Velleius Paterculus

“ In all this great war in Germany, I could observe nothing more noble, nothing more deserving of admiration, than that the general never thought any opportunity of success so attractive as to justify a squandering of the lives of his soldiers; he ever judged the safest means the most honourable, and preferred the approbation of his conscience to the acquisition of fame; nor were the counsels of the general ever swayed by the feelings of the army, but the army was always guided by the wisdom of the general. ”

“ With what violent griefs, Marcus Vinicius, has he felt his mind tortured in the last three years! How long has heart been consumed with affliction, and, what is most unhappy, such as he was obliged to conceal, while he was compelled to grieve, and to feel indignation and shame, at the conduct of his daughter-in-law [102] and his grandson [103] ! And the sorrows of this period have been aggravated by the loss of his most excellent mother, a woman who resembled the gods more than human beings; and whose power no man ever felt but in the relief of distress or the conferring of honour. ”

“ Before the arrival of Lucius Sylla, however, Cinna was slain in a mutiny of his troops. Such a man deserved to die rather by the sentence of a conqueror, than by the rage of the soldiery. But he was a character, of whom it may truly be said, that he dared what no good man would dare, and accomplished what could be effected by none but the bravest; that he was precipitate in forming his designs, but executed them like a man. Carbo, electing no colleague in his room, continued sole consul for all the rest of the year. ”

“ Thus Pompey, victorious over every nation to which he had gone, grown greater than the wish of his countrymen or even than his own, and having in every way exceeded the measure of human fortune, returned to Italy. An opinion that had prevailed rendered his return extremely popular; for most people had asserted that he would not come into the city without his army, and that he would limit the liberty of the people by his own will. The more strongly they were affected by this apprehension, the more grateful was the unassuming manner in which that great commander returned ”

“ No other nation ever entered on war so soon after resolving on it, or so speedily put its determinations in execution. Roman citizens were murdered, traders slain, and, in that quarter of the country most remote from the general, a vast number of soldiers [80] cut off. All Macedonia was reduced by their arms, and everything in every part wasted with fire and sword. So powerful, indeed, were the apprehensions excited by this war, that they shook and alarmed even the steady mind of Augustus Cæsar, strengthened as it was by experience in wars of such magnitude. ”

“ O all ye deities who have exalted the present magnitude of the Roman empire to a position of supremacy over the world, guard, preserve, and protect, I entreat and conjure you, in the name of the Commonwealth, our present state, our present peace, [our present prince [104] !] And when he shall have completed a long course on earth, grant him successors to the remotest ages, and such as shall have abilities to support the empire of the world as powerfully as we have seen him support it! ”

“ In Macedonia, Marcus Brutus had drawn over to his side the legions of Caius, the brother of Mark Antony, and those of Vatinius, near Dyrrachium, who willingly joined him. Antonius he had attacked in the field; Vatinius he had overawed by the dignity of his character; as Brutus was reckoned preferable to any leader of the times, and Vatinius was considered inferior to every one; a man in whom deformity of person vied with depravity of mind, so that his soul seemed lodged in an habitation perfectly adapted to it. He was seven legions strong. ”

“ Pompey reproached Lucullus with his scandalous love of money, and Lucullus railed at Pompey’s inordinate ambition; and neither could be convicted of falsehood in what he laid to the charge of the other. For Pompey, from his first engagement in public business, could never with patience endure an equal, and in cases where he was entitled to the first share of honour, he wished to engross the whole; no man, indeed, being less covetous of everything else, or more so of glory. ”

“ Such was the end of a most upright and excellent man, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and on the day before his birthday, after three consulships and as many triumphs, after subduing the whole world, and after reaching a degree of exaltation beyond which it is impossible to ascend; fortune having made such a revolution in his condition, that he who lately wanted earth to conquer, could now scarcely find sufficient for a grave. ”

“ Marcus Cato insisted that it were better for them to die, than for the state to listen to offers from a private citizen. A man of probity and sound judgment would approve Pompey’s party; a man of prudence would rather follow Cæsar’s; deeming the former more honourable, the latter more formidable. At length, after rejecting every proposal of Cæsar’s, the opposite party decreed that, retaining the mere title of a province, and a single legion, he should come to Rome as a private person, and, in standing for the consulship, should submit himself to the votes of the Roman people ”

“ Cleopatra first began the flight, and Antony chose rather to be the companion of a flying queen than of a fighting soldiery; and the general, whose duty it had been to punish deserters, became a deserter from his own army. The courage of his men, though deprived of their head, held out a long time in a most determined struggle; despairing of victory, they sought death in the conflict. Cæsar, wishing to soothe with words those whom he might have slain with the sword, and calling and pointing out that Antony had fled, asked them for whom, and against whom, they were fighting. ”

“ LXXI Messala Corvinus, a young man of shining character, who, next to Brutus and Cassius, possessed the greatest influence of any in the camp, and whom some solicited to take the command, chose to be indebted for safety to Cæsar’s kindness, rather than to try any further the chance of arms. Nor did any circumstance attending his victories afford greater joy to Cæsar, than the saving of Corvinus; nor was there ever an instance of greater gratitude, or more affectionate attachment, than Corvinus showed to Cæsar in return. No war was ever more stained with the blood of illustrious men. ”

“ In autumn, the victorious army was led back into winter quarters; and the command in chief of all the troops was given by Cæsar to Marcus Lepidus, a man in fame and fortune nearest to the Cæsars; and every one, the longer and better he knows and becomes acquainted with him, the more he loves and admires him, and acknowledges him to be a credit to the great names from which he is descended. ”

“ Not only the Parthians, renouncing their alliance of Rome, laid their hands on Armenia; but Germany, when the eyes of its conqueror were turned away, rose up in rebellion. But in the city, in that same year, (thirty from the present time,) in which the emperor Augustus, being consul with Caninius Gallus, gratified the eyes and minds of the Roman people, on occasion of dedicating a Temple to Mars, with most magnificent spectacles of gladiators and a sea-fight, a calamity disgraceful to mention, and dreadful to call to mind, fell upon his own house. ”

“ I The former Scipio had opened for the Romans the way to power; the latter [1] opened that to luxury. For when their dread of Carthage was at an end, and their rival in empire was removed, the nation, deserting the cause of virtue, went over, not gradually, but with precipitation, to that of vice; the old rules of conduct were renounced, and new introduced; and the people turned themselves from activity to slumber, from arms to pleasure, from business to idleness. ”

“ Having then brought his canoe to the shore, and contemplated Cæsar a long time in silence, he said, “Our young men are certainly mad; they worship your divinity in your absence; yet, in you presence, choose rather to dread your arms, than to trust your faith. For my part, Cæsar, I have this day, by your permission and favour, seen the gods, of whom I had before only heard, and I never in my life either wished for, or experienced, a day of greater happiness.” ”

“ XVIII About this time Mithridates king of Pontus, a prince who must neither be passed without notice, nor be slightly mentioned; a man most active in war, pre-eminent in courage, distinguished sometimes by success and always by spirit; in council a general, in action a soldier, and in hatred to the Romans another Hannibal, took forcible possession of Asia, and put to death all the Roman citizens that were in it, whom, by sending letters to the different states, filled with promises of great rewards, he procured to be slain on the same day and hour. ”

“ Let us not pass unnoticed the memorable conduct and language of Asinius Pollio. Having, after the peace of Brundisium, stayed at home in Italy, having never seen the queen, nor, after Antony’s mind was enervated by his passion for her, ever interfered in the business of his party, he replied to a request from Cæsar to accompany him to the battle at Actium, “My services to Antony are too great; his kindnesses to me are too notorious; I will therefore keep aloof from your contest, and be the prey of the conqueror.” ”

“ O immortal gods! what requital did this merciful man afterwards receive for his kindness then shown to Brutus? Nothing would have been more admirable, more noble, more illustrious, than this victory, (for the nation did not miss one citizen, except those who fell in battle,) had not obstinacy defeated the exertions of compassion, as the conqueror granted life more freely than the vanquished received it. ”

“ The guardianship of the city was then in the hands of Caius Mæcenas, who was of equestrian rank, but of a highly honourable family; a man who, when any affair demanded vigilance, showed the greatest alacrity, foresight, and judgment, but who, when relaxation from business could be obtained, indulged himself in indolence and pleasure to an excess of effeminacy. He was no less beloved by Cæsar, than was Agrippa, but he was not so highly promoted, because, through life, he was fully contented with the narrow purple [71] ”

“ Paulus subdued Macedonia, Mummius Achaia, Fulvius Nobilior Ætolia. Lucius Scipio, brother of Africanus, took Asia from Antiochus; but after it had been possessed some time by the royal family of Attalus, through the kindness of the Roman senate and people, Marcus Perperna, having taken Aristonicus prisoner, made it a tributary province. Of conquering Cyprus the honour can be given to no one; for it was in consequence of a decree of the senate, and by the instrumentality of Cato, on the death of its king, which, conscious of guilt, he inflicted on himself, that it became a province. ”

“ A strong devotion to his cause excited a formidable war in Africa, conducted by king Juba, and by Scipio, who had been consul, and whom Pompey, two years before his death, had chosen for a father-in-law; their strength being augmented by Marcus Cato, who brought some legions to them, though with the utmost difficulty, by reason of the badness of the roads, and the scarcity of provisions, and who, when the soldiers offered him the supreme command, chose rather to act under a person of superior dignity. ”

“ Notice of his intention was given to Varus by Segestes, a man of that nation, worthy of credit, and of high rank; but fate was not to be opposed by warnings, and had already darkened the mental vision of the Roman general. Such, indeed, is the nature of things, that, in general, when the gods [94] design to reverse a man’s good fortune, they perplex his thoughts, and, what is most distressing, make it appear that his sufferings happen to him through his own fault, so that accident is laid to the account of guilt. ”

“ The joy of that day, the concourse of all ranks of men, the prayers offered by people stretching their hands, as it were, up to heaven itself, and the hopes then conceived of perpetual security, and of the eternal duration of the Roman empire, we shall scarcely be able to represent fully in our large work, much less can we attempt to do justice to them here. ”

“ And being entrusted with the presidency of Spain, and the command of the army there, he was able, by his excellent abilities, and with the reputation which he had gained in the war with Illyricum, to keep the province in perfect peace and tranquillity; for while his fidelity to the emperor led him to adopt the most salutary measures, he had likewise ample authority to carry into execution what he planned. His care and fidelity were closely copied by Dolabella, a man of the noblest simplicity of character, when he commanded on the coast of Illyricum. ”

“ CXVI In the Dalmatian war, Germanicus, being sent forward into various places with difficulty and danger, exhibited great proofs of courage; and Vibius Postumius, who had been consul, and was governor of Dalmatia, obtained, by his activity and diligence in the service, the distinction of triumphal decorations; which honour, a few years before, Passienus and Cossus, men celebrated for certain virtues of opposite kinds, had attained in Africa. But Cossus converted this testimony of his success into a surname for his son [91] , a youth formed by nature as a pattern of every virtue. ”