170 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book VII. 



quence of which it was, what must be owned to be a pecu- 

 liarity in Cato's career, that he had to plead his own cause no 

 less than four and forty times ; 82 and yet, though no person 

 was so frequently accused, he was always acquitted. 



CHAP. 29. (28.) INSTANCES OF EXTREME COURAGE. 



t 



A minute enquiry by whom the greatest valour has ever 

 been exhibited, would lead to an endless discussion, more espe- 

 cially if all the fables of the poets are to be taken for granted. 

 Q. Ennius admired T. Csecilius Denter 83 and his brother to such a 

 degree, that on their account he added a sixteenth book to his 

 Annals. L. Siccius Dentatus, who was tribune of the people 

 in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and A. Aterius, 84 not 

 long after the expulsion of the kings, has also very numerous 

 testimonies in his favour. This hero fought one hundred and 

 twenty battles, was eight times victorious in single combat, and 

 was graced with forty-five wounds in the front of the body, 

 without one on the back. The same man also carried off 

 thirty-four spoils, 85 was eighteen times presented with the vic- 

 tor's spear, 86 and received twenty-five pendants, 87 eighty-three 



82 Plutarch says, that nearly fifty impeachments were brought against 

 him, the last when he was eighty- six years of age. B. 



83 There has been considerable difficulty in ascertaining who was the 

 individual here referred to; the subject is discussed at some length by 

 Hardouin, who shows that it is probable, that it was Lucius Caecilius, who 

 was slain in a battle with the Gauls, A.U.C. 470, and in the consulship of 

 Dolabella and Domitius. B. 



84 The name of this consul has been the subject of much discussion 

 among the commentators. Livy, B. iii. c. 31, has been referred to, as 

 calling him Atermius ; but in some of the best editions, he is named Ate- 

 rius. The tribunate of Dentatus took place A.U.C. 299, fifty-five years after 

 the expulsion of the kings. B. 



85 When a Roman overcame an enemy with whom he had been perso- 

 nally engaged, he took possession of some part of his armour and dress, 

 which might bear testimony to the victory ; this was termed the " spolium." 



* " Hasta pura ;" these words, according to Hardouin, signify a lance 

 without an iron head. We are told that it was given to him who gained 

 the first victory in a battle ; it was also regarded as an emblem of supreme 

 power, and as a mark of the authority which one nation claimed over 

 another. B. 



87 " Phaleris." These were bosses, discs or crescents of metal, some- 

 times gold. They were mostly used in pairs, and as ornaments for the 

 helmet ; but we more commonly read of them as attached to the harness 



