Dio's Rome, Volume 6: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English FormCassius Dio Cocceianus
History
Dio's Rome, Volume 6: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form
Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Rome -- History
And that this information about him is not false, but is truthful
tradition, his works are proof. Much of Spain he won over in a short
time, and from there carried the war into Italy through the country of
the Gauls, most of whom were not only not in league with him, but
actually unknown to him. He was the first of non-Europeans, so far as we
know, to cross the Alps with an army, and after that he made a campaign
against Rome itself, sundering from it almost all its allies, some by
force and others by persuasion. This, however, he achieved by himself
without the aid of the Carthaginian government. He was not sent forth in
the beginning by the magistrates at home, nor did he later obtain any
considerable assistance from them. While they were on the eve of
enjoying the greatest glory and benefit through his efforts, they
wished rather not to appear to be leaving him in the lurch than to
coöperate effectively in any enterprise. (Valesius, p. 593.)
[Frag. LIII]
Dio Cocceianus calls the Narbonenses _Bebruces_, writing this: "To those
who of old were Bebruces, but now Narbonenses, belongs the Pyrenees
range. This range is the boundary between Spain and Gaul." (Isaac
Tzetzes on Lycophron, 516. Zonaras, 8, 21.)
[Frag. LIV]
1. ¶ Peace both creates wealth and preserves it, but war both expends it
and destroys it. [Footnote: The first eight sections of this fragment
seem to be taken from speeches of Romans in the senate-house. Nos. 1 and
2 are apparently the words of an unknown individual discouraging the
eagerness for war; Nos. 3 and 4 may be spoken by Lentulus, urging war;
and Nos. 5 to 8 may contain the opposing arguments of Fabius.](Mai, p.
188.)
2. ¶Every human being is so constituted as to desire to lord it over
such as yield, and to employ the turn of Fortune's scale against
voluntary slaves. (Mai, ib.)
3. But do you who know the facts and have experienced them, think that
propriety and humaneness are sufficient for your safety? And do you
regard listlessly all the wrongs they have committed against us by
stealth or deceit or violence? Are you not stimulated, are you not for
paying them back or for defending yourselves? Then again, you have never
reflected that such behavior is in place for you toward one another, but
toward the Carthaginians is cowardly and base. Our citizens we must
treat in a gentle and politic fashion; if one be preserved unexpectedly,
he is of our possessions: but harsh treatment is for the enemy. We shall
save ourselves not by our defeats as a result of sparing them, but by
our victories that will come from abasing them. (Mai, p.188.)
4. ¶War both preserves men's own possessions and wins the property of
others, whereas peace destroys not only what has been bestowed by war
but itself in addition. (Mai, pp.188 and 541.)
[Frag. LIV]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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