Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/850

Rh 836 LUCULLUS. Deeply mortified at this termination to his glorious career, Lucullus returned to Rome to claim the well-merited honour of a triumph. But even this was opposed by the machinations of his adver- saries. C. Memmius, one of the tribunes, brought against him various charges for maladministration, and it was not till an interval of nearly three years had elapsed, that this opposition was overcome, and Lucullus at length celebrated his triumph with the greatest magnificence, at the commencement of the year 63. (Plut. LucuU. 37, Cat, Min. 29 ; Cic. Acad. pr. ii. 1 ; Veil Pat. ii. 34.) In these dis- putes the cause of Lucullus was warmly supported by Cato, whose sister Serviliahehad married, as well as by the whole aristocratical party at Rome, who were alarmed at the increasing power of Pompey, and sought in Lucullus a rival and antagonist to the object of their fears. But his character was ill adapted for the turbulent times in which he lived ; and, instead of putting himself prominently forward as the leader of a party he soon began to withdraw gradually from public affairs, and devote himself more and more to a life of indolence and luxury. After the return of Pompey, however, in B. c. 62, he took a leading part, together with Me- tellus Creticus, Cato, and others of the aristocratic party,' in opposing the indiscriminate ratification of the acts of Pompey in Asia. By their combined efforts they succeeded in delaying the proposed mea- sure for more than two years, but at the same time produced the effect, which they had doubtless not anticipated, of forcing Pompey into the arms of the opposite faction, and thus bringing about the coali- tion known as the First Triumvirate. (Plut. Lucull. 38, 42, Pomp. 46 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 40 ; Dion Cass. xxxvii. 49 ; Suet. Caes. 19.) After that event Lucullus took little part in political affairs. He had previously come forward at the trial of P. Clodius (B.C. 61), to give his testimony to the profligate and vicious character of the accused (Cic. pro Milan. 27), and by this means, as well as by the general course of his policy, had incurred the enmity both of Crassus and Caesar, so that he found himself on hostile terms with all the three individuals who had now the chief direction of affairs at Rome. Caesar even threatened him with a prosecution for his proceedings in Asia ; a danger which so much alarmed him that he had recourse to the most humiliating entreaties in order to avert it (Suet. Caes. 20). In the following year (b. c. 59) he was among the leaders of the aristocratic party, charged by L. Vettius, at the instigation of Vatinius, with an imaginary plot against the life of Pompey (Cic. in Vatin. 10, Ep. ad Ait. ii. 24) ; and in the same year he is mentioned among the judges at the trial of L. Flaccus (Cic. pro Place. 34). But these two are the last occasions on which his name appears in history. The precise period of his death is not mentioned, but he cannot long have survived the return of Cicero from exile, as the great orator refers to him as no longer living, in his oration concerning the consular provinces, delivered the following year, b. c. 56 (Cic. deProv. Cons. 9). We are told that for some time previous to his death he had fallen into a state of complete dotage, so that the management of his affairs was confided to his brother Marcus (Plut. Lucull. 43 ; Aui' Vict, de Vir. Illustr. 74). But his death, as often happens, revived in its full force the memory of his great exploits ; and when the funeral oration was pronounced in the forum over hia remains, the LUCULLUS. populace insisted that he should be buried, as Sulla had been, in the Campus Martins, and it was with difficulty that his brother prevailed on them to allow his ashes to be deposited, as previously arranged, in his Tusculan villa (Plut. Ibid.). The name of Lucullus is almost as celebrated for the luxury of his latter years as for his victories over Mithridates. He appears to have inherited the love of money inherent in his family, while the circumstances in which he was placed gave him the opportunity of gratifying it without having recourse to the illegal means which had disgraced his father and grandfather. As quaestor under Sulla, and afterwards during his residence in Asia, it is pro- bable that he had already accumulated much wealth : and during the long period of his govern- ment as proconsul, and his wars against Mithri- dates and Tigranes, he appears to have amassed vast treasures. These supplied him the means, after his return to Rome, of gratifying his natural taste for luxury, and enabled him to combine an ostentatious magnificence of display with all the resources of the most refined sensual indulgence. His gardens in the immediate suburbs of the city were laid out in a style of splendour exceeding all that had been previously known, and continued to be an object of admiration even under the em- perors : but still more remarkable were his villas at Tusculum, and in the neighbourhood of Nea- polis. In the constraction of the latter, with its various appurtenances, its parks, fish-ponds, &c., he had laid out vast sums in cutting through hills and rocks, and throwing out advanced works into the sea. So gigantic indeed was the scale of these labours for objects apparently so insignificant, that Pompey called him, in derision, the Roman Xerxes. His feasts at Rome itself were celebrated on a scale of inordinate magnificence : a single supper in the hall, called that of Apollo, was said to cost the sum of 50,000 denarii. Even during his campaigns it appears that the pleasures of the table had not been forgotten ; and it is well known that he was the first to introduce cherries into Italy, which he had brought with him from Cerasus in Pontus. (Plut. Lucidl. 39—41 ; Cic. de Leg. iii. 13, de Off. i. 39 ; Plin. H. N. viii. 52, ix. 54, xiv. 14, XV. 25 ; Varr. de R. R. iii. 4, 17 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 33 ; Athen. ii. p. 50, vi. p. 274, xii. p. 543. For further details see Drumann's Geschichie Romsy vol. iv. pp. 169, 170, where all the ancient autho- rities are referred to.) In the midst of these sensual indulgences, however, there were not want- ing pleasures of a more refined and elevated cha- racter. Lucullus had from his earliest years devoted much attention to literary pursuits, and had displayed an enlightened patronage towards men of letters : he had also applied part of liis wealth to the acquisition of a valuable librarj', which was now opened to the free use of the literary public ; and here he hipiself used to asso- ciate with the Greek philosophers and literati who at this time swarmed at Rome, and would enter warmly into their metaphysical and philosophical discussions. Hence the picture drawn by Cicero at the commencement of the Academics was pro- bably to a certain extent taken from the reality. His constant companion from the time of his quaestorship had been Antiochus of Ascalon, from whom he imbibed the precepts of the Academic school of philosophy, to which he continued through life to be attached. (Cic. Acad, pr, ii. 2, de Fin*