Marcus Claudius Marcellus

“ While the Catonian party and Pompeius had thus at least a tacit understanding as early as the beginning of 702, the alliance might be held as formally concluded, when at the consular elections for 703 there was elected not Cato himself indeed, but—along with an insignificant man belonging to the majority of the senate—one of the most decided adherents of Cato, Marcus Claudius Marcellus. Marcellus was no furious zealot and still less a genius, but a steadfast and strict aristocrat, just the right man to declare war if war was to be begun with Caesar. ”

“ Moreover, Augustus, as supports to his domination, raised his sister's son, Claudius Marcellus, [103] a mere youth, to the dignity of pontiff and curule ædile; aggrandized by two successive consulships Marcus Agrippa, [104] a man meanly born, but an accomplished soldier, and the companion of his victories; and soon, on the death of Marcellus, chose him for his son-in-law. ”

“ When word was brought to Rome that Hannibal, after the fight, had marched with his army into other parts of Italy, the hearts of the Romans began to revive, and they proceeded to send out generals and armies. The most distinguished commands were held by Fabius Maximus and Claudius Marcellus, both generals of great fame, though upon opposite grounds. For Marcellus, as we have set forth in his life, was a man of action and high spirit, ready and bold with his own hand, and, as Homer describes his warriors, fierce, and delighting in fights. ”

“ With respect to the decorations of the city, he had a regard to his own victory, and a regard to humanity, he thought it was due to his victory to transport many things to Rome which might be an ornament to this city, and due to humanity not utterly to strip the city, especially as it was one which he was anxious to preserve. 121In this division of the ornaments, the victory of Marcellus did not covet more for the Roman people than his humanity reserved to the Syracusans. The things which were transported to Rome we see before the temples of Honour and of Virtue, and also in other places. ”

“ Very easily, no doubt, with a praetor of that sort by whom both the arguments, and the earnestness, and the authority of Marcus Marcellus in the cause of his ward Junius were disregarded.
59 154Do we ask what he did in the distant province of Phrygia? what in the most remote parts of Pamphylia? What a robber of pirates he proved himself in war, who had been found to be a nefarious plunderer of the Roman people in the forum? Do we doubt what that man would do with respect to spoils taken from the enemy, who appropriated to himself so much plunder from the spoils of Lucius Metellus? ”

“ Marcellus was moved by this consideration, and observed to his colleague, "Why not go ourselves with a few horsemen and reconnoitre? The matter being examined with our own eyes, will make our measures more certain." Crispinus consenting, they set out with two hundred and twenty horsemen, of which forty were Fregellans, the rest Tuscans. Marcus Marcellus, the consul's son, and Aulus Manlius, military tribunes, together with two prefects of the allies, Lucius Arennius and Manius Aulius, accompanied them. ”

“ For among the officers of his army there was not one man that durst deny the plunder of the city to the soldiers' demands; nay, many were instant that it should be set on fire and laid level to the ground: but this Marcellus would not listen to. Yet he granted, but with great unwillingness and reluctance, that the money and slaves should be made prey; giving orders, at the same time, that none should violate any free person, nor kill, misuse, or make a slave of any of the Syracusans. ”

“ Curius: who was cooking turnips on the hearth, said to the men offering [him lots of money] "I would prefer to stick with my earthenware and command those who have gold." Fabricius Luscinus, who removed Cornelius Rufinus (the former consul) from the Senate after condemning him of luxury and greed, because he possessed ten pounds of silver. Claudius Marcellus, who first defeated Hannibal in battle in Campania; he also taught the cavalry how to retreat in battle without fleeing. ”

“ The tried general Marcus Marcellus, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who had distinguished himself in the campaign of the previous year as master of the horse to the dictator, and the veteran Quintus Fabius Maximus, took—Marcellus as proconsul, the two others as consuls—the command of the three Roman armies which were destined to surround Capua and Hannibal; Marcellus resting on Nola and Suessula, Maximus taking a position on the right bank of the Volturnus near Cales, and Gracchus on the coast near Liternum, covering Neapolis and Cumae. ”

“ He came up hither this morning, raving like a beast in the arena. He seized me by the robe, and poured forth a string of epithets I will not repeat. He accused me of conniving at the poor slave’s flight, of contaminating my sister, of being the laughing-stock of all Verulam, a poltroon, a fool, and I know not what beside. He swore by all the gods that I should be placed under Burrhus to fight as a true Roman should if the Emperor sends out a legion to one of the insubordinate provinces. And I, oh! Claudius, I loathe fighting. I hate bloodshed. I crave for peace. ”

“ The whole war, and its series of pitched battles, was at length interrupted for a time by the winter. One therefore could hardly conceive a war more nearly answering to our notion of a “fiery war” than this....
2. The Celtiberians, after making a truce with the consul M. Claudius Marcellus, had sent ambassadorsM. Claudius Marcellus winters at Cordova. B.C. 152-151. to Rome who remained there quietly waiting for the answer of the Senate. Meanwhile M. Claudius went on an expedition against the Lusitani, took Nercobrica by assault, and then went into winter quarters at Corduba. ”

“ He roused his men from their former timid and disheartened condition, making them eager to distinguish themselves in battle, and, what is more, never to yield the victory without a determined struggle. And all this, as far as any single man could, was effected by Marcellus; for whereas his troops had been accustomed to be well satisfied if they escaped with their lives from Hannibal, he taught them to be ashamed of surviving defeat, to blush to give way ever so little, and to grieve if they were not victorious. ”

“ Does Marcellus now a second time with impunity assail us with a band of raw recruits and Nolan auxiliaries? Where is that soldier of mine, who took off the head of Caius Flaminius, the consul, after dragging him from his horse? Where is the man who slew Lucius Paulus at Cannae? Is it that the steel hath lost its edge? or that your right hands are benumbed? or what other miracle is it? You who, when few, have been accustomed to conquer numbers, now scarce maintain your ground, the many against the few. ”

“ He was the tribune of the second class of the Scutarii, and had been left at Ancyra, it having been arranged that he should follow afterwards. And, because no one denied that this was for the advantage of the republic, messengers were sent to beg him to come with all speed; and for ten days the empire was without a ruler, which the soothsayer Marcus, by an inspection of entrails at Rome, announced to be the case at that moment in Asia. ”

“ And again the old heretic resumed his seat, having created a strong impression in his favor in the minds of all who were not committed to the task of destroying him, although many of them trembled for his safety on hearing his bold and ingenious assault upon the emperor. But Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, sprang to his feet, and in loud and threatening tones cried out: "O thou most insolent and abusive heretic, darest thou to call the most Christian emperor a pagan?" ”

“ To him the decrees of this house, the offices of State, the city of Rome seem as nothing. Let him sever his life from a country all love for which he has long lost and the very sight of which he has now put from him."
29 While Marcellus, with the savage and menacing look he usually wore, spoke these and like words with rising fury in his voice, countenance, and eye, that familiar grief to which a thick succession of perils had habituated the Senate gave way to a new and profounder panic, as they saw the soldiers' hands on their weapons. ”

“ He received a military training, being born at a time when Rome was engaged in most important wars, and when young men learned how to act as officers not by theory but by actual service in the field. He first served as military tribune under the consul Marcellus in the war with Hannibal. Marcellus perished in an ambuscade, but Titus was made governor of Tarentum after its recapture, and of the surrounding territory. ”

“ But it is a grave question how far we can trust one of his age, name, heritage, and bringing up. His father-in-law, whom I saw at Astura, thinks he is not to be trusted at all. However, we must look after him, and, if nothing else, dissociate him from Antonius. Marcellus will be doing well if he inculcates our views into Brutus, to whom Octavianus seems to be well affected. In Pansa and Hirtius, however, he has but little trust. His disposition is good, if it will last.
XIII
CICERO TO ATTICUS, GREETING.
Puteoli, Oct. ”

“ Life was extinct around him—no animal bounded over the sterile rocks, no bird sank to rest in the small tufts of shrubs that scantily covered their surface. The low monotonous sound of the distant Jordan, forcing its way through the heavy waters, and the sighing of the wind among the reeds, only added to the gloom of the scene. Marcellus had been disgusted that day with the cruelty and bloodshed which he had witnessed. He had fought like a Roman, for glory and for victory; but he had remembered that he was a Christian soldier, and had shown mercy where mercy was possible. ”

“ For the success of Hannibal had excited the Carthaginians to lay claim to that whole island; chiefly because after the murder of the tyrant Hieronymus, all things had been in tumult and confusion at Syracuse. For which reason the Romans also had sent before to that city a force under the conduct of Appius, as praetor. While Marcellus was receiving that army, a number of Roman soldiers cast themselves at his feet, upon occasion of the following calamity. Of those that survived the battle at Cannae, some had escaped by flight, and some were taken alive by the enemy ”

“ But Agrippa, looking upon this as a kind of banishment, ruled the province through his legate, while he himself remained at Lesbos, his gaze riveted upon Rome. Fate intervened to save Augustus from painful experience of the affronted pride of an ambitious man. Marcellus died in the year 23, universally lamented by the Roman people, whose darling he was. It was shrewdly suspected that he had fallen a victim to the rancour and intrigues of Livia, who, by birth a member of the Claudian family, had inherited all the pride and jealous ambition of their old patrician blood. ”

“ Marcellus, as though surprised and pleased, said, "Are you indeed that Bandius, of whom all those who fought at Cannæ told us at Rome, the only man who did not desert Paulus Æmilius the consul, but who received upon his own body the greater part of the darts which were aimed at him?" Bandius admitted that he was the man, and endeavoured to speak lightly of his wounds, but Marcellus went on: "Then, as you bear about you such marks of your devotion to our cause, why did you not at once come to me? Do you think us slow to requite the valour of our friends, when it is honoured even by the enemy." ”

“ He easily overpowers him, a moderate man, and not at all obstinate in his opinions; and so he adheres to his determination of having the pillars examined. 135This unprecedented resolve, and the unexpected calamity of the minor, is immediately reported to Caius Mustius, the step-father of the youth, who is lately dead; to Marcus Junius, his uncle, and to Publius Potitius, his guardian, a most frugal man. They report the business to a man of the greatest consideration, of the greatest benevolence and virtue, Marcus Marcellus, who was also a guardian of the minor. Marcus Marcellus comes to Verres ”

“ Indeed, foreign nations had held the Romans to be excellent soldiers and formidable in battle; but they had hitherto given no memorable example of gentleness, or humanity, or civil virtue; and Marcellus seems first to have shown to the Greeks, that his countrymen were most illustrious for their justice. ”

“ On this occasion it appeared to what degree of violence anger can stimulate men; for the Romans fought with such a desire of slaughter, rather than of victory, that they scarcely left one of the enemy to carry the news of their defeat. On account of these successes, when the letters of the consuls were brought to Rome, a supplication for three days was decreed. Soon after, Marcellus came to Rome, and had a triumph decreed him by an unanimous vote of the senate. He triumphed, while in office, over the Insubrians and Comans. ”

“ Other consuls, Claudius Marcellus and Gnæus Scipio, chosen in their stead, made an expedition against the Insubres, for the Romans had not complied with the latter's requests by voting for peace. Together at first they carried on the war and were in most cases victorious. Soon, learning that the allied territory was being plundered, they severed their [Pg 202] forces. Marcellus made a quick march against those plundering the land of the allies, but did not find them on the scene ”

“ Milo is already in possession of the campus. The candidate Marcellus [18] is snoring so loud that I can hear him next door. I am told that Clodius's vestibule is completely deserted: there are a few ragged fellows there and a canvas lantern. [19] His party complains that I am the adviser of the whole business: they little know the courage and wisdom of that hero! ”