=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.  His command was taken from him and given to Pompey, the favorite of the publicans.

Lucullus then retired to enjoy the riches that he had accumulated in Asia.  He had in the neighborhood of Rome celebrated gardens, at Naples a villa constructed in part in the sea, and at Tusculum a summer palace with a whole museum of objects of art.  He spent the beautiful season at Tusculum surrounded by his friends, by scholars and men of letters, reading Greek authors, and discussing literature and philosophy.

Many anecdotes are told of the luxury of Lucullus.  One day, being alone at dinner, he found his table simpler than ordinary and reproached the cook, who excused himself by saying there was no guest present.  “Do you not know,” replied his master, “that Lucullus dines today with Lucullus?” Another day he invited Caesar and Cicero to dine, who accepted on condition that he would make no change from his ordinary arrangements.  Lucullus simply said to a slave to have dinner prepared in the hall of Apollo.  A magnificent feast was spread, the guests were astonished.  Lucullus replied he had given no order, that the expense of his dinners was regulated by the hall where he gave them; those of the hall of Apollo were to cost not less than $10,000.  A praetor who had to present a grand spectacle asked Lucullus if he would lend him one hundred purple robes; he replied by tendering two hundred.

Lucullus remained the representative of the new manners, as Cato of the old customs.  For the ancients Cato was the virtuous Roman, Lucullus the degenerate Roman.  Lucullus, in effect, discarded the manners of his ancestors, and so acquired a broader, more elevated, and more refined spirit, more humanity toward his slaves and his subjects.