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CAECILIUS METELLUS 1

When Caecilius Metellvs was desirous of leading his men against a strongly fortified place, a centurion [p. 199] said that with the loss of only ten men Metellvs could take the place. Metellus asked him if he wished to be one of the ten !

A certain centurion among the younger men inquired what he was going to do. ‘If I thought,’ said he, ‘that the shirt on my back knew what is in my mind, I would strip it off and put it in the fire.’ 2

He was bitterly opposed to Scipio while Scipio lived, 3 but felt very sad when he died, and commanded his sons to take part in carrying the bier. He said that he felt grateful to the gods, for Rome's sake, that Scipio had not been born among another people. 4

1 Distinguished Roman general, consul 143 B.C.; sometimes confused with Q. Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, whose life Plutarch either wrote or intended to write (Life of Marius, chap. xxix.).

2 Cf. Moralia, 506 D; Valerius Maximus, vii. 4. 5. Frontinus, Strategemata, i. 1. 12, attributes the remark to Metellus Pius (consul 52 B.C. with Pompey.)

3 Cicero, De amicitia, 21 (77), and De officiis, i. 25 (87).

4 Cf. Pliny, Natural History, vii. 45 (144), and Valerius Maximus, iv. 1. 12.

Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.

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