Dio's Rome Volume VI Part 7

[Frag. V] 1. Romulus had a crown and a sceptre with an eagle on the top and a white cloak reaching to the feet striped with purple embroideries from the shoulders to the feet: the name of the cloak was toga, i. e. "covering," from _tegere_ the corresponding verb (this is the word the Romans use for "cover") and a purple shoe which was called _cothurnus_, as Cocceius says. (Io. Laur. Lydus, De Magis.

Reip. Rom. 1, pp. 20-22.)

Therefore the words of Zonaras II, p. 96, 5, may be attributed to Dio: "(Romulus) also used red sandals."

2. "Shedding ashes from the hearth over the earth, they skillfully traced the prophesies with this wand, as they gazed at the sun and foretold the future. This wand Plutarch terms _lituos_, but _lituoi_ is what Cocceia.n.u.s Ca.s.sius Dio says." (Io. Tzetzes, Alleg. Iliadis 1, 28.)

3. Numa dwelt on a hill called Quirinal, because he was a Sabine, but he had his official residence in the Sacred Way and used to spend his time near the temple of Vesta and sometimes even remained on the spot.

(Valesius, p. 569.)

4. For since he understood well that the majority of mankind hold in contempt what is of like nature and consorts with them through a feeling that it is no better than themselves, but cultivate what is obscure and foreign as being superior, because they believe it divine, he dedicated a certain lot of land to the Muses [lacuna] (Mai, p. 138.)

5. --The G.o.ds, as guardians of peace and justice, must be pure of murder; and not listen to or look at anything pertaining to divinity in a cursory or neglectful manner, but must exist enjoying leisure from other affairs and fixing their attention on the practice of piety as the most important act.--Zonaras, 7, 5 (vol. II, p. 100).

6. Dio, Book I: "This, then, is what Numa thought" (Bekker, Anecd. p.

158, 23.)

7. Furthermore, also, that they became composed at that time through their own efforts, and took the sacred oath; after which they themselves continued at peace both with one another and with the outside tribes throughout the entire reign of Numa, and they seemed to have lighted upon him by divine guidance no less than in the case of Romulus. Men who know Sabine history best declare that he was born on the same day that Rome was founded. In this way, because of both them the city quickly became strong and well adorned: for the one gave it practice in warfare,--of necessity, since it was but newly founded,--and the other taught it besides the art of peace, so that it was equally distinguished in each of these two particulars. (Valesius, p. 569.)

8. Dio the Roman says that Ja.n.u.s, an ancient hero, because of his entertainment of Saturn, received the knowledge of the future and of the past, and that on this account he was represented with two faces by the Romans. From him the month of January was named, and the beginning of the year comes in the same month. (Cedrenus, Vol. 1, p.

295, 10, Bekker.)

9. Book 1, Dio:--"For in some beginnings, when grasping at ends, the costs that we endure are not unwelcome." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 161, 3.)

10. (Numa) having lived for a period of three more than eighty years, and having been king forty and three years.--Zonaras, 7, 5. (Cp.

Haupt, _Hermes_ XIV.)

[Frag. VI]

1. Dio, Book 2: "that their [Footnote: Probably refers to the people of Alba.] reputation would stand in the way of their growth." (Bekker, Anecd., p. 139, 12.)

2. --Neither of the two [Tullus or Mettius] sanctioned the removal, but both championed their own pretensions. For Tullus in view of the report about Romulus and the power they possessed was elated and so was Fufetius in view of the age of Alba and because it was the mother city not only of the Romans themselves but of many others; and both felt no little pride. For these reasons they withdrew from that dispute but plunged into a new quarrel about the sovereignty: for they saw that it was impossible [Footnote: Refers to the Romans.] to keep them free from party feeling, dwelling with them in safety on fair terms; and this was due to the inherent disposition of men to quarrel with their equals, and to desire to rule others. Many claims also regarding this they preferred against each other, to see if by any means the one party would voluntarily concede either of the two favors to the other. They accomplished nothing, but formed a compact to struggle in her behalf.

(Mai, p. 139.)

3. Dio, Book 2.--"and attacking them who expected no further danger."

(Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 15.)

4. --Tullus was deemed most able against the enemy, but absolutely despised and neglected religion until, during the recurrence of a plague, he himself fell sick. Then, indeed, he paid the strictest regard to all the G.o.ds, and furthermore established the Salii Collini.

(Valesius, p. 569.)

[Frag. VII]

--Marcius, comprehending how it is not sufficient for men who wish to remain at peace to refrain from wrongdoing, and that refusing to molest others, without active measures, is not a means of safety, but the more one longs for it the more vulnerable does one become to the ma.s.s of mankind, changed his course. He saw that a desire for quiet was not a power for protection unless accompanied by equipment for war: he perceived also that delight in freedom from foreign broils very quickly and very easily ruined men who were unduly enthusiastic over it. For this reason he thought that war was n.o.bler and safer, both as a preparation and as forethought, than was peace, and so whatever he was unable to obtain from the Latins with their consent, and without harming them, he took away against their will by means of a military expedition. (Mai, p. 139.)

[Frag. VIII]

--Tarquinius, by using wealth, knowledge, and great wit opportunely everywhere, put Marcius in such a frame of mind than he was enrolled by the latter among the patricians and among the senators, was often appointed general and was entrusted with the guardians.h.i.+p of his children and of the kingdom. He was no less agreeable to the rest, and consequently ruled them with their consent. The reason was that while he took all measures from which he might derive strength he did not lose his head, but though among the foremost humbled himself. Any laborious tasks he was willing to undertake openly in the place of others, but in pleasure he willingly made way for others while he himself obtained either nothing or but little, and that unnoticed. The responsibility for what went well he laid upon any one sooner than upon himself and placed the resulting advantages within the reach of the public for whoever desired them, but more unsatisfactory issues he never laid to the charge of any one else, nor attempted to divide the blame. Besides, he favored all the friends of Marcius individually both by deeds and by words. Money he spent without stint and was ready to offer his services if any one wanted anything of him. He neither said nor did anything mean against any one, and did not fall into enmity with any one if he could help it. Furthermore, whatever benefits he received from any persons he always exaggerated, but unpleasant treatment he either did not notice at all or minimized it and regarded it is of very slight importance: not only did he refuse to take offensive measures in return, but he conferred kindnesses until he won the man over entirely. This gained him a certain reputation for cleverness, because he had mastered Marcius and all the latter's followers, but through subsequent events he caused the majority of men to be distrusted, either as being deceitful by nature or as changing their views according to their own influence and fortunes. (Valesius, p. 570.)

[Frag. IX]

Second Book of Dio: "As there was nothing in which they did not yield him obedience." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 19.)

[Frag. X] 1. Dio, Book 2.--"Because his brother did not cooperate with him he secretly put him out of the way by poison through the agency of his wife." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 17. Cp. Zonaras, 7, 9.)

2. --Tarquinius, when he had equipped himself sufficiently to reign over them even if they were unwilling, first arrested the most powerful members of the senate and next some of the rest, and put to death many publicly, when he could bring some real charge against them, and many besides secretly, while some he banished. Not merely because some of them loved Tullius more than him, nor because they had family, wealth, intelligence, and displayed conspicuous bravery and distinguished wisdom did he destroy them, out of jealousy and out of a suspicion likewise that their dissimilarity of character must force them to hate him, the while he defended himself against some and antic.i.p.ated the attack of others; no, he slew all his bosom friends who had exerted themselves to help him get the kings.h.i.+p no less than the rest; for he thought that impelled by the audacity and fondness for revolution through which they had obtained dominion for him they might equally well give it to some one else. So he made away with the best part of the senate and of the knights and did not appoint to those orders any one at all in place of the men who had been destroyed: he understood that he was hated by the entire populace and was anxious to render the cla.s.ses mentioned extremely weak through paucity of men. Yes, he even undertook to abolish the senate altogether, since he believed that every gathering of men and especially of chosen persons who had some pretence of prestige from antiquity, was most hostile to a tyrant. But as he was afraid that the mult.i.tude or else his body-guards themselves, in their capacity as citizens, might by reason of vexation at the change in government revolt, he refrained from doing this openly, but effected it in a conveniently outrageous way. He failed to introduce any new member into the senate to make up the loss, and to those who were left he communicated nothing of importance. He called the senators together not to help him in the administration of any important business; no, this very act was to give them a proof of their littleness, and thereby to enable him to humiliate and show scorn for them. Most of his business he carried on by himself or with the aid of his sons, in the first place to the end that no one else should have any power, and secondly because he shrank from publis.h.i.+ng matters involving his own wrongdoing. He was difficult of access and hard to accost, and showed such great haughtiness and brutality toward all alike that he received the nickname among them of "Proud." Among other decidedly tyrannical deeds of himself and his children might be mentioned the fact that he once had some citizens bound naked to some crosses in the Forum and before the eyes of the citizens, and had them shamefully beaten to death with rods.

This punishment, invented by him at that time, has often been inflicted. (Valesius, p. 573.)

3. Dio in 2nd Book: "Publicly and by arrangement reviling his father in many unusual ways on the ground that he was a tyrant and was forsworn." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 155, 1.)

4. The Sibyl about whom Lycophron is now speaking was the c.u.maean, who died in the time of Tarquin the Proud and left behind three or nine of her prophetic books. Of these the Romans bought either one or three, after the Sibyl's servant had destroyed the rest by fire because they would not give her as much gold as she wanted. This they did later and bought up either one that was left over or else three, and gave them to Marcus Acilius to keep. Him they cast alive into the skin of an ox and put to death because he had given them to be copied: but for the book or books they dug a hole in the Forum and buried them along with a chest.

(Ioannes Tzetzes, scholia on Lycophr. 1279.)

5. --Lucius Junius, a son of Tarquinius's sister, in terror after the king had killed his father and had moreover taken his property away from him feigned madness, to the end that he might possibly survive.

For he well understood that every person possessed of sense, especially when he is of a distinguished family, becomes an object of suspicion to tyrants. And when once he had started on this plan he acted it out with great precision, and for that reason was called Brutus. This is the name that the Latins gave to idiots. Sent along with t.i.tus and Arruns as if he were a kind of plaything he carried a staff as a votive offering, he said, to the G.o.ds, though it had no great value so far as anyone could see. (Mai, p. 139.)

6. Dio in Book 2: "After that he was found in the Pythian G.o.d's temple." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 139, 21.)

7. --They made sport of the gift [i. e. the staff] of Brutus, and when to the enquiry of the amba.s.sadors as to who should succeed to the kingdom of their father the oracle replied that the first to kiss his mother should hold dominion over the Romans, he kissed the earth, pretending to have fallen down by accident, for he regarded her as the mother of all mankind. (Mai, p. 140.)

8. --Brutus overthrew the Tarquins for the following reason. During the siege of Ardea the children of Tarquin were one day dining with Brutus and Collatinus, since these two were of their own age and relatives; and they fell into a discussion and finally into a dispute about the virtue of their wives,--each one giving the preference to his own spouse. And, as all the women happened to be absent from the camp, they decided straightaway that night, before they could be announced, to take horse and ride away to all of them simultaneously. This they did, and found all engaged in a carousal except Lucretia, wife of Collatinus, whom they discovered at work on wool. This fact about her becoming noised abroad led s.e.xtus to desire to outrage her. Perchance he even felt some love for her, since she was of surpa.s.sing beauty; still it was rather her reputation than her body that he desired to ruin. He watched for an opportunity when Collatinus was among the Rutuli, hurried to Collatia, and coming by night to her house as that of a kinswoman obtained both food and lodging. At first he tried to persuade her to grant her favors to him, but as he could not succeed he attempted force. When he found he could make no progress by this means either, he devised a plan by which in the most unexpected way he compelled her to submit voluntarily to be debauched. To his declaration that he would cut her throat she paid no attention, and his statement that he would make away with one of the servants she listened to in contempt. When, however, he threatened to lay the body of the servant beside her and spread the report that he had found them sleeping together and killed them he was no longer to be resisted: and she, fearing it might be believed that this had so happened, chose to yield to him and die after giving an account of the affair rather than lose her good name in peris.h.i.+ng at once. For this reason she did not refuse to commit adultery, but afterward she made ready a dagger beneath the pillow and sent for her husband and her father. As soon as they had come she shed many tears, then spoke with a sigh: "Father, I utter your name because I have disgraced it less than my husband's.

It is no honorable deed I have done this last night, but s.e.xtus forced me, threatening to kill me and a slave together and pretend he had found me sleeping with the man. This threat compelled me to sin, to prevent you from believing that such a thing had taken place. And I, because I am a woman, will treat my case as becomes me: but do you, if you are men and care for your wives and for your children, avenge me, free yourselves, and show the tyrants what manner of creatures you are and what manner of woman they have outraged." Having spoken to this effect she did not wait for any reply but immediately drawing the dagger from its hiding place stabbed herself. (Valesius, p. 574.)

9. Dio, Second Book: "And he [Footnote: Van Herweiden's reading is the one adopted in this doubtful pa.s.sage.] went outside of Roman territory making frequent trials of neighboring peoples." (Bekker, Anecd. p. 164, 25.)

1. --All crowds of people judge measures according to the men who direct them, and of whatever sort they ascertain the men to be, they believe that the measures are of the same sort. (Mai, p. 140.)

[Frag. XI]

2. Every one prefers the untried to the well known, attaching great hope to the uncertain in comparison with what has already gained his hatred. (Ib.)

3. All changes are very dangerous, and especially do those in governments work the greatest and most numerous evils to both individuals and state. Sensible men, therefore, decide to remain under the same forms continually, even if they be not very good, rather than by changing to have now one, now another, and be continually wandering. (Ib.)

4. Dio, 2nd Book: "When he had learned this he accordingly both came to them the following day [lacuna]" (Bekker, Anecd., p. 178, 20.)

5. In 3rd Book of Dio: "Whose father also ruled you blamelessly."

(Ib., p. 120, 24.)

6. Dio's 3rd Book: "Of the fact that he loves you, you could get no greater proof than his eagerness to live in your midst and his action in having his possessions long since brought here." (Ib., p. 139, 26, and p. 164, 28.)

7. Dio's 3rd Book: "How would it pay any one to do this?" (Ib, p.

155,14.)

8. Dio's 3rd Book: "As Romulus also enjoined upon us." (Ib., p. 139, 29.)

9. --Every person comes to possess wishes and desires according to his fortune and whatever his circ.u.mstances be, of like nature are also the opinions he acquires. (Mai, p. 141.)

10. --The business of kings.h.i.+p, more than any other, demands not merely virtue, but also great understanding and intelligence, and it is not possible without these qualities for the man who takes hold of it to show moderation. Many, for example, as if raised unexpectedly to some great height, have not endured their elevation, but startled from their senses have fallen and made failures of themselves and have shattered all the interests of their subjects. (Mai, ib.)

11. With regard to the future form a judgment from what they have done, but do not be deceived by what they as suppliants falsely pretend. Unholy deeds proceed in every case from a man's real purpose, but any one may concoct creditable phrases. Hence judge from what a man has done, not from what he says he will do. (Mai, ib.)