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And here it is proper to relate the punishment which the gods inflicted upon him soon after for his treatment of Pelopidas. He, as we have already mentioned, first taught Thebe, the tyrant's wife, not to dread the exterior pomp and splendour of his palace, though she lived in the midst of guards, consisting of exiles from other countries. She, therefore, fearing his falsehood, and hating his cruelty, agreed with her three brothers, Tisiphonus, Pytholäus, and Lycophron, to take him off; and they put their design in execution after this manner:— The whole palace was full of guards, who watched all the night, except the tyrant's bed-chamber, which was an upper room, and the door of the apartment was guarded by a dog, who was chained there, and who would fly at every body except his master and mistress, and one slave that fed him. When the time fixed for the attempt was come, Thebe concealed her brothers, before it was dark, in a room hard by. She went in alone, as usual, to Alexander, who was already asleep, but presently came out again, and ordered the slave to take away the dog, because her husband chose to sleep without being disturbed; and that the stairs might not creak as the young men came up, she covered them with wool. She then fetched up her brothers, and leaving them at the door with poniards in their hands, went into the chamber, and taking away the tyrant's sword, which hung at the head of his bed, showed it them as a proof that he was fast asleep. The young men now being struck with terror, and not daring to advance, she reproached them with cowardice, and swore in her rage that she would awake Alexander, and tell him the whole. Shame and fear having brought them to themselves, she led them in and placed them about the bed, herself holding the light. One of them caught him by the feet, and another by the hair of his head, while the third stabbed him with his poniard. Such a death was, perhaps, too speedy for so abominable a monster; but if it be considered that he was the first tyrant who was assassinated by his own wife, and that his dead body was exposed to all kinds of indignities, and spurned and trodden under foot by his subjects, his punishment will appear to have been proportioned to his crimes.

THE

LIFE OF MARCELLUS.

MARCUS

ARCUS CLAUDIUS, who was five times consul, was the son of Marcus; and, according to Posidonius, the first of his family that bore the surname of Marcellus, that is Martial. He had, indeed, a great deal of military experience; his make was strong, his arm almost irresistible, and he was naturally inclined to war. But though impetuous and lofty in the combat, on other occasions he was modest and humane. He was so

far a lover of the Grecian learning and eloquence, as to honour and admire those that excelled in them, though his employments prevented his making that progress in them which he desired. For if heaven ever designed that any men,

-in war's rude lists should combat, From youth to age,—

as Homer expresses it, certainly it was the principal Romans of those times. In their youth they had to contend with the Carthaginians for the island of Sicily, in their middle age with the Gauls for Italy itself, and in their old age again with the Carthaginians and Hannibal. Thus, even in age, they had not the common relaxation and repose, but were called forth by their birth and their merit to accept of military commands.

As for Marcellus, there was no kind of fighting in which he was not admirably well skilled; but in single combat he excelled himself. He, therefore, never refused a challenge, or failed of killing the challenger. In Sicily, seeing his brother Otacilius in great danger, he covered him with his shield, slew those that attacked him, and saved his life. For these things he received from the generals crowns and other military honours, while but a youth; and his reputation increasing every day, the people appointed him to the office of curule ædile, and the priests to that of augur. This is a kind of sacerdotal function to which the law assigns the care of that divination which is taken from the flight of birds.

*

After the first Carthaginian war, which had lasted twentytwo years, Rome was soon engaged in a new war with the Gauls. The Insubrians, a Celtic nation, who inhabit that part of Italy. which lies at the foot of the Alps, though very powerful in themselves, called in the assistance of the Gesatæ, a people of Gaul, who fight for pay on such occasions. It was a wonderful and fortunate thing for the Roman people, that the Gallic war did not break out at the same time with the Punic, and that the Gauls, observing an exact neutrality all that time, as if they had waited to take up the conqueror, did not attack the Romans till they were victorious, and at leisure to receive them. However, this war was not a little alarming to the Romans, as well on account of the vicinity of the Gauls, as their character of old as warriors. They were, indeed, the enemy whom they dreaded most; for they had made themselves masters of Rome; and from that time it had been provided by law, that the priests should be exempted from bearing arms, except it were to defend the city against the Gauls.

The vast preparations they made were farther proofs of their fears (for it is said that so many thousands of Romans were never seen in arms either before or since;) and so were the new and extraordinary sacrifices which they offered. On other occasions, they had not adopted the rites of barbarous and savage nations, but their religious customs had been agreeable to the mild and merciful ceremonies of the Greeks: yet, on the appearance of this war, they were forced to comply with certain oracles found in the books of the Sibyls; and thereupon they buried two Greeks,† a man and a woman, and likewise two Gauls, one of each sex, alive in the beast-market; a thing that gave rise to certain private and mysterious rites, which still continue to be performed in the month of November.

In the beginning of the war, the Romans sometimes gained great advantages, and sometimes were no less signally defeat

Plutarch is a little mistaken here in his chronology. The first Punic war lasted twenty-four years, for it began in the year of Rome four hundred and eighty-nine, and peace was made with the Carthaginians in the year five hundred and twelve. The Gauls continued quiet all that time, and did not begin to stir till four years after. Then they advanced to Ariminum; but the Boii mutinying against their leaders, slew the kings Ates and Galates; after which the Gauls fell upon each other, and numbers were slain; they that survived returned home. Five years after this, the Gauls began to prepare for a new war, on account of the division which Flaminius had made of the lands in the Picene, taken from the Senones of Gallia Cisalpina. These preparations were carrying on a long time; and it was eight years after that division before the war began in earnest under their chiefs Congoiltanus and Anerastes, when L. Æmilius Papus and C. Atilius Regulus were consuls, in the five hundred and twenty-eighth year of Rome, and the third year of the one hundred and thirty-eighth Olympiad.-Polyb. 1. ii.

†They offered the same sacrifice at the beginning of the second Punic war. Liv, 1. xxii. 5, 7.

ed; but there was no decisive action till the consulate of Flaminius and Furius, who led a very powerful army against the Insubrians. Then we are told, the river which runs through the Picene was seen flowing with blood, and that three moons appeared over the city of Ariminum.-But the priests, who were to observe the flight of birds at the time of choosing consuls, affirmed that the election was faulty and inauspicious. The senate, therefore, immediately sent letters to the camp, to recall the consuls, insisting that they should return without loss of time, and resign their office, and forbidding them to act at all against the enemy, in consequence of their late appoint

ment.

Flaminius having received these letters, deferred opening them till he had engaged and routed the barbarians, and overrun their country. Therefore, when he returned, loaded with spoils, the people did not go out to meet him; and because he did not directly obey the order that recalled him, but treated it with contempt, he was in danger of losing his triumph. As soon as the triumph was over, both he and his colleague were deposed, and reduced to the rank of private citizens. So much regard had the Romans for religion, referring all their affairs to the good pleasure of the gods, and, in their greatest prosperity, not suffering any neglect of the forms of divination and other sacred usages; for they were fully persuaded, that it was a matter of greater importance to the preservation of their state, to have their generals obedient to the gods, than even to have them victorious in the field.

To this purpose, the following story is remarkable :-Tiberius Sempronius, who was as much respected for his valour and probity as any man in Rome, while consul, named Scipio Nasica and Caius Marcius his successors. When they were gone into the provinces allotted them, Sempronius happening to meet with a book which contained the sacred regulations for the conduct of war, found that there was one particular which he never knew before. It was this:-" When the consul goes to take the auspices in a house or tent without the

• Flaminius was not entitled to this success by his conduct. He gave battle with a river behind him, where there was not room for his men to rally or retreat, if they had been broken. But possibly he might make such a disposi tion of his forces, to show them that they must either conquer or die; for he knew that he was acting against the intentions of the senate, and that nothing but success could bring him off. Indeed, he was naturally rash and daring. It was the skill and management of the legionary tribunes which made amends for the consul's imprudence. They distributed among the soldiers of the first line the pikes of the Triarii, to prevent the enemy from making use of their swords; and when the first ardour of the Gauls was over, they ordered the Romans to shorten their swords, close with the enemy, so as to leave them no room to lift up their arms, and stab them; which they did without running any hazard themselves, the swords of the Gauls having no points. † Στρατευματικοις υπομνήμασεν.

city, hired for that purpose, and is obliged by some necessary business to return into the city before any sure sign appears to him, he must not make use of that lodge again, but take another, and there begin his observations anew." Sempronius was ignorant of this when he named those two consuls, for he had twice made use of the same place; but when he perceived his error, he made the senate acquainted with it. They, for their part, did not lightly pass over so small a defect, but wrote to the consuls about it; who left their provinces, and returned with all speed to Rome, where they laid down their offices. This did not happen till long after the affair of which we are speaking.*

But about that very time, two priests of the best families in Rome, Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Sulpicius, were degraded from the priesthood; the former, because he did not present the entrails of the victim according to rule; and the latter, because, as he was sacrificing, the tuft of his cap, which was such a one as the Flamines wear, fell off. And because the squeaking of a rat happened to be heard, at the moment that Minucius the dictator appointed Caius Flaminius his general of the horse, the people obliged them to quit their posts, and appointed others in their stead. But while they observed these small matters with such exactness, they gave not into any sort of superstition,† for they neither changed nor went beyond the ancient ceremonies.

Flaminius and his colleague being deposed from the consulship, the magistrates called Interregest nominated Marcellus to that high office, who, when he entered upon it, took Cneius Cornelius for his colleague. Though the Gauls are said to have been disposed to a reconciliation, and the senate was peaceably inclined, yet the people, at the instigation of Marcellus, were for war. However, a peace was concluded; which seems to have been broke by the Gesatæ, who, having passed the Alps with thirty thousand men, prevailed with the Insubrians to join them, with much greater numbers. Elated with their strength, they marched immediately to Acerræ, a city on the banks of the Po. There Viridomarus, king of the Gesatæ, took ten thousand men from the main body, and with this party laid waste all the country about the river.

When Marcellus was informed of their march, he left his

* Sixty years after.

†This word is here used in the literal sense.

These were officers, who, when there were no legal magistrates in being, were appointed to hold the comitia for electing new ones. The title of Interreges, which was given them while the government was regal, was continued to them under the commonwealth.

The Romans were besieging Acerræ, and the Gauls went to relieve it but finding themselves unable to do that, they passed the Po with part of their army, and laid siege to Clastidium to make a diversion.--Polyb. 1. ii.

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