Velleius Paterculus - Roman History Book I

8/19/2019 Velleius Paterculus - Roman History Book I

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Velleius Paterculus, Roman History

Book I

1 1 Epeus,1 separated by a storm from Nestor, his chief, founded Metapontum.

Teucer, disowned by his father Telamon because of his laxity in not avenging the wrong doneto his brother,2 was driven to yprus and founded !alamis, named after the place of his birth."yrrhus, the son of #chilles, established himself in Epirus$ "hidippus% in Ephyra inThesprotia. 2 #gamemnon, &ing of &ings, cast by a tempest upon the island of rete, foundedthere three cities, two of which, Mycenae and Tegea, were named after towns in his owncountry, and the other was called "ergamum in commemoration of his victory.

p' #gamemnon was soon afterwards struc& down and slain by the infamous crime of #egisthus, his cousin, who still &ept up against him the feud of his house, and by the wic&edact of his wife. % #egisthus maintained possession of the &ingdom for seven years. (restesslew #egisthus and his own mother, seconded in all his plans by his sister Electra, a womanwith the courage of a man. That his deed had the approval of the gods was made clear by thelength of his life and the felicity of his reign, since he lived ninety years and reigned seventy.)urthermore, he also too& revenge upon "yrrhus the son of #chilles in fair fight, for he slewhim at *elphi because he had forestalled him in marrying +ermione, the daughter of Menelaus and +elen who had been pledged to himself.

#bout this time two brothers, -ydus and Tyrrhenus, were oint &ings in -ydia. +ard pressed by the unproductiveness of their crops, they drew lots to see which should leave his countrywith part of the population. The lot fell upon Tyrrhenus. +e sailed to /taly, and from him the

place wherein he settled, its inhabitants, and the sea received their famous and their lastingnames.

#fter the death of (restes his sons "enthilus and Tisamenus reigned for three years.

2 1 #bout eighty years after the capture of Troy,' and a hundred and twenty after

+ercules had departed to the gods, the descendants of "elops, who, during all this time hadsway in the "eloponnesus after they had driven out the descendants of +ercules, were again inturn driven out by them. The leaders in the recovery of the p0sovereignty were Temenus,resphontes, and #ristodemus, the greatgreatgrandsons of +ercules.

/t was about this time that #thens ceased to be governed by &ings. The last &ing of #thenswas odrus the son of Melanthus, a man whose story cannot be passed over. #thens was hard

pressed in war by the -acedaemonians, and the "ythian oracle had given the response that theside whose general should be &illed by the enemy would be victorious. odrus, therefore,laying aside his &ingly robes and donning the garb of a shepherd, made his way into the campof the enemy, deliberately provo&ed a 3uarrel, and was slain without being recogni4ed. 2 5y

his death odrus gained immortal fame, and the #thenians the victory. 6ho could withholdadmiration from the man who sought death by the selfsame artifice by which cowards see&

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life7 +is son Medon was the first archon at #thens. /t was after him that the archons whofollowed him0 were called Medontidae among the people of #ttica. Medon and all thesucceeding archons until harops continued to hold that office for life.8 The "eloponnesians,when they withdrew from #ttic territory, founded Megara, a city midway between orinthand #thens.

% #bout this time, also, the fleet of Tyre, which controlled the sea, founded in the farthestdistrict of !pain, on the remotest confines of our world, the city of adi4, on an island in theocean separated from the mainland by a very narrow strait. The Tyrians a few years later alsofounded 9tica in #frica.

The sons of (restes, expelled by the +eraclidae, were driven about by many vicissitudes and by p:raging storms at sea, and, in the fifteenth year, finally settled on and about the island of -esbos.

% 1 ;reece was then sha&en by mighty disturbances. The #chaeans, driven from

-aconia, established themselves in those localities which they occupy today. The "elasgiansmigrated to #thens, and a warli&e youth named Thessalus, of the race of the Thesprotians,with a great force of his fellowcountrymen too& armed possession of that region, which, after his name, is now called Thessaly. +itherto it had been called the state of the Myrmidones.

2 (n this account, one has a right to be surprised that writers who deal with the times of theTroan war spea& of this region as Thessaly. This is a common practice, but especially amongthe tragic poets, for whom less allowance should be made$ for the poets do not spea& in

person, but entirely through mouths of characters who lived in the time referred to. 5ut if anyone insists that the people were named Thessalians from Thessalus the son of +ercules, hewill have to explain why this people never adopted the name until the time of this secondThessalus.

% !hortly before these events #letes, the son of +ippotes, descended from +ercules in thesixth generation, founded upon the isthmus the city of orinth, the &ey to the "eloponnesus,on the site of the former Ephyre. There is no need for surprise that orinth is mentioned by+omer,: for it is in his own person as poet that +omer calls this city and some of the /oniancolonies by the names which they bore in his day, although they were founded long after thecapture of Troy.

p11 1 The #thenians established colonies at halcis and Eretria in Euboea, and the

-acedaemonians the colony of Magnesia in #sia. Not long afterwards, the halcidians, who,as / have already said, were of #ttic origin, founded umae in /taly under the leadership of +ippocles and Megasthenes. #ccording to some accounts the voyage of this fleet was guided

by the flight of a dove which flew before it$ according to others by the sound at night of a bron4e instrument li&e that which is beaten at the rites of eres. 2 #t a considerably later period, a portion of the citi4ens of umae founded Naples.1


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proximity of their (scan neighbours. The extent of their walls at the present day serves toreveal the greatness of these cities in the past.

% #t a slightly later date a great number of young ;ree&s, see&ing new abodes because of anexcess of population at home, poured into #sia. The /onians, setting out from #thens under

the leadership of /on, occupied the best &nown portion of the seacoast, which is now called/onia, and established the cities of Ephesus, Miletus, olophon, "riene, -ebedus, Myus,Erythra, la4omenae, and "hocaea, and occupied many islands in the #egaean and /carianseas, namely, !amos, hios, #ndros, Tenos, "aros, *elos, and other islands of lesser note. Not long afterwards the #eolians also set out from ;reece, and after long wanderings too&

possession of places p1%no less illustrious and founded the famous cities of !myrna, yme,-arissa, Myrina, Mytilene, and other cities on the island of -esbos.

' 1 Then the brilliant genius of +omer burst upon the world, the greatest beyond

compare, who by virtue of the magnitude of his wor& and the brilliance of his poetry alonedeserves the name of poet. 2 +is highest claim to greatness is that, before his day, no one wasfound for him to imitate, nor after his day has one been found to imitate him. Nor shall wefind any other poet who achieved perfection in the field in which he was also the pioneer, withthe exception of +omer and #rchilochus. % +omer lived at a period more remote than some

people thin& from the Troan war of which he wrote$ for he flourished only about ninehundred and fifty years ago, and it is less than a thousand since his birth.11 /t is therefore notsurprising that he often uses the expression > ἷ>? @ῦ @ AB>C>D ἰF?@,12 for by it is denoted thedifference, not merely in men, but in ages as well. /f any man holds to the view that +omer was born blind, he is himself lac&ing in all his senses.

1 /n the following age G about eight hundred and seventy years ago1% G the

sovereignty of #sia passed to the medes from the #ssyrians, who had held it for ten hundredand seventy years. 2 /ndeed, it was their &ing !ardanapalus, a man enervated by luxuriousliving, whose excess of fortune was his undoing. Thirtythird,1 in direct succession of father

p1'and son, from Ninus and !emiramis, who had founded 5abylon, he was deprived ali&e of his empire and of his life by #rbaces the Mede.

% #t this time lived -ycurgus the -acedaemonian, one of the most illustrious personages of ;reece, a man of royal descent, the author of legislation most severe and most ust, and of adiscipline excellently adapted for the ma&ing of men. #s long as !parta followed it, sheflourished in the highest degree.

/n this period, sixtyfive years before the founding of =ome, arthage was established1' bythe Tyrian Elissa, by some authors called *ido. ' #bout this time also aranus, a man of royalrace, eleventh in descent from +ercules, set out from #rgos and sei4ed the &ingship of Macedonia. )rom him #lexander the ;reat was descended in the seventeenth generation, andcould boast that, on his motherHs side, he was descended from #chilles, and, on his fatherHsside, from +ercules. #emilius !ura says in his boo& on the chronology of =omeI JThe#ssyrians were the first of all races to hold world power, then the Medes, and after them the

"ersians, and then the Macedonians. Then through the defeat of Kings "hilip and #ntiochus,of Macedonian origin, following closely upon the overthrow of arthage, the world power

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passed to the =oman people. 5etween this time and the beginning of the reign of Ninus &ingof the #ssyrians, who was the first to hold world power, lies an interval of nineteen hundredand ninetyfive years.J1

0 1 To this period belonged +esiod, separated p10from the age of +omer by about

one hundred and twenty years.10 # man of an ex3uisite taste, famous for the soft charm of his poems, and an ardent lover of peace and 3uiet, he ran&s next to +omer, not only in point of time, but also in the reverence in which his wor& is held. #voiding the mista&e which +omer made, he has indeed told us of his country and parents, but of his country, at whose hands hehad suffered punishment, he spea&s in the most disparaging terms.

2 6hile dwelling on the history of foreign countries, / now come to an event pertaining to our own, one in which there has been much error, and in which the views of the authorities showgreat discrepancy. )or some maintain that about this time, eight hundred and thirty years ago,

apua and Nola were founded by the Etruscans. 6ith these / myself am inclined to agree, butthe opinion of Marcus ato is vastly different. % +e admits that apua, and afterwards Nola,were founded by the Etruscans, but maintains that apua had been in existence for only abouttwo hundred and sixty years before its capture by the =omans. /f this is so, as it is but twohundred and forty years since apua was ta&en, it is but five hundred years since it wasfounded. )or my own part, with all due regard for atoHs accuracy, / can scarcely believe thatthe city could have had such growth, such prosperity, or could have fallen and risen again, inso short a space of time.18

8 1 !oon afterwards the (lympic games, the most celebrated of all contests in

sports, and one which was most effective in developing the 3ualities both of body and mind,had their beginning under the auspices of /phitus, &ing of Elis. +e instituted p1:the games andthe concourse eight hundred and twentythree years1: before your consulship, MarcusLinicius. 2 There is a tradition that #treus began this sacred observance in the same placeabout twelve hundred and fifty years ago, when he held the funeral games in honour of hisfather "elops2


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between the two hills. #s a council to assist him in administering affairs of state he had onehundred chosen men called patres. This is the origin of the name patricians. The rape of the!abine maidens . . .2%

Nor at this time was imon, the son of Miltiades, less famous.

: 1 . . . than the enemy had feared.2 )or two years "erses2' had &ept up the

struggle with the consuls with such varying fortune that he generally had the advantage inthese conflicts, and succeeded in winning over a large part of ;reece to ally itself with hiscause. 2 Even the =hodians, who in the past had been most loyal to the =omans, were nowwavering in their fidelity, and, watching his success, seemed inclined to oin the &ingHs side. /nthis war King Eumenes2 maintained a neutral attitude, neither following the initiative of his

brother nor his own established custom. % Then the senate and the =oman people chose asconsul -ucius #emilius "aulus, who had previously triumphed, both in his praetorship and in

his consulship, a man worthy of the highest praise that can be associated with valour. p2%+ewas a son of the "aulus20 who had met death at annae with a fortitude only e3ualled by hisreluctance to begin a battle so disastrous to the republic. "aulus defeated "erses in a great

battle at a city in Macedonia named "ydna,28 put him to rout, despoiled his camp, destroyedhis forces, and compelled him in his desperate plight to flee from Macedonia. #bandoning hiscountry, "erses too& refuge in the island of !amothrace, as a suppliant entrusting himself tothe inviolability of the temple. ' There ;naeus (ctavius, the praetor in command of the fleet,reached him and persuaded him by argument rather than force to give himself up to the goodfaith of the =omans. Thus "aulus led in triumph the greatest and the most illustrious of &ings.2:

/n this year two other triumphs were celebratedI that of (ctavius, the praetor in charge of thefleet, and that of #nicius, who drove before his triumphal chariot ;entius, King of the/llyrians. +ow inseparable a companion of great success is ealousy, and how she attachesherself to the most eminent, may be gathered from this factI although no one raised obectionsto the triumphs of (ctavius and #nicius, there were those who tried to place obstacles in theway of that of "aulus. +is triumph so far exceeded all former ones, whether in the greatnessof King "erses himself, or in the display of statues and the amount of money borne in the

procession, that "aulus contributed to the treasury two hundred million sesterces, b and byreason of this vast sum eclipsed all previous triumphs by comparison.

p2' 1< 1 #bout this time #ntiochus Epiphanes, &ing of !yria G the #ntiochus who

began the (lympieum at #thens G was besieging "tolemaeus, the boy &ing,%


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Maximus. The two younger at the time of his victory had not yesterday assumed the toga of manhood. (n the day before his triumph, when, in accordance with the ancient custom, hewas rendering an account of his acts before an assembly of the people outside the citywalls,%1 he prayed to the gods that if any of them envied his achievements or his fortune theyshould vent their wrath upon himself rather than upon the state. ' This utterance, as though

prophetic, deprived him of a great part of his family, for a few days before his triumph he lostone of the two sons whom he had &ept in his household, and the other a still shorter time after it.

#bout this time occurred the censorship%2 of )ulvius )laccus and "ostumius #lbinus famedfor its severity. p20Even ;naeus )ulvius, who was the brother of the censor and coheir withhim in his estate, was expelled from the senate by these censors.

11 #fter the defeat and capture of "erses, who four years later died at #lba as a

prisoner on parole, a pseudo"hilippus, so called by reason of his false claim that he was a"hilip and of royal race, though he was actually of the lowest birth, too& armed possession of Macedonia, assumed the insignia of royalty, but soon paid the penalty for his temerity. 2 )or uintus Metellus the praetor, who received the cognomen of Macedonicus by virtue of hisvalour in this war, defeated him and the Macedonians in a celebrated victory.%% +e alsodefeated in a great battle the #chaeans who had begun an uprising against =ome.

% This is the Metellus Macedonicus who had previously built the portico about the twotemples without inscriptions which are now surrounded by the portico of (ctavia,c and who

brought from Macedonia the group of e3uestrian statues which stand facing the temples, and,even at the present time, are the chief ornament of the place. Tradition hands down thefollowing story of the origin of the groupI that #lexander the ;reat prevailed upon -ysippus,a sculptor unexcelled in wor&s of this sort, to ma&e portraitstatues of the horsemen in his owns3uadron who had fallen at the river ;ranicus, and to place his own statue among them.

' This same Metellus was the first of all to build a temple of marble, which he erected in themidst of these very monuments, thereby becoming the pioneer in this form of munificence, or shall we call it luxury7 (ne will scarcely find a man of any race, p2:or any age, or any ran&,whose happy fortune is comparable with that of Metellus. )or, not to mention his surpassingtriumphs, the great honours which he held, his supreme position in the state, the length of hislife, and the bitter struggles on behalf of the state which he waged with his enemies without

damage to his reputation, he reared four sons, saw them all reach manHs estate, left them allsurviving him and held in the highest honour. 0 These four sons bore the bier of their deadfather to its place in front of the rostra$ one was an exconsul and excensor, the second an exconsul, the third was actually consul, and the fourth was then a candidate for the consulship,an office which he duly held. This is assuredly not to die, but rather to pass happily out of life.

12 1 Thereafter all #chaia was aroused to war though the greater part of it had been

crushed, as / have already said, by the valour and arms of this same Metellus Macedonicus.The orinthians, in particular, were the instigators of it, going so far as to heap grave insults

upon the =omans, and Mummius, the consul, was appointed to ta&e charge of the war there.

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2 #bout the same time the senate resolved to destroy arthage, rather because the =omanswere ready to believe any rumour concerning the arthaginians, than because the reports werecredible. % #ccordingly at this same time !cipio #emilianus was elected consul, though but acandidate for the aedileship. +e was a man whose virtues resembled those of his grandfather,"ublius #fricanus, and of his father -ucius "aulus Ohe was, as has been already said, the son

p%1of "aulus, and had been adopted by the son of "ublius !cipioP G endowed with all the3ualities essential to a good soldier and a good citi4en, the most eminent man of his day bothin native ability and ac3uired &nowledge, who in his whole life was guilty of no act, word, or thought that was not praiseworthy. +e had already received in !pain the mural crown,% andin #frica the corona obsidionalis%' for his bravery, and while in !pain he had challenged andslain an enemy of great stature though himself a man of but ordinary physical strength. Thewar against arthage begun by the consuls two years previously he now waged with greater vigour, and destroyed to its foundations the city ' which was hateful to the =oman name more

because of ealousy of its power than because of any offence at that time. +e made arthage amonument to his valour G a city which had been a monument to his grandfatherHsclemency.% arthage, after standing for six hundred and seventytwo years, was destroyed in

the consulship of ;naeus ornelius -entulus and -ucius Mummius,%0 one hundred andseventythree years from the present date. This was the end of arthage, the rival of the

power of =ome, with whom our ancestors began the conflict in the consulship of laudiusand )ulvius%8 two hundred and ninetytwo years before you entered upon your consulship,Marcus Linicius. Thus for one hundred and twenty years there existed between these two

people either war, or preparations for war or a treacherous peace. 0 Even after =ome hadcon3uered the world she could not hope for security so long as the name of arthageremained p%%as of a city still standingI to such an extent does hatred begotten of conflictoutlast the fear which caused it$ it is not laid aside even when the foe is van3uished nor doesthe obect of it cease to be hated until it has ceased to be.

1% 1 ato, the constant advocate of her destruction, died three years before the fall

of arthage, in the consulship of -ucius ensorinus and Manius Manilius. /n the same year inwhich arthage fell -ucius Mummius destroyed orinth%: to her very foundations, ninehundred and fiftytwo years after her founding by #letes, son of +ippos. 2 The twocon3uerors were honoured by the names of the con3uered races. The one was surnamed#fricanus, the other #chaicus. 5efore Mummius no new man< earned for himself acognomen won by military glory.

% The two commanders differed in their characters as in their tastes. !cipio was a cultivated patron and admirer of liberal studies and of every form of learning, and &ept constantly withhim, at home and in the field, two men of eminent genius, "olybius and "anaetius. No oneever relieved the duties of an active life by a more refined use of his intervals of leisure than!cipio, or was more constant in his devotion to the arts either of war or peace. Ever engagedin the pursuit of arms or his studies, he was either training his body by exposing it to dangersor his mind by learning. Mummius was so uncultivated that when, after the capture of orinth, he was contracting for the transportation to /taly of pictures and statues by the handsof the greatest artists, he gave instructions that the contractors should be warned that if theylost them, p%'they would have to replace them by new ones. Qet / do not thin&, Linicius, thatyou would hesitate to concede that it would have been more useful to the state for the

appreciation of orinthian wor&s of art to have remained uncultivated to the present day, than

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that they will be appreciated to the extent to which they now are, and that the ignorance of those days was more conducive to the public weal than our present artistic &nowledge.1

1 1 /nasmuch as related facts ma&e more impression upon the mind and eye when

grouped together than when they are given separately in their chronological se3uence, / havedecided to separate the first part of this wor& from the second by a useful summary, and toinsert in this place an account, with the date, of each colony founded by order of the senatesince the capture of =ome by the ;auls$ for, in the case of the military colonies, their verynames reveal their origins and their founders. #nd it will perhaps not seem out of place, if, inthis connexion, we weave into our history the various extensions of the citi4enship and thegrowth of the =oman name through granting to others a share in its privileges.

2 !even years after the capture of the city by the ;auls a colony was founded at !utrium,another a year later at !etia, and another after an interval of nine years at Nepe. Thirtytwo

years later the #ricians were admitted to the citi4enship. % Three hundred and sixty years fromthe present date, in the consulship of !purius "ostumius and Leturius alvinus, the citi4enshipwithout the right of voting was given to the ampanians and a portion of the !amnites, and inthe same year a colony was p%0established at ales.2 Then, after an interval of three years,the people of )undi and of )ormiae were admitted to the citi4enship, in the very year of thefounding of #lexandria. /n the following year the citi4enship was granted to the inhabitantsof #cerra by the censors !purius "ostumus and "hilo "ublilius.% Three years later a colonywas established at Tarracina, four years afterwards another at -uceria$ others three years later at !uessa #urunca and !aticula, and another two years after these at /nteramna. ' #fter thatthe wor& of coloni4ation was suspended for ten years. Then the colonies of !ora and #lbawere founded, and two years later that of arseoli. 5ut in the fifth consulship of uintus

)abius, and the fourth of *ecius Mus, the year in which King "yrrhus began his reign,colonists were sent to Minturnae and !inuessa, and four years afterwards to Lenusia. #fter aninterval of two years the citi4enship without the right of suffrage was given to the !abines inthe consulship of Manius urius and =ufinus ornelius.' This event too& place threehundred and twenty years ago. 0 /n the consulship of )abius *orso and laudius anina,three hundred years before the present date, colonies were established at osa and"aestum. #fter an interval of five years, in the consulship of !empronius !ophus0 and#ppius, the son of #ppius the 5lind, colonists were sent to #riminum and 5eneventum andthe right of suffrage was granted to the !abines. 8 #t the outbrea& of the )irst "unic 6ar )irmum and astrum were occupied by colonies, a year later #esernia, #efulum and #lsium

seventeen years later, and )regenae two years afterward. 5rundisium was established in thenext year in the p%:consulship of Tor3uatus and !empronius,8 !poletium three yearsafterwards in the year in which the )loralia were instituted. Two years afterwards a colonywas established at Lalentia, and remona and "lacentia were established ust before+annibalHs arrival in /taly.

1' 1 Thereafter, during +annibalHs stay in /taly, and in the next few years subse3uent

to his departure, the =omans had no leisure for the founding of colonies, since, while the war lasted, they had to find soldiers, rather than muster them out, and, after it was over, the

strength of the city needed to be revived and concentrated rather than to be dispersed. 2 5ut,about two hundred and seventeen years ago, in the consulship of ;naeusR Manlius Lolso and

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)ulvius Nobilior,: a colony was established at 5ononia, others four years later at "isaurumand "otentia, others three years later still at #3uileia and ;ravisca, and another four yearsafterwards at -uca. % #bout the same time, although the date is 3uestioned by some, colonistswere sent to "uteoli, !alernum, and 5uxentum, and to #uximum in "icenum, one hundred andeightyfive years ago, three years before assius the censor began the building of a theatre

beginning at the -upercal and facing the "alatine. 5ut the remar&able austerity of the stateand !cipio the consul successfully opposed him in its building, an incident which / regard asone of the clearest indications of the attitude of the people of that time. /n the consulship of assius -onginus and !extius alvinus'< G the !extius who defeated the !allues at thewaters which are called #3uae !extiae from his name G )abrateria was founded about onehundred and fiftythree years p1before the present date, and in the next year !colaciumMinervium, Tarentum Neptunia, and arthage in #frica G the first colony founded outside of /taly, as already stated. ' /n regard to *ertona the date is in 3uestion. # colony wasestablished at Narbo Martius in ;aul about one hundred and fortysix years ago in theconsulship of "orcius and Marcius.'1 Eighteen years later Eporedia was founded in thecountry of the 5agienni in the consulship of Marius, then consul for the sixth time,'2 and

Lalerius )laccus.

/t would be difficult to mention any colony founded after this date, except the militarycolonies.

1 1 #lthough this portion of my wor& has already, as it were, outgrown my plan,

and although / am aware that in my headlong haste G which, ust li&e a revolving wheel or adownrushing and eddying stream, never suffers me of stop G / am almost obliged to omitmatters of essential importance rather than to include unessential details, yet / cannot refrain

from noting a subect which has often occupied my thoughts but has never been clearlyreasoned out. 2 )or who can marvel sufficiently that the most distinguished minds in a branchof human achievement have happened to adopt the same form of effort, and to have fallenwithin the same narrow space of time7 Sust as animals of different species when shut in thesame pen or other enclosure still segregate themselves from those which are not of their &ind,and gather together each in its own group, so the minds that have had the capacity for distinguished achievement of each &ind have set themselves apart from the rest by doing li&ethings in the same period of p%time. % # single epoch, and that only of a few yearsH duration,gave lustre to tragedy through three men of divine inspiration, #eschylus, !ophocles, andEuripides. !o, with omedy, a single age brought to perfection that early form, the (ld

omedy, through the agency of ratinus, #ristophanes, and Eupolis$ while Menander, and"hilemon and *iphilus, his e3uals in age rather than in performance, within the space of avery few years invented the New omedy and left it to defy imitation. The great

philosophers, too, who received their inspiration from the lips of !ocrates G their names wegave a moment ago'% G how long did they flourish after the death of "lato and of #ristotle7' 6hat distinction was there in oratory before /socrates, or after the time of his disciples andin turn of their pupils7 !o crowded were they into a brief epoch that there were no two worthyof mention who could not have seen each other.

10 1 This phenomenon occurred among the =omans as well as among the ;ree&s.

)or, unless one goes bac& to the rough and crude beginnings, and to men whose sole claim to

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praise is that they were the pioneers, =oman tragedy centres in and about #ccius$ and thesweet pleasantry of -atin humour ' reached its 4enith in practically the same range under aecilius, Terentius, and #franius. 2 /n the case of the historians also, if one adds -ivy to the

period of the older writers, a single epoch, comprised within the limits of eighty years, produced them all, with the exception of ato and some of the p'old and obscure authors.

-i&ewise the period which was productive of poets does not go bac& to an earlier date or continue to a later. % Ta&e oratory and the forensic art at its best, the perfected splendour of elo3uence in prose, if we again except ato G and this / say with due respect to "ubliusrassus, !cipio, -aelius, the ;racchi, )annius, and !ervius ;alba G elo3uence, / say, in allits branches burst into flower under icero, its chief exponent, so that there are few before hisday whom one can read with pleasure, and none whom one can admire, except men who hadeither seen icero or had been seen by him. (ne will also find, if he follows up the datesclosely, that the same thing holds true of the grammarians, the wor&ers in clay, the painters,the sculptors, and that preeminence in each phase of art is confined within the narrowestlimits of time.

' Though / fre3uently search for the reasons why men of similar talents occur exclusively incertain epochs and not only floc& to one pursuit but also attain li&e success, / can never findany of whose truth / am certain, though / do find some which perhaps seem li&ely, and

particularly the following. ;enius is fostered by emulation, and it is now envy, nowadmiration, which en&indles imitation, and, in the nature of things, that which is cultivatedwith the highest 4eal advances to the highest perfection$ but it is difficult to continue at the

point of perfection, and naturally that which cannot advance must recede. 0 #nd as in the beginning we are fired with the ambition to overta&e those whom we regard as leaders, sowhen we have despaired of being able either to surpass or even to e3ual them, our 4eal waneswith our hope$ it ceases to follow what it p0cannot overta&e, and abandoning the old field asthough preempted, it see&s a new one. "assing over that in which we cannot be preeminent,we see& for some new obect of our effort. /t follows that the greatest obstacle in the way of

perfection in any wor& is our fic&le way of passing on at fre3uent intervals to something else.

18 1 )rom the part played by epochs our wonder and admiration next passes to that

played by individual cities. # single city of #ttica blossomed with more masterpieces of every&ind of elo3uence than all the rest of ;reece together G to such a degree, in fact, that onewould thin& that although the bodies of the ;ree& race were distributed among the other states, their intellects were confined within the walls of #thens alone. 2 Nor have / more

reason for wonder at this than that not a single #rgive or Theban or -acedaemonian wasesteemed worthy, as an orator, of commanding influence while he lived, or of beingremembered after his death. % These cities, otherwise distinguished, were barren of suchliterary pursuits with the single exception of the lustre which "indar gave to Thebes$ for, inthe case of #lcman, the claim which the -aconians lay to him is spurious.

The Editor's Notes:

1 The subect of the sentence has been lost in the lacuna. +e was relating the return of the

heroes from Troy. )rom Sustin .2.1 it is clear that he is here spea&ing of Epeus, the builder

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of the Troan horse. SustinHs statement is as followsI JMetapontini 3uo3ue in templo Minervaeferramenta, Op%P3uibus Epeus, a 3uo conditi sunt, e3uum Troianum fabricavit, ostendunt.J

❦

2 #ax.

❦

% "hidippus was one the minor leaders in the Troan war. #ccording to +omer, Il. //.08, hecame from the islands of alydnae off the coast of aria.

❦

That isI Tyrrhenia, Tyrrhenians, and Tyrrhenian !ea.

❦

' The traditional date for the fall of Troy was 118% 5.. according to the chronology of Eratosthenes$ according to that of allimachus it was 1120 5.. 5ut many other dates aregiven. !ee +. )ynes linton, Epitome of the Chronology of Greece, (xford, 18'1.

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The death of odrus, according to the chronology of Eusebius, is placed in 1


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❦

1% 5arbarus and astor, corroborated by tesias, place the revolt of the Medes in 8% 5..,which corresponds fairly well with the date here given.

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1 *iodorus //.21.8R gives the number of #ssyrian &ings as thirty, and the length of their dynasty as 1%< years. This figure is considerably greater than the 1


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22 0'% 5.., according to the Larronian era$ 0'1, according to Op1:Pto the atonian. Lelleiussometimes follows the atonian, but in this case the atonian date would fall in the !eventh(lympiad.

❦

2% !ee note on text.

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2 The subect of expetit is lac&ing. /t is not certain Op21Pwhether expetit is the correctreading, and, if it is, the tense is uncertain. /n view of these uncertainties / have refrained fromtranslating it.

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2' /n 101 5.. the =omans had declared war on "erses, King of Macedonia. The =omancommanders thus far had been ". -icinius rassus, consul for 101$ #. +ostilius Mancinus,consul for 10


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%


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1 / am inclined to thin& that Lelleius had in mind the fad for collecting orinthian bron4ereferred to in "etronius, ch. '


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'% #s they do not occur in the extant portion of the wor& we must assume that they werementioned in the portion which has been lost.

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' +e is here referring to comedy. (ne wonders why the name of "lautus is omitted from thelist. +as the name of Op%P"lautus dropped out of the text or is Lelleius following the#ugustan tradition expressed by +orace in the Ars Poetica 20

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Velleius Paterculus - Roman History Book I