No More Learning

[729] L C. Augustus Caesar (VIII) and M. Silanus. In the year of these consuls, Caesar conquered the Cantabri, Germans, and Salassi.

[730] L C. Augustus Caesar (IX) and C. Norbanus. In the year of these consuls, the Astures and Cantabri were conquered by Lucius Lamia.

[734] L M. Apuleius and P. Silius. In the year of these consuls, Caesar recovered the eagles and standards of Crassus from the Parthians.

[735] L C. Sentius and Q. Lucretius. In the year of these consuls, a chariot with a crown of gold was decreed for Caesar on his return from the provinces; but he refused to ride on it.

[745] L Drusus Nero and L. Quintius. In the year of these consuls, Drusus consecrated a temple to Caesar in the territory of the tribe of Lingones.



9. TELES THE CYNIC, Excerpts from Diatribes

Teles wrote shortly after the middle of the third century B. C. , as is shown by the reference to two of his contemporaries in the second extract translated here: Chremonides went into exile after the fall of Athens in 261 B. C. , and Hippomedon, who was an associate of the Spartan king Agis IV ( Plut:Agis_6'5 ), probably went into exile after the death of Agis in 241 B. C. The writings of Teles have not survived intact, but eight excerpts from them were included in the "Anthology" of Stobaeus. Although it is generally agreed that Teles had little talent either as a writer or a philosopher, he has preserved some valuable information about his contemporaries and earlier Cynic philosophers. A few paragraphs are translated here; a good translation of all the surviving excerpts can be found in R. Dobbin, "The Cynic Philosophers", p. 110. The numbers in red are the page numbers in the edition by O. Hense; the Greek text of the excerpts is available elsewhere on this website.

2: FROM THE BOOK OF TELES ON SELF-SUFFICIENCY

[12] G Remember what Diogenes did when someone told him that Athens was an expensive city. He took the man [13] to a perfumer's shop and asked the price of a cotyla of henna oil. "A mina," replied the perfumer. He exclaimed, "This city really is expensive. " Then Diogenes took him to a cook shop and asked the price of a pig's trotters. "Three drachmae," was the reply. He cried out, "This city really is expensive. " Then Diogenes took him to a fine wool shop and asked the price of a sheep. "A mina," was the reply. He cried out, "This city really is expensive. " "Come on then," said Diogenes; he took him to the lupin-market and asked the price of a choenix. "A chalcus," was the reply. Diogenes exclaimed, "This city really is cheap. " And then they went for dried figs - "two chalci;" and for myrtle - "two chalci. " Diogenes cried out, "This city really is cheap. " Therefore, in the same way as the city is expensive or cheap only in relation to our habits, so our life, depending on how we deal with our circumstances, can seem either simple and easy or exceedingly difficult.

3: TELES, CONCERNING EXILE

[22] G The famous Themistocles once said, "My son, we would have been ruined if we had not been ruined {exiled}. " [23] Now there are many similar examples. What good things does exile take away from us, or what evil does it cause? I cannot see any such thing; but we are often the cause of our own ruin, both when we are in exile and when we remain in our homeland. Others say that exiles do not rule, they are not trusted and they do not have freedom of speech. Yet some exiles guard cities for the kings, some of them are trusted to govern whole nations, and they receive large gifts and pensions. Was not Lycinus made our garrison commander, who was trusted to do this by Antigonus although he was an exile from Italy? We had to do what Lycinus ordered, although we were living in our own homeland. Hippomedon of Lacedaemon has now been appointed by Ptolemy to govern Thrace, and Chremonides and Glaucon of Athens are his counsellors and advisers - for I am not telling you ancient history, but things that have happened in our lifetime. And lastly, was not he {? Chremonides} sent on an important mission and trusted with a large amount of money, which he had the power to use as he wished?

* * *

[25] G It is certainly not a misfortune or a reproach for me, if I will not remain with wrong-doers. Is that a reproach for me, rather than for those who force me out, although I behave in a reasonable and upright manner? Philemon expressed it well; for once, after he had been brought to trial and successfully acquitted, someone he met said, "You have been fortunate, Philemon. " But he replied, "That is what you think, from seeing this one case; but I always do what is good. "

4A: EPITOME OF THE WRITINGS OF TELES

[38] G In the same way that, when a king has put his seal on belongings, it is not permitted to touch them, so some people's servility and despondency puts a seal on their belongings, and does not permit them to touch them; instead they go short and are in need, because they crave for many things but are incapable of using them. Therefore Crates, when someone asked him, "What benefit will I get from being a philosopher? ", replied, "You can easily open your pouch, take out the contents with your hand and give them away freely - not as you do now, turning and hesitating and trembling, as if your hands were paralysed. That is how you will regard it if it is full; and if you see that it is empty, you will not be upset. If you choose to use the contents, you can do so easily, and if you do not have anything left, you will not feel the lack of it. You will remain satisfied with what is available, not craving for what you do not have or complaining about your circumstances. "

* * *

[39] G Therefore, if you want to free your son from need and poverty, do not send him to Ptolemy [40] to acquire money: he will only become arrogant when he returns, and you will have achieved nothing. Instead, send him to Crates, who knows how to take grasping and extravagant men, and make them liberal and unaffected. The famous Metrocles said, apparently, that when he attended the school of Theophrastus and Xenocrates, although many provisions were sent to him from home, he still was afraid that he might die of hunger, and he was constantly in need and poverty; but later, when he moved to Crates, he could feed himself and another, without receiving any provisions. Previously it was absolutely essential for him to have smart sandals, a shawl, a retinue of slaves, and a large house, and for shared meals he needed fine bread, exquisite relishes, agreeable wine and fitting entertainment - [41] G (? ) in a lavish manner; for they considered that this mode of life befitted a liberal man. But when he moved over to Crates, he kept none of this; he became simpler in his manners, and was content with an old cloak and barley-cake and vegetables; he did not miss his former manner of life, and was not vexed by his new circumstances. When it becomes cold, we look for a thicker coat, but he folded his old cloak in two, and went around as if he had two cloaks. If he needed to rub himself with oil, he went to the baths, and rubbed himself with the lumps of oil left there. Sometimes he walked to the furnaces in the forges; there he fried some sprats, covered them with a little oil and sat down to have his lunch. In the summer he slept in the temples, and in the winter he slept in the baths. He did not go short or live in need as he had done previously, but he was satisfied with what he had and felt no desire to have servants. For it would be strange, as Diogenes says, if Manes {his slave} could live without Diogenes, but Diogenes could not be happy without Manes. If you have made your son arrogant, extravagant, superstitious, attention-seeking [42] and insatiable, you will achieve nothing by giving him more money; for as Philemon aptly says, "You will get more wealth, but not a different way of life. "

4B: EPITOME OF THE WRITINGS OF TELES

[46] G Do you not see that rich men are too busy to devote themselves to study, but the poor man with little to do is open to philosophy? Zenon says that Crates was once sitting in a shoemaker's shop reading the 'Protrepticus' of Aristotle, which is addressed to Themison, the king of the Cypriots. In it, Aristotle says that no-one has more advantages than the king when it comes to studying philosophy; he has plenty of money to spend on it, and he already has a good reputation. Zenon says that while he was reading this, the shoemaker was busy sewing but kept on listening to the book. Then Crates said, "I think I will write my own 'Protrepticus' addressed to you, Philiscus; because I see that you are more inclined to studying philosophy than the man to whom Aristotle wrote. "

* * *

[47] G But they still regard themselves as unlucky, because they are poor. They say that cities accord more honour to rich men than to poor men. They seem not to have heard of Aristeides, who was the poorest of all [48] the Athenians, but was held in the highest honour. When the Athenians wanted to assess the tribute to be paid by the cities, they appointed Aristeides to do it, because they thought that he would assess it more justly than anyone else. Callias, the wealthiest of the Athenians, was more eager to be seen as an associate of Aristeides than Aristeides was of Callias, and Aristeides was much more ashamed to be associated with the wealth of Callias than Callias was with the poverty of Aristeides. And again, who was more celebrated than Lysander the Spartan, and rewarded with more honours? And yet he could not afford to give a dowry for his daughters. And one could give as many other examples as you wish, of men who although they were poor were held in greater honour than the wealthy. I consider that Euripides { Supp_874 } very reasonably praised Eteocles because, although he was an impoverished young man, "yet he held the greatest honours in the city of the Argives. "

7: FROM THE WRITINGS OF TELES, ABOUT LACK OF EMOTION

[57] G Everyone admires the Laconian women for their courage. One, when she heard that her son had saved himself by fleeing from the enemy, wrote to him in very different terms from an Attic woman, who on hearing [58] that her son had been saved, would have written, "Well done, son, because you have saved yourself for me. " But the Laconian woman wrote, "A bad rumour has spread around about you; therefore, either wipe away your bad reputation or do not come into my presence;" - in other words, "Go hang. " And again, another Laconian woman, when a messenger told her that her son had died in battle, asked how he had behaved, and was told, "like a good man, mother. " "Well done, my son," said the woman, "that is why I gave birth to you, so that you could be useful and helpful to Sparta. " She did not wail or complain, but when she heard that her son had died bravely, she congratulated him. And again, how nobly another Laconian woman acted. When her sons fled from battle and came to her, she said, "Why have you come running to me? Is it because you want to go back in where you came from? " At this, she lifted up her clothes and exposed herself to them. Would any woman in our country act like that? [59] G No, she would be pleased to see her sons saved. But the Laconian women were not pleased by this. They preferred to hear that their sons had died bravely; and so the Spartans composed this epitaph:
" . . . they did not prefer to live or die,
But chose to do both of these bravely. "



10. PHLEGON, 'Mirabilia', chapter 3

In his 'Mirabilia', Phlegon included a couple of Aetolian ghost stories - for the other one, about Polycritus, see theoi. org. The story of Būplagus is set in the context of historical events of 191 B. C. , but the identity of the Roman general Publius is left unclear. The verse prophecies of Publius, which do not appear to refer to any historical events, are omitted here; at the end of the story Publius is eaten by a huge red wolf - apart from his head, which carries on prophesying. The translation is by William Hansen (1996).

[1] Antisthenes the Peripatetic philosopher relates that the consul Acilius Glabrio along with the legates Porcius Cato and Lucius Valerius Flaccus drew up in battle-order against Antiochus in Thermopylae and fought nobly, forcing Antiochus's men to cast away their weapons and Antiochus himself to flee with five hundred guards initially to Elateia, after which Acilius compelled him to withdraw to Ephesus. [2] Acilius dispatched Cato to Rome to report his victory while he himself waged war against the Aetolians in Heracleia, which he easily captured. [3] In the confrontation with Antiochus at Thermopylae, very conspicuous omens occurred to the Romans. In the days following Antiochus's failure and flight, the Romans occupied themselves in removing for burial the bodies of their own fallen and in collecting arms and other spoils as well as prisoners of war.

[4] There was a certain Būplagus, a cavalry commander from Syria who had been held in high esteem by King Antiochus and had fallen after fighting nobly. At midday while the Romans were gathering all the enemy's arms, Būplagus stood up from among the dead, though he had twelve wounds, and went to the Roman camp where he proclaimed in a soft voice the following verses.
Stop despoiling an army gone to the land of Hades,
For already Zeus Cronides is angry beholding your ill deeds,
Wrothful at the slaughter of an army and at your doings, and
Will send a bold-hearted tribe against your land
That will put an end to your rule, and you will pay for what you have wrought.

[5] Shaken by this utterance the generals quickly convened the multitude and deliberated about the ghost. They decided to cremate and bury Būplagus (who had expired immediately after his utterance), purify the camp, perform a sacrifice to Zeus Apotropaios and send a delegation to Delphi to ask the god what they should do. [6] When the envoys reached Pytho and asked what to do, the Pythia proclaimed the following oracle.
Restrain yourself now, Roman, and let justice abide with you,
Lest Pallas stir up a much greater Ares against you,
And make desolate your market-places, and you, fool, for all your effort,
Lose much wealth before reaching your land.

[7] When they had heard this oracle they renounced entirely the idea of waging war upon any of the peoples of Europe. Breaking camp at the forementioned place they went to Naupactus in Aetolia where there was a shared temple of the Greeks, and they prepared sacrifices at public expense and first fruits according to custom.

[8] After the rites had been discharged, General Publius began to rave and behave in a deranged manner, making many utterances in a state of divine possession, of which some were in verse and some in prose. When word of this matter reached the ordinary soldiers, they all rushed to Publius's tent, partly from anxiety and amazement that the best man among them, an experienced leader, had fallen into such a state and partly from a wish to hear what he was saying. As a result some men were pressed together so powerfully that they were suffocated. The following utterance in verse was made by him while he was still inside his tent.
O my country what a baneful Ares Athena will bring out
When you ravage Asia with its great wealth and return . . .

[9] After he had proclaimed these verses he darted out of his tent in his tunic and made the following utterance in prose. 'I reveal, soldiers and citizens, that crossing over from Europe to Asia you will overcome King Antiochus in battles at sea and on land, and become master of all the land on this side of the Taurus and of all the cities established in it, having driven Antiochus into Syria; this land and these cities will be handed over ro the sons of Attalus. The Celts dwelling in Asia who face you in battle will be worsted, and you will take possession of their women and children and all their household goods, and convey them to Europe. But European coastal-dwellers, the Thracians of the Propontis and Hellespont, will attack you around the land of the Aenians as you return from your campaign, killing some of your men and capturing some of your booty. When the others have come safely through and been conveyed to Rome, there will be a treaty with King Antiochus, according to which he will pay money and withdraw from a certain region. ' . . .

Attalus' home page | 15. 12. 16 | Any comments?

back
Julius Exsuperantius

Exsuperantius, or Exuperantius as he is sometimes spelt, probably lived in the fourth century A. D. His short history is clearly based on the works, now partly lost, of the historian Sallustius.

Translated from the text of N. Zorzetti. See key to translations for an explanation of the format.

[1] L When the proconsul L. Metellus led an army to Numidia against Jugurtha, he had with him amongst the common soldiers C. Marius, who was low-born but outstanding in virtue. [2] When Metellus made him the soldiers' quaestor, Marius so distinguished himself by his brave deeds that he was feared by the enemy and respected by his general.

[3] L When Marius made a sacrifice to the gods in the Numidian town which is called Utica, the soothsayers predicted that a great future awaited him. They urged him to attempt whatever he wanted, and seek a position loftier than his birth, and greater than he merited; for fortune seemed prepared to grant him everything. Then he was seized by a great desire to become consul; [4] so after gathering support, he left his province and returned to Rome to stand for the consulship. [5] Once there, by playing down the achievements of Metellus and stressing his own merit, he made the people become eager for change. He won their support with the help of the tribunes of the plebs.

[6] L At that time, a struggle arose between the senate and the people, each desiring to gain control [of the state]. And so it happened that Marius was granted new honours, as if for the purpose of destroying the nobles, whom he had abused with insults. [7] So at the consular elections the whole populace, who had assembled for the voting, chose Marius as consul. Metellus was deprived of his province, and Marius was sent to Numidia.

[8] L Marius accepted the post of consul as if it were the spoils of victory after his defeat of the senate, and openly proclaimed himself as the enemy of their power. [9] When he conscripted new soldiers, he was the first general to take into war the "capite censi" ("counted by head"), who were useless and untrustworthy citizens. This was his way of showing his gratitude to the people, who had granted him the honours which he longed for, but it was harmful to the state.

[10] L At that time the Roman people was divided into classes, and each citizen was recorded in the census according to the size of his estate. [11] And those who possessed land were conscripted as soldiers, because they would toil strenuously for victory, as they were defending their ancestral possessions as well as their liberty. [12] But the citizens who had no possessions were recorded in the census by their head, which was all they owned, and in times of war they stayed within the city walls, because they could easily turn into traitors, as poverty often leads to evil. [13] Marius took these men, who should not have been entrusted with public business, to fight in the war.

[14] L Marius also took L. Sulla, one of the nobles, with him to his province, where the war was brought to a successful close and Jugurtha was captured. After their victorious return to Rome, becaue Marius' excellence was recognised, he was immediately sent to Gaul, whose inhabitants were launching attacks on Roman territory.

[15] L At the same time Mithridates, at the head of a huge army, began to attack and plunder the whole [province] of Asia, including the allied cities. [16] L. Sulla, who had shown greatness of mind and body during the war in Africa, was chosen to lead an army against Mithridates. [17] When Marius heard of this, he quickly put an end to the war which he was waging, because in his endless desire for glory he could not allow Rome's liberty and dignity to be defended by any other man's courage. So after crushing the Gauls and utterly destroying the barbarian tribes, he once again returned in triumph to Rome. [18] At his prompting Sulpicius, a tribune of the plebs, passed a law to take away Sulla's province and give it to Marius instead.

[19] L When Sulla learnt this, he left his legate Murena in charge of the province and of the Valerian soldiers, whom he regarded as untrustworthy in a civil war. He himself, angry and upset at the injustice which he had received, went off with part of his army to put down Marius' faction. [20] As soon as he came to Rome, he killed Sulpicius, who was opposing him and undermining the state with rebellious assemblies, along with many of his supporters. Marius, the architect of the outrage, was forced into exile by the attack, [21] and, after so many victories, wandered, shipwrecked and penniless, through the countryside of Gaul and Africa, which he had once plundered.

[22] L While this was happening, Cinna and Octavius were elected consuls. Cinna, who belonged to Marius' party, [23] passed a law to the effect that new citizens, upon receiving Roman citizenship for any reason, should be able to vote amongst the old citizens, with no distinction. [24] He did this to gain the favour of the men who had raised Marius to power by their votes and had granted him the greatest honours; but this law was unfair to the old citizens, who seemed to have lost the benefit of their dignity, by having their votes mixed in with those of the new, less worthy citizens.

[25] L For this reason Octavius was aroused to put an end to the dissension, and with the approval of the old citizens he took us arms, depending on the support of Sulla's forces, and forced his colleague Cinna into exile. [26] In the course of these events, a large number of citizens were killed on both sides.

[27] L While Cinna was wandering about after his expulsion, he came to Africa, where Marius was living in poverty. There they formed a joint plan of action, and got together an army by stirring up unrest amongst the lowest classes and by releasing slaves from their workplaces. So they came back to Rome with a very strong body of young supporters, and overcame and killed Octavius, the leader of Sulla's party.
[29] L And while Cinna was raging against everyone in this arrogant fashion, he was killed by his own soldiers at an assembly.

[30] L Then Marius, fearing that he would not be able to continue in power without an ally, substituted Carbo for Cinna, to be his colleague in his seventh consulship. [31] Then Sulla, stirred up by these outrages, led his army against Marius and Carbo, and the Roman armies fought against each other in a bloody contest. Marius was defeated in this war.

[32] L After his victory Sulla cruelly attacked whoever was left in the city, and he did not return the state which he had liberated to the rule of law, but took possession of it for himself. Such was his behaviour, that men longed for the rule of Cinna and Marius, which he had come to avenge. [33] This is why Sallustius say, "From good beginnings he achieved bad results. " The beginnings were indeed good, because he wanted to defend the citizens' liberty, which had been suppressed. But the results were bad, because after defeating the tyrants and the cruel leaders, he disturbed the state even more grievously, though he had promised to free it from its calamities.

[34] L While Sulla was in power, he drew up many laws and ordinances, and granted many states immunity from taxation, and brought many people into Roman citizenship.

[35] L In an attempt to overturn Sulla's laws, the consul Lepidus started a civil war against his colleague Catulus, and was defeated. [36] Lepidus gathered together the dispossessed, whose land had been taken over by Sulla after his victory to make new colonies for his soldiers, and also the children of the proscribed. In this way he collected a large army, by promising to restore their ancestral property, if they were victorious. [37] He also made himself popular with the common people, as the defender of the people's freedom, by bestowing many gifts on them, both publicly and individually.

[38] L A battle was fought on the coast of Etruria, and Lepidus started to gain the upper hand, because of the large number of soldiers who had joined his side out of hatred of Sulla's government. [39] But Pompeius returned from Gaul, in order to prevent Lepidus from harming the state by his impudent madness, and utterly defeated his army, who fled away and fell into a sudden panic. Lepidus lost the majority of his army and escaped to Sardinia, from where he reduced the Roman people to neediness by hindering their trade, while he rebuilt his own forces and supplies. [40] He fought several desperate battles in Sardinia with the propraetor Triarius, who defended his province so effectively that all Lepidus' plans were thwarted. [41] Lepidus was shut out of all the towns and could not capture them because of their fortifications. So he was unable to carry out his objectives, and in the midst of his preparations he fell seriously ill and died. [42] His partner and accomplice Perpenna, in order to avoid punishment for his great crimes, crossed over from Sardinia to Spain and joined Sertorius, who was then waging war against the Roman empire.

[43] L This Sertorius belonged to Marius' party. In the consulship of Norbanus and Sulla, when Sulla returned from Asia against Marius and his faction, Sertorius forestalled the anger of the senate at the public suffering, which the fighting between the leaders would cause, by passing a resolution that "the consuls should see to it that the state received no harm. " [44] This resolution of the senate prompted the consuls to prepare defences of every kind against Sulla, who was advancing against them and threatening everyone with destruction; and they chose suitable generals, including Sertorius, who would direct the war energetically. [45] After preparing a very strong army, the consuls marched out and in spite of Sertorius' objections they agreed to discussions between their army and Sulla's army. They were betrayed, and all their army passed over to Sulla.

[46] L Then Sertorius, abandoned and without the protection of any force, escaped to Etruria. He was afraid that Sulla in his anger would punish him severely, as a defeated enemy. [47] But the Etruscans were faithful supporters of Marius' party, because they had received from them the Roman citizenship, which they did not possess before. They were afraid that Sulla would revoke the grant of this dignity, given to them by Marius' party, if his enemies were completely destroyed. So they joined Sertorius and the other leaders of that party, promising that they would do everything which was commanded without demur. [48] And so it happened that a strong army of forty cohorts was again assembled; and many soldiers, who had surrendered to Sulla on his arrival, returned to the camp of their former generals, whom they had betrayed, because their hopes of a [peaceful] agreement had been dashed.

[49] L Meanwhile Marius (for the seventh time) and Cinna were elected consuls. Then Sertorius, safe again through the influence of Marius, came to Rome and began to criticise the slothfulness of all the leaders. With many ready examples he praised the energy and valour of Sulla, and said that unless he was immediately confronted, the war would be over and finished. [50] Then the consuls and leaders of the other party, reproved by these weighty accusations, sent Sertorius to Nearer Spain, with orders to settle affairs in Transalpine Gaul on his journey there. They did this either to remove from sight a rival and a passionate critic of their negligence, or to put a suitable leader in charge of a savage and untrustworthy province. [51] But when he arrived in the province, by a mixture of careful surveillance and encouragement, he so effectively won over the minds of the allies to his side, though they had been starting to defect and change their allegiance, that he was both liked and feared by everybody.

[52] L Marius and Sulla fought near Rome; Marius was killed in the battle and Carbo fled, giving up the struggle as lost. [53] Then Sertorius, seeing that the side which he followed was finished and destroyed, decided that the best policy was not to dismiss his army, which would leave him defenceless against punishment by the victors, but to collect a large force in Spain and fight against the Roman armies.

[54] L After the death of Sulla, he openly revealed himself as an enemy of the state, and Metellus and Pompeius were sent to suppress him. They attacked him in many fierce battles, [55] but even so it would have been difficult to defeat him, if he had not been killed by a conspiracy of his own men during a banquet.

[56] L Afterwards Pompeius defeated Perpenna and destroyed the cities of Auxumnis, Clunia and Calagurris. He set up a trophy on the Pyrenees and then returned to Rome.

Attalus' home page | 25. 02. 14 | Any comments?