very powerful nations, the Cantabrians and Asturians, lay exempt from the dominion of the Romans. The spirit of the Cantabrians was the more mischievous, more haughty, and more obstinate in raising war; for not content with defending their liberty, they also attempted to domineer over their neighbours, and harassed, with frequent inroads, the Vaccæi, the Curgonii, and the Autrigonæ.

Against this people, therefore, as they were said to be pursuing violent measures, an expedition was not committed by Augustus to another, but undertaken by himself. He advanced to Segisama, where he pitched his camp, and then, dividing his army, he inclosed by degrees the whole of Campania, and caught the savage people, like wild beasts, as with a circle of nets. Nor were they spared on the side of the Ocean, where their rear was vigorously assailed by a fleet. His first battle against the Cantabrians was under the walls of Vellica2. Hence they fled to the lofty mountain Vinnius, which they thought the waters of the Ocean would ascend sooner than the arms of the Romans. In the third place, the town of Aracillum made violent resistance; but it was at last taken. At the siege of the mountain Medullus, (which he had surrounded with a trench of fifteen miles in length,) when the Romans pressed forward on every side, and the barbarians saw themselves reduced to extremity, they eagerly hastened their own deaths at a banquet, with fire, sword, and a kind of poison, which is there commonly extracted from yew-trees; and thus the greater part escaped the captivity which threatened them. Of this success, obtained by his lieutenant-generals Antistius, Furnius, and Agrippa, Cæsar received the news while wintering on the sea-coast at Tarraco. He himself, arriving at the place, brought some of the inhabitants down from the mountains, bound others by taking hostages of them, and sold others, by right of war, for slaves. The

1 By degrees] In diem. "From day to day." Perizonius, Freinshemius, and Grævius, would read indidem; but this, as Duker observes, is superfluous, when inde precedes.

2 Of Vellica] All the editions have Belgica; but there is no place of this name known in Spain. Vellice is the conjecture of Stadius, approved by Gruter Grævius, and Perizonius.

achievement appeared to the senate worthy of the laurel and triumphal chariot, but Cæsar was now so great that he could despise triumphs.

The Asturians, at the same time, had come down in a vast body from their mountains; nor had they undertaken an enterprise rashly, like barbarians, but, having pitched their camp at the river Astura, and divided their forces into three parts, they prepared to attack three camps of the Romans at once. With such brave enemies, coming upon as so suddenly and in such order, there would have been a doubtful and desperate combat, (and would that I could think the loss on both sides would have been equal!) had not the Trigæcini betrayed them. Carisius, forewarned by the latter people, and coming up with his army, frustrated the enemy's designs, though not even thus without bloodshed. Lancia, a strong city, received the survivors of the routed army. Here there was so fierce an encounter, that firebrands were called for to burn the city after it was taken, when the general with difficulty prevailed with the troops to spare it, "that it might be a monument of the Roman victory as it stood, rather than burnt."

This was the termination of the campaigns of Augustus, as well as of rebellion in Spain. The fidelity of the Spaniards towards us was afterwards unshaken, and peace remained uninterrupted; a consequence resulting as well from their own disposition, which was now more inclined to tranquillity, as from the management of Cæsar, who, dreading their confidence in the mountains where they sheltered themselves, ordered them to occupy and inhabit the part in which his camp had been, and which was level ground. This regulation was noticed as one of great prudence. The country round about contains gold, and yields vermilion, chrysocolla, and other pigments1. He accordingly ordered the soil to be worked. Thus the Asturians became

1 Chrysocolla, and other pigments] Chrysocollæ, et aliorum colorum. Chrysocolla is generally considered to be the same with borax. Good, in his notes on Lucretius, vi., 1077, says that it is "a mineral sand, found on the shores of the Red Sea, of an elégant green colour, denominated by the nations of modern times tincar or tincal." See Pliny, H. N., xxxiii., 5. Borax is also said to be found in great quantities in Thibet.

acquainted with their treasures hid in the earth, by searching for them for others.

All nations in the west and south being subdued, and all to the north between the Rhine and Danube, as well as all to the east between the Cyrus and Euphrates, the other countries also, which had not fallen under the authority of Rome, yet grew sensible of her grandeur, and reverenced a people who had conquered so many nations. The Scythians and Sarmatians sent ambassadors to us, desiring our friendship. The Seres, too, and the Indians who live under the very sun, coming with jewels and pearls, and bringing also elephants among their presents, thought they proved their respect to Augustus by nothing so much as the length of their journey, which they had taken four years to complete. The complexion of the men1 showed that they came from another climate. The Parthians, also, as if they repented of their victory, brought back, of their own accord, the standards which they had taken on the overthrow of Crassus.

Thus there was everywhere, throughout the whole world, uniform and uninterrupted peace or agreements; and Cæsar Augustus, in the seven hundredth year from the foundation of the city, ventured to shut the temple of double-faced Janus, which had been shut but twice before, in the reign of Numa, and when Carthage was first conquered. Afterwards, applying his thoughts to secure tranquillity, he kept in order, by many strict and severe laws, an age which was prone to every vice, and plunging fast into luxury.

1 The complexion of the men, &c.] Et tamen ipse hominum color, &c. The tamen, as Madame Dacier remarks, is worse than useless, giving a ridiculous meaning to the sentence. It is wanting in one of Ryckius's manuscripts, and in. some editions. I have omitted it.

2 Uniform and uninterrupted] Cuncta atque continua. Cuncta is read in all manuscripts and editions, but is, as Grævius observes, unintelligible. I have preferred una, the conjecture of Gronovius. Lipsius had previously suggested juncta.

3 Peace or agreement] Pax-qut pactio. All people were quiet, as having either, from being conquered, accepted terms of peace, or consenting to abstain, at least for the present, from hostilities. The latter class, as Duker observes, were those of whom Florus speaks a little above; nations who, though not actually subdued by the Romans, were sensible of their superiority, and respected their power.

For these great achievements, he was styled Perpetual Dictator, and Father of his Country. It was debated, too, in the senate, whether, as he had established the empire, he should not also be called Romulus; but the name of Augustus was thought more sacred and venerable, in order that, while he still lived on earth, he might in name and title be ranked among the gods.

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS.

REMAINS OF HIS COMPENDIUM OF THE HISTORY OF ROME,

BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

CITIES founded by the Greeks on their return from Troy; acts of Orestes; arrival of Tyrrhenus in Italy, I. Return of the Heraclide; death of Codrus; founding of Megara, Gades, and Utica, II. Of the Achæans, Pelasgi, Thessalians, and the settlement of Corinth, III. Chalcis, Magnesia, Cumæ, Naples, and many other cities, founded, IV. Age and character of Homer, V. Of the Assyrian empire, Lycurgus, and the origin of Carthage, VI. Of Hesiod, and the building of Capua and Nola, VII. The Olympic games; the founding of Rome, VIII. The second Macedonian war, IX. Of Antiochus the Great, and Æmilius Paulus, X. Pseudo-Philippus; Metellus Macedonicus, XI. Destruction of Corinth and Carthage, XII. Death of Cato; characters of Mummius and Scipio Africanus, XIII. Establishment of Roman colonies, XIV., XV. Considerations why many eminent men, in the several arts, arise at the same time, XVI., XVII. Commencement of similar observations on cities, XVIII.

I. * * * * [Epeus,] being parted1 by a storm from Nestor his commander, built Metapontum. Teucer, not being received at home by his father Telamon, for his pusillanimity in not avenging the injustice shown to his brothers, sailed to Cyprus, where he built Salamis, a city named after his own birthplace. Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, took possession of Epirus, and Phidippus of Ephyra in Thes

1 I. [Epeus,] being parted, &c.] The name is wanting in the text at the commencement of this fragment. But it appears from Justin, xx., 2, as well as from Aristotle, De Miraculis, that it was Epeus, the builder of the Trojan horse, (doli fabricator Epeus, Virg. Æn., ii., 264,) who founded Metapontum.

2 Metapontum] On the coast of Lucania, in the south of Italy.

His brother] Ajax, who was refused the arms of Achilles.

Phidippus] An inferior leader in the Trojan war, from the isles of Calydnæ,

on the coast of Caria. Hom. Il., ii., 678.