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The latter, I am afraid, having composed a Greek poem on the Luculli, is now turning his attention to the Cæcilian drama. I have thanked Antonius on your account, and I have intrusted the letter to Mallius. I have heretofore written to you more rarely because I had no one to whom I could trust a letter, and was not sure of your address. I have puffed you well.
But the period of his wars which he afterwards fought and his expedition by which he subdued Gaul, is just like a new beginning in his career and the commencement of a new course of life and action, in which he showed himself as a soldier and a general inferior to none who have gained admiration as leaders and been the greatest men: for whether we compare Cæsar's exploits with those of the Fabii, Scipios, and Metelli, or with those of his contemporaries or immediate predecessors, Sulla and Marius and both the Luculli or even Pompeius himself, whose fame, high as the heavens, was blossoming at that time in every kind of military virtue, Cæsar will be found to surpass them all his superiority over one appearing in the difficulties of the country in which he carried on his campaigns, over another in the extent of country subdued, over a third in the number and courage of the enemy whom he defeated, over another again in the savage manners and treacherous character of the nations that he brought to civility, over a fourth in his clemency and mildness to the conquered, over another again in his donations and liberality to his soldiers; and in fine his superiority over all other generals appears by the numbers of battles that he fought and of enemies that he slew.
Such a plight was only possible where none of the men taking part in politics rose above mediocrity: any man of more than ordinary talent would have swept away this system of factions like cobwebs; but there was in reality the saddest lack of men of political or military capacity. Phillipus Metellus, Catulus, the Luculli
The two Luculli were also capable officers particularly the elder, who combined very respectable military talents with thorough literary culture and leanings to authorship, and appeared honourable also as a man. But, as statesmen, even these better aristocrats were not much less remiss and shortsighted than the average senators of the time.
The first occasion when she appeared at a formal banquet in the splendid Apollo dinner hall of the Luculli, where the outlay on the feast was fixed by a regular scale at two hundred thousand sesterces, she gathered no little satisfaction by the consciousness that all the young men were admiring her, and all the women were fuming with jealousy.
It was approved of by Quintus Catulus, whose authority will always carry weight in this republic; it was approved of by the two Luculli, by Marcus Crassus, by Quintus Hortensius, by Caius Curio, by Caius Piso, by Marcus Glabrio, by Marcus Lepidus, by Lucius Volcatius, by Caius Figulus, by Decimus Silanus and Lucius Murena, who at that time were the consuls elect; the same consulship also which was approved of by those men of consular rank, was approved of by Marcus Cato; who escaped many evils by departing from this life, and especially the evil of seeing you consul.
It seems to us, that suffering stands apart by itself, and our life apart by itself. We read the description of the life of the Romans, and we marvel at the inhumanity of those soulless Luculli, who satiated themselves on viands and wines while the populace were dying with hunger.
The two Luculli were also capable officers particularly the elder, who combined very respectable military talents with thorough literary culture and leanings to authorship, and appeared honourable also as a man. But, as statesmen, even these better aristocrats were not much less remiss and shortsighted than the average senators of the time.
What amount of capital he realised in these various ways we do not know, but the mass of his fortune came to him after he had been pursuing them for many years, in the form of a legacy from an uncle. This uncle was a typical capitalist and money-lender of a much lower and coarser type than his nephew; Nepos aptly describes him as "familiarem L. Luculli, divitem, difficillima natura."
Such a plight was only possible where none of the men taking part in politics rose above mediocrity: any man of more than ordinary talent would have swept away this system of factions like cobwebs; but there was in reality the saddest lack of men of political or military capacity. Phillipus Metellus, Catulus, the Luculli
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