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He even struck such terror into those who were advocates for greater severity, by representing to them what universal odium would be attached to their memories by the Roman people, that Decius Silanus, consul elect, did not hesitate to qualify his proposal, it not being very honourable to change it, by a lenient interpretation; as if it had been understood in a harsher sense than he intended, and Caesar would certainly have carried his point, having brought over to his side a great number of the senators, among whom was Cicero, the consul's brother, had not a speech by Marcus Cato infused new vigour into the resolutions of the senate.
Being elected tribune with others and with Metellus, and observing that the consular comitia were accompanied with bribery, he rated the people, and at the close of his speech he swore that he would prosecute the briber, whoever he might be, with the exception of Silanus, on account of his connection with him; for Silanus had to wife Servilia, a sister of Cato.
But hearing that Naples was held by a Roman prefect, Marcus Junius Silanus, who had been invited thither by the Neapolitans themselves, he left Naples as he had left Nola, and directed his course to Nuceria, which he at length starved into capitulation, after having besieged it for a considerable time, often by open force, and often by soliciting to no purpose sometimes the commons, at other times the nobles; agreeing that they should depart with single garments and without arms.
"Oh! the shame to call himself a philosopher," groaned the neglected Pisander to himself. "If I believed in the old gods, I would invoke the Furies upon him." But Valeria was now in the best of spirits. "By the two Goddesses," she swore, "what charming sentiments you Greeks can express. Now I think I look presentable, and can go around and see Papiria, and learn about that dreadful Silanus affair.
The struggle in the North was going badly for Rome, and despatches had lately brought the news of the defeat of the consul Silanus by a vast and wandering horde known as the Cimbri, who hovered like a threatening cloud on the farther side of the Alps and might at no distant date sweep past the barrier of Italy.
For instance, there is real humour and insight in the nicknames of "a golden sheep" which he gave to the rich and placid Silanus, and of "Ulysses in petticoats," by which he designated his grandmother, the august Livia. The two epigrammetic criticisms which he passed upon the style of Seneca are not wholly devoid of truth; he called his works Commissiones meras, or mere displays.
The hope of counsel from the gods cheered the depressed mood which had weighed upon him for several weeks, and rich young Silanus praised the lucky fate which had enabled him to find a travelling companion whose intellect and wit charmed him and the others, and often detained them over the wine until late into the night.
They were not far distant from Carthage when the intelligence, received from persons on the road, that the whole army was going the following day with Marcus Silanus against the Lacetanians, not only freed them from all the apprehensions which, though they did not give utterance to them, sat heavy upon their minds, but occasioned the greatest transport, because they would thus have the general alone, and in their power, instead of being themselves in his.
Publius Scipio went to Spain in 544-5, accompanied by the propraetor Marcus Silanus, who was to succeed Nero and to serve as assistant and counsellor to the young commander-in-chief, and by his intimate friend Gaius Laelius as admiral, and furnished with a legion exceeding the usual strength and a well-filled chest.
The hope of counsel from the gods cheered the depressed mood which had weighed upon him for several weeks, and rich young Silanus praised the lucky fate which had enabled him to find a travelling companion whose intellect and wit charmed him and the others, and often detained them over the wine until late into the night.
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