Lucian, a Greek
writer, said, "If you would be a Pheidias, if you would make a
thousand masterpieces, nobody will care to imitate you, for as skilful
as you are, you will always pass for an artisan, a man who lives by
the work of his hands."
=Lucullus.=--Lucullus, the type of the new Roman, was born in 145 of a
noble and rich family; thus he entered without difficulty into the
course of political honors. From his first campaigns he was notable
for his magnanimity to the vanquished. Become consul, he was placed at
the head of the army against Mithradates. He found the inhabitants of
Asia exasperated by the brigandage and the cruelties of the publicans,
and gave himself to checking these excesses; he forbade, too, his
soldiers pillaging conquered towns. In this way he drew to him the
useless affection of the Asiatics and the dangerous hate of the
publicans and the soldiers. They intrigued to have him recalled; he
had then defeated Mithradates and was pursuing him with his ally, the
king of Armenia; he came with a small army of 20,000 men to put to
rout an immense multitude of barbarians.
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