σπουδῆς δʼ ἄξια καὶ λόγου τὰ περὶ τὴν τῶν βιβλίων κατασκευήν, καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ καὶ γεγραμμένα καλῶς συνῆγεν, ἥ τε χρῆσις ἦν φιλοτιμοτέρα τῆς κτήσεως, ἀνειμένων πᾶσι τῶν βιβλιοθηκῶν, καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὰς περιπάτων καὶ σχολαστηρίων ἀκωλύτως ὑποδεχομένων τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὥσπερ εἰς Μουσῶν τι καταγώγιον ἐκεῖσε φοιτῶντας καὶ συνδιημερεύοντας ἀλλήλοις, ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων χρειῶν ἀσμένως ἀποτρέχοντας.
But what he did in the establishment of a library deserves warm praise. He got together many books, and they were well written, and his use of them was more honourable to him than his acquisition of them. His libraries were thrown open to all, and the cloisters surrounding them, and the study-rooms, were accessible without restriction to the Greeks, who constantly repaired thither as to an hostelry of the Muses, and spent the day with one another, in glad escape from their other occupations.
πολλάκις δὲ καὶ συνεσχόλαζεν αὐτὸς ἐμβάλλων εἰς τοὺς περιπάτους τοῖς φιλολόγοις καὶ τοῖς πολιτικοῖς συνέπραττεν ὅτου δέοιντο· καὶ ὅλως ἑστία καὶ πρυτανεῖον Ἑλληνικὸν ὁ οἶκος ἦν αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἀφικνουμένοις εἰς Ῥώμην. φιλοσοφίαν δὲ πᾶσαν μὲν ἠσπάζετο καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν εὐμενὴς ἦν καὶ οἰκεῖος, ἴδιον δὲ τῆς Ἀκαδημείας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔρωτα καὶ ζῆλον ἔσχεν, οὐ τῆς νέας λεγομένης,
Lucullus himself also often spent his leisure hours there with them, walking about in the cloisters with their scholars, and he would assist their statesmen in whatever they desired. And in general his house was a home and prytaneium for the Greeks who came to Rome. He was fond of all philosophy, and well-disposed and friendly towards every school, but from the first he cherished a particular and zealous love for the Academy, not the New Academy, so-called,
καίπερ ἀνθούσης τότε τοῖς Καρνεάδου λόγοις διὰ Φίλωνος, ἀλλὰ τῆς παλαιᾶς, πιθανὸν ἄνδρα καὶ δεινὸν εἰπεῖν τότε προστάτην ἐχούσης τὸν Ἀσκαλωνίτην Ἀντίοχον, ὃν πάσῃ σπουδῇ ποιησάμενος φίλον ὁ Λούκουλλος καὶ συμβιωτὴν ἀντέταττε τοῖς Φίλωνος ἀκροαταῖς, ὧν καὶ Κικέρων ἦν.
although that school at the time had a vigorous representative of the doctrines of Carneades in Philo, but the Old Academy, which at that time was headed by a persuasive and powerful speaker in the person of Antiochus of Ascalon. This man Lucullus hastened to make his friend and companion, and arrayed him against the disciples of Philo, of whom Cicero also was one.
καὶ σύγγραμμά γε πάγκαλον ἐποίησεν εἰς τὴν αἵρεσιν, ἐν ᾧ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς καταλήψεως λόγον Λουκούλλῳ περιτέθεικεν, αὑτῷ δὲ τὸν ἐναντίον. Λούκουλλος δʼ ἀναγέγραπται τὸ βιβλίον. ἦσαν δʼ, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, φίλοι σφόδρα καὶ κοινωνοὶ τῆς ἐν πολιτείᾳ προαιρέσεως· οὐδὲ γὰρ αὖ πάμπαν ἀπηλλάχει τῆς πολιτείας ἑαυτὸν ὁ Λούκουλλος,
Indeed, Cicero wrote a noble treatise on the doctrines of this sect, in which he has put the argument in support of apprehension into the mouth of Lucullus, and carried the opposing argument himself. The book is entitled Lucullus. Lucullus and Cicero were, as I have said, ardent friends, and members of the same political party, for Lucullus had not withdrawn himself entirely from political life,
ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μέγιστος εἶναι καὶ πλεῖστον δύνασθαι φιλοτιμίαν καὶ ἅμιλλαν, ὡς οὔτε ἀκίνδυνον οὔτʼ ἀνύβριστον οὖσαν, εὐθὺς ἀφῆκε Κράσσῳ καὶ Κάτωνι· τούτους γὰρ οἱ τὴν Πομπηίου δύναμιν ὑφορώμενοι προεβάλλοντο τῆς βουλῆς, ἀπολεγομένου τοῦ Λουκούλλου τὰ πρωτεῖα· κατέβαινε δʼ εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν διὰ τοὺς φίλους, εἰς δὲ τὴν σύγκλητον, εἰ Πομπηΐου τινὰ δέοι σπουδὴν ἢ φιλοτιμίαν ἐπηρεάσαι.
although he lost no time in leaving to Crassus and Cato the ambitious struggle for the chief place and the greatest power, since he saw that it involved both peril and ignominy. For those who looked with suspicion upon the power of Pompey, made Crassus and Cato the champions of the senatorial party when Lucullus declined the leadership. But Lucullus would still go to the forum in support of his friends, and also to the Senate, whenever there was need of combating some ambitious scheme of Pompey’s.
καὶ τάς τε διατάξεις, ἃς ἐκεῖνος ἐποιήσατο τῶν βασιλέων κρατήσας, ἐξέκρουσε, καὶ νέμησίν τινα τοῖς στρατιώταις αὐτοῦ γράφοντος ἐκώλυσε δοθῆναι συμπράττοντος Κάτωνος, ὥστε Πομπήϊον εἰς τὴν Κράσσου καὶ Καίσαρος φιλίαν, μᾶλλον δὲ συνωμοσίαν, καταφυγεῖν καὶ πληρώσαντα τὴν πόλιν ὅπλων καὶ στρατιωτῶν βίᾳ κυρῶσαι τὰ δόγματα, τοὺς περὶ τὸν Κάτωνα καὶ Λούκουλλον ἐκβαλόντα τῆς ἀγορᾶς.
Thus, the dispositions which Pompey made after his conquest of the kings, Lucullus made null and void, and his proposal for a generous distribution of lands to his soldiers, Lucullus, with the co-operation of Cato, prevented from being granted. Pompey therefore took refuge in an alliance, or rather a conspiracy, with Crassus and Caesar, and by filling the city with his armed soldiery and expelling from the forum the partisans of Cato and Lucullus, got his measures ratified.
ἀγανακτούντων δὲ τῶν βελτίστων ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις προῆγον οἱ Πομπηιανοὶ Βέττιόν τινα, συνειληφέναι λέγοντες ἐπιβουλεύοντα Πομπηίῳ. κἀκεῖνος ἀνακρινόμενος ἐν μὲν τῇ συγκλήτῳ κατηγόρησεν ἑτέρων τινῶν, ἐν δὲ τῷ δήμῳ Λούκουλλον ὠνόμασεν, ὡς ὑπʼ ἐκείνου παρεσκευασμένος ἀποκτεῖναι Πομπήιον.
As these proceedings were resented by the nobles, the partisans of Pompey produced a certain Vettius, whom, as they declared, they had caught plotting against the life of Pompey. So the man was examined in the Senate, where he accused sundry other persons, but before the people he named Lucullus as the man who had engaged him to kill Pompey.
οὐδεὶς δὲ τῷ λόγῳ προσέσχεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παραυτίκα δῆλος ἦν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ συκοφαντίᾳ καὶ διαβολῇ προηγμένος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, καὶ μᾶλλον ἐφωράθη τὸ πρᾶγμα μετʼ ὀλίγας ἡμέρας ῥιφθέντος ἐκ τῆς εἱρκτῆς νεκροῦ, λεγομένου μὲν αὐτομάτως τεθνάναι, σημεῖα δʼ ἀγχόνης καὶ πληγῶν ἔχοντος· ἐδόκει γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀνῃρῆσθαι τῶν παρεσκευακότων.
However, no one believed his story, nay, it was at once clear that the fellow had been put forward by the partisans of Pompey to make false and malicious charges, and the fraud was made all the plainer when, a few days afterwards, his dead body was cast out of the prison. It was said, indeed, that he had died a natural death, but he bore the marks of throttling and violence, and the opinion was that he had been taken off by the very men who had engaged his services.
ταῦτα δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον ἀπῆγε τῆς πολιτείας τὸν Λούκουλλον. ἐπεὶ δὲ Κικέρων ἐξέπεσε τῆς πόλεως καὶ Κάτων εἰς Κύπρον ἀπεστάλη, παντάπασιν ἐξελύθη. καὶ πρό γε τῆς τελευτῆς λέγεται νοσῆσαι τὴν διάνοιαν αὐτῷ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπομαραινομένην. Νέπως δὲ Κορνήλιος οὐχ ὑπό γήρως φησὶν οὐδὲ νόσου παραλλάξαι τὸν Λούκουλλον, ἀλλὰ φαρμάκοις ὑπό τινος τῶν ἀπελευθέρων Καλλισθένους διαφθαρέντα·
Of course this induced Lucullus to withdraw even more from public life. And when Cicero was banished from the city, and Cato was sent out to Cyprus, he retired altogether. Even before his death, it is said that his understanding was affected and gradually faded away. But Cornelius Nepos says that Lucullus lost his mind not from old age, nor yet from disease, but that he was disabled by drugs administered to him by one of his freedmen, Callisthenes;
τὰ δὲ φάρμακα δοθῆναι μὲν, ὡς ἀγαπῷτο μᾶλλον ὁ Καλλισθένης ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, τοιαύτην ἔχειν δοκοῦντα τὴν δύναμιν, ἐκστῆσαι δὲ καὶ κατακλύσαι τὸν λογισμόν, ὥστʼ ἔτι ζῶντος αὐτοῦ τὴν οὐσίαν διοικεῖν τὸν ἀδελφόν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀπέθανε, καθάπερ ἂν ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς στρατηγίας καὶ τῆς πολιτείας αὐτοῦ τελευτήσαντος, ὁ δῆμος ἠχθέσθη καὶ συνέδραμε, καὶ τὸ σῶμα κομισθὲν εἰς ἀγορὰν ὑπὸ τῶν εὐγενεστάτων νεανίσκων ἐβιάζετο θάπτειν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τοῦ Ἄρεως, ὅπου καὶ Σύλλαν ἔθαψεν.
that the drugs were given him by Callisthenes in order to win more of his love, in the belief that they had such a power, but they drove him from his senses and overwhelmed his reason, so that even while he was still alive, his brother managed his property. However, when he died, the people grieved just as much as if his death had come at the culmination of his military and political services, and flocked together, and tried to compel the young nobles who had carried the body into the forum to bury it in the Campus Martius, where Sulla also had been buried.
οὐδενὸς δὲ τοῦτο προσδοκήσαντος, οὐδὲ ῥᾳδίας οὔσης τῆς παρασκευῆς, ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ δεόμενος καὶ παραιτούμενος ἔπεισεν ἐπιτρέψαι τὴν παρεσκευασμένην ἐν τῷ περὶ Τοῦσκλον ἀγρῷ τοῦ νεκροῦ κηδείαν γενέσθαι, πολὺν δʼ οὐδʼ αὐτὸς προσεβίω χρόνον, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἡλικίᾳ καὶ δόξῃ μικρὸν ἀπελείφθη, καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς τελευτῆς, φιλαδελφότατος γενόμενος.
But no one had expected this, and preparations for it were not easy, and so his brother, by prayers and supplications, succeeded in persuading them to suffer the burial to take place on the estate at Tusculum, where preparations for it had been made. Nor did he himself long survive Lucullus, but, as in age and reputation he came a little behind him, so did he also in the time of his death, having been a most affectionate brother.
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