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 NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER Note 346, page igo. PORCIA'S first husband was Marcus Bibulus, who was Consul with Caesar in 59 B.C. She inherited her father's republican princi- ples, courage and firm will, and was her second husband Brutus's confidante in the conspiracy against Csesar. On his death at Philippi in 42 B.C., she put an end to her life. Note 347, page 190. Caia CECILIA Tanaquil appears in Roman legend as the second wife of King Tarquinius Priscus, endowed with prophetic powers, closely connected with the worship of the hearth-deity, expert in healing, and a model of domestic virtues. The traditional date of her husband's reign is 616-578 B.C. Note 348, page 190. CORNELIA, the mother of the Gracchi (born about 189 B.C.; died about 110 B.C.), wrote letters that had survived in Cicero's day and were prized for their style. Even in her own lifetime the Romans erected a statue in honour of her virtues. Left a widow with twelve young children, she devoted herself wholly to their training, and rejected all offers of marriage, including that of Ptolemy. Note 349, page 191. Plutarch (from whose history the narrative in the text is a paraphrase) describes Alexandra as being actuated in her regency solely by ambitious motives. Her husband, Alexander Jannaeus, was the son of Johan- nes Hyrcanus and brother of Aristobulus I, whom he succeeded as second King of the Jews after the Babylonish Captivity. His reign (104-78 B.C.) was marked by atrocities. Note 350, page 191. The reference here is to MiTHRIDATES VI, Eupator, King (120-63 B.C.) of Pontus on the southern shore of the Black Sea. In the Life of LucuUus, Plutarch relates that having been utterly defeated by the Romans in 72 B.C., Mithridates gave order to have his wives Bernice and Monima put to death together with his sisters Statira and Roxana, in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy, — while he himself took refuge with his son-in-law. Statira is described by Plutarch as grateful to her brother for not forgetting her amid his own anxieties, and for providing her the means of an honourable death. Note 351, page 191. This Hasdrubal was the general of the Carthaginians in their last struggle with Rome. When Scipio captured Carthage in 146 B.C., Hasdrubal surrendered, while it is said that his wife, after upbraiding him for his weakness, flung herself and her children into the flames of the burning temple in which they had sought shelter. Note 352, page 191. In fact, Harmonia was Hiero's granddaughter, and the wife of a Syracusan named Themistus, who (after the death of Hiero in 215 B.C.) was chosen one of the leaders of the commonwealth and afterwards perished in a fresh revolution. Death was then decreed against all surviving 389