Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
[Footnote 32: This was C. Cassius Longinus Verus, proconsul of Gaul
upon the Po (see c. 8). Plutarch calls him [Greek: stratêgos]
στρατηγός. Appian (_Civil Wars_, i. 117) says that one of the consuls
defeated Crixus, who was at the head of 30,000 men, near Garganus,
that Spartacus afterwards defeated both the consuls, and meditated
advancing upon Rome with 120,000 foot soldiers. Spartacus sacrificed
three hundred Roman captives to the manes of Crixus, who had fallen in
the battle in which he was defeated; 20,000 of his men had perished
with Crixus.
Cassius was defeated in the neighbourhood of Mutina (Modena) as we
learn from Florus (iii. 20).]
[Footnote 33: Appian (i. 118) gives two accounts of the decimation,
neither of which agrees with the account of Plutarch. This punishment
which the Romans called Decimatio, is occasionally mentioned by the
Roman writers (Liv. ii. 59).]
[Footnote 34: Kaltwasser with the help of a false reading has
mistranslated this passage. He says that Spartacus sent over ten
thousand men into Sicily. Drumann has understood the passage as I have
translated it.]
[Footnote 35: If the length is rightly given, the ditch was about 38
Roman miles in length. There are no data for determining its position.
The circumstance is briefly mentioned by Appian (_Civil Wars_, i.
118). Frontinus (_Stratagem._, i. 5) states that Spartacus filled up
the ditch, where he crossed it, with the dead bodies of his prisoners
and of the beasts which were killed for that purpose.]
[Footnote 36: This lake, which Plutarch spells Leukanis, is placed by
Kaltwasser in the vicinity of Paestum or Poseidonia, but on what
grounds I do not know. Strabo indeed (p. 251) states that the river
makes marshes there, but that will not enable us to identify them.
Cramer (_Ancient Italy_, ii. 366) places here the Stagnum Lucanum,
where Plutarch "mentions that Crassus defeated a considerable body of
rebels under the command of Spartacus (Plut. Vit. Crass.)": but
nothing is given to prove the assertion. He adds, "In this district we
must also place the Mons Calamatius and Mons Cathena of which
Frontinus speaks in reference to the same event (_Stratagem_, ii. 4);
they are the mountains of Capaccio." This is founded on Cluverius, but
Cluverius concludes that the Calamatius of Frontinus (ii. 4, 7), or
Calamarcus as the MSS. seem to have it, is the same as the Cathena of
Frontinus (ii. 5, 34); for in fact Frontinus tells the same story
twice, as he sometimes does. It is a mistake to say that Frontinus is
speaking "of the same event," that is, the defeat of the gladiators on
the lake. He is speaking of another event, which is described farther
on in this chapter, when Crassus attacks Cannicius and Crixus, and
"sent," as Frontinus says (ii. 4, 7), " twelve cohorts round behind a
mountain."]
[Footnote 37: This was Marcus Lucullus, the brother of Lucius.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account