Plutarch's Lives Volume III Part 7

XXVI. Now Perpenna, having got several to join him in his conspiracy, gained over Manlius, one of those who were in command. This Manlius was much attached to a beautiful boy, and to give the youth a proof of his attachment he told him of the design, and urged him not to care for his other lovers; but to give his affections to him alone, as he would be a great man in a few days. The youth reported what Manlius said to Aufidius, another of his lovers, to whom he was more attached.

On hearing this, Aufidius was startled, for he was engaged in the conspiracy against Sertorius, but he did not know that Manlius was a party to it. But when the youth named Perpenna and Graecinus,[167] and some others whom Aufidius knew to be in the conspiracy, he was confounded, yet he made light of the story to the youth, and told him to despise Manlius for a lying braggart; but he went to Perpenna, and, showing him the critical state of affairs, and the danger, urged him to the deed. The conspirators followed his advice, and having engaged a man to bring letters they introduced him to Sertorius. The letters gave information of a victory gained by one of the generals, and a great slaughter of the enemy. Upon this Sertorius was overjoyed, and offered a sacrifice for the happy tidings; and Perpenna proposed to feast him and his friends (and they were of the number of the conspirators), and after much entreaty he prevailed on Sertorius to come. Now whenever Sertorius was present, an entertainment was conducted with great propriety and decorum; for he would not tolerate any indecent act or expression, but accustomed his companions to enjoy mirth and merriment with orderly behaviour, and without any excess; but, on this occasion, in the midst of the feast, seeking to begin a quarrel, they openly used obscene language, and, pretending to be drunk, behaved indecently, for the purpose of irritating Sertorius.

Whether it was that he was vexed at this disorderly conduct, or had now suspected their design by the flagging of the conversation[168]

and their unusual contemptuous manner towards him, he changed his posture on the couch by throwing himself on his back, as if he was paying no attention to them, and not listening. On Perpenna taking a cup of wine, and in the middle of the draught throwing it from him and so making a noise, which was the signal agreed on, Antonius, who lay next to Sertorius, struck him with his sword. On receiving the blow, Sertorius turned himself, and at the same time attempted to rise, but Antonius, throwing himself upon his chest, held his hands, and he was despatched by blows from many of the conspirators, without even making any resistance.

XXVII.[169] Now most of the Iberians immediately sent amba.s.sadors to Pompeius and Metellus, to make their submission; those who remained Perpenna took under his command, and attempted to do something. After employing the means that Sertorius had got together, just so far as to disgrace himself, and show that he was not suited either to command or to obey, he engaged with Pompeius. Being quickly crushed by him and taken prisoner, he did not behave himself even in this extremity as a commander should do; but having got possession of the papers of Sertorius, he offered to Pompeius to show him autograph letters from consular men and persons of the highest influence at Rome, in which Sertorius was invited to Italy, and was a.s.sured that there were many who were desirous to change the present settlement of affairs, and to alter the const.i.tution. Now Pompeius, by behaving on this occasion, not like a young man, but one whose understanding was well formed and disciplined, relieved Rome from great dangers and revolutions. He got together all those letters, and all the papers of Sertorius, and burnt them, without either reading them himself or letting any one else read them; and he immediately put Perpenna to death, through fear that there might be defection and disturbance if the names were communicated to others. Of the fellow-conspirators of Perpenna, some were brought to Pompeius, and put to death; and others, who fled to Libya, were pierced by the Moorish spears. Not one escaped, except Aufidius, the rival of Manlius, and this happened, either because he escaped notice, or n.o.body took any trouble about him, and he lived to old age, in some barbarian village, in poverty and contempt.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 101: If this is obscure, the fault is Plutarch's. His word for Fortune is [Greek: tuche] t??? which he has often used in the Life of Sulla. The word for Spontaneity is [Greek: to automaton] t?

a?t?at??, the Self-moved. The word for Elemental things is [Greek: ta hupokeimena] t? ?p??e???a. The word [Greek: hupokeimenon] ?p??e?????

is used by Aristotle to signify both the thing of which something is predicated, the Subject of grammarians, and for the Substance, which is as it were the substratum on which actions operate. Aristotle (_Metaphys._ vi. vii. 3) says "Essence ([Greek: ousia] ??s?a) or Being is predicated, if not in many ways, in four at least; for the formal cause ([Greek: to ti en einai] t? t? ?? e??a?), and the universal, and genus appear to be the essence of everything; and the fourth of these is the Substance ([Greek: to hupokeimenon] t? ?p??e?????). And the Substance is that of which the rest are predicated, but it is not predicated of any other thing. And Essence seems to be especially the first Substance; and such, in a manner, matter ([Greek: hule] ???) is said to be; and in another manner, form; and in a third, that which is from these. And I mean by matter ([Greek: hule] ???), copper, for instance; and by form, the figure of the idea; and by that which is from them, the statue in the whole," &c. I have translated [Greek: to ti en einai] t? t? ?? e??a? by "formal cause," as Thomas Taylor has done, and according to the explanation of Trendelenburg, in his edition of Aristotle _On the Soul_, i. 1, -- 2. It is not my business to explain Aristotle, but to give some clue to the meaning of Plutarch.

The word "accidentally" ([Greek: kata tuchen] ?at? t????) is opposed to "forethought" ([Greek: p.r.o.noia] p?????a), "design," "providence."

How Plutarch conceived Fortune, I do not know; nor do I know what Fortune and Chance mean in any language. But the nature of the contrast which he intends is sufficiently clear for his purpose.]

[Footnote 102: As to Attes, as Pausanias (vii. 17) names him, his history is given by Pausanias. There appears to be some confusion in his story. Herodotus (i. 36) has a story of an Atys, a son of Crsus, who was killed while hunting a wild boar; and Adonis, the favourite of Venus, was killed by a wild boar. It is not known who this Arcadian Atteus was.

Actaeon saw Diana naked while she was bathing, and was turned by her into a deer and devoured by his dogs. (Apollodorus, _Biblioth_. iii.

4; Ovidius, _Metamorph_. iii. 155.) The story of the other Actaeon is told by Plutarch (_Amator. Narrationes_, c. 2).]

[Footnote 103: The elder Africa.n.u.s, P. Cornelius Scipio, who defeated Hannibal B.C. 202, and the younger Africa.n.u.s, the adopted son of the son of the elder Africa.n.u.s, who took Carthage B.C. 146. See Life of Tib. Gracchus, c. 1, Notes.]

[Footnote 104: Ios, a small island of the Grecian Archipelago, now Nio, is mentioned among the places where Homer was buried. The name Ios resembles that of the Greek word for violet, ([Greek: ion] ???).

Smyrna, one of the members of the Ionian confederation, is mentioned among the birth places of Homer. It was an accident that the name of the town Smyrna was the same as the name for myrrh, _Smyrna_ ([Greek: smurne] s????),x which was not a Greek word. Herodotus (iii. 112) says that it was the Arabians who procured myrrh.]

[Footnote 105: This Philippus was the father of Alexander the Great.

He is said to have lost an eye from a wound by an arrow at the siege of Pydna Antigonus, one of the generals of Alexander, was named Cyclops, or the one-eyed. He accompanied Alexander in his Asiatic expedition, and in the division of the empire after Alexander's death he obtained a share and by his vigour and abilities he made himself the most powerful of the successors of Alexander. It is said that Apelles, who painted the portrait of Antigonus, placed him in profile in order to hide the defect of the one eye. Antigonus closed his long career at the battle of Ipsus B.C. 301, where he was defeated and killed. He was then eighty-one years of age.]

[Footnote 106: Plutarch's form is Annibas. I may have sometimes written it Hannibal. Thus we have Anno and Hanno. I don't know which is the true form. [I prefer to write it Hannibal.--A.S.]]

[Footnote 107: Plutarch has written the Life of Eumenes, whom he contrasts with Sertorius. Eumenes was one of the generals of Alexander who accompanied him to Asia. After Alexander's death, he obtained for his government a part of Asia Minor bordering on the Euxine, and extending as far east as Trapezus. The rest of his life is full of adventure. He fell into the hands of Antigonus B.C. 315, who put him to death.]

[Footnote 108: Nursia was in the country of the Sabini among the Apennines, and near the source of the Nar. It is now Norcia. The MSS.

of Plutarch have Nussa.]

[Footnote 109: The date is B.C. 105. See the Life of Marius, c. 10, and Notes.]

[Footnote 110: t.i.tus Didius and Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos were consuls B.C. 98. In B.C. 97 Didius was in Spain as Proconsul, and fought against the Celtiberi. Gellius (ii. 27) quotes a pa.s.sage from the Historiae of Sall.u.s.tius, in which mention is made of Sertorius serving under Didius in Spain, and the character of Sertorius is given pretty nearly in the terms of Plutarch, who may have used Sall.u.s.tius as one of his authorities. Didius is mentioned by Cicero, _Pro Cn.

Plancio_, c. 25; and by Frontinus, i. 8. 5; ii. 10. 1; and by Appian (_Iberica_, c. 99). The pa.s.sage in the text should be translated, "he was sent out under Didius as commander, and wintered in Iberia, in Castlo," &c. Plutarch has used the word [Greek: strategos] st?at????, which means praetor; but to make the statement correct, we must translate it Proconsul, or commander. See Life of Cra.s.sus, c. 4, Notes.]

[Footnote 111: Castlo, Castalo, or Castulo, is placed on the north bank of the Baetis, the Guadalquivir.]

[Footnote 112: See the Life of Marius, c. 32, Notes. The events that are briefly alluded to at the end of this chapter are described in the Lives of Marius and Sulla. The battle in the Forum is spoken of in the Life of Marius, c. 41.]

[Footnote 113: The same story is told in the Life of Marius, c. 44, where it is stated that Cinna and Sertorius combined to put these scoundrels out of the way; but the number that were ma.s.sacred is not stated there.]

[Footnote 114: Compare the Life of Marius, c. 45, and of Sulla, c. 28, &c. Cinna was murdered by his soldiers two years after the death of Marius, and in his fourth consuls.h.i.+p, B.C. 84. The younger Marius was Consul in B.C. 82, with Cn. Papirius Carbo for his colleague. This was Carbo's third consuls.h.i.+p. According to Plutarch, Sertorius left Italy after the younger Marius was consul, and therefore not earlier than B.C. 82, unless we understand the pa.s.sage in Plutarch as referring to the election of Marius, and not to the commencement of his consuls.h.i.+p.

Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 86) places the departure of Sertorius in the year B.C. 83.]

[Footnote 115: Sertorius had not been Consul, and therefore he was not now Proconsul. It is true that a man, who had not been Consul, might receive the government of a Province with the t.i.tle of Proconsul. (See c. 7.) Sertorius may have a.s.sumed the t.i.tle.]

[Footnote 116: If Sertorius stayed at Rome till the younger Marius was elected Consul, as Plutarch states in the sixth chapter, he probably saw what he is here represented as hearing.]

[Footnote 117: This Annius, surnamed Luscus, served under Q. Metellus in the Jugurthine War B.C. 107. (Sall.u.s.t, _Jug. War_, c. 77.) Sulla gave him the command in Spain with the t.i.tle of Proconsul B.C. 81. An extant medal seems to have been struck in honour of his Proconsuls.h.i.+p.

(Eckhel, _Doct. Num. Vet._ v. 134.)]

[Footnote 118: This town, which the Romans called Nova Carthago, was built by the Carthaginians at the close of the first Punic War B.C.

235, and so long as they kept possession of Spain it was their chief city. Livius (26. c. 42), describes the situation of New Carthage, now Cartagena, and one of the best harbours in Spain. Its position on the S.E. coast is favourable for communication with Africa.]

[Footnote 119: The maritime towns of Cilicia were for a long time the resort of a bold set of seamen and adventurers who scoured the Mediterranean and were as formidable to the people of Italy as the Barbary Corsairs were in the middle ages. It was one of the great merits of Cn. Pompeius Magnus that he cleared the seas of these scoundrels. See Lucullus, c. 37.]

[Footnote 120: The two islands of Yvica or Ibica and Formentera, which belong to the Balearic group, were sometimes comprehended under the name of the Pityussae or the Pine Islands (Strabo, 167, ed. Casaub.).

The Greeks and Romans called Yvica, Ebusus. Ivica is hilly, and the high tracts are well covered with pine and fir.]

[Footnote 121: This is the old name of the Straits of Gibraltar, which is still retained in the modern form Cadiz. Gadeira, which the Romans called Gades, was an old Phnician town, on the island of Leon, where Cadiz now stands. Strabo (p. 168, ed. Casaub.) says that Gades in his time (the beginning of the reign of Tiberius) was not inferior in population to any city except Rome, and was a place of great trade, as it is now.]

[Footnote 122: This river, now the Guadalquivir, gave the name of Baetica to one of the three provinces into which the Spanish Peninsula was ultimately divided by the Romans for the purposes of administration.]

[Footnote 123: This was the name for so much of the ocean that washes the west coast of Europe and Africa as the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with. The Greeks and Romans had no name for the Mediterranean.]

[Footnote 124: The only islands in the Atlantic that correspond to this description are Madeira and Porto Santo, but Porto Santo is forty miles north-east of Madeira. The distance of Madeira from the coast of Africa is about 400 miles or about 4000 stadia. The climate of Madeira is very temperate: the thermometer seldom sinks below 60, though it sometimes rises as high as 90 of Fahrenheit. On the high and mountainous parts there are heavy dews, and rain falls at all seasons.

Owing to the variety of surface and elevation the island produces both tropical products and those of temperate countries. The fame of this happy region had spread to all parts of the ancient world, though we cannot safely conclude that the islands were known by report to Homer.

Horace in his 16th _Epode_ is probably alluding to these islands when he is speaking of the Civil Wars and of flying from their horrors in those beautiful lines:

Nos manet Ocea.n.u.s circ.u.mvagus; arva beata Petamus arva divites et insulas, &c.

[Footnote 125: The pa.s.sage is in the fourth book of the 'Odyssey,' v.

563, and is quoted by Strabo (p. 31):

And there in sooth man's life is easiest; Nor snow, nor raging storm, nor rain is there, But ever gently breathing gales of zephyr Ocea.n.u.s sends up.

Strabo in another pa.s.sage expresses an opinion that the Elysian fields were in the southern parts of Spain. That would at least be a good place for them.]

[Footnote 126: This region is the Mauritania of the Roman Geographers, the modern Marocco, and the town of Tigennis is the Roman Tingis, the modern Tangier, which is on the Atlantic coast of Africa, south-south-east of Gades. The circ.u.mstance of Tingis being attacked shows that the African campaign of Sertorius was in the north-western part of Marocco. Strabo mentions Tinga (p. 825). See also Plin. _H.N._ v. 1.]

[Footnote 127: The story of this giant is in the mythographers. Tumuli are found in many parts of the old and new world, and it seems probable that they were all memorials to the dead. The only surprising thing in this story is the size of the body; which each man may explain in his own way. There are various records in antient writers of enormous bones being found. Those found at Tegea under a smithy, which were supposed to be the bones of Orestes, were seven cubits long (Herodotus, i. 68), little more than the ninth part of the dimensions of Antaeus: but Antaeus was a giant and Orestes was not. See Strabo's remarks on this story (p. 829).]

[Footnote 128: See Life of Sulla, c. 17. I am not sure that I have given the right meaning of this pa.s.sage. Plutarch may mean to say that he has said so much on this matter in honour of Juba.]

[Footnote 129: I have translated this pa.s.sage literally and kept the word daemon, which is the best way of enabling the reader to judge of the meaning; of the text. If the word "daemon" is here translated "fortune," it may mislead. A like construction to the words [Greek: to daimoni summetabalein to ethos] t? da???? s?etaa?e?? t? ????

occurs in the Life of Lucullus, c. 39. The meaning of the whole pa.s.sage must be considered with reference to the sense of daemon, which is explained in the notes of the Life of Sulla, c. 6.]

[Footnote 130: The Lusitani occupied a part of the modern kingdom of Portugal.]

[Footnote 131: This story of the deer is told by Frontinus (_Stratagem,_ i. 11, 13), and by Gellius (xv. 22).]