Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-12-09
HISTORICAL ERRORS.
Some of the Fables That Long Passed -
Solemn truth.

solemn truth.
The same year that Alexander
died ut Babylon DlugCncS died at
Corinth, 323 b. G.. hut not, we may
be- sure, in Il tub, because he never
made such tool of himself as to
live III ono. Tn" story that he did
So had no better origin than n COM
mCnt 10y his hiOgraphcr, Seneca,
who wuS not born till moro than 800
years after tho CyniC's death. "A
man 80 Grabbed ought to have lived
i'll a tub like Il dog.
In PIG b. G. Hannibal, with about
30, 600 men, nearly unnihilatCd the
Roman army of about 80, coo at Can
nr, ut Apulia, Italy, but ii is all a
fable to say that he sent three bush
els of gold rings pluCkrd from tho
hands of dead Roman knights back
to Carthage as evidence of his vic
tory. The messenger who carried
the news back to the Carthaginian
sCnat" on concluding his report
"uprnrd his robe and threw out a
number of gold rings gathered on
the field of battle
Four Years later the Romans, I'M
der MurCcllus, attacked and cap
turCd Syracuse, belonging to Greece,
because Cf its alliance with Hanni-
bal against Rome. As the invading
ships approached, ArChimcdcs is
said to have set some Of them on
fire with immense burning glasses.
However, modern science has so
well wat"rCd this story that it only
remains to add that even ut this day
the feat would he impossible.
Thirty years b. G. Cleopatra killed
herself to avoid being exhibited ut
Rome in the triumph of Octavius,
who had made war upon her and
Antony because the lattcr had di-
vurccd his (Octavius') sister on the
queens account But did she die
from Il snakes bitter 1t is better to
think not IF her death had been
caused by any serpent, the small vi
per would rather have been chosen
than the large asp. But the story is
dispr"vVd 10y her having dccked her
self iii the royal ornaments and be-
ing found dead without any marks
or suspicion of poison on her body"
Death from Serpcnt's bito could
not have been mistaken, and her
vanity would not havo allowed her
to choose ono which would have dis
figured her III SO frightful manner.
Other pOiSOnS were we'll under
stood and easy of access, and no boy
would have vCnturcd to carry an
asp N n basket of figs, some of
which l." even offered to the cards
rs he passed, apt avon Piutarch
shows that the story of the asp was
doubtful. Nor is the statue carried
in Augustus triumph, which had
an asp upon it, any proof of his be-
lief III il. since the snake was the
emblem of Egyptian royalty. The
statue COR the Crown) of Cleopatra
could not have been without one,
and this was probably the origin of
the whole story.
Here one may naturally ask, Who
has not heard of Clcopatra's Won
drouS pearls, one of which, ut ban
quot given iii AntOny's honor, she
dissolved in vincgari Either this
story also is fictitious or vinegar
was evidently different in those days
from the present day kind, which
will not melt pearls.
1t WAS nearly 100 years later that
the Emperor Nero also killed him
self, Is a. ID. Stabhing was the
choice this time, though, and of this
we make no question. What we
wish to say about him is that he
was not so bad monster as usually
imagined. His mother, Agrippina,
was not put to death by his order,
nor did no play upon his harp and
sing The Burning of Troy" while
Rome WAS on fire
Our knowledge of him is gained
mostly from Tacitus, who hated
him, and from Pctronius Arbiter,
who was put TO death for conspiracy
against him. Even in Rome itself
the common people strewed flowers
on tho grave Of Nero. st. Louis
Globe Democrat