[Footnote 258: He was the third son of Tigranes by the daughter of Mithridates. The other two had been put to death by their father. The young Tigranes appeared in the triumph of Pompeius at Rome and then was put to death. (Appianus, Mithridatic War, c. 104, 5.)]

[Footnote 259: See the Life of Lucullus, c. 26, notes.]

[Footnote 260: Probably Artaxata is meant, for Appianus (c. 104) says that Pompeius had advanced to the neighbourhood of Artaxata.

Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 104) places these transactions with Tigranes after the battle with the Iberians which Plutarch describes in c. 34.]

[Footnote 261: Probably a Persian word, with the same meaning as Tiara, the head-dress of the Persians and some other Oriental nations. The kings wore it upright to distinguish them from other people. (Herodotus, vii. 61.)]

[Footnote 262: A part of Armenia between the Antitaurus and the mountain range of Masius. (Strabo, p. 527.)]

[Footnote 263: Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 104) states that Pompeius received 6000 talents (of silver?) from Tigranes; and he seems to understand it as if the money was for Pompeius. In the other sums he agrees with Plutarch, except as to the tribunes, who received 10,000 drachmae, or one talent and 4000 drachmae, or 40 minae.

On the value of the drachma, see Life of Tib. Gracchus, c. 2.]

[Footnote 264: I.e., to sup with.]

[Footnote 265: This great mountain system lies between the Euxine and the Caspian, and was now entered for the first time by the Roman troops. Colchis was on the west side of the mountains.]

[Footnote 266: The Saturnalia were celebrated in Rome on the 19th of December at this time. (Macrobius, Sat. i. 10; and the Life of Sulla, c. 18.) It was accordingly in the winter of B.C. 66 that Pompeius was in the mountains of the Caucasus. (Dion Cassius, 36. c. 36, 37.)]

[Footnote 267: I have kept the name Cyrnus, as it stands in the text of Plutarch, though it is probably, an error of the transcribers. The real name Cyrus could not be unknown to Plutarch. In the text of Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 103) the name is erroneously written Cyrtus; in Dion Cassius, it is Cyrnus. The Cyrus, now the Cur, flows from the higher regions of the Caucasus through Iberia and Albania, and is joined by the Araxes, Aras, above the point where the united stream enters the Caspian on the west coast. The twelve mouths are mentioned by Appianus (c. 103). Compare Strabo, p. 491.]

[Footnote 268: In fact the Persians never subdued any of the mountain tribes within the nominal limits of their dominions; and the Caucasus was indeed not even within the nominal limits.

It is true that Alexander soon quitted Hyrkania, which lies on the south-east coast of the Caspian; but when he was in Hyrkania he was still a considerable distance from the Iberians. (Arrianus, iii. 23, &c.)]

[Footnote 269: This is the Faz, or Reone, which enters the south-east angle of the Euxine in the country of the Colchi.]

[Footnote 270: The Abas river is conjectured by some writers to be the Alazonius, which was the boundary between Iberia and Albania, The Abas is mentioned by Dion Cassius, 37. c. 3.]

[Footnote 271: [Greek: epi ten tou thorakos epiptuchen] Apparently some part of the coat of mail where there was a fold to allow of the motion of the body. As to the battle see Dion Cassius, 37. c. 3, &c.]

[Footnote 272: Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 103) says "Among the hostages and the captives were found many women, who were wounded as much as the men; and they were supposed to be Amazons, whether it is that some nation called Amazons borders on them, and they were then invited to give aid, or that the barbarians in those parts call any warlike women by the name of Amazons." The explanation of Appianus is probably the true explanation. Instances of women serving as soldiers are not uncommon even in modern warfare. The story of a race of fighting women occurs in many ancient writers. The Amazons are first mentioned by Herodotus (iv. 110-116). There is a story of a hundred armed women being presented to Alexander (Arrian, vii. 13, &c., who gives his opinion about them). Strabo (p. 503) says that Theophanes, who accompanied Pompeius in this campaign, places the Gelae and Legae between the Albanians and the Amazons. It is probable that the women of the mountain tribes of the Caucasus sometimes served in the field, and this at least may explain the story here told by Plutarch. The chief residence of the Amazons is placed in the plains of Themiscyra on the Thermodon in Cappadocia. Plutarch in his confused notions of geography appears to consider the Thermodon as a Caucasian river. He also places them near the Leges, a name which resembles that of the Lesghians, one of the present warlike tribes of the Caucasus. On antient medals the Amazons are represented with a short vest reaching to the knee, and one breast bare. Their arms were a crescent shield, the bow and arrow, and the double axe, whence the name Amazonia was used as a distinctive appellation for that weapon (Amazonia securis, Horat. Od. iv. 4).]

[Footnote 273: The Caspian sea or lake was also called the Hyrkanian, from the province of Hyrkania which bordered on the south-east coast. The first notice of this great lake is in Herodotus (i. 203).]

[Footnote 274: The Elymaei were mountaineers who occupied the mountainous region between Susiana and Media. Gordyene was in the most south-eastern part of Armenia. Tigranocerta was in Gordyene. Appianus says that in his time Sophene and Gordyene composed the Less Armenia (Mithridatic War, c. 105). In the territory of Arbela, where the town of Arbil now is, Alexander had defeated Darius, the last king of Persia.]

[Footnote 275: Another Greek woman, as we may infer from the name. The story of the surrender of the fort by Stratonike is told by Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 107) with some additional particulars. Dion Cassius (37. c. 7) names this fort Symphorium.

The narrative of Plutarch omits many circumstances in the campaigns of Pompeius, which Appianus has described (c. 105, 106) a happening between the arrangement with Tigranes and the surrender of the fort by Stratonike. Among these events was the war in Judaea and the capture of Jerusalem. Pompeius entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple, into which only the high priest could enter, and that on certain occasions. Jerusalem was taken B.C. 63 in the consulship of Cicero. The events of this campaign are too confused to be reduced into chronological order. Drumann has attempted it (Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 451, &c.)]

[Footnote 276: Plutarch means the fort which he has mentioned in the preceding chapter without there giving it a name; the Symphorium of Dion. It was on the river Lycus, not quite 200 stadia from Cabira (Strabo, 556), and was an impregnable place.]

[Footnote 277: [Greek: Hupomnemata]: probably written in Greek, with which Mithridates was well acquainted. These valuable memoirs were used by Theophanes in his history of the campaigns of Pompeius. Theophanes was a native of Mitylene in Lesbos and accompanied Pompeius in several of his campaigns. He is often mentioned by Cicero (Cicero, Ad Attic., ii. 4, and the notes in the Variorum edition).]

[Footnote 278: The character of Mithridates is only known to us from his enemies. But his own memoirs, if the truth is here stated, prove his cruel and vindictive character. He spared neither his friends nor his own children. Among others he put to death his son Xiphares by Stratonike to revenge himself on the mother for giving up the fort Kaenum.]

[Footnote 279: See the Life of Sulla, c. 6. The registration of dreams and their interpretation, that is the events which followed and were supposed to explain them, were usual among the Greeks. There is still extant one of these curious collections by Artemidorus Daldianus in five books, entitled Oneirocritica, or The Interpretation of Dreams. The fifth book of 'Results' contains ninety-five dreams of individuals and the events which happened.]

[Footnote 280: See the Life of Lucullus, c. 18.]

[Footnote 281: Publius Rutilius Rufus was consul B.C. 105. He was exiled in consequence of being unjustly convicted B.C. 92 at the time when the Judices were chosen from the body of the Equites. He was accused of Repetundae and convicted and exiled. He retired to Smyrna, where he wrote the history of his own times in Greek. All the authorities state that he was an honest man and was unjustly condemned. (Velleius Paterculus, ii. 13; Tacitus, Agricola, c. 1: and the various passages in Orelli, Onomasticon, P. Rutilius Rufus.)]

[Footnote 282: See the Life of Lucullus, c. 14.]

[Footnote 283: The strait that unites the Euxine to the Maeotis or Sea of Azoff, was called the Bosporus, which name was also given to the country on the European side of the strait, which is included in the peninsula of the Crimea.]

[Footnote 284: See Dion Cassius, 37. c. 5.]

[Footnote 285: This is the Indian Ocean. The name first occurs in Herodotus. It is generally translated the Red Sea, and so it is translated by Kaltwasser. But the Red Sea was called the Arabian Gulf by Herodotus. However, the term Erythraean Sea was sometimes used with no great accuracy, and appears to have comprehended the Red Sea, which is a translation of the term Erythraean, as the Greeks understood that word ([Greek: erythros], Red).]

[Footnote 286: Triarius, the legatus of Lucullus, had been defeated three years before by Mithridates. See the Life of Lucullus, c. 35; and Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 89).]

[Footnote 287: This mountain range is connected with the Taurus and runs down to the coast of the Mediterranean, which it reaches at the angle formed by the Gulf of Scanderoon.]

[Footnote 288: This campaign, as already observed in the notes to c. 36, is placed earlier by Appianus, but his chronology is confused and incorrect. The siege of Jerusalem, which was accompanied with great difficulty, is described by Dion Cassius (37. c. 15, &c.), and by Josephus (Jewish Wars, xiv. 4). There was a great slaughter of the Jews when the city was stormed.]

[Footnote 289: This country was Gordyene. (Dion Cassius, 37. c. 5.)]

[Footnote 290: This city, the capital of Syria, was built by Seleucus Nicator and called Antiocheia after his father Antiochus. It is situated in 36 deg. 12' N. lat. on the south bank of the Orontes, a river which enters the sea south of the Gulf of Scanderoon.]

[Footnote 291: The meaning of the original is obscure. The word is [Greek: to imation], which ought to signify his vest or toga. Some critics take it to mean a kind of handkerchief used by sick persons and those of effeminate habits; and they say it was also used by persons when travelling, as a cover for the head, which the Greeks called Theristerium. The same word is used in the passage (c. 7), where it is said that "Sulla used to rise from his seat as Pompeius approached and take his vest from his head." Whatever may be the meaning of the word here, Plutarch seems to say that this impudent fellow would take his seat at the table before the guests had arrived and leave his master to receive them.]

[Footnote 292: Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 53) observes that "Plutarch does not say that Pompeius built his house near his theatre, but that he built it in addition to his theatre and at the same time, as Donatus had perceived, De Urbe Roma, 3, 8, in Graev. Thes. T. 3, p. 695." But Drumann is probably mistaken. There is no great propriety in the word [Greek: epholkion] unless the house was near the theatre, and the word [Greek: paretektenato] rather implies 'proximity,' than 'in addition to.'

This was the first permanent theatre that Rome had. It was built partly on the model of that of Mitylene and it was opened in the year B.C. 55. This magnificent theatre, which would accommodate 40,000 people, stood in the Campus Martius. It was built of stone with the exception of the scena, and ornamented with statues, which were placed there under the direction of Atticus, who was a man of taste. Augustus embellished the theatre, and he removed thither the statue of Pompeius, which up to that time had stood in the Curia where Caesar was murdered. The scena was burnt down in the time of Tiberius, who began to rebuild it; but it was not finished till the reign of Claudius. Nero gilded the interior. The scena was again burnt in the beginning of the reign of Titus, who restored it again. The scena was again burnt in the reign of Philippus and a third time restored. (Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 521; Dion Cassius 39. c. 88, and the notes of Reimarus.)]

[Footnote 293: Petra, the capital of the Nabathaei, is about half way between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the northern extremity of the AElanitic Gulf, the more eastern of the two northern branches of the Red Sea. The ruins of Petra exist in the Wady Musa, and have been visited by Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, and last by Laborde, who has given the most complete description of them in his 'Voyage de l'Arabie Petree,' Paris, 1830. The place is in the midst of a desert, but has abundance of water. Its position made it an important place of commerce in the caravan trade of the East; and it was such in the time of Strabo, who states on the authority of his friend Athonodorus that many Romans were settled there (p. 779). It contains numerous tombs and a magnificent temple cut in the rock, a theatre and the remains of houses.

The king against whom Pompeius was marching is named Aretas by Dion Cassius (37. c. 15).]

[Footnote 294: The Paeonians were a Thracian people on the Strymon. (Herodotus, v. 1.) It appears from Dion Cassius (49. c. 36) that the Greeks often called the Pannonians by the name of Paeonians, which Sintenis considers a reason for not altering the reading here into Pannonians. Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 102) uses the name Paeonians, though he means Pannonians.]

[Footnote 295: This is the Roman word. Compare Tacitus (Annal. i. 18): "congerunt cespites, exstruunt tribunal."]

[Footnote 296: The circumstances of the rebellion of Pharnakes and the death of Mithridates are told by Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 110) and Dion Cassius (37. c. 11). Mithridates died B.C. 63, in the year in which Cicero was consul.

The text of the last sentence in this chapter is corrupt; and the meaning is uncertain.]

[Footnote 297: [Greek: to nemeseton].]

[Footnote 298: The body of Mithridates was interred at Sinope. Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 113) says that Pharnakes sent the dead body of his father in a galley to Pompeius to Sinope, and also those who had killed Manius Aquilius, and many hostages Greeks and barbarians. There might be some doubt about the meaning of the words 'many corpses of members of the royal family' [Greek: polla somata ton basilikon] but Plutarch appears from the context to mean dead bodies. Two of the daughters of Mithridates who were with him when he died, are mentioned by Appianus (c. 111) as having taken poison at the same time with their father. The poison worked on them, but had no effect on the old man, who therefore prevailed on a Gallic officer who was in his service to kill him. (Compare Dion Cassius, 39. c. 13, 14.)]

[Footnote 299: He made it what the Romans called Libera Civitas, a city which had its own jurisdiction and was free from taxes. Compare the Life of Caesar, c. 48.]

[Footnote 300: He was a native of Apamea in Syria, a Stoic, and a pupil of Panaetius. He was one of the masters of Cicero, who often speaks of him and occasionally corresponded with him (Cicero, Ad Attic. ii. 1). Cicero also mentions Hermagoras in his treatise De Inventione (i. 6, and 9), and in the Brutus (c. 79).]

[Footnote 301: See the Life of Sulla, c. 6.]

[Footnote 302: She was the daughter of Q. Mucius Scaevola, consul B.C. 95, and the third wife of Pompeius, who had three children by her. She was not the sister of Q. Metellus Nepos and Q. Metellus Celer, as Kaltwasser says, but a kinswoman. Cn. Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius were the sons of Mucia. Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 12) speaks of the divorce of Mucia and says that it was approved of; but he does not assign the reason. C. Julius Caesar (Suetonius, Caesar, c. 50) is named as the adulterer or one of them, and Pompeius called him his AEgisthus. After her divorce in the year B.C. 62 Mucia married M. AEmilius Scaurus, the brother of the second wife of Pompeius. Mucia survived the battle of Actium (B.C. 31), and she was treated with respect by Octavianus Caesar (Dion Cassius, 51. c. 2; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 557).]

[Footnote 303: Here and elsewhere I have used Plutarch's word [Greek: monarchia] , 'The government of one man,' by which he means the Dictatorship, in some passages at least.]

[Footnote 304: He landed in Italy B.C. 62, during the consulship of D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena. The request mentioned at the beginning of c. 44 is also noticed in Plutarch's Life of Cato (c. 30). M. Pupius Piso was one of the consuls for B.C. 61.]

[Footnote 305: This was L. Afranius, one of the legati of Pompeius, who has often been mentioned. He was consul with Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60 (compare Dion Cassius, 37. c. 49). Cicero, who was writing to Atticus at the time (Ad Attic. i. 17), speaks of the bribery at the election of Afranius, and accuses Pompeius of being active on the occasion. From this consulship Horatius (Od. ii. 1) dates the commencement of the civil wars, for in this year was formed the coalition between Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus. See the remark of Cato, c. 47.]

[Footnote 306: Compare Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 116) and Dramann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 485. When particular measures of money are not mentioned, Plutarch, as usual with him, means Attic drachmae.]

[Footnote 307: The triumph of Pompeius was in B.C. 61 on his birthday (Plinius 37. c. 2). Pompeius was born B.C. 106, and consequently he was now entering on his forty-sixth year—Xylander (Holzmann) preferred to read 'fifty' instead of 'forty.']

[Footnote 308: Cicero went into exile B.C. 58, and after the events mentioned in chapter 47. Caesar returned from his province of Iberia in B.C. 60.]

[Footnote 309: See the Life of Caesar, c. 14, as to the events mentioned in this chapter and the following. Caesar was consul B.C. 59.]

[Footnote 310: L. Calpurnius Piso and A. Gabinius were consuls B.C. 58, in the year in which Clodius was tribune and Cicero was exiled.]

[Footnote 311: As to this remark of Pompeius, compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 38.]

[Footnote 312: Compare the Life of Cato, c. 34.]

[Footnote 313: A mark of an effeminate person. Compare the Life of Caesar, c. 4, which explains this passage.]

[Footnote 314: This event is told by Dion Cassius (39. c. 19), but as Kaltwasser remarks he places it in B.C. 56, when Clodius was aedile and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and M. Marcius Philippus were consuls. The trial was that of Milo De Vi, B.C. 56. Compare Cicero (Ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 3) and Rein (Criminalrecht der Roemer, p. 758, note).]

[Footnote 315: Q. Terentius Culleo was a tribunus plebis B.C. 58. He is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic. iii. 15) and elsewhere.]

[Footnote 316: Cicero returned to Rome B.C. 57 in the consulship of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos. See the Life of Cicero, c. 33. He had returned to Rome before the trial mentioned at the end of c. 48.]

[Footnote 317: Pompeius was made Praefectus Annonae for five years. There was a great scarcity at Rome, which was nothing unusual, and dangerous riots (see the article CORN TRADE, ROMAN, 'Political Dictionary,' by the author of this note). The appointment of Pompeius is mentioned by Dion Cassius (39. c. 9, and the notes of Reimarus). Cicero (Ad Atticum, iv. 1) speaks of the appointment of Pompeius.]

[Footnote 318: Ptolemaeus Auletes had given large bribes to several Romans to purchase their influence and to get himself declared a friend and ally of the Romans; which was in fact to put himself under their protection. His subjects were dissatisfied with him for various reasons, and among others for the heavy taxes which he laid on them to raise the bribe money. He made his escape from Egypt and was now in Rome. The story is told at some length in Dion Cassius (39. c. 12, &c.), and the matter of the king's restoration is discussed by Cicero in several letters (Ad Diversos, i. 1-7) to this Spinther. The king for the present did not get the aid which he wanted, and he retired to Ephesus, where he lodged within the precincts of the temple of Artemis, which was an ASYLUM. (See 'Political Dictionary,' art. Asylum; and Strabo, p. 641.)]

[Footnote 319: A Greek historian of the time of Augustus. He was originally a captive slave, but he was manumitted and admitted to the intimacy of Augustus Caesar. He was very free with his tongue, which at last caused him to be forbidden the house of Augustus. (Seneca, De Ira, iii. 23.) He burnt some of his historical writings, but not all of them, for Plutarch here refers to his authority. Horatius (1 Ep. 19. v. 15) alludes to Timagenes. (See Suidas, [Greek: Timagenes].)]

[Footnote 320: See the Life of Caesar, c. 15, and as to the conference at Luca, c. 21. The conference took place B.C. 56, when Marcellinus (c. 48, notes) was one of the consuls. Compare also the Life of Crassus (c. 14, 15), and Dion Cassius, 39. c. 30, as to the trouble at Rome at this time, and Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 17).]

[Footnote 321: This is the meaning of the word [Greek: politikoteron] , which is generally mistranslated here and in other parts of Plutarch. It is the translation of the Roman term 'civiliter.' (Tacitus, Annal. i 33, iii 76.)]

[Footnote 322: Life of Crassus, c. 15, notes.]

[Footnote 323: P. Vatinius, often mentioned by Cicero. (See Orelli, Onomasticon, Vatinius.) Cicero's extant oration In Vatinium was delivered B.C. 56.]

[Footnote 324: C. Trebonius, a friend of Cicero, several of whose letters to him are extant. (Cicero, Ad Divers. x. 28; xii. 16; xv. 20, 21.) He was one of the conspirators against Caesar; and Cicero tells him (x. 28) that he was somewhat vexed with him that he saved Antonius from the same fate. Trebonius was treacherously put to death at Smyrna by Dolabella with circumstances of great cruelty B.C. 43. (Dion Cassius, 47. c. 29.) In the notes to the life of Crassus, c. 16, I have incorrectly called this Tribune Titus.]

[Footnote 325: Plutarch must mean that Crassus left Rome before the expiration of his consulship B.C. 55; but the words [Greek: apallageis tes hupateias] are in themselves doubtful. (Life of Crassus, c. 16.)]

[Footnote 326: Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 524) has diligently collected all the circumstances of this magnificent exhibition. (See also Dion Cassius, 39. c. 38, and the references in the notes of Reimarus.) The elephant-fight ([Greek: elphantomachia] ) was a fight between the elephants and armed Gaetulians. There were eighteen elephants. The cries of the animals when they were wounded moved the pity of the spectators. The elephants would not enter the vessels when they were leaving Africa, till they received a promise from their leaders that they should not he injured; the treacherous treatment of them at the games was the cause of their loud lamentations, in which they appealed to the deity against the violation of the solemn promise. (Dion Cassius.) Cicero, who was not fond of exhibitions of the kind, speaks with disgust of the whole affair (Ad Diversos, vii. 1). The letter of Cicero, written at the time, is valuable contemporary evidence. Various facts on the exhibition of elephants at Rome are collected in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Menageries, Elephant.

A rhinoceros was also exhibited at the games of Pompeius; and an actress was brought on the stage, who had made her first appearance in the consulship of C. Marius the younger, and Cn. Carbo B.C. 82, but she made her appearance again in the time of Augustus, A.D. 9, in the consulship of Poppaeus, when she was 103 years old, 91 years after her first appearance. (Plinius, H.N. vii. 49.) Drumann says, when speaking of the games of Pompeius, "a woman of unusually advanced age was brought forward;" but the words of Plinius "anus pro miraculo reducta," apply to her last appearance. A woman of one-and-forty was no uncommon thing then, nor is it now. The pointing in the common texts is simply the cause of the blunder.]

[Footnote 327: See the Life of Crassus, c. 16, notes, Julia died B.C. 54, in the consulship of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus and Ap. Claudius Pulcher (See the Life of Caesar. c. 23.) Crassus lost his life B.C. 53.]

[Footnote 328: A quotation from the Iliad, xv. 189.]

[Footnote 329: Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, the consuls of B.C. 53, were not elected till seven months after the proper time, so that there was during this time an anarchy [Greek: anarchia] , which is Plutarch's word). This term 'anarchy' must be taken in its literal and primary sense of a time when there were no magistrates, which would be accompanied with anarchy in the modern sense of the term. Dion Cassius (40. c. 45) describes this period of confusion. The translation in the text may lead to a misunderstanding of Plutarch's meaning; it should be, "he allowed an anarchy to take place." Kaltwasser's translation: "so liess er es zu einer Anarchie kommen," is perfectly exact.]

[Footnote 330: In the year B.C. 52 in which year Clodius was killed.]

[Footnote 331: She was the daughter of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, who was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica and of Licinia, the daughter of the orator L. Crassus. He was adopted (B.C. 64 or 63) by the testament of Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius, who fought in Spain ngainst Sertorius; but his daughter must have been born before this, as she bore the name Cornelia. Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Caecilii, p. 49) thinks that the story of her attempting to destroy herself when she heard of the death of her husband (Life of Pompeius, c. 74) is suspicious, because she married Pompeius the year after. If Cornelia were the only woman that was ever said to have done so, we might doubt the story; but as she is not, we need not suspect it on that account.]

[Footnote 332: Corruption is [Greek: dorodokia] in Plutarch, 'gift receiving,' and it ought to correspond to the Roman Peculatus. But [Greek: dorodokia] also means corruption by bribes. Bribery is [Greek: dekasmos] in Plutarch, which is expressed generally by the Roman Ambitus, and specially by the verb 'decuriare.' (See Cicero's Oration Pro Cn. Plancio, Ed. Wunder.) The offence of Scipio was Ambitus. (Dion Cassius, 40. c. 51, &c.; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 24.) As to Roman Bribery, see the article BRIBERY, 'Political Dictionary,' by the author of this note, whose contribution begins p. 416.]

[Footnote 333: These 360 Judices appear to have been chosen for the occasion of these trials. (Velleius Pater. ii. 76; Goettling, Roemische Staatsverfassung, p. 482.)]

[Footnote 334: T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, a tribune of the Plebs. In B.C. 52 Milo and Clodius with their followers had an encounter in which Clodius was killed. Tho people, with whom he was a favourite, burnt his body in the Curia Hostilia, and the Curia with it. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 48.) Plancus was charged with encouraging this disorder, and he was brought to trial. Cicero was his accuser; he was condemned and exiled. (Cicero, Ad Diversos, vii. 2.)]

[Footnote 335: Plautius Hypsaeus was not a consular. He had been the quaestor of Pompeius. He and Scipio had been candidates for the consulship this year, and were both charged with bribery. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 53.) Hypsaeus was convicted.]

[Footnote 336: See the Life of Caesar, c. 29. Pompeius had lent Caesar two legions (c. 52). Compare Dion Cassius, 40. c. 65, and Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29. The illness of Pompeius and the return of the legions from Gaul took place in the year B.C. 50. Appius Claudius (c. 57) was sent by the Senate to conduct the legions from Gaul. Dion Cassius (40. c. 65) says that Pompeius had lent Caesar only one legion, but that Caesar had to give up another also, inasmuch as Pompeius obtained an order of the Senate that both he and Caesar should give a legion to Bibulus, who was in Syria, for the Parthian war. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29; Bell. Gall. viii. 54.) Thus Pompeius in effect gave up nothing, but Caesar parted with two legions. The legions were not sent to Syria, but both wintered in Capua. The consul C. Claudius Marcellus (B.C. 50) gave both these legions to Pompeius.]

[Footnote 337: L. AEmilius Paulus was consul B.C. 50, with C. Claudius Marcellus a violent opponent of Caesar. He built the Basilica Pauli (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 26). Basilica is a Greek word ([Greek: basilike] ); a basilica was used as a court of law, and a place of business for merchants. The form of a Roman basilica is known from the description of Vitruvius (v. 1), the ground-plan of two Basilicae at Rome, and that of Pompeii which is in better preservation. Some of the great Roman churches are called Basilicae, and in their construction bear some resemblance to the antient Basilicae. ('Penny Cyclopaedia,' Basilica.)]

[Footnote 338: C. Scribonius Curio. Compare the Life of M. Antonius, c. 2. He was a man of ability, but extravagant in his habits (Dion Cassius, 40. c. 60):—

"Momentumque fuit mutatus Curio rerum, Gallorum captus spoliis et Caesaris auro."—

Lucanus, Pharsalia, iv. 819

As to the vote on the proposition of Curio, Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 30) agrees with Plutarch. Dion Cassius (40. c. 64: and 41. c. 2) gives a different account of this transaction.]

[Footnote 339: C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus were consuls for the year B.C. 49, in which the war broke out, This Marcellus was the cousin of the consul Marcellus of the year B.C. 50, who (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 30) presented Pompeius with a sword when he commissioned him to fight against Caesar. Plutarch appears (c. 58, 59) to mean the same Marcellus; but he has confounded them. The Marcellus of c. 58 is the consul of B.C. 49; and the Marcellus of c. 59 is the consul of B.C. 50, according to Dion Cassius (40. c. 66 41. c. 1, &c.) and Appianus.]

[Footnote 340: Cicero returned from his government of Cilicia B.C. 50.]

[Footnote 341: See the Life of Caesar, c. 32.]

[Footnote 342: L. Volcatius Tullus who had been consul B.C. 66 ('Consule Tullo'), Horatius (Od. iii. 8).]

[Footnote 343: The reply of Pompeius is given by Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 37). As to the confusion in Rome see Dion Cassius (42. c. 6-9); and the references in Clinton, Fasti, B.C. 49.]

[Footnote 344: Plutarch here omits the capture of Corfinium, which took place before Caesar entered Rome. See Dion Cassius (41. c. 10), and the Life of Caesar, c. 34.]

[Footnote 345: L. Metullus, of whom little is known. Kaltwasser makes Caesar say to Metellus, "It was not harder for him to say it than to do it;" which has no sense in it. What Caesar did say appears from the Life of Caesar, c. 35. Caesar did not mean to say that it was as easy for him to do it as to say it. He meant that it was hard for him to be reduced to say such a thing; as to doing it, when he had said it, that would be a light matter. Sintenis suspects that the text is not quite right here. See the various readings and his proposed alteration; also Cicero, Ad Attic. x. 4.]

[Footnote 346: Caesar (Civil War, i. 25, &c.) describes the operations at Brundisium and the escape ot Pompeius. Compare also Dion Cassius (41. c. 12); Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 39). The usual passage from Italy to Greece was from Brundisium to Dyrrachium (Durazzo), which in former times was called Epidamnus (Thucydides, i. 24; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 39).]

[Footnote 347: This does not appear in Caesar's Civil War.]

[Footnote 348: This opinion of Cicero is contained in a letter to Atticus (vii. 11). When Xerxes invaded Attica (B.C. 480), Themistokles advised the Athenians to quit their city and trust to their ships. The naval victory of Salamis justified his advice. In the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 431) Perikles advised the Athenians to keep within their walls and wait for the Caesar invaders to retire from Attica for want of supplies; in which also the result justified the advice of Perikles. Cicero in his letters often complains of the want of resolution which Pompeius displayed at this crisis.]

[Footnote 349: Plutarch means that Caesar feared that Pompeius had everything to gain if the war was prolonged.

In his Civil War (i. 24) Numerius is called Cneius Magius, 'Praefectus fabrorum,' or head of the engineer department. Sintenis observes that Oudendorp might have used this passage for the purpose of restoring the true praenomen in Caesar's text, 'Numerius' in place of 'Cneius.']

[Footnote 350: These vessels took their name from the Liburni, on the coast of Illyricum. They were generally biremes, and well adapted for sea manoeuvres.]

[Footnote 351: A town in Macedonia west of the Thermaic Gulf or Bay of Saloniki. It appears from this that Pompeius led his troops from the coast of the Adriatic nearly to the opposite coast of Macedonia (Dion Cassius, 41. c. 43). His object apparently was to form a junction with the forces that Scipio and his son were sent to raise in the East (c. 62).]

[Footnote 352: The Romans were accustomed to such exercises as these in the Campus Martius.

———"cur apricum Oderit campum patiens pulveris atque solis?

* * * * *

———saepe disco Saepe trans finem jaculo nobilis expedito."—Horatius, Od. i. 8.

Compare the Life of Marius (34).

The Romans maintained their bodily vigour by athletic and military exercises to a late period of life. The bath, swimming, riding, and the throwing of the javelin were the means by which they maintained their health and strength. A Roman commander at the age of sixty was a more vigorous man than modern commanders at the like age generally are.]

[Footnote 353: Pompeius passed the winter at Thessalonica (Saloniki) on the Thermaic Gulf and on the Via Egnatia, which ran from Dyrrachium to Thessalonica, and thence eastward. He had with him two hundred senators. The consuls, praetors, and quaestors of the year B.C. 49 were continued by the Senate at Thessalonica for the year B.C. 48 under the names of Proconsuls, Propraetors, Proquaestors. Caesar and P. Servillus Isauricus were elected consuls at Rome for the year B.C. 48 (Life of Caesar, c. 37). The party of Pompeius could not appoint new magistrates for want of the ceremony of a Lex Curiata (Dion Cassius, 41. c. 43).]

[Footnote 354: His name is Titus Labienus (Life of Caesar, c. 34). 'Labeo' is a mere blunder of the copyists. Dion Cassius (41. c. 4) gives the reasons for Labienus passing over to Pompeius. Labienus had served Caesar well in Gaul, and he is often mentioned in Caesar's Book on the Gallic War. He fell at the battle of Munda in Spain B.C. 45. (See the Life of Caesar, c. 34, 56.)]

[Footnote 355: M. Junius Brutus. See the Life of Brutus.]

[Footnote 356: Cicero was not in the Senate at Thessalonica, though he had come over to Macedonia. (See the Life of Cicero, c. 38.)]

[Footnote 357: Tidius is not a Roman name. It should be Didius.]

[Footnote 358: The defeats of Afranius and Petreius in Iberia, in the summer of B.C. 49, are told by Caesar in his Civil War, i. 41-81.

Caesar reached Brundisium at the close of the year B.C. 49. See the remarks on the time in Clinton, Fasti, B.C. 49. Oricum or Oricus was a town on the coast of Epirus, south of Apollonia.]

[Footnote 359: L. Vibillius Rufus appears to be the person intended. He is often mentioned by Caesar (Civil War, i. 15, 23, &c.); but as the readings in Caesar's text are very uncertain (Jubellius, Jubilius, Jubulus) Sintenis has not thought it proper to alter the text of Plutarch here.

'On the third day.' Caesar (Civil War, iii. 10) says 'triduo proximo," and the correction of Moses du Soul, [Greek: hemera rhete] , is therefore unnecessary. Pompeius had moved westward from Thessalonica at the time when Rufus was sent to him, and was in Candavia on his road to Apollonia and Dyrrachium (Caesar, Civil War, iii. 11).]

[Footnote 360: Pompeius returned to Dyrrachium, which it had been the object of Caesar to seize. As he had not accomplished this, Caesar posted himself on the River Apsus between Apollonia and Dyrrachium. The fights in the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium are described by Caesar (Civil War, iii. 34, &c.).]

[Footnote 361: The Athamanes were on the borders of Epirus and Thessalia. In place of the Athamanes the MSS. of Caesar (Civil War, iii. 78) have Acarnania, which, as Drumann says, must be a mistake in the text of Caesar.]

[Footnote 362: Q. Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompeius, who had been appointed to the government of Syria by the Senate. Scipio had now come to Thesaalia (Caesar, Civil War, iii. 33, and 80).]

[Footnote 363: Cato was left with fifteen cohorts in Dyrrachium. See the Life of Cato, c. 55; Dion Cassius (12. c. 10).]

[Footnote 364: Or Tusculanum, as Plutarch calls it, now Frascati, about 12 miles S.E. of Rome, where Cicero had a villa.]

[Footnote 365: Lentulus Spinther, consul of B.C. 57, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul B.C. 54. This affair is mentioned by Caesar himself (Civil War, iii. 83, &c.). We have the best evidence of the bloody use that the party of Pompeius would have made of their victory is the letters of Cicero himself (Ad Atticum, xi. 6). There was to be a general proscription, and Rome was to see the times of Sulla revived. But the courage and wisdom of one man defeated the designs of these senseless nobles. Caesar (c. 83) mentions their schemes with a contemptuous brevity.]

[Footnote 366: The town of Pharsalus was situated near the Enipeus, in one of the great plains of Thessalia, called Pharsalia. Caesar (iii. 88) does not mention the place where the battle was fought. See Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 75.]

[Footnote 367: Pompeius had dedicated a temple at Rome to Venus Victrix. The Julia (Iulia) Gens, to which Caesar belonged, traced their deecent from Venus through Iulus, the son of AEneas. (See the Life of Caesar, c. 42.)]

[Footnote 368: Caesar does not mention this meteor in his Civil War. See Life of Caesar, c. 43, and Dion Cassius, 41. c. 61.]

[Footnote 369: A place in Thessalia north of Pharsalus where Titus Quinctius Flaminius defeated King Philip of Macedonia, B.C. 197.]

[Footnote 370: [Greek: ton phoinikoun chitona]. Shakspere has employed this in his Julius Caesar, Act V. Sc. 1:

"Their bloody sign of battle is hung out."

Plutarch means the Vexillum. He has expressed by his word ([Greek: protheinai] ) the 'propono' of Caesar (Bell. Gall. ii. 20; Bell. Hispan. c. 28, Bell. Alexandr. c. 45). The 'hung out' is a better translation than 'unfurled.']

[Footnote 371: Plutarch in this as in some other instances places the Praenomen last, instead of first which he ought to do; but immediately after he writes Lucius Domitius correctly. The error may be owing to the copyists.

The order of the battle is described by Caesar (Civil War, iii. 89). Plutarch here and in the Life of Caesar (c. 44) says that Pompeius commanded the right, but Caesar says that he was on the left. Domitius, that is, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus (Consul B.C. 54), may have commanded under him. Cn. Domitius Calvinus (Consul B.C. 53), whom Plutarch calls Calvinus Lucius, commanded Caesar's centre. The account of Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 76) does not agree with Caesar's.]

[Footnote 372: See Caesar B.C. (iii. 88), and Appianus (ii. 79), who quotes Caesar's letters.]

[Footnote 373: The whole number of Italian troops on both sides was about 70,000, as Plutarch says in the next chapter. There were also other troops on both sides (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 70). The battle was fought on the ninth of August, B.C. 48, according to the uncorrected calendar.]

[Footnote 374: Dion Cassius has some like reflections (41. c. 53-58); and Appianus (ii. 77), who says that both the commanders-in-chief shed tears; which we need not believe.]

[Footnote 375: Lucan, i. 6.]

[Footnote 376: Crassinius, in the Life of Caesar, c. 44. Caesar (iii. 91, 99) names him Crastinus. Compare Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 82). Crastinus received an honourable interment after the battle.]

[Footnote 377: The passage is from the Iliad, xi. 544.]

[Footnote 378: C. Asinius Pollio was a soldier, a poet, and an historical writer. His history of the Civil Wars was comprised in seventeen books. Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 79) quotes this circumstance from Pollio. Horatius (Od. ii. 1) addresses this Pollio, and Virgilius in his fourth Eclogue. The first part of the ode of Horatius contains an allusion to Pollio's historical work.]

[Footnote 379: Caesar (iii. 96) describes the appearance of the camp of Pompeius, and adds that his hungry soldiers found an entertainment which their enemies had prepared for themselves.]

[Footnote 380: Pompeius passed by Larissa, the chief town of Thessalia, on his road to the vale of Tempe, in which the river Peneius flows between the mountain range of Olympus and Ossa. In saying that Pompeius "let his horse go," I have used an expression that may be misunderstood. Caesar(iii. 96) will explain it—"protinusque equo citato Larissam contendit," and he continued his flight at the same rate.]

[Footnote 381: These were L. Lentulus Spinther, Consul B.C. 57, and Lentulus Crus, Consul B.C. 49. Deiotarus was king or tetrarch of Galatia in Asia Minor, and had come to the assistance of Pompeius with a considerable force. Pompeius had given him Armenia the Less, and the title of King. Caesar after the battle of Pharsalus took Armenia from him, but allowed him to retain the title of King.]

[Footnote 382: The verse is from Euripides. It is placed among the Fragmenta Incerta CXIX. ed. Matthiae.]

[Footnote 383: This town was near the mouth of the Strymon, a river of Thrace, and out of the direct route to Lesbos. The reason of Pompeius going there is explained by Caesar (Civil War, iii. 102). Cornelia was at Mitylene in Lesbos with Sextus, the younger son of Pompeius.]

[Footnote 384: Kratippus was a Peripatetic, and at this time the chief of that sect. Cicero's son Marcus afterwards heard his lectures at Athens (Cicero, De Officiis, i. 1), B.C. 44.

The last sentence of this chapter is somewhat obscure, and the opinions of the critics vary as to the reading. See the note of Sintenis.]

[Footnote 385: This city was on the coast of Pamphylia. It took its name from Attalus Philadelphus, the king of Pergamum of that name, who built it.

Lucanus (viii. 251) makes Pompeius first land at Phaselis in Lycia.]

[Footnote 386: Dion Cassius (43. c. 2) discusses this matter. He thinks that Pompeius could never have thought of going to Parthia. Compare Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 83).]

[Footnote 387: This is the King Juba mentioned in the Life of Caesar, c. 52.]

[Footnote 388: This is Ptolemaeus Dionysius, the last of his race, and the son of the Ptolemaeus Auletes mentioned in c. 49. Auletes had been restored to his kingdom through the influence of Pompeius by A. Gabinius B.C. 55.]

[Footnote 389: This Arsakes is called Hyrodes or Orodes in the Life of Crassus (c. 18). Arsakes seems to have been a name common to the Parthian kings, as the representatives of Arsakes, the founder of the dynasty. Orodes had already refused his aid to Pompeius in the beginning of the war, and put in chains Hirrus, who had been sent to him. The Parthian demanded the cession of Syria, which Pompeius would not consent to.]

[Footnote 390: Probably Seleukeia in Syria at the mouth of the Orontes.]

[Footnote 391: He was now thirteen years of age, and according to his father's testament, he and his sister Kleopatra were to be joint kings and to intermarry after the fashion of the Greek kings of Egypt. The advisers of Ptolemaeus had driven Kleopatra out of Egypt, and on the news of her advancing against the eastern frontiers with an army, they went out to meet her. Pelusium, on the eastern branch of the Nile, had for many centuries been the strong point on this frontier. (Caesar, Civil War, iii. 103; Dion Cassius, 42. c. 3, &c.) Pompeius approached the shore of Egypt with several vessels and about 2000 soldiers.

As to the circumstances in this chapter, compare Dion Cassius (42. c. 3), Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 84), and Caesar (Civil War, iii. 104). Caesar simply mentions the assassination of Pompeius. He says no more about it.]

[Footnote 392: The death of Pompeius is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Atticum, xi. 6). As to his age, Drumann observes, "He was born B.C. 106, and was consequently 58 years old when he was killed, on the 29th of September, or on the day before his birthday, about the time of the autumnal equinox according to the unreformed calendar." (Lucanus, viii 467.)]

[Footnote 393: He is called Cordus by Lucanus (viii. 715), and had formerly been a quaestor of Pompeius.]



COMPARISON OF AGESILAUS AND POMPEIUS.

I. As both these men's lives are now before us, let us briefly recapitulate them, observing as we do so the points in which they differ from one another. These are as follows:—First, Pompeius obtained his power and renown by the most strictly legitimate means, chiefly by his own exertions when assisting Sulla in the liberation of Italy; while Agesilaus obtained the throne in defiance of both human and divine laws, for he declared Leotychides to be a bastard, although his brother had publicly recognised him as his own son, and he also by a quibble evaded the oracle about a lame reign.

Secondly, Pompeius both respected Sulla while he lived, gave his body an honourable burial, in spite of Lepidus, when he died, and married Sulla's daughter to his own son Faustus; while Agesilaus, on a trifling pretext, disgraced and ruined Lysander. Yet Sulla gave Pompeius nothing more than he possessed himself, whereas Lysander made Agesilaus king of Sparta, and leader of the united armies of Greece.

Thirdly, the political wrong-doings of Pompeius were chiefly committed to serve his relatives, Caesar and Scipio; while Agesilaus saved Sphodrias from the death which he deserved for his outrage upon the Athenians merely to please his son, and vigorously supported Phoebidas when he committed a similar breach of the peace against the Thebans. And generally, we may say that while Pompeius only injured the Romans through inability to refuse the demands of friends, or through ignorance, Agesilaus ruined the Lacedaemonians by plunging them into war with Thebes, to gratify his own angry and quarrelsome temper.

II. If it be right to attribute the disasters which befel either of those men to some special ill-luck which attended them, the Romans had no reason whatever to suspect any such thing of Pompeius; but Agesilaus, although the Lacedaemonians well knew the words of the oracle, yet would not allow them to avoid "a lame reign." Even if Leotychides had been proved a thousand times to be a bastard, the family of Eurypon could have supplied Sparta with a legitimate and sound king, had not Lysander, for the sake of Agesilaus, deceived them as to the true meaning of the oracle. On the other hand, we have no specimen of the political ingenuity of Pompeius which can be compared with that admirable device of Agesilaus, when he readmitted the survivors of the battle of Leuktra to the privileges of Spartan citizens, by permitting the laws to sleep for one day. Pompeius did not even think it his duty to abide by the laws which he had himself enacted, but broke them to prove his great power to his friends. Agesilaus, when forced either to abolish the laws or to ruin his friends, discovered an expedient by which the laws did his friends no hurt, and yet had not to be abolished in order to save them. I also place to the credit of Agesilaus that unparalleled act of obedience, when on receiving a despatch from Sparta he abandoned the whole of his Asian enterprise. For Agesilaus did not, like Pompeius, enrich the state by his own exploits, but looking solely to the interests of his country, he gave up a position of greater glory and power than any Greek before or since ever held, with the single exception of Alexander.

III. Looking at them from another point of view, I suppose that even Xenophon himself would not think of comparing the number of the victories won by Pompeius, the size of the armies which he commanded, and that of those which he defeated, with any of the victories of Agesilaus; although Xenophon has written so admirably upon other subjects, that he seems to think himself privileged to say whatever he pleases about the life of his favourite hero. I think also that the two men differ much in their treatment of their enemies. The Greek wished to sell the Thebans for slaves, and to drive the Messenians from their country, although Thebes was the mother city of Sparta, and the Messenians sprang from the same stock as the Lacedaemonians. In his attempts to effect this, he all but lost Sparta herself, and did lose the Spartan empire; while Pompeius even gave cities to be inhabited by such of the Mediterranean pirates as abandoned that mode of life; and when Tigranes the king of Armenia was in his power, he did not lead him in his triumph, but chose rather to make him an ally of Rome; observing, that he preferred an advantage which would last for all time to the glory which only endured for a single day.

If, however, we place the chief glory of a general in feats of arms and strategy, the Laconian will be found greatly to excel the Roman. Agesilaus did not abandon Sparta even when it was attacked by seventy thousand men, when he had but few troops with which to defend it, and those too all disheartened by their recent defeat at Leuktra. Pompeius, on hearing that Caesar, with only five thousand three hundred men, had taken a town in Italy, left Rome in terror, either yielding to this small force like a coward, or else falsely supposing it to be more numerous than it was. He carefully carried off his own wife and children, but left the families of his partizans unprotected in Rome, when he ought either to have fought for the city against Caesar, or else to have acknowledged him as his superior and submitted to him, for Caesar was both his fellow-countryman and his relative. Yet, after having violently objected to the prorogation of Caesar's term of office as consul, he put it in his power to capture Rome itself, and to say to Metellus that he regarded him and all the rest of the citizens as prisoners of war.

IV. Agesilaus, when he was the stronger, always forced his enemy to fight, and when weaker, always avoided a battle. By always practising this, the highest art of a general, he passed through his life without a single defeat; whereas Pompeius was unable to make use of his superiority to Caesar by sea, and was forced by him to hazard everything on the event of a land battle; for as soon as Caesar had defeated him, he at once obtained possession of all Pompeius's treasure, supplies, and command of the sea, without gaining which he must inevitably have been defeated, even without a battle. Pompeius's excuse for his conduct is, in truth, his severest condemnation. It is very natural and pardonable for a young general to be influenced by clamours and accusations of remissness and cowardice, so as to abandon the course which he had previously decided upon as the safest; but that the great Pompeius, of whom the Romans used to say that the camp was his home, and that he only made an occasional campaign in the senate house, at a time when his followers called the consuls and generals of Rome traitors and rebels, and when they knew that he was in possession of absolute uncontrolled power, and had already conducted so many campaigns with such brilliant success as commander-in-chief—that he should be moved by the scoffs of a Favonius or a Domitius, and hazard his army and his life lest they should call him Agamemnon, is a most discreditable supposition. If he were so sensitive on the point of honour, he ought to have made a stand at the very beginning, and fought a battle in defence of Rome, not first to have retreated, giving out that he was acting with a subtlety worthy of Themistokles himself, and then to have regarded every day spent in Thessaly without fighting as a disgrace. The plain of Pharsalia was not specially appointed by heaven as the arena in which he was to contend with Caesar for the empire of the world, nor was he summoned by the voice of a herald either to fight or to avow himself vanquished. There were many plains, and innumerable cities and countries which his command of the sea would have enabled him to reach, if he had wished to imitate Fabius Maximus, Marius, Lucullus, or Agesilaus himself, who resisted the same kind of clamour at Sparta, when his countrymen wished to fight the Thebans and protect their native land; while in Egypt he endured endless reproaches, abuse, and suspicion from Nektanebis because he forbade him to fight, and by consistently carrying out his own judicious policy saved the Egyptians against their will. He not only guided Sparta safely through that terrible crisis, but was enabled to win a victory over the Thebans in the city itself, which he never could have done had he yielded to the entreaties of the Lacedaemonians to fight when their country was first invaded. Thus it happened that Agesilaus was warmly praised by those whose opinions he had overruled, while Pompeius made mistakes to please his friends, and afterwards was reproached by them for what he had done. Some historians tell us, however, that he was deceived by his father-in-law, Scipio, who with the intention of embezzling and converting to his own use the greater part of the treasure which Pompeius brought from Asia, urged him to fight as soon as possible, as though there was likely to be a scarcity of money. In these respects, then, we have reviewed their respective characters.

V. Pompeius went to Egypt of necessity, fleeing for his life; but Agesilaus went there with the dishonourable purpose of acting as general for the barbarians, in order that he might employ the money which he earned by that means in making war upon the Greeks. We blame the Egyptians for their conduct to Pompeius; but the Egyptians have equal reason to complain of the conduct of Agesilaus towards themselves; for though Pompeius trusted them and was betrayed, yet Agesilaus deserted the man who trusted him, and joined the enemies of those whom he went out to assist.



LIFE OF ALEXANDER.

I. In writing the Lives of Alexander the Great and of Caesar the conqueror of Pompeius, which are contained in this book, I have before me such an abundance of materials, that I shall make no other preface than to beg the reader, if he finds any of their famous exploits recorded imperfectly, and with large excisions, not to regard this as a fault. I am writing biography, not history; and often a man's most brilliant actions prove nothing as to his true character, while some trifling incident, some casual remark or jest, will throw more light upon what manner of man he was than the bloodiest battle, the greatest array of armies, or the most important siege. Therefore, just as portrait painters pay most attention to those peculiarities of the face and eyes, in which the likeness consists, and care but little for the rest of the figure, so it is my duty to dwell especially upon those actions which reveal the workings of my heroes' minds, and from these to construct the portraits of their respective lives, leaving their battles and their great deeds to be recorded by others.

II. All are agreed that Alexander was descended on his father's side from Herakles through Karanus, and on his mother's from AEakus through Neoptolemus.

We are told that Philip and Olympias first met during their initiation into the sacred mysteries at Samothrace, and that he, while yet a boy, fell in love with the orphan girl, and persuaded her brother Arymbas to consent to their marriage. The bride, before she consorted with her husband, dreamed that she had been struck by a thunderbolt, from which a sheet of flame sprang out in every direction, and then suddenly died away. Philip himself some time after his marriage dreamed that he set a seal upon his wife's body, on which was engraved the figure of a lion. When he consulted the soothsayers as to what this meant, most of them declared the meaning to be, that his wife required more careful watching; but Aristander of Telmessus declared that she must be pregnant, because men do not seal up what is empty, and that she would bear a son of a spirited and lion-like disposition. Once Philip found his wife asleep, with a large tame snake stretched beside her; and this, it is said, quite put an end to his passion for her, and made him avoid her society, either because he feared the magic arts of his wife, or else from a religious scruple, because his place was more worthily filled. Another version of this story is that the women of Macedonia have been from very ancient times subject to the Orphic and Bacchic frenzy (whence they were called Clodones and Mimallones), and perform the same rites as do the Edonians and the Thracian women about Mount Haemus, from which the word "threskeuein" has come to mean "to be over-superstitious." Olympias, it is said, celebrated these rites with exceeding fervour, and in imitation of the Orientals, and to introduce into the festal procession large tame serpents,[394] which struck terror into the men as they glided through the ivy wreaths and mystic baskets which the women carried on their heads.

III. We are told that Philip after this portent sent Chairon of Megalopolis to Delphi, to consult the god there, and that he delivered an oracular response bidding him sacrifice to Zeus Ammon, and to pay especial reverence to that god: warning him, moreover, that he would some day lose the sight of that eye with which, through the chink of the half-opened door, he had seen the god consorting with his wife in the form of a serpent. The historian Eratosthenes informs us that when Alexander was about to set out on his great expedition, Olympias told him the secret of his birth, and bade him act worthily of his divine parentage. Other writers say that she scrupled to mention the subject, and was heard to say "Why does Alexander make Hera jealous of me?"

Alexander was born on the sixth day of the month Hekatombaeon,[395] which the Macedonians call Lous, the same day on which the temple of Artemis at Ephesus was burned. This coincidence inspired Hegesias of Magnesia to construct a ponderous joke, dull enough to have put out the fire, which was, that it was no wonder that the temple of Artemis was burned, since she was away from, it, attending to the birth of Alexander.[396] All the Persian magi who were in Ephesus at the time imagined that the destruction of the temple was but the forerunner of a greater disaster, and ran through the city beating their faces and shouting that on that day was born the destroyer of Asia. Philip, who had just captured the city of Potidaea, received at that time three messengers. The first announced that the Illyrians had been severely defeated by Parmenio; the second that his racehorse had won a victory at Olympia, and the third, that Alexander was born. As one may well believe, he was delighted at such good news and was yet more overjoyed when the soothsayers told him that his son, whose birth coincided with three victories, would surely prove invincible.

IV. His personal appearance is best shown by the statues of Lysippus, the only artist whom he allowed to represent him; in whose works we can clearly trace that slight droop of his head towards the left, and that keen glance of his eyes which formed his chief characteristics, and which were afterwards imitated by his friends and successors.

Apelles, in his celebrated picture of Alexander wielding a thunderbolt, has not exactly copied the fresh tint of his flesh, but has made it darker and swarthier than it was, for we are told that his skin was remarkably fair, inclining to red about the face and breast. We learn from the memoirs of Aristoxenes, that his body diffused a rich perfume, which scented his clothes, and that his breath was remarkably sweet. This was possibly caused by the hot and fiery constitution of his body; for sweet scents are produced, according to Theophrastus, by heat acting upon moisture. For this reason the hottest and driest regions of the earth produce the most aromatic perfumes, because the sun dries up that moisture which causes most substances to decay.

Alexander's warm temperament of body seems to have rendered him fond of drinking, and fiery in disposition. As a youth he showed great power of self-control, by abstaining from all sensual pleasures in spite of his vehement and passionate nature; while his intense desire for fame rendered him serious and high-minded beyond his years.

For many kinds of glory, however, Alexander cared little; unlike his father Philip, who prided himself on his oratorical powers, and used to record his victories in the chariot races at Olympia upon his coins. Indeed, when Alexander's friends, to try him, asked him whether he would contend in the foot race at Olympia, for he was a remarkably swift runner, he answered, "Yes, if I have kings to contend with." He seems to have been altogether indifferent to athletic exercises; for though he gave more prizes than any one else to be contended for by dramatists, flute players, harp players, and even by rhapsodists,[397] and though he delighted in all manner of hunting and cudgel playing, he never seems to have taken any interest in the contests of boxing or the pankratium.[398] When ambassadors from the King of Persia arrived in Macedonia, Philip was absent, and Alexander entertained them. His engaging manners greatly charmed them, and he became their intimate friend. He never put any childish questions to them, but made many enquiries about the length of the journey from the sea coast to the interior of Persia, about the roads which led thither, about the king, whether he was experienced in war or not, and about the resources and military strength of the Persian empire, so that the ambassadors were filled with admiration, and declared that the boasted subtlety of Philip was nothing in comparison with the intellectual vigour and enlarged views of his son. Whenever he heard of Philip's having taken some city or won some famous victory, he used to look unhappy at the news, and would say to his friends, "Boys, my father will forestall us in everything; he will leave no great exploits for you and me to achieve." Indeed, he cared nothing for pleasure or wealth, but only for honour and glory; and he imagined that the more territory he inherited from his father, the less would be left for him to conquer. He feared that his father's conquests would be so complete, as to leave him no more battles to fight, and he wished to succeed, not to a wealthy and luxurious, but to a military empire, at the head of which he might gratify his desire for war and adventure.

His education was superintended by many nurses, pedagogues, and teachers, the chief of whom was Leonidas, a harsh-tempered man, who was nearly related to Olympias. He did not object to the title of pedagogue,[399] thinking that his duties are most valuable and honourable, but, on account of his high character and relationship to Alexander, was generally given the title of tutor by the others. The name and office of pedagogue was claimed by one Lysimachus, an Akarnanian by birth, and a dull man, but who gained the favour of Alexander by addressing him as Achilles, calling himself Phoenix, and Philip, Peleus.

VI. When Philoneikus the Thessalian brought the horse Boukephalus[400] and offered it to Philip for the sum of thirteen talents, the king and his friends proceeded to some level ground to try the horse's paces. They found that he was very savage and unmanageable, for he allowed no one to mount him, and paid no attention to any man's voice, but refused to allow any one to approach him. On this Philip became angry, and bade them take the vicious intractable brute away. Alexander, who was present, said, "What a fine horse they are ruining because they are too ignorant and cowardly to manage him." Philip at first was silent, but when Alexander repeated this remark several times, and seemed greatly distressed, he said, "Do you blame your elders, as if you knew more than they, or were better able to manage a horse?" "This horse, at any rate," answered Alexander, "I could manage better than any one else." "And if you cannot manage him," retorted his father, "what penalty will you pay for your forwardness?" "I will pay," said Alexander, "the price of the horse."

While the others were laughing and settling the terms of the wager, Alexander ran straight up to the horse, took him by the bridle, and turned him to the sun; as it seems he had noticed that the horse's shadow dancing before his eyes alarmed him and made him restive. He then spoke gently to the horse, and patted him on the back with his hand, until he perceived that he no longer snorted so wildly, when, dropping his cloak, he lightly leaped upon his back. He now steadily reined him in, without violence or blows, and as he saw that the horse was no longer ill-tempered, but only eager to gallop, he let him go, boldly urging him to full speed with his voice and heel.

Philip and his friends were at first silent with terror; but when he wheeled the horse round, and rode up to them exulting in his success, they burst into a loud shout. It is said that his father wept for joy, and, when he dismounted, kissed him, saying, "My son, seek for a kingdom worthy of yourself: for Macedonia will not hold you."

VII. Philip, seeing that his son was easily led, but could not be made to do anything by force, used always to manage him by persuasion, and never gave him orders. As he did not altogether care to entrust his education to the teachers whom he had obtained, but thought that it would be too difficult a task for them, since Alexander required, as Sophokles says of a ship:

"Stout ropes to check him, and stout oars to guide."

he sent for Aristotle, the most renowned philosopher of the age, to be his son's tutor, and paid him a handsome reward for doing so. He had captured and destroyed Aristotle's native city of Stageira; but now he rebuilt it, and repeopled it, ransoming the citizens, who had been, sold for slaves, and bringing back those who were living in exile. For Alexander and Aristotle he appointed the temple and grove of the nymphs, near the city of Mieza, as a school-house and dwelling; and there to this day are shown the stone seat where Aristotle sat, and the shady avenues where he used to walk. It is thought that Alexander was taught by him not only his doctrines of Morals and Politics, but also those more abstruse mysteries which are only communicated orally and are kept concealed from the vulgar: for after he had invaded Asia, hearing that Aristotle had published some treatises on these subjects, he wrote him a letter in which he defended the practice of keeping these speculations secret in the following words:—

"Alexander to Aristotle wishes health. You have not done well in publishing abroad those sciences which should only be taught by word of mouth. For how shall we be distinguished from other men, if the knowledge which we have acquired be made the common property of all? I myself had rather excel others in excellency of learning than in greatness of power. Farewell."

To pacify him, Aristotle wrote in reply that these doctrines were published, and yet not published: meaning that his treatise on Metaphysics was only written for those who had been instructed in philosophy by himself, and would be quite useless in other hands.

VIII. I think also that Aristotle more than any one else implanted a love of medicine in Alexander, who was not only fond of discussing the theory, but used to prescribe for his friends when they were sick, and order them to follow special courses of treatment and diet, as we gather from his letters. He was likewise fond of literature and of reading, and we are told by Onesikritus that he was wont to call the Iliad a complete manual of the military art, and that he always carried with him Aristotle's recension of Homer's poems, which is called 'the casket copy,' and placed it under his pillow together with his dagger. Being without books when in the interior of Asia, he ordered Harpalus to send him some. Harpalus sent him the histories of Philistus, several plays of Euripides, Sophokles, and AEschylus, and the dithyrambic hymns of Telestus and Philoxenus.

Alexander when a youth used to love and admire Aristotle more even than his father, for he said that the latter had enabled him to live, but that the former had taught him to live well. He afterwards suspected him somewhat; yet he never did him any injury, but only was not so friendly with him as he had been, whereby it was observed that he no longer bore him the good-will he was wont to do. Notwithstanding this, he never lost that interest in philosophical speculation which he had acquired in his youth, as it proved by the honours which he paid to Anaxarchus, the fifty talents which he sent as a present to Xenokrates, and the protection and encouragement which he gave to Dandamris and Kalanus.

IX. When Philip was besieging Byzantium he left to Alexander, who was then only sixteen years old, the sole charge of the administration of the kingdom of Macedonia, confirming his authority by entrusting to him his own signet.[401] He defeated and subdued the Maedian[402] rebels, took their city, ejected its barbarian inhabitants, and reconstituted it as a Grecian colony, to which he gave the name of Alexandropolis.

He was present at the battle against the Greeks at Chaeronea, and it is said to have been the first to charge the Sacred Band of the Thebans. Even in my own time, an old oak tree used to be pointed out, near the river Kephissus,[403] which was called Alexander's oak, because his tent was pitched beside it. It stands not far from the place where the Macedonian corpses were buried after the battle. Philip, as we may imagine, was overjoyed at these proofs of his son's courage and skill, and nothing pleased him more than to hear the Macedonians call Alexander their king, and himself their general. Soon, however, the domestic dissensions produced by Philip's amours and marriages caused an estrangement between them, and the breach was widened by Olympias, a jealous and revengeful woman, who incensed Alexander against his father. But what especially moved Alexander was the conduct of Attalus at the marriage feast of his niece Kleopatra. Philip, who was now too old for marriage, had become enamoured of this girl, and after the wedding, Attalus in his cups called upon the Macedonians to pray to the gods that from the union of Philip and Kleopatra might be born a legitimate heir to the throne.

Enraged at these words, Alexander exclaimed, "You villain, am I then a bastard?" and threw a drinking cup at him. Philip, seeing this, rose and drew his sword to attack Alexander; but fortunately for both he was so excited by drink and rage that he missed his footing and fell headlong to the ground. Hereupon Alexander mocking him observed, "This is the man who was preparing to cross from Europe to Asia, and has been overthrown in passing from one couch[404] to another."

After this disgraceful scene, Alexander, with his mother Olympias, retired into Epirus, where he left her, and proceeded to the country of the Illyrians. About the same time Demaratus of Corinth, an old friend of the family, and privileged to speak his mind freely, came on a visit to Philip. After the first greetings were over, Philip enquired whether the states of Greece agreed well together. "Truly, King Philip," answered Demaratus, "it well becomes you to show an interest in the agreement of the Greeks, after you have raised such violent quarrels in your own family."

These words had such an effect upon Philip that Demaratus was able to prevail upon him to make his peace with Alexander and to induce him to return.

X. Yet when Pixodarus, the satrap of Karia, hoping to connect himself with Philip, and so to obtain him as an ally, offered his eldest daughter in marriage to Arrhidaeus, Philip's natural son, and sent Aristokrites to Macedonia to conduct the negotiations, Olympias and her friends again exasperated Alexander against his father by pointing out to him that Philip, by arranging this splendid marriage for Arrhidaeus, and treating him as a person of such great importance, was endeavouring to accustom the Macedonians to regard him as the heir to the throne. Alexander yielded to these representations so far as to send Thessalus, the tragic actor, on a special mission to Pixodarus in Karia, to assure him that he ought to disregard Arrhidaeus, who was illegitimate, and foolish to boot, and that it was to Alexander that he ought to offer the hand of his daughter.

Pixodarus was much more eager to accept this proposal than the former, but Philip one day hearing that Alexander was alone in his chamber, went thither with Philotas, the son of Parmenio, an intimate friend, and bitterly reproached him, pointing out how unworthy it was of his high birth and glorious position to stoop to marry the daughter of a mere Karian,[405] and of a barbarian who was a subject of the King of Persia.

Upon this he wrote to the Corinthians to send him Thessalus in chains, and also banished out of his kingdom Harpalus, Nearchus, Erigyius, and Ptolemaeus, all of whom Alexander afterwards brought back and promoted to great honours.

Shortly after this, Pausanias was grossly insulted by the contrivance of Attalus and Kleopatra, and, as he could not obtain amends for what he suffered, assassinated Philip. We are told that most men laid the blame of this murder upon Queen Olympias, who found the young man smarting from the outrage which had been committed upon him, and urged him to avenge himself, while some accused Alexander himself. It is said that when Pausanias came to him and complained of his treatment, Alexander answered him by quoting the line from the Medea of Euripides, in which she declares that she will be revenged upon

"The guardian, and the bridegroom, and the bride,"

alluding to Attalus, Philip, and Kleopatra.

However this may be, it is certain that he sought out and punished all who were concerned in the plot, and he expressed his sorrow on discovering that during his own absence from the kingdom, Kleopatra had been cruelly tortured and put to death by his mother Olympias.

XI. At the age of twenty he succeeded to the throne of Macedonia, a perilous and unenviable inheritance: for the neighbouring barbarian tribes chafed at being held in bondage, and longed for the rule of their own native kings; while Philip, although he had conquered Greece by force of arms, yet had not had time to settle its government and accustom it to its new position. He had overthrown all constituted authority in that country, and had left men's minds in an excited condition, eager for fresh changes and revolutions. The Macedonians were very sensible of the dangerous crisis through which they were passing, and hoped that Alexander would refrain as far as possible from interfering in the affairs of Greece, deal gently with the insurgent chiefs of his barbarian subjects, and carefully guard against revolutionary outbreaks. He, however, took quite a different view of the situation, conceiving it to be best to win safety by audacity, and carrying things with a high hand, thinking that if he showed the least sign of weakness, his enemies would all set upon him at once. He crushed the risings of the barbarians by promptly marching through their country as far as the river Danube, and by winning a signal victory over Syrmus, the King of the Triballi. After this, as he heard that the Thebans had revolted, and that the Athenians sympathised with them, he marched his army straight through Thermopylae, with the remark that Demosthenes, who had called him a boy while he was fighting the Illyrians and Triballi, and a youth while he was marching through Thessaly, should find him a man when he saw him before the gates of Athens. When he reached Thebes, he gave the citizens an opportunity to repent of their conduct, only demanding Phoenix and Prothytes to be given up to him, and offering the rest a free pardon if they would join him. When, however, the Thebans in answer to this, demanded that he should give up Philotas and Antipater to them, and called upon all who were willing to assist in the liberation of Greece to come and join them, he bade his Macedonians prepare for battle.

The Thebans, although greatly outnumbered, fought with superhuman valour; but they were taken in the rear by the Macedonian garrison, who suddenly made a sally from the Kadmeia, and the greater part of them were surrounded and fell fighting. The city was captured, plundered and destroyed. Alexander hoped by this terrible example to strike terror into the other Grecian states, although he put forward the specious pretext that he was avenging the wrongs of his allies; for the Plataeans and Phokians had made some complaints of the conduct of the Thebans towards them. With the exception of the priests, the personal friends and guests of the Macedonians, the descendants of the poet Pindar, and those who had opposed the revolt, he sold for slaves all the rest of the inhabitants, thirty thousand in number. More than six thousand men perished in the battle.

XII. Amidst the fearful scene of misery and disorder which followed the capture of the city, certain Thracians broke into the house of one Timoklea, a lady of noble birth and irreproachable character. Their leader forcibly violated her, and then demanded whether she had any gold or silver concealed. She said that she had, led him alone into the garden, and, pointing to a well, told him that when the city was taken she threw her most valuable jewels into it. While the Thracian was stooping over the well trying to see down to the bottom, she came behind, pushed him in, and threw large stones upon him until he died. The Thracians seized her, and took her to Alexander, where she proved herself a woman of courage by her noble and fearless carriage, as she walked in the midst of her savage captors. The king enquired who she was, to which she replied she was the sister of Theagenes, who fought against Philip to protect the liberty of Greece, and who fell leading on the Thebans at Chaeronea. Alexander, struck by her answer, and admiring her exploit, gave orders that she and her children should be set at liberty.

XIII. Alexander came to terms with the Athenians, although they had expressed the warmest sympathy for the Thebans, omitting the performance of the festival of Demeter, out of respect for their misfortunes, and giving a kindly welcome to all the fugitives who reached Athens. Either he had had his fill of anger, like a sated lion, or possibly he wished to perform some signal act of mercy by way of contrast to his savage treatment of Thebes. Be this as it may, he not only informed the Athenians that he had no grounds of quarrel with them, but even went so far as to advise them to watch the course of events with care, since, if anything should happen to him, they might again become the ruling state in Greece. In after times, Alexander often grieved over his harsh treatment of the Thebans, and the recollection of what he had done made him much less severe to others. Indeed, he always referred his unfortunate drunken quarrel with Kleitus, and the refusal of the Macedonian soldiers to invade India, by which they rendered the glory of his great expedition incomplete, to the anger of Dionysius,[406] who desired to avenge the fate of his favourite city. Moreover, of the Thebans who survived the ruin of their city, no one ever asked any favour of Alexander without its being granted. This was the manner in which Alexander dealt with Thebes.

XIV. The Greeks after this assembled at Corinth and agreed to invade Persia with Alexander for their leader. Many of their chief statesmen and philosophers paid him visits of congratulation, and he hoped that Diogenes of Sinope, who was at that time living at Corinth, would do so. As he, however, paid no attention whatever to Alexander and remained quietly in the suburb called Kraneium, Alexander himself went to visit him. He found him lying at full length, basking in the sun. At the approach of so many people, he sat up, and looked at Alexander. Alexander greeted him, and enquired whether he could do anything for him. "Yes," answered Diogenes, "you can stand a little on one side, and not keep the sun off me." This answer is said to have so greatly surprised Alexander, and to have filled him with such a feeling of admiration for the greatness of mind of a man who could treat him with such insolent superiority, that when he went away, while all around were jeering and scoffing he said, "Say what you will; if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

Desiring to consult the oracle of Apollo concerning his campaign, he now proceeded to Delphi. It chanced that he arrived there on one of the days which are called unfortunate, on which no oracular responses can be obtained. In spite of this he at once sent for the chief priestess, and as she refused to officiate and urged that she was forbidden to do so by the law, he entered the temple by force and dragged her to the prophetic tripod. She, yielding to his persistence, said, "You are irresistible, my son." Alexander, at once, on hearing this, declared that he did not wish for any further prophecy, but that he had obtained from her the response which he wished for. While he was preparing for his expedition, among many other portents, the statue of Orpheus at Loibethra, which is made of cypress-wood, was observed to be covered with sweat. All were alarmed at this omen, but Aristander bade them take courage, as it portended that Alexander should perform many famous acts, which would cause poets much trouble to record.

XV. The number of his army is variously stated by different authorities, some saying that it amounted to thirty thousand foot and four thousand horse, while others put the whole amount so high as forty-three thousand foot and five thousand horse. To provide for this multitude, Aristobulus relates that he possessed only seventy talents, while Douris informs us that he had only provisions for thirty days, and Onesikritus declares that he was in debt to the amount of two hundred talents. Yet although he started with such slender resources, before he embarked he carefully enquired into the affairs of his friends, and made them all ample presents, assigning to some of them large tracts of land, and to others villages, the rents of houses, or the right of levying harbour dues. When he had almost expended the whole of the revenues of the crown in this fashion, Perdikkas enquired of him, "My king, what have you reserved for yourself?" "My hopes," replied Alexander. "Then," said Perdikkas, "are we who go with you not to share them?" and he at once refused to accept the present which had been offered to him, as did several others. Those, however, who would receive his gifts, or who asked for anything, were rewarded with a lavish hand, so that he distributed among them nearly all the revenues of Macedonia; so confident of success was he when he set out. When he had crossed the Hellespont he proceeded to Troy, offered sacrifice to Athena, and poured libations to the heroes who fell there. He anointed the column which marks the tomb of Achilles with fresh oil, and after running round it naked with his friends, as is customary, placed a garland upon it, observing that Achilles was fortunate in having a faithful friend while he lived, and a glorious poet to sing of his deeds after his death. While he was walking through the city and looking at all the notable things, he was asked whether he wished to see the harp which had once belonged to Paris. He answered, that he cared nothing for it, but that he wished to find that upon which Achilles used to play when he sang of the deeds of heroes.

XVI. Meanwhile the generals of Darius had collected a large army, and posted it at the passage of the river Granikus, so that it was necessary for Alexander to fight a battle in order to effect so much as an entrance into Asia. Most of the Greek generals were alarmed at the depth and uneven bed of the river, and at the rugged and broken ground on the farther bank, which they would have to mount in the face of the enemy. Some also raised a religious scruple, averring that the Macedonian kings never made war during the month Daisius. Alexander said that this could be easily remedied, and ordered that the second month in the Macedonian calendar should henceforth be called Artemisium. When Parmenio besought him not to risk a battle, as the season was far advanced, he said that the Hellespont would blush for shame if he crossed it, and then feared to cross the Granikus, and at once plunged into the stream with thirteen squadrons of cavalry. It seemed the act of a desperate madman rather than of a general to ride thus through a rapid river, under a storm of missiles, towards a steep bank where every position of advantage was occupied by armed men. He, however, gained the farther shore, and made good his footing there, although with great difficulty on account of the slippery mud. As soon as he had crossed, and driven away those who had opposed his passage, he was charged by a mass of the enemy, and forced to fight, pell-mell, man to man, before he could put those who had followed him over into battle array. The enemy came on with a shout, and rode straight up to the horses of the Macedonians, thrusting at them with spears, and using swords when their spears were broken. Many of them pressed round Alexander himself, who was made a conspicuous figure by his shield and the long white plume which hung down on each side of his helmet. He was struck by a javelin in the joint of his corslet, but received no hurt. Rhoesakes and Spithridates, two of the Persian generals, now attacked him at once. He avoided the charge of the latter, but broke his spear against the breastplate of Rhoesakes, and was forced to betake him to his sword. No sooner had they closed together than Spithridates rode up beside him, and, standing up in his stirrups, dealt him such a blow with a battle-axe, as cut off one side of his plume, and pierced his helmet just so far as to reach his hair with the edge of the axe. While Spithridates was preparing for another blow, he was run through by black Kleitus with a lance, and at the same moment Alexander with his sword laid Rhoesakes dead at his feet. During this fierce and perilous cavalry battle, the Macedonian phalanx[407] crossed the river, and engaged the enemy's infantry force, none of which offered much resistance except a body of mercenary Greeks in the pay of Persia. These troops retired to a small rising ground, and begged for quarter. Alexander, however, furiously attacked them by riding up to them by himself, in front of his men.

He lost his horse, which was killed by a sword-thrust, and it is said that more of the Macedonians perished in that fight, and that more wounds were given and received, than in all the rest of the battle, as they were attacking desperate men accustomed to war.

The Persians are said to have lost twenty thousand infantry, and two thousand five hundred cavalry. In the army of Alexander, Aristobulus states the total loss to have been thirty-four men, nine of whom were foot soldiers. Alexander ordered that each of these men should have his statue made in bronze by Lysippus; and wishing to make the Greeks generally partakers of his victory, he sent the Athenians three hundred captured shields, and on the other spoils placed the following vainglorious inscription:[408] "Alexander, the son of Philip, and the Greeks, all but the Lacedaemonians, won these spoils from the barbarians of Asia." As for the golden drinking-cups, purple hangings, and other plunder of that sort, he sent it nearly all to his mother, reserving only a few things for himself.

XVII. This victory wrought a great change in Alexander's position. Several of the neighbouring states came and made their submission to him, and even Sardis itself, the chief town in Lydia, and the main station of the Persians in Asia Minor, submitted without a blow. The only cities which still resisted him, Halikarnassus and Miletus, he took by storm, and conquered all the adjacent territory, after which he remained in doubt as to what to attempt next; whether to attack Darius at once and risk all that he had won upon the issue of a single battle, or to consolidate and organise his conquests on the coast of Asia Minor, and to gather new strength for the final struggle. It is said that at this time a spring in the country of Lykia, near the city of Xanthus, overflowed, and threw up from its depths a brazen tablet, upon which, in ancient characters, was inscribed a prophecy that the Persian empire should be destroyed by the Greeks. Encouraged by this portent, he extended his conquests along the sea coast as far as Phoenicia and Kilikia. Many historians dwelt with admiration on the good fortune of Alexander, in meeting with such fair weather and such a smooth sea during his passage along the stormy shore of Pamphylia, and say that it was a miracle that the furious sea, which usually dashed against the highest rocks upon the cliffs, fell calm for him. Menander alludes to this in one of his plays.

"Like Alexander, if I wish to meet A man, at once I find him in the street; And, were I forced to journey o'er the sea, The sea itself would calm its waves for me."

Alexander himself, however, in his letters, speaks of no such miracle, but merely tells us that he started from Phaselis, and passed along the difficult road called Klimax, or the Ladder.[409] He spent some time in Phaselis, and while he was there, observing in the market-place a statue of Theodektes, a philosopher, who had recently died, he made a procession to it one day after dinner, and crowned it with flowers, as a sportive recognition of what he owed to Theodektes, with whose philosophical writings Aristotle had made him familiar.