THE FIFTH AGE OF THE WORLD

1. Who is king Europus? According to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (s.v. Europus, vol. 2, p. 108), Europus was "a son of Macedon and Oreithyia, the daughter of Cecrops, from whom the town of Europus in Macedonia was believed to get its name." Justin’s Epitome (7.1) gives us additional context:

   Macedonia was formerly caned Emathia, from the name of king Emathion, of whose prowess the earliest proofs are extant in those parts. As the origin of this kingdom was but humble, so its limits were at first extremely narrow. The inhabitants were called Pelasgi, the country Paeonia. But in process of time, when, through the ability of their princes and the exertions of their subjects, they had conquered, first of all, the neighbouring tribes, and afterwards other nations and peoples, their dominions extended to the utmost boundaries of the east. In the region of Paeonia, which is now a portion of Macedonia, is said to have reigned Pelegonus, the father of Asteropaeus, whose name we find, in the Trojan war, among the most distinguished defenders of the city. On the other side a king named Europus held the sovereignty in a district called Europa.

   Rev. John Selby Watson, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus; London, 1853

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2. Called Vaphres by Eusebius, Apries by Jerome, and Hophra by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 44:30).⏎
3. Genesis 49:10, substituting only the singular for ‘thigh’ (femore) for the Vulgate’s plural (femoribus).⏎
4. The gathering of the people under Jeshua and Zorobabel after their return from the Babylonian captivity, the erection of the altar, and the festivities in celebration of their homecoming are set forth in Ezra 3:1-11.⏎
5. The phrase in the parenthesis is not found in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
6. Shealtiel, also called Salathiel, was the father of Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:2; Neh. 12:1; Hag. 12:1, 12, 14; 2:3, 23). According to Chr. 3:17, Shealtiel was the eldest son of king Jeconiah. According to Matthew and Luke (Matthew 1:12; Luke 3:27), he was one of the ancestors of Jesus.⏎
7. Neh. 12:10, 26 and Ezra 5:1.⏎
8. The phrase in the parenthesis is not found in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
9. Zerubbabel, or Zorobabel, son of Shealtiel, of the royal race of David, held an official position at Babylon and was the leader of the first colony of Jews that returned from the Babylonian captivity in 536 BCE. Cyrus committed to his care the sacred vessels of the Temple, with which he returned to Jerusalem, with valuable gifts of gold and silver, goods and beasts; and with Jeshua the high priest, and perhaps with the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 1:11). He had also a royal order for the timber and stones needed for the rebuilding of the Temple. He laid the foundations of the Temple and restored the worship of God with the usual sacrifices. He completed the Temple four years later, restored the courses and maintenance of the priests and Levites, and secured a registration of the returned Jews. The genealogy of both Joseph and Mary is traced to him (Matthew 1:13; Luke 3:27).⏎
10. The phrase in the parenthesis is not found in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
11. Matthew 1:13-16.⏎
12. Haggai is one of the minor prophets. He probably accompanied Zerubbabel in the first return of the Jews from Babylon 536 BCE. He prophesied in the second year of Darius Hystaspis (BCE 520), urging his countrymen to resume the building of the Temple, which had been interrupted for about 14 years, and was at last suspended. The Jews became indifferent, and excused themselves from building until the end of the 70 years. Haggai’s reproof aroused them for a time, but they soon became despondent, and he was charged with a second message of encouragement.⏎
13. Malachi (messenger of Jehovah) was the last of the minor prophets. He probably prophesied about 416 BCE, at a time of great disorder among the priests. He reproves the people for taking strange wives, for inhumanity to their brethren, for divorcing their wives, and for neglect in paying tithes and first fruits. He also inveighed against the priests. Christians believed that he foretold the coming of John the Baptist and the two-fold coming of Jesus.⏎
14. The Latin edition of the Chronicle inexplicably leaves out the word ‘Sibyl’ (found to her left in the woodcut—Sibilla Helespo(n)ti(n)a—and included in the German edition.⏎
15. For previous text and note on Evil-merodach see Folio LXII verso.⏎
16. Servius Tullius was the sixth king of Rome. His mother, Ocrisia, was one of the captives taken at Corniculum, and became a female slave of Tanaquil, the wife of Tarquinius Priscus. He was born in the king’s palace, and notwithstanding his servile origin, was brought up as the king’s son, since Tanaquil by her powers of divination had foreseen the greatness of the child; and Tarquinius placed such confidence in him that he gave him his daughter in marriage; and entrusted him with the exercise of the government. His rule was mild and beneficent; and so popular did he become that the sons of Ancus Marcius, fearing that they should be deprived of the throne which they claimed as their inheritance, procured the assassination of Tarquinius. But Tanaquil, pretending that the king’s wound was not mortal, told the people the king would recover in a few days, and had commanded Servius to discharge the kingly office in the meantime. Servius immediately began to act as king to the great satisfaction of the people; and when the death of Tarquinius could no longer be concealed, Servius was already in firm possession of the kingly power. His greatest deeds were those of peace, and posterity looked upon him as the author of all its civil rights and institutions. Tradition credits him with a new constitution for the Roman State. He extended the boundaries of the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills. He established an important alliance with the Latins, by which Rome and the cities of Latium became the members of one great league. By his new constitution, which gave the plebs political independence, Servius incurred the hostility of the patricians, who conspired with L. Tarquinius to deprive him of his life and of his throne. His death was the subject of a legend: Servius soon after his succession gave his two daughters in marriage to the two sons of Tarquinius Priscus. L. Tarquinius, the elder, was married to a quiet and gentle wife; Aruns, the younger, to an aspiring and ambitious woman. The character of the two brothers was the very opposite of the two wives who had fallen to their lot; for Lucius was proud and haughty, but Aruns unambitious and quiet. The wife of Aruns, feeling that her husband would tamely resign the sovereignty, resolved to destroy both her father and husband. She persuaded Lucius to murder his own wife, and she murdered her own husband; and the survivors straightway married. Tullia now urged her husband to murder her father; and it is said that their design was hastened by the belief that Servius entertained the thought of laying down his kingly power, and establishing the consular form of government. The patricians were equally alarmed at this scheme; and when the conspiracy was ripe, Tarquinius entered the forum arrayed in the kingly robes, seated himself in the royal chair of the senate-house, and ordered the senators to be summoned to him as their king. At the first news of the commotion, Servius hastened to the senate-house and, standing in the doorway, ordered Tarquinius to come down from the throne. Tarquinius sprang forward, seized the old man, and flung him down the stone steps. Covered with blood, the king tried to hasten home; but before he reached it he was overtaken by the servants of Tarquinius, and murdered. Tullia drove to the senate-house and greeted her husband as king; but her transports of joy struck him with horror. He ordered her to go home, and as she was returning, her charioteer pulled up and pointed out the corpse of her father lying in his blood across the road. She commanded him to drive on; and the blood of her father spurted over the carriage and on her dress; and from that day forward the street bore the name Vicus Sceleratus, or Wicked Street. The body lay unburied, for Tarquinius said scoffingly, "Romulus too went without burial;" and this impious mockery is said to have given rise to the surname of Superbus (‘The Proud’ or ‘Haughty’). Servius reigned forty-four years. His memory was long cherished by the plebians.⏎
17. L. Tarquinius Superbus commenced his reign without any of the forms of election. He promptly abolished the rights conferred on the plebians by Servius. At the same time senators and patricians whom he mistrusted, or whose wealth he coveted, were put to death or driven into exile. He surrounded himself with a bodyguard, by means of which he was able to do as he pleased. His cruelty and tyranny obtained for him the name Superbus. Yet he raised Rome to great influence and power. It became the head of the Latin confederacy. n the midst of his prosperity Tarquinius fell from power through a shameful deed of one of his sons. Tarquinius and his sons were besieging Ardea, a city of the Ritulians. Here, as the sons and their cousin Tarquinius Collatinus, the son of Egerius, were feasting together, a dispute arose about the virtue of their wives. As there was no activity in the field, they mounted their horses to visit their homes by surprise. They first went to Rome where they surprised the king’s daughters at a splendid banquet. They then hastened to Collatia, and there, though it was late in the night, they found Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, spinning amid her handmaids. The beauty and virtue of Lucretia fired the evil passions of Sextus. A few days later he returned to Collatia, where he was hospitably received by Lucretia and her husband’s kinsmen. In the dead of the night he entered her chamber with a drawn sword; by threatening to lay a slave with his throat cut beside her, whom he would pretend to have killed in order to avenge her husband’s honor, he forced her to yield to his wishes. As soon as he departed, she sent for her husband and father. They found her in agony and sorrow. She asked them to avenge her dishonor; then she stabbed herself to death. They carried the corpse to Rome, and all classes were inflamed. The king and his family were banished from the city. War followed, some siding with the tyrant, others opposing him. His sons were slain, his allies defeated, and according to tradition Tarquinius fled to Aristobolus at Cumae, where he died a wretched and lonely death.⏎
18. Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon. During the siege of the city he gave a sumptuous entertainment to his courtiers, impiously making use of the Temple furnishings (of which Nebuchadnezzar had plundered the Temple of Jerusalem) as drinking vessels. In the midst of the festivities, to the terror of the king, a hand miraculously appeared, writing on the wall the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Daniel explained the mystery as presaging the king’s death and the kingdom’s overthrow, which took place in the course of the succeeding night, when Darius the Mede captured the city (Dan. 5:25-31).⏎
19. This statement does not occur in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
20. Jeshua begat Joiakim, who begat Eliashib, who begat Joiada, who begat Jonathan, who begat Jaddus (Neh. 12:10-11).⏎
21. This statement does not occur in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
22. The phrase in the parenthesis does not occur in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
23. Cf. Matthrew 1:12-14:

    And after they were brought up from Babylon, Jeconias begat Salathiel, who begat Zorobabel, who begat Abiud, who begat Eliakim, who begat Azor, who begat Zadoc.

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24. This is a repetition of a portion of the Chronicle text as found at Folio LV verso.⏎
25. A variation of the theme at Folio LXI verso.⏎
26. The seven Roman kings were Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullius Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Lucius Tarquinius (Folios LVI recto and verso, and LXV recto).⏎

27. The Vision of the Temple, given in the last nine chapters of Ezekiel, is, as its title makes clear, a vision and description of the new temple which Ezekiel saw from a high mountain in the 25th year of the Captivity and the 14th after the destruction of the holy city. Although a few commentators maintain it was but a description from memory of Solomon’s Temple, the majority hold that it has to do with future events. These latter differ according as they see in it a mere prophetic picture of Zerubbabel’s Temple, or a vague announcement of some future blessing, or some kind of Messianic prophecy. Its historical foundation is undoubtedly the first Temple and the hidden springs of the sacred mount, but upon this foundation the writer builds a superstructure of allegory (at least that is the way it was read by late Christians).

    As some authorities observe, the description of the new Jerusalem and its temple is not to be taken literally. It is but a visionary city and temple that are here dealt with. And although the vision remained a dream, it seems to have had its influence on the plan of the actual Temple of the future. This is to be noted in the emphasis laid throughout on the sacrosanct character of the sanctionary. The whole sacred area covered by the Temple and its courts is to be protected from contact with secular buildings. How the vision came about is thus set forth in the Book of Ezekiel 40:1-5:

    In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me to there. In visions God brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me there, and behold, there was man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you. . . . Declare all you see to the house of Israel.

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28. Ezekiel 40:6-19.⏎
29. Calamos are reeds. The Hebrew reed is supposed to have been about eleven feet long.⏎
30. Justinus = Justin. See note to Folio XLVIII verso.⏎
31. Brixia, the modern Brescia, was originally a town in Gallia Cisalpina on the road from Comum to Aquileia, through which the river Mella flowed. It submitted to the Romans in 225 BCE, and in 27 BCE Augustus founded a civil colony here. It was plundered by Attila in 425 CE, but became the seat of a duchy in the Lombard period. In 1258, it fell into the hands of Eccelino of Verona and belonged to the Scaligers (della Scala) until 1421, when it came under the Visconti of Milan and in 1426 under the dominion of Venice.⏎
32. Bergamo, anciently Bergomum, was originally the tribal center of the Orobii in Gallia Cisalpina, between Comum and Brixia. It is located at the foot of the alps northeast of Milan. After destruction by Attila, it became the capital of a Lombard duchy. From 1264 to 1428 it was under Milan, but then became Venetian, and so it remained until 1797.⏎
33. Athesis, the Adige or Etach, rises in the Rhaetian Alps, flows past Verona and into the Adriatic.⏎
34. Cassiodorus, Magnus Aurelius, was a distinguished statesman and one of the few men of learning at the downfall of the Western Empire. He was born about 468 CE, and came of an ancient and wealthy Roman family. He enjoyed the full confidence of Theodoric the Great and his successors, and under a variety of different titles he conducted for a long series of years the government of the Ostrogothic kingdom. At 70 he retired to the monastery of Viviera, which he founded in his native province, and there passed the last 30 years of his life. His time was devoted to study and the composition of elementary treatises on history, metaphysics, the seven liberal arts and divinity. His leisure hours were employed in the construction of philosophical toys, such as sun-dials, water-clocks, etc.⏎
35. Theodoric, surnamed the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, was at first an ally of Zeno, the emperor of Constantinople but was afterwards involved in hostilities with him. In order to get rid of Theodoric, Zeno gave him permission to invade Italy, and expelled the usurper Odoacer from the country. Theodoric entered Italy in 489, defeated Odoacer in three great battles, and finally became master of Italy, ruling it for 33 years till his death in 526. His long reign was prosperous and beneficent. He was a patron of literature, and among his ministers were Cassiodorus and Boethius, the two last writers who can claim a place in the literature of ancient Rome.⏎
36. Alboin, king of the Lombards and barbarian conqueror of northern Italy, succeeded his father Audoin about 565. The Lombards at that time were engaged in constant war with the Gepidae. Alboin finally destroyed them, slew their king Cunimund in battle, and married his daughter Rosamund. On April 1, 568 he assembled his people with a great number of allies to cross the Alps and form a new settlement in Italy—a migration rather than an invasion. The Roman defenses were overrun and Lombard rule was established in northern Italy. But Alboin was murdered at the instigation of his wife whom he insulted by making her drink wine from her father’s skull. ⏎
37. The reference is to the great Della Scala family, whose name is Latinized to Scaliger, and is given in the German as "von der Leiter", there being a ladder in the coat of arms. To this family belonged two great scholars, Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484 to 1558), and Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540 to 1609), the greatest scholar of his day. For a fuller consideration of this house, see Folio CCXXIII verso).⏎
38. St. Zeno, or Zenone, the eighth bishop of Verona, was famous for his learning and for the piety of his life. According to some traditions he reduxit Veronam ad baptismum (‘led Verona back to baptism,’ i.e., rechristianized the city). His writings have come down to the present day, and besides their doctrine and devotion, also have some literary merit. He died about 380 or 390.⏎
39. Valerius Catullus, a Roman poet, was born at Verona, or in the immediate vicinity, in 87 BCE. He inherited considerable property from his father, who was the friend of Julius Caesar. His extant works consist of 116 poems— lyrics, elegies, epigrams, etc; while the Wedding of Pellus and Thetis, in 409 hexameter lines, is a ‘little epic’. He adorned all he touched, and his shorter poems are characterized by original invention and felicity of expression. In fact, Catullus is now considered one of the greatest of all Roman poets.⏎
40. Guarino da Verona (1370-1460) was one of the restorers of classical learning. He was born at Verona, and studied Greek at Constantinople, where for five years he was the pupil of Manuel Chrysolaras. In 1436 he became professor of Greek at Ferrara, where he died in 1460. His principal works are translations of Strabo and of some of the Lives of Plutarch, a compendium of the Greek grammar of Chrysolaras, and a series of commentaries on Persius, Juvenal, Martial, and on some of the writings of Aristotle and Cicero.⏎

41. Verona is an important town in what was anciently Gallia Cisalpina, on the river Athesis, now called the Adige. It belonged to the Cenomani, a Gaulish tribe, whose chief town was Brixia. It became a Latin colony in 89 BCE. Its territory stretched as far as Hostilia on the Padus (Po), thirty miles to the south. It lay on the road between Mediolanum and Aquileia, while here diverged to the north the roads over the Brenner. It was the birthplace of the poet Catullus. In 69 CE, it became the headquarters of the legions which were siding with Vespasian. It was defended by a river along two-thirds of its circumference. The existing remains of walls and gates date back to the year 265. The emperor Constantine, while advancing toward Rome from Gaul, besieged and took Verona (312); it was here too that Odoacer was defeated in 499 by Theodoric the Goth, known to the German writers as Dietrich von Bern, after whom the town was named Dietrich Bern, to distinguish it from Berne in Switzerland. He built a castle at Verona, and frequently resided there. He enlarged the fortified area by constructing a wall and ditch (now called Adigetto), to the southwest of the amphitheatre, and also built baths and restored aqueducts, which had long been out of use.

    In the Middle Ages Verona gradually grew in size and importance. Alboin, the Lombard king, captured it in 568, and it was one of the chief residences of the Lombards and later of the Frankish monarchs. It rose to importance under the rule of the Della Scala family. The first prominent member of this family and founder of his dynasty was Mastino I, della Scala, who ruled over the city from 1260 till his death in 1277. Verona had previously fallen under Ezzelino da Romano (1227-1259). Alberto della Scala was succeeded by his eldest son Bartholomew, who was confirmed as ruler of Verona by popular vote, and died in 1304. It was at this time that Romeo and Juliet are said to have lived. Alboino, the second son, succeeded his brother, and died in 1311, when the youngest son of Alberto, Can Grande, who since 1308 had been joint-lord of Verona with his brother, succeeded to the undivided power. Can Grande was the best and most illustrious of his line, and is specially famous as the hospitable patron of Dante. The dynasty lasted for rather more than a century.

    In 1387 Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan, became by conquest lord of Verona. Soon after his death the city fell by treacherous means into the hands of Francesco II, di Carrara, lord of Padua. In 1404-5 Verona, together with Padua, was finally conquered by Venice, and remained subject to the Venetians until the overthrow of the Republic by Napoleon in 1797, who ceded it to Austria in the same year with the rest of Venetia.

    The Roman remains of Verona surpass those of any other city in northern Italy. The most conspicuous of them is the great amphitheatre, which closely resembled the Colosseum in Rome. Its axes measured 505 and 404 feet. It was partly thrown down by an earthquake in 1183, and was subsequently used to supply building materials. The interior, with seats for about 25,000 people, has been restored.

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42. This title does not exist in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

43. Cyrus I was the founder of the Persian Empire. The account of Herodotus best preserves the Persian legends and romances interwoven in the history of his life. Cyrus was the son of Cambyses, a noble Persian, and of Mandane, daughter of the Median king Astyages. In consequence of a dream, which seemed to portend that his grandson should become the master of Asia, Astyages sent for his daughter, when she was pregnant; and upon her giving birth to a son, he committed the child to Harpagus, his confidential attendant, with orders to kill the babe. But Harpagus gave the child to a herdsman who was to expose it. However, since the herdsman’s wife had brought forth a still born child, they substituted the latter for Mandane’s child, which they reared as their own. When the child was ten years of age, his true parentage was discovered, and Cambyses sent for the child, in whose person he discovered the son of his daughter Mandane. The king forgave the herdsman, but revenged himself on Harpagus by serving up to him at a banquet the flesh of his own son. When Cyrus grew up, he conspired with Harpagus to dethrone his grandfather. They defeated him and the supremacy of Persia passed to Cyrus. He next overthrew the Lydian monarchy, subdued the Greek cities in Asia Minor, made ware against the Assyrians, and captured Babylon. In his later attempt to subjugate the Massagetae, a Scythian people, he was slain, as related in the Chronicle. In the East Cyrus was long regarded as the greatest hero of antiquity, and hence the fables by which his history is obscured.

    His sepulcher at Pasargada was visited by Alexander the Great; and although the tomb has perished, his name is found on monuments at Murghab, north of Persepolis.

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44. Perseus, the famous Argive hero, was a son of Zeus and Danae, and grandson of Acrisius. He occupies an important place in Greek mythology as the slayer of the Medusa, rescuer of Andromeda, etc.⏎
45. Acrisius was a son of Abas, king of Argos. Danae, his daughter, was the mother of Perseus by Zeus, who defeated the plans of her father to keep her a virgin, by coming down upon her in her prison chamber in the form of a shower of gold.⏎
46. Quintus Curtius was the Roman historian of Alexander the Great. Nothing is known of his life. Some place him as early as Vespasian, others as late as Constantine. The earlier date is more probable. His work, De Rebus Gestis Alexandri magni (‘The Accomplishments of Alexander the Great’) consisted of ten books. The first two are lost, and there are many gaps in the remaining eight. Although taken from good sources, the author frequently shows his ignorance of geography, chronology and tactics.⏎
47. Pasargada was the oldest of the two capitals of Persia, the other and later one being Persepolis. Pasargada is said to have been founded by Cyrus the Great on the spot where he gained his victory over Astyages. The tomb of Cyrus stood there in the midst of a beautiful park. Persepolis was situated in the heart of Persia, in the region called Hollow Persia, not far from the border of the Carmanian desert, in a beautiful and healthy valley. The city stood on the north side of the Araxes, and had a citadel on the level surface of a rock. It was enclosed by triple walls, rising one above the other to the height of 16, 58 and 60 cubits, within which was the palace with its royal sepulcher and treasures. In the palace Alexander the Great found immense riches, which were said to have accumulated from the time of Cyrus. It had been greatly enlarged and adorned by Darius I and Xerxes, and preserved its splendor till the Macedonian conquest, when it was burned. Alexander set fire to the palace, as the story goes, with his own hand, at the end of a revel, at the instigation of Thais the courtesan in 331 BCE. It was not, however, so entirely destroyed as some historians think, for it appears frequently in subsequent history, both ancient and medieval. It is now deserted, but its ruins are considerable.⏎
48. Persica, the Latin name for the peach, which belongs to the almond family. The peach is a native of Persia, though now cultivated in all temperate climates.⏎
49. The legend of St. George comes from the East. Although we generally associate him with England, the particular veneration paid him in that country dates from the time of Richard I, who in the wars of Palestine, placed himself and his army under the especial protection of St. George. It was not until 1222 that his feast was ordered to be kept as a holiday throughout England; and the institution of the Order of the Garter, in 1330, seems to have completed his inauguration as a patron saint. Previous to the Normans, Edward the Confessor was the patron saint of England. St. George is particularly honored by the Greeks, who place him as a captain at the head of the noble army of martyrs, with the title of The Great Martyr. The reverence paid him in the East is of such great antiquity that one of the first churches erected by Constantine was in honor of St. George, and this within twenty years after the Saint’s death, as is supposed. This is the same St. George who slew the dragon. He was a native of Cappadocia, and was born of noble Christian parents. He is said to have lived in the time of Diocletian and to have been a tribute in the army. It is related that in travelling to join his legion he came to a certain city, called Selene, in Libya, which was being greatly troubled by the ravages of a monstrous dragon. And to this St. George put an end. At this time Diocletian issued his edict against the Christians, which was affixed to the gates and temples in public places. Other men read it in terror, but St. George tore it down and trampled it under foot. For this he suffered martyrdom, enduring all manner of torture, finally being dispatched by the sword. According to legend St. George was condemned to martyrdom by Dacian, the proconsul. Unfortunately the chronicler does not give the authority upon which he connects the saint with the city of Persepolis.⏎
50. Anaximander of Miletus was born in 610 BCE and died in 547, in his 64th year. He was one of the earliest philosophers of the Ionian school, and the immediate successor of Thales, its first founder. He first used the Greek word denoting the origin of things, or rather the material out of which they were formed. He was a careful observer of nature, and was distinguished by his astronomical, mathematical and geographical knowledge.⏎
51. Anaximenes of Miletus was the third in the series of Ionian philosophers. He flourished about 544 BCE; but as he was the teacher of Anaxagoras (c. 480 BCE), he must have lived to a great age. He considered air to be the first cause of all things, the primary form, as it were, of matter, into which the elements of the universe are resolvable.⏎

52. Ezra (Greek from Esdras) was a celebrated priest and leader of the Jewish nation. He was "a ready scribe in the law," a learned, able, and faithful man, and appears to have enjoyed great consideration at the Persian court. During the eighty years embraced in his narrative, most of the reign of Cyrus passed, and the whole reign of Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius, Hystaspis, Xerxes, and eight years of Artaxerxes. From the last king he received letters, money, and very considerable help, and went at the head of a large party of returning exiles to Jerusalem in 487 BCE (Ezra 7). Here he instituted many reforms in the conduct of the people and in the public worship, and established synagogues, with reading of Scriptures and prayers (Ezra 8-10; Neh. 8). After this he generally believed to have written the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and part of Nehemiah; and to have collected and revised all the books of the Old Testament which form the present canon. In his work he was aided by Nehemiah and probably Malachi.

    The Book of Ezra contains a history written partly in Chaldea, of the return of the Jews from the time of Cyrus (ch 1-6); then, sixty years later, and comprising a single year (ch. 7-10), an account of his own subsequent proceedings. There are two apocryphal books ascribed to him under the name of Esdras.

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53. Nehemiah was of the tribe of Judah. He was born at Babylon during the captivity, and held the office of cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes at Susa. Touched by the calamitous state of the colony of Jews which had formerly returned to Jerusalem, he laid their case before God in penitent and importunate prayer, and at length begged the king to permit him to go to Jerusalem and aid in rebuilding it. He was accordingly sent there as governor about 444 BCE, and directed his attention chiefly to the task of rebuilding the walls. The enmity of the Samaritans, under which the colony had formerly suffered, was not increased. Under great difficulties the wall was completed in one year. Nehemiah also instituted many civic improvements. In 432 BCE he returned to his post at the court of Babylon, but was later recalled to Jerusalem to reform certain growing irregularities—neglect of the Temple services, breaches of the Sabbath, intermarriage with pagans, etc. The Jews who had married pagan wives, he compelled to abandon them, or quit the country. He rededicated the Temple, suppressed usury and exaction from the poor, fed the destitute, and provided for the Temple service. ⏎
54. Cf. Ezra 4:1-6:

    Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built the Temple to the Lord God of Israel; then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do. . . But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said to them, You have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote to him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote....

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55. Cambyses, second king of Persia, reigned 529-522 BCE. In 525 he conquered Egypt; but an army which he sent against the Ammonians perished in the sands, and the forces which he led in person against the Ethiopians were compelled by failure of provisions to return. On his return to Memphis he treated the Egyptians with great cruelty, insulting their religion and killing their god Apis with his own hands. He acted tyrannically toward his own family and the Persians in general. He caused his own brother Smerdis to be murdered; but a Magian impersonated the deceased prince and set up a claim to the throne. Cambyses promptly set out from Egypt against the pretender, but died at Ecbatana in Syria of an accidental wound. His crimes provoked the rebellion in which the pseudo-Smerdis secured the throne.⏎
56. Mordecai, one of those who returned from the Babylonian captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7).⏎

57. Smerdis, son of Cyrus, was murdered by order of his brother Cambyses. The death was kept a profound secret; and accordingly when the Persians became weary of the tyranny of Cambyses, one of the Magians, name Patizithes, who had been left by Cambyses in charge of his palace and treasures, availed himself of the likeness of his brother to the deceased Smerdis, to proclaim this brother king, representing him as the younger son of Cyrus. Cambyses heard of the revolt while in Syria, but he died of an accidental wound in the thigh as he was mounting his horse to march against the usurper.

    The Persians acknowledged the pseudo-Smerdis as king, and he reigned for seven months without opposition. The leading Persian nobles were not, however, free from suspicion, and this suspicion was increased because the king never invited any of them to the palace, and never appeared in public. Among these nobles was Otanes, whose daughter Phaedima had been one of the wives of Cambyses, and had been transferred to his successor. The new king had some years before being deprived of his ears by Cyrus for some offense. Otanes persuaded his daughter to ascertain whether her master had really lost his ears. Having ascertained that such was the fact and given the information to her father, the latter formed a conspiracy, and in conjunction with other Persian nobles, succeeded in forcing his way into the palace, where they slew the false Smerdis and his brother Patizithes in the eighth month of their reign, 521. The usurpation of the false Smerdis was an attempt on the part of the Medes, to whom the Magians belonged, to obtain the supremacy, of which they had been deprived by Cyrus. The assassination of the false Smerdis and the accession of Darius Hystaspis again gave the ascendancy to the Persians; and the anniversary of the day on which the Magians were massacred, was commemorated among the Persians by a solemn festival, called Magophonia. On this day no Magian was allowed to show himself in public. The nature of the transaction is also shown by the revolt of the Medes that followed the ascension of Darius.

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58. According to the Book of Judith, one of the books of the Apochrypha, Arphaxad, king of Ecbatana fortified his city. Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians at Nineveh, made war against him, and summoned all who dwelled in the lands between Persia and Memphis to his aid. They refused. Vowing vengeance, he marched alone against Arphaxad and destroyed him. Later he appoints Holofernes general over his army, and sends him against the nations which refused to aid him. He lays siege to Bethulia, a city of the Israelites. They lose heart and urge Ozias and the rulers to give way. Now in those days there lived a widow named Judith, of rare piety and beauty. She blames Ozias and the rulers for considering submission, and urges them to place their trust in God. The rulers excuse themselves, and Judith promises to do for them something that shall go down to all generations. She decks herself bravely and goes to the camp of Holofernes accompanied by her maid, who carries a bottle of wine, a cruse of oil, and a bag filled with parched corn and fine bread and cheese. She tells him that her nation cannot be punished, neither can the sword prevail against them, except they sin against their God, but that now they are about to eat all those things which God charged them not to eat, and that they will therefore be delivered into his hands. She offers to show the way to the town, and to lead him until he comes to Jerusalem. Holfernes is pleased and invites her to a banquet, and she accepts. He drinks deeply and is left alone with her. Praying to God for strength, she smites off his head with his own scimitar; and putting the head into her bag of victuals, she hastens to Bethulia. The next morning the Israelites fall upon their besiegers, who, finding their leader dead, lose heart and flee in wild disorder. After a long life Judith dies at the age of 105 years, and was buried at Bethulia in the cave of her husband Manasseh. ⏎
59. Porsena or Porsenna, Lars, king of the Etruscan town of Chisium, marched against Rome at the head of a vast army in order to restore Tarquinius Superbus to the throne. But the campaign did not accomplish its object.⏎
60. L. Junius Brutus was the son of M. Junius and Tarquinia, the sister of Tarquinius Superbus. His elder brother was murdered by Tarquinius, and Lucius escaped his brother’s fate only by feigning idiocy, from which he received the name Brutus. The story of the rape of Lucretia, wife of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, by Sextus the son of Tarquinius Superbus, and the consequent expulsion of the latter and his sons has already been related. It was Brutus who incited the Romans to this course, and it was he and Tarquinius Collatinus who were set up as the first consuls to govern the empire in lieu of a king; but as the people could not endure the rule of any of the hated race of the Tarquins, Collatinus resigned his office and retired from Rome to Lavinium.⏎
61. Sibyls were first mentioned by the chronicler at Folio XXXV verso, and two others were spoken of later (Folios XLVI verso and LVI verso). The mention of the Cumaean Sibyl at this point is apparently intended merely as a description of the opposite portrait, which, however, in no way conforms to the description. In the portrait she has no book in either hand, nor on her knee. She is not bareheaded, but wears a flowing veil. Her hands are in an attitude of gesture.⏎

62. The reference is apparently to P. Valerius Publicola and Posthumus. Publicola took part in the expulsion of the Tarquins, and was thereupon elected consul with Brutus (509 BCE). He secured the liberties of the people by several laws and ordered the lectors to lower the fasces before the people as an acknowledgement that their rights were superior to those of the consuls. He became a great favorite with the people, receiving the surname Publicola (‘Honored by the People’ or ‘Guardian of the People’). He died in 503.

    In the opposite portrait Publicola is associated with Postumus without text reference to the latter.

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63. T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, son of L. Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus, dictator in 363 BCE, was a favorite hero of Roman story. Manlius is said to have been dull of mind in his youth, and was brought up by his father in the in the country. When the tribune M. Pomponius accused the elder Manlius on account of the cruelties he had practiced in his dictatorship, he endeavored to excite public enmity against him by representing him as a cruel and tyrannical father. As soon as the younger Manlius heard of this he hurried to Rome, obtained admission to Pomponius early in the morning and compelled the tribune by threatening him with instant death to take an oath to drop the accusation against his father.

    In 361 Manlius served under the dictator T. Quintius Pennus in the war against the Gauls, and in this campaign earned immortal glory by slaying a gigantic Gaul, from whose dead body he took the chain (torquis) which had adorned him, and placed it about his own neck. From this circumstance he obtained the surname Torquatus. He was dictator in 353 and again in 349. He was also consul three times. Torquatus and his colleague P. Decius Mus gained a great victory over the Latins at the foot of Vesuvius, which established forever the supremacy of Rome over Latium. Shortly before the battle, when the two armies were encamped opposite one another, the consuls published a proclamation that no Roman should engage in single combat with a Latin on pain of death. But the young Manlius, the son of the consul, provoked by the insults of a Tuscan noble, accepted his challenge, slew his adversary, and bore the bloody spoils in triumph to his father. Death was his reward. The consul would not overlook this breach of discipline, and the unhappy youth was executed by the lector in the presence of the assembled army. This severe sentence rendered Torquatus an object of detestation among the Roman youths as long as he lived; and the recollection of his severity was preserved in after ages by the expression Manliana imperia.

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64. The Senones were a powerful people in Gallia Lugdunensis, who dwelt along the upper course of the Sequana (Seine). Their chief town was Agendicum, afterwards called Senones (Sens). A portion of this people crossed the Alps about 400 BCE, in order to settle in Italy; and as the greater part of Upper Italy was already occupied by other Celtic tribes, they were obliged to penetrate a considerable distance to the south, and took up their abode on the Adriatic Sea between the rivers Utis and Aesis (between Ravenna and Ancona) after expelling the Umbrians. In this country they founded the town of Sena. They extended their ravages into Etruria; and it was in consequence of the interference of the Romans, while they were laying siege to Clusium, that they marched against Rome and took the city in 390 BCE. From this time we find them engaged in constant hostilities with the Romans, till they were at length completely subdued and the greater part of them destroyed by the consul Dolabella in 283.⏎
65. When Rome, in 390 BCE, was taken by the Gauls, the Roman consul Marcus Manlius took refuge in the Capitol. One night when the Gauls endeavored to ascend the Capitol, Manlius was aroused from his sleep by the cackling of the geese. Hastily collecting a body of men, he succeeded in driving off the enemy, who had just reached the summit of the hill. From this heroic deed he is said to have received the surname Capitolinus. In 385 he defended the cause of the plebians, who were suffering from their debts and the cruel treatment of their harsh patrician creditors. The patricians accused him of aspiring to royal power, and he was thrown into prison by the dictator Cornelius Cossus. The plebians put on mourning for their champion, and were ready to take up arms in his behalf, when the patricians became alarmed and released Manlius; but this act of concession made him bolder, and he instigated the plebeians to open violence. In the following year the patricians brought him to trial on a charge of high treason. He was condemned, and the tribunes threw him down the Tarpeian rock. The members of the Manlia gens accordingly resolved that none of them should ever bear in future the praenomen of Marcus.⏎
66. Veii (Veiens, Veientis or Veientanus) was one of the most powerful and ancient cities of Etruria, situated on the river Cremera, about 12 miles from Rome. It possessed a strongly fortified citadel, built on a steep hill. It was one of the twelve cities of the Etrurian Confederacy, and apparently the largest of all. It was about seven miles in circumference, equal in size to Athens, and was a powerful city at the time of the foundation of Rome. The Veientians were engaged in almost constant hostilities with Rome for more than three and one half centuries, and there is a record of fourteen distinct wars between the two peoples. Veii was at length taken by the dictator Camillus after a siege which is said to have lasted ten years. The city fell into his hands, according to the common story (doubted by Livy and Plutarch), by means of a cuniculus or mine that was dug all the way from the Roman camp under the city into the citadel of Veii. So well built was the city that the Romans were anxious after the destruction of their own city by the Gauls in 390 BCE to remove to Veii; but the eloquence of Camillus against this plan finally prevailed. So Veii was abandoned; but after the lapse of ages it was colonized by Augustus, and made a Roman municipum. But by the time of Hadrian the city again sank into decay. From this time Veii disappears entirely from history. It stood in the neighborhood of the present Isola Farnese.⏎

67. A dictator in ancient times was an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman commonwealth. The earlier official title was magister populi (‘Master of the People [i.e., the infantry]’) as opposed to his subordinate, the magister equitum (‘Master of the Horse [i.e., the cavalry’). Emphasis was thus placed on the military aspect of the dictatorship, and, in fact, the office seems to have been instituted for the purpose of meeting a military crisis too serious for the annual consuls with their divided command. The repression of civil discord was one of the motives for the institution of a dictatorship. This function of the office is attested by the internal history of Rome. In the crisis of the agitation at the time of the Licinian laws (367 BCE) a dictator was appointed. The dictator appointed to meet the dangers of war, sedition, or crime, was described as "the administrative dictator." For minor purposes we find dictators appointed to hold elections, to celebrate games, to establish festivals, and to drive the nail into the temple of Jupiter – an act of natural magic that was believed to avert pestilence. These dictators retired from office as soon as their function was completed; but the administrative dictator held office for six months.

    The powers of a dictator were a temporary revival of those of the kings, with some limitations. He was never concerned with civil jurisdiction. His military authority was confined to Italy; and his power of life and death was limited. By the lex Valeria of 300 BCE he was made subject to the right of criminal appeal within the limits of the city. However, all the magistrates of the people were regarded as his subordinates. The dictator was nominated by one of the consuls. But the senate claimed authority over the magistrates, and suggested not only the nomination but also the name of the nominee. After the nomination, the imperium of the dictator was confirmed by a lex curiata. To emphasize the superiority of this imperium, the dictator might be preceded by 24 lectors, and, at least in the earlier period of the office, these lectors bore the axes, the symbol of life and death, within the city walls.

    The first dictator is said to have been created in 501 BCE; the last of the "administrative" dictators belongs to the year 216 BCE. The epoch of the Second Punic War was marked by experiments with the office, such as the election of Q. Fabius Maximus by the people, and the co-dictatorship of M. Minucius. The emergency office of the early and middle republic has little in common with the dictatorship as revived by Sulla and by Caesar. That of the former took on the form of a provisional government. Sulla was created dictator "for the establishment of a republic." Caesar’s renewed dictatorships created a temporary monarchy, whatever may have been his wishes as to its permanency. Ostensibly to prevent its further use for such a purpose, M. Antonius in 44 BCE carried a law abolishing the dictatorship. The term is used in our day to designate a tyrannical ruler.

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68. For the interesting history between Porsena and Rome, see Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (‘From the Founding of the City’) 2.9-15. This sentence and the two sentences preceding it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
69. L. Quintius Cincinnatus was a favorite hero of the old Roman republic, and a model of old Roman frugality and integrity. He lived on his farm, cultivating the land with his own hand. He was born about 519 BCE and played a conspicuous part in the civil and military transactions of the period in which he lived. He particularly distinguished himself as a violent opponent of the plebeians. In BCE 460 he was appointed consul suffectus in the room of P. Valerius. Two years afterward, according to the common story, Cincinnatus was called from the plough to the dictatorship, in order to deliver the Roman consul and army from the perilous position in which they had been placed by the Aequians. The story of the manner in which he effected this is given in Livy. During his dictatorship, in defiance of the tribunes, he held the comita for the trial of Volscius, whose evidence had condemned his son Caeso, and whom he now charged with perjury. The accused went into voluntary exile. After holding the dictatorship for 16 days, Cincinnatus returned to his farm. In 439 BCE, at the age of 80, he was again appointed dictator to oppose the alleged machinations of Spurius Maelius. This is the last event recorded of him.⏎
70. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
71. The last four sentences in this paragraph are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
72. Aratus was the author of two Greek astronomical poems, which have generally been joined together, as if parts of the same work. The design is to give an introduction to the knowledge of the constellations, with the rules for their risings and settings; and of the circles of the sphere, amongst which the milky way is reckoned. The positions of the constellations, north of the ecliptic, are described by reference to the principal groups surrounding the North Pole (the Bears, the Dragon and Cepheus), while Orion serves as a point of departure for those to the South. The immobility of the earth, and the revolution of the heavens about a fixed axis are maintained; the path of the sun in the Zodiac is described; but the planets are introduced merely as bodies having a motion of their own, without any attempt to define their periods; nor is anything said about the moon’s orbit. The opening of the poem asserts the dependence of all things upon Zeus. From the general lack of precision in the descriptions it would seem that Aratus was neither a mathematician nor an observer; or, at any rate, that in this work he did not aim at scientific accuracy. Such is the first poem, which consists of 732 verses. The second, consisting of 422 verses, is made up of prognostications of the weather from astronomical phenomena, with an account of its effects upon animals. The style of these two poems is distinguished by the elegance and accuracy of their diction, resulting from a study of ancient models; but it lack originality and poetic elevation; and variety of matter is excluded by the nature of the subjects. Several other poetical works on various subjects, as well as a number of prose epistles, are attributed to Aratus; but none of them have come down to us.⏎
73. Cicero, De Oratore (‘On the Orator’), 1.16. The German edition of the Chronicle does not cite the quote from Cicero’s text, nor does it even mention the actual book by Cicero, stating only: "to which Cicero gives witness."⏎
74. Mettus or Mettius Curtius (Marcus Curcius), a distinguished Sabine, fought with the rest of his nation against Romulus. According to one tradition, the Lacus Curtius, which was part of the Roman forum, was called after him, because in the battle with the Romans he escaped with difficulty from a swamp into which his horse had plunged. But the more usual tradition respecting the name of Lacus Curtius is that in 362 BCE the earth in the forum gave way, and a great chasm appeared, which the soothsayers declared could only be filled up by throwing into it Rome’s greatest treasure; that thereupon M. Curtius, a noble youth, mounted his steed in full armour; and declaring that Rome possessed no greater treasure than a brave and gallant citizen, leaped into the abyss; upon which the earth closed over him.⏎

75. Aesop, author of Fables about animals, generally with a didactic purpose, which have given their name to a whole class of stories, lived about 620 to 560 BCE. According to tradition he was the slave of Iadmon of Samos and met with a violent death at the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi. When a pestilence came upon them the Delphians offered a reward for his death, and it was claimed by Iadmon, grandson of Aesop’s old master. Herodotus, who is authority for this (2.134), does not state the cause of Aesop’s death; but various reasons have been assigned by later writers – his insulting sarcasms, embezzlement of money entrusted to him by Croesus for distribution at Delphi, and the theft of a silver cup.

    Aesop must have been freed by Iadmon, or he could not have conducted the defense of a Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric 2.20). Legend says that he afterwards lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the Seven Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. The obscurity in which the history of Aesop is involved has induced some scholars to deny his existence altogether.

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76. Rinutius translated Aesop’s fables in 1478 in Milan. This book may be the first printed edition of a Greek author (the text provides both the Greek original and a Latin translation) in Western Europe.

    This sentence does not appear in the German edition of the Chronicle

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77. Saint Chrysogonus (San Crisogono in Italian) is a church in Rome (Trastevere) dedicated to the martyr Saint Chrysogonus. The church was one of the tituli (as the Chronicle notes), the first parish churches of Rome, known as the Titulus Chrysogoni. It was probably built in the 4th century under Pope Silvester I (314–335), then rebuilt in the 12th century by John of Crema.⏎
78. The German edition of the Chronicle changes this number of years to 202.⏎
79. Appius Claudius was consul in 451, and on the appointment of the decimvir in that year, he became one of them, and was reappointed the following year. His real character now betrayed itself in the most tyrannical conduct toward the plebeians till his attempt against Virginia led to the overthrow of the decemvirate. Appius was impeached by Virginius, but did not live to abide his trial. He either killed himself, or was put to death in prison by order of the tribunes. For more on the ‘Ten Men’ and their period of rule (451-449 BCE), see Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (‘From the Founding of the City’) 3.⏎
80. The German edition of the Chronicle titles this section "ELECTION FROM AMONG THE COMMONS."⏎
81. According to the story recorded by Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (‘From the Founding of the City’) 6.34, Marcus Fabius Ambustus had two daughters, of whom the elder was married to Ser. Sulpicus, and the younger to C. Licinius Stolo. The younger daughter (Fabia) induced her father to assist her husband in obtaining the consulship for the plebeian order, into which she had married.⏎
82. Here Artaxerxes II is meant. He ruled from 404-358 BCE.⏎
83. The office of tribune is one that was born of the oppression of the people by rulers against whom they rebelled. In compromise the people were allowed to choose their own magistrates from their own order, who were to have the power of opposing with effect every measure which they might judge in anyway prejudicial to their interest. These new magistrates were to be elected annually. At first they were five in number, but in time they were increased to ten. They were called tribunes because the first of them was chosen from among the tribune militum of the different legions. Their authority was confined to the city limits and one mile beyond the walls. Two officers, called Aediles, were appointed to aid them. The Aediles had charge of the public buildings, and later, also of the games, spectacles, and other matters of police within the city. By the appointment of the tribunes the aristocracy was to a certain extent weakened, and the government took on even more distinctive aspects of a ‘representative-democracy.’⏎
84. Coriolanus is the hero of one of the most interesting early Roman legends (and a later life by Plutarch, which in turn was the basis of Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus). His original name was C. Marcius, and he received the surname Coriolanus from the heroism he displayed at the capture of the Volscian town of Corioli. But his haughty bearing toward the common people excited their fear and dislike, and when he was a candidate for the consulship they refused to elect him. After this, when there was a famine in the city, and a Greek prince sent corn from Sicily, Coriolanus advised that it should not be distributed to the commons until they should give up their tribunes. For this he was impeached and condemned to exile in 491 BCE. He now took refuge among the Volscians, and promised to assist them in a war against the Romans. He was appointed general of the Volscian army, took many towns, and advanced unresisted until he came to the Cluilian dyke close to Rome in 489. Here he encamped, and the Romans in alarm sent to him embassy after embassy, consisting of the most distinguished men of the state. But he would listen to none of them. At length the noblest matrons of Rome, headed by his mother Veturia, and Volumnia, his wife, with his two little children, came to this tent. His mother’s reproached, and the tears of his wife and the other matrons, bent his purpose. He led back his army, and lived in exile among the Volscians till his death; though other traditions relate that he was killed by the Volscians on his return to their country.⏎

85. Darius, king of Persia (521-485 BCE), was the son of Hystaspis. He was one of the seven Persian chiefs who destroyed the usurper Smerdis (Folio LXIX recto and note). The chiefs agreed that the one of them whose horse neighed first at the appointed time should become king, and by this token Darius was chosen. He married Atossa and Arystone, the two daughters of Cyrus, and Parmis, daughter of Cyrus’s son Smerdis, and Phaldime, daughter of Otanes, one of the seven chiefs. He set his vast empire in order, dividing it into twenty satrapies, assigning to each its amount of tribute. Persia proper was exempted from all taxes except such as it had been accustomed to pay. The Babylonians revolted but were put down. Later Darius invaded Scythia, marching far into the interior of modern Russian; but after losing a number of men by famine, and being unable to meet the enemy, he was obliged to retreat.

    On his return to Asia Darius sent part of his forces under Magabasus, to subdue Thrace and Macedonia, which thus became subject to the Persian Empire. The most important event in this reign was the commencement of the great war between the Persians and the Greeks. In 501 the Ionian Greeks revolted; they were assisted by the Athenians, who burnt Sardis. Thereby they provoked the hostility of Darius. In 492 Mardonius was sent to invade Greece with a large army, but he lost a large part of his fleet and land forces. He was recalled, and Artaphernes appointed to command the invading army but they were again defeated, this time by Miltiades at Marathon. Darius now called out the whole force of his empire to subdue Greece, but after three years of preparation his attention was diverted by the rebellion of Egypt. He died in 485, leaving the execution of his plans to his son Xerxes.

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86. Xerxes was king of Persia from 485 to 465 BCE. His father Darius had died in the midst of his preparations against Greece, which had been interrupted by the revolt of the Egyptians. The first care of Xerxes was to reduce these people to submission. This done, he returned to Persia, leaving his brother as governor of Egypt. In the spring of 480 he set out from Sardis on his memorable expedition against Greece. He crossed the Hellespont by a bridge of boats, and continued his march through the Thracian Chersonese till he reached the plain of Doriscus. His land forces contained forty-six nations. In his march through Thrace and Macedonia he received further accession of strength, and when he reached Thermopylae his land and sea forces are said to have amounted to 2,641,610 fighting men (obviously an exaggeration!). Xerxes continued his march through Thrace. After joining his fleet at Therme, he marched through Macedonia and Thessaly without meeting with any opposition until he reached Thermopylae. Here the Greeks opposed him. His fleet was overtaken by a violent storm and he lost at least 400 ships of war, as well as an immense number of transports. He attempted to force his way through the pass of Thermopylae, but was repulsed again and again by Leonidas, until the treachery of a Greek from neighboring Malis, named Ephialtes, enabled him to fall on the rear of the Greeks. Leonidas and his Spartans refused to leave, and were all slain. Then followed the memorable battle of Salamis, in which the Greeks won a glorious naval victory. Xerxes witnessed the battle from a lofty seat on the shore, but only to behold the defeat and dispersion of his mighty fleet. He became alarmed for his own safety and resolved to leave Greece immediately. Leaving behind Mardonius, who undertook to complete the conquest with 300,000 of his troops, Xerxes returned to Sardis. And though the war continued for several years longer, the invasion proved a failure in the end. In 465 Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus, who aspired to the kingship of Persia. He was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes I.⏎
87. Artabanus was a Hyrcanian, and commander of the bodyguard of Xerxes, whom he treacherously assassinated in 465 BCE, with a view of setting himself upon the Persian throne. According to Aristotle he had previously killed Xerxes’ son Darius, and was afraid that the father would avenge him. According to Ctesias, Justin and Diodorus, he killed Xerxes first, and then pretended that Darius had murdered him, and instigated his brother Artaxerxes to avenge the deed. During the first four months of the reign of Artaxerxes I, Artabanus was the ruling power in the state; for this reason some erroneously reckon him as king for seven months. However, as soon as Artaxerxes learned the truth about the murder of his father and brother, he slew Artabanus and his sons. ⏎

88. Artaxerxes I, surnamed Macrocheir in Greek (‘Long-hand’) and translated as Longimanus in Latin (‘Long-hands’) because his right hand was longer than his left, was the younger son of Xerxes, and was raised to the throne in 465 BCE by the vizier Artabanus, the murderer of his father. After a few months he became aware of the crimes of the vizier, and slew him and his sons. On the whole his reign was peaceful, and he was famed for his mild and magnanimous character. Nepos says he was exceedingly beautiful and valiant. According to Nehemiah, his cupbearer, he was kind, but a rather weak monarch. His reign was disturbed by several insurrections. The war with Athens was terminated in 448, Cyprus and Egypt being ceded to the Persians. In his reign the Jewish religion was definitely sanctioned by law in Jerusalem on the basis of an edict granted by the king to the Babylonian priest Ezra in 458 BCE, and the appointment of Nehemiah as governor of Judea in 445 BCE.

    Artaxerxes died in December 425. A great many tablets dated from his reign have been found in Nippur, and a few at other places in Babylonia; but inscriptions of the king himself are not extant. His grandson mentions his buildings in Susa.

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89. Democritus was born at Abdera in Greece. His father possessed so much property and wealth that he was able to entertain Xerxes on his march through Abdera. The tradition that he blinded himself that he might be less disturbed in his pursuit is probably the invention of a later age, fond of anecdotes of that character. His studies embrace the natural sciences, mathematics, mechanics, grammar, music, philosophy, and various useful arts. With Leucippus he invented the atomic theory of matter. For his biography see note, Folio XXII verso.⏎
90. Heraclitus of Ephesus, was a philosopher, generally considered as belonging to the Ionian school, though he differed from their principles in many respects. In his youth he traveled extensively, and after his return to Ephesus the chief magistracy was offered to him, which however, he transferred to his brother. He appears afterwards to have become a complete recluse, rejecting even the kindnesses offered by Darius, and at last retreating to the mountains, where he lived on pot herbs. Some time later he was compelled by illness, consequent on such meager fare, to retire to Ephesus, where he died at the age of sixty. He flourished about 513 BCE. He wrote a work that contained his philosophical views. From the obscurity of his style he gained the title of the Obscure or the Riddler. He considered fire to be the primary form of all matter; but by fire he meant to describe only clear light fluid, "self-kindled and self-extinguished," and therefore not differing materially from the air of Anaximenes. His most famous utterance, cited in several authors, but most famously by Plato (Cratylus 402a), is: "You can’t step twice into the same river." His ideas on flux and paradox/the unity of opposites still provoke philosophical discussion today.⏎
91. Themistocles, the celebrated Athenian, was born about 514 BCE. In youth he was impetuous, but displayed great intellectual powers and a lofty ambition for political distinction. He began his career by setting himself in opposition to those who had most power, among whom Aristides was the chief. The fame which Miltiades acquired by his generalship at Marathon made a deep impression upon him, and he said that the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep. In 483, his rival Aristides was ostracized (an event to which Themistocles had contributed). From this time on he was the political leader in Athens. In 481 he was Archon Eponymus. He persuaded the Athenians to employ the silver from the mines of Laurium in building ships instead of distributing it among the citizens. He was sure that it was only by a fleet that Athens could repel the Persians and obtain the supremacy in Greece. Later, as the commander of the Athenian fleet, he defeated Xerxes, and to his courage the Greeks owed their salvation from Persian dominion. This victory established his reputation among the Greeks. He was honored by the Spartans, who gave Eurybiades the palm of bravery, and Themistocles the palm of wisdom and skill, with a crown of olive and the best chariot the Spartans possessed. On his advice the Athenians then fortified Athens and the port of Piraeus. But the reputation of Themistocles suffered under accusations of enriching himself by unfair means, and in 471 he was ostracized from Athens and retired to Argos. Under charges of treasonable correspondence with the enemy, he fled from Argos to Corcyra, and then to Epirus, where he took refuge in the house of Admetus, king of Molossi, who refused to surrender him up. He finally reached the coast of Asia in safety. Xerxes was now dead, and Artaxerxes was on the Persian throne. The new king received Themistocles at his court, and in the hope of using him against the Greeks, gave him a handsome allowance, after the Persian fashion, and made him governor of the Persian province of Magnesia where he spent the rest of his life. He has a star turn in the second half of Herodotus’ Histories, and was the subject of one of Plutarch’s biographies—the two most important sources for his life.⏎
92. Aristides, an Athenian, surnamed the "Just" was of an ancient aristocratic family. He was the political disciple of Cleisthenes (founder of the Athenian democracy), and partly on that account, partly from personal character, opposed from the first to Themistocles. He fought as the commander of his tribe at Marathon in 490 BCE, and in 489 was made Archon. In 483 he was ostracized, probably in consequence of the triumph of the maritime and democratic policy of his rival. He was still in exile in 480, when the battle of Salamis was fought, but did good service on that occasion by dislodging the enemy with a band of soldiers raised and armed himself from the islet of Psyttaleia. He was recalled from exile in the following year and appointed general, commanding the Athenians at the battle of Plataea. In 477 he and his colleague Cimon obtained for Athens the command of the maritime confederacy. He died after 471, the year of the ostracism of Themistocles, and very likely in 468. He died so poor that he did not leave enough to defray his funeral expenses. Plutarch wrote a biography on Aristides.⏎
93. Clazomenae was an important city of Asia Minor on the north coast of the Ionian peninsula on the gulf of Syrna. It had considerable commerce, was celebrated for its temples, and still more as the birthplace of Anaxagoras. Under the Romans it was a free city.⏎
94. Anaxagoras, a celebrated Greek philosopher of the Ionian school, was born at Clazomenae in Ionia in 500 BCE. He gave his property to his relatives, in order to devote his life to higher ends. He went to Athens at the age of 20, and there he remained for 30 years. He became the teacher of the most eminent men of the time, including Euripides and Pericles. His doctrines gave offense to the religious feelings of the Athenians, and he was accused of impiety by the enemies of Pericles. It was only through the eloquence of Pericles that his life was spared; but he was sentenced to pay a fine of five talents and to go into exile from Athens. He retired to Lampsacus, where he died in 428, at the age of 72. Anaxagoras was dissatisfied with the philosophic system of his predecessors who had endeavored to explain nature and its various phenomena by regarding matter in its different forms and modifications as the cause of all things; but Anaxagoras, on the other hand, conceived the necessity of seeking a higher cause, independent of matter, and this he considered to be mind, thought or intelligence.⏎
95. Empedocles, of Agrigentum in Sicily, flourished about 444 BCE. Although of an ancient and wealthy family, he joined the revolution in which Thrasydaeus, the son and successor of Theron, was expelled. He was magnanimous in the support of the poor, severe in the persecution of the aristocrats, and declined the sovereignty which was offered him. His brilliant oratory, his penetrating knowledge of nature, his reputation for marvelous powers in curing disease, his exertions in removing marshy districts and in averting epidemics, spread a luster around his name. He was called a magician. He traveled in Greece and Italy, and made a stay at Athens. His death is said to have been marvelous, like his life. One tradition has it that he was removed from the earth, like a divine being; another, that he threw himself into the flames of Mount Aetna, that by his sudden disappearance he might be believed to be a god; but it was added that the volcano threw up one of his sandals, and thus revealed the manner of his death. His works were all in verse, the most important being a didactic poem on nature. He believed in the migration of souls. He first established the number of four elements, which he called the roots of all things.⏎
96. Sappho, surprisingly, has two entries in the Chronicle. In addition to the one here, Schedel previously devoted a short paragraph to her in the Fourth Age at Folio LXI verso, where she follows Pythagoras. The two entries are quite different (e.g., in the former she is strangely called Sappho Crexea). ⏎
97. Sappho was born on the island of Lesbos. ‘Lesbian’ is an adjective describing any citizen or place on that island.⏎
98. Schedel here abridges Boccaccio’s entry on Sappho (number 47) from the Italian author’s De Mulieribus Claris (‘On Famous Women’) written in 1362:

    XLVII. DE SAPHO, PUELLA LESBIA ET POETA.

    Saphos lesbia ex Mitilena urbe puella fuit, nec amplius sue originis posteritati relictum est. Sane, si studium inspexerimus, quod annositas abstulit pro parte restitutum videbimus: eam scilicet ex honestis atque claris parentibus genitam. Non enim illud unquam degener animus potuit desiderasse vel attigisse plebeius. Hec etenim, etsi quibus temporibus claruerit ignoremus, adeo generose fuit mentis, ut, etate florens et forma, non contenta solum literas iungere novisse, ampliori fervore animi et ingenii suasa vivacitate, conscenso studio vigili, per abruta Parnasi vertice celso se felici ausu, Musis non renuentibus, inmiscuit; et laureo pervagato nemore, in antrum usque Apollinis evasit, et castalio proluta latice, Phebi sumpto plectro, sacris nynphis choream traentibus, sonore cithare fides tangere et expromere modulos puella non dubitavit; que quidem etiam studiosissimis viris difficilia plurimum visa sunt.

    Quid multa? Eo studio devenit suo, ut usque in hodiernum clarissimum suum carmen, testimonio veterum, lucens sit, et erecta illi fuerit statua enea, et suo dicata nomini, et ipsa inter poetas celebres numerata. Quo splendore profecto non clariora sunt regum dyademata, non pontificum infule, nec etiam triunphantium lauree. Verum - si danda fides est - uti feliciter studuit, sic infelici amore capta est. Nam, seu facetia seu decore seu alia gratia cuiusdam iuvenis dilectione, imo intolerabili occupata peste, cum ille desiderio suo non esset accomodus, ingemiscens in eius obstinatam duritiem dicunt versus flebiles cecinisse. Quos ego elegos fuisse putassem, cum tali sint elegi attributi materie, ni legissem ab ea, quasi preteritorum carminum formis spretis, novum adinventum genus, diversis a ceteris incedens pedibus, quod adhuc ex eius nomine «saphycum» appellatur. Sed quid? Accusande videntur Pyerides que, tangente Anphyone liram, ogygia saxa movisse potuerunt et adolescentis cor, Sapho canente, mollisse noluerunt.

    SAPPHO, GIRL OF LESBOS AND POETESS

    "Sappho was a girl from the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. No other fact has reached us about her origin. But if we consider her métier, we will see restored to her part of what time has destroyed: namely, that Sappho must have been born of honorable and distinguished parents, for no ignoble soul could have wanted to write poetry, nor could a vulgar one have actually done it.

    We do not know when Sappho lived. She was, however, of such a noble disposition that, in the bloom of youth and beauty she was not satisfied solely to write in prose. Spurred on by a wider spiritual and intellectual fervor, Sappho studied diligently and ascended the steep slopes of Parnassus. On that lofty summit, with happy daring she joined the welcoming Muses. Wandering through the laurel grove, she arrived at the cave of Apollo, bathed in the Castilian spring, and took up Phoebus’ plectrum. As the sacred nymphs danced, this young girl did not hesitate to strike the strings of the resonant cithara and bring forth melodies, something that seems extremely difficult even for the most skilled males.

    In short, Sappho’s art reached such heights that her poetry, renowned in ancient testimony, is still famous in our own day. A bronze statue was erected and dedicated to her, and she was included among the famous poets. Such glory neither the crowns of kings nor pontifical mitres nor even the conquerors’ laurel can surpass.

    But, if the story is true, Sappho was as unhappy in love as she was happy in her poetic craft. Either because of his wit or good looks or because of some other charm she became infatuated with a young man (better still, fell prey to an intolerable pestilence). He, however, did not reciprocate her passion. Lamenting his stubborn resistance, Sappho is said to have composed mournful verses. I should have thought that these would be elegiac distichs, since they are appropriate to such subjects, had I not read that Sappho scorned the verse forms used by her predecessors and wrote a new kind of verse in a completely different meter which is still called ‘Sapphic’ after her.

    But to what effect? The Muses, it seems, should be blamed: they were able to move the stones of Ogygia when Amphion played the lyre, but they were unwilling to soften the young man’s heart when Sappho sang."

    (Virginia Brown, Giovanni Boccaccio: Famous Women; I Tatti Renaissance Library, 2001; pp. 193, 195)

    All but the last sentence in the Latin edition of the Chronicle is taken from Boccaccio. The German edition, in fact, removes it, in addition to changing (mostly abridging) some of the Latin text’s information on Sappho:

    Sappho, a native of Lesbian Mytilene, another poetess, lived in high esteem at this time. She was the offspring of honorable and noble parents, and was therefore of a noble disposition. In the bloom of her youth she was of beautiful stature. In her passion and zeal for learning, she cast herself down from the heights of Mount Parnassus. She left behind many of her lovely poems. Therefore a bronze statue was erected in her memory.

    The German entry on Sappho is less florid and more logical than the Latin text. There are no non-sequitur sentences in this version, and the removal of the last line eliminates problems with the claim that Sappho’s poetry is still "shining in our (i.e., Boccaccio’s or Schedel’s) own day" when it didn’t really exist in the West before the year 1500 (after that period, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, many fragments were discovered in Egypt). The German version thus shows clear evidence of a strong editorial hand.

    ⏎

99. Cf. Schedel’s source, Pliny, Natural History 35.36:

    Opes quoque tantas adquisivit, ut in ostentatione earum Olympiae aureis litteris in palliorum tesseris intextum nomen suum ostentaret. Postea donare opera sua instituit, quod nullo pretio satis digno permutari posse diceret, sicuti Alcmenam Agragantinis, Pana Archelao.

    And he acquired such great wealth that he advertised it at Olympia by displaying his own name embroidered in gold lettering on the checked pattern of his robes. Afterwards he set about giving away his works as presents, saying that it was impossible for them to be sold at any price adequate to their value: for instance he presented his Alcmena to the city of Girgenti and his Pan to Archelaus.

    (H. Rackham, Pliny, Vol. IX; Loeb Classical Library, 1957; pp. 307, 309)

    This sentence along with the preceding two are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

    ⏎
100. Zeuxis, the celebrated painter, who excelled all his contemporaries except Parrhasius, was a native of Heraclea (probably of the city of that name on the Euxine), and flourished 424-400 BCE. He came to Athens soon after the Peloponnesian War, when he had already achieved a great reputation, although but a young man. He spent some time in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus, for whom he decorated the royal palace at Pella with paintings, probably soon after 413. He painted a picture of Helen of Troy for the city of Croton in Magna Graecia. He also visited Sicily, where he gave away his paintings to the Agrigentines. Again we find him at Olympia where he made an ostentatious display before the eyes of all Greece, of the wealth which his art had brought him, by appearing in a robe embroidered with his own name in letters of gold. After acquiring a great fortune he adopted the custom of giving away his pictures because no adequate price could be set upon them. The time of his death is unknown. The picture of Helen is his masterpiece, and for this he had as models the five most beautiful virgins of Croton. It was painted for the city’s temple to Hera. The art of accurate imitation of still life was carried almost to perfection by Zeuxis and his younger rival Parrhasius. The well-known story of the trial of skill, if not literally true, indicates the opinion which was held in ancient times of their powers of imitation. In this contest Zeuxis entered his painting of a bunch of grapes, so realistic that the birds flew at the picture to eat the fruit. Confident of victory, he called upon his rival no longer to delay to draw aside the curtain to show his picture; but the picture of Parrhasius was the curtain itself, which Zeuxis had mistaken for a real drapery. On discovering his error Zeuxis honorably yielded the palm to Parrhasius, saying that he had himself deceived birds but that Parrhasius had deceived an artist.⏎
101. The Senones are probably here meant. They were a powerful people in Gallia Lugdunensis, who dwelt along the upper course of the Seine. Augustus divided Gaul into four provinces – Gallia Narbonensis, the same as the old Provincia; Gallia Aquitania, extending from the Pyurennes to the Loire; Gallia Lugdunensis, the country between the Loire and the Seine and Saone – so called from the colony of Lugdunum (Lyon); and Gallia Belgica, between the Seine, Saone and the Rhine.⏎
102. Toulouse (Tolosa), a town of Gallia Narbonensis, was situated in Garumna, near the Aquitanian frontier. It was subsequently made a Roman colony, surnamed Palladia. It was a large and wealthy town, and contained a celebrated temple in which it is said there was deposited a great part of the booty taken by Brennus, leader of the Senonian Gauls, from the temple at Delphi. Town and temple were plundered by the consul Q. Servilius Caepio in 106 BCE; but the subsequent destruction of his army and his own unhappy fate were regarded as a divine punishment for his sacrilege. The city stands on the right bank of the Garonne, and is the capital of the department of Haute-Garonne in southwestern France. The church of St. Sernin, or Saturnin, whom legend represents as the first preacher of the gospel in Toulouse, where he was perhaps martyred about the middle of the third century, is the largest Romanesque basilica in existence, being 375 feet in length by 210 feet in breadth. In the crypts are many relics, which, however, were robbed of their gold and silver shrines during the Revolution. Toulouse is the seat of an archbishopric, a court of appeal, a court of assizes, and a prefect.⏎
103. The Bituriges were a numerous and powerful people in Gallia Aquitanica, and in early times were supreme over the Celtic tribes of Gaul.⏎
104. Tours (Turo, but correctly Turoni), on the Loire River, was originally called Altionos, and later Caesarodunum. It was the chief town of the Turones, a people in the interior of Gallia Lugdunensis. Tours became Christian about 250 CE through the preaching of Gatien, who founded the bishopric. When Gratian made tours the capital of Lugdunensis Tertia, it became an archbishopric. In the fifth century the official name of the city was changed to Civitas Turonorum. It fell to the Visigoths in 473, and later became part of the Frankish dominion under Clovis. The arts flourished in tours during the Middle Ages. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was the capital of the government of Touraine. Balzac was a native of Tours. Today the city, a university town, is noted primarily for its medieval cathedral (Cathedral of St. Gatien, also known simply as Tours Cathedral) and its central position in the heart of the Loire Valley with its numerous chateaux.⏎
105. The Insubres were a Gallic people who crossed the Alps and settled in Gallia Transpadana in northern Italy. Their chief town was Mediolanum (present day Milan). They were a powerful tribe, but were conquered by the Romans shortly before the Second Punic War. It was taken by the Romans in 222 BCE and later became the residence of the emperors of the West, till the coming of Atilla, who plundered the town and induced the people to transfer the seat of government to the strongly fortified Ravenna. Mediolanum was one of the foremost cities of the empire, and on the fall of the Western empire it became the seat of Theodoric the Great and the capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom, surpassing even Rome in population and prosperity. It received a fearful blow in 539 CE, when, having sided with Belisarius, it was taken by the Goths under Vistiges, a great part of it destroyed and the inhabitants put to the sword. It again became important under the Lombards.⏎
106. The Sicrambri (Sygambri, Sugambri, Sigambri or Sycambri) were one of the most powerful peoples of Germany at an early time. They belonged to the Istaevones, and dwelt originally north of the Ubii on the Rhine, from where they spread toward the north as far as Lippe. They were mentioned by Caesar, who invaded their territory. They were conquered by Tiberius in the reign of Augustus, and a large number of them were transplanted to Gaul, where they received settlements between the Maas and the Rhine as Roman subjects. The portion who remained in Germany withdrew farther south, probably to the mountainous country in the neighborhood of the Taunus, a large range of mountains, at no great distance from the confluence of the Moenus (Main) and the Rhine. Shortly afterwards they disappear from history, and are not mentioned again till the time of Ptolemy, who places them much farther north, close to the Bructeri and the Langobardi, somewhere between the Vecht and the Yssel. At a still later period we find them forming an important part of the confederacy known under the name of Franci.⏎
107. Brennus was the leader of the Senonian Gauls. In 390 BCE he invaded Italy. He defeated the Romans at the Allia, some twelve miles from Rome. He then appears to have delayed a day or two, giving the Romans time to fortify the Capitol; he then sacked Rome, besieged the Capitol for six months, accepted the offer of the defenders to ransom themselves, and then, probably departed safely with his booty. It is difficulty to disentangle the facts of this invasion from the legends. We may or may not believe the massacre of the Patricians in their chairs; the night attack on the Capitol, the sacred geese and the exploits of Manlius; the false weights at the paying of the ransom, and the hurling by Brennus of his sword into the scales, with the famous words, "Vae Victus." Livy says that at the time of the payment, Brennus and his forces were wiped out by Camillus.⏎
108. Maximianus was Roman emperor from 286 to 305 CE. He was born of humble parents in Pannonia, and had acquired such fame in the army that Diocletian selected this rough soldier for his colleague, as one whose abilities were likely to prove valuable in the disturbed state of public affairs. Accordingly, he created him first Caesar (285), and then Augustus (286), conferring at the same time the honorary appellation of Herculius, while he himself assumed that of Jovius. After having been reluctantly compelled to abdicate, at Milan (305), he was again invested with the imperial title by his son Maxentius, in the following year (306) to whom he rendered the most important service in the war with Severus and Galerius. Having been expelled from Rome shortly afterwards by his son, he took refuge in Gaul with Constantine, to whom he had previously given his daughter Fausta in marriage. Here he again attempted to assume the imperial throne, but was easily deposed by Constantine in 308. Two years afterwards he endeavored to induce his daughter Fausta to destroy her husband, and was in consequence compelled by Constantine to put an end to his own life.⏎

109. Arianism was the belief of Arius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, who died in 336 CE. He held that Christ was the first and noblest of all created beings, but that, as there was a time when he did not exist, he was not the Eternal Son of God, and that there was no Trinity, as the Son was of the same substance as the Father.

     Clovis, king of the Franks, was baptized at Rheims with 4000 of his followers in CE 496. He accepted the orthodox faith; on the other hand Ulfilas and those who had received Christianity through his influence were adherents of Arianism, a form of faith which had been declared heretical by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

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110. Parmensians, the inhabitants of Parma or Parmensia (originally in Gallia Cispadana).⏎
111. Placentians, the inhabitants of Placentia or Placentinus, now Piacenza. Formerly a Roman colony in Cisalpine Gaul.⏎

112. Milan was an important place from remote antiquity. It was founded by the Celts, and during the Roman period rose to be one of the chief cities of northern Italy, and in the fourth century it was often the residence of the emperors, particularly of Constantine the Great (324-37) and Theodosius (379-95) whose edicts in favor of Christianity were issued from there. The Lombard kingdom was overthrown by Charlemagne, whose successors ruled over the country by means of governors. It was against the walls of the Lombard cities that the power of the Hohenstaufen was broken. Their league was headed in 1167 by Milan, which was soon rebuilt after its destruction by Frederick Barbarossa in 1162. Feuds between the nobles and the people led in 1277 to domination by the Visconti, who by successful wars and diplomacy gained possession of a great part of northern Italy, and who proved famous patrons of the arts and sciences. Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1378-1402) founded the Cathedral of Milan and the certosa of Pavia. In 1450 the condottiere Francesco Sforza forced his way into power. He built the Castle and the Ospedale Maggiore, and invited Italian and Byzantine scholars to his court. Still more brilliant was the court of Lodovico Sforza, surnamed il Moro, who in 1477 usurped the guardianship of Francesco’s grandson, Gian Galleazzo Sforza. During his sway Beamante and Leonardo da Vinci came to Milan, raising it to the pinnacle of its artistic fame. The marriage of the Emperor Maximilian I with Bianca, Gian Galleazzo’s daughter, and Lodovico’s diplomatic alliance with Charles VIII of France ushered in a European war for the possession of upper Italy. Expelled by Louis XII in 1499, Ludovico ended his days in a French prison, but the victory gained by Charles V at Pavia in 1525 resulted in the cession of the duchy to his son Philip II of Spain. In 1714 the War of succession transferred the duchy to the House of Austria. An insurrection in 1848 compelled the Austrians to vacate the city, and the patriotic agitations which ensued were happily ended by the desired union with the new kingdom of Italy in 1859.

     The plain around Milan is extremely fertile, owing to the richness of the alluvial soil deposited by the Po, Ticino, Olona, and Adda, and to the excellent system of irrigation. From the cathedral roof it presents the appearance of a vast garden divided into square plots by rows of mulberry or poplar trees. To the east, this plain stretches as far as the eye can see towards Venice and the Adriatic; on the southern side the line of the Apennines from Bologna to Genoa closes the view; to the west rise the maritime Cottian and Graian Alps; while northward are the Pennine, Helvetic and Rhaetian Alps.

     The principal architectural attraction is the Cathedral of Milan, built of brick cased in marble from the quarries that Gian Galeazzo Visconti gave in perpetuity to the cathedral chapter. Begun in 1386, it was then the largest church in existence, and now, after St. Peter’s at Rome and the cathedral of Seville, it is the largest church in Europe. It covers an area of 14,000 square yards and has a capacity of 40,000 people. The interior is 486 feet long, 189 feet wide; the nave is 157 feet high, and the distance from the pavement to the top of the tower is 356 feet. The style is a very elaborate Gothic. The cathedral is regarded by the Milanese as the eighth wonder of the world. The roof, marble like the rest of the building, is adorned with 98 turrets, and the interior with upwards of 2,000 statues in marble. The stained glass windows in the choir are said to be the largest in the world. The church is cruciform in shape, with double aisles and a transept, the latter also flanked with aisles. The interior is supported by immense pillars.

     The Castel Sforzesco, or Castle of Milan, stands in the Parco Nuovo. It was built in 1450 by Francesco Sforza on the site of the one erected by Galeazzo II. Visconti (1355-1378), and demolished in 1447 by the populace after the death of Filippo Maria Visconti. After many vicissitudes it was restored – including especially the splendid entrance tower by Antonio Averulino (Filarete, 1451-1453), destroyed by a powder explosion in 1521 – in the 15th century style, and it is now a most imposing structure.

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113. Xerxes II, the only legitimate son of Artaxerxes I, succeeded his father as king of Persia in 425, but was murdered after a reign of only two months by his half-brother Sogdianus, who thus became king. Sogdianus was one of the illegitimate sons of Artaxerxes I. Sogdianus, however, was murdered in turn, after a reign of seven months, by his brother Ochus, who reigned under the name of Darius II.⏎
114. Jesus, son of Sirach, was the author of Ecclesiasticus (or ‘The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach’), one of the most valuable of the Apochryphal books. It resembles the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job in its ethical characteristics. The author was a Jew, and he wrote the book probably early in the third century, although the Greek translation was issued about 132 BCE. It was originally written in Hebrew, and in this language about one half of it has recently been discovered in Egypt and published. It is one of the works that gives us a vivid idea of the Wisdom literature produced in the centuries preceding the Christian era.⏎
115. Herodotus, Greek historian, and father of history, was born at Halicarnassus, a Doric colony in Caria, in 484 BCE. He later spent time in Athens, and was honored by being allowed to settle in the newly created Athenian colony at Thurii, in Italy, where he died. Where he wrote his history is not definitely known; but Lucian relates that he read his work to the assembled Greeks at Olympia, which was received with such universal applause, that the nine books of the work were in consequence honored with the names of the nine muses. On almost every page of his work he records the results of his personal observations and inquiries (the Greek word ‘historia’ means ‘inquiry’). He spent much time in many parts of Greece, and in Asia Minor and Syria. He probably traveled extensively in Egypt and the lands of the Middle East. The object of his work is to give an account of the struggles between the Greeks and the Persians, and the second half of his history in particular is a brilliant recounting of the various Persian invasions of Greece, culminating in Xerxes’ massive expedition in 480 BCE. His work concludes with the taking of Sestos by the Greeks in 478 BCE. The history is full of digressions and episodes, the most famous being book 2, which is almost entirely devoted to Egyptian history, culture, sociology, anthropology, and religion.⏎
116. Quintilian (M. Fabius Quintilianus), most celebrated Roman rhetorician, was born in Spain in 40 CE, attending lectures at Rome in his youth. Pliny the Younger was one of his pupils. He is also celebrated as the first public instructor to receive a regular salary from the imperial exchequer. After devoting twenty years to his profession, he retired to private life and died at about seventy-eight years of age. His greatest work is a complete system of rhetoric in twelve books.⏎
117. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
118. Darius II was king of Persia from 424-405 BCE. He was called Ochus before his accession, and then named Nothus (‘Bastard’), from his being one of the bastard sons of Artaxerxes I. He obtained the throne by murdering his brother Sogdianus. Darius was governed by eunuchs, and the weakness of his government is shown by the repeated insurrections of his satraps. In 414 the Persians were expelled from Egypt.⏎
119. Sophocles, the celebrated tragic poet, was born in 495 BCE in the village of Colonus, about one mile from Athens. His first appearance as a dramatist took place in 468, under peculiarly interesting circumstances. On this occasion, so the story goes, at the age of 27, he came forward as the rival of Aeschylus, whose supremacy had been maintained through an entire generation. The solemnities of the Great Dionysia (the festival in honor of the god Dionysus held in March in Athens) were rendered more imposing by the occasion of the return of Cimon from the expedition to Scyros, bringing with him the bones of Theseus. Public expectation was so excited respecting the approaching dramatic contest, and party feeling ran so high that Apsephion, the Archon Eponymus, whose duty it was to appoint the judges, had not yet ventured to proceed to the final act of drawing the lots for their election, when Cimon with his nine colleagues in the command, having entered the theater, the Archon detained them at the altar, and administered to them the oath appointed for the judges in the dramatic contests. The first prize was awarded to Sophocles, the second to Aeschylus, who was so mortified that he left Athens and retired to Sicily. From this time on Sophocles held the supremacy of the Athenian stage, until Euripides came forth as a new rival and won the first prize in 441. The following year Sophocles brought forth the earliest of his extant dramas, Antigone, a play which gave the Athenians such satisfaction, especially on account of the political wisdom which it displayed, that they elected him one of the ten generals that year (Pericles was also one). Sophocles died in 406 at the age of 90.⏎
120. Artaxerxes II, nicknamed Mnemon (Greek for ‘ever-mindful,’ ‘having a good memory’), from his good memory, succeeded his father Darius II, and reigned from 405-359 BCE. Cyrus, his younger brother, and supported by Greek mercenaries, invaded upper Asia. Cyrus fell in battle in the neighborhood of Cunaxa, near Babylon. Notwithstanding perpetual conflicts with the Greeks, the Persian empire maintained itself by the internal discord among the Greeks themselves, which was fomented by Persian money. The peace of Antalcidas (388 BCE) gave the Persians even greater power and influence than they possessed before. But Persia too was suffering from internal disturbances, and Artaxerxes had to carry on frequent wars with his tributary princes and satraps, who endeavored to make themselves independent. His attempts to recover Egypt failed. Toward the end of his reign he put to death his eldest son Darius, who had formed a plot to assassinate him. His last days were still further embittered by the unnatural conduct of his son Ochus, who caused the destruction of two of his brothers in order to secure the succession of himself. Artaxerxes was succeeded by Ochus, who ascended the throne as Artaxerxes III.⏎
121. Nectanabis II came to the throne of Egypt in 361 BCE. For some time he defeated all the attempts of Artaxerxes III (Ochus) to recover Egypt, but he was at length defeated himself, and despairing of making any further resistance, he fled into Ethiopia in 350. He was the third king of the Sebennite dynasty, and the last native sovereign to rule over Egypt.⏎
122. Artaxerxes III, also called Ochus, reigned from 359-338 BCE. In order to secure his throne, he began his reign with a merciless extirpation of the members of his own family. A reckless despot, the great advantages which the Persian arms gained during his reign, were alone due to his Greek generals and mercenaries. By this means he put down the revolt of the satrap, Artabazius, reduced the Phoenicians and several towns which had revolted in Cyprus, and finally Egypt, in 350. The reins of government were entirely in the hands of Bagoas, the eunuch, and of Mentor, the Rhodian. Finally he was poisoned by Bagoas, and was succeeded by his youngest son Arses.⏎
123. There is no mention of this king or his sons in Herodotus’ Histories. Th phrase, "about whom Herodotus makes mention," in fact, is not found in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
124. Arses was the youngest son of Artaxerxes III (Ochus). He was raised to the Persian throne by the eunuch Bagoas, after he had poisoned Artaxerxes in 339 BCE; but he too, was murdered by Bagoas in the third year of his reign, when he attempted to free himself from the bondage in which he was kept. After the death of Arses, Bagoas made Darius III king.⏎
125. Jaddua, the son of Jonathan, was high priest of the Jews, and officiated a considerable time after the Captivity. He is believed to be the same who lived in the time of Alexander the Great, and is the last of the high priests mentioned in the Old Testament.⏎

126. Parmenides was a distinguished Greek philosopher, but a native of Elea (not Athens), in Italy. According to Plato, Parmenides at the age of 65 came to Athens to the Panathenaia (the annual festival in honor of the patron goddess of the city, Athena), accompanied by Zeno, then 40 years old, and became acquainted with Socrates, who at that time was quite young. Parmenides was regarded with great esteem by Plato and Aristotle; and his fellow citizens thought so highly of him, that every year they bound their magistrates to obey the laws which he had enacted for them. The philosophical opinions of Parmenides were developed in a didactic poem in hexameter verse entitled On Nature, of which only fragments remain. In this poem he maintained that the phenomena of sense were delusive, and that it was only by mental abstraction that a person could attain to the knowledge of the only reality, a One and All, a continuous and self-existent substance, which could not be perceived by the senses. His insights have haunted philosophers for millennia.

     Zeno, the Eleatic philosopher, also a native of Elea (modern day Velia) in Italy, was one of the favorite disciples of Parmenides. His famous logical paradoxes have provided philosophers, mathematicians and writers from the time of Aristotle to the present with much to think about.

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127. Darius III (336-331 BCE) was the last king of Persia. He was the son of Arsames and Sisygambis, and a descendant of Darius II. He was raised to the throne by the eunuch Bogoas, after the murder of Arses. Alexander the Great defeated him in a number of successive engagements. While Alexander was pursuing Darius into the Parthian desert, the king was murdered by Bessus, satrap of Bactria.⏎
128. Melissus of Samos, a Greek philosopher, the son of Ithagenes, was according to common account, the commander of the fleet opposed to Pericles in 440 BCE. But he is not mentioned by Thucydides, and ought probably to be placed much earlier, as he is said to have been connected with Heraclitus, and to have been a disciple of Parmenides. It appears from the fragments of his work, which was written in prose, and in the Ionic dialect, that he adopted the doctrines of Eleatics.⏎
129. We have already encountered Brennus at Folio LXXII recto and will shortly see him appear again in the Chronicle.⏎
130. The German edition of the Chronicle removes this paragraph devoted to Brennus.⏎
131. Hippocrates was the most celebrated physician of antiquity. He was born on the island of Cos about 460 BCE. He belonged to the family of Aesclepiadae, and was the son of Heraclides, who was also a physician. His mother’s name was Phaenarete, who was said to be descended from Hercules. He was instructed in medical science by his father and by Herodicus. He wrote, taught, and practiced his profession at home; traveled in different parts of Greece. He is said to have died at Larissa in Thessaly, about 357, at the age of 104. He had two sons and a son-in-law, all of whom followed his profession, and who are supposed to have been the authors of some of the works in the Hippocratic collection. This is all we know of the life of Hippocrates, but much has been added by way of stories, clearly fabulous. Thus he is said to have stopped the plague at Athens by burning fires throughout the city, by suspending chaplets of flowers, and by the use of an antidote. The writings that have come down to us under the name of Hippocrates were composed by several different persons, and are of very different merit. They are more than 60 in number, but of these only a few may be by his hand as opposed to those written later by members of his school. The ancient physicians wrote numerous commentaries on the works in the Hippocratic collection. Of these the most valuable are the commentaries of Galen. Hippocrates divided the causes of diseases into two principal classes; one comprehending the influence of seasons, climates, water, situation, etc., and the other the influence of food, exercise, etc. He considered that while heat and cold, moisture and dryness succeeded each other throughout the year, the human body underwent certain analogous changes, which influenced the diseases of the period. He supposed that the four fluids or humors of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) are the primary seat of the disease; that health is the result of the due combination (Greek crasis = ‘mixing’) of these and that, when this combination was disturbed, disease was the consequence; that, in the course of a disorder that was proceeding favorably, these humors underwent a certain change in quality, which was the sign of returning health as preparing the way for the expulsion of the morbid matter (Greek crisis); and that these morbid matters (crises) had a tendency to occur at stated intervals, which were for this reason called "critical dyas." Hippocrates apparently had much experience and knew how to turn it to best account; and the number of moral reflections and sayings that we meet with in his writings, some of which (as, for example, "Life is short, but the Art (of Medicine) is long") have acquired a sort of proverbial notoriety (especially in their somewhat incorrectly understood Latin translations; e.g., Vita brevis, ars longa = ‘Life is short, Art long’). The Hippocratic Oath, which in modified form is still taken by medical students when they become doctors, is another of his lasting legacies. ⏎
132. Apollonius of Tyre was a Stoic philosopher who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Auletes. He wrote a history of Stoic philosophy from the time of Zeno.⏎
133. No such person exists, as far as we know. Perhaps ‘Cytheum’ is a garbled remembrance of his hometown, Citium.⏎
134. Zeno, a native of Citium in Cyprus, was the founder of Stoic philosophy. He began to study philosophy at an early age. According to some he was rich, according to others poor; but whichever is right, his moderation and contentment became proverbial. He studied under Stilpo of the Megaric school; also under Cronus, Philo, Zenocrates and Polemo. Zeno studied philosophy for 20 years, and after having developed his peculiar philosophic system, he opened his school in a certain porch (Stoa Poecile ‘The Painted Stoa’) in Athens, which at an earlier time was a meeting place of poets. From this place his disciples were called Stoics. Antigonus Gonatus, king of Macedonia, was an admirer of Zeno. The Athenians placed the greatest confidence in him, depositing with him the keys to their fortress, as the most trustworthy man. The date of his birth and death are unknown. He is said to have still been alive in 260 BCE and to have died at the age of 98 years.⏎
135. Archelaus was a philosopher, probably a native of Athens, though others say he was born at Miletus. He flourished about 450 BCE. His philosophic system is remarkable as forming a point of transition from the older to the newer form of philosophy in Greece.⏎
136. Socrates, the celebrated Athenian philosopher, was born c. 470 BCE in the Attic deme of Apolece, near Athens. In his youth he was said to have followed the profession of his father, attaining some proficiency as a sculptor. He was robust and possessed great endurance. He went barefoot at all seasons of the year and wore the same homely clothing, no matter what the season. He was very ugly looking, having a flat nose, thick lips, and prominent eyes like a satyr or Silenus. He filled no political office until 406, when he was a member of the senate of Five Hundred. He was man of great moral courage. Much of his life was devoted exclusively to teaching, to the neglect of more material things. Yet he never opened a school nor delivered a lecture; but everywhere, in the market place, the workshop, etc., he sought opportunities for awakening people of all ages to moral consciousness and self knowledge. He fought pretensions and conceit of knowledge in order to pave the way for correct knowledge. He incurred the bitter hatred of the mentally proud, to whom he therefore appeared an intolerable bore. He was persecuted and finally impeached for corrupting the youth and despising the tutelary deities of the State, and for putting new ones in their places. He was found guilty and condemned to death. He drank the cup of hemlock that was given to him, and died with composure and cheerfulness in his seventieth year (399 BCE). His friends and followers, who included Xenophon and Plato, wrote many works about him. Because of them (especially the latter), Socrates is, after Jesus, remembered today as perhaps the most important figure from antiquity (at least in the Western world), and can be said to be (unknown to himself) the beginning of various philosophical schools of thought through his various students/disciples (e.g., Plato, Antisthenes), and their students/disciples (e.g., Aristotle, Diogenes).⏎

137. Isocrates (436-338 BCE), an Attic orator, was the son of Theodorus, a successful manufacturer of musical instruments. He received the best education that Athens could provide. He took no part in public life, for which he was unfitted in physique as well as temperament, and he withdrew to Chios. He had already started teaching rhetoric, having lost his fortune in the tumult of the Peloponnesian Wars. He returned at about the time of the restoration of the democracy in 403. For the next ten years he continued to write occasional speeches for the law courts. He himself despised this branch of his work. His real vocation was teaching, and at about 392 he founded his famous school near the Lyceum, where for the rest of his life he may be said to have had the Greek-speaking world from the Black Sea to Sicily for his pupils. There is a tradition that at the panegyric contest on the death of Mausolus of Caria in 351, there was not a competitor who had not been trained by Isocrates. In the meanwhile he was also active as a publicist.

     Isocrates amassed considerable wealth in his profession, and fulfilled the usual public services of the rich man at Athens. His political views were in accord with the prevailing tendency of Greek political thought at the time. Whatever may be thought of his political tenets, there is no doubt of his place in the history of literature. He was regarded by the Greeks as representing the smooth or florid school of prose style. His real eminence consists in the fact that by giving an artistic finish to the literary branch of rhetoric, he set a standard in form and rhythm for prose style. This is his legacy to Cicero, and through him to the modern literature of Europe. His extant works consist of 21 speeches or discourses and 9 letters.

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138. This sentence, from Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria (10.73), is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
139. Lorenzo Valla (Laurentius Vallensis; 1407-1457), was a celebrated (and controversial) Italian humanist, philosopher, and literary critic. Pope Nicholas V (r. 1447-1455) commissioned him to translate the historians Thucydides and Herodotus (Schedel’s fanciful way of putting it—"were taught to speak in Latin"—is one of his best phrases in all the Chronicle).⏎
140. Thucydides, historian of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), was born near Athens about 460 BCE. He was one of those who suffered from the terrible plague at Athens, and one of the few who recovered. An aristocrat and military officer, he commanded an Athenian squadron of seven ships at Thasos (424), when he failed to relieve the city of Amphipolis from the brilliant Spartan general Brasidas; and, condemned (unfairly) after this event as a traitor, took refuge in exile, and retired to his Thracian estates. He lived in exile twenty years, and probably returned to Athens in 404. He must have died soon after 400. Thucydides was, in certain ways, the first modern, ‘critical’ historian. He removes the element of religion from his work, and focuses primarily on the militaristic, economic, sociological, and psychological aspects of the events of his day. The speeches that he puts into the mouths of the various political figures at the time are masterpieces of philosophical thought and sophistic rhetoric (often at the same time). Together with Herodotus, his predecessor of only a few years, he mapped out the limits of the field of history and historiography (adding also his special interests and talents in the field of political science).⏎
141. Xenophon (c. 435-354 BCE), Greek historian, essayist, and military commander, was the son of Gryllus, an Athenian knight. He came under the influence of Socrates at Athens. As he recounts in his celebrated military memoir, Anabasis, in 401 he accepted the invitation of Proxenus of Boeotia, a commander of Greek mercenaries, to join him at Sardis and take service under the Persian prince, Cyrus, ostensibly against the Pisidians, but really against Cyrus’s own brother, King Artaxerxes Mnemon. After the failure of this bold scheme and the death of the rebel prince at Cunaxa, Xenophon succeeded Proxenus in the command of the Ten Thousand Greeks. He became the life and soul of the army in his march of 1500 miles, as they fought their way against the ferocious tribes through the highlands of Armenia and the ice and snow of an inclement winter; and with such skill did he lead them that within five months they reached Trapezus, a Greek colony on the Black Sea, and ultimately Chrysopolis (Scutari) opposite Byzantium (399). He secured for his soldiers permanent service in the Lacedaemonian army against the Persians. Sentence of banishment was passed against him from Athens for thus taking service with Sparta. In 396 he formed a close friendship with Agesilaus, the Spartan king, and accompanied him in his eastern campaign; was in his company when he returned to Greece to conduct the war against the anti-Spartan league of Athens, Corinth, and Thebes, and witnessed the battle of Coronea. He went back with the king to Sparta, where he resided on and off until the Spartans presented him with an estate at Scillus, a town taken from Elis. And here he spent some twenty years of his life indulging his taste for literary work and the pursuits of a country gentleman. But the break-up of Spartan ascendancy after the battle of Leuctra drove him from his retreat. The Athenians who had now joined the Spartans against Thebes repealed his sentence of banishment. He settled at Corinth, where he died. His writings are divided into four classes: historical, technical and didactic, politico-philosophical, and ethic-philosophical.⏎
142. Archytas of Tarentum was a distinguished philosopher, mathematician, general and statesman. He lived about 400 BCE, and onwards, so that he was a contemporary of Plato, whose life he is said to have saved by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He was seven times the general of his city, and he commanded in several campaigns, in all of which he was victorious. After a life which secured to him a place among the very greatest men of antiquity, he was drowned while upon a voyage on the Adriatic. As a philosopher he belonged to the Pythagorean school, and he appears to have been himself the founder of a new sect. He paid much attention to mathematics. To his theoretical science he added the skill of a practical mechanician, and constructed various machines and automatons, among which his wooden flying dove in particular was the wonder of antiquity. He also applied mathematics with success to musical science, and even to metaphysical philosophy. Plato was indebted to him for some of his views; and Aristotle is thought by some writers to have borrowed of him the idea of the categories, as well as some of his ethical principles. (This entry on Archytas was taken word-for-word by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 1, pp. 273-4 s.v. Archytas.)⏎
143. Codrus was the last king of Athens.⏎

144. Plato was born at Athens or in the neighboring islands of Aegina about 429 BCE. Paternally he boasted descent from Codrus, maternally from Solon. He was originally named after his grandfather Aristocles, but because of his fluency of speech, or the breadth of his chest, he received the name by which we know him (Platon = ‘broad [shoulders/chest?]’). When a youth he is said to have competed in the Isthmian and other games. He did not devote himself to philosophy until later, probably after he was drawn to those in Socrates’ circle. He received instruction from some of the most distinguished teachers. In his twentieth year he started listening to Socrates, becoming one of his most ardent admirers. After the latter’s death he withdrew to Megara where he probably composed several of his dialogues. Through friendship for the mathematician Theodorus, he went to Cyrene. He also visited Egypt, Sicily, and the Greek cities in Lower Italy in his quest for knowledge. During his residence in Sicily he became acquainted with the elder Dionysius, but very soon fell out with the tyrant (and, we are told in later, probably legendary, accounts that he was sold by the tyrant into slavery). After his return he taught gratuitously. A narrow circle of his disciples assembled in his garden at simple meals. From his house came his nephew Speusippus, Xenocrates of Chalcedon, Aristotle, Heraclides Ponticus, Hestiaeus of Perinthua, Philippus the Opuntian, and other men from many parts of Greece. With the exception of two visits to Sicily, Plato was occupied from the time he opened his school in the Academy in giving instruction and in the composition of his works. He died in 347 at the age of 82 years. According to his last will and testament, his garden remained the property of the school and passed, considerably increased by subsequent additions, into the hands of the Neo-Platonists who kept as a festival his birthday as well as that of Socrates. (This entry on Plato was taken, and massively abridged, by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 3, pp. 392-405 s.v. Plato.)

     Plato is, perhaps, the most famous and influential philospher in the western tradition. In addition, he is a master prose stylist (his Symposium, for example, in addition to being the most sophisticated—and influential—exploration of the idea of ‘love’ in western civilization, is also one of the greatest of all literary works from the ancient world).

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145. Gorgias of Leontini, Sicily, was a celebrated rhetorician, orator, sophist and philosopher. He was born about 480 BCE and lived to be about 109 years old, so it is said.⏎
146. 40 stadia are equal to approximately 4.5 miles⏎
147. Jerome’s Adversum Jovinianum (‘Against Jovinian’) was a polemical treatise in two volumes written in 393 CE to counter pagan pride in pagan culture. It was titled ‘Against (the monk) Jovinian’, because that monk had asserted, among other things, the equality of virginity and marriage. The citation is from Adversum Jovinianum 2.344.⏎
148. Antisthenes, an Athenian, was the founder of Cynic philosophy. He was a disciple, first of Gorgias, and later of Socrates, whom he never abandoned. He taught in the Cynosarges, a gymnasium for Athenians born of foreign mothers; this is probably the origin of the name Cynics, although others derived the name from the doglike behavior and neglect of all forms and usages of society by its adherents. His writings, chiefly dialogues, were numerous, his style pure and elegant, and he possessed considerable wit and sarcasm. Being an enemy of all speculation he opposed Plato. His philosophical system was confined almost entirely to ethics. He showed contempt for luxury and the comforts of life by his mean clothing and hard fare. The Stoics later sprang from his school. (This entry on Antisthenes was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 1, pp. 207-208 s.v. Antisthenes. It has been every so slightly modified by the current editor.).⏎
149. Speusippus, the philosopher, native of Athens, was a son of Plato’s sister Potone, and succeeded Plato as president of the Academy, over which he presided for eight years. He developed the doctrines of his master in a number of works, all of which are now lost.⏎
150. Verbanus Lacus (Lake Maggiore), one of the principal lakes of Northern Italy.⏎
151. Odoacer, usually called king of the Heruli, was the leader of the barbarians who overthrew the Western empire in 476 CE. He took the title of king of Italy, and reigned till his power was overthrown by Theodoric, king of the Goths. Odoacer was defeated in three decisive battles by Theodoric (489-490) and took refuge in Ravenna, where he was besieged for three years. He at last capitulated on condition that he and Theodoric should be joint kings of Italy; but Odoacer was soon afterwards murdered by his rival.⏎
152. Orestes was regent of Italy during the short reign of his infant son Romulus Augustulus (475-6 CE). He was born in Pannonia, and served for some years under Attila; after whose death he rose to eminence at the Roman court. Having been entrusted with the command of an army by Julius Nepos, he deposed this emperor, and placed his son Romulus Augustulus on the throne; but in the following year he was defeated by Odoacer and put to death.⏎
153. Pavia, was originally called Ticinum, after the Ticinus (now the Ticino) on whose left bank it is located. This was an important river in Gallia Cisalpina. It rises in Mons Adula, and after flowing through Lacus Verbanus (‘Lake Maggiore’), it falls into the Po near Ticinum. It was upon the bank of this river that Hannibal gained his first victory over the Romans by the defeat of P. Scipio in 218 BCE. The chronicler seems to have the situation reversed. Ticinum was a town of the Laevi, or, according to others, of the Insubres. It was subsequently a Roman municipum; but it owed its greatness to the Lombard kings, who made it the capital of their dominions. The Lombards gave it the name of Papia, which it still retains under the slightly changed form of Pavia.⏎
154. Hermes Trismegistus is the reputed author of a great variety of works, some of which are still extant. The Greek god Hermes was identified with the Egyptian Thot, or Theut, as early as the time of Plato. The New Platonists regarded the Egyptian Hermes as the source of all knowledge and thought, and hence called him Trismegistus. A vast number of works on philosophy and religion, written by the New Platonists, were ascribed to Hermes; from which it was pretended that Pythagoras and Plato had derived all their knowledge. The most important of these works is entitled Poemander, apparently in imitation of Pastor of Hermas. It treats of nature, of the creation of the world, the deity, his nature and attributes, the human soul, knowledge, etc.⏎
155. This sentence and the preceding one are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
156. Apuleius of Madaura in Africa, was born about 130 CE. He received the first rudiments of education at Carthage, and afterwards studied the Platonic philosophy at Athens. He traveled extensively in Italy, Greece, and Asia, becoming initiated in most mysteries. He returned home, but soon thereafter journeyed to Alexandria. On his way he was taken ill at the town of Oea, and was hospitably received into the house of a young man, Sicinius Pontianus, whose mother, a very rich widow of the name of Pudentilla, he married. Her relatives being indignant that so much wealth should pass out of the family, impeached Apuleius of gaining the affection of Pudentilla by charms and magic spells. The cause was heard before the proconsul of Africa in 173, and the defense spoken by Apuleius is still extant. Of his subsequent career we know little except that he declaimed in public with great applause. His most important work is the novel the Golden Ass (also called Metamorphoses), apparently intended as a satire on the hypocrisy and debauchery of certain priests, fraudulent pretenders to supernatural power, and the general profligacy of public morals. (This entry on Apuleius was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 1, pp. 248-250 s.v. Apuleius.) ⏎
157. Plotinus was the originator of the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy. He was born at Lycopolis in Egypt in 203 CE. Of his life his disciple Porphyry wrote a biography that has come down to us. From him we learn that Plotinus began to study philosophy at the age of 28 years, and for eleven years remained under the instruction of Ammonius Saccas. In his 39th year he joined the expedition of the emperor Gordian (242) against the Persians, in order to become acquainted with the philosophy of the Persians and Indians. After the death of Gordian he fled to Antioch, and from there to Rome (244). For the next ten years he gave only oral instruction to a few friends, but was at length induced to commit his instructions to writing. In 264 Porphyry came to Rome, and joined himself to Plotinus. By this time twenty-one books had already been written by Plotinus. During the six years that Porphyry lived with Plotinus at Rome, the latter at the instigation of Amulius, Porphyry wrote twenty-three books on the subjects discussed in their meetings, to which nine were later added. In all, Plotinus wrote fifty-four books, and those he committed to the care of Porphyry for correction. On account of the weakness of his sight Plotinus never read them through a second time, to say nothing of making corrections. Porphyry divided the fifty-four books into six Enneads or sets of nine books each. Plotinus lived very modestly, and his hours of sleep were restricted to the briefest time possible. He was regarded with admiration and respect by men of science, philosophers and statesmen. He enjoyed the favor of the emperor Gallienus, and the empress Salonina. He died in 262. His philosophical system is founded on Plato’s writings, with the addition of various tenets drawn from the philosophy and religions of the Persians and Indians.⏎
158. Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, was born at Sinope in Pontus, about 412 BCE. His father was a banker, who was convicted of certain illegal transactions, in consequence of which Diogenes left Sinope and went to Athens. His youth is said to have been spent in dissolute extravagance; but at Athens his attention was arrested by the character of Antisthenes, who at first drove him away, but soon relented. His new pupil soon plunged into the most frantic excesses of austerity and moroseness. In summer he used to roll in the sand, and in winter he embraced statues covered with snow. He wore coarse clothing, lived on the plainest food, slept in porticoes or on the street, and finally, according to a well-known story, took up his residence in a tub belonging to the Metroum, or temple of the Mother of the Gods. In spite of his eccentricities, Diogenes was respected at Athens, and apparently was privileged to rebuke anything of which he disapproved. He seems to have ridiculed and despised all intellectual pursuits that did not directly and obviously tend to some immediate practical good. He abused literary men for reading about the evils of Odysseus, and neglecting their own; musicians for stringing the lyre harmoniously, while they left their minds discordant; men of science for troubling themselves about the moon and stars, while they neglected what lay immediately before them; orators for learning to say what was right, but not to practice it. On a voyage to Aegina, Diogenes was taken prisoner by pirates and carried to Crete to be sold as a slave. He was purchased by Xeniades of Corinth, over whom he acquired such influence that he soon received his freedom, was entrusted with the care of his master’s children, and passed his old age in his house. During his residence at Corinth his famous interview with Alexander is said to have taken place. The king said, "I am Alexander the Great;" to which the philosopher replied, "And I am Diogenes the Cynic." Alexander then asked him whether he could oblige him in any way. Diogenes replied, "Yes, you can stand out of the sunshine." We are further told that Alexander admired Diogenes so much that he said, "If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes." The cynic died at Corinth in 323 at the age of 90. (This entry on Diogenes was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 1, pp. 1021-1023 s.v. Diogenes.) ⏎
159. Philip II of Macedon was the youngest son of Amyntas II and Eurydice. He reigned from 359-336 BCE. He was born in the year 382, and was brought up at Thebes, to where he had been carried as a hostage by Pelopidas; and there he received a careful education. Upon the death of his brother (not his father as the chronicler states) Perdiccas III, who was slain in battle, Philip obtained the government of Macedonia, at first merely as regent and guardian of his infant nephew Amyntas; but at the end of a few months he was able to set aside the claims of the young prince and to assume the title of king. His military exploits are too numerous to mention here; suffice to say that he conquered all of Greece, and attempted to unify it. In the course of his preparations for an Asiatic expedition against the Persian Empire, Philip was murdered at a grand festival which he held at Aegae to solemnize the wedding of his daughter with Alexander of Epirus. He died at 47 in the 24th year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son Alexander the Great.⏎
160. Justin’s text (Epitome 12.3), from which Schedel is compiling this section, says that only 300 women accompanied the Amazon queen.⏎

161. Alexander the Great, son of Philip II and Olympias, was born at Pella in 356 BCE. His early education was committed to Leonidas and Lysimachus; and he was also placed under the care of Aristotle, who acquired an influence over his mind and character, which manifested itself to the latest period of his life. At the age of 16 Alexander was entrusted with the government of Macedonia by his father when Philip was obliged to leave his kingdom to march against Byzantium. He first distinguished himself, however, at the battle of Chaeronea (338), where the victory was due mainly to his impetuosity and courage. On the murder of Philip (336), Alexander ascended the throne, at the age of 20, and found himself surrounded by enemies. He first put down rebellion in his own kingdom, and then rapidly marched into Greece. His unexpected activity overawed all opposition; Thebes, which had been most active against him, submitted when he appeared at its gates; and the assembled Greeks at the Isthmus of Corinth, with the sole exception of the Lacedaemonians, elected him to the command against Persia, which had previously been bestowed upon his father. He now proceeded against the barbarians of the north, marched across Mount Haemus, defeated the Tribali, and advanced as far as the Danube, which he crossed; and on his return subdued the Illyrians and Taulantii. A report of his death having reached Greece, the Thebans once more took up arms. But a terrible punishment awaited them. Alexander took Thebes by assault, destroyed all the buildings with the exception of the house of Pindar, slew most of the inhabitants, and sold the rest as slaves. He now prepared for his great expedition against Persia. In the spring of 334 he crossed the Hellespont, with about 35,000 men, of which 30,000 were foot and 5,000 horse; and of the former only 12,000 were Macedonians. Alexander’s first engagement with the Persians was on the river Granicus in Mysia (May 334), where they were entirely defeated by him. This battle was followed by the capture or submission of the chief towns on the west coast of Asia Minor. Halicarnassus was not taken till late in the autumn, after a vigorous defense by Memnon, the ablest general of Darius, and whose death in the following year relieved Alexander from a formidable opponent. He now marched along the coast of Lycia and Pamphylia, and then north into Phrygia and to Gordium, where he cut or untied the celebrated Gordian knot, which it was said, was to be loosened only by the conqueror of Asia. In 333 he marched from Gordium through the center of Asia Minor into Cilicia.

     Darius meantime had collected an army of 500,000 or more men, whom Alexander defeated in the narrow plain of Issus. Darius escaped across the Euphrates, but his mother, wife and children fell into the hands of Alexander, who treated them with the utmost respect.

     Alexander now directed his arms against the cities of Phoenicia, most of which submitted; but Tyre was not taken until after an obstinate defense of seven months. Next followed the siege of Gaza, which again delayed Alexander two months. According to Josephus, Alexander then marched to Jerusalem, intending to punish the people for refusing assistance; but he was diverted by the high priest, and pardoned the people. Alexander next marched into Egypt, which willingly submitted, for the Egyptians hated the Persians. At the beginning of 331, Alexander founded at the mouth of the west branch of the Nile the city of Alexandria.

     In the spring of the same year (331) Alexander set out to meet Darius, who had collected another army, said to have amounted to more than a million men. They met in the plains of Gaugamela, and the Persians were completely defeated. Darius fled to Ecbatana in Media. Alexander was now the conqueror of Asia, and began to adopt Persian habits and customs, by which he conciliated his new subjects. He next marched to Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, and, according to some accounts, is said to have fired the palace in the revelry of a banquet, at the instigation of Thais, and Athenian courtesan.

     At the beginning of 330 Alexander marched from Persepolis into Media, in pursuit of Darius, whom he followed into the deserts of Parthia, where the king was murdered by Bessus, satrap of Bactria, and his associates. Bessus escaped to Bactria, and assumed the title of king of Persia. In 329 Alexander marched into Bactria against Bessus, whom he pursued across the Oxus into Sogdiana, where Bessus was betrayed to him and put to death. At the beginning of 327 Alexander took a mountain fortress, in which Oxyartes, a Bactrian prince, had deposited his wife and daughters. The beauty of Roxana , one of the latter, captivated the conqueror and he made her his wife.

     Alexander did not leave Bactria till late in the spring of 327, and crossed the Indus, probably near the modern Attock. He defeated Porus, an Indian king, at the Hydaspes, but restored to him his kingdom, and treated him with distinguished honor. He founded two towns, one on each bank of the Hydaspes: One he called Bucephala, in honor of his horse Bucephalus, who died here, after carrying him through many victories; and the other Nicaea, to commemorate his victory. From there he marched across the Acesines (the Chinab) and the Hydraotes (the Ravee), and penetrated as far as the Hyphasis (Garra). This was the furthest point he reached, for the Macedonians, worn out by long service, and tired of the war, refused to go on; and Alexander was obliged to lead them back. He returned to the Hydaspes, sailing down the river with about 8,000 men, while the remainder marched along the banks in two divisions. He reached the Indian Ocean about the middle of 326, and reached Susa in 325. Here he allowed himself and his troops some rest. Anxious to form his European and Asiatic subjects into one people, he assigned Asiatic wives to about 80 of his generals, and gave them rich dowries. He himself took a second wife, Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius, and according to some accounts, a third, Parysatis, the daughter of Ochus. About 10,000 Macedonians followed the examples of their leaders. Alexander also enrolled large numbers of Asiatics among his troops, directed his attention to the increase of commerce, made the Euphrates and Tigris more navigable by removing obstruction, etc. On his way to Babylon, Alexander was met by ambassadors from every part of the known world. He entered Babylon in the spring of 324, intending to make it the capital of his empire. But on his return to Babylon he was attacked by a fever probably brought on by his recent exertions in the marshy districts about the city, and aggravated by the quantity of wine he had drunk at a banquet given to his principal officers. He died in 323 after an illness of eleven days, at the age of 32, after a reign of 12 years and 8 months.

     The German edition of the Chronicle abridges this paragraph substantially (only half of its text is kept).

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162. According to Nehemiah 12:12, Jeshua begot Joiakim, who begot Eliashib, who begot Joiada, who begot Jonathan, who begot Jaddua (Jadus). See also 12:22. If this was the Jaddua of whom the legend of Josephus is that he went forth from Jerusalem at the head of the priests to meet Alexander the Great, and tender to him the submission of the city, his name must have been subsequently added to the list as made up by Ezra.⏎
163. Seleucus (surnamed Nicator) was the founder of the Syrian monarchy (312-280 BCE). He was the son of Antiochus, a Macedonia of distinction among the officers of Philip II, and was born 358 BCE. He accompanied Alexander on his expedition to Asia, and distinguished himself in the Indian campaigns. After the death of Alexander (323) he espoused the side of Perdiccas, whom he accompanied on his expedition against Egypt; but he took a leading part in the mutiny of the soldiers that ended in the death of Perdiccas. In the second partition of the provinces that followed, Seleucus obtained the wealthy and important satrapy of Babylonia. In the war between Antigonus and Eumenes he afforded efficient support to the former; but after the death of Eumenes (316) Antigonus began to treat the other satraps as his subjects. Thereupon Seleucus fled to Egypt, where he induced Ptolemy to unite with Lysimachus and Cassander in a league against the common enemy. In the war that ensued Seleucus took an active part. At length, in 312, he recovered Babylon; and it is from this period that the Syrian monarchy is commonly reckoned to commence. Soon afterwards Seleucus defeated Nicanor, the satrap of Media. He gradually extended his power over all the eastern provinces that had formed part of the empire of Alexander. In 307 he formally assumed the regal title. In league with Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander, he decisively defeated Antigonus at Ipsus (301) and in this battle Antigonus was slain. In the division of the spoils Seleucus was rewarded with the greater part of Asia Minor, including Syria. His empire now was the largest of those that had formed part of Alexander’s dominions. Feeling it difficult to exercise control over so vast an empire, he consigned the government of all the provinces beyond the Euphrates to his son Antiochus. In 288, the ambitious designs of Demetrius (now become king of Macedonia) once aroused the common jealousy of his adversaries, and led Seleucus again to unite with Ptolemy and Lysimachus against him. Demetrius was driven out of his kingdom. Seleucus crossed the Hellespont to take possession of the throne of Macedonia which had become vacant by the death of Lysimachus; but he advanced no farther than Lysimachus, when he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus, to whom as the son of his old friend and ally, he had extended a friendly protection. Seleucus died in his 78th year, and in the 32nd year of his reign. He appears to have carried out with great energy the projects originally formed by Alexander and himself, for the Hellenization of his Asiatic empire. He founded Greek or Macedonian colonies in almost every province, which became so many centers of Greek civilization. ⏎
164. Antigonus, king of Asia, surnamed the One-eyed, was a son of Philip of Elymiotis and father of Demetrius Poliorcetes by Stratonice. He was one of the generals of Alexander the Great, and upon the latter’s death received a substantial part of the empire. On the death of the regent Antipater in 319, he aspired to the sovereignty of Asia. In 316 he defeated Eumenes and put him to death. He carried on war against Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus. By the peace of 311, he was allowed to have the government of all Asia. The peace lasted but a year. He invaded Egypt, but was compelled to retreat. His son Demetrius carried on a successful war against Cassander in Greece, but he was compelled to return to Asia to assist his father, against whom Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus, had formed a fresh confederacy. Father and son were defeated at Ipsus in Phrygia in 301. Antigonus fell in the battle at the age of 81 years. ⏎
165. The Samaritans were descendants of the Cuthites, Avvites, Sepharvites, and Hamathites, established by Sargon in Samaria after he had put an end to the Israelite kingdom. They were instructed in a form of the Hebrew religion (which they grafted on to their own worships) in order to appease the "God of the land" (2 Kings 17:24). The enmity between Jews and Samaritans began to make its appearance immediately after the return from the Captivity. The Samaritans endeavored to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7; Nehemiah 4:7), and from time to time their aggressions and insults to the refounded Jewish State are recorded by Josephus. After the battle of Issus the Samaritans offered assistance to Alexander, and were allowed to build a temple at Gerizim, where they sacrificed after the manner of the Jews, though they were quite ready to repudiate Jewish origin, rite and prejudice whenever occasion arose (Jospehus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12.5—admittedly a biased account). The temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus. The disputes between the Jews and Samaritans were finally referred to Rome. Throughout the gospel history the ill feeling is conspicuous; the Samaritans were "strangers" (Luke 17:18), and considered ‘third-class’ Jews by the Judeans. Vespasian inflicted a crushing blow upon them by massacring 11,600 on Mount Gerizim. From this and other sufferings later inflicted by Zeno and Justinian they never recovered.⏎
166. Antiochus Soter reigned from 280-261 BCE, and was the son of Seleucus I, founder of the Syrian kingdom of the Seleucidae. He married his stepmother Stratonice, with whom he fell violently in love and whom his father surrendered to him. He fell in battle against the Gauls in 261.⏎
167. Demas is unknown outside of Water Burley’s (1275-after 1343; also known by his Latin name Gualteri Burlaeus) Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum (‘Book on the Life and Character of the Philosophers’), ch. 62: Demas. The entire passage is taken (slightly abridged) from this chapter of Burley’s work.⏎
168. Quintus Curtius was not a philosopher, nor a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He was, in fact, a Roman biographer of Alexander who lived sometime in the period between Augustus and Constantine (i.e., anywhere from three to six centuries after the death of Alexander!).⏎
169. Olympias, wife of Philip II of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great, was the daughter of Neopotolemus I, king of Epirus. She married Philip in 359 BCE. His numerous relationships and the jealousy of Olympias occasioned frequent disputes between them; and when he married Cleopatra, niece of Attalus (337) Olympias withdrew from Macedonia, taking refuge with her brother Alexander, king of Epirus. She was believed to have lent her support to the assassination of Philip in 336. After his death she returned to Macedonia, where she enjoyed a great influence through the affection of Alexander. On his death she again withdrew from Macedonia, where her enemy Antipater held undisputed control, and took refuge at Epirus. Here she lived in exile until the death of Antipater (319) presented a new opening to her ambition. She gave her support to the new regent Polysperchon, in opposition to Cassander, who had formed an alliance with Euridice, the wife of Philip Arrhidacus, nominal king of Macedonia. In 317 Olympias resolved to obtain supreme power in Macedonia. She invaded the country along with Polysperchon, defeated Euridice, and put her and her husband to death. She followed up her vengeance by the execution of Nicanor, the brother of Cassander, as well as of one hundred of his leading partisans among the Macedonian nobles. Cassander, who was at that time in the Peloponnese, hastened to turn his arms against Macedonia. Olympias on his approach threw herself (together with Roxana and the young Alexander) into Pydna, where she was closely blockaded by Cassander throughout the winder. In the spring of 316 she was compelled to surrender to Cassander, who caused her to be put to death. Olympias was not without something of the grandeur and loftiness of spirit that distinguished her son, but her ungovernable passions led her to acts of sanguinary cruelty that must forever disgrace her name. (This entry on Olympias was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 3, pp. 22-23 s.v. Olympias.)⏎
170. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
171. Ptolemy I, surnamed Soter (‘Savior’) but more commonly known as the son of Lagus, reigned 323-285 BCE. His father Lagus was a Macedonian of ignoble birth, but his mother Arsinoe had been a concubine of Philip of Macedon, on which account it seems to have been generally believed that Ptolemy was in reality the offspring of that monarch. Ptolemy is mentioned among the friends of the young Alexander, whom he accompanied throughout his campaigns in Asia, and was always treated by the king with great favor. On the division of the empire after Alexander’s death (323) Ptolemy obtained the government of Egypt. He enlarged his dominion by conquests. He allied himself with Cassander and Lysimachus. The latter years of Ptolemy’s reign appear to have been almost entirely devoted to the arts of peace, and to promoting the internal property of his dominions. In 285 he abdicated to his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, the child of his latest and most beloved wife, Berenice. Two years later the father died. By his able and vigorous administration he laid the foundation of the wealth and prosperity that Egypt enjoyed for a long time. He laid the foundation of the Library and Museum of Alexandria, which his son fostered after him. He surrounded himself with literary men and artists, and was himself an author. He composed a history of the wars of Alexander, which is frequently cited by later writers and is one of the chief authorities that Arrian made the groundwork of his own history. (This entry on Ptolemy I was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 3, pp. 581-586 s.v. Ptolemy I.)⏎
172. Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) was the son of Ptolemy I by his wife Berenice. His long reign was marked by few events of a striking character. He was engaged in wars with his half-brother Magus, and frequently engaged in hostilities with Syria, which were terminated toward the close of his reign by a treaty of peace, by which Ptolemy gave his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus II. His chief care was directed to the internal administration of his kingdom and the patronage of literature and science. The Museum of Alexandria, founded by his father, became the abode of all the most distinguished men of letters of the day, and in the library attached to it were accumulated all the reassures of ancient learning. Philadelphus founded new cities or colonies in great number in different parts of his dominion. He raised Egypt to great power and wealth. (This entry on Ptolemy II was abridged by our translator and indefatigable note gatherer, Walter Schmauch, without attribution—it was a more innocent time—from Smith’s 1870 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Vol. 3, pp. 586-587 s.v. Ptolemy II.) ⏎
173. See Veii, Folio LXIX verso, and note.⏎
174. See Brennus, Folio LXXII recto, and note.⏎
175. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

176. Furius Camillus was one of the great heroes of the Roman republic. He was censor in 403 BCE, and was consular tribune for the first time in 401, and for the second time in 398. In 396 he was dictator and gained a glorious victory over the Faliscans and Fidenates, took Veii, and entered Rome in triumph, riding a chariot drawn by white horses. In 394 he was consular tribune for the third time, and reduced the Faliscans. In 391 Camillus was accused of having made an unfair distribution of the booty of Veii, and went voluntarily into exile at Ardea. The next year (390) the Gauls took Rome, and laid siege to Ardea (See Senones, Folio LXIX verso, and note). The Romans in the Capitol recalled Camillus, and appointed him dictator in his absence. He hastily collected an army, attacked the Gauls, and defeated them completely. His fellow citizens saluted him as the Second Romulus. In 389 he was dictator for a third time, and defeated the Volscians, Aequians, and other nations. In 386 he was consular tribune for the fourth time; in 384 for the fifth; and in 381 for the sixth time. In 363 he was appointed dictator for the fourth time to resist the rogations of C. Licinius Stolo. In the next year, 367, he was dictator a fifth time, and though eighty years of age, he completely defeated the Gauls. He died of the pestilence in 365. Camillus was the great general of his age, and the resolute champion of the patrician order. His history, like that of most great national heroes, has been interwoven with many legendary and traditional fables.

     This paragraph is a very slight abridgment taken from Eutropius’ Breviarium historiae Romanae (‘Abridgement of Roman History’) 1.20. Eutropius’ text is a complete compendium, in ten books, of Roman history from the foundation of the city to the accession of the emperor Valens (364-378 CE), Eutropius’ contemporary.

     ⏎
177. See L. Quintus Cincinnatus, Folio LXIX verso.⏎
178. This paragraph undoubtedly refers to one of the dual portraits on this page. Three pairs of consuls are portrayed, but not named in the text.⏎
179. Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370-270 BCE), Roman general of the early republican period. According to the legend a raven settled on his helmet during his combat with a gigantic Gaul, and distracted the enemy’s attention by flying in his face. He was twice dictator and six times consul, and occupied the curule chair twenty-one times. In his various campaigns he defeated successively the Gauls, the Volscians, the Samnites, the Etruscans and the Marsians. His most important victory (343) was over the Samnites at Mount Gaurus. ⏎

180. P. Cornelius Rufinus was consul in 290 BCE, with M. Curius Dentatus, and in conjunction with his colleagues brought the Samnite War to a conclusion, and obtained a triumph in consequence. Rufinus was consul a second time in 277, and carried on the war against the Samnites and the Greeks in Southern Italy. The chief event of his second consulship was the capture of the important town of Croton. In 275, Rufinus was expelled from the senate on account of his possessing ten pounds of silver plate. The dictator Sulla was descended from him.

     M. Curius Dentatus is said to have derived his cognomen Dentatus from the circumstance of having been born with teeth in his mouth. He was a favorite hero of the Republican Republic, and was celebrated in later times as a noble specimen of old roman frugality and virtue. He was consul in 290 BCE with Rufinus as already stated, and was associated with him in the Samnite war. In 283 he fought as praetor against the Senones. In 275 he was consul a second time, and defeated Pyrrhus near Beneventum so completely that the king was obliged to leave Italy. In a third consulship he conquered the Lucanians, Samnites and Bruttians, who still continued in arms after the defeat of Pyrrhus. He retired to his small farm that he cultivated with his own hands, and rejected all favors. He was censor in 272, executing public works of great importance.

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181. In 340 BCE P. Decius Mus was consul with T. Manlius Torquatus, and he and his colleague had the conduct of the great Latin War. The two consuls marched into the field, and when they were encamped opposite the enemy near Capua, a vision appeared to each in the night, announcing that the general of one side and the army of the other were dedicated to the Gods of the Dead and to Mother Earth. They thereupon agreed that the one whose wing first began to waiver should dedicate himself and the army of the enemy to destruction. The decisive battle took place at the foot of Vesuvius; and when the troops of Decius, who commanded the left wing, began to give way, he resolved to fulfill his vow. He called for the pontifex maximus, M. Valerius, and repeated after him the form of words by which he dedicated himself and the enemy to the Gods of Death, with his toga wrapped around his head and standing upon a weapon; he then jumped upon his horse, wearing the cinctus gabinus or sacrificial dress, rushed into the greatest concentration of enemy troops, and was slain, leaving the victory to the Romans. Such is the common story of the death of Decius.⏎
182. See T. Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, Folio LXIX and note.⏎
183. P. Cornelius Dolabella Maximus was consul in 283 BCE with Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and in that year conquered the Senones, who had defeated the praetor L. Caecilius, and murdered the Roman ambassadors. Owing to the loss of the consular Fasti for that time we do not hear of his triumph, though he undoubtedly celebrated his victory by a triumph. In 279 he, together with C. Fabricius and Q. Aemilius, went to Pyrrhus as ambassadors to effect an exchange of prisoners.⏎
184. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
185. C. Fabricius Luscinus was one of the most popular heroes in Roman histor, and, like Cincinnatus and Curius, is the representative of the purity and honesty of ‘the good old times.’ In his first consulship, 282 BCE, he defeated the Lucanians, Bruttians and Samnites, gained a rich booty, and brought into the treasury more than 400 talents. Fabricius probably served as legate in the unfortunate campaign against Pyrrhus in 280; and at its close he was one of the ambassadors sent to Pyrrhus at Tarentum to negotiate a ransom or exchange of prisoners. The conduct of Fabricius on the occasion formed one of the most celebrated stories in Roman history, and was embellished in every way by subsequent writers. So much seems certain—that Pyrrhus used every effort to gain the favor of Fabricius; that he offered him the most splendid presents, and endeavored to enter him into his service, and accompany him to Greece; but that the sturdy Roman was proof against all his seductions, and rejected all his offers. On the renewal of the war in the following year (279) Fabricius again served as legate, and shared in the defeat in the battle of Asculum. In 278 he was consul a second time, and had the conduct of the war against Pyrrhus. The king was anxious for peace; and the generosity with which Fabricius sent back to Pyrrhus the traitor who had offered to poison him, afforded an opportunity for opening negotiations, which resulted in the evacuation of Italy by Pyrrhus. Fabricius then subdued the allies of the king in the south of Italy. He was censor in 275, and distinguished himself by the severity with which he attempted to repress the growing taste for luxury. Ancient writers love to tell of the frugal way in which he and his contemporary Curius Dentatus lived on their hereditary farms, and how they refused the rich present offered them. Fabricius died as poor as he had lived.⏎
186. Papirius is a name born by the members of a Roman gens (Papiria), originally plebeian and afterward patrician. the first consul of this name was L. Papirius Cursor, who held that office five times, and that of dictator twice. He was the chief hero of the second Samnite War (326-304 BCE), an exceptional commander and a man of strength and virtue. In 324, in the capacity of dictator, he condemned his magister equitum, Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, for joining in battle with the enemy contrary to his commands, and only allowed himself to be swayed from inflicting the death sentence through the combined pleas of his father, the senate, and the people. His son, of the same name, who was consul in 293, conducted a victorious war against the Samnites; and in his second consulate (273) he completed the subjugation of the Samnites, and celebrated a triumph over the Tarentians, Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttians.⏎
187. Antiochus Theos (261-246 BCE) was the son of Antiochus I, surnamed Soter. The Silesians gave him the surname Theos (‘God’ or ‘Divine’) because he delivered them from their tyrant Timarchus. He carried on war with Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt, which was brought to a close by his putting away his wife Laodice. In revenge Laodice caused Antiochus and Berenice to be murdered. He was succeeded by his son Seleucus Callinicus.⏎
188. This sentence does not appear in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
189. Antiochus Galericus was Seleucus II (surnamed, not Galericus, as the chronicler states, but Callinicus). He was the eldest son of Antiochus II (surnamed Theos) by his first wife Laodice. The first step of his administration, or rather that of his mother Laodice, was to put to death his stepmother Berenice, together with her infant son. In order to avenge his sister, Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, invaded the dominions of Seleucus, made himself master of Antioch, all of Syria, and carried his arms unopposed beyond the Euphrates and Tigris. Seleucus held himself aloof; but when Ptolemy was recalled by domestic disturbances at home, Seleucus recovered the greater part of the provinces he had lost. He then became involved in a war with his brother Antiochus Hierax, who attempted to obtain Asia Minor as an independent kingdom for himself. Antiochus was decisively defeated, obligated to quit Asia Minor, and took refuge in Egypt. Seleucus undertook an expedition to the East to reduce the revolted provinces of Parthia and Bactria. He was, however, defeated by Arsaces, king of Parthia, in a great battle to which the Parthians attribute their independence. After the expulsion of Antiochus, Attalus, king of Pergamon, extended his dominions over Asia Minor. In an expedition to recover these provinces Seleucus was accidentally killed by a fall from his horse in the twenty-first year of his reign. He left two sons, who succeeded him, Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus, surnamed the Great. ⏎

190. Flavius Josephus (37-95 CE), Jewish historian and military commander, born in the first year of Caligula, was a precocious student of the law, and made trial of the three sects of Judaism – Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes – before he reached the age of 19. Then, having spent three years in the desert with the hermit Banus, who was probably an Essene, he became a Pharisee. In 64 he went to Rome to intercede on behalf of some priests, his friends, whom the procurator Felix had sent to render account to Caesar for some insignificant offense. Making friends with Alityrus, a Jewish actor, who was a favorite of Nero, Josephus obtained an introduction to the empress Popaea and effected his purpose by her help. His visit to Rome enabled him to speak from personal experience of the power of the Empire, when he expostulated with the revolutionary Jews on his return to Palestine. But they refused to listen; and he, with all the Jews who did not fly the country, were dragged into the great rebellion of 66. In company with two other priests, Josephus was sent to Galilee under orders to persuade the ill-affected to lay down their arms and return to an allegiance with Rome, which the Jewish aristocracy had not yet renounced. Having sent his two companions back to Jerusalem, he organized the forces at his disposal, and made arrangements for the government of his province. His obvious desire to preserve law and order excited the hostility of John of Giscala, who endeavored vainly to remove him as a traitor to the national cause by inciting the Galileans to kill him and by persuading the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem to recall him.

     In the spring of 67 the Jewish troops, whom Josephus had drilled so sedulously, fled before the Roman forces of Vespasian and Titus. He sent to Jerusalem for reinforcements, but none came. With the stragglers who remained, he held a stronghold against the Romans by dint of his native cunning, and finally, when the place was taken, persuaded forty men, who shared his hiding place, to kill one another in turn rather than commit suicide. They agreed to cast lots, on the understanding that the second should kill the first, and so on. Josephus providentially drew the last lot and prevailed upon his destined victim to live. Their companions were all dead in accordance with the compact; but Josephus at any rate survived and surrendered. Being brought before Vespasian, he was inspired to prophesy that Vespasian would become emperor. When this prophecy was fulfilled, he was liberated, assumed the name of Flavius, the family name of Vespasian, and accompanied his patron to Alexandria. He returned to Rome, was awarded a pension, and was made a Roman citizen, receiving an estate in Judea. The Jewish War, oldest of his extant writings, was written towards the end of Vespasian’s reign (69-79). The Jewish Antiquities, a history of the Jews from the Creation to the outbreak of the war with Rome, was finished in the year 93. He also wrote a narrative of his own life to defend himself against the accusation that he had caused the Jewish rebellion.

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191. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 12.2.⏎
192. The Septuagint (Seventy) is the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament. Its name, often represented by the Roman numerals LXX, is derived from the tradition that the translators numbered 70 or 72. According to Josephus, six elders from each tribe were sent to Alexandria with a copy of the Law requested by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and translated it in seventy-two days. Accounts of the translation vary but agree that it was made at Alexandria, begun under the early Ptolemies, about 285 BCE, and that the Pentateuch was translated first. The whole of the Old Testament seems to have been complete in Greek in the time of Ptolemy (VII) Physcon, about 130 BCE. Internal evidence suggests that it was made by different persons at different times from Egyptian Hebrew manuscripts, and by Alexandrian Jews more or less imperfectly versed in Hebrew. The books of Moses are the best translated. The version is faithful in substance as a whole, but contains many errors. The chronology differs materially from that of the Hebrew text, adding, for example, 606 years between the creation and the deluge. The importance of the Septuagint is that it was the text upon which the first generations of Christians based their teachings and understandings of the meaning of God and Jesus in their religion. For this reason it is, perhaps, the most important translation ever made.⏎
193. Ammon was originally an Ethiopian or Libyan deity, and later an Egyptian one. The real Egyptian name was Amun or Ammun. The Greeks called him Zeus Ammon, the Romans Jupiter Ammon, and the Hebrews Amon. The most ancient seat of his worship was Meroe, where he had an oracle; from there it was introduced into Egypt, where the worship took the firmest root at Thebes in Upper Egypt, which was therefore frequently called by the Greeks Diospolis, or the city of Zeus. Another famous seat of the god, with a celebrated oracle, was in the oasis of Ammorium (Siwah) in the Libyan Desert. The worship was also established at Cyrenaica. The god was represented either as a ram, or as a man with a ram’s head. It seems clear that the original idea of Ammon was that of a protector and leader of the flocks. The Ethiopians were a Nomad people, flocks of sheep were their principal wealth, and it is perfectly in accord with the notions of the Ethiopians and Egyptians to worship the animal that is the leader and protector of the flock.⏎

194. Alexandria is the name given to several cities founded by or in memory of Alexander the Great. One of them, the capital of Egypt under the Ptolemies, was ordered by Alexander the Great to be founded in 332 BCE. It was built on a narrow neck of land between the Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean, opposite to the Isle of Pharos, which was joined to the city by an artificial dyke, called Heptastadium, which formed, with the island, the two harbors of the city, that on the northeast of the dyke being named the Great Harbor (now the New Port), that on the southwest Eunostos (the Old Port). These harbors communicated with each other by channels, and there was a canal from Eunostos to the Lake Mareotis. The city was built on a regular plan, and was intersected by two principal streets about 100 feet wide, the one extending 30 stadia from east to west; the other across this, from the sea towards the lake, to the length of 10 stadia. At the eastern extremity of the city was the royal quarter, and at the other end, outside the city, was the cemetery. A great lighthouse was built on the island of Pharos in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Under the care of the Ptolemies, as the capital of a great kingdom and of the most fertile country on earth, and commanding by its position all the commerce of Europe with the East, Alexandria soon became the most wealthy and splendid city of the Roman world. Greeks, Jews, and other foreigners flocked there, and its population probably amounted to somewhere between 500,000 and 750,000 people. But a still greater distinction was conferred upon it through the foundation, by the first two Ptolemies, of the Museum, an institution in which men devoted to literature were maintained at the public cost, and of the Library which contained 90,000 distinct works, and 400,000 volumes, and the increase of which made it necessary to establish another library in the Serapium (Temple of Serapis), which reached 28,000 volumes, but which was destroyed by the bishop Theophilus, at the time of the general overthrow of the pagan temples under Theodosius (389 CE). The great Library suffered severely by fire when Julius Caesar was besieged in Alexandria, and it was finally destroyed by a lieutenant of the Caliph Omar in 651 CE. When Egypt became a Roman province, Alexandria was made the residence of the prefect of Egypt. It retained its commercial and literary importance, and became also a chief seat of Christianity and of theological learning.

     Much (all?) of this passage on Alexandria in the Latin edition of the Chronicleis taken from the work of Felix Fabri (c. 1437-1502), a Dominican monk from Germany who in 1480 and again in 1483 journeyed to the Holy Land, Arabia, and Egypt—his last visit being exactly one decade before the publication of the Chronicle. Published three years after his second visit to those lands, his nearly 1500-page text, whose title was Fratris Felici Fabri evagatorium in Terrae Sanctae, Arabiae et Egypti peregrinationem (‘The Wanderings of Brother Felix Fabri in his Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Arabia, and Egypt’), included the very first printed Coptic alphabet anywhere, and had a profound influence on European scholars in the 15th and 16th centuries.

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195. There are several individuals who have this name in the ancient world. This one must be the philosopher and biographer from Smyrna who lived c. 250-200 BCE.⏎
196. Another cut-and-paste job by Schedel, this time of Juvenal, Satire 10.130-2:

     quem pater ardentis massae fuligine lippus a carbone et forcipibus gladiosque paranti incude et luteo Volcano ad rhetora misit.

     Whom his father, blinded with the soot of a blazing mass, sent from coal and tongs and making swords, and from the forge and dingy Vulcan to learn rhetoric.

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197. Schedel incorrectly attributes this story to Valerius Maximus. In fact, it is found in Etymologiarum sive Originum (‘The Etymologies or Origins’) 1.40.7 of Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636). Isidore’s work was the most popular compendium in medieval libraries. Its popularity continued unabated in the Renaissance, as at least 10 printed editions of it between 1470 and 1530 clearly attest.⏎

198. Demosthenes, greatest of Athenian orators, was born about 385 BCE. At the age of 7 he lost his father, who left him and his younger sister to the care of guardians, relatives and friends. The guardians squandered the estate and neglected his education. He nevertheless received instruction from Isaeus. It is very doubtful whether he was taught by Plato and Isocrates , as some suppose. In time he came forward as a speaker in the public assembly. His first effort was ridiculed, for he labored under great physical disadvantages. His voice was weak, his utterance defective. It is said he spoke with pebbles in his mouth to cure himself of stammering; that he repeated verses of the poets as he ran uphill, to strengthen his voice; that he declaimed on the seashore to accustom himself to the noise and confusion of the popular assembly; that he lived for months in an underground cave, constantly writing out the history of Thucydides, to form a standard for his own style. By 355 he acquired a reputation as a public speaker, and his eloquence soon gained him the favor of the people. He clearly saw Philip’s resolve to subjugate Greece, and therefore devoted all his hours to resist the aggressions of the Macedonian. For 14 years he continued his struggle against Philip, and neither threats nor bribes could turn him from his purpose. His first Philippic, delivered in 352, was his earliest attempt to arouse his countrymen. His three Olynthiac orations, delivered three years later, had the same purpose, but without results. In the meantime the aggressions of Philip continued until by 338 he had seized Elatea. The Athenians heard of his approach with alarm; and succeeded, mainly through the efforts of Demosthenes, in forming an alliance with the Thebans. However, the allied forces were defeated by Philip in a decisive battle which ended Greek independence in the same year. Demosthenes was present at the battle, and fled like thousands of others. For this he was later reproached, but the Athenians, judging better of his conduct, requested him to deliver the funeral oration over those who had fallen, and celebrated the funeral feast in his house.

     The death of Philip in the year 336 roused the hopes of the hopes of the patriots of Greece, and Demosthenes was the first to proclaim the joyful tidings of the death of Philip of Macedon, and to call upon his countrymen to unite their strength against Macedonia. But the youthful Alexander compelled the Athenians to sue for peace. He demanded the surrender of Demosthenes and other leaders of the popular party, and with difficulty allowed them to remain at Athens. In the course of events, however, Demosthenes was forced into exile; but not for long. On the death of Alexander the Greek states rose against Macedonia. Demosthenes was recalled from exile, and his return to the city was a glorious triumph. His voice rang out like a trumpet, calling Greece to arms. In the following year (322) the battle of Crannon decided the Lamian War against Greece. Antipater, as a condition on which he would refrain from besieging Athens, demanded the surrender of the leading patriots, and this of course included Demosthenes. The condemned men fled to Aegina, but Demosthenes went on to Calauria, a small island off the coast of Argolis. He took refuge in an ancient sanctuary, the temple of Poseidon. Here he was pursued by the emissaries of Antipater. He thereupon took poison, and died in the temple.

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199. Aristotle the philosopher was born at Stageira, a town in Chalcide in Macedonia, in 384 BCE. His father Nicomachus was physician in ordinary to Amyntas II, king of Macedonia, and the author of several treatises on subjects connected with the natural sciences. His mother Phaestis (or Phaestias) was descended from a Chalcidian family. His father’s studies may account for Aristotle’s investigations of nature, an inclination which is perceived throughout the son’s life. Aristotle lost his father at 17. In 367 he went to Athens to pursue his studies, and there became a pupil of Plato, who named him "the intellect of his school." Aristotle lived at Athens for 20 years, till 347. During the last ten years of his residence at Athens he gave instruction in rhetoric. On Plato’s death he left Athens, returning to live with his friend Hermias of Atarneus. When Hermias was killed by the Persians, Aristotle fled to Mytilene. Two years later he became the instructor of Alexander the son of Philip, then thirteen years of age. On Alexander’s accession to the throne Aristotle returned to Athens, assembling about him a large number of distinguished scholars, to whom he lectured on philosophy. His school soon became the most famous in Athens, and he presided over it for thirteen years. During that time he also composed the greater part of his works. In these labors he was assisted by the kingly liberality of his famous pupil, who not only presented him with 800 talents, but also caused large collections of natural curiosities to be made for him, to which posterity is indebted for his History of Animals. After Alexander’s death Aristotle was looked upon with suspicion as a friend of Macedonia, and the charge of impiety was trumped up against him; but he escaped to Chalcis in Euboea where he died the same year (322).⏎
200. Epictetus (c. 55–c. 135 CE) was a famous Greek Stoic philosopher who lived more than three centuries after Epicurus, so he could only in a metaphorical sense ‘strive against’ Epictetus. Perhaps the chronicler suggests that⏎
201. Epicurus was born in 342 BCE on the island of Samos. At 18 he came to Athens, and there probably studied under Xenocrates, who at that time was head of the Academy. After a short stay Epicurus went to Colophon, and later resided at Mytilene and Lampsaeus, in which places he taught philosophy for five years. At 35 he again went to Athens and established a philosophical school, called after him, the Epicurians. there he spent the remainder of his life with numerous friends and pupils. His mode of living was simple, temperate and cheerful; and the aspersions of comic poets and later philosophers opposed to him, describing him as a person of sensual pleasures, do not seem entitled to credit. He took no part in public affairs, and died at the age of 72 after a long and painful illness, which he endured with true philosophic patience and courage. He is said to have written 300 volumes, and of these the most important was On Nature, in 37 volumes. All his works are lost except some fragments of this one. He made ethics the most important part of his system, since he regarded human happiness as the ultimate end of all philosophy. Pleasure with him was not a mere momentary and transitory sensation, but he conceived it as something lasting and imperishable, consisting in pure and noble mental enjoyments, free from all influences which disturb one’s peace of mind. Peace of mind was his sumum bonum.⏎
202. Callisthenes, a relative and pupil of Aristotle, accompanied Alexander the Great on his expedition into Asia. In his intercourse with Alexander he was arrogant and forward, taking every opportunity of exhibiting his independence. He expressed his indignation when Alexander adopted Oriental customs, and especially at the requirement of the ceremony of adoration. He thus rendered himself very obnoxious to the king, and was finally accused of being privy to the plot of Hermolaus to assassinate Alexander. After being kept in chains for seven months he was either put to death or died of disease. He wrote an account of Alexander’s expedition; a history of Greece in ten books and other works, all of which have perished.⏎

203. Xenocrates was a native of Chalcedon. He was born in 396 BCE, and died in 314, at the age of 82. He attached himself first to Aeschines the Socratic, and afterwards, while still a youth, to Plato, whom he accompanied to Syracuse. After his return to Athens he was repeatedly sent on embassies to Philip of Macedonia, and at a later time to Antipater during the Lamian War. He is said to have lacked quick apprehension and natural grace; but these facts were more than compensated by persevering industry, pure benevolence, freedom from all selfishness, and a moral earnestness, which obtained for him the esteem and confidence of the Athenians. He became President of the Academy even before the death of Speusippus, who was bowed down by sickness, and he occupied that post for 25 years. Of his numerous works only the titles have come down to us.

     Schedel’s mini-biography of Xenocrates comes from a Latin translation by Ambrose the Camaldulian (born Ambrogio Traversari, 1386-1439) of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, a work probably written sometime c. 225-250 CE.

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204. Ptolemy III (surnamed Euergetes), king of Egypt, was the eldest son of Ptolemy II (Philadelphus). When a mere child he was betrothed to Berenice, the daughter of Magas; but it was not till after the death of Magas, and the assassination of Demetrius the Handsome, who had made himself master of Cyrene, that their nuptials were solemnized. Ptolemy succeeded quietly to the extensive dominions of his father, and to these he now reunited Cyrene in right of his wife. On learning of the death of his father Philadelphus, Antiochus II, the king of Syria, put aside his wife Berenice, the daughter of the Egyptian king, and recalled his former wife Laodice, who soon sacrificed to her resentment, both her faithless husband and her rival Berenice and her infant son. Ptolemy appears to have taken up arms on receiving the first news of danger to his sister; but finding himself too late to save her he invaded Syria at the head of a large army to avenge her fate. The cruelties of Laodice, and the unhappy fate of Berenice, excited general disaffection, and many cities voluntarily joined Ptolemy. Neither the youthful Seleucus nor his mother were able to oppose the progress of the Egyptian king, who made himself master of the whole company south of Mt. Taurus. But instead of crossing the ridge and pursuing Seleucus himself, he turned eastward, crossed the Euphrates, advanced as far as Babylon and Susa, receiving the submission of all the upper provinces of Asia. But in the course of his conquests he was recalled to Egypt by news of seditions. On his return he carried with him an immense booty, including all the statues of the Egyptian deities which Cambyses had carried to Babylon from Persia. In elation his Egyptian subjects bestowed upon Ptolemy the surname Euergetes—‘the Benefactor.’ While he was making his conquests in the east, his fleets were reducing the maritime provinces of Asia. After his return to Egypt, the provinces in the east soon fell back into the hands of Seleucus, but Ptolemy retained the maritime regions and a great part of Syria.

     Euergetes is scarcely less celebrated than his father as patron of literature and science. He added largely to the Alexandrian Library. General opinion is that he died a natural death, although some are of the opinion that he was poisoned by his son. He reigned 25 years in uninterrupted prosperity. By his wife Berenice he left three sons—Ptolemy, who was his successor; and Magas and Arsinoe, afterwards married to her brother Ptolemy Philopater.

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205. Philopator means ‘Father-Lover’—obviously ironic in this case.⏎

206. Ptolemy IV (surnamed Philopater), king of Egypt, was the eldest son and successor of Ptolemy Euergetes. He lacked the virtues of his father, and his reign initiated the decline of the Egyptian kingdom. One of his earliest acts was to put to death his mother, Berenice, and his brother Magas (of whose influence and popularity with the army he was jealous), as well as his uncle Lysimachus, the brother of Ptolemy Euergetes. In all these murders his minister Sosilius was his ready instrument, and probably his adviser. Having thus, as he conceived, secured himself from all danger from domestic enemies, Ptolemy gave himself up to a life of indolence, luxury, and sensual indulgence, while he abandoned to Sosilius the care of political affairs. But Sosilius was as incompetent as his master. The army was neglected, and the kingdom was allowed to fall into a sate of disorder. Of this condition Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, was not slow to avail himself. But Ptolemy roused himself, and in the end defeated Antiochus at Raphia on the borders of the desert. Peace was finally established, the indolent, luxury loving Ptolemy preferring to return to his life of ease rather than follow up his successes. And now he gave himself up entirely to every species of vice and debauchery. He died in 205, after a reign of 17 years, leaving only one son, a child five years of age.

     Steeped in vice and debauchery as he was, Philopator appears to have inherited something of the love of letters for which his predecessors were so conspicuous. The schools continued to flourish in his reign, and he was on intimate terms with philosophers and men of letters.

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207. Dion, a Syracusan, was the son of Hipparinus, and a relative of Dionysius. His sister Aristomache was the second wife of the elder Dionysius; and Dion himself was married to Arete, the daughter of Dionysius by Aristomache. Dion was treated by Dionysius with the greatest distinction, and was employed by him in many services of trust. Of this close connection he seems to have availed himself to amass great wealth. He made no opposition to the succession of the younger Dionysius to his father’s power, but he became an object of suspicion to the youthful tyrant, to whom he also made himself personally disagreeable by the austerity of his manners. Dion was apparently a man of stern and proud character, and having become an ardent disciple of Plato when that philosopher visited Syracuse in the reign of the elder Dionysius, he carried to excess the austerity of a philosopher, and viewed with undisguised contempt the debaucheries and dissolute pleasures of his nephew. From these he endeavored to withdraw him by persuading him to invite Plato a second time to Syracuse; but the philosopher, thought received at first with the utmost distinction, failed in obtaining a permanent hold on the mind of Dionysius; and the intrigues of the opposite party headed by Philistus, were successful in procuring the banishment of Dion. He retired to Athens, where he lived in habitual intercourse with Plato and his disciples; but Plato having failed in procuring his recall (for which purpose he visited Syracuse a third time), and Dionysius having confiscated his property, and compelled his wife to marry another person, he attempted to expel the tyrant by force. He sailed from Zacynthus with a small force and obtained possession of Syracuse without opposition, while Dionysius was in Italy, leaving Dion undisputed master of the city in 356 BCE. His despotic character, however, soon caused great discontent, and the people complained with justice that they had only exchanged one tyrant for another. He caused his chief opponent, Heraclides, to be put to death, and confiscated the property of his adversaries. Callippus, an Athenian, who had accompanied him to Greece, formed a conspiracy against him, and caused him to be assassinated in his own house in 353.

     Schedel’s mini-biography on Dion is taken (with significant abridgment) from Cornelius Nepos (c. 100-24 BCE), Liber de Excellentibus Ducibus Exterarum Gentium (‘Lives of the Eminent Leaders of Foreign Nations’) 10.1.1-2, 10.2.3:

     1.1. Dion, Hipparini filius, Syracusanus, nobili genere natus, utraque implicatus tyrannide Dionysiorum. Namque ille superior Aristomachen, sororem Dionis, habuit in matrimonio; ex qua duos filios, Hipparinum et Nisaeum, procreauit totidemque filias, nomine Sophrosynen et Areten; quarum priorem Dionysio filio, eidem, cui regnum reliquit, nuptum dedit, alteram, Areten, Dioni. 2 Dion autem praeter nobilem propinquitatem generosamque maiorum famam multa alia ab natura habuit bona, in his ingenium docile, come, aptum ad artes optimas, magnam corporis dignitatem quae non minimum commendat, magnas praeterea diuitias a patre relictas, quas ipse tyranni muneribus auxerat.

     2.3 Quem Dion adeo admiratus est atque adamauit, ut se ei totum traderet. Neque uero minus ipse Plato delectatus est Dione.

     The last two sentences (a paraphrase of Nepos 10.2.3) are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

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208. Valerius Maximus, who was active c. 15 CE, was an author of a collection of historical anecdotes known by the title Factouvm et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Novem (‘Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings’). This story comes from VII.3.ext. 4:

     Lampsacenae urbis uero salus unius uaframenti beneficio constitit: nam cum ad excidium eius summo studio Alexander ferretur progressumque extra moenia Anaximenen praeceptorem suum uidisset, quia manifestum erat futurum ut preces suas irae eius opponeret, non facturum se quod petisset iurauit. tunc Anaximenes ‘peto’ inquit ‘ut Lampsacum diruas.’ haec uelocitas sagacitatis oppidum uetusta nobilitate inclytum exitio, cui destinatum erat, subtraxit.

     "The survival of the city of Lampsacus was thanks to a single stroke of craft. Alexander was earnestly bent on its destruction. Seeing his teacher Anaximenes come outside the walls obviously about to oppose his entreaties to his own wrath, Alexander swore that he would not do what he asked. Then said Anaximenes: "I ask that you destroy Lampsacus." His swift sagacity rescued a town famous in historic renown from the ruin to which it had been destined."

     D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Valerius Maximus, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 2000; p. 141 ⏎
209. A (spelling?) mistake for Lampsacus.⏎
210. Anaximenes of Lampascus, accompanied Alexander the Great to Asia, and wrote a history of Philip of Macedon; a history of Alexander the Great; and a history of Greece in 12 books, from the earliest mythical ages down to the death of Apaminondas. He also enjoyed a great reputation as a rhetorician, and was the author of a scientific treatise on rhetoric, usually printed among works of Aristotle.⏎

211. Carneades, a celebrated philosopher, born at Cyrene, about 213 BCE, was the founder of the third or new Academy at Athens. In 155 he was sent by the Athenians to Rome with Diogenes and Critolaus to deprecate the fine of 500 talents which had been imposed on the Athenians for the destruction of Oropus. At Tome he attracted great notice by his eloquent declamations on philosophical subjects, and it was here that he delivered his famous orations on Justice. He contended that justice was not a virtue, but a matter of compact for the maintenance of civil society. Thereupon Cato moved the senate to send him home to his school, and save the Roman youth from his demoralizing doctrines. He died in the year 129 at the age of 85. He was a strenuous opponent of the Stoics, and maintained that neither our senses nor our understanding supply us with a sure criterion of truth. The Diogenes here referred to is Diogenes the Babylonian, a Stoic philosopher, native of Seleucia in Babylonia. The third ambassador, Critolaus, also studied philosophy at Athens, and succeeded Ceos as the head of the Peripatetic school.

     Valerius Maximus recounts his story about Carneades in the eighth book of his Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Novem (‘Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings’), not the fourth as the Chronicle states. Here is the entire story from Valerius (VIII.7.ext. 5):

     Carneades, laboriosus et diuturnus sapientiae miles, si quidem xc expletis annis idem illi uiuendi ac philosophandi finis fuit, ita se mirifice doctrinae operibus addixerat, ut, cum cibi capiendi causa recubuisset, cogitationibus inhaerens manum ad mensam porrigere obliuisceretur. sed ei Melissa, quam uxoris loco habebat, temperato [inter] studia non interpellandi et inediae succurrendi officio dexteram suam necessariis usibus aptabat. ergo animo tantum modo uita fruebatur, corpore uero quasi alieno et superuacuo circumdatus erat. idem cum Chrysippo disputaturus elleboro se ante purgabat ad expromendum ingenium suum adtentius et illius refellendum acrius. quas potiones industria solidae laudis cupidis adpetendas effecit!

     Carneades was a hard-working and long-serving soldier of wisdom. After he had completed ninety years, the end of his living and his philosophizing was the same. So marvelously had he devoted himself to the operations of learning that when he had lain down to take a meal, wrapped in thought he would forget to stretch out his hand to the table. But Melissa, whom he had in lieu of a wife, adjusted her duty so as on the one hand not to interrupt his studies and on the other to minister to his fasting, adapting her own hand to the necessary uses. So Carneades enjoyed life only with his mind, enveloped by a quasi-alien and superfluous body. The same, when about to hold a debater with Chrysippus, used to purge himself with hellebore with a view to bringing forward his own intellectual resources with more concentration and rebutting those of Chrysippus with greater vigour. What draughts did Diligence make attractive to men axious for true glory!

     (D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Valerius Maximus, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 2000; pp. 233, 235)

     The order of the mini-biographies devoted to Anaximenes and Carneades are switched in the German edition of the Chronicle (most likely due to the different arrangment of the woodcuts devoted to these two men).

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212. Porta Collatina (‘The Collatine Gate’) is mentioned only by Festus (37): Collatia oppidum fuit prope Romam . . . a qua porta Romae Collatina dicta est. He has probably confused Collatina with Collina. The Via Collatina diverged to the southward from the Via Tiburtina outside the Porta Tiburtina. The Porta Collina is a gate in the Servian wall at the north end of the agger, named Collina, because it was on the collis Quirinalis.⏎

213. Sextilia, who according to tradition was buried alive in 273 BCE, is an illustration of the fate of a vestal virgin who neglected her vow of chastity. Vesta was the Roman hearth goddess. In an early community fire was hard to make, and therefore it was desirable that at least one fire should be kept always burning. This duty would naturally devolve upon the chief or king, and the actual maintenance of the fire would naturally fall to his young daughters, since slaves, if he had any, would hardly be trusted with a duty considered holy, while he and his sons would be out most of the day, and his wife would be busy with the household. Much of the actual preparation of food would also fall upon the daughters, as soon as they were old enough, for a Roman housewife in early days might not grind corn or cook food for her husband. For these reasons we get, in early historical times, besides the private cult of Vesta, a public cult of a sacred royal hearth, never allowed to go out, tended by girls, called Vestal Virgins, whose service begins when they are from six to ten years old, and lasts originally for five years, till they are old enough for marriage, or at least betrothal. The earliest cult of this kind is supposed to have been that at Lavinium; the most famous was at Rome.

     In the Republican times, the pontifex maximus took the place of the king for many sacred purposes. The Vestals, whose number was six, and whose term of service had now been lengthened to 30 years, were in his charge, being freed from the potestas of their own fathers. They must, when chosen, be of the required age, free-born of free and respectable parents (although later, daughters of freedmen were eligible), having both parents alive, and free from physical and mental defects. If a vestal let the fire go out she was beaten. If found guilty of unchastity, she was subjected to an ordeal which amounted to a horrible form of capital punishment; she was shut up with a little food in an underground chamber which was covered over with earth.

     Besides tending the fire, the vestals also prepared the sacred foodstuffs for ritual purposes. They also had the custody of various holy objects. They took part in ceremonies of various kinds, beside Vesta’s own elaborate daily ritual.

     The shrine of Vesta stood in the forum, near the Regia, or palace of the kings. It was not technically a temple but a round structure, a stone imitation of the primitive "bee-hive" hut.

     ⏎
214. Very little is known of this individual with the exception that he may have been a student of Pythagoras.⏎

215. Arcesilaus, here called Archiphilas, was the founder of the New Academy, and flourished c. 200 BCE. In his youth he came to Athens to study rhetoric, but becoming the disciple first of Theophrastus, and afterward of Crantor, he found his inclination led to philosophical pursuits. Not content, however, with any single school, he left his early masters and studied under skeptical and dialectic philosophers. He was not without reputation as a poet, and several of his puns and witticisms have been preserved, which give the idea of an accomplished man of the world rather than a grave philosopher. Although his means were not large, many tales are told of his generosity. His enemies accused him of the grossest profligacy, and it must be confessed that the accusation is slightly confirmed by the circumstance that he died at the age of 76 from a fit of excessive drunkenness.

     On the death of Crantor, Arcesilaus succeeded to the chair of the Academy, in the history of which he makes so important an era. In his time philosophy was absorbed in the single question of the grounds of human knowledge. According to Cicero he summed up his opinion in the formula "that he knew nothing, not even his own ignorance." Arcesilaus is also said to have restored the Socratic method of teaching in dialogues. The Stoics were his chief opponents. The New Academy does not seem to have doubted the existence of truth in itself, but our capacity to obtain it.

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216. A paragraph of extreme historical compression. Pyrrhus (318-272 BCE) was king of Epirus in Greece, and, in one of his many bids to expand his empire, assisted the Greek city-state of Tarentum in southern Italy in 280. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him such staggering losses (most notably against the Italian town of Asculum in 279), that the phrase ‘Pyrrhic victory’ was created to describe a victory that was so costly that it had become, in reality, a loss.⏎
217. According to legend, Marcus Valerius (who was reputed to have lived to 100 years of age, c. 370-270 BCE) acquired the nickname Corvinus (corvus = ‘Raven’) because, when serving as military tribune under Camillus in 349 BCE, he accepted the challenge of a gigantic Gaul to single combat, and was assisted in the conflict by a raven that settled upon his helmet, and flew in the face of the barbarian. He was six times consul and twice dictator, and by his military ability rendered the most memorable services to his country. His most brilliant victories were gained in his third consulship, 343, when he defeated the Samnites at Mt. Gaurus, and at Suessues. In his other consulships he repeatedly defeated the Etruscans and other enemies of Rome. He is frequently referred to by the later Roman writers as a memorable example of the favors of fortune. (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 7.26-42, 10.2-11.)⏎
218. See Folio LXXVI verso (Papirius) and note.⏎
219. Seleucus III (226-223 BCE), surnamed Ceraunus (Greek for ‘thunderbolt’) was the eldest son and successor of Seleucus II. The surname was given him by his soldiers, apparently in ironic derision, as he appears to have been feeble both in body and in mind. He was assassinated by two of his officers, after a reign of only three years, and was succeeded by his brother Antiochus the Great.⏎
220. Antiochus (III) the Great (223-187 BCE), second son of Seleucus Callinicus, took the throne on the death of his brother Seleucus Ceraunus at the age of 15. He warred against Ptolemy Philopator, king of Egypt, to obtain Coele-Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, but was obliged to cede these provinces to Ptolemy after his defeat at Raphia near Gaza, in 217. In 205 he renewed his war against Egypt with some success. In 198 he conquered Palestine and Coele-Syria, which he afterward gave up as a dowry with his daughter Cleopatra upon her marriage with Ptolemy Epiphanes. In 196 he crossed over to Europe, taking possession of the Thracian Chersonese. This brought him into conflict with the Romans, who demanded that he restore the Chersonese to the Macedonian king. He refused to comply, and in this was seconded by Hannibal (Barca) who arrived at his court in195. Hannibal urged him to invade Italy at once; but Antiochus did not follow this advice. It was not until 192 that he crossed over into Greece. The Romans defeated him in 191 and he was compelled to return to Asia. The following year he was again defeated by the Romans under L. Scipio and compelled to sue for peace, which was granted in 188, on condition of his ceding all his dominion east of Mt. Taurus, paying 15,000 Euboic talents within 12 years, giving up his elephants and ships of war, and surrendering the enemies of Rome; but he allowed Hannibal to escape. In order to raise the tribute money, he attacked a wealthy temple in Elymais, but was killed by the people of the place in 187. He was succeeded by his son Seleucus Philopator.⏎

221. Seleucus IV, surnamed Philopator, was the son and successor of Antiochus the Great, ascending the throne without opposition in 187 BCE. However, the defeat of his father by the Romans, and the ignominious peace that followed it, had greatly diminished the power of the Syrian monarchy, and the reign of Seleucus was feeble and inglorious. After a reign of twelve years he was assassinated by one of his own ministers, Helidorus, who conceived the idea of possessing himself of the sovereignty. The true heir, in fact, was Demetrius, the son of Seleucus (the chronicler is incorrect; he did leave an heir behind), now being retained in Rome as a hostage. The kingdom was thus seized by the younger brother of Seleucus, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, even though an infant son, also named Antiochus, was formal head of state for a few years until Epiphanes had him murdered.

     The last sentence in the mini-biography on Seleucus IV is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

     ⏎
222. The quote is from 2 Maccabees 1.11. This paragraph is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
223. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
224. Charles Martel (in Latin Carolus Martellus; c. 688-741) was the ruler of the Franks. He is best remembered for winning the Battle of Tours in 732, which has traditionally been understood as a historical turning-point, for it was by that victory that Islamic expansion into Europe—after rapid success in the Iberian peninsula—was halted. Charles’ nickname is derived from the Latin word malleus, which means ‘hammer.’⏎
225. This sentence is replaced in the German edition of the Chronicle with the following: "There, too, by reason of the prominence of the city, a Council (Concilium) was held."⏎

226. Siena (Sena) was a town in Etruria and a Roman colony. It was on the road from Clusium to Florentia and is mentioned only in the time of the emperors. According to one tradition, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who brought with him the image of Lupa, the she-wolf suckling the twins, which still remains the city’s badge. When he offered to sacrifice to his gods, a dense black smoke arose from the altar of Apollo, and a pure white smoke from that of Diana —in commemoration of which was made the balzana, the black and white shield of the Comme that we still see upon Siena’s gates and public buildings. There are two other shields associated with it: a blue shield with the word "Libertas" in gold letters, and a red shield with a white lion rampant.

     Siena’s epoch of greatness begins with the twelfth century. The people became associated in arts or guilds, resembling those of Florence, whose representatives sat in councils of the Republic. Throughout the greater part of the 12th and 13th centuries Siena was engaged in serious wars with Florence, brought on by the controversy between Guelfs and Ghibellines and by commercial rivalry. In 1552 Siena became a free city under the protection of Emperor Charles V.

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227. Ptolemy (V) Epiphanes was the son and successor of Ptolemy IV. At the death of his father in 205 BCE, he was but five years of age and Philip of Macedon and Antiochus III of Syria determined to take advantage of his minority, and entered into an alliance to divide his kingdom between them. Antiochus conquered Coele-Syria, while Philip reduced the Cyclades and the cities in Thrace that had remained subject to Egypt. In this emergency the Egyptian ministers had recourse to the powerful intervention of the Romans, who commanded both monarchs to refrain from further hostilities, and to restore all the conquered cities. In order to evade this demand without openly opposing the power of Rome, Antiochus concluded a treaty with Egypt, by which it was agreed that the young kind should marry Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus, and receive back the Syrian provinces as her dower. This treaty was made in 199, but the marriage ceremony was not solemnized until six years later. The administration of Egypt was placed in the hands of Aristomenes, a man in every way worthy of the charge. As early as 196, the young king was declared to be of full age and his coronation was solemnized with great magnificence. It was on this occasion that the decree was issued which has been preserved to us in the celebrated inscription known as the Rosetta stone, which afforded the key to discovery of hieroglyphics. In 193 the marriage of Ptolemy to the Syrian princess Cleopatra was solemnized at Raphia. Ptolemy, however, refused to assist his father-in-law against the Romans in the war that was about to break out, and he continued steadfast in his alliance with Rome. But he derived no advantage from the treaty that concluded it, and Antiochus still remained in the possession of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. As long as Ptolemy remained under the influence of Aristomenes, his administration was equitable and popular; but gradually he became estranged from his able minister, and threw himself more and more into the power of flatterers and vicious companions, until at length he was induced to rid himself of Aristomenes, who was compelled to take poison. He attempted to recover Coele-Syria from Seleucus, the successor of Antiochus, but having, by an unguarded expression, excited the apprehensions of some of his friends, he was poisoned in the 24th year of his reign at the age of 29. He left two sons, who afterward ascended the throne under the names of Ptolemy Philometor and Euergetes II, and a daughter, who bore her mother’s name of Cleopatra.⏎
228. Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the son of Antiochus (III) the Great. He carried on a war with Egypt from 171-163 BCE with great success, in order to obtain Coele-Syria and Palestine, which had been given as a dowry to his sister; and he was preparing to lay siege to Alexandria in 168 when the Romans compelled him to retire. Perhaps at the instigation of several of his high-ranking Hellenizing Jewish officials, Antiochus IV attempted to introduce rather forcefully the worship of the Greek divinities to the peoples of Jerusalem (in an attempt to unite the peoples of his empire around a common religious set of beliefs?); but this lead to a rising of the Jewish people under Mattathias and his sons the Maccabees, which Antiochus was unable to put down. He attempted to plunder a temple in Elymais in 164, but he was repulsed, and died shortly afterwards in a state of raving madness, which the Jews and Greeks equally attributed to his sacrilegious crimes. His subjects gave him the name of Epimanes ("the Madman") in parody of Epiphanes.⏎
229. Ptolemy (VI) Philometor was the eldest son of Ptolemy V, Epiphanes. He was but a child when his father died in 181 BCE, and during his minority the regency was assumed by his mother Cleopatra. By her able administration she maintained the kingdom in a state of peace; but after her death, in 173, the chief power fell into the hands of Eulaeus and Lenoeus, both corrupt and incapable. They rashly engaged in war with Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, hoping to recover the provinces of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia. Their army was totally defeated by Antiochus, who advanced without opposition as far as Memphis in the year 170. The young king himself fell into the hands of the enemy but was treated kindly, as Antiochus hoped by that course to make himself master of Egypt. When the younger Ptolemy learned of the captivity of his brother, he was at Alexandria with his sister Cleopatra, and he assumed the kingship as Euergetes II, and prepared to defend the capital. Antiochus laid siege to Alexandria but was unable to take it, and withdrew to Syria after establishing Philometor as king of Memphis, retaining in his own hands the frontier fortress of Pelusium. This last circumstance, together with the ravages committed by the Syrian troops, awakened Philometor, who had hitherto been a mere puppet in the hands of the Syrian king, to a sense of his true position, and he hastened to make overtures of peace to his brother and sister at Alexandria. It was agreed the two brothers should reign together, and that Philometor should marry his sister Cleopatra. This arrangement did not suit Antiochus, who immediately resumed hostilities, and he advanced a second time to the walls of Alexandria, when he was met by a Roman embassy, headed by M. Popillius Laenas, who haughtily commanded him to immediately desist from hostilities. He dared not disobey, and withdrew to his dominions in 168. Dissension soon broke out between the brothers, and Euergetes expelled Philometor from Alexandria. Thereupon Philometor went to Rome in person, and the Romans appointed deputies to reinstate him in his power. This was effected without opposition; but they settled that Euergetes should have Cyrene as a separate kingdom. Euergetes, however, soon laid claim to Cyprus as well, and in this he was supported by the Romans. Philometor refused to surrender the island, and in the war which ensued, Euergetes was taken prisoner by his brother, who not only spared his life, but sent him back to Cyrene on condition that he content himself with that kingdom. The attention of Philometor from this time on appears to have been directed to the side of Syria. Demetrius Soter having sought during the dissensions between the two brothers to make himself master of Cyprus, Ptolemy now supported the usurper Alexander Balas, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage in the year 150. But when Ptolemy advanced with an army to the assistance of his son-in-law, Cummonius (the favorite and minister of Alexander) formed a plot against the life of Ptolemy; whereupon the latter took away his daughter Cleopatra from her faithless husband, and bestowed her hand on Demetrius Nicator, the son of Soter, whose cause he now espoused. In conjunction with Demetrius he warred against Alexander, whom he defeated in a decisive battle, but he died a few days later from a fall from his horse in this battle (146). He reigned 35 years from the period of his first ascension, and 18 years from his restoration by the Romans. He left three children: (1) A son, Ptolemy, who was proclaimed king after his father’s death, as Ptolemy Eupator, but was put to death almost immediately by his uncle Euergetes; (2) a daughter, Cleopatra, married first to Alexander Balas, then to Demetrius II, king of Syria; and (3) another daughter named Cleopatra, who was afterwards married to her uncle Ptolemy Euergetes.⏎

230. Livy (Titus Livius), was a celebrated Roman historian. Jerome’s Chronicle, from which our chronicler has lifted this paragraph word for word, has misnamed his intended subject, Livius Andronicus, a writer of tragedy and epic (indeed, he ‘translated’ Homer’s Odyssey into Latin, employing Saturnian verse). This Andronicus was Rome’s first poet. According to Smith (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, s.v. Andronicus, Livius, Vol. 1, p. 175), Andronicus was:

     The earliest Roman poet, as far as poetical literature is concerned; for whatever popular poetry there may have existed at Rome, its poetical literature begins with this writer. (Quintilian 10.2.7.) He was a Greek and probably a native of Tarentum, and was made prisoner by the Romans during their wars in southern Italy. He then became the slave of M. Livius Salinator, perhaps the same who was consul in 219 BCE, and again in 207. Andronicus instructed the children of his master, but was afterwards restored to freedom, and received from his patron the Roman name Livius. During his stay at Rome, Andronicus made himself a perfect master of the Latin language, and appears to have exerted him self chiefly in creating a taste for regular dramatic representations. His first drama was acted in 240 BCE, in the consulship of C. Claudius and M. Tuditanus (Cicero, Brutus 18); but whether it was a tragedy or a comedy is uncertain. That he wrote comedies as well as tragedies is attested beyond all doubt. The number of his dramas was considerable, and we still possess the titles and fragments of at least fourteen. The subjects of them were all Greek, and they were little more than translations or imitations of Greek dramas. He is said to have died in 221, and cannot have lived beyond 214. As to the poetical merit of these compositions we are unable to form an accurate idea, since the extant fragments are few and short. The language in them appears yet in a rude and undeveloped form, but it has nevertheless a solid basis for further development. Cicero (Brutus 18) says, that in his time they were no longer worth reading, and that the 600 mules in the Clytemnestra and the 3000 craters in the Equus Trojanus (‘Trojan Horse’) could not afford any pleasure upon the stage. (ad Famil. 7.1) In the time of Horace, the poems of Andronicus were read and explained in schools; and Horace, although not an admirer of early Roman poetry, says, that he should not like to see the works of Andronicus destroyed. (Horace, Epistulae 2.1.69)

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231. The word chresius used to describe Theophrastus is meaningless. Perhaps it is related to the equally meaningless word used to describe Sappho (crexea) at Folio LXI verso. Since both were from the town of Eresus (or Eressos, on the island of Lesbos), it is possible that chresius/chrexea are corruptions of ‘Eresus.’⏎
232. Athenodorus (c. 74 BCE-7 CE) was a Stoic philosopher. He was born in Canana, near Tarsus (in modern-day Turkey). A student of Poseidonius of Rhodes, he is perhaps most famous for being the teacher of Octavian (the future Caesar Augustus) at Apollonia. ⏎
233. The word "Chresian" and the phrase "and, according to the testimony of Athenodorus in his book on the Peripatetics, the son of a fuller" are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
234. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
235. Theophrastus, Greek philosopher, was a native of Eresus in Lesbos, and studied philosophy at Athens, first under Plato and later under Aristotle, who is said to have changed his original name of Tyrtamus to Theophrastus (‘the Divine Speaker’) to indicate the fluent and graceful address of his pupil. Aristotle named Theophrastus his successor in the presidency of the Lyceum, and in his will bequeathed to him his library and the originals of his own writings. He was a worthy successor of his great master. When the philosophers were banished from Athens, Theophrastus also left the city; but he returned when the law was repealed. He continued to teach at Athens until the time of his death in 287 BCE, having presided over the Academy about 35 years. He is said to have closed his life with the complaint respecting the short duration of human existence—that it ended just when the insight into its problems was beginning. He bequeathed his library to Neleus of Scepsis. Theophrastus exerted himself to carry out the philosophical system of Aristotle, to throw light upon the difficulties contained in his books, and to fill up the gaps in them. His greatest contribution, perhaps, are his two surviving treatises on botany, which had a profound influence on the Middle Ages, and were the most important studies in this field for nearly eighteen hundred years.⏎
236. Menippus, a cynic philosopher, and originally a slave, was a native of Gadara in Coele-Syria who flourished about 250 BCE. He amassed great wealth as a moneylender but was defrauded of it all and committed suicide. We are told that he wrote nothing serious per se, but that he discussed serious subjects in a spirit of ridicule, and especially delighted in attacking rival philosophical schools such as the Epicureans and Stoics. Strabo called him the "serious-jokester". His works, named in honor of their creator Menippean satire, mixed prose and verse, and constituted an entirely new genre of literature. Though now lost, their influence on later writers was profound. Varro, Seneca (his Apocolocyntosis, or "Pumpkinification," is the only near-complete classical Menippean satire to survive), Petronius (Satyricon). Apuleius (Golden Ass) and Lucian were all his heirs in the ancient world. Modern descendants of Menippean satire include Voltaire, Diderot, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Swift, Rabelais, and Lewis Carroll (to name a few).⏎

237. Menander of Athens, born in 342 BCE, was the most distinguished playwright of New Comedy. Alexis, the comic playwright, was his uncle and no doubt instructed his nephew in the rules of composition of comic drama. His character must have been greatly influenced by his intimacy with Theophrastus and Epicurus, of whom the former was said to be his teacher, and the latter his intimate friend. His taste and sympathy were entirely with the philosophy of Epicurus, and in an epigram he declared that "as Themistocles rescued Greece from slavery, so Epicurus from unreason." From Theophrastus, on the other hand, he must have derived much of that skill in the discrimination of character which we so much admire in the Characters of the philosopher, and which formed the great charm of the Comedies of Menander. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, was one of his admirers, and he invited the poet to his court at Alexandria; but Meander seems to have declined the honor. He died at Athens in 291. His comedies were imitated by the Roman comic playwrights, particularly Terence. Indeed, through his Roman successors (and their successors in the medieval period all the way up to the 21st century) he can be seen as the father of situation comedy.

     The last two sentences of this paragraph (beginning with "For these reasons Ovid…") are not in the German edition of the Chronicle. The citation from Paul is 1 Corinthians 15.33.

     Menippus, a cynic philosopher, was by race Phoenician and by social position a slave. His master was Bachus, a certain man from the Pontus. He was (as Hermippus relates) a constant moneylender; but through his enemies he lost all he had. On account of this he hanged himself.236

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238. Demetrius Phalereus, so called from his birthplace, the Attic demos of Phalerum, where he was born about 345 BCE. His parents were poor but by his talents and perseverance he rose to the highest honors at Athens, and became distinguished as an orator, statesman, philosopher and poet. He was educated, together with the poet Menander, in the school of Theophratus. In 317 the government of Athens was entrusted to him by Cassander, and he discharged the duties of his office for 10 years with such general satisfaction that the Athenians conferred on him the most extraordinary distinctions, and erected no less than 360 statues in his honor. But during the latter period of his administration, he seems to have become intoxicated with his good fortune, and abandoned himself to dissipation. When Demetrius Poliorcetes approached Athens in 307, Demetrius Phalereus was obliged to take to flight, and his enemies induced the Athenians to sentence him to death. He went to Ptolemy Lagi at Alexandria, with whom he lived for many years on the best of terms, and it was probably owing to the influence of Demetrius that the great library at Alexandria was formed. But his successor Ptolemy Philadelphus was hostile toward Demetrius, because he had advised his father to appoint another of his sons as his successor. He banished Demetrius to Upper Egypt, where he is said to have died from a snakebite.⏎
239. The 477th year of the founding of the city corresponds to 277 BCE.⏎
240. Both in the German and the Latin editions of the Chronicle the Carthaginians are referred to in this manner.⏎
241. This introduces the first of the Punic Wars, which raged between Rome and Carthage in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The conflict began during the consulship of Appius Claudius and Quintus Fabius, who conducted the war against the Carthaginians in Sicily. Incidentally, it must be noted that the lineage of the Roman consuls, as given in the Chronicle, is by no means complete. These officials were elected annually, two for each year, and their number is legion, as can be readily appreciated by consulting the table supplementing Arnold’s History of Rome, William Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, and works of a like nature. The consuls and dictators who appear in the Chronicle are only a very small number selected by Schedel.⏎
242. This sentence does not appear in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

243. Cn. Cornelius Scipio Asina (here called Gnaeus), and Caius Duilius were consuls in 260 BCE, and participated in the first Punic War. The author’s reference to a naval battle with "sharp-pointed ships," may be thus explained: The old method of attempting to sink or disable an enemy ship by piercing her just below the water, with a brazen beak affixed to every ship’s bow, was still universally practiced during their time. The system of fighting, therefore, brought the ships close together; and if the fighting men on one side were superior, boarding, if possible, assured victory. This was therefore the Roman goal, and for the purpose they contrived a sort of drawbridge thirty-six feet long and four wide, with a low parapet on each side. This bridge was attached by a hole at the end of it to a mast twenty-four feet high, erected on the ship’s prow; and the hole was large and oblong, so that the bridge not only played freely all round the mast, but could be drawn up so as to lie close and almost parallel to it. The end of the bridge was hoisted by a rope passing through a block at the masthead. The bridge was let fall on the enemy’s ship at whatever quarter she appeared; and as a ship’s beak was commonly her only weapon, an enemy ventured without fear close to her broadside or her stern, as if she were there defenseless. When the bridge fell a strong iron spike, fixed at the bottom of it, was driven home by the mere weight of the fall into the deck of the enemy’s ship, and held it fast; whereupon the soldiers in two files rushed over the bridge and boarded the enemy vessel. And thus equipped the Roman fleet put to sea. It was commanded by one of the consuls, Cn. Cornelius Scipio; but as he allowed himself to be taken with seventeen ships in an ill-advised attempt on the Liparaean Islands, his colleague Duilius was called upon to conduct the fleet. He came upon the Carthaginians under the command of Hannibal; and they advanced confident of victory. But the 30 ships that formed the Carthaginian advanced squadron, including that of Hannibal himself, were immediately grappled by the Roman bridges, boarded and taken. Hannibal escaped in his boat to the main line of battle; but the character of the reception received by their first division startled the Carthaginians; and when they found their approach endangered by these bridges from every angle, they were seized with a panic and fled. Their total loss is said to have amounted to about 50 ships, 3,000 slain, and 7,000 prisoners. Some authors speak of "grappling irons, by means of which the enemy’s ship might be drawn, and the sea fight thus changed into a land fight;" but the bridges are probably meant.

     The phrase "because although they had been undefeated on land, now they were also very powerful on sea" is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

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244. There is no stoic philosopher called Crispus. The chronicler, or his source, must mean Chrysippus (c. 280–c. 207 BCE), the so-called second founder of Stoicism after Zeno.⏎
245. Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BCE. It was incredibly influential throughout all of antiquity.⏎
246. Chrysippus was not from Elea (Velia in Latin and Italian), a town in southern Italy, but from Soli (in Cilicia, Asia Minor), and was raised in Tarsus (also in Asia Minor). The pre-Socratic philosopher Zeno, who lived in the fifth-century BCE (and who is not the founder of Stoicism) was from Elea. Perhaps the fact that the two philosophers were called Zeno, and that Chrysippus was considered with the second Zeno to be the founder of Stoicism, is what caused the confusion. In any case, the German edition of the Chronicle does not include the phrase "who was from the nation of Elea."⏎
247. Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Novem (‘Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings’) VIII.7.ext. 10:

     Citerioris aetatis metas sed non parvi tamen spatii Chrysippi vivacitas flexit: nam octogesimo anno coeptum undequadragesimum Logikvn exactissimae subtilitatis volumen reliquit. Cuius studium in tradendis ingenii sui monumentis tantum operae laborisque sustinuit ut ad ea quae scriipsit penitus cognoscenda longa vita sit opus.

     Chrysippus’ longevity rounded the turning post of a shorter existence, but still one of no small span. For he left a thirty-ninth volume of "Logical Problems," of the nicest subtlety, begun in his eightieth year. His zeal in handing down the monuments of his intellect was equal to so much effort and labour that it takes a lng life to master his writings thoroughly.

     (D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Valerius Maximus, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 2000; p. 237) ⏎
248. Seneca cites this quote of Chrysippus (to whom he ascribes it) in Epistulae Morales (‘Moral Epistles’) 9.14⏎
249. Zeno (334-262 BCE) was a Greek philosopher from Citium, Cyprus, and the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy that he taught in Athens from around 300 BCE. Stoicism, which took its name from the fact that Zeno used to teach in the Stoa Poikile (‘Painted Porticoe’) of Athens, along with the ideas of Plato’s Academy, Epicureanism, and the philosophy of the Cynics, was one of the four great philosophical schools of thought of the ancient world. Its general principals placed great emphasis on the goodness and peace of mind that would arise from living a life of virtue in accordance with nature. After Zeno’s death it quickly became the most popular philosophical way of life in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.⏎
250. This last sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
251. Lucius Cornelius Scipio and C. Florus Aquillius were consuls in 259 BCE, the 6th year of the first Punic War. Scipio drove the Carthaginians out of Sardinia and Corsica, defeating Hanno, the Carthaginian commander, and obtaining a triumph in consequence. The province assigned to Florus was Sicily, where he watched the movement of Hamilcar. Florus triumphed in 258.⏎
252. Polemon of Athens was an eminent Platonic philosopher. He was the son of Philostratus, a man of wealth and political distinction. In his youth, Polemon was extremely profligate; but one day, when at the age of thirty years, on bursting into the school of Xenocrates, at the head of a band of revelers, his attention was so arrested by a discourse on temperance, that he tore off his garland and remained an attentive listener. From that day he pursued an abstemious course of life, and continued to frequent the school, of which, on the death of Xenocrates in 315 BCE, he became the head. He died in 273 at a great age. He esteemed the object of philosophy to be to exercise men in things and deeds, not in dialectic speculation. His whole theory was to live according to the laws of nature.⏎
253. Since there is no historical individual known as Atailcar, the chronicler must have meant Hamilcar.⏎
254. L. Manlius Vulso Longus and M. Atilius Regulus, consuls in 256 BCE, the 9th year of the first Punic War, defeated the Carthaginians by land and sea in Africa, and landed a large force there. They met with striking success; and after Manlius returned to Rome with half of the army, Regulus remained in Africa with the other half and vigorously prosecuted the war. He defeated the Carthaginian generals Hasdrubal, Bostar, and Hamilcar with great loss, and they retired within the walls of the city. Regulus ravaged the country round about. But in the midst of defeat success came to the Carthaginians from an unexpected source. Xanthippus, a Greek mercenary, pointed out to the Carthaginians their error, and being chosen to lead them, he boldly marched against the enemy in the open country with 4,000 cavalry and 100 elephants. Regulus was totally defeated, 30,000 of his men were slain, scarcely 2,000 escaped to Clypea, and Regulus himself was taken prisoner.⏎
255. Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior and M. Aemilius Paullus, whom the chronicler calls Marcus Aemilius and Paulus Servius, were consuls in 255 BCE. The Romans equipped a large fleet during their consulship, which defeated the Carthaginians in a naval battle, and carried off from Africa the survivors of the army of Regulus; but on its return to Italy the fleet was shipwrecked and most of the vessels were destroyed.⏎
256. For Antiochus IV Epiphanes, see also Folio LXXX verso, and note.⏎
257. Antiochus V (Eupator), no doubt here referred to, was nine years old at the time of his father’s death, and reigned under the guardianship of Lysias. He was dethroned and put to death by Demetrius Soter, the son of Seleucus Philopater, who had up until this point in time lived at Rome as a hostage.⏎
258. Demetrius Soter, who reigned 162-150 BCE, was the son of Seleucus IV (Philopator) and grandson of Antiochus the Great. While yet a child he had been sent by his father to Rome as a hostage, and remained there during the whole reign of Antiochus IV (Epiphanes). After the death of Antiochus, being now 23, he asked to be set at liberty, but being refused, he secretly fled from Rome and went to Syria. The Syrians declared in his favor; and the young king Antiochus V, with his tutor Lysias, was seized by his own guards and put to death. Rome recognized Demetrius as king; but having alienated his own subjects by luxury and intemperance, they sided with an imposter named Balas, who took the mane of Alexander. He defeated Demetrius in battle and slew him. Demetrius left two sons, Demetrius Nicator and Antiochus Sidetes.⏎
259. Mattathias, a citizen of Modin, was of priestly descent. When in accordance with the policy of Antiochus IV, the royal officers attempted to establish pagan sacrifices in the town, Mattathias refused to conform, killed the officer and a Jew about to offer sacrifices, leveled the pagan altar to the ground, and fled with his five sons to the mountains. There he was joined by a number of other like-minded individuals. After a few months of vigorous fighting, Mattathias died, leaving the conduct of the revolt to his five sons. Of these Eleazar and John were killed in the succeeding struggle, without having attained official standing. The other three were his successors. (1 Maccabees 2)⏎
260. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
261. Judas, called Maccabee, or ‘the Hammer,’ from which surname the entire family came to be known, was essentially a warrior, whose plans involved not only the re-establishment of the Torah, but also, in all probability, the reestablishment of the Jewish State in at least a semi-independent position. He defeated successively the Syrian generals Apollonius and Seron. Antiochus IV then sent Lysias, the imperial chancellor, to put down the revolt, and he in turn sent a large body of troops against Judas, under three generals—Ptolemy, Nicanor and Gorgias. Judas called the fighting men of Galilee together at Mizpah, organized them, and at Emmaus surprised and utterly defeated the forces of Gorgias. Later he defeated a great army under Lysias at Bethzur. In December 165, Judas cleansed the Temple of the Syrian pollutions, and inaugurated the re-established worship with a great feast. For a year and a half he waged war against his enemies on the east of the Jordan, while his brother Simon brought the scattered Jews throughout Galilee back to Judea for safety. His vigorous campaign seems to have alienated ‘The Pious,’ who had seen their ambitions realized in the re-establishment of the Temple worship. Lysias returned with a great army, completely defeating Judas at Beth-zacharias. He then laid siege to Jerusalem, where the citadel was still in Syrian hands. Jerusalem surrendered but Lysias did not attempt to disestablish the Jewish faith. He appointed Alcimus as high priest, who was received by ‘the Pious’ as legitimate, although he favored the Greeks. Judas and his party, however, remained in revolt, and when Lysias returned to Syria, undertook war against Alcimus himself. Demetrius I, who had succeeded Antiochus IV, sent Nicanor to put an end to the rebellion; but Judas defeated him and became the supreme head of the Jewish State. Judas sent ambassadors to Rome and thus gained an ally, and Demetrius was asked to desist from fighting the Jews. But the international policy of Judas displeased ‘the Pious,’ who deserted him; and before the message of the senate could reach Demetrius, Judas had been defeated by the Syrian general Bacchides, at Elasa, and killed (1 Maccabees 3-9:22).⏎

262. Jonathan undertook the leadership of the revolt upon the death of Judas Maccabeus, only to suffer serious defeat east of the Jordan, where he had gone to avenge the killing of his brother John by the ‘sons of Jambri.’ For a time it looked as if Syria would again establish its complete control over the country. The high priest Alcimus died, and Bacchides, believing the subjecting of Judea complete returned to Syria (160 BCE). The land, however, was not at peace, and in the interests of order, Bacchides gave Jonathan the right to maintain an armed force at Michmash. The fortunes of the Maccabaean house now rose steadily. As a sort of licensed revolutionist, Jonathan was sought as an ally by the two rivals, Alexander Balas and Demetrius I. He chose Alexander, and when the latter defeated Demetrius, Jonathan found himself a high priest, a prince of Syria, and a military and civil governor of Judea (150 BCE). But the steady advance of Judea was checked by the treacherous seizure of Jonathan by Trypho, the guardian and commanding general of the young Antiochus V, by whom he was executed in 142 (1 Maccabees 9:23).

     The last sentence of this paragraph is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

     ⏎
263. Aristarchus of Samothrace, the celebrated grammarian and scholar, flourished in the middle of the second century BCE. He was educated in the school of Aristophanes of Byzantium, at Alexandria, where he himself founded a grammatical and critical school. His specialty was Homer, and he soon became the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was also the librarian of the library of Alexandria, and seems to have succeeded his teacher Aristophanes of Byzantium in that role. At an advanced age he left Alexandria and went to Cyprus, where he is said to have died at the age of seventy-two of voluntary starvation, because he was suffering from incurable dropsy. He was, perhaps, the greatest textual critic of antiquity.⏎
264. There is no playwright known as Bacubius, which must be a corruption for Pacuvius (c. 220-230 BCE), a tragic poet who was born at Brundusium and was the nephew of Ennius. Cicero ranked him first among all Roman writers of tragedy.⏎
265. Ennius (239-169 BCE) was Rome’s greatest and most influential early poet and playwright.⏎
266. Simon, another son of Mattathias, succeeded Jonathan when the affairs of the State were in a critical position. He was a successful diplomatist and seldom compelled to resort to war. In 141 BCE he was elected high priest and military commander and civil governor of the Jews. The office of the high priest became hereditary in Simon’s family. Like his brother, however, he met a violent death, being killed by his son-in-law at a banquet. (1 Maccabees 13-16:18).⏎
267. Ptolemy VII (Euergetes II) or Physcon, that is ‘Big Belly’ reigned 146-117 BCE. In order to secure undisputed possession of the throne, he married his sister Cleopatra, the widow of his brother Philometor, and put to death his nephew Ptolemy, who had been proclaimed king under the surname of Eupator. A reign thus commenced in blood was continued in the same spirit. Many of the leading citizens of Alexandria who had taken part against him on the death of his brother were put to death, while the populace were given up to the cruelties of his mercenary troops, and the streets of the city were repeatedly deluged with blood. Thousands fled and the population of Alexandria was so reduced that the king invited foreigners to settle there. At the same time that he thus incurred the hatred of his subjects, he rendered himself an object of aversion by abandoning himself to the most degrading vices. He became bloated and deformed in person, and enormously corpulent, whence the Alexandrians gave him the nickname Physcon, by which he is more usually known. His union with Cleopatra was of short duration for he became enamored of his niece Cleopatra (the offspring of his wife by her former marriage with Philometor, and he did not hesitate to divorce her mother and receive her daughter in her stead as his wife and queen. By this he alienated still more the minds of his Greek subjects, and his vices and cruelties at length produced an insurrection at Alexandria. Thereupon he fled to Cyprus, and the Alexandrians declared his sister Cleopatra queen (130). Enraged at this, Ptolemy put to death Memphitis, his son by Cleopatra, and sent his head and hands to his unhappy mother. But Cleopatra having been shortly afterwards expelled from Alexandria, Ptolemy found himself unexpectedly reinstated on the throne (127). His sister Cleopatra fled to the court of her elder sister Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius II, king of Syria, who espoused the cause of the fugitive. Ptolemy, in revenge, set up against him a pretender, Zabinas or Zebina, who assumed the title of Alexander II. But the usurper was so haughty toward Ptolemy that the latter suddenly changed his policy, became reconciled to his sister Cleopatra, whom he permitted to return to Egypt, and gave his daughter Tryphaena to Antiochus Grypus, the son of Demetrius. Ptolemy died after a reign of 29 years from the death of Philometor, his brother. Although stained with the most infamous vices, Ptolemy retained that love of letters hereditary in the whole race of Ptolemies. In his youth he had been a pupil of Aristarchus, and courted the society of learned men. He himself was the author of memoirs that extended to 24 books. He left two sons, Ptolemy, afterward known as Soter II, and Alexander, both of whom subsequently succeeded to the throne of Egypt; also three daughters, (1) Cleopatra, married to her brother Ptolemy Soter, (2) Tryphaena, wife of Antiochus Grypus, king of Syria, and (3) Selene, who was unmarried at the time of her father’s death.⏎
268. The chronicler seems to be confused in the matter of surnames, as the name Physcon was applied to Ptolemy VII (Euergetes II). The Ptolemy now under consideration is Ptolemy VIII (Soter II), also called Philometor, but commonly called Lathyrus (‘chickpea’), who reigned firstly from 117 to 107, and later from 89 to 81, a total of 17 years, which agrees with the duration of his reign, according to the chronicler. Although of age at his father’s death in 117, he was obliged to reign jointly with his mother Cleopatra, who had been appointed by the will of her late husband to succeed him on the throne. She was desirous of associating with herself her younger son Ptolemy Alexander; but since Lathyrus was popular, she was obliged to give way, and send Alexander to Cyprus. After declaring Lathyrus king, she compelled him to repudiate his sister Cleopatra, of whose influence she was jealous, and to marry his younger sister Selene in her stead. After reigning ten years jointly with his mother, he was expelled by an insurrection of the people, whom she had incited against him (107). His brother Alexander now assumed sovereignty of Egypt, in conjunction with his mother, while Lathyrus was able to establish himself in the possession of Cyprus. He reigned therefore 18 years, while Cleopatra and Alexander reigned in Egypt. After the death of Cleopatra and the expulsion of Alexander in 89, Ptolemy Lathyrus was recalled to Alexandria and was established anew on the throne of Egypt, which he occupied from that point on without interruption until his death in 81. He left only one daughter, Bernice, called also Cleopatra, who succeeded him on the throne; also two sons, both named Ptolemy, who, though illegitimate, became in turn kings of Egypt and Cyprus.⏎
269. Ptolemy IX (Alexander I) was the youngest son of Ptolemy VII, and reigned jointly with his mother from the expulsion of his brother Lathyrus, from 107-90 BCE. In this year he assassinated his mother; but he had not reigned alone a year, when a general sedition of the populace compelled him to quit Alexandria. He raised fresh troops but was defeated by the rebels. Whereupon Lathyrus was recalled to Egypt, as related in the previous note. In an attempt to make himself master of Cyprus, he was defeated and slain. He left a son, Alexander, who later ascended the throne of Egypt.⏎
270. The last two sentences of this paragraph are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
271. Peck = Latin modius (a measure of dry goods equal to 2 gallons or 8.81 liters).⏎
272. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
273. Hannibal (247- c. 183 BCE), son of Hamilcar Barca, was one of the most illustrious generals of antiquity. At the age of nine, his father took him with him into Spain, and it was there that Hamilcar made him swear eternal hostility to Rome. He received an early training in arms, and was present with his father in the battle in which the latter perished (229). Due to his courage and capacity for war, even as early as his eighteenth year, Hasdrubal (son-in-law and successor of Hamilcar) entrusted Hannibal with the chief command of most of the military enterprises planned by that general. On Hasdrubal’s death, the soldiers unanimously proclaimed their youthful leader commander-in-chief, which the government of Carthage forthwith ratified. Hannibal was now in his twenty-sixth year. His first work was to firmly establish Carthaginian power in Spain. Then followed the arduous struggle called the Second Punic War. In the spring of 218 Hannibal quitted his winter quarters and commenced his march for Italy, crossing the Pyrenees and passing along the south coast of Gaul. He crossed the Rhone and soon commenced his passage across the Alps. His army suffered much at the hands of the Gaulish mountaineers, and from the natural difficulties of the road; for it was October, and snow had already commenced to fall in the high Alps. When at length he emerged from the valley of Aosta into the plains of Po, he had but 20,000 footmen and 6,000 horses left. His first encounter with the Romans, which took place near the Ticinus, resulted in the complete rout of the Roman army under Scipio. Likewise was the outcome of a second engagement, after which the Roman army took refuge within the walls of Placentia. Early in the following year Hannibal descended by the valley of the Macra into the marshes on the banks of the Arno. In struggling through these marshes great numbers of his horses and beasts of burden perished, and he himself lost the sight of one eye by a violent attack of ophthalmia. The consul Flaminius hastened to meet him, and a battle was fought in which the Roman army was destroyed and in which the consul himself perished. Hannibal took no less than 15,000 prisoners, and marched on through the Apennines into Ticenum and then into Apulia, where he spent the great part of the summer. When the Roman army, 90,000 strong, under the consuls L. Aemilius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro marched into Apulia, Hannibal gave them battle, again annihilating the Roman army. Between 40,000 and 50,000 men are said to have fallen in the field, among whom was Aemilius Paulus, both consuls of the preceding year, about 80 senators and a multitude of wealthy knights who composed the Roman cavalry. This victory was followed by the revolt from Rome of most of the nations in southern Italy. Hannibal established his winter quarters in Capua, which had espoused his side. But Rome was still unsubdued, and still provided with the means of maintaining a protracted contest. The Romans changed their tactics, and instead of opposing Hannibal with one great army in the field, they hemmed in his movements on all sides, keeping an army in every province in Italy to thwart the operations of his lieutenants, and to check the rising disposition to revolt. In 212 Hannibal took possession of Tarentum, but in the following year lost Capua, which was recovered by the Romans after a long siege. Hannibal was losing ground, and in 209 the Romans also recovered Tarentum. Hannibal’s forces gradually became more and more weakened; and his only object now was to maintain his ground in the south until his brother Hasdrubal should appear in northern Italy, an event to which he looked forward with anxious expectation. In 207 Hasdrubal crossed the Alps and descended into Italy, but was defeated and slain on the Metaurus. This was decisive of the fate of the war in Italy. From this time Hannibal abandoned offensive operations, collecting his forces within the peninsula of Bruttium. In these fastnesses of wild and mountainous regions he maintained his ground for nearly four years. Toward the end of 203 he crossed over to Africa to oppose P. Scipio. In the following year (202), the decisive battle was fought near Zama, and Hannibal was completely defeated with great loss. By treaty in the following year Carthage was effectually humbled by Rome. But the enmity of Hannibal remained unabated. He introduced the most beneficial reforms at Carthage, and restored the ruined finances; but having provoked the enmity of a powerful party at Carthage, they denounced him to the Romans as urging on Antiochus III, king of Syria, to take up arms against Rome. Hannibal was obliged to flee from Carthage, and took refuge at the court of Antiochus, who was on the eve of War with Rome. On the defeat of Antiochus, Hannibal fled to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia. Here for some years he found a secure asylum; but the Romans could not be at ease so long as he lived, and they sent T. Quintius Flaminius to demand his surrender. The Bithynian king was unable to resist, and perceiving that flight was impossible, Hannibal took poison to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies.⏎
274. See Rhodes, Folio XXVI verso and lengthy note. ⏎
275. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
276. Straton (c. 335-c. 269 BCE), son of Arcesilaus, of Lampsacus, was the tutor of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He succeeded Theophrastus as head of Aristotle’s Lyceum in 288 BCE, and, after presiding over it for eighteen years, was succeeded by Lycon. He devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, for which reason he obtained the appellation Physicus. Cicero, while speaking highly of his talents, blames him for neglecting the most important part of philosophy, that which has regard to virtue and morals, and giving himself up to the investigation of nature. Straton appears to have held a pantheistic system, the specific character of which cannot be determined. He seems to have denied the existence of any god out of the material universe, and to have held that every particle of matter has a plastic and seminal power, but without sensation or intelligence; and that life, sensation, and intellect, are but forms, accidents, and affectations of matter. Some modern writers have regarded Straton as a forerunner of Spinoza, while others see in his system an anticipation of the hypothesis of monads.⏎

277. Stilpo (Silphon; c. 380-c. 300 BCE) was a Greek philosopher from Megara who lived. He was thus a contemporary of Theophrastus and Crates of Thebes (who follows him in the Chronicle). According to one account he engaged in dialectic encounters with Diodorus Cronus at the court of Ptolemy Soter; while according to another he did not comply with the invitation of the king to visit Alexandria. He acquired a great reputation; and so high was he held in esteem that Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, spared his house at the capture of Megara. He is said to have surpassed his contemporaries in inventive power and dialectic art, and to have inspired almost all Greece with a devotion to the Megarian philosophy. He seems to have made the idea of virtue his special consideration. He maintained that the wise man ought not only to overcome every evil, but not even to be affected by any.

     His biography, unusually, is continued two paragraphs below in greater detail.

     ⏎

278. Crates of Athens, was a pupil of Polemo, and his successor in the chair of the Academy about 270 BCE. He was the teacher of Arcesilaus, Theodorus, and Bion Borsythenites.

     The German edition of the Chronicle replaces the actual epigram of Antagoras with the following:

     Antagorus placed an inscription on the grave, stating how they had lived together in unity of disposition, virtue and wisdom.

     ⏎
279. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

280. Panaetius (c. 185-c.110 BCE), a native of Rhodes, and a celebrated Stoic philosopher, studied first at Pergamum under the grammarian Crates, and subsequently at Athens under the Stoic Diogenes of Babylon, and his disciple, Antipater of Tarsus. He afterward went to Rome where he became an intimate friend of Laelius and of Scipio Africanus the younger. In 144 he accompanied Scipio on the embassy which he undertook to the kings of Egypt and Asia in alliance with Rome. Panaetius succeeded Antipater as head of the Stoic school, and died at Athens sometime before the year 111. His principal work was his treatise on the theory of moral obligation, in three books, from which Cicero took the greater part of his De Officiis. Panaetius had softened down the harsh severity of the older stoics and, without giving up their fundamental definitions, had modified them so as to make them applicable to the conduct of life, and had clothed them in the garb of eloquence.

     The citation is taken from Aulus Gellius’ Noctes Atticae (‘Attic Nights’) 13.28.1-4:

     Legebatur Panaetii philosophi liber de officiis secundus ex tribus illis inclitis libris, quos M. Tullius magno cum studio maximoque opere aemulatus est. 2 Ibi scriptum est cum multa alia ad bonam frugem ducentia, tum vel maxime, quod esse haerereque in animo debet. 3 Id autem est ad hanc ferme sententiam: "Vita" inquit "hominum, qui aetatem in medio rerum agunt ac sibi suisque esse usui volunt, negotia periculaque ex inproviso adsidua et prope cotidiana fert. Ad ea cavenda atque declinanda perinde esse oportet animo prompto semper atque intento, ut sunt athletarum, qui pancratiastae vocantur. 4 Nam sicut illi ad certandum vocati proiectis alte brachiis consistunt caputque et os suum manibus oppositis quasi vallo praemuniunt membraque eorum omnia, priusquam pugna mota est, aut ad vitandos ictus cauta sunt aut ad faciendos parata: ita animus atque mens viri prudentis adversus vim et petulantias iniuriarum omni in loco atque in tempore prospiciens debet esse, erecta, ardua, saepta solide, expedita, numquam conivens, nusquam aciem suam flectens, consilia cogitationesque contra fortunae verbera contraque insidias iniquorum quasi brachia et manus protendens, ne qua in re adversa et repentina incursio inparatis inprotectisque nobis oboriatur."

     1 The second book of the philosopher Panaetius’ On Duties was being read to us, being one of those three celebrated books which Marcus Tullius emulated with great care and very great labour. 2 In it there was written, in addition to many other incentives to virtue, one especially which ought to be kept fixed in the mind. 3 And it is to this general purport: "The life of men," he says, "who pass their time in the midst of affairs, and who wish to be helpful to themselves and to others, is exposed to constant and almost daily troubles and sudden dangers. To guard against and avoid these one needs a mind that is always ready and alert, such as the athletes have who are called ‘pancratists.’ 4 For just as they, when called to the contest, stand with their arms raised and stretched out, and protect their head and face by opposing their hands as a rampart; and as all their limbs, before the battle has begun, are ready to avoid or to deal blows—so the spirit and mind of the wise man, on the watch everywhere and at all times against violence and wanton injuries, ought to be alert, ready, strongly protected, prepared in time of trouble, never flagging in attention, never relaxing its watchfulness, opposing judgment and forethought like arms and hands to the strokes of fortune and the snares of the wicked, lest in any way a hostile and sudden onslaught be made upon us when we are unprepared and unprotected.

     J. C. Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 1927; pp. 505, 507

     ⏎
281. Posidonius (c. 135-51 BCE) was a distinguished philosopher, and a native of Apamea, in Syria. He studied at Athens under Panaetius, after whose death Posidonius set out on his travels. He finally fixed his abode at Rhodes, where he became the president of the Stoic school. He also had a part in the political affairs of Rhodes and was sent as an ambassador to Rome in 86. Cicero, when he visited Rhodes, received instructions from Posidonius. Pompey also admired and visited him twice. In 51, he moved to Rome, and appears to have died soon after, at the age of 84. He was a man of extensive and varied acquirements in all departments of human knowledge. Cicero thought so highly of his powers that he requested him to write a history of his consulship. As a physical investigator he was greatly superior to the Stoics, generally attaching himself in this respect to Aristotle. His geographical and historical knowledge were very extensive. He cultivated astronomy with considerable diligence. He also constructed a planetary machine, or revolving sphere, to exhibit the daily motions of the sun, moon, and the planets. We have only fragments of his writings.⏎
282. Erasistratus, a celebrated physician and anatomist, was born at Iulus in the island of Ceos. He was a pupil of Chrysippus of Cnidos, Metrodorus, and apparently Theophrastus. He flourished from about 300 to 260 BCE. He lived for some time at the court of Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria, where he acquired a great reputation by discovering that the illness of Antiochus, the king’s eldest son, was owing to his love for his mother-in-law, the young and beautiful daughter of Demetrius Policertes, whom Seleucus had lately married. Erasistratus afterward lived at Alexandria, which was then coming forward as a celebrated medical school. He gave up practice in his old age that he might pursue his anatomical studies without interruption. He is aid to have dissected criminals alive. He had numerous pupils and followers and a medical school bearing his name continued to exist at Smyrna in Ionia about the beginning of the Christian era.⏎
283. Lycon of Troas (c. 299-c. 225 BCE), was a distinguished Peripatetic philosopher, and the disciple of Straton, whom he succeeded as head of the school in 272 BCE. He wrote several works, one on the boundaries of good and evil (known by its Latin title as De Finibus). Only fragments survive (helpfully collected together and translated in: Fortenbaugh, W., White, S., Lyco of Troas and Hieronymus of Rhodes: Text, Translation and Discussion. Transaction Publishers. (2004). ⏎

284. Timon (c. 320-c. 230 BC), the son of Timarchus of Phlius, a philosopher of the Sceptic sect, flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus about 279 BCE and onwards. He first studied philosophy at Megara, under Stilpo, and then returned home and married. He died at the age of 90. He appears to have been endowed with a powerful and active mind and with that quick perception of the follies of men which betrays its possessor into a spirit of universal distrust, so as to make him a sceptic in philosophy and a satirist in everything. He wrote numerous works both in prose and poetry.

     The last sentence of this paragraph is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

     ⏎
285. Metellus (L. Caecilius) was consul in 251 BCE, and carried on the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians. In the following year he defeated Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general. The elephants which he took in this battle were exhibited in his triumph at Rome. He was consul a second time in 249, and was elected pontifex maximus in 243, and held this dignity for 22 years. In 241 he rescued the Palladium when the temple of Vesta was on fire, but lost his sight in consequence. He was dictator in 224, for the purpose of holding the comitia. He died shortly before the commencement of the second Punic War. His colleague, C. Furius, is not mentioned in the text.⏎

286. For Numa Pompilius see Folio LVI verso. Janus and Jana were a pair of Latin divinities who were worshipped as the sun and the moon. The names Janus and Jana are only other forms of Dianus and Diana, which words contain the same root as ‘dies,’ day. Janus was worshipped by both the Etruscans and Romans, and occupied an important place in the Roman religion. He presided over the beginning of everything, and was therefore always invoked first on every undertaking, even before Jupiter. He opened the year and the seasons, and thus the first month of the year was named after him. On earth he was the guardian deity of the gates, and that is the reason he is commonly represented with two heads, because every door opens two ways. At Rome, Numa is said to have dedicated to Janus the covered passage bearing his name, which was opened in times of war and closed in times of peace. This passage is commonly but erroneously called a temple. It stood close by the forum. It appears to have been left open in war, to symbolize that the god had gone out to help Rome’s soldiers, and to have been shut in time of peace that the god, the safeguard of the city, might not escape. On New Year’s Day, which was the principal festival of the god, people gave presents to each other—sweetmeats and copper coins, showing on one side the double-headed Janus, on the other a ship. The sacrifices offered to Janus consisted of cakes, barley, incense and wine.

     T. Manlius Torquatus (T. Mallius) was consul in 235 BCE, when he conquered the Sardinians, and consul a second time in 224. He possessed the hereditary sternness and severity of his family; and we accordingly find him opposing in the senate the ransom of those Romans who had been taken prisoners at the fatal battle of Cannae. In 217 he was sent into Sardinia, where he carried on the war with success against the Carthaginians and the Sardinians. He was dictator in 210. C. Atilius was his colleague while the Punic Wars raged.

     ⏎
287. The adjective ‘Alpine’ probably here means little more than ‘huge.’⏎

288. M. Claudius Marcellus was consul five times, and distinguished as the conqueror of Syracuse. In his first consulship in 222 BCE, Marcellus and his colleague conquered the Insubrians in Cisalpine Gaul, and took their capital Mediolanum (Milan). Marcellus distinguished himself by slaying in battle with his own hand Britomartus, or Viridomarus, the king of the enemy, whose spoils he afterward dedicated as spolia opima (literally ‘rich spoils’ a technical phrase meaning ‘arms wrested by a general from a general’) in the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. This was the third and last instance in Roman history in which such an offering was made. After an extended military career he and his colleague were defeated by Hannibal near Venusia, and Marcellus himself was slain in battle. Marcellus appears to have been a stern soldier, brave and daring to excess, but harsh, unyielding and cruel. Cn. Cornelius Scipio Calvus was his colleague.

     This entire paragraph is taken largely from Eutropius’ Breviarum Historiae Romanae (‘Abridgment of Roman History’) 3.5-6.

     ⏎
289. See Hannibal, folio LXXXII recto, and note.⏎
290. Terentius Varro was consul in 216 BCE with Lucius Aemilius Paulus. Varro is said to have been the son of a butcher, to have carried on this business himself in his early years, and to have risen to eminence by pleading the causes of the lower classes in opposition to the opinions of the aristocratic elite. Over the opposition of the aristocracy, he was raised to the consulship by the people, who thought that it only required a man of energy at the head of an overwhelming force to bring the war against Hannibal to a close. His colleague belonged to the aristocratic party. The two consuls were defeated by Hannibal at the memorable battle of Cannae. The battle was fought by Varro against the advice of Paulus, and the Roman army was all but annihilated. Paulus and almost all the officers perished. Varro was one of the few who escaped and reached Venusia in safety with about seventy horsemen. His conduct after the battle seems to have been deserving of high praise. He proceeded to Canusium, where the remnant of the Roman army had taken refuge, and there adopted every precaution that the situation required. His conduct was appreciated by the senate and the people, and his defeat was forgotten in the services which he had lately rendered. He continued to be employed in Italy for several years in important military commands until the close of the Punic War.⏎
291. As soon as the Romans had brought the second Punic War to and end, they again declared war against Philip (in 200 BCE). This war lasted three or four years and was brought to an end by the defeat of Philip by the consul Flamininus at the battle of Cynoscephalae in the autumn of 197. By the peace finally granted to Phillip (196), the king was compelled to abandon all his conquests, both in Europe and in Asia, surrender his whole fleet to the Romans, and limit his standing army to 5,000 men, besides paying a sum of 1,000 talents. The king here referred to is Philip V, who reigned 220-178.⏎
292. Alexander Balas was a youth of non-aristocratic birth who lived in Smyrna. He was put forward by the enemies of Demetrius I Soter as a supposed son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria. In their struggle for the throne, the rivals sought the support of Jonathan Maccabeus, who elected to side with Alexander, and was appointed high priest by him (153 BCE). Jonathan defeated Apollonius, one of the generals of Demetrius, and received further honors (1 Maccabees 10). But Alexander Balas cared more for sensual pleasures than for kingly duties; his father-in-law Ptolemy turned against him, and Alexander, fleeing to Arabia, was assassinated there (1 Maccabees 11:17).⏎
293. Demetrius Nicator, son of Demetrius Soter, is probably here referred to. He reigned 146-142 BCE, and again 128-125 BCE. He had been sent to Cnidus by his father for safety, when Alexander Balas invaded Syria; and after the death of his father he continued in exile for several years. With the assistance of Ptolemy Philometer, he defeated Balas and recovered his kingdom; but having like his father rendered himself odious to his subjects by his vices and cruelties, he was driven out of Syria by Tryphon, who set up Antiochus, the infant son of Alexander Balas, as a pretender against him. Demetrius retired to Babylon, and from there marched against the Parthians, by whom he was defeated and taken prisoner in 138. He remained in captivity for ten years, but was kindly treated by the Parthian king Mithridates, who gave him his daughter Rhodogune in marriage. Meanwhile his brother Antiochus III Sidetes, having overthrown the usurper Tryphon, engaged in war with Parthia, in consequence of which Phraates, the successor of Mithridates, brought forth Demetrius, and sent him into Syria to operate a diversion against his brother. In the same year Antiochus fell in battle, and Demetrius again obtained possession of the Syrian throne (128). Having engaged in an expedition against Egypt, Ptolemy Physcon set up against him the pretender Alexander Zebrina, by whom he was defeated and compelled to fly. His wife, Cleopatra, who could not forgive him his marriage with Rhodogune, refused to afford him refuge at Ptolemais’, and he fled to Tyre, where he was assassinated in 125.⏎
294. Antiochus VII Sidetes (137-128 BCE), so called from Side in Pamphylia, where he was brought up, was the younger son of Demetrius Soter and succeeded Tryphon. He married Cleopatra, wife of his dear brother Demetrius Nicator, who was a prisoner with the Parthians. He carried on war against the Parthians, at first with success, but was afterwards defeated and slain in battle in 128.⏎
295. John Hyrcanus I, prince and high priest of the Jews, was the son and successor of Simon Maccabaeus, the restorer of the independence of Judea. He succeeded to his father’s power in 135 BCE. He was at first engaged in war with Antiochus VII Sidetes, who invaded Judea, and laid siege to Jerusalem. In 133 he concluded a peace with Antiochus, on the condition of paying an annual tribute. Owing to the civil wars in Syria between the several claimants to the throne, the power of Hyrcanus steadily increased; and at length he took Samaria, and razed it to the ground (109), notwithstanding the army which Antiochus IX Cyzicenus had sent to the assistance of the title of king, he may be regarded as the founder of the monarchy of Judea, which continued in his family till the accession of Herod.⏎
296. Aristobulus I, eldest son of Joannes Hyrcanus, assumed the title of king of Judea on the death of his father. He put to death his brother Antigonus, in order to secure his power, but died in the following year.⏎
297. Tryphon (Diodotus Tryphon) usurped the throne of Syria during the reign of Demetrius II Nicator. After the death of Alexander Balas in 146 BCE, Tryphon first set up Antiochus, the infant son of Balas, as a pretender against Demetrius; but in 142 he murdered Antiochus and reigned as king himself. He was defeated and put to death by Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius, in 139, after a reign of three years.⏎

298. Upon the death of Aristobulus I, his widow Alexandra released her brother-in-law Alexander Jannaeus from prison and offered him her hand and the throne, both of which he accepted. In his long and checkered reign he not only put down the rebellion of his turbulent subjects, but conquered and Judaized the old Israelite territory across the Jordan, so that under him the little Jewish community spread, by conquest and forcible conversion, form the narrow limits of the ancient territory of Israel. During the whole reign of Alexander, the opposition of the Pharisess to the dynasty and its policies was exceedingly bitter. As his end approached. Alexander committed the government to Alexandra, advising her to make her peace with the Pharisees. This she did, and for the next ten years the affairs of the kingdom were more pacific. She made her son, John Hyrcanus II, high priest. Upon her death she left the civil authority to Aristobulus II, the younger of the two sons. Each brother desired the office of the other, and a civil war followed. Aristobulus defeated his older brother and also assumed the priesthood.

     The name Maccabees is commonly given to the Jewish family (otherwise known as Hasmonaeans) who led the revolt against Syria and Antiochus IV, and furnished the dynasty of leaders and rulers in the State thus formed. The chronology follows:

     John Hyrcanus I	135-105
     Aristobulus I	105-104
     Alexander Jannaeus	104-79
     Alexandra	79-69
     John Hyrcanus II + Aristobulus II	69-63

     ⏎

299. The Alexander referenced here seems to be either:

     • (1) Alexander I Balas, a Seleucid king who ruled from 152 to 145 BCE. However, he was not killed by Diodotus (in fact the opposite is true—Diodotus supported Alexander throughout his life), but by Nabataean Arabs. Nor did Alexander I Balas rule after Tryphon, but before him.

     Or

     • (2) Alexander II Zabinas (Zabinas is a derogative nickname meaning "the bought one" or "the purchased slave"), a Seleucid king who claimed to be an adoptive son of Antiochus VII, but in fact appears to have been the son of an Egyptian merchant. He was used by the Egyptian king Ptolemy VIII Tryphon as a means of getting to the legitimate Seleucid king Demetrius II, who supported his sister Cleopatra II against him in the complicated dynastic feuds of the latter Hellenistic dynasties. Zabinas managed to defeat Demetrius II and thereafter ruled parts of Syria (128-123 BCE), but soon ran out of Egyptian support and was in his turn defeated by Demetrius’ son Antiochus VIII Grypus. As a last resort, Zabinas plundered the temples of the Seleucid capital Antioch. He is said to have joked about melting down a statuette of the goddess of victory Nike (‘Victory’) which was held in the hand of a Zeus statue, saying "Zeus has given me Victory." Enraged by his impiety the citizens of Antioch drove Zabinas out of their city. He was then captured by robbers who gave him to Antiochus. Shortly thereafter he was put to death.

     The problem with this one-sentence paragraph is with the identity of Tryphon, who could be either the Egyptian king Ptolemy VIII Tryphon (but why mention Ptolemaic kings in a king list devoted to Seleucids?) or the Seleucid general and later king Diodotus Tryphon, the Seleucid king described two paragraphs earlier in the Chronicle, who did not put to death any Seleucid king named Alexander. The entire paragraph, however, may be translated "This Alexander, the son of Antiochus, reigned after Tryphon, whom the general Diodotus killed." This, of course, still doesn’t solve anything, since Diodotus did not kill Tryphon (most likely the general Diodotus himself was Tryphon!).

     ⏎

300. Mantua, the Italian Mantova, is a fortified city of Lombardy, in Italy, twenty-five miles southwest of Verona. It is 88 feet above the level of the Adriatic on the almost insular site among swampy lagoons of the Mincio (formerly Mincius). Anciently Mantua was a town in Gallia Transpandana, and not a place of great importance. The account of its origin and the derivation of its name, as given in the Chronicle, are somewhat vague and confusing. In fact, the name may derive from the Etruscan god Manto, a god of the underworld.

     Mantua owes some of its renown to the fact that Virgil (cf. especially Aeneid 10.201-3), who was born at the neighboring village of Andes, regarded Mantua as his birthplace.

     Manto, whom the chronicler calls Manta, and describes as the daughter of "Teiresias the prophet," was according to tradition a daughter of Teiresias, a Theban soothsayer, the most renowned of antiquity; for in the mythical history of Greece there is scarcely any event, due to his long life, with which he is not connected in some way. During the war of the Epigoni, Teiresias fled with the Thebans; but according to others, he was carried to Delphi as a captive. It is also stated that on his flight he drank from the well of Tilphossa and died. His daughter Manto was sent by the victorious Argives to Delphi, as a present to Apollo. Manto herself was a renowned prophetess, first of the Ismenian Apollo at Thebes, where monuments of her existed, and subsequently of the Delphian and Clarian Apollo. Being a prophetess of Apollo, she is also called Daphne, that is, the laurel virgin.

     Ocnus, to whom Virgil refers, was the son of Tiberinus (or Tiberis) and Manto, and is the reputed founder of the town of Mantua, which he named after his mother. William Smith, in his biographical dictionary, speaks of two other women of the same name—one the daughter of the soothsayer Polyeidus, and the other a daughter of Heracles, "the personage from whom the town of Mantua received its name."

     Mantua was not a place of importance until the Middle Ages. In the conflicts of the Hohenstaufen period the town embraced the cause of the Guelphs. In 1328 the citizens elected Luigi, Lord of Gonzaga, as ‘Capitano del Popolo,’ and to his dynasty the town owed its prosperity. The Gonzagas fought successfully against Milan and Venice, and extended their territory, while they were liberal patrons of art and science. In 1627, when Charles de Nevers, a member of a French collateral line, ascended the throne, the Mantuan war of succession broke out, the Emperor Ferdinand III declared the fief forfeited. In 1630 Mantua was stormed and sacked by the Austrians. Though later compelled to surrender the rest of Lombardy to the French, the Austrians retained Mantua. In 1866 they were obliged to ceded it to Italy.

     Much of this passage on Mantua is taken from Biondo Flavio’s Italia Illustrata (‘Italy Illuminated’) 360H-361B. Flavio’s text, a breakthrough work in historical topography, was completed in 1453.

     ⏎

301. Naevius, (Cn.) was an ancient Roman poet, of whose life few particulars have been recorded. He was probably a native of Campania, and was born somewhere between 274 and 264 BCE. He appears to have come to Rome early, and he produced his first play in 235. He was attached to the plebeian party; and, with the license of the old Attic comedy, he made the stage a vehicle for his attacks upon the aristocracy. He attacked Scipio and Metelli; but he was indicted by Q. Metellus and thrown into prison. While in prison he composed two plays, Hariolus and Leon, in which he recanted his previous imputations, and thereby obtained his release through the tribunes of the people. His repentance, however, did not last long, and he was soon compelled to expiate a new offense by exile. He retired to Utica; and it was here, probably, that he wrote his poem on the first Punic war; and here it is certain that he died, either in 204 or 202. He was both an epic and a dramatic poet. Of his epic poem on the first Punic war a few fragments remain. It was written in the old Saturnian metre; for Ennius, who introduced the hexameter among the Romans, was not brought to Rome till after the banishment of Naevius. The poem appears to have opened with Aeneas’s flight from Troy, his visit to Carthage and amour with Dido, together with other legends connected with the early history of both Carthage and of Rome. It was extensively copied by Ennius and Virgil. Virgil took many passages from it, particularly the description of the storm in the first Aeneid, the speech with which Aeneas consuls his companions, and the address of Venus to Jupiter. He wrote both tragedies and comedies, most of which were taken from the Greek. Even in the Augustan age, Naevius was still a favorite with the admirers of the genuine old school of Roman poetry. Aulus Gellius, a Latin grammarian, has preserved some lines of Vulcatius Sedigitus, in which the Roman writers of comedy are arranged in order of merit—Caecilius, Plautus, Naevius, Licinius, Atilius, Terence, Turpilius, Trabea, Luscius, and lastly, added, causa antiquitatis, Ennius (except that the chronicler—or typesetter—forgot to include the word causa in the last phrase dealing with Ennius). This is the same group of ten that the chronicler follows in his text on Naevius. In fact, he follows it almost literally, as the text from Gellius’s Noctae Atticae (‘Attic Nights’) 15.24 which follows makes clear:

     Sedigitus in libro, quem scripsit de poetis, quid de his sentiat, qui comoeodias fecerunt, et quem praestare ex omnibus ceteris putet ac deinceps, quo quemque in loco et honore ponat, his versibus suis demonstrat:

     multos incertos certare hanc rem vidimus, palmam poetae comico cui deferant. eum meo iudicio errorem dissolvam tibi, ut, contra si quis sentiat, nihil sentiat. Caecilio palmam Statio do comico. Plautus secundus facile exsuperat ceteros. dein Naevius, qui fervet, pretio in tertiost. si erit, quod quarto detur, dabitur Licinio. post insequi Licinium facio Atilium. in sexto consequetur hos Terentius, Turpilius septimum, Trabea octavum optinet, nono loco esse facile facio Luscium. decimum addo causa antiquitatis Ennium.

     Sedigitus, in the book which he wrote On Poets, shows in the following verses of his what he thought of those who wrote comedies, which one he thinks surpasses all the rest, and then what rank and honour he gives to each of them:

     This question many doubtfully dispute, Which comic poet they’d award the palm. This doubt my judgment shall for you resolve; If any differ from me, senseless he. First place I give Caecilius Statius. Plautus holds second rank without a peer; Then Naevius third, for passion and for fire. If fourth there be, be he Licinius I place Atilius next, after Licinius. These let Terentius follow, sixth in rank. Turpilius seventh, Trabea eighth place holds. Ninth palm I gladly give to Luscius, To Ennius tenth, as bard of long ago.

     (J. C. Rolfe, The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, Vol. III; Loeb Classical Library, 1928; pp. 113, 115)

     ⏎
302. The word epistolonis is meaningless. The chronicler means Aelus Stilo (see next note), whose name in the genitive case would be Aeli Stilonis.⏎
303. This citation (modified by the chronicler) of Varro (who is himself quoting Aelus Stilo) is found in Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria 10.1.99 (Licet Varro Musas, Aeli Stilonis sententia, Plautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse si Latine loqui vellent).⏎
304. Horace,Epistle 2.1.58 (Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi). Epicharmus (c. 540-c. 450 BCE) was a Greek playwright and philosopher. His comedies, which now exist only in very small fragments, are perhaps the earliest ever composed.⏎
305. The verse is typically Plautine in its use of wordplay and repetition, but the citation in the Chronicle ‘one-ups’ Plautus with its inclusion of an extra simul in the last verse.⏎

306. Plautus is the most celebrated comic poet of Rome. He was a native of Sarsina, a small village in Umbria. The date of his birth is placed at about 254 BCE. Probably all that we know of him is more fiction that fact. That said, tradition relates that he probably came to Rome at an early age, since he displayed such perfect knowledge of the Latin language, and an acquaintance with Greek literature, which he could hardly have acquired in a provincial town. When he arrived at Rome he was in needy circumstances and was first employed in the service of the actors. With the money he had saved in this inferior station he left Rome and set up in business; but his speculations failed. He returned to Rome and entered the service of a baker, who employed him in turning a hand mill. While in this occupation he wrote three plays, the sale of which to the managers of the public games enabled him to quit his day job and begin his literary career. He was then probably 30 years of age, and he commenced writing comedies a few years before the outbreak of the second Punic War. He continued his literary occupation for about 40 years, and died in 184, at the age of 70. During the long period that he had possession of the stage, he was always a great favorite of the people, and he expressed a bold consciousness of his own powers in the epitaph (in dactylic hexameters) which Varro in the first book of his On Poets (cited in Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.21.3) says he wrote for his tomb (and, with the exception of a few misspellings and the inclusion of an additional word—a second simul in the third verse—Schedel cites this very epigram as the wonderfully apt conclusion to his paragraph on Plautus):

     postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, Comoedia luget, scaena est deserta, dein Risus, Ludus Iocusque et Numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrimarunt.

     Plautus wrote many comedies, and in the last century of the Republic 130 plays bore his name. Most of these were not, however, considered genuine by the Roman critics. Several works were written upon the subject, and of these the most celebrated was a treatise by Varro, who limited the undoubted comedies of Plautus to 21. At present we possess only 20 comedies of Plautus. His comedies enjoyed popularity among the Romans, and continued to be presented down to the time of Diocletian. Though he founded his plays on Greek models, characters in them act, speak, and joke like Romans, and the Greek core of his plays is often buried so deeply under his wild imagination as to be all but invisible.

     ⏎
307. Quaestors were originally appointed by the consuls to investigate criminal acts and determine if the consul needed to take public action. Quaestors eventually took on additional responsibilities, such as supervising the treasury (what they are best known for). Like consuls, praetors, and prefects they were of the magistrate class (i.e., high-level government administrators). Quaestors were the lowest level of this class and, though initially were appointed by the consuls, were later elected by the people.⏎
308. Ennius, the Roman poet, was born at Rudiae, in Calabria, c. 239 BCE. He was a Greek by birth, but a subject of Rome, and served in the Roman army. In 204 Cato, who was then quaestor, found Ennius in Sardinia, and brought him to Rome. When far advanced in life he obtained the rights of a Roman citizen. He dwelt in a humble house on the Aventine, and maintained himself by acting as a preceptor to the youths of the Roman nobles. He lived on terms of closest intimacy with Scipio Africanus. He died in 169 at the age of 80, and was buried in the sepulcher of the Scipios. Ennius was regarded by the Romans as the father of their poetry. Only a few, very interesting fragments of his works remain. Although he wrote in several genres (including comedy), his greatest work was the Annals, an epic poem in fifteen books (later expanded to eighteen), covering Roman history from the fall of Troy in 1184 BCE down to the censorship of Cato the Elder in 184 BCE. It was the first Latin poem to employ the dactylic hexameter metre used in Greek epic and didactic instead of native Italic metres (such as Saturnian verse). It quickly became a standard text for Roman schoolchildren, only supplanted by Virgil’s Aeneid one and a half centuries later. About 600 lines survive.⏎

309. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, born in 234 BCE, was one of Rome’s greatest men, and at an early age he acquired the confidence and admiration of his countrymen. He never engaged in any public or private business without first going to the Capitol to commune with the gods. At the battle of the Ticinus (218) he saved the life of his father; fought at Cannae (216) and was one of the few Roman officers who survived that fatal day.

     In 210, after the death of his father and uncle in Spain, the Romans decided to increase their army there, and to place it under the command of a proconsul. Scipio, then barely 24, offered himself as a candidate and was chosen to take the command. His success in Spain was striking and rapid. Upon returning to Rome in 206, he was elected consul for the following year. He desired to cross to Africa and end the contest at the gates of Carthage, but was opposed by the oldest members of the senate. All he was able to obtain was the province of Sicily, with permission to cross to Africa. The senate having failed to vote him an army, he enlisted volunteers, invaded Africa, and defeated the Carthaginians and their ally Syphax with great slaughter. The long struggle was finally ended when on October 19, 202, near the city of Zama, Scipio gained a decisive and brilliant victory over Hannibal. He returned to Rome in triumph, was received with universal enthusiasm, and surnamed Africanus.

     In 190 Africanus served as legate under his brother Incius in the war against Antiochus the Great. Shortly after his return he and his brother were accused of having received bribes to let that monarch off too leniently, and of having appropriated part of the money paid by Antiochus to the Roman state. L. Scipio accordingly prepared his accounts, but as he was in the act of delivering them up, the proud conqueror of Hannibal indignantly snatched them out of his hands, and tore them to bits before the senate. This produced an unfavorable impression, and when his brother was brought to trial in the same year, he was declared guilty and imprisoned until he should pay a heavy fine.

     The contest would probably have been attended with fatal results had not Tiberius Gracchus, father of the celebrated tribune, and then tribune himself, had not prudence to release Lucius from the sentence. But the successful issue of the prosecution emboldened his enemies to bring Africanus himself to trial before the people. When the trial came on Africanus proudly reminded the people that this was the anniversary of Zama, and called upon them to follow him to the Capitol, in order there to return thanks to the immortal gods and to pray that they would grant the Roman state other citizens like himself. Crowds followed him, and having thus set all the laws at defiance, Scipio immediately left Rome and retired to his country estate at Liternum. He never returned, but passed his remaining days in the cultivation of his estate.

     ⏎
310. Philo Judaeus, the Jew, was born at Alexandria, and was descended form a priestly family of distinction. He had already reached an advanced age when he went to Rome (40 CE) on an embassy to the emperor Caligula, in order to procure the revocation of a decree that exacted from the Jews divine homage to the statue of the emperor. We have no other particulars of the life of Philo worthy of record. His most important works treat of the Books of Moses, and are generally cited under different titles. His great object was to reconcile the Sacred Scriptures with the doctrines of Greek philosophy, and to point out the conformity between the two. He maintained that the fundamental truths of Greek philosophy were derived from the Mosaic revelations; and to make the latter agree more perfectly with the former, he had recourse to an allegorical interpretation of the books of Moses. He may therefore be regarded as a sort of precursor of the Neo-Platonism.⏎
311. Cato Dionysius, probably the man here referred to, was the author of a work consisting of a series of sententious moral precepts. Nothing is known of the author nor of the time when he lived, but many writers place him under the Antonines.⏎
312. Cato, frequently surnamed Censorius or Censor, also Cato Major (to distinguish him from his great-grandson Cato Uticensis), was born at Tusculum in 234 BCE, and was brought up on his father’s farm, situated in the Sabine territory. In 217 he served his first campaign at the age of 17, and during the remaining years of the second Punic War, he greatly distinguished himself by his courage and military abilities. In the intervals of war he returned to his Sabine farm, which he had inherited from his father, and there led the same simple and frugal life which characterized him to his last days. He went to Rome and became a candidate for office. He obtained the quaestorship in 204, and served under the proconsul Scipio Africanus in Sicily and Africa. But the habits and views of life of these two men were very different, and on his return to Rome he denounced the luxury and extravagance of his commander. On his voyage home he is said to have touched at Sardinia, and to have brought the poet Ennius from the island to Italy. He established a reputation for strict morality and virtue. In 195 he was consul with his old friend and patron L. Valerius Flaccus. He carried on war in Spain with greatest success, and on his return to Rome received the honor of a triumph in 194. In 191 he served in the campaign against Antiochus in Greece, and the decisive victory of Thermopolae was mainly due to him. But here his military career ended, and now he took an active part in civil affairs. He obtained the condemnation of L. Scipio, the conqueror of Antiochus, and compelled his brother P. Scipio to quit Rome in order to avoid the same fate. In 184 he was elected censor. His censorship was a great epoch in his life, but all his efforts to stem the luxury of the times proved unavailing. In his old age he applied himself to the study of Greek literature. He retained his physical and mental vigor in his old age. He died in 149 at the age of 85. His most important work entitled Origenes, has come down to us in fragments. It contains the history of the Roman kings, and treats of the origin of Italian towns.⏎
313. P. Cornelius Aemilianus Africanus Minor was the younger son of L. Aemilius Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia, and was adopted by P. Scipio, son of the conqueror of Hannibal. He was born about 185. On the outbreak of the third Punic War, he accompanied the Roman army to Africa, as a military tribune, and showed great personal bravery and military skill. The senate assigned Africa to him as his province, to which he immediately sailed. He prosecuted the siege of Carthage with the utmost vigor. The Carthaginians defended themselves with the courage of despair, but, by the spring of 146, the Romans forced their way into the city. The inhabitants fought from street to street, and from house to house, and the work of destruction and butchery went on for days. The fate of the once magnificent city moved Scipio to tears. After reducing Africa to a province, he returned to Rome in the same year, and celebrated a great triumph. The surname of Africanus, which he had inherited by adoption form the conqueror of Hannibal, had now been acquired by him by his own exploits.⏎

314. P. Terentius Afer, usually called Terence, the celebrated comic poet, was born at Carthage in 195 BCE. By birth or purchase he became the slave of P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator. His handsome person and promising talents recommended Terence to his master, who afforded him the best education of the age, and finally manumitted him. On his manumission, according to the usual practice, Terence assumed his patron’s nomen, Terentius, having been previously called Publius or Publipor. The Andria was the first play offered by Terence for representation. He was now in his 27th year. The play was successful. His chief patrons were Laelius and the younger Scipio, both of whom treated him as an equal, and are said even to have assisted him in the composition of his plays. After residing some years at Rome, Terence went to Greece, and while there he is said to have translated 108 of Menander’s comedies. He never returned to Italy, and there are various accounts of his death. According to one story, after embarking at Brundusium, he was never heard of again. According to others, he died at Stymphalus in Arcadia, in Leucadia, or at Patrae in Achaia. One writer says he was drowned with all the fruits of his time in Greece, on his homeward passage. But the prevailing report was that his translations of Menander were lost at sea, and that grief for their loss caused his death. He died in 159 at the age of 36, leaving a daughter; but nothing is known of his family. Six comedies are all that remain to us, and they were probably all that Terence produced.

     The sentence that begins "Afranius preferred…" to the end of this paragraph is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.

     ⏎
315. The 627th year from the founding of the city corresponds to 127 BCE; but Caius Cassius Longinus and C. Sextius Calvinus (here called Sextus Domitius Calvinus) were consuls in 124 BCE. During their consulship the war in Transalpine Gaul continued, and Calvinus defeated the Allobroges and Arverni. In the year 123 Calvinus had the administration of Gaul, and carried on the war against the Saulluvii. After having conquered them he founded the colony of Aquae Sextia.⏎
316. This clause is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
317. P. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus (here called Lucinius Metellus) and Quintus Mucius Scaevola (here called Quintus Lucius Scevola) were consuls in 117 BCE, and during this consulship Metellus subdued the Dalmatians.⏎
318. P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica (nasica = "pointed nose") and L. Calpurnius Bestia were consuls in 111 BCE, the first year of the Jugurthine War. L. Calpurnius Bestia was tribune of the plebs in 121 BCE, but became popular with the aristocratic party who then had the chief power in the state. He obtained the consulship in 111, and the war against Jugurtha was assigned to him. At first he prosecuted it with great vigor, but by the offer of large sums of money he was induced to make peace with the Numidian without consulting the senate. An investigation resulted. Bestia and many men of high rank were condemned in 110. The nature of Bestia’s punishment is not mentioned; he was still living in Rome in 90, in which year he went into voluntary exile.⏎
319. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
320. Jugurtha, king of Numidia, was orphaned at an early age and was adopted by his uncle Micipsa, who brought him up with his own two sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal. Jugurtha quickly distinguished himself and rose to such popularity that he excited the jealousy of his uncle, who, to remove him, sent Jugurtha to assist Scipio against Numantia; but there his zeal and bravery gained him the favor of Scipio and the leaders in the Roman camp. In 118 BCE the uncle died, leaving the kingdom to Jugurtha, Hiempsal and Adherbal. Jugurtha, aspiring to sole rule, assassinated Hiempsal and defeated Adherbal, who fled to Rome for assistance, and the senate decreed that Numidia be equally divided between the two competitors. Jugurtha bribed the senators and thus succeeded in obtaining the western division of the kingdom, adjacent to Mauretania, by far the larger and richer portion. Still not content, Jugurtha invaded the territory of Adherbal, defeated and slew him. For this Rome declared war against Jugurtha, and sent L. Calpurnius Bestial, the consul, into Africa (111). Again Jugurtha purchased a favorable peace; but this aroused Roman indignation. The war was renewed; but the consul, Sp. Postumius Albinus, who conducted it, accomplished nothing. When he went to Rome to hold the comitia, he left his brother Aulus in command; but Aulus was defeated by Jugurtha. An ignominious peace made by Aulus was repudiated, and the consul Q. Caecilius Metellus was sent to Africa at the head of a new army (109). Metellus frequently defeated Jugurtha, and at length drove him to take refuge among the Gaetulians. In 107 Metellus was succeeded by Marius; but the cause of Jugurtha had meantime been espoused by his father-in-law Bocchus, king of Mauretania. Marius defeated the united forces, and Bocchus purchased the forgiveness of the Romans by surrendering his son-in-law to Sulla, the quaestor of M. Maurius (106). Jugurtha remained in captivity until the return of Marius to Rome, where, after adorning the triumph of his conqueror, he was starved to death.⏎

321. Caius Marius and Quintus Lutatius Catulus were Roman consuls at this time. Marius had served with distinction at Numantia under the younger Scipio Africanus in 134 BCE, and in 119 he became tribune of the plebs. In 114 he went to Spain as propraetor. He served in Africa against Jugurtha, and when elected consul in 107, closed that campaign. Meanwhile the Cimbrians and Germans burst into Gaul, repeatedly defeating the Romans. Marius finally defeated them also and was declared the savior of State, the third founder of Rome. When Sulla as consul was entrusted with the Mithridatic War, Marius, jealous of his patrician rival, attempted to deprive him of the command, and civil war followed. Marius was forced to flee to Africa, where he remained until his friends rose under Cinna. He hurried back to Italy, and with Cinna he marched against Rome, compelling it to yield. Marius and Cinna were elected consuls for the year 86, but Marius died a fortnight later.

     Catulus, associate of Marius in 102, was to attack the Cimbri while Marius opposed the Germans. Although Marius succeeded, Catulus failed, and the Cimbri poured over the mountains with such fury that Catulus fled in confusion. Marius, after his return to Rome, came to his assistance and defeated the Cimbri. Catulus served with distinction in the Social War, and having espoused the cause of Sulla, his name was included in the great proscription of 87. Escape impossible, he shut himself up in a newly plastered chamber, kindled a fire, and was suffocated.

     ⏎
322. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
323. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
324. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
325. L. Cornelius Cinna and Cn. Octavius were elected consuls in 87 BCE with the permission of Sulla when the latter was about to take the command against Mithridates, but upon condition that Cinna take an oath not to alter the constitution as then existing. But Cinna’s first act as consul was to impeach Sulla; and as soon as the general had left Italy, Cinna sought to overpower the senate by forming a strong popular party of the new citizens, chiefly of the Italian states, who had lately been enrolled in the 35 old tribes, whereas they had previously voted separately as eight tribes; and by their aid it was proposed to recall Marius and his party. The other consul, Octavius, was ill fitted to oppose the popular leaders; yet Sulla had left the party of the senate so strong that Octavius was able to defeat his opponents in the forum, and Cinna fled the city. He was soon joined by Sertorius and others, who assisted in raising the Italians against the party in power at Rome. Cinna and his friends marched on Rome and invested it from the land, while Marius, having landed from Africa, blocked it by sea. The result has already been told in the previous note on Marius. Sulla threatened to return and take vengeance on his enemies. Cinna assembled an army at Brundisium to meet Sulla before he entered Italy; but when he ordered the rest to follow, a mutiny arose and Cinna was slain.⏎

326. L. Sulla, surnamed Felix, the dictator, was born in 138 BCE. He studied Greek and Roman literature with success at an early age. But he followed pleasure with equal ardor, and his youth and manhood were filled with the most sensual activities. Still his love of pleasure did not absorb all his time, nor enervate his mind, which was always clear and firm. He aspired to the honors of state and became quaestor in 107, when he served under Marius in Africa. Although previously known only for his profligacy, he now displayed zeal and ability, and soon gained the approbation of his commander and the affection of the soldiers. It was to him that Jugurtha was delivered by Bocchus; and the quaestor thus shared with the consul the glory of bringing this war to an end. Sulla continued to serve under Marius with great distinction in the campaigns against the Cimbri and Teutons; but because Marius was becoming jealous of his rising fame, Sulla left him in 102 and took a command under the colleague of Marius, one Q. Catulus, who entrusted the chief management of the war to Sulla. In the military campaigns assigned to him he was successful. But now the enmity between Marius and Sulla assumed deadly form. This was temporarily checked by the breaking out of the Social War, which hushed all private quarrels for the time. Marius and Sulla took an active part against the common foe. Marius was advanced in years and found himself thrown in the shade by the superior energy of his younger rival. Sulla gained brilliant victories, and was elected consul in 88, receiving from the senate the command of the Mithridatic war. But he was expelled from Rome by Marius. So Sulla, on his return to the city at the head of his legions, proscribed Marius and his leading adherents. Sulla then remained at Rome till the end of the year, and set out for Greece at the beginning of 87, in order to carry on the war against Mithridates. He defeated Archelaus, Mithridates’ general, in Boeotia, and in the following year was victorious in another battle against the same foe. But Sulla’s enemies were giving trouble at home. The consul Cinna, who had been driven out of Rome by his colleague Octavius, soon after Sulla’s departure from Italy, entered it again with Marius at the close of the year. Both Cinna and Marius were appointed consuls in the year 86, and all the regulations of Sulla were swept away. Having brought the Mithridatic War to conclusion, Sulla returned to Italy. He landed at Brundusium in the spring of 83. After several engagements Sulla became complete master of Rome and Italy. He resolved to take great vengeance on his enemies, and to utterly destroy the popular party. For the first time a list of names of those to be put to death was prepared. All persons whose names appeared on the list were outlaws, to be killed by anyone with impunity. Their property was to be confiscated and sold at public auction; and their descendants were excluded from a voice in public offices. Terror reigned throughout Rome and Italy. Fresh proscriptions constantly appeared. No one was safe. The confiscated property was purchased at nominal prices by Sulla’s friends. Thousands perished. At the commencement of these horrors, towards the close of 81, Sulla had been appointed dictator for as long as he judged necessary. His object in the dictatorship was to carry out in a legal manner the reforms in the constitution and the administration of justice. He did not intend to abolish the republic, and consequently caused consuls to be elected for the following year, and was himself elected to the office while he continued to hold the dictatorship. His object was to give back to the senate and aristocracy the powers they had lost. In 81 he celebrated a splendid triumph on account of his victory over Mithridates. He claimed for himself the surname of Felix (‘happy’ or ‘lucky’), as he attributed his success to the gods. He established military colonies throughout Italy, taking lands away from those who opposed him and giving it to his soldiers. At Rome he created a kind of a bodyguard for his protection by giving citizenship to slaves who had belonged to persons proscribed by him. The slaves thus rewarded were said to have numbered 10,000. In 79, to the surprise of everyone, Sulla resigned and retired to his estate at Putedi, and there, surrounded by the beauties of nature and art, he passed the rest of his life in literary and sensual enjoyments. He died in 78, at the age of 60. He wrote his own epitaph, stating that none of his friends ever did him a kindness, and none of his enemies a wrong, without being fully repaid.

     Schedel drew much of the text for his mini-biography on Sulla from Sallust, Bellum Jugurthinum (‘The Jugurthine War’) 3.95.3-4:

     3 Igitur Sulla gentis patriciae nobilis fuit, familia prope iam extincta maiorum ignavia, litteris Graecis atque Latinis iuxta atque doctissume eruditus, animo ingenti, cupidus voluptatum sed gloriae cupidior, otio luxurioso esse; tamen ab negotiis numquam voluptas remorata, nisi quod de uxore potuit honestius consuli; facundus, callidus, et amicitia facilis; ad simulanda negotia altitudo ingeni incredibilis; multarum rerum ac maxume pecuniae largitor. 4 Atque illi, felicissumo omnium ante civilem victoriam, numquam super industriam fortuna fuit, multique dubitavere fortior an felicior esset. Nam postea quae fecerit, incertum habeo pudeat an pigeat magis disserere.

     3 Sulla, then, was a noble of patrician descent, of a family almost reduced to obscurity through the degeneracy of his ancestors. He was well versed alike in Grecian and Roman letters, of remarkable mental power, devoted to pleasure but more devoted to glory. In his leisure hours he lived extravagantly, yet pleasure never interfered with his duties, except that his conduct as a husband might have been more honourable. He was eloquent, clever, and quick to make friends. He had a mind deep beyond belief in its power of disguising its purposes, and was generous with many things, especially with money. 4 Before his victory in the civil war he was the most fortunate of all men, but his fortune was never greater than his deserts, and many have hesitated to say whether his bravery or his good luck was the greater. As to what he did later, I know not if one should speak of it rather with shame or with sorrow.

     John C. Rolfe, Sallust; Loeb Classical Library, 1921; p. 343 ⏎
327. The German edition of the Chronicle mistranslates the Latin clause qui partium marianarum fuerat ("who was (a member) of the Marian Party"—i.e., a partisan of the political party of Marius) as "being present in the region of the seas."⏎
328. Schedel is mistaken here. The two generals sent against Sertorius were Quintus Caecilius Metellus, the son of that Metellus who had subdued Jugurtha, and the praetor Lucius Domitius.⏎
329. The phrase "at the beginnings of the city" is rather vague. Perhaps the chronicler is referring to the lands surrounding (i.e., the suburbs of) the city.⏎

330. The Servile or Slave War occurred in Sicily in 133-131 BCE; a second in Sicily in 103 was ended by the proconsul Aquilius in 99.

     This paragraph (longer in the Latin edition than in the German edition of the Chronicle) is taken largely from Florus’ Epitomae de Tito Livio Bellorum Omnium (‘Synopses of All the Wars from Titus Livy’) 2.7.2-3, 7, 8:

     primum servile bellum inter initia urbis Herdonio duce Sabino in ipsa urbe temptatum est, cum occupata tribuniciis seditionibus civitate Capitolium obsessum est et a consule receptum; sed hic tumultus magis fuit quam bellum. Mox imperio per diversa terrarum occupato, qui crederet Siciliam multo cruentius servili quam Punico bello esse vastatam? terram frugum ferax et quodam modo suburbana provincia latifundis civium Romanorum tenebatur. . . . Tandem Perperna imperatore supplicium de eis sumptum est. . . . fuitque de servis ovatione contentus, ne dignitatem triumphi servili inscriptione violaret.

     The first attempt at war on the part of slaves took place in the city itself in the early days of its history under the leadership of Herdonius the Sabine. On this occasion, while the State was taken up with the troubles caused by the tribunes, the Capitol was besieged and afterwards rescued by the consul; but it was a local rising rather than a war. It is difficult to believe that, at a later date, while the forces of the empire were engaged in various parts of the world, Sicily was far more cruelly laid waste in a war against slaves than during the Punic War. This land, so rich in corn [i.e., wheat], a province lying, as it were, at our very doors, was occupied by large estates in the possession of Roman citizens. . . . At last punishment was inflicted upon them under the leadership of Perperna, . . . He was content with an ovation for his victory over them, so that he might not sully the dignity of a triumph by the mention of slaves.

     Edward S. Forster, Lucius Annaeus Florus: Epitome of Roman History / Cornelius Nepos; Loeb Classical Library, 1929; pp. 237, 239. ⏎

331. Marcus Tullius Cicero and C. Antonius (here called Gneus Antonius) were colleagues in the consulship in the year 63 BCE. Cicero, the Roman orator and politician, was born in 106, and spent his boyhood partly in his native town of Arpinum and partly at Rome. He was a devoted pupil of Philo, the head of the Academic School, studied rhetoric under Molo of Rhodes, and law under Q. Mucius Scaevola, the augur and juris-consult. His forensic life began at twenty-five. He studied philosophy at Athens and under various masters in Asia. He returned to Rome in 77, engaging at once in forensic and political life. He held various political offices. He was elected the consulship in 63, and this was a year of amazing activity in his career, both administrative and oratorical. In the political dissensions of the times, Cicero found himself deserted, and on the advice of Cato went into exile at the end of March in the year 58 to avoid bloodshed. He was recalled the following year and was received at Rome with enthusiasm by all classes.

     Under Caesar’s dictatorship, Cicero abstained from politics. Domestic difficulties drove him to find comfort for his troubles in literature. His repose was broken by Caesar’s murder in 44; but when it became apparent that the conspirators had removed the despot but not the despotism, he again devoted himself to philosophy. He returned to Rome at the end of the year and again became involved in Rome’s political quarrels. He was included in the list of the proscribed and was slain on December 7th, 43 near Formiae. His head and hands were sent to Rome and nailed to the rostra after Fulvia, wife of Antony, and widow of Clodius, had thrust her hairpin through the tongue.

     C. Antonius, according to most accounts, was one of Catiline’s conspirators, and his well-known extravagance and rapacity seem to render this probable. Cicero gained him over to his side by promising him the rich province of Macedonia, in which he would have better opportunity of amassing wealth than in the other consular province of Gaul. At the conclusion of the war he went into this province and plundered it so shamefully that his recall was proposed in the senate. Cicero defended him. In 60 he was succeeded in the province by Octavius, father of Augustus, and on his return to Rome was convicted in his province. He retired to the island of Cephallenia, but was recalled by Caesar, whom he probably did not long survive.

     ⏎
332. L. Sergius Catilina (Catiline) was a descendant of an impoverished ancient patrician family. His youth and early manhood were stained by every vice and crime. He first appears as a zealous partisan of Sulla, sharing personally in the horrors of Sulla’s proscriptions. Notwithstanding his infamy he attained to the dignity of praetor in 68 BCE, was governor of Africa during the following year, and returned to Rome in 66 to sue for the consulship, but was disqualified by an impeachment for oppression in the province. Disappointed in the outcome, Catiline organized a conspiracy to murder the new consuls; but through his own hastiness the attempt failed. His subsequent attempts to upset the government are best read in Cicero. Catiline was slain in the year 62.⏎
333. This sentence is not found in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
334. Cn. Pompeius Magnus, born September 30, 106 BCE, was a few months younger than Cicero, and six years older than Caesar. He was one of Sulla’s most successful generals. When the war in Italy was brought to a close, Sulla sent Pompey against the Marian party in Sicily, of which he easily made himself master. He proceeded to Africa and gained further victories, returned to Rome in great triumph. He became consul, and openly breaking with the aristocracy, which was jealous of him, he became the great popular hero. A number of changes were now made in the laws, such as restoring to the tribunes the powers of which Sulla had deprived them. For the next two year Pompey remained in Rome. In 67 power was conferred upon him to make war against the pirates, which he did with great speed and success (though several modern scholars believe that the threat of piracy was intentionally overplayed by Pompey for political reasons). During the remainder of the year and the beginning of the following, he visited the cities of Cicilia and Pamphylia, and provided for the government of the newly conquered districts. He was then authorized to proceed against the Mithridates, who retreated to Armenia, but was there defeated by Pompey; and as Tigranes now refused to receive him into his dominions, Mithridates resolved to plunge into the heart of Colchis, and from there made his way to his own dominions in the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Pompey now turned against Tigranes, but the Armenian king submitted without a contest, and was allowed to conclude a peace with the republic. In 65, Pompey was sent out in pursuit of Mithridates, but met with much opposition from the Albanians and Iberians, so he resolved to leave these districts. In 64, he made Syria a Roman province. In 63, he advanced further south, in order to establish the Roman supremacy in Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, and Palestine. The Jews shut the gates of Jerusalem against him; but after a siege of three months the city gave up. During this war came news of the death of Mithridates. Settling his affairs in Asia, Pompey returned to Italy in 62. As soon as he landed at Brundisium he disbanded his army in order to allay the fear that he might seize the supreme power. He was now 45, and for the third time was accorded the honor of a triumph. And now he was called upon to take part in the problematic civil affairs of the commonwealth, and for this he was hardly fitted. The aristocracy still regarded him with jealousy and distrust; yet Pompey would not ally himself with the popular party over which Caesar held sway. The aristocracy refused to sanction the work of Pompey in Asia, and Caesar having agreed to use his influence to favor Pompey in securing this approval, Pompey joined Caesar, and Crassus with his immense wealth became the third party to the triumvirate. This union, for the time, crushed the aristocracy. Pompey’s acts in Asia were ratified and the Agrarian laws espoused by Caesar were passed. Caesar gave Pompey his daughter Julia in marriage. Caesar then went to Gaul, but Pompey remained in Rome. Caesar gained in glory, but Pompey lost confidence at home. The senate feared Pompey and deserted him for their favorite Clodius. And so he decided to strengthen his connection with Caesar. Thus he became regarded as the second man in the state. But he aspired to the dictatorship of the Roman world, and to this he fomented internal strife. The story of the civil war that followed between himself and Caesar eventually ended, as far as the part he played in it, in his assassination on the shores of Egypt.⏎
335. C. Julius Caesar and M. Calpurnius Bibulus were colleagues in the consulship in 59 BCE.⏎
336. Caius Julius Caesar was born July 12th, 100 BCE in the consulship of C. Marius and L. Valerius Flaccus. He was six years younger than Pompey and Cicero. He was killed when almost 56 years of age, March 15th, 44. At the age of 22 he obtained great renown as an orator and was elected to high offices. In 63 he was elected Pontifex Maximus. In 61 he went as propraetor into farther Spain, where he gained great victories over the Lusitanians. On his return he and Bibulus were elected consuls. After his election he formed the first triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus. Caesar’s first popular measure was to divide the Campanian plain among the poorer citizens. By a vote of the people the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria were granted to Caesar with three legions for five years; also Transalpine Gaul, with another legion for five years. For nine years Caesar was now occupied with the subjection of Gaul. He conquered Transalpine Gaul, twice crossed the Rhine, and twice landed in Britian, previously unknown to the Romans. He conquered the Helvetii, who had emigrated from Switzerland, to settle in Gaul. He next defeated Ariovistus, the German king, who had taken possession of part of the territories of the Aedui and Sequavi, and pursued him as far as the Rhine. In his second campaign Caesar made war on the Belgae in northeastern Gaul, and subdued them. He crossed the Alps and made war against the Veneti and other states in northwestern Gaul. In three campaigns Caesar subdued the whole of Gaul. In his fourth campaign he crossed the Rhine in order to strike terror into the Germans, but he only remained 18 days on the further side of the river. He invaded Britain in the same year, but soon returned to Gaul and put down all the revolts that had occurred in the meantime (50). But his brilliant victories estranged Pompey, who joined the aristocratic party by the assistance of which alone he could hope to remain the chief man in the Roman state. The great object of this party was to deprive Caesar of his command, and to compel him to return to Rome as a private man to sue for the consulship. They would then have accused him, and as Pompey was in the neighborhood of the city with his army, the trial would have been a mockery, and condemnation certain. Caesar offered to compromise, and to resign his command if Pompey would do likewise. But the senate refused to listen. January 1st, 49 the senate decreed that Caesar disband his army, and refusing to do so, he should be regarded as an enemy of the state. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, which separated his province from Italy, and marched towards Rome. Pompey and some of the magistrates and senators fled to Capua, and from there to Greece, to which country Caesar was not able to follow on account of his lack of ships. In three months Caesar was master of all Italy, and later, crossing into Greece, completely defeated Pompey, who fled to Egypt. There Pompey was murdered before Caesar arrived. Caesar was now appointed dictator for a whole year and consul for five years. He accepted the dictatorship but declined the consulship. He made M. Antony his master of horse.⏎
337. The Florence Baptistery (or Baptistry) of St John (Italian Battistero di San Giovanni) is a religious building in Florence believed to be the oldest building in the city. It is particularly famous for its three sets of artistically adorned bronze doors by two different artists. The South Doors were designed and created by Andrea Pisano in the years 1329-1336. The more celebrated North Doors, begun in 1401, took Lorenzo Ghiberti, the winner of a contest to see who would create the sculptures for these doors, 21 years to complete. Their success made Ghiberti the most celebrated artist in Italy, and secured him the commission to complete one further set of doors on the Baptistery, the East Doors (now known by Michelangelo having called them worthy of being "The Gates of Paradise"), which took 28 years to complete and contain what may be the greatest of all renaissance sculptures.⏎
338. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was Italy’s greatest medieval writer. Although he wrote many works in Latin, his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy (originally simply called the Comedy—Commedia in Italian), was written in the vernacular language of his native Tuscany now known as Italian.⏎
339. Petrarch (1304-1374), called the ‘father of humanism’ and the ‘father of the Renaissance’, was an Italian scholar and poet. He perfected the sonnet form in poetry, and contributed significantly to the development of the study of ancient history and literature that would be the foundation of the Italian Renaissance. The Chronicle is, in a certain sense, a descendant of Petrarch’s humanistic legacy.⏎
340. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
341. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
342. Giotto (c. 1267–1337), an Italian painter and architect from Florence, was the founding father of the artists of the Italian Renaissance. His most famous work, and the one that decisively broke with the medieval artistic traditions of the past, were the frescoes he painted for the Scrovegni Chapel between 1303 and 1310.⏎
343. Apelles of Kos (c. 352-308 BCE) was a celebrated painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, who discusses him in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia 35.36.79-97 and passim), considered him the greatest painter of the ancient world. None of his paintings survive.⏎
344. Leonardo Bruni (c. 1369-1444) was a humanist, historian and chancellor of Florence. He was a pioneer in the development of a more modern understanding of history, in which secular events were divorced from religious ones, and where the Bible was just one source in the historian’s toolbox. His greatest work, History of the Florentine People, applies these principals to the writing of history.⏎
345. Schedel—unusually—makes a pun here of the name of the city of Florence (‘The Flourishing Place’). His source, Biondo Flavio, Italia Illustrata (‘Italy Illuminated’) 1.26, simply states: "The distinguished Leonardo of Arezzo has given a detailed account of the origin and accomplishments of the famous city of Florence in his History."⏎
346. See the note above on Leonardo Bruni.⏎
347. Carlo Marsuppini (1399-1453), also known as Carlo Aretino (Carolus Arretinus in Latin), was a celebrated Renaissance humanist and chancellor of Florence.⏎
348. Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459), Italian scholar of the Renaissance, was born in 1380 at Terranuova, a village in the territory of Florence. His abilities and his dexterity as a copyist of manuscripts brought him into early notice with the chief scholars of Florence. Coluccio Salutati and Niccolo de’Niccoli befriended him, and in the year 1402 he was received into the service of the Roman curia. His functions were those of secretary. He did not concern himself with the ecclesiastical controversies of the times, but devoted himself heart and soul to the resuscitation of classical studies. He unearthed many valuable manuscripts, copied them and communicated them to the learned. Wherever he went he carried on his researches. He distinguished himself as an orator and writer, and epistolographer and grave historian, and as a facetious complier of fabliaux in Latin. He also wrote a History of Florence, written in avowed imitation of Livy’s manner. His Facetiae, a collection of humorous and indecent tales, is chiefly remarkable for its unsparing satires on the monastic orders and the secular clergy. A considerable portion of his extant works are invectives. About 1452, Poggio finally retired to Florence, and on the death of Carlo Aretino in 1453 he was appointed chancellor and historiographer to the republic. His declining days were spent in the discharge of his Florentine office and in the composition of his history.⏎
349. Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) was an Italian scholars and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of the Florentine Republic. The teacher of Leonardo Bruni, Coluccio wrote historical works linking Florence’s origin to the Roman Republic. In his lifetime, although the study of ancient literature was generally frowned upon by the Roman Catholic Church, Coluccio both promoted the study of this literature and was instrumental in getting theologians and church officials to see the value of classical studies for current and future generations.⏎

350. Florence, also called Florentia, Fiorenza, and Firenze, is located in Etruria, on either side of the river Arno, and about three miles south of Fiesole (Faesulae). Though celebrated in modern times as the capital of Tuscany, and in the Middles Ages as an independent republic, it was not a place of much consequence in antiquity. It is probable that it derived its first origin as a town from the Roman colony, the date of the establishment of which is not clear. A colony was settled there by the triumvirs after the death of Caesar; but there seems some reason to believe that one had previously been established there by Sulla. There is no direct authority for this fact, any more than for that of the new town having been peopled by emigrants who descended from the rocky heights of Fiesole to the fertile banks of the Arno; but both circumstances are in themselves probable enough, and have a kind of traditionary authority which has been generally received by the Florentine historians. A passage of Florus also, in which he enumerates Florentia (or as some manuscripts give the name, Fluentia) among the towns sold by auction by order of Sulla, is only intelligible on the supposition that the lands were divided among new colonists. But he is certainly in error in reckoning Florentia as a flourishing municipum at this time. It is probable that its favorable position in the center of a beautiful and fertile plain on the banks of the Arno, and on the line of the great high road through the north of Tuscany, became the source of its prosperity; and it is clear that it rapidly came to surpass its more ancient neighbor of Fiesole.

     Fiesole (Faesulae) is an ancient and important city of Etruria, situated on a hill rising above the valley of the Arno, about three miles from the modern city of Florence. It was taken and ravaged with fire and sword during the Social War. In the middle ages the city was reduced to insignificance by the growing power of the Florentines, and gradually fell into decay. According to the ordinary histories of Florence it was taken and destroyed by the Florentines in 1010 CE, but much doubt has been thrown on this statement by modern historians. Fiesole is now a mere village, though retaining its Episcopal rank and ancient cathedral. Edmund G. Gardner, in his Story of Florence, observes, "The truth appears to be that Florence was originally founded by Etruscans from Fiesole, who came down from their mountain to the plain of the Arno for commercial purposes. The Etruscan colony was probably destroyed during the wars between Marius and Sulla, and a Roman military colony established here—probably in the time of Sulla, and augmented later by Caesar and Augustus."

     Christianity is said to have been first introduced at Florence in the days of Nero; the Decian persecution raged here as elsewhere, and here Miniatus suffered martyrdom. Christian worship is said to have been first offered up on the hill where a stately eleventh century basilica now bears his name. When persecutions came to an end under Constantine, a church dedicated to the Baptist on the site of the Marsian temple, and a basilica outside the walls, where San Lorenzo now stands, were among the earliest churches in Tuscany.

     By the beginning of the 13th century Florence became one of the foremost cities of Italy. When the inability of the nobles to govern themselves was made manifest by ceaseless conflicts between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the guilds, in 1282, took the government in hand. But in time a new aristocracy arose against which the lower ranks rebelled in 1378. Three years of mob rule followed, and then came an aristocratic government headed by the Albizzi, who inaugurated the city’s most brilliant history. Florence became the money market of Europe, and the chief cradle of modern culture. The wealthy Medici, aided by the democrats, next seized the government. Cosimo, pater patriae (‘father of his fatherland’), while retaining the republican constitution, ruled the city from 1434 until his death in 1464. He was succeeded by his weak son, Piero, who was followed in 1469 by his son Lorenzo the Magnificent, a statesman, poet, and patron of arts and science, who died while the Chronicle was in the making. After his death the Florentine love of liberty was powerfully stimulated by the Dominican friar, Savonarola of Ferrara, and there followed a successful rebellion against the Medici rule. But Savonarola was burned at the stake in 1498, and in 1512 the Medici were reinstated with the aid of Spanish troops. In 1527 they were again expelled, but in 1530, after a heroic defense, during which Michelangelo had charge of the fortifications, Florence was captured by the army of Charles V, who installed Alessandro de Medici as hereditary duke. After him in 1537 came Cosimo I, who united the communities of Tuscany into a single state. On their extinction in 1737, Tuscany fell to the house of Lorraine. In 1860 Tuscany was united with the new kingdom of Italy by a plebiscite.

     Florence is memorable in literature as the birthplace of Dante, who was born in 1265 and died in exile at Ravenna in 1321. Here also lived Giovanni Boccaccio, whose Decameron laid the foundation for modern Italian prose. Here Giotto, called the father of modern painting, began his work. The three greatest Italian masters, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, though not permanently attached to Florence, did some of their most important work here. Among the celebrated Florentine sculptors were Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, and Donatello. Among its architectural monuments are the Palazzo Vecchio, with its tower 308 feet in height, built in 1298-1314, now the town hall; the great Cathedral, begun in 1296 and not completed until 1436, 185 yards long and 114 yards across the transepts, and with a dome 345 feet high; the Campanile, a square ball tower, begun by Giotto in 1334, and 275 feet high; and the Monastery of San Marco built in 1437-1443, which contains murals by Fra Angelico.

     Nearly the entire paragraph devoted to Florence on folios LXXXVIv and LXXXVIIr was taken by Schedel from Biondo Flavio’s Italia Illustrata (‘Italy Illuminated’) 1.26-34.

     ⏎
351. Diodotus Triphon was a usurper of the throne of Syria during the reign of Demetrius II Nicator. After the death of Alexander Balas in 146 BCE, Triphon first set up Antiochus, the infant son of Balas, as a pretender against Demetrius; but in 142 he murdered Antiochus and reigned as king himself. Triphon was defeated and put to death by Antiochus Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius, in 139, after a reign of three years.⏎
352. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

353. Schedel here employs Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria 11.2.50), but his cut and paste compilation technique conflates Mithridates with Crassus(!):

     Ceterum quantum natura studioque valeat memoria vel Themistocles testis, quem unum intra annum optime locutum esse Persice constat, vel Mithridates, cui duas et viginti linguas, quot nationibus imperabat, traditur notas fuisse, vel Crassus ille dives, qui cum Asiae praeesset quinque Graeci sermonis differentias sic tenuit ut qua quisque apud eum lingua postulasset eadem ius sibi redditum ferret….

     For the rest there are many historical examples of the power to which memory may be developed by natural aptitude and application. Themistocles is said to have spoken excellently in Persian after a year’s study; Mithridates is recorded to have known twenty-two languages, that being the number of the different nations included in his empire; Crassus, surnamed the Rich, when commanding in Asia had such a complete mastery of five different Greek dialects, that he would give judgement in the dialect employed by the plaintiff in putting forward his suit….

     H. E. Butler, Quintilian; Loeb Classical Library, 1922; pp. 241, 243

     ⏎

354. The probable source of this section on Mithridates’ death seems to be Orosius, Historiae Contra Paganos (‘Histories Against the Pagans’) 6.5.6:

     quod cum ipse nouissimus hausisset nec tamen propter remedia, quibus uitalia sua aduersus noxios sucos saepe obstruxerat, ueneno confici posset frustraque spatiaretur, siquo tandem modo infusa pestis per uenas uegetatione corporis acta discurreret, Gallum quendam militem iam fracto muro discurrentem inuitauit eique iugulum praebuit.

     But the name of the Gallic soldier, Bituitus (the only sense that can be derived from the vitigis of the Chronicle), seems to come from Appian,Roman History, 12.111:

     Seeing a certain Bituitus there, an officer of the Gauls, he said to him, "I have profited much from your right arm against my enemies. I shall profit from it most of all if you will kill me, and save from the danger of being led in a Roman triumph one who has been an autocrat so many years, and the ruler of so great a kingdom, but who is now unable to die by poison because, like a fool, he has fortified himself against the poison of others. Although I have kept watch and ward against all the poisons that one takes with his food, I have not provided against that domestic poison, always the most dangerous to kings, the treachery of army, children, and friends." Bituitus, thus appealed to, rendered the king the service that he desired.

     Horace White, Appian; Loeb Classical Library, 1913

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355. Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (120-63 BCE), surnamed Eupator, also Dionysus, but more commonly called ‘the Great,’ was the son and successor of Mithridates V, King of Pontus, surnamed Euergetes, who was the son of Pharnaces I. He was eleven years of age upon his accession. We are told that immediately upon ascending to the throne, he was assailed by the designs of his guardians, but that he succeeded in eluding all their machinations, partly by displaying a courage in warlike exercises beyond his years, partly by the use of antidotes against poison, to which he began thus early to accustom himself. He attained to manhood, possessed of natural vigor of body and intellect. As a boy he had been brought up at Sinope, where he probably received his Greek education; and so powerful was his memory, that he is said to have learned not less than 22 languages, and to have been able in the days of the greatest power to transact business with the deputies of every tribe subject to his rule in their own particular dialect. He is said to have murdered his mother, to whom a share in the royal authority had been left by Mithridates Euergetes; and this was followed by the assassination of his brother. In the early part of his career he subdued the barbarian tribes between the Euxine and the confines of Armenia, including the whole of Colchis and the province called Lesser Armenia, and even extended his conquests beyond the Caucasus. He incorporated the kingdom of Bosphorus into his dominions, and now considered himself in possession of such great power, that he felt equal to a contest with Rome itself. Up to this point he had submitted to the mandates of Rome. Even after expelling Ariobarzanes from Cappadocia, and Nicomedes from Bithynia in 90, he offered no resistance to the Romans when they restored these monarchs to their kingdoms. But when Nicomedes, urged by the Roman legates, invaded the territories of Mithridates, the latter prepared for immediate hostilities. His success was rapid and striking. In 88, he drove Ariobarzanes out of Cappadocia, and Nicomedes out of Bithynia, defeated the Roman generals who had supported the latter, made himself master of Phrygia and Galatia, and at least of the Roman province of Asia. During the winter he issued the sanguinary order to all the cities of Asia to be put to death, on the same day, all the Romans and Italians who were to be found within their walls. These commands were obeyed by almost all the cities, and 80,000 are said to have perished in those massacres, so hateful had the Romans made themselves. In the meantime Sulla received the command to make war against Mithridates, who at once sent an army under his general Archelaus into Greece to meet Sulla. But Archelaus was twice defeated by Sulla, while about the same time the king himself was defeated in Asia by Fimbria. He sued for peace, which was granted upon condition that Mithridates abandon all his conquests in Asia, pay 2,000 talents and give up 70 ships. So ended the first Mithridatic War. A second war followed, but peace was again restored with Sulla, but not confirmed by the Roman senate. The death of the king of Bithynia brought on complications, for by his will that king gave his kingdom to the Roman people, and so it was declared a Roman province. But Mithridates espoused the cause of the king’s son, which he prepared to support by his arms. He took the field with 120,000 footmen and 16,000 horses and a vast number of barbarian auxiliaries. And so commenced the third Mithridatic war. The Roman consuls Lucullus and Cotta were unable to oppose his first interruption. He traversed Bithynia without resistance, and when Cotta gave him battle, the consul was totally defeated. Mithridates now laid siege to Cyzicus, but Lucullus came to its relief and caused Mithridates to abandon the enterprise and force him to retreat with great loss. The king now took refuge in Pontus. There he was followed by Lucullus and again defeated. Whereupon the king took refuge with his son-in-law, Tigranes, king of Armenia, who became his ally. But Lucullus invaded Armenia and defeated the allied forces, then turned aside into Mesopotamia and laid siege to Nisibis. But now the tide turned, for the soldiers of Lucullus mutinied and demanded to be led home. Lucullus was obliged to give up the siege and returned to Asia Minor. Mithridates took advantage of this situation, raised an army and invaded the Pontus, and defeated Fabius and Triarius, to whom the defense of Pontus had been committed. Before the close of the year 67 Mithridates had regained possession of all his hereditary dominions. In the following year the conduct of the war was entrusted to Pompey, and the king was obliged to retreat before the Romans. With his small army he plunged into the heart of Colchis, and from there made his way to the Palus Maeotis and the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Unable to obtain peace from Pompey, he conceived the daring project of marching round the north and west coasts of the Euxine, through the wild tribes of the Sarmatians and Getae, and having gathered around his standard all these barbarian nations, to penetrate Italy itself. But his followers became disaffected. His son, Pharnaces, at length openly rebelled against him, and was joined by the whole army, who unanimously proclaimed him king. Mithridates took refuge in a strong tower, seeing that no choice remained to him but death or captivity. He took poison, but his constitution had been so long inured to antidotes that it did not take effect, and he was compelled to call in the assistance of one of the Gallic mercenaries to dispatch him with his sword. He died in 63. By the orders of Pompey his body was interred with regal honors in the sepulcher of his forefathers at Sinope.⏎
356. M. Scaurus, eldest son of Aemilius Scaurus, and stepson of the dictator Sulla, whom his mother married after the death of his father, served in the third Mithridaics War under Pompey as quaestor. The latter sent him to Damascus with an army, and from there he marched into Judea to settle the disputes between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Pompey left him in the command of Syria with two legions. During the government of Syria he made a predatory incursion into Arabia Petraea, but withdrew with the payment of 300 talents by Aretas, the king of the country. He was made curule in 58, when he celebrated the games with extraordinary splendor. The temporary theatre which he built for the purpose, accommodated 80,000 spectators. In 56, he was praetor, and in the following year governed the province of Sardinia, which he plundered without mercy. He married Mucia, former wife of Pompey, and by her had one son of the same name.⏎
357. Gabinus dissipated his fortune in youth by his profligate mode of life. He was tribune of the plebs in 66 BCE, when he proposed and carried a law conferring on Pompey command of the war against the pirates. He was praetor in 61 and consul in 58 with L. Piso. Both consuls supported Clodius in his measures against Cicero, resulting in the latter’s banishment. In 57 he went to Syria as proconsul. His first attention was directed to the affairs of Judea. He restored Hyrcanus to the high priesthood, of which he had been dispossessed by Alexander, the son of Aristobulus. He next marched into Egypt and restored Ptolemy Auletes to the throne. The senate and Sibylline books had forbidden this; and he accordingly set at naught both senate and Sibyl. His government of the province was otherwise venal and oppressive, and when he returned to Rome in 54, he was accused of high treason for his restoration of Ptolemy. Contrary to his own wishes, Cicero defended him at the solicitation of Ptolemy; but he was condemned and exiled. In 49, Caesar recalled him, sending him with newly levied troops into Illyricum to reinforce Q. Cornificius, and there he died sometime near the end of 48.⏎
358. M. Crassus, surnamed Dives (‘Wealthy’), was a triumvir. His life was spared by Cinna, after the death of his father; but fearing Cinna, he escaped to Spain, where he concealed himself for 8 months. On the death of Cinna in 84 BCE, he collected some forces and crossed into Africa, from which he passed into Italy in 83 and joined Sulla, on whose side he fought against the Marian party. On the defeat of the latter he was rewarded by donations of confiscated property, and thus greatly increased his patrimony. His ruling passion was money, and he devoted all his energies to its accumulation. He was a keen speculator. He bought multitudes of slaves, and to increase their value had them instructed in the lucrative arts. He worked silver mines, cultivated farms, and built houses, which he let at high rents. In 71 he was appointed praetor to carry on the war against Spartacus and the gladiators. He defeated them and was honored with an ovation. In 70 he was consul with Pompey. He entertained the people with a banquet of 10,000 tables, and distributed enough wheat to supply the family of every citizen for 3 months. He was jealous of Pompey, but the two were reconciled by Caesar, and thus the triumvirate was formed. In 55 Crassus was again consul with Pompey, and received the province of Syria, where he hoped both to increase his wealth and acquire military glory by attacking the Parthians. He set out for his province. After crossing the Euphrates in 54, he did not follow up the attack on Parthia, but was misled by a crafty Arab chieftain to march into the plains of Mesopotamia, where he was attacked by the Parthians and defeated with great slaughter. The mutinous threats of his troops compelled him to accept a perfidious invitation from the Parthian general, who offered a pacific interview, at which Crassus was slain either by the enemy or by a friend who desired to save him from the disgrace of becoming a prisoner. His head was cut off and sent to the Parthian king, Orodes, who caused melted gold to be poured into the mouth of his fallen enemy, saying "Sate yourself now with that metal which you were so greedy for in life." ⏎
359. C. Cassius Longinus was one of the conspirators against Caesar. He was quaestor to Crassus in the Parthian War (54 BCE), and saved the credit of the Roman arms after the commander’s disastrous defeat and death, and as tribune of the people attached himself to Pompey in the year 49. After Pharsalia he was taken prisoner and pardoned by Caesar. In 44 as praetor he attached himself to the aristocrats who resented Caesar’s supremacy, and won over M. Brutus; and in the same year participated in the assassination of Caesar. But popular feeling blazed out, and Mark Antony seized his opportunity. Cassius fled to the east, united his forces with those of Brutus, and being routed at Philippi, compelled his freedmen to slay him.⏎
360. L Munatius Plancus (c. 87-15 BCE) was, according to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography,

     a friend of Julius Caesar, and served under him both in the Gallic and the civil wars. He is mentioned as one of Caesar’s legati in Gaul in the winter of 54 and 53 BCE; and he was in conjunction with C. Fabius, the commander of Caesar’s troops near Ilerda in Spain at the beginning of 49. He accompanied Caesar in his African campaign in 46, and attempted, but without success, to induce C. Considius, the Pompeian commander, to surrender to him the town of Adrumetum. At the end of this year he was appointed one of the praefects of the city, to whom the charge of Rome was entrusted during Caesar’s absence in Spain next year. He received a still further proof of Caesar’s confidence in being nominated to the government of Transalpine Gaul for 44, with the exception of the Narbonese and Belgic portions of the province, and also to the consulship for 42, with D. Brutus as his colleague. On the death of Caesar in 44 the political life of Plancus may be said to commence. After declaring himself in favour of an amnesty he has tened into Gaul to take possession of his province as speedily as possible. While here he carried on an active correspondence with Cicero, who pressed him with the greatest eagerness to join the senatorial party, and to cross the Alps to the relief of D. Brutus, who was now besieged by Antony in Mutina. After some hesitation and delay Plancus, at length in the month of April 43, commenced his march southwards, but he had not crossed the Alps when he received intelligence of the defeat of Antony and the relief of Mutina by Octavian and the consuls Hirtius and Pansa. Thereupon he halted in the territory of the Allobroges, and being joined by D. Brutus and his army, prepared to carry on the war against Antony. But when shortly afterwards Lepidus joined Antony, and their united forces threatened to overwhelm Plancus, the latter, despairing of any assistance from the senate, was easily persuaded by Asinius Pollio to follow his example, and unite with Antony and Lepidus. He therefore abandoned D. Brutus to his fate, and the latter was shortly afterwards slain in the Alps. Plancus during his government of Gaul founded the colonies of Lugdunum and Raurica (Oreili, Inscrip. No. 590; Dion Cass. xlvi. 50; Sen. Ep. 91; Strab. iv. pp. 186, 192.)

     In the autumn of the same year, 43, the triumvirate was formed, and Plancus agreed to the proscription of his own brother L. Plautius. He returned to Rome at the end of the year, and on the 29th of December he celebrated a triumph for some victory gained in Gaul. In the inscription given below it is said to have been ex Raetis; and the victory was probably only an insignificant advantage gained over some Alpine tribes, in consequence of which he had assumed the title of imperator even before the battle of Mutina, as we see from his correspondence with Cicero (ad Fam. x. 8, 24).

     In 42 Plancus was consul according to the arrangement made by the dictator Caesar, and had as his colleague M. Lepidus in place of D. Brutus. The Perusinian war in the following year, 41, placed Plancus in great difficulty. He had the command of Antony’s troops in Italy; and accordingly when L. Antonius, the brother, and Fulvia, the wife of the triumvir, declared war against Octavian, they naturally expected assistance from Plancus; but as he did not know the views of his superior, he kept aloof from the contest as far as possible. On the fall of Perusia in 40, he fled with Fulvia to Athens, leaving his army to shift for itself as it best could. He returned to Italy with Antony, and again accompanied him when he went back to the East. Antony then gave him the government of the province of Asia, which he abandoned on the invasion of the Parthians under T. Labienus, and took refuge in the islands. He subsequently obtained the consulship a second time (Plin. H. N. xiii. 3. s. 5), but the year is not mentioned: he may have been one of the consuls suffecti in 36. In 35 he governed the province of Syria for Antony, and was thought by many to have been the cause of the murder of Sex. Pompeius. On his return to Alexandria he was coolly received by Antony on account of the shameless manner in which he had plundered the province. He remained at Alexandria some time longer, taking part in the orgies of the court, and even condescending on one occasion to play the part of a mime, and represent in a ballet the story of Glaucus. But foreseeing the fall of his patron he resolved to secure himself, and therefore repaired secretly to Rome in 32, taking with him his nephew Titius. From Plancus Octavian received some valuable inform ation respecting Antony, especially in relation to his will, which he employed in exasperating the Romans against his rival. Plancus himself, like other renegades, endeavoured to purchase the favour of his new master by vilifying his old one; and on one occasion brought in the senate such abominable charges against Antony, from whom he had received innumerable favours, that Coponius publicly upbraided him with his conduct (Veil. Pat. ii. 83). Plancus had no occasion to change again, and quietly settled down to enjoy the fortune he had acquired by the plunder of Syria, caring nothing about the state of public affairs, and quite contented to play the courtier in the new monarchy. It was on his proposal that Octavian received the title of Augustus in 27; and the emperor conferred upon him the censorship in 22 with Paulus Aemilius Lepidus. He built the temple of Saturn to please the emperor, who expected the wealthy nobles of his court to adorn the city with public buildings. The year in which Plancus died is uncertain.

     The character of Plancus, both public and private, is drawn in the blackest colours by Velleius Paterculus, who, however, evidently takes delight in exaggerating his crimes and his vices. But still, after making every deduction from his colouring, the sketch which we have given of the life of Plancus shows that he was a man without any fixed principles, and not only ready to desert his friends when it served his interests, but also to betray their secrets for his own advantage. His private life was equally contemptible: his adulteries were notorious. The ancient writers speak of him as one of the orators of the time, but we know nothing of him in that capacity. One of Horace’s odes (Carm. i. 7) is addressed to him. In personal appearance he resembled an actor of the name of Rubrius, who was therefore nicknamed Plancus. The various honours which Plancus held are enumerated in the following inscription (Oreili, No. 590): "L. Munat. L. f. L. n. L. pron. Plancus Cos. Cens. Imp. iter. VII. vir Epul. triump. ex Raetis aedem Saturni fecit de manubiis agros divisit in Italia Beneventi, in Gallia colonias deduxit Lugdunum et Rauricam." Plancus had three brothers and a sister, a son and a daughter. His brothers and son are spoken of below: his sister Munatia married M. Titius, his daughter Munatia Plancina married Cn. Piso. (Caes. B. G. v. 24, &c., B. C. i. 40; Hirt. B. Afr. 4; Cic. ad Fam. x. 1-24, xi. 9, 11, 13-15, xii. 8, Phil. iii. 15, xiii. 19; Plut. Brut. 19, Anton. 56, 58; Appian, B. C. iii. 46, 74, 81, 97, iv. 12, 37, 45, v. 33, 35, 50, 55, 61, 144 ; Dion Cass. xlvi. 29, 50, 53, xlvii. 16, xlviii. 24, 1. 3; Veil. Pat. ii. 63, 74, 83; Macrob. Sat. ii. 2; Suet. Ill Rhet. 6; Plin. H. N. vii. 10. s. 12 ; Solin. i. 75.)

     ⏎
361. The Segusiani were one of the most important peoples of Gallia Lugdunensis, bounded by the Allobroges on the south, by the Sequani on the east, by the Aedui on the north, and by the Averni on the west. In the time of Caesar they were dependent on the Aedui. In their territory was the town of Lugdunum, the capital of the province.⏎

362. Lyons (Lugdunum) was the chief city of Gallia Lugdunensis, situated at the foot of a hill at the confluence of the Arar (Saone) and the Rhodanus (Rhone). It is said to have been founded by some fugitives from the town of Vienne, farther down the Rhone. In 43 BCE Lugdunum was made a Roman colony by L. Munatius Plancus, and became under Augustus the capital of the province and the residence of the Roman governor. Being situated on two navigable rivers, and being connected with the other parts of Gaul by roads, which met at this town as their central point, it soon became a wealthy and populous place, and is described by Strabo as the largest city in Gaul next to Narbo. It received many privileges from the emperor Claudius, but was burned down in the reign of Nero. It was, however, soon rebuilt, and continued to be a place of great importance until 197 CE, when it was plundered and the greater part of it destroyed by the soldiers of Septimus Severus, after his victory over his rival Albinus in the neighborhood of the town. From this blow it never recovered, and was more and more thrown into the shade by Vienne. Lugdunum possessed a vast aqueduct, of which the remains may still be traced for miles, a mint, and an imperial palace, in which Claudius was born, and in which many of the Roman emperors resided. At the tongue of land between the Rhone and the Saone stood an altar dedicated to Augustus by the different states of Gaul. Lugdunum is memorable in the history of the Christian church as the seat of the bishopric of Irenaeus, and on account of the persecutions which the Christians endured here in the second and third centuries.

     The last sentence of the paragraph devoted to Lyons is not in the German edition of the Chronicle. It is, in fact, a very slightly modified line of Ovidian verse (Heroides 13.54): nomina sunt ipso paene timenda sono.

     ⏎
363. Alexandra died in the year 69 BCE. Hyrcanus succeeded to the sovereignty, but was soon attacked by his younger brother Aristobulus, who possessed more energy and ambition than he. In the following year Hyrcanus was driven from the throne of Judea and took refuge with Aretes, king of Arabia Petraea. That monarch assembled an army and invaded Judea to restore Hyrcanus. He defeated Aristobulus, and blockaded him in the Temple of Jerusalem. But by bribes and promises, Aristobulus won over M. Scaurus, Pompey’s lieutenant, who had arrived at Damascus, and who now ordered Aretes and Hyrcanus to withdraw from Judea (64). The next year Pompey himself arrived in Syria, reversed the decision of Scaurus, carried away Aristobulus as a prisoner to Rome, and reinstated Hyrcanus in the high priesthood. But Hyrcanus did not enjoy his newly recovered sovereignty in peace for long; for Alexander, son of Aristobulus, and subsequently Aristobulus himself, escaped from Rome and incited dangerous revolts, which, however, were quelled with Roman assistance. The real government was now in the hands of Antipater, the father of Herod, who rendered such important services to Caesar in the Alexandrian War (47) that Caesar made him procurator of Judea, leaving to Hyrcanus the title of high priest. Although Antipater was poisoned by the contrivance of Hyrcanus (43), the latter was a man of such evil character that he allowed Herod to take vengeance on the murderer of his father, and to succeed to his father’s power and influence. In their invasion of Syria, the Parthians carried Hyrcanus away as a prisoner to Babylon, but treated him with consideration. He was allowed to return to Jerusalem to the invitation of Herod, who treated him with respect until the battle of Actium; when Herod, fearing that Augustus might place Hyrcanus on the throne, accused him of treasonable correspondence with the Arabians, and on that pretext put him to death.⏎
364. According to Matthew 1:16, "Jacob begat Joseph," the supposed father of Jesus; but according to Luke 3:23, Joseph "was the son of Heli."⏎
365. This sentence and the one preceding it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
366. See note on Alexandra, this folio. The last sentence and the one preceding it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
367. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
368. Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus and Alexandra. Upon the death of the latter, civil war broke out between Aristobulus and his brother Hyrcanus for the sovereignty. In 63 BCE he was deprived of the crown by Pompey, and sent as a prisoner to Rome. Six years later he escaped with his son Antigonus, returned to Judea and renewed the war. But he was taken prisoner by Gabinius and sent back to Rome. In 49, Julius Caesar released him, and sent him into Judea, but he was poisoned on the way by some of Pompey’s party.⏎
369. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus II, was placed on the Judean throne by the Parthians in 40 BCE, but was taken prisoner by Sosius, lieutenant of Anthony, and put to death by the latter in the year 37.⏎
370. This text is continued from Folio LXXXVI recto, and this footnote is a continuation of the note there. On his arrival in Egypt Caesar became involved in a war, which gave the remnant of the Pompeian party time to rally. This war, usually called the Alexandrine War, arose from the determination of Caesar that Cleopatra, who had won his heart, should reign in common with her brother Ptolemy; but his decision was opposed by the guardians of the young king, and the war which thus broke out was not brought to a close until the end of March, 47. It was soon after this that Cleopatra had a son by Caesar. Caesar returned to Rome through Syria and Asia Minor and, on his march through Pontus attacked Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates the Great, who had assisted Pompey. He defeated Pharnaces near Zela with such ease that he informed the senate by the words, "Veni, vidi, vici." (" I came, I saw, I conquered.") He reached Rome in September (47), was appointed consul for the following year, and before the end of September set sail for Africa, where Scipio and Cato had collected a large army. The war was terminated by the defeat of the Pompeian army at the battle of Thapsus, on April 6th, 46. Cato, unable to defend Utica, put an end to his own life. Caesar returned to Rome in the latter part of July. He was now the undisputed master of the Roman world, but he used his victory with the greatest moderation. His clemency against his enemies was one of the brightest features of his character. All parties vied with each other in paying him honor. He was made dictator for ten years.⏎
371. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
372. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
373. Marcus Tullius Cicero was born January 3rd, 106 BCE, of M. Tullius and his wife, Helvia, at the family residence in the vicinity of Arpinum. He and his brother Quintus displayed such aptitude for learning that his father sent them to Rome, where they received instruction from the best teachers in the capital. After receiving the manly gown (91), the young Marcus was placed under the care of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the augur, from whom he learned the principles of jurisprudence. In 89 he served his first and only campaign under Cn. Pompeius Strabo in the Social War. During the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, Cicero did not identify himself with either party, but devoted himself to the study of law, philosophy, and rhetoric. Having carefully cultivated his powers, Cicero came forward as a pleader in the forum, as soon as tranquility was restored in the final overthrow of the Marian party. He defended many notable causes, but fearing the resentment of Sulla, he retired to Greece, ostensibly for the improvement of his health, which was very delicate. From Athens he went to Asia Minor, receiving instruction from the most celebrated rhetoricians in the Greek cities of Asia. From there he went to Rhodes. After an absence of two years, he returned to Rome, his health improved, and his rhetorical powers greatly enhanced. He obtained great distinction in the forum as an orator, and thus he paved his way to the high offices of state. In 75, he was quaestor in Sicily; in 74 he returned to Rome, and for four years was engaged in pleading causes. In 69, he was praetor. Two years later he was elected consul with C. Antonius as a colleague. Although he favored the popular party up to this time, he now allied himself with the aristocracy. He crushed Cataline, the conspirator, and for this service received the highest honors, was addressed as "father of his country," and thanksgivings in his name were voted to the gods. When he laid down the consulship, the tide turned against him. The friends of the conspirators accused him of putting Roman citizens to death without the vote of the whole people assembled in the comitia. The people, whose cause he had deserted, showed signs of resentment. He mortally offended Clodius by bearing witness against him, and Clodius vowed vengeance. The triumvirs, Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, left Cicero to his fate. Cicero retired from Rome into Greece. He gave himself over to despair. But his friends at Rome had not deserted him, and over the opposition of Clodius, he was recalled from banishment. In 57, Cicero returned to Rome and was received with honor. But he retired to a great extent form public life. He was sent to Cicilia as governor, returning to Rome in 49, just as the civil war between Caesar and Pompey broke out. He threw his lot with Pompey and crossed over to Greece. At the battle of Pharsalia (48), Cicero abandoned the Pompeian party and returned to Brundisium, where he lived in the greatest anxiety for many months, dreading Caesar; but when the latter landed at Brundisium he greeted Cicero with kindness and respect, and allowed him to return to Rome. Cicero now retired into privacy and composed the greater part of his philosophical and rhetorical works. The murder of Caesar in 44 again brought Cicero into public life. He put himself at the head of the republican party, and attacked M. Antony with unmeasured vehemence. On the formation of the triumvirate between Octavian, Antony and Lepidus in 43, Cicero’s name was in the list of the proscribed. Cicero tried to escape but was overtaken, his head and hands cut off and taken to Rome, and by orders of Antony, were nailed to the Rostra. He perished December 7th, 43, in his 64th year.⏎
374. For this last sentence and the one that precedes it, the German edition of the Chronicle simply states: "Some of them, who were members of the senate, were apprehended, taken to prison, and there strangled."⏎
375. See Note on L. Sergius Catilina (Catiline) Folio LXXXVI recto.⏎

376. Compare the chronicler’s text to his source, Valerius Maximus (who gets his own mini-biography on Folio XCIII verso), Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri Novem (‘Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings’) VIII.7.2:

     Cuius mirifica proles, propior aetati nostrae Cato, ita doctrinae cupiditate flagravit ut ne in curia quidem, dum senatus cogitur, temperaret sibi quo minus Graecos libros lectitaret. Qua quidem industria ostendit aliis tempora deesse, alios superesse temporibus.

     His (Cato the Elder’s) marvelous progeny, a Cato nearer to our own time, was so aflame with desire for learning that even in the senate house, while the members were assembling, he did not refrain from reading Greek books. By such diligence he showed that some lack time, whereas others are superior to times.

     D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Valerius Maximus, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 2000; p. 225

     Shackleton Bailey has a note on the last word, ‘times’ (tempora, temporibus), that reads (p. 224): "The text has been questioned. Is there a play on two senses of tempora, time and circumstances?"

     ⏎
377. M. Cato, great grandson of Cato the Censor, and surnamed Uticensis, from Utica, the place of his death, was born in 95 BCE. In early childhood he lost both his parents and was brought up in the house of his mother’s brother, M. Livius Drusus. In his youth he revealed a stern and unyielding character, and applied himself with great zeal to the study of oratory and philosophy, and became a devoted adherent of the Stoic school. He was conspicuous for his rigid morality. In 63, he was tribune of the plebs, and supported Cicero against Cataline. He became one of the chief leaders of the aristocratic party, and an opponent of the measures of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. But all his efforts were in vain, and he was rejected as a candidate for the praetorship. On the breaking out of civil war in 49, he was entrusted as propraetor with the defense of Sicily; but on the landing of Curio with an overwhelming force, he abandoned the island and joined Pompey in Greece. After Pompey’s victory at Dyrrachium, Cato was left in charge of the camp, and thus was not present at the battle of Pharsalia in 48. After this battle he set sail for Corcyra, and from there crossed over to Africa, where he joined Metellus Scipio, after a terrible march across the desert. The army wished to be led by Cato, but he yielded to Scipio. In opposition to the advice of Cato, Scipio fought with Caesar at Thapsus, and was utterly defeated. All Africa now submitted to Caesar, except Utica, where Cato wanted the Romans to resist; but when he saw that they were inclined to submit, he resolved to die rather than fall into the hands of the conqueror. He stabbed himself and died at the age of 49.⏎
378. Antipater was the son of a noble Idumaean of the same name, although the chronicler calls him Aristobulus. He had a brother of the latter name against whom he espoused the cause of Hyrcanus. Antipater ingratiated himself with the Romans and in 47 BCE he was appointed procurator of Judea by Caesar; which appointment he held until 43, when he was killed by poison, which Malichus, whose life he had twice saved, bribed the cup-bearer of Hyrcanus to administer to him. Antipater’s father was apparently the first governor of Idumaea (Greek for Edom), originally the territory east of the Jordan-Arabah valley, and south of the land of Moab. It was originally inhabited by the Horites. They were partly destroyed and partly absorbed by the Bedouin tribes, who claimed descent through Esau from Abraham, and whom the Israelites acknowledged as brethren. They were governed by sheiks. After the fall of Babylon the pressure of the desert Arabs forced the Edomites across the Jordan-Arabah valley, and the people and name were extended westward. Hebron was in Idumaea. Herod’s family was by origin Idumaean.⏎
379. Schedel here seems to have confused Ptolemy XI (see the following note), who reigned nearly 30 years, with his son, Ptolemy XII (c. 62-47 BCE), who only lived to be 15 or 16 years of age. Ptolemy XII was, according to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (vol. 3, p. 597),

     the eldest son of Ptolemy XI Auletes. He is commonly said to have borne the surname of Dionysus, in imitation of his father, but there appears to be no authority for this assertion. By his father’s will the sovereign power was left to himself and his sister Cleopatra jointly, and this arrangement was carried into effect without opposition, 51 BCE. Auletes had also referred the execution of his will to the Roman senate, and the latter accepted the office, confirmed its provisions and bestowed on Pompey the title of guardian of the young king (Caes. B.C. iii. 108; Eutrop. vi. 21). But the approach of the civil war prevented them from taking any active part, and the admi nistration of affairs fell into the hands of an eunuch named Pothinus. It was not long before dissensions broke out between the latter and Cleopatra, which ended in the expulsion of the princess, after she had reigned in conjunction with her brother about three years, 48 BCE. Hereupon she took refuge in Syria, and assembled an army with which she invaded Egypt. The young king, accompanied by his guardians, met her at Pelusium, and it was while the two armies were here encamped opposite to one another, that Pompey landed in Egypt, to throw himself as a suppliant on the protection of Ptolemy; but was assassinated by the orders of Pothinus and Achillas before he could obtain an interview with the king himself. (Caes. B.C. iii. 103, 104; Dion Cass. xlii. 3, 4; Plut. Pomp. 77-79; Appian, B. C. ii. 84, 85; Strab. xvii. p. 797.) Shortly after, Caesar arrived in Egypt, and took upon himself to regulate the affairs of that kingdom, and settle the dispute be tween Ptolemy and his sister. But Cleopatra, who now hastened to return to Alexandria, soon obtained so powerful a hold over the conqueror by the influence of her personal attractions, that it was evident the latter would decide the controversy in her favour. Hereupon Pothinus determined to excite an insurrection against Caesar, and secretly summoned the army from Pelusium under Achillas. Caesar was taken by surprise, and had to maintain his ground with very inadequate forces in a part of the city where he was vehemently assailed both by the army and the populace. Ptolemy himself was at this time in the power of the conqueror, but after the contest had continued for some time, he obtained permission to repair to the camp of the insurgents, under pretence of exercising his authority to reduce them to submission; instead of which he immediately put him self at their head. Caesar, however, still defied all their efforts; and, meanwhile, Mithridates of Pergamus had assembled an army in Syria, with which he advanced to the relief of the dictator. Ptolemy now turned his arms against this new enemy, and took up a strong position on the banks of the Nile to prevent Mithridates from crossing that river. Caesar himself, however, quickly arrived from Alexandria, landed near the mouth of the Nile, attacked and defeated the forces of the young king, and followed up his advantage by storming his camp. Ptolemy himself endeavoured to escape by the river, but was drowned in the attempt. His death occurred either before the close of 48 BCE, or early in the following year. (Caes. B.C. iii. 106-112; Hirt. B. Aleoc. 1-31; Dion Cass. xlii. 7-9, 34 -43; Plut. Caes. 48, 49; Liv. Epit. cxii.; Appian, B.C. ii. 89, 90; Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Ann. p. 118.)"

     ⏎
380. Ptolemy XI. Philopater Philadelphus Neos Dionysus (80-51 BCE), nicknamed Auletes (‘the flute-player’), was the illegitimate son of Soter II, and was chosen king by the Alexandrian people. The rights of these kings were doubtful, not only because of their illegitimacy, but because it was claimed in Rome that Alexander II had bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people. Ptolemy Auletes was thus obliged to spend his reign in buying the support of the men in power in Rome. From 58 to 55, Auletes was in exile, driven out by popular hatred, and worked by bribery and murder in Rome to get himself restored to Roman power. His daughter Bernice meanwhile reigned in Alexandria, a husband being found for her in the Pontic prince Archelaus. In 55, Auletes was restored by Aulus Gabinus, proconsul of Syria. He killed Bernice and, dying in 51, bequeathed the kingdom to his eldest son, aged ten years, who was to take as wife his sister Cleopatra, aged seventeen.⏎
381. There is no Attic War except in Greek mythology (where the Amazons do battle with Theseus and the Athenians in Attica, Greece). The chronicler is referring to the Battle of Actium (31 BCE).⏎
382. Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE) was the eldest daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Her father died when she was seventeen, leaving the kingdom to her and her younger brother Ptolemy, whom she was to marry. She was expelled from the throne by his guardians and retreated into Syria, collecting an army with which she was preparing to enter Egypt when Caesar arrived there in pursuit of Pompey. Her charms gained her support of Caesar, who placed her on the throne with his brother. This led to the Alexandrine War in which Ptolemy perished. Although this left Cleopatra the sole ruler, Caesar associated her with another brother of the same name who was still a child and to whom she was nominally married. She had a son by Caesar and followed Caesar to Rome, where she appears to have been at the time of his death in 44. She returned to Egypt, and in the year 41 met Anthony who became her devoted lover and slave. She accompanied Anthony in the war with Octavian, and was present at the battle of Actium in which she retreated with her fleet, hastening Anthony’s defeat. She then attempted to win over Augustus, but having failed, and seeing that he was about to carry her to Rome as a captive, she ended her life at the age of thirty-nine in the year 30 BCE.⏎
383. Trachonitis, or Trachon, is the northern district of Palestine beyond Jordan, and lies between Antilibanus and the mountains of Arabia. It was bounded on the north by the territory of Damascus, on the east by Aurenitis, and on the south by Ituraea. Gaulanitis lay to the west of it. Trachonitis was for the most part a sandy desert, intercepted by mountains where caves gave refuge to murderous bands of robbers.⏎
384. Ituraea, or Ityraea, is a district on the northeast borders of Palestine. It is bounded on the north by the plain of Damascus, on the southwest and south by Gaulantis, and on the east by Aurenitis and Trachonitis. It was inhabited by Arabian people of warlike and predatory habits, which they exercised upon the caravans from Arabia to Damascus, whose great road lay through this country. Augusuts gave Ituraea, which had been hitherto ruled by native princes, to the family of Herod. It was a country of open villages and tents, set up according to the Arab fashion of living.⏎
385. Ascalon was one of the chief cities of the Philistines, and is situated on the coast of Palestine between Azotas and Gaza.⏎
386. This reference is to Genesis 49:10:

     The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and he will be the expectation of nations.

     ⏎

387. Antipater, the governor of Idumaea, was the father of this Antipater, the procurator of Judea, who married Cryspos (Cypros), an Arabian woman by whom he had four sons and a daughter: Phasael, Herod the Great, Joseph, Pheroras, and Salome. Phasael (Phaselus) died in captivity in 40 BCE. Herod the Great, second son, was married five times and there was issue of each marriage as follows:

     • i. Doris, by whom he begot Antipater, who was put to death in 4 BCE.
     • ii. Mariamne (granddaughter of Hyrcanus II), by whom Herod the Great begot:
       • (a) Aristobulus, who married Bernice (daughter of Salome) and was put to death 6 BCE. Of this marriage were born:
         • (1) Herod Agrippa, who married Cypros, daughter of Phasael and Salampsio, and died in 44 CE. Of this marriage were born: (a) Herod Agrippa II, king of Chalcis, who died in 86 or 90 CE; (b) Mariamne; (c) Berenice, who married Herod, king of Chalcis, and later Polemon, king of Pontus; (d) Drusilla, wife, firstly of Azizus, king of Emesa, and secondly, Felix, by whom she bore Agrippa (who died in 79 CE); and (e) Drusus, who died young.
         • (2) Herodias, who married firstly Herod Philip, and secondly, Herod Antipas.
         • (3) Aristobulus, who married Jotape, princess of Emesa.
         • (4) Herod, king of Chalcis.
       • (b) Alexander, who married Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappodocia, and was put to death in 6 BCE. Of this marriage were born:
         • (1) Alexander
         • (2) Tigranes, king of Armenia
       • (c) Salampsio, who married Phasael, her cousin.
       • (d) Cypros, who married Antipater, the son of Salome.
     • iii. Mariamne (daughter of Simon the high-priest), of whose marriage to Herod the Great was born Herod Phillip, who married Herodias, but who divorced him. Of this latter marriage a Salome was born.
     • iv. Malthace, a Samaritan who bore Herod the Great the following:
       • (a) Archelaus, king of Judea, deposed in 4 BCE and died in exile. He was married to Glaphyra, widow of Alexander.
       • (b) Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Persaea, who died in exile. He was married to Herodias, wife of Herod Philip.
     • v. Cleopatra (of Jerusalem), last wife of Herod the Great, who begot Phillip, tetrarch of Ituraea.

     ⏎
388. The Ubii were German people who originally dwelt on the right bank of the Rhine, but were transported across the river by Agrippa in 37 BCE, at their own request, to escape the hostilities of the Suevi. They took the name of Agrippensis, form their town Colonia Agrippina.⏎
389. This sentence and the two that precede it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle, and are only slightly modified versions of sentences from Petarch’s 1333 letter to Cardinal John Columna in (see note on Colonia Agrippina below).⏎
390. Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle).⏎

391. Colonia Agrippina, or Agrippinensis, is the present site of Cologne (Köln in German), on the Rhine. It was so called after 50 CE, when a Roman colony was planted here by the emperor Claudius, at the request of his wife Agrippina, who was born in the place, and after whom the colony was named. Before this colonization the site was called Oppidum Ubiorum, ‘the town of the Ubii.’ It rose to be the chief town of Germania Secunda, and had the privilege of the Ius Italicum. About 330, the city was taken by the Franks, but was not permanently occupied by them until the fifth century, becoming in 475 the residence of the Frankish king Childeric. Counts of Cologne are mentioned in the ninth century. The city still contains remnants of Roman occupation, such as the wall, the ancient gate, etc. The great cathedral or Dom stands on the site of a church begun in the ninth century by Hildebold, metropolitan of Cologne, and finished under Willibert in 873. This structure was ruined by the Normans, was rebuilt, but destroyed by fire in 1248. The foundation of the present cathedral was then laid, and in 1322 the new choir was consecrated. After the death of Conrad of Hochstaden (archbishop from 1238 to 1261), who laid the foundation of the present cathedral, the work of building advanced but slowly, and the structure was not completed until the nineteenth century. It contains the shrine of the Magi. The greatness of Cologne was founded on her trade. Wine and herrings were the chief articles of her commerce; but her goldsmiths, armorers, and weavers were famous, and exports of cloth were large.

     When, in 1201, Cologne joined the Hanseatic League, its power and repute were so great that it was made the chief place of a third of the confederation.

     The expulsion of the Jews in 1414, and still more the exclusion of the Protestants from citizenship and magistracy, deeply affected the prosperity of Cologne. New trade routes, the decay of guilds, and many prolonged periods of warfare further contributed to its decay; and when, in 1794, Cologne was occupied by the French, it was a poor city of about 40,000 inhabitants, of whom only 6,000 possessed civic rights. With the assignment of the city to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, a new ear of prosperity began, and this rapidly increased.

     The "bones of the Magi" are said to have been brought by the Empress Helena to Constantinople. They were afterwards taken to Milan, and in 1164 presented by Frederick Barbarossa to Archbishop Reinald von Dassele, by whom they were removed to Cologne. The golden reliquary in which they are preserved is now in the Cathedral Treasury. It is a costly specimen of Romanesque work, probably executed in the years 1190-1200. It was seriously damaged in 1794, when carried away for concealment from the French; but it was restored in 1807.

     St. Severin, mentioned by the chronicler as bishop of Cologne, is commemorated by the church of his name which stands upon the site of a Christian church built as early as the 4th century. It contains the sarcophagus of St. Severin. The career of Albertus Magnus and the legend of Ursula and her 11,000 virgins are referred to elsewhere in the Chronicle.

     Much of this paragraph on Cologne is taken by Schedel from a letter of Petrarch, "Franciscus Petrarca Iohanni Columnae Cardinali salutem plurimam dicit" (Epistolae familiares I, 5 Colonia Agrippina et Lugdunum (1333).

     ⏎
392. Schedel has conflated two different men named Pomponius in this very short biography: (1) Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis, the most celebrated writer of atellane farce, who flourished in 91 BCE, and (2) Pomponius Mela, the first Roman author who composed a formal treatise on geography, and who probably flourished under the emperor Claudius (more than a century after Lucius Pomponius Bononiensis!). The German edition of the Chronicle still (incorrectly) names our author L. Pomponius, but (correctly) removes the reference to him being a writer of atellane farce.⏎

393. Lenaeus, according to Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (vol. 2, p. 728) was,

     a freedman of Pompey the Great, whence he is sometimes called Pompeius Lenaeus. He was a native of Athens, possessed great know ledge of natural history, and was acquainted with several languages, in consequence of which Pompey restored him to freedom. (Suetonius. De llustr. Grammat. 2,15; Pliny, H. N. xxv. 2, 3.) He accompanied his patron in nearly all his expeditions (Suet. l. c. 15), and by his command he translated into Latin the work of Mithridates on poisons. (Plin. l. c., comp. xv. 30, 39, xxiv. 9, 41, xxv. 6, 27, and Elench. lib. xiv. xv. xx. xxiii. xxvii.) After the death of Pompey and his sons, Lenaeus maintained himself by keeping a school at Rome, in the Carinae, near the temple of Tellus, the dis trict in which the house of Pompey had been. This fact is a proof not only of his great attachment to the memory of his late master, but also of his not having made use of his friendship with Pompey for the purpose of enriching himself. His affection for Pompey also led him to write a very bitter satire against the historian Sallust, who had spoken of Pompey in an unjust and slanderous manner. Suetonius (l. c. 15) has preserved some of the opprobrious terms in which Lenaeus spoke of Sallust.

     The last phrase, "in his own secrets" (in archanis suis) is not in the German edition of the Chronicle, probably on account of its obscure meaning.

     ⏎
394. This sentence, not found in the German edition of the Chronicle, is taken from Pliny, Natural History 36.24.121: Agrippa vero in aedilitate sua, adiecta Virgine aqua, ceterisque conrivatis atque emendatis, lacus septingentos fecit. Pliny, however, is mistaken about the building of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, which was completed not under the aedileship of Agrippa in 33 BCE, but in 19 BCE.⏎
395. Compare this to Schedel’s source, Suetonius, Augustus 41:

     Sed ut salubrem magis quam ambitiosum principem scires, querentem de inopia et caritate vini populum severissima coercuit voce: satis provisum a genero suo Agrippa perductis pluribus aquis, ne homines sitirent.

     But to show that he was a prince who desired the public welfare rather than popularity, when the people complained of the scarcity and high price of wine, he sharply rebuked them by saying: "My son-in‑law Agrippa has taken good care, by building several aqueducts, that men shall not go thirsty."

     (J.C. Rolfe, Suetonius; Loeb Classical Library, 1913; p. 189) ⏎
396. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 BCE), under whose protection the Ubii, who were on the east side of the Rhine in Caesar’s time, removed to the opposite shore to escape the attacks of their neighbors, the Catti. Agrippa studied with the young Octavian (afterwards the Emperor Augustus) at Apollonia in Illyria; and upon the murder of Caesar in 44, was one of the friends of Octavian who advised him to proceed immediately to Rome. Agrippa took an active part in the civil wars which followed, and which gave Augustus the sovereignty of the Roman world. As a military commander he was successful, and in 37 was made consul. He expended vast sums of money on public works, such as aqueducts, and erected several public buildings. He continued to be employed in various military commands until his death in 12 BCE.⏎
397. Japheth was the son of Noah.⏎
398. It is ironic that nothing is known of Avar Bogudis, who became famous in this battle. But see further the note below.⏎
399. "Destroyed legion" in Latin is perdita legio. The first two syllables of each Latin word, per and leg, were believed to be the components making up the name Perleich.⏎
400. This sentence and the one that precedes it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
401. The entire narrative on the battle of Augsburg by the Marcian Legion may be the most corrupt in the Chronicle (it certainly is in terms of the Fifth Age). The corruption is probably due to a medieval chronicler whose knowledge of the ancient world was, to say the least, shaky at best. Much of Schedel’s text seems to follow that of the Auersberg chronicle. The names of the various individuals mentioned in the story (Avar Bogudis, Titus Ennius (or should it be Annius?), and Varus/Varro/Verres) have, at least in terms of the last two, common enough names, but no historical figure known by these names is associated with Augsburg. Although Titus and Ennius/Annius are individually well known, there is no Titus Ennius/Annius that I’m aware of. And despite the fact that there were many Romans named Varus/Varro/Verres, none fought at Augsburg. The only connection here might be the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, in which the Roman general Varus suffered the complete elimination of three Roman legions under his command in 9 CE. This was possibly the worst defeat suffered by Rome at the height of its empire. Unfortunately, Augsburg and the Teutoburg Forest are in different parts of Germany (Bavaria and Lower Saxony, respectively).⏎
402. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle. The citation is from the fourth book of Horace’s Odes, 4.17-21, a poem in the style of Pindar written in honor of Augustus’ stepson Drusus, who at the age of 23 (in 15 BCE) had brought the eastern Alps under Roman control with the aid of his brother, the future emperor Tiberius. Suetonius states that this praise of his stepsons was the reason why Augustus wanted Horace to publish a fourth book of odes.⏎
403. This sentence and the one preceding it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

404. Augusta is a name given to a number of towns founded or colonized by Augustus. Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), capital of Vindelicia, or Rhaetia (also spelled Raetia) Secunda, on the Licus (Lech), was colonized by Drusus under Augustus, after the conquest of Rhaeti in 14 BCE. Vindelicia was a Roman province south of the Danube, which separated it from Germany. It was bounded on the west by the territory of the Helvetti in Gaul, on the south by Rhaetia, and on the east by the river Oenus (Inn), which separated it from Noricum, thus corresponding to the northeast part of Switzerland, the southeast of Baden, the south of Wuertemberg and Bavaria, and the north part of the Tyrol. It was originally part of the province of Rhaetia, and was conquered by Tiberius in the reign of Augustus. Later Rhaetia was divided into two provinces: Rhaetia Prima and Rhaetia Secunda. The latter became Vindelicia. It was drained by the tributaries of the Danube, of which the most important were the Licus (Lech), with its tributaries, the Vindo or Vidro (Wertach), the Isarus (Isar) and Oenus (Inn). The greater part of the Vindelicia was a plain, but the south portion was occupied by the northern slopes of the Alpes Rhaeticae. It derived its name from its chief inhabitants, the Vindelici, a warlike people dwelling in the southern part of the country. Their name is said to have been formed form the two rivers, Vinda and Licus. The Vindelici were a Celtic people, and closely connected with the Rhaeti; with whom they are frequently spoken of by the ancient writers, and along with whom they were subdued by Tiberius. The other tribes in Vindelicia were the Brigantii on Lake Constance, the Licatti on the Lech, and the Breuni in the north of Tyrol, on the Brenner. Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), as already stated, was the chief town of the province, and it was situated at the confluence of the Vindo and the Licus. It was made a Roman colony in 14 BCE, and was the residence of the governor. Together with other towns of Vindelicia, it fell into the hands of the Alemanni in the fourth century, and from this time the population of the country appears to have been entirely Germanized.

     The Roman province of Rhaetia lay south of the Danube and was originally distinct from Vindelicia. Toward the end of the first century, however, Vindelicia was added to the province of Rhaetia. When Rhaetia was subdivided, Rhaetia Prima answered for the old province, and Rhaetia Secunda in time was named Vindelicia. They were separated from one another by Lake Constance (Brigantinus Lacus) and the river Oenus (Inn). Rhaetia was a very mountainous country, as the main chain of the Alps ran through the greater part of the province. The Rhaeti are first mentioned by Polybius. They were known as a brave and warlike people, and conducted marauding incursions into Gaul and northern Italy, and were not subdued by the Romans until the reign of Augustus. They offered a brave and desperate resistance against both Drusus and Tiberius, who finally conquered them. Rhaetia then became a Roman province, to which Vindelicia was later added.

     The Augsburg of today is a city and Episcopal see in Bavaria, Germany, and chief town of the district of Swabia. It lies on the plateau 1500 feet above the sea, between the Wertach and Lech, which unite below the city. Since the time the Chronicle was written, namely, in 1632, it was besieged and taken by Gustavus Adolphus. The Augsburg Confession, the most important Protestant Statement of belief drawn up at the Reformation, was presented in Latin and German to the emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg, June 25th 1530. It was compiled by Melancthon, but based on articles previously drawn up by Luther. Augsburg was the chief seat of the textile industry in southern Germany, and has bleaching and dye works, while its production of agricultural and industrial machinery and its chemical works are important. According to the chronicler there was a theory that this ancient city was built by the Trojans and that they chose for themselves a goddess named Ziza, as he designates her, and whom they believed to be the Roman goddess Ceres (the Greek goddess Demeter). Undoubtedly the deity to whom the chronicler refers is Cisa, the goddess of the ancient Germans, who, according to middle age tradition was worshipped in Augsburg (ancient Cisaris) and the surrounding country. The chronicler gives the old name of the city as "Zizaria," instead of Cisaris.

     The reference to Perlech, and the origin of the name from perdita legio, the lost legion, are both rather indefinite. The chronicler states that Perlech is now in the middle of the city. In explanation it may be said that north of the courthouse in Augsburg rises the "Perlachturm," or "Perlach Tower," a portion of which has survived from the eleventh century. This, perhaps, marks the spot of the victory over the Romans. Its weather vane represents Cisa, the ancient pagan patron goddess of the city of Augsburg.

     ⏎

405. Under the care of the Ptolemies, Alexandria, as the capital of the great kingdom of Egypt and of the most fertile country on earth, and commanding by its position all the commerce of Europe with the East, became the most wealthy and splendid city of the known world. Greeks, Jews and other foreigners flocked to it, and its population probably amounted to three quarters of a million. But a still greater distinction was conferred upon it through the foundation by the first two Ptolemies of the Museum, an establishment in which men devoted to literature were maintained at the public cost, and of the Library which contained 90,000 distinct works and 400,000 volumes, and the increase of which made it necessary to establish another library in the Serapeum (Temple of Serapis) which reached 40,000 volumes, but which was destroyed by the bishop Theophilus at the time of the general overthrow of the pagan temples under Theodosius in 389 CE. The Great Library suffered severely by fire when Julius Caesar was besieged at Alexandria and was finally destroyed by Amrou, the lieutenant of the Caliph Omar in 651 CE. These institutions made Alexandria the chief center of literary activity.

     Neleus of Scepsis was a disciple of Aristotle and Theophrastus, the latter of whom bequeathed to him his library and appointed him one of his executors. According to a story current in antiquity, Aristotle bequeathed his library and manuscripts to Theophrastus, his successor in the Academy. On the death of Theophrastus, the libraries and manuscripts are said to have come into the hands of his relative and disciple Neleus of Scepsis. Neleus sold both libraries to Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, for the Alexandrian library; but he retained for himself as an heirloom the original manuscripts of the works of these two philosophers. The descendants of Neleus, who were subjects of the king of Pergamum, knew of no other way of securing them from the search of the Attali, who wished to rival the Ptolemies in forming a large library, than concealing them in a cellar, where for a couple of centuries they were exposed to the ravages of damp and worms. Not until the beginning of the first century BCE did a wealthy book collector, the Athenian Apellicon of Teos, discover these valuable texts, bought them from the ignorant heirs, and prepared from them a new edition of Aristotle’s works. After the capture of Athens, Sulla conveyed Apellicon’s library to Rome in 64 BCE.

     The last third of this paragraph, from ‘So too Livy,….’ to the end, are not in the German edition of the Chronicle. They are a slightly abridged version of Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi (‘On the Tranquility of the Mind’) 9.5:

     Quadraginta milia librorum Alexandriae arserunt; pulcherrimum regiae opulentiae monimentum alius laudaverit, sicut T. Livius, qui elegantiae regum curaeque egregium id opus ait fuisse. Non fuit elegantia illud aut cura, sed studiosa luxuria, immo ne studiosa quidem, quoniam non in studium sed in spectaculum comparaverant, sicut plerisque ignaris etiam puerilium litterarum libri non studiorum instrumenta sed cenationum ornamenta sunt.

     Forty thousand books were burned at Alexandria; let someone else praise this library as the most noble monument to the wealth of kings, as did Titus Livius, who says that it was the most distinguished achievement of the good taste and solicitude of kings. There was no ‘good taste’ or ‘solicitude’ about it, but only learned luxury -- nay, not even ‘learned,’ since they had collected the books, not for the sake of learning, but to make a show, just as many who lack even a child’s knowledge of letters use books, not as the tools of learning, but as decorations for the dining-room.

     (J. W. Basore, Seneca: Moral Essays, Vol. II; Loeb Classical Library, 1928-1935)

     ⏎
406. Sallust (Sallustius Crispus, or Salustius), the Roman historian, was born in 86 BCE, at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines. He held several public offices. In the year 50, Sallust was expelled from the senate by the censors, probably because he belonged to Caesar’s party, though some give another reason. In the civil war he followed Caesar’s fortune. In 47 we find him praetor elect, by obtaining which dignity he was restored to his rank. He accompanied Caesar in the African War, and was left by Caesar as the governor of Numidia, in which capacity it is said, he oppressed the people and enriched himself by unjust means. He retired to private life after his return from Africa, and passed quietly through the troublesome period of Caesar’s death. He died in 34, about four years before the battle of Actium. It was probably not until his return from Africa that he wrote his historical works. His Catilina or Bellum Catilinarium is a history of the conspiracy of Catiline, during the consulship of Cicero, 63. The Jugurtha or Bellum Jugurthinum contains the history of the war of the Romans against Jugurtha, king of Numidia. Sallust was a decided partisan of Caesar from the first, and it was to him that he owed such political advancement as he attained. His account of the Catiline conspiracy and of the Jugurthine War have come down to us complete, together with fragments of his larger and most important work (Historiae), a history of Rome from 78-67, intended as a continuation of the work of L. Cornelius Sisenna. In the Catiline conspiracy he adopts the usually accepted view of Catiline, describing him as the deliberate foe of law, order and morality. Catiline, it must be remembered, had supported the party of Sulla, to which Sallust was opposed. He is careful to clear Caesar of complicity and on the whole he is not unfair towards Cicero. His Jugurthine War, though interesting, is not satisfactory, -- too much moralizing about the feebleness of the senate and aristocracy. As a military history it is unsatisfactory in geographical and chronological details, though vivid in the depicting of character and scenery.⏎
407. This last phrase is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
408. The first two clauses of this sentence are replaced in the German edition of the Chronicle with the phrase "and he also wrote many other books."⏎
409. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
410. Varro was a celebrated writer, whose vast and varied erudition in almost every breath of literature, earned him the title of the "most learned of the Romans." He was born in 116 BCE. He held a high naval command in the wars against the pirates and Mithridates, and later served as the legatus of Pompey in Spain in the civil war, but was compelled to surrender his forces to Caesar. He then passed over into Greece and shared the fortunes of the Pompeian party till after the battle of Pharsalia, when he sued for and obtained the forgiveness of Caesar, who employed him in superintending the collection and arrangement of the great library designed for the public use. For some years Varro remained in literary seclusion, passing his time chiefly at his country seats in study and in composition. Upon the formation of the second triumvirate, his name appeared upon the list of the proscribed, but he managed to make his escape, and after a period of concealment, obtained the protection of Octavian. He spent the remainder of his days in tranquility, pursuing his favorite studies, although his magnificent library had been destroyed, a loss to him irreparable. He died in 28, at the age of 89. Varro was not only the most learned, but also the most prolific of Roman writers. He composed no less than 490 books, of which only two have come down to us.⏎

411. C. Asinius Pollio was a distinguished orator, poet and historian of the Augustan age. On the breaking out of the civil war he joined Caesar, and in 49 accompanied Curio to Africa. After the latter’s defeat and death, he crossed over to Greece, and fought on Caesar’s side at Pharsalia in 48. He accompanied Caesar on his campaigns against the Pompeian party in Africa and Spain. He returned with Caesar to Rome, but was shortly afterward sent back to Spain to prosecute the war against Sex. Pompey. He was there at the time of Caesar’s death. He took no part in the war between Antony and the senate; but when Antony was joined by Lepidus and Octavian in 43, Pollio espoused their cause, and persuaded L. Plancus in Gaul to follow his example. In the division of the provinces among the triumvirs, Antony received the Gauls. The administration, of Transpadane Gaul was committed to Pollio by Antony. It was on this occasion that he saved the property of the poet Virgil at Mantua from confiscation, when he took him under his protection through his love of literature. In the year 40, Pollio took an active part in effecting a reconciliation between Antony and Octavian. After further military campaigns he withdrew from political life and devoted himself to literature. He died at his Tusculan villa in 4 CE, at the age of 80.

     Pollio deserves a very distinguished place in the history of Roman literature, not so much on account of his works, which were marred by an affected archaism, as because of the encouragement and incentive that he gave to literature. He was not only a patron of Virgil, Horace, and other great writers and poets, but he has the honor of being the first person to establish a public library at Rome. He wrote tragedies which Virgil declared to be worthy of Sophocles, and a prose history of the civil wars of his time from the first triumvirate to the death of Caesar.

     ⏎
412. The last clause of this sentence ("for he suffered much from stomach pains and throat pains and head pains") is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
413. This last sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
414. In place of this long list of specific works written by Virgil, the German edition of the Chronicle simply states that "He wrote many works of poetry."⏎

415. Virgil (Virgilius, or Maro P. Virgilius), the Roman poet, was born October 15th 70 BCE at Andes (Pietola) a small village near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. His father had a small estate that he cultivated; his mother’s name was Maia. Virgil was educated at Cremona and Milan. It is said he later studied at Naples and learned Greek; also at Rome. His writings showed learning. His health was always feeble, and there is no evidence of an attempt to rise by those means through which a Roman gained distinction—public office and the military. Having completed his education he retired to his paternal farm.

     He worked on his Aeneid for a long time, and it was still unfinished at the time of his death in the year 19; for which reason, in his last illness he wished to burn his manuscript, but his friends would not permit him to do so. He had been enriched by the liberality of his patrons, used his wealth liberally, and made his excellent library easy of access. He sent liberal sums to his parents every year. In his fortune and his friends Virgil was a happy man, and his learned poems gave employment to many commentators and critics; for Virgil is one of the most difficult of Latin authors, not so much because of his style, but from the great variety of knowledge required to attain his meaning in all its fullness.

     The last sentence of this paragraph, which cites the inscription purportedly found on Virgil’s gravestone, is not in the German edition of the Chronicle. Instead, that translation simply reads: "and his grave was marked by a monument."

     The entire paragraph on Virgil is, to a large extent, a very significant abridgment of Suetonius’ Life of Virgil, a work attributed to Suetonius and found in Donatus’ commentary.

     ⏎
416. The German edition of the Chronicle does not list specific works by Horace, but simply states: "He wrote many works of poetry." ⏎
417. Horace (Q. Horatio Flaccus), the poet, was born December 8th, 65 BCE, at Venusia, in Apulia. His father was a libertinus (‘freedman’). He had received his manumission before the birth of the poet. When twelve years of age his father took him to Rome to receive the usual education of a knight’s or senator’s son, which he could not attain at home. He frequented the best schools in the capital and was instructed in Greek and Latin. At 18 he continued his studies at Athens, and when Brutus came there after the death of Caesar, Horace was given the rank of military tribune and command of a legion. He was present at the battle of Philippi, and shared in the flight of the republican army. Thereafter he devoted himself to more peaceful pursuits, and having been pardoned, he returned to Rome. His paternal estate had been swept away in the general forfeiture, but he was able to purchase a clerkship on the profits of which he was able to live in frugality. Meanwhile, however, some of his poems attracted Varius and Maecenas, and the friendship thus formed soon ripened into intimacy. In 34 Maecenas bestowed on Horace a Sabine farm, sufficient to maintain him in ease and contentment the rest of his life. Even Augustus favored him as a poet. Horace died November 17th, 8 BCE, at the age of 57. His death was so sudden that he had no time to make a will, but he left the administration of his affairs to Augustus, whom he made his heir. According to his own description, Horace was short of stature, eyes dark, hair dark but ringed with gray. In his youth he was tolerably robust, but suffered from an ailment of the eyes. In advanced years he became fat and Augustus teased him for his proturbent belly. He was rather careless in dress, frugal even after he became rich, though he seems to have indulged in conviviality.⏎
418. This sentence and the three that precede it are not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
419. The Suburra lay between the Caelian and Esquiline hills. It was one of the most frequented quarters of Rome.⏎

420. For Caesar’s earlier history see Folios LXXXVI recto and LXXXIX recto and notes. Caesar’s power was not witnessed without envy, for the Roman aristocracy, who had been long accustomed to rule the Roman world, could hardly endure such a master, and resolved to remove him by assassination. Cassius set the conspiracy in motion, and there were more than sixty persons involved in it. Many of these Caesar had raised to wealth and honor; some, like Brutus, lived with him on terms of intimate friendship. The conspirators pretended solicitude for the republic, but for many (not all) their object was power for themselves and their party. Caesar had many warnings, but disregarded them all, and fell by the daggers of his assassins on the Ides (or 15th) of March 44 BCE. At an appointed signal the conspirators surrounded him. Casca dealt the first blow; others quickly followed. Caesar at first defended himself, but when he saw his friend and favorite, Brutus, also draw his knife, he pulled his toga over his face, and sank, pierced with many wounds.

     Caesar was a truly remarkable figure. He was gifted by nature with the most various talents, and was distinguished by the most extraordinary attainments in the most diversified pursuits. He was at one and the same time a general, statesman, lawgiver, jurist, orator, poet, historian, philologer, mathematician and architect. In his busy career he found time for literature, and was the author of many works, the majority of which are lost. The purity of his Latin and the clearness of his style were celebrated by the ancients themselves, and are conspicuous in his Commentaries, his only works that have come down to us.

     The paragraph devoted to Caesar in the Chronicle is a massive abridgment of Suetonius’ Life of Caesar.

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421. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
422. For this sentence the German edition of the Chronicle simply states: "He made peace on land and sea."⏎
423. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎

424. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was born on the 23rd of September 63 BCE, the son of C. Octavius by Atia, a daughter of Julia, the sister of C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, but for the sake of brevity he is called Augustus, though this was only a title given him by the Senate and the people in 27, to express their veneration for him. He lost his father when he was 4 years of age, but his education was conducted with great care by his grandmother Julia, and by his mother and stepfather, L. Marcius Phillipus, whom his mother married soon after his father’s death. C. Julius Caesar, who had no male issue, also watched over his education with solicitude. He joined his uncle in Spain in 45, in the campaign against the sons of Pompey, and in the course of the same year he was sent by Caesar to Apollonia in Illyricum, where some legions were stationed, that he might acquire more thorough practical training in military affairs, and at the same time prosecute his studies. While at Apollonia, he heard of his uncle’s murder, and forthwith set out for Italy, accompanied by Agrippa and a few other friends. Caesar having adopted him in his testament and made him his heir, Augustus now assumed the name of Caesar, and was so saluted by the troops; but, on reaching Rome, he demanded nothing but the private property which Caesar had left him, declaring however his resolution to avenge the murder of his benefactor. He displayed extraordinary tact and prudence. He had to contend against the republican party as well as against Antony, who attempted to prevent his acceptance of the inheritance his uncle had left him. Resolved to first crush Antony, Augustus made overtures to the republican party, and these succeeded. The senate made him praetor and sent him with the two consuls of the year, C. Vibius Pansa and A. Hirtius to attack Antony, who was besieging D. Brutus in Mutina. Antony was defeated but the senate became alarmed, and determined to prevent Augustus from acquiring further power. Ignoring the senate, Augustus marched on Rome and compelled that terrified body to give him the consulship. The murderers of the dictator were outlawed. Later Augustus and Antony became reconciled, and agreed to divide the empire between the triumvirate of Augustus, Antony, and Lepidus. They proscribed their enemies, and a large number were put to death, including Cicero. Soon afterwards Augustus and Antony crossed over to Greece, defeating Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42, by which the hopes of the republican party were ruined. The triumvirs made a new division of the provinces. Lepidus obtained Africa, and Augustus returned to Italy to reward his veterans with the lands he had promised them. Here a new war awaited him, excited by Fulvia, wife of Antony. She was supported by L. Antonius, consul and brother of the triumvir, who threw himself into the fortified town of Perusia, which Augustus succeeded in taking in 40. Antony now made preparations for war, but the opportune death of Fulvia led to a reconciliation between the triumvirs, and a new division of the provinces was made. Antony married Octavia, sister of Augustus, in order to cement this alliance. In 39 Augustus made peace with Sextus Pompey, whose fleet gave him command of the sea, and thus enabled him to prevent corn from reaching Rome, but the peace was only transitory, and in a naval battle which followed, the fleet of Augustus gained a decisive victory over that of Pompey, who abandoned Sicily and fled to Asia. In 35 and 34 Augustus was engaged in war with the Illyrians and Dalmatians. Meanwhile, Antony had repudiated Octavia and had alienated the Roman people by his arrogant proceedings in the East. In 32 the senate declared war against Cleopatra, for by means of Augustus’ propaganda machine, Antony was looked upon only as her infatuated slave. The fleet of Augustus gained a brilliant victory over Antony near the promontory of Actium. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, and being pursued by Augustus, committed suicide.

     Augustus now became the ruler of the world, and though he had thus united in his own person all the power and the great offices of the state, he was too prudent to make any display of authority to indicate that he was the sole master. The people retained their republican privileges, though merely in form, for only such persons were elected as had been proposed or recommended by the emperor. Almost uninterrupted festivities, games, distributions of wheat, and the like, made the people forget the substance of their republican freedom, and obey contentedly their new ruler. The wars of Augustus were not aggressive, but chiefly undertaken to protect the frontiers of his dominions. Most of them were carried on by his relations and friends, but some he conducted in person, such as his attack on the warlike Cantabri in Spain, whose subjection, however, was not completed until later by Agrippa. In 16 the Romans suffered a defeat on the Lower Rhine by some German tribes; whereupon Augustus went himself to Gaul, and spent four years there to regulate the government of that province and to make the necessary preparations for defense against the Germans. In the year 9 he went to Gaul, made peace with the German ambassadors he received there, and from this time he took no active part in the wars. He died at Nola in 14 CE, at the age of 76. He was first married, though nominally, to Clodia, daughter of Clodius and Fulvia; secondly to Scribonia, who bore him his only daughter Julia. His third wife was Livia Drusilla, the mother of Tiberius Nero by her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero.

     The last sentence of this paragraph in the German edition of the Chronicle simply states: "He died a peaceful death at the age of 76 years."

     The paragraph devoted to Augustus in the Chronicle is a massive abridgment of Suetonius’ Life of Augustus.

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425. Marc Antony, son of M. Antony (surnamed Creticus) and Julia, the sister of L. Julius Caesar, consul in 64, was born in 83 BCE. His father died while Antony was still young, and Antony was brought up by Cornelius Lentulus, who married his mother Julia, and who was put to death by Cicero in 63 as one of Catiline’s conspirators; for this reason he became a personal enemy of Cicero. In his early youth Antony indulged in every kind of dissipation, and his affairs soon became deeply involved. He took part in the campaigns against Syria, Aristobulus in Palestine, and the restoration of Ptolemy Auletes in Egypt. In 54 he went to Caesar in Gaul, and by his influence was elected quaestor. As such, he returned to Gaul and served under Caesar for two years, returning to Rome in 50, and becoming one of the active partisans of Caesar. He voted against the senate decree depriving Caesar of his command, and fled back to the latter in Cisalpine Gaul. He accompanied Caesar in his victorious march into Italy and was left in command of that country, while Caesar carried on the war in Spain. He commanded the left wing of Caesar’s army at Pharsalia, and was again left in command of Italy while Caesar went to Africa. In 44 he was consul with Caesar, when he offered him the kingly diadem at the feast of the Lupercalia. After Caesar’s murder, Antony attempted to succeed him in power, but found an unexpected rival in young Octavian, the adopted son and grandnephew of Caesar, who assumed the name of Caesar, and at first joined the senate to crush Antony. Towards the end of the year Antony proceeded to Cisalpine Gaul, which had been previously granted to him by the senate; but Dec. Brutus refused to surrender the province to him and threw himself into Mutina, where he was besieged by Antony. The senate supported Brutus, declared Antony a public enemy, and entrusted the conduct of the war against him to Octavianus. Antony was defeated at Mutina, and was obliged to cross the Alps. Both the consul, however, had fallen and the senate now began to show its jealousy of Octavian. But the latter became reconciled to Antony, and it was agreed that the government of the state should be vested in Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus. The mutual enemies of both were proscribed, and Cicero thus lost his life to Anthony, whom he had opposed. In 42, Antony and Octavian crushed the republican party at Philippi, in which battle Brutus and Cassius both fell. Antony then went to Asia, which he had received as his share of the Roman world, and here began his relationship with Cleopatra, whom he followed to Egypt. In 41 Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and his brother L. Antonius, made war upon Octavian in Italy. But the war was ended before Antony reached Italy. The opportune death of Fulvia resulted in the reconciliation of Antony and Octavian, which was cemented by the marriage of Antony to Octavia, the sister of Octavian. But he later sent her back to her brother and returned to Cleopatra. His conduct and the unbounded influence that Cleopatra had acquired over him, alienated many of his friends and supporters; and Octavian thought that the time had now come for crushing his rival. The contest was decided by the sea-battle-that-never-really-occurred off Actium, September 2nd, 31, in which Antony’s fleet was completely defeated. Antony, accompanied by Cleopatra, fled to Alexandria, where he put an end to his own life in the following year (30).⏎
426. Tibur (Tiburs, pl. Tiburtes, Tiburtinus), now Tivoli, is one of the most ancient towns in Latium, 16 miles northeast of Rome. It is situated on the slope of a hill (and so called by Horace supinum Tiber), on the left bank of the Anio, which here forms a magnificent waterfall. It was said to have been originally built by the Siculi, and to have afterwards passed into the possession of the Aborigines and Pelasgi. According to tradition, it derived its name from Tiburtus, son of Catillus, who emigrated from Greece with Evander. It was afterwards one of the chief towns of the Latin league, and became subject to Rome with the other Latin cities on the final subjugation of Latium in 338 BCE. Under the Romans Tibur continued to be a large and flourishing town, since the salubrity and beautiful scenery of the place led many of the most distinguished Roman nobles to build their magnificent villas here. Of these the most splendid was that of Hadrian. Horace had a country house in the neighborhood of Tibur. In the vicinity was also a grove with the fountain and temple of the Sibyl Albunea, whose oracles were consulted from the most ancient times. This fountain was the largest of the Albulae aquae, sulphurous springs, which flow into the Anio. Near it was the oracle of Faunus Fatidicus. The temple is still extant at Tivoli. ⏎
427. Ovid,Tristia 4.10.3-4. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
428. Ovid, Epistula ex Ponto 2.10.15. This sentence is not in the German edition of the Chronicle.⏎
429. Ovid (P. Ovidius Naso), the Roman poet, was born at Sulmo, in the country of the Peligni, on March 20th, 43 BCE. He was descended from an ancient equestrian family of only moderate wealth. He was destined to be a lawyer, and was carefully educated for that purpose. But the hours which should have been spent in the study of law were devoted to poetry. He completed his education at Athens, thoroughly mastering Greek. He married twice in early life at the desire of his parents, but speedily divorced each wife in t