History of Julius Caesar Vol. 1 of 2

409

The country of Gerra, among the Arabians, paid 500 talents to Antiochus (Attic talents = 2,910,500 francs [£116,420]). (Polybius, XIII. 9.) – There was formerly a great quantity of gold in Arabia. (Job xxviii. 1, 2. – Diodorus Siculus, II. 50.)

410

Strabo, XVI. iii. § 3.

411

Strabo, XI. ii. 426 et seq.

412

Pliny, Natural History, VI. 11.

413

Polybius, V. 54. If, as is probable, Babylonian talents are intended, this would make about 7,426,000 francs [£297,040], Seleucia, on the Tigris, was very populous. Pliny (Natural History, VI. 26) estimates the number of its inhabitants at 600,000. Strabo (XVI. ii. § 5) tells us that Seleucia was even greater than Antioch. This town, which had succeeded Babylon, appears to have inherited a part of its population.

414

In 565, Antiochus III. gives 15,000 talents (Euboic talents = 87,315,000 francs [£3,492,600]). (Polybius, XXI. 14. – Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 37.) In the treaty of the following year, the Romans stipulated for a tribute of 12,000 Attic talents of the purest gold, payable in twelve years, each talent of 80 pounds Roman (69,852,000 francs [£2,794,080]). (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 19.) In addition to this, Eumenes was to receive 359 talents (2,089,739 francs [£83,589]), payable in five years (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 20). – Titus Livius (XXXVIII. 38) says only 350 talents.

415

The father of Antiochus, Seleucus Callinicus, sent to the Rhodians 200,000 medimni of wheat (104,000 hectolitres). (Polybius, V. 89.) In 556, Antiochus gave 540,000 measures of wheat to the Romans. (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 19.)

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.

486

Thus the Jupiter of the Capitol and the Italic Juno, at least in their official worship, were the protectors of virtuous morals and punished the wicked, while the Phœnician Moloch and Hercules, worshipped at Carthage, granted their favours to those who made innocent blood run upon their altars. (Diodorus Siculus, XX. 14.) – See the remarkable figures of Moloch holding a gridiron destined for human sacrifices. (Alb. della Marmora, Sardinian Antiquities, pl. 23, 53, tom. ii. 254.)

487

Polybius, I. 7, 11.

488

Polybius, I. 16. – Zonaras, VIII. 16 et seq.

489

We have seen before that Rome, after the capture of Antium (Porto d’Anzo), had already a navy, but she had no galleys of three ranks or five ranks of oars. Nothing, therefore, is more probable than the relation of Titus Livius, who states that the Romans took for a model a Carthaginian quinquireme wrecked on their coast. In spite of the advanced state of science, we have not yet obtained a perfect knowledge of the construction of the ancient galleys, and, even at the present day, the problem will not be completely solved until chance furnishes us with a model.

490

The Romans employed the triremes of Tarentum, Locri, Elea, and Naples to cross the Strait of Messina. The use of quinquiremes was entirely unknown in Italy.

491

Polybius, I. 20, 21.

492

Each vessel carried 300 rowers and 120 soldiers, or 420 men, which makes, for the Carthaginian fleet, 147,000 men, and, for the Roman fleet, 138,600. (Polybius, I. 25 and 26.)

493

Nearly thirteen millions of francs [£520,000]. (Polybius, I. 62.)

494

Polybius, I. 36.

495

Valerius Maximus, V. i. 2.

496

Titus Livius, Epitome, XIX.

497

Polybius, III. 10, 27, 28.

498

The Sardinians owed their civilisation to the Phœnicians; the Sicilians had received theirs from the Greeks. This difference explains the attachment of the first for Carthage, and the repulsion of the others for the Punic rule.

499

Polybius, II. 4, 5, 10.

500

Hahn, Albanesische Studien.

501

Florus, II. 5. – Appian, Wars of Illyria, 7.

502

Polybius, II. 11 et seq.

503

Titus Livius, Epitome, XX., year of Rome 533. – Orosius, IV. xiii.

504

Polybius, III. 16 et seq.

505

A people situated between the Rhone and the Alps. (Polyb., II. 22, 34.)

506

“It was not Rome alone that the Italians, terrified by the Gaulish invasion, believed they had thus to defend; they understood that it was their own safety which was in danger.” (Polybius, II. 23.)

507

The following, according to Polybius (II. 24), was the number of the forces of Italy: —

508

See the Memoir of Zumpt, Stand der Bevölkerung im Alterthum. Berlin, 1841.

509

Polybius, III. 30.

510

Titus Livius, XXI. 7.

511

Appian, Wars of Spain, 10.

512

Polybius, III. 90. – “The allies had till then remained firm in their attachment.” (Titus Livius, XXII. 61.) – “This fidelity which they have preserved towards us in the midst of our reverses.” (Speech of Fabius, Titus Livius, XXII. 39.)

513

There were among the Roman troops Samnite cavalry. (Titus Livius, XXVII. 43.)

514

Titus Livius, XXII. 49; XXIII. 12. – “In the second Punic war, the use of rings had already become common; otherwise it would have been impossible for Hannibal to send three modii of rings to Carthage.” (Pliny, XXXIII. 6.) – We read in Appian: “The tribunes of the soldiers wear the gold ring, their inferiors have it of ivory.” (Punic Wars, VIII. cv.)

515

“The Greek towns, inclined to maintain their alliance with Rome.” (Titus Livius, XXIV. 1.) – Even in Bruttium, the small town of Petelia defended itself against Hannibal with the greatest energy; the women fought like the men. (Appian, VII. 29.)

516

Eutropius, III. 6.

517

Titus Livius, XXVI. 1.

518

Titus Livius, XXIV. 14.

519

“The Oppian law, proposed by the tribune C. Oppius, under the consulship of Q. Fabius and Tiberius Sempronius (539), in the height of the second Punic war, forbad the women to have for their use more than half an ounce of gold, to wear dresses of different colours, &c., to be driven or carried about Rome, within a radius of seven miles, in a chariot drawn by horses, except to attend the public sacrifices.” This law, being only temporary, was revoked, in spite of the opposition of P. Cato, in 559. (Titus Livius, XXXIV. 1, 6.)

520

Valerius Maximus, I. i. 15.

521

“It was in his cavalry that Hannibal placed all his hopes.” (Polybius, III. 101.) – “Hannibal’s cavalry alone caused the victories of Carthage and the defeats of Rome.” (Polybius, IX. 3.) – “The loss of 500 Numidians was felt more by Hannibal than any other check, and from that time he had no longer the superiority in cavalry which had previously given him so much advantage” (543). (Titus Livius, XXVI. 38.)

522

“Hannibal remembered how he had failed before Placentia.” (Titus Livius, XXVII. 39.)

523

Titus Livius, XXIII. 15 and 18. – Hannibal reduced by famine the fortresses of Casilinum and Nuceria; as to the citadel of Tarentum, it resisted five years, and could not be taken by force. (Titus Livius, XXVII. 25.)

524

“Hannibal descends towards Naples, having at heart to secure a maritime place to receive succours from Africa.” (Titus Livius, XXIII. 15.)

525

Polybius, III. 106.

526

Appian, Wars of Hannibal, 26.

527

Plutarch, Marcellus, 11, 33.

528

Titus Livius, XXVII. 49.

529

Appian, Wars of Hannibal, 54.

530

In 536, Rome had at sea 220 quinquiremes and 20 small vessels (Titus Livius, XXI. 17), with which she protected efficiently the coasts of Sicily and Italy. (Titus Livius, XXI. 49, 51.) – In 537, Scipio, with 35 vessels, destroyed a Carthaginian fleet at the mouth of the Ebro (Titus Livius, XXII. 19), and the consul Servilius Geminus effected a landing in Africa with 120 vessels, in order to prevent Carthage from sending reinforcements to Hannibal. (Titus Livius, XXII. 31.) – In 538, the fleet of Sicily is reinforced with 25 ships. (Titus Livius, XXII. 37.) – In 539, Valerius Lævinus had 25 vessels to protect the coast of the Adriatic, and Fluvius the same number to watch the coast of Ostia (Titus Livius, XXIII. 32) after which the Adriatic fleet, raised to 55 sails, is sent to act as a check upon Macedonia. (Titus Livius, XXIII. 38.) – The same year, the fleet of Sicily, under Titus Otacilius, defeats the Carthaginians. (Titus Livius, XXIII. 41.) – In 540 Rome has 150 vessels (Titus Livius, XXIV. 11) this year and the following, the Roman fleet defends Apollonia, attacked by the King of Macedonia, and lands troops which ravage the territory of Utica. The effective strength of the Roman fleet appears not to have varied until 543, the epoch at which Greece again required the presence of 50 Roman ships and Sicily 100. (Titus Livius, XXVI. 1.) – In 544, 20 vessels were stationed in the waters of Rhegium, to secure the passage of provisions between Sicily and the garrison of Tarentum. (Titus Livius, XXVI. 39.) – In 545, 30 sails are detached from the fleet of Sicily to cruise before that town. (Titus Livius, XXVII. 22.) – In 546, Carthage was preparing a formidable fleet of 200 sails (Titus Livius, XXVII. 22); Rome opposes it with 280 ships: 30 defend the coast of Spain, 50 guard Sardinia, 50 the mouths of the Tiber, 50 Macedonia, 100 are stationed in Sicily, ready to make a descent in Africa, and the Carthaginian fleet is beaten before Clupea. (Titus Livius, XXVII. 29.) – Lastly, in 547, a second victory gained by Valerius Lævinus renders the sea entirely free. (Titus Livius, XXVIII. 4.)

531

“The Carthaginians, occupied only with the care of maintaining themselves in Spain, sent no succour to Hannibal, as though he had had nothing but successes in Italy.” (Titus Livius, XXVIII. 12.)

532

Titus Livius, XXIII. 13 and 41.

533

Appian, Wars of Hannibal, liv.

534

In 540, Rome had on foot eighteen legions; in 541, twenty legions; in 542 and 543, twenty-three legions; in 544 and 546, twenty-one; in 547, twenty-three; in 551, twenty; in 552, sixteen; in 553, fourteen; in 554, the number is reduced to six. (Titus Livius, XXIV. 11-44; XXV. 3; XXVI. 1, 28; XXVII. 22, 36; XXX. 2, 27, 41; XXXI. 8.)

535

“The Romans raised their infantry and cavalry only in Rome and Latium.” (Titus Livius, XXII. 37.)

536

Titus Livius, XXIII. 23.

537

Q. Metellus said “that the invasion of Hannibal had re-awakened the slumbering virtue of the Roman people.” (Valerius Maximus, VII. ii. 3.)

538

The Senate demanded of thirty colonies men and money. Eighteen gave both with eagerness, namely, Signia, Norba, Saticulum, Brundusium, Fregellæ, Luceria, Venusia, Adria, Firmum, Ariminum, Pontia, Pæstum, Cosa, Beneventum, Isernia, Spoletum, Placentia, and Cremona. The twelve colonies which refused to give any succours, pretending that they had neither men nor money, were: Nepete, Sutrium, Ardea, Cales, Alba, Carseoli, Cora, Suessa, Setia, Circeii, Narnia, Interamna. (Titus Livius, XXVII. 9.)

539

“The quarrels and struggles between the two parties ended in the second Punic war.” (Sallust, Fragments, I. vii.)

540

“Four tribes referred it to the Senate to grant the right of suffrage to Formiæ, Fundi, and Arpinum; but they were told in reply that to the people alone belonged the right of suffrage.” (Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 36.)

541

“The annual change of generals was disastrous to the Romans. They recalled all those who had experience in war, as though they had been sent not to fight, but only to practice.” (Zonaras, Annales, VIII. 16.)

542

Titus Livius, XXII. 29.

543

Titus Livius, XXVII. 5, 7.

544

Titus Livius, XXXII. 28.

545

Titus Livius, XXXI. 4, 49.

546

Titus Livius, XXIV. 49. – Polybius, III. 75.

547

Zonaras, Annales, VIII. 16.

548

Titus Livius, XXXIX. 3.

549

Plutarch, Marcellus, 28.

550

Titus Livius, XXIII. 30.

551

Titus Livius, XXXIV. 54.

552

“Et equites Romanos milites et negociatores.” (Sallust, Jugurtha, 65.)

553

“In 342, a senator and two knights were charged, during a famine, with the provisioning of Rome.” (Titus Livius, IV. 3.)

554

Seminarium senatus. (Titus Livius, XLII. 61.)

555

Titus Livius, XXIII. 49. – Valerius Maximus, V. vi. 8.