LUCIUS Cornelius Sylla was descended of a patrician or noble family.Of his ancestors, Rufinus, it is said, had been consul, and incurreda disgrace more signal than his distinction. For being found possessedof more than ten pounds of silver plate, contrary to the law, he wasfor this reason put out of the senate. His posterity continued everafter in obscurity, nor had Sylla himself any opulent parentage. Inhis younger days he lived in hired lodgings, at a low rate, whichin aftertimes was adduced against him as proof that he had been fortunateabove his quality. When he was boasting and magnifying himself forhis exploits in Libya, a person of noble station made answer, "Andhow can you be an honest man, who, since the death of a father wholeft you nothing, have become so rich？" The time in which he livedwas no longer an age of pure and upright manners, but had alreadydeclined, and yielded to the appetite for riches and luxury； yet still,in the general opinion, they who deserted the hereditary poverty oftheir family were as much blamed as those who had run out a fair patrimonialestate. And afterwards, when he had seized the power into his hands,and was putting many to death, a freedman, suspected of having concealedone of the proscribed, and for that reason sentenced to be throwndown the Tarpeian rock, in a reproachful way recounted how they hadlived long together under the same roof, himself for the upper roomspaying two thousand sesterces, and Sylla for the lower three thousand；so that the difference between their fortunes then was no more thanone thousand sesterces, equivalent in Attic coin to two hundred andfifty drachmas. And thus much of his early fortune.

    His general personal appearance may be known by his statues； onlyhis blue, eyes, of themselves extremely keen and glaring, were renderedall the more forbidding and terrible by the complexion of his face,in which white was mixed with rough blotches of fiery red. Hence,it is said, he was surnamed Sylla, and in allusion to it one of thescurrilous jesters at Athens made the verse upon him-

    "Sylla is a mulberry sprinkled o'er with meal." Nor is it out of placeto make use of marks of character like these, in the case of one whowas by nature so addicted to raillery, that in his youthful obscureyears he would converse freely with players and professed jesters,and join them in all their low pleasures. And when supreme masterof all, he was often wont to muster together the most impudent playersand stage-followers of the town, and to drink and bandy jests withthem without regard to his age or the dignity of his place, and tothe prejudice of important affairs that required his attention. Whenhe was once at table, it was not in Sylla's nature to admit of anythingthat was serious, and whereas at other times he was a man of businessand austere of countenance, he underwent all of a sudden, at his firstentrance upon wine and good-fellowship, a total revolution, and wasgentle and tractable with common singers and dancers, and ready tooblige any one that spoke with him. It seems to have been a sort ofdiseased result of this laxity that he was so prone to amorous pleasures,and yielded without resistance to any temptation of voluptuousness,from which even in his old age he could not refrain. He had a longattachment for Metrobius, a player. In his first amours, it happenedthat he made court to a common but rich lady, Nicopolis by name, andwhat by the air of his youth, and what by long intimacy, won so faron her affections, that she rather than he was the lover, and at herdeath she bequeathed him her whole property. He likewise inheritedthe estate of a step-mother who loved him as her own son. By thesemeans he had pretty well advanced his fortunes.

    He was chosen quaestor to Marius in his first consulship, and setsail with him for Libya, to war upon Jugurtha. Here, in general, hegained approbation； and more especially, by closing in dexterouslywith an accidental occasion, made a friend of Bocchus, King of Numidia.He hospitably entertained the king's ambassadors on their escape fromsome Numidian robbers, and after showing them much kindness, sentthem on their journey with presents, and an escort to protect them.Bocchus had long hated and dreaded his son-in-law, Jugurtha, who hadnow been worsted in the field and had fled to him for shelter； andit so happened he was at this time entertaining a design to betrayhim. He accordingly invited Sylla to come to him, wishing the seizureand surrender of Jugurtha to be effected rather through him, thandirectly by himself. Sylla, when he had communicated the businessto Marius, and received from him a small detachment, voluntarily puthimself into this imminent danger； and confiding in a barbarian, whohad been unfaithful to his own relations, to apprehend another man'sperson, made surrender of his own. Bocchus, having both of them nowin his power, was necessitated to betray one or other, and after longdebate with himself, at last resolved on his first design, and gaveup Jugurtha into the hands of Sylla.

    For this Marius triumphed, but the glory of the enterprise, whichthrough people's envy of Marius was ascribed to Sylla, secretly grievedhim. And the truth is, Sylla himself was by nature vainglorious, andthis being the first time that from a low and private condition hehad risen to esteem amongst the citizens and tasted of honour, hisappetite for distinction carried him to such a pitch of ostentation,that he had a representation of this action engraved on a signet ring,which he carried about with him, and made use of ever after. The impresswas Bocchus delivering, and Sylla receiving, Jugurtha. This touchedMarius to the quick； however, judging Sylla to be beneath his rivalry,he made use of him as lieutenant, in his second consulship, and inhis third as tribune； and many considerable services were effectedby his means. When acting as lieutenant he took Copillus, chief ofthe Tectosages, prisoner, and compelled the Marsians, a great andpopulous nation, to become friends and confederates of the Romans.

    Henceforward, however, Sylla, perceiving that Marius bore a jealouseye over him, and would no longer afford him opportunities of action,but rather opposed his advance, attached himself to Catulus, Marius'scolleague, a worthy man, but not energetic enough as a general. Andunder this commander, who intrusted him with the highest and mostimportant commissions, he rose at once to reputation and to power.He subdued by arms most part of the Alpine barbarians； and when therewas a scarcity in the armies, he took that care upon himself and broughtin such a store of provisions as not only to furnish the soldiersof Catulus with abundance, but likewise to supply Marius. This, ashe writes himself, wounded Marius to the very heart. So slight andchildish were the first occasions and motives of that enmity betweenthem, which, passing afterwards through a long course of civil bloodshedand incurable divisions to find its end in tyranny, and the confusionof the whole state, proved Euripides to have been truly wise and thoroughlyacquainted with the causes of disorders in the body politic, whenhe forewarned all men to beware of Ambition, as of all the higherPowers the most destructive and pernicious to her votaries.

    Sylla, by this time thinking that the reputation of his arms abroadwas sufficient to entitle him to a part in the civil administration,betook himself immediately from the camp to the assembly, and offeredhimself as a candidate for a praetorship, but failed. The fault ofthis disappointment he wholly ascribes to the populace, who, knowinghis intimacy with King Bocchus, and for that reason expecting, thatif he was made aedile before his praetorship, he would then show themmagnificent hunting-shows and combats between Libyan wild beasts,chose other praetors, on purpose to force him into the aedileship.The vanity of this pretext is sufficiently disproved by matter-of-fact.For the year following, partly by flatteries to the people, and partlyby money, he got himself elected praetor. Accordingly, once whilehe was in office, on his angrily telling Caesar that he should makeuse of his authority against him, Caesar answered him with a smile,"You do well to call it your own, as you bought it." At the end ofhis praetorship he was sent over into Cappadocia, under the pretenceof reestablishing Ariobarzanes in his kingdom, but in reality to keepin check the restless movements of Mithridates, who was graduallyprocuring himself as vast a new acquired power and dominion as wasthat of his ancient inheritance. He carried over with him no greatforces of his own, but making use of the cheerful aid of the confederates,succeeded, with considerable slaughter of the Cappadocians, and yetgreater of the Armenian succours, in expelling Gordius and establishingAriobarzanes as king.

    During his stay on the banks of the Euphrates, there came to him Orobazus,a Parthian, ambassador from King Arsaces, as yet there having beenno correspondence between the two nations. And this also we may layto the account of Sylla's felicity, that he should be the first Romanto whom the Parthians made address for alliance and friendship. Atthe time of which reception, the story is, that, having ordered threechairs of state to be set, one for Ariobarzanes, one for Orobazus,and a third for himself, he placed himself in the middle, and so gaveaudience. For this the King of Parthia afterwards put Orobazus todeath. Some people commended Sylla for his lofty carriage towardsthe barbarians； others again accused him of arrogance and unseasonabledisplay. It is reported that a certain Chaldaean, of Orobazus's retinue,looking Sylla wistfully in the face, and observing carefully the motionsof his mind and body, and forming a judgment of his nature, accordingto the rules of his art, said that it was impossible for him not tobecome the greatest of men； it was rather a wonder how he could eventhen abstain from being head of all.

    At his return, Censorinus impeached him of extortion, for having exacteda vast sum of money from a well-affected and associate kingdom. However,Censorinus did not appear at the trial, but dropped his accusation.His quarrel, meantime, with Marius began to break out afresh, receivingnew material from the ambition of Bocchus, who, to please the peopleof Rome, and gratify Sylla, set up in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinusimages bearing trophies, and a representation in gold of the surrenderof Jugurtha to Sylla. When Marius, in great anger, attempted to pullthem down, and others aided Sylla, the whole city would have beenin tumult and commotion with this dispute, had not the Social War,which had long lain smouldering, blazed forth at last, and for thepresent put an end to the quarrel.

    In the course of this war, which had many great changes of fortune,and which, more than any, afflicted the Romans, and, indeed, endangeredthe very being of the Commonwealth, Marius was not able to signalizehis valour in any action, but left behind him a clear proof, thatwarlike excellence requires a strong and still vigorous body. Sylla,on the other hand, by his many achievements, gained himself, withhis fellow-citizens, the name of a great commander, while his friendsthought him the greatest of all commanders, and his enemies calledhim the most fortunate. Nor did this make the same sort of impressionon him as it made on Timotheus the son of Conon, the Athenian； who,when his adversaries ascribed his successes to his good luck, andhad a painting made, representing him asleep, and Fortune by his side,casting her nets over the cities, was rough and violent in his indignationat those who did it, as if, by attributing all to Fortune, they hadrobbed him of his just honours； and said to the people on one occasionat his return from war, "In this, ye men of Athens, Fortune had nopart." A piece of boyish petulance, which the deity, we are told,played back upon Timotheus； who from that time was never able to achieveanything that was great, but proving altogether unfortunate in hisattempts, and falling into discredit with the people, was at lastbanished the city. Sylla, on the contrary, not only accepted withpleasure the credit of such divine felicities and favours, but joininghimself and extolling and glorifying what was done, gave the honourof all to Fortune, whether it were out of boastfulness, or a realfeeling of divine agency. He remarks, in his Memoirs, that of allhis well-advised actions, none proved so lucky in the execution aswhat he had boldly enterprised, not by calculation, but upon the moment.And, in the character which he gives of himself, that he was bornfor fortune rather than war, he seems to give Fortune a higher placethan merit, and, in short, makes himself entirely the creature ofa superior power, accounting even his concord with Metellus, his equalin office, and his connection by marriage, a piece of preternaturalfelicity. For expecting to have met in him a most troublesome, hefound him a most accommodating, colleague. Moreover, in the Memoirswhich he dedicated to Lucullus, he admonished him to esteem nothingmore trustworthy than what the divine powers advise him by night.And when he was leaving the city with an army, to fight in the SocialWar, he relates that the earth near the Laverna opened, and a quantityof fire came rushing out of it, shooting up with a bright flame intothe heavens. The soothsayers upon this foretold that a person of greatqualities, and of a rare and singular aspect, should take the governmentin hand, and quiet the present troubles of the city. Sylla affirmshe was the man, for his golden head of hair made him an extraordinary-lookingman, nor had he any shame, after the great actions he had done, intestifying to his own great qualities. And thus much of his opinionas to divine agency.

    In general he would seem to have been of a very irregular character,full of inconsistencies with himself much given to rapine, to prodigalityyet more； in promoting or disgracing whom he pleased, alike unaccountable；cringing to those he stood in need of, and domineering over otherswho stood in need of him, so that it was hard to tell whether hisnature had more in it of pride or of servility. As to his unequaldistribution of punishments, as, for example, that upon slight groundshe would put to the torture, and again would bear patiently with thegreatest wrongs； would readily forgive and he reconciled after themost heinous acts of enmity, and yet would visit small and inconsiderableoffences with death and confiscation of goods； one might judge thatin himself he was really of a violent and revengeful nature, which,however, he could qualify, upon reflection, for his interest. In thisvery Social War, when the soldiers with stones and clubs had killedan officer of praetorian rank, his own lieutenant, Albinus by name,he passed by this flagrant crime without any inquiry, giving it outmoreover in a boast, that the soldiers would behave all the betternow, to make amends, by some special bravery, for their breach ofdiscipline. He took no notice of the clamours of those that criedfor justice, but designing already to supplant Marius, now that hesaw the Social War near its end, he made much of his army, in hopesto get himself declared general of the forces against Mithridates.

    At his return to Rome he was chosen consul with Quintus Pompeius,in the fiftieth year of his age, and made a most distinguished marriagewith Caecilia, daughter of Metellus, the chief priest. The commonpeople made a variety of verses in ridicule of the marriage, and manyof the nobility also were disgusted at it, esteeming him, as Livywrites, unworthy of this connection, whom before they thought worthyof a consulship. This was not his only wife, for first, in his youngerdays, he was married to Ilia, by whom he had a daughter； after herto Aelia； and thirdly to Cloelia, whom he dismissed as barren, buthonourably, and with professions of respect, adding, moreover, presents.But the match between him and Metella, falling out a few days after,occasioned suspicions that he had complained of Cloelia without duecause. To Metella he always showed great deference, so much so thatthe people, when anxious for the recall of the exiles of Marius'sparty, upon his refusal, entreated the intercession of Metella. Andthe Athenians, it is thought, had harder measure, at the capture oftheir town, because they used insulting language to Metella in theirjests from the walls during the siege. But of this hereafter.

    At present esteeming the consulship but a small matter in comparisonof things to come, he was impatiently carried away in thought to theMithridatic War. Here he was withstood by Marius； who out of mad affectationof glory and thirst for distinction, those never dying passions, thoughhe were now unwieldy in body, and had given up service, on accountof his age, during the late campaigns, still coveted after commandin a distant war beyond the seas. And whilst Sylla was departed forthe camp, to order the rest of his affairs there, he sate broodingat home, and at last hatched that execrable sedition, which wroughtRome more mischief than all her enemies together had done, as wasindeed foreshown by the gods. For a flame broke forth of its own accord,from under the staves of the ensigns, and was with difficulty extinguished.Three ravens brought their young into the open road, and ate them,carrying the relics into the nest again. Mice having gnawed the consecratedgold in one of the temples, the keepers caught one of them, a female,in a trap； and she bringing forth five young ones in the very trap,devoured three of them. But what was greatest of all, in a calm andclear sky there was heard the sound of a trumpet, with such a loudand dismal blast, as struck terror and amazement into the hearts ofthe people. The Etruscan sages affirmed that this prodigy betokenedthe mutation of the age, and a general revolution in the world. Foraccording to them there are in all eight ages, differing one fromanother in the lives and the characters of men, and to each of theseGod has allotted a certain measure of time, determined by the circuitof the great year. And when one age is run out, at the approach ofanother, there appears some wonderful sign from earth or heaven, suchas makes it manifest at once to those who have made it their businessto study such things, that there has succeeded in the world a newrace of men, differing in customs and institutes of life, and moreor less regarded by the gods than the preceding. Among other greatchanges that happen, as they say, at the turn of ages, the art ofdivination, also, at one time rises in esteem, and is more successfulin its predictions, clearer and surer tokens being sent from God,and then, again, in another generation declines as low, becoming mereguesswork for the most part, and discerning future events by dim anduncertain intimations. This was the mythology of the wisest of theTuscan sages, who were thought to possess a knowledge beyond othermen. Whilst the senate sat in consultation with the soothsayers, concerningthese prodigies, in the temple of Bellona, a sparrow came flying in,before them all, with a grasshopper in its mouth, and letting fallone part of it, flew away with the remainder. The diviners forebodedcommotions and dissensions between the great landed proprietors andthe common city populace； the latter, like the grasshopper, beingloud and talkative； while the sparrow might represent the "dwellersin the field."

    Marius had taken into alliance Sulpicius, the tribune, a man secondto none in any villainies, so that it was less the question what othershe surpassed, but rather in what respects he most surpassed himselfin wickedness. He was cruel, bold, rapacious, and in all these pointsutterly shameless and unscrupulous； not hesitating to offer Romancitizenship by public sale to freed slaves and aliens, and to countout the price on public money-tables in the forum. He maintained threethousand swordsmen, and had always about him a company of young menof the equestrian class ready for all occasions, whom he styled hisAnti-senate. Having had a law enacted, that no senator should contracta debt of above two thousand drachmas, he himself, after death, wasfound indebted three millions. This was the man whom Marius let inupon the Commonwealth, and who, confounding all things by force andthe sword, made several ordinances of dangerous consequence, and amongstthe rest one giving Marius the conduct of the Mithridatic war. Uponthis the consuls proclaimed a public cessation of business, but asthey were holding an assembly near the temple of Castor and Pollux,he let loose the rabble upon them, and amongst many others slew theconsul Pompeius's young son in the forum, Pompeius himself hardlyescaping in the crowd. Sylla, being closely pursued into the houseof Marius, was forced to come forth and dissolve the cessation； andfor his doing this, Sulpicius, having deposed Pompeius, allowed Syllato continue his consulship, only transferring the Mithridatic expeditionto Marius.

    There were immediately despatched to Nola tribunes to receive thearmy, and bring it to Marius； but Sylla, having got first to the camp,and the soldiers, upon hearing the news, having stoned the tribunes,Marius, in requital, proceeded to put the friends of Sylla in thecity to the sword, and rifled their goods. Every kind of removal andflight went on, some hastening from the camp to the city, others fromthe city to the camp. The senate, no more in its own power, but whollygoverned by the dictates of Marius and Sulpicius, alarmed at the reportof Sylla's advancing with his troops towards the city, sent forthtwo of the praetors, Brutus and Servilius, to forbid his nearer approach.The soldiers would have slain these praetors in a fury, for theirbold language to Sylla； contenting themselves, however, with breakingtheir rods, and tearing off their purple-edged robes, after much contumelioususage they sent them back, to the sad dejection of the citizens, whobeheld their magistrates despoiled of their badges of office, andannouncing to them that things were now manifestly come to a rupturepast all cure. Marius put himself in readiness, and Sylla with hiscolleague moved from Nola, at the head of six complete legions, allof them willing to march up directly against the city, though he himselfas yet was doubtful in thought, and apprehensive of the danger. Ashe was sacrificing, Postumius the soothsayer, having inspected theentrails, stretching forth both hands to Sylla, required to be boundand kept in custody till the battle was over, as willing, if theyhad not speedy and complete success, to suffer the utmost punishment.It is said, also, that there appeared to Sylla himself, in a dream,a certain goddess, whom the Romans learnt to worship from the Cappadocians,whether it be the Moon, or Pallas, or Bellona. This same goddess,to his thinking, stood by him, and put into his hand thunder and lightning,then naming his enemies one by one, bade him strike them, who, allof them, fell on the discharge and disappeared. Encouraged by thisvision, and relating it to his colleague, next day he led on towardsRome. About Picinae being met by a deputation, beseeching him notto attack at once, in the heat of a march, for that the senate haddecreed to do him all the right imaginable, he consented to halt onthe spot, and sent his officers to measure out the ground, as is usual,for a camp； so that the deputation, believing it, returned. They wereno sooner gone, but he sent a party on under the command of LuciusBasillus and Caius Mummius, to secure the city gate, and the wallson the side of the Esquiline hill, and then close at their heels followedhimself with all speed. Basillus made his way successfully into thecity, but the unarmed multitude, pelting him with stones and tilesfrom off the houses, stopped his further progress, and beat him backto the wall. Sylla by this time was come up, and seeing what was goingon, called aloud to his men to set fire to the houses, and takinga flaming torch, he himself led the way, and commanded the archersto make use of their fire-darts, letting fly at the tops of houses；all which he did, not upon any plan, but simply in his fury, yieldingthe conduct of that day's work to passion, and as if all he saw wereenemies, without respect or pity either to friends, relations, oracquaintance, made his entry by fire, which knows no distinction betwixtfriend or foe.

    In this conflict, Marius, being driven into the temple of Mother-Earth,thence invited the slaves by proclamation of freedom, but the enemycoming on he was overpowered and fled the city.

    Sylla having called a senate, had sentence of death passed on Marius,and some few others, amongst whom was Sulpicius, tribune of the people.Sulpicius was killed, being betrayed by his servant, whom Sylla firstmade free, and then threw him headlong down the Tarpeian rock. Asfor Marius, he set a price on his life, by proclamation, neither gratefullynor politically, if we consider into whose house, not long before,he put himself at mercy, and safely dismissed. Had Marius at thattime not let Sylla go, but suffered him to be slain by the hands ofSulpicius, he might have been lord of all： nevertheless he sparedhis life, and a few days after, when in a similar position himself,received a different measure.

    By these proceedings Sylla excited the secret distaste of the senate；but the displeasure and free indignation of the commonalty showeditself plainly by their actions. For they ignominiously rejected Nonius,his nephew, and Servius, who stood for offices of state by his interest,and elected others as magistrates, by honouring whom they thoughtthey should most annoy him. He made semblance of extreme satisfactionat all this, as if the people by his means had again enjoyed the libertyof doing what seemed best to them. And to pacify the public hostility,he created Lucius Cinna consul, one of the adverse party, having firstbound him under oaths and imprecations to be favourable to his interest.For Cinna, ascending the capitol with a stone in his hand, swore solemnly,and prayed with direful curses, that he himself, if he were not trueto his friendship with Sylla, might be cast out of the city, as thatstone out of his hand； and thereupon cast the stone to the ground,in the presence of many people. Nevertheless Cinna had no sooner enteredon his charge, but he took measures to disturb the present settlement,having prepared an impeachment against Sylla, got Virginius, one ofthe tribunes of the people, to be his accuser； but Sylla, leavinghim and the court of judicature to themselves, set forth against Mithridates.

    About the time that Sylla was making ready to put off with his forcefrom Italy, besides many other omens which befell Mithridates, thenstaying at Pergamus, there goes a story that a figure of Victory,with a crown in her hand, which the Pergamenians by machinery fromabove let down on him, when it had almost reached his head, fell topieces, and the crown tumbling down into the midst of the theatre,there broke against the ground, occasioning a general alarm amongthe populace, and considerably disquieting Mithridates himself, althoughhis affairs at that time were succeeding beyond expectation. For havingwrested Asia from the Romans, and Bithynia and Cappadocia from theirkings, he made Pergamus his royal seat, distributing among his friendsriches, principalities, and kingdoms. Of his sons, one residing inPontus and Bosporus held his ancient realm as far as the deserts beyondthe lake Maeotis, without molestation； while Ariarathes, another,was reducing Thrace and Macedon, with a great army, to obedience.His generals, with forces under them, were establishing his supremacyin other quarters. Archelaus, in particular, with his fleet, heldabsolute mastery of the sea, and was bringing into subjection theCyclades, and all the other islands as far as Malea, and had takenEuboea itself. Making Athens his headquarters, from thence as faras Thessaly he was withdrawing the states of Greece from the Romanallegiance, without the least ill-success, except at Chaeronea. Forhere Bruttius Sura, lieutenant to Sentius, governor of Macedon, aman of singular valour and prudence, met him, and, though he camelike a torrent pouring over Boeotia, made stout resistance, and thricegiving him battle near Chaeronea, repulsed and forced him back tothe sea. But being commanded by Lucius Lucullus to give place to hissuccessor, Sylla, and resign the war to whom it was decreed, he presentlyleft Boeotia, and retired back to Sentius, although his success hadoutgone all hopes, and Greece was well disposed to a new revolution,upon account of his gallant behaviour. These were the glorious actionsof Bruttius.

    Sylla, on his arrival, received by their deputations the complimentsof all the cities of Greece, except Athens, against which, as it wascompelled by the tyrant Aristion to hold for the king, he advancedwith all his forces, and investing the Piraeus, laid formal siegeto it, employing every variety of engines, and trying every mannerof assault； whereas, had he forborn but a little while, he might withouthazard have taken the Upper City by famine, it being already reducedto the last extremity, through want of necessaries. But eager to returnto Rome, and fearing innovation there, at great risk, with continualfighting and vast expense, he pushed on the war. Besides other equipage,the very work about the engines of battery was supplied with no lessthan ten thousand yoke of mules, employed daily in that service. Andwhen timber grew scarce, for many of the works failed, some crushedto pieces by their own weight, others taking fire by the continualplay of the enemy, he had recourse to the sacred groves, and cut downthe trees of the Academy, the shadiest of all the suburbs, and theLyceum. And a vast sum of money being wanted to carry on the war,he broke into the sanctuaries of Greece, that of Epidaurus and thatof Olympia, sending for the most beautiful and precious offeringsdeposited there. He wrote, likewise, to the Amphictyons at Delphi,that it were better to remit the wealth of the god to him, for thathe would keep it more securely, or in case he made use of it, restoreas much. He sent Caphis, the Phocian, one of his friends, with thismessage, commanding him to receive each item by weight. Caphis cameto Delphi, but was loth to touch the holy things, and with many tears,in the presence of the Amphictyons, bewailed the necessity. And onsome of them declaring they heard the sound of a harp from the innershrine, he, whether he himself believed it, or was willing to trythe effect of religious fear upon Sylla, sent back an express. Towhich Sylla replied in a scoffing way, that it was surprising to himthat Caphis did not know that music was a sign of joy, not anger；he should, therefore, go on boldly, and accept what a gracious andbountiful god offered.

    Other things were sent away without much notice on the part of theGreeks in general, but in the case of the silver tun, that only relicof the regal donations, which its weight and bulk made it impossiblefor any carriage to receive, the Amphictyons were forced to cut itinto pieces, and called to mind in so doing, how Titus Flamininus,and Manius Acilius, and again Paulus Aemilius, one of whom drove Antiochusout of Greece, and the others subdued the Macedonian kings, had notonly abstained from violating the Greek temples, but had even giventhem new gifts and honours, and increased the general veneration forthem. They, indeed, the lawful commanders of temperate and obedientsoldiers, and themselves great in soul, and simple in expenses, livedwithin the bounds of the ordinary established charges, accountingit a greater disgrace to seek popularity with their men, than to feelfear of their enemy. Whereas the commanders of these times, attainingto superiority by force, not worth, and having need of arms one againstanother, rather than against the public enemy, were constrained totemporize in authority, and in order to pay for the gratificationswith which they purchased the labour of their soldiers, were driven,before they knew it, to sell the commonwealth itself, and, to gainthe mastery over men better than themselves, were content to becomeslaves to the vilest of wretches. These practices drove Marius intoexile. and again brought him in against Sylla. These made Cinna theassassin of Octavius, and Fimbria of Flaccus. To which courses Syllacontributed not the least； for to corrupt and win over those who wereunder the command of others, he would be munificent and profuse towardsthose who were under his own； and so, while tempting the soldiersof other generals to treachery, and his own to dissolute living, hewas naturally in want of a large treasury, and especially during thatsiege.

    Sylla had a vehement and an implacable desire to conquer Athens. whetherout of emulation, fighting as it were against the shadow of the oncefamous city, or out of anger, at the foul words and scurrilous jestswith which the tyrant Aristion, showing himself daily, with unseemlygesticulations, upon the walls, had provoked him and Metella.

    The tyrant Aristion had his very being compounded of wantonness andcruelty, having gathered into himself all the worst of Mithridates'sdiseased and vicious qualities, like some fatal malady which the city,after its deliverance from innumerable wars, many tyrannies and seditions,was in its last days destined to endure. At the time when a medimnusof wheat was sold in the city for one thousand drachmas and men wereforced to live on the feverfew growing round the citadel, and to boildown shoes and oil-bags for their food, he, carousing and feastingin the open face of day, then dancing in armour, and making jokesat the enemy, suffered the holy lamp of the goddess to expire forwant of oil, and to the chief priestess, who demanded of him the twelfthpart of a medimnus of wheat, he sent the like quantity of pepper.The senators and priests who came as suppliants to beg of him to takecompassion on the city, and treat for peace with Sylla, he drove awayand dispersed with a flight of arrows. At last, with much ado, hesent forth two or three of his revelling companions to parley, towhom Sylla, perceiving that they made no serious overtures towardsan accommodation, but went on haranguing in praise of Theseus, Eumolpus,and the Median trophies, replied, "My good friends, you may put upyour speeches and be gone. I was sent by the Romans to Athens, notto take lessons, but to reduce rebels to obedience."

    In the meantime news came to Sylla that some old men, talking in theCeramicus, had been overheard to blame the tyrant for not securingthe passages and approaches near the Heptachalcum, the one point wherethe enemy might easily get over. Sylla neglected not the report, butgoing in the night, and discovering the place to be assailable, setinstantly to work. Sylla himself makes mention in his Memoirs thatMarcus Teius, the first man who scaled the wall, meeting with an adversary,and striking him on the headpiece a home-stroke, broke his own sword,but, notwithstanding, did not give ground, but stood and held himfast. The city was certainly taken from that quarter, according tothe tradition of the oldest of the Athenians.

    When they had thrown down the wall, and made all level betwixt thePiraic and Sacred Gate, about midnight Sylla entered the breach, withall the terrors of trumpets and cornets sounding, with the triumphantshout and cry of an army let loose to spoil and slaughter, and scouringthrough the streets with swords drawn. There was no numbering theslain； the amount is to this day conjectured only from the space ofground overflowed with blood. For without mentioning the executiondone in other quarters of the city, the blood that was shed aboutthe market-place spread over the whole Ceramicus within the Double-gate,and, according to most writers, passed through the gate and overflowedthe suburb. Nor did the multitudes which fell thus exceed the numberof those who, out of pity and love for their country which they believedwas now finally to perish, slew themselves； the best of them, throughdespair of their country's surviving, dreading themselves to survive,expecting neither humanity nor moderation in Sylla. At length, partlyat the instance of Midias and Calliphon, two exiled men, beseechingand casting themselves at his feet, partly by the intercession ofthose senators who followed the camp, having had his fill of revenge,and making some honourable mention of the ancient Athenians, "I forgive,"said he, "the many for the sake of the few, the living for the dead."He took Athens, according to his own Memoirs, on the calends of March,coinciding pretty nearly with the new moon of Anthesterion, on whichday it is the Athenian usage to perform various acts in commemorationof the ruins and devastations occasioned by the deluge, that beingsupposed to be the time of its occurrence.

    At the taking of the town, the tyrant fled into the citadel, and wasthere besieged by Curio, who had that charge given him. He held outa considerable time, but at last yielded himself up for want of water,and divine power immediately intimated its agency in the matter. Foron the same day and hour that Curio conducted him down, the cloudsgathered in a clear sky, and there came down a great quantity of rainand filled the citadel with water.

    Not long after, Sylla won the Piraeus, and burnt most of it； amongstthe rest, Philo's arsenal, a work very greatly admired.

    In the meantime Taxiles, Mithridates's general, coming down from Thraceand Macedon, with an army of one hundred thousand foot, ten thousandhorse, and ninety chariots, armed with scythes at the wheels, wouldhave joined Archelaus, who lay with a navy on the coast near Munychia,reluctant to quit the sea, and yet unwilling to engage the Romansin battle, but desiring to protract the war and cut off the enemy'ssupplies. Which Sylla perceiving much better than himself, passedwith his forces into Boeotia, quitting a barren district which wasinadequate to maintain an army even in time of peace. He was thoughtby some to have taken false measures in thus leaving Attica, a ruggedcountry, and ill suited for cavalry to move in, and entering the plainand open fields of Boeotia, knowing as he did the barbarian strengthto consist most in horses and chariots. But as was said before, toavoid famine and scarcity, he was forced to run the risk of a battle.Moreover he was in anxiety for Hortensius, a bold and active officer,whom on his way to Sylla with forces from Thessaly, the barbariansawaited in the straits. For these reasons Sylla drew off into Boeotia.Hortensius, meantime, was conducted by Caphis, our countryman, anotherway unknown to the barbarians, by Parnassus, just under Tithora, whichwas then not so large a town as it is now, but a mere fort, surroundedby steep precipices whither the Phocians also, in old times, whenflying from the invasion of Xerxes, carried themselves and their goodsand were saved. Hortensius, encamping here, kept off the enemy byday, and at night descending by difficult passages to Patronis, joinedthe forces of Sylla who came to meet him. Thus united they postedthemselves on a fertile hill in the middle of the plain of Elatea,shaded with trees and watered at the foot. It is called Philoboeotus,and its situation and natural advantages are spoken of with greatadmiration by Sylla.

    As they lay thus encamped, they seemed to the enemy a contemptiblenumber, for there were not above fifteen hundred horse, and less thanfifteen thousand foot. Therefore the rest of the commanders, over-persuadingArchelaus and drawing up the army, covered the plain with horses,chariots, bucklers, targets. The clamour and cries of so many nationsforming for battle rent the air, nor was the pomp and ostentationof their costly array altogether idle and unserviceable for terror；for the brightness of their armour, embellished magnificently withgold and silver, and the rich colours of their Median and Scythiancoats, intermixed with brass and shining steel, presented a flamingand terrible sight as they swayed about and moved in their ranks,so much so that the Romans shrunk within their trenches, and Sylla,unable by any arguments to remove their fear, and unwilling to forcethem to fight against their wills, was fain to sit down in quiet,ill-brooking to become the subject of barbarian insolence and laughter.This, however, above all advantaged him, for the enemy, from contemningof him, fell into disorder amongst themselves, being already lessthoroughly under command, on account of the number of their leaders.Some few of them remained within the encampment, but others, the majorpart, lured out with hopes of prey and rapine, strayed about the countrymany days' journey from the camp, and are related to have destroyedthe city of Panope, to have plundered Lebadea, and robbed the oraclewithout any orders from their commanders.

    Sylla, all this while, chafing and fretting to see the cities allaround destroyed, suffered not the soldiery to remain idle, but leadingthem out, compelled them to divert the Cephisus from its ancient channelby casting up ditches, and giving respite to none, showed himselfrigorous in punishing the remiss, that growing weary of labour, theymight be induced by hardship to embrace danger. Which fell out accordingly,for on the third day, being hard at work as Sylla passed by, theybegged and clamoured to be led against the enemy. Sylla replied, thatthis demand of war proceeded rather from a backwardness to labourthan any forwardness to fight, but if they were in good earnest martiallyinclined, he bade them take their arms and get up thither, pointingto the ancient citadel of the Parapotamians, of which at present,the city being laid waste, there remained only the rocky hill itself,steep and craggy on all sides, and severed from Mount Hedylium bythe breadth of the river Assus, which, running between, and at thebottom of the same hill falling into the Cephisus with an impetuousconfluence, makes this eminence a strong position for soldiers tooccupy. Observing that the enemy's division, called the Brazen Shields,were making their way up thither, Sylla was willing to take firstpossession, and by the vigorous efforts of the soldiers, succeeded.Archelaus, driven from hence, bent his forces upon Chaeronea. TheChaeroneans who bore arms in the Roman camp beseeching Sylla not toabandon the city, he despatched Gabinius, a tribune, with one legion,and sent out also the Chaeroneans, who endeavoured, but were not ableto get in before Gabinius； so active was he, and more zealous to bringrelief than those who had entreated it. Juba writes that Ericius wasthe man sent, not Gabinius. Thus narrowly did our native city escape.

    From Lebadea and the cave of Trophonius there came favourable rumoursand prophecies of victory to the Romans, of which the inhabitantsof those places gave a fuller account, but as Sylla himself affirmsin the tenth book of his Memoirs, Quintus Titius, a man of some reputeamong the Romans who were engaged in mercantile business in Greece,came to him after the battle won at Chaeronea, and declared that Trophoniushad foretold another fight and victory on the place, within a shorttime. After him a soldier, by name Salvenius, brought an account fromthe god of the future issue of affairs in Italy. As to the vision,they both agreed in this, that they had seen one who in stature andin majesty was similar to Jupiter Olympius.

    Sylla, when he had passed over the Assus, marching under the MountHedylium, encamped close to Archelaus, who had intrenched himselfstrongly between the mountains Acontium and Hedylium, close to whatare called the Assia. The place of his intrenchment is to this daynamed from him, Archelaus. Sylla, after one day's respite, havingleft Murena behind him with one legion and two cohorts to amuse theenemy with continual alarms, himself went and sacrificed on the banksof Cephisus, and the holy rites ended, held on towards Chaeronea toreceive the forces there and view Mount Thurium, where a party ofthe enemy had posted themselves. This is a craggy height running upin a conical form to a point called by us Orthopagus； at the footof it is the river Morius and the temple of Apollo Thurius. The godhad his surname from Thuro, mother of Chaeron, whom ancient recordmakes founder of Chaeronea. Others assert that the cow, which Apollogave to Cadmus for a guide, appeared there, and that the place tookits name from the beast, Thor being the Phoenician word for cow.

    At Sylla's approach to Chaeronea, the tribune who had been appointedto guard the city led out his men in arms, and met him with a garlandof laurel in his hand； which Sylla accepting, and at the same timesaluting the soldiers and animating them to the encounter, two menof Chaeronea, Homoloichus and Anaxidamus, presented themselves beforehim, and offered, with a small party, to dislodge those who were postedon Thurium. For there lay a path out of sight of the barbarians, fromwhat is called Petrochus along by the Museum, leading right down fromabove upon Thurium. By this way it was easy to fall upon them andeither stone them from above or force them down into the plain. Sylla,assured of their faith and courage by Gabinius, bade them proceedwith the enterprise, and meantime drew up the army, and disposingthe cavalry on both wings, himself took command of the right； theleft being committed to the direction of Murena. In the rear of all,Galba and Hortensius, his lieutenants, planted themselves on the uppergrounds with the cohorts of reserve, to watch the motions of the enemy,who, with numbers of horse and swift-footed, light-armed infantry,were noticed to have so formed their wing as to allow it readily tochange about and alter its position, and thus gave reason for suspectingthat they intended to carry it far out and so to inclose the Romans.

    In the meanwhile, the Chaeroneans, who had Ericius for commander byappointment of Sylla, covertly making their way around Thurium, andthen discovering themselves, occasioned a great confusion and routamong the barbarians, and slaughter, for the most part, by their ownhands. For they kept not their place, but making down the steep descent,ran themselves on their own spears, and violently sent each otherover the cliffs the enemy from above pressing on and wounding themwhere they exposed their bodies； insomuch that there fell three thousandabout Thurium. Some of those who escaped, being met by Murena as hestood in array, were cut off and destroyed. Others breaking throughto their friends and falling pell-mell into the ranks, filled mostpart of the army with fear and tumult, and caused a hesitation anddelay among the generals, which was no small disadvantage. For immediatelyupon the discomposure, Sylla coming full speed to the charge, andquickly crossing the interval between the armies, lost them the serviceof their armed chariots, which require a considerable space of groundto gather strength and impetuosity in their career, a short coursebeing weak and ineffectual, like that of missiles without a full swing.Thus it fared with the barbarians at present, whose first chariotscame feebly on and made but a faint impression； the Romans, repulsingthem with shouts and laughter, called out, as they do at the racesin the circus, for more to come. By this time the mass of both armiesmet； the barbarians on one side fixed their long pikes, and with theirshields locked close together, strove so far as in them lay to preservetheir line of battle entire. The Romans, on the other side, havingdischarged their javelins, rushed on with their drawn swords, andstruggled to put by the pikes to get at them the sooner, in the furythat possessed them at seeing in the front of the enemy fifteen thousandslaves, whom the royal commanders had set free by proclamation, andranged amongst the men of arms. And a Roman centurion is reportedto have said at this sight, that he never knew servants allowed toplay the masters, unless at the Saturnalia. These men, by their deepand solid array, as well as by their daring courage, yielded but slowlyto the legions, till at last by slinging engines, and darts, whichthe Romans poured in upon them behind, they were forced to give wayand scatter.

    As Archelaus was extending the right wing to encompass the enemy,Hortensius with his cohorts came down in force, with intention tocharge him in the flank. But Archelaus wheeling about suddenly withtwo thousand horse, Hortensius, out-numbered and hard pressed, fellback towards the higher grounds, and found himself gradually gettingseparated from the main body and likely to be surrounded by the enemy.When Sylla heard this, he came rapidly up to his succour from theright wing, which as yet had not engaged. But Archelaus, guessingthe matter by the dust of his troops, turned to the right wing, fromwhence Sylla came, in hopes to surprise it without a commander. Atthe same instant, likewise, Taxiles, with his Brazen Shields, assailedMurena, so that a cry coming from both places, and the hills repeatingit around, Sylla stood in suspense which way to move. Deciding toresume his own station he sent in aid to Murena four cohorts underHortensius, and commanding the fifth to follow him, returned hastilyto the right wing, which of itself held its ground on equal termsagainst Archelaus； and, at his appearance, with one bold effort forcedthem back, and, obtaining the mastery, followed them, flying in disorderto the river and Mount Acontium. Sylla, however, did not forget thedanger Murena was in； but hasting thither and finding him victoriousalso, then joined in the pursuit. Many barbarians were slain in thefield, many more were cut in pieces as they were making into the camp.Of all the vast multitude, ten thousand only got safe intoe Chalcis.Sylla writes that there were but fourteen of his soldiers missing,and that two of these returned towards evening； he, therefore, inscribedon the trophies the names of Mars, Victory, and Venus, as having wonthe day no less by good fortune than by management and force of arms.This trophy of the battle in the plain stands on the place where Archelausfirst gave way, near the stream of the Molus； another is erected highon the top of Thurium, where the barbarians were environed, with aninscription in Greek, recording that the glory of the day belongedto Homoloichus and Anaxidamus. Sylla celebrated his victory at Thebeswith spectacles, for which he erected a stage, near Oedipus's well.The judges of the performances were Greeks chosen out of other cities；his hostility to the Thebans being implacable, half of whose territoryhe took away and consecrated to Apollo and Jupiter, ordering thatout of the revenue compensation should be made to the gods for theriches himself had taken from them.

    After this, hearing that Flaccus, a man of the contrary faction, hadbeen chosen consul, and was crossing the Ionian Sea with an army,professedly to act against Mithridates, but in reality against himself,he hastened towards Thessaly, designing to meet him, but in his march,when near Melitea, received advices from all parts that the countriesbehind him were overrun and ravaged by no less a royal army than theformer. For Dorylaus, arriving at Chalcis with a large fleet, on boardof which he brought over with him eighty thousand of the best appointedand best disciplined soldiers of Mithridates's army, at once invadedBoeotia, and occupied the country in hopes to bring Sylla to a battle,making no account of the dissuasions of Archelaus, but giving it outas to the last fight, that without treachery so many thousand mencould never have perished. Sylla, however, facing about expeditiously,made it clear to him that Archelaus was a wise man, and had good skillin the Roman valour； insomuch that he himself, after some small skirmisheswith Sylla near Tilphossium, was the first of those who thought itnot advisable to put things to the decision of the sword, but ratherto wear out the war by expense of time and treasure. The ground, however,near Orchomenus, where they then lay encamped, gave some encouragementto Archelaus, being a battlefield admirably suited for any army superiorin cavalry. Of all the plains in Boeotia that are renowned for theirbeauty and extent, this alone, which commences from the city of Orchomenus,spreads out unbroken and clear of trees to the edge of the fens inwhich the Melas, rising close under Orchomenus, loses itself, theonly Greek river which is a deep and navigable water from the veryhead, increasing also about the summer solstice like the Nile, andproducing plants similar to those that grow there, only small andwithout fruit. It does not run far before the main stream disappearsamong the blind and woody marsh-grounds； a small branch, however,joins the Cephisus, about the place where the lake is thought to producethe best flute-reeds.

    Now that both armies were posted near each other, Archelaus lay still,but Sylla employed himself in cutting ditches from either side； thatif possible, by driving the enemies from the firm and open champaign,he might force them into the fens. They, on the other hand, not enduringthis, as soon as their leaders allowed them the word of command, issuedout furiously in large bodies； when not only the men at work weredispersed, but most part of those who stood in arms to protect thework fled in disorder. Upon this, Sylla leaped from his horse, andsnatching hold of an ensign, rushed through the midst of the routupon the enemy, crying out aloud, "To me, O Romans, it will be gloriousto fall here. As for you, when they ask you where you betrayed yourgeneral, remember and say, at Orchomenus." His men rallying againat these words, and two cohorts coming to his succour from the rightwing, he led them to the charge and turned the day. Then retiringsome short distance and refreshing his men, he proceeded again withhis works to block up the enemy's camp. They again sallied out inbetter order than before. Here Diogenes, stepson to Archelaus, fightingon the right wing with much gallantry, made an honourable end. Andthe archers, being hard pressed by the Romans, and wanting space fora retreat, took their arrows by handfuls, and striking with theseas with swords, beat them back. In the end, however, they were alldriven into the intrenchment and had a sorrowful night of it withtheir slain and wounded. The next day again, Sylla, leading forthhis men up to their quarters, went on finishing the lines of intrenchment,and when they issued out again with larger numbers to give him battle,fell on them and put them to the rout, and in the consternation ensuing,none daring to abide, he took the camp by storm. The marshes werefilled with blood, and the lake with dead bodies, insomuch that tothis day many bows, helmets, fragments of iron, breastplates, andswords of barbarian make continue to be found buried deep in mud,two hundred years after the fight. Thus much of the actions of Chaeroneaand Orchomenus.

    At Rome, Cinna and Carbo were now using injustice and violence towardspersons of the greatest eminence, and many of them to avoid this tyrannyrepaired, as to a safe harbour, to Sylla's camp, where, in a shortspace, he had about him the aspect of a senate. Metella, likewise,having with difficulty conveyed herself and children away by stealth,brought him word that his houses, both in town and country, had beenburnt by his enemies, and entreated his help at home. Whilst he wasin doubt what to do, being impatient to hear of his country beingthus outraged, and yet not knowing how to leave so great a work asthe Mithridatic war unfinished, there comes to him Archelaus, a merchantof Delos, with hopes of an accommodation, and private instructionsfrom Archelaus, the king's general. Sylla liked the business so wellas to desire a speedy conference with Archelaus in person, and a meetingtook place on the seacoast near Delium, where the temple of Apollostands. When Archelaus opened the conversation, and began to urgeSylla to abandon his pretensions to Asia and Pontus, and to set sailfor the war in Rome, receiving money and shipping, and such forcesas he should think fitting from the king, Sylla interposing, badeArchelaus take no further care for Mithridates, but assume the crownto himself, and become a confederate of Rome, delivering up the navy.Archelaus professing his abhorrence of such treason, Sylla proceeded："So you, Archelaus, a Cappadocian, and slave, or if it so please youfriend, to a barbarian king, would not, upon such vast considerations,be guilty of what is dishonourable, and yet dare to talk to me, Romangeneral and Sylla, of treason？ as if you were not the self-same Archelauswho ran away at Chaeronea, with few remaining out of one hundred andtwenty thousand men； who lay for two days in the fens of Orchomenus,and left Boeotia impassable for heaps of dead carcasses." Archelaus,changing his tone at this, humbly besought him to lay aside the thoughtsof war, and make peace with Mithridates. Sylla consenting to thisrequest, articles of agreement were concluded on. That Mithridatesshould quit Asia and Paphlagonia, restore Bithynia to Nicomedes, Cappadociato Ariobarzanes, and pay the Romans two thousand talents, and givehim seventy ships of war with all their furniture. On the other hand,that Sylla should confirm to him his other dominions, and declarehim a Roman confederate. On these terms he proceeded by the way ofThessaly and Macedon towards the Hellespont, having Archelaus withhim, and treating him with great attention. For Archelaus being takendangerously ill at Larissa, he stopped the march of the army, andtook care of him, as if he had been one of his own captains, or hiscolleague in command. This gave suspicion of foul play in the battleof Chaeronea； as it was also observed that Sylla had released allthe friends of Mithridates taken prisoners in war, except only Aristionthe tyrant, who was at enmity with Archelaus, and was put to deathby poison； and, above all, ten thousand acres of land in Euboea hadbeen given to the Cappadocian, and he had received from Sylla thestyle of friend and ally of the Romans. On all which points Sylladefends himself in his Memoirs.

    The ambassadors of Mithridates arriving and declaring that they acceptedof the conditions, only Paphlagonia they could not part with； andas for the ships, professing not to know of any such capitulation,Sylla in a rage exclaimed, "What say you？ Does Mithridates then withholdPaphlagonia？ and as to the ships, deny that article？ I thought tohave seen him prostrate at my feet to thank me for leaving him somuch as that right hand of his, which has cut off so many Romans.He will shortly, at my coming over into Asia, speak another language；in the meantime, let him at his ease in Pergamus sit managing a warwhich he never saw." The ambassadors in terror stood silent by, butArchelaus endeavoured with humble supplications to assuage his wrath,laying hold on his right hand and weeping. In conclusion he obtainedpermission to go himself in person to Mithridates； for that he wouldeither mediate a peace to the satisfaction of Sylla, or if not, slayhimself. Sylla having thus despatched him away, made an inroad intoMaedica, and after wide depopulations returned back again into Macedon,where he received Archelaus about Philippi, bringing word that allwas well, and that Mithridates earnestly requested an interview. Thechief cause of this meeting was Fimbria； for he, having assassinatedFlaccus, the consul of the contrary faction, and worsted the Mithridaticcommanders, was advancing against Mithridates himself, who, fearingthis, chose rather to seek the friendship of Sylla.

    And so met at Dardanus in the Troad, on one side Mithridates, attendedwith two hundred ships, and land-forces consisting of twenty thousandmen at arms, six thousand horse, and a large train of scythed chariots；on the other, Sylla with only four cohorts and two hundred horse.As Mithridates drew near and put out his hand, Sylla demanded whetherhe was willing or no to end the war on the terms Archelaus had agreedto, but seeing the king made no answer, "How is this？" he continued,"ought not the petitioner to speak first, and the conqueror to listenin silence？" And when Mithridates, entering upon his plea, began toshift off the war, partly on the gods, and partly to blame the Romansthemselves, he took him up, saying that he had heard, indeed, longsince from others, and now he knew it himself for truth, that Mithridateswas a powerful speaker, who in defence of the most foul and unjustproceedings, had not wanted for specious pretences. Then charginghim with and inveighing bitterly against the outrages he had committed,he asked again whether he was willing or no to ratify the treaty ofArchelaus？ Mithridates answering in the affirmative, Sylla came forward,embraced and kissed him. Not long after he introduced Ariobarzanesand Nicomedes, the two kings, and made them friends. Mithridates,when he had handed over to Sylla seventy ships and five hundred archers,set sail for Pontus.

    Sylla, perceiving the soldiers to be dissatisfied with the peace （asit seemed indeed a monstrous thing that they should see the king whowas their bitterest enemy, and who had caused one hundred and fiftythousand Romans to be massacred in one day in Asia, now sailing offwith the riches and spoils of Asia, which he had pillaged, and putunder contribution for the space of four years）, in his defence tothem alleged, that he could not have made head against Fimbria andMithridates, had they both withstood him in conjunction. Thence heset out and went in search of Fimbria, who lay with the army aboutThyatira, and pitching his camp not far off, proceeded to fortifyit with a trench. The soldiers of Fimbria came out in their singlecoats, and saluting his men, lent ready assistance to the work； whichchange Fimbria beholding, and apprehending Sylla as irreconcilable,laid violent hands on himself in the camp.

    Sylla imposed on Asia in general a tax of twenty thousand talents,and despoiled individually each family by the licentious behaviourand long residence of the soldiery in private quarters. For he ordainedthat every host should allow his guest four tetradrachms each day,and moreover entertain him, and as many friends as he should invite,with a supper； that a centurion should receive fifty drachms a day,together with one suit of clothes to wear within doors, and anotherwhen he went abroad.

    Having set out from Ephesus with the whole navy, he came the thirdday to anchor in the Piraeus. Here he was initiated in the mysteries,and seized for his use the library of Apellicon the Teian, in whichwere most of the works of Theophrastus and Aristotle, then not ingeneral circulation. When the whole was afterwards conveyed to Rome,there, it is said, the greater part of the collection passed throughthe hands of Tyrannion the grammarian, and that Andronicus the Rhodian,having through his means the command of numerous copies, made thetreatises public, and drew up the catalogues that are now current.The elder Peripatetics appear themselves, indeed, to have been accomplishedand learned men, but of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastusthey had no large or exact knowledge, because Theophrastus bequeathinghis books to the heir of Neleus of Scepsis, they came into carelessand illiterate hands.

    During Sylla's stay about Athens, his feet were attacked by a heavybenumbing pain, which Strabo calls the first inarticulate sounds ofthe gout. Taking, therefore, a voyage to Aedepsus, he made use ofthe hot waters there, allowing himself at the same time to forgetall anxieties, and passing away his time with actors. As he was walkingalong the seashore, certain fishermen brought him some magnificentfish. Being much delighted with the gift, and understanding, on inquiry,that they were men of Halaeae, "What," said he, "are there any menof Halaeae surviving？" For after his victory at Orchomenus, in theheat of a pursuit, he had destroyed three cities of Boeotia, Anthedon,Larymna, and Halaeae. The men not knowing what to say for fear, Sylla,with a smile, bade them cheer up and return in peace, as they hadbrought with them no insignificant intercessors. The Halaeans saythat this first gave them courage to re-unite and return to theircity.

    Sylla, having marched through Thessaly and Macedon to the sea coast,prepared, with twelve hundred vessels, to cross over from Dyrrhachiumto Brundisium. Not far from hence is Apollonia, and near it the Nymphaeum,a spot of ground where, from among green trees and meadows, thereare found at various points springs of fire continually streamingout. Here, they say, a satyr, such as statuaries and painters represent,was caught asleep, and brought before Sylla, where he was asked byseveral interpreters who he was, and, after much trouble, at lastuttered nothing intelligible, but a harsh noise, something betweenthe neighing of a horse and crying of a goat. Sylla, in dismay, anddeprecating such an omen, bade it be removed.

    At the point of transportation, Sylla being in alarm, lest at theirfirst setting foot upon Italy the soldiers should disband and disperseone by one among the cities, they of their own accord first took anoath to stand firm by him, and not of their good-will to injure Italy；then seeing him in distress for money, they made, so they say, a free-willoffering, and contributed each man according to his ability. However,Sylla would not accept of their offering, but praising their good-will,and arousing up their courage, went over （as he himself writes） againstfifteen hostile generals in command of four hundred and fifty cohorts；but not without the most unmistakable divine intimations of his approachinghappy successes. For when he was sacrificing at his first landingnear Tarentum, the victim's liver showed the figure of a crown oflaurel with two fillets hanging from it. And a little while beforehis arrival in Campania, near the mountain Hephaeus, two stately goatswere seen in the daytime, fighting together, and performing all themotions of men in battle. It proved to be an apparition, and risingup gradually from the ground, dispersed in the air, like fancied representationsin the clouds, and so vanished out of sight. Not long after, in theself-same place, when Marius the younger and Norbanus the consul attackedhim with two great armies, without prescribing the order of battle,or arranging his men according to their divisions, by the sway onlyof one common alacrity and transport of courage, he overthrew theenemy, and shut up Norbanus into the city of Capua, with the lossof seven thousand of his men. And this was the reason, he says, thatthe soldiers did not leave him and disperse into the different towns,but held fast to him, and despised the enemy, though infinitely morein number.

    At Silvium （as he himself relates it）, there met him a servant ofPontius, in a state of divine possession, saying that he brought himthe power of the sword and victory from Bellona, the goddess of war,and if he did not make haste, that the capitol would be burnt, whichfell out on the same day the man foretold it, namely, on the sixthday of the month Quintilis, which we now call July.

    At Fidentia, also, Marcus Lucullus, one of Sylla's commanders, reposedsuch confidence in the forwardness of the soldiers, as to dare toface fifty cohorts of the enemy with only sixteen of his own： butbecause many of them were unarmed delayed the onset. As he stood thuswaiting, and considering with himself, a gentle gale of wind, bearingalong with it from the neighbouring meadows a quantity of flowers,scattered them down upon the army, on whose shields and helmets theysettled, and arranged themselves spontaneously so as to give the soldiers,in the eyes of the enemy, the appearance of being crowned with chaplets.Upon this, being yet further animated, they joined battle, and victoriouslyslaying eight thousand men, took the camp. This Lucullus was brotherto that Lucullus who in aftertimes conquered Mithridates and Tigranes.

    Sylla, seeing himself still surrounded by so many armies, and suchmighty hostile powers, had recourse to art, inviting Scipio, the otherconsul, to a treaty of peace. The motion was willingly embraced, andseveral meetings and consultations ensued, in all which Sylla, stillinterposing matter of delay and new pretences, in the meanwhile, debauchedScipio's men by means of his own, who were as well practised as thegeneral himself in all the artifices of inveigling. For entering intothe enemy's quarters and joining in conversation, they gained someby present money, some by promises, others by fair words and persuasions；so that in the end, when Sylla with twenty cohorts drew near, on hismen saluting Scipio's soldiers, they returned the greeting and cameover, leaving Scipio behind them in his tent, where he was found allalone and dismissed. And having used his twenty cohorts as decoysto ensnare the forty of the enemy, he led them all back into the camp.On this occasion, Carbo was heard to say that he had both a fox anda lion in the breast of Sylla to deal with, and was most troubledwith the fox.

    Some time after, at Signia, Marius the younger, with eighty-five cohorts,offered battle to Sylla, who was extremely desirous to have it decidedon that very day； for the night before he had seen a vision in hissleep, of Marius the elder, who had been some time dead, advisinghis son to beware of the following day, as of fatal consequence tohim. For this reason, Sylla, longing to come to a battle, sent offfor Dolabella, who lay encamped at some distance. But because theenemy had beset and blocked up the passes, his soldiers got tiredwith skirmishing and marching at once. To these difficulties was added,moreover, tempestuous rainy weather, which distressed them most ofall. The principal officers therefore came to Sylla, and besoughthim to defer the battle that day, showing him how the soldiers laystretched on the ground, where they had thrown themselves down intheir weariness, resting their heads upon their shields to gain somerepose. When, with much reluctance, he had yielded, and given ordersfor pitching the camp, they had no sooner begun to cast up the rampartand draw the ditch, but Marius came riding up furiously at the headof his troops, in hopes to scatter them in that disorder and confusion.Here the gods fulfilled Sylla's dream. For the soldiers, stirred upwith anger, left off their work, and sticking their javelins intothe bank, with drawn swords and a courageous shout, came to blowswith the enemy, who made but small resistance, and lost great numbersin the flight. Marius fled to Praeneste, but finding the gates shut,tied himself round by a rope that was thrown down to him, and wastaken up on the walls. Some there are （as Fenestella for one） whoaffirm that Marius knew nothing of the fight, but, overwatched andspent with hard duty, had reposed himself, when the signal was given,beneath some shade, and was hardly to be awakened at the flight ofhis men. Sylla, according to his own account, lost only twenty-threemen in this fight, having killed of the enemy twenty thousand, andtaken alive eight thousand.

    The like success attended his lieutenants, Pompey, Crassus, Metellus,Servilius, who with little or no loss cut off vast numbers of theenemy, insomuch that Carbo, the prime supporter of the cause, fledby night from his charge of the army, and sailed over into Libya.In the last struggle, however, the Samnite Telesinus, like some champion,whose lot it is to enter last of all into the lists and take up thewearied conqueror, came nigh to have foiled and overthrown Sylla beforethe gates of Rome. For Telesinus with his second, Lamponius the Lucanian,having collected a large force, had been hastening towards Praeneste,to relieve Marius from the siege； but perceiving Sylla ahead of him,and Pompey behind, both hurrying up against him, straitened thus beforeand behind, as a valiant and experienced soldier, he arose by night,and marching directly with his whole army, was within a little ofmaking his way unexpectedly into Rome itself. He lay that night beforethe city, at ten furlongs' distance from the Colline gate, elatedand full of hope at having thus out-generalled so many eminent commanders.At break of day, being charged by the noble youth of the city, amongmany others he overthrew Appius Claudius, renowned for high birthand character. The city, as is easy to imagine, was all in an uproar,the women shrieking and running about, as if it had already been enteredforcibly by assault, till at last Balbus, sent forward by Sylla, wasseen riding up with seven hundred horse at full speed. Halting onlylong enough to wipe the sweat from the horses, and then hastily bridlingagain, he at once attacked the enemy. Presently Sylla himself appeared,and commanding those who were foremost to take immediate refreshment,proceeded to form in order for battle. Dolabella and Torquatus wereextremely earnest with him to desist awhile, and not with spent forcesto hazard the last hope, having before them in the field, not Carboor Marius, but two warlike nations bearing immortal hatred to Rome,the Samnites and Lucanians, to grapple with. But he put them by, andcommanded the trumpets to sound a charge, when it was now about fouro'clock in the afternoon. In the conflict which followed, as sharpa one as ever was, the right wing where Crassus was posted had clearlythe advantage； the left suffered and was in distress, when Sylla cameto its succour, mounted on a white courser, full of mettle and exceedinglyswift, which two of the enemy knowing him by, had their lances readyto throw at him； he himself observed nothing, but his attendant behindhim giving the horse a touch, he was, unknown to himself, just sofar carried forward that the points, falling beside the horse's tail,stuck in the ground. There is a story that he had a small golden imageof Apollo from Delphi, which he was always wont in battle to carryabout him in his bosom, and that he then kissed it with these words,"O Apollo Pythius, who in so many battles hast raised to honour andgreatness the Fortunate Cornelius Sylla, wilt thou now cast him down,bringing him before the gate of his country, to perish shamefullywith his fellow-citizens？" Thus, they say, addressing himself to thegod, he entreated some of his men, threatened some, and seized otherswith his hand, till at length the left wing being wholly shattered,he was forced, in the general rout, to betake himself to the camp,having lost many of his friends and acquaintance. Many, likewise,of the city spectators, who had come out, were killed or trodden underfoot. So that it was generally believed in the city that all was lost,and the siege of Praeneste was all but raised； many fugitives fromthe battle making their way thither, and urging Lucretius Ofella,who was appointed to keep on the siege, to rise in all haste, forthat Sylla had perished, and Rome fallen into the hands of the enemy.

    About midnight there came into Sylla's camp messengers from Crassus,to fetch provision for him and his soldiers； for having vanquishedthe enemy, they had pursued him to the walls of Antemna, and had satdown there. Sylla, hearing this, and that most of the enemy was destroyed,came to Antemna by break of day, where three thousand of the besiegedhaving sent forth a herald, he promised to receive them to mercy,on condition they did the enemy mischief in their coming over. Trustingto his word, they fell foul on the rest of their companions, and madea great slaughter one of another. Nevertheless, Sylla gathered togetherin the circus, as well these as other survivors of the party, to thenumber of six thousand, and just as he commenced speaking to the senate,in the temple of Bellona, proceeded to cut them down, by men appointedfor that service. The cry of so vast a multitude put to the sword,in so narrow a space, was naturally heard some distance, and startledthe senators. He, however, continuing his speech with a calm and unconcernedcountenance, bade them listen to what he had to say, and not busythemselves with what was doing out of doors； he had given directionsfor the chastisement of some offenders. This gave the most stupidof the Romans to understand that they had merely exchanged, not escaped,tyranny. And Marius, being of a naturally harsh temper, had not altered,but merely continued what he had been, in authority； whereas Sylla,using his fortune moderately and unambitiously at first, and givinggood hopes of a true patriot, firm to the interests both of the nobilityand commonalty, being, moreover, of a gay and cheerful temper fromhis youth, and so easily moved to pity as to shed tears readily, has,perhaps deservedly, cast a blemish upon offices of great authority,as if they deranged men's former habits and character, and gave riseto violence, pride, and inhumanity. Whether this be a real changeand revolution in the mind, caused by fortune, or rather a lurkingviciousness of nature, discovering itself in authority, it were matterof another sort of disquisition to decide.

    Sylla being thus wholly bent upon slaughter, and filling the citywith executions without number or limit, many wholly uninterestedpersons falling a sacrifice to private enmity, through his permissionand indulgence to his friends, Caius Metellus, one of the youngermen, made bold in the senate to ask him what end there was of theseevils, and at what point he might be expected to stop？ "We do notask you," said he, "to pardon any whom you have resolved to destroy,but to free from doubt those whom you are pleased to save." Syllaanswering, that he knew not as yet whom to spare, "Why, then," saidhe, "tell us whom you will punish." This Sylla said he would do. Theselast words, some authors say, were spoken not by Metellus, but byAfidius, one of Sylla's fawning companions. Immediately upon this,without communicating with any of the magistrates, Sylla proscribedeighty persons, and notwithstanding the general indignation, afterone day's respite, he posted two hundred and twenty more, and on thethird again, as many. In an address to the people on this occasion,he told them he had put up as many names as he could think of； thosewhich had escaped his memory, he would publish at a future time. Heissued an edict likewise, making death the punishment of humanity,proscribing any who should dare to receive and cherish a proscribedperson without exception to brother, son, or parents. And to him whoshould slay any one proscribed person, he ordained two talents reward,even were it a slave who had killed his master, or a son his father.And what was thought most unjust of all, he caused the attainder topass upon their sons, and sons' sons, and made open sale of all theirproperty. Nor did the proscription prevail only at Rome, but throughoutall the cities of Italy the effusion of blood was such, that neithersanctuary of the gods, nor hearth of hospitality, nor ancestral homeescaped. Men were butchered in the embraces of their wives, childrenin the arms of their mothers. Those who perished through public animosityor private enmity were nothing in comparison of the numbers of thosewho suffered for their riches. Even the murderers began to say, that"his fine house killed this man, a garden that, a third, his hot baths."Quintus Aurelius, a quiet, peaceable man, and one who thought allhis part in the common calamity consisted in condoling with the misfortunesof others, coming into the forum to read the list, and finding himselfamong the proscribed, cried out, "Woe is me, my Alban farm has informedagainst me." He had not gone far before he was despatched by a ruffian,sent on that errand.

    In the meantime, Marius, on the point of being taken, killed himself；and Sylla, coming to Praeneste, at first proceeded judicially againsteach particular person, till at last, finding it a work of too muchtime, he cooped them up together in one place, to the number of twelvethousand men, and gave order for the execution of them all, his ownhost alone excepted. But he, brave man, telling him he could not acceptthe obligation of life from the hands of one who had been the ruinof his country, went in among the rest, and submitted willingly tothe stroke. What Lucius Catilina did was thought to exceed all otheracts. For having, before matters came to an issue, made away withhis brother, he besought Sylla to place him in the list of proscription,as though he had been alive, which was done； and Catiline, to returnthe kind office, assassinated a certain Marcus Marius, one of theadverse party, and brought the head to Sylla, as he was sitting inthe forum, and then going to the holy water of Apollo, which was nigh,washed his hands.

    There were other things, besides this bloodshed, which gave offence.For Sylla had declared himself dictator, an office which had thenbeen laid aside for the space of one hundred and twenty years. Therewas, likewise, an act of grace passed on his behalf, granting indemnityfor what was passed, and for the future intrusting him with the powerof life and death, confiscation, division of lands, erecting and demolishingof cities, taking away of kingdoms, and bestowing them at pleasure.He conducted the sale of confiscated property after such an arbitrary,imperious way, from the tribunal, that his gifts excited greater odiumeven than his usurpations； women, mimes, and musicians, and the lowestof the freed slaves had presents made them of the territories of nationsand the revenues of cities： and women of rank were married againsttheir will to some of them. Wishing to insure the fidelity of Pompeythe Great by a nearer tie of blood, he bade him divorce his presentwife, and forcing Aemilia, the daughter of Scaurus and Metella, hisown wife, to leave her husband, Manius Glabrio, he bestowed her, thoughthen with child, on Pompey, and she died in childbirth at his house.

    When Lucretius Ofella, the same who reduced Marius by siege, offeredhimself for the consulship, he first forbade him； then, seeing hecould not restrain him, on his coming down into the forum with a numeroustrain of followers, he sent one of the centurions who were immediatelyabout him, and slew him, himself sitting on the tribunal in the templeof Castor, and beholding the murder from above. The citizens apprehendingthe centurion, and dragging him to the tribunal, he bade them ceasetheir clamouring and let the centurion go, for he had commanded it.

    His triumph was, in itself, exceedingly splendid, and distinguishedby the rarity and magnificence of the royal spoils； but its yet greatestglory was the noble spectacle of the exiles. For in the rear followedthe most eminent and most potent of the citizens, crowned with garlands,and calling Sylla saviour and father, by whose means they were restoredto their own country, and again enjoyed their wives and children.When the solemnity was over, and the time come to render an accountof his actions, addressing the public assembly, he was as profusein enumerating the lucky chances of war as any of his own militarymerits. And, finally, from this felicity he requested to receive thesurname of Felix. In writing and transacting business with the Greeks,he styled himself Epaphroditus, and on his trophies which are stillextant with us the name is given Lucius Cornelius Sylla Epaphroditus.Moreover, when his wife had brought him forth twins, he named themale Faustus and the female Fausta, the Roman words for what is auspiciousand of happy omen. The confidence which he reposed in his good genius,rather than in any abilities of his own, emboldened him, though deeplyinvolved in bloodshed, and though he had been the author of such greatchanges and revolutions of state, to lay down his authority, and placethe right of consular elections once more in the hands of the people.And when they were held, he not only declined to seek that office,but in the forum exposed his person publicly to the people, walkingup and down as a private man. And contrary to his will, a certainbold man and his enemy, Marcus Lepidus, was expected to become consul,not so much by his own interest, as by the power and solicitationof Pompey, whom the people were willing to oblige. When the businesswas over, seeing Pompey going home overjoyed with the success, hecalled him to him and said, "What a polite act, young man, to passby Catulus, the best of men, and choose Lepidus, the worst！ It willbe well for you to be vigilant, now that you have strengthened youropponent against yourself." Sylla spoke this, it may seem, by a propheticinstinct, for, not long after, Lepidus grew insolent and broke intoopen hostility to Pompey and his friends.

    Sylla, consecrating the tenth of his whole substance to Hercules,entertained the people with sumptuous feastings. The provision wasso much above what was necessary, that they were forced daily to throwgreat quantities of meat into the river, and they drank wine fortyyears old and upwards. In the midst of the banqueting, which lastedmany days, Metella died of a disease. And because that the priestforbade him to visit the sick, or suffer his house to be pollutedwith mourning, he drew up an act of divorce and caused her to be removedinto another house whilst alive. Thus far, out of religious apprehension,he observed the strict rule to the very letter, but in the funeralexpenses he transgressed the law he himself had made, limiting theamount, and spared no cost. He transgressed, likewise, his own sumptuarylaws respecting expenditure in banquets, thinking to allay his griefby luxurious drinking parties and revellings with common buffoons.

    Some few months after, at a show of gladiators, when men and womensat promiscuously in the theatre, no distinct places being as yetappointed, there sat down by Sylla a beautiful woman of high birth,by name Valeria, daughter of Messala, and sister to Hortensius theorator. Now it happened that she had been lately divorced from herhusband. Passing along behind Sylla, she leaned on him with her hand,and plucking a bit of wool from his garment, so proceeded to her seat.And on Sylla looking up and wondering what it meant, "What harm, mightysir," said she, "if I also was desirous to partake a little in yourfelicity？" It appeared at once that Sylla was not displeased, buteven tickled in his fancy, for he sent out to inquire her name, herbirth, and past life. From this time there passed between them manyside glances, each continually turning round to look at the other,and frequently interchanging smiles. In the end, overtures were made,and a marriage concluded on. All which was innocent, perhaps, on thelady's side, but, though she had been never so modest and virtuous,it was scarcely a temperate and worthy occasion of marriage on thepart of Sylla, to take fire, as a boy might, at a face and a boldlook, incentives not seldom to the most disorderly and shameless passions.

    Notwithstanding this marriage, he kept company with actresses, musicians,and dancers, drinking with them on couches night and day. His chieffavourites were Roscius the comedian, Sorex the arch mime, and Metrobiusthe player, for whom, though past his prime, he still professed apassionate fondness. By these courses he encouraged a disease whichhad begun from unimportant cause； and for a long time he failed toobserve that his bowels were ulcerated, till at length the corruptedflesh broke out into lice. Many were employed day and night in destroyingthem, but the work so multiplied under their hands, that not onlyhis clothes, baths, basins, but his very meat was polluted with thatflux and contagion, they came swarming out in such numbers. He wentfrequently by day into the bath to scour and cleanse his body, butall in vain； the evil generated too rapidly and too abundantly forany ablutions to overcome it. There died of this disease, amongstthose of the most ancient times, Acastus, the son of Pelias； of laterdate, Alcman the poet, Pherecydes the theologian, Callisthenes theOlynthian, in the time of his imprisonment, as also Mucius the lawyer；and if we may mention ignoble, but notorious names, Eunus the fugitive,who stirred up the slaves of Sicily to rebel against their masters,after he was brought captive to Rome, died of this creeping sickness.

    Sylla not only foresaw his end, but may be also said to have writtenof it. For in the two-and-twentieth book of his Memoirs, which hefinished two days before his death, he writes that the Chaldeans foretoldhim, that after he had led a life of honour, he should conclude itin fulness of prosperity. He declares, moreover, that in a visionhe had seen his son, who had died not long before Metella, stand byin mourning attire, and beseech his father to cast off further care,and come along with him to his mother Metella, there to live at easeand quietness with her. However, he could not refrain from intermeddlingin public affairs. For, ten days before his decease, he composed thedifferences of the people of Dicaearchia, and prescribed laws fortheir better government. And the very day before his end, it beingtold him that the magistrate Granius deferred the payment of a publicdebt, in expectation of his death, he sent for him to his house, andplacing his attendants about him, caused him to be strangled； butthrough the straining of his voice and body, the imposthume breaking,he lost a great quantity of blood. Upon this, his strength failinghim, after spending a troublesome night, he died, leaving behind himtwo young children by Metella. Valeria was afterwards delivered ofa daughter, named Posthuma； for so the Romans call those who are bornafter the father's death.

    Many ran tumultuously together, and joined with Lepidus to deprivethe corpse of the accustomed solemnities； but Pompey, though offendedat Sylla （for he alone of all his friends was not mentioned in hiswill）, having kept off some by his interest and entreaty, others bymenaces, conveyed the body to Rome, and gave it a secure and honourableburial. It is said that the Roman ladies contributed such vast heapsof spices, that besides what was carried on two hundred and ten litters,there was sufficient to form a large figure of Sylla himself, andanother representing a lictor, out of the costly frankincense andcinnamon. The day being cloudy in the morning, they deferred carryingforth the corpse till about three in the afternoon, expecting it wouldrain. But a strong wind blowing full upon the funeral pile, and settingit all in a bright flame, the body was consumed so exactly in goodtime, that the pyre had begun to smoulder, and the fire was upon thepoint of expiring, when a violent rain came down, which continuedtill night. So that his good fortune was firm even to the last, anddid as it were officiate at his funeral. His monument stands in theCampus Martius, with an epitaph of his own writing； the substanceof it being, that he had not been outdone by any of his friends indoing good turns, nor by any of his foes in doing bad.

    THE END