Dio's Rome Volume I Part 20

[Footnote 67: _Q. Lucretius Ofella._]

[Footnote 68: Supplying [Greek: met' epiphanei], with Reiske.]

[Sidenote: FRAG. CV] 1. --Sulla up to that day that he conquered the Samnites had been a conspicuous figure, possessing a renown from his leaders.h.i.+p and plans, and was believed to be most devoted to humaneness and piety, so that all thought that he had Fortune as an ally because of his excellence. After this event he changed so much that one would not say his earlier and his later deeds were those of the same person. This probably shows that he could not endure good fortune. Acts that he censured in other persons while he was still weak, and others, far more outrageous even, he committed: it had presumably always been his wish to do so, but he had been hindered by lack of opportunity. This fact produced a strong conviction in the minds of some that bad luck has not a little to do with creating a reputation for virtue.[69] As soon as Sulla had vanquished the Samnites and thought he had put an end to the war (the rest of it he held of no account) he changed his tactics and, as it were, left his former personality behind outside the wall and in the battle, and proceeded to surpa.s.s Cinna and Marius and all their a.s.sociates combined. Treatment that he had given to no one of the foreign peoples that had opposed him he bestowed upon his native land, as if he had subdued that as well. In the first place he sent forthwith the heads of Damasippus and the members of his party stuck on poles to Praeneste, and many of those who voluntarily surrendered he killed as if he had caught them without their consent. The next day he ordered the senators to a.s.semble at the temple of Bellona, giving them the idea that he would make some defence of his conduct, and ordered those captured alive to meet at the so-called "public" field,[70] pretending that he would enroll them in the lists. This last cla.s.s he had other men slay, and many persons from the city, mixed in among them, likewise perished: to the senators he himself at the same time addressed a most bitter speech. (Valesius, p. 654.)

[Footnote 69: Adopting Reiske's suggestion for filling out a lacuna in the sense.]

[Footnote 70: The _villa publica_.]

2. --The ma.s.sacre of the captured persons was going on even under Sulla's direction with unabated fury, and as they were being killed near the temple the great uproar and lamentation that they made, their shrieks and wails, invaded the senate-house, so that the senate was terrified for two reasons. The second of the two was that they were not far from expecting that they themselves, also, might yet suffer some terrible injury, so unholy were both his words and his actions: therefore many, cut to the heart with grief at the thought of reality and possibility, wished that they themselves belonged to the number of men already dead outside, and so might secure a respite at last from fear. Their cases, however, were postponed, while the rest were slaughtered and thrown into the river, so that the savagery of Mithridates, deemed so terrible, in slaughtering all the Romans in Asia in one day, was now held to be of slight importance in comparison with the number ma.s.sacred and their manner of death. Nor did the terror stop here, but the slaughters which began at this point as if by a kind of signal occurred in the country district and all the cities of Italy. Toward many Sulla himself showed hatred and toward many others his companions did the same, some truthfully and some in pretence, in order that displaying by the similarity of their deeds a character similar to his and establis.h.i.+ng him as their friend they might not, by any dissimilarity, incur suspicion, seem to be reproving him at all, and so endanger themselves. They murdered all whom they saw to surpa.s.s them either in wealth or in any other respect, some through envy and others on account of their possessions. For under such conditions many neutral persons even, though they might have taken neither side, became subject to some private complaint, as surpa.s.sing some one in excellence or wealth and family. No safety was visible for any one against those in power who wished to commit an injustice in any case. (Valesius, p. 657.)

[Sidenote: B.C. 81 (_a.u._ 673)] 3. --Such calamities held Rome encompa.s.sed. Who could narrate the insults to the living, many of which were offered to women, and many to the n.o.blest and most prominent children, as if they were captives in war? Yet those acts, though most distressing, yet at least in their similarity to others that had previously taken place seemed endurable to such persons as were away from them. But Sulla was not satisfied, nor was he content to do the same as others: a certain longing came over him to far excel all in the variety of his slaughters, as if there were some virtue in being second to none even in bloodguiltiness, and so he exposed to view a new device, a whitened tablet, on which he inscribed the names.

Notwithstanding this all previous atrocities continued undiminished, and not even those whose names were not inscribed on the tablets were in safety. For many, some living and others actually dead, had their names subsequently inscribed at the pleasure of the slayers, so that in this aspect the phenomenon exhibited no novelties, and equally by its terror and its absurdity distressed absolutely every one. The tablets were exposed like some register of senators or list of soldiers approved, and all those pa.s.sing by at one time or another ran eagerly to it in crowds, with the idea that it contained some favorable announcement: then many found relatives' names and some, indeed, their own inscribed for death, whereupon their condition, overwhelmed by such a sudden disaster, was a terrible one; many of them, making themselves known by their behavior, perished. There was no particle of safety for any one outside of Sulla's company. For whether a man approached the tablets, he incurred censure for meddling with matters not concerning him, or if he did not approach he was regarded as a malcontent. The man who read the list through or asked any question about anything inscribed became suspected of enquiring about himself or his companions, and the one who did not read or enquire was suspected of being displeased at it and for that reason incurred hatred. Tears or laughter proved fatal on the instant: hence many were destroyed not because they had said or done anything forbidden, but because they either drew a long face or smiled. Their att.i.tudes were so carefully observed as this, and it was possible for no one either to mourn or to exult over an enemy, but even the latter cla.s.s were slaughtered on the ground that they were jeering at something. Furthermore many found trouble in their very names, for some who were unacquainted with the proscribed applied their names to whomsoever they pleased, and thus many perished in the place of others. This resulted in great confusion, some naming any man they met just as ever they pleased, and the others denying that they were so called. Some were slaughtered while still ignorant of the fact that they were to die, and others, who had been previously informed, anywhere that they happened to be; and there was no place for them either holy or sacred, no safe retreat, no refuge. Some, to be sure, by peris.h.i.+ng suddenly before learning of the catastrophe hanging over them, and some at the moment they received the news, were fortunately relieved of the terrors preceding death: those who were warned in advance and hid themselves found it a very difficult matter to escape.

They did not dare to withdraw, for fear of being detected, nor could they endure to remain where they were for fear of betrayal. Very many of them were betrayed by their a.s.sociates and those dearest to them, and so perished. Consequently not those whose names were inscribed merely, but the rest, as well, suffered in antic.i.p.ation. (Valesius, pp. 658-662.)

4. --The heads of all those slaughtered in any place were brought to the Roman Forum and exposed on the rostra, so that as often as proscriptions were issued, so often did the heads appear. (Valesius, ib.)

[Sidenote: FRAG. CVI] [Sidenote: B.C. 74 (_a.u._ 680)] Lucullus said that he would rather have rescued one Roman from danger than have captured at one stroke all the forces of the enemy. (Mai, p. 551.)

[Sidenote: FRAG. CVII] 1. For t.i.tles do not change the characters of men, but one makes t.i.tles take on new meanings according to one's management of affairs. Many monarchs are the source of blessings to their subjects,--wherefore such a state is called a kingdom,--whereas many who live under a democracy work innumerable evils to themselves.

(Mai, p. 556. Cp. Frag. XII.)

2. For nothing leads on an army or anything else requiring some control to better or worse like the character and habits of the person presiding over it. The disposition and character of their leaders the majority imitate, and they do whatever they see them doing, some from real inclination, and others as a mere pretence. (Mai, p. 556.)

3. The subservient element is wont ever to shape itself according to the disposition of its rulers. (Mai, p. 560, from Antonius Melissa, p.

78, ed. Tigur.)

4. For who would not prefer to be upright and at his death to lie in the bosom of the State, rather than to behold her devastated? (Mai, p.

557.)

5. If any one were building a house for you where you were not going to remain, you would think the undertaking a loss: do you now wish to grow rich in that place from which you must depart repeatedly before evening? (Mai, ib.)

6. Do you not know that we tarry in others' domains just like strangers and sojourners? Do you not know that it is the lot of sojourners to be driven out when they are not expecting or looking for it? That is our case. (Mai, ib.)

7. Who would not choose to die from one blow, and that with no pain or very little, instead of after sickness? Who would not pray to depart from a sound body with sound spirits rather than to rot with some decay or dropsy, or wither away in hunger? (Mai, ib.)

8. Things hoped for that fail of realization are wont to grieve some persons more than the loss of things never expected at all. They regard the latter as far from them and so pursue them less, as if they belonged to others, whereas the former they approach closely, and grieve for them as if deprived of rightful possessions. (Mai, p. 558.)

9. Expectation of danger, without danger, puts the person expecting in the position of having made things secure beforehand through imagining some coming unpleasantness. (Mai, p. 560, from Antonius Melissa.)

10. To be elated by good fortune is like running the stadium race on a slippery course. (Mai, ib., also from Antonius.)

11. The same author [i.e., Dio the Roman] said: "Is it not an outrage to trouble the G.o.ds, when we ourselves are not willing to do what the G.o.ds deem to be in our power?" (Mai, p. 561, from the Anthology of a.r.s.enius.)

12. The same said: "It is much better to win some success and be envied than to fail and be pitied." (Mai, ib., from a.r.s.enius.)

13. The same said: "It is impossible for any one who acts contrary to right principles to derive any benefit from them." (Mai, p. 562.)

[Sidenote: FRAG. CVIII] [Sidenote: B.C. 70 (_a.u._ 684)] The Cretans sent an emba.s.sy to the Romans, hoping to renew the old truce and furthermore to obtain some kindness for their preservation of the quaestor and his fellow soldiers. But they, rather imbued with anger at their failure to overcome the Cretans than grateful to the enemy for not having destroyed them, made no reasonable answer and demanded back from them all the captives and deserters. They demanded hostages and large sums of money, required the largest s.h.i.+ps and the chief men to be given up, and would not wait for an answer from the envoys' country but sent out one of the consuls immediately to take possession of those things and make war upon them if they failed to give,--as proved to be the case. For the men who at the outset, before any such demand was made and before they had conquered, had refused to make terms would naturally not endure after their victory the imposition of exorbitant demands of such a character. The Romans knowing this clearly and suspecting further that the envoys would try to corrupt some persons with money, so as to hinder the expedition, voted in the senate that no one should lend them anything. (Ursinus, p. 388.)