← catalogue

Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4)

by Plutarch · English · Gutenberg #14033 · 1,066,750 chars · public domain (US)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4)
    
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4)

Author: Plutarch

Translator: George Long
        Aubrey Stewart


        
Release date: November 12, 2004 [eBook #14033]
                Most recently updated: October 28, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14033

Credits: E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Linda Cantoni, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team, with special thanks to Thundergnat


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLUTARCH'S LIVES, VOLUME 1 (OF 4) ***

PLUTARCH'S LIVES, VOLUME I

Translated from the Greek
with Notes and a Life of Plutarch

by

AUBREY STEWART, M.A.,
Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

and the late

GEORGE LONG, M.A.,
Formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

London

George Bell & Sons, York St., Covent Garden, and New York

1894

Reprinted from Stereotype Plates by Wm. Clowes & Sons, Ltd., Stamford
Street and Charing Cross







PREFACE.


No apologies are needed for a new edition of so favourite an author as
Plutarch. From the period of the revival of classical literature in
Europe down to our own times, his writings have done more than those of
any other single author to familiarise us with the greatest men and the
greatest events of the ancient world.

The great Duke of Marlborough, it is said, confessed that his only
knowledge of English history was derived from Shakespeare's historical
plays, and it would not be too much to say that a very large proportion
of educated men, in our own as well as in Marlborough's times, have owed
much of their knowledge of classical antiquity to the study of
Plutarch's Lives. Other writers may be read with profit, with
admiration, and with interest; but few, like Plutarch, can gossip
pleasantly while instructing solidly; can breathe life into the dry
skeleton of history, and show that the life of a Greek or Roman worthy,
when rightly dealt with, can prove as entertaining as a modern novel. No
one is so well able as Plutarch to dispel the doubt which all schoolboys
feel as to whether the names about which they read ever belonged to men
who were really alive; his characters are so intensely human and
lifelike in their faults and failings as well as in their virtues, that
we begin to think of them as of people whom we have ourselves personally
known.

His biographies are numerous and short. By this, he avoids one of the
greatest faults of modern biographers, that namely of identifying
himself with some one particular personage, and endeavouring to prove
that all his actions were equally laudable. Light and shade are as
necessary to a character as to a picture, but a man who devotes his
energies for years to the study of any single person's life, is
insensibly led into palliating or explaining away his faults and
exaggerating his excellencies until at last he represents him as an
impossible monster of virtue. Another advantage which we obtain by his
method is that we are not given a complete chronicle of each person's
life, but only of the remarkable events in it, and such incidents as
will enable us to judge of his character. This also avoids what is the
dreariest part of all modern biographies, those chapters I mean which
describe the slow decay of their hero's powers, his last illness, and
finally his death. This subject, which so many writers of our own time
seem to linger lovingly upon, is dismissed by Plutarch in a few lines,
unless any circumstance of note attended the death of the person
described.

Without denying that Plutarch is often inaccurate and often diffuse;
that his anecdotes are sometimes absurd, and his metaphysical
speculations not unfrequently ridiculous, he is nevertheless generally
admitted to be one of the most readable authors of antiquity, while all
agree that his morality is of the purest and loftiest type.

The first edition of the Greek text of Plutarch's Lives appeared at
Florence in the year 1517, and two years afterwards it was republished
by Aldus. Before this, however, about the year 1470, a magnificent Latin
version by various hands appeared at Rome. From this, from the Greek
text, and also from certain MSS. to which he had access, Amyot in the
year 1559 composed his excellent translation, of which it has been well
said: "Quoique en vieux Gaulois, elle a un air de fraicheur qui la fait
rejeunir de jour en jour."

Amyot's spirited French version was no less spiritedly translated by Sir
Thomas North. His translation was much read and admired in its day; a
modern reviewer even goes so far as to say that it is "still beyond
comparison the best version of Parallel Lives which the English tongue
affords." Be this as it may, the world will ever be deeply indebted to
North's translation, for it is to Shakespeare's perusal of that work
that we owe 'Coriolanus,' 'Antony and Cleopatra,' and 'Julius Caesar.'

North's translation was followed by that known as Dryden's. This work,
performed by many different hands, is of unequal merit. Some Lives are
rendered into a racy and idiomatic, although somewhat archaic English,
while others fall far short of the standard of Sir Thomas North's work.
Dryden's version has during the last few years been re-edited by A.H.
Clough, Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

The translation by which Plutarch is best known at the present day is
that of the Langhornes. Their style is certainly dull and commonplace,
and is in many instances deserving of the harsh epithets which have been
lavished upon it. We must remember, however, before unsparingly
condemning their translation, that the taste of the age for which they
wrote differed materially from that of our own, and that people who
could read the 'Letters of Theodosius and Constantia' with interest,
would certainly prefer Plutarch in the translation of the Langhornes to
the simpler phrases of North's or Dryden's version. All events, comic or
tragic, important or commonplace, are described with the same inflated
monotony which was mistaken by them for the dignity of History. Yet
their work is in many cases far more correct as a translation, and the
author's meaning is sometimes much more clearly expressed, than in
Dryden's earlier version. Langhorne's Plutarch was re-edited by
Archdeacon Wrangham in the year 1819.

In 1844, thirteen Lives were translated by that eminent scholar the late
Mr. George Long; and it is by way of complement to these Lives that the
present version was undertaken with his consent and his approval.

Those translated by Mr. Long were selected by him as illustrating a
period of Roman history in which he was especially interested, and will
therefore be found to be more fully annotated than the others. It has
seemed to me unnecessary to give information in the notes which can at
the present day be obtained in a more convenient form in Dr. Smith's
Classical Dictionary and Dictionary of Antiquities, many of the articles
in which are written by Mr. Long himself. The student of classical
literature will naturally prefer the exhaustive essays to be found in
these works to any notes appended to Plutarch's text, while to those who
read merely "for the story," the notes prove both troublesome and
useless.

In deciding on the spelling of the Greek proper names, I have felt great
hesitation. To make a Greek speak of Juno or Minerva seems as absurd as
to make a Roman swear by Herakles or Ares. Yet both Greek and Roman
divinities are constantly mentioned. The only course that seemed to
avoid absolute absurdity appeared to me to be that which I have adopted,
namely to speak of the Greek divinities by their Greek, and the Latin
ones by their Latin names. In substituting a k for the more usual c, I
have followed the example of Grote, who in his History spells all Greek
names exactly as they are written, with the exception of those with
which we are so familiar in their Latin form as to render this
practically impossible; as for instance in the case of Cyprus or
Corinth, or of a name like Thucydides, where a return to the Greek k
would be both pedantic and unmeaning.

The text, which I have followed throughout, is that of C. Sintenis,
Leipsic, 1873.

AUBREY STEWART.




PREFACE TO THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME.[A]

[Footnote A: It has been thought desirable to give here Mr. Long's
preface to the lives published by him, under the title of "Civil Wars of
Rome." The lives will be found in subsequent volumes.]


Among the extant Lives of Plutarch there are thirteen Lives of Romans
which belong to the most eventful period of Roman history. They are the
lives of the brothers Tiberius and Caius Sempronius Gracchus, of Caius
Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Quintus Sertorius, Marcus Licinius
Crassus, Cneius Pompeius Magnus, Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger, Marcus
Tullius Cicero, Lucius Licinius Lucullus, Caius Julius Caesar, Marcus
Junius Brutus, and Marcus Antonius. From the year of the death of
Tiberius Gracchus, B.C. 133, to the death of Marcus Antonius, B.C. 30, a
period of about one hundred years, the Roman State was convulsed by
revolutions which grew out of the contest between the People and the
Nobility, or rather, out of the contests between the leaders of these
two bodies. This period is the subject of Appian's History of the Civil
Wars of the Romans, in Five Books. Appian begins with the Tribunate and
legislation of Tiberius Gracchus, from which he proceeds to the
Dictatorship of Sulla, and then to the quarrels between Pompeius and
Caesar, and Caesar's Dictatorship and assassination. He then proceeds to
the history of the Triumvirate formed after Caesar's death by his great
nephew Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Marcus Antonius, and Lepidus, the
quarrels of the Triumviri, the downfall of Lepidus, who was reduced to
the condition of a private person, and the death of Sextus Pompeius, the
last support of the party in whose cause his father, Cneius Pompeius,
lost his life. The remainder of this History, which is lost, carried the
narration down to the quarrels of Octavianus and Marcus Antonius, which
ended in the defeat of Antonius in the battle of Actium, B.C. 31, and
his death in Egypt, B.C. 30. The victory over Antonius placed all the
power in the hands of Octavianus, who, in the year B.C. 27, received
from the Roman Senate the title of Augustus, or the Sacred, by which
name he is commonly known as the first of the long series of Roman
Emperors. "He made himself," says Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 5), "like
Caius Julius Caesar, and still more than Caesar, governor of his country
and of all the nations under it, without needing either election or the
popular votes, or any show of such things. After his government had
subsisted for a long time, and been maintained with vigour, fortunate in
all his measures, and feared, he left behind him descendants and
successors who kept the power that he transmitted to them. In this way,
after various civil commotions, the Roman State was restored to
tranquillity, and the government became a Monarchy. And how this came
about I have explained, and brought together all the events, which are
well worth the study of those who wish to become acquainted with
ambition of men unbounded, love of power excessive, endurance unwearied,
and forms of suffering infinite." Thus, the historian's object was to
trace the establishment of the Imperial power in Rome back to its
origin, to show that the contests of the rival heads of parties involved
the State in endless calamities, which resulted in a dissolution of all
the bonds that held society together, and rendered the assumption of
supreme power by one man a healing and a necessary event.

As already observed, it happens that thirteen of Plutarch's extant Lives
are the lives of the most distinguished of the Romans who lived during
this eventful period; and though Plutarch's Lives severally are not
histories of the times to which they respectively refer, nor
collectively form a History of any given time, yet they are valuable as
portraits of illustrious men, and help us to form a better judgment of
those who make so conspicuous a figure in History.

Plutarch was a native of the town of Chaeroneia, in Boeotia; the times
of his birth and death are not exactly known, but we learn from his own
works that he was a young student at Delphi, in the thirteenth year of
the reign of the Emperor Nero, A.D. 66. He visited both Italy and Rome,
and probably resided at Rome for some time. He wrote his Life of
Demosthenes, at least after his return to Chaeroneia: he says (_Life of
Demosthenes_, c. 2), that he had not time to exercise himself in the
Latin Language during his residence at Rome, being much occupied with
public business, and giving lessons in philosophy. Accordingly it was
late before he began to read the Latin writers; and we may infer from
his own words that he never acquired a very exact knowledge of the
language. He observes that it happened in his case, that in his study of
the Latin writers he did not so much learn and understand the facts from
the words, as acquire the meaning of the words from the facts, of which
he had already some knowledge. We may perhaps conclude from this, that
Plutarch wrote all his Roman lives in Chaeroneia, after he had returned
there from Rome. The statement that Plutarch was the preceptor of the
Emperor Trajan, and was raised to the consular rank by him, is not
supported by sufficient evidence. Plutarch addressed to Trajan his Book
of Apophthegms, or Sayings of Kings and Commanders; but this is all that
is satisfactorily ascertained as to the connection between the Emperor
and Philosopher. Trajan died A.D. 117.

"The plan of Plutarch's Biographies is briefly explained by himself in
the introduction to the Life of Alexander the Great, where he makes an
apology for the brevity with which he is compelled to treat of the
numerous events in the Lives of Alexander and Caesar. 'For,' he says, 'I
do not write Histories, but Lives; nor do the most conspicuous acts of
necessity exhibit a man's virtue or his vice, but oftentimes some slight
circumstance, a word, or a jest, shows a man's character better than
battles with the slaughter of tens of thousands, and the greatest arrays
of armies and sieges of cities. Now, as painters produce a likeness by a
representation of the countenance and the expression of the eyes,
without troubling themselves about the other parts of the body, so I
must be allowed to look rather into the signs of a man's character, and
thus give a portrait of his life, leaving others to describe great
events and battles.' The object then of Plutarch in his Biographies was
a moral end, and the exhibition of the principal events in a man's life
was subordinate to this his main design; and though he may not always
have adhered to the principle which he laid down, it cannot be denied
that his view of what biography should be, is much more exact than that
of most persons who have attempted this style of composition. The life
of a statesman or of a general, when written with a view of giving a
complete history of all the public events in which he was engaged, is
not biography, but history. This extract from Plutarch will also in some
measure be an apology for the want of historical order observable in
many of his Lives. Though altogether deficient in that critical sagacity
which discerns truth from falsehood, and distinguishes the intricacies
of confused and conflicting statements, Plutarch has preserved in his
Lives a vast number of facts which would otherwise have been unknown to
us. He was a great reader, and must have had access to large libraries.
It is said that he quotes two hundred and fifty writers, a great part of
whose works are now entirely lost." (_Penny Cyclopaedia_, art.
"Plutarch," by the writer of this Preface.)

The lively portraitures of men drawn in Plutarch's Lives have made them
favourite reading in all ages. Whether Plutarch has succeeded in drawing
the portraits true, we cannot always determine, because the materials
for such a judgment are sometimes wanting. But when we can compare his
Lives with other extant authorities, we must admit, that though he is by
no means free from error as to his facts, he has generally selected
those events in a man's life which most clearly show his temper, and
that on the whole, if we judge of a man by Plutarch's measure, we shall
form a just estimate of him. He generally wrote without any
predilections or any prejudices. He tells us of a man's good and bad
acts, of his good and bad qualities; he makes no attempt to conceal the
one or the other; he both praises and blames as the occasion may arise;
and the reader leaves off with a mixed opinion about Plutarch's Greeks
and Romans, though the favourable or the unfavourable side always
predominates. The benevolent disposition of Plutarch, and his noble and
elevated character, have stamped themselves on all that he has written.
A man cannot read these Lives without being the better for it: his
detestation of all that is mean and disingenuous will be increased; his
admiration of whatever is truthful and generous will be strengthened and
exalted.

The translation of these Lives is difficult. Plutarch's text is
occasionally corrupted; and where it is not corrupted, his meaning is
sometimes obscure. Many of the sentences are long and ill-constructed;
the metaphors often extravagant; and the just connection of the parts is
sometimes difficult to discover. Many single words which are or ought to
be pertinent in Plutarch, and which go towards a description of
character in general or of some particular act, can hardly be rendered
by any English equivalent; and a translator often searches in vain for
something which shall convey to the reader the exact notion of the
original. Yet Plutarch's narrative is lively and animated; his anecdotes
are appropriately introduced and well told; and if his taste is
sometimes not the purest, which in his age we could not expect it to be,
he makes amends for this by the fulness and vigour of his expression. He
is fond of poetical words, and they are often used with striking effect.
His moral reflections, which are numerous, have the merit of not being
unmeaning and tiresome, because he is always in earnest and has got
something to say, and does not deal in commonplaces. When the reflection
is not very profound, it is at least true; and some of his remarks show
a deep insight into men's character.

I have attempted to give Plutarch's meaning in plain language; to give
all his meaning, and neither more nor less. If I have failed in any
case, it is because I could do no better. But, though I have not always
succeeded in expressing exactly what I conceive to be the meaning of the
original, I have not intentionally added to it or detracted from it. It
may be that there are passages in which I have mistaken the original;
and those who have made the experiment of rendering from one language
into another, know that this will sometimes happen even in an easy
passage. A difficult passage attracts more than usual of a translator's
attention, and if he fails there, it is either because the difficulty
cannot be overcome, or because he cannot overcome it. Mere inadvertence
or sleepiness may sometimes cause a translator to blunder, when he would
not have blundered if any friend had been by to keep him awake.

The best thing that a man can do to avoid these and other errors is to
compare his translation, when he has finished it, with some other. The
translation which I have compared with mine is the German translation of
Kaltwasser, Magdeburg, 1799, which is generally correct. Kaltwasser in
his Preface speaks of the way in which he used the German translations
of two of his predecessors, J. Christopher Kind, Leipzig, 1745-1754, and
H. v. Schirach, 1776-1780, and some others. He says, "These two
translations, with the French translations above mentioned, I have duly
used, for it is the duty of a translator to compare himself with his
predecessors; but I lay my labour before the eyes of the public, without
fearing that I shall be accused of copying or of close imitation. First
of all, I carefully studied the text of my author and translated him as
well as I could: then, and not before, I compared the labour of my
predecessors, and where I found a more suitable expression or a happier
turn, I made use of it without hesitation. In this way, every fault,
every deviation of the old translators must be apparent; the most
striking of them I have remarked on in the notes, but I have more
frequently amended such things silently, as a comparison will show the
reader." The translator has not compared his version with any English
version. The translation of North, which has great merit in point of
expression, is a version of Amyot's French version, from which, however,
it differs in some passages, where it is decidedly wrong and Amyot's
version is right. Indeed, it is surprising to find how correct this old
French translation generally is. The translation of 'Plutarch's Lives
from the Greek by several hands,' was published at London in 1683-86. It
was dedicated by Dryden to James Butler, the first Duke of Ormond, in a
fulsome panegyric. It is said that forty-one translators laboured at the
work. Dryden did not translate any of the Lives; but he wrote the Life
of Plutarch which is prefixed to this translation. The advertisement
prefixed to the translation passes under the name and character of the
bookseller (Jacob Tonson), but, as Malone observes, it may from internal
evidence be safely attributed to Dryden. The bookseller says, "You have
here the first volume of Plutarch's Lives turned from the Greek into
English; and give me leave to say, the first attempt of doing it from
the _originals_." This is aimed at North's version, of which Dryden
remarks in his Life of Plutarch: "As that translation was only from the
French, so it suffered this double disadvantage; first, that it was but
a copy of a copy, and that too but lamely taken from the Greek original;
secondly, that the English language was then unpolished, and far from
the perfection which it has since attained; so that the first version is
not only ungrammatical and ungraceful, but in many places almost
unintelligible." There is another English version, by the Langhornes,
which has often been reprinted; there is an edition of it with notes by
Wrangham. I have compared my translation carefully with the German of
Kaltwasser, and sometimes with the French of Amyot, and I have thus
avoided some errors into which I should have fallen. There are errors
both in the versions of Amyot and Kaltwasser which I have avoided; but I
may have fallen into others.

The translation of Kaltwasser contains some useful notes. Those which I
have added to this translation are intended to explain so much as needs
explanation to a person who is not much acquainted with Roman history
and Roman usages; but they will also be useful to others. The notes of
Kaltwasser have often reminded me of the passages where some note would
be useful, and have occasionally furnished materials also. But as I have
always referred to the original authorities, I do not consider it
necessary to make more than this general acknowledgment. The notes added
to this translation are all my own, and contain my own opinions and
observations.

This translation has been made from the edition of C. Sintenis, Leipzig,
1839, and I have compared the text of Sintenis with that of G.H.
Schaefer, Leipzig, 1826, which has been severely criticized: this
edition contains, however, some useful notes. I have very seldom made
any remarks on the Greek text, as such kind of remark would not have
suited the plan and design of this version, which is not intended for
verbal critics.

I shall explain by two brief extracts what is my main design in this
version and in the notes, which must be my apology for not affecting a
learned commentary, and my excuse to those who shall not find here the
kind of remarks that are suitable to a critical edition of an ancient
author. I have had another object than to discuss the niceties of words
and the forms of phrases, a labour which is well in its place, if it be
done well, but is not what needs to be done to such an author as
Plutarch to render him useful. A man who was a great reader of Plutarch,
a just and solid thinker above the measure of his age, and not surpassed
in his way by any writer in our own, Montaigne, observes in his 'Essay
of the Education of Children'--"Let him enquire into the manners,
revenues, and alliances of princes, things in themselves very pleasant
to learn, and very useful to know. In this conversing with men, I mean,
and principally those who only live in the records of history, he shall
by reading those books, converse with those great and heroic souls of
former and better ages. 'Tis an idle and vain study, I confess, to those
who make it so, by doing it after a negligent manner, but to those who
do it with care and observation, 'tis a study of inestimable fruit and
value; and the only one, as Plato reports, the Lacedaemonians reserved
to themselves. What profit shall he not reap as to the business of men,
by reading the Lives of Plutarch? But withal, let my governor remember
to what end his instructions are principally directed, and that he do
not so much imprint in his pupil's memory the date of the ruin of
Carthage, as the manners of Hannibal and Scipio; not so much where
Marcellus died, as why it was unworthy of his duty that he died there.
That he do not teach him so much the narrative part, as the business of
history. The reading of which, in my opinion, is a thing that of all
others we apply ourselves unto with the most differing and uncertain
measures."[A] North, in his address to the Reader, says: "The profit of
stories, and the praise of the Author, are sufficiently declared by
Amiot, in his Epistle to the Reader: so that I shall not need to make
many words thereof. And indeed if you will supply the defects of this
translation, with your own diligence and good understanding: you shall
not need to trust him, you may prove yourselves, that there is no
prophane study better than Plutarch. All other learning is private,
fitter for Universities than Cities, fuller of contemplation than
experience, more commendable in students themselves, than profitable
unto others. Whereas stories are fit for every place, reach to all
persons, serve for all times, teach the living, revive the dead, so far
excelling all other books, as it is better to see learning in Noblemen's
lives, than to read it in Philosophers' writings."

GEORGE LONG.

[Footnote A: Cotton's Translation.]




CONTENTS.


LIFE OF PLUTARCH                               xxiii

LIFE OF THESEUS                                    1

LIFE OF ROMULUS                                   30

COMPARISON OF THESEUS AND ROMULUS                 62

LIFE OF LYKURGUS                                  67

LIFE OF NUMA                                      99

COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYKURGUS                 124

LIFE OF SOLON                                    130

LIFE OF POPLICOLA                                161

COMPARISON OF SOLON AND POPLICOLA                181

LIFE OF THEMISTOKLES                             185

LIFE OF CAMILLUS                                 214

LIFE OF PERIKLES                                 252

LIFE OF FABIUS MAXIMUS                           288

COMPARISON OF PERIKLES AND FABIUS MAXIMIUS       315

LIFE OF ALKIBIADES                               318

LIFE OF CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS                 357

COMPARISON BETWEEN ALKIBIADES AND CORIOLANUS     390

LIFE OF TIMOLEON                                 395

LIFE OF AEMILIUS                                 428

COMPARISON OF PAULUS AEMILIUS AND TIMOLEON       461




LIFE OF PLUTARCH.


Plutarch was born probably between A.D. 45 and A.D. 50, at the little
town of Chaeronea in Boeotia. His family appears to have been long
established in this place, the scene of the final destruction of the
liberties of Greece, when Philip defeated the Athenians and Boeotian
forces there in 338 B.C. It was here also that Sulla defeated
Mithridates, and in the great civil wars of Rome we again hear, this
time from Plutarch himself, of the sufferings of the citizens of
Chaeronea. Nikarchus, Plutarch's great-grandfather, was, with all the
other citizens, without any exception, ordered by a lieutenant of Marcus
Antonius to transport a quantity of corn from Chaeronea to the coast
opposite the island of Antikyra. They were compelled to carry the corn
on their shoulders, like slaves, and were threatened with the lash if
they were remiss. After they had performed one journey, and were
preparing their burdens for a second, the welcome news arrived that
Marcus Antonius had lost the battle of Actium, whereupon both the
officers and soldiers of his party stationed in Chaeronea at once fled
for their own safety, and the provisions thus collected were divided
among the inhabitants of the city.

When Plutarch was born, however, no such warlike scenes as these were to
be expected. Nothing more than the traditions of war remained on the
shores of the Mediterranean. Occasionally some faint echo of strife
would make itself heard from the wild tribes on the Danube, or in the
far Syrian deserts, but over nearly all the world known to the ancients
was established the Pax Romana. Battles were indeed fought, and troops
were marched upon Rome, but this was merely to decide who was to be the
nominal head of the vast system of the Empire, and what had once been
independent cities, countries, and nations submitted unhesitatingly to
whoever represented that irresistible power. It might be imagined that a
political system which destroyed all national individuality, and
rendered patriotism in its highest sense scarcely possible, would have
reacted unfavourably on the literary character of the age. Yet nothing
of the kind can be urged against the times which produced Epictetus, Dio
Chrysostom and Arrian; while at Rome, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus,
Martial, and Juvenal were reviving the memories of the Augustan age.

From several passages in Plutarch's writings we gather that he studied
under a master named Ammonius, at Athens. For instance, at the end of
his Life of Themistokles, he mentions a descendant of that great man who
was his fellow-student at the house of Ammonius the philosopher. Again,
he tells us that once Ammonius, observing at his afternoon lecture that
some of his class had indulged too freely in the pleasures of the table,
ordered his own son to be flogged, "because," he said, "the young
gentleman cannot eat his dinner without pickles," casting his eye at the
same time upon the other offenders so as to make them sensible that the
reproof applied to them also.

By way of completing his education he proceeded to visit Egypt. The
"wisdom of the Egyptians" always seems to have had a fascination for the
Greeks, and at this period Alexandria, with its famous library and its
memories of the Ptolemies, of Kallimachus and of Theokritus, was an
important centre of Greek intellectual activity. Plutarch's treatise on
Isis and Osiris is generally supposed to be a juvenile work suggested by
his Egyptian travels. In all the Graeco-Egyptian lore he certainly
became well skilled, although we have no evidence as to how long he
remained in Egypt. He makes mention indeed of a feast given in his
honour by some of his relatives on the occasion of his return home from
Alexandria, but we can gather nothing from the passage as to his age at
that time.

One anecdote of his early life is as follows:--"I remember," he says,
"that when I was still a young man, I was sent with another person on a
deputation to the Proconsul; my colleague, as it happened, was unable to
proceed, and I saw the Proconsul and performed the commission alone.
When I returned I was about to lay down my office and to give a public
account of how I had discharged it, when my father rose in the public
assembly and enjoined me not to say _I_ went, but _we_ went, nor to say
that _I_ said, but _we_ said, throughout my story, giving my colleague
his share."

The most important event in the whole of Plutarch's pious and peaceful
life is undoubtedly his journey to Italy and to Rome; but here again we
know little more than that he knew but little Latin when he went
thither, and was too busy when there to acquire much knowledge of that
tongue. His occupation at Rome, besides antiquarian researches which
were afterwards worked up into his Roman Lives, was the delivery of
lectures on philosophical and other subjects, a common practice among
the learned Greeks of his day. Many of these lectures, it is
conjectured, were afterwards recast by him into the numerous short
treatises on various subjects now included under the general name of
Moralia. Plutarch's visit to Rome and business there is admirably
explained in the following passage of North's 'Life of Plutarch':--"For
my part, I think Plutarch was drawn to Rome by meanes of some friends he
had there, especially by Sossius Senecio, that had been a Consull, who
was of great estimation at that time, and namely under the Empire of
Trajan. And that which maketh me think so, is because of Plutarch's own
words, who saith in the beginning of his first book of his discourse at
the table, that he gathered together all his reasons and discourses made
here and there, as well in Rome with Senecio, as in Greece with Plutarch
and others. Not being likely that he would have taken the pains to have
made so long a voyage, and to have come to such a city where he
understood not their vulgar tongue, if he had not been drawn thither by
Senecio, and such other men; as also in acknowledgement of the good
turnes and honour he had received by such men, he dedicated diverse of
his bookes unto them, and among others, the Lives unto Senecio, and the
nine volumes of his discourse at the table, with the treaty, How a man
may know that he profiteth in vertue. Now for the time, considering what
he saith in the end of his book against curiosity, I suppose that he
taught in Rome in the time of Titus and of Domitian: for touching this
point, he maketh mention of a nobleman called Rusticus, who being one
day at his lecture, would not open a letter which was brought him from
the Emperor, nor interrupt Plutarch, but attended to the end of his
declamation, and until all the hearers were gone away; and addeth also,
that Rusticus was afterwards put to death by the commandment of
Domitian. Furthermore, about the beginning of the Life of Demosthenes,
Plutarch saith, that whilst he remained in Italy and at Rome, he had no
leizure to study the Latine tongue; as well for that he was busied at
that time with matters he had in hand, as also to satisfie those that
were his followers to learne philosophie of him."[A]

[Footnote A: North's 'Plutarch,' 1631, p. 1194.]

A list of all Plutarch's writings would be a very long one. Besides the
Lives, which is the work on which his fame chiefly rests, he wrote a
book of 'Table Talk,' which may have suggested to Athenaeus the plan of
his 'Symposium.'

The most remarkable of his minor works is that 'On the Malignity of
Herodotus.' Grote takes this treatise as being intended seriously as an
attack upon the historian, and speaks of the "honourable frankness which
Plutarch calls his malignity." But it is probably merely a rhetorical
exercise, in which Plutarch has endeavoured to see what could be said
against so favourite and well-known a writer.

He was probably known as an author before he went to Rome. Large
capitals have always had a natural attraction for literary genius, as it
is in them alone that it can hope to be appreciated. And if this be the
case at the present day, how much more must it have been so before the
invention of printing, at a time when it was more usual to listen to
books read aloud than to read them oneself? Plutarch journeyed to Rome
just as Herodotus went to Athens, or as he is said to have gone to the
Olympian festival, in search of an intelligent audience of educated men.
Whether his object was merely praise, or whether he was influenced by
ideas of gain, we cannot say. No doubt his lectures were not delivered
gratis, and that they were well attended seems evident from Plutarch's
own notices of them, and from the names which have been preserved of the
eminent men who used to frequent them. Moreover, strange though it may
appear to us, the demand for books seems to have been very brisk even
though they were entirely written by hand.

The epigrams of Martial inform us of the existence of a class of slaves
whose occupation was copying books, and innumerable allusions in Horace,
Martial, &c., to the Sosii and others prove that the trade of a
bookseller at Rome was both extensive and profitable. Towards the end of
the Republic it became the fashion for Roman nobles to encourage
literature by forming a library, and this taste was given immense
encouragement by Augustus, who established a public library in the
Temple of Apollo on the Mount Palatine, in imitation of that previously
founded by Asinius Pollio. There were other libraries besides these, the
most famous of which was the Ulpian library, founded by Trajan, who
called it so from his own name, Ulpius. Now Trajan was a contemporary of
our author, and this act of his clearly proves that there must have been
during Plutarch's lifetime a considerable reading public, and consequent
demand for books at Rome.

Of Plutarch's travels in Italy we know next to nothing. He mentions
incidentally that he had seen the bust or statue of Marius at Ravenna,
but never gives us another hint of how far he explored the country about
which he wrote so much. No doubt his ignorance of the Latin language
must not be taken as a literal statement, and probably means that he was
not skilled in it as a spoken tongue, for we can scarcely imagine that
he was without some acquaintance with it when he first went to Rome, and
he certainly afterwards became well read in the literature of Rome. In
some cases he has followed Livy's narrative with a closeness which
proves that he must have been acquainted with that author either in the
original or in a translation, and the latter alternative is, of the two,
the more improbable.

It seems to be now generally thought that his stay at Rome was a short
one. Clough, in his excellent Preface, says on this subject, "The fault
which runs through all the earlier biographies, from that of Rualdus
downwards, is the assumption, wholly untenable, that Plutarch passed
many years, as many perhaps as forty, at Rome. The entire character of
his life is of course altered by such an impression." He then goes on to
say that in consequence of this mistaken idea, it is not worth while for
him to quote Dryden's 'Life of Plutarch,' which was originally prefixed
to the translations re-edited by himself. Yet I trust I may be excused
if I again quote North's 'Life of Plutarch,' as the following passage
seems to set vividly before us the quiet literary occupation of his
later days.

"For Plutarch, though he tarried a long while in Italy, and in Rome, yet
that tooke not away the remembrance of the sweet aire of Greece, and of
the little towne where he was borne; but being touched from time to time
with a sentence of an ancient poet, who saith that,

    "'In whatsoever countrey men are bred
    (I know not by what sweetnesse of it led),
    They nourish in their minds a glad desire,
    Unto their native homes for to retire,'

"he resolved to go back into Greece againe, there to end the rest of his
daies in rest and honour among his citizens, of whom he was honourably
welcomed home. Some judge that he left Rome after the death of Trajan,
being then of great yeares, to leade a more quiet life. So being then at
rest, he earnestly took in hand that which he had long thought of
before, to wit, the Lives, and tooke great pains with it until he had
brought his worke to perfection, as we have done at this present;
although that some Lives, as those of Scipio African, of Metellus
Numidicus, and some other are not to be found. Now himselfe confesseth
in some place, that when he began this worke, at the first it was but to
profit others; but that afterwards it was to profit himselfe, looking
upon those histories, as if he had looked in a glasse, and seeking to
reform his life in some sort, and to forme it in the mould of the
vertues of these great men; taking this fashion of searching their
manners, and writing the Lives of these noble men, to be a familiar
haunting and frequenting of them. Also he thought, [said he himselfe]
that he lodged these men one after another in his house, entering into
consideration of their qualities, and that which was great in either of
them, choosing and principally taking that which was to be noted, and
most worthy to be knowne in their sayings and deeds."[A]

[Footnote A: North's 'Plutarch,' 1631, p. 1198.]

Of Plutarch in his domestic relations we gather much information from
his own writings. The name of his father has not been preserved, but it
was probably Nikarchus, from the common habit of Greek families to
repeat a name in alternate generations. His brothers Timon and Lamprias
are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogues, where Timon is
spoken of in the most affectionate terms. Rualdus has ingeniously
recovered the name of his wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence
afforded by his writings. A touching letter is still extant, addressed
by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not give way to excessive grief at
the death of their only daughter, who was named Timoxena after her
mother. The number of his sons we cannot exactly state. Autobulus and
Plutarch are especially spoken of as his sons, since the treatise on the
Timaeus of Plato is dedicated to them, and the marriage of his son
Autobulus is the occasion of one of the dinner-parties recorded in the
'Table Talk.' Another person, one Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which
seem to imply that he was Plutarch's son, but this is nowhere definitely
stated. His treatise also on Marriage Questions, addressed to Eurydike
and Pollianus, seems to speak of her as having been recently an inmate
of his house, but without enabling us to form an opinion whether she was
his daughter or not. A modern writer well describes his maturer years by
the words: "Plutarch was well born, well taught, well conditioned; a
self-respecting amiable man, who knew how to better a good education by
travels, by devotion to affairs private and public; a master of ancient
culture, he read books with a just criticism: eminently social, he was a
king in his own house, surrounded himself with select friends, and knew
the high value of good conversation; and declares in a letter written to
his wife that 'he finds scarcely an erasure, as in a book well written,
in the happiness of his life.'"

He was an active member of the little community of Chaeronea, being
archon of that town. Whether this dignity was annual or for life we do
not know, but it was probably the former, and very likely he served it
more than once. He speaks of his devotion to the duties of his office as
causing him to incur the ridicule of some of his fellow-citizens, when
they saw him engaged in the humblest duties. "But," he says, in Clough's
version, "the story told about Antisthenes comes to my assistance. When
some one expressed surprise at his carrying home some pickled fish from
market in his own hands, _It is_, he answered, _for myself_. Conversely,
when I am reproached with standing by and watching while tiles are
measured out, and stone and mortar brought up, _This service_, I say,
_is not for myself_, it is for my country."

Plutarch was for many years a priest of Apollo at Delphi. The scene of
some of his 'Table Talk' is laid there, when he in his priestly capacity
gives a dinner party in honour of the victor in the poetic contest at
the Pythian games. Probably this office was a source of considerable
income, and as the journey from Chaeronea to Delphi, across Mount
Parnassus, is a very short one, it interfered but little with his
literary and municipal business. In his essay on "Whether an old man
should continue to take part in public life," he says, "You know,
Euphanes, that I have for many Pythiads (that is, periods of four years
elapsing between the Pythian festivals), exercised the office of Priest
of Apollo: yet I think you would not say to me,'Plutarch, you have
sacrificed enough; you have led processions and dances enough; it is
time, now that you are old, to lay aside the garland from your head, and
to retire as superannuated from the oracle.'"

Thus respected and loved by all, Plutarch's old age passed peacefully
away. "Notwithstanding," as North says, "that he was very old, yet he
made an end of the Lives.... Furthermore, Plutarch, having lived alwaies
honourably even to old age, he died quietly among his children and
friends in the city of Chaeronea, leaving his writings, an immortal
savour of his name, unto posterity. Besides the honour his citizens did
him, there was a statue set up for him by ordinance of the people of
Rome, in memory of his virtues. Now furthermore, though time hath
devoured some part of the writings of this great man, and minished some
other: neverthelesse those which remaine, being a great number, have
excellent use to this day among us."




PLUTARCH'S LIVES.




LIFE OF THESEUS.


I. As in books on geography, Sossius Senecio, the writers crowd the
countries of which they know nothing into the furthest margins of their
maps, and write upon them legends such as, "In this direction lie
waterless deserts full of wild beasts;" or, "Unexplored morasses;" or,
"Here it is as cold as Scythia;" or, "A frozen sea;" so I, in my
writings on Parallel Lives, go through that period of time where history
rests on the firm basis of facts, and may truly say, "All beyond this is
portentous and fabulous, inhabited by poets and mythologers, and there
is nothing true or certain."

When I had written the lives of Lykurgus the lawgiver and Numa the king,
it appeared to me natural to go back to Romulus also, as I was engaged
on the history of times so close to his. So when I was reflecting, in
the words of Aeschylus,

    "Against this chieftain, who can best contend?
    Whom shall I match in fight, what trusty friend?"

it occurred to me to compare the founder of the fair and famous city of
Athens with him, and to contrast Theseus with the father of unconquered
glorious Rome. Putting aside, then, the mythological element, let us
examine his story, and wherever it obstinately defies probability, and
cannot be explained by natural agency, let us beg the indulgence of our
readers, who will kindly make allowance for tales of antiquity.

II. Theseus appears to have several points of resemblance to Romulus.
Both were unacknowledged illegitimate children, and were reputed to
descend from the Gods.

    "Both warriors, well we all do know,"

and both were wise as well as powerful. The one founded Rome, while the
other was the joint founder of Athens; and these are two of the most
famous of cities. Both carried off women by violence, and neither of
them escaped domestic misfortune and retribution, but towards the end of
their lives both were at variance with their countrymen, if we may put
any trust in the least extravagant writings upon the subject.

III. Theseus traced his descent on the father's side from Erechtheus and
the original Autochthones,[A] while on the mother's side he was
descended from Pelops. For Pelops surpassed all the other princes of the
Peloponnesus in the number of his children as well as in wealth; and of
these he gave many of his daughters in marriage to the chief men of the
country, and established many of his sons as rulers in various cities.
One of these, Pittheus, the grandfather of Theseus, founded Troezen,
which is indeed but a little state, though he had a greater reputation
than any man of his time for eloquence and wisdom. The nature of this
wisdom of his seems to have been much of the same kind as that which
made the reputation of Hesiod, in the collection of maxims known as the
'Works and Days.' One of these maxims is indeed ascribed to Pittheus:

     "Let promised pay be truly paid to friends."

At any rate, this is what Aristotle the philosopher has recorded; and
also Euripides, when he speaks of Hippolytus as "child of holy
Pittheus," shows the prevailing opinion about Pittheus. Now Aegeus
desired to have children, and the Oracle at Delphi is said to have given
him the well-known response, forbidding him to have intercourse with any
woman before he reached Athens, but not appearing to explain this
clearly. Consequently, on his way home, he went to Troezen, and asked
the advice of Pittheus about the response of the God, which ran thus:

    "Great chief, the wine-skin's foot must closed remain,
    Till thou to Athens art returned again."

Pittheus clearly perceived what the oracle must mean, and persuaded or
cheated Aegeus into an intrigue with Aethra. Afterwards, when he
discovered that he had conversed with the daughter of Pittheus, as he
imagined that she might prove with child, he left behind him his sword
and sandals hidden under a great stone, which had a hollow inside it
exactly fitting them. This he told to Aethra alone, and charged her if a
son of his should be born, and on growing to man's estate should be able
to lift the stone and take from under it the deposit, that she should
send him at once with these things to himself, in all secrecy, and as
far as possible concealing his journey from observation. For he greatly
feared the sons of Pallas, who plotted against him, and despised him on
account of his childlessness, they themselves being fifty brothers, all
the sons of Pallas.

[Footnote A: Autochthones was the name by which the original citizens of
Athens called themselves, meaning that they were sprung from the soil
itself, not immigrants from some other country.]

IV. When Aethra's child was born, some writers say that he was at once
named Theseus, from the tokens placed under the stone; others say that
he was afterwards so named at Athens, when Aegeus acknowledged him as
his son. He was brought up by his grandfather Pittheus, and had a master
and tutor, Konnidas, to whom even to the present day, the Athenians
sacrifice a ram on the day before the feast of Theseus, a mark of
respect which is much more justly due to him, than those which they pay
to Silanion and Parrhasius, who have only made pictures and statues of
Theseus.

V. As it was at that period still the custom for those who were coming
to man's estate to go to Delphi and offer to the god the first-fruits of
their hair (which was then cut for the first time),[A] Theseus went to
Delphi, and they say that a place there is even to this day named after
him. But he only cut the front part of his hair, as Homer tells us the
Abantes did, and this fashion of cutting the hair was called Theseus's
fashion because of him. The Abantes first began to cut their hair in
this manner, not having, as some say, been taught to do so by the
Arabians, nor yet from any wish to imitate the Mysians, but because they
were a warlike race, and met their foes in close combat, and studied
above all to come to a hand-to-hand fight with their enemy, as
Archilochus bears witness in his verses:

    "They use no slings nor bows,
      Euboea's martial lords,
    But hand to hand they close
      And conquer with their swords."

So they cut their hair short in front, that their enemies might not
grasp it. And they say that Alexander of Macedon for the same reason
ordered his generals to have the beards of the Macedonians shaved,
because they were a convenient handle for the enemy to grasp.

[Footnote A: The first cutting of the hair was always an occasion of
solemnity among the Greeks, the hair being dedicated to some god. The
first instance of this is in Homer's Iliad, where Achilles speaks of
having dedicated his hair to the river Spercheius. The Athenian youth
offered their hair to Herakles. The Roman emperor Nero, in later times,
imitated this custom.]

VI. Now while he was yet a child, Aethra concealed the real parentage of
Theseus, and a story was circulated by Pittheus that his father was
Poseidon. For the people of Troezen have an especial reverence for
Poseidon; he is their tutelar deity; to him they offer first-fruits of
their harvest, and they stamp their money with the trident as their
badge. But when he was grown into a youth, and proved both strong in
body and of good sound sense, then Aethra led him to the stone, told him
the truth about his father, and bade him take the tokens from beneath it
and sail to Athens with them. He easily lifted the stone, but determined
not to go to Athens by sea, though the voyage was a safe and easy one,
and though his mother and his grandfather implored him to go that way.
By land it was a difficult matter to reach Athens, as the whole way was
infested with robbers and bandits. That time, it seems, produced men of
great and unwearied strength and swiftness, who made no good use of
these powers, but treated all men with overbearing insolence, taking
advantage of their strength to overpower and slay all who fell into
their hands, and disregarding justice and right and kindly feeling,
which they said were only approved of by those who dared not do injury
to others, or feared to be injured themselves, while men who could get
the upper hand by force might disregard them. Of these ruffians,
Herakles in his wanderings cut off a good many, but others had escaped
him by concealing themselves, or had been contemptuously spared by him
on account of their insignificance. But Herakles had the misfortune to
kill Iphitus, and thereupon sailed to Lydia and was for a long time a
slave in that country under Omphale, which condition he had imposed upon
himself as a penance for the murder of his friend. During this period
the country of Lydia enjoyed peace and repose; but in Greece the old
plague of brigandage broke out afresh, as there was now no one to put it
down. So that the journey overland to Athens from Peloponnesus was full
of peril; and Pittheus, by relating to Theseus who each of these
evildoers was, and how they treated strangers, tried to prevail upon him
to go by sea. But it appears that Theseus had for a long time in his
heart been excited by the renown of Herakles for courage: he thought
more of him than of any one else, and loved above all to listen to those
who talked of him, especially if they had seen and spoken to him. Now he
could no longer conceal that he was in the same condition as
Themistokles in later times, when he said that the trophy of Miltiades
would not let him sleep. Just so did the admiration which Theseus
conceived for Herakles make him dream by night of his great exploits,
and by day determine to equal them by similar achievements of his own.

VII. As it happened, they were connected, being second cousins; for
Aethra was the daughter of Pittheus, and Alkmena the daughter of
Lysidike, and Lysidike and Pittheus were brother and sister, being the
children of Pelops and Hippodameia. So Theseus thought that it would be
a great and unbearable disgrace to him that his cousin should go
everywhere and clear the sea and land of the brigands who infested them,
and he should refuse to undertake the adventures that came in his way;
throwing discredit upon his reputed father by a pusillanimous flight by
sea, and upon his real father by bringing him only the sandals and an
unfleshed sword, and not proving his noble birth by the evidence of some
brave deed accomplished by him. In this spirit he set out on his
journey, with the intention of doing wrong to no one, but of avenging
himself on any one who offered wrong to him.

VIII. And first in Epidaurus he slew Periphetes, who used a club as his
weapon, and on this account was called the club-bearer, because he laid
hands upon him and forbade him to proceed farther on his way. The club
took his fancy, and he adopted it as a weapon, and always used it, just
as Herakles used his lion's skin; for the skin was a proof of how huge a
beast the wearer had overcome, while the club, invincible in the hands
of Theseus, had yet been worsted when used against him. At the Isthmus
he destroyed Sinis the Pine-bender by the very device by which he had
slain so many people, and that too without having ever practised the
art, proving that true valour is better than practice and training.
Sinis had a daughter, a tall and beautiful girl, named Perigoune. When
her father fell she ran and hid herself. Theseus sought her everywhere,
but she fled into a place where wild asparagus grew thick, and with a
simple child-like faith besought the plants to conceal her, as if they
could understand her words, promising that if they did so she never
would destroy or burn them. However, when Theseus called to her,
pledging himself to take care of her and do her no hurt, she came out,
and afterwards bore Theseus a son, named Melanippus. She afterwards was
given by Theseus in marriage to Deïoneus, the son of Eurytus of
Oechalia. Ioxus, a son of Melanippus, and Theseus's grandchild, took
part in Ornytus's settlement in Caria; and for this reason the
descendants of Ioxus have a family custom not to burn the asparagus
plant, but to reverence and worship it.

IX. Now the wild sow of Krommyon, whom they called Phaia, was no
ordinary beast, but a fierce creature and hard to conquer. This animal
he turned out of his way to destroy, that it might not be thought that
he performed his exploits of necessity. Besides, he said, a brave man
need only punish wicked men when they came in his way, but that in the
case of wild beasts he must himself seek them out and attack them. Some
say that Phaia was a murderous and licentious woman who carried on
brigandage at Krommyon, and was called a sow from her life and habits,
and that Theseus put her to death.

X. Before coming to Megara he slew Skeiron by flinging him down a
precipice into the sea, so the story runs, because he was a robber, but
some say that from arrogance he used to hold out his feet to strangers
and bid them wash them, and that then he kicked the washers into the
sea. But Megarian writers, in opposition to common tradition, and, as
Simonides says, "warring with all antiquity," say that Skeiron was not
an arrogant brigand, but repressed brigandage, loved those who were good
and just, and was related to them. For, they point out, Aeakus is
thought to have been the most righteous of all the Greeks, and Kychreus
of Salamis was worshipped as a god, and the virtue of Peleus and Telamon
is known to all. Yet Skeiron was the son-in-law of Kychreus, and
father-in-law of Aeakus, and grandfather of Peleus and Telamon, who were
both of them sons of Endeis, the daughter of Skeiron and his wife
Chariklo. It is not then reasonable to suppose that these, the noblest
men of their time, would make alliances with a malefactor, and give and
receive from him what they prized most dearly. But they say that Theseus
slew Skeiron, not when he first went to Athens, but that afterwards he
took the town of Eleusis which belonged to the Megarians, by dealing
treacherously with Diokles, who was the chief magistrate there, and that
on that occasion he killed Skeiron. This is what tradition says on both
sides.

XI. At Eleusis Theseus overcame Kerkyon of Arcadia in wrestling and
killed him, and after journeying a little farther he killed Damastes,
who was surnamed Prokroustes, by compelling him to fit his own body to
his bed, just as he used to fit the bodies of strangers to it. This he
did in imitation of Herakles; for he used to retort upon his aggressors
the same treatment which they intended for him. Thus Herakles offered up
Busiris as a sacrifice, and overcame Antaeus in wrestling, and Kyknus in
single combat, and killed Termerus by breaking his skull. This is, they
say, the origin of the proverb, "A Termerian mischief," for Termerus, it
seems, struck passers-by with his head, and so killed them. So also did
Theseus sally forth and chastise evildoers, making them undergo the same
cruelties which they practised on others, thus justly punishing them for
their crimes in their own wicked fashion.

XII. As he proceeded on his way, and reached the river Kephisus, men of
the Phytalid race were the first to meet and greet him. He demanded to
be purified from the guilt of bloodshed, and they purified him, made
propitiatory offerings, and also entertained him in their houses, being
the first persons from whom he had received any kindness on his journey.
It is said to have been on the eighth day of the month Kronion, which is
now called Hekatombeion, that he came to his own city. On entering it he
found public affairs disturbed by factions, and the house of Aegeus in
great disorder; for Medea, who had been banished from Corinth, was
living with Aegeus, and had engaged by her drugs to enable Aegeus to
have children. She was the first to discover who Theseus was, while
Aegeus, who was an old man, and feared every one because of the
disturbed state of society, did not recognise him. Consequently she
advised Aegeus to invite him to a feast, that she might poison him.
Theseus accordingly came to Aegeus's table. He did not wish to be the
first to tell his name, but, to give his father an opportunity of
recognising him, he drew his sword, as if he meant to cut some of the
meat with it, and showed it to Aegeus. Aegeus at once recognised it,
overset the cup of poison, looked closely at his son and embraced him.
He then called a public meeting and made Theseus known as his son to the
citizens, with whom he was already very popular because of his bravery.
It is said that when the cup was overset the poison was spilt in the
place where now there is the enclosure in the Delphinium, for there
Aegeus dwelt; and the Hermes to the east of the temple there they call
the one who is "at the door of Aegeus."

XIII. But the sons of Pallas, who had previously to this expected that
they would inherit the kingdom on the death of Aegeus without issue, now
that Theseus was declared the heir, were much enraged, first that
Aegeus should be king, a man who was merely an adopted child of Pandion,
and had no blood relationship to Erechtheus, and next that Theseus, a
stranger and a foreigner, should inherit the kingdom. They consequently
declared war. Dividing themselves into two bodies, the one proceeded to
march openly upon the city from Sphettus, under the command of Pallas
their father, while the other lay in ambush at Gargettus, in order that
they might fall upon their opponents on two sides at once. But there was
a herald among them named Leos, of the township of Agnus, who betrayed
the plans of the sons of Pallas to Theseus. He suddenly attacked those
who were in ambush, and killed them all, hearing which the other body
under Pallas dispersed. From this time forth they say that the township
of Pallene has never intermarried with that of Agnus, and that it is not
customary amongst them for heralds to begin a proclamation with the
words "Acouete Leo," (Oyez) for they hate the name of Leo[A] because of
the treachery of that man.

[Footnote A: The Greek word _leos_ signifies people.]

XIV. Now Theseus, who wished for employment and also to make himself
popular with the people, went to attack the bull of Marathon, who had
caused no little trouble to the inhabitants of Tetrapolis. He overcame
the beast, and drove it alive through the city for all men to see, and
then sacrificed it to Apollo of Delphi. Hekale, too, and the legend of
her having entertained Theseus, does not seem altogether without
foundation in fact; for the people of the neighbouring townships used to
assemble and perform what was called the Hekalesian sacrifice to Zeus
Hekalus, and they also used to honour Hekale, calling her by the
affectionate diminutive Hekaline, because she also, when feasting
Theseus, who was very young, embraced him in a motherly way, and used
such like endearing diminutives. She also made a vow on Theseus's
behalf, when he was going forth to battle, that if he returned safe she
would sacrifice to Zeus; but as she died before he returned, she had the
above-mentioned honours instituted by command of Theseus, as a grateful
return for her hospitality. This is the legend as told by Philochorus.

XV. Shortly after this the ship from Crete arrived for the third time
to collect the customary tribute. Most writers agree that the origin of
this was, that on the death of Androgeus, in Attica, which was ascribed
to treachery, his father Minos went to war, and wrought much evil to the
country, which at the same time was afflicted by scourges from Heaven
(for the land did not bear fruit, and there was a great pestilence and
the rivers sank into the earth). So that as the oracle told the
Athenians that, if they propitiated Minos and came to terms with him,
the anger of Heaven would cease and they should have a respite from
their sufferings, they sent an embassy to Minos and prevailed on him to
make peace, on the condition that every nine years they should send him
a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens. The most tragic of the
legends states these poor children when they reached Crete were thrown
into the Labyrinth, and there either were devoured by the Minotaur or
else perished with hunger, being unable to find the way out. The
Minotaur, as Euripides tells us, was

    "A form commingled, and a monstrous birth,
    Half man, half bull, in twofold shape combined."

XVI. Philochorus says that the Cretans do not recognise this story, but
say that the Labyrinth was merely a prison, like any other, from which
escape was impossible, and that Minos instituted gymnastic games in
honour of Androgeus, in which the prizes for the victors were these
children, who till then were kept in the Labyrinth. Also they say that
the victor in the first contest was a man of great power in the state, a
general of the name of Taurus, who was of harsh and savage temper, and
ill-treated the Athenian children. And Aristotle himself, in his
treatise on the constitution of the Bottiaeans, evidently does not
believe that the children were put to death by Minos, but that they
lived in Crete as slaves, until extreme old age; and that one day the
Cretans, in performance of an ancient vow, sent first-fruits of their
population to Delphi. Among those who were thus sent were the
descendants of the Athenians, and, as they could not maintain themselves
there, they first passed over to Italy, and there settled near
Iapygium, and from thence again removed to Thrace, and took the name of
Bottiaeans. For this reason, the Bottiaean maidens when performing a
certain sacrifice sing "Let us go to Athens." Thus it seems to be a
terrible thing to incur the hatred of a city powerful in speech and
song; for on the Attic stage Minos is always vilified and traduced, and
though he was called "Most Kingly" by Hesiod, and "Friend of Zeus" by
Homer, it gained him no credit, but the playwrights overwhelmed him with
abuse, styling him cruel and violent. And yet Minos is said to have been
a king and a lawgiver, and Rhadamanthus to have been a judge under him,
carrying out his decrees.

XVII. So when the time of the third payment of the tribute arrived, and
those fathers who had sons not yet grown up had to submit to draw lots,
the unhappy people began to revile Aegeus, complaining that he, although
the author of this calamity, yet took no share in their affliction, but
endured to see them left childless, robbed of their own legitimate
offspring, while he made a foreigner and a bastard the heir to his
kingdom. This vexed Theseus, and determining not to hold aloof, but to
share the fortunes of the people, he came forward and offered himself
without being drawn by lot. The people all admired his courage and
patriotism, and Aegeus finding that his prayers and entreaties had no
effect on his unalterable resolution, proceeded to choose the rest by
lot. Hellanikus says that the city did not select the youths and maidens
by lot, but that Minos himself came thither and chose them, and that he
picked out Theseus first of all, upon the usual conditions, which were
that the Athenians should furnish a ship, and that the youths should
embark in it and sail with him, not carrying with them any weapon of
war; and that when the Minotaur was slain, the tribute should cease.
Formerly, no one had any hope of safety; so they used to send out the
ship with a black sail, as if it were going to a certain doom; but now
Theseus so encouraged his father, and boasted that he would overcome the
Minotaur, that he gave a second sail, a white one, to the steersman, and
charged him on his return, if Theseus were safe, to hoist the white one,
if not, the black one as a sign of mourning. But Simonides says that it
was not a white sail which was given by Aegeus, but "a scarlet sail
embrued in holm oak's juice," and that this was agreed on by him as the
signal of safety. The ship was steered by Phereklus the son of Amarsyas,
according to Simonides.

But Philochorus says that Theseus had one Nausithous sent him from
Skirus of Salamis, to steer the ship, and Phaeax to act as look-out, as
the Athenians had not yet turned their attention to the sea.

One of the youths chosen by lot was Menestheos the son of Skirus's
daughter. The truth of this account is attested by the shrines of
Nausithous and Phaeax, which Theseus built at Phalerum, and by the feast
called the Kybernesia or pilot's festival, which is held in their
honour.

XVIII. When the lots were drawn Theseus brought the chosen youths from
the Prytaneum, and proceeding to the temple of the Delphian Apollo,
offered the suppliants' bough to Apollo on their behalf. This was a
bough of the sacred olive-tree bound with fillets of white wool. And
after praying he went to sea on the sixth day of the month Munychion, on
which day even now they send maidens as suppliants to the temple of the
Delphian Apollo. And there is a legend that the Delphian oracle told him
that Aphrodite would be his guide and fellow-traveller, and that when he
was sacrificing a she-goat to her by the seaside, it became a he-goat;
wherefore the goddess is called Epitragia.

XIX. When they reached Crete, according to most historians and poets,
Ariadne fell in love with him, and from her he received the clue of
string, and was taught how to thread the mazes of the Labyrinth. He slew
the Minotaur, and, taking with him Ariadne and the youths, sailed away.
Pherekydes also says that Theseus also knocked out the bottoms of the
Cretan ships, to prevent pursuit. But Demon says that Taurus, Minos's
general, was slain in a sea-fight in the harbour, when Theseus sailed
away. But according to Philochorus, when Minos instituted his games,
Taurus was expected to win every prize, and was grudged this honour; for
his great influence and his unpopular manners made him disliked, and
scandal said, that he was too intimate with Pasiphae. On this account,
when Theseus offered to contend with him, Minos agreed. And, as it was
the custom in Crete for women as well as men to be spectators of the
games, Ariadne was present, and was struck with the appearance of
Theseus, and his strength, as he conquered all competitors. Minos was
especially pleased, in the wrestling match, at Taurus's defeat and
shame, and, restoring the children to Theseus, remitted the tribute for
the future. Kleidemus tells the story in his own fashion and at
unnecessary length, beginning much farther back. There was, he says, a
decree passed by all the Greeks, that no ship should sail from any post
with more than five hands on board, but Jason alone, the master of the
great ship Argo, should cruise about, and keep the sea free of pirates.
Now when Daedalus fled to Athens, Minos, contrary to the decree, pursued
him in long war galleys, and being driven to Sicily by a storm, died
there. When his son Deukalion sent a warlike message to the Athenians,
bidding them give up Daedalus to him, or else threatening that he would
put to death the children whom Minos had taken as hostages, Theseus
returned him a gentle answer, begging for the life of Daedalus, who was
his own cousin and blood relation, being the son of Merope, the daughter
of Erechtheus. But he busied himself with building a fleet, some of it
in Attica, in the country of the Thymaitadae, far from any place of
resort of strangers, and some in Troezen, under the management of
Pittheus, as he did not wish his preparations to be known. But when the
ships were ready to set sail, having with him as pilots, Daedalus
himself and some Cretan exiles, as no one knew that he was coming, and
the Cretans thought that it was a friendly fleet that was advancing, he
seized the harbour, and marched at once to Knossus before his arrival
was known. Then he fought a battle at the gates of the Labyrinth, and
slew Deukalion and his body-guard. As Ariadne now succeeded to the
throne, he made peace with her, took back the youths, and formed an
alliance between the Cretans and the Athenians, in which each nation
swore that it would not begin a war against the other.

XX. There are many more stories about these events, and about Ariadne,
none of which agree in any particulars. Some say that she hanged herself
when deserted by Theseus, and some, that she was taken to Naxos by his
sailors, and there dwelt with Oenarus, the priest of Dionysus, having
been deserted by Theseus, who was in love with another.

    "For Aegle's love disturbed his breast."

This line, we are told by Hereas of Megara, was struck out of Hesiod's
poems by Peisistratus; and again he says that he inserted into Homer's
description of the Shades,

    "Peirithous and Theseus, born of gods,"

to please the Athenians. Some writers say that Theseus had by Ariadne
two sons, Staphylus and Oenopion, whom Ion of Chios follows when he
speaks of his own native city as that

    "Which erst Oenopion stablished, Theseus' son."

The pleasantest of these legends are in nearly every one's mouth. But
Paeon of Amathus gives an account peculiar to himself, that Theseus was
driven by a storm to Cyprus, and that Ariadne, who was pregnant,
suffered much from the motion of the ship, and became so ill, that she
was set on shore, but Theseus had to return to take charge of the ship,
and was blown off to sea. The women of the country took care of Ariadne,
and comforted her in her bereavement, even bringing forged letters to
her as if from Theseus, and rendering her assistance during her
confinement; and when she died in childbirth, they buried her. Theseus,
on his return, grieved much, and left money to the people of the
country, bidding them sacrifice to Ariadne; he also set up two little
statues, one of silver, and the other of brass. And at this sacrifice,
which takes place on the second day of the month Gorpiaeus, one of the
young men lies down on the ground, and imitates the cries of a woman in
travail; and the people of Amathus call that the grove of Ariadne
Aphrodite, in which they show her tomb.

But some writers of Naxos tell a different story, peculiar to
themselves, that there were two Minoses and two Ariadnes, of whom one,
they say, was married to Dionysus in Naxos, and was the mother of
Staphylus and his brother, while the younger was carried off by Theseus,
and came to Naxos after he deserted her; and a nurse called Korkyne came
with her, whose tomb they point out. Then Naxians also says that this
Ariadne died there, and is honoured, but not so much as the elder; for
at the feast in honour of the elder, there are merriment and revelry,
but at that of the younger gloomy rites are mingled with mirth.

XXI. Theseus, when he sailed away from Crete, touched at Delos; here he
sacrificed to the god and offered up the statue of Aphrodite, which
Ariadne had given him; and besides this, he and the youths with him
danced a measure which they say is still practised by the people of
Delos to this day, being an imitation of the turnings and windings of
the Labyrinth expressed by complicated evolutions performed in regular
order. This kind of dance is called by the Delians "the crane dance,"
according to Dikaearchus. It was danced round the altar of the Horns,
which is all formed of horns from the left side. They also say that he
instituted games at Delos, and that then for the first time a palm was
given by him to the victor.

XXII. As he approached Attica, both he and his steersman in their
delight forgot to hoist the sail which was to be a signal of their
safety to Aegeus; and he in his despair flung himself down the cliffs
and perished. Theseus, as soon as he reached the harbour, performed at
Phalerum the sacrifices which he had vowed to the gods if he returned
safe, and sent off a herald to the city with the news of his safe
return. This man met with many who were lamenting the death of the king,
and, as was natural, with others who were delighted at the news of their
safety, and who congratulated him and wished to crown him with garlands.
These he received, but placed them on his herald's staff, and when he
came back to the seashore, finding that Theseus had not completed his
libation, he waited outside the temple, not wishing to disturb the
sacrifice. When the libation was finished he announced the death of
Aegeus, and then they all hurried up to the city with loud lamentations:
wherefore to this day, at the Oschophoria, they say that it is not the
herald that is crowned, but his staff, and that at the libations the
bystanders cry out, "Eleleu, Iou, Iou;" of which cries the first is used
by men in haste, or raising the paean for battle, while the second is
used by persons in surprise and trouble.

Theseus, after burying his father, paid his vow to Apollo, on the
seventh day of the month Pyanepsion; for on this day it was that the
rescued youths went up into the city. The boiling of pulse, which is
customary on this anniversary, is said to be done because the rescued
youths put what remained of their pulse together into one pot, boiled it
all, and merrily feasted on it together. And on this day also, the
Athenians carry about the Eiresione, a bough of the olive tree garlanded
with wool, just as Theseus had before carried the suppliants' bough, and
covered with first-fruits of all sorts of produce, because the
barrenness of the land ceased on that day; and they sing,

    "Eiresione, bring us figs
       And wheaten loaves, and oil,
    And wine to quaff, that we may all
       Host merrily from toil."

However, some say that these ceremonies are performed in memory of the
Herakleidae, who were thus entertained by the Athenians; but most
writers tell the tale as I have told it.

XXIII. Now the thirty-oared ship, in which Theseus sailed with the
youths, and came back safe, was kept by the Athenians up to the time of
Demetrius Phalereus. They constantly removed the decayed part of her
timbers, and renewed them with sound wood, so that the ship became an
illustration to philosophers of the doctrine of growth and change, as
some argued that it remained the same, and others, that it did not
remain the same. The feast of the Oschophoria, or of carrying boughs,
which to this day the Athenians celebrate, was instituted by Theseus.
For he did not take with him all the maidens who were drawn by lot, but
he chose two youths, his intimate friends, who were feminine and fair to
look upon, but of manly spirit; these by warm baths and avoiding the
heat of the sun and careful tending of their hair and skin he
completely metamorphosed, teaching them to imitate the voice and
carriage and walk of maidens. These two were then substituted in the
place of two of the girls, and deceived every one; and when they
returned, he and these two youths walked in procession, dressed as now
those who carry boughs at the Oschophoria are dressed. They carry them
in honour of Dionysus and Ariadne, because of the legend, or rather
because they returned home when the harvest was being gathered in. And
the women called supper-carriers join in carrying them and partake of
the sacrifice, in imitation of the mothers of those who were drawn by
lot; for they used continually to bring their children food. Also, old
tales are told, because these women used to tell their children such
ones, to encourage and amuse them.

These things are related by the historian Demus. Moreover, a sacred
enclosure was dedicated to Theseus, and those families out of whom the
tribute of the children had been gathered were bidden to contribute to
sacrifices to him. These sacrifices were presided over by the
Phytalidae, which post Theseus bestowed upon them as a recompense for
their hospitality towards him.

XXIV. After the death of Aegeus, Theseus conceived a great and important
design. He gathered together all the inhabitants of Attica and made them
citizens of one city, whereas before they had lived dispersed, so as to
be hard to assemble together for the common weal, and at times even
fighting with one another.

He visited all the villages and tribes, and won their consent; the poor
and lower classes gladly accepting his proposals, while he gained over
the more powerful by promising that the new constitution should not
include a king, but that it should be a pure commonwealth, with himself
merely acting as general of its army and guardian of its laws, while in
other respects it would allow perfect freedom and equality to every one.
By these arguments he convinced some of them, and the rest knowing his
power and courage chose rather to be persuaded than forced into
compliance. He therefore destroyed the prytaneia, the senate house, and
the magistracy of each individual township, built one common prytaneum
and senate house for them all on the site of the present acropolis,
called the city Athens, and instituted the Panathenaic festival common
to all of them. He also instituted a festival for the resident aliens,
on the sixteenth of the month, Hekatombeion, which is still kept up. And
having, according to his promise, laid down his sovereign power, he
arranged the new constitution under the auspices of the gods; for he
made inquiry at Delphi as to how he should deal with the city, and
received the following answer:

    "Thou son of Aegeus and of Pittheus' maid,
    My father hath within thy city laid
    The bounds of many cities; weigh not down
    Thy soul with thought; the bladder cannot drown."

The same thing they say was afterwards prophesied by the Sibyl
concerning the city, in these words:

     "The bladder may be dipped, but cannot drown."

XXV. Wishing still further to increase the number of his citizens, he
invited all strangers to come and share equal privileges, and they say
that the words now used, "Come hither all ye peoples," was the
proclamation then used by Theseus, establishing as it were a
commonwealth of all nations. But he did not permit his state to fall
into the disorder which this influx of all kinds of people would
probably have produced, but divided the people into three classes, of
Eupatridae or nobles, Geomori or farmers, Demiurgi or artisans. To the
Eupatridae he assigned the care of religious rites, the supply of
magistrates for the city, and the interpretation of the laws and customs
sacred or profane, yet he placed them on an equality with the other
citizens, thinking that the nobles would always excel in dignity, the
farmers in usefulness, and the artisans in numbers. Aristotle tells us
that he was the first who inclined to democracy, and gave up the title
of king; and Homer seems to confirm this view by speaking of the people
of the Athenians alone of all the states mentioned in his catalogue of
ships. Theseus also struck money with the figure of a bull, either
alluding to the bull of Marathon, or Taurus, Minos' general, or else to
encourage farming among the citizens. Hence they say came the words,
"worth ten," or "worth a hundred oxen." He permanently annexed Megara to
Attica, and set up the famous pillar on the Isthmus, on which he wrote
the distinction between the countries in two trimeter lines, of which
the one looking east says,

     "This is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia,"

and the one looking west says,

     "This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia."

And also he instituted games there, in emulation of Herakles; that, just
as Herakles had ordained that the Greeks should celebrate the Olympic
games in honour of Zeus, so by Theseus's appointment they should
celebrate the Isthmian games in honour of Poseidon.

The festival which was previously established there in honour of
Melikerta used to be celebrated by night, and to be more like a
religious mystery than a great spectacle and gathering. Some writers
assert that the Isthmian games were established in honour of Skeiron,
and that Theseus wished to make them an atonement for the murder of his
kinsman; for Skeiron was the son of Kanethus and of Henioche the
daughter of Pittheus. Others say that this festival was established in
honour of Sinis, not of Skeiron. Be this as it may, Theseus established
it, and stipulated with the Corinthians that visitors from Athens who
came to the games should have a seat of honour in as large a space as
could be covered by a sail of the public ship which carried them, when
stretched out on the ground. This we are told by Hellanikus and Andron
of Halikarnassus.

XXVI. Besides this, according to Philochorus and other writers, he
sailed with Herakles to the Euxine, took part in the campaign against
the Amazons, and received Antiope as the reward for his valour; but most
historians, among whom are Pherekydes, Hellanikus, and Herodorus, say
that Theseus made an expedition of his own later than that of Herakles,
and that he took the Amazon captive, which is a more reasonable story.
For no one of his companions is said to have captured an Amazon; while
Bion relates that he caught this one by treachery and carried her off;
for the Amazons, he says, were not averse to men, and did not avoid
Theseus when he touched at their coast, but even offered him presents.
He invited the bearer of these on board his ship; and when she had
embarked he set sail. But one, Menekrates, who has written a history of
the town of Nikaea in Bithynia, states that Theseus spent a long time in
that country with Antiope, and that there were three young Athenians,
brothers, who were his companions in arms, by name Euneon, Thoas, and
Soloeis. Soloeis fell in love with Antiope, and, without telling his
brothers, confided his passion to one of his comrades. This man laid the
matter before Antiope, who firmly rejected his pretensions, but treated
him quietly and discreetly, telling Theseus nothing about it. Soloeis,
in despair at his rejection, leaped into a river and perished; and
Theseus then at length learned the cause of the young man's death. In
his sorrow he remembered and applied to himself an oracle he had
received from Delphi. It had been enjoined upon him by the Pythia that
whenever he should be struck down with special sorrow in a foreign land,
he should found a city in that place and leave some of his companions
there as its chiefs. In consequence of this the city which he founded
was called Pythopolis, in honour of the Pythian Apollo, and the
neighbouring river was called Soloeis, after the youth who died in it.
He left there the brothers of Soloeis as the chiefs and lawgivers of the
new city, and together, with them one Hermus, an Athenian Eupatrid. In
consequence of this, the people of Pythopolis call a certain place in
their city the house of Hermes, by a mistaken accentuation transferring
the honour due to their founder, to their god Hermes.

XXVII. This was the origin of the war with the Amazons; and it seems to
have been carried on in no feeble or womanish spirit, for they never
could have encamped in the city nor have fought a battle close to the
Pnyx and the Museum unless they had conquered the rest of the country,
so as to be able to approach the city safely. It is hard to believe, as
Hellanikus relates, that they crossed the Cimmerian Bosphorus on the
ice; but that they encamped almost in the city is borne witness to by
the local names, and by the tombs of the fallen. For a long time both
parties held aloof, unwilling to engage; but at last Theseus, after
sacrificing to Phobos (Fear), attacked them. The battle took place in
the month Boedromion, on the day on which the Athenians celebrate the
feast Boedromia. Kleidemus gives us accurate details, stating that the
left wing of the Amazons stood at the place now called the Amazoneum,
while the right reached up to the Pnyx, at the place where the gilded
figure of Victory now stands. The Athenians attacked them on this side,
issuing from the Museum, and the tombs of the fallen are to be seen
along the street which leads to the gate near the shrine of the hero
Chalkodus, which is called the Peiraeic gate. On this side the women
forced them back as far as the temple of the Eumenides, but on the other
side those who assailed them from the temple of Pallas, Ardettus, and
the Lyceum, drove their right wing in confusion back to their camp with
great slaughter. In the fourth month of the war a peace was brought
about by Hippolyte; for this writer names the wife of Theseus Hippolyte,
not Antiope. Some relate that she was slain fighting by the side of
Theseus by a javelin hurled by one Molpadia, and that the column which
stands beside the temple of Olympian Earth is sacred to her memory. It
is not to be wondered at that history should be at fault when dealing
with such ancient events as these, for there is another story at
variance with this, to the effect that Antiope caused the wounded
Amazons to be secretly transported to Chalkis, where they were taken
care of, and some of them were buried there, at what is now called the
Amazoneum. However, it is a proof of the war having ended in a treaty of
peace, that the place near the temple of Theseus where they swore to
observe it, is still called Horeomosium, and that the sacrifice to the
Amazons always has taken place before the festival of Theseus. The
people of Megara also show a burying-place of the Amazons, as one goes
from the market-place to what they call Rhus, where the lozenge-shaped
building stands. It is said that some others died at Chaeronea, and were
buried by the little stream which it seems was anciently called
Thermodon, but now is called Haemon, about which we have treated in the
life of Demosthenes. It would appear that the Amazons did not even get
across Thessaly without trouble, for graves of them are shown to this
day at Skotussa and Kynoskephalae.

XXVIII. The above is all that is worthy of mention about the Amazons;
for, as to the story which the author of the 'Theseid' relates about
this attack of the Amazons being brought about by Antiope to revenge
herself upon Theseus for his marriage with Phaedra, and how she and her
Amazons fought, and how Herakles slew them, all this is clearly
fabulous. After the death of Antiope, Theseus married Phaedra, having a
son by Antiope named Hippolytus, or Demophoon, according to Pindar. As
for his misfortunes with this wife and son, as the account given by
historians does not differ from that which appears in the plays of the
tragic poets, we must believe them to have happened as all these writers
say.

XXIX. However, there are certain other legends about Theseus' marriage
which have never appeared on the stage, which have neither a creditable
beginning nor a prosperous termination: for it is said that he carried
off one Anaxo, a Troezenian girl, and after slaying Sinis and Kerkyon he
forced their daughters, and that he married Periboea the mother of Ajax
and also Phereboea and Iope the daughter of Iphikles: and, as has been
told already, it was on account of his love for Aegle the daughter of
Panopeus that he deserted Ariadne, which was a shameful and
discreditable action. And in addition to all this he is charged with
carrying off Helen, which brought war upon Attica, and exile and
destruction on himself; about which we shall speak presently. But,
though many adventures were undertaken by the heroes of those times,
Herodorus is of opinion that Theseus took no part in any of them, except
with the Lapithae in their fight with the Centaurs; though other writers
say that he went to Kolchis with Jason and took part with Meleager in
the hunt of the Kalydonian boar.

From these legends arises the proverb, "Not without Theseus;" also he by
himself without any comrades performed many glorious deeds, from which
the saying came into vogue, "This is another Herakles."

Theseus, together with Adrastus, effected the recovery of the bodies of
those who fell under the walls of the Cadmea at Thebes, not after
conquering the Thebans, as Euripides puts it in his play, but by a truce
and convention, according to most writers. Philochorus even states that
this was the first occasion on which a truce was made for the recovery
of those slain in battle. But we have shown in our 'Life of Herakles'
that he was the first to restore the corpses of the slain to the enemy.
The tombs of the rank and file are to be seen at Eleutherae, but those
of the chiefs at Eleusis, by favour of Theseus to Adrastus. Euripides's
play of the 'Suppliants' is contradicted by that of Aeschylus, the
'Eleusinians,' in which Theseus is introduced giving orders for this to
be done.

XXX. His friendship for Peirithous is said to have arisen in the
following manner: He had a great reputation for strength and courage;
Peirithous, wishing to make trial of these, drove his cattle away from
the plain of Marathon, and when he learned that Theseus was pursuing
them, armed, he did not retire, but turned and faced him. Each man then
admiring the beauty and courage of his opponent, refrained from battle,
and first Peirithous holding out his hand bade Theseus himself assess
the damages of his raid upon the cattle, saying that he himself would
willingly submit to whatever penalty the other might inflict. Theseus
thought no more of their quarrel, and invited him to become his friend
and comrade; and they ratified their compact of friendship by an oath.
Hereupon, Peirithous, who was about to marry Deidameia, begged Theseus
to come and visit his country and meet the Lapithae. He also had invited
the Centaurs to the banquet; and as they in their drunken insolence laid
hands upon the women, the Lapithae attacked them. Some of them they
slew, and the rest they overcame, and afterwards, with the assistance of
Theseus, banished from their country. Herodorus, however, says that this
is not how these events took place, but that the war was going on, and
that Theseus went to help the Lapithae and while on his way thither
first beheld Herakles, whom he made a point of visiting at Trachis,
where he was resting after his labours and wanderings; and that they met
with many compliments and much good feeling on both sides. But one would
more incline to those writers who tell us that they often met, and that
Herakles was initiated by Theseus's desire, and was also purified before
initiation at his instance, which ceremony was necessary because of some
reckless action.

XXXI. Theseus was fifty years old, according to Hellanikus, when he
carried off Helen, who was a mere child. For this reason some who wish
to clear him of this, the heaviest of all the charges against him, say
that it was not he who carried off Helen, but that Idas and Lynkeus
carried her off and deposited her in his keeping. Afterwards the Twin
Brethren came and demanded her back, but he would not give her up; or
even it is said that Tyndareus himself handed her over to him, because
he feared that Enarsphorus the son of Hippocoon would take her by force,
she being only a child at the time. But the most probable story and that
which most writers agree in is the following: The two friends, Theseus
and Peirithous, came to Sparta, seized the maiden, who was dancing in
the temple of Artemis Orthia, and carried her off. As the pursuers
followed no farther than Tegea, they felt no alarm, but leisurely
travelled through Peloponnesus, and made a compact that whichever of
them should win Helen by lot was to have her to wife, but must help the
other to a marriage. They cast lots on this understanding, and Theseus
won. As the maiden was not yet ripe for marriage he took her with him to
Aphidnae, and there placing his mother with her gave her into the charge
of his friend Aphidnus, bidding him watch over her and keep her presence
secret. He himself in order to repay his obligation to Peirithous went
on a journey with him to Epirus to obtain the daughter of Aidoneus the
king of the Molossians, who called his wife Persephone, his daughter
Kore, and his dog Cerberus. All the suitors of his daughter were bidden
by him to fight this dog, and the victor was to receive her hand.
However, as he learned that Peirithous and his friend were come, not as
wooers, but as ravishers, he cast them into prison. He put an end to
Peirithous at once, by means of his dog, but only guarded Theseus
strictly.

XXXII. Now at this period Mnestheus, the son of Peteus, who was the son
of Orneus, who was the son of Erechtheus, first of all mankind they say
took to the arts of a demagogue, and to currying favour with the people.
This man formed a league of the nobles, who had long borne Theseus a
grudge for having destroyed the local jurisdiction and privileges of
each of the Eupatrids by collecting them all together into the capital,
where they were no more than his subjects and slaves; and he also
excited the common people by telling them that although they were
enjoying a fancied freedom they really had been deprived of their
ancestral privileges and sacred rites, and made to endure the rule of
one foreign despot, instead of that of many good kings of their own
blood.

While he was thus busily employed, the invasion of Attica by the sons of
Tyndareus greatly assisted his revolutionary scheme; so that some say
that it was he who invited them to come. At first they abstained from
violence, and confined themselves to asking that their sister Helen
should be given up to them; but when they were told by the citizens that
she was not in their hands, and that they knew not where she was, they
proceeded to warlike measures. Akademus, who had by some means
discovered that she was concealed at Aphidnae, now told them where she
was; for which cause he was honoured by the sons of Tyndareus during his
life, and also the Lacedaemonians, though they often invaded the country
and ravaged it unsparingly, yet never touched the place called the
Akademeia, for Akademus's sake. Dikaearchus says that Echemus and
Marathus, two Arcadians, took part in that war with the sons of
Tyndareus; and that from the first the place now called Akademeia was
then named Echedemia, and that from the second the township of Marathon
takes its names, because he in accordance with some oracle voluntarily
offered himself as a sacrifice there in the sight of the whole army.

However, the sons of Tyndareus came to Aphidnae, and took the place
after a battle, in which it is said that Alykus fell, the son of
Skeiron, who then was fighting on the side of the Dioskuri. In memory
of this man it is said that the place in the territory of Megara where
his remains lie is called Alykus. But Hereas writes that Alykus was
slain by Theseus at Aphidnae, and as evidence he quotes this verse about
Alykus,

    "Him whom Theseus slew in the spacious streets of Aphidnae,
    Fighting for fair-haired Helen."

But it is not likely that if Theseus had been there, his mother and the
town of Aphidnae would have been taken.

XXXIII. After the fall of Aphidnae, the people of Athens became
terrified, and were persuaded by Mnestheus to admit the sons of
Tyndareus to the city, and to treat them as friends, because, he said,
they were only at war with Theseus, who had been the first to use
violence, and were the saviours and benefactors of the rest of mankind.
These words of his were confirmed by their behaviour, for, victorious as
they were, they yet demanded nothing except initiation into the
mysteries, as they were, no less than Herakles, connected with the city.
This was permitted them, and they were adopted by Aphidnus, as Herakles
had been by Pylius. They received divine honours, being addressed as
"Anakes," either because of the cessation of the war, or from the care
they took, when they had such a large army within the walls of Athens,
that no one should be wronged; for those who take care of or guard
anything are said to do it "anakos," and perhaps for this reason kings
are called "Anaktes." Some say that they were called Anakas because of
the appearance of their stars in the heavens above, for the Attics
called "above" "anekas."

XXXIV. It is said that Aethra, the mother of Theseus, was carried off as
a captive to Lacedaemon, and thence to Troy with Helen, and Homer
supports this view, when he says that there followed Helen,

    "Aithra the daughter of Pittheus and large-eyed Klymene."

Others reject this verse, and the legend about Mounychus, who is said to
have been the bastard son of Laodike, by Demophoon, and to have been
brought up in Troy by Aithra. But Istrus, in his thirteenth book of his
'History of Attica,' tells quite a different and peculiar story about
Aithra, that he had heard that Paris was conquered by Achilles and
Patroklus near the river Spercheius, in Thessaly, and that Hector took
the city of Troezen by storm, and amongst the plunder carried off
Aithra, who had been left there. But this seems impossible.

XXXV. Now Aidoneus the Molossian king chanced to be entertaining
Herakles, and related to him the story of Theseus and Peirithous, what
they had intended to do, and how they had been caught in the act and
punished. Herakles was much grieved at hearing how one had perished
ingloriously, and the other was like to perish. He thought that nothing
would be gained by reproaching the king for his conduct to Peirithous,
but he begged for the life of Theseus, and pointed out that the release
of his friend was a favour which he deserved. Aidoneus agreed, and
Theseus, when set free, returned to Athens, where he found that his
party was not yet overpowered. Whatever consecrated grounds had been set
apart for him by the city, he dedicated to Herakles, and called Heraklea
instead of Thesea, except four, according to Philochorus. But, as he at
once wished to preside and manage the state as before, he was met by
factious opposition, for he found that those who had been his enemies
before, had now learned not to fear him, while the common people had
become corrupted, and now required to be specially flattered instead of
doing their duty in silence.

He endeavoured to establish his government by force, but was overpowered
by faction; and at last, despairing of success, he secretly sent his
children to Euboea, to Elephenor, the son of Chalkodous; and he himself,
after solemnly uttering curses on the Athenians at Gargettus, where now
is the place called Araterion, or the place of curses, set sail for
Skyros, where he was, he imagined, on friendly terms with the
inhabitants, and possessed a paternal estate in the island. At that time
Lykomedes was king of Skyros; so he proceeded to demand from him his
lands, in order to live there, though some say that he asked him to
assist him against the Athenians. Lykomedes, either in fear of the great
reputation of Theseus, or else to gain the favour of Mnestheus, led him
up to the highest mountain top in the country, on the pretext of
showing him his estate from thence, and pushed him over a precipice.
Some say that he stumbled and fell of himself, as he was walking after
supper, according to his custom. As soon as he was dead, no one thought
any more of him, but Mnestheus reigned over the Athenians, while
Theseus's children were brought up as private citizens by Elephenor, and
followed him to Ilium. When Mnestheus died at Ilium, they returned home
and resumed their rightful sovereignty. In subsequent times, among many
other things which led the Athenians to honour Theseus as a hero or
demi-god, most remarkable was his appearance at the battle of Marathon,
where his spirit was seen by many, clad in armour, leading the charge
against the barbarians.

XXXVI. After the Persian war, in the archonship of Phaedo, the Athenians
were told by the Delphian Oracle to take home the bones of Theseus and
keep them with the greatest care and honour. There was great difficulty
in obtaining them and in discovering his tomb, on account of the wild
and savage habits of the natives of the island. However, Kimon took the
island, as is written in my history of his Life, and making it a point
of honour to discover his tomb, he chanced to behold an eagle pecking
with its beak and scratching with its talons at a small rising ground.
Here he dug, imagining that the spot had been pointed out by a miracle.
There was found the coffin of a man of great stature, and lying beside
it a brazen lance-head and a sword. These relics were brought to Athens
by Kimon, on board of his trireme, and the delighted Athenians received
them with splendid processions and sacrifices, just as if the hero
himself were come to the city. He is buried in the midst of the city,
near where the Gymnasium now stands, and his tomb is a place of
sanctuary for slaves, and all that are poor and oppressed, because
Theseus, during his life, was the champion and avenger of the poor, and
always kindly hearkened to their prayers. Their greatest sacrifice in
his honour takes place on the eighth of the month of Pyanepsion, upon
which day he and the youths came back from Crete. But besides this they
hold a service in his honour on the eighth of all the other months,
either because it was on the eighth day of Hekatombeion that he first
arrived in Athens from Troezen, as is related by Diodorus the
topographer, or else thinking that number to be especially his own,
because he is said to have been the son of Poseidon, and Poseidon is
honoured on the eighth day of every month. For the number eight is the
first cube of an even number, and is double the first square, and
therefore peculiarly represents the immovable abiding power of that god
whom we address as "the steadfast," and the "earth upholder."




LIFE OF ROMULUS.


Historians are not agreed upon the origin and meaning of the famous name
of Rome, which is so celebrated through all the world. Some relate that
the Pelasgi, after wandering over the greater part of the world, and
conquering most nations, settled there, and gave the city its name from
their own strength in battle.[A] Others tell us that after the capture
of Troy some fugitives obtained ships, were carried by the winds to the
Tyrrhenian or Tuscan coast, and cast anchor in the Tiber. There the
women, who had suffered much from the sea voyage, were advised by one
who was accounted chief among them for wisdom and noble birth, Roma by
name, to burn the ships. At first the men were angry at this, but
afterwards, being compelled to settle round about the Palatine Hill,
they fared better than they expected, as they found the country fertile
and the neighbours hospitable; so they paid great honour to Roma, and
called the city after her name. From this circumstance, they say, arose
the present habit of women kissing their male relatives and connections;
because those women, after they had burned the ships, thus embraced and
caressed the men, trying to pacify their rage.

[Footnote A: The Greek [Greek: rhômê] = strength.]

II. Some say that Roma, who gave the name to the city, was the daughter
of Italus and Leucaria, or of Telephus the son of Hercules, and the wife
of Aeneas, while others say that she was the daughter of Ascanius the
son of Aeneas. Others relate that Romanus, the son of Odysseus and
Circe, founded the city, or that it was Romus, the son of Hemathion, who
was sent from Troy by Diomedes; or Romis the despot of the Latins, who
drove out of his kingdom the Tyrrhenians, who, starting from Thessaly,
had made their way to Lydia, and thence to Italy. And even those who
follow the most reasonable of these legends, and admit that it was
Romulus who founded the city after his own name, do not agree about his
birth; for some say that he was the son of Aeneas and Dexithea the
daughter of Phorbas, and with his brother Romus was brought to Italy
when a child, and that as the river was in flood, all the other boats
were swamped, but that in which the children were was carried to a soft
bank and miraculously preserved, from which the name of Rome was given
to the place. Others say that Roma, the daughter of that Trojan lady,
married Latinus the son of Telemachus and bore a son, Romulus; while
others say that his mother was Aemilia the daughter of Aeneas and
Lavinia, by an intrigue with Mars; while others give a completely
legendary account of his birth, as follows:

In the house of Tarchetius, the king of the Albani, a cruel and lawless
man, a miracle took place. A male figure arose from the hearth, and
remained there for many days. Now there was in Etruria an oracle of
Tethys, which told Tarchetius that a virgin must be offered to the
figure; for there should be born of her a son surpassing all mankind in
strength, valour, and good fortune. Tarchetius hereupon explained the
oracle to one of his daughters, and ordered her to give herself up to
the figure; but she, not liking to do so, sent her servant-maid instead.
Tarchetius, when he learned this, was greatly incensed, and cast them
both into prison, meaning to put them to death. However, in a dream,
Vesta appeared to him, forbidding him to slay them. In consequence of
this he locked them up with a loom, telling them that when they had
woven the piece of work upon it they should be married. So they wove all
day, and during the night other maidens sent by Tarchetius undid their
work again. Now when the servant-maid was delivered of twins, Tarchetius
gave them to one Teratius, and bade him destroy them. He laid them down
near the river; and there they were suckled by a she-wolf, while all
sorts of birds brought them morsels of food, until one day a cowherd saw
them. Filled with wonder he ventured to come up to the children and
bear them off. Saved from death in this manner they grew up, and then
attacked and slew Tarchetius. This is the legend given by one
Promathion, the compiler of a history of Italy.

III. But the most credible story, and that has most vouchers for its
truth, is that which was first published in Greece by Diokles of
Peparethos, a writer whom Fabius Pictor has followed in most points.
There are variations in this legend also; but, generally speaking, it
runs as follows:

The dynasty established by Aeneas at Alba Longa, came down to two
brothers, Numitor and Amulius. Amulius offered his brother the choice
between the sovereign power and the royal treasure, including the gold
brought from Troy. Numitor chose the sovereign power. But Amulius,
possessing all the treasure, and thereby having more power than his
brother, easily dethroned him, and, as he feared his brother's daughter
might have children who would avenge him, he made her a priestess of
Vesta, sworn to celibacy for ever. This lady is named by some Ilia, by
others Rhea or Silvia. After no long time she was found to be with
child, against the law of the Vestals. Her life was saved by the
entreaties of Antho, the king's daughter, but she was closely
imprisoned, that she might not be delivered without Amulius's knowledge.
She bore two children of remarkable beauty and size, and Amulius, all
the more alarmed at this, bade an attendant take them and expose them.
Some say that this man's name was Faustulus, while others say that this
was not his name, but that of their rescuer. However, he placed the
infants in a cradle, and went down to the river with the intention of
throwing them into it, but seeing it running strong and turbulently, he
feared to approach it, laid down the cradle near the bank and went away.
The river, which was in flood, rose, and gently floated off the cradle,
and carried it down to a soft place which is now called Cermalus, but
anciently, it seems, was called Germanus, because brothers are called
germani.

IV. Near this place was a fig-tree, which they called Ruminalius, either
from Romulus, as most persons imagine, or because cattle came to
ruminate in its shade, or, more probably, because of the suckling of
the children there, for the ancients called the nipple _rouma_.
Moreover, they call the goddess who appears to have watched over the
children Roumilia, and to her they sacrifice offerings without wine, and
pour milk as a libation upon her altar.

It is said that while the infants were lying in this place, the she-wolf
suckled them, and that a woodpecker came and helped to feed and watch
over them. Now these animals are sacred to the god Mars; and the Latins
have a peculiar reverence and worship for the woodpecker. These
circumstances, therefore, did not a little to confirm the tale of the
mother of the children, that their father was Mars, though some say that
she was deceived by Amulius himself, who, after condemning her to a life
of virginity, appeared before her dressed in armour, and ravished her.
Others say that the twofold meaning of the name of their nurse gave rise
to this legend, for the Latins use the word _lupa_ for she-wolves, and
also for unchaste women, as was the wife of Faustulus, who brought up
the children, Acca Laurentia by name. To her also the Romans offer
sacrifice, and in the month of April the priest of Mars brings libations
to her, and the feast is called Laurentia.

V. The Romans also worship another Laurentia, for this reason: The
priest of Hercules, weary with idleness, proposed to the god to cast the
dice on the condition that, if he won, he should receive something good
from the god, while if he lost, he undertook to provide the god with a
bountiful feast and a fair woman to take his pleasure with. Upon these
conditions he cast the dice, first for the god, and then for himself,
and was beaten. Wishing to settle his wager properly, and making a point
of keeping his word, he prepared a feast for the god, and hired
Laurentia, then in the pride of her beauty, though not yet famous. He
feasted her in the temple, where he had prepared a couch, and after
supper he locked her in, that the god might possess her. And, indeed,
the god is said to have appeared to the lady, and to have bidden her go
early in the morning into the market-place, and to embrace the first man
she met, and make him her friend. There met her a citizen far advanced
in years, possessing a fair income, childless, and unmarried. His name
was Tarrutius. He took Laurentia to himself, and loved her, and upon his
death left her heiress to a large and valuable property, the greater
part of which she left by will to the city. It is related of her, that
after she had become famous, and was thought to enjoy the favour of
Heaven, she vanished near the very same spot where the other Laurentia
lay buried. This place is now called Velabrum, because during the
frequent overflowings of the river, people used there to be ferried over
to the market-place; now they call ferrying _velatura_. Some say that
the road from the market-place to the circus, starting from this point,
used to be covered with sails or awnings by those who treated the people
to a spectacle; and in the Latin tongue a sail is called _velum_. This
is why the second Laurentia is honoured by the Romans.

VI. Now Faustulus, the swineherd of Amulius, kept the children concealed
from every one, though some say that Numitor knew of it, and shared the
expense of their education. They were sent to Gabii to learn their
letters, and everything else that well-born children should know; and
they were called Romulus and Remus, because they were first seen sucking
the wolf. Their noble birth showed itself while they were yet children,
in their size and beauty; and when they grew up they were manly and
high-spirited, of invincible courage and daring. Romulus, however, was
thought the wiser and more politic of the two, and in his discussions
with the neighbours about pasture and hunting, gave them opportunities
of noting that his disposition was one which led him to command rather
than to obey. On account of these qualities they were beloved by their
equals and the poor, but they despised the king's officers and bailiffs
as being no braver than themselves, and cared neither for their anger
nor their threats. They led the lives and followed the pursuits of nobly
born men, not valuing sloth and idleness, but exercise and hunting,
defending the land against brigands, capturing plunderers, and avenging
those who had suffered wrong. And thus they became famous.

VII. Now a quarrel arose between the herdsmen of Numitor and those of
Amulius, and cattle were driven off by the former. Amulius's men,
enraged at this, fought and routed the others, and recovered a great
part of the booty. They cared nothing for Numitor's anger, but collected
together many needy persons and slaves, and filled them with a
rebellious spirit. While Romulus was absent at a sacrifice (for he was
much addicted to sacrifices and divination), the herdsmen of Numitor
fell in with Remus, accompanied by a small band, and fought with him.
After many wounds had been received on both sides, Numitor's men
conquered and took Remus alive. Remus was brought before Numitor, who
did not punish him, as he feared his brother's temper, but went to his
brother and begged for justice, saying that he had suffered wrong at the
hands of the king his brother's servants. As all the people of Alba
sympathised with Remus, and feared that he would be unjustly put to
death, or worse, Amulius, alarmed at them, handed over Remus to his
brother Numitor, to deal with as he pleased. Numitor took him, and as
soon as he reached home, after admiring the bodily strength and stature
of the youth, which surpassed all the rest, perceiving in his looks his
courageous and fiery spirit, undismayed by his present circumstances,
and having heard that his deeds corresponded to his appearance, and
above all, as seems probable, some god being with him and watching over
the first beginnings of great events, he was struck by the idea of
asking him to tell the truth as to who he was, and how he was born,
giving him confidence and encouragement by his kindly voice and looks.
The young man boldly said, "I will conceal nothing from you, for you
seem more like a king than Amulius. You hear and judge before you
punish, but he gives men up to be punished without a trial. Formerly we
(for we are twins) understood that we were the sons of Faustulus and
Laurentia, the king's servants; but now that we are brought before you
as culprits, and are falsely accused and in danger of our lives, we have
heard great things about ourselves. Whether they be true or not, we must
now put to the test. Our birth is said to be a secret, and our nursing
and bringing up is yet stranger, for we were cast out to the beasts and
the birds, and were fed by them, suckled by a she-wolf, and fed with
morsels of food by a woodpecker as we lay in our cradle beside the great
river. Our cradle still exists, carefully preserved, bound with brazen
bands, on which is an indistinct inscription, which hereafter will serve
as a means by which we may be recognised by our parents, but to no
purpose if we are dead." Numitor, considering the young man's story, and
reckoning up the time from his apparent age, willingly embraced the hope
which was dawning on his mind, and considered how he might obtain a
secret interview with his daughter and tell her of all this; for she was
still kept a close prisoner.

VIII. Faustulus, when he heard of Remus being captured and delivered up
to Numitor, called upon Romulus to help him, and told him plainly all
about his birth; although previously he had hinted so much, that any one
who paid attention to his words might have known nearly all about it;
and he himself with the cradle ran to Numitor full of hopes and fears,
now that matters had come to a critical point. He was viewed with
suspicion by the guards at the king's gate, and while they were treating
him contemptuously, and confusing him by questions, they espied the
cradle under his cloak. Now it chanced that one of them had been one of
those who had taken the children to cast them away, and had been present
when they were abandoned. This man, seeing the cradle and recognising it
by its make and the inscription on it, suspected the truth, and at once
told the king and brought the man in to be examined. Faustulus, in those
dire straits, did not altogether remain unshaken, and yet did not quite
allow his secret to be wrung from him. He admitted that the boys were
alive, but said that they were living far away from Alba, and that he
himself was bringing the cradle to Ilia, who had often longed to see and
touch it to confirm her belief in the life of her children. Now Amulius
did what men generally do when excited by fear or rage. He sent in a
great hurry one who was a good man and a friend of Numitor, bidding him
ask Numitor whether he had heard anything about the survival of the
children. This man on arrival, finding Numitor all but embracing Remus,
confirmed his belief that he was his grandson, and bade him take his
measures quickly, remaining by him himself to offer assistance. Even had
they wished it, there was no time for delay; for Romulus was already
near, and no small number of the citizens, through hatred and fear of
Amulius, were going out to join him. He himself brought no small force,
arrayed in companies of a hundred each. Each of these was led by a man
who carried a bundle of sticks and straw upon a pole. The Latins called
these _manipla_; and from this these companies are even at the present
day called _maniples_ in the Roman army. Now as Remus raised a revolt
within, while Romulus assailed the palace without, the despot was
captured and put to death without having been able to do anything, or
take any measures for his own safety.

The greater part of the above story is told by Fabius Pictor and Diokles
of Peparethos, who seem to have been the first historians of the
foundation of Rome. The story is doubted by many on account of its
theatrical and artificial form, yet we ought not to disbelieve it when
we consider what wondrous works are wrought by chance, and when, too, we
reflect on the Roman Empire, which, had it not had a divine origin,
never could have arrived at its present extent.

IX. After the death of Amulius, and the reorganisation of the kingdom,
the twins, who would not live in Alba as subjects, and did not wish to
reign there during the life of their grandfather, gave up the sovereign
power to him, and, having made a suitable provision for their mother,
determined to dwell by themselves, and to found a city in the parts in
which they themselves had been reared; at least, this is the most
probable of the various reasons which are given. It may also have been
necessary, as many slaves and fugitives had gathered round them, either
that they should disperse these men and so lose their entire power, or
else go and dwell alone amongst them. It is clear, from the rape of the
Sabine women, that the citizens of Alba would not admit these outcasts
into their own body, since that deed was caused, not by wanton
insolence, but by necessity, as they could not obtain wives by fair
means; for after carrying the women off they treated them with the
greatest respect. Afterwards, when the city was once founded, they made
it a sanctuary for people in distress to take refuge in, saying that it
belonged to the god Asylus; and they received in it all sorts of
persons, not giving up slaves to their masters, debtors to their
creditors, or murderers to their judges, but saying that, in accordance
with a Pythian oracle, the sanctuary was free to all; so that the city
soon became full of men, for they say that at first it contained no less
than a thousand hearths. Of this more hereafter. When they were
proceeding to found the city, they at once quarrelled about its site.
Romulus fixed upon what is now called Roma Quadrata, a square piece of
ground, and wished the city to be built in that place; but Remus
preferred a strong position on Mount Aventino, which, in memory of him,
was called the Remonium, and now is called Rignarium.

They agreed to decide their dispute by watching the flight of birds, and
having taken their seats apart, it is said that six vultures appeared to
Remus, and afterwards twice as many to Romulus. Some say that Remus
really saw his vultures, but that Romulus only pretended to have seen
them, and when Remus came to him, then the twelve appeared to Romulus;
for which reason the Romans at the present day draw their auguries
especially from vultures. Herodorus of Pontus says that Hercules
delighted in the sight of a vulture, when about to do any great action.
It is the most harmless of all creatures, for it injures neither crops,
fruit, nor cattle, and lives entirely upon dead corpses. It does not
kill or injure anything that has life, and even abstains from dead birds
from its relationship to them. Now eagles, and owls, and falcons, peck
and kill other birds, in spite of Aeschylus's line,

    "Bird-eating bird polluted e'er must be."

Moreover, the other birds are, so to speak, ever before our eyes, and
continually remind us of their presence; but the vulture is seldom seen,
and it is difficult to meet with its young, which has suggested to some
persons the strange idea that vultures come from some other world to pay
us their rare visits, which are like those occurrences which, according
to the soothsayers, do not happen naturally or spontaneously, but by the
interposition of Heaven.

X. When Remus discovered the deceit he was very angry, and, while
Romulus was digging a trench round where the city wall was to be built,
he jeered at the works, and hindered them. At last, as he jumped over
it, he was struck dead either by Romulus himself, or by Celer, one of
his companions. In this fight, Faustulus was slain, and also Pleistinus,
who is said to have been Faustulus's brother and to have helped him in
rearing Romulus and his brother. Celer retired into Tyrrhenia, and from
him the Romans call quick sharp men _Celeres_; Quintus Metellus, who,
when his father died, in a very few days exhibited a show of gladiators,
was surnamed Celer by the Romans in their wonder at the short time he
had spent in his preparations.

XI. Romulus, after burying Remus and his foster-parents in the Remurium,
consecrated his city, having fetched men from Etruria, who taught him
how to perform it according to sacred rites and ceremonies, as though
they were celebrating holy mysteries. A trench was dug in a circle round
what is now the Comitium, and into it were flung first-fruits of all
those things which are honourable and necessary for men. Finally each
man brought a little of the earth of the country from which he came, and
flung it into one heap and mixed it all together. They call this pit by
the same name as the heavens, _Mundus_. Next, they drew the outline of
the city in the form of a circle, with this place as its centre. And
then the founder, having fitted a plough with a brazen ploughshare, and
yoked to it a bull and a cow, himself ploughs a deep furrow round the
boundaries. It is the duty of his attendants to throw the clods inwards,
which the plough turns up, and to let none of them fall outwards. By
this line they define the extent of the fortifications, and it is called
by contraction, Pomoerium, which means behind the walls or beyond the
walls (_post moenia_). Wherever they intend to place a gate they take
off the ploughshare, and carry the plough over, leaving a space. After
this ceremony they consider the entire wall sacred, except the gates;
but if they were sacred also, they could not without scruple bring in
and out necessaries and unclean things through them.

XII. It is agreed that the foundation of the city took place on the
eleventh day before the Kalends of May (the 21st of April). And on this
day the Romans keep a festival which they call the birthday of the city.
At this feast, originally, we are told, they sacrificed nothing that has
life, but thought it right to keep the anniversary of the birth of the
city pure and unpolluted by blood. However, before the foundation of the
city, they used to keep a pastoral feast called Palilia. The Roman
months at the present day do not in any way correspond to those of
Greece; yet they (the Greeks) distinctly affirm that the day upon which
Romulus founded the city was the 30th of the month. The Greeks likewise
tell us that on that day an eclipse of the sun took place, which they
think was that observed by Antimachus of Teos, the epic poet, which
occurred in the third year of the sixth Olympiad. In the time of Varro
the philosopher, who of all the Romans was most deeply versed in Roman
history, there was one Taroutius, a companion of his, a philosopher and
mathematician, who had especially devoted himself to the art of casting
nativities, and was thought to have attained great skill therein. To
this man Varro proposed the task of finding the day and hour of
Romulus's birth, basing his calculations on the influence which the
stars were said to have had upon his life, just as geometricians solve
their problems by the analytic method; for it belongs, he argued, to the
same science to predict the life of a man from the time of his birth,
and to find the date of a man's birth if the incidents of his life are
given. Taroutius performed his task, and after considering the things
done and suffered by Romulus, the length of his life, the manner of his
death, and all such like matters, he confidently and boldly asserted
that Romulus was conceived by his mother in the first year of the second
Olympiad, at the third hour of the twenty-third day of the month which
is called in the Egyptian calendar _Choiac_, at which time there was a
total eclipse of the sun. He stated that he was born on the twenty-first
day of the month _Thouth_, about sunrise. Rome was founded by him on the
ninth day of the month _Pharmouthi_, between the second and third hour;
for it is supposed that the fortunes of cities, as well as those of men,
have their certain periods which can be discovered by the position of
the stars at their nativities. The quaint subtlety of these speculations
may perhaps amuse the reader more than their legendary character will
weary him.

XIII. When the city was founded, Romulus first divided all the
able-bodied males into regiments, each consisting of three thousand
infantry and three hundred cavalry. These were named legions, because
they consisted of men of military age selected from the population. The
rest of the people were now organised. They were called Populus, and a
hundred of the noblest were chosen from among them and formed into a
council. These he called Patricians, and their assembly the Senate. This
word Senate clearly means assembly of old men; and the members of it
were named Patricians, according to some, because they were the fathers
of legitimate offspring; according to others, because they were able to
give an account of who their own fathers were, which few of the first
colonists were able to do. Others say that it was from their
_Patrocinium_, as they then called, and do at the present day call,
their patronage of their clients. There is a legend that this word arose
from one Patron, a companion of Evander, who was kind and helpful to his
inferiors. But it is most reasonable to suppose that Romulus called them
by this name because he intended the most powerful men to show kindness
to their inferiors, and to show the poorer classes that they ought not
to fear the great nor grudge them their honours, but be on friendly
terms with them, thinking of them and addressing them as fathers
(Patres). For, up to the present day, foreigners address the senators as
Lords, but the Romans call them Conscript Fathers, using the most
honourable and least offensive of their titles. Originally they were
merely called the Fathers, but afterwards, as more were enrolled, they
were called Conscript Fathers. By this more dignified title Romulus
distinguished the Senate from the People; and he introduced another
distinction between the powerful and the common people by naming the
former patrons, which means defenders, and the latter clients, which
means dependants. By this means he implanted in them a mutual good
feeling which was the source of great benefits, for the patrons acted as
advocates for their clients in law suits, and in all cases became their
advisers and friends, while the clients not only respected their patrons
but even assisted them, when they were poor, to portion their daughters
or pay their creditors. No law or magistrate could compel a patron to
bear witness against his client, nor a client against his patron.
Moreover, in later times, although all their other rights remained
unimpaired, it was thought disgraceful for a patron to receive money
from a client. So much for these matters.

XIV. In the fourth month after the city was founded, we are told by
Fabius, the reckless deed of carrying off the women took place. Some say
that Romulus himself naturally loved war, and, being persuaded by some
prophecies that Rome was fated to grow by wars and so reach the greatest
prosperity, attacked the Sabines without provocation; for he did not
carry off many maidens, but only thirty, as though it was war that he
desired more than wives for his followers. This is not probable: Romulus
saw that his city was newly-filled with colonists, few of whom had
wives, while most of them were a mixed multitude of poor or unknown
origin, who were despised by the neighouring states, and expected by
them shortly to fall to pieces. He intended his violence to lead to an
alliance with the Sabines, as soon as the damsels became reconciled to
their lot, and set about it as follows: First he circulated a rumour
that the altar of some god had been discovered, hidden in the earth.
This god was called Census, either because he was the god of counsel
(for the Romans to this day call their assembly _Concilium_, and their
chief magistrates _consuls_, as it were those who take counsel on behalf
of the people), or else it was the equestrian Neptune. The altar stands
in the greater hippodrome, and is kept concealed except during the
horse-races, when it is uncovered. Some say that, as the whole plot was
dark and mysterious, it was natural that the god's altar should be
underground. When it was brought out, he proclaimed a splendid sacrifice
in its honour, and games and shows open to all men. Many people
assembled to see them, and Romulus sat among his nobles, dressed in a
purple robe. The signal for the assault was that he should rise, unfold
his cloak, and then again wrap it around him. Many men armed with swords
stood round him, and at the signal they drew their swords, rushed
forward with a shout, and snatched up the daughters of the Sabines, but
allowed the others to escape unharmed. Some say that only thirty were
carried off, from whom the thirty tribes were named, but Valerius of
Antium says five hundred and twenty-seven, and Juba six hundred and
eighty-three, all maidens. This is the best apology for Romulus; for
they only carried off one married woman, Hersilia, which proved that it
was not through insolence or wickedness that they carried them off, but
with the intention of forcibly effecting a union between the two races.
Some say that Hersilia married Hostilius, one of the noblest Romans,
others that she married Romulus himself, and that he had children by
her; one daughter, called Prima from her being the first-born, and one
son, whom his father originally named Aollius, because of the assembling
of the citizens, but whom they afterwards named Avillius. This is the
story as told by Zenodotus of Troezen, but many contradict it.

XV. Among the ravishers they say there were some men of low condition
who had seized a remarkably tall and beautiful maiden. When any of the
nobles met them and endeavoured to take her away from them, they cried
out that they were taking her to Talasius, a young man of good family
and reputation. Hearing this, all agreed and applauded, and some even
turned and accompanied them, crying out the name of Talasius through
their friendship for him. From this circumstance the Romans up to the
present day call upon Talasius in their marriage-songs, as the Greeks do
upon Hymen; for Talasius is said to have been fortunate in his wife.
Sextius Sulla of Carthage, a man neither deficient in learning or taste,
told me that this word was given by Romulus as the signal for the rape,
and so that all those who carried off maidens cried "Talasio." But most
authors, among whom is Juba, think that it is used to encourage brides
to industry and spinning wool (talasia), as at that time Greek words
had not been overpowered by Latin ones. But if this be true, and the
Romans at that time really used this word "talasia" for wool-spinning,
as we do, we might make another more plausible conjecture about it. When
the treaty of peace was arranged between the Romans and the Sabines, a
special provision was made about the women, that they were to do no work
for the men except wool-spinning. And thus the custom remained for the
friends of those who were married afterwards to call upon Talasius in
jest, meaning to testify that the bride was to do no other work than
spinning. To the present day the custom remains in force that the bride
must not step over the threshold into her house, but be lifted over it
and carried in, because the Sabine maidens were carried in forcibly, and
did not walk in.

Some add that the parting of the bride's hair with the point of a spear
is done in memory of the first Roman marriage having been effected by
war and battle; on which subject we have enlarged further in our
treatise on Causes.

The rape of the Sabines took place upon the eighteenth day of the month
Sextilis, which is now called August, on which day the feast of the
Consualia is kept.

XVI. The Sabines were a numerous and warlike tribe, dwelling in unwalled
villages, as though it was their birthright as a Lacedaemonian colony to
be brave and fearless. Yet when they found themselves bound by such
hostages to keep the peace, and in fear for their daughters, they sent
an embassy to propose equitable and moderate terms, that Romulus should
give back their daughters to them, and disavow the violence which had
been used, and that afterwards the two nations should live together in
amity and concord. But when Romulus refused to deliver up the maidens,
but invited the Sabines to accept his alliance, while the other tribes
were hesitating and considering what was to be done, Acron, the king of
the Ceninetes, a man of spirit and renown in the wars, who had viewed
Romulus first proceeding in founding a city with suspicion, now, after
what he had done in carrying off the women, declared that he was
becoming dangerous, and would not be endurable unless he were
chastised. He at once began the war, and marched with a great force; and
Romulus marched to meet him. When they came in sight of each other they
each challenged the other to fight, the soldiers on both sides looking
on. Romulus made a vow that if he should overcome and kill his enemy he
would himself carry his spoils to the temple of Jupiter and offer them
to him. He overcame his adversary, and slew him, routed his army and
captured his city. He did not harm the inhabitants, except that he
ordered them to demolish their houses and follow him to Rome, to become
citizens on equal terms with the rest. This is the policy by which Rome
grew so great, namely that of absorbing conquered nations into herself
on terms of equality.

Romulus, in order to make the fulfilment of his vow as pleasing to
Jupiter, and as fine a spectacle for the citizens as he could, cut down
a tall oak-tree at his camp, and fashioned it into a trophy,[A] upon
which he hung or fastened all the arms of Acron, each in its proper
place. Then he girded on his own clothes, placed a crown of laurel upon
his long hair, and, placing the trophy upright on his right shoulder,
marched along in his armour, singing a paean of victory, with all the
army following him. At Rome the citizens received him with admiration
and delight; and this procession was the origin of all the subsequent
triumphs and the model which they imitated. The trophy itself was called
an offering to Jupiter Feretrius; for the Romans call to strike,
_ferire_, and Romulus prayed that he might strike down his enemy. The
spoils were called _spolia opima_, according to Varro, because _opim_
means excellence. A more plausible interpretation would be from the
deed itself, for work is called in Latin _opus_. This dedication of
_spolia opima_ is reserved as a privilege for a general who has slain
the opposing general with his own hand. It has only been enjoyed by
three Roman generals, first by Romulus, who slew Acron, king of the
Ceninetes, second by Cornelius Cossus, who slew the Tyrrhenian
Tolumnius, and, above all, by Claudius Marcellus, who killed Britomart,
the king of the Gauls. Now Cossus and Marcellus drove into the city in
chariots and four, carrying the trophies in their own hands; but
Dionysius is in error when he says that Romulus used a chariot and four,
for the historians tell us that Tarquinius, the son of Demaratus, was
the first of the kings who introduced this pomp into his triumphs.
Others say that Poplicola was the first to triumph in a chariot.
However, the statues of Romulus bearing the trophy, which are to be seen
in Rome, are all on foot.

[Footnote A: The habit of erecting trophies on a field of battle in
token of victory appears to have been originally confined to the Greeks,
who usually, as in the text, lopped the branches off a tree, placed it
in the ground in some conspicuous place, and hung upon it the shields
and other spoils taken from the enemy. In later times the Romans adopted
the habit of commemorating a victory by erecting some building on the
field of battle. Under the emperors, victory was commemorated by a
triumphal arch at Rome, many of which now exist. The Greek trophies were
always formed of perishable materials, and it was contrary to their
custom to repair them, that they might not perpetuate national
enmities.]

XVII. After the capture of the Ceninete tribe, while the rest of the
Sabines were still engaged in preparation for war, the inhabitants of
Fidenae and Crustumerium and Antemna attacked the Romans. A battle took
place in which they were all alike worsted, after which they permitted
Romulus to take their cities, divide their lands, and incorporate them
as citizens. Romulus divided all the lands among the citizens, except
that which was held by the fathers of any of the maidens who had been
carried off, which he allowed them to retain.

The remainder of the Sabines, angry at these successes, chose Tatius as
their general and marched against Rome. The city was hard to attack, as
the Capitol stood as an advanced fort to defend it. Here was placed a
garrison, and Tarpeius was its commander, not the maiden Tarpeia, as
some write, who make out Romulus a fool; but it was this Tarpeia, the
daughter of the captain of the garrison, who betrayed the capital to the
Sabines, for the sake of the golden bracelets which she saw them
wearing. She asked as the price of her treachery that they should give
her what they wore on their left arms. After making an agreement with
Tatius, she opened a gate at night and let in the Sabines. Now it
appears that Antigonus was not singular when he said that he loved men
when they were betraying, but hated them after they had betrayed; as
also Caesar said, in the case of Rhymitalkes the Thracian, that he loved
the treachery but hated the traitor; but this seems a common reflection
about bad men by those who have need of them, just as we need the poison
of certain venomous beasts; for they appreciate their value while they
are making use of them, and loathe their wickedness when they have done
with them. And that was how Tarpeia was treated by Tatius. He ordered
the Sabines to remember their agreement, and not to grudge her what was
on their left arms. He himself first of all took off his gold armlet,
and with it flung his great oblong shield. As all the rest did the like,
she perished, being pelted with the gold bracelets and crushed by the
number and weight of the shields. Tarpeius also was convicted of
treachery by Romulus, according to Juba's version of the history of
Sulpicius Galba. The other legends about Tarpeia are improbable; amongst
them that which is told by Antigonus, that she was the daughter of
Tatius the Sabine leader, abducted by Romulus, and treated by her father
as is related above. Simylus the poet talks utter nonsense when he says
that it was not the Sabines but the Gauls to whom Tarpeia betrayed the
Capitol, because she was in love with their king. His verses run as
follows:

    "And near Tarpeia, by the Capitol
      That dwelt, betrayer of the walls of Rome.
    She loved the chieftain of the Gauls too well,
      To guard from treachery her father's home."

And a little afterwards he speaks of her death.

    "Her did the Boians and the Celtic tribes
      Bury, but not beside the stream of Po;
    From off their warlike arms their shields they flung,
      And what the damsel longed for laid her low."

XVIII. However, as Tarpeia was buried there, the hill was called the
Tarpeian hill until King Tarquinius, when he dedicated the place to
Jupiter, removed her remains and abolished the name of Tarpeia. But even
to this day they call the rock in the Capitol the Tarpeian Rock, down
which malefactors used to be flung. When the Sabines held the citadel,
Romulus in fury challenged them to come down and fight. Tatius accepted
his challenge with confidence, as he saw that if overpowered his men
would have a strong place of refuge to retreat to. All the intermediate
space, in which they were about to engage, was surrounded by hills, and
so seemed to make a desperate battle necessary, as there were but narrow
outlets for flight or pursuit. It chanced, also, that the river had been
in flood a few days before, and had left a deep muddy pool of water upon
the level ground where the Forum now stands; so that men's footing was
not certain, but difficult and treacherous. Here a piece of good fortune
befell the Sabines as they heedlessly pressed forward. Curtius, one of
their chiefs, a man with a reputation for dashing courage, rode on
horseback far before the rest. His horse plunged into this morass, and
he, after trying to extricate him, at last finding it impossible, left
him there and saved himself. This place, in memory of him, is still
called the Gulf of Curtius. Warned of their danger, the Sabines fought a
stout and indecisive battle, in which many fell, amongst them Hostilius.
He is said to have been the husband of Hersilia and the grandfather of
Hostilius, who became king after the reign of Numa. Many combats took
place in that narrow space, as we may suppose; and especial mention is
made of one, which proved the last, in which Romulus was struck on the
head by a stone and like to fall, and unable to fight longer. The Romans
now gave way to the Sabines, and fled to the Palatine hill, abandoning
the level ground. Romulus, now recovered from the blow, endeavoured to
stay the fugitives, and with loud shouts called upon them to stand firm
and fight. But as the stream of fugitives poured on, and no one had the
courage to face round, he lifted his hands to heaven and prayed to
Jupiter to stay the army and not to allow the tottering state of Rome to
fall, but to help it. After his prayer many were held back from flight
by reverence for the king, and the fugitives suddenly resumed their
confidence. They made their first stand where now is the temple of
Jupiter Stator, which one may translate "He who makes to stand firm;"
and then forming their ranks once more they drove back the Sabines as
far as what is now called the Palace, and the Temple of Vesta.

XIX. While they were preparing to fight as though the battle was only
now just begun, they were restrained by a strange spectacle, beyond the
power of words to express. The daughters of the Sabines who had been
carried off were seen rushing from all quarters, with loud shrieks and
wailings, through the ranks and among the dead bodies, as though
possessed by some god. Some of them carried infant children in their
arms, and others wore their hair loose and dishevelled. All of them kept
addressing the Romans and the Sabines alternately by the most endearing
names. The hearts of both armies were melted, and they fell back so as
to leave a space for the women between them. A murmur of sorrow ran
through all the ranks, and a strong feeling of pity was excited by the
sight of the women, and by their words, which began with arguments and
upbraidings, but ended in entreaties and tears. "What wrong have we done
to you," said they, "that we should have suffered and should even now
suffer such cruel treatment at your hands? We were violently and
wrongfully torn away from our friends, and after we had been carried off
we were neglected by our brothers, fathers, and relatives for so long a
time, that now, bound by the closest of ties to our enemies, we tremble
for our ravishers and wrongers when they fight, and weep when they fall.
Ye would not come and tear us from our ravishers while we were yet
maidens, but now ye would separate wives from their husbands, and
mothers from their children, a worse piece of service to us than your
former neglect. Even if it was not about us that you began to fight, you
ought to cease now that you have become fathers-in-law, and
grandfathers, and relatives one of another. But if the war is about us,
then carry us off with your sons-in-law and our children, and give us
our fathers and relatives, but do not take our husbands and children
from us. We beseech you not to allow us to be carried off captive a
second time." Hersilia spoke at length in this fashion, and as the other
women added their entreaties to hers, a truce was agreed upon, and the
chiefs met in conference. Hereupon the women made their husbands and
children known to their fathers and brothers, fetched food and drink for
such as needed it, and took the wounded into their own houses to be
attended to there. Thus they let their friends see that they were
mistresses of their own houses, and that their husbands attended to
their wishes and treated them with every respect.

In the conference it was accordingly determined that such women as chose
to do so should continue to live with their husbands, free, as we have
already related, from all work and duties except that of spinning wool
(_talasia_); that the Romans and the Sabines should dwell together in
the city, and that the city should be called Rome, after Romulus, but
the Romans be called Quirites after the native city of Tatius; and that
they should both reign and command the army together. The place where
this compact was made is even to this day called the Comitium, for the
Romans call meeting _coire_.

XX. Now that the city was doubled in numbers, a hundred more senators
were elected from among the Sabines, and the legions were composed of
six thousand infantry and six hundred cavalry. They also established
three tribes, of which they named one Rhamnenses, from Romulus, another
Titienses from Tatius, and the third Lucerenses, after the name of a
grove to which many had fled for refuge, requiring asylum, and had been
admitted as citizens. They call a grove _lucus_. The very name of
_tribe_ and tribune show that there were three tribes. Each tribe was
divided into ten _centuries_, which some say were named after the women
who were carried off; but this seems to be untrue, as many of them are
named after places. However, many privileges were conferred upon the
women, amongst which were that men should make way for them when they
walked out, to say nothing disgraceful in their presence, or appear
naked before them, on pain of being tried before the criminal court; and
also that their children should wear the _bulla_, which is so called
from its shape, which is like a bubble, and was worn round the neck, and
also the broad purple border of their robe (_praetexta_).

The kings did not conduct their deliberations together, but each first
took counsel with his own hundred senators, and then they all met
together. Tatius dwelt where now is the temple of Juno Moneta, and
Romulus by the steps of the Fair Shore, as it is called, which are at
the descent from the Palatine hill into the great Circus. Here they say
the sacred cornel-tree grew, the legend being that Romulus, to try his
strength, threw a spear, with cornel-wood shaft, from Mount Aventine,
and when the spear-head sunk into the ground, though many tried, no one
was able to pull it out. The soil, which was fertile, suited the wood,
and it budded, and became the stem of a good-sized cornel-tree. After
the death of Romulus this was preserved and reverenced as one of the
holiest objects in the city. A wall was built round it, and whenever any
one thought that it looked inclined to droop and wither he at once
raised a shout to tell the bystanders, and they, just as if they were
assisting to put out a fire, called for water, and came from all
quarters carrying pots of water to the place. It is said that when Gaius
Caesar repaired the steps, and the workmen were digging near it, they
unintentionally damaged the roots, and the tree died.

XXI. The Sabines adopted the Roman system of months, and all that is
remarkable about them will be found in the 'Life of Numa.' But Romulus
adopted the large oblong Sabine shield, and gave up the round Argolic
shields which he and the Romans had formerly carried. The two nations
shared each other's festivals, not abolishing any which either had been
wont to celebrate, but introducing several new ones, among which are the
Matronalia, instituted in honour of the women at the end of the war, and
that of the Carmentalia. It is thought by some that Carmenta is the
ruling destiny which presides over a man's birth, wherefore she is
worshipped by mothers. Others say that she was the wife of Evander the
Arcadian, a prophetess who used to chant oracles in verse, and hence
surnamed Carmenta (for the Romans call verses _carmina_); whereas it is
generally admitted that her right name was Nicostrate. Some explain the
name of Carmenta more plausibly as meaning that during her prophetic
frenzy she was bereft of intellect; for the Romans call to lack,
_carcre_; and mind, _mentem_.

We have spoken before of the feast of the Palilia. That of the
Lupercalia would seem, from the time of its celebration, to be a
ceremony of purification; for it is held during the ominous days of
February, a month whose name one might translate by Purification; and
that particular day was originally called Febraté. The name of this
feast in Greek signifies that of wolves, and it is thought, on this
account, to be very ancient, and derived from the Arcadians who came to
Italy with Evander. Still this is an open question, for the name may
have arisen from the she-wolf, as we see that the Luperci start to run
their course from the place where Romulus is said to have been exposed.
The circumstances of the ritual are such as to make it hard to
conjecture their meaning. They slaughter goats, and then two youths of
good family are brought to them. Then some with a bloody knife mark the
foreheads of the youths, and others at once wipe the blood away with
wool dipped in milk. The youths are expected to laugh when it is wiped
away. After this they cut the skins of the goats into strips and run
about naked, except a girdle round the middle, striking with the thongs
all whom they meet. Women in the prime of life do not avoid being
struck, as they believe that it assists them in childbirth and promotes
fertility. It is also a peculiarity of this festival that the Luperci
sacrifice a dog. One Bontes, who wrote an elegiac poem on the origin of
the Roman myths, says that when Romulus and his party had killed
Amulius, they ran back in their joy to the place where the she-wolf
suckled them when little, and that the feast is typical of this, and
that the young nobles run,

    "As, smiting all they met, that day
    From Alba Romulus and Remus ran."

The bloody sword is placed upon their foreheads in token of the danger
and slaughter of that day, and the wiping with the milk is in
remembrance of their nurse. Caius Acilius tells us that, before the
foundation of Rome, the cattle of Romulus and Remus were missing, and
they, after invoking Faunus, ran out to search for them, naked, that
they might not be inconvenienced by sweat; and that this is the reason
that the Luperci ran about naked. As for the dog, one would say that if
the sacrifice is purificatory, it is sacrificed on behalf of those who
use it. The Greeks, in their purificatory rites, sacrifice dogs, and
often make use of what is called Periskylakismos. But if this feast be
in honour of the she-wolf, in gratitude for her suckling and preserving
of Romulus, then it is very natural to sacrifice a dog, for it is an
enemy of wolves; unless, indeed, the beast is put to death to punish it
for hindering the Luperci when they ran their course.

XXII. It is said also that Romulus instituted the service of the sacred
fire of Vestae, and the holy virgins who keep it up, called Vestals.
Others attribute this to Numa, though they say that Romulus was a very
religious prince, and learned in divination, for which purpose he used
to carry the crooked staff called _lituus_, with which to divide the
heavens into spaces for the observation of the flight of birds. This,
which is preserved in the Palatium, was lost when the city was taken by
the Gauls; but afterwards, when the barbarians had been repulsed, it was
found unharmed in a deep bed of ashes, where everything else had been
burned or spoiled. He also enacted some laws, the most arbitrary of
which is that a wife cannot obtain a divorce from her husband, but that
a husband may put away his wife for poisoning her children,
counterfeiting keys, or adultery. If any one put away his wife on other
grounds than these, he enacted that half his property should go to his
wife, and half to the temple of Ceres. A man who divorced his wife was
to make an offering to the Chthonian gods.[A] A peculiarity of his
legislation is that, while he laid down no course of procedure in case
of parricide, he speaks of all murder by the name of parricide, as
though the one were an abominable, but the other an impossible crime.
And for many years it appeared that he had rightly judged, for no one
attempted anything of the kind at Rome for nearly six hundred years; but
it is said that the first parricide was that of Lucius Hostilius, which
he committed after the war with Hannibal. Enough has now been said upon
these subjects.

[Footnote A: Chthonian gods are the gods of the world below.]

XXIII. In the fifth year of the reign of Tatius, some of his relatives
fell in with ambassadors from Laurentum, on their way to Rome, and
endeavoured to rob them. As the ambassadors would not submit to this,
but defended themselves, they slew them. Romulus at once gave it as his
opinion that the authors of this great and audacious crime ought to be
punished, but Tatius hushed the matter up, and enabled them to escape.
This is said to have been the only occasion upon which they were openly
at variance, for in all other matters they acted with the greatest
possible unanimity. The relatives, however, of the murdered men, as they
were hindered by Tatius from receiving any satisfaction, fell upon him
when he and Romulus were offering sacrifice at Lavinium, and slew him,
but respected Romulus, and praised him as a just man. He brought home
the body of Tatius, and buried it honourably. It lies near what is
called the _Armilustrium_, on Mount Aventine.

But Romulus neglected altogether to exact any satisfaction for the
murder. Some writers say that the city of Lavinium, in its terror,
delivered up the murderers of Tatius, but that Romulus allowed them to
depart, saying that blood had been atoned for by blood. This speech of
his gave rise to some suspicion that he was not displeased at being rid
of his colleague. However, it caused no disturbance in the state, and
did not move the Sabines to revolt, but partly out of regard for
Romulus, and fear of his power, and belief in his divine mission, they
continued to live under his rule with cheerfulness and respect. Many
foreign tribes also respected Romulus, and the more ancient Latin races
sent him ambassadors, and made treaties of friendship and alliance.

He took Fidenae, a city close to Rome, according to some authorities, by
sending his cavalry thither on a sudden, and ordering them to cut the
pivots of the city gates, and then unexpectedly appearing in person.
Others say that the people of Fidenae first invaded the Roman territory,
drove off plunder from it, and insulted the neighbourhood of the city
itself, and that Romulus laid an ambush for them, slew many, and took
their city. He did not destroy it, but made it a Roman colony, and sent
two thousand five hundred Romans thither as colonists on the Ides of
April.

XXIV. After this a pestilence fell upon Rome, which slew men suddenly
without previous sickness, and afflicted the crops and cattle with
barrenness. A shower of blood also fell in the city, so that religious
terror was added to the people's sufferings. As a similar visitation
befell the citizens of Laurentum, it became evident that the wrath of
the gods was visiting these cities because of the unavenged murders of
Tatius and of the ambassadors. The guilty parties were delivered up on
both sides, and duly punished, after which the plague was sensibly
mitigated. Romulus also purified the city with lustrations, which, they
say, are even now practised at the Ferentine gate. But before the plague
ceased, the people of Camerium attacked the Romans, supposing that they
would be unable to defend themselves on account of their misfortune, and
overran their country. Nevertheless, Romulus instantly marched against
them, slew six hundred of them in battle, and took their city. Half the
survivors he transplanted to Rome, and settled twice as many Romans as
the remainder at Camerium, on the Kalends of Sextilis. So many citizens
had he to spare after he had only inhabited Rome for about sixteen
years. Among the other spoils, he carried off a brazen four-horse
chariot from Camerium; this he dedicated in the temple of Vulcan, having
placed in it a figure of himself being crowned by Victory.

XXV. As the city was now so flourishing, the weaker of the neighbouring
states made submission, and were glad to receive assurance that they
would be unharmed; but the more powerful, fearing and envying Romulus,
considered that they ought not to remain quiet, but ought to check the
growth of Rome. First the Etruscans of Veii, a people possessed of wide
lands and a large city, began the war by demanding the surrender to them
of Fidenae, which they claimed as belonging to them. This demand was not
only unjust, but absurd, seeing that they had not assisted the people of
Fidenae when they were fighting and in danger, but permitted them to be
destroyed, and then demanded their houses and lands, when they were in
the possession of others. Receiving a haughty answer from Romulus, they
divided themselves into two bodies, with one of which they attacked
Fidenae, and with the other went to meet Romulus. At Fidenae they
conquered the Romans, and slew two thousand; but they were defeated by
Romulus, with a loss of eight thousand men. A second battle now took
place at Fidenae, in which all agree that Romulus took the most
important part, showing the greatest skill and courage, and a strength
and swiftness more than mortal. But some accounts are altogether
fabulous, such as that fourteen hundred were slain, more than half of
whom Romulus slew with his own hand. The Messenians appear to use
equally inflated language about Aristomenes, when they tell us that he
thrice offered sacrifice for having slain a hundred Lacedaemonians.
After the victory, Romulus did not pursue the beaten army, but marched
straight to the city of Veii. The citizens, after so great a disaster,
made no resistance, but at their own request were granted a treaty and
alliance for a hundred years, giving up a large portion of their
territory, called the Septem Pagi, or seven districts, and their
saltworks by the river, and handing over fifty of their leading men as
hostages.

For his success at Veii, Romulus enjoyed another triumph, on the Ides of
October, when he led in his train many captives, amongst whom was the
Veientine general, an old man, who was thought to have mismanaged
matters foolishly and like a boy. On this account to this day, when a
sacrifice is made for victory, they lead an old man through the Forum
and up to the Capitol, dressed in a boy's robe with wide purple border,
and with a child's _bulla_ hung round his neck; and the herald calls out
"Sardinians for sale." For the Tyrrhenians or Tuscans are said to be of
Sardinian origin, and Veii is a Tyrrhenian city.

XXVI. This was Romulus's last war. After it, he, like nearly all those
who have risen to power and fame by a great and unexpected series of
successes, became filled with self-confidence and arrogance, and, in
place of his former popular manners, assumed the offensive style of a
despot. He wore a purple tunic, and a toga with a purple border, and did
business reclining instead of sitting on a throne; and was always
attended by the band of youths called Celeres, from their quickness in
service. Others walked before him with staves to keep off the crowd, and
were girt with thongs, with which to bind any one whom he might order
into custody. The Latins used formerly to call to bind _ligare_, and now
call it _alligare_; wherefore the staff-bearers are called _lictors_,
and their staves are called _bacula_,[A] from the rods which they then
carried. It is probable that these officers now called _lictors_ by the
insertion of the _c_, were originally called _litors_, that is, in
Greek, _leitourgoi_ (public officials). For to this day the Greeks call
a town-hall _leitus_, and the people _laos_.

[Footnote A: The Romans termed these bundles of rods _fasces_. The
derivation of _lictor_ from the Greek shows the utter ignorance of
etymology prevailing among the ancients.]

XXVII. When Romulus' grandfather Numitor died in Alba, although he was
evidently his heir, yet through a desire for popularity he left his
claim unsettled, and contented himself with appointing a chief
magistrate for the people of Alba every year; thus teaching the Roman
nobles to desire a freer constitution, which should not be so much
encroached upon by the king. For at Rome now even the so-called Fathers
took no part in public affairs, but had merely their name and dignity,
and were called into the Senate House more for form's sake than to
express their opinions. When there, they listened in silence to
Romulus's orders, and the only advantage which they possessed over the
commons was that they knew the king's mind sooner than they. Worst of
all was, that he of his own authority divided the land which was
obtained in war amongst the soldiers, and restored the hostages to the
Veientines, against the will of the Senate and without consulting it, by
which he seemed purposely to insult it. On this account the Senate was
suspected, when shortly after this he miraculously disappeared. His
disappearance took place on the Nones of the month now called July, but
then Quintilis, leaving nothing certain or agreed on about his end
except the date. Even now things happen in the same fashion as then; and
we need not wonder at the uncertainty about the death of Romulus, when
that of Scipio Africanus, in his own house after supper, proved so
inexplicable, some saying that it arose from an evil habit of body, some
that he had poisoned himself, some that his enemies had suffocated him
during the night. And yet the corpse of Scipio lay openly exposed for
all to see, and gave all who saw it some ground for their conjectures;
whereas Romulus suddenly disappeared, and no morsel of his body or shred
of his garments were ever seen again. Some supposed that the Senators
fell upon him in the Temple of Vulcan, and, after killing him cut his
body in pieces and each of them carried off one in the folds of his
robe. Others think that his disappearance took place neither in the
Temple of Vulcan, nor yet in the presence of the Senators alone, but say
that Romulus was holding an assembly without the city, near a place
called the Goat's Marsh, when suddenly strange and wonderful things took
place in the heavens, and marvellous changes; for the sun's light was
extinguished, and night fell, not calm and quiet, but with terrible
thunderings, gusts of wind, and driving spray from all quarters.
Hereupon the people took to flight in confusion, but the nobles
collected together by themselves. When the storm was over, and the light
returned, the people returned to the place again, and searched in vain
for Romulus, but were told by the nobles not to trouble themselves to
look for him, but to pray to Romulus and reverence him, for he had been
caught up into heaven, and now would be a propitious god for them
instead of a good king.

The people believed this story, and went their way rejoicing, and
praying to him with good hope; but there were some who discussed the
whole question in a harsh and unfriendly spirit, and blamed the nobles
for encouraging the people to such acts of folly when they themselves
were the murderers of the king.

XXVIII. Now Julius Proculus, one of the noblest patricians, and of good
reputation, being one of the original colonists from Alba, and a friend
and companion of Romulus, came into the Forum, and there upon his oath,
and touching the most sacred things, stated before all men that as he
was walking along the road Romulus appeared, meeting him, more beautiful
and taller than he had ever appeared before, with bright and glittering
arms. Astonished at the vision he had spoken thus: "O king, for what
reason or with what object have you left us exposed to an unjust and
hateful suspicion, and left the whole city desolate and plunged in the
deepest grief?" He answered, "It pleased the gods, Proculus, that I
should spend thus much time among mankind, and after founding a city of
the greatest power and glory should return to heaven whence I came. Fare
thee well; and tell the Romans that by courage and self-control they
will attain to the highest pitch of human power. I will ever be for you
the kindly deity Quirinus."

This tale was believed by the Romans from the manner of Proculus in
relating it and from his oath: indeed a religious feeling almost
amounting to ecstasy seems to have taken hold of all present; for no one
contradicted him, but all dismissed their suspicions entirely from their
minds and prayed to Quirinus, worshipping him as a god.

This account resembles the Greek legends of Aristeas of Proconnesus, and
that of Kleomedes of Astypalaea. The story goes that Aristeas died in a
fuller's shop, and that when his friends came to fetch his body it had
disappeared; then some persons who had just returned from travel said
that they had met Aristeas walking along the road to Kroton. Kleomedes,
we are told, was a man of unusual size and strength, but stupid and
half-crazy, who did many deeds of violence, and at last in a boy's
school struck and broke in two the column that supported the roof, and
brought it down. As the boys were killed, Kleomedes, pursued by the
people, got into a wooden chest, and shut down the lid, holding in
inside so that many men together were not able to force it open. They
broke open the chest, and found no man in it, dead or alive. Astonished
at this, they sent an embassy to the oracle at Delphi, to whom the
Pythia answered,

    "Last of the heroes is Kleomedes of Astypalaea."

And it also related that the corpse of Alkmena when it was being carried
out for burial, disappeared, and a stone was found lying on the bier in
its place. And many such stories are told, in which, contrary to reason,
the earthly parts of our bodies are described as being deified together
with the spiritual parts. It is wicked and base to deny that virtue is a
spiritual quality, but again it is foolish to mix earthly with heavenly
things.

We must admit, speaking with due caution, that, as Pindar has it, the
bodies of all men follow overpowering Death, but there remains a living
spirit, the image of eternity, for it alone comes from heaven. Thence it
comes, and thither it returns again, not accompanied by the body, but
only when it is most thoroughly separated and cleansed from it, and
become pure and incorporeal. This is the pure spirit which Herakleitus
calls the best, which darts through the body like lightning through a
cloud, whereas that which is clogged by the body is like a dull, cloudy
exhalation, hard to loose and free from the bonds of the body. There is
no reason, therefore, for supposing that the bodies of good men rise up
into heaven, which is contrary to nature; but we must believe that men's
virtues and their spirits most certainly, naturally and rightly proceed
from mankind to the heroes, and from them to the genii, and from thence,
if they be raised above and purified from all mortal and earthly taint,
even as is done in the holy mysteries, then, not by any empty vote of
the senate, but in very truth and likelihood they are received among the
gods, and meet with the most blessed and glorious end.

XXIX. Some say that the name Quirinus, which Romulus received, means
Mars; others that it was because his people were called Quirites.
Others, again, say that the spear-head or spear was called by the
ancients _Quiris_, and that the statue of Juno leaning on a spear is
called Juno Quirites, and that the dart which is placed in the Regia is
addressed as Mars, and that it is customary to present with a spear
those who have distinguished themselves in war, and therefore that it
was as a warrior, or god of war, that Romulus was called Quirinus. A
temple dedicated to him is built on the Quirinal Hill which bears his
name, and the day of his translation is called the People's Flight, and
the Nonae Caprotinae, because they go out of the city to the Goat's
Marsh on that day to sacrifice, for in Latin a goat is called _Capra_.
And as they go to the sacrifice they call out many of the names of the
country, as Marcus, Lucius, Caius, with loud shouts, in imitation of
their panic on that occasion, and their calling to each other in fear
and confusion. But some say that this is not an imitation of terror, but
of eagerness, and that this is the reason of it: after the Gauls had
captured Rome and been driven out by Camillus, and the city through
weakness did not easily recover itself, an army of Latins, under one
Livius Postumius, marched upon it. He halted his army not far from Rome,
and sent a herald to say that the Latins were willing to renew their old
domestic ties, which had fallen into disuse, and to unite the races by
new intermarriage. If, therefore, the Romans would send out to them all
their maidens and unmarried women, they would live with them on terms of
peace and friendship, as the Romans had long before done with the
Sabines. The Romans, when they heard this, were afraid of going to war,
yet thought that the surrender of their women was no better than
captivity. While they were in perplexity, a female slave named Philotis,
or according to some Tutola, advised them to do neither, but by a
stratagem to avoid both war and surrender of the women. This stratagem
was that they should dress Philotis and the best looking of the other
female slaves like free women, and send them to the enemy; then at night
Philotis said she would raise a torch, and the Romans should come under
arms and fall upon the sleeping enemy. This was done, and terms were
made with the Latins. Philotis raised the torch upon a certain fig-tree
with leaves which spread all round and behind, in such a manner that the
light could not be seen by the enemy, but was clearly seen by the
Romans. When they saw it, they immediately rushed out, calling
frequently for each other at the various gates in their eagerness. As
they fell unexpectedly upon the enemy, they routed them, and keep the
day as a feast. Therefore the Nones are called Caprotinae because of the
fig-tree, which the Romans call _caprificus_, and the women are feasted
out of doors, under the shade of fig-tree boughs. And the female slaves
assemble and play, and afterwards beat and throw stones at each other,
as they did then, when they helped the Romans to fight. These accounts
are admitted by but few historians, and indeed the calling out one
another's names in the daytime, and walking down to the Goats' Marsh
seems more applicable to the former story, unless, indeed, both of these
events happened on the same day.

Romulus is said to have been fifty-four years old, and to be in the
thirty-eighth year of his reign when he disappeared from the world.




COMPARISON OF THESEUS AND ROMULUS.


I. The above are all the noteworthy particulars which we have been able
to collect about Theseus and Romulus. It seems, in the first place, that
Theseus of his own free will, and without any compulsion, when he might
have reigned peacefully in Troezen, where he was heir to the kingdom, no
mean one, longed to accomplish heroic deeds: whereas Romulus was an
exile, and in the position of a slave; the fear of death was hanging
over him if unsuccessful, and so, as Plato says, he was made brave by
sheer terror, and through fear of suffering death and torture was forced
into doing great exploits. Moreover, Romulus's greatest achievement was
the slaying of one man, the despot of Alba, whereas Skeiron, Sinis,
Prokrustes, and Korynetes were merely the accompaniments and prelude to
the greater actions of Theseus, and by slaying them he freed Greece from
terrible scourges, before those whom he saved even knew who he was. He
also might have sailed peacefully over the sea to Athens, and had no
trouble with those brigands, whereas Romulus could not be free from
trouble while Amulius lived. And it is a great argument in favour of
Theseus that he attacked those wicked men for the sake of others, having
himself suffered no wrong at their hands; whereas the twins were
unconcerned at Amulius's tyranny so long as it did not affect
themselves. And although it may have been a great exploit to receive a
wound in fighting the Sabines, and to slay Acron, and to kill many
enemies in battle, yet we may compare with these, on Theseus's behalf,
his battle with the Centaurs and his campaign against the Amazons. As
for the courage which Theseus showed in the matter of the Cretan
tribute, when he voluntarily sailed to Crete with the youths and
maidens, whether the penalty was to be given to the Minotaur to eat, or
be sacrificed at the tomb of Androgeus, or even to be cast into
dishonoured slavery under an insolent enemy, which is the least
miserable fate mentioned by any writer, what a strength of mind, what
public spirit and love of fame it shows! In this instance it seems to me
that philosophers have truly defined love as a "service designed by the
gods for the care and preservation of the young." For the love of
Ariadne seems to have been specially intended by Heaven to save Theseus;
nor need we blame her for her passion, but rather wonder that all men
and women did not share it. If she alone felt it, then I say she
deserved the love of a god, because of her zeal for all that is best and
noblest.

II. Both were born statesmen, yet neither behaved himself as a king
should do, but, from similar motives, the one erred on the side of
democracy, the other on that of despotism. The first duty of a king is
to preserve his crown; and this can be effected as well by refraining
from improperly extending his rights as by too great eagerness to keep
them. For he who either gives up or overstrains his prerogative ceases
to be a king or constitutional ruler, but becomes either a despot or
demagogue; and in the one case is feared, in the other despised by his
subjects. Still the one is the result of kindliness of disposition, and
the other that of selfishness and ferocity.

III. If we are not to attribute their misfortunes to chance, but to
peculiarities of disposition, then we cannot acquit Romulus of blame in
his treatment of his brother, nor Theseus in that of his son; but the
greatest excuse must be made for the one who acted under the greatest
provocation. One would not have thought that Romulus would have flown
into such a passion during a grave deliberation on matters of state;
while Theseus was misled, in his treatment of his son, by love and
jealousy and a woman's slander, influences which few men are able to
withstand. And what is more, Romulus's fury resulted in actual deeds of
unfortunate result; whereas the anger of Theseus spent itself in words
and an old man's curses, and the youth seems to have owed the rest of
his suffering to chance; so here, at any rate, one would give one's
vote for Theseus.

IV. Romulus, however, has the credit of having started with the most
slender resources, and yet of having succeeded. The twins were called
slaves and the sons of a swineherd before they achieved their liberty;
yet they freed nearly all the Latin race, and at one and the same time
gained those titles which are the most glorious among men, of slayers of
their enemies, preservers of their own house, kings of their own nation,
and founders of a new city, not by transferring the population of old
ones, as Theseus did, when he brought together many towns into one, and
destroyed many cities that bore the names of kings and heroes of old.
Romulus did this afterwards, when he compelled his conquered enemies to
cast down and obliterate their own dwellings, and become fellow-citizens
with their conquerors; yet at first he did not change the site of his
city nor increase it, but starting with nothing to help him, he obtained
for himself territory, patrimony, sovereignty, family, marriage, and
relatives, and he killed no one, but conferred great benefits on those
who, instead of homeless vagrants, wished to become a people and
inhabitants of a city. He slew no brigands or robbers, but he conquered
kingdoms, took cities, and triumphed over kings and princes.

V. As for the misfortune of Remus, it seems doubtful whether Romulus
slew him with his own hand, as most writers attribute the act to others.
He certainly rescued his mother from death, and gloriously replaced his
grandfather, whom he found in an ignoble and servile position, on the
throne of Aeneas. He did him many kindnesses, and never harmed him even
against his will. But I can scarcely imagine that Theseus's
forgetfulness and carelessness in hoisting the black sail can, by any
excuses or before the mildest judges, come much short of parricide:
indeed, an Athenian, seeing how hard it is even for his admirers to
exculpate him, has made up a story that Aegeus, when the ship was
approaching, hurriedly ran up to the acropolis to view it, and fell
down, as though he were unattended, or would hurry along the road to the
shore without servants.

VI. The crimes of Theseus in carrying off women are without any decent
excuse; first, because he did it so often, for he carried off Ariadne
and Antiope and Anaxo of Troezen, and above all when he was an old man
he carried off Helen, when she was not yet grown up, and a mere child,
though he was past the age for even legitimate marriage. Besides, there
was no reason for it, for these Troezenian, Laconian, and Amazonian
maidens, besides their not being betrothed to him, were no worthier
mothers for his children than the Athenian daughters of Erechtheus and
Kekrops would have been, so we must suspect that these acts were done
out of mere riotous wantonness.

Now Romulus, though he carried off nearly eight hundred women, yet kept
only one, Hersilia, for himself, and distributed the others among the
unmarried citizens; and afterwards, by the respect, love, and justice
with which he treated them, proved that his wrongful violence was the
most admirable and politic contrivance for effecting the union of the
two nations. By means of it he welded them into one, and made it the
starting-point of harmony at home and strength abroad. The dignity,
love, and permanence with which he invested the institution of marriage
is proved by the fact that during two hundred and thirty years no man
separated from his wife or woman from her husband; but, just as in
Greece, very exact persons can mention the first instance of parricide
or matricide, so all the Romans know that Spurius Carvilius was the
first who put away his wife, upon a charge of barrenness. Events also
testify to the superior wisdom of Romulus, for, in consequence of that
intermarriage, the two kings and the two races shared the empire,
whereas, from the marriage of Theseus, the Athenians obtained no
alliance or intercourse with any nation, but only hatreds and wars and
deaths of citizens and at last the destruction of Aphidnae, and they
themselves escaped from the fate which Paris brought upon Troy, only by
the mercy of their enemies and their own entreaties and supplications.
The mother of Theseus, not nearly but quite, suffered the fate of
Hekuba, who was abandoned and given up by her son, unless the story of
her captivity is false, as I hope it is, together with much of the
rest.

Also the religious part of their histories makes a great distinction
between them. For Romulus's success was due to the great favour of
Heaven, whereas the oracle given to Aegeus, to refrain from all women in
foreign parts, seems to argue that the birth of Theseus took place
contrary to the will of the gods.




LIFE OF LYKURGUS.


I. With regard to Lykurgus the lawgiver there is nothing whatever that
is undisputed; as his birth, his travels, his death, and, besides all
this, his legislation, have all been related in various ways; and also
the dates of his birth do not in any way accord. Some say that he was
contemporary with Iphitus, and with him settled the conditions of the
Olympic truce; and among these is Aristotle the philosopher, who adduces
as a proof of it the quoit which is at Olympia, on which the name of
Lykurgus is still preserved. Others, among them Eratosthenes and
Apollodorus, by computing the reigns of the kings of Sparta,[A] prove
that he must have lived many years before the first Olympiad. Timaeus
conjectures that there were two men of the name of Lykurgus in Sparta at
different times, and that the deeds of both are attributed to one of
them, on account of his celebrity. The elder, he thinks, must have lived
not far off the time of Homer; indeed some say that he came into the
presence of Homer. Xenophon gives an idea of his antiquity when he
speaks of him as living in the time of the Herakleidae. By descent of
course the last kings of Sparta are Herakleidae, but he appears to mean
by Herakleidae the earliest of all, who were next to Herakles himself.

[Footnote A: In the Spartan constitution there were two kings, who were
believed to be descended from two brothers, Eurysthenes and Prokles, the
two sons of Aristodemus. When the descendants of Herakles returned to
Peloponnesus, and divided that country amongst them, Lacedaemon fell to
the lot of Aristodemus, who left his two sons joint heirs to the
monarchy. The kings of Sparta had little real power, and to this no
doubt they owed the fact of their retaining their dignity when every
other Hellenic state adopted a democratic form of government.]

However, in spite of these discrepancies, we will endeavour, by
following the least inconsistent accounts and the best known
authorities, to write the history of his life. Simonides the poet tells
us that the father of Lykurgus was not Eunomus, but Prytanis. But most
writers do not deduce his genealogy thus, but say that Soüs was the son
of Prokles, and grandson of Aristodemus, and that Soüs begat Euripus;
Euripus, Prytanis, and Prytanis, Eunomus. Eunomus had two sons,
Polydektes by his first wife, and Lykurgus by his second wife Dionassa,
which makes him, according to Dieutychides, sixth in descent from
Prokles, and eleventh from Herakles.

II. The most remarkable of his ancestors was Soüs, in whose reign the
Spartans enslaved the Helots, and annexed a large portion of Arcadia. It
is said that Soüs once was besieged by the Kleitorians, in a fort where
there was no water, and was compelled to conclude a treaty to restore
the territory in dispute, if he and his men were permitted to drink at
the nearest spring. After this had been agreed upon, he called his men
together, and offered his kingdom to any one who could refrain from
drinking. But as no one could do this, but all drank, last of all he
himself came down to the spring, and in the presence of the enemy merely
sprinkled his face with the water, and marched off, refusing to restore
the disputed territory, on the ground that all did not drink. But though
he gained great fame by this, yet it was not he but his son Eurypon who
gave the name of Eurypontidae to the family, because Eurypon was the
first to relax the despotic traditions of his family and render his
government more popular with the people. But as a consequence of this
the people were encouraged to demand more freedom, and great confusion
and lawlessness prevailed in Sparta for a long time, because some of the
kings opposed the people and so became odious, while others were found
to yield to them, either to preserve their popularity, or from sheer
weakness of character. It was during this period of disorder that the
father of Lykurgus lost his life. He was endeavouring to part two men
who were quarrelling, and was killed by a blow from a cook's chopper,
leaving the kingdom to his elder son Polydektes.

III. He also died after a short time, and, as all thought, Lykurgus
ought to have been the next king. And he did indeed reign until his
brother's wife was found to be pregnant; but as soon as he heard this,
he surrendered the crown to the child, if it should be a boy, and merely
administered the kingdom as guardian for the child. The Lacedaemonian
name for the guardian of a royal orphan is _prodikus_. Now the queen
made a secret proposal to him, that she should destroy her infant and
that they should live together as king and queen. Though disgusted at
her wickedness, he did not reject the proposal, but pretended to approve
of it. He said that she must not risk her life and injure her health by
procuring abortion, but that he would undertake to do away with the
child. Thus he deluded her until her confinement, at which time he sent
officials and guards into her chamber with orders to hand the child over
to the women if it was a girl, and to bring it to him, whatever he might
be doing, if it was a boy. He happened to be dining with the archons
when a male child was born, and the servants brought it to him. He is
said to have taken the child and said to those present, "A king is born
to you, O Spartans," and to have laid him down in the royal seat and
named him Charilaus, because all men were full of joy admiring his
spirit and justice. He was king for eight months in all; and was much
looked up to by the citizens, who rendered a willing obedience to him,
rather because of his eminent virtues than because he was regent with
royal powers. There was, nevertheless, a faction which grudged him his
elevation, and tried to oppose him, as he was a young man.

They consisted chiefly of the relatives and friends of the queen-mother,
who considered that she had been insultingly treated, and her brother
Leonidas once went so far in his abusive language as to hint to Lykurgus
that he knew that he meant to be king, throwing the suspicion upon
Lykurgus, if anything should happen to the child, that he would be
supposed to have managed it. This sort of language was used by the
queen-mother also, and he, grieved and alarmed, decided to avoid all
suspicion by leaving the country and travelling until his nephew should
be grown up and have an heir born to succeed him.

IV. With this intention he set sail, and first came to Crete, where he
studied the constitution and mixed with the leading statesmen. Some part
of their laws he approved and made himself master of, with the
intention of adopting them on his return home, while with others he was
dissatisfied. One of the men who had a reputation there for learning and
state-craft he made his friend, and induced him to go to Sparta. This
was Thales, who was thought to be merely a lyric poet, and who used this
art to conceal his graver acquirements, being in reality deeply versed
in legislation. His poems were exhortations to unity and concord in
verse, breathing a spirit of calm and order, which insensibly civilised
their hearers and by urging them to the pursuit of honourable objects
led them to lay aside the feelings of party strife so prevalent in
Sparta; so that he may be said in some degree to have educated the
people and prepared them to receive the reforms of Lykurgus.

From Crete Lykurgus sailed to Asia Minor, wishing, it is said, to
contrast the thrifty and austere mode of life of the Cretans with the
extravagance and luxury of the Ionians, as a physician compares healthy
and diseased bodies, and to note the points of difference in the two
states. There, it seems, he first met with the poems of Homer, which
were preserved by the descendants of Kreophylus, and observing that they
were no less useful for politics and education than for relaxation and
pleasure, he eagerly copied and compiled them, with the intention of
bringing them home with him. There was already some dim idea of the
existence of these poems among the Greeks, but few possessed any
portions of them, as they were scattered in fragments, but Lykurgus
first made them known. The Egyptians suppose that Lykurgus visited them
also, and that he especially admired their institution of a separate
caste of warriors. This he transferred to Sparta, and, by excluding
working men and the lower classes from the government, made the city a
city indeed, pure from all admixture. Some Greek writers corroborate the
Egyptians in this, but as to Lykurgus having visited Libya and Iberia,
or his journey to India and meeting with the Gymnosophists, or naked
philosophers, there, no one that we know of tells this except the
Spartan Aristokrates, the son of Hipparchus.

V. During Lykurgus's absence the Lacedaemonians regretted him and sent
many embassies to ask him to return, telling him that their kings had
indeed the royal name and state, but nothing else to distinguish them
from the common people, and that he alone had the spirit of a ruler and
the power to influence men's minds. Even the kings desired his presence,
as they hoped that he would assist in establishing their authority and
would render the masses less insolent. Returning to a people in this
condition, he at once began alterations and reforms on a sweeping scale,
considering that it was useless and unprofitable to do such work by
halves, but that, as in the case of a diseased body, the original cause
of the disorder must be burned out or purged away, and the patient begin
an entirely new life. After reflecting on this, he made a journey to
Delphi. Here he sacrificed to the god, and, on consulting the oracle,
received that celebrated answer in which the Pythia speaks of him as
beloved by the gods, and a god rather than a man, and when he asked for
a good system of laws, answered that the god gives him what will prove
by far the best of all constitutions. Elated by this he collected the
leading men and begged them to help him, first by talking privately to
his own friends, and thus little by little obtaining a hold over more
men and banding them together for the work. When the time was ripe for
the attempt, he bade thirty of the nobles go into the market-place early
in the morning completely armed, in order to overawe the opposition. The
names of twenty of the most distinguished of these men have been
preserved by Hermippus, but the man who took the greatest part in all
Lykurgus's works, and who helped him in establishing his laws, was
Arthmiades. At first King Charilaus was terrified at the confusion,
imagining that a revolt had broken out against himself, and fled for
refuge to the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House; but, afterward
reassured and having received solemn pledges for his safety, returned
and took part in their proceedings. He was of a gentle nature, as is
proved by the words of his colleague, King Archelaus, who, when some
were praising the youth, said, "How can Charilaus be a good man, if he
is not harsh even to wicked men?"

Of Lykurgus's many reforms, the first and most important was the
establishment of the Council of Elders, which Plato says by its
admixture cooled the high fever of royalty, and, having an equal vote
with the kings on vital points, gave caution and sobriety to their
deliberations. For the state, which had hitherto been wildly oscillating
between despotism on the one hand and democracy on the other, now, by
the establishment of the Council of the Elders, found a firm footing
between these extremes, and was able to preserve a most equable balance,
as the eight-and-twenty elders would lend the kings their support in the
suppression of democracy, but would use the people to suppress any
tendency to despotism. Twenty-eight is the number of Elders mentioned by
Aristotle, because of the thirty leading men who took the part of
Lykurgus two deserted their post through fear. But Sphairus says that
those who shared his opinions were twenty-eight originally. A reason may
be found in twenty-eight being a mystic number, formed by seven
multiplied by four, and being the first perfect number after six, for
like that, it is equal to all its parts.[A] But I think that he probably
made this number of elders, in order that with the two kings the council
might consist of thirty members in all.

[Footnote A: 14, 2, 7, 4, 1, make by addition 28; as 3, 2, and 1 make
6.]

VI. Lykurgus was so much interested in this council as to obtain from
Delphi an oracle about it, called the _rhetra_, which runs as follow

Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/14033