Labienus

“ These words are quickly carried to the enemy, since out of so large a number of cavalry composed of Gauls, nature compelled some to favour the Gallic interests. Labienus, having assembled the tribunes of the soldiers and principal centurions by night, states what his design is, and, that he may the more easily give the enemy a belief of his fears, he orders the camp to be moved with greater noise and confusion than was usual with the Roman people. ”

“ For leaving a guard opposite to the camp and sending a small body in the direction of Metiosedum, with orders to advance as far as the ships would proceed, they led the rest of their troops against Labienus.
LXII.—By day-break all our soldiers were brought across and the army of the enemy was in sight. Labienus, having encouraged his soldiers "to retain the memory of their ancient valour, and so many most successful actions, and imagine Caesar himself, under whose command they had so often routed the enemy, to be present," gives the signal for action. ”

“ Suddenly Labienus causes his cavalry, seconded by his cohorts, to issue by the two gates. Foreseeing the rout of the enemy, he urges his troops to follow Indutiomarus alone, and promises great rewards to those who shall bring his head. Fortune seconded his designs; Indutiomarus was overtaken just at the ford of the river (the Ourthe) , and put to death, and his head was brought into the camp. The cavalry, in their return, slew all the enemies they found in their way. The Eburones and the Nervii dispersed. The result of these events was to give to Gaul a little more tranquillity. ”

“ Antony was sufficiently in control of the situation at home to begin a new campaign against the Parthians. [81] He had sent Publius Ventidius Bassus in advance into Asia in 40 b.c., [82] and this officer surprised Labienus with only a small body of local troops, for his Parthian allies were not present at that time. Labienus, unable to offer battle, was forced into Syria, where he was evidently cornered. Both the Romans and the troops of Labienus awaited reinforcements; for the former these were heavy-armed men, for the latter the Parthians. ”

“ The priestly elections, on motion of Labienus supported by Caesar, were again referred by the people to popular vote, contrary to the law of Sulla, but in renewal of the law of Domitius. Caesar at the death of Metellus Pius was eager for his priesthood, although young and not having served as praetor. Resting his hopes of it upon the multitude, therefore, especially because he had helped Labienus against Rabirius and had not voted for the death of Lentulus, he took the above course. ”

“ We daresay there was a great deal of false confidence; but as for the words which Cæsar puts into the mouth of Labienus, we know well how much cause Cæsar had to dislike Labienus, and we doubt whether they were ever spoken.
At length the battle-field is chosen,—near the town of Pharsalus, on the banks of the river Enipeus in Thessaly. The battle has acquired world-wide fame as that of Pharsalia, which we have been taught to regard as the name of the plain on which it was fought. ”

“ For the citizens, unarmed, and disposed to peace, surrendered to Labienus, who attacked them with a body of troops and with Parthian auxiliaries, the Parthians being at that time masters of Asia. But Zeno of Laodiceia and Hybreas, both of them orators, did not surrender, but caused their own cities to revolt. Hybreas provoked Labienus, an irritable and vain young man, by saying, when the youth announced himself emperor of the Parthians, “Then I shall call myself emperor of the Carians.” ”

“ His flight was due to his fear that his associates might take up with the cause of Labienus, who labored to prevail upon them by shooting various pamphlets into the camp. Labienus took possession of these men and slew the greater part, then captured Apamea, which no longer resisted when Saxa had fled into Antioch, since he was believed to be dead; he later captured Antioch, which the fugitive had abandoned, and at last, pursuing him in his flight into Cilicia, seized the man himself and killed him. [-26-] Upon his death Pacorus made himself master of Syria and subjugated all of it except Tyre. ”

“ But those who were left as a guard opposite the camp of Labienus, when they heard that the battle was commenced, marched to aid their countrymen and take possession of a hill, but were unable to withstand the attack of the victorious soldiers. In this manner, mixed with their own fugitives, such as the woods and mountains did not shelter were cut to pieces by our cavalry. ”

“ Thirty-six years afterwards, Rabirius was accused of accession to this murder, by Labienus, subsequently well known as Cæsar’s lieutenant in Gaul. Hortensius had pleaded the cause before the Duumvirs, Caius and Lucius Cæsar, by whom Rabirius being condemned, appealed to the people, and was defended by Cicero in the Comitia. The Tribune, it seems, had been slain in a tumult during a season of such danger, that a decree had been passed by the Senate, requiring the Consuls to be careful that the republic received no detriment. ”

“ Yet, in spite of their sad condition, people still esteemed the place of their exile to be their country for Pompey's sake, and fled from Rome, as if it had been Caesar's camp. Labienus even, who had been one of Caesar's nearest friends, and his lieutenant, and who had fought by him zealously in the Gallic wars, now deserted him, and went over to Pompey. Caesar sent all his money and equipage after him, and then sat down before Corfinium, which was garrisoned with thirty cohorts under the command of Domitius. ”

“ He established his camp near the confluence of the Rhone and the Saône, on the heights which command Sathonay; thence he could equally manœuvre on the two banks of the Saône, take the Helvetii in flank as they marched towards that river, or prevent them, if they crossed it, from entering into the Roman province by the valley of the Rhone. It was probably at this point that Labienus joined him with the troops which had been left with him, and which raised to six the number of his legions. His cavalry, composed principally of Ædui and men raised in the Roman province, amounted to 4,000 men. ”

“ Labienus and Varrus are killed; and the historian tells us that a funeral was made for them. One Scapula, of whom it is said that he was the promoter of all this Spanish rebellion, eats his supper, has himself anointed, and is killed on his funeral-pile. ”

“ Mutiny and desertion only he never overlooked. And thus no general was ever more loved by, or had greater power over, the army which served under him. He brought the insurgent 10th legion into submission by a single word. When the civil war began and Labienus left him, he told all his officers who had served under Pompey that they were free to follow if they wished. Not another man forsook him.
Suetonius says that he was rapacious, that he plundered tribes in Spain who were allies of Rome, that he pillaged shrines and temples in Gaul, and destroyed cities merely for spoil. ”

“ Of a truth, the tribune of the people is very much devoted to the interests of the people, is a guardian and defender of its privileges and liberties! The Porcian law forbade a rod to be laid on the person of any Roman citizen. This merciful man has brought back the scourge. The Porcian law protected the freedom of the citizens against the lictor. Labienus, that friend of the people, has handed them over to the executioner. Caius Gracchus passed a law that no trial should take place affecting the life of a Roman citizen without your orders. ”

“ Lavinium was the central point of the Prisci Latini, and without doubt there existed in earlier times, when Alba had not yet the rule over Lavinium, a communion of worship in Alba and Lavinium; as afterwards in Rome at the temple of Diana in the Aventine, and at the Roman and Latin holidays on the Alban mount.
The characters therefore in the Trojan legend are thus to be analysed. Turnus is no other than Turinus, the Τυῤῥηνός of Dionysius; Lavinia, the beautiful maiden, is the name of the Latin people ”

“ After courting her for two years, after compromising her as much as it is possible to compromise a young lady,—which is not a very easy thing to do in blessed Albion,—after causing her to reject some most eligible offers, you dropped her to run after an Italian singer, who certainly did not deserve the honor of inspiring such perfidy. Tell me, was not Lavinia clever and pretty? was she not the daughter of a Portuguese banker, a Jew to be sure, but very rich? was she not a good match? didn't she love you to distraction? ”

“ Another time, when Lavinia was taking part in the sacrifice which was offered at her betrothal, the flame caught her long hair, and in a moment she was wrapped from head to foot in a mysterious fire, which smoked and blazed and roared, but did her no harm. “O king,” proclaimed the seer again, “thy daughter is destined to high renown, but she shall bring on this people a wide-wasting war.”
Alarmed by these portents Latinus went to consult the oracle of Faunus, his father, in the sacred grotto near the burning spring of Albunea, which is the Delphi of Latium. ”

“ Lavinia, however, would be attractive in any dress, with her fresh young beauty and simple unconscious grace. Her features are not modelled in classic lines: the charm of the face is its fresh color, the pretty curves of the plump cheek, and, above all, the sweet open expression. The hands are delicate and shapely, as of one well born and gently reared. Lavinia is perhaps not a very intellectual person, but she has a sweet sunny nature and is full of life and spirits. ”

“ Before the tribunes of the plebs had time to get up an agitation about the division of the Labican territory, the senate in a full meeting passed a resolution that a body of colonists should be settled at Labici. One thousand five hundred colonists were sent, and each received two jugera of land. In the year following the capture of Labici the consular tribunes were Menenius Lanatus, L. Servilius Structus, P. Lucretius Tricipitinus - each for the second time - and Spurius Veturius Crassus. ”

“ Under the consul Laevinius, therefore, the Roman people, having entered the Ionian Sea for the first time, coasted along the whole of Greece with their fleet, as if in triumph; for it carried all the spoils of Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, and Africa; and a laurel that grew up [50] in the general's ship, promised certain victory. Attalus, king of Pergamus, came of his own accord to their assistance; the Rhodians, too, came, who were a naval people, and who struck terror into all parts by sea with their ships, while the consul did the same on land with his horse and foot. ”

“ Timaeus had heard of the primitive temple of the household gods in Lavinium; but the statement, that these were regarded by the Lavinates as the Penates brought by the followers of Aeneas from Ilion, is as certainly an addition of his own, as the ingenious parallel between the Roman October horse and the Trojan horse, and the exact inventory taken of the sacred objects of Lavinium—there were, our worthy author affirms, heralds' staves of iron and copper, and an earthen vase of Trojan manufacture! It is true that these same Penates might not at all be seen by any one for centuries afterwards ”

“ By that time indeed I had had great initiations, and poor Lavinia had had them as well—hers in fact throughout went further than mine—and we had shared them together, and I had settled down to a tolerably exact sense of what I was to see. It was what Lavinia added to it that really made the picture. The portrait of the little dead girl had evoked something attractive, though one had not lived so long in the world without hearing of plenty of little dead girls ”

“ But stay a while, and I will bring you word What King Belinus says unto the same. Belinus
What news, Albinius? Who is that we see? Albinius
It is, my lord, a soldier that you see, Who fain would serve your grace in these your wars, But that, I fear, his service is too dear. Belinus
Too dear, why so? What doth the soldier crave? Albinius
He craves, my lord, all things that with his sword He doth obtain, whatever that they be. Belinus
Content, my friend; if thou wilt succor me, Whate’er you get, that challenge as thine own, Belinus gives it frankly unto thee, Although it be the crown of Aragon. ”

“ From all the other world, returned Aedituus, if you except some part of the northern regions, who of late years have stirred up the jakes. Mum! they may chance ere long to rue the day they did so; their cows shall have porridge, and their dogs oats; there will be work made among them, that there will. Come, a fig for't, let's drink. But pray what countrymen are you? Touraine is our country, answered Panurge. Cod so, cried Aedituus, you were not then hatched of an ill bird, I will say that for you, since the blessed Touraine is your mother ”

“ The fair Lavinia is tall and slender, but not too slender, and she has the way of a gentle and good woman; and yet she can laugh, when the matter be worth laughter, not giggling at naught, as is the way with some maids. She is discreet and modest, and she is not shamefaced, since she knows well her own worth, though she is not puffed up by it. ”

“ The tiger was sure that a fat lamb would [Pg 14] taste better than a wee, wee one with teetery legs, so he let Lambikin go along, but he said as he went:
“Be sure that you come back this way, Lambikin.”
Lambikin reached his granny’s house, and he told her how glad he was to see her, and then he said he was very hungry, and he would like something to eat.
“I must grow fat, granny,” said Lambikin.
So his granny led the way to the corn bin, and Lambikin ate and ate and ate until his sides stuck out, and his legs were not teetery any more, and he was a fat little lamb. ”