Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  18. Moris etiam maiorum summus imitator fuit antiquitatisque amator, quam adeo diligenter habuit cognitam, ut eam totam in eo volumine exposuerit, quo magistratus ordinavit. [2] nulla enim lex neque pax neque bellum neque res illustris est populi Romani, quae non in eo suo tempore sit notata, et, quod difficillimum fuit, sic familiarum originem subtexuit, ut ex eo clarorum virorum propagines possimus cognoscere. [3] fecit hoc idem separatim in aliis libris, ut M. Bruti rogatu Iuniam familiam a stirpe ad hanc aetatem ordine enumeraverit, notans, quis a quo ortus quos honores quibusque temporibus cepisset: [4] pari modo Marcelli Claudii Marcellorum, Scipionis Cornelii et Fabii Maximi Fabiorum et Aemiliorum. quibus libris nihil potest esse dulcius iis, qui aliquam cupiditatem habent notitiae clarorum virorum. [5] attigit poeticen quoque, credimus, ne eius expers esset suavitatis. namque versibus de iis, qui honore rerumque gestarum amplitudine ceteros populi Romani praestiterunt, exposuit ita, ut sub singulorum imaginibus facta magistratusque eorum non amplius quaternis quinisve versibus descripserit: [6] quod vix credendum sit tantas res tam breviter potuisse declarari. est etiam unus liber Graece confectus, de consulatu Ciceronis.

  XVIII. He was also a strict imitator of the customs of our ancestors, and a lover of antiquity, of which he had so exact a knowledge, that he has illustrated it throughout in the book in which he has characterized the Roman magistrates; for there is no law, or peace, or war, or illustrious action of the Roman people, which is not recorded in it at its proper period, and, what was extremely difficult, he has so interwoven in it the origin of families, that we may ascertain from it the pedigrees of eminent men. He has given similar accounts too, separately, in other books; as, at the request of Marcus Brutus, he specified in order the members of the Junian family, from its origin to the present age, stating who each was, from whom sprung, what offices he held, and at what time. In like manner, at the request of Marcellus Claudius, he gave an account of the family of the Marcelli; at the request of Scipio Cornelius and Fabius Maximus, of that of the Fabii and Aemilii; than which books nothing can be more agreeable to those who have any desire for a knowledge of the actions of illustrious men.

  He attempted also poetry, in order, we suppose, that he might not be without experience of the pleasure of writing it; for he has characterized in verse such men as excelled the rest of the Roman people in honour and the greatness of their achievements, so that he has narrated, under each of their effigies, their actions and offices, in not more than four or five lines; and it is almost inconceivable that such important matters could have been told in so small a space. There is also a book of his written in Greek, on the consulship of Cicero.

  These particulars, so far, were published by me whilst Atticus was alive.

  19. Haec hactenus Attico vivo edita a nobis sunt. nunc, quoniam fortuna nos superstites ei esse voluit, reliqua persequemur et, quantum potuerimus, rerum exemplis lectores docebimus, sicut supra significavimus, suos cuique mores plerumque conciliare fortunam. [2] namque hic contentus ordine equestri, quo erat ortus, in affinitatem pervenit imperatoris divi filii, cum iam ante familiaritatem eius esset consecutus nulla alia re quam elegantia vitae, qua ceteros ceperat principes civitatis dignitate pari, fortuna humiliores. [3] tanta enim prosperitas Caesarem est consecuta, ut nihil ei non tribuerit fortuna, quod cuiquam ante detulerat, et conciliarit, quod nemo adhuc civis Romanus quivit consequi. [4] nata est autem Attico neptis ex Agrippa, cui virginem filiam collocarat. hanc Caesar vix anniculam Ti. Claudio Neroni, Drusilla nato, privigno suo, despondit: quae coniunctio necessitudinem eorum sanxit, familiaritatem reddidit frequentiorem.

  XIX. Since fortune has chosen that we should outlive him, we will now proceed with the sequel, and will show our readers by example, as far as we can, that (as we have intimated above) “it is in general a man’s manners that bring him his fortune.” For Atticus, though content in the equestrian rank in which he was born, became united by marriage with the emperor Julius’s son, whose friendship he had previously obtained by nothing else but his elegant mode of living, by which he had charmed also other eminent men in the state, of equal birth, but of lower fortune; for such prosperity attended Caesar, that fortune gave him everything that she had previously bestowed upon any one, and secured for him what no citizen of Rome had ever been able to attain. Atticus had a granddaughter, the daughter of Agrippa, to whom he had married his daughter in her maidenhood; and Caesar betrothed her, when she was scarcely a year old, to Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Drusilla, and step-son to himself; an alliance which established their friendship, and rendered their intercourse more frequent.

  20. quamquam ante haec sponsalia non solum, cum ab urbe abesset, numquam ad suorum quemquam litteras misit, quin Attico scriberet, quid ageret, inprimis quid legeret quibusque in locis et quamdiu esset moraturus, [2] sed etiam, cum esset in urbe et propter infinitas suas occupationes minus saepe, quam vellet, Attico frueretur, nullus dies temere intercessit, quo non ad eum scriberet, cum modo aliquid de antiquitate ab eo requireret, modo aliquam quaestionem poeticam ei proponeret, interdum iocans eius verbosiores eliceret epistulas. [3] ex quo accidit, cum aedis Iovis Feretrii in Capitolio, ab Romulo constituta, vetustate atque incuria detecta prolaberetur, ut Attici admonitu Caesar eam reficiendam curaret. [4] neque vero a M. Antonio minus absens litteris colebatur, adeo ut accurate ille ex ultimis terris, quid ageret, curae sibi haberet certiorem facere Atticum. [5] hoc quale sit, facilius existimabit is, qui iudicare poterit, quantae sit sapientiae eorum retinere usum benivolentiamque, inter quos maximarum rerum non solum aemulatio, sed obtrectatio tanta intercedebat, quantam fuit incidere necesse inter Caesarem atque Antonium, cum se uterque principem non solum urbis Romae, sed orbis terrarum esse cuperet.

  XX. Even before this connexion, however, Caesar not only, when he was absent from the city, never despatched letters to any one of his friends without writing to Atticus what he was doing, what, above all, he was reading, in what place he was, and how long he was going to stay in it, but even when he was in Rome, and through his numberless occupations enjoyed the society of Atticus less frequently than he wished, scarcely any day passed in which he did not write to him, sometimes asking him something relating to antiquity, sometimes proposing to him some poetical question, and sometimes, by a jest, drawing from him a longer letter than ordinary. Hence it was, that when the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, built in the Capitol by Romulus, was unroofed and falling down through age and neglect, Caesar, on the suggestion of Atticus, took care that it should be repaired.

  Nor was he less frequently, when absent, addressed in letters by Mark Antony; so that, from the remotest parts of the earth, he gave Atticus precise information what he was doing, and what cares he had upon him. How strong such attachment is, he will be easily able to judge, who can understand how much prudence is required to preserve the friendship and favour of those between whom there existed not only emulation in the highest matters, but such a mutual struggle to lessen one another as was sure to happen between Caesar and Antony, when each of them desired to be chief, not merely of the city of Rome, but of the whole world.

  21. Tali modo cum septem et septuaginta annos complesset atque ad. extremam senectutem non minus dignitate quam gratia fortunaque crevisset (multas enim hereditates nulla alia re quam bonitate consecutus est) tantaque prosperitate usus esset valetudinis ut annis triginta medicina non indiguisset, [2] nactus est morbum, quem initio et ipse et medici contempserunt: nam putarunt esse tenesmon, cui remedia celeria faciliaque proponebantur. [3] in hoc cum tres menses sine ullis doloribus, praeterquam quos ex curatione capiebat, consumpsisset, subito tanta vis morbi in imum intestinum prorupit, ut extremo tempore per lumbos fistulae puris eruperint. [4] atque hoc priusquam ei accideret, postquam in dies dolores accrescere febresque accessisse sensit, Agrippam generum ad se arcessi iussit et cum eo L. Cornelium Balbum Sextumque Peducaeum. [5] hos ut venisse vidit, in cubitum innixus ‘quantam’ inquit ‘curam diligentiamque in valetudine mea tuenda hoc tempore adhibuerim, cum vos testes habeam, nihil necesse est pluribus ver
bis commemorare. quibus quoniam, ut spero, satisfeci, me nihil reliqui fecisse, quod ad sanandum me pertineret, reliquum est ut egomet mihi consulam. id vos ignorare nolui: nam mihi stat alere morbum desinere. [6] namque his diebus quidquid cibi sumpsi, ita produxi vitam, ut auxerim dolores sine spe salutis. quare a vobis peto, primum ut consilium probetis meum, deinde ne frustra dehortando impedire conemini.’

  XXI. After he had completed, in such a course of life, seventy-seven years, and had advanced, not less in dignity, than in favour and fortune (for he obtained many legacies on no other account than his goodness of disposition), and had also been in the enjoyment of so happy a state of health, that he had wanted no medicine for thirty years, he contracted a disorder of which at first both himself and the physicians thought lightly, for they supposed it to be a tenesmus, and speedy and easy remedies were proposed for it; but after he had passed three months under it without any pain, except what he suffered from the means adopted for his cure, such force of the disease fell into the one intestine, that at last a putrid ulcer broke out through his loins. Before this took place, and when he found that the pain was daily increasing, and that fever was superadded, he caused his son-in-law Agrippa to be called to him, and with him Lucius Cornelius Balbus and Sextus Peducaeus. When he saw that they were come, he said, as he supported himself on his elbow, “How much care and diligence I have employed to restore my health on this occasion, there is no necessity for me to state at large, since I have yourselves as witnesses; and since I have, as I hope, satisfied you, that I have left nothing undone that seemed likely to cure me, it remains that I consult for myself. Of this feeling on my part I had no wish that you should be ignorant; for I have determined on ceasing to feed the disease; as, by the food and drink that I have taken during the last few days, I have prolonged life only so as to increase my pains without hope of recovery. I therefore entreat you, in the first place, to give your approbation to my resolution, and in the next, not to labour in vain by endeavouring to dissuade me from executing it.”

  22. Hac oratione habita tanta constantia vocis atque vultus, ut non ex vita, sed ex domo in domum videretur migrare, [2] cum quidem Agrippa eum flens atque osculans oraret atque obsecraret, ne id quod natura cogeret ipse quoque sibi acceleraret, et, quoniam tum quoque posset temporibus superesse, se sibi suisque reservaret, preces eius taciturna sua obstinatione depressit. [3] sic cum biduum cibo se abstinuisset, subito febris decessit leviorque morbus esse coepit. tamen propositum nihilo setius peregit itaque die quinto, postquam id consilium inierat, pridie kal. Apriles Cn. Domitio C. Sosio consulibus decessit. [4] elatus est in lecticula, ut ipse praescripserat, sine ulla pompa funeris, comitantibus omnibus bonis, maxima vulgi frequentia. sepultus est iuxta viam Appiam ad quintum lapidem in monumento Q. Caecilii, avunculi sui.

  XXII. Having delivered this address with so much steadiness of voice and countenance, that he seemed to be removing, not out of life, but out of one house into another, when Agrippa, weeping over him and kissing him, entreated and conjured him “not to accelerate that which nature herself would bring, and, since he might live some time longer, to preserve his life for himself and his friends,” he put a stop to his prayers, by an obstinate silence. After he had accordingly abstained from food for two days, the fever suddenly left him, and the disease began to be less oppressive. He persisted, nevertheless, in executing his purpose; and in consequence, on the fifth day after he had fixed his resolution, and on the last day of February, in the consulship of Cnaeus Domitius and Caius Sosius, he died. His body was carried out of his house on a small couch, as he himself had directed, without any funereal pomp, all the respectable portion of the people attending, and a vast crowd of the populace. He was buried close by the Appian way, at the fifth milestone from the city, in the sepulchre of his uncle Quintus Caecilius.

  The Biography

  Nummus of Theodosius I (AD 347-395), also known as Theodosius the Great, the Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. The extant text of Nepos’ biographies was discovered during Theodosius’ reign.

  BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: CORNELIUS NEPOS

  From 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 19

  CORNELIUS NEPOS (c. 99-24 B.C.), Roman historian, friend of Catullus, Cicero and Atticus, was born in Upper Italy (perhaps at Verona or Ticinum). He wrote: Chronica, an epitome of universal history; Exempla, a collection of anecdotes after the style of Valerius Maximus; letters to Cicero; lives of Cato the elder and Cicero; and De viris illustribus, parallel lives of distinguished Romans and foreigners, in sixteen books. One section of this voluminous work (De excellentibus ducibus exterarum gentium, more commonly known as Vitae excellentium imperatorum) and the biographies of Cato and Atticus from another (De Latinis historicis) have been preserved. Erotic poems and a geographical treatise are also attributed to him. Nepos is not altogether happy in the subjects of his biographies, and he writes rather as a panegyrist than as a biographer, although he can rebuke his own countrymen on occasion. The Lives contain many errors (especially in chronology), but supply information not found elsewhere. The language is as a rule simple and correct. The Lives were formerly attributed to Aemilius Probus of the 4th century A.D.; but the view maintained by Lambinus (in his famous edition, 1569) — that they are all the work of Nepos — is now generally accepted. A dedicatory epigram written by Probus to the emperor Theodosius and inserted after the life of Hannibal, was the origin of the mistake. This dedication, if genuine, would only prove that Probus copied (and perhaps modified and abridged) the work. In modern times G. F. Unger (Der sogenannte C.N., 1881) has attempted to prove that the author was Hyginus, but his theory has not been favourably received.

  Editions of the Lives (especially selections) are extremely numerous; text by E. O. Winstedt (Oxford, 1904), C. L. Roth (1881), C. G. Cobet (1881), C. Halm and A. Fleckeisen (1889), with lexicon for school use; with notes, O. Browning and W. R. Inge (1888), J. C. Rolfe (U.S. 1894), A. Weidner and J. Schmidt (1902), C. Erbe (1892), C. Nipperdey and B. Lupus (ed. maj., 1879, school ed., 1895), J. Siebelis and O. Stange (1897).

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