was not constructed in the time of Numa, having the last hand
put to it by Ancus Marcius, who was grandson to Numa by
his daughter.
The pontifex maximus, chief of these priests, is interpreter
of all sacred rites, or rather a superintendent of religion, hay-
ing the care not only of public sacrifices, but even of private
rites and offerings, forbidding the people to depart from the
stated ceremonies, and teaching them how to honour and pro-
pitiate the gods. He had also the inspection of the holy vir-
gins called Vestals. For to Numa is inscribed the sacred es-
tablishment of the vestal virgins, and the whole service with
respect to the perpetual fire, which they watch continually.
This office seems appropriated to them, either because fire,
which is of a pure and incorruptible nature, should be looked
after by persons untouched and undefiled, or else because vir-
ginity, like fire, is barren and unfruitful. Agreeably to this
last reason, at the places in Greece, where the sacred fire is
preserved unextinguished, as at Delphi and Athens, not vir:
gins, but widows past child-bearing, have the charge of it.
If it happens by any accident to be put out, as the sacred lamp
is said to have been at Athens, under the tyranny of Aristion;"
453 or 454, four plebeians were added to the number. The king himself is
here asserted to have been the chief of them; or pontifex maximus, though
Livy attributes that honour to another person of the same name, viz. Numa
Marcius, the son of Marcius, one of the senators. It seems, however, not
improbable, that Numa, who was of so religious a turn, reserved the chief
dignity in the priesthood to himself, as kings had done in the first
ages
of
the world, and as the emperors of Rome did afterwards.
* This Aristion held out a long time against Sylla, who besieged and took

144
NUMA.
war,
* when
at Delphi when the temple was burnt by the Medes; and at
Rome, in the Mithridatic war, as also in the civil
not only the fire was extinguished, but the altar overturned:
it is not to be lighted again from another fire, but new fire is to
be gained by drawing a pure and unpolluted flame from the
sunbeams. "They kindle it generally with concave vessels of
brass, formed by the conic section of a rectangled triangle,
whose lines from the circumference meet in one central point.
This being placed against the sun, causes its rays to converge
in the centre, which by reflection, acquiring the force and ac-
tivity of fire, rarefy the air, and immediately kindle such light
and dry matter as they think fit to apply.t Some are of opin-
ion, that the sacred virgins have the care of nothing but the
perpetual fire. But others say they have some private rites
besides, kept from the sight of all but their own body, concern-
ing which, I have delivered, in the life of Camillus, as much
as it was proper to inquire into or declare.
It is reported that at first only two virgins were consecrated
by Numa, whose names were Gegania and Verania; afterwards
two others, Canuleia and Tarpeia; to whom Servius added two
and that number has continued to this time. The vestals
were obliged by the king to preserve their virginity for thirty
years. The first ten years they spent in learning their office;
the next ten in putting in practice what they had learned; and
the third period in the instructing of others. At the conclu-
sion of this time, such as chose it had liberty to marry, and
quitting their sacred employment, to take up some other.
However, we have account of but very few that accepted this
indulgence, and those did not prosper. They generally be-
came a prey to repentance and regret, from whence the rest,
inspired with a religious fear, were willing to end their lives
under the same institution.
The king honoured them with great privileges, such as pow-
er to make a will during their father's life, and to transact their
other affairs without a guardian, like the mothers of three
more;
Athens in the time of the Mithridatic war. Aristion himself committed in-
numerable outrages in the city, and was at last the cause of its being sacked
and plundered. As for the sacred fire, it was kept in the temple of Mi-
nerva.
非
​Livy tells us, (1. 86.) that towards the conclusion of the civil war be.
tween Sylla and Marius, Mutius Scævola, the pontiff, was killed at the en-
trance of the temple of Vesta; but we do not find that the sacred fire was
extinguished. And even when that temple was burnt, towards the end of
the first Punic war, L. Cecilius Metellus, then pontiff, rushed through the
flames, and brought off the Palladium, and other sacred things, though with
the loss of his sight.
† Burning glasses are invented by Archimedes, who flourished 500 years
after Numa.

NUMA.
145
children now. When they went abroad, they had the fasces
carried before them;* and if, by accident, they met a person
led to execution, his life was granted him. But the vestal was
to make oatht that it was by chance she met him, and not by
design. It was death to go under the chair in which they were
carried.
For smaller offences these virgins were punished with
stripes; and sometimes the pontifex maximus gave them the dis-
cipline naked, in some dark place, and under the cover of a
veil; but she that broke her vow of chastity was buried alive
by the Colline gate. There, within the walls, is raised a little
mount of earth, called in Latin Agger: under which is prepar-
ed a small cell, with steps to descend to it. In this are plac-
ed a bed, a lighted lamp, and some slight provisions, such as
bread, water, milk, and oil, as they thought it impious to take
off a person consecrated with the most awſul ceremonies, by
such a death as that of famine. † The criminal is carried to
punishment, through the Forum, in a litter well covered with-
out, and bound up in such a manner that her cries can not be
heard. The people silently make way for the litter, and follow
it with marks of extreme sorrow and dejection. There is no
spectacle more dreadful than this, nor any day which the city
passes in a more melancholy manner. When the litter comes
to the place appointed, the officers loose the cords; the high-
priest, with hands lifted up towards heaven, offers up some
private prayers just before the fatal minute, then takes out the
prisoner, who is covered with a veil, and places her upon the
steps which lead down to the cell: after this, he retires with
the rest of the priests, and when she is gone down, the steps
are taken away, and the cell is covered with earth; so that the
place is made level with the rest of the mount. Thus were the
vestals punished that preserved not their chastity.
It is also said that Numa built the temple of Vesta where the
perpetual fire was to be kept, § in an orbicular form, not intend-
ing to represent the figure of the earth, as if that was meant by
Vesta, but the frame of the universe, in the centre of which
* This honour was not conferred upon them by Numa, but by the trium-
virate in the year of Rome 712.
† Neither a vestal nor a priest of Jupiter was obliged to take an oath.
They were believed without that solemnity.
# There seems to be something improbable and inconsistent in this. Of
what use could provisions be to the vestal, who, when the grave was closed
upon her, must expire through want of air? Or, if she could make use of
those provisions, was she not at last to die by famine? Perhaps what Plu-
tarch here calls provisions, were materials for some sacrifice.
§ Dionysius of Iialicarnassus (l. č.)
is of opinion, and probably he is right,
that Numa did build the temple of Vesta in a round form, to represent the
figure of the earth; for by Vesta they meant the earth.
VOL. I.X

146
NUMA.
the Pythagoreans place the element of fire, * and give it the
name of Vesta and Unity. The earth they suppose not to be
without motion, nor situated in the centre of the world, but to
make its revolution round the sphere of fire, being neither one
of the most valuable nor principal parts of the great machine.
Plato, too, in his old age, is reported to have been of the same
opinion, assigning the earth a different situation from the cen-
tre, and leaving that, as the place of honour, to a nobler ele-
ment.
The Pontifices were, moreover, to prescribe the form of fu-
neral rites to such as consulted them.. Numa himself taught
them to look upon the last offices to the dead as no pollution.
He instructed them to pay all due honour to the infernal gods,
as receiving the most excellent part of us, and more particu-
larly to venerate the goddess Libitina, as he called her, who
presides over funeral solemnities; whether he meant by her
Proserpine, or rather Venus,t as some of the most learned Ro-
mans suppose; not improperly ascribing to the same divine
power
the care of our birth and of our death.
He himself likewise fixed the time of mourning, according
to the different ages of the deceased. He allowed none for a
child that died under three
years
of
age;
and for one older the
mourning was only to last as many months as he lived years, ,
provided those were not more than ten. The longest mourn-
ing was not to continue above ten months, after which
space
widows were permitted to marry again; but she that took ano-
ther husband before that term was out, was obliged, by his
decree, to sacrifice a cow with calf. I
* That this was the opinion of Philolaüs and other Pythagoreans is well
known; but Diogenes Laërtius tells us, that Pythagoras himself held the
earth to be the centre.
+ This Venus Libitina was the same with Proserpine. She was called at
Delphi Venus Epitumbid. Pluto was the Jupiter of the shades below; and
there they had their Mercury too.
# Such an unnatural sacrifice was intended to deter the widows from mar-
rying again before the expiration of their mourning; , Romulus's year con-
sisting but of ten months, when Numa afterwards added two months more,
he did not alter the time he had before settled for mourning; and therefore,
though, after that time, we often meet with Luctus annus, or a year's
mourning, we must take it only for the old year of Romulus.
The ordinary colour to express their grief, used alike by both sexes, was
black without trimmings; but after the establishment of the empire, when
abundance of colours came in fashion, the old primitive white grew so much
into contempt, that it became peculiar to the women for their mourning:-
Vide Plut. Quæst. Rom.
There were several accidents which often occasioned the concluding of a
public mourning, or suspension of a private one, before the fixed time; such
as the dedication of a temple, the solemnity of public games or festivals, the
solemn lustration performed by the censor, and the discharging of a vow

NUMA.
147
Numa instituted several other sacred orders; two of which
I shall mention, the Salii* and Feciales,f which afford particu-
lar proofs of his piety. The Feciales, who were like the Ireno-
phylakes, or guardians of the peace, among the Greeks, had, I
believe, a name expressive of their office; for they were to act
and mediate between the two parties, to decide their differ-
ences by reason, and not suffer them to go to war till all hopes
of justice were lost. The Greeks call such a peace Irene, as puts
an end to strife, not by mutual violence, but in a rational way,
In like manner, the feciales or, heralds, were often despatched
to such nations as had injured the Romans, to persuade them
to entertain more equitable sentiments; if they rejected their
application, they called the gods to witness, with imprecations
against themselves and their country, if their cause was not
just; and so they declared war. But if the Feciales refused
their sanction, it was not lawful for any Roman soldier, nor
even for the king himself, to begin hostilities. War was to
commence with their approbation, as the proper judges whe-
ther it was just, and then the supreme magistrate was to de-
liberate concerning the proper means of carrying it on.
The
great misfortunes which befel the city from the Gauls, are said
to have proceeded from the violation of these sacred rites; for
when those barbarians were besieging Clusium, Fabius Am-
bustus was sent ambassador to their camp, with proposals of
peace in favour of the besieged. But receiving a harsh an-
he thought himself released from his character of ambas-
sador, and rashly taking up arms for the Clusians, challenged
the bravest man in the Gaulish army. He proved victorious,
indeed, in the combat, for he killed his adversary, and carri-
ed off his spoils; but the Gauls having discovered who he
sent a herald to Rome to accuse Fabius of bearing arms
against them, contrary to treaties and good faith, and without
a declaration of war. Upon this the feciales exhorted the sen-
ate to deliver him up to the Gauls; but he applied to the peo-
ple; and being a favourite with them, was screened from the
swer,
was,
made by a magistrate or general. They likewise put off their mourning ha-
bit when a father, brother, or son, returned from captivity, or when some of
the family were advanced to a considerable employment.
* The Salii were the guardians of the Ancilid, or twelve shields hung up
in the temple of Mars. They took their name from their dancing in the cele-
bration of an annual festival instituted in memory of a miraculous shield,
which Numa pretended fell down from heaven.
† Dionysius of Halicarnassus finds them among the aborigines; and Numa
is said to have borrowed the institution from the people of Latium. He ap-
pointed twenty feciales, chosen out of the most eminent families in Rome,
and settled them in a college. The pater patratûs, who made peace or de-
nounced war, was probably one of their body selected for that purpose, be-
cause he had both a father and a son alive.--Liv. 1.i. con

148
NUMA,
sentence. Soon after this the Gauls marched to Rome, and
sacked the whole city, except the Capitol; as we have related
at large in the life of Camillus.
The order of priests called Salii, is said to have been insti-
tuted on this occasion. In the eighth year of Numa's reign a
pestilence prevailed in Italy; Rome also felt its ravages.
While the people were greatly dejected, we are told that a
brazen buckler fell from heaven into the hands of Numa. Of
this he gave a very wonderful account, received from Egeria
and the Muses; that the buckler was sent down for the
pre-
servation of the city, and should be kept with great care; that
eleven others should be made as like it as possible in size and
fashion, in order, that if any person were disposed to steal it,
he might not be able to distinguish that which fell from heaven
from the rest. He farther declared, that the place, and the
meadows about it, where he frequently conversed with the
Muses, should be consecrated to those divinities; and that the
spring which watered the ground, should be sacred to the use
of the vestal virgins, daily to sprinkle and purify their temple.
The immediate cessation of the pestilence is said to have con-
firmed the truth of this account. Numa then showed the
buckler to the artists, and commanded them to exert all their
skill for an exact resemblance. They all declined the attempt,
except Veturius Mamurius, who was so successful in the imi-
tation, and made the other eleven so like it, that not even
Numa himself could distinguish them. He gave these buck-
lers in charge to the Salii; who did not receive their name,
as some pretend, from Salius of Samothrace, or Mantinea,
that taught the way of dancing in arms, but rather from the
subsultive dance itself, which they lead up along the streets,
when in the month of March they carry the sacred bucklers
through the city. On that occasion, they are habited in pur-
ple vests, girt with broad belts of brass; they wear also brazen
helmets, and carry short swords, with which they strike upon
the bucklers, and to those sounds they keep time with their
feet. They move in an agreeable manner, performing certain
involutions and evolutions in a quick measure, with vigour,
agility and ease.
These bucklers are called Ancilia, from the form of them.
For they are neither circular, nor yet, like the pelta, semicir-
cular, but fashioned in two crooked indented lines, the extre-
mities of which meeting close, form a curve, in Greek, ancy-
Or else they may be so named from the ancon, or bend
of the arm, on which they are carried. This account of the
matter we have from Juba, who is very desirous to derive the
term from the Greek. But if we must have an etymology
from that language, it may be taken from their descending,
lon.

NUMA.
149
anekathen, from on high; or from akesis, their healing of the
sick; or from auchmon lusis, their putting an end to the
drought; or, lastly, from anaschesis, deliverance from calami-
ties; for which reason also, Castor and Pollux were by the
Athenians called anakes. The reward Mamurius had for his
art, was, we are told, an ode, which the Salians sung in me-
mory of him, along with the Pyrrhic dance. Some, however,
say, it was not Veturius Mamurius, who was celebrated in that
composition, but vetus memoria, the ancient remembrance of the
thing
After Numa had instituted these several orders of priests,
he erected a royal palace, called Regia, near the temple of
Vesta; and there he passed most of his time, either in per-
forming some sacred function, or instructing the priests, or,
at least, in conversing with them on some divine subject. He
had also another house upon the Quirinal mount, the situation
of which they still show us. In all public ceremonies and
processions of the priests, a herald went before, who gave no-
tice to the people to keep holiday; for, as they tell the
Pythagoreans would not suffer their disciples to pay any ho-
mage or worship to the gods in a cursory manner, but requir-
ed them to come prepared for it by meditation at home; so
Numa was of opinion, that his citizens should neither see nor
hear any religious service in a slight or careless way, but, dis-
engaged from other affairs, bring with them that attention,
which an object of such importance required. The streets
and
ways, on such occasions, were cleared of clamour, and all
manner of noise which attends manual labour, that the solem-
nities might not be disturbed. Some vestiges of this still re-
main; for when the consul is employed either in augury or
sacrificing, they call out to the people, Hoc age, Mind this; and
thus admonished them to be orderly and attentive.
Many other of his institutions resemble those of the Pytha-
goreans. For as these had precepts, which enjoined not to
sit upon a bushel;* not to stir the fire with a sword;t not to
turn back upon a journey;[ to offer an odd number to the ce-
lestial gods, and an even one to the terrestrial;g the sense of
us,
* That is, not to give up ourselves to idleness.
† Not to irritate him who is already angry.
# In another place Plutarch gives this precept thus, Never return from the
borders. But the sense is the same; Die like a man; do not long after life,
when it is departing, or wish to be young again.
$ The Pagans looked on an odd number as the more perfect, and the sym-
bol of concord, because it can not be divided into two equal parts, as the
even number may, which is, therefore, the symbol of division. This pre-
judice was not only the reason why the first month was consecrated to the
celestial, and the second to the terrestrial deities; but gave birth to a thou-

150
NUMA.
which precepts is hid from the vulgar; so some of Numa's
have a concealed meaning; as, not to offer to the gods wine
proceeding from a vine unpruned; nor to sacrifice without
meal;* to turn round when you worship:f and to sit down
when
you have worshipped. The two first precepts seem to
recommend agriculture as a part of religion. And the turn-
ing round in adoration, is said to represent the circular motion
of the world. But I rather think, that as the temples opened
towards the east, such as entered them necessarily turning
their backs
upon the rising sun, made a half turn to that quar-
ter, in honour of the god of day, and then completed the cir-
cle, as well as their devotions, with their faces towards the
god of the temple; unless, perhaps, this change of posture may
have an enigmatical meaning, like the Egyptian wheels, ad-
monishing us of the instability of every thing human, and
pre-
paring us to acquiesce, and rest satisfied, with whatever turns
and changes the Divine Being allots us. As for sitting down
after an act of religion, they tell us it was intended as an omen
of success in prayer, and of lasting happiness afterwards.
They add, that as actions are divided by intervals of rest, so,
when one business was over, they sat down in the presence of
the gods, that under their auspicious conduct they might begin
another. Nor is this repugnant to what has been already ad-
vanced; since the lawgiver wanted to accustom us to address
the deity, not in the midst of business or hurry, but when we
have time and leisure to do it as we ought.
By this sort of religious discipline,
the people became so
tractable, and were impressed with such a veneration of Nu-
ma's power, that they admitted many improbable, and even
fabulous tales, and thought nothing incredible or impossible
which he undertook. Thus he is said to have invited many
of the citizens to his table, £ where he took care the vessels
should be mean, and the provisions plain and inelegant; but
after they were seated, he told them, the goddess with whom
he used to converse, was coming to visit him, when, on a sud-
den, the room was supplied with the most costly vessels, and
sand superstitious practices, which, in some countries, are still kept up by
those whom reason and religion ought to have undeceived.
* The principal intention of this precept might be to wean them from sa-
crifices of blood, and to bring them to offer only cakes and figures of animals
made of paste.
† Probably to represent the immensity of the godhead.
# Dyonisius tells us, that Numa showed these Romans all the rooms of his
palace in the morning, meanly furnished, and without any signs of a great en-
tertainment; that he kept them with him great part of the day; and when
they returned to sup with him by invitation in the evening, they found every
thing surprisingly magnificent. It is likely Numa imputed the change to
his invisible friend.

NUMA.
151
the table with the most magnificent entertainment. But no-
thing can be imagined more absurd, than what is related of
his conversation with Jupiter. The story goes, that when
Mount Aventine was not enclosed within the walls, nor yet in-
habited, but abounded with flowing springs and shady groves,
it was frequented by two demi-gods, Picus and Faunus. These,
in other respects, were like the Satyrs, or the race of Titans;
but in the wonderful feats they performed by their skill in
pharmacy and magic, more resembled the Idæi Dactylit (as the
Greeks call them;) and thus provided, they roamed about
Italy.. They tell us, that Numa, having mixed the fountain
of which they used to drink with wine and honey, surprised
and caught them. Upon this, they turned themselves into
many forms, and quitting their natural figure, assumed strange
and horrible appearances. But when they found they could
not break or escape from the bond that held them, they ac-
quainted him with many secrets of futurity, and taught him
à charm for thunder and lightning, composed of onions, hair,
and pilchards, which is used to this day. Others say, these
demi-gods did not communicate the charm, but that by the
force of magic they brought down Jupiter from heaven. The
god, resenting this at Numa's hands, ordered the charm to con-
sist of heads. Of onions, replied Numa. No, human.—Hairs,
said Numa, desirous to fence against the dreadful injunction,
and interrupting the god. Living, said Jupiter; pilchards, said
Numa. He was instructed, it seems, by Egeria, how to
manage the matter. Jupiter went away propitious, in Greek
ileos, whence the place was called Iliciam;t and so the charm
was effected. These things, fabulous and ridiculous as they
are, show how superstition, confirmed by custom, operated
upon the minds of the people. As for Numa himself, he
placed his confidence so entirely in God, that when one brought
* Some manuscripts give us IIayw instead of Titawy, which is a better
reading, because Picus and Faunus were horned Sylvan deities, like Pan.
+ Diodorus tells us from Ephorus, the Idæi Dactyli were originally from
Mount Ida, in Phrygia, from whence they passed into Europe with king
Minos. They settled first in Samothrace, where they taught the inhabitants
religious rites. Orpheus is thought to have been their disciple; and the first
that carried a form of worship over into Greece. The Dactyli are likewise
said to have found out the use of fire, and to have discovered the nature of
iron and brass to the inhabitants of the country adjoining to mount Berecyn-
thus, and to have taught them the way of working them. For this, and
many other useful discoveries, they were, after their death, worshipped as
gods.
# This is Plutarch's mistake. Ovid informs us (Fast. 1. ii.) that Jupiter was
called Elicius from elicere, to draw out, because Jupiter was drawn out of
heaven on this occasion.

152
NUMA.
to
him word the enemy was coming, he only smiled, saying,
" And I am sacrificing.'
He is recorded to have been the first that built temples to
Fides, * or Faith, and to Terminus;t and he taught the Romans
to swear by faith, as the greatest of oaths; which they still
continue to make use of. In our times they sacrifice animals
in the fields, both on public and private occasions, to Terminus,
as the god of boundaries; but formerly the offering was an in-
animate one; for Numa argued that there should be no effu-
sion of blood in the rites of a god, who is the witness of jus-
tice, and guardian of peace. It is indeed certain, that Numa
was the first that marked out the bounds of the Roman terri-
tory; Romulus being unwilling, by measuring out his own,
show how much he had encroached upon the neighbouring
countries; for bounds, if preserved, are barriers against law-
less
power; if violated, they are evidences of injustice. The
territory of the city was by no means extensive at first, but
Romulus added to it a considerable district gained by the
sword. All this Numa divided among the indigent citizens,
that poverty might not drive them to rapine; and as he turn-
ed the application of the people to agriculture, their temper was
subdued together with the ground. For no occupation im-
plants so speedy and so effectual a love of peace as a country
life, where there remains indeed courage and bravery sufficient
to defend their property, but the temptations to injustice and
avarice are removed. Numa, therefore, introduced among
his subjects an attachment to husbandry, as a charm of
peace;
and contriving a business for them which would rather form
their manners to simplicity, than raise them to opulence, he
divided the country into several portions, which he called pagi,
or boroughs, and appointed over each of them a governor or
Sometimes he also inspected them himself; and
judging of the disposition of the people by the condition of
overseer.
* This was intended to make the Romans pay as much regard to their
word, as to a contract in writing. And so excellent, in fact, were their
principles, that Polybius gives the Romans of his time this honourable testi-
mony :-" They most inviolably keep their word, without being obliged to
it by bail, witness, or promise; whereas, ten securities, twenty promises,
and as many witnesses, can not hinder the faithless Greeks from attempting
to deceive and disappoint you." No wonder, then, that so virtuous a peo-
ple were victorious over those that were become thus degenerate and dis-
honest.
† The Dii Termini were represented by stones, which Numa caused to be
placed on the borders of the Roman state, and of each man's private lands.
In honour of these deities, he instituted a festival called Terminalia, which
was annually celebrated on the 22d or 23d of February. To remove the Dii
Termini was deemed a sacrilege of so heinous a nature, that any man might
kill, with impunity, the transgressor.

NUMA,
153
their farms, some he advanced to posts of honour and trust;
and, on the other hand, he reprimanded and endeavoured to
reform the negligent and the idle. *
But the most admired of all his institutions, is his distribu-
tion of the citizens into companies, according to their arts
and trades. For the city consisting, as we have observed,
of two nations, or rather factions, who were by no means will
ing to unite, or to blot out the remembrance of their original
difference, but maintained perpetual contests and party quar-
rels, he took the same method with them as is used to incor-
porate hard and solid bodies; which, while entire, will not
mix at all, but when reduced to powder, unite with ease. To
attain his purpose, he divided, as I said, the whole multitude
into small bodies, who gaining new distinctions, lost by de-
grees the great and original one, in consequence of their be-
ing thus broken into so many parts. This distribution was
made according to the several arts or trades, of musicians,
goldsmiths, masons, dyers, shoemakers, tanners, braziers, and
potters. He collected the other artificers also into companies,
who had their respective halls, courts, and religious ceremo-
nies, peculiar to each society. By these means he first took
away
the distinction of Sabines and Romans, subjects of Ta-
tius, and subjects of Romulus, both name and thing; the very
separation into parts mixing and incorporating the whole to-
gether.
He is celebrated also, in his political capacity, for correct-
ing the law which empowered fathers to sell their children, t
excepting such as married by their father's command or con-
sent; for he reckoned it a great hardship, that a woman should
marry a man as free, and then live with him as a slave.
IIe attempted the reformation of the calendar too, which he
executed with some degree of skill, though not with absolute
exactness. In the reign of Romulus, it had neither measure
nor order, some months consisting of fewer than twenty days,
* To neglect the cultivation of a farm, was considered amongst the Ro-
mans as a censorium probrum, a fault that merited the chastisement of the
censor.
+ Romulus had allowed father's greater power over their children than
masters had over their slaves. For a master could sell his slave but once,
whereas a father could sell his son three times, let him be of what age or
condition soever.
* But Macrobius tells us, (Saturnal. 1. i. c. 12,) that Romulus settled the
number of days with more equality, allotting to March, May, Quintilis, and
October, one and thirty days each; to April, June, Sextilis, November and
December, thirty; making up in all three hundred and four days. Numa
was better acquainted with the celestial motions; and therefore, in the first
place, added the two months of January and
February. By the way, it is
probable the reader will think, that neither Romulus, nor any other man,
VOL. I.-Y

154
NUMA.
while some were stretched to thirty-five, and others even to
more. They had no idea of the difference between the an-
nual course of the sun and that of the moon, and only laid
down this position, that the year consisted of three hundred
and sixty days. Numa, then, observing that there was a dif-
ference of eleven days, three hundred and fifty-four days
making up the lunar year, and three hundred and sixty-five
the solar, doubled those eleven days, and inserted them as an
intercalary month, after that of February, every other year.
This additional month was called by the Romans Mercedinus.
But this amendment of the irregularity afterwards required a
farther amendment. He likewise altered the order of the
months, making March the third, which was the first; January
first, which was the eleventh of Romulus, and February the
second, which was the twelfth and last. Many, however,
assert, that the two months of January and February were
added by Numa, whereas, before they had reckoned but ten
months in the year, as some barbarous nations had but three;
and among the Greeks, the Arcadians four, and the Acarna-
nians six. The Egyptian year, they tell us, at first consisted
only of one month, afterwards of four. And therefore, though
they inhabit a new country, they seem to be a very ancient
people, and reckon in their chronology an incredible number
of years, because they account months for years.*
could be so ignorant as to make the lunar year consist of three hundred and
four days; and that the Romans reckoned by lunar months, and consequent-
ly by the lunar year, originally, is plain from their calends, nones, and ides.
To compose these two months, he added fifty days to the three hundred and
four, in order to make them answer to the course of the moon. Besides this,
he observed the difference between the solar and the lunar course to be eles
ven days; and, to remedy the inequality, he doubled those days after every
two years, adding an interstitial month after February; which Plutarch here
calls Mercedinus, and, in the life of Julius Cæsar, Mercedonius. Festus
speaks of certain days, which he calls Dies Mercedonii, because they were
appointed for the payment of workmen and domestics, which is all we know
of the word. As Numa was sensible that the solar year consisted of three
hundred and sixty-five days and six hours, and that the six hours made a
whole day in four years, he commanded, that the month Mercedinus, after
every four years, should consist of twenty-three days; but the care of these
intercalations being left to the priests, they put in or left out the intercalary
day or month as they fancied it lucky or unlucky; and, by that means, crea-
ted such a confusion, that the festivals came, in process of time, to be kept
at a season quite contrary to what they had been formerly. The Roman
calendar had gained near three months in the days of Julius Cæsar, and
therefore wanted a great reformation again.
* To suppose the Egyptians reckoned months for years, does indeed bring
their computation pretty near the truth, with respect to the then age of the
world; for they reckoned a succession of kings for the space of 36,000 years.
But that supposition would make the reigns of their kings unreasonably
short. Besides, Herodotus says, the Egyptians were the first that began to

NUMA.
155
That the Roman year contained at first ten months only,
and not twelve, we have a proof in the name of the last; for
they still call it December, or the tenth month; and that March
was the first, is also evident, because the fifth from it was call-
ed Quintilis, the sixth Sextilis, and so the rest in their order.
If January and February had then been placed before March,
the month Quintilis would have been the fifth in name, but the
seventh in reckoning. Besides, it is reasonable to conclude,
that the month of March, dedicated by Romulus to the god
Mars, should stand first; and April second, which has its name
from Aphrodite or Venus, for in this month the women sacrifice
to that goddess, and bathe on the first of it, with crowns of
myrtle on their heads. Some however say, April derives not
its name from Aphrodite; but as the very sound of the term
seems to dictate, from aperire, to open, because the spring hav-
ing then attained its vigour, it opens and unfolds the blossoms
of plants. The next month, which is that of May, is so call-
ed from Maia, the mother of Mercury; for to him it is sacred.
June is so styled from the youthful season of the year. Some
again inform us, that these two months borrow their names
from the two ages, old and young; for the older men are called
majores, and the younger juniores. The succeeding months
were denominated according to their order, of fifth, sixth,
seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth. Afterwards Quintilis was called
July, in honour of Julius Cæsar, who overcame Pompey; and
Sextilis August, from Augustus, the second emperor of Rome.
To the two following months Domitian gave his two names of
Germanicus and Domitianus, which lasted but a little while; for
when he was slain, they resumed their old names, September
and October. The two last were the only ones that all along
retained the original appellation which they had from their
order. February, which was either added or transposed by
Numa, is the month of purification; for so the term signifies;
and then rites are celebrated for the purifying of trees, * and
compute by years; and that they made the year consist of twelve months.
Their boasted antiquity must, therefore, be imputed to their stretching the
fabulous part of their history too far back. As to Plutarch's saying that
Egypt was a new country, it is strange that such a notion could ever be en-
tertained by a man of his knowledge.
* Another reading has it, Tois PITOış evægi?x01, instead of tous Qurols: and
then the sense will be, they sacrifice to the dead. Both have their authori-
ties: the common reading being supported by a passage in Ovid, who takes
notice that the Luperci purified the ground:-
Sectà quia pelle Luperci
Omne solum lustrant.
Lib. i. Fast.
And the other, which seems the better, rests upon the authority of Varro

156
NUMA.
procuring a blessing of their fruits; then also the feast of the
Lupercalia is held, whose ceremonies greatly resemble those of
a lustration. January, the first month, is so named from Janus.
And Numa seems to me to have taken away the precedency
from March, which is denominated from the god of war, with
a design to show his preference of the political virtues to the
martial. For this Janus, in the most remote antiquity, whe-
ther a demigod or a king, being remarkable for his political
abilities, and his cultivation of society, reclaimed men from
their rude and savage manners; he is therefore represented
with two faces, as having altered the former state of the world,
and given quite a new turn to life. He has also a temple at
Rome with two gates, which they call the gates of war. It is
the custom for this temple to stand open in the time of war,
and to be shut in time of peace. The latter was seldom the
case, as the empire has been generally engaged in war, on ac-
count of its great extent, and its having to contend with so
many surrounding barbarous nations. It has therefore been
shut only in the reign of Augustus Cæsar, * when he had con-
quered Antony; and before, in the consulate of Marcus Attili-
ust and Titus Manlius a little while; for a new war breaking
out, it was soon opened again. In Numa's reign, however, it
was not opened for one day, but stood constantly shut during
the space of forty-three years, while uninterrupted peace reign-
ed in every quarter. Not only the people of Rome were soft-
ened and humanized by the justice and mildness of the king,
but even the circumjacent cities, breathing as it were the same
salutary and delightful air, began to change their behaviour.
Like the Romans, they became desirous of peace and good
laws, of cultivating the ground, educating their children in tran-
quillity, and paying their homage to the gods. Italy then was
taken up with festivals and sacrifices, games and entertain-
ments; the people, without any apprehensions of danger, mix-
ed in a friendly manner, and treated each other with mutual
hospitality; the love of virtue and justice, as from the source of
Numa's wisdom, gently flowing upon all, and moving with
the composure of his heart. Even the hyperbolical expres-
and others, who mention an offering to the dead in the month of February.
---Ab dcis inferis Februaris appellatus, quòd tunc his parentetur.
* Augustus shut the temple of Janus three several times; one of which
was in the year of Rome 750, before the birth of our Saviour, according to
Isaiah's prophecy, that all the world should be blest with peace, when the
Prince of Peace was born. This temple was also shut by Vespasian after
his triumph over the Jews.
+ Instead of Marcus we should read Caius Attilius. Titus Manlius, his
colleague, shut the temple of Janus at the conclusion of the first Punic war.

NUMA.
157
sions of the poets fall short of describing the happiness of
those days:-
Secure Arachnë spreads her slender toils
O’er the broad buckler; eating rust consum'd
The vengeful swords and once far-gleaming spears;
No more the trump of war swells its hoarse throat,
Nor robs the eye-lids of their genial slumber.*
A man
We have no account of either war or insurrection in the state
during Numa's reign. Nay, he experienced neither enmity
nor envy; nor did ambition dictate cither open or private at-
tempts against his crown. Whether it were the fear of the
gods, who took so pious a man under their protection, or re-
verence of his virtue, or the singular good fortune of his times,
that kept the manners of men pure and unsullied, he was an
illustrious instance of that truth, which Plato several ages after
ventured to deliver concerning government:—66 That the only
sure prospect of deliverance from the evils of life, will be,
when the Divine Providence shall so order it, that the regal
power, invested in a prince who has the sentiments of a phi-
losopher, shall render virtue triumphant over vice.”
of such wisdom is not only happy in himself, but contributes
by his instructions to the happiness of others. There is, in
truth, no need either of force or menaces to direct the multi-
tude; for when they see virtue exemplified in so glorious a
pattern as the life of their prince, they become wise of them-
selves, and endeavour, by friendship and unanimity, by a
strict regard to justice and temperance, to form themselves to
an innocent and happy life. This is the noblest end of govern-
ment; and he is most worthy of the royal seat who can regulate
the lives and dispositions of his subjects in such a manner.
No man was more sensible of this than Numa.
As to his wives and children, there are great contradictions
among historians. For some say he had no wife but Tatia,
nor any child but one daughter named Pompilia. Others,
beside that daughter, give an account of four sons, Pompon,
Pinus, Calpus, and Mamercus; every one of which left an
honourable posterity-The Pomponii being descended from
Pompon, the Pinarii from Pinus, the Calpurnii from Calpus,
and the Mamercii from Mamercus. These were surnamed
Reges, or kings.† But a third set of writers accuse the former
* Plutarch took this passage from some excellent verses of Bacchylides
in praise of peace, given us by Stobæus.
† Rex was the surname of the Æmilians and Marcians, but not of the Pom-
ponians, the Pinarians, or Mamercians. The Pinarii were descended from
a family who were priests of Hercules, and more ancient than the times of
Numa.
15*

158
NUMA,
of forging these genealogies from Numa, in order to ingratiate
themselves with particular families. And they tell
us,
that
Pompilia was not the daughter of Tatia, but of Lucretia, ano-
ther wife, whom he married after he ascended the throne. All
however agree, that Pompilia was married to Marcius, son
of that Marcius who persuaded Numa to accept the crown;
for he followed him to Rome, where he was enrolled a sena-
tor, and after Numa's death, was competitor with Tullus
Hostilius for the throne; but failing in the enterprise, he stary-
ed himself to death. His son Marcius, husband to Pompilia,
remained in Rome, and had a son named Ancus Marcius,
who reigned after Tullus Hostilius. This son is said to have
been but five years old at the death of Numa.
Numa was carried off by no sudden or acute distemper; but,
as Piso relates, wasted away insensibly with old age and a
gentle decline. He was some few years above eighty when
he died.
The neighbouring nations that were in friendship and alli-
ance with Rome, strove to make the honours of his burial
equal to the happiness of his life, attending with crowns and
other public offerings. The Senators carried the bier, and the
ministers of the gods walked in procession. The rest of the
people, with the women and children, crowded to the funeral;
not as if they were attending the interment of an aged king,
but as if they had lost one of their beloved relations in the
bloom of life; for they followed it with tears and loud lamen-
tations. They did not burn the body, * because (as we are
told) he himself forbade it; but they made two stone coffins,
and buried them under the Janiculum; the one containing his
body, and the other the sacred books which he had written
in the same manner as the Grecian legislators wrote their ta-
bles of laws.
Numa had taken care, however, in his life time, to instruct
the priests in all that those books contained, and to impress
both the sense and practice on their memories. He then or-
dered them to be buried with him, persuaded that such myste-
* In the most ancient times they committed the bodies of the dead to the
ground, as appears from the history of the patriarchs. But the Egyptians,
from a vain desire of preserving their bodies from corruption after death,
had them embalmed; persons of condition with rich spices, and even the
poor had theirs preserved with salt. The Greeks, to obviate the inconve-
niences that might possibly happen from corruption, burnt the bodies of the
dead; but Pliny tells us, that Sylla was the first Roman whose body was
burnt. When paganism was abolished, the burning of dead bodies ceased
with it; and in the belief of the resurrection, Christians committed their
dead with due care and honour to the earth, to repose there till that great
event.

NUMA
159
ries could not safely exist in lifeless writing. Influenced by
the same reasoning, it is said, the Pythagoreans did not com-
mit their precepts to writing, but entrusted them to the me-
mories of such as they thought worthy of so great a deposit.
And when they happened to communicate to an unworthy
person their abstruse problems in geometry, they gave out
that the gods threatened to avenge his profaneness and impiety
with some great and signal calamity. Those, therefore, may
be well excused who endeavour to prove by so many resem-
blances that Numa was acquainted with Pythagoras. Vale-
rius Antius relates, that there were twelve books written in
Latin, concerning religion, and twelve more of philosophy, in
Greek, buried in that coffin. But four hundred years after, *
when Publius Cornelius and Marcus Bæbius were consuls, a
prodigious fall of rain having washed away the earth that co-
vered the coffins, and the lids falling off, one of them appear-
ed entirely empty, without the least remains of the body; in
the other, the books were found. Petilius, then prætor, hay-
ing examined them, made his report upon oath to the senate,
that it appeared to him inconsistent both with justice and re-
ligion, to make them public. In consequence of which all the
volumes were carried into the Comitium, and burnt.
Glory follows in the train of great men, and increases after
their death; for envy does not long survive them; nay, it
sometimes dies before them. The misfortunes, indeed, of
the succeeding kings added lustre to the character of Numa.
Of the five that came after him, the last was driven from the
throne, and lived long in exile; and of the other four, not one
died a natural death. Three were traitorously slain. As for
Tullus Hostilius, who reigned next after Numa, he ridiculed
and despised many of his best institutions, particularly his re-
ligious ones, as effeminate and tending to inaction; for his
view was to dispose the people to war. He did not, however,
abide by his irreligious opinions, but falling into a severe and
* Plutarch probably wrote five hundred; for this happened in the year
of
Rome 573. One Terentius,” says Varro, Cap. S. August. de. Civ. Dei.
«had a piece of ground near the Janiculum; and a husbandman of his or.
day accidentally running over Numa's tomb, turned up some of the legislator'
books, wherein he gave his reasons for establishing the religion of the Ro
mans, as he left it. The husbandman carried these books to the prætor, and
the prætor to the senate, who, after having read his frivolous reasons for his
religious establishments, agreed, that the books should be destroyed, in pur-
suance of Numa's intentions. It was accordingly decreed, that the prætor
should throw them into the fire.” But though Numa's motives for the re-
ligion he established might be trivial enough, that was not the chief reason
for suppressing them. The real, at least the principal reason, was the many
new superstitions, equally trivial, which the Romans had introduced, and the
worship which they paid to images, contrary to Numa's appointment.

160
NUMA.
complicated sickness, he changed them for a superstition,
very different from Numa’s piety. Others, too, were infect-
ed with the same false principles, when they saw the manner
of his death, which is said to have happened by lightning. +
* None are so superstitious in distress as those who, in their prosperity,
have laughed at religion. The famous Canon Vossius was no less remarka-
ble for the greatness of his fears, than he was for the littleness of his faith.
+ The palace of Tullus Hostilius was burnt down by lightning: and he,
with his wife and children, perished in the flames. Though some historians
say, that Ancus Marcius, who was the grandson of Numa, expecting to suc-
ceed to the crown, took the opportunity of the storm to assassinate the king.

NUMA AND LYCURGUS
COMPARED.
HAVING gone through the lives of Numa and Lycurgus, we
must now endeavour (though it is no easy matter) to contrast
their actions. The resemblances between them, however, are
obvious enough; their wisdom, for instance, their piety, their
talents for government, the instruction of their people, and
their deriving their laws from a divine source. But the chief
of their peculiar distinctions, was Numa's accepting a crown,
and Lycurgus's relinquishing one. The former received a
kingdom without seeking it, the latter resigned one when he
had it in possession. Numa advanced to sovereign power,
when a private person and a stranger; Lycurgus reduced him-
self from a king to a private person. It was an honour to the
one to attain to royal dignity by his justice; and it was an ho-
nour to the other to prefer justice to that dignity. Virtue
rendered the one so respectable as to deserve a throne, and
the other so great as to be above it.
The second observation is, that both managed their respec-
tive governments, as musicians do the lyre, each in a different
manner. Lycurgus wound up the strings of Sparta, which he
found relaxed with luxury, to a stronger tone: Numa soften-
ed the high and harsh tone of Rome. The former had the
more difficult task; for it was not their swords and breast-
plates, which he persuaded his citizens to lay aside, but their
gold and silver, their sumptuous beds and tables; what he
taught them was, not to devote their time to feasts and sa-
crifices, after quitting the rugged paths of war, but to leave
entertainments and the pleasures of wine, for the laborious
exercises of arms and the wrestling ring. Numa effected his
purposes in a friendly way, by the regard and veneration the
people had for his person; Lycurgus had to struggle with con.
flicts and dangers, before he could establish his laws. The
genius of Numa was more mild and gentle, softening and at-
tempering the fiery dispositions of his people to justice and
peace. If we be obliged to admit the sanguinary and unjust
treatment of the Helotes, as a part of the politics of Lycurgus,
we must allow Numa to have been far the more humane and
VOL. I.Z

162
NUMA AND LYCURGUS COMPARED.
equitable lawgiver, who permitted absolute slaves to taste of
the honour of freemen, and in the Saturnalia to be entertained
along with their masters. * For this also they tell us was one of
Numa's institutions, that persons in a state of servitude should
be admitted, at least once a year, to the liberal enjoyment of
those fruits which they had helped to raise. Some, however,
pretend to find in this custom the vestiges of the equality
which subsisted in the times of Saturn, when there was nei-
ther servant nor master, but all were upon the same footing,
and, as it were, of one family.
Both appear to have been equally studious to lead their
people to temperance and sobriety. As to the other virtues,
the one was more attached to fortitude, and the other to jus-
tice; though possibly the different nature and quality of their
respective governments required a different process. For it
was not through want of courage, but to guard against injus-
tice, that Numa restrained his subjects from war; nor did Ly-
curgus endeavour to infuse a martial spirit into his people,
with a view to encourage them to injure others, but to guard
them against being injured by invasions. As each had the
luxuriances of his citizens to prune, and their deficiencies to
fill up, they must necessarily make very considerable altera-
tions.
Numa's distribution of the people was indulgent and agreea-
ble to the commonalty, as with him a various and mixed mass
of goldsmiths, musicians, shoemakers, and other trades, com-
posed the body of the city. But Lycurgus inclined to the no-
bility in modelling his state, and he proceeded in a severe
and unpopular manner; putting all mechanic arts in the hands
of slaves and strangers, while the citizens were only taught
how to manage the spear and shield. They were only artists
in war, and servants of Mars, neither knowing nor desiring to
know any thing but how to obey, command, and conquer their
enemies. That the freemen might be entirely and once for all
free, he would not suffer them to give any attention to their
circumstances, but that the whole business was to be left to
the slaves and Helotes, in the same manner as the dressing of
their meat. Numa made no such distinction as this: he only
* The Saturnalia was a feast celebrated on the 14th of the kalends of
January. Beside the sacrifices in honour of Saturn, who,
upon
his retiring
into Italy, introduced there the happiness of the golden age, servants were
at this time indulged in mirth and freedomn, in memory of the equality which
prevailed in that age; presents were sent from one friend to another; and no
war was to be proclaimed, nor offender executed. It is uncertain when this
festival was instituted. Macrobius says, it was celebrated in Italy long before
the building of Rome; and probably he is right, for the Greeks kept the same
feast under the name of Chronia.--Macrob. Saturn. I. i. c.7.

NUMA AND LYCURGUS COMPARED.
163
put a stop to the gain of rapine. Not solicitous to prevent
an inequality of substance, he forbade no other means of in-
creasing the fortunes of his subjects, nor their rising to the
greatest opulence; neither did he guard against poverty,
which at the same time made its way into, and spread in the
city. While there was no great disparity in the possessions
of his citizens, but all were moderately provided, he should
at first have combated the desire of gain; and, like Lycurgus,
have watched against its inconveniences; for those were by
no means inconsiderable, but such as give birth to the many
and great troubles that happened in the Roman state.
As to an equal division of lands, neither was Lycurgus to
blame for making it, nor Numa for not making it. The
equality which it caused, afforded the former a firm foundation
for his government; and the latter finding a division already
made, and probably as yet subsisting entire, had no occasion
to make a new one.
With respect to the community of wives and children, each
took a politic method to banish jealousy. A Roman husband,
when he had a sufficient number of children, and was applied
to by one that had none, might give up his wife to him, * and
was at liberty both to divorce her and to take her again. But
the Lacedæmonian, while his wife remained in his house, and
the marriage subsisted in its original force, allowed his friend,
who desired to have children by her, the use of his bed; and
(as we have already observed) many husbands invited to their
houses such men as were likely to give them healthy and well-
made children. The difference between the two customs is
this: that the Lacedæmonians appeared very easy and uncon-
cerned about an affair that in other places causes so much dis-
turbance, and consumes men's hearts with jealousy and sor-
row; whilst among the Romans there was a modesty, which
veiled the matter with a new contract, and seemed to declare
that a community in wedlock is intolerable.
Yet farther, Numa’s strictness as to virgins, tended to form
them to that modesty which is the ornament of their sex; but
the great liberty which Lycurgus gave them, brought upon
them the censure of the poets, particularly Ibycus; for they
call them Phænomerides, and Andromaneis. Euripides decribes
them in this manner:
These quit their homes, ambitious to display,
Amidst the youths, their vigour in the race,
Or feats of wrestling, whilst their airy robe
Flies back, and leaves their limbs uncovered.
It does not appear that Numa gave any sanction to this liberty. Plutarch
himself says, a little below, that no divorce was known in Rome till long after.

164
NUMA AND LYCURGUS COMPARED.
The skirts of the habit which the virgins wore, were not sex.
ed to the bottom, but opened at the sides as they walked, and
discovered the thigh; as Sophocles very plainly writes:-
Still in the light dress struts the vain Hermione,
Whose opening folds display the naked thigh.
ters.
Consequently, their behaviour is said to have been too bold
and too masculine, in particular to their husbands; for they con
sidered themselves as absolute mistresses in their houses; nay,
they wanted a share in affairs of state, and delivered their ser-
timents with great freedom concerning the most weighty mat-
But Numa, though he preserved entire to the matrong
all the honour and respect that were paid them by their hus
bands in the time of Romulus, when they endeavoured by
kindness to compensate for the rape, yet he obliged them to
behave with great reserve, and to lay aside all impertinent cu-
riosity. He taught them to be sober, and accustomed them to
silence, entirely to abstain from wine,* and not to speak even
of the most necessary affairs except in the presence of their
husbands. When a woman once appeared in the forum to
plead her own cause, it is reported that the senate ordered the
oracle to be consulted, what this strange event portended to
the city.† Nay, what is recorded of a few infamous women,
is a proof of the obedience and meekness of the Roman ma-
trons in general; for as our historians give us accounts of those
who first carried war into the bowels of their country, or
against their brothers, or were first guilty of parricide; so the
Romans relate, that Spurius Carvilius was the first among them
that divorced his wife, when no such thing had happened be-
fore for two hundred and thirty years from the building of
Rome;f and that Thalæa, the wife of Pinarius, was the first
that quarrelled, having a dispute with her mother-in-law Ge-
gania, in the reign of Tarquin the proud. So well framed for
the preserving of decency and a propriety of behaviour, were
this lawgiver's regulations with respect to marriage.
* Romulus made the drinking of wine, as well as adultery, a capital crime
in women. For, he said, adultery opens the door to all sorts of crimes, and
wine opens the door to adultery. The severity of the law was softened in
the succeeding ages; the women who were overtaken in liquor, were not
condemned to die, but to lose their dowers.
† What then appeared so strange became afterwards common enough: in-
somuch, that every troublesome woman of that kind was called Afrania,
from a senator's wife of that name, who busied herself much in courts of
justice. The eloquent Hortensia, daughter to the orator Hortensius, plead-
ed with such success for the women, when the triumvirs had laid a fine up-
on them, that she got a considerable part of it remitted.
$ It was in the 520th year of Rome that this happened.

NUMA AND LYCURGUS COMPARED.
165
Agreeable to the education of virgins in Sparta, were the
directions of Lycurgus as to the time of their being married.
For he ordered them to be married when both their age and
wishes led them to it; that the company of a husband, which
nature now required, might be the foundation of kindness and
love, and not of fear and hatred, which would be the conse-
quence when nature was forced; and that their bodies might
have strength to bear the troubles of breeding and the pangs
of child-birth; the propagation of children being looked upon
as the only end of marriage. But the Romans married their
daughters at the age of twelve years, or under; that both their
bodies and manners might come pure and untainted into the
management of their husbands. It appears, then, that the for-
mer institution more naturally tended to the procreation of
children, and the latter to the forming of the manners for the
matrimonial union.
However, in the education of the boys, in regulating their
classes, and laying down the whole method of their exercises,
their diversions, and their eating at a common table, Lycurgus
stands distinguished, and leaves Numa only upon a level with
ordinary lawgivers. For Numa left it to the option or con-
venience of parents, to bring up their sons to agriculture, to
ship-building, to the business of a brazier, or the art of a mu-
sician; as if it were not necessary for one design to run through
the education of them all, and for each individual to have the
same bias given him; but as if they were all like passengers
in a ship, who coming each from a different employment, and
with a different intent, stand upon their common defence in
time of danger, merely out of fear for themselves or their pro-
perty, and on other occasions are attentive only to their pri-
vate ends. In such a case, common legislators would have
been excusable, who might have failed through ignorance or
want of power. But should not so wise a man as Numa, who
took upon him the government of a state so lately formed, and
not likely to make the least opposition to any thing he pro-
posed, have considered it as his first care, to give the children
such a bent of education, and the youth such a mode of exer-
cise as would prevent any great difference or confusion in
their manners, that so they might be formed from their in-
fancy, and persuaded to walk together, in the same paths of
virtue? Lycurgus found the utility of this in several respects,
and particularly in securing the continuance of his laws. For
the oath the Spartans had taken, would have availed but little,
if the youth had not been already tinctured with his discipline,
and trained to a zeal for his establishment. Nay, so strong
and deep was the tincture, that the principal laws which he
enacted, continued in force for more than five hundred years.
16

166
NUMA AND LYCURGUS COMPARED
But the primary view of Numa's government, which was to
settle the Romans in lasting peace and tranquillity, immediate-
ly vanished with him; and, after his death, the temple of Janus,
which he had kept shut (as if he had really held war in prison
and subjection), was set wide open, and Italy was filled with
blood. * The beautiful pile of justice which he had reared,
presently fell to the ground, being without the cement of edu-
cation.
You will say, then, was not Rome bettered by her wars?
A question this which wants a long answer, to satisfy such as
place the happiness of a state in riches, luxury, and an extent
of dominion, rather than in security, equity, temperance, and
It may seem, however, to afford an argument in
favour of Lycurgus, that the Romans, upon quitting the dis-
cipline of Numa, soon arrived at a much higher degree of
power; whereas the Lacedæmonians, as soon as they departed
from the institutions of Lycurgus, from being the most re-
spectable people of Greece, became the meanest, and were in
danger of being absolutely destroyed. On the other hand, it
must be acknowledged something truly great and divine in
Numa, to be invited from another country to the throne; to
make so many alterations by means of persuasions; to reign
undisturbed over a city not yet united in itself, without the
use of an armed force (which Lycurgus was obliged to have
recourse to, when he availed himself of the aid of the nobility
against the commons), and by his wisdom and justice alone,
to conciliate and combine all his subjects in peace.
content.
* In the wars with the Fidenates, the Albans, and the Latins,

THE
LIFE OF SOLON.*
DIDYMUS, the grammarian, in his answer to Asclepiades,
concerning the laws of Solon, cites the testimony of one Phi-
locles, by which he would prove Solon the son of Euphorion,
contrary to the opinion of others that have wrote of him. For
they all with one voice declare that Execestides was his fa-
ther; a man of moderate fortune and power, but of the noblest
family in Athens, being descended from Códrus. His mother,
according to Peraclides of Pontus, was cousin-german to the
mother of Pisistratus. This tie of friendship at first united
Solon and Pisistratus in a very intimate friendship, which was
drawn closer, (if we may believe some writers) by the regard
which the former had for the beauty and excellent qualities of
the latter.† Hence we may believe it was, that when they
differed afterwards about matters of state, this dissension
broke not out into any harsh or ungenerous treatment of each
other; but their first union kept some hold of their hearts,
some sparks of the flame still remained, and the tenderness of
former friendship was not quite forgotten.
*
米
​**
Solon's father having hurt his fortune,Ị as Hermippus tells
* Solon flourished about the year before Christ 597.
† Pisistratus was remarkably courteous, affable, and liberal. He had al-
ways two or three slaves near him with bags of silver coin; when he saw any
man look sickly, or heard that any died insolvent, he relieved the one, and
buried the others at his own expense. If he perceived people melancholy,
he inquired the caise, and if he found it was poverty, he furnished them with
what might enable them to get bread, but not to live idly. Nay, he left even
his gardens and orchards open, and the fruit free to the citizens. His looks
were easy and sedate, his language soft and modest. In short, if his virtues
had been genuine, and not dissembled, with a view to the tyranny of Athens,
he would (as Solon told him) have been the best citizen in it.
# Aristotle reckons Solon himself among the inferior citizens, and quotes
his own works to prove it. The truth is, that Solon was never rich, it may
be, because he was always honest. In his youth, he was mightily addicted to
poetry. And Plato (in Timæo ) says, that if he had finished all his
poems,
and particularly the History of the Atlantic Island, which he brought out of
Egypt, and had taken time to revise and correct them, as others did, neither
Homer, Hesiod, nor any other ancient poet, would have been more famous.

168
SOLON.
us, by indulging his great and munificent spirit, though the
son might have been supported by his friends, yet as he was
of a family that had long been assisting to others, he was
ashamed to accept of assistance himself; and, therefore, in his
younger years, applied himself to merchandise. Some, how-
ever, say that he travelled rather to gratify his curiosity, and
extend his knowledge, than to raise an estate. For he
pro-
fessed his love of wisdom, and when far advanced in years,
made this declaration, —- I grow old in the pursuit of learn-
ing.” He was not too much attached to wealth, as we may
gather from the following verses:
The man that boasts of golden stores,
Of grain that loads his bending floors,
Of fields with fresh’ning herbage green,
Where bounding steeds and herds are seen,
I call not happier than the swain,
Whose limbs are sound, whose food is plain,
Whose joys a blooming wife endears,
Whose hours a smiling offspring cheers.*
Yet, in another place, he says-
The flow of riches, though desir'd,
Life's real goods, if well acquir'd,
Unjustly let me never gain,
Lest vengeance follow in their train.
Indeed, a good man, a valuable member of society, should
neither set his heart upon superfluities, nor reject the use of
what is necessary and convenient. And, in those times, as
Hesiodt informs us, no business was looked upon as a dispar-
agement, nor did any trade cause a disadvantageous distinction.
The profession of merchandise was honourable, as it brought
home the produce of barbarous countries, engaged the friend-
ship of kings, and opened a wide field of knowledge and ex-
perience. Nay, some merchants have been founders of
great
cities; Protus, for instance, that built Marseilles, for whom the
Gauls about the Rhone had the highest esteem. Thales also,
and Hippocrates the mathematician, are said to have had their
It is evident, both from the life and writings of this great man, that he was
a person not only of exalted virtue, but of a pleasant and agreeable temper.
He considered men as men: and keeping both their capacity for virtue, and
their proneness to evil, in his view, he adapted his laws so as to strengthen
and support the one, and to check and keep under the other. His institu-
tions are as remarkable for their sweetness and practicability, as those of
Lycurgus are for harshness and forcing human nature.
* This passage of Solon's and another below, are now found among the
sentences of Theognis.
† Lib, Ob, et Di. ver. 309.

SOLON.
169
share in commerce; and the oil that Plato disposed of in
Egypt, * defrayed the expense of his travels.
If Sólon was too expensive and luxurious in his way of liv- .
ing, and indulged his poetical vein in his description of ples.-
sure too freely for a philosopher, it is imputed to his mercan-
tile life; for, as he passed through many and great dangers,
he might surely compensate them with a little relaxation and
enjoyment. But that he placed himself rather in the class of
the poor than the rich, is evident from these lines:-
For vice, though Plenty fills her horn,
And virtue sinks in want and scorn;
Yet never, sure, shall Solon change
His truth for wealth's most easy range!
Since virtue lives, and truth shall stand,
While wealth eludes the grasping hand.
He seems to have made use of his poetical talent at first, not
for any serious purpose, but only for amusement, and to fill
up
his hours of leisure; but afterwards he inserted moral sen-
tences, and interwove many political transactions in his
poems,
not for the sake of recording or remembering them, but some-
times by way of apology for his own administration, and
sometimes to exhort, to advise, or to censure the citizens of
Athens. Some are of opinion, that he attempted to put his
laws too in verse; and they give us this beginning:-
Supreme of gods, whose power we first address,
This plan to honour and these laws to bless.
Like most of the sages of those times, he cultivated chiefly
that part of moral philosophy, which treats of civil obliga-
tions. His physics were of a very simple and ancient cast, as
appears from the following lines:-
From cloudy vapours falls the treasur'd snow,
And the fierce hail; from lightning's rapid blaze
Springs the loud thunder-winds disturb the deep,
Than whose unruffled breast, no smoother scene
In all the works of nature! -
Upon the whole, Thales seems to have been the only philoso-
pher who then carried his speculations beyond things in com-
mon use, while the rest of the wise men maintained their cha-
racter by rules for social life.
They are reported to have met at Delphi, and afterwards at
Corinth, upon the invitation of Periander, who made provi-
* It was usual to trade into Egypt with the oil of Greece and Judea. It
is said in the prophet Hosea, (c. xii. v. 1,) Ephraim carrieth oil inło Egypt.
VOL. I. 2 A
16*

170
SOLON
sion for their entertainment. But what contributed most to
their honour, was their sending the tripod from one to another,
with an ambition to outvie each other in modesty. The story
is this:-When some Coäns were drawing a net, certain stran-
gers
from Miletus brought the draught unseen. It proved to be
a golden tripod, which Helen, as she sailed from T'roy, is said
to have thrown in there, in compliance with an ancient oracle.
A dispute arising at first between the strangers and the fisher-
men about the tripod, and afterwards extending itself to the
states to which they belonged, so as almost to engage them
in hostilities, the priestess of Apollo took up the matter, by
ordering, that the wisest man they could find should have the
tripod. And, first, it was sent to Thales at Miletus, the Coäns
voluntarily presenting that to one of the Milesians, for which
they would have gone to war with them all. Thales declared,
that Bias was a wiser man than he, so it was brought to him.
He sent it to another, as wiser still. After making a farther
circuit, it came to Thales the second time. And, at last, it
was carried from Miletus to Thebes, and dedicated to the Is-
menian Apollo. Theophrastus relates, that the tripod was
first sent to Bias at Priene; that Bias sent it back again to
Thales at Miletus; that so having passed through the hands of
the seven, it came round to Bias again, and at last was sent to
the temple of Apollo at Delphi. This is the most current ac-
count; yet some say the present was not a tripod, but a bowl
sent by Crosus; and others, that it was a cup which one Ba-
thycles had left for that purpose.
We have a particular account of a conversation which So-
lon had with Anacharsis, * and of another he had with Thales.
Anacharsis went to Solon's house at Athens, knocked at the
door, and said,-“ He was a stranger, who desired to enter
into engagements of friendship and mutual hospitality with
Solon answered,—6 Friendships are best formed at
home.” “Then do you,” said Anacharsis, “who are at home,
make me your friend, and receive me into your house."
Struck with the quickness of his repartee, Solon gave him a
him."
* The Scythians long before the days of Solon, had been celebrated for
their frugality, their temperance, and justice. Anacharsis was one of these
Scythians, and a prince of the blood. He went to Athens about the forty-
seventh Olympiad, that is 590 years before Christ. His good sense, his
knowledge, and great experience, made him pass for one of the seven wise
But the greatest and wisest men have their inconsistencies; for such
it certainly was, for Anacharsis to carry the Grecian worship, the rites of
Cybele, into Scythia, contrary to the laws of his country. Though he per-
formed those rites privately in a woody part of the country, a Scythian hap-
pened to see him, and acquainted the king with it, who came immediately
and shot him with an arrow upon the spot.--Herodot. 1. iv. c. 76.
men.

SOLON.
171
kind welcome, and kept him some time with him, being then
employed in public affairs and in modelling his laws. When
Anacharsis knew what Solon was about, he laughed at his un-
dertaking, and at the absurdity of imagining he could restrain
the avarice and injustice of the citizens by written laws, which
in all respects resembled spiders' webs, and would, like them,
only entangle, and hold the poor and weak, while the rich and
powerful easily broke through them. To this Solon replied, -
Men keep their agreements, when it is an advantage to both
parties not to break them; and he would so frame his laws, as
to make it evident to the Athenians, that it would be more for
their interest to observe them than to transgress them.” The
event, however, showed, that Anacharsis was nearer the truth
in his conjecture, than Solon was in his hope. Anacharsis
having seen an assembly of the people at Athens, said, -—66 He
was surprised at this, that in Greece wise men pleaded causes,
and fools determined them."
When Solon was entertained by Thales at Miletus, he ex-
pressed some wonder that “he did not marry and raise a fa-
mily.” To this Thales gave no immediate answer; but some
days after he instructed a stranger to say,
_66 That he came
from Athens ten days before.” Solon inquiring, “What news
there was at Athens?” the man, according to his instructions,
said,—66 None, except the funeral of a young man, which was
attended by the whole city; for he was the son (as they told
me) of a person of great honour, and of the highest reputation
for virtue, who was then abroad upon his travels." " What a
miserable man is he,” said Solon; “ but what was his name?”
“I have heard his name," answered the stranger, “but do not
recollect it, all I remember is, that there was much talk of
his wisdom and justice.” Solon, whose apprehensions in-
creased with every reply, was now much disconcerted, and
mentioned his own name, asking,—6. Whether it was not So-
lon's son that was dead?” The stranger answering in the af-
firmative, be began to beat his head, and to do and say such
things as are usual to men in a transport of grief.* Then
Thales, taking him by the hand, said, with a smile, -
66 These
things which strike down so firm a man as Solon, kept me
from marriage and from having children; but take courage,
my good friend, for not a word of what has been told you is
true.” Hermippus says, he took this story from Patæcus,
who used to boast he had the soul of Æsop.
But after all, to neglect the procuring of what is necessary
* Whether on this occasion, or on the real loss of a son, is uncertain, som
lon, being desired not to weep, since weeping would avail nothing; he an-
swered with much humanity and good sense, -_-" And for this cause I ween.'

172
SOLON.
or convenient in life, for fear of losing it, would be acting a
very mean and absurd part. By the same rule a man might
refuse the enjoyment of riches, or honour, or wisdom, because
it is possible for him to be deprived of them. Even the ex-
cellent qualities of the mind, the most valuable and pleasing
possession in the world, we see destroyed by poisonous drugs,
or by the violence of some disease. Nay, Thales himself could
not be secure from fears, by living single, unless he would
renounce all interest in his friends, his relations, and his coun-
try. Instead of that, however, he is said to have adopted his
sister's son, named Cybisthus. Indeed the soul has not only
a principle of sense, of understanding, of memory, but of love;
and when it has nothing at home to fix its affection upon, it
unites itself, and cleaves to something abroad. Strangers, or
persons of spurious birth, often insinuate themselves into such
a man's heart, as into a house or land that has no lawful heirs,
and together with love, bring a train of cares and apprehen-
sions for them. It is not uncommon to hear persons of a mo-
rose temper, who talk against marriage and a family, uttering
the most abject complaints when a child which they have had
by a slave or a concubine happens to sicken or die. Nay,
some have expressed a very great regret upon the death of
dogs and horses; whilst others have borne the loss of valuable
children without any affliction, or at least without any indecent
sorrow, and have passed the rest of their days with calmness
and composure. It is certainly weakness, not affection, which
brings infinite troubles and fears upon men, who are not forti-
fied by reason against the power of fortune, who have no en-
joyment of a present good
because of their apprehensions, and
the real anguish they find in considering that in time they
may be deprived of it. No man, surely, should take refuge
in poverty, to guard against the loss of an estate; nor remain
in the unsocial state of celibacy, that he may have neither
friends nor children to lose; he should be armed by reason
against all events. But perhaps we have been too diffuse in
these sentiments.
When the Athenians, tired out with a long and troublesome
war against the Megarensians for the isle of Salamis, made a
law that no one for the future, under pain of death, should
either by speech or writing propose that the city should assert
its claim to that island, Solon was very uneasy at so dis-
honourable a decree, and seeing great part of the youth desir-
ous to begin the war again, being restrained from it only by
fear of the law, he feigned himself insane;* and a report
* When the Athenians were delivered from their fears by the death of
Epaminondas, they began to squander away upon shows and plays the

SOLON.
173
spread from his house into the city, that he was out of his
senses. Privately, however, he had composed an elegy, and
got it by heart, in order to repeat it in public; thus prepared,
he sallied out unexpectedly into the market-place with a cap
upon his head*
. A great number of people flocking about
him there, he got upon the herald's stone, and sung the elegy
which begins thus:-
Hear and attend; from Salamis I came
To show your error.
This composition is entitled Salamis, and consists of a hundred
very beautiful lines.
When Solon had done, his friends be-
gan to express their admiration, and Pisistratus in particular
exerted himself in persuading the people to comply with his
directions; whereupon they repealed the law, once more un-
dertook the war, and invested Solon with the command. The
common account of his proceedings is this:—He sailed with
Pisistratus to Colias, and having seized the women, who, ac-
cording to the custom of the country, were offering sacrifice
to Ceres there, he sent a trusty person to Salamis, who was to
pretend he was a deserter, and to advise the Megarensians, if
they had a mind to seize the principal Athenian matrons, to
set sail immediately for Colias. The Megarensians readily
embracing the proposal, and sending out a body of men, So-
lon discovered the ship as it put off from the island; and caus-
ing the women directly to withdraw, ordered a number of
young men whose faces were yet smooth, to dress themselves
in their habits, caps, and shoes. Thus, with weapons con-
cealed under their clothes, they were to dance and play by
the sea-side till the enemy was landed, and the vessel near
enough to be seized. Matters being thus ordered, the Me-
garensians were deceived with the appearance, and ran con-
fusedly on shore, striving which should first lay hold on the
But they met with so warm a reception that they
were cut off to a man; and the Athenians embarking immedi-
ately for Salamis, took possession of the island.
Others deny that it was recovered in this manner, and tell
us, that Apollo, being first consulted at Delphi, gave this an-
swer:
women.
money that had been assigned for the pay of the army and navy, and at the
same time they made it death for any one to propose a reformation. In that
case, Demosthenes did not, like Solon, attack their error under a pretence
of insanity, but boldly and resolutely spoke against it, and by the force of
his eloquence brought them to correct it.
* None wore caps but the sick.

174
SOLON.
Go, first propitiate the country's chiefs
Hid in Æsopus' lap; who, when interr'd,
Fac'd the declining sun.
Upon this Solon crossed the sea by night, and offered sacri.
fices in Salamis to the heroes Periphemus and Cichreus.
Then taking five hundred Athenian volunteers, who had ob-
tained a decree, that if they conquered the island, the govern-
ment of it should be invested in them, he sailed with a num-
ber of fishing-vessels and one galley of thirty oars for Salamis,
where he cast anchor at a point which looks towards Euboea.
The Megarensians that were in the place having heard a
confused report of what had happened, betook themselves in
a disorderly manner to arms, and sent a ship to discover the
enemy. As the ship approached too near, Solon took it, and
securing the crew, put in their place some of the bravest of
the Athenians, with orders to make the best of their way to
the city as privately as possible. In the mean time, with the
rest of his men, he attacked the Megarensians by land, and
while these were engaged, those from the ship took the city.
A custom which obtained afterwards seems to bear witness to
the truth of this account; for an Athenian ship, once a-year,
passed silently to Salamis, and the inhabitants coming down
upon it with noise and tumult, one man in armour leaped
ashore, and ran shouting towards the promontory of Sciradium,
to meet those that were advancing by land. Near that place
is a temple of Mars erected by Solon; for there it was that he
defeated the Megarensians, and dismissed, upon certain con-
ditions, such as were not slain in battle.
However, the people of Megara persisted in their claim, till
both sides had severely felt the calamities of war; and then
they referred the affair to the decision of the Lacedæmonians.
Many authors relate that Solon availed himself of a passage in
Homer's catalogue of ships, which he alleged before the arbi-
trators, dexterously inserting a line of his own; for to this
Verse:
Ajax from Salamis twelve ships commands.
he is said to have added,
And ranks his forces with th’ Athenian power.
But the Athenians look upon this as an idle story, and tell us,
that Solon made it appear to the judges, that Philæus and Eu-
* This line could be no sufficient evidence; for there are many passages
in Homer which prove that the ships of Ajax were stationed near the Thes
salians,

SOLON.
175
rysaces, sons of Ajax, being admitted by the Athenians to the
freedom of their city, gave up the island to them, and remov-
ed, the one to Brauron, and the other to Melite in Attica;
likewise, that the tribe of the Philaidæ, of which Pisistratus
was, had its name from that Philæus. He brought another
argument against the Megarensians from the manner of bury-
ing in Salamis, which was agreeable to the custom of Athens,
and not to that of Megara; for the Megarensians inter the
dead with their faces to the east, and the Athenians turn theirs
to the west. On the other hand, Hereas of Megara insists
that the Megarensians likewise turn the faces of the dead to
the west; and what is more, that, like the people of Salamis,
they put three or four corpses in one tomb, whereas the Athe-
nians have a separate tomb for each. But Solon’s cause was
farther assisted by certain oracles of Apollo, in which the
island was called Ionian Salamis. This matter was determin-
ed by five Spartans, Critolaïdes, Amompharetus, Hypsechidas,
Anaxilas, and Cleomenes.
Solon acquired considerable honour and authority in Athens
by this affair; but he was much more celebrated among the
Greeks in general for negociating succours for the temple at
Delphi, against the insolent and injurious behaviour of the
Cirrhæans, * and persuading the Greeks to arm for the honour
of the god. At his motion it was that the Amphictyons de-
clared war, as Aristotle, among others, testifies, in his book
concerning the Pythian games, where he attributes that decree
to Solon. He was not, however, appointed general in that
war, as Hermippus relates from Euanthes the Samian. For
Æschines the orator says no such thing; and we find in the
records of Delphi, that Alcmæon, not Solon, commanded the
Athenians on that occasion.
The execrable proceeding against the accomplices of Cy-
* The inhabitants of Cirrha, a town seated in the bay of Corinth, after
having by repeated incursions wasted the territory of Delphi, besieged the
city itself, from a desire of making themselves masters of the riches contain-
ed in the temple of Apollo. Advice of this being sent to the Amphictyons,
who were the states-general of Greece, Solon advised that this matter should
be universally resented. Accordingly Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, was sent
commander in chief against the Cirrhæans; Alcmxon was general of the
Athenian quota; and Solon went as counsellor or assistant to Clisthenes.
When the Greek army had besieged Cirrha some time, without any great
appearance of success, Apollo was consulted, who answered, that they
should not be able to reduce the place till the waves of the Cirrhæan sea
washed the territories of Delphi. This answer struck the army with sur-
prise; from which Solon extricated them, by advising Clisthenes to conse-
crate the whole territories of Cirrha to the Delphic Apollo, whence it would
follow that the sea must wash the sacred coast. Pausanias ( in Phocicis )
mentions another stratagem, which was not worthy of the justice of Solon.
Cirrha, however, was taken, and became henceforth the arsenal of Delphi.

176
SOLON.
lon, * had long occasioned great troubles in the Athenian state.
The conspirators had taken sanctuary in Minerva's temple;
but Megacles, then archon, persuaded them to quit it, and
stand trial, under the notion that if they tied a thread to the
shrine of the goddess, and kept hold of it, they would still be
under her protection. But when they came over against the
temple of the Furies, the thread broke of itself; upon which
Megacles and his colleagues rushed upon them, and seized
them, as if they had lost their privilege. Such as were out
of the temple were stoned; those that fled to the altars were
cut in pieces there; and they only were spared who made ap-
plication to the wives of the magistrates. From that time
those magistrates were called execrable, and became objects of
the public hatred. The remains of Cylon's faction afterwards
recovered strength, and kept up the quarrel with the descen-
dants of Megacles. The dispute was greater than ever, and the
two parties more exasperated, when Solon, whose authority
was now very great, and others of the principal Athenians,
interposed, and by entreaties and arguments persuaded the
persons called execrable to submit to justice and a fair trial, be-
fore three hundred judges selected from the nobility. Myron,
of the Phylensian ward, carried on the impeachment, and they
were condemned. As many as were alive, were driven into
exile; and the bodies of the dead dug up and cast out beyond
the borders of Attica. Amidst these disturbances, the Me-
garensians renewed the war, took Nisæ from the Athenians,
and recovered Salamis once more.
About this time the city was likewise afflicted with supersti-
tious fears and strange appearances; and the soothsayers de-
clared, that there were certain abominable crimes, which want-
ed expiation, pointed out by the entrails of the victims. Upon
* There was, for a long time after the democracy took place, a strong
party against it, who left no measures untried, in order, if possible, to restore
their ancient form of government. Cylon, a man of quality, and son-in-law
to Theagenes, tyrant of Megara, repined at the sudden change of the ma-
gistrates, and had the thoughts of asking that as a favour, which he appre-
hended to be due to his birth-right. He formed, therefore, a design to
seize the citadel; which he put in practice in the forty-fifth Olympiad, when
many of the citizens were gone to the Olympic games. Megacles, who
was at that time chief archon, with the other magistrates and the whole pow.
er of Athens, immediately besieged the conspirators there, and reduced
them to such distress, that Cylon and his brother fled, and left the meaner
sort to shift for themselves. Such as escaped the sword, took refuge, as
Plutarch relates, in Minerva's temple; and though they deserved death for
ccnspiring against the government, yet, as the magistrates put them to death
in breach of the privilege of sanctuary, they brought upon themselves the
indignation of the superstitious Atheniars, who deemed such a breach a
greater crime than treason,

SOLON
177
ing the
this they sent to Crete for Epimenides the Phæstian, * who is
reckoned the seventh among the wise men, by those that do
not admit Periander into the number. He was reputed a man
of great piety, and loved by the gods, and skilled in matters
of religion, particularly in what related to inspiration and the
sacred mysteries; therefore the men of those days called him
the son of the nymph Balte, and one of the Curetes revived.
When he arrived at Athens, he contracted a friendship with
Solon, and privately gave him considerable assistance, prepar-
way for the reception of his laws. For he taught the
Athenians to be more frugal in their religious worship, and
more moderate in their mourning, by intermixing certain sa-
crifices with the funeral solemnities, and abolishing the cruel
and barbarous customs that had generally prevailed among the
women before. What is of still greater consequence, by ex-
piations, lustrations, and the erecting of temples and shrines,
he hallowed and purified the city, and made the people more
observant of justice, and more inclined to union.
When he had seen Munychia, and considered it some time,
he is reported to have said to those about him,f “How blind
is man to futurity! If the Athenians could foresee what trouble
that place will give them, they would tear it in pieces with
their teeth rather than it should stand.” Something similar
to this is related of Thales; for he ordered the Milesians to
bury him in a certain recluse and neglected place, and fore-
told, at the same time, that their market-place would one day
stand there. As for Epimenides, he was held in admiration
at Athens; great honours were paid him, and many valuable
presents made; yet he would accept of nothing but a branch of
* This Epimenides was a very extraordinary person. Diogenes Laërtius
tells us, that he was the inventor of the art of lustrating or purifying houses,
fields, and persons; which, if spoken of Greece, may be true; but Moses had
long before taught the Hebrews something of this nature. ( Vide Levit.
xvi.) Epimenides took some sheep that were all black, and others that were
all white; these he led into the Areopagus, and turning them loose, directed
certain persons to follow them, who should mark where they couched, and
there sacrifice them to the local deity. This being done, altars were erect-
ed in all these places to perpetuate the memory of this solemn expiation.
There were, however, other ceremonies practised for the purpose of lustra-
tion, of which Tizetzes, in his poetical chronicle, gives a particular account,
but which are too trifling to be mentioned here.
+ This prediction was fulfilled 270 years after, when Antipater constrain-
ed'the Athenians to admit his garrison into that place. Besides this pro-
phecy, Epimenides uttered another during his stay at Athens; for hearing
that the citizens were alarmed at the progress of the Persian power at sea,
he advised them to make themselves easy, for that the Persians would not
for
many years attempt any thing against the Greeks, and when they did,
they would receive greater loss themselves than they would be able to bring
upon the states they thought to destroy.--Laërt. in Vita et Rimen.
VOL. 1. -2B
17

178
SOLON.
the sacred olive, which they gave him at his request; and with
that he departed.
When the troubles about Cylon's affairs were over, and the
sacrilegious persons removed in the manner we have mention-
ed, the Athenians relapsed into their old disputes concerning
the government; for there were as many parties among them
as there were different tracts of land in their country. The
inhabitants of the mountainous part were, it seems, for a de-
mocracy; those of the plains for an oligarchy; and those of the
sea-coasts, contending for a mixed kind of government, hin-
dered the other two from gaining their point. At the same
time, the inequality between the poor and the rich occasioned
the greatest discord; and the state was in so dangerous a situ-
ation, that there seemed to be no way to quell the seditious,
or to save it from ruin, but changing it to a monarchy. So
greatly were the poor in debt to the rich, that they were obli-
ged either to pay them a sixth part of the produce of the land
(whence they were called Hectemorii and Thetes), or else to en-
gage
their
persons to their creditors, who might seize them on
failure of payment. Accordingly some made slaves of them,
and others sold them to foreigners. Nay, some parents were
forced to sell their own children (for no law forbade it), and
to quit the city, to avoid the severe treatment of those usurers.
But the greater number, and men of the most spirit, agreed to
stand by each other, and to bear such impositions no longer.
They determined to choose a trusty, person for their leader,
to deliver those who had failed in their time of payment, to di-
vide the land, and to give an entire new face to the common-
wealth.
Then the most prudent of the Athenians cast their eyes up-
on Solon, as a man least obnoxious to either party, having
neither been engaged in oppressions with the rich, nor en-
tangled in necessities with the poor. Him, therefore, they en-
treated to assist the public in this exigency, and to compose
these differences. Phanias, the Lesbian, asserts, indeed, that
Solon, to save the state, dealt artfully with both parties, and
privately promised the poor a division of the lands, and the
rich a confirmation of their securities. At first he was loth to
take the administration upon him, by reason of the avarice of
some, and the insolence of others; but was, however, chosen
archon next after Philombrotus, and at the same time arbitra-
tor and lawgiver; the rich accepting of him readily as one of
them, and the poor as a good and worthy man. They tell us,
too, that a saying of his, which he had let fall some time be
fore, that—"equality causes no war,” was then much repeat-
ed, and pleased both the rich and the poor; the latter expect-
ing to come to a balance by their numbers and by the measure

SOLON.
179
of divided lands, and the former to preserve an equality at
least by their dignity and power. Thus both parties being in
great hopes, the heads of them were urgent with Solon to
make himself king, and endeavoured to persuade him, that he
might with better assurance take upon him the direction of a
city where he had the supreme authority. Nay, many of the
citizens that leaned to neither party, seeing the intended
change difficult to be effected by reason and law, were not
against the entrusting of the government to the hands of one
wise and just man. Some, moreover, acquaint us, that he re-
ceived this oracle from Apollo:-
Seize, seize the helm, the reeling vessel guide,
With aiding patriots stem the raging tide.
His friends, in particular, told him it would appear that he
wanted courage, if he rejected the monarchy for fear of the
name of tyrant, as if the sole and supreme power would not
soon become a lawful sovereignty through the virtues of him
that received it. Thus formerly (said they) the Eubæans set
up Tynnondas, and lately the Mitylenæans Pittacus for their
prince. None of these things moved Solon from his pur-
pose; and the answer he is said to have given to his friends
is this:-* Absolute monarchy is a fair field, but it has 110
outlet."
And in one of his poems he thus addresses himself
to his friend Phocus:-
If I spar'd my country,
If gilded violence and tyrannic sway
Could never charm me, thence no shame accrues;
Still the mild honour of my name I boast,
And find my empire there.
Whence it is evident that his reputation was very great before
he appeared in the character of a legislator. As for the ridi-
cule he was exposed to for rejecting kingly power, he has de-
scribed it in the following verses:-
Nor wisdom's palm, nor deep laid policy
Can Solon boast; for when its noblest blessings
Heaven pour'd into his lap, he spurn'd them from him.
Where was his sense and spirit, when enclos'd
• Pittacus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, made himself master of
Mitylene; for which Alcæus, who was of the same town, contemporary with
Pittacus, and as a poet, a friend to liberty, satirized lim, as he did the
other tyrants, Pittacus disregarded his censures; and having by his authority
quelled the seditions of his citizens, and established peace and harmony
among them, he voluntarily quitted his power, and restored his country to
its liberty.

180
SOLON.
He found the choicest prey, nor deign'd to draw it?
Who, to command fair Athens but one day,
Would not himself, with all his race, have fallen
Contented on the morrow?
spire.”
Thus he has introduced the multitude and men of low minds
as discoursing about him. But though he rejected absolute
power, he proceeded with spirit enough in the administration.
He did not make any concessions in behalf of the powerful,
nor,
in the framing of his laws, did he indulge the humour of
his constituents. Where the former establishment was toler-
able, he neither applied remedies, nor used the incision knife,
lest he should put the whole in disorder, and not have power
to settle or compose it afterwards in the temperature he could
wish. He only made such alterations as he might bring the
people to acquiesce in by persuasion, or compel them to by
his authority, making (as he says)—“ force and right con-
Hence it was, that having the question afterwards
put to him,-“Whether he had provided the best of laws for
the Athenians?” he answered, -76 The best they were capable
of receiving.” And as the moderns observe, that the Athe-
nians used to qualify the harshness of things by giving them
softer and politer names, calling whores mistresses, tributes con-
tributions, garrisons guards, and prisons castles; so Solon seems
to be the first that distinguished the cancelling of debts by the
name of a discharge. For this was the first of his public acts,
that debts should be forgiven, and that no man for the fu-
ture should take the body of his debtor for security. Though
Androtion and some others say, that it was not by the cancel-
ling of debts, but by moderating the interest, that the poor
were relieved, they thought themselves so happy in it, that
they gave the name of discharge to this act of humanity, as
well as to the enlarging of measures and the value of money,
which went along with it. For he ordered the minæ, which
before went but for seventy-three drachmas, to go for a hun-
dred; so that, as they paid the same in value, but much less
in weight, those that had great sums to pay were relieved,
while such as received them were no losers.
The greater part of writers, however, affirm, that it was
the abolition of past securities that was called a discharge; and
with these the poems of Solon agree; for in them he values
himself on—6 having taken away the marks of mortgaged
land, * which before were almost every where set up, and
made free those fields which before were bound !” and not
only so, but—" of such citizens as were seizable by their cre-
* The Athenians had a custom of fixing up billets, to show that houses
or lands were mortgaged.

SOLON.
181
ditors for debt, some,
” he tells us, “ he had brought back
from other countries where they had wandered so long, that
they had forgot the Attic dialect, and others he had set at li-
berty who had experienced a cruel slavery at home. S
This affair, indeed, brought upon him the greatest trouble
he met with; for when he undertook the annulling of debts,
and was considering of a suitable speech, and a proper method
of introducing the business, he told some of his most intimate
friends, namely Conon, Clinias, and Hipponicus, that he in-
tended only to abolish the debts, and not to meddle with the
lands. These friends of his hastening to make their advan-
tage of the secret before the decree took place, borrowed
large sums of the rich, and purchased estates with them. Af-
terwards, when the decree was published, they kept their
possessions, without paying the money they had taken up;
which brought great reflections upon Solon, as if he had not
been imposed upon with the rest, but rather an accomplice in
the fraud. This charge, however, was soon removed, by his
being the first to comply with the law, and remitting a debt
of five talents, which he had out at interest. Others, among
whom is Polyzelus the Rhodian, say it was fifteen talents.
But his friends went by the name of Chreocopidæ or debt-cutters,
ever after.
The method he took satisfied neither the poor nor the rich.
The latter were displeased by the cancelling of their bonds,
and the former at not finding a division of lands. Upon this
they had fixed their hopes; and they complained that he had
not, like Lycurgus, made all the citizens equal in estate. Ly-
curgus, however, being the eleventh from Hercules, and hav-
ing reigned many years in Lacedæmon, had acquired great
authority, interest, and friends, of which he knew very well
how to avail himself in setting up a new form of government;
yet he was obliged to have recourse to force rather than
per-
suasion, and had an eye struck out in the dispute, before he
could bring it to a lasting settlement, and establish such an
union and equality as left neither rich nor poor in the city.
On the other hand, Solon's estate was but moderate, not supe-
rior to that of some commoners, and, therefore, he attempted
not to erect such a commonwealth as that of Lycurgus, con-
sidering it as out of his power; he proceeded as far as he
thought he could be supported by the confidence the people
had in his probity and wisdom.
That he answered not the expectations of the generality,
but offended them by falling short, appears from these verses
of his:-
17*

182
SOLON.
Those eyes, with joy once sparkling when they view'd me,
With cold oblique regard behold me now.
And a little after,-
Yet who but Solon
Could have spoke peace to their tumultuous waves,
And not have sunk beneath them?*
But being soon sensible of the utility of the decree, they laid
aside their complaints, offered a public sacrifice, which they
called seisacthia, or the sacrifice of the discharge, and constituted
Solon lawgiver and superintendent of the commonwealth;
committing to him the regulation not of a part only, but the
whole—magistracies, assemblies, courts of judicature, and
senate; and leaving him to determine the qualification, num-
ber, and time of meeting for them all, as well as to abrogate
or continue the former constitutions at his pleasure.
First, then, he repealed the laws of Draco,ť except those
concerning murder, because of the severity of the punishments
they appointed: which for almost all offences were capital;
even those that were convicted of idleness were to suffer death,
and such as stole only a few apples or pot-herbs, were to be
punished in the same manner as sacrilegious persons and mur-
derers. Hence a saying of Demades, who lived long after,
was much admired, -" That Draco wrote his laws not with
ink, but with blood.” And he himself being asked, “Why
he made death the punishment for most offences?" answered,
mug gesyn gadae is a proverbial expression, which will not bear a
literal prose translation, much less a poetical one. It was necessary, there-
fore, to give a new turn to the sentence, only keeping the sense in view.
† Draco was archon in the second, though some say in the last year of
the thirty-ninth Olympiad, about the year before Christ 623. Though the
name of this great man occurs frequently in history, yet we no where find
so much as ten lines together concerning him and his institutions. He may
be considered as the first legislator of the Athenians; for the laws, or rather
precepts of Triptolemus, were very few, viz. Honour your parents; worship
the gods; hurt not animals. Draco was the first of the Greeks that punished
adultery with death; and he esteemed murder so high a crime, that to im-
print a deep abhorrence of it in the minds of men, he ordained that process
should be carried on even against inanimate things, if they accidentally
caused the death of any person. But, besides murder and adultery, which
deserved death, he made a number of smaller offences capital; and that
brought almost all his laws into disuse. The extravagant severity of them,
like an edge too finely ground, hindered his thesmoi, as he called them,
from striking deep. Porphyry (de Abstinent. ) has preserved one of them
concerning divine worship: si It is an everlasting law in Attica, that the
gods are to be worshipped, and the heroes also, according to the customs
of our ancestors, and in private only with a proper address, first fruits, and
annual libations."

SOLON.
183
“Small ones deserve it, and I can find no greater for the most
heinous.”
In the next place, Solon took an estimate of the estates of
the citizens; intending to leave the great offices in the hands
of the rich, but to give the rest of the people a share in other
departments which they had not before. Such as had a year-
ly income of five hundred measures in wet and dry goods, he
placed in the first rank, and called them Pentacožiomedimni. *
The second consisted of those that could keep a horse, or
whose lands produced three hundred measures; these were of
the equestrian order, and called Hippoda telountes. And those
of the third class, who had but two hundred measures, were
called Zeugitæ. The rest were named Thetes, and not admit-
ted to any
office; they had only a right to appear and give their
vote in the general assembly of the people. This seemed at
first but a slight privilege, but afterwards showed itself a mat-
ter of great importance; for most causes came at last to be de-
cided by them; and in such matters as were under the cogni-
zance of the magistrates, there lay an appeal to the people.
Besides, he is said to have drawn up his laws in an obscure
and ambiguous manner, on purpose to enlarge the authority
of the popular tribunal; for as they could not adjust their dif-
ference by the letter of the law, they were obliged to have re-
course to living judges; I mean the whole body of citizens,
who, therefore, had all controversies brought before them, and
were in a manner superior to the laws. Of this equality, he
himself takes notice in these words:
By me the people held their native rights
Uninjur'd, unoppress'd—The great restrain'd
From lawless violence, and the poor from rapine,
By me, their mutual shield.
Desirous yet farther to strengthen the common people, he em-
powered
any man whatever to enter an action for one that was
injured. If a person was assaulted, or suffered damage or
violence, another that was able and willing to do it might pro-
secute the offender. Thus the lawgiver wisely accustomed
the citizens, as members of one body, to feel and to resent one
another's injuries. And we are told of a saying of his agreca-
* The Pentacosiomedimni paid a talent to the public treasury; the Hippoda
telountes, as the word signifies, were obliged to find a horse, and to serve as
cavalry in the wars; the Zeugitæ were so called, as being of a middle rank
between the knights and those of the lowest order (for rowers who have the
middle bench between the Thalamites and the Thranites, are called Zeugitæ);
and though the Thetes had barely each a vote in the general assemblies, yet
that (as Plutarch observes) appeared in time to be a great privilege, most
causes being brought by appeal before the people.

184
SOLON.
ble to this law; being asked, “What city was best model-
led?” he answered;—“That, where those who are not injured,
are no less ready to prosecute and punish offenders, than those
who are."
When these points were adjusted, he established the council
of the areopagus, * which was to consist of such as had borne
the office of archon,t and himself was one of the number. But
observing that the people, now discharged from their debts,
grew insolent and imperious, he proceeded to constitute ano-
ther council or senate, of four hundred, † a hundred out of
each tribe, by whom all affairs were to be previously consider-
ed; and ordered that no matter, without their approbation,
should be laid before the general assembly. In the mean time,
the high court of the areopagus were to be the inspectors and
guardians of the laws. Thus he supposed the commonwealth,
secured by two councils, as by two anchors, would be less lia-
ble to be shaken by tumults, and the people would become
* The court of areopagus, though settled long before, had lost much of its
power by Draco's preferring the ephetæ. In ancient times, and till Solon
became legislator, it consisted of such persons as were most conspicuous in
the state for their wealth, power, and probity; but Solon made it a rule, that
such only should have a seat in it as had borne the office of archon. This
had the effect he designed; it raised the reputation of the areopagites very
high, and rendered their decrees so venerable, that none contested or re-
pined at them through a long course of ages.
† After the extinction of the race of the Medontidæ, the Athenians made
the office of archon annual; and instead of one, they created nine archons.
By the latter expedient, they provided against the too great power of a sin-
gle person, as by the former they took away all apprehension of the archons
setting up for sovereigns. In one word, they attained now what they had
long sought--the making their supreme magistrate dependent on the people.
This remarkable era of the completion of the Athenian democracy was, ac-
cording to the Marmord, in the first year of the xxivth Olympiad, before
Christ 684. That these magistrates might, however, retain sufficient autho-
rity and dignity, they had high titles and great honours annexed to their of-
fices. The first was styled, by way of eminence, the Archon, and the year
was distinguished by his name. The second was called Basileus, that is, king;
for they chose to have that title considered as a secondary one. This officer
had the care of religion. The third had the name of Polemarch, for war was
his particular province. The other six had the title of Thesmothetæ, and
were considered as the guardians of their laws. These archons continued
till the time of the emperor Gallienus.
# The number of tribes was increased by Callisthenes to ten, after he had
driven out the Pisistratidæ; and then this senate consisted of five hundred,
fifty being chosen out of each tribe. Towards the close of the year, the
president of each tribe gave in a list of candidates, out of whom the sena-
tors were elected by lot. The senators then appointed the officers called
prytanes. The prytanes, while the senate consisted of 500, were 50 in
number; and, for the avoiding of confusion, ten of these presided a week,
during which space they were called proëdri, and out of them an epistates,
or president, was chosen, whose office lasted but one day.

SOLON
185
more orderly and peaceable. Most writers, as we have ob-
served, affirm, that the council of the areopagus was of Solon's
appointing; and it seems greatly to confirm their assertion,
that Draco has made no mention of the areopagites, but in
capital causes constantly addresses himself to the ephetæ; yet
the eighth law of Solon's thirteenth table is set down in these
very words:-6. Whoever were declared infamous before So-
lon's archonship, let them be restored in honour, except such
as having been condemned in the areopagus, or by the ephetæ,
or by the kings in the Prytaneum, for murder or robbery, or
attempting to usurp the government, had fled their country
before this law was made.” This on the contrary shows, that
before Solon was chief magistrate, and delivered his laws, the
council of the areopagus was in being; for who could have been
condemned in the areopagus before Solon's time, if he was the
first that erected it into a court of judicature? Unless, perhaps,
there be some obscurity or deficiency in the text, and the
meaning be, that such as have been convicted of crimes that
are now cognizable before the areopagites, the ephetæ,* and
prylanes, shall continue infamous, while others are restored.
But this I submit to the judgment of the reader.
The most peculiar and surprising of his other laws, is that
which declares the man infamous who stands neuter in time
of sedition.t It seems, he would not have us be indifferent
and unaffected with the fate of the public, when our own con-
cerns are upon a safe bottom; nor when we are in health, be
insensible to the distempers and griefs of our country. He
would have us espouse the better and juster cause, and hazard
every thing in defence of it, rather than wait in safety to see
which side the victory will incline to. That law, too, seems
quite ridiculous and absurd, which permits a rich heiress,
whose husband happens to be impotent, to console herself
* The ephetæ were first appointed in the reign of Demophon, the son of
Theseus, for the trying of wilful murders, and cases of manslaughter. They
consisted at first of fifty Athenians, and as many Argives; but Draco exclu-
ded the Argives, and ordered that it should be composed of fifty-one Athe-
nians, who were all to be turned of fifty years of age. He also fixed their
authority above that of the areopagites; but Solon brought them under that
court, and limited their jurisdiction.
+ Aulus Gellius, who has preserved the very words of this law, adds, that
one who so stood neuter, should lose his houses, his country, and estate, and
be sent out an exile.-Noct. Attic. l. ii. c. 12.
Plutarch, in another place condemns this law; but Gellius highly com-
mends it, and assigns this reason:-The wise and just, as well as the envious
and wicked, being obliged to choose some side, matters were easily accom-
modated; whereas, if the latter only, as is generally the case with other
cities had the management of factions, they would, for private reasons, be
continually kept up, to the great hurt, if not the utter ruin, of the state.
-2 C
VOL. I.

186
SOLON.
with his nearest relations. Yet some say, this law was very
properly levelled against those, who, conscious of their own
inability, match with heiresses for the sake of the portion, and,
under colour of law, do violence to nature. For when they
know that such heiresses may make choice of others to grant
their favours to, they will either let those matches alone, or,
if they do marry in that manner, they must suffer the shame
of their avarice and dishonesty. It is right, that the heiress
should not have liberty to choose at large, but only amongst
her husband's relations, that the child which is born may, at
least, belong to his kindred and family. Agreeable to this is
the direction, that the bride and bridegroom should be shut up
together, and eat of the same quince;* and that the husband of
an heiress should approach her at least three times in a month.
For, though they may happen not to have children, yet it is a
mark of honour and regard due from a man to the chastity of
his wife; it removes many uneasinesses; and prevents differen-
ces from proceeding to an absolute breach.
In all other marriages, he ordered that no dowries should be
given; the bride was to bring with her only three suits of
clothes, and some household stuff of small value. † For he did
not choose that marriages should be made with mercenary or
venal views, but would have that union cemented by the en-
dearment of children, and every other instance of love and
friendship. Nay, Dionysius himself, when his mother desired
to be married to a young Syracusan, told her,—“He had, in
deed, by his tyranny, broke through the laws of his country,
but he could not break those of nature, by countenancing so dis-
proportioned a match.” And, surely, such disorders should
not be tolerated in any state, nor such matches, where there is
no equality of years, or inducements of love, or probability
that the end of marriage will be answered. So that to an old
man who marries a young woman, some prudent magistrate or
lawgiver might express himself in the words addressed to Phi-
loctetes:-
Poor soul! how fit art thou to marry!
And if he found a young man in the house of a rich old wo-
man, like a partridge, growing fat in his private services, he
would remove him to some young virgin who wanted a hus-
band. But enough of this.
* The eating of the quince, which was not peculiar to an heiress and her
husband (for all new married people ate it,) implied that their discourses
ought to be pleasant to each other, that fruit making the breath sweet.
† The bride brought with her an earthen pan, called phrogcteon, wherein
barley was parched; to signify that she undertook the business of the house,
and would do her part towards providing for the family,

SOLON.
187
That law of Solon’s is also justly commended, which forbids
nien to speak ill of the dead. For piety requires us to consi-
der the deceased as sacred; justice calls upon us to spare those
that are not in being; and good policy, to prevent the per-
petuating of hatred. He forbade his people also to revile the
living, in a temple, in a court of justice, in the great assembly
of the people, or at the public games. He that offended in
this respect, was to pay three drachmas to the person injured, and
two to the public. * Never to restrain anger is, indeed, a proof
of weakness or want of breeding; and always to guard against
it, is very difficult, and to some persons impossible. Now,
what is enjoined by law should be practicable, if the legislator
desires to punish a few to some good purpose, and not many to
no purpose.
His law concerning wills has likewise its merit. For be-
fore his time the Athenians were not allowed to dispose of
their estates by will; the houses and other substance of the de-
ceased were to remain among his relations. But he permitted
any one, that had not children, to leave his possessions to
whom he pleased; thus preferring the tie of friendship to that
of kindred, and choice to necessity, he gave every man the
full and free disposal of his own. Yet he
allowed not all sorts
of legacies, but those only that were not extorted by phrenzy,
the consequence of disease or poisons, by imprisonment or
violence, or the persuasions of a wife. For he considered in-
ducements, that operated against reason, as no better than
force; to be deceived, was with him the same thing as to be
compelled; and he looked upon pleasure to be as great a per-
verter as pain. *
He regulated, moreover, the journeys of women, their
mournings and sacrifices, and endeavoured to keep them clear
of all disorder and excess. They were not to go out of town
with more than three habits; the provisions they carried with
them were not to exceed the value of an obulus, their basket
was not to be above a cubit high; and in the night they were
not to travel but in a carriage, with a torch before them. At
funerals, they were forbid to tear themselves, t and no hired
• He likewise ordained, that adopted persons should make no will; but
as soon as they had children lawfully begotten, they were at liberty to re-
turn into the family whence they were adopted: or if they continued in it
to their death, the estates reverted to the relations of the persons who
adopted them.--Demost. in Orat. Leptin.
Demosthenes (in Timocr.) recites Solon's directions as to funerals as
follows:-“Let the dead bodies be laid out in the house according as the
deceased gave order, and the day following, before sun-rise, carried forth.
Whilst the body is carrying to the grave, let the men go before, the women
follow. It shall not be lawful for any woman to enter upon the goods of the

188
SOLON.
mourner was to utter lamentable notes, or to act any thing else
that tended to excite sorrow. They were not permitted to
sacrifice an ox on those occasions; or to bury more than three
garments with the body; or to visit any tombs beside those of
their own family, except at the time of interment. Most of
these things are likewise forbidden by our laws, with the addi-
tion of this circumstance, that those who offend in such a man-
ner, are fined by the censors of the women, as giving way to
weak passions and childish sorrow.
As the city was filled with persons, who assembled from all
parts, on account of the great security in which people lived
in Attica, Solon observing this, and that the country withal
was poor and barren, and that merchants who traffic by sea do
not use to import their goods where they can have nothing in
exchange, turned the attention of the citizens to manufactures.
For this purpose he made a law, that no son should be obliged
to maintain his father, if he had not taught him a trade. * As
for Lycurgus, whose city was clear of strangers, and whose
country, according to Euripides, was sufficient for twice the
number of inhabitants; where there was, moreover, a multi
tude of Helotes, who were not only to be kept constantly em
ployed, but to be humbled and worn out by servitude, it was
right for him to set the citizens free from laborious and me-
chanic arts, and to employ them in arms, as the only art fit
for them to learn and exercise. But Solon, rather adapting
his laws to the state of his country, than his country to his
laws, and perceiving that the soil of Attica, which hardly re-
warded the husbandman's labour, was far from being capable
of maintaining a lazy multitude, ordered that trades should
be accounted honourable; that the council of the areopagus
should examine into every man's means of subsisting, and
chastise the idle.
But that law was more rigid, which, (as Heraclides of Pon-
tus informs us) excused bastards from relieving their fathers.
Nevertheless, the man that disregards so honourable a state as
marriage, does not take a woman for the sake of children, but
merely to indulge his appetite. He has therefore his rewards;
and there remains no pretence for him to upbraid those chil-
dren, whose very birth he has made a reproach to them.
In truth, his laws concerning women, in general, appear
dead, and to follow the body to the grave under threescore years of age,
except such as are within the degrees of cousins." ;
* He that was thrice convicted of idleness was to be declared infamous.
Herodotus (1. vii.) and Diodorus Siculus (1. i.) agree that a law of this
kind was in use in Egypt. It is probable, therefore, that Solon, who was
thoroughly acquainted with the learning of that nation, borrowed it from
them.

SOLON.
189
very absurd; for he permitted any one to kill an adulterer
taken in the fact;* hut if a man committed a rape upon a free
woman, he was only to be fined a hundred drachmas; if he
gained his purpose by persuasion, twenty; but prostitutes were
excepted, because they have their price. And he would not
allow them to sell a daughter or sister, unless she were taken
in an act of dishonour before marriage. But to punish the
same fault sometimes in a severe and rigorous manner, and
sometimes lightly and as it were in sport, with a trivial fine, is
not agreeable to reason, unless the scarcity of money in Athens
at that time, made a pecuniary mulct a heavy one.
And, in-
deed, in the valuation of things for the sacrifice, a sheep and a
medimnus of corn were reckoned each at a drachma only. To
the victor in the Isthmian games, he appointed a reward of a
hundred drachmas; and to the victor in the Olympian, five hun-
dred.† He that caught a he-wolf, was to have five drachmas;
he that took a she-wolf, one: and the former sum (as Demetri-
us Phalereus asserts) was the value of an ox, the latter of a
sheer. Though the prices which he fixes, in his sixteenth ta-
ble, for select victims, were probably much higher than the
common, yet they are small" in comparison of the present.
The Athenians of old were great enemies to wolves, because
their country was better for pasture than tillage; and some say
their tribes had not their names from the sons of Ion, but from
the different occupations they followed; the soldiers being call-
ed hoplitæ, the artificers ergades; and of the other two the hus-
bandmen teleontes, and the graziers ægicores.
As Attica was not supplied with water from perennial rivers,
lakes, or springs, # but chiefly by wells dug for that purpose,
he made a law, that where there was a public well, all within
the distance of four furlongs should make use of it; but where
the distance was greater, they were to provide a well of their
own. And if they dug ten fathoms deep in their own ground,
and could find no water, they had liberty to fill a vessel of
six gallons twice a day at their neighbour's. Thus he thought
it proper to assist persons in real necessity, but not to encour-
age
idleness. His regulations with respect to the planting of
* No adulteress was to adorn herself, or to assist at the public sacrifices;
and in case she did, he gave liberty to any one to tear her clothes off her
back, and beat her into the bargain.
At the same time he contracted the rewards bestowed upon wrestlers,
esteeming such gratuities useless, and even dangerous; as they tended to
encourage idleness, by putting men upon wasting that time in exercises,
which ought to be spent in providing for their families.
# Strabo tells us there was a spring of fresh water near the Lycæum; but
the soil of Attica in general was dry, and the rivers Ilissus and Eridamus
did not run constantly.
18

190
SOLON.
trees were also very judicious. He that planted any tree in
his field, was to place it at least five feet from his neighbour's
ground; and if it was a fig-tree or an olive, nine; for these ex-
tend their roots farther than others, and their neighbourhood
is prejudicial to some trees, not only as they take away the
nourishment, but as their effluvia is noxious. He that would
dig a pit or a ditch, was to dig it as far from another man's
ground as it was deep; and if any one would raise stocks of
bees, he was to place them three hundred feet from those al-
ready raised by another.
Of all the products of the earth, he allowed none to be sold
to strangers but oil; and whoever presumed to export any
thing else, the archon was solemnly to declare him accursed,
or to pay himself a hundred drachmas into the public treasury.
This law is in the first table. And therefore it is not abso-
lutely improbable, what some affirm, that the exportation of
figs was formerly forbidden, and that the informer against the
delinquents was called a sycophant.
He likewise enacted a law for reparation of damage received
from beasts. A dog that had bit a man was to be delivered
up bound to a log of four cubits long; * an agreeable contri-
vance for security against such an animal.
But the wisdom of the law concerning the naturalizing of
foreigners is a little dubious; because it forbids the freedom of
the city to be granted to any but such as are forever exiled
from their own country, or transplant themselves to Athens
with their whole family, for the sake of exercising some ma-
nual trade. This, we are told, he did, not with a view to keep
strangers at a distance, but rather to invite them to Athens,
upon the sure hope of being admitted to the privilege of citi-
zens; and he imagined the settlement of those might be entire-
ly depended upon, who had been driven from their native
country, or had quitted it by choice.
That law is peculiar to Solon, which regulates the going to
entertainments made at the public charge, by him called para-
sitein. For he does not allow the same person to repair to
Rome.
* This law, and several others of Solon, were taken into the twelve tables.
In the consulate of T. Romilius and C. Veturius, in the year of Rome, 293,
the Romans sent deputies to Athens, to transcribe his laws, and those of
the other lawgivers of Greece, in order to form thereby a body of laws for
† In the first ages the name of parasite was venerable and sacred, for it
properly signified one that was a messmate at the table of sacrifices. There
were in Greece several persons particularly honoured with this title, much
like those whom the Romans called epulones, a religious order instituted by
Numa, Solon ordained that every tribe should offer a sacrifice once a month,
and at the end of the sacrifice make a public entertainment, at which all
who were of that tribe should be obliged to assist by turns.

SOLON.
191
them often; and he lays a penalty upon such as refuse to go
when invited; looking upon the former as a mark of epicurism,
and the latter of contempt of the public.
All his laws were to continue in force for a hundred
years,
and were written upon wooden tables, which might be turned
round in the oblong cases that contained them. Some small
rernains of them are preserved in the Prytanium to this day.
They were called cyrbes, as Aristotle tells us; and Cratinus the
comic poet, thus spoke of them:
By the great names of Solon and of Draco,
Whose cyrbes now but serve to boil our pulse.
Some say, those tables were properly called cyrbes, on which
were written the rules for religious rites and sacrifices, and the
other azones. The senate, in a body, bound themselves by
oath to establish the laws of Solon; and the thesmothetæ, or
guardians of the laws, severally took an oath in a particular
form, by the stone in the market-place, that for every law they
broke, each would dedicate a golden statue at Delphi of the
same weight with himself. *
Observing the irregularity of the months, † and that the moon
neither rose nor set at the same time with the sun, as it often
happened that in the same day she overtook and passed by
him, he ordered that the day be called hene kai nea (the old
and the new;) assigning the part of it before the conjunction
to the old month, and the rest to the beginning of the new.
He seems, therefore, to have been the first who understood
• Gold, in Solon's time, was so scarce in Greece, that when the Spartans
were ordered by the oracle to gild the face of Apollo's statue, they inquir-
ed in vain for gold all over Greece, and were directed by the pythoness to
buy some of Cræsus, king of Lydia.
Solon discovered the
falseness of Thales's maxim, that the moon per-
formed her revolution in thirty days, and found that the true time was twen-
ty-nine days and a half. He directed, therefore, that each of the twelve
months should be accounted twenty-nine or thirty days alternately. By
this means a lunar year was formed of 354 days; and to reconcile it to the
solar year, he ordered a month of twenty-two days to be intercalated every
two years, and at the end of the second two years, he directed that a month
of twenty-three days should be intercalated. He likewise engaged the
Athenians to divide their months into three parts, styled the beginning,
middle, and ending; each of these consisted of ten days, when the month
was thirty days long, and the last of nine, when it was nine-and-twenty days
long. In speaking of the two first parts, they reckoned according to the
usual order of numbers, viz. the first, &c. day of the moon, beginning; the
first, second, &c. of the moon, middle; but with respect to the last part of
the month, they reckoned backwards, that is, instead of saying, the first,
second, &c. day of the moon, ending, they said, the tenth, ninth, &c. of
the moon, ending. This is a circumstance which should be carefully attend-
ed to.

192
SOLON.
that verse in Homer, which makes mention of a day wherein
" the old month ended, and the new began."*
The day following he called the new moon. After the twen-
tieth he counted not by adding, but subtracting, to the thirti-
eth, according to the decreasing phases of the moon.
When his laws took place;† Solon had his visiters every day,
finding fault with some of them, and commending others, or
advising him to make certain additions or retrenchments. But
the greater part came to desire a reason for this or that article,
or a clear and precise explication of the meaning and design.
Sensible that he could not well excuse himself from comply-
ing with their desires, and that if he indulged their importu-
nity, the doing it might give offence, he determined to with-
draw from the difficulty, and to get rid at once of their cavils
and exceptions; for, as he himself observes,
Not all the greatest enterprise can please.
Under pretence therefore of traffic, he set sail for another
country, having obtained leave of the Athenians for ten years
absence. In that time he hoped his laws would become fami-
liar to them.
His first voyage was to Egypt, where he abode some time,
as he himself relates,
On the Canopian shore, by Nile's deep mouth.
There he conversed upon points of philosophy, with Pseno-
phis the Heliopolitan, and Senchis the Saïte, the most learned
of the Egyptian priests; and having an account from them of
* Odyss. xiv. 162.
+ Plutarch has only mentioned such of Solon's laws as he thought the
most singular and remarkable: Diogenes Laërtius, and Demosthenes have
given us an account of some others that ought not to be forgotten:-“ Let
not the guardian live in the same house with the mother of his wards. Let
not the tuition of minors be committed to him who is next after them in the
inheritance. Let not an engraver keep the impression of a seal which he
has engraved. Let him that puts out the eye of a man who has but one,
lose both his own. If an archon is taken in liquor, let him be put to death,
Let him who refuses to maintain his father and mother, be infamous, and so
let him that has consumed his patrimony. Let him who refuses to go to
war, flies, or behaves cowardly, be debarred the precincts of the forum,
and places of public worship. If a man surprises his wife in adultery, and
lives with her afterwards, let him be deemed infamous. Let him who
frequents the houses of lewd women, be debarred from speaking in the
assemblies of the people. Let a pander be pursued, and put to death if
taken. If any man steal in the day-time, let him be carried to the eleven
officers; if in the night, it shall be lawful to kill him in the act, or to wound
him in the pursuit, and carry him to the aforesaid officers; if he steals com-
mon things, let him pay double, and, if the convictor thinks fit, be exposed
in chains five days; if he be guilty of sacrilege, let him be put to death."

SOLON.
193
the Atlantic Island, * (as Plato informs us) he attempted to de-
scribe it to the Grecians in a poem. From Egypt he sailed
to Cyprus, and there was honoured with the best regards of
Philocyprus, one of the kings of that island, who reigned over
a small city built by Demophon, the son of Theseus, near the
river Clarius, in a strong situation indeed, but very indifferent
soil. As there was an agreeable plain below, Solon pursuaded
him to build a larger and pleasanter city there, and to remove
the inhabitants of the other to it. He also assisted in laying
out the whole, and building it in the best manner for conve-
nience and defence; so that Philocyprus in a short time had it
so well peopled, as to excite the envy of the other princes.
And therefore, though the former city was called Aipeia, yet,
in honour of Solon, he called the new one Soli. He himself
speaks of the building of this city, in his Elegies, addressing
himself to Philocyprus:-
For you be long the Solian throne decreed!
For you a race of prosperous sons succeed!
If in those scenes to her so justly dear,
My hand a blooming city help'd to rear,
May the sweet voice of smiling Venus bless,
And speed me home with honours and success!
As for his interview with Crosus, some pretend to prove
from chronology that it is fictitious. But since the story is so
famous, and so well attested, nay (what is more) so agreeable
to Solon's character, so worthy of his wisdom and magna-
nimity, I can not prevail with myself to reject it for the sake of
certain chronological tables, which thousands are correcting to
this day, without being able to bring them to any certainty.
Solon, then, is said to have gone to Sardis, at the request of
Croesus; and when he came there, he was affected much in the
same manner as a person born in an inland country, when he
first goes to see the ocean; for as he takes every great river he
• Plato finished this history from Solon's memoirs, as may be seen in his
Timæus and Critias. He pretends, that this Atlantis, an island situated in
the Atlantic ocean, was bigger than Asia and Africa: and that, notwithstand-
ing its vast extent, it was drowned in one day and night. Diodorus Siculus
says, the Carthaginians, who discovered it, made it death for any one to set-
tle in it. Amidst a number of conjectures concerning it, one of the most
probable is, that in those days the Africans had some knowledge of America.
Another opinion worth mentioning is, that the Atlantides, or Fortunate islands,
were what we now call the Canaries. Homer thus describes them:-
Stern winter smiles on that auspicious clime:
The fields are florid with unfading prime.
From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow,
Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow;
But from the breezy deep the blest inhale
The fragrant murmurs of the western gale.
Popy
OL. I. D
18*

194
SOLON.
persons
comes to for the sea, so Solon, as he passed through the court,
and jaw many of the nobility richly dressed, and walking in
great pomp amidst a crowd of attendants and guards, took
each of them for Crosus. At last, when he was conducted
into the presence, he found the king set off with whatever can
be imagined curious and valuable, either in beauty of colours,
elegance of golden ornaments, or splendour of jewels; in or-
der that the grandeur and variety of the scene might be as
striking as possible. Solon, standing over against the throne,
was not at all surprised, nor did he pay those compliments
that were expected; on the contrary, it was plain to all
of discernment, that he despised such vain ostentation and lit-
tleness of pride. Creesus then ordered his treasures to be
opened, and his magnificent apartments and furniture to be
shown him; but this was quite a needless trouble; for Solon,
in one view of the king, was able to read his character. When
he had seen all, and was conducted back, Crosus asked him,
“If he had ever beheld a happier man than he?” Solon an-
swered, “He had; and that the person was one Tellus, a
plain but worthy citizen of Athens, who left valuable children
behind him; and who having been above the want of neces-
saries all his life, died gloriously fighting for his country.”
By this time he appeared to Cresus to be a strange, uncouth
kind of rustic, who did not measure happiness by the quantity
of gold and silver, but could prefer the
life and death of a pri-
vate and mean person, to his high dignity and power. How-
ever, he asked him again,—“Whether after Tellus, he knew
another happier man in the world?” Solon answered, -56
yes,
Cleobis and Biton, famed for their brotherly affection, and
dutiful behaviour to their mother; for the oxen not being
ready, they put themselves in the harness, and drew their
mother to Juno's temple, who was extremely happy in hav-
ing such sons, and moved forward amidst the blessings of the
people. After the sacrifice, they drank a cheerful cup with
their friends, and then laid down to rest, but rose no more;
for they died in the night without sorrow or pain, in the
midst of so much glory." 6 Well!” said Cresus, now highly
displeased, “and do you not then rank us in the number of hap-
py men!” Solon, unwilling either to flatter him, orto exasperate
him more, replied,—“ King of Lydia, as God has given the
Greeks a moderate proportion of other things, so likewise he
has favoured them with a democratic spirit, and a liberal kind
of wisdom, which has no taste for the splendours of royalty.
Moreover, the vicissitudes of life suffer us not to be elated
any present good fortune, or to admire that felicity which is
Futurity carries for every man many vari-
ous and uncertain events in its bosom. He, therefore, whom

SOLON,
195
heaven blesses with success to the last, is in our estimation the
happy man. But the happiness of him who still lives, and
has the dangers of life to encounter, appears to us no better
than that of a champion, before the combat is determined, and
while the crown is uncertain." With these words Solon de-
parted, leaving Creesus chagrined, but not instructed.
At that time Æsop the fabulist was at the court of Crcesus,
who had sent for him, and caressed him not a little. He was
concerned at the unkind reception Solon met with, and there-
upon gave him this advice,—“A man should either not con-
verse with kings at all, or say what is agreeable to them.” To
which Solon replied, “Nay, but he should either not do it
at all, or say what is useful to them."
Though Cresus at that time held our lawgiver in contempt,
yet when he was defeated in his wars with Cyrus, when his
city was taken, himself made prisoner, and laid bound upon
the pile, in order to be burnt, in the presence of Cyrus, and
all the Persians, he cried out as loud as he possibiy' could, -
66 Solon! Solon! Solon!” Cyrus, surprised at this, sent to in-
quire of him,—“What god or man it was, whom alone he thus
invoked under so great a calamity?" Crosus answered, with
out the least disguise,—“He is one of the wise men of Greece,
whom I sent for, not with a design to hear his wisdom, or to
learn what might be of service to me, but that he might see
and extend the reputation of that glory, the loss of which I
find a much greater misfortune than the possession of it was a
blessing. My exalted state was only an exterior advantage,
the happiness of opinion; but the reverse plunges me into real
sufferings, and ends in misery irremediable. This was fore-
seen by that great man, who, forming a conjecture of the fu-
ture from what he then saw, advised me to consider the end
of life, and not to rely or grow insolent upon uncertainties.”
When this was told Cyrus, who was a much wiser man than
Crosus, finding Solon's maxim confirmed by an example be-
fore him, he not only set Creesus at liberty, but honoured him
with his protection as long as he lived. "Thus Solon had the
glory of saving the life of one of these kings, and of instruct-
ing the other.
During his absence, the Athenians were much divided
among themselves, Lycurgus being at the head of the low
country, * Megacles, the son of Alcmæon, of the people that
lived near the sea-coast, and Pisistratus of the mountaineers;
among which last was a multitude of labouring people, whose
enmity was chiefly levelled at the rich. Hence
was, that
* These three parties into which the Athenians were divided, viz. the Pedæi,
the Parali, and Diacrii, have been mentioned in this life before.

196
SOLON,
though the city did observe Solon's laws, yet all expected
some change, and were desirous of another establishment;
not in hopes of an equality, but with a view to be gainers by
the alteration, and entirely to subdue those that differed from
them.
While matters stood thus, Solon arrived at Athens, where
he was received with great respect, and still held in veneration
by all; but, by reason of his great age, he had neither the
strength nor spirit to act or speak in public as he had done.
He, therefore, applied in private to the heads of the factions,
and endeavoured to appease and reconcile them. Pisistratus
seemed to give him greater attention than the rest; for Pisis-
tratus had an affable and engaging manner.
He was a liberal
benefactor to the poor;* and even to his enemies he behaved
with great candour. He counterfeited so dexterously the
good qualities which nature had denied him, that he gained
more credit than the real possessors of them, and stood fore-
most in the public esteem, in point of moderation and equity,
in zeal for the present government, and aversion to all that
endeavoured at a change. With these arts he imposed upon
the people; but Solon soon discovered his real character, and
was the first to discern his insidious designs. Yet he did not
absolutely break with him, but endeavoured to soften him, and
advise him better; declaring both to him and others, that if
ambition could but be banished from his soul, and he could be
cured of his desire of absolute power, there would not be a
man better disposed, or a more worthy citizen in Athens.
About this time, Thespis began to change the form of
tragedy, and the novelty of the thing attracted many specta-
tors; for this was before any prize was proposed for those that
excelled in this respect. Solon, who was always willing to
hear and to learn, and in his old age more inclined to any
thing that might divert and entertain, particularly to music
and good fellowship, went to see Thespis himself exhibit, as
the custom of the ancient poets was. When the play was done,
he called to Thespis, and asked him,—If he was not asham-
ed to tell so many lies before so great an assembly?” Thespis
answered," It was no great matter, if he spoke or acted so
in jest.” To which Solon replied, striking the ground vio-
lently with his staff, —“ If we encourage such jesting as this,
we shall quickly find it in our contracts and agreements.”
* By the poor we are not to understand such as asked alms, for there
were none such at Athens.-“In those days,” says Isocrates, “there was no
citizen that died of want, or begged in the streets, to the dishonour of the
community." This was owing to the laws against idleness and prodigality,
and the care which the areopagus took that every man should have a visible
livelihood.

SOLON
197
Soon after this, Pisistratus, having wounded himself for the
purpose, drove in that condition into the market-place, and
endeavoured to inflame the minds of the people, by telling
them his enemies had laid in wait for him, and treated him in
that manner on account of his patriotism. Upon this the mul-
titude loudly expressed their indignation; but Solon came up,
and thus accosted him;—“Son of Hippocrates, you act Ho-
mer's Ulysses but very indifferently; for he wounded himself
to deceive his enemies, but you have done it to impose upon
your countrymen.” Notwithstanding this, the rabble were
ready to take up arms for him; and a general assembly of the
people being summoned, Ariston made a motion that a body-
guard of fifty clubmen should be assigned him. Solon stood
up and opposed it with many arguments, of the same kind
with those he has left us in his poems:
You hang with rapture on his honey'd tongue.
And again,-
Your art, to public interest ever blind,
Your fox-like art still centres in yourself.
But when he saw the poor behave in a riotous manner, and
determined to gratify Pisistratus at any rate, while the rich,
out of fear, declined the opposition, he retired with this de-
claration, that he had shown more wisdom than the former, in
discerning what method should have been taken; and more
courage than the latter, who did not want understanding, but
spirit to oppose the establishment of a tyrant. The people
having made the decree, did not curiously inquire into the
number of guards which Pisistratus employed, but visibly con-
nived at his keeping as many as he pleased, till he seized the
citadel. When this was done, and the city in great confusion,
Megacles, with the rest of the Alcmæonidæ, immediately took
to flight. But Solon though he was now very old, and had
none to second him, appeared in public, and addressed him-
self to the citizens, sometimes upbraiding them with their past
indiscretion and cowardice, sometimes exhorting and encou-
raging them to stand up for their liberty. Then it was that
he spoke those memorable words,-“ It would have been easier
for them to repress the advances of tyranny, and prevent its
establishment; but now it was established, and grown to some
height, it would be more glorious to demolish it.” However,
finding that their fears prevented their attention to what he
said, he returned to his own house, and placed his weapons at
the street door, with these words,—“I have done all in my
power to defend my country and its laws.” This was his last

198
SOLON.
public effort. Though some exhorted him to fly, he took no
notice of their advice, but was composed enough to make
verses, in which he thus reproaches the Athenians:
If fear or folly has your rights betray'd,
Let not the fault on righteous heav'n be laid;
You gave them guards, you rais'd your tyrants high,
T'impose the heavy yoke that draws the heaving sigh.
Many of his friends, alarmed at this, told him the tyrant
would certainly put him to death for it, and asked him what
he trusted to, that he went such imprudent lengths? He an-
swered,—" To old age.
”. However, when Pisistratus had
fully established himself, he made his court to Solon, and
treated him with so much kindness and respect, that Solon be-
came as it were his counsellor, and gave sanction to many of
his proceedings. He observed the greatest part of Solon's
laws, showing himself the example, and obliging his friends
to follow it. Thus, when he was accused of murder before
the court of areopagus, he appeared in a modest manner to make
his defence; but his accuser dropped the impeachment. He
likewise added other laws, one of which was, that “persons
maimed in the wars should be maintained at the public charge.”
Yet this, Heraclides tells us, was in pursuance of Solon's plan,
who had decreed the same in the case of Thersippus. But,
according to Theophrastus, Pisistratus, not Solon, made the
law against idleness, which produced at once greater industry
in the country, and tranquillity in the city.
Solon, moreover, attempted in verse a large description, or
rather fabulous account of the Atlantic island, * which he had
learned of the wise men of Saïs, and which particularly con-
cerned the Athenians; but by reason of his age, not want of
leisure (as Plato would have it), he was apprehensive the work
would be too much for him, and therefore did not go through
with it. These verses are a proof that business was not the
hindrance:-
I grow in learning as I grow in years.
And again;-
Wine, wit, and beauty still their charms bestow,
Light all the shades of life, and cheer us as we go.
Plato, ambitious to cultivate and adorn the subject of the At-
lantic island, as a delightful spot in some fair field unoccupied,
* This fable imported, that the people of Atlantis, having subdued all Lybia
and a great part of Europe, threatened Egypt and Greece; but the Athenians
making head against their victorious army, overthrew them in several en-
gagements, and confined them to their own island,

SOLON.
199
to which also he had some claim, by his being related to So-
lon, * laid out magnificent courts and enclosures, and erected
a grand entrance to it, such as no other story, fable or poem
ever had. But as he began it late, he ended his life before the
work; so that the more the reader is delighted with the part
that is written, the more regret he has to find it unfinished.
As the temple of Jupiter Olympius in Athens is the only one
that has not the last hand put to it, so the wisdom of Plato,
amongst his many excellent works, has left nothing imperfect
but the Atlantic island.
Heraclides Ponticus relates that Solon lived a considerable
time after Pisistratus usurped the government; but according
to Phanias the Ephesian, not quite two years: for Pisistratus
began his tyranny in the archonship of Comias; and Phanias
tells us Solon died in the archonship of Hegestratus, the im-
mediate successor to Comias. The story of his ashest being
scattered about the isle of Salamis, appears absurd and fabu-
lous; and yet it is related by several authors of credit, and by
Aristotle in particular.
* Plato's mother was a descendant of the brother of Solon.
† It is said by Diogenes Laërtius, that this was done by his own order. In
thus disposing of his remains, either Solon himself or those who wrote his
history, imitated the story of Lycurgus, who left an express order that his
ashes should be thrown into the sea.

THE
LIFE OF PUBLICOLA.
Such is the character of Solon; and therefore with him we
will compare Publicola, so called by the Roman people, in
acknowledgment of his merit; for his paternal name was
Valerius. He was descended from that ancient Valerius, *
who was the principal author of the union between the Ro-
mans and the Sabines; for he it was that most effectually per-
suaded the two kings to come to a conference, and to settle
their differences. From this man our Valerius deriving his
extraction, distinguished himself by his eloquence and riches, t
even while Rome was yet under kingly government. His
eloquence he employed with great propriety and spirit in de-
fence of justice, and his riches in relieving the necessitous.
Hence iť was natural to conclude, that if the government
should become republican,his station in it would soon be
one of the most eminent.
When Tarquin the Proud, who had made his way to the
throne, by the violation of all rights, ß divine and human, and
then exercised his power as he acquired it; when, like an op-
pressor and a tyrant, he became odious and insupportable to
the people; they took occasion to revolt, from the unhappy
fate of Lucretia, who killed herself on account of the rape
committed upon her by the son of Tarquin;|| Lucius Brutus,
* The first of his family, who settled at Rome, was Valerius Volesus, a
Sabine; or, as Festus and the fasti Capitolini call him, Velusus.
† Plutarch by this would insinuate, that arbitrary power is no friend to
eloquence. And undoubtedly the want of liberty does depress the spirit,
and restrain the force of genius: whereas, in republics and limited monar-
chies, full scope is given, as well as many occasions afforded, to the richest
vein of oratory.
# Governments, as well as other things, pushed to excessive lengths,
often change to the contrary extreme.
§ He made use of the body of his father-in-law, Servius Tullius, whom he
had murdered, as a step to the throne.
|| Livy tells us, that she desired her father and husband to meet her at
her own house. With her father Lucretius came Publius Valerius, after-
wards Publicola, and with her husband Lucius Junius Brutus, and many
other Romans of distinction. To them she disclosed in few words the
whole matter, declared her firm resolution not to outliye the loss of her ho.

PUBLICOLA,
201
meditating a change of government, applied to Valerius first,
and with his powerful assistance, expelled the king and his
family. Indeed, while the people seemed inclined to give
one person the chief command, and to set up a general instead
of a king, Valerius acquiesced, and willingly yielded the first
place to Brutus, under whose auspices the republic commenced.
But when it appeared that they could not bear the thought of
being governed by a single person, when they seemed more
ready to obey a divided authority, and indeed proposed and
demanded to have two consuls at the head of the state, then he
offered himself as a candidate for that high office, together
with Brutus, but lost his election; for, contrary to Brutus's
desire, Tarquinius Collatinus, the husband of Lucretia, was
appointed his colleague: not that he was a more worthy or
able man than Valerius; but those that had the chief interest
in the state, apprehensive of the return of the Tarquins, who
made great efforts without, and endeavoured to soften the re-
sentment of the citizens within, were desirous to be com-
manded by the most implacable enemy of that house.
Valerius, taking it ill that it should be supposed he would
not do his utmost for his country, because he had received no
particular injury from the tyrants, withdrew from the senate,
forbore to attend the forum, and would not intermeddle in the
least with public affairs; so that many began to express their
fear and concern, lest through resentment he should join the
late royal family, and overturn the commonwealth, which as
yet was but tottering. Brutus was not without his suspicions
of some others, and therefore determined to bring the sena-
tors to their oath on a solemn day of sacrifice, which he ap-
pointed for that purpose. On this occasion Valerius went
with great alacrity into the forum, and was the first to make
oath that he would never give up the least point, or hearken
to any terms of agreement with Tarquin, but would defend
the Roman liberty with his sword: which afforded great satis-
faction to the senate, and strengthened the hands of the con-
nour, and conjured them not to let the crime of Sextus Tarquinius g'o un-
punished. Then the heroine, notwithstanding their endeavours to dissuade
her from it, plunged a dagger in her breast. While the rest were filled with
grief and consternation, Brutus, who till that time had feigned himself an
idiot, to prevent his being obnoxious to the tyrant, took the bloody poniard,
and showing it to the assembly, said:- I swear by this blood, which
once was so pure, and which nothing but the detestable villany of Tarquin
could have polluted, that I will pursue L. Tarquinius the Proud, his wicked
wife, and their children, with fire and sword; nor will ever suffer any of that
family, or any other whatsoever, to reign at Rome. Ye gods! I call you to
witness this my oath." At these words he presented the dagger to Colla-
tinus, Lucretius, Valerius, and the rest of the company, and engaged them
to take the same oath.
VOL. I.E
19

202
PUBLICOLA.
suls.* His actions soon confirmed the sincerity of his oath;
for ambassadors came from Tarquin with letters calculated to
gain the people, and instructions to treat with them in such a
manner as might be most likely to corrupt them; as they were
to tell them from the king, that he had bid adieu to his high
notions, and was willing to listen to very moderate conditions.
Though the consuls were of opinion that they should be ad-
mitted to confer with the people, Valerius would not suffer
but opposed it strongly, insisting that no pretext for innova-
tion should be given
the needy multitude, who might consi-
der war as a greater grievance than tyranny itself.
After this, ambassadors came to declare that he would give
up all thoughts of the kingdom, and lay down his arms, if
they would but send him his treasures and other effects, that
his family and friends might not want a subsistence in their
exile. Many persons inclined to indulge him in this, and
Collatinus in particular agreed to it; but Brutus, † a man of
great spirit and quick resentment, ran into the forum, and call-
ed his colleague traitor, for being disposed to grant the enemy
the means to carry on the war, and recover the crown, when
indeed it would be too much to grant them bread in the place
where they might retire to. The citizens being assembled on
that occasion, Caius Minutius, a private man, was the first who
delivered his sentiments to them, advising Brutus and exhort-
ing the Romans to take care that the treasures should fight for
them against the tyrants, rather than for the tyrants against
them. The Romans, however, were of opinion, that while
they obtained that liberty for which they began the war, they
should not reject the offered peace for the sake of the treasures,
but cast them out together with the tyrants.
In the mean time Tarquinius made but small account of his
effects; but the demand of them furnished a pretence for sound-
ing the people, and for preparing a scene of treachery. This
was carried on by the ambassadors, under pretence of taking
care of the effects, part of which they said they were to sell,
part to collect, and the rest to send away. Thus they gained
* Thus ended the regal state of Rome, 242 years, according to the com-
mon computation, after the building of the city. But Sir Isaac Newton
justly obseryes, that this can scarce be reconciled to the course of nature;
for we meet with no instance in all history, since chronology was certain,
wherein seven kings, most of whom were slain, reigned so long a time in
continual succession. By contracting, therefore, the reigns of these kings,
and those of the kings of Alba, he places the building of Rome, not in the
seventh, but in the thirty-eighth Olympiad.
+ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, on the contrary, says the affair was debated
in the senate with great moderation; and when it could not be settled there
whether they should prefer honour or profit, it was referred to the people,
who, to their immortal praise, carried it, by a majority of one vote for honour.

PUBLICOLA.
203
time to corrupt two of the best families in Rome, that of the
Aquillii, in which were three senators, and the Vitellii, among
whom were two. All these, by the mother's side, were ne-
phews to Collatinus the consul. The Vitellii were likewise
allied to Brutus; for their sister was his wife, and he had se-
veral children by her;* two of whom, just arrived at years of
maturity, and being of their kindred and acquaintance, the
Vitellii drew in and persuaded to engage in the conspiracy;
insinuating that by this means they might marry into the fa-
mily of the Tarquins, share in their royal prospects, and, at
the same time, be set free from the yoke of a stupid and cruel
father; for his inflexibility in punishing criminals, they called
cruelty; and the stupidity, which he had used a long time as
a cloak to shelter him from the bloody designs of the tyrants,
had procured him the name of Brutus, † which he refused not
to be known by afterwards.
The youths thus engaged were brought to confer with the
Aquilii; and all agreed to take a great and horrible oath, by
drinking together of the blood, † and tastingſ the entrails of a
man sacrificed for that purpose. This ceremony was perform-
ed in the house of the Aquilii; and the room chosen for it (as
it was natural to suppose) was dark and retired. But a slave,
named Vindicius, lurked there undiscovered; not that he had
placed himself in that room by design; nor had he any suspi-
cion of what was going to be transacted: but happening to be
there and perceiving with what haste and concern they en-
tered, he stopped short for fear of being seen, and hid him-
self behind a chest; yet so that he could see what was done,
and hear what was resolved upon. They came to a resolution
to kill the consuls; and having wrote letters to signify as much
to Tarquin, they gave them to the ambassadors, who then
were guests to the Aquilii, and present at the conspiracy.
When the affair was over, they withdrew; and Vindicius,
stealing from his lurking-hole, was not determined what to
do, but disturbed with doubts. He thought it shocking, as
indeed it was, to accuse the sons of the most horrid crimes to
their father Brutus, or the nephews to their uncle Collatinus;
* Dionysius and Livy make mention of no more than two; but Plutarch
agrees with those who say that Brutus had more, and that Marcus Brutus,
who killed Cæsar was descended from one of them. Cicero is among those
that hold the latter opinion; or else he pretended to be so, to make the
cause and person of Brutus more popular.
+ Tarquin had put the father and brother of Brutus to death.
# They thought such a horrid sacrifice would oblige every member of the
conspiracy to inviolable secrecy. Catiline put the same in practice after-
wards.
§ The word Ingelv, signifies to taste, as well as to touch.

204
PUBLICOLA.
and it did not presently occur to him that any private Roman
was fit to be trusted with so important a secret. On the other
hand, he was so much tormented with the knowledge of such
an abominable treason, that he could do any thing, rather
than conceal it. At length, induced by the public spirit and
humanity of Valerius, he bethought himself of applying to him,
a man easy of access, and willing to be consulted by the ne-
cessitous; whose house was always open, and who never re-
fused to hear the petitions even of the meanest of the people.
Accordingly Vindicius coming, and discovering to him the
whole, in the presence of his brother Marcus and his wife,
Valerius, astonished and terrified at the plot, would not let the
man go, but shut him up in the room and left his wife to watch
the door. Then he ordered his brother to surround the late
king's palace, to seize the letters, if possible, and to secure the
servants; while himself, with many clients and friends whom
he always had about him, and a numerous retinue of servants,
went to the house of the Aquilii. As they were gone out,
and no one expected him, he forced open the doors, and found
the letters in the ambassador's room. Whilst he was thus em-
ployed, the Aquilii ran home in great haste, and engaged with
him at the door, endeavouring to force the letters from him.
But Valerius and his party repelled their attack, and twisting
their gowns about their necks, after much struggling on both
sides, dragged them with great difficulty through the streets
into the forum. Marcus Valerius had the same success at the
royal palace, where he seized other letters ready to be convey-
ed away among the goods, laid hands on what servants of the
king he could find, and had them also into the forum.
When the consuls had put a stop to the tumult, Vindicius
was produced by order of Valerius; and the accusation being
lodged, the letters were read, which the traitors had not the
assurance to contradict. A melancholy stillness reigned among
the rest; but a few, willing to favour Brutus, mentioned ban-
ishment. The tears of Collatinus, and the silence of Valerius,
gave some hopes of mercy. But Brutus called upon each of his
sons by name, and said, “You, Titus, and you, Valerius, *
why do not you make your defence against the charge?” After
they had been thus questioned three several times, and made
no answer, he turned to the lictors, and said,—“ Yours is the
part that remains.” The lictors immediately laid hold on the
youths, stripped them of their garments, and having tied their
hands behind them, flogged them severely with their rods.
And though others turned their eyes aside, unable to endure
the spectacle, yet it is said that Brutus neither looked another
• The name of Brutus's second son was not Valerius, but Tiberius.

PUBLICOLA.
205
way, nor suffered pity in the least to smooth his stern and
angry countenance;* regarding his sons as they suffered with
a threatening aspect, till they were extended on the ground,
and their heads cut off with the axe. Then he departed, leav-
ing the rest to his colleague. This was an action which it is
not easy to praise or condemn with propriety; for either the
excess of virtue raised his soul above the influence of the pas-
sions, or else the excess of resentment depressed it into insen-
sibility. Neither the one nor the other was natural, or suita-
ble to the human faculties, but was either divine or brutal. It
is more equitable, however, that our judgment should give its
sanction to the glory of this great man, than that our weakness
should incline us to doubt of his virtue; for the Romans do
not look upon it as so glorious a work for Romulus to have
built the city, as for Brutus to have founded and established
the commonwealth.
After Brutus had left the tribunal, the thought of what was
done involved the rest in astonishment, horror, and silence.
But the easiness and forbearance of Collatinus gave fresh spirits
to the Aquilii; they begged time to make their defence, and
desired that their slave Vindicius might be restored to them,
and not remain with their accusers. The consul was inclined
to grant their request, and thereupon to dismiss the assembly;
but Valerius would neither suffer the slave to be taken from
among the crowd, nor the people to dismiss the traitors and
withdraw. At last he seized the criminals himself and called
for Brutus, exclaiming that Collatinus acted most unworthily,
in laying his colleague under the hard necessity of putting his
own sons to death, and then inclining to gratify the women,
by releasing the betrayers and enemies of their country. Col-
latinus, upon this, losing all patience, commanded Vindicius
to be taken away; the lictors made way through the crowd,
seized the man, and came to blows with such as endeavoured
to rescue him. The friends of Valerius stood upon their de-
fence, and the people cried out for Brutus. Brutus returned,
and silence being made, he said,—" It was enough for him to
give judgment upon his own sons; as for the rest, he left them
to the sentence of the people, who were now free; and any one
that chose it might plead before them.” They did not, how-
ever, wait for pleadings, but immediately put it to the vote,
and with one voice condemned them to die; and the traitors
* Livy gives us a different account of Brutus's behaviour. Quum inter
omne tempus pater, vultusque et os ejus, spectaculo esset, eminente animo pa-
trio inter publicæ pænæ ministerium. There could not be a more striking
spectacle than the countenance of Brutus, for anguish sate mixed with
dignity, and he could not conceal the father, though he supported the ma-
gistrate --Liv. lib. in cap. 5.
19*

206
PUBLICOLA.
were beheaded. Collatinus, it seems, was somewhat suspect-
ed before, on account of his near relation to the royal family;*
and one of his names was obnoxious to the people, for they
abhorred the very name of Tarquin. But on this occasion he
had provoked them beyond expression; and therefore he vo-
luntarily resigned the consulship, and retired from the city.
A new election consequently was held, and Valerius declared
consul with great honour as a proper mark of gratitude for his
patriotic zeal. As he was of opinion that Vindicius should
have his share of the reward, he procured a decree of the peo-
ple that the freedom of the city should be given him, which
was never conferred on a slave before, and that he should be
enrolled in what tribe he pleased, and give his suffrage with
it. As for other freedmen, Appius, wanting to make him-
self popular, procured them a right of voting long after. The
act of enfranchising a slave is to this day called Vindicta (we
are told), from this Vindicius.
The next step that was taken, was to give up the goods of
the Tarquins to be plundered; and their palace and other
houses were levelled with the ground. The pleasantest part
of the Campus Martius had been in their possession, and this
was now consecrated to the god Mars. † It happened to be
the time of harvest, and the sheaves than lay upon the ground;
but as it was consecrated, they thought it not ſawful to thrash
the corn, or to make use of it; a great number of hands, there-
fore, took it up in baskets, and threw it into the river. The
trees were also cut down and thrown in after it, and the ground
left entirely without fruit or product, for the service of the
god. $ A great quantity of different sorts of things being thus
thrown in together, they were not carried far by the current,
but only to the shallows, where the first heaps had stopped.
Finding no farther passage, every thing settled there, and the
whole was bound still faster by the river; for that washed
down to it a deal of mud, which not only added to the mass,
but served as a cement to it; and the current, far from dissoly-
ing it, by its gentle pressure gave it the greater firmness.
The bulk and solidity of this mass received continual addi-
tions, most of what was brought down by the Tyber settling
* Lucius Tarquinius, the son of Egerius, and nephew of Tarquinius Pris-
cus, was called Collatinus, from Collatia, of which he was governor. Tar-
quinius Superbus, and Egerius, the father of Collatinus, were first cousins.
+ Plutarch should have said re-consecrated; for it was devoted to that god
in the time of Romulus, as appears from his laws. But the Tarquins had
sacrilegiously converted it to their own use.
# A field so kept, was very properly adapted to the service of the god of
war, who lays waste all before him,

PUBLYCOLA,
207
there. It is now an island sacred to religious uses;* several
temples and porticos have been built upon it, and it is called
in Latin Inter duos pontes, † the island between the two bridges
Some say, however, that this did not happen at the dedica-
tion of Tarquin's field, but some ages after, when Tarquinia,
a vestal, gave another adjacent field to the publie; for which
she was honoured with great privileges, particularly that of
giving her testimony in court, which was refused to all other
women; they likewise voted her liberty to marry, but she did
not accept it. This is the account, though seemingly fabu-
lous, which some give of the matter.
Tarquin, despairing to reascend the throne by stratagem,
applied to the Tuscans, who gave him a kind reception, and
prepared to conduct him back with a great armament.
The
consuls led the Roman forces against them; and the two ar-
mies were drawn up in certain consecrated parcels of ground,
the one called the Arsian grove, the other the Æsuvian mea-
dow. When they came to charge, Aruns, the son of Tarquin,
and Brutus, the Roman consul, I met each other, not by acci.
dent, but design; animated by hatred and resentment, the one
against a tyrant, and enemy of his country, the other to re-
venge his banishment, they spurred their horses to the en-
counter. As they engaged rather with fury than conduct, they
laid themselves open, and fell by each other's hand. The bat
tle, whose onset was so dreadfui, had not a milder conclusion;
the carnage was prodigious, and equal on both sides, till at
length the armies were separated by a storm.
Valerius was in great perplexity, as he knew not which side
had the victory, and found his men as much dismayed at the
sight of their own dead, as animated by the loss of the enemy.
So great, indeed, was the slaughter, that it could not be dis-
tinguished who had the advantage; and each army having a
near view of their own loss, and only guessing at that of the
enemy, were inclined to think themselves vanquished, rather
than victorious. When night came on (such a night as one
might imagine after so bloody a day), and both camps were
hushed in silence and repose, it is said that the grove shook,
and a loud voice proceeding from it, declared that, the Tus-
cans had lost one man more than the Romans. The voice was
* Livy says it was secured against the force of the current by jettées.
† The Fabrician bridge joined it to the city on the side of the Capitol, and
the Cestian bridge on the side of the Janiculine gate.
# Brutus is deservedly reckoned among the most illustrious heroes. He
restored liberty to his country, secured it with the blood of his own sons,
and died in defending it against a tyrant. The Romans afterwards erected
his statue in the Capitol, where he was placed in the midst of the kings of
Rome, with a naked sword in his hand.

208
PUBLICOLA.
undoubtedly divine;* for immediately upon that, the Romans
recovered their spirits, and the field rung with acclamations,
while the Tuscans, struck with fear and confusion, deserted
their camp, and most of them dispersed. As for those that
remained, who were not quite five thousand, the Romans took
them prisoners, and plundered the camp. When the dead were
numbered, there were found on the side of the Tuscans eleven
thousand three hundred, and on that of the Romans as many,
excepting one. This battle is said to have been fought on the
last of February. Valerius was honoured with a triumph, and
was the first consul that made his entry in a chariot and four.
The occasion rendered the spectacle glorious and venerable,
not invidious, and (as some would have it) grievous to the
Romans; for if that had been the case, the custom would not
have been so zealously kept up, nor would the ambition to
obtain a triumph have lasted so many ages. The people were
pleased, too, with the honours paid by Valerius to the remains
of his colleague, his burying him with so much pomp
and
pro-
nouncing his funeral oration; which last the Romans so ge-
nerally approved, or rather were so much charmed with, that
afterwards all the great and illustrious men among them, upon
their decease, had their encomium from persons of distinc-
tion. † This funeral oration was more ancient than any among
the Greeks, unless we allow what Anaximenes the orator re-
lates, that Solon was the author of this custom.
But that which offended and exasperated the people was
this:—Brutus, whom they considered as the father of liberty,
would not rule alone, but took to himself a first and a second
colleague;—“yet this man,” said they, “grasps the whole au-
thority, and is not the successor to the consulate of Brutus,
to which he has no right, but to the tyranny of Tarquin. To
what purpose is it in words to extol Brutus, and in deeds to
imitate Tarquin, while he has all the rods and axes carried be-
fore him alone, and sets out from a house more stately than
the royal palace which he demolished?” It is true, Valerius
did live in a house too lofty and superb, on the Velian emi-
nence, which commanded the forum, and every thing that
passed; and as the avenues were difficult, and the ascent steep,
when he came down from it, his appearance was very pomp-
* It was said to be the voice of the god Pan.
+ Funeral orations were not in use among the Greeks, till the battle of Ma-
rathon, which was sixteen vears after the death of Brutus. The heroes that
fell so gloriously there, did, indeed, well deserve such eulogiums; and the
Grecians never granted them but to those that were slain fighting for their
country. In this respect, the custom of the Romans was more equitable,
for they honoured, with those public marks of regard, such as had served
their country in any capacity.

PUBLICOLA.
209
a
it,
ous, and resembled the state of a king, rather than that of
consul. But he soon showed of what consequence it is for
persons, in high stations and authority, to have their ears open
to truth and good advice rather than flattery; for when his
friends informed him, that most people thought he was taking
wrong steps, he made no dispute, nor expressed any resent-
ment, but hastily assembled a number of workmen, whilst it
was yet night, who demolished his house entirely; so that
when the Romans, in the morning, assembled to look upon
they admired and adored his magnanimity, but, at the same
time, were troubled to see so grand and magnificent an edifice
ruined by the envy of the citizens, as they would have lament-
ed the death of a great man who had fallen as suddenly, and by
the same cause.
It
gave them pain, too, to see the consul, who
had now no home, obliged to take shelter in another man's
house; for Valerius was entertained by his friends, till the
people provided a piece of ground for him, where a less state-
ly house was built, in the place where the temple of Victory
now stands. *
Desirous to make his high office, as well as himself, rather
agreeable than formidable to the people, he ordered the axes
to be taken away from the rods, and that whenever he went to
the great assembly, the rods should be lowered in respect to
the citizens, as if the supreme power were lodged in them; a
custom which the consuls observe to this day.† The people
were not aware, that by this he did not lessen his own power,
(as they imagined), but only, by such an instance of modera-
tion, obviated and cut off all occasion of envy, and gained as
much authority to his person as he seemed to take from his
office; for they all submitted to him with pleasure, and were
so much charmed with his behaviour, that they gave him the
name of Publicola, that is, the People's respectful friend. In this
both his former names were lost; and this we shall make use
of in the sequel of his life.
Indeed it was no more than his due; for he permitted all to
sue for the consulship. $ Yet, before a colleague was appoint-
* Plutarch has it, where the temple called Vicus Publicus now stands. He
had found in the historians vicæ potæ, which in old Latin signifies victory, but
as he did not understand it, he substituted Vicus Publicus, which here would
have no sense at all.
+ The axes, too, were still borne before the consuls when they were irs
the field.
# If Publicola gave the plebeians, as well as the patricians, a riglat to the
consulate, that right did not then take place; for Lucius Sextius was the first
plebeian who arrived at that honour, many ages after the time of which Plu-
tarch speaks; and this continued but eleven years; for in the twelfth, which
was the four hundredth year of Rome, both the consuls were again patri-
cians.--Liv. I. vii. cap. 18.
Vol. 1. -2 F

210
PUBLICOLA.
ed him, as he knew not what might happen, and was appre-
hensive of some opposition from ignorance or envy, while he
had the sole power he made use of it to establish some of the
most useful and excellent regulations. In the first place, he
filled up the senate, which then was very thin; several of that
august body having been put to death by Tarquin before, and
others fallen in the late battle. He is said to have made up the
number a hundred and sixty-four. In the next place he caus-
ed certain laws to be enacted, which greatly augmented the
power of the people. The first gave liberty of appeal from
the consuls to the people; the second made it death to enter
upon the magistracy, without the people's consent; the third
was greatly in favour of the poor, as, by exempting them from
taxes, * it promoted their attention to manufactures. Even
his law against disobedience to the consuls, was not less popu-
lar than the rest; and, in effect, it favoured the commonalty
rather than the great; for the fine was only the value of five
oxen and two sheep. The value of a sheep was ten oboli, of
an ox a hundred;f the Romans as yet not making much use of
money,
because their wealth consisted in abundance of cattle.
To this day they call their substance peculia, from pecus, cat-
tle, their most ancient coins having the impression of an ox,
a sheep, or a hog; and their sons being distinguished with the
names of Suilli, Bubulci, Caprarii, and Porcii, derived from the
names of such animals.
Though these laws of Publicola were popular and equitable,
yet, amidst this moderation, the punishment he appointed in
one case was severe; for he made it lawful, without a form of
trial, to kill any man that should attempt to set himself
ир
for
king; and the person that took away his life, was to stand ex-
cused, if he could make proof of the intended crime. His
reason for such a law, we presume, was this; though it is not
possible that he who undertakes so great an enterprise should
escape all notice, yet it is very probable that, though suspect-
ed, he may accomplish his designs before he can be brought
to answer for it in a judicial way; and as the crime, if com-
mitted, would prevent his being called to account for it, this
law empowered any one to punish him before such cognizance
was taken.
His law concerning the treasury did him honour. It was
necessary that money should be raised for the war from the
estates of the citizens, but he determined that neither himself
* He exempted artificers, widows, and old men, who had no children to
relieve them, from paying tribute.
† Before the fine was such as the commonalty could not pay without ab.
solute ruin.

PUBLICOLA.
211
nor any of his friends should have the disposal of it; nor would
he suffer it to be lodged in any private house. He therefore
appointed the temple of Saturn to be the treasury, which they
still make use of for that purpose, and empowered the people
to choose to young men as quæstors, or treasurers.
The
first were Publius Veturius and Marcus Minutius; and a
large sum was collected; for a hundred and thirty thousand
persons were taxed, though the orphans and widows stood
excused.
These matters thus regulated, he procured Lucretius, the
father of the injured Lucretia, to be appointed his colleague.
To him he gave the fasces (as they are called), together with
the precedency, as the older man; and this mark of respect
to age has ever since continued. As Lucretius died a few
days after, another election was held, and Marcus Horatiust
appointed in his room for the remaining part of the year.
About that time, Tarquin making preparations for a second
war against the Romans, a great prodigy is said to have hap-
pened. This prince, while yet upon the throne, had almost
finished the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, when, either by the
direction of an oracle, † or upon some fancy of his own, he or-
dered the artists of Veii to make an earthen chariot, which
was to be placed on the top of it. Soon after this he forfeited
the crown.
The Tuscans, however, moulded the chariot, and
set it in the furnace; but the case was very different with it
from that of other clay in the fire, which condenses and con-
tracts upon the exhalation of the moisture, whereas it enlarged
itself and swelled, till it grew to such a size and hardness, that
it was with difficulty they got it out, even after the furnace
was dismantled. The soothsayers being of opinion that this
chariot betokened power and success to the persons with whom
it should remain, the people of Veii determined not to give it
up to the Romans; but upon their demanding it, returned this
answer, that it belonged to Tarquin, not to those that had
driven him from his kingdom. It happened that a few days
&
* The office of the quæstors was to take care of the public treasure,
for which they were accountable when their year was out; to furnish the
necessary sums for the service of the public; and to receive ambassadors,
attend them, and provide them with lodgings and other necessaries. A ge.
neral could not obtain the honours of a triumph, till he had given them
faithful account of the spoils he had taken, and sworn to it. There were at
first two quæstors only; but when the Roman empire was considerably en-
larged, their number was increased. The office of quæstor, though often
discharged by persons who had been consuls, was the first step to great
employments.
† Horatius Pulvillus.
# It was a usual thing to place chariots on the tops of temples.

212
PUBLICOLA.
after there was a chariot-race at Veii, which was observed as
usual, except that as the charioteer, who had won the prize
and receivel the crown, was gently driving out of the ring,
the horses took fright from no visible cause, but either by
some direction of the gods, or turn of fortune, ran away with
their driver at full speed towards Rome. It was in vain that he
pulled the reins, or soothed them with words: he was obliged
to give way to the career, and was whirled along till they
came to the Capitol, where they flung him, at the gate now
called Ratumend. The Veientes, surprised and terrified at this
incident, ordered the artists to deliver up the chariot. *
Tarquin, the son of Demaratus, in his wars with the Sabines,
made a vow to build a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus, which
was performed by Tarquin the Proud, son or grandson to the
former. He did not, however, consecrate it, for it was not
quite finished when he was expelled from Rome.t When the
last hand was put to it, and it had received every suitable or-
nament, Publicola was ambitious of the honour of dedicating
it. This excited the envy of some of the nobility, who could
better brook his other honours, to which, indeed, in his legis-
lative and military capacities, he had a better claim; but, as he
had no concern in this, they did not think proper to grant it
him; but encouraged and importuned Horatius to apply for it.
In the mean time, Publicola's command of the army necessa-
rily required his absence, and his adversaries, taking the op-
portunity to procure an order from the people that Horatius
should dedicate the temple, conducted him to the Capitol; a
point which they could not have gained had Publicola been
present. Yet some say, the consuls having cast lots for it,
the dedication fell to Horatius, and the expedition, against his
inclination, to Publicola. But we may easily conjecture how
they stood disposed, by the proceedings on the day of dedica-
tion. This was the thirteenth of September, which is about
the full moon of the month Metagitnian, when prodigious
numbers of all ranks being assembled, and silence enjoined,
Horatius, after the other ceremonies, took hold of one of the
gate-posts (as the custom is), and was going to pronounce the
prayer of consecration; but Marcus, the brother of Publicola,
. A miracle of this kind, and not less extraordinary, is said to have hap-
pened in modern Rome. When poor St. Michael's church was in a ruinous
condition, the horses that were employed in drawing stones through the city,
unanimously agreed to carry their loads to St. Michael!
+ This temple was 200 feet long, and 185 and upwards broad. The front
was adorned with three rows of columns, and the sides with two. In the
nave were three shrines, one of Jupiter, another of Juno, and the third of
Minerva.
Livy says positively, they cast lots for it. Plutarch seems to have taken
the sequel of the story from him.--Liv. lib. ii. c. 8.

PUBLICOLA.
213
who had stood for some time by the gates watching his oppor-
tunity, cried out, “Consul, your son lies dead in the camp.”
This gave great pain to all that heard it; but the consul, not
in the least disconcerted, made answer,-“ Then cast out the
dead where you please, I admit of no mourning on this occa-
sion;" and so proceeded to finish the dedication. The news
was not true, but an invention of Marcus, who hoped by that
means to hinder Horatius from completing what he was about.
But his presence of mind is equally admirable, whether he im-
mediately perceived the falsity, or believed the account to be
true, without showing any emotion.
The same fortune attended the dedication of the second
temple. The first, built by Tarquin, and dedicated by Hora-
tius, as we have related, was afterwards destroyed by fire in
the civil wars. * Sylla rebuilt it, but did not live to conse-
crate it; so the dedication of this second temple fell to Catullus.
It was again destroyed in the troubles which happened in the
time of Vitellius; and a third was built by Vespasian, who
with his usual good fortune, put the last hand to it, but did not
see it demolished, as it was soon after: happier in this respect
than Sylla, who died before his was dedicated, Vespasian died
before his was destroyed; for immediately after his decease
the Capitol was burnt. The fourth, which now stands, was
built and dedicated by Domitian. Tarquin is said to have ex-
pended thirty thousand pounds weight of silver upon the foun-
dations only; but the greatest wealth any private man is sup-
posed to be now possessed of in Rome, would not answer the
expense of the gilding of the present temple, which amounted
to more than twelve thousand talents. † " The pillars are of
Pentelic marble, and the thickness was in excellent proportion
to their length, when we saw them at Athens; but when they
were cut and polished anew at Rome, they gained not so much
* After the first temple was destroyed in the wars between Sylla and Ma-
rius, Sylla rebuilt it with columns of marble, which he had taken out of the
temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens, and transported to Rome.
But (as
Plutarch observes) he did not live to consecrate it; and he was heard to say,
as he was dying, that his leaving that temple to be dedicated by another,
was the only unfortunate circumstance of his life.
† 194,3501. sterling. In this we may see the great distance between the
wealth of private citizens in a free country, and that of the subjects of an ar-
bitrary monarch. In Trajan's time, there was not a private man in Rome
worth 200,0001.; whereas, under the commonwealth, Æmilius Scaurus, in
his ædileship, erected a temporary theatre, which cost above 500,0001. : Mar-
cus Crassus had an estate in land of above a million a year; L. Cornelius Bal.
bus left by will, to every Roman citizen, twenty-five denarii, which amounts
to about sixteen shillings of our money; and many' private men among the
Romans maintained from ten to twenty thousand slaves, not so much for
service as ostentation. No wonder then that the slaves once took up arms,
and went to war with the Roman commonwealth.
20

214
PUBLICOLA.
in the polish, as they lost in the proportion; for their beauty
is injured by their appearing too slender for their height. But
after admiring the magnificence of the Capitol, if any one was
to go and see a gallery, a hall, or bath, or the apartments of
the women, in Domitian's palace, what is said by Epicharmus
of a prodigal:-
Your lavish'd stores speak not the liberal mind,
But the disease of giving,
he might apply to Domitian in some such manner as this:--
“ Neither piety nor magnificence appears in your expense; you
have the disease of building; like Midas of old, you would
turn every thing to gold and marble." So much for this sub-
ject.
Let us now return to Tarquin. After that great battle in
which he lost his son, who was killed in single combat by
Brutus, he fled to Clusium, and begged assistance of Laras
Porsena, then the most powerful prince in Italy, and a man
of great worth and honour. Porsena promised him succours;
and, in the first place, sent to the Romans, commanding them
to receive Tarquin. Upon their refusal, he declared war
against them; and having informed them of the time when,
and the place where, he would make his assault, he marched
thither accordingly with a great army. Publicola, who was
then absent, was chosen consul the second time, † and with
him Titus Lucretius. Returning to Rome, and desirous to
outdo Porsena in spirit, † he built the town of Sigliuria, not-
withstanding the enemy's approach; and when he had finished
the walls at a great expense, he placed in it a colony of seven
hundred men, as if he held his adversary very cheap. Por-
sena, however, assaulted it in a spirited manner, drove out the
garrison, and pursued the fugitives so close, that he was near
entering Rome along with them. But Publicola met him
without the gates, and joining battle by the river, sustained
the enemy's attack, who pressed on with numbers, till at last,
sinking under the wounds he had gallantly received, he was
carried out of the battle. Lucretius, his colleague, having the
same fate, the courage of the Romans drooped, and they re.
treated into the city for security. The enemy making good
the pursuit to the wooden bridge, Rome was in great danger
* Besides that Porsena was willing to assist a distressed king, he consider.
ed the Tarquins as his countrymen, for they were of Tuscan extraction.
† It was when Publicola was consul the third time, and had for colleague
Horatius Pulvillus, that Porsena marched against Rome.
# Sigliuria was not built at this time, nor out of ostentation, as Plutarch
says; for it was built as a barrier against the Latins and the Hernici, and not
in the third, but in the second consulship of Publicola,

PUBLICOLA,
215
of being taken, when Horatius Cocles, * and with him two
others of the first rank, Herminius and Spurius Lartius,t stop-
ped them at the bridge. Horatius had the surname of Cocles
from his having lost an eye in the wars; or as some will have
it, from the form of his nose, which was so very flat, that both
his eyes, as well as eye-brows, seemed to be joined together;
so that when the vulgar intended to call him Cyclops, by a
misnomer they called him Cocles, which name remained with
him. This man, standing at the head of the bridge, defended
it against the enemy, till the Romans broke it down behind
him. Then he plunged into the Tyber, armed as he was,
and
swam to the other side, but was wounded in the hip with a
Tuscan spear. Publicola, struck with admiration of his va-
lour, immediately procured a decree, that every Roman should
give him one day's provisions;& and that he should have as
much land as himself could encircle with a plough in one day.
Besides, they erected his statue in brass in the temple of Vul-
can, with a view to console him by this honour for his wound,
and lameness consequent upon it. Š
While Porsena laid close siege to the city, the Romans were
attacked with famine, and another body of Tuscans laid waste
the country. Publicola, who was now consul the third time,
was of opinion that no operations could be carried on against
Porsena but defensive ones. He marched out,|| however,
privately against those Tuscans who had committed such raya-
ges, defeated them, and killed five thousand.
The story of MuciusT has been the subject of many pens,
and is variously related. I shall give that account of it which
seems most credible. Mucius was in all respects a man of
merit, but particularly distinguished by his valour. Having
secretly formed a scheme to take off Porsena, he made his
way
into his camp in a Tuscan dress, where he likewise took care
to speak the "Tuscan language. In this disguise he approached
the seat where the king sat with his nobles; and as he did not
certainly know Porsena, and thought it improper to ask, he
* He was son to a brother of Horatius the consul, and a descendant of that
Horatius who remained victorious in the great combat between the Horatii
and Curiatii in the reign of Tullus Hostilius.
+ In the Greek text it is Lucretius, which, we suppose, is a corruption of
Lartius, the name we find in Livy.
# Probably he had three hundred thousand contributors, for even the wo-
men readily gaye in their quota.
$ This defect, and his having but one eye, prevented his ever being consul.
| The consul spread a report, which was soon carried into the Tuscan
camp by the slaves who deserted, that the next day all the cattle brought
thither from the country, would be sent to graze in the fields under a guard.
This bait drew the enemy into an ambush.
1 Mucius Cordus.

216
PUBLICOLA.
drew his sword, and killed the person that seemed most likely
to be the king. Upon this he was seized and examined. Mean
time, as there happened to be a portable altar there, with fire
upon it, where the king was about to offer sacrifice, Mucius
thrust his right hand into it;* and as the flesh was burning, he
kept looking upon Porsena with a firm and menacing aspect,
till the king, astonished at his fortitude, returned him his
sword with his own hand. He received it with his left hand,
from whence we are told he had the surname of Scævola, which
signifies left-handed; and thus addressed himself to Porsena:
“Your threatenings I regarded not, but am conquered by your
generosity, and out of gratitude will declare to you what no
force should have wrested from me. There are three hundred
Romans that have taken the same resolution with mine, who
now walk about your camp, watching their opportunity. It
was my lot to make the first attempt, and I am not sorry that
my sword was directed by fortune against another instead of a
man of so much honour, who, as such, should rather be a friend
than an enemy to the Romans.” Porsena believed this account
and was more inclined to harken to terms, not so much, in
my opinion, through fear of the three hundred assassins, as
admiration of the dignity of the Roman valour. All authors
call this man Mucius Scævola,t except Athenodorus Sandon,
who, in a work addressed to Octavia, sister to Augustus, says
he was named Posthumius.
Publicola, who did not look upon Porsena as so bitter an
enemy to Rome, but that he deserved to be taken into its friend-
ship and alliance, was so far from refusing to refer the dispute
with Tarquin to his
decision, that he was really desirous of it,
and several times offered to prove that Tarquin was the worst
of men, and justly deprived of the crown. When Tarquin
roughly answered, that he would admit of no arbitrator, much
less of Porsena, if he changed his mind, and forsook his alli-
Porsena was offended, and began to entertain an ill
opinion of him; being likewise solicited to it by his son Aruns,
who used all his interest for the Romans, he was prevailed
upon to put an end to the war, on condition that they gave up
that part of Tuscany which they had conquered,t together with
the prisoners, and received their deserters. For the perform-
ance of these conditions, they gave as hostages ten young men
ance.
$
Livy says, that Porsena threatened Mucius with the torture by fire, to
make him discover his accomplices; whereupon Mucius thrust his hand into
the flame, to let him see that he was not to be intimidated.
† Mucius was rewarded with a large piece of ground belonging to the
public.
# The Romans were required to reinstate the Veientes in the possession
of seven villages, which they had taken from them in forrner wars.

PUBLICOLA.
217
stream.
and as many virgins, of the best families in Rome; among whom
was Valeria, the daughter of Publicola.
Upon the faith of this treaty, Porsena had ceased from all
acts of hostility, when the Roman virgins went down to bathe,
at a place where the bank, forming itself in a crescent, embra-
ces the river in such a manner, that there it is quite calm and
undisturbed with waves. As no guard was near, and they saw
none passing or repassing, they had a violent inclination to
swim over, notwithstanding the depth and strength of the
Some
say one of them, named Clelia, passed it on
horseback, and encouraged the other virgins as they swam.
When they came safe to Publicola, he neither commended nor
approved their exploit, but was grieved to think he should
appear unequal to Porsena in point of honour, and that this
daring enterprise of the virgins should make the Romans sus-
pected of unfair proceeding. He took them, therefore, and
sent them back to Porsena. Tarquin, having timely intelli-
gence of this, laid an ambuscade for them, and attacked their
convoy. They defended themselves, though greatly inferior
in number; and Valeria, the daughter of Publicola, broke
through them as they were engaged, with three servants, who
conducted her safe to Porsena's camp.
As the skirmish was
not yet decided, nor the danger over, Aruns, the son of Por-
sena, being informed of it, marched up with all speed, put the
enemy to flight, and rescued the Romans. When Porsena saw
the virgins returned, he demanded which of them was she that
proposed the design, and set the example. When he under-
stood that Clelia was the person, he treated her with great
politeness, and commanding one of his own horses to be
brought, with very elegant trappings, he made her a present of
it. Those that say Clelia was the only one that passed the
river on horseback, allege this as a proof. Others say no such
consequence can be drawn from it, and that it was nothing
more than a mark of honour to her from the Tuscan king, for
her bravery. An equestrian statue of her stands in the Via
sacra,* .where it leads to mount Palatine; yet some will have
even this to be Valeria's statue, not Clelia’s.
Porsena, thus reconciled to the Romans, gave many prooſs
of his greatness of mind. Among the rest, he ordered the
Tuscans to carry off nothing but their arms, and to leave their
camp full of provisions, and many other things of value, for
the Romans. Hence it is, that even in our times, whenever
there is a sale of goods belonging to the public, they are cried
* Dionysius of Harlicarnassus tells us, in express terms, that in his time,
that is, in the reign of Augustus, there were no remains of that statue, it
having been consumed by fire.
VOL. 1.2G
20*

218
PUBLICOLA.
first as the goods of Porsena, to eternize the memory of his
generosity. A brazen statue, of rude and antique workman-
ship, was also erected to his honour, near the senate-house. *
After this, the Sabines invading the Roman territory, Mar-
cus Valerius, brother to Publicola, and Posthumius Tubertus,
were elected consuls. As every important action was still con-
ducted by the advice and assistance of Publicola, Marcus gain-
ed two great battles; in the second of which he killed thir-
teen thousand of the enemy, without the loss of one Roman.
For this he was not only rewarded with a triumph, but a house
was built for him at the public expense on mount Palatine.
And whereas the doors of other houses at that time opened
inwards, the street door of that house was made to open out-
wards, to show by such an honourable distinction, that he was
always ready to receive any proposal for the public service. †
All the doors in Greece, they tell us, were formerly made to
open so; which they prove from those passages in the come-
dies, where it is mentioned, that those that went out, knocked
loud on the inside of the doors first, to give warning to such
as passed by, or stood before them, lest the doors in opening
should dash against them.
The year following, Publicola was appointed consul the
fourth time, because a confederacy between the Sabines and
Latins threatened a war; and at the same time the city was
oppressed with superstitious terrors on account of the imper-
fect births, and general abortions among the women. Publi-
cola, having consulted the Sibyl's books upon it, offered sa-
crifice to Pluto, and renewed certain games that had formerly
been instituted by the direction of the Delphic oracle. When
* The senate likewise sent an embassy to him, with a present of a throne
adorned with ivory, a sceptre, a crown of gold, and a triumphal robe.
† Posthumius had his share in the triumph, as well as in the achievements.
# An unknown woman is said to have come to Tarquin with nine volumes
of oracles, written by the Sibyl of Cuma, for which she demanded a very
considerable price. "Tarquin refusing to purchase them at her rate, she
burnt three of them, and then asked the same price for the remaining six.
Her proposal being rejected with scorn, she burnt three more, and, not-
withstanding, still insisted on her first price. Tarquin, surprised at the
novelty of the thing, put the books in the hands of the augurs to be exam.
ined, who advised him to purchase them at any rate. Accordingly he did,
and appointed two persons of distinction, styled Duumviri, to be guardians
of them, who locked them up in a vault under the temple of Jupiter Capi-
tolinus, and there they were kept till they were burnt with the temple it-
self. These officers, whose number was afterwards increased, consulted
the Sibylline books by direction of the senate, when some dangerous sedi-
tion was likely to break out, when the Roman armies had been defeated,
or when any of those prodigies appeared which were thought fatal. They
also presided over the sacrifices and shows, which they appointed to appease
the wrath of heaven.

PUBLICOLA.
219
war.
he had revived the city with the pleasing hope that the gods
were appeased, he prepared to arm against the menaces of
men; for there appeared to be a formidable league and strong
armament against him. Among the Sabines, Appius Clausus
was a man of an opulent fortune, and remarkable personal
strength; famed, moreover, for his virtues, and the force of
his eloquence. What is the fate of all great men, to be per-
secuted by envy, was likewise his; and his opposing the war,
gave a handle to malignity to insinuate that he wanted to
strengthen the Roman power, in order the more easily to en-
slave his own country. Perceiving that the populace gave a
willing ear to these calumnies, and that he was become obnox-
ious to the abettors of the war, he was apprehensive of an
impeachment; but being powerfully supported by his friends
and relations, he bade his enemies defiance. This delayed the
Publicola making it his business not only to get intelli-
gence of this sedition, but also to encourage and inflame it,
sent proper persons to Appius, to tell him,-6. That he was
sensible he was a man of too much goodness and integrity, to
avenge himself of his countrymen, though greatly injured by
them, but if he chose, for his security, to come over to the
Romans, and get out of the way of his enemies, he should
find such a reception, both in public and private, as was suita-
ble to his virtue, and the dignity of Rome.” Appius consi-
dered this proposal with great attention, and the
necessity of
his affairs prevailed with him to accept of it. He therefore
persuaded his friends, and they influenced many others, so that
five thousand men of the most peaceable disposition of any
among
the Sabines, with their families, removed with him to
Rome. Publicola, who was prepared for it, received them in
the most friendly and hospitable manner, admitted them to the
freedom of the city; and gave them two acres of land a-piece,
by the river Anio. To Appius he gave twenty-five acres, and
a seat in the senate. This laid the foundation of his greatness
in the republic; and he used the advantage with so much pru-
dence, as to rise to the first rank in power and authority. The
Claudian family, * descended from him, is as illustrious as any
in Rome.
Though the disputes among the Sabines were decided by
this migration, the demagogues would not suffer them to rest;
representing it as a matter of great disgrace, if Appius, now
* There were two families of the Claudii in Rome; one patrician, and the
other plebeian. The first had the surname of Pulcher, and the other of
Marcellus. In course of time the patrician family produced twenty-three
consuls, five dictators, and seven censors, and obtained two triumphs, and
two ovations. The emperor Tiberius was descended of this family.

220
PUBLICOLA.
a deserter and an enemy, should be able to obstruct their
taking vengeance of the Romans, when he could not
preven-
it by his presence. They advanced, therefore, with a great
army, and encamped near Fidenæ. Having ordered two
thousand men to lie in ambush in the shrubby and hollow
places before Rome, they appointed a few horse at day-break
to ravage the country up to the very gates, and then to retreat;
till they drew the enemy into the ambuscade. But Publicola,
getting information that very day of these particulars from de-
serters, prepared himself accordingly, and made a disposition
of his forces. Posthumius Balbus, his son-in-law, went out
with three thousand men, as it began to grow dark, and hav-
ing taken possession of the summits of the hills under which
the Sabines had concealed themselves, watched his opportuni-
ty. His colleague Lucretius, with the lightest and most ac-
tive of the Romans, was appointed to attack the Sabine caval-
ry, as they were driving off the cattle, while himself, with the
rest of the forces, took a large compass, and enclosed the
enemy's rear. The morning happened to be very foggy,
when Posthumius, at dawn, with loud shouts, fell upon the
ambuscade from the heights, Lucretius charged the horse in
their retreat, and Publicola attacked the enemy's camp. The
Sabines were every where worsted and put to the rout. As the
Romans met not with the least resistance, the slaughter was
prodigious. It is clear, that the vain confidence of the Sa-
bines was the principal cause of their ruin. While one part
thought the other was safe, they did not stand upon their de-
fence; those in the camp ran towards the corps that was placed
in ambuscade, while they, in their turn, endeavoured to re-
gain the camp. Thus they fell in with each other in great
disorder, and in mutual want of that assistance which neither
was able to give. The Sabines would have been entirely cut
off, had not the city of Fidenæ been so near, which proved
an asylum to some, particularly those that fled when the camp
was taken. Such as did not take refuge there, were either
destroyed or taken prisoners.
The Romans, though accustomed to ascribe every great
event to the interposition of the gods, gave the credit of this
victory solely to the general; and the first thing the soldiers
were heard to say, was, that Publicola had put the enemy in
their hands, lame, blind, and almost bound for the slaughter.
The people were enriched with the plunder and the sale of
prisoners. As for Publicola, he was honoured with a triumph;
and having surrendered the administration to the succeeding
consuls, he died soon after; thus finishing his life in circum-
stances esteemed the happiest and most glorious that man can

PUBLICOLA.
221
attain to. * The people, as if they had done nothing to requite
his merit in his lifetime, decreed that his funeral should be
solemnized at the public charge; and to make it the more
honourable, every one contributed a piece of money called
Quadrans. Besides, the women, out of particular regard to
his memory, continued the mourning for him a whole
year.
By an order of the citizens, his body was likewise interred
within the city, near the place called Velia, and all his family
were to have a burying place there. At present, indeed, none
of his descendants are interred in that ground; they only car-
ry the corpse, and set it down there, when one of the attend-
ants puts a lighted torch under it, which he immediately takes
back again. Thus they claim by that act the right, but waive
the privilege; for the body is taken away, and interred with-
out the walls.
* He was the most virtuous citizen, one of the greatest generals, and the
most popular consul Rome ever had. As he had taken more care to trans-
mit his virtues to his posterity, than to enrich them; and as, notwithstanding
the frugality of his life, and the great offices he had borne, there was not
found money enough in his house to defray the charges of his funeral, he
was buried at the expense of the public. His poverty is a circumstance
which Plutarch should have mentioned, because a funeral at the public
charge was an honour sometimes paid to the rich.

SOLON AND PUBLICOLA
COMPARED.
THERE is something singular in this parallel, and what has
not occurred to us in any other of the lives we have written,
that Publicola should exemplify the maxims of Solon, and that
Solon should proclaim beforehand the happiness of Publicola.
For the definition of happiness which Solon gave Cræsus, is
more applicable to Publicola than to Tellus. It is true, he pro-
nounces Tellus happy on account of his virtue, his valuable
children, and glorious death; yet he mentions him not in his
poems as eminently distinguished by his virtue, his children,
or his employments. For Publicola, in his lifetime, attained
the highest reputation and authority among the Romans, by
means of his virtues; and, after his death, his family was
reckoned among the most honourable; the houses of the Pub-
licolæ, the Messalæ, and Valerii, * illustrious for the space of
six hundred years,t still acknowledging him as the fountain
of their honour. Tellus, like a brave man, keeping his post,
and fighting to the last, fell by the enemy's hand; whereas
Publicola, after having slain his enemies (a much happier cir-
cumstance than to be slain by them), after seeing his country
victorious, through his conduct as consul and as general, after
triumphs and all other marks of honour, died thať death which
Solon had so passionately wished for, and declared so happy. I
Solon, again, in his answer to Mimnermus, concerning the
period of human life, thus exclaims:-
* That is, the other Valeri, viz. the Maximi, the Corvini, the Politi, the
Levini, and the Flacci.
+ It appears from this passage, that Plutarch wrote this life about the be.
ginning of Trajan's reign.
# Cicero thought this wish of Solon's unsuitable to so wise a man, and
preferred to it that of the poet Ennius, who, pleasing himself with the
thought of an immortality on earth as a poet, desired to die unlamented.
Cicero rejoiced in the same prospect as an orator. The passion of immor-
tality is indeed a natural one; but as the chief part of our happiness consists
in the exercise of the benevolent affections, in giving and receiving sincere
testimonies of regard, the undoubted expressions of that regard must sooth
the pains of a dying man, and comfort him with the reflection, that he has
not been wanting in the offices of humanity.

SOLON AND PUBLICOLA COMPARED.
223
Let friendship's faithful heart attend my bier,
Heave the sad sigh, and drop the pitying tear.
And Publicola had this felicity; for he was lamented, not only
by his friends and relations, but by the whole city; thousands
attended his funeral with tears, with regret, with the deepest
sorrow; and the Roman matrons mourned for him, as for the
loss of a son, a brother, or a common parent.
Another wish of Solon's is thus expressed:-
The flow of riches though desir'd,
Life's real goods, if well acquir'd,
Unjustly let me never gain,
Lest vengeance follow in their train.
And Publicola not only acquired, but employed his riches ho.
nourably, for he was a generous benefactor to the poor; so that
if Solon was the wisest, Publicola was the happiest of human
kind. What the former had wished for as the greatest and
most desirable of blessings, the latter actually possessed, and
continued to enjoy.
Thus Solon did honour to Publicola, and he to Solon in his
turn; for he considered him as the most excellent pattern that
could be proposed, in regulating a democracy; and, like him,
laying aside the pride of power, he rendered it gentle and ac-
ceptable to all. He also made use of several of Solon's laws;
for he empowered the people to elect their own magistrates,
and left an appeal to them from the sentence of other courts,
as the Athenian lawgiver had done. He did not, indeed,
with Solon, create a new senate, * but he almost doubled the
number of that which he found in being.
His reason for appointing quæstors or treasurers was, that if
the consul was a worthy man, he might have leisure to attend
to greater affairs; if unworthy, that he might not have greater
opportunities of injustice, when both the government and trea-
sury were under his direction.
Publicola's aversion to tyrants was stronger than that of So-
lon; for the latter made every attempt to set up arbitrary pow-
er punishable by law; but the former made it death without
the formality of trial. Solon, indeed, justly and reasonably
plumes himself upon refusing absolute power, when both the
* By Bran, we apprehend that Plutarch here rather means the senate or
council of four hundred, than the council of areopagus. The four hundred
had the prior cognizance of all that was to come before the people, and no-
thing could be proposed to the general assenıbly till digested by them; so
that, as far as he was able, he provided against a thirst of arbitrary power in
the rich, and a desire of licentious freedom in the commons; the areopagus
being a check upon the former, as the senate was a curb upon the latter.

224
SOLON AND PUBLICOLA COMPARED:
state of affairs and the inclinations of the people would have
readily admitted it; and yet it was no less glorious for Publico-
la, when, finding the consular authority too despotic, he render-
ed it milder and more popular, and did not stretch it so far as
he might have done. That this was the best method of go-
verning, Solon seems to have been sensible before him, when
he says of a republic:-
The reins nor strictly nor too loosely hold,
And safe the car of slippery power you guide.
But the annulling of debts was peculiar to Solon, and was, in-
deed, the most effectual way to support the liberty of the peo-
ple; for laws intended to establish an equality would be of no
avail, while the poor were deprived of the benefit of that
equa-
lity by their debts. Where they seemed most to exercise their
liberty, in offices, in debates, and in deciding causes, there
they were most enslaved to the rich, and entirely under their
control. What is more considerable in this case is, that,
though the cancelling of debts generally produces seditions,
Solon seasonably applied it, as a strong, though hazardous
medicine, to remove the sedition then existing. The mea-
sure, too, lost its infamous and obnoxious nature, when made
use of by a man of Solon's probity and character.
If we consider the whole administration of each, Solon's was
more illustrious at first. He was an original, and followed no
example; besides, by himself, without a colleague, he effected
many great things for the public advantage. But Publicola's
fortune was more to be admired at last; for Solon lived to see
his own establishment overturned, whereas that of Publicola
preserved the state in good order to the time of the civil wars.
And no wonder; since the former, as soon as he had enacted
his laws, left them inscribed on tables of wood, without any one
to support their authority, and departed from Athens; whilst
the latter, remaining at Rome, and continuing in the magis-
tracy, thoroughly established and secured the commonwealth.
Sólon was sensible of the ambitious designs of Pisistratus,
and desirous to prevent their being put in execution; but he
miscarried in the attempt, and saw a tyrant set up.
On the
other hand, Publicola demolished kingly power, when it had
been established for some ages, and was at a formidable height.
He was equalled by Solon in virtue and patriotism, but he had
power and good fortune to second his virtue, which the other
wanted.
As to warlike exploits, there is a considerable difference; for
Daïmachus Platäensis does not even attribute that enterprise
against the Megarensians to Solon, as we have done; whereas

SOLON AND PUBLICOLA COMPARED.
225
Publicola, in many great battles, performed the duty both of
a general and a private soldier.
Again; if we compare their conduct in civil affairs, we shall
find that Solon, only acting a part, as it were, and under the
form of a maniac, went out to speak concerning the recovery
of Salamis. But Publicola, in the face of the greatest danger,
rose up against Tarquin, detected the plot, prevented the es-
cape of the vile conspirators, had them punished, and not only
excluded the tyrants from the city, but cut up their hopes by
the roots. If he was thus vigorous in prosecuting affairs that
required spirit, resolution, and open force, he was still more
successful in negotiation and the gentle arts of persuasion;
for, by his address, he gained Porsena, whose power was so
formidable, that he could not be quelled by dint of arms, and
made him a friend to Rome.
But here, perhaps, some will object, that Solon recovered
Salamis, when the Athenians had given it up; whereas Publi-
cola surrendered lands that the Romans were in possession of.
Our judgment of actions, however, should be formed accord-
ing to the respective times and postures of affairs. An able
politician, to manage all for the best, varies his conduct as the
present occasion requires; often quits a part, to save the whole;
and, by yielding in small matters, secures considerable advan-
tages. Thus Publicola, by giving up what the Romans had
lately usurped, saved all that was really their own: and at a
time when they found it difficult to defend their city, gained
for them the possession of the besieger's camp. In effect, by
referring his cause to the arbitration of the
his point, and with that, all the advantages he could have pro-
posed to himself by a victory; for Porsena put an end to the
war, and left the Romans all the provision he had made for
carrying it on, induced by that impression of their virtue and
honour, which he had received from Publicola.
VOL. I.-H
81

THE
LIFE OF THEMISTOCLES.
The family of Themistocles was too obscure to raise him to
distinction. He was the son of Neocles, an inferior citizen of
Athens, of the ward of Phrear, and the tribe of Leontis. By
his mother's side, he is said to have been illegitimate, * accord-
pig to the following verses:--
Though born in Thrace, Abrotonon my name,
My son enrols me in the lists of fame,
The great Themistocles.
Yet Phanias writes, that the mother of Themistocles was of
Caria, not of Thrace, and that her name was not Abrotonon,
but Euterpe. Neanthes mentions Halicarnassus as the city to
which she belonged. But be that as it may, when all the ille-
gitimate youth assembled at Cynosarges, in the wrestling ring
dedicated to Hercules, without the gates, which was appoint
ed for that purpose, because Hercules himself was not alto-
gether of divine extraction, but had a mortal for his mother;
Themistocles found means to persuade some of the young no-
blemen to go to Cynosarges, and take their exercise with him.
This was an ingenious contrivance to take away the distinc-
tion between the illegitimate or aliens, and the legitimate,
whose parents were both Athenians. It is plain, however,
that he was related to the house of the Lycomedæ;t for Si-
inonides informs us, that when a chapelț of that family in the
ward of Phyle, where the mysteries of Ceres used to be cele-
brated, was burnt down by the barbarians, Themistocles re-
built it, and adorned it with pictures.
It
appears, that when a boy, he was full of spirit and fire,
quick of apprehension, naturally inclined to bold attempts, and
likely to make a great statesman. His hours of leisure and
* It was a law at Athens, that every citizen who had a foreigner to his mo-
ther, should be deemed a bastard, though born in wedlock, and should con-
sequently be incapable of inheriting his father's estate.
† The Lycomedæ were a family in Athens, who (according to Pausanias)
had the care of the sacrifices offered to Ceres; and in that Chapei which
Theseus rebuilt, initiations and other mysteries were celebrated.
+ Τελέστηριον.

THEMI NOCLES.
227
vacation he spent not, like other boys, in idleness and play;
but he was always inventing and composing declamations; the
subjects of which were either the impeachment or defence of
some of his school-fellows; so that his master would often
say,
Boy, you will be nothing common or indifferent; you will
either be a blessing or a curse to the community.” As for
moral philosophy, and the polite arts, he learned them but
slowly, and with little satisfaction; but instructions in politi-
cal knowledge, and the administration of public affairs, he re
ceived with an attention above his years, because they suited
his genius. When, therefore, he was laughed at, long after,
in company where free scope was given to raillery, by persons
who passed as more accomplished in what was called genteel
breeding, he was obliged to answer them with some asperity.
66'Tis true I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon
a lute, but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable city
to glory and greatness.”
Stesimbrotus, indeed, informs us, that Themistocles studied
natural philosophy both under Anaxagoras and Melissus. But
in this he errs against chronology;* for when Pericles, who
was much younger than Themistocles, besieged Samos, Melis-
sus defended it, and Anaxagoras lived with Pericles. Those
seem to deserve more attention, who say that Themistocles
was a follower of Mnesiphilus the Phrearian; who was neither
orator nor natural philosopher, but a professor of what was
then called wisdom,+ which consisted in a knowledge of the
arts of government, and the practical part of political pru-
dence. This was a sect formed upon the principles of Solon,
and descending in succession from him; but when the science
of government came to be mixed with forensic arts, and
pass-
ed from action to mere words, its professors, instead of sages,
were called Sophists. S Themistocles, however, was conver-
Anaxagoras was born in the first year of the 70th Olympiad; Themisto-
cles won the battle of Salamis the first year of the 75th Olympiad; and Me
lissus defended Samos against Pericles the last year of the 84th Olympiad.
Themistocles, therefore, could neither study under Anaxagoras, who was
only twenty years old when that general gained the battle of Salamis, nor
yet under Melissus, who did not begin to flourish till thirty-six years after
that battle.
+ The first sages were in reality great politicians, who gave rules and pre-
cepts for the government of communities. Thales was the first who carried
his speculations into physics.
# During the space of about a hundred, or a hundred and twenty years.
$ The Sophists were rather rhetoricians than philosophers, skilled in
words, but superficial in knowledge, as Diogenes Laërtius informs us.
tagoras, who flourished about the 84th Olympiad, a little before the birth
of Plato, was the first who had the appellation of Sophist. But Socrates,
who was more conversant in morality than in politics, physics, or rhetoric,
and who was desirous to improve the world rather in practice than in theo.
Pro-

228
THEMISTOCLES.
sant in public business, when he attended the lectures of
Mnesiphilus.
In the first sallies of youth, he was irregular and unsteady,
as he followed his own disposition, without any moral re-
straints. He lived in extremes, and those extremes were of.
ten of the worst kind. * But he seemed to apologize for this
afterwards, when he observed, that—«The wildest colts make
the best horses, when they come to be properly broke and
managed.” The stories, however, which some tell us, of his
father disinheriting him, and his mother laying violent hands
upon herself, because she could not bear the thoughts of her
son's infamy, seem to be quite fictitious. Others, on the con-
trary, say, that his father, to dissuade him from accepting any
public employment, showed him some old galleys that lay
worn out and neglected on the sea-shore, just as the populace
neglect their leaders, when they have no farther service for
them.
Themistocles had an early and violent inclination for public
business, and was so strongly smitten with the love of glory,
with an ambition of the highest station, that he involved him-
self in troublesome quarrels with persons of the first rank and
influence in the state, particularly with Aristides, the son of
Lysimachus, who always opposed him. Their enmity began
early, but the cause, as Ariston the philosopher relates, was
nothing more than their regard for Stesileus of Teos. After
this, their disputes continued about public affairs; and the dis-
Similarity of their lives and manners naturally added to it.
Aristides was of a mild temper, and great probity. He
managed the concerns of government with inflexible justice,
not with a view to ingratiate himself with the people, or to
promote his own glory, but solely for the advantage and safety
of the state. He was therefore necessarily obliged to oppose
Themistocles, and to prevent his promotion, because he fre-
quently put the people upon unwarrantable enterprises, and
was ambitious of introducing great innovations. Indeed,
Themistocles was so carried away with the love of glory, so
immoderately desirous of distinguishing himself by some great
action, that, though he was very young when the battle of
ry, modestly took the name of Philosophos, i. e. a lover of wisdom, and not
that of Sophos, i. e. a sage or wise man.
* Idomeneus says, that one morning Themistocles harnessed four naked
courtezans in a chariot, and made them draw him across the Ceramicus, in
the sight of all the people who were there assembled; and that at a time
when the Athenians were perfect strangers to debauchery, either in wine
But if that vice was then so little known in Athens, how could
there be found four prostitutes impudent enough to be exposed in that man-
ner?
or women.

THEMISTOCLES.
229
Marathon was fought, and when the generalship of Miltiades
was every where extolled, yet even then he was observed to
keep much alone, to be very pensive, to watch whole nights,
and not to attend the usual entertainments. When he was
asked the reason by his friends, who wondered at the change,
he said, —- The trophies of Miltiades would not suffer him to
sleep." While others imagined the defeat of the Persians at
Marathon had put an end to the war, he considered it as the
beginning of greater conflicts;* and, for the benefit of Greece,
he was always preparing himself and the Athenians against
those conflicts, because he foresaw them at a distance.t
And, in the first place, whereas the Athenians had used to
share the revenue of the silver mines of Laurium among them-
selves, he alone had the courage to make a motion to the peo-
ple, that they should divide them in that manner no longer,
buť build with them a number of galleys, to be employed in a
war against the Æginetæ, who then made a considerable figure
in Greece, and, by means of their numerous navy, were mas-
ters of the sea. By seasonalıly stirring up the resentment and
emulation of his countrymen against these islanders, I he the
more easily prevailed with them to provide themselves with
ships, than if he had displayed the terrors of Darius and the
Persians, who were at a greater distance, and of whose coming
they had no great apprehensions. With this money a hundred
galleys, with three banks of oars, were built, which afterwards
fought against Xerxes. From this step he proceeded to others,
in order to draw the attention of the Athenians to maritime
affairs, and to convince them, that though by land they were
not able to cope with their neighbours, yet with a naval force
they might not only repel the barbarians, but hold all Greece
in subjection. Thus of good land forces, as Plato says, he
made them mariners and seamen, and brought upon himself
He did not question but Darius would at length perceive, that the only
way to deal with the Greeks, was to attack them vigorously by sea, where
they could make the least opposition.
† The two principal qualifications of a general, are a quick and compre-
liensive view of what is to be done upon any present emergency, and a hap-
py foresight of what is to come. Themistocles possessed both these quali-
fications in a great degree. With respect to the latter, Thucydides gives
him this eulogium, επι πλείστον τε γενησομενε άριστος εικαστης.
# Plutarch in this place follows Herodotus. But Thucydides is express,
that Themistocles availed himself of both these arguments, the apprehensions
which the Athenians were under of the return of the Persians, as well as the
war against the Æginetæ. Indeed he could not neglect so powerful an in-
ducement to strengthen themselves at sea, since, according to Plato, ac-
counts were daily brought of the formidable preparations of Darius; and up-
on his death, it appears that Xerxes inherited all his father's rancour against
the Greeks.
21%

230
THEMISTOCLES.
the aspersion of taking from his countrymen the spear and the
shield, and sending them to the bench and the oar. Stesim-
brotus writes, that Themistocles effected this in spite of the
opposition of Miltiades. Whether by this proceeding he cor-
rupted the simplicity of the Athenian constitution, is a specu-
lation not proper to be indulged here; but that the Greeks
owed their safety to these naval applications, and that those
ships re-established the city of Athens after it had been de-
stroyed, (to omit other proofs) Xerxes himself is a sufficient
witness: for, after his defeat at sea, he was no longer able to
make head against the Athenians, though his land forces re-
mained entire; and it seems to me, that he left Mardonius ra-
ther to prevent a pursuit than with any hope of his bringing
Greece into subjection.
Some authors write, that Themistocles was intent upon the
acquisition of money, with a view to spend it profusely; and,
indeed, for his frequent sacrifices, and the splendid manner in
which he entertained strangers, he had need of a large supply.
Yet others, on the contrary, accuse him of meanness and atten-
tion to trifles, and say, he even sold presents that were made
him for his table. Nay, when he begged a colt of Philides,
who was a breeder of horses, and was refused, he threatened,
“ he would soon make a Trojan horse of his house;" enigma-
tically hinting, that he would raise up troubles and impeach-
ments against him from some of his own family.
In ambition, however, he had no equal; for when he was
yet young, and but little known, he prevailed upon Epicles of
Hermione, a performer upon the lyre, much valued by the
Athenians, to practise at his house, hoping by this means to
draw a great number of people thither. And when he went to
the Olympic games, he endeavoured to equal or exceed Cimon,
in the elegance of his table, the splendour of his pavilions, and
other expenses of his train. These things, however, were not
agreeable to the Greeks: they looked upon them as suitable to
a young man of a noble family; but when an obscure person
set himself up so much above his fortune, he gained nothing
by it but the imputation of vanity. He exhibited a tragedy,
too, at his own expense, and gained the prize with his trage-
dians, at a time when those entertainments were pursued with
great avidity and emulation. In memory of his success, he put
up this inscription:-“ Themistocles, the Phrearian exhibited
Tragedy at this time was just arrived at perfection: and so great a taste
had the Athenians for this kind of entertainment, that the principal persons
in the commonwealth could not oblige them more, than by exhibiting the best
tragedy with the most elegant decorations. Public prizes were appointed
for those that excelled in this respect; and it was matter of great emulation
to gain them.

THEMISTOCLES.
231
poet, if
the tragedy, Phrynichus composed it, * Adamantus presided.”
This gained him popularity; and what added to it was,
his
charging his memory with the names of the citizens; so that
he readily called each by his own. He was an impartial
judge, too, in the causes that were brought before him; and
Simonides of Ceosť making an unreasonable request to him
when archon, † he answered:—“Neither would you be a good
you transgressed the rules of harmony; nor I a good
magistrate, if I granted your petition contrary to law.” Ano-
ther time he rallied Simonides for “his absurdity in abusing
the Corinthians, who inhabited so elegant a city; and hay-
ing his own picture drawn, when he had so ill-favoured an
aspect.”
At length, having attained to a great height of power and
popularity, his faction prevailed, and he procured the banish-
ment of Aristides by what is called the Östracism. S
The Medes now preparing to invade Greece again, the Athe-
nians considered who should be their general; and many (we
are told) thinking the commission dangerous, declined it.
But Epicydes, the son of Euphemides, a man of more elo-
quence than courage, and capable withal of being bribed, so-
licited it, and was likely to be chosen. Themistocles, fearing
the consequence would be fatal to the public, if the choice fell
* Phrynichus was the disciple of Thespis, who was esteemed the inventor
of tragedy. He was the first that brought female actors upon the stage.
His chief plays were Actæon, Alcestis, and the Danaides. Æschylus was
bis contemporary.
† Simonides celebrated the battles of Marathon and Salamis in his poems,
and was the author of several odes and elegies: some of which are still ex-
tant and well known. He was much in the favour of Pausanias, king of Spar-
ta, and of Hiero, king of Sicily, Plato had so high an opinion of his merit,
that he gave him the epithet of divine. He died in the first year of the 78th
Olympiad, at almost ninety years of age; so that he was very near fourscore
when he described the battle of Salamis.
# The former translator renders auTy sitgerugsltos, when he was commander
of the army, which is indeed the sense of it a little below, but not here
Plutarch uses the word stpernyos for prætor, which is almost synonymous to
archon. And in this passage he so explains it himself, Nor should I be a
good archon, &c.
$ It is not certain by whom the Ostracism was introduced: some say, by
Pisistratus, or rather by his sons; others, by Clisthenes; and others, make it
as ancient as the time of Theseus. By this, men, who became powerful to
such a degree, as to threaten the state with danger, were banished for ten
years; and they were to quit the Athenian territories in ten days. The me-
thod of it was this: every citizen took a piece of a broken pot or shell, on
which he wrote the name of the person he would have banished. This
done, the magistrates counted the shells; and, if they amounted to 6000,
sorted them; and the man whose name was found on the greatest number
oi shells, was of course exiled for ten years.

232
THEMISTOCLES.
upon Epicydes, prevailed upon him by pecuniary considera-
tions to drop his pretensions.
His behaviour is also commended with respect to the inter-
preter who came with the king of Persia's ambassadors that
were sent to demand earth and water. * By a decree of the
people, he put him to death, for presuming to make use of the
Greek language to express the demands of the barbarians.
To this we may add his proceedings in the affair of Arthmius
the Zelite;t who, at his motion, was declared infamous, with
his children and all his posterity, for bringing Persian gold
into Greece. But that which redounded most of all to his ho-
nour was his putting an end to the Grecian wars, reconciling
the several states to each other, and persuading them
to lay
aside their animosities during the war with Persia. In this
he is said to have been much assisted by Chileus the Arcadian.
As soon as he had taken the command upon him, he endea-
voured to persuade the people to quit the city, to embark on
board their ships, and to meet the barbarians at as great a dis-
tance from Greece as possible. But many opposing it, he
marched at the head of a great army, together with the Lace-
dæmonians, to Tempe, intending to cover Thessaly, which
had not as yet declared for the Persians. When he returned
without effecting any thing, the Thessalians having embraced
the king's party, and all the country, as far as Baotia, follow-
ing their example, the Athenians were more willing to heark-
en to his proposal to fight the enemy at sea, and sent him with
a fleet to guard the straits of Artemisium. I
When the fleets of the several states were joined, and the
majority were of opinion, that Eurybiades should have the
chief command, and with his Lacedæmonians begin the en-
gagement, the Athenians, who had a greater number of ships
than all the rest united, § thought it an indignity to part with
* This was a demand of submission. But Herodotus assures us, that
Xerxes did not send such an embassy to the Athenians: the ambassadors of
his father Darius were treated with great indignity when they made that de-
mand: for the Athenians threw them into a ditch, and told them, There was
earth and water enough.
† Arthmius was of Zele, a town in Asia Minor, but settled at Athens. He
was not only declared infamous for bringing in Persian gold, and endeavour-
ing to corrupt with it some of the principal Athenians, but banished by
sound of trumpet. Vide Eschin. Orat. cont. Clesiphon.
# At the same time that the Greeks thought of defending the pass of
Thermopylæ by land, they sent a fleet to hinder the passage of the Persian
navy through the straits of Eubea, which fleet rendezvoused at Artemisium.
§ Herodotus tells us, in the beginning of his eighth book, that the Athe-
nians furnished 127 vessels, and that the whole complement of the rest of
the Greeks amounted to no more than 151; of which twenty belonged like.
wise to the Athenians, who had lent them to the Chalcidians.

TIIEMSTOCLES.
233
the place of honour. But Themistocles, perceiving the dan-
ger of any disagreement at that time, gave up the command to
Eurybiades, and satisfied the Athenians, by representing to
them, that, if they behaved like men in that war, the Grecians
would voluntarily yield them the superiority for the future.
To him, therefore, Greece seems to owe her preservation, and
the Athenians, in particular, the distinguished glory of sur-
passing their enemies in valour, and their allies in moderation.
The Persian fleet coming up to Aphetæ, Eurybiades was
astonished at such an appearance of ships, particularly when he
was informed that there were two hundred more sailing round
Sciathus. He, therefore, was desirous, without loss of time,
to draw nearer to Greece, and to keep close to the Pelopon-
nesian coast, where he might have an army occasionally to
assist the fleet; for he considered the naval force of the Per-
sians as invincible. Upon this the Eubeans, apprehensive
that the Greeks would forsake them, sent Pelagon, to negoti-
ate privately with Themistocles, and to offer him a large sum
of money. He took the money, and gave it (as Herodotus
writes) to Eurybiades. * Finding himself most opposed in his
designs by Architeles, captain of the sacred galley,+ who had
not money to pay his men, and, therefore, intended immedi-
ately to withdraw, he so incensed his countrymen against him,
that they.went in a tumultuous manner on board his ship, and
took from him what he had provided for his supper. Archi-
teles, being much provoked at this insult, Themistocles sent
him, in a chest, a quantity of provisions, and at the bottom of
it a talent of silver, and desired him to refresh himself that
evening, and to satisfy his crew in the morning, otherwise he
would accuse him to the Athenians, of having received a bribe
from the enemy. This particular is mentioned by Phanias
the Lesbian
Through the several engagementst with the Persian fleet in
* According to Herodotus, the affair was thus:-The Euboans, not being
able to prevail with Eurybiades to remain on their coast till they could car-
ry
off their wives and children, addressed themselves to Themistocles, and
made him a present of thirty talents. He took the money, and with five ta-
lents bribed Eurybiades. Then Adiamanthus the Corinthian, being the only
commander who insisted on weighing anchor, Themistocles went on board
him, and told him in few words, —- Adiamanthus, 'you shall not abandon us,
for I will give you a greater present for doing your duty, than the king of
the Medes would send you for deserting the allies;” which he performed,
by sending him three talents on board. Thus he did what the Eubæans re-
quested, and saved twenty-two talents for himself.
† The sacred galley was that which the Athenians sent every year to De-
los, with sacrifices for Apollo; and they pretend it was the same in which
Theseus carried the tribute to Crete.
# They came to three several engagements within three days, in the last
-2 I
VOLI

234
THEMISTOCLES.
the straits of Eubea were not decisive, yet they were of great
advantage to the Greeks, who learned, by experience, that nei-
ther the number of ships, nor the beauty and splendour of their
ornaments, nor the vaunting shouts and songs of the barbari-
ans, have any thing dreadful in them to men that know how
to fight hand to hand, and are determined to behave gallantly.
These things they were taught to despise, when they came to
close action, and grappled with the foe. In this case Pindar's
sentiments appear just, when he says of the fight at Artemi-
sium,-
'Twas then that Athens the foundations laid
Of Liberty's fair structure.
Indeed, intrepid courage is the commencement of victory.
Artemisium is a maritime place of Eubea, to the north of
Hestiæa. Over against it lies Olizon, in the territory that
formerly was subject to Philoctetes, where there is a small
temple of Diana of the East, in the midst of a grove. The
temple is encircled with pillars of white stone, which, when
rubbed with the hand, has both the colour and smell of saffron.
On one of the pillars are inscribed the following verses:-
When on these seas the sons of Athens conquer'd
The various powers of Asia, grateful here
They rear'd this temple to Diana.
There is a place still to be seen upon this shore, where there
is a large heap of sand, which, if dug into, shows towards the
bottom a black dust like ashes, as if some fire had been there;
and this is supposed to have been that in which the wrecks of
the ships, and the bodies of the dead, were burnt.
The news of what had happened at Thermopylæ being
brought to Artemisium, * when the confederates were informed
that Leonidas was slain there, and Xerxes master of the pas-
sages by land, they sailed back to Greece; and the Athenians,
elated with their late distinguished valour, brought up the
As Themistocles sailed along the coasts, wherever he
saw any harbours or places proper for the enemy's ships to
of which Clineas, the father of Alcibiades, performed wonders. He had, at
his own expense, fitted out a ship which carried two hundred men.
* The last engagement at Thermopylæ, wherein Xerxes forced the passes
of the mountains, by the defeat of the Lacedæmonians, Thespians, and The-
bans, who had been left to guard them, happened on the same day with the
battle at Artemisium; and the news of it was brought to l'hemistocles by an
Athenian called Abronichus. Though the action at Thermopylæ had not an
immediate relation to Themistocles, yet it would have tended more to the
glory of that general, if Plutarch had taken greater notice of it; since the
advantage gained there by Xerxes, opened Greece to him, and rendered
him much more formidable. Thermopyle is well known to be a narrow pass.
in the mountains near the Euripus.
rear.

THEMISTOCLES.
235
put in at, he took such stones as he happened to find, or caused
to be brought thither for that purpose, and set them up in the
ports and watering places, with the following inscription en.
graved in large characters, and addressed to the Ionians:-
Let the Ionians, if it be possible, come over to the Greeks,
from whom they are descended, and who now risk their lives
for their liberty. If this be impracticable, let them, at least,
perplex the barbarians, and put them in disorder in time of
action, By this he hoped either to bring the Ionians over to
his side, or to sow discord among them, by causing them to
be
suspected by the Persians.
Though Xerxes had passed through Doris, down to Phocis,
and was burning and destroying the Phocian cities, yet the
Greeks sent them no succours. And, notwithstanding all the
entreaties the Athenians could use, to prevail with the confe-
derates to repair with them into Baotia, and cover the fron-
tiers of Attica, as they had sent a fleet to Artemisium to serve
the common cause, no one gave ear to their request. All eyes
were turned upon Peloponnesus, and all were determined to
collect their forces within the isthmus, and to build a wall
across it from sea to sea. The Athenians were greatly incens-
ed to see themselves thus betrayed, and, at the same time, de-
jected and discouraged at so general a defection. They alone
could not think of giving battle to so prodigious an army. To
quit the city, and embark on board their ships, was the only
expedient at present: and this the generality were very unwil-
ling to hearken to, as they could neither have any great ambi-
tion for victory, nor idea of safety, when they had left the
temples of their gods, and the monuments of their ancestors.
Themistocles, perceiving that he could not, by the force of
human reason, prevail with the multitude, * set his machinery
to work as a poet would do in a tragedy, and had recourse to
prodigies and oracles. The prodigy he availed himself of,
was the disappearing of the dragon of Minerva, which, at that
time, quitted the holy place; and the priests, finding the daily
offerings set before it untouched, gave it out among the peo-
ple, at the suggestion of Themistocles, that the goddess had
forsaken the city, and that she offered to conduct them to sea.
Moreover, by way of explaining to the people an oracle then
received, he told them, that by wooden walls, there could not
He prevailed so effectually at last, that the Athenians stoned Cyrisilus, an
orator, who vehemently opposed him; and urged all the common topics of
love to the place of one's birth, and the affection to wives and helpless in-
fants. The women, too, to show how far they were from desiring that the
cause of Greece should suffer for them, stoned his wife.
† This was the second oracle which the Athenian deputies received from
Aristonice, priestess of Apollo. Many were of opinion, that, by the walls of

236
THEMISTOCLES.
possibly be any thing meant but ships; and that Apollo, now
calling Salamis divine, not wretched and unfortunate, as former-
ly, signified by such an epithet, that it would be productive
of some great advantage to Greece. His councils prevailed,
and he proposed a decree, that the city should be left to the
protection of Minerva, * the tutelary goddess of the Athenians;
that the young men should go on board the ships; and that
every one should provide, as well as he possibly could, for the
safety of the children, the women, and the slaves.
When this decree was made, most of the Athenians remov-
ed their parents and wives to Treezene, † where they were re-
ceived with a generous hospitality. The Treezenians came
to a resolution, to maintain them at the public expense; for
which purpose they allowed each of them two oboli a day; they
permitted the children to gather fruit wherever they pleased,
and provided for their education, by paying their tutors. This
order was procured by Nicagoras.
As the treasury of Athens was then but low, Aristotle in-
forms us that the court of Areopagus distributed to every man,
who took part in the expedition, eight drachmas; which was
the principal means of manning the fleet. But Clidemus
ascribes this also to a stratagem of Themistocles; for he tells us,
that when the Athenians went down to the harbour of Piræus,
the Egis was lost from the statue of Minerva; and Themisto-
cles, as he ransacked every thing, under pretence of searching
for it, found large sums of money hid among the baggage,
which he applied to the public use; and out of it all necessaries
were provided for the fleet.
The embarkation of the people of Athens was a very affect-
ing scene. What pity! what admiration of the firmness of
those men, who, sending their parents and families to a dis-
tant place, unmoved with their cries, their tears, or embraces,
had the fortitude to leave the city, and embark for Salamis!
What greatly heightened the distress, was the number of citi-
wood which she advised them to have recourse to, was meant the citadel,
because it was palisaded; but others thought it could intend nothing but
ships. The maintainers of the former opinion urged against such as sup-
ported the latter, that the last line but one of he oracle, 2 Sein Eandues, amoners de
Cu reuve JUVA!!WV, was directly against him, and that, without question, it por-
tended the destruction of the Athenian Aeet near Salamis. Themistocles
alleged in answer, that if the oracle had intended to foretel the destruction
of the Athenians, it would not have called it the divine Salamis, but the un-
happy; and that, whereas, the unfortunate in the oracle were styled the sons
of women, it could mean no other than the Persians, who were scandalously
effeminate.--Herodot. I. vii. c. 143, 144.
* But how was this, when he had before told the people, that Minerva lad
forsaken the city?
† Theseus, the great hero in Athenian story, was originally of Træzene

THEMISTOCLES.
237
*
zens whom they were forced to leave behind, because of their
extreme old age.
And some emotions of tenderness were
due even to the tame domestic animals, which, running to the
shore, with lamentable howlings, expressed their affection and
regret for the persons that had fed them. One of these, a dog
that belonged to Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, unwilling
to be left behind, is said to have leaped into the sea, and to
have swam by the side of the ship, till it reached Salamis,
where, quite spent with toil, it died immediately. And they
show us to this day a place called Cynos Sema, where they tel
us that dog was buried.
To these great actions of Themistocles may be added the
following. He perceived that Aristides was much regretted
by the people, who were apprehensive that, out of revenge, he
might join the Persians, and do great prejudice to the cause
of Greece; he, therefore, caused a decree to be made, that all
who had been banished only for a time, should have leave to
return, and by their counsel and valour assist their fellow-citi-
zens in the preservation of their country.
Eurybiades, by reason of the dignity of Sparta, had the com-
mand of the fleet; but as he was apprehensive of the danger,
he proposed to set sail for the Isthmus, and fix his station near
the Peloponnesian army. Themistocles, however, opposed
it; and the account we have of the conference on that occasion,
deserves to be mentioned. When Eurybiades said, 1—“Do
not you know, Themistocles, that in the public games, such as
rise up before their turn, are chastised for it?” –“ Yes,” an-
swered Themistocles; “ yet such as are left behind never gain
the crown.” Eurybiades, upon this, lifting up his staff, as if
he intended to strike him, Themistocles said, “ Strike, if
you please, but hear me." The Lacedæmonian, admiring his
command of temper, bade him speak what he had to say; and
Themistocles was leading him back to the subject, when one
of the officers thus interrupted him," It ill becomes you,
who have no city, to advise us to quit our habitations, and
abandon our country.” Themistocles retorted upon him thus:
In this description, we find strong traces of Plutarch's humanity and
good nature.
† It does not appear that Eurybiades wanted courage. After Xerxes had
gained the pass of Thermopylæ, it was the general opinion of the chief of-
ficers of the confederate fleet assembled in council (except those of Athens),
that their only resource was to build a strong wall across the isthmus, and to
defend Peloponnesus against the Persians. Besides, the Lacedæmonians,
who were impartial judges of men and things, gave the palm of valour to
Eurybiades, and that of prudence to Themistocles.
# Herodotus says, this conversation passed between Adiamanthus, general
of the Corinthians, and Themistocles; but Plutarch relates it witit more pro-
bability of Eurybiades, who was commander in chief.

238
THEMISTOCLES.
defend you,
“ Wretch that thou art, we have, indeed, left our walls and
houses, not choosing, for the sake of those inanimate things,
to become slaves; yet we have still the most respectable city of
Greece in these two hundred ships which are here ready to
if
you will give them leave. But if
you
forsake
and betray us a second time, Greece shall soon find the Athe-
nians possessed of as free a city,* and as valuable a country,
as that which they have quitted.” These words struck Eury-
biades with the apprehension that the Athenians might fall off
from him. We are told also, that as a certain Eretrian was
attempting to speak, Themistocles said, -“What! have you
too something to say about war, who are like the fish that has
a sword, but no heart?"
While Themistocles was thus maintaining his argument
upon deck, some tell us an owl was seen flying to the right
of the fleet,f which came and perched upon the shrouds.
This omen determined the confederates to accede to his opin-
ion, and to prepare for a sea-fight. But no sooner did the ene-
my's fleet appear advancing towards the harbour of Phalerus
in Attica, and covering all the neighbouring coasts, while
Xerxes himself was seen marching his land forces to the shore,
than the Greeks, struck with the sight of such prodigious
armaments, began to forget the counsel of Themistocles; and
the Peloponnesians once more looked towards the Isthmus.
Nay, they resolved to set sail that very night, and such orders
were given to all the pilots. Themistocles, greatly concerned
that the Greeks were going to give up the advantage of their
station in the straits, I and to retire to their respective coun-
tries, contrived that stratagem which was put in execution by
Sicinus. This Sicinus was of Persian extraction, § and a cap-
tive, but much attached to Themistocles, and the tutor of his
children. On this occasion Themistocles sent him privately to
* The address of Themistocles is very much to be admired. If Eurybiades
was really induced by his fears to return to the isthmus, the Athenian took
a right method to remove those fears by suggesting greater; for what other
free country could he intimate that the people of Athens would acquire, but
that, when driven from their own city, in their distress and despair, they might
seize the state of Sparta?
† The owl was sacred to Minerva, the protectress of the Athenians.
# If the confederates had quitted the straits of Salamis, where they could
equal the Persians in the line of battle, such of the Athenians as were in that
island must have become an easy prey to the enemy; and the Persians
would have found an open sea on the Peloponnesian coast, where they could
act with all their force against the ships of the allies.
$ Probably it was from an erroneous reading of a passage in Herodotus,
viz. πεμπει εις το στρατοπεδον, των Μηδων ανδρα, πλοια, instead of Το Μηδων, that
Plutarch calls Sicinus a Persian. Æschylus, however, who was in this action,
speaking of Sicinus, says, A certain Greek from the army of the Atheniana
told Xerxes, &c.

THEMISTOCLES.
239
the king of Persia, with orders to tell him, that the command-
er of the Athenians, having espoused his interest, was the first
to inform him of the intended flight of the Greeks; and that he
exhorted him not to suffer them to escape, but while they were
in this confusion, and at a distance from their land forces, to
attack and destroy their whole navy.
Xerxes took this information kindly, supposing it to proceed
from friendship, and immediately gave orders to his officers,
with two hundred ships, to surround all the passages, and to
enclose the islands, that none of the Greeks might escape, and
then to follow with the rest of the ships at their leisure. Aris-
tides, the son of Lysimachus, was the first that perceived this
motion of the enemy; and though he was not in friendship
with Themistocles, but had been banished by his means (as
has been related), he went to him, and told him they were sur-
rounded by the enemy. * Themistocles, knowing his probity,
and charmed with his coming to give this intelligence, ac-
quainted him with the affair of Sicinus, and entreated him to
lend his assistance to keep the Greeks in their station, and, as
they had a confidence in his honour, to persuade them to come
to an engagement in the straits.
Aristides approved the pro-
ceedings of Themistocles, and going to the other admirals and
captains, encouraged them to engage. While they hardly
gave credit to his report, a Tenian galley, commanded by
Parætius, came over from the enemy to bring the same ac-
count; so that indignation, added to necessity, excited the
Greeks to their combat. +
As soon as it was day, Xerxes sat down on an eminence, to
view the fleet and its order of battle. He placed himself, as
Phanodemus writes, above the temple of Hercules, where the
isle of Salamis is separated from Attica by a narrow frith; but,
according to Acestodorus, on the confines of Megara, upon a
spot called Kerata, “the horns.” He was seated on a throne
* Aristides was not then in the confederate fleet, but in the isle of Ægina,
from whence he sailed by night, with great hazard, through the Persian
fleet, to carry this intelligence.
+ The different conduct of the Spartans and the Athenians on this occa-
sion seems to show how much superior the accommodating laws of Solon
were to the austere discipline of Lycurgus. Indeed, while the institutions
of the latter remained in force, the Lacedæmonians were the greatest of all
people. But that was impossible. The severity of Lycurgus's legislation
naturally tended to destroy it. Nor was this all. From the extremes of
abstemious hardships, the next step was not to a moderate enjoyment of
life, but to all the licentiousness of the most effeminate luxury. The laws
of Lycurgus made men of the Spartan women: when they were broken,
they made women of the men.

240
THEMISTOCLES.
of gold, * and had many secretaries about him, whose business
it was to write down the particulars of the action.
In the mean time, as Themistocles was sacrificing on the
deck of the admiral-galley, three captives were brought to
him of uncommon beauty, elegantly attired, and set off with
golden ornaments. They were said to be the sons of Au-
tarctus and Sandace, sister to Xerxes. Euphrantides, the
soothsayer, casting his eye upon them, and at the same time
observing that a bright flame blazed out from the victims, f
while a sneezing was heard from the right, took Themistocles
by the hand and ordered that the three youths should be con-
secrated and sacrificed to Bacchus Omestes;} for by this means
the Greeks might be assured not only of safety, but victory.
Themistocles was astonished at the strangeness and crueliy
of the order; but the multitude, who, in great and pressing
difficulties, trust rather to absurd than rational methods, in-
voked the god with one voice, and leading the captives to the
altar, insisted upon their being offered up, as the soothsayer
had directed. This particular we have from Phanias the Les-
bian, a man not unversed in letters and philosophy.
As to the number of the Persian ships, the poet Æschylus
speaks of it, in his tragedy entitled Persæ, as a matter he was
well assured of:-
A thousand ships (for well I know the number)
The Persian flag obey’d; two hundred more
And seven, o'erspread the seas.
'The Athenians had only one hundred and eighty galleys;
each carried eighteen men that fought upon deck, four of
whom were archers, and the rest heavy armed.
If Themistocles was happy in choosing a place for action,
he was no less so in taking advantage of a proper time for it;
for he would not engage the enemy till that time of day when
a brisk wind usually arises from the sea, which occasions a
high surf in the channel. This was no inconvenience to the
* This throne, or seat, whether of gold or silver, or both, was taken and
carried to Athens, where it was consecrated in the temple of Minerva, with
the golden sabre of Mardonius, which was taken afterwards in the battle
of Platza. Demosthenes calls it drogov egzugoroda, a chair with silver feet.
7 A bright flame was always considered as a fortunate omen, whether it
were a real one issuing from an altar, or a seeming one, (what we call shell-
fire,) from the head of a living person. Virgil mentions one of the latter
sort, which appeared about the head of lulus and Forus, and another that
was seen about the head of Servius Tullius. A sneezing on the right hand,
too, was deemed a lucky omen both by the Greeks and Latins.
# In the same manner, Chios, Tenedos, and Lesbos, offered human sacrifi-
ces to Bacchus, surnamed Omodius. But this is the sole instance we know
of among the Athenians.

THEMISTOCLES.
241
Grecian vessels, which were low built and well compacted;
but a very great one to the Persian ships, which had high
sterns and lofty decks, and were heavy and unwieldy; for it
caused them to veer in such a manner, that their sides were
exposed to the Greeks, who attacked them furiously. During
the whole dispute, great attention was given to the motions of
Themistocles, as it was believed he knew best how to proceed.
Ariamenes, the Persian admiral, a man of distinguished ho-
nour, and by far the bravest of the king's brothers, directed
his maneuvres chiefly against him. His ship was very tall,
and from thence he threw darts, and shot forth arrows as from
the walls of a castle. But Aminias the Decelean, and Sosicles
the Pedian, who sailed in one bottom, bore down upon him
with their prow, and both ships meeting, they were fastened
together by means of their brazen beaks; when Ariamenes
boarding their galley, they received him with their pikes, and
pushed him into the sea. Artemisia* knew the body amongst
others that were floating with the wreck, and carried it to
Xerxes.
While the fight was thus raging, we are told a great light
appeared as from Eleusis; and loud sounds and voices were
heard through all the plain of Thriasia to the sea, as of a great
number of people carrying the mystic symbols of Bacchus in
procession. À cloud, too, seemed to rise from among the
crowd that made this noise, and to ascend by degrees, till it
fell
upon the galleys. Other phantoms also, and apparitions
of armed men, they thought they saw, stretching out their
hands from Ægina before the Grecian ileet. These they con-
jectured to be the Æacidæ, I to whom, before the battle, they
had addressed their prayers for succour.
The first man that took a ship was an Athenian, named Ly-
* Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, distinguished herself above all the
rest of the Persian forces, her ships being the last that fled; which Xerxes
observing, cried out, that the men behaved like women, and the women
with the courage and intrepidity of men. The Athenians were so incensed
against her, that they offered a reward of ten thousand drachmas to any one
that should take her alive. This princess must not be confounded with that
Artemisia who was the wife of Mausolus, king of Caria.
† Herodotus says, these voices were heard, and this vision seen, some days
before the battle, while the Persian land forces were ravaging the territories
of Attica. Dicæus, an Athenian exile (who hoped thereby to procure a miti-
gation of his country's fate,) was the first that observed the thing, and car-
ried an account of it to Xerxes.
# A vessel had been sent to Ægina to implore the assistance of Æacus and
his descendants. Æacus was the son of Jupiter, and had been king of
Ægina. He was so remarkable for his justice, that his prayers, whilst he
lived, are said to have procured great advantages to the Greeks; and, after
his death, it was believed that he was appointed one of the three judges in
the infernal regions.
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242
THEMISTOCLES.
comedes, captain of a galley, who cut down the ensigns from
the enemy's
ship, and consecrated them to the laurelled Apollo.
As the Persians could come up in the straits but few at a time,
and often put each other in confusion, the Greeks equalling
them in the line, fought them till the evening, when they
broke them entirely, and gained that signal and complete vic-
tory, than which (as Simonides says) no other naval achieve-
ment, either of the Greeks or barbarians, ever was more glo-
rious. This success was owing to the valour, indeed, of all
the confederates, but chiefly to the sagacity and conduct of
Themistocles. *
After the battle, Xerxes, full of indignation at his disap-
pointment, attempted to join Salamis to the continent, by a
mole so well secured, that his land forces might pass over it
into the island, and that he might shut up the pass entirely
against the Greeks. At the same time, Themistocles, to
sound Aristides, pretended it was his own opinion that they
should sail to the Hellespont, and break down the bridge of
ships.—“For so," says he, we may take Asia, without stir-
ring out of Europe.” Aristidest did not in the least relish
his proposal, but answered him to this purpose:-“ Till now
we have had to do with an enemy immersed in luxury; but if
we shut him up in Greece, and drive him to necessity, he,
who is master of such prodigious forces, will no longer sit un-
der a golden canopy, and be a quiet spectator of the proceed-
ings of the war, but, awaked by danger, attempting everything,
and present every where, he will correct his past errors, and
follow counsels better calculated for success. Instead, there-
fore, of breaking that bridge, we should, if possible, provide
another, that he may retire the sooner out of Europe.”
that is the case,” said Themistocles, “ we must all consider
and contrive how to put him upon the most speedy retreat out
of Greece."
This being resolved upon, he sent one of the king's eunuchs,
whom he found among the prisoners, Arnaces by name, to ac-
quaint him,—“That the Greeks, since their victory at sea,
were determined to sail to the Hellespont, and destroy the
bridge; but that Themistocles, in care for the king's safety,
advised him to hasten towards his own seas, and pass over in-
to Asia, while his friend endeavoured to find out pretences of
delay, to prevent the confederates from pursuing him.
66 If
* In this battle, which was one of the most memorable we find in history,
the Grecians lost forty ships, and the Persians two hundred, besides a great
many more that were taken.
† According to Herodotus, it was not Aristides, but Eurybiades, who made
this reply to Themistocles.

THEMISTOCLES.
243
Xerxes, terrified at the news, retired with the greatest pre-
cipitation.* How prudent the management of Themistocles
and Aristides was, Mordonius afforded a proof, when, with a
small part of the king's forces, he put the Greeks in extreme
danger of losing all in the battle of Platæa.
Herodotus tells us, that, among the cities, Ægina bore away
the palm; but among the commanders, Themistocles, in spite
of envy, was universally allowed to have distinguished him-
self most; for when they came to the isthmus, and every offi-
cer took a billet from the altar,t to inscribe upon it the names
of those that had done the best service, every one put himself
in the first place, and Themistocles in the second. The La-
cedæmonians, having conducted him to Sparta, adjudged Eu-
rybiades the prize of valour, and Themistocles that of wis-
dom, honouring each with a crown of olive. They likewise
presented the latter with the handsomest chariot in the city,
and ordered three hundred of their youth to attend him to the
borders. At the next Olympic games, too, we are told, that
as soon as Themistocles appeared in the ring, the champions
were overlooked by the spectators, who kept their eyes upon
him all the day, and pointed him out to strangers with the ut-
most admiration and applause. This incense was extremely
grateful to him; and he acknowledged to his friends that he
then reaped the fruit of his labours for Greece.
Indeed he was naturally very ambitious, if we may form a
conclusion from his memorable acts and sayings.
For, when elected admiral by the Athenians, he would not
despatch any business, whether public or private, singly, but
put off all affairs to the day he was to embark, that having a
great deal to do, he might appear with the greater dignity and
importance.
One day, as he was looking upon the dead bodies cast up
by the sea, and saw a number of chains of gold and bracelets
upon them, he passed by them, and turning to his friend said,
« Take these things for yourself, for you are not Themisto-
cles.”
Xerxes, having left Mardonius in Greece with an army of three hundred
thousand men, marched with the rest towards Thrace, in order to cross the
Hellespont. As no provisions had been prepared beforehand, his army un-
derwent great hardships during the whole time of his march, which lasted
five-and-forty days. The king, finding they were not in a condition to pur-
sue their route so expeditiously as he desired, advanced with a small retinue,
but when he arrived at the Hellespont, he found his bridge of boats broken
down by the violence of the storms, and was reduced to the necessity of
crossing over in a fishing-boat. From the Hellespont he continued his flight
to Sardis.
+ The altar of Neptune. This solemnity was designed to make them give
their judgment impartially, as in the presence of the gods.

244
THEMISTOCLES.
To Antiphates, who had formerly treated him with disdain,
but in his glory made his court to him, he said, “Young
man, we are both come to our senses at the same time, though
a little too late."
He used to say,—“The Athenians paid him no honour or
sincere respect; but when a storm arose, or danger appeared,
they sheltered themselves under him, as under a plane-tree,
which, when the weather was fair again, they would rob of
its leaves and branches."
When one of Seriphus told him,—“ He was not so much
honoured for his own sake, but for his country's;"_" True,"
answered Themistocles, 6 for neither should I have been
greatly distinguished if I had been of Seriphus, nor you, if
you had been an Athenian.”
Another officer, who thought he had done the state some
service, setting himself up against Themistocles, and ventur-
ing to compare his own exploits with his, he answered him
with this fáble;—“ There once happened a dispute between
the feast-day and the day after the feast: Says the day after the
feast, I am full of bustle and trouble; whereas, with you, folks
enjoy at their ease every thing ready provided. You say
right, says the feast-day, but if I had not been before
you, you
would not have been at all. So, had it not been for
then,
where would you have been now."*
His son being master of his mother, and by her means of
him, he said, laughing,—“This child is greater than any man
in Greece; for the Athenians command the Greeks, I° com-
mand the Athenians, his mother commands me, and he com-
mands his mother.”
As he loved to be particular in every thing, when he hap-
pened to sell a farm, he ordered the crier to add,—“that it
had a good neighbour.”
Two citizens courting his daughter, he preferred the worthy
man to the rich one, and assigned this reason,——“He had
rather she should have a man without
money,
without a man.” Such was the pointed manner in which he
often expressed himself. +
After the greatest actions we have related, his next enter-
prise was to rebuild and fortify the city of Athens. Theo-
pompus tells us, he bribed the Lacedæmonian Ephori, that they
me,
than money
* There is the genuine Attic salt in most of these retorts and observations
of Themistocles. His wit seems to have been equal to his military and po-
litical capacity.
† Cícero has preseryed another of his sayings, which deserves mentioning.
When Simonides offered to teach Themistocles the art of memory, he an-
swered, ah! rather teach me the art of forgetting; for I often remember what )
would not, and can not forget what I would.

THEMISTOCLES.
245
might not oppose it; but most historians say he overreached
them. He was sent, it seems, on pretence of an embassy, to
Sparta. The Spartans complained that the Athenians were
fortifying their city, and the governor of Ægina, who was
come for that purpose, supported the accusation. But The-
mistocles absolutely denied it, and challenged them to send
proper persons to Athens to inspect the walls; at once gaining
time for finishing them, and contriving to have hostages at
Athens for his return. The event answered his expectation;
for the Lacedæmonians, when assured how the fact stood,
dissembled their resentment, and let him go with impunity.
After this, he built and fortified the Piræus (having ob-
served the conveniency of that harbour); by which means he
gave the city every maritime accommodation. In this re-
spect his politics were very different from those of the ancient
kings of Athens. They, we are told, used their endeavours
to draw the attention of their subjects from the business of
navigation, that they might turn it entirely to the culture of
the ground; and to this purpose they published the fable of
the contention between Minerva and Neptune, for the patron-
age of Attica, when the former, by producing an olive-tree be-
fore the judges, gained her cause. Themistocles did not bring
the Piræus into the city, as Aristophanes the comic poet would
have it; but he joined the city by a line of communication to
the Piræus, and the land to the sea. This measure strength-
ened the people against the nobility, and made them bolder
and more untractable, as power came with wealth into the
hands of masters of ships, mariners, and pilots. Hence it was,
that the oratory in Pnyx, which was built to front the sea, was
afterwards turned by the thirty tyrants towards the land;* for
they believed a maritime power inclinable to a democracy,
whereas persons employed in agriculture would be less uneasy
under an oligarchy.
Themistocles had something still greater in view for
strengthening the Athenians by sea. After the retreat of
Xerxes, when the Grecian fleet was gone into the harbour of
Pagasæ to winter, he acquainted the citizens in full assembly,
Lis That he had hit upon a design which might greatly con-
tribute to their advantage, but it was not fit to be communi-
cated to their whole body. The Athenians ordered him to
communicate it to Aristides only,t and if he approved of it,
to put it in execution. Themistocles then informed him,
“That he had thoughts of burning the confederate fleet at Pa-
* The thirty tyrants were established at Athens by Lysander, 403 years be-
fore the Christian era, and 77 years after the battle of Salamis.
| How glorious this testimony of the public regard to Aristides, from a
people then so free, and withal so virtuous!

246
THEMISTOCLES,
gasæ. Upon which, Aristides went and declared to the peo-
ple,—"That the enterprise which Themistocles proposed, was
indeed the most advantageous in the world, but at the same
time the most unjust.” The Athenians therefore commanded
him to lay aside all thoughts of it.
About this time the Lacedæmonians made a motion in the
assembly of the Amphictyons, to exclude from that council all
those states that had not joined in the confederacy against the
king of Persia. But Themistocles was apprehensive, that if
the Thessalians, the Argives, and Thebans, were expelled
from the council, the Lacedæmonians would have a great ma-
jority of voices, and consequently procure what decrees they
pleased. He spoke, therefore, in defence of those states, and
brought the deputies off from that design, by representing that
thirty-one cities only had their share of the burden of that war,
and that the greatest part of these were but of small considera-
tion; that consequently it would be both unreasonable and dan-
gerous to exclude the rest of Greece from the league, and
leave the council to be dictated to by two or three great cities.
By this he became very obnoxious to the Lacedæmonians, who,
for this reason, set up Cimon against him as a rival in all af-
fairs of state, and used all their interest for his advancement.
He disobliged the allies also, by sailing round the islands,
and extorting money from them; as we may conclude from
the answer which Herodotus tells us the Andrians
gave
him
to a demand of that sort. He told them,-“ He brought two
gods along with him, Persuasion and Force.” They replied,-
They had also two great gods on their side, Poverty and De-
spair, who forbade them to satisfy him.” Timocreon, the
Rhodian poet, writes with great bitterness against Themisto-
cles, and charges him with betraying him, though his friend
and host, for money, while, for the like paltry consideration,
he procured the return of other exiles. So in these verses:--
Pausanias you may praise, and you Xantippus,
And you Leotychidas: But sure the hero,
Who bears th’ Athenian palm, is Aristides,
What is the false, the vain Themistocles?
The very light is grudg'd him by Latona,
Who for vile pelf betrayed Timocreon,
It is hardly possible for the military and political genius of Themistocles
to save him from contempt and detestation, when we arrive at this part of
-A serious proposal to burn the confederate fleet!-
That fleet, whose united efforts had saved Greece from destruction which
had fought under his auspices with such irresistible valour!—That sacred
fleet, the minutest parts of which should have been religiously preserved,
or, if consumed, consumed only on the altars, and in the service of the gods!
-How diabolical is that policy, which, in its way to power, tramples on
humanity, justice and gratitude!
his conduct.

THEMISTOCLES.
247
His friend and host: nor gave him to behold
His dear Jälysus. For three talents more
He sail'd, and left him on a foreign coast.
What fatal end awaits the man that kills,
That banishes, that sets the villain up,
To fill his glittring stores? While ostentation,
With vain airs, fain would boast the generous hand,
And at the isthmus spreads a public board
For crowds that eat, and curse him at the banquet.
But Timocreon gave a still looser rein to his abuse of Themis.
tocles, after the condemnation and banishment of that great
man, in a poem which begins thus:-
Muse, crown'd with glory, bear this faithful strain,
Far as the Grecian name extends.
Timocreon is said to have been banished by Themistocles, for
favouring the Persians. When therefore Themistocles was
accused of the same traitorous inclinations, he wrote against
him as follows:-
Timocreon's honour to the Medes is sold,
But yet not his alone: Another fox
Finds the same fields to prey in.
As the Athenians, through envy, readily gave ear to calum-
nies against him, he was often forced to recount his own ser-
vices, which rendered him still more insupportable; and when
they expressed their displeasure, he said, -" Are you weary
of receiving benefits often from the same hand?"
Another offence he gave the people, was, his building a tem-
ple to Diana, under the name of Aristobule, or, Diana of the best
counsel; intimating that he had given the best counsel; not only
to Athens, but to all Greece. He built this temple near his
own house, in the quarter of Melita, where now the execution-
ers cast out the bodies of those that have suffered death, and
where they throw the halters and clothes of such as have been
strangled or otherwise put to death. There was, even in our
time,
a statue of Themistocles in this temple of Diana Aristobule,
from which it appeared that his aspect was as heroic as his soul.
At last, the Athenians, unable any longer to bear that high
distinction in which he stood, banished him by the ostracism;
and this was nothing more than they had done to others whose
power was become a burden to them, and who had risen above
the equality which a commonwealth requires; for the ostracism,
or ten years banishment, was not so much intended to punish
this or that great man, as to pacify and mitigate the fury of
envy, who delights in the disgrace of superior characters, and
loses a part of her rancour by their fall.
In the time of his exile, while he took up his abode at Ar

246
THEMISTOCLES.
gos, * the affair of Pausanias gave great advantage to the ene-
mies of Themistocles. The person that accused him of trea-
son was Leobotes, the son of Alcmæon of Agraule, and the
Spartans joined in the impeachment. Pausanias at first con-
cealed his plot from Themistocles, though he was his friend;
but when he saw him an exile, and full of indignation agains:
the Athenians, he ventured to communicate his designs to him,
showing him the king of Persia's letters, and exciting him to
vengeance against the Greeks, as an unjust and ungrateful
people. Themistocles rejected the solicitations of Pausanias,
and refused to have the least share in his designs; but he gave
no information of what had passed between them, nor let the
secret transpire; whether he thought he would desist of him-
self, or that he would be discovered some other way, as he had
embarked in an absurd and extravagant enterprise, without any
rational hopes of success.
However, when Pausanias was put to death there, were
found letters and other writings relative to the business, which
caused no small suspicion against Themistocles. The Lacedæ-
monians raised a clamour against him; and those of his fellow-
citizens that envied him, insisted on the charge. He could
not defend himself in person, but he answered by letter the
principal parts of the accusation. For, to obviate the calum-
nies of his enemies, he observed to the Athenians, -" That
he who was born to command, and incapable of servitude,
could never sell himself, and Greece along with him, to ene-
mies and barbarians.” The people, however, listened to his
accusers, and then sent them with orders to bring him to an-
swer the charge before the states of Greece. Of this he had
timely notice, and passed over to the isle of Corcyra, the inha-
bitants of which had great obligations to him; for a difference
between them and the people of Corinth had been referred to
his arbitration, and he had decided it by awarding the Corin-
thianst to pay down twenty talents, and the isle of Leucas to
* The great Pausanias, who had beaten the Persians in the battle of Pla-
tæa, and who on many occasions had behaved with great generosity as well
as moderation, at last degenerated, and fell into a scandalous treaty with
the Persians, in hopes, through their interest, to make himself sovereign of
Greece. As soon as he had conceived these strange notions, he fell into the
manners of the Persians, affected all their luxury, and derided the plain cus-
toms of his country, of which he had formerly been so fond. The Ephori
waited some time for clear proof of his treacherous designs, and when they
had obtained it, determined to imprison him. But he fled into the temple
of Minerva Chalcioicos, and they besieged him there. They walled
up
the gates, and his own mother laid the first stone. When they had almost
starved him to death, they laid hands on him, and by the time they had got
aim out of the temple, he expired,
† The scholiast upon Thucydides tells us, Themistocles served the peo-

THEMISTOCLES.
249
be in common between the two parties, as a colony from both.
From thence he fled to Epirus; and finding himself still pur-
sued by the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, he tried a very
hazardous and uncertain resource, in imploring the protection
of Admetus, king of the Molossians. Admetus had made a
request to the Athenians, which being rejected with scorn by
Themistocles, in the time of his prosperity and influence in
the state, the king entertained a deep resentment against him,
and made no secret of his intention to revenge himself, if ever
the Athenians should fall into his power. However, while he
was thus flying from place to place, he was more afraid of the
recent envy of his countrymen, than of the consequences of
an old quarrel with the king; and, therefore, he went and put
himself in his hands, appearing before him as a suppliant, in
a particular and extraordinary manner. * He took the king's
son, who was yet a child, in his arms, and kneeled down be-
fore the household gods. This manner of offering a petition,
the Molossians look upon as the most effectual, and only
one that can hardly be rejected. Some say the queen, whose
name was Phthia, suggested this method of supplication to
Themistocles. Others, that Admetus himself taught him to
act the part, that he might have a sacred obligation to allege
against giving him up to those that might come to demand him.
At that time Epicrates the Acarnanian found means to con-
vey the wife and children of Themistocles out of Athens, and
sent them to him; for which Cimon afterwards condemned
him, and put him to death. This account is given by Stesim-
brotus; yet, I know not how, forgetting what he had asserted,
or making Themistocles forget it, he tells us he sailed from
thence to Sicily, and demanded king Hiero's daughter in mar-
riage, promising to bring the Greeks under his subjection;
and that, upon Hiero's refusal, he passed over into Asia. But
this is not probable: for Theophrastus, in his treatise on mo-
narchy, relates, that when Hiero sent his race-horses to the
Olympic games, and set up a superb pavilion there, Themis-
tocles harangued the Greeks, to persuade them to pull it down,
and not to suffer the tyrant's horses to run. Thucydides
writos, that he went by land to the Ægean sea, and embarked
ple of Corcyra in an affair of great importance. The states of Greece were
inclined to make war upon that island, for not joining in the league against
Xerxes: but Themistocles represented, that if they were in that manner to
punish all the cities that had not acceded to the league, their proceedings
would bring greater calamities upon Greece than it had suffered from the
barbarians.
* It was nothing particular for a suppliant to do homage to the household
gods of the person to whom he had a request; but to do it with the king's
son in his arms, was an extraordinary circumstance.
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THEMISTOCLES.
at Pydna; that none in the ship knew him, till he was driren
by a storm to Naxos, which was at that time besieged by the
Athenians; that through fear of being taken, he then informed
the master of the ship and the pilot who he was; and that part
ly by entreaties, partly by threatening, he would declare to
the Athenians, however falsely, that they knew him from the
first, and were bribed to take him into their vessel, he obliged
them to weigh anchor, and sail for Asia.
The greatest part of his treasures was privately sent after
him to Asia by his friends. What was discovered and seized
for the public use, Theopompus says, amounted to a hundred
talents, Theophrastus fourscore; though he was not worth
three talents before his employment in the government. *
When he was landed at Cuma, he understood that a num-
her of people, particularly Ergoteles and Pythadorus, were
watching to take him. He was, indeed, a rich booty to those
that were determined to get money by any means whatever;
for the king of Persia had offered, by proclamation, two hun-
dred talents for apprehending him. He, therefore, retired
to Ægæ, a little town of the Æolians, where he was known
to nobody but Nicogenes, his host, who was a man of great
wealth, and had some interest at the Persian court. In his
house he was concealed a few days; and, one evening after
supper, when the sacrifice was offered, Olbius, tutor to Nico-
genes's children cried out, as in a rapture of inspiration,
Counsel, o Night, and victory are thine.
After this, Themistocles went to bed, and dreamed he saw
a dragon coiled round his body, and creeping up to his neck;
which, as soon as it touched his face, was turned into an eagle,
and, covering him with its wings, took him up, and carried
him to a distart place, where a golden sceptre appeared to
him, upon which he rested securely, and was delivered from
all his fear and trouble.
In consequence of this warning, he was sent away by Nico-
genes,
who contrived this method for it. The barbarians in
general, especially the Persians, are jealous of the women even
to madness; not only of their wives, but their slaves and con-
cubines; for, beside the care they take that they shall be seen
* This is totally inconsistent with that splendour in which, according to
Plutarch's own account, he lived, before he had any public appointments.
+ The resentment of Xerxes is not at all to be wondered at, since The-
mistocles had not only beaten him in the battle of Salamis, but what was
more disgraceful still, had made him a dupe to his designing persuasions
and representations. In the loss of victory, he had some consolation, as he
was not himself the immediate cause of it; but for his ridiculous return to
Asia, his anger could only fall upon himself and Themistocles.

THEMISTOCLES.
251
by none but their own family, they keep them like prisoners
in their houses; and when they take a journey, they are put
in a carriage, close covered on all sides. In such a carriage
as this, Themistocles was conveyed, the attendants being in-
structed to tell those they met, if they happened to be ques-
tioned, that they were carrying a Grecian lady from Ionia to
a nobleman at court.
Thucydides, and Charon of Lampsachus, relate, that Xerxes
was then dead, and that it was to his son* Artaxerxes that
Themistocles addressed hiinself. But Ephorus, Dinon, Cli-
tarchus, Heraclides, and several others, write, that Xerxes
himself was then upon the throne. The opinion of Thucy-
dides seems most agreeable to chronology, though it is not
perfectly well settled. Themistocles, now ready for the dan-
gerous experiment, applied first to Artabanus,t å military offi-
cer, and told him, -56 He was a Greek, who desired to have
audience of the king about matters of great importance, which
the king himself had much at heart.” Artabanus answered,
"The laws of men are different; some esteem one thing ho-
nourable, and some another; but it becomes all men to honour
and observe the customs of their own country. With
you
the
thing most admired, is said to be liberty and equality. We
have many excellent laws; and we regard it as one of the most
indispensable, to honour the king, and to adore him as the
image of that deity who preserves and supports the universe.
If, therefore, you are willing to conform to our customs, and
to prostrate yourself before the king, you may be permitted
to see him and speak to him. But if you can not bring your-
self to this, you must acquaint him with your business by a
third person. It would be an infringement of the custom of
his country, for the king to admit any one to audience that
does not worship him." To this Themistocles replied,-
"My business, Ártabanus, is to add to the king's honour and
power; therefore, I will comply with your customs, since the
god that has exalted the Persians will have it so, and by my
means the number of the king's worshippers shall be increas-
ed. So let this be no hindrance to my communicating to the
king what I have to say.”—“But who,” said Artabanus,
" shall we say you are? for by your discourse you appear to
be no ordinary person.” Themistocles answered, —« No-
body must know that before the king himself.” So Phanias
* Themistocles, therefore, arrived at the Persian court in the first year of
the seventy-ninth Olympiad, 462 years before the birth of Christ; for that
was the first year of Artaxerxes's reign.
+ Son of that Artabanus, captain of the guards, who slew Xerxes, and
persuaded Artaxerxes to cut off his elder brother Darius,

252
THEMISTOCLES.
writes; and Eratosthenes, in his treatise on riches, adds, that
Themistocles was brought acquainted with Artabanus, and re-
commended to him by an Eretrian woman, who belonged to
that officer.
When he was introduced to the king, and, after his prostra-
tion, stood silent, the king commanded the interpreter to ask
him who he was. The interpreter accordingly put the ques-
tion, and he answered,—“The man that is now come to ad-
dress himself to you, O king, is Themistocles the Athenian; an
exile, persecuted by the Greeks. The Persians have suffered
much by me, but it has been more than compensated by my
preventing your being pursued: when, after I had delivered
Greece, and saved my own country, I had it in my power to
do you also a service. My sentiments are suitable to my pre-
sent misfortunes, and I come prepared either to receive your
favour, if you are reconciled to me, or, if you retain any re-
sentment, to disarm it by my submission. Reject not the tes-
timony my enemies have given to the services I have done the
Persians, and make use of the opportunity my misfortunes af-
ford you, rather to show your generosity, than to satisfy your
revenge. If you save me, you save your suppliant; if you
destroy me, you destroy the enemy of Greece. "* In hopes of
influencing the king by an argument drawn from religion,
Themistocles added to this speech an account of the vision he
had in Nicogenes' house, and an oracle of Jupiter of Dodona,
which ordered him—to go to one who bore the same name
with the god;" from which he concluded he was sent to him,
since both were called, and really were great kings.
The king gave him no answer, though he admired his cou-
rage and magnanimity; but, with his friends, he felicitated
himself upon this, as the most fortunate event imaginable. We
are told also, that he prayed to Arimanius,t that his enemies
might ever be so infatuated, as to drive from amongst them
their ablest men; that he offered sacrifice to the gods, and im-
mediately after made a great entertainment; nay that he was
so affected with joy, that when he retired to rest, in the midst
of his sleep, he called out three times,--- I have Themisto-
cles the Athenian.”
As soon as it was day, he called together his friends, and
ordered Themistocles to be brought before him. The exile
expected no favour, when he found that the guards, at the first
hearing of his name, treated him with rancour, and loaded
him with reproaches. Nay, when the king had taken his seat,
* How extremely abject and contemptible is this petition, wherein the
suppliant founds every argument in his favour upon his vices!
+ The god of larkness, the supposed author of plagues and calamities, was
called Ahriman or Arimanius.

THEMISTOCLES.
253
and a respectful silence ensued, Roxanes, one of his officers,
as Themistocles passed him, whispered him, with a sigh,
« Ah! thou subtle serpent of Greece, the king's good genius
has brought thee hither.” However, when he had prostrated
himself twice in the presence, the king saluted him, and spoke
to him graciously, telling him,-56 He owed him two hundred
talents, for as he had delivered himself up, it was but just that
he should receive the reward offered to any one that should
bring him.” He promised him much more, assured him of
his protection, and ordered him to declare freely whatever he
had to propose concerning Greece. Themistocles replied,
66 That a man's discourse was like a piece of tapestry, * which,
when spread open displays its figures; but when it is folded
up, they are hidden and lost; therefore he begged time.” The
king, delighted with the comparison, bade him take what time
he pleased; and he desired a year; in which space he learned
the Persian language, so as to be able to converse with the
king without an interpreter.
Such as did not belong to the court, believed that he enter
tained their prince on the subject of the Grecian affairs: but
as there were then many changes in the ministry, he incurred
the envy of the nobility, who suspected that he had presumed
to speak too freely of them to the king. The honours that
were paid him were far superior to those that other strangers
had experienced; the king took him with him a hunting, con-
versed familiarly with him in his palace, and introduced him
to the queen-mother, who honoured him with her confidence.
He likewise gave orders for his being instructed in the learn-
ing of the Magi.
Demaratus the Lacedæmonian, who was then at court, being
ordered to ask a favour, desired that he might be carried
through Sardis in royal state, with a diadem upon his head.
But Mithropaustes, the king's cousin-german, took him by the
hand, and said, --Demaratus, this diadem does not carry
brains along with it to cover; nor would you be Jupiter, though
you should take hold of his thunder.” The king was highly
displeased at Demaratus for making this request, and seemed
determined never to forgive him; yet, at the desire of Themis-
tocles, he was persuaded to be reconciled to him. And in the
following reigns, when the affairs of Persia and Greece were
more closely connected, as oft as the kings requested a favour
of any Grecian captain, they are said to have promised him, in
* In this he artfully conformed to the figurative manner of speaking in
the eastern nations.
+ This was the highest mark of honour which the Persian kings could
give, Ahasuerus, the same with Xerxes, the father of this Artaxerxes, had
not long before ordained that Mordecai should be honoured in that manner,
use among
23*

254
THEMISTOCLES.
express terms,—“That he should be a greater man at their
court than Themistocles had been.” Nay we are told that
Themistocles himself, in the midst of his greatness, and the
extraordinary respect that was paid him, seeing his table most
elegantly spread, turned to his children, and said,—“Children
we should have been undone, had it not been for our undoang."
Most authors agree, that he had three cities given him, for
bread, wine, and meat, Magnesia, Lampsacus, and Myus. *
Neanthes of Cyzicus, and Phanias, add two more, Percote and
Palæcepsis, for his chamber and his wardrobe.
Some business relative to Greece having brought him to the
sea-coast, a Persian, named Epixyes, governor of Upper
Phrygia, who had a design upon his life, and had long pre
pared certain Pisidians to kill him, when he should lodge in a
city called Leontocephalus, or Lion's Head, now determined
to put it in execution. But, as he lay sleeping one day at noon,
the mother of the gods is said to have appeared to him in a
dream, and thus to have addressed him: “Beware, Themisto-
cles, of the Lion's Head, lest the lion crush you. For this
warning I require of you Mnesiptolema for my servant.
"
Themistocles awoke in great disorder: and when he had de-
voutly returned thanks to the goddess, left the high-road, and
took another way, to avoid the place of danger. At night he
took up his lodging beyond it; but as one of the horses that had
carried his tent had fallen into a river, and his servants were
busied in spreading the wet hangings to dry, the Pisidians,
who were advancing with their swords drawn, saw these hang-
ings indistinctly by moon-light, and taking them for the tent
of Themistocles, expected to find him reposing himself within.
They approached therefore, and lifted up the hangings; but
the servants that had the care of them, fell upon them and
took them. The danger thus avoided, Themistocles, admir-
ing the goodness of the goddess that appeared to him, built a
temple in Magnesia, which he dedicated to Cybele Dindymene,
and appointed
his daughter Mnesiptolema priestess of it
.
When he was come to Sardis, he diverted himself with look-
* The country about Magnesia was so fertile, that it brought Themistocles
a revenue of fifty talents; Lampsacus had in its neighbourhood the noblest
vineyards of the east; and Myus, or Myon, abounded in provisions, particu-
larly in fish. It was usual with the eastern monarchs, instead of pensions to
their favourites, to assign them cities and provinces. Even such provinces
as the kings retained the revenue of, were under particular assignments; one
province furnishing so much for wine, another for victuals, a third for the
privy purse, and a fourth for the wardrobe. One of the queens had all Egypt
for her clothing; and Plato tells (1 Alcibiad.) that many of the provinces
were appropriated for the queen's wardrobe: one for her girdle, another for
her head-clress, and so of the rest; and each province bore the name of that
part of the dress it was to furnish.

THEMISTOCLES.
255
ing upon the ornaments of the temples; and among the great
number of offerings, he found in the temple of Cybele a female
figure of brass, two cubits high, called Hydropherus, or the
water-bearer: which he himself, when surveyor of the aque-
ducts at Athens, had caused to be made and dedicated out of
the fines of such as had stolen the water, or diverted the stream,
Whether it was that he was moved at seeing this statue in a
strange country, or that he was desirous to show the Atheni-
ans how much he was honoured, and what power he had all
over the king's dominions, he addressed himself to the go-
vernor of Lydia, and begged leave to send back the statue to
Athens. The barbarian immediately took fire, and said, he
would certainly acquaint the king what sort of a request he
had made him. Themistocles, alarmed at this menace, appli-
ed to the governor's women, and, by money, prevailed upon
them to pacify him. After this he behaved with more pru-
dence, sensible how much he had to fear from the envy of the
Persians. Hence, he did not travel about Asia, as Theopom-
pus says, but took up his abode at Magnesia, where, loaded
with valuable presents, and equally honoured with the Persian
nobles, he long lived in great security; for the king, who was
engaged in the affairs of the upper provinces, gave but little
attention to the concerns of Greece.
But when Egypt revolted, and was supported in that revolt
by the Athenians, when the Grecian fleet sailed as far as Cy-
prus and Cilicia, and Cimon rode triumphant master of the
seas, then the king of Persia applied himself to oppose the
Greeks, and to prevent the growth of their power. He put,
his force in motion, sent out his generals, and despatched mes-
sengers to Themistocles at Magnesia, to command him to per-
form his promises, and exert himself against Greece. Did he
not obey the summons then? No; neither resentment against
the Athenians, nor the honours and authority in which he now
flourished, could prevail upon him to take the direction of the
expedition. Possibly he might doubt the event of the war, as
Greece had then several great generals; and Cimon in particu-
lar was distinguished with extraordinary success. Above all,
regard for his own achievements, and the trophies he had
* It is not improbable that this proceeded from a principle of vanity. The
love of admiration was the ruling passion of Themistocles, and discovers it-
self uniformly through his whole conduct. There might, however, be ano-
ther reason, which Plutarch has not mentioned. Themistocles was an ex-
cellent manager in political religion. He had lately been eminently distin-
guished by the favour of Cybele; he finds an Athenian statue in her temple.
The goddess consents that he should send it to Athens; and the Athenians,
out of respect to the goddess, must of course cease to persecute her favour-
ite Themistocles.

256
THEMISTOCLES.
gained, whose glory he was unwilling to tarnish, determined
him (as the best method he could take) to put such an end to
his life as became his dignity. * Having, therefore, sacrificed
to the gods, assembled his friends, and taken his last leave, he
drank bull's blood, as is generally reported; or, as some re-
late it, he took a quick poison, and ended his days in Magne-
sia, having lived sixty-five years, most of which he had spent
in civil or military employments. When the king was ac-
quainted with the cause and manner of his death, he admired
him more than ever, and continued his favour and bounty to
his friends and relations. I
Themistocles had by Archippe, the daughter of Lysander
of Alopece, five sons, Neocles, Diocles, Archeptolis, Po-
lyeuctes, and Cleophantus. The three last survived him.
Plato takes notice of Cleophantus as an excellent horseman,
but a man of no merit in other respects. Neocles, his eldest
son,
died when a child, by the bite of a horse; and Diocles
was adopted by his grandfather Lysander. He had several
daughters; namely, Mnesiptolema, by a second wife, who was
married to Archeptolis, her half brother; Italia, whose hus-
band was Panthides of Chios; Sibaris, married to Nicomedes
the Athenian; and Nichomache, at Magnesia, to Phrasicles,
the nephew of Themistocles, who, after her father's death,
took a voyage for that purpose, received her at the hands of
her brothers, and brought up her sister Asia, the youngest of
the children.
The Magnesians erected a very handsome monument to him
which still remains in the market-place. No credit is to be giv-
en to Andocides, who writes to his friends, that the Athenians
stole his ashes out of the tomb, and scattered them in the air;
for it is an artifice of his to exasperate the nobility against the
people. Phylarchus too, more like a writer of tragedy than
an historian, availing himself of what may be called a piece of
machinery, introduces Neocles and Demopolis, as the sons of
Themistocles, to make his story more interesting and pathetic.
But a very moderate degree of sagacity may discover it to be
a fiction. Yet Diodorus the geographer writes, in his treatise
Thucydides, who was contemporary with Themistocles, only says,—“he
died of a distemper; but some report that he poisoned himself, seeing it im-
possible to accomplish what he had promised the king.”—Thucydid. de Bell.
Pelopon. 1. i.
+ Whilst they were sacrificing the bull, he caused the blood to be receive
ed in a cup, and drank it whilst it was warm, which (according to Pliny) is
mortal, because it coagulates or thickens in an instant.
# There is, in our opinion, more true heroism in the death of Themisto-
cles than in the death of Cato. It is something enthusiastically great, when
a man determines not to survive his liberty; but it is something still greater's
when he refuses to survive his honour.
*

THEMISTOCLES.
257
tar.
of sepulchres, but rather
by conjecture than certain knowledge,
that, near the harbour of Piræus, from the promontory of Alci-
mus, * the land makes an elbow, and when you have doubled
it inwards, by the still water, there is a vasť foundation, upon
which stands the tomb of Themistocles, t in the form of an al-
With him Plato, the comic writer, is supposed to agree
in the following lines:-
Oft as the merchant speeds the passing sail,
Thy tomb, Themistocles, he stops to hail;
When hostile ships in martial combat meet,
Thy shade attending, hovers o'er the fleet.
Various honours and privileges were granted by the Mag-
nesians to the descendants of Themistocles, which continued
down to our times; for they were enjoyed by one of his name,
an Athenian, with whom I had a particular acquaintance and
friendship in the house of Ammonius the philosopher.
* Meursius rightly corrects it Alimus. We find no place in Attica called
Alcimus, but a borough named Alimus there was, on the east of the Piræus.
+ Thucydides says that the bones of Themistocles, by his own command,
were privately carried back into Attica, and buried there. But Pausanias
agrees with Theodorus, that the Athenians, repenting of their ill usage of this
great man, honoured him with a tomb in the Piræus.
It does not appear, indeed, that Themistocles, when banished, had any
design either to revenge himself on Athens, or to take refuge in the court
of the king of Persia. The Greeks themselves forced him upon this, or ra-
ther the Lacedæmonians; for, as by their intrigues his countrymen were in
duced to banish him; so, by their importunities after he was banished, họ
was not suffered to enjoy any refuge in quiet.
VOL. I.--.-2 M

THE
LIFE OF CAMILLUS.
AMONG the many remarkable things related of Furius Ca-
millus, the most extraordinary seems to be this, that though
he was often in the highest commands, and performed the
greatest actions; though he was five times chosen dictator;
though he triumphed four times, and was styled the second
founder of Rome; yet he was never once consul. Perhaps
we may discover the reason in the state of the commonwealth
at that time; the people then at variance with the senate, * re-
fused to elect consuls, and, instead of them, put the govern-
ment in the hands of military tribunes. Though these acted,
indeed, with consular power and authority, yet their adminis-
tration was less grievous to the people, because they were
more in number. To have the direction of affairs entrusted
to six persons instead of two, was some ease and satisfaction
to a people that could not bear to be dictated to by the nobili-
ty. *Camillus, then distinguished by his achievements, and
at the height of glory, did not choose to be consul against the
inclinations of the people, though the comitia, or assemblies in
which they might have elected consuls, were several times
held in that period. In all his other commissions, which were
many and various, he so conducted himself, that if he was en-
trusted with the sole power, he shared it with others, and if
he had a colleague, the glory was his own. The authority
seemed to be shared by reason of his great modesty in com-
mand, which gave no occasion to envy; and the glory was se-
cured to him by his genius and capacity, in which he was uni-
versally allowed to have no equal.
The family of the Furiit was not very illustrious before his
* The old quarrel about the distribution of lands was revived, the peo-
ple insisting that every citizen should have an equal share. The senate
met frequently to disconcert the proposal; and at last Appius Claudius mov-
ed, that some of the college of the tribunes of the
people should be gained,
as the only remedy against the tyranny of that body; which was accord-
ingly put in execution. The commons, thus disappointed, chose military
tribunes instead of consuls, andsome times had them all plebeians.-Liv. i.
iv. C. 48.
† Furius was the family name. Camillus (as has been already observed)

CAMILLUS.
259
time; he was the first that raised it to distinction, when he
served under Posthumius Tibertius, in the great battle with
the Equi and Volsci.* In that action, spurring his horse be-
fore the ranks, he received a wound in the thigh, when, in-
stead of retiring, he plucked the javelin out of the wound, en
gaged with the bravest of the enemy, and put them to flight.
For this, among other honours, he was appointed censor, an
office, at that time, of great dignity.† There is upon record
a very
laudable act of his, that took place during his office.
As the wars had made many widows, he obliged such of the
men as lived single, partly by persuasion, and partly by threat-
ening them with fines, to marry those widows. Another act
of his, which, indeed, was absolutely necessary, was, the caus-
ing orphans, who before were exempt from taxes, to contri-
bute to the supplies; for these were very large, by reason of the
continual wars. What was then most urgent was the siege of
Veii, whose inhabitants some call Venetani. This city was the
barrier of Tuscany, and in the quantity of her arms, and num-
ber of her military, not inferior to Rome. Proud of her
wealth, her elegance, and luxury, she had maintained with the
Romans many long and gallant disputes for glory and for
power. But humbled by many signal defeats, the Veientes
had then bid adieu to that ambition; they satisfied themselves
with building strong and high walls, and filling the city with
provisions, arms, and all kinds of warlike stores; and so they
waited for the enemy without fear. The siege was long, but
no less laborious and troublesome to the besiegers than to them.
For the Romans had long been accustomed to summer cam-
paigns only, and to winter at home; and then for the first time
their officers ordered them to construct forts, to raise strong
was an appellation of children of quality, who ministered in the temple of
some god. Our Camillus was the first who retained it as a surname.
* This was in the year of Rome 324, when Camillus might be about four-
teen or fifteen years of age (for in the year of Rome 389, he was near four.
score), though the Roman youth did not use to bear arms sooner than se-
venteen. And though Plutarch says, that his gallant behaviour, at that
time, procured him the censorship, yet that was an office which the Romans
never conferred upon a young person; and, in fact, Camillus was not censor
till the year of Rome 353.
+ The authority of the censors, in the time of the republic, was very ex-
tensive. They had power to expel senators the house, to degrade the
knights, and to disable the commons from giving their votes in the assem-
blies of the people. But the emperors took the office upon themselves;
and as many of them abused it, it lost its honour, and sometimes the very
title was laid aside. As to what Plutarch says, that Camillus, when censor,
obliged many of the bachelors to marry the widows of those who had fallen
in the wars; that was in pursuance of one of the powers of his office.-
Celibes esse prohibento.

260
CAMILLUS.
works about their camp, and to pass the winter as well as sum-
mer in the enemy's country.
The seventh year of the war was now almost past, when the
generals began to be blamed; and as it was thought they
showed not sufficient vigour in the siege,* they were super-
seded, and others put in their room; among whom was Camil-
lus, then appointed tribune the second time.† He was not,
however, at present concerned in the siege, for it fell to his
lot to head the expedition against the Falisci and Capenates,
who, while the Romans were otherwise employed, commit-
ted great depredations in their country, and harassed them dur-
ing the whole Tuscan war. But Camillus falling upon them,
killed great numbers, and shut up the rest within their walls.
During the heat of the war, a phenomenon appeared in the
Alban lake, which might be reckoned amongst the strangest
prodigies; and as no common or natural cause could be assign-
ed for it, it occasioned great consternation. The summer was
now declining, and the season by no means rainy, nor re-
markable for south winds. Of the many springs, brooks, and
lakes which Italy abounds with, some were dried up, and
others but feebly resisted the drought; the rivers, always low
in the summer, then ran with a very slender stream. But the
Alban lake, which has its source within itself, and discharges
no part of its water, being quite surrounded with mountains,
without any cause, unless it was a supernatural one, began to
rise and swell in a most remarkable manner, increasing till it
reached the sides, and at last the very tops of the hills; all
which happened without any agitation of its waters. For a
while it was the wonder of the shepherds and herdsmen; but
when the earth, which, like a mole, kept it from overflowing
the country below, was broken down with the quantity and
weight of water, then descending like a torrent through the
ploughed fields and other cultivated grounds to the sea, it not
only astonished the Romans, but was thought by all Italy to
portend some extraordinary event. It was the great subject
of conversation in the camp before Veii, so that it came at last
to be known to the besieged.
* Of the six military tribunes of that year, only two, L. Virginius and Ma
nius Sergius carried on the siege of Veii. Sergius commanded the attack,
and Virginius covered the siege. While the army was thus divided, the
Falisci and Capenates fell upon Sergius, and, at the same time, the besieged
sallying out, attacked him on the other side. The Romans under his com-
mand, thinking they had all the forces of Hetruria to deal with, began to
lose courage, and retire. Virginius could have saved his colleague’s troops,
but as Sergius was too proud to send to him for succour, he resolved not to
give him any. The enemy, therefore, made a dreadful slaughter of the Ro.
mans in their lines.--Liv. lib. v. c. 8.
+ The year of Rome 357.

CAMILLUS.
261
ruin."
As in the course of long sieges there is usually some con-
versation with the enemy, it happened that a Roman soldier
formed an acquaintance with one of the townsmen, a man
versed in ancient traditions, and supposed to be more than or-
dinarily skilled in divination. The Roman, perceiving that
he expressed great satisfaction at the story of the lake, and
thereupon laughed at the siege, told him,--" This was not
the only wonder the times had produced, but other prodigies
still stranger than this had happened to the Romans; which he
should be glad to communicate to him, if by that means he
could provide for his own safety in the midst of the public
The man readily hearkening to the proposal, came out
to him, expecting to hear some secret, and the Roman con-
tinued the discourse, drawing him forward by degrees, till
they were at some distance from the gates. Then he snatched
him up in his arms, and by his superior strength held him,
till, with the assistance of several soldiers from the camp, he
was secured and carried before the generals. The man, re-
duced to this necessity, and knowing that destiny can not be
avoided, declared the secret oracles concerning his own coun-
try, -" That the city could never be taken till the waters of
the Alban lake, which had now forsook their bed, and found
new passages, were turned back, and so diverted as to prevent
their mixing with the sea.
The senate, informed of this prediction, and deliberating
about it, were of opinion it would be best to send to Delphi
to consult the oracle. They chose for this purpose three per-
sons af honour and distinction, Licinius Cossus, Valerius Po-
titus and Fabius Ambustus; who, having had a prosperous
voyage, and consulted Apollo, returned with this among other
answers,-“ That they had neglected some ceremonies in the
Latin feasts.”+ As to the water of the Alban lake, they were
ordered, if possible, to shut it up in its ancient bed; or if that
could not be effected, to dig canals and trenches for it, till it
lost itself on the land. Agreeably to this direction, the priests
were employed in offering sacrifices, and the people in labour
to turn the course of the water. I
In the tenth year of the siege, the senate removed the other
magistrates, and appointed Camillus dictator, who made choice
of Cornelius Scipio for his general of horse.
In the first place,
* The prophecy, according to Livy, (1. v. c. 15.) was this, Veii shall never
be taken, till all the water is run out of the lake of Alba.
† These feasts were instituted by Tarquin the Proud. The Romans pre-
sided in them: but all the people of Latium were to attend them, and to par-
take of a bull then sacrificed to Jupiter Latialis.
# This wonderful work subsists to this day, and the waters of the lake Al
bano run through it.
24

262
CAMILLUS.
he made vows to the gods, if they favoured him with putting
a glorious period to the war, to celebrate the great Circensian
games to their honour, * and to consecrate the temple of the
goddess, whom the Romans call the mother matuta. By her
secret rites we may suppose this last to be the goddess Leuco-
thea; for they take a female slave into the inner part of the
temple,t where they beat her, and then drive her out; they
carry
their brother's children in their arms instead of their
own;; and they represent in the ceremonies of the sacrifice
all that happened to the nurses of Bacchus, and what Ino suf-
fered for having saved the son of Juno's rival.
After these vows, Camillus penetrated into the country of
the Falisci, and in a great battle overthrew them and their
auxiliaries the Capenates. Then he turned to the siege of
Veii; and perceiving it would be both difficult and dangerous
to endeavour to take it by assault, he ordered mines to be dug,
the soil about the city being easy to work, and admitting of
depth enough for the works to be carried on unseen by the
enemy. As this succeeded to his wish, he made an assault
without, to call the enemy to the walls; and in the mean time,
others of his soldiers made their way through the mines, and
secretly penetrated to Juno's temple in the citadel. This was
the most considerable temple in the city; and we are told, that
at that instant the Tuscan general happened to be sacrificing,
when the soothsayer, upon inspection of the entrails, cried
out, -~ The gods promise victory to him that shall finish this
sacrifice;”?§ the Romans, who were under ground, hearing
what he said, immediately removed the pavement, and came
out with loud shouts and clashing their arms, which struck
the enemy with such terror, that they fled, and left the en-
trails, which were carried to Camillus. But perhaps this has
more of the air of fable than of history.
The city thus taken by the Romans sword in hand, while
they were busy in plundering it and carrying off its immense
riches, Camillus, beholding from the citadel what was done, at
first burst into tears; and when those about him began to mag-
* These were a kind of tournament in the great circus.
+Leucothoë, or Ino, was jealous of one of her female slaves, who was the
farourite of her husband Athamas.
# Ino was a very unhappy mother; for she had seen her son Learchus
slain by her husband, whereupon she threw herself into the sea with her
other son Meliceites. But she was a more fortunate aunt, having preserved
Bacchus, the son of her sister Semele.
$ Words syuken by persons unconcerned in their affairs, and upon a quite
different subject, were interpreted by the heathens as good or bad omens,
if they happened to be any way applicable to their case. And they took
gteat pains to fulfil the omen, if they thought it fortunate; as well as to
evade it, if it appeared unlucky.

CAMILLUS.
263
nify his happiness, he lifted up his hands towards heaven, and
uttered this prayer:- “Great Jupiter, and ye gods, that have
the inspection of our good and evil actions, ye know that the
Romans, not without just cause, but in their own defence, and
constrained by necessity, have made war against this city, and
their enemies its unjust inhabitants. If we must have some
misfortune in lieu of this success, I entreat that it may fall,
not upon Rome, or the Roman army, but upon myself; yet
lay not, ye gods, a heavy hand upon me!"* Having pro-
nounced these words, he turned to the right, as the manner
of the Romans is after prayer and supplication, but fell in
turning His friends that were by, expressed great uneasi-
ness at the accident, but he soon recovered himself from the
fall, and told them, “ It was only a small inconvenience
after great success, agreeable to his prayer.”+
After the city was pillaged, he determined, pursuant to his
vow, to remove this statue of Juno to Rome. The workmen
were assembled for the purpose, and he offered sacrifice to the
goddess,—“Beseeching her to accept of their homage, and
graciously to take up her abode among the gods of Rome.”
To which it is said the statue softly answered,—“She was
willing and ready to do it.” But Livy says, Camillus, in
offering up his petition, touched the image of the goddess, and
entreated her to go with them, and that some of the standers-
by answered,—“She consented, and would willingly follow
them.”
Those that support and defend the miracle, have the
fortune of Rome on their side, which could never have risen
from such small and contemptible beginnings to that height of
glory and empire, without the constant assistance of some god,
who favoured them with many considerable tokens of his pre-
Several miracles of a similar nature are also alleged;
as, that images have often sweated; that they have been heard
to groan: and that sometimes they have turned from their vo-
taries, and shut their eyes. Many such accounts we have from
our ancients; and not a few persons of our own times have
given us wonderful relations, not unworthy of notice. But
sence.
* Livy, who has given us this prayer, has not qualified it with that modi-
fication s0 unworthy of Camillus, εις εμαυτον ελάχιστο κακα τελευτησαι, may it be
with as little detriment as possible to myself. On the contrary, he says, ut eum
invidiam lenire suo privato incommodo, quam minimo publico populi Romani
liceret. Camillus prayed, that if this success must have an equivalent in some
ensuing misfortune, that misfortune might fall upon himself, and the Roman
people escape with as little deiriment as possible. This was great and heroic.
Plutarch, having but an imperfect knowledge of the Roman language, pro
bably mistook the sense.
+ This is a continuation of the former mistake. Livy tells us, it was con.
jectured from the event, that this fall of' Camillus was a presage of his con
demnation and Danishment.

264
CAMILLUS.
ers, he took
to give entire credit to them, or altogether to disbelieve them,
is equally dangerous, on account of human weakness. We
keep not always within the bounds of reason, nor are masters
of our minds; sometimes we fall into vain superstition, and
sometimes into an impious neglect of all religion. It is best
to be cautious, and to avoid extremes. *
Whether it was that Camillus was elated with his great ex-
ploit in taking a city that was the rival of Rome, after it had
been besieged ten years, or that he was misled by his flatter-
upon
him too much state for a magistrate subject
to the laws and usages of his country; for his triumph was
conducted with excessive pomp, and he rode through Rome
in a chariot drawn by four white horses, which no general
ever did before or after him. Indeed, this sort of carriage is
esteemed sacred, and is appropriated to the king and father of
the gods.† The citizens, therefore, considered this unusual
appearance of grandeur as an insult upon them. Besides, they
were offended at his opposing the law by which the city was
to be divided; for their tribunes had proposed that the senate
and people should be divided into two equal parts; one part
to remain at Rome, and the other, as the lot happened to fall,
to remove to the conquered city; by which means they would
not only have more room, but, by being in possession of two
considerable cities, be better able to defend their territories
and to watch over their prosperity. The people, who were
very numerous, and enriched by the late plunder, constantly
assembled in the forum, and in a tumultuous manner demanded
to have it put to the vote. But the senate and other principal
citizens considered this proposal of the tribunes, not so much
the dividing as the destroying of Rome, I and in their uneasi-
ness applied to Camillus. Camillus was afraid to put it to the
trial, and therefore invented demurs and pretences of delay,
to prevent the bill's being offered to the people; by which he
incurred their displeasure.
But the greatest and most manifest cause of their hatred
his behaviour with respect to the tenths of the spoils;
and if the resentment of the people was not in this case alto-
gether just, yet it had some show of reason. It seems he had
made a vow, as he marched to Veii, that, if he took the city,
he would consecrate the tenths to Apollo. But when the city
was,
* The great Mr. Addison seems to have had this passage of Plutarch in
his eye, when he delivered his opinion concerning the doctrine of witches.
+ He likewise coloured his face with vermilion, the colour with which the
statues of the gods were commonly painted.
$ They feared, that two such cities, would, by degrees, become two dif-
ferent states, which, after a destructive war with each other, would at
length fall a prey to their common enemies.

CAMILLUS.
265
was taken, and came to be pillaged, he was either unwilling to
interrupt his men, or in the hurry had forgot his vow, and so
gave up the whole plunder to them. After he had resigned
his dictatorship, he laid the case before the senate; and the
soothsayers declared, that the sacrifices announced the
anger
of the gods, which ought to be appeased by offerings expressive
of their gratitude for the favours they had received. The se-
nate then made a decree, that the plunder should remain with
the soldiers (for they knew not how to manage it otherwise);
but that each should produce upon oath, the tenth of the value
of what he had got.. This was a great hardship upon the sol-
diers; and those poor fellows could not without force be
brought to refund so large a portion of the fruit of their la-
bours, and to make good not only what they had hardly earn-
ed, but now actually spent. Camillus, distressed with their
complaints, for want of a better excuse, made use of a very
absurd apology, by acknowledging he had forgotten his vow.
This they greatly resented, that having then vowed the tenths
of the enemy's goods, he should now exact the tenths of the
citizens'. However, they all produced their proportion; and
it was resolved, that a vase of massy gold should be made and
sent to Delphi. But as there was a scarcity of gold in the
city, while the magistrates were considering how to procure
it, the Roman matrons met, and having consulted among them
selves, gave up their golden ornaments, which weighed eight
talents, as an offering to the god. And the senate, in honour
of their piety, decreed that they should have funeral orations
as well as the men, which had not been the custom before. *
They then sent three of the chief of the nobility ambassadors,
in a large ship well manned, and fitted out in a manner be-
coming so solemn an occasion.
In this voyage they were equally endangered by a storm
and a calm, but escaped beyond all expectation, when on the
brink of destruction. For the wind slackening near the Æo-
lian islands, the galleys of the Lipareans gave them chase as
pirates. Upon their stretching out their hands for mercy, the
Lipareans used no violence to their persons, but towed the
ship into harbour, and there exposed both them and their
goods to sale, having first adjudged them to be lawful prize.
With much difficulty, however, they were prevailed upon to
release them, out of regard to the merit and authority of Ti-
* The matrons had the value of the gold paid them; and it was not on
this occasion, but afterwards, when they contributed their golden ornaments
to make up the sum demanded by the Gauls, that funeral orations were
granted them. The privilege they were now favoured with, was leave to
ride in chariots at the public games and sacrifices, and in open carriages, of
a less honourable sort, on other occasions, in the streets,
VOL. I 2N
24*

266
CAMILLUS.
mesitheus, the chief magistrate of the place, who, moreover,
conveyed them with his own vessels, and assisted in dedicat-
ing the gift. For this, suitable honours were paid him at
Rome.
And now the tribunes of the people attempted to bring the law
for removing part of the citizens to Veii once more upon the
carpet; but the war with the Falisci very seasonably interven-
ing, put the management of the elections in the hands of the
patricians, and they nominated Camillus a military tribune, * to-
gether with five others, as affairs then required a general of
considerable dignity, reputation, and experience. When the
people had confirmed this nomination, Camillus marched his
forces into the country of the Falisci, and laid siege to Falerii,
a city well fortified and provided in all respects for the war.
He was sensible it was like to be no easy affair, nor soon to be
despatched, and this was one reason for his engaging in it; for
he was desirous to keep the citizens employed abroad, that they
might not have leisure to sit down at home, and raise tumults
and seditions. This was indeed a remedy which the Romans
always had recourse to, like good physicians, to expel danger-
ous humours from the body politic.
The Falerians, trusting to the fortifications with which they
were surrounded, made so little account of the siege, that the
inhabitants, except those who guarded the walls, walked the
streets in their common habits. The boys too went to school,
and the master took them out to walk and exercise about the
walls; for the Falerians, like the Greeks, chose to have their
children bred at one public school, that they might betimes be
accustomed to the same discipline, and form themselves to
friendship and society.
This schoolmaster, then, designing to betray the Falerians
by means of their children, took them every day out of the
city to exercise, keeping pretty close to the walls at first, and
when their exercise was over, led them in again. By degrees
he took them out farther, accustoming them to divert them-
selves freely, as if they had nothing to fear. At last, having
got them all together, he brought them to the Roman advanced
guard, and delivered them up to be carried to Camillus. When
he caine into his presence, he said, -—“He was the schoolmas-
ter of Falerii, but preferring his favour to the obligations of
duty, he came to deliver up those children to him, and in them
the whole city.” This action appeared very shocking to Ca-
millus, and he said to those that were by, —War (at best)
is a savage thing, and wades through a sea of violence and in-
* The year of Rome 361. Camillus was then military tribune the third
time.

CAMILLUS.
267
justice; yet even war itself has its laws, which men of honour
will not depart from; nor do they so pursue victory, as to avail
themselves of acts of villany and baseness; for a great general
should rely only on his own virtue, and not upon the treach-
ery of others. 9
Then he ordered the lictors to tear off the
wretch's clothes, to tie his hands behind him, and to furnish
the boys with rods and scourges, to punish the traitor, and
whip him into the city. By this time the Falerians had disco-
vered the schoolmaster's treason; the city, as might be expect-
ed, was full of lamentations for so great a loss, and the princi-
pal inhabitants, both men and women, crowded about the wall
and the gate like persons distracted. In the midst of this dis-
order they espied the boys whipping on their master, naked
and bound; and calling Camillus “their god, their deliverer,
their father.” Not only the parents of those children, but all
the citizens in general, were struck with admiration at the
spectacle, and conceived such an affection for the justice of
Camillus, that they immediately assembled in council, and
sent deputies to surrender to him both themselves and their
city.
Camillus sent them to Rome; and when they were introdu
ced to the senate, they said:-" The Romans, in preferring
justice to conquest, have taught us to be satisfied with submis-
sion instead of liberty. At the same time, we declare we do
not think ourselves so much beneath you in strength, as infe-
rior in virtue.” The senate referred the disquisition and set-
tling of the articles of peace to Camillus, who contented him-
self with taking a sum of money of the Falerians; and having
entered into alliance with the whole nation of the Falisci, re-
turned to Rome.
But the soldiers, who expected to have had the plundering of
Falerii, when they came back empty-handed, accused Camillus
to their fellow-citizens as an enemy to the commons, and one
that maliciously opposed the interests of the poor. And when
the tribunes again proposed the law for transplanting part of
the citizens to Veii,* and summoned the people to give
their
votes, Camillus spoke very freely, or rather with much asperi-
ty against it, appearing remarkably violent in his opposition to
the people, who therefore lost their bill, but harboured a strong
resentment against Camillus. Even the misfortune he had in
his family, of losing one of his sons, did not in the least miti-
* The patricians carried it against the bill only by a majority of one tribe.
And now they were so well pleased with the people, that the very next morn-
ing a decree was passed, assigning six acres of the lands of Veii, not only
to every father of a family, but to every single person of free condition. On
the other hand, the people delighted with this liberality, allowed the elect-
ing of consuls, instead of military tribunes.

268
CAMILLUS.
gate their rage, though, as a man of great goodness and ten-
derness of heart, he was inconsolable for his loss, and shut
himself up at home, a close mourner with the women, at the
same time that they were lodging an impeachment against him.
His accuser was Lucius Apuleius, who brought against him
a charge of fraud with respect to the Tuscan spoils; and it was
alleged that certain brass gates, a part of those spoils, were
found with him. The people were so much exasperated, that
it was plain they would lay hold on any pretext to condemn
him. He, therefore, assembled his friends, his colleagues,
and fellow soldiers, a great number in all, and begged of them
not to suffer him to be crushed by false and unjust accusations,
and exposed to the scorn of his enemies. When they had con-
sulted together, and fully considered the affair, the answer
they gave was, that they did not believe it in their power to
prevent the sentence, but they would willingly assist him to
pay the fine that might be laid upon him. He could not, how-
ever, bear the thoughts of so great an indignity, and giving
way to his resentment, determined to quit the city as a vol-
untary exile. Having taken leave of his wife and children,
he went in silence from his house to the gate of the city. *
There he made a stand, and turning about, stretched out his
hands towards the Capitol, and prayed to the gods,—6. That
if he was driven out without any fault of his own, and merely
by the violence or envy of the people, the Romans might
quickly repent it, and express to all the world their want of
Camillus, and their regret for his absence.”
When he had thus, like Achilles, uttered his imprecations
against his countrymen, he departed; and, leaving his cause
undefended, he was condemned to pay a fine of fifteen thou-
sand ases; which, reduced to Grecian money, is one thousand
five hundred druchmæ; for the as is a small coin that is the
tenth part of a piece of silver, which for that reason is called
denarius, and answers to our drachma. There is not a man in
Rome who does not believe that these imprecations of Camil-
lus had their effect; though the punishment of his countrymen
for their injustice proved nowise agreeable to him, but on the
contrary, matter of grief. Yet how great, how memorable
was that punishment! How remarkably did vengeance pursue
the Romans! What danger, destruction, and disgrace did those
times bring upon the city! Whether it was the work of for-
tune, or whether it is the office of some deity, to see that vir-
tue shall not be oppressed by the ungrateful with impunity.t
* This was four years after the taking of Falerii.
+ It was the goddess Nemesis whom the heathens believed to have the
office of punishing evil actions in this world, particularly pride and ingrati
tude.

CAMILLUS.
269
The first token of the approaching calamities, was the death
of Julius the Censor. * For the Romans have a particular vene-
ration for the censor, and look upon his office as sacred. А.
second token happened a little before the exile of Camillus.
Marcus Ceditius, a man of no illustrious family indeed, nor of
senatorial rank, but a person of great probity and virtue, in-
formed the military tribunes of a matter which deserved great
attention. As he was going the night before along what is
called the New Road, he said he was addressed in a loud
voice. Upon turning about he saw nobody, but heard these
words in an accent more than human:-“Go, Marcus Ceditius,
and early in the morning acquaint the magistrates, that they
must shortly expect the Gauls.” But the tribunes made a jest
of the information; and soon after followed the disgrace of
Camillus.
The Gauls are of Celtic origin, † and are said to have left
their country, which was too small to maintain their vast num-
bers, to in search of another. These emigrants consisted
of many thousands of young and able warriors, with a still
greater number of women and children. Part of them took
their route towards the northern ocean, crossed the Rhiphæan
mountains, and settled in the extreme parts of Europe; and
part established themselves for a long time between the Py-
renees and the Alps, near the Senones and Celtorians. But
happening to taste of wine, which was then for the first time
brought out of Italy, they so much admired the liquor, and
were so enchanted with this new pleasure, that they snatched
up their arms, and taking their parents along with them,
marched to the Alps, to seek that country which produced
go
* The Greek text, as it now stands, instead of the censor Julius, has the
month of July; but that has been owing to the error of some ignorant tran-
scriber. Upon the death of Caius Julius the censor, Marcus Cornelius was
appointed to succeed him; but as the censorship of the latter proved unfortu.
nate, ever after, when a censor happened to die in his office, they not only
forbore naming another in his place, but obliged his colleague to quit his
dignity.
+ The ancients called all the inhabitants of the west and north, as far as
Scythia, by the common name of Celtä.
# The country of the Senones contained Sens, Auxerre, and Troyes, as
far up as Paris. Who the Celtorii were is not known; probably the word
is corrupted.
§ Livy tells us, Italy was known to the Gauls two hundred years before,
though he does indeed mention the story of Aruns. Then he goes on to
inform us, that the migration of the Gauls into Italy and other countries,
was occasioned by their numbers being too large for their old settlements;
and that the two brothers Beliovesus and Sigovesus casting lots to determine
which way they should steer their course; Italy fell to Beliovesus, and Ger-
many to Sigovesus.

270
CAMILLUS.
such excellent fruit, and, in comparison of which, they con-
sidered all others as barren and ungenial.
The man that first carried wine amongst them, and excited
them to invade Italy, is said to have been Aruns, a Tuscan, a
man of some distinction, and not naturally disposed to mis-
chief, but led to it by his misfortunes. He was guardian to
an orphan named Lucumo,* of the greatest fortune in the
country, and most celebrated for beauty. Aruns brought him
up from a boy, and, when grown up, he still continued at his
house, upon a pretence of enjoying his conversation. Mean-
while he had corrupted his guardian's wife, or she had cor-
rupted him, and for a long time the criminal commerce was
carried on undiscovered. At length their passion becoming
so violent, that they could neither restrain nor conceal it, the
young man carried her off, and attempted to keep her openly.
The husband endeavoured to find his redress at law, but was
disappointed by the superior interest and wealth of Lucumo.
He therefore quitted his own country, and having heard of
the enterprising spirit of the Gauls, went to them, and con-
ducted their armies into Italy.
In their first expedition they soon possessed themselves of
that country which stretches out from the Alps to both seas.
That this of old belonged to the Tuscans, the names them-
selves are a proof; for the sea which lies to the north is called
the Adriatic, from a Tuscan city named Adria, and that on
the other side to the south is called the Tuscan sea. All that
country is well planted with trees, has excellent pastures, and
is well watered with rivers. It contained eighteen considera-
ble cities, whose manufactures and trade procured them the
gratifications of luxury. The Gauls expelled the Tuscans,
and made themselves masters of these cities; but this was done
long before.
The Gauls were now besieging Clusium, a city of Tuscany.
The Clusians applied to the Romans, entreating them to send
ambassadors and letters to the barbarians. Accordingly they
sent three illustrious persons of the Fabian family, who had
borne the highest employments in the state. The Gauls re-
ceived them courteously on account of the name of Rome; and
putting a stop to their operations against the town, came to a
conference. But when they were asked what injury they had
received from the Clusians, that they came against their city,
Brennus king of the Gauls smiled, and said, “The injury
the Clusians do us, is their keeping to themselves a large tract
He was
* Lucumo was not the name but the title of the young man.
lord of a Lucumony. Hetruria was divided into principalities called Lu
cumonies.

CAMILLUS.
271
of ground, when they can only cultivate a small one, and re-
fusing to give up a part of it to us, who are strangers, numer-
ous and poor. In the same manner you Romans were injured
formerly by the Albans, the Fidenates, and the Ardeates,
and lately by the people of Veii and Capenæ, and the greatest
part of the Falisci and the Volsci. Upon these you make
war: if they refuse to share with you their goods, you enslave
their persons, lay waste their country, and demolish their
cities. Nor are your proceedings dishonourable or unjust;
for you follow the most ancient of laws, which directs the
weak to obey the strong, from the Creator even to the irra
tional part of the creation, that are taught by nature to make
use of the advantage their strength affords them against the
feeble. Cease then to express your compassion for the Clu-
sians, lest you teach the Gauls in their turn to commiserate
those that have been oppressed by the Romans.”
By this answer the Romans clearly perceived that Brennus
would come to no terms; and therefore they went into Clu-
sium, where they encouraged and animated the inhabitants to
a sally against the barbarians, either to make trial of the
strength of the Clusians, or to show their own, The Clusians
made the sally, and a sharp conflict ensued near the walls,
when Quintus Ambustus, one of the Fabii, spurred his horse
against a Gaul of extraordinary size and figure, who had ad-
vanced a good way before the ranks. At first he was not
known, because the encounter was hot, and his armour daz-
zled the eyes of the beholders; but when he had overcome and
killed the Gaul, and came to despoil him of his arms, Brennus
knew him and called the gods to witness,—.". That against all
the laws and usages of mankind which were esteemed the
most sacred and inviolable, Ambustus came as an ambassador,
but acted as an enemy.” He drew off his men directly, and
bidding the Clusians farewell led his army towards Rome.
But that he might not seem to rejoice that such an affront was
offered, or to have wanted a pretext for hostilities, he sent to
demand the offender, in order to punish him, and in the mean
time advanced but slowly.
The herald being arrived, the senate was assembled, and
many spoke against the Fabii; particularly the priests, called
feciales, represented the action as an offence against religion,
and adjured the senate to lay the whole guilt and the expiation
of it upon the person who alone was to blame, and so to avert
the wrath of heaven from the rest of the Romans. These fe-
ciales were appointed by Numa, the mildest and justest of
kings, conservators of peace, as well as judges to give sanction
to the just causes of war.
The senate referred the matter to
the people, and the priests accused Fabius with some ardour

272
CAMILLUS.
before them; but such was the disregard they expressed for
their persons, and such their contempt of religion, that they
constituted that very Fabius and his brethren military tri-
bunes. *
As soon as the Gauls were informed of this, they were
greatly enraged, and would no longer delay their march, but
hastened forward with the utmost celerity. Their prodigious
numbers, their glittering arms, their fury and impetuosity,
struck terror wherever they came; people gave up their lands
for lost, not doubting but the cities would soon follow. How-
ever, what was beyond all expectation, they injured no man's
property; they neither pillaged the fields, nor insuited the
cities; and as they passed by, they cried out, —“They were
going to Rome, they were at war with the Romans only, and
considered all others as their friends."
While the barbarians were going forward in this impetuous
manner, the tribunes led out their forces to battle, in number
not inferiort (for they consisted of forty thousand foot,) but
the greatest part undisciplined, and such as had never handled
a weapon before. Besides, they paid no attention to religion,
having neither propitiated the gods by sacrifice, nor consulted
the soothsayers, as was their duty in time of danger, and be-
fore an engagement. Another thing, which occasioned no
small confusion, was, the number of persons joined in the
command; whereas before, they had often appointed for wars
of ess consideration a single leader, whom they call dictator,
sensible of how great consequence it is to good order and suc-
cess, at a dangerous crisis, to be actuated as it were with one
soul, and to have the absolute command invested in one per-
Their ungrateful treatment of Camillus, too, was not the
least unhappy circumstance; as it now appeared dangerous
for the generals to use their authority without some flattering
indulgence to the people.
In this condition they marched out of the city, and encamp-
ed about eleven miles from it, on the banks of the river Allia,
not far from its confluence with the Tyber. There the bar-
barians came upon them, and as the Romans engaged in a dis-
orderly manner, they were shamefully beaten and put to flight.
Their left wing was soon pushed into the river, and there de-
stroyed. The right wing, which quitted the field to avoid the
charge, and gained the hills, did not suffer so much; many of
them escaping to Rome. The rest that survived the carnage, ,
son.
* The year of Rome 366; or, according to some chronologers, 365.
† They were inferior in number; for the Gauls were seventy thousand; and
therefore the Romans, when they came to action, were obliged to extend
their wings so as to make their centre very thin, which was one reason of
their being soon broken.

CAMILLUS,
273
when the enemy were satiated with blood, stole by night to
Veii, concluding that Rome was lost, and its inhabitants put
to the sword.
This battle was fought when the moon was at full, about the
summer solstice, the very same day that the slaughter of the
Fabii happened long before, * when three hundred of them
were cut off by the Tuscans. The second misfortune, how-
ever, so much effaced the memory of the first, that the day is
still called the day of Allia, from the river of that name.
As to the point, whether there be any lucky or unlucky
days,t and whether Heraclitus was right in blaming Hesiod
for distinguishing them into fortunate and unfortunate, as not
knowing that the nature of all days is the same, we have con-
sidered it in another place. But on this occasion, perhaps, it
may
not be amiss to mention a few examples. The Bæotians,
on the fifth of the month which they call Hippodromius, and
the Athenians Hecatombæon (July), gained two signal victo-
ries, both of which restored liberty to Greece; the one at
Leuctra; the other at Gerästus, above two hundred years be-
fore, I when they defeated Lattamyas and the Thessalians.
On the other hand, the Persians were beaten by the Greeks on
the sixth of Boëdromion (September) at Marathon, on the third
at Platæa, as also Mycale, and on the twenty-sixth at Arbeli.
About the full moon of the same month, the Athenians, under
the conduct of Chabrias, were victorious in the sea-fight near
Naxos, and on the twentieth they gained the victory of Sala-
mis, as we have mentioned in the treatise concerning days.
The month Thargelion (May) was also remarkably unfortu-
nate to the barbarians; for in that month Alexander defeated
the king of Persia's generals near the Granicus; and the Car-
thaginians were beaten by Timoleon in Sicily on the twenty-
fourth of the same; a day still more remarkable (according to
Euphorus, Callisthenes, Demaster, and Phylarchus) for the
taking of Troy. On the contrary, the month Metagitnion
(August), which the Boeotians, call Panemus, was very unlucky
to the Greeks; for on the seventh they were beaten by Anti-
• The sixteenth of July.
+ The ancients deemed some days lucky, and others unlucky, either from
some occult power which they supposed to be in numbers, or from the na-
ture of the deities who presided over them, or else from observation of for-
tunate or unfortunate events having often happened on particular days.
# The Thessalians, under the command of Lattamyas, were beaten by the
Bæotians not long before the battle of Thermopylæ, and little more than one
hundred
years
before the battle of Leuctra. There is also an error here in
the name of the place, probably introduced by some blundering transcriber
(for Plutarch must have been well acquainted with the names of places in
Bæotia.) Instead of Gerästus, we should read Ceressus; the former was a
promontory in Euboea, the latter was a fort in Boeotia.
VOL. 1.20
25

274
CAMILLUS.
pater in the battle of Cranon and utterly ruined, and before
that they were defeated by Philip at Chæronea. And on that
same day and month and year, the troops, which under Ar-
chidamus, made a descent upon Italy, were cut to pieces by
the barbarians. The Carthaginians have set a mark upon the
twenty-second of that month, as a day that has always brought
upon them the greatest of calamities. At the same time I am
not ignorant, that about the time of the celebration of the mys-
teries, Thebes was demolished by Alexander; and after that,
on the same twentieth of Boëdromion (September), a day sacred
to the solemnities of Bacchus, the Athenians were obliged to
receive a Macedonian garrison. On one and the same day,
the Romans, under the command of Cæpio, were stripped of
their camp by the Cimbri, and afterwards under Lucullus con-
quered Tigranes and the Armenians. King Attalus and
Pompey the Great both died on their birth-days. And I could
give account of many others, who, on the same day, at differ-
ent periods, have experienced both good and bad fortune. Be
that as it may, the Romans marked the day of their defeat at
Allia as unfortunate; and as superstitious fears generally in-
crease upon a misfortune, they not only distinguished that as
such, but the two next that follow it in every month through-
out the year.
If, after so decisive a battle, the Gauls had immediately pur-
sued the fugitives, there would have been nothing to hinder
the entire destruction of Rome, and all that remained in it;
with such terror was the city struck at the return of those that
escaped from the battle, and so filled with confusion and dis-
traction! But the Gauls, not imagining the victory to be so
great as it was, in the excess of their joy indulged themselves
in good cheer, and shared the plunder of the camp; by which
means numbers that were for leaving the city had leisure to
escape, and those that remained had time to recollect them-
selves, and prepare for their defence; for, quitting the rest of
the city they retired to the Capitol which they fortified with
strong ramparts, and provided well with arms. But their first
care was of their holy things, most of which they conveyed
into the Capitol. As for the sacred fire, the vestal virgins took
it up, together with other holy relics, and fled away with it;
though some will have it, that they have not the charge of
any
thing but that ever-living fire, which Numa appointed to be
worshipped as the principle of all things. It is indeed the most
active thing in nature; and all generation either is motion, or
at least with motion. Other parts of matter, when the heat
fails, lie sluggish and dead, and crave the force of fire as an
informing soul; and when that comes, they acquire some ac-
tive or passive quality. Hence it was that Numa, a man cu-

CAMILLUS.
275
verse.
rious in his researches into nature, and, on account of his wis-
dom, supposed to have conversed with the Muses, consecrated
this fire, and ordered it to be perpetually kept up, as an image
of that eternal power which preserves and actuates the uni-
Others say, that according to the usage of the Greeks,
the fire is kept ever burning before the holy places, as an em-
blem of purity; but that there are other things in the most se-
cret part of the temple, kept from the sight of all but those
virgins whom they call vestals; and the most current opinion
is, that the palladium of Troy, which Æneas brought into Italy,
is laid
up
there.
Others
say,
the Samothracian gods are there concealed,
whom Dardanus, * after he had built Troy, brought to that
city, and caused to be worshipped; and that after the taking
of Troy, Æneas privately carried them off, and kept them till
he settled in Italy. But those that pretend to know most
about these matters, say, there are placed there two casks of a
moderate size, the one open and empty, the other full and
sealed up, but neither of them to be seen by any but those
holy virgins. Others again think this is all a mistake, which
arose from their putting most of their sacred utensils in two
casks, and hiding them under ground, in the temple of Qui-
rinus, and that the place, from those casks, is still called Do-
liola.
They took, however, with them the choicest and most sam
cred things they had, and fled with them along the side of the
river, where Lucius Albinus, a plebeian, among others that
were making their escape, was carrying his wife and children,
and some of his most necessary moveables, in a wagon. But
when he saw the vestals in a helpless and weary condition,
carrying in their arms the sacred symbols of the gods, he im-
mediately took out his family and goods, and put the virgins
in the wagon, that they might make their escape to some of
the Grecian cities. This piety of Albinus and the venera-
• Dardanus, who flourished in the time of Moses, about the year before
Christ 1480, is said to have been originally of Arcadia, from whence he pass-
ed to Samothrace. Afterwards he married Batea or Arista, the daughter of
Teucer, king of Phrygia. Of the Samothracian gods we have already given
an account; but may add here, from Macrobius, that the dii magni, which
Dardanus brought from Samothrace, were the penates, or household gods,
which Æneas afterwards carried into Italy. Dionysius of Halicarnassus says
he had seen the penates in an old temple at Rome. They were of antique
workmanship, representing two young men sitting, and holding each a lance
in his hand, and had for their inscription Denas, instead of Penas.
† Albinus conducted them to Cære, a city of Hetruria, where they met
with a favourable reception. The vestals remained a considerable time at
Cære, and there performed the usual rites of religion; and hence those rites
were called Ceremonies.

276
CAMILLUS.
tion he expressed for the gods at so dangerous a juncture, de-
serves to be recorded.
As for the other priests, and the most ancient of the sena-
tors that were of consular dignity, or had been honoured with
triumphs, they could not bear to think of quitting the city.
They, therefore, put on their holy vestments and robes of
state, and, in a form dictated by Fabius the pontifex maximus,
making their vows to the gods, * devoted themselves to their
country. Thus attired, they sat down in their ivory chairs
in the forum,t prepared for the worst extremity.
The third day after the battle, Brennus arrived with his
army; and finding the gates of the city opened, and the walls
destitute of guards, at first he had some apprehensions of a
stratagem or ambuscade, for he could not think the Romans
had so entirely given themselves up to despair. But when he
found it to be so in reality, he entered by the Colline gate, and
took Rome, a little more than three hundred and sixty years
after its foundation; if it is likely that any exact account has
been kept of those times, I the confusion of
which has occasion-
ed so much obscurity in things of a later date.
Some uncertain rumours, however, of Rome's being taken,
appear to have soon passed into Greece; for Heraclides of
Pontus,who lived not long after these times, in his treatise
concerning the soul, relates, that an account was brought from
the west, that an army from the country of the Hyperboreans,|)
had taken a Greek city called Rome, situated somewhere near
the Great Sea. But I do not wonder that such a fabulous wri
ter as Heraclides should embellish his account of the taking of
Rome with the pompous terms of Hyperboreans and the Great
Sea. It is very clear that Aristotle the philosopher had heard
that Rome was taken by the Gauls; but he calls its deliverer
* The Romans believed, that by those voluntary consecrations to the in-
fernal gods, disorder and confusion were brought among the enemy.
+ These ivory, or curule chairs were used only by those who had borne
the most honourable offices; and the persons who had a right to sit in them
bore also ivory staves.
# Livy tells us, that the Romans of those times did not much apply them.
selves to writing, and that the commentaries of the pontifices, and their other
monuments, both public and private, were destroyed when the city was
burnt by the Gauls.
§ He lived at that very time; for he was at first Plato's scholar, and after-
wards Aristotle's; and Plato was but forty-one years old when Rome was ta-
ken.
| The ancients called all the inhabitants of the north Hyperboreans, and
the Mediterranean the Great Sea, to distinguish it from the Euxine. Not-
withstanding that Heraclides was right in this, he might be a very fabulous
writer: so was Herodotus; and so were the ancient historians of almost all
countries; and the reason is obvious; they had little more than tradition to
wiite from.

CAMILLUS.
277
Lucius; whereas Camillus was not called Lucius but Marcus,
These authors had no better authority than common report.
Brennus, thus in possession of Rome, set a strong guard
about the Capitol, and himself went down into the forum;
where he was struck with amazement at the sight of so many
men seated in great state and silence, who neither rose up at
the approach of their enemies, nor changed countenance or
colour, but leaned upon their staves, and sat looking upan
each other without fear or concern. The Gauls, astonished
at so surprising a spectacle, and regarding them as superior
beings, for a long time were afraid to approach or touch them.
At last one of them ventured to go near Manius Papirius, and
advancing his hand, gently stroked his beard, which was very
long; upon which Papirius struck him on the head with his
staff, and wounded him. The barbarian then drew his sword
and killed him. After this, the Gauls fell
After this, the Gauls fell upon the rest and
slew them, and continuing their rage, despatched all that
came in their way. Then, for many days together, they pil-
laged the houses and carried off the spoil; at last they set fire
to the city, and demolished what escaped the flames, to ex-
press their indignation against those in the Capitol who obeyed
not their summons, but made a vigorous defence, and greatly
annoyed the besiegers from the walls. This it was that pro-
voked them to destroy the whole city, and to despatch all that
fell into their hands, without sparing either sex or age.
As by the length of the siege provisions began to fail the
Gauls, they divided their forces, and part stayed with the
king before that fortress, while part foraged the country, and
laid waste the towns and villages. Their success had inspired
them with such confidence, that they did not keep in a body,
but carelessly rambled about in different troops and parties.
It happened that the largest and best disciplined corps went
against Ardea, where Camillus, since his exile, lived in abso-
lute retirement. This great event, however, awaked him into
action, and his mind was employed in contriving, not how to
keep himself concealed and to avoid the Gauls, but, if an op-
portunity should offer, to attack and conquer them. Perceiv-
ing
that the Ardeans were not deficient in numbers, but cou-
rage and discipline, which was owing to the inexperience and
inactivity of their officers, he applied first to the young men,
and told them—5 They ought not to aseribe the defeat of the
Romans to the valour of the Gauls, or to consider the calami-
ties they had suffered in the midst of their infatuation, as
brought upon them by men who, in fact, could not claim the
merit of the victory, but as the work of fortune. That it
would be glorious, though they risked something by it, to re-
pel a foreign and barbarous enemy, whose end in conquering
25*

278
CAMILLUS.
was, like fire, to destroy what they subdued; but that if they
would assume a proper spirit, he would give them an oppor-
tunity to conquer without any hazard at all.” When he found
the young men were pleased with his discourse, he went next
to the magistrates and senate of Ardea, and having persuaded
them also to adopt his scheme, he armed all that were of a
proper age for it, and drew them up within the walls, that the
enemy, who were but at a small distance, might not know
what he was about.
The Gauls, having scoured the country, and loaded them-
selves with plunder, encamped upon the plains in a careless
and disorderly manner. Night found them intoxicated with
wine, and silence reigned in the camp. As soon as Camillus
was informed of this by his spies, he led the Ardeans out; and
having passed the intermediate space without noise, he reach-
ed their camp about midnight. Then he ordered a loud shout
to be set up; and the trumpets to sound on all sides, to cause
the greater confusion; but it was with difficulty they recover-
ed themselves from their sleep and intoxication. A few,
whom fear had made sober, snatched
up
their arms to oppose
Camillus, and fell with their weapons in their hands; but the
greatest part of them, buried in sleep and wine, were surpris-
ed unarmed, and easily despatched.A small number, that in
the night escaped out of the camp, and wandered in the fields,
were picked up next day by the cavalry, and put to the sword.
The fame of this action soon reaching the neighbouring
cities, drew out many of their ablest warriors. Particularly,
such of the Romans as had escaped from the battle of Allia
to Veii, lamented with themselves in some such manner as
this:-“What a general has heaven taken from Rome in Ca-
millus, to adorn the Ardeans with his exploits! while the city
which produced and brought up so great a man is absolutely
ruined; and we for want of a leader, sit idle within the walls
of a strange city, and betray the liberties of Italy. Come,
then, let us send to the Ardeans to demand our general, or else
take our weapons and go to him; for he is no longer an exile,
nor we citizens, having no country but what is in possession
of an enemy
This motion was agreed to, and they sent to Camillus to en-
treat him to accept of the command. But he answered, he could
not do it, before he was legally appointed to do it by the Ro-
mans in the Capitol;* for he looked upon them, while they
* Livy says, the Roman soldiers at Veii applied to the remains of the senate
in the Capitol for leave, before they offered the command to Camillus. So
much regard had those brave men for the constitution of their country, though
Rome then lay in ashes. Every private man was indeed a patriot.

CAMILLUS.
279
were in being, as the commonwealth, and would readily obey
their orders, but without them would not be so officious as to
interpose.
They admired the modesty and honour of Camillus, but
knew not how to send the proposal to the Capitol. It seemed,
indeed, impossible for a messenger to pass into the citadel,
whilst the enemy were in possession of the city. However,
a young man named Pontius Cominius, not distinguished
by his birth, but fond of glory, readily took upon him the
commission. He carried no letters to the citizens in the Capi-
tol, lest, if he should happen to be taken, the enemy should
discover by them the intentions of Camillus. Having dressed
himself in mean attire, under which he concealed some pieces
of cork, he travelled all day without fear, and approached the
city as it grew dark. He could not pass the river by the
bridge, because it was guarded by the Gauls, and, therefore,
took his clothes, which were neither many nor heavy, and
bound them about his head; and having laid himself upon the
pieces of cork, easily swam over and reached the city. Then
avoiding those quarters where, by the lights and noise, he
concluded they kept watch, he went to the Carmental gate,
where there was the greatest silence, and where the hill of the
Capitol is the steepest and most craggy. Up this he got un-
perceived, by a way the most difficult and dreadful, and ad-
vanced near the guards upon the walls. After he had hailed
them, and told them his name, they received him with joy,
and conducted him to the magistrates.
The senate was presently assembled, and he acquainted them
with the victory of Camillus, which they had not heard of be-
fore, as well as with the proceedings of the soldiers at Veii,
and exhorted them to confirm Camillus in the command, as
the citizens out of Rome would obey none but him. Having
heard his report, and consulted together, they declared Camil-
lus dictator, and sent Pontius back the same way he came,
who was equally fortunate in his return; for he passed the
enemy undiscovered, and delivered to the Romans at Veii the
decree of the senate, which they received with pleasure.
Camillus, on his arrival, found twenty thousand of them in
arms, to whom he added a greater number of the allies, and
prepared to attack the enemy. Thus was he appointed dicta-
tor the second time; and having put himself at the head of the
Romans and confederates, he marched out against the Gauls.
Mean time, some of the barbarians employed in the siege,
happening to pass by the place where Pontius had made his
way by night up to the Capitol, observed many traces of his
* Μηδεν μολυπραιμονησει!»

280
CAMILLUS
feet and hands, as he had worked himself up the rock, torn off
what grew there, and tumbled down the mould. Of this they
informed the king: who coming and viewing it for the present
said nothing; but in the evening he assembled the lightest and
most active of his men, who were the likeliest to climb any
difficult height, and thus addressed them:-“ The enemy have
themselves shown us a way to reach them, which we were
ignorant of, and have proved that this rock is neither inacces-
sible nor untrod by human feet. What a shame would it be
then, after having made a beginning, not to finish; and to quit
the place as impregnable, when the Romans themselves have
taught us how to take it? Where it was easy for one man to
ascend, it can not be difficult for many, one by one; nay,
should many attempt it together, they will find great advan-
tage in assisting each other. In the mean time, I intend great
rewards and honours for such as shall distinguish themselves
on this occasion."
The Gauls readily embraced the king's proposal; and about
midnight a number of them together began to climb the rock
in silence, which though steep and craggy, proved more prac-
ticable than they expected. The foremost having gained the
top, put themselves in order, and were ready to take posses-
sion of the wall, and to fall upon the guards, who were fast
asleep; for neither man nor dog perceived their coming.
However, there were certain sacred geese kept near Juno's
temple, * and at other times plentifully fed; but at this time,
as corn and the other provisions that remained were scarce
sufficient for the men, they were neglected and in poor condi-
tion. This animal is naturally quick of hearing, and soon
alarmed at any noise; and as hunger kept them waking and
uneasy, they immediately perceived the coming of the Gauls,
and running at them with all the noise they could make, they
awoke all the guards. The barbarians now, perceiving they
were discovered, advanced with loud shouts and great fury.
The Romans in haste snatched up such weapons as came to
hand, and acquitted themselves like men on this sudden emer-
gency. First of all, Manlius, a man of consular dignity, re-
markable for his strength and extraordinary courage, engaged
two Gauls at once; and as one of them was lifting his battle-
axe, with his sword cut off his right hand; at the same time
he thrust the boss of his shield in the face of the other, and
* Geese were ever after had in honour at Rome, and a flock of them al-
ways kept at the expense of the public. A golden image of a goose was
erected in memory of them, and a goose every year carried in triumph upon
a soft litter finely adorned; while dogs were held in abhorrence by the Ro.
mans, who every year impaled one of them upon a branch of elder.--Plin.
et Plut. de Fortuna Rom.

CAMILLUS.
281
dashed him down the precipice. Thus standing upon the
rampart, with those that had come to his assistance, and fought
by his side, he drove back the rest of the Gauls that had got
up, who were no great number, and who performed nothing
worthy of such an attempt. The Romans having thus escaped
the danger that threatened them, as soon as it was light, threw
the officer that commanded the watch down the rock amongst
the enemy, and decreed Manlius a reward for his victory,
which had more of honour in it than profit; for every man
save him what he had for one day's allowance, which was half
a pound of bread, and a quartern of the Greek cotyle.
After this the Gauls began to lose courage; for provisions
were scarce, and they could not forage for fear of Camillus. *
Sickness, too, prevailed among them,
which took its rise from
the heaps of dead bodies, and from their encamping amidst the
rubbish of the houses they had burnt; where there was such a
quantity of ashes, as, when raised by the winds or heated by
the sun, by their dry and acrid quality so corrupted the air,
that every breath of it was pernicious. But what affected
them most was the change of climate; for they had lived in
countries that abounded with shades and agreeable shelters
from the heat, and were now got into grounds that were low,
and unhealthy in autumn. All this, together with the length
and tediousness of the siege, which had now lasted more than
six months, caused such desolation among them, and carried
off such numbers, that the carcasses lay unburied.
The besieged, however, were not in a much better condition.
Famine, which now pressed them hard, and their ignorance
of what Camillus was doing, caused no small dejection; for
the barbarians guarded the city with so much care, that it was
impossible to send any messenger to him.
Both sides being
thus equally discouraged, the advanced guards, who were
near enough to converse, first began to talk of treating. As
the motion was approved by those that had the chief direction
of affairs, Sulpitius, one of the military tribunes, went and
conferred with Brennus, where it was agreed that the Romans
should pay a thousand pounds weight of goldt and that the
Gauls, upon the receipt of it, should immediately quit the city
and its territories. When the conditions were sworn to, and
the gold was brought, the Gauls, endeavouring to avail them-
selves of false weights, privately at first, and afterwards open-
ly, drew down their own side of the balance. The Romans
expressing their resentment, Brennus, in a contemptuous and
* Camillus being master of the country, posted strong guards on all the
roads, and, in effect, besieged the besiegers.
+ That is forty-five thousand pounds sterling
VOL. I. -2 P

282
CAMILLUS.
to
insulting manner, took off his sword, and threw it, belt and
all, into the scale; and when Sulpitius asked what that meant,
he answered:-“What should it mean but wo* to the conquer-
ed;” which became a proverbial saying. Some of the Romans
were highly incensed at this; and talked of returning with
their gold, and enduring the utmost extremities of the siege;
but others were of opinion that it was better to pass by a small
injury, since the indignity lay not in paying more than was
due, but in paying any thing at all; a disgrace only consequent
upon the necessity of the times.
While they were thus disputing with the Gauls, Camillus
arrived at the gates, and being informed of what had passed,
ordered the main body of his army to advance slowly and in
good order, while he with a select band marched hastily up
the Romans, who all gaye place, and received the dictator
with respect and silence. Then he took the gold out of the
scales, and gave it to the lictors, and ordered the Gauls to take
away the balance and the weights, and to be gone, telling
them, _“It was the custom of the Romans to deliver their
country with steel, and not with gold.” And when Brennus
expressed his indignation, and complained he had great in-
justice done him by this infraction of the treaty, Camillus an-
swered,—“ That it was never lawfully made; nor could it be
valid without his consent, who was dictator and sole magis-
trate; they had, therefore, acted without proper authority.
But they might make their proposals now he was come, whom
the laws had invested with power either to pardon the sup-
pliant, or punish the guilty, if proper satisfaction was not
made.
At this Brennus was still more highly incensed, and a skir-
mish ensued; swords were drawn on both sides, and thrusts
exchanged in a confused manner, which it is easy to conceive
must be the case, amidst the ruins of houses, and in narrow
streets, where there was not room to draw up regularly.
Brennus, however, soon recollected himself, and
drew off his
forces into the
with the loss of a small number. In the
night he ordered them to march, and quit the city; and hav-
ing retreated about eight miles from it, he encamped upon the
Gabinian road. Early in the morning Camillus came up with
them, his arms dazzling the sight, and his men full of spirits
and fire. A sharp engagement ensued, which lasted a long
time; at length the Gauls were routed with great slaughter,
and their camp taken. Some of those that fled were killed in
the pursuit; but the greater part were cut in pieces by the peo-
camp,
# Va victis!

CAMILLUS.
283
upon them
ple in the neighbouring towns and villages, who fell
as they were dispersed.
Thus was Rome strangely taken, and more strangely recov-
ered, after it had been seven months in the possession of the
barbarians; for they entered it a little after the Ides, the fif-
teenth of July, and were driven out about the Ides, the thir-
teenth of February following. Camillus returned in triumph,
as became the deliverer of his lost country, and the restorer of
Rome. Those that had quitted the place before the siege, with
wheir wives and children, now followed his chariot; and they
that had been besieged in the Capitol, and were almost per-
ishing with hunger, met the others and embraced them, weep-
ing for joy at this unexpected pleasure, which they almost con-
sidered as a dream. The priests and ministers of the gods
bringing back with them what holy things they had hid or
conveyed away when they fled, afforded a most desirable
spectacle to the people; and they gave them the kindest wel-
come, as if the gods themselves had returned with them to
Rome. Next, Camillus sacrificed to the gods, and purified
the city, in a form dictated by the pontiffs. He rebuilt the
former temples, and erected a new one to Nius Loquutius, the
speaker, or warner, upon the very spot where the voice from
heaven announced in the night to Marcus Ceditius the coming
of the barbarians. There was, indeed, no small difficulty in
discovering the places where the temples had stood, but it was
effected by the zeal of Camillus and the industry of the priests.
As it was necessary to rebuild the city, which was entire-
ly demolished, a heartless despondency seized the multitude,
and they invented pretexts of delay. They were in want of
all necessary materials, and had more occasion for repose and
refreshment after their sufferings, than to labour and wear
themselves out, when their bodies were weak, and their sub-
stance was gone. They had, therefore, a secret attachment to
Veii, a city which remained entire, and was provided with
every thing. This gave a handle to their demagogues to ha-
rangue them, as usual, in a way agreeable to their inclinations,
and made them listen to seditious speeches against Camillus,
" As if, to gratify his ambition and thirst of glory, he would
deprive them of a city fit to receive them, force them to pitch
their tents among rubbish, and rebuild a ruin that was like
one great funeral-pile, in order that he might not only be call-
* There is reason to question the truth of the latter part of this story'.
Plutarch copied it from Livy. But Polybius represents the Gauls, as actu-
ally receiving the gold from the Romans, and returning in safety to their
own country; and this is confirmed by Justin, Suetonius, and even by Livy
himself, in another part of his history;-X. 16,

284
CAMILLUS.
ed the general and dictator of Rome, but the founder too, in-
stead of Romulus, whose right he invaded.”
On this account, the senate, afraid of an insurrection, would
not let Camillus lay down the dictatorship within the year, as
he desired, though no other person had ever borne that high
office more than six months. In the mean time they went
about to console the people, to gain them by caresses and
kind persuasions. One while they showed them the monu-
ments and tombs of their ancestors; then they put them in
mind of their temples and holy places, which Romulus and.
Numa, and the other kings, had consecrated and left in charge
with them. Above all, amidst the sacred and awful symbols,
they took care to make them recollect the fresh human head, *
which was found when the foundations of the Capitol were
dug, and which presignified, that the same place was destined
to be the head of Italy. They urged the disgrace it would be
to extinguish again the sacred fire, which the vestals had
lighted since the war, and to quit the city; whether they were
to see it inhabited by strangers, or a desolate wild for flocks
to feed in. In this moving manner the patricians remonstra-
ted to the people both in public and private; and were in their
turn much affected by the distress of the multitude, who la-
mented their present indigence, and begged of them, now they
were collected like the remains of a shipwreck, not to oblige
them to patch up the ruins of a desolated city, when there was
one entire and ready to receive them.
Camillus, therefore, thought proper to take the judgment of
the senate in a body; and when he had exerted his eloquence
in favour of his native country, and others had done the same,
he put it to the vote, beginning with Lucius Lucretius, whose
right it was to vote first, and who was to be followed by the
rest in their order. Silence was made; and as Lucretius was
about to declare himself, it happened that a centurion, who
then commanded the day-guard, as he passed the house, call-
ed with a loud voice to the ensign,—to stop and set up his
standard there, for that was the best place to stay in.” These
words being so seasonably uttered, at a time when they were
doubtful and anxious about the event, Lucretius gave thanks
to the gods, and embraced the omen, while the rest gladly as-
sented. A wonderful change, at the same time, took place
* This prodigy happened in the reign of Tarquin the Proud, who un-
doubtedly must have put the head there on purpose; for in digging the
foundation, it was found warm and bleeding, as if just severed from the body.
Upon this the Romans sent to consult the Tuscan soothsayers, who, after
vainly endeavouring to bring the presage to favour their own country, ac-
knowledged that the place where that head was found would be the head
of all Italy.---Dion. Hal. lib. iv.

CAMILLUS.
285
in the compass of a year;
The
in the minds of the people, who exhorted and encouragea each
other to the work, and they began to build immediately, not
in any order, or upon a regular plan, but as inclination or con-
venience directed. By reason of this hurry the streets were
narrow and intricate, and the houses badly laid out; for they
tell us both the walls of the city and the streets were built with-
persons appointed by Camillus to search for and mark
out the holy places, found all in confusion. As they were
looking round the Palatium, they came to the court of Mars,
where the buildings, like the rest, were burnt and demolish-
ed by the barbarians; but in removing the rubbish and clear-
ing the place, they discovered, under a great heap of ashes,
the augural staff of Romulus. This staff is crooked at one end,
and called lituus. It is used in marking out the several quar-
ters of the heavens, in any process of divination by the flight
of birds, which Romulus was much skilled in and made great
use of. When he was taken out of the world, the priests care
fully preserved the staff from defilement, like other holy
relics; and this having escaped the fire, when the rest were
consumed, they indulged a pleasing hope, and considered it
as a presage, that Rome would last forever.
Before they had finished the laborious task of building, a
new war broke out.
The Æqui, the Volsci, and the Latins,
all at once invaded their territories, and the Tuscans laid siege
to Sutrium, a city in alliance with Rome. The military tri-
bunes, too, who commanded the army, being surrounded by
the Latins, near Mount Marcius, and their camp in great dan-
ger, sent to Rome to desire succours; on which occasion Camil-
lus was appointed dictator the third time.
Of this war there are two different accounts: I begin with
the fabulous one. It is said, the Latins either seeking a pre-
tence for war, or really inclined to renew their ancient affinity
with the Romans, sent to demand of them a number of free-
born virgins in marriage. The Romans were in no small per-
plexity as to the course they should take; for, on the one hand,
they were afraid of war, as they were not yet re-established,
nor had recovered their losses; and on the other, they suspect-
ed that the Latins only wanted their daughters for hostages,
* About this time, the tribunes of the people determined to impeach Q.
Fabius, who had violated the law of nations, and thereby provoked the
Gauls, and occasioned the burning of Rome. His crime being notorious, he
was summoned by C. Martius Rutilus before the assembly of the people, to
answer for his conduct in the embassy. The criminal had reason to fear the
severest punishment; but his relations gave out that he died suddenly; which
generally happened when the accused person had courage enough to pre-
vent his condemnation, and the shame of a public punishment.
26

286
CAMILLUS.
though they coloured their design with the special name of
marriage. While they were thus embarrassed, a female slave,
named Tutula, * or, as some call her, Philotis, advised the
magistrates to send with her some of the handsomest and most
genteel of the maid servants, dressed like virgins of good
families, and leave the rest to her. The magistrates approv-
ing the expedient, chose a number of female slaves proper for
her purpose, and sent them richly attired to the Latin camp,
which was not far from the city. At night, while the other
slaves conveyed away the enemies' swords, Tutula or Philotis
got up into a wild fig-tree of considerable height, and having
spread a thick garment behind, to conceal her design from the
Latins, held up a torch towards Rome, which was the signal
agreed upon between her and the magistrates, who alone were
in the secret. For this reason the soldiers sallied out in a tu-
multuous manner, calling upon each other, and hastened by
their officers, who found it difficult to bring them into any or-
der. They made themselves masters, however, of the en-
trenchments; and as the enemy, expecting no such attempt,
were asleep, they took the camp, and put the greatest part of
them to the sword. This happened on the Nones, the seventh
of July, then called Quintilis; and on that day they celebrate a
feast in memory of this action. In the first place, they sally
in a crowding and disorderly manner out of the city, pro-
nouncing aloud the most familiar and common names, as Caius,
Marcus, Lucius, and the like; by which they imitate the sol-
diers then calling upon each other in their hurry. Next, the
maid-servants walk about, elegantly dressed, and jesting on
all they meet. They have also a kind of fight among them-
selves, to express the assistance they gave in the engagement
with the Latins. Then they sit down to an entertainment,
shaded with branches of the fig-tree. And that day is called
Nonæ Caprotinæ, as some suppose, on account of the wild fig-tree,
from which the maid-servant held out the torch; for the Romans
called that tree caprificus. Others refer the greatest part of
what is said and done on that occasion to that part of the story
of Romulus when he disappeared, and the darkness and tem-
pest, or as some imagine, an eclipse happened. It was on the
same day, at least, and the day might be called Nonæ Caprotiną;
for the Romans call a goat Capra; and Romulus vanished out of
sight while he was holding an assembly of the people at the
Goat's Marsh, as we have related in his life.
The other account that is given of this war, and approved
by most historians, is as follows: Camillus, being appointed
dictator the third time, and knowing that the army under the
* In the life of Romulus, she is called Tutola. Macrobius calls her Tutela.

CAMILLUS.
287
age
military tribunes was surrounded by the Latins and Volscians,
was constrained to make levies among such as
had exempt-
ed from service. With these he fetched a large compass about
mount Marcius, and, unperceived by the enemy, posted his
army behind them; and by lighting many fires signified his
arrival. The Romans that were besieged in their camp, being
encouraged by this resolved to sally out and join the battle.
But the Latins and Volscians kept close within their works,
drawing a line of circumvallation with palisades, because they
had the enemy on both sides, and resolving to wait for rein-
forcements from home, as well as for the Tuscan succours.
Camillus perceiving this, and fearing that the enemy might
surround him, as he had surrounded them, hastened to make
use of the present opportunity. As the works of the confede-
rates consisted of wood, and the wind used to blow hard from
the mountains at sun-rising, he provided a great quantity of
combustible matter, and drew out his forces at day-break.
Part of them he ordered, with loud shouts and missive wea-
pons, to begin the attack on the opposite side; while he him-
self, at the head of those that were charged with the fire,
watched the proper minute, on that side of the works where
the wind used to blow directly. When the sun was risen the
wind blew violently; and the attack being begun on the other
side, he gave the signal to his own party, who poured a vast
quantity of fiery darts and other burning matter into the ene-
my's fortifications. As the flame soon caught hold, and was
fed by the palisades and other timber, it spread itself into all
quarters; and the Latins not being provided with any means
of extinguishing it, the camp was almost full of fire, and they
were reduced to a small spot of ground. At last they were
forced to bear down upon the body who were posted before
the camp and ready to receive them sword in hand. Conse-
quently very few of them escaped; and those that remained
in the camp were destroyed by the flames, till the Romans ex-
tinguished them for the sake of the plunder.
After this exploit, he left his son Lucius in the camp, to
guard the prisoners and the booty, while he himself penetrated
into the enemy's country. There he took the city of the
Equi, and reduced the Volsci, and then led his army to Su-
trium, whose fate he was not yet apprised of, and which he
hoped to relieve by fighting the Tuscans who had sat down
before it. But the Sutrians had already surrendered their
town, with the loss of every thing but the clothes they had
on; and in this condition he met them by the way, with their
wives and children, bewailing their misfortunes. Camillus
was extremely moved at so sad a spectacle; and perceiving
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288
CAMILLUS.
the Sutrians, he determined not to defer his revenge, but to
march to Sutrium that very day; concluding that men who
had just taken an opulent city, where they had not left one
enemy, and who expected none from any other quarter,
would be found in disorder and off their guard. Nor was he
mistaken in his judgment. He not only passed through the
country undiscovered, but approached the gates and got pos-
session of the walls before they were aware.
Indeed there
was none to guard them; for all were engaged in festivity and
dissipation. Nay, even when they perceived that the enemy
were masters of the town, they were so overcome by their
indulgences, that few endeavoured to escape; they were either
slain in their houses, or surrendered themselves to the con-
querors. Thus the city of Sutrium being twice taken in one
day, the new possessors were expelled, and the old ones re-
stored, by Camillus.
By the triumph decreed him on this occasion, he gained no
less credit and honour than by the two former. For those of
the citizens that envied him, and were desirous to attribute
his successes rather to fortune than to his valour and conduct,
were compelled, by these last actions, to allow his great abili-
ties and application. Among those that opposed him, and
detracted from his merit, the most considerable was Marcus
Manlius, who was the first that repulsed the Gauls, when they
attempted the Capitol by night, and on that account was sur-
named Capitolinus. He was ambitious to be the greatest man
in Rome; and as he could not by fair means outstrip Camillus
in the race of honour, he took the common road to absolute
power, by courting the populace, particularly those that were
in debt. Some of the latter he defended, by pleading their
causes against their creditors: and others he rescued, forcibly
preventing their being dealt with according to law: so that he
got a number of indigent persons about him, who became
formidable to the patricians by their insolent and riotous be-
haviour in the forum.
In this exigency they appointed Cornelius Cossus* dictator,
who named Titus Quintius Capitolinus his general of horse;
and by this supreme magistrate Manlius was committed to
prison. On which occasion the people went into mourning;
a thing never used but in time of great and public calamities.
The senate, therefore, afraid of an insurrection, ordered him
to be released. But when set at liberty, instead of altering
his conduct, he grew more insolent and troublesome, and filled
the whole city with faction and sedition. At that time Camil-
lus was again created a military tribune, and Manlius taken
* Vide Liv. lib. vi. cap. 2.

CAMILLUS.
289
and brought to his trial. But the sight of the Capitol was a
great disadvantage to those that carried on the impeachment.
The place where Manlius by night maintained the fight against
the Gauls, was seen from the forum; and all that attended were
moved with compassion at his stretching out his hands to-
wards that place, and begging them with tears to remember
his achievements. The judges of course were greatly em-
barrassed, and often adjourned the court, not choosing to ac-
quit him after such clear proofs of his crime, nor yet able to
carry the laws into execution in a place which continually re
minded the people of his services. Camillus, sensible of this,
removed the tribunal without the gate, into the Peteline
Grove, where there was no prospect of the Capitol. There
the prosecutor brought his charge; and the remembrance of
his former bravery gave way to the sense which his judges
had of his present crimes. Manlius, therefore, was condemn-
ed, carried to the Capitol, and thrown headlong from the rock.
Thus the same place was the monument both of his glory and
his unfortunate end. The Romans, moreover, razed his house.
and built there a temple to the goddess Moneta. They decreed
likewise, that for the future no patrician should ever dwell ir
the Capitol.
Camillus, who was now nominated military tribune the
sixth time, declined that honour. For, besides that he was
of an advanced age, he was apprehensive of the effects of
envy, and of some change of fortune, after so much glory and
But the excuse he most insisted on in public, was
the state of his health, which at that time was infirm. The
people, however, refusing to accept of that excuse, cried out,
* They did not desire him to fight, either on horseback or on
foot; they only wanted his counsel and his orders. Thus they
forced him to take the office upon him, and, together with
Lucius Furius Medullinus, one of his colleagues, to march
immediately against the enemy.”
*
success.
Lest the advantageous situation of a fortress, that commanded the
whole city, should suggest and facilitate the design of enslaving it. For
Manlius was accused of aiming at the sovereign power. His fate may serve
as a warning to all ambitious men who want to rise on the ruins of their
country; for he could not escape or find mercy with the people, though he
produced above four hundred plebeians, whose debts he had paid; though
he showed thirty suits of armour the spoils of thirty enemies, whom he had
slain in single combat; though he had received forty honorary rewards,
among which were two mural and eight civic crowns (C. Servilius, when
general of the horse, being of the number of citizens whose lives he had
saved;) and though he had crowned all with the preservation of the Capi-
So inconstant, however, is the multitude, that Manlius was scarce
dead, when his loss was generally lamented, and a plague, which soon fol.
lowed, ascribed to the anger of Jupiter against the authors of his death.
Vol. 1.-2Q
26*
tol.

290
CAMILLUS.
These were the people of Præneste and the Volsci, who
with a considerable army were laying waste the country in
alliance with Rome. Camillus, therefore, went and encamped
over against them, intending to prolong the war, that if there
should be any necessity for a battle, he might be sufficiently
recovered to do his part. But as his colleague Lucius, too
ambitious of glory, was violently and indiscreetly bent upon
fighting, and inspired the other officers with the same ardour,
he was afraid it might be thought that through envy he with-
held from the young officers the opportunity to distinguish
themselves. For this reason he agreed, though with great
reluctance, that Lucius should draw out the forces, whilst he,
on account of his sickness, * remained with a handful of men
in the camp. But when he perceived that Lucius, who en-
gaged in a rash and precipitate manner, was defeated, and the
Romans put to flight, he could not contain himself, but leaped
from his bed, and went with his retinue to the gates of the
camp. There he forced his way through the fugitives up to
the pursuers, and made so good a stand, that those who had
fled to the camp soon returned to the charge, and others that
were retreating rallied and placed themselves about him, ex-
norting each other not to forsake their general. Thus the
enemy were stopt in the pursuit. Next day he marched out
at the head of his army, entirely routed the confederates in a
pitched battle, and entering their camp along with them, cut
most of them in pieces.
After this, being informed that Satricum, a Roman colony
was taken by the Tuscans, and the inhabitants put to the
sword, he sent home the main body of his forces, which con-
sisted of the heavy-armed, and with a select band of light
and spirited young men fell upon the Tuscans that were in
possession of the city, some of whom he put to the sword, and
the rest were driven out.
Returning to Rome with great spoils, he gave a signal evi-
dence of the good sense of the Roman people, who entertained
no fears on account of the ill health or age of a general that
was not deficient in courage or experience; but made choice
of him, infirm and reluctant as he was, rather than of those
young men who wanted and solicited the command. Hence
it was,
upon the news of the revolt of the Tusculans, Ca-
millus was ordered to march against them, and to take with
him only one of his five colleagues. Though they all desired
and made interest for the commission, yet, passing the rest
by, he pitched upon Lucius Furius, contrary to the general
that
* Livy says, he placed himself on an eminence, with a corps de reserve,
80 observe the success of the battle.

CAMILLUS.
291
expectation; for this was the man who but just before, against
the opinion of Camillus, was so eager to engage, and lost the
battle. Yet willing, it seems, to draw a veil over his misfor-
tune, and to wipe off his disgrace, he was generous enough to
give him the preference. *
When the Tusculans perceived that Camillus was coming
against them, they attempted to correct their error by artful
management. They filled the fields with husbandmen and
shepherds, as in time of profound peace; they left their gates
open, and sent their children to school as before. The trades-
men were found in their shops employed in their respective
callings, and the better sort of citizens walking in the public
places in their usual dress. Meanwhile the magistrates were
busily passing to and fro, to order quarters for the Romans;
as if they expected no danger, and were conscious of no fault.
Though these arts could not alter the opinion Camillus had of
their revolt, yet their repentance disposed him to compassion.
He ordered them, therefore, to go to the senate of Rome and
beg pardon; and when they appeared there as suppliants, he
used his interest to procure their forgiveness, and a grant of
the privileges of Roman citizenst besides. These were the
principal actions of his sixth tribuneship.
After this, Licinius Stolo raised a great sedition in the state,
putting himself at the head of the people, who insisted that of
the two consuls one should be a plebeian. Tribunes of the
people were appointed, but the multitude would suffer no
election of consuls to be held. I As this want of chief magis-
* This choice of Camillus had a different motive from what Plutarch men-
tions. He knew that Furius, who had felt the ill effects of a precipitate
conduct, would be the first man to avoid such a conduct for the future.
+ He was only a Roman citizen, in the most extensive signification of the
words, who had a right of having a house in Rome, of giving his vote in the
Comitia, and of standing candidate for any office; and who, consequently,
was incorporated into one of the tribes. The freed-men in the times of the
republic were excluded from dignities; and of the municipal towns and Ro-
man colonies, which enjoyed the right of citizenship, some had, and some
had not, the right of suffrage, and of promotion to offices in Rome.
# This confusion lasted five years, during which the tribunes of the peo-
ple prevented the Comitia from being held, which were necessary for the
election of the chief magistrates. It was occasioned by a trifling accident.
Fabius Ambustus having married his eldest daughter to Servius Sulpicius, a
patrician, and at this time military tribune, and the younger to Licinius Stolo,
a rich piebeian, it happened that while the younger sister was paying a visit
to the elder, Sulpicius came home from the forum, and his lictors, with the
staff of the fasces, thundered at the door. The younger sister being fright.
ened at the noise, the elder laughed at her, as a person quite ignorant of
high life. This affront greatly afflicted her; and her father, to comfort her,
bid her not be uneasy, for she should soon see as much state at her own house,
as had surprised her at her sister's.

292
CAMILLUS
trates was likely to bring on still greater troubles, the senate
created Camillus dictator the fourth time, against the consent
of the people, and not even agreeable to his own inclination:*
for he was unwilling to set himself against those persons, who,
having been often led on by him to conquest, could with great
truth affirm, that he had more concern with them in the mili-
tary way, than with the patricians in the civil; and at the same
time was sensible that the envy of those very patricians in-
duced them now to promote him to that high station, that he
might oppress the people if he succeeded, or be ruined by them
if he failed in his attempt. He attempted, however, to obvi-
ate the present danger; and as he knew the day on which the
tribunes intended to propose their law, he published a general
muster, and summoned the people from the forum into the
field, threatening to set heavy fines upon those that should not
obey. On the other hand, the tribunes of the people opposed
him with menaces, solemnly protesting they would fine him
fifty thousand drachmas if he did not permit the people to put
their bill to the yote. Whether it was that he was afraid of
a second condemnation and banishment, which would but ill
suit him, now he was growing old and covered with glory, or
whether he thought he could not get the better of the people,
whose violence was equal to their power, for the present he
retired to his own house, and soon after, under pretence of
sickness, resigned the dictatorship.† The senate appointed
another dictator, who, having named for his general of horse
that very Stolo, who was leader of the sedition, suffered a law
to be made that was extremely disagreeable to the patricians.
It provided that no person whatsoever should possess more
than five hundred acres of land. Stolo having carried his point
with the people, flourished greatly for a while; but not long
after being convicted of possessing more than the limited num-
ber of acres, he suffered the penalties of his own law. I
The most difficult part of the dispute, and that which they
began with, namely, concerning the election of consuls, re-
mained still unsettled, and continued to give the senate great
uneasiness, when certain information was brought that the
Gauls were marching again from the coasts of the Adriatic,
with an immense army, towards Rome. With this news came
an account of the usual effects of war, the country laid waste,
and such of the inhabitants as could not take refuge in Rome
* The year of Rome 388.
† He pretended to find something amiss, in the auspices which were taken
when he was appointed.
# It was eleven years after. Popilius Lænas fined him ten thousand ses-
terces for being possessed of a thousand acres of land, in conjunction with
his son, whom he had emancipated for that purpose.--liv. lib. vii. c. 16.

CAMILLUS.
293
dispersed about the mountains. The terror of this put a stop
to the sedition; and the most popular of the senators uniting
with the people, with one voice created Camillus dictator the
fifth time. He was now very old, wanting little of fourscore;
yet, seeing the necessity and danger of the times, he was will-
ing to risk all inconveniences, and, without alleging any ex-
puse, immediately took upon him the command, and made the
levies. As he knew the chief force of the barbarians lay in
their swords, which they managed without art or skill, furi-
ously rushing in, and aiming chiefly at the head and shoulders,
he furnished most of his men with helmets of well-polished
iron, that the swords might either break or glance aside; and
round the borders of their shields he drew a plate of brass, be-
cause the wood of itself could not resist the strokes. Beside
this, he taught them to avail themselves of long pikes, by
pushing with which they might prevent the effect of the ene-
my's swords.
When the Gauls were arrived at the river Anio with their
army, encumbered with the vast booty they had made, Camil-
lus drew out his forces, and posted them upon a hill of easy
ascent, in which were many hollows, sufficient to conceal the
greatest part of his men, while those that were in sight should
seem, through fear, to have taken advantage of the higher
grounds. And the more to fix this opinion in the Gauls, he
opposed not the depredations committed in his sight, but re-
mained quietly in the camp he had fortified, while he had be-
held part of them dispersed in order to plunder, and part in-
dulging themselves, day and night, in drinking and revelling.
At last, he sent out the light-armed infantry before day, to
prevent the enemy's drawing up in a regular manner, and to
harass them by sudden skirmishing as they issued out of their
trenches; and as soon as it was light he led down the heavy-
armed, and put them in battle array upon the plain, neither
few in number nor disheartened, as the Gauls expected, but
numerous and full of spirits.
This was the first thing that shook their resolution, for they
considered it as a disgrace to have the Romans the aggressors.
Then the light-armed, falling upon them before they could
get into order, and rank themselves by companies, pressed
them so warmly, that they were obliged to come in great con-
fusion to the engagement. Last of all, Camillus leading on
the heavy-armed, the Gauls with brandished swords hastened
to fight hand to hand; but the Romans meeting the strokes
with their pikes, and receiving them on that part that was
guarded with iron, so turned their swords, which were thin
and soft tempered, that they were soon bent almost double;
and their shields were pierced and weighed down with the

294
CAMILLUS.
pikes that stuck in them. They therefore quitted their own
arms, and endeavoured to seize those of the enemy, and to
wrest their pikes from them. The Romans seeing them naked,
now began to make use of their swords, and made great car-
nage among the foremost ranks. Mean time the rest took to
flight, and were scattered along the plain; for Camillus had
beforehand secured the heights; and, as in confidence of vic-
tory they had left their camp unfortified, they knew it would
be taken with ease.
This battle is said to have been fought thirteen ye rs after
the taking of Rome;* and, in consequence of this succ ss, the
Romans laid aside, for the future, the dismal apprehensions
they had entertained of the barbarians. They had imagined,
it seems, that the former victory they had gained over the
Gauls, was owing to the sickness that prevailed in their army,
and to other unforeseen accidents, rather than to their own
valour; and so great had their terror been formerly, that they
had made a law,—“ That the priests should be exempted from
military service, except in case of an invasion from the
Gauls."
This was the last of Camillus's martial exploits; for the tak-
ing of Velitræ was a direct consequence of this victory, and
it surrendered without the least resistance. But the greatest
conflict he ever experienced in the state still remained; for the
people were harder to deal with since they returned victori-
ous, and they insisted that one of the consuls should be cho-
sen out of their body, contrary to the present constitution.
The senate opposed them, and would not suffer Camillus to
resign the dictatorship, thinking they could better defend the
rights of the nobility under the sanction of his supreme au-
thority. • But one day, as Camillus was sitting in the forum,
and employed in the distribution of justice, an officer, sent by
the tribunes of the people, ordered him to follow him, and
laid his hand upon him, as if he would seize and carry him
away. Upon this, such a noise and tumult was raised in the
assembly, as never had been known; those that were about
Camillus thrusting the plebeian officer down from the tribunal,
and the populace calling out to drag the dictator from his seat.
In this case Camillus was much embarrassed; he did not, how-
ever, resign the dictatorship, but led off the patricians to the
senate-house. Before he entered it, he turned towards the
Capitol, and prayed to the gods to put a happy end to the
present disturbances, solemnly vowing to build a temple to
Concord, when the tumult should be over.
* This battle was fought, not thirteen, but twenty-three years after the
taking of Rome

CAMILLUS.
2
In the senate there was a diversity of opinions and great de
bates. Mild and popular councils, however, prevailed, which
allowed one of the consuls to be a plebeian. * When the dic-
tator announced this decree to the people, they received it
with great satisfaction, as it was natural they should; they
were immediately reconciled to the senate, and conducted Ca-
millus home with great applause. Next day the people assem-
bled, and voted that the temple which Camillus had vowed to
Concord, should, on account of this great event, be built on
a spot that fronted the forum and place of assembly. To those
feasts which are called Latin they added one day more, so that
the whole was to consist of four days; and for the present they
ordained that the whole people of Rome should sacrifice with
garlands on their heads. Camillus then held an assembly for
the election of consuls, when Marcus Æmilius was chosen out
of the nobility, and Lucius Sextius from the commonalty, the
first plebeian that ever attained that honour.
This was the last of Camillus's transactions. The
fol-
lowing a pestilence visited Rome, which carried off a prodi-
gious number of the people, most of the magistrates, and Ca-
millus himself. His death could not be deemed premature, on
account of his great age and the offices he had borne, yet was
he more lamented than all the rest of the citizens who died of
that distemper.
year
* The people having gained this point, the consulate was revived, and the
military tribuneship laid aside forever; but at the same time the patricians
procured the great privilege, that a new officer, called prætor, shoulę be ap-
pointed, who was to be always one of their body. The consuls had been
generals of the Roman armies, and at the same time judges of civil affairs;
but as they were often in the field, it was thought proper to separate the lat-
ter branch from their office, and appropriate it to a judge with the title of
prætor, who was to be next in dignity to the consuls. About the
year
of
Rome 501, another prætor was appointed to decide the differences among
foreigners. Upon the taking of Sicily and Sardinia two more prætors were
created, and as many more upon the conquest of Spain.

THE
LIFE OF PERICLES.
thinks proper.
WHEN Cæsar happened to see some strangers at Rome car-
rying young dogs and monkeys in their arms, and fondly ca-
ressing them, he asked,—6Whether the women in their
country never bore any children?” thus reproving, with a pro-
per severity, those who lavish upon brutes that natural ten-
derness which is due only to mankind. In the same manner
we must condemn those who employ that curiosity and love of
knowledge, which nature has implanted in the human soul,
upon low and worthless objects, while they neglect such as are
excellent and useful. Our senses, indeed, by an effect almost
mechanical, are passive to the impression of outward objects,
whether agreeable or offensive; but the mind, possessed of a
self-directing power, may turn its attention to whatever it
It should, therefore, be employed in the most
useful pursuits, not barely in contemplation, but in such con-
templation as may nourish its faculties; for as that colour is
best suited to the eye, which by its beauty and agreeableness
at the same time both refreshes and strengthens the sight, so
the application of the mind should be directed to those sub-
jects which, through the channel of pleasure, may lead us to
our proper happiness. Such are the works of virtue. The
very description of these inspires us with emulation, and a
strong desire to imitate them; whereas, in other things, admi-
ration does not always lead us to imitate what we admire, but,
on the contrary, while we are charmed with the work, we of-
ten despise the workman. Thus we are pleased with perfumes
and purple, while dyers and perfumers appear to us in the
light of mean mechanics.
Antisthenes, * therefore, when he was told that Ismenias
played excellently upon the flute, answered properly enough,
* Then he is good for nothing else, otherwise he would not
have played so well.” Such also was Philip's saying to his
son, when, at a certain entertainment he sang in a very agreea-
* Antisthenes vas a disciple of Socrates, and founder of the sect of the
Cynics.

PERICLES.
297
ble and skilful manner, “ Are you not ashamed to sing so
well?" It is enough for a prince to bestow a vacant hour up
on hearing others sing; and he does the Muses sufficient ho
nour, if he attends the performances of those who excel in
their arts.
If a man applies himself to servile or mechanic employ-
ments, his industry in those things is a proof of his inatten-
tion to nobler studies. No young man of noble birth, or li
beral sentiments, from seeing the Jupiter at Pisa, would de
sire to be Phidias, or from the sight of the Juno at Argos, to
be Polycletus; or Anacreon, or Philemon, or Archilochus,
though delighted with their poems;* for though a work may
be agreeable, yet esteem of the author is not the necessary con-
sequence. We may, therefore, conclude, that things of this
kind, which excite not a spirit of emulation, nor produce any
strong impulse or desire to imitate them, are of little use to
the beholders. But virtue has this peculiar property, that at
the same time that we admire her conduct, we long to copy
the example. The goods of fortune we wish to enjoy, virtue
we desire to practise; the former we are glad to receive from
others, the latter we are ambitious that others should receive
from us.
The beauty of goodness has an attractive power;
kindles in us at once an active principle; it forms our manners,
and influences our desires, not only when represented in a liv-
ing example, but even in an historical description.
For this reason, we chose to proceed in writing the lives of
great men, and have composed this tenth book, which contains,
the life of Pericles, and that of Fabius Maximus, who carried
on the war against Hannibal; men who resembled each other
in many virtues, particularly in justice and moderation, and
who effectually served their respective commonwealths, by
patiently enduring the injuries and capricious treatment they re-
ceived from their colleagues and their countrymen. Whether
we are right in our judgment or not, will be easy to see in the
work itself.
Pericles was of the tribe of Acamantis, and of the ward of
Cholargia. His family was one of the most considerable in
Athens, both by the father and mother's side. His father
Xanthippus, who defeated the king of Persia's generals at
Mycale, married Agariste, the niece of Clisthenes, who ex-
it
* This seems to be somewhat inconsistent with that respect and esteem
in which the noble arts of poetry and sculpture were held in ancient Greece
and Rome, and with that admiration which the proficients in those arts al-
ways obtain among the people. But there was still a kind of jealousy be-
tween the poets and philosophers; and our philosophical biographer shows
pretty clearly, by the Platonic parade of this introduction, that he would
magnify the latter at the expense of the former.
R
27
VOL. I.
-2

298
PERICLES.
pelled the family of Pisistratus, abolished the tyranny, enact-
ed laws, and established a form of government, tempered in
such a manner as tended to unanimity among the people, and
the safety of the state. She dreamed that she was delivered
of a lion, and a few days after brought forth Pericles. His
person in other respects was well turned, but his head was dis-
proportionably long. For this reason almost all his statues
have the head covered with a helmet, the statuaries choosing,
I suppose, to hide that defect. But the Athenian poets call
him Schinocephalus, or onion-head, for the word schinos is some-
times used instead of scilla, a sea-onion. Cratinus, the comic
writer, in his play called Chirones, has this passage:-
Faction received old Time to her embraces;
Hence came a tyrant-spawn, on earth called Pericles,
In heaven the head-compeller.
And again, in his Nemesis, he thus addresses him;-
Come, blessed Jove, * the high and mighty head,
The friend of hospitality!
And Teleclides says,--
Now, in a maze of thought, he ruminates
On strange expedients, while his head, depressed
With its own weight, sinks on his knees; and now
From the vast caverns of his brain burst forth
Storms and fierce thunders.
And Eupolis, in his Demi, asking news of all the great orators,
whom he represented as ascending from the shades below,
when Pericles comes up at last, cries out,-
TIead of the tribes that haunt those spacious realms,
Does he ascend?
Most writers agree, that the master who taught him music
was called Damon, the first syllable of whose name, they tell
us, is to be pronounced short; but Aristotle informs us, that
he learned that art of Pythoclides. As for Damon, he seems
to have been a politician, who under the pretence of teaching
music, concealed his great abilities from the vulgar; and he
* Pericles (as Plutarch afterwards observes) was called Olympius, or Ju-
piter. The poet here addresses him under that character with the epithet
of ulceluple, which signifies blessed, but may also signify great-headed. In our
language we have no word with such a double meaning. Just above, he is
called Cephalegeretes, head-compeller (as if his head was an assemblage of
many heads), instead of Nephelegeretes, cloud-compeller, a common epithet
of Jupiter.

PERICLES.
299
attended Pericles as his tutor and assistant in politics, in the
same manner as a master of the gymnastic art attends a young
man to fit him for the ring. However, Damon's giving les-
sons upon the harp was discovered to be a mere pretext, and,
as a busy politician, and friend to tyranny, he was banished
by the ostracism. Nor was he spared by the comic poets. One
of them named Plato, introduces a person addressing him
thus;
Inform me, Damon, first, does fame say true,
And wast thou really Pericles's Chiron?*
Pericles also attended the lectures of Zeno of Elea,† who, in
natural philosophy, was a follower of Parmenides, and who,
by much practice in the art of disputing, had learned to con-
found and silence all his opponents, as Timon the Phlasian
declares in these verses:-
Have not you heard of Zeno's mighty powers,
Who could change sides, yet changing triumph'd still
In the tongue's wars?
But the philosopher with whom he was most intimately ac-
quainted, who gave him that force and sublimity of sentiment
superior to all the demagogues, who, in short, formed him to
that admirable dignity of manners, was Anaxagoras the Clazo-
menian. This was he whom the people of those times called
nous, or intelligence, either in admiration of his great under-
standing and knowledge of the works of nature, or because
he was the first who clearly proved that the universe owed its
formation neither to chance nor necessity, but to a pure and
unmixed mind, who separated the homogeneous parts from the
other with which they were confounded.
Charmed with the company of this philosopher, and instruct-
ed by him in the sublimest sciences, Pericles acquired not only
an elevation of sentiment, and a loftiness and purity of style,
* The word Chiron, again, is ambiguous, and may either signify, wast thou
preceptor to Pericles? or, wast thou more wicked than Pericles?
+ This Zeno was of Elea, a town of Italy, and a Phocian colony, and must
be carefully distinguished from Zeno, the founder of the sect of the Stoics.
The Zeno here spoken of was respectable for attempting to rid his country
of a tyrant. The tyrant took him, and caused him to be pounded to death
in a mortar. But his death accomplished what he could not effect in his
lifetime; for his fellow citizens were so much incensed at the dreadful man-
ner of it, that they fell upon the tyrant and stoned him. As to his arguments,
and those of his master Parmenides, pretended to be so invincible, one of
them was to prove there can be no such thing as motion, since a thing can
neither move in the place where it is, nor in the place where it is not.
this sophism is easily refuted; for motion is the passing of a thing or person
into a new part of space.
But

300
PERICLES.
far removed from the low expression of the vulgar, but like
wise a gravity of countenance which relaxed not into laughter,
a firm and even tone of voice, an easy deportment, and a de-
cency of dress, which no vehemence of speaking ever put into
disorder. These things, and others of the like nature, excited
admiration in all that saw him.
Such was his conduct, when a vile and abandoned fellow
loaded him a whole day with reproaches and abuse, he bore
it with patience and silence, and continued in public for the
despatch of some urgent affairs. In the evening he walked
softly home, this impudent wretch following, and insulting
him all the way with the most scurrilous language; and as it
was dark when he came to his own door, he ordered one of
his servants to take a torch and light the man home. The poet
Ion, however, says he was proud and supercilious in conver-
sation, and that there was a great deal of vanity and contempt
of others mixed with his dignity of manner; on the other
hand, he highly extols the civility, complaisance, and polite-
ness of Cimon. But to take no farther notice of Ion, who,
perhaps, would not have any great excellence appear without
à mixture of something satirical, as it was in the ancient tra-
gedy;* Zeno desired those that called the gravity of Pericles
pride and arrogance, to be proud the same way; telling them,
the very acting of an excellent part might insensibly produce
a love and real imitation of it.
These were not the only advantages which Pericles gained
by conversing with Anaxagoras. From him he learned to
overcome those terrors which the various phenomena of the
heavens raise in those who know not their causes, and who
entertain a tormenting fear of the gods by reason of that igno-
Nor is there any cure for it but the study of nature,
which, instead of the frightful extravagances of superstition,
implants in us a sober piety, supported by a rational hope.
We are told, there was brought to Pericles, from one of his
farms, a ram's head with only one horn; and Lampo the sooth-
sayer, observing that the horn grew strong and firm out of the
middle of the forehead, declared, that the two parties in the
state, namely, those of Thucydides and Pericles, would unite,
rance.
Tragedy at first was only a chorus in honour of Bacchus. Persons dress-
ed like satyrs were the performers, and they often broke out into the most
licentious raillery. Afterwards, when tragedy took a graver turn, something
of the former drollery was still retained, as in that which we call tragi-come-
dy. In time, serious characters and events became the subject of tragedy,
without that mixture; but even then, after exhibiting three or four serious
tragedies, the poets used to conclude their contention for the prize with a
satirical one. Of this sort is the Cyclops of Euripides, and the only one re-
maining:

PERICLES.
301
and invest the whole power in him with whom the prodigy
was found: but Anaxagoras having dissected the head, showed
that the brain did not fill the whole cavity, but had contracted
itself into an oval form, and pointed directly to that part of
the skull whence the horn took its rise. This produced Anaxa-
goras great honour with the spectators; and Lampo was no
less honoured for his prediction, when soon after, upon the
fall of Thucydides the administration was put entirely into
the hands of Pericles.
But, in my opinion, the philosopher and the diviner may
well enough be reconciled, and both be right; the one disco-
vering the cause, and the other the end. It was the business
of the former to account for the appearance, and to consider
how it came about; and of the latter to show why it was so
formed, and what it portended. --Those who say, that when
the cause is found out, the prodigy ceases, do not consider,
that if they reject such signs as are preternatural, they must
also deny that artificial signs are of any use; the clattering of
brass quoits, * the light of beacons, and the shadow of a sun-
dial, have all of them their proper natural causes, and yet
each has another signification. But, perhaps, this question
might be more properly discussed in another place.
Pericles, in his youth, stood in great fear of the people; for
in his countenance he was like Pisistratus the tyrant; and he
perceived the old men were much struck with a farther resem-
blance in the sweetness of his voice, the volubility of his
tongue and the roundness of his periods. As he was more-
over of a noble family and opulent fortune, and his friends
were the most considerable men in the state, he dreaded the
ban of ostracism, and, therefore, intermeddled not with state
affairs, but behaved with great courage and intrepidity in the
field. However, when Aristides was dead, Themistocles ba-
nished, and Cimon much employed in expeditions at a dis-
tance from Greece, Pericles engaged in the administration.
He chose rather to solicit the favour of the multitude and the
poor,t than of the rich and the few, contrary to his natural
* The clattering of brass quoits, or plates, was sometimes a military signal
among the Grecians. Among the Romans it was a signal to call the wrest-
lers to the ring:
† The popular party in Athens were continually making efforts against
those small remains of power which were yet in the hands of the nobility,
As Pericles could not lead the party of the nobles, because Cimon, by the dig-
nity of his birth, the lustre of his actions, and the largeness of his estate, had
placed himself at their head, he had no other resource than to court the po-
pulace. And he flattered their favourite passion in the most agreeable man-
ner by lessening the power and privileges of the court of Areopagus, which
was the chief support of the nobility, and, indeed, of the whole state. Thus
the bringing of almost all causes before the tribunal of the people, the mul
27*

302
PERICLES.
ous it
disposition, which was far from inclining him to court popu-
larity.
It seems he was apprehensive of falling under the suspicion
of aiming at the supreme power, and was sensible, besides,
that Cimon was attached to the nobility, and extremely belov-
ed by persons of the highest eminence; and, therefore, in or-
der to secure himself, and to find resources against the power
of Cimon, he studied to ingratiate himself with the common
people. At the same time, he entirely changed his manner
of living. He appeared not in the streets, except when he
went to the forum or the senate-house. He declined the in-
vitations of his friends, and all social entertainments and re-
creations; insomuch, that in the whole time of his adminis.
tration, which was a considerable length, he never went to sup
with any of his friends, but once, which was at the marriage
of his nephew Euryptolemus, and he staid there only until
the ceremony of libation was ended. He considered, that the
freedom of entertainments takes away all distinction of office,
and that dignity is but little consistent with familiarity. Real
and solid virtue, indeed, the more it is seen, the more glori-
appears; and there is nothing in a good man's conduct,
as a magistrate, so great in the eye
of the public, as is the gen-
eral course of his behaviour in private to his most intimate
friends. Pericles, however, took care not to make his person
cheap among the people, and appeared among them only at
proper intervals; nor did he speak to all points that were de-
bated before them, but reserved himself, like the Salaminian
galley* (as Critolaüs says), for greater occasions, despatching
business of less consequence by other orators with whom he
had an intimacy. One of these we are told, was Ephialtes,
who, according to Plato, overthrew the power of the council
of Areopagus, by giving the citizens a large and intemperate
draught of liberty. On which account, the comic writers
speak of the people of Athens, as of a horse wild and unman-
aged,
which listens to the reigns no more,
But in his maddening course bears headlong down
The very friends that feed him.t
tiplying of gratuities, which was only another word for bribes, and the giv-
ing the people a taste for expensive pleasures, caused the downfall of the
Athenian commonwealth; though the personal abilities of Pericles support-
ed it during his time.
* The Salaminian galley was a consecrated vessel, which the Athenians
never made use of, but on extraordinary occasions. They sent it, for in-
stance, for a general whom they wanted to call to account, or with sacrifices
to Apollo or some other deity.
† The former English translator takes no manner of notice of Saxva TW
Eubotay xo4 TERIG PNTOIS ET Iuday, bites Eubæa, and insults the islands, though the

PERICLES.
303
Pericles, desirous to make his language a proper vehicle for
his sublime sentiments, and to speak in a manner that became
the dignity of his life, availed himself greatly of what he had
learned of Anaxagoras, adorning his eloquence with the rich
colours of philosophy; for, adding (as the divine Plato ex-
presses it) the loftiness of imagination, and all commanding
energy, with which philosophy supplied him, to his native
powers of genius, and making use of whatever he found to his
purpose, in the study of nature, to dignify the art of speaking,
he far excelled all other orators. * Hence he is said to have
gained the surname of Olympius; though some will have it to
have been from the edifices with which he adorned the city;
and others, from his high authority both in peace and war.
There appears, indeed, no absurdity in supposing, that all
these things might contribute to that glorious distinction. Yet
the strokes of satire, both serious and ludicrous, in the come
dies of those times, indicate, that this title was given him
chiefly on account of his eloquence; for they tell us, that
in his harangues, he thundered and lightened, and that his
tongue was armed with thunder. Thucydides, the son of Mi-
lesius, is said to have given a pleasant account of the force of
his eloquence. Thucydides was a great and respectable man,
who, for a long time, opposed the measures of Pericles; and
when Archidamus, one of the kings of Lacedæmon, asked
him,4“ Which was the best wrestler, Pericles, or he?” he
answered, “When I throw him, he says he was never down,
and he persuades the very spectators to believe so."
Yet such was the solicitude of Pericles, when he had to
speak in public, that he always first addressed a prayer to the
gods,t–... That not a word might unawares escape him un-
suitable to the occasion He left nothing in writing, but
some public decrees; and only a few of his sayings are record-
ed. He used to say (for instance) that “the isle of Ægina
should not be suffered to remain an eye-sore to the Piræus;":
and that, —" he saw a war approaching from Peloponnesus.
And when Sophocles, who went in joint command with him
upon an expedition at sea, happened to praise the beauty of a
certain boy, he said, --"A general, my friend, should not
is
passage pregnant with sense. Athens, in the wantonness of power, in-
sulted Eubea, which was her granary, and the Ægian islands, which con-
tributed greatly to her commerce and her wealth.
* Plato observes, on the same occasion, that an orator, as well as a physi-
cian, ought to have a general knowledge of nature.
+ Quintilian says, he prayed, that not a word might escape him disagreea-
ble to the people. And this is the more probable account of the matter,
because (according to Suidas) Pericles wrote down his orations, before he
pronounced them in public; and, indeed, was the first who did so.

304
PERICLES.
only have pure hands, but pure eyes.” Stesimbrotus pro-
duces this passage from the oration which Pericles pronounced
in memory of those Athenians who fell in the Samian war,-
“They are become immortal, like the gods; for the gods
themselves are not visible to us; but from the honours they
receive, and the happiness they enjoy, we conclude they are
immortal; and such should those brave men be who die for
their country.”
Thucydides represents the administration of Pericles as fa-
vouring aristocracy, and tells us, that, though the
government
was called democratical, it was really in the hands of one who
had engrossed the whole authority.—Many other writers like-
wise inform us, that by him the people were first indulged
with a division of lands, were treated at the public expense
with theatrical diversions, and were paid for the most com-
mon services to the state. As this new indulgence from the
government was an impolitic custom, which rendered the
peo-
ple expensive and luxurious, and destroyed that frugality and
love of labour which supported them before, it is proper that
we should trace the effect to its cause, by a retrospect into the
circumstances of the republic.
At first, as we have observed, to raise himself to some sort
of equality with Cimon, who was then at the height of glory,
Pericles made his court to the people. And as Cimon was
his superior in point of fortune, which he employed in reliev-
ing the poor Athenians, in providing victuals every day for
the necessitous, and clothing the aged, and, besides this, level-
ed his fences with the ground, that all might be at liberty to
gather his fruit, Pericles had recourse to the expedient of di-
viding the public treasure; which scheme, as Aristotle informs
us, was proposed to him by Demonides of lös.* Accordingly,
by supplying the people with money for the public diversions,
and for their attendance in courts of judicature;t and by other
pensions and gratuities, he so inveigled them as to avail him-
self of their interest against the council of the Areopagus, of
which he had no right to be a member, having never had the
fortune to be chosen Archon, Thesmothetes, king of the Sa-
cred Rights, or Polemarch. For persons were of old appoint-
ed to these offices by lot; and such as had discharged them
* Tös was one of the isles called Sporades, in the Ægean sea, and celebra-
ted for the tomb of Homer. But some learned men are of opinion, that
instead of In.Sev, we should read Ondav, and that Demonides was not of the
island of lös, but of Oia, which was a borough in Attica.
There were several courts of judicature in Athens, composed of a cer-
tain number of the citizens; who sometimes received one obolus each for
every cause they tried: and sometimes men who aimed at popularity, pro
cured this fee to be increased.

PERICLES.
305
well, and such only, were admitted as judges in the Areopa-
gus. Pericles, therefore, by his popularity, raised a party
against that council, and, by means of Ephialtes, took from
them the cognizance of many causes that had been under their
jurisdiction. He likewise caused Cimon to be banished by the
ostracism, as an enemy to the people, * and a friend to the La-
cedæmonians; a man who in birth and fortune had no superior,
who had gained very glorious victories over the barbarians,
and filled the city with money and other spoils, as we have
related in his life. Such was the authority of Pericles with
the common people.
The term of Cimon's banishment, as it was by ostracism,
was limited by law to ten years. Mean time the Lacedæmo .
nians, with a great army, entered the territory of Tanagra,
and the Athenians immediately marching out against them,
Cimon returned, and placed himself in the ranks with those of
his tribe, intending by his deeds to wipe off the aspersion of
favouring the Lacedæmonians, and to venture his life with his
countrymen; but by a combination of the friends of Pericles,
he was repulsed as an exile. This seems to have been the
cause that Pericles exerted himself in a particular manner in
that battle, and exposed his person to the greatest dangers.
All Cimon's friends, whom Pericles had accused as accom-
plices in his pretended crime, fell honourably that day toge-
ther; and the Athenians, who were defeated upon their own
borders, and expected a still sharper conflict in the summer,
grievously repented of their treatment of Cimon, and longed
for his return. Pericles, sensible of the people's inclinations,
did not hesitate to gratify them, but himself proposed a decree
for recalling Cimon; and, at his return, a peace was agreed
upon through his mediation; for the Lacedæmonians had a
particular regard for him, as well as aversion for Pericles, and
the other demagogues. But some authors write, that Pericles
did not procure an order for Cimon's return, till they had en-
tered into a private compact, by means of Cimon's sister El-
pinice, that Cimon should have the command abroad, and with
two hundred galleys lay waste the king of Persia's dominions,
and Pericles have the direction of affairs at home.
A story
goes, that Elpinice, before this, had softened the resentment
of Pericles against Cimon, and procured her brother a milder
His treason against the state was pretended to consist in receiving pré-
sents or other gratifications from the Macedonians, whereby he was prevail-
ed on to let slip the opportunity he had to enlarge the Athenian conquests,
after he had taken the gold mines of Thrace.-Cimon answered, that he had
prosecuted the war to the utmost of his power against the Thracians and
their other enemies; but that he had made no inroads into Macedonia, be-
cause he did not conceive that he was to act as a public enemy to mankind,
VOL. I
2 S

306
PERICLES.
sentence than that of death, Pericles was one of those
ap-
pointed by the people to manage the impeachment; and when
Elpinice addressed him as a suppliant, he smiled, and said, -
“ You are old, Elpinice; much too old to solicit in so weighty
an affair.” However, ie rose up but once to speak, barely to
acquit himself of his trust, and did not bear so hard upon
Cimon as the rest of his accusers. Who then can give credit
to Idomeneus, when he says that Pericles caused the orator
Ephialtes, his friend and assistant in the administration, to be
assassinated through jealousy and envy of his great character?
I know not where he met with this calumny, which he vents
with great bitterness against a man, not indeed in all respects
irreproachable, but who certainly had such a greatness of
mind, and high sense of honour, as was incompatible with an
action so savage and inhuman. The truth of the matter, ac-
cording to Aristotle, is, that Ephialtes being grown formida-
ble to the nobles, on account of his inflexible severity in prose-
cuting all that invaded the rights of the people, his enemies
caused him to be taken off in a private and treacherous man-
ner, by Aristodicus of Tanagra.
About the same time died Cimon, in the expedition to Cy-
prus. And the nobility perceiving that Pericles was now ar-
rived at a height of authority which set him far above the other
citizens, were desirous of having some person to oppose him,
who might be capable of giving a check to his power, and of
preventing his making himself absolute. For this purpose they
set up Thucydides of the ward of Alopece, a man of great pru-
dence, and brother-in-law to Cimon. He had not, indeed,
Cimon's talents for war, but was superior to him in forensic
and political abilities; and, by residing constantly in Athens,
and opposing Pericles in the general assembly, he soon brought
the government to an equilibrium. For he did not suffer
per-
sons of superior rank to be dispersed and confounded with the
rest of the people, because, in that case, their dignity was ob-
scured and lost; but collected them into a separate body, by
which means their authority was enhanced, and sufficient
weight thrown into their scale. There was, indeed, from the
beginning, a kind of doubtful separation, which, like the flaws
in a piece of iron, indicated that the aristocratical party, and
that of the commonalty, were not perfectly one, though they
were not actually divided; but the ambition of Pericles and
Thucydides, and the contest between them, had so extraordi-
nary an effect upon the city, that it was quite broken in two,
and one of the parts was called the people, and the other the no-
* Yet Cimon was fined fifty talents, or £9687 10s. sterling, and narrowly
escaped a capital sentence, having only a majority of three votes to prevent it

PERICLES.
307
bility. For this reason, Pericles, more than ever, gave the
people the reins, and endeavoured to ingratiate himself with
them, contriving to have always some show, or play, or feast,
or procession in the city, and to amuse it with the politest
pleasures.
As another means of employing their attention, he sent out
sixty galleys every year manned for eight months, * with a
considerable number of the citizens, who were both paid for
their service, and improved themselves as mariners. He like-
wise sent a colony of a thousand men to the Chersonesus, five
hundred to Naxos, two hundred and fifty to Andros, a thou-
sand into the country of the Bisaltæ in Thrace, and others
into Italy, who settled in Sybaris, and changed its name to
Thurii. These things he did to clear the city of an useless
multitude, who were very troublesome when they had nothing
to do; to make provision for the most necessitous; and to keep
the allies of Athens in awe, by placing colonies like so many
garrisons in their neighbourhood.
That which was the chief delight of the Athenians, and the
wonder of strangers, and which alone serves for a proof that
the boasted power and opulence of ancient Greece is not an
idle tale, was the magnificence of the temples and public edi-
fices. Yet no part of the conduct of Pericles moved the spleen
of his enemies more than this. In their accusations of him to
the people, they insisted,-“ That he had brought the greatest
disgrace upon the Athenians, by removing the public treasures
of Greece from Delos, and taking them into his own custody.
That he had not left himself even the specious apology of
having caused the money to be brought to Athens for its
greater security, and to keep it from being seized by the bar-
barians: That Greece must needs consider it as the highest
insult, and an act of open tyranny, when she saw the money
she had been obliged to contribute towards the lavished
by the Athenians in gilding their city, and ornaménting it
with statues and temples that cost a thousand talents,t as a
proud and vain woman decks herself out with jewels." Peri-
cles answered this charge by observing, -" That they were
not obliged to give the allies any account of the sums they had
received, since they had kept the barbarians at a distance, and
effectually defended the allies, who had not furnished either
horses, ships, or men, but only contributed money, which is
no longer the property of the giver, but of the receiver, if he
war,
* Some, instead of peuvas, lead guies; and, according to this reading, the
passage must be translated, manned with the citizens, whose pay was
eight mina, and who at the same time improved, &c.
† The Parthenon, or temple of Minerva, is said to have cost a thousan:1
talents.

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PERICLES.
performs the conditions on which it is received: That as the
state was provided with all the necessaries of war, its superflu-
ous wealth should be laid out on such works as, when executed,
would be eternal monuments of its glory, and which, during
their execution, would diffuse an universal plenty; for as so
many kinds of labour, and such a variety of instruments and
materials, were requisite to these undertakings, every art
would be exerted, every hand employed, almost the whole
city would be in pay, and be at the same time both adorned
and supported by itself.” Indeed, such as were of a proper
age and strength were wanted for the wars, and well rewarded
for their services; and as for the mechanics and meaner sort of
people, they went not without their share of the public mo
ney, nor yet had they it to support them in idleness. By the
constructing of great edifices, which required many arts and
a long time to finish them, they had equal pretensions to be
considered out of the treasury (though they stirred not out of
the city) with the mariners and soldiers, guards and garrisons.
For the different materials, such as stone, brass, ivory, gold,
ebony, and cypress, furnished employment to carpenters,
masons, brasiers, goldsmiths, painters, turners, and other ar-
tificers; the conveyance of them by sea employed merchants
and sailors, and by land wheel-wrights, wagoners, carriers,
ropemakers, leather-cutters, paviers, and iron-founders; and
every art had a number of the lower people ranged in proper
subordination to execute it, like soldiers under the command
of a general. Thus, by the exercise of these different trades,
plenty was diffused among persons of every rank and condi-
tion. Thus works were raised of an astonishing magnitude,
and inimitable beauty and perfection, every architect striving
to surpass the magnificence of the design with the elegance
of the execution; yet still the most wonderful circumstance
was the expedition with which they were completed. Many
edifices, each of which seems to have required the labour of
several successive ages, were finished during the administra-
tion of one prosperous man.
It is said, that when Agatharcus the painter valued himself
upon the celerity and ease with which he despatched his
pieces, Zeuxis replied, -_“If I boast, it shall be of the slow-
ness with which I finish mine.” For ease and speed in the
execution seldom give a work any lasting importance, or ex-
quisite beauty; while, on the other hand, the time which is
expended in labour is recovered and repaid in the duration of
the perfäi mance. ( Hence we have the more reason to wonder
that the structures raised by Pericles should be built in so short
a time, and yet built for ages; for as each of them, as soon as
finished, had the venerable air of antiquity, so, now they are

PERICLES.
309
old, they have the freshness of a modern building. A bloom
is diffused over them, which preserves their aspect untarnish-
ed by time, as if they were animated with a spirit of perpetual
youth and unfading elegance.
Phidias was appointed by Pericles superintendent of all the
public edifices, though the Athenians had then other eminent
architects, and excellent workmen. The Parthenon, or temple
of Pallas, whose dimensions had been a hundred feet square,
was rebuilt by Callicrates and Ictinus. Coroebus began the
temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but only lived to finish the
lower rank of columns with their architraves. Metagenes, of
the ward of Xypete, added the rest of the entablature, and the
upper row of columns; and Xenocles of Cholargus built the
dome on the top. The long wall, the building of which So-
crates says he heard Pericles propose to the people, was un.
dertaken by Callicrates. Cratinus ridicules this work as pro-
ceeding very slowly:
Stones upon stones the orator has pild
With swelling words, but words will build no walls.
The Odeum, or music theatre, which was likewise built by
the direction of Pericles, had within it many rows of seats and
of pillars; the roof was of a conic figure, after the model (we
are told) of the king of Persia's pavilion. Cratinus, therefore,
rallies him again in his play called Thrattæ;
As Jove, an onion on his head he wears;
As Pericles, a whole orchestra bears:
Afraid of broils and banishment no more,
He tunes the shell he trembled at before!
Pericles at this time exerted all his interest to have a decree
made, appointing a prize for the best performer in music,
during the Panathenæa; and as he was himself appointed judge
and distributer of the prizes, he gave the contending artists
directions in what manner to proceed, whether their perform-
ance was vocal, or on the lute or lyre From that time the
prizes in music were always contended for in the Odeum.
The vestibule of the citadel was finished in five years by
Mnesicles the architect. A wonderful event that happened
while the work was in hand, showed that the goddess was not
averse to the work, but rather took it into her protection, and
encouraged them to complete it. One of the best and most
active of the workmen missing his step, fell from the top to the
* It was called Hecatompedon, because it had been originally a hundred
feet square; one having been burnt by the Persians, it was rebuilt by Peri
cles and retained that name after it was greatly enlarged.
28

310
PERICLES.
bottom, and was bruised in such a manner that his life was de
spaired of by the physicians. Pericles was greatly concerned
at this accident; but in the midst of his affliction, the goddess
appeared to him in a dream, and informed him of a remedy,
which he applied, and thereby soon recovered the patient. In
memory of this cure, he placed in the citadel, near the altar
(which is said to have been there before), a brazen statue of
the Minerva of health, The golden statue of the same goddess*
was the workmanship of Phidias, and his name is inscribed
upon the pedestal (as we have already observed). Through
the friendship of Pericles, he had the direction of every thing,
and all the artists received his orders. For this the one was
envied and the other slandered; and it was intimated that
Phidias received into his house ladies for Pericles, who came
thither under pretence of seeing his works. The comic poets
getting hold of this story, represented him as a perfect liber-
tine. They accused him of an intrigue with the wife of Menip-
pus, his friend, and lieutenant in the army; and because Pyri-
lampes, another intimate acquaintance of his, had a collection
of curious birds, and particularly of peacocks, it was suppos-
ed that he kept them only for presents for those women who
granted favours to Pericles. But what wonder is it if men of
a satirical turn daily sacrifice the characters of the great to that
malevolent demon, the envy of the multitude, when Stesim-
brotus of Thasos has dared to lodge against Pericles that hor-
rid and groundless accusation of corrupting his son's wife? So
difficult is it to come at the truth in the walk of history, since,
if the writers live after the events they relate, they can be but
imperfectly informed of facts; and if they describe the
persons
and transactions of their own times, they are tempted by envy
and hatred, or by interest and friendship, to vitiate and per-
vert the truth.
The orators of Thucydides's party raised a clamour against
Pericles, asserting that he wasted the public treasure, and
brought the revenue to nothing. Pericles, in his defence, ask-
ed the people in full assembly,—“Whether they thought he
had expended too much?” Upon their answering in the af-
firmative,—" Then be it,” said he, “charged to my account, †
* This statue was of gold and ivory. Pausanias has given us a description
of it. The goddess was represented standing, clothed in a tunic that reach-
ed down to the foot. On her ægis, or breast-plate, was Medusa's head in
ivory, and victory. She held a spear in her hand; and at her feet lay a buck-
ler, and a dragon, supposed to be Erichthonius. The sphynx was repre-
sented ən the middle of her helmet, with a griffin on each side. This statue
was thirty-nine feet high; the victory on the breast-plate was about four cu-
bits, and forty talents of gold were employed upon it.
f It appears, from a passage in Thucydides, that the public stock of the
Athenians amounted to nine thousand seven hundred talents (or one million

PERICLES.
311
not yours, only let the new edifices be inscribed with my name,
not that of the people of Athens.” Whether it was that they
admired the greatness of his spirit, or were ambitious to share
the glory of such magnificent works, they cried out,—" That
without sparing it in the leastpleased of the public treasure,
At last the contest came on between him and Thucydides
which of them should be banished by the ostracism; Pericles
gained the victory, banished his adversary, and entirely de-
feated his party. The opposition now being at an end, and
unanimity taking place amongst all ranks of people, Pericles
became sole master of Athens and its dependencies. The
revenues, the army and navy, the islands and the sea, a most
extensive territory, peopled by barbarians as well as Greeks,
fortified with the obedience of subject nations, the friendship
of kings, and alliance of princes, were all at his command.
From this time he became a different man; he was no longer
so obsequious to the humour of the populace, which is as wild
and as changeable as the winds. The multitude were not in-
dulged or courted; the government, in fact, was not popular;
its loose and luxuriant harmony was confined to stricter mea-
sures, and it assumed an aristocratical, or rather monarchical
form. He kept the public good in his eye, and pursued the
straight path of honour; for the most part gently leading them
by argument to a sense of what was right, and sometimes for-
cing them to comply with what was for their own advantage;
in this respect imitating a good physician, who, in the various
symptoms of a long disease, sometimes administers medicines
tolerably agreeable, and at other times sharp and strong ones,
when such alone are capable of restoring the patient. He was
the man that had the art of controlling those many disorderly
passions which necessarily spring up amongst a people possess-
ed of so extensive a dominion. The two engines he worked
with were hope and fear; with these, repressing their violence
when they were too impetuous, and supporting their spirits
when inclined to languor, he made it appear that “ rhetoric is
(as Plato defined it) the art of ruling the minds of men,” and
that its principal province consists in moving the passions and
eight hundred and seventy five thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds
sterling, ) of which Pericles had laid out in those public buildings three thou-
sand seven hundred talents. It is natural, therefore, to ask, how he could
tell the people that it should be at his own expense, especially since Plu-
tarch tells us in the sequel, that he had not in the least improved the estate
left him by his father! To which the true answer probably is, that Pericles
was politician enough to know that the vanity of the Athenians would never
let them agree that he should inscribe the new magnificent buildings with
his name, in exclusion of theirs; or he might venture to say any thing, being
secure of a majority of votes to be given as he pleased,

312
PERICLES.
affections of the soul, which, like so many strings in a musica!
instrument, require the touch of a masterly and delicate hand.
Nor were the powers of eloquence alone sufficient, but (as
Thucydides observes) the orator was a man of probity and un-
blemished reputation. Money could not bribe him; he was
so much above the desire of it, that though he added greatly to
the opulence of the state, which he found not inconsiderable,
and though his power exceeded that of many kings and tyrants,
some of whom have bequeathed to their posterity the sove-
reignty they had obtained, yet he added not one drachma to
his paternal estate.
Thucydides, indeed, gives this candid account of the power
and authority of Pericles; but the comic writers abuse him in
a most malignant manner, giving his friends the name of the
new Pisistratidæ, and calling upon him to swear that he would
never attempt to make himself absolute, since his authority
was already much too great and overbearing in a free state.
Teleclides
says, the Athenians had given up to him
The tribute of the states, the states themselves,
To bind, to loose, to build, and to destroy;
In peace, in war, to govern; nay, to rule
Their very fate, like some superior being.
And this not only for a time, or during the prime and flower
of a short administration, but for forty years together he held
the pre-eminence, amidst such men as Ephialtes, Leocrates,
Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides, and continu-
ed'it no less that fifteen years after the fall and banishment of
the latter. The power of the magistrates, which to them was
but annual, all centred in him, yet still he kept himself un-
tainted by avarice. Not that he was inattentive to his finances,
but on the contrary, neither negligent of his paternal estate,
nor yet willing to have much trouble with it: as he had not
much time to spare, he brought the management of it into such
a method as was very easy, at the same time that it was exact;
for he used to turn å whole year's produce into money alto-
gether, and with this he bought, from day to day, all manner
of necessaries at the market. This way of living was not
agreeable to his sons when grown up, and the allowance he
made the women, did not appear to them a generous one.
They complained of a pittance daily measured out with scru-
pulous economy, which admitted of none of those superfluities
so common in great houses and wealthy families, and could not
bear to think of the expenses being so nicely adjusted to the
income.
The
person who managed these concerns with so much ex-
aciness was a servant of his, named Evangelus, either remarka-

PERICLES.
313
bly fitted for the purpose by nature, or formed to it by Peri.
cles. Anaxagoras, indeed, considered these lower attentions
as inconsistent with his wisdom; following the dictates of en-
thusiasm, and wrapt up in sublime inquiries, he quitted his
house, and left his lands untilled and desolate. But, in my
opinion, there is an essential difference between a speculative
and a practical philosopher. The former advances his ideas
into the regions of science without the assistance of any thing
corporeal or external; the latter endeavours to apply his great
qualities to the use of mankind, and riches afford him not only
necessary but excellent assistance. Thus it was with Pericles,
who by his wealth was enabled to relieve numbers of the poor
citizens. Nay, for want of such prudential regards, this very
Anaxagoras, we are told, lay neglected and unprovided for,
insomuch that the poor old man had covered up his head, and
was going to starve himself.* But an account of it being
brought to Pericles, he was extremely moved at it, ran imme
diately to him, expostulated, entreated, bewailing not so much
the fate of his friend as his own, if his administration should
lose so valuable a counsellor. Anaxagoras, uncovering his
face, replied,—“Ah, Pericles! those that have need of a lamp
take care to supply it with oil."
By this time the Lacedæmonians began to express some
jealousy of the Athenian greatness, and Pericles, willing to
advance it still higher, and to make the people more sensible
of their importance, and more inclinable to great attempts, pro-
cured an order, that all the Greeks, wheresoever they resided,
whether in Europe or in Asia, whether their cities were small
or great, should send deputies to Athens to consult about re-
building the Grecian temples which the barbarians had burnt,
and about providing those sacrifices which had been vowed
during the Persian war, for the preservation of Greece; and
likewise to enter into such measures as might secure naviga-
tion and maintain the peace.
Accordingly, twenty persons, each upwards of fifty years
of
age, were sent with this proposal to the different states of
Greece. Five went to the Ionians and Dorians in Asia, and
the islanders as far as Lesbos and Rhodes; five to the cities
about the Hellespont and in Thrace, as far as Byzantium; five
to the inhabitants of Baotia, Phocis, and Peloponnesus, and
from thence, by Locri along the adjoining continent to Acar-
nania and Ambracia. The rest were despatched through
* It was customary among the ancients for a person who was determined
to put an end to his life to cover up his head; whether he devoted himself to
death for the service of his country, or being weary of his being, bade the
world adieu.
VOL. I.
-2T
28*

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PERICLES.
Eubæa to the Greeks that dwelt upon mount Oetra and near
the Maliac bay, to the Phthiotæ, the Acheans, * and Thessa-
lians, inviting them to join in the council and new confede-
racy for the preservation of the peace of Greece. † It took
not effect, however, nor did the cities send their deputies; the
reason of which is said to be the opposition of the Lacedæmo-
nians, † for the proposal was first rejected in Peloponnesus.
But I was willing to give account of it as a specimen of the
greatness of the orator's spirit, and of his disposition to form
magnificent designs.
His chief merit in war was the safety of his measures. He
never willingly engaged in any uncertain or very dangerous
expedition, nor had any ambition to imitate those generals
wlio are admired as great men, because their rash enterprises
have been attended with success; he always told the Athe-
nians,—" That as far as their fate depended upon him, they
should be immortal.” Perceiving that Tolmides, the son of
Tolmæus, in confidence of his former success and military re-
putation, was preparing to invade Bæotia at an unseasonable
time, and that, over and above the regular troops, he had per-
suaded the bravest and most spirited of the Athenian youth,
to the number of a thousand, to go volunteers in that expedi-
tion, he addressed him in public, and tried to divert him from
it, making use, among the rest, of those well-known words,-
“ If you regard not the opinion of Pericles, yet wait at least
for the advice of time, who is the best of all counsellors.”
This saying, for the present, gained no great applause; but
when a few days after, news was brought that Tolmides was
defeated and killed at Coronea, ş together with many of the
bravest citizens, it procured Pericles great respect and love
from the people, who considered it as a proof, not only of his
sagacity, but of his affection for his countrymen.
Of his military expeditions, that to the Chersonesus pro-
cured him most honour, because it proved very salutary to the
Greeks who dwelt there; for he not only strengthened their
* By Achæans we are sometimes to understand the Greeks in general,
especially in the writings of the poets, and sometimes the inhabitants of a
particular district in Peloponnesus; but neither of these can be the mean.
ing in this place. We must here understand a people of Thessaly, called
Achæans. Vide Steph. Byz, in voce Duglas.
Η Κοινοπραγία.
#It is no wonder that the Lacedæmonians opposed this undertaking, since
the giving way to it would have been acknowledging the Athenians as mas-
ters of all Greece. Indeed, the Athenians should not have attempted it
without an order or decree of the Amphictyons.
$ This defeat happened in the second year of the eighty-third Olympiad,
four hundred and forty-five years before the Christian era, and more than
twenty years before the death of Pericles.

PERICLES.
315
cities with the addition of a thousand able-bodied Athenians,
but raised fortifications across the isthmus from sea to sea;
thus guarding against the incursions of the Thracians whó
were spread about the Chersonesus, and putting an end to
those long and grievous wars under which that district had
smarted by reason of the neighbourhood of the barbarians, as
well as to the robberies with which it had been infested by
persons who lived upon the borders, or were inhabitants of
the country. But the expedition most celebrated among stran-
gers, was that by sea around Peloponnesus. He set sail from
Pegæ, in the territories of Megara, with a hundred ships of
war, and not only ravaged the maritime cities, as Tolmides
had done before him, but landed his forces, and penetrated a
good way up the country. The terror of his arms drove the
inhabitants into their walled towns, all but the Sicyonians,
who made head against him at Nimea, and were defeated in a
pitched battle, in memory of which victory he erected a tro-
phy. From Achaia, a confederate state, he took a number of
men into his galleys and sailed to the opposite side of the
continent; then passing by the mouth of the Acheloüs, he
made a descent in Acarnania, shut up the neadæ with their
walls, and having laid waste the country, returned home. In
the whole course of this affair, he appeared terrible to his ene-
mies, and to his countrymen an active and prudent comman-
der; for no miscarriage was committed, nor did even any un-
fortunate accident happen during the whole time.
Having sailed to Pontus with a large and well equipped
fleet, he procured the Grecian cities there all the advantages
they desired, and treated them with great regard. To the
barbarous nations that surrounded them, and to their kings and
princes, he made the power of Athens very respectable, by
showing with what security her fleets could sail, and that she
was in effect mistress of the seas. He left the people of Si-
nope thirteen ships under the command of Lamachus, and a
body of men to act against Timesileos, their tyrant. And
when the tyrant and his party were driven out, he caused a
decree to be made, that a colory of six hundred Athenian vo-
lunteers should be placed in Sinope, and put in possession of
those houses and lands which had belonged to the tyrants.
He did not, however, give way to the wild desires of the
citizens, nor would he indulge them, when, elated with their
strength and good fortune, they talked of recovering Egypt,*
* For the Athenians had been masters of Egypt, as we find in the second
book of Thucydides. They were driven out of it by Megabyzus, Artax-
erxes's lieutenant, in the first year of the eightieth Olympiad, and it was
only in the last year of the eighty-first Olympiad that Pericles made that

316
PERICLES.
arms,
and of attempting the coast of Persia. Many were likewise
at this time possessed with the unfortunate passion for Sicily,
which the orators of Alcibiades's party afterwards inflamed
still more. Nay, even some dreamed of Hetruria* and Car-
thage, and not without some ground of hope, as they imagin-
ed, because of the great extent of their dominions and the
successful course of their affairs.
But Pericles restrained this impetuosity of the citizens, and
curbed their extravagant desire of conquest; employing the
greatest part of their forces in strengthening and securing their
present acquisitions, and considering it as a matter of conse-
quence to keep the Lacedæmonians within bounds; whom he
therefore opposed, as on other occasions, so particularly in the
Sacred War. For when the Lacedæmonians, by dint of
had restored the temple to the citizens of Delphi, which had
been seized by the Phocians, Pericles, immediately after the
departure of the Lacedæmonians, marched thither, and put it
into the hands of the Phocians again. And as the Lacedæ-
monians had engraved on the forehead of the brazen wolf the
privilege which the people of Delphi had granted them of
consulting the oracle first, † Pericles caused the same privi-
lege for the Athenians to be inscribed on the wolf's right side,
The event showed that he was right in confining the Athe-
nian forces to act within the bounds of Greece; for, in the first
place, the Eubeans revolted, and he led an army against them.
Soon after, news was brought that Megara had commenced
hostilities, and that the Lacedæmonian forces, under the com-
mand of king Plistonax, were upon the borders of Attica.
The enemy offered him battle; he did not choose, however,
to risk an engagement with so numerous and resolute an
But as Plistonax was very young, and chiefly directed
by Čleandrides, a counsellor whom the Ephori had appointed
him on account of his tender age, he attempted to bribe that
counsellor, and succeeding in it to his wish, persuaded him to
draw off the Peloponnesians from Attica. The soldiers dis-
persing and retiring to their respective homes, the Lacedæmo-
army.
successful expedition about Peloponnesus; therefore, it is not strange that
the Athenians, now in the height of prosperity, talked of recovering their
footing in a country which they had so lately lost.
* Hetruria seems oddly joined with Carthage; but we may consider that
Hetruria was on one side of Sicily, and Carthage on the other. The Athe-
nians, therefore, after they had devoured Sicily in their thoughts, might
think of extending their conquests to the countries on the right and left; in
the same manner as king Pyrrhus indulged his wild ambition to subdue
Sicily, Italy, and Africa.
+ This wolf is said to have been consecrated and placed by the side of the
great altar, on occasion of a wolf's killing a thief who had robbed the tem
ple, and leading the Delphians to the place where the treasure lay.

PERICLES.
317
nians were so highly incensed, that they laid a heavy fine
upon the king; and, as he was not able to pay it, he withdrew
from Lacedæmon. As for Cleandrides, who fled from
justice,
they condemned him to death. He was the father of Gylip-
pus, who defeated the Athenians in Sicily, and who seemed
to have derived the vice of avarice from him as an hereditary
distemper. He was led by it into bad practices, for which
he was banished with ignominy from Sparta, as we have re-
lated in the life of Lysander.
In the accounts for this campaign, Pericles put down ten
talents laid out for a necessary use, and the people allowed it,
without examining the matter closely, or prying into the
secret. According to some writers, and among the rest The-
ophrastus the philosopher, Pericles sent ten talents every
year to Sparta, with which he gained all the magistracy, and
kept them from acts of hostility; not that he purchased peace
with the money, but only gained time that he might have lei-
sure to make preparations to carry on the war afterwards with
advantage.
Immediately after the retreat of the Lacedæmonians, he
turned his arms against the revolters, and passing over into
Eubea with fifty ships and five thousand men, he reduced the
cities. He expelled the Hippobotæ, persons distinguished by
their opulence and authority among the Chalcidians; and hay-
ing exterminated all the Hestiæans, he gave their city to a
colony of Athenians. The cause of this severity was their
having taken an Athenian ship, and murdered the whole
Soon after this, the Athenians and Lacedæmonians having
agreed upon a truce for thirty years, Pericles caused a decree
to be made for an expedition against Samos. The pretence
he made use of was, that the Samians, when commanded to
put an end to the war with the Milesians, had refused it.
But as he seems to have entered upon this war merely to gra-
tify Aspasia, it may not be amiss to inquire by what art or
power she captivated the greatest statesmen, and brought even
philosophers to speak of her so much to her advantage.
It is agreed that she was by birth a Milesian, * and the
daughter of Axiochus. She is reported to have trod in the
steps of Thargelia,† who was descended from the ancient Io-
nians, and to have reserved her intimacies for the great. This
crew.
* Miletum, a city in Ionia, was famous for producing persons of extraor-
dinary abilities.
+ This Thargelia, by her beauty, obtained the sovereignty of Thessaly.
However, she came to an untimely end; for she was murdered by one of
her lovers,

318
PERICLES.
Thargelia, who, to the charms of her person, added a peculiar
politeness and poignant wit, had many lovers among the
Greeks, and drew over to the king of Persia's interest all that
approached her; by whose means, as they were persons of emi-
nence and authority, she sowed the seeds of the Median fac-
tion among the Grecian states.
Some indeed say, that Pericles made his court to Aspasia
only on account of her wisdom and political abilities.
Nay,
even Socrates himself sometimes visited her along with his
friends, and her acquaintance took their wives with them to
hear her discourse, though the business that supported her
was neither honourable nor decent, for she kept a number of
courtesans in her house. Æschines informs us, that Lysicles,
who was a grazier,* and of a mean, ungenerous disposition,
by his intercourse with Aspasia, after the death of Pericles,
became the most considerable man in Athens. And though
Plato's Menexenus in the beginning is rather humorous than
serious, yet this much of history we may gather from it, that
many Athenians resorted to her on account of her skill in the
art of speaking. †
I should not, however, think, that the attachment of Peri-
cles was of so very delicate a kind: for though his wife, who
was his relation, and had been first married to Hipponicus, hy
whom she had Callias the rich, brought him two sons, Xanthip-
pus and Paralus, yet they lived so ill together, that they part-
ed by consent. She was married to another, and he took
Aspasia, for whom he had the tenderest regard; insomuch,
that he never went out upon business, or returned, without
saluting her. In the comedies, she is called the New Omphale,
Dežanira, and Juno. Cratinus plainly calls her a prostitute:
- She bore this Juno, this Aspasia,
Skill'd in the shameless trade and every art
Of wantonness.
He seems also to have had a natural son by her; for he is
introduced by Eupolis inquiring after him thus:--
* What the employments were to which this Lysicles was advanced, is
nowhere recorded.
† It is not to be imagined, that Aspasia excelled in light and amorous dis-
courses. Her discourses, on the contrary, were not more brilliant than solid.
It was even believed by the most intelligent Athenians, and amongst them
by Socrates himself, that she composed the celebrated funeral oration pro-
nounced by Pericles, in honour of those that were slain in the Samian war.
It is probable enough that Pericles undertook that war to avenge the quar-
rel of the Milesians, at the suggestion of Aspasia, who was of Miletum; who
is said to have accompanied him in that expedition, and to have built a teni.
ple to perpetuate the memory of his victory.

PERICLES
319
Still lives the offspring of my dalliance?
Pyronides answers:-
He lives, and might have borne the name of husband,
Did he not dream that every bosom fair
Is not a chaste one.
Such was the fame of Aspasia, that Cyrus, who contended
with Artaxerxes for the Persian crown, gave the name of As-
pasia to his favourite concubine, who, before, was called Milto.
This woman was born in Phocis, and was the daughter of Her-
motimus. When Cyrus was slain in the battle, she was car-
ried to the king, and had afterwards great influence over him.
These particulars occurring to my memory, as I wrote this
life, I thought it would be a needless affectation of gravity, if
not an offence against politeness, to pass them over in silence.
I now return to the Samian war, which Pericles is much
blamed for having promoted, in favour of the Milesians, at
the instigation of Aspasia. The Milesians and Samians had
been at war for the city of Priene, and the Samians had the
advantage, when the Aihenians interposed, and ordered them
to lay down their arms, and refer the decision of the dispute
to them; but the Samians refused to comply with this demand.
Pericles, therefore, sailed with a fleet to Šamos, and abolish-
ed the oligarchical form of government. He then took fifty of
the principal men, and the same number of children, as hos-
tages, and sent them to Lemnos. Each of these hostages, we
are told, offered him a talent for his ransom; and those that
were desirous to prevent the settling of a democracy among
them, would have given him much more. * Pissuthnes the
Persian, who had the interest of the Samians at heart, like-
wise sent him ten thousand pieces of gold, to prevail upon
him to grant them more favourable terms. Pericles, how-
ever, would receive none of their presents, but treated the
Samians in the manner he had resolved on; and having estab-
lished a popular government in the island, he returned to
Athens.
But they soon revolted again, having recovered their hos-
tages by some private measure of Pissuthnes, and made new
preparations for war. Pericles coming with a fleet to reduce
them once more, found them not in a posture of negligence or
despair, but deterniined to contend with him for the dominion
of the sea.
A sharp engagement ensued near the isle of Tra-
* Pissuthnes, the son of Hystaspes, was governor of Sardis, and espoused
the cause of the Samians of course, because the principal persons among
them were in the Persian interest.

320
PERICLES,
gia, and Pericles gained a glorious victory, having with forty-
four ships defeated seventy, twenty of which had soldiers on
board.
Pursuing his victory, he possessed himself of the harbour
of Samos, and laid siege to the city. They still retained cou-
rage enough to sally out and give him battle before the walls.
Soon after a greater fleet came from Athens, and the Samians
were entirely shut up; whereupon Pericles took sixty galleys,
and steered for the Mediterranean, with a design, as is gene-
rally supposed, to meet the Phænician fleet that was coming to
the relief of Samos, and to engage with it at a great distance
from the island.
Stesimbrotus indeed says, he intended to sail for Cyprus,
which is very improbable. But whatever his design was, he
seems to have committed an error; for as soon as he was gone,
Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a man distinguished as a phi-
losopher, and at that time commander of the Samians, despis-
ing either the small number of ships that was left, or else the
inexperience of their officers, persuaded his countrymen to at-
tack the Athenians. Accordingly a battle was fought, and the
Samians obtained the victory; for they made many prisoners,
destroyed the greatest part of the enemy's fleet, cleared the
seas, and imported whatever warlike stores and provisions
they wanted. Aristotle writes, that Pericles himself had
been beaten by the same Melissus in a former sea-fight.
The Samians returned upon the Athenian prisoners the in
sult they had received, * marked their foreheads with the
figure of an owl, as the Athenians had branded them with a
Samænd, which is a kind of ship, built low in the fore-part,
and wide and hollow in the sides. This form makes it light
and expeditious in sailing; and it was called Samæna from its
being invented in Samos by Polycrates the tyrant. Aristo-
phanes is supposed to have hinted at these marks, when he
says, -
The Samians are a letter'd race.
As soon as Pericles was informed of the misfortune that had
befallen his army, he immediately returned with succours,
gave Melissus battle, routed the enemy, and blocked up the
town, by building a wall about it; choosing to owe the con-
quest of it rather to time and expense, than to purchase it with
the blood of his fellow-citizens. But when he found the Athe-
* We have no account of these reciprocal barbarities in Thucydides.
+ On his return, he received a reinforcement of fourscore ships, as Thucy-
dides tells us, or ninety, according to Diodorus. Vide Thucyd. lib. i. de Bell
Pelopon.; et Diodor. Sicul. lib. xii.

PERICLES
321
dians murmured at the time spent in the blockade, and that it
was difficult to restrain them from the assault, he divided the
army into eight parts, and ordered them to draw lots. That
division which drew a white bean, were to enjoy themselves
in ease and pleasure, while the others fought. Hence it is
said, that those who spend the day in feasting and merriment,
call that a white day, from the white bean.
Ephorus adds, that Pericles, in this siege, made use of bat-
tering engines, the invention of which he much admired, it
being then a new one; and that he had Artemon, the engineer,
along with him, who, on account of his lameness was carried
about in a litter, when his presence was required to direct the
machines, and thence had the surname of Periphoretus. But
Heraclides of Pontus confutes this assertion, by some verses
of Anacreon, in which mention is made of Artemon Peripho-
retus, several ages before the Samian war, and these transac-
tions of Pericles. And he tells us, this Artemon was a per-
son who gave himself up to luxury, and was withal of a timid
and effeminate spirit; and that he spent most of his time within
doors, and had a shield of brass held over his head, by a couple
of slaves, lest something should fall upon him. Moreover,
that if he happened to be necessarily obliged to go abroad,
he was carried in a litter, which hung so low, as almost to
touch the ground, and therefore, was called Periphoretus.
After nine months, the Samians surrendered. Pericles razed
their walls, seized their ships, and laid a heavy fine upon
them; part of which they paid down directly, the rest they
promised at a set time, and gave hostages for the payment.
Duris the Samian, makes a melancholy tale of it, accusing
Pericles, and the Athenians, of great cruelty, of which no
mention is made by Thucydides, Ephorus, or Aristotle. What
he relates concerning the Samian officers and seamen, seems
quite fictitious; he tells us, that Pericles caused them to be
brought into the market-place at Miletus, and to be bound to
posts there for ten days together; at the end of which he or-
dered them, by that time in the most wretched condition to
be despatched with clubs, and refused their bodies the honour
of burial. Duris, indeed, in his histories, often goes beyond
the limits of truth, even when not misled by any interest or
passion, and, therefore, is more likely to have exaggerated the
sufferings of his country, to make the Athenians appear in an
odious light. *
Pericles, at his return to Athens, after the reduction of Sa-
mos, celebrated, in a splendid manner, the obsequies of his
* Yet Cicero tells us, this Duris was a careful historian, Homo in historiam
This historian lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
VOL. I. - U
29

322
PERICLES.
to us,
countrymen who fell in that war, and pronounced himself the
funeral oration, usual on such occasions.—This gained him
great applause; and when he came down from the rostrum,
the women paid their respects to him, and presented him with
crowns and chaplets, like a champion just returned victorious
from the lists. “Only Elpinice addressed him in terms quite
different—" Are these actions, then, Pericles, worthy of
crowns and garlands, which have deprived us of many brave
citizens; not in a war with the Phænicians and Medes, such
as my brother Cimon waged, but in destroying a city united
both in blood and friendship?” Pericles only smiled,
and answered softly with this line of Archilochus:--
Why lavish ointments on a head that's gray?
Ion informs
us,
that he was highly elated with this conquest,
and scrupled not to say,—“That Agamemnon spent ten years
in reducing one of the cities of the barbarians, whereas he had
taken the richest and most powerful city among the Ionians
in nine months.” And, indeed, he had reason to be proud
of this achievement; for the war was really a dangerous one,
and the event uncertain, since, according to Thucydides, such
was the power of the Samians, that the Athenians were in
imminent danger of losing the dominion of the sea.
Some time after this, when the Peloponnesian war was rea-
dy to break out, Pericles persuaded the people to send suc-
cours to the inhabitants of Corcyra, who were at war with the
Corinthians;* which would be a means to fix in their interest
an island, whose naval forces were considerable, and might
be of great service, in case of a rupture with the Peloponne-
sians, which they had all the reason in the world to expect
would be soon. The succours were decreed accordingly, and
Pericles sent Lacedæmonius to the son of Cimon with ten
ships only, as if he designed nothing more than to disgrace
him.† A mutual regard and friendship subsisted between
Cimon's family and the Spartans: and he now furnished his
son with but a few ships, and gave him the charge of this af-
fair against his inclination, in order that, if nothing great or
striking were effected, Lacedæmonius might be still the more
suspected of favouring the Spartans. Nay, by all imaginable
methods, he endeavoured to hinder the advancement of that
* This war was commenced about the little territory of Epidamnus, a city
in Macedonia, founded by the Corcyrians.
† There seems to be very little colour for this hard assertion. Thucy-
dales says, that the Athenians did not intend the Corcyrians any real assist-
ance, but sent this small squadron to look on, while the Corinthians and
Corcyrians weakened and wasted each other.

PERICLES.
323
family, representing the sons of Cimon, as by their very
names, not genuine Athenians, but strangers and aliens, one
of them being called Lacedæmonius, another Thessalus, and
a third Eleus. They seem to have been all the sons of an
Arcadian woman. Pericles, however, finding himself greatly
blamed about these ten galleys, an aid by no means sufficient
to answer the purpose of those that requested it, but likely
enough to afford his enemies a pretence to accuse him, sent
another squadron to Corcyra* which did not arrive till the ac-
tion was over.
The Corinthians, offended at this treatment, complained of
it at Lacedæmon, and the Megarensians, at the same time, al-
leged, that the Athenians would not suffer them to come to
any mart or port of theirs, but drove them out, thereby in-
fringing the common privileges, and breaking the oath they
had taken before the general assembly of Greece. The
ple of Ægina, too, privately acquainted the Lacedæmonians
with many encroachments and injuries done them by the Athe-
nians, whom they durst not accuse openly. And at this very
juncture, Potidæa, a Corinthian colony, but subject to the
Athenians, being besieged, in consequence of its revolt, has-
tened on the war.
However, as ambassadors were sent to Athens, and as Ar-
chidamus, king of the Lacedæmonians, endeavoured to give a
healing turn to most of the articles in question, and to pacify
the allies, probably no other point would have involved the
Athenians in war, if they could have been persuaded to re-
scind the decree against the Megarensians, and to be recon-
ciled to them. Pericles, therefore, in exerting all his interesi
to oppose this measure, in retaining his enmity to the Mega-
rensians, and working up the people to the same rancour, was
the sole author of the war.
It is said, that when the ambassadors from Lacedæmon
came upon this occasion to Athens, t Pericles pretended there
* But this fleet, which consisted of twenty ships, prevented a second en-
gagement, for which they were preparing.
† The Lacedæmonian ambassadors demanded, in the first place, the ex-
pulsion of those Athenians who were styled execrable, on account of the old
business of Cylon and his associates, because, by his mother's side, Pericles
was allied to the family of Megacles; they next insisted, that the siege of
Potidæa should be raised; thirdly, that the inhabitants of Ægina should be
left free; and, lastly, that the decree made against the Megarensians, where-
by they were forbid the ports and markets of Athens, on pain of death,
should be revoked, and the Grecian states set at liberty, who were under
the dominion of Athens.
Pericles represented to the Athenians, that whatever the Lacedæmonians
might pretend, the true ground of their resentment was the prosperity of
the Athenian republic; that, nevertheless, it might be proposed, that the

324
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was a law which forbade the taking down any tablet on which a
decree of the people was written:-“ Then,” said Polycares,
one of the ambassadors, “ do not take it down, but turn the
other side outward; there is no law against that.” Notwith-
standing the pleasantry of this answer, Pericles relented not
in the least. He seems, indeed, to have had some private
pique against the Megarensians, though the pretext he availed
himself
of in public was, that they had applied to profane uses
certain parcels of sacred ground; and thereupon he procured
a decree for a herald to be sent to Megara and Lacedæmon, to
lay this charge against the Megarensians. This decree was
drawn up in a candid and conciliating manner. But Anthe-
mocritus, the herald sent with that commission, losing his life
by the way, through some treachery (as was supposed) of the
Megarensians, Charinus procured a decree that an implacable
and eternal enmity should subsist between the Athenians and
them; that if any Megarensian should set foot upon Attic
ground, he should be put to death; that to the oath which their
generals used to take, this particular should be added, that they
would twice a-year make an inroad into the territories of Me-
gara; and that Anthemocritus should be buried at the Thria-
sian gate, now called Dipylus.
The Megarensians, however, deny their being concerned
in the murder of Anthemocritus, * and lay the war entirely at
the door of Aspasia and Pericles; alleging in proof those well
known verses from the Acharnenses of Aristophanes:-
The god of wine had with his thyrsus smote
Some youths, who, in their madness, stole from Megara
The prostitute Simætha; in revenge,
Two females, liberal of their smiles, were stolen
From our Aspasia's train.
It is not, indeed, easy to discover what was the real origin of
the war; but at the same time all agree, it was the fault of Pe-
ricles, that the decree against Megara was not annulled. Somie
say, his firmness in that case was the effect of his prudence
Athenians would reverse their decree against Megara, if the Lacedæmonians
would allow free egress and regress, in their city, to the Athenians and their
allies; that they would leave all those states free, who were free at the mak-
ing of the last peace with Sparta, provided the Spartans would also leave all
states free who were under their dominion; and that future disputes should
be submitted to arbitration. In case these offers should not prevail, he ad-
vised them to hazard a war.
* Thucydides takes no notice of this herald; and yet it is so certain that
the Megarensians were looked upon as the authors of the murder, that they
were punished for it many ages after; for on that account the emperor Ad.
rian denied them many favours and privileges which he granted to the other
cities of Greece.

PERICLES.
325
and magnanimity, as he considered that demand only as a trial,
and thought the least concession would be understood as an
acknowledgment of weakness; but others will have it, that his
treating the Lacedæmonians with so little ceremony, was ow-
ing to his obstinacy, and an ambition to display his power.
But the worst cause of all,* assigned for the war, and
which, notwithstanding, is confirmed by most historians, is
as follows: Phidias the statuary had undertaken (as we have
said) the statue of Minerva. The friendship and influence he
had with Pericles, exposed him to envy, and procured him
many enemies, who, willing to make an experiment upon him,
what judgment the people might pass on Pericles himself, per-
suaded Menon, one of Phidias's workmen, to place himself as
a suppliant in the forum, and to entreat the protection of the
republic while he lodged an information against Phidias.
The people granting his request, and the affair coming to
a public trial, the allegation of theft, which Menon brought
against him, was shown to be groundless; for Phidias, by the
advice of Pericles, had managed the matter from the first with
so much art, that the gold with which the statue was overlaid,
could easily be taken off and weighed; and Pericles ordered
this to be done by the accusers.
But the excellence of his
work, and the envy arising thence was the thing that ruined
Phidias; and it was particularly insisted upon, that in his re-
presentation of the battle with the Amazons upon Minerva's
shield, he had introduced his own effigies as a bald old man
taking up a great stone with both hands, and a high-finished
picture of Pericles fighting with an Amazon. The last was
contrived with so much art, that the hand, which, in lifting
up the spear, partly covered the face, seemed to be intended
to conceal the likeness, which yet was very striking on both
sides. Phidias, therefore, was thrown into prison, where he
died a natural death;$ though some say poison was given him
by his enemies, who were desirous of causing Pericles to be
suspected. As for the accuser Menon, he had an immunity
from taxes granted him, at the motion of Glycon, and the ge-
nerals were ordered to provide for his security.
About this time Aspasia was prosecuted for impiety by Her-
mippus a comic poet, who likewise accused her of receiving
* Pericles, when he saw his friends prosecuted, was apprehensive of a
prosecution himself, and therefore hastened on a rupture with the Pelopon-
nesians, to turn the attention of the people to war.
† They insisted that those modern figures impeached the credit of the an-
cient history, which did so much honour to Athens, and their founder The-
seus.
# Others say, that he was banished, and that in his exile he made the fa,
mous statue of Jupiter at Olympia,
29*

326
PERICLES.
into her house women above the condition of slaves, for the
pleasure of Pericles. And Diopithes procured a decree, that
those who disputed the existence of the gods, or introduced
new opinions about celestial appearances, should be tried be-
fore an assembly of the people. This charge was levelled first
at Anaxagoras, and through him at Pericles. And as the
peo-
ple admitted it, another decree was proposed by Dracontides,
that Pericles should give an account of the public money be-
fore the Prytanes, and that the judges should take the ballots
from the altar, * and try the cause in the city. But Agnon
caused the last article to be dropt, and instead thereof, it was
voted that the action should be laid before the fifteen hundred
judges, either for peculation, and taking of bribes, or simply for
corrupt practices.
Aspasia was acquitted,t though much against the tenor of
the law, by means of Pericles, who (according to Æschines)
shed many tears in his application for mercy for her. He did
not expect the same indulgence for Anaxagoras, † and there-
fore caused him to quit the city, and conducted him part of
And as he himself was become obnoxious to the
people upon Phidias's account, and was afraid of being call
ed in question for it, he urged on the war which as yet was
uncertain, and blew up that flame which till then was stifled
and suppressed. By this means he hoped to obviate the accu-
sations that threatened him, and to mitigate the rage of envy,
because such was his dignity and power, that in all important
affairs, and in every great danger, the republic could place its
confidence in him alone. These are said to be the reasons
which induced him to persuade the people not to grant the
demands of the Lacedæmonians; but what was the real cause,
is quite uncertain.
The Lacedæmonians, persuaded, that if they could remove
Pericles out of the way, they should be better able to manage
the Athenians, required them to banish all execrable persons
the way.
* In some extraordinary cases, where the judges were to proceed with the
greatest exactness and solemnity, they were to take ballots or billets from
the altar, and to inscribe their judgment upon them, or rather to take the
black and the white bean, inoor. What Plutarch means by trying the cause
in the city, is not easy to determine, unless by the city, we are to understand
the full assembly of the people. By the fifteen hundred judges mentioned in
the next sentence, is probably meant the court of Heliæa, so called because
the judges sat in the open air exposed to the sun; for this court, on extraor-
dinary occasions, consisted of that number.
Πολλα πανυ παρα την δικην.
# Anaxagoras held the unity of God; that it was one all-wise Intelligence,
which raised the beautiful structure of the world out of the chaos. And if
such was the opinion of the master, it was natural for the people to conclude
that his scholar Pericles was against the Polytheism of the times,

PERICLES.
327
from among them; and Pericles (as Thucydides informs us)
was by his mother's side related to those that were pronounc-
ed exécrable, in the affair of Cylon. The success, however, of
this application proved the reverse of what was expected by
those that ordered it. Instead of rendering Pericles suspect-
ed, or involving him in trouble, it procured him the more con-
fidence and respect from the people, when they perceived that
their enemies both hated and dreaded him above all others.
For the same reason he forewarned the Athenians, that if Ar-
chidamus, when he entered Attica at the head of the Pelopon-
nesians, and ravaged the rest of the country, should spare his
estate, it must be owing either to the rights of hospitality that
subsisted between them, or to a design to furnish his enemies
with matter of slander, and therefore from that hour he gave
his lands and houses to the city of Athens. The Lacedæmo-
nians and confederates accordingly invaded Attica with a great
army under the conduct of Archidamus; and laying waste all
before them, proceeded as far as Acharnæ, * where they en-
camped, expecting that the Athenians would not be able to
endure them so near, but meet them in the field for the honour
and safety of their country. But it appeared to Pericles too
hazardous to give battle to an army of sixty thousand men
(for such was the number of the Peloponnesians and Baotians
employed in the first expedition), and by that step to risk no
less than the preservation of the city itself. As to those that
were eager for an engagement, and uneasy at his slow proceed-
ings, he endeavoured to bring them to reason, by observing,
“ That trees, when lopped, will soon grow again; but when
men are cut off, the loss is not easily repaired.”
In the mean time he took care to hold no assembly of the
people, lest he should be forced to act against his own opinion.
But as a good pilot, when a storm arises at sea, gives his di-
rections, gets his tackle in order, and then uses his art, re-
gardless of the tears and entreaties of the sick and fearful pas-
sengers; so Pericles, when he had secured the gates, and placed
the guards in every quarter to the best advantage, followed
the dictates of his own understanding, unmoved by the cla-
mours and complaints that resounded in his ears. Thus firm he
remained, notwithstanding the importunity of his friends, and
the threats and accusations of his enemies, notwithstanding the
many scoffs and songs sung to vilify his character as a general,
and to represent him as one who, in the most dastardly man-
ner, betrayed his country to the enemy. Cleon,t too, at-
* The borough of Acharnæ was only fifteen hundred paces from the city.
+ The same Cleon that Aristophanes satirized. By his harangues and po-
litical intrigues, he got himself appointed general. See a farther account
of him in the life of Nicias.

328
PERICLES.
tacked him with great acrimony, making use of the general
resentment against Pericles, as a means to increase his own
popularity, as Hermippus testifies in these verses:-
Sleeps then, thou king of satyrs, sleeps the spear,
While thund'ring words make war? why boast thy prowess,
Yet shudder at the sound of sharpen'd swords,
Spite of the flaming Cleon?
Pericles, however, regarded nothing of this kind, but calmly
and silently bore all this disgrace and virulence. And though
he fitted out a hundred ships, and sent them against Pelopon-
nesus, yet he did not sail with them, but chose to stay and
watch over the city, and keep the reins of government in his
own hands, until the Peloponnesians were gone. In order to
satisfy the common people, who were very uneasy on account
of the war, he made a distribution of money and lands; for
having expelled the inhabitants of Ægina, he divided the
island by ſot among the Athenians. Besides, the sufferings
of the enemy afforded them some consolation. The fleet sent
against Peloponnesus, ravaged a large tract of country, and
sacked the small towns and villages; and Pericles himself
made a descent upon the territories of Megara, * which he laid
waste. Whence it appears,t that though the Peloponnesians
greatly distressed the Athenians by land, yet as they were
equally distressed by sea, they could not have drawn out the
war to so great a length, but must soon have given it up (as
Pericles foretold from the beginning), had not some divine
power prevented the effect of human counsels.
A pestilence
at that time broke out, $ which destroyed the flower of the
youth and the strength of Athens. And not only their bodies,
but their very minds were affected; for as persons delirious
with a fever, set themselves against a physician or a father,
so they raved against Pericles, and attempted his ruin; being
persuaded by his enemies, that the sickness was occasioned
by the multitude of out-dwellers flocking into the city, and a
number of people stuffed together in the height of summer,
in small huts and close cabins, where they were forced to live
a lazy, inactive life, instead of breathing the
open
air to which they had been accustomed. They would needs
have it, that he was the cause of all this, who, when the war
pure and
* He did not undertake this expedition until autumn, when the Lacedæ-
monians were retired. In the winter of this year, the Athenians solem-
nized, in an extraordinary manner, the funerals of such as first died in the
war. Pericles pronounced the oration on that occasion, which Thucydides
has preserved.
+H Saaoy.
# See this plague excellently described by Thucydides, who had it him.
self.-Lib. i. prop. init.

PERICLES.
329
ment.
sun.
began, admitted within the walls such crowds of people from
the country, and yet found no employment for them, but let
them continue penned up like cattle, to infect and destroy
each other, without affording them the least relief or refresh-
Desirous to remedy this calamity, and withal in some degree
to annoy the enemy, he manned a hundred and fifty ships, on
which he embarked great numbers of select horse and foot,
and was preparing to set sail. The Athenians conceived good
hopes of success, and the enemy no less dreaded so great an
armament. The whole fleet was in readiness, and Pericles on
board his own galley, when there happened an eclipse of the
This sudden darkness was looked upon as an unfavour-
able omen, and threw them into the greatest consternation.
Pericles, observing that the pilot was much astonished and
perplexed, took his cloak, and having covered his eyes with
it, asked him,—“If he found any thing terrible in that, or
considered it as a sad presage?” Upon his answering in the
negative, he said,—“Where is the difference then between
this and the other, except that something bigger than my cloak
causes the eclipse?" But this is a question which is discussed
in the schools of philosophy.
In this expedition Pericles performed nothing worthy of so
great an equipment. He laid siege to the sacred city of Epi-
daurus, * and at first with some rational hopes of success;t but
the distemper which prevailed in his army broke all his mea-
sures; for it not only carried off his own men, but all that had
intercourse with them. As this ill success set the Athenians
against him, he endeavoured to console them under their loss-
es, and to animate them to new attempts. But it was not in
his power to mitigate their resentment, nor could they be sa-
tisfied, until they had showed themselves masters, by voting
that he should be deprived of the command, and pay a fine,
which, by the lowest account, was fifteen talents; some make
it fifty. The person that carried on the prosecution against
him was Cleon, as Idomeneus tells us; or, according to Theo-
phrastus, Simmias; or Lacratides, if we believe Heraclides,
of Pontus.
The public ferment, indeed, soon subsided, the people quit-
ting their resentment with that blow, as a bee leaves its sting
in the wound; but his private affairs were in a miserable con-
dition; for he had lost a number of his relations in the plague,
* This Epidaurus was in Argia. It was consecrated to Æsculapius; and
Plutarch calls it sacred, to distinguish it from another town of the same
name in Laconia,
TΕλπιδα παρασχοσαν ως 'αλωσομενην.-
VOL. I.--2 X

330
PERICLES.
and a misunderstanding had prevailed for some time in his
family. Xanthippus, the eldest of his legitimate sons, was
naturally profuse, and besides had married a young and ex-
pensive wife, daughter to Isander, and grand-daughter to
Epylicus. He knew not how to brook his father's frugality,
who supplied him but sparingly, and with a little at a time,
and therefore sent to one of his friends, and took up money in
the name of Pericles. When the man came to demand his
money, Pericles not only refused to pay him, but even prose-
cuted him for the demand. Xanthippus was so highly enra
ged at this, that he began openly to abuse his father. First he
exposed and ridiculed
the company he kept in his house, and
the conversations he held with the philosophers. He said,
that Epitimius the Pharsalian having undesignedly killed a
horse with a javelin which he threw at the public games, his
father spent a whole day in disputing with Protogorus, which
might be properly deemed the cause of his death, the javelin,
or the man that threw it, or the presidents of the games.
Stesimbrotus adds, that it was Xanthippus who spread the vile
report concerning his own wife and Pericles, and that the
young man retained this implacable hatred against his father
to his latest breath. He was carried off by the plague. Peri-
cles lost his sister too, at that time, and the greatest part of
his relations and friends, who were most capable of assisting
him in the business of the state. Notwithstanding these mis-
fortunes, he lost not his dignity of sentiment and greatness of
soul. He neither wept, nor performed any funeral rites, nor
was he seen at the grave of any of his nearest relations, until
the death of Paralus, his last surviving legitimate son. This
at last subdued him. He attempted, indeed, then to keep up
his usual calm behaviour and serenity of mind; but in putting
the garland upon the head of the deceased, his firmness forsook
him; he could not bear the sad spectacle, he broke out into
loud lamentations, and shed a torrent of tears; a passion which
he had never before given way to.
Athens made a trial, in the course of a year, of the rest of
her generals and orators, and finding none of sufficient weight
and authority for so important a charge, she once more turned
her eyes on Pericles, and invited him to take upon him the
direction of affairs both military and civil. He had for some
time shut himself up at home to indulge his sorrow, when Al-
cibiades and his other friends persuaded him to make his ap-
pearance. The people making an apology for their ungener-
ous treatment of him, he re-assumed the reigns of government,
and being appointed general, his first step was to procure the
repeal of the law concerning bastards, of which he himself had
been the author; for he was afraid that his name and family

PERICLES.
331
would be extinct for want of a successor, The history of that
law is as follows:-Many years before, Pericles, in the height.
of his power, and having several legitimate sons, (as we have
already related) caused a law to be made, that none should be
accounted citizens of Athens, but those whose parents were
both Athenians. After this, the king of Egypt made the
Athenians a present of forty thousand medimni of wheat; and
as this was to be divided among the citizens, many persons
were proceeded against as illegitimate upon that law, whose
birth had never before been called in question, and many were
disgraced upon false accusations. Near five thousand were
cast and sold for slaves;ť and fourteen thousand and forty ap-
peared to be entitled to the privilege of citizens. Į Though
it was unequitable and strange, that a law, which had been put
in execution with so much severity, should be repealed by the
man who first proposed it, yet the Athenians, moved at the
late misfortunes in his family, by which he seemed to have
suffered the punishment of his arrogance and pride, and think-
ing he should be treated with humanity, after he had felt the
wrath of heaven, permitted him to enrol a natural son in his
own tribe, and to give him his own name. This is he who
afterwards defeated the Peloponnesians in a sea-fight at Ar-
ginusæ, and was put to death by the people, together with his
colleagues. $
About this time Pericles was seized with the plague, but
not with such acute and continued symptoms as it generally
shows. It was rather a lingering distemper, which, with fre-
quent intermissions, and by slow degrees, consumed his body,
and impaired the vigour of his mind. · Theophrastus has a
disquisition in his ethics, whether men's characters may be
* According to Plutarch's account, at the beginning of the life of The-
mistocles, this law was made before the time of Pericles. Pericles, how-
ever, might put it more strictly in execution than it had been before, from
a spirit of opposition to Cimon, whose children were only of the half-blood.
f The illegitimacy did not reduce men to a state of servitude; it only pla.
ced them in the rank of strangers.
# A small number indeed, at a time when Athens had dared to think of
sending out colonies, humbling her neighbours, subduing foreigners, and
even of erecting an universal monarchy.
$ The Athenians had appointed ten commanders on that occasion. After
they had obtained the victory, they were tried, and eight of them were
capitally condemned, of whom six that were on the spot were executed, and
this natural son of Pericles was one of them. The only crime laid to their
charge, was, that they had not buried the dead. Xenophon, in his Grecian
history, has given a large account of this affair. It happened under the
archonship of Callias, the second year of the ninety-third Olympiad, twenty-
four years after the death of Pericles. Socrates the philosopher was at that
time one of the prytanes, and resolutely refused to do his office. And a lit-
tle while after the madness of the people turned the other way.

332
PERICLES.
changed with their fortune, and the soul so affected with the
disorders of the body as to lose her virtue; and there he re-
lates, that Pericles showed to a friend, who came to visit him
in his sickness, an amulet which the women had hung about
his neck, intimating that he must be sick indeed, since he sub-
mitted to so ridiculous a piece of superstition. *
When he was at the point of death, his surviving friends
and the principal citizens sitting about his bed, discoursed to-
gether concerning his extraordinary virtue, and the great au-
thority he had enjoyed, and enumerated his various exploits
and the number of his victories; for, while he was command-
er-in-chief, he had erected no less than nine trophies to the
honour of Athens. These things they talked of, supposing
that he attended not to what they said, but that his senses were
gone. He took notice, however, of every word they had
spoken, and thereupon delivered himself audibly as follows:--
"I am surprised, that while you dwell upon and extol these
acts of mine, though fortune had her share in them, and many
other generals have performed the like, you take no notice of
the greatest and most honourable part of my character, that no
Athenian, through my means, ever put on mourning."
Pericles undoubtedly deserved admiration, not only for the
candour and moderation which he ever retained amidst the
distractions of business and the rage of his enemies, but for that
noble sentiment which led him to think it his most excellent
attainment never to have given way to envy or anger, not-
withstanding the greatness of his power, nor to have nourish-
ed an implacable hatred against his greatest foe. In my opin-
ion, this one thing, I mean his mild and dispassionate beha-
viour, his unblemished integrity and irreproachable conduct
during his whole administration, makes his appellation of
Olympius, which would be otherwise vain and absurd, no
longer exceptionable, nay, gives it a propriety. Thus we
think the divine powers, as the authors of all good, and natu-
rally incapable of producing evil, worthy to rule and preside
over the universe; not in the manner which the poets relate,
who, while they endeavour to bewilder us by their irrational
opinions, stand convicted of inconsistency by their own wri-
tings; for they represent the place which the gods inhabit, as
the region of security and the most perfect tranquillity, unap-
proached by storms, and unsullied with clouds; where a sweet
serenity forever reigns, and a pure æther displays itself with-
* It does not appear by this that his understanding was weakened, since
he knew the charm to be a ridiculous piece of superstition, and showed it to
his friend as such; but only that in his extreme sickness he had not resolu-
tion enough to refuse what he was sensible would do him no good.

PERICLES.
333
out interruption; and these they think mansions suitable to a
blessed and immortal nature. Yet, at the same time, they
represent the gods themselves as full of anger, malevolence,
hatred, and other passions, unworthy even of a reasonable man.
But this by the bye.
The state of public affairs soon showed the want of Pericles, *
and the Athenians openly expressed their regret for his loss,
Even those who in his lifetime could but ill brook his superi-
or power, as thinking themselves eclipsed by it, yet upon a
trial of other orators and demagogues, after he was gone, soon
acknowledged, that where severity was required, no man was
ever more moderate; or if mildness was necessary, no man
better kept up his dignity than Pericles. And his so much
envied authority, to which they had given the name of mon-
archy and tyranny, then appeared to have been the bulwark
of the state; so much corruption and such a rage of wicked-
ness broke out upon the commonwealth after his death, which
he by proper restraints had palliated, † and kept from danger-
ous and destructive extremities.
* Pericles died in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, that is, the last
year of the eighty-seventh Olympiad, and 428 years before the christian era.
† Pericles did indeed palliate the distempers of the commonwealth while
he lived, but (as we have observed before) he sowed the seeds of them, by
bribing the people with their own money, with which they were as much
pleased as if it had been his.
Jan 20. 1992.8
90

THE
LIFE OF FABIUS MAXIMUS.
Such were the memorable actions of Pericles, * as far as we
have been able to collect them; and now we proceed to the life
of Fabius Maximus.
The first Fabius was the son of Hercules by one of the
Nymphs, according to some authors; or, as others say, by a
woman of the country near the river Tiber. From him came
the family of the Fabii, one of the most numerous and illus-
trious in Rome.t Yet some authors write, that the first
founders of this family were called Fodii, I on account of their
catching wild beasts by means of pits; for a pit is still in Latin
called fovea, and the word fodere signifies to dig: but in time
two letters being changed, they had the name of Fabii
. This
family produced many eminent men, the most considerable of
whom was Rullus, § by the Romans surnamed Maximus, or the
great: and from him the Fabius Maximus of whom we are writ-
ing: was the fourth in descent.
This last had the surname of Verrucosus, from a small wart
on his upper lip. He was likewise called Ovicula, || from the
mildness and gravity of his behaviour when a boy. Nay, his
composed demeanour, and his silence, his caution in engaging
in the diversions of the other boys, the slowness and difficulty
* Ως παρειλήφαμεν.
+ The most numerous; for that family alone undertook the war against the
Veientes, and sent out three hundred and six persons of their own name, who
were all slain in that expedition. It was likewise one of the most illustrious;
for the Fabii had borne the highest offices in the state, and two of them
had been seven times consul.
* Pliny's account of the matter is much more probable, viz. that they were
called Fabii, à fabis, from their skill in raising beans; as several other families
of note among the Romans were denominated from other branches of hus-
bandry. Indeed, their first heroes tilled the ground with their own hands.
§ This Fabius Rullus was five times consul, and gained several important
victories over the Samnites, Tuscans, and other nations. It was not, how-
ever, from these great actions that he obtained the surname of Maximus, but
from his behaviour in the censorship; during which he reduced the populace
of Rome into four tribes, who before were dispersed among all the tribesin
general, and by that means had very great power in the assemblies. These
were called Tribus Urbanz.- Liv. lib, ix, cap. 46.
| Ovicula signifies a little sheep.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
335
with which he took up what was taught him, together with
the submissive manner in which he complied with the propo-
sals of his comrades, brought him under the suspicion of stu-
pidity and foolishness with those that did not thoroughly know
him. Yeta few there were who perceived that his composedness
was owing to the solidity of his parts, and who discerned with-
al, magnanimity and lion-like courage in his nature. In a short
time, when application to business drew him out, it was ob-
vious even to the many, that his seeming inactivity was a
command which he had of his passions, that his cautiousness
was prudence, and that which had passed for heaviness and
insensibility was really an immoveable firmness of soul. He
saw what an important concern the administration was, and in
what wars the republic was frequently engaged, and therefore
by exercise prepared his body, considering its strength as a
natural armour; at the same time he improved his power of
persuasion, as the engines by which the people are to be mov-
ed, adapting them to the manner of his life; for in his eloquence
there was nothing of affectation, no empty* plausible elegance;
but it was full of that good sense which was peculiar to him,
and had a sententious force and depth, said to have resembled
that of Thucydides. There is an oration of his still extant,
which he delivered before the people on occasion of his son's
funeral, who died after he had been consul.
Fabius Maximus was five times consul;t and in his first con-
sulship was honoured with a triumph for the victory he gained
over the Ligurians, who being defeated by him in a set battle,
with the loss of a great number of men, were driven behind
the Alps, and kept from such inroads and ravages as they had
used to make in the neighbouring provinces.
Some years after, Hannibal having invaded Italy,Ị and
gained the battle of Trebia, advanced through Tuscany, laying
waste the country, and striking Rome itself with terror and as-
tonishment. This desolation was announced by signs and
prodigies; some familiar to the Romans, as that of thunder for
instance, and others quite strange and unaccountable. For it
was said that certain shields sweated blood; that bloody corn
was cut at Antium; that red hot stones fell from the air; that
the Falerians saw the heavens open, and many billets fall,
* The writers that affect this, Plato calls aeg ed etid 7.01.
† Fabius was consul the first time in the year of Rome 521; and the fifth
time, in the tenth year of the second Punic war, in the year of Rome 545.
# Here Plutarch leaves a void of fifteen years. It was not indeed a ren
markable period of the life of Fabius. Hannibal entered Italy in the year of
Rome 535. He defeated Scipio in the battle of Ticinus, before he beat
Sempronius in that of Trebia.
$ Plutarch misunderstood Livy, and of the two prodigies which he mene

336
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
upon one of which these words were very legible, Mars bran.
disheth his arms. But Caius Flaminius, then consul, was not
discouraged by any of these things. He was indeed naturally
a man of much fire and ambition, and besides was elated by
former successes, which he had met with contrary to all pro-
bability; for against the sense of the senate and his colleague,
he had engaged with the Gauls and beaten them. Fabius like-
wise paid but little regard to prodigies, * as too absurd to be
believed, notwithstanding the great effect they had upon the
multitude. But being informed how small the numbers of the
enemy were, and of their want of money, he advised the Ro-
mans to have patience; not to give battle to a man who led on
an army hardened by many conflicts for this very purpose,
but to send succours to their allies, and to secure the towns that
were in their possession, until the vigour of the enemy expir-
ed of itself, like a flame for want of fuel.
He could not, however, prevail upon Flaminius. That
general declared he would never suffer the war to approach
Rome; nor, like Camillus of old, dispute within the walls,
who should be master of the city. He therefore ordered the
tribunes to draw out the forces, and mounted his horse, but
was thrown headlong off, † the horse without any visible cause
being seized with a fright and trembling: yet he persisted in
his resolution of marching out to meet Hannibal, and drew
up his army near the lake called Thrasymenus, £ in Tuscany.
While the armies were engaged there happened an earth-
tions, made but one. Livy says, —- At Falerium the sky was seen to open,
and in the void space a great light appeared. The lots at Præneste shrunk
of their own accord, and one of them dropped down, whereon was written,
Mars brandisheth his sword.”--Liv. lib. xxii. These lots were bits of oak
handsomely wrought, with some ancient characters inscribed upon them.
When any came to consult them, the coffer in which they were kept was
opened, and a child having first shaken them together, drew out one from
the rest, which contained the answer to the querist's demand. As to the
lots being shrunk, which Livy mentions, and which was considered as a bad
omen, no doubt the priests had two sets, a smaller and a greater, which they
played upon the people's superstition as they pleased. Cicero says they
were very little regarded in his time.---Cic. de Divinat. lib. ii.
* If Fabius was not moved by those prodigies, it was not because he de.
spised them, (as his colleague did, who, according to Livy, neither feared
the gods, nor took advice of men,) but because he hoped, by appeasing the
anger of the gods, to render the prodigies ineffectual. It was not Fabius,
however, but Cn. Servilius Geminus, who was colleague to Flaminius.
† This fall from his horse, which was considered as an ill omen, was fol-
lowed by another as bad. When the ensign attempted to pull his standard
out of the ground in order to march, he had not strength enough to do it.
But where is the wonder, says Cicero, to have a horse take fright, or to find
a standard-bearer feebly endeavouring to draw out the standard uvhich he
had perhaps purposely struck deep into the ground?
; Now the lake of Perugia.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
337
quake, which overturned whole cities, changed the course of
rivers, and tore off the tops of mountains; yet not one of the
combatants was in the least sensible of that violent motion.
Flaminius himself having greatly signalized his strength and
valour, fell, and with him the bravest of his troops. The rest
being routed, a great carnage ensued; full fifteen thousand
were slain, and as many taken prisoners. Hannibal was
very desirous of discovering the body of Flaminius, that he
might bury it with due honour, as a tribute to his bravery;
but he could not find it, nor could and account be given what
became of it.
When the Romans lost the battle of Trebia, neither the ge-
nerals sent a true account of it, nor the messenger represented
it as it was: both pretended the victory was doubtful.
But as
to the last, as soon as the prætor Pomponius was apprised of
it, he assembled the people, and without disguising the mat-
ter in the least, made this declaration:-“ Romans, we have
lost a great battle, our army is cut to pieces, and Flaminius
the consul is slain; think, therefore, what is to be done for
your safety.” The same commotion which a furious wind
causes in the ocean, did these words of the prætor produce in
so vast a multitude. In the first consternation they could not
fix
upon any thing; but at length all agreed thať affairs re-
quired the direction of an absolute power, which they called
the dictatorship; and that a man should be fixed upon for it,
who would exercise it with steadiness and intrepidity: that
such a man was Fabius Maximus, who had a spirit and dig-
nity of manners equal to so great a command, and besides was
of an age in which the vigour of the body is sufficient to exe-
cute the purposes of the mind, and courage is tempered with
prudence.
Pursuant to these resolutions, Fabius was chosen dictator, t
* Notwithstanding this complete victory, Hannibal lost only fifteen hun-
dred men; for he fought the Romans at great advantage, having drawn them
into an ambuscade between the hills of Cortona and the lake Thrasymenus.
Livy and Valerius Maximus make the number of prisoners only six thou-
sand; but Polybius says they were much more numerous. About ten tlou-
sand Romans, most of them wounded, made their escape, and took their
route to Rome, where few of them arrived, the rest dying of their wounds
before they reached the capital. Two mothers were so transported with
joy, one at the gate of the city, when she saw her son unexpectedly appear
and the other at home, where she found her son, that they both expired on
fA dictator could not be regularly named but by the surviving consul:
and Servilius being with the army, the people appointed Fabius by their
own authority, with the title of pro-dictator. However, the gratitude of
Rome allowed his descendants to put dictator, instead of nro-dictator, in
the list of his titles.
VOL. 1. - 2 Y
30*
the spot.

338
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
and he appointed Lucius Minutius his general of the horse. *
But first he desired permission of the senate to make use of
a horse when in the field. This was forbidden by an ancient
law, either because they placed their greatest strength in the
infantry, and therefore chose that the commander-in-chief
should be always posted among them; or else because they
would have the dictator, whose power in all other respects
was very great, and indeed arbitrary, in this case at least ap-
pear to be dependent upon the people. In the next place,
Fabius, willing to show the high authority and grandeur of
his office, in order to make the people more tractable and sub-
missive, appeared in public with twenty-four lictors carrying
the fasces before him; and when the surviving consul met him,
he sent one of his officers to order him to dismiss his lictors
and the other ensigns of his employment, and to join him as
a private man.
Then beginning with an act of religion, which is the best
of all beginnings, t and assuring the people that their defeats
were not owing to the cowardice of the soldiers, but to the
general's neglect of the sacred rites and auspices, he exhorted
them to entertain no dread of the enemy, but by extraordi-
nary honours to propitiate the gods. Not that he wanted to
infuse into them a spirit of superstition, but to confirm their
valour by piety, and to deliver them from every other fear by
a selise of the divine protection. On that occasion he con-
sulted several of those mysterious books of the Sybils, which
contained matters of great use to the state; and it is said, that
some of the prophecies found there perfectly agreed with the
circumstances of those times; but it was not lawful for him to
divulge them. However, in full assembly he vowed to the
gods a ver sacrum, that is, all the young which the next spring
should produce, on the mountains, the fields, the rivers, and
meadows of Italy, from the goats, the swine, the sheep, and
the cows. $ He likewise vowed to exhibit the great games in
honour of the gods, and to expend upon those games three
hundred and thirty-three thousand sesterces, three hundred and
thirty-three denarii, and one third of a denarius; which sum in
our Greek money is eighty-three thousand five hundred and
eighty-three drachmas and two oboli. What his reason might
be for fixing upon that precise number is not easy to deter-
mine, unless it were on account of the perfection of the num-
* According to Polybius and Livy, his name was not Lucius, but Marcus
Minutius; nor was he pitched upon by Fabius, but by the people.
* Καλλιρην αρχομενος εκ δεων αρχην.
# This vow had formerly been made to Mars by Aulus Cornelius, and
neglected.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
339
ber three, as being the first of odd numbers, the first of plu-
rals, and containing in itself the first differences, and the first
elements of all numbers.
Fabius having taught the people to repose themselves on
acts of religion, made them more easy as to future events.
For his own part, he placed all his hopes of victory in him-
self, believing that heaven blesses men with success, on ac-
count of their virtue and prudence; and therefore he watched
the motions of Hannibal, not with a design to give him battle.
but by length of time to waste his spirit and vigour, and gradu:
ally to destroy him by means of his superiority in men and
money. To secure himself against the enemy's horse, he
took care to encamp above them on high and mountainous
places. When they sat still, he did the same; when they were
in motion, he showed himself upon the heights, at such a dis-
tance as not to be obliged to fight against his inclination, and
yet near enough to keep them in perpetual alarm, as if amidst
his arts to gain time, he intended every moment to give them
battle.
These dilatory proceedings exposed him to contempt among
the Romans in general, and even in his own army.
The ene-
my, too, excepting Hannibal, thought him a man of no spirit.
He alone was sensible of the keenness of Fabius, and of the
manner in which he intended to carry on the war, and there-
fore was determined, if possible, either by stratagem or force,
to bring him to a battle, concluding that otherwise the Cartha-
ginians must be undone; since they could not decide the mat-
ter in the field, where they had the advantage, but must gra-
dually wear away, and be reduced to nothing, when the dis-
pute was only who should be superior in men and money.
Hence it was that he exhausted the whole art of war,
skilful wrestler, who watches every opportunity to lay hold
of his adversary. Sometimes he advanced and alarmed him
with the apprehensions of an attack; sometimes by marching
and counter-marching he led him from place to place, hoping
to draw him from his plan of caution. * But as he was fully
persuaded of its utility, he kept immoveable to his resolution.
Minutius, the general of the horse, gave him, however, no
small trouble by his unseasonable courage and heat, harangu
ing the army, and filling them with a furious desire to come
to action, and a vain confidence of success. Thus the soldiers
were brought to despise Fabius, and by way of derision to
call him the pedagogue of Hannibal,t while they extolled Mi-
like a
Εκσησαι των υπερ της ασφαλειας λογισμων βελομενος, .
# For the office of a pedagogue of old was (as the name implies) to at-

340
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
nutius as a great man, and one that acted up to the dignity of
Rome. This led Minutius to give a freer scope to his arro-
gance and pride, and to ridicule the dictator for encamping
constantly upon the mountains,—“As if he did it on pur-
pose that his men might more clearly behold Italy laid waste
with fire and sword.” And he asked the friends of Fabius,
" Whether he intended to take his army up into heaven, as
he had bid adieu to the world below, or whether he would
screen himself from
the enemy with clouds and fogs?” When
the dictator's friends brought him an account of these asper-
sions, and exhorted him to wipe them off by risking a battle;
“ In that case,” said he, “I should be of a more dastardly
spirit than they represent me, if through fear of insults and
reproaches, I should depart from my own resolution. But
to fear for my country is not a disagreeable fear. That man
is unworthy of such a command as this, who shrinks under
calumnies and slanders, and complies with the humour of
those whom he ought to govern,
After this, Hannibal made a disagreeable mistake. For in-
tending to lead his army farther from Fabius, and to move into
a part of the country that would afford him forage, he ordered
the guides, immediately after supper, to conduct him to the
plains of Casinum. * They taking the word wrong, by reason
of his barbarous pronunciation of it, led his forces to the bor-
ders of Campania, near the town of Casilinum, through which
runs the river Lothronus, which the Romans call Vulturnus.
The adjacent country is surrounded by mountains, except only
a valley that stretches out to the sea. Near the sea the ground
is very marshy and full of large banks of sand, by reason of
the overflowing of the river. The sea is there very rough,
and the coast almost impracticable.
As soon as Hannibal was entered into this valley, Fabius,
availing himself of his knowledge of the country, seized the
narrow outlet, and placed in it a guard of four thousand men.
The main body of his army he posted to advantage on the
it is his duty to restrain sovern, and whose folly and rashness
tend the children, to carry them up and down and conduct them home
again.
* Hannibal had ravaged Samnium, plundered the territory of Beneventum,
a Roman colony, and laid siege to Tilesia, a city at the foot of the Appe-
nines. But finding that neither the ravaging of the country, nor even the
taking of some cities, could make Fabius quit his eminences, he resolved
to make use of a stronger bait, which was to enter Campania, the finest
country in Italy, and lay it waste under the dictator's eyes, hoping by that
means to bring him to an action. But, by the mistake which Plutarch men
tions, his guides, instead of conducting him to the plains of Casinum, led
'sim into the narrow passes of Casilinum, which divides Samnium from
Campania.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
341
surrounding hills, and with the lightest and most active of his
troops, fell upon the enemy's rear, put their whole army in
disorder and killed about eight hundred of them,
Hannibal then wanted to get clear of so disadvantageous a
situation, and in revenge of the mistake the guides had made,
and the danger they had brought him into, he crucified them
all. But not knowing how to drive the enemy from the
heights they were masters of, and sensible besides of the ter-
ror and confusion that reigned amongst his men, who conclud-
ed themselves fallen into a snare, from which there was no es-
caping, he had recourse to stratagem.
The contrivance was this: He caused two thousand oxen,
which he had in his camp, to have torches and dry bavins well
fastened to their horns. These, in the night, upon a signal
given, were to be lighted, and the oxen to be driven to the
mountains, near the narrow pass that was guarded by the ene-
my.
While those that had it in charge were thus employed,
he decamped, and marched slowly forward. So long as the
fire was moderate, and burnt only the torches and bavins, * the
oxen moved softly on, as they were driven up the hills; and
the shepherds and herdsmen on the adjacent heights took them
for an army that marched in order with lighted torches. But
when their horns were burnt to the roots, and the fire pierced
to the quick, terrified, and mad with pain, they no longer kept
any certain route, but ran up the hills, with their foreheads
and tails flaming, and setting every thing on fire that came in
The Romans who guarded the pass were astonish-
ed; for they appeared to them like a great number of men run-
and down with torches, which scattered fire on every
side. In their fears, of course, they concluded that they
should be attacked and surrounded by the enemy; for which
reason they quitted the pass, and fled to the main body in the
camp.
Immediately Hannibal's light-armed troops took pos-
session of the outlet, and the rest of his forces marched safely
through, loaded with a rich booty.
Fabius discovered the stratagem that same night; for some
of the oxen, as they were scattered about, fell into his hands;
but, for fear of an ambush in the dark, he kept his men ail
night under arms in the camp. At break of day he pursued
the enemy, came up with their rear, and attacked them; seve-
ral skirmishes ensued in the difficult passes of the mountains,
and Hannibal's army was put in some disorder, until he de-
tached from his van a body of Spaniards, light and nimble
men, who were accustomed to climb such heights. These
falling upon the heavy-armed Romans, cut off a considerable
their way.
ning up
Aχι μεν πυρ ολιγον ην, και περικα και την υλη!. --
ww

342
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
number of them, and obliged Fabius to retire. This brought
upon him more contempt and calumny than ever; for having
renounced open force, as if he could subdue Hannibal by con-
duct and foresight, he appeared now to be worsted at his own
weapons. Hannibal, to incense the Romans still more against
him, when he came to his lands, ordered them to be spared,
and set a guard upon them, to prevent the committing of the
least injury there, while he was ravaging all the country around
them, and laying it waste with fire. An account of these
things being brought to Rome, heavy complaints were made
thereupon. The tribunes alleged many articles of accusation
against him before the people, chiefly at the instigation of
Metilius, who had no particular enmity to Fabius, but being
strongly in the interest of Minutius, the general of the horse,
whose relation he was, he thought by depressing Fabius to
raise his friend. The senate, too, was offended, particularly
with the terms he had settled with Hannibal for the ransom of
prisoners. For it was agreed between them, that the pri-
soners should be exchanged, man for man, and that if either
of them had more than the other, he should release them for
two hundred and fifty drachmas each man;* and upon the
whole account there remained two hundred and forty Ro-
mans unexchanged. The senate determined not to pay this
ransom, and blamed Fabius as taking a step that was against
the honour and interest of the state, in endeavouring to re-
cover men whom cowardice had betrayed into the hands of
the enemy.
When Fabius was informed of the resentment of his fellow
citizens, he bore it with invincible patience; but being in want
of money, and not choosing to deceive Hannibal, or to aban-
don his countrymen in their distress, he sent his son to Rome,
with orders to sell part of his estate, and bring him the money
immediately. This was punctually performed by his son,
and
Fabius redeemed the prisoners; several of whom afterwards
offered to repay him, but his generosity would not permit him
to accept it.
After this he was called to Rome by the priests, to assist a.
some of the solemn sacrifices, and therefore was obliged to
leave the army to Minutius; but he both charged him as dic-
tator, and used many arguments and entreaties with him as a
friend, not to come to any kind of action. The pains he took
were lost upon Minutius, for he immediately sought occasions
to fight the enemy; and observing one day that Hannibal had
* Livy calls this argenti pondo bina et selibras in militem; whence we learn
that the Roman pondo, or pound weight of silver, was equivalent to one
hundred Grecian drachmas, or a mina.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
343
sent out great part of his army to forage, he attacked those that
were left behind, and drove them within their entrenchments,
killing great numbers of them, so that they even feared he
would storm their camp; and when the rest of the Carthagi-
nian forces were returned, he retreated without loss. * This
success added to his temerity, and increased the ardour of his
soldiers. The report of it soon reached Rome, and the advan-
tage was represented as much greater than it really was. When
Fabius was informed of it, he said, he dreaded nothing more
than the success of Minutius. But the people, mightily elated
with the news, ran to the forum; and their tribune Metilius
harangued them from the rostrum, highly extolling Minutius,
and accusing Fabius now, not of cowardice and want of spirit,
but of treachery. He endeavoured also to involve the prin-
cipal men in Rome in the same crime, alleging,—" that they
had originally brought the war upon Italy for the destruction
of the common people, and had put the commonwealth under
the absolute direction of one man, who, by his slow proceed.
ings, gave Hannibal opportunity to establish himself in the
country, and to draw fresh forces from Carthage, in order to
effect a total conquest of Italy."
Fabius disdained to make any defence against these allega
tions of the tribune; he only declared, that “He would finish
the sacrifice, and other religious rites, as soon as possible, that
he might return to the army, and punish Minutius for fighting
contrary to his orders." This occasioned a great tumult
among the people, who were alarmed at the danger of Minu-
tius. For it is in the dictator's power to imprison and inflict
capital punishment, without form or trial; and they thought
that the wrath of Fabius, now provoked, though he was natu-
rally very mild and patient, would prove heavy and implaca-
ble. But fear kept them all silent, except Metilius, whose
person, as tribune of the people, could not to be touched, (for
the tribunes are the only officers of state that retain their au-
thority after the appointing of a dictator). Metilius entreated,
insisted that the people should not give up Minutius, to suffer,
perhaps, what Manlius Torquatus caused his own son to suffer,
whom he beheaded, when crowned with laurel for his victo-
ry, but that they should take from Fabius his power to play
the tyrant, and leave the direction of affairs to one who was
both able and willing to save his country. The people, though
much affected with this speech, did not venture to divest Fa-
bius of the dictatorship, notwithstanding the odium he had in-
* Others say, that he lost five thousand of his men, and that the enemy's
loss did not exceed his by more than a thousand.

344
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
curred, but decreed that Minutius should share the command
with him, and have equal authority in conducting the war; a
thing never before practised in Rome. There was, however,
another instance of it soon after, upon the unfortunate action
of Cannæ; for Marcus Junius the dictator, being then in the
field, they created another dictator, Fabius Buteo, to fill up
the senate, many of whose members were slain in that battle.
There was this difference, indeed, that Buteo had no sooner
enrolled the new senators, than he dismissed his lictors, and the
rest of his retinue, and mixed with the crowd, stopping some
time in the forum about his own affairs as a private man.
When the people had thus invested Minutius with a power
equal to that of the dictator, they thought they should find
Fabius extremely humbled and dejected; but it soon appeared
that they knew not the man. For he did not reckon their
mistake
any unhappiness to him; but, as Diogenes the philoso-
pher, when one said, -" They deride you,” answered, -
& Well, but I am not derided;" accounting those only to be
ridiculed, who feel the ridicule, and are discomposed at it; so
Fabius bore, without emotion, all that happened to himself,
herein confirming that position in philosophy, which affirms
that a wise and good man can suffer no disgrace. But he was un-
der no small concern for the public, on account of the unadvis-
ed proceedings of the people, who had put it in the power of a
rash man to indulge his indiscreet ambition for military dis-
tinction; and apprehensive that Minutius, infatuated with am-
bition, might take some fatal step, he left Rome very privately.
Upon his arrival at the camp, he found the arrogance of Mi
nutius grown to such a height, that it was no longer to be en
dured. Fabius, therefore, refused to comply with his demand
of having the army under his orders every other day, and, in-
stead of that, divided the forces with him, choosing rather to
have the full command of a part, than the direction of the whole
by turns. He therefore took the first and fourth legions him-
self, leaving the second and third to Minutius; and the confed-
erate forces were likewise equally divided.
Minutius valued himself highly upon this, that the power
of the greatest and most arbitrary office in the state was con-
trolled and reduced for his sake. But Fabius put him in mind,
“That it was not Fabius whom he had to contend with, but
Hannibal; that if he would, notwithstanding, consider his col-
league, as his rival, he must take care lest he who had so suc-
cessfully carried his point with the people, should one day ap-
pear to have their safety and interest less at heart than the man
who had been so ill treated by them.” Minutius considering
this as the effect of an old man's pique, and taking the troops

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
345
that fell to his lot, marked out a separate camp for them. *
Hannibal was well informed of all that passed, and watched
his opportunity to take advantage of it.
There was a hill betwixt him and the enemy, not difficult to
take possession of, which yet would afford an army a very safe
and commodious post. The ground about it, at a distance,
seemed quite level and plain, though there were in it several
ditches and hollows: and, therefore, though he might privately
have seized that post with ease, yet he left it as a bait to draw
the enemy to an engagement. But as soon as he saw Minu-
tius parted from Fabius, he took an opportunity in the night
to place a numbert of men in those ditches and hollows; and
early in the morning he openly sent out a small party, as if
designed to make themselves masters of the hill, but really to
draw Minutius to dispute it with them. The event answered
his expectation; for Minutius sent out his light-armed troops
first, then the cavalry, and at last, when he saw Hannibal send
reinforcements to his men upon the hill, he marched out with
all his forces in order of battle, and attacked with great vi-
gour the Carthaginians, who were marking out a camp upon
the hill. The fortune of the day was doubtful, until Hanni-
bal, perceiving that the enemy had fallen into the snare, and
that their rear was open to the ambuscade, instantly gave the
signal. Hereupon his men rushed out on all sides, and ad-
vanced with loud shouts, and cutting in pieces the hindmost
ranks, they put the Romans in disorder and terror inexpressi-
ble. Even the spirit of Minutius began to shrink; and he
looked first upon one officer and then upon another, but not
one of them durst stand his ground: they all betook them-
selves to flight, and the flight itself proved fatal; for the Nu-
midians, now victorious, galloped round the plain, and killed
those whom they found dispersed.
Fabius was not ignorant of the danger of his countrymen.
Foreseeing what would happen, he kept his forces under arms,
and took care to be informed how the action went on: nor did
he trust to the reports of others, but he himself looked out
from an eminence not far from his camp. When he saw the
army of his colleague surrounded and broken, and the cry
reached him, not like that of men standing the charge, but of
persons flying in great dismay, † he smote upon his thigh, and
* About fifteen hundred paces from Fabius.
+ Five hundred horse and five thousand foot.—Polyb.
# Homer mentions the custom of smiting upon the thigh in time of trou-
ble-Kell 0% TETANYETO pinpw. and we learn from scripture, that it was prac-
tised in the east.
Compare Hom. II. p. v. 162, and this passage of Plutarch, with Jer. xxxi.
19, and Ezek. xxi. 12.
Vol. 1.-2 Z
31

346
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
with a deep sigh said to his friends about him,-"Ye gods!
how much sooner than I expected, and yet later than his in.
discreet proceedings required, has Minutius ruined himself!"
Then having commanded the standard-bearers to advance, and
the whole army to follow, he addressed them in these words:
“ Now, my brave soldiers, if any one has a regard for Marcus
Minutius, let him exert himself; for he deserves assistance for
his valour and the love he bears his country. If, in his haste
to drive out the enemy, he has committed any error, this is
not a time to find fault with him."
The first sight of Fabius frightened away the Numidians,
who were picking up stragglers in the field. Then he attacked
those who were charging the Romans in the rear. Such as
made resistance he slew; but the greatest part retreated to
their own army, before the communication was cut off, lest
they should themselves be surrounded in their turn. Han-
nibal seeing this change of fortune, and finding that Fabius
pushed on through the hottest of the battle, with a vigour
above his years, to come up to Minutius upon the hill, put an
end to the dispute, and having sounded a retreat, retired into
his camp. The Romans, on their part, were not sorry when
the action was over. Hannibal, as he was drawing off, is re-
ported to have said smartly to those that were by,—“Did not
I often tell you, that this cloud would one day burst upon
from the mountains, with all the fury of a storm?”
After the battle, Fabius having collected the spoils of such
Carthaginians as were left dead upon the field, returned to his
post; nor did he let fall one haughty or angry word against
his colleague. As for Minutius, having called his men to-
gether, he thus expressed himself:-“Friends and fellow-sol-
diers, not to err at all in the management of great affairs, is
above the wisdom of men; but it is the part of a prudent and
good man, to learn, from his errors and miscarriages, to cor-
rect himself for the future. For my part, I confess, that
though fortune has frowned upon me a little, I have much to
thank her for. For what I could not be brought to be sensible
of in so long a time, I have learned in the small
compass
of
one day, that I know not how to command, but have need to
be under the direction of another; and from this moment I bid
adieu to the ambition of getting the better of a man whom it
is an honour to be foiled by. In all other respects the dicta-
tor shall be your commander; but in the due expressions of
gratitude to him, I will be your leader still, by being the first
to show an example of obedience and submission.”
He then ordered the ensigns to advance with the eagles, and
the troops to follow, himself marching at the head, to the camp
of Fabius. Being admitted, he went directly to his tent.
us

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
347
ter
us.
The whole army waited with impatience for the event. When
Fabius came out, Minutius fixed his standard before him, and
with a loud voice saluted him by the name of Father; at the
same time his soldiers called those of Fabius their Patrons, an
appellation which freed-men gave to those that enfranchise
them. These respects being paid, and silence taken place,
Minutius thus addressed himself to the dictator:-"You have
this day, Fabius, obtained two victories, one over the enemy
by your valour, the other over your colleague by your pru-
dence and humanity. By the former you saved us, by the lat-
you
have instructed us; and Hannibal's victory over us, is
not more disgraceful than your's is honourable and salutary to
I call you Father, not knowing a more honourable name,
and am more indebted to you than to my real father. To him
I owe my being, but to you the preservation of my life, and
the lives of all these brave men." After this, he threw him-
self into the arms of Fabius, and the soldiers of each army
embraced one another, with every expression of tenderness,
and with tears of joy.
Not long after this, Fabius laid down the dictatorship, and
consuls were created. * The first of these kept to the plans
which Fabius had laid down. He took care not to come to a
pitched battle with Hannibal, but sent succours to the allies of
Rome, and prevented any revolt in their cities. But when
Terentius Varro, † a man of obscure birth, and remarkable
only for his temerity and servile complaisance to the people,
rose to the consulship, it soon appeared that his boldness and
inexperience would bring him to risk the very being of the
commonwealth; for he loudly insisted in the assemblies of the
people, that the war stood still whilst it was under the con-
duct of the Fabii; but for his part he would take but one day
to get sight of the enemy, and to beat him.
With these pro-
mises he so prevailed on the multitude, that he raised greater
forces than Rome had ever had on foot before in her most dan-
gerous wars; for he musteredno fewer than eighty-eight
According to Livy, Fabius, after the six months of his dictatorship were
expired, resigned the army to the consuls of that year, Servilius and Ati-
lius; the latter having been appointed in the room of Flaminius, who was
killed in battle. But Plutarch follows Polybius, who says, that as the time
for the election of new consuls approached, the Romans named L. Æmilius
Paulus and Terentius Varro consuls, after which the dictators resigned
their charge.
† Varro was the son of a butcher, and had followed his father's profession
in his youth; but growing rich he had forsaken that mean calling; and, by
the favour of the people, procured by supporting the most turbulent of
their tribunes, he obtained the consulate.
# It was usual with the Romans to muster every year four legions, whiclı
consisting, in difficult times, each of five thousand Roman foot, and three

348
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
thousand men. Hereupon Fabius, and other wise and experi-
enced persons among the Romans, were greatly alarmed; be-
cause they saw no resource for the state, if such a number of
their youth should be cut off. They addressed themselves,
therefore, to the other consul, Paulus Æmilius, a man of great
experience in war, but disagreeable to the people, and at the
same time afraid of them, for they had formerly set a consi-
derable fine upon him. Fabius, however, encouraged him to
withstand the temerity of his colleague, telling him,- ,—“That
the dispute he had to support for his country was not so much
with Hannibal as with Varro. The latter," said he, 6 will
hasten to an engagement,* because he knows not his own
strength; and the former because he knows his own weakness.
But believe me, Æmilius, I deserve more attention than Varro,
with respect to the affairs of Hannibal; and I do assure you,
that if the Romans come to no battle with him this
year,
he
will either be undone by his stay in Italy, or else be obliged
to quit it. Even now when he seems to be victorious, and to
carry all before him, not one of his enemies has quitted the
Roman interest, and not a third part of the forces remains,
which he brought from home with him.” To this Æmilius
is said to have answered,—“My friend, when I consider my-
self only, I conclude it better for me to fall upon the weapons
of the enemy than by the sentence of my own countrymen.
However, since the state of public affairs is so critical, I will
endeavour to approve myself a good general, and had rather
appear such to you than to all who oppose you, and who would
draw me, willing or unwilling, to their party.” With these
sentiments Æmilius began his operations.
But Varro, having brought his colleague to agree,t that they
should command alternately each his day, when his turn came,
took post over against Hannibal, on the banks of the Aufidus,
near the village of Cannæ. } As soon as it was light he gave
hundred horse and a battalion of Latins equal to that number, amounted
in the whole to 42,400. But this year instead of four legions, they raised.
eight.
* The best dependence of Varro was, undoubtedly, to prolong the war,
that Hannibal, who was already weakened, might wear himself out by de-
grees; and, for the same reason, it was Hannibal's business to fight.
+ It was a fixed rule with the Romans, that the consuls, when they went
upon the same service, should have the command of the army by turns.
# Cannæ, according to Livy, Appian, and Florus, was only a poor village,
which afterwards became famous on account of the battle fought near it;
but Polybius, who lived near the time of the second Punic war, styles
Cannæ a city; and adds, that it had been razed a year before the defeat of
the Roman army. Silius Italicus agrees with Polybius. It was afterwards
rebuilt; for Pliny ranks it among the cities of Apulia, The ruins of Canna
are still to be seen in the territory of Bari.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
349
the signal for battle, which is a red mantle set up over the
general's tent. The Carthaginians were a little disheartened
at first, when they saw how daring the consul was, and that
his army was more than twice their number. But Hannibal
having ordered them to arm, himself, with a few others, rode
up to an eminence, to take a view of the enemy now drawn
up for battle. One Gisco, that accompanied him, a man of his
own rank, happening to say, _6 The numbers of the enemy
appeared to him surprising,” Hannibal replied, with a serious
countenance,—“There is another thing which has escaped
your observation, much more surprising than that.” Upon
his asking what it was,—“ It is,” said he, “ that among such
numbers, not one of them is named Gisco.” The whole com-
pany were diverted with the humour of his observation; and as
they returned to the camp, they told the jest to those they
met, so that the laugh became universal. At sight of this the
Carthaginians took courage, thinking it must proceed from the
great contempt in which their general held the Romans, that
he could jest and laugh in the face of danger.
In this battle Hannibal gave great proofs of generalship.
In the first place, he took advantage of the ground, to post his
men with their backs to the wind, which was then very violent
and scorching, and drove from the dry plains, over the heads
of the Carthaginians, clouds of sand and dust into the eyes
and nostrils of the Romans, so that they were obliged to turn
away their faces, and break their ranks. In the next place,
his troops were drawn up with superior art. He placed the
flower of them in the wings, and those upon whom he had less
dependence in the main corps, which was considerably more
advanced than the wings. Then he commanded those in the
wings, that when the enemy had charged, and vigorously
pushed that advanced body, which he knew would give way,
and
open a passage for them to the very centre, and when the
Romans by this means should be far enough engaged within
the two wings, they should both on the right and left take them
in flank, and endeavour to surround them. This was the
principal cause of the great carnage that followed; for the ene-
my pressing upon Hannibal's front, which gave ground, the
form of his army was changed into a half moon; and the offi-
cers of the select troops caused the two points of the wings to
join behind the Romans. Thus they were exposed to the at-
tacks of the Carthaginians on all sides; an incredible slaughter
followed; nor did any escape but the few that retreated before
the main body was enclosed.
***
* Five hundred Numidians pretended to desert to the Romans: but in the
heat of the battle turned against them, and attacked them in the rear.
31*

350
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
It is also said, that a strange and fatal accident happened to
the Roman cavalry; for the horse which Æmilius rode, hav-
ing received some hurt, threw him; and those about him
alighting to assist and defend the consul on foot, the rest of
the cavalry seeing this, and taking it for a signal for them to
do the same, all quitted their horses and charged on foot. At
sight of this, Hannibal said,—66 This pleases me better than if
they had been delivered to me bound hand and foot.” But
the particulars may be found at large in the historians who
have described this battle.
As to the consuls, Varro escaped with a few horse to Venu-
tia; and Æmilius, covered with darts which stuck in his
wounds, sat down in anguish and despair, waiting for the ene-
my to despatch him. His head and his face were so disfigured
and stained with blood, that it was not easy to know him;
even his friends and servants passed by him without stopping.
At last Cornelius Lentulus, a young man of a patrician family,
perceiving who he was, dismounted, and entreated him to take
his horse, and save himself for the commonwealth, which had
then more occasion than ever for so good a consul. But no-
thing could prevail upon him to accept of the offer; and, not-
withstanding the young man's tears, he obliged him to mount
his horse again. Then rising up, and taking
him by the hand,
“Tell Fabius Maximus,” said he “and, Lentulus, do you
yourself be witness, * that Paulus Æmilius followed his direc-
tions to the last, and did not deviate in the least from the plan
agreed upon between them, but was first overcome by Varro,
and then by Hannibal.”. Having despatched Lentulus with
this commission, he rushed among the enemy's swords, and
was slain. Fifty thousand Romans are said to have fallen in
this battle,t and four thousand to have been taken prisoners,
beside ten thousand that were taken after the battle in both
camps.
After this great success, Hannibal's friends advised him to
pursue his fortune, and to enter Rome along with the fugi-
tives, assuring him that in five days he might sup in the Capi-
tol. It is not easy to conjecture what his reason was for not
* Και γεια μαρτυς αυτος. .
+ According to Livy, there were killed of the Romans only forty thousand
foot, and two thousand seven hundred horse. Poly bius says that seventy
thousand were killed. The loss of the Carthaginians did not amount to six
thousand.
When the Carthaginians were stripping the dead, among other moving
objects ihey found, to their great surprise, a Numidian, yet alive, lying un-
der the dead body of a Roman, who had thrown himself headlong on his
enemy, and beat him down; but being no longer able to make use of his
weapons, because he had lost his hands, had torn off the nose and ears of the
Numidian with his teeth, and in that fit of rage expired.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
351
taking this step. Most probably some deity opposed it, and
therefore inspired him with this hesitation and timidity. On
this account it was that a Carthaginian, named Barca, said to
him with some heat, —-" Hannibal, you know how to gain a
victory, but not how to use it."*
The battle of Cannæ, however, made such an alteration in
his affairs, that though before it he had neither town, nor
magazine, nor port in Italy, but, without any regular supplies
for the war, subsisted his army by rapine, and for that pur-
pose moved them, like a great band of robbers from place to
place; yet then he became master of the greatest part of Italy;
its best provinces and towns voluntarily submitted to him;
and Capua itself, the most respectable city after Rome, threw
its weight into his scale.
In this case it appeared that great misfortunes are not only,
what Euripides calls them, a trial of the fidelity of a friend,
but of the capacity and conduct of a general. For the pro-
ceedings of Fabius, which before this battle were deemed cold
and timid, then appeared to be directed by counsels more than
human; to be indeed the dictates of a divine wisdom, which
penetrated into futurity at such a distance, and foresaw what
seemed incredible to the very persons who experienced it. In
him, therefore, Rome places her last hope; his judgment is
the temple, the altar, to which she flies for refuge, believing
that to his prudence it was chiefly owing that she still held up
her head, and that her children were not dispersed, as when
she was taken by the Gauls. For he who, in times of appa-
rent security, seemed to be deficient in confidence and resolu-
tion, now, when all abandoned themselves to inexpressible
sorrow and helpless despair, alone walked about the city with
a calm and easy pace, with a firm countenance, a mild and
gracious address, checking their effeminate lamentations, and
preventing them from assembling in public to bewail their
common distress. He caused the senate to meet; he encou-
raged the magistrates, himself being the soul of their body,
Zonarus tells us, that Hannibal himself afterwards acknowledged his
mistake in not pursuing that day's success, and used often to cry out, o
Cannæ, Canna!
But, on the other hand, it may be pleaded, in defence of Hannibal, that
the advantages he had gained were chiefly owing to his cavalry, who could
not act in a siege: that the inhabitants of Rome were all bred up to arms
from their infancy; would use their utmost efforts in defence of their wives,
their children, and their domestic gods; and, when sheltered by walls and
ramparts, would probably be invincible: That they had as many generals as
senators: That no one nation of Italy had yet declared for him, and he might
judge it necessary to gain some of them before he attempted the capital;
And lastly, that if he had attempted the capital first, and without success,
he would not have been able to gain any one nation or city.

352
FABIUS MAXIMUS,
for all waited his motion, and were ready to obey his orders;
he placed a guard at the gates, to hinder such of the people as
were inclined to fly from quitting the city; he fixed both the
place and time for mourning, allowed thirty days for that pur-
pose in a man's own house, and no more for the city in gene-
ral; and as the feast of Ceres fell within that time, it was
thought better entirely to omit the solemnity, than by the small
numbers, and the melancholy looks of those that should attend
it, to discover the greatness of their loss;* for the worship
most acceptable to the gods is that which comes from cheerful
hearts. Indeed, whatever the augurs ordered for propitiating
the divine powers, and averting inauspicious omens, was care-
fully performed; for Fabius Pictor, the near relation of Fabius
Maximus, was sent to consult the oracle at Delphi; and of the
two vestals who were then found guilty of a breach of their
vow of chastity, one was buried alive, according to custom,
and the other died by her own hand.
But what most deserves to be admired, is the magnanimity
and temper of the Romans, when the consul Varro returned
after his defeat,t much humbled and very melancholy, as one
who had occasioned the greatest calamity and disgrace ima
ginable to the republic. The whole senate and people went to
welcome him at the gates; and, when silence was commanded,
the magistrates and principal senators, amongst whom was
Fabius, commended him for not giving up the circumstances
of the state as desperate after so great a misfortune, but re-
turning to take upon him the administration, and to make
what advantage he could for his country of the laws and citi-
zens, as not being utterly lost and ruined.
When they found that Hannibal, after the battle, instead of
marching to Rome, turned to another part of Italy, they took
courage, and sent their armies and generals into the field.
The most eminent of these were Fabius Maximus and Claudi
us Marcellus, men distinguished by characters almost entirely
opposite. Marcellus (as we have mentioned in his life) was
a man of a buoyant and animated valour, remarkably well
* This was not the real cause of deferring the festival, but that which Plu-
tarch hints at just after, viz. because it was unlawful for persons in mourn-
ing to celebrate it; and at that time there was not one matron in Rome who
was not in mourning. In fact, the feast was not entirely omitted, but kept
as soon as the mourning was expired.
† Valerius Maximus tells us (lib. iii. c. 6,) that the senate and people of-
fered Varro the dictatorship, which he refused, and by his modest refusal,
wiped off, in some measure, the shame of his former behaviour. Thus the
Romans, by treating their unfortunate commanders with humanity, lessened
the disgrace of their being vanquished or discharged, while the Carthaginians
condemned their generals to cruel deaths, upon their being overcome, though
it was often without their own fault.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
353
skilled in the use of weapons, and naturally enterprising; such
an one, in short as Homer calls lofty in heart, in courage fierce,
in war delighting. So intrepid a general was very fit to be
opposed to an enemy as daring as himself, to restore the cou-
rage and spirits of the Romans, by some vigorous stroke in
the first engagements. As for Fabius, he kept to his first sen-
timents, and hoped, that if he only followed Hannibal close,
without fighting him, he and his army would wear themselves
out, and lose their warlike vigour, just as a wrestler does, who
keeps continually in the ring, and allows himself no repose to
recruit his strength after excessive fatigues. Hence it was
that the Romans (as Posidonius tells us) called Fabius their
shield, and Marcell:is their sword, and used to say, that the
steadiness and caution of the one, mixed with the vivacity and
boldness of the other, made a compound very salutary to
Rome. Hannibal, therefore, often meeting Marcellus, whose
motions were like those of a torrent, found his forces broken
and diminished; ard by Fabius, who moved with a silent but
constant stream, he was undermined and insensibly weakened.
Such, at length, was the extremity he was reduced to, that he
was tired of fighting Marcellus, and afraid of Fabius. And
these were the persons he had generally to do with during the
remainder of the war, as prætors, consuls, or proconsuls; for
each of them was five times consul. It is true, Marcellus, in
his fifth consulate, was drawn into his snares, and killed, by
means of an ambuscade. Hannibal often made the like at-
tempts upon l'abius, exerting all his arts and stratagems, but
without effect Once only he deceived him, and had nearly
led him into a fatal error. He forged letters to him, as from
the principal inhabitants of Metapontum, offering to deliver
up the city to him, and assuring him that those who had taken
this resolution, only waited till he appeared before it. Fabius,
giving credit to these letters, ordered a party to be ready, in-
tending to march thither in the night; but finding the auspices
unpromising, he altered his design, and soon after discovered
that the letters were forged by an artifice of Hannibal's, and
that he was lying in ambush for him near the town.
But this,
perhaps, may be ascribed to the favour and protection of the
gods.
Fabius was persuaded that it was better to keep the cities
from revolting, and to prevent any commotions among the
allies, by affability and mildness, than to entertain every sus-
picion, or to use severity against those whom he did suspect.
It is reported of him, that being informed that a certain Mar-
cian in his army, * who was a man not inferior in courage or
* Livy tells this story of Marcellus, which Plutarch here applies to Fabius,
VOL. 1. 3 A

354
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
family to any among the allies, solicited some of his men to
desert, he did not treat him harshly, but acknowledged that
he had been too much neglected; declaring, at the same time,
that he was now perfectly sensible how much his officers had
been to blame, in distributing honours more out of favour
than regard to merit; and that, for the future, he should take
it ill if he did not apply to him when he had any request to
make. This was followed with a present of a war-horse, and
with other marks of honour; and from that time the man be-
haved with great fidelity and zeal for the service. Fabius
thought it hard, that, while those that bred dogs and horses
soften their stubborn tempers, and bring down their fierce
spirits, by care and kindness, rather than with whips and
chains, he who has the command of men should not endeavour
to correct their errors by gentleness and goodness, but treat
them even in a harsher and more violent manner than garden-
ers do the wild fig-trees, wild pears and olives, whose nature
they subdue by cultivation, and which, by that means, they
bring to produce very agreeable fruit.
Another time, some of his officers informed him, that one
of the soldiers, a native of Lucania, often quitted his post,
and rambled out of the camp. Upon this report, he asked
what kind of a man he was in other respects; and they all de-
clared it was not easy to find so good a soldier, doing him the
justice to mention several extraordinary instances of his valour.
On inquiring into the cause of this irregularity, he found that
the man was passionately in love, and that, for the sake of see-
ing a young woman, he ventured out of the camp, and took a
long and dangerous journey, every night. Hereupon Fabius
gave orders to some of his men to find out the woman, and
convey her into his own tent, but took care that the Lucanian
should not know it. Then he sent for him, and taking him
aside, spoke to him as follows:-“I very well know that you
have lain many nights out of the camp, in breach of the Ro-
man discipline and laws; at the same time, I am not ignorant
of your past services. In consideration of them, I forgive
your present crime; but, for the future, I will give you ir.
charge to a person who shall be answerable for you.” While
the soldier stood much amazed, Fabius produced the woman,
and putting her in his hands, thus expressed himself:-" This
is the person who engages for you, that you will remain in
camp, and now we shall see whether there was not some trai-
torous design which drew you out, and which you made the
love of this woman a cloak for." Such is the account we have
of this affair.
By means of another love-affair, Fabius recovered the city
of Tarentum, which had been treacherously delivered
up
to

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
355
Hannibal. A young man, a native of that place, who served
under Fabius, had a sister there, who loved him with great
tenderness. This youth being informed that a certain Bru-
tian,* one of the officers of the garrison which Hannibal had
put in Tarentum, entertained a violent passion for his sister,
hoped to avail himself of this circumstance to the advantage
of the Romans. Therefore, with the permission of Fabius,
he returned to his sister at Tarentum, under colour of having
deserted. Some days passed, during which the Brutian for-
bore his visits, for she supposed that her brother knew nothing
of the amour. This obliged the young man to come to an ex-
planation:—66 It has been currently reported,” said he, “that
you receive addresses from a man of some distinction.
Pray
who is he? If he is a man of honour and character, as they say
he is, Mars, who confounds all things, takes but little thought
of what country he may be. What necessity imposes is no
disgrace; but we may rather think ourselves fortunate, at a
time when justice yields to force, if that which force might
compel us to, happens not to be disagreeable to our own incli-
nations.” Thus encouraged, the young woman sent for the
Brutian, and presented him to her brother. And as she be-
haved to him in a kinder and more complying manner, through
her brother's means, who was very indulgent to his passion,
it was not very difficult to prevail with the Brutian, who was
deeply in love, and was withal a mercenary,t to deliver up the
town, upon promises of great rewards from Fabius.
This is the account which most historians give us; yet some
that the woman by whom the Brutian was gained, was not
a Tarentine, but a Brutian; that she had been concubine to Fa-
bius; and that when she found the governor of Tarentum was
her countryman and acquaintance, she told Fabius of it, and
finding means, by approaching the walls, to make him a pro-
posal, she drew him over to the Roman interest.
During these transactions, Fabius, in order to make a diver-
sion, gave directions to the garrison of Rhegium, to lay waste
the Brutian territories, and, if possible, to make themselves
masters of Caulonia. These were a body of eight thousand
men, composed partly of deserters and partly of the most
worthless of that infamous band brought by Marcellus out of
Sicily, I and therefore the loss of them would not be great, nor
* Των τεταγμενον υπ’ Αννιβε την πολιν φρερεια εφ' ηγεμονίας, .
† ApSports Pulo Jodops. This has been mistranslated a man of a mer
cenary disposition. The words only import that he was not of Hannibal's
own troops, but of the n..cenaries. Hence all governments should learn
beware how they entrust i. si. towns with garrisons of hired troops and
strangers.
* These men were brought from Sı. '9.91" hy Marcellus, but by his col
league Lævinus
say,

356
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
much lamented by the Romans. These men he threw out as
a bait for Hannibal, and by sacrificing them, hoped to draw
him to a distance from Tarentum. The design succeeded ac-
cordingly; for Hannibal marched with his forces to Caulonia,
and Fabius in the mean time laid siege to Tarentum. The
sixth day of the siege, the young man having settled the mat-
ter with the Brutian officer, by means of his sister, and having
well observed the place where he kept guard, and promised to
let in the Romans, went to Fabius by night and gave him an
account of it. The consul moved to the appointed quarter,
though not entirely depending upon the promise that the town
would be betrayed. There he himself sat still, but at the same
time ordered an assault on every other part, both by sea and
land. This was put in execution with great noise and tumult,
which drew most of the Tarentines that way, to assist the
garrison, and repel the besiegers. Then the Brutian giving
Fabius the signal, he scaled the walls, and got possession of
the town.
On this occasion Fabius seems to have indulged a criminal
ambition. * For that it might not appear that the place was
betrayed to him, he ordered the Brutians to be first put to the
sword. But he failed in his design; for the former suspicion
still remained, and he incurred, besides, the reproach of per-
fidy and inhumanity. Many of the Tarentines also were kill-
ed; thirty thousand of them were sold for slaves; the army
had the plunder of the town, and three thousand talents were
brought into the public treasury. Whilst every thing was
ransacked, and the spoils were heaped before Fabius, it is re-
ported that the officer who took the inventory, asked, “What
he would have them do with the gods?” meaning the statues
and pictures: Fabius answered, “ Let us leave the Tarentines
their angry gods.† However, he carried away a colossus of
Hercules, which he afterwards set up in the Capitol, and near
it an equestrian statue of himself in brass. I Thus he showed
himself inferior to Marcellus in his taste for the fine arts, and
still more so in mercy and humanity. Marcellus in this re-
spect had greatly the advantage, as we have already observed
in his life.
Hannibal had hastened to the relief of Tarentum; and being
Livy does not say that Fabius gave such orders. He only says, “ There
were many Brutians slain, either through ignorance, or through the ancient
hatred which the Romans bore them, or because the Romans were desirous
that Tarentum should seem to be taken sword in hand, rather than betray-
ed to them."
† The gods were in the attitude of combatants; and they appeared to have
fought against the Tarentines.
# The work of Lysippus.

FABIUS MAXIMUS.
357
9
tum. 2)
within five miles of it, when it was taken, he scrupled not to
say publicly, “ The Romans, too, have their Hannibal; for we
have lost Tarentum in the same manner that we gained it."
And, in private, he then first acknowledged to his friends,
66 That he had always thought it difficult, but now saw it was
impossible, with the forces he had, to conquer Italy.”
Fabius for this was honoured with a triumph more splendid
than the former, having gloriously maintained the field against
Hannibal and baffled all his schemes with ease, just as an able
wrestler disengages himself from the arms of his antagonist,
whose
grasp no longer retains the same vigour. For Hanni-
bal's army was now partly enervated with opulence and luxu-
ry, and partly impaired and worn out with continual action.
Marcus Livius, who commanded in Tarentum when it was
betrayed to Hannibal, retired into the citadel, and held it
till the town was retaken by the Romans. This officer beheld
with pain the honours conferred upon Fabius; and one day
his envy and vanity drew from him this expression in the
senate: “I, not Fabius, was the cause of recovering Taren-
True,” said Fabius laughing, “for if you had not
lost the town, I had never recovered it.”
Among other honours which the Romans paid to Fabius,
they elected his son consul. When he had entered
upon
his
office, and was settling some point relating to the war, the
father, either on account of his age and infirmities, or else to
try his son, mounted his horse to ride up to him.
to him. The
consul seeing him at a distance, would not suffer it, but sent
one of the lictors to his father, with orders for him to dis-
mount, and to come on foot to the consul, if he had any occa-
sion to apply to him. The whole assembly were moved at
this, and cast their eyes upon Fabius, by their silence and
their looks expressing their resentment of the indignity of-
fered to a person of his character. But he instantly alighted,
and ran to his son, and embraced him with great tenderness:
“My son,” said he, “I applaud your sentiments and your
behaviour. You know what a people you command, and
have a just sense of the dignity of your office. This was the
way
that we and our forefathers took to advance Rome to her
present height of glory, always considering the honour and
interest of our country before that of our own fathers and
children."
And indeed it is reported that the great-grandfather of our
Fabius,t though he was one of the greatest men in Rome,
*
The young
* The son was elected consul four years before the father took To
rentum,
† Fabius Rullus.
32

358
FABIUS MAXIMUS
whether we consider his reputation or authority, though he
had been five times consul, and had been honoured with se-
veral glorious triumphs on account of his success in wars of the
last importance, yet condescended to serve as lieutenant to his
son, then consul, * in an expedition against the Samnites: and
while his son, in the triumph which was decreed him, drove
into Rome in a chariot and four, he, with others, followed him
on horseback. Thus, while he had authority over his son,
considered as a private man, and while he wasnt both especi-
ally and reputedly, the most considerable member of the com-
monwealth, yet he gloried in showing his subjection to the
laws and to the magistrate. Nor was this the only part of his
character that deserves to be admired.
When Fabius Maximus had the misfortune to lose his son
he bore that loss with great moderation, as became a wise man
and a good father; and the funeral oration, $ which, on occa-
sion of the deaths of illustrious men, is usually pronounced by
some near kinsman, he delivered himself; and having commit-
ted it to writing, made it public.
When Publius Cornelius Scipio, who was sent proconsul
into Spain, had defeated the Carthaginians in many battles,
and driven them out of that province; and when he had, more-
over, reduced several towns and nations under the obedience
of Rome, on returning loaded with spoil, he was received
with great acclamations and general joy. Being appointed con-
sul, and finding that the people expected something great
and striking at his hands, he considered it as an antiquated
method, and worthy only of the inactivity of an old man, to
watch the motions of Hannibal in Italy; and therefore deter-
mined to remove the seat of war from thence into Africa, to
fill the enemy's country with his legions, to extend his ravages
far and wide, and to attempt Carthage itself. With this view,
he exerted all his talents to bring the people into his design.
But Fabius, on this occasion, filled the city with alarms, as if
the commonwealth was going to be brought into the most ex-
treme danger, by a rash and indiscreet young man; in short,
he scrupled not to do or to say any thing he thought likely to
* Fabius Guages, who had been defeated by the Samnites, and would have
been degraded, had not his father promised to attend him in his second ex-
pedition as his lieutenant.
t- και 'ων, προσαγορευόμενος
# Cicero, in his treatise on old age, speaks in high terms, both of Fabius
and this oration of his:-" Many extraordinary things have I known in that
man, but nothing more admirable than the manner in which he bore the
death of his son, a person of great merit and of consular dignity. His eulo-
gium is in our hands; and while we read it, do we not look down on the
best of the philosophers

FABIUS MAXIMUS
359
dissuade his countrymen from embracing the proposal. With
the senate he carried his point.* But the people believed that
his opposition to Scipio proceeded either from envy of his
success, or from a secret fear, that if this young hero should
perform some signal exploit, put an end to the war, or even
remove it out of Italy, his own slow proceedings through the
course of so many years might be imputed to indolence or
timidity.
To me Fabius seems at first to have opposed the measures
of Scipio, from an excess of caution and prudence, and to have
really thought the danger attending his project great; but in
the progress of the opposition I think he went too great lengths,
misled by ambition and a jealousy of Scipio’s rising glory; for
he applied to Crassus, the colleague of Scipio, and endeavour-
ed to persuade him not to yield that province to Scipio, but, if
he thought it proper to conduct the war in that manner, to go
himself against Carthage.t Nay, even hindered the raising
of money for that expedition; so that Scipio was obliged to
find the supplies as he could: and he effected it through his in-
terest with the cities of Hetruria, which were wholly devoted
to him. I As for Crassus, he staid at home, partly induced to
it by his disposition, which was mild and peaceful, and partly
by the care of religion, which was entrusted to him as high
priest.
Fabius, therefore, took another method to traverse the de-
sign. He endeavoured to prevent the young men, who offer-
ed to go volunteers, from giving in their names, and loudly
declared, both in the senate and forum, “ That Scipio did not
only himself avoid Hannibal, but intended to carry away with
him the remaining strength of Italy, persuading the young
men to abandon their parents, their wives, and native city,
whilst an unsubdued and potent enemy was still at their
doors.” With these assertions he so terrified the people, that
they allowed Scipio to take with him only the legions that
were in Sicily, and three hundred of those men who had serv-
ed him with so much fidelity in Spain. In this particular Fa-
bius seems to have followed the dictates of his own cautious
temper.
* See the debates in the senate on that occasion, in Livy, lib. xxviii.
+ This Crassus could not do; for being Pontifex Maximus, it was necessa-
ry that he should remain in Italy.
# Scipio was empowered to ask of the allies all things necessary for build-
ing and equipping a new fleet. And many of the provinces and cities vo-
luntarily taxed themselves to furnish him with corn, iron, timber, cloth for
sails, &c. so that in forty days after the cutting of the timber, he was in a con-
dition to set sail with a fleet of thirty new galleys, besides the thirty he had
before. There went with him about seven thousand volunte.

360
FABIUS MAXIMUS.
ments.
After Scipio was gone over into Africa, an account was
soon brought to Rome of his glorious and wonderful achieve-
This account was followed by rich spoils, which con-
firmed it. A Numidian king was taken prisoner; two camps
were burnt and destroyed, and in them a vast number of men,
arms, and horses; and the Carthaginians sent orders to Han-
nibal to quit his fruitless hopes in Italy, and return home to
defend his own country. Whilst every tongue was applaud-
ing these exploits of Scipio, Fabius proposed that his successor
should be appointed, without any shadow of reason for it, ex-
cept what this well-known maxim implies, viz. “That it is
dangerous to trust affairs of such importance to the fortune of
one man, because it is not likely that he will always be suc-
cessful."
By this he offended the people, who now considered him as
a captious and envious man; or as one whose courage and
hopes were lost in the dregs of years, and who therefore look-
ed
upon Hannibal as much more formidable than he really
was. Nay, even when Hannibal embarked his army, and
quitted Italy, Fabius ceased not to disturb the general joy,
and to damp the spirits of Rome. For he took the liberty to
affirm, -66That the commonwealth was now come to her last
and worst trial: that she had the most reason to dread the ef-
forts of Hannibal when he should arrive in Africa, and attack
her sons under the walls of Carthage; that Scipio would have
to do with an army yet warm with the blood of so many Ro-
man generals, dictators, and consuls,” The city was alarmed
with these declamations; and though the war was removed in-
to Africa, the danger seemed to approach nearer Rome than
However, soon after Scipio defeated Hannibal in a pitched
battle, pulled down the pride of Carthage, and trod it under
foot. This afforded the Romans a pleasure beyond all their
hopes, and restored a firmness to their empire, which had been
shaken with so many tempests. But Fabius Maximus did
not live to the end of the war, to hear of the overthrow of
Hannibal, or to see the prosperity of his country re-establish-
ed; for about the time that Hannibal left Italy, he fell sick,
and died. We are assured, that Epaminondas died so poor,
that the Thebans buried him at the public charge; for at his
death nothing was found in his house but an iron spit. The
ever.
* Xylander is of opinion, that the word oßenlomas in this place does not sig-
nify a spit, but a piece of money; and he shows, from a passage in the life of
Lysander, that money anciently was made in a pyramidical form. But he
did not consider that iron money was not in use at Thebes, and Plutarch says
that this obeliscus was of iron.

PERICLES AND FABIUS MAXIMUS COMPARED.
361
expense of Fabius's funeral was not indeed defrayed out of the
Roman treasury, but every citizen contributed a small piece
of money towards it: not that he died without effects, but that
they might bury him as the father of the people, and that the
honours paid him at his death might be suitable to the dignity
of his life.
PERICLES AND FABIUS MAXIMUS
COMPARED.
Such were the lives of those two persons, so illustrious and
worthy of imitation, both in their civil and military capacity.
We shall first compare their talents for war. And here it
strikes us at once, that Pericles came into power at a time when
the Athenians were at the height of prosperity, great in them-
selves, and respectable to their neighbours; so that in the very
strength of the republic, with only common success, he was
secure from taking any disgraceful step. But as Fabius came
to the helm, when Rome experienced the worst and most mor-
tifying turn of fortune, he had not to preserve the well-estab-
lished prosperity of a flourishing state, but to draw his country
from an abyss of misery, and raise it to happiness. Besides,
the successes of Cimon, the victories of Myronides and Leo-
crates, and the many great achievements of Tolmides, rather
furnished occasion to Pericles, during his administration, to
entertain the city with feasts and games,t than to make new
acquisitions, or to defend the old ones by arms. On the other
hand, Fabius had the frightful objects before his eyes, of de-
feats and disgraces, of Roman consuls and generals slain, of
lakes, fields, and forests, full of the dead carcasses of whole
armies, and of rivers flowing with blood down to the very sea.
In this tottering and decayed condition of the commonwealth,
he was to support it by his counsels and his vigour, and to keep
it from falling into absolute ruin, to which it was brought so
near by the errors of former commanders.
It may seem, indeed, a less arduous performance to manage
the tempers of a people humbled by calamities, and compelled
* Πολλά και καλά παραδειγματα καταλέλαι πασιν.
* Η κτησάσθαι πολεμο και φυλαξασθαι.
VOL. I.-3B
82

362
PERICLES AND FABIUS MAXIMUS COMPARED.
by necessity to listen to reason, than to restrain the wildness
and insolence of a city elated with success, and wanton with
power, such as Athens was when Pericles held the reins of go-
vernment. But then, undauntedly to keep to his first resolu-
tions, and not to be discomposed by the vast weight of misfor-
tunes with which Rome was then oppressed, discovers in Fa-
bius an admirable firmness and dignity of mind.
Against the taking of Samos by Pericles, we may set the
retaking of Tarentum by Fabius; and with Eubæa we may put
in balance the towns of Campania. As for Capua, it was re-
covered afterwards by the consuls Furius and Appius. Fa-
bius indeed gained but one set battle, for which he had his
first triumph; whereas Pericles erected nine trophies, for as
many victories won by land and sea. But none of the victo-
ries of Pericles can be compared with that memorable rescue
of Minutius, by which Fabius redeemed him and his whole
army from utter destruction; an action truly great, and in
which you find at once the bright assemblage of valour, of
prudence, and humanity. Nor can Pericles, on the other
ħand, be said ever to have committed such an error as that of
Fabius, when he suffered himself to be imposed on by Hanni-
bal's stratagem of the oxen; let his enemy slip in the night
through those straights in which he had been entangled by ac-
cident, and where he could not possibly have forced his way
out: and as soon as it was day, saw himself repulsed by the
man who was so lately at his mercy.
If it is the part of a good general, not only to make a pro-
per use of the present, but also to form the best judgment of
things to come, it must be allowed that Pericles both foresaw
and foretold what success the Athenians would have in the
war, namely, that they would ruin themselves by grasping at
too much. But it was entirely against the opinion of Fabius,
that the Romans sent Scipio into Africa, and yet they were
victorious there, not by the favour of fortune, but by the cou
rage and conduct of their general. So that the misfortunes of
his country bore witness to the sagacity of Pericles, and from
the glorious success of the Romans, it appeared that Fabius
was utterly mistaken; and, indeed, it is an equal fault in a
commander-in-chief to lose an advantage through diffidence,
and to fall into danger for want of foresight; for it is the same
want of judgment and skill,* that sometimes produces too
much confidence, and sometimes leaves too little. Thus far
concerning their abilities in war.
* This analpse signifies as well, inexperience. Fabius had as much experi-
ence as Pericles, and yet was not equally happy in his conjectures with rer
gard to future events.

PERICLES AND FABIUS MAXIMUS COMPARED.
363
And if we consider them in their political capacity, we shall
find that the greatest fault laid to the charge of Pericles was,
that he caused the Peloponnesian war, through opposition to
the Lacedæmonians, which made him unwilling to give up the
least point to them. I do not suppose that Fabius Maximus
would have given up any point to the Carthaginians, but that
he would generously have run the last risk to maintain the
dignity of Rome.
The mild and moderate behaviour of Fabius to Minutius,
sets in a very disadvantageous light the conduct of Pericles,
in his implacable persecution of Cimon and Thucydides,
valuable men and friends to the aristocracy, and yet banished
by his practices and intrigues.
Besides, the power of Pericles was much greater than that
of Fabius; and therefore he did not suffer any misfortune to
be brought upon Athens by the wrong measures of other gene-
rals. Tolmides only carried it against him for attacking the
Boeotians, and in doing it he was defeated and slain. All the
rest adhered to his party, and submitted to his opinion, on ac-
count of his superior authority; whereas, Fabius, whose mea-
sures were salutary and safe, as far as they depended upon
himself, appears only to have fallen short by his inability to
prevent the miscarriages of others. For the Romans would
not have had so many misfortunes to deplore, if the power of
Fabius had been as great in Rome, as that of Pericles in
Athens.
As to their liberality and public spirit, Pericles showed it
in refusing the sums that were offered him, and Fabius in ran-
soming his soldiers with his own money. This, indeed, was
no great expense, being only about six talents. * But it is not
easy to say what a treasure Pericles might have amassed from
the allies, and from kings who made their court to him, on ac-
count of his great authority; yet no man ever kept himself
more free from corruption.
As for the temples, the public edifices, and otner works,
with which Pericles adorned Athens, all the structures of that
kind in Rome put together, until the times of the Cæsars, de-
served not to be compared with them, either in the greatness
of the design, or the excellence of the execution.
* Probably this is an error of the transcribers. For Fabius was to pay two
hundred and fifty drachmas for each prisoner, and he ransomed two hundred
and forty-seven, which would stand him sixty-one thousand seven hundred
and fifty drachmas, that is, more than ten talents; a very considerable ex
pense to Fabius, which he could not answer without selling his estrice,

LIFE OF ALCIBIADES.
Those that have searched into the pedigree of Alcibiades
say, that Eurysaces, the son of Ajax, was founder of the fa-
mily; and that, by his mother's side, he was descended from
Alemæon; for Dinomache his mother, was the daughter of
Megacles, who was of that line. His father Clinias gained
great honour in the sea-fight of Artemisium, where he fought
in a galley fitted out at his own expense, and afterwards was
slain in the battle of Coronæ, where the Baotians won the
day. Pericles and Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus, and
near relations to Alcibiades, were his guardians. It is said,
and not without reason, that the affection and attachment of
Socrates contributed much to his fame. For Nicias, Demos-
thenes, Lamachus, Phormio, Thrasybulus, Theramenes, were
illustrious persons, and his contemporaries, yet we do not so
much as know the name of the mother of either of them;
whereas we know even the nurse of Alcibiades, that she was
of Lacedæmon, and that her name was Amycla; as well as
that Zopyrus was his schoolmaster; the one being recorded by
Antisthenes, and the other by Plato.
As to the beauty of Alcibiades, it may be sufficient to say,
that it retained its charms through the several stages of child-
hood, youth, and manhood. For it is not universally true
what Euripides says, -
The very autumn of a form once fine
Retains its beauties.
Yet this was the case of Alcibiades, amongst a few others, by
reason of his natural vigour and happy constitution.
He had a lisping in his speech, which became him, and gave
a grace and persuasive turn to his discourse. Aristophanes,
in those verses wherein he ridicules Theorus, takes notice,
that Alcibiades lisped, for instead of calling him Corax, Ra-
ven, he called him Čolax, Flatterer; from whence the poet takes
occasion to observe, that the term in that lisping pronuncia-
tion, too, was very applicable to him. With this agrees the

ALCIBIADES.
365
satirical description which Archippus gives of the son of Al-
cibiades:-
With saunt'ring step, to imitate his father,
The vain youth moves; his loose robe wildly floats;
He bends the neck; he lisps.
>>
terror.
His manners were far from being uniform; nor is it strange,
that they varied according to the many vicissitudes and won
derful turns of his fortune. He was naturally a man of strong
passions; but his ruling passion was an ambition to contend
and overcome. This appears from what is related of his
say-
ings when a boy. When hard pressed in wrestling, to prevent
his being thrown, he bit the hands of his antagonist, who let
go
his hold, and said, “You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman.
“No,” says he, “like a lion."
One day he was playing at dice with other boys in the street;
and when it came to his turn to throw, a loaded wagon came
up. At first he called to the driver to stop, because he was to
throw in the way over which the wagon was to pass. The
rustic disregarding him and driving on, the other boys broke
away;
but Älcibiades threw himself upon his face directly be-
fore the wagon, and stretching himself out, bade the fellow
drive on if he pleased. Upon this he was so startled, that he
stopped his horses, while those that saw it ran up to him with
In the course of his education, he willingly took the lessons
of his other masters, but refused learning to play upon the
flute, which he looked upon as a mean art, and unbecoming a
gentleman. “ The use of the plectrum and the lyre,” he would
say, “has nothing in it that disorders the features or form, but
a man is hardly to be known by his most intimate friends when
he plays upon the flute. Besides, the lyre does not hinder the
performer from speaking or accompanying it with a song,
whereas the flute so engages the mouth and the breath, that it
leaves no possibility of speaking. Therefore, let the Theban
youth pipe, who know not how to discourse; but we Atheni-
ans, according to the account of our ancestors, have Minerva
for our patroness, and Apollo for our protector, one of whom
threw away the flute, and the other stripped off the man's skin
who played upon it.”* Thus, partly by raillery, and partly
by argument, Alcibiades kept both himself and others from
learning to play upon the flute; for it soon became the talk
among the young men of condition, that Alcibiades was right
in holding that art in abomination, and ridiculing those that
* Marsyas.

366
ALCIBIADES.
practised it. Thus it lost its place in the number of liberal ac-
complishments, and was universally exploded.
In the invective which Antipho wrote against Alcibiades,
one story is, that when a boy, he ran away from his guardians
to one of his friends named Democrates; and that Ariphron
would have had proclamation made for him, had not Pericles
diverted him from it, by saying, “ If he is dead, we shall only
find him one day the sooner for it; if he is safe, it will be a
reproach to him as long as he lives.” Another story is, that
he killed one of his servants with a stroke of his stick, in Si-
byrtius's place of exercise. But, perhaps, we should not give
entire credit to these things, which were professedly written
by an enemy to defame him.
Many persons of rank made their court to Alcibiades; but
it is evident that they were charmed and attracted by the
beauty of his person. Socrates was the only one whose re-
gards were fixed upon the mind, and bore witness to the young
man's virtue and ingenuity; the rays of which he could dis-
tinguish through his fine form; and fearing lest the pride of
riches and high rank, and the crowd of flatterers, both Athe-
nians and strangers, should corrupt him, he used his best en-
deavours to prevent it, and took care that so hopeful a plant
should not lose its fruit, and perish in the very flower. Ifever
fortune so enclosed and fortified a man with what are called
her goods, as to render him* inaccessible to the incision-knife
of philosophy, and the searching-probe of free advice, surely
it was Alcibiades. From the first, he was sun ounded with
pleasure, and a multitude of admirers, determined to say no
thing but what they thought would please, and to keep him
from all admonition and reproof; yet, by his native penetra-
tion, he distinguished the value of Socrates, and attached him-
self to him, rejecting the rich and great, who sued for his re-
gard.
With Socrates he soon entered into the closest intimacy;
and finding that he did not, like the rest of the unmanly crew,
want improper favours, but that he studied to correct the er-
rors of his heart, and to cure him of his empty and foolish ar-
rogance,
Then his crest fell, and all his pride was gone,
He droop'd the conquer'd wing.
In fact, he considered the discipline of Socrates as a provision
from heaven for the preservation and benefit of youth. Thus
* Plutarch's expression here is not exactly the same with that of the trans-
lation, but it is couched in figures which tend the same way, worldLIPWTOY UTTA
φιλοσοφίας γενεσθαι, και λογοις απροσιτον παρρησίαν και δηγμoν έχεσιν.

ALCIBIADES,
367
despising himself, admiring his friend, adoring his wisdom,
and revering his virtue, he insensibly formed in his heart the
image of love, or rather came under the influence of that
pow.
er, who, as Plato says, secures his votaries from vicious love
It surprised all the world to see him constantly sup with So-
crates, take with him the exercise of wrestling, lodge in the
same tent with him; while to his other admirers he was re-
served and rough. Nay, to some he behaved with great inso-
lence, to Anytus (for instance, the son of Anthemion. Any-
tus was very fond of him, and happening to make an entertain-
ment for some strangers, he desired Alcibiades to give him his
company. Alcibiades would not accept of the invitation; but
having drunk deep with some of his acquaintance at his own
house, he went thither to play some frolic. The frolic was this:
He stood at the door of the room where the guests were enter-
tained, and seeing a great number of gold and silver cups upon
the table, he ordered his servants to take half of them, and
carry them to his own house;* and then, not vouchsafing so
much as to enter into the room himself, as soon as he had done
this, he went away. The company resented the affront, and
said he had behaved very rudely and insolently to Anytus.
“Not at all,” said Anytus, “but rather kindly, since he has
left us half, when he knew it was in his power to take the
whole."
He behaved in the same manner to his other admirers, ex-
cept only one stranger. This man (they tell us) was but in
indifferent circumstances; for when he had sold'all, he could
make up no more than the sum of one hundred staters;t which
he carried to Alcibiades, and begged of him to accept it. Alci-
biades was pleased at the thing, and, smiling, invited him to
supper. After a kind reception and entertainment, he
gave
him the gold again, but required him to be present next day
when the public revenues were to be offered to farm, and to
be sure to be the highest bidder. The man endeavouring to
excuse himself, because the rent would be many talents, Alci-
biades, who had a private pique against the old farmers, threat-
ened to have him beaten if he refused. Next morning, there-
* Athenæus says, he did not keep them himself, but having taken them
from this man, who was rich, gave them to Thrasyllus, who was poor.
† The stater was a coin which weighed four Attic drachmas, and was either
of gold or silver. The silver was worth about two shillings and six pence
sterling; the stater daricus, a gold coin, was worth twelve shillings and three
pence halfpenny; but the Attic stater of gold must be worth much more, if
we reckon the proportion of gold to silver only at ten to one, as it was
then; whereas now it is about sixteen to one. Dacier, then, is greatiy mis-
taken, when he says the stater here mentioned by Plutarch was worth only
forty French sols, for Plutarch says expressly, that these staters were of gold

368
ALCIBIADES
fore, the stranger appeared in the market-place, and offered a
talent more than the former rent. The farmers, uneasy and
angry at this, called upon him to name his security, supposing
that he could not find any. The poor man was indeed much
startled, and going to retire with shame, when Alcibiades, who
stood at some distance, cried out to the magistrates, “ Set
down my name, he is my friend, and I will be his security.”
When the old farmers of the revenue heard this, they were
much perplexed; for their way was, with the profits of the
present year to pay the rent of the preceding; so that, seeing
no other way to extricate themselves out of the difficulty, they
applied to the stranger in an humble strain, and offered him mo-
ney. But Alcibiades would not suffer him to take less than a
talent, which accordingly was paid. Having done him this
service, he told him he might relinquish his bargain.
Though Socrates had many rivals, yet he kept possession of
Alcibiades’s heart by the excellence of his genius, and the pa-
thetic turn of his conversation, which often drew tears from
his young companion; and though sometimes he gave Socrates
the slip, and was drawn away by his flatterers, who exhausted
all the art of pleasure for that purpose, yet the philosopher
took care to hunt out his fugitive, who feared and respected
none but him; the rest he held in great contempt. Hence
that saying of Cleanthes, “ Socrates gains Alcibiades by the
and leaves to his rivals other parts of his body, with which
he scorns to meddle.” In fact, Alcibiades was very capable
of being led by the allurements of pleasure; and what Thucy-
dides says concerning his excesses in his way of living, gives
occasion to believe so. Those who endeavoured to corrupt
him, attacked him on a still weaker side, his vanity and love
of ditsinction, and led him into vast designs and unseasona-
able projects; persuading him, that as soon as he should apply
himself to the management of public affairs, he should not only
eclipse the other generals and orators, but surpass even Peri-
cles himself, in point of reputation, as well as interest with
the
powers
of Greece. But as iron, when softened by the fire,
is soon hardened again, and brought to a proper temper by cold
water; so, when Alcibiades was enervated by luxury, or swoln
with pride, Socrates corrected and brought him to himself by
his discourses; for from them he learned the number of his de-
fects, and the imperfection of his virtue.
When he was past his childhood, happening to go into a
grammar-school, he asked the master for a volume of Homer;
and upon his making answer that he had nothing of Homer's,
he gave him a box on the ear, and so left him. Another
schoolmaster telling him he had Homer corrected by himself:
66 How!” said Alcibiades, “and do you employ your time in
ear,

ALCIBIADES,
369
teaching children to read; you, who are able to correct Ho
mer, might seem to be fit to instruct men."
One day, wanting to speak to Pericles, he went to his house,
and being told there that he was busied in considering how to
give in his accounts to the people, and therefore not at leisure,
he said, as he went away, “ He had better consider how to
avoid giving in any account at all.”
While he was yet a youth, he made the campaign at Poti-
dæa, where Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and
was his companion in every engagement. In the principal
battle, they both behaved with great gallantry; but Alcibiades
at last falling down wounded, Socrates advanced to defend
him, which he did effectually, in the sight of the whole army,
saving both him and his arms. For this the prize of valour
was certainly due to Socrates, yet the generals inclined to give
it to Alcibiades, on account of his quality; and Socrates, will-
ing to encourage this thirst after true glory, was the first who
gave his suffrage for him, and pressed them to adjudge him the
crown, and the complete suit of armour. On the other hand,
at the battle of Delium, where the Athenians were routed,
and Socrates, with a few others, was retreating on foot, Alci-
biades observing it, did not pass him, but covered his retreat,
and brought him safe off, though the enemy pressed furiously
forward, and killed great numbers of the Athenians. But this
happened a considerable time after.
To Hipponicus, the father of Callias, a man respectable both
for his birth and fortune, Alcibiades one day gave a box on
the ear; not that he had any quarrel with him, or was heated
by passion, but purely because in a wanton frolic, he had
agreed with his companions to do so. The whole city being
full of the story of his insolence, and every body (as it was
natural to expect) expressing some resentment, early next
morning Alcibiades went to wait on Hipponicus, knocked at
the door and was admitted. As soon as he came into his pre-
sence, he stripped off his garment, and presenting his naked
body, desired him to beat and chastise him as he pleased. But
instead of that, Hipponicus pardoned him, and forgot all his
resentment: nay, some time after, he even gave him his
daughter Hipparete in marriage. Some say it was not Hip-
ponicus, but his son Callias, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades,
with ten talents to her portion; and that, when she brought
him a child, he demanded ten talents more, as if he had taken
Laches, as introduced by Plato, tells us, that if others had done their
duty, as Socrates did his, the Athenians would not have been defeated in the
batile of Delium. That battle was fought the first year of the eighty-ninth
Olympiad; eight years after the battle of Potidæa.
VOL. I.-3C
33

370
ALCIBIADES,
her on that condition. Though this was but a groundless pre-
text, yet Callias, apprehensive of some bad consequence from
his artful contrivances, in a full assembly of the people, declar-
ed, that if he should happen to die without children, Alcibia-
des should be his heir.
Hipparete made a prudent and affectionate wife; but at last,
growing very uneasy at her husband's associating with such a
number of courtezans, both strangers and Athenians, she
quitted his house, and went to her brother's. Alcibiades went
on with his debaucheries, and gave himself no pain about his
wife; but it was necessary for her, in order to a legal separa-
tion, to give in a bill of divorce to the archon, and to appear
personally with it; for the sending of it by another hand would
not do. When she came to do this according to law, Alcibi-
ades rushed in, caught her in his arms, and carried her through
the market-place to his own house, no one presuming to op-
pose him, or take her from him. From that time she remain-
ed with him until her death, which happened not long after,
when Alcibiades was upon his voyage to Ephesus. · Nor does
the violence used, in this case, seem to be contrary to the laws,
either of society in general, or of that republic in particular.
For the law of Athens, in requiring her who wants to be di-
vorced to appear publicly in person, probably intended to give
the husband an opportunity to meet with her and to recover
her.
Alcibiades had a dog of an uncommon size and beauty,
which cost him seventy minæ, and yet his tail, which was his
principal ornament, he caused to be cut off. Some of his ac-
quaintance found great fault with his acting so strangely, and
told him that all Athens rung with the story of his foolish treat-
ment of the dog: At which he laughed, and said, “ This is the
very thing I wanted; for I would have the Athenians talk of
this, lest they should find something worse to say of me.”
The first thing that made him popular, * and introduced him
into the administration, was his distributing of money, not by
design, but accident. Seeing one day a great crowd of people,
as he was walking along, he asked what it meant; and being
informed there was a donative made to the people, he distri-
buted money too as he went in amongst them. This meeting
with great applause, he was so much delighted that he forgot
a quail which he had under his robe, † and the bird, frightened
Πρωτον δ' αυτω παροδον εις το δημοσιον.-Demosthenes and Eschines both
make use of the word pooly to express the administration.
+ It was the fashion in those days to breed quails. Plato reports, that So-
crates having brought Alcibiades to acknowledge, that the way to rise to dis-
tinction among the Athenians was to study to excel the generals of their ene-

ALCIBIADES.
371
with the noise, flew away. Upon this, the people set up still
louder acclamations, and many of them assisted him to recover
the quail. The man who did catch it and bring it to him, was
one Antiochus, * a pilot, for whom he had ever after a particu-
lar regard.
He had great advantages for introducing himself into the
management of public affairs, from his birth, his estate, his
personal valour, and the number of his friends and relations:
but what he chose above all the rest to recommend himself by
to the people was the charms of his eloquence. That he was
a fine speaker the comic writers bear witness; and so does the
prince of orators, in his oration against Midias, † where he
says that Alcibiades was the most eloquent man of his time.
And, if we believe Theophrastus, a curious searcher into an-
tiquity, and more versed in history than the other philoso-
phers, Alcibiades had a peculiar happiness of invention, and
readiness of ideas, which eminently distinguished him. But
as his care was employed not only upon the matter but the ex-
pression, and he had not the greatest facility in the latter, he
often hesitated in the midst of a speech, not hitting upon the
word he wanted, and stopping until it occurred to him.
He was famed for his breed of horses and the number of
chariots. For no one besides himself, whether private person
or king, ever sent seven chariots at one time to the Olympic
games. The first, the second, and the fourth prizes, accord-
ing to Thucydides, or the third, as Euripides relates it, he
bore away at once, which exceeds every thing performed by
the most ambitious in that way. Euripides thus celebrates
his success:
Great son of Clinias, I record thy glory,
First on the dusty plain
The threefold prize to gain;
What hero boasts thy praise in Grecian story?
Twicet does the trumpet's voice proclaim
Around the plausive cirque thy honour'd name:
mies, replied with this severe irony, “No, no, Alcibiades, your only study is
how to surpass Midias in the art of breeding quails.”—Plat. in 1 Alcib.
* The name of the man who caught the quail would hardly have been
mentioned, had not Alcibiades afterwards entrusted him with the command
of the fleet in his absence; when he took the opportunity to fight, and was
beaten.
† It appears, from the passage of Demosthenes, that he spoke only from
common fame, and consequently that there was little of Alcibiades's then
extant. We find some remains of his oratory in Thucydides.
# Alcibiades won the first, second, and third prizes in person; beside which,
his chariots won twice in his absence. The later is what Euripides refers to
the words amovati and dis stiqot.

372
ALCIBIADES,
Twice on thy brow was seen
The peaceful olive's green,
The glorious palm of easy-purchas'd fame.**
cess.
The emulation which several Grecian cities expressed in the
presents they made him gave a still greater lustre to his suc-
Ephesus provided a magnificent pavilion for him; Chios
was at the expense of keeping his horses and beasts for sacrifice;
and Lesbos found him in wine and every thing necessary for
the most elegant public table. Yet, amidst this success, he
escaped not without censure, occasioned either by the malice
of his enemies, or by his own misconduct. It seems there was
at Athens one Diomedes, a man of good character and a friend
of Alcibiades, who was very desirous of winifing a prize at
the Olympic games; and being informed that there was a
chariot to be sold, which belonged to the city of Argos, where
Alcibiades had a strong interest, he persuaded him to buy it
for him. Accordingly he did buy it, but kept it for himself,
leaving Diomedes to vent his rage, and to call gods and men
to bear witness of the injustice. For this there seems to have
been an action brought against him; and there is extant an
oration concerning a chariot, written by Isocrates, in defence
of Alcibiades, then a youth; but there the plaintiff is named
Tisias, not Diomedes.
Alcibiades was very young when he first applied himself to
the business of the republic, and yet he soon showed himself
superior to the other orators. The persons capable of stand-
ing in some degree of competition with him, were Phæax the
son of Erasistratus, and Nicias the son of Niceratus. The lat-
ter was advanced in years, and one of the best generals of his
time. The former was but a youth, like himself, just begin-
ning to make his way; for which he had the advantage of high
birth; but in other respects, as well as in the art of speaking,
was inferior to Alcibiades. He seemed fitter for soliciting and
persuading in private, than for stemming the torrent of a pub-
* Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, writes, that Chios fed his horses, and
Cyzicus provided his victims. The passage is remarkable, for we learn from
it, that this was done, not only when Alcibiades went to the Olympic games,
but in his warlike expeditions, and even in his travels. • Whenever,” says
he, “ Alcibiades travelled, four cities of the allies ministered to him as his
hand-maids. Ephesus furnished him with tents as sumptuous as those of the
Persians; Chios found provender for his horses; Cyzicus supplied him with
victims and provisions for his table; and Lesbos with wine and all other
necessaries for his household.” None but opulent cities were able to an-
swer such an expense; for at the time when Alcibiades won the three prizes
in person at the Olympic games, after he had offered a very costly sacrifice
to Jupiter, he entertained at a magnificent repast that innumerable company
which had assisted at the games.

ALCIBIADES.
373
ters.
lic debate; in short, he was one of those, of whom Eupolis
says, “True, he can talk, and yet he is no speaker." There
is extant an oration against Alcibiades and Phæax, in which,
amongst other things, it is alleged against Alcibiades, that he
used at his table many of the gold and silver vessels provided
for the sacred processions, as if they had been his own.
There was at Athens one Hyperbolus, of the ward of Peri-
thoïs, whom Thucydides makes mention of as a very bad man,
and who was a constant subject of ridicule for the comic wri-
But he was unconcerned at the worst things they could
say of him; and being regardless of honour, he was also insen
sible of shame. This, though really impudence and folly, is
by some people called fortitude and a noble daring. But
though no one liked him, the people nevertheless made use of
him, when they wanted to strike at persons in authority. At
his instigation, the Athenians were ready to proceed to the
ban of ostracism, by which they pull down and expel such of
the citizens as are distinguished by their dignity and power,
therein consulting their envy rather than their fear.
As it was evident that this sentence was levelled against one
of the three, Phæax, Nicias, or Alcibiades, the latter took care
to unite the contending parties, and leaguing with Nicias,
caused the ostracism to fall upon Hyperbolus himself. Some
say, it was not Nicias, but Phæax, with whom Alcibiades
joined interest, and by whose assistance he expelled their
common enemy, when he expected nothing less; for no vile
or infamous person had ever undergone that punishment. So
Plato, the comic poet, assures us, thus speaking of Hyperbolus:
Well had the caitiff earned his banishment,
But not by ostracism: that sentence sacred
To dangerous eminence.
But we have elsewhere given a more full account of what his
tory has delivered down to us concerning this matter. *
Alcibiades was not less disturbed at the great esteem in
which Nicias was held by the enemies of Athens, than at the
respect which the Athenians themselves paid him. The
rights of hospitality had long subsisted between the family of
Alcibiades and the Lacedæmonians, and he had taken particu-
lar care of such of them as were made prisoners at Pylos; yet
when they found that it was chiefly by the means of Nicias
that they obtained a peace and recovered the captives, their
regards centred in him. It was a common observation among
the Greeks, that Pericles had engaged them in a war, and
Nicias had set them free from it; nay, the peace was even call-
• In the lives of Aristides and Nicias.
33*

374
ALCIBIADES.
ed the Nician peace.
Alcibiades was very uneasy at this, and
out of envy to Nicias determined to break the league.
As soon, then, as he perceived that the people of Argos both
feared and hated the Spartans, and consequently wanted to get
clear of all connection with them, he privately gave them
hopes of assistance from Athens; and, both by his agents and
in
person, he encouraged the principal citizens not to entertain
any fear, or to give up any point, but to apply to the Athe-
nians, who were almost ready to repent of the peace they had
made, and would soon seek occasion to break it.
But after the Lacedæmonians had entered into alliance with
the Bæotians, and had delivered Panactus to the Athenians,
not with its fortifications, as they ought to have done, but quite
dismantled, he took the opportunity, while the Athenians
were incensed at this proceeding, to inflame them still more.
At the same time he raised a clamour against Nicias, alleging
things which had a face of probability; for he reproached him
with having neglected, when commander-in-chief, to make
that* party prisoners who were left by the enemy in Sphacte-
ria, and with releasing them, when taken by others, to ingra-
tiate himself with the Lacedæmonians. He farther asserted,
that though Nicias had an interest with the Lacedæmonians,
he would not make use of it to prevent their entering into the
confederacy with the Boeotians and Corinthians; but that when
an alliance was offered to the Athenians by any of the Grecian
states, he took care to prevent their accepting it, if it were
likely to give umbrage to the Lacedæmonians.
Nicias was greatly disconcerted; but at that very juncture
it happened that ambassadors from Lacedæmon arrived with
moderate proposals, and declared that they had full
treat and decide all differences in an equitable way. The se-
nate was satisfied, and next day the people were to be con-
vened: but Alcibiades, dreading the success of that audience,
powers to
* After the Lacedæmonians had lost the fort of Pylos in Messenia, they
left in the isle of Sphacteria, which was opposite that fort, a garrison of three
hundred and twenty men, besides Helots, under the command of Epitades
the son of Molobrus. The Athenians would have sent Nicias, while com-
mander-in-chief, with a fleet against that island, but he excused himself. Af-
terwards Cleon, in conjunction with Demosthenes, got possession of it, after
a long dispute, wherein several of the garrison were slain, and the rest made
prisoners, and sent to Athens. Among those prisoners were a hundred and
twenty
Spartýns, who by the assistance of Nicias got released. The Lace.
dæmonians afterwards recovered the port of Pylos; for Anytus, who was
sent with a squadron to support it, finding the wind directly against him,
returned to Athens; upon which the people, according to their usual custom,
condemned him to die; which sentence, however, he commuted, by paying
a vast sum of money, being the first who reversed a judgment in that man-
per.

ALCIBIADES,
375
not
4.2
found means to speak with the ambassadors in the mean time,
and thus he addressed them:-“Men of Lacedæmon, what is
it you are going to do? Are you not apprised that' the be-
haviour of the senate is always candid and humane to those
who apply to it, whereas the people are haughty, and expect
great concessions? If you say that you are come with full
powers, you will find them untractable and extravagant in their
demands. Come, then, retract that impudent declaration; and
if you desire to keep the Athenians within the bounds of rea-
son, and not to have terms extorted from you, which you can
approve, treat with them as if you had not a discretionary
commission, I will use my best endeavours in favour of the
Lacedæmonians." He confirmed his promise with an oath,
and thus drew them over from Nicias to himself. In Alci-
biades they now placed an entire confidence, admiring both
his understanding and address in business, and regarding him
as a very extraordinary man.
Next day the people assembled, and the ambassadors were
introduced. Alcibiades asked them in an obliging manner,
what their commission was, and they answered, that they did
not come as plenipotentiaries. Then he began to rave and
storm, as if he had received an injury, not done one; calling
them faithless, prevaricating men, who were come neither to
do nor to say any thing honourable. The senate was incensed,
the people were enraged, and Nicias, who was ignorant of the
deceitful contrivance of Alcibiades, was filled with astonish-
ment and confusion at this change.
The proposals of the ambassadors thus rejected, Alcibiades
was declared general, and soon engaged the Argives, * the
Mantineans, and Eleans, as allies to the Athenians. Nobody
commended the manner of this transaction, but the effect was
very great, since it divided and embroiled almost all Pelopon-
nesus, in one day lifted so many arms against the Lacedæmo-
nians at Mantinea, and removed to so great a distance from
Athens the scene of war; by which the Lacedæmonians, if
victorious, could gain no great advantage, whereas a miscar.
riage would have risked the very being of their state.
Soon after this battle at Mantinea,f the principal officers $
* He concluded a league with these states for a hundred years, which
Thucydides has inserted at full length in his fifth book; and by which we
learn that the treaties of the ancient Greeks were no less perfect and ex.
plicit than ours. Their treaties were of as little consequence too; for how
soon was that broken which the Athenians had made with the Lacedæmo:
nians!
+ That battle was fought near three years after the conclusion of the treaty
with Argos.
# Those officers availed themselves of the consternation the people of

376
ALCIBIADES.
of the Argive army attempted to abolish the popular govern
ment of Argos, and to take the administration into their own
hands. The Lacedæmonians espoused the design, and assist-
ed them to carry it into execution. But the people took up
arms again, and defeated their new masters; and Alcibiades
coming to their aid, made the victory more complete. At the
same time he persuaded them to extend their walls down to
the sea, that they might always be in a condition to receive
succours from the Athenians. From Athens he sent them
carpenters and masons, exerting himself greatly on this occa-
sion; which tended to increase his personal interest and power,
as well as that of his country. He advised the people of Patræ,
too, to join their city to the sea by long walls. "And somebody
observing to the Patrensians, “ That the Athenians would one
day swallow them up:”. “Possibly it may be so, said Alci-
biades, “but they will begin with the feet, and do it by little
and little, whereas the Lacedæmonians will begin with the
head and do it all at once.” He exhorted the Athenians to
assert the empire of the land, as well as of the sea; and was
ever putting the young warriors in mind to show by their
deeds that they remembered the oath they had taken in the
temple of Agraulos. The oath is, that they will consider
wheat, barley, vine, and olives, as the bounds of Attica; by
which it is insinuated, that they should endeavour to possess
themselves of all lands that are cultivated and fruitful.
But these his great abilities in politics, his eloquence, his
reach of genius, and keenness of apprehension, were tarnished
by his luxurious living, his drinking and debauches, his effemi-
nacy of dress, and his insolent profusion. He wore a purple
robe with a long train when he appeared in public. He caused
the planks of his galley to be cut away, that he might lie the
softer, his bed not being placed upon the boards, but hanging
upon girths. And in the wars he bore a shield of gold, which
had none of the usualt ensigns of his country, but, in their
*
Argos were in after the loss of the battle; and the Lacedæmonians gladly
supported them, from a persuasion that if the popular government were
abolished, and an aristocracy (like that of Sparta) set up in Argos, they
should soon be masters there.
* Agraulos, one of the daughters of Cecrops, had devoted herself to death
for the benefit of her country; it has been supposed, therefore, that the oath
which the young Athenians took, bound them to do something of that na-
ture, if need should require; though as given by Plutarch, it implies only an
unjust resolution to extend the Athenian dominions to all lands that were
worth seizing. Demosthenes mentions the oath in his oration de fals. Legat.
but does not explain it.
† Both cities and private persons had of old their ensigns, devices, or arms.
Those of the Athenians were commonly Minerva, the owl, or the olive.
None but people of figure were allowed to bear any devices, nor even

ALCIBIADES.
377
stead, a Cupid bearing a thunderbolt. The great men of
Athens saw his behaviour with uneasiness and indignation,
and even dreaded the consequence. They regarded his
foreign
manners, his profusion, and contempt of the laws, as so many
means to make himself absolute. And Aristophanes well ex
presses how the bulk of the people were disposed towards
him:-
They love, they hate, but can not live without him.
And again he satirizes him still more severely by the follow
ing allusion:-
Nurse not a lion's whelp within your walls;
But if he is brought up there, sooth the brute.
The truth is, his prodigious liberality, the games he exhibit-
ed, and the other extraordinary instances of his munificence
to the people, the glory of his ancestors, the beauty of his per-
son, and the force of his eloquence, together with his heroic
strength, his valour and experience in war, so gained upon
the Athenians, that they connived at his errors, and spoke of
them with all'imaginable tenderness, calling them sallies of
youth, and good-humoured frolics. Such were his confining
Agatharcus the painter, * until he had painted his house, and
then dismissing him with a handsome present; his giving a
box on the ear to Taureus, who exhibited games in opposition
to him, and vied with him for the preference; and his taking
one of the captive Melian women for his mistress, and bring-
ing up a child he had by her. These were what they called
his good-humoured frolics; but surely we can not bestow that
appellation upon the slaughtering of all the males in the isle of
Melos, † who had arrived at years of puberty, which was in
consequence of a decree that he promoted. Again, when Ar-
istophon had painted the courtezan Nemea with Alcibiades in
her arms, many of the people eagerly crowded to see it; but
they, until they had performed some action to deserve them; in the mean
time their shields were plain white. Alcibiades, in his device, referred to
the beauty of his person and his martial prowess. Mottos, too, were useil,
Capaneus, for instance, bore a naked man with a torch in his hand, the motto
this, I will burn the city. See more in Æschylus's tragedy of the Seven
Chiefs.
This painter had been familiar with Alcibiades's mistress.
+ The isle of Melos, one of the Cyclades, and a colony of Lacedæmon,
was attempted by Alcibiades, the last year of the ninetieth Olympiad, and
taken the year following. Thucydides, who has given us an account of this
slaughter of the Melians, makes no mention of the decree. Probably he
was willing to have the carnage thought the effect of a sudden transport in
the soldiery, and not of a crvel and cool resolution of the people of Athens.
VOL. 1.-3D

378
ALCIBIADES.
Nor was
such of the Athenians as were more advanced in years, were
much displeased, and considered these as sights fit only for a
tyrant's court, and as insults on the laws of Athens.
it ill observed by Archestratus, “ that Greece could not bear
another Alcibiades.” When Timon, famed for his misan-
thropy, saw Alcibiades, after having gained his point, con-
ducted home with great honour from the place of assembly, he
did not shun him as he did other men, but went up to him,
and shaking him by the hand, thus addressed him:-“Go on,
my brave boy, and prosper; for your prosperity will bring on
the ruin of all this crowd.” This occasioned various reflec-
tions; some laughed, some railed, and others were extremely
moved at the saying; so various were the judgments formed of
Alcibiades, by reason of the inconsistency of his character.
In the time of Pericles, * the Athenians had a desire after
Sicily; and when he had paid the last debt to nature, they at-
tempted it; frequently under pretence of succouring their
allies, sending aids of men and money to such of the Sicilians
as were attacked by the Syracusans. This was a step to great-
er armaments. But Alcibiades inflamed this desire to an ir-
resistible degree, and persuaded them not to attempt the island
in part, and by little and little, but to send a powerful fleet en-
tirely to subdue it. He inspired the people with hopes of
great things, and indulged himself in expectations still more
lofty; for he did not, like the rest, consider Sicily as the end
of his wishes, but rather as an introduction to the mighty ex-
peditions he had conceived. And while Nicias was dissua-
ding the people from the siege of Syracuse, as a business too
difficult to succeed in, Alcibiades was dreaming of Carthage
and of Lybia; and after these were gained, he designed to
grasp Italy and Peloponnesus, regarding Sicily as little more
than a magazine for provisions and warlike stores.
The young men immediately entered into his schemes, and
listened with great attention to those who, under the sanction
of
age,
related wonders concerning the intended expeditions;
* Pericles, by his prudence and authority, had restrained this extravagant
ambition of the Athenians. He died the last year of the eighty-seventh
Olympiad, in the third year of the Peloponnesian war. Two years after this,
the Athenians sent some ships to Rhegium, which were to go from thence to
the succour of the Leontines, who were attacked by the Syracusans. The
year following, they sent a still greater number; and two years after that,
they fitted out another fleet of a greater force than the former; but the Sicili-
ans having put an end to their divisions, and by the advice of Hermocrates
(whose speech Thucydides, in his fourth book, gives us at large), having sent
back the fleet, the Athenians were so enraged at their generals for not hav-
ing conquered Sicily, that they banished two of them, Pythodorus and So-
phocles, and laid a heavy fine upon Eurymedon. So infatuated were they
by their prosperity, that they imagined themselves irresistible.

ALCIBIADES.
379
By this
so that many of them sat whole days in the places of exercise,
drawing in the dust the figure of the island, and plans of Lybia
and Carthage. However, we are informed, that Socrates the
philosopher, and Meton the astrologer, were far from expect-
ing that there wars would turn to the advantage of Athens;
the former, it should seem, influenced by some prophetic no-
tices with which he was favoured by the genius who attended
him; and the latter, either by reasonings which led him to fear
what was to come, or else by knowledge with which his art
supplied him. Be that as it may, Meton feigned himself mad,
and taking a flaming torch, attempted to set his house on fire.
Others say, that he made use of no such pretence, but burnt
down his house in the night, and in the morning went and
begged of the people to excuse his son from that campaign, that
he might be a comfort to him under his misfortune.
artifice he imposed upon them, and gained his point.
Nicias was appointed one of his generals, much against his
inclination; for he would have declined the command, if it
had been only on account of his having such a colleague. The
Athenians, however, thought the war would be better con-
ducted, if they did not give free scope to the impetuosity of
Alcibiades, but tempered his boldness with the prudence of
Nicias. For as to the third general, Lamachus, though well
advanced in years, he did not seem to come at all short of Al-
cibiades in heat and rashness.
When they came to deliberate about the number of the
troops, and the necessary preparations for the armament, Ni-
cias again opposed their measures, and endeavoured to prevent
the war. But Alcibiades replying to his arguments, and car-
rying all before him, the orator Bemostratus proposed a de-
cree, that the generals should have the absolute direction of
the war, and of all the preparations for it. When the people
had given their assent; and every thing was got ready for set-
ting sail, unlucky omens occurred, even on
a festival which
was celebrated at that time. It was the feast of Adonis, * the
women walked in procession with images, which represented
the dead carried out to burial, acting the lamentations, and
singing the mournful dirges usual on such occasions.
On the feast of Adonis all the cities put themselves in mourning; coffins
were exposed at every door; the statues of Venus and Adonis were borne in
procession, with certain vessels filled with earth, in which they had raised
corn, herbs, and lettuce, and these vessels were called the gardens of Adonis.
After the ceremony was over, the gardens were thrown into the sea, or some
river. This festival was celebrated throughout all Greece and Egypt, and
arnong the Jews too, when they degenerated into idolatry, as we learn from
Ezekiel, viii
. 14: And behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz, that ifung
Adonis.

380
ALCIBIADES.
Add to this the mutilating and disfiguring of almost all the
statues of Mercury,* which happened in one night; a circum
stance which alarmed even those who had long despised things
of that nature. It was imputed to the Corinthians, of whom
the Syracusans were a colony; and they were supposed to have
done it, in hopes that such a prodigy might induce the Athe-
nians to desist from the war. But the people paid little re-
gard to this insinuation, or to the discourses of those who said
that there was no manner of ill presage in what happened, and
that it was nothing but the wild frolic of a parcel of young fel-
lows, flushed with wine, and bent on some extravagance. In-
dignation and fear made them take this event not only for a
bad omen, but for the consequence of a plot which aimed at
greater matters; and therefore both senate and people assem-
bled several times within a few days, and very strictly exam-
ined every suspicious circumstance.
In the mean time, the demagogue Androcles produced some
Athenian slaves and certain sojourners, who accused Alcibia-
des and his friends of defacing some other statues, and of mim-
icking the sacred mysteries in one of their drunken revels; on
which occasion, they said, one Theodorus represented the
herald, Polytion the torch-bearer, and Alcibiades the high-
priest; his other companions attending as persons initiated,
and therefore called Mystä. Such was the import of the de-
position of Thessalus the son of Cimon, who accused Alcibia-
des of impiety towards the goddesses Ceres and Proserpine.
The people being much provoked at Alcibiades, and Andro-
cles his bitterest enemy exasperating them still more, at first
he was somewhat disconcerted. But when he perceived that
the seamen and soldiers too, intended for the Sicilian expedi-
tion, were on his side, and heard a body of Argives and Man-
tineans, consisting of a thousand men, declare that they were
willing to cross the seas, and to run the risk of a foreign war
for the sake of Alcibiades, but that if any injury were done to
him, they would immediately march home again; then he re-
covered his spirits, and appeared to defend himself. It was
now his enemy's turn to be discouraged, and to fear that the
people, on account of the need they had of him, would be fa-
vourable in their sentence. To obviate this inconvenience,
they persuaded certain orators, who were not reputed to be his
enemies, but hated him as heartily as the most professed ones,
to move it to the people, “That it was extremely absurd,
that a general who was invested with a discretionary power,
and a very important command, when the troops were collect-
* "The Athenians had statues of Mercury at the doors of their houses, made
of stones of a cubical form.

ALCIBIADES,
381
stores.
ed and the allies all ready to sail, should lose time, while they
were casting lots for judges, and filling the glasses with water,
to measure out the time of his defence. In the name of the
gods let him sail, and when the war is concluded, be accounta-
ble to the laws, which will still be the same.
Alcibiades easily saw their malicious drift in wanting to put
off the trial, and observed, -—“That it would be an intolerable
hardship to leave such accusations and calumnies behind him,
and be sent out with so important a commission, while he was
in
suspense as to his own fate. That he ought to suffer death,
if he could not clear himself of the charge; but if he could
prove his innocence, justice required that he should be set free
from all fear of false accusers before they sent him against
their enemies.” But he could not obtain that favour. He
was indeed ordered to set sail,* which he accordingly did, to-
gether with his colleagues, having near a hundred and forty
galleys in his company, five thousand one hundred heavy-
armed soldiers, and about a thousand three hundred archers,
slingers, and others, light-armed, with suitable provisions and
Arriving on the coast of Italy, he landed at Rhegium. There
he
gave his opinion as to the manner in which the war should
be conducted, and was opposed by Nicias: but as Lamachus
agreed with him, he sailed to Sicily, and made himself master
of Catana.† This was all he performed, being soon sent for
by the Athenians to take his trial. At first, as we have ob-
served, there was nothing against him but slight suspicions,
and the depositions of slaves and persons who sojourned in
Athens. But his enemies took advantage of his absence to
bring new matter of impeachment, adding to the mutilating of
the statues his sacrilegious behaviour with respect to the mys-
teries, and alleging that both these crimes flowed from the
same source;} a conspiracy to change the government. All
that were accused of being any wise concerned in it, they com-
mitted to prison unheard; and they repented exceedingly that
they had not immediately brought Alcibiades to his trial, and
got him condemned upon so heavy a charge. While this fury
lasted, every relation, every friend and acquaintance of his,
was very severely dealt with by the people.
Thucydides has omitted the names of the accusers, but
• The second year of the eighty-first Olympiad, and seventeenth of the Pe.
loponnesian war.
† By surprise.--Thucyd. lib. vi.
# They gave out, that he had entered into a conspiracy to betray the city
to the Lacedæmonians, and that he had persuaded the Argives to undertake
something to their prejudice.

382
ALCIBIADES.
others mention Dioclides and Teucer. So Phrynichus, the
comic poet,
Good Hermes, pray beware a fall; nor break
Thy marble nose, lest some false Dioclides
Once more his shafts in fatal poison drench.
Merc. I will; nor e'er again shall that informer
Teucer, that faithless stranger, boast from me
Rewards for perjury.
Indeed, no clear or strong evidence was given by the in-
formers. * One of them being asked how he could distinguish
the faces of those who disfigured the statues, answered, that
he discerned them by the light of the moon; which was a plain
falsity, for it was done at the time of the moon's change. All
persons of understanding exclaimed against such baseness, but
this detection did not in the least pacify the people; they went
on with the same rage and violence with which they had be-
gun, taking informations, and committing all to prison whose
names were given in.
Among those that were then imprisoned, in order to their
trial, was the orator Andocides, whom Hellanicus the histo-
rian reckons among the descendants of Ulysses. He was
thought to be no friend to a popular government, but a favour-
er of oligarchy. What contributed not a little to his being sus-
pected of having some concern in defacing the Hernæ, was,
that the great statue of Mercury, which was placed near his
house, being consecrated to that god by the tribe called the
Ægeïs, was almost the only one, amongst the more remarka-
ble, which was left entire. Therefore, to this day it is called
the Hermes of Andocides, and that title universally prevails,
though the inscription does not agree with it.
It happened, that among those who were imprisoned on the
same account, Andocides contracted an acquaintance and
friendship with one Timæus, a man not equal in rank to him-
self, but of uncommon parts and a daring spirit. He advised
Andocides to accuse himself and a few more; because the de-
cree promised impunity to any one that would confess and in-
form, whereas the event of the trial was uncertain to all, and
much to be dreaded by such of them as were persons of dis-
tinction. He represented that it was better to save his life by
a falsity, than to suffer an infamous death as one really guilty
of the crime; and that with respect to the public, it would
be an advantage to give up a few persons of dubious character,
αιτιαις Τηλικαύταις,
.
The translation of 1758 renders it pregnant
proofs; though Plutarch observes, a little lower, that the proofs were very
weak, and the evidence false and inconsistent

ALCIBIADES.
383
in order to rescue many good men from an enraged popu-
lace.
Andocides was prevailed upon by these arguments of Ti-
mæus: and informing against himself and some others, enjoy
ed the impunity promised by the decree, but all the rest whom
be named were capitally punished, except a few that, fled.
Nay, to procure the greater credit to his deposition, he ac-
cused even his own servants.
However, the fury of the people was not so satisfied; but
turning from the persons who had disfigured the Hermæ, as if
it had reposed awhile only to recover its strength, it fell total-
ly upon Alcibiades. At last they sent the Salaminian galley
to fetch him, artfully enough ordering their officer not to use
violence, or to lay hold on his person, but to behave to him
with civility, and to acquaint him with the people's orders,
that he should go and take his trial, and clear himself before
them; for they were apprehensive of some tumult and mutiny
in the army, now it was in an enemy's country, which Alci-
biades, had he been so disposed, might have raised with all
the ease in the world. · Indeed, the soldiers expressed great
uneasiness at his leaving them, and expected that the war
would be spun out to a great length by the dilatory counsels
of Nicias, when the spur was taken away. Lamachus, in-
deed, was bold and brave, but he was wanting both in dignity
and weight, by reason of his poverty.
Alcibiades immediately embarked;* the consequence of
which was, that the Athenians could not take Messena.
There were persons in the town ready to betray it, whom
Alcibiades perfectly knew; and as he apprised some that were
friends to the Syracusans of their intention, the affair mis-
carried.
As soon as he arrived at Thurii, he went on shore, and con-
cealing himself there, eluded the search which was made after
him. But some person knowing him, and saying,—“Will
not you, then, trust your country?” he answered,—“As to
any thing else I will trust her; but with my life I would not
trust even my mother, lest she should mistake a black bean
for a white one.”. Afterwards, being told that the republic
had condemned him to die, he said, -“But I will make them
find that I am alive.”
The information against him ran thus:-56 Thessalus, the
son of Cimon, of the ward of Licias, accuseth Alcibiades, the
son of Clinias, of the ward of Scambonis, of sacrilegiously
offending the goddesses Ceres and Proserpine, by counterfeit-
وو
* He prudently embarked on a vessel of his own, and not on the Salami.
nian galley.

384
ALCIBIADES.
ing their mysteries, and showing them to his companions in
his own house: wearing such a robe as the high-priest does
while he shows the holy things, he called himself high-priest,
as he did Polytion, torch-bearer, and Theodorus, of the ward
of Phygea, herald; and the rest of his companions he called
persons initiated, * and brethren of the secret; herein acting con-
trary to the rules and ceremonies established by the Eumol-
pidæ,t the heralds and priests at Eleusis.” As he did not ap-
pear, they condemned him, confiscated his goods, and ordered
all the priests and priestesses to denounce an execration against
him; which was denounced accordingly by all but Theano the
daughter of Menon, priestess of the temple of Agraulus, who
excused herself, alleging that she was a priestess for prayer, not
for execration.
While these decrees and sentences were passing against Al-
cibiades, he was at Argos; having quitted Thurii, which no
longer afforded him a safe asylum, to come into Peloponnesus.
Still dreading his enemies, and giving up all hopes of being
restored to his country, he sent to Sparta to desire permission
to live there under the protection of the public faith, promis-
ing to serve that state more effectually, now he was their
friend, than he had annoyed them whilst their enemy. The
Spartans granting him a safe conduct, and expressing their
readiness to receive him, he went thither with pleasure. One
thing he soon effected, which was to procure succours for
Syracuse without further hesitation or delay, having persuad-
ed them to send Gylippus thither, to take upon him the di-
rection of the war, and to crush the Athenian power in Sicily.
Another thing which he persuaded them to, was to declare
war against the Athenians, and to begin its operations on the
continent: and the third, which was the most important of all,
was to get Decelea fortified; for this being in the neighbour-
hood of Athens, was productive of great mischief to that com-
monwealth. I
* The Mystæ, or persons initiated, were to remain a year under proba-
tion, during which time they were to go no farther than the vestibule of
the temple; after that term was expired they were called epoptæ, and
admitted to all the mysteries, except such as were reserved for the priests
only.
f Eumolpus was the first who settled these mysteries of Ceres, for which
reason his descendants had the care of them after him; and when his line
failed, those who succeeded in the function, were, notwithstanding, called
Eumolpidæ.
# Agis, king of Sparta, at the head of a very numerous army of Lacedæmo-
nians, Corinthians, and other nations of Peloponnesus, invaded Attica, and
according to the advice which Alcibiades had given, seized and fortified
Decelea, which stood at an equal distance from Athens and the frontiers of
Ræotia, by means of which the Athenians were now deprived of the profits

ALCIBIADES.
385
These measures procured Alcibiades the public approbation
at Sparta, and he was no less admired for his manner of living
in private. By conforming to their diet and other austerities,
he charmed and captivated the people. When they saw him
close shaved, bathing in cold water, feeding on their coarse
bread, or eating their black broth, they could hardly believe
that such a man had ever kept a cook in his house, seen a per-
fumer, or worn a robe of Milesian purple. It seems, that
amongst his other qualifications, he had the very extraordi-
nary art of engaging the affections of those with whom he
conversed, by imitating and adopting their customs and way
of living. Nay, he turned himself into all manners of forms
with more ease than the chameleon changes his colour. It is
not, we are told, in that animal's power to assume a white,
but Alcibiades could adapt himself either to good or bad, and
did not find any thing which he attempted impracticable.
Thus, at Sparta he was all for exercise, frugal in his diet, and
severe in his manners. In Asia he was as much for mirth and
pleasure, luxury and ease. In Thrace again, riding and drink-
ing were his favourite amusements; and in the palace of Tissa-
phernes the Persian grandee, he outvied the Persians them-
selves in pomp and splendour. Not that he could with so
much ease change his real manners, or approve in his heart the
form which he assumed; but because he knew that his native
manners would be unacceptable to those whom he happened
to be with, he immediately conformed to the ways
and fashions
of whatever place he came to. When he was at Lacedæmon,
if you regarded only his outside, you would say, as the pro-
verb does; This is not the son of Achilles, but Achilles himself;
this man has surely been brought up under the eye of Lycur-
gus: but then if you looked more nearly into his disposition
and his actions, you would exclaim with Electra in the poet,
The same weak woman still!* For while king Agis was employ-
ed in a distant expedition, he corrupted his wife T'imæa so
effectually, that she was with child by him, and did not pre-
tend to deny it, and when she was delivered of a son, though
in public she called him Leotychidas, yet in her own house
she whispered to her female friends and to her servants, that
of the silver mines, of the rents of their lands, and of the succours of their
neighbours. But the greatest misfortune which happened to the Athenians,
from the beginning of the war to this time, was that which befel them this
year in Sicily, where they not only lost the conquest they aimed at, to-
gether with the reputation they had so long maintained, but their fleet,
their army, and their generals.
* This is spoken of Hermione, in the Orestes of Euripides, upon her dis-
covering the same vanity and solicitude about her beauty, when advanced
in years, that she had when she was young.
VOL. I.__-3E
34

386
ALCIBIADES,
22
his true name was Alcibiades: to such a degree was the wo-
man transported by her passion. And Alcibiades himself,
indulging his vein of mirth, used to say, “His motive was
not to injure the king, or to satisfy his appetite, but that his
offspring might one day sit on the throne of Lacedæmon.”
Agis had information of these matters from several hands, and
he was the more ready to give credit to them, because they
agreed with the time. Terrified with an earthquake, he had
quitted his wife's chamber, to which he returned not for the
next ten months: at the end of which Leotychidas being born,
he declared the child was not his; and for this reason he was
never suffered to inherit the crown of Sparta.
After the miscarriage of the Athenians in Sicily, the people
of Chios, of Lesbos, and Cyzicum, sent to treat with the
Spartans about quitting the interests of Athens, and putting
themselves under the protection of Sparta. The Baotians on
this occasion solicited for the Lesbians, and Pharnabazus for
the people of Cyzicum; but, at the persuasion of Alcibiades,
succours were sent to those of Chios before all others. Hé
likewise passed over into Ionia, and prevailed with almost all
that country to revolt; and attending the Lacedæmonian gene-
rals in the execution of most of their commissions, he did
great prejudice to the Athenians.
But Agis, who was already his enemy, on account of the
injury done to his bed, could not endure his glory and pros-
perity; for most of the present successes were ascribed to Al-
cibiades. The great and the ambitious among the Spartans
were indeed, in general, touched with envy; and had influence
enough with the civil magistrate, to procure orders to be sent
to their friends in Ionia to kill him. But timely foreseeing
his danger, and cautioned by his fears, in every step he took,
he still served the Lacedæmonians, taking care all the while
not to put himself in their power. Instead of that, he sought
the protection of Tissaphernes, one of the grandees of Persia,
or lieutenants of the king. With this Persian he soon attained
the highest credit and authority; for himself a very subtle ad
insincere man, he admired the art and keenness of Alcibiades.
Indeed, by the elegance of his conversation, and the charms
of his politeness, every man was gained, all hearts were touch-
ed. Even those that feared and envied him were not insengi
ble to pleasure in his company; and while they enjoyed it,
their resentment was disarmed. Tissaphernes, in all other
cases savage in his temper, and the bitterest enemy that
Greece experienced among the Persians, gave himself up, not-
withstanding, to the flatteries of Alcibiades, insomuch that he
even vied with and exceeded him in address. For of all his
gardens, that which excelled in beauty, which was remarka-

ALCIBIADES.
387
mos.
ble for the salubrity of its streams and the freshness of its mea-
dows, which was set off with pavilions royally adorned, and
retirements finished in the most elegant taste, he distinguish-
ed by the name of Alcibiades; and every one continued to give it
that appellation.
Rejecting, therefore, the interests of Lacedæmon, and fear-
ing that people as treacherous to him, he represented them and
their king Agis in a disadvantageous light to Tissaphernes.
He advised him not to assist them effectually, nor absolutely
to ruin the Athenians, but to send his subsidies to Sparta with
a sparing hand; that so the two powers might insensibly weak-
en and consume each other, and both at last be easily subject-
ed to the king. Tissaphernes readily followed his counsels, and
it was evident to all the world that he held him in the greatest
admiration and esteem, which made him equally considerable
with the Greeks of both parties. The Athenians repented of
the sentence they had passed upon him, because they had suf-
fered for it since; and Alcibiades, on his side, was under some
fear and concern, lest, if their republic were destroyed, he
should fall into the hands of the Lacedæmonians, who hated
him.
At that time the whole strength of the Athenians lay at Sa-
With their ships sent out from thence, they recovered
some of the towns which had revolted, and others they kept to
their duty; and at sea they were in some measure able to make
head against their enemies. But they were afraid of Tissa-
phernes, and the Phænician fleet of a hundred and fifty ships,
which were said to be coming against them; for against such
a force they could not hope to defend themselves. Alcibiades,
apprised of this, privately sent a messenger to the principal
Athenians at Samos, to give them hopes that he would pro-
cure them the friendship of Tissaphernes; not to recommend
himself to the people, whom he could not trust, but to oblige
the nobility, if they would but exert their superiority, repress
the insolence of the commonalty, and taking the government
into their own hands, by that means save their country.
All the officers readily embraced his proposal, except Phry-
nichus, who was of the ward of Dirades. He alone suspected
what was really the case, that it was a matter of very little con-
sequence to Alcibiades whether an oligarchy or democracy
prevailed in Athens; that it was his business to get himself
recalled by any means whatever; and that therefore, by his in-
vectives against the people, he wanted only to insinuate him-
self into the good graces of the nobility. Upon these reasons
proceeded the opposition of Phrynichus; but seeing his opinion
disregarded, and that Alcibiades must certainly become his
enemy, he gave secret intelligence to Astyochus the enemy's

388
ALCIBIADES.
admiral, of the double part which Alcibiades acted, advising
him to beware of his designs, and to secure his person. But
he knew not that while he was betraying, he was himself be-
trayed; for Astyochus, wanting to make his court to Tissa-
phernes, informed Alcibiades of the affair, who, he knew, had
the ear of that grandee.
Alcibiades immediately sent proper persons to Samos with
an accusation against Phrynichus; who seeing no other re-
source, as every body was against him, and expressed great
indignation at his behaviour, attempted to cure one evil with
another, and a greater; for he sent to Astyochus to complain
of his revealing his secret, and to offer to deliver up to him the
whole Athenian fleet and army. This treason of Phrynichus,
however, did no injury to the Athenians, because it was again
betrayed by Astyochus; for he laid the whole matter before
Alcibiades. Phrynichus had the sagacity to foresee and ex-
pect another accusation from Alcibiades; and to be beforehand
with him, he himself forewarned the Athenians that the enemy
would endeavour to surprise them, and therefore desired them
to be upon their guard, to keep on board their ships, and to
fortify their camp.
While the Athenians were doing this, letters came from Al-
cibiades again, advising them to beware of Phrynichus, who
had undertaken to betray their fleet to the enemy: but they
gave no credit to these despatches, supposing that Alcibiades,
who perfectly knew the preparations and intentions of the ene-
my, abused that knowledge to the raising of such a calumny
against Phrynichus. Yet afterwards, when Phrynichus was
stabbed in full assembly by one of Hermon's soldiers, who
kept guard that day, the Athenians, taking cognizance of the
matter, after his death, condemned Phrynichus as guilty of trea-
son, and ordered Hermon and his party to be crowned for de-
spatching a traitor.
The friends of Alcibiades, who now had a superior interest
at Samos, sent Pisander to Athens, to change the form of go-
vernment, by encouraging the nobility to assume it, and to de
prive the people of their power and privileges, as the condi-
tion upon which
Alcibiades would procure them the friendship
and alliance of Tissaphernes. This was the colour of the pre-
tence made use of by those who wanted to introduce an oli-
garchy. But when the body which were called the five thou-
sand, but in fact were only four hundred, * had got the power
* It was at first proposed that only the dregs of the people should lose
their authority, which was to be vested in five thousand of the most wealthy,
who were for the future to be reputed the people. But when Pisander and
his associates found the strength of their party, they carried it that the old
form of government should be dissolved, and that five Prytanes should be

ALCIBIADES.
389
into their hands, they paid but little attention to Alcibiades,
and carried on the war but slowly; partly distrusting the citi-
zens, who did not yet relish the new form of government, and
partly hoping that the Lacedæmonians, who were always in-
clined to favour an oligarchy, would not press them with their
usual vigour.
Such of the commonalty as were at home, were silent
through fear, though much against their will; for a number of
those who had openly opposed the four hundred, were put to
death. But when they that were at Samos were informed of
the affair, they were highly incensed at it, and inclined imme-
diately to set sail for the Piræus. In the first place, however,
they sent for Alcibiades; and having appointed him their
ge-
neral, ordered him to lead them against the tyrants, and de-
molish both them and their power. On such an occasion, al-
most any other man, suddenly exalted by the favour of the
multitude, would have thought he must have complied with
all their humours, and not have contradicted those in any
thing, who, from a fugitive and a banished man, had raised him
to be commander-in-chief of such a fleet and army. But he
behaved as became a great general, and prevented their plung-
ing into error through the violence of their
rage.
This care
of his evidently was the saving of the commonwealth. For if
they had sailed home, as they promised, the enemy would
have seized on Ionia immediately, and have gained the Hel-
lespont and the islands without striking a stroke; while the
Athenians would have been engaged in a civil war, of which
Athens itself must have been the seat. All this was prevented
chiefly by Alcibiades, who not only tried what arguments
would do with the army in general, and informed them of their
danger, but applied to them one by one, using entreaties to
some and force to others; in which he was assisted by the loud
harangues of Thrasybulus, of the ward of Stira; who attended
him through the whole, and had the strongest voice of any
man among the Athenians.
Another great service performed by Alcibiades was, his un-
dertaking that the Phoenician fleet, which the Lacedæmonians
expected from the king of Persia, should either join the Athe-
nians, or at least not act on the enemy's side. In consequence
of this promise he set out as expeditiously as possible; and
prevailed upon Tissaphernes not to forward the ships, which
were already come as far as Aspendus, but to disappoint and
deceive the Lacedæmonians. Nevertheless, both sides, and
elected; that these five should choose a hundred; that each of the hundred
should choose three; that the four hundred thus elected should become 2
senate with supreme power, and should consult the five thousand only when
and on such matters as they thought fit.

390
ALCIBIADES.
particularly the Lacedæmonians, accused Aldues of hin
dering that fleet from coming to their aid; for they supposed
he had instructed the Persians to leave the Greeks to destroy
each other. And, indeed, it was obvious enough that such a
force added to either side, would entirely have deprived the
other of the dominion of the sea.
After this, the four hundred were soon quashed, * the friends
of Alcibiades very readily assisting those who were for a de-
mocracy. And now the people of the city not only wished
for him, but commanded him to return;t yet he thought it not
best to return with empty hands, or without having effected
something worthy of note, but instead of being indebted to the
compassion and favour of the multitude, to distinguish his ap-
pearance by his merit. Parting, therefore, from Samos with
a few ships, he cruised on the sea of Cnidus and about the isle
of Coos, where he got intelligence that Mindarus the Spartan
admiral, was sailed with his whole fleet towards the Helles-
pont, to find out the Athenians. This made him hasten to the
assistance of the latter, and fortunately enough he arrived
with his eighteen ships at the very juncture of time, when the
two fleets having engaged near Abydos, continued the fight
from morning until night, one side having the advantage in
the right wing, and the other on the left. ț
On the appearance of his squadron, both sides entertained
a false opinion of the end of his coming; for the Spartans were
encouraged, and the Athenians struck with terror. But he
soon hoisted the Athenian flag on the admiral galley, and bore
down directly upon the Peloponnesians, who now had the ad-
vantage, and were urging the pursuit. His vigorous impres-
sion put them to flight, and following them close he drove them
ashore, destroying their ships, and killing such of their men
as endeavoured to save themselves by swimming, though
Pharnabazus succoured them all he could frorn the shore, and
with an armed force attempted to save their vessels. The con-
clusion was, that the Athenians, having taken thirty of the ene-
my's ships, and recovered their own, erected a trophy.
After this glorious success, Alcibiades, ambitious to show
himself as soon as possible to Tissaphernes, prepared presents
and other proper acknowledgments for his friendship and hos-
* The same year that they were set up, which was the second of the ninety-
second Olympiad. The reader must carerully distinguish this faction of
four hundred from the senate of four hundred established by Solon, which
these turned out the few months they were in power.
* Δυτος ωστω δειν μη κεναις χερσι μηδε απρακτις,
# Thucydides does not speak of this arrival of Alcibiades; but probably
he did not live to have a clear account of this action, for he died this year.
Xenophon, who continued his history, mentions it.

ALCIBIADES.
391
pitality, en went to wait upon him with a princely train,
But he was ut welcomed in the manner he expected: for Tis-
saphernes, who for some time had been accused by the Lace-
dæmonians, and was apprehensive that the charge might reach
the king's ear, thought the coming of Alcibiades a very sea-
sonable incident, and therefore put him under arrest, and con-
fined him at Sardis, imagining that injurious proceeding would
be a means to clear himself.
Thirty days after, Alcibiades having by some means or
other obtained a horse, escaped from his keepers, and fled to
Clazomenæ; and, by way of revenge, he pretended that Tis-
saphernes privately set him at liberty. From thence he pass-
ed to the place where the Athenians were stationed; and being
informed, that Mindarus and Pharnabazus were together at
Cyzicum, he showed the troops that it was necessary for them
to fight both by sea and land, nay, even to fight with stone
walls, if that should be required, in order to come at their
enemies: for if the victory were not complete and universal,
they could come at no money. Then he embarked the force,
and sailed to Proconesus, where he ordered them to take the
lighter vessels into the middle of the fleet, and to have a par-
ticular care that the enemy might not discover that he was
coming against them. / A great and sudden rain which hap-
pened to fall at that time, together with dreadful thunder and
darkness, was of great service in covering his operations.
For not only the enemy were ignorant of his design, but the
Very Athenians, whom he had ordered in great haste on
board, did not presently perceive that he was under sail.
Soon after the weather cleared up, and the Peloponnesian
ships were seen riding at anchor in the road of Cyzicum.
Lest, therefore, the enemy should be alarmed at the largeness
of his fleet, and save themselves by getting on shore, he di-
rected many of the officers to slacken sail, and keep out of
sight, while he showed himself, with forty ships only, and
challenged the Lacedæmonians to the combat. The stratagem
had its effect; for, despising the small number of galleys which
they saw, they immediately weighed anchor, and engaged;
but the rest of the Athenian ships coming up during the en-
gagement, the Lacedæmonians were struck with terror and
Aed. Upon that Alcibiades, with twenty of his best ships,
breaking through the midst of them, hastened to the shore,
and having made a descent, pursued those that fled from the
ships, and killed great numbers of them. He likewise de-
feated Mindarus and Pharnabazus, who came to their succour.
Mindarus made a braye resistance, and was slain; but Pharna-
bazus saved himself by flight.
The Athenians remained masters of the field, and of the

392
ALCIBIADES.
zus,
29
spoils, and took all the enemy's ships. Having also possessed
themselves of Cyzicum, which was abandoned by Pharnaba-
and deprived of the assistance of the Peloponnesians, who
were almost all cut off, they not only secured the Hellespont,
but entirely cleared the sea of the Lacedæmonians. The let-
ter also was intercepted, which, in the laconic style, was to
give the Ephori an account of their misfortune.
« Our glory
is faded. "Mindarus is slain. Our soldiers are starving; and
we know not what step to take.
On the other hand, Alcibiades's men were so elated, and
took so much upon them, because they had always been vic-
torious, that they would not vouchsafe even to mix with other
troops that had been sometimes beaten. It happened, not
long before, that Thrasyllus having miscarried in his attempt
upon Ephesus, the Ephesians erected a trophy of brass, in re-
proach of the Athenians. * The soldiers of Alcibiades, there-
fore, upbraided those of Thrasyllus with this affair, magnify-
ing themselves and their general, and disdaining to join the
others either in the place of exercise or in the camp.
But
soon after, when Pharnabazus, with a strong body of horse
and foot, attacked the forces of Thrasyllus, who were ravag-
ing the country about Abydos, Alcibiades marched to their
assistance, routed the enemy, and, together with Thrasyllus,
pursued them until night. Then he admitted Thrasyllus into
his company, and, with mutual civilities and satisfaction, they
returned to the camp. Next day he erected a trophy, and
plundered the province which was under Pharnabazus, with-
out the least opposition. The priests and priestesses he made
prisoners, among the rest, but soon dismissed them, without
ransom. From thence he intended to proceed and lay siege
to Chalcedon, which had withdrawn its allegiance from the
Athenians, and received a Lacedæmonian garrison and go-
vernor; but being informed that the Chalcedonians had col-
lected their cattle and corn, and sent it all to the Bithynians,
their friends, he led his army to the frontier of the Bithynians,
and sent a herald before him, to summon them to surrender it.
They, dreading his resentment, gave up the booty, and en-
tered into an alliance with him.
Afterwards he returned to the siege of Chalcedon, and en-
closed it with a wall which reached from sea to sea. Pharna-
bazus advanced to raise the siege, and Hippocrates the go-
vernor, sallied out with his whole force to attack the Athe-
* Trophies before had been of wood, but the Ephesians erected this of
brass, to perpetuate the infamy of the Athenians, and it was this new and
mortifying circumstance with which Alcibiades's soldiers reproached those
of Thrasyllus.--Diodor. lib. xiii.

ALCIBIADES.
393
coast.
rians; but Alcibiades drew up his army so as to engage them
both at once, and he defeated them both; Pharnabazus betak-
ing himself to flight, and Hippocrates being killed, together
with the greatest part of his troops. · This done, he sailed in-
to the Hellespont, to raise contributions in the towns upon the
In this voyage he took Sely bria; but in the action unneces-
sarily, exposed himself to great danger. The persons who
promised to surrender the town to him, agreed to give him a
signal at midnight with a lighted torch; but they were obliged
to do it before the time, for fear of some one that was in the
secret, who suddenly altered his mind. The torch, therefore,
being held up before the army was ready, Alcibiades took
about thirty men with him, and ran to the walls, having or-
dered the rest to follow as fast as possible. The gate was
opened to him; and twenty of the conspirators, lightly armed,
joining his small company, he advanced with great spirit, but
soon perceived the Sely brians, with their weapons in their
hands, coming forward to attack him. As to stand and fight
promised no sort of success, and he, who to that hour had
never been defeated, did not choose to fly, he ordered a trum-
pet to command silence, and proclamation to be made, that the
Selybrians should not, under the pain of the republic's high dis-
pleasure, take up arms against the Athenians. Their inclination
to the combat was then immediately damped, partly from a
supposition
that the whole Athenian army was within the walls,
and partly from the hopes they conceived of coming to tolera-
ble terms. Whilst they were talking together of this order,
the Athenian army came up, and Alcibiades rightly conjectur-
ing
that the inclinations of the Selybrians were for peace, was
afraid of giving the Thracians an opportunity to plunder the
own. These last came down in great numbers to serve under
nim as volunteers, from a particular attachment to his person; ;
out, on this occasion, he sent them all out of the town; and,
upon the submission of the Sely brians, he saved them from
being pillaged, demanding only a sum of money, and leaving
a garrison in the place.
Mean time, the other generals, who carried on the siege of
Chalcedon, came to an agreement with Pharnabazus, on these
conditions; namely, that a sum of money should be paid them
by Pharnabazus; that the Chalcedonians should return to their
allegiance to the republic of Athens; and that no injury should
be done the province of which Pharnabazus was governor, who
undertook that the Athenian ambassadors should be conducted
safe to the king. Upon the return of Alcibiades, Pharnabazus
desired that he too would swear to the performance of the ar-
ticles; but Alcibiades insisted that Pharnabazus should swear
VOL. 1.3F
35

394
ALCIBIADES.
first. When the treaty was reciprocally confirmed with an
oath, Alcibiades went against Byzantium, which had revolted,
and drew a line of circumvallation about the city. While he
was thus employed, Anaxilaus, Lycurgus, and some others,
secretly promised to deliver up the place, on condition that he
would keep it from being plundered. Hereupon he caused it
to be reported, that certain weighty and unexpected affairs
called him back to Ionia, and in the day-time he set sail, with
his whole fleet; but returning at night, he himself disembark
ed with the land forces, and posting them under the walls, he
commanded them not to make the least noise. At the same
time, the ships made for the harbour, and the crews pressing
in, with loud shouts and great tumult, astonished the Byzan-
tines, who expected no such matter. Thus an opportunity
was given to those within the walls, who favoured the Athe-
nians, to receive them in great security, while every body's
attention was engaged upon the harbour and the ships.
The affair passed not, however, without blows; for the Pe.
loponnesians, Beotians, and Megarensians, who were at By-
zantium, having driven the ships' crews back to their vessels,
and perceiving that the Athenian land forces were got into the
town, charged them too with great vigour. The dispute was
sharp, and the shock great, but victory declared for Alcibiades
and Theramenes. The former of these generals commanded
the right wing, and the latter the left. About three hundred
of the enemy, who survived, were taken prisoners. Not one
of the Byzantines, after the battle, was either put to death or
banished; for such were the terms on which the town was
given up, that the citizens should be safe in their
their goods.
Hence it was, that when Anaxilaus was tried at Lacedæmon
for treason, he made a defence which reflected no disgrace
upon his past behaviour; for he told them,—" That not being
a Lacedæmonian, but a Byzantine, and seeing not Lacedæmon
but Byzantium in danger, its communication with those that
might have relieved it stopped, and the Peloponnesians and
Baotians eating up the provisions that were left while the
Byzantines, with their wives and children, were starving; he
had not betrayed the town to an enemy, but delivered it from
calamity and war; herein imitating the worthiest men among
the Lacedæmonians, who had no other rule of justice and ho-
nour, but by all possible means to serve their country.” The
Lacedæmonians were so much pleased with this speech, that
they acquitted him, and all that were concerned with him,
Alcibiades, by this time, desirous to see his native country,
and still more desirous to be seen by his countrymen, after so
many glorious victories, set sail with the Athenian fleet, adorn-
persons and

ALCIBIADES,
395
manner.
ed with many shields, and other spoils of the enemy; a great
number of ships that he had taken making up the rear, and the
flags of many more which he had destroyed, being carried in
triumph; for all of them together were not fewer than two
hundred. But as to what is added by Duris the Samian, who
boasts of his being descended from Alcibiades, that the oars
kept time to the flute of Chrysogonus, who had been victori-
ous in the Pythian games; that Callipides the tragedian, attir-
ed in his buskins, magnificent robes, and other theatrical or-
naments, gave orders to those who laboured at the oars; and
that the admiral galley entered the harbour with a purple sail,
as if the whole had been a company who had proceeded from
a debauch to such a frolic. These are particulars not mention-
ed either by Theopompus, Ephorus, or Xenophon. Nor is it
probable that, at his return from exile, and after such misfor-
tunes as he had suffered, he would insult the Athenians in that
So far from it that he approached the shore with
some fear and caution; nor did he venture to disembark, until,
as he stood upon the deck, he saw his cousin Euryptolemus,
with many others of his friends and relations, coming to re-
ceive and invite him to land.
When he was landed, the multitude that came out to meet
him, did not vouchsafe so much as to look upon the other gen-
erals, but crowding up to him with shouts of joy, conducted
him on the way, and such as could approach him, crowned
him with garlands; while those that could not come up so close,
viewed him at a distance, and the old men pointed him out to
the young. Many tears were mixed with the public joy, and
the memory of past misfortunes with the sense of their present
success; for they concluded that they should not have miscar-
ried in Sicily, or indeed have failed in any of their expecta-
tions, if they had left the direction of affairs, and the command
of the forces, to Alcibiades; since now having exerted himself
in behalf of Athens, when it had almost lost its dominion of
the sea, was hardly able to defend its own suburbs, and was
moreover harassed with intestine broils, he had raised it from
that low and ruinous condition, so as not only to restore its
maritime power, but to render it victorious every where by
land
The act for recalling him from banishment had been passed,
at the motion of Critias the son of Callæschrus, * as appears
* This Critias was uncle to Plato's mother, and the same that he intro-
duces in his Dialogues. Though now the friend of Alcibiades, yet, as the
lust of power destroys all ties, when one of the thirty tyrants, he became
his bitter enemy, and sending to Lysander, assured him that Athens would
never be quiet, or Sparta safe, until Alcibiades was destroyed. Critias was

396
ALCIBIADES.
from his elegies, in which he puts Alcibiades in mind of his
service:
If you no more in hapless exile mourn,
The praise is mine.
The people presently meeting in full assembly, Alcibiades
came in among them, and having, in a pathetic manner, be-
wailed his misfortunes, he very modestly complained of their
treatment, ascribing all to his hard fortune, and the influence
of some envious demon. He then proceeded to discourse of
the hopes and designs of their enemies, against whom he used
his utmost endeavours to animate them. And they were so
much pleased with his harangue, that they crowned him with
crowns of gold, and gave him the absolute command of their
forces, both by sea and land. They likewise made a decree,
that his estate should be restored to him, and that the Eumol-
pida and the heralds should take off the execrations which
they had pronounced against him, by order of the people.
Whilst the rest were employed in expiations for this purpose,
Theodorus, the high priest, said,-“for his part, he had never
denounced any curse against him, if he had done no injury to
the commonwealth."
Amidst this glory and prosperity of Alcibiades, some peo-
ple were still uneasy, looking upon the time of his arrival as
ominous; for on that very day was kept the plynteria, * or puri-
fying of the goddess Minerva. It was the twenty-fifth of
May, when the Praxiergidæ perform those ceremonies which
are not to be revealed, disrobing the image, and covering it
ир. . Hence it is that the Athenians, of all days, reckon this
the most unlucky, and take the most care not to do business
upon it; and it seemed that the goddess did not receive him
graciously, but rather with aversion, since she hid her face
from him. Notwithstanding all this, every thing succeeded
according to his wish; three hundred galleys were manned,
and ready to put to sea again; but a laudable zeal detained him
until the celebration of the Mysteries. † For after the Lace-
dæmonians had fortified Decelea, which commanded the roads
to Eleusis, the feast was not kept with its usual
pomp,
because
afterwards slain by Thrasybulus, when he delivered Athens from that ty-
* On that day, when the statue of Minerva was washed, the temples were
encompassed with a cord, to denote that they were shut up, as was cus-
tomary on all inauspicious days. They carried dried figs in procession, be-
cause that was the first fruit which was eaten after acorns.
+ The festival of Ceres and Proserpine continued nine days. On the sixth
day, they carried in procession to Eleusis the statue of Bacchus, whom they
supposed to be the son of Jupiter and Ceres.
ranny.

ALCIBIADES.
397
they were obliged to conduct the procession by sea; the sacri-
fices, the sacred dances, and other ceremonies, which had been
performed on the way, called holy, while the image of Bacchus
was carried in procession, being on that account necessarily
omitted. Alcibiades, therefore judged it would be an act
conducive to the honour of the gods, and to his reputation
with men, to restore those rites to their due solemnity, by
conducting the procession with his army, and guarding it
against the enemy. By that means, either king Agis would
be humbled, if he suffered it to pass unmolested; or, if he at-
tacked the convoy, Alcibiades would have a fight to maintain
in the cause of piety and religion, for the most venerable of its
mysteries, in the sight of his country, and all his fellow-citi-
zens would be witnesses of his valour.
When he had determined upon this, and communicated his
design to the Eumolpidæ and the heralds, he placed sentinels
upon the eminences, and set out his advanced guard as soon
as it was light. Next he took the priests, the persons initia-
ted, and those who had the charge of initiating others, and
covering them with his forces, led them on in great order and
profound silence; exhibiting in that march a spectacle so august
and venerable, that those who did not envy him, declared he
had performed not only the office of a general, but of a high
priest. Not a man of the enemy dared to attack him, and he
conducted the procession back in great safety, which both ex-
alted him in his own thoughts, and gave the soldiery such an
opinion of him, that they considered themselves as invincible
while under his command; and he gained such an influence
over the mean and indigent part of the people, that they were
passionately desirous to see him invested with absolute power;
insomuch, that some of them applied to him in person, and
exhorted him, in order to quash the malignity of envy at once,
to abolish the privileges of the people, and the laws, and to
quell those busy spirits who would otherwise be the ruin of
the state; for then he might direct affairs, and proceed to ac-
tion, without fear of groundless impeachments.
What opinion he himself had of this proposal we know not;
but this is certain, that the principal citizens were so apprehen-
sive of his aiming at arbitrary power, that they got him to
embark as soon as possible: and the more to expedite the mat-
ter, they ordered, among other things, that he should have
the choice of his colleagues. Putting to sea, therefore, with
a fleet of a hundred ships, he sailed to the isle of Andros,
where he fought and defeated the Andrians, and such of the
Lacedæmonians as assisted them; but yet he did not take the
eity, which gave his enemies the first occasion for the charge
which they afterwards brought against him. Indeed, if ever
35*

398
ALCIBIADES.
man was ruined by a high distinction of character, it was Alci
biades;* for his continual successes had procured such an
opinion of his courage and capacity, that when afterwards he
happened to fail in what he undertook, it was suspected to be
from want of inclination, and no one would believe it was from
want of ability. They thought nothing too hard for him, when
he pleased to exert himself. They hoped also to hear that
Chios was taken, and all Ionia reduced, and grew impatient
when every thing was not despatched as suddenly as they de-
sired. They never considered the smallness of his supplies;
and that, having to carry on the war against people who were
furnished out of the treasury of a great king, he was often
under the necessity of leaving his camp, to go in search of
money and provisions for his men.
This it was that gave rise to the last accusation against him.
Lysander the Lacedæmonian admiral, out of the money he
received from Cyrus, raised the wages of each mariner from
three oboli a-day to four; whereas it was with difficulty that
Alcibiades paid his men three. The latter, therefore, went
into Caria to raise money, leaving the fleet in charge with An-
tiochus, * who was an experienced seaman, but rash and incon-
siderate. Though he had express orders from Alcibiades to
let no provocation from the enemy bring him to hazard an en-
gagement, yet, in his contempt of those orders, having taken
some troops on board his own galley and one more, he stood
for Ephesus, where the enemy lay; and as he sailed by the
heads of their ships, insulted them in the most insufferable
both by words and actions. Lysander sent out a few
ships to pursue him; but as the whole Athenian fleet came up
to assist Antiochus, he drew out the rest of his, and gave bat-
tle and gained a complete victory. He slew Antiochus him-
self, took many ships and men, and erected a trophy. Upon
this disagreeable news, Alcibiades returned to Samos, from
whence he moved with the whole fleet, to offer Lysander bat-
tle; but Lysander, content with the advantage he had gained,
did not think proper to accept it.
Among the enemies which Alcibiades had in the army,
Thrasybulus the son of Thrason, being the most determined,
quitted the camp, and went to Athens, to impeach him. Tó
incense the people against him, he declared, in full assembly,
manner,
* It was not altogether the universality of his success that rendered Alci.
biades suspected, when he came short of public expectation. The dupli-
city of his character is obvious, from the whole account of his life. He paid
not the least regard to veracity in political matters; and it is not to be won-
dered if such principles made him continually obnoxious to the suspicion
of the people.
| This was he who caught the quail for him.

ALCIBIADES.
399
that Alcibiades had been the ruin of their affairs, and the
means of losing their ships, by his insolent and imprudent be-
haviour in command, and by leaving the direction of every
thing to persons who had got into credit with him, through
the great merit of drinking deep, and cracking seamen's jokes,
whilst he was securely traversing the provinces to raise money,
indulging his love of liquor, or abandoning himself to his plea-
sures with the courtesans of Ionia and Abydos; and this at a
time when the enemy was stationed at a small distance from
his fleet. It was also objected to him, that he had built a cas-
tle in Thrace, near the city of Bisanthe, to be made use of as a
retreat for himself, as if he either could not, or would not,
live any longer in his own country. The Athenians giving
ear to these accusations, to show their resentment and dislike
to him, appointed new commanders of their forces.
· Alcibiades was no sooner informed of it, than consulting
his own safety, he entirely quitted the Athenian army; and
having collected a band of strangers, he made war, on his own
account, against those Thracians who acknowledged no king.
The booty he made raised him great sums; and,
at the same
time, he defended the Grecian frontier against the barbarians.
Tydeus, Menander, and Adimantus, the new-made generals,
being now at Ægos Potamos,t with all the ships which the
Athenians had left, used to stand out early every morning,
and offer battle to Lysander, whose station was at Lampsacus,
and then to return, and pass the day in a disorderly and care-
less manner, as if they despised their adversary. This seem-
ed to Alcibiades, who was in the neighbourhood, a matter not
to be passed over without notice. He, therefore, went and
told the generals, I—" He thought their station by no means
safe, in a place where there was neither town nor harbour;
that it was very inconvenient to have their provisions and
stores from so distant place as Sestos; and extremely danger-
ous to let their seamen go ashore, and wander about at their
pleasure, whilst a fleet was observing them, which was under
the orders of one man, and the strictest discipline imaginable.
* They appointed ten generals.-Xenoph. lib. i.
+ Plutarch passes over almost three years; namely, the twenty-fifth of the
Peloponnesian war; the twenty-sixth, in which the Athenians obtained the
victory at Arginuse, and put six of the ten generals to death, upon a slight
accusation of their colleague Theramenes; and almost the whole twenty-se-
venth, towards the end of which the Athenians sailed to Ægos Potam.os,
where they received the blow that is spoken of in this place.
# The officers at the head of the Grecian armies and navy, we sometimes
call generals, and sometimes admirals, because they commonly commanded
both by sea and land.

400
ALCIBIADES.
”
He, therefore, advised them to remove their station to Ses-
tos.'
The generals, however, gave no attention to what he said;
and Tydeus was so insolent as even to bid him begone, for
that, they, not he, were now to give orders. Alcibiades, sus-
pecting that there was some treachery in the case, retired,
telling his acquaintance, who conducted him out of the camp,
that if he had not been insulted in such an insupportable man
ner by the generals, he would, in a few days, have obliged the
Lacedæmonians, however unwilling, either to come to an ac-
tion at sea, or else to quit their ships. This to some appear-
ed a vain boast; to others it seemed not at all improbable,
since he might have brought down a number of Thracian
archers and cavalry, to attack and harass the Lacedæmonian
camp.
The event soon showed that he judged right of the errors
which the Athenians had committed; for Lysander falling
upon them, when they least expected it, eight galleys only
escaped,t along with Conon; the rest, not much short of two
hundred, were taken and carried away, together with three
thousand prisoners, who were afterwards put to death. And
within a short time after Lysander took Athens itself, burnt
the shipping, and demolished the long walls.
Alcibiades, alarmed at the success of the Lacedæmonians,
who were now masters both at sea and land, retired into Bi-
thynia. Thither he ordered much treasure to be sent, and
took large sums with him, but still left more behind in the
castle where he had resided. In Bithynia he once more lost
great part of his substance, being stript by the Thracians there;
which determined him to go to Artaxerxes, and entreat his
protection. He imagined that the king, upon trial, would find
him no less serviceable than Themistocles had been, and he
had a better pretence to his patronage; for he was not going
to solicit the king's aid against his countrymen, as Themisto-
cles had done, but for his country against its worst enemies.
He concluded that Pharnabazus was most likely to procure
him a safe conduct, and therefore went to him in Phrygia,
where he staid some time, making his court, and receiving
marks of respect.
It was a grief to the Athenians to be deprived of their pow-
er and dominion; but when Lysander robbed them also of
* When a fleet remained some time at one particular station, there was
generally a body of land-forces, and part of the mariners too, encamped up.
on the shore.
† There was a ninth ship, called Paralus, which escaped, and carried the
news of their defeat to Athens. Conon himself retired to Cyprus,

ALCIBIADES.
401
their liberty, and put their city under the autnority of thirty
chiefs, they were still more miserably afflicted. Now their
affairs were ruined, they perceived with regret the measures
which would have saved them, and which they had neglected
to make use of; now they acknowledged their blindness and
errors, and looked upon their second quarrel with Alcibiades
as the greatest of those errors. — They had cast him off without
any offence of his; their anger had been grounded upon the ill
conduct of his lieutenant in losing a few ships; and their own
conduct had been still worse, in depriving the commonwealth
of the most excellent and valiant of all its generals. Yet
amidst their present misery there was one slight glimpse of
hope, that while Alcibiades survived, Athens could not be ut-
terly undone. For he, who before was not content to lead an
inactive, though peaceable life, in exile, would not now, if his
own affairs were upon any tolerable footing, sit still and see
the insolence of the Lacedæmonians, and the madness of the
thirty tyrants, without endeavouring at some remedy. Nor was
it at all unnatural for the multitude to dream of such relief,
since those thirty chiefs themselves were so solicitous to in-
quire after Alcibiades, and gave so much attention to what
he was doing and contriving.
At last, Critias represented to Lysander, that the Lacedæ-
monians could never securely enjoy the empire of Greece till
the Athenian democracy was absolutely destroyed. And
though the Athenians seemed at present to bear an oligarchy
with some patience, yet Alcibiades, if he lived, would not suf-
fer them long to submit to such a kind of government. Ly-
sander, however, could not be prevailed upon by these argu-
ments, until he received private orders from the magistrates
of Sparta, * to get Alcibiades despatched; whether it was that
they dreaded his great capacity, and enterprising spirit, or
whether it was done in complaisance to king Agis. Lysander
then sent to Pharnabazus, to desire him to put this order in
execution; and he appointed his brother .Magacus and his
uncle Susamithres to manage the affair.
Alcibiades at that time resided in a small village in Phry-
gia, having his mistress Timandra with him. One night he
dreamed that he was attired in his mistress's habit,t and that
as she held him in her arms, she dressed his head and painted
his face like a woman's. Others say, he dreamed that Maga-
cus cut off his head and burnt his body; and we are told that it
was but little before his death that he had this vision. Be that
as it may, those that were sent to assassinate him, not daring
* The Scytala was sent to him.
+ Alcibiades had dreamed that Timandra attired him in her own habit.
VOL. 1.3 G

402
ALCIBIADES.
to enter his house, surrounded it, and set it on fire. As soon
as he perceived it, he got together large quantities of clothes
and hangings, and threw them upon the fire to choke it; then
having wrapt his robe about his left hand, and taking his sword
in his right, he sallied through the fire, and got safe out be-
fore the stuff which he had thrown upon it could catch the
flame. At sight of him the barbarians dispersed, not one of
them daring to wait for him, or to encounter him hand to hand;
but standing at a distance, they pierced him with their darts
and arrows.
Thus fell Alcibiades. The barbarians retiring
after he was slain, Timandra wrapt the body in her own
robes, * and buried it as decently and honourably as her cir-
cumstances would allow.
Timandra is said to have been mother to the famous Laïs,
commonly called the Corinthian, though Laïs was brought a
captive from Hyccaræ, a little town in Sicily.
Some writers, though they agree as to the manner of Alci-
biades's death, yet they differ about the cause. They tell
us,
that catastrophe is not to be imputed to Pharnabazus, or Ly-
sander, or the Lacedæmonians; but that Alcibiades having cor-
rupted a young woman of a noble family in that country, and
keeping her in his house, her brothers, incensed at the injury,
set fire in the night to the house in which he lived, and upon
his breaking through the flames, killed him in the manner we
have related. +
* She buried him in a town called Melissa; and we learn from Athenæus
(in Deipnosoph. ) that the monument remained to his time; for he himself
saw it. The emperor Adrian, in memory of so great a man, caused his sta-
tue of Persian marble to be set up thereon, and ordered a bull to be sacrificed
to him annually.
f Ephorus the historian, as he is cited by Diodorus Siculus (lib. xiv.) gives
an account of his death, quite different from those recited by Plutarch. He
says, that Alcibiades having discovered the design of Cyrus the younger to
take up arms, informed Pharnabazus of it, and desired that he might carry
the news to the king; but Pharnabazus envying him that honour, sent a
confidant of his own, and took all the merit upon himself. Alcibiades, sus-
pecting the matter, went to Paphlagonia, and sought to procure from the go-
vernor letters of credence to the king, which Pharnabazus understanding,
hired people to murder him. He was slain in the fortieth year of his age.

THE LIFE
OF
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
The family of the Marcii afforded Rome many illustrious
patricians. Of this house was Ancus Marcius, who was
grandson to Numa by his daughter; as were also Publius and
L
Quintus Marcius, who supplied Rome with plenty of the best
water. Censorinus, too, who was twice appointed censor by
the people of Rome, and
who procured a law, that no man
should ever bear that office twice afterwards, had the same
pedigree.
Caius Marcius, of whom I now write, was brought up by
his mother, in her widowhood, and from him it appeared,
that the loss of a father, though attended with other disadvan-
tages, is no hindrance to a man's improving in virtue, and at-
taining to a distinguished excellence; though bad men some-
times allege it as an excuse for their corrupt lives. On the
other hand, the same Marcius became witness to the truth of
that maxim, that if a generous and noble nature be not
thoroughly formed by discipline, it will shoot forth many bad
qualities along with the good, as the richest soil, if not culti-
vated, produces the rankest weeds. His undaunted courage
and firmness of mind excited him to many great actions, and
carried him through them with honour; but, at the same time,
the violence of his passions, his spirit of contention, and ex-
i cessive obstinacy, rendered him untractable and disagreeable
in conversation; so that those very persons who saw with ad-
miration his soul unshaken with pleasures, toils, and riches,
and allowed him to be possessed of the virtues of temperance,
justice and fortitude, yet, in the councils and affairs of state,
could not endure his imperious temper, and that savage man-
ner, which was too haughty for a republic. Indeed there is
no other advantage to be had from a liberal education, equal
to that of polishing and softening our nature by reason and dis-
cipline; for that produces an evenness of behaviour, and ban-
ishes from our manners all extremes. There is this, however,

404
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
to be said, that in those times military abilities were deemed
by the Romans the highest excellence; insomuch that the
term which they use for virtue in general, was applied by them.
to valour in particular.
Marcius, for his part, had a more than ordinary inclination
for war, and therefore, from a child, began to handle his wea-
pons.
As he thought that artificial arms availed but little, un-
less those with which nature has supplied us be well improved,
and kept ready for use, he so prepared himself by exercise for
every kind of combat, that while his limbs were active and
nimble enough for pursuing, such was his force and weight in
wrestling and grappling with the enemy, that none could
easily get clear of him. Those, therefore, that had any con-
test with him for the prize of courage and valour, though they
failed of success, flattered themselves with imputing it to his
invincible strength, which nothing could resist or fatigue.
He made his first campaign when he was very young,
* When
Tarquin, who had reigned in Rome, was driven from the
throne, and after many battles fought with bad success, was
now venturing all upon the last throw. Most of the people of
Latium, and many other states of Italy, were now assisting
and marching towards Rome, to re-establish him, not through
any regard they had for Tarquin, but for fear and envy of the
Romans, whose growing greatness they were desirous to check.
О O
A battle ensued, with various turns of fortune. Marcius dis-
tinguished himself that day, in sight of the dictator; for, see-
ing a Roman pushed down at a small distance from him, he
hastened to his help and standing before him, he engaged his
and slew him. When the dispute was decided in
favour of the Romans, the general presented Marcius, among
the first, with an oaken crown.† This is the reward which
their custom assigns to a man who saves the life of a citizen;
either because they honoured the oak for the sake of the Ar-
cadians, whom the oracle called Acorn-eaters; or because an
oaken branch is most easy to be had, be the scene of action
where it will; or because they think it most suitable to take a
crown for him who is the means of saving a citizen, from the
tree which is sacred to Jupiter, the protector of cities. Be-
sides, the oak bears more and fairer fruit than any tree that
* In the first year of the seventy-first Olympiad, the two hundred and fif-
ty-eighth of Rome, four hundred and ninety-third before the Christian era,
† The civic crown was the foundation of many privileges. He who had
once obtained it, had a right to wear it always. When he appeared at the
public spectacles, the senators rose up to do him honour. He was placed
near their bench; and his father, and grandfather by the father's side, were
entitled to the same privileges. Here was encouragement to merit, which
cost the public nothing, and yet was productive of many great effects,

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
405
grows wild, and is the strongest of those that are cultivated in
plantations. It afforded the first ages both food and drink, by
its acorns and honey; and supplied men with birds and other
creatures for dainties, as it produced the misletoe, of which
birdlime is made. *
Castor and Pollux are said to have appeared in that battle,
and, with their horses dropping sweat, to have been seen soon
after in the forum, announcing the victory, near the fountain,
where the temple now stands. Hence also it is said, that the
fifteenth of July,t being the day on which that victory was
gained, is consecrated to those sons of Jupiter.
It generally happens, that when men of small ambition are
very early distinguished by the voice of fame, their thirst of
honour is soon quenched, and their desires satiated; whereas
deep and solid minds are improved and brightened by marks
of distinction which serve as a brisk gale, to drive them for-
ward in the pursuit of glory. They do not so much think
that they have received a reward, as that they have given a
pledge, which would make them blush to fall short of the ex-
Opectations of the public; and therefore they endeavour, by
their actions, to exceed them. Marcius had a soul of this
frame. He was always endeavouring to excel himself, and
meditating some exploit which might set him in a new light,
adding achievement to achievement, and spoils to spoils;
therefore the latter generals under whom he served were als
ways striving to outdo the former in the honours they paid
him, and in the tokens of their esteem. The Romans at that
time were engaged in several wars, and fought many battles,
and there was not one that Marcius returned from without
some honorary crown, some ennobling distinction. The end
which others proposed in their acts of valour was glory; but
ne pursued glory because the acquisition of it delighted his
mother. For when she was witness to the applauses he re-
ceived, when she saw him crowned, when she embraced him
with tears of joy, then it was that he reckoned himself at the
height of honour and felicity. Epaminondas (they tell us)
had the same sentiments, and declared it the chief happiness
of his life, that his father and mother lived to see the general-
ship he exerted, and the victory he won, at Leuctra. He had
the satisfaction, indeed, to see both his parents rejoice in his
success, and partake of his good fortune; but only the mother
* It does not any where appear that the ancients made use of the oak in
ship-building. How much nobler an enconium might an English historian
afford that tree than Plutarch has been able to give it!
tBy the great disorder of the Roman calendar, the fifteenth of July then
fell upon the twenty-fourth of our October.
36

406
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
of Marcius, Volumnia, was living; and therefore holding him-
self o'liged to pay her all that duty which would have belong-
ed to his father, over and above what was due to herself, he
thought he could never sufficiently express his tenderness and
respect. He even married in compliance with her desire and
request; and after his wife had borne him children, still lived
in the same house with his mother.
At the time when the reputation and interest which his
virtue had procured him in Rome, was very great, the senate,
taking the part of the richer sort of citizens, were at variance
with the common people, who* were used by their creditors
with intolerable cruelty. Those that had something consi-
derable, were stript of their goods, which were either detained
for security or sold; and those that had nothing were dragged
into prison, and there bound with fetters, though their bodies
were full of wounds, and worn out with fighting for their
country. The last expedition they were engaged in was
against the Sabines, on which occasion their rich creditors
promised to treat them with more lenity; and, in pursuance of
a decree of the senate, M. Valerius the consul, was guarantee
of that promise. But when they had cheerfully undergone
the fatigues of that war, and were returned victorious, and yet
found that the usurers made them no abatement, and that the
senate pretended to remember nothing of that agreement, but
without any sort of concern saw them dragged to prison, and
their goods seized upon as formerly, then they filled the city
with tumult and sedition.
The enemy, apprised of these intestine broils, invaded the
Roman territories, and laid them waste with fire and sword.
And when the consuls called upon such as were able to bear
arms to give in their names, not a man took any notice of it;
something was then to be done, but the magistrates differed in
their opinions. Some thought the poor should have a little
indulgence, and that the extreme rigour of the law ought to
be softened. Others declared absolutely against that proposal,
and particularly Marcius. Not that he thought the money a
matter of great consequence, but he considered this specimen
of the people's insolence as an attempt to subvert the laws,
and the forerunner of farther disorders, which it became a
wise government timely to restrain and suppress.
The senate assembled several times within the space of a
few days, and debated this point; but as they came to no con-
clusion, on a sudden the commonalty rose, one and all, and
* Tino XEv dexxyta signifies the same as marxVTL. So 1 Cor. vii. 40. d'ouwd
Keyw ar veu pede @ex Exelv, instead of I think also that I have the Spirit of God,
should be translated, and I have the Spirit of God.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
407
encouraging each other, they left the city, and withdrew to
h the hill now called Sacred, near the river Anio, but without
committing any violence or other act of sedition. Only, as
they went along, they loudly complained, “That it was now
a great while since the rich had driven them from their habi-
tations; that Italy would any where supply them with air and
water, and a place of burial; and that Rome, if they staid in it,
would afford them no other privilege, unless it were such to
bleed and die in fighting for their wealthy oppressors.”
The senate was then alarmed, and from the oldest men of
their body selected the most moderate and popular to treat
with the people. At the head of them was Menenius Agrippa,
who after much entreaty addressed to them, and many argu-
ments in defence of the senate, concluded his discourse with
this celebrated fable:—56 The members of the human body
once mutinied against the belly, and accused it of lying idle
and useless, while they were all labouring and toiling to sa-
tisfy its appetites; but the belly only laughed at their simpli-
city, who knew not that though it received all the nourish-
ment into itself, it prepared and distributed it again to all parts
of the body. Just so, my fellow-citizens,” said he, 6 stands
the case between the senate and you. For their necessary
counsels and acts of government are productive of advantage
to you all, and distribute their salutary influence
amongst the
whole people."
After this they were reconciled to the senate, having de-
manded and obtained the privilege of appointing five men* to
defend their rights on all occasions. These are called tribunes
of the people. The first that were elected, were Junius Bru-
tust and Sicinius Vellutus, the leaders of the secession. When
the breach was thus made up, the plebeians soon came to be
enrolled as soldiers, and readily obeyed the orders of the con-
suls relative to the war. As for Marcius, though he was far
from being pleased at the advantage which the people had
gained, as it was a lessening of the authority of the patricians,
* The tribunes were at first five in number; but a few years after five
more were added. Before the people left the Mons Sacer, they passed a
law, by which the persons of the tribunes were made sacred. Their sole
function was to interpose in all grievances offered the plebeians by their su :
periors. This interposing was called intercessio, and was performed by
standing up and pronouncing the single word veto, I forbid it. They had
their seats placed at the door of the senate, and were never admitted into it,
but when the consuls called them to ask their opinion upon some affair that
concerned the interests of the people.
† The name of this tribune was Lucius Junius, and because Lucius Junius
Brutus was famed for delivering his country from the tyrannic yoke of the
kings, he also assumed the surname of Brutus, which exposed him to a great
deal of ridicule.

408
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
and though he found a considerable part of the nobility of his
opinion, yet he exhorted them not to be backward wherever
the interest of their country was concerned, but to show
themselves superior to the commonalty rather in virtue than
in power.
Corioli was the capital of the country of the Volscians, with
whom the Romans were at war; and as it was besieged by the
consul Cominius, the rest of the Volscians were much alarmed,
and assembled to succour it, intending to give the Romans
battle under the walls, and to attack them on both sides. But
after Cominius had divided his forces, and with part went to
meet the Volscians without, who were marching against him,
leaving Titus Lartius, an illustrious Roman, with the other
part, to carry on the siege, the inhabitants of Corioli despised
the body that were left, and sallied out to fight them. The
Romans at first were obliged to give ground, and were driven
to their entrenchments. But Marcius, with a small party,
flew to their assistance, killed the foremost of the enemy, and
stopping the rest in their career, with a loud voice called the
Romans back. ,For he was (what Cato wanted a soldier to be)
not only dreadful for the thunder of his arm, but of voice too,
and had an aspect which struck his adversaries with terror and
dismay. Many Romans then crowding about him, and being
ready to second him, the e' :emy retired in confusion. . Nor
was he satisfied with making them retire; he pressed hard
upon their rear, and pursued them quite up to the gates.
There he perceived that his men discontinued the pursuit, by
reason of the shower of arrows which fell from the walls, and
that none of them had any thoughts of rushing along with the
fugitives into the city, which was filled with warlike people,
who were all under arms; nevertheless he exhorted and en-
couraged them to press forward, crying out,---,66 That fortune
had opened the gates rather to the victors than to the vanquish-
ed.” But as few were willing to follow him, he broke through
the enemy, and pushed into the town with the crowd, no one
at first daring to oppose him, or even to look him in the face.
But when he cast his eyes around, and saw so small a number
within the walls, whose service he could make use of in that
dangerous enterprise, and that friends and foes were mixed
together, he summoned all his force, and performed the most
incredible exploits, whether you consider his heroic strength,
his amazing agility, or his bold and daring spirit; for he over-
powered all that were in his way, forcing some to seek refuge
in the farthest corners of the town, and others to give out and
throw down their arms; which afforded Lartius an opportunity
to bring in the rest of the Romans unmolested.
The city thus taken, most of the soldiers fell to plundering,

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
409
which Marcius highly resented, crying out,~"6 That it was a
shame for them to run about after plunder, or, under pretence
of collecting the spoils, to get out of the way of danger, while
the consul, and the Romans under his command, were, per-
haps, engaged with the enemy." As there were not many
that listened to what he said, he put himself at the head of
such as offered to follow him, and took the route which he
knew would lead him to the consul's army; sometimes press-
ing his small party to hasten their march, and conjuring them
not to suffer their ardour to cool; and sometimes begging of
the gods that the battle might not be over before he arrived, but
that he might have his share in the glorious toils and dangers
of his countrymen.
It was customary with the Romans of that age, when they
were drawn up in order of battle, and ready to take up
their
shields, and gird their garments about them, to make a nuncu-
pative will, naming each his heir, in the presence of three or
four witnesses. While the soldiers were thus employed, and
the enemy in sight, Marcius came up. Some were startled at
his first appearance, covered as he was with blood and sweat.
But when he ran cheerfully up to the consul, took him by the
hand, and told him that Corioli was taken, the consul clasped
him to his heart; and those who heard the news of that success,
and those who did but guess at it, were greatly animated, and
with shouts demanded to be led on to the combat. Marcius
inquired of Cominius in what manner the enemy's army was
drawn up, and where their best troops were posted. Being
answered, that the Antiates, who were placed in the centre,
were supposed to be the bravest and most warlike:--" I beg
it of you, then,” said Marcius, “as a favour, that you will
place me directly opposite to them.” And the consul, admir-
ing his spirit, readily granted his request.
When the battle was begun with the throwing of spears,
Marcius advanced before the rest, and charged the centre of
the Volscians with so much fury that it was soon broken.
Nevertheless, the wings attempted to surround him; and the
consul, alarmed for him, sent to his assistance a select band
which he had near his own person. A sharp conflict then en-
sued about Marcius, and a great carnage was quickly made;
but the Romans pressed the enemy with so much vigour, that
they put them to flight. And when they were going upon the
pursuit, they begged of Marcius, now almost weighed down
with wounds and fatigue, to retire to the camp. But he an-
swered:—“That it was not for conquerors to be tired;" and
so joined them in prosecuting the victory. The whole army
«Ως δ' ησαν εμβαλαι δορατων,
VOL. 1.-3H
36*
*

410
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
of the Volscians was defeated, great numbers killed, and many
made prisoners.
Next day, Marcius waiting upon the consul, and the army
being assembled, Cominius mounted the rostrum; and having
in the first place, returned due thanks to the gods for such ex-
traordinary success, addressed himself to Marcius. He began
O with a detail of his gallant actions, of which he had himself
been partly an eye-witness, and which had partly been related
to him by Lartius. Then out of the great quantity of treasure,
the many horses and prisoners they had taken, he ordered him
to take a tenth, before any distribution was made to the rest,
besides making him a present of a fine horse with noble trap-
pings, as a reward for his valour.
The army received this speech with great applause; and
Marcius, stepping forward, said,—That he accepted of the
horse, and was happy in the consul's approbation; but as for
the rest, he considered it rather as a pecuniary reward than as
va mark of honour, and therefore desired to be excused, being
satisfied with his single share of the booty. One favour only
in particular," continued he, “I desire and beg I may be in-
dulged in. I have a friend among the Volscians, bound with
me in the sacred rites of hospitality,* and a man of virtue and
honour. He is now among the prisoners, and from easy and
opulent circumstances, reduced to servitude. Of the many
misfortunes under which he labours, I should be glad to res-
cue him from one, which is that of being sold as a slave.”
These words of Marcius were followed with still louder ac-
elamations; his conquering the temptations of money being
more admired than the valour he had exerted in battle. For
even those who before regarded his superior honours with
envy and jealousy, now thought him worthy of great things,
because he had greatly declined them, and were more struck
with that virtue which led him to despise such extraordinary
advantages, than with the merit which claimed them. Indeed,
the right use of riches is more commendable than that of
arms; and not to desire them at all, more glorious than to use
them well.
When the acclamations were over, and the multitude silent
again, Cominius subjoined,—“ You can not, indeed, my fel-
low-soldiers, force these gifts of yours upon a person so firmly
resolved to refuse them; let us then give him what is not in
u
* With the former translator, we have rendered it thus, instead of Host,
which is indeed the literal sense, but sounds uncouthly in English, as it con-
veys to the unlearned reader the idea of an innkeeper. Among the ancients,
one friend called another of a different nation Eivos, my stranger, or hospes
meus, my host, because, on their travels, or other occasions, they entertain.
ed each other at their houses.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
411
nis power to decline, let us pass a yote that he be called Co-
RIOLANUS, if his gallant behaviour at Corioli has not already
bestowed that name upon him.” Hence came his third name
of Coriolanus. By which it appears, that Caius was the pro-
per name; that the second name Marcius, was that of the
family; and that the third Roman appellative was a peculiar
note of distinction, given afterwards on account of some par-
ticular act of fortune, or signature, or virtue of him that bore
it. Thus, among the Greeks, additional names were given to
some on account of their achievements, as Soter, the preserver, and
Callinicus, the victorious; to others, for something remarkable
in their persons, as Physcon, the gore-bellied, and Grypus, the
eagle-nosed; or, for their good qualities, as Euergetes, the bene-
factor, and Philadelphus, the kind brother; or their good fortune,
as Eudæmon, the prosperous, a name given to the second prince
of the family of the Batti. Several princes also have had sa-
tirical names bestowed upon them; Antigonus (for instance)
was called Doson, the man that will give to-morrow; and Ptolemy
was styled Lamyras, the buffoon. But appellations of this last
sort were used with greater latitude among the Romans. One
of the Metelli was distinguished by the name of Diadematus,
because he went a long time with a bandage, which covered
an ulcer he had in his forehead; and another they called Celer,
because with surprising celerity he entertained them with a
funeral show of gladiators, a few days after his father's death.
In our times, too, some of the Romans receive their names
from the circumstances of their birth; as that of Proculus, if
born when their fathers are in a distant country, and that of
Posthumus, if born after their father's death; and when twins
come into the world, and one of them dies at the birth, the sur-
vivor is called Vopiscus. Names are also appropriated on ac-
count of bodily imperfections; for amongst them we find not
only Sylla, the red, and Niger, the black, but even Cacus, the blind,
and Claudius, the lame; such persons, by this custom, being
wisely taught, not to consider blindness, or any other bodily
misfortune, as a reproach or disgrace, but to answer to appel-
lations of that kind as their proper names.
But this point
might have been insisted upon with greater propriety in ano-
ther place.
When the war was over, the demagogues stirred up another
osedition. And as there was no new cause of disquiet or in-
jury done the people, they made use of the mischiefs which
were the necessary consequence of the former troubles and
dissensions, as a handle against the patricians. For the great-
est part of the ground being left uncultivated and unsown, and
the war not permitting them to bring in bread-corn from other

412
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
countries, there was an extreme scarcity in Rome.* The
factious orators then seeing that corn was not brought to mar..
ket, and that if the market could be supplied, the commonalty
had but little money to buy with, slanderously asserted that
the rich had caused the famine out of a spirit of revenge.
At this junction there arrived ambassadors from the people
of Velitræ, who offered to surrender their city to the Romans,
and desired to have a number of new inhabitants to replenish
it; a pestilential distemper having committed such ravages
Othere, that scarce the tenth part of the inhabitants remained.
The sensible part of the Romans thought this pressing neces-
sity of Velitræ a seasonable and advantageous thing for Rome,
as it would lessen the scarcity of provisions. They hoped,
moreover, that the sedition would subside if the city were
purged of the troublesome part of the people, who most readily
took fire at the harangues of their orators, and who were as
dangerous to the state as so many superfluous and morbid hu-
mours are to the body. Such as these, therefore, the consuls
singled out for the colony, and pitched upon, others to serve
in the war against the Volscians, contriving it so that employ-
ment abroad might still the intestine tumults, and believing,
that when rich and poor, plebeians and patricians, came to
bear arms together again, to be in the same camp, and to meet
the same dangers, they would be disposed to treat each other
with more gentleness and candour.
But the restless tribunes, Sicinius and Brutus, opposed both
these designs, crying out, That the consuls disguised a most
inhuman act under the plausible term of a colony; for inhu-
(man it certainly was, to throw the poor citizens into a devour-
ing gulf, by sending them to a place where the air was infect-
ed, and where noisome carcasses lay above ground, where
also they would be at the disposal of a strange and cruel deity.
And as if it were not sufficient to destroy some by famine,
and to expose others to the plague, they involved them also
into a needless war, that no kind of calamity might be want-
ing to complete the ruin of the city, because it refused to con-
tinue in slavery to the rich.
The people, irritated by these speeches, neither obeyed the
summons to be enlisted for the war, nor could be brought to
approve the order to go and people Velitræ. While the sen-
ate were in doubt what step they should take, Marcius, now
not a little elated by the honours he had received, by the sense
* The people withdrew to the sacred mount soon after the autumnal
equinox, and the reconciliation with the patricians did not take place until
the winter solstice, so that the seed-time was lost; and the Roman factors,
who were sent to buy corn in other countries, were very unsuccessful.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
413
of his own great abilities, and by the deference that was paid
him by the principal persons in the state, stood foremost in
opposition to the tribunes. The colony, therefore, was sent
out, heavy fines being set upon such as refused to go. But as
they declared absolutely against serving in the war, Marcius
mustered up his own clients, and as many volunteers as he
could procure, and with these made an inroad into the terri-
tories of the Antiates. There he found plenty of corn, and a
O great number of cattle and slaves, no part of which he reserv-
ed to himself, but led his troops back to Rome, loaded with
the rich booty. The rest of the citizens then repenting of
their obstinacy, and envying those who had got such a quan-
tity of provisions, looked upon Marcius with an evil eye, not
being able to endure the increase of his power and honour,
which they considered as rising on the ruins of the people.
Soon after, * Marcius stood for the consulship; on which
occasion the commonalty began to relent, being sensible what
a shame it would be to reject and affront a man of his family
and virtue, and that too after he had done so many signal ser-
vices to the public. It was the custom for those who were
candidates for such a high office to solicit and caress the peo-
ple in the forum, and, at those times, to be clad in a loose
gown
without the tunic; whether that humble dress was thought
more suitable for suppliants, or whether it was for the conve-
nience of showing their wounds, as so many tokens of valour;
for it was not from any suspicion the citizens then had of bribe-
ry, that they required the candidates to appear before them
ungirt, and without any close garment, when they came to beg
their votes; since it was much later than this, and indeed many
ages after, that buying and selling stole in, and money came
to be a means of gaining an election. Then, corruption reach-
ing also the tribunals and the camps, arms were subdued by
money, and the commonwealth was changed into a monarchy.
It was a shrewd saying, whoever said it, " That the man who
first ruined the Roman people, was he who first gave them
treats and gratuities.” But this mischief crept secretly and
gradually in, and did not show its face in Rome for a consid-
erable time. For we know not who it was that first bribed
its citizens or its judges; but it is said, that in Athens, the first
man who corrupted a tribunal, was Anytas the son of Anthy-
mion, when he was tried for treason in delivering up the fort
of Pylos,t at the latter end of the Peloponnesian war; a time
* It was the next year, being the third of the seventy-second Olympiad,
four hundred and eighty-eight years before the Christian era.
+ The translation of 1758, has the name of the fort with a French termi-
nation, Pyle, which is a clear proof that the Greek was not consulted.

414
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
2
when the golden age reigned in the Roman courts in all its
simplicity.
When, therefore, Marcius showed the wounds and scars he
had received in the many glorious battles he had fought, for
seventeen years successively, the people were struck with
reverence for his virtue, and agreed to choose him consul.
But when the day of election came, and he was conducted with
great pomp into the Campus Martius by the senate in a body,
all the patricians acting with more zeal and vigour than ever
had been known on the like occasion, the commons then alter-
ed their minds, and their kindness was turned into envy and
indignation. The malignity of these passions was farther as-
sisted by the fear they entertained, that if a man, so strongly
attached to the interests of the senate, and so much respected
by the nobility, should attain the consulship, he might utterly
deprive the people of their liberty. Influenced by these con-
siderations, they rejected Marcius, and appointed others to
that office.' The senate took this extremely ill, considering it
as an affront rather intended against them than against Mar-
cius. As for Marcius, he resented that treatment highly, in-
dulging his irascible passions, upon a supposition that they
have someting great and exalted in them; and wanting a due
mixture of gravity and mildness, which are the chief political
virtues, and the fruits of reason and education. He did not
consider, that the man who applies himself to public business,
and undertakes to converse with men, should above all things,
avoid that overbearing austerity, which (as Plato says) is always
the companion of solitude, and cultivate in his heart the patience
which some people so much deride. Marcius, then, being
plain and artless, but rigid and inflexible withal, was persuaded,
that to vanquish opposition was the highest attainment of a
gallant spirit. He never dreamed that such obstinacy is ra-
ther the effect of the weakness and effeminacy of a distemper-
ed mind, which breaks out in violent passions, like so many
tumours; and therefore he went away in great disorder and fuil
of rancour against the people. Such of the young nobility as
were most distinguished by the pride of birth and greatness of
spirit, who had always been wonderfully taken with Marcius,
and then unluckily happened to attend him, inflamed his re-
sentment by expressing their own grief and indignation. For
he was their leader in every expedition, and their instructor
in the art of war; he it was who inspired them with a truly
virtuous emulation, and taught them to rejoice in their own
success, without envying the exploits of others.
In the mean time, a great quantity of bread-corn was
O brought to Rome, being partly bought up in Italy, and partly
a present from Gelon king of Syracuse The aspect of affairs

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
415
ner.
appeared now to be encouraging, and it was hoped that the
intestine broils would cease with the scarcity. The senate,
therefore, being immediately assembled, the people stood in
crowds without, waiting for the issue of their deliberations,
They expected that the market rates for the corn that was
bought would be moderate, and that a distribution of that
which was a gift would be made gratis; for there were some
who proposed that the senate should dispose of it in that man-
But Marcius stood up, and severely censured those that
spoke in favour of the commonalty, calling them demagogues,
and traitors to the nobility. He said;—". They nourished, to
their own great prejudice, the pernicious seeds of boldness
and petulance, which had been sown among the populace,
c when they should rather have nipped them in the bud, and not
have suffered the plebeians to strengthen themselves with the
tribunitial power. That the people were now become formida-
ble, gaining whatever point they pleased, and not doing any
one thing against their inclination; so that living in a sort of
anarchy, they would no longer obey the consuls, nor acknow-
ledge any superiors but those whom they called their own
magistrates. That the senators who advised that distribution
should be made in the manner of the Greeks, whose govern-
ment was entirely democratical, were effecting the ruin of the
constitution, by encouraging the insolence of the rabble. For
that they would not suppose they received such favours for the
campaign which they had refused to make, or for
the secessions
by which they had deserted their country, or for the calum-
nies which they had countenanced against the senate. But,”
continued he, « they will think that we yield to them through
fear, and grant them such indulgences by way of flattery; and
as they will expect to find us always so complaisant, there will
be no end to their disobedience, no period to their turbulent
and seditious practices. It would, therefore, be perfect mad-
ness to take such a step. Nay, if we are wise, we shall en-
tirely abolish the tribunes' office, * which has made ciphers of
the consuls, and divided the city in such a manner, that it is
no longer one as formerly, but broken into two parts, which
will never knit again, or cease to vex and harass each other
with all the evils of discord.”+
Marcius, haranguing to this purpose, inspired the young
senators and almost all the men of fortune with his own en-
The tribunes had lately procured a law, which made it penal to inter-
rupt them when they were speaking to the people.
† Plutarch has omitted the most aggravating passage in Coriolanus's speech,
wherein he proposed the holding up the price of bread-corn as high as ever,
to keep the people in dependence and subjection.

416
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
thusiasm; and they cried out that he was the only man in
Rome who had a spirit above the meanness of flattery and sub-
mission; yet some of the aged senators foresaw the conse-
quence, and opposed his measures. In fact, the issue was un-
fortunate; for the tribunes, who were present, when they saw
that Marcius would have a majority of voices, ran out to the
people, loudly calling upon them to stand by their own magis-
trates, and
give their best assistance. An assembly then was
6 held in a tumultuary manner, in which the speeches of Mar-
cius were recited, and the plebeians in their fury had thoughts
of breaking in upon the senate. The tribunes pointed their
rage against Marcius in particular, by impeaching him in form,
and sent for him to make his defence; but as he spurned the
messengers, they went themselves, attended by the ædiles, to
bring him by force, and began to lay hands on him. Upon
this the patricians stood up for him, drove off the tribunes,
and beat the ædiles; till night coming on broke off the quarrel.
Early next morning, the consuls observing that the people,
now extremely incensed, flocked from all quarters into the
forum; and dreading what might be the consequence to the
city, hastily convened the senate, and moved, -" That they
should consider how with kind words and favourable resolu-
tions they might bring the commons to temper; for that this
was not a time to display their ambition, nor would it be pru-
dent to pursue disputes about the point of honour at a critical
and dangerous juncture, which required the greatest modera-
tion and delicacy of conduct.” As the majority agreed to the
motion, they went out to confer with the people, and used
heir best endeavours to pacify them, coolly refuting calumnies,
and modestly, though not without some degree of sharpness,
complaining
of their behaviour. As to the price of bread-corn,
and other provisions, they declared there should be no differ-
ence between them.
Great part of the people were moved with this application,
and it clearly appeared, by their candid attention, that they
were ready to close with it. Then the tribunes stood
up
and
said,—“ That since the senate acted with moderation, the
people were not unwilling to make concessions in their turn;
but they insisted that Marcius should come and answer to
these articles: Whether he had not stirred up the senate to the
confounding of all government, and to the destroying of the
people's privileges? Whether he had not refused to obey their
summons? Whether he had not beaten and otherwise maltreat-
ed the ædiles in the forum; and by these means (so far as in
Lhim lay) levied war, and brought the citizens to sheath their
swords in each other's bosoms?” These things they said with
a design, either to humble Marcius, by making him submit to

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS,
417
entreat the people's clemency, which was much against his
haughty temper; or, if he followed his native bent, to draw
him to make the breach incurable. The latter they were in
hopes of, and the rather because they knew the man well.
He stood as if he would have made his defence, and the
peo-
ple waited in silence for what he had to say. But when, in-
stead of the submissive language that was expected, he began
with an aggravating boldness, and rather accused the com-
mons than defended himself; when with the tone of his voice
and the fierceness of his looks he expressed an intrepidity bor-
dering upon insolence and contempt, they lost all patience:
and Sicinius, the boldest of the tribunes, after a short consul-
tation with his colleagues, pronounced openly, that the tri-
bunes condemned Marcius to die. He then ordered the
ædiles to take him immediately up to the top of the Tarpeian
rock, and throw him down the precipice. However, when
they came to lay hands on him, the action appeared horrible
even to many of the plebeians. The patricians, shocked and
astonished, ran with great outcries to his assistance, and got
Marcius in the midst of them, some interposing to keep off
the arrest, and others stretching out their hands in supplica-
tion to the multitude; but no regard was paid to words and en
treaties amidst such disorder and confusion, until the friends
and relations of the tribunes, perceiving it would be impossi-
ble to carry off Marcius and punish him capitally, without
first spilling much patrician blood, persuaded them to alter
the cruel and unprecedented part of the sentence; not to use
violence in the affair, or put him to death without form or
trial, but to refer all to the people's determination in full
assembly.
Sicinius, then a little mollified, asked the patricians, What
they meant by taking Marcius out of the hands of the people,
who were resolved to punish him?" To which they replied
by another question, 6 What do you mean by thus dragging
one of the worthiest men in Rome, without trial, to a barbar-
ous and illegal execution?” “ If that be all,” said Sicinius,
you shall no longer have a pretence for your quarrels and
factious behaviour to the people; for they grant you what you
desire; the man shall have his trial. And as for you, Marcius,
we cite you to appear the third market-day, and satisfy the
citizens of your innocence, if you can; for then by their suf-
frages your affair will be decided.” The patricians were con-
tent with this compromise; and thinking themselves happy in
carrying Marcius off, they retired
Meanwhile, before the third market-day, which was a con-
siderable space, for the Romans hold their markets every ninth
day, and thence call then. Nundinæ, war broke out with the
Vol. 1.-31
37

418
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS
Antiates, * which, because it was like to be of some continu-
ance, gave them hopes of evading the judgment, since there
would be time for the people to become more tractable, to
moderate their anger, or perhaps let it entirely evaporate in
the business of that expedition. But they soon made peace
with the Antiates, and returned: whereupon, the fears of the
senate were renewed, and they often met to consider how
things might be so managed, that they should neither give up
Marcius, nor leave room for the tribunes to throw the people
into new disorders. On this occasion, Appius Claudius, who
was the most violent adversary the commons had, declared,
“That the senate would betray and ruin themselves, and ab.
solutely destroy the constitution, if they should once suffer
the plebeians to assume a power of suffrage against the patri-
cians.” But the oldest and most popular of the senatorst were
of opinion, —“ That the people instead of behaving with more
harshness and severity would become mild and gentle, if that
power were indulged them; since they did not despise the se-
nate, but rather thought themselves despised by it; and the
prerogative of judging would be such an honour to them, that
they would be perfectly satisfied, and immediately lay aside
all resentment.
Marcius then seeing the senate perplexed between their re-
gard for him and fear of the people, asked the tribunes,
“What they accused him of, and upon what charge he was to
be tried before the people?” Being told,—" That he would
be tried for treason against the commonwealth, in designing
to set himself up as a tyrant;”I “Let me go, then,” said he,
“ to the people, and make my defence; I refuse no form of
trial, nor any kind of punishment if I be found guilty. Only
allege no other crime against me, and do not impose upon the
senate.” The tribunes agreed to these conditions, and pro-
mised that the cause should turn upon this one point.
But the first thing they did after the people were assembled,
* Advice was suddenly brought to Rome, that the people of Antium had
seized and confiscated the ships belonging to Gelon's ambassadors in their
return to Sicily, and had even imprisoned the ambassadors. Hereupon they
took up arms to chastise the Antiates, but they submitted and made satis.
faction.
+ Valerius was at the head of these. He insisted also at large on the
horrible consequences of a civil war.
# It was never known that any person, who affected to set himself up ty-
rant, joined with the nobility against the people, but on the contrary, con-
spired with the people against the nobility. “Besides,” said he, in his de-
fence, “it was to save these citizens, that I have received the wounds you
see; let the tribunes show, if they can, bow such actions are consistent with
the treacherous designs they lay to my charge."

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
419
was to compel them to give their voices by tribes, * and not by
centuries; thus contriving that the meanest and most seditious
part of the populace, and those who had no regard to justice
or honour, might outvote such as had borne arms, or were of
some fortune and character. In the next place,
by the charge of his affecting the sovereignty, because they
could not prove it, and, instead of it repeated what Marcius
some time before had said in the senate, against lowering the
price of corn, and for abolishing the tribunitial power. And
they added to the impeachment a new article, namely, his
not bringing into the public treasury the spoils he had taken
in the country of the Antiates, but dividing them among the
soldiers. † This last accusation is said to have discomposed
Marcius more than all the rest; for it was what he did not ex-
pect, and he could not immediately think of an answer that
would satisfy the commonalty; the praises he bestowed upon
o those who made that campaign with him, serving only to raise
an outcry against him from
the majority, who were not con-
cerned in it. At last, when they came to vote, he was con-
demned by a majority of three tribes, and the penalty to be
inflicted upon him was perpetual banishment.
After the sentence was pronounced, the people were more
elated, and went off in greater transports than they ever did,
on account of a victory in the field; the senate, on the other
hand, were in the greatest distress, and repented that they had
not run the last risk, rather than suffer the people to possess
themselves of so much power, and use it in so insolent a man-
There was no need then to look upon their dress, or
any other mark of distinction, to know which was a plebeian,
and which a patrician; the man that exulted was a plebeian,
and the man that was dejected, a patrician.
Marcius alone was unmoved and unhumbled. Still lofty in
his port, and firm in his countenance, he appeared not to be
ner.
* From the reign of Servius Tullius the voices had been always gathered
by centuries. The consuls were for keeping up the ancient custom, being
well apprised, that they could save Coriolanus if the voices were reckoned
by centuries, of which the knights and the wealthiest of the citizens made
the majority, being pretty sure of ninety-eight out of a hundred and seventy-
three. But the artful tribunes, alleging that, in an affair relating to the
rights of the people, every citizen's vote ought to have its due weight,
would not by any means consent to let the voices be collected otherwise
than by tribes.
+ « This,” said the tribune Decius, “is a plain proof of his evil designs;
with the public money he secured to himself creatures and guards, and sup.
porters of his intended usurpation. Let him make it appear that he had
power to dispose of this booty without violating the laws. Let him answer
directly to this one article, without dazzling us with the splendid show of
his crown and scars, or using any other arts to blind the assembly.”

420
CAJUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS,
was not.
sorry for himself, and to be the only one of the nobility that
This air of fortitude was not, however, the effect
of reason or moderation, but the man was buoyed up by an-
ger and indignation. And this, though the vulgar know it
not, has its rise from grief, which, when it catches flame, is
turned to anger, and then bids adieu to all feebleness and de-
jection. Hence, the angry man is courageous, just as he who
has a fever is hot, the mind being upon the stretch and in a
violent agitation. His subsequent behaviour soon showed that
he was thus affected. For having returned to his own house,
and embraced his mother and his wife, who lamented their fate
with the weakness of women, he exhorted them to bear it with
patience, and then hastened to one of the city gates, being
conducted by the patricians in a body. Thus he quitted Rome,
without asking or receiving aught at any man's hands; and
took with him only three or four clients. He spent a few
days in a solitary manner at some of his farms near the city,
agitated with a thousand different thoughts, such as his anger
suggested; in which he did not propose any advantage to him-
self, but considered only how he might satisfy his revenge
against the Romans. At last he determined to spirit up a
cruel war against them from some neighbouring nation; and
for this purpose to apply first to the Volscians, whom he knew
to be yet strong both in men and money, and whom he sup-
posed to be rather exasperated and provoked to farther con-
flicts, than absolutely subdued.
There was then a person at Antium, Tullus Aufidius by
name,* highly distinguished among the Volscians, by his
wealth, his valour, and noble birth. Marcius was very sensi-
ble, that of all the Romans, himself was the man whom Tullus
V most hated. For, excited by ambition and emulation, as
young warriors usually are, they had in several engagements
encountered each other with menaces and bold defiances, and
thus had added personal enmity to the hatred which reigned
between the two nations. But notwithstanding all this, con-
sidering the great generosity of Tullus, and knowing that he
was more desirous than any of the Volscians of an opportunity
to return upon the Romans part of the evils his country had
suffered, he took a method which strongly confirms that say
ing of the poet; -
Stern wrath, how strong thy sway! though life's the forfeit,
Thy purpose must be gaind.
* In Bryan's text, it is Audidos. The Bodleian has it without the u, Aold105.
But Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus call him Tullus Attius; and with
them an anonymous MS. agrees. Afidius, however, which is very near the
Bodleian reading, has a Latin sound, and probably was what Plutarch meant
to write,

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
421
For, putting himself in such clothes and habiliments as were
most likely to prevent his being known, like Ulysses,
He stole into the hostile town.
c
It was evening when he entered, and though many people
met him in the streets, not one of them knew him. He passed
therefore on to the house of Tullus, where he got in undis-
covered, and having directly made up to the fire-place, * he
seated himself without saying a word, covering his face, and
remaining in a composed posture. The people of the house
were very much surprised, yet they did not venture to disturb
him, for there was something of dignity both in his person and
in his silence; but they went and related the strange adven-
ture to Tullus, who was then at supper. Tullus, upon this,
rose from table, and coming to Coriolanus, asked him, “Who
he was and upon what business he was come?” Coriolanus,
uncovering his face, paused awhile, and then thus addressed
him:-“ If thou dost not yet know me, Tullus, but distrustest
thy own eyes, I must of necessity be my own accuser.
I am
Caius Marcius, who have brought so many calamities upon the
Volscians, and bear the additional name of Coriolanus, which
will not suffer me to deny that imputation, were I disposed to
it. For all the labours and dangers I have undergone, I have
no other reward left, but that appellation which distinguishes
my enmity to your nation, and which can not indeed be taken
from me.
Of every thing else I am deprived by the envy and
outrage of the people, on the one hand, and the cowardice and
treachery of the magistrates, and those of my own order, on
the other. Thus driven out an exile, I am come a suppliant
to thy household gods; not for shelter and protection; for
why should I come hither, if I were afraid of death? but for
vengeance against those who have expelled me, which, me-
thinks, I begin to take by putting myself into thy hands. If,
therefore, thou art disposed to attack the enemy, come on,
brave Tullus, avail thyself of my misfortunes; let my personal
distress be the common happiness of the Volscians. You may
be assured, I shall fight much better for you, than I have
fought against you, because they who know perfectly the
state of the enemy's affairs, are much more capable of annoy-
ing them than such as do not know them. But if thou hast
given up all thoughts of war, I neither desire to live, nor is it
fit for thee to preserve a person who of old has been thine
enemy, and now is not able to do thee any sort of service.
* The fire-place, having the domestic gods in it, was esteemed sacred;
and therefore all suppliants resorted to it, as to an asylum.
3-*

422
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
war.
Tullus, delighted with this address, gave him his hand, and,
" Rise,” said he, “ Marcius, and take courage.
The present
you
thus make of yourself is inestimable; and you may assure
yourself, that the Volscians will not be ungrateful.” Then
he entertained him at his table with great kindness, and the
next and the following days they consulted together about the
Rome was then in great confusion, by reason of the animo-
sity of the nobility against the commons, which was considera-
bly heightened by the late condemnation of Marcius. Many
prodigies were also announced by private persons, as well as
by the priests and diviners; one of which was as follows:-
Titus Latinus, * a man of no high rank, but of great modesty
and candour, not addicted to superstition, much less to vain
pretences to what is extraordinary, had this dream;-Jupiter,
he thought, appeared to him, and ordered him to tell the senate,
" That they had provided him a very bad and ill-favoured
leader of the dance in the sacred procession.” . When he had
seen this vision, he said, he paid but little regard to it at first.
It was presented a second and a third time, and he neglected
it; whereupon he had the unhappiness to see his son sicken
and die, and he himself was suddenly struck in such a man-
ner as to lose the use of his limbs. These particulars he rela-
ted in the senate-house, being carried on his couch for that
purpose. And he had no sooner made an end, than he perceiv-
ed, as they tell us, his strength return, and rose up, and walk-
ed home without help.
The senate were much surprised, and made a strict inquiry
into the affair, the result of which was, that a certain house-
holder had delivered up one of his slaves, who had been guilty
of some offence, to his other servants, with an order to whip
him through the market-place, and then put him to death.
While they were executing this order, and scourging the
wretch, who writhed himself, through the violence of pain, in-
to various postures,f the procession happened to come up.
Many of the people that composed it were fired with indigna-
tion, for the sight was excessively disagreeable, and shocking
to humanity; yet nobody gave him the least assistance; only
curses and execrations were vented against the man who pun-
ished with so much cruelty. For in those times they treated
their slaves with great moderation, and this was natural, be-
cause they worked and even eat with them. It was deemed
* Livy calls him Titus Atinius.
† According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the master had given order's
that the slave should be punished at the head of the procession,
to make the
ignominy the more notorious; which was a still greater affront to the deity
in whose honour the procession was led up.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
423
a great punishment for a slave who had committed a fault to
take up that piece of wood with which they supported the
thill of a
and
carry
neighbourhoodFor
he that was thus exposed to the derision of the family, and
other inhabitants of the place, entirely lost his credit, and was
styled furcifer; the Romans calling that piece of timber furca,
which the Greeks call hypostutes, that is, a supporter.
When Latinus had given the senate an account of his dream,
and they doubted who this ill-favoured and bad leader of the dance
might be, the excessive severity of the punishment put some
of them in mind of the slave who was whipped through the
market-place, and afterwards put to death. All the priests
agreeing that he must be the person meant, his master had a
heavy fine laid upon him, and the procession and games were
exhibited anew, in honour of Jupiter. Hence it appears, that
Numa's religious institutions in general are very wise, and that
this in particular is highly conducive to the purposes of piety,
namely, that when the magistrates or priests are employed in
any sacred ceremony, a herald goes before, and proclaims
aloud, Hoc age, i. e. be attentive to this; hereby commanding
every body to regard the solemn acts of religion, and not to
suffer any business or avocation to intervene and disturb them;
as well knowing that men's attention, especially in what con-
cerns the worship of the gods, is seldom fixed, but by a sort
of violence and constraint.
But it is not only in so important a case, that the Romans
begin anew their sacrifices, their processions, and games: they
do it for very small matters. If one of the horses that draw
the chariots, called Tensæ, in which are placed the images of
the gods, happened to stumble, or if the charioteer took the
reigns in his left hand, the whole procession was to be repeat-
ed. And in later ages they have set about one sacrifice thirty
several times, on account of some defect or inauspicious ap-
pearance in it. Such reverence have the Romans paid to the
Supreme Being
Meantime Marcius and Tullus held secret conferences with
the principal Volscians, in which they exhorted them to be-
gin the war, while Rome was torn in pieces with factious dis-
putes; but a sense of honour restrained some of them from
breaking the truce, which was concluded for two years. The
Romans, however, furnished them with a pretence for it, hav-
ing, through some suspicion or false suggestion, caused
pro-
clamation to be made at one of the public shows or games, that
all the Volscians should quit the town before sun-set. Some
say, it was a stratagem contrived by Marcius, who suborned
a person to go to the consuls, and accuse the Volscians of a
design to attack the Romans during the games, and to set fire

424
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
to the city. This proclamation exasperated the whole Volscian
nation against the Romans, and Tullus, greatly aggravating
the
affront, * at last persuaded them to send to Rome, to demand
that the lands and cities which had been taken from them in
the war should be restored. The senate having heard what
the ambassadors had to say, answered with indignation, " That
the Volscians might be the first to take up arms, but the Ro-
mans would be the last to lay them down.” Hereupon Tul-
lus summoned a general assembly of his countrymen, whom
he advised to send for Marcius, and, forgetting all past injuries,
to rest satisfied, that the service he would do them, now their
ally, would greatly exceed all the damage they had received
from him while their enemy.
Marcius accordingly was called in, and made an oration to
the people; who found that he knew how to speak as well as
fight, and that he excelled in capacity as well as courage, and
therefore they joined him in commission with Tullus. As he
was afraid that the Volscians would spend much time in pre-
parations, and so lose a favourable opportunity for action, he
left it to the magistrates and other principal persons in An-
tium to provide troops and whatever else was necessary, while
he, without making any set levies, took a number of volun-
teers, and with them overran the Roman territories, before
any body in Rome could expect it. There he made so much
booty that the Volscians found it difficult to carry it off, and
consume it in the camp. But the great quantity of provisions
he collected, and the damage he did the enemy by committing
such spoil, was the least part of the service in this expedition.
The great point he had in view in the whole matter, was to
increase the people's suspicions of the nobility. For while he
ravaged the whole country, he was very attentive to spare the
lands of the patricians, and to see that nothing should be car-
ried off from them. Hence the ill opinion the two parties had
of each other; and consequently the troubles grew greater than
ever; the patricians accusing the plebeians of unjustly driving
out one of the bravest men in Rome, and the plebeians re-
proaching them with bringing Marcius upon them to indulge
their revenge, and with sitting secure spectators of what others
suffered by the war, while the war itself was a guard to their
lands and subsistence. Marcius having thus effected his pur-
posc, and inspired the Volscians with courage, not only to
* “ We alone,” said he, “ of all the different nations now in Rome, are
not thought worthy to see the garnes. We alone, like the profanest wretches
and outlaws, are driven from a public festival. Go, and tell in all your cities
and villages the distinguishing mark the Romans have put upon us."

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
425
meet, but even to despise the enemy, drew off his party with-
out being molested.
The Volscian forces assembled with great expedition and
alacrity; and they appeared so considerable, that it was
thought proper to leave part to garrison their towns, while the
rest marched against the Romans. Coriolanus leaving it in
the option of Tullus which corps he would command, Tullus
1 observed, that as his colleague was not at all inferior to him-
self in valour, and had hitherto fought with better success, he
thought it most adviseable for him to lead the army into the
field, while himself stayed behind to provide for the defence
of the towns, and to supply the troops that made the campaign
with every thing necessary. *
Marcius, strengthened still more by this division of the
command, marched first against Circeii,† a Roman colony;
and as it surrendered without resistance, he would not suffer
it to be plundered. After this, he laid waste the territories of
the Latins, expecting that the Romans would hazard a battle
for the Latins, who were their allies, and by frequent messen-
gers called upon them for assistance.
them for assistance. But the commons of
Rome showed no alacrity in the affair, and the consuls, whose
office was almost expired, were not willing to run such a risk,
and therefore rejected the request of the Latins. Marcius
then turned his arms against Tolerium, Labici, Pedum, and
Bola, cities of Latium, which he took by assault; and because
they made resistance, sold the inhabitants as slaves, and plun-
dered their houses. At the same time, he took particular care
of such as voluntarily came over to him; and that they might
not sustain any damage against his will, he always encamped
at the greatest distance he could, and would not even touch
upon
their lands if he could avoid it.
Afterwards he took Bollæ, which is little more than twelve
miles from Rome, where he put to the sword almost all that
were of age to bear arms, and got much plunder. The rest
of the Volscians, who were left as a safeguard to the towns,
0
had not patience to remain at home any longer, but ran with
their weapons in their hands to Marcius, declaring that they
knew no other leader or general but him. His name and his
* It would have been very imprudent in Tullus to have left Coriolanus,
who had been an enemy, and now might possibly be only a pretended friend,
at the head of an army, in the bowels of his country, while he was marching
at the head of another against Rome.
+ For the right terminations of this and other towns soon after mentioned,
see Livy, book ii. c. 39. Plutarch calls the town Circæum. His error is
much greater, when, a lutle below, he writes Clæliæ instead of Cluiliæ.
Sometimes, too, the former translator make a mistake, where Plutarch had
made none.
VOL. I.-3K

426
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
valour were renowned through Italy. All were astonished
that one man's changing sides could make so prodigious an
alteration in affairs.
Nevertheless, there was nothing but disorder at Rome.
The Romans refused to fight, and passed their time in cabals,
seditious speeches, and mutual complaints; until news was
brought that Coriolanus had laid siege to Lavinium, where
the holy symbols of the gods of their fathers were placed, and
from whence they derived their original, that being the first
city which Æneas built. A wonderful and universal change
(of opinion then appeared among the people, and a very strange
and absurd one among the patricians. "The people were de-
sirous to annul the sentence against Marcius, and to recall him
to Rome, but the senate being assembled to deliberate on that
point, finally rejected the proposition; either out of a perverse
humour of opposing whatever measure the people espoused,
or perhaps unwilling that Coriolanus should owe his return to
the favour of the people; or else having conceived some re-
sentment against him for harassing and distressing all the Ro-
mans, when he had been injured only by a part, and for show-
ing himself an enemy to his country, in which he knew the
most respectable body had both sympathized with him, and
shared in his ill treatment. This resolution being announced
to the commons, * it was not in their power to proceed to vote
or to pass a bill; for a previous decree of the senate was ne-
At this news Coriolanus was still more exasperated, so that
quitting the siege of Lavinium,f he marched in great fury to-
wards Rome, and encamped only five miles from it, at the
Fossæ Cluiliæ. The sight of him caused great terror and con-
fusion, but for the present it appeased the sedition; for neither
magistrate nor senator durst any longer oppose the people's
desire to recall him. When they saw the women running up
and down the streets, and the supplications and tears of the
aged men at the altars of the gods, when all courage and spirit
were gone, and salutary councils were no more; then they
acknowledged that the people were right in endeavouring to
be reconciled to Coriolanus, and that the senate were under a
great mistake, in beginning to indulge the passions of
anger
and revenge, at a time when they should have renounced them.
All, therefore, agreed to send ambassadors to Coriolanus to
* Perhaps the senate now refused to comply with the demands of the peo-
ple, either to clear themselves from the suspicion of maintaining a corres-
pondence with Coriolanus, or possibly out of that magnanimity which made
the Romans averse to peace, when they were attended with bad success
cessary.
in war.
† He left a body of troops to continue the blockade,

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
427
offer him liberty to return, and to entreat him to put an end to
the war. Those that went on the part of the senate, being
all either relations or friends of Coriolanus, expected at the
first interview much kindness from a man who was thus con-
nected with them. But it happened quite otherwise; for be-
ing conducted through the Volscian ranks, they found him
seated in council with a number of great officers, and with an
Cinsufferable appearance of pomp and severity: He bade them
then declare their business, which they did in a very modest
and humble manner, as became the state of their affairs,
When they had made an end of speaking, he answered them
with much bitterness and high resentment of the injuries done
him; and, as general of the Volscians, he insisted, " That the
Romans should restore all the cities and lands which they had
taken in the former wars; and that they should grant by de-
cree the freedom of the city to the Volscians, as they had done
to the Latins: for that no lasting peace could be made between
the two nations, but upon these just and equal conditions.”.
He
gave them thirty days to consider of them; and having
dismissed the ambassadors, he immediately retired from the
Roman territories.
Several among the Volscians, who for a long time had en-
vied his reputation, and being uneasy at the interest he had
with the people, availed themselves of this circumstance to ca-
lumniate and reproach him. Tullus himself was of the num-
ber. Not that he had received any particular injury from Co
riolanus: but he was led away by a passion too natural to man.
It gave him pain to find his own glory obscured, and himselt
entirely neglected by the Volscians, who looked upon Corio
lanus as their supreme head, and thought that others might
well be satisfied with that portion of power and authority
which he thought proper to allow them. Hence, secret hints
were first given, and in their private cabals his enemies ex
pressed their dissatisfaction, giving the name of treason to his
retreat. For though he had not betrayed their cities or armies,
yet they said he had traitorously given up time, by which these
and all other things are both won and lost. He had allowed
them a respite of no less than thirty days,* knowing their
* So Dacier paraphrases 8' μειζονας, και εν ελαττονα χρονο λαμβανειν μεταβολας
and his paraphrase seems nearest the sound of the Greek. But the text is
manifestly corrupted, and it is not easy to restore the true reading. Per-
haps the Latin translation, as published by Bryon, has the sense intended
by Plutarch. It is to this effect, when greater changes, than were necessary
in this case, might happen in a less space of time. But to justify that trans-
lation the Greek should run as follows: οτι μεζονας ν έλαττονι γρονα δυνατα
(scilicet πολιμος) λαμβανειν μεταβολας,

428
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
affairs to be so embarrassed that they wanted such a space to
re-establish them.
Coriolanus, however, did not spend those thirty days idly.
He harassed the enemy's allies, * laid waste their lands, and
took seven great and populous cities in that interval. The
Romans did not venture to send them any succours. They
were as spiritless, and as little disposed to the war, as if their
bodies had been relaxed and benumbed with the palsy.
When the term was expired, and Coriolanus returned with
all his forces, they sent a second embassy, “ To entreat him to
lay aside his resentment, to draw off the Volscians from their
territories, and then to proceed as should seem most conducive
to the advantage of both nations. For that the Romans would
not give up any thing through fear; but if he thought it rea-
sonable that the Volscians should be indulged in some particu-
lar points, they would be duly considered if they laid down
their arms." Coriolanus replied, “6 That as general of the
Volscians, he would give them no answer; but as one who
was yet a citizen of Rome, he would advise and exhort them
to entertain humble thoughts, and to come within three days
with a ratification of the just conditions he had proposed.
At
the same time he assured them, that if their resolutions should
be of a different nature, it would not be safe for them to come
any more into his camp with empty words.”
The senate having heard the report of the ambassadors,
considered the commonwealth as ready to sink in the waves
of a dreadful tempest, and therefore cast the last, the sacred
anchor, as it is called. They ordered all the priests of the
gods, the ministers and guardians of the mysteries, and all
that, by the ancient usage of their country, practised divina-
tion by the flight of birds, to go to Coriolanus, in their robes,
with the ensigns which they bear in the duties of their office,
and exert their utmost endeavours to persuade him to desist
from the war, and then to treat with his countrymen of arti-
cles of peace for the Volscians When they came, he did in-
deed vouchsafe to admit them into the camp, but showed them
no other favour, nor gave them a milder answer than the
Oce
others had received: “He bade them,” in short, “either ac-
cept the former proposals, or prepare for war.
.”
When the priests returned, the Romans resolved to keep
close within the city and to defend the walls; intending only
to repulse the enemy, should he attack them, and placing their
chief hopes on the accidents of time and fortune; for they
.
#
By this he prevented the allies of the Romans from assisting them, and
guarded against the charge of treachery, which some of the Volscians were
ready to bring against him.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
426
knew of no resource within themselves: the city was full of
trouble and confusion, terror and unhappy presages. At last
something happened similar to what is often mentioned by
Homer, but which men, in general, are little inclined to be.
lieve. For when, on occasion of any great and uncommon
event, he says,
Pallas inspir'd that counsel,
And again,
But some immortal power who rules the mind,
Chang'd their resolves:
And elsewhere,
The thought spontaneous rising,
Or by some god inspir'd-
They despise the poet, as if, for the sake of absurd notions and
incredible fables, he endeavoured to take away our liberty of
will. A thing which Homer never dreamed of; for whatever
happens in the ordinary course of things, and is the effect
of reason and consideration, he often ascribes to our own
powers; as,
My own great mind
1 then consulted;
And in another place,
Achilles heard with grief; and various thoughts
Perplex'd his mighty mind;
Once more,
But she in vain
Tempted Bellerophon. The noble youth
With wisdom's shield was arm’d.
And in extraordinary and wonderful actions, which required
some supernatural impulse and enthusiastic movement, he
never introduces the Deity as depriving man of freedom of
will, but as moving the will. He does not represent the
heavenly power as producing the resolution, but ideas which
lead to the resolution. The act, therefore, is by no means in-
voluntary, since occasion only is given to free operations, and
confidence and good hope are superadded; for either the Su-
preme Being must be excluded from all casualty and influence
upon our actions, or it must be confessed that this is the only
way in which he assists men, and co-operates with them; since
38

430
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
.
it is not to be supposed that he fashions our corporeal organs,
or directs the motions of our hands and feet to the purposes he
designs, but that, by certain motives and ideas which he sug-
gests, he either excites the active powers of the will, or else
restrains them.
The Roman women were then dispersed in the several
temples, but the greatest part, and the most illustrious of the
matrons, made their supplications at the altar of Jupiter Capi
tolinus. Among the last was Valeria, the sister of the great
Publicola, a person who had done the Romans the most con-
siderable services, both in peace and war.
Publicola died
some time before, as we have related in his life; but Valeria
still lived in the greatest esteem; for her life did honour to
her high birth. This woman discerning, by some divine im-
pulse, what would be the best expedient, rose and called upon
the other matrons to attend her to the house of Volumnia, t'the
mother of Coriolanus. When she entered, and found her sit-
ting with her daughter-in-law and with the children of Corio-
lanus on her lap, she approached her, with her female com-
panions, and spoke to this effect:-“We address ourselves to
you, Vólumnia and Vergilia, as women to women, without
any decree of the senate, or order of the consuls. But our god,
we believe, lending a merciful ear to our prayers, put it in
our minds to apply to you, and to entreat you to do a thing
that will not only be salutary to us and the other citizens, but
more glorious for you, if you hearken to us, than the reducing
their fathers and husbands from mortal enmity to peace and
friendship, was to the daughters of the Sabines. Come, then,
go along with us to Coriolanus; join your instances to ours; and
give a true and honourable testimony to your country, that
though she has received the greatest injuries from him, yet
she has neither done nor resolved upon any thing against you
in her anger, but restores you safe into his hands, though per-
haps she may not obtain any better terms to herself on that
account.”
When Valeria had thus spoken, the rest of the women join-
ed her request. Volumnia gave them this answer:-“ Beside
the share which we have in the general calamity, we are, my
friends, in particular very unhappy; since Marcius is lost to
us, his glory obscured, and his virtue gone; since we behold
him surrounded by the arms of the enemies of his country, not
as their prisoner, but their commander. But it is still a greater
* Plutarch represents the divine assistance as a moral influence, prevailing
(if it does prevail) by rational motives; and the best Christian divines de.
scribe it in the same manner.
† Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Livv call his mother Veturia and his
wife Volumnia.

CATUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
431
misfortune to us, if our country is become so weak, as to
have need to repose her hopes upon us; for I know not whether
he will have any regard for us, since he has had none for his
country, which he used to prefer to his mother, to his wife,
and children. Take us, however, and make what use of us
you please. Lead us to him. If we can do nothing else, we
can expire at his feet in supplicating for Rome.”
She then took the children and Vergilia with her, * and went
with the other matrons to the Volscian camp. The sight of
them produced even in the enemy, compassion and a reveren-
tial silence. Coriolanus, who then happened to be seated
upon the tribunal with his principal officers, seeing the women
approach, was greatly agitated and surprised. Nevertheless,
he endeavoured to retain his wonted sternness and inexorable
temper, though he perceived that his wife was at the head of
them; but, unable to resist the emotions of affection, he could
not suffer them to address him as he sat. He descended from
the tribunal, and ran to meet them. First he embraced his
mother for a considerable time, and afterwards his wife and
children, neither refraining from tears, nor any other instance
of natural tenderness.
When he had sufficiently indulged his passion, and perceiy-
ed that his mother wanted to speak, he called the Volscian
counsellors to him, and Volumnia expressed herself to this
purpose;—You see, my son, by our attire and miserable
looks, and therefore I may spare myself the trouble of declar-
ing, to what condition your banishment has reduced us. Think
with yourself whether we are not the most unhappy of women,
when fortune has changed the spectacle that should have been
the most pleasing in the world, into the most dreadful; when
Volumnia beholds her son, and Vergilia her husband, encamp-
ed in a hostile manner before the walls of his native city; and
what to others is the greatest consolation under misfortune and
adversity, I mean prayer to the gods, to us is rendered im-
practicable; for we can not at the same time beg victory for
our country and your preservation, but what our worst ene-
mies would imprecate on us as a curse, must of necessity be
interwoven with our prayers. Your wife and children must
either see their country perish, or you. As to my own part,
I will not live to see this war decided by fortune. If I can
not persuade you to prefer friendship and union to enmity and
its ruinous consequences, and so to become a benefactor to
* Valeria first gave advice of this design to the consuls, who proposed it
in the senate, where, after long debates, it was approved of by the fathers.
Then Veturia, and the most illustrious of the Roman matrons, in chariots
which the consuls had ordered to be got ready for them, took their way to
the enemy's camp.

432
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
both sides, rather than the destruction of one, you must take
this along with you, and prepare to expect it, that you shall
not advance against your country, without trampling upon the
dead body of her that bore you; for it does not become me to
wait for that day, when my son shall be either led captive by
his fellow citizens, or triumph over Rome. If, indeed, I de-
sired
you to save your country by ruining the Volscians, I
confess the case would be hard, and the choice difficult; for it
would neither be honourable to destroy your countrymen, nor
just to betray those who have placed their confidence in you.
But what do we desire of you, more than deliverance from
our own calamities? A deliverance which will be equally
salutary to both parties, * but most to the honour of the Vol-
scians, since it will appear that their superiority empowered
them to grant us the greatest of blessings, peace and friend-
ship, while they themselves receive the same. If these take
place, you will be acknowledged to be the principal cause of
them: if they do not, you alone must expect to bear the blame
from both nations; and though the chance of war is uncertain,
yet it will be the certain event of this, that if you conquer,
you will be a destroying demon to your country; if you are
beaten, it will be clear that, by indulging your resentment,
you have plunged your friends and benefactors in the greatest
of misfortunes.”
Coriolanus listened to his mother while she went on with
her speech, without saying the least word to her; and Volum-
nia seeing him stand a long time mute after she had left speak-
ing, proceeded again in this manner:—“Why are you silent,
my son? Is it an honour to yield every thing to anger and
resentment; and would it be a disgrace to yield to your mo-
ther in so important a petition? Or does it become a great
man to remember the injuries done him; and would it not
equally become a great and good man, with the highest regard
and reverence, to keep in mind the benefits he has received
from his parents? Surely you, of all men, should take care
to be grateful, who have suffered so extremely by ingratitude;
and yet, though you have already severely punished your
country, you have not made your mother the least return for
her kindness. The most sacred ties, both of nature and reli-
gion, without any other constraint, require that you should in-
dulge me in this just and reasonable request; but if words can
not prevail, this only resource is left." When she had said
this, she threw herself at his feet, together with his wife and
children; upon which Coriolanus, crying out, -"0! mother,
* She begged a truce for a year, that in that time measures might be
taken for settling a solid and lasting peace.

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
433
what is it you have done?”' raised her from the ground, and,
tenderly pressing her hand, continued, -"You have gained a
victory fortunate for your country, but ruinous to me. I
go,
vanquished by you alone.” Then, after a short conference
with his mother and wife, in private, he sent them back to
Rome, agreeably to their desire. Next morning he drew off
the Volscians, who had not all the same sentiments of what
had passed. Some blamed him; others, whose inclinations
were for peace, found no fault; others, again, though they dis-
liked what was done, did not look upon Coriolanus as a baci
man, but thought he was excusable in yielding to such power-
ful solicitations. However, none presumed to contradict his
& rders, though they followed him rather out of veneration for
1 is virtue than regard to his authority.
The sense of the dreadful and dangerous circumstances
which the Roman people had been in by reason of the war,
never appeared so strong as when they were delivered from
it For no sooner did they perceive from the walls, that the
Volscians were drawing off, than all the temples were opened
and filled with persons crowned with garlands, and offering
sacrifice, as for some great victory. But in nothing was the
public joy more evident, than in the affectionate regard and
honour which both the senate and people paid the women,
whom they both considered and declared the means of their
preservation. Nevertheless, when the senate decreed,t that
whatever they thought would contribute most to their glory
and satisfaction, the consuls should take care to see it done,
they only desired that a temple might be built to the FORTUNE
OF WOMEN, the expense of which they offered to defray them-
selves, requiring the commonwealth to be at no other charge
than that of sacrifices, and such a solemn service as was suita-
ble to the majesty of the gods. The senate, though they com-
mended their generosity, ordered the temple and shrine to be
erected at the public charge;but the women contributed
their money notwithstanding, and with it provided another
image of the goddess, which the Romans report, when it
was set up in the temple, to have uttered these words: 0 wo-
* He well foresaw that the Volscians would never forgive him the favour
he did their enemies.
+ It was decreed that an encomium of those matrons should be engraven
on a public monument.
# It was erected in the Latin way, about four miles from Ronie, on the
plice where Veturia had overcome the obstinacy of her son. Valeria, who
had proposed so successful a deputation, was the first priestess of this tem-
ple, which was much frequented by the Roman women.--Dion. Halicar
D. 479, 480. Liv. lib. i. c. 40.
VOL. 1.-3L
38*

434
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
MEN! MOST ACCEPTABLE TO THE GODS IS THIS YOUR PIOUS
GIFT.
come.
They fabulously report that this voice was repeated twice,
thus offering to our faith things that appear impossible. In-
deed we will not deny that images may have sweated, may
have been covered with tears, and emitted drops like blood.
For wood and stone often contract a scurf and mouldiness,
that produce moisture; and they not only exhibit many dif-
ferent colours themselves, but receive variety of tinctures from
the ambient air; at the same time, there is no reason why the
Deity may not make use of these signs to announce things to
It is also very possible, that a sound like that of a
sigh or a groan may proceed from a statue, by the rupture or
violent separation of some of the interior parts; but that an
articulate voice and expression clear, so full and perfect,
should fall from a thing inanimate, is out of all the bounds
of possibility; for neither the soul of man, nor even God him-
self, can utter vocal sounds, and pronounce words, without
an organized body and parts fitted for utterance. Wherever,
then, history asserts such things, and bears us down with the
testimony of many credible witnesses, we must conclude, that
some impression, not unlike that of sense, influenced the ima-
gination, and produced the belief of a real sensation; as in
sleep we seem to hear what we hear not, and to see what we
do not see. As for those persons, who are possessed with
such a strong sense of religion, that they can not reject any
thing of this kind, they found their faith on the wonderful
and incomprehensible power of God; for there is no manner
of resemblance between him and a human being, either in his
nature, his wisdom, his power, or his operations. If, there-
fore, he performs something which we can not effect, and
executes what with us is impossible, there is nothing in this
contradictory to reason; since, though he far excels us in
every thing, yet the dissimilitude and distance between him
and us appears most of all in the works which he hath wrought.
But much knowledge of things divine, as Heraclitus affirms, escapes
us through wunt of faith.
When Coriolanus returned, after this expedition, to An-
tium, Tullus, who both hated and feared him, resolved to as
sassinate him immediately; being persuaded, that if he missed
this, he should not have such another opportunity. First,
therefore, he collected and prepared a number of accomplices,
and then called upon Coriolanus to divest himself of his au-
thority, and give an account of his conduct to the Volscians.
Dreading the consequence of being reduced to a private sta-
tion, while Tullus, who had so great an interest with his
countrymen, was in power, he made answer, that if the Vol

CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.
435
scians required it, he would give up his commission, and not
otherwise, since he had taken it at their common request; but
that he was ready to give an account of his behaviour even
then, if the citizens of Antium would have it so. Hereupon,
they met in full assembly, and some of the orators that were
prepared for it, endeavoured to exasperate the populace against
,
him. But when Coriolanus stood up, the violence of the tu-
mult abated, and he had liberty to speak; the best part of the
people of Antium, and those that were most inclined to
peace,
appearing ready to hear him with candour, and to pass sen-
tence with equity. Tullus was then afraid that he would
make but too good a defence; for he was an eloquent man,
and the former advantages which he had procured the nation,
outweighed his present offence. Nay, the very impeach-
ment was a clear proof of the greatness of the benefits he had
conferred upon them; for they would never have thought
themselves injured in not conquering Rome, if they had not
been near taking it through his means. The conspirators,
therefore, judged it prudent not to wait any longer, or to try
the multitude; and the boldest of their faction, crying out
that a traitor ought not to be heard, or suffered by the Vol.
scians to act the tyrant, and refuse to lay down his authority,
rushed
upon him in a body, and* killed him on the spot; not
one that was present lifting a hand to defend him. It was
soon evident that this was not done with the general approba-
tion; for they assembled from several cities to give his body
an honourable burial,† and adorned his monument with arms
and spoils as became a distinguished warrior and general.
When the Romans were informed of his death, they showed
* Dionysius of Halicarnassus says they stoned him to death.
+ They dressed him in his general's robes, and laid his corpse on a mag-
nificient bier, which was carried by such young officers as were most dis-
tinguished for their martial exploits. Before him were borne the spoils he
had taken from the enemy, the crowns he had gained, and plans of the
cities he had taken. In this order his body was laid on the pile, while
several victims were slain in honour to his memory. When the pile was
consumed they gathered up his ashes, which they interred on the spot, and
erected a magnificent monument there. Coriolanus was slain in the se-
cond year of the seventy-third Olympiad, in the two hundred and sixty-
sixth year of Rome, and eight years after his first campaign. According to
this account, he died in the flower of his age; but Livy informs us from
Fabius, a very ancient author, that he lived till he was very old; and that
in the decline of life he was wont to say that, “A state of exile was always
uncomfortable, but more so to an old man than to another." We can not,
however, think that Coriolanus grew old among the Volscians. Had he
done so, his counsels would have preserved them from ruin; and after Tul-
lus was slain, he would have restored their affairs, and have got them ad-
mitted to the rights and privileges of Roman citizens, in the same manner
as the Latins.

436
ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS COMPARED.
no sign either of favour or resentment. Only they permitted
the women, at their request, to go into mourning for ten
months, as they used to do for a father, a son, or a brother:
this being the longest term for mourning allowed by Numa
Pompilius, as we have mentioned in his life.
The Volscian affairs soon wanted the abilities of Marcius;
for, first of all, in a dispute which they had with the Æqui,
their friends and allies, which of the two nations should give
a general to their armies, they proceeded to blows, and a num-
ber were killed and wounded; and afterwards, coming to a
battle with the Romans, in which they were defeated, and Tul-
lus, together with the flower of their army, slain, they were
forced to accept of very disgraceful conditions of
peace, by
which they were reduced to the obedience of Rome, and obli-
ged to accept of such terms as the conquerors would allow
them.
ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS
COMPARED.
HAVING now given a detail of all the actions of these two
great men, that we thought worthy to be known and remem-
bered, we may perceive at one glance, that as to their milita-
ry exploits the balance is nearly even; for both gave extraor-
dinary proofs of courage as soldiers, and of prudence and ca-
pacity as commanders-in-chief: though, perhaps, some may
think Alcibiades the more complete general, on account of his
many successful expeditions at sea as well as land. But this
is common to both, that when they had the command, and
fought in person, the affairs of their country infallibly pros-
pered, and as infallibly declined when they went over to the
enemy.
As to their behaviour in point of government, if the licen-
tiousness of Alcibiades, and his compliances with the humour
of the populace, were abhorred by the wise and sober part of
the Athenians; the proud and forbidding manner of Coriolanus,
and his excessive attachment to the patricians, were equally
detested by the Roman people. In this respect, therefore,
neither of them is to be commended: though he that avails

ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS COMPARED.
437
himself of popular arts, and shows too much indulgence, is
less blameable than he, who, to avoid the imputation of obse-
quiousness, treats the people with severity. It is, indeed, a
disgrace to attain to power by flattering them; but, on the
other hand, to pursue it by acts of insolence and oppression,
is not only shameful but unjust.
That Coriolanus had an openness and simplicity of manners,
is a point beyond dispute, whilst Alcibiades was crafty and
dark in the proceedings of his administration. The latter has
been most blamed for the trick which he put upon the Lace-
dæmonian ambassadors, as Thucydides tells us, and by which
he renewed the war. Yet this stroke of policy, though it
plunged Athens again in war, rendered the alliance with the
Mantineans and Argives, which was brought about by Alci-
biades, much stronger and more respectable. But was not
Coriolanus chargeable with a falsity, too, when, as Dionysius
informs us, he stirred up the Romans against the Volscians, by
loading the latter with an infamous calumny, when they went
to see the public games? The cause, too, makes this action the
more criminal; for it was not by ambition or a rival spirit in
politics that he was influenced, as Alcibiades was, but he did
it to gratify his anger, a passion which, as Dion says, is ever un-
grateful to its votaries. By this means he disturbed all Italy,
and in his quarrel with his country destroyed many cities
which had never done him any injury. Alcibiades, indeed,
was the author of many evils to the Athenians, but was easily
reconciled to them when he found that they repented. Nay.
when he was driven a second time into exile, he could not bear
with patience the blunders committed by the new generals, nor
see with indifference the dangers to which they were exposed;
but observed the same conduct which Aristides is so highly
extolled for with respect to Themistocles. He went in per-
son to those generals, who, he knew, were not his friends, and
showed them what steps it was proper for them to take.
Whereas Coriolanus directed his revenge against the whole
commonwealth, though he had not been injured by the whole,
but the best and most respectable part both suffered and sym-
pathized with him. And afterwards, when the Romans en-
deavoured to make satisfaction for that single grievance by
many embassies and much submission, he was not in the least
pacified or won; but showed himself determined to prosecute
a cruel war, not in order to procure his return to his native
country, but to conquer and to ruin it. It may, indeed, be
granted, that there was this difference in the case; Alcibiades
returned to the Athenians, when the Spartans, who both fear-
ed and hated him, intended to despatch him privately. But it
was not so honourable in Coriolanus to desert the Volscians,

438
ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS COMPARED.
who had treated him with the utmost kindness, appointed him
general with full authority, and reposed in him the highest
confidence; very different in this respect from Alcibiades, who
was abused, to their own purposes, rather than employed and
trusted by the Lacedæmonians; and who, after having been
tossed about in their city and their camp, was at last obliged
to put himself in the hands of Tissaphernes. But, perhaps,
he made his court to the Persian,* in order to prevent the ut-
ter ruin of his country, to which he was desirous to return.
History informs us, that Alcibiades often took bribes, which
he lavished again with equal discredit upon his vicious plea-
sures; while Coriolanus refused to receive even what the ge-
nerals he served under would have given him with honour.
Hence the behaviour of the latter was the more detested by
the people in the disputes about debts; since it was not with
a view to advantage, but out of contempt and by way of in-
sult, as they thought, that he bore so hard upon them.
Antipater, in one of his epistles, where he speaks of the
death of Aristotle the philosopher, tells us,—" That great man,
besides his other extraordinary talents, had the art of insinua-
ting himself into the affections of those he conversed with.”
For want of this talent, the great actions and virtues of Corio-
lanus were odious even to those who received the benefit of
them, and who, notwithstanding, could not endure that auste-
rity which, as Plato says, is the companion of solitude.
Alcibiades, on the other hand, knew how to treat those with
whom he conversed, with an engaging civility, it is no won-
der if the glory of his exploits flourished in the favour and
honourable regard of mankind, since his very faults had some-
times their grace and elegance. Hence it was, that though his
conduct was often very prejudicial to Athens, yet he was fre-
quently appointed commander-in-chief; while Coriolanus, after
many great achievements, with the best pretensions, sued for
the consulship, and lost it. The former deserved to be hated
by his countrymen, and was not; the latter was not beloved,
though at the same time he was admired.
We should, moreover, consider, that Coriolanus performed
no considerable services while he commanded the armies of
his country, though for the enemy against his country he did;
but that Alcibiades, both as a soldier and a general, did great
things for the Athenians. When amongst his fellow-citizens,
Alcibiades was superior to all the attempts of his enemies,
* For he prevented Tissaphernes from assisting the Spartans with all his
But as
Thus he served the Athenians and the Persians at the same time;
for it was undoubtedly the interest of the Persians to preserve the two lead-
ing powers of Greece in a condition to annoy each other, and, in the mean
time, to reap the advantage themselves.
forces.

ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS COMPARED.
439
and put
though their calumnies prevailed against him in his absence;
whereas Coriolanus was condemned by the Romans, though
present to defend himself, and at length killed by the Volsci-
ans, against all rights, indeed, whether human or divine:
nevertheless, he afforded them a colour for what they did, by
granting that peace to the entreaties of the women, which he
had refused to the application of the ambassadors; by that
means leaving the enmity between the two nations, and the
grounds of the war entire, and losing a very favourable
oppor-
tunity for the Volscians. For surely he would not have drawn
off the forces without the consent of those that committed
them to his conduct, if he had sufficiently regarded his duty
to them.
But if, without considering the Volscians in the least, he
consulted his resentment only in stirring up the
war,
a period to it again when that was satisfied, he should not have
spared his country on his mother's account, but have spared
her with it; for both his mother and wife made a part of his
native city, which he was besieging. But inhumanly to re-
ject the supplication and entreaties of the ambassadors, and
the petition of the priests, and then to consent to a retreat in
favour of his mother, was not doing honour to his mother, but
bringing disgrace upon his country; since if it was not worthy
to be saved for its own sake, it appeared to be saved only in
compassion to a woman. For the favour was invidious, and
so far from being engaging, that, in fact, it savoured of cruel-
ty, and consequently was unacceptable to both parties. He
retired without being won by the supplications of those he was
at war with, and without consent of those for whom he under-
took it. The cause of all which was, the austerity of his man-
ners,
his
arrogance, and inflexibility of mind, things hateful
enough to the people at all times; but, when united with am-
bition, savage and intolerable. Persons of his temper, as if
they had no need of honours, neglect to ingratiate themselves
with the multitude, and yet are excessively chagrined when
those are denied them. It is true, neither Metellus, nor Aris-
tides, nor Epaminondas, were pliant to the people's humour,
or could submit to flatter them; but then they had a thorough
contempt of every thing that the people could either give or
take away; and when they were banished, or, on any other
occasion, miscarried in their suffrages, or were condemned in
large fines, they nourished no anger against their ungrateful
countrymen, but were satisfied with their repentance, and re-
conciled to them at their request. And, surely, he who is
sparing in his assiduities to the people, can but with an ill
grace think of revenging any slight he may suffer; for extreme

440
ALCIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS COMPARED.
resentment, in case of disappointment in a pursuit of honour,
must be the effect of an extreme desire of it.
Alcibiades, for his part, readily acknowledged that he was
charmed with honours, and that he was very uneasy at being
neglected; and therefore he endeavoured to recommend him-
self to those he had to do with, by every engaging art. But
the pride of Coriolanus would not permit him to make his court
to those who were capable of conferring honours upon him;
and at the same time his ambition filled him with regret and
indignation when they passed him by. This, then, is the
blameable part of his character; all the rest is great and glori-
ous. In point of temperance and disregard of riches, he is fit
to be compared with the most illustrious examples of integrity
in Greece, and not with Alcibiades, who, in this respect, was
the most profligate of men, and had the least regard for de-
cency and honour.
END OF VOL. 1.




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