FROM THE SECOND BOOK.

A Ligurian woman, named Corsa1, observing that a bull in a herd which she was tending on the coast, was accustomed to swim over the water, and to return from time to time with an increase of flesh, and desiring to learn on what unknown pasture he fed, followed the animal, the next time that he left the other cattle, in a boat to the island. On her return, the Ligurians, being informed of the extraordinary fertility of the isle, went over to it in boats, and called it by the name of the woman who discovered and guided them to it. Isidore, xiv., 6.

Metellus, after a year's absence, having returned into Further Spain, was followed, with great honour, by a concourses of people of both sexes, flocking together from all parts, and collecting along the roads and on the house-tops. His quæstor, Caius Urbinus, and others who knew his disposition, invited him to a banquet, and entertained him with a splendour exceeding that of the Romans or any other people, adorning the house with tapestries, ensigns, and scenes suited to the gorgeousness of a theatre; the ground being sprinkled with saffron, and other ceremonies being used as in a muchfrequented temple. As he was sitting, too, an image of Victory, let down by a rope, with a noise made to imitate thunder, placed a crown upon his head; and, as he moved about, frankincense was offered to him as to a deity. His dress, as he reclined at the table, was mostly a figured toga;

1 Corsa] "This story is noticed by Stephanus: Corsis, says he, is an island in the Tyrrhenian sea, named from Corsa, a female slave who tended cattle; it is also called Corsica." Colerus. The usual Greek name for it was Κύρνος, Cyrnus 2 Metellus] "Metellus Pius, who had carried on the war against Sertorius. He was the son of Metellus Numidicus." Burnouf.

3 With great honour, by a concourse] Magnâ gloriâ concurrentium undique. Gerlach takes gloria in the sense of gloriatio, laudatio. Thus it will be, "with the great honour or praise of a concourse."

4 Sprinkled with saffron] Croco sparsa. They used a mixture of saffron and wine for the purpose. Comp. Prop. iv., 6, 74; Hor. Ep. ii., 1, 79; Stat. Silv. ii., 1, 160; Spartian. Adr., c. 19; Lucret. ii., 416. Plin. H. N. xxi. 6: Crocum vino mirè congruit, præcipuè dulci; tritum ad theatra replenda

the most exquisite dainties were set before him; for several varieties of birds and other animals, previously unknown, had not only been collected throughout the province, but brought over the sea from Mauretania, for the occasion. But by such indulgences he lost something of his glory, especially in the opinion of the older and more austere, who regarded them as savouring of pride and presumption, and unsuitable to the dignity of the Roman empire. Macrob. Sat. ii. 9. Nonius. Sosipater, 1. i.

FROM THE THIRD BOOK

LETTER OF POMPEY1 TO THE SENATE.

Had I as often engaged in toils and dangers, Conscript Fathers, against you, my country, and our household gods, as, under my leadership, from my earliest youth, your most desperate enemies have been defeated, and your tranquillity secured, you could have decided on nothing more severe than you now determine against me, whom, after exposing me, at an earlier age than usual2, to a most arduous war, you com

1 Letter of Pompey] "In the consulship of Cotta and Octavius, A.u.c. 679, the unfavourableness of the weather, and the depredations of pirates, had caused a great scarcity of corn at Rome; and the money which had been raised to supply Metellus for the Spanish war (see Sall. Fragm. Incert. lib., Pecunia quæ ad Hispaniense bellum, &c.), was necessarily expended in procuring provisions for the city. Nor was Pompey, who was at the head of another army in Spain, sufficiently assisted from home; while, in that part of the country which he occupied, the crop of corn, during the last two years, had been but small. In the following year, accordingly, the army was greatly in want of provisions, as well as of money. Pompey, having in vain solicited supplies, by frequent letters and messages, from the senate, at length wrote this angry epistle, in which he threatens, in no very obscure terms, to return to Italy with his army. The people were accordingly seized with great alarm, dreading that Sertorius might follow Pompey, or even anticipate him. Lucullus, too, was afraid that Pompey would snatch from him the command of the Mithridatic war, which Pompey, indeed, greatly desired to have, as being superior to that which he held. The senate were therefore induced to send the requisite supplies. This happened two years before the end of the Sertorian war." Burnouf.

2 At an earlier age than usual] Contra ætatem. "He was deputed to the command of the Sertorian war at the age of twenty-eight, in the character of pro-consul, though he had not before held any civil office. De Brosses, who says (ii., 23) that he was only twenty-three, is in error." Burnouf

pel, as far as is in your power, (together with an army that has done you honourable service,) to perish of hunger, the most wretched of all deaths. Was it with such expectations that the people of Rome sent their sons into the field? Is such the recompense given for wounds, and for so much blood shed in defence of the state? Weary with writing and sending messengers to you, I have exhausted the whole of my private fortune and expectations, while, during the last three years I have scarcely received from you pay sufficient for one. What, in the name of the immortal gods, do you think of me? Do you suppose that my own resources are equal to an exchequer, or that I can support an army without provisions and money ? I indeed allow that I set out for this war with more zeal than judgment, having, in forty days after I received from you the title of general, assembled an army, and driven the enemy, who were then pressing upon the frontiers of Italy, from the Alps into Spain. Over those mountains I opened a passage different from that of Hannibal, and more convenient for us. I recovered Gaul, the Pyrenees, Laletania1, the Ilergetes, and withstood the first attack of the conquering Sertorius with newly-raised troops and inferior numbers; and I passed the winter, not in the towns, or so as to gratify my soldiers for the sake of popularity3, but in the midst of the fiercest enemies. Need I recount the battles which I have fought, the expeditions which I have undertaken in the winter, the towns which I have destroyed or recovered? Actions speak sufficiently for themselves, without the aid of words. The

1 Laletania] Laletaniam. This is the reading adopted by Cortius, Burnouf, De Brosses, and Gerlach. Laletania was a district of Spain, between the Iberus and the Pyrenees. Havercamp reads Lacetaniam, which lay in the same part of Spain, a little further from the coast.

2 The Ilergetes] I read Ilergetes, with De Brosses; Havercamp has Пlergetum Cortius, Burnouf, and Gerlach, read Indigetes; but the Ilergetes, a more considerable people, bordering on both the Lacetani and Laletani, seem much more likely to have been mentioned by Pompey. Carrio indeed notices that Pliny, H. N. iii., 3, has Laletani et Indigetes; but this proves nothing. The Indigetes or Indicetæ are placed by geographers on the coast of the Mediterranean, at the foot of the Pyrenees, their chief town being Emporium or Emporiæ.

3 For the sake of popularity] Ex ambitione meâ. "Neque ita ut, per ambitionem, milites indulgentiùs haberem. Ambitionem verò intellige militaris gratiæ captationem, ut n Jug., c. 45." Burnouf.

capture of the adversary's camp at Sucro, the battle at the river Durius1, the slaughter of Herennius the enemy's general, with the destruction of his army and the city of Valentia, are sufficiently known to you. For these services, grateful Fathers, you recompense me with want of money and want of food. The condition of my army, and that of the enemy, are consequently similar. Pay is given to neither; and both might march unopposed into Italy; of which cir cumstance I warn you, and entreat you to consider of it, and not to oblige me to provide for my necessities on my own responsibility. That portion of Hither Spain, which is not in possession of the enemy, we or Sertorius have utterly desolated, except the cities on the coast; but these are a positive charge and burden upon us. Gaul, during the last year, supplied the army of Metellus with pay and provisions, but now, from the badness of the crops, can scarcely support itself. For my own part, I have exhausted not only my private property, but my credit. To you alone, Conscript Fathers, can we apply; and, unless you relieve us, the army, and the whole Spanish war with it, will transfer itself against my will, but not without forewarning to yourselves, from hence into Italy.

SPFECH OF MACER LICINIUS, TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE, TO THE ROMANS.

"If you did not know the difference, my fellow-countrymen, 1 Durius] "Pompey's statement would seem to refer to the river Turia, not the Durius. Our author, in a fragment of the second book, says Inter læva. montium et dextrum flumen Turiam, quod Valentiam parvo intervallo præterfluit. Plinius, however, calls the same river Jurius." Cortius. De Brosses agrees with Cortius. The Turia is now called the Guadalaviar.

2 Unopposed] Victor. "The army of Pompey, victorious in the field, might be driven from Spain by famine; that of Sertorius, though conquered, might then enter Italy with as little opposition as if it had been victorious." Burnouf.

3 Speech of Macer Licinius] "It is to be remembered that almost all power had been taken from the tribunes of the people by Sylla. The consul Lepidus was the first that subsequently endeavoured to re-establish it; afterwards, A.u.c. 678, Sicinius, one of the tribunes themselves, made a similar effort, but was successfully opposed by the consul C. Scribonius Curio. In the following year C. Aurelius Cotta, one of the consuls, restored to the tribunes the right of holding other offices after the tribunate. In A.U.C. 680 the tribune Quinctius made an attempt to recover the whole of their privileges, but was defeated. At last, in the consulship

between the rights transmitted to you from your ancestors, and the servitude intended for you by Sylla, it would be necessary for me to enter on a long dissertation on the subject, and to show for what grievances, and on what occasions, the people of Rome withdrew under arms from the senate, and how they succeeded in obtaining tribunes as defenders of their rights. As it is, I need only encourage you, and guide you in the way by which I think your liberty must be secured. I am not ignorant how great that power of the nobility is, which I, alone, deficient in resources, and with the mere empty semblance of office, am endeavouring to deprive of its authority; or how much more securely the worst of men act in combination, than the best by themselves. But besides the confidence which I have in you, a confidence which suppresses all apprehension, I am sure that to struggle unsuccessfully in defence of liberty, is, to a man of spirit, more satisfactory than not to have struggled at all. Yet others, who have been created1 for the vindication of your rights, have all been induced by personal interest, by the expectation of advantage, or by actual bribery, to turn their whole power and authority against you, esteeming it better to be treacherous for hire than to maintain their integrity without reward. They have all, accordingly, submitted themselves to the rule of a faction,

of Cassius Varus and Terentius Lucullus, A.U.C. 681, C. Licinius Macer brought the matter forward again, but the settlement of it was delayed till the return of Pompey from the war in Spain. That Pompey, when he was afterwards consul with Crassus, A.U.C. 684, restored the rights, which had been so long and so clamorously demanded, to the people, is generally known." Burnouf.

"Caius Macer, as an orator, was always deficient in influence, but was an advocate of such diligence as could scarcely be surpassed. Had not his life, his manners, and his look, destroyed the effect of his intellectual power, his name among pleaders would have been much greater. His language, though not copious, was far from being poor; though not highly polished, it was far from being rude; but his mode of utterance, his gesture, and whole demeanour, were entirely devoid of grace. His care, however, in producing and arranging his matter, was so extraordinary, that I have scarcely known greater diligence or attention in any one; yet it seemed to be the offspring rather of subtlety than of skill in oratory. Though he was much esteemed in private, he had a greater reputation in public causes." Cic. Brut. 67. "Not

1 Others, who have been created, &c.] Omnes alii creati pro jure vestro. only the tribunes, but all other magistrates, as is evident from imperia, which follows." Gerlach. The tribunes of the people had no imperium, or military command, but only potestas, or civil power