Note 26 — Chapter I · ANCIENT GALICIA

See Suetonius, and Plutarch, who wrote in his Life of Julius Cæsar: “We are told that when he was in Spain he bestowed some leisure hours in reading part of the history of Alexander, and was so much affected with it that he sat pensive a long time, and at last burst out into tears. As his friends were wondering what might be the reason, he said, ‘Do you think I have not sufficient cause for concern when Alexander at my age reigned over so many conquered countries, and I have not one glorious achievement to boast?’ From this principle it was that immediately upon his arrival in Spain he applied to business with great diligence, and, having added ten new cohorts to the twenty he received, then he marched against the Callaecians (Galicians) and Lusitanians, defeated them, and penetrated to the ocean, reducing nations by the way that had not felt the yoke.”