BOOK VI. (continued 2)

60. But Theopompus, in the eighteenth book of his Histories, speaking of Nicostratus the Argive, and saying [396]how he flattered the Persian king, writes as follows—"But how can we think Nicostratus the Argive anything but a wicked man? who, when he was president of the city of Argos, and when he had received all the distinctions of family, and riches, and large estates from his ancestors, surpassed all men in his flatteries and attentions to the king, outrunning not only those who bore a part in that expedition, but even all who had lived before; for in the first place, he was so anxious for honours from the barbarian, that, wishing to please him more and to be more trusted by him, he brought his son to the king, a thing which no one else will ever be found to have done. And then, every day when he was about to go to supper he had a table set apart, to which he gave the name of the Table of the King's Deity, loading it with meat and all other requisites; hearing that those who live at the doors of the royal palace among the Persians do the same thing, and thinking that by this courtier-like attention he should get more from the king. For he was exceedingly covetous, and not scrupulous as to the means he employed for getting money, so that indeed no one was ever less so. And Lysimachus was a flatterer and the tutor of Attalus the king, a man whom Callimachus sets down as a Theodorean, but Hermippus sets him down in the list of the disciples of Theophrastus. And this man wrote books also about the education of Attalus, full of every kind of adulation imaginable. But Polybius, in the eighth book of his Histories, says, "Cavarus the Gaul, who was in other respects a good man, was depraved by Sostratus the flatterer, who was a Chalcedonian by birth."

61. Nicolaus, in the hundred and fourteenth book of his Histories, says that Andromachus of Carrhæ was a flatterer of Licinius Crassus, who commanded the expedition against the Parthians; and that Crassus communicated all his designs to him, and was, in consequence, betrayed to the Parthians by him, and so destroyed. But Andromachus was not allowed by the deity to escape unpunished. For having obtained, as the reward of his conduct, the sovereignty over his native place Carrhæ, he behaved with such cruelty and violence that he was burnt with his whole family by the Carrhans. And Posidonius the Apamean, who was afterwards surnamed Rhodius, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Hierax of Antioch, who used formerly to accompany the [397]singers called Lysiodi on the flute, afterwards became a terrible flatterer of Ptolemy, seventh king of Egypt of that name, who was also surnamed Euergetes; and that he had the very greatest influence over him, as also he had with Ptolemy Philometor, though he was afterwards put to death by him. And Nicolaus the Peripatetic states that Sosipater was a flatterer of Mithridates, a man who was by trade a conjurer. And Theopompus, in the ninth book of his History of Grecian Affairs, says that Athenæus the Eretrian was a flatterer and servant of Sisyphus the tyrant of Pharsalus.

62. The whole populace of the Athenians, too, was very notorious for the height to which it pushed its flattery; accordingly, Demochares the cousin of Demosthenes the orator, in the twentieth book of his Histories, speaking of the flattery practised by the Athenians towards Demetrius Poliorcetes, and saying that he himself did not at all like it, writes as follows—"And some of these things annoyed him greatly, as they well might. And, indeed, other parts of their conduct were utterly mean and disgraceful. They consecrated temples to Leæna Venus and Lamia Venus, and they erected altars and shrines as if to heroes, and instituted libations in honour of Burichus, and Adeimantus, and Oxythemis, his flatterers. And poems were sung in honour of all these people, so that even Demetrius himself was astonished at what they did, and said that in his time there was not one Athenian of a great or vigorous mind." The Thebans also flattered Demetrius, as Polemo relates in the treatise on the Ornamented Portico at Sicyon; and they, too, erected a temple to Lamia Venus. But she was one of Demetrius's mistresses, as also was Leæna. So that why should we wonder at the Athenians, who stooped even to become flatterers of flatterers, singing pæans and hymns to Demetrius himself?

Accordingly Demochares, in the twenty-first book of his Histories, says—"And the Athenians received Demetrius when he came from Leucadia and Corcyra to Athens, not only with frankincense, and crowns, and libations of wine, but they even went out to meet him with hymns, and choruses, and ithyphalli, and dancing and singing, and they stood in front of him in multitudes, dancing and singing, and saying that he was the only true god, and that all the rest of the gods were either asleep, or gone away to a distance, or were no gods at [398]all. And they called him the son of Neptune and Venus, for he was eminent for beauty, and affable to all men with a natural courtesy and gentleness of manner. And they fell at his feet and addressed supplications and prayers to him."

63. Demochares, then, has said all this about the adulatory spirit and conduct of the Athenians. And Duris the Samian, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, has given the very ithyphallic hymn which they addressed to him—

[399] 64. This is what was sung by the nation which once fought at Marathon, and they sang it not only in public, but in their private houses—men who had once put a man to death for offering adoration to the king of Persia, and who had slain countless myriads of barbarians. Therefore, Alexis, in his Apothecary or Cratevas, introduces a person pledging one of the guests in a cup of wine, and represents him as saying—

And presently he adds—

65. Such were the Athenians at that time, after flattery, that worst of wild beasts, had inspired their city with frenzy, that city which once the Pythia entitled the Hearth of Greece, and which Theopompus, who hated them, called the Prytaneum of Greece; he who said in other places that Athens was full of drunken flatterers, and sailors, and pickpockets, and also of false witnesses, sycophants, and false accusers. And it is my opinion that it was they who introduced all the flattery which we have been speaking of, like a storm, or other infliction, sent on men by the gods; concerning which Diogenes said, very elegantly—"That it was much better to go ἐς κόρακας than ἐς κόλακας, who eat up all the good men while they are still alive;" and, accordingly, Anaxilas says, in his Young Woman—

And Plato says, in his Phædrus—"Nature has mingled some pleasure which is not entirely inelegant in its character of a flatterer, though he is an odious beast, and a great injury to a state." And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Flattery, [400]says that Myrtis the priest, the Argive, taking by the ear Cleonymus (who was a dancer and also a flatterer, and who often used to come and sit by him and his fellow-judges, and who was anxious to be seen in company with those who were thought of consideration in the city), and dragging him out of the assembly, said to him in the hearing of many people, You shall not dance here, and you shall not hear us. And Diphilus, in his Marriage, says—

So that the Thessalians did well who razed the city which was called Colaceia (Flattery), which the Melians used to inhabit, as Theopompus relates in the thirtieth book of his History.

66. But Phylarchus says, that those Athenians who settled in Lemnos were great flatterers, mentioning them as such in the thirteenth book of his History. For that they, wishing to display their gratitude to the descendants of Seleucus and Antiochus, because Seleucus not only delivered them when they were severely oppressed by Lysimachus, but also restored both their cities to them,—they, I say, the Athenians in Lemnos, not only erected temples to Seleucus, but also to his son Antiochus; and they have given to the cup, which at their feasts is offered at the end of the banquet, the name of the cup of Seleucus the Saviour.

Now some people, perverting the proper name, call this flattery ἀρέσκεια, complaisance; as Anaxandrides does in his Samian, where he says—

But those who devote themselves to flattery are not aware that that art is one which flourishes only a short time. Accordingly, Alexis says in his Liar—

[401] And Clearchus the Solensian, in the first book of his Amatory treatises, says—"No flatterer is constant in his friendship. For time destroys the falsehood of his pretences, and a lover is only a flatterer and a pretended friend on account of youth or beauty." One of the flatterers of Demetrius the king was Adeimantus of Lampsacus, who having built a temple in Thriæ, and placed statues in it, called it the temple of Phila Venus, and called the place itself Philæum, from Phila the mother of Demetrius; as we are told by Dionysius the son of Tryphon, in the tenth book of his treatise on Names.

67. But Clearchus the Solensian, in his book which is inscribed Gergithius, tells us whence the origin of the name flatterer is derived; and mentioning Gergithius himself, from whom the treatise has its name, he says that he was one of Alexander's flatterers; and he tells the story thus—"That flattery debases the characters of the flatterers, making them apt to despise whoever they associate with; and a proof of this is, that they endure everything, well knowing what they dare do. And those who are flattered by them, being puffed up by their adulation, they make foolish and empty-headed, and cause them to believe that they, and everything belonging to them, are of a higher order than other people." And then proceeding to mention a certain young man, a Paphian by birth, but a king by the caprice of fortune, he says—"This young man (and he does not mention his name) used out of his preposterous luxury to lie on a couch with silver feet, with a smooth Sardian carpet spread under it of the most expensive description. And over him was thrown a piece of purple cloth, edged with a scarlet fringe; and he had three pillows under his head made of the finest linen, and of purple colour, by which he kept himself cool. And under his feet he had two pillows of the kind called Dorian, of a bright crimson colour; and on all this he lay himself, clad in a white robe.

68. "And all the monarchs who have at any time reigned in Cyprus have encouraged a race of nobly-born flatterers as useful to them; for they are a possession very appropriate to tyrants. And no one ever knows them (any more than they do the judges of the Areopagus), either how many they are, or who they are, except that perhaps some of the most [402]eminent may be known or suspected. And the flatterers at Salamis are divided into two classes with reference to their families; and it is from the flatterers in Salamis that all the rest of the flatterers in the other parts of Cyprus are derived; and one of these two classes is called the Gergini, and the other the Promalanges. Of which, the Gergini mingle with the people in the city, and go about as eavesdroppers and spies in the workshops and the market-places; and whatever they hear, they report every day to those who are called their Principals. But the Promalanges, being a sort of superior investigators, inquire more particularly into all that is reported by the Gergini which appears worthy of being investigated; and the way in which they conduct themselves towards every one is so artificial and gentle, that, as it seems to me, and as they themselves allege, the very seed of notable flatterers has been spread by them over all the places at a distance. Nor do they pride themselves slightly on their skill, because they are greatly honoured by the kings; but they say that one of the Gergini, being a descendant of those Trojans whom Teucer took as slaves, having selected them from the captives, and then brought and settled in Cyprus, going along the sea-coast with a few companions, sailed towards Æolis, in order to seek out and re-establish the country of his ancestors; and that he, taking some Mysians to himself, inhabited a city near the Trojan Ida, which was formerly called Gergina, from the name of the inhabitants, but is now called Gergitha. For some of the party being, as it seems, separated from this expedition, stopped in Cymæa, being by birth a Cretan race, and not from the Thessalian Tricca, as some have affirmed,—men whose ignorance I take to be beyond the skill of all the descendants of Æsculapius to cure.

69. "There were also in this country, in the time of Glutus the Carian, women attaching themselves to the Queens, who were called flatterers; and a few of them who were left crossed the sea, and were sent for to the wives of Artabazus and Mentor, and instead of κολακίδες were called κλιμακίδες from this circumstance. By way of making themselves agreeable to those who had sent for them, they made a ladder (κλίμακια) of themselves, in such a manner that there was a way of ascending over their backs, and also a way of descending, for their mistresses when they drove out in chariots: to such a [403]pitch of luxury, not to say of miserable helplessness, did they bring those silly women by their contrivance. Therefore, they themselves, when they were compelled by fortune to quit that very luxurious way of living, lived with great hardship in their old age. And the others who had received these habits from us, when they were deprived of their authority came to Macedonia; and the customs which they taught to the wives and princesses of the great men in that country by their association with them, it is not decent even to mention further than this, that practising magic arts themselves, and being the objects of them when practised by others, they did not spare even the places of the greatest resort, but they became complete vagabonds, and the very scum of the streets, polluted with all sorts of abominations. Such and so great are the evils which seem to be engendered by flattery in the case of all people who admit from their own inclination and predisposition to be flattered."

70. And a little further Clearchus goes on as follows:—"But still a man may have a right to find fault with that young man for the way in which he used those things, as I have said before. For his slaves stood in short tunics a little behind the couch: and as there are now three men on whose account all this discussion has been originated, and as all these men are men who have separate names among us, the one sat on the couch close to his feet, letting the feet of the young man rest upon his knees, and covering them with a thin cloth; and what he did further is plain enough, even if I do not mention it. And this servant is called by the natives Parabystus, because he works his way into the company of those men even who do not willingly receive him, by the very skilful character of his flatteries. The second was one sitting on a certain chair which was placed close to the couch; and he, holding by the hand of the young man, as he let it almost drop, and clinging to it, kept on rubbing it, and taking each of his fingers in turn he rubbed it and stretched it, so that the man appeared to have said a very witty thing who first gave that officer the name of Sicya.[403:1] The third, however, was the most noble of all, and was called Theer (or the wild beast), who was indeed the principal person of the whole body, and who stood at his master's head, and shared [404]his linen pillows, lying upon them in a most friendly manner. And with his left hand he kept smoothing the hair of the young man, and with his right hand he kept moving up and down a Phocæan fan, so as to please him while waving it, without force enough to brush anything away. On which account, it appears to me, that some high-born god must have been angry with him and have sent a fly to attack the young man, a fly like that with whose audacity Homer says that Minerva inspired Menelaus, so vigorous and fearless was it in disposition.

"So when the young man was stung, this man uttered such a loud scream in his behalf, and was so indignant, that on account of his hatred to one fly he banished the whole tribe of flies from his house: from which it is quite plain that he appointed this servant for this especial purpose."

71. But Leucon, the tyrant of Pontus, was a different kind of man, who when he knew that many of his friends had been plundered by one of the flatterers whom he had about him, perceiving that the man was calumniating some one of his remaining friends, said, "I swear by the gods that I would kill you if a tyrannical government did not stand in need of bad men." And Antiphanes the comic writer, in his Soldier, gives a similar account of the luxury of the kings in Cyprus. And he represents one of them as asking a soldier these questions—

A. Tell me now, you had lived some time in Cyprus? Say you not so?

B. Yes, all the time of the war.

A. In what part most especially? tell me that.

B. In Paphos, where you should have seen the luxury That did exist, or you could not believe it.

A. What kind of luxury?

B. The king was fann'd While at his supper by young turtle-doves And by nought else.

A. How mean you? never mind My own affairs, but let me ask you this.

B. He was anointed with a luscious ointment Brought up from Syria, made of some rich fruit Which they do say doves love to feed upon. They were attracted by the scent and flew Around the royal temples; and had dared To seat themselves upon the monarch's head, But that the boys who sat around with sticks Did keep them at a slight and easy distance. [405] And so they did not perch, but hover'd round, Neither too far nor yet too near, still fluttering, So that they raised a gentle breeze to blow Not harshly on the forehead of the king.

72. The flatterer (κόλαξ) of that young man whom we have been speaking of must have been a μαλακοκόλαξ, (a soft flatterer,) as Clearchus says. For besides flattering such a man as that, he invents a regular gait and dress harmonizing with that of those who receive the flattery, folding his arms and wrapping himself up in a small cloak; on which account some men call him Paranconistes, and some call him a Repository of Attitudes. For really a flatterer does seem to be the very same person with Proteus himself. Accordingly he changes into nearly every sort of person, not only in form, but also in his discourse, so very varied in voice he is.

But Androcydes the physician said that flattery had its name (κολάκεια) from becoming glued (ἀπὸ τοῦ προσκολλᾶσθαι) to men's acquaintance. But it appears to me that they were named from their facility; because a flatterer will undergo anything, like a person who stoops down to carry another on his back, by reason of his natural disposition, not being annoyed at anything, however disgraceful it may be.

And a man will not be much out who calls the life of that young Cyprian a wet one. And Alexis says that there were many tutors and teachers of that kind of life at Athens, speaking thus in his Pyraunus—

And Crobylus says in his Female Deserter—

73. And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, lays it down that flattery is a kind of art, where he says—

But Menander, in his play called the Flatterer, has given us the character of one as carefully and faithfully as it was possible to manage it: as also Diphilus has of a parasite in his Telesias. And Alexis, in his Liar, has introduced a flatterer speaking in the following manner—

And it seems to me, my friends, that that fine epicure would not have scrupled to quote from the Omphale of Ion the tragedian, and to say—

74. But Hippias the Erythræan, in the second book of his Histories of his own Country, relating how the kingdom of Cnopus was subverted by the conduct of his flatterers, says this—"When Cnopus consulted the oracle about his safety, the god, in his answer, enjoined him to sacrifice to the crafty Mercury. And when, after that, he went to Delphi, they who were anxious to put an end to his kingly power in order to establish an oligarchy instead of it, (and those who wished this were Ortyges, and Irus, and Echarus, who, because they were most conspicuous in paying court to the princes, were called adorers and flatterers,) they, I say, being on a voyage in company with Cnopus, when they were at a distance from land, bound Cnopus and threw him into the sea; and then they sailed to Chios, and getting a force from the tyrants there, Amphiclus and Polytechnus, they sailed by night to Erythræ, and just at the same time the corpse of Cnopus was washed up on the sea-shore at Erythræ, at a place which is now called Leopodon. And while Cleonice, the wife of Cnopus, was busied about the offices due to the corpse, (and it was the time of the festival and assembly instituted in honour of Diana Stophea,) on a sudden there is heard the noise of a trumpet; and the city is taken by Ortyges and his troops, and many of the friends of Cnopus are put to death; and Cleonice, hearing what had happened, fled to Colophon.

[407] 75. "But Ortyges and his companions, establishing themselves as tyrants, and having possessed themselves of the supreme power in Chios, destroyed all who opposed their proceedings, and they subverted the laws, and themselves managed the whole of the affairs of the state, admitting none of the popular party within the walls. And they established a court of justice outside the walls, before the gates; and there they tried all actions, sitting as judges, clothed in purple cloaks, and in tunics with purple borders, and they wore sandals with many slits in them during the hot weather; but in winter they always walked about in women's shoes; and they let their hair grow, and took great care of it so as to have ringlets, dividing it on the top of their head with fillets of yellow and purple. And they wore ornaments of solid gold, like women, and they compelled some of the citizens to carry their litters, and some to act as lictors to them, and some to sweep the roads. And they sent for the sons of some of the citizens to their parties when they supped together; and some they ordered to bring their own wives and daughters within. And on those who disobeyed they inflicted the most extreme punishment. And if any one of their companions died, then collecting the citizens with their wives and children, they compelled them by violence to utter lamentations over the dead, and to beat their breasts, and to cry out shrilly and loudly with their voices, a man with a scourge standing over them, who compelled them to do so—until Hippotes, the brother of Cnopus, coming to Erythræ with an army at the time of a festival, the people of Erythræ assisting him, set upon the tyrants, and having punished a great many of their companions, slew Ortyges in his flight, and all who were with him, and treated their wives and children with the very extremity of ill-usage, and delivered his country."

76. Now from all this we may understand, my friends, of how many evils flattery is the cause in human life. For Theopompus, in the nineteenth book of his history of the Transactions of Philip, says, "Agathocles was a slave, and one of the Penestæ in Thessaly, and as he had great influence with Philip by reason of his flattery of him, and because he was constantly at his entertainments dancing and making him laugh, Philip sent him to destroy the Perrhæbi, and to govern all that part of the country. And the Macedonian constantly [408]had this kind of people about him, with whom he associated the greater part of his time, because of their fondness for drinking and buffoonery, and in their company he used to deliberate on the most important affairs." And Hegesander the Delphian gives a similar account of him, and relates how he sent a large sum of money to the men who are assembled at Athens at the temple of Hercules in Diomea, and who say laughable things; and he ordered some men to write down all that was said by them, and to send it to him. And Theopompus, in the twenty-sixth book of his History, says "that Philip knowing that the Thessalians were an intemperate race, and very profligate in their way of living, prepared some entertainments for them, and endeavoured in every possible manner to make himself agreeable to them. For he danced and revelled, and practised every kind of intemperance and debauchery. And he was by nature a buffoon, and got drunk every day, and he delighted in those occupations which are consistent with such practices, and with those who are called witty men, who say and do things to provoke laughter. And he attached numbers of the Thessalians who were intimate with him to himself, still more by his entertainments than by his presents." And Dionysius the Sicilian used to do very nearly the same thing, as Eubulus the comic poet tells us in his play entitled Dionysius;—

77. And indeed Dionysius was not the only person who encouraged and received those who had squandered their estates on drunkenness and gambling and all such debauchery as that, for Philip also did the same. And Theopompus speaks of such of them in the forty-ninth book of his History, where he writes as follows:—"Philip kept at a distance all men who were well regulated in their conduct and who took care of their property; but the extravagant and those who lived in gambling and drunkenness he praised and honoured. And therefore he not only took care that they should always have such amusements, but he encouraged them to devote themselves to all sorts of injustice and debauchery besides. For what disgraceful or iniquitous practices were there to which [409]these men were strangers, or what virtuous or respectable habits were there which they did not shun? Did they not at all times go about shaven and carefully made smooth, though they were men? And did not they endeavour to misuse one another though they had beards? And they used to go about attended by two or three lovers at a time; and they expected no complaisance from others which they were not prepared to exhibit themselves. On which account a man might very reasonably have thought them not ἑταῖροι but ἑταῖραι, and one might have called them not soldiers, but prostitutes. For though they were ἀνδροφόνοι by profession, they were ἀνδρόπορνοι by practice. And in addition to all this, instead of loving sobriety, they loved drunkenness; and instead of living respectably they sought every opportunity of robbing and murdering; and as for speaking the truth, and adhering to their agreements, they thought that conduct quite inconsistent with their characters; but to perjure themselves and cheat, they thought the most venerable behaviour possible. And they disregarded what they had, but they longed for what they had not; and this too, though a great part of Europe belonged to them. For I think that the companions of Philip, who did not at that time amount to a greater number than eight hundred, had possession so far as to enjoy the fruits of more land than any ten thousand Greeks, who had the most fertile and large estates." And he makes a very similar statement about Dionysius, in his twenty-first book, when he says, "Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily encouraged above all others those who squandered their property in drunkenness and gambling and intemperance of that sort. For he wished every one to become ruined and ready for any iniquity, and all such people he treated with favour and distinction."

78. And Demetrius Poliorcetes was a man very fond of mirth, as Phylarchus relates in the tenth book of his History. But in the fourteenth book he writes as follows:—"Demetrius used to allow men to flatter him at his banquets, and to pour libations in his honour, calling him Demetrius the only king, and Ptolemy only the prefect of the fleet, and Lysimachus only a steward, and Seleucus only a superintendent of elephants, and in this way he incurred no small amount of hatred." And Herodotus states that Amasis the [410]king of the Egyptians was always a man full of tricks, and one who was used to turn his fellow feasters into ridicule; and when he was a private man he says he was very fond of feasting and of jesting, and he was not at all a serious man. And Nicolaus, in the twenty-seventh book of his History, says that Sylla the Roman general was so fond of mimics and buffoons, being a man very much addicted to amusement, that he gave such men several portions of the public land. And the satyric comedies which he wrote himself in his native language, show of how merry and jovial a temperament he was in this way.

79. And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Comedy, tells us that the Tirynthians, being people addicted to amusement, and utterly useless for all serious business, betook themselves once to the oracle at Delphi in hopes to be relieved from some calamity or other. And that the God answered them, "That if they sacrificed a bull to Neptune and threw it into the sea without once laughing, the evil would cease." And they, fearing lest they should make a blunder in obeying the oracle, forbade any of the boys to be present at the sacrifice; however, one boy, hearing of what was going to be done, mingled with the crowd, and then when they hooted him and drove him away, "Why," said he, "are you afraid lest I should spoil your sacrifice?" and when they laughed at this question of his, they perceived that the god meant to show them by a fact that an inveterate custom cannot be remedied. And Sosicrates, in the first book of his History of Crete, says that the Phæstians have a certain peculiarity, for that they seem to practise saying ridiculous things from their earliest childhood; on which account it has often happened to them to say very reasonable and witty things because of their early habituation: and therefore all the Cretans attribute to them preeminence in the accomplishment of raising a laugh.

80. But after flattery, Anaxandrides the comic poet gives the next place to ostentation, in his Apothecary Prophet, speaking thus—

[411] And Antiphanes speaks of what he calls a psomocolax, a flatterer for morsels of bread, in his Gerytades, when he says—

And Sannyrion says—

And Philemon says in his Woman made young again—

And Philippides says in his Renovation—

But the word κόλαξ especially applies to these parasitical flatterers; for κόλον means food, from which come the words βουκόλος, and δύσκολος, which means difficult to be pleased and squeamish. And the word κοιλία means that part of the body which receives the food, that is to say, the stomach. Diphilus also uses the word ψωμοκόλαφος in his Theseus, saying—

81. When Democritus had made this speech, and had asked for some drink in a narrow-necked sabrias, Ulpian said, And what is this sabrias? And just as Democritus was beginning to treat us all to a number of interminable stories, in came a troop of servants bringing in everything requisite for eating. Concerning whom Democritus, continuing his discourse, spoke as follows:—I have always, O my friends, marvelled at the race of slaves, considering how abstemious they are, though placed in the middle of such numbers of dainties; for they pass them by, not only out of fear, but also because they are taught to do so; I do not mean being taught in the Slave-teacher of Pherecrates, but by early habituation; and without its being necessary to utter any express prohibition respecting such matters to them, as in the island of Cos, when the citizens sacrifice to Juno. For Macareus says, in his third book of his treatise on Coan Affairs, that, when the Coans sacrifice to Juno, no slave is allowed to enter the temple, nor does any slave taste any one of the things which are prepared for the sacrifice. And Antiphanes, in his Dyspratus,[411:1] says—

And Epicrates, in his Dyspratus, introduces a servant expressing his indignation, and saying—

from the comparison of which iambics, it is very plain that Epicrates borrowed Antiphanes's lines, and transferred them to his own play.

82. And Dieuchidas says, in his history of the Affairs of Megara—"Around the islands called Arææ[412:1] (and they are between Cnidos and Syme) a difference arose, after the death of Triopas, among those who had set out with him on his expedition, and some returned home, and others remained with Phorbas, and came to Ialysus, and others proceeded with Periergus, and occupied the district of Cameris. And on this it is said that Periergus uttered curses against Phorbas, and on this account the islands were called Arææ. But Phorbas having met with shipwreck, he and Parthenia, the sister of Phorbas and Periergus, swam ashore to Ialysus, at the point called Schedia. And Thamneus met with them, as he happened to be hunting near Schedia, and took them to his own house, intending to receive them hospitably, and sent on a servant as a messenger to tell his wife to prepare everything necessary, as he was bringing home strangers. But when he came to his house and found nothing prepared, he himself put corn into a mill, and everything else that was requisite, and then ground it himself and feasted them. And Phorbas was so delighted with this hospitality, that when he was dying himself he charged his friends to take care that his funeral rites should be performed by free men. And so this custom continued to prevail in the sacrifice of Phorbas, for [413]none but free men minister at this sacrifice. And it is accounted profanation for any slave to approach it."

83. And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpian, there is this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says—

And Anaxandrides, in his Anchises, says—

84. And Posidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of his History, "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people of Heraclea, promising to act as their subjects for ever, if they would supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement beforehand, that none of them would sell anything out of the territory of Heraclea, but that they would sell in that district alone. And perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying—

And Callistratus the Aristophanean says that "they called the Mariandyni δωροφόροι, by that appellation taking away whatever there is bitter in the name of servants, just as the [414]Spartans did in respect of the Helots, the Thessalians in the case of the Penestæ, and the Cretans with the Clarotæ. But the Cretans call those servants, who are in their houses Chrysoneti,[414:1] and those whose work lies in the fields Amphamiotæ, being natives of the country, but people who have been enslaved by the chance of war; but they also call the same people Clarotæ, because they have been distributed among their masters by lot.

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories, "The Cretans call their slaves Clarotæ, because lots have been drawn for them; and those slaves have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything, and have the right even to scourge the freemen." But Sosicrates, in the second book of his History of Cretan Affairs, says, "The Cretans call public servitude μνοία, but the private slaves they call aphamiotæ; and the periœci, or people who live in the adjacent districts, they call subjects. And Dosiadas gives a very similar account in the fourth book of his history of Cretan Affairs.

85. But the Thessalians call those Penestæ who were not born slaves, but who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet, misapplying the word, says—

And Philocrates, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Thessaly, if at least the work attributed to him is genuine, says that the Penestæ are also called Thessalœcetæ, or servants of the Thessalians. And Archemachus, in the third book of his history of the Affairs of Eubœa, says, "When the Bœotians had founded Arnæa, those of them who did not return to Bœotia, but who took a fancy to their new country, gave themselves up to the Thessalians by agreement, to be their slaves; on condition that they should not take them out of the country, nor put them to death, but that they should cultivate the country for them, and pay them a yearly revenue for it. These men, therefore, abiding by their agreement, and giving themselves up to the Thessalians, were called at that time Menestæ; but now they are called Penestæ; [415]and many of them are richer than their masters. And Euripides, in his Phrixus, calls them latriæ,[415:1] in these words—

86. And Timæus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, says, "It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be waited on by purchased slaves;" and he proceeds to say, "And altogether they accused Aristotle of having departed from the Locrian customs; for they said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the Phocians, to use either maid-servants or house-servants till very lately. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the companion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Phocians, for having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that he was depriving that number of citizens of their necessary subsistence: for that it was a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder."

87. And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws, says,—"The whole question about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system of the Helots among the Lacedæmonians causes the greatest perplexity and dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some considering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of slavery among the people of Heraclea would cause less dispute than the subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of the Thessalian Penestæ. And if we consider all these things, what ought we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says—

And it has been frequently shown by facts, that a slave is an objectionable and perilous possession; especially in the frequent revolts of the Messenians, and in the case of those cities which have many slaves, speaking different languages, in which many evils arise from that circumstance. And also we may come to the same conclusion from the exploits and sufferings of all sorts of robbers, who infest the Italian coasts [416]as piratical vagabonds. And if any one considers all these circumstances, he may well doubt what course ought to be pursued with respect to all these people. Two remedies now are left to us—either never to allow, for the future, any person's slaves to be one another's fellow-countrymen, and, as far as possible, to prevent their even speaking the same language: and he should also keep them well, not only for their sake, but still more for his own; and he should behave towards them with as little insolence as possible. But it is right to chastise them with justice; not admonishing them as if they were free men, so as to make them arrogant: and every word which we address to slaves ought to be, in some sort, a command. And a man ought never to play at all with his slaves, or jest with them, whether they be male or female. And as to the very foolish way in which many people treat their slaves, allowing them great indulgence and great licence, they only make everything more difficult for both parties: they make obedience harder for the one to practise, and authority harder for the others to exercise.

88. Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he says,—"The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians and Lacedæmonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the same manner as those others did; for the Lacedæmonians and the Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the one having Achæan slaves, but the Thessalians having Perrhæbian and Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the others called them Penestæ. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and they have bought them at a price." Theopompus, then, has given this account. But I think that, on this account, the Deity was angry with the Chians; for at a subsequent period they were subdued by their slaves. Accordingly, Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyage along the Coast of Asia, gives this account of them:—"The slaves of the Chians deserted them, and escaped to the mountains; and then, collecting in great numbers, ravaged the country-houses about; for the island is very rugged, and much overgrown with trees. But, a little before [417]our time, the Chians themselves relate, that one of their slaves deserted, and took up his habitation in the mountains; and, being a man of great courage and very prosperous in his warlike undertakings, he assumed the command of the runaway slaves, as a king would take the command of an army; and though the Chians often made expeditions against him, they were able to effect nothing. And when Drimacus (for that was the name of this runaway slave) found that they were being destroyed, without being able to effect anything, he addressed them in this language: 'O Chians! you who are the masters, this treatment which you are now receiving from your servants will never cease; for how should it cease, when it is God who causes it, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle? But if you will be guided by me, and if you will leave us in peace, then I will be the originator of much good fortune to you.'

89. "Accordingly, the Chians, having entered into a treaty with him, and having made a truce for a certain time, Drimacus prepares measures and weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians, he said, 'Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or reasonable ground to allege, I will send them back to their masters.' Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to this state of things, very good-humouredly did not desert nearly so much for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon them. And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required, obeying him as their general; for he punished the refractory with great severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the [418] masters were inclined or able to give him; and if he perceived that any one was intriguing against him, or laying any plot to injure him or overthrow his power, he chastised him.

90. "Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son, and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive the money which they offer, and so be prosperous.' But when the young man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his head; and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the shrine of the Gentle Hero. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and sacrifice to him, where this shrine is."

91. Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his history, I have found that Drimachus is not mentioned by name. But I do not imagine that any one of you is ignorant, either of what the prince of all historians, Herodotus, has related of the Chian Panionium, and of what he justly suffered who castrated free boys and sold them. But Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Posidonius the Stoic, in their Histories, both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for the purpose of being [419]transported into the land of the Colchians,—so really angry with them was the Deity, as being the first people who used purchased slaves, while most other nations provided for themselves by their own industry. And, perhaps, this is what the proverb originated in, "A Chian bought a master," which is used by Eupolis, in his Friends.

92. But the Athenians, having a prudent regard to the condition of their slaves, made a law that there should be a γραφὲ ὕβρεως, even against men who ill treated their slaves. Accordingly, Hyperides, the orator, in his speech against Mnesitheus, on a charge of αἰκία, says, "They made these laws not only for the protection of freemen, but they enacted also, that even if any one personally ill treated a slave, there should be a power of preferring an indictment against him who had done so." And Lycurgus made a similar statement, in his first speech against Lycophron; and so did Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias. And Malacus, in his Annals of the Siphnians, relates that some slaves of the Samians colonized Ephesus, being a thousand men in number; who in the first instance revolted against their masters, and fled to the mountain which is in the island, and from thence did great injury to the Samians. But, in the sixth year after these occurrences, the Samians, by the advice of an oracle, made a treaty with the slaves, on certain agreements; and the slaves were allowed to depart uninjured from the island; and, sailing away, they occupied Ephesus, and the Ephesians are descended from these ancestors.

93. But Chrysippus says that there is a difference between a δοῦλος and an οἰκέτης; and he draws the distinction in the second book of his treatise on Similarity of Meaning, because he says that those who have been emancipated are still δοῦλοι, but that the term οἰκέτης is confined to those who are not discharged from servitude; for the οἰκέτης, says he, is a δοῦλος, being actually at the time the property of a master. And all the following are called δοῦλοι, as Clitarchus says, in his treatise on Dialects: ἄζοι,[419:1] and θεράποντες,[419:2] and ἀκόλουθοι,[419:3] [420]and διάκονοι,[420:1] and ὑπήρετα[420:2] and also πάλμονες and λάτρεις.[420:3] And Amerias says, that the slaves who are employed about the fields are called ἕρκιται. And Hermon, in his treatise on the Cretan Dialects, says that slaves of noble birth are called μνῶτες. And Seleucus says, that both men and maid servants are called ἄζοι; and that a female slave is often called ἀποφράση and βολίζη; and that a slave who is the son of a slave is called σίνδρων; and that ἀμφιπόλος is a name properly belonging to a female slave who is about her mistress's person, and that a πρόπολος is one who walks before her mistress.

But Proxenus, in the second book of his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, says that female servants are called among the Lacedæmonians, Chalcides. But Ion of Chios, in his Laertes, uses the word οἰκέτης as synonymous with δοῦλος, and says—

And Achæus, in his Omphale, speaking of the Satyr, says—

using, however, in my opinion, the words εὔδουλος and εὔοικος in a peculiar sense, as meaning rather, good to his slaves and servants, taking εὔοικος from οἰκέτης. And it is generally understood that an οἰκέτης is a servant whose business is confined to the house, and that it is possible he may be a free-born man.

94. But the poets of the old comedy, speaking of the old-fashioned way of life, and asserting that in olden time there was no great use of slaves, speak in this way. Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—

[421] And Crates says, in his Beasts—

A. Then no one shall possess or own One male or female slave, But shall himself, though ne'er so old, Labour for all his needs.

B. Not so, for I will quickly make These matters all come right.

A. And what will your plans do for us?

B. Why everything you call for Should of its own accord come forth, As if now you should say, O table, lay yourself for dinner, And spread a cloth upon you. You kneading-trough, prepare some dough; You cyathus, pour forth wine; Where is the cup? come hither, cup, And empt and wash yourself. Come up, O cake. You sir, you dish, Here, bring me up some beetroot. Come hither, fish. "I can't, for I Am raw on t' other side." Well, turn round then and baste yourself With oil and melted butter.

And immediately after this the man who takes up the opposite side of the argument says—

95. And Teleclides puts it better than the man whom I have just quoted, in his Amphictyons, where he says—

96. And in the name of Ceres, my companions, if these things went on in this way, I should like to know what need we should have of servants. But the ancients, accustoming us to provide for ourselves, instructed us by their actions while they feasted us in words. But I, in order to show you in what manner succeeding poets (since the most admirable Cratinus brandished the before-cited verses like a torch) imitated and amplified them, have quoted these plays in the order in which they were exhibited. And if I do not annoy you, (for as for the Cynics I do not care the least bit for them,) I will quote to you some sentences from the other poets, taking them also in regular order; one of which is that strictest Atticist of all, namely, Pherecrates; who in his Miners says—

A. But all those things were heap'd in confusion By o'ergrown wealth, abounding altogether [423] In every kind of luxury. There were rivers With tender pulse and blackest soup o'erflowing, Which ran down brawling through the narrow dishes, Bearing the crusts and spoons away in the flood. Then there were dainty closely kneaded cakes; So that the food, both luscious and abundant, Descended to the gullets of the dead. There were black-puddings and large boiling slices Of well-mix'd sausages, which hiss'd within The smoking streamlet in the stead of oysters. There too were cutlets of broil'd fish well season'd With sauce of every kind, and cook, and country. There were huge legs of pork, most tender meat, Loading enormous platters; and boil'd pettitoes Sending a savoury steam; and paunch of ox; And well-cured chine of porker, red with salt, A dainty dish, on fried meat balls upraised. There too were cakes of groats well steep'd in milk, In large flat dishes, and rich plates of beestings.

B. Alas, you will destroy me. Why do you Remain here longer, when you thus may dive Just as you are beneath deep Tartarus?

A. What will you say then when you hear the rest? For roasted thrushes nicely brown'd and hot Flew to the mouths o' the guests, entreating them To deign to swallow them, besprinkled o'er With myrtle leaves and flowers of anemone, And plates of loveliest apples hung around Above our heads, hanging in air as it seem'd. And maidens in the most transparent robes, Just come to womanhood, and crowned with roses, Did through a strainer pour red mantling cups Of fragrant wine for all who wish'd to drink. And whatsoe'er each guest did eat or drink Straight reappear'd in twofold quantity.

97. And in his Persians he says—

98. And why need I quote in addition to this the passages from the Tagenistæ of the incomparable Aristophanes? And as to the passage in the Acharnenses, you are all of you full of it. And when I have just repeated the passage out of the Thurio-Persæ of Metagenes I will say no more, and discard all notice of the Sirens of Nicophon, in which we find the following lines—

But Metagenes says this—

And I know too that the Thurio-Persæ and the play of Nicophon were never exhibited at all; on which account I mentioned them last.

99. Democritus now having gone through this statement distinctly and intelligently, all the guests praised him; but Cynulcus said,—O messmates, I was exceedingly hungry, and Democritus has given me no unpleasant feast; carrying me across rivers of ambrosia and nectar. And I, having my mind watered by them, have now become still more exceedingly hungry, having hitherto swallowed nothing but words; so that now it is time to desist from this interminable discussion, [425]and, as the Pæanian orator says, to take some of these things, "which if they do not put strength into a man, at all events prevent his dying"—

as Achæus says in Æthon, a satyric drama. And it was borrowing from him that the wise Euripides wrote—

And Ulpian, who was always fond of contradicting him, said in reply to this,—But still,

But you, you dog, are always hungry, and do not allow us to partake of, or I should rather say devour, good discussion in sufficient plenty: for good and wise conversation is the food of the mind. And then turning to the servant he said,—O Leucus, if you have any remnants of bread, give them to the dogs. And Cynulcus rejoined,—If I had been invited here only to listen to discussions, I should have taken care to come when the forum was full;[425:1] for that is the time which one of the wise men mentioned to me as the hour for declamations, and the common people on that account have called it πληθαγόρα:

as Menander says; on which account I give you leave, you glutton, to eat your fill of this kind of food—

as Achæus the Eretrian says in his Cycnus.

100. And when Cynulcus had said this, he was on the point of rising up to depart; but turning round and seeing a quantity of fish, and a large provision of all sorts of other eatables being brought in, beating the pillow with his hand, he shouted out,—

[426]But I now, by reason of my needy condition, do not speak dithyrambic poems, as Socrates says, but even epic poems too. For, reciting poems is very hungry work. For, according to Ameipsias, who said in his Sling, where he utters a prediction about you, O Laurentius,—

as Heniochus says in his Busybody; I must, therefore, as the comic poet Metagenes says—

endure and listen to what more you have all got to say.

101. And when he was silent, Masyrius said,—But since some things have still been left unsaid in our discussion on servants, I will myself also contribute some "melody on love" to the wise and much loved Democritus. Philippus of Theangela, in his treatise on the Carians and Leleges, having made mention of the Helots of the Lacedæmonians and of the Thessalian Penestæ, says, "The Carians also, both in former times, and down to the present day, use the Leleges as slaves." But Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his History, says that the Byzantians used the Bithynians in the same manner, just as the Lacedæmonians do the Helots. But respecting those who among the Lacedæmonians are called Epeunacti, and they also are slaves, Theopompus gives a very clear account in the thirty-second book of his History, speaking as follows:—"When many of the Lacedæmonians had been slain in the war against the Messenians, those who were left being afraid lest their enemies should become aware of their desolate condition, put some of the Helots into the beds of those who were dead; and afterwards they made those men citizens, and called them Epeunacti, because they had been put into the beds[426:1] of those who were dead instead of them." And the [427]same writer also tells us, in the thirty-third book of his History, that among the Sicyonians there are some slaves who are called Catonacophori, being very similar to the Epeunacti. And Menæchmus gives a similar account in his History of the affairs of Sicyon, and says that there are some slaves called Catonacophori, who very much resemble the Epeunacti. And again, Theopompus, in the second book of his Philippics, says that the Arcadians had three hundred thousand slaves, whom they called Prospelatæ, like the Helots.

102. But the class called Mothaces among the Lacedæmonians are freemen, but still not citizens of Lacedæmon. And Phylarchus speaks of them thus, in the twenty-fifth book of his History—"But the Mothaces are foster-brothers of Lacedæmonian citizens. For each of the sons of the citizens has one or two, or even more foster-brothers, according as their circumstances admit. The Mothaces are freemen then, but still not Lacedæmonian citizens; but they share all the education which is given to the free citizens; and they say that Lysander, who defeated the Athenians in the naval battle, was one of that class, having been made a citizen on account of his preeminent valour." And Myron of Priene, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Messene, says, "The Lacedæmonians often emancipated their slaves, and some of them when emancipated they called Aphetæ,[427:1] and some they called Adespoti,[427:2] and some they called Erycteres, and others they called Desposionautæ,[427:3] whom they put on board their fleets, and some they called Neodamodes,[427:4] but all these were different people from the Helots." And Theopompus, in the seventh book of his history of the Affairs of Greece, speaking of the Helots that they were also called Eleatæ, writes as follows:—"But the nation of the Helots is altogether a fierce and cruel race. For they are people who have been enslaved a long time ago by the Spartans, some of them being Messenians, and some Eleatæ, who formerly dwelt in that part of Laconia called Helos.

103. But Timæus of Tauromenium, forgetting himself, (and Polybius the Megalopolitan attacks him for the assertion, [428]in the twelfth book of his Histories,) says that it is not usual for the Greeks to possess slaves. But the same man, writing under the name of Epitimæus, (and this is what Ister the pupil of Callimachus calls him in the treatise which he wrote against him,) says that Mnason the Phocian had more than a thousand slaves. And in the third book of his History, Epitimæus said that the city of the Corinthians was so flourishing that it possessed four hundred and sixty thousand slaves. On which account I imagine it was that the Pythian priestess called them The People who measured with a Chœnix. But Ctesicles, in the third book of his Chronicles, says that in the hundred and fifteenth Olympiad, there was an investigation at Athens conducted by Demetrius Phalereus into the number of the inhabitants of Attica, and the Athenians were found to amount to twenty-one thousand, and the Metics to ten thousand, and the slaves to four hundred thousand. But Nicias the son of Niceratus, as that admirable writer Xenophon has said in his book on Revenues, when he had a thousand servants, let them out to Sosias the Thracian to work in the silver mines, on condition of his paying him an obol a day for every one of them. And Aristotle, in his history of the Constitution of the Æginetæ, says that the Æginetans had four hundred and seventy thousand slaves. But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the thirty-eighth book of his history of the Affairs of Europe, says that the Dardanians had great numbers of slaves, some of them having a thousand, and some even more; and that in time of peace they were all employed in the cultivation of the land; but that in time of war they were all divided into regiments, each set of slaves having their own master for their commander.

104. After all these statements, Laurentius rose up and said,—But each of the Romans (and this is a fact with which you are well acquainted, my friend Masyrius) had a great many slaves. For many of them had ten thousand or twenty thousand, or even a greater number, not for the purposes of income, as the rich Nicias had among the Greeks; but the greater part of the Romans when they go forth have a large retinue of slaves accompanying them. And out of the myriads of Attic slaves, the greater part worked in the mines, being kept in chains: at all events Posidonius, whom you are often quoting, the philosopher I mean, says that once [429]they revolted and put to death the guards of the mines; and that they seized on the Acropolis on Sunium, and that for a very long time they ravaged Attica. And this was the time when the second revolt of the slaves took place in Sicily. And there were many revolts of the slaves, and more than a million of slaves were destroyed in them. And Cæcilius, the orator from Cale Acte, wrote a treatise on the Servile Wars. And Spartacus the gladiator, having escaped from Capua, a city of Italy, about the time of the Mithridatic war, prevailed on a great body of slaves to join him in the revolt, (and he himself was a slave, being a Thracian by birth,) and overran the whole of Italy for a considerable time, great numbers of slaves thronging daily to his standard. And if he had not died in a battle fought against Licinius Crassus, he would have caused no ordinary trouble to our countrymen, as Eunus did in Sicily.

105. But the ancient Romans were prudent citizens, and eminent for all kinds of good qualities. Accordingly Scipio, surnamed Africanus, being sent out by the Senate to arrange all the kingdoms of the world, in order that they might be put into the hands of those to whom they properly belonged, took with him only five slaves, as we are informed by Polybius and Posidonius. And when one of them died on the journey, he sent to his agents at home to bring him another instead of him, and to send him to him. And Julius Cæsar, the first man who ever crossed over to the British isles with a thousand vessels, had with him only three servants altogether, as Cotta, who at that time acted as his lieutenant-general, relates in his treatise on the History and Constitution of the Romans, which is written in our national language. But Smindyrides the Sybarite was a very different sort of man, my Greek friends, who, when he went forth to marry Agaroste, the daughter of Cleisthenes, carried his luxury and ostentation to such a height, that he took with him a thousand slaves, fishermen, bird-catchers, and cooks. But this man, wishing to display how magnificently he was used to live, according to the account given to us by Chamæleon of Pontus, in his book on Pleasure, (but the same book is also attributed to Theophrastus,) said that for twenty years he had never seen the sun rise or set; and this he considered a great and marvellous proof of his wealth and happiness. For he, as it seems, used [430]to go to bed early in the morning, and to get up in the evening, being in my opinion a miserable man in both particulars. But Histiæus of Pontus boasted, and it was an honourable boast, that he had never once seen the sun rise or set, because he had been at all times intent upon study, as we are told by Nicias of Nicæa in his Successions.

106. What then are we to think? Had not Scipio and Cæsar any slaves? To be sure they had, but they abided by the laws of their country, and lived with moderation, preserving the habits sanctioned by the constitution. For it is the conduct of prudent men to abide by those ancient institutions under which they and their ancestors have lived, and made war upon and subdued the rest of the world; and yet, at the same time, if there were any useful or honourable institutions among the people whom they have subdued, those they take for their imitation at the same time that they take the prisoners. And this was the conduct of the Romans in olden time; for they, maintaining their national customs, at the same time introduced from the nations whom they had subdued every relic of desirable practices which they found, leaving what was useless to them, so that they should never be able to regain what they had lost. Accordingly they learnt from the Greeks the use of all machines and engines for conducting sieges; and with those engines they subdued the very people of whom they had learnt them. And when the Phœnicians had made many discoveries in nautical science, the Romans availed themselves of these very discoveries to subdue them. And from the Tyrrhenians they derived the practice of the entire army advancing to battle in close phalanx; and from the Samnites they learnt the use of the shield, and from the Iberians the use of the javelin. And learning different things from different people, they improved upon them: and imitating in everything the constitution of the Lacedæmonians, they preserved it better than the Lacedæmonians themselves; but now, having selected whatever was useful from the practices of their enemies, they have at the same time turned aside to imitate them in what is vicious and mischievous.

107. For, as Posidonius tells us, their national mode of life was originally temperate and simple, and they used everything which they possessed in an unpretending and unostentatious [431]manner. Moreover they displayed wonderful piety towards the Deity, and great justice, and great care to behave equitably towards all men, and great diligence in cultivating the earth. And we may see this from the national sacrifices which we celebrate. For we proceed by ways regularly settled and defined. So that we bear regularly appointed offerings, and we utter regular petitions in our prayers, and we perform stated acts in all our sacred ceremonies. They are also simple and plain. And we do all this without being either clothed or attired as to our persons in any extraordinary manner, and without indulging in any extraordinary pomp when offering the first-fruits. But we wear simple garments and shoes, and on our heads we have rough hats made of the skins of sheep, and we carry vessels to minister in of earthenware and brass. And in these vessels we carry those meats and liquors which are procured with the least trouble, thinking it absurd to send offerings to the gods in accordance with our national customs, but to provide for ourselves according to foreign customs. And, therefore, all the things which are expended upon ourselves are measured by their use; but what we offer to the gods are a sort of first-fruits of them.

108. Now Mucius Scævola was one of the three men in Rome who were particular in their observance of the Fannian law; Quintus Ælius Tubero and Rutilius Rufus being the other two, the latter of whom is the man who wrote the History of his country. Which law enjoined men not to entertain more than three people besides those in the house; but on market-days a man might entertain five. And these market-days happened three times in the month. The law also forbade any one to spend in provisions more than two drachmæ and a half. And they were allowed to spend fifteen talents a-year on cured meat and whatever vegetables the earth produces, and on boiled pulse. But as this allowance was insufficient, men gradually (because those who transgressed the law and spent money lavishly raised the price of whatever was to be bought) advanced to a more liberal style of living without violating the law. For Tubero used to buy birds at a drachma a-piece from the men who lived on his own farms. And Rutilius used to buy fish from his own slaves who worked as fishermen for three obols for a pound of fish; [432]especially when he could get what is called the Thurian; and that is a part of the sea-dog which goes by that name. But Mucius agreed with those who were benefited by him to pay for all he bought at a similar valuation. Out of so many myriads of men then these were the only ones who kept the law with a due regard to their oaths; and who never received even the least present; but they gave large presents to others, and especially to those who had been brought up at the same school with them. For they all clung to the doctrines of the Stoic school.

109. But of the extravagance which prevails at the present time Lucullus was the first originator, he who subdued Mithridates, as Nicolaus the Peripatetic relates. For he, coming to Rome after the defeat of Mithridates, and also after that of Tigranes, the king of Armenia, and having triumphed, and having given in an account of his exploits in war, proceeded to an extravagant way of living from his former simplicity, and was the first teacher of luxury to the Romans, having amassed the wealth of the two before-mentioned kings. But the famous Cato, as Polybius tells us in the thirty-fourth book of his History, was very indignant, and cried out, that some men had introduced foreign luxury into Rome, having bought an earthen jar of pickled fish from Pontus for three hundred drachmæ, and some beautiful boys at a higher price than a man might buy a field.

"But in former times the inhabitants of Italy were so easily contented, that even now," says Posidonius, "those who are in very easy circumstances are used to accustom their sons to drink as much water as possible, and to eat whatever they can get. And very often," says he, "the father or mother asks their son whether he chooses to have pears or nuts for his supper; and then he, eating some of these things, is contented and goes to bed." But now, as Theopompus tells us in the first book of his history of the Actions of Philip, there is no one of those who are even tolerably well off who does not provide a most sumptuous table, and who has not cooks and a great many more attendants, and who does not spend more on his daily living than formerly men used to spend on their festivals and sacrifices.

And since now this present discussion has gone far enough, let us end this book at this point.

FOOTNOTES:

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