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[s0001] [s0002] [2,76.3] Chapter VII. [2,76.4] The Second Slave War in Sicily. [2,76.5] B. C. 105 - 99. [s0006] [2,76.7] The chief authority for the second slave war in Sicily is Diodorus, whose narrative is very sober and circumstantial. [2,76.8] He connects the origin of this insurrection with the execution by the governor P. Licinius Nerva of the senate's order chap. iii. made on the occasion of the answer of king Nicomedes II. to the demand for soldiers to assist the Romans. [2,76.9] Diodorus was a native of Sicily, [2,76.10] and he may have had good opportunities of getting information about both the slave wars. [2,76.11] It is certain that he took some pains with this part of his general history. [2,76.12] Dion Cassius says nothing about the order of the senate, [2,76.13] but he makes another and a very improbable statement in his own peculiar style. [2,76.14] P. Licinius Nerva hearing that the slaves were not fairly treated in some matters, or being moved by a desire of gain, for he was not above taking a bribe, sent round notice to all the slaves who had any cause of complaint against their masters, [2,76.15] and promised that he would relieve them. [2,76.16] The slaves came in great numbers, some to complain of their wrongs, and others to make charges against their masters, [2,76.17] for they all thought that the time was arrived for safely accomplishing what they wished. [2,76.18] The masters combined to resist the slaves [2,76.19] and did not yield. [2,76.20] Nerva being afraid of both parties, and seeing that he might be in danger from those who were defeated in the appeal to him, refused to listen to any of the slaves. [2,77.21] He sent them away with some assurance or comfort that they should suffer no wrong for the future, or with the hope that when they were dispersed, they could make no further disturbance. [2,77.22] But the slaves now feared their masters against whom they had made charges, [2,77.23] and forming themselves into bands they turned to robbery. [2,77.24] Whatever truth may be hid under this statement of the origin of the insurrection we $can $not determine. [2,77.25] The following is the more simple and probable story of Diodorus. [2,77.26] When the senate had passed the decree that no ally of the Romans should be kept in slavery and that the governors of the provinces should look after this matter, the governor of Sicily P. Licinius Nerva released many men from servitude after inquiring into their case. [2,77.27] In a few days more than eight hundred men were declared free. [2,77.28] This gave all the slaves in Sicily hopes of recovering their freedom, though the grounds on which a few were released could not apply to all. [2,77.29] Those slave-owners who had influence urged the governor to stop his proceedings; [2,77.30] and either because he was bribed, or for other better reasons, Nerva put a stop to all further investigation into the cases of those who claimed their freedom, [2,77.31] and told the men to go back to their masters. [2,77.32] Upon this the slaves left Syracuse, where we must suppose that the governor was then residing, [2,77.33] and flying to the asylum of the Palici began to think of revolt. [2,77.34] The lake of the Palici is a small pond, once probably a volcanic crater, in the interior of Sicily and west of Leontini, sacred to the Sicilian deities named Palici. [2,77.35] The lake is now the Lago di Naftia. [2,77.36] There was here a consecrated piece of ground with a temple, to which slaves used to fly when they were badly used, [2,77.37] and the masters could not forcibly take them away. [2,77.38] Accordingly runaway slaves stayed there, [2,77.39] and were of course maintained by the guardians of the temple, until the masters came to reasonable terms with the slaves and confirmed the agreement by a solemn oath, which no master was ever known to have violated. [2,77.40] The fear of the deities of the place secured the performance of the oath; [2,77.41] for divine vengeance soon followed an act of perjury. [2,77.42] Some perjurers had been deprived of their sight on the spot. [2,77.43] Thus superstition had its uses. [2,77.44] The rising began with thirty slaves belonging to two brothers who were rich. [2,77.45] The insurgents were headed by a slave named Oarius. [2,78.46] The men murdered their masters by night in their sleep, [2,78.47] and then went to the neighbouring plantations to stir up the other slaves. [2,78.48] In this first night the number of the insurgents was increased to one hundred and twenty. [2,78.49] They seized a strong place, which they made still more secure, [2,78.50] and they gained an accession of eighty armed men. [2,78.51] Nerva was soon on the spot, [2,78.52] but as he was not strong enough to take the place, he employed C. Titinius Gadaeus to deceive the slaves. [2,78.53] This fellow had been condemned to death two years before, [2,78.54] but he escaped [2,78.55] and became a robber. [2,78.56] He had killed many free men, [2,78.57] but harmed none of the slaves. [2,78.58] Nerva promised Titinius a pardon, if he would help him in his designs. [2,78.59] The robber, with some slaves whom he could trust, came up to the place professing his wish to join the rebels. [2,78.60] He was let in, chosen the leader of the slaves, [2,78.61] and he betrayed them. [2,78.62] Some of the insurgents fought till they were killed, [2,78.63] and others threw themselves down the precipices. [2,78.64] This was the end of the first rising. [2,78.65] As soon as the soldiers of Nerva had returned to their homes, news came that the slaves of a Roman Eques P. Clonius had murdered their master and were forming a large body of insurgents. [2,78.66] The governor misled by advice and having his men dispersed gave the slaves time to strengthen themselves. [2,78.67] However with such force as he could collect he set out, [2,78.68] crossed a river which Diodorus names Alba, [2,78.69] and passing by the rebels who were posted on a hill named Caprianus he came to Heraclea, a town on the south coast near the mouth of the river Halycus Platani. [2,78.70] The river Alba is not mentioned, I believe, by any other writer, [2,78.71] but it is very probably the river Allava in the Antonine Itinerary. [2,78.72] If the governor crossed this river before reaching Heraclea, it must be a stream east of Heraclea, [2,78.73] but some geographers have identified the Allava with a river west of Heraclea. [2,78.74] As the governor did not attack the slaves, they thought that he was afraid, [2,78.75] and they stirred up others to join them, [2,78.76] and soon mustered two thousand. [2,78.77] The governor, who still shut himself up in Heraclea, hearing of this increase of the insurgents appointed M. Titinius to command six hundred men taken from the garrison of Henna. [2,78.78] Titinius attacked the slaves, [2,78.79] but they had the advantage of numbers and position. [2,79.80] Many of the men of Titinius were killed, [2,79.81] and the rest threw away their arms, which the rebels picked up. [2,79.82] This success brought on a general rising, [2,79.83] and in a few days there were above six thousand slaves in arms. [2,79.84] The rebels elected for their king a slave named Salvius, who was supposed to be skilled in divination. [2,79.85] He had also been accustomed to accompany the women in their Bacchic ceremonials. [2,79.86] The king kept his men away from the towns for fear of their being corrupted by idleness and luxury. [2,79.87] He made three divisions of his troops with a commander for each, [2,79.88] and he ordered them to scour the country and meet at a certain place and time. [2,79.89] Salvius was thus supplied with beasts and horses, [2,79.90] and he was able to muster above two thousand mounted men, and twenty thousand foot soldiers trained to military exercise. [2,79.91] With this force Salvius suddenly fell on the strong town of Morgantine or Morgantia. [2,79.92] The situation of this place is not certainly known, [2,79.93] but it was probably somewhere in the valley of the Symaethus Simeto. [2,79.94] The governor advanced by night to the relief of the place with about ten thousand men, Italian Greeks and Sicilians. [2,79.95] Finding the rebels engaged about Morgantia he attacked their camp, which was guarded by a few rebels, and filled with captured women and booty. [2,79.96] He easily got possession of the camp [2,79.97] and then moved on to Morgantia. [2,79.98] But the rebels, who were in a strong position, attacked the governor with great fury, [2,79.99] and his army was routed. [2,79.100] Salvius made proclamation that no enemy should be killed, if he threw down his arms. [2,79.101] This stratagem was successful. [2,79.102] The governor's men threw away their weapons, [2,79.103] and Salvius not only recovered his camp, [2,79.104] but got a great supply of arms. [2,79.105] The governor lost about six hundred men, [2,79.106] and four thousand were made prisoners. [2,79.107] This success brought Salvius many fresh recruits, [2,79.108] and he was now master of all the open country. [2,79.109] He again began the siege of Morgantia, [2,79.110] and made proclamation that he would give liberty to all the slaves in it. [2,79.111] But the masters in Morgantia made the same promise to their slaves, if they would fight in defence of the town, [2,79.112] and the slaves accepted the offer of their masters, [2,79.113] and bravely repelled the rebels. [2,80.114] The Roman governor however revoked the promise of freedom which had been made to the slaves of Morgantia, [2,80.115] and many of them went over to the insurgents. [2,80.116] There was also a rising of the slaves in the west part of the island, about Segeste and Lilybaeum Marsala, and other neighbouring parts. [2,80.117] The leader was Athenion, a Cilician born, and the bailiff of two rich brothers. [2,80.118] He was a man of courage [2,80.119] and could read the stars. [2,80.120] He first persuaded the slaves who were under him, about two hundred, to rise, and then the slaves on adjoining farms. [2,80.121] In five days he had above a thousand men. [2,80.122] Athenion was chosen king [2,80.123] and he assumed the diadem. [2,80.124] His conduct was different from that of all the other rebels. [2,80.125] He made soldiers only of the best of his men. [2,80.126] He compelled the rest to remain at their work and supply the wants of the fighters. [2,80.127] He pretended to learn from the stars that he should be king of all Sicily, [2,80.128] and he told his men that they must spare the land with the animals and the produce on it, [2,80.129] for every thing was theirs. [2,80.130] When he had got together above ten thousand men, he began the siege of Lilybaeum, [2,80.131] but as he made no progress in the siege he determined to withdraw, [2,80.132] and he told his men that he was obeying the command of the gods, who said that if they persisted in the siege, they would have bad luck. [2,80.133] While Athenion was preparing to retire, some vessels arrived at Lilybaeum bringing a picked body of Mauri, who had been sent to relieve the town under a commander named Gomon. [2,80.134] As Athenion's soldiers were making their retreat by night, Gomon and his Mauri suddenly fell upon them, [2,80.135] and killed and wounded many of the rebels, who were amazed at the accuracy of Athenion's predictions. [2,80.136] Sicily was in a most wretched condition. [2,80.137] It was overrun by revolted slaves, and plundered by the poor freemen, who had no means of subsistence, [2,80.138] for the insurrection had deranged all regular industry. [2,80.139] These people formed bands [2,80.140] and spread all over the country: [2,80.141] they drove off the cattle, [2,80.142] robbed the granaries, [2,80.143] and murdered all who came in their way, both free and slave, that there might be none to give evidence against them. [2,80.144] There was anarchy literally, [2,80.145] for the Romans did not maintain the authority of the law, [2,80.146] and every man did just what he liked. [2,81.147] Those, who were once the rich and the chief persons in the towns, lost all that they had in the country, [2,81.148] and they were compelled to submit to the insolence of the free poor. [2,81.149] The slaves were in possession of all the lands of their former masters, whose bad treatment they did not forget, [2,81.150] and though they had got more than ever they expected, they were not satisfied. [2,81.151] The slaves in the towns were all disposed to revolt, [2,81.152] and though they could be kept in check by the combination of the masters, they were a cause of continual uneasiness and alarm to them. [2,81.153] Salvius after his failure on Morgantia overran the country as far as the rich corn plains of Leontini Lentini, which are north of Syracuse. [2,81.154] He had now thirty thousand good soldiers. [2,81.155] As a thanksgiving for his success he sacrificed to the Palici [2,81.156] and dedicated to them a purple robe. [2,81.157] He assumed the name of Tryphon, the same name as that of the man who had usurped the throne of Syria in B. C. 142; [2,81.158] and in this he followed the example of the slave king Eunous, who took the name of Antiochus vol. i., p. 120. [2,81.159] No reason is given by Diodorus for Tryphon leaving the east side of the island and establishing himself in the west, [2,81.160] but we may conjecture that as he had failed before Morgantia, and there were on the east side of Sicily the large cities Messana, Catana, Syracuse, and others, the new king did not feel quite safe there. [2,81.161] Tryphon having moved westward, summoned Athenion to come to him, as a king would summon one of his generals. [2,81.162] It was expected that this order would make a division between the rebel chiefs, and so the insurrection would be easily broken. [2,81.163] But Fortune, a goddess who played a great part in Roman history, made the two leaders agree, as if she were purposely increasing the slave power. [2,81.164] Tryphon came to Triocala with all his force, [2,81.165] and Athenion joined him with three thousand men, having sent the rest to overrun the country and stir up the slaves to revolt. [2,81.166] But Tryphon, suspecting that Athenion would take some opportunity to attack him, put his general in prison. [2,81.167] Triocala, which Tryphon chose for his royal residence, was naturally a strong place. [2,82.168] It was so called, as people said, but perhaps they did not say true, because it possessed three good things, abundance of excellent water, a territory rich in wine, oil, and grain, and perfect security, [2,82.169] for it was a large impregnable rock. [2,82.170] Tryphon surrounded the place with a wall eight stadia in circuit, and a deep ditch. [2,82.171] He filled the town with abundant supplies, [2,82.172] and built for himself a palace, and a large Agora or public place for the use of the citizens. [2,82.173] If he formed a council of the wisest men, as Diodorus reports, he acted like a wise man himself; [2,82.174] but if he also assumed the purple robe of royalty, as we are told, and went abroad preceded by lictors with axes, and in every thing aped a king, we must suppose that he was a vain silly fellow: [2,82.175] for though the outward signs of power dazzle and delude mankind, and so far are useful to kings, they are not worth much unless power has a sure foundation, [2,82.176] and Tryphon could hardly yet believe that he had established a royal dynasty. [2,82.177] In the interior about twelve miles from Sciacca, the site of the hot springs of Selinus, there is a place named Calatabellotta, a town of Saracen origin, as the name shows. [2,82.178] The position of Triocala is supposed to be near Calatabellotta, [2,82.179] and if it be true that there was an old church here which had the name Triocala, that is some confirmation of the conjecture; [2,82.180] but there is no direct evidence which enables us to determine the position of Tryphon's royal residence. [2,82.181] The Roman Senate sent L. Licinius Lucullus into Sicily with an army of fourteen thousand Romans and Italians, besides eight hundred Bithynians, Thessalians, and Acarnanians, and six hundred men from Lucania commanded by Cleptius, a skilful and brave man. [2,82.182] There were also six hundred other soldiers, [2,82.183] and so the whole force was sixteen thousand, or seventeen thousand as Diodorus has it, by some error in some of the numbers. [2,82.184] This force was sufficient to crush a servile insurrection if the men had been good for any thing, [2,82.185] but Rome now felt her weakness in a matter where all nations suffer who are always at war. [2,82.186] She wanted men. [2,82.187] When the news came to Rome, says Diodorus, of many thousand slaves having risen in Sicily, the Romans were in great trouble, [2,82.188] for they had lost near sixty thousand of their best soldiers in the fight with the Cimbri in Gallia, [2,82.189] and they had no reserves of well-tried soldiers. [2,83.190] Diodorus is here evidently alluding to the defeat of Mallius Maximus and Caepio in B. C. 105, [2,83.191] and he means that the Sicilian insurrection began soon after. [2,83.192] This is consistent with his narrative about Tryphon's movements and the fortification of Triocala by the slave king. [2,83.193] As Lucullus was succeeded by C. Servilius, and Servilius was succeeded in B. C. 101 by Aquillius, the year in which Lucullus was sent to Sicily was B. C. 103, if Lucullus and Servilius each had his year of command, as we must assume. [2,83.194] But the allusion to the defeat of Mallius Maximus and Caepio shows that the island was in a state of insurrection two years before, [2,83.195] and the Romans had done nothing effectual to put it down. [2,83.196] Tryphon took Athenion out of prison to advise with him about the war. [2,83.197] The king thought of standing a siege in Triocala, [2,83.198] but Athenion persuaded him not to shut himself up to be blockaded, but to fight in the open field, [2,83.199] and the advice was good. [2,83.200] The rebel king posted himself near a place named Scirthaea with forty thousand men, about twelve stadia from the Roman camp. [2,83.201] The battle was well contested, [2,83.202] and there was great loss on both sides. [2,83.203] Athenion with two hundred picked horsemen about him covered the ground with the dead bodies of the enemy, till at last he was disabled by wounds, [2,83.204] and then the rebels turned their backs, [2,83.205] and Tryphon fled with them. [2,83.206] Athenion lay as if he were dead, [2,83.207] and made his escape from the field when night came. [2,83.208] The Romans had a decisive victory [2,83.209] and killed twenty thousand of the rebels, exactly half their force. [2,83.210] The rest escaped during the night to Triocala, [2,83.211] and it would have been easy, says Diodorus, for Lucullus to have pursued and killed all the rebels. [2,83.212] But the loss of the Romans also may have been very large, [2,83.213] and Diodorus, or the authority that he followed, could have only a feeble conception of the difficulty after a hard day's fight of slaughtering twenty thousand men who were retreating in the dark through a country which they knew better than the Romans. [2,83.214] The rebels were so dispirited by this defeat that many of them thought of returning to their masters and submitting, [2,83.215] but the opinion of the braver part prevailed, who resolved to fight to the last rather than surrender. [2,83.216] Lucullus did not appear before Triocala until the ninth day after the battle. [2,83.217] He began the siege, [2,84.218] but retired after suffering some loss, [2,84.219] and the rebels recovered their courage. [2,84.220] Lucullus was blamed for not doing all that he ought to have done, either through want of activity or because he was bribed. [2,84.221] It is not easy to suggest how he was bribed, [2,84.222] but it is very easy to believe that his sixteen thousand men reduced in numbers by a hard-fought battle were not a match for the rebels. [2,84.223] However he was prosecuted on his return to Rome. [2,84.224] The charge against him was Peculatus or the unlawful appropriation of public property, as some authorities say. [2,84.225] But a more serious offence is implied in a fragment of Diodorus, where it is said that when C. Servilius had crossed the straits to supersede him, Lucullus disbanded his men, and burnt his military material, with the intention of depriving his successor of the means of carrying on the war. [2,84.226] Such treason, which would be impossible in any well-regulated state, is almost incredible even in the Roman Commonwealth at that time; [2,84.227] but if it is possible, it could only happen in a government where place depends on a popular vote. [2,84.228] However we must conclude that Lucullus merited some punishment for his conduct in Sicily, or that party spirit and popular clamour were strong against him. [2,84.229] Lucullus was married to a sister of Q. Metellus Numidicus, consul B. C. 109, [2,84.230] but Metellus refused to say any thing in favour of his brother-in-law. [2,84.231] The prosecutor was an augur named Servilius. [2,84.232] Lucullus retired from Rome into exile. [2,84.233] Metellus himself left Rome in B. C. 100, [2,84.234] and therefore Lucullus was either prosecuted in that year before Metellus went away, [2,84.235] or the prosecution took place after the return of Metellus to Rome, which was in B. C. 99. [2,84.236] Caius Servilius, as Diodorus names him, succeeded Lucullus in Sicily. [2,84.237] Tryphon died, [2,84.238] and Athenion taking his place prosecuted the war. [2,84.239] He besieged cities [2,84.240] and overran the country with impunity, [2,84.241] for Servilius did nothing. [2,84.242] Florus states that Athenion took the camp of Servilius, an expression which has no exact meaning. [2,84.243] He also speaks of Lucullus' camp having been taken, [2,84.244] but he mentions it after the capture of Servilius' camp. [2,84.245] The name of Tryphon is not mentioned by Florus. [2,84.246] His brief narrative of the second Sicilian slave war is contained in a few sentences, such as historical epitomators write who have a rhetorical turn. [2,85.247] We may probably refer to the year of Servilius the attack of Athenion on Messana. [2,85.248] The inhabitants of this town, which is naturally strong, brought into it all their moveables from the surrounding country, [2,85.249] and thought that they were quite safe. [2,85.250] But Athenion surprised the Messenians as they were celebrating a festival in the suburbs, [2,85.251] killed many of them, [2,85.252] and very nearly took the town. [2,85.253] He then occupied a strong place named Macella, [2,85.254] and ravaged the territory of Messana. [2,85.255] Servilius, so far as we know, did nothing, [2,85.256] and when he returned to Rome he had the same fate as Lucullus. [2,85.257] In the next year Marius was consul for the fifth time with M'Aquillius for his colleague, who is incorrectly named Caius in Diodorus' text. [2,85.258] We thus determine accurately this year of the slave insurrection to be B. C. 101, [2,85.259] for Aquillius was sent to Sicily, [2,85.260] and he stayed there till he finished the war. [2,85.261] Aquillius defeated the slaves in a great battle, in which he engaged in single combat with Athenion and killed him. [2,85.262] Aquillius himself was wounded in the head. [2,85.263] After this defeat there were still ten thousand slaves in arms, [2,85.264] but they fled to the strongholds in the island, which Aquillius took by blockade. [2,85.265] There remained now only one thousand rebels headed by a man named Satyrus, [2,85.266] and Aquillius was preparing to attack them, when they surrendered. [2,85.267] Aquillius took the men to Rome, where they were employed in fighting with wild beasts to amuse the people, probably on the occasion of the triumph of Aquillius, who had an ovation for his Sicilian victories. [2,85.268] But some say that the prisoners made a glorious end, [2,85.269] for instead of fighting with the beasts, they turned on one another with their arms till only one was left, whom Satyrus despatched and then heroically killed himself. [2,85.270] " This, " says Diodorus, " was the tragical end of the Sicilian slave war, after it had lasted near four years. " [2,85.271] When Diodorus says that the war lasted near four years, perhaps he reckoned the commencement from the government of Lucullus in B. C. 103; [2,85.272] for if Lucullus and Servilius had each a year in Sicily, and Manius Aquillius finished the war in his proconsulship, we have four years of war without including Nerva's administration of Sicily, which would be in the year B. C. 104. [2,86.273] Accordingly the slave war ended in B. C. 100, unless it was in the second year of Aquillius' proconsulship that Satyrus surrendered. [2,86.274] In Livy's Epitome 69 the termination of the slave war is placed after the return of Metellus from exile in B. C. 99, [2,86.275] and accordingly the slave war could not be ended earlier than this year, if we may trust this evidence. [2,86.276] There is a passage of Posidonius, quoted by Athenaeus, in which it is said that there was a rising of the slaves in Attica during the second slave war in Sicily. [2,86.277] Orosius vol. i., p. 122 has recorded a slave revolt in Attica during the first Sicilian servile war. [2,86.278] It is possible that Orosius has made a mistake about the time, [2,86.279] or there may have been two risings in Attica. [2,86.280] These slaves worked in the silver-mines in fetters [2,86.281] and had a hard lot. [2,86.282] Having killed their overseers they seized the citadel at Sunium [2,86.283] and ravaged Attica for some time. [2,86.284] Caecilius of Calacte in Sicily, a rhetorician of the time of Augustus, wrote a work on the slave wars in Sicily, [2,86.285] and Athenaeus appears to quote him as the authority for the assertion that above a million slaves perished in these insurrections. [2,86.286] Such extravagant numbers $can $not be accepted as any thing else than the expression of the fact that in these wars Sicily lost a great part of the men whose labour enriched the island. [2,86.287] Caecilius, who was a contemporary of Diodorus, could not know more of these rebellions than Diodorus did. [2,86.288] We shall hear little more about Sicily till we come to speak of the famous prosecution of Verres the governor of Sicily by Cicero. [2,86.289] The island recovered in some degree from the effects of this second servile war before Verres plundered it. [2,86.290] An honourable governor was fortunately sent to Sicily after the suppression of the revolt by Aquillius. [2,86.291] Diodorus names him Lucius Asyllius, which does not appear to be a genuine Roman name. [2,86.292] Freinsheim assumes the true name to be L. Sempronius Asellio, [2,86.293] but I know no proof of this; [2,86.294] and so we must be content with a short record of an honest governor, whose name $can $not be ascertained. [2,86.295] This man found Sicily in a state of ruin, [2,87.296] and restored prosperity by his prudent administration, in which Diodorus seems to think that he imitated the jurist Q. Mucius Scaevola, who had administered wisely and equitably the province of Asia. [2,87.297] This Scaevola was governor of Asia in B. C. 94, [2,87.298] and therefore Asellio, or whatever was his real name, was governor after this date, according to the opinion of Diodorus. [2,87.299] The governor of Sicily took with him as legatus and adviser Caius Longus, his best friend, and an honest man. [2,87.300] He also was assisted by a Roman Eques, named only Publius by Diodorus, who was the chief of all the Roman Equites who resided in Syracuse, rich, generous, and of excellent character. [2,87.301] The governor resided close to his two friends, whose assistance he had in restoring the administration of justice and in the general improvement of the province. [2,87.302] He attempted to stop malicious informers and pettifoggers who make law an instrument of oppression; [2,87.303] and he took care to protect those who particularly require the protection of the law, women and orphans. [2,87.304] It had been the custom of former governors, in accordance with Roman practice, to appoint trustees and guardians for orphan children and for women who had no kinsmen to protect their interests. [2,87.305] The governor declared himself the guardian of all such women and children, [2,87.306] and by his own inquiry and care he settled all disputed matters in which they were interested, [2,87.307] and gave them relief against the oppression of unjust men. [2,87.308] This declaration contained a principle which, if it was new in Sicily, was a great improvement. [2,87.309] The governor, who held in his hands the civil and military authority as the representative of the Roman people, constituted his court the general guardian of those who by reason of their age or sex required a guardian. [2,87.310] We can hardly suppose that the court affected to look directly after the administration of the estates of so many persons who might live far from Syracuse, [2,87.311] but it assumed the power of calling to account all persons who in any way managed or meddled in the affairs of orphans, and of women who had no male kinsmen to protect them. [s0312]

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[s0313] [2,88.314] Chapter VIII. [2,88.315] L. Licinius Crassus and M. Antonius. [s0316] [2,88.317] The great men of Rome were soldiers, lawyers, and orators, men actively engaged in public affairs, not retired students or philosophers. [2,88.318] The orators were not those who were only distinguished as speakers in the Senate. [2,88.319] A Roman orator's great fame was acquired by popular harangues, by speeches made either in the prosecution or defence of men charged criminally, and on occasions when important questions of property were in litigation. [2,88.320] The two most distinguished orators of this time were L. Licinius Crassus and M. Antonius, both of whom have often been mentioned. [2,88.321] Crassus, who came forward as a speaker when he was a very young man vol. i., p. 320, was Quaestor probably in B. C. 109, and in Asia, where he devoted himself still further to oratorical studies under Metrodorus of Scepsis, a rhetorician of the Academy, of whom Crassus had a high opinion. [2,88.322] Among the Romans a man did not attain to oratorical eminence without long and laborious study. [2,88.323] It was not considered sufficient to speak much and often, [2,88.324] for though a man may thus acquire confidence and facility, his confidence may have no sure foundation of knowledge, [2,88.325] and his facility may be a mere readiness in pouring out words, a quality in which any sharp-tongued woman will excel him. [2,88.326] It was the opinion of Crassus that men were deceived by the saying that we learn to speak by speaking: [2,88.327] for most men in this way practise only their voice, and not even that according to any principle; [2,88.328] they practise their strength also [2,88.329] and acquire volubility of tongue, [2,88.330] and they are pleased with their abundant flow of words. [2,89.331] But the true saying is, that by speaking badly men very easily learn to speak badly. [2,89.332] Speaking without preparation is useful, [2,89.333] but it is better to think well on the matter first and then to speak with due preparation, and more exactness. [2,89.334] But the chief thing is to write much, [2,89.335] and that is a kind of labour which most people shun. [2,89.336] Oratory accordingly has its rules and principles, [2,89.337] and it requires the discipline of training, that a man may avoid faults and acquire the power of instructing, pleasing, and finally of convincing, which is the purpose of the orator's art. [2,89.338] The first teacher of Crassus was L. Caelius Antipater the historian, who was a good writer, considering the time when he lived, and a very excellent lawyer. [2,89.339] He had many pupils. [2,89.340] Crassus himself entered so early on his oratorical career that, as he said himself, he had not often been a hearer of the learned men of his time, [2,89.341] for he was always employed in the Forum, except during his absence from Rome as quaestor. [2,89.342] But he availed himself of this opportunity, as we have seen, [2,89.343] and he learned to speak Greek so well, that you might have supposed that he knew no other language. [2,89.344] But though Crassus could speak Greek, he did not affect to write Greek. [2,89.345] He read the best Greek orators [2,89.346] and translated them into Latin when he was a young man, [2,89.347] and thus he learned to find appropriate words to express the meaning of the original, [2,89.348] and sometimes he made new words in imitation of the Greek, [2,89.349] but he took care that they were such words as were fit for his purpose. [2,89.350] Bishop Burnet observes in the preface to his translation of More's Utopia that " the French took no ill method, when they intended to reform and beautify their language, in setting their best writers on work to translate the Greek and Latin authors into it. " [2,89.351] These old French translators, of whom Amyot the translator of Plutarch is one of the best, both improved their own language by these translations, [2,89.352] and opened to their countrymen a new source of pleasure and improvement by enabling them to read the works of antiquity. [2,89.353] North's translation of Amyot's version of Plutarch's Lives is one of the best specimens of English style in the early part of the seventeenth century. [2,90.354] On his return from Asia Crassus went through Macedonia to Athens, where he carefully read with Charmadas the Gorgias of Plato, in which dialogue he most admired that Plato while ridiculing orators showed himself to be the greatest of orators. [2,90.355] He heard other philosophers and rhetoricians at Athens, [2,90.356] and he would have stayed longer, if he had not been vexed because the Athenians would not repeat for his pleasure the mysteries, which had been celebrated two days before the arrival of Crassus at Athens. [2,90.357] M. Antonius used to read Greek authors as well as Latin in his retirement at Misenum, [2,90.358] for he had little time at Rome. [2,90.359] He did not read for the direct purpose of improving himself in oratory, but for amusement. [2,90.360] He said that when he walked about in the sun, though he walked for another purpose, still the natural consequence was that his complexion got some colour, [2,90.361] and so he felt that his language was coloured by what he read. [2,90.362] He also said that he could only understand those Greek writings, which the writers intended to be understood by every body. [2,90.363] When he met with the philosophers, who treated of virtue, justice, honesty in the Roman sense, pleasure, and the like, he found that he was only misled by the titles: [2,90.364] he could not understand a single word, so crabbed and concise were these discussions. [2,90.365] He never attempted to read the Greek poets, [2,90.366] for they wrote almost in a different language. [2,90.367] His pleasure was in reading the historians or orators, or those who wrote as if they wished to be understood by men like himself, who were not among the very learned. [2,90.368] It was a common opinion, says Cicero, when he was a boy that L. Crassus knew no more than what he acquired in his early education, and that M. Antonius was altogether without learning. [2,90.369] But Cicero even in his youth refuted these assertions on the authority of his father, of C. Aculeo the husband of his mother's sister, and of his uncle L. Cicero, who accompanied Antonius to Cilicia, and often spoke to his nephew about the pursuits and acquirements of this great orator. [2,91.370] Cicero, his brother Quintus, and his cousins, the sons of Aculeo, followed a course of instruction which was recommended by Crassus, and under the same teachers that Crassus had; [2,91.371] and so Cicero had the opportunity of knowing, and even as a boy could judge how well Crassus spoke Greek; [2,91.372] and he used to observe that he would put such questions to Cicero's teachers, and in his conversation make such remarks as showed that nothing was new or strange to him. [2,91.373] Antonius also had opportunities of improving himself during his quaestorship in Asia B. C. 113, and again when he had the province of Cilicia B. C. 103. [2,91.374] He visited Athens on his way to Cilicia, [2,91.375] and had daily conversation with the most learned men there. [2,91.376] He had also the same opportunities at Rhodes. [2,91.377] Cicero, when he was a very young man, knew Antonius, [2,91.378] and often used to put questions to him, so far as proper respect to so distinguished a man would allow. [2,91.379] Cicero in his treatise on the Orator, the best of all his writings, attempted to expound the opinions of Crassus and Antonius about the principles of their art, and to preserve as far as he could the memory of these two illustrious Romans. [2,91.380] This would hardly have been necessary, he says, if these orators could have been estimated by their writings; [2,91.381] but Crassus wrote little, [2,91.382] or at least very little of his writings had been preserved, [2,91.383] and that little was written when Crassus was a young man. [2,91.384] Antonius wrote nothing except a short treatise on oratory of no value, [2,91.385] and he was sorry that ever he wrote it. [2,91.386] Cicero retained a lively remembrance of these great orators, [2,91.387] and he thought it his duty to make their fame imperishable, as far as he could. [2,91.388] If he had been writing about the orators Servius Galba vol. i., p. 22 or C. Carbo, he says that he might have invented, if he chose, [2,91.389] for there was nobody living who could contradict him; [2,91.390] but when he wrote of Crassus and Antonius, he was writing of orators whom many of his readers had often heard. [2,91.391] The style of these two men was very different. [2,91.392] Crassus was dignified, [2,91.393] and yet he could be humorous and witty. [2,91.394] His language was studiously elegant, [2,91.395] but there was no appearance of effort. [2,91.396] His sentences were short. [2,91.397] He stated a case clearly, [2,91.398] and when he was arguing a legal question or treating of principles of equity, he was fertile in argument and in discovering points of similarity. [2,91.399] He had little action, little variety in his tone; [2,92.400] he never moved about as some orators did, [2,92.401] and seldom stamped his foot. [2,92.402] But sometimes his language was vehement, [2,92.403] and expressed passion and indignation. [2,92.404] Cicero informs us that he was a very ornate speaker, and yet he spoke with great brevity; [2,92.405] and this is a rare combination. [2,92.406] In sharp answers and repartee he had no equal, [2,92.407] and he knew how to deal with a witness and to draw him on to make admissions. [2,92.408] A man named Silus had given evidence against Piso the client of Crassus: [2,92.409] it was hearsay evidence, which the Romans allowed, but they did not overvalue it. [2,92.410] Crassus in his cross-examination of Silus said to him: It is possible, Silus, that the man from whom you say that you heard this said it in a passion. [2,92.411] Silus assented. [2,92.412] It is possible too, continued Crassus, that you may have misunderstood him. [2,92.413] Silus admitted this by such a ready nod of his head as to put himself altogether in the hands of Crassus. [2,92.414] It is possible too, said Crassus, that you never heard at all what you say that you did hear. [2,92.415] This unexpected conclusion brought on a burst of laughter which put an end to the evidence of Silus. [2,92.416] Crassus was engaged in all kinds of cases, [2,92.417] and, as we have seen, very soon attained the highest rank among the orators of Rome. [2,92.418] Most of the short fragments of his speeches are from orations delivered in the senate and in public assemblies; [2,92.419] and this was the kind of oratory in which he excelled. [2,92.420] Antonius was a forensic orator, [2,92.421] and perhaps there has never been his equal. [2,92.422] When he spoke, he had all his matter at command, [2,92.423] and he put every thing in the right place, where it would be most effective. [2,92.424] He had a very great memory, and no appearance of preparation. [2,92.425] His style was not exactly what could be called the most elegant, [2,92.426] but in the selection of his words, their position and combination in a period, he had always in view a principle and some reference to art, which indeed was much more apparent in the embellishment and the turn of the thought than in the expression. [2,92.427] Besides these great qualities, his action was peculiarly his own; [2,92.428] and if we distribute action into gesture and voice, we may say that his gesture was not that which merely expressed what words might say, [2,93.429] but it was in perfect harmony with the thought- the hands, the motion of the shoulders and sides, the stamping of the foot, the stationary attitude, the gait, and every movement. [2,93.430] His voice was steady and uniform, but naturally rather harsh. [2,93.431] This accomplished advocate was powerful, vehement, passionate; always well prepared and fortified in every part of his case. [2,93.432] Vigorous, acute, and perfectly clear, he would dwell on the strong points of his case: [2,93.433] when he was hard pressed by his opponent, he would retire with a good grace, [2,93.434] but he followed up every advantage with energy; [2,93.435] he could inspire terror, move compassion, and employ all the endless variety of speech without ever wearying his hearers. [2,93.436] Antonius tells us himself, or Cicero tells us for him, how he used to manage a case. [2,93.437] He concludes with a remark which may be useful: [2,93.438] an advocate should ever be on his guard, [2,93.439] and Antonius was particularly anxious on this head, not so much to attempt to strengthen his case, as to take care that he did not injure it. [2,93.440] A man must of course try to do both, [2,93.441] but it is much more disgraceful to an advocate to damage his case than not to improve it. De Orat. ii. 72. [2,93.442] Crassus and Antonius were sometimes opposed, as in the case of C. Sergius Orata. [2,93.443] M. Marius Gratidianus had sold to Orata a house which he had bought from Orata a few years before. [2,93.444] This house was subject to a Servitus, as the Romans named it, which means that the enjoyment of the ownership of the property was limited by a right which the owner of some adjacent property had with respect to the house of Marius, such, for instance, as a right to the passage of the rain-water through the premises of Marius, or any other right which comes under the head of Servitus. [2,93.445] Marius had not mentioned this Servitus in the conditions of sale, [2,93.446] and Orata brought an action against him for damages, probably. [2,93.447] Crassus was the advocate of Orata, [2,93.448] and Antonius was for Marius. [2,93.449] It was purely a legal question. [2,93.450] Crassus maintained the strict legal right of Orata; that as the vendor had not mentioned this Servitus, which impaired the value of the property sold, he was bound to make compensation. [2,93.451] Antonius in reply urged what the Romans called ' aequitas ' or fair dealing: [2,93.452] this Servitus was not unknown to Orata, [2,93.453] for he had first sold the house to Marius, [2,94.454] and there was therefore no occasion for Marius to mention it, [2,94.455] and Orata was not deceived, [2,94.456] for he knew that the property was subject to a Servitus. [2,94.457] The question was whether the letter of the law should prevail or the meaning of the rule of law. [2,94.458] Antonius had the right side to defend. [2,94.459] It was the rule of law that no defect should be concealed from the buyer of a thing, [2,94.460] and here there was no concealment, [2,94.461] for the purchaser Orata knew that the property was subject to a Servitus. [2,94.462] Still there was something to say on the side of the literal interpretation of the rule, that all defects in a thing known to the seller should be declared to the purchaser. [2,94.463] But when we look to the purpose of the suit, whether it was to rescind the contract or to claim damages, we are at a loss to know what kind of an argument Crassus would make, [2,94.464] for his client had suffered no damage by the informality in the terms of sale. [2,94.465] This is an instance of the kind of questions that arose sometimes even among so practical a people as the Romans. [2,94.466] Roman usage separated the office of ' jurisconsultus ' or lawyer from that of ' orator ' or advocate. [2,94.467] The lawyer was often no speaker, [2,94.468] and the speaker often knew little of law, though he knew enough to argue a legal question, or at least he was able to master so much of the law as each case required. [2,94.469] It was the orator's business to deal with direct evidence and to establish facts, or where the evidence was defective, to draw probable conclusions. [2,94.470] The application of the law when the facts were ascertained would not generally be difficult, [2,94.471] for most questions, however complicated they seem, may be reduced to a simple form; [2,94.472] and as the wise know, it is not so much the uncertainty of law that we have to complain of, as the difficulty of establishing the facts to which the law may be applied. [2,94.473] Orata was a man fond of good living and a friend of Crassus, who had also a taste for luxury, [2,94.474] and possessed a splendid house on the Palatine hill. [2,94.475] In order to be less dependent on the winds and waves, Orata had made salt ponds for various kinds of fish, [2,94.476] and whatever the weather was, his table was always well supplied. [2,95.477] He had also erected spacious and lofty buildings on the shores of the salt lagoon named the Lucrine Lake, for the purpose of breeding oysters. [2,95.478] But the lagoon was public property and let to a Publicanus or public contractor, named Considius, who complained of Orata's encroachments on the lagoon, and brought an action against him. [2,95.479] Crassus was on this occasion the advocate of his friend Orata. [2,95.480] There is a fragment of Diodorus on the increase of luxury at Rome, which may be fitly introduced here, though we are not quite certain what chronological place it occupied in his history. [2,95.481] He begins with speaking of those old times, such as people now-a-days talk of, when the Romans had good principles and good habits, by which they slowly increased in power till they attained the most glorious and extensive dominion that any nation ever had. [2,95.482] But in more recent times, after subduing most nations and enjoying long peace, they changed their old frugal habits for a pestilent rivalry. [2,95.483] As the wars ceased, the young men fell into habits of luxury and intemperance, [2,95.484] and wealth supplied them with the means of gratifying their desires. [2,95.485] Men began to prefer the costly to the simple, and an indolent life to the study of the military art. [2,95.486] A man was considered fortunate by the vulgar not for possessing merit, but for enjoying through life the pleasures that he liked best. [2,95.487] Accordingly expensive dinners became the fashion, and rare scents, and rich coverings for couches with patterns of flowers, and furniture ornamented with silver and ivory and all other costly materials, on which the artist's most elaborate skill was displayed. [2,95.488] Wines which gave a moderate degree of satisfaction to the taste were rejected, [2,95.489] and only Falernian and Chian, and other wines of equal quality were used. [2,95.490] Of fish too and other things for the table those which had the highest repute for pleasing the palate were freely consumed. [2,95.491] The young men used to go about the Forum wearing clothes remarkable for their softness, so thin that the form could be seen through them, and in fineness like women's dresses. [2,95.492] Now as there was a demand for every thing that contributed to enjoyment and pestilent display, the prices of all such things rose to an incredible height. [2,95.493] A jar of wine was sold for a hundred denarii, and a jar of salt fish from the Euxine at four hundred. [2,96.494] Such cooks as excelled in the art of preparing dishes sold for four talents; [2,96.495] and slaves remarkable for their beauty were purchased at the price of many talents. [2,96.496] The picture is naturally drawn, and true for all time. [2,96.497] When a nation is in the enjoyment of peace and is growing rich, the corruption of manners inevitably follows. [2,96.498] But the prosperity of Rome had a less stable foundation than that of modern states, in which wealth is founded on industry, and on the inventive powers by which the labour of man is made more productive. [2,96.499] Yet even in modern states, where the opportunities of growing rich by successful enterprise and industry far exceed all the means which the Romans had at their command, society does not escape the evil which is ever mixed with that which we call good. [2,96.500] The luxurious habits of the rich are seen and known: [2,96.501] wealth is coveted by coarse and sensual men because it supplies the means of pleasure; [2,96.502] and those who $can $not grow rich honestly attempt to accomplish their end by extravagant speculations and by fraud. [2,96.503] The few who by ability, self-denial, and hard labour win their way to wealth, often foolishly aspire to establish a family which shall not exist by the same virtues which the founder practised, but shall be supported in idleness by the produce of the ancestor's labour. [2,96.504] The young are proud of the place to which a father's ability has raised them. [2,96.505] They have done nothing to serve mankind, or even to serve themselves, [2,96.506] and they spend in riot and intemperance that which another has earned. [2,96.507] The mischief does not end here. [2,96.508] Their companions, whose fathers have been less successful in gaining wealth or have had nobler objects in view, imitate the bad example. [2,96.509] They wish to do as the rich do: [2,96.510] they would enjoy before they have laboured; [2,96.511] and so kicking against the law by which society exists, they bring ruin on themselves and often on others. [2,96.512] Thus even the wealthiest and most fortunate of our modern societies consist of one set of men, who have laboured for their own good and that of their country, and of another set, who will not labour, but are mean enough to live on those who have done the work. [2,97.513] Thus society is cursed with a number of pestilent fellows, devourers of substance, lazy, mean, and ever on the watch to get by borrowing, by begging, or by fraud, that which others have got by labour. [2,97.514] The evil increases till it breaks out in crime, and even threatens revolution. [2,97.515] The evil is manifest. [2,97.516] The remedy is a return to plainer ways of living, to a simpler life; and an inexorable resolution on the part of those, whom knaves disturb, to crush them by any severity that is necessary to clear the world of those who prey upon it. [s0517]

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[s0518] [2,98.519] Chapter IX. [2,98.520] The Lex Servilia of C. Servilius Glaucia. [s0521] [2,98.522] The date of this Lex $can $not be accurately ascertained, because we $can $not determine in what year C. Servilius Glaucia was tribune. [2,98.523] Glaucia was praetor in the sixth consulship of Marius B. C. 100, in which year he lost his life in a riot. [2,98.524] As the Lex Servilia of Caepio was enacted in B. C. 106 p. 3, and the Lex Servilia of Glaucia was later, we must place it between B. C. 106 and B. C. 100. [2,98.525] It has sometimes been assigned to B. C. 100, [2,98.526] but in that year Glaucia was praetor, [2,98.527] and, as Klenze remarks, it was usual up to the time of Sulla for popular measures to be enacted by the Comitia Tributa and to be proposed only by tribunes. [2,98.528] Glaucia is enumerated by Cicero among the " seditiosi " or disturbers of the public peace. [2,98.529] He was the greatest knave ever known, if we accept Cicero's opinion, who compares him to the Athenian Hyperbolus, a man who has a bad character in the contemporary Attic writers. [2,98.530] Glaucia was very sharp and cunning, and witty enough to make his hearers laugh. [2,98.531] With these qualifications he rose from the lowest condition to the praetorship, [2,98.532] and he would have been elected consul for the next year, if there had not been two obstacles or perhaps only one. [2,98.533] There was a law, the Lex Villia, which prevented a man from being a candidate while he held an office, [2,98.534] but this law had been violated repeatedly in the case of C. Marius, [2,98.535] and it might have been violated again, if the career of Glaucia had not been cut short in his praetorship. [2,98.536] He had gained the favour of the common sort by qualities which they could appreciate, [2,99.537] and he had secured the support of the equestrian order by carrying a law which restored to them the judicial office and the consequent political influence of which the Equites had been deprived by the Lex Servilia of Caepio. [2,99.538] Such a man was qualified to rise in a corrupted state, where office is conferred by the popular vote. [2,99.539] His cunning and his jokes, his low origin and his coarseness would have floated him into power by the suffrage of his admiring fellow-citizens. [2,99.540] The fragments of the Lex Servilia have been put together, restored and explained by C. A. C. Klenze, Berlin, 1825. [2,99.541] The tablet, of which the present fragments are part, contained on one side the Lex Servilia, and on the other the Lex Thoria vol. i., p. 355. [2,99.542] Bluhme examined the existing fragments of this bronze tablet at Naples, and Klenze those at Vienna. [2,99.543] Both agree that the whole tablet was originally made and adapted to receive the Servilia Lex only, and that the Thoria was afterwards written on the back of the bronze. [2,99.544] The face, on which the Servilia is cut, is smoothed and polished: [2,99.545] the back is rough like those bronzes which are written only on one side. [2,99.546] The letters of the Servilia are well formed and regular: [2,99.547] those of the Thoria are very irregular, some large and others small, [2,99.548] and the lines are generally oblique and unequal. [2,99.549] This is not the only example of a bronze tablet written on both sides. [2,99.550] With the aid of Klenze's valuable restoration of the text of the Servilia and his notes we now know something of the Servilia Lex of Glaucia, and of the constitution of the courts for the trial of the offence named Repetundae vol. i., p. 25. [2,99.551] The first Lex on Pecuniae Repetundae was that of L. Calpurnius Piso, [2,99.552] the next was that of M. Junius, [2,99.553] and the third was that of C. Servilius Glaucia. [2,99.554] In the fragments of the Servilia Lex no laws are mentioned except the Calpurnia and the Junia, [2,99.555] and we know nothing at all about the Junia. [2,99.556] The Servilia was followed by the law of M'Acilius Glabrio, then by the Cornelia of the Dictator L. Cornelius Sulla, and last of all by the Julia enacted in the first consulship of C. Julius Caesar B. C. 59. [2,99.557] All these Leges dealt with a matter which was a fruitful cause of discord in the declining Roman state.