sanias with respect to that event, that they summoned him to be tried for his life. He did not appear to answer that charge, but fled to Tegea, and took refuge in Minerva's temple, where he spent the rest of his days as her suppliant.

Lysander's poverty, which was discovered after his death, added lustre to his virtue. It was then found, that notwithstanding the money which had passed through his hand, the authority he had exercised over so many cities, and indeed the great empire he had been possessed of, he had not in the least improved his family fortune. This account we have froin Theopompus, whom we more easily believe when he commends, than when he finds fault; for he, as well as many others, was more in clined to censure than to praise.

Ephorus tells us, that afterwards, upon some disputes between the confederates and the Spartans, it was thought necessary to inspect the writings of Lysander, and for that purpose Agesilaus went to his house. Among the other papers, he found that political one, calculated to shew how proper it would be to take the right of succession from the Eurytionida and Agidæ, and to elect kings from among persons

of the greatest merit. He was going to produce it before the citizens, and to shew what the real principles of Lysander were. But Lacratides, a man of sense, and the principal of the ephori, kept him from it, by represent ing, "How wrong it would be to dig Lysander out of his grave, when this oration, which was written in so artful and persuasive a manner, ought rather to be buried with him."

Among the other honours paid to the memory of Lysander, hat which I am going to men. tion is none of the least. Some persons who had contracted themselves to his daughters in his life-time, when they found he died poor, fell off from their engagement. The Spartans fined them for courting the alliance while they had riches in view, and breaking off when they discovered that poverty which was the best of Lysander's probity and justice. It seems, at Sparta there was a law which punished, not only those who continued in a state of celibacy, or married too late, but those that married ill; and it was levelled chiefly at persons who married into rich, rather than good families. Such are the particulars of Lysander's life which history has supplied us with.

SYLLA.

of his family that was free, being condemned to be thrown down the Tarpeian rock, for concealing a friend of his that was in the proscription, spoke of Syila in this upbraiding manner-"I am his old acquaintance; we lived long under the same roof: I hired the upper apartment at two thousand sesterces, and he that under me at three thousand. So that the difference between their fortunes was then only a thousand sesterces, which in Attican money is two hundred and fifty drachmas. Such is the account we have of his origin.

LUCIUS CORNELIUS SYLLA was of a patrician | bers to death, a man, who was only the second family. One of his ancestors, named Rufinus,* is said to have been consul, but to have fallen under a disgrace more than equivalent to that honour. He was found to have in his possession more than ten pounds of plate, which the law did not allow, and for that was expelled the senate. Hence it was, that his posterity continued in a low and obscure condition; and Sylla himself was born to a very scanty fortune. Even after he was grown up, he lived in hired lodgings, for which he paid but a small consideration, and afterwards he was reproached with it, when he was risen to such optlence as he had no reason to expect. For one day, as he was boasting of the great things he had done in Africa, a person of character made answer, "How canst thou be an honest man, who art master of such a fortune, though thy father left thee nothing?" It seems, though the Romans at that time did not retain their ancient integrity and purity of manners, but were degenerated into luxury and expense, yet they considered it as no less disgraceful to have departed from family poverty, than to have spent a paternal estate. And a long time after, when Sylla had made himself absolute, and put numPublius Cornelius Rufinus was twice consul; the first time in the year of Rome four hundred and sixtythree, and the second thirteen years after. He was expelled the senate two years after his second consulship, when Q. Fabricius Luscinus, and Caius Emilius Papus were censors. Velleius Paterculus tells us, Sylla was the sixth in descent from this Rufinus; which might very well be; for between the first consulship ot Rufinus and the first campaign of Syila, there was a space of a hundred and eighty-eight years.

As to his figure, we have the whole of it in his statues, except his eyes. They were of a lively blue, fierce and menacing; and the ferocity of his aspect was heightened by his complexion, which was a strong red, interspersed with spots of white. From his complexion, they tell us, he had the name of Sylla; and an Athenian droll drew the following jest from it: "Sylla's a mulberry, strew'd o'er with meal." Nor is it foreign to make these observations upon a man, who in his youth, before he emerged from obscurity, was such a lover of drollery, that he spent his time with mimics and jesters, and went with them every length of riot. Nay, when in the height of his power, he would collect the most noted players and buffoons every day, and, in a manner unsuitable to his age and dignity, drink and join with them in licentious wit, while business of con

* Sil, or Syl, is a yellow kind of earth, which, when burned, becomes red. Hence, Syllaceous Color in Vitruvius signifies purple.

This procured Marius a triumph; but envy ascribed all the glory of it to Sylla: which Marius in his heart not a little resented. Especially when he found that Sylla, who was nat-padocia. His pretence for that expedition was urally fond of fame, and from a low and ob#cure condition now came to general esteem, let his ambition carry him so far as to give orders for a signet to be engraved with a representation of this adventure, which he constantly used in sealing his letters. The device was, Bocchus delivering up Jugurtha, and Sylla receiving him.

which Gordius was driven out, and Ariobarzanes restored to his kingdom

any thing extraordinary afterwards, but was baffled in all his undertakings, and became so obnoxious to the people that they banished him.

During his encampment on the banks of the Euphrates, Oiobazus came ambassador to him Sylla took a different course. It not only from Arsaces, king of Parthia. There had as gave him pleasure to hear his success imputed yet been no intercourse between the two na- to Fortune, but he encouraged the opinion, tions: and it must be considered as a circum-thinking it added an air of greatness and even stance of Sylla's good fortune, that he was the first Roman to whom the Parthians applied for friendship and alliance. At the time of audience, he is said to have ordered three chairs, one for Ariobarzanes, one for Orobazus, and another in the middle for himself. Orobazus was afterwards put to death by the king of Parthia, for submitting so far to a Roman. As for Sylla, some commended his behaviour to the barbarians; while others blamed it as inso-born rather for fortune than war," that he atlent and out of season.

It is reported that a certain Chalcidian,* in the train of Orobazus, looked at Sylla's face, and observed very attentively the turn of his ideas and the motions of his body. These he compared with the rules of his art, and then declared, "That he must infallibly be one day the greatest of men; and that it was strange, he could bear to be any thing less at present." At his return, Censorius prepared to accuse him of extortion, for drawing, contrary to law, vast sums from a kingdom that was in alliance with Rome. He did not, however, bring it to a trial, but dropped the intended impeachment. The quarrel between Sylla and Marius broke out afresh on the following occasion. Bocchus, to make his court to the people of Rome, and to Sylla at the same time, was so officious as to dedicate several images of victory in the Capitol, and close by them a figure of Jugurtha in gold, in the form he had delivered him up to Sylla. Marius, unable to digest the afront, prepared to pull them down, and Sylla's friends were determined to hinder it. Between them both the whole city was set in a flame, when the confederate war, which had long lain smothered, broke out, and for the present put a stop to the sedition.

divinity to his actions. Whether he did this out of vanity, or from a real persuasion of its truth, we cannot say. However, he writes in his Commentaries, "That his instantaneous resolutions and enterprises executed in a manner different from what he had intended, always succeeded better than those on which he bestowed the most time and forethought." It is plain too from that saying of his, "That he was

tributed more to fortune than to valour. In short, he makes himself entirely the creature of Fortune, since he ascribes to her divine influence the good understanding that always subsisted between him and Metellus, a man in the same sphere of life with himself, and his father-in-law. For, whereas he expected to find him a man troublesome in office, he proved on the contrary a quiet and obliging colleague. Add to this, that in the Commentaries inscribed to Lucullus, he advises him to depend upon nothing more than that which Heaven directed to him in the visions of the night. He tells us further, that when he was sent at the head of an army against the confederates, the earth opened on a sudden near Laverna;* and that there issued out of the chasm, which was very large, a vast quantity of fire, and a flame that shot up to the heavens. The soothsayers being consulted upon it, made answer, "That a person of courage and superior beauty, should take the reins of government into his hands, and suppress the tumults with which Rome was then agitated." Sylla says, he was the man: for his locks of gold were sufficient proof of his beauty, and that he needed not hesitate, after so many great actions, to avow himself a man of courage. Thus much con cerning his confidence in the gods.

In this great war, which was so various in its fortune, and brought so many mischiefs and In other respects he was not so consistent dangers upon the Romans, it appeared from with himself. Rapacious in a high degree, but the small execution Marius did, that military still more liberal; in preferring or disgracing skill requires a strong and vigorous constitution whom he pleased; equally unaccountable; subto second it. Sylla, on the other hand, per-missive to those who might be of service to formed so many memorable things, that the citizens looked upon him as a great general, his friends as the greatest in the world, and his enemies as the most fortunate. Nor did he behave, with respect to that notion, like Timotheus the son of Conon. The enemies of that Athenian ascribed all his success to fortune, and got a picture drawn, in which he was represented asleep, and Fortune by his side taking cities for him in her net. Upon this he gave way to an indecent passion, and complained that he was robbed of the glory due to his achievements. Nay, afterwards, on his return from a certain expedition, he addressed the people in these terms-"My fellow-citizens, you must acknowledge that in this, Fortune has no share." It is said, the goddess piqued herself so far on being revenged on this vanity of Timotheus, that he could never do *Of Chalcis, the metropolis of Chalcidene, in Syria; if Plutarch did not rather write Chaldæan.

him, and severe to those who wanted services from him: so that it was hard to say whether he was more insolent or servile in his nature. Such was his inconsistency in punishing, that he would sometimes put men to the most cruel tortures on the slightest grounds, and sometimes overlook the greatest crimes; he would easily take some persons into favour after the most unpardonable offences, while he took vengeance of others for small and trifling faults, by death and confiscation of goods. These things can be no otherwise reconciled, than by concluding that he was severe and vindictive in his temper, but occasionally checked those inclinations, where his own interest was concerned.

In this very war with the confederates, his soldiers despatched, with clubs and stones, a lieutenant of his, named Albinus, who had been honoured with the prætorship; yet he suffered * In the Salarian way there was a grove and templa consecrated to the goddess Laverna.

them, after such a crime, to escape with impunity. He only took occasion from thence to boast, that he should find they would exert themselves more during the rest of the war, because they would endeavour to atone for that offence by extraordinary acts of valour. The censure he incurred on this occasion did not affect him. His great object was the destruction of Marius, and finding that the confederate war was drawing towards an end, he paid his court to the army, that he might be appointed general against Marius. Upon his return to Rome he was erected consul with Quinctius Pompeius, being then fifty years old, and at the same time he entered into an advantageous marriage with Cæcilia, daughter of Metellus the high-priest. This match occasioned a good deal of popular censure. Sarcastical songs were made upon it: and, according to Livy's account, many of the principal citizens invidiously thought him unworthy of that alliance, though they had not thought him unworthy of the consulship. This lady was not his first wife, for in the early part of his life he married Ilia, by whom he had a daughter; afterwards he espoused Ælia, and after her Colia, whom, on account of her barrenness, he repudiated, without any other marks of disgrace, and dismissed with valuable presents. However, as he soon after married Metella, the dismission of Calia became the object of censure. Metella he always treated with the utmost respect; insomuch that when the people of Rome were desirous that he should recal the exiles of Marius's party, and could not prevail with him, they entreated Metella to use her good offices for them. It was thought, too, that when he took Athens, that city had harder usage, because the inhabitants had jested vilely on Metella from the walls. But these things happened afterwards.

it frightened and astonished all the world. The Tuscan sages said it portended a new race of men, and a renovation of the world. For they observed, that there were eight several kinds of men, all different in life and manners: That Heaven had allotted each its time, which was limited by the circuit of the great year; and that when one came to a period, and another race was rising, it was announced by some wonderful sign either from earth or from heaven. So that it was evident, at one view, to those who attended to these things, and were versed in them, that a new sort of mea was come into the world, with other manners and customs, and more or less the care of the gods than those who preceded them. They added, that to this revolution of ages many strange alterations happened: that divination, for instance, should be held in great honour in some one age, and prove successful in all its predictions, because the deity afforded pure and perfect signs to proceed by; whereas in another it should be in small repute, being mostly extemporaneous, and calculating future events from uncertain and obscure principles. Such was the mythology of the most learned and respectable of the Tuscan soothsayers. While the senate were attending to their interpretations in the temple of Bellona, a sparrow, in sight of the whole body, brought in a grasshopper in her mouth, and after she had torn it in two, left one part among them, and carried the other off. The diviners declared, they ap prehended from this a dangerous sedition, and dispute between the town and the country. For the inhabitants of the town are noisy like the grasshopper, and those of the country are domestic beings like the sparrow.

Soon after this Marius got Sulpitius to join him. This man was inferior to none in desperate attempts. Indeed, instead of inquiring The consulship was now but of small con- for another more emphatically wicked, you sideration with him in comparison of what he must ask in what instance of wickedness he had in view. His heart was fixed on obtaining exceeded himself. He was a compound of the conduct of the Mithridatic war. In this cruelty, impudence, and avarice, and he could respect he had a rival in Marius, who was commit the most horrid and infamous of crimes possessed with an ill-timed ambition and mad-in cold blood. He sold the freedom of Rome ness for fame, passions which never grow old. Though now unwieldy in his person, and obliged, on account of his age, to give up his share in the expeditions near home, he wanted the direction of foreign wars. This man, watching his opportunity in Rome, when Sylla was gone to the camp to settle some matters that remained unfinished, framed that fatal sedition, which hurt her more effectually than all the wars she had ever been engaged in. Heaven sent prodigies to prefigure it. Fire blazed out of its own accord from the ensign staves, and was with difficulty extinguished. Three ravens brought their young into the city, and devoured them there, and then carried the remains back to their nests. Some rats having gnawed the consecrated gold in a certain temple, the sacristans caught one of them in a trap, where she brought forth five young ones, and eat three of them. And what was most considerable, one day when the sky was serene and clear, there was heard in it the sound of a trumpet, so loud, so shrill, and mournful, that

In the year of Rome six hundred and sixty-five.

openly to persons that had been slaves, as well as to strangers, and had the money told out upon a table in the forum. He had always about him a guard of three hundred men well armed, and a company of young men of the equestrian order, whom he called his antisenate. Though he got a law made that no senator should contract debts to the amount of more than two thousand drachmas, yet it appeared at his death that he owed more than three millions. This wretch was let loose upon the people by Marius, and carried all before him by dint of sword. Among other bad edicts which he procured, one was that which gave the command in the Mithridatic war to Marius. Upon this the consuls ordered all the courts to be shut up. But one day as they were holding an assembly before the temple of Castor and Pollux, he set his ruffians upon them, and many were slain. The son of Pompey the consul, who was yet but a youth, was of the number. Pompey concealed himself, and saved his life. Sylla was pursued into the house of Marius, and forced from thence to the forum, to revoke the order for the cessation of public

business. For this reason Sulpitius, when he deprived Pompey of the consulship, continued Sylla in it, and only transferred the conduct of the war with Mithridates to Marius. In coneequence of this, he immediately sent some military tribunes to Nola, to receive the army at the hands of Sylla, and bring it to Marius. But Sylla got before them to the camp, and his soldiers were no sooner acquainted with the commission of those officers than they stoned them to death.

Marius in return dipped his hands in the blood of Sylla's friends in Rome, and ordered their houses to be plundered. Nothing now was to be seen but hurry and confusion, some flying from the camp to the city, and some from the city to the camp. The senate were no longer free, but under the direction of Marius and Sulpitius. So that when they were informed that Sylla was marching towards Rome, they sent two prætors, Brutus and Servilius, to stop him. As they delivered their orders with some haughtiness to Sylla, the soldiers prepared to kill them; but at last contented themselves with breaking their fasces, tearing off their robes, and sending them away with every mark of disgrace.

The very sight of them, robbed as they were of the ensigns of their authority, spread sorrow and consternation in Rome, and announced a sedition, for which there was no longer either restraint or remedy. Marius prepared to repel force with force. Sylla moved from Nola at the head of six complete legions, and had his colleague along with him. His army, he saw, was ready at the first word to march to Rome, but he was unresolved in his own mind, and apprehensive of the danger. However, upon his offering sacrifice, the soothsayer Posthumius had no sooner inspected the entrails, than he stretched out both his hands to Sylla, and proposed to be kept in chains till after the battle, in order for the worst of punishments, if every thing did not soon succeed entirely to the general's wish. It is said, too, that there appeared to Sylla in a dream, the goddess whose worship the Romans received from the Cappadocians, whether it be the Moon, Minerva, or Bellona. She seemed to stand by him, and put thunder in his hand, and having called his enemies by name one after another, bade him strike them: they fell, and were consumed by it to ashes. Encouraged by this vision, which he related next morning to his colleague, he took his way towards Rome.

When he had reached Picina, he was met by an embassy, that entreated him not to advance in that hostile manner, since the senate had come to a resolution to do him all the justice he could desire. He promised to grant all they asked; and, as if he intended to encamp there, ordered his officers as usual, to mark out the ground. The ambassadors took their leave with entire confidence in his honour. But as soon as they were gone, he dispatched Basillus and Caius Mummius, to make themselves masters of the gate and the wall by the Esquiline mount. He himself followed with the utmost

*There being no place between Nola and Rome, called Picine, Lubinus thinks we should read Picta, which was a place of public entertainment about twenty-five miles from the capital. Strabo and Antoninus (in his Itinerary) mention it as such.

expedition. Accordingly Basillus and his party seized the gate and entered the city. But the unarmed multitude got upon the tops of the houses, and with stones and tiles drove them back to the foot of the wall. At that moment Sylla arrived, and seeing the opposition his soldiers met with, called out to them to set fire to the houses. He took a flaming torch in his own hands, and advanced before them. At the same time he ordered his archers to shoot fire-arrows at the roofs. Reason had no longer any power over him; passion and fury governed all his motions; his enemies were all he thought of; and in the thirst for vengeance, he made no account of his friends, nor took the least compassion on his relations. Such was the case, when he made his way with fire, which makes no distinction between the inno cent and the guilty.

Meanwhile, Marius, who was driven back to the temple of Vesta, proclaimed liberty to the slaves that would repair to his standard. But the enemy pressed on with so much vigour, that he was forced to quit the city.

Sylla immediately assembled the senate, and got Marius and a few others, condemed to death. The tribune Sulpitius, who was of the number, was betrayed by one of his own slaves, and brought to the block. Sylla gave the slave his freedom, and then had him thrown down the Tarpeian rock. As for Marius he set a price upon his head; in which he behaved neither with gratitude nor good policy, since he had not long before fled into the house of Marius, and put his life in his hands, and yet was dismissed in safety. Had Marius, instead of letting him go, given him up to Sulpitius, who thirsted for his blood, he might have been absolute master of Rome. But he spared his enemy; and a few days after, when there was an opportunity for his return, met not with the same generous treatment.

The senate did not express the concern which this gave them. But the people openly and by facts shewed their resentment and resolution to make reprisals. For they rejected his nephew, Nonius, who relied on his recommendation, and his fellow-candidate Servius, in an ignominious manner, and appointed others to the consulship, whose promotion they thought would be most disagreeable to him. Sylla pretended great satisfaction at the thing, and said, "He was quite happy to see the people by his means enjoy the liberty of proceeding as they thought proper." Nay, to obviate their hatred, he proposed Lucius Cinna, who was of the opposite faction, for consul, but first laid him under the sanction of a solemn oath, to assist him in all his affairs. Cinna went up to the capitol with a stone in his hand. There he swore before all the world, to preserve the friendship between them inviolable, adding this imprecation, “If I be guilty of any breach of it, may I be driven from the city, as this stone is from my hand!" at the same time he threw the stone upon the ground. Yet, as soon as he was entered upon his office, he began to raise new commotions, and set up an impeachment against Sylla, of which Virginius, one of the tribunes, was to be the manager. But Sylla left both the manager and the impeachment behind him and set forward against Mithridates.