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LUCRINUS LACUS
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LUCRINUS LACUS , or LuCRINE See also:LAKE, a lake of See also:Campania, See also:Italy, about z m. to the N. of Lake See also:Avernus, and only separated from the See also:sea (Gulf of See also:Pozzuoli) by a narrow See also:strip of See also:land, traversed by the See also:coast road, Via Herculanea, which runs on an See also:embankment, the construction of which was traditionally attributed to Heracles in See also:Strabo's See also:time—and the See also:modern railway. Its See also:size has been much reduced by the rise of the See also:crater of the Montenuovo in 1538. Its greatest See also:depth is about 15 ft. In See also:Roman days its See also:fisheries were important and were let out by the See also:state 1 Ad Q. Fratr. ii. 9 (II), 13. Both sense and words have been much disputed. The See also:general sense is probably that given by the following restoration, " Lucretii poemata, ut scribis, ita sent muftis hominibus ingenii multae etiam (See also:MSS. tamen) artis, sed cum ad umbilicum (omitted in MSS.) veneris, virum to putabo, si Sallustii Empedoclea legeris, hominem non putabo." This would concede See also:Lucretius both See also:genius and See also:art, but imply at the same time that he was not easy See also:reading. treaty with See also:Rome to a treaty with See also:Armenia, and desired simply to have the See also:Euphrates recognized as his western boundary. See also:Mithradates next appealed to the See also:national spirit of the peoples of the See also:East generally, and endeavoured to rouse them to a See also:united effort. The position of See also:Lucullus was See also:critical. The See also:home See also:government was for recalling him, and his See also:army was disaffected. Nevertheless, though continually harassed by the enemy, he persisted in marching northwards from Tigranocerta over the high table-land of central Armenia, in the See also:hope of reaching Artaxata on the Araxes. But the open See also:mutiny of his troops compelled him to recross the See also:Tigris into the Mesopotamian valley. Here, on a dark tempestuous See also:night, he surprised and stormed See also:Nisibis, the See also:capital of the Armenian See also:district of See also:Mesopotamia, and in this See also:city, which yielded him a See also:rich See also:booty, he found satisfactory See also:winter quarters. Meantime Mithradates was again in See also:Pontus, and in a disastrous engagement at Ziela the Roman See also:camp was taken and the army slaughtered to a See also:man. Lucullus was obliged to See also:retreat into See also:Asia See also:Minor, leaving See also:Tigranes and Mithradates masters of Pontus and See also:Cappadocia. The See also:work of eight years of See also:war was undone. In 66 Lucullus was superseded by See also:Pompey. He had fairly earned the See also:honour of a See also:triumph, but his powerful enemies at Rome and charges of maladministration, to which his immense See also:wealth gave See also:colour, caused it to be deferred till 63. From this time, with the exception of occasional public appearances, he gave himself up to elegant luxury, with which he combined a sort of See also:dilettante pursuit of See also:philosophy, literature and art. As a general he does not seem to have possessed the entire confidence of his troops, owing probably to his natural hauteur and the strict discipline which he imposed on them. The same causes made him unpopular with the Roman capitalists, whose See also:sole See also:object was the See also:accumulation of enormous fortunes by farming the See also:revenue of the provinces. Among the Roman nobles who revelled in the newly acquired riches of the East, Lucullus stood pre-eminent. His See also:park and See also:pleasure grounds near Rome, and the costly and laborious See also:works in his parks and villas at See also:Tusculum, near See also:Naples, earned for him from Pompey (it is said) the See also:title of the " Roman See also:Xerxes." On one of his luxurious entertainments he is said to have spent upwards of £2000. He was a liberal See also:patron of See also:Greek philosophers and men of letters, and he collected a valuable library, to which such men had See also:free See also:access. He himself is said to have been a student of Greek literature, and to have written a See also:history of the Marsian war in Greek, inserting solecisms to show that he was a Roman. He was one of the interlocutors in See also:Cicero's Academica, the second See also:book (first edition) of which was called Lucullus. See also:Sulla also entrusted him with the revision of his See also:Memoirs. The introduction of the See also:cherry-See also:tree from Asia into See also:Europe is attributed to him. It appears that he became mentally feeble some years before his See also:death, and was obliged to surrender the management of his affairs to his See also:brother See also:Marcus. The usual funeral See also:panegyric was pronounced on him in the See also:Forum, and the See also:people would have had him buried by the See also:side of Sulla in the Campus See also:Martius, but at his brother's See also:request he was laid in his splendid See also:villa at Tusculum. See See also:Plutarch's Lucullus; See also:Appian's Mithridatic War; the epitomes of the lost books of See also:Livy; and many passages in Cicero. Some allusions will also be found in Dio See also:Cassius, See also:Pliny and See also:Athenaeus. For the Mithradatic See also:wars, see bibliography under MITHRADATES (VI. of Pontus) • and generally G. See also:Boissier, Cicero and his See also:Friends (Eng: trans. by A. D. See also: See also:Martial i. 63), and its See also:banks were covered with villas, of which the best known was Cicero's Academia, on the E. See also:bank. The remnants of this villa, with the See also:village of Tripergola, disappeared in 1538. See J. Beloch, Campanien, ed. 2 (See also:Breslau, 1890), 172. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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