Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War Part 23

[229] That you may not be deceived in me--_Ut neque vos capiamini._ "This verb is undoubtedly used in this pa.s.sage for _decipere_.

Compare Tibull. Eleg. iii. 6, 45: _Nec vos aut capiant pendentia brachia collo, Aut fallat blanda sordida tingua prece._ Cic. Acad.

iv. 20: _Sapientis vim maximam esse cavere, ne capiatur._" Gerlach.

[230] To secure their election--_Per ambitionem. Ambire_ is to canva.s.s for votes; to court the favor of the people.

[231] Of yonder crowd of n.o.bles--_ex illo globo n.o.bilitatis. Illo,_ [Greek: _deiktikos_].

[232] I know some--who after they have been elected, etc.--"At whom Marina directs this observation, it is impossible to tell.

Gerlach referring to Cic. Quest. Acad. ii. 1, 2, thinks that Lucullus is meant. But if he supposes that Lucullus was present _to the mind of Marius_ when he spoke, he is egregiously deceived, for Marius was forty years antecedent to Lucullus. It is possible, however, that _Sall.u.s.t_, thinking of Lucullus when he wrote Marius's speech, may have fallen into an anachronism, and have attributed to Marius, whose character he had a.s.sumed, an observation which might justly have been made in his own day." _Kritzius_.

[233] Persons who invert the order of things--_Homines Praeposteri._ Men who do that last which should be done first.

[234] For though to discharge the duties of the office, etc.--_Nam gerere, quam fieri, tempore posterius, re atque usu prius est._ With _gerere_ is to be understood _consulatum_; with _fieri, consulem._ This is imitated from Demosthenes, Olynth. iii.: [Greek: _To gar prattein ton legein kai cheirotonein, usteron on tae taxei, proteron tae dynamei kai kreitton esti_.] "Acting is posterior in order to speaking and voting, but prior and superior in effect."

[235] With those haughty n.o.bles--_c.u.m illorum superbui. Virtus Scipiades et mitis sapientia Laeli._

[236] My condition _Mihi fortuna_. "That is, my lot, or condition, in which I was born, in which I had no hand in producing." _Dietsch_.

[237] The circ.u.mstance of birth, etc. _Naturam unam et communem omnium existumo_. "Nascendi sortem" is the explanation which Dietsch gives to _naturam_. One man is _born_ as well as another, but the difference between men is made by their different modes of action; a difference which the n.o.bles falsely suppose to proceed from fortune.

"Voltaire, Mohammed, Act.I., sce. iv., has expressed the sentiment of Sall.u.s.t exactly:

Les mortels sont egaux, ce n'est point la naissance, C'est la seule vertu qui fait leur difference." _Burnouf._

[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this pa.s.sage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The pa.s.sage which Anthon quotes from Plutarch to ill.u.s.trate _patres_, is not applicable, for the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9.

"He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_.

[239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence.

[240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and Jug. c. 1.

[241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors--_Pleraque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their ancestors in the greatest part of their speech."

[242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, viii.138:

Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum n.o.bilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis.

Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day.

[243] I feel a.s.sured--_Ex animi sententia_. "It was a common form of strong a.s.severation." _Gerlach._

[244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom.

v.17." _Burnouf_.

[245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards.

Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261:

Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_.

[246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255:

_Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: Hic _torque_ aurato circ.u.mdat bellica collae.

Juvenal, xv. 60:

Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes.

These pa.s.sages show that _phalerae_, a name for the ornaments of horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the _torques_, or collars, in this respect, that the _phalerae_ hung down over the breast, and the _torques_ only encircled the neck. See Lips.

ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." _Burnouf_.

[247] Valor--_Virtutem._ "The Greeks, those ill.u.s.trious instructors of the world, had not been able to preserve their liberty; their learning therefore had not added to their valor. _Virtus_, in this pa.s.sage, is evidently _fort.i.tudo bellica_, which, in the opinion of Marius, was _the only virtue_." Burnouf. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. c. 2.

[248] To be vigilant at my post--_Praesidia agitare_. Or "to keep guard at my post." "_Praesidia agitare_ signifies nothing more than to protect a party of foragers or the baggage, or to keep guard round a besieged city." _Vortius_.

[249] Keep no actor--_Histrionem nullum--habeo_. "Luxuriae peregrinae origo ab exercitu Asiatico (Manlii sc. Vulsonis, A.U.C. 563) invecta in urbem est.----Tum psaltriae sambucistriaeque et convivalia _ludionum_ obiectamenta, addita epulis." Liv. x.x.xix. 6. "By this army returning from Asia was the origin of foreign luxury imported into the city.----At entertainments--were introduced players on the harp and timbrel, with _buffoons_ for the diversion of the guests." _Baker_.

Professor Anthon, who quotes this pa.s.sage, says that _histrio_ "here denotes a buffoon kept for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the company." But such is not the meaning of the word _histrio_. It signifies one who in some way _acted_, either by dancing and gesticulation, or by reciting, perhaps to the music of the _sambucistriae or other minstrels. See Smith's Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. Art. _Histrio_, sect. 2. Sch.e.l.ler's Lex.

sub. vv. _Histrio, Ludio_, and _Salto_. The emperors had whole companies of actors, _histriones aulici_, for their private amus.e.m.e.nt. Suetonius says of Augustus (c. 74) that at feasts he introduced _acroamata et histriones_. See also Spartian. _Had_. c. 19; Jul.Capitol. _Verus_, c.8.

[250] My cook--_Coquum_. Livy, in the pa.s.sage just cited from him, adds _tum coquus villisimum antiquis mancipium, et estimatione et usu in pretio esse; ut quod ministerium fuerat, ars haberi coepta_. "The cook, whom the ancients considered as the meanest of their slaves both in estimation and use, became highly valuable." _Baker_.

[251] Avarice, inexperience, and arrogance--_Avaritiam, imperitiam, superbiam_. "The President De Brosses and Dotteville have observed, that Marius, in these words, makes an allusion to the characters of all the generals that had preceded him, noticing at once the avarice of Calpurnius, the inexperience of Albinus, and the pride of Metellus."

_Le Brun_.

[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these lines of Tyrtaeus:

[Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.]

To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, The silent foot of fate at home has found.

The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la lachete n'a preserve de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour etre un lache, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly _inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_.

[253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: _Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20.

"This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sall.u.s.t both in words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoa.r.s.e.----But it is animated and fervid, rus.h.i.+ng on like a torrent; and by language of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are excellently represented." _Gerlach_.

[254] Lx.x.xVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the cla.s.ses--_Non more majorum, neque ex cla.s.sibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, who divided the Roman people into six cla.s.ses, the highest cla.s.s consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in regular gradation, none of the sixth cla.s.s, who were not considered as having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders.

See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10.

[255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_.

[256] Lx.x.xVII. Having filled up his legions, etc. Their numbers had been thinned in actions with the enemy, and Metellus perhaps took home some part of the army which did not return to it.

[257] Their country and parents, etc--_Patriam parentesque_, etc.

Sall.u.s.t means to say that the soldiers would see such to be the general effect and result of vigorous warfare; not that they had any country or parents to protect in Numidia. But the observation has very much of the rhetorician in it.

[258] Lx.x.xVIII. From our allies--_Ex sociis nostris_. The people of the province.

[259] Obliged the king himself--to take flight without his arms _Ipsumque regem--armis exuerat_. He attacked Jugurtha so suddenly and vigorously that he was compelled to flee, leaving his arms behind him.