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Other Roman authorities are mentioned occasionally, such as Cato the Elder, Nigidius Figulus, Antistius Labeo, Ateius Capito, and Fenestella: but no doubt they and others are used in accounts introduced by such expressions as they say, some say, the story is told, and the like. Some of these references have, in fact, been traced by scholars to their originals. It has been remarked of Cicero that any statement found in that author’s works appears, or has appeared, elsewhere. The same affirmation might be made of Plutarch with some confidence. Unless he specifically testifies to oral tradition or hearsay, we may be certain that his facts, like Cicero’s, are drawn from his extensive reading.
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Critics lay stress on a few mistakes which Plutarch made in interpreting Latin (these will be found noted in Rose and in Hartman), but against them must be set the unnumbered instances in which he is right. He did not, however, have to depend wholly on Latin writers, for he undoubtedly had at hand the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1st cent. b.c.) and the works of Juba,Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iii. 465-484. the scholarly king of Mauretania, who as a youth had been brought to Rome in 46 b.c. to grace the triumph of Julius Caesar. Juba became greatly interested in Roman customs, and wrote a book in which he paralleled them with the customs of other peoples.
