The contest for that, he saw, might be attended not only with danger and disgrace, and therefore he soon left it to Crassus and Cato. When he had refused to take the lead, those who looked upon the power of Pompey with a suspicious eye, pitched upon Crassus and Cato to support the patrician interests. Lucullus, notwithstanding, gave his attendance in the forum, when the business of his friends required it; and he did the same in the senate-house, when there was any ambitious design of Pompey to combat. He got Pompey's orders annulled, which he had made after the conquest of the two kings; and, with the assistance of Cato, threw out his bill for a distribution of lands among his veterans. received, shewed plainly, that he was killed by the persons who suborned him. This event made Lucullus still more unwil. ling to interfere in the concerns of government, and when Cicero was banished, and Cato sent to Cyprus, he quitted them entirely. It is said, that his understanding gradually failed, and that before his death, it was absolutely gone. Cornelius Nepos, indeed, asserts that this failure of his intellects was not owing to sickness or old age, but to a potion given him by an enfranchised slave of his, named Callisthenes. Nor did Callisthenes give him it as a poison, but as a love potion. However, instead of conciliating his master's regards to him, it deprived him of his senses; so that, during the This threw Pompey into the arms of Cras-last years of his life, his brother had the care sus and Cæsar, or rather, he conspired with them against the commonwealth; and having filled the city with soldiers, drove Cato and Lucullus out of the forum, and got his acts established by force. As these proceedings were highly resented by all who had the interest of their country at heart, Pompey's party instructed one Vectius to act a part; and gave it out that they had detected him in a design against Pompey's life. When Vectius was examined in the senate, he said, it was at the instigation of others; but in the assembly of the people he affirmed, Lucullus was the man who put him upon it. No one gave credit to the assertion; and a few days after, it was very evident that the wretch was suborned to accuse an innocent man, when his dead body was thrown out of the prison. Pompey's party said, he had laid violent hands upon himself; but the marks of the cord that had strangled him, and of the blows he had of his estate. Nevertheless, when he died, he was as much regretted by the people, as if he had departed in that height of glory to which his merit in war and in the administration had raised him. They crowded to the procession; and the body being carried into the forum by some young men of the first quality, they insisted it should be buried in the campus martius, as that of Sylla had been. As this was a motion entirely unexpected, and the preparations for the fune ral there could not easily be made, his brother, with much entreaty, prevailed with them to have the obsequies performed on the Tusculan estate, where every thing was provided for that purpose. Nor did he long survive him. As he had followed him close in the course of years and honours, so he was not far behind him in his journey to the grave; to which he bore the character of the best and most affectionate of brothers. CIMON AND LUCULLUS COMPARED. WE cannot but think the exit of Lucullus hap-templation, furnish the most suitable retreat py, as he did not live to see that change in the for a man in years, who has bid adieu to miliconstitution which fate was preparing for his tary and political pursuits. But to propose country in the civil wars. Though the com- pleasure as the ent of great achievements, monwealth was in a sickly state, yet he left it and, after long expeditions and commands, to free. In this respect, the case of Cimon was lead up the dance of Venus, and riot in her particularly similar. For he died while Greece smiles, was so far from being worthy of the was at the height of her prosperity, and before famed Academy, and a follower of the sage she was involved in those troubles which Xenocrates, that it rather became a disciple of proved so fatal to her. It is true, there is this Epicurus. This is the more surprising, bedifference: Cimon died in his camp, in the cause Cimon seems to have spent his youth in office of general, not like a man, who, fa- luxury and dissipation, and Lucullus in letters tigued with war, and avoiding its conflicts, and sobriety. It is certainly another thing, sought the reward of his military labours and notwithstanding, to change for the better; and of the laurels he had won, in the delicacies of happier is the nature in which vices gradually the table and the joys of wine. In this view, die, and virtue flourishes. Plato was right in the censure of the followers of Orpheus, who had placed the rewards of futurity, provided for the good, in everlasting intoxication. No doubt, ease, tranquillity, literary researches, and the pleasures of con * The passage here alluded to, is in the second book of Plato's Republic. Plato censures not Orpheus, but Museus and his son, for teaching this doctrine. Musus and his son Eumolpus were, however, disciples of Orpheus. They were equally wealthy, but did not apply their riches to the same purposes. For we cannot compare the palace at Naples and the Belvideres amidst the water, which Lucullus erected with the barbarian spoils, to the south wall of the citadel, which Cimon built with the treasure he brought from the wars. Nor can the sumptuous table of Lucullus, which savoured too much of Eastern magnifi cence be put in competition with the open and This he has in common with Cimon, that he was impeached by his countrymen. The Athenians, it is true, went farther; they banished Cimon by the ostracism, that they might not as Plato expresses it, hear his voice for ten years. Indeed, the proceedings of the aristo benevolent table of Cimon. The one, at a mod- | rant of the grievances of his army, which ended erate charge, daily nourished great numbers in so incurable an aversion, or unwilling to of poor; the other, at a vast expense, pleased redress them. the appetites of a few of the rich and the voluptuous. Perhaps, indeed, some allowance must be made for the difference of the time. We know not, whether Cimon, if he had lived to be old, and retired from the concerns of war and of the state, might not have given into a more pompous and luxurious way of liv-cratical party are seldom acceptable to the ing: for he naturally loved wine and company, people; for while they are obliged to use some was a promoter of public feasts and games, violence for the correction of what is amiss, and remarkable, as we have observed, for his their measures resemble the bandages of surinclination for the sex. But glorious enter-geons, which are uneasy at the same time that prises and great actions, being attended with pleasures of another kind, leave no leisure for inferior gratifications; nay, they banish them from the thoughts of persons of great abilities for the field and the cabinet. And if Lucullus had finished his days in high commands and amidst the conflicts of war, I am persuaded the most envious caviller could have found nothing to reproach him with. So much with respect to their way of living. As to their military character, it is certain they were able commanders both at sea and land. But as the champions, who in one day gained the garland not only in wrestling but in the Pancration,* are not simply called victors, but by the custom of the games, the flowers of the victory; so Cimon, having crowned Greece with two victories gained in one day, the one at land, the other a naval one, deserve some preference in the list of generals. they reduce the dislocation. But in this respect perhaps we may exculpate both the one and the other. Lucullus carried his arms much the farthest. He was the first who led a Roman army over Mount Taurus, and passed the Tigris. He took and burned the royal cities of Asia, Tigranocerta, Cabira, Sinope, Nisibis, in the sight of their respective kings. On the north he penetrated as far as the Phasis, on the east to Media, and on the south to the Red Sea, by the favour and assistance of the princes of Arabia. He overthrew the armies of the two great kings, and would certainly have taken them, had they not fled, like savages, into distant solitudes and inaccessible woods. A certain proof of the advantage Lucullus had in this respect, is, that the Persians, as if they had suffered nothing from Cimon, soon made head against the Greeks, and cut in pieces a great army of theirs in Egypt; whereas Tigranes and Mithridates could affect nothing after the blow they had received from Lucullus. Mithridates, enfeebled by the conflicts he had undergone, did not once venture to face Pompey in the field: instead of that, he fled to the Bosphorus, and there put a period to his life. As for Tigranes, he delivered himself, naked and unarined, to Pompey, took his diadem from his head, and laid it at his feet; in which he complimented Pompey, not with what was his own, but If it be the greatest work of a general to with what belonged to the laurels of Lucullus. bring his men to obey him from a principle of The poor prince, by the joy with which he reaffection, we shall find Lucullus greatly defi-ceived the ensigns of royalty again, confessed cient in this respect. He was despised by his own troops, whereas Cimon commanded the veneration, not only of his own soldiers, but of all the allies. The former was deserted by his own, and the latter was courted by strangers. Lucullus was indebted to his country for his power, and Cimon promoted the power of his country. The one found Rome commanding the allies, and under her auspices extended her conquests; the other found Athens obeying instead of commanding, and yet gained her the chief authority among her allies, as well as conquered her enemies. The Persians he defeated, and drove them out of the sea, and he persuaded the Lacedæmonians voluntarily to surrender the command. The one set out with a fine army, and returned alone, abandoned by that army; the other went out with troops subject to the orders they should receive from another general, and at his return they were at the head of the whole league. Thus he gained three of the most difficult points imaginable, peace with the enemy, the lead among the allies, and a good understanding with Sparta. They both attempted to conquer great kingdoms, and to subdue all Asia, but their purposes were unsuccessful. Cimon's course was stopped by fortune; he died with his commission in his hand, and in the height of his prosperity. Lucullus, on the other hand, cannot possibly be excused, as to the loss of his authority, since he must either have been ignoThe Pancration consisted of boxing and wrestling together. that he had absolutely lost them. However, he must be deemed the greater general, as well as the greater champion, who delivers his adversary, weak and breathless, to the next combatant. Besides, Cimon found the king of Persia extremely weakened, and the pride of his people humbled, by the losses and defeats they had experienced from Themistocles, Pausanias, and Leotychidas; and their hands could not make much resistance, when their hearts were gone. But Lucullus met Tigranes fresh and unfoiled, elated and exulting in the battles he had fought and the victories he had won Nor is the number of the enemy's troops which Cimon defeated, in the least to be compared to that of those who gave battle to Lucullus. In short, when we weigh all the advantages of each of these great men, it is hard to say to which side the balance inclines. Heaven appears to have favoured both; directing the one to what he should do, and warning the other what he should avoid. So that the gods bore witness of their virtue, and regarded them as persons in whom there was something divine. NICIAS. a sophist; and when that spirit of contest attempts things inimitable, it is perfectly absurd. Since, therefore, it is impossible to pass over in silence those actions of Nicias which Thucydides and Philistus have recorded; especially such as indicate his manners and dispo sition, which often lay concealed under the weight of his misfortunes; we shall give an abstract from them of what appears most ne WE have pitched upon Crassus, as a proper person to be put in parallel with Nicias; and the misfortunes which befel the one in Parthia, with those which overtook the other in Sicily. But we have an apology to make to the reader on another account. As we are now undertaking a history, where Thucydides in the pathetic has even outdone himself, and in energy and variety of composition is perfectly inimitable; we hope no one will suspect we have the am-cessary, lest we should be accused of neglibition of Timæus, who flattered himself he could exceed the power of Thucydides, and make Philistus* pass for an inelegant and ordinary writer. Under the influence of that deception, Timæus plunges into the midst of the battles both at sea and land, and speeches in which those historians shine the most. How-to serve the purposes of real instruction. ever, he soon appears, Not like a footman by the Lydian car, as Pindar expresses it, but a shallow puerile writer; or, to use the words of the poet Diphilus, A heavy animal, Cased in Sicilian lardSometimes he falls into the dreams of Xenarchus: as where he says, "He could not but consider it as a bad omen for the Athenians, that they had a general with a name derived from victory, who disapproved the exhibition." As also, "That by the mutilation of the Hermæ, the gods presignified that they should suffer most in the Syracusan war from Hermocrates the son of Hermon." And again, "It is probable that Hercules assisted the Syracusans, because Proserpine delivered up Cerberus to him; and that he was offended at the Athenians for supporting the Egesteans, who were descended from the Trojans, his mortal enemies, whose city he had sacked, in revenge for the injuries he had received from Laomedon." He made these fine observations with the same discernment which put him upon finding fault with the language of Philistus, and censuring the writings of Plato and Aristotle. For my part, I cannot but think, all emulation and jealousy about expression, betray a littleness of mind, and is the characteristic of * Philistus was so able a writer, that Cicero calls him the younger Thucydides. Timæus might have his vanity; and, if he hoped to excel Thucydides, he certainly had. Yet Cicero and Diodorus speak of him as a very able historian. Longinus reconciles the censure and the praise. He says, sometimes you find him in the grand and sublime. But, blind to his own defects, he is much inclined to censure others, and is so fond of thinking out of the common road, that he often sinks into the utmost puerility. Xenarchus, the Peripatetic, was master to Strabo; and Xenarchus, the comic poet, was author of several pieces of humour: but we know no historian of that name. That is, Nicias. Nice signifies victory. Longinus quotes this passage as an example of the frigid style, and of those puerilities he had condemned in Time us. gence or indolence. As for other matters not generally known, which are found scattered in historians or in ancient inscriptions and decrees, we shall collect them with care; not to gratify a useless curiosity, but by drawing from them the true lines of this general's character, The first thing I shall mention relating to him, is the observation of Aristotle: That three of the most worthy men in Athens, who had a paternal regard and friendship for the people, were Nicias the son of Niceratus, Thucydides the son of Milesias, and Theramenes the son of Agnon. The last, indeed, was not so remarkable in this respect as the other two. For he had been reproached with his birth, as a stranger come from the Isle of Ceos; and from his want of firmness, or rather versatility, in matters of government, he was called the Buskin.* Thucydides was the oldest of the three; and when Pericles acted a flattering part to the people, he often opposed him in behalf of the nobility. Though Nicias was much the younger man, he gained some reputation while Pericles lived, insomuch that he was several times his colleague in the war, and often commanded alone. But when Pericles died, he was soon advanced to the head of the administration, particularly by the influence of the rich and great, who hoped he would prove a barrier against the daring insolence of Cleon. He had, however, the good wishes of the people, and they contributed their share to his ad vancement. It is true, Cleon had a considerable interest, which he gained by making his court to the old men, and by his frequent donations to the poor citizens. Yet even many of those whom he studied to oblige, seeing his avarice and For the effrontery, came over to Nicias. gravity of Nicias had nothing austere or morose in it, but was mixed with a reverence for the people in which fear seemed to be prevalent, and consequently was very agreeable to them. Indeed, he was naturally timid and cold-hearted; but this defect was concealed by the long course of success with which fortune favoured his expeditions. And his timidity in the assemblies of the people, and dread of persons who made a trade of impeachments, was a popular thing. It contributed not a *The form of the buskin was such, that it might be worn indifferently on either leg. NICIAS. little to gain him the regards of the multitude, who are afraid of those that despise them, and love to promote those that fear them, because in general, the greatest honour they can hope to obtain, is not to be despised by the great. As Pericles kept the reins of government in his hands, by means of real virtue, and by the force of his eloquence, he had no need to hold out false colours, or to use any artifice with the people. Nicias was deficient in those great endowments, but had superior riches; and he applied them to the purposes of popularity. On the other hand, he could not, like Cleon, divert and draw the people by an easy manner and the sallies of buffoonery; and therefore he amused them with the choruses of tragedy, with gymnastic exercises, and such like exhibitions, which far exceeded, in point of magnificence and elegance, all that went before him, and those of his own times too. Two of his offerings to the gods are to be seen at this day; the one, a statue of Pallas dedicated in the citadel, which has lost part of its gilding; the other, a small chapel in the temple of Bacchus, under the tripods, which are commonly offered up by those who gain the prize in tragedy. Indeed, Nicias was already victorious in those exhibitions. It is said, that in a chorus of that kind, one of his slaves appeared in the character of Bacchus. The slave was of an uncommon size and beauty, but had not arrived at maturity; and the people were so charmed with him, that they gave him long plaudits. At last, Nicias rose up and said, "He should think it an act of impiety to retain a person in servitude, who seemed by the public voice to be consecrated to a god," and he enfranchised him upon the spot. he left in Delos as a monument of his benefaction. As for the palm-tree, it was broken by the winds, and the fragment falling upon a great statue, which the people of Naxos had set up, demolished it. It is obvious that most of these things were done for ostentation, and with a view to popularity. Nevertheless, we may collect from the rest of his life and conduct, that religion had the principal share in these dedications, and that popularity was but a secondary motive For he certainly was remarkable for his fear of the gods, and, as Thucydides observes, he was pious to a degree of superstition. It is related in the Dialogues of Pasiphon, that he sacrificed every day, and that he had a diviner in his house, who, in appearance, inquired the success of the public affairs, but in reality was much oftener consulted about his own, particularly as to the success of his silver mines in the borough of Laurium; which in general af forded a large revenue, but were not worked without danger. He maintained there a mul titude of slaves; and the greatest part of his fortune consisted in silver. So that he had many retainers, who asked favours, and were not sent away empty. For he gave not only to those who deserved his bounty, but to such as might be able to do him harm; and bad men found resources in his fears, as well as good men in his liberality. The comic poets bear witness to what I have advanced. Teleclides introduced a trading informer speaking thus: "Charicles would not give one mina to prevent my declaring that he was the first fruits of his mother's amours; but Nicias, the son of Niceratus, gave me four. Why he did it, I shall not say, though I know it perfectly well. For Nicias is my friend, a very wise man besides, in my opinion." Eupolis, in his Marcia, brings another informer upon the stage, who meets with some poor ignorant man, and thus addresses him: "Informer. How long is it since you saw Nicias? "Poor Man. I never saw him before this moment, when he stood in the market place. "Informer. Take notice, my friends, the what purpose could he see him, but to sell him his vote? Nicias, therefore, is plainly taken in the fact. "Poet. Ah, fools! do you think you can ever persuade the world that so good a man as Nicias was taken in mal-practices?" His regulations with respect to Delos, are still spoken of, as worthy of the deity who presides there. Before his time, the choirs which the cities sent to sing the praises of Apollo, landed in a disorderly manner, because the inhabitants of the island used to run up to the ship, and press them to sing before they were disembarked; so that they were forced to strike up, as they were putting on their robes and garlands. But when Nicias had the conduct of this ceremony, known by the name of Theo-man confesses he has seen Nicias. And for ria, he landed first in the Isle of Rhenia with the choir, the victims, and all the other necessary preparations. He had taken care to have a bridge constructed before he left Athens, which should reach from that isle to Delos, and which was magnificently gilded, and adorned with garlands, rich stuffs, and tapestry. In the night he threw his bridge over the channel, which was not large; and at break of day he marched over it at the head of the procession, with his choir richly habited and singing hymns to the god. After the sacrifices, the games, and the banquets were over, he consecrated a palm-tree of brass to Apollo, and likewise a field which he had purchased for ten thousand drachmas. The Delians were to lay out the Income in sacrificing and feasting, and at the same time to pray for Apollo's blessing upon the founder. This is inscribed on a pillar, which * There was a select band of music annually sent by the principal cities of Greece. The procession was called Theoria, and it was looked upon as an honourable commission to have the management of it. Cleon, in Aristophanes, says in a menacing tone, "I will out-bawl the orators, and make Nicias tremble." And Phrynichus glances at his excessive timidity, when, speaking of another person, he says, "I know him to be an honest man and a good citizen, one who does not walk the streets with a downcast look, like Nicias." With this fear of informers upon him, he would not sup or discourse with any of the citizens, or come into any of those parties A statue which the Naxians had dedicated to It This is in the Equities of Aristophanes, ver. 357 is not Cleon, but Agoracritus, who speaks. which make the time pass so agreeably. When | defeated by the Chalcideans in Thrace, Cal he was archon, he used to stay in court till night, being always the first that came, and the last that went away. When he had no public business upon his hands, he shut himself up at home, and was extremely difficult of access. And if any persons came to the gate, his friends went and begged them to excuse Nicias, because he had some affairs under consideration which were of great importance to the state. The person who assisted him most in acting this farce, and gaining him the reputation of a man for ever intent upon business, was one Hiero, who was brought up in his house, had a liberal education, and a taste for music given him there. He passed himself for the son of Dionysius, surnamed Chalcus, some of whose poems are still extant, and who having conducted a colony into Italy, founded the city of Thurii. This Hiero transacted all the private business of Nicias with the diviners; and whenever he came among the people, he used to tell them, "What a laborious and miserable life Nicias led for their sakes. He cannot go to the bath," said he, "or the table, but some affair of state solicits his attention: and he neglects his own concerns to take care of the public. He can scarce find time for repose till the other citizens have had their first sleep. Amidst these cares and labours his health declines daily, and his temper is so broken that his friends no longer approach him with pleasure; but he loses them too, after having spent his fortune in your service. Meanwhile other statesmen gain friends, and grow rich in their employments, and are sleek and merry in the steerage of government." In fact, the life of Nicias was a life of so much care, that he might have justly applied to himself that expression of Agamemnon, In vain the glare of pomp proclaims me master, Nicias perceived that the commons availed Warned by these examples, he endeavoured to avoid such expeditions as he thought long and difficult; and when he did take the cominand, he made it his business to proceed upon a sure plan. For this reason he was generally successful: yet he ascribed his success to fortune, and took refuge under the wings of that divinity; contenting himself with a smaller portion of honour, lest envy should rob him of the whole. The event shewed the prudence of his conduct. For, though the Athenians received many great blows in those times, none of them could be imputed to Nicias. When they were liades and Xenophon had the command, Demosthenes was general, when they miscarried in Ætolia; and when they lost a thousand men at Delium, they were under the conduct of Hippocrates. As for the plague, it was commonly thought to be occasioned by Pericles, who, to draw the burghers out of the way of the war, shut them up in the city, where they contracted the sickness by the change of situation and diet None of these misfortunes were imputed to Nicias: on the contrary, he took Cythera, an island well situated for annoying Laconia, and at that time inhabited by Lacedæmonians. He recovered many places in Thrace which had revolted from the Athenians. He shut up the Megarensians within their walls, and reduced the island of Minoa. From thence he made an excursion soon after, and got possession of the port of Nisæa. He likewise made a descent upon the territories of Corinth, beat the troops of that state in a pitched battle, and killed great numbers of them. Lycophron, their general, was among the slain. He happened to leave there the bodies of two of his men, who were missed in carrying off the dead. But as soon as he knew it, he stopped his course, and sent a herald to the enemy, to ask leave to take away those bodies. This he did, though there was a law and custom subsisting, by which those who desire a treaty for carrying off the dead, give up the victory, and are not at liberty to erect a trophy. And indeed, those who are so far masters of the field, that the enemy cannot bury their dead without permission, appear to be conquerors, because no man would ask that as a favour which he could command. Nicias, however, chose rather to lose his laurels than to leave two of his countrymen unburied.* After he had ravaged the coast of Laconia, and defeated the Lacedæmonians who attempt. ed to oppose him, he took the fortress of Thyræa, then held by the Æginete, made the garrison prisoners, and carried them to Athens. Demosthenes having fortified Pylos, the Peloponnesians besieged it both by sea and land. A battle ensued, in which they were worsted, and about four hundred Spartans threw themselves into the isle of Sphacteria. The taking of them seemed, and indeed, was an important object to the Athenians. But the siege was difficult, because there was no water to be had upon the spot, and it was troublesome and expensive to get convoys thither; in summer they were obliged to take a long circuit, and in winter it The burying of the dead was a duty of great imThe fable of the portance in the heathen world. the Styx, is well known. ghost of an unburied person not being allowed to pass About eight years after the death of Nicias, the Athenians put six of their generals to death, for not interring those soldiers that were slam in the battle of Arginusæ. the territory of the Argives. It belonged of right to the Lacedæmonians, but they gave it to the Egineta, who had been expelled their country. Thyræa was a fort situated between Laconia and The Peloponnesians and their allies had entered Attica under the conduct of Agis, the son of ArchidaAthenian general, made a diversion by seizing and mas, and ravaged the country. Demosthenes, the fortifying Pylos. This brought Agis back to the defence of his own country. Thucyd. l. iv. |