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PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ©lottgTt'B 'gxmisX^txon. 
 
 ABRIDGED AND ANNOTATED FOR SCHOOLS 
 
 EDWIN GINN. 
 
 WITH HISTORICAL INTRODUCTIONS 
 
 V. F. ALLEN. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 GINN & COMPANY. 
 
 1890. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, m the year 1886, by 
 
 EDWIN GINN, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 EDUCATION DEPT. 
 
 Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
 
 Pbbsswobk by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Life of Plutarch ....... vii 
 
 Themistocles ........ 1 
 
 Pericles . . . .... . . 38 
 
 Alexander . . . . . ' . . „ . 67 
 
 coriolanus . . . . . . . . 117 
 
 Fabius 171 
 
 Sertorius . . . . . . . . 211 
 
 C^SAR . 250 
 
 Index to Notes ....... 327 
 
 Pronunciation of Proper Names . . . .331 
 
 M69898 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 BY permission of Little, Brown & Co., Clough's trans- 
 lation of the Lives, with the exception of about half 
 a dozen lines, has been followed in this edition. 
 
 The historical unity has been steadily kept in mind, and 
 it is believed that nothing of importance has been sacri- 
 ficed in the omissions. 
 
 While there may be a difference of opinion as to 
 whether the man makes the epoch or the epoch the man, 
 it will be generally agreed that the personality of a great 
 man will always prove one of the most interesting and 
 useful centres around which to group historical events. 
 
 A few brief notes have been given, supplying such 
 information only as may not be readily gathered from the 
 text. In looking up special information on any point, one 
 is apt to get too much interested in the matter, and so 
 annotate much more fully than is necessary for the under- 
 standing of the text. Notes are often, in this way, more 
 harmful than helpful, as they tend, to draw the pupil's 
 attention from the proper object of study. 
 
 It may be worthy of mention that Plutarch rarely ever 
 gives a date, which would seem to indicate that in his 
 mind dates were of very little importance compared with 
 the facts themselves. 
 
 In our study of History at the present time we seem to 
 have inverted the order, requiring our children to learn 
 a great multiplicity of dates instead of impressing upon 
 them a few great facts. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Plutarch possesses a remarkable faculty of seizing upon 
 the strong points of a character, and presenting them in 
 such a calm and candid way as to leave a very vivid im- 
 pression upon the mind. 
 
 It is hoped that this book may lead many to read his 
 complete works. 
 
 As to the value of such reading and the influence it had 
 on his own mind, we are fortunate in being able to pre- 
 sent Plutarch's experience as given in his Timoleon. 
 
 " It was for the sake of others that I first commenced 
 writing biographies ; but I find myself proceeding and 
 attaching myself to it for my own ; the virtues of these 
 great men serving me as a sort of looking-glass, in which 
 I may see how to adjust and adorn my own life. Indeed, 
 it can be compared to nothing but daily living and asso- 
 ciating together; we receive, as it were, in our inquiry, 
 and entertain each successive guest, view 
 
 Their stature and their qualities, 
 
 and select from their actions all that is noblest and wor- 
 thiest to know. 
 
 Ah, and what greater pleasure could one have ? 
 
 or, what more effective means to one's moral improve- 
 ment? My method is, by the study of history, and 
 by the familiarity acquired in writing, to habituate my 
 memory to receive and retain images of the best and wor- 
 thiest characters. I thus am enabled to free myself from 
 any ignoble, base, or vicious impressions, contracted from 
 the contagion of ill company that I may be unavoidably 
 engaged in, by the remedy of turning my thoughts in a 
 happy and calm temper to view these noble examples." 
 
 E. G. 
 
LIFE OF PLUTAECH. 
 
 Abridged from Clough's Edition. 
 
 ri iHE plain facts of Plutarch's own life may be given in 
 -^ a very short compass. He was born, probably, in the 
 reign of Claudius, about a.d. 45 or 50. His native place 
 was CJiaeronea, in Boeotia, where his family had long been 
 settled and was of good standing and local reputation. 
 He studied at Athens under a philosopher named Ammo- 
 nius. He visited Egypt. Later in life, some time be- 
 fore A.D. 90, he was at Rome " on public business," a 
 deputation, perhaps, from Chaeronea. He continued there 
 long enough to give lectures which attracted attention. 
 
 To Greece and to Chseronea he returned, and appears to 
 have spent in the little town, which he was loth " to make 
 less by the withdrawal of even one inhabitant," the remain- 
 der of his life. He took part in the public business of the 
 place and the neighborhood. He was archon in the town, 
 and officiated many years as a priest of Apollo, apparently 
 at Delphi. 
 
 He was married, and was the father of at least five chil- 
 dren, of whom two sons, at any rate, survived to manhood. 
 His greatest work, his Biographies, and several of his 
 smaller writings, belong to this later period of his life, 
 under the reign of Trajan. Whether he survived to the 
 time of Hadrian is doubtful. All that is certain is that 
 he lived to be old. 
 
 A remarkable anecdote is related in his discourse on 
 
Vlii LIFE OF PLUTARCH. 
 
 Inquisitiveness. Among other precepts for avoiding or 
 curing the fault, " We should habituate ourselves," he 
 says, " when letters are brought to us, not to open them 
 instantly and in a hurry, not to bite the strings in two, as 
 many people will, if they do not succeed at once with their 
 fingers ; when a messenger comes, not to run to meet him ; 
 not to jump up, when a friend says he has something new 
 to tell us ; rather, if he has some good or useful advice to 
 give us. Once when I was lecturing at Rome, Rusticus, 
 whom Domitian afterwards, out of jealousy of his repu- 
 tation, put to death, was one of my hearers; and while 
 I was going on, a soldier came in and brought him a letter 
 from the Emperor. And when every one was silent, and 
 I stopped in order to let him read the letter, he declined 
 to do so, and put it aside until I had finished and the 
 audience withdrew; an example of serious and dignified 
 behavior which excited much admiration." 
 
 His wife was Timoxena, the daughter of Alexion. The 
 circumstances of his domestic life receive their best illus- 
 tration from his letter addressed to this wife, on the loss of 
 their one daughter, born to them, it would appear, late in 
 life, long after her brothers. " Plutarch to his wife, greet- 
 ing: The messengers you sent to announce our child's 
 death, apparently missed the road to Athens. I was told 
 about my daughter on reaching Tanagra. Everything 
 relating to the funeral I suppose to have been already 
 performed ; my desire is that all these arrangements may 
 have been so made, as will now and in the future be most 
 consoling to yourself. If there is anything which you 
 have wished to do and have omitted, awaiting my opinion, 
 and which you think would be a relief to you, it shall be 
 attended to, apart from all excess and superstition, which no 
 
LIFE OF PLUTARCH. ix 
 
 one would like less than yourself. Only, my wife, let ma 
 hope, that you will maintain both me and yourself within* 
 the reasonable limits of grief. What our loss really amount* 
 to, I know and estimate for myself. But should I find' 
 your distress excessive, my trouble on your account will ' 
 be greater than on that of our loss. I am not a ' stock or 
 stone,' as you, my partner in the care of our numerous 
 children, every one of whom we have ourselves brought up 
 at home, can testify. And this child, a daughter, born to 
 your wishes after four sons, and affording me the oppor- 
 tunity of recording your name, I am well aware was a 
 special object of affection." 
 
 The sweet temper and the pretty ways of the child, he pro- 
 ceeds to say, make the privation peculiarly painful. " Yet 
 why," he says, *' should we forget the reasonings we have 
 often addressed to others, and regard our present pain as 
 obliterating and effacing our former joys ? " Those who 
 had been present had spoken to him in terms of admiration 
 of the calmness and simplicity of his wife's behavior. The 
 funeral had been devoid of any useless and idle sumptu- 
 osity, and her own house of all display of extravagant 
 lamentation. This was indeed no wonder to him, who 
 knew how much her plain and unluxurious living had sur- 
 prised his philosophical friends and visitors, and who well 
 remembered her composure under the previous loss of the 
 eldest of her children, and again, " when our beautiful 
 Charon left us." " I recollect," he says, " that some ac- 
 quaintance from abroad were coming up with me from the 
 sea when the tidings of the child's decease were brought, and 
 they followed with our other friends to the house ; but the 
 perfect order and tranquillity they found there made them 
 believe, as I afterwards was informed they had related. 
 
X LIFE OF PLUTARCH. 
 
 that nothing had happened, and that the previous intelli- 
 gence had been a mistake." 
 
 The Consolation (so the letter is named) closes with 
 expressions of belief in the immortality of each human 
 soul. 
 
 He seems to have busied himself about all the little 
 matters of the town, and to have made it a point to under- 
 take the humblest duties. After relating the story of 
 Epaminontias giving dignity to the office of Chief Scav- 
 enger, " And I, too, for that matter," he says, " am often a 
 jest to my neighbors, when they see me, as they frequently 
 do, in public, occupied on very similar duties ; but the story 
 told about Antisthenes comes to my assistance. When 
 some one expressed surprise at his carrying home some 
 pickled fish from market in his own hands, It is, he 
 answered, for myself. Conversely, when I am reproached 
 with standing by and watching while tiles are measured 
 out, and stone and mortar brought up. This service^ I say, 
 is not for myself^ it is for my country." 
 
 Even in these, the comparatively few, more positive and 
 matter-of-fact passages of allusion and anecdote, there is 
 enough to bring up something of a picture of a happy 
 domestic life, half academic, half municipal, passed among 
 affectionate relatives and well-known friends, inclining 
 most to literary and moral studies, yet not cut off from the 
 duties and avocations of the citizen. 
 
 In reading Plutarch, the following points should be 
 remembered. He is a moralist rather than a historian. 
 His interest is less for politics and the changes of empires, 
 and much more for personal character and individual 
 actions and motives to action; duty performed and re- 
 warded : arroqjance chastised, hasty anger corrected ; hu- 
 
LIFE OF PLUTARCH. xi 
 
 manity, fair dealing, and generosity triumphing in the 
 visible, or relying on the invisible world. His mind in his 
 biographic memoirs is continually running on the Aris- 
 totelian Ethics and the high Platonic theories, which 
 formed the religion of the educated population of his 
 time. 
 
 The time itself is a second point ; that of Nerva, Trajan, 
 and Hadrian ; the commencement of the best and happiest 
 age of the great Roman imperial period. The social system, 
 spreading over all the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, of 
 which Greece and Italy were the centres, and to which the 
 East and the furthest known West were brought into 
 relation, had then reached its highest mark of advance and 
 consummation. The laws of Rome and the philosophy of 
 Greece were powerful from the Tigris to the British 
 islands. It was the last great era of Greek and Roman 
 literature. Egictetus was teaching in Greek the virtues 
 which Marcus Aurelius was to illustrate as emperor. Dio 
 Chrysostom and Arrian were recalling the memory of the 
 most famous Attic rhetoricians and historians, and while 
 Plutarch wrote in Chseronea, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, 
 Martial^ and Juyenal were writing at Rome. It may be 
 said too, perhaps, not untruly, that the Latin, of the metro- 
 politan writers, less faithfully represents the general spirit 
 and character of the time, than what came from the pen of 
 a simple Boeotian provincial, Avriting in a more universal 
 language, and unwarped by the strong local reminiscences 
 of the old home of the Senate and the Republic. Tacitus 
 and Juvenal have more, perhaps, of the " antique Roman " 
 than of the citizen of the great Mediterranean Empire. 
 The evils of the imperial government, as felt in the capital 
 city, are depicted in the Roman prose and verse more 
 
J"<> 
 
 xu LIFE OF PLUTARCH. 
 
 vividly and more vehemently than suits a general repre- 
 sentation of the state of the imperial world, even under the 
 rule of Domitian himself. 
 
 It is, at any rate, the serener aspect and the better era 
 that the life and writings of Plutarch reflect. His language 
 is that of a man happy in himself and in what is around 
 him. His natural cheerfulness is undiminished, his easy 
 and joyous simplicity is unimpaired, his satisfactions are 
 not saddened or imbittered by any overpowering recollec- 
 tions of years passed under the immediate j)i'esent terrors 
 of imperial wickedness. Though he also could remember 
 Nero, and had been a man when Domitian was an emperor, 
 the utmost we can say is, that he shows, perhaps, the 
 instructed happiness of one who had lived into good times 
 out of evil, and that the very vigor of his content proves 
 that its roots were fixed amongst circumstances not too 
 indulgent or favorable. 
 
 Much has been said of Plutarch's inaccuracy ; and it 
 cannot be denied that he is careless about numbers, and 
 occasionally contradicts his own statements. A greater 
 fault, perhaps, is his passion for anecdote ; he cannot for- 
 bear from repeating stories, the improbability of which he 
 is the first to recognize; which, nevertheless, by mere 
 repetition, leave unjust impressions. He is unfair in this 
 way to Demosthenes and to Pericles, against the latter of 
 whom, however, he doubtless inherited the prejudices which 
 Plato handed down to the philosophers. 
 
 It is true, also, that his unhistorical treatment of the 
 subjects of his biography makes him often unsatisfactory 
 and imperfect in the portraits he draws. Much, of course, 
 in the public lives of statesmen can find its only explana- 
 tionlin their political position ) and of this Plutarch often 
 
LIFE OF PLUTARCH. xiii 
 
 knows and thinks little. So far as the researches of modern 
 historians have succeeded in really recovering a knowledge 
 ' of relations of this sort, so far, undoubtedly, these biog- 
 raphies stand in need of their correction. Yet in the un- 
 certainty which must attend all modern restorations, it is 
 agreeable, and surely, also, profitable, to recur to portraits 
 drawn ere new thoughts and views had occupied the civil- 
 ized world, without reference to such disputable grounds 
 of judgment, simply upon the broad principles of the 
 ancient moral code of right and wrong. 
 
 Making some little deductions in cases such as those that 
 have been mentioned, allowing for a little over-love of 
 story, and for some considerable quasi-religious hostility to 
 the democratic leaders who excited the scorn of Plato, if 
 we bear in mind, also, ^Jhat in narratives like that of 
 Theseus] he himself confesses his inability to disengage 
 fact from fable, it may be said that in Plutarch's Lives the 
 readers of all ages will find instructive and faithful biog- 
 raphies of the great men of Greece and Rome. Or, at any 
 rate, if in Plutarch's time it was too late to think of really 
 faithful biographies, we have here the faithful record of 
 the historical tradition of his age. This is what, in the 
 second century of our era, Greeks and Romans loved to 
 believe about their warriors and statesmen of the past. As 
 a picture, at least, of the best Greek and Roman moral 
 views and moral judgments, as a presentation of the results 
 of Greek and Roman moral thought, delivered not under 
 the pressure of calamity, but as they existed in ordinary 
 times, and actuated plain-living people in country places 
 in their daily life, Plutarch's writings are of indisputable 
 value ; and it may be said, also, that Plutarch's character, 
 as depicted in them, possesses a natural charm of pleasant- 
 
XIV LIFE OF PLUTARCH. 
 
 ness and amiability which it is not easy to match among 
 all extant classical authors. 
 
 The present translation is a revision of that published at 
 the end of the seventeenth century, with a life of Plutarch 
 written by Dryden. 
 
 Theodorus Gaza, a man learned in the Latin tongue, 
 and a great restorer of the Greek, who lived above two 
 hundred years ago, deser\res to have his suffrage set down 
 in words at length ; for the rest have only commended 
 Plutarch more than any single author, but he has extolled 
 him above all together. 
 
 'Tis said that, having this extravagant question put to 
 him by a friend, that if learning must suffer a general 
 shipwreck, and he had only his choice left him of preserv- 
 ing one author, who should be the man he would preserve, 
 he answered, Plutarch; and probably might give this 
 reason, that in saving him, he should secure the best col- 
 lection of them all. 
 
 The epigram of Agathias deserves also to be remem- 
 bered. This author flourished about the year five hun- 
 dred, in the reign of the Emperor Justinian. The verses 
 are extant in the Anthologia, and with the translation of 
 them I will conclude the praises of our author ; having 
 first admonished you, that they are supposed to be written 
 on a statue erected by the Romans to his memory. 
 
 Chseronean Plutarch, to thy deathless praise 
 Does martial Rome this grateful statue raise, 
 Because both Greece and she thy fame have shared, 
 (Their heroes written, and their lives compared). 
 But thou thyself couldst never write thy own ; 
 Their lives have parallels, but thine has none. 
 
PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 oJ«<o 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THEMISTOCLES. 
 
 Greece is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and 
 one of the most famous. The whole of its territory is not 
 so large as the State of Maine ; but there has never been a 
 nation that has surpassed it in art, philosophy, literature, 
 and warlike deeds. So we see that greatness does iDt 
 depend upon size. 
 
 Greece is a peninsula, running from north to south, with 
 a great many deep bays and excellent harbors. Particu- 
 larly there is one place where two bays, the one to the 
 east, the other to the west, come so near each other that 
 there is only a narrow isthmus to connect the peninsula at 
 the south with the mainland at the north. Just at this 
 isthmus was situated the famous city of Corinth, and the 
 peninsula at the south was called the Peloponnesus^ or 
 Island of Pelops. Greece is a very mountainous country, 
 and is divided by the mountain chains into a great many 
 little valleys. In each of these valleys was a city, and 
 each city was wholly independent of all others ; sometimes 
 the neighboring cities were united into a kind of league, 
 but even in this case each little city could do about as it 
 pleased. There were, however, two cities which had a 
 larger territory than others, and greater power. These 
 
2 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 were Sparta, in the Peloponnesus, and Athens, north of 
 the isthmus. Of course these two cities were rivals and 
 enemies, and they were at the head of two rival and hos- 
 tile parties. 
 
 Sparta and Athens were very different in character and 
 in institutions. Spfajrtaiwas governed by an aristocracy of 
 soldiers. The Spartan's car,ed nothing for art or literature, 
 and very li; tlo ior hurbarjity, All their ambition was for 
 power and military glory; and when they had gained 
 power, they were very cruel and unjust in using it. The 
 Athenians, on the other hand, were democratic. Every 
 citizen had equal rights in the government, and they were 
 distinguished for intelligence and culture. It was the 
 common people of Athens for whom their noble works of 
 art and literature were designed. 
 
 But the hostility of Athens and Sparta did not break 
 out until a later date. In early times Sparta was acknowl- 
 edged by every one to be the most powerful city in Greece, 
 and to have a right to take the lead in all common enter- 
 prises. And this acknowledged leadership of Sparta con- 
 tinued until the most famous of these common enterprises, 
 the union of the Greek cities to resist the Persian inva- 
 sion. 
 
 The Persian wars began about five hundred years before 
 Christ. Persia was at this time the greatest empire in the 
 world, and the greatest empire too that there had ever 
 been, as it embraced all of Asia that lay west of Hindo- 
 stan, and also Egypt in Africa, and Thrace in Europe. 
 Thrace had been very recently conquered by the Persian 
 king Darius, and both here and in Asia Minor there were 
 a number of Greek cities, which had been made subject to 
 Persia. But the Greeks were used to governing them- 
 
TIIEMTSTOCLES. 3 
 
 selves, and they did not like the despotic rule of Persia. 
 In the year 500 the Ionic cities of Asia Minor broke out in 
 a revolt, and were aided by the Athenians, for Athens too 
 was an Ionian city. It did not take Darius long to sup- 
 press this revolt and reconquer the cities of Asia; and 
 then he determined to punish the Athenians for the assist- 
 ance they had sent. 
 
 The great army sent by Darius against Athens came in 
 the year 490, crossed the jEgean Sea, and landed on the 
 coast a few miles from Athens. It did not seem possible 
 that the little city of Athens could resist the forces of this 
 mighty empire. They had but a small army of 10,000 
 men, with only 1,000 auxiliaries from Platsea. But they 
 were brave and well disciplined, and they had a skilful 
 general, named Miltiades. The little army, fighting for 
 their homes and their liberties, completely routed the great 
 army, and forced them to take their ships and go back to 
 Asia. This was the famous battle of Marathon. So com- 
 pletely were the Persians beaten, that it was ten years 
 before they came back again ; and in the meantime Darius 
 had died, and had been succeeded by his son Xerxes. 
 Miltiades too was dead, and the great man in Greece was 
 now Themistocles. 
 
PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 
 
 n^HE birth of Themistocles was somewhat too obscure 
 -■- to do him honor. His father, Neocles, was not of the 
 distinguished people of Athens, and by his mother's side, 
 as it is reported, he was base-born. 
 
 It is confessed by all that from his youth he was of a 
 vehement and impetuous nature, of a quick apprehension, 
 and a strong and aspiring bent for action and great affairs. 
 The holidays and intervals in his studies he did not spend 
 in play or idleness, as other children, but would be always 
 inventing or arranging some oration or declamation to 
 himself, the subject of which was generally the excusing 
 or accusing his companions, so that his master would often 
 say to him, "You, my boy, will be nothing small, but 
 great one way or other, for good or else for bad." He 
 received reluctantly and carelessly instructions given him 
 to improve his manners and behavior, or to teach him any 
 pleasing or graceful accomplishment, but whatever was 
 said to improve him in sagacity, or in management of 
 affairs, he would give attention to, beyond one of his 
 years, from confidence in his natural capacities for such 
 things. And thus afterwards, when in company where 
 people engaged themselves in what are commonly thought 
 the liberal and elegant amusements, he was obliged to de- 
 fend himself against the observations of those who con- 
 sidered themselves highly accomplished, by the somewhat 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 5 
 
 arrogant retort, that he certainly could not make use of 
 any strmged instrument, could only, were a small and 
 obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious. 
 
 In the first essays of his youth he was not regular nor 
 happily balanced ; he allowed himself to follow mere nat- 
 ural character, which, without the control of reason and 
 instruction, is apt to hurry, upon either side, into sudden 
 and violent courses, and very often to break away and 
 determine upon the worst ; as he afterwards owned him- 
 self, saying, that the wildest colts made the best horses, if 
 they only get properly trained and broken in. There are 
 those who relate that to deter him from public business, 
 and to let him see how the vulgar behave themselves 
 towards their leaders when they have at last no farther 
 use of them, his father showed him the old galleys as they 
 lay forsaken and cast about upon the sea-shore. 
 
 Yet it is evident that his mind was early imbued wdth 
 the keenest interest in public affairs, and the most passion- 
 ate ambition for distinction. Eager from the first to ob- 
 tain the highest place, he unhesitatingly accepted the 
 hatred of the most powerful and influential leaders in the 
 city, but more especially of Aristides, who always opposed 
 him. And yet all this great enmity between them arose, 
 it appears, from a very boyish occasion, both being at- 
 tached to the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos; ever after 
 which, they took opposite sides, and were rivals in politics. 
 Not but that the incompattbility of their lives and man- 
 ners may seem to have increased the difference, for Aris- 
 tides was of a mild nature, and of a nobler sort of charac- 
 ter, and, in public matters, acting always with a view, not 
 to glory or popularity, but to the best interests of the 
 state consistently with safety and honesty, he was often 
 
6 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 forced to oppose Themistocles, and interfere against the 
 increase of his influence, seeing him stirring up the people 
 to all kinds of enterprises, and introducing various inno- 
 vations. For it is said that Themistocles was so trans- 
 ported with the thoughts of glory, and so inflamed with 
 the passion for great actions, that, though he was still 
 young when the battle of Marathon was fought against 
 the Persians, upon the skilful conduct of the general, Mil- 
 tiades, being everywhere talked about, he was observed to 
 be thoughtful, and reserved, alone by himself; he passed 
 the nights without sleep, and avoided all his usual places 
 of recreation, and to those who wondered at the change, 
 and inquired the reason of it, he gave the answer, that 
 " the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep." And 
 when others were of opinion that the battle of Marathon 
 would be an end to the war, Themistocles thought that it 
 was but the beginning of far greater conflicts, and for 
 these, to the benefit of all Greece, he kept himself in con- 
 tinual readiness, and his city also in proper training, fore- 
 seeing, from far before, what would happen. 
 
 Battle of Marathon: Darius, king of the Persians, attempted the conquest 
 of Greece in b.c. 490. For this purpose he landed on the plain of Marathon an 
 army estimated at 100,000 men. 
 
 To oppose this vast force, 10,000 Greeks, under the command of Miltiades, 
 were gathered on the hills above the plain. 
 
 For some time it was undecided whether it would not be better to await re- 
 inforcements than to engage with so small a number, but it was finally con- 
 cluded to make the attack. 
 
 Forming in line of battle and massing their best troops in the two wings, 
 they made a rapid charge, running down from the mountains. 
 
 The Persians were utterly amazed at the seeming folly of the Greeks, 
 thinking that they were rushing to instant death. At the first shock, the Greek 
 centre wavered, but, both wings being successful, the Persians were completely 
 routed. Some 6,000 of the Persians were slain, while the loss to the Greeks 
 was only 192 men. 
 
 The victory was decisive, and Greece was saved. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 7 
 
 And, first of all, the Athenians being accustomed to 
 divide amongst themselves the revenue proceeding from 
 the silver mines at Laurium, he was the only man that 
 durst propose to the people that this distribution should 
 cease, and that with the money ships should be built to 
 make war against the ^ginetans, who were the most 
 flourishing people in all Greece, and by the number of 
 their ships held the sovereignty of the sea; and Themis- 
 tocles thus was more easily able to persuade them, avoiding 
 all mention of danger from Darius or the Persians, who were 
 at a great distance, and their coming very uncertain, and 
 at that time not much to be feared ; but, by a seasonable 
 employment of the emulation and anger felt by the Athe- 
 nians against the ^ginetans, he induced them to prepara- 
 tion. So that with this money an hundred ships were 
 built, with which they afterwards fought against Xerxes. 
 And, henceforward, little by little, turning and drawing 
 the city down towards the sea, in the belief, that, whereas 
 by land they were not a fit match for their next neighbors, 
 with their ships they might be able to repel the Persians 
 and command Greece, thus, as Plato says, from steady 
 soldiers he tin-ned them into mariners and seamen tossed 
 about the sea, and gave occasion for the reproach against 
 him, that he took away from the Athenians the spear and 
 the sliield, and bound them to the bench and the oar. 
 These measures he carried in the assembly, against the 
 opposition of Miltiades; and whether or no he hereby 
 injured the purity and true balance of government, may 
 be a question for philosophers, but that the deliverance of 
 Greece came at that time from the sea, and that these gal- 
 leys restored Athens again after it was destroyed, were 
 others wanting, Xerxes himself would be sufiicient evi- 
 
8 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 dence, who, though his land-forces were still entire, after 
 his defeat at sea, fled away, and thought himself no longer 
 able to encounter the Greeks ; and, as it seems to me, left 
 Mardonius behind him, not out of any hopes he could 
 have to bring them into subjection, but to hinder them 
 from pursuing him. 
 
 Themistocles is said to have been eager in the acquisi- 
 tion of riches, according to some, that he might be the 
 more liberal ; for loving to sacrifice often, and to be splen- 
 did in his entertainment of strangers, he required a plen- 
 tiful revenue ; yet he is accused by others of having been 
 parsimonious and sordid to that degree that he would sell 
 provisions which were sent to him as a present. 
 
 When he came to the Olympic games, and was so splen- 
 did in his equipage and entertainments, in his rich tents 
 and furniture, that he strove' to outdo Cimon, he dis- 
 pleased the Greeks, who thought that such magnificence 
 might be allowed in one who was a young man and of a 
 
 Olympic games : At Olympia, in South-western Greece, once in every four 
 years, from b. c. 776 to a. d. 390, the Greeks from all the states and colonies 
 of the Hellenic world came to vie with each other in the peaceful contests of 
 running, leaping, wrestling, boxing, javelin-throwing, pitching the quoits, and 
 chariot-racing. Candidates for the honors of the game were obliged to prove 
 that they were of pure Hellenic descent, and had never been convicted of any 
 serious crime. They were obliged to enter their names ten months before the 
 day of trial, and much of the intervening time was spent in careful training 
 for it. 
 
 They were in honor bound to observe all the rules of the game and to take 
 no advantage of their adversaries. Strict judges presided over these contests 
 and awarded the simple crown of wild-olive leaves to the victor. A herald 
 proclaimed his name, his parentage, and his country. On his return home he 
 entered his native city in triumph. 
 
 These gatherings were a great centre for commercial transactions and for 
 free interchange of opinions, tending to form a bond of union between the 
 various states. A sacred truce was proclaimed for the month of these festivals, 
 so that all parties going to or coming from them were unmolested. They 
 usually continued five days. 
 
THEMTSTOCLES. 9 
 
 great family, but was a great piece of insolence in one as 
 yet undistinguished, and without title or means for mak- 
 ing any such display. He was well liked by the common 
 people, would salute every particular citizen by his own 
 name, and always show himself a just judge in questions 
 of business between private men ; he said to Simonides, 
 the poet of Ceos, who desired something of him, when he 
 was commander of the army, that was not reasonable, 
 "Simonides, you would be no good poet if you wrote 
 false measure, nor should I be a good magistrate if for 
 favor I made false law." And at another time, laughing 
 at Simonides,. he said, that he was a man of little judg- 
 ment to speak against the Corinthians, who were inhabi- 
 tants of a great city, and to have his own picture drawn 
 so often, having so ill-looking a face. 7 
 
 Gradually growing to be great, and winning the favor 
 of the people, he at last gained the day with his faction 
 over that of Aristides, and procured his banishment by 
 ostracism. When the king of Persia was now advancing 
 against Greece, and the Athenians were in consultation 
 who should be general, and many withdrew themselves 
 of their own accord, being terrified with the greatness of 
 the danger, there was one Epicydes, a popular speaker, 
 son to Euphemides, a man of an eloquent tongue, but of 
 a faint heart, and a slave to riches, who was desirous of 
 the command, and was looked upon to be in a fair way 
 to carry it by the number of votes; but Themistocles, 
 fearing that, if the command should fall into such hands. 
 
 Ostracism : a right exercised by the people of Athens, of banishing 
 for a time any person whose services, rank, or wealth appeared to be dan- 
 gerous to the liberty of his fellow-citizens, or inconsistent with their political 
 equality. The word is derived from ostrakon, an oyster-shell, on which the 
 votes of banishment were written. 
 
10 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 all would be lost, bought off Epicydes and his pretensions, 
 it is said, for a sum of money. 
 
 When the king of Persia sent messengers into Greece, 
 with an interpreter, to demand earth and water, as an 
 acknowledgment of subjection, Themistocles, by the con- 
 sent of the people, seized upon the interpreter, and put 
 him to death, for presuming to publish the barbarian 
 orders and decrees in the Greek language ; this is one of 
 the actions he is commended for, as also for what he did 
 to Arthmius of Zelea, who brought gold from the king of 
 Persia to corrupt the Greeks, and was, by an order from 
 Themistocles, degraded and disfranchised, he and his 
 children and his posterity; but that which most of all 
 redounded to his credit was, that he put an end to all the 
 civil wars of Greece, composed their differences, and per- 
 suaded them to lay aside all enmity during the war with 
 the Persians. 
 
 Having taken upon himself the command of the Athe- 
 nian forces, he immediately endeavored to persuade the 
 citizens to leave the city, and to embark upon their gal- 
 leys, and meet with the Persians at a great distance from 
 Greece ; but many being against this, he led a large force, 
 together with the Lacedaemonians, into Tempe, that in 
 this pass they might maintain the safety of Thessaly, 
 which had not as yet declared for the king; but when 
 they returned without performing anything, and it was 
 known that not only the Thessalians, but all as far as 
 Boeotia, was going over to Xerxes, then the Athenians 
 more willingly hearkened to the advice of Themistocles to 
 fight by sea, and sent him with a fleet to guard the straits 
 of Artemisium. 
 
 When the contingents met here, the Greeks would have 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 11 
 
 the Lacedaemonians to command, and Eurybiades to be 
 their admiral ; but the Athenians, who surpassed all the 
 rest together in number of vessels, would not submit to 
 come after any other, till Themistocles, perceiving the 
 danger of this contest, yielded his own command to Eu- 
 rybiades, and got the Athenians to submit, extenuating 
 the loss by persuading them, that if in this war they be- 
 haved themselves like men, he would answer for it after 
 that, that the Greeks, of their own will, would submit to 
 their command. And by this moderation of his, it is evi- 
 dent that he was the chief means of the deliverance of 
 Greece, and gained the Athenians the glory of alike sur- 
 passing their enemies in valor, and their confederates in 
 wisdom. 
 
 As soon as the Persian armada arrived at Aphetae, Eu- 
 rybiades was astonished to see such a vast number of ves- 
 sels before him, and, being informed that two hundred 
 more were sailing round behind the island of Sciathus, he 
 immediately determined to retire farther into Greece, and 
 to sail back into some part of Peloponnesus, where their 
 land army and their fleet might join, for he looked upon 
 the Persian forces to be altogether unassailable by sea. 
 But the Euboeans, fearing that the Greeks would forsake 
 them, and leave them to the mercy of the enemy, sent 
 Pelagon to confer privately with Themistocles, taking 
 with him a good sum of money, whiWi, as Herodotus re- 
 ports, he accepted and gave to Eurybiades. In this affair 
 none of his own countrymen opposed him so much as 
 Architeles, captain of the sacred galley, who, having no 
 money to supply his seamen, was eager to go home ; but 
 
 Sacred gaUey : that which the Athenians sent every year to Delos with 
 sacrifices to the god Apollo. 
 
12 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Themistocles so incensed the Athenians against him, that 
 they set upon him and left him not so much as his supper, 
 at which Architeles was much surprised, and took it very 
 ill ; but Themistocles immediately sent him in a chest a 
 service of provisions, and at the bottom of it a talent of 
 silver, desiring him to sup to-night, and to-morrow pro- 
 vide for his seamen; if not, he would report it amongst 
 the Athenians that he had received money from the enemy. 
 So Phanias the Lesbian tells the story. 
 
 Though the fights between the Greeks and Persians in 
 the straits of Euboea were not so important as to make 
 any final decision of the war, yet the experience which 
 the Greeks obtained in them was of great advantage ; for 
 thus, by actual trial and in real danger, they found out, 
 that neither number of ships, nor riches and ornaments, 
 nor boasting shouts, nor barbarous songs of victory, were 
 any way terrible to men that knew how to fight, and were 
 resolved to come hand to hand with their enemies; these 
 things they were to despise, and to come up close and 
 grapple with their foes. This, Pindar appears to have 
 seen, and says justly enough of the fight at Artemisium, 
 that 
 
 There the sons of Athens set 
 
 The stone that freedom stands on yet. 
 
 For the first step towards victory undoubtedly is to gain 
 courage. 
 
 But when news came from Thermopylae to Artemisium, 
 informing them that king Leonidas was slain, and that 
 Xerxes had made himself master of all the passages 
 by land, they returned to the interior of Greece, the 
 
 Talent :. about $1,180. 
 
 Barbarous songs : songs in a foreign tongue. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 13 
 
 Athenians having the command of the rear, the place of 
 honor and danger, and much elated by what had been 
 done. - 
 
 As Themistocles sailed along the coast, he took notice 
 of the harbors and fit places for the enemies' ships to come 
 to land at, and engraved large letters in such stones as he 
 found there by chance, as also in others which he set up 
 on purpose near to the landing-places, or where they were 
 to water ; in which inscriptions he called upon the Ionian s 
 to forsake the Medes, if it were possible, and come over to 
 the Greeks, who were their proper founders and fathers, 
 and were now hazarding all for their liberties ; but, if this 
 could not be done, at any rate to impede and disturb the 
 Persians in all engagements. He hoped that these writ- 
 ings would prevail with the lonians to revolt, or raise 
 some trouble by making their fidelity doubtful to the 
 Persians. 
 
 Now, though Xerxes had already passed through Doris 
 and invaded the country of Phocis, and was burning and 
 destroying the cities of the Phocians, yet the Greeks sent 
 them no relief; and, though the Athenians earnestly de- 
 sired them to meet the Persians in Boeotia, before they 
 could come into Attica, as they themselves had come for- 
 ward by sea at Artemisium, they gave no ear to their 
 request, being wholly intent upon Peloponnesus, and re- 
 solved to gather all their forces together within the Isth- 
 mus, and to build a wall from sea to sea in that narrow 
 neck of land; so that the Athenians were enraged to see 
 themselves betrayed, and at the same time afflicted and 
 dejected at their own destitution. For to fight alone 
 against such a numerous army was to no purpose, and the 
 only expedient now left them was to leave their city and 
 
14 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 cling to their ships ; which the people were very unwill- 
 ing to submit to, imagining that it would signify little 
 now to gain a victory, and not understanding how there 
 could be deliverance any longer after they had once for- 
 saken the temples of their gods and exposed the tombs and 
 monuments of their ancestors to the fury of their enemies. 
 Themistocles, being at a loss, and not able to draw the 
 people over to his opinion by any human reason, set his 
 machines to work, as in a theatre, and employed prodigies 
 and oracles. The serpent of Minerva, kept in the inner 
 part of her temple, disappeared ; the priests gave it out 
 to the people that the offerings which were set for it 
 were found untouched, and declared, by the suggestion of 
 Themistocles, that the goddess had left the city, and taken 
 her flight before them towards the sea. And he often 
 urged them with the oracle which bade them trust to 
 walls of wood, showing them that walls of wood could 
 signify nothing else but ships ; and that the island of Sal- 
 amis was termed in it, not miserable or unhappy, but had 
 the epithet of divine, for that it should one day be asso- 
 ciated with a great good fortune of the Greeks. At length 
 his opinion prevailed, and he obtained a decree that the 
 city should be committed to the protection of Minerva, 
 " queen of Athens " ; that they who were of age to bear 
 arms should embark, and that each should see to sending 
 away his children, women, and slaves where he could. 
 This decree being confirmed, most of the Athenians re- 
 moved their parents, wives, and children to Troezen, where 
 
 Minerva, or Athene, the protecting goddess of the Athenian state, was the 
 patroness of wisdom, agriculture, the useful arts, and warlike defence. Her 
 temple was the Parthenon. 
 
 Oracle : a temple or other sacred place where answers to questions were 
 obtained from the gods. The word also means the answer given. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 15 
 
 they were received with eager good-will by the Troeze- 
 nians, who passed a vote that they should be maintained 
 at the public charge. 
 
 When the whole city of Athens were going on board, it 
 afforded a spectacle worthy of pity alike and admiration, 
 to see them thus send away their fathers and children be- 
 fore them, and, unmoved with their cries and tears, pass 
 over into the island. But that which stirred compassion 
 most of all was, that many old men, by reason of their 
 great age, were left behind; and even the tame domestic ani- 
 mals could not be seen without some pity, running about 
 the town and howling, as desirous to be carried along with 
 their masters that had kept them. 
 
 Among the great actions of Themistocles at this crisis, 
 the recall of Aristides was not the least, for, before the 
 war, he had been ostracized by the party which Themis- 
 tocles headed, and was in banishment ; but now, perceiv- 
 ing that the people regretted his absence, and were fearful 
 that he might go over to the Persians to revenge himself, 
 and thereby ruin the affairs of Greece, Themistocles pro- 
 posed a decree that those who were banished for a time 
 might return again, to give assistance by word and deed 
 to the cause of Greece with the rest of their fellow-citi- 
 zens. 
 
 Eurybiades, by reason of the greatness of Sparta, was 
 admiral of the Greek fleet, but yet was faint-hearted in 
 time of danger, and willing to weigh anchor and set sail 
 for the isthmus of Corinth, near which the land army lay 
 encamped ; which Themistocles resisted ; and this was the 
 occasion of the well-known words, when Eurybiades, to 
 check his impatience, told him that at the Olympic games 
 they that start up before the rest are lashed; ''And 
 
16 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 they," replied Themistocles, "that are left behind are not 
 crowned." Again, Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he 
 were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike if you 
 will, but hear " ; Eurybiades, wondering much at his mod- 
 eration, desired him to speak, and Themistocles now 
 brought him to a better understanding. And when one 
 who stood by him told him that it did not become those 
 who had neither city nor house to lose, to persuade others 
 to relinquish their habitations and forsake their countries, 
 Themistocles gave this reply : " We have indeed left our 
 houses and our walls, base fellow, not thinking it fit to 
 become slaves for the sake of things that have no life nor 
 soul ; and yet our city is the greatest of all Greece, con- 
 sisting of two hundred galleys, which are here to defend 
 you, if you please ; but if you run away and betray us, as 
 you did once before, the Greeks shall soon hear news of 
 the Athenians possessing as fair a country, and as large 
 and free a city, as that they have lost." These expressions 
 of Themistocles made Eurybiades suspect that if he re- 
 treated, the Athenians would fall off from him. When 
 one of Eretria began to oppose him, he said, " Have you, 
 that are like an ink-fish, anything to say of war? you 
 have a sword, but no heart." ^ Some say that while 
 Themistocles was thus speaking upon the deck, an owl 
 was seen flying to the right hand of the fleet, which 
 came and sate upon the top of the mast ; and this happy 
 omen so far disposed the Greeks to follow his advice, that 
 they presently prepared to fight. Yet, when the enemy's 
 fleet was arrived at the haven of Phalerum, upon the coast 
 
 ^ The Teuthis, loligo, or cuttle-fish, when pursued, throws out an ink- 
 colored liquid which blackens the water. It is said to have a bone or cartilage 
 shaped like a sword, and was conceived to have no heart. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 17 
 
 of Attica, and with the number of their ships concealed all 
 the shore, and when they saw the king himself in person 
 come down with his land army to the sea-side, with all his 
 forces united, then the good counsel of Themistocles was 
 soon forgotten, and the Peloponnesians cast their eyes 
 again towards the isthmus, and took it very ill if any one 
 spoke against their returning home ; and, resolving to de- 
 part that night, the pilots had order what course to steer._ 
 Themistocles, in great distress that the Greeks should 
 retire, and lose the advantage of the narrow seas and 
 strait passage, and slip home every one to his own city, 
 considered with himself, and contrived that stratagem 
 that was carried out by Sicinnus. This Sicinnus was a 
 Persian captive, but a great lover of Themistocles, and 
 the attendant of his children. Upon this occasion, he sent 
 him privately to Xerxes, commanding him to tell the king, 
 that Themistocles, the admiral of the Athenians, having 
 espoused his interest, wished to be the first to inform him 
 that the Greeks were ready to make their escape, and that 
 he counselled him to hinder their flight, to set upon them 
 while they were in this confusion and at a distance from 
 their land army, and hereby destroy all their forces by sea. 
 Xerxes was very joyful at this message, and received it as 
 from one who wished him all that was good, and imme- 
 diately issued instructions to the commanders of his ships, 
 that they should instantly set out with two hundred gal- 
 leys to encompass all the islands, and enclose all the straits 
 and passages, that none of the Greeks might escape, and 
 that they should afterwards follow with the rest of their 
 fleet at leisure. This being done, Aristides was the first 
 man that perceived it, and went to the tent of Themis- 
 tocles, not out of any friendship, for he had been formerly 
 
18 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 banished by his means, as has been related, but to inform 
 him how they were encompassed by their enemies. The- 
 mistocles, knowing the generosity of Aristides, and much 
 struck by his visit at that time, imparted to him all that 
 he had transacted by Sicinnus, and entreated him, that, as 
 he would be more readily believed among the Greeks, he 
 would make use of his credit to help to induce them to 
 stay and fight their enemies in the narrow seas. Aristi- 
 des applauded Themistocles, and went to the other com- 
 manders and captains of the galleys, and encouraged them 
 to engage ; yet they did not perfectly assent to him, till a 
 galley of Tenos, which deserted from the Persians, of 
 which Pause tins was commander, came in, while they were 
 still doubting, and confirmed the news that all the straits 
 and passages were beset ; and then their rage and fury, as 
 well as their necessity, provoked them all to fight. 
 
 As soon as it was day, Xerxes placed himself high up, 
 to view his fleet, and how it was set in order. Phanode- 
 mus says, he sat upon a promontory above the temple of 
 Hercules, where the coast of Attica is separated from the 
 island by a narrow channel ; but Acestodorus writes, that 
 it was in the confines of Megara, upon those hills which 
 are called the Horns, where he sat in a chair of gold, with 
 many secretaries about him to write down all that was 
 done in the fight. 
 
 The number of the enemy's ships the poet iEschylus 
 gives in his tragedy called the Persians, as on his certain 
 knowledge, in the following words — 
 
 Xerxes, I know, did into battle lead 
 
 One thousand ships ; of more than usual speed 
 
 Seven and two hundred. So is it agreed. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 19 
 
 The Athenians had a hundred and eighty ; in every ship 
 eighteen men fought upon the deck, four of whom were 
 archers and the rest men-at-arms. 
 
 As Themistocles had fixed upon the most advantageous 
 place, so, with no less sagacity, he chose the best time of 
 fighting ; for he would not run the prows of his galleys 
 against the Persians, nor begin the fight till the time of 
 day was come, when there regularly blows in a fresh 
 breeze from the open sea, and brings in with it a strong 
 swell into* the channel ; which was no inconvenience to 
 the Greek ships, which were low-built, and little above the 
 water, but did much hurt to' the Persians, which had high 
 sterns and lofty decks, and were heavy and cumbrous in 
 their movements, as it presented the in broadside to the 
 quick charges of the Greeks, who kept their eyes upon 
 the motions of Themistocles, as their best example, and 
 more particularly because, opposed to his ship, Ariamenes, 
 admiral to Xerxes, a brave man, and by far the best and 
 worthiest of the king's brothers, was seen throwing darts 
 and shooting arrows from his huge galley, as from the 
 walls of a castle. 
 
 The first man that took a ship was Lycomedes the 
 Athenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, 
 and dedicated it to Apollo the Laurel-crowned. And as 
 the Persians fought in a narrow arm of the sea, and could 
 bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one 
 another, the Greeks thus equalled them in strength, and 
 fought with them till the evening, forced them back, and 
 obtained, as says Simonides, that noble and famous victory, 
 than which neither amongst the Greeks nor barbarians 
 
 Barliarian : the Greeks applied the term *' barharian " to all nations speak- 
 ing a different language, in about the same sense that we use the term ** alien " 
 or " foreigner." 
 
20 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 was ever known more glorious exploit on the seas ; by the 
 joint valor, indeed, and zeal of all who fought, but by the 
 wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles. 
 
 After this sea-fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, 
 attempted, by casting great heaps of earth and stones into 
 the sea, to stop up the channel and to make a dam, upon 
 which he might lead his land-forces over into the island 
 of Salamis. 
 
 Themistocles, being desirous to try the opinion of 
 Aristides, told him that he proposed to set sail for the 
 Hellespont, to break the bridge of ships, so as to shut up, 
 he said, Asia a prisoner within Europe ; but Aristides, dis- 
 liking the design, said, " We have hitherto fought with an 
 enemy who has regarded little else but his pleasure and 
 luxury ; but if we shut him up within Greece, and drive 
 him to necessity, he that is master of such great forces 
 will no longer sit quietly with an umbrella of gold over 
 his head, looking upon the fight for his pleasure ; but in 
 such a strait will attempt all things ; he will be resolute, 
 and appear himself in person upon all occasions, he will 
 soon correct his errors, and supply what he has formerly 
 omitted through remissness, and will be better advised in 
 all things. Therefore, it is noways our interest, Themis- 
 tocles," he said, " to take away the bridge that is already 
 made, but rather to build another, if it were possible, that 
 he might make his retreat with the more expedition." To 
 which Themistocles answered, "If this be requisite, we 
 must immediately use all diligence, art, and industry, to 
 rid ourselves of him as soon as may be " ; and to this pur- 
 pose he found out among the Persian captives one Arnaces, 
 whom he sent to the king, to inform him that the Greeks, 
 being now victorious by sea, had decreed to sail to the 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 21 
 
 Hellespont, where the boats were fastened together, and 
 destroy the bridge ; but that Themistocles, bemg concerned 
 for the king, revealed this to him, that he might hasten 
 towards the Asiatic seas, and pass over into his own domin- 
 ions ; and in the mean time would cause delays, and 
 hinder the confederates from pursuing him. Xerxes no 
 sooner heard this, but, being very much terrified, he pro- 
 ceeded to retreat out of Greece with all speed. The 
 prudence of Themistocles and Aristides in this was after- 
 wards more f idly understood at the battle of Platsea, where 
 Mardonius, with a very small fraction of the forces of 
 Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all. 
 
 Herodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, 
 ^gina was held to have performed the best service in 
 the war; while all single men yielded to Themistocles, 
 though, out of envy, unwillingly ; and when they re- 
 turned to the entrance of Peloponnesus, where the sev- 
 eral commanders delivered their suffrages at the altar, to 
 determine who was most worthy, every one gave the 
 first vote for himself and the second for Themistocles. 
 The Lacedaemonians carried him with them to Sparta, 
 where, giving the rewards of valor to Eurybiades, and of 
 wisdom and conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him 
 with olive, presented him with the best chariot in the 
 city, and sent three hundred young men to accompany 
 him to the confines of their country. And at the next 
 Olympic games, when Themistocles entered the course, 
 the spectators took no farther notice of those who were 
 contesting the prizes, but spent the whole day in looking 
 upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring him, 
 and applauding him by clapping their hands, and other 
 expressions of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, 
 
22 PLUTARCH^S LIVES. 
 
 confessed to his friends that he then reaped the fruit of 
 all his labors for the Greeks. 
 
 He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is 
 evident from the anecdotes recorded of him. When 
 chosen admiral by the Athenians, he would not quite 
 conclude any single matter of business, either public or 
 private, but deferred all till the day they were to set 
 sail, that, by despatching a great quantity of business all 
 at once, and having to meet a great variety of people, he 
 might make an appearance of greatness and power. View- 
 ing the dead bodies cast up by the sea, he perceived 
 bracelets and necklaces of gold about them, yet passed 
 on, only showing them to a friend that followed him, 
 saying, " Take you these things, for you are not Themis- 
 tocles." He said to Antiphates, a handsome young man, 
 who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory courted 
 him, " Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson." 
 He said that the Athenians did not honor him or admire 
 him, but made, as it were, a sort of plane-tree of him ; shel- 
 tered themselves under him in bad weather, and, as soon as 
 it was fine, plucked his leaves and cut his branches. When 
 the Seriphian told him that he had not obtained this 
 honor by himself, but by the greatness of his city, he 
 replied, " You speak truth ; I should never have been 
 famous if I had been of Seriphus ; nor you, had you 
 been of Athens." When another of the generals, who 
 thought he had performed considerable service for the 
 Athenians, boastingly compared his actions with those of 
 Themistocles, he told him that once upon a time the 
 Day after the Festival found fault with the Festival : " On 
 you there is nothing' but hurry and trouble and prepara- 
 tion, but, when I come, everybody sits down quietly and 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 23 
 
 enjoys himself " ; which the Festival admitted was true, 
 but " if I had not come first, you would not have come at 
 all. " Even so," he said, " if Themistocles had not come 
 before, where had you been now?" Laughing at his 
 own son, who got his mother, and, by his mother's means, 
 his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had 
 the most power of any one in Greece : " For the Athenians 
 command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, 
 your mother commands me, and you command your 
 mother." Loving to be singular in all things, when he 
 had land to sell, he ordered the crier to give notice that 
 there were good neighbors near it. Of two who made 
 love to his daughter, he preferred the man of worth to 
 the one who was rich, saying he desired a man without 
 riches, rather than riches without a man. Such was the 
 character of his sayings. C^-x v: 
 
 After these things, he began to rebuild and fortify the 
 city of Athens, bribing, as reported, the Lacedaemonian 
 ephors not to be against it, but, as most relate it, over- 
 reaching and deceiving them. For, under pretext of an 
 embassy, he went to Sparta, where, upon the Lace- 
 daemonians charging him with rebuilding the walls, and 
 Poliarchus coming on purpose from ^gina to denounce 
 it, he denied the fact, bidding them to send people 
 to Athens to see whether it were so or no ; by which 
 delay he got time for the building of the wall, and also 
 placed these ambassadors in the hands of his countrymen 
 as hostages for him ; and so, when the Lacedaemonians 
 knew the truth, they did him no hurt, but, suppressing 
 all display of their anger for the present, sent him 
 away. 
 
 Ephors : five magistrates elected by the Spartan people to protect them 
 against the infringement of their rights by the King or Senate. 
 
24 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Next, he proceeded to establish the harbor of Pirseus, 
 observing the great natural advantages of the locality, 
 and desirous to unite the whole city with the sea, and to 
 reverse, in a manner, the policy of ancient Athenian 
 kings, who, endeavoring to withdraw their subjects from 
 the sea, and to accustom them to live, not by sailing 
 about, but by planting and tilling the earth, spread the 
 story of the dispute between Minerva and Neptune for 
 the sovereignty of Athens, in which Minerva, by pro- 
 ducing to the judges an olive tree, was declared to have 
 won ; whereas Themistocles did not only knead up, as 
 Aristophanes says, the port and the city into one, but 
 made the city absolutely the dependant and the adjunct 
 of the port, and the land of the sea, which increased the 
 power and confidence of the people against the nobility ; 
 the authority coming into the hands of sailors and boat- 
 swains and pilots. Thus it was one of the orders of the 
 thirty tyrants, that the hustings in the assembly, which 
 had faced towards the sea, should be turned round 
 towards the land ; implying their opinion that the empire 
 by sea had been the origin of the democracy, and that 
 the farming population were not so much opposed to 
 oligarchy. 
 
 Themistocles, however, formed yet higher designs Avith 
 a view to naval supremacy. For, after the departure of 
 Xerxes, when the Grecian fleet was arrived at Pagasse, 
 
 Thirty Tyrants : at the close of the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans, 
 being conquerors, put the whole government of Athens under the control of 
 thirty rulers from the aristocratical party. Their government proved a reign 
 of terror. It lasted less than a single year. 
 
 Hustings : the platform from which candidates for political office address 
 the people. The place where an election is held. 
 
 Oligarchy : a government in the hands of a few persons. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 25 
 
 where they wintered, Themistocles, in a publie oration 
 to the people of Athens, told them that he had a de- 
 sign to perform something that would tend greatly to 
 their interests and safety, but was of such a nature, that 
 it could not be made generally public. The Athenians 
 ordered him to impart it to Aristides only ; and, if he 
 approved of it, to put it in practice. And when Themis- 
 tocles had discovered to him that his design was to burn 
 the Grecian fleet in the haven of Pagasae, Aristides, com- 
 ing out to the people, gave this report of the stratagem 
 contrived by Themistocles, that no proposal could be 
 more politic, or more dishonorable ; on which the 
 Athenians commanded Themistocles to think no farther 
 of it. 
 
 When the Lacedsemonians proposed, at the general 
 council of the Amphictyonians,^ that the representatives 
 of those cities which were not in the league, nor had 
 fought against the Persians, should be excluded, Themis- 
 tocles, fearing that, the Thessalians, with those of Thebes, 
 Argos, and others, being thrown out of the council, 
 the Lacedaemonians would become wholly masters of the 
 votes, and do what they pleased, supported the deputies 
 of the cities, and prevailed with the members then 
 sitting, to alter their opinion in this point, showing them 
 that there were but one and thirty cities which had 
 partaken in the war, and that most of these, also, were 
 very small ; how intolerable would it be, if the rest of 
 Greece should be excluded, and the general council should 
 come to be ruled by two or three great cities. By this, 
 chiefly, he incurred the displeasure of the Lacedaemonians, 
 
 1 The Amphictyonic council, composed of representatives of the chief cities 
 and states of Greece, exercised great power. 
 
26 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 whose honors and favors were now shown to Ciinon, with 
 a view of making him the opponent of the state policy of 
 Themistocles. 
 
 He was also burdensome to the confederates, sailing 
 about the islands and collecting money from them. He- 
 rodotus says, that, requiring money of those of the island 
 of Andros, he told them that he had brought with him 
 two goddesses. Persuasion and Force ; and they answered 
 him that they also had two great goddesses, which pro- 
 hibited them from giving him any money. Poverty and 
 Impossibility. 
 
 When the citizens of Athens began to listen willingly to 
 those who traduced and reproached him, he was forced, 
 with somewhat obnoxious frequency, to put them in mind 
 of the great services he had performed, and ask those who 
 were offended with him whether they were weary with 
 receiving benefits often from the same person, so render- 
 ing himself more odious. At length the Athenians ban- 
 ished him, making use of the ostracism to humble his 
 eminence and authority, as they ordinarily did with all 
 whom they thought too powerful, or, by their greatness, 
 disproportionable to the equality thought requisite in a 
 popular government. For the ostracism was instituted, 
 not so much to punish the offender, as to mitigate and 
 pacify the violence of the envious, who delighted to hum- 
 ble eminent men, and who, by fixing this disgrace upon 
 them, might vent some part of their rancor. 
 
 Themistocles being banished from Athens, while he 
 stayed at Argos the detection of Pausanias happened, 
 which gave such advantage to his enemies, that Leobotes 
 indicted him of treason, the Spartans supporting him in 
 the accusation. 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 27 
 
 When Pausaiiias went about this treasonable design, he 
 concealed it at first from Themistocles, though he were 
 his intimate friend ; but when he saw him expelled out of 
 the commonwealth, and how impatiently he took his ban- 
 ishment, he ventured to communicate it to him, and de- 
 sired his assistance, shoAving him the king of Persia's 
 letters, and exasperating him against the Greeks, as a 
 villainous, ungrateful people. However, Themistocles im- 
 mediately rejected the proposals of Pausanias, and wholly 
 refused to be a party in the enterprise, though he never 
 revealed his communications, nor disclosed the conspiracy 
 to any man, either hoping that Pausanias would desist 
 from his intentions, or expecting that so inconsiderate an 
 attempt after such chimerical objects would be discovered 
 by other means. 
 
 After that Pausanias was put to death, letters and writ- 
 ings being found concerning this matter, which rendered 
 Themistocles suspected, the Lacedsemonians were clamor- 
 ous against him, and his enemies among the Athenians 
 accused him ; when, being absent from Athens, he made 
 his defence by letters, especially against the points that 
 had been previously alleged against him. In answer to 
 the malicious detractions of his enemies, he merely wrote 
 to the citizens, urging that he who was always ambitious 
 to govern, and not of a character or a disposition to serve, 
 would never sell himself and his country into slavery to a 
 barbarous and hostile nation. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, the people, being persuaded by 
 his accusers, sent officers to take him and bring him away 
 to be tried before a council of the Greeks, but, having 
 timely notice of it, he passed over into the island of Cor- 
 cyra, where the state was under obligations to him ; for, 
 
28 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 being chosen as arbitrator in a difference between them 
 and the Corinthians, he decided the controversy by order- 
 ing the Corinthians to pay down twenty talents, and de- 
 claring the town and island of Leucas a joint colony from 
 both cities. From thence he fled into Epirus, and, the 
 Athenians and Lacedaemonians still pursuing him, he 
 threw himself upon chances of safety that seemed all but 
 desperate. For he fled for refuge to Admetus, king of the 
 Molossians, who had formerly made some request to the 
 Athenians, when Themistocles was in the height of his 
 authority, and liad been disdainfully used and insulted by 
 him, and had let it appear plain enough, that, could he 
 lay hold of him, he would take his revenge. Yet in this 
 misfortune, Themistocles, fearing the recent hatred of his 
 neighbors and fellow-citizens more than the old displeasure 
 of the king, put himself at his mercy, and became an hum- 
 ble suppliant to Admetus, after a peculiar manner, differ- 
 ent from the custom of other countries. For taking the 
 king's son, who was then a child, in his arms, he laid him- 
 self down at his hearth, this being the most sacred and 
 only manner of supplication among the Molossians, which 
 was not to be refused. And some say that his wife, 
 Phthia, intimated to Themistocles this way of petitioning, 
 and placed her young son with him before the hearth ; 
 others, that king Admetus, that he might be under a re- 
 ligious obligation not to deliver him up to his pursuers, 
 prepared and enacted with him a sort of stage-play to this 
 effect. At this time, Epicrates of Acharnse privately con- 
 veyed his wife and children out of Athens, and sent them 
 hither, for which afterwards Cimon condemned him and 
 put him to death. 
 
 Thucydides says, that, passing over land to the ^gaean 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 29 
 
 Sea, Themistocles took ship at Pydiia in the bay of 
 Therm e, not being known to any one in the ship, till, 
 being terrified, to see the vessel driven by the winds near 
 to Naxos, which was then besieged by the Athenians, he 
 made himself known to the master and pilot, and, partly 
 entreating them, partly threatening that if they went on 
 shore he would accuse them, and make the Athenians to 
 believe that they did not take him in out of ignorance, 
 but that he had corrupted them with money from the 
 beginning, he compelled them to bear off and stand out to 
 sea, and sail forward towards the coast of Asia. 
 
 A great part of his estate was privately conveyed away 
 by his friends, and sent after him by sea into Asia ; be- 
 sides .which, there was discovered and confiscated to the 
 value of fourscore talents, as Theophrastus writes; Theo- 
 pompus says an hundred; though Themistocles was never 
 worth three talents before he was concerned in public 
 affairs. 
 
 When he arrived at Cyme, and understood that all 
 along the coast there were many laid wait for him (for 
 the game was worth the hunting for such as were thank- 
 ful to make money by any means, the king of Persia hav- 
 ing offered by public proclamation two hundred talents to 
 him that should take him), he fled to ^gse, a small city 
 of the iEolians, where no one knew him but only his host 
 Nicogenes, who was the richest man in ^olia, and well 
 known to the great men of Inner Asia. While Themis- 
 tocles lay hid for some days in his house, one night, after 
 a sacrifice and supper ensuing, Olbius, the attendant upon 
 Nicogenes' children, fell into a sort of frenzy and fit of 
 inspiration, and cried out in verse, — 
 
 Night shall speak, and night instruct thee, 
 By the voice of night conduct thee. 
 
30 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 After this, Themistocles, going to bed, dreamed that he 
 saw a snake coil itself up upon his body, and so creep to 
 his neck ; then, as soon as it touched his face, it turned 
 into an eagle, which spread its wings over him, and took 
 him up and flew away with him a great distance ; then 
 there appeared a herald's golden wand, and upon this at 
 last it set him down securely, after infinite terror and dis- 
 turbance. 
 
 His departure was effected by Nicogenes by the follow- 
 ing artifice ; the barbarous nations, and amongst them 
 the Persians especially, are extremely jealous, severe, and 
 suspicious about their women, not only their wives, but 
 also their bought slaves and concubines, whom they keep 
 so strictly that no one ever sees them abroad ; they spend 
 their lives shut up within doors, and, when they take a 
 journey, are carried in close tents, curtained in on all 
 sides, and set upon a wagon. Such a travelling carriage 
 being prepared for Themistocles, they hid him in it, and 
 carried him on his journey, and told those whom they met 
 or spoke with upon the road that they were conveying a 
 young Greek woman out of Ionia to a nobleman at court. 
 
 When Themistocles was come to the critical point, he 
 applied himself first to Artabanus, commander of a thou- 
 sand men, telling him that he was a Greek, and desired to 
 speak with the king about important affairs concerning 
 which the king was extremely solicitous. Artabanus an- 
 swered him, " O stranger, the laws of men are different, 
 and one thing is honorable to one man, and to others 
 another ; but it is honorable for all to honor and observe 
 their own laws. It is the habit of the Greeks, we are 
 told, to honor, above all things, liberty and equality; but 
 amongst our many excellent laws, we account this the 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 31 
 
 most excellent, to honor the king, and to worship him, as 
 the image of the great preserver of the universe; if, then, 
 you shall consent to our laws, and fall down before the 
 king and worship him, you may both see him and speak 
 to him; but if your mind be otherwise, you must make 
 use of others to intercede for you, for it is not the national 
 custom here for the king to give audience to any one that 
 doth not fall down before him." Themistocles, hearing 
 this, replied, " Artabanus, I that come hither to increase 
 the power and glory of the king, will not only submit 
 myself to his laws, since so it hath pleased the god who 
 exalteth the Persian empire to this greatness, but will also 
 cause many more to be worshippers and adorers of the 
 king. Let not this, therefore, be an impediment why I 
 should not communicate to the king what I have to im- 
 part." Artabanus asking him, "Who must we tell him 
 that you are ? for your words signify you to be no ordi- 
 nary person," Themistocles answered, "No man, O Arta- 
 banus, must be informed of this before the king himself." 
 
 When he was introduced to the king, and had paid his 
 reverence to him, he stood silent, till the king commanding 
 the interpreter to ask him who he was, he replied, " O 
 king, I am Themistocles the Athenian, driven into banish- 
 ment by the Greeks. The evils that I have done to the 
 Persians are numerous ; but my benefits to them yet 
 greater, in withholding the Greeks from pursuit, so soon 
 as the deliverance of my own country allowed me to show 
 kindness also to you. I come with a mind suited to my 
 present calamities ; prepared alike for favors and for 
 anger; to w^elcome your gracious reconciliation, and to 
 deprecate your wrath. Take my own countrymen for 
 witnesses of the services I have done for Persia, and make 
 
32 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 use of this occasion to show the world your virtue, rather 
 than to satisfy your indignation. If you save me, you 
 will save your suppliant ; if otherwise, you will destroy an 
 enemy of the Greeks." He talked also of divine admo- 
 nitions, such as the vision which he saw at Nicogenes' 
 house, and the direction given him by the oracle of Do- 
 dona, where Jupiter commanded him to go to him that 
 had a name like his, by which he understood that he was 
 sent from Jupiter to him, seeing that they both were great, 
 and had the name of kings. 
 
 The king heard him attentively, and, though he admired 
 his temper and courage, gave him no answer at that time ; 
 but, when he was with his intimate friends, rejoiced in his 
 great good fortune, and esteemed himself very happy in 
 this, and prayed to his god Arimanius, that all his enemies 
 might be ever of the same mind with the Greeks, to abuse 
 and expel the bravest men amongst them. Then he sacri- 
 ficed to the gods, and presently fell to drinking, and was 
 so well pleased, that in the night, in the middle of his 
 sleep, he cried out for joy three times, " I have Themisto- 
 cles the Athenian." 
 
 In the morning, calling together the chief of his court, 
 he had Themistocles brought before him, who expected no 
 good of it, when he saw, for example, the guards fiercely 
 set against him as soon as they learnt his name, and giving 
 him ill language. As he came forward towards the king, 
 who was seated, the rest keeping silence, passing by Rox- 
 anes, a commander of a thousand men, he heard him, with a 
 slight groan, say, without stirring out of his place, '' You 
 subtle Greek serpent, the king's good genius hath brought 
 thee hither." Yet, when he came into the presence, and 
 again fell down, the king saluted him, and spake to him 
 
THEMTSTOCLES. 33 
 
 kindly, telling him he was now indebted to him two hun- 
 dred talents; for it was just and reasonable that he should 
 receive the reward which was proposed to whosoever 
 should bring Themistocles ; and promising much more, 
 and encouraging him, he commanded him to speak freely 
 what he would concerning the affairs of Greece. Themis- 
 tocles replied, that a man's discourse was like to a rich 
 Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which 
 can only be shown by spreading and extending it out; 
 when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and 
 lost ; and, therefore, he desired time. The king being 
 pleased with the comparison, and bidding him take what 
 time he would, he desired a year ; in which time, having 
 learnt the Persian language sufficiently, he spoke with the 
 king by himself without the help of an interpreter, it being 
 supposed that he discoursed only about the affairs of 
 Greece; but tliere happening, at the same time, great 
 alterations at court, and removals of the king's favorites, 
 he drew upon himself the envy of the great people, who 
 imagined that he had taken the boldness to speak con- 
 cerning them. For the favors shown to other strangers 
 were nothing in comparison with the honors conferred on 
 him ; the king invited him to partake of his own pastimes 
 and recreations both at home and abroad, carrying him 
 with him a-hunting, and made him his intimate so far that 
 he permitted him to see the queen-mother, and converse 
 frequently with her. By the king's command, he also was 
 made acquainted with the Magian learning. 
 
 When Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, being ordered by 
 the king to ask whatsoever he pleased, and it should im- 
 mediately be granted him, desired that he might make his 
 public entrance, and be carried in state through the city 
 
34 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 of Sardis, with the tiara set in the royal manner upon his 
 head, Mithropaustes, cousin to the king, touched him on 
 the head, and told him he had no brains for the royal tiara 
 to cover, and if Jupiter should give him his lightning and 
 thunder, he would not any the more be Jupiter for that; 
 the king also repulsed him with anger, resolving never to 
 be reconciled to him, but to be inexorable to all supplica- 
 tions on his behalf. Yet Themistocles pacified him, and 
 prevailed with him to forgive him. And it is reported, 
 that the succeeding kings, in whose reigns there was a 
 greater communication between the Greeks and Persians, 
 when they invited any considerable Greek into their ser- 
 vice, to encourage him, would write, and promise him that 
 he should be as great with them as Themistocles had been. 
 They relate, also, how Themistocles, when he was in great 
 prosperity, and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly 
 served at his table, turned to his children and said, " Chil- 
 dren, we had been undone if we had not been undone." 
 Most writers say that he had three cities given him. Mag- 
 nesia, My us, and Lampsacus, to maintain him in bread, 
 meat, and wine. Neanthes of Cyzicus, and Phanias, add 
 two more, the city of Palaescepsis, to provide him with 
 clothes, and Percote, with bedding and furniture for his 
 house. 
 
 As he was going down towards the sea-coast to take meas- 
 ures against Greece, a Persian whose name was Epixyes, 
 governor of the upper Phrygia, laid wait to kill him, hav- 
 ing for that purpose provided a long time before a number 
 of Pisidians, w^ho were to set upon him when he should " 
 stop to rest at a city that is called Lion's-head. But 
 Themistocles, sleeping in the middle of the day, saw the 
 Mother of the gods appear to him in a dream and say unto 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 35 
 
 him, " Themistocles, keep back from the Lion's-head, for 
 fear you fall into the lion's jaws ; for this advice I expect 
 that your daughter Mnesiptolema should be my servant." 
 Themistocles was much astonished, and, when he had made 
 his vows to the goddess, left the broad road, and, making 
 a circuit, went another way, changing his intended station 
 to avoid that place, and at night took up his rest in the 
 fields. But one of the sumpter-horses, which carried the 
 furniture for his tent, having fallen that day into the river, 
 his servants spread out the tapestry, which was wet, and 
 hung it up to dry ; in the mean time the Pisidians made 
 towards them with their swords drawn, and, not discern- 
 ing exactly by the moon what it was that was stretched 
 out, thought it to be the tent of Themistocles, and that 
 they should find him resting himself within it; but when 
 they came near, and lifted up the hangings, those who 
 watched there fell upon them and took them. Themisto- 
 cles, having escaped this great danger, in admiration of the 
 goodness of the goddess that appeared to him, built, in 
 memory of it, a temple in the city of Magnesia, which he 
 dedicated to Dindymene, Mother of the gods, in which he 
 consecrated and devoted his daughter Mnesiptolema to her 
 service. 
 
 When he came to Sardis, he visited the temples of the 
 gods, and observing, at his leisure, their buildings, orna- 
 ments, and the number of their offerings, he saw in the 
 temple of the Mother of the gods, the statue of a virgin in 
 brass, two cubits high, called the water-bringer. Themis- 
 tocles had caused this to be made and set up when he was 
 surveyor of waters at Athens, out of the fines of those 
 whom he detected in drawing off and diverting the public 
 
 Cubit : eighteen inches. 
 
36 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 water by pipes for their private use ; and whether he had 
 some regret to see this image in captivity, or was desirous 
 to let the Athenians see in what great credit and authority 
 he was with the king, he entered into a treaty with the 
 governor of Lydia to persuade him to send this statue 
 back to Athens, which so enraged the Persian officer, that 
 he told him he would write the king word of it. Themis- 
 tocles, being affrighted hereat, got access to his wives and 
 concubines, by presents of money to whom, he appeased 
 the fury of the governor ; and afterw^ards behaved with 
 more reserve and circumspection, fearing the envy of the 
 Persians, and did not, as Theopompus writes, continue to 
 travel about Asia, but lived quietly in his own house in 
 Magnesia, where for a long time he passed his days in 
 great security, being courted by all, and enjoying rich 
 presents, and honored equally with the greatest persons 
 in the Persian empire ; the king, at that time, not mind- 
 ing his concerns with Greece, being taken up with the 
 affairs of Inner Asia. 
 
 But when Egypt revolted, being assisted by the Athe- 
 nians, and the Greek galleys roved about as far as Cyprus 
 and Cilicia, and Cimon had made himself master of the 
 seas, the king turned his thoughts thither, and, bending 
 his mind chiefly to resist the Greeks, and to check the 
 growth of their power against him, began to raise forces, 
 and send out commanders, and to despatch messengers to 
 Themistocles at Magnesia, to put him in mind of his prom- 
 ise, and to summon him to act against the Greeks. Yet 
 this did not increase his hatred nor exasperate him against 
 the Athenians, neither was he any way elevated with the 
 thoughts of the honor and powerful command he was to 
 have in this war; but judging, perhaps, that the object 
 
THEMISTOCLES. 37 
 
 would not be attained, the Greeks having at that time, 
 beside other great commanders, Cimon, in particular, who 
 was gaining wonderful military successes ; but chiefly, 
 being ashamed to sully the glory of his former great ac- 
 tions, and of his many victories and trophies, he determined 
 to put a conclusion to his life, agreeable to its previous 
 course. He sacrificed to the gods, and invited his friends; 
 and, having entertained them and shaken hands with them, 
 drank bull's blood, as is the usual story ; as others state, 
 a poison producing instant death ; and ended his days in 
 the city of Magnesia, having lived sixty-five years, most of 
 which he had spent in politics and in the wars, in govern- 
 ment and command. The king, being informed of the 
 cause and manner of his death, admired him more than 
 ever, and continued to show kindness to his friends and 
 relations. 
 
'2 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO PERICLES. 
 
 After the banishment of Themistocles the war with 
 Persia continued for a few years, but the Persians never 
 ventured back to Greece. And now, by the victories of 
 Marathon and Salamis, and by the leading part she had 
 taken all through the war, Athens had gained great glory, 
 and came to be looked up to quite as much as Sparta, as 
 the head of the Grecian states. The cities of the main- 
 land still followed Sparta ; but the islands and maritime 
 towns gathered themselves into a league, and made Athens 
 the head of it. The place of meeting for the league, and its 
 treasury, were in Delos, a small island of the JSgean Sea, 
 and it was called the Confederacy of Delos ; but it was all 
 under the control of Athens, and Athens now became very 
 rich and powerful, carried on wars in many parts, — some of 
 them very unjust ones, — and built magnificent temples, 
 adorning them with beautiful sculpture and painting. It 
 was the most splendid period of art that the world has 
 ever known ; and because the most influential citizen of 
 Athens was named Pericles, this period of Athenian pros- 
 perity is called the Age of Pericles. 
 
PERICLES. 89 
 
 PERICLES. 
 
 TDERICLES was of the noblest birth, both on his father's 
 -^ and mother's side. Damon, his teacher, being a sophist, 
 out of policy, sheltered himself under the profession of 
 music, to conceal from people in general his skill in other 
 things, and under this pretence attended Pericles, the 
 young athlete of politics, so to say, as his training-master 
 in these exercises. Damon's lyre, however, did not prove 
 altogether a successful blind; he was banished the coun- 
 try by ostracism for ten years, as a dangerous intermeddler 
 and a favorer of arbitrary power. Pericles also was a 
 hearer of Zeno, who treated of natural philosophy, and 
 also perfected himself in an art of his own for refuting 
 and silencing opponents in argument. 
 
 But he that saw most of Pericles, and furnished him 
 most especially with a weight and grandeur of sense, supe- 
 rior to all arts of popularity, and in general gave him his 
 elevation and sublimity of purpose and of character, was 
 Anaxagoras. For this man, Pericles entertained an ex- 
 traordinary esteem and admiration, and filling himself with 
 this lofty, and, as they call it, up-in-the-air sort of thought, 
 derived hence not merely, as was natural, elevation of pur- 
 pose and dignity of language, raised far above the base 
 and dishonest buffooneries of mob-eloquence, but, besides 
 
 Sophist : a wise man, a philosopher of a high order of merit ; but grad- 
 ually the word came to mean a mere pretender to knowledge. M. 
 
40 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 this, a composure of countenance, and a serenity and calm- 
 ness in all liis movements, which no occurrence whilst he 
 was speaking could disturb, a sustained and even tone of 
 voice, and various other advantages of a similar kind, 
 which produced the greatest effect on his hearers. Once, 
 after being reviled and ill-spoken of all day long in his 
 own hearing, by some vile and abandoned fellow, in the 
 open market-place, where he was engaged in the despatch 
 of some urgent affair, he continued his business in perfect 
 silence, and in the evening returned home composedly, the 
 man still dogging him at the heels, and pelting him all the 
 way with abuse and foul language ; and stepping into his 
 house, it being by this time dark, he ordered one of his 
 servants to take a light, and go along with the man and 
 see him safe home. Ion, the dramatic poet, says, it is true, 
 that Pericles' manner in company was somewhat over- 
 assuming and pompous; and that into his high bearing 
 there entered a good deal of slightingness and scorn of 
 others ; he reserves his commendation for Cimon's ease 
 and pliancy and natural grace in society. Zeno used to 
 bid those who called Pericles' gravity the affectation of a 
 charlatan, to go and affect the like themselves ; inasmuch 
 as this mere counterfeiting might in time insensibly instil 
 into them a real love and knowledge of those noble quali- 
 ties. 
 
 Nor were these the only advantages which Pericles de- 
 rived from Anaxagoras' acquaintance; he seems also to 
 have become, by his instructions, superior to that supersti- 
 tion with which an ignorant wonder at appearances, for 
 example, in the heavens, possesses the minds of people 
 unacquainted with their causes, eager for the supernatural, 
 and excitable through an inexperience which the knowl- 
 
PERICLES. 41 
 
 edge of natural causes removes, replacing wild and timid- 
 superstition by the good hope and assurance of an intelli- 
 gent piety. 
 
 Pericles, while yet but a young man, stood in consider- 
 able apprehension of the people, as he was thought in face 
 and figure to be very like the tyrant Pisistratus ; and 
 those of great age remarked upon the sweetness of his 
 voice, and his volubility and rapidity in speaking, and were 
 struck with amazement at the resemblance. Reflecting, 
 too, that he had a considerable estate, and was descended 
 of a noble family, and had friends of great influence, he 
 was fearful all this might bring him to be banished as a 
 dangerous person ; and for this reason meddled not at all 
 with state affairs, but in military service showed himself 
 of a brave and intrepid nature. But when Aristides was 
 now dead, and Themistocles driven out, and Cimon was for 
 the most part kept abroad by the expeditions he made in 
 parts out of Greece, Pericles, seeing things in this posture, 
 now advanced and took his side, not with the rich and few, 
 but with the many and poor, contrary to his natural bent. 
 
 Tyrant : originally one who made himself a ruler by unlawful means, as in 
 the case of Pisistratus, who, though a usurper, was yet a mild and equitable 
 governor. But as power thus obtained is generally abused, the word gradually 
 came to mean a harsh and oppressive ruler. 
 
 Aristides and Themistocles, the two leading men of their time, were great 
 rivals. Themistocles finally succeeded in bringing about the banishment of 
 Aristides. When the people were voting on the matter, it is said, an ignorant 
 citizen stepped up to Aristides, and asked him to write his own name on the 
 voting-shell. Whereupon he inquired, *'Has Aristides ever done you any in- 
 jury, that you desire his banishment ? " ** No,'* replied the man ; " but I am 
 tired of hearing him always styled The Just." Aristides was soon recalled, 
 however, and rendered his country valuable assistance. Aristides died in 
 extreme old age, after an honorable life of service, not having accumulated 
 enough property to defray his burial expenses. It is the crowning glory of 
 Aristides that he sought to accomplish his objects by honorable means only; 
 while Themistocles would stoop to very unscrupulous acts to attain his ends. 
 
42 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 which was far from democratical ; but, most likely, fear- 
 ing he might fall under suspicion of aiming at arbitrary 
 power, and seeing Cimon on the side of the aristocracy, 
 and much beloved by the better and more distinguished 
 people, he joined the party of the people, with a view at 
 once both to secure himself and procure means against 
 Cimon. 
 
 He immediately entered, also, on quite a new course of 
 life and management of his time. For he was never seen 
 to walk in any street but that which led to the market- 
 place and the council-hall, and he avoided invitations of 
 friends to supper, and all friendly visiting and intercourse 
 whatever ; in all the time he had to do with the public, 
 which was not a little, with one exception, he was never 
 known to have gone to any of his friends to a supper ; for 
 these friendly meetings are very quick to defeat any as- 
 sumed superiority, and in intimate familiarity an exterior 
 of gravity is hard to maintain. Real excellence, indeed, is 
 most recognized when most openly looked into ; and in 
 really good men, nothing which meets the eyes of external 
 observers so truly deserves their admiration as their daily 
 common life does that of their nearer friends. Pericles, 
 however, to avoid any feeling of commonness, or any sati- 
 ety on the part of the people, presented himself at inter- 
 vals only, not speaking to every business, nor at all times 
 coming into the assembly, but reserving himself for great 
 occasions, while matters of lesser importance were de- 
 spatched by friends or other speakers under his direction. 
 
 The style of speaking most consonant to his form of life 
 and the dignity of his views he found in the tones of that 
 instrument with which Anaxagoras had furnished him ; of 
 his teaching he continually availed himself, and deepened 
 
PERICLES. 4B 
 
 tlie colors of rhetoric with the dye of natural science. For 
 having, in addition to his great natural genius, attained, 
 by the study of nature, to use the words of the divine 
 Plato, this height of intelligence, and this universal con- 
 summating power, and drawing hence whatever might be 
 of advantage to him in the art of speaking, he showed 
 himself far superior to all others. Upon which account, 
 they say, he had his nickname given him, though some are 
 of opinion he was named the Olympian from the public 
 buildings with which he adorned the city; and others 
 again, from his great power in public affairs, whether of 
 war or peace. Nor is it unlikely that the confluence of 
 many attributes may have conferred it on him. However, 
 the comedies represented at the time, which, both in good 
 earnest and in merriment, let fly many hard words at him, 
 plainly show that he got that appellation especially from 
 his speaking; they speak of his "thundering and light- 
 ning " when he harangued the people, and of his wielding 
 a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue. 
 
 Thucydides, one of the noble and distinguished citizens, 
 had been his greatest opponent ; and, when Archidamus, 
 the king of the Lacedaemonians, asked him whether he or 
 Pericles were the better wrestler, he made this answer : 
 " When I," said he, " have thrown him and given him a 
 fair fall, by persisting that he had no fall, he gets the bet- 
 ter of me, and makes the bystanders, in spite of their own 
 eyes, believe him." The truth, however, is, that Pericles 
 himself was very careful what and how he was to speak, 
 insomuch that, whenever he went up to the hustings, he 
 prayed the gods that no one word might unawares slip 
 from him, unsuitable to the matter and the occasion. 
 
 Olympian : god-like. Mt. Olympus, a very high mountain in Greece, sup 
 posed to have been the home of the gods. 
 
44 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 When on a time Sophocles, who was his fellow-commis- 
 sioner in the generalship, was going on board with him, 
 and praised the beauty of a youth they met with in the 
 way to the ship, " Sophocles," said he, " a general ought 
 not only to have clean hands, but also clean eyes." In 
 his encomium on those who fell in battle at Samos, he said 
 they were become immortal, as the gods were. " For," 
 said he, " we do not see them themselves, but only by the 
 honors we pay them, and by the benefits they do us, 
 attribute to them immortality ; and the like attributes be- 
 long also to those that die in the service of their country." 
 
 Thucydides describes the rule of Pericles as an aris- 
 tocratical government, that went by the name of a 
 democracy, but was, indeed, the supremacy of a single 
 great man. Many others say, on the contrary, that 
 the common people were first encouraged and led on by 
 him to such evils as appropriations of subject territory, 
 allowances for attending theatres, payments for perform- 
 ing public duties, and by these bad habits were, under the 
 influence of his public measures, changed from a sober, 
 thrifty people, that maintained themselves by their own 
 labors, to lovers of expense, intemperance, and license. 
 Let us however examine the cause of this change by the 
 actual matters of fact. 
 
 At the first, as has been said, when Pericles set himself 
 against Cimon's great authority, he did caress the people. 
 Finding himself come short of his competitor in wealth 
 and money, by which advantages the other was enabled 
 to take care of the poor, inviting every day some one or 
 other of the citizens that was in want, to supper, and 
 bestowing clothes on the aged people, and breaking down 
 the hedges and enclosures of his grounds, that all, that 
 
PERICLES. 45 
 
 would, might freely gather what fruit they pleased, Peri- 
 cles, thus outdone in popular arts, turned to the distribu- 
 tion of the public moneys; and in a short time having 
 bought the people over, what with moneys allowed for 
 shows and for service on juries, and what with other forms 
 of pay and largess, he made use of them against the coun- 
 cil of Areopagus, of which he himself was no member, as 
 having never been appointed by lot either chief arclu)n, or 
 lawgiver, or king, or captain. For from of old these offices 
 were conferred on persons by lot, and they who had 
 acquitted themselves duly in the discharge of them were 
 advanced to the court of Areopagus. And so Pericles, 
 having secured his power and interest with the populace, 
 directed the exertions of his party against this council 
 with such success, that most of those causes and matters 
 which had been used to be tried there, were removed from 
 its cognizance ; Cimon, also, was banished by ostracism as 
 a favorer of the Lacedaemonians and a hater of the people, 
 though in wealth and noble birth he was among the first, 
 and had won several most glorious victories over the bar- 
 barians, and had filled the city with money and spoils of 
 war ; as is recorded in the history of his life. So vast an 
 authority had Pericles obtained among the people. 
 
 The ostracism was limited by law to ten years ; but the 
 Lacedaemonians, in the mean time, entering with a great 
 army into the territory of Tanagra, and the Athenians 
 going out against them, Cimon, coming from his banish- 
 ment before his time was out, put himself in arms and 
 
 Largess: bounty. 
 
 Archon: one of the nine magistrates of Athens. 
 
 Areopagus: Tlie highest tribunal of Athens, famous for the justice and 
 impartiality of its decisions. It was originally held on the height called 
 Areopagus or Mars' Hill. Compare Acts xvii. M. 
 
46 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 array with those of his fellow-citizens that were of his own 
 tribe, and desired by his deeds to wipe off the suspicion of 
 his favoring the Lacedaemonians, by venturing his own 
 person along with his countrymen. But Pericles' friends, 
 gathering in a body, forced him to retire as a banished 
 man. For which cause also Pericles seems to have exerted 
 himself more in that than in any battle, and to have been 
 conspicuous above all for his exposure of himself to dan- 
 ger. All Cimon's friends, also, to a man, fell together side 
 by side, whom Pericles had accused with him of taking 
 part with the Lacedaemonians. *' Defeated in this battle on 
 their own frontiers, and expecting a new and perilous 
 attack with return of spring, the Athenians now felt regret 
 and sorrow for the loss of Cimon, and repentance for their 
 expulsion of him. Pericles, being sensible of their feelings, 
 did not hesitate or delay to gratify it, and himself made 
 the motion for recalling him home. He, upon his return, 
 concluded a peace betwixt the two cities ; for the Lace- 
 daemonians entertained as kindly feelings towards him as 
 they did the reverse towards Pericles and the other popu- 
 lar leaders. ' ^^D 
 
 Yet some there are who say that Pericles did not ph)- 
 pose the order for Cimon's return till some private articles 
 of agreement had been made between them, and this by 
 means of Elpinice, Cimon's sister; that Cimon, namely, 
 should go out to sea with a fleet of two hundred ships, 
 and be commander-in-chief abroad, with a design to reduce 
 the king of Persia's territories, and that Pericles should 
 have the power at home. 
 
 This Elpinice, it was thought, had before this time pro- 
 cured some favor for her brother Cimon at Pericles' 
 hands, and induced him to be more remiss and gentle in 
 
PEKICLES. 47 
 
 urging the charge when Cimon was tried for his liie ; for 
 Pericles was one of the committee appointed by the com- 
 mons to plead against him. And when Elpinice came and 
 besought him in her brother's behalf, he answered, with a 
 smile, " O Elpinice, you are too old a woman to undertake 
 such business as this." But, when he appeared to impeach 
 him, he stood up but once to speak, merely to acquit him- 
 self of his commission, and went out of court, having done 
 Cimon the least prejudice of any of his accusers. 
 
 Cimon, while he was admiral, ended his days in the isle 
 of Cyprus. And the aristocratical party, seeing that Peri- 
 cles was already before this grown to be the greatest and 
 foremost man of all the city, but nevertheless wishing 
 there should be somebody set up against him, to blunt 
 and turn the edge of his power, that it might not alto- 
 gether prove a monarchy, put forward Thucydides, a dis- 
 creet person, and a near kinsman of Cimon's, to conduct 
 the opposition against him; who, indeed, though less 
 skilled in warlike affairs than Cimon was, yet was better 
 versed in speaking and political business, and keeping 
 close guard in the city, and engaging with Pericles on the 
 hustings, in a short time brought the government to an 
 equality of parties. For he would not suffer those who 
 were called the honest and good (persons of worth and 
 distinction) to be scattered up and down and mix them- 
 selves and be lost among the populace, as formerly, dimin- 
 ishing and obscuring their superiority amongst the masses ; 
 but taking them apart by themselves and uniting them in 
 one body, by their combined weight he was able, as it were 
 upon the balance, to make a counterpoise to the other 
 party. 
 
 For, indeed, there was from the beginning a sort of con- 
 
48 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 cealed split, or seam, as it might be in a piece of iron, 
 marking the different popular and aristocratical tenden- 
 cies; but the open rivalry and contention of these two 
 opponents made the gash deep, and severed the city into 
 the two parties of the people and the few. And so Peri- 
 cles, at that time more than at any other, let loose the 
 reins to the people, and made his policy subservient to 
 their pleasure, contriving continually to have some great 
 public show or solemnity, some banquet, or some proces- 
 sion or other in the town to please them, coaxing his 
 countrymen like children, with such delights and pleas- 
 ures as were not, however, unedifying. Besides that every 
 year he sent out threescore galleys, on board of which 
 there went numbers of the citizens, who were in pay eight 
 months, learning at the same time and practising the art 
 of seamanship. 
 
 He sent, moreover, a thousand of them into the Cher- 
 sonese as planters, to share the land among them by lot, 
 and five hundred more into the isle of Naxos, and half 
 that number to Andros, a thousand into Thrace, and others 
 into Italy. And this he did to ease and discharge the city 
 of an idle, and, by reason of their idleness, a busy, med- 
 dling crowd of people ; and at the same time to meet the 
 necessities and restore the fortunes of the poor townsmen, 
 and to intimidate, also, and check their allies from attempt- 
 ing any change, by posting such garrisons, as it were, in 
 the midst of them. 
 
 That which gave most pleasure and ornament to the 
 city of Athens, and the greatest admiration and even 
 astonishment to all strangers, and that which now is 
 Greece's only evidence that the power she boasts of and 
 her ancient wealth are no romance or idle story, was his 
 
l^ERICLES. 49 
 
 constructions of the public and sacred buildings. Yet 
 this was that of all his actions in the government which 
 his enemies most looked askance upon and cavilled at in 
 the popular assemblies, crying out how that the common- 
 wealth of Athens had lost its reputation and was ill-spoken 
 of abroad for removing the common treasure of the Greeks 
 from the isle of Delos into their own custody ; and how 
 that their fairest excuse for so doing, namely, that they 
 took it away for fear the barbarians should seize it, and on 
 purpose to secure it in a safe place, this Pericles had made 
 unavailable, and how that " Greece cannot but resent it 
 as an insufferable affront, and consider herself to be tyran- 
 nized over openly, when she sees the treasure, which was 
 contributed by her upon a necessity for the war, wantonly 
 lavished out by us upon our city, to gild her all over, and 
 to adorn and set her forth, as it were some vain woman, 
 hung round with precious stones and figures and temples, 
 which cost a world of money." 
 
 Pericles, on the other hand, informed the people, that 
 they were in no way obliged to give any account of those 
 moneys to their allies, so long as they maintained their 
 defence, and kept off the barbarians from attacking them ; 
 while in the mean time they did not so much as supply 
 one horse or man or ship, but only found money for the 
 service ; " which money," said he, " is not theirs that give 
 it, but theirs that receive it, if so be they perform the 
 conditions upon which they receive it." And that it was 
 good reason, that, now the city was sufficiently provided 
 and stored with all things necessary for the war, they 
 should convert the overplus of its wealth to such under- 
 takings, as would hereafter, when completed, give them 
 eternal honor, and, for the present, while in process, freely 
 
50 /PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 supply all the inhabitants with plenty. With their variety 
 of workmanship and of occasions for service, which sum- 
 mon all arts and trades and require all hands to be em- 
 ployed about them, they do actually put the whole city, 
 in a manner, into state-pay ; while at the same time she is 
 both beautified and maintained by herself. For as those 
 who are of age and strength for war are provided for and 
 maintained in the armaments abroad by their pay out of 
 the public stock, so, it being his desire and design that the 
 undisciplined mechanic multitude that stayed at home 
 should not go without their share of public salaries, and 
 yet should not have them given them for sitting still and 
 doing nothing, to that end he thought fit to bring in among 
 them, with the approbation of the people, these vast proj- 
 ects of buildings and designs of works, that would be of 
 some continuance before they were finished, and would 
 give employment to numerous arts, so that the part of the 
 people that stayed at home might, no less than those that 
 were at sea or in garrisons or on expeditions, have a fair 
 and just occasion of receiving the benefit and having their 
 share of the public moneys. 
 
 The materials were stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, 
 cypress-wood; and the arts or trades that wrought and 
 fashioned them were smiths and carpenters, moulders, 
 founders and braziers, stone-cutters, dyers, goldsmiths, 
 ivory-workers, painters, embroiderers, turners ; those again 
 that conveyed them to the town for use, merchants and 
 mariners and ship-masters by sea, and by land, cartwrights, 
 cattle-breeders, wagoners, rope-makers, flax-workers, shoe- 
 makers and leather-dressers, road-makers, miners. And 
 every trade^ in the same nature^ as a captain in an army 
 has his particular company of soldiers under him, had its 
 
PEiUCLES. 51 
 
 own hired company of journeymen and laborers belonging 
 to it banded together as in array, to be as it were the 
 instrument and body for the performance of the service. 
 Thus, to say all in a word, the occasions aud services of 
 these public works distributed plenty through every age 
 and condition. 
 
 As then grew the works up, no less stately in size than 
 exquisite in form, the workmen strove to outvie the 
 material and the design with the beauty of their work- 
 manship, yet the most wonderful thing of all was the 
 rapidity of their execution. Undertakings, any one of 
 which singly might have required, they thought, for their 
 completion, several successions and ages of men, were 
 every one of them accomplished in the height and prime 
 of one man's political service. Although they say, too, 
 that Zeuxis once, having heard a painter boast of despatch- 
 ing his work with speed and ease, replied, "I take a long 
 time." For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give 
 the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty; the 
 expenditure of time allowed to a man's pains beforehand 
 for the production of a thing is repaid by way of interest 
 with a vital force for its preservation when once produced. 
 For which reason Pericles' works are especially admired, 
 as having been made quickly, to last long. For every 
 particular piece of his work was immediately, even at that 
 time, for its beauty and elegance, antique ; and yet in its 
 vigor and freshness looks to this day as if it were just 
 executed. There is a sort of bloom of newness upon those 
 works of his, preserving them from the touch of time, as 
 if they had some perennial spirit and undying vitality 
 mingled in the composition of them. 
 
 Phidias had the oversight of all the works, and was sur- 
 
62 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 veyor-general, though upon the various portions other 
 great masters and workmen were employed. 
 
 It is a very difficult matter to trace and find out the 
 truth of anything by history. On the one hand, those 
 who afterwards write it find long periods of time inter- 
 cepting their view, and, on the other hand, the contempo- 
 rary records of any actions and lives, partly through envy 
 and ill-will, partly through favor and flattery, pervert and 
 distort truth. 
 
 When the orators, who sided with Thucydides and his 
 party, were at one time crying out, as their custom was, 
 against Pericles, as one who squandered away the public 
 money, and made havoc of the state revenues, he rose in 
 the open assembly and put the question to the people, 
 whether they thought that he had laid out much; and 
 they saying, " Too much, a great deal," " Then," said he, 
 " since it is so, let the cost not go to your account but to 
 mine ; and let the inscription upon the buildings stand in 
 my name." When they heard him say thus, whether it 
 were out of a surprise to see the greatness of his spirit, or 
 out of emulation of the glory of the works, they cried 
 aloud, bidding him to spend on, and lay out what he 
 thought fit from the public purse, and to spare no cost, till 
 all were finished. 
 
 At length, coming to a final contest with Thucydides, 
 which of the two should ostracize the other out of the 
 country, and having gone through this peril, he threw his 
 antagonist out, and broke up the confederacy that had 
 been organized against him. So that now all schism and 
 division being at an end, and the city brought to evenness 
 and unity, he got all Athens and all affairs that pertained 
 to the Athenians into his own hands, their tributes, their 
 
PERICLES. 53 
 
 armies, and their galleys, the islands, the sea, and their 
 wide-extended power, partly over other Greeks and partly 
 over barbarians, and all that empire, which they possessed, 
 founded and fortified upon subject nations and royal 
 friendships and alliances. 
 
 After this he was no longer the sam-e man he had been 
 before, nor as tame and gentle and familiar as formerly 
 with the populace, so as readily to yield to their pleasures 
 and to comply with the desires of the multitude, as a 
 steersman shifts with the winds. Quitting that loose, 
 remiss, and, in some cases, licentious court of the popular 
 will, he turned those soft and flowery modulations to the 
 austerity of aristocratical and regal rule ; and, employing 
 this uprightly and undeviatingly for the country's best 
 interests, he was able generally to lead the people along, 
 with their own wills and consents, by persuading and 
 showing them what was to be done ; and sometimes, too, 
 urging and pressing them forward extremely against their 
 will, he made them, whether they would or no, yield sub- 
 mission to what was for their advantage. In which, to say 
 the truth, he did but like a skilful physician, who, in a 
 complicated and chronic disease, as he sees occasion, at 
 one while allows his patient the moderate use of such 
 things as please him, at another while gives him keen 
 pains and drugs to work the cure. For there arising and 
 growing up, as was natural, all manner of distempered 
 feelings among a people which had so vast a command 
 and dominion, he alone, as a great master, knowing how 
 to handle and deal fitly with each one of them, and, in an 
 especial manner, making that use of hopes and fears, as 
 his two chief rudders, with the one to check the career 
 of their confidence at any time, with the other to raise 
 
54 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 them up and cheer them when under any discouragement, 
 plainly showed by this that rhetoric, or the art of speak- 
 ing, is, in Plato's language, the government of the souls of 
 men, and that her chief business is to address the affec- 
 tions and passions, which are, as it were, the strings and 
 keys to the soul, and require a skilful and careful touch 
 to be played on as they should be. The source of this 
 predominance was not barely his power of language, but, 
 as Thucydides assures us, the reputation of his life and 
 the confidence felt in his character ; his manifest freedom 
 from every kind of corruption, and superiority to all con- 
 siderations of money. Notwithstanding he had made the 
 city Athens, which was great of itself, as great and rich as 
 can be imagined, and though he were himself in power 
 and interest more than equal to many kings and absolute 
 rulers, who, some of them, also bequeathed by will their 
 power to their children, he, for his part, did not make the 
 patrimony his father left him greater than it was by one 
 drachma. 
 
 Nor was all this the luck of some happy occasion ; nor 
 was it the mere bloom and grace of a policy that flourished 
 for a season ; but having for forty years together main- 
 tained the first place among statesmen, after the defeat 
 and banishment of Thucydides, for no less than fifteen 
 years longer, in the exercise of one continuous unintermit- 
 ted command in the office of general, to which he was 
 annually re-elected, he preserved his integrity unspot- 
 ted ; though otherwise he was not altogether idle or care- 
 less in looking after his pecuniary advantage ; his paternal 
 estate, which of right belonged to him, he so ordered that 
 it might neither through negligence be wasted or les- 
 
 Drachma : about eighteen cents. 
 
PERICLES. 56 
 
 sened, nor yet, being so full of business as he was, cost 
 him any great trouble or time with taking care of it ; and 
 put it into such a way of management as he thought to be 
 the most easy for himself, and the most exact. All his 
 yearly products and profits he sold together in a lump, 
 and supplied his household needs afterward by buying 
 everything that he or his family wanted out of the mar- 
 ket. Upon which account his children, when they grew 
 to age, were not well pleased with his management, and 
 the women that lived with him were treated with little 
 cost, and complained of this way of housekeeping, where 
 everything was ordered and set down from day to day, 
 and reduced to the greatest exactness ; since there was 
 not there, as is usual in a great family and a plentiful 
 estate, anything to spare, or over and above ; but all that 
 'went out or came in, all disbursements and all receipts, 
 proceeded, as it were, by number and measure. 
 
 All this, in truth, was very little in harmony with 
 Anaxagoras' wisdom ; if, indeed, it be true that he, by a 
 kind of divine impulse and greatness of spirit, voluntarily 
 quitted his house, and left his land to lie fallow and to be 
 grazed by sheep like a common. But the life of a con- 
 templative philosopher and that of an active statesman 
 are, I presume, not the same thing; for the one merely 
 employs, upon great and good objects of thought, an intel- 
 ligence that requires no aid of instruments nor supply of 
 any external materials ; whereas the other, who tempers 
 and applies his virtue to human uses, may have occasion for 
 affluence, not as a matter of mere necessity, but as a noble 
 thing ; which was Pericles' case, who relieved numerous 
 poor citizens. 
 
 However, there is a story, that Anaxagoras himself. 
 
56 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 while Pericles was taken up with public affairs, lay 
 neglected, and that, now being grown old, he wrapped 
 himself up with a resolution to die for want of food; 
 which, being by chance brought to Pericles' ear, he was 
 horror-struck, and instantly ran thither, and used all the 
 arguments and entreaties he could to him, lamenting not 
 so much Anaxagoras' condition as his own, should he 
 lose such a counsellor as he had found him to be ; and 
 that, upon this, Anaxagoras unfolded his robe, and show- 
 ing himself, made answer: "Pericles," said he, "even 
 those who have occasion for a lamp supply it with oil." 
 
 In his military conduct he gained a great reputation for 
 wariness; he would not by his good-will engage in any 
 fight which had much uncertainty or hazard ; he did not 
 envy the glory of generals whose rash adventures for- 
 tune favored with brilliant success, however they were 
 admired by others; nor did he think them worthy his 
 imitation, but always used to say to his citizens that, so far 
 as lay in his power, they should continue immortal, and 
 live forever. Seeing Tolmides, upon the confidence of his 
 former successes, and flushed with the honor his military 
 actions had procured him, making preparation to attack 
 the Boeotians in their own country, when there was no 
 likely opportunity, and that he had prevailed with the 
 bravest and most enterprising of the youth to enlist them- 
 selves as volunteers in the service, who besides his other 
 force made up a thousand, he endeavored to withhold him 
 and to advise him from it in the public assembly, telling 
 him in a memorable saying of his, which still goes about, 
 that, if he would not take Pericles' advice, yet he would 
 not do amiss to wait and be ruled by time, the wisest 
 counsellor of all. This saying, at that time, was but 
 
PERICLES. 6? 
 
 slightly commended; but within a few days after, when 
 news was brought that Tolmides himself had been defeated 
 and slain in battle near Coronea, and that many brave 
 citizens had fallen with him, it gained him great repute as 
 well as good-will among the people, for wisdom and for 
 love of his countrymen. 
 
 He did not comply with the giddy impulses of the citi- 
 zens, nor quit his own resolutions to follow their fancies, 
 when, carried away with the thought of their strength and 
 great success, they were eager to interfere again in Egypt, 
 and to disturb the king of Persia's maritime dominions ; 
 but he curbed this passion for foreign conquest, and un- 
 sparingly pruned and cut down their ever busy fancies for 
 a multitude of undertakings ; and directed their power for 
 the most part to securing and consolidating what they had 
 already got, supposing it would be quite enough for them 
 to do, if they could keep the Lacedaemonians in check. 
 
 Having made a truce between the Athenians and Lace- 
 daemonians for thirty years, he ordered, by public decree, 
 the expedition against the isle of Samos, on the ground 
 that, when they were bid to leave off their war with the 
 Milesians, they had not complied. And as these measures 
 against the Samians are thought to have been taken to 
 please Aspasia, this may be a fit point for inquiry about 
 the woman, what art or charming faculty she had that en- 
 abled her to captivate, as she did, the greatest statesmen, 
 and to give the philosophers occasion to speak so much 
 about her, and that, too, not to her disparagement. 
 
 Aspasia, some say, was courted and caressed by Pericles 
 upon account of her knowledge and skill in politics. 
 Socrates himself would sometimes go to visit her, and 
 some of his acquaintance with him ; and those who fre- 
 
58 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 (|uented her company would carry their wives with them 
 to listen to her. She had the repute of being resorted to 
 by many of the Athenians for instruction in the art of 
 speaking. Pericles' inclination for her seems, however, to 
 have rather proceeded from the passion of love. He had 
 a wife that was near of kin to him, who had before been 
 married. When they did not well agree nor like to live 
 together, he parted with her, with her own consent, to an- 
 other man, and himself took Aspasia, and loved her with 
 wonderful affection ; every day, both as he went out and 
 as he came in from the market-place, he saluted and kissed 
 her. 
 
 Phidias the Moulder had, as has before been said, under- 
 taken to make the statue of Minerva. Now he, being ad- 
 mitted to friendship with Pericles, and a great favorite of 
 his, had many enemies upon this account, who envied and 
 maligned him; who also, to make trial in a case of his, 
 what kind of judges the commons would prove, should 
 there be occasion to bring Pericles himself before them, 
 having tampered with Menon, one who had been a work- 
 man with Phidias, stationed him in the market-place, with 
 a petition desiring public security upon his discovery and 
 impeachment of Phidias. The people admitting the man 
 to tell his story, and the prosecution proceeding in the 
 assembly, there was nothing of theft or cheat proved 
 against him ; for Phidias, from the very beginning, by 
 the advice of Pericles, had so wrought and wrapt the 
 gold that was used in the work about the statue, that they 
 might take it all off and make out the just weight of it, 
 which Pericles at that time bade the accusers do. But 
 the reputation of his works was what brought envy upon 
 Phidias, especially that where he represents the fight of 
 
PERICLES. 59 
 
 the Amazons upon the goddess' shield, he had introduced 
 a likeness of himself as a bald old man holding up a great 
 stone with both hands, and had put in a very fine repre- 
 sentation of Pericles fighting with an Amazon. And the 
 position of the hand, which holds out the spear in front of 
 the face, was ingeniously contrived to conceal in some de- 
 gree the likeness, which, meantime, showed itself on either 
 side. 
 
 Phidias then was carried away to prison, and there died 
 of a disease ; but, as some say, of poison administered by 
 the enemies of Pericles, to raise a slander, or a suspicion, 
 at least, as though he had procured it. The informer 
 Menon, upon Glycon's proposal, the people made free 
 from payment of taxes and customs, and ordered the gen- 
 erals to take care that nobody should do him any hurt. 
 About the same time, Aspasia was indicted of impiety. A 
 decree was proposed that public accusation should be laid 
 against persons who neglected religion or taught new doc- 
 trines about things above, directing suspicion, by means 
 of Anaxagoras, against Pericles himself. The people re- 
 ceiving and admitting these accusations and complaints^ 
 at length, by this means, they came to enact a decree, 
 that Pericles should bring in the accounts of the moneys 
 he had expended, and that the judges, carrying their suf- 
 frages from the altar in the Acropolis, should examine and 
 determine the business in the city. Aspasia, Pericles 
 begged off, shedding many tears at the trial, and person- 
 ally entreating the jurors. But fearing how it might go 
 with Anaxagoras, he sent him out of the city. And find- 
 Amazon : one of a fabled race of female warriors, said to have founded an 
 empire on the coast of the Black Sea. 
 
 Suffrages : literally, ballots or votes; here, however, the word seems ti^ 
 mean the court. M. 
 
60 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ing that in Phidias' case he had miscarried with the people, 
 being afraid of impeachment, he kindled the war, which 
 hitherto had lingered and smothered, and blew it up into 
 a flame ; hoping, by that means, to disperse and scatter 
 these complaints and charges, and to allay their jealousy; 
 the city usually throwing herself upon him alone, and 
 trusting to his sole conduct, upon the urgency of great 
 affairs and public dangers, by reason of his authority and 
 the sway he bore. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians, for their part, feeling sure that if 
 they could once remove him, they might be at what terms 
 they pleased with the Athenians, sent them word that they 
 should expel the "Pollution"^ with which Pericles on the 
 mother's side was tainted, as Thucydides tells us. But 
 the issue proved quite contrary to what those who sent the 
 message expected ; instead of bringing Pericles under sus- 
 picion and reproach, they raised him into yet greater credit 
 and esteem with the citizens, as a man whom their enemies 
 most hated and feared. In the same way, also, before 
 Archidamus, who was at the head of the Peloponnesians, 
 made his invasion into Attica, he told the Athenians be- 
 forehand that if Archidamus, while he laid waste the rest 
 of the country, should forbear and spare his estate, either 
 on the ground of friendship or right of hospitality that 
 was betwixt them, or on purpose to give his enemies an 
 occasion of traducing him, that then he did freely bestow 
 upon the state all that land and the buildings upon it 
 for the public use. The Lacedaemonians, therefore, and 
 their allies, with a great army, invaded the Athenian ter- 
 
 1 According to Thucydides Pericles was a descendant on his mother's side 
 from certain arehons who in the seventh century b.c. put to death a number 
 of insurrectionists who claimed the protection of the deities of tlie Acropolis; 
 that act of sacrilege constituted the "Pollution " here mentioned. M. 
 
PERICLES. 61 
 
 ritories, under the conduct of king Archidamus, and lay- 
 ing waste the country, marched on as far as Acharnae, and 
 there pitched their camp, presuming that the Athenians 
 would never endure that, but would come out and fight 
 them for their country's and their honor's sake. But Per- 
 icles looked upon it as dangerous to engage in battle, to 
 the risk of the city itself, against sixty thousand men-at- 
 arms of Peloponnesians and Boeotians ; for so many they 
 were in number that made the inroad at first ; and he en- 
 deavored to appease those who were desirous to fight, and 
 were grieved and discontented to see how things went, 
 and gave them good words, saying, that "trees, when they 
 are lopped and cut, grow up again in a short time, but 
 men, being once lost, cannot easily be recovered." He did 
 not convene the people into an assembly, for fear lest they 
 should force him to act against his judgment ; but, like a 
 skilful steersman or pilot of a ship, who, when a sudden 
 squall comes on, out at sea, makes all his arrangements, 
 sees that all is tight and fast, and then follows the dictates 
 of his skill, and minds the business of the ship, taking no 
 notice of the tears and entreaties of the sea-sick and fear- 
 ful passengers, so he, having shut up the city gates, and 
 placed guards at all posts for security, followed his own 
 reason and judgment, little regarding those that cried out 
 against him, and were angry at his management, although 
 there were a great many of his friends that urged him with 
 requests, and many of his enemies threatened and accused 
 him for doing as he did, and many ma.de songs and lam- 
 poons upon him, which were sung about the town to his 
 disgrace, reproaching him with the cowardly exercise of 
 his office of general, and the tame abandonment of every- 
 thing to the enemy's hands. 
 
62 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Cleon, also, already was among his assailants, making 
 use of tlie feeling against him as a step to the leadership 
 of the people, as appears in the verses of Hermippus. 
 
 Satyr-king, instead of swords, 
 Will you always handle words ? 
 Very brave indeed we find them, 
 But a Teles ^ lurks behind them. 
 
 Yet to gnash your teeth you're seen, 
 When the little dagger keen, 
 Whetted every day anew, 
 Of sharp Cleon touches you. 
 
 Pericles, however, was not at all moved by any attacks, 
 but took all patiently, and submitted in silence to the 
 disgrace they threw upon him and the ill-will they bore 
 him; and, sending out a fleet of a hundred galleys to 
 Peloponnesus, he did not go along with it in person, but 
 stayed behind, that he might watch at home, and keep the 
 city under his own control, till the Peloponnesians broke 
 up their camp and were gone. Yet to soothe the common 
 people, jaded and distressed with the war, he relieved 
 them with distributions of public moneys, and ordained 
 new divisions of subject land. For, having turned out all 
 the people of ^gina, he parted the island among the Athe- 
 nians, according to lot. Some comfort, also, and ease in 
 their miseries, they might receive from what their enemies 
 endured. For the fleet, sailing round the Peloponnese, 
 ravaged a great deal of the country, and pillaged and 
 plundered the towns and smaller cities ; and by land he 
 himself entered with an army the Megarian country, and 
 made havoc of it all. Whence it is clear that the Pelopon- 
 nesians, though they did the Athenians much mischief by 
 
 1 Apparently some notorious coward. 
 
PERICLES. 63 
 
 land, yet suffering as much themselves from them by sea, 
 would not have protracted the war to such a length, but 
 would quickly have given it over, as Pericles at first fore- 
 told tliey would, had not some divine power crossed hu- 
 man purposes. 
 
 In the first place, the pestilential disease, or plague, 
 seized upon the city, and ate up all the flower and prime 
 of their youth and strength. Upon occasion of which, 
 the people, distempered and afflicted in their souls, as well 
 as in their bodies, were utterly enraged like madmen 
 against Pericles, and, like patients grown delirious, sought 
 to lay violent hands on their physician, or, as it were, 
 their father. 
 
 He could not pacify or allay their anger, nor persuade 
 or prevail with them any way, till they freely passed their 
 votes upon him, resumed their power, took away his com- 
 mand from him, and fined him in a sum of money. After 
 this, public troubles were soon to leave him unmolested ; 
 the people, so to say, discharged their passion in their 
 stroke, and lost their stings in the wound. But his do- 
 mestic concerns were in an unhappy condition, many of 
 his friends and acquaintance having died in the plague 
 time, and those of his family having long since been in 
 disorder and in a kind of mutiny against him. However, 
 he did not shrink or give in upon these occasions, nor be- 
 tray or lower his high spirit and the greatness of his mind 
 under all his misfortunes ; he was not even so much as 
 seen to weep or to mourn, or even attend the burial of any 
 of his friends or relations, till at last he lost his only re- 
 maining legitimate son. Subdued by this blow, and yet 
 striving still, as far as he could, to maintain his principle, 
 and to preserve and keep up the greatness of his soul, 
 
64 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 when he came, however, to perform the ceremony of put- 
 ting a garland of flowers upon the head of the corpse, he 
 was vanquished by his passion at the sight, so that he 
 burst into exclamations, and shed copious tears, having 
 never done any such thing in all his life before. 
 
 The city having made trial of other generals for the con- 
 duct of war, and orators for business of state, when they 
 found there w^as no one who was of weight enough for 
 such a charge, or of authority sufficient to be trusted with 
 so great a command, regretted the loss of him, and invited 
 him again to address and advise them, and to reassume the 
 office of general. He, however, lay at home, in dejection 
 and mourning; but was persuaded by Alcibiades and 
 others of his friends to come abroad and show himself 
 to the people ; who having, upon his appearance, made 
 their acknowledgments, and apologized for their un- 
 towardly treatment of him, he undertook the public affairs 
 once more. 
 
 Soon after, the plague seized Pericles, not with sharp 
 and violent fits, as it did others that had it, but with a dull 
 and lingering distemper, attended with various changes and 
 alterations, leisurely, by little and little, wasting the 
 strength of his body, and undermining the noble faculties 
 of his soul. So that Theophrastus, in his Morals, when 
 discussing whether men's characters change with their cir- 
 cumstances, and their moral habits, disturbed by the ail- 
 ings of their bodies, start aside from the rules of virtue, 
 has left it upon record that Pericles, when he was sick, 
 showed one of his friends that came to visit him an amulet 
 or charm that the women had hung about his neck ; as 
 much as to say, that he was very sick indeed when he 
 would admit of such a foolery as that was. 
 
PERICLES. 66 
 
 When lie was now near his end, the best of the citizens 
 and those of his friends who were left alive, sitting about 
 him, were speaking of the greatness of his merit and his 
 power, and reckoning up his famous actions and the num- 
 ber of his victories ; for there were no less than nine tro- 
 phies, which, as their chief commander and conqueror of 
 their enemies, he had set up, for the honor of the city. 
 They talked thus together among themselves, as though 
 he were unable to understand or mind what they said, but 
 had now lost his consciousness. He had listened, how- 
 ever, all the while, and attended to all ; and, speaking out 
 among them, said that he wondered they should commend 
 and take notice of things which were as much owing to 
 fortune as to anything else, and had happened to many 
 other commanders, and, at the same time, should not speak 
 or make mention of that which was the most excellent 
 and greatest thing of all. " For," said he, " no Athenian, 
 through my means, ever wore mourning." 
 
 He was indeed a character deserving our high admira- 
 tion, not only for his equitable and mild temper, which all 
 along, in the many affairs of his life, and the great animos- 
 ities which he incurred, he constantly maintained; but 
 also for the high spirit and feeling which made him regard 
 it the noblest of all his honors that, in the exercise of such 
 immense power, he never had gratified his envy or his 
 passion, nor ever had treated any enemy as irreconcilably 
 opposed to him. And to me it appears that this one thing 
 gives that otherwise childish and arrogant title a fitting 
 and becoming significance; so dispassionate a temper, a 
 life so pure and unblemished, in the height of power and 
 place, might well be called Olympian, in accordance with 
 our conceptions of the divine beings, to whom, as the nat- 
 
66 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ural authors of all good and of nothing evil, we ascribe 
 the rule and government of the world. Not as the poets 
 represent, who, while confounding us with their ignorant 
 fancies, are themselves confuted by their own poems and 
 fictions, and call the place, indeed, where they say the 
 gods make their abode, a secure and quiet seat, free from 
 all hazards and commotions, untroubled with winds or 
 with clouds, and equally through all time illumined with 
 a soft serenity and a pure light, as though such were a 
 home most agreeable for a blessed and immortal nature ; 
 and yet, in the mean while, affirm that the gods themselves 
 are full of trouble and enmity and anger and other pas- 
 sions, which no way become or belong to even men that 
 have any understanding. But this will, perhaps, seem a 
 subject fitter for some other consideration, and that ought 
 to be treated of in some other place. 
 
 The course of public affairs after his death produced a 
 quick and speedy sense of the loss of Pericles. Those 
 who, while he lived, resented his great authority, as that 
 which eclipsed themselves, presently, after his quitting the 
 stage, making trial of other orators and demagogues, read- 
 ily acknowledged that there never had been in nature such 
 a disposition as his was, more moderate and reasonable in 
 the height of that state he took upon him, or more grave 
 and impressive in the mildness which he used. And that 
 invidious arbitrary power, to which formerly they gave 
 the name of monarchy and tyranny, did then appear to 
 have been the chief bulwark of public safety ; so great a 
 corruption and such a flood of mischief and vice followed, 
 which he, by keeping weak and low, had withheld from 
 notice, and had prevented from attaining incurable height 
 through a licentious impunity. 
 
c^ 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO ALEXANDER. 
 
 The war that began between Athens and Sparta before 
 the death of Pericles, lasted a great many years, and ended 
 in the defeat of Athens. Now Sparta was restored to her 
 former leadership among the Greek cities ; but she was so 
 harsh and oppressive in her new rule that her subjects 
 were very discontented, and at last a great statesman and 
 general named Epaminondas, belonging to the city of 
 Thebes, defeated the Spartans in the battle of Leuctra, B.C. 
 371, and destroyed the Spartan supremacy forever. But 
 the leadership of Thebes, which now followed, lasted only 
 a few years. After the death of Epaminondas a new 
 power appeared, and soon got the mastery over all Greece. 
 This new state was Macedonia. 
 
 Macedonia is a country lying to the north of Greece. 
 The Macedonians were really of the Greek race, but they 
 were so rude and unlettered that the Greeks proper were 
 not willing to recognize them as kinsmen, but looked 
 down upon them as barbarians. Moreover, they were 
 subject to kings, while nearly all the Greek cities were 
 republics. The time came, however, when the Greeks 
 were glad to claim relationship with the Macedonians. 
 
 The king of Macedon at this time was Philip. He was 
 a very able and ambitious man, and made himself the lead- 
 ing man in Greece, and his kingdom the most powerful 
 state. He obtained for himself the leadership^ which had 
 been held by Sparta, Athens, and Thebes. The first thing 
 that he undertook was to conquer a Greek city named 
 
68 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Olynthus, on a peninsula east of his kingdom. Olynthus 
 was a very rich and flourishing commercial town, and it 
 controlled all the country to the east of Macedonia, so 
 that he could not extend his empire in that direction with- 
 out first getting rid of this rival. The Athenians, who, 
 since the death of Epaminondas, were on the whole the 
 leading nation in Greece, were allies of the Olynthians. 
 Some think that Olynthus was a colony of Athens. At any 
 rate they were much alarmed at Philip's projects, and their 
 great orator Demosthenes did all he could to induce them 
 to send aid to the besieged city. But they were slow and 
 undecided, and in the year 348 Philip captured and de- 
 stroyed Olynthus. Now he was master of all the country 
 to the east, as far as the Hellespont, or Dardanelles. 
 
 Before the capture of Olynthus, Philip had succeeded in 
 pushing his way into the affairs of Greece, by taking an 
 opportunity to interfere in a wretched quarrel between 
 two petty states. When he had once got a foothold in 
 Greece, his ability and unscrupulous energy soon made 
 him master. The two cities of Thebes and Athens at last 
 united with some others against him, but he was too 
 strong for them, and in the year 338 he defeated them in 
 the great battle of Chseronea, which Milton calls "that 
 dishonest victory, fatal to liberty." 
 
 By the capture of Olynthus and the battle of Chse- 
 ronea Philip had accomplished his two first objects; he 
 had extended his empire in the north, and he had got a 
 foothold in Greece, and gained for himself the leadership 
 of the Greek states. And now he proceeded to carry out 
 the great final object of his ambition, which was to 
 unite under his lead all the forces of Greece and invade 
 Asia. What he proposed was to take vengeance upon 
 
ALEXANDER. 69 
 
 Persia for the invasion of Greece, 150 years before. For 
 this purpose he called a Congress of the Greek states, 
 which met at Corinth in 337, and elected Philip as com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the Greek forces against Persia. 
 But he never marched against Persia. The very next 
 year (336) he was assassinated, and succeeded by his son 
 Alexander, an even abler man than his father, who carried 
 out his father's plans. 
 
70 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ALEXANDER. 
 
 IT being my purpose to write the lives of Alexander the 
 king, and of Csesar, by whom Pompey was destroyed, 
 the multitude of their great actions affords so large a field 
 that I were to blame if I should not by way of apology 
 forewarn my reader that I have chosen rather to epitomize 
 the most celebrated parts of their story, than to insist at 
 large on every particular circumstance of it. It must be 
 borne in mind that my design is not to write histories, but 
 lives. And the most glorious exploits do not always fur- 
 nish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in 
 men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression 
 or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclina- 
 tions, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, 
 or the bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore as portrait- 
 painters are more exact in the lines and features of the 
 face, in which the character is seen, than in the other parts 
 of the body, so I must be allowed to give my more par- 
 ticular attention to the marks and indications of the souls 
 of men, and while I endeavor by these to portray their 
 lives, may be free to leave more w^eighty matters and great 
 battles to be treated of by others. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Philip, was born * the same day that 
 the temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt. All the East- 
 
 * 356 B.C. 
 
 Diana was originally a deity of Italy, but about 400 B.C. she began to be 
 identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. She presided over wood, plain, 
 water, childbirth, and also over the chase and war. 
 
ALEXANDER. 7l 
 
 ern soothsayers who happened to be then at Ephesus, 
 looking upon the ruin of this temple to be the forerunner 
 of some other calamity, ran about the town, beating their 
 faces, and crying, that this day had brought forth some- 
 thing that would prove fatal and destructive to all Asia. 
 
 Philip received these three messages at one time, that 
 Parmenio had overthrown the Illyrians in a great battle, 
 that his race-horse had won the course at the Olympic 
 games, and that his wife had given birth to Alexander ; 
 with which being naturally well pleased, as an addition to 
 his satisfaction, he was assured by the diviners that a son, 
 whose birth was accompanied with three such successes, 
 could not fail of being invincible. 
 
 His temperance, as to the pleasures of the body, was 
 apparent in him in his very childhood, as he was with 
 much difficulty incited to them, and always used them 
 with great moderation ; though in other things he was 
 extremely eager and vehement, and in his love of glory, 
 and the pursuit of it, he showed a solidity of high spirit 
 and magnanimity far above his age. For he neither 
 sought nor valued it upon every occasion, as his father 
 Philip did (who affected to show his eloquence almost to 
 a degree of pedantry, and took care to have the victories 
 of his racing chariots at the Olympic games engraven on 
 his coin) but when he was asked by some about him, 
 whether he would run a race in the Olympic games, as he 
 was very swift-footed, he answered, he would, if he might 
 have kings to run with him. Indeed, he seems in general 
 to have looked with indifference, if not with dislike, upon 
 the professed athletes. He often appointed prizes, for 
 which not only tragedians and musicians, pipers and 
 
 Soothsayers : augurs or diviners, who foretold future events. 
 
72 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 harpers, but rhapsodists also, strove to outvie one another ; 
 and delighted in all manner of hunting and cudgel-play- 
 ing, but never gave any encouragement to contests either 
 of boxing or of the pancratium.* 
 
 While he was yet very young, he entertained the ambas- 
 sadors from the king of Persia, in the absence of his father, 
 and entering much into conversation with them, gained 
 so much upon them by his affability, and the questions 
 he asked them, which were far from being childish or tri- 
 fling (for he inquired of them the length of the ways, the 
 nature of the road into inner Asia, the character of their 
 king, how he carried himself to his enemies, and what 
 forces he was able to bring into the field) that they were 
 struck with admiration of him, and looked upon the ability 
 so much famed of Philip, to be nothing in comparison with 
 the forwardness and high purpose that appeared thus early 
 in his son. Whenever he heard Philip had taken any 
 town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of 
 rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions 
 that his father would anticipate everything, and leave 
 him and them no opportunities of performing great and 
 illustrious actions. For being more bent upon action and 
 glory than either upon pleasure or riches, he esteemed all 
 that he should receive from his father as a diminution and 
 prevention of his own future achievements; and would 
 have chosen rather to succeed to a kingdom involved in 
 troubles and wars, which would have afforded him fre- 
 quent exercise of his courage, and a large field of honor, 
 than to one already flourishing and settled, where his 
 inheritance would be an inactive life, and the mere enjoy- 
 ment of wealth and luxury. 
 
 * Rhapsodists were reciters of Epic verses. The pancratium, a contest 
 combining wrestling and boxing. 
 
ALEXANDER. 73 
 
 Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalas- 
 to Philip, offering to sell him for thirteen talents; but 
 when they went into the field to try him, they found him; 
 so very vicious and unmanageable that he reared up when 
 they endeavored to mount him, and would not so much as 
 endure the voice of any of Philip's attendants. Upon 
 which, as they were leading him away as wholly useless 
 and untractable, Alexander, who stood by, said, " What an 
 excellent horse do they lose, for want of address and bold- 
 ness to manage him ! " Philip at first took no notice of 
 what he said; but when he heard him repeat the same 
 thing several times, and saw he was much vexed to see 
 the horse sent away, " Do you reproach," said he to him, 
 " those who are older than yourself, as if you knew more, 
 and were better able to manage him than they ? " "I could 
 manage this horse," replied he, " better than others do." 
 " And if you do not," said Philip, " what will you forfeit 
 for your rashness?" "I will pay," answered Alexander, 
 " the whole price of the horse." At this the whole com- 
 pany fell a laughing ; and, as soon as the wager was set- 
 tled amongst them, he immediately ran to the horse, and, 
 taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly towards the 
 sun, having, it seems, observed that he was disturbed at 
 and afraid of the motion of his own shadow ; then letting 
 him go forward a little, still keeping the reins in his hand, 
 and stroking him gently when he found him begin to grow 
 eager and fiery, he let fall his upper garment softly, and 
 with one nimble leap securely mounted him, and when he 
 was seated, by little and little drew in the bridle, and 
 curbed him without either striking or spurring him. Pres- 
 ently, when he found him free from all rebelliousness, and 
 only impatient for the course, he let him go at full speed. 
 
74 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging 
 him also with his heel. Philip and his friends looked on 
 at first in silence and anxiety for the result, till seeing 
 him turn at the end of his career, and come back rejoicing 
 and triumphant for what he had performed, they all burst 
 out into acclamations of applause ; and his father, shed- 
 ding tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down 
 from his horse, and in his transport said, " O my son, look 
 thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for 
 Macedonia is too little for thee." 
 
 After this, considering him to be of a temper easy to be 
 led to his duty by reason, but by no means to be com- 
 pelled, he always endeavored to persuade rather than to 
 command or force him to anything; and now looking 
 upon the instruction and tuition of his youth to be of 
 greater difficulty and importance, than to be wholly trusted 
 to the ordinary masters in music and poetry, and the com- 
 mon school subjects, and to require, as Sophocles says, 
 
 The bridle and the rudder too, 
 
 he sent for Aristotle, the most learned and most celebrated 
 philosopher of his time, and rewarded him with a munifi- 
 cence proportionable to and becoming the care he took to 
 instruct his son. For he repeopled his native city Stagira, 
 which he had caused to be demolished a little before, and 
 restored all the citizens who were in exile or slavery to 
 their habitations. As a place for the pursuit of their 
 studies and exercises, he assigned the temple of the " 
 Nymphs, near Mieza, where, to this very day, they show 
 you Aristotle's stone seats, and the shady walks which he 
 was wont to frequent. It would appear that Alexander 
 received from him not only his doctrines of Morals and 
 
ALEXANDER. 75 
 
 of Politics, but also something of those more abstruse and 
 profound theories which these philosophers professed to 
 reserve for oral communication to the initiated, and did 
 not allow many to become acquainted with. For when he 
 was in Asia, and heard Aristotle had published some 
 treatises of that kind, he wrote to him, using very plain 
 language to him in behalf of philosophy, the following 
 letter : " Alexander to Aristotle greeting. You have not 
 done well to publish your books of oral doctrine ; for what 
 is there now that we excel others in, if those things which 
 we have been particularly instructed in be laid open to 
 all ? For my part, I assure you, I had rather excel others 
 in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent 
 of my power and dominion. Farewell." 
 
 Doubtless, it was to Aristotle that he owed the inclina- 
 tion he had, not to the theory only, but likewise to the 
 practice of the art of medicine. For when any of his 
 friends were sick, he would often prescribe them their 
 course of diet, and medicines proper to their disease, as we 
 may find in his epistles. He was naturally a great lover 
 of all kinds of learning and reading; he constantly laid 
 Homer's Iliad, according to the copy corrected by Aris- 
 totle, called the casket copy, with his dagger under his 
 pillow, declaring that he esteemed it a perfect portable 
 treasure of all military virtue and knowledge. When he 
 was in the upper Asia, being destitute of other books, he 
 ordered Harpalus to send him some ; who furnished him 
 with Philistus' History, a great many of the plays of 
 Euripides, Sophocles and JEschylus. For a while he loved 
 and cherished Aristotle no less, as he was wont to say 
 
 Homer's Iliad : a heroic poem describing the battles between the Trojans 
 and Greeks in the siege of Troy. 
 
76 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 himself, than if he liad been his father, giving this reason 
 for it, that as he had received life from the one, so the 
 other had taught him to live well. But afterwards, upon 
 some mistrust of him, yet not so great as to make him do 
 him any hurt, his familiarity and friendly kindness to him 
 abated so much of its former force and affectionateness as 
 to make it evident he was alienated from him. However, 
 his violent thirst after and passion for learning, which 
 were once implanted, still grew up wjth him, and never 
 decayed. tr^'- \ 
 
 While Philip went on his expedition against the Byzan- 
 tines, he left Alexander, then sixteen years old, his lieu- 
 tenant in Macedonia, committing the charge of his seal to 
 him ; who, not to sit idle, reduced the rebellious Msedi, 
 and, having taken their chief town by storm, drove out 
 the barbarous inhabitants, and, planting a colony of sev- 
 eral nations in their room, called the place after his own 
 name, Alexandropolis. This early bravery made Philip 
 so fond of him that nothing pleased him more than to 
 hear his subjects call himself their general and Alexander 
 their king. 
 
 Alexander was but twenty years old when his father 
 was murdered,^ and succeeded to a kingdom beset on all 
 sides with great dangers and rancorous enemies. For not 
 only the barbarous nations that bordered on Macedonia 
 were impatient of being governed by any but their own 
 native princes, but Philip likewise, though he had been 
 victorious over the Grecians, yet, as the time had not been 
 sufficient for him to complete his conquest and accustom 
 
 1 A youth, named Pausanias, having suffered some indignity at the hands 
 of Cleopatra, Philip's wife, sought reparation for his disgrace from Philip, 
 which, being denied, he watched his opportunity and murdered him. 
 
ALEXANDER. 77 
 
 them to his sway, had simply left all things in a general 
 disorder and confusion. It seemed to the Macedonians a 
 very critical time ; and some would have persuaded Alex- 
 ander to give up all thought of retaining the Grecians in 
 subjection by force of arms, and rather to apply himself to 
 win back by gentle means the allegiance of the tribes who 
 were designing revolt, and try the effect of indulgence in 
 arresting the first motions towards revolution. But he 
 rejected this counsel as weak and timorous, and looked 
 upon it to be more prudent to secure himself by resolu- 
 tion and magnanimity, than, by seeming to truckle to any, 
 to encourage all to trample on him. In pursuit of this 
 opinion, he reduced the barbarians to tranquillity, and put 
 an end to all fear of war from them, by a rapid expedition 
 into their country as far as the river Danube, where he 
 gave Syrmus, king of the Triballians, an entire overthrow. 
 And hearing the Thebans were in revolt, and the Athe- 
 nians in correspondence with them, he immediately marched 
 through the pass of Thermopylae, saying that to Demos- 
 thenes, who had called him a child while he was in Illyria 
 and in the country of the Triballians, and a youth when 
 he was in Thessaly, he would appear a man before the 
 walls of Athens. 
 
 When he came to Thebes, to show how willing he was 
 to accept of their repentance for what was past, he only 
 demanded of them Phoenix and Prothytes, the authors of 
 the rebellion, and proclaimed a general pardon to those 
 who would come over to him. But when the Thebans 
 merely retorted by demanding Philotas and Antipater to 
 
 Philotas, son of Parmenio, one of Philip's generals, was an intimate friend 
 of Alexander. 
 
 Antipater was the regent of Macedonia during Alexander's Eastern expe- 
 dition. » 
 
78 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 be delivered into their hands, and by a proclamation, on 
 their part, invited all who would assert the liberty of 
 Greece to come over to them, he presently applied himself 
 to make them feel the last extremities of war. The The- 
 bans, indeed, defended themselves with a zeal and courage 
 beyond their strength, being much outnumbered by their 
 enemies. But when the Macedonian garrison sallied out 
 upon them from the citadel, they were so hemmed in on 
 all sides, that the greater part of them fell in the battle ; 
 the city itself, being taken by storm, was sacked and razed, 
 Alexander's hope being that so severe an example might 
 terrify the rest of Greece into obedience, and also in order 
 to gratify the hostility of his confederates, the Phocians 
 and Plataeans. So that, except the priests, and some few 
 who had heretofore been the friends and connections of the 
 Macedonians, the family of the poet Pindar, and those who 
 were known to have opposed the public vote for the war, 
 all the rest, to the number of thirty thousand, were pub- 
 licly sold for slaves ; and it is computed that upwards of 
 six thousand were put to the sword. Among the other 
 calamities that befell the city, it happened that some Thra- 
 cian soldiers having broken into the house of a matron of 
 high character and repute, named Timoclea, their captain, 
 after having insulted her, to satisfy his avarice asked her 
 if she knew of any money concealed ; to which she readily 
 answered she did, and bade him follow her into a garden, 
 where she showed him a well, into which, she told him, 
 upon the taking of the city, she had thrown what she had 
 of most value. The greedy Thracian presently stooping 
 down to view the place where he thought the treasure lay, 
 she came behind him, and pushed him into the well, and 
 
 Sacked and razed : plundered and destroyed. 
 
ALEXANDER. 79 
 
 then flung great stones in upon him, till she had killed 
 him. After which, when the soldiers led her away bound 
 to Alexander, her very mien and gait showed her to be a 
 woman of dignity, and of a mind no less elevated, not be- 
 traying the least sign of fear or astonishment. And when 
 the king asked her who she was, " I am," said she, " the 
 sister of Theagenes, who fought the battle of Chaeronea 
 with your father Philip, and fell there in command for the 
 liberty of Greece." Alexander was so surprised, both at 
 what she had done, and what she said, that he could not 
 choose but give her and her children their freedom to go 
 whither they pleased. ^ , 
 
 After this he received the Athenians into favor, al- 
 though they had shown themselves so much concerned at 
 the calamity of Thebes that out of sorrow they omitted 
 the celebration of the Mysteries,^ and entertained those 
 who escaped with all possible humanity. Whether it 
 were, like the lion, that his passion was now satisfied, or 
 that after an example of extreme cruelty, he had a mind 
 to appear merciful, it happened well for the Athenians ; 
 for he not only forgave them all past offences, but bade 
 them to look to their affairs with vigilance, remembering 
 that, if he should miscarry, they were likely to be the ar- 
 biters of Greece. Certain it is, too, that in after-time he 
 
 1 The Mysteries were the most impressive religious ceremony in all Greece. 
 The strictest secrecy was enjoined in regard to certain parts of them. They 
 were distinguished from ordinary festivals by their great magnificence and 
 expense. 
 
 Painting, sculpture, architecture, music, dancing, etc., were combined to 
 form a most impressive spectacle. The first and most important condition 
 required of the participants was that they should be pure in heart and not con- 
 scious of any great crime. Certain sacred things were exposed to them in the 
 most impressive manner, and they believed that to handle and kiss these 
 objects would have a salutary effect. 
 
80 PLUTAKCH'S LIVES. 
 
 often repented of his severity to the Thebans, and his re- 
 morse had such influence on his temper as to make him 
 ever after less rigorous to all others. He imputed also the 
 murder of Clitus, which he committed in his wine, and the 
 unwillingness of the Macedonians to follow him against 
 the Indians, by which his enterprise and glory was left 
 imperfect, to the wrath and vengeance of Bacchus, the 
 protector of Thebes. And it was observed that whatso- 
 ever any Theban, who had the good fortune to survive 
 this victory, asked of him, he was sure to grant without 
 the least difficulty. 
 
 Soon after, the Grecians, being assembled at the Isth- 
 mus, declared their resolution of joining with Alexander 
 in the war against the Persians, and proclaimed him their 
 general. While he stayed here, many public ministers 
 and philosophers came from all parts to visit him, and 
 congratulated him on his election, but contrary to his ex- 
 pectation, Diogenes of Sinope, who then was living at Cor- 
 inth, thought so little of him that, instead of coming to 
 compliment him, he never so much as stirred out of the 
 suburb called the Cranium, where Alexander found him 
 lying along in the sun. When he saw so much company 
 near him, he raised himself a little, and vouchsafed to look 
 upon Alexander; and when he kindly asked him whether 
 he wanted anything, " Yes," said he, " I would have you 
 stand from between me and the sun." Alexander was so 
 struck at this answer, and surprised at the greatness of 
 the man, who had taken so little notice of him, that as he 
 went away, he told his followers, who were laughing at 
 
 Bacchus was the god of wine, giving joy and banishing sorrow, the pro- 
 tector of the vine, the patron of agriculture, and the promoter of the peaceful 
 arts of civilized life. Thebes was considered his birth-place, and became the 
 chief centre for celebrating his rites. 
 
ALEXANDER. 81 
 
 the moroseness of the philosopher, that if he were not 
 Alexander, he would choose to be Diogenes. 
 
 Then he went to Delphi, to consult Apollo concerning 
 the success of the war he had undertaken, and happening 
 to come on one of the forbidden days, when it was es- 
 teemed improper to give any answers from the oracle, he 
 sent messengers to desire the priestess to do her office ; 
 and when she refused, on the plea of a law to the con- 
 trary, he went up himself, and began to draw her by force 
 into the temple, until, tired and overcome with his impor- 
 tunity, " My son," said she, " thou art invincible." Alex- 
 ander, taking hold of what she spoke, declared he had 
 received such an answer as he wished for, and that it was 
 needless to consult the god any further. 
 
 His army, by their computation who make the smallest 
 amount, consisted of thirty thousand foot, and four thou- 
 sand horse ; and those who make the most of it, speak but 
 of forty-three thousand foot, and three thousand horse. 
 However narrow and disproportion able the beginnings of 
 so vast an undertaking might seem to be, yet he would 
 not embark his army until he had informed himself par- 
 ticularly what means his friends had to enable them to 
 follow him, and supplied what they wanted, by giving 
 good farms to some, a village to one, and the revenue of 
 some hamlet or harbor town to another. So that at last 
 he had portioned out or engaged almost all the royal 
 property ; which giving Perdiccas an occasion to ask him 
 what he would leave himself, he replied, his hopes. "Your 
 soldiers," replied Perdiccas, "will be your partners in 
 
 Apollo presided over healing, prophecy, music, and poetry. He was the 
 characteristic divinity of the Greeks, impersonating tlieir life in its most beau- 
 tiful and natural forms. 
 
82 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 those," and refused to accept of the estate he had assigned 
 him. Some others of his friends did the like, but to those 
 who willingly received, or desired assistance of him, he 
 liberally granted it, as far as his patrimony in Macedonia 
 would reach, the most part of which was spent in these 
 donations. 
 
 With such vigorous resolutions, and his mind thus dis- 
 posed, he passed the Hellespont, and at Troy sacrificed to 
 Minerva, and honored the memory of the heroes who were 
 buried there, with solemn libations; especially Achilles, 
 whose gravestone he anointed, and with his friends, as 
 the ancient custom is, ran naked about his sepulchre, 
 and crowned it with garlands, declaring how happy he 
 esteemed him, in having while he lived so faithful a 
 friend, and when he was dead, so famous a poet to pro- 
 claim his actions. While he was viewing the rest of the 
 antiquities and curiosities of the place, being told he 
 might see Paris' harp, if he pleased, he said, he thought 
 it not worth looking on, but he should be glad to see that 
 of Achilles, to which he used to sing the glories and great 
 actions of brave men. 
 
 In the mean time Darius' captains having collected 
 large forces, were encamped on the further bank of the 
 river Granicus, and it was necessary to fight, as it were, 
 in the gate of Asia for an entrance into it. The depth of 
 the river, with the unevenness and difficult ascent of the 
 
 Libations : wine or other liquor poured out, generally on the ground, in 
 honor of some deity. 
 
 AchiUes was the hero of Homer's Iliad. It is said that he was dipped in 
 the river Styx by his mother, and was thus made invulnerable, except in the 
 heel by which he was held. He was finally slain by an arrow piercing this 
 vulnerable point, and hence " the heel of Achilles " became a proverbial phrase 
 to signify any weakness in a man's character. 
 
 Darius in. : king of the Persians. 
 
ALEXANDER. 83 
 
 opposite bank, which was to be gained by main force, was 
 apprehended by most, and some pronounced it an improper 
 time to engage, because it was unusual for the kings of 
 Macedonia to march with their forces in the month called 
 Dsesius. But Alexander broke through these scruples, 
 telUng them they should call it a second Artemisius. And 
 when Parmenio advised him not to attempt anything that 
 day, because it was late, he told him that he should dis- 
 grace the Hellespont, should he fear the Granicus. And 
 so without more saying, he immediately took the river 
 with thirteen troops of horse, and advanced against whole 
 showers of darts thrown from the steep opposite side, 
 which was covered with armed multitudes of the enemy's 
 horse and foot, notwithstanding the disadvantage of the 
 ground and the rapidity of the stream ; so that the action 
 seemed to have more of frenzy and desperation in it, than 
 of prudent conduct. However, he persisted obstinately 
 to gain the passage, and at last with much ado making his 
 way up the banks, which were extremely muddy and 
 slippery, he had instantly to join in a mere confused hand- 
 to-hand combat with the enemy, before he could draw up 
 his men, who were still passing over, into any order. For 
 the enemy pressed upon him with loud and warlike out- 
 cries ; and charging horse against horse, with their lances, 
 after they had broken and spent these, they fell to it with 
 their swords. And Alexander, being easily known by his 
 buckler, and a large plume of white feathers on each side 
 of his helmet, was attacked on all sides, yet escaped 
 wounding, though his cuirass was pierced by a javelin in 
 
 Artemisius : a spring month. 
 Buckler : a shield worn on the left arm. 
 
 Cuirass : armor covering the body from the neck to the girdle ; also a 
 breastplate. 
 
84 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 one of the joinings. And Rhoesaces and Spithridates, two 
 Persian commanders, falling upon him at once, he avoided 
 one of them, and struck at Rhoesaces, who had a good 
 cuirass on, with such force, that his spear breaking in his 
 hand, he was glad to betake himself to his dagger. While 
 they were thus engaged, Spithridates came up on one side 
 of him, and raising himself upon his horse, gave him such 
 a blow with his battle-axe on the helmet, that he cut off 
 the crest of it, with one of his plumes, and the helmet was 
 only just so far strong enough to save him, that the edge 
 of the weapon touched the hair of his head. But as he 
 was about to repeat his stroke, Clitus, called the black 
 Clitus, prevented him, by running him through the body 
 with his spear. At the same time Alexander despatched 
 Rhoesaces with his sword. While the horse were thus 
 dangerously engaged, the Macedonian phalanx passed the 
 river, and the foot on each side advanced to fight. But 
 the enemy hardly sustaining the first onset, soon gave 
 ground -and fled, all but the mercenary Greeks, who, mak- 
 ing a stand upon a rising ground, desired quarter, which 
 Alexander, guided rather by passion than judgment, re- 
 fused to grant, and charging them himself first, had his 
 horse (not Bucephalas, but another) killed under himc 
 And this obstinacy of his to cut off these experienced 
 desperate men, cost him the lives of more of his own sol- 
 diers than all the battle before, besides those who were 
 wounded. The Persians lost in this battle twenty thou- 
 sand foot, and two thousand five hundred horse. On 
 Alexander's side, there were not wanting above four and 
 
 The Macedonian phalanx consisted of a body of soldiers, several lines 
 deep, armed with shields and with spears presenting an almost irresistible 
 wall of steel. 
 
 Mercenary Greeks : Greeks hired by the Persians to fight for them. 
 
ALEXANDER. 85 
 
 thirty, of whom nine were foot-soldiers; and in memory 
 of them he caused so many statues of brass, of Lysippus' 
 making, to be erected. And that the Grecians might 
 participate the honor of his victory, he sent a portion of 
 the spoils home to them, particularly to the Athenians 
 three hundred bucklers, and upon all the rest he ordered ^ 
 this inscription to be set : " Alexander the son of Philip, 
 and the Grecians, except the Lacedaemonians, won these 
 from the barbarians who inhabit Asia." All the plate and 
 purple garments, and other things of the same kind that 
 he took from the Persians, except a very small quantity 
 which he reserved for himself, he sent as a present to his 
 mother. 
 
 This battle presently made a great change of affairs to 
 Alexander's advantage. For Sardis itself, the chief seat 
 of the barbarian's power in the maritime provinces, and 
 many other considerable places were surrendered to him ; 
 only Halicarnassus and Miletus stood out, which he took 
 by force, together with the territory about them. After 
 which he was a little unsettled in his opinion how to pro- 
 ceed. Sometimes he thought it best to find out Darius 
 as soon as he could, and put all to the hazard of a battle ; 
 another while he looked upon it as a more prudent course 
 to make an entire reduction of the sea-coast, and not to 
 seek the enemy till he had first exercised his power here 
 and made himself secure of the resources of these prov- 
 inces. While he was thus deliberating what to do, it 
 happened that a spring of water near the city of Xanthus 
 in Lycia, of its own accord swelled over its banks, and 
 threw up a copper plate upon the margin, in which was 
 engraven in ancient characters, that the time would come, 
 when the Persian empire should be destroyed by the 
 
86 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Grecians. Encouraged by this accident, he proceeded to 
 reduce the maritime parts of Cilicia and Phoenicia, and 
 passed his army along the sea-coasts of Pamphylia with 
 such expedition that many historians have described and 
 extolled it with that height of admiration, as if it were no 
 less than a miracle, and an extraordinary effect of divine 
 favor, that the waves which usually come rolling in vio- 
 lently from the main, and hardly ever leave so much as a 
 narrow beach under the steep, broken cliffs at any time 
 uncovered, should on a sudden retire to afford him passage. 
 Menander, in one of his comedies, alludes to this marvel 
 when he says. 
 
 Was Alexander ever favored more ? 
 Each man I wish for meets me at my door, 
 And should I ask for passage through the sea, 
 The sea I doubt not would retire for me. 
 
 But Alexander himself in his epistles mentions nothing 
 unusual in this at all, but says he went from Phaselis, and 
 passed through what they call the Ladders. At Phaselis 
 he stayed some time, and finding the statue of Theodectes, 
 who was a native of this town and was now dead, erected 
 in the market-place, after he had supped, having drunk 
 pretty plentifully, he went and danced about it, and 
 crowned it with garlands, honoring not ungracefully in 
 his sport, the memory of a philosopher whose conversation 
 he had formerly enjoyed, when he was Aristotle's scholar. 
 
 Then he subdued the Pisidians who made head against 
 him, and conquered the Phrygians, at whose chief city 
 Gordium, which is said to be the seat of the ancient Midas, 
 he saw the famous chariot fastened with cords made of the 
 rind of the cornel-tree, which whosoever should untie. 
 
ALEXANDER. 87 
 
 the inhabitants had a tradition, that for him was reserved 
 the empire of the world. Most authors tell the story that 
 Alexander, finding himself unable to untie the knot, the 
 ends of which were secretly twisted round and folded up 
 within it, cut it asunder with his sword. But Aristobulus 
 tells us it was easy for him to undo it, by only pulling the 
 pin out of the pole, to which the yoke was tied, and after- 
 wards drawing off the yoke itself from below. From hence 
 he advanced into Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, both which 
 countries he soon reduced to obedience, and then hearing 
 of the death of Memnon, the best commander Darius had 
 upon the sea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was 
 supposed, have put many impediments and difficulties in 
 the way of the progress of his arms, he was the rather 
 encouraged to carry the war into the upper provinces of 
 Asia. 
 
 Darius was by this time upon his march from Susa, very 
 confident, not only in the number of his men, which 
 amounted to six hundred thousand, but likewise in a 
 dream, which the Persian soothsayers interpreted rather 
 in flattery to him than according to the natural probabil- 
 ity. He dreamed that he saw the Macedonian phalanx all 
 on fire, and Alexander waiting on him, clad in the same 
 dress which he himself had been used to wear when he 
 was courier to the late king ; after which, going into the 
 temple of Belus, he vanished out of his sight. The dream 
 would appear to have supernaturally signified to him the 
 illustrious actions the Macedonians were to perform, and 
 that as he from a courier's place had risen to the throne, 
 so Alexander should come to be master of Asia, and, not 
 long surviving his conquests, conclude his life with glory. 
 
 Belus : the sun-god. 
 
88 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Darius' confidence increased the more because Alexander 
 spent so much time in Cilicia, which he imputed to his 
 cowardice. But it was sickness that detained him there, 
 which some say he contracted from his fatigues, others 
 from bathing in the river Cydnus, whose waters were 
 exceedingly cold. However it happened, none of his phy- 
 sicians would venture to give him any remedies, they 
 thought his case so desperate, and were so afraid of the 
 suspicions and ill-will of the Macedonians if they should 
 fail in the cure ; till Philip, the Acarnanian, seeing how 
 critical his case was, but relying on his own well-known 
 friendship for him, resolved to try the last efforts of his 
 art, and rather hazard his own credit and life than suffer 
 him to perish for want of physic, which he confidently 
 administered to him, encouraging him to take it boldly if 
 he desired a speedy recovery, in order to prosecute the 
 war. At this very time, Parmenio wrote to Alexander 
 from the camp, bidding him have a care of Philip, as one 
 who was bribed by Darius to kill him, with great sums of 
 money, and a promise of his daughter in marriage. When 
 he had perused the letter he put it under his pillow, with- 
 out showing it so much as to any of his most intimate 
 friends, and when Philip came in with the potion he took 
 it with great cheerfulness and assurance, giving him mean- 
 time the letter to read. This was a spectacle well worth 
 being present at, to see Alexander take the draught and 
 Philip read the letter at the same time, and then turn and 
 look upon one another, but with different sentiments ; for 
 Alexander's looks were cheerful and open, to show his 
 kindness to and confidence in his physician, while the other 
 was full of surprise and alarm at the accusation, appealing 
 to the gods to witness his innocence, sometimes lifting up 
 
ALEXANDER. 89 
 
 his hands to heaven, and then throwing himself down by 
 the bedside, and beseeching Alexander to lay aside all 
 fear, and follow his directions without apprehension. For 
 the medicine at first worked so strongly as to drive, so to 
 say, the vital forces into the interior ; he lost his speech, 
 and falling into a swoon, had scarce any sense or pulse 
 left. However, in no long time, by Philip's means, his 
 health and strength returned, and he showed himself in 
 public to the Macedonians, who were in continual fear and 
 dejection until they saw him abroad again. 
 
 There was at this time in Darius' army a Macedonian 
 refugee, named Amyntas, one who was pretty well ac- 
 quainted with Alexander's character. This man, when he 
 saw Darius intended to fall upon the enemy in the passes 
 and defiles, advised him earnestly to keep where he was, 
 in the open and extensive plains, it being the advantage 
 of a numerous army to have field-room enough when it 
 engages with a lesser force. Darius, instead of taking his 
 counsel, told him he was afraid the enemy would endeavor 
 to run away, and so Alexander would escape out of his 
 hands. *' That fear," replied Amyntas, " is needless, for 
 assure yourself that far from avoiding you, he will make 
 all the speed he can to meet you, and is now most likely 
 on his march towards you." But Amyntas' counsel was 
 to no purpose, for Darius, immediately decamping, marched 
 into Cilicia, at the same time that Alexander advanced 
 into Syria to meet him ; and missing one another in the 
 night, they both turned back again. Alexander, greatly 
 pleased with the event, made all the haste he could to 
 fight in the defiles, and Darius to recover his former 
 ground, and draw his army out of so disadvantageous a 
 place. For now he began to perceive his error in engaging 
 
90 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 himself too far in a country in which the sea, the moun- 
 tains, and the river Pinarus running through the midst of 
 it, would necessitate him to divide his forces, render his 
 horse almost unserviceable, and only cover and support 
 the weakness of the enemy. Fortune was not kinder to 
 Alexander in the choice of the ground than he was careful 
 to improve it to his advantage. For being much inferior 
 in numbers, so far from allowing himself to be outflanked, 
 he stretched his right wing much further out than the left 
 wing of his enemies, and fighting there himself in the 
 very foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight. In this 
 battle he was wounded in the thigh. 
 
 Nothing was wanting to complete this victory, in which 
 he overthrew above an hundred and ten thousand of his 
 enemies, but the taking the person of Darius, who escaped 
 very narrowly by flight. However, having taken his char- 
 iot and his bow, he returned from pursuing him, and found 
 his own men busy in pillaging the barbarians' camp, which 
 (though to disburden themselves, they had left most of 
 their baggage at Damascus) was exceedingly rich. But 
 Darius' tent, which was full of splendid furniture, and 
 quantities of gold and silver, they reserved for Alexander 
 himself, who, after he had put off his arms, went to bathe 
 himself, saying, " Let us now cleanse ourselves from the 
 toils of war in the bath of Darius." "Not so," replied 
 one of his followers, "but in Alexander's rather; for the 
 property of the conquered is and should be called the 
 conqueror's." Here, when he beheld the bathing vessels, . 
 the water-pots, the pans, and the ointment boxes, all of 
 gold, curiously wrought, and smelt the fragrant odors with 
 which the whole place was exquisitely perfumed, and from 
 thence passed into a pavilion of great size and height, 
 
ALEXANDEK. 91 
 
 where the couches and tables and preparations for an 
 entertainment were perfectly magnificent, he turned to 
 those about him and said, " This, it seems, is royalty." 
 
 But as he was going to supper, word was brought him 
 that Darius' mother and wife and two unmarried daugh- 
 ters, being taken among the rest of the prisoners, upon the 
 sight of his chariot and bow were all in mourning and sor- 
 row, imagining him to be dead. After a little pause, more 
 livelily affected with their affliction than with his own suc- 
 cess, he sent Leonnatus to them, to let them know Darius 
 was not dead, and that they need not fear any harm from 
 Alexander, who made war upon him only for dominion ; 
 they should themselves be provided with everything they 
 had been used to receive from Darius. This kind message 
 could not but be very welcome to the captive ladies, 
 especially being made good by actions no less humane 
 and generous. For he gave them leave to bury whom 
 they pleased of the Persians, and to make use for this pur- 
 pose of what garments and furniture they thought fit, out 
 of the booty. He diminished nothing of their equipage, 
 or of the attentions and respect formerly paid them, and 
 allowed larger pensions for their maintenance than they 
 had before. But the noblest and most royal part of their 
 usage was, that he treated these illustrious prisoners ac- 
 cording to their virtue and character, not suffering them 
 to hear, or receive, or so much as to apprehend, anything 
 that was unbecoming. So that they seemed rather lodged 
 in some temple, or some holy virgin chambers, where they 
 enjoyed their privacy sacred and uninterrupted, than in 
 the camp of an enemy. Nevertheless, Darius' wife was 
 accounted the most beautiful princess then living, as her 
 husband the tallest and handsomest man of his time, and 
 the daughters were not unworthy of their parents. 
 
92 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 In his diet, Alexander was most temperate. For when 
 Ada, his adopted mother, out of kindness sent him every 
 day many curious dishes and sweetmeats, and would have 
 furnished him with some cooks and pastry-men, who were 
 thought to have great skill, he told her he wanted none of 
 them, his preceptor, Leonidas, having already given him 
 the best, which were a night march to prepare for break- 
 fast, and a moderate breakfast to create an appetite for 
 supper. Leonidas also, he added, used to open and search 
 the furniture of his chamber, and his wardrobe, to see if 
 his mother had left him anything that was delicate or 
 superfluous. He was much less addicted to wine than was 
 generally believed; that which gave people occasion to 
 think so of him was that, when he had nothing else to do, 
 he loved to sit long and talk, rather than drink, and over 
 every cup hold a long conversation. For when his affairs 
 called upon him, he would not be detained, as other gen- 
 erals often were, either by wine, or sleep, nuptial solem- 
 nities, spectacles, or any other diversion whatsoever; a 
 convincing argument of which is that, in the short time 
 he lived, he accomplished so many and so great actions. 
 When he was free from employment, after he was up, and 
 had sacrificed to the gods, he used to sit down to break- 
 fast, and then spend the rest of the day in hunting, or 
 writing memoirs, giving decisions on some military ques- 
 tions, or reading. In marches that required no great haste, 
 he would practise shooting as he went along, or to mount 
 a chariot, and alight from it in full speed. 
 
 Darius wrote him a letter, and sent friends to intercede 
 with him, requesting him to accept as a ransom of his cap- 
 tives the sum of a thousand talents, and offering him, in 
 exchange for his amity and alliance, all the countries on 
 
ALEXANDER. 93 
 
 this side the river Euphrates, together with one of his 
 daughters in marriage. These propositions he communi- 
 cated to his friends, and when Parmenio told him that, for 
 his part, if he were Alexander, he should readily embrace 
 them, " So would I," said Alexander, " if I were Parme- 
 nio." Accordingly, his answer to Darius was that, if he 
 would come and yield himself up into his power, he would 
 treat him with all possible kindness ; if not, he was re- 
 solved immediately to go himself and seek him. But the 
 death of Darius' wife made him soon after regret one part 
 of this answer, and he showed evident marks of grief, at 
 being thus deprived of a further opportunity of exercising 
 his clemency and good nature, which he manifested, how- 
 ever, as far as he could, by giving her a most sumptuous 
 funeral. 
 
 Among those who waited in the queen's chamber, and 
 were taken prisoners with the women, there was one 
 Tireus, who, getting out of the camp, fled away on horse- 
 back to Darius, to inform him of his wife's death. He, 
 when he heard it, beating his head, and bursting into tears 
 and lamentations, said, " Alas ! how great is the calamity 
 of the Persians ! Was it not enough that their king's con- 
 sort and sister was a prisoner in her lifetime, but she must, 
 now she is dead also, be but meanly and obscurely bur- 
 ied?" "Oh, king," replied Tireus, "as to her funeral 
 rites, or any respect or honor that should have been shown 
 in them, you have not the least reason to accuse the ill- 
 fortune of your country; for to my knowledge neither 
 your queen Statira, when alive, nor your mother, nor chil- 
 dren, wanted anything of their former happy condition, 
 unless it were the light of your countenance, which I 
 doubt not but the lord Oromasdes will yet restore to its 
 
94 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 former glory. And after her decease, I assure you, she 
 had not only all due funeral ornaments, but was honored 
 also with the tears of your very enemies ; for Alexander 
 is as gentle after victory, as he is terrible in the field." 
 Darius, breaking away from him into the other division of 
 the tent, where his friends and courtiers were, lifted up 
 his hands to heaven, and uttered this prayer : " Ye gods," 
 said he, "of my family, and of my kingdom, if it be possi- 
 ble, I beseech you to restore the declining affairs of Persia, 
 that I may leave them in as flourishing a condition as I 
 found them, and have it in my power to make a grateful 
 return to Alexander for the kindness which in my adver- 
 sity he has shown to those who are dearest to me. But if, 
 indeed, the fatal time be come, which is to put an end 
 to the Persian monarchy, if our ruin be a debt that must 
 be paid to the divine jealousy and the vicissitude of things, 
 then I beseech you grant that no other man but Alexan- ' 
 der may sit upon the throne of Cyrus." 
 
 After Alexander had reduced all Asia on this side the 
 Euphrates, he advanced towards Darius, who was coming 
 down against him with a million of men. The oldest of 
 his commanders, and chiefly Parmenio, when they beheld 
 all the plain shining with the lights and fires which were 
 made by the barbarians, and heard the uncertain and con- 
 fused sound of voices out of their camp, like the distant 
 roaring of a vast ocean, were so amazed at the thoughts of 
 such a multitude that after some conference among them- 
 selves, they concluded it an enterprise too difiicult and 
 hazardous for them to engage so numerous an enemy in 
 the day, and therefore, meeting the king as he came from 
 sacrificing, besought him to attack Darius by night, that 
 the darkness might copceal the danger of the ensuing bat- 
 
ALEXANDER. 95 
 
 tie. To this he gave them the celebrated answer, " I will 
 not steal a victory," which, though some at the time 
 thought a boyish and inconsiderate speech, as if he played 
 with danger, others, however, regarded as an evidence that 
 he confided in his present condition, and acted on a true 
 judgment of the future, not wishing to leave Darius, in 
 case he were worsted, the pretext of trying his fortune 
 again, w^hich he might suppose himself to have, if he could 
 impute his overthrow to the disadvantage of the night, as 
 he did before to the mountains, the narrow passages, and 
 the sea. For, while he had such numerous forces and 
 large dominions still remaining, it was not any want of 
 men or arms that could induce him to give up the war, 
 but only the loss of all courage and hope, upon the convic- 
 tion of an undeniable and manifest defeat. 
 
 After they were gone from him with this answer, he 
 ' laid himself down in his tent and slept the rest of the 
 night more soundly than was usual with him, to the 
 astonishment of the commanders, who came to him early 
 in the morning, and were fain themselves to give order 
 that the soldiers should breakfast. But at last, time not 
 giving them leave to wait any longer, Parmenio went to 
 his bedside, and called him twice or thrice by his name, 
 till he waked him, and then asked him how it was possi- 
 ble, when he was to fight the most important battle of all, 
 he could sleep as soundly as if he were already victorious. 
 "And are we not so, indeed," replied Alexander, smiling, 
 "since we are at last relieved from the trouble of wan- 
 dering in pursuit of Darius through a wide and wasted 
 country, hoping in vain that he would fight us ? " And 
 not only before the battle, but in the height of the dan- 
 ger, he showed himself great, and manifested the self- 
 
96 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 possession of a just foresight and confidence. For the 
 battle for some time fluctuated and was dubious. The 
 left wing, where Parmenio commanded, was so impetu- 
 ously charged by the Bactrian horse that it was disordered 
 and forced to give ground, at the same time that Mazseus 
 had sent a detachment round about to fall upon those 
 who guarded the baggage, which so disturbed Parmenio, 
 that he sent messengers to acquaint Alexander that the 
 camp and baggage would be all lost unless he immediately 
 relieved the rear by a considerable reinforcement drawn 
 out of the front. This message being brought him just 
 as he was giving the signal to those about him for the 
 onset, he bade them tell Parmenio that he must have 
 surely lost the use of his reason, and had forgotten, in his 
 alarm, that soldiers, if victorious, become masters of their 
 enemies' baggage ; and if defeated, instead of taking care 
 of their wealth or their slaves, have nothing more to do 
 but to fight gallantly and die with honor. When he had 
 said this, he put on his helmet, having the rest of his 
 arms on before he came out of his tent, which were a 
 coat of the Sicilian make, girt close about him, and over 
 that a breastpiece of thickly quilted linen, which was 
 taken among other booty at the battle of Issus. The 
 helmet, which was made by Theophilus, though of iron, 
 was so well wrought and polished, that it was as bright as 
 the most refined silver. To this was fitted a gorget of the 
 same metal, set with precious stones. His sword, which 
 was the weapon he most used in fight, was given him by 
 the king of the Citieans, and was of an admirable temper 
 and lightness. The belt which he also wore in all en- 
 gagements, was of much richer workmanship than the 
 
 Gorget (gor-jet) : armor for the neck. 
 
ALEXANDER. 97 
 
 rest of his armor. It was a work of the ancient Helicon, 
 and had been presented to him by the Rhodians, as a 
 mark of their respect to him. So long as he was engaged 
 in drawing up his men, or riding about to give orders or 
 directions, or to view them, he spared Bucephalas, who 
 was now growing old, and made use of another horse; but 
 when he was actually to fight, he sent for him again, and 
 as soon as he was mounted, commenced the attack. 
 
 He made the longest address that day to the Thessa- 
 lians and other Greeks, who answered him with loud 
 shouts, desiring him to lead them on against the barba- 
 rians, upon which he shifted his javelin into his left hand, 
 and with his right lifted up towards heaven, besought 
 the gods, as Callisthenes tells us, that if he was of a truth 
 the son of Jupiter, they would be pleased to assist and 
 strengthen the Grecians. At the same time the augur 
 Aristander, who had a white mantle about him, and a 
 crown of gold on his head, rode by and showed them an 
 eagle that soared just over Alexander, and directed his 
 flight towards the enemy; which so animated the be- 
 holders, that after mutual encouragements and exhorta- 
 tions, the horse charged at full speed, and were followed 
 in a mass by the whole phalanx of the foot. But before 
 they could well come to blows with the first ranks, the 
 barbarians shrunk back, and were hotly pursued by Alex- 
 ander, who drove those that fled before him into the mid- 
 dle of the battle, where Darius himself was in person, 
 whom he saw from a distance over the foremost ranks, 
 conspicuous in the midst of his life-guard, a tall and fine- 
 looking man, drawn in a lofty chariot, defended by an 
 abundance of the best horse, who stood close in order 
 about it, ready to receive the enemy. But Alexander's 
 
98 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 approach was so terrible, forcing those, who gave back 
 upon those who yet maintained their ground, that he 
 beat down and dispersed them almost all. Only a few of 
 the bravest and valiantest opposed the pursuit, who were 
 slain in their king's presence, falling in heaps upon one 
 another, and in the very pangs of death striving to catch 
 hold of the horses. Darius now seeing all was lost, that 
 those who were placed in front to defend him were broken 
 and beat back upon him, that he could not turn or dis- 
 engage his chariot without great difficulty, the wheels 
 being clogged and entangled among the dead bodies, 
 which lay in such heaps as not only stopped, but almost 
 covered the horses, and made them rear and grow so 
 unruly, that the frighted charioteer could govern them no 
 longer ; in this extremity^was glad to quit his chariot and 
 his arms, and mounting, it is said, upon a mare that had 
 been taken from her foal, betook himself to flight. But 
 he had not escaped so either, if Parmenio had not sent 
 fresh messengers to Alexander, to desire him to return 
 and assist him against a considerable body of the enemy 
 which yet stood together, and would not give ground. 
 For, indeed, Parmenio is on all hands accused of having 
 been sluggish and unserviceable in this battle, whether 
 age had impaired his courage, or that, as Callisthenes 
 says, he secretly disliked and envied Alexander's growing 
 greatness. Alexander, though he was not a little vexed 
 to be so recalled and hindered from pursuing his victory, 
 yet concealed the true reason from his men, and causing a 
 retreat to be sounded, as if it were too late to continue 
 the execution any longer, marched back towards the place 
 of danger, and by the way met with the news of the 
 enemy's total overthrow and flight. 
 
ALEXANDER. 99 
 
 This battle being thus over, seemed to put an end to 
 the Persian empire; and Alexander, who was now pro- 
 claimed king of Asia, returned thanks to the gods in mag- 
 nificent sacrifices, and rewarded his friends and followers 
 with great sums of money, and places, and governments 
 of provinces. And eager to gain honor with the Grecians, 
 he wrote to them that he would have all tyrannies abol- 
 ished, that they might live free according to their own 
 laws, and specially to the Plataeans, that their city should 
 be rebuilt, because their ancestors had permitted their 
 countrymen of old to make their territory the seat of the 
 war, when they fought with the barbarians for their com- 
 mon liberty. 
 
 Alexander was naturally most munificent, and grew 
 more so as his fortune increased, accompanying what he 
 gave with that courtesy and freedom, which, to speak 
 truth, is necessary to make a benefit really obliging. To 
 Parmenio he gave a wardrobe of apparel worth more than 
 a thousand talents. He wrote to Antipater, commanding 
 him to keep a life-guard about him for the security of his 
 person against conspiracies. To his mother he sent many 
 presents, but would never suffer her to meddle with mat- 
 ters of state or war, not indulging her busy temper, and 
 when she fell out with him upon this account, he bore her 
 ill-humor very patiently. Nay more, when he read a long 
 letter from Antipater, full of accusations against her, 
 " Antipater," he said, " does not know that one tear of a 
 mother effaces a thousand such letters as these." 
 
 But when he perceived his favorites grow so luxurious 
 and extravagant in their way of living and expenses, that 
 Hagnon, the Teian, wore silver nails in his shoes, that 
 Leonnatus employed several camels, only to bring him 
 
100 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 powder out of Egypt to use when he wrestled, and that 
 Philotas had hunting nets a hundred furlongs in length, 
 that more used precious ointment than plain oil when 
 they went to bathe, and that they carried about servants 
 everywhere with them to rub them and wait upon them in 
 their chambers, he reproved them in gentle and reasona- 
 ble terms, telling them he wondered that they who had 
 been engaged in so many signal battles did not know 
 by experience, that those who labor sleep more sweetly 
 and soundly than those who are labored for, and could 
 fail to see by comparing the Persians' manner of living 
 with their own, that it was the most abject and slavish 
 condition to be voluptuous, but the most noble and royal 
 to undergo pain and labor. He argued with them further, 
 how it was possible for any one who pretended to be a 
 soldier, either to look well after his horse, or to keep his 
 armor bright and in good order, who thought it much to 
 let his hands be serviceable to what was nearest to him, 
 his own body. "Are you still to learn," said he, "that 
 the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the 
 vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue ? " And 
 to strengthen his precept by example, he applied himself 
 now more vigorously than ever to hunting and warlike 
 expeditions, embracing all opportunities of hardship and 
 danger, insomuch that a Lacedaemonian, who was there 
 on an embassy to him, and chanced to be by when he 
 encountered with and mastered a huge lion, told him he 
 had fought gallantly with the beast, which of the two 
 should be king. Alexander exposed his person to danger 
 in this manner, with the object both of inuring himself, 
 and inciting others to the performance of brave and vir- 
 tuous actions. 
 
ALEXANDER. 101 
 
 But his followers, who were grown' rich/ arid 'cVnse- 
 quently proud, longed to indulge themselves in pleasure 
 and idleness, and were weary of marches and expeditions, 
 and at last went on so far as to censure and speak ill of 
 him. All which at first he bore very patiently, saying, 
 it became a king well to do good to others, and be evil 
 spoken of. Meantime, on the smallest occasions that 
 called for a show of kindness to his friends, there was 
 every indication on his part of tenderness and respect. 
 Hearing Peucestes was bitten by a bear, he wrote to him, 
 that he took it unkindly he should send others notice of 
 it, and not make him acquainted with it; "But now," 
 said he, "since it is so, let me know how you do, and 
 whether any of your companions forsook you when you 
 were in danger, that I may punish them." 
 
 It is reported of him that when he first sat in judgment 
 upon capital causes, he would lay his hand upon one of 
 his ears while the accuser spoke, to keep it free and un- 
 prejudiced in behalf of the party accused. But after- 
 wards such a multitude of accusations were brought 
 before him, and so many proved true, that he lost his 
 tenderness of heart, and gave credit to those also that 
 were false ; and especially when anybody spoke ill of him 
 he would be transported out of his reason, and show him- 
 self cruel and inexorable, valuing his glory and reputa- 
 tion beyond his life or kingdom. 
 
 He now set forth to seek Darius, expecting he should 
 be put to the hazard of another battle, but heard he was 
 taken and secured by Bessus, upon which news he sent 
 home the Thessalians, and gave them a largess of two 
 thousand talents over and above the pay that was due to 
 them. This long and painful pursuit of Darius, for in 
 
102 PLUTARCH^S LIVES. 
 
 eteveii days he marched thirty-three hundred furlongs,^ 
 harassed his soldiers so that most of them were ready to 
 give it up, chiefly for want of water. While they were in 
 this distress, it happened that some Macedonians who had 
 fetched water in skins upon their mules from a river they 
 had found out, came about noon to the place where Alex- 
 ander was, and seeing him almost choked with thirst, 
 presently filled an helmet and offered it him. He asked 
 them to whom they were carrying the water ; they told 
 him to their children, adding, that if his life were but 
 saved, it was no matter for them, they should be able well 
 enough to repair that loss, though they all perished. 
 Then he took the helmet into his hands, and looking 
 round about, when he saw all those who were near him 
 stretching their heads out and looking earnestly after the 
 drink, he returned it again with thanks without tasting a 
 drop of it, " For," said he, " if I alone should drink, the 
 rest will be out of heart." The soldiers no sooner took 
 notice of his temperance and magnanimity upon this 
 occasion, but they one and all cried out to him to lead 
 them forward boldly, and began whipping on their horses. 
 For whilst they had such a king, they said, they defied 
 both weariness and thirst, and looked upon themselves to 
 be little less than immortal. But though they were all 
 equally cheerful and willing, yet not above threescore 
 horse were able, it is said, to keep up, and to fall in with 
 Alexander upon the enemy's camp, where they rode over 
 abundance of gold and silver that lay scattered about, 
 and passing by a great many chariots full of women that 
 wandered here and there for want of drivers, they en- 
 deavored to overtake the first of those that fled, in hopes 
 to meet with Darius among them. And at last, after 
 
 1 About three hundred and fifteen miles. 
 
ALEXANDER. 103 
 
 much trouble, they found him lying in a chariot, wounded 
 all over with darts, just at the point of death. How- 
 ever, he desired they would give him some drink, and 
 when he had drunk a little cold water, he told Poly- 
 stratus, who gave it him, that it had become the last ex- 
 tremity of his ill fortune, to receive benefits and not be 
 able to return them." "But Alexander," said he, "whose 
 kindness to my mother, my wife, and my children I hope 
 the gods will recompense, will doubtless thank you for 
 your humanity to me. Tell him, therefore, in token of 
 my acknowledgment, I give him this right hand," with 
 which words he took hold of Polystratus' hand and died. 
 When Alexander came up to them, he showed manifest 
 tokens of sorrow, and taking off his own cloak, threw it 
 upon the body to cover it. Darius' body was laid in 
 state, and sent to his mother with pomp suitable to his 
 quality. His brother Exathres, Alexander received into 
 the number of his intimate friends. 
 
 And now with the flower of his army he marched into 
 Hyrcania. 
 
 From hence he marched into Parthia, where not having 
 much to do, he first put on the barbaric dress, perhaps 
 with the view of making the work of civilizing them the 
 easier, as nothing gains more upon men than a conformity 
 to their fashions and customs. Or it may have been as a 
 first trial, whether the Macedonians might be brought to 
 adore him, as the Persians did their kings, by accustoming 
 them by little and little to bear with the alteration of his 
 rule and course of life in other things. 
 
 Apprehending the Macedonians would be weary of pur- 
 suing the war, he left the greater part of them in their 
 quarters ; and having with him in Hyrcania the choice of 
 
104 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 his men only, amounting to twenty thousand foot, and 
 three thousand horse, he spoke to them to this effect: 
 That hitherto the barbarians had seen them no otherwise 
 than as it were in a dream, and if they should think of 
 returning when they had only alarmed Asia, and not con- 
 quered it, their enemies would set upon them as upon so 
 many women. However, he told them he would keep 
 none of them with him against their will, they might go 
 if they pleased; he should merely enter his protest, that 
 when on his way to make the Macedonians the masters of 
 the world, he was left alone with a few friends and vol- 
 unteers. This is almost word for word, as he wrote 
 in a letter to Antipater, where he adds, that when he 
 had thus spoken to them, they all cried out, they would 
 go along with him whithersoever it was his pleasure to 
 lead them. After succeeding with these, it was no hard 
 matter for him to bring over the multitude, which easily 
 followed the example of their betters. Now, also, he 
 more and more accommodated himself in his way of 
 living to that of the natives, and tried to bring them, 
 also, as near as he could to the Macedonian customs, 
 wisely considering that whilst he was engaged in an 
 expedition which would carry him far from thence, it 
 would be wiser to depend upon the good-will which 
 might arise from intermixture and association as a means 
 of maintaining tranquillity, than upon force and com- 
 pulsion. In order to this, he chose out thirty thousand 
 boys, whom he put under masters to teach them the 
 Greek tongue, and to train them up to arms in the Mace- 
 donian discipline. As for his marriage with Roxana, 
 whose youthfulness and beauty had charmed him at a 
 drinking entertainment, where he first happened to see 
 
ALEXANDER. 105 
 
 her, taking part in a dance, it was, indeed, a love affair,, 
 yet it seemed at the same time to be conducive to the 
 object he had in hand. For it gratified the conquered- 
 people to see him choose a wife from among themselves. 
 
 Alexander, now intent upon his expedition into India, 
 took notice that his soldiers were so charged with booty 
 that it hindered their marching. Therefore, at break of 
 day, as soon as the baggage wagons were laden, first he 
 set fire to his own, and to those of his friends, and then 
 commanded those to be burned which belonged to the rest 
 of the army. An act which in the deliberation of it had 
 seemed more dangerous and difficult than it proved in the 
 execution, with which few were dissatisfied ; for most of 
 the soldiers, as if they had been inspired, uttering loud 
 outcries and warlike shoutings, supplied one another with 
 what was absolutely necessary, and burnt and destroyed 
 all that was superfluous, the sight of which redoubled 
 Alexander's zeal and eagerness for his design. 
 
 He still applied himself to overcome fortune and what- 
 ever opposed him, by resolution and virtue, and thought 
 nothing impossible to true intrepidity, and on the other 
 hand nothing secure or strong for cowardice. It is told of 
 him, that when he besieged Sisimithres, who held an inac- 
 cessible, impregnable rock against him, and his soldiers 
 began to despair of taking it, he asked whether Sisimithres 
 was a man of courage. On being assured he was the 
 greatest coward alive, " Then you tell me," said he, " that 
 the place may easily be taken, since what is in command 
 of it is weak." And in a little time he so terrified Sisimi- 
 thres, that he took it without any difficulty. 
 
 The extent of king Taxiles' dominions in India was 
 thought to be as large as Egypt, abounding in good pas- 
 
106 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 tures, and producing beautiful fruits. The king himself 
 had the reputation of a wise man, and at his first inter- 
 view with Alexander, he spoke to him in these terms: "To 
 what purpose," said he, " should we make war upon one 
 another, if the design of your coming into these parts be 
 not to rob us of our water or our necessary food, which 
 are the only things that wise men are indispensably obliged 
 to fight for ? As for other riches and possessions, as they 
 are accounted in the eye of the world, if I am better pro- 
 vided of them than you, I am ready to let you share with 
 me ; but if fortune has been more liberal to you than me, 
 I have no objection to be obliged to you." This discourse 
 pleased Alexander so much that, embracing him, "Do you 
 think," said he to him, "your kind words and courteous 
 behavior will bring you off in this interview without a 
 contest? No, you shall not escape so. I shall contend 
 and do battle with you so far that, how obliging soever 
 you are, you shall not have the better of me." Then 
 receiving some presents from him, he returned him others 
 of greater value, and to complete his bounty, gave him in 
 money, ready coined, one thousand talents ; at which his 
 old friends were much displeased, but it gained him the 
 hearts of many of the barbarians. 
 
 Alexander, in his own letters, has given us an account 
 of his war with Porus. He says the two armies were 
 separated by the river Hydaspes, on whose opposite bank 
 Porus continually kept his elephants in order of battle, 
 with their heads towards their enemies, to guard the pas- 
 sage ; that he, on the other hand, made every day a great 
 noise and clamor in his camp, to dissipate the apprehen- 
 sions of the barbarians ; that one stormy dark night he 
 passed the river, at a distance from the place where the 
 
ALEXANDER. 107 
 
 enemy lay, into a little island, with part of his foot, and 
 the best of his horse. Here there fell a most violent storm 
 of rain, accompanied with lightning and whirlwinds, and 
 seeing some of his men burnt and dying with the lightning, 
 he nevertheless quitted the island and made over to the 
 other side. The Hydaspes, he says, now after the storm, 
 was so swollen and grown so rapid, as to have made a 
 breach in the bank, and a part of the river was now pour- 
 ing in here, so that when he came across, it was with diffi- 
 culty he got a footing on the land, which was slippery and 
 unsteady, and exposed to the force of the currents on both 
 sides. This is the occasion when he is related to have 
 said, " O ye Athenians, will ye believe what dangers I 
 incur to merit your praise?" Alexander says, here the 
 men left their boats, and passed the breach in their armor, 
 up to the breast in water, and that then he advanced with 
 his horse about twenty furlongs before his foot, concluding 
 that if the enemy charged him with their cavalry, he should 
 be too strong for them ; if with their foot, his own would 
 come up time enough to his assistance. Nor did he judge 
 amiss ; for being charged by a thousand horse, and sixty 
 armed chariots, which advanced before their main body, 
 he took all the chariots, and killed four hundred horse 
 upon the place. Porus, by this time guessing that Alex- 
 ander himself had crossed over, came on with his whole 
 army, except a party which he left behind, to hold the 
 rest of the Macedonians in play, if they should attempt 
 to pass the river. But he, apprehending the multitude 
 of the enemy, and to avoid the shock of their elephants, 
 dividing his forces, attacked their left wing himself, and 
 commanded Coenus to fall upon the right, which was per- 
 formed with good success. For by this means both wings 
 
108 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 being broken, the enemies fell back in their retreat upon 
 the centre, and crowded in upon their elephants. There 
 rallying, they fought a hand to hand battle, and it was the 
 eighth hour of the day before they were entirely defeated. 
 
 Almost all the historians agree in relating that Porus 
 was four cubits and a span high, and that when he was 
 upon his elephant, which was of the largest size, his stat- 
 ure and bulk were so answerable, that he appeared to be 
 proportionably mounted, as a horseman on his horse. 
 This elephant, during the whole battle, gave many singu- 
 lar proofs of sagacity and of particular care of the king, 
 whom as long as he was strong and in a condition to fight, 
 he defended with great courage, repelling those who set 
 upon him ; and as soon as he perceived him overpowered 
 with his numerous wounds and the multitude of darts that 
 were thrown at him, to prevent his falling off, he softly 
 knelt down and began to draw out the darts with his 
 proboscis. When Porus was taken prisoner, and Alex- 
 ander asked him how he expected to be used, he answered, 
 ''As a king." For that expression, he said, when the 
 same question was put to him a second time, compre- 
 hended everything. And Alexander, accordingly, not 
 only suffered him to govern his own kingdom as satrap 
 under himself, but gave him also the additional territory 
 of various independent tribes. 
 
 But this last combat with Porus took off the edge of 
 the Macedonians' courage, and stayed their further prog- 
 ress into India. For having found it hard enough to 
 defeat an enemy who brought but twenty thousand foot 
 and two thousand horse into the field, they thought they 
 had reason to oppose Alexander's design of leading them 
 on to pass the Ganges too, which they were told was thirty- 
 
ALEXANDER. 109 
 
 two furlongs broad and a hundred fathoms deep, and the 
 banks on the further side covered with multitudes of 
 enemies. 
 
 He at first was so grieved and enraged at his men's 
 reluctancy, that he shut himself up in his tent, and threw 
 himself upon the ground, declaring, if they would not pass 
 the Ganges, he owed them no thanks for anything they 
 had hitherto done, and that to retreat now, was plainly to 
 confess himself vanquished. But at last the reasonable 
 persuasions of his friends and the cries and lamentations 
 of his soldiers, who in a suppliant manner crowded about 
 the entrance of his tent, prevailed with him to think of 
 returning. 
 
 He was now eager to see the ocean. To which purpose 
 he caused a great many row-boats and rafts to be built, in 
 which he fell gently down the rivers at his leisure, yet so 
 that his navigation was neither unprofitable nor inactive. 
 For by several descents upon the banks, he made himself 
 master of the fortified towns, and consequently of the 
 country on both sides. But at a siege of a town of the 
 MaUians, who have the repute of being the bravest people 
 of India, he ran in great danger of his life. For having 
 beaten off the defendants with showers of arrows, he was 
 the first man that mounted the wall by a scaling ladder, 
 which, as soon as he was up, broke and left him almost 
 alone, exposed to the darts which the barbarians threw at 
 him in great numbers from below. In this distress, turn- 
 ing himself as well as he could, he leaped down in the 
 midst of his enemies, and had the good fortune to light 
 upon his feet. The brightness and clattering of his armor 
 when he came to the ground, made the barbarians think 
 they saw rays of light, or some bright phantom playing 
 
110 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 before his body, which frightened them so at first, that 
 they ran away and dispersed. Till seeing him seconded 
 but by two of his guards, they fell upon him hand to hand, 
 and some, while he bravely defended himself, tried to 
 wound him through his armor with their swords and 
 spears. And one who stood further off, drew a bow with 
 such just strength, that the arrow finding its way through 
 his cuirass, stuck in his ribs under the breast. This stroke 
 was so violent, that it made him give back, and set one 
 knee to the ground, upon which the man ran up with his 
 drawn scimitar, thinking to despatch him, and had done 
 it, if Peucestes and Limnseus had not interposed, who 
 were both wounded, Limnseus mortally, but Peucestes 
 stood his ground, while Alexander killed the barbarian. 
 But this did not free him from danger ; for besides many 
 other wounds, at last he received so weighty a stroke of 
 a club upon his neck, that he was forced to lean his body 
 against the wall, still, however, facing the enemy. At this 
 extremity, the Macedonians made their way in and gath- 
 ered round him. They took him up, just as he was faint- 
 ing away, having lost all sense of what was done near him, 
 and conveyed him to his tent, upon which it was presently 
 reported all over the camp that he was dead. But when 
 they had with great difficulty and pains sawed off the 
 shaft of the arrow, which was of wood, and so with much 
 trouble got off his cuirass, they came to cut out the head 
 of it, which was three fingers broad and four long, and 
 stuck fast in the bone. During the operation, he was 
 taken with almost mortal swoonings, but when it was out 
 he came to himself again. Yet though all danger was 
 past, he continued very weak, and confined himself a great 
 while to a regular diet and the method of his cure, till one 
 
ALEXANDER. Ill 
 
 day hearing the Macedonians clamoring outside in their 
 eagerness to see him, he took his cloak and went out. 
 And having sacrificed to the gods, without more delay he 
 went on board again, and as he coasted along, subdued a 
 great deal of the country on both sides, and several con- 
 siderable cities. 
 
 In this voyage, he took ten of the Indian philosophers 
 prisoners, who had been most active in persuading Sabbas 
 to revolt, and had caused the Macedonians a great deal of 
 trouble. These men were reputed to be extremely ready 
 and succinct in their answers, which he made trial of, by 
 putting difficult questions to them, letting them know that 
 those whose answers were not pertinent, should be put to 
 death, of which he made the eldest of them judge. The 
 first being asked which he thought most numerous, the 
 dead or the living, answered, " The living, because those 
 who are dead are not at all." Of the second, he desired 
 to know whether the earth or the sea produced the largest 
 beast ; who told him, " The earth, for the sea is but a part 
 of it." His question to the third was. Which is the cun- 
 ningest of beasts? "That," said he, "which men have 
 not yet found out." He bade the fourth tell him what 
 argument he used to Sabbas to persuade him to revolt. 
 " No other," said he, " than that he should either live or 
 die nobly." Of the fifth he asked. Which was eldest, 
 night or day ? The philosopher replied, " Day was eldest, 
 by one day at least." But perceiving Alexander not well 
 satisfied with that account, he added, that he ought not to 
 wonder if strange questions had as strange answers made 
 to them. Then he went on and inquired of the next, what 
 a man should do to be exceedingly beloved. " He must 
 be very powerful," said he, " without making himself too 
 
112 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 much feared." The answer of the seventh to his question, 
 how a man might become a god, was, "By doing that 
 which was impossible for men to do." The eighth told him, 
 " Life is stronger than death, because it supports so many- 
 miseries." And the last being asked, how long he thought 
 it decent for a man to live, said, "Till death appeared 
 more desirable than life." Then Alexander turned to 
 him whom he had made judge, and commanded him to 
 give sentence. "All that I can determine," said he, "is, 
 that they have every one answered worse than another." 
 " Nay," said the king, " then you shall die first, for giving 
 such a sentence." " Not so, O king," replied the philoso- 
 pher, " unless you said falsely that he should die first who 
 made the worst answer." In conclusion he gave them 
 presents and dismissed them. "^ 
 
 Calanus, one of those who were in greatest reputation 
 among them, and lived a private quiet life, is said to have 
 shown Alexander an instructive emblem of government, 
 which was this. He threw a dry, shrivelled hide upon the 
 ground, and trod upon the edges of it. The skin, when it 
 was pressed in one place, still rose up in another, whereso- 
 ever he trod round about it, till he set his foot in the mid- 
 dle, which made all the parts lie even and quiet. The 
 meaning of this similitude being that he ought to reside 
 most in the middle of his empire, and not spend too mucli 
 time on the borders of it. 
 
 His voyage down the rivers took up seven months' time, 
 and when he came to the sea, he sailed to an island, where, 
 going ashore, he sacrificed, and made what observations 
 he could as to the nature of the sea and the sea-coast. 
 Then having besought the gods that no other man might 
 ever go beyond the bounds of this expedition, he ordered 
 
ALEXANDER. 113 
 
 his fleet, of which he made Nearchus admiral, and Onesi- 
 critus pilot, to sail round about, keeping the Indian shore 
 on the right hand, and returned himself by land through 
 the country of the Orites, where he was reduced to great 
 straits for want of provisions, and lost a vast number of 
 men, so that of an army of one hundred and twenty thou- 
 sand foot and fifteen thousand horse, he scarcely brought 
 back above a fourth part out of India, they were so dimin- 
 ished by diseases, ill-diet, and the scorching heats, but 
 most by famine. 
 
 When he came into Persia, finding Cyrus' sepulchre 
 opened and rifled, he put Polymachus, who did it, to 
 death, though he was a man of some distinction, a born 
 Macedonian of Pella. And after he had read the inscrip- 
 tion, he caused it to be cut again below the old one in 
 Greek characters ; the words being these : " O man, who- 
 soever thou art, and from whencesoever thou comest (for 
 I know thou wilt come), I am Cyrus, the founder of the 
 Persian empire ; do not grudge me this little earth which 
 covers my body." The reading of this sensibly touched 
 Alexander, filling him with the thought of the uncertainty 
 and mutability of human affairs. 
 
 At Susa, he married Darius' daughter Statira, and cele- 
 brated also the nuptials of his friends, bestowing the no- 
 blest of the Persian ladies upon the worthiest of them, at 
 the same time making it an entertainment in honor of the 
 other Macedonians whose marriages had already taken 
 place. At this magnificent festival, it is reported, there 
 were no less than nine thousand guests, to each of whom 
 he gave a golden cup for the libations. Not to mention 
 other instances of his wonderful magnificence, he paid the 
 debts of his army, which amounted to nine thousand eight 
 
114 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 hundred and seventy talents. But Antigenes, who had 
 lost one of his eyes, though he owed nothing, got his name 
 set down in the list of those who were in debt, and bring- 
 ing one who pretended to be his creditor, and to have sup- 
 plied him from the bank, received the money. But when 
 the cheat was found out, the king was so incensed at it, 
 that he banished him from court, and took away his com- 
 mand, though he was an excellent soldier, and a man of 
 great courage. For when he was but a youth, and served 
 under Philip at the siege of Perinthus, where he was 
 wounded in the eye by an arrow shot out of an engine, he 
 would neither let the arrow be taken out, nor be persuaded 
 to quit the field, till he had bravely repulsed the enemy 
 and forced them to retire into the town. Accordingly he 
 was not able to support such a disgrace with any patience, 
 and it was plain that grief and despair would have made 
 him kill himself, but the king fearing it, not only pardoned 
 him, but let him also enjoy the benefit of his deceit. 
 
 The thirty thousand boys whom he left behind him to 
 be taught and disciplined, were so improved at his return, 
 both in strength and beauty, and performed their exercises 
 with such dexterity and wonderful agility, that he was 
 extremely pleased with them, which grieved the Macedo- 
 nians, and made them fear he would have the less value 
 for them. And when he proceeded to send down the in- 
 firm and maimed soldiers to the sea, they said they were 
 unjustly and infamously dealt with, after they were worn 
 out in his service upon all occasions, now to be turned 
 away with disgrace, and sent home into their country 
 among their friends and relations, in a worse condition 
 than when they came out ; therefore they desired him to 
 dismiss them one and all, and to account his Macedonians 
 
ALEXANDER. 115 
 
 useless, now he was so well furnished with a set of danc- 
 ing boys, with whom, if he pleased, he might go on and 
 conquer the world. These speeches so incensed Alexan- 
 der that, after he had given them a great deal of reproach- 
 ful language in his passion, he drove them away, and 
 committed the watch to Persians, out of whom he chose 
 his guards and attendants. When the Macedonians saw 
 him escorted by these men, and themselves excluded and 
 shamefully disgraced, their high spirits fell, and confer- 
 ring with one another, they found that jealousy and rage 
 had almost distracted them. But at last coming to them- 
 selves again, they went without their arms, with only their 
 under garments on, crying and weeping, to offer them- 
 selves at his tent, and desired him to deal with them as 
 their baseness and ingratitude deserved. However, this 
 would not prevail; for though his anger was already some- 
 thing mollified, yet he would not admit them into his 
 presence, nor would they stir from thence, but continued 
 two days and nights before his tent, bewailing themselves, 
 and imploring him as their lord to have compassion on 
 them. But the third day he came out to them, and seeing 
 them very humble and penitent, he wept himself a great 
 while, and after a gentle reproof spoke kindly to them, 
 and dismissed those who were unserviceable with magnifi- 
 cent rewards, and with this recommendation to Antipater, 
 that when they came home, at all public shows and in the 
 theatres, they should sit on the best and foremost seats, 
 crowned with chaplets of flowers. He ordered, also, that 
 the children of those who had lost their lives in his ser- 
 vice should have their fathers' pay continued to them. 
 
 When once Alexander had given way to fears of super- 
 natural influence, his mind grew so disturbed and so easily 
 
116 rLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 alarmed, that if the least unusual or extraordinary thing 
 happened, he thought it a prodigy or a presage, and his 
 court was thronged with diviners and priests whose busi- 
 ness was to sacrifice and purify and foretell the future. 
 So miserable a thing is incredulity and contempt of divine 
 power on the one hand, and so miserable, also, superstition 
 on the other, which like water, where the level has been 
 lowered, flowing in and never stopping, fills the mind with 
 slavish fears and follies, as now in Alexander's case. But 
 upon some answers which were brought him from the ora- 
 cle concerning Hephsestion, he laid aside his sorrow, and 
 fell again to sacrificing and drinking; and having given 
 Nearchus a splendid entertainment, after he had bathed, 
 as was his custom, just as he was going to bed, at Medius' 
 request he went to supper with him. Here he drank all 
 the next day, and being attacked with a fever, it is reported 
 that in the rage of the disease, he took a draught of wine, 
 upon which he fell into delirium, and died. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO CORIOLANUS. 
 
 About five hundred years before the Christian era, 
 we find in the country of the Latins, nearly in the 
 middle of Italy, a thriving city named Rome. The Latins 
 were a community of peasants, — shepherds and husband- 
 men, — and the Romans too were shepherds and husband- 
 men ; but the peculiar situation of their city made them 
 something more. It was a group of low hills on the bank 
 of the river Tiber, — a healthy situation in an unhealthy 
 region ; and this healthiness of situation gave it an advan- 
 tage over its rivals. But its chief point of advantage was 
 the river on which it was built. The Tiber is the largest 
 river of Italy except the Po, in the extreme north, and by 
 means of it Rome was able to carry on trade with the 
 countries in the interior of Italy, and also with foreign 
 countries. The coast of Latium is flat and sandy, with no 
 good harbors ; but the Romans built a harbor called Ostia 
 at the mouth of the river Tiber, and thus nearly all the 
 commerce of Latium, both by the river and the sea, fell 
 into their hands. As a sign of the importance of trade to 
 the Romans, they stamped on their coins the figure of the 
 prow of a ship. 
 
 There was another way in which the river Tiber was of 
 very great importance to the Romans. It was the boun- 
 dary between the Latins and the Etruscans; and the 
 Romans, placed directly on the boundary, were constantly 
 called on to fight against these enemies. This made them 
 a warlike nation. The Etruscans were at this time the 
 
118 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 richest and most powerful people in Italy, and one of their 
 chief cities, Veii, was only ten miles distant from Rome. 
 There was a hill, called Janiculum, directly across the 
 river from Rome, and the Romans built a fortification here, 
 so that they might always be prepared for assaults on this 
 side. 
 
 Latium, or the country of the Latins, was a tolerably 
 level region, stretching about twenty miles in each direc- 
 tion, between the Tiber, the mountains, and the sea. In the 
 centre of it was the Alban Mount, on the top of which the 
 Latins celebrated their great annual festival. There were 
 about a dozen independent cities of Latium which formed 
 a league or confederacy, of which Rome, the largest and 
 strongest city, was the head. It was like a company of 
 soldiers, of which Rome was the captain. And there was 
 always enough fighting to do ; for besides the Etruscans 
 on the north, there were the Volscians in the mountains of 
 the south, and the ^quians in those of the east, always 
 ready to pounce upon the lands of the industrious peas- 
 ants and carry off cattle and other property. 
 
 The government of Rome was a republic. It formerly 
 had kings, but they had got rid of their kings, and now 
 had two magistrates, chosen every year, called consuls 
 (which means " colleagues "). The year in which they ex- 
 pelled the kings and set up a republic is said to have been 
 B.C. 509 ; but in events that happened so long ago, when 
 there were no books, or newspapers, or regular records, we 
 cannot be certain either of the date or exactly what hap- 
 pened. It is said that the last king, whose name was Tar- 
 quin, was very proud and tyrannical, and for this reason 
 he was called Tarquin the Proud ; and after he was ban- 
 ished, his friends and supporters for several years made 
 
CORIOLANUS. 119 
 
 efforts to force the Romans to receive him back as their 
 king. 
 
 Rome was now a republic, but a very aristocratic repub- 
 lic. All the citizens had, it is true, a right to vote in the 
 election of magistrates, as well as in making laws ; but the 
 rules of voting were such that the rich citizens had much 
 more power than the poor, and the consuls must be mem- 
 bers of certain noble families, called patricians. The rest 
 of the citizens were called plebeians^ and there were some 
 rich plebeians ; but as the patricians were nearly all rich, 
 they of course controlled the elections. Some of the rich 
 plebeians were appointed by the consuls as members of 
 their council, the Senate; but even here they had less 
 power than the patrician senators, and they could not be 
 elected to the consulship. This caused great dissatisfac- 
 tion among the plebeians, and for about a hundred years 
 they were constantly striving to obtain the right to be 
 elected consul. 
 
 There were two other things that caused dissatisfaction 
 among the poor plebeians, — the management of the public 
 land and the treatment of persons in debt. There was a 
 considerable amount of land which belonged to the city, 
 and which should have been used for the benefit of all the 
 citizens. But the consuls had the management of it, and 
 left it to be occupied by whoever cared to take it ; and the 
 rich men got it all into their hands, and neglected to pay 
 the rent that was due, so that they came at last to treat 
 the land as if it belonged to them. A distinguished patri- 
 cian, named Spurius Cassius, tried to put a stop to this 
 abuse, and have the public land divided up among the 
 poorer citizens ; but the patricians said that he was trying 
 to make himself king, and succeeded in having him put to 
 
120 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 death as a traitor. A law to give portions of the public 
 land to actual settlers was called an agrarian law, and 
 there were afterwards a great many agrarian laws in Rome. 
 
 The laws about debt were very harsh and unjust ; for 
 when a person could not pay his debts, his creditors were 
 allowed to take him and treat him as a slave. It was to 
 protect the poor plebeians against this abuse and other 
 abuses that a law was passed, in the year B.C. 494, allow- 
 ing the plebeians to elect officers called tribunes, whose 
 business it was to protect any person, plebeian or patrician, 
 against ill treatment by the magistrates. There were at 
 first two tribunes, but afterwards ten, and in order to 
 make sure that they should be able to give protection to 
 those who needed it, they were forbidden to leave the city 
 during their term of office ; and they were made sacred, as 
 it is called ; that is, it was made a serious crime, punisha- 
 ble by death, to harm them or interfere with the exercise 
 of their office. Two other officers, called cediles, were 
 elected to assist them. 
 
 Many of the patricians were very much dissatisfied with 
 this compromise, and a story is told of a young man named 
 Coriolanus, who was the leader of the dissatisfied patri- 
 cians. It is not to be supposed that the story is true in 
 its details. Very likely there never was such a person as 
 Coriolanus, and many of the incidents of the story are very 
 improbable. But even if this particular story is not true, 
 there is no doubt that there were just such violent dis- 
 sensions among the Roman people, and just such wars 
 with the Volscians and their other neighbors as this story 
 describes. So that it gives us a truthful, if not a true, 
 picture of this period of the Roman republic. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 121 
 
 1^- 
 
 CORIOLANUS. 
 
 CAIUS MARCIUS, of whom I now write, being left an 
 orphan, and brought up under the widowhood of his 
 mother, has shown us by experience, that, although the early- 
 loss of a father may be attended with other d isadvantages, yet 
 it can hinder none from being either virtuous or eminent 
 in the world, and that it is no obstacle to true goodness 
 and excellence ; however bad men may be pleased to lay 
 the blame of their corruptions upon that misfortune and 
 the neglect of them in their minority. Nor is he less an 
 evidence to the truth of their opinion, who conceive that a 
 generous and worthy nature without proper discipline, like 
 a rich soil without culture, is apt, with its better fruits, to 
 produce also much that is bad and faulty. While the force 
 and vigor of his soul, and a persevering constancy in all he 
 undertook, led him successfully into many noble achieve- 
 ments, yet, on the other side, also, by indulging the vehe- 
 mence of his passion, and through an obstinate reluctance 
 to yield or accommodate his humors and sentiments to 
 those of people about him, he rendered himself incapable 
 of acting and associating with others. Those who saw 
 with admiration how proof his nature was against all the 
 softnesses of pleasure, the hardships of service, and the 
 allurements of gain, while allowing to that universal firm- 
 ness of his the respective names of temperance, fortitude, 
 and justice, yet, in the life of the citizen and the states- 
 
122 PLUTAKCH^S LIVES. 
 
 man, could not choose but be disgusted at the severity and 
 ruggedness of his deportment, and with his overbearing, 
 haughty, and imperious temper. Education and study, 
 and the favors of the muses, confer no greater benefit on 
 those that seek them, than these humanizing and civilizing 
 lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the 
 limitations prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness 
 of extremes. 
 
 Those were times at Rome in which that kind of worth 
 was most esteemed which displayed itself in military 
 achievements ; one evidence of which we find in the Latin 
 word for virtue, which is properly equivalent to manly 
 courage. As if valor and all virtue had been the same 
 thing, they used as the common term the name of the par- 
 ticular excellence. But Marcius, having a more passionate 
 inclination than any of that age for feats of war, began at 
 once, from his very childhood, to handle arms ; and feeling 
 that adventitious implements and artificial arms would 
 effect little, and be of small use to such as have not their 
 native and natural weapons well fixed and prepared for 
 service, he so exercised and inured his body to all sorts of 
 activity and encounter, that, besides the lightness of a racer, 
 he had a weight in close seizures and wrestlings with an 
 enemy, from which it was hard for any to disengage him- 
 self; so that his competitors at home in displays of bravery, 
 loath to own themselves inferior in that respect, were wont 
 to ascribe their deficiencies to his strength of body, which 
 they said no resistance and no fatigue could exhaust. 
 
 The first time he went out to the wars, being yet a strip- 
 ling, was when Tarquinius Superbus, who had been king 
 of Rome and was afterwards expelled, after many unsuc- 
 Adventitious implements : such as come accidentally to hand. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 123 
 
 cessful attempts, now entered upon his last effort, and pro- 
 ceeded to hazard all as it were upon a single throw. A 
 great number of the Latins and other people of Italy 
 joined their forces, and were marching with him toward 
 the city, to procure his restoration ; not, however, so much 
 out of a desire to serve and oblige Tarquin, as to gratify 
 their own fear and envy at the increase of the Roman 
 greatness, which they were anxious to check and reduce. 
 The armies met and engaged in a decisive battle, in the 
 vicissitudes of which, Marcius, while fighting bravely in 
 the dictator's presence, saw a Roman soldier struck down 
 at a little distance, and immediately stepped in and stood 
 before him, and slew his assailant. The general, after 
 having gained the victory, crowned him for this act, one 
 of the first, with a garland of oaken branches ; it being 
 the Roman custom thus to adorn those who had saved the 
 life of a citizen ; whether that the law intended some spe- 
 cial honor to the oak, in memory of the Arcadians, a peo- 
 ple the oracle had made famous by the name of acorn-eaters ; 
 or whether the reason of it was because they might easily, 
 and in all places where they fought, have plenty of oak for 
 that purpose ; or, finally, whether the oaken wreath, being 
 sacred to Jupiter, the guardian of the city, might, there- 
 fore, be thought a proper ornament for one who preserved 
 a citizen. And the oak, in truth, is the tree which bears 
 the most and the prettiest fruit of any that grows wild, and 
 is the strongest of all that are under cultivation : its acorns 
 were the principal diet of the first mortals, and the honey 
 found in it gave them drink. I may say, too, it furnished 
 fowl and other creatures as dainties, in producing mistletoe 
 
 Dictator : one having absolute power. 
 
 Mistletoe : a parasitic plant which grows on the oak. 
 
f 
 
 124 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 for birdlime to ensnare them. In this battle, meantime, 
 it is stated that Castor and Pollux appeared, and, immedi- 
 ately after the battle, were seen at Rome just by the 
 fountain where their temple now stands, with their horses 
 foaming with sweat, and told the news of the victory to 
 the people in the Forum. The fifteenth of July, being the 
 day of this conquest, became consequently a solemn holi- 
 day sacred to the Twin Brothers. 
 
 It may be observed, in general, that when young men 
 arrive early at fame and repute, if they are of a nature 
 but slightly touched with emulation, this early attainment 
 is apt to extinguish their thirst and satiate their small 
 appetite ; whereas the first distinctions of more solid and 
 weighty characters do but stimulate and quicken them 
 and take them away, like a wind, in the pursuit of honor ; 
 they look upon these marks and testimonies to their virtue 
 not as a recompense received for what they have already 
 done, but as a pledge given by themselves of w^hat they 
 will perform hereafter, ashamed now to forsake or under- 
 live the credit they have won, or, rather, not to exceed and 
 obscure all that is gone before by the lustre of their fol- 
 lowing actions. Marcius, having a spirit of this noble 
 make, was ambitious always to surpass himself, and did 
 nothing, how extraordinary soever, but he thought he was 
 
 Birdlime : a sticky substance used to catch birds. 
 
 Castor and PoUux, according to Homer, were the sons of the Lacedaemonian 
 king Tyndareus, and hence were often called Tyndaridse. They are also 
 known as the Dioscuri. The two brothers were deified on account of their 
 strong attachment for each other, and were placed among the stars as Gemini 
 (the twins) . They had power over winds and waves, presided over public 
 games, and were the patrons of bards and poets. 
 
 Forum : a large square in Rome surrounded by public buildings and adorned 
 with the statues of noted men. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 125 
 
 bound to outdo it at the next occasion ; and ever desiring 
 to give continual fresh instances of his prowess, he added 
 one exploit to another, and heaped up trophies upon tro- 
 phies, so as to make it matter of contest also among his 
 commanders, the later still vying with the earlier, which 
 should pay him the greatest honor and speak highest in 
 his commendation. Of all the numerous wars and con- 
 flicts in those days, there was not one from which he re- 
 turned without laurels and rewards. And, whereas others 
 made glory the end of their daring, the end of his glory 
 was his mother's gladness; the delight she took to hear 
 him praised and to see him crowned, and her weeping for 
 joy in his embraces, rendered him, in his own thoughts, 
 the most honored and the most happy person in the world. 
 Epaminondas is similarly said to have acknowledged his 
 feeling, that it was the greatest felicity of his whole life 
 that his father and mother survived to hear of his suc- 
 cessful generalship and his victory at Leuctra. And he 
 had the advantage, indeed, to have both his parents par- 
 take with him, and enjoy the pleasure of his good fortune. 
 But Marcius, believing himself bound to pay his mother 
 Volumnia all that gratitude and duty which would have 
 belonged to his father, had he also been alive, could never 
 satiate himself in his tenderness and respect to her. He 
 took a wife, also, at her request and wish, and continued, 
 even after he had children, to live still with his mother, 
 without parting families. 
 
 The repute of his integrity and courage had, by this 
 time, gained him a considerable influence and authority 
 in Rome, when the senate, favoring the wealthier citizens, 
 began to be at variance with the common people, who 
 made sad complaints of the rigorous and inhuman usage 
 
126 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 they received from the money-lenders. For as many as 
 were behind with them, and had any sort of property, 
 they stripped of all they had, by the way of pledges and 
 sales ; and such as through former exactions were reduced 
 already to extreme indigence, and had nothing more to 
 be deprived of, these they led away in person and put their 
 bodies under constraint, notwithstanding the scars and 
 wounds that they could show in attestation of their public 
 services in numerous campaigns; the last of which had 
 been against the Sabines, which they undertook upon a 
 promise made by their rich creditors that they would treat 
 them with more gentleness for the future, Marcus Vale- 
 rius, the consul, having, by order from the senate, engaged 
 also for the performance of it. But when, after they had 
 fought courageously and beaten the enemy, there was, 
 nevertheless, no moderation or forbearance used, and the 
 senate also professed to remember nothing of that agree- 
 ment, and sat without testifying the least concern to see 
 them dragged away like slaves and their goods seized 
 upon as formerly, there began now to be open disorders 
 and dangerous meetings in the city ; and the enemy, also, 
 aware of the popular confusion, invaded and laid waste 
 the country. And when the consuls now gave notice, that 
 all who were of an age to bear arms should make their per- 
 sonal appearance, l)ut found no one regard the summons, 
 the members of the government, then coming to consult 
 what course should be taken, were themselves again divided 
 in opinion; some thought it most advisable to comply a 
 little in favor of the poor, by relaxing their overstrained 
 rights, and mitigating the extreme rigor of the law, while 
 others withstood this proposal; Marcius in particular, with 
 
 Consuls : the two chief magistrates of the Roman republic. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 127 
 
 more vehemence than the rest, alleging that the business 
 of money on either side was not the main thing in ques- 
 tion, urged that this disorderly proceeding was but the 
 first insolent step towards open revolt against the laws, 
 which it would become the wisdom of the government to 
 check at the earliest moment. 
 
 There had been frequent assemblies of the whole senate, 
 within a small compass of time, about this difficulty, but 
 without any certain issue; the poor commonalty, therefore, 
 perceiving there was likely to be no redress of their griev- 
 ances, on a sudden collected in a body, and, encouraging each 
 other in their resolution, forsook the city with one accord, 
 and seizing the hill which is now called the Holy Mount, 
 sat down by the river Anio, without committing any sort 
 of violence or seditious outrage, but merely exclaiming as 
 they went along, that they had this long time past been, in 
 fact, expelled and excluded from the city by the cruelty 
 of the rich ; that Italy would everywhere afford them the 
 benefit of air and water and a place of burial, which was 
 all they could expect in the city, unless it were, perhaps, 
 the privilege of being wounded and killed in time of war 
 for the defence of their creditors. The senate, apprehend- 
 ing the consequences, sent the most moderate and popular 
 men of their own order to treat with them. 
 
 Menenius Agrippa, their chief spokesman, after much 
 entreaty to the people, and much plain speaking on behalf 
 of the senate, concluded at length with the celebrated fable. 
 " It once happened," he said, " that all the other members 
 of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they accused 
 as the only idle, un contributing part in the whole body, 
 while the rest were put to hardships and the expense of 
 Seditious : of a treasonable character. 
 
128 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 much labor to supply and minister to its appetites. The 
 :stomach, however, merely ridiculed the silliness of the 
 members, who appeared not to be aware that the stomach 
 certainly does receive the general nourishment, but only 
 to return it again, and redistribute it amongst the rest. 
 Such is the case," he said, "ye citizens, between you and the 
 senate. The counsels and plans that are there duly digested, 
 convey and secure to all of you your proper benefit and 
 support." 
 
 A reconciliation ensued, the senate acceding to the 
 request of the people for the annual election of five pro- 
 tectors for those in need of succor, the same that are now 
 called the tribunes of the people ; and the first two they 
 pitched upon were Junius Brutus and Sicinnius Vellutus, 
 their leaders in the secession. 
 
 The city being thus united, the commons stood presently 
 to their arms, and followed their commanders to the war 
 with great alacrity. As for Marcius, though he was not 
 a little vexed himself to see the populace prevail so far, 
 and gain ground of the senators, and might observe many 
 other patricians have the same dislike of the late conces- 
 sions, he yet besought them not to yield at least to the 
 common people in the zeal and forwardness they now 
 showed for their country's service, but to prove that they 
 were superior to them, not so much in power and riches, 
 as in merit and worth. ^S)^jygwy>*> ^^ ' ^ — ^ 
 
 The Romans were now at war with the^VoIscian nation, 
 whose principal city was Corioli ; when, therefore, Comin- 
 iiis, the consul, had invested this important place, the rest 
 of the Volscians, fearing it would be taken, mustered up 
 whatever force they could from all parts, to relieve it, de- 
 
 Fatriciaus ; noblemen. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 129 
 
 signing to give the Eomans battle before the city, and so 
 attack them on both sides. Cominius, to avoid this incon- 
 venience, divided his army, marching himself with one 
 body to encounter the Volscians on their approach from 
 without, and leaving Titus Lartius, one of the bravest 
 Romans of his time, to command the other and continue 
 the siege. Those within Corioli, despising now the small- 
 ness of their number, made a sally upon them, and prevailed 
 at firsthand pursued the Romans into their trenches. Here 
 it was that Marcius, flying out with a slender company, 
 and cutting those in pieces that first engaged him, obliged 
 the other assailants to slacken their speed; and then, with 
 loud cries, called upon the Romans to renew the battle. 
 For he had, what Cato thought a great point in a soldier, 
 not only strength of hand and stroke, but also a voice 
 and look that of themselves were a terror to an enemy. 
 Divers of his own party now rallying and making up to 
 him, the enemies soon retreated; but Marcius, not content 
 to see them draw off and retire, pressed hard upon the rear, 
 and drove them, as they fled away in haste, to the very 
 gates of their city ; where, perceiving the Romans to fall 
 back from their pursuit, beaten off by the multitude of 
 darts poured in upon them from the walls, and that none 
 of his followers had the hardiness to think of falling in 
 pellmell among the fugitives and so entering a city full of 
 enemies iii arms, he, nevertheless, stood and urged them 
 to the attempt, crying out, that fortune had now set open 
 Corioli, not so much to shelter the vanquished, as to re- 
 ceive the conquerors. Seconded by a few that were willing 
 to venture with him, he bore along through the crowd, 
 made good his passage, and thrust himself into the gate 
 through the midst of them, nobody at first daring to resist 
 
130 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 him. But when the citizens, ^on looking about, saw that a 
 very small number had entered, they now took courage, 
 and came up and attacked them. A combat ensued of the 
 most extraordinary description, in which Marcius, by 
 strength of hand, and swiftness of foot, and daring of soul, 
 overpowering every one that he assailed, succeeded in driv- 
 ing the enemy to seek refuge, for the most part, in the 
 interior of the town, while the remainder submitted, and 
 threw down their arms ; thus affording Lartius abundant 
 opportunity to bring in the rest of the Romans with ease 
 and safety. 
 
 Corioli being thus surprised and taken, the greater part 
 of the soldiers employed themselves in spoiling and pillag- 
 ing it, while Marcius indignantly reproached them, and 
 exclaimed that it was a dishonorable and unworthy thing, 
 when the consul and their fellow-citizens had now perhaps 
 encountered the other Volscians, and were hazarding their 
 lives in battle, basely to misspend the time in running up 
 and down for booty, and, under a pretence of enriching 
 themselves, keep out of danger. Few paid him any atten- 
 tion, but, putting himself at the head of these, he took the 
 road by which the consul's army had marched before him, 
 encouraging his companions, and beseeching them, as they 
 went along, not to give up, and praying often to the gods, 
 too, that he might be so happy as to arrive before the fight 
 was over, and come seasonably up to assist Cominius, and 
 partake in the peril of the action. 
 
 It was customary with the Romans of that age, when 
 they were moving into battle array, and were on the point 
 of taking up their bucklers, and girding their coats about 
 them, to make at the same time an unwritten will, or ver- 
 bal testament, and to name who should be their heirs, in 
 
CORIOLANUS. 131 
 
 the hearing of three or four witnesses. In this precise 
 posture Marcius found them at his arrival, the enemy 
 being advanced within view. 
 
 They were not a little disturbed by his first appearance, 
 seeing him covered with blood and sweat, and attended 
 with a small train ; but when he hastily made up to the 
 consul with gladness in his looks, giving him his hand, 
 and recounting to him how the city had been taken, and 
 when they saw Cominius also embrace and salute him, 
 every one took fresh heart; those that were near enough 
 hearing, and those that were at a distance guessing, what 
 had happened; and all cried out to be led to battle. 
 First, however, Marcius desired to know of him how the 
 Volscians had arrayed their army, and where they had 
 placed their best men, and on his answering that he took 
 the troops of the Antiates in the centre to be their prime 
 warriors, that would yield to none in bravery, " Let me 
 then demand and obtain of you," said Marcius, "that we 
 may be posted against them." The consul granted the 
 request, with much admiration of his gallantry. And 
 when the conflict began by the soldiers darting at each 
 other, and Marcius sallied out before the rest, the Vol- 
 scians opposed to him were not able to make head against 
 him ; wherever he fell in, he broke their ranks, and made 
 a lane through them ; but the parties turning again, and 
 enclosing him on each side with their weapons, the consul, 
 who observed the danger he was in, despatched some of 
 the choicest men he had for his rescue. The conflict then 
 growing warm and sharp about Marcius, and many falling 
 dead in a little space, the Romans bore so hard upon the 
 enemies, and pressed them with such violence, that they 
 forced them at length to abandon their ground, and to 
 
132 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 quit the field. And, going now to prosecute the victory, 
 they besought Marcius, tired out with his toils, and faint 
 . and heavy through the loss of blood, that he would retire 
 to the camp. He replied, however, that weariness was not 
 for conquerors, and joined with them in the pursuit. The 
 rest of the Volscian army was in like manner defeated, 
 great numbers killed, and no less taken captive. 
 
 The day after, when Marcius, with the rest of the army, 
 presented themselves at the consul's tent, Cominius rose, 
 and having rendered all due acknowledgment to the gods 
 for the success of that enterprise, turned next to Marcius, 
 and first of all delivered the strongest encomium upon his 
 rare exploits, which he had partly been an eye-witness of 
 himself, in the late battle, and had partly learned from the 
 testimony of Lartius. And then he required him to 
 choose a tenth part of all the treasure and horses and cap- 
 tives that had fallen into their hands, before any division 
 should be made to others; besides which, he made him 
 the special present of a horse with trappings and orna- 
 ments, in honor of his actions. The whole army ap- 
 plauded ; Marcius, however, stepped forth, and declaring 
 his thankful acceptance of the horse, and his gratification 
 at the praises of his general, said, that all other things, 
 which he could only regard rather as mercenary advan- 
 tages than any significations of honor, he must waive, and 
 should be content with the ordinary proportion of such 
 rewards. " I have only," said he, " one special grace to 
 beg, and this I hope you will not deny me. There was a 
 certain hospitable friend of mine among the Volscians, 
 a man of probity and virtue, who is become a prisoner, 
 and from former wealth and freedom is now reduced to 
 servitude. Among his many misfortunes let my interces- 
 
GORIOLANUS. 133 
 
 sion redeem him from the one of being sold as a common 
 slave." Such a refusal and such a request on the part of 
 Marcius were followed with yet louder acclamations; and 
 he had many more admirers of this generous superiority 
 to avarice, than of the bravery he had shown in battle. 
 The very persons who conceived some envy and despite 
 to see him so specially honored, could not but acknowl- 
 edge, that one who so nobly could refuse reward, was be- 
 yond others worthy to receive it ; and were more charmed 
 with that virtue which made him despise advantage, than 
 with any of those former actions that had gained him his 
 title to it. It is the higher accomplishment to use money 
 well than to use arms ; but not to need it is more noble 
 than to use it. 
 
 When the noise of approbation and applause ceased, 
 Cominius, resuming, said, "It is idle, fellow-soldiers, to 
 force and obtrude those other gifts of ours on one who is 
 unwilling to accept them ; let us, therefore, give him one 
 of such a kind that he cannot well reject it ; let us pass a 
 vote, I mean, that he shall hereafter be called Coriolanus, 
 unless you think that his performance at Corioli has itself 
 anticipated any such resolution." Hence, therefore, he 
 had his third name of Coriolanus, making it all the plainer 
 that Caius was a personal proper name, and the second, or 
 surname, Marcius, one common to his house and family ; 
 the third being a subsequent addition which used to be 
 imposed either from some particular act or fortune, bodily 
 characteristic, or good quality of the bearer. 
 
 The war against the Volscians was no sooner at an end, 
 than the popular orators revived domestic troubles, and 
 raised another sedition, without any new cause of com- 
 plaint or just grievance to proceed upon, but merely turn- 
 
134 PLUTATCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ing the very mischiefs that unavoidably ensued from their 
 former contests into a pretext against the patricians. The 
 greatest part of their arable land had been left unsown 
 and without tillage, and the time of war allowing them no 
 means or leisure to import provision from other countries, 
 there was an extreme scarcity. The movers of the people 
 then observing, that there was no corn to be bought, and 
 that, if there had been, they had no money to buy it, began 
 to calumniate the wealthy with false stories, and whis- 
 per it about, as if they, out of malice, had purposely con- 
 trived the famine. Meanwhile, there came an embassy 
 from the Velitrani, proposing to deliver up their city to 
 the Romans, and desiring they would send some new in- 
 habitants to people it, as a late pestilential disease had 
 swept away so many of the natives, that there was hardly 
 a tenth part remaining of their whole community. This 
 necessity of the Velitrani was considered by all more pru- 
 dent people as most opportune in the present state of 
 affairs ; since the dearth made it needful to ease the city 
 of its superfluous members, and they were in hope also, 
 at the same time, to dissipate the gathering sedition by 
 ridding themselves of the more violent and heated parti- 
 sans, and discharging, so to say, the elements of disease 
 and disorder in the state. The consuls, therefore, singled 
 out such citizens to supply the desolation at Velitrse, and 
 gave notice to others, that they should be ready to march 
 against the Volscians, with the politic design of prevent- 
 ing intestine broils by employment abroad, and in the hope, 
 that when rich as well as poor, plebeians and patricians, 
 should be mingled again in the same army and the same 
 
 Arable: land which can be cultivated. Corn : any grain used for bread. 
 Plebeians : the common people. For a long time they had no political 
 power. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 135 
 
 camp, and engage in one common service for the public, 
 it would mutually dispose them to reconciliation and 
 friendship. 
 
 But Sicinnius and Brutus, the popular orators, inter- 
 posed, crying out, that the consuls disguised the most cruel 
 and barbarous action in the world under that mild and 
 plausible name of a colony, and were simply precipitating 
 so many poor citizens into a mere pit of destruction, bid- 
 ding them settle down in a country where the air was 
 charged with disease, and the ground covered, with dead 
 bodies, and expose themselves to the evil influence of a 
 strange and angered deity. And then, as if it would not 
 satisfy their hatred to destroy some by hunger, and offer 
 others to the mercy of a plague, they must proceed to in- 
 volve them also in a needless war of their own making, that 
 no calamity might be wanting to complete the punishment 
 of the citizens for refusing to submit to that of slavery to 
 the rich. 
 
 By such addresses, the people were so possessed, that 
 none of them would appear upon the consular summons 
 to be enlisted for the war ; and they showed entire aver- 
 sion to the proposal for a new plantation ; so that the sen- 
 ate was at a loss what to say or do. But Marcius, who 
 began now to bear himself higher and to feel confidence 
 in his past actions, conscious, too, of the admiration of the 
 best and greatest men of Rome, openly took the lead in 
 opposing the favorers of the people. The colony was de- 
 spatched to Velitrse, those that were chosen by lot being 
 compelled to depart upon high penalties ; and when they 
 obstinately persisted in refusing to enroll themselves for 
 the Volscian service, he mustered up his own clients,^ and 
 
 1 The clients were dependents upon the patrician families, and were in a 
 condition somewliat similar to serfdom. 
 
136 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 as many others as could be wrought upon by persuasion, 
 and with these made an inroad into the territories of the 
 Antiates, where finding a considerable quantity of corn, 
 and collecting much booty, both of cattle and prisoners, 
 he reserved nothing for himself in private, but returned 
 safe to Rome, while those that ventured out with him were 
 seen laden with pillage, and driving their prey before them. 
 This sight filled those that had stayed at home with regret 
 for their perverseness with envy at their fortunate fellow- 
 citizens, and with feelings of dislike to Marcius, and hos- 
 tility to his growing reputation and power, which might 
 probably be used against the popular interest. 
 
 Not long after he stood for the consulship ; when, how- 
 ever, the people began to relent and incline to favor him, 
 being sensible what a shame it would be to repulse and 
 affront a man of his birth and merit, after he had done 
 them so many signal services. It was usual for those who 
 stood for offices among them to solicit and address them- 
 selves personally to the citizens, presenting themselves in 
 the forum with the toga ^ on alone, and no tunic under it; 
 either to promote their supplications by the humility of 
 their dress, or that such as had received wounds might 
 more readily display those marks of their fortitude. Cer- 
 tainly, it was not out of suspicion of bribery and corrup- 
 tion that they required all such petitioners for their favor 
 to appear ungirt and open, without any close garment ; as 
 it was much later, and many ages after this, that buying 
 and selling crept in at their elections, and money became 
 an ingredient in the public suffrages ; proceeding thence 
 to attempt their tribunals, and even attack their camps, 
 
 1 The toga was a garment something like a shawl ; the tunic was a frock 
 reachinsr about to the knees. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 137 
 
 till, by hiring the valiant, and enslaving iron to silver, ilf 
 grew master of the state, and turned their commonwealth 
 into a monarchy. For it was well and truly said that tha 
 first destroyer of the liberties of a people is he who firc>t 
 gave them bounties and largesses. At Rome the mischief 
 seems to have stolen secretly in, and by little and little, 
 not being at once discerned and taken notice of. It is not 
 certainly known who the man was that did there first either 
 bribe the citizens, or corrupt the courts ; whereas, in Athens, 
 Anytus, the son of Anthemion, is said to have been the 
 first that gave money to the judges, when on his trial, 
 
 ..toward the latter end of the Peloponnesian war, for letting 
 the fort of Pylos fall into the hands of the enemy ; in a 
 period while the pure and golden race of men were still 
 in possession of the Roman forum. 
 
 Marcius, therefore, as the fashion of candidates was, i 
 showing the scars and gashes that were still visible on liis 
 body, from the many conflicts in which he had signalized 
 himself during a service of seventeen years together, they 
 were, so to say, put out of countenance at this display of 
 merit, and told one another that they ought in common 
 modesty to create him consul. But when the day of elec- 
 tion was now come, and Marcius appeared in the forum, 
 with a pompous train of senators attending him, and the 
 partricians all manifested greater concern, and seemed to 
 be exerting greater efforts, than they had ever done before 
 on the like occasion, the commons then fell off again from 
 
 ' the kindness they had conceived for him, and in the place 
 of their late benevolence, began to feel something of indig- 
 nation and envy ; passions assisted by the fear they enter- 
 Candidates for office were distinguished by having their togas whitened 
 with chalk, whence the name "candidate" (from candidus, white). 
 
138 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 tained, that if a man of such aristocratic temper, and so 
 influential among the patricians, should be invested with 
 the power which that office would give him, he might 
 employ it to deprive the people of all that liberty which 
 was yet left them. In conclusion, they rejected Marcius. 
 Two other names were announced, to the great mortifica- 
 tion of the senators, who felt as if the indignity reflected 
 rather upon themselves than on Marcius. He, for his part, 
 could not bear the affront with any patience. He had 
 always indulged his temper, and had regarded the proud 
 and contentious element of human nature as a sort of 
 nobleness and magnanimity ; reason and discipline had not 
 imbued him with that solidity and equanimity which en- 
 ters so largely into the virtues of the statesman. He had 
 never learned how essential it is for any one who under- 
 takes public business, and desires to deal with mankind, 
 to avoid above all things that self-will, which, as Plato 
 says, belongs to the family of solitude ; and to pursue, 
 above all things, that capacity so generally ridiculed, of 
 submission to ill-treatment. Marcius, straightforward and 
 direct, and possessed with the idea that to vanquish and 
 overbear all opposition is the true part of bravery, and 
 never imagining that it was the weakness and womanish- 
 ness of his nature that broke out, so to say, in these ulcer- 
 ations of anger, retired, full of fury and bitterness against 
 the people. The young patricians, too, all that were proud- 
 est and most conscious, of their noble birth, had always 
 been devoted to his interest, and, adhering to him now, - 
 with a fidelity that did him no good, aggravated his 
 resentment with the expression of their indignation and 
 condolence. He had been their captain, and their willing 
 instructor in the arts of war, when out upon expeditions, 
 
CORIOLANUS. 139 
 
 and their model in that true emulation and love of excel- 
 lence which makes men extol, without envy or jealousy, 
 each other's brave achievements. 
 
 In the midst, of these distempers, a large quantity of 
 corn reached Rome, a great part bought up in Italy, but 
 an equal amount sent as a present from Syracuse, from 
 Gelo, then reigning there. Many began now to hope well 
 of their affairs, supposing the city, by this means, would be 
 delivered at once, both of its want and discord. A coun- 
 cil, therefore, being presently held, the people came flock- 
 ing about the senate-house, eagerly awaiting the issue of 
 that deliberation, expecting that the market-prices would 
 now be less cruel, and that what had come as a gift, would 
 be distributed as such. There Avere some within who so 
 advised the senate; but Marcius, standing up, sharply 
 inveighed against those who spoke in favor of the multi- 
 tude, calling them flatterers of the rabble, traitors to the 
 nobility, and alleging, that, by such gratifications, they did 
 but cherish those ill seeds of boldness and petulance that 
 had been sown among the people, to their own prejudice, 
 which they should have done well to observe and stifle at 
 their first appearance, and not have suffered the plebeians 
 to grow so strong, by granting them magistrates of such 
 authority as the tribunes. They were, indeed, even now 
 formidable to the state, since everything they desired was 
 granted them ; no constraint was put on their will ; they 
 refused obedience to the consuls, and, overthrowing all 
 law and magistracy, gave the title of magistrate to their 
 private factious leaders. " When things are come to such 
 a pass, for us to sit here and decree largesses and bounties 
 for them, like those Greeks where the populace is supreme 
 and absolute, what would it be else," said he, "but to take 
 
140 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 their disobedience into pay, and maintain it for the common 
 ruin of us all? They certainly cannot look upon these 
 liberalities as a reward of public service, which they know 
 they have so often deserted ; nor yet of those secessions, 
 by which they openly renounced their country ; much less 
 of the calumnies and slanders they have been always so 
 ready to entertain against the senate ; but will rather con- 
 clude that a bounty which seems to have no other visible 
 cause or reason, must needs be the effect of our fear and 
 flattery ; and will, therefore, set no limit to their disobedi- 
 ence, nor ever cease from disturbances and sedition. Con- 
 cession is mere madness ; if we have any wisdom and 
 resolution at all, we shall, on the contrary, never rest till 
 we have recovered from them that tribunician power they 
 have extorted from us ; as being a plain subversion of the 
 consulship, and a perpetual ground of separation in our 
 city, that is no longer one, as heretofore, but has in this 
 received such a wound and rupture, as is never likely to 
 close and unite again, or suffer us to be of one mind, and 
 to give over inflaming our distempers, and being a torment 
 to each other." 
 
 Marcius, with much more to this purpose, succeeded, to 
 an extraordinary degree, in inspiring the younger men 
 with the same furious sentiments, and had almost all the 
 wealthy on his side, who cried him up as the only person 
 their city had, superior alike to force and flattery ; some 
 of the older men, however, opposed him, suspecting the 
 consequences. As, indeed, there came no good of it ; for ■ 
 the tribunes, who were present, perceiving how the pro- 
 posal of Marcius took, ran out into the crowd with excla- 
 mations, calling on the plebeians to stand together, and 
 come in to their assistance. The assembly met, and soon 
 
CORIOLANUS. . 141 
 
 became tumultuous. The sum of what Marcius had 
 spoken, having been reported to the people, excited them 
 to such fury, that they were ready to break in upon the 
 senate. The tribunes prevented this, by laying all the 
 blame on Coriolanus, whom, therefore, they cited by their 
 messengers to come before them, and defend himself. 
 And when he contemptuously repulsed the officers who 
 brought him the summons, they came themselves, with 
 the JEdiles, or overseers of the market, proposing to carry 
 him away by force, and, accordingly, began to lay hold 
 on his person. The patricians, however, coming to his 
 rescue, not only thrust off the tribunes, but also beat the 
 ^diles, that were their seconds in the quarrel; night, 
 approaching, put an end to the contest. But, as soon as 
 it was day, the consuls, observing the people to be highly 
 exasperated, and that they ran from all quarters and gath- 
 ered in the forum, were afraid for the whole city, so that, 
 convening .the senate afresh, they desired them to advise 
 how they might best compose and pacify the incensed 
 multitude by equitable language and indulgent decrees; 
 since, if they wisely considered the state of things, they 
 would find that it was no time to stand upon terms of 
 honor, and a mere point of glory ; such a critical conjunc- 
 ture called for gentle methods, and for temperate and 
 humane counsels. The majority, therefore, of the senators 
 giving way, the consuls proceeded to pacify the people in 
 the best manner they were able, answering gently to such 
 imputations and charges as had been cast upon the senate, 
 and using much tenderness and moderation in the admo- 
 nitions and reproofs they gave them. On the point of 
 the price of provisions, they said, there should be no 
 difference at all between them. When a great part of 
 
142 l^LUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 the commoiialty was grown cool, and it appeared from 
 their orderly and peaceful behavior that they had been 
 very much appeased by what they had heard, the tribunes, 
 standing up, declared, in the name of the people, that 
 since the senate was pleased to act soberly and do them 
 reason, they, likewise, should be ready to yield in all that 
 was fair and equitable on their side ; they must insist, 
 however, that Marcius should give in his answer to the 
 several charges as follows: first, could he deny that he 
 instigated the senate to overthrow the government and 
 annul the privileges of the people ? and, in the next place, 
 when called to account for it, did he not disobey their 
 summons? and, lastly, by the blows and other public 
 affronts to the JEdiles, had he not done all he could to 
 commence a civil war? 
 
 These articles were brought in against him, with a 
 design either to humble Marcius, and show his submission, 
 if, contrary to his nature, he should now couj-t and sue 
 the people ; or, if he should follow his natural disposition, 
 which they rather expected from their judgment of his 
 character, then that he might thus make the breach final 
 between himself and the people. 
 
 He came, therefore, as it were, to make his apology, and 
 clear himself; in which belief the people kept silence, and 
 gave him a quiet hearing. But when, instead of the sub- 
 missive and deprecatory language expected from him, he 
 began to use not only an offensive kind of freedom, seeming 
 rather to accuse than apologize, but, as well by the tone 
 of his voice as the air of his countenance, displayed a 
 security that was not far from disdain and contempt of 
 them, the whole multitude then became angry, and gave 
 evident signs of impatience and disgust; and Sicinnius, 
 
CORIOLANUS. 143 
 
 the most violent of the tribunes, after a little private con- 
 ference with his colleagues, proceeded solemnly to pro- 
 nounce before them all, that Marcius was condemned to - 
 die by the tribunes of the people, and bid the ^diles take 
 him to the Tarpeian rock, and without delay throw him 
 headlong from the precipice. When they, however, in 
 compliance with the order, came to seize upon his body, 
 many, even of the plebeian party, felt it to be a horrible 
 and extravagant act; the patricians, meantime, wholly 
 beside themselves with distress and horror, hurried up 
 with cries to the rescue ; and while some made actual use 
 of their hands to hinder the arrest, and, surrounding Mar- 
 cius, got him in among them, others, as in so great a 
 tumult no good could be done by words, stretched out 
 theirs, beseeching the multitude that they would not pro- 
 ceed to such furious extremities ; and at length, the 
 friends and acquaintance of the tribunes, wisely perceiving 
 how impossible it would be to carry off Marcius to pun- 
 ishment without much bloodshed and slaughter of the 
 nobility, persuaded them to forbear everything unusual 
 and odious; not to despatch him by any sudden violence, 
 or without regular process, but refer the cause to the 
 general suffrage of the people. Sicinnius then, after a 
 little pause, turning to the patricians, demanded what 
 their meaning was, thus forcibly to rescue Marcius out of 
 the people's hands, as they were going to punish him ; 
 when it was replied by them, on the other side, and the 
 question put, " Rather, how came it into your minds, and 
 what is it you design, thus to drag one of the worthiest 
 men of Rome, without trial, to a barbarous and illegal 
 
 Tarpeian rock: a steep precipice upon the southern side of the Capitoline 
 Hill, from which it was customary to cast criminals condemned to death. 
 
144 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 execution?" "Very well," said Sicinnius, "you shall 
 have no ground in this respect for quarrel or complaint 
 against the people. The people grant your request, and 
 your partisan shall be tried. We appoint you, Marcius," 
 directing his speech to him, "the third market-day ensu- 
 ing, to appear and defend yourself, and to try if you can 
 satisfy the Roman citizens of your innocence, who will 
 then judge your case by vote." The patricians were con- 
 tent with such a truce and respite for that time, and 
 gladly returned home, having for the present brought off 
 Marcius in safety. 
 
 During the interval before the appointed time, a war 
 fell out with the Antiates, likely to be of some continu- 
 ance, which gave them hope they might one way or other 
 elude the judgment. The people, they presumed, would 
 become tractable, and their indignation lessen and languish 
 by degrees in so long a space, if occupation and war did 
 not wholly put it out of their mind. But when, contrary 
 to expectation, they made a speedy agreement wdth the 
 people of Antium, and the army came back to Rome, the 
 patricians were again in great perplexity, and had frequent 
 meetings to consider how things might be arranged with- 
 out either abandoning Marcius, or yet giving occasion to 
 the popular orators to create new disorders. Appius 
 Claudius, whom they counted among the senators most 
 averse to the popular interest, made a solemn declaration, 
 and told them beforehand, that the senate would utterly 
 destroy itself and betray the government, if they should 
 once suffer the people to assume the authority of pro- 
 nouncing sentence upon any of the patricians; but the 
 oldest senators and most favorable to the people main- 
 tained, on the other side, that the people would not be so 
 
CORIOLANUS. 145 
 
 harsh and severe upon them, as some were pleased to 
 imagine, but rather become more gentle and humane upon 
 the concession of that power, since it was not contempt of 
 the senate, but the impression of being contemned by it, 
 which made them pretend to such a prerogative. Let that 
 be once allowed them as a mark of respect and kind feel- 
 ing, and the mere possession of this power of voting would 
 at once dispossess them of their animosity. ^^^T^^H 
 
 When, therefore, Marcius saw that the senate was iti 
 pain and suspense upon his account, divided, as it were, 
 betwixt their kindness for him and their apprehensions 
 from the people, he desired to know of the tribunes what 
 the crimes were they intended to charge him with, and 
 what the heads of the indictment they would oblige him 
 to plead to before the people; and being told by them 
 that he was to be impeached for attempting usurpation, 
 and that they would prove him guilty of designing to es- 
 tablish arbitrary government, stepping forth upon this, 
 "Let me go then," he said, "to clear myself from that 
 imputation before an assembly of them ; I freely offer my- 
 self to any sort of trial, nor do I refuse any kind of pun- 
 ishment whatsoever; only," he continued, "let what you 
 now mention be really made my accusation, and do not 
 you play false with the senate." On their consenting to 
 these terms, he came to his triaL But when the people 
 met together, the tribunes, contrary to all former practice, 
 extorted first, that votes should be taken, not by centuries,^ 
 but tribes ; a change, by which the indigent and factious 
 rabble, that had no respect for honesty and justice, would 
 
 Prerogative : privilege. 
 
 1 The centuries were divisions of the people in which every person was 
 classified according to age and property, so that the rich and old had the pre- 
 cedence. The tribes were local divisions. 
 
146 PLUTAKCH'S LIVES. 
 
 be sure to carry it against those who were rich and well 
 known, and accustomed to serve the state in war. In the 
 next place, whereas they had engaged to prosecute Marcius 
 upon no other head but that of tyranny, which could never 
 be made out against him, they relinquished this plea, and 
 urged instead, his language in the senate against an abate- 
 ment of the price of corn, and for the overthrow of the 
 tribunician power ; adding further, as a new impeachment, 
 the distribution that was made by him of the spoil and 
 booty he had taken from the Antiates, when he overran 
 their country, which he had divided among those that had 
 followed him, whereas it ought rather to have been brought 
 into the public treasury ; which last accusation did, they 
 say, more discompose Marcius than all the rest, as he had 
 not anticipated he should ever be questioned on that sub- 
 ject, and, therefore, was less provided with any satisfactory 
 answer to it on the sudden. And when, by way of excuse, 
 he began to magnify the merits of those who had been par- 
 takers with him in the action, those that had stayed at 
 home, being more numerous than the other, interrupted 
 him with outcries. In conclusion, when they came to vote, 
 a majority of three tribes condemned him; the penalty 
 being perpetual banishment. The sentence of his con- 
 demnation being pronounced, the people went away with 
 greater triumph and exultation than they had ever shown 
 for any victory over enemies; while the senate was in 
 grief and deep dejection, repenting now and vexed to the 
 soul that they had not done and suffered all things rather 
 than give way to the insolence of the people, and permit 
 them to assume and abuse so great an authority. There 
 was no need then to look at men's dresses, or other marks 
 of distinction, to know one from another: any one who 
 
CORIOLANUS. 147 
 
 was glad was, beyond all doubt, a plebeian ; any one who 
 looked sorrowful, a patrician. 
 
 Marcius alone, himself, was neither stunned nor humili- 
 ated. In mien, carriage, and countenance, he bore the 
 appearance of entire composure, and while all his friends 
 were full of distress, seemed the only man that was not 
 touched with his misfortune. Not that either reflection 
 taught him, or gentleness of temper made it natural for 
 him, to submit: he was wholly possessed, on the contrary, 
 with a profound and deep-seated fury, which passes with 
 many for no pain at all. And pain, it is true, transmuted, 
 so to say, by its own fiery heat into anger, loses every 
 appearance of depression and feebleness ; the angry man 
 makes a show of energy, as the man in a high fever does 
 of natural heat, while, m fact, all this action of the soul 
 is but mere diseased palpitation, distention, and inflamma- 
 tion. That such was his distempered state appeared pres- 
 ently plainly enough in his actions. On his return home, 
 after saluting his mother and his wife, who were all in 
 tears and full of loud lamentations, and exhorting them to 
 moderate the sense they had of his calamity, he proceeded 
 at once to the city gates, whither all the nobility came to 
 attend him; and so, not so much as taking anything with 
 him, or making any request to the company, he departed 
 from them, having only three or four clients with him. 
 He continued solitary for a few days in a place in the coun- 
 try, distracted with a variety of counsels, such as rage and 
 indignation suggested to him ; and proposing to himself 
 no honorable or useful end, but only how he might best 
 satisfy his revenge on the Romans, he resolved at length 
 to raise up a heavy war against them from their nearest 
 neighbors. He determined, first, to make trial of the Vol- 
 
148 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 scians, whom he knew to be still vigorous and flourishing, 
 both in men and treasure, and he imagined their force and 
 power was not so much abated, as their spite and anger 
 increased, by the late overthrows they had received from 
 the Romans. 
 
 There was a man of Antium, called Tullus Aufidius, who, 
 for his wealth and bravery and the splendor of his family, 
 had the respect and privilege of a king among the Vol- 
 scians, but whom Marcius knew to have a particular hos- 
 tility to himself, above all other Romans. Frequent men- 
 aces and challenges had passed in battle between them, 
 and those exchanges of defiance to which their hot and 
 eager emulation is apt to prompt young soldiers had added 
 private animosity to their national feelings of opposition. 
 Yet for all this, considering Tullus to have a certain gen- 
 erosity of temper, and knowing that no Volscian, so much 
 as he, desired an occasion to requite from the Romans 
 the evils they had done, he did what much confirms the 
 saying, that 
 
 Hard and unequal is with wrath the strife, 
 Which makes us buy its pleasure with our life. 
 
 Putting on such a dress as would make him appear to any 
 whom he might meet most unlike what he really was ; thus, 
 like Ulysses, — 
 
 The town he entered of his mortal foes. 
 
 His arrival at Antium was about evening, and though 
 several met him in the streets, yet he passed along with-, 
 out being known to any, and went directly to the house 
 of Tullus, and, entering undiscovered, went up to the fire- 
 hearth, and seated himself there without speaking a word, 
 covering up his head. Those of the family could not but 
 
CORTOLANUS. 149 
 
 wonder, and yet they were afraid either to raise or ques- 
 tion him, for there was a certain air of majesty both in his 
 posture and silence, but they recounted to TuUus, being 
 then at supper, the strangeness of this accident. He im- . 
 mediately rose from table and came in, and asked him who 
 he was, and for what business he came thither ; and then 
 Marcius, unmuffling himself, and pausing awhile, " If," said 
 he, "you cannot yet call me to mind, Tullus, or do not 
 believe your eyes concerning me, I must of necessity be 
 my own accuser. I am Caius Marcius, the author of so 
 much mischief to the Volscians ; of which, were I seeking 
 to deny it, the surname of Coriolanus I now bear would 
 be a sufficient evidence against me. The one recompense 
 I received for all the hardships and perils I have gone 
 through, was the title that proclaims my enmity to your 
 nation, and this is the only thing which is still left me. 
 Of all other advantages, I have been stripped and deprived 
 by the envy and outrage of the Roman people, and the 
 cowardice and treachery of the magistrates and those of 
 my own order. I am driven out as an exile, and become 
 an humble suppliant at your hearth, not so much for 
 safety and protection (should I have come hither, had I 
 been afraid to die?), as to seek vengeance against those 
 that expelled me; which, methinks, I have already ob- 
 tained, by putting myself into your hands. If, therefore, 
 you have really a mind to attack your enemies, come then, 
 make use of that affliction you see me in to assist the en- 
 terprise, and convert my personal infelicity into a common 
 blessing to the Volscians; as, indeed, I am likely to be 
 more serviceable in fighting for than against you, with 
 the advantage, which I now possess, of knowing all the 
 secrets of the enemy that I am attacking. But if you 
 
150 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 decline to make any further attempts, I am neither desirous 
 to live myself, nor will it be well in you to preserve a per- 
 son who has been your rival and adversary of old, and 
 now, when he offers you his service, appears unprofitable 
 and useless to you." 
 
 TuUus, on hearing this, was extremely rejoiced, and giv- 
 ing him his right hand, exclaimed, " Rise, Marcius, and be 
 of good courage ; it is a great happiness you bring to An- 
 tium, in the present you make us of yourself ; expect every- 
 thing that is good from the Volscians." He then pro- 
 ceeded to feast and entertain him with every display of 
 kindness, and for several days after, they were in close 
 deliberations together on the prospects of a war. 
 
 While this design was forming, there were great trou- 
 bles and commotions at Rome, from the animosity of the 
 senators against the people, heightened just now by the 
 late condemnation of Marcius. Besides that, their sooth- 
 sayers and priests, and even private persons, reported 
 signs and prodigies not to be neglected ; one of which is 
 stated to have occurred as follows : Titus Latinus, a man 
 of ordinary condition, but of a quiet and virtuous char- 
 acter, free from all superstitious fancies, and yet more 
 from vanity and exaggeration, had an apparition in his 
 sleep, as if Jupiter came and bade him tell the senate, that 
 it was with a bad and unacceptable dancer that they had 
 headed his procession. Having beheld the vision, he said, 
 he did not much attend to it at the first appearance ; but 
 after he had seen and slighted it a second and third time^ 
 he had lost a hopeful son, and was himself struck with a 
 palsy. He was brought into the senate on a litter to tell 
 this, and the story goes, that he had no sooner delivered 
 his message there, but he at once felt his strength return, 
 
CORIOLANUS. 151 
 
 and got upon his legs, and went home alone, without need 
 of any support. The senators, in wonder and surprise, 
 made a diligent search into the matter. That which his 
 dream alluded to was this: some citizen had, for some 
 heinous offence, given up a servant of his to the rest of 
 his fellows, with charge to whip him first through the 
 market, and then to kill him ; and while they were exe- 
 cuting this command, and scourging the wretch, who 
 screwed and turned himself into all manner of shapes and 
 unseemly motions, through the pain he was in, the solemn 
 procession in honor of Jupiter chanced to follow at their 
 heels. Several of the attendants on which were, indeed, 
 scandalized at the sight, yet no one of them interfered, or 
 acted further in the matter than merely to utter some 
 common reproaches and execrations on a master who in- 
 flicted so cruel a punishment. For the Romans treated 
 their slaves with great humanity in these times, when, 
 working and laboring themselves, and living together 
 among them, they naturally were more gentle and familiar 
 with them. It was one of the severest punishments for a 
 slave who had committed a fault, to have to take the piece 
 of wood which supports the pole of a wagon, and carry it 
 about through the neighborhood; a slave who had once 
 undergone the shame of this, and been thus seen by the 
 household and the neighbors, had no longer any trust or 
 credit among them. 
 
 When, therefore, Latinus had related his dream, and 
 the senators were considering who this disagreeable and 
 ungainly dancer could be, some of the company, having 
 been struck with the strangeness of the punishment, 
 called to mind and mentioned the miserable slave who 
 was lashed through the streets and afterward put to death. 
 
152 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 The priests, when consulted, confirmed the conjecture ; 
 the master was punished, and orders given for a new cele- 
 bration of the procession and the spectacles in honor of the 
 god. Numa, in other respects also a wise arranger of 
 religious offices, would seem to have been .especially judi- 
 cious in his direction, with a view to the attentiveness of 
 the people, that, when the magistrates or priests performed 
 any divine worship, a herald should go before, and proclaim 
 with a loud voice. Hoc age^ Do this you are about, and so 
 warn them to mind whatever sacred action they were 
 engaged in, and not suffer any business or worldly avoca- 
 tion to disturb and interrupt it ; most of the things which 
 men do of this kind, being in a manner forced from them, 
 and effected by constraint. It is usual with the Romans 
 to recommence their sacrifices and processions and spec- 
 tacles, not only upon such a cause as this, but for any 
 slighter reason. If but one of the horses which drew the 
 chariots called Tensse, upon which the images of their gods 
 were placed, happened to fail and falter, or if the driver 
 took hold of the reins with his left hand, they would decree 
 that the whole operation should commence anew ; and, in 
 latter ages, one and the same sacrifice was performed 
 thirty times over, because of the occurrence of some defect 
 or mistake or accident in the service. Such was the Roman 
 reverence and caution in religious matters. 
 
 Marcius and TuUus were now secretly discoursing of 
 their project with the chief men of Antium, advising 
 them to invade the Romans while they were at variance 
 among themselves. And when shame appeared to hinder 
 them from embracing the motion, as they had sworn to a 
 truce and cessation of arms for the space of two years, the 
 Romans themselves soon furnished them with a pretence, 
 
CORTOLANUS. 153 
 
 by making proclamation, out of some jealousy or slanderous 
 report, in the midst of the spectacles, that all the Volscians 
 who had come to see them should depart the city before sun- 
 set. Some affirm that this was a contrivance of Marcius, 
 who sent a man privately to the consuls, falsely to accuse the 
 Volscians of intending to fall upon the Romans during the 
 games, and to set the city on fire. This public affront 
 roused and inflamed their hostility to the Romans ; and 
 Tullus, perceiving it, made his advantage of it, aggravating 
 the fact, and working on their indignation till he per- 
 suaded them, at last, to despatch ambassadors to Rome, 
 requiring the Romans to restore that part of their country 
 and those towns which they had taken from the Volscians 
 in the late war. When the Romans heard the message, 
 they indignantly replied, that the Volscians were the first 
 that took up arms, but the Romans would be the last to lay 
 them down. This answer being brought back, Tullus called 
 a general assembly of the Volscians ; and the vote passing 
 for a war, he then proposed that they should call in Mar- 
 cius, laying aside the remembrance of former grudges, and 
 assuring themselves that the services they should now 
 receive from him as a friend and associate, would abun- 
 dantly outweigh any harm or damage he had done them 
 when he was their enemy. Marcius was accordingly sum- 
 moned, and having made his entrance, and spoken to the 
 people, won their good opinion of his capacity, his skill, 
 counsel, and boldness, not less by his present words than 
 by his past actions. They joined him in commission with 
 Tullus, to have full power as general of their forces in all 
 that related to the war. And he, fearing lest the time 
 that would be requisite to bring all the Volscians together 
 in full preparation might be so long as to lose him the 
 
154 PLUTAHCH'S LIVES. 
 
 opportunity of action, left order with the chief persons and 
 magistrates of the city to provide other things, while he 
 himself, prevailing upon- the most forward to assemble 
 and march out with him as volunteers without staying to 
 be enrolled, made a sudden inroad into the Roman con- 
 fines, when nobody expected him, and possessed himself 
 of so much booty, that the Volscians found they had 
 more than they could either carry away or use in the 
 camp. The abundance of provision which he gained, 
 and the waste and havoc of the country which he made, 
 were, however, of themselves and in his account, the 
 smallest results of that invasion ; the great mischief he 
 intended, and his special object in all, was to increase at 
 Rome the suspicions entertained of the patricians, and to 
 make them upon worse terms with the people. With 
 this view, while spoiling all the fields and destroying the 
 property of other men, he took special care to preserve 
 their farms and lands untouched, and would not allow his 
 soldiers to ravage there, or seize upon anything which 
 belonged to them. From hence their invectives and 
 quarrels against one another broke out afresh, and rose 
 to a greater height than ever ; the senators reproach- 
 ing those of the commonalty with their late injustice to 
 Marcius ; while the plebeians, on their side, did not hesitate 
 to accuse them of having, out of spite and revenge, solic- 
 ited him to this enterprise, and thus, when others were 
 involved in the miseries of a war by their means, they sat 
 like unconcerned spectators, as being furnished with a- 
 guardian and protector abroad of their wealth and for- 
 tunes, in the very person of the public enemy. After this 
 incursion and exploit, which was of great advantage to the 
 Volscians, as they learned by it to grow more hardy and 
 
CORIOLANUS. 155 
 
 to contemn their enemy, Marcius drew them off, and re- 
 turned in safety. 
 
 But when the whole strength of the Volscians was 
 brought together into the field, with great expedition and 
 alacrity, it appeared so considerable a body, that they 
 agreed to leave part in garrison, for the security of their 
 towns, and with the other part to march against the 
 Romans. Marcius now desired Tullus to choose which of 
 the two charges would be most agreeable to him. Tullus 
 answered, that since he knew Marcius to be equally val- 
 iant with himself, and far more fortunate, he would have 
 him take the command of those that were going out to 
 the war, while he made it his care to defend their cities 
 at home, and provide all conveniences for the army abroad. 
 Marcius thus reinforced, and much stronger than before, 
 moved first towards the city called Circseum, a Roman 
 colony. He received its surrender, and did the inhabi- 
 tants no injury ; passing thence, he entered and laid waste 
 the country of the Latins, where he expected the Romans 
 would meet him, as the Latins were their confederates 
 and allies, and had often sent to demand succors from 
 them. The people, however, on their part, showing little 
 inclination for the service, and the consuls themselves 
 being unwilling to run the hazard of a battle, when the 
 time of their office was almost ready to expire, they dis- 
 missed the Latin ambassadors without any effect ; so that 
 Marcius, finding no army to oppose him, marched up to 
 their cities, and, having taken by force Toleria, Lavici, 
 Peda, and Bola, all of which offered resistance, not only 
 plundered their houses, but made a prey likewise of their 
 persons. Meantime, he showed particular regard for all 
 such as came over to his party, and, for fear they might 
 
156 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 sustain any damage against his will, encamped at the 
 greatest distance he could, and wholly abstained from the 
 lands of their property. 
 
 After, however, that he had made himself master of 
 Bola, a town not above ten miles from Rome, where he 
 found great treasure, and put' almost all the adults to the 
 sword; and when, on this, the other Volscians that were 
 ordered to stay behind and protect their cities, hearing 
 of his achievements and success, had not patience to 
 remain any longer at home, but came hastening in their 
 arms to Marcius, saying that he alone was their general 
 and the sole commander they would own ; with all this, 
 his name and renown spread throughout all Italy, and 
 universal wonder prevailed at the sudden and mighty 
 revolution in the fortunes of two nations which the loss 
 and the accession of a single man had effected. 
 
 All at Rome was in great disorder ; they were utterly 
 averse from fighting, and spent their whole time in cabals 
 and disputes and reproaches against each other; until 
 news was brought that the enemy had laid close siege to 
 Lavinium, where were the images and sacred things of 
 their tutelar gods, and from whence they derived the 
 origin of their nation, that being the first city which 
 ^neas built in Italy. These tidings produced a change 
 as universal as it was extraordinary in the thoughts and 
 inclinations of the people, but occasioned a yet stranger 
 revulsion of feeling among the patricians. The people 
 now were for repealing the sentence against Marcius, and 
 calling him back into the city : whereas the senate, being 
 assembled to preconsider the decree, opposed and finally 
 
 Cabals : intrigue, plots. 
 
 Tutelar: guardian (or protecting). 
 
CORIOLANUS. 157 
 
 rejected the proposal, either out of the mere humor of 
 contradicting and withstanding the people in whatever 
 they should desire, or because they were unwilling, per- 
 haps, that he should owe his restoration to their kindness ; 
 or having now conceived a displeasure against Marcius 
 himself, who w^as bringing distress upon all alike, though 
 he had not been ill treated by all, and was become a 
 declared enemy to his whole country, though he knew 
 well enough that the principal and all the better men 
 condoled with him, and suffered in his injuries. 
 
 This resolution of theirs being made public, the peo- 
 ple could proceed no further, having no authority to pass 
 anything by suffrage, and enact it for a law, without a 
 previous decree from the senate. When Marcius heard 
 of this, he was more exasperated than ever, and, quitting 
 the siege of Lavinium, marched furiously towards Rome, 
 and encamped at a place called the Cluilian ditches, 
 about five miles from the city. The nearness of his ap- 
 proach did, indeed, create much terror and disturbance, 
 yet it also ended their dissensions for the present ; as no- 
 body now, whether consul or senator, durst any longer 
 contradict the people in their design of recalling Marcius ; 
 but, seeing their women running affrighted up and down 
 the streets, and the old men at prayer in every temple 
 with tears and supplications, and that, in short, there was 
 a general absence among them both of courage and wis- 
 dom to provide for their own safety, they came at last to 
 be all of one mind, that the people had been in the right 
 to propose as they did a reconciliation with Marcius, and 
 that the senate was guilty of a fatal error to begin a quar- 
 rel with him when it was a time to forget offences, and 
 they should have studied rather to appease him. It 
 
158 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 was, therefore, unanimously agreed by all parties, that 
 ambassadors should be despatched, offering him return 
 to his country, and desiring he would free them from the 
 terrors and distresses of the war. The persons sent by 
 the senate with this message were chosen out of his 
 kindred and acquaintance, who naturally expected a Ycry 
 kind reception at their first interview, upon the score of 
 that relation and their old familiarity and friendship with 
 him; in which, however, they were much mistaken. Be- 
 ing led through the enemy's camp, they found him sitting 
 in state amidst the chief men of the Volscians, looking 
 insupportably proud and arrogant. He bade them de- 
 clare the cause of their coming, which they did in the 
 most gentle and tender terms, and with a behavior suita- 
 ble to their language. When they had made an end of 
 speaking, he returned them a sharp answer, full of bitter- 
 ness and angry resentment, as to what concerned himself, 
 and the ill usage he had received from them ; but as gen- 
 eral of the Volscians, he demanded restitution of the cities 
 and the lands which had been seized upon during the late 
 war, and that the same rights and franchises should be 
 granted them at Rome, which had been before accorded 
 to the Latins; since there could be no assurance that a 
 peace would be firm and lasting, without fair and just 
 conditions on both sides. He allowed them thirty days 
 to consider and resolve. 
 
 The ambassadors being departed, he withdrew his forces 
 out of the Roman territory. This, those of the Volscians 
 who had long envied his reputation, and could not endure 
 to see the influence he had with the people, laid hold of, 
 as the first matter of complaint against him. Among 
 Franchises : privileges. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 169 
 
 them was also TuUus himself, not for any wrong done 
 him personally by Marcius, but through the weakness in- 
 cident to human nature. He could not help feeling mor- 
 tified to find his own glory thus totally obscured, and 
 himself overlooked and neglected now by the Volscians, 
 who had so great an opinion of their new leader, that 
 he alone was all to them, while other captains, they 
 thought, should be content with that share of power, 
 which he might think fit to accord. From hence the first 
 seeds of complaint and accusation were scattered about 
 in secret, and the malcontents met and heightened each 
 other's indignation, saying, that to retreat as he did, was 
 in effect to betray and deliver up, though not their cities 
 and their arms, yet what was as bad, the critical times 
 and opportunities for action, on which depend the preser- 
 vation or the loss of everything else; since in less than 
 thirty days' space, for which he had given a respite from 
 the war, there might happen the greatest changes in the 
 world. Yet Marcius spent not any part of the time idly, 
 but attacked the confederates of the enemy, ravaged their 
 land, and took from them seven great and populous cities 
 in that interval. The Romans, in the meanwhile, durst 
 not venture out to their relief ; but were utterly fearful, 
 and showed no more disposition or capacity for action, 
 than if their bodies had been struck with a palsy, and be- 
 come destitute of sense and motion. But when the thirty 
 days were expired, and Marcius appeared again with his 
 whole army, they sent another embassy to beseech him 
 that he would moderate his displeasure, and would with- 
 draw the Volscian army, and then make any proposals he 
 thought best for both parties; the Romans would make 
 no concessions to menaces, but if it were his opinion that 
 
160 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 the Volscians ought to have any favor shown them, upon 
 laying down their arms they might obtain all they could 
 in reason desire. 
 
 The reply of Marcius was, that he should make no 
 answer to this as general of the Volscians, but, in the 
 quality still of a Roman citizen, he would advise and ex- 
 hort them, as the case stood, not to carry it so high, but 
 think rather of just compliance, and return to him, before 
 three days were at an end, with a ratification of his pre- 
 vious demands; otherwise, they must understand that 
 they could not have any further freedom of passing 
 through his camp upon idle errands. 
 
 When the ambassadors were come back, and had ac- 
 quainted the senate with the answer, seeing the whole 
 state now threatened as it were by a tempest, and the 
 waves ready to overwhelm them, they were forced, as we 
 say in extreme perils, to let down the sacred anchor. A 
 decree was made, that the whole order of their priests, 
 those who initiated in the mysteries or had the custody 
 of them, and those who, according to their ancient prac- 
 tice of the country, divined from birds, should all and 
 every one of them go in full procession to Marcius with 
 their pontifical array, and the dress and habit which they 
 respectively used in their several functions, and should 
 urge him, as before, to withdraw his forces, and then treat 
 with his countrymen in favor of the Volscians. He con- 
 sented so far, indeed, as to give the deputation an admit- 
 tance into his camp, but granted nothing at all, nor so 
 much as expressed himself more mildly; but, without 
 capitulating or receding, bade them once for all choose 
 
 Divined from birds : foretold the future from the flight or actions of birds. 
 Pontifical : priestly. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 161 
 
 whether they would yield or fight, since the old terms 
 were the only terms of peace. When this solemn appli- 
 cation proved ineffectual, the priests, too, returning un- 
 successful, they determined to sit still within the city, and 
 keep watch about their walls, intending only to repulse 
 the enemy, should he offer to attack them, and placing 
 their hopes chiefly in time and in extraordinary accidents 
 of fortune ; as to themselves, they felt incapable of doing 
 anything for their own deliverance; mere confusion and 
 terror and ill-boding reports possessed the whole city ; till 
 at last a thing happened not unlike what we so often find 
 represented, without, however, being accepted as true b}^ 
 people in general, in Homer. On some great and unusual 
 occasion we find him say : — 
 
 But him the blue-eyed goddess did inspire ; 
 
 and elsewhere : — 
 
 But some immortal turned my mind away, 
 To think what others of the deed would say ; 
 
 and again: — - 
 
 Were't his own thought or were't a god's command. 
 
 People are apt, in such passages, to censure and disregard 
 the poet, as if, by the introduction of mere impossibilities 
 and idle fictions, he were denying the action of a man's 
 own deliberate thought and free choice ; which is not, in 
 the least, the case in Homer's representation, where the 
 ordinary, probable, and habitual conclusions that common 
 reason leads to are continually ascribed to our own direct 
 agency. He certainly says frequently enough : — 
 
 But I consulted with my own great soul; 
 or, as in another passage : — 
 
162 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 He spoke. Achilles, with quick pain possessed, 
 Revolved two purposes in his strong breast ; 
 
 and in a third : — 
 
 — Yet never to her wishes won 
 The just mind of the brave Bellerophon. 
 
 But where the act is something out of the way and ex- 
 traordinary, and seems in a manner to demand some 
 impulse of divine possession and sudden inspiration to 
 account for it, here he does introduce divine agency, not 
 to destroy, but to prompt the human will ; not to create 
 in us another agency, but offering images to stimulate 
 our own ; images that in no sort or kind make our action 
 involuntary, but give occasion rather to spontaneous ac- 
 tion, aided and sustained by feelings of confidence and 
 hope. For either we must totally dismiss and exclude 
 divine influences from every kind of causality and origin- 
 ation in what we do, or else what other way can we con- 
 ceive in which divine aid and cooperation can act? 
 Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine beings actu- 
 ally and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands 
 and our feet this way or that, to do what is right: but 
 that by certain motives and ideas which they suggest, 
 they either excite the active powers of the will, or else 
 restrain them. 
 
 In the perplexity which I have described, the Roman 
 women went, some to other temples, but the greater part, 
 and the ladies of highest rank, to the altar of Jupiter Cap- 
 itolinus. Among these suppliants was Valeria, sister to 
 the great Poplicola, who did the Romans eminent service 
 
 Jupiter Capitolinus : Jupiter of the Capitol, so called from his temple on 
 the summit of the Capitolian Hill in Rome ; here was the citadel of the city, 
 and here also was a magnificent shrine to Jupiter, the Father of Gods and Men. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 163 
 
 both in peace and war. Poplicola himself was now de- 
 ceased, as is told in the history of his life ; but Valeria 
 lived still, and enjoyed great respect and honor at Rome, 
 her life and conduct no way disparaging her birth. She, 
 suddenly seized with the sort of instinct or emotion of 
 mind which I have described, and happily lighting, not 
 without divine guidance, on the right expedient, both rose 
 herself, and bade the others rise, and went directly with 
 them to the house of Volumnia, the mother of Marcius. 
 And coming in and finding her sitting with her daughter- 
 in-law, and with her little grandchildren on her lap, Vale- 
 ria, then surrounded by her female companions, spoke in 
 the name of them all: — 
 
 " We that now make our appearance, O Volumnia, and 
 you Vergilia, are come as mere women to women, not by 
 direction of the senate, or an order from the consuls, or 
 the appointment of any other magistrate ; but the divine 
 being himself, as I conceive, moved td compassion by our 
 prayers, prompted us to visit you in a body, and request 
 a thing on which our own and the common safety depends, 
 and which, if you consent to it, will raise your glory above 
 that of the daughters of the Sabines, who won over their 
 fathers and their husbands from mortal enmity to peace 
 and friendship. Arise and come with us to Marcius ; join 
 in our supplication, and bear for your country this true 
 and just testimony on her behalf: that, notwithstanding 
 the many mischiefs that have been done her, yet she has 
 never outraged you, nor so much as thought of treating 
 you ill, in all her resentment, but does now restore you 
 
 Sabines: one of the early peoples of Italy; the Romans under Romulus, 
 their founder, seized the Sabine women for wives. A war ensued; but the 
 Sabine women rushed between the combatants, and a lasting peace was made, 
 resulting in the union of the two peoples. M. 
 
164 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 safe into his hands, though there be small likelihood she 
 should obtain from him any equitable terms." 
 
 The words of Valeria were seconded by the acclama- 
 tions of the other women, to which Volumnia made an- 
 swer: — 
 
 " I and Vergilia, my countrywomen, have an equal share 
 with you all in the common miseries, and we have the 
 additional sorrow, which is wholly ours, that we have lost 
 the merit and good fame of Marcius, and see his person 
 confined, rather than protected, by the arms of the enemy. 
 Yet I account this the greatest of all misfortunes, if indeed 
 the affairs of Rome be sunk to so feeble a state as to have 
 their last dependence upon us. For it is hardly imagina- 
 ble he should have any consideration left for us, when he 
 has no regard for the country which he was wont to pre- 
 fer before his mother and wife and children. Make use, 
 however, of our service ; and lead us, if you please, to 
 him; we are able, if* nothing more, at least to spend our 
 last breath in making suit to him for our country." 
 
 Having spoken thus, she took Vergilia by the hand, 
 and the young children, and so accompanied them to the 
 Volscian camp. So lamentable a sight much affected the 
 enemies themselves, who viewed them in respectful silence. 
 Marcius was then sitting in his place, with his chief 
 officers about him, and, seeing the party of women ad- 
 vance toward them, wondered what should be the matter; 
 but perceiving at length that his mother was at the head 
 of them, he would fain have hardened himself in his 
 former inexorable temper, but, overcome by his feelings, 
 and confounded at what he saw, he did not endure they 
 should approach him sitting in state, but came down 
 hastily to meet them, saluting his mother first, and em- 
 bracing her a long time, and then his wife and children, 
 
CORIOLANUS. 165 
 
 sparing neither tears nor caresses, but suffering himself to 
 be borne away and carried headlong, as it were, by the 
 impetuous violence of his passion. 
 
 When he had satisfied himself, and observed that his 
 mother Volumnia was desirous to say something, the Vol- 
 scian council being first called in, he heard her to the 
 following effect: "Our dress and our very persons, my 
 son, might tell you, though we should say nothing our- 
 selves, in how forlorn a condition we have lived at home 
 since your banishment and absence from us; and now 
 consider with yourself, whether we may not pass for the 
 most unfortunate of all women, to have that sight, which 
 should be the sweetest that we could see, converted, 
 through I know not what fatality, to one of all others the 
 most formidable and dreadful, — Volumnia to behold her 
 son, and Vergilia her husband, in arms against the walls 
 of Rome. Even prayer itself, whence others gain com- 
 fort and relief in all manner of misfortunes, is that which 
 most adds to our confusion and distress; since our best 
 wishes are inconsistent with themselves, nor can we at the 
 same time petition the gods for Rome's victory and your 
 preservation, but what the worst of our enemies would 
 imprecate as a curse, is the very object of our vows. 
 Your wife and children are under the sad necessity, that 
 they must either be deprived of you, or of their native 
 soil. As for myself, I am resolved not to wait till war 
 shall determine this alternative for me; but if I cannot 
 prevail with you to prefer amity and concord to quarrel 
 and hostility, and to be the benefactor to both parties, 
 rather than the destroyer of one of them, be assured of 
 this from me, and reckon steadfastly upon it, that you 
 shall not be able to reach your country, unless you tram- 
 
166 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 pie first upon the corpse of her that brought you into 
 life. For it will be ill in me to wait and loiter in the 
 world till the day come wherein I shall see a child of 
 mine, either led in triumph by his own countrymen, or 
 triumphing over them. Did I require you to save your 
 country by ruining the Volscians, then, I confess, my son, 
 the case would be hard for you to solve. It is base to 
 bring destitution on our fellow-citizens; it is unjust to 
 betray those who have placed their confidence in us. But, 
 as it is, we do but desire a deliverance equally expedient 
 for them and us; only more glorious and honorable on 
 the Volscian side, who, as superior in arms, will be 
 thought freely to bestow the two greatest of blessings, 
 peace and friendship, even when they themselves receive 
 the same. If we obtain these, the common thauks will 
 be chiefly due to you as the principal cause ; but if they 
 be not granted, you alone must expect to bear the blame 
 from both nations. The chance of all war is uncertain, 
 yet thus much is certain in the present, that you, by con- 
 quering Rome, will only get the reputation of having 
 undone your country ; but if the Volscians happen to be 
 defeated under your conduct, then the world will say, 
 that, to satisfy a revengeful humor, you brought misery 
 on your friends and patrons." 
 
 Marcius listened to his mother while she spoke, without 
 answering her a word ; and Volumnia, seeing him stand 
 mute also for a long time after she had ceased, resumed : 
 " O my son," said she, " what is the meaning of this 
 silence ? Is it a duty to postpone everything to a sense 
 of injuries, and wrong to gratify a mother in a request 
 like this? Is it the characteristic of a great man to 
 remember wrongs that have been done him, and not the 
 
COHIOLANtJS. 167 
 
 part of a great and good man to remember benefits such 
 as those that children receive from parents, and to requite 
 them with honor and respect? You, methinks, who are 
 so relentless in the punishment of the ungrateful, should 
 not be more careless than others to be grateful yourself. 
 You have punished your country already ; you have not yet 
 paid your debt to me. Nature and religion, surely, unat- 
 tended by any constraint, should have won your consent 
 to petitions so worthy and so just as these ; but if it must 
 be so, I will even use my last resource." Having said 
 this, she threw herself down at his feet, as did also his 
 wife and children ; upon which Marcius, crying out, " O 
 mother! what is it you have done to me?" raised her up 
 from the ground, and pressing her right hand with more 
 than ordinary vehemence, " You have gained a victory," 
 said he, " fortunate enough for the Romans, but destruc- 
 tive to your son ; whom you, though none else, have 
 defeated." After which, and a little private conference 
 with his mother and his wife, he sent them back again lo 
 Rome, as they desired of him. 
 
 The next morning, he broke up his camp, and led the 
 Volscians homeward, variously affected with what he had 
 done; some of them complaining of him and condemning 
 his act, others, who were inclined to a peaceful conclusion, 
 unfavorable to neither. A third party, while much dis- 
 liking his proceedings, yet could not look upon Marcius 
 as a treacherous person, but thought it pardonable in 
 him to be thus shaken and driven to surrender at last, 
 under such compulsion. None, however, opposed his 
 commands ; they all obediently followed him, though 
 rather from admiration of his virtue, than any regard 
 they now had to his authority. The Roman people, mean- 
 
168 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 time, more effectually manifested how much fear and 
 danger they had been in while the war lasted, by their 
 deportment after they were freed from it. Those that 
 guarded the walls had no sooner given notice that the 
 Volscians were dislodged and drawn off, but they set 
 open all their temples in a moment, and began to crown 
 themselves with garlands and prepare for sacrifice, as they 
 were wont to do upon tidings brought of any signal 
 victory. But the joy and transport of the whole city was 
 chiefly remarkable in the honors and marks of affection 
 paid to the women, as well by the senate as the people in 
 general; every one declaring that they were, beyond all 
 question, the instruments of the public safety. And the 
 senate having passed a decree that whatsoever they would 
 ask in the way of any favor or honor should be allowed 
 and done for them by the magistrates, they demanded 
 simply that a temple might be erected to Female Fortune, 
 the expense of which they offered to defray out of their 
 own contributions, if the city would be at the cost of 
 sacrifices, and other matters pertaining to the due honor 
 of the gods, out of the common treasury. The senate, 
 much commending their public spirit, caused the temple 
 to be built and a statue set up in it at the public charge. 
 
 When Marcius came back to Antium, Tullus, who thor- 
 oughly hated and greatly feared him, proceeded at once 
 to contrive how he might immediately despatch him ; as, 
 if he escaped now, he was never likely to give him such 
 another advantage. Having, therefore, got together and 
 suborned several partisans against him, he required Mar- 
 cius to resign his charge, and give the Volscians an ac- 
 count of his administration. He, apprehending the danger 
 
 Suborn : to employ a person to give false testimony. 
 
CORIOLANUS. 169 
 
 of a private condition, while Tullus held the office of gen-^ 
 eral and exercised the greatest power among his fellows- 
 citizens, made answer, that he was ready to lay down his 
 commission, whenever those from whose common author- 
 ity he had received it, should think fit to recall it, and 
 that in the mean time he was ready to give the Antiates 
 satisfaction, as to all particulars of his conduct, if they 
 were desirous of it. 
 
 An assembly was called, and popular speakers, as had 
 been concerted, came forward to exasperate and incense 
 the multitude ; but when Marcius stood up to answer, the 
 more unruly and tumultuous part of the people became 
 quiet on a sudden, and out of reverence allowed him to 
 speak without the least disturbance ; while all the better 
 people, and such as were satisfied with a peace, made it 
 evident by their whole behavior, that they would give 
 him a favorable hearing, and judge and pronounce accord- 
 ing to equity. 
 
 Tullus, therefore, began to dread the issue of the defence 
 he was going to make for himself; for he was an admira- 
 ble speaker, and the former services he had done the Vol- 
 scians had procured and still preserved for him greater 
 kindness than could be outweighed by any blame for his 
 late conduct. Indeed, the very accusation itself was a 
 proof and testimony of the greatness of his merits, since 
 people could never have complained or thought them- 
 selves wronged, because Rome was not brought into their 
 power, but that by his means they had come so near to 
 taking it. For these reasons, the conspirators judged it 
 prudent not to make any further delays, nor to test the 
 general feeling; but the boldest of their faction, crying 
 
 Faction : a party acting in opposition to those in authority. 
 
170 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 out that they ought not to listen to a traitor, nor allow 
 him still to retain office and play the tyrant among them, 
 fell upon Marcius in a body, and slew him there, none of 
 those that were present offering to defend him. But it 
 quickly appeared that the action was in nowise approved 
 by the majority of the Volscians, who hurried out of their 
 several cities to show respect to his corpse ; to which they 
 gave honorable interment, adorning his sepulchre with 
 arms and trophies, as the monument of a noble hero and a 
 famous general. When the Romans heard tidings of his 
 death, they gave no other signification either of honor or 
 of anger towards him, but simply granted the request of 
 the women, that they might put themselves into mourn- 
 ing and bewail him for ten months, as the usage was upon 
 the loss of a father or a son or a brother. 
 
 Marcius was no sooner deceased, but the Volscians felt 
 the need of his assistance. They quarrelled first with the 
 ^quians, their confederates and their friends, about the 
 appointment of the general of their joint forces, and car- 
 ried their dispute to the length of bloodshed and slaugh- 
 ter ; and were then defeated by the Romans in a pitched 
 battle, where not only Tullus lost his life, but the principal 
 flower of their whole army was cut in pieces ; so that they 
 were forced to submit and accept of peace upon very dis- 
 honorable terms, becoming subjects of Rome, and pledging 
 themselves to submission. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO FABTUS. 
 
 We have seen, in the story of Coriolanus, how the patri- 
 cians and plebeians were not like fellow-countrymen, but 
 hated each other as if they had been foreign enemies. And 
 so it went on for a hundred years, all the time with wrang- 
 ling, rioting, assassination, and even civil war. But the 
 plebeians were constantly growing stronger, and forced 
 the patricians to give up their exclusive privileges one by 
 one, till at last the plebeians had just about the same 
 rights as the patricians. And indeed the rich plebeians 
 joined with the patricians to form a new aristocracy, called 
 the nobility. So, after this, instead of Patricians^ the 
 ruling class in Rome were called Nobles, At the same 
 time, when the strife between patricians and plebeians had 
 ceased, the city became so rich and prosperous, and made 
 such great and rapid conquests, that the poor people too 
 became thriving and contented, and for a long time there 
 was good feeling and good order. 
 
 The first important conquest they made was of the great 
 Etruscan city of Veii, only ten miles away, north of the 
 Tiber. By this conquest they nearly doubled their terri- 
 tory. And now Rome was so strong that it was able to 
 make itself the master of the cities of the Latin League, 
 instead of their leader^ as it had been. So the Latin 
 League was broken to pieces, and Rome ruled all the 
 coast, from the river Tiber as far as Campania. 
 
 Campania is a beautiful country, wonderfully fertile, 
 between the coast and the mountains, upon the Bay of 
 
172 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Naples. Its chief city now is Naples, but in ancient times 
 it was Capua, upon the river Volturnus, a few miles from 
 the coast. Capua was a very large and rich city, perhaps 
 even larger than Rome at this time, and afterwards rank- 
 ing next to Rome. It had been conquered by the Sam- 
 nites, a powerful and warlike nation who lived in the high 
 mountain region of central Italy, north and east of Cam- 
 pania ; and thus by the conquest of Latium, the territory 
 of the Romans came to border upon that of the Samnites. 
 
 The Samnites were, next to Rome, the most powerful 
 nation of Italy; for the Etruscans, who had once been the 
 most powerful, were now weak and decaying, It did not 
 take much provocation in those days to set two neighbor- 
 ing nations to fighting; and a long series of wars now 
 began, known as the Samnite Wars, which lasted, with 
 some intervals, more than fifty years. In each of these 
 wars the Romans came off victorious, and in each treaty 
 of peace they gained some new territory, until at last they 
 were masters of all Italy, just as they had been of Latium. 
 But we must not understand that they ruled the whole of 
 Italy, just as they did the whole of Latium. A great deal 
 of territory was conquered and made a part of the Roman 
 Empire ; but about half the Italian towns remained nomi- 
 nally independent. They were called Allies^ and governed 
 themselves in all things, except that they were obliged to 
 contribute troops to the Roman armies. 
 
 After the Romans had in this way made themselves mas- 
 ters of all Italy, they were tempted into a war for the 
 possession of Sicily, an island lying close to Italy, and 
 separated from it by a very narrow strait. It is a beauti- 
 ful and fertile island, and had been colonized by the Greeks 
 several hundred years before. The Greeks had at the 
 
FABIUS. 173 
 
 same time established so many and so flourishing colonies 
 on the southern coast of Italy, that those colonies (both in 
 Italy and Sicily) were called Gireat G-reece. The largest 
 Greek city in Italy was Tarentum, and this was the third 
 city in Italy, ranking next to Rome and Capua. But the 
 greatest of all the cities of Great Greece was Syracuse in 
 Sicily, which now ruled all the eastern half of Sicily. The 
 western part had been conquered by Carthage, a city in 
 Africa, close by the modern city of Tunis. 
 
 Carthage was at this time the chief commercial city in 
 the world. It was a colony of the Phoenicians, and the 
 inhabitants were therefore of the same race as the Hebrews 
 and Arabians, the Semitic race. The Phoenicians were the 
 most commercial people of antiquity, and their colony, 
 Carthage, outstripped the mother country in power and 
 commercial enterprise. The Carthaginians carried on 
 trade in all the western part of the Mediterranean, and had 
 got possession of all the islands in this part of the Medi- 
 terranean except the eastern portion of Sicily, which be- 
 longed to Syracuse. Now, just as the Romans had begun 
 to fight with the Samnites for the possession of Italy, as 
 soon as their empire touched that of the Samnites, so, as 
 soon as they had got the whole of Italy, they began to 
 fight with their new neighbors, the Carthaginians, for the 
 possession of Sicily. The wars with Carthage were called 
 Punic wars, Punic being the Roman way of saying Phoeni- 
 cian, The First Punic War began 264 years before Christ, 
 and lasted twenty-three years. 
 
 The result of the First Punic War was that the Cartha- 
 ginians gave up their half of Sicily, which the Romans 
 now governed as a province. Shortly afterwards the 
 Romans took advantage of a favorable opportunity, and 
 
174 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 dishonorably seized the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, 
 which they made into a second province. The Carthagin- 
 ians were very indignant at this, as they had a good right 
 to be, but they could neither prevent it nor revenge them- 
 selves, because they had been so weakened by the war. 
 But they set themselves, like sensible people, to acquire 
 new possessions in the place of those which they had lost ; 
 and for this purpose their great general and statesman 
 Hamilcar founded the colony of New Carthage in Spain, 
 and soon succeeded in building up a large trade and an 
 extensive empire in Spain. After Hamilcar died, his son 
 Hannibal became governor of these Spanish possessions. 
 
 The Romans were very uneasy at seeing this, for they 
 knew that as soon as the Carthaginians should be strong 
 enough, they would try to get back the stolen possessions. 
 But they were much occupied at this time in subdu- 
 ing the Gallic tribes and other nations of northern Italy, 
 and could not do anything directly to check the advance 
 of the Carthaginians in Spain. They made a treaty, how- 
 ever, in which the Carthaginians agreed not to cross the 
 river Iberus (^Ehro)^ and not to disturb the Greek city of 
 Saguntum, which was in alliance with Rome. Of course 
 neither party had any intention of observing the treaty 
 any longer than should be convenient; and as soon as 
 Hannibal thought that he was strong enough, he pro- 
 ceeded to conquer Saguntum, and then set out at once to 
 cross the Ebro and march to Italy. He began his march 
 in the year 218, and this was the beginning of the Second 
 Punic War; so the interval between the first and second 
 Punic wars was just the same as the length of the first 
 war — twenty-three years. 
 
 After crossing the river Ebro, Hannibal made his way 
 
FABIUS. 175 
 
 over the Pyrenees Mountains, along the coast of Gaul, 
 and over the Alps, which he crossed by the pass of the 
 Little St. Bernard, just south of Mont Blanc. Northern^ 
 Italy was occupied by Gallic tribes, which had only just 
 been conquered by the Romans, and when Hannibal 
 appeared among them, these Gauls hastened to join them- 
 selves to him, thinking that in this way they could rid 
 themselves of the Roman yoke. This was what Hannibal 
 expected, and i ^ thfe he was not disappointed. But he had 
 not realized how much more steep and difficult the Alps 
 were than any mountains he had ever seen before. His 
 army suffered terribly in the passage, and reached Italy not 
 only much fatigued and exhausted, but having lost more 
 than half its numbers. Probably his losses by the march 
 more than balanced the assistance he received from the 
 Gauls. 
 
 Another point in which Hannibal's calculations were at 
 fault will appear in the life of Fabius. He knew that the 
 Romans had established their power in Italy by long and 
 hard-fought wars; and he thought that the conquered 
 Italians would gather around him as their deliverer, just 
 as the Gauls had done. But the Italian towns had been 
 left to govern themselves in all their internal affairs, and 
 the Roman rule was on the whole so just and fair, that 
 'there was no disposition to exchange it for that of foreign- 
 ers. Hannibal was, however, so skilful a general, that he 
 defeated the Romans in one battle after another, each vic- 
 tory being more decisive than the last, until it seemed 
 that nothing could stand against him. It was when 
 things were in this shape that Fabius Maximus was ap- 
 pointed Dictator, and took command against him. 
 
176 PLUTAKCH'S LIVES. 
 
 
 FABIUS. 
 
 XpABIUS, who bore the honorable surname of Maximus, 
 -*- was in his childhood called The Lamb, on account of 
 his extreme mildness of temper. His slowness in speaking, 
 his long labor and pains in learning, his deliberation in 
 entering into the sports of other children, his easy submis- 
 sion to everybody, as if he had no will of his own, made 
 those who judged superficially of him, the greater number, 
 esteem him insensible and stupid ; and few only saw that 
 this tardiness proceeded from stability, and discerned the 
 greatness of his mind, and the lionlikeness of his'temper. 
 But as soon as he came into employments, his virtues 
 exerted and showed themselves ; his reputed want of 
 energy then was recognized by people in general, as a 
 freedom from passion ; his slowness in words and actions, 
 the effect of a true prudence ; his Want of rapidity, and 
 his sluggishness, as constancy and firmness. 
 
 Living in a great commonwealth, surrounded by many 
 enemies, he saw the wisdom of inuring his body (nature's 
 own weapon) to warlike exercises, and disciplining his 
 tongue for public oratory in a style conformable to his 
 life and character. His eloquence, indeed, had not much 
 of popular ornament, nor empty artifice, but there was in 
 it great weight of sense; it was strong and sententious, 
 much after the way of Thucydides. We have yet extant 
 his funeral oration upon the death of his son, who died 
 consul, which he recited before the people. 
 
FABIUS. • 177 
 
 He was five times consul, and in his first consulship 
 had the honor of a triumph for the victory he gained over 
 the Ligurians, whom he defeated in a set battle, and drove 
 them to take shelter m the Alps, from whence they never 
 after made any inroad nor depredation upon their neigh- 
 bors. After this, Hannibal came into Italy, ^dtST at his 
 first entrance, having gained a great battle near the river 
 Trebia, traversed all Tuscany with his victorious army, 
 and, desolating the country round about, filled Rome itself 
 with astonishment and terror. Besides the more common 
 signs of thunder and lightning then happening, the report 
 of several unheard of and utterly strange portents 
 much increased the popular consternation. For it was 
 said that some targets sweated blood; that at Antium, 
 when Ihey reaped their corn, many of the ears were filled 
 with blood; that it had rained red-hot stones; that the 
 Falerians had seen the heavens open and several scrolls 
 falling down, in one of which was plainly written, " Mars 
 himself stirs his arms." But these prodigies had no effect 
 upon the impetuous and fiery temper of the consul Fla- 
 minius, whose natural promptness had been much height- 
 ened by his late unexpected victory over the Gauls, when 
 he fought them contrary to the order of the senate and the 
 advice of his colleague. Fabius, on the other side, thought 
 it not seasonable to engage with the enemy ; not that he 
 much regarded the prodigies, which he thought too strange 
 to be easily understood, though many were alarmed by 
 them ; but in regard that the Carthaginians were but few. 
 
 Triumph: an imposing procession in honor of a victorious general. The 
 victor, with a sceptre in one hand and a laurel-branch in the other, rode in a 
 circular chariot drawn by four horses, preceded by the senate and magistrates, 
 musicians, spoils, and captives in fetters, and followed by his army on foot in 
 marching order. 
 
178 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 and in want of money and supplies, he deemed it best not 
 to meet in the field a general whose army had been tried 
 in many encounters, and whose object was a battle, but to 
 send aid to their allies, control the movements of the 
 various subject cities, and let the force and vigor of Han- 
 nibal waste away and expire, like a flame, for want of 
 aliment. 
 
 These weighty reasons did not prevail with Flaminius, 
 who protested he would never suffer the advance of the 
 enemy to the city, nor be reduced, like Camillus in former 
 time, to fight for Rome within the walls of Rome. Ac- 
 cordingly he ordered the tribunes to draw out the army 
 into the field; and though he himself, leaping on horse- 
 back to go out, was no sooner mounted but the beast, 
 without any apparent cause, fell into so violent a fit of 
 trembling and bounding that he cast his rider headlong 
 on the ground, he w^as no ways deterred; but proceeded 
 as he had begun, and marched forward up to Hannibal, 
 who was posted near the Lake Thrasymene in Tuscany. 
 At the moment of this engagement, there happened so 
 great an earthquake, that it destroyed several towns, 
 altered the course of rivers, and carried off parts of high 
 cliffs, yet such was the eagerness of the combatants, that 
 they were entirely insensible of it. 
 
 In this battle Flaminius fell, after many proofs of his 
 strength and courage, and round about him all the 
 bravest of the army ; in the whole, fifteen thousand were 
 killed, and as many made prisoners. Hannibal, desirous 
 to bestow funeral honors upon the body of Flaminius, 
 made diligent search after it, but could not find it among 
 the dead, nor was it ever known what became of it. 
 Upon the former engagement near Trebia, neither the 
 
FABIUS. 179 
 
 general who wrote, nor the express who told the news, 
 used straightforward and direct terms, nor related it other- 
 wise than as a drawn battle, with equal loss on either 
 side; but on this occasion, as soon as Pomponius the 
 praetor had the intelligence, he caused the people to as- 
 semble, and, without disguising or dissembling the matter, 
 told them plainly, " We are beaten, O Romans, in a great 
 battle ; the consul Flaminius is killed ; think, therefore, 
 what is to be done for your safety." Letting loose his 
 news like a gale of wind upon an open sea, he threw the 
 city into utter confusion : in such consternation, their 
 thoughts found no support or stay. The danger at hand 
 at last awakened their judgments into a resolution to 
 choose a dictator, who, by the sovereign authority of his 
 office, and by his personal wisdom and courage, might be 
 able to manage the public affairs. Their choice unani- 
 mously fell upon Fabius, whose character seemed equal to 
 the greatness of the office ; whose age was so far advanced 
 as to give him experience, without taking from him the 
 vigor of action; his body could execute what his soul 
 designed ; and his temper was a happy compound of con- 
 fidence and cautiousness. 
 
 Fabius, being thus installed in the office of dictator, in 
 the first place gave the command of the horse to Lucius 
 Minucius ; and next asked leave of the senate for himself, 
 that in time of battle he might serve on horseback, which 
 by an ancient law amongst the Romans was forbid to their 
 generals; whether it were, that, placing their greatest 
 strength in their foot-soldiers, they would have their com- 
 manders-in-chief posted amongst them, or else to let them 
 
 Praetor : a civil officer whose duties were similar to those of a judge at the 
 present day. 
 
180 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 know, that, how great and absolute soever their authority 
 were, the people and senate were still their masters, of 
 whom they must ask leave. Fabius, however, to make 
 the authority of his charge more observable, and to render 
 the people more submissive and obedient to him, caused 
 himself to be accompanied with the full body of four and 
 twenty lictors ; and, when the surviving consul came to 
 visit hirn, sent him word to dismiss his lictors with their 
 fasces, the ensigns of authority, and appear before him as 
 a private person. 
 
 The first solemn action of his dictatorship was very 
 fitly a religious one : an admonition to the people, that 
 their late overthrow had not befallen them through want 
 of courage in their soldiers, but through the neglect of 
 divine ceremonies in the general. He therefore exhorted 
 them not to fear the enemy, but by extraordinary honor 
 to propitiate the gods. This he did, not to fill their minds 
 with superstition, but by religious feeling to raise their 
 courage, and lessen their fear of the enemy by inspiring 
 the belief that Heaven was on their side. 
 
 In this manner Fabius having given the people better 
 heart for the future, by making them believe that the 
 gods took their side, for his own part placed his whole 
 confidence in himself, believing that the gods bestowed 
 victory and good fortune by the instrumentality of valor 
 and of prudence ; and thus prepared, he set forth to op- 
 pose Hannibal, not with intention to fight him, but with 
 the purpose of wearing out and wasting the vigor of his 
 
 Lictors : officers attending upon the chief magistrates. 
 
 Fasces (fas'sez) : a bundle of rods with an axe bound in with them. They 
 were carried by the lictors before the superior Roman magistrates, as a badge 
 of their power over life and limb. 
 
 To propitiate : to render favorable. 
 
FABIUS. 181 
 
 arms by lapse of time, and gradually to destroy him by 
 means of his superiority in men and money. With this 
 design, he always encamped on the highest grounds, 
 where tl^ enemy's horse could have no access to him. 
 Still he kept pace with them ; when they marched he 
 followed them ; when they encamped he did the same, 
 but at such a distance as not to be compelled to an 
 engagement, and always keeping upon the hills, free 
 from the insults of their horse; by which means he 
 gave them no rest, but kept them in a continual alarm. 
 
 But this his dilatory way gave occasion in his own camp 
 for suspicion of want of courage ; and this opinion pre- 
 vailed yet more in Hannibal's army. Hannibal was him- 
 self the only man who was not deceived, who discerned 
 his skill and detected his tactics, and saw, unless he could 
 by art or force bring him to battle, that the Carthaginians, 
 unable to use the arms in which they were superior, and 
 suifering the continual drain of lives and treasure in which 
 they were inferior, would in the end come to nothing. 
 He resolved, therefore, with all the arts and subtilties of 
 war to break his measures, and to bring Fabius to an 
 engagement; like a cunning wrestler, watching every 
 opportunity to get good hold and close with his adversary. 
 He at one time attacked, and sought to distract his atten- 
 tion, tried to draw him off in various directions, endeav- 
 ored in all ways to tempt him from his safe policy. All 
 this artifice, though it had no effect upon the firm judg- 
 ment and conviction of the dictator, yet upon the common 
 soldier and even upon the general of the horse himself, it 
 had too great an operation : Minucius, unseasonably eager 
 for action, bold and confident, humored the soldiery, and 
 himself contributed to fill them with wild eagerness and 
 
182 PLUT ARCHES LIVES. 
 
 empty hopes, which they vented in reproaches upon 
 Fabius, calling him Hannibal's pedagogue,^ since he did 
 nothing else but follow him up and down and wait upon 
 him. At the same time, they cried up Minuciftis for the 
 only captain worthy to command the Romans; whose 
 vanity and presumption rose so high in consequence, that 
 he insolently jested at Fabius' encampments upon the 
 mountains, saying that he seated them there as on a 
 theatre, to behold the flames and desolation of their coun- 
 try. And he would sometimes ask the friends of the 
 general, whether it were not his meaning, by thus leading 
 them from mountain to mountain, to carry them at last 
 (having no hopes on earth) up into heaven, or to hide 
 them in the clouds from Hannibal's army ? When his 
 friends reported these things to the dictator, persuading 
 him that, to avoid the general obloquy, he should engage 
 the enemy, his answer was, " I should be more fainthearted 
 than they make me, if, through fear of idle reproaches, 
 I should abandon my own convictions. It is no inglorious 
 thing to have fear for the safety of our country, but to be 
 turned from one's course by men's opinions, by blame, 
 and by misrepresentation, shows a man unfit to hold an 
 office such as this, which, by such conduct, he makes the 
 slave of those whose errors it is his business to control." 
 
 An oversight of Hannibal occurred soon after. De- 
 sirous to refresh his horse in some good pasture-grounds, 
 and to draw off his army, he ordered his guides to conduct 
 him to the district of Casinum. They, mistaking his bad 
 pronunciation, led him and his army to the town of Casil- 
 inum, on the frontier of Campania. The country around 
 is enclosed by mountains, with a valley opening towards 
 
 1 Originally a slave who conducted children to school. 
 
FABIUS. 
 
 <^ ^ 183 
 
 the sea, in which the river overflowing forms a quantity 
 of marsh land with deep banks of sand, and discharges 
 itself into the sea on a very unsafe and rough shore. 
 While Hannibal was proceeding hither, Fabius, by his 
 knowledge of the roads, succeeded in making his way 
 around before him, and despatched four thousand choice 
 men to seize the exit from it and stop him up, and lodged 
 the rest of his army upon the neighboring hills in the 
 most advantageous places ; at the same time detaching a 
 party of his lightest armed men to fall upon Hannibal's 
 rear ; which they did with such success, that they cut off 
 eight hundred of them, and put the whole army in dis- 
 order. Hannibal, finding the error and the danger he 
 was fallen into, immediately crucified the guides ; but con- 
 sidered the enemy to be so advantageously posted, that 
 there was no hopes of breaking through them ; while his 
 soldiers began to be despondent and terrified, and to 
 think themselves surrounded with embarrassments too 
 difficult to be surmounted. 
 
 Thus reduced, Hannibal had recourse to stratagem : he 
 caused two thousand head of oxen which he had in his 
 camp, to have torches or dry fagots well fastened to their 
 horns, and lighting them in the beginning of the night, 
 brdered the beasts to be driven on towards the heights 
 commanding the passages out of the valley and the enemy's 
 posts ; when this was done, he made his army in the dark 
 leisurely march after them. The oxen at first kept a slow, 
 orderly pace, and with their lighted heads resembled an 
 army marching by night, astonishing the shepherds and 
 herdsmen of the hills about. But when the fire had burnt 
 down the horns of the beasts to the quick, they no longer 
 observed their sober pace, but, unruly and wild with their 
 
184 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 pain, ran dispersed about, tossing their heads and scatter- 
 ing the fire round about them upon each other and setting 
 light as they passed to the trees. This was a surprising 
 spectacle to the Romans on guard upon the heights. See- 
 ing flames which appeared to come from men advancing 
 with torches, they were possessed with the alarm that the 
 enemy was approaching in various quarters, and that they 
 were being surrounded; and, quitting their post, aban- 
 doned the pass, and precipitately retired to their camp on 
 the hills. They were no sooner gone, but the light-armed 
 of Hannibal's men, according to his order, immediately 
 seized the heights, and soon after the whole army, with all 
 the baggage, came up and safely marched through the 
 passes. 
 
 Fabius, before the night was over, quickly found out 
 the trick ; for some of the beasts fell into his hands ; but 
 for fear of an ambush in the dark, he kept his men all 
 night to their arms in the camp. As soon as it was day, 
 he attacked the enemy in the rear, where, after a good 
 deal of skirmishing in the uneven ground, the disorder 
 might have become general, but that Hannibal detached 
 from his van a body of Spaniards, who, of themselves active 
 and nimble, were accustomed to the climbing of mountains. 
 These briskly attacked the Roman troops who were in 
 heavy armor, killed a good many, and left Fabius no lon- 
 ger in condition to follow the enemy. This action brought 
 the extreme of obloquy and contempt upon the dictator; 
 they said it was now manifest that he was not only in- 
 ferior to his adversary, as they had always thought, in 
 courage, but even in that conduct, foresight, and general- 
 ship, by which he had proposed to bring the war to an end. 
 
 Van : the front of the army. 
 
FABIUS. 185 
 
 And Hannibal, to enhance their anger against him, 
 marched with his army close to the lands and possessions 
 of Fabius, and, giving orders to his soldiers to burn and 
 destroy all the country about, forbade them to do the 
 least damage in the estates of the Roman general, and 
 placed guards for their security. This, when reported at 
 Rome, had the effect with the people which Hannibal 
 desired. Their tribunes raised a thousand stories against 
 him, chiefly at the instigation of Metilius, who, not so 
 much out of hatred to him as out of friendship to Minu- 
 cius, whose kinsman he was, thought by depressing Fabius 
 to raise his friend. The senate on their part were also 
 offended with him, for the bargain he had made with 
 Hannibal about the exchange of prisoners, the -conditions 
 of which were, that, after exchange made of man for 
 man, if any on either' side remained, they should be 
 redeemed at the price of two hundred and fifty drachmas 
 a head. Upon the whole account, there remained two 
 hundred and forty Romans unexchanged, and the senate 
 now not only refused to allow money for the ransoms, but 
 also reproached Fabius for making a contract, contrary to 
 the honor and interest of the commonwealth, for redeem- 
 ing men whose cowardice had put them in the hands of 
 the enemy. Fabius heard and endured all this with in- 
 vincible patience; and, having no money by him, and on 
 the other side being resolved to keep his word with Han- 
 nibal and not to abandon the captives, he despatched his 
 son to Rome to sell land, and to bring with him the price, 
 sufficient to discharge the ransoms ; which was punctually 
 performed by his son, and delivery accordingly made to 
 him of the prisoners, amongst whom many, when they 
 were released, made proposals to repay the money; which 
 Fabius in all cases declined. 
 
186 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 About this lime, he was called to Rome by the priests, 
 to assist, according to the duty of his office, at certain 
 sacrifices, and was thus forced to leave the command of 
 the army with Minucius ; but before he parted, not only 
 charged him as his commander-in-chief, but besought and 
 entreated him, not to come, in his absence, to a battle 
 with Hannibal. His commands, entreaties, and advice 
 were lost upon Minucius; for his back was no sooner 
 turned but the new general immediately sought occasions 
 to attack the enemy. And notice being brought him that 
 Hannibal had sent out a great part of his army to forage, 
 he fell upon a detachment of the remainder, doing great 
 execution, and driving them to their very camp, with no 
 little terror to the rest, who apprehended their breaking 
 in upon them ; and when Hannibal had recalled his scat- 
 tered forces to the camp, he, nevertheless, without any 
 loss, made his retreat, a success which aggravated his 
 boldness and presumption, and filled the soldiers with 
 rash confidence. The news spread to Rome, where 
 Fabius, on being told it, said tliat what he most feared 
 was Minucius' success : but the people, highly elated, 
 hurried to the forum to listen to an address from Metilius 
 the tribune, in which he infinitely extolled the valor of 
 Minucius, and fell bitterly upon Fabius, accusing him of a 
 want not merely of courage, but even of loyalty ; and not 
 only him, but also many other eminent and considerable 
 persons; saying that it was they that had brought the 
 Carthaginians into Italy, with the design to destroy the 
 liberty of the people ; for which end they had at once 
 put the supreme authority into the hands of a single per- 
 son, who by his slowness and delays might give Hannibal 
 leisure to establish himself in Italy, and the people of 
 
FABIUS. 187 
 
 Carthage time and opportunity to supply him with fresh 
 succors to complete his conquest. 
 
 Fabius came forward with no intention to answer the 
 tribune, but only said, that they should expedite the 
 sacrifices, that so he might speedily return to tlte army 
 to punish Minucius, who had presumed to fight contrary 
 to his orders ; words which immediately possessed the 
 people with the belief that Minucius stood in danger of 
 his life. For it was in the power of the dictator to 
 imprison and to put to death, and they feared that Fabius, 
 of a mild temper in general, would be as hard to be ap- 
 peased when once irritated, as he was slow to be provoked. 
 Nobody dared to raise his voice in opposition ; Metilius 
 alone, whose office of tribune gave him security to say 
 what he pleased (for in the time of a dictatorship that 
 magistrate alone preserves his authority), boldly applied 
 himself to the people in the behalf of Minucius: that 
 they should not suffer him to be made a sacrifice to the 
 enmity of Fabius, nor permit him to be destroyed, like 
 the son of Manlius Torquatus, who was beheaded by his 
 father for a victory fought and triumphantly won against 
 order ; he exhorted them to take away from Fabius that 
 absolute power of a dictator, and to put it into more 
 worthy hands, better able and more inclined to use it for 
 the public good. These impressions very much prevailed 
 upon the people, though not so far as wholly to dispossess 
 Fabius of the dictatorship. But they decreed that Minu- 
 cius should have an equal authority with the dictator in 
 the conduct of the war ; which was a thing then without 
 precedent, though a little later it was again practised after 
 the disaster at Cannae ; when the dictator, Marcus Junius, 
 being with the army, they chose at Rome Fabius Buteo 
 
188 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 dictator, that he might create new senators, to supply the 
 numerous places of those who were killed. But as soon 
 as, once acting in public, he had filled those vacant places 
 with a sufficient number, he immediately dismissed his 
 lictors^and withdrew from all his attendance, and, min- 
 gling like a common person with the rest of the people, 
 quietly went about his own affairs in the forum. 
 
 The enemies of Fabius thought they had sufficiently 
 humiliated and subdued him by raising Minucius to be 
 his equal in authority ; but they mistook the temper of 
 the man who looked upon their folly as not his loss, but 
 like Diogenes, who, being told that some persons derided 
 him, made answer, " But I am not derided," meaning that 
 only those were really insulted on whom such insults 
 made an impression, so Fabius, with great tranquillity 
 and unconcern, submitted to what happened, and contrib- 
 uted a proof to the argument of the philosophers that a 
 just and good man is not capable of being dishonored. 
 His only vexation arose from his fear lest this ill counsel, 
 by supplying opportunities to the diseased military ambi- 
 tion of his subordinate, should damage the public cause. 
 Lest the rashness of Minucius should now at once run 
 headlong into some disaster, he returned with all privacy 
 and speed to the army ; where he found Minucius so ele- 
 vated with his new dignity, that, a joint-authority not 
 contenting him, he required by turns to have the com- 
 mand of the army every other day. This Fabius re- 
 jected, but was contented that the army should be 
 divided ; thinking each general singly would better com- 
 mand his part, than partially command the whole. The 
 first and fourth legion he took for his own division, the 
 
 Legion : a body of corps of soldiers numbering about five thousand. 
 
FABTUS. 189 
 
 second and third he delivered to Minucius ; so also of the 
 auxiliary forces each had an equal share. 
 
 Minucius, thus exalted, could not contain himself from 
 boasting of his success in humiliating the high and power- 
 ful office of the dictatorship. Fabius quietly reminded 
 him that it was, in all wisdom, Hannibal, and not Fabius, 
 whom he had to combat ; but if he must needs contend 
 with his colleague, it had best be in diligence and care for 
 the preservation of Rome ; that it might not be said, a man 
 so favored by the people served them worse than he who 
 had been ill-treated and disgraced by them. 
 
 The young general, despising these admonitions as the 
 false humility of age, immediately removed with the body 
 of his army, and encamped by himself. Hannibal, who 
 was not ignorant of all these passages, lay watching his 
 advantage from them. It happened that between his army 
 and that of Minucius there was a certain eminence, which 
 seemed a very advantageous and not difficult post to en- 
 camp upon ; the level field around it appeared, from a dis- 
 tance, to be all smooth and even, though it had many 
 inconsiderable ditches and dips in it, not discernible to the 
 eye. Hannibal, had he pleased, could easily have possessed 
 himself of this ground ; but he had reserved it for a bait, 
 or train, in proper season, to draw the Romans to an en- 
 gagement. Now that Minucius and Fabius were divided, 
 he thought the opportunity fair for his purpose ; and, there- 
 fore, having in the night time lodged a convenient num- 
 ber of his men in these ditches and hollow places, early in 
 the morning he sent forth a small detachment, who, in the 
 sight of Minucius, proceeded to possess themselves of the 
 rising ground. According to his expectation, Minucius 
 swallowed the bait, and first sends out his light troops. 
 
190 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 and after them some horse, to dislodge the enemy ; and, 
 at last, when he saw Hannibal in person advancing to the 
 assistance of his men, marched down with his whole army 
 drawn up. He engaged with the troops on the eminence, 
 and sustained their missiles ; the combat for some time 
 was equal; but as soon as Hannibal perceived that the 
 whole army was now sufficiently advanced within the toils 
 he had set for them, so that their backs were open to his 
 men whom he had posted in the hollows, he gave the sig- 
 nal; upon which they rushed forth from various quarters, 
 and with loud cries furiously attacked Minucius in the 
 rear. The surprise and the slaughter was great, and struck 
 universal alarm and disorder through the whole army. 
 Minucius himself lost all his confidence ; he looked from 
 officer to officer, and found all alike unprepared to face the 
 danger, and yielding to a flight, which, however, could 
 not end in safety. The Numidian horsemen were already 
 in full victory riding about the plain, cutting down the 
 fugitives. 
 
 Fabius was not ignorant of this danger of his country- 
 men ; he foresaw what would happen from the rashness of 
 Minucius, and the cunning of Hannibal; and, therefore, 
 kept his men to their arms, in readiness to wait the event; 
 nor would he trust to the reports of others, but he him- 
 self, in front of his camp, viewed all that passed. When, 
 therefore, he saw the army of Minucius encompassed by 
 the enemy, and that by their countenance and shifting their 
 ground, they appeared more disposed to flight than to re- 
 sistance, with a great sigh, striking his hand upon his 
 thigh, he said to those about him, " O Hercules ! how 
 much sooner than T expected, though later than he seemed 
 to desire, hath Miniicius destroyed himself!" He then 
 
FABIUS. 191 
 
 commanded the ensigns^ to be led forward and the army 
 to follow, telling them, " We must make haste to rescue 
 Minucius, who is a valiant man, and a lover of his country ; 
 and if he hath been too forward to engage the enemy, at 
 another time we will tell him of it." Thus, at the head 
 of his men, Fabius marched up to the enemy, and first 
 cleared the plain of the Numidians ; and next fell upon 
 those who were charging the Romans in the rear, cutting 
 down all that made opposition, and obliging the rest to 
 save themselves by a hasty retreat, lest they should be en- 
 vironed as the Romans had been. Hannibal, seeing so 
 sudden a change of affairs, and Fabius, beyond the force 
 of his age, opening his way through the ranks up the hill- 
 side, that he might join Minucius, warily forbore, sounded 
 a retreat, and drew off his men into their camp ; while the 
 Romans on their part were no less contented to retire in 
 safety. It is reported that upon this occasion Hannibal 
 said jestingly to his friends : " Did not I tell you, that this 
 cloud which always hovered upon the mountains would, 
 at some time or other, come down with a storm upon us ? " 
 Fabius, after his men had picked up the spoils of the 
 field, retired to his own camp, without saying any harsh 
 or reproachful thing to his colleague ; who also on his 
 part, gathering his army together, spoke and said to them : 
 " To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is 
 above the force of human nature ; but to learn and 
 improve by the faults we have committed, is that which 
 becomes a good and sensible man. Some reasons I may 
 have to accuse fortune, but I have many more to thank 
 her; for in a few hours she hath cured a long mistake, 
 and taught me that I am not the man who should com- 
 
 1 Officers carrying the colors or standards. 
 
192 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 mand others, but have need of another to command me ; 
 and that we are not to contend for victory over those to 
 whom it is our advantage to yield. Therefore in every- 
 thing else henceforth the dictator must be your com- 
 mander ; only in showing gratitude towards him I will 
 still be your leader, and always be the first to obey his 
 orders." Having said this, he commanded the Roman 
 eagles to move forward, and all his men to follow him to 
 the camp of Fabius. The soldiers, then, as he entered, 
 stood amazed at the novelty of the sight, and were anx- 
 ious and doubtful what the meaning might be. When 
 he came near the dictator's tent, Fabius went forth to 
 meet him, on which he at once laid his standards at his 
 feet, calling him with a loud voice his father ; while the 
 soldiers with him saluted the soldiers here as their patrons, 
 the term employed by freedmen to those who gave 
 them their liberty. After silence was obtained, Minucius 
 said, " You have this day, O dictator, obtained two 
 victories ; one by your valor and conduct over Hannibal, 
 and another by your wisdom and goodness over your 
 colleague ; by one victory you preserved, and by the 
 other instructed us ; and when we were already suffering 
 one shameful defeat from Hannibal, by another welcome 
 one from you we were restored to honor and safety. I 
 can address you by no nobler name than that of a kind 
 father, though a father's beneficence falls short of that 1 
 have received from you. From a father I individnall}/ 
 received the gift of life; to you I owe its preservation 
 not for myself only, but for all these who are under me.'' 
 After this, he threw himself into the arms of the dictator ; 
 
 Eagle : the figure of an eagle on a staff was the principal standard of the 
 Roman army. 
 
FABIUS. 193 
 
 and in the same manner the soldiers of each army embraced 
 one another with gladness and tears of joy. 
 
 Not long after, Fabius laid down the dictatorship, and 
 consuls were again created. Those who immediately suc- 
 ceeded, observed the same method in managing the war, 
 and avoided all occasions of fighting Hannibal in a 
 pitched battle; they only succored their allies, and pre- 
 served the towns from falling off to the enemy. But 
 afterwards, when Terentius Varro, a man of obscure birth, 
 but very popular and bold, had obtained the consulship, 
 he soon made it appear that by his rashness and igno- 
 rance he would stake the whole commonwealth on the 
 hazard. For it was his custom to declaim in all assem- 
 blies, that, as long as Rome employed generals like Fabius, 
 there never would be an end of the war ; vaunting that 
 whenever he should get sight of the enemy, he would 
 that same day free Italy from the strangers. With these 
 promises he so prevailed, that he raised a greater army 
 than had ever yet been sent out of Rome. There were 
 enlisted eighty-eight thousand fighting men ; but what 
 gave confidence to the populace, only terrified the wise 
 and experienced, and none more than Fabius ; since if so 
 great a body, and the flower of the Roman youth, should 
 be cut off, they could not see any new resource for the 
 safety of Rome. They addressed themselves, therefore, 
 to the other consul, ^milius Paulus, a man of great expe- 
 rience in war, but unpopular, and fearful also of the 
 people, who once before upon some impeachment had con- 
 demned him; so that he needed encouragement to with- 
 stand his colleague's temerity. Fabius told him, if he 
 would profitably serve his country, he must no less 
 oppose Varro's ignorant eagerness than Hannibal's con- 
 
194 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 scious readiness, since both alike conspired to decide the 
 fate of Rome by a battle. "It is more reasonable," he 
 said to him, " that you should believe me than Varro, in 
 matters relating to Hannibal, when I tell you, that if for 
 this year you abstain from fighting with him, either his 
 army will perish of itself, or else he will be glad to 
 depart of his own will. This evidently appears, inasmuch 
 as, notwithstanding his victories, none of the countries or 
 towns of Italy come in to him, and his army is not now 
 the third part of what it was at first." To this Paulus 
 is said to have replied, " Did I only consider myself, I 
 should rather choose to be exposed to the weapons of 
 Hannibal than once more to the suffrages of my fellow- 
 citizens, who are urgent for what you disapprove ; yet 
 since the cause of Rome is at stake, I will rather seek in 
 my conduct to please and obey Fabius than all the world 
 besides." 
 
 These good measures were defeated by the impor- 
 tunity of Varro ; whom, when they were both come to 
 the army, nothing would content but a separate com- 
 mand, that each consul should have his day ; and when 
 his turn came, he posted his army close to Hannibal, at a 
 village called Cannse, by the river Aufidus. It was no 
 sooner day, but he set up the scarlet coat flying over his 
 tent, which was the signal of battle. This boldness of 
 the consul, and the numerousness of his army, double 
 theirs, startled the Carthaginians ; but Hannibal com- 
 manded them to their arms, and with a small train rode 
 out to take a full prospect of the enemy as they were 
 now forming in their ranks, from a rising ground not far 
 distant. One of his followers, called Gisco, a Cartha- 
 ginian of equal rank with himself, told him that the 
 
FABIUS. 195 
 
 numbers of the enemy were astonishing ; to which Han- 
 nibal replied, with a serious countenance, " There is one 
 thing, Gisco, yet more astonishing, which you take no 
 notice of " ; and when Gisco inquired what, answered, 
 that " in all those great numbers before us, there is not 
 one man called Gisco." This unexpected jest of their 
 general made all the company laugh, and as they came 
 down from the hill, they told it to those whom they met, 
 which caused a general laughter amongst them all, from 
 which they were hardly able to recover themselves. The 
 army, seeing Hannibal's attendants come back from 
 viewing the enemy in such a laughing condition, con- 
 cluded that it must be profound contempt of the enemy, 
 that made their general at this moment indulge in such 
 hilarity. 
 
 According to his usual manner, Hannibal employed 
 stratagems to advantage himself. In the first place, he so 
 drew up his men that the wind was at their backs, which 
 at that time blew with a perfect storm of violence, and, 
 sweeping over the great plains of sand, carried before it 
 a cloud of dust over the Carthaginian army into the 
 faces of the Romans, which much disturbed them in the 
 fight. In the next place, all his best men he put into his 
 wings ; and in the body, which was somewhat more 
 advanced than the wings, placed the worst and the weak- 
 est of his army. He commanded those in the wings, 
 that, when the enemy had made a thorough charge upon 
 that middle advanced body, which he knew would recoil, 
 as not being able to withstand their shock, and when the 
 Romans, in their pursuit, should be far enough engaged 
 within the two wings, they should, both on the right and 
 the left, charge them in the flank, and endeavor to 
 
196 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 t 
 encompass them. This appears to have been the chief 
 
 cause of the Roman loss. Pressing upon Hannibal's front, 
 which gave ground, they reduced the form of his army 
 into a perfect half-moon, and gave ample opportunity to 
 the captains of the chosen troops to charge them right 
 and left on their flanks, and to cut off and destroy all 
 who did not fall back before the Carthaginian wings 
 united in their rear. To this general calamity, it is also 
 said, that a strange mistake among the cavalry much con- 
 tributed. For the horse of ^milius receiving a hurt and 
 throwing his master, those about him immediately alighted 
 to aid the consul ; and the Roman troops, seeing their com- 
 manders thus quitting their horses, took it for a sign that 
 they should all dismount and charge the enemy on foot. 
 At the sight of this, Hannibal was heard to say, " This 
 pleases me better than if they had been delivered to me 
 bound hand and foot." For the particulars of this engage- 
 ment, we refer our reader to those authors who have writ- 
 ten at large upon the subject. 
 
 The consul Varro, with a thin company, fled to Venu- 
 sia; ^milius Paulus, unable any longer to oppose the 
 flight of his men, or the pursuit of the enemy, his body 
 all covered with wounds, and his soul no less wounded 
 with grief, sat himself down upon a stone, expecting the 
 kindness of a despatching blow. His face was so disfig- 
 ured, and all his person so stained with blood, that his 
 very friends and domestics passing by knew him not. At 
 last Cornelius Lentulus, a young man of patrician race, 
 perceiving who he was, alighted from his horse, and, 
 tendering it to him, desired him to get up and save a life 
 so necessary to the safety of the commonwealth, which, 
 at this time, would dearly want so great a captain. But 
 
FABIUS.^/^/'J- 197 
 
 nothing could prevail upon him to accept of the offer ; he 
 obliged young Lentulus, with tears in his eyes, to remount 
 his horse ; then standing up, he gave him his hand, and 
 commanded him to tell Fabius Maximus that ^milius 
 Paulus had followed his directions to his very last, and 
 had not in the least deviated from those measures which 
 were agreed between them ; but that it was his hard fate 
 to be overpowered by Varro in the first place, and secondly 
 by Hannibal. Having despatched Lentulus with this com- 
 mission, he marked where the slaughter was greatest, and 
 there threw himself upon the swords of the enemy. In 
 this battle it is reported that fifty thousand Romans were 
 slain, four thousand prisoners taken in the field, and ten 
 thousand in the camp of both consuls. 
 
 The friends of Hannibal earnestly persuaded him to 
 follow up his victory, and pursue the flying Romans into 
 the very gates of Rome, assuring him that in five days' 
 time he might sup in the capitol ; nor is it easy to imag- 
 ine what consideration hindered him from it. It would 
 seem rather that some supernatural or divine intervention 
 caused the hesitation and timidity which he now displayed, 
 and which made Barcas, a Carthaginian, tell him with 
 indignation, " You know, Hannibal, how to gain a victory, 
 but not how to use it." Yet it produced a marvellous 
 revolution in his affairs; he, who hitherto had not one 
 town, market, or seaport in his possession, who had noth- 
 ing for the subsistence of his men but what he pillaged 
 from day to day, who had no place of retreat or basis of 
 operation, but was roving, as it were, with a huge troop of 
 banditti, now became master of the best provinces and 
 towns of Italy, and of Capua itself, next to Rome the most 
 flourishing and opulent city, all which came over to him, 
 and submitted to his authority. 
 
198 PLUTAKCH*S LIVES. 
 
 It is the saying of Euripides, that '' a man is in ill-case 
 when he must try a friend," and so neither, it would seem, 
 is a state in a good one, when it needs an able general. 
 And so it was with the Romans ; the counsels and actions 
 of Fabius, which, before the battle, they had branded as 
 cowardice and fear, now, in the other extreme they 
 accounted to have been more than human wisdom; as 
 though nothing but a divine power of intellect could have 
 seen so far, and foretold, contrary to the judgment of all 
 others, a result which, even now it had arrived, was hardly 
 credible. In him, therefore, they placed their whole 
 remaining hopes; his wisdom was the sacred altar and 
 temple to which they fled for refuge, and his counsels,. 
 more than anything, preserved them from dispersing and 
 deserting their city, as in the time when the Gauls took 
 possession of Rome. He, whom they esteemed fearful and 
 pusillanimous when they were, as they thought, in a pros- 
 perous condition, was now the only man, in this general 
 and unbounded dejection and confusion, who showed no 
 fear, but walked the streets with an assured and serene 
 countenance, addressed his fellow-citizens, checked the 
 women's lamentations, and the public gatherings of those 
 who wanted thus to vent their sorrows. He caused the 
 senate to meet, he heartened up the magistrates, and was 
 himself as the soul and life of every office. 
 
 He placed guards at the gates of the city to stop the 
 frighted multitude from flying; he regulated and confined 
 their mournings for their slain friends, both as to time and 
 place; ordering that each family should perform such 
 observances within private walls, and that they should 
 continue only the space of one month, and then the whole 
 
PABIUS. 199 
 
 city should be purified. The feast of Ceres happening to 
 fall within this time, it was decreed that the solemnity 
 should be intermitted, lest the fewness, and the sorrowful 
 countenance of those who should celebrate it, might too 
 much expose to the people the greatness of their loss; 
 besides that, the worship most acceptable to the gods is 
 that w^hich comes from cheerful hearts. But those rites 
 which were proper for appeasing their anger, and procur- 
 ing auspicious signs and presages, were by the direction of 
 the augurs carefully performed. i , ,-v^ " . 
 
 Above all, let us admire the high spirit and equanimity 
 of this Roman commonwealth; that when the consul Varro 
 came beaten and flying home, full of shame and humilia- 
 tion, after he had so disgracefully and calamitously man- 
 aged their affairs, yet the whole senate and people went 
 forth to meet him at the gates of the city, and received 
 him with honor and respect. And, silence being com- 
 manded, the magistrates and chief of the senate, Fabius 
 amongst them, commended him before the people, because 
 he did not despair of the safety of the commonwealth, 
 after so great a loss, but was come to take the government 
 into his hands, to execute the laws, and aid his fellow- 
 citizens in their prospect of future deliverance. 
 
 When word was brought to Rome that Hannibal, after 
 the fight, had marched with his army into other parts of 
 Italy, the hearts of the Romans began to revive, and they 
 proceeded to send out generals and armies. The most 
 distinguished commands were held by Fabius Maximus 
 and Claudius Marcellus, both generals of great fame, 
 though upon opposite grounds. For Marcellus, as we 
 
 Purified: purification was a religious rite. Water was used, and sacrifices 
 oifered, so that the cleansed city might be acceptable to the gods. M. 
 
200 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 have set forth in his life, was a man of action and high 
 spirit, ready and bold with his own hand, and, as Homer 
 describes his warriors, fierce, and delighting in fights. 
 Boldness, enterprise, and daring, to match those of Hanni- 
 bal, constituted his tactics, and marked his engagements. 
 But Fabius adhered to his former principles, still per- 
 suaded that, by following close and not fighting him, 
 Hannibal and his army would at last be tired out and con- 
 sumed, like a wrestler in too high condition, whose very 
 excess of strength makes him the more likely suddenly to , 
 give way and lose it. Posidonius tells us that the Romans 
 called Marcellus their sword, and Fabius their buckler; 
 and that the vigor of the one, mixed with the steadiness 
 of the other, made a happy compound that proved the 
 salvation of Rome. So that Hannibal found by experience 
 that, encountering the one, he met with a rapid, impetuous 
 river, which drove him back, and still made some breach 
 upon him ; and by the other, though silently and quietly 
 passing by him, he was insensibly washed away and con- 
 sumed ; and, at last, was brought to this, that he dreaded 
 Marcellus when he was in motion, and Fabius when he 
 sat still. During the whole course of this war, he had still 
 to do with one or both of these generals ; for each of them 
 was five times consul, and, as praetors or proconsuls or 
 consuls, they had always a part in the government of the 
 army, till, at last, Marcellus fell into the trap which 
 Hannibal had laid for him, and was killed in his fifth 
 consulship. But all his craft and subtlety were unsuc- 
 cessful upon Fabius, who only once was in some danger of 
 being caught, when counterfeit letters came to him from 
 the principal inhabitants of Metapontum, with promises to 
 
 Proconsul : a governor of a province, having the authority of a consul. 
 
FABIUS. 201 
 
 deliver up their town if he would come before it with hiii 
 army, and intimations that they should expect him. This 
 train had almost drawn him in ; he resolved to march ta 
 them with part of his army, and was diverted only by 
 consulting the omens of the birds, which he found to be 
 inauspicious; and not long after it was discovered that 
 the letters had been forged by Hannibal, who, for his 
 reception, had laid an ambush to entertain him. This, 
 perhaps, we must rather attribute to the favor of the gods 
 than to the prudence of Fabius. 
 
 In preserving the towns and allies from revolt by fair 
 and gentle treatment, and in not using rigor, or showing 
 a suspicion upon every light suggestion, his conduct was 
 remarkable. It is told of him, that, being informed of a 
 certain Marsian, eminent for courage and good birth, who 
 had been speaking underhand with some of the soldiers 
 about deserting, Fabius was so far from using severity 
 against him, that he called for him, and told him he was 
 sensible of the neglect that had been shown to his merit 
 and good service, which, he said, was a great fault in the 
 commanders who reward more by favor than by desert; 
 "but henceforward, whenever you are aggrieved," said 
 Fabius, " I shall consider it your fault, if you apply your- 
 self to any but to me" ; and when he had so spoken, he 
 bestowed an excellent horse and other presents upon him ; 
 and, from that time forwards, there was not a more faith- 
 ful and more trusty man in the whole army. With good 
 reason he judged, that, if those who have the government 
 of horses and dogs endeavor by gentle usage to cure their 
 angry and untractable tempers, rather than by cruelty and 
 beating, much more should those who have the command 
 of men try to bring them to order and discipline by the 
 
202 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 mildest and fairest means, and not treat them worse than 
 gardeners do those wild plants, which, with care and 
 attention, lose gradually the savageness of their nature, 
 and bear excellent fruit. 
 
 At another time, some of his officers informed him that 
 one of their men was very often absent from his place, 
 and out at nights ; he asked them what kind of man he 
 was ; they all answered, that the whole army had not a 
 better man, that he was a native of Lucania, and pro- 
 ceeded to speak of several actions which they had seen 
 him perform. Fabius made strict inquiry, and discovered 
 at last that these frequent excursions which he ventured 
 upon were to visit a young girl, with whom he was in 
 love. Upon which he gave private order to some of his 
 men to find out the woman and secretly convey her into 
 his own tent ; and then sent for the Lucanian, and, calling 
 him aside, told him, that he very well knew how often he 
 had been out away from the camp at night, which was a 
 capital transgression against military discipline and the 
 Roman laws, but he knew also how brave he was, and the 
 good services he had done ; therefore, in consideration of 
 them, he was willing to forgive him his fault ; but to keep 
 him in good order, he was resolved to place one over him 
 to be his keeper, who should be accountable for his good 
 behavior. Having said this, he produced the woman, 
 and told the soldier, terrified and amazed at the adventure, 
 '' This is the person who must answer for you ; and by your 
 future behavior we shall see whether your night rambles 
 were on account of love, or for any other worse design." 
 
 Another passage there was, something of the same kind, 
 which gained him possession of Tarentum. There was a 
 young Tarentine in the army that had a sister in Taren- 
 
FABIUS. 203 
 
 turn, then in possession of the enemy, who entirely loved 
 her brother, and wholly depended upon him. He, being 
 informed that a certain Bruttian, whom Hannibal had 
 made a commander of the garrison, was deeply in love 
 with his sister, conceived hopes that he might possibly 
 turn it to the advantage of the Romans. And having 
 first communicated his design to Fabius, he left the army, 
 pretending to be a deserter, and went over to Tarentum. 
 The first days passed, and the Bruttian abstained from 
 visiting the sister; for neither of them knew that the 
 brother had notice of the amour between them. The 
 young Tarentine, however, took an occasion to tell his 
 sister how he had heard that a man of station and au- 
 thority had made his addresses to her, and desired her, 
 therefore, to tell him who it was; "for," said he, "if he 
 be a man that has bravery and reputation, it matters not 
 what countryman he is, since at this time the sword min- 
 gles all nations, and makes them equal ; compulsion makes 
 all things honorable ; and in a time when right is weak, 
 we may be thankful if might assumes a form of gentle- 
 ness." Upon this the woman sends for her friend, and 
 makes the brother and him acquainted ; and whereas she 
 henceforth showed more countenance to her lover than 
 formerly, in the same degrees that her kindness increased, 
 his friendship, also, with the brother advanced. So that 
 at last our Tarentine thought this Bruttian officer well 
 enough prepared to receive the offers he had to make him ; 
 and that it would be easy for a mercenary man, who was 
 in love, to accept, upon the terms proposed, the large re- 
 wards promised by Fabius. In conclusion, the bargain was 
 struck, and the promise made of delivering the town. 
 This is the common tradition. 
 
204 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Whilst these matters were thus in process, to draw off 
 Hannibal from scenting the design, Fabius sends orders 
 to the garrison in Rhegium, that they should waste and 
 spoil the Bruttian country, and should also lay siege to 
 Caulonia, and storm the place with all their might. These 
 were a body of eight thousand men, the worst of the 
 Roman army, who had most of them been runaways, and 
 had been brought home by Marcellus from Sicily, in dis- 
 honor, so that the loss of them would not be any great 
 grief to the Romans. Fabius, therefore, threw out these 
 men as a bait for Hannibal, to divert him from Tarentum; 
 who instantly caught at it, and led his forces to Caulonia ; 
 in the mean time, Fabius sat down before Tarentum. On 
 the sixth day of the siege, the young Tarentine slips by 
 night out of the town, and, having carefully observed the 
 place where the Bruttian commander, according to agree- 
 ment, was to admit the Romans, gave an account of the 
 whole matter to Fabius ; who thought it not safe to rely 
 wholly upon the plot, but, while proceeding with secrecy 
 to the post, gave order for a general assault to be made on 
 the other side of the town, both by land and sea. This 
 being accordingly executed, while the Tarentines hurried 
 to defend the town on the side attacked, Fabius received 
 tlie signal from the Bruttian, scaled the walls, and entered 
 the town unopposed. 
 
 Here, we must confess, ambition seems to have over- 
 come him. To make it appear to the world that he had 
 taken Tarentum by force and his own prowess, and not by 
 treachery, he commanded his men to kill the Bruttians 
 before all others ; yet he did not succeed in establishing 
 the impression he desired, but merely gained the character 
 of perfidy and cruelty. Many of the Tarentines were 
 
FABIUS. 205 
 
 also killed, and thirty thousand of them were sold for 
 slaves ; the army had the plunder of the town, and there 
 was brought into the treasury three thousand talents. 
 Whilst they were carrying off everything else as plunder, 
 the officer who took the inventory asked what should be 
 done with their gods, meaning the pictures and statues; 
 Fabius answered, " Let us l^ave their angry gods to the 
 Tarentines." Nevertheless, he removed the colossal 
 statue of Hercules, and had it set up in the capitol, with 
 one of himself on horseback, in brass, near it; proceed- 
 ings very different from those of Marcellus on a like 
 occasion, and which, indeed, very much set off in the eyes 
 of the world his clemency and humanity, as appears in 
 the account of his life. 
 
 Hannibal, it is said, was within five miles of Tarentum, 
 when he was informed that the town was taken. He said 
 openly, " Rome, then, has also got a Hannibal ; as we won 
 Tarentum, so have we lost it." And, in private with 
 some of his confidants, he told them, for the first time, 
 that he always thought it difficult, but now he held it im- 
 possible, with the forces he then had, to master Italy. 
 
 Upon this success, Fabius had a triumph decreed him at 
 Rome, much more splendid than his first; they looked 
 upon him now as a champion who had learned to cope 
 with his antagonist, and could now easily foil his arts and 
 prove his best skill ineffectual. And, indeed, the army of 
 Hannibal was at this time partly worn away with con- 
 tinual action, and partly weakened and become dissolute 
 with overabundance and luxury. Marcus Livius, who 
 was governor of Tarentum when it was betrayed to Han- 
 nibal, and then retired into the citadel, which he kept till 
 the town was retaken, was annoyed at these honors and 
 
206 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 distinctions, and, on one occasion, openly declared in the 
 senate, that by his resistance, more than by any action of 
 Fabius, Tarentuni had been recovered ; on which Pabius 
 laughingly replied: "You say very true, for if Marcus 
 Livius had not lost Tarentum, Fabius Maximus had never 
 recovered it." The people, amongst other marks of grati- 
 tude, gave his son the consulship of the next year ; shortly 
 after whose entrance upon his office, there being some 
 business on foot about provision for the war, his father, 
 either by reason of age and infirmity, or perhaps out of 
 design to try his son, came up to him on horseback. 
 While he was still at a distance, the young consul 
 observed it, and bade one of his lictors command his 
 father to alight, and tell him that, if he had any business 
 with the consul, he should come on foot. The by- 
 standers seemed offended at the imperiousness of the son 
 towards a father so venerable for his age and his authority, 
 and turned their eyes in silence towards Fabius. He, 
 however, instantly alighted from his horse, and with open 
 arms came up, almost running, and embraced his son, 
 saying, " Yes, my son, you do well, and understand well 
 what authority you have received, and over whom you 
 are to use it. This was the way by which we and our 
 forefathers advanced the dignity of Rome, preferring ever 
 her honor and service to our own fathers and children." 
 
 And, in fact, it is told that the great-grandfather of our 
 Fabius, who was undoubtedly the greatest man of Rome 
 in his time, both in reputation and authority, who had. 
 been five times consul, and had been honored with several 
 triumphs for victories obtained by him, took pleasure in 
 serving as lieutenant under his own son, when he went as 
 consul to his command. And when afterwards his son 
 
FABIUS. 207 
 
 had a triumph bestowed upon him for his good service, 
 the old man followed, on horseback, his triumphant char- 
 iot, as one of his attendants; and made it his glory, that 
 while he really was, and was acknowledged to be, the 
 greatest man in Eome, and held a father's full power over 
 his son, he yet submitted himself to the laws and the 
 magistrate. 
 
 But the praises of our Fabius are not bounded here. 
 He afterwards lost this son, and was remarkable for bear- 
 ing the loss with the moderation becoming a pious father 
 and a wise man, and, as it was the custom amongst the 
 Romans, upon the death of any illustrious person, to have 
 a funeral oration recited by some of the nearest relations, 
 he took upon himself that office, and delivered a speech in 
 the forum, which he committed afterwards to writing. 
 
 After Cornelius Scipio, who was sent into Spain, had 
 driven the Carthaginians, defeated by him in many bat- 
 tles, out of the country, and had gained over to Rome 
 many towns and nations with large resources, he was re- 
 ceived at his coming home with unexampled joy and ac- 
 clamation of the people; who, to show their gratitude, 
 elected him consul for the year ensuing. Knowing what 
 high expectation they had of him, he thought the occupa- 
 tion of contesting Italy with Hannibal a mere old man's 
 employment, and proposed no less a task to himself than 
 to make Carthage the seat of the war, fill Africa with 
 arms and devastation, and so oblige Hannibal, instead of 
 invading the countries of others, to draw back and defend 
 his own. And to this end he proceeded to elxert all the 
 influence he had with the people. Fabius, on the other 
 side, opposed the undertaking with all his might, alarming 
 the city, and telling them that nothing but the temerity 
 
208 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 of a hot young man could inspire them with such danger- 
 ous counsels, and sparing no means, by word or deed, to 
 prevent it. He prevailed with the senate to espouse his 
 sentiments ; but the common people thought that he en- 
 vied the fame of Scipio, and that he was afraid lest this 
 young conqueror should achieve some great and noble 
 exploit, and have the glory, perhaps, of driving Hannibal 
 out of Italy, or even of ending the war, which had for 
 so many years continued and been protracted under his 
 management. 
 
 To say the truth, when Fabius first opposed this project 
 of Scipio, he probably did it out of caution and prudence, 
 in consideration only of the public safety, and of the danger 
 which the commonwealth might incur ; but when he found 
 Scipio every day increasing in the esteem of the people, 
 rivalry and ambition led him further, and made him vio- 
 lent and personal in his opposition. For he even applied 
 to Crassus, the colleague of Scipio, and urged him not to 
 yield the command to Scipio, but that, if his inclinations 
 were for it, he should himself in person lead the army to 
 Carthage. He also hindered the giving money to Scipio 
 for the war; so that he was forced to raise it upon his 
 own credit and interest from the cities of Etruria, which 
 were extremely attached to him. On the other side, Cras- 
 sus would not stir against him, nor remove out of Italy, 
 being, in his own nature, averse to all contention, and also 
 having, by his office of high priest, religious duties to re- 
 tain him. Fabius, therefore, tried other ways to oppose 
 the design ; he impeded the levies, and he declaimed, both 
 in the senate and to the people, that Scipio was not only 
 himself flying from Hannibal, but was also endeavoring to 
 drain Italy of all its forces, and to spirit away the youth 
 
FABIUS. 209 
 
 of the country to a foreign war, leaving behind them their 
 parents, wives, and children, and the city itself, a defence- 
 less prey to the conquering and undefeated enemy at their 
 doors. With this he so far alarmed the people, that at 
 last they would only allow Scipio for the war the legions 
 which were in Sicily, and three hundred, whom he particu- 
 larly trusted, of those men who had served with him in 
 Spain. In these transactions, Fabius seems to have fol- 
 lowed the dictates of his own wary temper. 
 
 But, after that Scipio was gone over into Africa, when 
 news almost immediately came to Rome of wonderful 
 exploits and victories, of which the fame was confirmed 
 by the spoils he sent home; of a Numidian king taken 
 prisoner ; of a vast slaughter of their men ; of two camps 
 of the enemy burnt and destroyed, and in them a great 
 quantity of arms and horses; and when, hereupon, the 
 Carthaginians were compelled to send envoys to Hanni- 
 bal to call him home, and leave his idle hopes in Italy, to 
 defend Carthage ; when, for such eminent and transcend- 
 ing services, the whole people of Rome cried up and ex- 
 tolled the actions of Scipio ; even then, Fabius contended 
 that a successor should be sent in his place, alleging for 
 it only the old reason of the mutability of fortune, as if 
 she would be weary of long favoring the same person. 
 With this language many did begin to feel offended; it 
 seemed to be moroseness and ill-will, the pusillanimity of 
 old age, or of fear, that had now become exaggerated, of 
 the skill of Hannibal. Nay, when Hannibal had put his 
 army on shipboard, and taken his leave of Italy, Fabius 
 still could not forbear to oppose and disturb the universal 
 joy of Rome, expressing his fears and apprehensions, tell- 
 ing them that the commonwealth was never in more 
 
210 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 danger than now, and that Hannibal was a more formida- 
 ble enemy under the walls of Carthage than ever he had 
 been in Italy ; that it would be fatal to Rome, whenever 
 Scipio should encounter his victorious army, still warm 
 with the blood of so many Roman generals, dictators, and 
 consuls slain. And the people were, in some degree, 
 startled with these declamations, and were brought to be- 
 lieve, that the further off Hannibal was, the nearer was 
 their danger. Scipio, however, shortly afterwards fought 
 Hannibal, and utterly defeated him, humbled the pride of 
 Carthage beneath his feet, gave his countrymen joy and 
 exultation beyond all their hopes, and 
 
 " Long shaken on the seas restored the state." 
 
 Fabius Maximus, however, did not live to see the pros- 
 perous end of this war, and the final overthrow of Hanni- 
 bal, nor to rejoice in the reestablished happiness and 
 security of the commonwealth; for about the time that 
 Hannibal left Italy, he fell sick and died. At Thebes, 
 Epaminondas died so poor that he was buried at the pub- 
 lic charge ; one small iron coin was all, it is said, that was 
 found in his house. Fabius did not need this, but the 
 people, as a mark of their affection, defrayed the expenses 
 of his funeral by a private contribution from each citizen 
 of the smallest piece of coin ; thus owning him their com- 
 mon father, and making his end no less honorable than 
 his life. 
 
JJU 
 
 ) ^ 
 INTRODUCTION TO SEKTORIlTS. 
 
 The Second Punic War gave Rome the possession of 
 Spain, and she now had complete control of the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea west of Italy. Carthage was left independent 
 for a while, but was deprived of all its power, and was no 
 longer able to cope with Rome. The Romans, however, 
 never ceased to hate their old rival, and to fear that it 
 might recover its former strength. So, after about fifty 
 years, they took an opportunity to pick a quarrel, and the 
 Third Punic War followed, in which Carthage was cap- 
 tured and destroyed, B.C. 146. 
 
 Soon after the Second Punic War, the Romans began to 
 carry their arms into the eastern half of the Mediterranean 
 also. First lUyricum, the country east of the Adriatic 
 Sea, was subdued, then Macedonia and Greece ; and one 
 country after another was either made into a province or 
 forced to become the ally and auxiliary of Rome. The 
 last serious resistance made to the Roman advance in the 
 East was by Mithridates, king of Pontus, a country on the 
 Black Sea, in the eastern part of Asia Minor. He was a 
 very powerful and warlike king, and gave the Romans a 
 great deal of trouble. In the year B.C. 88 he overran the 
 whole of Asia Minor, and gave orders for a massacre of all 
 Italian residents ; 80,000 of these are said to have been 
 slain in one day. At this the Romans declared war 
 and sent their consul, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, against 
 him. The war that followed is known as the First Mith- 
 ridatic War. But some other events had taken place 
 before this, which it is necessary to speak of. 
 
212 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 In these years new dissensions had arisen among the 
 Romans, as violent as the old dissensions between the 
 patricians and plebeians. There were two parties, known 
 as the optimates (the party of the nobles) and the popu- 
 lares (the party of the common people) ; and the contest 
 of the parties became so bitter that they fought with one 
 another in the streets of Rome, and many persons were 
 murdered outright or secretly assassinated. One of the 
 principal questions that came up was as to the Allies, or 
 people of the independent Italian cities, who wished to be 
 admitted to Roman citizenship. In the year 90 they 
 united in what is known as the Social War, or war of the 
 Allies (^Socii) ; and although they were defeated in the 
 war, nevertheless they gained the object for which they 
 fought, and in a short time the Italian towns all became a 
 part of the Roman republic. 
 
 As soon as the Social War was finished, a Civil War 
 began. Its real cause was the hatred of the parties against 
 each other, but it was directly occasioned by the Mithri- 
 datic War, which was declared in the year 88. One of the 
 consuls for this year was Sulla, and the command of the 
 war against Mithridates was assigned to him. But he was 
 a leader of the nobility, and the opposite party succeeded 
 in getting a vote to take the command from him and give 
 it to his rival Carus Marius. Marius was a man of low 
 birth and no education, but he was an experienced and 
 successful general, and had gained great victories, particu- 
 larly over some hordes of German barbarians that had 
 attempted to invade Italy a few years before. Marius and 
 Sulla were not only the leaders of two opposite parties, but 
 they were personally bitter enemies of one another; and 
 when the law was passed, depriving Sulla of his command, 
 
SEKTORIUS. 213 
 
 he refused to obey, and at once marclied upon Rome, put to 
 death the leaders of the opposite party, placed the govern- 
 ment in the hands of his own party, and then set out for 
 the war against Mithridates. 
 
 Marius had succeeded in escaping when Rome was cap- 
 tured by Sulla ; and he soon came back, murdered all of ^ 
 the party of the nobles whom he could get at, and pro- 
 cured himself to be elected consul, holding that office for 
 the seventh time. He died during his consulship, and was 
 succeeded as leader of the popular party by Cinna, and 
 afterwards Carbo, — men as cruel and bloodthirsty as 
 Marius himself. But the best man and the ablest leader 
 of this faction was Quintus Sertorius, who was sent to 
 Spain, the most important of the provinces, to hold it with 
 an army, in behalf of the popular party. Soon after this, 
 Sulla returned from Asia (B.C. 82), captured Rome, and 
 was made perpetual dictator, that is, the same as king. 
 For about three years he ruled Rome as a despot, being 
 even more cruel and bloodthirsty than Marius and Cinna 
 and Carbo. But he made some very good laws, and after 
 ruling for three years, gave up his office, and shortly after- 
 wards died. All this time Sertorius had possession of 
 Spain, and none of the generals that were sent against him 
 could get the better of him. 
 
214 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 SERTORIUS. 
 
 "TT is no great wonder if in long process of time, while 
 -*- fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous 
 coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number 
 and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it 
 is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance 
 of material, to effect this similarity of results. Or if, on 
 the other hand, events are limited to the combinations of 
 some finite number, then of necessity the same must often 
 recur, and in the same sequence. There are people who 
 take a pleasure in making collections of all such fortuitous 
 occurrences that they have heard or read of, as look like 
 works of a rational power and design ; they observe, for 
 example, that two eminent persons, whose names were 
 Attis, the one a Syrian, the other of Arcadia, were both 
 slain by a wild boar; that of two whose names were 
 Actaeon, the one was torn in pieces by his dogs, the other 
 by his lovers ; that of two famous Scipios, the one over- 
 threw the Carthaginians in war, the other totally ruined 
 and destroyed them ; the city of Troy was the first time 
 taken by Hercules for the horses promised him by Laome- 
 don, the second time by Agamemnon, by means of the 
 celebrated great wooden horse, and the third time by 
 
 Wooden horse : This was an immense wooden horse built by the Greeks 
 and filled with armed men. The Trojans were induced to believe that it was 
 designed for a peace-offering to Minerva, and that if they should receive it 
 within their walls, Troy would be saved. It was accordingly introduced into 
 
SERTORIUS. 215 
 
 Charidemus, by occasion of a horse falling down at the. 
 gate, which hindered the Trojans, so that they could not 
 shut them soon enough: and of two cities which take 
 their names from the most agreeable odoriferous plants, 
 los and Smyrna, the one from a violet, the othfer from 
 myrrh, the poet Homer is reported to have been born in 
 the one, and to have died in the other. And so to these 
 instances let us further add, that the most warlike com- 
 manders, and most remarkable for exploits of skilful 
 stratagem, have had but one eye ; as Philip, Antigonus, 
 Hannibal, and Sertorius, whose life and actions we de- 
 scribe at present ; of whom, indeed, we might truly say, 
 that he was more continent than Philip, more faithful to 
 his friend than Antigonus, and more merciful to his 
 enemies than Hannibal ; and that for prudence and judg- 
 ment he gave place to none of them, but in fortune was 
 inferior to them all. Yet though he had continually in 
 her a far more difficult adversary to contend against than 
 his open enemies, he nevertheless maintained his ground, 
 with the military skill of Metellus, the boldness of Pom- 
 pey, the success of Sylla, and the power of the Roman 
 people, all to be encountered by one who was a banished 
 man and a stranger at the head of a body of barbarians. 
 Among Greek commanders, Eumenes of Cardia may be 
 best compared with him ; they were both of them men born 
 for command, for warfare, and for stratagem ; both ban- 
 ished from their countries, and holding command over 
 strangers ; both had fortune for their adversary, in their 
 last days so harshly so, that they were both betrayed and 
 
 the city, and in the middle of the night, when the Trojans were asleep, the 
 men came forth from the horse, opened the gates, and admitted the whole 
 Greek army. Thus Troy was taken and destroyed. 
 
216 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 murdered by those who served them, and with whom they 
 had formerly overcome their enemies. 
 
 Quintus Sertorius was of a noble family, born in the 
 city of Nursia, in the country of the Sabines ; his father 
 died when he was young, and he was carefully and de- 
 cently educated by his mother whose name was Rhea, 
 and whom he appears to have extremely loved and hon- 
 ored. He paid some attention to the study of oratory 
 and pleading in his youth, and acquired some reputa- 
 tion and influence iu Rome by his eloquence ; but the 
 splendor of his actions in arms, and his successful achieve- 
 ments in the wars, drew off his ambition in that direction. 
 
 At first he served under Csepio, when the Cimbri and * 
 Teutones invaded Gaul ; where the Romans fighting un- 
 successfully, and being put to flight, he was wounded in 
 many parts of his body, and lost his horse, yet, never- 
 theless, swam across the river Rhone in his armor, with 
 his breastplate and shield, bearing himself up against the 
 violence of the current ; so strong and so well inured to 
 hardship was his body. 
 
 The second time that the Cimbri and Teutones came 
 down with some hundreds of thousands, threatening 
 death and destruction to all, when it was no small piece 
 of service for a Roman soldier to keep his ranks and obey 
 his commander, Sertorius undertook, while Marius led 
 the army, to spy out the enemy's camp. Procuring a 
 Celtic dress, and acquainting himself with the ordinary 
 expressions of their language requisite for common inter- 
 course, he threw himself in amongst the barbarians ; 
 where having carefully seen with his own eyes, or having 
 
 Cimbri and Teutones: tribes of German barbarians. 
 Celtic dress : the costume of a barbarian. 
 
SERTORIUS. 217 
 
 been fully informed by persons upon the place of all 
 their most important concerns, he returned to Marius, 
 from whose hands he received the rewards of valor ; and 
 afterwards giving frequent proofs both of conduct and 
 courage in all the following war, he was advanced to 
 places of honor and trust under his general. After the 
 wars with the Cimbri and Teutones, he was sent into 
 Spain, having the command of a thousand men under 
 Didius, the Roman general, and wintered in the country 
 of the Celtiberians, in the city of Castulo, where the sol- 
 diers enjoying great plenty, and growing insolent, and 
 continually drinking, the inhabitants despised them and 
 sent for aid by night to the Gyrisoenians, their near neigh- 
 bors, who fell upon the Romans in their lodgings and «!ew 
 a great number of them. Sertorius, with a few oi \^ 
 soldiers, made his way out, and rallying together the rest 
 who escaped, he marched round about the walls, and find- 
 ing the gate open, by which the Gyrisoenians had made 
 their secret entrance, he gave not them the same oppor- 
 tunity, but placing a guard at the gate, and seizing upon 
 all quarters of the city, he slew all who were of age to 
 bear arms, and then ordering his soldiers to lay aside their 
 weapons and put off their own clothes, and put on the ac- 
 coutrements of the barbarians, he commanded them to 
 follow him to the city, from whence the men came who 
 had made this night attack upon the Romans. And thus 
 deceiving the Gyrisoenians with the sight of their own 
 armor, he found the gates of their city open, and took 
 a great number prisoners, who came out thinking to meet 
 their friends and fellow-citizens come home from a suc- 
 cessful expedition. Most of them were thus slain by the 
 Romans at their own gates, and the rest within yielded 
 up themselves and were sold for slaves. 
 
218 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 This action made Sertorius highly renowned through- 
 out all Spain, and as soon as he returned to Rome he was 
 appointed quaestor of Cisalpine Gaul, at a very seasona- 
 ble moment for his country, the Marsian war being on 
 the point of breaking out. Sertorius was ordered to raise 
 soldiers and provide arms, which he performed with a 
 diligence and alacrity, so contrasting with the feebleness 
 and slothfulness of other officers of his age, that he got 
 the repute of a man whose life would be one of action. 
 Nor did he relinquish the part of a soldier, now that he 
 had arrived at the dignity of a commander, but per- 
 formed wonders with his own hands, and never sparing 
 himself, but exposing his body freely in all conflicts, he 
 lost one of his eyes. This he always esteemed an honor 
 to him ; observing that others do not continually carry 
 about with them the marks and testimonies of their valor, 
 but must often lay aside their chains of gold, their spears 
 and croAvns ; whereas his ensigns of honor, and the mani- 
 festations of his courage always remained with him, and 
 those who beheld his misfortune, must at the same time 
 recognize his merits. The people also paid him the 
 respect he deserved, and when he came into the theatre, 
 received him with plaudits and joyful acclamations, an 
 honor rarely bestowed even on persons of advanced 
 standing and established reputation. Yet, notwithstand- 
 ing this popularity, when he stood to be tribune of the 
 people, he was disappointed, and lost the place, being op- 
 posed by the party of Sylla, which seems to have been the 
 principal cause of his subsequent enmity to Sylla. 
 
 After that Marius was overcome by Sylla and fled into 
 Africa, and Sylla had left Italy to go to the wars against 
 Cisalpine Gaul : the northern part of Italy, south of the Alps. 
 
 V 
 
SERTORTTTS. 219 
 
 Mithridates, and of the two consuls Octavius and Cinna, 
 Octavius remained steadfast to the policy of Sylla, but 
 Cinna, desirous of a new revolution, attempted to recall 
 the lost interest of Marius, Sertorius joined Cinna's 
 party, more particularly as he saw that Octavius was 
 not very capable, and was also suspicious of any one that 
 was a friend to Marius. When a great battle was fought 
 between the two consuls in the forum, Octavius over- 
 came, and Cinna and Sertorius, having lost not less than 
 ten thousand men, left the city, and gaining over most 
 part of the troops who were dispersed about and re- 
 mained still in many parts of Italy, they in a short time 
 mustered up a force against Octavius sufficient to give 
 him battle again, and Marius, also, now coming by sea 
 out of Africa, proffered himself to serve under Cinna, as 
 a private soldier under his consul and commander. 
 
 Most were for the immediate reception of Marius, 
 but Sertorius openly declared against it, whether he 
 thought that Cinna would not now pay as much attention 
 to himself, when a man of higher military repute was 
 present, or feared that the violence of Marius would 
 bring all things to confusion, by his boundless wrath and 
 vengeance after victory. He insisted upon it with Cinna 
 that they were already victorious, that there remained 
 little to be done, and that, if they admitted Marius, he 
 would deprive them of the glory and advantage of the 
 war, as there was no man less easy to deal with, or less 
 to be trusted in, as a partner in power. Cinna answered, 
 that Sertorius rightly judged the affair, but that he him- 
 self was at a loss, and ashamed, and knew not how to 
 reject him, after he had sent for him to share in his 
 fortunes. To which Sertorius immediately replied, that 
 
220 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 he had thought that Marius came into Italy of his own 
 accord, and therefore had deliberated as to what might be 
 most expedient, but that Cinna ought not so much as to 
 have questioned whether he should accept him whom he 
 had already invited, but should have honorably received 
 and employed him, for his word once past left no room 
 for debate. Thus Marius being sent for by Cinna, and 
 their forces being divided into three parts, under Cinna, 
 Marius, and Sertorius, the war was brought to a success- 
 ful conclusion; but those about Cinna and Marius com- 
 mitting all manner of insolence and cruelty, made the 
 Romans think the evils of war a golden time in compari- 
 son. On the contrary, it is reported of Sertorius, that he 
 never slew any man in his anger, to satisfy his own pri- 
 vate revenge, nor ever derided any one whom he had 
 overcome, but was much offended with Marius, and often 
 privately entreated Cinna to use his power more moder- 
 ately. And in the end, when the slaves whom Marius 
 had freed at his landing to increase his army, being made 
 not only his fellow-soldiers in the war, but also now his 
 guard in his usurpation, enriched and powerful by his 
 favor, either by the command or permission of Marius, or 
 by their own lawless violence, committed all sorts of 
 crimes, killed their masters, and abused their children, 
 their conduct appeared so intolerable to Sertorius that he 
 slew the whole body of them, four thousand in number, 
 commanding his soldiers to shoot them down with their 
 javelins, as they lay encamped together. 
 
 Afterwards, when Marius died, and Cinna shortly after 
 was slain, when the younger Marius made himself consul 
 against Sertorius' wishes and contrary to law, when 
 Carbo, Norbanus, and Scipio fought unsuccessfully against 
 
SERTORIUS. 221 
 
 Sylla, now advancing to Rome, when much was lost by 
 the cowardice and remissness of the commanders, but 
 more by the treacherj^ of their party, when with the want 
 of prudence in the chief leaders, all went so ill that his 
 presence could do no good, in the end when Sylla had 
 placed his camp near to Scipio, and by pretending friend- 
 ship, and putting him in hopes of a peace, corrupted his 
 army, and Scipio could not be made sensible of this, 
 although often forewarned of it by Sertorius, — at last he 
 utterly despaired of Rome, and hasted into Spain, that by 
 taking possession there beforehand, he might secure a 
 refuge to his friends, from their misfortunes at home. 
 Having bad weather in his journey, and travelling through 
 mountainous countries, and the inhabitants stopping the 
 way, and demanding a toll and money for passage, those 
 who were with him were out of all patience at the indig- 
 nity and shame it would be for a proconsul of Rome to 
 pay tribute to a crew of wretched barbarians. But he 
 little regarded their censure, and slighting that which had 
 only the appearance of rudeness, told them he must buy 
 time, the most precious of all things to those who go upon 
 great enter23rises ; and pacifying the barbarous people with 
 money, he hastened his journey, and took possession of 
 Spain, a country flourishing and populous, abounding with 
 young men fit to bear arms; but on account of the inso- 
 lence and covetousness of the governors from time to time 
 sent thither from Rome, they had generally an aversion to 
 the Roman supremacy. He, however, soon gained the 
 affection of their nobles by intercourse with them, and the 
 good opinion of the people by remitting their taxes. But 
 that which won him most popularity, was his exempting 
 them from finding lodgings for the soldiers, when he com- 
 
222 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 manded his army to take up their winter quarters outside 
 the cities, and to pitch their camp in the suburbs; and 
 when he himself, first of all, caused his own tent to be 
 raised without the walls. Yet not being willing to rely 
 totally upon the good inclination of the inhabitants, he 
 armed all the Romans who lived in those countries that 
 were of military age, and undertook the building of ships 
 and the making of all sorts of warlike engines, by which 
 means he kept the cities in due obedience, showing him- 
 self gentle in all peaceful business, and at the same time 
 formidable to his enemies by his great preparations for 
 war. 
 
 As soon as he was informed that Sylla had made him- 
 self master of Rome, and that the party which sided with 
 Marius and Carbo was going to destruction, he expected 
 that some commander with a considerable army would 
 speedily come against him, and therefore sent away Julius 
 Salinator immediately, with six thousand men fully armed, 
 to fortify and defend the passes of the Pyrenees. And 
 Caius Annius not long after being sent out by Sylla, find- 
 ing Julius unassailable, sat down short at the foot of the 
 mountains in perplexity. But a certain Calpurnius, sur- 
 named Lanarius, having treacherously slain Julius, and his 
 soldiers then forsaking the heights of the Pyrenees, Caius 
 Annius advanced with large numbers and drove before 
 him all who endeavored to hinder his march. Sertorius, 
 also, not being strong enough to give him battle, retreated 
 with three thousand men into New Carthage, where he 
 took shipping, and crossed the seas into Africa. And 
 coming near the coast of Mauritania, his men went on 
 shore for water, and straggling about negligently, the 
 natives fell upon them and slew a great number. This 
 
SERTORIUS. 223 
 
 new misfortune forced him to sail back again into Spain, 
 whence he was also repulsed, and, some Cilician pirate 
 ships joining with him, they made for the island of Pity- 
 ussa,^ where they landed and overpowered the garrison 
 placed there by Annius, who, however, came not long 
 after with a great fleet of ships, and five thousand soldiers. 
 And Sertorius made ready to fight him by sea, although 
 his ships were not built for strength, but for lightness and 
 swift sailing ; but a violent west wind raised such a sea 
 that many of them were run aground and shipwrecked, 
 and he himself, with a few vessels, being kept from put- 
 ting further out to sea by the fury of the weather, and 
 from landing by the power of his enemies, was tossed about 
 painfully for ten days together, amidst the boisterous and 
 adverse waves. 
 
 He escaped with difficulty, and after the wind ceased, 
 ran for certain desert islands scattered in those seas, 
 affording no water, and after passing a night there, mak- 
 ing out to sea again, he went through the straits of Cadiz,^ 
 and sailing outward, keeping the Spanish shore on his 
 right hand, he landed a little above the mouth of the river 
 Bsetis, where it falls into the Atlantic sea, and gives the 
 name to that part of Spain. Here he met with seamen 
 recently arrived from the Atlantic islands, two in number, 
 divided from one another only by a narrow channel, and 
 distant from the coast of Africa ten thousand furlongs. 
 These are called the Islands of the Blest; rains fall there 
 seldom, and in moderate showers, but for the most part 
 they have gentle breezes, bringing along with them soft 
 
 1 The modern Ivica. 2 The Straits of Gibraltar. 
 
 Islands of the Blest ; supposed to have been the Canary and Madeira 
 Islands. 
 
224 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 dews, wliicli render the soil not only rich for ploughing 
 and planting, but so abundantly fruitful that it produces 
 spontaneously an abundance of delicate fruits, sufficient to 
 feed the inhabitants, who may here enjoy all things with- 
 out trouble or labor. The seasons of the year are temper- 
 ate, and the transitions from one to another so moderate, 
 that the air is almost always serene and pleasant. The 
 rough northerly and easterly winds which blow from the 
 coasts of Europe and Africa, dissipated in the vast open 
 space, utterly lose their force before they reach the islands. 
 The soft western and southerly winds which breathe upon 
 them sometimes produce gentle sprinkling showers, which 
 they convey along with them from the sea, but more 
 usually bring days of moist bright weather, cooling and 
 gently fertilizing the soil, so that the firm belief prevails 
 even among the barbarians, that this is the seat of the 
 blessed, and that these are the Elysian Fields celebrated 
 by Homer.^ 
 
 When Sertorius heard this account, he was seized with 
 a wonderful passion for these islands, and had an extreme 
 desire to go and live there in peace and quietness, and 
 safe from oppression and unending wars ; but his inclina- 
 tions being perceived by the Cilician pirates, who desired 
 not peace nor quiet, but riches and spoils, they immedi- 
 ately forsook him, and sailed away into Africa to assist 
 Ascalis, the son of Iphtha, and to help to restore him to 
 his kingdom of Mauritania. Their sudden departure 
 noways discouraged Sertorius; he presently resolved to 
 
 1 Menelaus shall not die in Argos ; the deities will convey him to the Elys- 
 ian field, and the limits of the earth, where the yellow-haired Rhadamanthus 
 lives. In that land man's life is easiest; there is no snow, no long bad weather, 
 and no falls of rain; but Oceanus sends in to refresh them continually the 
 whistling breezes of Zephyrus.— OcZysse?/, iv. 563. 
 
yTh 
 
 SERTORIUS. ^"^/^ ^^^ 
 
 assist the enemies of Ascalis, and by this new adventure 
 trusted to keep his soldiers together, who from this might 
 conceive new hopes, and a prospect of a new scene of 
 action. His arrival in Mauritana being very acceptable 
 to the Moors, he lost no time, but immediately giving bat- 
 tle to Ascalis, beat him out of the field and besieged him ; 
 and Paccianus being sent by Sylla, with a powerful sup- 
 ply, to raise the siege, Sertorius slew him in the field, 
 gained over all his forces, and took the city of Tingis, 
 into which Ascalis and his brothers were fled for refuge. 
 
 When Sertorius had made himself absolute master of 
 the whole country, he acted with great fairness to those 
 who had confided in him, and who yielded to his mercy ; 
 he restored to them their property, cities, and govern- 
 ment, accepting only of such acknowledgments as they 
 themselves freely offered. And whilst he considered 
 which way next to turn his arms, the Lusitanians sent 
 ambassadors to desire him to be their general ; for being 
 terrified with the Roman power, and finding the necessity 
 of having a commander of great authority and experience 
 in war, being also sufficiently assured of his worth and 
 valor by those who had formerly known him, they were 
 desirous to commit themselves especially to his care. 
 And in fact Sertorius is said to have been of a temper 
 unassailable either by fear or pleasure, in adversity and 
 dangers undaunted, and noways puffed up with prosper- 
 ity. In straightforward fighting, no commander in his 
 time was more bold and daring, and in whatever was to 
 be performed in war by stratagem, secrecy, or surprise, if 
 any strong place was to be secured, any pass to be gained 
 speedily, for deceiving and overreaching an enemy, there 
 was no man equal to him in subtlety and skill. In be- 
 
226 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 stowing rewards and conferring honors upon those who 
 had performed good service in the wars he was bountiful 
 and magnificent, and was no less sparing and moderate 
 in inflicting punishment. It is true that that piece of 
 harshness and cruelty which he executed in the latter 
 part of his days upon the Spanish hostages, seems to 
 argue that his clemency was not natural to him, but only 
 worn as a dress, and employed upon calculation, as his 
 occasion or necessity required. As to my own opinion, I 
 am persuaded that pure virtue, established by reason and 
 judgment, can never be totally perverted or changed into 
 its opposite, by any misfortune whatever. Yet I think 
 it at the same time possible, that virtuous inclinations 
 and natural good qualities may, when unworthily oppressed 
 by calamities, show, with change of fortune, some change 
 and alteration of their temper; and thus I conceive it 
 happened to Sertorius, who when prosperity failed him, 
 became exasperated by his disasters against those who 
 had done him wrong. 
 
 The Lusitanians having sent for Sertorius, he left 
 Africa, and being made general with absolute authority, 
 he put all in order amongst them, and brought the neigh- 
 boring parts of Spain under subjection. Most of the 
 tribes voluntarily submitted themselves, won by the fame 
 of his clemency and of his courage, and, to some extent, 
 also, he availed himself of cunning artifices of his own de- 
 vising to impose upon them and gain influence over them. 
 Amongst which, certainly, that of the hind was not the 
 least. Spanus, a countryman who lived in those parts, 
 meeting by chance a hind that had recently calved, flying 
 from the hunters, let the dam go, and pursuing the fawn, 
 
 Hind: the female of the red-deer. 
 
SERTORIUS. 227 
 
 took it, being wonderfully pleased with the rarity of the 
 color, which was all milk-white. And as at that time 
 Sertorius was living in the neighborhood, and accepted 
 gladly any presents of fruit, fowl, or venison, that the 
 country afforded, and rewarded liberally those who pre- 
 sented them, the countryman brought him his young 
 hind, which he took and was well pleased with at the first 
 sight, but when in time he had made it so tame and gen- 
 tle that it would come when he called, and follow him 
 wheresoever he went, and could endure the noise and 
 tumult of the camp, knowing well that uncivilized people 
 are naturally prone to superstition, by little and little he 
 raised it into something preternatural, saying that it was 
 given him by the goddess Diana, and that it revealed 
 to him many secrets. He added, also, further contriv- 
 ances. If he had received at any time private intelli- 
 gence that the enemies had made an incursion into any 
 part of the districts under his command, or had solicited 
 any city to revolt, he pretended that the hind had in- 
 formed him of it in his sleep, and charged him to keep 
 his forces in readiness. Or if again he had notice that 
 any of the commanders under him had got a victory, he 
 would hide the messengers and bring forth the hind 
 crowned with flowers, for joy. of the good news that 
 was to come, and would encourage them to rejoice and 
 sacrifice to the gods for the good account they should 
 soon receive of their prosperous success. 
 
 By such practices, he brought them to be more tractable 
 and obedient in all things ; for now they thought them- 
 selves no longer to be led by a stranger, but rather con- 
 ducted by a god, and the more so, as the facts themselves 
 seemed to bear witness to it, his power, contrary to all ex- 
 
228 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 pectation or probability, continually increasing. For with 
 two thousand six hundred men, whom for honor's sake he 
 . called Romans, combined with seven hundred Africans, 
 who landed with him when he first entered Lusitania, 
 together with four thousand targeteers, and seven hundred 
 horse of the Lusitanians themselves, he made war against 
 four Roman generals, who commanded a hundred and 
 twenty thousand foot, six thousand horse, two thousand 
 archers and slingers, and had cities innumerable in their 
 power ; whereas at the first he had not above twenty cities 
 in all. And from this weak and slender beginning, he 
 raised himself to the command of large nations of men, 
 and the possession of numerous cities ; and of the Roman 
 commanders who were sent against him, he overthrew 
 Cotta in a sea-fight, in the channel near the town of 
 Mellaria ; he routed Fufidius, the governor of Bsetica, with 
 the loss of two thousand Romans, near the banks of the 
 river Baetis; Lucius Domitius, proconsul of the other 
 province of Spain, was overthrown by one of his lieuten- 
 ants ; Thoranius, another commander sent against him by 
 Metellus with a great force, was slain, and Metellus, one 
 of the greatest and most approved Roman generals then 
 living, by a series of defeats, was reduced to such extremi- 
 ties, that Lucius Manlius came to his assistance out of 
 Gallia Narbonensis, and Pompey the Great was sent from 
 Rome itself, in all haste, with considerable forces. Nor 
 did Metellus know which way to turn himself, in a war 
 with such a bold and ready commander, who was contin- 
 ually molesting him, and yet could not be brought to a set 
 battle, but by the swiftness and dexterity of his Spanish 
 soldiery, was enabled to shift and adapt himself to any 
 change of circumstances. Metellus had had experience in 
 
SERTORIUS. 229 
 
 battles fought by regular legions of soldiers, fully armed 
 and drawn up in due order into a heavy standing phalanx, 
 admirably trained for encountering and overpowering an 
 enemy who came to close combat, hand to hand, but en- 
 tirely unfit for climbing among the hills, and competing 
 incessantly with the swift attacks and retreats of a set of 
 fleet mountaineers, or to endure hunger and thirst, and live 
 exposed like them to the wind and weatherj^ithout fire ^ 
 or covering. ^O-:^^ ^ A^ 
 
 Besides, being now in years, and having been formerly 
 engaged in many fights and dangerous conflicts, he had 
 grown inclined to a more remiss, easy, and luxurious life, 
 and was the less able to contend with Sertorius, who was 
 in the prime of his strength and vigor, and had a body 
 wonderfully fitted for war, being strong, active, and tem- 
 perate, continually accustomed to endure hard labor, to 
 take long tedious journeys, to pass many nights together 
 without sleep, to eat little, and to be satisfied with very 
 coarse fare, and who was never stained with the least 
 excess in wine, even when he was most at leisure. What 
 leisure time he allowed himself, he spent in hunting and 
 riding about, and so made himself thoroughly acquainted 
 with every passage for escape when he would fly, and for 
 overtaking and intercepting in pursuit, and gained a per- 
 fect knowledge of where he could and where he could not 
 go. Insomuch that Metellus suffered all the inconven- 
 iences of defeat, although he earnestly desired to fight, 
 and Sertorius, though he refused the field, reaped all the 
 advantages of a conqueror. For he hindered them from 
 foraging, and cut them off from water ; if they advanced, 
 he was nowhere to be found ; if they stayed in any place 
 and encamped, he continually molested and alarmed them ; 
 
230 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 if they besieged any town, he presently appeared and be- 
 sieged them again, and put them to extremities for want 
 of necessaries. And thus he so wearied out the Roman 
 army, that when Sertorius challenged Metellus to fight 
 singly with him, they commended it, and cried out, it was 
 a fair offer, a Roman to fight against a Roman, and a gen- 
 eral against a general; and when Metellus refused the 
 challenge, they reproached him. Metellus derided and 
 contemned this, and rightly so ; for, as Theophrastus ob- 
 serves, a general should die like a general, and not like a 
 skirmisher. But perceiving that the town of the Lango- 
 britse, who gave great assistance to Sertorius, might easily 
 be taken for want of water, as there was but one well 
 within the walls, and the besieger would be master of the 
 springs and fountains in the suburbs, he advanced against 
 the place, expecting to carry it in two days' time, there 
 being no more water, and gave command to his soldiers to 
 take five days' provision only. Sertorius, however, resolv- 
 ing to send speedy relief, ordered two thousand skins to be 
 filled with water, naming a considerable sum of money for 
 the carriage of every skin ; and many Spaniards and Moors 
 undertaking the work, he chose out those who were the 
 strongest and swiftest of foot, and sent them through the 
 mountains, with order that when they had delivered the 
 water, they should convey away privately all those who 
 would be least serviceable in the siege, that there might be 
 water sufficient for the defendants. As soon as Metellus 
 understood this, he was disturbed, as he had already con- 
 sumed most part of the necessary provisions for his army, 
 but he sent out Aquinus with six thousand soldiers to 
 fetch in fresh supplies. But Sertorius having notice of it, 
 laid an ambush for him, and having sent out beforehand 
 
SERTORIUS. 231 
 
 three thousand men to take post in a thickly wooded water- 
 course, with these he attacked the rear of Aquinus in his 
 return, while he himself, charging him in the front, de- 
 stroyed part of his army, and took the rest prisoners, Aqui- 
 nus only escaping, after the loss of both his horse and his 
 armor. And Metellus, being forced shamefully to raise 
 the siege, withdrew amidst the laughter and contempt of 
 the Spaniards ; while Sertorius became yet more the object 
 of their esteem and admiration. 
 
 He was also highly honored for his introducing disci- 
 pline and good order amongst them, for he altered their 
 furious, savage manner of fighting, and brought them to 
 make use of the Roman armor, taught them to keep their 
 ranks, and observe signals and watchwords ; and out of a 
 confused number of thieves and robbers, he constituted a 
 regular, well-disciplined army. He bestowed silver and 
 gold upon them liberally to gild and adorn their helmets, 
 he had their shields worked with various figures and 
 designs, he brought them into the mode of wearing flow- 
 ered and embroidered cloaks and coats, and by supplying 
 money for these purposes, and joining with them in all 
 improvements, he won the hearts of all. That, however, 
 which delighted them most, was the care that he took of 
 their children. He sent for all the boys of noblest parent- 
 age out of all their tribes, and placed them in the great 
 city of Osca, where he appointed masters to instruct them 
 in the Grecian and Roman learning, that when they came 
 to be men, they might, as he professed, be fitted to share 
 with him in authority, and in conducting the government, 
 although under this pretext he really made them hostages. 
 However, their fathers were wonderfully pleased to see 
 their children going daily to the schools in good order. 
 
232 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 handsomely dressed in gowns edged with purple, and that 
 Sertorius paid for their lessons, examined them often, dis- 
 tributed rewards to the most deserving, and gave them the 
 golden bosses to hang about their necks, which the Romans 
 called bullae. 
 
 There being a custom in Spain, that when a commander 
 was slain in battle, those who attended his person fought 
 it out till they all died with him, which the inhabitants of 
 those countries called an offering^ or libation, there were 
 few commanders that had any considerable guard or num- 
 ber of attendants; but Sertorius was followed by many 
 thousands who offered themselves, and vowed to spend 
 their blood with his. And it is told that when his army 
 was defeated near a city in Spain, and the enemy pressed 
 hard upon them, the Spaniards, with no care for them- 
 selves, but being totally solicitous to save Sertorius, took 
 him up on their shoulders and passed him from one to 
 another, till they carried him into the city, and only when 
 they had thus placed their general in safety, provided 
 afterwards each man for his own security. 
 
 Nor were the Spaniards alone ambitious to serve him, 
 but the Roman soldiers, also, that came out of Italy, were 
 impatient to be under his command ; and when Perpenna 
 Vento, who was of the same faction with Sertorius, came 
 into Spain with a quantity of money and a large number 
 of troops, and designed to make war against Metellus on 
 his own account, his own soldiers opposed it, and talked 
 continually of Sertorius, much to the mortification of Per- 
 penna, who was puffed up with the grandeur of his family 
 and his riches. And when they afterwards received tid- 
 ings that Pompey was passing the Pyrenees, they took up 
 Bullse : small ornaments shaped like a ball or bubble. 
 
SERTORIUS. 233 
 
 their arms, laid hold on their ensigns, called upon Per- 
 penna to lead them to Sertorius, and threatened him that 
 if he refused, they would go without him, and place them- 
 selves under a commander who was able to defend himself 
 and those that served him. And so Perpenna was obliged 
 to yield to their desires, and joining Sertorius, added to 
 his army three and fifty cohorts. 
 
 And when now all the cities on this side of the river 
 Ebro also united their forces together under his com- 
 mand, his army grew great, for they flocked together and 
 flowed in upon him from all quarters. But when they 
 continually cried out to attack the enemy, and were impa- 
 tient of delay, their inexperienced, disorderly rashness 
 caused Sertorius much trouble, who at first strove to 
 restrain them with reason and good counsel, but when he 
 perceived them refractory and unseasonably violent, he gave 
 way to their impetuous desires, and permitted them to 
 engage with the enem}^, in such sort that they might, being 
 repulsed, yet not totally routed, become more obedient to 
 his commands for the future. Which happening as he had 
 anticipated, he soon rescued them, and brought them safe 
 into his camp. And after a few days, being willing to 
 encourage them again, when he had called all his army 
 together, he caused two horses to be brought into the field, 
 one an old, feeble, lean animal, the other a lusty, strong 
 horse, with a remarkably thick and long tail. Near the 
 lean one he placed a tall strong man, and near the strong 
 young horse a weak despicable-looking fellow; and at a 
 sign given, the strong man took hold of the weak horse's 
 tail with both his hands, and drew it to him with his whole 
 force, as if he would pull it off*; the other, the weak man, 
 in the mean time, set to work to pluck off hair by hair 
 
234 PLUTARCH^S LIVES. 
 
 from the great horse's tail. And when the strong man had 
 given trouble enough to himself in vain, and sufficient 
 diversion to the company, and had abandoned his attempt, 
 whilst the weak, pitiful fellow in a short time and with lit- 
 tle pains had left not a hair on the great horse's tail, Serto- 
 rius rose up and spoke to his army, "You see, fellow- 
 soldiers, that perseverance is more prevailing than violence, 
 and that many things which cannot be overcome when 
 they are together, yield themselves up when taken little 
 by little. Assiduity and persistence are irresistible, and in 
 time overthrow and destroy the greatest powers wliatever. 
 Time being the favorable friend and assistant of those who 
 use their judgment to await his occasions, and the destruc- 
 tive enemy of those who are unseasonably urging and 
 pressing forward." With a frequent use of such words 
 and such devices, he soothed the fierceness of the barba- 
 rous people, and taught them to attend and watch for their 
 opportunities. 
 
 Of all his remarkable exploits, none raised greater admi- 
 ration than that which he put in practice against the Cha- 
 racitanians. These are a people beyond the river Tagus, 
 who inhabit neither cities nor towns, but live in a vast 
 high hill, within the deep dens and caves of the rocks, the 
 mouths of which open all towards the north. The country 
 below is of a soil resembling a light clay, so loose as easily 
 to break into powder, and is not firm enough to bear any 
 one that treads upon it, and if you touch it in the least, it 
 flies about like ashes or unslaked lime. In any danger of 
 war, these people descend into their caves, and carrying in 
 their booty and prey along with them, stay quietly within, 
 secure from every attack. And when Sertorius, leaving 
 Metellus some distance off, had placed his camp near this 
 
SERTORTUS. 235 
 
 hill, they slighted and despised him, imagining that he 
 retired into these parts, being overthrown by the Romans. 
 And whether out of anger and resentment, or out of his 
 unwillingness to be thought to fly from his enemies, early 
 in the morning he rode up to view the situation of the 
 place. But finding there was no way to come at it, as he 
 rode about, threatening them in vain and disconcerted, he 
 took notice that the wind raised the dust and carried it up 
 towards the caves of the Characitanians, the mouths of 
 which, as I said before, opened towards the north ; and the 
 northerly wind, prevailing most in those parts, coming up 
 out of moist plains or mountains covered with snow, at 
 this particular time, in the heat of summer, being further 
 supplied and increased by the melting of the ice in the 
 northern regions, blew a delightful fresh gale, cooling and 
 refreshing the Characitanians and their cattle all the day 
 long. Sertorius, considering well all circumstances in 
 which either the information of the inhabitants, or his own 
 experience had instructed him, commanded his soldiers to 
 shovel up a great quantity of this light, dusty earth, to 
 heap it up together, and make a mount of it over against 
 the hill in which these barbarous people resided, who, 
 imagining that all this preparation was for raising a mound 
 to get at them, only mocked and laughed at it. However, 
 he continued the work till the evening, and brought his 
 soldiers back into their camp. The next morning a gentle 
 breeze at first arose, and moved the lightest parts of the 
 earth, and dispersed it about as the chaff before the wind ; 
 but when the sun coming to be higher, the strong northerly 
 wind had covered the hills with the dust, the soldiers came 
 and turned this mound of earth over and over, and broke the 
 hard clods in pieces, whilst others on horseback rode through 
 
236 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 it backward and forward, and raised a cloud of dust into 
 the air : there with the wind the whole of it was carried away 
 and blown into the dwellings of the Characitanians, all 
 lying open to the north. And there being no other vent 
 or breathing-place than that through which the north wind 
 rushed in upon them, it quickly blinded their eyes, and 
 filled their lungs, and all but choked them, whilst they 
 strove to draw in the rough air mingled with dust and 
 powdered earth. Nor were they able, with all they could 
 do, to hold out above two days, but yielded up themselves 
 on the third, adding, by their defeat, not so much to the 
 power of Sertorius, as to his renown, in proving that he 
 was able to conquer places by art, which were impregnable 
 by the force of arms. 
 
 So long as he had to do with Metellus, he was thought 
 to owe his successes to his opponent's age and slow tem- 
 per, which were ill-suited for coping with the daring and 
 activity of one who commanded a light army more like a 
 band of robbers than regular soldiers. But when Pompey 
 also passed over the Pyrenees, and Sertorius pitched his 
 camp near him, and offered and himself accepted every 
 occasion by which military skill could be put to the proof, 
 and in this contest of dexterity was found to have the bet- 
 ter, both in baffling his enemy's designs and in counter- 
 scheming himself, the fame of him now spread even to 
 Rome itself, as the most expert commander of his time. 
 For the renown of Pompey was not small, who had already 
 won much honor by his achievements in the wars of Sylla, 
 from whom he received the title of Pompey the Great; 
 and who had risen to the honor of a triumph before the 
 beard had grown on his face. And many cities which 
 were under Sertorius were on the very eve of revolting 
 
SERTORIUS. 237 
 
 and going over to Pompey, when they were deterred from 
 it by that great action, amongst others, which he per- 
 formed near the city of Lauron, contrary to the expecta- 
 tion of all. 
 
 For Sertorius had laid siege to Lauron, and Pompey 
 came with his whole army to relieve it; and there being a 
 hill near this city very advantageously situated, they both 
 made haste to take it. Sertorius was beforehand, and took 
 possession of it first, and Pompey, having drawn down his 
 forces, was not sorry that it had thus happened, imagining 
 that he had hereby inclosed his enemy between his own 
 army and the city, and sent in a messenger to the citizens 
 of Lauron, to bid them be of good courage, and to come 
 upon their walls, where they might see their besieger be- 
 sieged. Sertorius, perceiving their intentions, smiled, and 
 said, he would now teach Sylla's scholar, for so he called 
 Pompey in derision, that it was the part of a general to 
 look as well behind him as before him, and at the same 
 time showed them six thousand soldiers, whom he had left 
 in his former camp, from whence he marched out to take 
 the hill, where if Pompey should assault him, they might 
 fall upon his rear. Pompey discovered this too late, and 
 not daring to give battle, for fear of being encompassed, 
 and yet being ashamed to desert his friends and confed- 
 erates in their extreme danger, was thus forced to sit still, 
 and see them ruined before his face. For the besieged 
 despaired of relief, and delivered themselves up to Serto- 
 rius, who spared their lives and granted them their liberty, 
 but burnt their city, not out of anger or cruelty, for of all 
 commanders that ever were, Sertorius seems least of all to 
 have indulged these passions, but only for the greater 
 shame and confusion of the admirers of Pompey, and that 
 
238 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 it might be reported amongst the Spaniards, that though 
 he had been so close to the fire which burnt down the city 
 of his confederates as actually to feel the heat of it, he 
 still had not dared to make any opposition. 
 
 Sertorius, however, sustained many losses ; but he always 
 maintained himself and those immediately with him unde- 
 feated, and it was by other commanders under him that he 
 suffered ; and he was more admired for being able to repair 
 his losses, and for recovering the victory, than the Roman 
 generals against him for gaining these advantages; as at 
 the battle of the Sucro against Pompey, and at the battle 
 near Tuttia, against him and Metellus together. The 
 battle near the Sucro was fought, it is said, through the 
 impatience of Pompey, lest Metellus should share with 
 him in the victory, Sertorius being also willing to engage 
 Pompey before the arrival of Metellus. Sertorius delayed 
 the time till the evening, considering that the darkness of 
 the night would be a disadvantage to his enemies, whether 
 flying or pursuing, being strangers, and having no knowl- 
 edge of the country. When the fight began, it happened 
 that Sertorius was not placed directly against Pompey, but 
 against Afranius, who had command of the left wing of 
 the Roman army, as he commanded the right wing of his 
 own ; but when he understood that his left wing began to 
 give way, and yield to the assault of Pompey, he com- 
 mitted the care of his right wing to other commanders, 
 and made haste to relieve those in distress ; and rallying 
 some that were flying, and encouraging others that still 
 kept their ranks, he renewed the fight, and attacked the 
 enemy in their pursuit so effectively as to cause a consid- 
 erable rout, and brought Pompey into great danger of his 
 life. For after being wounded and losing his horse, he 
 
SERTORIUS. 239 
 
 escaped unexpectedly. For the Africans with Sertorius, 
 who took Pompey's horse, set out with gold, and covered 
 with rich trappings, fell out with one another ; and upon 
 the dividing of the spoil, gave over the pursuit. Afranius, 
 in the mean time, as soon as Sertorius had left his right 
 wing, to assist the other part of his army, overthrew all 
 that opposed him ; and pursuing them to their camp, fell 
 in together with them, and plundered them till it was dark 
 night ; knowing nothing of Pompey's overthrow, nor being 
 able to restrain his soldiers from pillaging ; when Sertorius, 
 returning with victory, fell upon him and upon his men, 
 who were all in disorder, and slew many of them. And 
 the next morning he came into the field again, well armed, 
 and offered battle, but perceiving that Metellus was near, 
 he drew off, and returned to his camp, saying, " If this old 
 woman had not come up, I would have whipped that boy 
 soundly and sent him to Rome." ^' - 
 
 He was much concerned that his white hind could no- 
 where be found ; as he was thus destitute of an admirable 
 contrivance to encourage the barbarous people, at a time 
 when he most stood in need of it. Some men, however, 
 wandering in the night, chanced to meet her, and knowing 
 her by her color, took her ; to whom Sertorius promised a 
 good reward, if they would tell no one of it; and imme- 
 diately shut her up. A few days after, he appeared in 
 public with a very cheerful look, and declared to the chief 
 meii of the country, that the gods had foretold him in a 
 dream that some great good fortune should shortly attend 
 him ; and, taking his seat, proceeded to answer the peti- 
 tions of those who applied themselves to him. The keep- 
 ers of the hind, who were not far off, now let her loose, 
 and she no sooner espied Sertorius, but she came leaping 
 
240 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 with great joy to his feet, laid her head upon his knees, 
 and licked his hands, as she formerly used to do. And 
 Sertorius stroking her, and making much of her again, 
 with that tenderness that the tears stood in his eyes, all 
 that were present were immediately filled with wonder 
 and astonishment, and accompanying him to his house 
 with loud shouts for joy, looked upon him as a person 
 above the rank of mortal men, and highly beloved by the 
 gods; and were in great courage and hope for the future. 
 When he had reduced his enemies to the last extremity 
 for want of provision, he was forced to give them battle, 
 in the plains near Saguntum, to hinder them from foraging, 
 and plundering the country. Both parties fought glo- 
 riously. Memmius, the best commander in Pompey's army, 
 was slain in the heat of the battle. Sertorius overthrew 
 all before him, and with great slaughter of his enemies 
 pressed forward towards Metellus. This old commander, 
 making a resistance beyond what could be expected from 
 one of his years, was wounded with a lance ; an occurrence 
 which filled all who either saw it or heard of it, with 
 shame, to be thought to have left their general in distress, 
 but at the same time it provoked them to revenge and fury 
 against their enemies: they covered Metellus with their 
 shields, and brought him off in safety, and then valiantly 
 repulsed the Spaniards ; and so victory changed sides, and 
 Sertorius, that he might afford a more secure retreat to his 
 army, and that fresh forces might more easily be raised, 
 retired into a strong city in the mountains. And though 
 it was the least of his intention to sustain a long siege, yet 
 he began to repair the walls, and to fortify the gates, thus 
 deluding his enemies, who came and sat down before the 
 town, hoping to take it without much resistance ; and 
 
SERTORIUS. 241 
 
 meantime gave over the pursuit of the Spaniards, and 
 allowed opportunity for raising new forces for Sertorius, 
 to which purpose he had sent commanders to all their 
 cities, with orders, when they had sufficiently increased 
 their numbers, to send him word of it. This news he no 
 sooner received, but he sallied out and forced his way 
 through his enemies, and easily joined them with the rest 
 of his army. And having received this considerable rein- 
 forcement, he set upon the Romans again, and by rapidly 
 assaulting them, by alarming them on all sides, by ensnar- 
 ing, circumventing, and laying ambushes, for them, he cut 
 off all provisions by land, while with his piratical vessels, 
 he kept all the coast in awe, and hindered their supplies 
 by sea. He thus forced the Roman generals to dislodge, 
 and to separate from one another : Metellus departed into 
 Gaul, and Pompey wintered among the Vaccaeans, in a 
 wretched condition, where, being in extreme want of 
 money, he wrote a letter to the senate, to let them know 
 that if they did not speedily supply him, he must draw off 
 his army ; for he had already spent his own money in the 
 defence of Italy. To these extremities, the chiefest and 
 the most powerful commanders of the age were reduced by 
 the skill of Sertorius ; and it was the common opinion in 
 Rome, that he would be in Italy before Pompey. 
 
 How far Metellus was terrified, and at what rate he 
 esteemed him, he plainly declared, when he offered by 
 proclamation an hundred talents, and twenty thousand 
 acres of land, to any Roman that should kill him, and 
 leave, if he were banished, to return ; attempting villain- 
 ously to buy his life by treachery, when he despaired of 
 ever being able to overcome him in open war. And when 
 once he gained the advantage in a battle against Serto- 
 
242 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 rius, he was so pleased and transported with his good for- 
 tune, that he caused himself to be publicly proclaimed 
 imperator; and all the cities which he visited received 
 him with altars and sacrifices; he allowed himself, it is 
 said, to have garlands placed on his head, and accepted 
 sumptuous entertainments, at which he sat drinking in 
 triumphal robes, while images and figures of victory were 
 introduced by the motion of machines, bringing in with 
 them crowns and trophies of gold to present to him, and 
 companies of young men and women danced before him, 
 and sang to him songs of joy and triumph. By all which 
 he rendered himself deservedly ridiculous, for being so 
 excessively delighted and puffed up with the thoughts of 
 having followed one who was retiring of his own accord, 
 and for having once had the better of him whom he used 
 to call Sylla's runaway slave, and his forces, the remnant 
 of the defeated troops of Carbo. 
 
 Sertorius, meantime, showed the loftiness of his temper 
 in calling together all the Roman senators who had fled 
 from Rome, and had come and resided with him, and giv- 
 ing them the name of a senate ; and out of these he chose 
 praetors and quaestors, and adorned his government with 
 all the Roman laws and institutions. And though he 
 made use of the arms, riches, and cities of the Spaniards, 
 yet he would never, even in word, remit to them the impe- 
 rial authority, but set Roman officers and commanders 
 over them, intimating his purpose to restore liberty to the 
 Romans, not to raise up the Spaniard's power against 
 them. For he was a sincere lover of his country, and had 
 a great desire to return home; but in his adverse for- 
 
 Imperator : a title of honor given to a victorious commander. 
 Quaestors : magistrates who collected the public revenue. 
 
SERTORIUS. 243 
 
 tune he showed undaunted courage, and behaved himself 
 towards his enemies in a manner free from all dejection 
 and mean-spiritedness ; and when he was in his prosperity, 
 and in the height of his victories, he sent word to Metel- 
 lus and Pompey, that he was ready to lay down his arms, 
 and live a private life, if he were allowed to return home, 
 declaring that he had rather live as the meanest citizen in 
 Rome, than, exiled from it, be supreme commander of all 
 other cities together. And it is thought that his great 
 desire for his country was in no small measure promoted 
 by the tenderness he had for his mother, under whom he 
 was brought up after the death of his father, and upon 
 whom he had placed his entire affection. And after that 
 his friends had sent for him into Spain to be their general, 
 as soon as he heard of his mother's death, he had almost 
 cast away himself and died for grief; for he lay seven 
 days together continually in his tent, without giving the 
 word, or being seen by the nearest of his friends ; and 
 when the chief commanders of the army, and persons of 
 the greatest note came about his tent, with great difficulty 
 they prevailed with him at last to come abroad, and speak 
 to his soldiers, and to take upon him the management of 
 affairs, which were in a prosperous condition. And thus, 
 to many men's judgment, he seemed to have been in him- 
 self of a mild and compassionate temper, and naturally 
 given to ease and quietness, and to have accepted of the 
 command of military forces contrary to his own inclina- 
 tion, and not being able to live in safety otherwise, to 
 have been driven by his enemies to have recourse to arms, 
 and to espouse the wars as a necessary guard for the 
 defence of his person. 
 
 His negotiations with king Mithridates further argue 
 
244 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 the greatness of his mind. For when Mithridates, recov- 
 ering himself from his overthrow by Sylla, like a strong 
 wrestler that gets up to try another fall, was again endeav- 
 oring to reestablish his power in Asia, at this time the 
 great fame of Sertorius was celebrated in all places ; and 
 when the merchants who came out of the western parts of 
 Europe, bringing these, as it were, among their other foreign 
 wares, had filled the kingdom of Pontus with their stories 
 of his exploits in war, Mithridates was extremely desirous 
 to send an embassy to him, being also highly encouraged 
 to it by the boastings of his flattering courtiers, who, com- 
 paring Mithridates to Pyrrhus, and Sertorius to Hannibal, 
 professed that the Romans would never be able to make 
 any considerable resistance against such great forces, and 
 such admirable commanders, when they should be set upon 
 on both sides at once, on one by the most warlike general, 
 and on the other by the most powerful prince in existence. 
 Accordingly, Mithridates sends ambassadors into Spain 
 to Sertorius with letters and instructions, and commission 
 to promise ships and money towards the charge of the 
 war, if Sertorius would confirm his pretensions upon Asia, 
 and authorize him to possess all that he had surrendered 
 to the Romans in his treaty with Sylla. Sertorius sum- 
 moned a full council which he called a senate, where, 
 when others joyfully approved of the conditions, and were 
 desirous immediately to accept of his offer, seeing that he 
 desired nothing of them but a name, and an empty title 
 to places not in their power to dispose of, in recompense- 
 of which they should be supplied with what they then 
 stood most in need of, Sertorius would by no means agree 
 to it ; declaring that he was willing that king Mithridates 
 should exercise all royal power and authority over Bithy- 
 
SERTORIUS. 245 
 
 nia and Cappadocia, countries accustomed to a monarchi- 
 cal government, and not belonging to Rome, but he could 
 never consent that he should seize or detain a province, 
 which, by the justest right and title, was possessed by the 
 Romans, which Mithridates had formerly taken away from 
 them, and had afterwards lost in open war to Fimbria, and. 
 quitted upon a treaty of peace with Sylla. For he looked 
 upon it as his duty to enlarge the Roman possessions by . 
 his conquering arms, and not to increase his own power by 
 the diminution of the Roman territories. Since a noble- 
 minded man, though he willingly accepts of victory when 
 it comes with honor, will never so much as endeavor to 
 save his own life upon any dishonorable terms. 
 
 When this was related to Mithridates, he was struck 
 with amazement, and said to his intimate friends, " What 
 will Sertorius enjoin us to do when he comes to be seated 
 in the Palatium in Rome, who at present, when he is 
 driven out to the borders of the Atlantic sea, sets bounds 
 to our kingdoms in the east, and threatens us with war, 
 if we attempt the recovery of Asia ? " However, they 
 solemnly, upon oath, concluded a league between them, 
 upon these terms : that Mithridates should enjoy the free 
 possession of Cappadocia and Bithynia, and that Sertorius 
 should send him soldiers, and a general for his army, in 
 recompense of which the king was to supply him with 
 three thousand talents and forty ships. Marcus Marius, 
 a Roman senator who had quitted Rome to follow Serto- 
 rius, was sent general into Asia, in company with whom, 
 when Mithridates had reduced divers of the Asian cities, 
 Marius made his entrance with rods and axes carried 
 before him, and Mithridates followed in the second place, 
 voluntarily waiting upon him. Some of these cities he 
 set at liberty, and others he freed from taxes, signifying 
 
246 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 to tliem that these privileges were granted to them by the 
 favor of Sertorius, and hereby Asia, which had been miser- 
 ably tormented by the revenue farmers, and oppressed by 
 the insolent pride and covetousness of the soldiers, began 
 to rise again to new hopes, and to look forward with joy 
 to the expected change of government. 
 
 But in Spain, the senators about Sertorius, and others 
 of the nobility, finding themselves strong enough for their 
 enemies, no sooner laid aside fear, but their minds were 
 possessed by envy and irrational jealousies of Sertorius' 
 power. And chiefly Perpenna, elevated by the thoughts 
 of his noble birth, and carried away with a fond ambi- 
 tion of commanding the army, threw out villainous dis- 
 courses in private amongst his acquaintance. " What 
 evil genius," he would say, " hurries us perpetually from 
 worse to worse ? We who disdained to obey the dictates 
 of Sylla, the ruler of sea and land, and thus to live at 
 home in peace and quiet, are come hither to our destruc- 
 tion, hoping to enjoy our liberty, and have made ourselves 
 slaves of our own accord, and are become the contemptible 
 guards and attendants of the banished Sertorius, who, 
 that he may expose us the further, gives us a name that 
 renders us ridiculous to all that hear it, and calls us the 
 Senate, when at the same time he makes us undergo as 
 much hard labor, and forces us to be as subject to his 
 haughty commands and insolences as any Spaniards and 
 Lusitanians." With these mutinous discourses he seduced 
 them ; and though the greater number could not be led 
 into open rebellion against Sertorius, fearing his power, 
 they were prevailed with to endeavor to destroy his inter- 
 Revenue farmers: persons who purchased the right of collecting taxes 
 for certain districts, and then made as much profit as possible by extortion 
 and cruelty. 
 
SERTORIUS. 247 
 
 est secretly. For by abusing the Lusitauians and Span- 
 iards, by inflicting severe punishments upon them, by 
 raising exorbitant taxes, and by pretending that all this 
 was done by the strict command of Sertorius, they caused 
 great troubles, and made many cities to revolt ; and those 
 who were sent to mitigate and heal these differences, did 
 rather exasperate them and increase the number of his 
 enemies, and left them at their return more obstinate and 
 rebellious than they found them. And Sertorius, incensed 
 with all this, now so far forgot his former clemency and 
 goodness as to lay hands on the sons of the Spaniards, 
 educated in the city of Osca; and, contrary to all justice, 
 he cruelly put some of them to death, and sold others. 
 
 In the mean time, Perpenna, having increased the 
 number of his conspirators, drew in Manlius, a commander 
 in the army, who, at that time being attached to a youth, 
 to gain his affections the more, discovered the confederacy 
 to him, bidding him neglect others, and be constant to him 
 alone ; who, in a few days, was to be a person of great 
 power and authority. But the youth having a greater 
 inclination for Aufidius, disclosed all to him, which much 
 surprised and amazed him. For he was also one . of the 
 confederacy, but knew not that Manlius was anyways 
 engaged in it ; but when the youth began to name Per- 
 penna, Gracinus, and others, whom he knew very well to 
 be sworn conspirators, he was very much terrified and 
 astonished ; but made light of it to the youth, and bade 
 him not regard what Manlius said, a vain, boasting fellow. 
 However, he went presently to Perpenna, and giving him 
 notice of the danger they were in, and of the shortness of 
 their time, desired him immediately to put their designs 
 in execution. And when all the confederates had con- 
 sented to it, they provided a messenger who brought 
 
248 PLUTARCH'S LIVES, 
 
 feigned letters to Sertorius, in which he had notice of a 
 victory obtained, they said, by one of his lieutenants, and of 
 the great slaughter of his enemies ; and as Sertorius, being 
 extremely well pleased, was sacrificing and giving thanks 
 to the gods for his prosperous success, Perpenna invited 
 him, and those with him, who were also of the conspiracy, 
 to an entertainment, and being very importunate, pre- 
 vailed with him to come. At all suppers and entertain- 
 ments where Sertorius was present, great order and 
 decency was wont to be observed, for he would not 
 endure to hear or see anything that was rude or unhand- 
 some, but made it the habit of all who kept his company, 
 to entertain themselves with quiet and inoffensive amuse- 
 ments. But in the middle of this entertainment, those 
 who sought occasion to quarrel, fell into dissolute dis- 
 course openly, and making as if they were very drunk, 
 committed many insolences on purpose to provoke him. 
 Sertorius, being offended with their ill behavior, or per- 
 ceiving the state of their minds by their way of speaking 
 and their unusually disrespectful manner, changed the 
 posture of his lying,i and leaned backward, as one that 
 neither heard nor regarded them. Perpenna now took a 
 cup full of wine, and, as he was drinking, let it fall out of 
 his hand and make a noise, which was the sign agreed 
 upon amongst them ; and Antonius, who was next to Ser- 
 torius, immediately wounded him with his sword. And 
 whilst Sertorius, upon receiving the wound, turned him- 
 self and strove to get up, Antonius threw himself upon 
 his breast, and held both his hands, so that he died by 
 a number of blows, without being able even to defend 
 himself. 
 
 Upon the first news of his death, most of the Spaniards 
 
 1 The Romans took their meals reclining on couches around the table. 
 
SERTORIUS. 249 
 
 left the conspirators and sent embassadors to Pompey and 
 Metellus, and yielded themselves up to them. Perpenna 
 attempted to do something with those that remained, but 
 he made only so much use of Sertorius' arms and prepara- 
 tions for war as to disgrace himself in them, and to let 
 it be evident to all that he understood no more how to 
 command than he knew how to obey ; and when he came 
 against Pompey, he was soon overthrown and taken pris- 
 oner. Neither did he bear this last affliction with any 
 bravery, but having Sertorius' papers and writings in 
 his hands, he offered to show Pompey letters from persons 
 of consular dignity, and of the highest quality in Rome, 
 written with their own hands, expressly to call Sertorius 
 into Italy, and to let him know what great numbers there 
 were that earnestly desired to alter the present state of 
 affairs, and to introduce another manner of government. 
 Upon this occasion, Pompey behaved not like a youth, or 
 one of a light, inconsiderate mind, but as a man of a con- 
 firmed, mature, and solid judgment ; and so freed Rome 
 from great fears and dangers of change. For he put all 
 Sertorius' writings and letters together and read not one 
 of them, nor suffered any one else to read them, but burnt 
 them all, and caused Perpenna immediately to be put to 
 death, lest by discovering their names, further troubles 
 and revolutions might ensue. 
 
 Of the rest of the conspirators with Perpenna, some 
 were taken and slain by the command of Pompey, others 
 fled into Africa and were set upon by the Moors, and run 
 through with their darts; and in a short time not one of 
 them was left alive, except only Aufidius, the rival of 
 Manlius, who, hiding himself, or not being much inquired 
 after, died an old man in an obscure village in Spain, in 
 extreme poverty, and hated by all. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO C^SAR. 
 
 PoMPEY was now the great man in Rome ; for although 
 he did not deserve much credit for defeating Sertorius, 
 yet he had succeeded where all others had failed. On his 
 way home too he had the luck to fall in with the remains 
 of a band of revolted slaves which Crassus had just de- 
 feated. So he had the reputation of bringing both wars to 
 an end. He was made consul along with Crassus (b.c. 70), 
 and not long after was sent to Asia against Mithridates ; 
 for the Third Mithridatic War was now being fought. 
 Pompey was really a great general, and in the East he 
 managed matters very skilfully, and put everything in 
 good order. While he was absent, things went very badly 
 in Rome ; this was the time of the famous conspiracy of 
 Catiline, which came very near overthrowing the republic. 
 Pompey returned, after all these successes, a greater man 
 than ever ; and in the year 60 he formed a coalition with 
 Crassus, the richest man in Rome, and Caesar, the most 
 popular, by which these three agreed to help each other, 
 and get into their hands the whole management of affairs 
 in Rome. The combination between Pompey, Caesar, and 
 Crassus, to control the politics of the city, is what we 
 should call a Ring ; but the Romans called it a Triumvirate^ 
 that is, a committee of three men. But all these things, 
 as well as the wars which Csesar carried on in Gaul, and 
 the Civil War afterwards between him and Pompey, are 
 related in the Life of Caesar which follows. 
 
C^SAR. 251 
 
 C^SAR. 
 
 A FTER Sylla became master of Rome, he wished to 
 -^--^ make Caesar put away his wife Cornelia, daughter of 
 Cinna, the late sole ruler of the commonwealth, but was 
 unable to effect it either by promises or intimidation, and 
 so contented himself with confiscating her dowry. The 
 ground of Sylla's hostility to Caesar was the relationship 
 between him and Marius ; for Marius, the elder, married 
 Julia, the sister of Caesar's father, and had by her the 
 younger Marius, who consequently was Caesar's first cousin. 
 And though at the beginning, while so many were to be 
 put to death and there was so much to do, Caesar was 
 overlooked by Sylla, yet he would not keep quiet, but 
 presented himself to the people as a candidate for the 
 priesthood, though he was yet a mere boy. Sylla, with- 
 out any open opposition, took measures to have him re- 
 jected, and in consultation w^hether he should be put to 
 death, when it was urged by some that it was not worth 
 his while to contrive the death of a boy, he answered, 
 that they knew little who did not see more than one 
 Marius in that boy. Caesar, on being informed of this 
 saying, concealed himself, and for a considerable time 
 kept out of the way in the country of the Sabines, often 
 changing his quarters, till one night, as he was removing 
 from one house to another on account of his health, he 
 fell into the hands of Sylla's soldiers who were searching 
 
252 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 those parts in order to apprehend any who had absconded. 
 Caesar, by a bribe of two talents, prevailed with Corne- 
 lius, their captain, to let him go, and was no sooner dis- 
 missed but he put to sea, and made for Bithynia. After 
 a short stay there with Nicomedes, the king, in his pas- 
 sage back he was taken near the island Pharmacusa by 
 some of the pirates, who, at that time, with large fleets of 
 ships and innumerable smaller vessels infested the seas 
 everywhere. 
 
 When these men at first demanded of him twenty tal- 
 ents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not under- 
 standing the value of their prisoner, and voluntarily 
 engaged to give them fifty. He presently despatched 
 those about him to several places to raise the money, till 
 at last he was left among a set of the most bloodthirsty 
 people in the world, the Cilicians, with only one friend 
 and two attendants. Yet he made so little of them, that 
 when he had a mind to sleep, he would send to them, and 
 order them to make no noise. For thirty-eight days, 
 with all the freedom in the world, he amused .himself 
 with joining in their exercises and games, as if they had 
 not been his keepers, but his guards. He wrote verses 
 and speeches, and made them his auditors, and those who 
 did not admire them, he called to their faces illiterate and 
 barbarous, and would often, in raillery, threaten to hang 
 them. They were greatly taken with this, and attributed 
 his free talking to a kind of simplicity and boyish play- 
 fulness. As soon as his ransom was come from Miletus, 
 he paid it, and was discharged, and proceeded at once to 
 man some ships at the port of Miletus, and went in pur- 
 suit of the pirates, whom he surprised with their ships 
 still stationed at the island, and took most of them. 
 
C^SAR. 253 
 
 Their money he made his prize, and the men he secured ■ 
 in prison at Pergamus, and made application to Junius, 
 who was then governor of Asia, to whose office it be- 
 longed, as praetor, to determine their punishment. Junius, 
 having his eye upon the money, for the sum was consid- 
 erable, said he would think at his leisure what to do with 
 the prisoners, upon which Caesar took his leave of him, 
 and went off to Pergamus, where he ordered the pirates 
 to be brought forth and crucified ; the punishment he 
 had often threatened them with whilst he was in their 
 hands, and they little dreamed he was in earnest. 
 
 In the mean time Sylla's power being now on the de- 
 cline, Caesar's friends advised him to return to Rome ; but 
 he went to Rhodes, and entered himself in the school of 
 Apollonius, Molon's son, a famous rhetorician, one who 
 had the reputation of a worthy man, and had Cicero for 
 one of his scholars. Caesar is said to have been admira- 
 bly fitted by nature to make a great statesman and 
 orator, and to have taken such pains to improve his 
 genius this way, that without dispute he might challenge 
 the second place. More he did not aim at, as choosing to 
 be first rather amongst men of arms and power, and, 
 therefore, never rose to that height of eloquence to 
 which nature would have carried him, his attention being 
 diverted to those expeditions and designs, which at length 
 gained him the empire. And he himself, in his answer 
 to Cicero's panegyric on Cato, desires his reader not to 
 compare the plain discourse of a soldier with the ha- 
 rangues of an orator who had not only fine parts, but 
 had employed his life in this study. 
 
 When he was returned to Rome, he accused Dolabella 
 Panegyric: eulogy. 
 
254 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 of maladministration, and many cities of Greece came in 
 to attest it. Dolabella was acquitted, and Caesar, in re- 
 turn for the support he had received from the Greeks, 
 assisted them in their prosecution of Publius Antonius for 
 corrupt practices, before Marcus Lucullus, praetor of Mace- 
 donia. In this cause he so far succeeded, that Antonius 
 was forced to appeal to the tribunes of Rome, alleging 
 that in Greece he could not have fair play against Gre- 
 cians. In his pleadings at Rome, his eloquence soon ob- 
 tained him great credit and favor, and he won no less 
 upon the affections of the people by the affability of his 
 manners and address, in which he showed a tact and con- 
 sideration beyond what could have been expected at his 
 age ; and the open house he kept, the entertainments he 
 gave, and the general splendor of his manner of life con- 
 tributed little by little to create and increase his political 
 influence. His enemies slighted the growth of it at first, 
 presuming it would soon fail when his money was gone ; 
 whilst in the mean time it was growing up and flourish- 
 ing among the common people. When his power at last 
 was established and not to be overthrown, and now 
 openly tended to the altering of the whole constitution, 
 they were aware too late, that there is no beginning so 
 mean, which continued application will not make consid- 
 erable, and that despising a danger at first, will make it 
 at last irresistible. Cicero was the first who had any sus- 
 picions of his designs upon the government, and, as a 
 good pilot is apprehensive of a storm when the sea is 
 most smiling, saw the designing temper of the man 
 through this disguise of good-humor and affability, and 
 said, that in general, in all he did and undertook, he de- 
 tected the ambition for absolute power ; " but when I see 
 
CiESAR. 255 
 
 his hair so carefully arranged, and observe him adjusting 
 it with one finger, I cannot imagine it should enter into 
 such a man's thoughts to subvert the Romap state." But 
 of this more hereafter. 
 
 The first proof he had of the people's good-will to him, 
 was when he received by their suffrages a tribuneship in 
 the army, and came out on the list with a higher place 
 than Caius Popilius. A second and clearer instance of 
 their favor appeared upon his making a magnificent ora- 
 tion in praise of his aunt Julia, wife to Marius, publicly 
 in the forum, at whose funeral he was so bold as to bring 
 forth the images of Marius, which nobody had dared to 
 produce since the government came into Sylla's hands, 
 Marius' party having from that time been declared ene- 
 mies of the state. When some who were present had 
 begun to raise a cry against Csesar, the people answered 
 with loud shouts and clapping in his favor, expressing 
 their joyful surprise and satisfaction at his having, as it 
 were, brought up again from the grave those honors of 
 Marius, which for so long a time had been lost to the 
 city. It had always been the custom at Rome to make 
 funeral orations in praise of elderly matrons, but there was 
 no precedent of any upon young women till Caesar first 
 made one upon the death of his own wife. This also pro- 
 cured him favor, and by this show of affection he won 
 upon the feelings of the people, who looked upon him as a 
 man of great tenderness and kindness of heart. After 
 he had buried his wife, he went as quaestor into Spain 
 under one of the praetors, named Vetus, whom he hon- 
 ored ever after, and made his son his own quaestor, 
 when he himself came to be praetor. After this employ- 
 ment was ended, he married Pompeia, his third wife, hav- 
 
256 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ing then a daughter by Cornelia, his first wife, whom he 
 afterwards married to Pompey the Great. He was so pro- 
 fuse in his expenses, that before he had any public employ- 
 ment, he was in debt thirteen hundred talents, and many 
 thought that by incurring such expense to be popular, he 
 changed a soHd good for what would prove but a short and 
 uncertain return; but in truth he was purchasing what 
 was of the greatest value at an inconsiderable rate. When 
 he was made surveyor of the Appian Way, he disbursed, 
 besides the public money, a great sum out of his private 
 purse ; and when he was sedile, he provided such a num- 
 ber of gladiators, that he entertained the people with three 
 hundred and twenty single combats, and by his great lib- 
 erality and magnificence in theatrical shows, in processions, 
 and public feastings, he threw into the shade all the at- 
 tempts that had been made before him, and gained so 
 much upon the people, that every one was eager to find 
 out new offices and new honors for him in return for his 
 munificence. 
 
 There being two factions in the city, one that of Sylla, 
 which was very powerful, the other that of Marius, which 
 was then broken and in a very low condition, he under- 
 took to revive this and to make it his own. And to this 
 end, whilst he was in the height of his repute with the 
 people for the magnificent shows he gave as sedile, he 
 ordered images of Marius, and figures of Victory, with 
 trophies in their hands, to be carried privately in the night 
 
 Appian Way : the most famous of the ancient highways, extending from 
 Rome to Southern Italy. 
 
 -ffidile : the superintendent of buildings, highways, public places, weights 
 and measures. 
 
 Gladiator : a swordsman trained to fight in the arena for the amusement 
 of the people. 
 
C^SAR. 257 
 
 and placed in the capitol. Next morning, when some saw 
 them bright with gold and beautifully made, with inscrip- 
 tions upon them, referring them to Marius' exploits over 
 the Cimbrians, they were surprised at the boldness of him 
 who had set them up, nor was it difficult to guess who it 
 was. The fame of this soon spread and brought together 
 a great concourse of people. Some cried out that it was 
 an open attempt against the established government thus 
 to revive those honors which had been buried by the laws 
 and decrees of the senate; that Csesar had done it to 
 sound the temper of the people whom he had prepared 
 before, and to try whether they were tame enough to bear 
 his humor, and would quietly give way to his innovations. 
 On the other hand, Marius' party took courage, and it was 
 incredible how numerous they were suddenly seen to be, 
 and what a multitude of them appeared and came shout- 
 ing into the capitol. Many, when they saw Marius' like- 
 ness, cried for joy, and Caesar was highly extolled as the 
 one man, in the place of all others, who was a relation 
 worthy of Marius. Upon this the senate met, and Catu- 
 lus Lutatius, one of the most eminent Romans of that 
 time, stood up and inveighed against Caesar, closing his 
 speech with the remarkable saying, that Caesar was now 
 not working mines, but planting batteries to overthrow 
 the state. But when Caesar had made an apology for him- 
 self, and satisfied the senate, his admirers were very much 
 animated, and advised him not to depart from his own 
 thoughts for any one, since with the people's good favor 
 he would erelong get the better of them all, and be the 
 first man in the commonwealth. 
 
 At this time, Metellus, the High-Priest, died, and Catu- 
 lus and Isauricus, persons of the highest reputation, and 
 
 ^- 
 
258 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 who had great influence in the senate, were competitors 
 for the office ; yet Caesar would not give way to them, but 
 presented himself to the people as a candidate against 
 them. The several parties seeming very equal, Catulus, 
 who, because he had the most honor to lose, was the most 
 apprehensive of the event, sent to Csesar to buy him off, 
 with offers of a great sum of money. But his answer 
 was, that he was ready to borrow a larger sum than that, 
 to carry on the contest. Upon the day of election, as his 
 mother conducted him out of doors with tears, after em- 
 bracing her, " My mother," he said, " to-day you will see 
 me either High-Priest, or an exile." When the votes were 
 taken, after a great struggle, he carried it, and excited 
 among the senate and nobility great alarm lest he might 
 now urge on the people to every kind of insolence. And 
 Piso and Catulus found fault with Cicero for having let 
 Caesar escape, when in the conspiracy of Catiline he had 
 given the government such advantage against him. For 
 Catiline, who had designed not only to change the present 
 state of affairs, but to subvert the whole empire and con- 
 found all, had himself taken to flight, while the evidence 
 was yet incomplete against him, before his ultimate pur- 
 poses had been properly discovered. But he had left 
 Lentulus and Cethegus in the city to supply his place in 
 the conspiracy, and whether they received any secret en- 
 couragement and assistance from Caesar is uncertain; all 
 that is certain, is, that they were fully convicted in the 
 senate, and when Cicero, the consul, asked the several 
 opinions of the senators, how they would have them pun- 
 ished, all who spoke before Caesar sentenced them to death ; 
 but Caesar stood up and made a set speech, in which he 
 told them, that he thought it without precedent and not 
 
CiESAR. 259 
 
 just to take away the lives of persons of their birth and 
 distinction before they were fairly tried, unless there was 
 an absolute necessity for it ; but if they were kept con- 
 fined in any towns of Italy Cicero himself should choose, 
 till Catiline was defeated, then the senate might in peace 
 and at their leisure determine what was best to be 
 done. 
 
 This sentence of his carried so much appearance of 
 humanity, and he gave it such advantage by the elo- 
 quence with which he urged it, that not only those who 
 spoke after him closed with it, but even they who had 
 before given a contrary opinion, now came over to his, till 
 it came about to Catulus' and Cato's turn to speak. 
 They warmly opposed it, and Cato intimated in his speech 
 the suspicion of Caesar himself, and pressed the matter so 
 strongly, that the criminals were given up to suffer execu- 
 tion. As Caesar was going out of the senate, many of the 
 young men who at that time acted as guards to Cicero 
 ran in with their naked swords to assault him. But 
 Curio, it is said, threw his gown over him and conveyed 
 him away, and Cicero himself, when the young men 
 looked up to see his wishes, gave a sign not to kill him, 
 either for fear of the people, or because he thought the 
 murder unjust and illegal. If this be true, I wonder how 
 Cicero came to omit all mention of it in his book about 
 his consulship. He was blamed, however, afterwards, 
 for not having made use of so fortunate an opportunity 
 against Caesar, as if he had let it escape him out of fear 
 of the populace, who, indeed, showed remarkable solici- 
 tude about Caesar, and some time after, when he went 
 into the senate to clear himself of the suspicions he lay 
 under, and found great clamors raised against him, upon 
 
260 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 the senate, in consequence, sitting longer than ordinary, 
 they went up to the house in a tumult, and beset it, 
 . demanding Caesar, and requiring them to dismiss him. 
 Upon this, Cato, much fearing some movement among the 
 poor citizens, who were always the first to kindle the 
 flame among the people, and placed all their hopes in 
 Caesar, persuaded the senate to give them a monthly 
 allowance of corn, an expedient which put the com- 
 monwealth to an extraordinary charge, but quite suc- 
 ceeded in removing the great cause of terror for the 
 present, and very much weakened Caesar's power, who 
 at that time was just going to be made praetor, and 
 consequently would have been more formidable by his 
 office. 
 
 Caesar, being out of his praetorship, had got the prov- 
 ince of Spain, but was in great embarrassment with his 
 creditors, who, as he was going off, came upon him, and 
 were very pressing and importunate. This led him to 
 apply himself to Crassus, who was the richest man in 
 Rome, but wanted Caesar's youthful vigor and heat to 
 sustain the opposition against Pompey. Crassus took 
 upon him to satisfy those creditors who were most uneasy 
 to him, and would not be put off any longer, and engaged 
 himself to the amount of eight hundred and thirty talents, 
 upon which Caesar was now at liberty to go to his prov- 
 ince. In his journey, as he was crossing the Alps, and 
 passing by a small village of the barbarians with but few 
 inhabitants, and those wretchedly poor, his companions 
 asked the question among themselves, by way of mockery, 
 if there were any canvassing for offices there ; any conten- 
 tion which should be uppermost, or feuds of great men 
 one against another. To which Caesar made answer, seri- 
 
CiESAR. 261 
 
 ously, " For my part, I had rather be the first man among 
 these fellows, than the second man in Rome." It is said 
 that another time, when free from business in Spain, after 
 reading some part of the history of Alexander, he sat a 
 great while very thoughtful, and at last burst out into 
 tears. His friends were surprised, and asked him the 
 reason of it. "Do you think," said he, "I have not just 
 cause to weep when I consider that Alexander at my age 
 had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time 
 done nothing that is memorable ? " As soon as he came 
 into Spain he was very active, and in a few days had got 
 together ten new cohorts of foot, in addition to the twenty 
 which were there before. With these he marched against 
 the Calaici and Lusitani and conquered them, and advanc- 
 ing as far as the ocean, subdued the tribes which never 
 before had been subject to the Romans. Having managed 
 his military affairs with good success, he was equally happy 
 in the course of his civil government. He took pains to 
 establish a good understanding amongst the several states, 
 and no less care to heal the differences between debtors 
 and creditors. He ordered that the creditor should re- 
 ceive two parts of the debtor's yearly income, and that 
 the other part should be managed by the debtor himself, 
 till by this method the whole debt was at last discharged. 
 This conduct made him leave his province with a fair 
 reputation ; being rich himself, and having enriched his 
 soldiers, and having received from them the honorable 
 name of Imperator. 
 
 There is a law among the Romans, that whoever desires 
 the honor of a triumph must stay without the city and 
 
 Cohort : a body of about five hundred soldiers, or the tenth part of a 
 legion. 
 
262 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 expect his answer. And another, that those who stand 
 for the consulship shall appear personally upon the place. 
 Csesar was come home at the very time of choosing con- 
 suls, and being in a difficulty between these two opposite 
 laws, sent to the senate to desire that since he was obliged 
 to be absent, he might sue for the consulship by his 
 friends. Cato, being backed by the law, at first opposed 
 his request; afterwards perceiving that Caesar had pre- 
 vailed with a great part of the senate to comply with it, 
 he made it his business to gain time, and went on wasting 
 the whole day in speaking. Upon which, Caesar thouglit 
 fit to let the triumph fall, and pursued the consulship. 
 Entering the town and coming forward immediately, he 
 had recourse to a piece of state-policy by which everybody 
 was deceived but Cato. This was the reconciling of Cras- 
 sus and Pompey, the two men who then Avere most power- 
 ful in Rome. There had been a quarrel between them, 
 which he now succeeded in making up, and by this means 
 strengthened himself by the united power of both, and so 
 under the cover of an action which carried all the appear- 
 ance of a piece of kindness and good-nature, caused what 
 was in effect a revolution in the government. For it was 
 not the quarrel between Pompey and Csesar, as most 
 men imagine, which was the origin of the civil wars, but 
 their union, their conspiring together at first to subvert 
 the aristocracy, and so quarrelling afterwards between 
 themselves. Cato, who often foretold what the conse- 
 quence of this alliance would be, had then the character 
 of a sullen, interfering man, but in the end the reputation 
 of a wise but unsuccessful counsellor. ' Y " 
 
 Thus Caesar being doubly supported by the interests of 
 Crassus and Pompey, was promoted to the consulship. 
 
C^SAR. 263 
 
 and triumphantly proclaimed with Calpurnius Bibulus. 
 When he entered on his office, he brought in bills which 
 would have been preferred with better grace by the most 
 audacious of the tribunes than by a consul, in which he 
 proposed the plantation of colonies and division of lands, 
 simply to please the commonalty. The best and most 
 honorable of the senators opposed it, upon which, as he 
 had long wished for nothing more than for such a color- 
 able pretext, he loudly protested how much against his 
 will it was to be driven to seek support from the people, 
 and how the senate's insulting and harsh conduct left no 
 other course possible for him than to devote himself 
 henceforth to the popular cause and interest. And so 
 he hurried out of the senate, and presenting himself to 
 the people, and there placing Crassus and Pompey one 
 on each side of him, he asked them whether they con- 
 sented to the bills he had proposed. They owned their 
 assent, upon which he desired them to assist him against 
 those who had threatened to oppose him with their 
 swords. They engaged they would, and Pompey added 
 further, that he would meet their swords with a sword 
 and buckler too. These words the nobles much resented, 
 as neither suitable to his own dignity, nor becoming the 
 reverence due to the senate, but resembling rather the 
 vehemence of a boy, or the fury of a madman. But 
 the people were pleased with it. In order to get a yet 
 firmer hold upon Pompey, Caesar, having a daughter, 
 Julia, who had been before contracted to Servilius Caepio, 
 now betrothed her to Pompey, and told Servilius he 
 should have Pompey's daughter, who was not unengaged 
 either, but promised to Sylla's son, Faustus. A little time 
 after, Caesar married Calpurnia, the daughter of Piso, and 
 
264 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 got Piso made consul for the year following. Cato 
 exclaimed loudly against this, and protested with a great 
 deal of warmth, that it was intolerable the government 
 should be prostituted by marriages, and that they should 
 advance one another to the commands of armies, prov- 
 inces, and other great posts, by means of women. Bibu- 
 lus, Caesar's colleague, finding it was to no purpose to 
 oppose his bills, but that he was in danger of being mur- 
 dered in the forum, as also was Cato, confined himself to 
 his house, and there let the remaining part of his consul- 
 ship expire. Pompey, when he was married, at once filled 
 the forum with soldiers, and gave the people his help in 
 passing the new laws, and secured Csesar the government 
 of all Gaul, both on this and the other side of the Alps, 
 together with Illyricum, and the command of four legions 
 for five years. Cato made some attempts against these 
 proceedings, but was seized and led off on the way to 
 prison by Caesar, who expected he would appeal to the 
 tribunes. But when he saw that Cato went along with- 
 out speaking a word, and not only the nobility were 
 indignant, but that the people also, out of respect for 
 Cato's virtue, were following in silence, and with dejected 
 looks, he himself privately desired one of the tribunes to 
 rescue Cato. As for the other senators, some few of them 
 attended the house; the rest being disgusted, absented 
 themselves. Hence Considius, a very old man, took occa- 
 sion one day to tell Csesar, that the senators did not meet 
 because they were afraid of his soldiers. Caesar asked, 
 "Why don't you then, out of the same fear, keep at 
 home ? " To which Considius replied, that age was his 
 guard against fear, and that the small remains of his life 
 were not worth much caution. 
 
CiESAR. 265 
 
 Thus far have we followed Caesar's actions before tha 
 wars of Gaul. After this, he seems to begin his course 
 afresh, and to enter upon a new life and scene of action.- 
 And the period of those wars which he now fought, and 
 those many expeditions in w^hich he subdued Gaul, showed 
 him to be a soldier and a general not in the least inferior 
 to any of the greatest and most admired commanders who 
 had ever appeared at the head of armies. For if we com- 
 pare him with the Fabii, the Metelli, the Scipios, and with 
 those who were his contemporaries, or not long before 
 him, Sylla, Marius, the two Luculli, or even Pompey him- 
 self, whose glory, it may be said, went up at that time to 
 heaven for every excellence in war, we shall find Caesar's 
 actions to have surpassed them all. One he may be held 
 to have outdone in consideration of the difficulty of the 
 country in which he fought, another in the extent of 
 territory which he conquered; some, in the number and 
 strength of the enemies whom he defeated ; one man, 
 because of the wildness and perfidiousness of the tribes 
 whose good-will he conciliated, another in his humanity 
 and clemency to those he overpowered ; others, again in 
 his gifts and kindnesses to his soldiers; all alike in the 
 number of the battles which he fought and the enemies 
 whom he killed. For he had not pursued the wars in 
 Gaul full ten years when he had taken by storm above 
 eight hundred towns, subdued three hundred states, and 
 of the three millions of men who made up the gross sum 
 of those with whom at several times he engaged, he had 
 killed one million, and taken captive a second. 
 
 He was so much master of the good-will and hearty 
 service of his soldiers, that those who in other expeditions 
 were but ordinary men, displayed a courage past defeating 
 
266 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 or withstanding when they went upon any danger where 
 Caesar's glory was concerned. Such a one was Acilius, 
 who, in the sea-fight before Marseilles, had his right hand 
 struck off with a sword, yet did not quit his buckler out 
 of his left, but struck the enemies in the face with it till 
 he drove them off, and made himself master of the vessel. 
 Again, in Britain, when some of the foremost officers had 
 accidentally got into a morass full of water, and there 
 were assaulted by the enemy, a common soldier, whilst 
 Caesar stood and looked on, threw himself into the midst 
 of them, and after many signal demonstrations of his 
 valor, rescued the officers and beat off the barbarians. 
 He himself, in the end, took to the water, and with much 
 difficulty, partly by swimming, partly by wading, passed 
 it, but in the passage lost his shield. Caesar and his offi- 
 cers saw it and admired, and went to meet him with joy 
 and acclamation. But the soldier, much dejected and in 
 tears, threw himself down at Caesar's feet, and begged his 
 pardon for having let go his buckler. Another time, in 
 Africa, Scipio having taken a ship of Caesar's in which 
 Granius Petro, lately appointed quaestor, was sailing, gave 
 the other passengers as free prize to his soldiers, but 
 thought fit to offer the quaestor his life. But he said it 
 was not usual for Caesar's soldiers to take, but give mercy, 
 
 .and having said so, fell upon his sword and killed himself. 
 
 jj This love of honor and passion for distinction were 
 inspired into them and cherished in them by Caesar him- 
 self, who, by his unsparing distribution of money and 
 honors, showed them that he did not heap up wealth from 
 the wars for his own luxury, or the gratifying his private 
 pleasures, but that all he received was but a public fund 
 laid by for the reward and encouragement of valor, and 
 
CiESAR. 267 
 
 that he looked upon all he gave to deserving soldiers as so 
 much increase to his own riches. Added to this, also, 
 there was no danger to which lie did not willingly expose 
 liimself, no labor from which he pleaded an exemption. 
 His contempt of danger was not so much wondered at by 
 liis soldiers, because they knew how much he coveted 
 lionor. But his enduring so much hardship, which he did 
 to all appearance beyond his natural strength, very much 
 astonished them. For he was a spare man, had a soft 
 and white skin, was distempered in the head, and sub- 
 ject to an epilepsy, which, it is said, first seized him at 
 Corduba. But he did not make the weakness of his con- 
 stitution a pretext for his ease, but rather used war as the 
 best physic against his indispositions ; whilst by indefati- 
 gable journeys, coarse diet, frequent lodging in the field, 
 and continual laborious exercise, he struggled with his 
 diseases, and fortified his body against all attacks. He 
 slept generally in his chariots or litters, employing even 
 his rest in pursuit of action. In the day he was thus car- 
 ried to the forts, garrisons, and camps, one servant sitting 
 with him, who used to write down what he dictated as he 
 went, and a soldier attending behind with his sword drawn. 
 He drove so rapidly, that when he first left Rome, he ar- 
 rived at the river Rhone within eight days. He had been 
 an expert rider from his childhood ; for it was usual with 
 him to sit with his hands joined together behind his back, 
 and so to put his horse to its full speed. And in this war 
 he disciplined himself so far as to be able to dictate letters 
 from on horseback, and to give directions to two who took 
 notes at the same time, or, as Oppius says, to more. And 
 it is thought that he was the first who contrived means for 
 communicating with friends by cipher, when either press 
 
268 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 of business, or the large extent of the city, left him no 
 time for a personal conference about matters that required 
 despatch:^f How little nice he was in his diet, may be seen 
 in the following instance. When at the table of Valerius 
 Leo, who entertained him at supper at Milan, a dish of 
 asparagus was put before him, on which his host instead 
 of oil had poured sweet ointment. Caesar partook of it 
 without any disgust, and reprimanded his friends for find- 
 ing fault with it. " For it was enough," said he, " not to 
 eat what you did not like ; but he who reflects on another 
 man's want of breeding, shows he wants it as much him- 
 self." Another time upon the road he was driven by a 
 storm into a poor man's cottage, where he found but one 
 room, and that such as would afford but a mean reception 
 to a single person, and therefore told his companions, 
 places of honor should be given up to the greater men, 
 and necessary accommodations to the weaker, and accord- 
 ingly ordered that Oppius, who was in bad health, should 
 lodge within, whilst he and the rest slept under a shed at 
 the door. 
 
 His first war in Gaul was against the Helvetians and 
 Tigurini, who having burnt their own towns, twelve in 
 number, and four hundred villages, would have marched 
 forward through that part of Gaul which was included in 
 the Roman province, as the Cimbrians and Teutons for- 
 merly had done. Nor were they inferior to these in cour- 
 age ; and in numbers they were equal, being in all three 
 hundred thousand, of which one hundred and ninety thou- 
 sand were fighting men. Csesar did not engage the Tigurini 
 in person, but Labienus, under his directions, routed them 
 near the river Arar. The Helvetians surprised Ceesar 
 and unexpectedly set upon him as he was conducting 
 
CiESAR. 269 
 
 his army to a confederate town. He succeeded, however, 
 in making his retreat into a strong position, where, when 
 he had mustered and marshalled his men, his horse was 
 brought to him ; upon which he said, " When I have won 
 the battle, I will use my horse for the chase, but at present 
 let us go against the enemy," and accordingly charged 
 them on foot. After a long and severe combat, he drove 
 the main army out of the field, but found the hardest 
 work at their carriages and ramparts, where not only the 
 men stood and fought, but the women also and children 
 defended themselves, till they were cut to pieces; inso- 
 much that the fight was scarcely ended till midnight. 
 This action, glorious in itself, Caesar crowned with another 
 yet more noble, by gathering in a body all the barbarians 
 that had escaped out of the battle, above one hundred 
 thousand in number, and obliging them to reoccupy the 
 country which they had deserted, and the cities which they 
 had burnt. This he did for fear the Germans should pass 
 in and possess themselves of the land whilst it lay unin- 
 habited. 
 
 His second war was in defence of the Gauls against the 
 Germans, though some time before he had made Ariovis- 
 tus, their king, recognized at Rome as an ally. But they 
 were very insufferable neighbors to those under his gov- 
 ernment ; and it was probable, when occasion offered, they 
 would renounce the present arrangements, and march on 
 to occupy Gaul. But finding his officers timorous, and 
 especially those of the young nobility who came along 
 with him in hopes of turning their campaigns with him 
 into a means for their own pleasure or profit, he called 
 them together, and advised them to march off, and not run 
 the hazard of a battle against their inclinations, since they 
 
270 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 had such weak and unmanly feelings ; telling them that he 
 would take only the tenth legion, and march against the 
 barbarians, whom he did not expect to find an enemy more 
 formidable than the Cimbri, nor, he added, should they 
 find him a general inferior to Marius. Upon this, the 
 tenth legion deputed some of their body to pay him their 
 acknowledgments and thanks, and the other legions blamed 
 their officers, and all, with great vigor and zeal, followed 
 him many days' journey, till they encamped within twenty- 
 five miles of the enemy. Ariovistus' courage to some 
 extent was cooled upon their very approach; for never 
 expecting the Romans would attack the Germans, whom 
 he had thought it more likely they would not venture to 
 withstand even in defence of their own subjects, he was 
 the more surprised at Caesar's conduct, and saw his army 
 to be in consternation. They were still more discouraged 
 by the prophecies of their holy women, who foretell the 
 future by observing the eddies of rivers, and taking signs 
 from the windings and noise of streams, and who now 
 warned them not to engage before the next new moon 
 appeared. Caesar having had intimation of this, and see- 
 ing the Germans lie still, thought it expedient to attack 
 them whilst they were under these apprehensions, rather 
 than sit still and wait their time. Accordingly he made 
 his approaches to the strong-holds and hills on which they 
 lay encamped, and so galled and fretted them, that at last 
 they came down with great fury to engage. But he gained 
 a signal victory, and pursued them for four hundred furr 
 longs, as far as the Rhine ; all which space was covered 
 with spoils and bodies of the slain. Ariovistus made shift 
 to pass the Rhine with the small remains of an army, for 
 it is said the number of the slain amounted to eighty 
 thousand. 
 
C^SAR. 271 
 
 After this action, Caesar left his army at their winter 
 quarters, in the country of the Sequani, and in order to 
 attend to affairs at Rome, went into that part of Gaul 
 which lies on the Po, and was part of his province ; for 
 the river Rubicon divides Gaul, which is on this side the 
 Alps, from the rest of Italy. There he sat down and 
 employed himself in courting people's favor ; great num- 
 bers coming to him continually, and always finding their 
 requests answered ; for he never failed to dismiss all with 
 present pledges of his kindness in hand, and further hopes 
 for the future. And during all this time of the war in 
 Gaul, Pompey never observed how Caesar was on the one 
 hand using the arms of Rome to effect his conquests, and 
 on the other was gaining over and securing to himself the 
 favor of the Romans, with the wealth which those con- 
 quests obtained him. But when he heard that the Belgae, 
 who were the most powerful of all the Gauls, and inhab- 
 ited a third part of the country, were revolted, and had 
 got together a great many thousand men in arms, he 
 immediately set out and took his way thither with great 
 expedition, and falling upon the enemy as they were rav- 
 aging the Gauls, his allies, he soon defeated and put to 
 flight the largest and least scattered division of them ; 
 for though their numbers were great, yet they made but a 
 slender defence, and the marshes and deep rivers were 
 made passable to the Roman foot by the vast quantity of 
 dead bodies. Of those who revolted, all the tribes that 
 lived near the ocean came over without fighting, and he, 
 therefore, led his army against the Nervii, the fiercest and 
 most warlike people of all in those parts. These live in 
 a country covered with continuous woods, and having 
 lodged their children and property out of the way in the 
 
272 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 depth of the forest, fell upon Caesar with a body of sixty 
 thousand men, before he was prepared for them, while he 
 was making his encampment. They soon routed his cav- 
 alry, and having surrounded the twelfth and seventh 
 legions, killed all the officers, and had not Csesar himself 
 snatched up a buckler and forced his way through his 
 own men to come up to the barbarians, or had not the 
 tenth legion, when they saw him in danger, run in from 
 the tops of the hills, where they lay, and broken through 
 the enemy's ranks to rescue him, in all probability not a 
 Roman would have been saved. But now, under the 
 influence of Caesar's bold example, they fought a battle, 
 as the phrase is, of more than human courage, and yet 
 with their utmost efforts they were not able to drive the 
 enemy out of the field, but cut them down fighting in 
 their defence ; for out of sixty thousand men it is stated 
 that not above five hundred survived the battle, and of 
 four hundred of their senators not above three. 
 
 When the Roman senate had received news of this, 
 they voted sacrifices and festivals to the gods to be 
 strictly observed for the space of fifteen days, a longer 
 space than ever was observed for any victory before. 
 The danger to which they had been exposed by the joint 
 outbreak of such a number of nations was felt to have 
 been great; and the people's fondness for Caesar gave 
 additional lustre to successes achieved by him. He now, 
 after settling everything in Gaul, came back again, and 
 spent the winter by the Po, in order to carry on the de- 
 signs he had in hand at Rome. All who were candidates 
 for offices used his assistance, and were supplied with 
 money from him to corrupt the people and buy their 
 votes, in return of which, when they were chosen, they 
 
CiESAR. 273 
 
 did all things to advance his power. But what was more 
 considerable, the most eminent and powerful men in 
 Rome in great numbers came to visit him at Lucca, Pom- 
 pey, and -Crassus, and Appius, the governor of Sardinia, 
 and Nepos, the proconsul of Spain, so that there were in 
 the place at one time one hundred and twenty lictors and 
 more than two hundred senators. In deliberation here 
 held, it was determined that Pompey and Crassus should 
 be consuls again for the following year; that Caesar 
 should have a fresh supply of money, and that his com- 
 mand should be renewed to him for five years more. It 
 seemed very extravagant to all thinking men, that those 
 very persons who had received so much money from 
 Caesar should persuade the senate to grant him more, as 
 if he were in want. Though in truth it was not so much 
 upon persuasion as compulsion, that, with sorrow and 
 groans for their own acts, they passed the measure. Cato 
 was not present, for they had sent him seasonably out of 
 the way into Cyprus; but Favonius, who was a zealous 
 imitator of Cato, when he found he could do no good by 
 opposing it, broke out of the house, and loudly declaimed 
 against these proceedings to the people, but none gave 
 him any hearing; some slighting him out of respect to 
 Crassus and Pompey, and the greater part to gratify 
 Caesar, on whom depended their hopes. 
 
 After this, Caesar returned again to his forces in Gaul, 
 where he found that country involved in a dangerous 
 war, two strong nations of the Germans having lately 
 passed the Rhine to conquer it ; one of them called the 
 Usipes, the other the Tenteritae. Of the war with this 
 people, Caesar himself has given this account in his com- 
 mentaries, that the barbarians, having sent ambassadors 
 
274 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 to treat with him, did, during the treaty, set upon him in 
 his march, by which means with eight hundred men they 
 routed five thousand of his horse, who did not suspect 
 their coming; that afterwards they sent other- ambassa- 
 dors to renew the same fraudulent practices, whom he 
 kept in custody, and led on his army against the barba- 
 rians, as judging it mere simplicity to keep faith with 
 those who had so faithlessly broken the terms they had 
 agreed to. But Tanusius states, that when the senate 
 decreed festivals and sacrifices for this victory, Cato 
 declared it to be his opinion that Caesar ought to be given 
 into the hands of the barbarians, that so the guilt which 
 this breach of faith might otherwise bring upon the state, 
 might be expiated by transferring the curse on him, who 
 was the occasion of it. Of those who passed the Rhine, 
 there were four hundred thousand cut off; those few who 
 escaped were sheltered by the Sugambri, a people of Ger- 
 many. Caesar took hold of this pretence to invade the 
 Germans, being at the same time ambitious of the honor 
 of being the first man that should pass the Rhine with an 
 army. He carried a bridge across it, though it was very 
 wide, and the current at that particular point very full, 
 strong, and violent, bringing down with its waters trunks 
 of trees, and other lumber, which much shook and weak- 
 ened the foundations of his bridge. But he drove great 
 piles of wood into the bottom of the river above the pas- 
 sage, to catch and stop these as they floated down, and 
 thus fixing his bridle upon the stream, successfully fin- 
 ished his bridge, which no one who saw could believe to 
 be the work but of ten days. 
 
 In the passage of his army over it, he met with no 
 opposition ; the Suevi themselves, who are the most war- 
 
C^SAR. 275 
 
 like people of all Germany, flying with their effects into 
 the deepest and most densely wooded valleys. When he 
 had burnt all the enemy's country, and encouraged those 
 who embraced the Roman interest, he went back into 
 Gaul, after eighteen days' stay in Germany. But his 
 expedition into Britain was the most famous testimony of 
 his courage. For he was the first wlio brought a navy 
 into the western ocean, or who sailed into the Atlantic 
 with an army to make war; and by invading an island, 
 the reported extent of which had made its existence a 
 matter of controversy among historians, many of whom 
 questioned whether it were not a mere name and fiction, 
 not a real place, he might be said to have carried the 
 Roman empire beyond the limits of the known world. 
 He passed thither twice from that part of Gaul which lies 
 over against it, and in several battles which he fought, did 
 more hurt to the enemy than service to himself, for the 
 islanders were so miserably poor that they had nothing 
 worth being plundered of. When he found himself 
 unable to put such an end to the war as he wished, he 
 was content to take hostages from the king, and to impose 
 a tribute, and then quitted the island. At his arrival in 
 Gaul, he found letters which lay ready to be conveyed 
 over the water to him from his friends at Rome, announc- 
 ing his daughter's death at the birth of a child. Csesar 
 and Pompey, her husband, both were much afflicted with 
 lier death, nor were their friends less disturbed, believing 
 that the alliance was now broken, which had hitherto 
 kept the sickly commonwealth in peace, for the child also 
 died within a few days after the mother. The people 
 took the body of Julia, in spite of the opposition of the 
 tribunes, and carried it into the field of Mars, and there 
 her funeral rites were performed and her remains afe laid. 
 
276 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Csesar's army was now grown very numerous, so that 
 he was forced to disperse them into various camps for 
 their winter-quarters, and he having gone himself to Italy, 
 as he used to do, in his absence a general outbreak through- 
 out the whole of Gaul commenced, and large armies 
 marched about the country, and attacked the Roman 
 quarters, and attempted to make themselves masters of the 
 forts where they lay. The greatest and strongest party 
 of the rebels, under the command of Abriorix, cut off Gotta 
 and Titurius with all their men, while a force sixty thou- 
 sand strong besieged the legion under the command of 
 Gicero,^ and had almost taken it by storm, the Roman sol- 
 diers being all wounded, and having quite spent themselves 
 by a defence beyond their natural strength. But Gsesar, 
 who was at a great distance, having received the news, 
 quickly got together seven thousand men, and hastened 
 to relieve Gicero. The besiegers were aware of it, and 
 went to meet him, with great confidence that they should 
 easily overpower such an handful of men. Caesar, to in- 
 crease their presumption, seemed to avoid fighting, and 
 still marched off, till he found a place conveniently situated 
 for a few to engage against many, where he encamped. 
 He kept his soldiers from making any attack upon the 
 enemy, and commanded them to raise the ramparts higher, 
 and barricade the gates, that by show of fear, they might 
 heighten the enemy's contempt of them. Till at last they 
 came without any order in great security to make an as- 
 sault, when he issued forth, and put them to flight with 
 the loss of many men. 
 
 This quieted the greater part of the commotion in these 
 parts of Gaul, and Csesar, in the course of the winter, vis- 
 
 1 Quiutus Cicero, the orator's brother. 
 
C^SAR. 277 
 
 ited every part of the country, and with great vigilance 
 took precautions against all innovations. For there were 
 three legions now come to him to supply the place of the 
 men he had lost, of which Pompey furnished him with two, 
 out of those under his command; the other was newly 
 raised in the part of Gaul by the Po. But in a while the . 
 seeds of war, which had long since been secretly sown and 
 scattered by the most powerful men in those warlike na- 
 tions, broke forth into the greatest and most dangerous 
 war that ever was in those parts, both as regards the num- 
 ber of men in the vigor of their youth who were gathered 
 and armed from all quarters, the vast funds of money col- 
 lected to maintain it, the strength of the towns, and the 
 difficulty of the country where it was carried on. It being 
 winter, the rivers were frozen, the woods covered with 
 snow, and the level country flooded, so that in some places 
 the ways were lost through the depth of the snow; in 
 others, the overflowing of marshes and streams made every 
 kind of passage uncertain. All which difficulties made it 
 seem impracticable for Csesar to make any attempt upon 
 the insurgents. Many tribes had revolted together, the 
 chief of them being the Arverni and Carnutini ; ^ the gen- 
 eral who had the supreme command in war was Vergen- 
 torix, whose father the Gauls had put to death on suspicion 
 of his aiming at absolute government. 
 
 He having disposed his army in several bodies, and set 
 officers over them, drew over to him all the country round 
 about as far as those that lie upon the Arar, and having 
 
 1 The Arverni, the same people whom he presently calls the Aruveni, of the 
 mountains of Auvergne, and the Carnutes of the country around Orleans. 
 Vergentorix appears to be a Greek abbreviation of Vercingetorix, the full name 
 given by Caesar, which is itself conceived to have been not a proper name, but 
 a title. 
 
278 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 intelligence of the opposition which Caesar now experienced 
 at Rome, thought to engage all Gaul in the war. Which 
 if he had done a little later, when Caesar was taken up 
 with the civil wars, Italy had been put into as great a ter- 
 ror as before it was by the Cimbri. But Caesar, who above 
 all men was gifted with the faculty of making the right 
 use of everything in war, and most especially of seizing 
 the right moment, as soon as he heard of the revolt, re- 
 turned immediately the same way he went, and showed 
 the barbarians, by the quickness of his march in such a 
 severe season, that an army was advancing against them 
 which was invincible. For in the time that one would 
 have thought it scarce credible that a courier or express 
 should have come with a message from him, he himself 
 appeared with all his army, ravaging the country, reducing 
 their posts, subduing their towns, receiving into his pro- 
 tection those who declared for him. Till at last the Edui, 
 who hitherto had styled themselves brethren to the Romans, 
 and had been much honored by them, declared against him, 
 and joined the rebels, to the great discouragement of his 
 army. Accordingly he removed thence, and passed the 
 country of the Lingones, desiring to reach the territories 
 of the Sequani, who were his friends, and who lay like a 
 bulwark in front of Italy against the other tribes of Gaul. 
 There the enemy came upon him, and surrounded him 
 with many myriads, whom he also was eager to engage ; 
 and at last, after some time and with much slaughter, 
 gained on the whole a complete victory ; though at first he 
 appears to have met with some reverse, and the Aruveni 
 show you a small sword hanging up in a temple, which 
 they say was taken from Caesar. Caesar saw this afterwards 
 himself, and smiled, and when his friends advised it should 
 
C^SAK. 279 
 
 be taken down, would not permit it, because he looked 
 upon it as consecrated. 
 
 After the defeat, a great part of those who had escaped, 
 fled with their king into a town called Alesia, which Csesar 
 besieged, though the height of the walls, and number of 
 those who defended them, made it appear impregnable ; 
 and meantime, from without the walls, he was assailed by 
 a greater danger than can be expressed. For the choice 
 men of Gaul, picked out of each nation, and well armed, 
 came to relieve Alesia, to the number of three hundred 
 thousand ; nor were there in the town less than one hun- 
 dred and seventy thousand. So that Caesar being shut up 
 betwixt two such forces, was compelled to protect himself 
 by two walls, one towards the town, the other against the 
 relieving army, as knowing if these forces should join, his 
 affairs would be entirely ruined. The danger that he un- 
 derwent before Alesia,^ justly gained him great honor on 
 many accounts, and gave him an opportunity of showing 
 greater instances of his valor and conduct than any other 
 contest had done. One wonders much how he should be 
 able to engage and defeat so many thousands of men with- 
 out the town, and not be perceived by those within, but 
 yet more, that the Romans themselves, who guarded their 
 wall which was next the town, should be strangers to it. 
 For even they knew nothing of the victory, till they heard 
 the cries of the men and lamentations of the women who 
 were in the town, and had from thence seen the Romans 
 
 1 Alesia is identified with Alise, or with the summit of Mount Auxois, near 
 Flavigny, not far from Dijon. The course of Roman occupation, interposing 
 between Central Gaul and the German competitors for its possession, seems to 
 follow the line of the Rhone and Saone upwards, and the Meuse and Moselle 
 downwards, from Marseilles and Lyons to Treves and the Rhine. Alesia is 
 near the head waters of the Saone. 
 
280 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 at a distance carrying into their camp a great quantity of 
 bucklers, adorned with gold and silver, many breastplates 
 stained with blood, besides cups and tents made in the 
 Gallic fashion. So soon did so vast an army dissolve and 
 vanish like a ghost or dream, the greatest part of them 
 being killed upon the spot. Those who were in Alesia, 
 having given themselves and Caesar much trouble, surren- 
 dered at last ; and Vergentorix, who was the chief spring 
 of all the war, putting his best armor on, and adorning 
 his horse, rode out of the gates, and made a turn about 
 Csesar as he was sitting, then quitted his horse, threw off 
 his armor, and remained seated quietly at Caesar's feet 
 until he was led away to be reserved for the triumph. 
 
 Caesar had long ago resolved upon the overthrow of 
 Pompey, as had Pompey, for that matter, upon his. For 
 Crassus, the fear of whom had hitherto kept them in 
 peace, having now been killed in Parthia, if the one of 
 them wished to make himself the greatest man in Rome, 
 he had only to overthrow the other; and if he again 
 wished to prevent his own fall, he had nothing for it but 
 to be beforehand with him whom he feared. Pompey 
 had not been long under any such apprehensions, having 
 till lately despised Caesar, as thinking it no difficult mat- 
 ter to put down him whom he himself had advanced. 
 But Caesar had entertained this design from the begin- 
 ning against his rivals, and had retired, like an expert 
 wrestler, to prepare himself apart for the combat. Mak- 
 ing the Gallic wars his exercise-ground, he had at once 
 improved the strength of his soldiery, and had heightened 
 his own glory by his great actions, so that he was looked 
 on as one who might challenge comparison with Pompey. 
 Nor did he let go any of those advantages which were 
 
C^SAR. 281 
 
 now given him both by Pompey himself and the times, 
 and the ill government of Rome, where all who were 
 candidates for offices publicly gave money, and without 
 any shame bribed the people, who having received their 
 pay, did not contend for their benefactors with their bare 
 suffrages, but with bows, swords, and slings. So that 
 after having many times stained the place of election 
 with the blood of men killed upon the spot, they left the 
 city at last without a government at all, to be carried 
 about like a ship without a pilot to steer her ; while all 
 who had any wisdom could only be thankful if a course 
 of such wild and stormy disorder and madness might end 
 no worse than in a monarchy. Some were so bold as to 
 declare openly, that the government was incurable but by 
 a monarchy, and that they ought to take that remedy 
 from the hands of the gentlest physician, meaning Pom- 
 pey, who, though in words he pretended to decline it, yet 
 in reality made his utmost efforts to be declared dictator. 
 Cato perceiving his design, prevailed with the senate to 
 make him sole consul, that with the offer of a more legal 
 sort of monarchy he might be withheld from demanding 
 the dictatorship. They over and above voted him the 
 continuance of his provinces, for he had two, Spain and all 
 Africa, which he governed by his lieutenants, and main- 
 tained armies under him, at the yearly charge of a thou- 
 sand talents out of the public treasury. 
 
 Upon this, Caesar also sent and petitioned for the con- 
 sulship, and the continuance of his provinces. Pompey 
 at first did not stir in it, but Marcellus and Lentulus op- 
 posed it, who had always hated Caesar, and now did every- 
 thing, whether fit or unfit, which might disgrace and 
 affront him. For they took away the privilege of Roman 
 
282 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 citizens from the people of New Comum, who were a 
 colony that Caesar had lately planted in Gaul ; and Mar- 
 cellus, who was then consul, ordered one of the senators 
 of that town, then at Rome, to be whipped, and told him 
 he laid that mark upon him to signify he was no citizen 
 of Rome, bidding him, when he went back again, to show 
 it to Caesar. After Marcellus' consulship, Caesar began to 
 lavish gifts upon all the public men out of the riches he 
 had taken from the Gauls. Pompey, alarmed at this, now 
 openly took steps, both by himself and his friends, to 
 have a successor appointed in Caesar's room, and sent to 
 demand back the soldiers whom he had lent him to carry 
 on the wars in Gaul. Caesar returned them, and made 
 each soldier a'present of two hundred and fifty drachmas. 
 The officer who brought them home to Pompey, spread 
 amongst the people no very fair or favorable report of 
 Caesar, and flattered Pompey himself with false sugges- 
 tions that he was wished for by Caesar's army; and 
 though his affairs here were in some embarrassment 
 through the envy of some, and the ill state of the gov- 
 ernment, yet there the army was at his command, and if 
 they once crossed into Italy, would presently declare for 
 him ; so weary were they of Caesar's endless expeditions, 
 and so suspicious of his designs for a monarchy. Upon 
 this Pompey grew presumptuous, and neglected all war- 
 like preparations, as fearing no danger, and used no other 
 means against him than mere speeches and votes, for which 
 Caesar cared nothing. And one of his captains, it is said, 
 who was sent by him to Rome, standing before the senate- 
 house one day, and being told that the senate would not 
 give Caesar a longer time in his government, clapped 
 his hand on the hilt of his sword, an(J said, "But this 
 shall." 
 
C^SAR. 283 
 
 Yet the demands which Csesar made had the fairest 
 colors of equity imaginable. For he proposed to lay 
 down his arms, and that Pompey should do the same, 
 and both together should become private men, and each 
 expect a reward of his services from the public. For 
 that those who proposed to disarm him, and at the same 
 time to confirm Pompey in all the power he held, were 
 simply establishing the one in the tyranny which they 
 accused the other of aiming at. When Curio made these 
 proposals to the people in Caesar's name, he was loudly 
 applauded, and some threw garlands towards him, and 
 dismissed him as they do successful wrestlers, crowned 
 with flowers. Antony, being tribune, produced a letter 
 sent from Caesar on this occasion, and read it, though the 
 consuls did what they could to oppose it. But Scipio, 
 Pompey's father-in-law, proposed in the senate, that if 
 Caesar did not lay down his arms within such a time, he 
 should be voted an enemy ; and the consuls putting it to 
 the question, whether Pompey should dismiss his soldiers, 
 and again, whether Caesar should disband his, very few 
 assented to the first, but almost all to the latter. But 
 Antony proposing again, that both should lay down their 
 commissions, all but a very few agreed to it. Scipio was 
 upon this very violent, and Lentulus the consul cried 
 aloud, that they had need of arms, and not of suffrages, 
 against a robber; so that the senators for the present 
 adjourned, and appeared in mourning as a mark of their 
 grief for the dissension. 
 
 Afterwards there came other letters from Caesar, which 
 seemed yet more moderate, for he proposed to quit every- 
 thing else, and only to retain Gaul within the Alps, Illyri- 
 cum, and two legions, till he should stand a second time 
 
284 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 for consul. Cicero, the orator, who was lately returned 
 from Cilicia, endeavored to reconcile differences, and soft- 
 ened Pompey, who was willing to comply in other things, 
 but not to allow him the soldiers. At last Cicero used his 
 persuasions with Caesar's friends to accept of the provinces, 
 and six thousand soldiers only, and so to make up the quar- 
 rel. And Pompey was inclined to give way to this, but 
 Lentulus, the consul, would not hearken to it, but drove 
 Antony and Curio out of the senate-house with insults, 
 by which he afforded Caesar the most plausible pretence 
 that could be, and one which he could readily use to 
 inflame the soldiers, by showing them two persons of such 
 repute and authority, who were forced to escape in a hired 
 carriage in the dress of slaves. For so they were glad to 
 disguise themselves, when they fled out of Rome. 
 
 There were not about him at that time above three 
 hundred horse, and five thousand foot ; for the rest of his 
 army, which was left behind the Alps, was to be brought 
 after him by officers who had received orders for that pur- 
 pose. But he thought the first motion towards the design 
 which he had on foot did not require large forces at pres- 
 ent, and that what was wanted was to make this first step 
 suddenly, and so as to astound his enemies with the bold- 
 ness of it; as it would be easier, he thought, to throw 
 them into consternation by doing what they never antici- 
 pated, than fairly to conquer them, if he had alarmed them 
 by his preparations. And therefore, he commanded his 
 captains and other officers to go only with their swords in 
 their hands, without any other arms, and make "themselves 
 masters of Ariminum, a large city of Gaul, with as little 
 disturbance and bloodshed as possible. He committed the 
 care of these forces to Hortensius, and himself spent the 
 
 \ 
 
C^SAR. 285 
 
 day in public as a stander-by and spectator of the gladia- 
 tors, who exercised before him. A little before night he 
 attended to his person, and then went into the hall, and 
 conversed for some time with those he had invited to sup- 
 per, till it began to grow dusk, when he rose from table, 
 and made his excuses to the company, begging them to 
 stay till he came back, having already given private direc- 
 tions to a few immediate friends that they should follow 
 him, not all the same way, but some one way, some 
 another. He himself got into one of the hired carriages, 
 and drove at first another way, but presently turned 
 towards Ariminum. When he came to the river Rubicon, 
 which parts Gaul within the Alps from the rest of Italy, 
 his thoughts began to work, now he was just entering upon 
 the danger, and he wavered much in his mind, when he 
 considered the greatness of the enterprise into which he 
 was throwing himself. He checked his course, and ordered 
 a halt, while he revolved with himself, and often changed 
 his opinion one way and the other, without speaking a 
 word. This was when his purposes fluctuated most; 
 presently he also discussed the matter with his friends who 
 were about him (of which number Asinius Pollio was 
 one), computing how many calamities his passing that 
 river would bring upon mankind, and what a relation of it 
 would be transmitted to posterity. At last, in a sort of 
 passion, casting aside calculation, and abandoning himself 
 to what might come, and using the proverb frequently in 
 their mouths who enter upon dangerous and bold attempts, 
 "The die is cast," with these words he took the river. 
 Once over, he used all expedition possible, and before it 
 was day reached Ariminum, and took it. 
 
 As soon as Ariminum was taken, wide gates, so to say. 
 
286 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 were thrown open, to let in war upon every land alike and 
 sea, and with the limits of the province, the boundaries of 
 the laws were transgressed. Nor would one have thought 
 that, as at other times, the mere men and women fled from 
 one town of Italy to another in their consternation, but 
 that the very towns themselves left their sites, and fled for 
 succor to each other. The city of Rome was overrun as 
 it were with a deluge, by the conflux of people flying in 
 from all the neighboring places. Magistrates could no 
 longer govern, nor the eloquence of any orator quiet it ; 
 it was all but suffering shipwreck by the violence of its 
 own tempestuous agitation. The most vehement contrary 
 passions and impulses were at work everywhere. Nor did 
 those who rejoiced at the prospect of the change altogether 
 conceal their feelings, but when they met, as in so great a 
 city they frequently must, with the alarmed and dejected 
 of the other party, they provoked quarrels by their bold 
 expressions of confidence in the event. Pompey, suf- 
 ficiently disturbed of himself, was yet more perplexed by 
 the clamors of others; some telling him that he justly 
 suffered for having armed Caesar against himself and the 
 government ; others blaming him for permitting Caesar to 
 be insolently used by Lentulus, when he made such ample 
 concessions, and offered such reasonable proposals towards 
 an accommodation. Favonius bade him now stamp upon 
 the ground ; for once talking big in the senate, he desired 
 them not to trouble themselves about making ^ny prepara- 
 tions for the war, for that he himself, with one stamp of 
 his foot, would fill all Italy with soldiers. Yet still Pom- 
 pey at that time had more forces than Caesar ; but he was 
 not permitted to pursue his own thoughts, but being con- 
 tinually disturbed with false reports and alarms, as if the 
 
CiESAR. 287 
 
 enemy was close upon him and carrying all before him, he 
 gave way, and let himself be borne down by the general 
 cry. He put forth an edict declaring the city to be in a 
 state of anarchy, and left it with orders that the senate 
 should follow him, and that no one should stay behind who 
 did not prefer tyranny to their country and liberty. 
 
 The consuls at once fled, without making even the usual 
 sacrifices ; so did most of the senators, carrying off their 
 own goods in as much haste as if they had been robbing 
 their neighbors. Some, who had formerly much favored 
 Caesar's cause, in the prevailing alarm, quitted their own 
 sentiments, and without any prospect of good to them- 
 selves, were carried along by the common stream. It was 
 a melancholy thing to see the city tossed in these tumults, 
 like a ship given up by her pilots, and left to run, as 
 chance guides her, upon any rock in her way. Yet, in 
 spite of their sad condition, people still esteemed the place 
 of their exile to be their country for Pompey's sake, and 
 fled from Rome, as if it had been Caesar's camp. Labienus 
 even, who had been one of Caesar's nearest friends, and 
 his lieutenant, and who had fought by him zealously in the 
 Gallic wars, now deserted him, and went over to Pompey. 
 Caesar sent all his money and equipage after him, and then 
 sat down before Corfinium, which was garrisoned with 
 thirty cohorts under the command of Domitius. He, in 
 despair of maintaining the defence, requested a physician, 
 whom he had among his attendants, to give him poison ; 
 and taking the dose, drank it, in hopes of being dispatched 
 by it. But soon after, when he was told that Caesar 
 showed the utmost clemency towards those he took prison- 
 ers, he lamented his misfortune, and blamed the hastiness 
 of his resolution. His physician consoled him, by inform- 
 
288 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ing him that he had taken a sleeping draught, not a poi- 
 ■son; upon which, much rejoiced, and rising from his bed, 
 he went presently to Caesar, and gave him the pledge of 
 his hand, yet afterwards again went over to Pompey. 
 The report of these actions at Rome quieted those who 
 were there, and some who had fled thence returned. 
 
 Caesar took into his army Domitius' soldiers, as he did 
 all those whom he found in any town enlisted for Pom- 
 pey's service. Being now strong and formidable enough, 
 he advanced against Pompey himself, who did not stay to 
 receive him, but fled to Brundisium, having sent the con- 
 suls before with a body of troops to Dyrrhachium. Soon 
 after, upon Caesar's approach, he set to sea. Caesar would 
 have immediately pursued him, but wanted shipping, and 
 therefore went back to Rome, having made himself master 
 of all Italy without bloodshed in the space of sixty days. 
 When he came thither, he found the city more quiet than 
 he expected, and many senators present, to whom he ad- 
 dressed himself with courtesy and deference, desiring 
 them to send to Pompey about any reasonable accommo- 
 dations towards a peace. But nobody complied with this 
 proposal ; whether out of fear of Pompey, whom they had 
 deserted, or that they thought Caesar did not mean what 
 he said, but thought it his interest to talk plausibly. 
 Afterwards, when Metellus, the tribune, would have hin- 
 dered him from taking money out of the public treasure, 
 and adduced some laws against it, Caesar replied, that 
 arms and laws had each their own time ; " If what I do 
 displeases you, leave the place ; war allows no free talk- 
 ing. When I have laid down my arms, and made peace, 
 come back and make what speeches you please. And 
 this," he added, "I tell you in diminution of my own 
 
C^SAR. 289 
 
 just right, as indeed you and all others who have appeared 
 against me and are now in my power, may be treated as I 
 please." Having said this to Metellus, he went to the 
 doors of the treasury, and the keys being not to be found, 
 sent for smiths to force them open. Metellus again 
 making resistance, and some encouraging him in it, Caesar, 
 in a louder tone, told him he would put him to death, if 
 he gave him any further disturbance. " And this," said he 
 "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to 
 say than to do." These words made Metellus withdraw 
 for fear, and obtained speedy execution henceforth for 
 all orders that Caesar gave for procuring necessaries for 
 the war. 
 
 He was now proceeding to Spain, with the determina- 
 tion of first crushing Afranius and Varro, Pompey's lieu- 
 tenants, and making himself master of the armies and 
 provinces under them, that he might then more securely 
 advance against Pompey, when he had no enemy left 
 behind him. In this expedition his person was often in 
 danger from ambuscades, and his army by want of pro- 
 visions, yet he did not desist from pursuing the enemy, 
 provoking them to fight, and hemming them with his 
 fortifications, till by main force he made himself master 
 of their camps and their forces. Only the generals got 
 off, and fled to Pompey. 
 
 When Caesar came back to Rome, Piso, his father-in- 
 law, advised him to send men to Pompey, to treat of a 
 peace; but Isauricus, to ingratiate himself with Caesar, 
 spoke against it. After this, being created dictator by 
 the senate, he called home the exiles, and gave back their 
 rights as citizens to the children of those who had suf- 
 fered under Sylla; he relieved the debtors by an act 
 
290 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 remitting some part of the interest on their debts, and 
 passed some other measures of the same sort, but not 
 many. For within eleven days he resigned his dictator- 
 ship, and having declared himself consul, with Servilius 
 Isauricus, hastened again to the war. He marched so fast, 
 that he left all his army behind him, except six hundred 
 chosen horse, and five legions, with which he put to sea in 
 the very middle of winter, and having past the Ionian 
 Sea, took Oricum and ApoUonia, and then sent back the 
 ships to Brundisium, to bring over the soldiers who were 
 left behind in the march. They, while yet on the march, 
 their bodies now no longer in the full vigor of youth, and 
 they themselves weary with such a multitude of wars, 
 could not but exclaim against Caesar, " When at last, and 
 where, will this Csesar let us be quiet? He carries us 
 from place to place, and uses us as if we were not to be 
 worn out, and had no sense of labor. Even our iron 
 itself is spent by blows, and we ought to have some pity 
 on our bucklers and breastplates, which have been used so 
 long. Our wounds, if nothing else, should make him 
 see that we are mortal men, whom he commands, subject 
 to the same pains and sufferings as other human beings. 
 The very gods themselves cannot force the winter season, 
 or hinder the storms in their time ; yet he pushes forward, 
 as if he were not pursuing, but flying from an enemy." 
 So they talked as they marched leisurely towards Brun- 
 disium. But when they came thither, and found Caesar 
 gone off before them, their feelings changed, and they 
 blamed themselves as traitors to their general. They now 
 railed at their officers for marching so slowly, and plac- 
 ing themselves on the heights overlooking the sea towards 
 Epirus, they kept watch to see if they could espy the 
 vessels which were to transport them to Caesar. 
 
C^SAR. 291 
 
 He in the mean time was posted in Ajjollonia, but had 
 not an army with him able to fight the enemy, the forces 
 from Brundisium being so long in coming, which put him 
 to great suspense and embarrassment what to do. At last 
 he resolved upon a most hazardous experiment, and em- 
 barked without any one's knowledge, in a boat of twelve 
 oars, to cross over to Brundisium, though the sea was at 
 that time covered with a vast fleet of the enemies. He 
 got on board in the night time, in the dress of a slave, 
 and throwing himself down like a person of no conse- 
 quence, lay along at the bottom of the vessel. The 
 river Anius ^ was to carry them dow^n to sea, and there 
 used to blow a gentle gale every morning from the land, 
 which made it calm at the mouth of the river, by driving 
 the waves forward; but this niglit there had blown a 
 strong wind from the sea, which overpowered that from 
 the land, so that where the river met the influx of the 
 sea-water and the opposition of the waves, it was ex- 
 tremely rough and angry; and the current was beaten 
 back with such a violent swell, that the master of the 
 boat could not make good his passage, but ordered his 
 sailors to tack about and return. Caesar, upon this, dis- 
 covers himself, and taking the man by the hand, who was 
 surprised to see him there, said, " Go on, my friend, and 
 fear nothing ; you carry Csesar and his fortune in your 
 boat." The mariners, when they heard that, forgot the 
 storm, and laying all their strength to their oars, did what 
 they could to force their way down the river. But when 
 it was to no purpose, and the vessel now took in much 
 water, Caesar finding himself in such danger in the very 
 mouth of the river, much against his will permitted the 
 
 i The Aous or ^as. 
 
292 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 master to turn back. When he was come to land, his 
 soldiers ran to him in a multitude, reproaching him for 
 what he had done, and indignant that he should think 
 himself not strong enough to get a victory by their sole 
 assistance, but must disturb himself, and expose his life 
 for those who were absent, as if he could not trust those 
 who were with him. 
 
 After this, Antony came over with the forces from 
 Brundisium, which encouraged Caesar to give Pompey 
 battle, though he was encamped very advantageously, 
 and furnished with plenty of provisions both by sea and 
 land, whilst he himself was at the beginning but ill-sup- 
 plied, and before the end was extremely pinched for 
 want of necessaries, so that his soldiers were forced to 
 dig up a kind of root which grew there, and tempering it 
 with milk, to feed on it. Sometimes they made a kind of 
 bread of it, and advancing up to the enemy's outposts, 
 would throw in these loaves, telling them, that as long as 
 the earth produced such roots they would not give up 
 blockading Pompey. But Pompey took what care he 
 could that neither the loaves nor the words should reach 
 his men, who were out of heart and despondent, through 
 terror at the fierceness and hardiness of their enemies, 
 whom they looked upon as a sort of wild beasts. There 
 were continual skirmishes about Pompey's outworks, in 
 all which Caesar had the better, except one, wlien his men 
 were forced to. fly in such a manner that he had like to 
 have lost his camp. For Pompey made such a vigorous 
 sally on them that not a man stood his ground; the 
 trenches were filled with the slaughter, many fell upon 
 their own ramparts and bulwarks, whither they were 
 driven in flight by the enemy. Caesar met them, and 
 
C^SAR. 293 
 
 would have turned them back, but could not. When he 
 went to lay hold of the ensigns, those who carried them 
 threw them down, so that the enemies took thirty-two of 
 them. He himself narrowly escaped ; for taking hold of 
 one of his soldiers, a big and strong man, that was flying 
 by him, he bade him stand and face about; but the fellow, 
 full of apprehensions from the danger he was in, laid hold 
 of his sword, as if he w^ould strike Csesar, but Caesar's 
 armor-bearer cut off his arm. Caesar's affairs were so 
 desperate at that time, that when Pompey, either through 
 over-cautiousness, or his ill-fortune, did not give the finish- 
 ing stroke to that great success, but retreated after he 
 had driven the routed enemy within their camp, Csesar, 
 upon seeing his withdrawal, said to his friends, " The vic- 
 tory to-day had been on the enemies' side, if they had 
 had a general who knew how to gain it." When he was 
 retired into his tent, he laid himself down to sleep, but 
 spent that night as miserably as ever he did any, in per- 
 plexity and consideration with himself, coming to the con- 
 clusion that he had conducted the war amiss. For when 
 he had a fertile country before him, and all the wealthy 
 cities of Macedonia and Thessaly, he had neglected to 
 carry the war thither, and had sat down by the seaside, 
 where his enemies had such a powerful fleet, so that he 
 was in fact rather besieged by the want of necessaries, 
 than besieging others with his arms. Being thus dis- 
 tracted in his thoughts with the view of the difficulty and 
 distress he was in, he raised his camp, with the intention 
 of advancing towards Scipio, who lay in Macedonia ; hop- 
 ing either to entice Pompey into a country where he 
 should fight without the advantage he now had of sup- 
 plies from the sea, or to overpower Scipio, if not assisted. 
 
294 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 This set all Pompey's army and officers on fire to hasten 
 and pursue Caesar, whom they concluded to be beaten and 
 flying. But Pompey was afraid to hazard a battle on 
 which so much depended, and being himself provided 
 with all necessaries for any length of time, thought to 
 tire out and waste the vigor of Caesar's army, which could 
 not last long; for the best part of his men, though they 
 had great experience, and showed an irresistible courage 
 in all engagements, yet by their frequent marches, chang- 
 ing their camps,^ attacking fortifications, and keeping long 
 night-watches, were getting worn out and broken; they 
 being now old, their bodies less fit for labor, and their 
 courage, also, beginning to give way with the failure of 
 their strength. Besides, it was said that an infectious dis- 
 ease, occasioned by their irregular diet, was prevailing in 
 Caesar's army, and what was of greatest moment, he was 
 neither furnished with money nor provisions, so that in a 
 little time he must needs fall of himself. 
 
 For these reasons Pompey had no mind to fight him, 
 but was thanked for it by none but Cato, who rejoiced at 
 the prospect of sparing his fellow-citizens. For he when 
 he saw the dead bodies of those wlio had fallen in the 
 last battle on Caesar's side, to the number of a thousand, 
 turned away, covered his face, and shed tears. But every 
 one else upbraided Pompey for being reluctant to fight, 
 and tried to goad him on by such nicknames as Agamem- 
 non, and king of kings, as if he were in no hurry to lay 
 down his sovereign authority, but was pleased to see so - 
 many commanders attending on him, and paying their 
 
 1 Or, perhaps more probably, '* raising fortifications," which had been very 
 much their occupation latterly. Up to this point the campaign had been a 
 war of intrenchments. 
 
CiESAR. 295 
 
 attendance at his tent. Favonius, who affected Cato's 
 free way of speaking his mind, complained bitterly that 
 they should eat no figs even this year at Tusculum, 
 because of Pompey's love of command. Afranius, who 
 was lately returned out of Spain, and on account of his ill 
 success there, labored under the suspicion of having been 
 bribed to betray the army, asked why they did not fight 
 this purchaser of provinces. Pompey was driven, against 
 his own will, by this kind of language, into offering battle, 
 and proceeded to follow Csesar. Gsesar had found great 
 difficulties in his march, for no country would supply him 
 with provisions, his reputation being very much fallen 
 since his late defeat. But after he took Gomphi, a town 
 of Thessaly, he not only found provisions for his army, 
 but physic too ; for there they met with plenty of wine, 
 which they took very freely, and heated with this, sport- 
 ing and revelling on their march in bacchanalian fashion, 
 they shook off the disease, and their whole constitution 
 was relieved and changed into another habit. 
 
 When the two armies were come into Pharsalia, and 
 both encamped there, Pompey's thoughts ran the same 
 way as they had done before, against fighting, and the 
 more because of some unlucky presages, and a vision he 
 had in a dream. But those who were about him were 
 so confident of success, that Domitius, and Spinther, and 
 Scipio, as if they had already conquered, quarrelled which 
 should succeed Csesar in the pontificate. And many sent 
 to Rome to take houses fit to accommodate consuls and 
 praetors, as being sure of entering upon those offices as 
 soon as the battle was over. The cavalry especially were 
 obstinate for fighting, being splendidly armed and bravely 
 , mounted, and valuing themselves upon the fine horses 
 
296 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 they kept, and upon their own handsome persons ; as also 
 upon the advantage of their numbers, for they were five 
 thousand against one thousand of Caesar's. Nor were the 
 numbers of the infantry less disproportionate, there being 
 forty-five thousand of Pompey's, against twenty-two thou- 
 sand of the enemy. 
 
 Caesar, collecting his soldiers together, told them that 
 Corfinius was coming up to them with two legions, and 
 that fifteen cohorts more under Calenus were posted at 
 Megara and Athens; he then asked them whether they 
 would stay till these joined them, or would hazard the 
 battle by themselves. They all cried out to him not to 
 wait, but on the contrary to do whatever he could to bring 
 about an engagement as soon as possible. When he sacri- 
 ficed to the gods for the lustration of his army, upon 
 the death of the first victim, the augur told him, within 
 three days he should come to a decisive action. Caesar 
 asked him whether he saw anything in the entrails, which 
 promised an happy event. "That," said the priest, "you 
 can best answer yourself; for the gods signify a great 
 alteration from the present posture of affairs. If, there- 
 fore, you think yourself well off now, expect worse for- 
 tune; if unhappy, hope for better." The night before 
 the battle, as he walked the rounds about midnight, there 
 was a light seen in the heaven, very bright and flaming, 
 which seemed to pass over Caesar's camp, and fall into 
 Pompey's. And when Caesar's soldiers came to relieve 
 the watch in the morning, they perceived a panic disor- 
 der among the enemies. However, he did not expect to 
 fight that day, but set about raising his camp with the 
 intention of marching towards Scotussa. 
 Lustration : purification. 
 
C^SAR. 297 
 
 But when the tents were now taken down, his scouts, 
 rode up to him, and told him the enemy would give him 
 battle. With this news he was extremely pleased, and 
 having performed his devotions to the gods, set his army 
 in battle array, dividing them into three bodies. Over the 
 middlemost he placed Domitius Calvinus ; Antony com- 
 manded the left wing, and he himself the right, being 
 resolved to fight at the head of the tenth legion. But 
 when he saw the enemies' cavalry taking position against 
 him, being struck with their fine appearance and their 
 number, he gave private orders that six cohorts from the 
 rear of the army should come round and join him, whom 
 he posted behind the right wing, and instructed them 
 what they should do, when the enemy's horse came to 
 charge. On the other side, Pompey commanded the right 
 wing, Domitius the left, and Scipio, Pompey's father-in- 
 law, the centre. The whole weight of the cavalry was 
 collected on the left wing, with the intent that they 
 should outflank the right wing of the engmy, and rout 
 that part where the general himself commanded. For 
 they thought no phalanx of infantry could be solid enough 
 to sustain such a shock, but that they must necessarily be 
 broken and shattered all to pieces upon the onset of so 
 immense a force of cavalry. When they were ready on 
 both sides to give the signal for battle, Pompey com- 
 manded his foot who were in the front, to stand their 
 ground, and without breaking their order, receive quietly 
 the enemy's first attack, till they came within javelin's cast. 
 Csesar, in this respect, also, blames Pompey's generalship, 
 as if he had not been aware how the first encounter, 
 when made with an impetus and upon the run, gives 
 weight and force to the strokes, and fires the men's 
 
298 PLUTARCH^S LIVES. 
 
 spirits into a flame, which the general concurrence fans 
 to full heat. He himself was just putting the troops into 
 motion and advancing to the action, when he found one 
 of his captains, a trusty and experienced soldier, encour- 
 aging his men to exert their utmost. Csesar called him 
 by his name, and said, "What hopes, Caius Crassinius, 
 and what grounds for encouragement?" Crassinius 
 stretched out his hand, and cried in a loud voice, "We 
 shall conquer nobly, Csesar ; and I this day will deserve 
 your praises, either alive or dead." So he said, and was 
 the first man to run in upon the enemy, followed by the 
 hundred and twenty soldiers about him, and breaking 
 through the first rank, still pressed on forwards with 
 much slaughter of the enemy, till at last he was struck 
 back by the wound of a sword, which went in at his 
 mouth with such force that it came out at his neck 
 behind. 
 
 Whilst the foot was thus sharply engaged in the main 
 battle, on tha flank Pompey's horse rode up confidently, 
 and opened their ranks very wide, that they might sur- 
 round the right wing of Csesar. But before they engaged, 
 Caesar's cohorts rushed out and attacked them, and did 
 not dart their javelins at a distance, nor strike at the 
 thighs and legs, as they usually did in close battle, but 
 aimed at their faces. For thus Csesar had instructed 
 them, in hopes that young gentlemen, who had not known 
 much of battles and wounds, but came wearing their hair 
 long, in the flower of their age and height of their beauty, 
 would be more apprehensive of such blows, and not care 
 for hazarding both a danger at present and a blemish for 
 the future. And so it proved, for they were so far from 
 bearing the stroke of the javelins, that they could not 
 
CiESAR. 299 
 
 stand the sight of them, but turned about, and covered 
 their faces to secure them. Once in disorder, presently 
 they turned about to fly ; and so most shamefully ruined all. 
 For those who had beat them back, at once outflanked the 
 infantry, and falling on their rear, cut them to pieces. 
 Pompey, who commanded the other wing of the army, 
 when he saw his cavalry thus broken and flying, was no 
 longer himself, nor did he now remember that he was 
 Pompey the Great, but like one whom some god had 
 deprived of his senses, retired to his tent without speaking 
 a word, and there sat to expect the event, till the whole 
 army was routed, and the enemy appeared upon the 
 works which were thrown up before the camp, where they 
 closely engaged with his men, who were posted there 
 to defend it. Then first he seemed to have recovered his 
 senses, and uttering, it is said, only these words, " What, 
 into the camp too ? " he laid aside his general's habit, and 
 putting on such clothes as might best favor his flight, 
 stole off. What fortune he met with afterwards, how he 
 took shelter in Egypt, and was murdered there, we tell 
 3'Ou in his Life. 
 
 Caesar, when he came to view Pompey's camp, and saw 
 some of his opponents dead upon the ground, others dying, 
 said, with a groan, "This they would have; they brought 
 me to this necessity. I, Caius Csesar, after succeeding in 
 so many wars, had been condemned, had I dismissed my 
 army." These words, Pollio says, Caesar spoke in Latin 
 at that time, and that he himself wrote them in Greek; 
 adding, that those who were killed at the taking of the 
 camp, were most of them servants ; and that not above 
 six thousand soldiers fell. Caesar incorporated most of 
 the foot whom he took prisoners, with his own legions. 
 
300 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 and gave a free pardon to many of the distinguished per- 
 sons, and amongst the rest, to Brutus, who afterwards 
 killed him. He did not immediately appear after the 
 battle was over, which put Caesar, it is said, into great 
 anxiety for him ; nor was his pleasure less when he saw 
 him present himself alive. 
 
 Caesar, as a memorial of his victory, gave the Thessa- 
 lians their freedom, and then went in pursuit of Pompey. 
 When he was come into Asia, to gratify Theopompus, 
 the author of the collection of fables, he enfranchised the 
 Cnidians, and remitted one-third of their tribute to all the 
 people of the province of Asia. When he came to Alex- 
 andria, where Pompey was already murdered, he would 
 not look upon Theodotus, who presented him with his 
 head, but taking only his signet, shed tears. Those of 
 Pompey's friends who had been arrested by the king of 
 Egypt, as they were wandering in those parts, he relieved, 
 and offered them his own friendship. In his letter to his 
 friends at Rome, he told them that the greatest and most 
 signal pleasure his victory had given him was to be able 
 continually to save the lives of fellow-citizens who had 
 fought against him. As to the war in Egypt, some say it 
 was at once dangerous, and dishonorable, and noways nec- 
 essary, but occasioned only by his passion for Cleopatra. 
 Others blame the ministers of the king, and especially 
 Pothinus, who was the chief favorite, and had lately killed 
 Pompey, who had banished Cleopatra, and was now secretly 
 plotting Caesar's destruction (to prevent which, Caesar from 
 that time began to sit up whole nights, under pretence of 
 drinking, for the security of his person), while openly he 
 was intolerable in his affronts to Caesar, both by his words 
 and actions. For when Caesar's soldiers had musty and 
 
C^SAR. 301 
 
 unwholesome corn measured out to them, Pothinus told 
 them they must be content with it, since they were fed at 
 another's cost. He ordered that his table should be served 
 with wooden and earthen dishes, and said Caesar had car- 
 ried off all the gold and silver plate, under pretence of 
 arrears of debt. For the present king's father owed Caesar 
 one thousand seven hundred and fifty myriads^ of money; 
 Caesar had formerly remitted to his children the rest, but 
 thought fit to demand the thousand myriads ^ at that time, 
 to maintain his army. Pothinus told him that he had bet- 
 ter go now and attend to his other affairs of greater conse- 
 quence, and that he should receive his money at another 
 time with thanks. Caesar replied that he did not want 
 Egyptians to be his counsellors, and soon after privately 
 sent for Cleopatra from her retirement. 
 
 She took a small boat, and one only of her confidants, 
 ApoUodorus, the Sicilian, along with her, and in the dusk 
 of the evening landed near the palace. She was at a loss 
 how to get in undiscovered, till she thought of putting 
 herself into the coverlet of a bed and lying at length, 
 whilst ApoUodorus tied up the bedding and carried it on 
 his back through the gates to Caesar's apartment. Caesar 
 was first captivated by this proof of Cleopatra's bold wit, 
 and was afterwards so overcome by the charm of her 
 society, that he made a reconciliation between her and her 
 brother, on condition that she should rule as his colleague 
 in the kingdom. A festival was kept to celebrate this 
 reconciliation, where Caesar's barber, a busy, listening fel- 
 low, whose excessive timidity made him inquisitive into 
 everything, discovered that there was a plot carrying on 
 
 iAboutS3,150,000jj 1^^^^^^ 
 2 About $1,800,000 ) 
 
302 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 against Caesar by Achillas, general of the king's forces, 
 and Pothinus. Csesar, upon the first intelligence of it, 
 set a guard upon the hall where the feast was kept, and 
 killed Pothinus. Achillas escaped to the army, and raised 
 a troublesome and embarrassing war against Caesar, which 
 it was not easy for him to manage with his few soldiers 
 against so powerful a city and so large an army. The first 
 difficulty he met with was want of water, for the enemies 
 had turned the canals.^ Another was, when the enemy 
 endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was 
 forced to divert that danger by setting fire to his own 
 ships, which, after burning the docks, thence spread on and 
 destroyed the great library. A third was, when in an 
 engagement near Pharos, he leaped from the mole into a 
 small boat to assist his soldiers who were in danger, and 
 when the Egyptians pressed him on every side, he threw 
 himself into the sea, and with much difficulty swam off. 
 This was the time when, according to the story, he had a 
 number of manuscripts in his hand, which, though he was 
 continually darted at, and forced to keep his head often 
 under water, yet he did not let go, but held them up safe 
 from wetting in one hand, whilst he swam with the other. 
 His boat, in the mean time, was quickly sunk. At last, the 
 king having gone off to Achillas and his party, Caesar 
 engaged and conquered them. Many fell in that battle, 
 and the king himself was never seen after. Upon this, 
 he left Cleopatra queen of Egypt, and then departed for 
 Syria. r^-^ 
 
 Thence he passed to Asia, where he heard that Domi- 
 tius was beaten by Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, and had 
 fled out of Pontus with a handful of men ; and that Phar- 
 
 1 By which Alexandria, there being no springs, was wliolly supplied. 
 
C^SAR. 303 
 
 naces pursued the victory so eagerly, that though he was 
 already master of Bithynia and Cappadocia, he had a fur- 
 ther design of attempting the Lesser Armenia, and was 
 inviting all the kings and tetrarchs there to rise. Caesar 
 immediately marched against him with three legions, fought 
 him near Zela, drove him out of Pontus, and totally de- 
 feated his army. When he gave Amantius, a friend of 
 his at Rome, an account of this action, to express the 
 promptness and rapidity of it, he used three words, I came, 
 saw, and conquered, which in Latin ^ having all the same 
 cadence, carry with them a very suitable air of brevity. 
 
 Hence he crossed into Italy, and came to Rome at the 
 end of that year, for which he had been a second time 
 chosen dictator, though that office had never before lasted 
 a whole year, and was elected consul for the next. He 
 was ill spoken of, because upon a mutiny of some soldiers, 
 who killed Cosconius and Galba, who had been praetors, 
 he gave them only the slight reprimand of calling them 
 Citizens instead of Fellow-Soldiers^ and afterwards assigned 
 to each man a thousand drachmas, besides a share of lands 
 in Italy. He was also reflected on for Dolabella's extrava- 
 gance, Amantius' covetousness, Antony's debauchery, and 
 Corfinius' profuseness, who pulled down Pompey's house, 
 and rebuilt it, as not magnificent enough ; for the Romans 
 were much displeased with all these. But Caesar, for the 
 prosecution of his own scheme of government, though he 
 knew their characters and disapproved them, was forced 
 to make use of those who would serve him. 
 
 After the battle of Pharsalia, Cato and Scipio fled into 
 
 Tetrarch : a governor of a fourth part of a province. 
 
 1 Veni, Vidi, Vici. A tablet with this inscription was displayed in the 
 triumph which was afterwards celebrated for this war. 
 
304 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Africa, and there, with the assistance of king Juba, got 
 together a considerable force, which Caesar resolved to 
 engage. He, accordingly, passed into Sicily about the win- 
 ter-solstice, and to remove from his officers' minds all hopes 
 of delay there, encamped by the sea-shore, and as soon as 
 ever he had a fair wind, put to sea with three thousand 
 foot and a few horse. When he had landed tliem, he went 
 back secretly, under some apprehensions for the larger part 
 of his army, but met them upon the sea, and brought them 
 all to the same camp. There he was informed that the 
 enemies relied much upon an ancient oracle, that the 
 family of the Scipios should be always victorious in Africa. 
 There was in his army a man, otherwise mean and con- 
 temptible, but of the house of the Africani, and his name 
 Scipio Sallutio. This man Csesar (whether in raillery, to 
 ridicule Scipio, who commanded the enemy, or seriously, 
 to bring over the omen to his side, it were hard to say) 
 put at the head of his troops, as if he were general in all 
 the frequent battles which he was compelled to fight. For 
 he was in such want both of victualling for his men, and 
 forage for his horses, that he was forced to feed the horses 
 with sea-weed, which he washed thoroughly to take off its 
 saltness, and mixed with a little grass, to give it a more 
 agreeable taste. The Numidians, in great numbers, and 
 well horsed, whenever he went, came up and commanded 
 the country. Caesar's cavalry being one day unemployed, 
 diverted themselves with seeing an African, who enter- 
 tained them with dancing and at the same time playing 
 upon the pipe to admiration. They were so taken with 
 this, that they alighted, and gave their horses to some boys, 
 when on a sudden the enemy surrounded them, killed 
 some, pursued the rest, and fell in with them into their 
 
CiESAR. 305 
 
 camp ; and had not Csesar himself and Asinius PoUio come 
 to their assistance, and put a stop to their flight, the war 
 had been then at an end. In another engagement, also, 
 the enemy had again the better, when Caesar, it is said, 
 seized a standard-bearer, who was running away, by the 
 neck, and forcing him to face about, said, " Look, that is 
 the way to the enemy." 
 
 Scipio, flushed with this success at first, had a mind to 
 come to one decisive action. He therefore left Afranius 
 and Juba in two distinct bodies not far distant, and 
 marched himself towards Thapsus, where he proceeded to 
 build a fortified camp above a lake, to serve as a centre- 
 point for their operations, and also as a place of refuge. 
 Whilst Scipio was thus employed, Caesar with incredible 
 despatch made his way through thick woods, and a country 
 supposed to be impassable, cut off one party of the enemy, 
 and attacked another in the front. Having routed these, 
 he followed up his opportunity and the current of his good 
 fortune, and on the first onset carried Afranius' camp, 
 and ravaged that of the Numidians, Juba, their king, being 
 glad to save himself by flight ; so that in a small part of a 
 single day he made himself master of three camps, and 
 killed fifty thousand of the enemy, with the loss only of 
 fifty of his own men. This is the account some give of 
 that fight. Others say, he was not in the action, but that 
 he was taken with his usual distemper just as he was 
 setting his army in order. He perceived the approaches 
 of it, and before it had too far disordered his senses, when 
 he was already beginning to shake under its influence, 
 withdrew into a neighboring fort, where he reposed him- 
 self. Of the men of consular and praetorian dignity that 
 were taken after the fight, Caesar put several to death, 
 others anticipated him by killing themselves. 
 
306 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Cato had undertaken to defend Utica, and for that reason 
 was not in the battle. The desire which Caesar had to 
 take him alive, made him hasten thither; and upon the 
 intelligence that he had dispatched himself, he was much 
 discomposed, for what reason is not so well agreed. He 
 certainly said, " Cato, I must grudge you your death, as 
 you grudged me the honor of saving your life." Yet the 
 discourse he wrote against Cato after his death, is no great 
 sign of his kindness, or that he was inclined to be recon- 
 ciled to him. For how is it probable that he would have 
 been tender of his life, when he was so bitter against his 
 memory? But from his clemency to Cicero, Brutus, and 
 many others who fought against him, it may be divined 
 that Caesar's book was not written so much out of 
 animosity to Cato, as in his own vindication. Cicero had 
 written an encomium upon Cato, and called it by his 
 name. A composition by so great a master upon so excel- 
 lent a subject, was sure to be in every one's hands. This 
 touched Caesar, who looked upon a panegyric on his 
 enemy, as no better than an invective against himself ; and 
 therefore he made in his Anti-Cato, a collection of what- 
 ever could be said in his derogation. The two composi- 
 tions, like Cato and Caesar themselves, have each of them 
 their several admirers. 
 
 Caesar, upon his return to Rome, did not omit to pro- 
 nounce before the people a magnificent account of his 
 victory, telling them that he had subdued a country which 
 would supply the public every year with two hundred 
 thousand attic bushels of corn, and three million pounds 
 weight of oil. He then led three triumphs for Egypt, 
 Pontus, and Africa, the last for the victory over, not 
 Scipio, but king Juba, as it was professed, whose little son 
 
CuESAR. 307 
 
 was then carried in the triumph, the happiest captive that 
 ever was, who of a barbarian Namidian, came by this 
 means to obtain a place among the most learned historians 
 of Greece. After the triumphs, he distributed rewards to 
 his soldiers, and treated the people with feasting and 
 shows. He entertained the whole people together at one 
 feast, where twenty-two thousand dining couches were 
 laid out ; and he made a display of gladiators, and of bat- 
 tles by sea, in honor, as he said, of his daughter Julia, 
 though she had been long since dead. When these shows 
 were over, an account was taken of the people, who from 
 three hundred and twenty thousand, were now reduced to 
 one hundred and fifty thousand. So great a waste had 
 the civil war made in Rome alone, not to mention what 
 the other parts of Italy and the provinces suffered. 
 
 He was now chosen a fourth time consul, and went into 
 Spain against Pompey's sons. They were but young, yet 
 had gathered together a very numerous army, and showed 
 ;»they had courage and conduct to command it, so that 
 Caesar was in extreme danger. The great battle was near 
 the town of Munda, in which Ca3sar seeing his men hard 
 pressed, and making but a weak resistance, ran through 
 the ranks among the soldiers, and crying out, asked them 
 whether they were not ashamed to deliver him into the 
 hands of boys ? At last, with great difficulty, and the best 
 efforts he could make, he forced back the enemy, killing 
 thirty thousand of them, though with the loss of one 
 thousand of his best men. When he came back from the 
 fight, he told his friends that he had often fought for 
 victory, but this was the first time that he had ever fought 
 for life. This battle was won on the feast of Bacchus, the 
 very day in which Pompey, four years before, had set out 
 
308 TLUTAKCH'S LIVES. 
 
 for the war. The younger of Pompey's sons escaped ; but 
 Didius, some days after the fight, brought the head of the 
 elder to Caesar. This was the last war he was engaged in. 
 The triumph which he celebrated for this victory, dis- 
 pleased the Romans beyond anything. For he had not 
 defeated foreign generals, or barbarian kings, but had 
 destroyed the children and family of one of the greatest 
 men of Rome, though unfortunate; and it did not look 
 well to lead a procession in celebration of the calamities 
 of his country, and to rejoice in those things for which no 
 other apology could be made either to gods or men, than 
 their being absolutely necessary. Besides that, hitherto 
 he had never sent letters or messengers to announce any 
 victory over his fellow-citizens, but had seemed rather to 
 be ashamed of the action, than to expect honor from it. 
 
 Nevertheless his countrymen, conceding all to his for- 
 tune, and accepting the bit, in the hope that the govern- 
 ment of a single person would give them time to breathe 
 after so many civil wars and calamities, made him dictator 
 for life. This was indeed a tyranny avowed, since his 
 power now was not only absolute, but perpetual too. 
 Cicero made the first proposals to the senate for confer- 
 ring honors upon him, which might in some sort be said 
 not to exceed the limits of ordinary human moderation. 
 But others, striving which should deserve most, carried 
 them so excessively high, that they made Caesar odious to 
 the most indifferent and moderate sort of men, by the pre- 
 tension and the extravagance of the titles which they 
 decreed him. His enemies, too, are thought to have had 
 some share in this, as well as his flatterers. It gave them 
 advantage against him, and would be their justification 
 for any attempt they should make upon him; for since 
 
C^SAR. 309 
 
 the civil wars were ended, he had nothing else that he 
 could be charged with. And they had good reason to de- 
 cree a temple to Clemency, in token of their thanks for 
 the mild use he made of his victory. For he not only par- 
 doned many of those who fought against him, but, further, 
 to some gave honors and offices ; as particularly to Brutus 
 and Cassius, who both of them were prsetors. Pompey's 
 images that were thrown down, he set up again, upon 
 which Cicero also said that by raising Pompey's statues 
 he had fixed his own. When his friends advised him to 
 have a guard, and several offered their service, he would 
 not hear of it ; but said it was better to suffer death once, 
 than always to live in fear of it. He looked upon the 
 •affections of the people to be the best and surest guard, 
 and entertained them again with public feasting, and gen- 
 eral distributions of corn ; and to gratify his army, he sent 
 out colonies to several places, of which the most remark- 
 able were Carthage and Corinth; which, as before they 
 had been ruined at the same time, so now were restored 
 and repeopled together. 
 
 As for the men of high rank, he promised to some of 
 them future consulships and praetorships, some he consoled 
 with other offices and honors, and to all held out hopes of 
 favor by the solicitude he showed to rule with the general 
 good-will ; insomuch that upon the death of Maximus one 
 day before his consulship was ended, he made Caninius 
 Revilius consul for that day. And when many went to 
 pay the usual compliments and attentions to the new con- 
 sul, " Let us make haste," said Cicero, " lest the man be 
 gone out of his office before we come." 
 
 Caesar was born to do great things, and had a passion after 
 honor, and the many noble exploits he had done did not 
 
310 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 now serve as an inducement to him to sit still and reap 
 the fruit of his past labors, but were incentives and en- 
 couragements to go on, and raised in him ideas of still 
 greater actions, and a desire of new glory, as if the present 
 were all spent. It was in fact a sort of emulous struggle 
 with himself, as it had been with another, how he might 
 outdo his past actions by his future. In pursuit of these 
 thoughts, he resolved to make war upon the Parthians, and 
 when he had subdued them, to pass through Hyrcania ; 
 thence to march along by the Caspian Sea to Mount Cau- 
 casus, and so on about Pontus, till he came into Scythia ; 
 then to overrun all the countries bordering upon Germany, 
 and Germany itself; and so to return through Gaul into 
 Italy, after completing the whole circle of his intended 
 empire, and bounding it on every side by the ocean. 
 While preparations were making for this expedition, he 
 proposed to dig through the isthmus on which Corinth 
 stands ; and appointed Anienus to superintend the work. 
 He had also a design of diverting the Tiber, and carrying 
 it by a deep channel directly from Rome to Circeii, and 
 so into the sea near Tarracina, that there might be a safe 
 and easy passage for all merchants who traded to Rome. 
 Besides this, he intended to drain all the marshes by Po- 
 mentium and Setia, and gain ground enough from the 
 water to employ many thousands of men in tillage. He 
 proposed further to make great mounds on the shore near- 
 est Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in upon the 
 land, to clear the coast at Ostia of all the hidden rocks and 
 shoals that made it unsafe for shipping, and to form ports 
 and harbors fit to receive the large number of vessels that 
 would frequent them. -^V 1 
 
 Caesar also formed a new and more exact method of cor^- 
 
C^SAR. 811 
 
 recting the calendar, which the Romans use to this day. 
 Yet even this gave offence to those who looked with an 
 evil eye on his position, and felt oppressed by his power. 
 Cicero, the orator, when some one in his company chanced 
 to say, the next morning Lyra would rise, replied, " Yes, 
 in accordance with the edict," as if even this were a matter 
 of compulsion. 
 
 But that which brought upon him the most apparent 
 and mortal hatred, was his desire of being king; which 
 gave the common people the first occasion to quarrel with 
 him, and proved the most specious pretence to those who 
 had been his secret enemies all along. Those who would 
 have procured him that title, gave it out, that it was fore- 
 told in the Sybils' books that the Romans should conquer 
 the Parthians when they fought against them under the 
 conduct of a king, but not before. And one day, as Csesar 
 was coming down from Alba to Rome, some were so bold 
 as to salute him by the name of king ; but he finding the 
 people disrelish it, seemed to resent it himself, and said 
 his name was Caesar, not king. Upon this, there was a 
 general silence, and he passed on looking not very well 
 pleased or contented. Another time, when the senate had 
 conferred on him some extravagant honors, he chanced to 
 receive the message as he was sitting on the rostra, where, 
 though the consuls and prsetors themselves waited on him, 
 attended by the whole body of the senate, he did not rise, 
 but behaved himself to them as if they had been private 
 men, and told them his honors wanted rather to be re- 
 trenched than increased. This treatment offended not 
 only the senate, but the commonalty too, as if they thought 
 the affront upon the senate equally reflected upon the 
 
 Lyra : the constellation. 
 
 Rostra : a platform or elevated place in the forum. 
 
312 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 whole republic ; so that all who could decently leave him 
 went off, looking much discomposed. Caesar, perceiving 
 the false step he had made, immediately retired home ; and 
 laying his throat bare, told his friends that he was ready 
 to offer this to any one who would give the stroke. But 
 afterwards he made the malady from which he suffered, 
 the excuse for his sitting, saying that those who are at- 
 tacked by it, lose their presence of mind, if they talk much 
 standing ; that they presently grow giddy, fall into convul- 
 sions, and quite lose their reason. But this was not the 
 reality, for he would willingly have stood up to the senate, 
 had not Cornelius Balbus, one of his friends, or rather 
 flatterers, hindered him. " Will you not remember," said 
 he, "you are Caesar, and claim the honor which is due to 
 your merit ? " 
 
 He gave a fresh occasion of resentment by his affront 
 to the tribunes. The Lupercalia were then celebrated, a 
 feast at the first institution belonging, as some writers say, 
 to the shepherds, and having some connection with the 
 Arcadian Lycsea. Many young noblemen and magistrates 
 run up and down the city with their upper garments off, 
 striking all they meet with thongs of hide, by way of 
 sport ; and many women, even of the highest rank, place 
 themselves in the way, and hold out their hands to the 
 lash, as boys in the school do to the master. Csesar, 
 dressed in a triumphal robe, seated himself in a golden 
 chair on the rostra, to view this ceremony. Antony, as 
 consul, was one of those who ran this course, and when 
 he came into the forum, and the people made way for 
 him, he went up and reached to Caesar a diadem wreathed 
 with laurel. Upon this, there was a shout, but only a 
 slight one, made by the few who were planted there for 
 
C^SAR. 313 
 
 that purpose ; but when Caesar refused it, there was uni- 
 versal applause. Upon the second offer, very few, and 
 upon the second refusal, all again applauded. Caesar find- 
 ing it would not take, rose up, and ordered the crown to 
 be carried into the capitol. Caesar's statues were after- 
 wards found with royal diadems on their heads. Flavins 
 and Marullus, two tribunes of the people, went presently 
 and pulled them off, and having apprehended those who 
 first saluted Caesar as king, committed them to prison. 
 The people followed them with acclamations, and called 
 them by the name of Brutus, because Brutus was the first 
 who ended the succession of kings, and transferred the 
 power which before was lodged in one man into the hands 
 of the senate and people. Caesar so far resented this, that 
 he displaced Marullus and Flavins; and in urging his 
 charges against them, at the same time ridiculed the peo- 
 ple, by himself giving the men more than once the names 
 of Bruti and Cumaei.^ fy^ 
 
 This made the multitude turn their thoughts to Marcus 
 Brutus, who, by his father's side, was thought to be de- 
 scended from that first Brutus, and by his mother's side, 
 from the Servilii, another noble family, being besides 
 nephew and son-in-law to Cato. But the honors and 
 favors he had received from Caesar took off the edge from 
 the desires he might himself have felt for overthrowing 
 the new monarchy. For he liad not only been pardoned 
 himself after Pompey's defeat at Pharsalia, and had pro- 
 cured the same grace for many of his friends, but was one 
 in whom Caesar had a particular confidence. He had at 
 that time the most honorable praetorship of the year, and 
 
 1 Brutus, in Latin, means heavy and stupid; and the Cumaeans were for 
 one reason or other proverbial for dulness. 
 
314 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 was named for the consulship four years after, being pre- 
 ferred before Cassius, his competitor. Upon the question 
 as to the choice, Caesar, it is related, said that Cassius had 
 the fairer pretensions, but that he could not pass by Bru- 
 tus. Nor would he afterwards listen to some who spoke 
 against Brutus, when the conspiracy against him was 
 already afoot, but laying his hand on his body, said to the 
 informers, " Brutus will wait for this skin of mine," inti- 
 mating that he was worthy to bear rule on account of his 
 virtue, but would not be base and ungrateful to gain it. 
 Those who desired a change, and looked on him as the 
 only, or at least the most proper, person to effect it, did 
 not venture to speak with him ; but in the night-time laid 
 papers about his chair of state, where he used to sit and 
 determine causes, with such sentences in them as, " You 
 are asleep, Brutus," "You are no longer Brutus." Cas- 
 sius, when he perceived his ambition a little raised upon 
 this, was more instant than before to work him yet further, 
 having himself a private grudge against Csesar, for some 
 reasons that we have mentioned in the Life of Brutus. 
 Nor was Caesar without suspicions of him, and said once 
 to his friends, "What do you think Cassius is aiming at? 
 I don't like him, he looks so pale." And when it was 
 told him that Antony and Dolabella were in a plot against 
 him, he said he did not fear such fat, luxurious men, but 
 rather the pale, lean fellows, meaning Cassius and Brutus. 
 Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable 
 than unexpected. For many strange prodigies and ap- 
 paritions are said to have been observed shortly before the 
 event. As to the lights in the heavens, the noises heard 
 in the night, and the wild birds which perched in the 
 forum, these are not perhaps worth taking notice of in so 
 
CiESAR. 815 
 
 great a case as this. Strabo, the philosopher, tells us that 
 a number of men were seen, looking as if they were 
 heated through with fire, contending with each other; 
 that a quantity of flame issued from the hand of a soldier's 
 servant, so that they who saw it thought he must be 
 burnt, but that after all he had no hurt. As Csesar was 
 sacrificing, the victim's heart was missing, a very bad 
 omen, because no living creature can subsist without a 
 heart. One finds it also related by many, that a sooth- 
 sayer bade him prepare for some great danger on the ides 
 of March. When the day was come, Caesar, as he went to 
 the senate, met this soothsayer, and said to him by way of 
 raillery, " The ides of March are come " ; who answered 
 him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not passed." 
 The day before this assassination, he supped with Marcus 
 Lepidus ; and as he was signing some letters, according to 
 his custom, as he reclined at table, there arose a question 
 what sort of death was best. At which he immediately, 
 before any one could speak, said, " A sudden one." 
 
 After this, when he was in bed, all the doors and win- 
 dows of the house flew open together ; he was startled at 
 the noise, and the light which broke into the room, and 
 sat up in his bed, where by the moonshine he perceived 
 his wife, Calpurnia, fast asleep, but heard her utter in her 
 dream some indistinct words and inarticulate groans. 
 She fancied at that time she was weeping over Csesar, 
 and holding him butchered in her arms. Others say this 
 was not her dream, but that she dreamed that a pinnacle 
 which the senate, as Livy relates, had ordered to be raised 
 on Caesar's house by way of ornament and grandeur, was 
 tumbling down, which was the occasion of her tears and 
 Ides of March : the fifteenth. 
 
316 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 ejaculations. When it was day, she begged of Caesar, if 
 it were possible, not to stir out, but to adjourn the senate 
 to another time ; and if he slighted her dreams, that he 
 would be pleased to consult his fate by sacrifices, and 
 other kinds of divination. Nor was he himself without 
 some suspicion and fears ; for he never before discovered 
 any womanish superstition in Calpurnia, whom he now 
 saw in such great alarm. Upon the report which the 
 priests made to him, that they had killed several sacrifices, 
 and still found them inauspicious, he resolved to send 
 Antony to dismiss the senate. 
 
 In this juncture, Decimus Brutus, surnamed Albinus, 
 one whom Caesar had such confidence in that he made 
 him his second heir, who nevertheless was engaged in the 
 conspiracy with the other Brutus and Cassius, fearing lest 
 if Caesar should put off the senate to another day the 
 business might get wind, spoke scoffingly and in mockery 
 of the diviners, and blamed Caesar for giving the senate 
 so fair an occasion of saying he had put a slight upon 
 them, for that they were met upon his summons, and 
 were ready to vote unanimously, that he should be de- 
 clared king of all the provinces out of Italy, and might 
 wear a diadem in any other place but Italy, by sea or 
 land. If any one should be sent to tell them they might 
 break up for the present, and meet again when Calpurnia 
 should chance to have better dreams, what would his 
 enemies say ? Or who would with any patience hear his 
 friends, if they should presume to defend his government 
 as not arbitrary and tyrannical ? But if he was possessed 
 so far as to think this day unfortunate, yet it were more 
 decent to go himself to the senate, and to adjourn it in 
 his own person. Brutus, as he spoke these words, took 
 
CiESAR. 317 
 
 Caesar by the hand, and conducted him forth. He was 
 not gone far from the door, when a servant of some other 
 person's made towards him, but not being able to come 
 up to him, on account of the crowd of those who pressed 
 about him, he made his way into the house, and committed 
 himself to Calpurnia, begging of her to secure him till 
 Caesar returned, because he had matters of great impor- 
 tance to communicate to him. 
 
 Artemidorus, a Cnidian, a teacher of Greek logic, and 
 by that means so far acquainted with Brutus and his 
 friends as to have got into the secret, brought Caesar in a 
 small written memorial the heads of what he had to de- 
 pose. He had observed that Caesar, as he received any 
 papers, presently gave them to the servants who attended 
 on him ; and therefore came as near to him as he could, 
 and said, "Read this, Caesar, alone, and quickly, for it 
 contains matter of great importance which nearly con- 
 cerns you." Caesar received it, and tried several times 
 to read it, but was still hindered by the crowd of those 
 who came to speak to him. However, he kept it in his 
 hand by itself till he came into the senate. Some say it 
 was another who gave Caesar this note, and that Artemi- 
 dorus could not get to him, being all along kept off by 
 the crowd. ^/ Z 
 
 All these things might happen by chance. But the 
 place which was destined for the scene of this murder, in 
 which the senate met that day, was the same in which 
 Pompey's statue stood, and was one of the edifices which 
 Pompey had raised and dedicated with his theatre to the 
 use of the public, plainly showing that there was some- 
 thing of a supernatural influence which guided the action, 
 and ordered it to that particular place. Cassius, just before 
 
818 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 the act, is said to have looked towards Pompey's statue, 
 and silently implored his assistance, though he had been 
 inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus. But this occasion 
 and the instant danger, carried him away out of all his 
 reasonings, and filled him for the time with a sort of in- 
 spiration. As for Antony, who was firm to Caesar, and a 
 strong man, Brutus Albinus kept him outside the house, 
 and delayed him with a long conversation contrived on 
 purpose. When Caesar entered, the senate stood up to 
 show their respect to him, and of Brutus' confederates, 
 some came about his chair and stood behind it, others met 
 him, pretending to add their petitions to those of Tillius 
 Cimber, in behalf of his brother, who was in exile ; and 
 they followed him with their joint supplications till he 
 came to his seat. When he was sat down, he refused to 
 comply with their requests, and upon their urging him 
 further, began to reproach them severally for their impor- 
 tunities, when Tillius, laying hold of his robe with both 
 his hands, pulled it down from his neck, which was the 
 signal for the assault. Casca gave him the first cut, in 
 the neck, which was not mortal nor dangerous, as coming 
 from one who at the beginning of such a bold action was 
 probably very much disturbed. Csesar immediately turned 
 about, and laid his hand upon the dagger and kept hold 
 of it. And both of them at the same time cried out, he 
 that received the blow, in Latin, " Vile Casca, what does 
 this mean ? " and he that gave it, in Greek, to his brother, 
 " Brother, help ! " Upon this first onset, those who were 
 not privy to the design were astonished, and their horror 
 and amazement at what they saw were so great, that they 
 
 Doctrines of Epicurus : Epicurus taught that man does not live beyond 
 the grave ; hence an Epicurean would not appeal to Pompey's spirit. M. 
 
C^SAR. 319 
 
 durst not fly nor assist Caesar, nor so much as speak a 
 word. But those who came prepared for the business in- 
 closed him on every side, with their naked daggers in their 
 hands. Which way soever he turned, he met with blows, 
 and saw their swords levelled at his face and eyes, and was 
 encompassed, like a wild beast in the toils, on every side. 
 For it had been agreed they should each of them make a 
 thrust at him, and flesh themselves with his blood; for 
 which reason Brutus also gave him one stab in the groin. 
 Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest, shifting 
 his body to avoid the blows, and calling out for help, but 
 that when he saw Brutus' sword drawn, he covered his 
 face with his robe and submitted, letting himself fall, 
 whether it were by chance, or that he was pushed in that 
 direction by his murderers, at the foot of the pedestal on 
 which Pompey's statue stood, and which was thus wetted 
 with his blood. So that Pompey himself seemed to have 
 presided, as it were, over the revenge done upon his ad- 
 versary, who lay here at his feet, and breathed out his soul 
 through his multitude of wounds, for they say he received 
 three and twenty. And the conspirators themselves were 
 many of them wounded by each other, whilst they all 
 levelled their blows at the same person. 
 
 When Csesar was dispatched, Brutus stood forth to give 
 a reason for what they had done, but the senate would 
 not hear him, but flew out of doors in all haste, and filled 
 the people with so much alarm and distraction, that some 
 shut up their houses, others left their counters and shops. 
 All ran one way or the other, some to the place to see the 
 sad spectacle, others back again after they had seen it. 
 Antony and Lepidus, Caesar's most faithful friends, got 
 off privately, and hid themselves in some friends' houses. 
 
320 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 Brutus and his followers, being yet hot from the deed, 
 'marched in a body from the senate-house to the capitol 
 with their drawn swords, not like persons who thought of 
 escaping, but with an air of confidence and assurance, and 
 as they went along, called to the people to resume their 
 liberty, and invited the company of any more distinguished 
 people whom they met. And some of these joined the 
 procession and went up along with them, as if they also 
 had been of the conspiracy, and could claim a share in the 
 honor of what had been done. As, for example, Caius 
 Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who suffered afterwards 
 for their vanity, being taken off by Antony and the young 
 Caesar, and lost the honor they desired, as well as tlieir 
 lives, which it cost them, since no one believed they had 
 any share in the action. For neither did those who pun- 
 ished them profess to revenge the fact, but the ill-will. 
 The day after, Brutus with the rest came down from the 
 capitol, and made a speech to the people, who listened 
 without expressing either any pleasure or resentment, but 
 showed by their silence that they pitied Caesar, and re- 
 spected Brutus. The senate passed acts of oblivion for 
 what was passed, and took measures to reconcile all par- 
 ties. They ordered that Caesar should be worshipped as a 
 divinity, and nothing, even of the slightest consequence, 
 should be revoked, which he had enacted during his gov- 
 ernment. At the same time they gave Brutus and his 
 followers the command of provinces, and other consider- 
 able posts. So that all people now thought things were 
 well settled, and brought to the happiest adjustment. 
 
 But when Caesar's will was opened, and it was found 
 that he had left a considerable legacy to each one of the 
 Roman citizens, and when his body was seen carried 
 
C^SAR. 321 
 
 through the market-place, all mangled with wounds, the 
 multitude could no longer contain themselves within the 
 bounds of tranquillity and order, but heaped together a 
 pile of benches, bars, and tables, which they placed the 
 corpse on, and setting fire to it, burnt it on them. Then 
 they took brands from the pile, and ran some to fire the 
 houses of the conspirators, others up and down the city, 
 to find out the men and tear them to pieces, but met, 
 however, with none of them, they having taken efi'ectual 
 care to secure themselves. 
 
 One Cinna, a friend of Caesar's, chanced the night before 
 to have an odd dream. He fancied that Caesar invited 
 him to supper, and that upon his refusal to go with 
 him, Caesar took him by the hand and forced him, though 
 he hung back. Upon hearing the report that Caesar's 
 body was burning in the market-place, he got up and 
 went thither, lout of respect to his memory, though his 
 dream gave him some ill apprehensions, and though he 
 was suffering from a fever. One of the crowd who saw 
 him there, asked another who that was, and having 
 learned his name, told it to his next neighbor. It pres- 
 ently passed for a certainty that he was one of Caesar's 
 murderers, as, indeed, there was another Cinna, a conspir- 
 ator, and they, taking this to be the man, immediately 
 seized him, and tore him limb from limb upon the spot. 
 
 Brutus and Cassius, frightened at this, within a few 
 days retired out of the city. What they afterwards did 
 and suffered, and how they died, is written in the Life 
 of Brutus. Caesar died in his fifty-sixth year, not hav- 
 ing survived Pompey above four years. That empire and 
 power which he had pursued through the whole course 
 of his life with so much hazard, he did at last with much 
 
322 PLUTARCH'S LIVES. 
 
 difficulty compass, but reaped no other fruits from it than 
 the empty name and invidious glory. But the great 
 genius which attended him through his lifetime, even 
 after his death, remained as the avenger of his murder, 
 pursuing through every sea and land all those who were 
 concerned in it, and suffering none to escape, but reach- 
 ing all who in any sort or kind were either actually 
 engaged in the fact, or by their counsels any way pro- 
 moted it. 
 
 The most remarkable of mere human coincidences was 
 that which befell Cassius, who, when he was defeated at 
 Philippi, killed himself with the same dagger which he 
 had made use of against Caesar. But above all, the phan- 
 tom which appeared to Brutus showed the murder was 
 iiot pleasing to the gods. The story of it is this : — 
 
 Brutus, being about to pass his army from Abydos to the 
 continent on the other side, laid himself dowTi one night, as 
 he used to do, in his tent, and was not asleep, but think- 
 ing of his affairs and what events he might expect. For 
 he is related to have been the least inclined to sleep of all 
 men who have commanded armies, and to have had the 
 greatest natural capacity for continuing awake, and em- 
 ploying himself without need of rest. He thought he 
 heard a noise at the door of his tent, and looking that 
 way, by the light of his lamp, which was almost out, saw 
 a terrible figure, like that of a man, but of unusual stature 
 and severe countenance. He was somewhat frightened 
 at first, but seeing it neither did nor spoke anything to 
 him, and only stood silently by his bedside, he asked who it 
 wasc The spectre answered him, "Thy evil genius, Bru- 
 tus, thou shalt see me at Philippi." Brutus answered 
 courageously, "Well, I shall see you," and immediately 
 
C^SAR. 323 
 
 the appearance vanished. When the time was come, he 
 drew up his army near Philippi against Antony and 
 Caesar, and in the first battle won the day, routed the 
 enemy, and plundered Caesar's camp. The night before 
 the second battle, the same phantom appeared to him 
 again, but spqj^e not a word. He presently understood 
 his destiny was at hand, and exposed himself to all the 
 danger of the battle. Yet he did not die in the fight, but 
 seeing his men defeated, got up to the top of a rock, and 
 there presenting his sword to his naked breast, and as- 
 sisted, as they say, by a friend, who helped him to give 
 the thrust, met his death. 
 
INDEXES. 
 
INDEX TO NOTES. 
 
 (By D. H. M.) 
 
 [The Numbers Refer to Pages,] 
 
 Achilles, 82. 
 
 Adventitious implements, 122. 
 
 ^dile, 256. 
 
 Alexandria, Canals of, 302. 
 
 Amazon, 69. 
 
 Amphictyonic Council, 25. 
 
 Antipater, 77. 
 
 Apollo, 81. 
 
 Appian Way, 256. 
 
 Arable, 134. 
 
 Arclion, 45. 
 
 Areopagus, 45. 
 
 Aristides and Themistocles, 41. 
 
 Artemisius, 83, 
 
 Athene, 14. 
 
 Bacchus, 80. 
 
 Barbarian, 19. 
 
 Barbarous songs, 12. 
 
 Battle of Marathon, 6. 
 
 Belus, 87. 
 
 Birdlime, 124. 
 
 Blest, Islands of the, 223. 
 
 Brutus, Meaning of the name, 313. 
 
 Buckler, 83. 
 
 Bullae, 232. 
 
 Cabals, 156. 
 
 Canals of Alexandria, 302. 
 
 Candidates, 137. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, 124 
 
 Celtic dress, 216. 
 
 Centuries, 145. 
 
 Cimbri and Teutones, 216. 
 
 Cisalpine Gaul, 218. 
 
 Clients, 135. 
 
 Cohort, 261. 
 
 Consuls, 126. 
 
 Corn, 134. 
 
 Cubit, 35. 
 
 Cuirass, 83. 
 
 Darius III., 82. 
 
 Diana, 70. 
 
 Dictator, 123. 
 
 Divined from birds, 160. 
 
 Doctrines of Epicurus, 318. 
 
 Drachma, 54. 
 
 Dress, Celtic, 216. 
 
 Eagle, 192. 
 
 Elysian Fields, 224. 
 
 Ensigns, 191. 
 
 Ephors, 23. 
 
 Epicurus, Doctrines of, 318. 
 
 Faction, 169. 
 Fasces, 180. 
 Fields, Elysian, 224. 
 Forum, 124. 
 
828 
 
 INDEX TO NOTES. 
 
 Franchises, 158. 
 Furlongs, 102. 
 
 Galley, Sacred, 11. 
 Games, Olympic, 8. 
 Gaul, Cisalpine, 218. 
 Gladiator, 256. 
 Gorget, 96. 
 
 Hind, 226. 
 Homer's IliaJ, 75. 
 Horse, Wooden, 214. 
 Hustings, 24. 
 
 Ides of March, 815. 
 
 Iliad, 75. 
 
 Imperator, 242. 
 
 Ink Fish, 16. 
 
 Islands of the Blest, 223. 
 
 Jupiter Capitolinus, 162. 
 
 Largess, 45. 
 Legion, 188. 
 Libations, 82. 
 Lictors, 180. 
 Lustration, 296. 
 Lyra, 311. 
 
 Macedonian Phalanx, 84. 
 Marathon, Battle of, 6. 
 March, Ides of, 315. 
 Mercenary Greeks, 84. 
 Minerva, or Athene, 14. 
 Mistletoe, 123. 
 Myriads, 301. 
 Mysteries, 79. 
 
 Oligarchy, 24. 
 Olympian, 43. 
 
 Olympic Games, 8. 
 Oracle, 14. 
 Ostracism, 9. 
 
 Pancratium, 72. 
 Panegyric, 253. 
 Patricians, 128. 
 Pausanias, 76. 
 Pedagogue, 182. 
 Phalanx, 84. 
 Philotas, 77. 
 Plebeians, 134. 
 Pollution, 60. 
 Pollux, 124. 
 Pontifical, 160. 
 Prastor, 179. 
 Prerogative, 145. 
 Proconsul, 200. 
 Propitiate, 180. 
 Purified, 199. 
 
 Quaestors, 242. 
 
 Razed, 78. 
 
 Revenue Farmers, 246. 
 
 Rhapsodists, 72. 
 
 Romans, The, reclined at table, 248. 
 
 Rostra, 311. 
 
 Sabines, 163. 
 Sacked and razed, 78. 
 Sacred Galley, 11. 
 Seditious, 127. 
 Soothsayers, 71. 
 Sophist, 39. 
 Suborn, 168. 
 Suffrages, 59. 
 
 Table, Romans reclined at, 248. 
 Talent, 12. 
 
INDEX TO NOTES. 
 
 329 
 
 Tarpeian Rock, 143. 
 
 Teles, 62. 
 
 Tetrarch, 303. 
 
 Teutones, 216. 
 
 Themistocles, 41. 
 
 Thirty-three hundred furlongs, 102. 
 
 Thirty Tyrants, 24. 
 
 Toga, 136. 
 
 Tribes, 145. 
 
 Triumph, 177. 
 Tunic, 136. 
 Tutelar, 156. 
 Tyrant, 41. 
 
 Van, 184. 
 
 Veni, vidi, vici, 303. 
 
 Wooden Horse, 214. 
 
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, 
 
 WITH THEIR PRONUNCIATION. 
 
 (By D. H. M.) 
 
 Note. — E in finales is pronounced long, e.g. Alcibiades (Al-ci-bi'-a-deez). Ch has 
 the sound of k, e.g. Archidamus (Ark-i-da'-mus). Chceronea (Ker-o-ne'-a). 
 
 Aby^dos, 322. 
 
 Acestodo^rus, 18. 
 
 Achar^nse, 28, 61. 
 
 Actse^n, 214. 
 
 Adme^tus, 28. 
 
 M^gse, 29. 
 
 ^gi^na, 21, 23, 62. 
 
 iEne^as, 156. 
 
 JEo^ia, 29. 
 
 Albi^nus, 316, 318. 
 
 Alcibi^ades, 64. 
 
 Alexan^der, 70. 
 
 Alexandri^a, 300. 
 
 Alexandrop'^olis, 76. 
 
 Anaxag^oras, 39, 40, 42, 65, 56, 59. 
 
 Anie^nus, 310. 
 
 Anthe^mion, 137. 
 
 Antia^tes, 136, 144, 146. 
 
 Antip^ater, 77, 99, 104. 
 
 Antiph^ates, 22. 
 
 An^ytus, 137. 
 
 Aph^etse, 11. 
 
 Archida^mus, 43, 60. 
 
 ArchitMes, 11, 12. 
 
 Areop^'agus, 45. 
 
 Ariam^enes, 19. 
 
 Arim^inum, 284, 285. 
 
 AristiMes, 5, 9, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21. ' 
 
 Aristobu^lus, 87. 
 Aristoph^anes, 24. 
 Ar^naces, 20. 
 Artaba'^nus, 30, 31. 
 Artemido^'rus, 317. 
 Artemis^ium, 10, 12. 
 Aufid^ius, 148, 247. 
 Au^fidus, 194. 
 
 Bset^ica, 228. 
 Beller^ophon, 162. 
 Boeo^tia, 10, 13. 
 Bu^teo, 187. 
 
 C^^pio, 216, 263. 
 Cse^sar, 251. 
 Caius (Ka^yus), 121. 
 Cala^iius, 112. 
 Callis^thenes, 97, 98. 
 Calpur^nia, 315, 316, 317. 
 Calpur^nius, 222, 263. 
 Canin^ius, 309. 
 Casi^num, 182. 
 Cau^casus, 310. 
 Cethe^gus, 258. 
 Chaerone^a, 79. 
 Charide^mus, 215. 
 Circae^um, 155, 
 
3eS2 
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 Cnid^ian (Nid^ian), 317. 
 Comin^ius, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 
 
 133. 
 Corcy^ra, 27. 
 CorMuba, 267. 
 Coriola^nus, 121. 
 Cori^oli, 128, 129, 130, 133. 
 Corone^a, 57. 
 Cosco^nius, 303. 
 Cyz^icus, 34. 
 
 Dari^us, 7. 
 Demara^tus, 33. 
 Dia^na, 70, 227. 
 Dindyme^ne, 35. 
 
 Elpini^ce, 46, 47. 
 Epic^rates, 28. 
 Epicu^rus, 318. 
 Epicy^des, 9, 10. 
 Epi^rus, 28, 290. 
 Ere^tria, 16. 
 EuboeX 12. 
 Eu^menes, 215. 
 Euphe^mides, 9. 
 Eurybi^ades, 11, 15, 16. 
 Exa^thres, 103. 
 
 Fa^bius, 176. 
 Flamin^ius, 178, 179. 
 Fufid^us, 228. 
 
 Gly^con, 59. 
 Graci^nus, 247. 
 GranKcus, 82, 83. 
 
 Har^palus, 75. 
 Hephaes^tion, 116. 
 Hermip^pus, 62. 
 Herodotus, 11, 21. 
 Hydas^pes, 106, 107. 
 
 Ibe^rus, 174. 
 
 Langobri^tae, (?) 230. 
 Laom^edon, 214. 
 Lati^nus, 150, 151. 
 Lavi^ci, 155. 
 Leob^otes, 26. 
 Leonna^tus, 91, 99. 
 Lycae^a, 312. 
 Lycome-'des, 19. 
 
 Mar^cius, 121. 
 
 Ma^rius, 212, 213, 216, 217, 218, 219. 
 
 Mazae^us, 96. 
 
 Meg^ara, 18, 296. 
 
 MKeza, 74, 
 
 Milti^ades, 6, 7. 
 
 MnesiptoKema (NesiptoFema), 35. 
 
 Near^'chus, 116. 
 Ne^cles, 4. 
 Nicog^enes, 29, 30, 32. 
 Nicome^des, 252. 
 Norba^nus, 220. 
 Nur^sia, 216. 
 
 Ol^bius, 29. 
 Onesic-'ritus, 113. 
 Or^icum, 290. 
 Ori^tes, 113. 
 
 Pag^asae, 24, 25. 
 
 Pausa^nias, 26, 27. 
 
 PeFagon, 11. 
 
 Perco^te, 34. 
 
 Per^gamus, 253. 
 
 Per^icles, 39. 
 
 Perpen^na, 232, 233, 246, 247, 248. 
 
 Peuces^tes, 101, 110. 
 
 Phale^rum, 16. 
 
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES. 
 
 333 
 
 Phanode^mus, 18. 
 Pharmacu^sa, 252. 
 Phase^is, 86. 
 Philo^tas, 77, 100. 
 Phthi^a (Thi^a), 28. 
 Pin^arus, 90. 
 Pirae^us, 24. 
 Pisis^tratus, 41. 
 Pityu^ssa, (?) 223. 
 Plat^^a, 21. 
 Poliar/chus, 23. 
 Polym^achus, 113. 
 Polys^tratus, 103. 
 PopiFius, 255. 
 Poplic^la, 162, 163, 
 Posido^nius, 200. 
 Pothi^nus, 300, 301, 302. 
 Py^os, 137. 
 
 Rhe^a, 216. 
 Rhoe^saces, 84. 
 
 SaFamis, 20. 
 
 Salina^tor, 222. 
 
 Sci^athus, 11. 
 
 Seri^phus, 22, 
 
 Serto^rius, 214. 
 
 Sicin^nius, 128, 135 142, 144. 
 
 Sic^innus, 17, 18. 
 
 Sino^pe, 80. 
 
 Sisimith^res, 105. 
 
 Spithrida^tes, 84. 
 Stati^ra, 113. 
 Stesila^us, 5. 
 
 Tan^agra, 45. 
 Tax^iles, 105. 
 Te^nos, 18. 
 Theag^enes, 79. 
 Therais^tocles, 4. 
 Theodec^tes, 86. 
 Theod^otus, 300. 
 Thora^nius, 228. 
 Thras^ymene, 178. 
 Tiguri^ni, 268. 
 Timocle^a, 78. 
 Tole^ria, 155. 
 ToKmides, 56, 57. 
 Torqua^tus, 187. 
 Tre^bia, 177, 178. 
 
 Yale^ria, 162, 163, 164. 
 Vale^rius, 126, 268. 
 Veil (Ve^yi), 171. 
 VePitrse, 134, 135. 
 Vellu^tus, 128. 
 Venu^sia, 196. 
 VergiKia, 163, 164, 165. 
 Volum^nia, 125, 163, 164, 165. 
 
 Zele^a, 10. 
 
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 'vithont impairfncnt o^ style or story. 11 lustrations, token desirable 
 
 uwd. Illustrated books are indicated by stars. The prices have^ been 
 
 .' as possible. An edition ha^ been bound in cloth, umitting the he.: 
 
 >'6S fur Children," The boohs may be had m sets, boxed, 
 
 Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, 
 
 *FiRST Series : Supplementary to the Third Reader. 
 *Second Series : Supplementary to the Fourth Reader. 
 '^JEIsop'S Fables, with selections from Krilof and La Fontaine. 
 "^Kingslej's Water- B ah ie s : A Story for a Land Baby. 
 *Ruskin's King of the Golden River: A Legend of Stiria. 
 *The Swiss Family Robinson. Abridged. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe, Concluding with his departu^ from the island 
 *Kingsl^y's Greek Feroes, 
 
 Lamb's Tj.les from Shakespeare, " Meas. for Meas." omitte j 
 
 Scott s Tales of a Grandfather. 
 *Mjartweau's Feasant and Frince. 
 
 Scott s Lady of the Lake, 
 
 Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses. 
 
 Church's Stories of the Old World. 
 
 Scotfs Talisman. Complete. 
 
 Scotfs Quentin Durward. Slightly abridged. 
 
 Irving' S Sketch Book. Six Selections, including " Rip Van Winkle 
 
 Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. 
 
 Scott's Guy Mannering. Complete. 
 
 Scott's Ivanhoe. Complete. 
 
 Johnson's Rasselas : Prince of Abyssinia. 
 
 Gulliver* S Travels, The Voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag. 
 * Plutarch's Lives, From Clough's translation. 
 
 OTHERS ARE IN PREPARATION. SEND FOR FULL CIRCULAR. 
 
 GINN & COMPANY, Publishers, 
 
 Boston, New York, and Chicago.