19 “I know of a slave who dreamed” Art 1 78. Cited in Toner, p. 71. Artemidorus lived in the second century, but he used material from earlier writers and his examples do not appear to be time-sensitive.
20 The Little Carthaginian Plaut Poen. The play is officially set in Aetolia, in northwestern Greece; as ever with Plautus, one cannot avoid the feeling that the characters resemble everyday Romans.
21 opening speech in the Punic language It is not quite certain whether Hanno speaks in proper Carthaginian Punic, a lost language, or in a comedy pastiche.
22 They carefully observed the country App Pun Wars 69.
23 a large and appetizing Punic fig Plut Cat Maj 27 1.
24 “Ceterum censeo” This famous sentence appears in various forms in Plut Cat Ma 27 (
), Pliny NH 15 74, Florus 1 31 4, Aur Vic Vir ill 47.8.
25 “This is Carthage” Plut Mar 200 11.
26 “It never pleases the Romans” Eutrop 4 16.
27 “just in case of emergencies” App Pun 74.
28 “You must make things right” and “You know perfectly well” Ibid., 75.
29 “well adapted for landing an army” Ibid.
30 Only he has wits Hom Od 10 495.
31 Scipio surveyed the scene App Pun 132. Appian says this comes from Polybius, who heard Scipio say it.
32 For in my heart and soul Homer, Il 6 448–49.
33 the day will come The day did indeed come. It was 24 August A.D. 410, when Alaric the Visigoth sacked Rome.
34 where Carthage once stood App Civ 1 24.
35 The Romans had behaved very badly This section is indebted to Miles, pp. 348–51.
36 lifted the entire episode from Naevius Macr 6 2 31.
37 “boys in frocks” Enn 8 270. Loeb reference numbers, for this and the following two citations. Skutsch, The Annals of Ennius, OUP; 1985.
38 “wicked haughty foes” Ibid., 282.
39 at last moderates her wrath Ibid., 293.
40 “Just as if we had nothing” Plut Cat Maj 9 2.
41 Greece was added to the province of Macedon Greece had to wait until the nineteenth century A.D. before it regained its full freedom.
42 “the kindest possible treatment” Dio Sic 32 4 4–5.
16. Blood Brothers
Appian, here admirably well informed, and Plutarch’s lives of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus are the chief sources.
1 “always had Greeks and literary men” Plut G Grac 19 2.
2 simplex munditiis Hor Car 1 5 5. “Casually chic” comes from James Michie’s translation. 346 Once, she was entertaining Val Max 4 4 praef.
3 Cornelia was his reward. The story of Cornelia’s marriage to Gracchus has echoes of her son’s and may be unreliable.
4 a curious anecdote Plut Tib Grac 1 2–3.
5 “Keep up the good work” Cit. Balsdon, Life and Leisure, p. 119 (Porphyrio and Ps) Acron on Hor Sat 1 2 31f.
6 Cornelia’s granddaughter See Balsdon, Roman Women, p. 48.
7 She had greater skill in lyre-playing Sall Cat 25 1–5.
8 “gentle and sedate” Plut Tib Grac 2 2.
9 still known as Scipio Aemilianus’s mother-in-law Ibid., 8 5.
10 a faint echo of the Caudine Forks It may be that the Caudine Forks story was rewritten in the light of this latest debacle.
11 “a constant source of grief” Cic Har 43.
12 “Wild beasts” Plut Tib Grac 9 4.
13 pay him from his own resources Ibid., 10 5.
14 “Do not throw into chaos” App Civ 1 12.
15 the assembly-place I assume that this was in front of the Temple of Jupiter. See Richardson fig. 19, p. 69.
16 “Be quiet, please, citizens” CAH 9, p. 60.
17 “Since the Consul betrays the state” Plut Tib Grac 19 3.
18 “I will give you a single example” Aul Gell 10 3 5.
19 “I am the only man in the army” Plut G Grac 2 5.
20 “However much you try to defer your destiny” Cic Div 1 26 56.
21 “Apart from those who killed Tiberius” Corn Nep Fragment. Scholarly opinion inclines toward the genuineness of the fragmentary letters.
22 Cornelia made representations Plut G Grac 4 1–2.
23 “closely attended by a throng” Ibid., 6 4.
24 I suppose you imagine CAH 9, p. 83.
25 a visit to Carthage This is a little odd, for tribunes were not meant to cross the city boundary. Perhaps Gaius received some kind of special dispensation.
26 helped him recruit bodyguards Plut G Grac 13 2.
27 Gaius’s head was cut off Ibid., 17 4.
28 The Senate reacted to the brothers rather like a general I am indebted for this admirable simile to Andrew Lintott, CAH 9, p. 85.
29 No sword was ever brought into the assembly App Civ 1 2.
30 “She had many friends” Plut G Grac 19 2.
17. Triumph and Disaster
Plutarch’s lives of Marius and Sulla are important sources (also, to a lesser extent, those of Caesar, Cicero, and Pompey). Sallust is essential for the Jurgurthan War. Appian, assisted by Cassius Dio, carries along much of the main narrative. Keppie is valuable on military matters.
1 He may have been a blacksmith Aur Vic Caes 33. A late source, so we cannot be certain of the claim.
2 These proud men make a very big mistake Sall Hist 85 29–40. Gaius Sallustius Crispus, whom we know as Sallust, will have written up this speech; but if these are not Marius’s words, they well represent his embittered feelings.
3 “It very well expresses the harshness” Plut Mar 2 1.
4 “I can see that the cure” Ibid., 6 3.
5 Sulla loved literature and the arts This account of Sulla’s personal life, including the verse, is taken from Plut Sul 2.
6 Then there were the optimates This Latin word is found only in the plural; when using the singular, I adopt an Anglicized version of the word: optimate.
7 served in Spain under Scipio Sall 7–8.
8 “So you are going to abandon us” Plut Mar 8 3.
9 “God, this Roman bath” Ibid., 12 3.
10 Marius’s mules Plut Mar 13 1.
11 this took six days Ibid., 25 1.
12 “insofar as it was a law” Ibid., 29 4.