Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/851

Rh LUCULLUS. iii. 2 ; Pint. Lucull. 42.) His patronage of the poet Archias is too well known to require farther mention (Cic. pr. Arch. 3 — 5) ; and the sculptor Arcesilaus is also said to have been one of his con- stant associates. (PHn. H. N. xxxv. 12. § 45.) The character of LucuUus is one not difficult to comprehend. He had no pretension to the name of a great man, and was evidently unable to cope with the circumstances in which he found himself placed, and tlie sterner but more energetic spirits by whom he was surrounded. Yet he was cer- tainly a man of no common ability, and gifted in particular with a natural genius for war. We cannot indeed receive in its full extent the asser- tion of Cicero {Acad. pr. ii. 1), that he had received no previous military training, and came out at once a consummate general on his arrival in Pontus, merely from the study of historical and military writings ; for we know that he had served in his youth with distinction in the Marsic war ; and as quaestor under Sulla he must have had many op- portunities of acquiring a practical knowledge of military affairs. But the talent that he displayed as a commander is not the less remarkable. Plu- tarch has justly called attention to the skill with which he secured the victory at one time by the celerity of his movements, at another time by caution and delay : and though the far greater fame of his successor has tended to cast the mili- tary exploits of Lucullus into the shade, there can be no doubt that the real merit of the Mithridatic war is principally due to the latter. In one quality, however, of a great commander he was altogether wanting — in the power of attaching to him his soldiers ; and to this deficiency, as we have seen, may be ascribed in great measure the ill fortune which clouded the latter part of his career. We are told indeed that some of the legions placed under his command were of a very turbulent and factious character ; but these very troops after- wards followed Pompey without a murmur, even after the legal period of their service was expired. This unpopularity of Lucullus is attributed to a severity and harshness in the exaction of duties and punishment of offences, which seems strangely at variance with all else that we know of his cha- racter: it is more probable that it was owing to a selfish indifference, which prevented him from sympathising or associating with the men and officers under his command. (Comp. Plut. Lucull. 33; Dion Cass. xxxv. 10'.) In his treatment of his vanquished enemies, on the contrary, as well as of the cities and provinces subjected to his perma- nent rule, the conduct of Lucullus stands out in bright contrast to that of almost all his contempo- raries ; and it must be remembered, in justice to his character, that the ill will of his own troops, as well as that of the unprincipled fanners of the re- venue, was incurred in great part by acts of bene- volence or of equity towards these classes. In his natural love of justice and kindness of disposition, his character more resembles that of Cicero than any other of his contemporaries. (See particularly Plut. Liu'ull. 19.) Though early withdrawn from the occupations and pursuits of the forum, which prevented his be- coming a finished orator, Lucullus was far from a contemptible speaker (Cic. Acad. ii. 1 ; Brnit. 62); the same causes probably operated against his attaining to that literary distinction which his earliest years appeared to promise. Plutarch, LUCULLUS. 837 however, tells us {Lucull. 1) that he composed a history of the Marsic war in Greek ; and the same work is alluded to by Cicero. {Ep. ad Att. i. 19.) It has been already mentioned that Sulla left him his literary executor, a sufficient evidence of the reputation he then enjoyed in this respect. He was noted for the excellence of his memory, which, Cicero tells us, was nearly, if not quite, equal to that of Hortensius. {Acad. pr. ii. 1, 2.) Lucullus was twice married : first to Clodia, daughter of App. Claudius Pulcher, whom he divorced on his return from the Mithridatic war, on account of her licentious and profligate conduct (Plut. Lucull. 38): and secondly, to Servilia, daughter of Q. Servilius Caepio, and half-sister of M. Cato. By the latter he had one son, the sub- ject of the following article. (The fullest account of the life of Lucullus, and a very just estimate of his character, will be found in Drumann's GesclmUe Roms, vol. iv.) 5. L. (?) LiciNius L. p. L. N. Lucullus, son of the preceding. His praenomen, according to Valerius Maximus, was Marcus ; but this is considered by Drumann ( Gesch. Roms. vol. iv. p. 175) as so contrary to analogy, that he does not hesitate to regard it as a mistake. (See also Orelli, Otiom. Tull. vol. ii. p. 352.) As he was the son of Servilia, he could not have been born before B. c. 65 ; and was a mere child at the time of his father's death. Lucullus had entrusted him to the guardianship of his maternal uncle, Cato ; but at the same time recommended him, by his testament, to the friendly care of Cicero, who appears to have joined with Cato in superintending the education of the boy. (Cic. de Fin. iii. 2, ad Alt. xiii. 6.) His relationship with Cato and Brutus naturally threw the young Lucullus into the republican party, whom he zealously joined after the death of Caesar : so that he accompanied Brutus to Greece, was present at the battle of Philippi, and was killed in the pursuit after that action, b c. 42. (Cic. PUl. X. 4 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 71 ; Val. Max. iv. 7. § 4.) Cicero tells us that he was a youth of rising talents, and of much promise. {De fin. iii. 2, Phil. X, 4.) While yet under age he had dedi- cated, by command of the senate, a statue of Her- cules near the Rostra, in pursuance of a vow of his father. (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8. (19), ad fin.) 6. M. LiciNius L. F. L. N. Lucullus, son of No. 3, and own brother of No. 4, though Eutropius (vi. 7) erroneously calls him his cousin ( consobrinus). He was adopted by M. Terentius Varro, and con- sequently bore the names of M. Terentius M. f. Varro Lucullus*, by which he appears in the Fasti. (Fast. Capit. ap. Grater, p. 294. See also Orelli, Onom. TuU. vol. ii. p. 352, and Imcr. Lot. No. 570.) Hence Cicero, though he designates his consulship as that of M. Terentius and C. Cassius {in Verr. i. 23), elsewhere always calls him M. Lucullus. He was younger than L. Lucullus, though apparently not by much, as we find both brothers, who were united through life by the bonds of the most affectionate friendship, joining in the prosecution against the augur Servilius, with a view to avenge their father's memory, at which time Lucius was still very young. (Plut. LucuU. tius M. f. Licinianus Varro ; but this, thouijh it would be strictly according to analogy, is contrary to all the evidence we possess. 3h .f
 * Drumaim says that he was called M. Teren-