Chapter XXVII: Book X: The Natural History of Birds (8)

[1135] Of Cyrene, the Academic philosopher. In B.C. 155, being then fifty-eight years old, he was chosen with some others to deprecate the fine of 500 talents which had been imposed on the Athenians for the destruction of Oropus. It was then that, in presence of Cato the Elder, he delivered his famous orations on Justice. The first oration was in commendation of the virtue, and on the ensuing day the next was delivered, by which all the arguments of the first were answered, and justice shown to be not a virtue, but only a matter of compact for the maintenance of civil society. The honesty of Cato was greatly shocked at this, and he moved the senate to send the philosopher back to his school, and save the Roman youth from his demoralizing doctrines. He lived twenty-eight years after this, and died at Athens B.C. 129, aged eighty-five, or, according to Cicero, ninety.

[1136] This is related by Plutarch, in his Life of Cato. His general dislike of the Grecian character is again mentioned, B. xxix. c. 7.—B.

[1137] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.

[1138] We have an account of this embassy in Plutarch. Pliny informs us, B. xxxiv. c. 20, that the only article which Cato retained, of the works of art that he brought from Cyprus, was the statue of Zeno, “not for its intrinsic merit, but because it was the statue of a philosopher.” Valerius Paterculus, B. ii. c. 45, and Plutarch refer to this transaction.—B.

[1139] This circumstance is related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 14, and is referred to by Cicero in his defence of Archias, sec. 9.—B.

[1140] M. Varro, the philosopher, sometimes called “the most learned” of the Romans. His command under Pompey, in the war against the Pirates, has been already mentioned in B. iii. c. 16. He also served under him against Mithridates, and was his legatus in Spain, at the first outbreak of the civil wars.

[1141] Pliny refers to the same subject: in B. xxxv. c. 2, he speaks of Pollio as “qui primus, bibliothecam dicando, ingenia hominum rempublicam fecit”—“The first who, by forming a public library, made public property the genius of learned men.” Aulus Gellius, B. vi. c. 18, informs us, that the first library, formed for the use of the public, was that collected at Athens by Pisistratus.—B. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king of Pergamus, and Lucullus, had formed extensive libraries, but solely for their own use, and not that of the public.

[1142] Some of these are given by Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 15.—B. It is very doubtful, however, if Greece did not greatly excel Rome in this respect.

[1143] Meaning Cicero, the orator and philosopher.

[1144] Cicero, in an Epistle to Atticus, B. ii. c. i., enumerates what he styles his consular orations: the total number is twelve, and among them we find all those here referred to by Pliny.—B.

[1145] The individual referred to is L. Roscius Otho; by his law the Roman equites, who, before this time, sat mingled with the people generally, had appropriate seats allotted to them. Cicero designates this oration, “De Othone.”—B.

[1146] This title was bestowed upon him by the general acclamation of the people, at the end of his consulship. We have an account of it in Plutarch.—B.

[1147] This remark is not found in any of Cæsar’s works now extant.—B.

[1148] These terms signify “acute” and “judicious;” they are derived respectively from “cautus” and “cor.”—B.

[1149] Son of Damagetus, and one of the Seven Sages. He flourished towards the beginning of the sixth century B.C. Herodotus says that he held the office of Ephor Eponymus in Ol. 56. He was a man remarkable for his wisdom and his sententious brevity, so characteristic of his Spartan origin.

[1150] It appears somewhat doubtful to which of the Grecian sages the credit of this maxim is due.—B.

[1151] We have an account of Melampus, probably the same as the person here styled Melampodes, in Herodotus, B. ii. c. 49, and B. ix. c. 34; Ajasson, in Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 135, has given a list of writers who have referred to him as an eminent soothsayer. Pliny mentions him in a subsequent passage, B. xxv. c. 21, as celebrated for his skill in the art of divination.—B.

[1152] Marcius is said by Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 50, to have given his predictions in verses.—B.

[1153] We have an account of this in Livy, B. xxix. c. 14, and B. xxxvi. c. 40; it is also referred to by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 15.—B.

[1154] In consequence of the number of eminent men who bore the name of Scipio, it is not easy, in all cases, to decide to which of them certain transactions ought to be referred. In this instance, it has been doubted, whether it was the same Scipio who was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the consulship, and who died in a foreign country. Livy, B. xxxv. c. 24, remarks, “P. Corn. Cn. F. Scipio” had been an unsuccessful candidate for the consulship; and afterwards, B. xxxix. c. 40, that “P. and L. Scipio” were unsuccessful candidates for the office of censor. Val. Maximus expressly states, B. v. c. 3, that it was Scipio Nasica, who, in consequence of the little estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens, went to Pergamus, and “lived there the remainder of his life, without feeling any regrets for his ungrateful country.”—B.

[1155] We have this anecdote related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 15. He informs us, that it was the statue of Venus Verticordia which was ordered to be consecrated; the more readily to win the hearts of the maidens and matrons from wanton thoughts to a life of chastity.—B.

[1156] Her story is told at great length by Ovid, in the Fasti, B. iv. l. 305, _et seq._ Her name was Claudia Quinta, and she is supposed to have been the sister of Appius Claudius Pulcher, and grand-daughter of Appius Claudius Cæcus. The vessel which was conveying the statue of Cybele from Pessinus to Rome having stuck fast on a shallow at the mouth of the Tiber, the soothsayers declared that none but a really chaste woman could move it. Claudia, who had been previously accused of unchastity, being in the number of the matrons who had accompanied Scipio to Ostia to receive the statue, immediately presented herself, and calling upon the goddess to vindicate her innocence, seized the rope, and the vessel moved forthwith. A statue was afterwards erected to her in the vestibule of the temple of the goddess.

[1157] Solinus and Festus differ somewhat from Pliny, in stating that it was her father whose life was thus saved by the affectionate daughter. Valerius Maximus, who tells the story, says that the family was “ingenui sanguinis,” meaning “of genteel origin.” Such families were, however, sometimes reduced, even among the Romans, to a level with the plebeian classes.

[1158] A.U.C. 604.

[1159] This theatre is again mentioned in B. xxxvi. c. 12. It was built of stone, and erected by Augustus in honour of his nephew Marcellus. This is related by Valerius Maximus, B. v. c. 8, somewhat more in detail, and with a degree of animation, which is not frequently to be met with in that author.—B.

[1160] Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 18, Val. Maximus, B. iv. c. 6, and Plutarch, relate this more circumstantially. The serpents were of different sexes; if the male serpent was killed, his own death was to be the consequence; if the female, that of his wife, Cornelia.—B.

[1161] Pliny gives an account of the circumstances which attended the death of Lepidus, in the 54th Chapter. He was the father of the triumvir.—B.

[1162] Or Rutilius, consul B.C. 132, the year after the death of Tiberius Gracchus, whose adherents he prosecuted with the greatest cruelty. He also obtained a triumph for bringing to a conclusion the Servile war. He was an intimate friend of the younger Scipio Africanus, who obtained the consulship for him, but failed in gaining that honour for his brother Lucius. About the same period, he was condemned, in the tribuneship of Caius Gracchus, for his illegal acts in the prosecution of the adherents of Tiberius Gracchus. It has been suggested that this indignity may have had a greater share than the ill success of his brother in causing his death.

[1163] Pliny again speaks of the great talents of Hippocrates, B. xxvi. c. 6, and B. xxix. c. 2.—B.

[1164] We have an account of the origin of these games in Livy, B. xxix. c. 14.—B.

[1165] Cleombrotus is supposed to be the same person who is mentioned in B. xxix. c. 3, as Erasistratus, the grandson of Aristotle. From Suidas we learn that a near relative of his was called Cleombrotus, though, from his perplexed language, it is impossible to say whether father or uncle. The story to which Pliny is supposed here to refer is a curious one. Antiochus, the son of Seleucus Nicator, fell in love with Stratonice, whom his father had married in his old age, but struggled to conceal his passion. The skilful physician discovered the nature of his disease; upon which he reported to Seleucus that it was incurable, for that he was in love, and it was impossible that his passion could be gratified. The king, greatly surprised, inquired who the lady was; to which Erasistratus replied that it was his own wife; whereupon Seleucus began to try and persuade him to give her up to his son. The physician upon this asked him if he would do so himself, if it were his own wife. Seleucus declared that he would; upon which Erasistratus disclosed to him the truth. Seleucus not only gave up Stratonice to his son, but resigned to him several provinces. Erasistratus was one of the most famous physicians and anatomists of antiquity.

[1166] It was on this occasion that a label was said to have been fastened on the arrow, inscribed, “To Philip’s right eye.” The inhabitants were permitted to depart, however, when the city was taken, with one garment to each person.

[1167] This accident occurred to Philip, at the siege of Methone, of which we have a brief account in Diodorus Siculus, B. xvi. c. 7, and in Justin, B. vii. c. 6; but neither of these authors makes any mention of Critobulus. Quintus Curtius, B. ix. c. 5, informs us, that Critobulus exhibited great skill in relieving Alexander the Great from the effects of a dangerous wound, which he received in India; but he does not refer to the fact here mentioned.—B.

[1168] At the present day, this mode of treatment would have figured as the “wine-cure.”

[1169] See B. xxvi. c. 8.

[1170] Pliny again speaks of Asclepiades, in B. xxvi. c. 7, and B. xxix. c. 5. The anecdote respecting the man who was saved from the funeral pile is referred to by Celsus, B. ii. c. 6.—B. Pliny says, in B. xxvi. c. 7, that Asclepiades first came to Rome as a teacher of rhetoric, and that being unsuccessful, he turned his attention to medicine. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, also met his death by falling down stairs. Rabelais, in the prologue to his Fourth Book, refers to this peculiar death of Asclepiades.

[1171] This is related more at large by Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 7, and by Plutarch.—B.

[1172] Mentioned in B. xxxvi. c. 31.

[1173] Val. Maximus refers to Philon and his public works, in B. viii. c. 12.—B. He was an architect of eminence in the reign of the successors of Alexander. He built for Demetrius Phalereus, about B.C. 318, the portico of twelve Doric columns to the great temple at Eleusis. He also formed a basin in the Piræus, which was destroyed at the taking of Athens by the Romans under Sylla.

[1174] See B. v. c. 11, and B. xxxiv. c. 42.

[1175] Plutarch, in his life of Alexander, mentions the restriction made in favour of Lysippus, but does not extend it to Apelles; he does not speak of Pyrgoteles. We have an apposite allusion to this circumstance by Horace, Ep. B. i. l. 239, 240. Boileau has elegantly imitated Horace, in his “Discours au Roi.”—B. For further particulars of him, see B. xxxiv. c. 17 and 19. He was a native of Sicyon, and at first a simple worker in bronze, but eventually obtained the highest rank among the Grecian statuaries.

[1176] According to the usual estimate of the value of the Attic talent, £193 12_s._, the sum given for this picture would be about £19,000.—B.

[1177] Nearly all the topics here treated of are again mentioned in B. xxxv., which is devoted to the fine arts. The 34th, 35th, and 36th Chapters of that Book, contain an account of all the celebrated painters of antiquity, and their principal works.—B.

[1178] Between £15,000 and £16,000.—B.

[1179] “Poliorcetes.”

[1180] We have a further account of this artist in B. xxxiv. c. 19, B. xxxv. c. 39 and 40, and B. xxxvi. c. 4.

[1181] This is referred to by Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 4, and by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 4.—B.

[1182] He is again mentioned in B. xxxiv. c. 19, B. xxxv. c. 34, and B. xxxvi. c. 4.—B.

[1183] Mentor is noticed for his skill in carving, B. xxxiii. c. 55.—B. Littrè says, on referring to that passage, “we find that he was a worker in silver, and a maker of vases of great value.” He seems disinclined to believe that he was a statuary. As Pliny tells us, _ubi supra_, none of his public works were in existence in Pliny’s time. Some small cups, however, existed, which were highly prized, though some were undoubtedly spurious.

[1184] Now Pesaro.

[1185] We have the same difficulty in ascertaining the sums here mentioned, as in all former cases. Holland estimates the sum given for Daphnus at 300,700 sesterces, vol. i. p. 175.—B.

[1186] “Dispensator;” we have an explanation of this term, B. xxxiii. c. 13.—B.

[1187] Holland estimates the sum paid for the enfranchisement of this man at 120,000 sesterces, vol. i. p. 175.—B.

[1188] In his capacity, probably, of contractor for provisions and stores.

[1189] Holland estimates the price paid on this occasion at 3,500 sesterces, _ubi supra_, thus differing exceedingly from Ajasson’s estimate.—B.

[1190] “Quam quidam injuriam lucri fecit ille mercatus in luctu civitatis, quoniam arguere nulli vacabat.” We can see the meaning of this passage, but a literal translation of it, as it stands, is out of the question.

[1191] “Virtus”—“manliness,” that being esteemed by the Romans the ideal of true virtue.

[1192] It appears that a similar custom prevailed among the Scythians, according to Phylarchus, from whom Pliny probably took his account of it; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 151.

[1193] As being fraught with an intensity of pain, which no number of days passed in pleasure can compensate.

[1194] She was the daughter of Leotychides, and the wife of Archidamas, and mother of Ægis. Ajasson expresses his surprise, that so diligent a collector of facts as Pliny, should have been acquainted with only one example of this kind.—B. “The following are additional instances collected by Ajasson:—1. Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, wife of Philip II., king of Macedon, and mother of Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. 2. Roxana, daughter of king Darius Codomannus, and wife of Alexander the Great; her son by whom was proclaimed king by certain generals of Alexander, but was shortly after slain at Amphipolis. 3. Laodice the Younger, daughter of king Antiochus Soter, sister and wife of Antiochus Theös, and mother of king Seleucus Callinicus. 4. Berenice, daughter of king Ptolemy Philadelphus; married to her brother king Ptolemy Euergetes, and mother of Ptolemy Philopater, by whom she was put to death. 5. Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria: she became the wife of king Ptolemy Epiphanes, and was mother of king Ptolemy Philometor. 6. Cleopatra Cocce, daughter of Ptolemy Philometor, married her uncle, king Ptolemy Physcon, and became mother of kings Ptolemy Lathyrus and Alexander I. 7. Cleopatra, another daughter of Ptolemy Philometor, married first to Alexander Balas, the usurper of the throne of Scythia, then to king Demetrius Nicator, and then to Antiochus Venator. Her sons by Nicator were Seleucus V. and Antiochus Gryphus, both of whom became kings of Syria; and her son Cyzicenius by Antiochus Venator, likewise became king of Syria. 8. Selene or Cleopatra, daughter of king Ptolemy Physcon, was married, first, to king Ptolemy Lathyrus, secondly, to king Antiochus Gryphus, and thirdly, to king Antiochus Eusebes. She was mother of king Antiochus Asiaticus. In all, she had nine kings as her near relations or connections. 9. Stratonice, daughter of king Demetrius Poliorcetes, was married first to king Seleucus Nicator, and then to king Antiochus Soter, and was mother of king Antiochus Therös.

[1195] Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 15, gives nearly the same account of a person whom he calls Pherenice; from the resemblance of the names, it has been supposed, that they may both refer to the same individual.—B.

[1196] He alludes to the three persons, father, son, and grandson, known by the name of C. Scribonius Curio. The first was prætor B.C. 121, one of the most distinguished orators of his time. His son, who acquired some reputation as an orator, was tribune of the people B.C. 90, prætor B.C. 82, and consul in B.C. 76, with Cn. Octavius. He is represented as being possessed of great eloquence, and of extreme purity and brilliancy of diction, but to have had none of the other requisites of an orator. Like his son, he enjoyed the friendship of Cicero. The younger Curio was an orator of great talents, which, from want of industry, he left uncultivated. Cicero endeavoured to direct his talents into a proper channel, but all in vain, and he remained to the end a man of worthless and profligate character. He was married to Fulvia, who afterwards became the wife of Antony.

[1197] Hardouin observes, that M. Fabius Ambustus was three times consul, Quintus Fabius Rullianus five times, and Q. Fabius Gurges three times.—B.

[1198] We have a similar account of the fate of Fidustius in Dion Cassius, by whom he is named Filuscius.—B. He was at length slain by order of Antony.

[1199] We have an account of the vicissitudes in the life of Ventidius Bassus in A. Gellius, B. xv. c. 4, and in Valerius Paterculus, B. ii. c. 65. We learn from these writers, that Ventidius was a native of Picenum, and that, when that city was taken by Cneius Pompeius, in the Social war, Ventidius, then an infant, was carried in his mother’s arms, before the car of the conqueror.—B.

[1200] The passage of Cicero referred to, occurs in a letter to Plancus, Ep. ad Fam. B. x. Ep. 18, where, speaking of Ventidius, who had united himself to the party of Antony, he says, “And I look down upon the camp of the mule-driver, Ventidius.”

[1201] “Caliga.” A strong heavy sandal worn by the Roman soldiers and centurions; but not by the superior officers. The term “a caligâ,” therefore, had the same meaning as our expression, “from the ranks.” The Emperor Caligula received that surname when a boy, in consequence of wearing the caliga, and being inured to the life of a common soldier.

[1202] In the year A.U.C. 704.

[1203] He was a native of Gades, in Spain. A party of the Roman nobles induced an inhabitant of Gades to accuse him of having illegally assumed the privileges of a Roman citizen. The cause was tried B.C. 55, and he was supported by Pompey and Crassus, and defended by Cicero. One of the tests of the being a Roman citizen, was the immunity from being scourged, according to the provisions of the Porcian law. So St. Paul, who, as a citizen of Tarsus, enjoyed the rights of a Roman citizen, says to the centurion, Acts xxii. 25, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

[1204] The accusation against Balbus appears to have been his illegal usurpation of the rights of a Roman citizen, being born a foreigner. Pliny has previously informed us, B. v. c. 5, that he was a native of Gades or Cadiz. He was elected consul A.U.C. 713.—B.

[1205] L. Fulvius Curius, consul B.C. 322. In B.C. 313 he was master of the horse to the dictator, L. Æmilius.

[1206] “Felix.” Hardouin informs us, that he transmitted this surname to his descendants; among them was Felix, the governor of Judæa, before whom St. Paul was taken for judgment.—B.

[1207] “Infelix.”

[1208] According to Pliny, B. xi. c. 39, and Plutarch, Sylla was affected by what has been termed the “Morbus pediculosus” or “Lousy disease.” Plutarch, however, ascribes his death to the bursting of an internal abscess; and the same cause is assigned by Val. Maximus, B. ix. c. 3.—B. It was probably of a similar disease that Herod Agrippa died, whom we find mentioned in Acts xii. 23, as being eaten of worms.

[1209] Plutarch refers to a dream which Sylla had a short time before his death, but it does not seem to correspond to the one here alluded to.—B. “Plutarch relates that shortly before his death, Sylla dreamed that his son Cornelius, who died before his wife, Cecilia Metella, appeared to him, and summoned him away to join his mother. Appian also states that just before his death, Sylla beheld a spirit in a dream, which summoned him by name; upon which he called together his friends, made his will, and died soon after of a fever. Only two days before his death he finished the twenty-second book of his Memoirs, in which, foreseeing his end, he boasted of the prediction of the Chaldæans, that it was his fate to die after a happy life, and in the height of his prosperity.

[1210] This is referred to by Tacitus, Hist. B. iii. c. 73.—B. Plutarch tells us that Catulus performed this ceremony of dedication.

[1211] His consulships were A.U.C. 502 and 506.—B.

[1212] Hardouin informs us, that a certain number of public officers, which varied from three to twenty, were appointed to divide the lands of the conquered people among the Roman colonists. Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 159.—B.

[1213] The commentators have endeavoured to prove, and not without some success, that Pliny is not correct in the remark, that the first elephants brought to Rome, were those which followed in the triumph of Metellus. He has himself informed us, B. viii. c. 6, that they were introduced by Curius Dentatus, in his triumph over Pyrrhus, some years before that of Metellus. The same fact is also stated by Florus, B. i. c. 18.—B.

[1214] Ovid, Fast. B. vi. l. 436, _et seq._, and Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 4, allude to this circumstance.—B.

[1215] This fact has been supposed by Hardouin to be controverted by the statement of Aulus Gellius, who says, B. iii. c. 18, that all the senators, who had passed the curule chair, were carried to the curia or senate-house, in a chariot. But, as Ajasson correctly observes, Aulus Gellius does not assert that the senators were carried at the public expense, which was the case with Metellus.—B.

[1216] Val. Maximus, B. vii. c. 1, details the various fortunate circumstances which occurred to Q. Metellus; he makes no mention, however, of the violent attack made upon him by Labeo; indeed, he expressly states, that his good fortune continued to the last moments of his life.—B.

[1217] Val. Maximus, _ubi supra_, and Velleius Paterculus, B. i. c. 11, speak of the honours obtained by the four sons of Q. Metellus; they are also alluded to by Cicero in his 8th Philippic, sec. 4., and his Tusc. Quæst. B. i. c. 35.—B.

[1218] Dalechamps remarks, that we find in the ancient historians a similar account relative to M. Drusus, who, when tribune of the people, hurried off the consul Philippus with such violence to prison, that the blood started from his nostrils: also of P. Sempronius, the tribune of the people, who, had it not been for the opposition offered by his colleague, would have carried the censor Appius Claudius to prison.

[1219] This attack of Labeo on Metellus is mentioned in the Epitome of Livy, B. lix. The tribunes of Rome were styled “sacrosancti,” and it was considered a capital crime to offer personal violence to them, under any circumstances. Hardouin remarks, that the tribune who came to the rescue of Metellus must have been a military tribune, who, in virtue of his office, had a right to claim the services of Metellus for the army.—B.

[1220] Cicero, in his oration “Pro Domo suâ,” sec. 47, refers to the consecration of the property of Metellus, as a case analogous to that of his own house, which had been similarly consecrated by Clodius.—B. It seems to have been the custom, when a person had been capitally condemned, for the tribune of the people to consecrate his property, with certain formalities, to some god or goddess; after which it could not, under ordinary circumstances, be recovered, whether the sentence was revoked or not. Cicero had been capitally condemned through the instrumentality of Clodius, and obliged to fly from Rome.

[1221] It was a common expression among the Romans, for a person, “obtorto collo ad prætorem trahi,” “to be dragged to the prætor with his neck wrenched;” and we meet with it repeatedly in the writings of Plautus. It would appear that it was customary for the lictors or officers of justice to seize criminals in a peculiar manner, perhaps with a rope, and with the exercise of great violence, whatever their rank.

[1222] According to the remark of Dalechamps, it appears to have been not unusual with the Roman magistrates, when resistance was offered to their order, to seize the party by the throat, as is here stated to have been done by Labeo.—B.

[1223] There has been considerable difficulty in ascertaining the names which should be given to the sons of Metellus, as the MSS. differ, and there appears to be no means of coming to any accurate decision, by a reference to other authorities. The essential circumstance, however, is, that two of the sons had obtained the honour of a triumph, and had acquired appropriate surnames.—B. Metellus Diadematus has been much confounded with his cousin, Metellus Dalmaticus. Diadematus was so called, from his wearing, for a long time, a bandage round his forehead, in consequence of an ulcer. He was consul B.C. 117.

[1224] By being dragged, and not proceeding willingly, in order to gain time for succour, and so save himself from being hurled from the Tarpeian rock.

[1225] Which allowed the laws to take their course, even against an individual of the first consequence in the state.—B.

[1226] In the class of those who were considered peculiarly fortunate; “hâc censurâ,” literally, “in this assessment,” in allusion to the classification of the citizens of Rome, according to the estimate of their property.—B.

[1227] In B.C. 45, when, being but about eighteen years of age, he had the presumption to ask his uncle for the office of “magister equitum;” upon which Julius Cæsar bestowed it on M. Lepidus, probably being of opinion that his nephew was not yet fit for the office.

[1228] In his triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, he showed himself no less cruel than his colleague, Antony, notwithstanding the gloss which Pliny attempts to throw over his actions. Two thousand equites and three hundred senators are said to have been put to death during this proscription.

[1229] Augustus was detained at Dyrrhachium for some time before the battle of Philippi by illness, and had not recovered when the battle took place.

[1230] In the first engagement at Philippi, Brutus defeated the army of Augustus, while Cassius was defeated by Antony. Appian speaks also of his concealment in a marsh to the south of Philippi.

[1231] In his war against Sextus Pompeius, his fleet was twice shattered by shipwreck off the coast of Sicily, and he suffered several defeats by sea.

[1232] C. Proculeius, a member of the equestrian order, and a familiar friend of Augustus. It is of him that Horace speaks in the lines (II. Ode 2),

“Vivet extento Proculeius ævo
Notus in fratres animi paterni.”

He was one of the Romans to whom Augustus thought of giving his daughter Julia in marriage. The mode of his death is mentioned in B. xxxvi. c. 59.

[1233] This circumstance is stated more fully by Suetonius in his Life of Augustus; he tells, that “in crossing from Sicily to Italy to rejoin his forces, Augustus was unexpectedly attacked by Demochares and Apollophanes, two of Pompey’s captains, and only escaped in a small vessel with the greatest difficulty.”

[1234] L. Antonius having raised an army at Præneste, took possession of the town of Perusia, which was blockaded by Augustus, and Antonius was at last obliged to surrender. During this siege Augustus encountered several dangers, and was once nearly killed while sacrificing beneath the walls, by a band of gladiators, who came upon him unawares.

[1235] The victory was long doubtful, and it was only the sudden panic of Cleopatra, that finally ensured it to Augustus.

[1236] The exact nature of the accident here alluded to, is discussed by Hardouin, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 169; he concludes, from the account of Suetonius and of Dion Cassius, that it was owing to the fall of a gallery, which extended between two towers.—B.

[1237] These are fully described by Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, c. 80 and 81.

[1238] M. Claudius Marcellus, the son of Octavia, sister of Augustus. He was adopted by Augustus. Tacitus seems to hint that he was greatly beloved by the Roman people, and it is not improbable that Augustus may have become suspicious or jealous of him; his decease took place in his twentieth year.

[1239] To Mitylene. This refers to the jealousy between Marcellus and his brother-in-law, M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Pliny probably uses the term “pudenda,” implying that Augustus showed neither firmness nor gratitude on this occasion; for anxious, at any cost, to prevent these differences, he sent Agrippa, against his will, as proconsul to Syria; immediately on which Agrippa left Rome, but stopped at Mitylene, and left the government of Syria to his legatus. Upon the death of Marcellus, Agrippa returned to Rome.

[1240] Dion Cassius mentions three conspiracies, the first by Fabius Cæpio and Muræna, a second, of which he does not name the authors, and a third by Cornelius Cinna.

[1241] Said in allusion to the suspicious deaths of his grandchildren Lucius and Caius, the children of his daughter Julia by Agrippa. They were probably removed by the criminal acts of Livia; but some historians have hinted that Augustus was privy to their destruction, the object of which was to remove all obstacles that lay in the way of Tiberius to the throne.

[1242] Implying that he was conscience-stricken at his share in their death, as well as struck with sorrow and remorse.

[1243] She was his only child; Scribonia was her mother. She was first married to her cousin Marcellus; on his death to L. Vipsanius Agrippa, and after his decease to Tiberius Nero, the son of Livia. Her profligacy was universally known, and Augustus did not scruple to enlarge upon it before the senate; but Pliny is the only writer who states that she contemplated an attempt on the life of his father; though Suetonius says that she became, at a late period of her reign, an object of interest to those who were disaffected. Julia was first banished to Pandataria, off the coast of Campania, and then to Rhegium, which she was never allowed to leave. Her death took place A.D. 14.

[1244] Tiberius Nero, afterwards emperor. Pliny here alludes to his retirement to Rhodes, where he remained seven years. Tacitus represents that his chief reason for leaving Rome was to escape the society of his wife Julia, who treated him with the utmost contempt, and whose licentious life was not unknown to him. During this retreat he devoted himself to the study of astrology. He left Rome without the consent of Augustus, who was equally unwilling to allow of his return.

[1245] Julia, one of the daughters of Julia and Agrippa, and the wife of L. Æmilius Paulus. She fully inherited the vices of her mother. For an adulterous intercourse with D. Silanus she was banished, by Augustus to Tremerus, off the coast of Apulia, where she survived twenty years, dependent on the bounty of the empress Livia. A child born after her disgrace, was, by order of Augustus, exposed as spurious. She is supposed by some to be the Corinna of Ovid’s amatory poems.

[1246] He probably alludes to the rising of some tribes in the provinces on the north-eastern coast of the Adriatic, in B.C. 35, who refused to pay their tribute. They were finally vanquished by Statilius Taurus, B.C. 33.

[1247] After the defeat of his general Varus, by Arminius, in Germany.

[1248] This pestilence is also mentioned by Dion Cassius; it took place A.U.C. 732.—B.

[1249] We have an account of the disastrous expedition of Varus in Florus, B. iv. c. 12.—B.

[1250] Suetonius speaks of calumnious pamphlets (libelli), that were circulated about, even in the senate-house, to his extreme disparagement.

[1251] A posthumous son of M. Vipsanius Agrippa by Julia, the daughter of Augustus, by whom he was adopted together with Tiberius. He was afterwards banished to Planaria, off the coast of Corsica, on account of his savage and intractable character, though guilty of no crime. Augustus is said to have privately visited him there, which, coming to the ears of Livia, increased her enmity against this youth, and he was murdered by her orders or those of Tiberius.

[1252] Tacitus, Ann. B. i. c. 3, says that he was banished by the artifices of Nero.—B.

[1253] After his death his solemn apotheosis took place in the Campus Martius. In some of the coins which were struck even during his life-time, he was called “Divus,” or “the god.”

[1254] For Tiberius Nero, the father of Tiberius Cæsar, took the side of M. Antonius in the Civil War.—B.

[1255] We have no mention of Pedius, or Phedius, as he is named in some of the MSS., in any of the ancient authors. A story of the same import is related of Solon and Tellus, by Herodotus, B. i. c. 30, and by Plutarch.—B.

[1256] A town of Arcadia. See B. iv. c. 10.

[1257] This is also related by Valerius Maximus, B. vii. c. 1.—B.

[1258] This is very similar to Virgil’s beautiful description of the old man Corycius, in the Georgics, B. iv. l. 125, _et seq._

[1259] We have some account of Euthymus in Pausanias, B. vi., and in Ælian, Var. Hist. B. viii. c. 18.—B.

[1260] It has been conjectured by Poinsinet, that the word “Callimachus” does not refer to the well-known poet of that name, nor to any other individual, but that it was the title of the president of the Olympic games. The opinion is not without plausibility, but is scarcely sanctioned by sufficient authority.—B.

[1261] Pliny here alludes to the doctrine of astrology, which forms the especial subject of the next Chapter.—B.

[1262] These statements are not found in any of the works of Hesiod now extant; it is scarcely necessary to observe, that they are entirely without foundation, and contrary to all observation and experience.—B.

[1263] The great age of Arganthonius is referred to by Lucian, in his treatise “De Macrobiis,” “on Long-lived Men;” by Herodotus, B. i. c. 163; by Cicero, de Senect. sec. 19; and by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13; the three latter writers agree in making his age 120 years, and hence Pliny assigns to him the same age in the next page.—B. St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, B. xv., quotes this passage of Pliny, and mentions the age of Arganthonius, as stated by him, to have been 152 years. For Tartessus, in Spain, see B. iii. c. 3, and B. iv. c. 36.

[1264] His story is told by Ovid, Met. B. x., where he is said to have become unwittingly the father of Adonis, by his own daughter Myrrha (or Smyrna), in consequence of the anger of Venus or Aphrodite. He was said to have founded the city of Cinyra in Cyprus.

[1265] Callimachus mentions a person of this name, who wrote a treatise on the art of making cheesecakes. There was also a physician so called, who flourished in the fifth century B.C., and who is said by Galen to have been the first who wrote a treatise on the probe. Whether either of these individuals is the person here alluded to, is unknown.

[1266] We have the same statement as to the age of Epimenides, in Valerius Maximus, B. viii. s. 13; he also, in the same section, gives an account of the Epii, of Pictoreus, of Dandon, and of the king of the island of the Tyrians, all of which agree with the present statement, except that the person mentioned by Damastes is called Literius, and the last-named individual is styled the king of the island of the Lutmii.—B.

[1267] The king of the Tartessi, mentioned above.—B.

[1268] Pliny has already spoken of the vigorous old age of Masinissa, in the 12th Chapter of the present Book.—B.

[1269] We have an account of Gorgias in Cicero, de Senect. sec. 9; in Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13, and in Lucian.—B.

[1270] Valerius Maximus, _ubi supra_, reduces this to sixty-two years.—B.

[1271] We have the same statement respecting Perperna in Valerius Maximus, but he does not mention his age.—B.

[1272] The names of the succeeding censors were C. Claudius Pulcher, and T. Sempronius Gracchus.

[1273] V. Maximus gives the same account of the age of Corvinus, but he states the interval between his consulships to have been forty-seven years. According to the Fasti, in Dr. Smith’s _Dictionary of Antiquities_, the interval was forty-eight years, from A.U.C. 406 to A.U.C. 455.—B.

[1274] The honour of the curule-chair—“sella curulis.” It was attached to the offices of consul, prætor, and ædile; Corvinus had, therefore, been elected to one or other of these offices twenty-one times.—B.

[1275] Valerius Maximus gives the same account of Metellus. He also informs us that Metellus, although of an advanced age when created pontiff, held the office for twenty-two years; so also Cicero, de Senect. sec. 9.—B.

[1276] We have the same account of these females in Valerius Maximus. He adds, that Clodia survived all her children; Seneca, Epist. 77, also refers to the great age of Statilia.—B.

[1277] “Emboliaria,” an actress in the “embolium,” or interlude of the Roman stage; also called “acroama,” by Cicero. It appears to have been a concert of musical instruments, perhaps accompanied by dancing.

[1278] Their consulship was A.U.C. 761.—B.

[1279] Their consulship was A.U.C. 671, which would leave an interval of ninety years between her first appearance and her appearance at the votive games.—B.

[1280] “Togatus saltare instituit.” He acted in the “togatæ fabulæ,” comedies representing Roman life, or the life of those who wore the toga, the civic costume of the Romans. The Greek comedies were called “palliatæ.”

[1281] The secular games of Augustus are stated by Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, c. 31, and by Dion Cassius, to have taken place A.U.C. 739.—B.

[1282] “We have an account of Epigenes, by Hardouin, Lemaire, vol. i. pp. 86, 87, where he is designated Rhodius. He is referred to by Varro, Columella, and Seneca; Pliny mentions him in other parts of his work.—B.

[1283] Berosus has been referred to in the 37th Chapter of the present Book.—B.

[1284] For some account of Petosiris and Necepsos, see end of B. ii.

[1285] Literally, the fourth part; according to Hardouin’s explanation, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 186.—B.

[1286] Literally ... “repetitions.” Dalechamps explains it as indicating, “that part of the heavens which is distant thirty parts; that is to say, two signs from the horoscope;” Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 187.—B.

[1287] Ajasson refers us to Jul. Firmicus for an explanation of the difference which may exist in the length of the lives of individuals as depending on their natal day; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 186. It appears to have been one of the leading tenets of the astrologers, that the favourable influence of the ascending sign is diminished or counteracted by the rays of other planets, or of the sun, falling upon the sign in certain directions or at certain angles, and that the length of the life of the individual is shortened in proportion to this injurious effect.—B.

[1288] This term means, literally, “increasing by a regular scale,” or, “according to a proportional series of numbers;” the multiples of 7 have been generally supposed to be the critical periods of human life, and, more especially, 63, or 9 times 7, which was accordingly termed “the grand climacteric.”—B.

[1289] This census appears to have taken place A.D. 74, under the fifth consulship of Vespasian, and the third of Titus; according to Censorinus, it was the last of which we have any distinct account.—B.

[1290] “Vasaria;” it is said, by the commentators, to be a term of German origin, derived from a word which signified the bark of a tree. It does not appear, however, from what cause it was appropriated to the sense in which it is used by Pliny. The word is found in Cicero’s oration against Piso, sec. 35; but is there applied to a totally different object.—B.

[1291] Now Brigella or Brescella. Parma still retains its ancient name, Placentia is now Piacenza, and Faventia the modern Faenza.

[1292] Probably the same as the Velia, mentioned by Phlegon Trallianus as famous for the longevity of its inhabitants.

[1293] “Marcus Mucius, M. Filius, Galeria, Felix.” It has been doubted by the commentators, whether the word Galeria refers to the name of the mother of Mucius, or to the tribe to which he belonged. The latter is, perhaps, the more natural interpretation. Hardouin and Ajasson, however, adopt the opinion, that Galeria was the mother of Marcus; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 191, 192. We meet with a precisely similar construction of words in Cicero, 9th Philip. sec. 7; “Ser. Sulpicius, Q. Filius, Lemonia Rufus.”—B.

[1294] The son of Panthöus, and friend of Hector. He was famous for his wisdom and prudence in giving counsel. See Iliad, B. xviii. l. 249-52.

[1295] The passage referred to is in the Iliad, B. xviii. l. 249-51.—B.

[1296] Respecting Cælius [formerly called Cæcilius in most editions] Hardouin informs us that he was the accuser of Calpurnius, that he was prætor during the consulship of P. Lentulus Spinther and L. Metellus Nepos, and was oppressed by Clodius. Pliny refers to Cælius, and his accusation of Calpurnius, in a subsequent passage, B. xxvii. c. 2.—B. Licinius Calvus Macer was by some considered, as an orator, to rival even Cicero himself; and as a poet, is generally mentioned by the side of Catullus. He exhausted his constitution by his severe application, and died in his thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year. He was remarkable for the extreme shortness of his stature. Cælius was a partisan of Pompey, and was eventually put to death at Thurii.

[1297] Consul A.U.C. 463; he is generally called Rufinus.—B.

[1298] This anecdote is mentioned by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. iii. c. 28, and by Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8.—B. He was tyrant of Pheræ and Tagus in Thessaly, and was finally assassinated.

[1299] He was consul A.U.C. 633; in consequence of the victories which he obtained over the Allobroges, he obtained the agnomen of “Allobrogicus.”—B.

[1300] Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13, refers to the great age of Xenophilus, but designates him “Pythagoræus;” he says that he obtained his information respecting him from Aristoxenus, the musician, which may have led to an inaccuracy on the part of Pliny. Poinsinet endeavours to reconcile the discrepancy, by the circumstance, that music formed a prominent part of the Pythagorean discipline.—B.

[1301] “Per sapientiam mori.” Many conjectures have been formed respecting the meaning of this passage, which is obscure. Attempts have been made to amend the reading of the text, but, as it appears, without success; see the notes of Hardouin, Ajasson, and others, Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 197, 8.—B. It is pretty clear, however, that Pliny here refers to what, in the next Chapter, he calls “sapientiæ ægritudo,” the malady by the Greeks called “phrenesis,” and by us “frenzy,” which attacks the seat of wisdom, the understanding. Many pages have been written upon the meaning of this passage, obvious as it seems to be.

[1302] The same doctrine is advanced in B. xxviii., which treats of medicine, see c. 10.—B.

[1303] Among the ancients, all the manufactures and mechanical arts were carried on by slaves; they were, consequently, subjected to the same kinds of morbid causes which are found, in modern times, to be so detrimental to certain descriptions of workmen.—B.

[1304] Our own experience has taught us the truth of this observation in the case of the cholera; and the great plague of 1348, which is thought to have swept off one-third of mankind, is supposed to have travelled to Europe from the vicinity of the Ganges.

[1305] Dalechamps correctly remarks, that the laughter here referred to, is not the indication of mirth, but what has been termed the “risus Sardonicus,” the “Sardonic laugh,” produced by a convulsive action of the muscles of the face; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 201.—B.

[1306] “Sapientiæ ægritudine.” See Note [1301] above.

[1307] Pliny probably took this notion from Celsus, who speaks of this as being a fatal symptom, B. ii. c. 6; “si manibus qui in febre, &c., in veste floccos legit, fimbriasque diducit....”—B.

[1308] “Venarum percussa;” the ancients were not acquainted with the relation which exists between the arteries and the veins, or the appropriate functions of these parts.—B.

[1309] In Seneca, Contr. B. ii., we find the remark, “Such genius, at so early an age, bodes no long life.” Apuleius, quoting from some Greek writer, says, “Odi puerulos præcoci sapientiâ.” “I hate your bits of boys, with their precocious wisdom.” We have a somewhat similar saying to the above passage from Seneca, “He is too wise,” or “too clever to live long.”

[1310] This remark has been confirmed by various writers, ancient and modern; it appears to depend upon an unnatural development of the cerebral and nervous system, which renders it more liable to disease, and less able to bear the impressions to which it is ordinarily exposed.—B.

[1311] This was probably Phthiriasis, or the “morbus pediculosus,” which has been previously mentioned in this book with reference to Sulla, and of which, probably, Herod Agrippa died. Some authors state that Pherecydes put an end to his life by throwing himself from a rock at Delphi; others give other accounts of his death.

[1312] This circumstance is mentioned by Seneca, De Provid. c. 3.—B.

[1313] We have the same account of Antipater in Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8. He was the preceptor of Cato of Utica; Cicero makes honourable mention of him, De Oratore, B. iii. c. 50.—B.

[1314] We have an account of the death of Aviola, in Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8. This name occurs in the Consular Fasti, A.U.C. 806; but it could not be that of the person referred to by Valerius Maximus, as his work was published under the reign of Tiberius, who died A.U.C. 789. We have also an account of the death of Lamia in Valerius Maximus, as occurring under the same circumstances with that of Aviola.—B.

[1315] Poinsinet, vol. iii. pp. 251, 252, supposes, that Messala and Rufus are the names of two writers, and not, as usually supposed, of one only. The conjecture appears not improbable.—B.

[1316] Plutarch, “De Deo Socratis,” gives us the same account of Hermotinus. Ajasson has remarked, not inaptly, that this story is very similar to the modern statements as to the effect of animal magnetism, Lemaire, iii. 207.—B. Apuleius, in his “Defence,” has a passage which is remarkable as clearly bearing reference to the doctrines inculcated by the mesmerists of modern times; be says, “Quin et illud mecum reputo, posse animum humanum, præsertim puerilem et simplicem seu carminum avocamento, sine odorum delenimento, soporari et ad oblivionem præsentium externari; et paulisper remotâ corporis memoriâ, redigi et redire ad naturam suam quæ est immortalis scilicet et divina; atque ita veluti quodam sopore futura rerum præsagire.”

[1317] We have no notice of any people, under this appellation, in Greece; Cantharus, however, occurs as the name of an individual, and possibly these may have been his descendants, or the members of his family.—B.

[1318] See B. v. c. 44.

[1319] We have an account of Aristeas in Herodotus, iv. 13, but somewhat different from that here given; Aristeas is also mentioned by Apollonius in his Hist. Mirab., and A. Gellius, B. ix. c. 4.—B. He was an epic poet, who flourished in the time of Crœsus and Cyrus. Herodotus mentions a story that he reappeared at Metapontum, in Italy, 340 years after his death. He is generally represented as a magician, whose soul could leave, and re-enter his body at pleasure.

[1320] A poet and prophet of Crete. The story was, that being sent by his father to fetch a sheep, he went into a cave, and fell into a sleep, from which he did not awake for fifty-seven years. On awaking, he sought for the sheep, and was astonished on finding everything altered. On returning home, he found that his young brother had in the meantime become an aged man. His story is only equalled by the famous one of the Seven Sleepers of Damascus, who fell asleep in the time of the Decian persecution of the Christians, and slept in a cave till the thirtieth year of the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, 196 years. It is not improbable that it is to this story about Epimenides, that we are indebted for the amusing story of Rip Van Winkle, by Washington Irving.

[1321] We have the life of Epimenides by Diogenes Laertius, who gives an account of this long-continued sleep. It is also mentioned by other writers, but there is some difference in their statements as to its length.—B.

[1322] According to the interpretation of Dalechamps, “spiritus et animæ interceptioni ac privationi,” “the interception and privation of the breath and faculties;” Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 208.—B.

[1323] He probably alludes to what are known among us as hysteria, or hysterical affections.

[1324] We have an account of Heraclides in Diogenes Laertius; he was a native of Pontus, and a pupil of Aristotle.—B.

[1325] This circumstance is not mentioned in either of the two works of Varro which have come down to us, “De Re Rusticâ,” and “De Linguâ Latinâ.”—B.

[1326] They were a body of commissioners appointed for the distribution of lands in Campania; Julius Cæsar, when consul, having caused a law to be passed, dividing that territory among such of the Roman citizens as should have three or more children.

[1327] We are not informed, whether these persons of the name of Corfidius, were in any way connected, nor, indeed, do we appear to have any certain knowledge of their history.—B. L. Corfidius, a Roman eques, is mentioned by Cicero, in his oration for Ligarius, B.C. 46, as one of the distinguished men who were then interceding with Cæsar on behalf of Ligarius; but after the oration was published, Cicero was informed that he had made a mistake in mentioning the name of Corfidius, as he had died before the speech was delivered. It does not appear certain that he was one of the parties here mentioned: but it is not improbable that he was the brother whose sudden death is mentioned below.

[1328] Among the ancients, servants used to be summoned by clapping the hands, as they are, in modern times, by ringing of bells.—B. The same practice still prevails in the east.

[1329] In the twenty-third Chapter of the present Book.—B.

[1330] Val. Maximus, B. ix. c. 12, and Diodorus Siculus, B. xiii. c. 14, gives the same account. It has been said, that, when he heard the news, he called for a draught of wine, and was choked with a grape-stone; this incident forms the subject of an epigram by Simonides, quoted by Hardouin, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 210.—B.

[1331] There is reason to believe, that the prize was given rather to the rank, than to the poetry of Dionysius; see the remarks of Ajasson, Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 210, 211.—B.

[1332] This anecdote is related by Livy, B. xxii. c. 7; by Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 12; and by Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 15; the two former, however, state, that it occurred after the battle of Thrasymenus.—B.

[1333] Cicero, De Fato, sec. 6, styles Diodorus, “valens dialecticus.”—B.

[1334] According to Hardouin, these were Lucius, the prætor, and Caius, the father of the dictator; they were brothers, and the sons of C. Cæsar.—B.

[1335] Thirty-first of December; consequently his tenure of office was for a few hours only. Cicero indulged in several jokes upon his consulship, remarking that no one had died during it; and that the consul was extremely vigilant, for that he had never slept during his term of office.

[1336] This took place A.U.C. 708; Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, gives us an account of the jests passed by Cicero and others on the brief duration of his office.—B.