History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

416

According to Strabo (XV. 3), wheat and barley produced there a hundredfold, and even twice as much, which is hardly probable.

417

Strabo, XVI. 2.

418

Athenæus, XII. 35, p. 460, ed. Schweighæuser.

419

Polybius, XXXI. 3. – There were seen in these festivals a thousand slaves carrying silver vases, the least of which weighed 1,000 drachmas; a thousand slaves carrying golden vases and a profusion of plate of extraordinary richness. Antiochus received every day at his table a crowd of guests whom he allowed to carry away with them in chariots innumerable provisions of all sorts. (Athenæus, V. 46, p. 311, ed. Schweighæuser.)

420

Polybius, V. 79.

421

Titus Livius, XXXVII. 37.

422

Strabo, XVI. 2.

423

Polybius, V. 70.

424

Titus Livius, XXXIII. 41. – Polybius, V. 59. – Strabo, XVI. 2.

425

Strabo, XVI. 2.

426

Strabo, XIV. 5.

427

In 558, Antiochus sent to sea a hundred covered vessels and two hundred light ships. (Titus Livius, XXXIII. 19.) – It is the greatest Syrian fleet mentioned in these wars. At the battle of Myonnesus, the fleet commanded by Polyxenus was composed of ninety decked ships (574). (Appian, Wars of Syria, 27.) – In 563, before the final struggle against the Romans, that prince had forty decked vessels, sixty without decks, and two hundred transport ships. (Titus Livius, XXXV. 43.) – Finally, the next year, a little before the battle of Magnesia, Antiochus possessed, not including the Phœnician fleet, a hundred vessels of moderate size, of which seventy had decks. (Titus Livius, XXXVI. 43; XXXVII. 8.) – This navy was destroyed by the Romans.

428

Herodotus, II. 177. – Diodorus Siculus, I. 31.

429

A measure great enough to make thirty loaves. (Franz, Corpus Inscript. Græcarum, III. 303. – Polybius, V. 79.)

430

Böckh, Staatshaushaltung der Athener, I. xiv. 15.

431

Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XII. 4.

432

Athenæus, V. p. 203.

433

Appian (Preface, § 10). – We may, nevertheless, judge from the following data of the enormity of the sums accumulated in the treasuries of the kings of Persia. Cyrus had gained, by the conquest of Asia, 34,000 pounds weight of gold coined, and 500,000 of silver. (Pliny, XXXIII. 15.) – Under Darius, son of Hystaspes, 7,600 Babylonian talents of silver (the Babylonian talent = 7,426 francs [£297]) were poured annually into the royal treasury, besides 140 talents devoted to the pay of the Cilician cavalry, and 360 talents of gold (14,680 talents of silver), paid by the Indies. (Herodotus, III. 94.) – This king had thus an annual revenue of 14,500 talents (108 millions of francs [£4,320,000]). Darius carried with him in campaign two hundred camels loaded with gold and precious objects. (Demosthenes, On the Symmories, p. 185, xv. p. 622, ed. Müller.) – Thus, according to Strabo, Alexander the Great found in the four great treasuries of that king (at Susa, Persia, Pasargades, and Persepolis) 180,000 talents (about 1,337 millions of francs [£53,480,000]).

434

Polybius, V. 89.

435

Strabo, XVII. 1.

436

Strabo, XVII. 1.

437

Strabo, XVI. 4; XVII.

438

Strabo, XVII. 1.

439

Diodorus Siculus, III. 43.

440

Appian, Preface, § 10. – In 537, at Raphia, the Egyptian army amounted to 70,000 foot, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 elephants. (Polybius, V. 79; see also V. 65.) – Polybius, who gives us these details, adds that the pay of the officers was one mina (97 francs [£3 17s. 7d.]) a day. (XIII. ii.)

441

Theocritus, Idylls, XVII. lines 90-102. – Athenæus (V. 36, p. 284) and Appian, Preface, § 10, give the details of this fleet. – Ptolemy IV. Philopator went so far as to construct a ship of forty ranges of rowers, which was 280 cubits long and 30 broad. (Athenæus, V. 37, p. 285.)

442

Herodotus, IV. 199. The plateau of Barca, now desert, was then cultivated and well watered.

443

The most important object of commerce of the Cyrenaica was the silphium, a plant the root of which sold for its weight in silver. A kind of milky gum was extracted from it, which served as a panacea with the apothecaries and as a seasoning in the kitchen. When, in 658, Cyrenaica was incorporated with the Roman Republic, the province paid an annual tribute in silphium. Thirty pounds of this juice, brought to Rome in 667, were regarded as a miracle; and when Cæsar, at the beginning of the civil war, seized upon the public treasury, he found in the treasury chest 1,500 pounds of silphium locked up with the gold and silver. (Pliny, XIX. 3.)

444

Diodorus Siculus, III. 49. – Herodotus, IV. 169. – Athenæus, XV. 22, p. 487; 38, p. 514. – Strabo, XVII. iii. 712. – Pliny, Natural History, XVI. 33; XIX. 3.

445

Pindar, Pythian Odes, IV. 2. – Athenæus, III. 58, p. 392.

446

Diodorus Siculus, XVII. 49.

447

Aristotle, Politics, VII. 2, § 10.

448

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XIII. 12, § 2, 3.

449

Ælian, History of Animals, V. lvi. – Eustathius, Comment. on Dionysius Periegetes, 508, 198, edit. Bernhardy.

450

Strabo, XIV. 6. – Pliny, Natural History, XXXIV. 2.

451

Virgil, Æneid, I. 415. – Statius, Thebais, V. 61.

452

Strabo, X. 4.

453

Polybius, XIII. 8.

454

Cretan mercenaries are found in the service of Flamininus in 557 (Titus Livius, XXXIII. 3), in that of Antiochus in 564 (Titus Livius, XXXVII. 40), in that of Perseus in 583 (Titus Livius, XLII. 51), and in the service of Rome in 633.

455

Iliad, II. 656.

456

Polybius, XXX. 7, year of Rome 590.

457

Strabo, XIV. 2. The town of Rhoda in Spain, establishments in the Baleares, Gela in Sicily, Sybaris and Palæopolis in Italy, were Rhodian colonies.

458

This happened especially at the epoch when the famous Colossus of Rhodes fell, and when the town was violently shaken by an earthquake. Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, Ptolemy, king of Egypt, Antigonus Doson, king of Macedonia, and Seleucus, king of Syria, sent succours to the Rhodians. (Polybius, V. 88, 89.)

459

We see, in fact, with what care the Rhodians spared their allies on the coast of the Pontus Euxinus. (Polybius, XXVII. 6.)

460

Polybius, IV. 38.

461

Strabo, VII. 4.

462

Titus Livius, XXXIII. 18.

463

During the siege of Rhodes, Demetrius had formed the design of delivering to the flames all the public buildings, one of which contained the famous painting of Ialysus, by Protogenes. The Rhodians sent a deputation to Demetrius to ask him to spare this masterpiece. After this interview, Demetrius raised the siege, sparing thus at the same time the town and the picture. (Aulus Gellius, XV. 31.)

464

In 555, twenty ships; in 556, twenty vessels with decks; in 563, twenty-five ships with decks, and thirty-six vessels. This last fleet of thirty-six vessels was destroyed, and yet the Rhodians were able to send to sea again, the same year, twenty vessels. In 584 they had forty vessels. (Titus Livius, XXXI. 46; XXXII. 16; XXXVI. 45; XXXVII. 9, 11, 12; XLII. 45.)

465

Pliny, XXXIV. 17.

466

Strabo, XIV. 2.

467

Athenæus, XII. 35, p. 461.

468

Titus Livius, XXIII. 34.

469

Titus Livius, XXIII. 40.

470

Titus Livius, XLI. 12, 17, 28. – The number of 80,000 men whom the Sardinians lost in the campaign of T. Gracchus, in 578 and 579, was given by the official inscription which was seen at Rome in the temple of the goddess Matuta. (Titus Livius, XLI. 28.)

471

Festus, p. 322, edit. O. Müller. – Titus Livius, XLI. 21.

472

See Heeren, vol. IV. sect. I. chap. ii. – Polybius, I. 79. – Strabo, V. ii. 187. – Diodorus Siculus, V. 15. – Titus Livius, XXIX. 36.

473

Titus Livius, XXX. 38.

474

Strabo, V. 2.

475

Diodorus Siculus, V. 14. – The Corsicans having revolted, in 573, had 2,000 slain. (Titus Livius, XL. 34.) – In 581, they lost 7,000 men, and had more than 1,700 prisoners. (Titus Livius, XLII. 7.)

476

Strabo, V. 2.

477

Pliny, Natural History, III. 6.

478

Diodorus Siculus, V. 13. – In 573, the Corsicans were taxed by the Romans at 1,000,000 pounds of wax, and at 200,000 in 581. (Titus Livius, XL. 34; XLII. 7.)

479

Cicero, Second Oration against Verres, II. ii. 74. – The oxen furnished hides, employed especially for the tents; the sheep, an excellent wool for clothing.

480

Cicero, Second Oration against Verres, II. III. 70.

481

Titus Livius, XXV. 31.

482

Polybius, I. 17, 18.

483

Polybius, IX. 27. – Strabo, VI. 2.

484

See what is said by Titus Livius (XXIX. 26) and Polybius (I. 41, 43, 46). – Florus, II. 2.

485

See the work of the Duke of Serra di Falco, Antichità della Sicilia.