[283] The strait that unites the Euxine to the Mæotis or Sea of Azoff, was called the Bosporus, which name was also given to the country on the European side of the strait, which is included in the peninsula of the Crimea.

[284] See Dion Cassius, 37. c. 5.

[285] This is the Indian Ocean. The name first occurs in Herodotus. It is generally translated the Red Sea, and so it is translated by Kaltwasser. But the Red Sea was called the Arabian Gulf by Herodotus. However, the term Erythræan Sea was sometimes used with no great accuracy, and appears to have comprehended the Red Sea, which is a translation of the term Erythræan, as the Greeks understood that word (ἐρυθρός, Red).

[286] Triarius, the legatus of Lucullus, had been defeated three years before by Mithridates. See the Life of Lucullus, c. 35; and Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 89).

[287] This mountain range is connected with the Taurus and runs down to the coast of the Mediterranean, which it reaches at the angle formed by the Gulf of Scanderoon.

[288] This campaign, as already observed in the notes to c. 36, is placed earlier by Appianus, but his chronology is confused and incorrect. The siege of Jerusalem, which was accompanied with great difficulty, is described by Dion Cassius (37. c. 15, &c.), and by Josephus (Jewish Wars, xiv. 4). There was a great slaughter of the Jews when the city was stormed.

[289] This country was Gordyene. (Dion Cassius, 37. c. 5.)

[290] This city, the capital of Syria, was built by Seleucus Nicator and called Antiocheia after his father Antiochus. It is situated in 36° 12' N. lat. on the south bank of the Orontes, a river which enters the sea south of the Gulf of Scanderoon.

[291] The meaning of the original is obscure. The word is τὸ ιμάτιον, which ought to signify his vest or toga. Some critics take it to mean a kind of handkerchief used by sick persons and those of effeminate habits; and they say it was also used by persons when travelling, as a cover for the head, which the Greeks called Theristerium. The same word is used in the passage (c. 7), where it is said that "Sulla used to rise from his seat as Pompeius approached and take his vest from his head." Whatever may be the meaning of the word here, Plutarch seems to say that this impudent fellow would take his seat at the table before the guests had arrived and leave his master to receive them.

[292] Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 53) observes that "Plutarch does not say that Pompeius built his house near his theatre, but that he built it in addition to his theatre and at the same time, as Donatus had perceived, De Urbe Roma, 3, 8, in Græv. Thes. T. 3, p. 695." But Drumann is probably mistaken. There is no great propriety in the word ἐφόλκιον unless the house was near the theatre, and the word παρετεκτήνατο rather implies 'proximity,' than 'in addition to.'

This was the first permanent theatre that Rome had. It was built partly on the model of that of Mitylene and it was opened in the year B.C. 55. This magnificent theatre, which would accommodate 40,000 people, stood in the Campus Martius. It was built of stone with the exception of the scena, and ornamented with statues, which were placed there under the direction of Atticus, who was a man of taste. Augustus embellished the theatre, and he removed thither the statue of Pompeius, which up to that time had stood in the Curia where Cæsar was murdered. The scena was burnt down in the time of Tiberius, who began to rebuild it; but it was not finished till the reign of Claudius. Nero gilded the interior. The scena was again burnt in the beginning of the reign of Titus, who restored it again. The scena was again burnt in the reign of Philippus and a third time restored. (Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 521; Dion Cassius 39. c. 88, and the notes of Reimarus.)

[293] Petra, the capital of the Nabathæi, is about half way between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the northern extremity of the Ælanitic Gulf, the more eastern of the two northern branches of the Red Sea. The ruins of Petra exist in the Wady Musa, and have been visited by Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, and last by Laborde, who has given the most complete description of them in his 'Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée,' Paris, 1830. The place is in the midst of a desert, but has abundance of water. Its position made it an important place of commerce in the caravan trade of the East; and it was such in the time of Strabo, who states on the authority of his friend Athonodorus that many Romans were settled there (p. 779). It contains numerous tombs and a magnificent temple cut in the rock, a theatre and the remains of houses.

The king against whom Pompeius was marching is named Aretas by Dion Cassius (37. c. 15).

[294] The Pæonians were a Thracian people on the Strymon. (Herodotus, v. 1.) It appears from Dion Cassius (49. c. 36) that the Greeks often called the Pannonians by the name of Pæonians, which Sintenis considers a reason for not altering the reading here into Pannonians. Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 102) uses the name Pæonians, though he means Pannonians.

[295] This is the Roman word. Compare Tacitus (Annal. i. 18): "congerunt cespites, exstruunt tribunal."

[296] The circumstances of the rebellion of Pharnakes and the death of Mithridates are told by Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 110) and Dion Cassius (37. c. 11). Mithridates died B.C. 63, in the year in which Cicero was consul.

The text of the last sentence in this chapter is corrupt; and the meaning is uncertain.

[297] τὸ νεμέσητον.

[298] The body of Mithridates was interred at Sinope. Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 113) says that Pharnakes sent the dead body of his father in a galley to Pompeius to Sinope, and also those who had killed Manius Aquilius, and many hostages Greeks and barbarians. There might be some doubt about the meaning of the words 'many corpses of members of the royal family' πολλα σώματα τῶν βασιλικῶν but Plutarch appears from the context to mean dead bodies. Two of the daughters of Mithridates who were with him when he died, are mentioned by Appianus (c. 111) as having taken poison at the same time with their father. The poison worked on them, but had no effect on the old man, who therefore prevailed on a Gallic officer who was in his service to kill him. (Compare Dion Cassius, 39. c. 13, 14.)

[299] He made it what the Romans called Libera Civitas, a city which had its own jurisdiction and was free from taxes. Compare the Life of Cæsar, c. 48.

[300] He was a native of Apamea in Syria, a Stoic, and a pupil of Panætius. He was one of the masters of Cicero, who often speaks of him and occasionally corresponded with him (Cicero, Ad Attic. ii. 1). Cicero also mentions Hermagoras in his treatise De Inventione (i. 6, and 9), and in the Brutus (c. 79).

[301] See the Life of Sulla, c. 6.

[302] She was the daughter of Q. Mucius Scævola, consul B.C. 95, and the third wife of Pompeius, who had three children by her. She was not the sister of Q. Metellus Nepos and Q. Metellus Celer, as Kaltwasser says, but a kinswoman. Cn. Pompeius and Sextus Pompeius were the sons of Mucia. Cicero (Ad Attic. i. 12) speaks of the divorce of Mucia and says that it was approved of; but he does not assign the reason. C. Julius Cæsar (Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 50) is named as the adulterer or one of them, and Pompeius called him his Ægisthus. After her divorce in the year B.C. 62 Mucia married M. Æmilius Scaurus, the brother of the second wife of Pompeius. Mucia survived the battle of Actium (B.C. 31), and she was treated with respect by Octavianus Cæsar (Dion Cassius, 51. c. 2; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 557).

[303] Here and elsewhere I have used Plutarch's word μοναρχία, 'The government of one man,' by which he means the Dictatorship, in some passages at least.

[304] He landed in Italy B.C. 62, during the consulship of D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena. The request mentioned at the beginning of c. 44 is also noticed in Plutarch's Life of Cato (c. 30). M. Pupius Piso was one of the consuls for B.C. 61.

[305] This was L. Afranius, one of the legati of Pompeius, who has often been mentioned. He was consul with Q. Metellus Celer B.C. 60 (compare Dion Cassius, 37. c. 49). Cicero, who was writing to Atticus at the time (Ad Attic. i. 17), speaks of the bribery at the election of Afranius, and accuses Pompeius of being active on the occasion. From this consulship Horatius (Od. ii. 1) dates the commencement of the civil wars, for in this year was formed the coalition between Cæsar, Pompeius, and Crassus. See the remark of Cato, c. 47.

[306] Compare Appianus (Mithridatic War, c. 116) and Dramann, Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 485. When particular measures of money are not mentioned, Plutarch, as usual with him, means Attic drachmæ.

[307] The triumph of Pompeius was in B.C. 61 on his birthday (Plinius 37. c. 2). Pompeius was born B.C. 106, and consequently he was now entering on his forty-sixth year—Xylander (Holzmann) preferred to read 'fifty' instead of 'forty.'

[308] Cicero went into exile B.C. 58, and after the events mentioned in chapter 47. Cæsar returned from his province of Iberia in B.C. 60.

[309] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 14, as to the events mentioned in this chapter and the following. Cæsar was consul B.C. 59.

[310] L. Calpurnius Piso and A. Gabinius were consuls B.C. 58, in the year in which Clodius was tribune and Cicero was exiled.

[311] As to this remark of Pompeius, compare the Life of Lucullus, c. 38.

[312] Compare the Life of Cato, c. 34.

[313] A mark of an effeminate person. Compare the Life of Cæsar, c. 4, which explains this passage.

[314] This event is told by Dion Cassius (39. c. 19), but as Kaltwasser remarks he places it in B.C. 56, when Clodius was ædile and Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus and M. Marcius Philippus were consuls. The trial was that of Milo De Vi, B.C. 56. Compare Cicero (Ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 3) and Rein (Criminalrecht der Römer, p. 758, note).

[315] Q. Terentius Culleo was a tribunus plebis B.C. 58. He is mentioned by Cicero (Ad Attic. iii. 15) and elsewhere.

[316] Cicero returned to Rome B.C. 57 in the consulship of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Q. Cæcilius Metellus Nepos. See the Life of Cicero, c. 33. He had returned to Rome before the trial mentioned at the end of c. 48.

[317] Pompeius was made Præfectus Annonæ for five years. There was a great scarcity at Rome, which was nothing unusual, and dangerous riots (see the article CORN TRADE, ROMAN, 'Political Dictionary,' by the author of this note). The appointment of Pompeius is mentioned by Dion Cassius (39. c. 9, and the notes of Reimarus). Cicero (Ad Atticum, iv. 1) speaks of the appointment of Pompeius.

[318] Ptolemæus Auletes had given large bribes to several Romans to purchase their influence and to get himself declared a friend and ally of the Romans; which was in fact to put himself under their protection. His subjects were dissatisfied with him for various reasons, and among others for the heavy taxes which he laid on them to raise the bribe money. He made his escape from Egypt and was now in Rome. The story is told at some length in Dion Cassius (39. c. 12, &c.), and the matter of the king's restoration is discussed by Cicero in several letters (Ad Diversos, i. 1-7) to this Spinther. The king for the present did not get the aid which he wanted, and he retired to Ephesus, where he lodged within the precincts of the temple of Artemis, which was an ASYLUM. (See 'Political Dictionary,' art. Asylum; and Strabo, p. 641.)

[319] A Greek historian of the time of Augustus. He was originally a captive slave, but he was manumitted and admitted to the intimacy of Augustus Cæsar. He was very free with his tongue, which at last caused him to be forbidden the house of Augustus. (Seneca, De Ira, iii. 23.) He burnt some of his historical writings, but not all of them, for Plutarch here refers to his authority. Horatius (1 Ep. 19. v. 15) alludes to Timagenes. (See Suidas, Τιμαγένης.)

[320] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 15, and as to the conference at Luca, c. 21. The conference took place B.C. 56, when Marcellinus (c. 48, notes) was one of the consuls. Compare also the Life of Crassus (c. 14, 15), and Dion Cassius, 39. c. 30, as to the trouble at Rome at this time, and Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 17).

[321] This is the meaning of the word Τιμαγένης, which is generally mistranslated here and in other parts of Plutarch. It is the translation of the Roman term 'civiliter.' (Tacitus, Annal. i 33, iii 76.)

[322] Life of Crassus, c. 15, notes.

[323] P. Vatinius, often mentioned by Cicero. (See Orelli, Onomasticon, Vatinius.) Cicero's extant oration In Vatinium was delivered B.C. 56.

[324] C. Trebonius, a friend of Cicero, several of whose letters to him are extant. (Cicero, Ad Divers. x. 28; xii. 16; xv. 20, 21.) He was one of the conspirators against Cæsar; and Cicero tells him (x. 28) that he was somewhat vexed with him that he saved Antonius from the same fate. Trebonius was treacherously put to death at Smyrna by Dolabella with circumstances of great cruelty B.C. 43. (Dion Cassius, 47. c. 29.) In the notes to the life of Crassus, c. 16, I have incorrectly called this Tribune Titus.

[325] Plutarch must mean that Crassus left Rome before the expiration of his consulship B.C. 55; but the words ἀπαλλαγεὶς τῆς ὑπατείας are in themselves doubtful. (Life of Crassus, c. 16.)

[326] Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Pompeii, p. 524) has diligently collected all the circumstances of this magnificent exhibition. (See also Dion Cassius, 39. c. 38, and the references in the notes of Reimarus.) The elephant-fight (ἐλφαντομαχία) was a fight between the elephants and armed Gætulians. There were eighteen elephants. The cries of the animals when they were wounded moved the pity of the spectators. The elephants would not enter the vessels when they were leaving Africa, till they received a promise from their leaders that they should not he injured; the treacherous treatment of them at the games was the cause of their loud lamentations, in which they appealed to the deity against the violation of the solemn promise. (Dion Cassius.) Cicero, who was not fond of exhibitions of the kind, speaks with disgust of the whole affair (Ad Diversos, vii. 1). The letter of Cicero, written at the time, is valuable contemporary evidence. Various facts on the exhibition of elephants at Rome are collected in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Menageries, Elephant.

A rhinoceros was also exhibited at the games of Pompeius; and an actress was brought on the stage, who had made her first appearance in the consulship of C. Marius the younger, and Cn. Carbo B.C. 82, but she made her appearance again in the time of Augustus, A.D. 9, in the consulship of Poppæus, when she was 103 years old, 91 years after her first appearance. (Plinius, H.N. vii. 49.) Drumann says, when speaking of the games of Pompeius, "a woman of unusually advanced age was brought forward;" but the words of Plinius "anus pro miraculo reducta," apply to her last appearance. A woman of one-and-forty was no uncommon thing then, nor is it now. The pointing in the common texts is simply the cause of the blunder.

[327] See the Life of Crassus, c. 16, notes, Julia died B.C. 54, in the consulship of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus and Ap. Claudius Pulcher (See the Life of Cæsar. c. 23.) Crassus lost his life B.C. 53.

[328] A quotation from the Iliad, xv. 189.

[329] Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius Messala, the consuls of B.C. 53, were not elected till seven months after the proper time, so that there was during this time an anarchy ἀναρχία, which is Plutarch's word). This term 'anarchy' must be taken in its literal and primary sense of a time when there were no magistrates, which would be accompanied with anarchy in the modern sense of the term. Dion Cassius (40. c. 45) describes this period of confusion. The translation in the text may lead to a misunderstanding of Plutarch's meaning; it should be, "he allowed an anarchy to take place." Kaltwasser's translation: "so liess er es zu einer Anarchie kommen," is perfectly exact.

[330] In the year B.C. 52 in which year Clodius was killed.

[331] She was the daughter of Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius Scipio, who was the son of P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica and of Licinia, the daughter of the orator L. Crassus. He was adopted (B.C. 64 or 63) by the testament of Q. Cæcilius Metellus Pius, who fought in Spain ngainst Sertorius; but his daughter must have been born before this, as she bore the name Cornelia. Drumann (Geschichte Roms, Cæcilii, p. 49) thinks that the story of her attempting to destroy herself when she heard of the death of her husband (Life of Pompeius, c. 74) is suspicious, because she married Pompeius the year after. If Cornelia were the only woman that was ever said to have done so, we might doubt the story; but as she is not, we need not suspect it on that account.

[332] Corruption is δοροδοκία in Plutarch, 'gift receiving,' and it ought to correspond to the Roman Peculatus. But δοροδοκία also means corruption by bribes. Bribery is δεκασμός in Plutarch, which is expressed generally by the Roman Ambitus, and specially by the verb 'decuriare.' (See Cicero's Oration Pro Cn. Plancio, Ed. Wunder.) The offence of Scipio was Ambitus. (Dion Cassius, 40. c. 51, &c.; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 24.) As to Roman Bribery, see the article BRIBERY, 'Political Dictionary,' by the author of this note, whose contribution begins p. 416.

[333] These 360 Judices appear to have been chosen for the occasion of these trials. (Velleius Pater. ii. 76; Goettling, Roemische Staatsverfassung, p. 482.)

[334] T. Munatius Plancus Bursa, a tribune of the Plebs. In B.C. 52 Milo and Clodius with their followers had an encounter in which Clodius was killed. Tho people, with whom he was a favourite, burnt his body in the Curia Hostilia, and the Curia with it. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 48.) Plancus was charged with encouraging this disorder, and he was brought to trial. Cicero was his accuser; he was condemned and exiled. (Cicero, Ad Diversos, vii. 2.)

[335] Plautius Hypsæus was not a consular. He had been the quæstor of Pompeius. He and Scipio had been candidates for the consulship this year, and were both charged with bribery. (Dion Cassius, 40, c. 53.) Hypsæus was convicted.

[336] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 29. Pompeius had lent Cæsar two legions (c. 52). Compare Dion Cassius, 40. c. 65, and Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29. The illness of Pompeius and the return of the legions from Gaul took place in the year B.C. 50. Appius Claudius (c. 57) was sent by the Senate to conduct the legions from Gaul. Dion Cassius (40. c. 65) says that Pompeius had lent Cæsar only one legion, but that Cæsar had to give up another also, inasmuch as Pompeius obtained an order of the Senate that both he and Cæsar should give a legion to Bibulus, who was in Syria, for the Parthian war. (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 29; Bell. Gall. viii. 54.) Thus Pompeius in effect gave up nothing, but Cæsar parted with two legions. The legions were not sent to Syria, but both wintered in Capua. The consul C. Claudius Marcellus (B.C. 50) gave both these legions to Pompeius.

[337] L. Æmilius Paulus was consul B.C. 50, with C. Claudius Marcellus a violent opponent of Cæsar. He built the Basilica Pauli (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 26). Basilica is a Greek word (βασιλική); a basilica was used as a court of law, and a place of business for merchants. The form of a Roman basilica is known from the description of Vitruvius (v. 1), the ground-plan of two Basilicæ at Rome, and that of Pompeii which is in better preservation. Some of the great Roman churches are called Basilicæ, and in their construction bear some resemblance to the antient Basilicæ. ('Penny Cyclopædia,' Basilica.)

[338] C. Scribonius Curio. Compare the Life of M. Antonius, c. 2. He was a man of ability, but extravagant in his habits (Dion Cassius, 40. c. 60):—

As to the vote on the proposition of Curio, Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 30) agrees with Plutarch. Dion Cassius (40. c. 64: and 41. c. 2) gives a different account of this transaction.

[339] C. Claudius Marcellus and L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus were consuls for the year B.C. 49, in which the war broke out, This Marcellus was the cousin of the consul Marcellus of the year B.C. 50, who (Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 30) presented Pompeius with a sword when he commissioned him to fight against Cæsar. Plutarch appears (c. 58, 59) to mean the same Marcellus; but he has confounded them. The Marcellus of c. 58 is the consul of B.C. 49; and the Marcellus of c. 59 is the consul of B.C. 50, according to Dion Cassius (40. c. 66 41. c. 1, &c.) and Appianus.

[340] Cicero returned from his government of Cilicia B.C. 50.

[341] See the Life of Cæsar, c. 32.

[342] L. Volcatius Tullus who had been consul B.C. 66 ('Consule Tullo'), Horatius (Od. iii. 8).

[343] The reply of Pompeius is given by Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 37). As to the confusion in Rome see Dion Cassius (42. c. 6-9); and the references in Clinton, Fasti, B.C. 49.

[344] Plutarch here omits the capture of Corfinium, which took place before Cæsar entered Rome. See Dion Cassius (41. c. 10), and the Life of Cæsar, c. 34.

[345] L. Metullus, of whom little is known. Kaltwasser makes Cæsar say to Metellus, "It was not harder for him to say it than to do it;" which has no sense in it. What Cæsar did say appears from the Life of Cæsar, c. 35. Cæsar did not mean to say that it was as easy for him to do it as to say it. He meant that it was hard for him to be reduced to say such a thing; as to doing it, when he had said it, that would be a light matter. Sintenis suspects that the text is not quite right here. See the various readings and his proposed alteration; also Cicero, Ad Attic. x. 4.

[346] Cæsar (Civil War, i. 25, &c.) describes the operations at Brundisium and the escape ot Pompeius. Compare also Dion Cassius (41. c. 12); Appianus (Civil Wars, ii. 39). The usual passage from Italy to Greece was from Brundisium to Dyrrachium (Durazzo), which in former times was called Epidamnus (Thucydides, i. 24; Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 39).

[347] This does not appear in Cæsar's Civil War.

[348] This opinion of Cicero is contained in a letter to Atticus (vii. 11). When Xerxes invaded Attica (B.C. 480), Themistokles advised the Athenians to quit their city and trust to their ships. The naval victory of Salamis justified his advice. In the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 431) Perikles advised the Athenians to keep within their walls and wait for the Cæsar invaders to retire from Attica for want of supplies; in which also the result justified the advice of Perikles. Cicero in his letters often complains of the want of resolution which Pompeius displayed at this crisis.

[349] Plutarch means that Cæsar feared that Pompeius had everything to gain if the war was prolonged.

In his Civil War (i. 24) Numerius is called Cneius Magius, 'Præfectus fabrorum,' or head of the engineer department. Sintenis observes that Oudendorp might have used this passage for the purpose of restoring the true prænomen in Cæsar's text, 'Numerius' in place of 'Cneius.'

[350] These vessels took their name from the Liburni, on the coast of Illyricum. They were generally biremes, and well adapted for sea manœuvres.

[351] A town in Macedonia west of the Thermaic Gulf or Bay of Saloniki. It appears from this that Pompeius led his troops from the coast of the Adriatic nearly to the opposite coast of Macedonia (Dion Cassius, 41. c. 43). His object apparently was to form a junction with the forces that Scipio and his son were sent to raise in the East (c. 62).

[352] The Romans were accustomed to such exercises as these in the Campus Martius.

Compare the Life of Marius (34).

The Romans maintained their bodily vigour by athletic and military exercises to a late period of life. The bath, swimming, riding, and the throwing of the javelin were the means by which they maintained their health and strength. A Roman commander at the age of sixty was a more vigorous man than modern commanders at the like age generally are.

[353] Pompeius passed the winter at Thessalonica (Saloniki) on the Thermaic Gulf and on the Via Egnatia, which ran from Dyrrachium to Thessalonica, and thence eastward. He had with him two hundred senators. The consuls, prætors, and quæstors of the year B.C. 49 were continued by the Senate at Thessalonica for the year B.C. 48 under the names of Proconsuls, Proprætors, Proquæstors. Cæsar and P. Servillus Isauricus were elected consuls at Rome for the year B.C. 48 (Life of Cæsar, c. 37). The party of Pompeius could not appoint new magistrates for want of the ceremony of a Lex Curiata (Dion Cassius, 41. c. 43).

[354] His name is Titus Labienus (Life of Cæsar, c. 34). 'Labeo' is a mere blunder of the copyists. Dion Cassius (41. c. 4) gives the reasons for Labienus passing over to Pompeius. Labienus had served Cæsar well in Gaul, and he is often mentioned in Cæsar's Book on the Gallic War. He fell at the battle of Munda in Spain B.C. 45. (See the Life of Cæsar, c. 34, 56.)

[355] M. Junius Brutus. See the Life of Brutus.

[356] Cicero was not in the Senate at Thessalonica, though he had come over to Macedonia. (See the Life of Cicero, c. 38.)

[357] Tidius is not a Roman name. It should be Didius.

[358] The defeats of Afranius and Petreius in Iberia, in the summer of B.C. 49, are told by Cæsar in his Civil War, i. 41-81.

Cæsar reached Brundisium at the close of the year B.C. 49. See the remarks on the time in Clinton, Fasti, B.C. 49. Oricum or Oricus was a town on the coast of Epirus, south of Apollonia.

[359] L. Vibillius Rufus appears to be the person intended. He is often mentioned by Cæsar (Civil War, i. 15, 23, &c.); but as the readings in Cæsar's text are very uncertain (Jubellius, Jubilius, Jubulus) Sintenis has not thought it proper to alter the text of Plutarch here.

'On the third day.' Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 10) says 'triduo proximo," and the correction of Moses du Soul, ἡμέρα ῥητῆ, is therefore unnecessary. Pompeius had moved westward from Thessalonica at the time when Rufus was sent to him, and was in Candavia on his road to Apollonia and Dyrrachium (Cæsar, Civil War, iii. 11).

[360] Pompeius returned to Dyrrachium, which it had been the object of Cæsar to seize. As he had not accomplished this, Cæsar posted himself on the River Apsus between Apollonia and Dyrrachium. The fights in the neighbourhood of Dyrrachium are described by Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 34, &c.).

[361] The Athamanes were on the borders of Epirus and Thessalia. In place of the Athamanes the MSS. of Cæsar (Civil War, iii. 78) have Acarnania, which, as Drumann says, must be a mistake in the text of Cæsar.

[362] Q. Metellus Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompeius, who had been appointed to the government of Syria by the Senate. Scipio had now come to Thesaalia (Cæsar, Civil War, iii. 33, and 80).

[363] Cato was left with fifteen cohorts in Dyrrachium. See the Life of Cato, c. 55; Dion Cassius (12. c. 10).

[364] Or Tusculanum, as Plutarch calls it, now Frascati, about 12 miles S.E. of Rome, where Cicero had a villa.

[365] Lentulus Spinther, consul of B.C. 57, and L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul B.C. 54. This affair is mentioned by Cæsar himself (Civil War, iii. 83, &c.). We have the best evidence of the bloody use that the party of Pompeius would have made of their victory is the letters of Cicero himself (Ad Atticum, xi. 6). There was to be a general proscription, and Rome was to see the times of Sulla revived. But the courage and wisdom of one man defeated the designs of these senseless nobles. Cæsar (c. 83) mentions their schemes with a contemptuous brevity.

[366] The town of Pharsalus was situated near the Enipeus, in one of the great plains of Thessalia, called Pharsalia. Cæsar (iii. 88) does not mention the place where the battle was fought. See Appianus, Civil Wars, ii. 75.

[367] Pompeius had dedicated a temple at Rome to Venus Victrix. The Julia (Iulia) Gens, to which Cæsar belonged, traced their deecent from Venus through Iulus, the son of Æneas. (See the Life of Cæsar, c. 42.)