chapter 33

).

Eulogy of Marcus (chapters 34, 35).

DURATION OF TIME.

M. Ael. Aurel. Verus Caes. (III), L. Ael. Aurel. Commodus (II). (A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = First of Marcus, from March 7th).

Iunius Rusticus, Vettius Aquilinus. (A.D. 162 = a.u. 915 = Second of Marcus).

I. Aelianus, Pastor. (A.D. 163 = a.u. 916 = Third of Marcus).

M. Pompeius Macrinus, P. Iuventius Celsus. (A.D. 164 = a.u. 917 = Fourth of Marcus).

L. Arrius Pudens, M. Gavius Orfitus. (A.D. 165 = a.u. 918 = Fifth of Marcus).

Q. Servilius Pudens, L. Fufidius Pollio. (A.D. 166 = a.u. 919 = Sixth of Marcus). L. Aurelius Verus Aug. (III), Quadratus. (A.D. 167 = a.u. 920 = Seventh of Marcus).

T. Iunius Montanus, L. Vettius Paulus. (A.D. 168 = a.u. 921 = Eighth of Marcus).

Q. Sosius Priscus, P. Caelius Apollinaris. (A.D. 169 = a.u. 922 = Ninth of Marcus).

M. Cornelius Cethegus, C. Erucius Clarus. (A.D. 170 = a.u. 923 = Tenth of Marcus).

L. Septimius Severus (II), L. Alfidius Herennianus. (A.D. 171 = a.u. 924 = Eleventh of Marcus).

Maximus, Orfitus. (A.D. 172 = a.u. 925 = Twelfth of Marcus).

M. Aurelius Severus (II), T. Claudius Pompeianus. (A.D. 173 = a.u. 926 = Thirteenth of Marcus).

Gallus, Flaccus. (A.D. 174 = a.u. 927 = Fourteenth of Marcus).

Piso, Iulianus. (A.D. 175 = a.u. 928 = Fifteenth of Marcus).

Pollio (II), Aper (II). (A.D. 176 = a.u. 929 = Sixteenth of Marcus).

L. Aurel. Commodus Aug., Quintilius. (A.D. 177 = a.u. 930 = Seventeenth of Marcus).

Rufus, Orfitus. (A.D. 178 = a.u. 931 = Eighteenth of Marcus).

Commodus Aug. (II), T. Annius Aurel. Verus (II). (A.D. 179 = a.u. 932 = Nineteenth of Marcus).

L. Fulvius Bruttius Praesens (II), Sextus Quintilius Condianus. (A.D. 180 = a.u. 933 = Twentieth of Marcus, to March 17th).

[Sidenote: A.D. 161 (a.u. 914)] [Sidenote:--1--] Marcus Antoninus, the philosopher, upon obtaining the sovereignty at the death of Antoninus, who adopted him, had immediately taken to share the authority with him the son of Lucius Commodus, Lucius Verus. He was personally weak in body and he devoted the greater part of his time to letters. It is told that even when he was emperor he showed no shame (or hesitation) at going to a teacher for instruction, but became a pupil of Sextus, the Boeotian philosopher, [Footnote: "Sextus of Chaeronea, grandson of Plutarch" (Capitolinus, _Vita M. Antoni Philosophi_, 3, 2).] and did not hesitate to go to hear the lectures of Hermogenes on rhetoric. He was most inclined to the Stoic school.

Lucius, on the other hand, was strong and rather young, and better suited for military enterprises. Therefore, Marcus made him his son-in-law by marrying him to his daughter Lucilla, and sent him to the Parthian war.

[Sidenote:--2--] For Vologaesus had begun war by assailing on all sides the Roman camp under Severianus, situated in Elegeia, a place in Armenia; and he had shot down and destroyed the whole force, leaders and all. He was now proceeding with numbers that inspired terror against the cities of Syria. [Sidenote: A.D. 162 (a.u. 915)] Lucius, accordingly, on coming to Antioch collected a great many soldiers, and with the best commanders under his supervision took up a position in the city, spending his time in ordering all arrangements and in gathering the contingent for the war. He entrusted the armies themselves to Cassius. The latter made a noble stand against the attack [Sidenote: A.D. 165 (a.u. 918)] of Vologaesus, and finally the chieftain was deserted by his allies and began to retire; then Cassius pursued him as far as Seleucia and destroyed it and razed to the ground the palace of Vologaesus at Ctesiphon. In the course of his return he lost a great many soldiers through famine and disease, yet he started off to Syria with the men that were left. Lucius attained glory by these exploits and felt a just pride in them, yet his extreme good fortune did him no good. [Sidenote: A.D. 169 (a.u. 922)] For he is said to have subsequently plotted against his father-in-law Marcus and to have perished by poison before he could accomplish anything.

* * * * *

Fragments of Dio from Suidas (thought by de Valois to belong to Book LXXI).

[Martius Verus sends out Thucydides to conduct Sohaemus into Armenia; and he, in spite of lack of arms, applied himself sturdily to this distant task with the inherent good sense that he showed in all business falling to his lot. Marcus had the gift not only of overpowering his antagonists or anticipating them by swiftness or outwitting them by deceit (on which qualities generals most rely), but also of persuading them by trustworthy promises and conciliating them by generous gifts and luring them on by tempting hopes. He was suave in all that he did or said, and soothed the vexed and angry feelings of each adversary while greatly raising his hopes. He knew well the right time for flattery and presents and entertainment at table. And since in addition to these talents he showed persistency in endeavor and activity together with speed against his foes, he made it plain to the barbarians that his friendship was better worth gaining than his enmity. So when he arrived at the New city, which a garrison of Romans placed there by Priscus was occupying, and found them attempting mutiny, he took care, both by word and by deed, to bring them to a better temper, and he made the city the foremost of Armenia.]

[* * _Bridging_.--By the Romans the streams and rivers are bridged with the greatest ease, since the soldiers are always practicing at it, and it is carried on like any other warlike exercise on the Ister and the Rhine and the Euphrates. The manner of doing it (which I think not everybody knows) is as follows. The boats, by means of which the river is bridged, are flat. They are anchored up stream a little above the spot where the bridge is to be constructed. When the signal is given, they first let one ship drift down stream close to the bank that they are holding. When it has come opposite the spot to be bridged, they throw into the water a basket filled with stones and fastened with a cord, which serves as an anchor. Made fast in this way the ship is joined to the bank by planks and bridgework, which the vessel carries in large quantities, and immediately a floor is laid to the farther edge. Then they release another ship at a little distance from this one and another one after that until they run the bridge to the opposite bank. The boat which is near the hostile side carries also towers upon it and a gate and archers and catapults.

As many weapons were hurled at the men engaged in bridging, Cassius ordered weapons and catapults to be discharged. And when the front rank of the barbarians fell, the rest gave way.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 172 (a.u. 925)] [Sidenote:--3--] Cassius, however, was bidden by Marcus to have the superintendence of all Asia. The emperor himself fought for a long time, in fact almost his whole life, one might say, with the barbarians in the Ister region, the Iazyges and the Marcomani, first one and then the other, and he used Pannonia as his starting point.

The Langobardi and the Obii [Footnote: Or perhaps _Osi_.] to the number of six thousand crossed the Ister, but the cavalry under Vindex [Footnote: _M. Macrinius Avitus Catonius Vindex_.] marched out and the infantry commanded by Candidus got the start of them, so that an utter rout of the barbarians was instituted. The barbarians, thrown into consternation by such an outcome of their very first undertaking, despatched as envoys to the headquarters of Iallius Bassus [Footnote: _M. Iallius Bassus_.] (administrator of Pannonia) Bellomarius [Footnote: Or perhaps _Badomarius_.], king of the Marcomani, and ten more, for they selected one man per nation. The envoys took oaths to cement the peace and departed homewards.

Many of the Celtae, too, across the Rhine, advanced to the confines of Italy and inflicted much serious harm upon the Romans. They, in turn, were followed up by Marcus, who opposed to them the lieutenants Pompeianus and Pertinax. Pertinax, who later became emperor, greatly distinguished himself. Among the corpses of the barbarians were found also the bodies of women in armor.

[Sidenote: A.D. 168(?)] Yet, when a most violent struggle and brilliant victory had taken place, the emperor nevertheless refused the petition of the soldiers for money, making this statement: "Whatever excess they obtain above the customary amount will be wrung from the blood of their parents and their kinsmen. For respecting the fate of the empire Heaven alone can decide."--And he ruled them so temperately and firmly that even in the course of so many and great wars he was impelled neither by flattery nor by fear to do aught that was unfitting.

[Sidenote: A.D. 172 (a.u. 925)] After conquering them Marcus received the title of Germanicus. We give the name "Germans" to those who dwell in the northern regions.

[Sidenote:--4--] The so-called Bucoli began a disturbance in Egypt, and under the leadership of Isidorus, a priest, [Footnote: Omitting [Greek: kai].] caused the rest of the Egyptians to revolt. They had first, arrayed in women's garments, deceived the Roman centurion, making him think that they were Bucoli women and wanted to give him gold pieces in exchange for their husbands, and then striking him down when he approached them. His companion they sacrificed, and after taking a common oath over his entrails they devoured them. Isidorus surpassed in bribery all his contemporaries. Next, having conquered the Romans in Egypt in regular battle they came very near capturing Alexandria, and would have done so, had not Cassius been sent against them from Syria as directing general. He succeeded in spoiling the concord that existed among them and sundering them one from another, for on account of their numbers and desperation he had not ventured to attack them united. So when they fell into factional disputes he easily subdued them.

[Sidenote:--5--] Now it was in Marcus's war against the Germans (if mention ought to be made of these matters), that a captive lad on being asked some questions by him rejoined: "I can not answer you because of the cold. So if you want to find out anything, command that a coat be given me, if you have one."--And a soldier one night, who was doing guard duty on the Ister, hearing a shout of his fellow-soldiers in captivity on the other side, at once swam the stream just as he was, released them, and brought them back.

One prefect of Marcus's was Bassaeus Rufus, a good man on the whole, but uneducated and boorish, having been brought up in poverty in his early youth. [Wherefore he had been disinclined to go on the campaign, and what Marcus said was incomprehensible to him.] Once some one had interrupted him in the midst of trimming a vine that wound about a tree, and when he did not come down at the first bidding, the person rebuked him, and said: "Come down there, prefect." This he said thinking to humiliate him for his previous haughtiness; yet later Fortune gave him this title to wear.

[Sidenote:--6--] The emperor, as often as he had leisure from war, held court and used to order that a most liberal supply of water be measured out for the speakers. [Footnote: This refers to the contrivance known as the clepsydra or water-clock, which measured time by the slow dropping of water from an upper into a lower vessel, somewhat on the plan of the hour-glass.] He made inquiries and answers of greater length, so that exact justice was ensured by every possible expedient. When thus engaged he would often hold court to try the same case for eleven or even twelve days and sometimes [Sidenote: A.D. 172 (a.u. 926)] at night. He was industrious and applied himself diligently to all the duties of his office; and there was nothing which he said or wrote or did that he regarded a minor matter, but sometimes he would consume whole days on the finest point, putting into practice his belief that the emperor should do nothing hurriedly. For he thought that if he should slight even the smallest detail, it would bring him reproach that would overshadow all his other achievements. Yet he was so frail in body that at first he could not endure the cold, but when the soldiers had already come together in obedience to orders he would retire before speaking a word to them; and he took but very little food always, and that at night. It was never his custom to eat during the daytime unless it were some of the drug called theriac. [Footnote: See Galen, On Antidotes, Book Two, chapter 17 , and On Theriac (to Piso),