11-19-2006, 11:35 PM
I ran across the following passage in Guido Panciroli's History of many memorable things in use among the ancients, but now lost while following a lead in the paddle-wheel thread, and figured I'd follow up on this one.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.15.5, describing Marcus Marcellus Aeserninus, "And when the soldiers inscribed the name of Pompey on their shields, he erased it, so that he might thereby plead with the one man the deeds done by the arms and with the other their apparent ownership..."
Plutarch, Marius
"The ordinary plunder was taken by Marius's soldiers, but the other spoils, as ensigns, trumpets, and the like, they say, were brought to Catulus's camp; which he used for the best argument that the victory was obtained by himself and his army. Some dissensions arising, as was natural, among the soldiers, the deputies from Parma, being then present, were made judges of the controversy; whom Catulus's men carried about among their slain enemies and manifestly showed them that they were slain by their javelins, which were known by the inscriptions, having Catulus's name cut in the wood."
Can anyone rustle up the Zonaras?
Quote:Towards the latter End of the Roman Empire, their Cohorts had an Excellent Motto inscribed on their Bucklers, of which I have largely discours'd in my Treatise on the Roman Magistracy. Their Captains Names were formerly written upon them; for (as Zonaras tells us) the Life-Guard of Cleopatra had her Name engraven on their Shields, and also upon their Spears, as Plutarch informs us in the Life of M. Marius.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.15.5, describing Marcus Marcellus Aeserninus, "And when the soldiers inscribed the name of Pompey on their shields, he erased it, so that he might thereby plead with the one man the deeds done by the arms and with the other their apparent ownership..."
Plutarch, Marius
"The ordinary plunder was taken by Marius's soldiers, but the other spoils, as ensigns, trumpets, and the like, they say, were brought to Catulus's camp; which he used for the best argument that the victory was obtained by himself and his army. Some dissensions arising, as was natural, among the soldiers, the deputies from Parma, being then present, were made judges of the controversy; whom Catulus's men carried about among their slain enemies and manifestly showed them that they were slain by their javelins, which were known by the inscriptions, having Catulus's name cut in the wood."
Can anyone rustle up the Zonaras?
Dan Diffendale
Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan
Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan
