Tigranes the Power of Parthia could not be so considerable against Lucullus as it afterwards appeared against Crassus being then also divided at home by Domestick and intestine War and utterly unable to keep off the Encroachments of Armenia But Lucullus seems more to have injured his Country by others than he profited it by himself For the Trophies in Armenia stand near the Parthians and Tigranocerta and Nisibis and the great Wealth brought from thence to Rome with the Captive Crown of Tigranes carried in Triumph did all puff up Crassus as if the Barbarians had been nothing else but Spoils and Booty Who falling among the Parthian Archers soon demonstrated that Lucullus his Triumphs were not beholden to the Inadvertency and Effeminacy of his Enemies but to his own Courage and Conduct But of this afterwards Lucullus upon his return to Rome found his Brother Mark accused by C. Memmius for what he did when Treasurer by the Command of Sylla who being fled Memmius changed the Scene and animated the People against him and perswaded them to deny him a Triumph for suppressing the Spoils and prolonging the War Lucullus his Case being much disputed the Nobility and Chief Men mixed themselves among the Tribes and with much Entreaty and Labour scarce at length prevailed upon them to consent to his Triumph The Pomp of his Triumph was not amazing and tedious as others had been with along Train and number of things carried therein but consisted chiefly in vast quantities of Armour and Machins of the King 's placed in the Flaminian Cirque A Spectacle nothing despicable In his Progress passed by a few Horsmen in Armour ten Chariots armed with Scythes sixty Friends and officers of the King 's and a hundred and ten long-beak'd Ships were carried along with them The Golden Image of Mithridates six Foot high and rich Head pieces twenty Loads of Silver Vessels and thirty two of Golden Cups Armour and Money all carried by Men. Beside which eight Mules were laden with Golden Beds fifty six with Bullion and a hundred and seven with Coined Money and Silver little Less than two hundred and seventy Myriads In Publick Tables were written what Moneys he gave Pompey for prosecuting the Pyratick War what he delivered into the Treasury and what beside he gave to every Soldier which was nine hundred and fifty Drachma's per Man After all which he nobly feasted the City and Suburbs Being divorc'd from Clodia a dissolute and and wicked Woman he married Servilia Sister to Cato It proved an unfortunate Match for she was guilty of all Clodia's vices but one and that was Incest with her Brothers Out of reverence to Cato he for a while connived at her Impurity and Immodesty but at length dismissed her When the Senate expected great things from him as one that would be a Check to the Usurpation of Pompey and by the Greatness of his Station and Credit would defend the Nobility he retired from Business and left the Republick either because he saw her in a languishing condition and irrecoverable or as others say because he was as great as he could well be and inclined to a quiet and easie Life after those Labours and Toils which had not succeeded under him There are those who highly commend his change of Life avoiding thereby that Rock whereon Marius split For he after his Cimbrian Conquest wherein he did Noble and Great things would by no means be contented with the Honour thereof but out of an infatiable desire of Glory and Power even in his old Age managed a Faction in the Government against the Youth and became Guilty of horrid crimes and worse Murthers Better had it been for Cicero after Catiline's Conspiracy to have retired in his Age and for Scipio after his Numantine and Carthaginian Conquests to have sate down contented For the Administration of publick Affairs will determine and States-men as well as Wrestlers are laid aside when strength and youth fail Crassus and Pompey laugh'd to see Lucullus become luxurious and effeminate feasting being altogether as inconvenient for his Age as Government of Affairs at home or an Army abroad In Lucullus his Life as in the old Comedy we meet with Policy and action in the beginning and good eating and drinking in the end And indeed scarce any thing but Feastings and Revellings and Sports Among which I count his stately Buildings Portico's and Baths but above all his Pictures and Carving and great industry about these Curiosities which with vast expence he collected lavishly bestowing all the Wealth and Treasure which he got in the War upon them insomuch that now adays when Luxury reins the Lucullian Gardens are counted the noblest that the Emperor hath Tubero the Stoick when he saw his Buildings at Neapolis where he suspended the Hills upon Arches brought in the Sea for Moats and Fish-ponds round his House and built Pleasure-Houses in the Waters called him Xerxes in a Gown He had also fine Seats in Tusculum pleasant Prospects and large Apartments and Portico's for Men where Pompey coming to see him blam'd him for making his Habitation so pleasant in Summer but inconvenient in Winter To whom he smilingly reply'd Do you think I am less provident than Cranes and Storks not to change my habitation with the season When a Praetor with great charge and pains was setting out a Spectacule to the People and asked him to lend him some Purple hangings for the Stage he told him he would goe home and see and if he had any he would lend him and on the next day asking how many he wanted and being told that a hundred would suffice ordered him to take twice as many which made Horace say That he esteemed that a poor house where the lumber and unnecessary Utensils are not more than the Furniture in sight Lucullus his Entertainments were every new and extravagent not only with Purple Carpets and Plate adorned with Precious Stones and Dancings and Interludes but for all manner of Dainties and Sweetmeats pil'd up which made the People admire him It was a happy thought of Pompey in his Sickness when his Physician prescribed a Thrush for his dinner and his Servants told him That in Summer time Thrushes where no where but in Lucullus his Penns would not suffer them to fetch one thence but told his Physician Had not Lucullus fed on Thrushes Pompey had not liv'd and thereupon ordered some other thing at hand to be made ready for him Cato was his Friend and Companion but nevertheless so hated his Life and Diet that when a young Man in the Senate made a long and tedious speech in praise of Frugality and Temperance Cato standing up replyed Will you never have done You who are as Rich as Cressus live like Lucullus and speak like Cato It is plain from his own Mouth that Lucullus was not only pleased with but gloried in his way of living for he is said to have feasted several Greeks upon their coming to
overjoyed with the Success he called him to him and said Was it not politickly done of you Young man to pass by Catulus the best of Men and chuse Lepidus the worst Take heed and look to thy self or the Adversary thou hast raised will be too hard for thee Sylla spoke this it may seem by Divine Instinct for not long after Lepidus grew insolent and broke into open defiance with Pompey Sylla consecrating the Tenth of his whole Substance unto Hercules entertain'd the People with sumptuous Feastings The Provision was so much above what was necessary as that they were forced daily to throw great quantities of it into the River and drank Wine forty years old and upward In the midst of the Jollity which lasted many days Metella died of a Disease Now because that the Priest forbad him to visit the Sick or suffer his House to be polluted with Mourning he sent her a Bill of Divorce and caused her to be removed into another House whilst alive in this he observed the Law to a Tittle out of Religious Superstition but as for the Retrenching Act which himself made himself break it sparing for no Funeral Cost He trangressed likewise for his own Sumptuary Laws thinking to allay his Grief by excessive Drinking and Revelling Some few Months after at a Prize of Gladiators when Men and Women sat promiscuously in the Theatre no distinct Places being as yet appointed there sat by Sylla a beautiful Lady of high Birth by name Valeria Daughter of Messala and Sister to Hortensius the Orator Now it hapned that she had been lately divorced from her Husband The same came gently behind Sylla and putting out her Hand plucked a lock of his Garment and then passed on to her Seat again Sylla looking on and wondring what it should mean No harm Mighty Sir said she for that I also was desirous to partake a little of your Felicity It appeared straight that Sylla was well pleased and even tickled with the Fancy for the sent to enquire her Name her Quality and Behaviour of Life From this time there passed between them many an amorous Glance both of them at once oftentimes turning one on another and interchanging Smiles In the end Overtures were made and a Match concluded on All which was innocent perhaps on the Ladies sides but though the Lady was never so modest and Vertuous it was no such modest and seemly beginning of Love in Sylla to take fire as became Youth rather at a Face and buxom Humour those common Incentives to the most disorderly and shameless Passions Notwithstanding this Marriage he kept company with Actors Actresses and Minstrels drinking with them night and day His chief Favourites were Roscius the Comedian Sorex the Arch-Mimick and Metrobius the Woman Actor for whom though past his Prime he ever retained a profest Kindness He fell by these Courses into a Disease which grew so leasurely upon him as of a long time he perceived not his Bowels to fester till at length the corrupted Flesh broke all out into Lice Many being employed Day and Night in destroying them the Work so multiplied under their hands as not only his Cloaths Baths Basons but his very Meat was polluted with that Flux and Contagion they came swarming out in such numbers Wherefore he went often by day into the Waters to scowr and cleanse his Body but all in vain the Course returned so quick and with such numerous Supplies as overcame all manner of Riddance There died of the Lowsie Disease amongst those of ancient note Acastus the Son of Pelias of later date Alcman the Poet Pherecides the Theologe Callisthenes the Olyntian in the time of his Imprisonment as also Mutius the Lawyer and if it be fit to bring in Men of infamous Memory Eunus the Fugitive who stirred up the Slaves of Sicily to rebel against their Masters after that he was brought Captive to Rome died of this creeping Sickness Sylla not only foresaw his End but also writ somewhat concerning it for in the two and twentieth Book of his Memoirs which he finished some two days before his death he writes That the Chaldeans foretold him That after he had led a Life of Honour he should conclude the last Act in fulness of Prosperity He declares moreover That in a Vision he had seen his Son who had departed not long before Metella to stand by in mournful Weeds and beseech his Father to cast off further care and come along with him to his Mother Metella there to live at ease and quietness with her However he could not refrain intermedling in Publick Affairs for ten days before his decease he composed the Differences of the Puteolaxians and prescribed Laws for their better Government and the very day before his End it being told him that Cranius a Man in Authority deferred the Payment of a Publick Debt in expectation of his Death he sent for the Man to his House and calling his Servants about him caused him to be strangled but through the straining of his Voice and Body the Imposthume breaking he cast forth a great quantity of Bloud Upon this his strength failing him after a troublesome Night he died leaving behind him two young Children by Metella Valeria was afterwards delivered of a Daughter named Posthuma for so the Romans call those who be born after the Fathers Death Many ran tumultuously together and join'd with Lepidus to deprive the Corps of the accustomed Solemnities but Pompey though offended at Sylla for he alone of all his Friends was left out of his Will having kept off some by his Interest and Intreaty others by Menaees gave it a secure and honourable Burial It 's said that the Roman Ladies threw on such vast heaps of Spices as beside what was brought in one hundred and ten Vessels sufficed to raise a large Statue for Sylla and another for his Lictor out of the precious Frankincense and Cinnamon The day being Cloudy over head they deferred carrying forth the Corps till about three in the Afternoon expecting it should rain but a strong Wind blowing full against the Funeral Pile and setting it all on a bright Flame his Body was consumed in a moment As the Pile shrunk down and the Fire was upon expiring the Clouds showr'd down and continued raining till Night so as his good Fortune was firm even to the last and did as it were officiate at his Funeral His Monument stands on Campus Martius with an Epitaph of his own Writing The Substance this That neither Friend nor Foe had out-done him either in good or bad turns The Comparison of Lysander with Sylla HAving in like manner run through this Life come we now to the Comparison That which was common to them both was that they were Founders of their own Greatness with this difference that Lysander had the Consent of the Citizens in Times of right understanding for the Honours he received nor forc'd he any thing against their good will or sought to
most ungovernable of all humane Passions could then yield to the necessities of the State Cimon as soon as he returned put an end to the War and reconciled the two Cities Peace thus establish'd seeing the Athenians impatient of being Idle and eager after the Honour and Spoils of War lest they should set upon the Grecians themselves or with so many Ships cruising about the Isles and Peloponnesus they should give Occasions to intestine Wars or Complaints of their Allies against them He equipped two hundred Galleys with design to make an attempt upon Aegypt and Cyprus by this means to use the Athenians to fight against the Barbarians and enrich themselves by spoiling those who are by nature Enemies to Greece But when all things were prepared and the Army ready to imbark Cimon had this Dream It seemed to him an angry Bitch bark'd at him and a kind of humane voice mixt with barking uttered these Words Go on for shortly thou shalt be A Friend to my young Whelps and me This Dream was hard to interpret yet Astyphylus of Posidonium a man skilled in Divinations and intimate with Cimon told him that his Death was presaged by this Vision which he thus explained A Dog is Enemy to him he barks at and one is always most a friend to ones Enemies when one is dead that mixture of humane Voice with barking signifies the Modes for the Army of the Medes is mixt of Greeks and Barbarians But after this Dream as he was sacrificing to Bacchus and the Priest cutting up the Victim a great number of Emmets taking up the little congealed particles of the blood laid them about Cimon's great Toe This was not observed a good while but as soon as Cimon spied it the Priest came and shewed him the Liver of the Sacrifice imperfect wanting that part of it which they called the head of the Entrail But he could not then recede from the Enterprize so he set sail sixty of his Ships he sent toward Aegypt with the rest he went and fought the King of Persia's Fleet composed of Phaenician and Cilician Sail subdued all the Cities thereabout and threatned Aegypt designing no less than the entire Ruin of the Persian Empire And the rather for that he was informed Themistocles was in great repute among the Barbarians and had promised the King to lead his Army whenever he should make War upon Greece but they say Themistocles losing all hopes of compassing his designs and despairing to equal the Vertue and good fortune of Cimon dyed a voluntary Death Cimon still framing great designs and keeping his Navy about the Isle of Cyprus sent Messengers to Consult the Oracle of Jupiter Hammon upon some secret matter for 't is not known about what they were sent the God would give them no Answer but commanded them to return again for that Cimon was already with him Hearing this they returned to Sea and as soon as they came to the Grecian Army which was then about Aegypt they understood that Cimon was dead and computing the time of the Oracle they found that his Death was meant by it as being then with the Gods Some say he died of Sickness at Citium in Cyprus and others of a wound he received in a Skirmish with the Barbarians when he perceived he should dye he commanded those under his charge to return to their Country and by no means to spread the news of his Death by the way this they did with such secrecy that they all came home safe and neither their Enemies nor Allies knew what had hapned Thus as Phaenodemus relates the Grecian Army was as it were conducted by Cimon thirty days after he was dead But with him perished all the good fortune of Greece for after his Death there was not a Commander that did any thing considerable or which might deserve the name of a great action and instead of uniting against their common Enemies they who bore sway in the Principal Cities animated them against one another to that degree that none durst or would interpose their good Offices to reconcile them Thus by mutual discord ruining themselves the Persians had time to recover Breath and repair all their losses 'T is true indeed Agesilaus made some shew of the Grecian Forces in Asia but 't was a long time after he seemed to revive some little appearances of a War against the Kings Lieutenants in the Provinces but they all quickly vanisht for before he could perform any thing of moment he was recalled by civil Dissentions at home So that he was forced to leave the Persian Kings Officers to impose what Tribute they pleased on the Grecian Cities in Asia tho under the Dominion of the Lacedaemonians Whereas in the time of Cimon no Officer of What Quality or Character soever could Command there nor durst any Souldier in Arms come within four hundred furlongs of the Sea The Monuments called Cimonian to this day in Athens shew that to be the place of his Burial yet the Inhabitants of the City Citium pay particular honour to a certain Tomb which they call the Tomb of Cimon according to Nausicrates the Rhetorician who also reports that in a Famine when there necessities were very great they sent to the Oracle which commanded them to honour Cimon as a God Thus have I drawn the Life of this Famous Captain and by these Proportions judge of him LUCULLUS See siere Lucullus sues He humbly bends Of PRISCA bvys his Honors and his friends The way is base but thus hard state commands For ffortune still is in a Womans hands THE LIFE OF LUCULLUS Translated by Giles Thornburgh A. M. VOLUME III. LVCVLLVS his Grandfather had been Consul his Uncle by the Mothers Sister was Metelius surnamed Numidicus As for his Parents his Father was convict of Extortion and his Mother Caecilia's Reputation was blasted by her loose Life The first thing that Lucullus did before ever he came to any Office or medled with the Affairs of State being then but a Youth was to accuse the Accuser of his Father Servilius the Augur having caught him in a Publick Trespass This thing was much taken notice of among the Romans who commended his Justice therein as an Act of singular Vertue Even without the Provocation the Accusation was esteem'd no unbecoming Action for they delighted to see young Men as eagerly pursuing injustice as good Dogs do wild Beasts But when great Animosities arose thereupon insomuch that some were wouned and killed in the Fray Servilius fled Lucullus followed his Study and became Master of the Greek and Latin Tongues which made Sylla dedicate to him the commentaries of his Life which he wrote himself that the History thereof might be more methodically ordered and digested His Speech was not Elegant and ready for Gain only like one That disturbs the Hall as a mad Thynnus doth the Waters Out of it altogether as dry illiterate and mute For in his younger days he chiefly addicted himself to the