Title: The History of Rome, Books 27 to 36
Author: Livius, Titus
Language: English
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THE

HISTORY OF ROME.

TITUS LIVIUS.



BOOKS TWENTY-SEVEN TO THIRTY-SIX.

LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY

CYRUS EDMONDS.

MDCCCL.



THE HISTORY OF ROME.



BOOK XXVII.

    _Cneius Fulvius, proconsul, defeated by Hannibal and slain;
    the consul, Claudius Marcellus, engages him with better
    success. Hannibal, raising his camp, retires; Marcellus
    pursues, and forces him to an engagement. They fight twice; in
    the first battle, Hannibal gains the advantage; in the second,
    Marcellus. Tarentum betrayed to Fabius Maximus, the consul.
    Scipio engages with Hasdrubal, the son of Hamilcar, at
    Baetula, in Spain, and defeats him. Among other prisoners, a
    youth of royal race and exquisite beauty is taken; Scipio sets
    him free, and sends him, enriched with magnificent presents,
    to his uncle Masinissa. Marcellus and Quintus Crispinus,
    consuls, drawn into an ambuscade by Hannibal; Marcellus is
    slain, Crispinus escapes. Operations by Publius Sulpicius,
    praetor, against Philip and the Achaeans. A census held;
    the number of citizens found to amount to one hundred and
    thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eight: from which it
    appears how great a loss they had sustained by the number
    of unsuccessful battles they had of late been engaged in.
    Hasdrubal, who had crossed the Alps with a reinforcement for
    Hannibal, defeated by the consuls, Marcus Livius and Claudius
    Nero, and slain; with him fell fifty-six thousand men_.


1. Such was the state of affairs in Spain. In Italy, the consul
Marcellus, after regaining Salapia, which was betrayed into his hands,
took Maronea and Meles from the Samnites by force. As many as three
thousand of the soldiers of Hannibal, which were left as a garrison,
were here surprised and overpowered. The booty, and there was a
considerable quantity of it, was given up to the troops. Also, two
hundred and forty thousand pecks of wheat, with a hundred and ten
thousand pecks of barley, were found here. The joy, however, thus
occasioned, was by no means so great as a disaster sustained a few
days afterwards, not far from the town Herdonea. Cneius Fulvius, the
consul, was lying encamped there, in the hope of regaining Herdonea,
which had revolted from the Romans after the defeat at Cannae, his
position being neither sufficiently secure from the nature of the
place, nor strengthened by guards. The natural negligence of the
general was now increased by the hope that their attachment to the
Carthaginians was shaken when they had heard that Hannibal, after the
loss of Salapia, had retired from that neighbourhood into Bruttium.
Intelligence of all these circumstances being conveyed to Hannibal by
secret messengers from Herdonea, at once excited an anxious desire to
retain possession of a city in alliance with him, and inspired a hope
of attacking the enemy when unprepared. With a lightly equipped force
he hastened to Herdonea by forced marches, so as almost to anticipate
the report of his approach and in order to strike greater terror into
the enemy, came up with his troops in battle-array. The Roman, equal
to him in courage, but inferior in strength, hastily drawing out his
troops, engaged him. The fifth legion and the left wing of the allied
infantry commenced the battle with spirit. But Hannibal ordered his
cavalry, on a signal given, to ride round as soon as the foot forces
had their eyes and thoughts occupied with the contest before them, and
one half of them to attack the camp of the enemy, the other half to
fall upon their rear, while busily engaged in fighting. He himself,
sarcastically alluding to the similarity of the name Fulvius, as he
had defeated Cneius Fulvius, the praetor, two years ago, in the same
country, expressed his confidence that the issue of the battle would
be similar. Nor was this expectation vain; for after many of the
Romans had fallen in the close contest, and in the engagement with the
infantry, notwithstanding which they still preserved their ranks and
stood their ground; the alarm occasioned by the cavalry on their rear,
and the enemy shout, which was heard at the same time from their camp,
first put to flight the sixth legion, which being posted in the second
line, was first thrown into confusion by the Numidians; and then
the fifth legion, and those who were posted in the van. Some fled
precipitately, others were slain in the middle space, where also
Cneius Fulvius himself, with eleven military tribunes, fell. Who can
state with certainty how many thousands of the Romans and their allies
were slain in this battle, when I find in some accounts that
thirteen, in others that not more than seven, thousand were slain?
The conquerors got possession of the camp and the spoil. Finding that
Herdonea would have revolted to the Romans, and was not likely to
continue faithful to him if he departed thence, he removed all its
inhabitants to Metapontum and Thurium, and burnt it. He put to death
the chief men who were found to have held secret conferences with
Fulvius. Such of the Romans as escaped this dreadful carnage, fled
half-armed, by different roads, into Samnium, to the consul Marcellus.

2. Marcellus, who was not much discouraged at this so great a
disaster, sent a letter to the senate at Rome, with an account of the
loss of the general and army at Herdonea; observing, however, "that he
who, after the battle of Cannae, had humbled Hannibal when elated with
victory, was now marching against him, and that he would cause that
his present joy and exultation should not continue long." At Rome,
indeed, the grief occasioned by what had occurred, and the fears
entertained for the future, were excessive. The consul passing out of
Samnium into Lucania, pitched his camp at Numistro, on a plain
within view of Hannibal, who occupied a hill. He added also another
demonstration of his confidence; for he was the first to lead out his
troops to battle, nor did Hannibal decline fighting when he saw the
standards carried out from the gates. However, they drew up their
forces so that the right wing of the Carthaginians was extended up the
hill, while the left wing of the Romans was contiguous to the town.
For a long time neither side had any advantage; but the battle having
continued from the third hour till night, and the first lines, which
consisted, on the part of the Romans, of the first legion and the
right wing of the allied infantry, on the part of Hannibal, of the
Spanish soldiers, the Balearic slingers, and the elephants, which
were driven into the field after the commencement of the battle, being
fatigued with fighting, the first legion was relieved by the third,
and the right wing of allied infantry by the left; while on the part
of the enemy fresh troops took up the battle in place of those who
were tired. A new and desperate conflict suddenly arose, instead of
that which was so feebly maintained, their minds and bodies being
unimpaired by fatigue; but night separated the combatants while the
victory was undecided. The following day the Romans stood drawn up
for battle from sun-rise till late in the day; but none of the enemy
coming out against them, they gathered the spoils at their leisure,
and collecting the bodies of their own troops into a heap, burnt them.
The following night Hannibal decamped in silence, and moved on into
Apulia. As soon as daylight discovered the flight of the enemy,
Marcellus, leaving his wounded under the protection of a small
garrison at Numistro, in command of which he placed Lucius Furius
Purpureo, a military tribune, commenced a close pursuit of Hannibal,
and overtook him at Venusia. Here, during several days, parties of
troops sallying from the outposts, battles took place between foot and
horses promiscuously, rather irregular than important, but which for
the most part were favourable to the Romans. The armies were marched
thence through Apulia without any engagement worth recording; for
Hannibal marched by night, seeking an opportunity for ambuscade,
but Marcellus never followed him except in broad daylight, and after
having explored the country.

3. In the mean time, while Flaccus was detained at Capua in selling
the property of the nobles, and letting out the land which had been
forfeited, all of which he let for a rent to be paid in corn, lest
occasions for exercising severity toward the Campanians should be
wanting, a new piece of inquiry which had been ripening in secret, was
brought out in evidence. He had compelled his soldiers, withdrawn from
the houses, to build for themselves huts after the military manner,
near the gates and walls; at once, that the houses of the city might
be let and occupied together with the land, also through fear, lest
the excessive luxury of the city should enervate his troops as it had
those of Hannibal. Now many of these were formed of hurdles or boards,
others of reeds interwoven, all being covered with straw, as if
combustable materials had been employed on purpose. A hundred and
seventy Campanians, headed by the Blosii who were fathers, had formed
a conspiracy to set fire to all these at a late hour of the night; but
information of the conspiracy having been given by one of the slaves
of the Blosii, the gates were suddenly closed by the command of the
proconsul, and all the soldiers had been assembled under arms, on a
signal given all who were implicated in the guilt were seized, and,
after rigorous examination, were condemned and executed, informers
were rewarded with liberty and ten thousand _asses_ each. The people
of Nuceria and Acerra, who complained that they had no where to dwell,
Acerra being partly burnt, and Nuceria demolished, Fulvius sent to
Rome to the senate. Permission was given to the people of Acerra to
rebuild what had been destroyed by fire. The people of Nuceria were
removed to Atella, as they preferred; the people of Atella being
ordered to migrate to Calatia. Among the many and important events,
sometimes prosperous, sometimes adverse, which occupied men's
thoughts, not even the citadel of Tarentum was forgotten. Marcus
Ogulnius and Publius Aquillius went into Etruria as commissioners to
buy up corn to be conveyed to Tarentum; and one thousand men out of
the city troops, an equal number of Romans and allies, were sent to
the same place, together with the corn, for its protection.

4. The summer was now on the close, and the time for the election of
consuls drew nigh; but a letter from Marcellus, in which he stated,
that it would not be for the interest of the state that he should
depart a single step from Hannibal, whom he was severely pressing
while retreating before him and evading an engagement, had excited
anxiety, lest they must either recall the consul from the war at that
time when he was most actively employed, or consuls should not be
appointed for the year. The best course appeared to be to recall in
preference the consul Valerius from Sicily, although he was out of
Italy. A letter was sent to him by Lucius Manlius, the city praetor,
by order of the senate, together with the letter of Marcus Marcellus,
the consul, that he might learn from it what reason the senate had for
recalling him from his province rather than his colleague. Much about
this time ambassadors came to Rome from king Syphax with accounts of
the successful battles which he had fought with the Carthaginians.
They assured the senate that there was no people to whom the king
was more hostile than the Carthaginians, and none to whom he was
more friendly than the Romans. They said, that "he had before sent
ambassadors into Spain, to Cneius and Publius Cornelius, the Roman
generals, but that he was now desirous to solicit the friendship of
the Romans, as it were, from the fountain-head itself." The senate not
only returned a gracious answer to the ambassadors, but also sent
as ambassadors to the king, with presents, Lucius Genucius, Publius
Paetelius, and Publius Popillius. The presents they carried were a
purple gown and vest, an ivory chair, and a bowl formed out of five
pounds of gold. They received orders to proceed forthwith to other
petty princes of Africa carrying with them as presents for them gowns
bordered with purple, and golden bowls weighing three pounds each.
Marcus Atilius and Manius Acilius were also sent as ambassadors to
Alexandria, to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to revive and renew
the treaty of friendship with them, carrying with them as presents
a gown and purple tunic, with an ivory chair for the king, and an
embroidered gown and a purple vest for the queen. During the summer in
which these transactions took place, many prodigies were reported from
the country and cities in the neighbourhood; at Tusculum it was said
that a lamb was yeaned with its dug full of milk; that the roof of the
temple of Jupiter was struck with lightning and almost stripped of
its entire covering. Much about the same time it was reported that
the ground in front of the gate at Anagnia was struck, and that it
continued burning for a day and a night without any thing to feed
the fire; that at Compitum in the territory of Anagnia, the birds had
deserted the nests in the trees in the grove of Diana; that snakes
of amazing size had leaped up, like fishes sporting, in the sea at
Taracina not far from the port; at Tarquinii, that a pig was produced
with a human face; that in the territory of Capena at the grove of
Feronia, four statues had sweated blood profusely for a day and a
night. These prodigies were expiated with victims of the greater kind,
according to a decree of the pontiffs, and a supplication was fixed
to be performed for one day at Rome at all the shrines, and another in
the territory of Capena at the grove of Feronia.

5. Marcus Valerius, the consul, having been summoned by letter, gave
the command of the province and his army to Cincius the praetor, sent
Marcus Valerius Messala, commander of the fleet, with half of the
ships to Africa, at the same time to plunder the country and observe
what the Carthaginians were doing, and what preparations they were
making, and then set out himself with ten ships for Rome; where,
having arrived in safety, he immediately convened the senate. Here
he made a recital of his services. That "after hostilities had been
carried on, and severe losses often sustained, both by sea and land,
through a period of almost sixty years, he had completely terminated
the business of the province. That there was not one Carthaginian in
Sicily, nor one Sicilian absent of those who through fear had been
compelled to go into exile and live abroad; that all of them were
brought back to their cities and fields, and were employed in
ploughing and sowing; that the land which was deserted was now again
inhabited, not only yielding its fruits to its cultivators, but
forming a most certain resource for the supply of provisions to the
Roman people in peace and war." After this, Mutines and such others as
had rendered any services to the Roman people were introduced into
the senate, and all received honorary rewards in fulfilment of
the consul's engagement. Mutines was also made a Roman citizen,
a proposition to that effect having been made to the commons by a
plebeian tribune, on the authority of the senate. While these things
were going on at Rome, Marcus Valerius Messala, arriving on the coast
of Africa before daylight, made a sudden descent on the territory
of Utica; and after ravaging it to a great extent, and taking many
prisoners, together with booty of every kind, he returned to his ships
and sailed over to Sicily. He returned to Lilybaeum on the thirteenth
day from the time he left it. From the prisoners, on examination, the
following facts were discovered, and all communicated in writing to
the consul Laevinus in order, so that he might know in what state the
affairs of Africa were. That "five thousand Numidians, with Masinissa,
the son of Gala, a youth of extraordinary spirit, were at Carthage,
and that other troops were hiring throughout all Africa, to be passed
over into Spain to Hasdrubal; in order that he might, as soon as
possible, pass over into Italy, with as large a force as could be
collected, and form a junction with Hannibal." That the Carthaginians
considered their success dependent on this measure. That a very large
fleet was also in preparation for the recovery of Sicily, which they
believed would sail thither in a short time. The recital of these
facts had such an effect upon the senate, that they resolved that the
consul ought not to wait for the election, but that a dictator should
be appointed to hold it, and that the consul should immediately return
to his province. A difference of opinion delayed this, for the consul
declared that he should nominate as dictator Marcus Valerius Messala,
who then commanded the fleet in Sicily; but the fathers denied that a
person could be appointed dictator who was not in the Roman territory,
and this was limited by Italy. Marcus Lucretius, a plebeian tribune,
having taken the sense of the senate upon the question, it was
decreed, "that the consul before he quitted the city, should put
the question to the people, as to whom they wished to be appointed
dictator, and that he should nominate whomsoever they directed. If the
consul were unwilling that the praetor should put the question, and
if even he were unwilling to do it, that then the tribunes should make
the proposition to the commons." The consul refusing to submit to the
people what lay in his own power, and forbidding the praetor to do so,
the plebeian tribunes put the question, and the commons ordered that
Quintus Fulvius, who was then at Capua, should be nominated dictator.
But on the night preceding the day on which the assembly of the people
was to be held for that purpose, the consul went off privately into
Sicily; and the fathers, thus deserted, decreed that a letter should
be sent to Marcus Claudius, in order that he might come to the support
of the state, which had been abandoned by his colleague, and appoint
him dictator whom the commons had ordered. Thus Quintus Fulvius was
appointed dictator by Marcus Claudius, the consul, and in conformity
with the same order of the people, Publius Licinius Crassus, chief
pontiff, was appointed master of the horse by Quintus Fulvius, the
dictator.

6. After the dictator had arrived at Rome, he sent Cneius Sempronius
Blaesus, who had acted under him as lieutenant general at Capua, into
the province of Etruria, to take the command of the army there, in the
room of the praetor, Caius Calpurnius, whom he had summoned by letter
to take the command of Capua and his own army. He fixed the first date
he could for the election: which, however, could not be brought to
a conclusion, in consequence of a dispute which arose between the
tribunes and the dictator. The junior century of the Galerian tribe,
to whose lot it fell to give the votes first, had named Quintus
Fulvius and Quintus Fabius as consuls; and the other centuries,
on being called upon to vote according to their course, would have
inclined the same way, had not the plebeian tribunes, Caius and Lucius
Arennius interposed. They said, "that it was hardly constitutional
that a chief magistrate should be continued in office but that it was
a precedent still more shocking, that the very person who held the
election should be appointed. Then therefore, if the dictator
should allow his own name to appear they would interpose against the
election; but if the names of any other persons besides himself were
put up, they should not impede it." The dictator defended the election
by the authority of the fathers, the order of the commons, and
precedents. For, "in the consulate of Cneius Servilius, when the other
consul, Caius Flaminius, had fallen at Trasimenus, it was proposed
to the people on the authority of the fathers, and the people had
ordered, that as long as the war continued in Italy, it should be
lawful for the people to elect to the consulship whomsoever they
pleased, out of those persons who had been consuls, and as often as
they pleased. That he had a precedent of ancient date, which was to
the point, in the case of Lucius Posthumius Megellus, who, while he
was interrex, had been created consul with Caius Junius Bubulcus, at
an election over which he himself presided; and a precedent of recent
date, in Quintus Fabius, who certainly would never have allowed
himself to be re-elected, had it not been for the good of the state."
After the contest had been continued for a long time, by arguments
of this kind, at length the tribunes and the dictator came to an
agreement, that they should abide by what the senate should decide.
The fathers were of opinion, that such was then the condition of the
state, that it was necessary that its affairs should be conducted by
old and experienced generals, who were skilled in the art of war;
and, therefore, that no delay should take place in the election. The
tribunes then withdrew their opposition, and the election was held.
Quintus Fabius Maximus was declared consul for the fifth time,
and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus for the fourth. The praetors were then
created; Lucius Veturius Philo, Titus Quintus Crispinus, Caius
Hostilius Tubulus, and Caius Aurunculeius. The magistrates for the
year being appointed, Quintus Fulvius resigned the dictatorship. At
the end of this summer, a Carthaginian fleet of forty ships, under the
command of Hamilcar, passed over to Sardinia. At first it laid waste
the territory of Olbia, and then Publius Manlius Vulso, with his army,
making his appearance, it sailed round thence to the other side of the
island, and devastating the territory of Caralis, returned to Africa
with booty of every kind. Several Roman priests died this year, and
others were substituted. Caius Servilius was appointed pontiff, in the
place of Titus Otacilius Crassus. Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son
of Tiberius, was appointed as augur, in the place of Titus Otacilius
Crassus; and Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, was
appointed decemvir for the performance of sacred rites, in the room of
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Caius. Marcus Marcius, king of the
sacred rites, and Marcus Aemilius Papus, chief curio, died; but no
priests were appointed to succeed them this year. The censors this
year were Lucius Veturius Philo, and Publius Licinius Crassus chief
pontiff. Licinius Crassus had neither been consul nor praetor before
he was appointed censor, he stepped from the aedileship to the
censorship. These censors neither chose the senate, nor transacted any
public business, the death of Lucius Veturius prevented it; on this
Licinius also gave up his office. The curule aediles, Lucius Veturius
and Publius Licinius Varus, repeated the Roman games during one day.
The plebeian aediles, Quintus Catius and Lucius Porcius Licinius,
furnished brazen statues for the temple of Ceres, out of the money
arising from fines, and exhibited games with great pomp and splendour,
considering the circumstances of the times.

7. At the close of this year, Caius Laelius, the lieutenant general
of Scipio, came to Rome on the thirty-fourth day after he set out from
Tarraco, and entering the city accompanied by a train of captives,
drew together a great concourse of people. The next day, on being
brought into the senate, he stated that Carthage, the capital of
Spain, had been captured in one day, that several cities which had
revolted were regained, and that fresh ones had been received into
alliance. From the prisoners, information was gained, corresponding
for the most part with what was contained in the letter of Marcus
Valerius Messala. What produced the greatest effect upon the fathers,
was the march of Hasdrubal into Italy, which was with difficulty
resisting Hannibal and his forces. Laelius also, who was brought
before the general assembly, gave a particular statement of the same
things. The senate decreed a supplication for one day, on account of
the successes of Publius Scipio, and ordered Caius Laelius to return
as soon as possible to Spain, with the ships he had brought with him.
I have laid the taking of Carthage in this year, on the authority of
many writers, although aware that some have stated that it was taken
the following year, because it appeared to me hardly probable that
Scipio should have spent an entire year in Spain in doing nothing.
Quintus Fabius Maximus for the fifth time, and Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
for the fourth having entered on their offices of consuls on the ides
of March, on the same day, Italy was decreed as the province of both,
their command, however, was distributed to separate districts. Fabius
was appointed to carry on the war at Tarentum; Fulvius in Lucania and
Bruttium. Marcus Claudius was continued in command for the year. The
praetors then cast lots for their provinces. Caius Hostilius Tubulus
obtained the city jurisdiction; Lucius Veturius Philo the foreign,
with Gaul; Titus Quinctius Crispinus, Capua; Caius Aurunculeius,
Sardinia. The troops were thus distributed through the provinces:
Fulvius received the two legions which Marcus Valerius Laevinus had in
Sicily; Quintus Fabius, those which Caius Calpurnius had commanded
in Etruria. The city troops were to succeed those in Etruria; Caius
Calpurnius commanding the same province and the army. Titus Quinctius
was to take the command of Capua, and the army which had served under
Quintus Fulvius there. Lucius Veturius was to succeed Caius Laetorius,
propraetor, in his province and the command of the army, which was
then at Ariminum. Marcus Marcellus had the legions with which he had
been successful when consul. To Marcus Valerius together with Lucius
Cincius, for these also were continued in command in Sicily, the
troops which had fought at Cannae were given, with orders to recruit
them out of the surviving soldiers of the legions of Cneius Fulvius.
These were collected and sent by the consuls into Sicily, and the same
ignominious condition of service was added, under which the troops
which had fought at Cannae served, and to those troops belonging to
the army of Cneius Fulvius, the praetor, which had been sent thither
by the senate through displeasure occasioned by a similar flight.
Caius Aurunculeius was appointed to command, in Sardinia, the same
legions with which Publius Manlius Vulso had occupied that province.
Publius Sulpicius was continued in command for the year, with orders
to hold Macedonia with the same legion and fleet. Orders were given
to send thirty quinqueremes from Sicily to Tarentum, to the consul
Fabius. With the rest of the ships, orders were given that Marcus
Valerius Laevinus should either pass over himself into Africa to
ravage the country, or send either Lucius Cincius or Marcus Valerius
Messala. With regard to Spain, no alteration was made, except that
Scipio and Silanus were continued in command, not for the year, but
until they should be recalled by the senate. In such manner were the
provinces and the commands of the armies distributed for this year.

8. Amid concerns of greater importance, an old dispute was revived at
the election of a chief curio, when a priest was appointed to succeed
Marcus Aemilius; the patricians denying that Caius Mamilius Vitulus,
who was a plebeian candidate, ought to be allowed to stand, because no
one before his time had held that priesthood who was not a patrician.
The tribunes, on being appealed to, referred the matter to the senate.
The senate left it to the decision of the people. Thus Caius Mamilius
Vitulus was the first plebeian created chief curio. Publius Licinius,
chief pontiff, compelled Caius Valerius Flaccus to be inaugurated
flamen of Jupiter, against his will. Caius Valerius Laetorius was
created decemvir for the performance of sacred rites, in the room of
Quintus Mucius Scaevola, deceased. I should willingly have passed over
in silence the reason of a flamen's being compelled to be inaugurated,
had he not become a good, from having been a bad character. In
consequence of having spent his youth in idleness and debauchery,
vices for which he had incurred the displeasure of his own brother,
Lucius Flaccus, and the rest of his kinsmen, Caius Flaccus was chosen
flamen by Publius Licinius, chief pontiff. As soon as his mind became
occupied with the care of the sacred rites and ceremonies, he soon so
completely divested himself of his former habits, that no one among
all the youth was more esteemed, or enjoyed in a greater degree the
approbation of the chief of the patricians, whether relations or
aliens. Being raised by this generally good character to a proper
confidence in himself, he claimed to be admitted into the senate; a
thing intermitted for many years, on account of the worthlessness of
former flamens. On entering the senate, Lucius Licinius, the praetor,
led him out; on which the flamen appealed to the tribunes of the
people. He demanded back the ancient privilege of his priesthood,
which was given, together with the purple-bordered robe, and the
curule chair, to the office of flamen. The praetor wished the question
to rest not on the precedents contained in the annals, which were
obsolete from their antiquity, but on the usual practice in all the
cases of most recent date; urging, that no flamen of Jupiter, in
the memory of their fathers or their grandfathers, had taken up that
privilege. The tribunes giving it as their opinion, that justice
required, that as the obliteration of the privilege was occasioned by
the negligence of the flamens, the consequences ought to fall upon the
flamens themselves, and not upon the office, led the flamen into the
senate, with the general approbation of the fathers, and without any
opposition, even from the praetor himself; while all were of opinion
that the flamen had obtained his object more from the purity of his
life, than any right appertaining to the priesthood. The consuls,
before they departed to their provinces, raised two legions for the
city, and as many soldiers as were necessary to make up the numbers
of the other armies. The consul Fulvius appointed his brother, Caius
Fulvius Flaccus, lieutenant-general, to march the old city army into
Etruria, and to bring to Rome the legions which were in Etruria. And
the consul Fabius ordered his son, Quintus Fabius Maximus, to lead the
remains of the army of Fulvius, which had been collected, amounting
to three thousand three hundred and thirty-six, into Sicily to Marcus
Valerius, the proconsul, and to receive from him two legions and
thirty quinqueremes. The withdrawing of these legions from the island
did not at all diminish the force employed for the protection of that
province, either in effect or appearance; for though, in addition to
two veteran legions which were most effectively reinforced, he had
a great number of Numidian deserters, both horse and foot, he raised
also a body of Sicilian troops, consisting of men who had served in
the armies of Epicydes and the Carthaginians, and were experienced
in war. Having added these foreign auxiliaries to each of the Roman
legions, he preserved the appearance of two armies. With one he
ordered Lucius Cinctius to protect that portion of the island which
had formed the kingdom of Hiero, with the other he himself guarded the
rest of the island, which was formerly divided by the boundary of the
Roman and Carthaginian dominions. He divided also the fleet of seventy
ships, in order that it might protect the sea-coast, through the
entire extent of its shores. He himself went through the island with
the cavalry of Mutines to inspect the lands, observe those which were
cultivated and those which were not, and, accordingly, either praise
or reprove the owners. By this diligence so large a quantity of corn
was produced, that he both sent some to Rome, and collected at Catana
corn which might serve as a supply for the army, which was about to
pass the summer at Tarentum.

9. But the transportation of the soldiers into Sicily, and they
consisted chiefly of Latins and allies, had very nearly caused a
serious commotion; from such trifling circumstances do events of great
importance frequently arise. A murmuring arose among the Latins and
allies at their meetings. They said, that "they had been drained by
levies and contributions for ten years. That almost every year they
fought with the most disastrous consequences. That some of them
were slain in the field, others were carried off by disease. That a
countryman of theirs who was enlisted by the Romans was more lost to
them than one who was taken prisoner by the Carthaginians; for the
latter was sent back to his country by the enemy without ransom, while
the former was sent beyond the limits of Italy, into exile rather than
military service. That the troops which fought at Cannae were growing
old there, for eight years, and would die there before the enemy,
who was now more than ever flourishing and vigorous would depart from
Italy. If the old soldiers did not return to their country, and fresh
ones were enlisted, that in a short time there would be no one left.
That, therefore, they must refuse to the Roman people, before they
came to utter desolation and want, what shortly their very condition
would refuse. If the Romans saw their allies unanimous on this
point that they would then certainly think of making peace with the
Carthaginians; otherwise, Italy would never be without war while
Hannibal was alive." Thus they discoursed in their meetings. The Roman
people had at that time thirty colonies. Twelve of these, for they all
had embassies in Rome, told the consuls that they had not whence to
furnish either men or money. The twelve were Ardea, Nepete Sutrium,
Alba, Carseoli, Cora, Suessa, Cerceii, Setia, Cales Narnia, Interamna.
The consuls, astonished at this new proceeding, were desirous to deter
them from so hateful a measure and, considering that they could effect
this better by censure and remonstrance than by mild means, said that
"they had dared to say to the consuls what the consuls could not bring
their minds to declare in the senate; for that this was not refusal to
perform military service, but an open defection from the Roman people.
They desired, therefore, that they would return to their colonies
speedily, and that, considering the subject as untouched, as they had
only spoken of, but not attempted, so impious a business, they would
consult with their countrymen. That they would warn them that they
were not Campanians or Tarentines, but Romans; that from thence they
derived their origin, and thence were sent out into colonies and lands
captured from the enemy, for the purpose of increasing the population.
That they owed to the Romans what children owed to parents, if they
possessed any natural affection, or any gratitude towards their mother
country. That they should, therefore, consider the matter afresh; for
that certainly what they then so rashly meditated, was the betraying
the Roman empire, and putting the victory in the hands of Hannibal."
The consuls having spent a long time in exchanging arguments of this
kind, the ambassadors, who were not at all moved by what they said,
declared, that "they had nothing which they could carry home, nor
had their senate any thing fresh to devise, having neither men to be
enlisted, nor money to be furnished for pay." The consuls, seeing that
they were inflexible, laid the matter before the senate; where the
alarm excited in the minds of all was so great, that "the greater
part declared it was all over with the empire; that the rest of the
colonies would take the same course, and that all the allies had
conspired to betray the city of Rome to Hannibal."

10. The consuls endeavoured to encourage and console the senate,
telling them that "the other colonies would maintain their allegiance,
and continue in their former state of dutiful obedience, and that
those very colonies who had renounced their allegiance, would be
inspired with respect for the empire, if ambassadors were sent round
to them to reprove and not entreat them." The senate having given them
permission to do and to act as they might conceive best for the state;
after sounding the intentions of the other colonies, the consuls
summoned their ambassadors, and asked them whether they had their
soldiers ready according to the roll? Marcus Sextilius of Fregellae
replied, in behalf of the eighteen colonies, that "they both had their
soldiers ready according to the roll, and if more were wanting would
furnish more, and would perform with all diligence whatever else the
Roman people commanded and wished; that to do this they wanted not
means, and of inclination they had more than enough." The consuls,
having first told them that any praises bestowed by themselves alone
seemed too little for their deserts, unless the whole body of the
fathers should thank them in the senate-house, led them before the
senate. The senate, having voted an address to them conceived in the
most honourable terms, charged the consuls to take them before the
assembly of the people; and, among the many other distinguished
services rendered to themselves and their ancestors, to make mention
also of this recent obligation conferred upon the state. Nor even at
the present day, after the lapse of so many ages let their names be
passed over in silence, nor let them be defrauded of the praise due
to them. They were the people of Signia, Norba, Saticulum, Brundusium,
Fregellae, Lucerium Venusia, Adria, Firma, Ariminum; on the other
sea, Pontius Paestum, and Cosa; and in the inland parts Beneventum,
Aesernia, Spoletum, Placentia, and Cremona. By the support of these
colonies the empire of the Roman people then stood; and the thanks
both of the senate and the people were given to them. As to the twelve
other colonies which refused obedience, the fathers forbade that their
names should be mentioned, that their ambassadors should either be
dismissed or retained, to be addressed by the consuls. Such a tacit
reproof appears most consistent with the dignity of the Roman people.
While the consuls were getting in readiness all the other things which
were necessary for the war, it was resolved that the vicesimary gold,
which was preserved in the most sacred part of the treasury as a
resource in cases of extreme exigencies should be drawn out. There
were drawn out as many as four thousand pounds of gold, from which
five hundred pounds each were given to the consuls, to Marcus
Marcellus and Publius Sulpicius, proconsuls, and Lucius Veturius,
the praetor, who had by lot obtained Gaul as his province; and in
addition, one hundred pounds of gold were given to the consul Fabius,
as an extraordinary grant to be carried into the citadel of Tarentum.
The rest they employed in contracts, for ready money, for clothing
for the army which was carrying on the war in Spain, to their own and
their general glory.

11. It was resolved also, that the prodigies should be expiated before
the consuls set out from the city. In the Alban mount, the statue of
Jupiter and a tree near the temple were struck by lightning; at Ostia,
a grove; at Capua, a wall and the temple of Fortune; at Sinuessa, a
wall and a gate. Some also asserted, that water at Alba had flowed
tinged with blood. That at Rome, within the cell of Fors Fortuna, an
image, which was in the crown of the goddess, had fallen spontaneously
from her head into her hands. At Privernum, it was satisfactorily
established that an ox spoke, and that a vulture flew down into
a shop, while the forum was crowded. And that a child was born at
Sinuessa, of ambiguous sex, between a male and female, such as are
commonly called Androgynes, a term derived from the Greek language,
which is better adapted, as for most other purposes, so for the
composition of words; also that it rained milk, and that a boy was
born with the head of an elephant. These prodigies were then expiated
with victims of the larger kind, and a supplication at every shrine
and an offering up of prayers, was proclaimed for one day. It was also
decreed, that Caius Hostilius, the praetor, should vow and perform
the games in honour of Apollo as they had of late years been vowed and
performed. During the same time, Quintus Fulvius, the consul, held an
election for the creation of censors. Marcus Cornelius Cethegus, and
Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, both of whom had not yet been consuls,
were created censors. The question was put to the people on the
authority of the fathers, and the people ordered that these censors
should let to farm the Campanian lands. The choosing of the senate
was delayed by a dispute which arose between the censors about the
selection of a chief of the senate. The choice belonged to Sempronius;
but Cornelius contended that the custom handed down by their fathers
must be followed, which was, that they should choose him as chief of
the senate who was first censor of those who were then alive; this was
Titus Manlius Torquatus. Sempronius rejoined, that to whom the gods
had given the lot of choosing, to him the same gods had given the
right of exercising his discretion freely. That he would act in this
affair according to his own free will, and would choose Quintus Fabius
Maximus, whom he would prove to be the first man in the Roman state,
even in the judgment of Hannibal. After a long verbal dispute, his
colleague giving up the point, Quintus Fabius Maximus, the consul, was
chosen, by Sempronius, chief of the senate. Another senate was then
chosen, and eight names were passed over; among which was that
of Lucius Caecilius Metellus, disrespected as the adviser of the
abandonment of Italy, after the defeat at Cannae. In censuring those
of the equestrian order, the same ground was acted upon, but there
were very few to whom that disgrace belonged. All of the equestrian
order belonging to the legions who had fought at Cannae, and were then
in Sicily, were deprived of their horses. To this severe punishment
they added another relating to time, which was, that the past campaign
which they had served on horses furnished at the public expense should
not be reckoned to them, but that they should serve ten campaigns on
horses furnished at their own expense. They also searched for, and
discovered, a great number of those who ought to have served in the
cavalry; and all those who were seventeen years old at the beginning
of the war and had not served, they disfranchised. They then
contracted for the restoration of the seven shops, the shamble and the
royal palace, situated round the forum, and which had been consumed by
fire.

12. Having finished every thing which was to be done in Rome, the
consuls set out for the war. Fulvius first went advance to Capua; in
a few days Fabius followed. He implored his colleague in person,
and Marcellus by a letter use the most vigorous measures to detain
Hannibal, while he was making an attack upon Tarentum. That when that
city was taken from the enemy, who had been repulsed on all sides and
had no place where he might make a stand or look back up as a safe
retreat, he would not then have even a pretext for remaining in Italy.
He also sent a messenger to Rhegium, the praefect of the garrison,
which had been placed there the consul Laevinus, against the
Bruttians, and consisted eight thousand men, the greater part of
whom had been brought from Agathyrna in Sicily, as has been before
mentioned, and were men who had been accustomed to live by rapine. To
these were added fugitives of the Bruttians natives of that country,
equal to them in daring, and under an equal necessity of braving
every thing. This band ordered to be marched, first, to lay waste the
Bruttian territory, and then to attack the city Caulonia. After having
executed the order, not only with alacrity, but avidity, and having
pillaged and put to flight the cultivators of the land they attacked
the city with the utmost vigour. Marcellus incited by the letter of
the consul, and because he had made up his mind that no Roman general
was so good a match for Hannibal as himself, set out from his winter
quarters as soon as there was plenty of forage in the fields, and met
Hannibal at Canusium. The Carthaginian was then endeavouring to induce
the Canusians to revolt, but as soon as he heard that Marcellus was
approaching, he decamped thence. The country was open, without any
covers adapted for an ambuscade; he therefore began to retire thence
into woody districts. Marcellus closely pursued him, pitched his camp
close to his, and when he had completed his works, led out his troops
into the field. Hannibal engaged in slight skirmishes, and sent
out single troops of horse and the spearmen from his infantry, not
considering it necessary to hazard a general battle. He was, however,
drawn on to a contest of that kind which he was avoiding. Hannibal had
decamped by night, but was overtaken by Marcellus in a plain and open
country. Then, while encamping, Marcellus, by attacking the workmen
on all hands, prevented the completion of his works. Thus a pitched
battle ensued, and all their forces were brought into action; but
night coming on, they retired from an equal contest. They then hastily
fortified their camps, which were a small space apart, before night.
The next day, as soon as it was light, Marcellus led out his troops
into the field; nor did Hannibal decline the challenge, but exhorted
his soldiers at great length, desiring them "to remember Trasimenus
and Cannae, and thus quell the proud spirit of their enemies." He
said, "the enemy pressed upon him, and trod upon their heels; that he
did not allow them to pass unmolested, pitch their camp, or even take
breath and look around them; that every day, the rising sun and the
Roman troops in battle-array were to be seen together on the plains.
But if in one battle he should retire from the field, not without loss
of blood, he would then prosecute the war more steadily and quietly."
Fired by these exhortations, and at the same time wearied with the
presumption of the enemy, who daily pressed upon them and provoked
them to an engagement, they commenced the battle with spirit. The
battle continued for more than two hours, when the right wing of
the allies and the chosen band began to give way on the part of the
Romans; which Marcellus perceiving, led the eighteenth legion to the
front. While some were retiring in confusion, and others were
coming up reluctantly, the whole line was thrown into disorder, and
afterwards completely routed; while their fears getting the better of
their sense of shame, they turned their backs. In the battle and in
the flight there fell as many as two thousand seven hundred of the
citizens and allies; among which were four Roman centurions and two
military tribunes, Marcus Licinius and Marcus Helvius. Four military
standards were lost by the wing which first fled, and two belonging to
the legion which came up in place of the retiring allies.

13. Marcellus, on his return to the camp, delivered an address to
his soldiers so severe and acrimonious, that the words of their
exasperated general were more painful to them than what they had
suffered in the unsuccessful battle during the whole day. "I praise
and thank the immortal gods," said he "that in such an affair the
victorious enemy did not assail our very camp, when you were hurrying
into the rampart and the gates with such consternation. There can be
no doubt but you would have abandoned the camp with the same cowardice
with which you gave up the battle. What panic was this? What terror?
What sudden forgetfulness of who you are, and who the persons with
whom you were fighting, took possession of your minds? Surely these
are the same enemies in conquering and pursuing whom when conquered
you spent the preceding summer; whom latterly you have been closely
pursuing while they fled before you night and day; whom you have
wearied by partial battles; whom yesterday you would not allow either
to march or encamp. I pass over those things in which you might be
allowed to glory; I will mention a circumstance which of itself ought
to fill you with shame and remorse. Yesterday you separated from the
enemy on equal terms. What alteration has last night, what on this
day, produced? Have your forces been diminished by them, or theirs
increased? I verily do not seem to be talking to my own troops, or
to Roman soldiers. The bodies and the arms are the same. Had you
possessed the same spirit, would the enemy have seen your backs? Would
they have carried off a standard from any company or cohort? Hitherto
he was wont to boast of having cut to pieces the Roman legions, but
yesterday you gave him the glory, for the first time, of having put
to flight an army." On this many soldiers began to call upon him to
pardon them for that day, and entreat that he would now, whenever he
pleased, make trial of the courage of his soldiers. "I will indeed
make trial of you," said he, "and to-morrow I will lead you into the
field, that in the character of conquerors, rather than conquered men,
you may obtain the pardon you seek." To the cohorts which had
lost their standards, he ordered that barley should be given. The
centurions of the Campanians, whose standards were lost, he left to
stand without their girdles and with their swords drawn; and gave
orders that all, both horse and foot, should be ready under arms
on the following day. Thus the assembly was dismissed; the soldiers
confessing that they had been justly and deservedly rebuked; and that
there was no one in the whole Roman army who had acquitted himself
like a man, except the general, to whom they were bound to make
atonement, either by their death or a glorious victory. The next
day they appeared in readiness, according to the order, armed and
equipped. The general praised them, and gave out, that "he should
lead into the first line those who had commenced the flight on the
preceding day, and those cohorts which had lost their standards. He
now charged them all to fight and conquer, and exert every effort, one
and all, that the intelligence of yesterday's flight might not arrive
at Rome before that of this day's victory." They were then ordered
to refresh themselves with food, in order that, if the fight should
continue longer than might be expected, their strength might not fail.
After every thing had been done and said, by which the courage of the
soldiers might be roused, they advanced into the field.

14. Hannibal, on receiving intelligence of this, said, "surely the
enemy we have to do with can neither bear good nor bad fortune. If he
is victorious, he fiercely pursues the vanquished. If conquered, he
renews the contest with the victors." He then ordered the signal to
be given, and led out his forces. The battle was fought on both sides
with much more spirit than the day before. The Carthaginians exerting
themselves to the utmost, to keep the glory they had acquired
yesterday; the Romans, to remove their disgrace. On the side of the
Romans, the left wing, and the cohorts which had lost their standards,
fought in the first line, and the twentieth legion was drawn up on
the right wing. Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Caius Claudius Nero,
lieutenant-generals, commanded the wings, Marcellus gave vigour to the
centre by his presence, as an encourager and a witness. On the part
of Hannibal, the Spaniards, who were the flower of his whole army,
occupied the front line. After the battle had continued doubtful for
a long time, Hannibal ordered the elephants to be advanced into the
front line, if by that means any confusion or panic could be created.
At first, they threw the troops into confusion and broke their ranks,
and treading some under foot, and dispersing others who were round
them by the alarm they created, had made an opening in one part of the
Roman line; and the flight would have spread more widely had not Caius
Decimus Flavius, a military tribune seizing the standard of the first
maniple of the spearmen ordered that maniple to follow him. He led
them to the spot where the elephants, collected in a body, were
creating the greatest confusion, and ordered them to discharge their
javelins at them. As there was no difficulty in hitting such bulky
bodies at a short distance, and where so many were crowded together,
all their javelins stuck in them. But they were not all wounded, so
those in whose hides the javelins stuck, as that race of animals is
not to be depended on, by taking themselves to flight, drove away
those also which were untouched. At that moment not only one maniple,
but all the soldiers who could but overtake the body of retreating
elephants, threw their javelins at them, each man exerting himself to
his utmost. With so much greater impetuosity did the animals rush upon
their own men, and so much greater carnage did they make amongst
them than they had made amongst their enemies, in proportion as the
violence with which they are impelled, and the consternation produced
by them when under the influence of fear, is greater than when they
are ruled by their masters seated on their backs. The Roman infantry
bore their standards against the line of the enemy when thrown into
disorder by the elephants which had crossed over to them, and,
thus scattered and confused, led them to flight without any great
opposition. Marcellus sent his cavalry after them as they fled;
nor did they desist from the pursuit till they were driven in
consternation to their camp. For in addition to the other causes which
occasioned terror and dismay, two elephants had fallen just by the
gate, and the soldiers were compelled to rush into the camp over the
ditch and rampart. Here the greatest slaughter of the enemy occurred.
There fell as many as eight thousand men and five elephants. Nor did
the Romans gain a bloodless victory; about seventeen hundred of the
two legions, and thirteen hundred of the allies were slain; a great
number of the Romans and allies were wounded. The following night
Hannibal decamped. The great number of the wounded prevented Marcellus
from following him, as he desired.

15. The spies who were sent to watch his movements brought word back
the next day that Hannibal was making for Bruttium. Much about
the same time the Hirpinians, Lucanians, and Volcentes surrendered
themselves to the consul, Quintus Fulvius, delivering up the garrisons
of Hannibal which they had in their cities. They were mildly received
by the consul, with only a verbal reproof for their past error. To
the Bruttians also similar hopes of pardon were held out, when two
brothers, Vibius and Pactius, by far the most illustrious persons of
that nation, came from them to solicit the same terms of surrender
which had been given to the Lucanians. Quintus Fabius, the consul,
took by storm Manduria, a town in the territory of Sallentum, where
as many as four thousand men were made prisoners, and much booty taken
besides. Proceeding thence to Tarentum, he pitched his camp in the
very mouth of the harbour: of the ships which Livius had employed for
protecting convoys, some he loaded with engines and implements for
attacking walls, others he furnished with machines for discharging
missiles, and with stones and missiles of every kind; not only those
which were impelled with oars, but the storeships also, in order that
some might carry the engines and ladders to the walls, while others
might wound the defenders of the walls by discharging missiles from
the ships at a distance. These ships were fitted up and prepared
to attack the town from the open sea; and the sea was free from the
Carthaginian fleet, which had crossed over to Corcyra on account of
Philip's preparing to attack the Aetolians. Meanwhile, those who were
attacking Caulon, in the territory of Bruttium, fearful lest they
should be overpowered, had retired on the approach of Hannibal to an
eminence, secure from an immediate attack. While Fabius was besieging
Tarentum, he received assistance in the accomplishment of that great
object by a circumstance which in the mere mention, is unimportant.
Tarentum was occupied by a garrison of Bruttians, given them by
Hannibal and the commander of that garrison was desperately in love
with a girl, whose brother was in the army of the consul Fabius. Being
informed, by a letter from his sister, of the new acquaintance she
had formed with a wealthy stranger and one so honoured among his
countrymen, and conceiving a hope that the lover, by means of his
sister, might be induced to any thing she pleased, he acquainted
the consul with the hope he had formed. His reasoning appeared not
altogether unfounded, and he was desired to go to Tarentum as a
deserter and having gained the confidence of the praefect by means of
his sister, he began by sounding his disposition in a covert manner,
and then, having sufficiently ascertained his weakness, induced him,
by the aid of female fascinations, to the betrayal of that custody of
the place to which he was appointed. After the method to be pursued
and the time for putting the plan into effect had been agreed upon, a
soldier, who was sent out of the city by night clandestinely, through
the intervals between the guards, related to the consul what had been
done, and what had been agreed upon to be done. At the first watch,
Fabius, on a signal given to those who were in the citadel, and those
who had the custody of the harbour went himself round the harbour, and
took up a position of concealment, on the side of the city which faced
the east. Then the trumpets began to sound at once from the citadel,
the harbour, and the ships which had been brought to the shore from
the open sea, and a shout was purposely raised, accompanied with the
greatest confusion, in whatever quarter there was the least danger.
Meanwhile, the consul kept the men in silence. Democrates, therefore,
who had formerly commanded the fleet, and happened to be in command in
the quarter, seeing that all was quiet around him, while other parts
of the city resounded with such a din that sometimes shout like that
of a captured city was raised, and fearing loss while he hesitated,
the consul should make some attack and advance his standards, led
his party over to the citadel, from which the most alarming noise
proceeded. Fabius, concluding that the guard was withdrawn, both from
the time which had elapsed and from the silence which prevailed, for
not a voice met the ear from a quarter where a little while ago the
noise and bustle of men resounded, rousing and calling each other to
arms, ordered the ladders to be carried to that part of the wall where
the person who had contrived the plot for betraying the city, had
informed him that the Bruttian cohort kept guard. The wall was first
captured in that quarter, the Bruttians aiding and receiving the
Romans; and here they got over into the city: after which the nearest
gate was broken open in order that the troops might enter in a large
body. Then raising a shout, they proceeded to the forum, where they
arrived much about daybreak, without meeting a single armed man; and
drew upon themselves the attention of all the troops in every quarter,
which were fighting at the citadel and at the harbour.

16. A battle was fought in the entrance of the forum, with greater
impetuosity than perseverance. The Tarentines were not equal to the
Romans in spirit, in their arms, in tactics, in activity or strength
of body. Accordingly, having just discharged their javelins, they
turned their backs almost before they had joined battle, and escaped
in different directions through the streets of the city, with which
they were acquainted, to their own houses and those of their friends.
Two of their leaders, Nico and Democrates, fell while fighting
bravely. Philomenus, who was the author of the plot for betraying the
city to Hannibal, rode away from the battle at full speed. Shortly
after, his horse, which was loose and straying through the city,
was recognised, but his body could not be found any where. It was
generally believed that he had pitched headlong from his horse into an
open well. Carthalo, the praefect of the Carthaginian garrison, while
coming to the consul unarmed, to put him in mind of a connexion of
hospitality which subsisted between their fathers, was put to death
by a soldier who met him. The rest were put to the sword on all hands,
armed and unarmed indiscriminately, Carthaginians and Tarentines
without distinction. Many of the Bruttians also were slain either by
mistake or on account of an old grudge entertained against them, or
else with a view to the report that the city was betrayed; in order
that Tarentum might rather appear to have been captured by force of
arms. The troops then ran off in all directions from the slaughter,
to plunder the city. Thirty thousand slaves are said to have
been captured; an immense quantity of silver, wrought and coined;
eighty-three thousand pounds of gold; of statues and pictures so many
that they almost equalled the decorations of Syracuse. But Fabius,
with more magnanimity than Marcellus, abstained from booty of that
kind. When his secretary asked him what he wished to be done with the
statues of their gods, which are of immense size and represented as
fighting, each having his peculiar habit, he gave orders that their
angry gods should be left in the possession of the Tarentines. After
this, the wall which separated the city from the citadel was razed and
demolished. While things were going on thus at Tarentum, Hannibal,
to whom the troops engaged in the siege of Caulonia had surrendered
themselves, hearing of the siege of Tarentum, marched with the
greatest expedition both night and day; but hearing that the city was
taken, as he was hastening to bring assistance to it, he exclaimed,
"the Romans too have their Hannibal. We have lost Tarentum by the same
arts by which we took it." However, that he might not appear to have
turned his army in the manner of a fugitive, he encamped where he
had halted, about five miles from the city. After staying there a
few days, he retired to Metapontum, from which place he sent two
Metapontines with letters from the principal men in the state to
Fabius at Tarentum, to the effect, that they would accept of his
promise that their past conduct should be unpunished, on condition
of their betraying Metapontum together with the Carthaginian garrison
into his hands. Fabius, who supposed that the communication they
brought was genuine, appointed a day on which he would go to
Metapontum, and gave the letters to the nobles, which were put into
the hands of Hannibal. He, forsooth, delighted at the success of his
stratagem, which showed that not even Fabius was proof against his
cunning, planted an ambuscade not far from Metapontum. But when Fabius
was taking the auspices, before he took his departure from Tarentum,
the birds more than once refused approval. Also, on consulting the
gods after sacrificing a victim, the aruspex forewarned him to be on
his guard against hostile treachery and ambuscade. After the day fixed
for his arrival had passed without his coming, the Metapontines were
sent again to encourage him, delaying, but they were instantly seized,
and, from apprehension of a severer mode of examination, disclosed the
plot.

17. In the beginning of the summer during which these events occurred,
after Publius Scipio had employed the whole of the winter in Spain in
regaining the affections of the barbarians, partly by presents, and
partly by sending home their hostages and prisoners, Edesco, a man
distinguished among the Spanish commanders, came to him. His wife and
children were in the hands of the Romans; but besides this motive,
he was influenced by that apparently fortuitous turn in the state of
feeling which had converted the whole of Spain from the Carthaginian
to the Roman cause. The same motive induced Indibilis and Mandonius,
who were undoubtedly the principal men in all Spain, to desert
Hasdrubal and withdraw with the whole body of their countrymen to the
eminences which overhung his camp, from which they had a safe retreat
along a chain of hills to the Romans. Hasdrubal, perceiving that the
strength of the enemy was increasing by such large accessions, while
his own was diminishing, and that events would continue to flow in the
same course they had taken, unless by a bold effort he effected some
alteration, resolved to come to an engagement as soon as possible.
Scipio was still more eager for a battle, as well from hope which
the success attending his operations had increased, as because he
preferred, before the junction of the enemy's forces, to fight with
one general and one army, rather than with their united troops.
However, in case he should be obliged to fight with more armies than
one at the same time, he had with some ingenuity augmented his forces;
for seeing that there was no necessity for ships, as the whole coast
of Spain was clear of Carthaginian fleets, he hauled his ships on
shore at Tarraco and added his mariners to his land forces. He
had plenty of arms for them, both those which had been captured at
Carthage, and those which he had caused to be made after its capture,
so large a number of workmen having been employed. With these forces,
setting out from Tarraco at the commencement of the spring, for
Laelius had now returned from Rome, without whom he wished nothing
of very great importance to be attempted, Scipio marched against the
enemy. Indibilis and Mandonius, with their forces, met him while on
his march; passing through every place Without molestation, his
allies receiving him courteously, and escorting him as he passed the
boundaries of each district. Indibilis, who spoke for both, addressed
him by no means stupidly and imprudently like a barbarian, but with a
modest gravity, rather excusing the change as necessary, than glorying
that the present opportunity had been eagerly seized as the first
which had occurred. "For he well knew," he said, "that the name of
a deserter was an object of execration to former allies, and of
suspicion to new ones; nor did he blame the conduct of mankind in
this respect, provided, however, that the cause, and not the name,
occasioned the twofold hatred." He then recounted the services they
had rendered the Carthaginian generals, and on the other hand their
rapacity and insolence, together with the injuries of every kind
committed against themselves and their countrymen. "On this account,"
he said, "his person only up to that time had been with them, his
heart had long since been on that side where he believed that
right and justice were respected. That people sought for refuge,
as suppliants, even with the gods when they could not endure the
oppression and injustice of men. What he had to entreat of Scipio
was, that their passing over to him might neither be the occasion of
a charge of fraud nor a ground for respect, but that he would estimate
their services according to what sort of men he should find them to be
from experience from that day." The Roman replied, that "he would do
so in every particular; nor would he consider those men as deserters
who did not look upon an alliance as binding where no law, divine or
human, was unviolated." Their wives and children were then brought
before them and restored to them; on which occasion they wept for joy.
On that day they were conducted to a lodging; on the following they
were received as allies, by a treaty, after which they were sent to
bring up their forces. From that time they had their tents in the same
camp with the Romans, until under their guidance they had reached the
enemy.

18. The army of Hasdrubal, which was the nearest of the Carthaginian
armies, lay near the city Baecula. Before his camp he had outposts
of cavalry. On these the light-armed, those who fought before the
standards and those who composed the vanguard, as they came up
from their march, and before they chose the ground for their camp,
commenced an attack in so contemptuous a manner, that it was perfectly
evident what degree of spirit each party possessed. The cavalry were
driven into their camp in disorderly flight, and the Roman standards
were advanced almost within their very gates. Their minds on that day
having only been excited to a contest, the Romans pitched their camp.
At night Hasdrubal withdrew his forces to an eminence, on the summit
of which extended a level plain. There was a river on the rear, in
front and on either side a kind of steep bank completely surrounded
its extremity. Beneath this and lower down was another plain of
gentle declivity, which was also surrounded by a similar ridge equally
difficult of ascent. Into this lower plain Hasdrubal, the next day,
when he saw the troops of the enemy drawn up before their camp, sent
his Numidian cavalry and light-armed Baleares. Scipio riding out to
the companies and battalions, pointed out to them, that "the enemy
having abandoned, beforehand, all hope of being able to withstand
them on level ground, had resorted to hills: where they stood in view,
relying on the strength of their position, and not on their valour and
arms." But the walls of Carthage, which the Roman soldiers had scaled,
were still higher. That neither hills, nor a citadel, nor even the sea
itself, had formed an impediment to their arms. That the heights
which the enemy had occupied would only have the effect of making it
necessary for them to leap down crags and precipices in their flight,
but he would even cut off that kind of retreat. He accordingly gave
orders to two cohorts, that one of them should occupy the entrance of
the valley down which the river ran, and that the other should block
up the road which led from the city into the country, over the side
of the hill. He himself led the light troops, which the day before
had driven in the advanced guard of the enemy, against the light-armed
troops which were stationed on the lower ridge. At first they marched
through rugged ground, impeded by nothing except the road; afterwards,
when they came within reach of the darts, an immense quantity of
weapons of every description was showered upon them; while on their
part, not only the soldiers, but a multitude of servants mingled with
the troops, threw stones furnished by the place, which were spread
about in every part, and for the most part convenient as missiles. But
though the ascent was difficult, and they were almost overwhelmed with
stones and darts, yet from their practice in approaching walls and
their inflexibility of mind, the foremost succeeded in getting up.
These, as soon as they got upon some level ground and could stand with
firm footing, compelled the enemy, who were light-armed troops adapted
for skirmishing, and could defend themselves at a distance, where an
elusive kind of fight is carried on by the discharge of missiles, but
yet wanted steadiness for a close action, to fly from their position;
and, killing a great many, drove them to the troops which stood above
them on the higher eminence. Upon this Seipio, having ordered the
victorious troops to mount up and attack the centre of the enemy,
divided the rest of his forces with Laelius; whom he directed to go
round the hill to the right till he could find a way of easier ascent,
while he himself, making a small circuit to the left, charged the
enemy in flank. In consequence of this their line was first thrown
into confusion, while they endeavoured to wheel round and face about
their ranks towards the shouts which resounded from every quarter
around them. During this confusion Laelius also came up, and while the
enemy were retreating, that they might not be exposed to wounds from
behind, their front line became disjoined, and a space was left
for the Roman centre to mount up; who, from the disadvantage of the
ground, never could have done so had their ranks stood unbroken with
the elephants stationed in front. While the troops of the enemy were
being slain on all sides, Scipio, who with his left wing had charged
the right of the enemy, was chiefly employed in attacking their naked
flank. And now there was not even room to fly; for parties of the
Roman troops had blocked up the roads on both sides, right and left,
and the gate of the camp was closed by the flight of the general and
principal officers; added to which was the fright of the elephants,
who, when in consternation, were as much feared by them as the enemy
were. There were, therefore, slain as many as eight thousand men.

19. Hasdrubal, having seized upon the treasure before he engaged, now
sent the elephants in advance, and collecting as many of the flying
troops as he could, directed his course along the river Tagus to
the Pyrenees. Scipio, having got possession of the enemy's camp, and
giving up all the booty to the soldiers, except the persons of free
condition, found, on counting the prisoners, ten thousand foot and two
thousand horse. Of these, all who were Spaniards he sent home without
ransom; the Africans he ordered the quaestor to sell. After this, a
multitude of Spaniards, consisting of those who had surrendered to
him before and those whom he had captured the preceding day, crowding
around, one and all saluted him as king; when Scipio, after the
herald had obtained silence, declared that "in his estimation the most
honourable title was that of general, which his soldiers had conferred
upon him. That the name of king, which was in other countries revered,
could not be endured at Rome. That they might tacitly consider his
spirit as kingly, if they thought that the highest excellence which
could be attributed to the human mind, but that they must abstain from
the use of the term." Even barbarians were sensible of the greatness
of mind which could from such an elevation despise a name, at the
greatness of which the rest of mankind were overawed. Presents
were then distributed to the petty princes and leading men of
the Spaniards, and out of the great quantity of horses which were
captured, he desired Indibilis to select those he liked best to the
number of three hundred. While the quaestor was selling the Africans,
according to the command of the general, he found among them a
full-grown youth remarkably handsome; and hearing that he was of royal
blood, he sent him to Scipio. On being asked by Scipio "who he was,
of what country, and why at that age he was in the camp?" he replied,
"that he was a Numidian, that his countrymen called him Massiva; that
being left an orphan by his father, he was educated by his maternal
grandfather, Gala, the king of the Numidians. That he had passed over
into Spain with his uncle Masinissa, who had lately come with a body
of cavalry to assist the Carthaginians. That having been prohibited by
Masinissa on account of his youth, he had never before been in battle.
That the day on which the battle took place with the Romans, he had
clandestinely taken a horse and arms, and, without the knowledge of
his uncle, gone out into the field, where his horse falling forward,
he was thrown headlong, and taken prisoner by the Romans." Scipio,
having ordered that the Numidian should be taken care of, completed
the business which remained to be done on the tribunal, and returning
to his pavilion, asked him, when he had been called to him, whether he
wished to return to Masinissa? Upon his replying, with tears of joy,
that he did indeed desire it, he presented the youth with a gold ring,
a vest with a broad purple border, a Spanish cloak with a gold clasp,
and a horse completely caparisoned, and then dismissed him, ordering a
party of horse to escort him as far as he chose.

20. A council was then held respecting the war; when some advised that
he should endeavour to overtake Hasdrubal forthwith. But thinking that
hazardous, lest Mago and the other Hasdrubal should unite their forces
with his, he sent a body of troops to occupy the pass of the Pyrenees,
and employed the remainder of the summer in receiving the states of
Spain into his alliance. A few days after the battle of Baecula, when
Scipio on his return to Tarraco had now cleared the pass of Castulo,
the generals, Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, and Mago came from the farther
Spain and joined Hasdrubal; a late assistance after the defeat he had
sustained, though their arrival was somewhat seasonable, for counsel
with respect to the further prosecution of the war. They then
consulted together as to what was the feeling of the Spaniards in the
quarters where their several provinces were situated, when Hasdrubal,
son of Gisgo, alone gave it as his opinion, that the remotest tract of
Spain which borders on the ocean and Gades, was, as yet, unacquainted
with the Romans, and might therefore be somewhat friendly to the
Carthaginians. Between the other Hasdrubal and Mago it was agreed,
that "Scipio by his good offices had gained the affections of all,
both publicly and privately; and that there would be no end of
desertions till all the Spanish soldiers were removed to the remotest
parts of Spain, or were marched over into Gaul. That, therefore,
though the Carthaginian senate had not decreed it, Hasdrubal must,
nevertheless, march into Italy, the principal seat and object of the
war; and thus at the same time lead away all the Spanish soldiers out
of Spain far from the name of Scipio. That the army, which had been
diminished by desertions and defeats, should be recruited by Spanish
soldiers. That Mago, having delivered over his army to Hasdrubal, son
of Gisgo, should himself pass over to the Baleares with a large sum of
money to hire auxiliaries; that Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, should
retire with the army into the remotest part of Lusitania, and avoid an
encounter with the Romans. That a body of three thousand horse should
be made up for Masinissa, the flower of the whole cavalry; and that
he, shifting about from place to place throughout hither Spain should
succour their allies and commit depredations on the towns and lands
of their enemies." Having adopted these resolutions, the generals
departed to put in execution what they had resolved on. Such were the
transactions in Spain of this year. At Rome the reputation of Scipio
increased daily. The capture of Tarentum, though effected by artifice
more than valour, was considered honourable to Fabius. The fame of
Fulvius was on the wane. Marcellus was even under an ill report, not
only because he had failed in his first battle, but further, because
while Hannibal was going wherever he pleased throughout Italy, he had
led his troops to Venusia in the midst of summer to lodge in houses.
Caius Publicius Bibulus, a tribune of the people, was hostile to him.
This man, ever since the time of his first battle which had failed,
had in constant harangues made Claudius obnoxious and odious to the
people; and now his object was to deprive him of his command. The
connexions of Marcellus, however, then obtained leave that Marcellus,
leaving a lieutenant-general at Venusia, should return to Rome to
clear himself of the charges which his enemies were urging, and that
the question of depriving him of his command should not be agitated
during his absence. It happened that nearly at the same time,
Marcellus, and Quintius Fulvius the consul, came to Rome, the former
to exonerate himself from ignominy, the latter on account of the
elections.

21. The question touching Marcellus's command was debated in the
Flaminian circus, in the presence of an immense concourse of plebeians
and persons of every rank. The plebeian tribune accused, not only
Marcellus, but the nobility generally. "It was owing," he said, "to
their dishonesty and dilatory conduct, that Hannibal occupied Italy,
as though it were his province, for now ten years; that he had passed
more of his life there than at Carthage. That the Roman people were
enjoying the fruits of the prolonged command of Marcellus; that his
army, after having been twice defeated, was now spending the summer
at Venusia lodged in houses." Marcellus so completely destroyed the
effect of this harangue of the tribune, by the recital of the services
he had rendered, that not only the bill for depriving him of his
command was thrown out, but the following day he was created consul
by the votes of all the centuries with wonderful unanimity. Titus
Quinctius Crispinus, who was then praetor, was joined with him as his
colleague. The next day Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, then chief
pontiff, Publius Licinius Varus, Sextus Julius Caesar, and Quintus
Claudius Flamen were created praetors. At the very time of the
election, the public were thrown into a state of anxiety relative to
the defection of Etruria. Caius Calpurnius, who held that province as
propraetor, had written word that the Arretians had originated such
a scheme. Accordingly Marcellus, consul elect, was immediately sent
thither to look into the affair, and if it should appear to him of
sufficient consequence, to send for his army and transfer the war from
Apulia to Etruria. The Tuscans, checked by the alarm thus occasioned,
desisted. To the ambassadors of Tarentum, who solicited a treaty of
peace securing to them their liberty and the enjoyment of their own
laws, the senate answered, that they might return when the consul
Fabius came to Rome. The Roman and plebeian games were this year
repeated each for one day. The curule aediles were, Lucius Cornelius
Caudinus and Servius Sulpicius Galba; the plebeian aediles, Caius
Servilius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus. It was asserted that
Servilius was not qualified to be plebeian tribune or aedile, because
it was satisfactorily established that his father, who, for ten years,
was supposed to have been killed by the Boii in the neighbourhood of
Mutina, when acting as triumvir for the distribution of lands, was
alive and in the hands of the enemy.

22. In the eleventh year of the Punic war, Marcus Marcellus, for the
fifth time, reckoning in the consulate in which he did not act in
consequence of an informality in his creation, and Titus Quinctius
Crispinus entered upon the office of consuls. To both the consuls the
province of Italy was decreed, with both the consular armies of the
former year; (the third was then at Venusia, being that which Marcus
Marcellus had commanded.) That out of the three armies the consuls
might, choose whichever two they liked, and that the third should
be delivered to him to whose lot the province of Tarentum and the
territory of Sallentum fell. The other provinces were thus distributed
among the praetors: Publius Licinius Varus had the city jurisdiction,
Publius Licinius Crassus, chief pontiff, the foreign, and wherever
the senate though proper. Sextus Julius Caesar had Sicily, and Quintus
Claudius Flamen, Tarentum. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was to continue
in command for a year, and hold the province of Capua, which had been
held by Titus Quinctius, with one legion. Caius Hostilius Tubulus
was also continued in command, with orders to go into Etruria, in the
capacity of propraetor, and succeed Caius Calpurnius in the command
of the two legions there. Lucius Veturius Philo was also continued in
command, to hold in the capacity of propraetor the same province of
Gaul with the same two legions with which he had held it as praetor.
The senate decreed the same with respect to Caius Aurunculeius, who,
as praetor, had held the province of Sardinia with two legions,
which it did in the case of Lucius Veturius, and the question of the
continuation of his command was proposed to the people. He had in
addition, for the protection of the province, fifty ships which
Publius Scipio had sent from Spain. To Publius Scipio and Marcus
Silanus, their present province of Spain and their present armies were
assigned. Of the eighty ships which he had with him, some taken from
Italy and others captured at Carthage, Scipio was ordered to send
fifty to Sardinia, in consequence of a report that great naval
preparations were making at Carthage that year; and that the intention
of the Carthaginians was to blockade the whole coasts of Italy,
Sicily, and Sardinia with two hundred ships. In Sicily also the
following distribution was made: to Sextus Caesar the troops of Cannae
were assigned; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who was also continued in
command, was to have the fleet of seventy ships which was at Sicily,
adding to it the thirty ships which the preceding year were stationed
at Tarentum. With this fleet of a hundred ships he was ordered to pass
over into Africa, if he thought proper, and collect booty. Publius
Sulpicius was also continued in command for a year, to hold the
province of Macedonia and Greece, with the same fleet. No alteration
was made with regard to the two legions which were at Rome. Permission
was given to the consuls to enlist as many troops as were necessary
to complete the numbers. This year the Roman empire was defended by
twenty-one legions. Publius Licinius Varus, the city praetor, was also
commissioned to repair the thirty old men of war which lay at Ostia,
and to man twenty new ones with full complements, in order that he
might defend the sea-coast in the neighbourhood hood of Rome with a
fleet of fifty ships. Caius Calpurnius was ordered not to move his
army from Arretium till his successor had arrived. Both he and Tubulus
were ordered to be particularly careful, lest any new plots should be
formed in that quarter.

23. The praetors set out for their provinces. The consul were detained
by religious affairs; for receiving intelligence of several prodigies,
they could not easily obtain a favourable appearance from the victims.
It was reported from Campania, that two temples, those of Fortune
and Mars, and several sepulchres, had been struck by lightning. From
Cumae, so does superstition connect the deities with the most trifling
circumstances, that mice had gnawed some gold in the temple of
Jupiter. That an immense swarm of bees had settled in the forum at
Casinum. That at Ostia a wall and gate had been struck by lightning.
At Caere, that a vulture had flown into the temple of Jupiter.
That blood had flowed from a lake at Volsinii. On account of these
prodigies, a supplication was performed for one day. For several days,
victims of the larger kind were sacrificed without any favourable
appearance, and for a long time the good will of the gods could not be
obtained. The fatal event indicated by these portents pointed to the
persons of the consuls, the state being unaffected. The Apollinarian
games were first celebrated by Publius Cornelius Sulla, the city
praetor, in the consulate of Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius; from
that time all the city praetors in succession had performed them;
but they vowed them for one year only, and fixed no day for their
performance. This year a grievous pestilence attacked the city and the
country; it showed itself, however, in protracted rather than fatal
diseases. On account of this pestilence supplication was performed in
every street throughout the city; and Publius Licinius Varus, the city
praetor, was ordered to propose to the people a law to the effect,
that a vow should be made to perform these games on a stated day for
ever. He himself was the first who vowed them in this manner, and he
celebrated them on the third day of the nones of July, a day which was
henceforth kept sacred.

24. The reports respecting the people of Arretium became daily more
serious, and the anxiety of the fathers increased. A letter was
therefore written to Caius Hostilius, directing him not to delay
taking hostages from that people; and Caius Terentius Varro was sent,
with a command, to receive from him the hostages and convey them to
Rome. On his arrival, Hostilius immediately ordered one legion, which
was encamped before the city, to march into it; and having posted
guards in suitable places, he summoned the senate into the forum and
demanded hostages of them. On the senate's requesting a delay of two
days to consider the matter, he declared that they must themselves
give them forthwith, or he would the next day take all the children of
the senators. After this the military tribunes, the praefects of the
allies, and the centurions, were ordered to keep watch at the gates,
that no one might go out by night. This duty was not performed with
sufficient care and attention, for seven of the principal senators,
with their children, escaped before night, and before the guards were
posted at the gates. The next day, as soon as it was light, the senate
began to be summoned into the forum, when they were missed and their
goods were sold. From the rest of the senators one hundred and twenty
hostages, consisting of their own children, were taken and delivered
over to Caius Terentius to be conveyed to Rome. Before the senate he
made every thing more suspected than before. Considering, therefore,
that there was imminent danger of a commotion in Tuscany, they ordered
Caius Terentius himself to lead one of the city legions to Arretium,
and to employ it for the protection of the city. It was also resolved,
that Caius Hostilius, with the other army, should traverse the whole
province, and use precautions, that no opportunity might be afforded
to those who were desirous of altering the state of things. On his
arrival at Arretium with the legion, Terentius asked the magistrates
for the keys of the gates, when they declared they could not be found;
but he, believing that they had been put out of the way with some bad
intention rather than lost through negligence, took upon himself to
have fresh locks put upon all the gates, and used diligent care to
keep every thing in his own power. He earnestly cautioned Hostilius
to rest his hope in this; that the Tuscans would remain quiet, if he
should take care that not a step could be taken.

25. The case of the Tarentines was then warmly debated in the senate,
Fabius being present, and himself defending those whom he had subdued
by force of arms, while others entertained an angry feeling towards
them; the greater part comparing them with the Campanians in guilt
and punishment. A decree of the senate was passed conformably to
the opinion of Manius Acilius, that the town should be guarded by
a garrison, and that all the Tarentines should be kept within their
walls; and further, that the question touching their conduct should be
hereafter laid before the senate afresh when the state of Italy should
be more tranquil. The case of Marcus Livius, praefect of the citadel
of Tarentum, was also debated with no less warmth; some proposing a
vote of censure against the praefect on the ground that Tarentum was
betrayed to the enemy through his negligence, others proposing rewards
for having defended the citadel for five years, and because Tarentum
had been recovered chiefly by his single efforts; while some, adopting
an intermediate course, declared that it appertained to the censors,
and not to the senate, to take cognizance of his case; and of this
latter opinion was Fabius, who added, however, "that he admitted that
the recovery of Tarentum was owing to the efforts of Livius, as his
friends openly boasted in the senate, but that there would have been
no necessity for its recovery, had it not been lost." One of the
consuls, Titus Quinctius Crispinus, set out for Lucania, with some
troops to make up the numbers, to take the command of the army which
had served under Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. Marcellus was detained by
a succession of religious scruples, which presented themselves to his
mind. One of which was, that when in the Gallic war at Clastidium he
had vowed a temple to Honour and Valour, its dedication was impeded
by the pontiffs, who said, that one shrine could not with propriety
be dedicated to two deities; because if it should be struck with
lightning or any kind of portent should happen in it, the expiation
would be attended with difficulty as it could not be ascertained
to which deity sacrifice ought to be made; nor could one victim
be lawfully offered to two deities, unless in particular cases.
Accordingly another temple to Virtue was erected with all speed.
Nevertheless, these temples were not dedicated by Marcellus himself.
Then at length he set out, with the troops raised to fill up the
numbers, to the army he had left the preceding year at Venusia.
Crispinus, who endeavoured to reduce Locri in Bruttium by a siege,
because he considered that the affair of Tarentum had added greatly to
the fame of Fabius, had sent for every kind of engine and machine from
Sicily; he also sent for ships from the same place to attack that part
of the city which lay towards the sea. But this siege was raised by
Hannibal's bringing his forces to Lacinium, and in consequence of a
report, that his colleague, with whom he wished to effect a junction,
had now led his army from Venusia. He therefore returned from Bruttium
into Apulia, and the consuls took up a position in two separate camps,
distant from each other less than three miles, between Venusia and
Bantia. Hannibal, after diverting the war from Locri, returned also
into the same quarter. Here the consuls, who were both of sanguine
temperament, almost daily went out and drew up their troops for
action, confidently hoping, that if the enemy would hazard an
engagement with two consular armies united, they might put an end to
the war.

26. As Hannibal, who gained one and lost the other of the two battles
which he fought the preceding year with Marcellus, would have equal
grounds for hope and fear, should he encounter the same general
again; so was he far from thinking himself a match for the two consuls
together. Directing his attention, therefore, wholly to his own
peculiar arts, he looked out for an opportunity for planting an
ambuscade. Slight battles, however, were fought between the two camps
with varying success. But the consuls, thinking it probable that the
summer would be spun out in engagements of this kind, and being of
opinion that the siege of Locri might be going on notwithstanding,
wrote to Lucius Cincius to pass over to Locri with his fleet from
Sicily. And that the walls might be besieged by land also, they
ordered one half of the army, which formed the garrison of Tarentum,
to be marched thither. Hannibal having found from certain Thurians
that these things would be done, sent a body of troops to lie in
ambush on the road leading from Tarentum. There, under the hill of
Petelia, three thousand cavalry and two thousand foot were placed in
concealment. The Romans, who proceeded without exploring their way,
having fallen into the ambuscade, as many as two thousand soldiers
were slain, and about twelve hundred made prisoners. The others, who
were scattered in flight through the fields and forests, returned to
Tarentum. There was a rising ground covered with wood situated between
the Punic and Roman camps, which was occupied at first by neither
party, because the Romans were unacquainted with its nature on that
side which faced the enemy's camp, while Hannibal had supposed it
better adapted for an ambuscade than a camp. Accordingly, he had sent
thither, by night, several troops of Numidians, concealing them in the
midst of the wood. Not one of them stirred from his position by day,
lest their arms or themselves should be observed from a distance.
There was a general murmur in the Roman camp, that this eminence ought
to be occupied and secured by a fort, lest if it should be seized
by Hannibal they should have the enemy, as it were, immediately over
their heads. Marcellus was moved by this consideration, and observed
to his colleague, "Why not go ourselves with a few horsemen and
reconnoitre? The matter being examined with our own eyes, will make
our measures more certain." Crispinus consenting, they set out with
two hundred and twenty horsemen, of which forty were Fregellans, the
rest Tuscans. Marcus Marcellus, the consul's son, and Aulus Manlius,
military tribunes, together with two prefects of the allies, Lucius
Arennius and Manius Aulius, accompanied them. Some historians have
recorded, that Marcellus had offered sacrifices on that day, and that
in the first victim slain, the liver was found without its head; in
the second, that all the usual parts were present, and that there was
also an excrescence in the head. That the aruspex was not, indeed,
pleased that the entrails should first have appeared mutilated and
foul, and then too exuberant.

27. But the consul Marcellus was influenced by so ardent a desire
of engaging with Hannibal, that he never thought their camps close
enough. At that time also, as he quitted the rampart, he gave orders
that the troops should be ready when occasion required, in order
that if the hill, which they were going to examine, were thought
convenient, they might collect their baggage and follow them. Before
the camp there was a small plain; the road thence to the hill was open
and exposed to view on all sides. A watchman who was stationed, not
under the expectation of so important an event, but in order that they
might be able to intercept any stragglers who had gone too far from
the camp in search of wood or forage, gave a signal to the Numidians
to rise simultaneously one and all from their concealment. Those who
were to rise from the very summit of the hill, and meet the enemy,
did not show themselves until those whose business it was to intercept
their passage in the rear, had gone round. Then they all sprang up
from every side, and, raising a shout, commenced an attack. Although
the consuls were in such a position in the valley that they could
neither make good their way up the hill, which was occupied by the
enemy, nor retreat as they were intercepted in the rear, yet the
contest might have been continued longer had not a retreat, commenced
by the Tuscans, dismayed the rest of the troops. The Fregellans,
however, did not give over fighting, though deserted by the Tuscans,
while the consuls, uninjured, kept up the battle by encouraging
their men and fighting themselves. But when they saw both the consuls
wounded, and Marcellus transfixed with a lance and falling lifeless
from his horse, then they too, and but a very few survived, betook
themselves to flight, together with Crispinus the consul, who had
received two javelin wounds, and young Marcellus, who was himself also
wounded. Aulus Manlius, a military tribune, was slain, and of the two
praefects of allies, Manius Aulius was slain, Lucius Arennius made
prisoner. Five of the consul's lictors fell into the enemy's hands
alive, the rest were either slain or fled with the consul. Forty-three
horsemen fell in the battle or in the flight, and eighteen were taken
alive. An alarm had been excited in the camp, and the troops were
hastening to go and succour the consuls, when they saw one of the
consuls and the son of the other wounded, and the scanty remains
of this unfortunate expedition returning to the camp. The death
of Marcellus was an event to be deplored, as well from other
circumstances which attended it, as because that in a manner
unbecoming his years, for he was then more than sixty, and
inconsistently with the prudence of a veteran general, he had so
improvidently plunged into ruin himself, his colleague, and almost the
whole commonwealth. I should launch out into too many digressions
for a single event, were I to relate all the various accounts which
authors give respecting the death of Marcellus. To pass over others,
Lucius Caelius gives three narratives ranged under different heads;
one as it is handed down by tradition; a second, written in the
panegyric of his son, who was engaged in the affair; a third, which
he himself vouched for, being the result of his own investigation. The
accounts, however, though varying in other points, agree for the most
part in the fact, that he went out of the camp for the purpose of
viewing the ground; and all state that he was cut off by an ambuscade.

28. Hannibal, concluding that the enemy were greatly dismayed by one
of their consuls being slain and the other wounded, that he might
not be wanting on any opportunity presenting itself, immediately
transferred his camp to the eminence on which the battle had been
fought. Here he found the body of Marcellus, and interred it.
Crispinus, disheartened by the death of his colleague and his own
wound, set out during the silence of the following night, and encamped
upon the nearest mountains he could reach, in a position elevated and
secured on all sides. Here the two generals exerted their sagacity,
the one in effecting, the other in guarding against, a deception.
Hannibal got possession of the ring of Marcellus, together with his
body. Crispinus, fearing lest any artifice should be practised by the
Carthaginian's employing this signet as the means of deception, had
sent round messengers to the neighbouring states, informing them, that
"his colleague had been slain, and that the enemy were in possession
of his seal, and that they must not give credit to any letters written
in the name of Marcellus." This message of the consul arrived at
Salapia a little before a letter was brought from Hannibal, written in
the name of Marcellus, to the effect, that "he should come to Salapia
on the night which followed that day; that the soldiers in the
garrison should hold themselves in readiness, in case he might want
to employ them on any service." The Salapians were aware of the fraud,
and concluding that an opportunity for punishing them was sought by
Hannibal, from resentment, not only on account of their defection,
but also because they slew his horsemen, sent his messenger, who was a
deserter from the Romans, back again, in order that the soldiers might
do what was thought necessary, without his being privy to it, and then
placed the townsmen in parties to keep guard along the walls, and in
convenient parts of the city. The guards and watches they formed with
extraordinary care for that night, and on each side of the gate at
which they supposed the enemy would come, they opposed to them the
choicest of the troops in the garrison. About the fourth watch,
Hannibal approached the city. His vanguard was composed of Roman
deserters, with Roman arms. These, all of whom spoke the Latin
language, when they reached the gate, called up the guards, and
ordered the gate to be opened, for the consul had arrived. The guards,
as if awakened at their call, began to be in a hurry and bustle, and
exert themselves in opening the gate, which was closed by letting down
the portcullis; some raised this with levers, others drew it up with
ropes to such a height that the men could come in without stooping.
The opening was scarcely wide enough, when the deserters eagerly
rushed through the gate, and after about six hundred had got in, the
rope being let go by which it was suspended, the portcullis fell with
a loud noise. Some of the Salapians fell upon the deserters, who were
carrying their arms carelessly suspended upon their shoulders, as is
customary after a march, as if among friends; others frightened away
the enemy by discharging stones, pikes, and javelins from the tower
adjoining the gate and from the walls. Thus Hannibal withdrew, having
been caught by his own stratagem, and proceeded to raise the siege of
Locri, which Cincius was carrying on with the greatest vigour, with
works and engines of every kind, which were brought from Sicily. Mago,
who by that time almost despaired of retaining and defending the
town, derived his first gleam of hope on the death of Marcellus being
reported. This was followed by a message, that Hannibal had despatched
his Numidian cavalry in advance, and was himself following them with
all possible speed with a body of infantry. As soon, therefore, as he
was informed, by a signal displayed from the watch-towers, that
the Numidians were drawing near, suddenly throwing open the gate he
sallied out boldly upon the enemy, and at first, more because he
had done it unexpectedly than from the equality of his strength, the
contest was doubtful; but afterwards, when the Numidians came up, the
Romans were so dismayed that they fled on all hands to the sea and
their ships, leaving their works and the engines with which they
battered the walls. Thus the siege of Locri was raised by the approach
of Hannibal.

29. When Crispinus found that Hannibal had gone into Bruttium, he
ordered Marcus Marcellus, a military tribune, to march the army, which
his colleague had commanded, to Venusia. Having set out himself with
his own legions for Capua, though scarcely able to endure the motion
of the litter, from the severity of his wounds, he sent a letter to
Rome stating the death of his colleague, and in how great danger he
himself was. He said, "it was impossible for him to go to Rome to hold
the election, both because he did not think he could bear the fatigue
of the journey, and because he was anxious about Tarentum, lest
Hannibal should direct his course thither from Bruttium. That it
was expedient that commissioners should be sent to him, men of sound
judgment, with whom he might communicate, when he pleased, respecting
the commonwealth." The reading of this letter excited great grief for
the death of one of the consuls, and apprehension for the safety of
the other. They therefore sent Quintus Fabius the younger to Venusia
to the army; and to the consul three commissioners, Sextus Julius
Caesar, Lucius Licinius Pollio, and Lucius Cincius Alimentus, though
but a few days before he had returned from Sicily. These were directed
to convey a message to the consul, to the effect, that if he could not
himself go to Rome to hold the election, he should nominate a dictator
within the Roman territory for that purpose. If the consul should have
gone to Tarentum, that it was the pleasure of the senate that Marcus
Claudius, the praetor, should march off his legions to that quarter
in which he could protect the greatest number of the cities of the
allies. The same summer Marcus Valerius crossed over from Sicily into
Africa with a fleet of a hundred ships, and making a descent near the
city Clupea, devastated the country to a wide extent, scarcely meeting
with a single person in arms. Afterwards the troops employed in making
these depredations were hastily led back to their ships, and a report
had suddenly reached them that a Carthaginian fleet was drawing near.
It consisted of eighty-three ships. With these the Romans fought
successfully, not far from the city Clupea, and after taking eighteen
and putting the rest to flight, returned to Lilybaeum with a great
deal of booty gained both by land and sea. The same summer also Philip
gave assistance to the suppliant Achaeans. They were harassed
by Machanidas, tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, with a war in their
immediate neighbourhood; and the Aetolians, having passed over an army
in ships through the strait which runs between Naupactus and Patrae,
called by the neighbouring people Rhion, had devastated their country.
It was reported also, that Attalus, king of Asia, would pass over into
Europe, because the Aetolians, in their last council, had offered to
him the office of chief magistrate of their nation.

30. Philip, when marching down into Greece, for these reasons, was met
at the city Lamia by the Aetolians, under the command of Pyrrhias,
who had been created praetor that year jointly with Attalus, who was
absent. They had with them also auxiliaries from Attalus, and about a
thousand men sent from the Roman fleet by Publius Sulpicius. Against
this general and these forces, Philip fought twice successfully, and
slew full a thousand of his enemies in each battle. Whence, as the
Aetolians were compelled by fear to keep themselves under the walls of
Lamia, Philip led back his army to Phalara. This place is situated in
the Malian bay, and was formerly thickly inhabited on account of its
excellent harbour, the safe anchorage in its neighbourhood, and other
conveniences of sea and land. Hither came ambassadors from Ptolemy,
king of Egypt, the Rhodians, Athenians, and Chians, to put a stop
to hostilities between the Aetolians and Philip. The Aetolians also
called in one of their neighbours as a mediator, Amynander, king of
the Athamanians. But all these were less concerned for the Aetolians,
whose arrogance of disposition exceeded that of any other nation of
Greece, than lest Philip and his empire, which was likely to prove
injurious to the cause of liberty, should be intermixed with the
affairs of Greece. The deliberations concerning a peace were put off,
to a council of the Achaeans, for which a place and certain day were
fixed upon; for the mean time a truce of thirty days was obtained. The
king, setting out thence, went through Thessaly and Boeotia to Chalcis
in Euboea, to prevent Attalus, who he heard was about to come to
Euboea with a fleet, from entering the harbours and approaching the
coasts. Leaving a force to oppose Attalus, in case he should cross
over in the mean time, he set out thence with a small body of cavalry
and light-armed troops, and came to Argos. Here the superintendence
of the Heraean and Nemaean games having been conferred upon him by the
suffrages of the people, because the kings of the Macedonians trace
their origin from that state, after completing the Heraean games, he
set out directly after the celebration for Aegium, to the council
of allies, fixed some time before. Here measures were proposed for
putting an end to the Aetolian war, in order that neither the Romans
nor Attalus might have a pretext for entering Greece; but they
were all upset by the Aetolians, before the period of the truce had
scarcely expired, after they heard that Attalus had arrived at Aegina,
and that a Roman fleet was stationed at Naupactus. For when called
into the council of the Achaeans, where the same embassies were
present which had negotiated for peace at Phalara, they at first
complained of some trifling acts committed during the period of the
truce, contrary to the faith of the convention; but at last they
asserted, that it was impossible the war could be terminated unless
the Achaeans gave back Pylus to the Messenians, unless Atintania was
restored to the Romans, and Ardyaea to Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus.
But Philip, conceiving it an indignity that the vanquished should
presumptuously dictate terms to him the victor, said, "that he did not
before either listen to proposals for peace, or agree to a truce, from
any hope he entertained that the Aetolians would remain quiet, but
in order that he might have all the allies as witnesses that he was
desirous of peace, and that they were the occasion of this war." Thus,
without effecting a peace, he dismissed the council; and leaving four
thousand troops for the protection of the Achaeans, and receiving five
men of war, with which, if he could have joined them to the fleet of
the Carthaginians lately sent to him, and the ships which were coming
from Bithynia, from king Prusias, he had resolved to challenge the
Romans, who had long been masters of the sea in that quarter, to a
naval battle, the king himself went back from the congress to Argos;
for now the time for celebrating the Nemaean games was approaching,
which he wished to be celebrated in his presence.

31. While the king was occupied with the exhibition of the games, and
was indulging himself during the days devoted to festivity with more
freedom than in time of war, Publius Sulpicius, setting out from
Naupactus, brought his fleet to the shore, between Sicyon and Corinth,
and devastated without restraint a country of the most renowned
fertility. Intelligence of this proceeding called Philip away from the
games. He set out hastily with his cavalry, ordering his infantry to
follow him closely; and attacking the Romans as they were scattered
through the fields and loaded with booty, like men who feared nothing
of the kind, drove them to their ships. The Roman fleet returned to
Naupactus by no means pleased with their booty. The fame of a victory
gained by Philip over the Romans, of whatever magnitude, increased
the celebrity of the remaining part of the games. The festival was
celebrated with extraordinary mirth, the more so as the king, in order
to please the people, took the diadem off his head, and laid aside
his purple robe with the other royal apparel, and placed himself, with
regard to appearance, on an equality with the rest, than which nothing
is more gratifying to free states. By this conduct he would have
afforded the strongest hopes of the enjoyment of liberty, had he not
debased and marred all by his intolerable lust; for he ranged
night and day through the houses of married people with one or two
companions, and in proportion as he was less conspicuous by lowering
his dignity to a private level, the less restraint he felt; thus
converting that empty show of liberty, which he had made to others,
into a cover for the gratification of his own unbounded desires. For
neither did he obtain his object in all cases by money or seductive
arts, but he also employed violence in the accomplishment of his
flagitious purposes; and it was dangerous both to husbands and parents
to have presented any impediment to the gratification of royal lust,
by an unseasonable strictness. From one man, Aratus, of the highest
rank among the Achaeans, his wife, named Polycratia, was taken away
and conveyed into Macedonia under the hope of a matrimonial connexion
with royalty. After passing the time appointed for the celebration
of the Nemaean games, and a few days more, in the commission of these
profligate acts, he set out for Dymae to expel the garrison of the
Aetolians, which had been invited by the Eleans, and received into the
town. Cycliadas, who had the chief direction of affairs, met the king
at Dymae, together with the Achaeans, who were inflamed with hatred
against the Eleans, because they had disunited themselves from the
rest of the Achaeans, and were incensed against the Aetolians, because
they considered that they had stirred up a Roman war against them.
Setting out from Dymae, and uniting their forces, they passed the
river Larissus, which separates the Elean from the Dymaean territory.

32. The first day on which they entered upon the enemy's confines,
they employed in plundering. The following day they approached the
city in battle-array, having sent their cavalry in advance, in order
that, by riding up to the gates, they might provoke the Aetolians to
make a sally, a measure to which they were naturally inclined. They
were not aware that Sulpicius had passed over from Naupactus to
Cyllene with fifteen ships, and landing four thousand armed men, had
entered Elis during the dead of night, that his troops might not be
seen. Accordingly, when they recognised the Roman standards and arms
among the Aetolians, so unexpected an event occasioned the greatest
terror; and at first the king had wished to withdraw his troops; but
afterwards, an engagement having taken place between the Aetolians and
Trallians, a tribe of Illyrians, when he saw his men hard pressed, the
king himself with his cavalry charged a Roman cohort. Here his horse
being pierced with a javelin threw the king, who fell over his head;
when a conflict ensued, which was desperate on both sides; the Romans
making a furious attack upon the king, and the royal party protecting
him. His own conduct was highly meritorious, when though on foot he
was obliged to fight among horsemen. Afterwards, when the contest
was unequal, many were falling and being wounded around him, he was
snatched away by his soldiers, and, being placed upon another horse,
fled from the field. On that day he pitched his camp five miles from
the city of the Eleans, and the next day led out all his forces to a
fort called Pyrgus, whither he had heard that a multitude of rustics
had resorted through fear of being plundered. This unorganized and
unarmed multitude he took immediately on his approach, from the first
effects of alarm; and by this capture compensated for the disgrace
sustained at Elis. While engaged in distributing the spoil and
captives, and there were four thousand men and as many as twenty
thousand head of cattle of every kind, intelligence reached him
from Macedonia that one Eropus had gained possession of Lychnidus by
bribing the praefect of the citadel and garrison; that he held also
certain towns of the Dassaretians, and that he was endeavouring
to incite the Dardanians to arms. Desisting from the Achaean war,
therefore, but still leaving two thousand five hundred armed troops of
every description under the generals Menippus and Polyphantas for the
protection of his allies, he set out from Dymae, and passing through
Achaea, Boeotia, and Euboea, arrived on the tenth day at Demetrias in
Thessaly.

33. Here he was met by other messengers with intelligence of still
greater commotions; that the Dardanians, having poured into Macedonia,
were in possession of Orestis, and had descended into the Argestaean
plain; and that there was a general report among the barbarians that
Philip was slain. In that expedition in which he fought with the
plundering party near Sicyon, being carried by the fury of his horse
against a tree, he broke off the extremity of one of the horns of his
helmet against a projecting branch; which being found by a certain
Aetolian and carried into Aetolia to Scerdilaedus, who knew it to
be the ornament of his helmet, spread the report that the king was
killed. After the king had departed from Achaea, Sulpicius, going to
Aegina with his fleet, formed a junction with Attalus. The Achaeans
fought successfully with the Aetolians and Eleans not far from
Messene. King Attalus and Publius Sulpicius wintered at Aegina. In the
close of this year Titus Quinctius Crispinus, the consul, after having
nominated Titus Manlius Torquatus dictator for the purpose of holding
the election and celebrating the games, died of his wound. Some say
that he died at Tarentum, others in Campania. The death of the two
consuls, who were slain without having fought any memorable battle, a
coincidence which had never occurred in any former war, had left the
commonwealth in a manner orphan. The dictator, Manlius, appointed as
his master of the horse Caius Servilius, then curule aedile. On the
first day of its meeting the senate ordered the dictator to celebrate
the great games which Marcus Aemilius, the city praetor, had
celebrated in the consulship of Caius Flaminius and Cneius Servilius,
and had vowed to be repeated after five years. The dictator then both
performed the games and vowed them for the following lustrum. But as
the two consular armies without commanders were so near the enemy,
disregarding every thing else, one especial care engrossed the fathers
and the people, that of creating the consuls as soon as possible; and
that they might create those in preference whose valour was least in
danger from Carthaginian treachery; since, through the whole period
of the war, the precipitate and hot tempers of their generals had been
detrimental, and this very year the consuls had fallen into a snare
for which they were not prepared, in consequence of their excessive
eagerness to engage the enemy, but the immortal gods, in pity to the
Roman name, had spared the unoffending armies, and doomed the consuls
to expiate their temerity with their own lives.

34. On the fathers' looking round to see whom they should appoint as
consuls, Caius Claudius Nero appeared pre-eminently. They then looked
out for a colleague for him, and although they considered him a man of
the highest talents, they also were of opinion that he was of a more
forward and vehement disposition than the circumstances of the war, or
the enemy, Hannibal, required, they resolved that it would be right to
qualify the impetuosity of his temper by uniting with him a cool and
prudent colleague. The person fixed upon was Marcus Livius, who, many
years ago, was, on the expiration of his consulship, condemned in a
trial before the people; a disgrace which he took so much to heart,
that he retired into the country, and for many years absented himself
from the city, and avoided all public assemblies. Much about the
eighth year after his condemnation, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and
Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the consuls, had brought him back into the
city; but he appeared in a squalid dress, his hair and beard allowed
to grow, and exhibiting in his countenance and attire the deep
impression of the disgrace he had sustained. Lucius Veturius and
Publius Licinius, the censors, compelled him to have his beard and
hair trimmed, to lay aside his squalid garb, to come into the senate,
and discharge other public duties. But even then he either gave his
assent by a single word, or signified his vote by walking to one side
of the house, till the trial of Marcus Livius Macatus, a kinsman
of his, whose character was at stake, obliged him to deliver his
sentiments in the senate upon his legs. On being heard in the senate
on this occasion, after so long an interval, he drew the eyes of all
upon him, and gave occasion to conversations to the following effect:
"That the people had injuriously disgraced a man who was undeserving
of it and that it had been greatly detrimental to the state that,
in so important a war, it had not had the benefit of the service
and counsels of such a man. That neither Quintus Fabius nor Marcus
Valerius Laevinus could be given to Caius Nero as colleagues, because
it was not allowed for two patricians to be elected. That the
same cause precluded Titus Manlius, besides that he had refused a
consulship when offered to him, and would refuse it. That they would
have two most distinguished consuls if they should add Marcus Livius
as a colleague to Caius Claudius." Nor did the people despise a
proposal, the mention of which originated with the fathers. The only
person in the state who objected to the measure was the man to whom
the honour was offered, who accused his countrymen of inconstancy,
saying, "that, having withheld their pity from him when arrayed in a
mourning garment and a criminal, they now forced upon him the white
gown against his will; that honours and punishments were heaped upon
the same person. If they esteemed him a good man, why had they thus
passed a sentence of condemnation upon him as a wicked and guilty one?
If they had proved him a guilty man, why should they thus trust him
with a second consulate after having improperly committed to him the
first?" While thus remonstrating and complaining, the fathers rebuked
him, putting him in mind, that "Marcus Furius too, being recalled from
exile, had reinstated his country when shaken from her very base.
That we ought to soothe the anger of our country as we would that of
parents, by patience and resignation." All exerting themselves to the
utmost, they succeeded in uniting Marcus Livius in the consulate with
Caius Claudius.

35. The third day afterwards the election of praetors was held. The
praetors created were, Lucius Porcius Licinus, Caius Mamilius, Aulus
Hostilius Cato, and Caius Hostilius Cato. The election completed, and
the games celebrated, the dictator and master of the horse abdicated
their offices. Caius Terentius Varro was sent as propraetor into
Etruria, in order that Caius Hostilius might quit that province and
go to Tarentum to that army which Titus Quinctius, the consul, had
commanded, and that Lucius Manlius might go as ambassador across the
sea, and observe what was going on there; and at the same time, as
the games at Olympia, which were attended by the greatest concourse
of persons of any solemnity in Greece, were about to take place that
summer, that if he could without danger from the enemy, he might go to
that assembly, in order that any Sicilians who might be there, having
been driven away by the war, or any Tarentine citizens banished by
Hannibal, might return to their homes, and be informed that the Roman
people would restore to them every thing which they had possessed
before the war. As a year of the most dangerous character seemed to
threaten them, and there were no consuls to direct the government, all
men fixed their attention on the consuls elect, wishing them to
draw lots for their provinces, as soon as possible, and determine
beforehand what province and what enemy each should have. The senate
also took measures, at the instance of Quintus Fabius Maximus, to
effect a reconciliation between them. For the enmity between them was
notorious; and in the case of Livius his misfortunes rendered it more
inveterate and acrimonious, as he considered that in that situation
he had been treated with contempt. He was, therefore, the more
inexorable, and said, "that there was no need of a reconciliation, for
that they would use greater diligence and activity in every thing they
did for fear lest they should give their colleague, who was an enemy,
an opportunity of advancing himself at their expense." However, the
authority of the senate prevailed; and, laying aside their private
differences, they conducted the affairs of the state in friendship
and unanimity. Their provinces were not districts bordering upon
each other, as in former years, but quite separate, in the remotest
confines of Italy. To one was decreed Bruttium and Lucania, to act
against Hannibal; to the other Gaul, to act against Hasdrubal, who, it
was reported, was now approaching the Alps; and that he to whose lot
Gaul fell should choose whichever he pleased of the two armies, one of
which was in Gaul, the other in Etruria, and receive the city legions
in addition; and that he to whose lot Bruttium fell, should, after
enlisting fresh legions for the city, take the army of whichever
of the consuls of the former year he pleased. That Quintus Fulvius,
proconsul, should take the army which was left by the consul, and that
his command should last for a year. To Caius Hostilius, to whom they
had given the province of Tarentum in exchange for Etruria, they gave
Capua instead of Tarentum, with one legion which Fulvius had commanded
the preceding year.

36. The anxiety respecting the approach of Hasdrubal to Italy
increased daily. At first, ambassadors from the Massilians had brought
word that he had passed over into Gaul and that the expectations
of the Gauls were raised by his coming, as he was reported to
have brought a large quantity of gold for the purpose of hiring
auxiliaries. Afterwards, Sextus Antistius and Marcus Raecius, who were
sent from Rome, together with these persons, as ambassadors, to look
into the affair, had brought word back that they had sent persons
with Massilian guides, who, through the medium of Gallic chieftains
connected with them by hospitality, might bring back all ascertained
particulars; that they found that Hasdrubal, who had already collected
an immense army, would cross the Alps the ensuing spring; and that the
only cause which delayed him there was, that the passage of the
Alps was closed by winter. Publius Aelius Paetus was created and
inaugurated in the office of augur in the room of Marcus Marcellus and
Cneius Cornelius Dolabella was inaugurated king of the sacred rites in
the room of Marcus Marcius, who had died two years before. This same
year, for the first time since Hannibal came into Italy, the lustrum
was closed by the censors Publius Sempronius Tuditanus and Marcus
Cornelius Cethegus. The citizens numbered in the census were one
hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eight, a number
considerably smaller than before the war. This year it is recorded
that the Comitium was covered, and that the Roman games were repeated
once by the curule aediles, Quintus Metellus and Caius Servilius; and
that the plebeian games were repeated twice by Quintus Mamilius and
Marcus Caecilius Metellus, plebeian aediles. The same persons also
gave three statues for the temple of Ceres, and there was a feast in
honour of Jupiter on occasion of the games. After this Caius Claudius
Nero and Marcus Livius a second time entered upon their consulate;
and as they had already, while consuls elect, drawn lots for their
provinces, they ordered the praetors to draw lots for theirs. Caius
Hostilius had the city jurisdiction, to which the foreign was added,
in order that three praetors might go out to the provinces. Aulus
Hostilius had Sardinia, Caius Mamilius, Sicily, Lucius Porcius,
Gaul. The total amount of legions employed in the provinces was
twenty-three, which were so distributed that the consuls might have
two each; Spain, four; the three praetors in Sicily, Sardinia, and
Gaul, two each; Caius Terentius, two in Etruria; Quintus Fulvius, two
in Bruttium; Quintus Claudius two in the neighbourhood of Tarentum and
the territory of Sallentum; Caius Hostilius Tubulus, one at Capua;
and two were ordered to be enlisted for the city. For the first four
legions the people elected tribunes, the consuls sent those for the
rest.

37. Before the consuls set out, the nine days' sacred rite was
performed, as a shower of stones had fallen from the sky at Veii.
After the mention of one prodigy, others also were reported, as usual.
At Minturnae, that the temple of Jupiter and the grove of Marica, and
at Atella also that a wall and gate, had been struck by lightning.
The people of Minturnae added what was more alarming, that a stream of
blood had flowed at their gate. At Capua, a wolf, which had entered at
the gate by night, had torn a watchman. These prodigies were expiated
with victims of the larger kind, and a supplication for one day was
made, according to a decree of the pontiffs. The nine days' sacred
rite was then performed again, because a shower of stones had been
seen to fall in the armilustrum. After the people's minds had
been freed from superstitious fears, they were again disturbed by
intelligence that an infant had been born at Frusino as large as a
child of four years old, and not so much an object of wonder from
its size, as that it was born without any certain mark of distinction
whether it was male or female, which was the case two years before
at Sinuessa. Aruspices, called in from Etruria, declared this to be
indeed a foul and ill-omened prodigy, which ought to be removed out of
the Roman territory, and, being kept far from coming in contact with
the earth, to be plunged into the deep. They shut it up alive in a
chest, and carrying it away, threw it into the sea. The pontiffs also
decreed, that thrice nine virgins should go through the city singing
a hymn. While in the temple of Jupiter Stator they were learning
this hymn, which was composed by the poet Livius, the temple of Juno
Regina, on the Aventine, was struck by lightning; and the aruspices,
on being consulted, having replied that that prodigy appertained to
the matrons, and that the goddess must be appeased by a present, such
of the matrons as dwelt within the city and within the tenth milestone
from it, were summoned to the Capitol by an edict of the curule
aediles; when they themselves chose twenty-five out of their own body,
to whom they paid a contribution out of their dowries, from which
a golden basin was made, as a present, and carried to the Aventine,
where a sacrifice was performed by the matrons in a pure and chaste
manner. Immediately a day was given out by the decemviri for another
sacrifice to the same goddess, which was performed in the following
order: two white heifers were led from the temple of Apollo into the
city through the Carmental gate; after these, two cypress images of
Juno Regina were carried; after these went seven and twenty virgins,
arrayed in white vestments, and singing in honour of Juno Regina a
hymn, which to the uncultivated minds of that time might appear to
have merit, but if repeated now would seem inelegant and uncouth. The
train of virgins was followed by the decemvirs, crowned with laurel,
and in purple-bordered robes. From the gate they proceeded by the
Jugarian street into the forum: in the forum the procession stopped,
and the virgins, linked together by a cord passed through their hands,
moved on, beating time with their feet to the music of their voices.
They then proceeded by the Tuscan street and the Velabrum, through
the cattle market, up the Publician hill, and to the temple of Juno
Regina; where two victims were immolated by the decemviri, and the
cypress images carried into the temple.

38. After the deities were appeased in due form, the consuls made the
levy with greater diligence and strictness than any one remembered
it to have been made in former years; for the war was now doubly
formidable, in consequence of the advance of a new enemy into Italy,
while the number of the youth from which they could enlist soldiers
was diminished. They therefore resolved to compel the settlers upon
the sea-coast, who were said to possess an exemption from service
solemnly granted, to furnish soldiers; and on their refusing to do
so, appointed that they should severally lay before the senate, on
a certain day, the grounds on which they claimed exemption. On the
appointed day the following people came to the senate: the people
of Ostia, Alsia, Antium, Anxur, Minturnae, and Sinuessa, and, on
the upper sea, Sena. After each people had stated their grounds of
exemption, the exemption of none was allowed, as the enemy was in
Italy, except those of Antium and Ostia, and of these colonies the
young men were bound by oath that they would not lodge without the
walls of their colony, while the enemy was in Italy, more than thirty
days. Although it was the opinion of all that the consuls ought to
proceed to the war as soon as possible, (for Hasdrubal ought to be met
on his descent from the Alps, lest he might seduce the Cisalpine Gauls
and Etruria, which was anxiously looking forward to a revolution;
while it was necessary to occupy Hannibal with a war in his own
quarters, lest he should emerge from Bruttium, and advance to meet his
brother;) yet Livius delayed, not having sufficient confidence in
the armies destined for his provinces. He said his colleague had his
option to take which he pleased out of two excellent consular armies,
and a third which Quintus Claudius commanded at Tarentum. He also
made mention of recalling the volunteer slaves to their standards.
The senate gave the consuls unrestricted liberty of filling up their
numbers from what source they pleased, of selecting out of all the
armies such as they liked, and of exchanging and removing from one
province to another, as they thought conducive to the good of the
state. In all these affairs the consuls acted with the most perfect
harmony. The volunteer slaves were enlisted into the nineteenth and
twentieth legions. Some authors state that very efficient auxiliaries
were sent out of Spain also to Marcus Livius by Publius Scipio;
namely, eight thousand Spaniards and Gauls, two thousand legionary
soldiers, a thousand horse of Numidians and Spaniards together.
That Marcus Lucretius brought these forces in ships, and that Caius
Mamilius sent as many as four thousand bowmen and slingers out of
Sicily.

39. A letter which was brought out of Gaul from Lucius Porcius, the
praetor, increased the alarm at Rome. It stated that Hasdrubal had
quitted his winter quarters, and was now crossing the Alps; that eight
thousand Ligurians had been enlisted and armed, which would join him
when he had crossed over into Italy, unless some general were sent
into Liguria to engage them with a war. That he would himself advance
as far as he thought it safe with his small forces. This letter
obliged the consuls hastily to conclude the levy, and go earlier than
they had determined into their provinces, with the intention that each
should keep his enemy in his own province, and not allow them to form
a junction or concentrate their forces. This object was much aided by
an opinion possessed by Hannibal; for although he felt assured that
his brother would cross over into Italy that summer, yet when he
recollected what difficulties he had himself experienced through a
period of five months, first in crossing the Rhone, then the Alps,
contending against men, and the nature of the ground, he was far from
expecting that his transit would be so easy and expeditious, and this
was the cause of his moving more slowly from his winter quarters. But
all things were done by Hasdrubal with less delay and trouble than he
himself or any others expected. For the Arverni, and after them the
other Gallic and Alpine nations in succession, not only gave him a
friendly reception, but followed him to the war; and not only had
roads been formed during the passage of his brother in most of the
countries through which he marched, and which were before impassable,
but also as the Alps had been passable for a period of twelve years,
he marched through tribes of less ferocious dispositions. For
before that time, being never visited by foreigners, nor accustomed,
themselves, to see a stranger in their country, they were unsociable
to the whole human race. And at first, not knowing whither the
Carthaginian was going, they had imagined that their own rocks and
forts, and the plunder of their cattle and people, were his objects;
but afterwards, the report of the Punic war with which Italy was being
desolated for now ten years, had convinced them that the Alps were
only a passage, and that two very powerful nations, separated from
each other by a vast tract of sea and land, were contending for empire
and power. These were the causes which opened the Alps to Hasdrubal.
But the advantage which he gained by the celerity of his march he
lost by his delay at Placentia, while he carried on a fruitless siege,
rather than an assault. He had supposed that it would be easy to take
by storm a town situated on a plain; and the celebrity of the colony
induced him to believe that by destroying it he should strike great
terror into the rest. This siege not only impeded his own progress,
but had the effect of restraining Hannibal, who was just on the point
of quitting his winter quarters, after hearing of his passage, which
was so much quicker than he expected; for he not only revolved in his
mind how tedious was the siege of towns, but also how ineffectual was
his attempt upon that same colony, when returning victorious from the
Trebia.

40. The consuls, on departing from the city in different directions,
had drawn the attention of the public, as it were, to two wars at
once, while they called to mind the disasters which Hannibal's first
coming had brought upon Italy, and at the same time, tortured with
anxiety, asked themselves what deities would be so propitious to the
city and empire as that the commonwealth should be victorious in both
quarters at once. Hitherto they had been enabled to hold out to the
present time by compensating for their misfortunes by their successes.
When the Roman power was laid prostrate at the Trasimenus and at
Cannae in Italy, their successes in Spain had raised it up from its
fallen condition. Afterwards, when in Spain one disaster after another
had in a great measure destroyed two armies, with the loss of two
distinguished generals, the many successes in Italy and Sicily had,
as it were, afforded a haven for the shattered state; and the mere
interval of space, as one war was going on in the remotest quarter
of the world, gave them time to recover their breath. Whereas now two
wars were received into Italy; two generals of the highest renown were
besetting the Roman city; while the whole weight of the danger and
the entire burden pressed upon one point. Whichever of these generals
should be first victorious, he would in a few days unite his camp
with the other. The preceding year also, saddened by the deaths of two
consuls, filled them with alarm. Such were the anxious feelings with
which the people escorted the consuls on their departure to their
provinces. It is recorded that Marcus Livius, still teeming with
resentment against his countrymen, when setting out to the war,
replied to Fabius, who warned him not rashly to come to an action till
he had made himself acquainted with the character of his enemy, that
as soon as ever he had got sight of the troops of the enemy he would
engage them. When asked what was his reason for such haste, he said,
"I shall either obtain the highest glory from conquering the enemy,
or the greatest joy from the defeat of my countrymen, a joy which
they have deserved, though it would not become me." Before the consul
Claudius arrived in his province, Caius Hostilius Tubulus, attacking
Hannibal with his light cohorts while marching his army through the
extreme borders of the territory of Larinum into that of Sallentum,
caused terrible confusion in his unmarshalled troops; he killed as
many as four thousand, and captured nine military standards. Quintus
Claudius, who had his camps distributed through the towns of the
Sallentine territory, had quitted his winter quarters on hearing of
the enemy; and Hannibal, fearing on that account lest he should have
to engage with two armies at once, decamped by night, and retired from
the Tarentine to the Bruttian territory. Claudius turned his army
to the Sallentine territory. Hostilius, on his way to Capua, met
the consul Claudius at Venusia. Here forty thousand infantry and two
thousand five hundred horse were selected from both armies, with which
the consul might carry on the war against Hannibal. The rest of the
troops Hostilius was directed to march to Capua to deliver them over
to Quintus Fulvius, proconsul.

41. Hannibal, having drawn together his forces from all quarters, both
those which he had in winter quarters, and those which he had in the
garrisons of the Bruttian territory, came to Grumentum in Lucania,
with the hope of regaining the towns which through fear had revolted
to the Romans. To the same place the Roman consul proceeded from
Venusia, exploring the way as he went, and pitched his camp about
fifteen hundred paces from the enemy. The rampart of the Carthaginians
seemed almost united with the walls of Grumentum, though five hundred
paces intervened. Between the Carthaginian and Roman camps lay a
plain; and overhanging the left wing of the Carthaginians and the
right of the Romans were some naked hills, which were not objects
of suspicion to either party, as they had no wood upon them, nor any
hiding-places for an ambuscade. In the plain which lay between them
skirmishes hardly worth mentioning took place between parties sallying
from the outposts. It was evident that what the Roman aimed at was to
prevent the enemy from going off, while Hannibal, who was desirous of
escaping thence, came down with all his forces, and formed in order
of battle. Upon this the consul, imitating the crafty character of his
enemy, ordered five cohorts, with the addition of five maniples, to
pass the summit by night and sit down in the valleys on the opposite
side; a measure to which he was prompted the more strongly in
proportion as he felt that there could exist no suspicion of an
ambuscade in hills so uncovered. Of the time for rising up from their
retreat and of falling upon the enemy he informed Tiberius Claudius
Asellus, a military tribune, and Publius Claudius, praefect of the
allies, whom he sent with them. The general himself, at break of day,
drew out all his forces, both foot and horse, for battle. Shortly
after, the signal for battle was given out by Hannibal, and a noise
was raised in the camp, from the troops running hastily to arms; then
both horse and foot eagerly rushed through the gates, and spreading
themselves over the plain, hastened to the enemy. The consul
perceiving them thus disordered, gave orders to Caius Aurunculeius, a
military tribune of the third legion, to send out the cavalry of the
legion to charge the enemy with all possible vehemence, for that the
enemy had spread themselves like cattle in such disorder throughout
the whole plain, that they might be knocked down and trampled under
foot before they could be formed.

42. Hannibal had not yet gone out of the camp, when he heard the shout
of his troops engaged; and thus roused by the alarm, he hastily led
his forces against the enemy. Already had the Roman horse spread
terror through the Carthaginian van; the first legion also of the
infantry and the right wing were commencing the action, while the
troops of the Carthaginians, in disorder, engaged just as chance threw
each in the way of horse or foot. The battle became more general by
reinforcements, and the number of those who ran out to the combat.
Hannibal, amid the terror and confusion, would have drawn up his
troops while fighting, (which would not have been an easy task unless
to a veteran general with veteran soldiers,) had not the shouts of the
cohorts and maniples, running down from the hills, which was heard in
their rear, created an alarm lest they should be cut off from their
camp. After this they were seized with a panic, and a flight commenced
in every part; but the number slain was less, because the nearness of
the camp offered to the terrified troops a shorter distance to fly.
For the cavalry hung upon their rear, and the cohorts, running down
the declivities of the hills by an unobstructed and easy path, charged
them transversely in flank. However, above eight thousand men
were slain, above seven hundred made prisoners, and eight military
standards taken. Of the elephants also, which had been of no use in
such a sudden and irregular action, four were killed and two captured.
The conquerors lost about five hundred Romans and allies. The
following day the Carthaginian remained quiet. The Roman having led
out his troops into the field, when he saw that no one came out to
meet him, gave orders that the spoils of those of the enemy who were
slain should be collected, and that the bodies of his own men should
be gathered into one place and buried. After this, for several days
following in succession, he came up so near the enemy's gates that he
almost seemed to be carrying in his standards. But at length Hannibal
at the third watch, leaving a number of fires and tents in that part
of the camp which faced the enemy, and also a few Numidians who might
show themselves in the rampart and the gates, decamped and proceeded
towards Apulia. As soon as it dawned, the Roman army came up to the
trenches, and the Numidians, according to the plan concerted, took
care to show themselves for a little time on the rampart and in the
gates; and having deceived the enemy for some time, rode off at full
speed, and overtook their friends on their march. The consul, when all
was silence in the camp, and he could now no where see even the few
who at break of day had walked up and down, sent two horsemen in
advance to reconnoitre; and after he had ascertained that all was safe
enough, ordered his troops to march in; and after staying there only
while his men distributed themselves for plunder, sounded a retreat
and led back his forces long before night. The next day he set out as
soon as it was light, and following the rumour and the track of the
enemy by forced marches, came up with them not far from Venusia. Here
also an irregular battle took place, in which two thousand of the
Carthaginians were slain. The Carthaginian quitting this place made
for Metapontum, marching by night and over mountainous districts in
order to avoid a battle. Thence Hanno, who commanded the garrison of
that place, was sent into Bruttium with a small party to raise a
fresh army. Hannibal, after adding his forces to his own, went back
to Venusia by the same route by which he came, and proceeded thence
to Canusium. Nero had never quitted the enemy's steps, and when he
himself went to Metapontum, had sent for Quintus Fulvius into Lucania,
lest that region should be left without protection.

43. Meanwhile four Gallic horsemen and two Numidians, who were sent to
Hannibal with a letter from Hasdrubal, after he had retired from the
siege of Placentia, having traversed nearly the whole length of Italy
through the midst of enemies, while following Hannibal as he was
retiring to Metapontum, were taken to Tarentum by mistaking the roads;
where they were seized by some Roman foragers, who were straggling
through the fields, and brought before the proprietor, Caius Claudius.
At first they endeavoured to baffle him by evasive answers, but
threats of applying torture being held out to them, they were
compelled to confess the truth; when they fully admitted that they
were the bearers of a letter from Hasdrubal to Hannibal. They were
delivered into the custody of Lucius Virginius, a military tribune,
together with the letter sealed as it was, to be conveyed to the
consul Claudius. At the same time two troops of Samnites were sent
with them as an escort. Having made their way to the consul, the
letter was read by means of an interpreter, and the captives were
interrogated; when Claudius, coming to the conclusion that the
predicament of the state was not such as that her generals should
carry on the war, each within the limits of his own province, and with
his own troops, according to the customary plans of warfare, and with
an enemy marked out for him by the senate, but that some unlooked
for and unexpected enterprise must be attempted, which, in its
commencement, might cause no less dread among their countrymen than
their enemies, but which, when accomplished, might convert their
great fear into great joy, sent the letter of Hasdrubal to Rome to the
senate; and at the same time informed the conscript fathers what his
intentions were; and recommended that, as Hasdrubal had written to his
brother that he should meet him in Umbria, they should send for the
legion from Capua to Rome, enlist troops at Rome, and oppose the city
forces to the enemy at Narnia. Such was his letter to the senate.
Messengers were sent in advance through the territory of Larinum,
Marrucia, Frentana, and Praetutia, where he was about to march his
army, with orders that they should all bring down from their farms and
towns to the road-side provisions ready dressed for the soldiers to
eat; and that they should bring out horses and other beasts of burden,
so that those who were tired might have plenty of conveyances. He then
selected the choicest troops out of the whole army of the Romans and
allies, to the amount of six thousand infantry and one thousand horse;
and gave out that he intended to seize on the nearest town in Lucania
and the Carthaginian garrison in it, and that they should all be
in readiness to march. Setting out by night he turned off towards
Picenum, and making his marches as long as possible, led his troops to
join his colleague, having left Quintus Catius, lieutenant-general, in
command of the camp.

44. At Rome the alarm and consternation were not less than they had
been two years before, when the Carthaginian camp was pitched over
against the Roman walls and gates; nor could people make up their
minds whether they should commend, or censure, this so bold march of
the consul. It was evident that the light in which it would be viewed
would depend upon its success; than which nothing can be more unfair.
They said, "that the camp was left near to the enemy, Hannibal,
without a general, and with an army from which all the flower and
vigour had been withdrawn; and that the consul had pretended an
expedition into Lucania, when he was in reality going to Picenum and
Gaul, leaving his camp secured only by the ignorance of the enemy, who
were not aware that the general and part of his army were away. What
would be the consequence if that should be discovered, and Hannibal
should think proper either to pursue Nero with his whole army, who
had gone off with only six thousand armed men, or to assault the camp,
which was left as a prey for him, without strength, without command,
without auspices?" The disasters already experienced in the war,
the deaths of two consuls the preceding year, augmented their fears.
Besides, all these events had occurred "when there was only one
general and one army of the enemy in Italy; whereas now they had
two Punic wars, two immense armies, and in a manner two Hannibals
in Italy, inasmuch as Hasdrubal was descended from the same father,
Hamilcar, was a general equally enterprising, having been trained in
a Roman war during so many years in Spain, and rendered famous by a
double victory, having annihilated two armies with two most renowned
generals. For he could glory even more than Hannibal himself, on
account of the celerity with which he had effected his passage out
of Spain, and his success in stirring up the Gallic nations to arms,
inasmuch as he had collected an army in those very regions in which
Hannibal lost the major part of his soldiers by famine and cold, the
most miserable modes of death." Those who were experienced in the
events which had occurred in Spain, added, that "he would not have to
engage with Caius Nero, the general, as an unknown person, whom, when
accidentally caught in a difficult defile, he had eluded and baffled
like a little child, by drawing up fallacious terms of peace." Under
the dictation of fear, which always puts the worst construction upon
things, they magnified all the advantages which the enemy possessed,
and undervalued their own.

45. When Nero had got such a distance from the enemy that his plan
might be disclosed without danger, he briefly addressed his soldiers,
observing, that "there never was a measure adopted by any general
which was in appearance more daring than this, but in reality more
safe. That he was leading them on to certain victory. For as his
colleague had not set out to prosecute the war which he conducted,
until forces both of horse and foot had been assigned to him by the
senate to his own satisfaction, and those greater and better equipped
than if he had been going against Hannibal himself, that they would,
by joining him, however small the quantity of force which they might
add, completely turn the scale. That when it was only heard in the
field of battle (and he would take care that it should not be heard
before) that another consul and another army had arrived, it would
insure the victory. That rumour decided war; and that the most
inconsiderable incidents had power to excite hope and fear in the
mind. That they would themselves reap almost the entire glory which
would be obtained if they succeeded, for it was invariably the case
that the last addition which is made is supposed to have effected the
whole. That they themselves saw with what multitudes, what admiration,
and what good wishes of men their march was attended." And, by
Hercules, they marched amid vows, prayers, and commendations, all the
roads being lined with ranks of men and women, who had flocked there
from all parts of the country. They called them the safeguards of the
state, the protectors of the city and empire of Rome. They said that
the safety and liberty of themselves and their children were treasured
up in their arms and right hands. They prayed to all the gods and
goddesses to grant them a prosperous march, a successful battle, and a
speedy victory over their enemies; and that they might be bound to
pay the vows which they had undertaken in their behalf; so that as
now they attended them off with anxiety, go after a few days' interval
they might joyfully go out to meet them exulting in victory. Then
they severally and earnestly invited them to accept, offered them,
and wearied them with entreaties, to take from them in preference to
another, whatever might be requisite for themselves or their cattle.
They generously gave them every thing in abundance, while the soldiers
vied with each other in moderation, taking care not to accept any
thing beyond what was necessary for use. They did not make any delay
nor quit their ranks when taking food; they continued the march day
and night, scarcely giving as much to rest as was necessary to the
requirements of the body. Messengers were also despatched in advance
to his colleague, to inform him of his approach, and to ask whether
he wished that he should come secretly or openly, by day or night,
whether they should lodge in the same or different camps. It appeared
most advisable that they should come into the camp secretly by night.

46. A private signal was sent through the camp by the consul
Livius, that each tribune should receive a tribune, each centurion a
centurion, each horseman a horseman, each foot-soldier a foot-soldier;
for it was not expedient that the camp should be enlarged, lest the
enemy should discover the arrival of the other consul, while the
crowding together of several persons, who would have their tents in a
confined place, would be attended with less inconvenience, because the
army of Claudius had brought with them on their expedition scarcely
any thing except their arms. Claudius, on the very march, had
augmented his numbers by volunteers; for not only veteran soldiers,
who had completed their period of service, but young men also offered
themselves without solicitation; and, as they vied with each other in
giving in their names, he had enlisted those whose personal appearance
and bodily strength seemed fit for military service. The camp of the
other consul was near Sena, and Hasdrubal's position was about five
hundred paces from it. Nero, therefore, when he was now drawing near,
halted under cover of the mountains, in order that he might not enter
the camp before night. Having entered when all was still, they
were severally conducted into their tents by the men of their own
description, where they were hospitably entertained with the utmost
joy on the part of all. The next day a council was held, at which
Lucius Porcius Licinus, the praetor, was present. He had his camp
joined to that of the consuls, and before their arrival, by leading
his army along the heights, sometimes occupying narrow defiles that he
might intercept his passage, at other times harassing his troops while
marching by attacking their flank or rear, he had baffled the enemy by
all the arts of war. This man was, on the present occasion, one of
the council. Many inclined to the opinion that an engagement should
be deferred till Nero had recruited his soldiers, who were weary with
marching and watching, and had employed a few days in acquiring a
knowledge of his enemy. Nero urged, not only by persuasion, but with
the most earnest entreaties, "that they would not render rash by delay
that measure of his which despatch had made safe. That Hannibal, who
lay in a state of torpid inactivity in consequence of a delusion which
would not continue long, had neither attacked his camp, left as it was
without a leader, nor had directed his course in pursuit of him. That
the army of Hasdrubal might be annihilated, and he might retire into
Apulia before he stirred a step. The man who by delay gave time to the
enemy both betrayed the camp to Hannibal, and opened a way to him
into Gaul, so that he might effect a junction with Hasdrubal at his
leisure, and when he pleased. That they ought to give the signal for
battle instantly, and march out into the field, and take advantage of
the delusion of their enemies present and absent, while neither those
were aware that they had fewer, nor these that they had more and
stronger forces to encounter." On the breaking up of the council the
signal for battle was displayed, and the troops immediately led into
the field.

47. The Carthaginians were already standing before their camp in
battle-array. This circumstance delayed the battle: Hasdrubal, who
had advanced before the line with a few horsemen, remarked some old
shields among the enemy, which he had not seen before, and some horses
leaner than the rest their numbers also appeared greater than usual.
Suspecting therefore, what was really the case, he hastily sounded
a retreat, and sent a party to the river from which they got their
water, where some of them might be intercepted, and notice taken
whether there were perchance any there whose complexions were more
than ordinarily sun-burnt, as from a recent march. At the same time he
ordered a party to ride round the camp at a distance, and note whether
the rampart was extended in any part, and also observe whether the
signal sounded once or twice. Having received a report of all these
particulars, the fact of the camp's not being enlarged led him into
error. There were now two camps, as there were before the other consul
arrived, one belonging to Marcus Livius, the other to Lucius Porcius,
and to neither of them had any addition been made to give more room
for the tents. But the veteran general, who was accustomed to a Roman
enemy, was much struck by their reporting that the signal sounded once
in the praetor's camp, and twice in the consul's; there must therefore
be two consuls, and felt the most painful anxiety as to the manner
in which the other had got away from Hannibal. Least of all could he
suspect, what was really the case, that he had got away from Hannibal
by deceiving him to such an extent, as that he knew not where the
general was, and where the army whose camp stood opposite to his own.
Surely, he concluded, deterred by a defeat of no ordinary kind, he has
not dared to pursue him; and he began to entertain the most serious
fears that he had himself come too late with assistance, now that
affairs were desperate, and lest the same good fortune attended the
Roman arms in Italy which they had experienced in Spain. Sometimes
he imagined that his letter could not have reached him, and that, it
having been intercepted, the consul had hastened to overpower him.
Thus anxious and perplexed, having put out the fires, he issued a
signal at the first watch to collect the baggage in silence, and gave
orders to march. In the hurry and confusion occasioned by a march
by night, their guides were not watched with sufficient care and
attention. One of them stopped in a place of concealment which he had
beforehand fixed upon in his mind, the other swam across the river
Metaurus, at a ford with which he was acquainted. The troops, thus
deserted by their guides, at first wandered up and down through the
fields; and some of them, overpowered with sleep, and fatigued with,
watching, stretched themselves on the ground here and there, leaving
their standards thinly attended. Hasdrubal gave orders to march along
the bank of the river until the light should discover the road; but,
pursuing a circuitous and uncertain course along the turnings and
windings of that tortuous river, with the intention of crossing it
as soon as the first light should discover a place convenient for
the purpose he made but little progress; but wasting the day in a
fruitless attempt to discover a ford, for the further he went from the
sea the higher he found the banks which kept the river in its course,
he gave the enemy time to overtake him.

48. First Nero arrived with the whole body of his cavalry, then
Porcius came up with him, with the light infantry. And while these
were harassing his weary troops on every side, and charging them, and
the Carthaginian, stopping his march, which resembled a flight, was
desirous of encamping on an eminence, on the bank of the river, Livius
came up with all his foot forces, not after the manner of troops on
march, but armed and marshalled for immediate action. When they had
united all their forces, and the line was drawn out, Claudius took
the direction of the battle in the right wing, Livius in the left; the
management of the centre was given to the praetor. Hasdrubal, when he
saw that an engagement was inevitable, giving over the fortification
of a camp, placed his elephants in the front line, before the
standards; on either side these he placed in the left wing the Gauls
to oppose Claudius, not so much from any confidence he reposed in
them, as because he believed them to be dreaded by the enemy; the
right wing he took to himself against M. Livius, together with the
Spaniards, in whom, as being veteran troops, he placed his greatest
hopes. Behind the elephants, in the centre, the Ligurians were posted;
but his line was rather long than deep. The Gauls were covered by
a hill, which extended in front. That part of the line which was
occupied by the Spaniards, engaged the left wing of the Romans, the
whole of whose right wing, extending beyond the line of battle, was
unengaged. The hill before them prevented their making an attack
either in front or flank. Between Livius and Hasdrubal a furious
contest arose, and the slaughter on both sides was dreadful. Here were
both generals, here the major part of the Roman horse and infantry,
here the Spaniards, veteran troops, and experienced in the Roman
manner of fighting, and the Ligurians, a nation inured to war. The
elephants were also driven to the same place which, on the first
onset, disordered the van, and had made even dislodged the standards;
but afterwards, the contest growing hotter, and the shout increasing,
they became less submissive to their riders, and ranged to and fro
between the two lines, as if not knowing to which side they belonged,
like ships floating about without rudders. Claudius, when he had
striven in vain to advance up the hill, repeatedly calling out to his
soldiers, "To what purpose then have we performed so long a march with
such expedition?" when he found it impossible to make his way to the
enemy in that quarter, withdrawing several cohorts from the right
wing, where he saw they would occupy an inactive station, rather than
join in the fight, led them round the rear of the line, and, to the
surprise not only of the enemy but his own party, charged their right
flank; and such was their rapidity, that after showing themselves on
their flank, they almost immediately made an attack on their rear.
Thus on all sides, in front, flank, and rear, the Spaniards and
Ligurians were cut to pieces; and now the carnage had even reached the
Gauls. Here the least opposition was found; for a great number of them
had quitted their standards, having slunk off during the night, and
laid themselves down to sleep up and down the fields, while even those
who were present, being tired with marching and watching, for their
bodies are most intolerant of fatigue, could scarcely carry their arms
upon their shoulders. And now it was mid-day, and thirst and heat gave
them over to the enemy to be killed or captured in multitudes.

49. More elephants were killed by their guides than by the enemy. They
used to have with them a workman's knife, with a mallet. When these
beasts began to grow furious, and attack their own party, the rider,
placing this knife between the ears, just on the joint by which the
neck is connected with the head, used to drive it in, striking it with
all the force he could. This was found to be the most expeditious mode
of putting these bulky animals to death, when they had destroyed all
hope of governing them. This method was first practised by Hasdrubal,
a general whose conduct both frequently on other occasions, and
especially in this battle, deserved to be recorded. By encouraging the
men when fighting, and sharing equally in every danger, he kept up
the battle. Sometimes by entreating, at other times by rebuking,
the troops, when tired and indisposed to fight from weariness and
over-exertion, he rekindled their spirits. He called back the flying,
and restored the battle in many places when it had been given up. At
length, when fortune decidedly declared for the Romans, lest he should
survive so great an army which had been collected under the influence
of his name, he put spurs to his horse and rushed upon a Roman cohort,
where he fell fighting, as was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and the
brother of Hannibal. At no time during that war were so many of the
enemy slain in one battle; so that a defeat equal to that sustained at
Cannae, whether in respect of the loss of the general or the troops,
was considered to have been retorted upon him. Fifty-six thousand of
the enemy were slain, five thousand four hundred captured. The other
booty was great, both of every other kind, and also of gold and
silver. In addition to the rest, there were recovered above four
thousand Roman citizens, who had been taken by the enemy, which formed
some consolation for the soldiers lost in that battle. For the victory
was by no means bloodless. Much about eight thousand of the Romans
and the allies were slain; and so completely were even the victors
satiated with blood and slaughter, that the next day, when Livius the
consul received intelligence that the Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians,
who had either not been present at the battle or had made their escape
from the carnage, were marching off in one body without a certain
leader, without standards, without any discipline or subordination;
that if one squadron of horse were sent against them they might be
all destroyed, he replied, "Let some survive to bear the news of the
enemy's losses and of our valour."

50. Nero set out on the night following the battle, and marching at
a more rapid rate than when he came, arrived at his camp before the
enemy on the sixth day. As he was not preceded by a messenger, fewer
people attended him on the march; but the joy felt was so great, that
they were almost insane with delight. Neither state of feeling at Rome
can be well described or told, whether that in which the citizens were
when in doubtful expectation of the issue, or when they received the
intelligence of victory. Every day, from the time that news arrived
that the consul Claudius had set out, from sun-rise to sun-set, none
of the senators ever quitted the senate-house, or did the people
depart from the forum. The matrons, as they had themselves no means
of affording assistance, had recourse to prayers and entreaties,
and going about to all the temples, wearied the gods with vows and
supplications. While the city was in this state of solicitude and
suspense, a vague report first arrived that two Narnian horsemen had
come from the field of battle into the camp which stood as a defence
in the entrance to Umbria, with intelligence that the enemy were cut
to pieces. At first they rather heard than credited this news, as
being too great and too joyful for the mind to take in, or obtain a
firm belief. Even the very rapidity with which it had arrived formed
an obstacle to its reception; for it was stated that the battle took
place two days before. After this a letter was brought which had been
sent by Lucius Manlius Acidinus, from his camp, on the subject of the
arrival of the Narnian horsemen. This letter being conveyed through
the forum to the tribunal of the praetor, drew the senators out of the
senate-house; and with such eagerness and hurry did the people
crowd to the doors of the senate-house, that the messenger could not
approach, but was dragged off by persons who asked him questions, and
demanded vociferously that the letter should be read on the rostrum
before it was read in the senate. At length they were put back
and restrained by the magistrates; and thus the joy was gradually
dispensed to their overpowered spirits. The letter was read first in
the senate, and then in the assembly of the people. The effect was
various, according to the difference in the cast of men's minds, some
thinking that there were already sure grounds for rejoicing, while
others would place no confidence in the news, till they listened to
ambassadors, or a letter from the consuls.

51. After this, news came that the ambassadors themselves were on the
point of arriving. Then, indeed, people of all ages ran to meet them,
each man being eager to be the first to receive an assurance of such
joyful tidings, by the evidence of his eyes and ears. One continued
train extended as far as the Mulvian bridge. The ambassadors,
Lucius Veturius Philo, Publius Licinius Varus, and Quintus Caecilius
Metellus, made their way into the forum, surrounded by a crowd
of persons of every description; when some asked the ambassadors
themselves, others their attendants, what had been done; and, as soon
as each had heard that the army and general of the enemy had been
cut off, that the Roman legions were safe, and the consuls unhurt, he
immediately imparted the joyful intelligence to others, imparting to
them the joy he felt himself. Having with difficulty made their way
into the senate-house, and the crowd with still more difficulty being
removed, that they might not mix with the fathers, the letter was
read in the senate; after which the ambassadors were brought into
the general assembly. Lucius Veturius Philo, after reading the letter
himself, gave a more explicit account of all that had occurred, amidst
great approbation, and at last of general shouting from the assembly,
while their minds could scarcely contain their joy. They then ran off
in various directions, some to the different temples of the gods,
to return thanks, others to their homes, to impart the joyful
intelligence to their wives and children. The senate decreed a
supplication for three days, because Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius,
the consuls, had cut off the general and legions of the enemy, their
own army being safe. This supplication Caius Hostilius, the praetor,
proclaimed in the assembly, and was celebrated both by men and women.
During the whole three days all the temples were uniformly crowded,
whilst the matrons, dressed in their richest robes, and accompanied
by their children, just as though the war had been brought to a
conclusion, and free from every apprehension, offered thanksgivings
to the immortal gods. This victory produced an alteration also in the
condition of the state, so that immediately from this event, just as
though it had been a time of peace, men were not afraid to do business
with each other, buying, selling, lending, and paying borrowed money.
Caius Claudius, the consul, on his return to his camp, ordered the
head of Hasdrubal, which he had carefully kept and brought with him,
to be thrown before the advanced guards of the enemy, and the African
prisoners to be shown to them bound just as they were. Two of these
also he unbound, and bid them go to Hannibal and tell him what had
occurred. Hannibal, smitten by such severe distress, at once public
and domestic, is said to have declared that he recognised the destiny
of Carthage; and decamping thence with the intention of drawing
together into Bruttium, the remotest corner of Italy, all his
auxiliaries which he could not protect when widely scattered, removed
into Bruttium the whole state of the Metapontines, summoned away from
their former habitations, and also such of the Lucanians as were under
his authority.



BOOK XXVIII.

    _Successful operations against the Carthaginians in Spain,
    under Silanus, Scipio's lieutenant, and L. Scipio, his
    brother; of Sulpicius and Attalus, against Philip, king of
    Macedonia. Scipio finally vanquishes the Carthaginians in
    Spain, and reduces that whole country; passes over into
    Africa, forms an alliance with Syphax, king of Numidia;
    represses and punishes a mutiny of a part of his army;
    concludes a treaty of friendship with Masinissa; returns to
    Rome, and is elected consul; solicits Africa for his province,
    which is opposed by Quintus Fabius Maximus; is appointed
    governor of Sicily, with permission to pass over into Africa_.


1. At the time when Spain appeared to be relieved in proportion to the
degree in which the weight of the war was removed into Italy, by the
passage of Hasdrubal, another war sprang up there equal in magnitude
to the former. At this juncture, the Romans and Carthaginians thus
occupied Spain: Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, had retired quite to the
ocean and Gades; the coast of our sea, and almost the whole of that
part of Spain which lies eastward, was subject to Scipio and the
Romans. The new general, Hanno, who had passed over from Africa, to
supply the place of the Barcine Hasdrubal, with a new army, and formed
a junction with Mago, having in a short time armed a large number
of men in Celtiberia, which lies in the midway between the two seas,
Scipio sent Marcus Silanus against him, with no more than ten thousand
infantry and five hundred horse. Silanus, by marching with all the
haste he could, (though the ruggedness of the roads, and narrow
defiles obstructed with thick woods, which are very frequent in Spain,
impeded him,) yet being guided by deserters from Celtiberia, natives
of that place, reached the enemy, anticipating not only messengers but
even all rumour of his coming. From the same source he ascertained,
when they were about ten thousand paces from the enemy, that they had
two camps, one on each side of the road in which they were marching;
that the Celtiberians, a newly-raised army, in number above nine
thousand, were on the left, and that the Carthaginian camp was
stationed on the right. The latter was secured and protected by
outposts, watches, and every kind of regular military guard, while the
former was disorderly and neglected, as belonging to barbarians, who
were raw soldiers, and were under the less apprehension, because they
were in their own country. Silanus, concluding that this was the camp
to be attacked first, ordered the troops to march as much as possible
towards the left, lest he should be observed from any point by the
Carthaginian outposts, and sending scouts in advance, pushed on
towards the enemy at a rapid pace.

2. He was now about three thousand paces from the enemy, when as yet
none of them had perceived him. The ground was covered with craggy
places, and hills overgrown with bushes. Here in a hollow valley, and
on that account unexposed to the view, he ordered his men to sit down
and take refreshment. In the mean time the scouts returned, confirming
the statements of the deserters. Then the Romans, collecting their
baggage in the centre, took arms, and marched to battle in regular
array. They were a thousand paces off when they were descried by
the enemy, when suddenly all began to be in a state of hurry and
confusion. At the first shout and tumult, Mago quitted the camp and
rode up at full speed. As there were in the Celtiberian army four
thousand targeteers and two hundred horsemen, this regular legion, as
it formed the flower of his troops, he stationed in the first line;
the rest, composed of light-armed, he posted in reserve. While he was
leading them out of the camp thus marshalled, the Romans discharged
their javelins at them before they had scarcely cleared the rampart.
The Spaniards stooped down to avoid the javelins thrown at them by
the enemy, and then rose up to discharge their own in turn; which the
Romans having received according to their custom in close array, with
their shields firmly united, they then engaged foot to foot, and began
to fight with their swords. But the ruggedness of the ground, while
it rendered ineffectual the agility of the Celtiberians who were
accustomed to a skirmishing kind of battle, was at the same time not
unfavourable to the Romans, who were accustomed to a steady kind of
fight, except that the narrow passes and the bushes, which grew here
and there, broke their ranks, and they were compelled to engage one
against one and two against two, as if matched together. The same
circumstance which obstructed the enemy's flight, delivered them
up, as it were, bound for slaughter. And now when almost all the
targeteers had been slain, the light-armed and the Carthaginians,
who had come up to their assistance from the other camp, having
been thrown into confusion, were put to the sword. Not more than two
thousand of the infantry, and all the cavalry, fled from the field
with Mago before the battle was well begun. The other general, Hanno,
was taken alive, together with those who came up when the battle was
now decided. Almost the whole of the cavalry and the veteran infantry,
following Mago in his flight, came to Hasdrubal on the tenth day in
the province of Gades. The newly-raised Celtiberian troops, stealing
off to the neighbouring woods, fled thence to their homes. By this
very seasonable victory, a stop was put to a war which was not by any
means so considerable as that to which it would have grown, had the
enemy been allowed, after having prevailed upon the Celtiberians to
join them, to solicit other nations also to take up arms. Scipio,
therefore, having liberally bestowed the highest commendations on
Silanus, and entertaining a hope that he might bring the war to a
termination, if he did not impede it by a want of activity on his own
part, proceeded into the remotest part of Spain against Hasdrubal. The
Carthaginian, who then happened to be encamped in Baetica, in order to
prevent his allies from wavering in their allegiance, retired quite to
the ocean and Gades, in a manner much more resembling a flight than a
march. He was afraid, however; that while he kept his forces together,
he should form the principal object of attack. Before he crossed the
strait to Gades he sent them into different cities, that they might
both provide for their own safety by the help of walls, and for that
of the town by their arms.

3. Scipio, seeing the enemy's forces thus distributed, and that to
carry about his forces to each of the several cities would be rather
tedious than important, marched his army back. Not to leave all that
country, however, to the Carthaginians, he sent his brother, Lucius
Scipio, at the head of ten thousand foot and one thousand horse,
to besiege the most important city of that quarter, called by the
barbarians Orinx, and situated on the borders of the Milesians, a
nation of Spain so called. The soil is fertile, and even silver is
dug out of it by the inhabitants. This place served as a fort to
Hasdrubal, from which he might make incursions on the inland states.
Scipio encamped near the city. Before he formed his lines round it, he
sent to the gates to sound the inclinations of the inhabitants, by a
direct interview, and persuade them to make trial of the friendship of
the Romans rather than of their power. As they answered nothing of a
friendly nature, he threw a double trench and rampart round the place,
dividing his army into three parts, in order that one division might
assault it while the other two rested. The first of these beginning
the attack, a furious and doubtful contest ensued. It was by no means
easy to approach and bring the ladders to the walls, on account of the
weapons which fell upon them; and even of those persons who had raised
them, some were thrown down with forks made for the purpose, others
were in danger of being laid hold of by iron grapples, and dragged
up hanging to the wall. Scipio, seeing that the contest was equalized
owing to the fewness of his party, and that the enemy, fighting from
the wall, were superior to him, called off the first division and
attacked them with the two others together. This so terrified the
besieged, who were already fatigued with fighting with the former,
that not only the townsmen forsook the walls in sudden flight, but the
Carthaginian garrison, fearing that the town had been betrayed, also
quitted their posts and collected themselves into a body. Upon this
the inhabitants began to be alarmed, lest if the enemy broke into the
town they should kill all they met indiscriminately, Carthaginian or
Spaniard. They therefore suddenly threw open the gates and rushed
out of the town, holding their shields before them, lest any weapons
should be cast at them from a distance, and stretching out to view
their bare right hands, that it might be seen they had thrown away
their swords. Whether this was not observed, in consequence of the
distance, or whether some deception was suspected, is not known; but
an attack was made on the deserters, and they were put to death as a
hostile force. Through this gate the enemy marched into the city in
battle-array. The other gates were cut through and broken down with
axes and sledges; and as each horseman entered, he galloped off to
seize the forum, as had been ordered. A body of veteran troops were
also added to the horse to support them. The legionary troops spread
themselves in every part of the city, but neither killed nor
plundered any, except such as defended themselves with arms. All the
Carthaginians were put under guard, with more than three hundred of
the inhabitants, who had shut the gates. The rest had the town put
into their hands, and their property restored. About two thousand of
the enemy fell in the assault on this city, and not more than ninety
of the Romans.

4. As the taking of this town was a source of great joy to those who
effected it, as well as to the general and the rest of the army, so
their approach to their camp also presented a splendid spectacle,
on account of the immense crowd of captives they drove before
them. Scipio, having bestowed high commendations upon his brother,
representing the capture of Orinx as equal in importance to the
capture of Carthage by himself, led his forces back into hither
Spain. He could not make an attempt on Gades, or pursue the army
of Hasdrubal, now dispersed through all parts of the province, in
consequence of the approach of winter. He therefore dismissed the
legions into winter quarters, and sent his brother Lucius Scipio with
Hanno, the enemy's general, and other distinguished prisoners, to
Rome, while he retired himself to Tarraco. During the same year, the
Roman fleet under Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the proconsul, sailing
over from Sicily into Africa, devastated to a wide extent the fields
about Utica and Carthage. They carried off plunder from the remotest
borders of the Carthaginian territory around the very walls of Utica.
On their return to Sicily they were met by a Carthaginian fleet of
seventy ships of war, of which seventeen were taken and four sunk; the
rest were dispersed and compelled to fly. The Romans, victorious both
by land and sea, returned to Lilybaeum with immense booty of every
kind. The ships of the enemy having thus been driven from the whole
sea, large supplies of corn were conveyed to Rome.

5. In the beginning of the summer in which these events occurred,
Publius Sulpicius, proconsul, and king Attalus, having passed the
winter at Aegina, as before observed, united their fleets, consisting
of twenty-three Roman quinqueremes and thirty-five belonging to the
king, and proceeded to Lemnos. Philip also, that he might be prepared
for every kind of measure, whether it should be necessary to meet
the enemy on land or sea, came down to the coast of Demetrias and
appointed to his army a day on which to meet him at Larissa. On
the news of the king's arrival, ambassadors from his allies came to
Demetrias from all sides. For the Aetolians, inspirited both by
their alliance with the Romans and the approach of king Attalus, were
ravaging the neighbouring states; not only the Acarnanians, Boeotians,
and Euboeans were very much alarmed, but the Achaeans also were
kept in a state of terror, both by the hostile proceedings of the
Aetolians, and also by Machanidas, tyrant of Lacedaemon, who had
encamped at a short distance from the borders of the Argives. All of
these stating the dangers which threatened their possessions, both
by land and sea, entreated succour from the king. Philip received
accounts even from his own kingdom, that things were not in a state of
tranquillity; that both Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus were in motion,
and that some of the Thracians, and particularly the Maedians, would
certainly make incursions on the contiguous provinces of Macedonia,
should the king be occupied with a distant war. The Boeotians, indeed,
and the people inhabiting the inland parts of Greece, told him that
the Aetolians had obstructed by a ditch and rampart the straits of
Thermopylae, where the road is very narrow and confined, in order to
prevent their passing to the assistance of the allied states. So
many disturbances arising on all hands were sufficient to awaken an
inactive general. He dismissed the ambassadors, promising to assist
them all according as opportunity and circumstances allowed. For the
present, he sent to Peparethus a body of troops to garrison the
city, for this was the most urgent business, as information had been
received thence that Attalus, crossing over to Lemnos, was devastating
all the neighbouring country. He sent Polyphantas with a small
detachment to Boeotia, and also Menippus, one of his guards, with one
thousand targeteers (the target is not unlike the ordinary buckler)
to Chalcis. Five hundred Agrianians were added, that every part of the
island might be secured. He went himself to Scotussa, and ordered the
Macedonian soldiers to be removed thither from Larissa. Here he heard
that the Aetolians had been summoned to an assembly at Heraclea, and
that king Attalus was to come and advise with them as to the conduct
of the war. Determining to interrupt this meeting by his sudden
approach, he led his troops by forced marches to Heraclea, where he
arrived just after the assembly had broken up. However, he destroyed
the crops, which were nearly ripe, particularly those round the Aenian
bay. He then marched back to Scotussa, and leaving there the main
army, retired to Demetrias with the royal guards. In order to be
prepared against every attempt of the enemy, he sent persons hence to
Phocis, Euboea, and Peparethus, to select elevated situations, from
which fires lighted upon them might be seen from a distance. He fixed
a watch-tower on Tisaeum, a mountain whose summit is prodigiously
high, in order that when the enemy made any attempt he might instantly
receive intimation of it by means of fires lighted up at a distance.
The Roman general and king Attalus then passed over from Peparethus to
Nicaea, and thence sailed to Orcus, the first city of Euboea, on
the left as you proceed to Chalcis and the Euripus from the bay of
Demetrias. It was agreed upon between Attalus and Sulpicius, that the
Romans should attack the town on the side next the sea, and the king's
forces on the land side.

6. Four days after the fleet arrived, they attacked the city. That
time had been employed in private conferences with Plator, whom
Philip had put in command of the place. The city has two citadels,
one overhanging the coasts, the other in the middle of the town, from
which there is a subterraneous passage to the ocean, whose entrance
next the sea is defended by a strong fortification, a tower five
stories high. Here the affair commenced with a most furious contest,
the tower being furnished with all kinds of weapons, and engines and
machines of every kind for the purpose of the assault having been
landed from the ships. While the eyes and attention of all were turned
to that quarter, Plator opened one of the gates and received the
Romans into the citadel next the sea, which they instantly became
masters of. The inhabitants, driven thence, fled to the other citadel
in the middle of the city; but there had been troops posted there to
shut the gates against them; so that, being thus excluded, they
were surrounded and either slain or made prisoners. Meanwhile the
Macedonian garrison stood under the wall of the citadel, formed into a
compact body, neither confusedly attempting a retreat, nor obstinately
engaging in a contest. These men Plator, after obtaining permission
from Sulpicius, put on board ships and landed them at Demetrias in
Phthiotis; he himself withdrew to Attalus. Sulpicius, elated with the
success at Oreum, gained with so much ease, proceeded to Chalcis
with his victorious fleet, where the issue by no means answered
his expectations. The sea, which is wide on both sides, being here
contracted into a narrow strait, might perhaps, at first view,
exhibit the appearance of two harbours facing the two entrances of the
Euripus. It would be difficult to find a station more dangerous for
shipping; for not only do the winds come down with great violence from
the high mountains on each side, but the strait itself of the Euripus
does not ebb and flow seven times a day at stated times, as is
reported, but the current changing irregularly, like the wind, now
this way now that, is hurried along like a torrent rolling headlong
down a steep mountain, so that no quiet is given to vessels there day
or night. But not only did so perilous a station receive his ships,
but the town was strong and impregnable, covered on one side by the
sea, and very well fortified on the other towards the land, secured by
a strong garrison, and above all, by the fidelity of the praefects and
principal men, which was wavering and unsettled at Oreum. Though
the business had been rashly undertaken, the Roman still acted with
prudence, in so far as he speedily gave up the attempt, after he had
seen all the difficulties which surrounded him, that he might not
waste time, and passed his fleet over from thence to Cynus in Locris,
the port of the town of Opus, which is one mile distant from the sea.

7. Philip had received notice of this from Oreum, by the signal
fires; but through the treachery of Plator they were raised from the
watch-tower at a later period. As he was not a match for the enemy's
forces at sea, it was difficult for him to approach the island; and
thus, by delay, the opportunity was lost. He moved with promptness
to the assistance of Chalcis as soon as he received the signal. For
although Chalcis is a city of the same island, yet it is separated
from the continent by so narrow a strait, that they communicate by
means of a bridge, and the approach to it is easier by land than by
water. Philip therefore, going from Demetrias to Scotussa, and setting
out thence at the third watch, dislodged the guard, put to flight the
Aetolians who kept the pass of Thermopylae, and drove the enemy in
confusion to Heraclea, marching in one day to Elatia in Phocis, a
distance of above sixty miles. Almost on the same day the town of Opus
was taken and plundered by Attalus. Sulpicius had given it up to the
king because Oreum had been plundered a few days before by the Roman
soldiers, the royal soldiers not having shared the booty. The Roman
fleet having retired thither, Attalus, who was not aware of Philip's
approach, wasted time in levying contributions from the principal
inhabitants, and so sudden was his coming, that had he not been
descried by some Cretans, who happened to go farther from the town
than usual in quest of forage, he might have been surprised. He fled
hastily to the sea and his ships, without arms, and in the greatest
disorder. Just as they were putting off from the land Philip arrived,
and even from the shore created much alarm among the mariners. He
returned thence to Opus, accusing both gods and men, because he had
lost an opportunity of so great importance, almost snatched from his
hands. He also reproached the Opuntians with the like anger, because
they had, immediately on sight of the enemy, made almost a voluntary
surrender, though they might have prolonged the siege till his
arrival. Having settled affairs at Opus, he proceeded thence to
Thronium. Attalus, too, at first retired from Oreum; but there
receiving intelligence that Prusias, king of Bithynia, had invaded his
kingdom, he withdrew his attention from the Romans and the Aetolian
war, and passed over into Asia. Sulpicius also withdrew his fleet to
Aegina, from whence he had set out in the beginning of spring. Philip
took Thronium with as little difficulty as Attalus had at Opus. It was
inhabited by foreigners, fugitives from Thebes in Phthiotis, who, on
the capture of their own town by Philip, had fled to the protection of
the Aetolians, and received from them a city as a settlement which
had been laid waste and desolated in a former war by the same Philip.
Having recovered Thronium, as has been a little before mentioned, he
set out thence; and having taken Tritonos and Drymae, inconsiderable
towns of Doris, he came thence to Elatia, where he had ordered
the ambassadors of Ptolemy and the Rhodians to wait for him. While
consulting there as to the best method of bringing the Aetolian war to
a conclusion, (for these ambassadors attended the late council of
the Romans and Aetolians at Heraclea,) intelligence is brought that
Machanidas intended to attack the Elians while busied in preparing for
the celebration of the Olympic games. Thinking it his duty to prevent
such an attempt, he dismissed the ambassadors with a gracious answer
to the effect, that he had neither caused the war, nor would he be
any obstacle to the restoration of peace, if it should be possible on
equitable and honourable terms; then marching quickly through Boeotia
he came down from Megara, and thence to Corinth, where receiving
supplies of provisions, he went to Phlius and Pheneus. And now, when
he had proceeded as far as Heraea, having received intelligence that
Machanidas, terrified at the news of his approach, had retreated
to Lacedaemon, he betook himself to Aegium, where the Achaeans were
assembled in council, expecting at the same time to meet there a
Carthaginian fleet, which he had sent for, in order that he might
accomplish something by sea. But the Carthaginians had left a few days
before, and were gone to the Oxean islands; and thence, hearing
that the Romans and Attalus had left Oreum, to the harbours of the
Acarnanians, for they feared that it was intended to attack them,
and that they would be overpowered while within the straits of Rhium,
which is the name of the entrance of the Corinthian bay.

8. Philip was grieved and vexed when he reflected, that though he
proceeded with the utmost speed on all occasions, yet he had not
come up in time to accomplish any one object, and that fortune had
frustrated his activity by snatching away every advantage from
before his eyes. In the assembly, however, concealing his chagrin, he
discoursed with elated spirits, calling gods and men to witness, that
"he had never been wanting at any time or place, so as not to repair
instantly wherever the enemy's arms resounded, but that it was
difficult to calculate whether the war was carried on more boldly by
him or more pusillanimously by the enemy. Such was the manner in
which Attalus had slipped out of his hands from Opus; Sulpicius from
Chalcis; and so, within these few days, Machanidas. That flight,
however, was not always successful; and that that should not be
esteemed a difficult war in which victory would be certain if the
enemy could be brought to a regular engagement. He had already
obtained one very great advantage, which was a confession on the part
of the enemy themselves, that they were not a match for him; and in a
short time," he said, "he would be in possession of undoubted victory;
for that he would engage with him with a result no better than
their expectations." The allies listened to the king with great
satisfaction. He then gave up to the Achaeans Heraera and Triphylia.
Aliphera he restored to the Megalopolitans, they having brought
satisfactory proof that it belonged to their territories. Then having
received some ships from the Achaeans, three quadriremes and three
biremes, he sailed to Anticyra, whence with seven quinqueremes and
more than twenty barks, which he had sent to the bay of Corinth to
join the Carthaginian fleet, he proceeded to Erythrae, a town of
the Aetolians near Eupalium, where he made a descent. He was not
unobserved by the Aetolians; for all who were either in the fields
or in the neighbouring forts of Potidania and Apollonia, fled to the
woods and mountains. The cattle which they could not drive off in
their haste they seized and put on board. He sent Nicias, praetor of
the Achaeans, to Aegium with these and the other booty; and then going
to Corinth, ordered his army to march by land through Boeotia, while
he himself, sailing from Cenchreae along the coast of Attica, round
the promontory of Sunium, reached Chalcis, having passed almost
through the midst of the enemy's fleet. After commending in the
highest terms their fidelity and bravery, as neither fear nor hope
had influenced their minds, and after exhorting them to show the same
fidelity in maintaining the alliance, he sailed to Oreum; and having
placed such of the chief inhabitants as chose to fly, rather than
surrender to the Romans, in the command of the city and the direction
of affairs, he sailed over from Euboea to Demetrias, from which place
he at first set out to succour his allies. After this, having laid the
keels of one hundred ships of war at Cassandrea, and collected a large
number of ship carpenters for the completion of that business, and
as both the departure of Attalus and the seasonable assistance he had
brought to his allies had tranquillized affairs in Greece, he retired
into his own dominions, in order to make war upon the Dardanians.

9. Just at the close of the summer during which these operations were
carried on in Greece, when Quintus Fabius, son of Maximus, ambassador
from Marcus Livius the consul, brought a message to Rome to the
senate, to the effect, that the consul considered that Lucius Portius
with his legions formed a sufficient protection for the province, that
he might himself retire thence, and that the consular army might be
withdrawn, the fathers directed that not only Livius should return to
the city, but also his colleague, Caius Claudius. The only difference
made between them in the decree was, that they ordered the army of
Marcus Livius to be led back, and the legions of Nero to remain
in their province opposed to Hannibal. The consuls agreed between
themselves by letter, that as they had conducted the affairs of the
commonwealth with unanimity, they should arrive at the city at the
same time, though they came from different quarters. He who arrived
first at Praeneste was enjoined to wait there for his colleague. It so
happened that they both came to Praeneste on the same day, and thence,
sending a proclamation before them, directing that there should be
a full attendance of the senate at the temple of Bellona, three days
after, they came up to the city, when they were met by the whole body
of the inhabitants. Not only did the whole body pour around them
and salute them, but each person individually, desiring to touch the
victorious right hands of the consuls, some congratulated them, while
others thanked them because by their services the state had been
preserved. In the senate, when, having made a recital of their
services according to the custom observed by all generals, they had
requested, that "in consideration of the brave and successful conduct
of the affairs of the commonwealth, honours should be paid to the
immortal gods, and they themselves enter the city in triumph;" the
fathers replied, that "they most willingly decreed those things which
they requested in gratitude to the gods in the first instance, and,
next to them, to the consuls." A supplication in the name of both,
and a triumph to both of them, having been decreed, lest after having
carried on the war with entire unanimity they should have a separate
triumph, they made the following agreement; that "since both the
service had been performed in the province of Marcus Livius, and he
was in possession of the command on the day on which the battle was
fought, and further, that as the army of Livius had been withdrawn
and had come to Rome, while Nero's could not be withdrawn from the
province, Marcus Livius should enter the city in a four-horse chariot
and followed by the soldiers; Caius Claudius on horseback without
soldiers." This plan of associating the generals in the triumph
increased the glory of both, but particularly of him who had yielded
to his colleague in the honours he received, as much as he surpassed
him in merit. The people said, that "the general on horseback had
traversed the whole length of Italy in the space of six days, and had
fought a pitched battle with Hasdrubal in Gaul, on the very day on
which Hannibal supposed that he was occupying a camp pitched in Apulia
to oppose him. That thus one consul, acting in defence of either
extremity of Italy against two leaders, had opposed against one his
skill, against the other his person. That the name of Nero had been
sufficient to confine Hannibal within his camp, while with regard
to Hasdrubal, by what, but his arrival, had he been overwhelmed and
annihilated? The other consul might move along raised aloft in a
chariot, drawn if he pleased by a number of horses, but that the real
triumph was his who was conveyed by one horse; and that Nero, though
he should go on foot, would be immortalized, whether on account of the
glory he had acquired in the war, or the contempt he had shown for it
in the triumph." Such continual expressions of the spectators attended
Nero all the way to the Capitol. The money they brought into the
treasury was three hundred thousand sesterces, with eighty thousand
asses of brass. Marcus Livius distributed among the soldiers fifty-six
asses each. Caius Claudius promised the same sum to his absent troops
when he returned to the army. It was observed that more verses were
written by the soldiery upon Caius Claudius in their jocular style,
than upon their own consul; that the horsemen highly extolled Lucius
Veturius and Quintus Caecilius, lieutenant-generals, and exhorted the
commons to create them consuls for the ensuing year; that the consuls
added their authority to the recommendation of the knights, relating
in the public assembly the following day with what courage and
fidelity their two lieutenant-generals in particular had served them.

10. When the time for the elections approached, and it was resolved
that it should be held by a dictator, the consul Caius Claudius
nominated as dictator his colleague Marcus Livius, who appointed
Quintus Caecilius his master of the horse. Lucius Veturius and Quintus
Caecilius were created consuls by Marcus Livius the dictator, the
latter being then master of the horse. After this the election of
praetors was held. The persons appointed were, Caius Servilius, Marcus
Caecilius Metellus, Titus Claudius Asellus, and Quintus Mamilius
Turinus, who was at that time plebeian aedile. When the elections were
finished, the dictator, having abdicated his office and dismissed his
army, set out for his province of Etruria, according to a decree of
the senate, to make inquiry what states of the Tuscans and Umbrians
had formed schemes of revolt from the Romans to Hasdrubal at the time
of his approach, and what states had assisted him with auxiliaries,
provisions, or succours of any kind. Such were the transactions this
year at home and abroad. The Roman games were thrice repeated in full
by the curule aediles, Cneius Servilius Caepio and Servius Cornelius
Lentulus. In the same manner the plebeian games also were once
repeated entire by the plebeian aediles, Manius Pomponius Matho and
Quintus Mamilius Thurinus.

In the thirteenth year of the Punic war, when Lucius Veturius Philo
and Quintus Caecilius Metellus were consuls, Bruttium was assigned to
both of them, as their province, to carry on the war with Hannibal.
The praetors then cast lots for their provinces: Marcus Caecilius
Metellus had the city jurisdiction; Quintus Mamilius, the foreign;
Caius Servilius, Sicily; Tiberius Claudius, Sardinia. The armies were
distributed thus: to one of the consuls was given the army which
Caius Claudius the consul of the former year, to the other that which
Quintus Claudius the propraetor, had commanded, consisting of two
legions each. It was decreed that Marcus Livius, proconsul, who was
continued in command for the year, should take the two legions of
volunteer slaves from Caius Terentius the propraetor, and that Quintus
Mamilius, transferring his judicial business to his colleague, should
occupy Gaul with the army which Lucius Porcius, the praetor, had
commanded, with orders to lay waste the lands of those Gauls who
had revolted to the Carthaginians on the approach of Hasdrubal. The
protection of Sicily was assigned to Caius Servilius with the two
legions which fought at Cannae, in the same manner as Caius Mamilius
had held it. The old army which Aulus Hostilius had commanded was
conveyed out of Sardinia, and the consuls enlisted a new legion, which
Tiberius Claudius might take over with him. Quintus Claudius and
Caius Hostilius Tubulus were continued in command for a year, that the
former might hold Tarentum as his province, the latter, Capua. Marcus
Valerius, the proconsul, to whom had been committed the protection
of the sea-coast round Sicily, was ordered to deliver thirty ships
to Caius Servilius, and return to the city with all the rest of the
fleet.

11. In a state where the greatest anxiety prevailed, in consequence
of the very critical situation in which the war stood, and where all
events, prosperous or adverse, were attributed to the interposition of
the gods, accounts of many prodigies were received; that the temple of
Jupiter at Tarracina, and that of Mater Matuta at Satricum, had been
struck by lightning. The people of Satricum were no less terrified
by two snakes gliding into the temple of Jupiter by the very doors. A
report was brought from Antium, that bloody ears of corn had been seen
by the reapers. At Caere a pig with two heads had been littered, and
a lamb yeaned which was both male and female. Intelligence was brought
that two suns had been seen at Alba, and that light had suddenly
appeared during night at Fregellae. An ox was reported to have spoken
in the Roman territory. A copious perspiration was said to have exuded
from the altar of Neptune, in the Flaminian circus; and the temples
of Ceres, Safety, and Quirinus were said to have been struck by
lightning. The consuls were directed to expiate these prodigies with
victims of the larger sort, and to make a supplication for one day.
These things were executed according to a decree of the senate. The
extinction of the fire in the temple of Vesta struck more terror
upon the minds of men than all the prodigies which were reported from
abroad, or seen at home; and the vestal, who had the guarding of it
for that night, was scourged by the command of Publius Licinius
the pontiff. Although this event was not appointed by the gods as a
portent, but had happened through human neglect, yet it was thought
proper that it should be expiated with victims of the larger sort, and
that a supplication should be made at the temple of Vesta.

Before the consuls set out for the campaign, they were cautioned by
the senate to take care that the common people should be brought back
into the country; for since, through the goodness of the gods, the
war was removed from the city of Rome and Latium, the country might
be inhabited without fear. That it was most inconsistent that greater
care should be taken in cultivating Sicily than Italy. But it was a
matter by no means easy for the people, the free labourers having been
cut off by war, and there being a scarcity of slaves, their cattle
having been carried off as booty, and the farmhouses pulled down or
burnt. A large number, however, compelled by the authority of the
consuls, returned into the country. The mention of this affair
had been occasioned by ambassadors of Placentia and Cremona, who
complained that their lands were being invaded and laid waste by
the neighbouring Gauls; that a large portion of their settlers had
dispersed; that their cities were thinly inhabited, and their lands
devastated and deserted. Mamilius the praetor was charged with the
protection of the colonies from the enemy. The consuls, in conformity
with a decree of the senate, issued an edict that all who were
citizens of Cremona and Placentia should return to those colonies
before a certain day; after which, in the beginning of spring, they
set out for the campaign. Quintus Caecilius, the consul, received
the army from Caius Nero; Lucius Veturius received his from Quintus
Claudius the propraetor, filling it up with new-raised soldiers,
whom he had himself enlisted. The consuls marched their army into the
territory of Consentia, and devastating the country on all hands,
when the troops were loaded with plunder, they were thrown into such
confusion by some Bruttians and Numidian spearmen, who attacked them
in a narrow defile, that not only the booty but the troops were
in danger. There was more of confusion, however than fighting; and
sending the booty in advance, the legions themselves also escaped into
a place free from danger. Proceeding thence into Lucania, the whole of
that people returned, without a contest, into subjection to the Roman
people.

12. No action with Hannibal took place this year; for neither did he
present himself after the public and personal calamity so recently
inflicted, and the Romans did not provoke him while he remained quiet,
such power did they consider that single general possessed, though
every thing else around him was falling into ruin. Indeed I know not
whether he was not more deserving of admiration in adversity than in
prosperity; inasmuch as though he carried on a war in the territory
of enemies through a period of thirteen years, at so great a distance
from home, with varying success, and with, an army not composed of his
own countrymen, but made up of the offscouring of all nations,
without communion of laws, customs, or language, different in their
appearance, their dress, their arms, their religious ceremonies and
observances, and I had almost said, their gods; yet he so effectually
united them by some one bond, that no disturbance ever arose either
among the soldiers themselves, or between them and their general,
though he often wanted money to pay them, and provisions, as being
in a hostile country, through want of which, in the former Punic war,
many dreadful transactions had occurred between the generals and their
soldiers. But after the destruction of Hasdrubal and his army, in
which all hopes of victory had been treasured up; and after retiring
from the possession of every other part of Italy by withdrawing into
Bruttium, one corner of it; to whom does it not appear wonderful that
no disturbance arose in the camp? For to other circumstances this also
was added, that he had no nope of subsisting his army, except from the
lands of Bruttium, which, though they were all cultivated, would be
very insufficient for the maintenance of so large an army. Besides,
many of the youth were drawn off from the cultivation of the fields,
and engaged in the war; and a custom also prevailed among the people
of that nation, grafted on a naturally depraved inclination, of
carrying on a predatory kind of warfare. Nor did he receive any
supplies from home, where they were anxious about the retention of
Spain, as if every thing was going on prosperously in Italy. In Spain
the state of affairs was in one respect similar, but in another widely
different; similar in that the Carthaginians, having been defeated
with the loss of their general, had been driven to the remotest coast
of that country, even to the ocean; but different, because Spain, both
from the nature of the country and the genius of its inhabitants, was
better adapted not only than Italy, but than any other part of the
world, for renewing a war. And accordingly, therefore, though this was
the first of the provinces on the continent which the Romans entered,
it was the last which was at length reduced, in the present age, under
the conduct and auspices of Augustus Caesar. Here Hasdrubal, son of
Gisgo, the greatest and most renowned general concerned in the war,
next to the Barcine family, returning from Gades, and encouraged in
his hopes of reviving the war by Mago, son of Hamilcar, by means
of levies made throughout the Farther Spain, armed as many as fifty
thousand foot and four thousand five hundred horse. With regard to
his mounted force, authors are pretty much agreed, but some state that
seventy thousand infantry were led to the city Silpia. Here the two
Carthaginian generals sat down on open plains, with a determination
not to avoid a battle.

13. When Scipio received an account of the collection of so large an
army, he felt convinced that he would not be a match for so great a
multitude with the Roman legions only, without making a show at least
of the auxiliary troops of the barbarians; at the same time that he
did not think it right that they should form so large a portion of
his force as to occasion important consequences if they should
change sides, which had brought ruin upon his father and his uncle.
Therefore, sending forward Silanus to Colca, who was sovereign of
twenty-eight towns, to receive from him the infantry and cavalry,
which he promised to enlist during the winter, he himself set out from
Tarraco; and collecting small bodies of auxiliaries from his allies,
who lay near his road as he proceeded, he came to Castulo. To this
place Silanus led the auxiliaries, consisting of three thousand
infantry and five hundred horse. Thence he advanced to the city of
Baecula, with his entire army of countrymen and allies, foot and
horse, amounting to forty-five thousand. Mago and Masinissa attacked
them with the whole body of their cavalry while forming their camp,
and would have dispersed those engaged in the works, had not a party
of horse, concealed by Scipio behind an eminence conveniently situated
for the purpose, unexpectedly charged them when rushing on to the
attack, and, ere the battle was well begun, routed all the most
forward, both those who had advanced nearest the rampart, and those
who were foremost in charging the very workmen. With the rest of the
troops who came up with their standards, and in order of march, the
contest lasted longer, and was for a considerable time doubtful. But
when first the light cohorts from the outposts, and then the troops
withdrawn from the works and ordered to take arms, came up, being more
numerous than those which had been engaged, and fresh while they were
fatigued, and now a large body of armed troops rushed from the camp
to the battle, the Carthaginians and Numidians at once turned their
backs. At first they moved off in troops without breaking their ranks,
through fear or precipitation; but afterwards, when the Romans pressed
furiously upon their rear, and they were unable to bear the violence
of their attack, then at length, utterly regardless of order,
they fled precipitately in every direction, as suited each man's
convenience. And although, in consequence of this battle, the spirits
of the Romans were considerably raised, and those of the enemy
depressed, yet, for several days following, the horsemen and
light-armed troops never ceased from skirmishes.

14. After having made sufficient trial of their strength in these
slight engagements, Hasdrubal first led out his forces for battle,
and then the Romans also advanced. But both the armies stood drawn up
before their ramparts; and as neither party began the attack, and the
sun was now going down, the Carthaginian first, and then the Roman,
led back his troops into the camp. The same occurred for several days.
The Carthaginian was always the first to lead out his troops into the
field, and the first to give the signal for retiring, when they were
weary with standing. Neither party sallied from their posts, nor was a
weapon discharged, or a word uttered. On one side the Romans occupied
the centre, on the other, the Carthaginians and Africans together; the
allies occupied the wings, which were composed of Spaniards on
both sides. The elephants which stood before the Carthaginian line,
appeared at a distance like castles. It was now commonly talked of in
both camps, that they would fight in the order in which they had
stood when drawn up, and that their centres, composed of Romans and
Carthaginians, who were the principals in the war, would engage with
equal courage and strength. When Scipio perceived that this was firmly
believed, he studiously altered all his arrangements against the day
on which he intended to fight. He issued orders through the camp at
evening, that the men and horses should be refreshed and fed before
daylight, and that the horsemen, armed themselves, should keep their
horses bridled and saddled. When it was scarcely yet daylight, he
sent all his cavalry, with the light troops, against the Carthaginian
outposts, and then without delay advanced himself, at the head of the
heavy body of the legions, having strengthened his wings with Roman
soldiers, and placed the allies in the centre, contrary to the full
anticipations of his own men and of the enemy. Hasdrubal, alarmed by
the shout of the cavalry, sprang out of his tent, and, perceiving a
tumult before the rampart, and his own troops in a state of hurry and
confusion, the standards of the legions gleaming at a distance, and
the plain filled with the enemy, immediately sent out the whole body
of his cavalry against the horsemen of the enemy; marching himself
out of the camp, at the head of the infantry, without departing at all
from the usual arrangement in forming his line. The battle between the
cavalry had continued for a long time doubtful; nor could they decide
it themselves, because, when repulsed, which was the case in a manner
alternately, they had a safe retreat upon the line of infantry. But
when the armies were not more than five hundred paces distant from
each other, Scipio, sounding a retreat and opening his files, received
into the midst of them the whole body of his cavalry and light-armed
troops; and dividing them into two parts, placed them in reserve
behind the wings. After this, when it was now time to commence the
battle, he ordered the Spaniards, who formed the centre, to advance at
a slow pace; he himself sent a messenger from the right wing, for that
he commanded, to Silanus and Marcius to extend the wing on the left in
the same manner as they should see him extend that on the right, and
engage the enemy with the light-armed of the horse and foot, before
the two centres could meet. The wings being thus extended, they
advanced against the enemy at a rapid pace, with three cohorts
of infantry, and three troops of horse, each with the addition of
skirmishers, the rest following them in an oblique line. There was a
depression in the centre of the line, because the battalions of the
Spaniards advanced slower than the rest, and the wings had already
encountered the enemy, when the veteran Carthaginians and Africans had
not yet come within distance to discharge their darts; nor dared they
run in different directions to the wings to assist them when fighting,
lest they should expose their centre to the enemy approaching over
against them. The wings were hard pressed, by a twofold attack; the
cavalry, the light-armed, and the skirmishers, wheeling round, charged
their flanks, while the cohorts pressed them hard in front, in order
to separate the wings from the rest of the line.

15. The battle was now extremely unequal in every part, both because
an irregular band of Balearians and raw Spaniards were opposed to
Roman and Latin soldiers, and further, because, as the day was now
getting on, Hasdrubal's troops began to grow languid, having been
dispirited by the alarm in the morning, and compelled to go out
hastily into the field, without refreshing themselves with food.
Scipio had designedly spun out the day, in order that the battle might
take place at a late hour; for it was not until the seventh hour that
the battalions of infantry charged the wings. It was considerably
later before the battle reached the centres, so that the heat from the
meridian sun, and the fatigue of standing under arms, together with
hunger and thirst, enfeebled their bodies before they engaged the
enemy. Thus they stood still, supporting themselves upon their
shields. In addition to their other misfortunes, the elephants
too, terrified at the tumultuous kind of attack of the cavalry, the
skirmishers, and the light-armed, had transferred themselves from the
wings to the centre. Fatigued therefore in mind and body, they gave
ground, preserving their ranks, however, just as though the army
were retreating entire at the command of their general. But when the
victors, perceiving that the enemy had given way, charged them on all
sides with increased vehemence on that very account, so that the shock
could hardly be sustained, though Hasdrubal endeavoured to stop them
and hinder them from retiring, vociferating, "that there were hills
on their rear, and a safe refuge if they would retreat without
precipitation;" yet, fear getting the better of their sense of shame,
and all those who were nearest the enemy giving way, they immediately
turned their backs, and all gave themselves up to disorderly flight.
The first place they halted at was the foot of the hills, where
they endeavoured to recall the soldiers to their ranks, the
Romans hesitating to advance their line up the opposite steep; but
afterwards, when they saw them push on briskly, renewing their flight,
they were driven into their camp in extreme alarm. Nor were the Romans
far from the rampart; and such was their impetuosity, that they would
have taken their camp had not so violent a shower of rain suddenly
poured down, while, as is usually the case, the solar rays darted with
the greatest intensity between the clouds surcharged with water, that
the victors with difficulty returned to their camp. Some were even
deterred, by superstition, from making any further attempts that day.
Though night and the rain invited the Carthaginians to take necessary
rest, yet, as their fears and the danger would not allow them to
delay, as it was expected that the enemy would assault their camp as
soon as it was light, they raised their rampart by stones collected
from the neighbouring valleys around them on all sides, with the
determination to defend themselves by works, since there was but
little protection in their arms. But the desertion of their allies
made it appear safer to fly than stay. Attanes, prince of the
Turdetani, began this revolt; he deserted at the head of a numerous
band of his countrymen. Then two fortified towns, together with their
garrisons, were delivered up by their praefects to the Romans. And,
lest the evil should spread more widely, now that the disposition
to revolt from the Carthaginians had evinced itself in one instance,
Hasdrubal decamped during the silence of the ensuing night.

16. The troops in the outposts having brought word, as soon as it was
light, that the enemy had departed, Scipio, despatching his cavalry
in advance, ordered the army to move forward; and so rapidly were they
led, that had they directly followed the track of the fugitives, they
would certainly have overtaken them; but they trusted to the report of
their guides, that there was a shorter cut to the river Baetis, where
they might attack them while crossing it. Hasdrubal, being precluded
from passing the river, turned his course to the ocean; and they now
advanced in disorder and in the manner of fugitives, so that the Roman
legions were left considerably behind. The cavalry and light-armed,
attacking sometimes their rear, and sometimes their flank, harassed
and delayed them; and as they were obliged to halt, in consequence of
these frequent annoyances, and engaged sometimes the cavalry, at other
times the skirmishers and the auxiliary infantry, the legions came up.
After this it was no longer a fight, but a butchering as of cattle,
till the general himself, who was the first to run away, made his
escape to the neighbouring hills with about six thousand men half
armed; the rest were slain or made prisoners. The Carthaginians
hastily fortified an irregular camp on the highest eminence, and from
thence they defended themselves without difficulty, the enemy failing
in his attempt to get at them, from the difficulty of the ascent. But
a siege in a place bare and affording no means of subsistence, was
hardly to be supported, even for a few days; the troops therefore
deserted to the enemy. At last the general himself, having procured
some ships, for the sea was not at a great distance, left his army by
night and effected his escape to Gades. Scipio, having heard of the
flight of the general of the enemy, left ten thousand foot and one
thousand cavalry for Silanus to carry on the siege of the camp, and
returned to Tarraco with the rest of the troops, after a march of
seventy days, during which he took cognizance of the causes of the
petty princes and states, in order that rewards might be conferred
according to a just estimate of their merits. After his departure,
Masinissa, having held a private conference with Silanus, passed
over into Africa with a few of his countrymen, in order that he might
induce his nation also to acquiesce in his new designs. The cause of
this sudden change was not so evident at the time, as the proof was
convincing which was afforded by his subsequent fidelity, preserved
to extreme old age, that he did not on this occasion act without
reasonable grounds. Mago went to Gades in the ships which had been
sent back by Hasdrubal. Of the rest of the troops thus abandoned by
their generals, some deserted and others betook themselves to flight,
and in this manner were dispersed through the neighbouring states.
There was no body of them considerable either for numbers or strength.
Such were, as near as possible, the circumstances under which the
Carthaginians were driven out of Spain, under the conduct and auspices
of Publius Scipio, in the thirteenth year from the commencement of
the war, and the fifth from the time that Publius Scipio received the
province and the army. Not long after, Silanus returned to Tarraco to
Scipio, with information that the war was at an end.

17. Lucius Scipio was sent to Rome to convey the news of the reduction
of Spain, and with him a number of distinguished captives. While
everybody else extolled this achievement as an event in the highest
degree joyful and glorious, yet the author of it alone, whose valour
was such that he never thought he had achieved enough, and whose
search for true glory was insatiable, considered the reduction of
Spain as affording but a faint idea of the hopes which his aspiring
mind had conceived. He now directed his view to Africa and Great
Carthage, and the glorious termination of the war, as redounding to
his honour, and giving lustre to his name. Judging it therefore to
be now necessary to pave the way to his object, and to conciliate
the friendship of kings and nations, he resolved first to sound the
disposition of Syphax, king of the Masaesylians, a nation bordering
on the Moors, and lying for the most part over-against that quarter of
Spain in which New Carthage is situated. The king was at the present
juncture in league with the Carthaginians; and Scipio, concluding that
he would not hold it as more binding and sacred than was customary
with barbarians, sent Caius Laelius as envoy to him with presents. The
barbarian, delighted with these, and seeing that the Roman cause was
then successful in every quarter, but that the Carthaginians were
unfortunate in Italy, and no longer existed in Spain, consented to
accept the friendship of the Romans, but refused to give or receive
a solemn ratification of it except the Roman general himself were
present in person. This being the case, Laelius returned to Scipio,
having received from the king merely an assurance of a safe journey.
To one desirous of getting a footing in Africa, Syphax was of great
importance, as he was the most powerful king in that country, had
already had experience of the Carthaginians themselves in war, and
the boundaries of his dominions lay very conveniently with respect
to Spain, from which they are separated by a narrow strait. Scipio,
therefore, considering it an object of sufficient importance to
warrant his attempting it, notwithstanding the greatness of the danger
which attended it, since he could not effect it otherwise, left for
the protection of Spain Lucius Marcius at Tarraco, and Marcus Silanus
at New Carthage, to which place he had gone on foot by long marches;
and setting out himself in company with Caius Laelius, with two
quinqueremes from Carthage, passed over into Africa, working the
vessels with oars for the greatest part of the voyage, in consequence
of the calmness of the sea, though sometimes they were assisted by
a gentle breeze. It so happened, that just at that time Hasdrubal,
having been driven out of Spain, had entered the harbour with seven
triremes, and having cast anchor was mooring his ships. The sight of
two quinqueremes, which it was the firm opinion of everybody belonged
to the enemy, and might be overpowered by superior numbers before
they entered the harbour, produced no other effect than a tumult
and confusion among the soldiers and sailors, who endeavoured to no
purpose to get their arms and ships ready; for their sails, impelled
by a somewhat brisker gale from the sea, brought the quinqueremes into
the harbour before the Carthaginians weighed their anchors, and no one
dared make any further stir now that they were in the king's harbour.
Thus Hasdrubal, who landed first, and Scipio and Laelius, who landed
soon after, proceeded to the king.

18. Syphax considered it highly honourable to him, as it really was,
that generals of the two most powerful people of the age should come
to him on the same day to solicit peace and friendship with him. He
invited them both to become his guests; and, as it was the will of
fortune that they should be under one roof, and under the protection
of the same household gods, he endeavoured to bring them together to
a conference, in order to put an end to the difference between them;
when Scipio declared, that there was no personal enmity between the
Carthaginian and himself which he might do away with by a conference,
and that he could not transact any business relating to the republic
with an enemy without the command of the senate. But the king
being earnest in his endeavours to persuade him to come to the same
entertainment, lest one of his guests should appear to be excluded, he
did not withhold his assent. They supped together at the king's table,
and Scipio and Hasdrubal even sat at meat on the same couch, because
it was the king's pleasure. So courteous was the manner of Scipio, so
naturally happy and universal was his genius, that by his conversation
he gained the esteem not only of Syphax, a barbarian, and unused to
Roman manners, but even of a most inveterate enemy, who openly avowed,
that "he appeared to him more to be admired for the qualities he
displayed on a personal interview with him, than for his exploits in
war, and that he had no doubt that Syphax and his kingdom were already
at the disposal of the Romans, such were the abilities that man
possessed for gaining the esteem of others. That it, therefore, was
incumbent upon the Carthaginians not more to inquire by what means
they had lost Spain, than to consider how they might retain possession
of Africa. That it was not from a desire to visit foreign countries,
or to roam about delightful coasts, that so great a Roman captain,
leaving a recently subdued province, and his armies, had crossed over
into Africa with only two ships, entering an enemy's territory, and
committing himself to the untried honour of the king, but in pursuance
of a hope he had conceived of subduing Africa. That it had been long
the object of his anxious solicitude, and had drawn from him open
expressions of his indignation, that Scipio was not carrying on war
in Africa in the same way as Hannibal was in Italy." Scipio, having
formed a league with Syphax, set out from Africa, and, after having
been tossed about during his voyage by variable and generally
tempestuous winds, made the port of New Carthage on the fourth day.

19. As Spain was undisturbed by a Carthaginian war, so it was evident
that some of the states remained quiet more from fear, arising from
a consciousness of demerit, than from sincere attachment. The most
remarkable of them, both for their greatness and guilt, were Illiturgi
and Castulo. Castulo had been in alliance with the Romans when
in prosperity, but had revolted to the Carthaginians after the
destruction of the Scipios and their armies. The Illiturgians, by
betraying and putting to death those who fled thither after that
calamity, had added villany to revolt. It would have been more
deserved than expedient to have executed severe vengeance upon these
people on his first arrival, while the affairs of Spain were in an
uncertain state; but now, when all was tranquil, as the time for
visiting them with punishment appeared to have arrived, he summoned
Lucius Marcius from Tarraco, and sent him with a third of his forces
to attack Castulo, and with the rest of the army he himself reached
Illiturgi, after about five days' march. The gates were closed, and
every arrangement and preparation made for repelling an attack; so
completely had the consciousness of what they deserved produced
the same effect as a declaration of war against them. From this
circumstance Scipio commenced his exhortation to his soldiers: he
said, that "by closing their gates the Spaniards had themselves shown
what their deserts were by what they feared, and that therefore they
ought to prosecute the war against them with much greater animosity
than against the Carthaginians. For with the latter the contest
was carried on for empire and glory almost without any exasperated
feeling, while they had to punish the former for perfidy, cruelty, and
villany. That the time had now arrived when they should take vengeance
for the horrid massacre of their fellow soldiers, and for the
treachery which was prepared for themselves, had they been carried in
their flight to the same place; and by the severity of the punishment
inflicted in the present instance, establish it as a law for ever,
that no one should consider a Roman citizen and soldier, whatever his
situation, a fit object for injurious treatment." Animated by this
exhortation of their general, they distributed the scaling-ladders to
men selected from each of the companies; and the army being divided
into two parts, so that Laelius, as lieutenant-general, might command
one, they attacked the city in two places at once; thus creating an
alarm in two quarters at the same time. It was not by the exhortations
of one general, nor of the several nobles who were present, that the
townsmen were stimulated to a vigorous defence of the city, but by
the fear which they themselves entertained; they bore in mind, and
admonished each other, that the object aimed at was punishment, and
not victory. That the only question for them was, where they should
meet death, whether in the battle and in the field, where the
indiscriminate chance of war frequently raised up the vanquished and
dashed the victor to the ground; or whether, after a short interval,
when the city was burnt and plundered, after suffering every horror
and indignity, they should expire amid stripes and bonds before the
eyes of their captive wives and children. Therefore, not only those
who were of an age to bear arms, or men only, but women and children,
beyond the powers of their minds and bodies, were there, supplying
with weapons those who were fighting in defence of the place, and
carrying stones to the walls for those who were strengthening the
works; for not only was their liberty at stake, which excites the
energies of the brave only, but they had before their eyes the utmost
extremity of punishment, to be inflicted on all indiscriminately, and
an ignominious death. Their minds were worked up to the highest pitch,
both by emulation in toil and danger, and also by the mere sight of
each other. Accordingly the contest was entered upon with such ardour,
that the army which had subdued the whole of Spain was frequently
driven back from the walls of one town, and exhibited such a want
of resolution in the contest as was not very honourable to it. When
Scipio perceived this, he was afraid lest, by the failure of his
attempts, the courage of the enemy should be raised and his own troops
be dispirited; and thinking it incumbent upon him to exert himself
in person and share the danger, reproved his soldiers for their
cowardice, and ordered the scaling-ladders to be brought, threatening
to mount the wall himself, since the rest hesitated. He had now
advanced near the walls with no small danger, when a shout was raised
from all sides by the soldiers, who were alarmed at the danger their
general was exposed to, and the scaling-ladders began to be reared in
several places at once. Laelius too, in another quarter, pressed on
vigorously. It was then that the energy of the townsmen was subdued,
and those who defended the walls being beaten off, the Romans took
possession of them. The citadel also was captured during the confusion
on a side where it was thought impregnable.

20. Some African deserters, who were at that time among the Roman
auxiliaries, while the townsmen were occupied in defending those
quarters whence danger was apprehended, and the Romans were making
approaches where they could gain access, observed that the most
elevated part of the town, which was protected by a very high rock,
was neither fortified by any work nor furnished with defenders. Being
men of light make and nimble from being well exercised, they climbed
up wherever they could gain access over the irregular projections of
the rock, carrying with them iron spikes. If in any part they met with
a cliff too steep and smooth, they fixed spikes at moderate intervals,
and having thus formed a sort of steps, and those who were foremost
pulling up those who followed, and those who were behind lifting up
those before them, they succeeded in gaining the summit, whence they
ran down with a shout into the city, which had already been taken by
the Romans. Then it became manifest indeed that it was resentment and
hatred which prompted the assault upon the city. No one thought of
taking any alive, nor of booty, though every thing lay exposed to
plunder. They butchered all indiscriminately, armed and unarmed,
male and female. Their cruel resentment extended to the slaughter of
infants. They then set fire to the houses, and pulled down those which
could not be consumed by fire, so bent were they upon erasing even
every vestige of the city, and blotting out the memory of their
enemies. Scipio marched his army thence to Castulo, which was
defended, not only by Spaniards who had assembled there, but also by
the remains of the Carthaginian army, which had gone there from the
various places to which they had been dispersed in their flight. But
the news of the calamity of the Illiturgians had reached them
before the arrival of Scipio; and in consequence of this, dismay
and desperation had seized them; and as their cases were differently
circumstanced, and each party was desirous of consulting its own
safety independent of the other, at first secret jealousy, and then
an open rupture, created a separation between the Carthaginians
and Spaniards. Cerdubellus without disguise advised the latter to
surrender. Himilco commanded the Carthaginian auxiliaries, which,
together with the city, Cerdubellus delivered up to the Romans, having
secretly obtained terms. This victory was attended with less cruelty;
for not only was the guilt of this people less than the others, but
their voluntary surrender had considerably mitigated resentment.

21. Marcius was then sent against the barbarians, to reduce under the
authority and dominion of the Romans such of them as had not yet been
subdued. Scipio returned to Carthage, to pay his vows to the gods, and
to exhibit a gladiatorial show, which he had prepared on account of
the death of his father and uncle. This exhibition of gladiators
was not formed from that description of men which the lanistae are
accustomed to procure, such as slaves, or those who sell their blood.
All the service of the combatants was voluntary and gratuitous; for
some were sent by the petty princes, to show an example of the natural
courage of their people; others came forward to fight, in compliment
to their general; others were induced to give and accept challenges,
by a spirit of emulation and a desire of victory. Some decided by
the sword disputes which they either could not or were unwilling to
determine by argument, with an agreement that the matter in question
should be given up to the victor. Nor was it confined to men of
obscure rank, but comprehended persons of distinction and celebrity;
such were Corbis and Orsua, cousins-german, who, having a dispute
about the sovereignty of a city called Ibis, declared that they would
contest it with the sword. Corbis was the elder of the two. The father
of Orsua was the last sovereign, having succeeded to that dignity on
the death of his elder brother. When Scipio was desirous of settling
the dispute by argument and allaying their irritation, they both
declared that they had refused that to their mutual kinsmen, and that
they would appeal to no other judge, whether god or man, than Mars.
The elder presuming upon his strength, the younger on the prime of
youth, each wished to die in the combat rather than become the subject
of the other; and every effort failing to prevent their prosecuting
their mad design, they exhibited to the army a most interesting
spectacle, and a proof how great mischief is occasioned among men by a
thirst for power. The elder, in consequence of his experience in
arms and his address, easily mastered the unscientific efforts of
the younger. To this show of gladiators were added funeral games,
proportioned to the means possessed, and with such magnificence as the
provinces and the camp afforded.

22. Meanwhile the operations of the war were carried on with unabated
activity by the lieutenant-generals. Marcius, crossing the river
Baetis, which the natives call Certis, received the submission of two
powerful cities without a contest. There was a city called Astapa,
which had always sided with the Carthaginians; nor was it that which
drew upon it the resentment of the Romans so much as the fact, that
its inhabitants harboured an extraordinary animosity against them,
which was not called for by the necessities of the war. Their city
was not so secured by nature or art as to make their dispositions so
fierce, but the natural disposition of the inhabitants, which took
delight in plunder, had induced them to make excursions into the
neighbouring lands belonging to the allies of the Romans, and to
intercept such Roman soldiers, suttlers, and merchants as they found
ranging about. They had also surrounded, by means of an ambuscade, and
put to the sword on disadvantageous ground, a large company which was
crossing their borders, for it had proved hardly safe to go in small
parties. When the troops were marched up to assault this city, the
inhabitants, conscious of their guilt, and seeing that it would be
dangerous to surrender to an enemy so highly incensed, and that they
could not hope to keep themselves in safety by means of their walls or
their arms, resolved to execute upon themselves and those belonging
to them a horrid and inhuman deed. They fixed upon a place in their
forum, in which they collected the most valuable of their property,
and having directed their wives and children to seat themselves
upon this heap, they raised a pile of wood around it and threw on it
bundles of twigs. They then ordered fifty armed youths to stand there
and guard their fortunes, and the persons dearer to them than their
fortunes, as long as the issue of the battle continued doubtful. If
they should perceive that the battle went against them, and that
it came to the point that the city must be captured, they might be
assured that those whom they saw going out to engage the enemy would
perish in the battle itself; but implored them by all the gods,
celestial and infernal, that, mindful of their liberty, which must be
terminated on that day either by an honourable death or ignominious
servitude, they would leave nothing on which an exasperated enemy
could wreak his fury; that they had fire and sword at their command,
and it was better that friendly and faithful hands should destroy
what must necessarily perish, than that enemies should insult it with
haughty wantonness. To these exhortations a dreadful execration was
added against any one who should be diverted from this purpose by hope
or faint-heartedness. Then throwing open the gates, they rushed out at
a rapid pace and with the utmost impetuosity. Nor was there any guard
sufficiently strong opposed to them; for there could be nothing that
was less apprehended than that they would have the courage to sally
from their walls. A very few troops of horse, and the light-armed,
hastily sent out of the camp for that purpose, opposed them. The
battle was furious and spirited, rather than steady and regular in any
degree. The horse, therefore, which had first encountered the enemy,
being repulsed, created an alarm among the light-armed; and the battle
would have been fought under the very rampart, had not the legions,
which were their main strength, drawn out their line, though they had
a very short time to form in. These too, for a short time, wavered
around their standards, when the Astapans, blind with rage, rushed
upon wounds and the sword with reckless daring; but afterwards the
veteran soldiers, standing firm against their furious assaults,
checked the violence of those that followed by the slaughter of the
foremost. Soon after, the veteran troops themselves made an attempt to
charge them, but seeing that not a man gave ground, and that they were
inflexibly determined on dying each in his place, they extended their
line, which the number of their troops enabled them to do with ease,
and, surrounding their flanks, slew them all to a man while fighting
in a circle.

23. But these, however, were acts committed by exasperated enemies in
the heat of battle, and executed, in conformity with the laws of war,
upon men armed and most fiercely resisting; there was another more
horrible carnage in the city, where a harmless and defenceless crowd
of women and children were butchered by their own countrymen, who
threw their bodies, most of them still alive, upon the burning pile
while streams of blood damped the rising flame; and lastly, wearied
with the piteous slaughter of their friends, they threw themselves,
arms and all, into the midst of the flames. When the carnage was now
completed the victorious Romans came up, and at the first sight of so
revolting a transaction they stood for some time wrapt in wonder
and amazement; but afterwards, from a rapacity natural to humanity,
wishing to snatch out of the fire the gold and silver which glittered
amid the heap of other materials, some were caught by the flames,
others scorched by the hot blasts, as the foremost were unable to
retreat, in consequence of the immense crowd which pressed upon them.
In this manner was Astapa destroyed by the sword and fire, without
affording any booty to the soldiers. After the rest of the people in
that quarter, influenced by fear, had made submission to him, Marcius
led his victorious troops to Scipio, at Carthage. Just at this same
time deserters arrived from Gades, who promised to betray the town and
Carthaginian garrison which occupied it, together with the commander
and the fleet. Mago had halted there after his flight, and having
collected some ships on the ocean, had got together a considerable
number of auxiliaries from the coast of Africa, on the other side the
strait, and also by means of Hanno the prefect from the neighbouring
parts of Spain. After pledges had been exchanged with the deserters,
Marcius and Laelius were sent thither, the former with the light
cohorts, the latter with seven triremes and one quinquereme, in order
that they might act in concert by land and sea.

24. In consequence of Scipio's being afflicted with a severe fit of
illness, which rumour represented as more serious than it really was;
for every one made some addition to the account he had received, from
a desire inherent in mankind of intentionally exaggerating reports,
the whole province, and more especially the distant parts of it, were
thrown into a state of ferment; and it was evident what a serious
disturbance would have been excited had he really died, when an
unfounded report created such violent commotions. Neither the
allies kept their allegiance, nor the army their duty. Mandonius and
Indibilis, who were not at all satisfied with what had occurred, for
they had anticipated with certainty that they would have the dominion
of Spain on the expulsion of the Carthaginians, called together their
countrymen the Lacetani, and summoning the Celtiberian youth to arms,
devastated in a hostile manner the territories of the Suessetanians
and Sedetanians, allies of the Romans. Besides, a mutiny arose in the
camp at Sucro. Here were eight thousand men, stationed as a guard over
the nations dwelling on this side the Iberus. It was not on hearing
uncertain rumours respecting the life of the general that their minds
were first excited, but previously, owing to the licentiousness which
naturally results from long-continued idleness, and in some degree
also owing to the restraint felt in time of peace by men who had been
accustomed to live freely on what they gained by plunder in an enemy's
country. At first they only discoursed in private, asking what they
were doing among people who were at peace with them, if there was
a war in the province? if the war was terminated and the province
completely subdued, why were they not conveyed back into Italy?
The pay also was demanded with more insolence than was customary or
consistent with military subordination, and the guards cast reproaches
upon the tribunes while going round to the watches. Some too had gone
out by night into the neighbouring lands, belonging to persons at
peace with the Romans, to plunder; but at last they quitted their
standards in the day-time and openly without furloughs. Every thing
was done according to the caprice and unrestrained will of the
soldiers, and nothing according to rule and military discipline, or
the orders of those who were in command. The form, however, of a Roman
camp was preserved solely in consequence of the hopes they entertained
that the tribunes, catching the spirit of insubordination, would
not be averse from taking part in the mutiny and defection, on which
account they suffered them to dispense justice in their courts, went
to them for the watch-word, and served in their turn on the outposts
and watches; and as they had taken away the power of command, so they
preserved the appearance of obedience to orders, by spontaneously
executing their own. Afterwards, when they perceived that the tribunes
censured and reprobated their proceedings, endeavoured to counteract
them, and publicly declared that they would not take any share in
their disorderly conduct, the mutiny assumed a decided character;
when, after driving the tribunes from their courts, and shortly after
from the camp, the command was conferred by universal consent upon
Caius Albius of Cales and Caius Atrius of Umbria, common soldiers,
who were the prime movers of the sedition. These men were so far from
being satisfied with the ornaments used by tribunes, that they had the
audacity to lay hold even of the insignia of the highest authority,
the fasces and axes, without ever reflecting that their own backs and
necks were in danger from those very rods and axes which they carried
before them to intimidate others. Their mistaken belief of the death
of Scipio had blinded their minds, and they doubted not that, in a
short time, when that event should be made generally known, all
Spain would blaze with war; that during this confusion money might
be exacted from the allies and the neighbouring cities plundered; and
that in this unsettled state of affairs, when there was nothing which
any man would not dare, their own acts would be less conspicuous.

25. As they expected that other fresh accounts would follow those
which they had received, not only of the death, but even of the
burial, of Scipio, and yet none arrived; and as the rumour which had
been so idly originated began to die away, the first author of it
began to be sought out; and each backing out in order that he might
appear rather to have inconsiderately credited than to have fabricated
such a report, the leaders were forsaken, and began now to dread their
own ensigns of authority, and to apprehend that, instead of that empty
show of command which they wore, a legitimate and rightful power would
be turned against them. The mutiny being thus paralysed, and credible
persons bringing in accounts, first, that Scipio was alive, and, soon
after, that he was even in good health, seven military tribunes were
sent by Scipio himself. At the first arrival of these their minds were
violently excited; but they were soon calmed by the mild and soothing
language which they addressed to such of their acquaintance as
they met with; for, going round first of all to the tents, and then
entering the principia and the praetorium, wherever they observed
circles of men conversing together, they addressed them, inquiring
rather what it was that had occasioned their displeasure and sudden
consternation, than taxing them with what had occurred. "That they
had not received their pay at the appointed time," was generally
complained; and "that although at the time of the horrid transaction
of the Illiturgians, and after the destruction of two generals and two
armies, the Roman cause had been defended and the province retained
by their valour; the Illiturgians had received the punishment due to
their offence, but there was no one found to reward them for their
meritorious services." The tribunes replied, "that, considering the
nature of their complaints, what they requested was just, and that
they would lay it before the general; that they were happy that there
was nothing of a more gloomy and irremediable character; that both
Publius Scipio, by the favour of the gods, and the commonwealth, were
in a situation to requite them." Scipio, who was accustomed to war
but inexperienced in the storms of sedition, felt great anxiety on the
occasion, lest the army should run into excess in transgressing, or
himself in punishing. For the present he resolved to persist in
the lenient line of conduct with which he had begun, and sending
collectors round to the tributary states, to give the soldiers hopes
of soon receiving their pay. Immediately after this a proclamation was
issued that they should come to Carthage to receive their pay, whether
they wished to do so in detached parties or all in a body. The sudden
suppression of the rebellion among the Spaniards had the effect of
tranquillizing the mutiny, which was by this time beginning to subside
of itself; for Mandonius and Indibilis, relinquishing their attempt,
had returned within their borders when intelligence was brought
that Scipio was alive; nor did there now remain any person, whether
countryman or foreigner, whom they could make their companion in
their desperate enterprise. On examining every method, they had no
alternative except that which afforded a retreat from wicked designs,
which was not of the safest kind, namely, to commit themselves either
to the just anger of the general, or to his clemency, of which
they need not despair. For he had pardoned even enemies whom he had
encountered with the sword; while they reflected that their sedition
had been unaccompanied with wounds or blood, and was neither in itself
of an atrocious character nor merited severe punishment. So natural is
it for men to be over-eloquent in extenuating their own demerit. They
felt doubtful whether they should go to demand their pay in single
cohorts or in one entire body; but the opinion that they should go in
a body, which they regarded as the safer mode, prevailed.

26. At the same time, when they were employed in these deliberations,
a council was held on their case at Carthage; when a warm debate took
place as to whether they should visit with punishment the originators
only of the mutiny, who were in number not more than thirty-five, or,
whether atonement should be made for this defection, (for such it was
rather than a mutiny,) of so dreadful a character as a precedent, by
the punishment of a greater number. The opinion recommending the
more lenient course, that the punishment should fall where the guilt
originated, was adopted. For the multitude a reprimand was considered
sufficient. On the breaking up of the council, orders were given to
the army, which was in Carthage, to prepare for an expedition against
Mandonius and Indibilis, and to get ready provisions for several days,
in order that they might appear to have been deliberating about this.
The seven tribunes who had before gone to Sucro to quell the mutiny,
having been sent out to meet the army, gave in, each of them, five
names of persons principally concerned in the affair, in order that
proper persons might be employed to invite them to their homes, with
smiles and kind words; and that, when overpowered with wine, they
might be thrown into chains. They were not far distant from Carthage
when the intelligence, received from persons on the road, that the
whole army was going the following day with Marcus Silanus against
the Lacetanians, not only freed them from all the apprehensions which,
though they did not give utterance to them, sat heavy upon their
minds, but occasioned the greatest transport, because they would
thus have the general alone, and in their power, instead of being
themselves in his. They entered the city just at sun-set, and saw the
other army making every preparation for a march. Immediately on their
arrival they were greeted in terms feigned for the purpose, that
their arrival was looked upon by the general as a happy and seasonable
circumstance, for they had come when the other army was just on
the point of setting out. After which they proceeded to refresh
themselves. The authors of the mutiny, having been conveyed to their
lodgings by proper persons, were apprehended by the tribunes without
any disturbance, and thrown into chains. At the fourth watch the
baggage belonging to the army, which, as it was pretended, was
about to march, began to set out. As soon as it was light the troops
marched, but were stopped at the gate, and guards were sent round to
all the gates to prevent any one going out of the city. Then those who
had arrived the day before, having been summoned to an assembly, ran
in crowds into the forum to the tribunal of the general, with the
presumptuous purpose of intimidating him by their shouts. At the same
time that the general mounted the tribunal, the armed troops, which
had been brought back from the gates, spread themselves around the
rear of the unarmed assembly. Then all their insolence subsided; and,
as they afterwards confessed, nothing terrified them so much as the
unexpected vigour and hue of the general, whom they had supposed they
should see in a sickly state, and his countenance, which was such as
they declared that they did not remember to have ever seen it even in
battle. He sat silent for a short time till he was informed that the
instigators of the mutiny were brought into the forum, and that every
thing was now in readiness.

27. Then, a herald having obtained silence, he thus began: "I imagined
that language would never fail me in which to address my army; not
that I have ever accustomed myself to speaking rather than action,
but because, having been kept in a camp almost from my boyhood, I had
become familiar with the dispositions of soldiers. But I am at a loss
both for sentiments and expressions with which to address you, whom I
know not even by what name I ought to call. Can I call you countrymen,
who have revolted from your country? or soldiers, who have rejected
the command and authority of your general, and violated the solemn
obligation of your oath? Can I call you enemies? I recognise the
persons, faces, dress, and mien of fellow countrymen; but I perceive
the actions, expressions, intentions, and feelings of enemies. For
what have you wished and hoped for, but what the Ilergetians and
Lacetanians did. Yet they followed Mandonius and Indibilis, men of
royal rank, who were the leaders of their mad project; you conferred
the auspices and command upon the Umbrian, Atrius, and the Calenian,
Albius. Deny, soldiers, that you were all concerned in this measure,
or that you approved of it when taken. I shall willingly believe, when
you disclaim it, that it was the folly and madness of a few. For the
acts which have been committed are of such a nature, that, if the
whole army participated in them, they could not be expiated without
atonements of tremendous magnitude. Upon these points, like wounds, I
touch with reluctance; but unless touched and handled, they cannot be
cured. For my own part, I believed that, after the Carthaginians
were expelled from Spain, there was not a place in the whole province
where, or any persons to whom, my life was obnoxious; such was the
manner in which I had conducted myself, not only towards my allies,
but even towards my enemies. But lo, even in my own camp, so much was
I deceived in my opinion, the report of my death was not only readily
believed, but anxiously waited for. Not that I wish to implicate you
all in this enormity; for, be assured, if I supposed that the whole of
my army desired my death, I would here immediately expire before your
eyes; nor could I take any pleasure in a life which was odious to my
countrymen and my soldiers. But every multitude is in its nature like
the ocean; which, though in itself incapable of motion, is excited by
storms and winds. So, also, in yourselves there is calm and there are
storms; but the cause and origin of your fury is entirely attributable
to those who led you on; you have caught your madness by contagion.
Nay, even this day you do not appear to me to be aware to what a pitch
of phrensy you have proceeded; what a heinous crime you have dared
to commit against myself, your country, your parents, your children;
against the gods, the witnesses of your oath; against the auspices
under which you serve; against the laws of war, the discipline of your
ancestors, and the majesty of the highest authority. With regard to
myself, I say nothing. You may have believed the report of my death
rather inconsiderately than eagerly. Lastly, suppose me to be such a
man that it could not at all be a matter of astonishment that my army
should be weary of my command, yet what had your country deserved
of you, which you betrayed by making common cause with Mandonius and
Indibilis? What the Roman people, when, taking the command from the
tribunes appointed by their suffrages, you conferred it on private
men? When, not content even with having them for tribunes, you, a
Roman army, conferred the fasces of your general upon men who never
had a slave under their command? Albius and Atrius had their tents in
your general's pavilion. With them the trumpet sounded, from them the
word was taken, they sat upon the tribunal of Scipio, upon whom the
lictor attended, for them the crowd was cleared away as they moved
along, before them the fasces with the axes were carried. When showers
of stones descend, lightnings are darted from the heavens, and animals
give birth to monsters, you consider these things as prodigies. This
is a prodigy which can be expiated by no victims, by no supplications,
without the blood of those men who have dared to commit so great a
crime.

28. "Now, though villany is never guided by reason, yet so far as it
could exist in so nefarious a transaction, I would fain know what was
your design. Formerly, a legion which was sent to garrison Rhegium,
wickedly put to the sword the principal inhabitants and kept
possession of that opulent city through a space of ten years; on
account of which enormity the entire legion, consisting of four
thousand men, were beheaded in the forum at Rome. But they, in the
first place, did not put themselves under the direction of Atrius the
Umbrian, scarcely superior to a scullion, whose name even was ominous,
but of Decius Jubellius, a military tribune; nor did they unite
themselves with Pyrrhus, or with the Samnites or Lucanians, the
enemies of the Roman people. But you made common cause with Mandonius
and Indibilis, and intended also to have united your arms with them.
They intended to have held Rhegium as a lasting settlement, as
the Campanians held Capua, which they took from its ancient Tuscan
inhabitants; and as the Mamertines held Messana in Sicily, without any
design of commencing without provocation a war upon the Roman people
or their allies. Was it your purpose to hold Sucro as a place of
abode? where, had I, your general, left you on my departure after the
reduction of the province, you would have been justified in imploring
the interference of gods and men, because you could not return to your
wives and children. But suppose that you banished from your minds all
recollection of these, as you did of your country and myself; I would
wish to track the course of a wicked design, but not of one utterly
insane. While I was alive, and the rest of the army safe, with which
in one day I took Carthage, with which I routed, put to flight,
and expelled from Spain four generals and four armies of the
Carthaginians; did you, I say, who were only eight thousand men, all
of course of less worth than Albius and Atrius, to whom you subjected
yourselves, hope to wrest the province of Spain out of the hands of
the Roman people? I lay no stress upon my own name, I put it out of
the question. Let it be supposed that I have not been injured by you
in any respect beyond the ready credence of my death. What! if I were
dead, was the state to expire with me? was the empire of the Roman
people to fall with me? Jupiter, most good and great, would not have
permitted that the existence of the city, built under the auspices and
sanction of the gods to last for ever, should terminate with that of
this frail and perishable body. The Roman people have survived those
many and distinguished generals who were all cut off in one war;
Flaminius, Paulus, Gracchus, Posthumius Albinus, Marcus Marcellus,
Titus Quinctius Crispinus, Cneius Fulvius, my kinsmen the Scipios;
and will survive a thousand others who may perish, some by the sword,
others by disease; and would the Roman state have been buried with my
single corpse? You yourselves, here in Spain, when your two generals,
my father and my uncle, fell, chose Septimus Marcius as your general
to oppose the Carthaginians, exulting on account of their recent
victory. And thus I speak, on the supposition that Spain would have
been without a leader. Would Marcus Silanus, who was sent into the
province with the same power and the same command as myself, would
Lucius Scipio my brother, and Caius Laelius, lieutenant-generals, have
been wanting to avenge the majesty of the empire? Could the armies,
the generals themselves, their dignity or their cause, be compared
with one another? And even had you got the better of all these, would
you bear arms in conjunction with the Carthaginians against your
country, against your countrymen? Would you wish that Africa should
rule Italy, and Carthage the city of Rome? If so, for what offence on
the part of your country?

29. "An unjust sentence of condemnation, and a miserable and
undeserved banishment, formerly induced Coriolanus to go and fight
against his country; he was restrained, however, by private duty from
public parricide. What grief, what resentment instigated you? Was the
delay of your pay for a few days, during the illness of your general,
a reason of sufficient weight for you to declare war against your
country? to revolt from the Roman people and join the Ilergetians?
to leave no obligation, divine or human, unviolated? Without doubt,
soldiers, you were mad; nor was the disease which seized my frame more
violent than that with which your minds were affected. I shrink with
horror from the relation of what men believed, what they hoped and
wished. Let oblivion cover all these things if possible; if not,
however it be, let them be covered in silence. I must confess my
speech must have appeared to you severe and harsh, but how much more
harsh, think you, must your actions be than my words! Do you think it
reasonable that I should suffer all the acts which you have committed,
and that you should not bear with patience even to hear them
mentioned? But you shall not be reproached even with these things any
further. I could wish that you might as easily forget them as I shall.
Therefore, as far as relates to the general body of you, if you repent
of the error you have committed, I shall have received sufficient and
more than sufficient atonement for it. Albius the Calenian, and Atrius
the Umbrian, with the rest of the principal movers of this
impious mutiny, shall expiate with their blood the crime they have
perpetrated. To yourselves, if you have returned to a sound state
of mind, the sight of their punishment ought not only to be not
unpleasant, but even gratifying; for there are no persons to whom the
measures they have taken are more hostile and injurious than to
you." He had scarcely finished speaking, when, according to the plan
preconcerted, every object of terror was at once presented to their
eyes and ears. The troops, which had formed a circle round the
assembly, clashed their swords against their shields; the herald's
voice was heard citing by name the persons who had been condemned in
the council; the culprits were dragged naked into the midst of the
assembly, and at the same time all the apparatus for punishment was
brought forth. They were tied to the stake, scourged with rods, and
decapitated; while those who were present were so benumbed with fear,
that not only no expression of dissatisfaction at the severity of the
punishment, but not even a groan was heard. They were then all dragged
out, the place was cleared, and the men cited by name took the oath of
allegiance to Scipio before the military tribunes, each receiving
his full demand of pay as he answered to his name. Such was the
termination and result which the insurrection of the soldiers, which
began at Sucro, met with.

30. During the time of these transactions, Hanno, the
lieutenant-general of Mago, having been sent from Gades to the river
Baetis with a small body of Africans, by tempting the Spaniards with
money, armed as many as four thousand men; but afterwards, being
deprived of his camp by Lucius Marcius, and losing the principal part
of his troops in the confusion occasioned by its capture, and some
also in the flight, for the cavalry pursued them closely while they
were dispersed, he made his escape with a few attendants. During these
transactions on the river Baetis, Laelius in the mean time, sailing
out of the straits into the ocean, came with his fleet before Carteia,
a city situated on the coast of the ocean, where the sea begins
to expand itself, after being confined in a narrow strait. He had
entertained hopes of having Gades betrayed to him without a contest,
persons having come unsolicited into the Roman camp to make promises
to that effect, as has been before mentioned. The plot was discovered
before it was ripe, and all having been apprehended, were placed by
Mago in the hands of Adherbal the praetor, to be conveyed to Carthage.
Adherbal, having put the conspirators on board a quinquereme, sent
it in advance, because it sailed slower than a trireme, and followed
himself at a moderate distance with eight triremes. The quinquereme
was just entering the strait, when Laelius, who had himself also
sailed out of the harbour of Carteia in a quinquereme, followed by
seven triremes, bore down upon Adherbal and his triremes, feeling
assured that the trireme, when once caught in the rapid strait, would
not be able to return against the opposing current. The Carthaginian,
alarmed by the suddenness of the affair, hesitated for some little
time whether he should follow the trireme, or turn his prows against
the enemy. This very delay put it out of his power to decline an
action, for they were now within a weapon's cast, and the enemy were
bearing down upon him on all sides. The current also had rendered
it impossible to manage the ships. Nor was the action like a naval
engagement, inasmuch as it was in no respect subject to the control
of the will, nor afforded any opportunity for the exercise of skill
or method. The nature of the strait and the tide, which solely and
entirely governed the contest, carried the ships against those of
their own and the enemy's party indiscriminately, though striving in
a contrary direction; so that you might see one ship which was flying
whirled back by an eddy and driven against the victors, and another
which was engaged in pursuit, if it had fallen into an opposite
current, turning itself away as if for flight. And when actually
engaged, one ship while bearing down upon another with its beak
directed against it, assuming an oblique position itself, received a
stroke from the beak of the other; while another which lay with its
side exposed to the enemy, receiving a sudden impulse, was turned
round so as to present its prow. While the triremes were thus engaged
in a doubtful and uncertain contest, in which every thing was governed
by chance, the Roman quinquereme, whether being more manageable in
consequence of its weight, or by means of more banks of oars making
its way through the eddies, sunk two triremes, and swept off the oars
from one side of another, while sailing by it with great violence.
The rest too, had they come in its way, it would have disabled; but
Adherbal, with his remaining four ships, sailed over into Africa.

31. Laelius returned victorious into Carteia; and hearing there
what had occurred at Gades, that the plot had been discovered, the
conspirators sent to Carthage, and that the hopes which had brought
them there had been completely frustrated, he sent a message to
Lucius Marcius, to the effect that, unless they wished to waste time
uselessly in lying before Gades, they should return to the general;
and Marcius consenting to the proposal, they both returned to Carthage
a few days after. In consequence of their departure, Mago not only
obtained a temporary relief from the dangers which beset him on all
sides, both by sea and land, but also on hearing of the rebellion
of the Ilergetians, conceived hopes of recovering Spain, and sent
messengers to Carthage to the senate, who, at the same time that they
represented to them in exaggerated terms both the intestine dissension
in the Roman camp and the defection of their allies, might exhort them
to send succours by which the empire of Spain, which had been handed
down to them by their ancestors, might be regained. Mandonius and
Indibilis, retiring within their borders, remained quiet for a
little time, not knowing what course to take, till they knew what was
determined upon respecting the mutiny; but not distrusting that if
Scipio pardoned the error of his own countrymen, they also might
obtain the same. But when the severe punishment inflicted came to
be generally known, concluding that their offence also would be
considered as demanding a similar expiation, they again summoned their
countrymen to arms; and assembling the auxiliaries which had joined
them before, they crossed over into the Sedetanian territory, where
they had had a fixed camp at the beginning of the revolt, with twenty
thousand foot and two thousand five hundred horse.

32. Scipio having without difficulty regained the affection of his
soldiers, both by his punctuality in discharging the arrears of pay to
all, as well the guilty as the innocent, and particularly by the looks
and language of reconciliation towards all, before he quitted Carthage
summoned an assembly; and after inveighing at large against the
perfidy of the petty princes who were in rebellion, declared "that the
feelings with which he set out to take revenge for their villany were
widely different from those with which he lately corrected the error
committed by his countrymen. That on the latter occasion, he had with
groans and tears, as though he were cutting his own vitals, expiated
either the imprudence or the guilt of eight thousand men with the
heads of thirty; but now he was going to the destruction of the
Ilergetians with joyful and animated feelings: for they were neither
natives of the same soil, nor united with him by any bond of society.
The only connexion which did subsist between them, that of honour and
friendship, they had themselves severed by their wicked conduct." When
he looked at the troops which composed his army, besides that he saw
that they were all either of his own country, or allies and of the
Latin confederacy; he was also strongly affected by the circumstance,
that there was scarcely a soldier in it who was not brought out of
Italy into that country either by his uncle, Cneius Scipio, who was
the first of the Roman name who had come into that province, or by his
father when consul, or by himself. That they were all accustomed to
the name and auspices of the Scipios; that it was his wish to take
them home to their country to receive a well-earned triumph; and
that he hoped that they would support him when he put up for the
consulship, as if the honour sought were to be shared in common by
them all. With regard to the expedition which they were just going to
undertake, that the man who considered it as a war must be forgetful
of his own achievements. That, by Hercules, Mago, who had fled for
safety with a few ships beyond the limits of the world into an island
surrounded by the ocean, was a source of greater concern to him than
the Ilergetians; for in it there was both a Carthaginian general and a
Carthaginian army, whatever might be its numbers; while here were only
robbers and leaders of robbers, who, though they possessed sufficient
energy for ravaging the lands of their neighbours, burning their
houses, and carrying off their cattle, yet would have none at all in
a regular and pitched battle; and who would come to the encounter
relying more on the swiftness with which they can fly than on their
arms. "Accordingly," he said, "that he had thought it right to quell
the Ilergetians before he quitted the province, not because he saw
that any danger could arise from them, or that a war of greater
importance could grow out of these proceedings; but in the first
place, that a revolt of so heinous a character might not go
unpunished, and in the next place, that not a single enemy might be
said to be left in a province which had been subdued with such valour
and success. He bid them, therefore, follow him, with the assistance
of the gods, not so much to make war upon, for the contest was
not with an enemy who was upon an equality with them, but to take
vengeance on the basest of men."


33. After this harangue he dismissed them, with orders to get
themselves in readiness in every respect for marching the next day;
when, setting out, he arrived at the river Iberus in ten days. Then
crossing the river, he, on the fourth day, pitched his camp within
sight of the enemy. Before him was a plain enclosed on all sides by
mountains. Into the valley thus formed Scipio ordered some cattle,
taken chiefly from the lands of the enemy, to be driven, in order to
excite the rapacity of the barbarians, and then sent some light-armed
troops as a protection for them, directing Laelius to charge the enemy
from a place of concealment when they were engaged in skirmishing. A
mountain which projected conveniently concealed the ambuscade of the
cavalry, and the battle began without delay. The Spaniards, as soon
as they saw the cattle at a distance, rushed upon them, and the
light-armed troops attacked the Spaniards while occupied with their
booty. At first they annoyed each other with missiles; but afterwards,
having discharged their light weapons, which were calculated to
provoke rather than to decide the contest, they drew their swords,
and began to engage foot to foot. The fight between the infantry would
have been doubtful, but that the cavalry then came up, and not only,
charging them in front, trod down all before them, but some also,
riding round by the foot of the hill, presented themselves on their
rear, so that they might intercept the greater part of them; and
consequently the carnage was greater than usually takes place in light
and skirmishing engagements. The resentment of the barbarians was
rather inflamed by this adverse battle, than their spirits depressed.
Accordingly, that they might not appear cast down, they marched out
into the field the following day as soon as it was light. The valley,
which was confined, as has been before stated, would not contain all
their forces. About two-thirds of their foot and all their cavalry
came down to the engagement. The remainder of their infantry they
stationed on the declivity of the hill. Scipio, conceiving that the
confined nature of the ground would be in his favour, both because the
Roman troops were better adapted for fighting in a contracted space
than the Spanish, and also because the enemy had come down and formed
their line on ground which would not contain all their forces, applied
his mind to a new expedient. For he considered that he could not
himself cover his flanks with his cavalry, and that those of the enemy
which they had led out, together with their infantry, would be unable
to act. Accordingly he ordered Laelius to lead the cavalry round by
the hills as secretly as possible, and separate, as far as he could,
the fight between the cavalry from that between the infantry. He
himself drew up the whole body of his infantry against the enemy,
placing four cohorts in front, because he could not extend his line
further. He commenced the battle without delay, in order that the
contest itself might divert the attention of the enemy, and prevent
their observing the cavalry which were passing along the hills. Nor
were they aware that they had come round before they beard the noise
occasioned by the engagement of the cavalry in their rear. Thus there
were two battles; two lines of infantry and two bodies of horse being
engaged within the space occupied by the plain lengthwise; and that
because it was too narrow to admit of both descriptions of force being
engaged in the same lines. When the Spanish infantry could not assist
their cavalry, nor their cavalry the infantry, and the infantry, which
had rashly engaged in the plain, relying on the assistance of the
cavalry, were being cut to pieces, the cavalry themselves also, being
surrounded and unable to stand the shock of the enemy's infantry
in front, (for by this time their own infantry were completely
overthrown,) nor of the cavalry in their rear, after having formed
themselves into a circle and defended themselves for a long time,
their horses standing still, were all slain to a man. Nor did one
person, horse or foot, survive of those who were engaged in the
valley. The third part, which stood upon the hill rather to view the
contest in security than to take any part of it upon themselves, had
both time and space to fly; among whom the princes themselves also
fled, having escaped during the confusion, before the army was
entirely surrounded.

34. The same day, besides other booty, the camp of the Spaniards was
taken, together with about three thousand men. Of the Romans and their
allies as many as one thousand two hundred fell in that battle; more
than three thousand were wounded. The victory would have been less
bloody had the battle taken place in a plain more extended, and
affording facilities for flight. Indibilis, renouncing his purpose
of carrying on war, and considering that his safest reliance in his
present distress was on the tried honour and clemency of Scipio, sent
his brother Mandonius to him; who, falling prostrate before his knees,
ascribed his conduct to the fatal frenzy of those times, when, as it
were from the effects of some pestilential contagion, not only the
Ilergetians and Lacetanians, but even the Roman camp had been infected
with madness. He said that his own condition, and that of his brother
and the rest of his countrymen, was such, that either, if it seemed
good, they would give back their lives to him from whom they had
received them, or if preserved a second time, they would in return for
that favour devote their lives for ever to the service of him to whom
alone they were indebted for them. They before placed their reliance
on their cause, when they had not yet had experience of his clemency,
but now, on the contrary, placing no reliance on their cause, all
their hopes were centred in the mercy of the conqueror. It was a
custom with the Romans, observed from ancient times, not to exercise
any authority over others, as subject to them, in cases where they did
not enter into friendship with them by a league and on equal terms,
until they had surrendered all they possessed, sacred and profane;
until they had received hostages, taken their arms from them, and
placed garrisons in their cities. In the present instance, however,
Scipio, after inveighing at great length against Mandonius, who stood
before him, and Indibilis, who was absent, said "that they had justly
forfeited their lives by their wicked conduct, but that they should
be preserved by the kindness of himself and the Roman people. Further,
that he would neither take their arms from them, (which only served as
pledges to those who feared rebellion,) but would leave them the
free use of them, and their minds free from fear; nor would he take
vengeance on their unoffending hostages, but upon themselves, should
they revolt, not inflicting punishment upon a defenceless but an armed
enemy. That he gave them the liberty of choosing whether they would
have the Romans favourable to them or incensed against them, for they
had experienced them under both circumstances." Thus Mandonius was
allowed to depart, having only a pecuniary fine imposed upon him to
furnish the means of paying the troops. Scipio himself, having sent
Marcius in advance into the Farther Spain, and sent Silanus back to
Tarraco, waited a few days until the Ilergetians had paid the fine
imposed upon them; and then, setting out with some troops lightly
equipped, overtook Marcius when he was now drawing near to the ocean.

35. The negotiation which had some time before commenced respecting
Masinissa, was delayed from one cause after another; for the Numidian
was desirous by all means of conferring with Scipio in person, and of
touching his right hand in confirmation of their compact. This was the
cause of Scipio's undertaking at this time a journey of such a length,
and into so remote a quarter. Masinissa, when at Gades, received
information from Marcius of the approach of Scipio, and by pretending
that his horses were injured by being pent up in the island, and that
they not only caused a scarcity of every thing to the rest, but also
felt it themselves; moreover that his cavalry were beginning to lose
their energy for want of employment; he prevailed upon Mago to allow
him to cross over to the continent, to plunder the adjacent country
of Spain. Having passed over, he sent forward three chiefs of the
Numidians, to fix a time and place for the conference desiring that
two might be detained by Scipio as hostages. The third being sent back
to conduct Masinissa to the place to which he was directed to bring
him, they came to the conference with a few attendants. The Numidian
had long before been possessed with admiration of Scipio from the fame
of his exploits; and his imagination had pictured to him the idea of
a grand and magnificent person; but his veneration for him was still
greater when he appeared before him. For besides that his person,
naturally majestic in the highest degree, was rendered still more
so by his flowing hair, by his dress, which was not in a precise and
ornamental style, but truly masculine and soldier-like, and also by
his age, for he was then in full vigour of body, to which the bloom of
youth, renewed as it were after his late illness, had given additional
fulness and sleekness. The Numidian, who was in a manner thunderstruck
by the mere effect of the meeting, thanked him for having sent home
his brother's son. He affirmed, that from that time he had sought for
this opportunity, which being at length presented to him, by favour of
the immortal gods, he had not allowed to pass without seizing it. That
he desired to serve him and the Roman people in such a manner, as that
no one foreigner should have aided the Roman interest with greater
zeal than himself. Although he had long since wished it, he had not
been so able to effect it in Spain, a foreign and strange country; but
that it would be easy for him to do so in that country in which he had
been born and educated, under the hope of succeeding to his father's
throne. If, indeed, the Romans should send the same commander, Scipio,
into Africa, he entertained a well-grounded hope that Carthage would
continue to exist but a short time. Scipio saw and heard him with the
highest delight, both because he knew that he was the first man in all
the cavalry of the enemy, and because the youth himself exhibited in
his manner the strongest proof of a noble spirit. After mutual pledges
of faith, he set out on his return to Tarraco. Masinissa, having laid
waste the adjacent lands, with the permission of the Romans, that he
might not appear to have passed over into the continent to no purpose,
returned to Gades.

36. Mago, who despaired of success in Spain, of which he had
entertained hopes, from the confidence inspired first by the mutiny of
the soldiers, and afterwards by the defection of Indibilis, received a
message from Carthage, while preparing to cross over into Africa, that
the senate ordered him to carry over into Italy the fleet he had at
Gades; and hiring there as many as he could of the Gallic and Ligurian
youth, to form a junction with Hannibal, and not to suffer the war to
flag which had been begun with so much vigour and still more success.
For this object Mago not only received a supply of money from
Carthage, but himself also exacted as much as he could from the
inhabitants of Gades, plundering not only their treasury, but their
temples, and compelling them individually to bring contributions of
gold and silver, for the public service. As he sailed along the coast
of Spain, he landed his troops not far from New Carthage, and after
wasting the neighbouring lands, brought his fleet thence to the city.
Here, keeping his troops in the ships by day, he landed them by night,
and marched them to that part of the wall at which Carthage had been
captured by the Romans; for he had supposed both that the garrison
by which the city was occupied was not sufficiently strong for its
protection, and that some of the townsmen would act on the hope of
effecting a change. But messengers who came with the utmost haste
and alarm from the country, brought intelligence at once of the
devastation of the lands, the flight of the rustics, and the approach
of the enemy. Besides, the fleet had been observed during the day, and
it was evident that there was some object in choosing a station before
the city. Accordingly, the troops were kept drawn up and armed within
the gate which looks towards the lake and the sea. When the enemy,
rushing forward in a disorderly manner, with a crowd of seamen mingled
with soldiers, came up to the walls with more noise than strength;
the gate being suddenly thrown open, the Romans sallied forth with a
shout, and pursued the enemy, routed and put to flight at the first
onset and discharge of their weapons, all the way to the shore,
killing a great number of them; nor would one of them have survived
the battle and the flight, had not the ships, which had been brought
to the shore, afforded them a refuge in their dismay. Great alarm and
confusion also prevailed in the ships, occasioned by their drawing up
the ladders, lest the enemy should force their way in together with
their own men, and by cutting away their halsers and anchors that they
might not lose time in weighing them. Many, too, met with a miserable
death while endeavouring to swim to the ships, not knowing, in
consequence of the darkness, which way to direct their course, or what
to avoid. On the following day, after the fleet had fled back to the
ocean whence it had come, as many as eight hundred were slain between
the wall and the shore, and two thousand stand of arms were found.

37. Mago, on his return to Gades, not being allowed to enter the
place, brought his fleet to shore at Cimbis, a place not far distant
from Gades; whence he sent ambassadors with complaints of their having
closed their gates upon a friend and ally. While they endeavoured
to excuse themselves on the ground that it was done by a disorderly
assembly of their people, who were exasperated against them on account
of some acts of plunder which had been committed by the soldiers when
they were embarking, he enticed their suffetes, which is the name
of the chief magistracy among the Carthaginians, together with
their quaestor, to come to a conference; when he ordered them to be
lacerated with stripes and crucified. He then passed over with his
fleet to the island Pityusa, distant about a hundred miles from the
continent, and inhabited at that time by Carthaginians; on which
account the fleet was received in a friendly manner; and not only were
provisions liberally furnished, but also young men and arms were given
them to reinforce their fleet. Rendered confident by these supplies,
the Carthaginians crossed over to the Balearian islands, fifty miles
distant. The Balearian islands are two in number; one larger than the
other, and more powerful in men and arms; having also a harbour in
which, as it was now the latter end of autumn, he believed he might
winter conveniently. But here his fleet was opposed with as much
hostility as he would have met with had the Romans inhabited that
island. The only weapons they used at that time, and which they now
principally employ, were slings; nor is there an individual of any
other nation who possesses such a degree of excellence in the skilful
use of this weapon, as the Balearians universally possess over the
rest of the world. Such a quantity of stones, therefore, was poured
like the thickest hail on the fleet, when approaching the shore, that,
not daring to enter the harbour, they made off for the main. They
then passed over to the lesser Balearian island, which is of a fertile
soil, but not equally powerful in men and arms. Here, therefore, they
landed, and pitched a camp in a strong position above the harbour;
and having made themselves masters of the city and country without a
contest, they enlisted two thousand auxiliaries, which they sent to
Carthage, and then hauled their ships on shore for the winter. After
Mago had left the coast of the ocean, the people of Gades surrendered
to the Romans.

38. Such were the transactions in Spain under the conduct and auspices
of Publius Scipio. Scipio himself, having put Lucius Lentulus and
Lucius Manlius Acidinus in charge of the province, returned to Rome
with ten ships. Having obtained an audience of the senate without the
city, in the temple of Bellona, he gave an account of the services he
had performed in Spain; how often he had fought pitched battles, how
many towns he had taken by force from the enemy, and what nations he
had brought under the dominion of the Roman people. He stated that he
had gone into Spain against four generals, and four victorious armies,
but that he had not left a Carthaginian in that country. On account of
these services he rather tried his prospect of a triumph, than pressed
it pertinaciously; for it was quite clear, that no one had triumphed
up to that time for services performed, when not invested with a
magistracy. When the senate was dismissed he entered the city, and
carried before him into the treasury fourteen thousand three hundred
and forty-two pounds of silver, and a great quantity of coined silver.
Lucius Veturius Philo then held the assembly for the election
of consuls, when all the centuries, with the strongest marks of
attachment, named Publius Scipio as consul. Publius Licinius Crassus,
chief pontiff, was joined with him as his colleague. It is recorded,
that this election was attended by a greater number of persons than
any other during the war. People had come together from all quarters,
not only to give their votes, but also for the purpose of seeing
Publius Scipio. They ran in crowds, not only to his house, but also to
the Capitol; where he was engaged in offering a sacrifice of a
hundred oxen to Jupiter, which he had vowed in Spain, impressed with
a presentiment, that as Caius Lutatius had terminated the former Punic
war, so Publius Scipio would terminate the present; and that as he had
driven the Carthaginians out of every part of Spain, so he would
drive them out of Italy; and dooming Africa to him as his province, as
though the war in Italy were at an end. The assembly was then held
for the election of praetors. Two were elected who were then plebeian
aediles, namely, Spurius Lucretius and Cneius Octavius; and of private
persons, Cneius Servilius Caepio and Lucius Aemilius Papus.

In the fourteenth year of the Punic war, Publius Cornelius Scipio and
Publius Licinius Crassus entered on the consulship, when the provinces
assigned to the consuls were, to Scipio, Sicily, without drawing lots,
his colleague not opposing it, because the care of the sacred affairs
required the presence of the chief pontiff in Italy; to Crassus,
Bruttium. The provinces of the praetors were then put to the
determination of lots, when the city jurisdiction fell to Servilius;
Ariminum, for so they called Gaul, to Spurius Lucretius; Sicily to
Lucius Aemilius; Sardinia to Cneius Octavius. A senate was held in
the Capitol, when, on the motion of Publius Scipio, a decree was made,
that he should exhibit the games which he had vowed in Spain during
the mutiny of the soldiers, out of the money which he had himself
brought into the treasury.

39. He then introduced into the senate the Saguntine ambassadors,
the eldest of whom thus spoke: "Although there remains no degree of
suffering, conscript fathers, beyond what we have endured, in order
that we might keep our faith towards you to the last; yet such are
the benefits which we have received both from yourselves and your
generals, that we do not repent of the calamities to which we have
ourselves been exposed. On our account you undertook the war, and
having undertaken it, you have continued to carry it on for now the
fourteenth year with such inflexible perseverance, that frequently you
have both yourselves been reduced, and have brought the Carthaginians
to the last extremity. At a time when you had a war of such a
desperate character in Italy, and Hannibal as your antagonist, you
sent your consul with an army into Spain, to collect, as it were, the
remains of our wreck. Publius and Cneius Cornelius, from the time they
entered the province, never ceased from adopting such measures as were
favourable to us and detrimental to our enemies. First of all,
they restored to us our town; and, sending persons to collect our
countrymen, who were sold and dispersed throughout all Spain, restored
them from a state of slavery to freedom. When our circumstances, from
being wretched in the extreme, had nearly assumed a desirable state,
your generals Publius and Cneius Cornelius fell more to be lamented by
ourselves even than by you. Then truly we seemed to have been dragged
back from distant places to our ancient abode, to perish again, and
witness the second destruction of our country. Nor did it appear
that there was any need forsooth of a Carthaginian army or general
to effect our destruction; but that we might be annihilated by the
Turdulans, our most inveterate enemies, who had also been the cause of
our former overthrow. When suddenly, to our great surprise, you sent
us this Publius Scipio, in seeing whom declared consul, and in having
it in our power to carry word back to our countrymen that we have
seen it, for on him our hopes and safety entirely rest, we consider
ourselves the most fortunate of all the Saguntines. He, when he had
taken a great number of the cities of your enemies in Spain, on all
occasions separated the Saguntines out of the mass of captives, and
sent them back to their country; and lastly, by his arms he reduced to
so low a state Turdetania, which harboured such animosity against
us, that if that nation continued to flourish it was impossible that
Saguntum could stand, that it not only was not an object of fear to
us, but, and may I say it without incurring odium, not even to our
posterity. We see the city of those persons demolished, to gratify
whom Hannibal destroyed Saguntum. We receive tribute from their lands,
which is not more acceptable to us from the advantage we derive from
it than from revenge. In consideration of these benefits, than which
we could not hope or wish for greater from the immortal gods, the
senate and people of Saguntum have sent us ten ambassadors to you
to return their thanks; and at the same time to offer you their
congratulations on your having carried on your operations in Spain
and Italy so successfully of late years, that you have subdued by
your arms, and have gotten possession of Spain, not only as far as
the river Iberus, but also to where the ocean forms the limit of the
remotest regions of the world; while in Italy you have left nothing
to the Carthaginian except so much space as the rampart of his camp
encloses. We have been desired, not only to return thanks for these
blessings to Jove most good and great, the guardian deity of the
capitoline citadel, but also, if you should permit us, to carry into
the Capitol this present of a golden crown in token of victory. We
request that you would permit us so to do; and, if you think
proper, that you would, by your authority, perpetuate and ratify the
advantages which your generals have conferred upon us." The senate
replied to the Saguntines, "that the destruction and restoration of
Saguntum would form a monument to all the nations of the world of
social faith preserved on both sides. That, in restoring Saguntum, and
rescuing its citizens from slavery, their generals had acted properly,
regularly, and according to the wishes of the senate; and that,
whatever other acts of kindness they had done to them, were in
conformity with the wishes of the senate. That they gave them
permission to deposit their present in the Capitol." Orders were then
given to furnish the ambassadors with apartments and entertainment,
and that not less than ten thousand _asses_ should be given to each as
a present. After this, the rest of the embassies were introduced and
heard. On the request of the Saguntines that they might go and take
a view of Italy as far as they could with safety, they were furnished
with guides, and letters were sent to the several towns, requiring
them to entertain the Spaniards kindly. The senate then took into
consideration the state of public affairs, the levying troops, and the
provinces.

40. It being generally reported that Africa, as a new province, was
destined for Publius Scipio without casting lots; and he himself, not
content with any moderate share of glory, asserting that he had been
declared consul, not only for prosecuting, but for finishing the war;
that that object could not be accomplished by any other means than
by his transporting an army into Africa; and himself openly declaring
that he would do it through the people if the senate opposed him; the
design by no means pleased the principal senators; and when the rest,
either through fear or a wish to ingratiate themselves with him, only
murmured, Quintus Fabius Maximus, being asked his opinion, thus spoke:
"I know, conscript fathers, that by many of you the question which is
this day agitated is considered as already determined; and that the
man who shall deliver his sentiments on the subject of making Africa a
province, as a new proposal, will speak to little purpose. But, in the
first place, I cannot see how it can be considered as determined,
that Africa shall be the province of the consul, that brave and active
officer, when neither the senate have voted nor the people ordered
that it should be constituted a province this year. In the next
place, if it is determined, I think the consul is to blame, who,
by pretending to consult the senate on a question already decided,
insults that body, and not the senator only who delivers his
sentiments in his place on the subject of deliberation. Now I am well
aware, that by disapproving of this excessive eagerness to pass over
into Africa, I subject myself to two imputations: one grounded on the
caution inherent in my disposition, which young men may if they
please call cowardice and sloth, so long as we have the consolation
to reflect, that though hitherto the measures of others have always
appeared on the first view of them the more plausible, mine on
experience have proved the sounder. The other imputation is that of
jealousy and envy towards the daily increasing glory of this most
valiant consul. But if neither my past life and character, nor a
dictatorship, together with five consulships, and so much glory
acquired, both in peace and war, that I am more likely to loathe it
than desire more, exempt me from such a suspicion, let my age at least
acquit me. For what rivalry can there exist between myself and a man
who is not equal in years even to my son? When I was dictator, when
as yet in the possession of full vigour, and engaged in a series of
affairs of the utmost magnitude, no one heard me, either in the senate
or in the popular assembly, express any reluctance to have the command
equally shared between myself and the master of the horse, at the
time when he was maligning me; a proposition which no one ever heard
mention of before. I chose to bring it about by actions rather than
by words, that he who was placed on the same footing with me in the
judgment of others, should soon by his own confession declare me his
superior. Much less, after having passed through these honours, would
I propose to myself to enter the lists of competition and rivalry with
a man in the very bloom of youth. And that, forsooth, in order that
Africa, if it shall have been denied to him, may be assigned as a
province to me, who am now weary of life, and not merely of active
employments. I must live and die with that share of glory which I have
already acquired. I prevented Hannibal from conquering, in order
that he might even be conquered by you, whose powers are now in full
vigour.

41. "It is but fair, Publius Cornelius, that you should pardon me,
if I, who in my own case never preferred the honour of men to the
interest of the state, do not place even your fame before the public
good. Although, if there were either no war in Italy, or an enemy of
such a description that no glory could be acquired from conquering
him, the man who would retain you in Italy, though actuated by a
desire to promote the public good, might appear to wish to deprive
you of an opportunity of acquiring renown when he objected to your
removing the war. But since Hannibal is our antagonist, who is
besieging Italy for now the fourteenth year, with an army unimpaired,
will you have reason to be dissatisfied, Publius Cornelius, with the
glory you will acquire, if you in your consulate shall drive out of
Italy an enemy who has been the cause of so many deaths and so many
disasters to us, and if you should enjoy the distinction of having
terminated this, as Caius Lutatius did the former Punic war? Unless
either Hamilcar is a general more worthy of consideration than
Hannibal, or a war in Africa of more importance, or a victory there
greater and more glorious, (should it be our lot to be victorious
while you are consul,) than one here. Would you rather have drawn away
Hamilcar from Drepanum and Eryx than have expelled the Carthaginians
and Hannibal from Italy? Although you naturally prize more highly
the renown which you have acquired than that which you hope for, yet
surely you would not boast more of having freed Spain from war than of
having freed Italy. Hannibal is not as yet in such a state as that
the man who prefers another war would not appear to have feared rather
than to have despised him. Why then do you not apply yourself to
this, and carry the war in a straightforward manner to the place where
Hannibal is, rather than pursue that circuitous course, according to
which you expect that when you shall have crossed over into
Africa Hannibal will follow you thither? Do you seek to obtain the
distinguished honour of having finished the Punic war? After you have
defended your own possessions, for this is naturally the first object,
then proceed to attack those of others. Let there be peace in Italy
before war in Africa; and let us be free from fear ourselves before
we bring it upon others. If it is possible that both objects may be
accomplished under your conduct and auspices, having first conquered
Hannibal here, then go and lay siege to Carthage; but if one or other
of these conquests must be left for the succeeding consuls, the former
is both the greater and more glorious, and also the cause of the
second. For now indeed, besides that the treasury is not able to
maintain two different armies, one in Italy and one in Africa; besides
that we nave nothing left from which we may equip fleets or be able to
furnish provisions, who knows not how great danger would be incurred?
Publius Licinius will wage war in Italy, Publius Scipio in Africa.
What if, (an omen which may all the gods avert, and which my mind
shrinks back with alarm from mentioning,--but what has happened may
happen again,--) what I say, if Hannibal, having gained a victory,
should advance to the city? Shall we then at length send for you, our
consul, out of Africa, as we formerly sent for Quintus Fulvius from
Capua? What shall we say when we consider that in Africa also both
parties will be liable to the chances of war? Let your own house, your
father and your uncle, slain together with their armies within the
space of thirty days, after that, having spent several years in the
performance of the most important services, both by sea and land, they
had inspired foreign nations with the highest reverence for the name
of the Roman people and your family, be a warning to you. The day
would fail me were I disposed to enumerate the kings and generals
who have brought the most signal calamities upon themselves and their
armies by rashly passing into the territories of their enemies. The
Athenians, a state distinguished for prudence, leaving a war at home,
sent a great fleet into Sicily at the instance of a youth equally
enterprising and illustrious; but by one naval battle they reduced
their flourishing republic to a state of humiliation from which she
could never recover.

42. "But I am adducing foreign and too remote examples. That same
Africa, and Marcus Atilius, who was a signal example of both
extremes of fortune, may form a warning to us. Without doubt, Publius
Cornelius, when you shall have a view of Africa from the sea, the
reduction of your province of Spain will appear to you to have been a
mere matter of sport and pastime. For what similarity is there between
them? After sailing along the coast of Italy and Gaul to Emporiae
without any enemy to oppose you, you brought your fleet to land at
a city of our allies. There landing your soldiers, you marched them
through countries entirely secure from danger to Tarraco, to join the
allies and friends of the Roman people. After that, from Tarraco you
marched through places garrisoned by Roman troops. On the banks of the
Iberus were the armies of your father and your uncle, rendered still
more furious after the loss of their generals, even by the very
calamity they had suffered. The general, indeed, Lucius Marcius, had
been irregularly constituted and chosen for the time by the suffrages
of the soldiers; but had he been adorned with noble birth and the
regular gradation of preferment, he would have been equal to the most
distinguished generals, from his skill in every art of war. You then
laid siege to Carthage, quite at your leisure, not one of the three
Punic armies coming to the defence of their allies. The rest of your
achievements, nor do I wish to disparage them, are by no means to be
compared with what you will have to do in a war in Africa, where there
is not a single harbour open to receive our fleet, no part of the
country at peace with us, no state in alliance, no king in friendship
with us, no room in any part either to take up a position or to
advance. Whichever way you turn your eyes, all is hostility and
danger. Do you trust in the Numidians and Syphax? Let it suffice to
have trusted in them once. Temerity is not always successful, and the
fraudulent usually pave the way to confidence in small matters, that
when an advantageous opportunity occurs, they may deceive with great
gain. Your father and uncle were not cut off by the arms of their
enemies till they were duped by the treachery of their Celtiberian
allies; nor were you yourself exposed to so much danger from Mago
and Hasdrubal, the generals of your enemies, as from Indibilis and
Mandonius, whom you had received into friendship. Can you place any
confidence in Numidians after having experienced a defection in your
own soldiers? Syphax and Masinissa would rather that they themselves
should have the rule in Africa than the Carthaginians, but that the
Carthaginians should rather than any other state. At present emulation
and the various causes of dispute existing between them incite them
against each other, because the fear of any foreign enemy is remote.
But show them the Roman arms and a body of troops, natives of another
country, and they will run together as if to extinguish a common
conflagration. These same Carthaginians defended Spain in a different
manner from that in which they will defend the walls of their capital,
the temples of their gods, their altars, and their hearths; when their
terrified wives will attend them on the way to the battle, and
their little children will run to them. What, moreover, if the
Carthaginians, feeling sufficiently secure in the harmony subsisting
in Africa, in the attachment of the sovereigns in alliance with them,
and their own fortifications, should, when they see Italy deprived
of the support of yourself and your army, themselves assuming an
offensive attitude, either send a fresh army out of Africa into
Italy, or order Mago, who, it is certain, having passed over from the
Baleares, is now sailing along the coast of Liguria and the Alps, to
form a junction with Hannibal. Without doubt, we should be thrown into
the same state of alarm as we were lately, when Hasdrubal passed over
into Italy; that Hasdrubal, whom you, who are about to blockade, not
Carthage only, but all Africa with your army, allowed to slip out of
your hands into Italy. You will say that he was conquered by you.
For that very reason I should be less willing, not on account of the
commonwealth only, but of yourself, that, after having been defeated,
he should be allowed to march into Italy. Suffer us to ascribe to your
prudence all the successful events which have happened to you and
the empire of the Roman people, and to impute all those of an adverse
nature to the uncertain chances of war and to fortune. The more
meritorious and brave you are, so much the more do your country and
all Italy desire to retain you as their protector. You cannot even
yourself pretend to deny, that where Hannibal is, there is the head
and principal stress of the war, for you profess, that your motive
in crossing over into Africa is to draw Hannibal thither. Whether,
therefore, here or there, it is with Hannibal that you will have to
contend. Will you then, I pray, have more power in Africa and alone,
or here, with your own and your colleague's army united? Is not the
great difference which this makes proved to you even by the recent
precedent of Claudius and Livius, the consuls? What! will Hannibal,
who has now for a long time been unavailingly soliciting succours from
home, be rendered more powerful in men and arms when occupying the
remotest corner of the Bruttian territory, or when near to Carthage
and supported by all Africa? What sort of policy is that of yours, to
prefer fighting where your own forces will be diminished by one half,
and the enemy's greatly augmented, to encountering the enemy when
you will have two armies against one, and that wearied with so many
battles, and so protracted and laborious a service? Consider how far
this policy of yours corresponds with that of your parent. He, setting
out in his consulship for Spain, returned from his province into
Italy, that he might meet Hannibal on his descent from the Alps; while
you are going to leave Italy when Hannibal is there, not because you
consider such a course beneficial to the state, but because you think
it will redound to your own honour and glory; acting in the same
manner as you did when leaving your province and your army without the
sanction of a law, without a decree of the senate, you, a general
of the Roman people, intrusted to two ships the fortune of the
commonwealth and the majesty of the empire, which were then hazarded
in your person. In my estimation, conscript fathers, Publius Cornelius
was elected consul for the service of the state and of us, and not to
forward his own individual interest; and the armies were enlisted for
the protection of the city and of Italy, and not for the consuls,
like kings, to carry into whatever part of the world they please from
motives of vanity."

43. Fabius having made a strong impression on a large portion of the
senate, and especially those advanced in years, by this speech,
which was adapted to the occasion, and also by his authority and his
long-established reputation for prudence; and those who approved
of the counsel of this old man being more numerous than those who
commended the hot spirit of the young one; Scipio is reported thus
to have spoken: "Even Quintus Fabius himself has observed, conscript
fathers, in the commencement of his speech, that in the opinion he
gave a feeling of jealousy might be suspected. And though I dare
not myself charge so great a man with harbouring that feeling, yet,
whether it is owing to a defect in his language, or to the fact, that
suspicion has certainly not been removed. For he has so magnified his
own honours and the fame of his exploits, in order to do away with
the imputation of envy, that it would appear I am in danger of being
rivalled by every obscure person, but not by himself, because, as he
enjoys an eminence above every body else, an eminence to which I do
not dissemble that I also aspire, he is unwilling that I should be
placed upon a level with him. He has represented himself as an old
man, and as one who has gone through every gradation of honour, and me
as below the age even of his son; as if he supposed that the desire
of glory did not exceed the limits of human life, and as if its chief
part had not respect to memory and future ages. I am confident, that
it is usual with all the most exalted minds, to compare themselves,
not only with the illustrious men of the present, but of every age.
For my own part, I do not dissemble that I am desirous, not only to
attain to the share of glory which you possess, Quintus Fabius, but,
(and in saying it I mean no offence,) if I can, even to exceed it. Let
not such a feeling exist in your mind towards me, nor in mine towards
those who are my juniors, as that we should be unwilling that any of
our countrymen should attain to the same celebrity with ourselves; for
that would be a detriment, not to those only who may be the objects
of our envy, but to the state, and almost to the whole human race. He
mentioned what a great degree of danger I should incur, should I cross
over into Africa, so that he appeared solicitous on my account, and
not only for the state and the army. But whence has this concern for
me so suddenly sprung? When my father and uncle were slain; when their
two armies were cut up almost to a man; when Spain was lost; when four
armies of the Carthaginians and four generals kept possession of every
thing by terror and by arms; when a general was sought for to take the
command of that war, and no one came forward besides myself, no one
had the courage to declare himself a candidate; when the Roman people
had conferred the command upon me, though only twenty-four years of
age; why was it that no one at that time made any mention of my age,
of the strength of the enemy, of the difficulty of the war, and of the
recent destruction of my father and uncle? Has some greater disaster
been suffered in Africa now than had at that time befallen us
in Spain? Are there now larger armies in Africa, more and better
generals, than were then in Spain? Was my age then more mature for
conducting a war than now? Can a war with a Carthaginian enemy be
carried on with greater convenience in Spain than in Africa? After
having routed and put to flight four Carthaginian armies; after having
captured by force, or reduced to submission by fear, so many cities;
after having entirely subdued every thing as far as the ocean, so
many petty princes, so many savage nations; after having regained
possession of the whole of Spain, so that no trace of war remains,
it is an easy matter to make light of my services; just as easy as
it would be, should I return victorious from Africa, to make light of
those very circumstances which are now magnified in order that they
may appear formidable, for the purpose of detaining me here. He says
that there is no possibility of entering Africa; that there are no
ports open. He mentions that Marcus Atilius was taken prisoner in
Africa, as if Marcus Atilius had miscarried on his first access to
Africa. Nor does he recollect that the ports of Africa were open to
that very commander, unfortunate as he was; that he performed some
brilliant services during the first year, and continued undefeated
to the last, so far as related to the Carthaginian generals. You will
not, therefore, in the least deter me by that example of yours. If
that disaster had been sustained in the present, and not in the former
war, if lately, and not forty years ago, yet why would it be less
advisable for me to cross over into Africa after Regulus had been
made prisoner there, than into Spain after the Scipios had been slain
there? I should be reluctant to admit that the birth of Xanthippus
the Lacedaemonian was more fortunate for Carthage than mine for my
country. My confidence would be increased by the very circumstance,
that such important consequences depended upon the valour of one
man. But further, we must take warning by the Athenians, who
inconsiderately crossed over into Sicily, leaving a war in their own
country. Why, therefore, since you have leisure to relate Grecian
tales, do you not rather set before us the instance of Agathocles,
king of Syracuse, who, when Sicily was for a long time wasted by a
Punic war, by passing over into this same Africa, removed the war to
the country from whence it came.

44. "But what need is there of ancient and foreign examples to remind
us what sort of thing it is boldly to carry terror against an enemy,
and, removing the danger from oneself, to bring another into peril?
Can there be a stronger instance than Hannibal himself, or one more
to the point? It makes a great difference whether you devastate the
territories of another, or see your own destroyed by fire and sword.
He who brings danger upon another has more spirit than he who repels
it. Add to this, that the terror excited by unknown circumstances is
increased on that account. When you have entered the territory of an
enemy, you may have a near view of his advantages and disadvantages.
Hannibal did not expect that it would come to pass that so many of the
states in Italy would come over to him as did so after the defeat at
Cannae. How much less would any firmness or constancy be experienced
in Africa by the Carthaginians, who are themselves faithless allies,
oppressive and haughty masters! Besides, we, even when deserted by
our allies, stood firm in our own strength, the Roman soldiery. The
Carthaginians possess no native strength. The soldiers they have are
obtained by hire;--Africans and Numidians--people remarkable above
all others for the inconstancy of their attachments. Provided no
impediment arises here, you will hear at once that I have landed, and
that Africa is blazing with war; that Hannibal is preparing for his
departure from this country, and that Carthage is besieged. Expect
more frequent and more joyful despatches from Africa than you received
from Spain. The considerations on which I ground my anticipations are
the good fortune of the Roman people, the gods, the witnesses of the
treaty violated by the enemy, the kings Syphax and Masinissa; on whose
fidelity I will rely in such a manner as that I may be secure from
danger should they prove perfidious. Many things which are not now
apparent, at this distance, the war will develope; and it is the
part of a man, and a general, not to be wanting when fortune presents
itself, and to bend its events to his designs. I shall, Quintus
Fabius, have the opponent you assign me, Hannibal; but I shall rather
draw him after me than be kept here by him. I will compel him to fight
in his own country, and Carthage shall be the prize of victory rather
than the half-ruined forts of the Bruttians. With regard to providing
that the state sustain no injury in the mean time, while I am crossing
over, while I am landing my troops in Africa, while I am advancing
my camp to the walls of Carthage; be not too sure that it is not an
insult to Publius Licinius, the consul, a man of consummate valour,
who did not draw lots for so distant a province merely that, as he was
chief pontiff, he might not be absent from religious affairs, to
say that he is unable to do that, now that the power of Hannibal is
shaken, and in a manner shattered, which you Quintus Fabius, were
able to effect when he was flying victorious throughout all Italy.
By Hercules, even if the war would not be more speedily terminated by
adopting the plan I propose, yet it were consistent with the dignity
of the Roman people, and the high character they enjoy with foreign
kings and nations, to appear to have had spirit not only to defend
Italy, but also to carry hostilities into Africa; and that it should
not be supposed and spread abroad that no Roman general dared what
Hannibal had dared; that in the former Punic war, when the contest was
about Sicily, Africa should have been so often attacked by our fleets
and armies, and that now, when the contest is about Italy, Africa
should be left undisturbed. Let Italy, which has so long been
harassed, at length enjoy some repose; let Africa, in her turn,
be fired and devastated. Let the Roman camp overhang the gates of
Carthage rather than that we should again behold the rampart of the
enemy from our walls. Let Africa be the seat of the remainder of the
war. Let terror and flight, the devastation of lands, the defection of
allies, and all the other calamities of war which have fallen upon
us, through a period of fourteen years, be turned upon her. It is
sufficient for me to have spoken on those matters which relate to the
state, the war before us, and the provinces which form the subject of
deliberation. My discourse would be tedious and uninteresting to you
if, as Fabius has depreciated my services in Spain, I should also
in like manner endeavour, on the other hand, to turn his glory into
ridicule, and make the most of my own. I will do neither, conscript
fathers; and if in nothing else, though a young man, I shall certainly
have shown my superiority over this old man, in modesty and the
government of my tongue. Such has been my life, and such the services
I have performed, that I can gladly rest contented in silence with
that opinion which you have spontaneously conceived of me."

45. Scipio was heard less favourably, because, a report had been
spread that, if he did not prevail with the senate to have Africa
decreed to him as his province, he would immediately lay the matter
before the people. Therefore, Quintus Fulvius, who had been consul
four times, and censor, requested of the consul that he would openly
declare in the senate whether "he submitted to the fathers to decide
respecting the provinces; and whether he intended to abide by their
determination, or to put it to the people." Scipio having replied that
he would act as he thought for the interest of the state, Fulvius then
rejoined: "When I asked you the question I was not ignorant of what
answer you would give, or how you would act; for you plainly show that
you are rather sounding than consulting the senate; and, unless we
immediately decree to you the province you wish, have a bill ready
(to lay before the people). Therefore," said he, "I require of you,
tribunes of the people, to support me in refusing to give my opinion,
because, though my recommendation should be adopted, the consul is
not disposed to abide by it." An altercation then arose, the consul
asserting that it was unfair for the tribunes to interpose so as to
prevent any senator from living his opinion in his place on being
asked it. The tribunes came to the determination, "that if the consul
submit to the senate the question relating to the provinces, whatever
the senate decree we shall consider as final, nor will we allow a bill
to be proposed to the people on the subject. If he does not submit
it to them, we will support any one who shall refuse to deliver his
sentiments upon the matter." The consul requested the delay of a day
to confer with his colleague. The next day the decision was submitted
to the senate. The provinces were assigned in this manner: to one of
the consuls Sicily and thirty ships of war, which Caius Servilius had
commanded the former year; he was also permitted to cross over into
Africa if he conceived it to be for the advantage of the state. To the
other consul Bruttium and the war with Hannibal were assigned; with
either that army which Lucius Veturius or that which Quintus Caecilius
commanded. The two latter were to draw lots, and settle between
themselves which should act in Bruttium with the two legions which
the consul gave up; and he to whose lot that province fell, was to be
continued in command for a year. The other persons also, besides
the consuls and praetors, who were to take the command of armies and
provinces, were continued in command. It fell to the lot of Quintus
Caecilius to carry on the war against Hannibal in Bruttium, together
with the consul. The games of Scipio were then celebrated in the
presence of a great number of persons, and with the approbation of the
spectators. The deputies, Marcus Pomponius Matho and Quintus Catius,
sent to Delphi to convey a present out of the spoils taken from
Hasdrubal, carried with them a golden crown of two hundred pounds'
weight, and representations of the spoils made out of a thousand
pounds' weight of silver. Scipio, though he could not obtain leave
to levy troops, a point which he did not urge with great eagerness,
obtained leave to take with him such as volunteered their services;
and also, as he declared that the fleet would not be the occasion of
expense to the state, to receive what was furnished by the allies for
building fresh ships. First, the states of Etruria engaged to assist
the consuls to the utmost of their respective abilities. The people
of Caere furnished corn, and provisions of every description, for the
crews; the people of Populoni furnished iron; of Tarquinii, cloth
for sails; those of Volaterrae, planks for ships, and corn; those of
Arretium, thirty thousand shields, as many helmets; and of javelins,
Gallic darts, and long spears, they undertook to make up to the amount
of fifty thousand, an equal number of each description, together
with as many axes, mattocks, bills, buckets, and mills, as should be
sufficient for fifty men of war, with a hundred and twenty thousand
pecks of wheat; and to contribute to the support of the decurios and
rowers on the voyage. The people of Perusia, Clusium, and Rusella
furnished firs for building ships, and a great quantity of corn.
Scipio had firs out of the public woods. The states of Umbria, and,
besides them, the people of Nursia, Reate, and Amiternum, and
all those of the Sabine territory, promised soldiers. Many of the
Marsians, Pelignians, and Marrucinians volunteered to serve in the
fleet. The Cameritans, as they were joined with the Romans in league
on equal terms, sent an armed cohort of six hundred men. Having laid
the keels of thirty ships, twenty of which were quinqueremes, and ten
quadriremes, he prosecuted the work with such diligence, that, on the
forty-fifth day after the materials were taken from the woods, the
ships, being fully equipped and armed, were launched.

46. He set out into Sicily with thirty ships of war, with about seven
thousand volunteers on board. Publius Licinius came into Bruttium to
the two consular armies, of which he selected for himself that which
Lucius Veturius, the consul, had commanded. He allowed Metellus to
continue in the command of those legions which were before under him,
concluding that he could act more easily with the troops accustomed to
his command. The praetors also went to their different provinces. As
there was a scarcity of money to carry on the war, the quaestors were
ordered to sell a district of the Campanian territory extending from
the Grecian trench to the sea, with permission to receive information
as to what land belonged to a native Campanian, in order that it might
be put into the possession of the Roman people. The reward fixed
upon for the informer was a tenth part of the value of the lands so
discovered. Cneius Servilius, the city praetor, was also charged with
seeing that the Campanians dwelt where they were allowed, according to
the decree of the senate, and to punish such as dwelt anywhere else.
The same summer, Mago, son of Amilcar, setting out from the lesser of
the Balearian islands, where he had wintered, having put on board
his fleet a chosen body of young men, conveyed over into Italy twelve
thousand foot, and about two thousand horse, with about thirty ships
of war, and a great number of transports. By the suddenness of his
arrival he took Genoa, as there were no troops employed in protecting
the sea-coast. Thence he brought his fleet to shore, on the coast of
the Alpine Ligurians, to see if he could create any commotion there.
The Ingaunians, a tribe of the Ligurians, were at that juncture
engaged in war with the Epanterians, a people inhabiting the
mountains. The Carthaginian, therefore, having deposited his plunder
at Savo, an Alpine town, left ten ships of war for its protection. He
sent the rest to Carthage to guard the sea-coast, as it was reported
that Scipio intended to pass over thither; formed an alliance with
the Ingaunians, whose friendship he preferred; and commenced an attack
upon the mountaineers. His army increased daily, the Gauls flocking to
his standard from all sides, from the splendour of his fame. When the
senate received information of these things, by a letter from Spurius
Lucretius, they were filled with the most intense anxiety, lest the
joy they had experienced on the destruction of Hasdrubal and his army,
two years before, should be rendered vain by another war's springing
up in the same quarter, equal in magnitude, but under a new leader.
They therefore ordered Marcus Livius, proconsul, to march his army
of volunteer slaves out of Etruria to Ariminum, and gave in charge to
Cneius Servilius to issue orders, if he thought it necessary for the
safety of the state, that the city legions should be marched out under
the command of any person he thought proper. Marcus Valerius Laevinus
led those legions to Arretium. About the same time, as many as eighty
transports of the Carthaginians were captured, near Sardinia, by
Cneius Octavius, who had the government of that province. Caelius
states that they were laden with corn and provisions, sent for
Hannibal; Valerius, that they were conveying the plunder of Etruria,
and the Ligurian mountaineers who had been captured, to Carthage.
In Bruttium scarcely any thing was done this year worth recording.
A pestilence had attacked both Romans and Carthaginians with equal
violence; but the Carthaginian army, in addition to sickness, was
distressed by famine. Hannibal passed the summer near the temple
of Juno Lacinia, where he erected and dedicated an altar with an
inscription engraved in Punic and Greek characters, setting forth, in
pompous terms, the achievements he had performed.



BOOK XXIX.

    _In Spain, Mandonius and Indibilis, reviving hostilities,
    are finally subdued. Scipio goes over from Syracuse to Locri;
    dislodges the Carthaginian general; repulses Hannibal, and
    recovers that city. Peace made with Philip. The Idaean Mother
    brought to Rome from Phrygia; received by Publius Scipio
    Nasica, judged by the senate the best man in the state. Scipio
    passes over into Africa. Syphax, having married a daughter of
    Hasdrubal, renounces his alliance with Scipio. Masinissa, who
    had been expelled his kingdom by Syphax, joins Scipio with two
    hundred horsemen; they defeat a large army commanded by Hanno.
    Hasdrubal and Syphax approach with a most numerous force.
    Scipio raises the siege of Utica, and fortifies a post for the
    winter. The consul Sempronius gets the better of Hannibal in a
    battle near Croton. Dispute between Marcus Livius and Claudius
    Nero, censors._


1. Scipio, after his arrival in Sicily, formed his volunteers into
cohorts and centuries. Of these he kept about his person three hundred
young men, in the bloom of their age and the prime of their strength,
unarmed, and not knowing for what purpose they were reserved, as they
were not included in the centuries, nor furnished with arms. He then
selected out of the number of the youth of all Sicily three hundred
horsemen, of the highest birth and fortune, who were to cross over
with him into Africa, appointing a day on which they were to present
themselves equipped and furnished with horses and arms. This severe
service, far from their native land, appeared to them likely to be
attended with many hardships, and great dangers, both by sea and land;
nor did that anxiety affect themselves alone, but also their parents
and relations. When the appointed day arrived, they exhibited their
arms and horses. Then Scipio observed, "that an intimation had been
conveyed to him that certain of the Sicilian horsemen felt a strong
aversion to that service, as being severe and arduous. If there were
any who entertained such a feeing, that he would rather they should
then confess it to him, than, complaining afterwards, prove themselves
slothful and useless soldiers to the state. He desired that they would
openly avow their sentiments, for that he would hear them with kindly
feeling." When one of the number took courage to declare, that if he
were allowed the uncontrolled exercise of his will he certainly would
not serve, Scipio replied to him thus: "Since then, young man, you
have not dissembled your sentiments, I will furnish a substitute for
you, to whom I request that you transfer your arms, your horse, and
other appliances of war; and, taking him hence immediately to
your house, train him, and take care that he is instructed in the
management of his horse and arms." The youth accepted the terms
joyfully, when Scipio delivered to him one of the three hundred whom
he kept unarmed. The rest, seeing the horseman thus discharged
without giving any offence to the general, began severally to
excuse themselves and receive substitutes. Thus Roman horsemen were
substituted for the three hundred Sicilian, without any expense to the
state. The Sicilians had the care of instructing and training them,
because the general had ordered that the man who should not do
so, should serve himself. It is said that this turned out to be an
admirable body of cavalry, and rendered effectual service to the state
in many engagements. Afterwards, inspecting the legions, he chose out
of them such soldiers as had served the greatest number of campaigns,
particularly those who had acted under Marcellus; for he considered
that they were formed under the best discipline, and also, from the
long time in which they were engaged in the siege of Syracuse, were
most skilled in the assault of towns: for his thoughts were now
occupied with no small object, but the destruction of Carthage. He
then distributed his army through the towns; ordered the Sicilian
states to furnish corn, sparing that which had been brought from
Italy; repaired his old ships, and sent Caius Laelius with them into
Africa to plunder. His new ships he hauled on shore at Panormus, that
they might be kept on land during the winter, as they had been hastily
built of unseasoned timber.

When every thing was got in readiness for the war he came to Syracuse,
which had hardly yet returned to a state of tranquillity, after the
violent commotions of the war. The Greeks, demanding restitution of
their property, which had been granted to them by the senate, from
certain persons of the Italian nation, who retained possession of it
in the same forcible manner in which they had seized it in the war,
Scipio, who deemed it of the first importance to preserve the
public faith, restored their property to the Syracusans, partly by
proclamation, and partly even by judgments pronounced against those
who pertinaciously retained their unjust acquisitions. This measure
was acceptable not only to the persons immediately concerned, but to
all the states of Sicily, and so much the more energetically did they
give aid in the war. During the same summer a very formidable war
sprang up in Spain, at the instance of Indibilis the Hergetian, from
no other cause than the contempt he conceived for the other generals,
in consequence of his admiration of Scipio. He considered "that he was
the only commander the Romans had left, the rest having been slain by
Hannibal. That they had, therefore, no other general whom they
could send into Spain after the Scipios were cut off there, and that
afterwards, when the war in Italy pressed upon them with increased
severity, he was recalled to oppose Hannibal. That, in addition to the
fact that the Romans had the names only of generals in Spain, their
old army had also been withdrawn thence. That all the troops they had
there were irresolute, as consisting of an undisciplined multitude of
recruits. That there would never again occur such an opportunity for
the liberation of Spain. That up to that time they had been the slaves
either of Carthaginians or Romans, and that not to one or the other in
turns, but sometimes to both together. That the Carthaginians had been
driven out by the Romans, and that the Romans might be driven out by
the Spaniards, if they would unite: so that Spain, for ever freed
from a foreign yoke, might return to her native customs and rites."
By these and other observations he stirred up not only his countrymen,
but the Ausetanians also, a neighbouring nation, as well as other
states bordering on his own and their country. Accordingly, within a
few days, thirty thousand foot and about four thousand horse assembled
in the Sedetanian territory, according to the orders which had been
given.

2. On the other side, the Roman generals also, Lucius Lentulus and
Lucius Manlius Acidinus, lest by neglecting the first beginnings of
the war it should increase in violence, having united their armies,
and led their troops through the Ausetanian territory in a peaceable
manner, as though it had been the territory of friends instead of
enemies, came to the position of the enemy, and pitched their camp
at a distance of three miles from theirs. At first an unsuccessful
attempt was made, through ambassadors, to induce them to lay down
their arms; then the Spanish cavalry making a sudden attack on the
Roman foragers, a body of cavalry was sent to support them from the
Roman outposts, when a battle between the cavalry took place with no
memorable issue to either side. The next day, at sun-rise, the whole
force displayed their line, armed and drawn out for battle, at the
distance of about a mile from the Roman camp. The Ausetanians were in
the centre, the right wing was occupied by the Ilergetians, the left
by some inconsiderable states of Spain. Between the wings and the
centre they had left intervals of considerable extent, through which
they might send out their cavalry when occasion required. The Romans
also, drawing up their army in their usual manner, imitated the enemy
in respect only of leaving themselves also intervals between the
legions to afford passages for their cavalry. Lentulus, however,
concluding that the cavalry could be employed with advantage by those
only who should be the first to send them against the enemy's line,
thus broken by intervals, ordered Servius Cornelius, a military
tribune, to direct the cavalry to ride at full speed into the spaces
left in the enemy's line. Lentulus himself, as the battle between the
infantry was somewhat unfavourable in its commencement, waited only
until he had brought up from the reserve into the front line the
thirteenth legion to support the twelfth legion, which had been
posted in the left wing, against the Ilergetians, and which was giving
ground. And when the battle was thus placed on an equal footing in
that quarter, he came to Lucius Manlius, who was exhorting the troops
in the foremost line, and bringing up the reserves in such places as
circumstances required, and told him that all was safe in the left
wing, and that Cornelius Servius, who had been sent by him for that
purpose, would soon pour round the enemy a storm of cavalry. He had
scarcely uttered these words, when the Roman horse, riding into
the midst of the enemy, at once threw their line of infantry into
disorder, and closed up the passage by which the Spanish cavalry
were to advance. The Spaniards, therefore, giving up all thoughts of
fighting on horseback, dismounted and fought on foot. When the Roman
generals saw that the ranks of the enemy were in confusion, that they
were in a state of trepidation and dismay, their standards moving to
and fro, they exhorted and implored their men to charge them while
thus discomfited, and not allow them to form their line again.
So desperate was their charge that the barbarians could not have
withstood the shock, had not the prince Indibilis in person, together
with the discounted cavalry, opposed himself to the enemy before the
front rank of the infantry. There an obstinate contest continued for a
considerable time; but those who fought round the king, who continued
his resistance though almost expiring, and who was afterwards pinned
to the earth by a javelin, having at length fallen, overwhelmed with
darts, a general flight took place; and the number slain was the
greater because the horsemen were prevented from remounting, and
because the Romans pressed impetuously upon the discomfited troops;
nor did they give over until they had deprived the enemy of their
camp. On that day thirteen thousand Spaniards were slain, and about
eight hundred captured. Of the Romans and allies there fell a little
more than two hundred, and those principally in the left wing. Such
of the Spaniards as were beaten out of their camp, or had escaped from
the battle, at first dispersed themselves through the country, but
afterwards returned each to his own state.

3. They were then summoned to an assembly by Mandonius, at which,
after complaining bitterly of the losses they had sustained, and
upbraiding the instigators of the war, they resolved that ambassadors
should be sent with proposals to deliver up their arms and make a
surrender. These, laying the blame on Indibilis, the instigator of the
war, and the other chiefs, most of whom had fallen in the battle, and
offering to deliver up their arms and surrender themselves, received
for answer, that their surrender would be accepted on condition that
they delivered up alive Mandonius and the rest of the persons who had
fomented the war; but if they refused to comply, that armies should be
marched into the territories of the Ilergetians and Ausetanians, and
afterwards into those of the other states in succession. This answer
given to the ambassadors, was reported to the assembly, and
Mandonius and the other chiefs were there seized and delivered up
for punishment. Peace was restored to the states of Spain, which
were ordered to pay double taxes that year, and furnish corn for six
months, together with cloaks and gowns for the army; and hostages were
taken from about thirty of the states.

The tumult occasioned by the rebellion in Spain having been thus
excited and suppressed within the space of a few days, without any
great disturbance, the whole terror of the war was directed against
Africa. Caius Laelius having arrived at Hippo Regius by night, at
break of day led his soldiers and mariners in regular array to lay
waste the country. As all the inhabitants were living unguardedly, as
in a time of peace, great damage was done; and messengers, flying in
terror, filled Carthage with alarm, by reporting that the Roman fleet
and the general, Scipio, had arrived; for there was a rumour that
Scipio had already crossed over into Sicily. Not knowing accurately
how many ships they had seen, or how large a body of troops was
devastating the country, they, under the influence of fear, which
represented them as greater than they really were, exaggerated every
thing. Accordingly, at first, terror and dismay took possession of
their minds, but afterwards grief, when they reflected that their
circumstances had undergone so great a change; that they, who lately
as conquerors had an army before the walls of Rome, and, after having
laid prostrate so many armies of the enemy, had received the surrender
of all the states of Italy, either by force or choice, now, the
war having taken an unfavourable turn, were destined to behold the
devastation of Africa and the siege of Carthage, without any thing
like the resources to enable them to bear up against those calamities
which the Romans possessed. To the latter the Roman commons and
Latium afforded a supply of young men, which continually grew up more
vigorous and more numerous, in the room of so many armies destroyed,
while their own people, both those in the city and those in the
country, were unfit for military service; their troops consisted of
auxiliaries, procured by hire from the Africans, a faithless nation,
and veering about with every gale of fortune. Now too, with regard to
the kings, Syphax was alienated from them since his conference with
Scipio, and Masinissa, by an open defection, had become their most
determined enemy. Wherever they turned their eyes there was no hope,
no aid. Neither did Mago excite any commotion on the side of Gaul, nor
join his forces with those of Hannibal; while Hannibal himself was now
declining both in reputation and strength.

4. Their minds, which had fallen into these melancholy reflections in
consequence of the intelligence they had just received, were brought
back by their immediate fears to deliberate how to oppose the instant
danger. They resolved, that troops should be hastily levied both
in the city and in the country; that persons should be sent to hire
auxiliaries from the Africans; that the city should be fortified, corn
collected, weapons and arms prepared, and ships equipped and sent
to Hippo against the Roman fleet. But now, while engaged in these
matters, news at length arrived that it was Laelius, and not Scipio;
that the forces which he had brought over were only what were
sufficient for making predatory incursions into the country, and that
the principal stress of the war still lay in Sicily. Thus they were
enabled to take breath, and they began to send embassies to Syphax
and the other petty princes, for the purpose of strengthening their
alliances. To Philip also ambassadors were sent, to promise him two
hundred talents of silver, if he would cross over into Sicily or
Italy. Ambassadors were also sent into Italy to the two generals, to
desire them to keep Scipio at home by terrifying the enemy in
every way they could. To Mago, not only ambassadors were sent, but
twenty-five men of war, six thousand infantry, eight hundred horse,
and seven elephants, besides a large sum of money to be employed in
hiring auxiliaries, in order that, encouraged by these aids, he might
advance his army nearer to the city of Rome, and form a junction with
Hannibal. Such were the preparations and plans at Carthage. While
Laelius was employed in carrying off an immense quantity of booty
from the country, the inhabitants of which had no arms, and which was
destitute of forces, Masinissa, moved by the report of the arrival
of the Roman fleet, came to him attended by a small body of horse.
He complained that "Scipio had not acted with promptness in this
business, in that he had not already passed his army over into Africa,
while the Carthaginians were in consternation, and while Syphax was
entangled in wars with the neighbouring states, and in doubt and
uncertainty as to the course he should take; that if time was allowed
to Syphax to adjust his own affairs according to his mind, he would
not in any thing keep his faith with the Romans inviolate." He
requested that he would exhort and stimulate Scipio not to delay.
Though driven from his kingdom, he said he would join him with no
despicable force of foot and horse. Nor was it right, said he that
Laelius should continue in Africa, for he believed that a fleet had
set sail from Carthage, with which, in the absence of Scipio, it would
not be altogether safe to engage.

5. After this discourse Masinissa departed. Laelius, the next day,
sailed from Hippo with his ships loaded with booty, and returning to
Sicily, delivered to Scipio the injunctions of Masinissa. About the
same time the ships which were sent from Carthage to Mago touched
at the country between the Albingaunian Ligurians and Genoa. Mago
happened to be lying here with his fleet at this time. After hearing
the message of the ambassadors, directing him to collect as great a
number of troops as possible, he immediately held a council of the
Gauls and Ligurians, for a great number of both those nations were
there. He said that he was sent to restore them to liberty, and, as
they themselves might see, succours were sent him from home; but that
it depended upon them with how great forces and how large an army the
war for that purpose was to be carried on. That the Romans had two
armies in the field, one in Gaul and another in Etruria. That he was
well informed that Spurius Lucretius would form a junction with Marcus
Livius, and that they on their part must arm many thousands, in order
to cope with two Roman generals and two armies. The Gauls replied,
that they had the strongest possible inclination to this, but as
the Romans had one army within their borders, and another in the
neighbouring country of Etruria, almost within sight, if it should
be known that they had supported the Carthaginians with auxiliaries,
those would immediately invade their territories on both sides with
determined hostility. They requested that he would ask of the Gauls
such aids as they could afford in a covert manner. The purposes of the
Ligurians, they said, were unrestrained, because the Roman troops were
at a distance from their lands and cities; that it was fair that they
should arm their youth and take upon themselves a portion of the war.
The Ligurians did not dissent; they only requested the space of two
months to make their levies. Having dismissed the Gauls, Mago in the
mean time secretly hired soldiers through their country. Provisions
also of every description were sent to him privately by the Gallic
states. Marcus Livius led his army of volunteer slaves out of Etruria
into Gaul, and having joined Lucretius, prepared to meet Mago in case
he should move from Liguria nearer to the city; but intending, if the
Carthaginian should keep himself quiet under the angle formed by the
Alps, to remain himself also in the same quarter, near Ariminum, for
the protection of Italy.

6. After the return of Caius Laelius from Africa, though Scipio was
goaded on by the exhortations of Masinissa; and the soldiers, on
seeing the booty which was taken from the enemy's country landed from
the whole fleet, were inflamed with the strongest desire to cross over
as soon as possible; this important object was interrupted by one
of minor consideration, namely, that of regaining the town of Locri,
which at the time of the general defection of Italy had itself also
gone over to the Carthaginians. The hope of accomplishing this object
beamed forth from a very trifling circumstance. The war was carried on
in Bruttium rather in a predatory than a regular manner, the Numidians
having set the example, and the Bruttians falling in with that
practice, not more in consequence of their connexion with the
Carthaginians, than from their natural inclination. At last the Romans
also, who now took delight in plunder by a sort of infection, made
excursions into the lands of their enemies so far as their leaders
would permit it. Some Locrians who had gone out of the town, were
surrounded by them and carried off to Rhegium. Among the number of
the prisoners were certain artisans, who, as it happened, had been
accustomed to work for the Carthaginians in the city of Locri for
hire. They were recognised by some of the Locrian nobles, who having
been driven out by the opposite faction, which had delivered up Locri
to Hannibal, had retired to Rhegium; and having answered their other
questions relative to what was going on at home, questions which are
usually put by such as have been long absent, they gave them hopes
that, if ransomed and sent back, they might be able to deliver up the
citadel to them; for there they resided, and among the Carthaginians
they enjoyed unlimited confidence. Accordingly, as these nobles were
at once tormented with a longing for their country, and inflamed with
a desire to be revenged on their enemies, they immediately ransomed
the prisoners and sent them back, after having settled the plan of
operation, and agreed upon the signals which were to be given at a
distance and observed by them. They then went themselves to Scipio to
Syracuse, with whom some of the exiles were; and having, by relating
to him the promises made by the prisoners, inspired the consul with
hopes which seemed likely to be realized, Marcus Sergius and Publius
Matienus, military tribunes, were sent with them, and ordered to
lead three thousand soldiers from Rhegium to Locri. A letter was also
written to Quintus Pleminius, the propraetor, with directions that he
should assist in the business. The troops, setting out from Rhegium
and carrying with them ladders to suit the alleged height of the
citadel, about midnight gave a signal to those who were to betray it
from the place agreed upon. The latter were ready and on the watch,
and having themselves also lowered down ladders made for the purpose,
and received the Romans as they climbed up in several places at once,
an attack was made upon the Carthaginian sentinels, who were fast
asleep, as they were not afraid of any thing of the kind before any
noise was made. Their dying groans were the first sound that was
heard; then, awaking from their sleep, a sudden consternation and
confusion followed, the cause of the alarm being unknown. At length,
one rousing another, the fact became more certain, and now every one
shouted "To arms" with all his might; "that the enemy were in the
citadel and the sentinels slain;" and the Romans, who were far
inferior in numbers, would have been overpowered, had not a shout
raised by those who were outside of the citadel rendered it uncertain
whence the noise proceeded, while the terror of an alarm by night
magnified all fears, however groundless. The Carthaginians, therefore,
terrified and supposing that the citadel was already filled with
the enemy, gave up all thoughts of opposition and fled to the other
citadel; for there were two at no great distance from each other. The
townsmen held the city, which lay between the two fortresses, as the
prize of the victors. Slight engagements took place daily from the
two citadels. Quintus Pleminius commanded the Roman, Hamilcar the
Carthaginian garrison. They augmented their forces by calling in aids
from the neighbouring places. At last Hannibal himself came; nor would
the Romans have held out, had not the general body of the Locrians,
exasperated by the pride and rapacity of the Carthaginians, leaned
towards the Romans.

7. When Scipio received intelligence that the posture of affairs
at Locri had become more critical, and that Hannibal himself was
approaching, lest even the garrison might be exposed to danger; for
it was not an easy matter for it to retire thence; as soon as the
direction of the tide in the strait had changed, he let the ships
drive with the tide from Messana, having left his brother, Lucius
Scipio, in command there. Hannibal also sent a messenger in advance
from the river Butrotus, which is not far from the town of Locri, to
desire his party to attack the Romans and Locrians at break of day in
the most vigorous manner, while he on the opposite side assaulted the
town, which would be unprepared for such a measure, as every one
would have his attention occupied with the tumult created in the other
quarter. But when, as soon as it was light, he found that the battle
had commenced, he was unwilling to shut himself up in the citadel,
where, by his numbers, he would crowd that confined place; nor had
he brought with him scaling-ladders to enable him to mount the walls.
Having, however, had the baggage thrown together in a heap, and
displayed his line at a distance from the walls to intimidate the
enemy, while the scaling-ladders and other requisites for an assault
were preparing, he rode round the city with some Numidian horsemen, in
order to observe in what quarter the attack might be best made. Having
advanced towards the rampart, the person who happened to stand next
him was struck by a weapon from a scorpion; and, terrified at an
accident in which he had been exposed to so much danger, he retired,
gave directions for sounding a retreat, and fortified a camp out
of the reach of weapons. The Roman fleet from Messana came to Locri
several hours before night. The troops were all landed and had entered
the city before sun-set. The following day the fight began from the
citadel on the part of the Carthaginians, and Hannibal, having now
prepared ladders and all the other requisites for an assault, was
coming up to the walls; when, throwing open the gate, the Romans
suddenly sallied out upon him, Hannibal fearing nothing less than such
a step. They slew as many as two hundred in the attack, having taken
them by surprise. The rest Hannibal withdrew into the camp when he
found the consul was there; and having despatched a messenger to those
who were in the citadel, to desire them to take measures for their
own safety, he decamped by night. Those who were in the citadel also,
after throwing fire upon the buildings they occupied, in order that
the alarm thus occasioned might detain their enemy, went away with
a speed which resembled flight, and overtook the body of their army
before night.

8. Scipio, seeing that the citadel was abandoned by the enemy, and
their camp deserted, called the Locrians to an assembly and rebuked
them severely for their defection. He inflicted punishment on the
persons principally concerned, and gave their effects to the leaders
of the other party, in consideration of their extraordinary fidelity
to the Romans. As to the Locrians in general, he said that he would
neither grant them any thing, nor take any thing from them. They might
send ambassadors to Rome, and they should experience that treatment
which the senate thought proper to adopt. Of one thing, however, he
said he was confident, which was, that although they had deserved ill
at the hands of the Romans, they would be better off when subject to
them, though incensed against them, than they had been when in the
power of their friends the Carthaginians. Leaving Quintus Pleminius
lieutenant-general, and the garrison which had taken the citadel to
defend the city, the general himself crossed over to Messana with the
forces he had brought with him. The Locrians had been treated with
such insolence and cruelty by the Carthaginians since their revolt
from the Romans, that they were able to endure severities of an
ordinary kind not only with patience but almost willingness. But
indeed, so greatly did Pleminius surpass Hamilcar, who had commanded
the garrison, so greatly did the Roman soldiers in the garrison
surpass the Carthaginians in villany and rapacity, that it would
appear that they endeavoured to outdo each other, not in arms, but in
vices. None of all those things which render the power of a superior
hateful to the powerless was omitted towards the inhabitants, either
by the general or his soldiers. The most shocking insults were
committed against their own persons, their children, and their wives,
For their rapacity did not abstain from the spoliation even of
sacred things; and not only were other temples violated, but even
the treasures of Proserpine, which had never been touched through
all ages, excepting that they were said to have been carried away by
Pyrrhus, who restored the spoils, together with a costly offering in
expiation of his sacrilege. Therefore, as on the former occasion,
the royal ships, wrecked and shattered, brought nothing safe to land,
except the sacred money of the goddess, which they were carrying away;
so now also, that same money, by a different kind of calamity, cast a
spirit of madness upon all who were contaminated by this violation
of the temple, and turned them against each other with the fury of
enemies, general against general, and soldier against soldier.

9. Pleminius had the chief command; that part of the soldiers which he
had brought with him from Rhegium were under his own command, the rest
were under the command of the tribunes. One of Pleminius's men, while
running away with a silver cup which he had stolen from the house of
a townsman, the owners pursuing him, happened to meet Sergius and
Matienus, the military tribunes. The cup having been taken away from
him at the order of the tribunes, abuse and clamour ensued, and at
last a fight arose between the soldiers of Pleminius and those of the
tribunes; the numbers engaged and the tumult increasing at the same
time, as either party was joined by their friends who happened to come
up at the time. When the soldiers of Pleminius, who had been worsted,
had run to him in crowds, not without loud clamouring and indignant
feelings, showing their blood and wounds, and repeating the reproaches
which had been heaped upon him during the dispute, Pleminius, fired
with resentment, flung himself out of his house, ordered the tribunes
to be summoned and stripped, and the rods to be brought out.
During the time which was consumed in stripping them, for they made
resistance, and implored their men to aid them, on a sudden the
soldiers, flushed with their recent victory, ran together from every
quarter, as if there had been a shout to arms against enemies; and
when they saw the bodies of their tribunes now mangled with rods, then
indeed, suddenly inflamed with much, more ungovernable rage, without
respect, not only for the dignity of their commander, but of humanity,
they made an attack upon the lieutenant-general, having first
mutilated the lictors in a shocking manner; they then cruelly
lacerated the lieutenant-general himself, having cut him off from his
party and hemmed him in, and after mutilating his nose and ears
left him almost lifeless. Accounts of these occurrences arriving at
Messana, Scipio, a few days after, passing over to Locri in a ship
with six banks of oars, took cognizance of the cause of Pleminius and
the tribunes. Having acquitted Pleminius and left him in command of
the same place, and pronounced the tribunes guilty and thrown them
into chains, that they might be sent to Rome to the senate, he
returned to Messana, and thence to Syracuse. Pleminius, unable
to restrain his resentment, for he thought that the injury he had
sustained had been treated negligently and too lightly by Scipio, and
that no one could form an estimate of the punishment which ought to
be inflicted in such a case, except the man who had in his own person
felt its atrocity, ordered the tribunes to be dragged before him, and
after lacerating them with every punishment which the human body
could endure, put them to death; and not satisfied with the punishment
inflicted on them while alive, cast them out unburied. The like
cruelty he exercised towards the Locrian nobles, whom he heard had
gone to Scipio to complain of the injuries he had done them. The
horrid acts, prompted by lust and rapacity, which he had before
perpetrated upon his allies, he now multiplied from resentment; thus
bringing infamy and odium, not only upon himself, but upon the general
also.

10. The time of the elections was now drawing near, when a letter from
the consul Publius Licinius arrived at Rome, stating that "he himself
and his army were afflicted with a severe sickness, nor could they
have stood their ground had not the malady attacked the enemy with the
same or even greater violence. Therefore, as he could not come
himself to the election, he would, with the approbation of the senate,
nominate Quintus Caecilius Metellus dictator, for the purpose of
holding the election. That it was for the interest of the state that
the army of Quintus Caecilius should be disbanded; for that it could
not be made any use of under present circumstances, for Hannibal had
now withdrawn his troops into winter quarters; and so violent was
the malady which had infected that camp, that unless it was speedily
broken up, there would not survive one man out of the whole army."
The senate left it to the consul to settle these matters, as he should
deem consistent with the interest of the state and his own honour.
The state was at this time suddenly occupied with a question of a
religious nature, in consequence of the discovery of a prediction
in the Sibylline books, which had been inspected on account of
there having been so many showers of stones this year. It ran thus:
"Whensoever a foreign enemy should bring war into the land of Italy,
he may be driven out of Italy and conquered, if the Idaean Mother
should be brought from Pessinus to Rome." This prophecy, discovered
by the decemviri, produced the greater impression upon the senate,
because ambassadors also, who had carried a present to Delphi, had
brought word back, that they had both obtained a favourable appearance
in sacrificing to the Pythian Apollo, and that a response was
delivered from the oracle, to the effect, that a much greater victory
than that from the spoils of which they now brought presents, awaited
the Roman people. They considered the presentiment which existed in
the mind of Publius Scipio, with regard to the termination of the
war, when he claimed Africa as his province, as corroborating the same
anticipation. In order, therefore, that they might the more speedily
put themselves in possession of victory, which was portended to them
by the fates, omens, and oracles, they began to think what method
could be adopted for conveying the goddess to Rome.

11. As yet the Roman people had none of the states of Asia in alliance
with them. Recollecting, however, that formerly Aesculapius, on
account of a sickness among the people, was fetched from Greece, which
was not then united with them by any treaty; recollecting, also, that
a friendship had already commenced between them and king Attalus, on
account of the war which they waged in common against Philip, and
that he would do whatever he could to oblige the Roman people, they
resolved to send, as ambassadors to him, Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who
had been twice consul, and had carried on operations in Greece; Marcus
Caecilius Metellus, who had been praetor; Servius Sulpicius Galba,
who had been aedile; and two who had been quaestors, Caius Tremellius
Flaccus and Marcus Valerius Falto. To these five quinqueremes were
assigned, in order that, in a manner suitable to the dignity of the
Roman people, they might visit those lands where it was important
to gain respect for the Roman name. The ambassadors, on their way
to Asia, having landed at Delphi, immediately approached the oracle,
inquiring what hopes the deity held out to themselves and the Roman
people, of accomplishing the business for which they had been sent
from home. It is said that the answer given was, "that they would
obtain what they were seeking by means of king Attalus. When they had
conveyed the goddess to Rome, they must take care that the best man at
Rome should receive her to his hospitality." They came to Pergamus to
the king, who received the ambassadors graciously, and conducted them
to Pessinus in Phrygia, and putting into their hands a sacred stone,
which the inhabitants said was the mother of the gods, bid them convey
it to Rome. Marcus Valerius Falto, who was sent in advance, brought
word that the goddess was on her way, and that the most virtuous man
in the state must be sought out, who might in due form receive and
entertain her. Quintus Caecilius Metellus was nominated dictator for
holding the elections, by the consul in Bruttium, and his army was
disbanded. Lucius Veturius Philo was made master of the horse. The
elections were held by the dictator; the consuls elected were Marcus
Cornelius Cethegus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, who was absent,
being engaged in his province of Greece. The praetors were then
elected: Titus Claudius Nero, Marcus Marcius Ralla, Lucius Scribonius
Libo, Marcus Pomponius Matho. On the conclusion of the elections, the
dictator abdicated his office. The Roman games were repeated thrice,
the plebeian seven times. The curule aediles were Cneius and Lucius
Cornelius Lentulus: Lucius had the province of Spain; he was elected
in his absence, and was absent while he filled the office. The
plebeian aediles were Titus Claudius Asellus and Marcus Junius Pennus.
Marcus Marcellus this year dedicated the temple of Virtue at the Porta
Capena, in the seventeenth year after it had been vowed by his father
during his first consulate at Clastidium in Gaul: also Marcus Aemilius
Regillus, flamen of Mars, died this year.

12. For the last two years the affairs of Greece had been neglected.
Accordingly, as the Aetolians were deserted by the Romans, on whom
alone they depended for assistance, Philip compelled them to sue for
and agree to a peace on whatever conditions he pleased. Had he not
exerted himself to the utmost in expediting this measure, he would
have been overpowered, while engaged in war with the Aetolians,
by Publius Sempronius, the proconsul, who had been sent to succeed
Sulpicius in the command, with ten thousand infantry and a thousand
horse, together with thirty-five ships of war, a force of no small
importance to bring to the assistance of allies. Ere the peace was
well concluded, news was brought to the king that the Romans had
arrived at Dyrrachium; that the Parthinians, and other bordering
nations, were up in arms on seeing hopes of effecting a change; and
that Dimallum was besieged. The Romans had turned their efforts to
that quarter instead of assisting the Aetolians, for which purpose
they had been sent, from resentment at the conduct of the Aetolians
for making peace with the king without their sanction, contrary to the
league. When Philip had received intelligence of these events, lest
any greater commotion should arise in the neighbouring nations and
states, he proceeded by forced marches to Apollonia, to which place
Sempronius had retired, having sent Laetorius, his lieutenant-general,
with a part of his forces and fifteen ships into Aetolia, to look into
the state of affairs, and, if he could, dissolve the peace. Philip
laid waste the lands of the Apollonians, and, advancing his troops to
the tower, offered the Romans battle. But seeing that they remained
quiet, only defending the walls, and not having sufficient confidence
in his strength to assault the town, being desirous also of making
peace with the Romans if possible, as he had with the Aetolians, or
at least a truce, he withdrew into his own dominions, without further
exciting their animosity by a fresh contest. During the same time
the Epirots, wearied by the long continuance of the war, having first
sounded the disposition of the Romans, sent ambassadors to Philip on
the subject of a common peace; affirming that they were well satisfied
that it might be arranged if he would come to a conference with
Publius Sempronius, the Roman general. They easily prevailed on him to
pass into Epirus, for neither were the king's own inclinations averse
from this measure. Phoenice is a city of Epirus; here Philip first
conferred with Aeropus Dardas and Philip, praetors of the Epirots, and
afterwards met Publius Sempronius. Amynander, king of the Athamanians,
and other magistrates of the Epirots and Acarnanians, were present at
the conference. The praetor Philip spoke first, and requested at once
of the king and the Roman general, that they would put an end to the
war, and grant this boon to the Epirots. Publius Sempronius proposed
as the conditions of the peace, that the Parthinians, and Dimallum,
and Bargulum, and Eugenium, should be under the dominion of the
Romans; that Atintania, if on sending ambassadors to Rome they could
prevail upon the senate to acquiesce, should be added to the dominions
of the Macedonian. The peace having been agreed upon on these
terms, Prusias king of Bithynia, the Achaeans, the Boeotians, the
Thessalians, the Acarnanians, and the Epirots, were included in
the treaty by the king; by the Romans, the Ilians, king Attalus,
Pleuratus, Nabis tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, the Eleans, the
Messenians, and Athenians. These conditions were committed to writing
and sealed; and a truce was agreed upon for two months, to allow time
for ambassadors being sent to Rome, that the people might order the
peace upon these terms. All the tribes agreed in ordering it, because
now that the operations of the war were removed into Africa, they were
desirous to be relieved for the present from all other wars. The peace
being concluded, Publius Sempronius took his departure for Rome, to
attend to the duties of his consulship.

13. To Publius Sempronius and Marcus Cornelius, the consuls in the
fifteenth year of the Punic war, the provinces assigned were, to
Cornelius, Etruria, with the old army; to Sempronius, Bruttium, with
directions to levy fresh legions. Of the praetors, to Marcus Marcius
fell the city jurisdiction; to Lucius Scribonius Libo, the foreign,
together with Gaul; to Marcus Pomponius Matho, Sicily; to Titus
Claudius Nero, Sardinia. Publius Scipio was continued in command
with the army and fleet which he had under him, as was also Publius
Licinius, with directions to occupy Bruttium with two legions, so long
as the consul should deem it for the advantage of the state that
he should continue in the province with command. Marcus Livius and
Spurius Lucretius were also continued in command, with the two legions
with which they had protected Gaul against Mago; also Cneius Octavius,
with orders that, after he had delivered up Sardinia and the legion
to Titus Claudius, he should, with forty ships of war, protect the
sea-coast within such limits as the senate should appoint. To Marcus
Pomponius, the praetor in Sicily, the troops which had fought at
Cannae, consisting of two legions, were assigned. It was decreed, that
Titus Quinctius and Caius Tubulus, propraetors, should occupy, the
former Tarentum, the latter Capua, as in the former year, each having
his old army. With respect to the command in Spain, it was submitted
to the people to decide on the two proconsuls to be sent into that
province. All the tribes agreed in ordering that the same persons,
namely, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus, should,
as proconsuls, hold the command of those provinces as they had the
former year. The consuls set about making the levies, both to raise
new legions for Bruttium, and recruit the other armies; for so were
they directed by the senate.

14. Although Africa had not as yet been openly declared a province,
the senate keeping it a secret, I suppose, lest the Carthaginians
should get intelligence of it beforehand, nevertheless, the most
sanguine hopes were entertained in the city, that the enemy would be
vanquished that year in Africa, and that the termination of the Punic
war was at hand. This circumstance had filled the minds of the people
with superstitious notions, and they were strongly disposed to credit
and propagate accounts of prodigies, and for that reason more were
reported. It was said, "that two suns had been seen; that it had
become light for a time during the night; that at Setia a meteor had
been seen, extending from the east to the west; that at Tarracina a
gate, at Anagnia a gate and the wall in many places, had been struck
by lightning; that in the temple of Juno Sospita, at Lanuvium, a noise
had been heard, accompanied with a tremendous crash." There was a
supplication for one day for the purpose of expiating these, and
the nine days' sacred rite was celebrated on account of a shower of
stones. In addition to these cares, they had to deliberate about the
reception of the Idaean Mother; for besides that Marcus Valerius, one
of the ambassadors who had come before the rest, had brought word that
she would be in Italy forthwith a recent account had arrived that she
was at Tarracina. The senate was occupied with the determination of a
matter of no small importance, namely, who was the most virtuous man
in the state. Every one doubtless would wish for himself the victory
in this contest, rather than any office of command, or any honours,
which could be conferred by the suffrages either of the senate or the
people. Publius Scipio, son of Cneius who had fallen in Spain, a youth
not yet of the age to be quaestor, they adjudged to be the best of the
good men in the whole state. Though I would willingly record it for
the information of posterity, had the writers who lived in the times
nearest to those events mentioned by what virtues of his they were
induced to come to this determination, yet I will not obtrude my own
opinion, formed upon conjecture, relative to a matter buried in the
obscurity of antiquity. Publius Cornelius was ordered to go to Ostia,
attended by all the matrons, to meet the goddess; to receive her from
the ship himself, and, when landed, place her in the hands of the
matrons to convey her away. After the ship arrived at the mouth of the
Tiber, Scipio, according to the directions given him, sailed out into
the open sea, and, receiving the goddess from the priests, conveyed
her to land. The chief matrons in the state received her, among whom
the name of Claudia Quinta alone is worthy of remark. Her fame,
which, as it is recorded, was before that time dubious, became,
in consequence of her having assisted in so solemn a business,
illustrious for chastity among posterity. The matrons, passing her
from one to another in orderly succession, conveyed the goddess into
the temple of Victory, in the Palatium, on the day before the ides of
April, which was made a festival, while the whole city poured out to
meet her; and, placing censers before their doors, on the way by which
she was conveyed in procession, kindled frankincense, and prayed
that she would enter the city of Rome willingly and propitiously. The
people in crowds carried presents to the goddess in the Palatium; a
lectisternium was celebrated, with games called the Megalesian.

15. When the business of recruiting the legions in the provinces was
under consideration, it was suggested by certain senators that now was
the time, when, by the favour of the gods, their fears were removed,
to put a stop to certain things, however they might have been
tolerated in perilous circumstances. The senators, being intent in
expectation, subjoined, that the twelve Latin colonies which had
refused to furnish soldiers to the consuls, Quintus Fabius and
Quintus Fulvius, were enjoying, for now the sixth year, exemption
from military service, as though it had been granted to them a mark
of honour and favour; while in the mean time their good and dutiful
allies, in return for their fidelity and obedience to the Roman
people, had been exhausted by continual levies every year. By these
words the recollection of the senate was renewed touching a matter
which was now almost obliterated, and their indignation equally
excited. Accordingly, without allowing the consuls to lay any other
business before the senate in priority, they decreed, "that the
consuls should summon to Rome the magistrates, and ten principal
inhabitants, from each of the colonies, Xepete, Sutrium, Ardea, Cales,
Alba, Carseoli, Sora, Suessa, Setia, Circeii, Narnia, and Interamna;
for these were the colonies implicated in this affair; and command
them that each of those colonies should furnish double the greatest
number of foot soldiers which they had ever provided for the Roman
people since the enemy had been in Italy, and one hundred and twenty
horsemen each. If any of them was unable to make up that number of
horsemen, that it should be allowed to furnish three foot soldiers for
every horseman deficient. That both the foot and horse soldiers should
be chosen from the wealthiest of the inhabitants, and should be sent
out of Italy wheresoever there was want of recruits. If any of them
refused to comply, it was their pleasure that the magistrates and
ambassadors of such should be detained; and that, if they requested
it, they should not be allowed an audience of the senate till they had
obeyed these orders. Moreover, that an annual tax should be imposed
upon them, and collected after the rate of one _as_ for every
thousand; and that a census should be taken in those colonies,
according to a formula appointed by the Roman censors, which should be
the same which was employed in the case of the Roman people; and that
a return should be made at Rome by sworn censors of the colonies,
before they retired from their office." The magistrates and principal
men of these colonies having been summoned to Rome, when the consuls
imposed upon them the contribution of men, and the management of the
tax, they vied with each other in making excuses, and remonstrating
against it. They said "it was impossible that so large a number of men
could be raised. That they could scarcely accomplish it, if even the
simple contribution only, according to the established ratio, were
required of them. They entreated and besought them that they might be
allowed to appear before the senate and deprecate their resolution.
They had committed no crime for which they deserved to be ruined;
but, even if they were to be ruined, neither their own crime nor
the resentment of the Roman people could make them furnish a greater
number of soldiers than they had got." The consuls, persisting,
ordered the ambassadors to remain at Rome, and the magistrates to
go home to make the levies; observing, that "unless the amount of
soldiers enjoined were brought to Rome, no one would give them an
audience of the senate." All hope of appearing before the senate,
and deprecating their decision, being then cut off, the levies were
completed in the twelve colonies without difficulty, as the number of
their youth had increased during their long exemption from service.

16. Another affair, likewise, which had been passed over in silence
for an almost equally long period, was laid before the senate by
Marcus Valerius Laevinus; who said, "that equity required that the
monies which had been contributed by private individuals, when he
and Marcus Claudius were consuls, should now at length be repaid. Nor
ought any one to feel surprised that a case, where the public faith
was pledged, should have engaged his attention in an especial manner;
for, besides that the matter appertained, in some degree, peculiarly
to the consul of that year in which the money was contributed, he was
himself the author of the measure, as the treasury was drained, and
the people unable to pay the taxes." This suggestion was well received
by the senate, and, bidding the consuls to propose the question, they
decreed, "that this money should be paid by three instalments; that
the present consuls should make the first payment immediately, and the
third and fifth consuls, from that time, the two remaining."

After this, all their other cares gave place to one alone when the
sufferings of the Locrians, of which they had been ignorant up to that
day, were made known by the arrival of their ambassadors. Nor was it
the villany of Pleminius so much as the partiality or negligence of
Scipio in that affair, which excited the resentment of the people.
While the consuls were sitting in the comitium, ten ambassadors of the
Locrians, covered with filth, and in mourning, and extending branches
of olive, the badges of suppliants, according to the Grecian custom,
prostrated themselves on the ground before the tribunal, with loud
lamentations. In answer to the inquiry of the consuls, they said,
"that they were Locrians, who had suffered such things at the hands of
Pleminius the lieutenant-general, and the Roman soldiers, as the
Roman people would not wish even the Carthaginians to experience. They
requested that they would allow them to appear before the senate, and
complain of their sufferings."

17. An audience having been granted, the eldest of them thus spoke:
"I know, conscript fathers, that the importance you will attach to
the complaints we make before you must depend, in a very great degree,
upon your accurately knowing the manner in which Locri was betrayed to
Hannibal, and placed again under your dominion after the expulsion of
his garrison. Inasmuch as if the guilt of defection does not rest
upon the public, and it is made apparent that our restoration to your
dominion was effected, not only in concurrence with our wishes, but by
our own co-operation and valour, you will be the more indignant that
such atrocious and shameful injuries should have been inflicted upon
good and faithful allies by your lieutenant-general and soldiers.
But I think it proper that the subject of our changing sides, in both
instances, should be deferred to another time, on two accounts: first,
that it may be discussed in the presence of Publius Scipio, who
retook Locri, and who witnessed all our acts, both good and bad; and
secondly, because, whatever we are, we ought not to have suffered
what we have. We cannot conceal, conscript fathers, that when we had
a Carthaginian garrison in our citadel we were exposed to many
sufferings, of a shocking and shameful kind, from Hamilcar, the
captain of the garrison, and the Numidians and Africans. But what
are they compared with what we endure this day? I request, conscript
fathers, that you will hear without offence what I am reluctant to
mention. All mankind are now in a state of anxious suspense, whether
they are to see you or the Carthaginians lords of the world. If an
estimate is to be formed of the Roman and Carthaginian governments
from what we Locrians have suffered from the Carthaginians on the one
hand, or on the other, from what we are suffering, at the present time
especially, from your garrison; there is no one who would not wish
the Carthaginians to be his masters rather than the Romans. And yet
observe what are the feelings which the Locrians have entertained
towards you. When we were suffering injuries of much less magnitude
from the Carthaginians, we fled for protection to your general; now
we are suffering more than hostile indignities from your garrison, we
have carried our complaints to no others than yourselves. Conscript
fathers! either you will consider our forlorn condition or there is
no other resource left us for which we can even pray to the immortal
gods. Quintus Pleminius, the lieutenant-general, was sent with a body
of troops to recover Locri from the Carthaginians, and was left there
in command of the same as a garrison. In this your lieutenant-general
there is neither any thing of a man, conscript fathers, but the figure
and outward appearance, (for the extremity of our misery prompts me to
speak freely,) nor of a Roman citizen, but the attire and dress, and
the sound of the Latin language. He is a pest and savage monster, such
as are fabled to have beset the strait by which we are separated
from Sicily, for the destruction of mariners. And yet if he had been
content to be the only person to vent his villany, his lust, and
rapacity upon your allies, that one gulf, deep as it was, we would
however have filled up by our patience. But the case is, he has
made every one of your centurions and soldiers a Pleminius, so
indiscriminately has he willed that licentiousness and wickedness
should be practised. All plunder, spoil, beat, wound, and slay; all
defile matrons, virgins, and free-born youths torn from the embraces
of their parents. Our city is captured daily, plundered daily. Day
and night, every place indiscriminately rings with the lamentations of
women and children, seized and carried away. Any one, acquainted with
our sufferings, might be astonished how it is that we are capable of
bearing them, or that the authors of them are not yet satiated with
inflicting such enormous cruelties. Neither am I able to go through
with them, nor is it worth your while to listen to the particulars of
our sufferings. I will embrace them all in a general description.
I declare that there is not a house or a man at Locri exempt from
injury. I say that there cannot be found any species of villany, lust,
or rapacity which has not been exercised on every one capable of being
the object of them. It would be difficult to determine in which case
the city was visited with the more horrible calamity, whether when it
was captured by an enemy, or when a sanguinary tyrant crushed it
by violence and arms. Every evil, conscript fathers, which captured
cities suffer, we have suffered, and do now as much as ever suffer.
All the enormities which the most cruel and savage tyrants are wont
to perpetrate upon their oppressed subjects, Pleminius has perpetrated
upon ourselves, our children, and our wives.

18. "There is one circumstance, however, in complaining of which
particularly we may be allowed to yield to our deeply-rooted sense of
religion, and indulge a hope that you will listen to it; and, if it
shall seem good to you, conscript fathers, free your state from
the guilt of irreligious conduct. For we have seen with how great
solemnity you not only worship your own deities, but entertain even
those of foreign countries. We have a fane dedicated to Proserpine, of
the sanctity of which temple I imagine some accounts must have reached
you, during the war with Pyrrhus; who, when sailing by Locri, on his
return from Sicily, among other horrid enormities which he committed
against our state, on account of our fidelity towards you, plundered
also the treasures of Proserpine, which had never been touched up to
that day; and then, putting the money on board his ships, proceeded
on his journey himself by land. What, therefore, was the result,
conscript fathers? The next day his fleet was shattered by a most
hideous tempest, and all the ships which carried the sacred money were
thrown on our shores. That most insolent king, convinced by this
so great disaster that there were gods, ordered all the money to be
collected and restored to the treasures of the goddess. However, he
never met with any success afterwards; but, after being driven out of
Italy, he died an ignoble and dishonourable death, having incautiously
entered Argos by night. Though your lieutenant-general and military
tribune had heard of these, and a thousand other circumstances, which
were related not for the purpose of creating increased reverence, but
frequently experienced by ourselves and our ancestors, through the
special interposition of the goddess, they had, nevertheless,
the audacity to apply their sacrilegious hands to those hallowed
treasures, and pollute themselves, their own families, and your
soldiers, with the impious booty. Through whom we implore you,
conscript fathers, by your honour, not to perform any thing in Italy
or in Africa, until you have expiated their guilty deed, lest they
should atone for the crime they have committed, not with their own
blood only, but by some disaster affecting their country. Although,
even now, conscript fathers, the resentment of the goddess does not
tarry either towards your generals or your soldiers. Already have they
several times engaged each other in pitched battles, one party headed
by Pleminius, and the other by the two military tribunes. Never did
they employ their weapons with more fury against the Carthaginians
than when encountering each other; and they would have afforded
Hannibal an opportunity of retaking Locri, had not Scipio, whom we
called in, come in time to prevent it. But, by Hercules, is it that
the soldiers are impelled by frenzy, and that the influence of the
goddess has not shown itself in punishing the generals themselves?
Nay, herein her interposition was manifested in the most conspicuous
manner. The tribunes were beaten with rods by the lieutenant-general.
Then the lieutenant-general, treacherously seized by the tribunes,
besides being mangled in every part of his body, had his nose and ears
cut off, and was left for dead. Then, recovering from his wounds, he
threw the tribunes into chains; beat them, tortured them with every
species of degrading punishment, and put them to death in a cruel
manner, forbidding them to be buried. Such atonements has the goddess
exacted from the despoilers of her temple; nor will she cease to
pursue them, with every species of vengeance, till the sacred money
shall have been replaced in the treasury. Formerly, our ancestors,
during a grievous war with the Crotonians, because the temple was
without the town, were desirous of removing the money into it; but a
voice was heard from the shrine, during the night, commanding them to
hold off their hands, for the goddess would defend her own temple.
As they were deterred, by religious awe, from removing the treasures
thence, they were desirous of surrounding the temple with a wall. The
walls were raised to a considerable height, when they suddenly fell
down in ruins. But, both now, and frequently on other occasions, the
goddess has either defended her own habitation and temple, or has
exacted heavy expiations from those who had violated it. Our injuries
she cannot avenge, nor can any but yourselves avenge them, conscript
fathers. To you, and to your honour, we fly, as suppliants. It makes
no difference to us whether you suffer Locri to be subject to that
lieutenant-general and that garrison, or whether you deliver us up
for punishment to incensed Hannibal and the Carthaginians. We do
not request that you should at once believe us respecting one who is
absent, and when the cause has not been heard. Let him come; let him
hear our charges in person, and refute them himself. If there is any
enormity one man can commit against another which he has not committed
upon us we do not refuse to suffer all the same cruelties over again,
if it is possible we can endure them, and let him be acquitted of all
guilt towards gods and men."

19. When the ambassadors had thus spoken, and Quintus Fabius had asked
them whether they had carried those complaints to Publius Scipio, they
answered, "that deputies were sent to him, but he was occupied with
the preparations for the war, and had either already crossed over
into Africa, or was about to do so within a few days. That they had
experienced how highly the lieutenant-general was in favour with the
general, when, after hearing the cause between him and the
tribunes, he threw the tribunes into chains, while he left the
lieutenant-general, who was equally or more guilty, in possession of
the same power as before." The ambassadors, having been directed to
withdraw from the senate-house, not only Pleminius, but even Scipio,
was severely inveighed against by the principal men; but, above all,
by Quintus Fabius, who endeavoured to show, "that he was born for the
corruption of military discipline. It was thus," he said, "that in
Spain he almost lost more men in consequence of mutiny than the
war. That, after the manner of foreigners and kings, he indulged the
licentiousness of the soldiers, and then punished them with cruelty."
He then followed up his speech by a resolution equally harsh: that "it
was his opinion, that Pleminius should be conveyed to Rome in chains,
and in chains plead his cause; and, if the complaints of the Locrians
were founded in truth, that he should be put to death in prison, and
his effects confiscated. That Publius Scipio should be recalled, for
having quitted his province without the permission of the senate; and
that the plebeian tribunes should be applied to, to propose to the
people the abrogation of his command. That the senate should reply to
the Locrians, when brought before them, that the injuries which they
complained of having received were neither approved of by the senate
nor the people of Rome. That they should be acknowledged as worthy
men, allies, and friends; that their children, their wives, and
whatsoever else had been taken from them, should be restored; that
the sum of money which had been taken from the treasures of Proserpine
should be collected, and twice the amount placed in the treasury. That
an expiatory sacred rite should be celebrated, first referring it to
the college of pontiffs, to determine what atonements should be made,
to what gods, and with what victims, in consequence of the sacred
treasures' having been removed and violated. That the soldiers at
Locri should be all transported into Sicily, and four cohorts of the
allies of the Latin confederacy taken to Locri for a garrison." The
votes could not be entirely collected that day in consequence of the
warm feeling excited for and against Scipio. Besides the atrocious
conduct of Pleminius, and the calamities of the Locrians, much was
said about the dress of the general himself, as being not only not
Roman, but even unsoldierlike. It was said, that "he walked about in
the gymnasium in a cloak and slippers, and that he gave his time to
light books and the palaestra. That his whole staff were enjoying
the delights which Syracuse afforded, with the same indolence and
effeminacy. That Carthage and Hannibal had dropped out of his memory;
that the whole army, corrupted by indulgence, like that at Sucro in
Spain, or that now at Locri, was more to be feared by its allies than
by its enemies."

20. Though these charges, partly true, and partly containing a mixture
of truth and falsehood, and therefore, probably, were urged with
vehemence; the opinion, however, of Quintus Metellus prevailed, who,
agreeing with Maximus on other points, differed from him in the case
of Scipio. "For how inconsistent would it be," said he, "that the
person whom the state a little while ago selected as their general,
though a very young man, for the recovery of Spain; whom, after he
had taken Spain out of the hands of their enemies, they elected their
consul, for the purpose of putting an end to the Punic war; whom they
marked out with the most confident anticipation as the person who
would draw Hannibal out of Italy, and subdue Africa; how inconsistent
would it be, that this man, like another Pleminius, condemned in
a manner without a hearing, should suddenly be recalled from his
province! when the Locrians asserted that the wicked acts which had
been committed against them were done not even in the presence of
Scipio, and no other charge could be brought against him, than that he
spared the lieutenant-general, either from good nature or respect. He
thought it advisable, that Marcus Pomponius the praetor, to whose lot
the province of Sicily had fallen, should go to his province within
the next three days; that the consuls should select out of the senate
ten deputies, whomsoever they thought proper, and send them with the
praetor, together with two tribunes of the people, and an aedile. That
the praetor, assisted by this council, should take cognizance of the
affair. If those acts of which the Locrians complained were committed
at the command or with the concurrence of Scipio, that they should
command him to quit the province. If Publius Scipio had already
crossed over into Africa, that the tribunes of the people and the
aedile, with two of the deputies, whom the praetor should judge most
fit for it, should proceed into Africa; the tribunes and the aedile to
bring Scipio back from thence, and the deputies to take the command of
the army until a new general had come to it. But if Marcus Pomponius
and the ten deputies should discover that those acts had been
committed neither with the orders nor concurrence of Publius Scipio,
that Scipio should then remain with the army and carry on the war as
he had proposed." A decree of the senate having passed to this effect,
application was made to the tribunes of the people to arrange among
themselves, or determine by lot, which two should go with the praetor
and the deputies. The advice of the college of pontiffs was taken on
the subject of the expiations to be made, on account of the treasures
in the temple of Proserpine, at Locri, having been touched, violated,
and carried out of it. The tribunes of the people, who went with the
praetor and ten deputies, were Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Marcus
Cincius Alimentus. To these a plebeian aedile was given, whom, if
Scipio, whether he was still in Sicily or had now crossed over into
Africa, should refuse to obey the orders of the praetor, the tribunes
might direct to apprehend him, and bring him home in right of their
most sacred authority. The plan was, to go to Locri before they went
to Messana.

21. With regard to Pleminius, there are two different accounts. Some
relate that, having heard what measures had been adopted at Rome,
as he was going into exile to Naples, he accidentally fell in with
Quintus Metellus, one of the deputies, by whom he was forcibly
conveyed back to Rhegium. Others say, that Scipio himself sent a
lieutenant-general with thirty of the most distinguished of the
cavalry to throw Quintus Pleminius into chains, and with him the
principal movers of the mutiny. All these, whether by the orders
of Scipio before, or of the praetor now, were delivered over to the
Rhegians to be kept in custody. The praetor and the deputies going to
Locri, gave their attention first to the affair relating to religion,
agreeably to their instructions; for, collecting all the sacred money,
whether in the possession of Pleminius or the soldiers, they replaced
it in the treasury, together with that which they had brought with
them, and performed an expiatory sacred rite. The praetor then,
summoning the soldiers to an assembly, ordered them to march out of
the city, and pitched a camp in the plain, issuing an edict which
threatened severe punishment to any soldier who either had remained
behind in the city, or had carried out with him what did not belong to
him. He gave permission to the Locrians to seize whatever each of them
identified as his property, and demand restitution to be made of any
thing which was concealed. Above all, he was resolved that the free
persons should be restored to the Locrians without delay. That the man
who did not restore them should be visited with no light punishment.
He then held an assembly of the Locrians, and told them, that "the
people and senate of Rome restored to them their liberty and their
laws. That if any one was desirous of bringing charges against
Pleminius, or any one else, he should follow them to Rhegium. If they
were desirous of complaining, in the name of their state, of Publius
Scipio, as having ordered and approved of the nefarious acts which had
been committed at Locri against gods and men, that they should send
deputies to Messana, where, with the assistance of his council, he
would hear them." The Locrians returned thanks to the praetor and
deputies, and to the senate and people of Rome, and said that they
would go and bring their charge against Pleminius. That Scipio, though
he had evinced too little sympathy in the injuries inflicted on their
state, was such a man as they would rather have their friend than
their enemy; that they were convinced that the many and horrid acts
which had been committed were done neither by the orders nor with
the approval of Publius Scipio; that he had either placed too much
confidence in Pleminius, or too little in them; that the natural
disposition of some men was such, that they rather were unwilling that
crimes should be committed, than had sufficient resolution to punish
them when committed. Both the praetor and his council were relieved
from a burden of no ordinary weight in not having to take cognizance
of charges against Scipio. Pleminius, and as many as thirty-two
persons with him, they condemned and sent in chains to Rome. They
then proceeded to Scipio, that they might carry to Rome a statement
attested by their own observation relative to the facts which had been
so generally talked of, concerning the dress and indolent habits of
the general, and the relaxation of military discipline.

22. While they were on their way to Syracuse, Scipio prepared to clear
himself, not by words but facts. He ordered all his troops to assemble
there, and the fleet to be got in readiness, as though a battle had
been to be fought that day with the Carthaginians, by sea and land.
On the day of their arrival he entertained them hospitably, and on the
next day presented to their view his land and naval forces, not only
drawn up in order, but the former performing evolutions, while the
fleet in the harbour itself also exhibited a mock naval fight.
The praetor and the deputies were then conducted round to view the
armouries, the granaries, and other preparations for the war. And so
great was the admiration excited in them of each particular, and of
the whole together, that they firmly believed, that under the conduct
of that general, and with that army, the Carthaginians would be
vanquished, or by none other. They bid him, with the blessing of
the gods, cross over, and, as soon as possible, realize to the Roman
people the hopes they conceived on that day when all the centuries
concurred in naming him first consul. Thus they set out on their
return in the highest spirits, as though they were about to carry to
Rome tidings of a victory, and not of a grand preparation for war.
Pleminius, and those who were implicated in the same guilt with him,
when they arrived at Rome, were thrown immediately into prison. At
first, when brought before the people by the tribunes, they found no
place in their compassion, as their minds were previously engrossed
by the sufferings of the Locrians; but afterwards, being repeatedly
brought before them, and the hatred with which they were regarded
subsiding, their resentment was softened. Besides, the mutilated
appearance of Pleminius, and their recollections of the absent Scipio,
operated in gaining them favour with the people. Pleminius, however,
died in prison, before the people had come to a determination
respecting him. Clodius Licinius, in the third book of his Roman
history, relates, that this Pleminius, during the celebration of the
votive games, which Africanus, in his second consulate, exhibited
at Rome, made an attempt, by means of certain persons whom he had
corrupted by bribes, to set fire to the city in several places, that
he might have an opportunity of breaking out of prison, and making his
escape; and that afterwards, the wicked plot having been discovered,
he was consigned to the Tullian dungeon, according to a decree of the
senate. The case of Scipio was considered no where but in the
senate; where all the deputies and tribunes, bestowing the highest
commendations on the fleet, the army, and the general, induced the
senate to vote that he should cross over into Africa as soon as
possible; and that permission should be given him to select himself,
out of those armies which were in Sicily, those forces which he would
carry with him into Africa, and those which he would leave for the
protection of the province.

23. While the Romans were thus employed, the Carthaginians, on their
part, though they had passed an anxious winter, earnestly inquiring
what was going on, and terrified at the arrival of every messenger,
with watch-towers placed on every promontory, had gained a point of no
small importance for the defence of Africa, in adding to their allies
king Syphax, in reliance on whom chiefly they believed the Romans
would cross over into Africa. Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, not only formed
a connexion of hospitality with the before-named king, when Scipio and
Hasdrubal happened to come to him at the same time out of Spain,
but mention had also been slightly made of an affinity to take place
between them, by the king's marrying the daughter of Hasdrubal.
Hasdrubal, who had gone for the purpose of completing this
business, and fixing a time for the nuptials, for the virgin was now
marriageable, perceiving that the king was inflamed with desire, for
the Numidians are, beyond all the other barbarians, violently addicted
to love, sent for the virgin from Carthage, and hastened the nuptials.
Among the other proofs of joy felt upon the occasion, and in order
that a public connexion might be added to this private one, an oath
was taken in confirmation of an alliance between the Carthaginian
people and the king, and faith reciprocally pledged that they would
have the same friends and enemies. But Hasdrubal, recollecting both
the alliance which had been entered into by the king and Scipio, and
how inconstant and changeable were the minds of the barbarians, was
afraid that, if Scipio were to invade Africa, that marriage would
prove but a slight bond of union, he therefore took advantage of the
Numidian while under the influence of the first transports of love,
and calling to his aid the caresses of the bride, prevailed upon him
to send ambassadors into Sicily to Scipio, and by them to warn him
"not to cross over into Africa in reliance upon his former promises.
That he was united to the Carthaginians both by a marriage with
a Carthaginian citizen, the daughter of Hasdrubal, whom he saw
entertained at his house, and likewise by a public treaty. That
his first wish was that the Romans would carry on the war with the
Carthaginians at a distance from Africa, as they had hitherto done,
lest he should be compelled to interfere with their disputes, and join
one of the two contending parties, renouncing his alliance with the
other. If Scipio should not keep away from Africa, and should advance
his army to Carthage, it would be incumbent upon him to fight for
the land of Africa, which gave him birth, and for the country of his
spouse, for her parent, and household gods."

24. The ambassadors, sent to Scipio by the king with these
instructions, met him at Syracuse. Scipio, though disappointed in
an affair which was of the greatest importance with regard to his
operations in Africa, and in the sanguine expectations he had formed
from it, sent the ambassadors back into Africa speedily, before their
business was made known, giving them letters for the king, in which he
warned him over and over again "not to violate the laws of hospitality
which bound them together; the obligation of the alliance entered into
with the Roman people; nor make light of justice, honour, their
right hands pledged, and the gods the witnesses and arbitrators of
compacts." But, as the coming of the Numidians could not be concealed,
for they lounged about the city, and had frequently appeared at the
pavilion; and as, if nothing were said about the object of their
visit, there was danger lest the truth, from the very circumstance of
its being made a secret, should spontaneously spread the more; and, in
consequence, the troops become alarmed lest they should have to wage
war at once with the king and the Carthaginians, Scipio endeavoured to
divert their attention from the truth by preoccupying their minds with
false information; and, summoning his soldiers to an assembly, said,
"that it was not expedient to delay any longer. That the kings, their
allies, urged them to cross over into Africa with all speed. That
Masinissa himself had before come to Laelius, complaining that
time was consumed in delays, and that now Syphax sent ambassadors,
expressing his astonishment on the same account, namely, what could
be the cause of such long delay; and requesting either that the army
would now at length be transported into Africa, or, if the plan was
changed, that he might be informed so that he might himself take
measures for the safety of himself and his dominions. Therefore, as
every thing was now ready and prepared, and as the business admitted
of no further delay, he was resolved, after having removed the fleet
to Lilybaeum, and collected here all his forces of foot and horse,
with the blessing of the gods to pass over into Africa the first day
the ships could sail." He sent a letter to Marcus Pomponius, directing
him, if he thought proper, to come to Lilybaeum, that they might
consult together as to what legions, in preference to any others, and
how large a number of soldiers, they should convey into Africa; he
also sent round to every part of the sea-coast, with directions that
all the ships of burthen should be seized and collected at Lilybaeum.
When all the soldiers and ships in Sicily were assembled at Lilybaeum,
and neither the city could contain the multitude of men, nor the
harbour the ships, so ardent was the desire possessed by all of
passing over to Africa, that they did not appear as if going to wage
war, but to reap the certain rewards of victory. Particularly those
who remained of the soldiers who had fought at Cannae felt convinced
that under Scipio, and no other general, they would be enabled, by
exerting themselves in the cause of the state, to put an end to their
ignominious service. Scipio was very far from feeling contempt for
that description of soldiers, inasmuch as he knew that the defeat
sustained at Cannae was not attributable to their cowardice, and that
there were no soldiers in the Roman army who had served so long, or
were so experienced not only in the various kinds of battles, but in
assaulting towns also. The legions which had fought at Cannae were
the fifth and sixth. After declaring that he would take these with him
into Africa, he inspected them man by man; and leaving those whom he
considered unfit for service, he substituted for them those whom he
had brought from Sicily, filling up those legions so that each might
contain six thousand two hundred infantry and three hundred horse. The
horse and foot of the allies, of the Latin confederacy, he also chose
out of the army of Cannae.

25. There is a wide difference among historians as to the number of
men transported into Africa. In some I find ten thousand infantry and
two hundred horse; in others, sixteen thousand infantry and sixteen
hundred horse. In others, again, I find it stated that thirty-five
thousand infantry and cavalry were put on board the fleet, making the
number more than one half greater. Some have not added an account of
the number; among whom, as the matter is doubtful, I should rather
have myself ranked. Caelius, though he abstains from specifying the
number, increases the impression of their multitude indefinitely. He
says, that birds fell to the ground from the shout of the soldiers,
and that so great a multitude went on board the fleet, that it seemed
as if there was not a man left in Italy or Sicily. Scipio took upon
himself the care of seeing that the soldiers embarked orderly and
without confusion. The seamen, who were made to embark first, Caius
Laelius, the admiral of the fleet, kept in order on board the ships.
The task of the putting on board the provisions was assigned to Marcus
Pomponius, the praetor. Food for forty-five days, of which enough for
fifteen was cooked, was put on board. When they were all embarked, he
sent boats round with directions that the pilots and masters, with
two soldiers from each ship, should assemble in the forum to receive
orders. After they had assembled, he first asked them whether they had
put on board water for the men and cattle, sufficient to last as many
days as the corn would. When they answered that there was water on
board sufficient for five and forty days' consumption, he then charged
the soldiers that, conducting themselves submissively, and keeping
quiet, they would not make any noise or disturb the mariners in the
execution of their duties. He informed them, that he himself and
Lucius Scipio in the right wing, with twenty ships of war, and Caius
Laelius, admiral of the fleet, together with Marcus Porcius Cato, who
was then quaestor, with the same number of ships of war in the left
wing, would protect the transports. That the ships of war should carry
each a single light, the transports two each. That in the ship of the
commander-in-chief there would be three lights as a distinction by
night. He desired the pilots to make for Emporia, where the land is
remarkably fertile; and on that account the district abounds with
plenty of every thing, and the barbarous inhabitants are unwarlike,
which is usually the case where the soil is rich. It was supposed
that they might, therefore, be overpowered before assistance could be
brought them from Carthage. After these commands were delivered, they
were ordered to return to their ships, and the next day, with the
blessing of the gods, on the signal being given, to set sail.

26. Many Roman fleets had set sail from Sicily, and from that very
harbour. But not only during this war, nor is that surprising, (for
most of the fleets went out for the purpose of getting plunder,) but
even in any former war, never did a fleet on setting out exhibit
so grand a spectacle. And yet, if the estimate is to be formed with
reference to the magnitude of the fleet, it must be owned that two
consuls with their armies had passed from thence before, and there
were almost as many ships of war in those fleets as the transports
with which Scipio was crossing. For, besides fifty men of war, he
conveyed his army over in four hundred transports. But what made the
Romans consider one war as more formidable than the other, the second
than the first, was, that it was carried on in Italy, and that so many
armies had been destroyed, and their commanders slain. The general,
Scipio, also, who enjoyed the highest degree of renown, partly
from his brave achievements, and partly from a peculiar felicity of
fortune, which conducted him to the acquisition of boundless glory,
attracted extraordinary regard. At the same time, the very project of
passing over into the enemy's country, which had not been formed
by any general before during that war, had made him an object of
admiration; for he had commonly declared, that he passed over with the
object of drawing Hannibal out of Italy, of removing the seat of war
into Africa, and terminating it there. A crowd of persons of every
description had assembled in the harbour to view the spectacle; not
only the inhabitants of Lilybaeum, but all the deputies from Sicily,
who had come together out of compliment to witness the departure
of Scipio, and had followed Marcus Pomponius, the praetor of the
province. Besides these, the legions which were to be left in Sicily
had come forth to do honour to their comrades on the occasion; and not
only did the fleet form a grand sight to those who viewed it from the
land, but the shore also, crowded as it was all around, afforded the
same to those who were sailing away.

27. As soon as day appeared, silence having been obtained by a herald,
Scipio thus spoke from the ship of the commander-in-chief: "Ye gods
and goddesses who preside over the seas and lands, I pray and entreat
you, that whatever things have been, are now, or shall be performed
during my command, may turn out prosperously to myself, the state, and
commons of Rome, to the allies and the Latin confederacy, and to
all who follow my party and that of the Roman people, my command and
auspices, by land, by sea, and on rivers. That you would lend your
favourable aid to all those measures, and promote them happily. That
you would bring these and me again to our homes, safe and unhurt;
victorious over our vanquished enemies, decorated with spoils, loaded
with booty, and triumphant. That you would grant us the opportunity of
taking revenge upon our adversaries and foes, and put it in the power
of myself and the Roman people to make the Carthaginian state feel
those signal severities which they endeavoured to inflict upon our
state." After these prayers, he threw the raw entrails of a victim
into the sea, according to custom, and, with the sound of a trumpet,
gave the signal for sailing. Setting out with a favourable wind, which
blew pretty strong, they were soon borne away out of sight of the
land; and in the afternoon a mist came over them, so that they could
with difficulty prevent the ships from running foul of each other. The
wind abated when they got into the open sea. The following night the
same haziness prevailed; but when the sun rose it was dispelled, and
the wind blew stronger. They were now within sight of land, and, not
long after, the pilot observed to Scipio, that "Africa was not more
than five miles off; that he could discern the promontory of Mercury,
and that if he gave orders to direct their course thither, the whole
fleet would presently be in harbour." Scipio, when the land was in
sight, after praying that his seeing Africa might be for the good
of the state and himself, gave orders to make for another place of
landing, lower down. They were borne along by the same wind; but a
mist, arising nearly about the same time as on the preceding day, hid
the land from them; and the wind fell as the mist grew more dense.
Afterwards, the night coming on increased the confusion in every
respect; they therefore cast anchor, lest the ships should either
run foul of each other, or be driven on shore. At daybreak the wind,
rising in the same quarter, dispelled the mist and discovered the
whole coast of Africa. Scipio asked what was the name of the nearest
promontory, and, on being told that it was called the cape of Pulcher,
he observed, "the omen pleases me, direct your course to it." To
this place the fleet ran down, and all the troops were landed. I have
adopted the accounts given by a great many Greek and Latin authors,
who state that the voyage was prosperous, and unattended with any
cause of alarm or confusion. Caelius alone, except that he does not
state that the ships were sunk in the waves, says that they were
exposed to all the terrors of the heavens and the sea, and that
at last the fleet was driven by tempest from Africa to the island
Aegimurus, from which, with great difficulty, they got into the right
course; and that, the ships almost foundering, the soldiers, without
orders from their general, got into boats, just as if they had
suffered shipwreck, and escaped to land without arms, and in the
utmost disorder.

28. The troops being landed, the Romans marked out their camp on the
nearest rising grounds. By this time, not only the parts bordering on
the sea were filled with consternation and alarm, first in consequence
of the fleet being seen, and afterwards from the bustle of landing,
but they had extended to the cities also. For not only multitudes of
men, mixed with crowds of women and children, had filled up all the
roads in every direction, but the rustics also drove away their cattle
before them, so that you would say that Africa was being suddenly
deserted. In the cities, indeed, they occasioned much greater terror
than they felt themselves. At Carthage, particularly, the tumult was
almost as great as if it had been captured. For since the time of
Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius, which was almost fifty
years ago, the Carthaginians had seen no Roman armament, with the
exception of fleets sent for plundering, from which troops had made
descents upon the lands bordering on the sea, and after carrying away
every thing which chance threw in their way, had always returned to
their ships before their noise had collected the peasantry. For this
reason the hurry and consternation in the city was, on the present
occasion, the greater. And, by Hercules, they had neither an efficient
army at home, nor a general, whom they could oppose to their enemy.
Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, was by far the first man in their state in
respect of birth, fame, opulence, and, at that time, also by reason
of an affinity with the king. But they recollected that he had been
routed in several battles and driven out of Spain by this very Scipio;
and that therefore, as a general, he was no more a match for the
general of the enemy than their tumultuary army was for that of the
Romans. Therefore they shouted to arms, as if Scipio were coming
immediately to attack the city; the gates were hastily closed, armed
men placed upon the walls, guards and outposts stationed in different
places, and the following night was spent in watching. The next day,
five hundred horsemen, sent to the coast to reconnoitre and interrupt
the enemy while landing, fell in with the advanced guards of the
Romans; for by this time Scipio, having sent his fleet to Utica, had
proceeded a short distance from the sea, and occupied the nearest
heights. He had also placed outposts of cavalry in proper situations,
and sent troops through the country to plunder.

29. These, engaging the body of Carthaginian horse, slew a few of them
in the fight, and the greater part of them as they pursued them when
they were flying; among whom was Hanno, their captain, a young man of
distinction. Scipio not only devastated the lands in the country
round him, but also took a very wealthy city of the Africans which lay
nearest to him; where, besides other things which were immediately
put on board the transports and sent into Sicily, eight thousand free
persons and slaves were captured. But the most gratifying circumstance
to the Romans was, the arrival of Masinissa just at the commencement
of their operations. Some say that he came with not more than two
hundred horse, but most authors say with a body of two thousand
cavalry. But, as this man was by far the greatest king of his age, and
rendered most essential service to the Romans, it seems worth while to
digress a little, to give a full account of the great vicissitudes
of fortune he experienced in the loss and recovery of his father's
kingdom. While he was serving in Spain in the cause of the
Carthaginians, his father, named Gala, died. The kingdom, according to
the custom of the Numidians, came to Oesalces, the brother of the
late king, who was very aged. Not long after, Oesalces also dying,
the elder of his two sons, named Capusa, the other being quite a boy,
succeeded to his father's kingdom. But, as he occupied the throne more
by right of descent than from the esteem in which he was held among
his countrymen, or the power he possessed, there stood forth a person
named Mezetulus, not unrelated by blood to the kings, of a family
which had always been hostile to them, and had continually contested
the right to the throne with those who then occupied it, with various
success. This man, having roused his countrymen to arms, over whom he
possessed a great influence, from the hatred felt towards the kings,
openly pitched his camp, and compelled the king to come into the field
and fight for the throne. Capusa, with many of his nobles, falling in
the action, the whole nation of the Massylians came under the dominion
and rule of Mezetulus. He abstained, however, from assuming the
title of king; and, contenting himself with the modest appellation
of protector, gave the name of king to the boy Lacumaces, a surviving
branch of the royal stock. In the hope of an alliance with the
Carthaginians, he formed a matrimonial connexion with a noble
Carthaginian lady, daughter of Hannibal's sister, who had been lately
married to the king Oesalces; and, sending ambassadors for that
purpose, renewed an old connexion of hospitality with Syphax, taking
all these measures with a view to obtain assistance against Masinissa.

30. Masinissa, hearing of the death of his uncle, and afterwards that
his cousin-german was slain, passed over out of Spain into Mauritania.
Bocchar was king of the Moors at that time. Applying to him as a
suppliant, he succeeded, by means of the most humble entreaties, in
obtaining from him four thousand Moors to escort him on his march,
since he could not procure his co-operation in the war. With these,
after sending a messenger before him to his own and his father's
friends, he arrived on the frontiers of the kingdom, when about five
hundred Numidians came to join him. Having, therefore, sent back the
Moors to their king, as had been agreed, though the numbers which
joined him were much less than he had anticipated, not being such as
to inspire him with sufficient confidence for so great an attempt,
yet, concluding that by action, and by making some effort, he should
collect sufficient strength to enable him to effect something, he
threw himself in the way of the young king Lacumaces, at Thapsus, as
he was going to Syphax. The troops which attended him having fled back
to the town in consternation, Masinissa took it at the first assault.
Of the royal party, some who surrendered themselves he received,
others he slew while attempting resistance. The greater part, with the
young king himself, escaped during the confusion and came to Syphax,
to whom they intended to go at first. The fame of this success, in
the commencement of his operations, though of no great magnitude,
brought the Numidians over to the cause of Masinissa; and the veteran
soldiers of Gala flocked to his standard from all quarters, from the
country and the towns, inviting the youth to come and recover his
paternal dominions. Mezetulus had somewhat the advantage in the number
of his soldiers, for he had himself both the army with which he had
conquered Capusa, and also some troops who had submitted to him after
the king was slain; and the young king Lacumaces had brought him very
large succours from Syphax. Mezetulus had fifteen thousand infantry,
and ten thousand cavalry. With these Masinissa engaged in battle,
though he had by no means so many horse or foot. The valour, however,
of the veteran troops, and the skill of the general, who had been
exercised in the war between the Romans and Carthaginians, prevailed.
The young king, with the protector and a small body of Massylians,
escaped into the territories of the Carthaginians. Masinissa thus
recovered his paternal dominions; but, as he saw that there still
remained a struggle considerably more arduous with Syphax, he thought
it advisable to come to a reconciliation with his cousin-german.
Having, therefore sent persons to give the young king hopes, that if
he put himself under the protection of Masinissa, he would be held in
the same honour by him as Oesalces had formerly been by Gala; and to
promise Mezetulus, in addition to impunity, a faithful restitution
of all his property; as both of them preferred a moderate share
of fortune at home to exile, he brought them over to his side,
notwithstanding the Carthaginians studiously exerted every means to
prevent it.

31. It happened that Hasdrubal was with Syphax at the time these
things were taking place. He told the Numidian, who considered that it
could make very little difference to him whether the government of the
Massylians was in the hands of Lacumaces or Masinissa, that "he was
very much mistaken if he supposed that Masinissa would be content with
the same power which his father Gala or his uncle Oesalces enjoyed.
That he possessed a much greater degree of spirit, and a more
enterprising turn of mind, than had ever existed in any one of that
race. That he had frequently, when in Spain, exhibited proofs to his
allies, as well as to his enemies, of such valour as was rarely
found among men. That both Syphax and the Carthaginians, unless they
smothered that rising flame, would soon find themselves enveloped in
a vast conflagration, when they could not help themselves. That as yet
his strength was feeble, and such as might easily be broken, while
he was trying to keep together a kingdom, which was not yet firmly
cemented." By continually urging and goading him on, he succeeded in
inducing him to lead an army to the frontiers of the Massylians, and
to pitch his camp in a country for which he had not only disputed
verbally, but had fought battles with Gala, as though it had been his
own by uncontested right. He alleged, that "if any one should attempt
to dislodge him, which was what he most wanted, he would have an
opportunity of fighting; but, if the ground were given up to him
through fear, he must march into the heart of the kingdom. That the
Massylians would either submit to his authority without a contest,
or would be inferior to him in arms." Syphax, impelled by these
arguments, made war on Masinissa, and, in the first engagement, routed
and put him to flight. Masinissa, with a few horsemen, effected his
escape from the field to a mountain called by the natives Balbus.
Several families, with their tents and cattle, which form their
wealth, followed the king; the rest of the Massylian people submitted
to Syphax. The mountain, which the exiles had seized, had plenty
of grass and water; and, as it was well adapted for feeding cattle,
afforded an abundant supply of food for men who live upon flesh and
milk. From this place they infested all the surrounding country; at
first with nightly and clandestine incursions, but afterwards with
open depredations. The lands of the Carthaginians suffered the
severest devastation, because there was not only a greater quantity
of booty there than among the Numidians, but their plunder would be
safer. And now they did it with so much boldness and defiance, that,
carrying their booty down to the sea, they sold it to merchants, who
brought their ships to land for that very purpose; while a greater
number of Carthaginians were slain and made prisoners, than frequently
happens in a regular war. The Carthaginians complained bitterly of
these occurrences to Syphax, and urged him strongly to follow up this
remnant of the war, though he was himself highly incensed at them. But
he considered it hardly suitable to the dignity of a king to pursue a
vagabond robber through the mountains.

32. Bocchar, one of the king's generals, an enterprising and active
officer, was chosen for this service. Four thousand infantry and
two thousand cavalry were assigned him; and having been loaded with
promises of immense rewards if he brought back the head of Masinissa,
or if, which would be a source of incalculable joy, he took him alive;
he unexpectedly attacked his party while dispersed and carelessly
employed, and after cutting off an immense quantity of cattle and men
from the troops which guarded them, drove Masinissa himself with
a small body of attendants to the summit of the mountain. On this,
considering the business as in a manner settled, he not only sent the
booty of cattle and the prisoners he had made to the king, but also
sent back a part of his forces, as being considerably more than were
necessary to accomplish what remained of the war; and then pursuing
Masinissa, who had come down from the top of the mountain with not
more than five hundred foot and two hundred horse, shut him up in a
narrow valley, both the entrances of which he blocked up. Here great
slaughter was made of the Massylians. Masinissa, with not more than
fifty horsemen, disengaged himself from the defile by passing through
steep descents of the mountains, which were not known to his pursuers.
Bocchar, however, followed close upon him, and overtaking him in the
open plains near Clupea, so effectually surrounded him, that he slew
every one of his attendants except four horsemen. These, together with
Masinissa himself, who was wounded, he let slip, in a manner, out of
his hands during the confusion. The fugitives were in sight, and
a body of horse, dispersed over the whole plain, pursued the five
horsemen of the enemy, some of them pushing off in an oblique
direction, in order to meet them. The fugitives met with a very broad
river, into which they unhesitatingly plunged their horses, as they
were pressed by greater danger from behind, and carried away by the
current were borne along obliquely. Two of them having sunk in the
rapid eddy in the sight of the enemy, Masinissa himself was supposed
to have perished; but he with the two remaining had emerged among the
bushes on the farther bank. Here Bocchar stopped his pursuit, as he
neither had courage to enter the river, nor believed that he now had
any one to pursue. Upon this he returned to the king, with the false
account of the death of Masinissa. Messengers were despatched to
Carthage to convey this most joyful event, and all Africa rang with
the news of Masinissa's death; but the minds of men were variously
affected by it. Masinissa, while curing his wound by the application
of herbs, was supported for several days in a secret cave by what the
two horsemen procured by plunder. As soon as it was cicatrized, and he
thought himself able to bear the motion, with extraordinary resolution
he set out to recover his kingdom; and collecting not more than forty
horsemen during his progress, when he arrived among the Massylians,
where he now made himself known, he produced such a sensation among
them, both by reason of their former regard for him, and also from the
unhoped-for joy they experienced at seeing him safe whom they supposed
to have perished, that within a few days six thousand armed foot and
four thousand horse came and joined him; and now he not only was in
possession of his paternal dominions, but was also laying waste
the lands of the states in alliance with the Carthaginians, and the
frontiers of the Massylians, the dominions of Syphax. Then, having
provoked Syphax to war, he took up a position between Cirta and Hippo,
on the tops of mountains which were conveniently situated for all his
purposes.

33. Syphax, considering this an affair of too great importance to be
managed by one of his generals, sent a part of his army with his son
Vermina, a youth, with orders to march his troops round and attack the
enemy in the rear, while he engaged their attention in front. Vermina
set out by night, as he was to fall upon the enemy unawares; but
Syphax decamped in the day-time and marched openly, intending to fight
a pitched battle. When it was thought that sufficient time had elapsed
for those who were sent round to have reached their destination,
Syphax himself, relying upon his numbers and on the ambuscade prepared
on the enemy's rear, led his troops up the mountain which lay before
him, by a gentle acclivity which led towards the enemy. Masinissa,
relying chiefly on the great superiority he would have over his
opponents in respect of the ground, on his part also formed his
troops. The battle was furious, and for a long time doubtful;
Masinissa having the advantage in point of situation and the courage
of his troops, and Syphax in respect of his numbers, which were much
the greater of the two. His numerous troops, which were divided, some
of them pressing upon the enemy in front, while others surrounded them
on the rear, gave Syphax a decisive victory; and, enclosed as they
were in front and rear, the enemy had not even a way to escape.
Accordingly, all their troops, both horse and foot, were slain and
made prisoners, except about two hundred horsemen, which Masinissa
having collected round him in a compact body, and divided into three
squadrons, ordered to force their way through, first naming a place
where they were to meet after being separated in their flight.
Masinissa himself escaped through the midst of the enemy's weapons in
the quarter to which he had directed his course; two of the squadrons
were unable to extricate themselves; one of them surrendered to the
enemy through fear, the other, taking a more obstinate resistance, was
overwhelmed with weapons and annihilated. Vermina followed Masinissa,
treading almost in his steps; but he eluded him by continually turning
out of one road into another, till at length he obliged him, wearied
with the hopeless task, to desist from the pursuit, and arrived at the
Lesser Syrtis with sixty horsemen. Here, in the country lying between
the Carthaginian Emporia and the nation of the Garamantians, he passed
all the time till the coming of Caius Laelius and the Roman fleet into
Africa, with the proud consciousness of having made every exertion
to recover his paternal dominions. These are the circumstances which
incline me to the opinion, that afterwards also, when Masinissa came
to Scipio, he brought with him a smallish rather than a large body of
cavalry to succour him; for the large number would seem to suit
only with the condition of a reigning king, while the small number
corresponds with the circumstances of an exile.

34. The Carthaginians having lost a detachment of cavalry together
with the commander, got together another body by means of a new levy,
and gave the command of it to Hanno son of Hamilcar. They frequently
sent for Hasdrubal and Syphax by letters and messengers, and lastly
even by ambassadors, ordering Hasdrubal to bring assistance to his
almost besieged country, and imploring Syphax to bring relief to
Carthage, nay to all Africa. At that time Scipio had his camp about
five miles from the city of Utica, having removed it from the sea,
where he had continued encamped for a few days near the fleet. Hanno,
having received the body of horse, which was far from being strong
enough, not only to attack the enemy, but even to protect the country
from devastation, made it his first business to augment the number
of his cavalry by pressing; and though he did not despise the men of
other nations, he enlisted principally from the Numidians, who are by
far the first horsemen in Africa. He had now as many as four thousand
horsemen, when he took possession of a town named Salera, about
fifteen miles from the Roman camp. When Scipio was told of this, he
said, "What! cavalry lodging in houses during the summer! Let them be
even more in number while they have such a leader." Concluding that
the more dilatory they were in their operations, the more active he
ought to be, he sent Masinissa forward with the cavalry, directing him
to ride up to the gates of the enemy and draw them out to battle; and
when their whole force had poured out and pressed upon him with such
impetuosity in the contest that they could not easily be withstood,
then to retire by degrees, and he would himself come up and join
in the battle in time. Waiting only till he thought he had allowed
sufficient time for the advanced party to draw out the enemy, he
followed with the Roman cavalry, proceeding without being seen, as
he was covered by some rising grounds, which lay very conveniently
between him and the enemy, round the windings of the road. Masinissa,
according to the plan laid down, at one time as if menacingthe enemy,
at another as if he had been afraid, either rode up to the gates, or
else by retiring when his counterfeited fears had inspired them with
courage, tempted them to pursue him with inconsiderate ardour. They
had not as yet all gone out, and the general was wearying himself with
various occupations, compelling some who were oppressed with sleep and
wine to take arms and bridle their horses, and preventing others from
running out at all the gates in scattered parties and in disorder,
without keeping their ranks or following their standards. At first,
those who incautiously rushed out were overpowered by Masinissa; but
then a greater number pouring out of the gate at once in a dense body,
placed the contest on an equal footing; and at last the whole of their
cavalry coming up and joining in the battle, they could now no longer
be withstood. Masinissa, however, did not receive their charge in
hasty flight, but retired slowly, until he drew them to the rising
grounds which covered the Roman cavalry. The Roman cavalry then rising
up, their own strength unimpaired and their horses fresh, spread
themselves round Hanno and the Africans, fatigued with the fight and
the pursuit, and Masinissa, suddenly turning his horses round, came
back to the battle. About a thousand who formed the first line and
could not easily retreat, together with Hanno their general, were
surrounded and slain. The victors pursuing the rest through a space
of three miles, as they fled with the most violent haste, being
terrified, principally on account of the death of their leader, either
took or slew as many as two thousand horsemen more. It appeared that
there were not less than two hundred Carthaginian horsemen among them,
some of whom were distinguished by birth and fortune.

35. It happened that the same day on which these events occurred,
the ships which had carried the plunder to Sicily returned with
provisions, as if divining that they came to take another cargo of
booty. All the writers do not vouch for the fact that two generals of
the Carthaginians bearing the same name were slain in the battles of
the cavalry; fearing, I believe, lest the same circumstance related
twice should lead them into error. Caelius, indeed, and Valerius, make
mention of a Hanno also who was made prisoner. Scipio rewarded his
officers and horsemen according to the service they had respectively
rendered, but he presented Masinissa above all the rest with
distinguished gifts. Leaving a strong garrison at Salera, he set out
with the rest of his army; and having not only devastated the country
wherever he marched, but taken some cities and towns, thus spreading
the terrors of war far and wide, he returned to his camp on the
seventh day after he set out, bringing with him an immense quantity
of men and cattle, and booty of every description, and sent away his
ships again loaded with the spoils of the enemy. Then giving up all
expeditions of a minor kind, and predatory excursions, he directed the
whole force of the war to the siege of Utica, that he might make it
for the time to come, if he took it, a position from which he might
set out for the execution of the rest of his designs. At one and the
same time his marines attacked the city from the fleet in that part
which is washed by the sea, and the land forces were brought up from a
rising ground which almost immediately overhung the walls. He had also
brought with him engines and machines which had been conveyed from
Sicily with the stores, and fresh ones were made in the armoury, in
which he had for that purpose employed a number of artificers skilled
in such works. The people of Utica, thus beset on all sides with so
formidable a force, placed all their hopes in the Carthaginians, and
the Carthaginians in the chance there was that Hasdrubal could induce
Syphax to take arms. But all their movements were made too slowly for
the anxiety felt by those who were in want of assistance. Hasdrubal,
though he had by levies, conducted with the utmost diligence, made
up as many as thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse,
yet dared not move nearer to the enemy before the arrival of Syphax.
Syphax came with fifty thousand foot and ten thousand horse, and,
immediately decamping from Carthage, took up a position not far from
Utica and the Roman works. Their arrival produced, however, this
effect, that Scipio, who had been besieging Utica for forty days,
during which he had tried every expedient without effect, left the
place without accomplishing his object; and as the winter was now fast
approaching, fortified a camp for the winter upon a promontory, which
being attached to the continent by a narrow isthmus, stretched out a
considerable way into the sea. He included his naval camp also within
one and the same rampart. The camp for the legions being stationed on
the middle of the isthmus, the ships, which were drawn on land, and
the mariners occupied the northern shore, the cavalry a valley on the
south inclining towards the other shore. Such were the transactions in
Africa up to the close of autumn.

36. Besides the corn collected from all parts of the surrounding
country by plunder, and the provisions imported from Italy and Sicily,
Cneius Octavius, propraetor, brought a vast quantity out of Sardinia
from Tiberius Claudius the praetor, whose province Sardinia was; and
not only were the granaries already built filled, but new ones were
erected. The army wanted clothing, and Octavius was instructed
to consult with the praetor in order to ascertain if any could
be procured and sent out of that province. This business was also
diligently attended to. One thousand two hundred gowns and twelve
thousand tunics were in a short time sent. During the summer in which
these operations were carried on in Africa, Publius Sempronius, the
consul, who had the province of Bruttium, fought an irregular kind
of battle with Hannibal in the Crotonian territory while actually on
march; they fought with their troops drawn more in order of march than
of battle. The Romans were driven back, and as many as twelve hundred
of the army of the consul were slain in this affair, which was more
a tumult than a battle. They returned in confusion to their camp. The
enemy, however, dared not assault it. But, during the silence of the
following night, the consul marched away, and having sent a messenger
before him to Publius Licinius, the proconsul, to bring up his
legions, united his forces with his. Thus two generals and two armies
returned to Hannibal. Nor did either party delay to fight, as the
forces of the consul were doubled, and the Carthaginian was inspirited
by recent victory. Sempronius led his legions into the front line;
those of Licinius were placed in reserve. The consul, in the beginning
of the battle, vowed a temple to Fortuna Primigenia if he routed
the enemy that day, and he obtained the object of that vow. The
Carthaginians were routed and put to flight; above four thousand armed
men were slain, a little under three hundred taken alive, with forty
horses and eleven military standards. Hannibal, dispirited by this
adverse battle, led his troops away to Croton. At the same time, in
another part of Italy, Etruria, almost the whole of which had
espoused the interest of Mago, and had conceived hopes of effecting
a revolution through his means, was kept in subjection by the consul
Marcus Cornelius, not so much by the force of his arms as the terror
of his judicial proceedings. In the trials he had instituted there,
in conformity with the decree of the senate, he had shown the utmost
impartiality; and many of the Tuscan nobles, who had either themselves
gone, or had sent others to Mago respecting the revolt of their
states, at first standing their trials, were condemned; but afterwards
others, who, from a consciousness of guilt, had gone into voluntary
exile, were condemned in their absence, and by thus withdrawing left
their effects only, which were liable to confiscation, as a pledge for
their punishment.

37. While the consuls were thus engaged in different quarters, in the
mean time, at Rome, the censors, Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius,
called over the senate roll. Quintus Fabius was again chosen chief of
the senate; seven were stigmatized, of whom there was not one who had
sat in the curule chair. They inquired into the business relating to
the repair of public edifices with diligence and the most scrupulous
exactness. They set by contract the making of a road out of the ox
market to the temple of Venus, with public seats on each side of it,
and a temple to be built in the palatium for the great mother. They
established also a new tax out of the price of salt. Salt, both at
Rome, and throughout all Italy, was sold at the sixth part of an _as_.
They contracted for the supply of it at Rome at the same price, at a
higher price in the country towns and markets, and at different
prices in different places. They felt well convinced that this tax
was invented by one of the censors, out of resentment to the people
because he had formerly been condemned by an unjust sentence, and that
in fixing the price of salt, those tribes had been most burdened by
whose means he had been condemned. Hence Livius derived the surname
of Salinator. The closing of the lustrum was later than usual, because
the censors sent persons through the provinces, that a report might be
made of the number of Roman citizens in each of the armies. Including
these, the number of persons returned in the census was two hundred
and fourteen thousand. Caius Claudius Nero closed the lustrum. They
then received a census of the twelve colonies, which had never been
done before, the censors of the colonies themselves presenting it,
in order that there might appear registers among the public records,
stating the extent of their resources, both in respect of furnishing
soldiers and money. The review of the knights then began to be made,
and it happened that both the censors had a horse at the public
expense. When they came to the Pollian tribe, in which was the name
of Marcus Livius, and the herald hesitated to cite the censor himself,
Nero said, "Cite Marcus Livius;" and whether it was that he was
actuated by the remains of an old enmity, or that he felt a ridiculous
pride in this ill-timed display of severity, he ordered Marcus Livius
to sell his horse, because he had been condemned by the sentence of
the people. In like manner, when they came to the Narnian tribe, and
the name of his colleague, Marcus Livius ordered Caius Claudius to
sell his horse, for two reasons; one, because he had given false
evidence against him; the other, because he had not been sincere in
his reconciliation with him. Thus a disgraceful contest arose, in
which each endeavoured to asperse the character of the other, though
not without detriment to his own. On the expiration of the office,
when Caius Claudius had taken the oath respecting the observance of
the laws, and had gone up into the treasury, he gave the name of
his colleague among the names of those whom he left disfranchised.
Afterwards, Marcus Livius came into the treasury, and excepting only
the Maecian tribe, which had neither condemned him nor made him consul
or censor when condemned, left all the Roman people, four and thirty
tribes, disfranchised, because they had both condemned him when
innocent, and when condemned had made him consul and censor; and
therefore could not deny that they had been guilty of a crime, either
once in his condemnation, or twice at the elections. He said that the
disfranchisement of Caius Claudius would be included in that of the
thirty-four tribes, but that if he were in possession of a precedent
for leaving the same person disfranchised twice he would have left
his name particularly among the disfranchised. This contest between
censors, endeavouring to brand each other, was highly improper, while
the correction applied to the inconstancy of the people was suitable
to the office of a censor, and worthy of the strict discipline of
the times. As the censors were labouring under odium, Cneius Babius,
tribune of the people, thinking this a favourable opportunity of
advancing himself at their expense, summoned them both to trial before
the people. This proceeding was quashed by the unanimous voice of the
senate, lest in future this office of censor should become subject to
the caprice of the people.

38. The same summer Clampetia in Bruttium was taken by the consul by
storm. Consentia and Pandosia, with some other inconsiderable states,
submitted voluntarily. As the time for the elections was now drawing
near, it was thought best that Cornelius should be summoned to Rome
from Etruria, as there was no war there. He elected, as consuls,
Cneius Servilius Caepio and Caius Servilius Geminus. The election of
praetors was then held. The persons elected were, Publius Cornelius
Lentulus, Publius Quinctilius Varus, Publius Aelius Paetus, and
Publius Villius Tappulus. The last two were plebeian aediles when
elected praetors. The elections finished, the consul returned into
Etruria to his army. The priests who died this year, and those who
were put in their places, were Tiberius Veturius Philo, flamen of
Mars, elected and inaugurated in the room of Marcus Aemilius Regillus,
who died the year before: in the room of Marcus Pomponius Matho,
augur and decemvir, were elected Marcus Aurelius Cotta, decemvir, and
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augur, being then a very young man;
an instance of very rare occurrence in the disposal of the priests'
offices in those times. Golden four-horsed chariots were placed this
year in the Capitol by the curule aediles, Caius Livius and Marcus
Servilius Geminus. The Roman games were repeated during two days.
During two days also the plebeian games were repeated by the aediles,
Publius Aelius and Publius Villius. There was likewise a feast of
Jupiter on occasion of the games.



BOOK XXX.

    _Scipio, aided by Masinissa, defeats the Carthaginians, Syphax
    and Hasdrubal, in several battles. Syphax taken by Laelius and
    Masinissa. Masinissa espouses Sophonisba, the wife of Syphax,
    Hasdrubal's daughter; being reproved by Scipio, he sends
    her poison, with which she puts an end to her life. The
    Carthaginians, reduced to great extremity by Scipio's
    repeated victories, call Hannibal home from Italy; he holds a
    conference with Scipio on the subject of peace, and is again
    defeated by him in battle. The Carthaginians sue for peace,
    which is granted them. Masinissa reinstated in his kingdom.
    Scipio returns to Rome; his splendid triumph; is surnamed
    Africanus_.


1. Cneius Servilius and Caius Servilius Geminus, the consuls in
the sixteenth year of the Punic war, having consulted the senate
respecting the state, the war, and the provinces, they decreed that
the consuls should arrange between themselves, or draw lots, which of
them should have the province of Bruttium, to act against Hannibal,
and which that of Etruria and Liguria; that the consul to whose lot
Bruttium fell should receive the army from Publius Sempronius; that
Publius Sempronius, who was continued in command as proconsul for a
year, should succeed Publius Licinius, who was to return to Rome. In
addition to the other qualifications with which he was adorned in
a degree surpassed by no citizen of that time, for in him were
accumulated all the perfections of nature and fortune, Licinius was
also esteemed eminent in war. He was at once a man of noble family and
great wealth; possessing a fine person and great bodily strength.
He was considered an orator of the highest order, both in respect of
judicial eloquence, and also when engaged in promoting or opposing any
measure in the senate, or before the people. He was also
accurately skilled in the pontifical law. In addition to all these
recommendations, the consulship enabled him to acquire military glory.
The senate adopted the same course in the decree with respect to the
province of Etruria and Liguria as had been observed with regard to
Bruttium. Marcus Cornelius was ordered to deliver his army to the new
consul, and with continued command to hold himself the province of
Gaul, with those legions which the praetor Lucius Scribonius had
commanded the former year. The consuls then cast lots for their
provinces: Bruttium fell to the lot of Caepio, Etruria to the lot of
Servilius Geminus. The provinces of the praetors were then put to the
lot. Paetus Aelius obtained the city jurisdiction; Publius Lentulus,
Sardinia; Publius Villius, Sicily; Quinctilius Varus, Ariminum, with
two legions which had served under Lucretius Spurius. Lucretius also
was continued in command that he might complete the building of the
town of Genoa, which had been destroyed by Mago the Carthaginian.
Publius Scipio was continued in command for a period not limited in
point of time, but the object he had to achieve, namely, till the war
in Africa had been brought to a termination; and a decree was passed,
ordering a supplication to be made that the circumstance of his
crossing over into Africa might be beneficial to the Roman people, the
general himself, and his army.

2. Three thousand men were enlisted for Sicily, and lest any fleet
should go thither from Africa, as all the efficient troops that
province had possessed had been transported into Africa, it was
resolved that the sea-coast of that island should be guarded with
forty ships. Villius took with him into Sicily thirteen ships, the
rest consisted of the old ones, which were repaired. Marcus Pomponius,
the praetor of the former year, who was continued in command, having
been placed at the head of this fleet, put on board the fresh soldiers
brought from Italy. The senate assigned by a decree an equal number of
ships to Cneius Octavius, who was also a praetor of the former year,
with a similar privilege of command, for the protection of the coast
of Sardinia. Lentulus the praetor was ordered to furnish two thousand
soldiers to put on board it. The protection of the coast of Italy was
assigned to Marcus Marcius, a praetor of the former year, with
the same number of ships; for it was uncertain to what quarter the
Carthaginians would send a fleet, though it was supposed that they
would attack any quarter which was destitute of defence. The consuls,
in conformity with a decree of the senate, enlisted three thousand
soldiers for this fleet, and two city legions with a view to the
hazards of war. The Spains were assigned to the former generals,
Lucius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus, who were continued in
command, and retained their former armies. The operations of the
war on the part of the Romans this year were carried on with twenty
legions in all, and one hundred and sixty ships of war. The praetors
were ordered to proceed to their provinces. Directions were given to
the consuls, that before they left the city they should celebrate the
great games which Titus Manlius Torquatus, when dictator, had vowed
to exhibited in the fifth year, if the condition of the state remained
unaltered. Accounts of prodigies brought from several places excited
fresh superstitious fears in the minds of men. It was believed that
crows had not only torn with their beaks some gold in the Capitol, but
had even eaten it. At Antium mice gnawed a golden crown. An immense
quantity of locusts filled the whole country around Capua, nor could
it be made appear satisfactorily whence they came. At Reate a foal was
produced with five feet. At Anagnia at first scattered fires appeared
in the sky, afterwards a vast meteor blazed forth. At Frusino a circle
surrounded the sun with a thin line, which was itself afterwards
included within the sun's disc which extended beyond it. At Arpinum
the earth sank into an immense gulf, in a place where the ground was
level. When one of the consuls was immolating the first victim, the
head of the liver was wanting. These prodigies were expiated with
victims of the larger kind. The college of pontiffs gave out to what
gods sacrifice was to be made.

3. After these matters were finished, the consuls and praetors set
out for their provinces. All, however, made Africa the great object of
their concern, as though it had been allotted to them; whether it was
because they saw that the welfare of the state and the issue of
the war turned upon the operations there, or that they might oblige
Scipio, on whom the whole state was then intent. Accordingly, not only
from Sardinia, as has been before mentioned, but from Sicily also and
Spain, clothing and corn, and from Sicily arms also, together with
every kind of stores, were conveyed thither. Nor did Scipio at any
time during the winter relax in any of the various military operations
in which he was engaged on all sides. He continued the siege of Utica.
His camp was within sight of Hasdrubal. The Carthaginians had launched
their ships, and had a fleet prepared and equipped to intercept his
supplies. Amid these occupations he had not even lost sight of his
endeavours to regain the friendship of Syphax, whose passion for his
bride he thought might now perhaps have become satiated from
unlimited enjoyment. From Syphax he received terms of peace with the
Carthaginians, with proposals that the Romans should evacuate Africa,
and the Carthaginians Italy, rather than any ground of hope that he
would desert their cause if the war proceeded. For my part I am of
opinion, and in this I am countenanced by the majority of writers,
that these negotiations were carried on through messengers, rather
than that Syphax himself came to the Roman camp to hold a conference,
as Antias Valerius relates. At first the Roman general scarcely
allowed these terms to be mentioned, but afterwards, in order that
there might exist a plausible pretext for his emissaries to go
frequently into the camp of the enemy, he rejected these same terms in
a more qualified manner, holding out a hope that they might eventually
come to an agreement by agitating the question on both sides.
The winter huts of the Carthaginians, which were constructed from
materials hastily collected out of the fields, were almost entirely
of wood. The Numidians, particularly, lay for the most part in huts
formed of interwoven reeds, and covered with mats, dispersed up and
down without any regard to order; while some of them, having chosen
the situations for their tents without waiting for orders, lay even
without the trench and rampart. These circumstances having been
reported to Scipio, gave him hopes that he might have an opportunity
of burning the enemy's camp.

4. In company with the ambassadors whom he sent to Syphax, he also
sent some centurions of the first rank, of tried valour and prudence,
dressed as servants, in lieu of soldiers' drudges; in order that,
while the ambassadors were engaged in conference, they might ramble
through the camp, one in one direction and another in another, and
thus observe all the approaches and outlets, the situation and form
both of the camp in general and of its parts; where the Carthaginians
lay, where the Numidians, and what was the distance between the camp
of Hasdrubal and that of the king; and that they might at the same
time acquaint themselves with their customary mode of stationing
outposts and watches, and learn whether they were more open to
stratagem by night or by day. During the frequent conferences which
were held, several different persons were purposely sent, in order
that every circumstance might be known to a greater number. When the
more frequent agitation of the matter had given to Syphax a daily
increasing hope of peace, and to the Carthaginians through him, the
Roman ambassadors at length declared that they were forbidden to
return to their general unless a decisive answer was given, and that,
therefore, if his own determination was now fixed, he should declare
it, or if Hasdrubal and the Carthaginians were to be consulted, he
should consult them. That it was time either that an accommodation
should be settled or the war vigorously prosecuted. While Hasdrubal
was consulted by Syphax, and the Carthaginians by Hasdrubal, the spies
had time to inspect every thing, and Scipio to get together what was
necessary for the accomplishment of his project. In consequence of the
mention and prospect of a peace, neglect arose among the Carthaginians
and Numidians, as is usually the case, to take precautions in the mean
time that they might not suffer an attack of the enemy. At length an
answer was returned; and as the Romans appeared excessively eager
for peace, advantage was taken of that circumstance to add certain
unreasonable conditions, which afforded Scipio a very seasonable
pretext for putting an end to the truce according to his wishes; and
telling the king's messenger that he would refer the matter to his
council, he answered him the next day. He said, that while he alone
had in vain endeavoured to restore peace, no one else had desired it.
That he must, therefore, carry word back that Syphax must hope for
peace on no other condition than his abandonment of the Carthaginians.
Thus he put an end to the truce, in order that he might be free to
execute his designs without breaking his faith; and, launching
his ships, for it was now the beginning of spring, he put on board
machines and engines, with the purpose of assaulting Utica from
the sea. He also sent two thousand men to seize the eminence which
commanded that place, and which he had before occupied, at once with
the view of turning the attention of the enemy from the design he was
endeavouring to effect to another object of concern, and to prevent
any sally or attack which might be made from the city upon his camp,
which would be left with a slight force to protect it, while he
himself went against Syphax and Hasdrubal.

5. Having made these preparations, he called a council and after
ordering the spies to give an account of the discoveries they
had made, and requesting Masinissa, who was acquainted with every
circumstance relating to the enemy, to state what he knew, lastly, he
himself laid before the council the plan proposed for the following
night. He gave directions to the tribunes, that when, after the
breaking up of the council, the trumpets had sounded, they should
immediately march the legions out of the camp. Agreeably to his
commands, the standards began to be carried out about sun-set. About
the first watch they formed the troops in marching order. At midnight,
for it was seven miles' march, they came up at a moderate pace to the
camp of the enemy. Here Scipio assigned a part of his forces, together
with Masinissa and the Numidians, to Laelius, ordering them to fall
upon the camp of Syphax, and throw fire upon it. Then taking each
of the commanders, Masinissa and Laelius, aside, he implored them
separately to make up by diligence and care for the absence of that
foresight which the night rendered it impossible to exercise. He said,
that he should himself attack Hasdrubal and the Carthaginian camp; but
that he should not begin till he saw the fire in that of the king.
Nor did this delay him long; for when the fire thrown upon the nearest
huts had taken effect, immediately communicating with all those which
were within the shortest distance, and those connected with them in
regular succession, it spread itself throughout the whole camp. The
confusion and alarm which took place, in consequence of so widely
extended a fire breaking out during the night, were as great as might
naturally be expected; but as they concluded that it was the effect of
chance, and not produced by the enemy, or connected with the war, they
rushed out in a disorderly manner, without their arms, to extinguish
the flames, and fell in with armed enemies, particularly the
Numidians, who on account of their knowledge of the king's camp
were placed by Masinissa in convenient places at the openings of the
passes. Many perished in the flames in their beds while half asleep;
and many, tumbling over one another in their haste to escape, were
trampled to death in the narrow passages of the gates.

6. When first the Carthaginian sentinels, and afterwards the rest,
roused by the terrifying effects of a tumult by night, beheld the
light emitted from the flames, they also, labouring under the same
delusion, imagined that the fire had originated from accidental
causes; while the shout raised amidst the slaughter and wounds, being
of a confused kind, prevented their distinguishing whether it was
occasioned by the trepidation of an alarm by night. Accordingly,
rushing out one and all at every gate, each man taking the nearest
road, without their arms, as not suspecting any hostile attack,
and carrying with them only such things as might be useful in
extinguishing the flames, they fell upon the Roman troops. After all
these had been slain, not only with the animosity of enemies, but also
that no one might escape as a messenger, Scipio immediately attacked
the gates, which were unguarded in consequence of the confusion; and,
having thrown fire upon the nearest huts, at first the flames blazed
forth with great fury, in several places at once, in consequence
of the fire having been applied to different parts, but afterwards
extending themselves along the contiguous huts, they suddenly
enveloped the whole camp in one general conflagration. Men and cattle
scorched with the flames blocked up the passages of the gates, first
in a terrible rush to escape, and afterwards with their prostrate
bodies. Those who got out of the way of the fire were cut off by the
sword, and the two camps were involved in one common destruction. The
two generals, however, and out of so many thousand troops only two
thousand foot and five hundred horsemen, escaped, half armed, a great
many of them being wounded and scorched. Forty thousand men were
either slain or destroyed by the flames, and above five thousand
captured. Among the captured were many Carthaginian nobles, eleven
senators, with a hundred and seventy-four military standards, above
two thousand seven hundred Numidian horses, and six elephants. Eight
elephants were destroyed either by fire or sword, and a great quantity
of arms taken. All the latter the general dedicated to Vulcan and
burnt.

7. Hasdrubal, in his flight, had made for the nearest city of the
Africans, accompanied by a few attendants; and hither all those
who survived, following the footsteps of their general had betaken
themselves. But afterwards, fearing lest he should be given up to
Scipio, he quitted that city. Soon after the Romans were received
there with open gates; nor was any act of hostility committed, because
the inhabitants had surrendered voluntarily. Shortly after, two other
cities were captured and plundered. The booty found there, together
with what had been rescued from the camps when burning, and from the
flames, was given up to the soldiers. Syphax took up a position in a
fortified place about eight miles off. Hasdrubal hastened to Carthage,
lest the apprehensions occasioned by the recent disaster should lead
to any timorous measures. So great was the consternation created there
on the first receipt of the news, that it was fully anticipated that
Scipio, suspending his operations against Utica, would immediately
lay siege to Carthage. The suffetes, therefore, who form with them an
authority similar to the consular, summoned the senate, when the
three following opinions were given. The first proposed, that a decree
should be passed to the effect, that ambassadors should be sent to
Scipio to treat of peace; the second, that Hannibal should be recalled
to defend his country from a war which threatened its annihilation;
the third breathed the spirit of Roman constancy under adversity; it
recommended that the losses of the army should be repaired, and that
Syphax should be exhorted not to abandon the war. The latter opinion
prevailed, because it was that which Hasdrubal, who was present, and
all the members of the Barcine faction, preferred. After this,
the levy commenced in the city and country, and ambassadors were
despatched to Syphax, who was himself employing every effort to
restore the war; for his wife had prevailed upon him, not, as
heretofore, by caresses, powerful as they are in influencing the mind
of a lover, but by prayers and appeals to his compassion, imploring
him, with streaming eyes, not to betray her father and her country,
nor suffer Carthage to be consumed by the same flames which had
reduced the camps to ashes. In addition to this, the ambassadors
informed him of a circumstance which had occurred very seasonably to
raise their hopes; that they had met with four thousand Celtiberians
in the neighbourhood of a city named Abba, a fine body of young men
who had been enlisted by their recruiting officers in Spain; and that
Hasdrubal would very soon arrive with a body of troops by no means
contemptible. Accordingly, he not only returned a kind answer to the
ambassadors, but also showed them a multitude of Numidian rustics,
whom he had lately furnished with arms and horses; and at the same
time assured them that he would call out all the youth in his kingdom.
He said, he well knew that the loss sustained had been occasioned by
fire, and not by battle, and that he was inferior to his adversary in
war who was overcome by force of arms. Such was the answer given to
the ambassadors; and, after a few days, Hasdrubal and Syphax again
united their forces. This army consisted of about thirty-five thousand
fighting men.

8. Scipio, considering that Syphax and the Carthaginians could make no
further efforts, gave his whole attention to the siege of Utica, and
was now bringing up his engines to the walls, when he was diverted
from his purpose by a report of the renewal of the war; and, leaving
small forces merely to keep up the appearance of a siege by sea and
land, he set out himself with the main strength of his army to meet
the enemy. At first he took up his position on an eminence about five
miles distant from the king's camp. The next day, coming down with his
cavalry into a place called the great plains, which lay at the foot of
that eminence, he spent the day in advancing up to the outposts of the
enemy, and provoking them by skirmishing attacks. During the ensuing
two days, irregular excursions were made by both sides alternately,
but nothing worthy of notice was achieved. On the fourth day, both
sides came down in battle-array. The Romans placed their principes
behind the spearmen, which latter formed the front line, and the
triarii they stationed in reserve; the Italian cavalry they opposed to
the enemy in the right wing, the Numidians and Masinissa on the
left. Syphax and Hasdrubal, placing the Numidians against the Italian
cavalry, and the Carthaginians opposite to Masinissa, received the
Celtiberians into the centre of their line, to face the Roman legions.
Thus arranged, they then commenced the encounter. At the first charge,
both the wings, the Numidians and Carthaginians, were together driven
from their ground; for neither could the Numidians, who consisted
principally of rustics, sustain the shock of the Roman cavalry, nor
the Carthaginians, who were also raw soldiers, withstand Masinissa,
who, in addition to other circumstances, was rendered formidable by
his recent victory. The Celtiberian line, though stript of the support
of both the wings, stood their ground; for neither did any hope of
safety by flight present itself, as they were ignorant of the country,
nor could they expect pardon from Scipio, against whom, though he had
deserved well both of them and their nation, they had come into Africa
to fight for hire. Surrounded therefore, on all sides by the enemy,
they died with obstinate resolution, falling one upon another; and,
while the attention of all was turned upon them, Syphax and Hasdrubal
gained a considerable space of time to effect their escape. The
victors, fatigued with the slaughter, which had continued for a
greater length of time than the battle, were interrupted by the night.

9. The next day Scipio sent Laelius and Masinissa, with all the Roman
and Numidian cavalry, and the light infantry, to pursue Syphax and
Hasdrubal. He himself, with the main strength of the army, reduced the
neighbouring towns, which were all subject to the Carthaginians, some
by holding out hopes to them, some by threats, and others by force.
At Carthage, indeed, the consternation was extreme; and it was fully
anticipated there, that Scipio, who was carrying his arms to the
different places around, would, after having rapidly subdued all the
neighbouring parts, suddenly attack Carthage itself. Their walls
were repaired and protected with outworks; and every man individually
exerted himself to the utmost in collecting from the country the
requisites for holding out against a protracted siege. Mention was
seldom made of peace, but not so seldom of sending deputies to recall
Hannibal. The majority of them urged that the fleet, which had been
equipped to intercept the convoys of the enemy, should be sent to
surprise the ships stationed near Utica, which were lying in an
unguarded state. It was also urged that they might perhaps overpower
the naval camp, which was left under the protection of a trifling
force. They chiefly inclined to the latter plan, though they thought,
nevertheless, that deputies should be sent to Hannibal; for should the
operations of the fleet succeed in the highest degree, the siege of
Utica would be partially raised, but they had no general remaining but
Hannibal, and no army but his which could defend Carthage itself.
The ships were therefore launched the following day, and, at the same
time, the deputies set out for Italy; and, their position stimulating
them, every thing was done with the greatest expedition; each man
considering, that the safety of all was betrayed in whatever degree he
remitted his own individual exertions. Scipio, who drew after him
an army now encumbered with the spoils of many cities, sent his
prisoners, and other booty, to his old camp at Utica, and, as his
views were now fixed on Carthage, he seized on Tunes, which was
abandoned in consequence of the flight of the garrison. This city is
about fifteen miles distant from Carthage, being a place secured both
by works, and also by its own natural position; it may be seen from
Carthage, and itself affords a prospect both of that city and of the
sea which washes it.

10. From this place the Romans, while diligently employed in raising
a rampart, descried the fleet of the enemy, on its way to Utica from
Carthage. Desisting from their work, therefore, orders for marching
were given, and the troops began to move with the utmost haste, lest
the ships which were turned towards the land, and occupied with
the siege, and which were far from being in a condition for a naval
battle, should be surprised and overpowered. For how could ships,
carrying engines and machines, and either converted to the purposes
of transports, or brought up to the walls so as to afford the means
of mounting up, in lieu of a mound and bridges, resist a fleet, with
nothing to impede its movements, furnished with every kind of naval
implement, and prepared for action. Scipio, therefore, contrary to
his usual practice in naval engagements, drew the ships of war, which
might have been employed in defending the rest, into the rear, and
formed them into a line near the land; opposing to the enemy a row
of transports, four deep, to serve as a wall; and, lest these same
transports should be thrown into disorder during the confusion of the
battle, he bound them together by placing masts and yard-arms across
them, from one vessel to the other; and, by means of strong ropes,
fastened them together, as it were, by one uninterrupted bond. He also
laid planks upon them, so as to form a free passage along the line,
leaving spaces under these bridges of communication by which the
vessels of observation might run out towards the enemy, and retreat
with safety. Having hastily made these arrangements as well as the
time would permit, he put on board the transports about a thousand
picked men, to keep off the enemy, with a very large store of weapons,
particularly missiles, that they might hold out, however long the
contest lasted. Thus prepared, and on the watch, they waited the
approach of the enemy. The Carthaginians, who, if they had made haste
would, on the first assault, have surprised their adversaries while
every thing was in a state of confusion, from the hurry and bustle
attending the preparations, were so dismayed at their losses by land,
and thereby had lost so much confidence even in their strength by sea,
in which they had the advantage, that, after consuming the day, in
consequence of the slow rate at which they sailed, about sun-set they
put in to a harbour which the Africans call Ruscino. The following
day, at sun-rise, they drew up their ships towards the open sea, as
for a regular naval battle, and with the expectation that the Romans
would come out to engage them. After they had continued stationary for
some time, and saw that no movement was made on the part of the enemy,
then, at length, they attacked the transports. The affair bore no
resemblance to a naval fight, but rather had the appearance of ships
attacking walls. The transports had considerably the advantage in
respect of height; and as the Carthaginians had to throw their weapons
upward, against a mark which was above them, most of them failed of
taking effect; while the weapons thrown from the transports from above
fell with increased force, and derived additional impetus from their
very weight. The vessels of observation, and even the lighter kind
of barks, which went out through the spaces left under the flooring,
which formed a communication between the ships, were at first run down
by the mere momentum and bulk of the ships of war; and afterwards they
proved a hindrance to the troops appointed to keep the enemy off; for
as they mixed with the ships of the enemy, they were frequently under
the necessity of withholding their weapons for fear, by a misdirected
effort, they should fall on their friends. At length, beams with iron
hooks at their ends, called harpoons, began to be thrown from the
Carthaginian upon the Roman ships; and, as they could not cut the
harpoons themselves, nor the chains suspended by which they were
thrown upon their ships, as each of the ships of war of the enemy,
being pulled back, drew with it a transport, connected with it by a
harpoon, you might see the fastenings by which the transports were
joined together rent asunder, and in another part a series of many
vessels dragged away together. In this manner chiefly were all the
bridges of communication torn to pieces, and scarcely had the troops
who fought in front time to leap to the second line of ships. About
six transports were towed away to Carthage, where the joy felt was
greater than the occasion warranted; but their delight was increased
from the reflection, that, in the midst of so many successive
disasters and woes, one event, however trifling, which afforded matter
of joy, had unexpectedly occurred; besides which, it was manifest that
the Roman fleet would have been well nigh annihilated, had not their
own commanders been wanting in diligence, and had not Scipio come up
to its assistance in time.

11. It happened about the same time, that Laelius and Masinissa
having arrived in Numidia after a march of about fifteen days, the
Massylians, Masinissa's hereditary kingdom, placed themselves under
the protection of their king with the greatest joy, as they had long
wished him among them. After the commanders and garrisons of Syphax
had been expelled from thence, that prince kept himself within
the limits of his original dominions, but without any intention of
remaining quiet. Subdued by the power of love, he was spurred on by
his wife and father-in-law; and he possessed such an abundance of men
and horses, that a review of the resources of his kingdom, which had
flourished for so many years, was calculated to infuse spirit into a
mind even less barbarous and impetuous than his. Wherefore, collecting
together all who were fit for service, he distributed among them
horses, armour, and weapons. He divided his horsemen into troops, and
his infantry into cohorts, as he had formerly learnt from the Roman
centurions. With an army not less than that which he had before, but
almost entirely raw and undisciplined, he set out to meet the enemy,
and pitched his camp at a short distance from them. At first a few
horsemen advanced cautiously from the outposts to reconnoitre, and
being compelled to retire, from a discharge of javelins, they ran back
to their friends. Then skirmishing parties were sent out from both
sides, and the vanquished, fired with indignation, returned to the
encounter with increased numbers. This is the usual incitement of
battles between cavalry, when the victors are joined by more of their
party from hope, and the vanquished from resentment. Thus, on the
present occasion, the action commencing with a few, at last the whole
body of the cavalry on both sides poured out to join in it from the
zeal excited by the contest. While the cavalry only were engaged, it
was scarcely possible to withstand the numbers of the Masaesylians,
which Syphax sent out in immense bodies. But afterwards, when the
Roman infantry, suddenly coming up between the troops of horse which
made way for them, gave stability to their line, and checked the
enemy, who were charging furiously, at first the barbarians slackened
their speed, then halted, and were in a manner confounded at this
novel kind of battle. At length, they not only retired before the
infantry, but were unable to sustain the shock even of the cavalry,
who had assumed courage from the support of the infantry. By this time
the legions also were approaching; when, indeed, the Masaesylians not
only dared not await their first charge, but could not bear even
the sight of the standards and arms; so powerful was either the
recollection of their former defeats, or their present fears.

12. It was then that Syphax, while riding up to the troops of the
enemy to try if, either by shame or by exposing his own person to
danger, he could stop their flight, being thrown from his horse, which
was severely wounded, was overpowered, and being made prisoner, was
dragged alive into the presence of Laelius; a spectacle calculated to
afford peculiar satisfaction to Masinissa. Cirta was the capital of
the dominions of Syphax; to which a great number of men fled. The
number of the slain in this battle was not so great as the victory was
important, because the cavalry only had been engaged. Not more than
five thousand were slain, and less than half that number were made
prisoners in an attack upon the camp, to which the multitude, dismayed
at the loss of their king, had fled. Masinissa declared that nothing
could be more highly gratifying to him than, having gained this
victory, to go now and visit his hereditary dominions, which he had
regained after having been kept out of them so long a time; but it was
not proper in prosperity any more than in adversity to lose any time.
That if Laelius would allow him to go before him to Cirta with the
cavalry and the captive Syphax, he should overpower the enemy while
all was in a state of consternation and dismay; and that Laelius might
follow with the infantry at a moderate rate. Laelius assenting, he
advanced to Cirta, and ordered the principal inhabitants to be called
out to a conference. But as they were not aware of what had befallen
their king, he was unable to prevail upon them, either by laying
before them what had passed, by threats, or by persuasion, until the
king was presented to their view in chains. A general lamentation
arose at this shocking exhibition, and while some deserted the walls
in a panic, others, who sought to ingratiate themselves with the
victor, suddenly came to an agreement to throw open the gates.
Masinissa, having sent troops to keep guard near the gates, and
at such parts of the wall as required it, that no one might have a
passage out to escape by, galloped off to seize the palace. While
entering the porch, Sophonisba, the wife of Syphax and daughter of
Hasdrubal the Carthaginian, met him in the very threshold, and seeing
Masinissa in the midst of the armed band, for he was distinguished
both by his arms and also by his habiliments, she concluded, as was
really the case, that he was the king; and, falling down at his knees,
thus addressed him: "The gods, together with your own valour and good
fortune, have given you the power of disposing of us as you please.
But if a captive may be allowed to give utterance to the voice of
supplication before him who is the sovereign arbiter of her life or
death; if she may be permitted to touch his knees and his victorious
right hand, I entreat and beseech, you by the majesty of royalty,
which we also a short time ago possessed; by the name of the Numidian
race, which was common to Syphax and yourself; by the guardian deities
of this palace, (and O! may they receive you more auspiciously than
they sent Syphax from it!) that you would indulge a suppliant by
determining yourself whatever your inclination may suggest respecting
your captive, and not suffer me to be placed at the haughty and
merciless disposal of any Roman. Were I nothing more than the wife of
Syphax, yet would I rather make trial of the honour of a Numidian,
one born in Africa, the same country which gave me birth than of
a foreigner and an alien. You know what a Carthaginian, what the
daughter of Hasdrubal, has to fear from a Roman. If you cannot effect
it by any other means, I beg and beseech you that you will by my death
rescue me from the power of the Romans." She was remarkably beautiful,
and in the full bloom of youth. Accordingly, while she pressed his
right hand, and only implored him to pledge himself that she should
not be delivered up to any Roman, her language assuming the character
of amorous blandishment rather than entreaty, the heart of the
conqueror not only melted with compassion, but, as the Numidians are
an excessively amorous race, he became the slave of his captive; and
giving his right hand as a pledge for the performance of her request,
withdrew into the palace. He then set upon reflecting in what manner
he could make good his promise; and not being able to hit upon any
expedient, his passion suggested to him an inconsiderate and barefaced
alternative. He ordered that preparations should be instantly made
for celebrating the nuptials that very day; in order that he might
not leave it at all open to Laelius, or Scipio himself, to adopt
any measure respecting her as a captive who had become the wife of
Masinissa. After the nuptials were concluded, Laelius came up: and so
far was he from dissembling his disapprobation of the proceeding, that
at first he would even have had her dragged from the marriage bed
and sent with Syphax and the rest of the captives to Scipio: but
afterwards, having been prevailed upon by the entreaties of Masinissa,
who begged of him to leave it to Scipio to decide which of the two
kings should have his fortunes graced by the accession of Sophonisba
he sent away Syphax and the prisoners; and, aided by Masinissa,
employed himself in reducing the rest of the cities of Numidia, which
were occupied by the king's garrisons.

13. When it was announced that Syphax was being brought into the camp,
the whole multitude poured out, as if to behold a triumphal pageant.
The king himself walked first in chains, and a number of Numidian
nobles followed. On this occasion every one strove to the utmost to
increase the splendour of their victory, by magnifying the greatness
of Syphax and the renown of his nation. "That was the king," they
said, "to whose dignity the two most powerful nations in the world the
Roman and the Carthaginian, had paid so much deference, that their own
general, Scipio, leaving his province of Spain and his army, sailed
into Africa with only two quinqueremes to solicit his friendship;
while Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general, not only visited him in his
dominions, but gave him his daughter in marriage. That he had in his
power two commanders, one a Roman and the other a Carthaginian, at the
same time. That as both the contending parties sought the favour
of the immortal gods by the immolation of victims, so had they both
equally solicited his friendship. That he had lately possessed such
great power, that after expelling Masinissa from his kingdom, he
reduced him to such a state, that his life was protected by a report
of his death, and by concealment, while he supported himself in the
woods on prey after the manner of wild beasts." Thus signalized by the
observations of the surrounding multitude, the king was brought into
the pavilion before Scipio, who was moved by the former condition
of the man compared with his present, and particularly by the
recollection of their relation of hospitality, his right hand pledged,
and the public and private connexion which had been formed between
them. These same considerations inspired Syphax also with confidence
in addressing the conqueror; for when Scipio asked what had been his
object in not only renouncing his alliance with the Romans, but in
making war against them without provocation, he fully admitted "that
he had indeed done wrong, and acted like a madman; but not at that
time only when he took up arms against the Roman people; that was the
consummation of his frenzy, not its commencement. Then it was that
he is mad; then it was that he banished from his mind all regard
for private friendship and public treaties, when he received a
Carthaginian wife into his house. It was by the flames kindled by
those nuptial torches that his palace had been consumed. That fury
and pest had by every kind of fascination engrossed his affections
and obscured his reason; nor had she rested till she had with her own
hands clad him with impious arms against his guest and friend. Yet
ruined and fallen as he was, he derived some consolation in his
misfortunes when he saw that that same pest and fury had been
transferred to the dwelling and household gods of the man who was of
all others his greatest enemy. That Masinissa was neither more prudent
nor more firm than Syphax; but even more incautious by reason of his
youth. Doubtless he had shown greater folly and want of self-control
in marrying her than he himself had."

14. These words, dictated not merely by the hatred naturally felt
towards an enemy, but also by the anguish of jealousy, on seeing the
object of his affections in the possession of his rival, affected the
mind of Scipio with no ordinary degree of anxiety. His accusations
against Masinissa derived credibility from the fact of the nuptials
having, been celebrated in the most violent hurry, almost amid the
clash of arms, without consulting or waiting for Laelius, and with
such precipitate haste, that on the very day on which he saw the
captive enemy he united himself with her in matrimony, and performed
the nuptial rite in the presence of the household gods of his enemy.
This conduct appeared the more heinous to Scipio, because when a very
young man in Spain he had not allowed himself to be influenced by
the beauty of any captive. While ruminating on these circumstances,
Laelius and Masinissa came up. Without making any distinction between
them he received them both with a cheerful countenance, and having
bestowed upon them the highest commendations before a full assembly
of his officers, he took Masinissa aside and thus addressed him:
"I suppose, Masinissa, that it was because you saw in me some good
qualities that you at first came to me when in Spain, for the purpose
of forming a friendship with me, and that afterwards in Africa you
committed yourself and all your hopes to my protection. But of all
those virtues, on account of which I seemed to you worthy of your
regard, there is not one in which I gloried so much as temperance and
the control of my passions. I could wish that you also, Masinissa,
had added this to your other distinguished qualities. There is not,
believe me, there is not so much danger to be apprehended by persons
at our time of life from armed foes, as from the pleasures which
surround us on all sides. The man who by temperance has curbed and
subdued his appetite for them, has acquired for himself much greater
honour and a much more important victory than we now enjoy in the
conquest of Syphax. I have mentioned with delight, and I remember with
pleasure, the instances of fortitude and courage which you displayed
in my absence. As to other matters, I would rather that you should
reflect upon them in private, than that you should be put to the
blush by my reciting them. Syphax was subdued and captured under
the auspices of the Roman people; therefore he himself, his wife his
kingdom, his territories, his towns and their inhabitants, in short,
every thing which belonged to him, is the booty of the Roman people,
and it was proper that the king himself and his consort, even though
she had not been a citizen of Carthage, even though we did not see her
father commanding the armies of our enemies, should be sent to Rome,
and that the senate and people of Rome should judge and determine
respecting her who is said to have alienated from us a king in
alliance with us, and to have precipitated him into war with us.
Subdue your passions. Beware how you deform many good qualities by one
vice, and mar the credit of so many meritorious deeds by a degree of
guilt more than proportioned to the value of its object."

15. While Masinissa heard these observations, he not only became
suffused with blushes, but burst into tears; and after declaring that
he would submit to the discretion of the general, and imploring him
that, as far as circumstances would permit, he would consider the
obligation he had rashly imposed upon himself, for he had promised
that he would not deliver her into the power of any one, he retired in
confusion from the pavilion into his own tent. There, dismissing
his attendants, he spent a considerable time amid frequent sighs and
groans, which could be distinctly heard by those who stood around the
tent. At last, heaving a deep groan, he called one of his servants in
whom he confided, in whose custody poison was kept, according to the
custom of kings, as a remedy against the unforeseen events of fortune,
and ordered him to mix some in a cup and carry it to Sophonisba; at
the same time informing her that Masinissa would gladly have fulfilled
the first obligation which as a husband he owed to her his wife; but
since those who had the power of doing so had deprived him of the
exercise of that right, he now performed his second promise, that she
should not come alive into the power of the Romans. That, mindful of
her father the general, of her country, and of the two kings to whom
she had been married, she would take such measures as she herself
thought proper. When the servant came to Sophonisba bearing this
message and the poison, she said, "I accept this nuptial present; nor
is it an unwelcome one, if my husband can render me no better service.
Tell him, however, that I should have died with greater satisfaction
had I not married so near upon my death." The spirit with which she
spoke was equalled by the firmness with which she took and drained the
chalice, without exhibiting any symptom of perturbation. When Scipio
was informed of this event, fearful lest the high-spirited young
man should in the distempered state of his mind adopt some desperate
resolution, he immediately sent for him, and at one time endeavoured
to solace him, at another gently rebuked him for expiating one act of
temerity with another, and rendering the affair more tragical than was
necessary. The next day, in order to divert his mind from his present
affliction, he ascended his tribunal and ordered an assembly to be
summoned, in which having first saluted Masinissa with the title of
king, and distinguished him with the highest encomiums, he presented
him with a golden goblet, a curule chair, an ivory sceptre, an
embroidered gown, and a triumphal vest. He increased the honour by
observing, that among the Romans there was nothing more magnificent
than a triumph; and that those who triumphed were not arrayed with
more splendid ornaments than those with which the Roman people
considered Masinissa alone, of all foreigners, worthy. He then
bestowed the highest commendations upon Laelius also, and presented
him with a golden crown, and gave presents to the other military
characters proportioned to their respective merits. By these honours
the king's mind was soothed, and encouraged to hope that he would
speedily become master of all Numidia, now that Syphax was removed.

16. Scipio, having sent Caius Laelius with Syphax and the rest of the
prisoners to Rome, with whom went also ambassadors from Masinissa, led
his troops back again to Tunes, and completed the fortifications which
he had before begun. The Carthaginians, who had experienced not only
a short-lived but almost groundless joy, from their attack upon the
fleet, which, under existing circumstances, was tolerably successful,
were so dismayed at the account of the capture of Syphax, in whom they
reposed almost greater confidence than in Hasdrubal and his army, that
now listening no longer to any who advocated war, they sent thirty
of their principal elders as deputies to solicit peace. With them the
council of elders is held in the highest reverence, and has supreme
power even to control the senate itself. When they came into the Roman
camp and entered the pavilion, they prostrated themselves after the
manner of those who pay profound adoration to kings, adopting the
custom, I suppose, from the country from which they derived their
origin. Their language corresponded with such abject humiliation, for
they did not endeavour to deny their guilt, but charged Hannibal and
the favourers of his violent measures with being the originators of
it. They implored pardon for their state, which had been now twice
brought to the brink of ruin by the temerity of its citizens, and
would again owe its safety to the indulgence of its enemies. They
said, the object the Roman people aimed at in the subjugation of their
enemies was dominion, and not their destruction; that he might enjoin
what he pleased upon them, as being prepared submissively to obey.
Scipio replied, "that he had come into Africa with the hope, and
that hope had been increased by the success he had experienced in his
operations, that he should carry home victory and not terms of peace.
Still, though he had victory in a manner within his grasp, he would
not refuse all accommodation, that all the nations of the world may
know that the Roman people both undertake and conclude wars with
justice." The terms of peace which he prescribed were these: "That
they should restore the prisoners, deserters, and fugitives; withdraw
their armies from Italy and Gaul; give up all claim to Spain; retire
from all the islands between Italy and Africa; deliver up all their
ships of war except twenty, and furnish five hundred thousand pecks of
wheat, and three hundred thousand of barley." Authors are not agreed
as to the sum of money he demanded. In some I find five thousand
talents; in others five thousand pounds' weight of silver; in others,
that double pay for the troops was required. "Three days," he said,
"shall be allowed to deliberate whether you accept of peace on these
terms. If you do accept it, make a truce within me, and send deputies
to Rome to the senate." The Carthaginians being thus dismissed, as
they thought it proper to accept of any conditions of peace, for their
only object was to gain time for Hannibal to cross over into Africa,
sent some ambassadors to Scipio to conclude a truce, and others to
Rome to solicit peace; the latter taking with them a few prisoners,
deserters, and fugitives, in order to facilitate the attainment of
peace.

17. Laelius with Syphax and the principal Numidian prisoners arrived
at Rome several days before, and laying before the senate all the
transactions which had occurred in Africa in order, the greatest joy
was felt for the present, and the most sanguine anticipations formed
of the future. The sense of the senate being then taken upon the
subject, they resolved that the king should be sent to Alba to be kept
in custody, and that Laelius should be detained until the arrival
of the Carthaginian ambassadors. A supplication for four days was
decreed. The senate breaking up and an assembly of the people being
then called, Publius Aelius the praetor accompanied by Caius Laelius,
mounted the rostrum. There, on hearing that the armies of the
Carthaginians had been routed, that a king of the greatest renown had
been vanquished and made prisoner, that all Numidia had been overrun
with brilliant success, the people were unable to refrain from
expressing their delight, but manifested their transports by shouts
and all the other means usually resorted to by the multitude. The
praetor, therefore, immediately issued orders that the keepers should
open all the temples throughout the city, and that the people should
be allowed during the whole day to go round and make their adoration
to the gods, and return their thanks. The next day he brought the
ambassadors of Masinissa before the senate. They in the first place
congratulated the senate on the successes of Scipio in Africa, and
then thanked them, not only for having saluted him with the title of
king, but for having made him one, by reinstating him in his paternal
dominions, where, now that Syphax was removed, he would reign, if it
was the pleasure of the senate, without fear or opposition. Next, for
having bestowed upon him the highest commendations in the assembly,
and decorated him with the most magnificent presents, of which
Masinissa had endeavoured, and would in future endeavour, to render
himself worthy. They requested that the senate would by a decree
confirm the title of king with the other favours and benefits
conferred by Scipio, and, if it were not troublesome, they said, that
Masinissa further Requested that they would send home the Numidian
captives who were detained at Rome; for that this boon would procure
him the esteem and honour of his countrymen. On these points the
senate replied to the ambassadors, "that they reciprocated the
congratulations of the king on the successes in Africa. That Scipio
was considered to have acted properly and regularly in saluting him
with the title of king, and that the senate applauded and approved of
every thing else he had done which was gratifying to Masinissa." They
appointed by a decree what presents the ambassadors should carry to
the king; they were, two purple cloaks, each having a golden clasp,
and each accompanied with vests and broad purple borders, two horses
arrayed with trappings, two suits of equestrian armour with coats of
mail, together with tents and other military apparatus such as those
usually provided for a consul. These the praetor was directed to send
for the king. The ambassadors were severally presented with not less
than five thousand _asses_, their attendants with one thousand. Two
suits of apparel were presented to each of the ambassadors, and one
to each of their attendants and to the Numidians, who were discharged
from custody and given back to the king. In addition to these,
dwellings, reserved by the state for such purposes, grounds, and
entertainment, were assigned to the ambassadors.

18. The same summer during which these decrees were passed at Rome,
and these transactions took place in Africa, Publius Quinctilius
Varus, the praetor, and Marcus Cornelius, the proconsul, fought a
pitched battle with Mago the Carthaginian in the territories of the
Insubrian Gauls. The legions of the praetor were in the first line;
Cornelius kept his in reserve, riding forward into the front himself,
and the praetor and proconsul, leading on the two wings, exhorted
the soldiers to attack the enemy with the utmost vigour. Finding they
produced no impression upon the enemy, Quinctilius said to Cornelius:
"The battle, as you perceive, does not proceed with spirit, the enemy,
having succeeded in their resistance beyond expectation, have become
callous to fear, and there is danger lest it should be converted into
boldness. We must stir up a tempest of cavalry if we wish to disorder
and drive them from their ground; therefore, either do you sustain the
fight in front, and I will lead the cavalry into the action; or else,
I will act in the front line and you send out the cavalry of the four
legions against the enemy." The proconsul offering to take whichever
part of the service the praetor pleased, Quinctilius the praetor, with
his son, surnamed Marcus, a spirited youth, went off to the cavalry,
and desiring them to mount, instantly led them to the charge. The
confusion on occasioned by these was increased by a shout raised by
the legions; nor would the line of the enemy have stood unbroken, had
not Mago, as soon as he saw the cavalry in motion, immediately brought
into the action his elephants, which he kept in readiness. The horses
were so terrified at the snorting, the smell, and appearance of these
animals, that the aid of the cavalry was rendered ineffectual. As the
Roman horseman had the advantage in point of efficiency in a close
fight, when he could use his javelin and sword hand to hand, so the
Numidians had the advantage when throwing their darts from a distance
upon enemies borne away from them by their terrified horses. At the
same time the twelfth legion, though a great number of them were
slain, maintained their ground through shame rather than a reliance on
their strength; but they would not have continued to do so longer,
had not the thirteenth legion, brought up into the front line from the
reserve, taken up the doubtful conflict. Mago, also, bringing up the
Gauls from his reserve, opposed them to the fresh legion. The Gauls
being routed without any great effort, the spearmen of the eleventh
legion formed themselves into a circular body and charged the
elephants, which were now disordering the line of infantry; and as
scarcely one of the javelins which they threw upon them failed of
taking effect, as they were close together, they turned them all
upon the line of their own party. Four of them fell overpowered with
wounds. It was then that the front line of the enemy gave ground, the
whole body of the Roman infantry at the same time rushing forward to
increase the panic and confusion, on seeing the elephants turn their
backs. As long as Mago stood in front, the troops stepped back slowly,
preserving their ranks and not relaxing their ardour in fighting;
but when they saw him falling, from a wound in his thigh, which was
transfixed, and carried off the field almost lifeless, in an instant
they all betook themselves to flight. As many as five thousand of the
enemy were slain, and twenty-two military standards captured on that
day. Nor did the Romans obtain a bloodless victory. Two thousand three
hundred of the army of the praetor, by far the greater part of whom
belonged to the twelfth legion, were lost. Two military tribunes,
Marcus Cosconius and Marcus Maenius, of the same legion; and of the
thirteenth legion also, which joined in the action at its close,
Cneius Helvius, a military tribune, fell in restoring the fight;
and about twenty-two distinguished horsemen, together with several
centurions, were trampled upon and killed by the elephants. The
contest would have continued longer, had not the enemy conceded the
victory, in consequence of the wound of their general.

19. Mago, setting out during the silence of the succeeding night, and
marching as far at a time as his wounds would allow him, reached
the sea-coast in the territory of the Ingaunian Ligurians. Here
ambassadors from Carthage, who had put into the Gallic bay a few days
before, came to him with directions to cross over into Africa with all
speed; informing him that his brother Hannibal, for to him also they
said ambassadors had gone with similar directions, would do the same,
for the affairs of the Carthaginians were not in a condition to
admit of their occupying Gaul and Italy with armies. Mago, not
only influenced by the command of the senate and the danger which
threatened his country, but fearful also lest the victorious enemy
should be upon him if he delayed, and lest the Ligurians themselves,
seeing that the Carthaginians were leaving Italy, should pass over
to those under whose power they were likely soon to be placed; at the
same time hoping that his wound would be less irritated by the motion
of sailing than marching, and that he would have greater facilities
for the cure of it, put his troops on board and set sail. But he had
scarcely cleared Sardinia when he died of his wound. Several also of
his ships, which had been dispersed in the main sea, were captured by
the Roman fleet which lay near Sardinia. Such were the transactions by
sea and land in that part of Italy which is adjacent to the Alps.
The consul, Caius Servilius, without having performed any memorable
achievement in Etruria, his province, and in Gaul, for he had advanced
thither also, but having rescued from slavery, which they had endured
for now the sixteenth year, his father, Caius Servilius, and his
uncle, Caius Lutatius, who had been taken by the Boians at the village
of Tanetum, returned to Rome with his father on one side of him and
his uncle on the other, distinguished, by family, rather than by
public, honours. It was proposed to the people, that Caius Servilius
should be indemnified for having filled the offices of plebeian
tribune and plebeian aedile contrary to what was established by the
laws, while his father, who had sat in the curule chair, was still
alive, he being ignorant of that circumstance. This proposition
having been carried, he returned to his province. The towns Consentia,
Uffugum, Vergae, Besidiae, Hetriculum, Sypheum, Argentanum, Clampetia,
and many other inconsiderable states, perceiving that the Carthaginian
cause was declining, went over to Cneius Servilius the consul in
Bruttium. The same consul fought a battle with Hannibal, in the
territory of Croto. The accounts of this battle are not clear.
Valerius Antias states that five thousand men were slain. But this
is an event of such magnitude, that either it must be an impudent
fiction, or negligently omitted. It is certain that nothing further
was done by Hannibal in Italy; for ambassadors from Carthage,
recalling him into Africa, came to him, as it happened, at the same
time that they came to Mago.

20. It is said that when Hannibal heard the message of the ambassadors
he gnashed with his teeth, groaned, and scarcely refrained from
shedding tears. After they had delivered the commands with which
they were charged, he said: "Those who have for a long time been
endeavouring to drag me home, by forbidding the sending of supplies
and money to me, now recall me, not indirectly, but openly. Hannibal,
therefore, hath been conquered, not by the Roman people, who have been
so often slain and routed, but by the Carthaginian senate, through
envy and detraction; nor will Publius Scipio exult and glory in this
unseemly return so much as Hanno, who has crushed our family, since
he could not effect it by any other means, by the ruins of Carthage."
Already had his mind entertained a presentiment of this event, and he
had accordingly prepared ships beforehand. Having, therefore, sent a
crowd of useless soldiers under pretence of garrisons into the towns
in the Bruttian territory, a few of which continued their adherence to
him, more through fear than attachment, he transported the strength
of his army into Africa. Many natives of Italy who, refusing to follow
him into Africa had retired to the shrine of Juno Lacinia, which had
never been violated up to that day, were barbarously massacred in the
very temple. It is related, that rarely any person leaving his
country to go into exile exhibited deeper sorrow than Hannibal did on
departing from the land of his enemies; that he frequently looked back
upon the shores of Italy, and, arraigning both gods and men, cursed
himself and his own head that he did not lead his troops, while
reeking with blood from the victory at Cannae, to Rome. Scipio, who
since his appointment to the office of consul had not looked at the
Carthaginian enemy in Italy, had dared, he said, to go and attack
Carthage, while he, after slaying a hundred thousand fighting men at
Trasimenus and Cannae, had suffered his strength to wear away around
Casilinum, Cumae, and Nola. Amid these reproaches and complaints he
was borne away from his long occupation of Italy.

21. At the same time intelligence was brought to Rome that both Mago
and Hannibal had taken their departure. But the delight occasioned by
this twofold source of joy was diminished by the reflection that their
commanders had wanted either spirit or strength sufficient to detain
them, for they had been charged by the senate to do so; and also in
consequence of the anxiety they felt for the issue of a contest, in
which the whole weight of the war rested on the efforts of one general
and his army. About the same time ambassadors from Saguntum arrived,
bringing with them some Carthaginians who had crossed over into Spain
for the purpose of hiring auxiliaries, having seized them and the
money they had with them. They laid down in the vestibule of the
senate-house two hundred and fifty pounds' weight of gold, and eight
hundred of silver. After the men had been received and thrown into
prison, and the gold and silver returned, the ambassadors were
thanked, and received, besides, presents and ships to convey them back
into Spain. Some of the older senators then observed, that men were
less powerfully affected by prosperity than adversity. That they
themselves remembered what terror and consternation had been
occasioned by the passage of Hannibal into Italy; what disasters and
what lamentations had followed that event. When the camp of the enemy
was seen from their walls, what vows were poured forth by each and
all! How often, extending their hands to heaven, exclamations were
heard in their assemblies. Oh! will that day ever arrive when we shall
behold Italy cleared of her enemies and enjoying the blessings of
peace! The gods, they said, had at length, in the sixteenth year,
granted that favour and yet there was no one who proposed that thanks
should be returned to them for it. That if men received a present
blessing so ungratefully, they would not be very mindful of it when it
was past. In consequence of this a general shout was raised from every
part of the senate-house, that Publius Aelius the praetor, should
lay the matter before the senate, and a decree was passed, that a
supplication should be performed at all the shrines for the space of
five days, and that a hundred and twenty victims of the larger sort
should be immolated. Laelius and the ambassadors of Masinissa having
been by this time dismissed, and intelligence having arrived that
ambassadors of the Carthaginians, who were coming to the senate to
treat about peace, had been seen at Puteoli, and would proceed thence
by land, it was resolved, that Caius Laelius should be recalled,
that the negotiations respecting the peace might take place in his
presence. Quintus Fulvius Gillo, a lieutenant-general of Scipio,
conducted the Carthaginians to Rome; and as they were forbidden to
enter the city, they were lodged in a country-house belonging to the
state, and admitted to an audience of the senate at the temple of
Bellona.

22. They addressed the senate in nearly the same terms as they
had employed before Scipio; laying the whole blame of the war upon
Hannibal, and exculpating their state. They declared, that he had not
only crossed the Alps, but the Iberus also, without the sanction
of the senate; and that he had made war not only on the Romans,
but previously on the Saguntines also, on his own individual
responsibility. That, if the question were viewed in its proper light,
it would be found that the league between the senate and people of
Carthage and the Romans remained unbroken up to that day. Accordingly,
all they had in charge to solicit was, that they might be allowed to
continue in the enjoyment of that peace which was last entered into
with the consul Caius Lutatius. When the praetor, according to
the custom handed down from their ancestors, had given the fathers
permission to ask the ambassadors any questions they might be pleased
to put, and the older members who had been present at the making
of the treaties had put some one question and others another, the
ambassadors declared that they were not old enough to recollect, for
they were nearly all of them young men. Upon this every part of the
senate-house resounded with exclamations, that with Carthaginian
knavery men had been chosen to solicit a renewal of the old peace who
did not recollect its terms.

23. After this, the ambassadors having been removed out of the
senate-house, the senators began to be asked their opinions. Marcus
Livius recommended, that Caius Servilius, the consul nearest home,
should be sent for, that he might be present at the proceedings
relative to the peace; for as it was impossible that any subject of
deliberation could occur of greater importance than the present, he
did not see how it could be discussed, consistently with the dignity
of the Roman people, in the absence of one or both of the consuls.
Quintus Metellus, who three years before had been consul, and had
filled the office of dictator, said that, since Publius Scipio, by
destroying the armies and by devastating the lands of the enemy, had
reduced them to such a state that they were compelled as supplicants
to sue for peace; and as no one could estimate with more truth the
intentions with which it was solicited, than he who was prosecuting
the war before the gates of Carthage; the peace should be rejected
or adopted on the advice of none other than Scipio. Marcus Valerius
Laevinus, who had been twice consul, endeavoured to show that those
who had come were spies, and not ambassadors; that they ought to be
ordered to depart from Italy; that guards should be sent with them to
their very ships, and that Scipio should be written to not to relax
in prosecuting the war. Laelius and Fulvius added, that Scipio had
grounded his hopes of effecting a peace on Hannibal and Mago not
being recalled from Italy. He considered that the Carthaginians would
practise every species of dissimulation, in expectation of the
arrival of those generals and their armies, and then, forgetful of all
treaties, however recent, and all gods, would proceed with the war.
For these reasons they were the more disposed to adopt the opinion of
Laevinus. The ambassadors were dismissed without having accomplished
the peace, and almost without an answer.

24. About the same time Cneius Servilius, the consul, not doubting but
that he should enjoy the glory of having restored Italy to a state of
peace, pursued Hannibal, whom he considered had fled before him, and
crossed over into Sicily, with the intention of proceeding thence into
Africa. As soon as this became known at Rome, at first the fathers
gave it as their opinion, that the praetor should inform the consul
by letter that the senate thought it proper that he should return into
Italy; but afterwards, the praetor declaiming that he would not heed
his letter, Publius Sulpicius, who was created dictator for this
very purpose, recalled the consul to Italy, in virtue of his superior
authority. The remainder of the year he employed in conjunction with
Marcus Servilius, his master of the horse, in going round to the
cities of Italy, which had been alienated from the Romans during the
war, and in taking cognizance of the cases of each. During the time of
the truce, Lentulus the praetor sent over into Africa, from Sardinia,
a hundred transports with stores, under a convoy of twenty ships of
war, without meeting with any injury either from the enemy or storms.
The same good fortune did not attend Cneius Octavius, while crossing
over from Sicily with two hundred transports and thirty men of war.
Having experienced a prosperous voyage until he arrived almost within
sight of Africa, at first the wind dropped, but afterwards changing to
the south-west, it dispersed his ships in every direction. He himself
with the ships of war, having struggled through the opposing billows
by the extraordinary exertions of his rowers, made the promontory of
Apollo. The greater part of the transports were driven to Aegimurus,
an island filling the mouth of the bay on which Carthage stands,
and about thirty miles from the city; the rest were driven on shore
directly opposite the city, near the warm baths. The whole occurrence
was within sight of Carthage, and, accordingly, the people ran in
crowds to the forum, from every part of the city. The magistrates
summoned the senate, and the people were yelling in the vestibule of
the senate-house, lest so great a booty should escape from their hands
and their sight. Though some urged as an objection the obligation
imposed upon them by having solicited peace, and others the restraint
occasioned by the existence of a truce, the period of which had not
yet expired, it was agreed in an assembly, made up almost of a
mixture of the senate and people, that Hasdrubal should cross over to
Aegimurus with fifty ships, and, proceeding thence, pick up the Roman
ships scattered along the coasts and in the different ports. First the
transports from Aegimurus, and then those from the baths, abandoned by
the crews, were towed to Carthage.

25. The ambassadors had not as yet returned from Rome, nor was it
known whether the Roman senate had pronounced in favour of peace
or war; nor as yet had the period of the truce expired. Scipio,
therefore, considering that the malignity of their offence was
heightened by the fact, that, though they had solicited peace and
a truce, they had cut off all hopes of the former and violated the
latter, immediately despatched Lucius Baebius, Lucius Sergius, and
Lucius Fabius, as ambassadors to Carthage. These, having narrowly
escaped violence from the assembled multitude, and perceiving that
they would be exposed to similar danger on their return, requested of
the magistrates, by whose aid they had been protected from violence,
to send ships to escort them. Two triremes were assigned them, which,
when they had come to the river Bagradas, whence the Roman camp could
be seen, returned to Carthage. The Carthaginian fleet was stationed at
Utica, and from this three quadriremes were despatched, which suddenly
attacked the Roman quinquereme from the main sea, while doubling the
promontory, either owing to a message sent from Carthage that
this should be done, or that Hasdrubal, who commanded the fleet,
perpetrated the atrocity without public connivance. But neither could
they strike it with their beaks from the rapidity with which it evaded
them, nor could the fighting men board the higher from lower vessels.
The quinquereme was gallantly defended as long as their weapons
lasted; but these failing, and there being now nothing which could
save them but the nearness of the land, and the multitude which had
poured out from the camp upon the shore, they communicated a rapid
motion to the vessel by means of their oars, and running her against
the shore with all the force they could, they escaped themselves
without injury, and only lost the vessel. Thus when the truce had
been unequivocally violated by repeated acts of villany, Laelius and
Fulvius arrived from Rome with the Carthaginian ambassadors. Scipio
told them, that although the Carthaginians had not only broken their
faith pledged in the truce, but had also violated the laws of nations
in the persons of his ambassadors, yet he would not in their case
do any thing unworthy of the maxims of the Roman people or his own
principles; after saying which, he dismissed the ambassadors and
prepared for war. When Hannibal was now drawing near land, one of the
sailors, who was ordered to climb the mast to see what part of the
country they were making, said the prow pointed toward a demolished
sepulchre, when Hannibal, recognising the inauspicious omen, ordered
the pilot to steer by that place, and putting in his fleet at Leptis,
landed his forces there.

26. Such were the transactions in Africa this year. Those which
followed extended themselves into that year in which Marcus Servilius
Geminus, who was then master of the horse and Tiberius Claudius Nero
were consuls. However, at the close of the former year, deputies from
the allied states in Greece having arrived with complaints that their
lands had been devastated by the king's garrisons, and that their
ambassadors, who had gone into Macedonia to demand restitution had
not been admitted into the presence of Philip; and having also brought
information that four thousand men were said to have been conveyed
over into Africa, under the conduct of Sopater, to assist the
Carthaginians, and that a considerable quantity of money had been sent
with them; the senate resolved that ambassadors should be sent to the
king to inform him that the fathers considered that these acts were
contrary to the treaty. The persons sent were Caius Terentius Varro,
Caius Mamilius, and Marcus Aurelius. Three quinqueremes were assigned
to them. This year was rendered remarkable by a most extensive fire,
by which the buildings on the Publician hill were burned to the
ground, and by the greatness of the floods. But still provisions were
cheap, not only because, as it was a time of peace, supplies could be
obtained from every part of Italy, but also because Marcus Valerius
Falto and Marcus Fabius Buteo, the curule aediles, distributed to the
people, so much for each street, at the rate of four _asses_ a bushel,
a great quantity of corn which had been sent out of Spain. The same
year died Quintus Fabius Maximus at an advanced age, if, indeed, it be
true that he was augur sixty-two years, which some historians relate.
He was a man unquestionably worthy of the high surname which he bore,
even had it begun with him. He surpassed the honours of his father,
and equalled those of his grandfather. His grandfather, Rullus, was
distinguished by a greater number of victories and more important
battles; but one antagonist like Hannibal is sufficient to
counterbalance them all. He was esteemed rather cautious than
spirited; and though it may be questioned whether he was naturally
dilatory, or whether he adopted that kind of conduct because it was
peculiarly suited to the war which he was carrying on, yet nothing can
be more clear that he was that one man who by his delay retrieved
our affairs, as Ennius says. Quintus Fabius Maximus, his son, was
consecrated augur in his room. In the room of the same, for he held
two priesthoods, Servius Sulpicius Galba was consecrated pontiff.
The Roman games were repeated for one day, the plebeian were thrice
repeated entire by the aediles, Marcus Sextius Sabinus and Cneius
Tremellius Flaccus. Both these were elected praetors, and with them
Caius Livius Salinator and Caius Aurelius Cotta. The difference in the
accounts of historians renders it uncertain whether Caius Servilius
the consul presided in the elections this year, or Publius Sulpicius,
nominated dictator by him, because business detained him in Etruria;
being engaged, according to a decree of the senate, in making
inquisitions respecting the conspiracies of the principal inhabitants.

27. In the beginning of the following year, Marcus Servilius and
Tiberius Claudius, having assembled the senate, consulted them
respecting the provinces. As both were desirous of having Africa, they
wished Italy and Africa to be disposed of by lots; but, principally in
consequence of the exertions of Quintus Metellus, Africa was neither
assigned to any one nor withheld. The consuls were ordered to make
application to the tribunes of the people, to the effect, that, if
they thought proper, they should put it to the people to decide whom
they wished to conduct the war in Africa. All the tribes nominated
Publius Scipio. Nevertheless, the consuls put the province of Africa
to the lot, for so the senate had decreed. Africa fell to the lot of
Tiberius Claudius, who was to cross over into Africa with a fleet of
fifty ships, all quinqueremes, and have an equal command with Scipio.
Marcus Servilius obtained Etruria. Caius Servilius was continued in
command in the same province, in case the senate resolved that the
consul should remain at the city. Of the praetors, Marcus Sextus
obtained Gaul; which province, together with two legions, Publius
Quinctilius Varus was to deliver to him; Caius Livius obtained
Bruttium, with the two legions which Publius Sempronius, the
proconsul, had commanded the former year; Cneius Tremellius had
Sicily, and was to receive the province and two legions from
Publius Villius Tappulus, a praetor of the former year; Villius, as
propraetor, was to protect the coast of Sicily with twenty men of war,
and a thousand soldiers; and Marcus Pomponius was to convey thence
to Rome one thousand five hundred soldiers, with the remaining twenty
ships. The city jurisdiction fell to Caius Aurelius Cotta; and the
rest of the praetors were continued in command of the respective
provinces and armies which they then had. Not more than sixteen
legions were employed this year in the defence of the empire. And,
that they might have the gods favourably disposed towards them in all
their undertakings and proceedings, it was ordered that the consuls,
before they set out to the war, should celebrate those games, and
sacrifice those victims of the larger sort, which, in the consulate
of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius, Titus Manlius, the
dictator, had vowed, provided the commonwealth should continue in the
same state for the next five years. The games were exhibited in the
circus during four days, and the victims sacrificed to those deities
to whom they had been vowed.

28. Meanwhile, hope and anxiety daily and simultaneously increased;
nor could the minds of men be brought to any fixed conclusion, whether
it was a fit subject for rejoicing, that Hannibal had now at length,
after the sixteenth year, departed from Italy, and left the Romans in
the unmolested possession of it, or whether they had not greater cause
to fear, from his having transported his army in safety into Africa.
They said that the scene of action certainly was changed, but not the
danger. That Quintus Fabius, lately deceased, who had foretold how
arduous the contest would be, was used to predict, not without good
reason, that Hannibal would prove a more formidable enemy in his own
country than he had been in a foreign one; and that Scipio would have
to encounter not Syphax, a king of undisciplined barbarians, whose
armies Statorius, a man little better than a soldier's drudge, was
used to lead; nor his father-in-law, Hasdrubal, that most fugacious
general; nor tumultuary armies hastily collected out of a crowd of
half-armed rustics, but Hannibal, born in a manner in the pavilion
of his father, that bravest of generals, nurtured and educated in
the midst of arms, who served as a soldier formerly, when a boy, and
became a general when he had scarcely attained the age of manhood;
who, having grown old in victory, had filled Spain, Gaul, and Italy,
from the Alps to the strait, with monuments of his vast achievements;
who commanded troops who had served as long as he had himself; troops
hardened by the endurance of every species of suffering, such as it
is scarcely credible that men could have supported; stained a thousand
times with Roman blood, and bearing with them the spoils not only of
soldiers but of generals. That many would meet the eyes of Scipio in
battle who had with their own hands slain Roman praetors, generals,
and consuls; many decorated with crowns, in reward for having scaled
walls and crossed ramparts; many who had traversed the captured camps
and cities of the Romans. That the magistrates of the Roman people
had not then so many fasces as Hannibal could have carried before him,
having taken them from generals whom he had slain. While their minds
were harassed by these apprehensions, their anxiety and fears were
further increased from the circumstance, that, whereas they had been
accustomed to carry on war for several years, in different parts of
Italy, and within their view, with languid hopes, and without the
prospect of bringing it to a speedy termination, Scipio and Hannibal
had stimulated the minds of all, as generals prepared for a final
contest. Even those persons whose confidence in Scipio and hopes
of victory were great, were affected with anxiety, increasing in
proportion as they saw their completion approaching. The state of
feeling among the Carthaginians was much the same; for, when they
turned their eyes on Hannibal, and the greatness of his achievements,
they repented having solicited peace; but when again they reflected
that they had been twice defeated in a pitched battle, that Syphax had
been made prisoner, that they had been driven out of Spain and Italy,
and that all this had been effected by the valour and conduct of
Scipio alone, they regarded him with horror, as a general marked out
by destiny, and born, for their destruction.

29. Hannibal had by this time arrived at Adrumetum; from which place,
after employing a few days there in refreshing his soldiers, who had
suffered from the motion by sea, he proceeded by forced marches to
Zama, roused by the alarming statements of messengers, who brought
word, that all the country around Carthage was filled with armed
troops. Zama is distant from Carthage a five days' journey. Some
spies, whom he sent out from this place, being intercepted by the
Roman guard, and brought before Scipio, he directed that they should
be handed over to the military tribunes, and after having been desired
fearlessly to survey every thing, to be conducted through the camp
wherever they chose; then, asking them whether they had examined every
thing to their satisfaction, he assigned them an escort, and sent them
back to Hannibal. Hannibal received none of the circumstances which
were reported to him with feelings of joy; for they brought word that,
as it happened, Masinissa had joined the enemy that very day, with
six thousand infantry and four thousand horse; but he was principally
dispirited by the confidence of his enemy, which, doubtless, was not
conceived without some ground. Accordingly, though he himself was the
originator of the war, and by his coming had upset the truce which had
been entered into, and cut off all hopes of a treaty, yet concluding
that more favourable terms might be obtained if he solicited peace
while his strength was unimpaired, than when vanquished, he sent a
message to Scipio, requesting permission to confer with him. I have
no means of affirming whether he did this on his own spontaneous
suggestion, or by the advice of his state. Valerius Antias says,
that after having been beaten by Scipio in a battle, in which twelve
thousand armed men were slain, and one thousand seven hundred made
prisoners, he came himself with ten other deputies into the camp
to Scipio. However, as Scipio did not decline the proposal for a
conference, both the generals, by concert, brought their camps forward
in order to facilitate their meeting by shortening the distance.
Scipio took up his position not far from the city Naragara, in a
situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also because
there was a watering place within a dart's throw. Hannibal took
possession of an eminence four miles thence, safe and convenient in
every respect, except that he had a long way to go for water. Here,
in the intermediate space, a place was chosen, open to view from all
sides, that there might be no opportunity for treachery.

30. Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they
met, each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not
only of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the
times preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or generals of
any nation whatever. When they came within sight of each other they
remained silent for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with
mutual admiration. At length Hannibal thus began: "Since fate hath so
ordained it, that I, who was the first to wage war upon the Romans,
and who have so often had victory almost within my reach, should
voluntarily come to sue for peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all
others, from whom it is my lot to solicit it. To you, also, amid the
many distinguished events of your life, it will not be esteemed one
of the least glorious, that Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often
granted victory over the Roman generals, should have yielded to
you; and that you should have put an end to this war, which has been
rendered remarkable by your calamities before it was by ours. In this
also fortune would seem to have exhibited a disposition to sport with
events, for it was when your father was consul that I first took up
arms; he was the first Roman general with whom I engaged in a pitched
battle; and it is to his son that I now come unarmed to solicit peace.
It were indeed most to have been desired, that the gods should have
put such dispositions into the minds of our fathers, that you should
have been content with the empire of Italy, and we with that
of Africa: nor, indeed, even to you, are Sicily and Sardinia of
sufficient value to compensate you for the loss of so many fleets, so
many armies, so many and such distinguished generals. But what is past
may be more easily censured than retrieved. In our attempts to acquire
the possessions of others we have been compelled to fight for our own;
and not only have you had a war in Italy, and we also in Africa, but
you have beheld the standards and arms of your enemies almost in
your gates and on your walls, and we now, from the walls of Carthage,
distinctly hear the din of a Roman camp. What, therefore, we should
most earnestly deprecate, and you should most devoutly wish for, is
now the case: peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage.
We who negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain
it, and we are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will,
our states will ratify. All we want is a disposition not averse
from peaceful counsels. As far as relates to myself, time, (for I
am returning to that country an old man which I left a boy,) and
prosperity, and adversity, have so schooled me, that I am more
inclined to follow reason than fortune. But I fear your youth and
uninterrupted good fortune, both of which are apt to inspire a degree
of confidence ill comporting with pacific counsels. Rarely does
that man consider the uncertainty of events whom fortune hath never
deceived. What I was at Trasimenus, and at Cannae, that you are this
day. Invested with command when you had scarcely yet attained
the military age, though all your enterprises were of the boldest
description, in no instance has fortune deserted you. Avenging the
death of your father and uncle, you have derived from the calamity of
your house the high honour of distinguished valour and filial duty.
You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving thence
four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul, though all others
wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa; where
having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two
camps in the same hour; having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful
king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours,
you have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly
held for now sixteen years. Your mind, I say, may possibly be more
disposed to conquest than peace. I know the spirits of your country
aim rather at great than useful objects. On me, too, a similar fortune
once shone. But if with prosperity the gods would also bestow upon us
sound judgment, we should not only consider those things which have
happened, but those also which may occur. Even if you should forget
all others, I am myself a sufficient instance of every vicissitude
of fortune. For me, whom a little while ago you saw advancing my
standards to the walls of Rome, after pitching my camp between the
Anio and your city, you now behold here, bereft of my two brothers,
men of consummate bravery, and most renowned generals, standing
before the walls of my native city, which is all but besieged, and
deprecating, in behalf of my own city, those severities with which I
terrified yours. In all cases, the most prosperous fortune is least to
be depended upon. While your affairs are in a favourable and ours in
a dubious state, you would derive honour and splendour from granting
peace; while to us who solicit it, it would considered as necessary
rather than honourable. A certain peace is better and safer than a
victory in prospect; the former is at your own disposal, the latter
depends upon the gods. Do not place at the hazard of a single hour the
successes of so many years. When you consider your own strength, then
also place before your view the power of fortune, and the fluctuating
nature of war. On both sides there will be arms, on both sides human
bodies. In nothing less than in war do events correspond (with men's
calculations). Should you be victorious in a battle, you will not add
so much to that renown which you now have it in your power to acquire
by granting peace, as you will detract from it should any adverse
event befall you. The chance of a single hour may at once overturn the
honours you have acquired and those you anticipate. Every thing is at
your own disposal in adjusting a peace; but, in the other case, you
must be content with that fortune which the gods shall impose upon
you. Formerly, in this same country, Marcus Atilius would have formed
one among the few instances of good fortune and valour, if, when
victorious, he had granted a peace to our fathers when they requested
it; but by not setting any bounds to his success, and not checking
good fortune, which was elating him, he fell with a degree of ignominy
proportioned to his elevation. It is indeed the right of him who
grants, and not of him who solicits it, to dictate the terms of peace;
but perhaps we may not be unworthy to impose upon ourselves the fine.
We do not refuse that all those possessions on account of which the
war was begun should be yours; Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the
islands lying in any part of the sea, between Africa and Italy. Let us
Carthaginians, confined within the shores of Africa, behold you, since
such is the pleasure of the gods, extending your empire over foreign
nations, both by sea and land. I cannot deny that you have reason to
suspect the Carthaginian faith, in consequence of their insincerity
lately in soliciting a peace and while awaiting the decision. The
sincerity with which a peace will be observed, depends much, Scipio,
on the person by whom it is sought. Your senate, as I hear, refused to
grant a peace in some measure because the deputies were deficient in
respectability. It is I, Hannibal, who now solicit peace; who would
neither ask for it unless I believed it expedient, nor will I fail
to observe it for the same reason of expedience on account of which
I have solicited it. And in the same manner as I, because the war was
commenced by me, brought it to pass that no one regretted it till the
gods began to regard me with displeasure; so will I also exert myself
that no one may regret the peace procured by my means."

31. In answer to these things the Roman general spoke nearly to the
following effect: "I was aware that it was in consequence of the
expectation of your arrival, that the Carthaginians violated the
existing faith of the truce and broke off all hope of a peace. Nor,
indeed, do you conceal the fact; inasmuch as you artfully withdraw
from the former conditions of peace every concession except what
relates to those things which have for a long time been in our own
power. But as it is your object, that your countrymen should be
sensible how great a burden they are relieved from by your means, so
it is incumbent upon me to endeavour that they may not receive, as
the reward of their perfidy, the concessions which they formerly
stipulated, by expunging them now from the conditions of the peace.
Though you do not deserve to be allowed the same conditions as before,
you now request even to be benefited by your treachery. Neither did
our fathers first make war respecting Sicily, nor did we respecting
Spain. In the former case the danger which threatened our allies the
Mamertines, and in the present the destruction of Saguntum, girded
us with just and pious arms. That you were the aggressors, both you
yourselves confess, and the gods are witnesses, who determined
the issue of the former war, and who are now determining and will
determine the issue of the present according to right and justice. As
to myself, I am not forgetful of the instability of human affairs,
but consider the influence of fortune, and am well aware that all
our measures are liable to a thousand casualties. But as I should
acknowledge that my conduct would savour of insolence and oppression,
if I rejected you on your coming in person to solicit peace, before
I crossed over into Africa, you voluntarily retiring from Italy, and
after you had embarked your troops; so now, when I have dragged you
into Africa almost by manual force, notwithstanding your resistance
and evasions, I am not bound to treat you with any respect. Wherefore,
if in addition to those stipulations on which it was considered that a
peace would at that time have been agreed upon, and what they are you
are informed, a compensation is proposed for having seized our ships,
together with their stores, during a truce, and for the violence
offered to our ambassadors, I shall then have matter to lay before my
council. But if these things also appear oppressive, prepare for war,
since you could not brook the conditions of peace." Thus, without
effecting an accommodation, when they had returned from the conference
to their armies, they informed them that words had been bandied to no
purpose, that the question must be decided by arms, and that they must
accept that fortune which the gods assigned them.

32. When they had arrived at their camps, they both issued orders that
their soldiers should get their arms in readiness, and prepare their
minds for the final contest; in which, if fortune should favour them,
they would continue victorious, not for a single day, but for ever.
"Before to-morrow night," they said, "they would know whether Rome or
Carthage should give laws to the world; and that neither Africa nor
Italy, but the whole world, would be the prize of victory. That the
dangers which threatened those who had the misfortune to be defeated,
were proportioned to the rewards of the victors." For the Romans had
not any place of refuge in an unknown and foreign land, and immediate
destruction seemed to await Carthage, if the troops which formed
her last reliance were defeated. To this important contest, the
day following, two generals, by far the most renowned of any, and
belonging to two of the most powerful nations in the world, advanced,
either to crown or overthrow, on that day, the many honours they had
previously acquired. Their minds, therefore, were agitated with the
opposite feelings of hope and fear; and while they contemplated at
one time their own troops, at another those of their enemy, estimating
their powers more by sight than by reason, they saw in them at once
the grounds for joy and grief. Those circumstances which did not occur
to the troops themselves spontaneously, their generals suggested by
their admonitions and exhortations. The Carthaginian recounted his
achievements in the land of Italy during sixteen years the many Roman
generals and armies annihilated, reminding each individually of the
honours he had acquired as he came to any soldier who had obtained
distinction in any of his battles. Scipio referred to Spain, the
recent battles in Africa and the enemy's own confession, that they
could not through fear but solicit peace, nor could they, through
their inveterate perfidy, abide by it. In addition to this he gave
what turn he pleased to his conference with Hannibal, which was held
in private, and was therefore open to misrepresentation. He augured
success that the gods had exhibited the same omens to them on going
out to battle on the present occasion, as they had to their fathers
when they fought at the islands Aegates. He told them that the
termination of the war, and their hardships, had arrived; that they
had within their grasp the spoils of Carthage, and the power of
returning home to their country, their parents, their children, their
wives, and their household gods. He delivered these observations with
a body so erect, and with a countenance so full of exultation, that
one would have supposed that he had already conquered. He then drew up
his troops, posting the hastati in front, the principes behind them,
and closing his rear line with the triarii.

33. He did not draw up his cohorts in close order, but each before
their respective standards; placing the companies at some distance
from each other, so as to leave a space through which the elephants of
the enemy passing might not at all break their ranks. Laelius, whom he
had employed before as lieutenant-general, but this year as quaestor,
by special appointment, according to a decree of the senate, he posted
with the Italian cavalry in the left wing, Masinissa and the Numidians
in the right. The open spaces between the companies of those in the
van he filled with velites, which then formed the Roman light-armed
troops, with an injunction, that on the charge of the elephants they
should either retire behind the files, which extended in a right line,
or, running to the right and left and placing themselves by the side
of those in the van, afford a passage by which the elephants might
rush in between weapons on both sides. Hannibal, in order to terrify
the enemy, drew up his elephants in front, and he had eighty of
them, being more than he had ever had in any battle; behind these his
Ligurian and Gallic auxiliaries, with Balearians and Moors intermixed.
In the second line he placed the Carthaginians, Africans, and a legion
of Macedonians; then, leaving a moderate interval, he formed a reserve
of Italian troops, consisting principally of Bruttians, more of
whom had followed him on his departure from Italy by compulsion and
necessity than by choice. His cavalry also he placed in the wings, the
Carthaginian occupying the right, the Numidian the left. Various were
the means of exhortation employed in an army consisting of a mixture
of so many different kinds of men; men differing in language, customs
laws, arms, dress, and appearance, and in the motives for serving.
To the auxiliaries, the prospect both of their present pay, and many
times more from the spoils, was held out. The Gauls were stimulated
by their peculiar and inherent animosity against the Romans. To the
Ligurians the hope was held out of enjoying the fertile plains of
Italy, and quitting their rugged mountains, if victorious. The Moors
and Numidians were terrified with subjection to the government of
Masinissa, which he would exercise with despotic severity. Different
grounds of hope and fear were represented to different persons. The
view of the Carthaginians was directed to the walls of their city,
their household gods, the sepulchres of their ancestors, their
children and parents, and their trembling wives; they were told, that
either the destruction of their city and slavery or the empire of the
world awaited them; that there was nothing intermediate which they
could hope for or fear. While the general was thus busily employed
among the Carthaginians, and the captains of the respective nations
among their countrymen, most of them employing interpreters among
troops intermixed with those of different nations, the trumpets and
cornets of the Romans sounded; and such a clamour arose, that the
elephants, especially those in the left wing, turned round upon their
own party, the Moors and Numidians. Masinissa had no difficulty in
increasing the alarm of the terrified enemy, and deprived them of the
aid of their cavalry in that wing. A few, however, of the beasts which
were driven against the enemy, and were not turned back through fear,
made great havoc among the ranks of the velites, though not without
receiving many wounds themselves; for when the velites, retiring to
the companies, had made way for the elephants, that they might not be
trampled down, they discharged their darts at them, exposed as they
were to wounds on both sides, those in the van also keeping up a
continual discharge of javelins; until, driven out of the Roman line
by the weapons which fell upon them from all quarters, these elephants
also put to flight even the cavalry of the Carthaginians posted in
their right wing. Laelius, when he saw the enemy in disorder, struck
additional terror into them in their confusion.

34. The Carthaginian line was deprived of the cavalry on both
sides, when the infantry, who were now not a match for the Romans in
confidence or strength, engaged. In addition to this there was one
circumstance, trifling in itself, but at the same time producing
important consequences in the action. On the part of the Romans the
shout was uniform, and on that account louder and more terrific; while
the voices of the enemy, consisting as they did of many nations of
different languages, were dissonant. The Romans used the stationary
kind of fight, pressing upon the enemy with their own weight and that
of their arms; but on the other side there was more of skirmishing
and rapid movement than force. Accordingly, on the first charge,
the Romans immediately drove back the line of their opponents; then
pushing them with their elbows and the bosses of their shields, and
pressing forward into the places from which they had pushed them,
they advanced a considerable space, as though there had been no one to
resist them, those who formed the rear urging forward those in
front when they perceived the line of the enemy giving way; which
circumstance itself gave great additional force in repelling them. On
the side of the enemy, the second line, consisting of the Africans and
Carthaginians, were so far from supporting the first line when giving
ground, that, on the contrary, they even retired, lest their enemy,
by slaying those who made a firm resistance, should penetrate to
themselves also. Accordingly, the auxiliaries suddenly turned their
backs, and facing about upon their own party, fled, some of them into
the second line, while others slew those who did not receive them into
their ranks, since before they did not support them, and now refused
to receive them. And now there were, in a manner, two contests going
on together, the Carthaginians being compelled to fight at once with
the enemy and with their own party. Not even then, however, did they
receive into their line the terrified and exasperated troops; but,
closing their ranks, drove them out of the scene of action to the
wings and the surrounding plain, lest they should mingle these
soldiers, terrified with defeat and wounds, with that part of their
line which was firm and fresh. But such a heap of men and arms had
filled the space in which the auxiliaries a little while ago had
stood, that it was almost more difficult to pass through it than
through a close line of troops. The spearmen, therefore, who formed
the front line, pursuing the enemy as each could find a way through
the heap of arms and men, and streams of blood, threw into complete
disorder the battalions and companies. The standards also of the
principes had begun to waver when they saw the line before them driven
from their ground. Scipio, perceiving this, promptly ordered the
signal to be given for the spearmen to retreat, and, having taken his
wounded into the rear, brought the principes and triarii to the wings,
in order that the line of spearmen in the centre might be more strong
and secure. Thus a fresh and renewed battle commenced, inasmuch as
they had penetrated to their real antagonists, men equal to them in
the nature of their arms, in their experience in war, in the fame of
their achievements, and the greatness of their hopes and fears. But
the Romans were superior both in numbers and courage, for they had now
routed both the cavalry and the elephants, and having already defeated
the front line, were fighting against the second.

35. Laelius and Masinissa, who had pursued the routed cavalry through
a considerable space, returning very opportunely, charged the rear of
the enemy's line. This attack of the cavalry at length routed them.
Many of them, being surrounded, were slain in the field; and many,
dispersed in flight through the open plain around, were slain on
all hands, as the cavalry were in possession of every part. Of the
Carthaginians and their allies, above twenty thousand were slain on
that day; about an equal number were captured, with a hundred and
thirty-three military standards, and eleven elephants. Of the victors
as many as two thousand fell. Hannibal, slipping off during the
confusion, with a few horsemen came to Adrumetum, not quitting the
field till he had tried every expedient both in the battle and before
the engagement; having, according to the admission of Scipio, and
every one skilled in military science, acquired the fame of having
marshalled his troops on that day with singular judgment. He placed
his elephants in the front, in order that their desultory attack, and
insupportable violence, might prevent the Romans from following their
standards, and preserving their ranks, on which they placed their
principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before the line
of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of the refuse of
all nations and who were not bound by honour but by gain, might not
have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at the same time that
the first ardour and impetuosity might be exhausted upon them, and,
if they could render no other service, that the weapons of the enemy
might be blunted in wounding them. Next he placed the Carthaginian
and African soldiers, on whom he placed all his hopes, in order that,
being equal to the enemy in every other respect, they might have the
advantage of them, inasmuch as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength
themselves, they would fight with those who were fatigued and wounded.
The Italians he removed into the rear, separating them also by an
intervening space, as he knew not, with certainty, whether they were
friends or enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his
last work of valour, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned
to Carthage, he returned thither in the six and thirtieth year after
he had left it when a boy; and confessed in the senate-house that he
was defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that there
was no hope of safety in any thing but in obtaining peace.

36. Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered
the enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships, with an immense
booty, news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at
Utica with fifty men of war, and a hundred transports laden with every
kind of stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before Carthage
every thing which could increase the consternation already existing
there, after sending Laelius to Rome to report his victory, he ordered
Cneius Octavius to conduct the legions thither by land; and, setting
out himself from Utica with the fresh fleet of Lentulus, added to
his former one, made for the harbour of Carthage. When he had arrived
within a short distance, he was met by a Carthaginian ship decked with
fillets and branches of olive. There were ten deputies, the leading
men in the state, sent at the instance of Hannibal to solicit peace;
to whom, when they had come up to the stern of the general's ship,
holding out the badges of suppliants, entreating and imploring the
protection and compassion of Scipio, the only answer given was, that
they must come to Tunes, to which place he would move his camp. After
taking a view of the site of Carthage, not so much for the sake of
acquainting himself with it for any present object, as to dispirit
the enemy, he returned to Utica, having recalled Octavius to the
same place. As they were proceeding thence to Tunes, they received
intelligence that Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number of
horse than foot, was coming to the assistance of the Carthaginians.
A part of his infantry, with all the cavalry, having attacked them on
their march on the first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians
with little opposition; and as every way by which they could escape in
flight was blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides,
fifteen thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with
fifteen hundred Numidian horses, and seventy-two military standards.
The prince himself fled from the field with a few attendants during
the confusion. The camp was then pitched near Tunes in the same place
as before, and thirty ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These
behaved in a manner even more calculated to excite compassion than the
former, in proportion as their situation was more pressing; but
from the recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with
considerably less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by
just resentment to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon
the magnitude of the undertaking, and the length of time which would
be consumed in the siege of so well fortified and strong a city,
while Scipio himself was uneasy in consequence of the expectation of
a successor, who would come in for the glory of having terminated the
war, though it was accomplished already by the exertions and danger of
another, the minds of all were inclined to peace.

37. The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with
many rebukes for their perfidy, warned that, instructed by so many
disasters, they would at length believe in the existence of the gods,
and the obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were
stated to them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live under
their own laws; that they should possess such cities and territories
as they had enjoyed before the war, and with the same boundaries, and
that the Romans should on that day desist from devastation. That they
should restore to the Romans all deserters and fugitives, giving up
all their ships of war except ten triremes, with such tamed elephants
as they had, and that they should not tame any more. That they should
not carry on war in or out of Africa without the permission of the
Roman people. That they should make restitution to Masinissa, and
form a league with him. That they should furnish corn, and pay for the
auxiliaries until the ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they
should pay ten thousand talents of silver, in equal annual instalments
distributed over fifty years. That they should give a hundred
hostages, according to the pleasure of Scipio, not younger than
fourteen nor older than thirty. That he would grant them a truce on
condition that the transports, together with their cargoes, which had
been seized during the former truce, were restored. Otherwise they
would have no truce, nor any hope of a peace." When the ambassadors
who were ordered to bear these conditions home reported them in an
assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth to dissuade them from the
terms, and was being listened to by the multitude, who were at once
indisposed for peace and unfit for war, Hannibal, indignant that such
language should be held and listened to at such a juncture, laid
hold of Gisgo with his own hand, and dragged him from his elevated
position. This unusual sight in a free state having raised a murmur
among the people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the
citizens took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine years
old, I have returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I flatter
myself I am well acquainted with the qualifications of a soldier,
having been instructed in them from my childhood, sometimes by my own
situation, and sometimes by that of my country. The privileges, the
laws, and customs of the city and the forum you ought to teach me."
Having thus apologized for his indiscretion, he discoursed largely
concerning the peace, showing how inoppressive the terms were, and how
necessary it was. The greatest difficulty was, that of the ships which
had been seized during the truce nothing was to be found except the
ships themselves: nor was it easy to collect the property, because
those who were charged with having it were opposed to the peace. It
was resolved that the ships should be restored, and that the men at
least should be looked up; and as to whatever else was missing, that
it should be left to Scipio to put a value upon it, and that the
Carthaginians should make compensation accordingly in money. There
are those who say that Hannibal went from the field of battle to the
sea-coast; whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which he had ready
for the purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio demanded
above every thing that Hannibal should be given up to him, answer was
made that Hannibal was not in Africa.

38. After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were
ordered to give in an account, made out from the public registers,
of the public property which had been in the ships; and the owners
to make a return of the private property. For the amount of the value
twenty-five thousand pounds of silver were required to be paid down;
and a truce for three months was granted to the Carthaginians. It
was added, that during the time of the truce they should not
send ambassadors any where else than to Rome; and that, whatever
ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not dismiss them before
informing the Roman general who they were, and what they sought. With
the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo, Marcus Marcius
Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general, were sent to Rome.
At the time in which these events took place, the supplies sent from
Sicily and Sardinia produced such cheapness of provisions, that the
merchant gave up the corn to the mariners for their freight. At
Rome alarm was excited at the first intelligence of the renewal of
hostilities by the Carthaginians; and Tiberius Claudius was directed
to conduct the fleet with speed into Sicily, and cross over from that
place into Africa. The other consul, Marcus Servilius, was directed to
stay at the city until the state of affairs in Africa was ascertained.
Tiberius Claudius, the consul, proceeded slowly with every thing
connected with the equipment and sailing of the fleet, because the
senate had decided that it should be left to Scipio, rather than to
the consul, to determine the conditions on which the peace should be
granted. The accounts also of prodigies which arrived just at the time
of the news of the revival of the war, had occasioned great alarm.
At Cumae the orb of the sun seemed diminished, and a shower of stones
fell; and in the territory of Veliternum the earth sank in great
chasms, and trees were swallowed up in the cavities. At Aricia the
forum and the shops around it, at Frusino a wall in several places,
and a gate, were struck by lightning; and in the Palatium a shower of
stones fell. The latter prodigy, according to the custom handed down
by tradition, was expiated by a nine days' sacred rite; the rest
with victims of the larger sort. Amid these events an unusually great
rising of the waters was converted into a prodigy; for the Tiber
overflowed its banks to such a degree, that as the circus was under
water, the Apollinarian games were got up near the temple of Venus
Erycina, without the Colline gate. However, the weather suddenly
clearing up on the very day of the celebration, the procession, which
had begun to move at the Colline gate, was recalled and transferred to
the circus, on its being known that the water had retired thence. The
joy of the people and the attraction of the games were increased by
the restoration of this solemn spectacle to its proper scene.

39. The consul Claudius, having set out at length from the city,
was placed in the most imminent danger by a violent tempest, which
overtook him between the ports of Cosa and Laurentum. Having reached
Populonii, where he waited till the remainder of the tempest had
spent itself, he crossed over to the island Ilva. From Ilva he went to
Corsica, and from Corsica to Sardinia. Here, while sailing round the
Montes Insani, a tempest much more violent in itself, and in a more
dangerous situation, dispersed his fleet. Many of his ships were
shattered and stripped of their rigging, and some were wrecked. His
fleet thus weatherbeaten and shattered arrived at Carales, where the
winter came on while the ships were drawn on shore and refitted. The
year having elapsed, and no one proposing to continue him in command,
Tiberius Claudius brought back his fleet to Rome in a private
capacity. Marcus Servilius set out for his province, having nominated
Caius Servilius Geminus as dictator, that he might not be recalled to
the city to hold the elections. The dictator appointed Publius Aelius
Paetus master of the horse. It frequently happened, that the elections
could not be held on account of bad weather, though the days were
fixed for them; and, therefore, as the magistrates of the former year
retired from their offices on the day before the ides of March, and
fresh ones were not appointed to succeed them, the state was without
curule magistrates. Lucius Manlius Torquatus, a pontiff, died this
year. Caius Sulpicius Galba was elected in his room. The Roman games
were thrice repeated by the curule aediles, Lucius Licinius Lucullus
and Quintus Fulvius. Some scribes and runners belonging to the
aediles were found, on the testimony of an informer, to have privately
conveyed money out of the treasury, and were condemned, not without
disgrace to the aedile Lucullus. Publius Aelius Tubero and Lucius
Laetorius, plebeian aediles, on account of some informality in their
creation, abdicated their office, after having celebrated the games,
and the banquet on occasion of the games, in honour of Jupiter, and
after having placed in the Capitol three statues made out of silver
paid as fines. The dictator and master of the horse celebrated the
games in honour of Ceres, in conformity with a decree of the senate.

40. The Roman, together with the Carthaginian ambassadors, having
arrived at Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple
of Bellona; when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of
the senate, that a battle had been fought with Hannibal, which was
decisive of the fate of the Carthaginians, and that a period was
at length put to that calamitous war. He added what formed a small
accession to their successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax,
had been vanquished. He was then ordered to go forth to the public
assembly, and impart the joyful tidings to the people. Then, a
thanksgiving having been appointed, all the temples in the city
were thrown open, and supplications for three days were decreed. The
ambassadors of the Carthaginians, and those of king Philip, for they
also had arrived, requesting an audience of the senate, answer was
made by the dictator, by order of the fathers, that the new consuls
would give them an audience. The elections were then held. The consuls
elected were Cneius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus.
The praetors elected were Marcus Junius Pennus, to whose lot the
city jurisdiction fell, Marcus Valerius Falto, who received Bruttium,
Marcus Fabius Buteo, who received Sardinia, and Publius Aelius Tubero,
who received Sicily. It was the pleasure of the senate that nothing
should be done respecting the provinces of the consuls, till the
ambassadors of king Philip and the Carthaginians had been heard;
for they foresaw the termination of one war and the commencement
of another. Cneius Lentulus, the consul, was inflamed with a strong
desire to have the province of Africa, looking forward to an easy
victory if there was still war, or, if it was on the point of being
concluded, to the glory of having it terminated in his consulate. He
therefore refused to allow any business to be transacted before the
province of Africa was assigned him; his colleague, who was a moderate
and prudent man, giving up his claim to it, for he clearly saw that
a contest with Scipio for that honour would be not only unjust
but unequal. Quintus Minucius Thermus, and Manius Acilius Glabrio,
tribunes of the people, said that Cneius Cornelius was endeavouring to
effect the same object which had been attempted in vain by the consul
Tiberius Claudius the former year. That, by the direction of the
senate, it had been proposed to the people to decide whom they wished
to have the command in Africa, and all the thirty-five tribes had
concurred in assigning that command to Publius Scipio. After many
discussions, both in the senate and popular assembly, it was at length
determined to leave it to the senate. The fathers, therefore, on
oath, for so it had been agreed, voted, that as to the provinces, the
consuls should settle between themselves, or determine by lots, which
of them should have Italy, and which a fleet of fifty ships. That he
to whose lot the fleet fell should sail to Sicily, and if peace could
not be concluded with the Carthaginians, that he should cross over
into Africa. That the consul should act by sea, and Scipio by land,
with the same right of command as heretofore. If an agreement should
be come to, as to the terms of the peace, that then the plebeian
tribunes should consult the commons as to whether they ordered the
consul or Publius Scipio to grant the peace; and if the victorious
army was to be brought home out of Africa, whom they ordered to bring
it. That if they ordered that the peace should be granted by Publius
Scipio, and that the army should be brought home likewise by him, then
the consul should not pass out of Sicily into Africa. That the other
consul, to whose lot Italy fell, should receive two legions from
Marcus Sextius the praetor.

41. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the province of Africa,
with the armies which he then had. To the praetor Marcus Valerius
Falto the two legions in Bruttium, which Caius Livius had commanded
the preceding year, were assigned. Publius Aelius, the praetor, was to
receive two legions in Sicily from Cneius Tremellius. To Marcus Fabius
was assigned one legion, which Publius Lentulus, propraetor, had
commanded, to be employed in Sardinia; Marcus Servilius, the consul of
the former year, was continued in command in Etruria, with his own
two legions likewise. As to Spain, it appeared that Lucius Cornelius
Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus had been there for now several
years. It was resolved, therefore, that the consuls should make
application to the plebeian tribunes to take the opinion of the
people, if they thought proper, as to whom they ordered to have
command in Spain; that the person so ordered should form one legion of
Roman soldiers out of the two armies, and also fifteen cohorts of
the allies of the Latin confederacy, with which he should occupy the
province. That Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus
should convey the old soldiers into Italy. To Cornelius, the consul,
was assigned a fleet of fifty ships formed out of the two fleets, one
of which was under Cneius Octavius in Africa, the other employed
in protecting the coast of Sicily, under Publius Villius. He was to
select such ships as he pleased. That Publius Scipio should still
have the forty ships of war which he before had, or if he wished that
Cneius Octavius should command it, as he had commanded a fleet there
before, that Octavius should be continued in command for a year as
propraetor; but if he appointed Laelius to the command of it, Octavius
should retire to Rome, and bring with him the ships which the consul
did not want. To Marcus Fabius also ten men of war were assigned for
Sardinia. The consuls were directed to enlist two city legions, so
that the operations of the state might be carried on this year with
fourteen legions, and one hundred men of war.

42. Then the business relating to the ambassadors of Philip and the
Carthaginians was considered. It was resolved that the Macedonians
should be brought before the senate first. Their address comprehended
a variety of subjects, being employed partly in clearing themselves
from the charges relative to the depredations committed against the
allies, which the deputies sent to the king from Rome had brought
against them; and partly in preferring accusations themselves against
the allies of the Roman people, but particularly against Marcus
Aurelius, whom they inveighed against with much greater acrimony; for
they said that, being one of the three ambassadors sent to them,
he had staid behind, and levying soldiers, had assailed them with
hostilities contrary to the league, and frequently fought pitched
battles with their prefects; and partly in preferring a request that
the Macedonians and their general, Sopater, who had served in the
army of Hannibal for hire, and having been made prisoners were kept
in bondage, should be restored to them. In opposition to these things
Marcus Furius, who had been sent from Macedonia for the express
purpose by Aurelius, thus argued: he said, "that Aurelius, having
been left behind, lest the allies of the Roman people, wearied by
devastations and injuries, should revolt to the king, had not gone
beyond the boundaries of the allies; but had taken measures to prevent
plundering parties from crossing over into their lands with impunity.
That Sopater was one of those who wore purple, and was related to
the king; that he had been lately sent into Africa with four
thousand Macedonians and a sum of money to assist Hannibal and the
Carthaginians." The Macedonians, on being interrogated on these
points, proceeded to answer in a subtle and evasive manner; but
without waiting for the conclusion of their reply they were told,
"that the king was seeking occasion for war, and that if he persisted
he would soon obtain his object. That the treaty had been doubly
violated by him, both by offering insults to the allies of the Roman
people, by assaulting them with hostilities and arms, and also by
aiding their enemies with auxiliaries and money. That Publius Scipio
was deemed to have acted properly and regularly in keeping in chains,
as enemies, those who had been made prisoners while bearing arms
against the Romans; and that Marcus Aurelius had consulted the
interest of the state, and the senate were thankful to him for it, in
protecting the allies of the Roman people by arms, since he could not
do it by the obligation of the treaty." The Macedonian ambassadors
having been dismissed with this unpleasant answer, the Carthaginian
ambassadors were called. On observing their ages and dignified
appearance, for they were by far the first men of the state, all
promptly declared their conviction, that now they were sincere in
their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace, and was
opposed to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest
than the rest. On these accounts the greater weight was attached to
him when transferring the blame of the war from the state at large to
the cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
admitted some, lest by impudently denying what was manifestly
true their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
and moderation in their prosperity, he said, that if the Carthaginians
had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated
terms of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely
happened that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon
men at the same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible,
because when successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and
prudence; and indeed it would have been matter of astonishment did
they act otherwise. That those persons to whom success was a new and
uncommon thing, proceeded to a pitch of madness in their ungoverned
transports in consequence of their not being accustomed to it. That to
the Roman people the joy arising from victory was a matter of common
occurrence, and was now almost become old-fashioned. That they
had extended their empire more by sparing the vanquished than by
conquering. The language employed by the others was of a nature more
calculated to excite compassion; they represented from what a height
of power the Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing, besides
the walls of Carthage, remained to those who a little time ago held
almost the whole world in subjection by their arms; that, shut up
within these, they could see nothing any where on sea or land which
owned their authority. That they would retain possession of their city
itself and their household gods only, in case the Roman people should
refrain from venting their indignation upon these, which is all that
remains for them to do. When it was manifest that the fathers were
moved by compassion, it is said that one of the senators, violently
incensed at the perfidy of the Carthaginians, immediately asked with
a loud voice, by what gods they would swear in striking the league,
since they had broken their faith with those by whom they swore in
striking the former one? By those same, replied Hasdrubal, who have
shown such determined hostility to the violators of treaties.

43. The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate.
Upon this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the
people, put the question to the people, whether they willed and
ordered that the senate should decree that peace should be made with
the Carthaginians? whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to
conduct the army out of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting
the peace according as the question had been put. That Publius Scipio
should grant the peace, and that he also should conduct the army
home. Agreeably to this order, the senate decreed that Publius Scipio,
acting according to the opinion of the ten deputies, should make
peace with the Carthaginian people on what terms he pleased. The
Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate, and requested
that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse with their
countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of the
state; observing, that some of them were their relations and friends,
and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
messages from their relations. Having obtained these requests, they
again asked permission to ransom such of them as they pleased; when
they were desired to give in their names. Having given in a list of
about two hundred, a decree of the senate was passed to the effect,
that the Carthaginian ambassadors should be allowed to take away into
Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two hundred of the Carthaginian
prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and that they should convey
to him a message, that if the peace were concluded, he should restore
them to the Carthaginians without ransom. The heralds being; ordered
to go into Africa to strike the league, at their own desire the senate
passed a decree that they should take with them flint stones of their
own, and vervain of their own; that the Roman praetor should command
them to strike the league, and that they should demand of him herbs.
The description of herb usually given to the heralds is taken from the
Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians, being allowed to depart from Rome,
when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded the peace on the
terms before mentioned. They delivered up their men-of-war, their
elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand prisoners, among
whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships he ordered to
be taken out into the main and burnt. Some say there were five hundred
of every description of those which are worked with oars, and that the
sudden sight of these, when burning, occasioned as deep a sensation
of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in flames. The
measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe than those
respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin confederacy were
decapitated; the Romans were crucified.

44. The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before
this, in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
commenced twenty-three years afterwards, in the consulate of Publius
Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus.
It is related that Scipio frequently said afterwards, that first the
ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterwards of Cneius Cornelius,
were the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the
destruction of Carthage. The Carthaginians, finding difficulty in
raising the first sum of money to be paid, as their finances were
exhausted by a protracted war, and in consequence great lamentation
and grief arising in the senate-house, it is said that Hannibal was
observed laughing; and when Hasdrubal Haedus rebuked him for laughing
amid the public grief, when he himself was the occasion of the tears
which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression of the countenance
is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of the mind could be
distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that that laughter which
you censure came from a heart not elated with joy, but frantic with
misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those absurd and
inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept, when our
arms were taken from us, our ships burnt, and we were forbidden to
engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor
is it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans
have adopted towards you have been dictated by animosity. No great
state can remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad
it finds one at home, in the same manner as over-robust bodies
seem secure from external causes, but are encumbered with their own
strength. So far, forsooth, we are affected with the public calamities
as they reach our private affairs; nor is there any circumstance
attending them which is felt more acutely than the loss of money.
Accordingly, when the spoils were torn down from vanquished Carthage,
when you beheld her left unarmed and defenceless amid so many armed
nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh. Now, because a tribute is to be
levied from private property, you lament with one accord, as though at
the funeral of the state. How much do I dread lest you should soon be
made sensible that you have shed tears this day for the lightest of
your misfortunes!" Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered
to the Carthaginians. Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented
Masinissa, in addition to his paternal dominions, with the town of
Cirta, and the other cities and territories which had passed from the
kingdom of Syphax into the possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius
Octavius to conduct the fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius
Cornelius the consul, and directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go
to Rome, that the arrangements he had made, with the advice of the
ten deputies, might be ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the
order of the people.

45. Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his
troops and crossed over to Lilybaeum in Sicily; whence, having sent
a great part of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through
Italy, which was rejoicing, not less on account of the peace than the
victory; while not only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to
show him honour, but crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived
at Rome and entered the city in a triumph of unparalleled splendour.
He brought into the treasury one hundred and twenty-three thousand
pounds of silver. He distributed to each of his soldiers four hundred
asses out of the spoils. By the death of Syphax, which took place but
a short time before at Tibur, whither he had been removed from Alba,
a diminution was occasioned in the interest of the pageant rather than
in the glory of him who triumphed. His death, however, was attended
with circumstances which produced a strong sensation, for he was
buried at the public expense. Polybius, an author by no means to
be despised, asserts that this king was led in the triumph. Quintus
Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his triumph with a cap of liberty
on his head, and during the remainder of his life treated him with the
respect due to him as the author of his freedom. I have not been able
to ascertain whether the partiality of the soldiers or the favour of
the people fixed upon him the surname of Africanus, or whether in the
same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla, and Magnus to Pompey,
in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the flattery of his
friends. He was, doubtless, the first general who was distinguished by
a name derived from the nation which he had conquered. Afterwards,
in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in his
victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
honourable surnames to their families.



BOOK XXXI.

    _Renewal of the war with Philip, king of Macedon. Successes
    of Publius Sulpicius, consul, who had the conduct of that war.
    The Abydenians, besieged by Philip, put themselves to death,
    together with their wives and children. Lucius Furius,
    praetor, defeats the Insubrian Gauls who had revolted; and
    Hamilcar, who stirred up the insurrection, is slain, with
    thirty-five thousand men. Further operations of Sulpicius,
    Attalus, and the Rhodians against Philip_.


1. It is delightful even to me to have come to the end of the Punic war,
as if I myself had borne a share of the toil and danger. For though
it by no means becomes a person, who has ventured to promise an entire
history of all the Roman affairs, to be fatigued by any particular
parts of so extensive a work; yet when I reflect that sixty-three
years (for so many there are from the first Punic war to the end of
the second) have occupied as many of my volumes, as the four hundred
and eighty-seven years, from the building of the city to the consulate
of Appius Claudius, who first made war on the Carthaginians, I plainly
perceive that, like those who, tempted by the shallows near the shore,
walk into the sea, the farther I advance, I am carried, as it were,
into a greater depth and abyss; and that my work almost increases on
my hands which seemed to be diminished by the completion of each of
its earlier portions. The peace with Carthage was quickly followed by
a war with Macedonia: a war, not to be compared to the former, indeed,
either in danger, or in the abilities of the commander, or the valour
of the soldiers; but almost more remarkable with regard to the renown
of their former kings, the ancient fame of that nation, and the vast
extent of their empire, in which they had formerly comprehended a
large part of Europe, and the greater part of Asia. The contest with
Philip, which had begun about ten years before, had been intermitted
for the three last years; the Aetolians having been the occasion both
of the war and the peace. The entreaties of the Athenians whom, having
ravaged their lands, Philip had driven into their city, excited the
Romans to a renewal of the war, left, as they were, disengaged by
the Carthaginian peace, and incensed against him as well for his
treacherous negotiation of peace with the Aetolians and the other
allies in that region, as on account of the auxiliaries sent by him
with money into Africa to Hannibal and the Carthaginians.

2. About the same time, ambassadors arrived both from king Attalus,
and from the Rhodians, with information that the Macedonian was
tampering with the states of Asia. To these embassies an answer was
given, that the senate would give attention to the affairs of Asia.
The determination with regard to the making war on him, was left open
to the consuls, who were then in their provinces. In the mean time,
three ambassadors were sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, namely,
Caius Claudius Nero, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Publius
Sempronius Tuditanus, to announce their conquest of Hannibal and the
Carthaginians; to give thanks to the king for his faithful adherence
to his engagements in the time of their distress, when even the
nearest allies of the Romans abandoned them; and to request that if,
compelled by ill treatment, they should undertake a war with Philip,
he would preserve his former disposition towards the Roman people. In
Gaul, about this time, the consul, Publius Aelius, having heard that,
before his arrival, the Boians had made inroads on the territories
of the allies, levied two occasional legions on account of this
disturbance; and adding to them four cohorts from his own army,
ordered Caius Oppius, the praefect, to march with this tumultuary
band through Umbria, (which is called the Sappinian district,) and to
invade the territories of the Boians. He himself led his own troops
thither openly, over the intervening mountains. Oppius, on entering
the same, for some time committed depredations with tolerable success
and safety. But afterwards, having pitched on a place near a fort
called Mutilum, convenient enough for cutting down the corn, (for
the crops were now ripe,) and setting out without having reconnoitred
around, and without establishing armed posts of sufficient strength
to protect those who were unarmed and intent on their work, he was
suddenly surrounded, together with his foragers, by an unexpected
invasion of the Gauls. On this, panic and flight seized even on those
who were furnished with weapons. Seven thousand men, dispersed through
the corn fields, were put to the sword, among whom was the commander
himself, Caius Oppius. The rest were driven by terror into the camp;
from whence, in consequence of a resolution of the soldiers, they set
out on the following night, without any particular commander; and,
leaving behind a great part of their baggage, made their way, through
woods almost impassable, to the consul, who returned to Rome without
having performed any thing in his province worth notice, except
that he ravaged the lands of the Boians, and made a treaty with the
Ingaunian Ligurians.

3. The first time he assembled the senate, it was unanimously ordered
that he should propose no other business before that which related to
Philip and the complaints of the allies. It was immediately taken into
consideration, and a numerous senate decreed, that Publius Aelius,
consul, should send such person as he might think proper, vested with
command, to receive the fleet which Cneius Octavius was bringing home
from Sicily, and pass over to Macedonia. Accordingly Marcus Valerius
Laevinus, propraetor, was sent; and, receiving thirty-eight ships from
Cneius Octavius, near Vibo, he sailed to Macedonia, where, when
Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, had come to him and informed him what
numerous forces and what large fleets the king had prepared, and
how he was arousing the inhabitants to arms, partly by visiting them
himself and partly by ambassadors, not only through all the cities of
the continent, but even in the islands, (Laevinus was convinced) that
the war ought to be undertaken by the Romans with greater vigour;
lest, if they were dilatory, Philip might attempt that which had
been formerly undertaken by Pyrrhus, who possessed not such large
dominions. He therefore desired Aurelius to convey this intelligence
by letter to the consuls and to the senate.

4. Towards the end of this year the senate, taking into consideration
the lands to be given to the veteran soldiers, who, under the conduct
and auspices of Publius Scipio, had finished the war in Africa,
decreed that Marcus Tunius, praetor of the city, should, if he thought
proper, appoint ten commissioners to survey, and distribute among
them, that part of the Samnite and Apulian lands which was the
property of the Roman people. For this purpose were appointed, Publius
Servilius, Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Caius and Marcus Servilius,
both surnamed Geminus, Lucius and Aulus Hostilius Cato, Publius
Villius Tappulus, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, Publius Aelius Paetus, and
Quintus Flaminius. At the same time, Publius Aelius presiding at the
election of consuls, Publius Sulpicius Galba and Caius Aurelius Cotta
were elected. Then were chosen praetors, Quintus Minucius Rufus,
Lucius Furius Purpureo, Quintus Fulvius Gillo, Cneius Sergius Plancus.
The Roman stage-games were exhibited, in a sumptuous and elegant
manner, by the curule aediles, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Lucius
Quintius Flaminius, and repeated for two days; and a vast quantity of
corn, which Scipio had sent from Africa, was distributed by them to
the people, with strict impartiality and general satisfaction, at the
rate of four _asses_ a peck. The plebeian games were thrice repeated
entire by the plebeian aediles, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Quintus
Minucius Rufus; the latter of whom was, from the aedileship, elected
praetor. There was also a feast of Jove on occasion of the games.

5. In the year five hundred and fifty-two from the building of the
city, Publius Sulpicius Galba and Caius Aurelius being consuls, within
a few months after the conclusion of the peace with the Carthaginians,
the war was entered upon against king Philip. This was the first
business introduced by the consul, Publius Sulpicius, on the ides of
March, the day on which, in those times, the consulship commenced; and
the senate decreed, that the consul should perform sacrifices with
the greater victims, to such gods as they should judge proper, with
prayers to this purpose,--that "the business which the senate and
people of Rome had then under deliberation, concerning the state, and
the entering on a new war, might issue prosperously and happily to the
Roman people, the allies, and the Latin confederacy;" and that, after
the sacrifices and prayers, they should consult the senate on the
state of public affairs, and the provinces. At this time, very
opportunely for exciting their minds to war, the letters were brought
from Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, and Marcus Valerius Laevinus,
propraetor. A fresh embassy, likewise, arrived from the Athenians, to
acquaint them that the king was approaching their frontiers, and that
in a short time, not only their lands, but their city also, must fall
into his hands, unless they received aid from the Romans. When the
consuls had made their report, that the sacrifices had been duly
performed, and that the gods had accepted their prayers; that the
aruspices had declared that the entrails showed good omens, and that
enlargement of territory, victory, and triumph were portended; the
letters of Valerius and Aurelius were read, and audience given to the
ambassadors of the Athenians. After which, a decree of the senate was
passed, that thanks should be given to their allies, because, though
long solicited, they had not, even when in fear of a siege, renounced
their fidelity. With regard to sending assistance to them, they
resolved, that an answer should be given as soon as the consuls should
have cast lots for the provinces; and when the consul to whose lot
Macedonia fell should have proposed to the people, that war should be
declared against Philip, king of the Macedonians.

6. The province of Macedonia fell by lot to Publius Sulpicius; and he
proposed to the people to declare, "that they chose and ordered,
that on account of the injuries and hostilities committed against
the allies of the Roman people, war should be proclaimed against king
Philip, and the Macedonians under his government." The province of
Italy fell to the lot of the other consul, Aurelius. The praetors then
cast lots: to Cneius Sergius Plancus fell the city jurisdiction; to
Quintus Fulvius Gillo, Sicily; to Quintus Minucius Rufus, Bruttium;
and to Lucius Furius Purpureo, Gaul. At the first meeting of the
people, the proposal concerning the Macedonian war was rejected by
almost all the tribes. This was done partly spontaneously, as the
people were wearied by the length and severity of the late war, and
disgusted with toils and dangers; and partly by Quintus Baebius,
tribune of the people, who, pursuing the old practice of criminating
the patricians, charged them with multiplying wars one after another,
so that the people could never enjoy peace. This proceeding the
patricians with difficulty brooked, and the tribune was severely
reprehended in the senate; where each severally urged the consul
to call a new assembly, for passing the proposal; to rebuke the
backwardness of the people; and to prove to them how much loss and
disgrace the delay of this war would occasion.

7. The consul, having assembled the people in the field of Mars,
before he dismissed the centuries to the vote, required their
attention, and addressed them thus: "Citizens, you seem to me not to
understand that the question before you is not whether you choose to
have peace or war: for Philip, having already commenced hostilities
with a formidable force, both on land and sea, allows you not that
option. The question is, Whether you must transport your legions to
Macedonia, or admit the enemy into Italy? How important the difference
is, if you never experienced it before, you certainly did in the late
Punic war. For who entertains a doubt, but if, when the Saguntines
were besieged, and implored our protection, we had assisted them with
vigour, as our fathers did the Mamertines, we should have averted
the whole weight of the war upon Spain; which, by our dilatory
proceedings, we suffered to our extreme loss to fall upon Italy? Nor
does it admit a doubt, that we confined this same Philip in Macedonia,
(after he had entered into an engagement with Hannibal by ambassadors
and letters, to cross over into Italy,) by sending Laevinus with a
fleet to make war aggressively upon him. And what we did at that time,
when we had Hannibal to contend with in Italy, do we hesitate to do
now, after Hannibal has been expelled Italy, and the Carthaginians
subdued? Suppose that we allow the king to experience the same
inactivity on our part, while he is taking Athens, as we suffered
Hannibal to experience while he was taking Saguntum: it will not be in
the fifth month, as Hannibal came from Saguntum, but on the fifth day
after he sets sail from Corinth, that he will arrive in Italy. Perhaps
you may not consider Philip as equal to Hannibal; or the Macedonians
to the Carthaginians: certainly, however, you will allow him equal to
Pyrrhus. Equal, do I say? what a vast superiority has the one man over
the other, the one nation over the other! Epirus ever was, and is at
this day, deemed but an inconsiderable accession to the kingdom of
Macedonia. Philip has the entire Peloponnesus under his dominion; even
Argos itself, not more celebrated for its ancient glory than for the
death of Pyrrhus. Now compare our situation. How much more nourishing
was Italy, how much greater its strength, with so many commanders, so
many armies unimpaired, which the Punic war afterwards consumed, when
Pyrrhus attacked and shook it, and advanced victorious almost to the
Roman capital! and not the Tarentines only, and the inhabitants of
that tract of Italy which they call the greater Greece, whom you may
suppose to have been led by the similarity of language and name, but
the Lucanian, the Bruttian, and the Samnite revolted from us. Do you
believe that these would continue quiet and faithful, if Philip should
come over to Italy? They subsequently continued faithful, forsooth,
during the Punic war! Be assured those states will never fail to
revolt from us, except when there is no one to whom they can go over.
If you had been annoyed at passing into Africa, you would this day
have had Hannibal and the Carthaginians to contend with in Italy. Let
Macedonia, rather than Italy, be the seat of war. Let the cities and
lands of the enemy be wasted with fire and sword. We have already
found by experience, that our arms are more powerful and more
successful abroad than at home. Go to the vote with the blessing of
the gods; and what the senate have voted, do you ratify by your order.
This resolution is recommended to you, not only by your consul, but
even by the immortal gods themselves; who, when I offered sacrifice,
and prayed that the issue of this war might be happy and prosperous to
me and to the senate, to you and the allies and Latin confederates, to
our fleets and armies, portended all joyful and prosperous results."

8. After this speech of Sulpicius, being sent to give their votes,
they declared for the war as he had proposed. On which, in pursuance
of a decree of the senate, a supplication for three days was
proclaimed by the consuls; and prayers were offered to the gods at all
the shrines, that the war which the people had ordered against Philip
might turn out well and happily. The consul Sulpicius inquiring of the
heralds, whether they would direct the declaration of the war against
king Philip to be made to himself in person, or whether it would be
sufficient to publish it in the nearest garrison, within the frontiers
of his kingdom, they answered, that they would do rightly whichever
course they should adopt. The consul received authority from the
senate to send any person whom he thought proper, not being a senator,
as ambassador, to denounce war against the king. They then arranged
for the armies of the consuls and praetors. The consuls were ordered
to levy two legions, and to disband the veteran troops. Sulpicius,
to whom the management of this new and highly important war had been
decreed, was allowed permission to carry with him as many volunteers
as he could procure out of the army which Publius Scipio had brought
home from Africa; but he was not empowered to take with him any
veteran soldier against his will. They ordered that the consul should
give to the praetors, Lucius Furius Purpureo and Quintus Minucius
Rufus, five thousand of the allies of the Latin confederacy; with
which forces they should hold, one, the province of Gaul, the other,
Bruttium. Quintus Fulvius Gillo was ordered, in like manner, to select
out of the army which Publius Aelius, late consul, had commanded, such
as had been the shortest time in the service, until he also made up
five thousand of the allies and Latin confederates; that this was to
be the protection of the province of Sicily. To Marcus Valerius Falto,
who, during the former year, had held the province of Campania, as
praetor, the command was continued for a year; in order that he might
go over, as propraetor, to Sardinia, and choose out of the army there
five thousand of the allies of the Latin confederacy, who had served
the fewest campaigns. The consuls were at the same time ordered to
levy two legions for the city, which might be sent wherever occasions
should require; as there were many states in Italy infected with an
attachment to the Carthaginians, which they had formed during the war,
and, in consequence, swelling with resentment. The state was to employ
during that year six Roman legions.

9. In the midst of the preparations for war, ambassadors came from
king Ptolemy, who delivered a message; that "the Athenians had
petitioned the king for aid against Philip; but that although they
were their common allies, yet the king would not, except with the
sanction of the Roman people, send either fleet or army into Greece,
for the purpose of defending or attacking any person. That he would
either remain quiet in his kingdom, if the Romans were at leisure to
protect their allies; or, if more agreeable to them to be at rest,
would himself send such aid as might easily secure Athens against
Philip." Thanks were returned to the king by the senate, and this
answer: that "it was the intention of the Roman people to protect
their allies; that if they should have occasion for any assistance
towards carrying on the war, they would acquaint the king; and that
they were fully sensible, that the resources of his kingdom were the
sure and faithful support of their own state." Presents were then,
by order of the senate, sent to the ambassadors, of five thousand
_asses_[1] to each. While the consuls were engaged in the levy,
and preparing what was necessary for the war, the people, prone to
religious observances, especially at the beginning of new wars, after
supplications had been already performed, and prayers offered up at
all the shrines, lest any thing should be omitted that had ever been
practised, ordered, that the consul who was to have the province of
Macedonia should vow games and a present to Jove. Licinius, the chief
pontiff, occasioned some delay to this public vow, alleging, that "it
ought not to be fulfilled from promiscuous funds. For as the sum to
be named should not be applied to the uses of the war, it should be
immediately set apart, and not to be intermixed with other money; and
that, unless this were done, the vow could not be properly performed."
Although the objection and the author of it were influential, yet the
consul was ordered to consult the college of pontiffs, whether a
vow could be undertaken at an indeterminate expense? The pontiffs
determined, that it could; and that it would be even more in order to
do it in that way. The consul, therefore, repeating after the chief
pontiff, made the vow in the same words in which those made for five
years of safety used to be expressed; only that he engaged to perform
the games, and make the offerings, at such expense as the senate
should direct by their vote, at the time when the vow was performed.
Before this, the great games so often vowed, were constantly rated at
a certain expense: these first at an unspecified amount.

[Footnote 1: 16l. 2s. 1d.]

10. While every one's attention was turned to the Macedonian war, and
at a time when people apprehended nothing less, a sudden account was
brought of an inroad of the Gauls. The Insubrians, Caenomanians,
and Boians, having been joined by the Salyans, Ilvatians, and other
Ligurian states, and putting themselves under the command of Hamilcar,
a Carthaginian, who, having been in the army of Hasdrubal, had
remained in those parts, had fallen upon Placentia; and, after
plundering the city, and, in their rage, burning a great part of it,
leaving scarcely two thousand men among the flames and ruins, passed
the Po, and advanced to plunder Cremona. The news of the calamity
which had fallen on a city in their neighbourhood, having reached
thither, the inhabitants had time to shut their gates, and place
guards on the walls, that they might, at least, be besieged before
they were taken, and send messengers to the Roman praetor. Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who had then the command of the province, had, in
pursuance of the decree of the senate, disbanded the army, excepting
five thousand of the allies and Latin confederacy; and had remained,
with these troops, in the nearest district of the province about
Ariminum. He immediately informed the senate, by letter, in what
confusion the province was. That, "of the two colonies which had
escaped in the dreadful storm of the Punic war, one was taken and
sacked by the present enemy, and the other besieged. Nor was his
army capable of affording sufficient protection to the distressed
colonists, unless he chose to expose five thousand allies to be
slaughtered by forty thousand invaders (for so many there were in
arms); and by such a loss, on his side, to augment the courage of the
enemy, already elated on having destroyed one Roman colony."

11. This letter having been read they decreed, that the consul
Aurelius should order the army which he had appointed to assemble on a
certain day in Etruria, to attend him on the same day at Ariminum; and
should either go in person, if the public business would permit,
to suppress the tumult of the Gauls, or write to the praetor Lucius
Furius, that, as soon as the legions from Etruria came to him, he
should send five thousand of the allies to guard that place in the
mean time, and should himself proceed to relieve the colony from
the siege. They also determined, that ambassadors should be sent
to Carthage, and also into Numidia, to Masinissa: to Carthage, to
announce that "their countryman, Hamilcar, having been left in Gaul,
(either with a part of the army formerly commanded by Hasdrubal, or
with that of Mago--they did not with certainty know which,) was waging
war, contrary to the treaty. That he had excited the armies of the
Gauls and Ligurians to arms against the Roman people. That, if they
wished for peace, they must recall him, and give him up to the Roman
people." They were ordered at the same time to tell them, that "all
the deserters had not been sent back; that a great part of them were
said to appear openly in Carthage, who ought to be sought after, and
surrendered according to the treaty." Such was the message to the
Carthaginians. To Masinissa they were charged with congratulations, on
his "having not only recovered the kingdom of his father, but enlarged
it by the acquisition of the most flourishing parts of Syphax's
territories." They were ordered also to acquaint him, that "a war
had been undertaken against Philip, because he had given aid to the
Carthaginians, while, by the injuries which he offered to the allies
of the Roman people, he had obliged them to send fleets and armies
into Greece, while Italy was blazing with war; and that by thus making
them separate their forces, had been the principal cause of their
being so late passing over into Africa; and to request him to send
to that war supplies of Numidian horsemen." Ample presents were given
them to be carried to the king; vases of gold and silver, a purple
robe, and a tunic adorned with palms of purple, an ivory sceptre,
and a robe of state, with a curule chair. They were also directed to
assure him, that if he deemed any thing further requisite to confirm
and enlarge his kingdom, the Roman people, in return for his good
services, would exert their utmost zeal to effect it. At this time,
too, ambassadors from Vermina, son of Syphax, came to the senate
apologizing for his mistaken conduct, on account of his youth and want
of judgment, and throwing all the blame on the deceitful policy of the
Carthaginians: adding, "that as Masinissa had from an enemy become a
friend to the Romans, so Vermina would also use his best endeavours
that he should not be outdone in offices of friendship to the Roman
people either by Masinissa, or by any other; and requesting that he
might receive from the senate the title of king, friend, and ally."
The answer given to these ambassadors was, that "not only his father
Syphax, from a friend and ally, had on a sudden, without any reason,
become an enemy to the Roman people, but that he himself had made
his first essay of manhood in bearing arms against them. He must,
therefore, sue to the Roman people for peace, before he could expect
to be acknowledged king, ally, and friend; that it was the practice
of that people to bestow the honour of such title, in return for great
services performed by kings towards them; that the Roman ambassadors
would soon be in Africa, to whom the senate would give instructions to
regulate conditions of peace with Vermina, if he would leave the terms
of it entirely to the will of the Roman people; and that, if he wished
that any thing should be added, left out, or altered, he must make a
second application to the senate." The ambassadors sent to Africa
on those affairs, were Caius Terentius Varro, Publius Lucretius, and
Cneius Octavius, each of whom had a quinquereme assigned him.

12. A letter was then read in the senate, from Quintus Minucius, the
praetor, who held the province of Bruttium, that "the money had been
privately carried off by night out of the treasury of Proserpine
at Locri; and that there were no traces to those to whom the charge
applied." The senate was highly incensed at finding that the practice
of sacrilege continued, and that even the fate of Pleminius, an
example so recent and so conspicuous both of the guilt and of the
punishment, did not deter men from it. They ordered the consul, Cneius
Aurelius, to signify to the praetor in Bruttium, that "it was the
pleasure of the senate, that an inquiry be made concerning the robbery
of the treasury, according to the method used by Marcus Pomponius,
praetor, three years before; that the money which could be discovered
should be restored, that what was not found should be made up, and
that if he thought proper, atonements should be made for the purpose
of expiating the violation of the temple, in the manner formerly
prescribed by the pontiffs." At the same time, also, prodigies were
announced as having happened in many places. It was said, that in
Lucania the sky had been seen in a blaze; that at Privernum, in clear
weather, the sun had been of a red colour during a whole day; that at
Lanuvium, in the temple of Juno Sospita, a very loud noise had been
heard in the night. Besides, monstrous births of animals were related
to have occurred in many places: in the country of the Sabines, an
infant was born whose sex was doubtful; and another was found, sixteen
years old, of doubtful sex. At Frusino a lamb was born with a swine's
head; at Sinuessa, a pig with a human head; and in Lucania, in the
land belonging to the state, a foal with five feet. All these were
considered as horrid and abominable, and as if nature were straying to
strange productions. Above all, the people were particularly shocked
at the hermaphrodites, which were ordered to be immediately thrown
into the sea, as had been lately done with a production of the same
monstrous kind, in the consulate of Caius Claudius and Marcus Livius.
Notwithstanding they ordered the decemvirs to inspect the books in
regard of that prodigy; and the decemvirs, from the books, directed
the same religious ceremonies which had been performed on an occasion
of the same kind. They ordered, besides, a hymn to be sung through the
city by thrice nine virgins, and an offering to be made to imperial
Juno. The consul, Caius Aurelius, took care that all these matters
were performed according to the direction of the decemvirs. The hymn
was composed by Publius Licinius Tegula, as a similar one had been, in
the memory of their fathers, by Livius.

13. All religious scruples were fully removed by expiations; at Locri,
too, the affair of the sacrilege had been thoroughly investigated by
Quintus Minucius, and the money replaced in the treasury out of the
effects of the guilty. When the consuls wished to set out to their
provinces, a number of private persons, to whom the third payment
became due that year, of the money which they had lent to the public
in the consulate of Marcus Valerius and Marcus Claudius, applied to
the senate. The consuls, however, declared that the treasury being
scarcely sufficient for the exigencies of a new war, in which a great
fleet and great armies must be employed, there were no means of paying
them at present. The senate could not stand against them when they
complained, that "if the state intended to use, for the purpose of the
Macedonian war, the money which had been lent for the Punic war, as
one war constantly arose after another, what would be the issue,
but that, in return for their generosity, their property would be
confiscated as for some crime?" The demands of the private creditors
being equitable, and the state being in no capacity of discharging
the debt, they decreed a middle course between equity and convenience;
resolving that "whereas many of them mentioned that lands were
frequently exposed to sale, and that they themselves wished to become
purchasers, they should, therefore, have liberty to purchase any
belonging to the public, and which lay within fifty miles of the city.
That the consuls should make a valuation of these, and impose on each
acre one _as_, as an acknowledgment that the land was the property of
the public, in order that, when the people should become able to pay,
if any one chose rather to have the money than the land, he might
restore it." The private creditors accepted the terms with joy; and
that land was called Trientius and Tabulius, because it was given in
lieu of the third part of their money.

14. Publius Sulpicius, after making his vows in the Capitol, set
out robed from the city with his lictors, and arrived at Brundusium;
where, having formed into legions the veteran soldiers of the African
army who were willing to follow him, and chosen his ships out of
the fleet of the late consul, Cornelius, he crossed and arrived in
Macedonia the day after he had set sail from Brundusium. There he was
met by ambassadors from the Athenians, entreating him to relieve them
from the siege. Immediately, Caius Claudius Centho was despatched to
Athens, with twenty ships of war, and a thousand of land forces. For
it was not the king himself who carried on the siege of Athens; he
was at that time besieging Abydus, after having tried his strength
in naval contests against Attalus, and against the Rhodians,
without success in either engagement. But, besides the natural
presumptuousness of his temper, he acquired confidence from a treaty
which he had formed with Antiochus, king of Syria, in which they had
divided the wealth of Egypt between them; on which, on hearing of
the death of Ptolemy, they were both intent. The Athenians now had
entangled themselves in a war with Philip on too trifling an occasion,
and at a time when they retained nothing of their former condition but
their pride. During the celebration of the mysteries, two young men of
Acarnania, who were not initiated, unapprized of its being an offence
against religion, entered the temple of Ceres along with the rest of
the crowd: their discourse readily betrayed them, by their asking some
absurd questions; whereupon, being carried before the presidents of
the temple, although it was evident that they went in through mistake,
yet they were put to death, as if for a heinous crime. The Acarnanian
nation made complaint to Philip of this barbarous and hostile act, and
prevailed on him to grant them some aid of Macedonian soldiers, and
to allow them to make war on the Athenians. At first this army, after
ravaging the lands of Attica with fire and sword, retired to
Acarnania with booty of all kinds. This was the first provocation to
hostilities. The Athenians afterwards, on their side, entered into a
regular war, and proclaimed it by order of the state. For king Attalus
and the Rhodians, having come to Aegina in pursuit of Philip, who
was retiring to Macedonia, the king crossed over to Piraeus, for the
purpose of renewing and confirming his alliance with the Athenians. On
entering the city, the whole inhabitants received him, pouring forth
with their wives and children to meet him; the priests, with their
emblems of religion; and in a manner the gods themselves, called forth
from their abodes.

15. Immediately the people were summoned to an assembly, that the
king might treat with them in person on such subjects as he chose; but
afterwards it was judged more suitable to his dignity to explain his
sentiments in writing, than, being present, to be forced to blush,
either at the recital of his favours to the state, or at the
immoderate applause of the multitude, which would overwhelm his
modesty with acclamations and other signs of approbation. In the
letter which he sent, and which was read to the assembly, was
contained first, a recapitulation of his acts of kindness to the
state, as his ally; then, of the actions which he had performed
against Philip; and lastly, an exhortation to "enter immediately on
the war; while they had himself, the Rhodians, and the Romans also to
assist them;" not omitting to warn them that "if they were backward
now, they would hereafter wish in vain for the opportunity which
they neglected." They then gave audience to the ambassadors of the
Rhodians, to whom they were under a recent obligation for having
retaken, and sent home, four of their ships of war, which had been
lately seized by the Macedonians. War was determined upon against
Philip with universal consent. Unbounded honours were conferred on
king Attalus, and then on the Rhodians. At that time, mention was made
of adding a tribe, which they were to call Attalus, to the ten ancient
tribes; the Rhodian state was presented with a golden crown, as an
acknowledgment of its bravery, and the freedom of the city was given
to the inhabitants, in like manner as the Rhodians had formerly given
it to the Athenians. After this, king Attalus returned to his fleet at
Aegina. From Aegina, the Rhodians sailed to Cia, and thence to
Rhodes, through the islands, all of which they brought to join in
the alliance, except Andros, Paros, and Cythnus, which were held by
Macedonian garrisons. Attalus, having sent messengers to Aetolia, and
expecting ambassadors from thence, was detained at Aegina for some
time in a state of inaction; failing also in his endeavours to excite
the Aetolians to arms, for they were rejoiced at having made peace
with Philip on any terms. Had Attalus and the Rhodians pressed Philip
vigorously, they might have acquired the illustrious title of the
deliverers of Greece, but by suffering him to pass over again into
Hellespontus, and to strengthen himself by seizing the advantageous
posts in Greece, they increased the difficulties of the war, and
yielded up to the Romans the glory of having conducted and finished
it.

16. Philip acted with a spirit more becoming a king; for, though he
had found himself unequal to the forces of Attalus and the Rhodians,
yet he was not dismayed, even by the Roman war with which he was
threatened. Sending Philocles, one of his generals, with two thousand
foot and two hundred horse, to ravage the lands of the Athenians, he
gave the command of his fleet to Heraclides, to make for Maronea,
and marched thither himself by land, with two thousand foot lightly
equipped, and two hundred horse. Maronea he took at the first assault;
and afterwards, with a good deal of trouble, got possession of Aenus,
which was at last betrayed to him by Ganymede, the lieutenant of
Ptolemy. He then seized on other forts, Cypselus, Doriscos, and
Serrheus; and, advancing from thence to the Chersonesus, received
Elaeus and Alopeconnesus, which were surrendered by the inhabitants.
Callipolis also, and Madytos, were given up to him, with several
forts of but little consequence. The people of Abydus shut their gates
against him, not admitting the ambassadors. This siege detained Philip
a long time; and it might have been relieved, had not Attalus and the
Rhodians been dilatory. The king sent only three hundred men for a
garrison, and the Rhodians one quadrireme from their fleet, although
it was lying idle at Tenedos: and afterwards, when the besieged could
with difficulty hold out any longer, Attalus, going over in person,
did nothing more than show them some hope of relief being near, giving
no assistance to these his allies either by land or sea.

17. At first the people of Abydus, by means of engines placed along
the walls, not only prevented the approaches by land, but annoyed the
enemy's ships in their station. Afterwards a part of the wall being
thrown down, and the assailants having penetrated by mines to an inner
wall, which had been hastily raised to oppose their entrance, they
sent ambassadors to the king about the conditions of the surrender
of the city. They demanded permission to send away the Rhodian
quadrireme, with the crew, and the troops of Attalus in the garrison;
and that they themselves might depart from the city, each with
one suit of apparel. When Philip's answer afforded no hopes of
accommodation, unless they surrendered at discretion, this repudiation
of their embassy so exasperated them, at once through indignation and
despair, that, seized with the same kind of fury which had possessed
the Saguntines, they ordered all the matrons to be shut up in the
temple of Diana, and the free-born youths and virgins, and even the
infants with their nurses, in the place of exercise; the gold and
silver to be carried into the forum; their valuable garments to be put
on board the Rhodian ship, and another from Cyzicum, which lay in
the harbour; the priests and victims to be brought, and altars to be
erected in the midst. There they appointed a select number, who, as
soon as they should see the army of their friends cut off in defending
the breach, were instantly to slay their wives and children; to throw
into the sea the gold, silver, and apparel that was on board the
ships, and to set fire to the buildings, public and private: and to
the performance of this deed they were bound by an oath, the priests
repeating before them the verses of execration. Those who were of an
age capable of fighting then swore that they would not leave their
ranks alive unless victorious. These, regardful of the gods, (by whom
they had sworn,) maintained their ground with such obstinacy, that
although the night would soon have put a stop to the fight, yet the
king, terrified by their fury, first desisted from the fight. The
chief inhabitants, to whom the more shocking part of the plan had been
given in charge, seeing that few survived the battle, and that these
were exhausted by fatigue and wounds, sent the priests (having their
heads bound with the fillets of suppliants) at the dawn of the next
day to surrender the city to Philip.

18. Before the surrender, one of the Roman ambassadors, who had been
sent to Alexandria, Marcus Aemilius, being the youngest of them, on
the joint resolution of the three, on hearing of the present siege,
came to Philip, and complained of his having made war on Attalus and
the Rhodians; and particularly that he was then besieging Abydus; and
on Philip's saying that he had been forced into the war by Attalus and
the Rhodians commencing hostilities against him,--"Did the people of
Abydus, too," said he, "commence hostilities against you?" To him, who
was unaccustomed to hear truth, this language seemed too arrogant to
be used to a king, and he answered,--"Your youth, the beauty of your
form, and, above all, the name of Roman, render you too presumptuous.
However, my first desire is, that you would observe the treaties, and
continue in peace with me; but if you begin an attack, I am, on my
part, determined to prove that the kingdom and name of the Macedonians
is not less formidable in war than that of the Romans." Having
dismissed the ambassador in this manner, Philip got possession of the
gold and silver which had been thrown together in a heap, but lost his
booty with respect to prisoners: for such violent frenzy had seized
the multitude, that, on a sudden, taking up a persuasion that those
who had fallen in the battle had been treacherously sacrificed, and
upbraiding one another with perjury, especially the priests, who would
surrender alive to the enemy those persons whom they themselves had
devoted, they all at once ran different ways to put their wives and
children to death; and then they put an end to their own lives
by every possible method. The king, astonished at their madness,
restrained the violence of his soldiers, and said, "that he would
allow the people of Abydus three days to die in;" and, during this
space, the vanquished perpetrated more deeds of cruelty on themselves
than the enraged conquerors would have committed; nor did any one of
them come into his hands alive, except such as chains, or some other
insuperable restraint, forbade to die. Philip, leaving a garrison in
Abydus, returned to his kingdom; and, just when he had been encouraged
by the destruction of the people of Abydus to proceed in the war
against Rome, as Hannibal had been by the destruction of Saguntum, he
was met by couriers, with intelligence that the consul was already in
Epirus, and had drawn his land forces to Apollonia, and his fleet to
Corcyra, into winter quarters.

19. In the mean time, the ambassadors who had been sent into Africa,
on the affair of Hamilcar, the leader of the Gallic army, received
from the Carthaginians this answer: that "it was not in their power
to do more than to inflict on him the punishment of exile, and to
confiscate his effects; that they had delivered up all the deserters
and fugitives, whom, on a diligent inquiry, they had been able to
discover, and would send ambassadors to Rome, to satisfy the senate on
that head." They sent two hundred thousand measures of wheat to
Rome, and the same quantity to the army in Macedonia. From thence
the ambassadors proceeded into Numidia, to the king; delivered
to Masinissa the presents and the message according to their
instructions, and out of two thousand Numidian horsemen, which he
offered, accepted one thousand. Masinissa superintended in person
the embarkation of these, and sent them, with two hundred thousand
measures of wheat, and the same quantity of barley, into Macedonia.
Their third commission was with Vermina. He advanced to meet them as
far as the utmost limits of his kingdom, and left it to themselves to
prescribe such conditions of peace as they thought proper, declaring,
that "he should consider any peace with the Roman people as just and
advantageous." The terms were then settled, and he was ordered to send
ambassadors to Rome to procure a ratification of the treaty.

20. About the same time, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, proconsul, came
home from Spain; and having laid before the senate an account of
his brave and successful conduct, during the course of many years,
demanded that he might be allowed to enter the city in triumph. The
senate gave their opinion that "his services were, indeed, deserving
of a triumph; but that they had no precedent left them by their
ancestors of any person enjoying a triumph, who had not performed the
service either of dictator, consul, or praetor; that he had held
the province of Spain in quality of proconsul, and not of consul, or
praetor." They determined, however, that he might enter the city in
ovation. Against this, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, tribune of the
people, protested, alleging, that such proceedings would be no more in
accordance with the custom of their ancestors, or with any precedent,
than the other; but, overcome at length by the unanimous desire of
the senate, the tribune withdrew his opposition, and Lucius Lentulus
entered the city in ovation. He carried to the treasury forty-four
thousand pounds weight of silver, and two thousand four hundred pounds
weight of gold. To each of the soldiers he distributed, of the spoil,
one hundred and twenty _asses_.[1]

[Footnote 1: 7s. 9d.]

21. The consular army had, by this time, been conducted from Arretium
to Ariminum, and the five thousand Latin confederates had crossed from
Gaul into Etruria. Lucius Furius, therefore, advanced from Ariminum,
by forced marches, against the Gauls, who were then besieging Cremona,
and pitched his camp at the distance of one mile and a half from the
enemy. Furius had an opportunity of performing a splendid exploit,
had he, without halting, led his troops directly to attack their camp;
scattered hither and thither, they were wandering through the country;
and the guard, which they had left, was not sufficiently strong; but
he was apprehensive that his men were too much fatigued by their hasty
march. The Gauls, recalled from the fields by the shouts of their
party, returned to the camp without seizing the booty within their
reach, and, next day, marched out to offer battle. The Roman did not
decline the combat, but had scarcely time to draw up his forces, so
rapidly did the enemy advance to the fight. The right brigade (for he
had the troops of the allies divided into brigades) was placed in the
first line, the two Roman legions in reserve. Marcus Furius was at the
head of the right brigade, Marcus Caecilius of the legions, and Lucius
Valerius Flaccus of the cavalry; these were all lieutenant-generals.
Two other lieutenant-generals, Cneius Laetorius and Publius Titinnius,
the praetor kept near himself, that, with their assistance, he might
observe and take proper measures against all sudden attempts of the
enemy. At first, the Gauls, bending their whole force to one point,
were in hopes of being able to overwhelm, and trample under foot,
the right brigade, which was in the van; but not succeeding, they
endeavoured to turn round the flanks, and to surround their enemy's
line, which, considering the multitude of their forces, and the small
number of the others, seemed easy to be done. On observing this, the
praetor, in order to extend his own line, brought up the two legions
from the reserve, and placed them on the right and left of the brigade
which was engaged in the van; vowing a temple to Jupiter, if he should
rout the enemy on that day. To Lucius Valerius he gave orders, to make
the horsemen of the two legions on one flank, and the cavalry of the
allies on the other, charge the wings of the enemy, and not suffer
them to come round to his rear. At the same time, observing that the
centre of the line of the Gauls was weakened, from having extended the
wings, he directed his men to make an attack there in close order, and
to break through their ranks. The wings were routed by the cavalry,
and, at the same time, the centre by the foot; and suddenly, being
worsted in all parts with great slaughter, the Gauls turned their
backs, and fled to their camp in hurry and confusion. The cavalry
pursued them as they fled; and the legions, coming up in a short time
after, assaulted the camp, from whence there did not escape so many
as six thousand men. There were slain and taken above thirty-five
thousand, with seventy standards, and above two hundred Gallic waggons
laden with much booty. Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general, fell
in that battle, and three distinguished generals of the Gauls. The
prisoners taken at Placentia, to the number of two thousand freemen,
were restored to the colony.

22. This was an important victory, and caused great joy at Rome. On
receipt of the praetor's letter, a supplication for three days was
decreed. In that battle, there fell of the Romans and allies two
thousand, most of them in the right brigade, against which, in the
first onset, the most violent efforts of the enemy had been directed.
Although the praetor had brought the war almost to a conclusion, yet
the consul, Cneius Aurelius, having finished the business which was
necessary to be done at Rome, set out for Gaul, and received the
victorious army from the praetor. The other consul, arriving in
his province towards the end of autumn, passed the winter in the
neighbourhood of Apollonia. Caius Claudius, and the Roman triremes
which had been sent to Athens from the fleet that was laid up at
Corcyra, as was mentioned above, arriving at Piraeeus, greatly revived
the hopes of their allies, who were beginning to give way to despair.
For not only did those inroads by land cease, which used to be
made from Corinth through Megara, but the ships of the pirates from
Chalcis, who had been accustomed to infest both the Athenian sea and
coast, were afraid not only to venture round the promontory of Sunium,
but even to trust themselves out of the straits of the Euripus. In
addition to these came three quadriremes from Rhodes, the Athenians
having three open ships, which they had equipped for the protection of
their lands on the coast. While Claudius thought, that if he were able
with his fleet to give security to the Athenians it was as much as
could be expected at present, a fortunate opportunity was thrown in
his way of accomplishing a much more important enterprise.

23. Some exiles driven from Chalcis, by ill treatment received from
the king's party, brought intelligence, that the place might be taken
without even a contest; for that both the Macedonians, being under
no immediate apprehension from an enemy, were straying idly about the
country; and that the townsmen, depending on the Macedonian garrison,
neglected the guard of the city. Claudius, on this authority, set out
and though he arrived at Sunium early enough to have sailed forward
to the entrance of the strait of Euboea, yet fearing that, on doubling
the promontory, he might be descried by the enemy, he lay by with
the fleet until night. As soon as it grew dark he began to move, and,
favoured by a calm, arrived at Chalcis a little before day; and then,
approaching the city, on a side where it was thinly inhabited, with
a small party of soldiers, and by means of scaling ladders, he got
possession of the nearest tower, and the wall on each side; the guards
being asleep in some places, and in others no one being on the watch.
Thence they advanced to the more populous parts of the town, and
having slain the sentinels, and broke open a gate, they gave an
entrance to the main body of the troops. These immediately spread
themselves throughout the whole city, and increased the tumult by
setting fire to the buildings round the forum, by which means both the
granaries belonging to the king, and his armoury, with a vast store of
machines and engines, were reduced to ashes. Then commenced a general
slaughter of those who fled, as well as of those who made resistance;
and after having either put to the sword or driven out every one who
was of an age fit to bear arms, (Sopater also, the Acarnanian, who
commanded the garrison, being slain,) they first collected all the
spoils in the forum, and then carried it on board the ships. The
prison, too, was forced open by the Rhodians, and those prisoners
whom Philip had shut up there, as in the safest custody, were set at
liberty. They next pulled down and mutilated the statues of the king;
and then, on a signal being given for a retreat, re-embarked and
returned to Piraeeus, from whence they had set out. If there had
been so large a force of Roman soldiers that Chalcis might have been
retained and the protection of Athens not neglected, Chalcis and
Euripus might have been taken from the king;--a most important
advantage at the commencement of the war. For as the pass of
Thermopylae is the principal barrier of Greece by land, so is the
strait of the Euripus by sea.

24. Philip was then at Demetrias, and as soon as the news arrived
there of the calamity which had befallen the city of his allies,
although it was too late to carry assistance to those who were
already ruined, yet anxious to accomplish what was next to assistance,
revenge, he set out instantly with five thousand foot lightly
equipped, and three hundred horse. With a speed almost equal to that
of racing, he hastened to Chalcis, not doubting but that he should be
able to surprise the Romans. Being disappointed in this expectation,
and having arrived, with no other result than a melancholy view of
the smoking ruins of that friendly city, (so few being left, that
they were scarcely sufficient to bury those who had fallen in the
conflict,) with the same rapid haste which he had used in coming, he
crossed the Euripus by the bridge, and led his troops through Boeotia
to Athens, in hopes that a similar issue would correspond to a similar
attempt. And it would have corresponded, had not a scout, (one of
those whom the Greeks call day-runners,[1] because they run through
a journey of great length in one day,) descrying from his post of
observation the king's army in its march, set out at midnight
and arrived before them at Athens. The same sleep, and the same
negligence, prevailed there which had proved the ruin of Chalcis a
few days before. Roused, however, by the alarming intelligence, the
praetor of the Athenians, and Dioxippus, commander of a cohort of
mercenary auxiliaries, called the soldiers together in the forum,
and ordered the trumpets to sound an alarm from the citadel, that all
might be informed of the approach of the enemy. On which the people
ran from all quarters to the gates, and afterwards to the walls. In a
few hours after, and still some time before day, Philip approached the
city, and observing a great number of lights, and hearing the noise of
the men hurrying to and fro, as usual on such an alarm, he halted his
troops, and ordered them to sit down and take some rest; resolving to
use open force, since his stratagem had not succeeded. Accordingly
he advanced on the side of Dipylos. This gate, being situated in the
principal approach of the city, is somewhat larger and wider than
the rest. Both within and without the streets are wide, so that the
townsmen could form their troops from the forum to the gate, while on
the outside a road of about a mile in length, leading to the school
of the academy, afforded open room to the foot and horse of the enemy.
The Athenians, who had formed their troops within the gate, marched
out with Attalus's garrison, and the cohort of Dioxippus, along that
road. Which, when Philip observed, thinking that he had the enemy in
his power, and was now about to sate himself with their long wished
for destruction, (being more incensed against them than any of the
Grecian states,) he exhorted his men to keep their eyes on him during
the fight, and to take notice, that wherever the king was, there
the standards and the army ought to be. He then spurred on his horse
against the enemy, animated not only with resentment, but with a
desire of gaining honour, for he reckoned it a glorious thing to be
beheld fighting from the walls, which were filled with an immense
multitude, for the purpose of witnessing the engagement. Advancing
far before the line, and with a small body of horse, rushing into the
midst of the enemy, he inspired his men with great ardour, and the
Athenians equally with terror. Having wounded many with his own hand,
both in close fight and with missive weapons, and driven them back
within the gate, he still pursued them closely; and having made
greater slaughter among them while embarrassed in the narrow pass,
rash as the attempt was, he yet had an unmolested retreat, because
those who were in the towers withheld their weapons lest they should
hit their friends, who were mingled in confusion among their enemies.
The Athenians, after this, confining their troops within the walls,
Philip sounded a retreat, and pitched his camp at Cynosarges, a temple
of Hercules, and a school surrounded by a grove. But Cynosarges, and
Lycaeum, and whatever was sacred or pleasant in the neighbourhood of
the city, he burned to the ground, and levelled not only the houses,
but sepulchres, nor was any thing either in divine or human possession
preserved amidst the violence of his rage.

[Footnote 1: Hemerodromoi.]

25. Next day, the gates having at first been shut, and afterwards
suddenly thrown open, in consequence of a body of Attalus's troops
from Aegina, and the Romans from Piraeeus, having entered the city,
the king removed his camp to the distance of about three miles. From
thence he proceeded to Eleusis, in hopes of surprising the temple, and
a fort which overlooks and surrounds it; but, finding that the watches
had not been neglected, and that the fleet was coming from Piraeeus to
support them, he laid aside the design, and led his troops, first to
Megara, and then to Corinth; where, on hearing that the council of the
Achaeans was then sitting at Argos, he went and joined the assembly,
unexpected by the Achaeans. They were at the time consulting about a
war against Nabis, tyrant of the Lacedaemonians; who, on the command
being transferred from Philopoemen to Cycliades, a general by no
means his equal, perceiving that the confederates of the Achaeans were
falling off, had renewed the war, was ravaging the territories of his
neighbours, and had become formidable even to the cities. While they
were deliberating what number of men should be raised out of each of
the states to oppose this enemy, Philip promised that he would relieve
them of that care, as far as concerned Nabis and the Lacedaemonians;
and that he would not only secure the lands of their allies from
devastation, but transfer the whole terror of the war on Laconia
itself, by leading his army thither instantly. This discourse being
received with general approbation, he added,--"It is but reasonable,
however, that while I am employed in protecting your property by my
arms, my own should not be deprived of protection; therefore, if you
think proper, provide such a number of troops as will be sufficient to
secure Orcus, Chalcis, and Corinth; that my affairs being in a state
of safety behind me, I may without anxiety make war on Nabis and the
Lacedaemonians." The Achaeans were not ignorant of the tendency of
this so kind promise, and of his proffered assistance against the
Lacedaemonians; that his purpose was to draw the Achaean youth out of
Peloponnesus as hostages, in order to implicate the nation in a war
with the Romans. Cycliades, the Achaean praetor, thinking that it was
irrelevant to develope the matter by argument, said nothing more than
that it was not allowable, according to the laws of the Achaeans, to
take any matters into consideration except those on which they had
been called together: and the decree for levying an army against Nabis
being passed, he dismissed the assembly, after having presided in it
with much resolution and public spirit, and until that day having been
reckoned among the partisans of the king. Philip, disappointed in a
high expectation, after having collected a few voluntary soldiers,
returned to Corinth, and from thence into the territories of Athens.

26. In those days in which Philip was in Achaia, Philocles, one of the
king's generals, marching from Euboea with two thousand Thracians and
Macedonians, in order to lay waste the territories of the Athenians,
crossed the forest of Cithaeron opposite to Eleusis. Despatching
half of his troops, make depredations in all parts of the country, he
himself lay concealed with the remainder in a place convenient for an
ambush; in order that, if any attack should be made from the fort at
Eleusis on his men employed in plundering, he might suddenly fall upon
the enemy unawares, and while they were in disorder. His stratagem
did not escape discovery: wherefore calling back the soldiers, who had
gone different ways in pursuit of booty, and drawing them up in order,
he advanced to assault the fort at Eleusis; but being repulsed from
thence with many wounds, he formed a junction with Philip on his
return from Achaia. The storming of this fort was also attempted by
the king in person: but the Roman ships coming from Piraeeus, and a
body of forces thrown into the fort, compelled him to relinquish the
design. On this the king, dividing his army, sent Philocles with one
part to Athens, and went himself with the other to Piraeeus; that,
while his general, by advancing to the walls and threatening an
assault, might keep the Athenians within the city, he might be able
to make himself master of the harbour, when left with only a slight
garrison. But he found the attack of Piraeeus no less difficult than
that of Eleusis, the same persons for the most part acting in its
defence. He therefore hastily led his troops to Athens, and being
repulsed by a sudden sally of both foot and horse, who engaged him in
the narrow ground, enclosed by the half-ruined wall, which, with two
arms, joins Piraeus to Athens, he desisted from the assault of the
city, and, dividing his forces again with Philocles, set out to
complete the devastation of the country. As, in his former ravages,
he had employed himself in levelling the sepulchres round the city, so
now, not to leave any thing unviolated, he ordered the temples of
the gods, of which they had one consecrated in every village, to be
demolished and burned. The country of Attica afforded ample matter
for the exercise of this barbarous rage: being highly embellished with
works of that kind, having plenty of indigenous marble, and abounding
with artists of exquisite ingenuity. Nor was he satisfied with merely
destroying the temples themselves, and overthrowing the images, but
he ordered even the stones to be broken, lest, remaining whole, they
should give stateliness to the ruins; and then, his rage not being
satiated, but no object remaining on which it could be exercised, he
retired from the country of the enemy into Boeotia, without having
performed in Greece any thing else worth mention.

27. The consul, Sulpicius, who was at that time encamped; on the
river Apsus, between Apollonia and Dyrrachium, having ordered Lucius
Apustius, lieutenant-general, thither, sent him with part of the
forces to lay waste the enemy's territory. Apustius, after ravaging
the frontiers of Macedonia, and having, at the first assault, taken
the forts of Corragos, Gerrunios, and Orgessos, came to Antipatria, a
city situated in a narrow gorge; where, at first inviting the
leading men to a conference, he endeavoured to entice them to commit
themselves to the good faith of the Romans; but finding that from
confidence in the size, fortifications, and situation of their city,
they paid no regard to his discourse, he attacked the place by force
of arms, and took it by assault: then, putting all the young men to
death, and giving up the entire spoil to his soldiers, he razed the
walls and burned the city. This proceeding spread such terror, that
Codrion, a strong and well-fortified town, surrendered to the Romans
without a struggle. Leaving a garrison there, he took Ilion by force,
a name better known than the town, on account of that of the same name
in Asia. As the lieutenant-general was returning to the consul with
a great quantity of spoil, Athenagoras, one of the king's generals,
falling on his extreme rear, in its passage over a river, threw the
hindmost into disorder. On hearing the shouting and tumult, Apustius
rode back in full speed, ordered the troops to face about, and drew
them up in order, arranging the baggage in the centre. The king's
troops could not support the onset of the Roman soldiers, many of them
were slain, and more made prisoners. The lieutenant-general, having
brought back the army without loss to the consul, was despatched
immediately to the fleet.

28. The war commencing thus brilliantly with this successful
expedition, several petty kings and princes, neighbours of the
Macedonians, came to the Roman camp: Pleuratus, son of Scerdilaedus,
and Amynander, king of the Athamanians; and from the Dardanians, Bato,
son of Longarus. This Longarus had, in his own quarrel, supported a
war against Demetrius, father of Philip. To their offers of aid,
the consul answered, that he would make use of the assistance of the
Dardanians, and of Pleuratus, when he should lead his troops into
Macedonia. To Amynander he allotted the part of exciting the Aetolians
to war. To the ambassadors of Attalus, (for they also had come at the
same time,) he gave directions that the king should wait at Aegina,
where he wintered, for the arrival of the Roman fleet; and when joined
by that, he should, as before, harass Philip with attacks by sea. To
the Rhodians, also, an embassy was sent, to engage them to contribute
their share towards carrying on the war. Nor was Philip, who had by
this time arrived in Macedonia, remiss in his preparations for the
campaign. He sent his son Perseus, then very young, with part of his
forces to block up the pass near Pelagonia, appointing persons out of
the number of his friends to direct his inexperienced age. Sciathus
and Peparethus, no inconsiderable cities, he demolished, lest they
should become a prey and prize to the enemy's fleet; despatching at
the same time ambassadors to the Aetolians, lest that restless nation
might change sides on the arrival of the Romans.

29. The assembly of the Aetolians, which they call Panaetolium, was
to meet on a certain day. In order to be present at this, the king's
ambassadors hastened their journey, and Lucius Furius Purpureo also
arrived, deputed by the consul. Ambassadors from the Athenians,
likewise, came to this assembly. The Macedonians were first heard, as
with them the latest treaty had been made; and they declared, that
as no change of circumstances had occurred, they had nothing new to
introduce: for the same reasons which had induced them to make peace
with Philip, after experiencing the unprofitableness of an alliance
with the Romans, should engage them to preserve it now that it was
established. "Do you rather choose," said one of the ambassadors, "to
imitate the inconsistency, or levity, shall I call it, of the Romans,
who ordered this answer to be given to your ambassadors at Rome: 'Why,
Aetolians, do you apply to us, when, without our approbation, you have
made peace with Philip?' Yet these same people now require that you
should, in conjunction with them, wage war against Philip. Formerly,
too, they pretended that they took arms on your account, and in your
defence against Philip: now they do not allow you to continue at peace
with him. To assist Messana, they first embarked for Sicily; and a
second time, that they might redeem Syracuse to freedom when oppressed
by the Carthaginians. Both Messana and Syracuse, and all Sicily, they
hold in their own possession, and have reduced it into a tributary
province under their axes and rods. You imagine, perhaps, that in the
same manner as you hold an assembly at Naupactus, according to your
own laws, under magistrates created by yourselves, at liberty to
choose allies and enemies, and to have peace or war at your own
option, so the assembly of the states of Sicily is summoned, to
Syracuse, or Messana, or Lilybaeum. No, a Roman praetor presides at
the meeting; summoned by his command they assemble; they behold him,
attended by his lictors seated on a lofty throne, issuing his haughty
edicts. His rods are ready for their backs, his axes for their necks,
and every year they are allotted a different master. Neither ought
they nor can they, wonder at this, when they see all the cities of
Italy bending under the same yoke,--Rhegium, Tarentum Capua, not to
mention those in their own neighbourhood, out of the ruins of which
their city of Rome grew into power. Capua indeed subsists, the grave
and monument of the Campanian people, that entire people having been
either cut off or driven into banishment; the mutilated carcass of a
city, without senate, without commons, without magistrates; a sort of
prodigy, the leaving which to be inhabited, showed more cruelty than
if it had been utterly destroyed. If foreigners who are separated from
us to a greater distance by their language, manners, and laws, than by
the distance by sea and land, are allowed to get footing here, it is
madness to hope that any thing will continue in its present state.
Does the sovereignty of Philip seem in any degree incompatible with
your freedom, who, at a time when he was justly incensed against you,
demanded nothing more of you than peace; and at present requires no
more than the observance of the peace which he agreed to? Accustom
foreign legions to these countries, and receive the yoke; too late,
and in vain, will you look for Philip as an ally, when you shall have
the Roman as a master. Trifling causes occasionally unite and disunite
the Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Macedonians, men speaking the same
language. With foreigners, with barbarians, all Greeks have, and ever
will have, eternal war: because they are enemies by nature, which is
always the same, and not from causes which change with the times. My
discourse shall conclude with the same argument with which it began.
Three years since, the same persons, assembled in this same place,
determined on peace with the same Philip, contrary to the inclinations
of the same Romans, who now wish that the peace should be broken,
after it has been adjusted and ratified. In the subject of your
deliberation, fortune has made no change; why you should make any, I
do not see."

30. Next, after the Macedonians, with the consent and at the desire
of the Romans, the Athenians were introduced; who, having suffered
grievously, could, with the greater justice, inveigh against the
cruelty and inhumanity of the king. They represented, in a deplorable
light, the miserable devastation and spoliation of their fields;
adding, that "they did not complain on account of having, from an
enemy, suffered hostile treatment; for there were certain rights of
war, according to which, as it was just to act, so it was just to
endure. Their crops being burned, their houses demolished, their
men and cattle carried off as spoil, were to be considered rather as
misfortunes to the sufferer than as ill-treatment. But of this they
had good reason to complain, that he who called the Romans foreigners
and barbarians, had himself so atrociously violated all rights, both
divine and human, as, in his former inroad, to have waged an impious
war against the infernal gods, in the latter, against those above.
That the sepulchres and monuments of all within their country had been
demolished, the graves laid open, and the bones left unprotected by
the soil. There had been several temples, which, in former times, when
their ancestors dwelt in the country in their separate districts,
had been consecrated in each of their little forts and villages, and
which, even after they were incorporated into one city, they did not
neglect or forsake. That around all these temples Philip had scattered
his destructive flames, and left the images of the gods lying scorched
and mutilated among the prostrated pillars of their fanes. Such as
he had rendered the country of Attica, formerly opulent and adorned,
such, if he were suffered, would he render Aetolia and the whole of
Greece. That the mutilation of their own city, also, would have been
similar, if the Romans had not come to its relief: for he had shown
the same wicked rage against the gods who are the guardians of the
city, and Minerva who presides over the citadel; the same against the
temple of Ceres at Eleusis; the same against Jupiter and Minerva at
Piraeeus. In a word, having been repelled by force of arms not only
from their temples, but even from their walls, he had vented his fury
on those sacred edifices which were protected by religion alone. They
therefore entreated and besought the Aetolians, that, compassionating
the Athenians, and with the immortal gods for their leaders, and,
under them, the Romans, who, next to the gods, possessed the greatest
power they would take part in the war."

31. The Roman ambassador then replied: "The Macedonians first, and
afterwards the Athenians, have obliged me to change entirely the
method of my discourse. For, on the one hand, the Macedonians, by
aggressively introducing charges against the Romans, when I had come
prepared to make complaint of the injuries committed by Philip against
so many cities in alliance with us, have obliged me to think of
defence rather than accusation; and, on the other hand, what have the
Athenians, after relating his inhuman and impious crimes against the
gods both celestial and infernal, left for me, or any one else, which
I can further urge against him. You are to suppose, that the same
complaints are made by the Cianians, Abydenians, Aeneans, Maronites,
Thasians, Parians, Samians, Larissenians, Messenians, on the side of
Achaia; and complaints, still heavier and more grievous, by those whom
he had it more in his power to injure. For as to those proceedings
which he censures in us, if they are not deserving of honour, I will
admit that they cannot be defended at all. He has objected to us,
Rhegium, and Capua, and Syracuse. As to Rhegium, during the war
with Pyrrhus, a legion which, at the earnest request of the Rhegians
themselves, we had sent thither as a garrison, wickedly possessed
themselves of the city which they had been sent to defend. Did we then
approve of that deed? or did we exert the force of our arms against
that guilty legion, until we reduced them under our power; and then,
after making them give satisfaction to the allies, by their stripes
and the loss of their heads, restore to the Rhegians their city, their
lands, and all their effects, together with their liberty and laws? To
the Syracusans, when oppressed, and that by foreign tyrants, which
was a still greater indignity, we lent assistance; and after enduring
great fatigues in carrying on the siege of so strong a city, both
by land and sea, for almost three years, (although the Syracusans
themselves chose to continue in slavery to the tyrants rather than be
taken to us,) yet, becoming masters of the place, and by exertion
of the same force setting it at liberty, we restored it to the
inhabitants. At the same time, we do not deny that Sicily is our
province, and that the states which sided with the Carthaginians, and,
in conjunction with them, waged war against us, pay us tribute and
taxes; on the contrary, we wish that you and all nations should know,
that the condition of each is such as it has deserved at our hands:
and ought we to repent of the punishment inflicted on the Campanians,
of which even they themselves cannot complain? These men, after we had
on their account carried on war against the Samnites for near seventy
years, with great loss on our side; had united them to ourselves,
first by treaty, and then by intermarriages, and the relationships
arising thence; and lastly, by the right of citizenship; yet, in the
time of our adversity, were the first of all the states of Italy which
revolted to Hannibal, after basely putting our garrison to death, and
afterwards, through resentment at being besieged by us, sent Hannibal
to attack Rome. If neither their city nor one man of them had been
left remaining, who could take offence, or consider them as treated
with more severity than they had deserved? From consciousness of
guilt, greater numbers of them perished by their own hands, than by
the punishments inflicted by us. And while from the rest we took away
the town and the lands, still we left them a place to dwell in, we
suffered the city which partook not of the guilt to stand uninjured;
so that he who should see it this day would find no trace of its
having been besieged or taken. But why do I speak of Capua, when even
to vanquished Carthage we granted peace and liberty? The greatest
danger is, that, by our too great readiness to pardon the conquered,
we may encourage others to try the fortune of war against us. Let
so much suffice in our defence, and against Philip, whose domestic
crimes, whose parricides and murders of his relations and friends, and
whose lust, more disgraceful to human nature, if possible, than his
cruelty, you, as being nearer to Macedonia, are better acquainted
with. As to what concerns yourselves, Aetolians, we entered into a
war with Philip on your account: you made peace with him without
consulting us. Perhaps you will say, that while we were occupied
in the Punic war, you were constrained by fear to accept terms of
pacification, from him who at that time possessed superior power;
and that on our side, pressed by more urgent affairs we suspended
our operations in a war which you had laid aside. At present, as
we, having, by the favour of the gods brought the Punic war to a
conclusion, have fallen on Macedonia with the whole weight of our
power, so you have an opportunity offered you of regaining a place in
our friendship and alliance, unless you choose to perish with Philip,
rather than to conquer with the Romans."

32. When these things had been said by the ambassador the minds of
all leaning towards the Romans, Damocritus, praetor of the Aetolians,
(who, it was reported, had received money from the king,) assenting in
no degree to one party or the other, said,--that "in consultations of
great and critical importance, nothing was so injurious as haste. That
repentance, indeed, generally followed, and that quickly but yet too
late and unavailing; because designs carried on with precipitation
could not be recalled, nor matters brought back to their original
state. The time, however, for determining the point under
consideration, which, for his part, he thought should not be too
early, might yet immediately be fixed in this manner. As it had been
provided by the laws, that no determination should be made concerning
peace or war, except in the Panaetolic or Pylaic councils; let them
immediately pass a decree, that the praetor, when he chooses to treat
respecting war and peace, may have full authority to summon a council,
and that whatever shall be then debated and decreed, shall be, to all
intents and purposes, legal and valid, as if it had been transacted
in the Panaetolic or Pylaic assembly." And thus dismissing the
ambassadors, with the matter undetermined, he said, that therein
he had acted most prudently for the interest of the state; for the
Aetolians would have it in their power to join in alliance with
whichever of the parties should be more successful in the war. Such
were the proceedings in the council of the Aetolians.

33. Meanwhile Philip was making vigorous preparations for carrying
on the war both by sea and land. His naval forces he drew together at
Demetrias in Thessaly; supposing that Attalus, and the Roman fleet,
would move from Aegina in the beginning of the spring. He gave the
command of the fleet and of the sea-coast to Heraclides, to whom he
had formerly intrusted it. The equipment of the land forces he took
care of in person; considering that he had deprived the Romans of two
powerful auxiliaries, the Aetolians on the one side and the Dardanians
on the other, by making his son Perseus block up the pass at
Pelagonia. The consul was employed, not in preparations, but in
the operations of war. He led his army through the country of the
Dassaretians, conveying the corn untouched which he had brought from
his winter quarters, for the fields afforded supplies sufficient for
the consumption of the troops. The towns and villages surrendered to
him, some through inclination, others through fear; some were taken
by assault, others were found deserted, the barbarians flying to the
neighbouring mountains. He fixed a standing camp at Lycus near the
river Bevus, and from thence sent to bring in corn from the magazines
of the Dassaretians. Philip saw the whole country filled with
consternation, and not knowing the designs of the consul, he sent a
party of horse to discover whither he was directing his course. The
same state of uncertainty possessed the consul; he knew that the
king had moved from his winter quarters, but in what direction he had
proceeded he knew not: he also had sent horsemen to gain intelligence.
These two parties, having set out from opposite quarters, after
wandering a long time among the Dassaretians, through unknown roads,
fell at length into the same track. Neither doubted, as soon as the
noise of men and horses was heard at a distance, that the enemy was
approaching, therefore, before they came within sight of each other,
they got their arms in readiness, nor, when they saw their foe, was
there any delay in engaging. As they happened to be nearly equal in
number and valour, being picked men on both sides, they fought during
several hours with vigour, until fatigue, both of men and horses, put
an end to the fight, without deciding the victory. Of the Macedonians
there fell forty horsemen; of the Romans thirty-five. Still, however,
neither did the one party carry back to the king, nor the other to the
consul, any certain information in what quarter the camp of his enemy
lay. But this was soon made known to them by deserters, whom their
recklessness of disposition supplies in all wars in sufficient number
to discover the affairs of the contending parties.

34. Philip, judging that he should make some progress towards
conciliating the affections of his men, and induce them to face danger
more readily on his account, if he bestowed some pains on the burial
of the horsemen who fell in that expedition, ordered them to be
conveyed into the camp, in order that all might be spectators of the
honours paid them at their funeral. Nothing is so uncertain, or so
difficult to form a judgment of, as the minds of the multitude. That
which seems calculated to increase their alacrity, in exertions of
every sort, often creates in them fear and inactivity. Accordingly,
those who, being always accustomed to fight with Greeks and Illyrians,
had only seen wounds made with javelins and arrows, seldom even by
lances, came to behold bodies dismembered by the Spanish sword, some
with their arms lopped off, with the shoulder or the neck entirely cut
through, heads severed from the trunk, and the bowels laid open, with
other frightful exhibitions of wounds: they therefore perceived, with
horror, against what weapons and what men they were to fight. Even the
king himself was seized with apprehensions, having never yet engaged
the Romans in a regular battle. Wherefore, recalling his son, and the
guard posted at the pass of Pelagonia, in order to strengthen his
army by the addition of those troops, he thereby opened a passage into
Macedonia for Pleuratus and the Dardanians. Then, taking deserters
for guides, he marched towards the enemy with twenty thousand foot
and four thousand horse, and at the distance of somewhat more than a
thousand paces from the Roman camp, and near Ithacus, he fortified a
hill with a trench and rampart. From this place, taking a view of the
Roman station in the valley beneath, he is said to have been struck
with admiration, both at the general appearance of the camp, and the
regular disposition of each particular part; then with the disposition
of the tents, and the intervals of the passages; and to have declared,
that, certainly, that could not be regarded by any as the camp of
barbarians. For two days, the consul and the king, each waiting
for the other's making some attempt, kept their troops within the
ramparts. On the third day, the Roman led out all his forces, and
offered battle.

35. But the king, not daring to risk so hastily a general engagement,
sent four hundred Trallians, who are a tribe of the Illyrians, as we
have said in another place, and three hundred Cretans; adding to
this body of infantry an equal number of horse, under the command of
Athenagoras, one of his nobles honoured with the purple, to make an
attack on the enemy's cavalry. When these troops arrived within a
little more than five hundred paces, the Romans sent out the light
infantry, and two cohorts of horse, that both cavalry and infantry
might be equal in number to the Macedonians. The king's troops
expected that the method of fighting would be such as they had been
accustomed to; that the horsemen, pursuing and retreating alternately,
would at one time use their weapons, at another time turn their backs;
that the agility of the Illyrians would be serviceable for excursions
and sudden attacks, and that the Cretans might discharge their arrows
against the enemy, as they advanced eagerly to the charge. But the
onset of the Romans, which was not more vigorous than persevering,
entirely disconcerted this method of fighting: for the light infantry,
as if they were fighting with their whole line of battle, after
discharging their javelins, carried on a close fight with their
swords; and the horsemen, when they had once made a charge, stopping
their horses, fought, some on horseback, while others dismounted and
intermixed themselves with the foot. By this means neither were the
king's cavalry, who were unaccustomed to a steady fight, a match
for the others; nor were the infantry, who were only skirmishing and
irregular troops, and were besides but half covered with the kind
of harness which they used, at all equal to the Roman infantry, who
carried a sword and buckler, and were furnished with proper armour,
both to defend themselves and to annoy the enemy: nor did they sustain
the combat, but fled to their camp, trusting entirely to their speed
for safety.

36. After an interval of one day, the king, resolving to make an
attack with all his forces of cavalry and light-armed infantry, had,
during the night, placed in ambush, in a convenient place between the
two camps, a body of targeteers, whom they call Peltastae, and given
orders to Athenagoras and the cavalry, if they found they had the
advantage in the open fight, to pursue their success; if otherwise,
that they should retreat leisurely, and by that means draw on the
enemy to the place where the ambush lay. The cavalry accordingly
did retreat; but the officers of the body of targeteers, by bringing
forward their men before the time, and not waiting for the signal, as
they ought, lost an opportunity of performing considerable service.
The Romans, having gained the victory in open fight, and also escaped
the danger of the ambuscade, retired to their camp. Next day the
consul marched out with all his forces, and offered battle, placing
his elephants in the front of the foremost battalions. Of this
resource the Romans then for the first time availed themselves; having
a number of them which had been taken in the Punic war. Finding that
the enemy kept himself quiet behind his intrenchments, he
advanced close up to them, upbraiding him with cowardice; and as,
notwithstanding, no opportunity of an engagement was afforded, the
consul, considering how dangerous foraging must be while the camps
lay so near each other, where the cavalry were ready at any moment to
attack the soldiers, when dispersed through the country, removed his
camp to a place called Ortholophus, distant about eight miles, where
by reason of the intervening distance he could forage with more
safety. While the Romans were collecting corn in the adjacent fields,
the king kept his men within the trenches, in order to increase both
the negligence and confidence of the enemy. But, when he saw them
scattered, he set out with all his cavalry, and the auxiliary Cretans,
and marching with such speed that the swiftest footmen could, by
running, but just keep up with the horse, he planted his standards
between the camp of the Romans and their foragers. Then, dividing
the forces, he sent one part of them in quest of the marauders, with
orders to leave not one alive; with the other, he himself halted, and
placed guards on the roads through which the enemy seemed likely to
fly back to their camp. And now carnage and flight prevailed in all
directions, and no intelligence of the misfortune had yet reached the
Roman camp, because those who fled towards the camp fell in with the
guards, which the king had stationed to intercept them, and greater
numbers were slain by those who were placed in the roads, than by
those who had been sent out to attack them. At length, a few effected
their escape, through the midst of the enemy's posts, but were so
filled with terror, that they excited a general consternation in the
camp, rather than brought intelligible information.

37. The consul, ordering the cavalry to carry aid to those who were in
danger, in the best manner they could, drew out the legions from
the camp, and led them drawn up in a square towards the enemy. The
cavalry, taking different ways through the fields, missed the road,
being deceived by the various shouts raised in several quarters. Some
of them met with the enemy, and battles began in many places at once.
The hottest part of the action was at the station where the king
commanded; for the guard there was, in numbers both of horse and foot,
almost a complete army; and, as they were posted on the middle road,
the greatest number of the Romans fell in with them. The Macedonians
had also the advantage in this, that the king himself was present to
encourage them; and the Cretan auxiliaries, fighting in good
order, and in a state of preparation, against troops disordered
and irregular, wounded many at a distance, where no such danger was
apprehended. If they had acted with prudence in the pursuit, they
would have secured an advantage of great importance, not only in
regard to the glory of the present contest, but to the general
interest of the war; but, greedy of slaughter, and following with too
much eagerness, they fell in with the advanced cohorts of the Romans
under the military tribunes. The horsemen who were flying, as soon as
they saw the ensigns of their friends, faced about against the enemy,
now in disorder; so that in a moment's time the fortune of the battle
was changed, those now turning their backs who had lately been the
pursuers. Many were slain in close fight, many in the pursuit; nor was
it by the sword alone that they perished; several, being driven into
morasses, were, together with their horses, swallowed up in the
deep mud. The king himself was in danger; for his horse falling, in
consequence of a wound, threw him headlong to the ground, and he very
narrowly escaped being overpowered while prostrate. He owed his safety
to a trooper, who instantly leaped down and mounted the affrighted
king on his horse; himself, as he could not on foot keep up with the
flying horsemen, was slain by the enemy, who had collected about the
place where Philip fell. The king, in his desperate flight, rode about
among the morasses, some of which were easily passed, and others not;
at length, when most men despaired of his ever escaping in safety,
he arrived in safety at his camp. Two hundred Macedonian horsemen
perished in that action; about one hundred were taken: eighty horses,
richly caparisoned, were led off the field; at the same time the
spoils of arms were also carried off.

38. There were some who found fault with the king, as guilty of
rashness on that day; and with the consul, for want of energy. For
Philip, they say, on his part, ought to have avoided coming to
action, knowing that in a few days the enemy, having exhausted all the
adjacent country, must be reduced to the extremity of want; and that
the consul, after having routed the Macedonian cavalry and light
infantry, and nearly taken the king himself, ought to have led on his
troops directly to the enemy's camp, where, dismayed as they were,
they would have made no stand, and that he might have finished the war
in a moment's time. This, like most other matters, was easier to be
talked about than to be done. For, if the king had brought the whole
of his infantry into the engagement, then, indeed, during the tumult,
and while, vanquished and struck with dismay, they fled from the field
into their intrenchments, (and even continued their flight from thence
on seeing the victorious enemy mounting the ramparts,) the king might
have been deprived of his camp. But as some forces of infantry had
remained in the camp, fresh and free from fatigue, with outposts
before the gates, and guard properly disposed, what would he have done
but imitated the rashness of which the king had just now been guilty,
by pursuing the routed horse? On the other side, the king's first
plan of an attack on the foragers, while dispersed through the fields,
would not have been a subject of censure, could he have satisfied
himself with a moderate degree of success: and it is the less
surprising that he should have made a trial of fortune, as there was
a report, that Pleuratus and the Dardanians had set out from home with
very numerous forces, and had already passed into Macedonia; so that
if he should be surrounded on all sides by these forces, there was
reason to think that the Roman might put an end to the war without
stirring from his seat. Philip, however, considered, that after his
cavalry had been defeated in two engagements, he could with much less
safety continue in the same post; accordingly, wishing to remove from
thence, and, at the same time, to keep the enemy in ignorance of his
design, he sent a herald to the consul a little before sun-set, to
demand a truce for the purpose of burying the horsemen; and thus
imposing on him, he began his march in silence, about the second
watch, leaving a number of fires in all parts of his camp.

39. The consul was now taking refreshment, when he was told that the
herald had arrived, and on what business; he gave him no other answer,
than that he should be admitted to an audience early the next morning:
by which means Philip gained what he wanted--the length of that night,
and part of the following day, during which he might get the start on
his march. He directed his route towards the mountains, a road which
he knew the Romans with their heavy baggage would not attempt. The
consul, having, at the first light, dismissed the herald with a grant
of a truce, in a short time after discovered that the enemy had
gone off; but not knowing what course to take in pursuit of them,
he remained in the same camp for several days, which he employed in
collecting forage. He then marched to Stubera, and brought thither,
from Pelagonia, the corn that was in the fields. From thence he
advanced to Pluvina, not having yet discovered to what quarter the
Macedonian had bent his course. Philip, having at first fixed his camp
at Bryanium, marched thence through cross-roads, and gave a sudden
alarm to the enemy. The Romans, on this, removed from Pluvina, and
pitched their camp near the river Osphagus. The king also sat down
at a small distance, forming his intrenchment on the bank of a river
which the inhabitants call Erigonus. Having there received certain
information that the Romans intended to proceed to Eordaea, he marched
away before them, in order to take possession of the defiles, and
prevent the enemy from making their way, where the roads are confined
in narrow straits. There, with great haste, he fortified some places
with a rampart, others with a trench, others with stones heaped up
instead of walls, others with trees laid across, according as the
situation required, or as materials lay convenient; and thus a road,
in its own nature difficult, he rendered, as he imagined, impregnable
by the works which he drew across every pass. The adjoining ground,
being mostly covered with woods, was exceedingly incommodious to the
phalanx of the Macedonians, which is of no manner of use, except when
they extend their very long spears before their shields, forming as
it were a palisade; to perform which, they require an open plain. The
Thracians, too, were embarrassed by their lances, which also are of
a great length, and were entangled among the branches that stood
in their way on every side. The body of Cretans alone was not
unserviceable; and yet even these, though, in case of an attack made
on them, they could to good purpose discharge their arrows against
the horses or riders, where they were open to a wound, yet against the
Roman shields they could do nothing, because they had neither strength
sufficient to pierce through them, nor was there any part exposed at
which they could aim. Perceiving, therefore, that kind of weapon to
be useless, they annoyed the enemy with stones, which lay in plenty in
all parts of the valley: the strokes made by these on their shields,
with greater noise than injury, for a short time retarded the advance
of the Romans; but quickly disregarding these missiles also, some,
closing their shields in form of a tortoise, forced their way through
the enemy in front; others having, by a short circuit, gained the
summit of the hill, dislodged the dismayed Macedonians from their
guards and posts, and even slew the greater part of them, their
retreat being embarrassed by the difficulties of the ground.

40. Thus, with less opposition than they had expected to meet, the
defiles were passed, and they came to Eordaea; then, having laid waste
the whole country, the consul withdrew into Elimea. From thence
he made an irruption into Orestis, and attacked the city Celetrum,
situated in a peninsula: a lake surrounds the walls; and there is but
one entrance from the main land along a narrow isthmus. Relying on
their situation, the townsmen at first shut the gates, and refused
to submit; but afterwards, when they saw the troops in motion, and
advancing in the tortoise method, and the isthmus covered by the enemy
marching in, they surrendered in terror rather than hazard a struggle.
From Celetrum he advanced into the country of the Dassaretians, took
the city Pelium by storm, carried off the slaves with the rest of the
spoil, and discharging the freemen without ransom, restored the
city to them, after placing a strong garrison in it, for it was very
conveniently situated for making inroads into Macedonia. Having thus
traversed the enemy's country, the consul led back his forces into
those parts which were already reduced to obedience near Apollonia,
from whence the campaign had commenced. Philip's attention had been
drawn to other quarters by the Aetolians, Athamanians, and Dardanians:
so many were the wars that started up on different sides of him.
Against the Dardanians, who were now retiring out of Macedonia, he
sent Athenagoras with the light infantry and the greater part of the
cavalry, and ordered him to hang on their rear as they retreated; and,
by cutting off their hindmost troops, make them more cautious for the
future of leading out their armies from home. As to the Aetolians,
Damocritus, their praetor, the same who at Naupactum had persuaded
them to defer passing a decree concerning the war, had in the next
meeting roused them to arms, after the report of the battle between
the cavalry at Ortholophus; the irruption of the Dardanians and of
Pleuratus, with the Illyrians, into Macedonia; of the arrival of the
Roman fleet, too, at Oreus; and that Macedonia, besides being beset on
all sides by so many nations, was in danger of being invested by sea
also.

41. These reasons had brought back Damocritus and the Aetolians to the
interest of the Romans. Marching out, therefore, in conjunction with
Amynander, king of the Athamanians, they laid siege to Cercinium. The
inhabitants here had shut their gates, whether of their own choice or
by compulsion is unknown, as they had a garrison of the king's troops.
However, in a few days Cercinium was taken and burned; and after great
slaughter had been made, those who survived, both freemen and slaves,
were carried off amongst other spoil. This caused such terror, as made
all those who dwelt round the lake Baebius abandon their cities and
fly to the mountains: and the Aetolians, in the absence of booty,
turned away from thence, and proceeded into Perrhaebia. There they
took Cyretiae by storm and sacked it unmercifully. The inhabitants of
Mallaea, making a voluntary submission, were received into alliance.
From Perrhaebia, Amynander advised to march to Gomphi, because that
city lies close to Athamania, and there was reason to think that it
might be reduced without any great difficulty. But the Aetolians,
for the sake of plunder, directed their march to the rich plains of
Thessaly. Amynander following, though he did not approve either of
their careless method of carrying on their depredations, or of their
pitching their camp in any place which chance presented, without
choice, and without taking any care to fortify it. Therefore, lest
their rashness and negligence might be the cause of some misfortune
to himself and his troops, when he saw them forming their camp in low
grounds, under the city Phecadus, he took possession, with his own
troops, of an eminence about five hundred paces distant, which could
be rendered secure by a slight fortification. The Aetolians seemed to
have forgotten that they were in an enemy's country, excepting that
they continued to plunder, some straggling about half-armed, others
spending whole days and nights alike in drinking and sleeping in the
camp, neglecting even to fix guards, when Philip unexpectedly came
upon them. His approach being announced by those who had fled out of
the fields in a fright, Damocritus and the rest of the officers were
thrown into great confusion. It happened to be mid-day, and when most
of the men after a hearty meal lay fast asleep. Their officers
roused them, however, as fast as possible; ordered them to take arms;
despatched some to recall those who were straggling through the fields
in search of plunder; and so violent was their hurry, that many of
the horsemen went out without their swords, and but few of them put
on their corslets. After marching out in this precipitate manner, (the
whole horse and foot scarcely making up six hundred,) they met the
king's cavalry, superior in number, in spirit, and in arms. They were,
therefore, routed at the first charge; and having scarcely attempted
resistance, returned to the camp in shameful flight. Several were
slain; and some taken, having been cut off from the main body of the
fugitives.

42. Philip, when his troops had advanced almost to the rampart,
ordered a retreat to be sounded, because both men and horses were
fatigued, not so much by the action, as at once by the length of their
march, and the extraordinary celerity with which they had made it.
He therefore despatched the horsemen by troops, and the companies of
light infantry in turn, to procure water and take refreshment. The
rest he kept on guard, under arms, waiting for the main body of the
infantry, which had marched with less expedition, on account of the
weight of their armour. As soon as these arrived, they also were
ordered to fix their standards, and, laying down their arms before
them, to take food in haste; sending two, or at most three, out of
each company, to provide water. In the mean time the cavalry and light
infantry stood in order, and ready, in case the enemy should make
any movement. The Aetolians, as if resolved to defend their
fortifications, (the multitude which had been scattered about the
fields having, by this time, returned to the camp,) posted bodies
of armed men at the gates, and on the rampart, and from this safe
situation looked with a degree of confidence on the enemy, as long as
they continued quiet. But, as soon as the troops of the Macedonians
began to move, and to advance to the rampart, in order of battle, and
ready for an assault, they all quickly abandoned their posts, and
fled through the opposite part of the camp, to the eminence where the
Athamanians were stationed. During their flight in this confusion,
many of the Aetolians were slain, and many made prisoners. Philip
doubted not that, had there been daylight enough remaining, he should
have been able to make himself master of the camp of the Athamanians
also; but the day having been spent in the fight, and in plundering
the camp afterwards, he sat down under the eminence, in the adjacent
plain, determined to attack the enemy at the first dawn of the
following day. But the Aetolians, under the same apprehensions which
had made them desert their camp, dispersed, and fled during the
following night. Amynander was of the greatest service; for, by his
directions, the Athamanians, who were acquainted with the roads,
conducted them into Aetolia, whilst the Macedonians pursued them
over the highest mountains, through unknown paths. In this disorderly
flight, a few, missing their way, fell into the hands of the
Macedonian horsemen, whom Philip, at the earliest dawn, on seeing the
eminence abandoned, had sent to harass the marching body of the enemy.

43. About the same time also Athenagoras, one of the king's generals,
overtaking the Dardanians in their retreat homeward, at first threw
their rear into disorder; but these unexpectedly facing about, and
forming their line, the fight became like a regular engagement. When
the Dardanians began again to advance, the Macedonian cavalry and
light infantry harassed those who had no troops of that kind to aid
them, and were, besides, burdened with unwieldy arms. The ground, too,
favoured the assailants: very few were slain, but many wounded; none
were taken, because they rarely quit their ranks, but both fight and
retreat in a close body. Thus Philip, having checked the proceedings
of those two nations by these well-timed expeditions, gained
reparation for the damages sustained from the operations of the
Romans; the enterprise being as spirited as the issue was successful.
An occurrence which accidentally happened to him lessened the number
of his enemies on the side of Aetolia. Scopas, a man of considerable
influence in his own country, having been sent from Alexandria by king
Ptolemy, with a great sum of gold, hired and carried away to Egypt six
thousand foot and four hundred horse; nor would he have suffered one
of the young Aetolians to remain at home, had not Damocritus, (it is
not easy to say, whether out of zeal for the good of the nation, or
out of opposition to Scopas, for not having secured his interest by
presents,) by sometimes reminding them of the war which threatened
them, at other times, of the solitary condition in which they would
be, detained some of them at home by severe reproaches. Such were the
actions of the Romans, and of Philip, during that summer.

44. In the beginning of the same summer, the fleet under Lucius
Apustius, lieutenant-general, setting sail from Corcyra, and passing
by Malea, formed a junction with king Attalus, off Scyllaeum, which
lies in the district of Hermione. The Athenian state, which had for
a long time, through fear, restrained their animosity against Philip
within some bounds, in the expectation of approaching aid afforded
them, gave full scope to it all. There are never wanting in that city
orators, who are ready on every occasion to inflame the people; a
kind of men, who, in all free states, and more particularly in that
of Athens, where eloquence flourishes in the highest degree, are
maintained by the favour of the multitude. These immediately proposed
a decree, and the commons passed it, that "all the statues and images
of Philip, with their inscriptions, and likewise those of all his
ancestors, male and female, should be taken down and destroyed; that
the festal days, solemnities, and priests, which had been instituted
in honour of him or of his predecessors, should all be abolished;
and that even the ground where any such statue had been set up,
and inscribed to his honour, should be held abominable." And it was
resolved, that, "for the future, nothing which ought to be erected or
dedicated in a place of purity should be there erected; and that the
public priests, as often as they should pray for the people of Athens,
for their allies, armies, and fleets, so often should they utter
curses and execrations against Philip, his offspring, his kingdom,
his forces by sea and land, and the whole race and name of the
Macedonians." It was added to the decree, that, "if any person in
future should make any proposal tending to throw disgrace and ignominy
on Philip, the people of Athens would ratify it in its fullest extent:
if, on the contrary, any one should, by word or deed, endeavour to
lessen his ignominy, or to do him honour, that whoever slew him who
should have so said or done, should be justified in so doing." Lastly,
a clause was annexed, that "all the decrees, formerly passed against
the Pisistratidae, should be in full force against Philip." Thus the
Athenians waged war against Philip with writings and with words, in
which alone their power consisted.

45. Attalus and the Romans, having, from Hermione, proceeded first to
Piraeus, and staid there a few days, after being loaded with decrees
of the Athenians, (in which the honours paid to their allies were as
extravagant as the expressions of their resentment against their enemy
had been,) sailed from Piraeus to Andros, and, coming to an anchor in
the harbour called Gaureleos, sent persons to sound the inclinations
of the townsmen, whether they chose voluntarily to surrender their
city, rather than run the hazard of an assault. On their answering,
that they were not at their own disposal, but that the citadel
was occupied by the king's troops, Attalus and the Roman
lieutenant-general, landing their forces, with every thing requisite
for attacking towns, made their approaches to the city on different
sides. The Roman standards and arms, which they had never seen before,
together with the spirit of the soldiers, so briskly approaching
the walls, were particularly terrifying to the Greeks. A retreat was
immediately made into the citadel, and the enemy took possession of
the city. After holding out for two days in the citadel, relying more
on the strength of the place than on their arms, on the third both
they and the garrison surrendered the city and citadel, on condition
of their being transported to Delium in Boeotia, and being each of
them allowed a single suit of apparel. The island was yielded up by
the Romans to king Attalus; the spoil, and the ornaments of the city,
they themselves carried off. Attalus, desirous that the island, of
which he had got possession, might not be quite deserted, persuaded
almost all the Macedonians, and several of the Andrians, to
remain there: and, in some time after, those who, according to the
capitulation, had been transported to Delium, were induced to return
from thence by the promises made them by the king, in which they were
disposed the more readily to confide, by the ardent affection which
they felt for their native country. From Andros they passed over to
Cythnus; there they spent several days, to no purpose, in assaulting
the city; when, at length, finding it scarcely worth the trouble, they
departed. At Prasiae, a place on the main land of Attica, twenty barks
of the Issaeans joined the Roman fleet. These were sent to ravage the
lands of the Carystians, the rest of the fleet lying at Geraestus, a
noted harbour in Euboea, until the Issaeans returned from Carystus:
on which, setting sail all together, and steering their course through
the open sea, until they passed by Scyrus, they arrived at the island
of Icus. Being detained there for a few days by a violent northerly
wind, as soon as the weather was fair, they passed over to Sciathus,
a city which had been lately plundered and desolated by Philip. The
soldiers, spreading themselves over the country, brought back to the
ships corn and what other kinds of provisions could be of use to them.
Plunder there was none, nor had the Greeks deserved to be plundered.
Directing their course thence to Cassandrea, they first came to
Mendis, a village on the coast of that state; and, intending from
thence to double the promontory, and bring round the fleet to the very
walls of the city, a violent tempest arising, they were near being
buried in the waves. However, after being dispersed, and a great part
of the ships having lost their rigging, they escaped on shore. This
storm at sea was an omen of the kind of success which they were
to meet on land; for, after collecting their vessels together, and
landing their forces, having made an assault on the city, they were
repulsed with many wounds, there being a strong garrison of the
king's troops in the place. Being thus obliged to retreat without
accomplishing their design, they passed over to Canastrum in Pallene,
and from thence, doubling the promontory of Torona, conducted the
fleet to Acanthus. There they first laid waste the country, then
stormed the city itself, and plundered it. They proceeded no farther,
for their ships were now heavily laden with booty, but went back to
Sciathus, and from Sciathus to Euboea, whence they had first set out.

46. Leaving the fleet there, they entered the Malian bay with ten
light ships, in order to confer with the Aetolians on the method of
conducting the war. Sipyrrhicas, the Aetolian, was at the head of the
embassy that came to Heraclea, to hold a consultation with the king
and the Roman lieutenant-general. They demanded of Attalus, that,
in pursuance of the treaty, he should supply them with one thousand
soldiers, which number he had engaged for on condition of their taking
part in the war against Philip. This was refused to the Aetolians,
because on their part they had formerly showed themselves unwilling to
march out to ravage Macedonia, at a time when Philip, being employed
near Pergamus in destroying by fire every thing sacred and profane,
they might have compelled him to retire from thence, in order to
preserve his own territories. Thus, instead of aid, the Aetolians were
dismissed with hopes, the Romans making them large promises. Apustius
with Attalus returned to the ships, where they began to concert
measures for the siege of Oreus. This city was well secured by
fortifications; and also, as an attempt had formerly been made on
it, by a strong garrison. After the taking of Andros, twenty Rhodian
ships, all decked vessels, had formed a junction with them, under the
command of Agesimbrotus. This squadron they sent to the station off
Zelasium, a promontory of Isthmia, very conveniently situate beyond
Demetrias, in order that, if the ships of the Macedonians should
attempt any movement, they might act as a defensive force. Heraclides,
the king's admiral, kept his fleet there, rather with a view of laying
hold of any advantage which the negligence of the enemy might afford
him, than with a design of attempting any thing by open force. The
Romans and king Attalus carried on their attacks against Oreus on
different sides; the Romans against the citadel next to the sea, the
king's troops against the lower part of the town, lying between the
two citadels, where the city is also divided by a wall. As their posts
were different, so were their methods of attack: the Romans made their
approaches by means of covered galleries, applying also the ram to
the walls; the king's troops, by throwing in weapons with the balista,
catapulta, and every other kind of engine, and stones also of immense
weight. They formed mines, too, and made use of every expedient,
which, on trial, had been found useful in the former siege. On the
other side, not only did more Macedonians protect the town and the
citadels, than on the former occasion, but they exerted themselves
with greater spirit, in consequence of the reprimands which they had
received from the king for the misconduct they had committed, and also
from remembrance both of his threats and promises with regard to the
future. Thus, when time was being consumed there, contrary to their
expectation, and there was more hope from a siege and works than from
a sudden assault, the lieutenant-general thought that in the mean time
some other business might be accomplished; wherefore, leaving such a
number of men as seemed sufficient to finish the works, he passed over
to the nearest part of the continent, and, arriving unexpectedly, made
himself master of Larissa, except the citadel,--not that celebrated
city in Thessaly, but another, which they call Cremaste. Attalus also
surprised Aegeleos, where nothing was less apprehended than such an
enterprise during the siege of another city. The works at Oreus had
now begun to take effect, while the garrison within were almost spent
with unremitted toil, (keeping watch both by day and night,) and also
with wounds. Part of the wall, being loosened by the strokes of the
ram, had fallen down in many places; and the Romans, during the night,
broke into the citadel through the breach which lay over the harbour.
Attalus, likewise, at the first light, on a signal given from the
citadel by the Romans, himself also assaulted the city, where great
part of the walls had been levelled; on which the garrison and
townsmen fled into the other citadel, and a surrender was made two
days after. The city fell to the king, the prisoners to the Romans.

47. The autumnal equinox now approached, and the Euboean gulf, called
Coela, is reckoned dangerous by mariners. Choosing, therefore, to
remove thence before the winter storms came on, they returned to
Piraeus, from whence they had set out for the campaign. Apustius,
leaving there thirty ships, sailed by Malea to Corcyra. The king was
delayed during the celebration of the mysteries of Ceres, that he
might assist at the solemnities, immediately after which he also
retired into Asia, sending home Agesimbrotus and the Rhodians. Such,
during that summer, were the proceedings, by sea and land, of
the Roman consul and lieutenant-general, aided by Attalus and the
Rhodians, against Philip and his allies. The other consul, Caius
Aurelius, on coming into his province and finding the war there
already brought to a conclusion, did not dissemble his resentment
against the praetor, for having proceeded to action in his absence;
wherefore, sending him away to Etruria, he led on the legions into the
enemy's country, and, by laying it waste, carried on the war with more
spoil than glory. Lucius Furius, finding nothing in Etruria that
could give him employment, and at the same time intent on obtaining a
triumph for his success against the Gauls, which he considered would
be more easily accomplished in the absence of the consul, who envied
and was enraged against him, came to Rome unexpectedly, and called a
meeting of the senate in the temple of Bellona; where, after making
a recital of the services which he had performed, he demanded to be
allowed to enter the city in triumph.

48. With a great part of the senate he prevailed, owing to private
interest and the importance of his services. The elder part refused
him a triumph, both "because the army, with which he had acted,
belonged to another; and because he had left his province through
an ambitious desire of snatching that opportunity of procuring a
triumph,--but that he had taken this course without any precedent."
The senators of consular rank particularly insisted, that "he ought
to have waited for the consul; for that he might, by pitching his camp
near the city, and thereby securing the colony without coming to an
engagement, have protracted the affair until his arrival; and that,
what the praetor had not done, the senate ought to do; they should
wait for the consul. After hearing the business discussed by the
consul and praetor in their presence, they would be able, more
correctly, to form judgment on the case." Great part were of opinion,
that the senate ought to consider nothing but the service performed,
and whether he had performed it while in office, and under his own
auspices. For, "when of two colonies, which had been opposed, as
barriers, to restrain the tumultuous inroads of the Gauls, one had
been already sacked and burned, the flames being ready to spread (as
if from an adjoining house) to the other colony, which lay so near,
what ought the praetor to have done? For if it was improper to enter
on any action without the consul, then the senate had acted wrong
in giving the army to the praetor; because, if they chose that the
business should be performed, not under the praetor's auspices, but
the consul's, they might have limited the decree in such a manner,
that not the praetor, but the consul, should manage it; or else the
consul had acted wrong, who, after ordering the army to remove from
Etruria into Gaul, did not meet it at Ariminum, in order to be present
at operations, which were not allowed to be performed without him. But
the exigencies of war do not wait for the delays and procrastinations
of commanders; and battles must be sometimes fought, not because
commanders choose it, but because the enemy compels it. The fight
itself, and the issue of the fight, is what ought to be regarded now.
The enemy were routed and slain, their camp taken and plundered,
the colony relieved from a siege, the prisoners taken from the other
colony recovered and restored to their friends, and an end put to the
war in one battle. And not only men rejoiced at this victory, but the
immortal gods also had supplications paid to them, for the space of
three days, on account of the business of the state having been wisely
and successfully, not rashly and unfortunately, conducted by Lucius
Furius, praetor. Besides, the Gallic wars were, by some fatality,
destined to the Furian family."

49. By means of discourses of this kind, made by him and his friends,
the interest of the praetor, who was present, prevailed over the
dignity of the absent consul, and the majority decreed a triumph to
Lucius Furius. Lucius Furius, praetor, during his office, triumphed
over the Gauls. He carried into the treasury three hundred and twenty
thousand _asses_,[1] and one hundred and seventy thousand pounds'
weight of silver. There were neither any prisoners led before his
chariot, nor spoils carried before him, nor did any soldiers follow
him. It appeared that every thing, except the victory, belonged to
the consul. The games which Publius Scipio had vowed when consul in
Africa, were then celebrated, in a magnificent manner and with respect
to the lands for his soldiers, it was decreed, that whatever number
of years each of them had served in Spain or in Africa, he should,
for every year, receive two acres; and that ten commissioners should
distribute that land. Three commissioners were then appointed to fill
up the number of colonists at Venusia, because the strength of that
colony had been reduced in the war with Hannibal: Caius Terentius
Varro, Titus Quintius Flamininus, Publius Cornelius, son of Cneius
Scipio, enrolled the colonists for Venusia. During the same year,
Caius Cornelius Cethegus, who in the capacity of proconsul commanded
in Spain, routed a numerous army of the enemy in the territory of
Sedeta; in which battle, it is said, that fifteen thousand Spaniards
were slain, and seventy-eight military standards taken. The consul
Caius Aurelius, on returning from his province to Rome to hold the
elections, made heavy complaints, not on the subject on which they had
supposed he would, that the senate had not waited for his coming, nor
allowed him an opportunity of arguing the matter with the praetor;
but, that "the senate had decreed a triumph in such a manner, without
hearing the report of any one of those who had taken part in the war,
except the person who was to enjoy the triumph: that their ancestors
had made it a rule that the lieutenant-generals, the military
tribunes, the centurions, and even the soldiers, should be present
at the triumph, in order that the Roman people might ascertain the
reality of his exploits, to whom so high an honour was paid." Now, of
that army which fought with the Gauls, had any one soldier, or even a
soldier's servant, been present, of whom the senate could inquire how
much of truth or falsehood was in the praetor's narrative? He then
appointed a day for the elections, at which were chosen consuls,
Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Villius Tappulus. The praetors
were then appointed, Lucius Quintius Flamininus, Lucius Valerius
Flaccus, Lucius Villius Tappulus, and Cneius Baebius Tamphilus.

[Footnote 1: 1033l. 6s. 8d.]

50. During that year provisions were remarkably cheap. The curule
aediles, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Sextus Aelius Paetus,
distributed among the people a vast quantity of corn, brought from
Africa, at the rate of two _asses_ a peck. They also celebrated the
Roman games in a magnificent manner, repeating them a second day; and
erected in the treasury five brazen statues out of the money paid as
fines. The plebeian games were thrice repeated entire, by the aediles,
Lucius Terentius Massa, and Cneius Baebius Tamphilus, who was elected
praetor. There were also funeral games exhibited that year in the
forum, for the space of four days, on occasion of the death of Marcus
Valerius Laevinus, by his sons Publius and Marcus, who gave also a
show of gladiators, in which twenty-five pairs fought. Marcus Aurelius
Cotta, one of the decemviri of the sacred books, died, and Manius
Acilius Glabrio was substituted in his room. It happened that both the
curule aediles, who had been created at the elections, were persons
who could not immediately undertake the office: for Caius Cornelius
Cethegus was elected in his absence, when he was occupying Spain
as his province; and Caius Valerius Flaccus, who was present, being
flamen Dialis, could not take the oath of observing the laws; and no
person was allowed to hold any office longer than five days without
taking the oath. Flaccus petitioned to be excused from complying with
the law, on which the senate decreed, that if the aedile produced a
person approved of by the consuls, who would take the oath for him,
the consuls, if they thought proper, should make application to the
tribunes, that it might be proposed to the people. Lucius Valerius
Flaccus, praetor elect, was produced to swear for his brother. The
tribunes proposed to the commons, and the commons ordered that this
should be as if the aedile himself had sworn. With regard to the other
aedile, likewise, an order of the commons was made. On the tribunes
putting the question, what two persons they chose should go and take
the command of the armies in Spain, in order that Caius Cornelius,
curule aedile, might come home to execute his office, and that Lucius
Manlius Acidinus might, after many years, retire from the province;
the commons ordered Cneius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Stertinius,
proconsuls, to command in Spain.



BOOK XXXII.

    _Successes of Titus Quinctius Flamininus against Philip; and
    of his brother Lucius with the fleet, assisted by Attalus
    and the Rhodians. Treaty of friendship with the Achaeans.
    Conspiracy of the slaves discovered and suppressed. The number
    of the praetors augmented to six. Defeat of the Insubrian
    Gauls by Cornelius Cethegus. Treaty of friendship with Nabis,
    tyrant of Lacedaemon. Capture of several cities in Macedonia_.


1. The consuls and praetors, having entered upon office on the ides
of March, cast lots for the provinces. Italy fell to Lucius Cornelius
Lentulus, Macedonia to Publius Villius. Of the praetors, the city
jurisdiction fell to Lucius Quinctius, Ariminum to Cneius Baebius,
Sicily to Lucius Valerius, Sardinia to Lucius Villius. The consul
Lentulus was ordered to levy new legions; Villius, to receive the army
from Publius Sulpicius; and, to complete its number, power was given
him to raise as many men as he thought proper. To the praetor Baebius
were decreed the legions which Caius Aurelius, late consul, had
commanded, with directions that he should keep them in their present
situation, until the consul should come with the new army to supply
their place; and that, on his arriving in Gaul, all the soldiers who
had served out their time should be sent home, except five thousand
of the allies, which would be sufficient to protect the province round
Ariminum. The command was continued to the praetors of the former
year; to Cneius Sergius, that he might superintend the distribution of
land to the soldiers who had served for many years in Spain, Sicily,
and Sardinia; to Quintus Minucius, that he might finish the inquiries
concerning the conspiracies in Bruttium, which, while praetor, he had
managed with care and fidelity. That he should also send to Locri, to
suffer punishment, those who had been convicted of sacrilege, and
who were then in chains at Rome; and that he should take care, that
whatever had been carried away from the temple of Proserpine should be
replaced with expiations. The Latin festival was repeated in pursuance
of a decree of the pontiffs, because ambassadors from Ardea had
complained to the senate, that during the said solemnity they had not
been supplied with meat as usual on the Alban mount. From Suessa an
account was brought, that two of the gates, and the wall between them,
had been struck with lightning. Messengers from Formiae related, that
the temple of Jupiter had also been struck by lightning; from Ostia,
likewise, news came of the like accident having happened to the temple
of Jupiter there; it was said, too, that the temples of Apollo and
Sancus, at Veliternum, were struck in like manner; and that in the
temple of Hercules, hair had grown (on the statue). A letter was
received from Quintus Minucius, propraetor, from Bruttium, that a foal
had been born with five feet, and three chickens with three feet
each. Afterwards a letter was brought from Macedonia, from Publius
Sulpicius, proconsul, in which, among other matters, it was mentioned,
that a laurel tree had sprung up on the poop of a ship of war. On
occasion of the former prodigies, the senate had voted, that the
consuls should offer sacrifices with the greater victims to such gods
as they thought proper. On account of the last prodigy, alone, the
aruspices were called before the senate, and, in pursuance of
their answer, the people were ordered by proclamation to perform
a supplication for one day, and worship was solemnized at all the
shrines.

2. This year, the Carthaginians brought to Rome the first payment
of the silver imposed on them as a tribute; and the quaestors having
reported, that it was not of the proper standard, and that, on the
assay, it wanted a fourth part, they made up the deficiency with money
borrowed at Rome. On their requesting that the senate would be pleased
to order their hostages to be restored to them, a hundred were
given up, and hopes were held out with relation to the rest, if they
remained in fidelity (to the treaty). They then further requested,
that the remaining hostages might be removed from Norba, where they
were ill accommodated, to some other place, and they were permitted
to remove to Signia and Ferentinum. The request of the people of Gades
was likewise complied with: that a governor should not be sent to
their city; being contrary to what had been agreed with them by Lucius
Marcius Septimus, when they came under the protection of the Roman
people. Deputies from Narnia, complaining that they had not their due
number of settlers, and that several who were not of their community,
had crept in among them, and were conducting themselves as
colonists, Lucius Cornelius, the consul, was ordered to appoint three
commissioners to adjust those matters. The three appointed were,
Publius and Sextus Aelius, both surnamed Paetus, and Caius Cornelius
Lentulus. The favour granted to the Narnians, of filling up their
number of colonists, was refused to the people of Cossa, who applied
for it.

3. The consuls, having finished the business that was to be done at
Rome, set out for their provinces. Publius Villius, on coming into
Macedonia, found the soldiers in a violent mutiny, which had
been previously excited, and not sufficiently repressed at the
commencement. They were the two thousand who, after Hannibal had been
vanquished, had been transported from Africa to Sicily, and then,
in about a year after, into Macedonia, as volunteers; they denied,
however, that this was done with their consent, affirming, that "they
had been put on board the ships, by the tribunes, contrary to their
remonstrances; but, in what manner soever they had become engaged in
that service, whether it had been voluntarily undertaken or imposed on
them, the time of it was now expired, and it was reasonable that some
end should be put to their warfare. For many years they had not seen
Italy, but had grown old under arms in Sicily, Africa, and Macedonia;
they were now, in short, worn out with labour and fatigue, and were
exhausted of their blood by the many wounds they had received." The
consul told them, that "the grounds on which they demanded their
discharge, appeared to him to be reasonable, if the demand had been
made in a moderate manner; but that neither that, nor any other
ground, was a justifying cause of mutiny. Wherefore, if they were
contented to adhere to their standards, and obey orders, he would
write to the senate concerning their release; and that what
they desired would more easily be obtained by moderation than by
turbulence."

4. At this time, Philip was pushing on the siege of Thaumaci, with the
utmost vigour, by means of mounds and engines, and was ready to
bring up the ram to the walls, when he was obliged to relinquish the
undertaking by the sudden arrival of the Aetolians, who, under the
command of Archidamus, having made their way into the town between the
posts of the Macedonians, never ceased, day or night, making continual
sallies, sometimes against the guards, sometimes against the works of
the besiegers. They were at the same time favoured by the very nature
of the place: for Thaumaci stands near the road from Thermopylae, and
the Malian bay as you go through Lamia, on a lofty eminence, hanging
immediately over the narrow pass which the Thessalians call Caela.[1]
After passing through the craggy grounds of Thessaly, the roads are
rendered intricate by the windings of the valleys, and on the near
approach to the city, such an immense plain opens at once to view,
like a vast sea, that the eye can scarcely reach the bounds of
the expanse beneath From this surprising prospect it was called
Thaumaci.[2] The city itself is secured, not only by the height of its
situation, but by its standing on a rock, the stone of which had been
cut away on all sides. These difficulties, and the prize not appearing
sufficient to recompense so much toil and danger, caused Philip to
desist from the attempt. The winter also was approaching; he therefore
retired from thence, and led back his troops into winter quarters, in
Macedonia.

[Footnote 1: Hollows]

[Footnote 2: From _thumazein_, to wonder.]

5. There, whilst others, glad of any interval of rest, consigned both
body and mind to repose, Philip, in proportion as the season of the
year had relieved him from the incessant fatigues of marching and
fighting, found his care and anxiety increase the more, when he turned
his thoughts towards the general issue of the war. He dreaded, not
only his enemies, who pressed him hard by land and sea, but also the
dispositions, sometimes of his allies, at others of his own subjects,
lest the former might be induced, by hopes of friendship with the
Romans, to revolt, and the Macedonians themselves be seized with a
desire of innovation. Wherefore, he despatched ambassadors to the
Achaeans, both to require their oath, (for it had been made an article
of their agreement that they should take an oath prescribed by Philip
every year,) and at the same time to restore to them Orchomenes,
Heraea, and Triphylia. To the Eleans he delivered up Aliphera; which
city, they insisted, had never belonged to Triphylia, but ought to be
restored to them, having been one of those that were incorporated by
the council of the Arcadians for the founding of Megalopolis. These
measures had the effect of strengthening his connexion with the
Achaeans. The affections of the Macedonians he conciliated by his
treatment of Heraclides: for, finding that his having countenanced
this man had been the cause to him of the utmost unpopularity, he
charged him with a number of crimes, and threw him into chains, to
the great joy of the people. It was now, if at any time, that he made
preparations for the war with especial energy. He exercised both
the Macedonian and mercenary troops in arms, and in the beginning of
spring sent Athenagoras, with all the foreign auxiliaries and what
light-armed troops there were, through Epirus into Chaonia, to seize
the pass at Antigonia, which the Greeks called Stena. He followed, in
a few days, with the heavy troops: and having viewed every situation
in the country, he judged that the most advantageous post for
fortifying himself was on the river Aous. This river runs in a narrow
vale, between two mountains, one of which the natives call Aeropus,
and the other Asnaus, affording a passage of very little breadth along
the bank. He ordered Athenagoras, with the light infantry, to take
possession of Asnaus, and to fortify it. His own camp he pitched on
Aeropus. Those places where the rocks were steep, were defended by
guards of a few soldiers only; the less secure he strengthened, some
with trenches, some with ramparts, and others with towers. A great
number of engines, also, were disposed in proper places, that, by
means of weapons thrown from these, they might keep the enemy at
a distance. The royal pavilion was pitched on the outside of the
rampart, on the most conspicuous eminence, in order, by this show of
confidence, to dishearten the foe, and raise the hopes of his own men.

6. The consul having received intelligence from Charopus of Epirus,
on what pass the king had taken his position with his army, as soon
as the spring began to open, left Corcyra, where he had passed the
winter, and, sailing over to the continent, led on his army against
the enemy. When he came within about five miles of the king's camp,
leaving the legions in a strong post, he went forward in person with
some light troops, to view the nature of the country; and, on the day
following, held a council, in order to determine whether he should
attempt a passage through the defiles occupied by the enemy,
notwithstanding the great labour and danger which the proposal
involved, or lead round his forces by the same road through which
Sulpicius had penetrated into Macedonia the year before. The
deliberations on this question had lasted several days, when news
arrived, that Titus Quinctius had been elected consul; that he had
obtained, by lot, Macedonia as his province; and that, hastening his
journey, he had already come over to Corcyra. Valerius Antias says,
that Villius marched into the defile, and that, as he could not
proceed straight forward, because every pass was occupied by the king,
he followed the course of a valley, through the middle of which the
river Aous flows, and having hastily constructed a bridge, passed over
to the bank where the king's camp was, and fought a battle with him;
that the king was routed and driven out of his camp; that twelve
thousand of the enemy were killed, and two thousand two hundred taken,
together with a hundred and thirty-two military standards, and two
hundred and thirty horses. He adds, that, during the battle, a temple
was vowed to Jupiter in case of success. The other historians, both
Greek and Latin, (all those at least whose accounts I have read,)
affirm that nothing memorable was done by Villius, and that Titus
Quinctius, the consul who succeeded him, received from him a war which
had yet to be commenced.

7. During the time of these transactions in Macedonia, the other
consul, Lucius Lentulus, who had stayed at Rome, held an assembly
for the election of censors. Out of many illustrious men who stood
candidates, were chosen Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus and Publius
Aelius Paetus. These, acting together in perfect harmony, read the
list of the senate, without passing a censure on any one member; they
also let to farm the port-duties at Capua, and at Puteoli, and of the
fort situate were the city now stands; enrolling for this latter place
three hundred colonists, that being the number fixed by the senate;
they also sold the lands of Capua, which lie at the foot of Mount
Tifata. About the same time, Lucius Manlius Acidinus, on his return
from Spain, was hindered from entering the city in ovation by Marcus
Portius Laeca, plebeian tribune, notwithstanding he had obtained
permission of the senate: coming, then, into the city in a private
character, he conveyed to the treasury one thousand two hundred
pounds' weight of silver, and about thirty pounds' weight of gold.
During this year, Cneius Baebius Tamphilus, who had succeeded to the
government of the province of Gaul, in the room of Caius Aurelius,
consul of the year preceding, having, without proper caution, entered
the territories of the Insubrian Gauls, was surprised with almost the
whole of his army. He lost above six thousand six hundred men,--so
great a loss was received from a war which had now ceased to be an
object of apprehension. This event called away the consul, Lucius
Lentulus, from the city; who, arriving in the province, which was
filled with confusion, and taking the command of the army, which he
found dispirited by its defeat, severely reprimanded the praetor, and
ordered him to quit the province and return to Rome. Neither did the
consul himself perform any considerable service, being called home to
preside at the elections, which were obstructed by Marcus Fulvius and
Manius Curius, plebeian tribunes, who wished to hinder Titus Quinctius
Flamininus from standing candidate for the consulship, after passing
through the office of quaestor. They alleged, that "the aedileship and
praetorship were now held in contempt, and that the nobility did not
make their way to the consulship through the regular gradations of
offices, thus affording a trial of themselves; but, passing over the
intermediate steps, pushed at once from the lowest to the highest."
From a dispute in the Field of Mars, the affair was brought before
the senate, where it was voted, "that when a person sued for any post,
which by the laws he was permitted to hold, the people had the right
of choosing whoever they thought proper." To this decision of the
senate the tribunes submitted, and thereupon Sextus Aelius Paetus and
Titus Quinctius Flamininus were elected consuls. Then was held the
election of praetors. The persons chosen were, Lucius Cornelius
Merula, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Marcus Porcius Cato, and Caius
Helvius, who had been plebeian aediles. By these the plebeian games
were repeated, and, on occasion of the games, a feast of Jupiter was
celebrated. The curule aediles, also, Caius Valerius Flaccus, who was
flamen of Jupiter, and Caius Cornelius Cethegus, celebrated the Roman
games with great magnificence. Servius and Caius Sulpicius Galba,
pontiffs, died this year; in their room were substituted Marcus
Aemilius Lepidus and Cneius Cornelius Scipio, as pontiffs.

8. The new consuls, Sextus Aelius Paetus and Titus Quinctius
Flamininus, on assuming the administration, convened the senate in
the Capitol, and the fathers decreed, that "the consuls should settle
between themselves or cast lots for the provinces, Macedonia and
Italy. That he to whom Macedonia fell should enlist, as a supplement
to the legions, three thousand Roman footmen and three hundred horse,
and also five thousand footmen and five hundred horsemen belonging to
the Latin confederacy." The army assigned to the other consul was to
consist entirely of newly-raised men. Lucius Lentulus, consul of
the preceding year, was continued in command, and was ordered not to
depart from the province, nor to remove the old army, until the consul
should arrive with the new legions. The consuls cast lots for the
provinces, and Italy fell to Aelius, Macedonia to Quintius. Of
the praetors, the lots gave to Lucius Cornelius Merula the city
jurisdiction; to Marcus Claudius, Sicily; to Marcus Porcius, Sardinia;
and to Caius Helvius, Gaul. The levying of troops was then begun, for
besides the consular armies, the praetors had been ordered also to
enlist men: for Marcellus, in Sicily, four thousand foot and three
hundred horse of the Latin confederates; for Cato, in Sardinia, three
thousand foot and two hundred horse of the same class of soldiers;
with directions, that both these praetors, on their arrival in their
provinces, should disband the veterans, both foot and horse. The
consuls then introduced to the senate ambassadors from king Attalus.
These, after representing that their king gave every assistance to the
Roman arms on land and sea, with his fleet and all his forces, and
had up to that day executed with zeal and obedience every order of
the consuls, added, that "they feared it would not be in his power to
continue so to do by reason of king Antiochus, for that Antiochus had
invaded the kingdom of Attalus, when destitute of protective forces
by sea and land. That Attalus, therefore, entreated the conscript
fathers, if they chose to employ his army and navy in the Macedonian
war, then to send a body of forces to protect his territories; or if
that were not agreeable, to allow him to go home to defend his own
possessions, with his fleet and troops." The following answer was
ordered to be given to the ambassadors: that "it was a cause of
gratitude to the senate that Attalus had assisted the Roman commanders
with his fleet and other forces. That they would neither send succours
to Attalus, against Antiochus, the ally and friend of the Roman
people; nor would they detain the auxiliary troops longer than would
be convenient to the king. That it was ever a constant rule with the
Roman people, to use the aid of others so far only as was agreeable to
the will of those who gave it; and even to leave the commencement and
the termination of that aid at the discretion of those who desired
that the Romans should be benefited by their help. That they would
send ambassadors to Antiochus, to represent to him, that Attalus, with
his fleet and army, were, at the present, employed by the Roman people
against Philip, their common enemy; and that Antiochus would do that
which was gratifying to the senate if he abstained from the kingdom of
Attalus and desisted from the war; for that it was much to be wished,
that kings who were allies and friends to the Roman people should
maintain friendship between themselves also."

9. When the consul Titus Quinctius had finished the levies, in making
which he chose principally such as had served in Spain or Africa, that
is, soldiers of approved courage, and when hastening to set forward
to his province, he was delayed by reports of prodigies, and the
expiations of them. There had been struck by lightning the public
road at Veii, a temple of Jupiter at Lanuvium, a temple of Hercules
at Ardea, with a wall and towers at Capua, also the edifice which is
called Alba. At Arretium, the sky appeared as on fire; at Velitrae,
the earth, to the extent of three acres, sunk down so as to form a
vast chasm. From Suessa Aurunca, an account was brought of a lamb
born with two heads; from Sinuessa, of a swine with a human head. On
occasion of these ill omens, a supplication of one day's continuance
was performed; the consuls gave their attention to divine services,
and, as soon as the gods were appeased, set out for their provinces.
Aelius, accompanied by Caius Helvius, praetor, went into Gaul, where
he put under the command of the praetor the army which he received
from Lucius Lentulus, and which he ought to have disbanded, intending
to carry on his own operations with the new troops, which he had
brought with him; but he effected nothing worth recording. The other
consul, Titus Quinctius, setting sail from Brundusium earlier than had
been usual with former consuls, reached Corcyra, with, eight thousand
foot and eight hundred horse. From this place, he passed over, in a
quinquereme, to the nearest part of Epirus, and proceeded, by long
journeys, to the Roman camp. Here, having dismissed Villius, and
waiting a few days, until the forces from Corcyra should come up and
join him, he held a council, to determine whether he should endeavour
to force his way straight forward through the camp of the enemy; or
whether, without attempting an enterprise of so great difficulty and
danger, he should not rather take a circuitous and safe road, so as to
penetrate into Macedonia by the country of the Dassaretians and Lycus.
The latter plan would have been adopted, had he not feared that, in
removing to a greater distance from the sea, the enemy might slip out
of his hands; and that if the king should resolve to secure himself in
the woods and wilds, as he had done before, the summer might be spun
out without any thing being effected. It was therefore determined, be
the event what it might, to attack the enemy in their present post,
disadvantageous as it was. But they more easily resolved on this
measure, than devised any safe or certain method of accomplishing it.

10. Forty days were passed in view of the enemy, without making any
kind of effort. Hence Philip conceived hopes of bringing about a
treaty of peace, through the mediation of the people of Epirus; and a
council, which was held for the purpose, having appointed Pausanias,
the praetor, and Alexander, the master of the horse, as negotiators,
they brought the consul and the king to a conference, on the banks
of the river Aous, where the channel was narrowest. The sum of the
consul's demands was, that the king should withdraw his troops from
the territories of the several states; that, to those whose lands and
cities he had plundered, he should restore such of their effects as
could be found; and that the value of the rest should be estimated by
a fair arbitration. Philip answered, that "the cases of the several
states differed widely from each other. That such as he himself had
seized on, he would set at liberty; but he would not divest himself
of the hereditary and just possessions which had been conveyed down
to him from his ancestors. If those states, with whom hostilities had
been carried on, complained of any losses in the war, he was ready
to submit the matter to the arbitration of any state with whom both
parties were at peace." To this the consul replied, that "the business
required neither judge nor arbitrator: for to whom was it not evident
that every injurious consequence of the war was to be imputed to him
who first took up arms. And in this case Philip, unprovoked by any,
had first commenced hostilities against all." When they next began
to treat of those nations which were to be set at liberty, the
consul named, first, the Thessalians: on which the king, fired with
indignation, exclaimed, "What harsher terms, Titus Quinctius, could
you impose on me if I were vanquished?" With these words he retired
hastily from the conference, and they were with difficulty restrained
by the river which separated them from assaulting each other with
missile weapons. On the following day many skirmishes took place
between parties sallying from the outposts, in a plain sufficiently
wide for the purpose. Afterwards the king's troops drew back into
narrow and rocky places, whither the Romans, keenly eager for
fighting, penetrated also. These had in their favour order and
military discipline, while their arms were of a kind well calculated
for protecting their persons. In favour of the enemy were the
advantage of ground, and their balistas and catapultas disposed on
almost every rock as on walls. After many wounds given and received
on both sides, and numbers being slain, as in a regular engagement,
darkness put an end to the fight.

11. While matters were in this state, a herdsman, sent by Charopus,
prince of the Epirots, was brought to the consul. He said, that "being
accustomed to feed his herd in the forest, then occupied by the king's
camp, he knew every winding and path in the neighbouring mountains;
and that if the consul thought proper to send some troops with him, he
would lead them by a road, neither dangerous nor difficult, to a spot
over the enemy's head." When the consul heard these things, he sent to
Charopus to inquire if he considered that confidence might be placed
in the rustic in so important a matter. Charopus ordered an answer
to be returned, that he should give just so much credit to this man's
account, as should still leave every thing rather in his own power
than in that of the other. Though the consul rather wished than
dared to give the intelligence full belief, and though his mind was
possessed by mingled emotions of joy and fear, yet being moved by the
confidence due to Charopus, he resolved to put to trial the prospect
that was held out to him. In order to prevent all suspicion of the
matter, during the two following days he carried on attacks against
the enemy without intermission, drawing out troops against them in
every quarter, and sending up fresh men to relieve the wearied. Then,
selecting four thousand foot and three hundred horse, he put them
under the command of a military tribune, with directions to advance
the horse as far as the nature of the ground allowed; and when they
came to places impassable to cavalry, then to post them in some plain;
that the infantry should proceed by the road which the guide would
show, and that when, according to his promise, they arrived on the
height over the enemy's head, then they should give a signal by smoke,
but raise no shout, until the tribune should have reason to think
that, in consequence of the signal received from him, the battle was
begun. He ordered that the march should take place by night, (the moon
shining through the whole of it,) and employ the day in taking food
and rest. The most liberal promises were made to the guide, provided
he fulfilled his engagement; he bound him, nevertheless, and delivered
him to the tribune. Having thus sent off this detachment, the Roman
general exerted himself only the more vigorously in every part to make
himself master of the posts of the enemy.

12. On the third day, the Roman party made the signal by smoke, to
notify that they had gained possession of the eminence to which they
had been directed; and then the consul, dividing his forces into three
parts, marched up with the main strength of his army, through a valley
in the middle, and made the wings on right and left advance to
the camp of the enemy. Nor did these advance to meet him with less
alacrity. The Roman soldiers, in the ardour of their courage, long
maintained the fight on the outside of their works, for they had no
small superiority in bravery, in skill, and in the nature of their
arms; but when the king's troops, after many of them were wounded
and slain, retreated into places secured either by intrenchments or
situation, the danger reverted on the Romans, who pushed forward,
inconsiderately, into disadvantageous grounds and defiles, out
of which a retreat was difficult. Nor would they have extricated
themselves without suffering for their rashness, had not the
Macedonians, first, by a shout heard in their rear, and then by an
attack begun on that quarter, been utterly dismayed and confounded at
the unforeseen danger. Some betook themselves to a hasty flight: some,
keeping their stand, rather because they could find no way for flight
than that they possessed spirit to support the engagement, were cut
off by the Romans, who pressed them hard both on front and rear. Their
whole army might have been destroyed, had the victors continued their
pursuit of the fugitives; but the cavalry were obstructed by the
narrowness of the passes and the ruggedness of the ground; and the
infantry, by the weight of their armour. The king at first fled with
precipitation, and without looking behind him; but afterwards, when
he had proceeded as far as five miles, he began, from recollecting the
unevenness of the road, to suspect, (what was really the case,)
that the enemy could not follow him; and halting, he despatched his
attendants through all the hills and valleys to collect the stragglers
together. His loss was not more than two thousand men. The rest of his
army, coming to one spot, as if they had followed some signal, marched
off, in a compact body, towards Thessaly. The Romans, after having
pursued the enemy as far as they could with safety, killing such as
they overtook, and despoiling the slain, seized and plundered the
king's camp; which, even when it had no defenders, was difficult
of access. The following night they were lodged within their own
trenches.

13. Next day, the consul pursued the enemy through the same defiles
through which the river winds its way among the valleys. The king
came on the first day to the camp of Pyrrhus, a place so called in
Triphylia, a district of Melotis; and on the following day he reached
Mount Lingos, an immense march for his army, but his fear impelled
him. This ridge of mountains belongs to Epirus, and stretches along
between Macedonia and Thessaly; the side next to Thessaly faces the
east, that next to Macedonia the north. These hills are thickly
clad with woods, and on their summits have open plains and perennial
streams. Here Philip remained encamped for several days, being unable
to determine whether he should continue his retreat until he arrived
in his own dominions, or whether he might venture back into Thessaly.
At length, his decision leaned to leading down his army into Thessaly;
and, going by the shortest roads to Tricca, he made hasty excursions
from thence to all the cities within his reach. The inhabitants who
were able to accompany him he summoned from their habitations, and
burned the towns, allowing the owners to take with them such of their
effects as they were able to carry; the rest became the prey of the
soldiers; nor was there any kind of cruelty which they could have
suffered from an enemy, that they did not suffer from these their
confederates. These acts were painful to Philip even while he executed
them; but as the country was soon to become the property of the foe,
he wished to rescue out of it at least the persons of his allies. In
this manner were ravaged the towns of Phacium, Iresiae, Euhydrium,
Eretria, and Palaepharsalus. On his coming to Pherae, the gates were
shut against him, and as it would necessarily occasion a considerable
delay if he attempted to take it by force, and as he could not spare
time, he dropped the design, and crossed over the mountains into
Macedonia; for he had received intelligence, that the Aetolians too
were marching towards him. These, on hearing of the battle fought on
the banks of the river of Aous, first laid waste the nearest tracts
round Sperchia, and Long Come, as they call it, and then, passing
over into Thessaly, got possession of Cymine and Angeae at the first
assault. From Metropolis they were repulsed by the inhabitants, who,
while a part of their army was plundering the country, assembled in a
body to defend the city. Afterwards, making an attempt on Callithera,
they were attacked by the townsmen in a like manner; but withstood
their onset with more steadiness, drove back into the town the party
which had sallied, and content with that success, as they had no
prospect whatever of taking the place by storm, retired. They then
took by assault and sacked the towns of Theuma and Calathas. Acharrae
they gained by surrender. Xyniae, through similar apprehensions, was
abandoned by the inhabitants. These having forsaken their homes, and
going together in a body, fell in with a party which was being marched
to Thaumacus for the purpose of protecting their foragers; all of
whom, an irregular and unarmed multitude, incapable of any resistance,
were put to the sword by the troops. The deserted town of Xyniae
was plundered. The Aetolians then took Cyphara, a fort conveniently
situated on the confines of Dolopia. All this the Aetolians performed
within the space of a few days.

14. Nor did Amynander and the Athamanians, when they heard of the
victory obtained by the Romans, continue inactive. Amynander, having
little confidence in his own troops, requested a slight auxiliary
force from the consul; and then advancing towards Gomphi, he stormed
on his march a place called Pheca, situate between that town and the
narrow pass which separates Thessaly from Athamania. He then attacked
Gomphi, and though the inhabitants defended it for several days with
the utmost vigour, yet, as soon as he had raised the scaling ladders
to the walls, the same apprehension (which had operated on others) at
length compelled them to surrender. This capture of Gomphi spread
the greatest consternation among the Thessalians: their fortresses of
Argenta, Pherinus, Thimarus, Lisinae, Stimon, and Lampsus
surrendered, one after another, with several other garrisons equally
inconsiderable. While the Athamanians and Aetolians, delivered from
fear of the Macedonians, converted to their own profit the fruits of
another's victory; and Thessaly, ravaged by three armies at once, knew
not which to believe its foe or its friend; the consul marched on,
through the pass which the enemy's flight had left open, into the
country of Epirus. Though he well knew which party the Epirots,
excepting their prince Charopus, were disposed to favour, yet as he
saw that, even from the motive of atoning for past behaviour, they
obeyed his orders with diligence, he regulated his treatment of them
by the standard of their present rather than of their former temper,
and by this readiness to pardon conciliated their affection for the
future. Then, sending orders to Corcyra for the transport ships to
come into the Ambrician bay, he advanced by moderate marches, and on
the fourth day pitched his camp on Mount Cercetius. Hither he ordered
Amynander to come with his auxiliary troops; not so much as being
in want of his forces, as that he might avail himself of them as his
guides into Thessaly. With the same purpose, many volunteers of the
Epirots also were admitted into the corps of auxiliaries.

15. Of the cities of Thessaly, the first which he attacked was
Phaloria. The garrison here consisted of two thousand Macedonians,
who at first resisted with the utmost vigour so far as their arms and
fortifications could protect them. The assault was carried on without
intermission or relaxation either by day or by night, because the
consul thought that it would have a powerful effect on the spirits of
the rest of the Thessalians, if the first who made trial of the
Roman strength were unable to withstand it; and this at the same
time subdued the obstinacy of the Macedonians. On the reduction of
Phaloria, deputies came from Metropolis and Piera, surrendering those
cities. To them, on their petition, pardon was granted: Phaloria was
sacked, and burned. He then proceeded to Aeginium; but finding this
place so circumstanced, that, even with a moderate garrison, it was
safe, after discharging a few weapons against the nearest advanced
guard he directed his march towards the territory of Gomphi; and
thence descended into the plains of Thessaly. His army was now in want
of every thing, because he had spared the lands of the Epirots; he
therefore despatched messengers to learn whether the transports had
reached Leucas and the Ambracian bay; sending the cohorts, in turn,
to Ambracia for corn. Now, the road from Gomphi to Ambracia, although
difficult and embarrassed, is very short; so that in a few days,
provisions having been conveyed from the sea, his camp was filled with
an abundant supply of all necessaries. He then marched to Atrax, which
is about ten miles from Larissa, on the river Peneus. The inhabitants
came originally from Perrhaebia. The Thessalians, here, were not
in the least alarmed at the first coming of the Romans; and Philip,
although he durst not himself advance into Thessaly, yet, keeping his
stationary camp in the vale of Tempe, whenever any place was attempted
by the enemy, he sent up reinforcements as occasion required.

16. About the time that Quinctius first pitched his camp opposite to
Philip's, at the entrance of Epirus, Lucius, the consul's brother,
whom the senate had commissioned both to the naval command and to the
government of the coast, sailed over with two quinqueremes to Corcyra;
and when he learned that the fleet had departed thence, thinking that
no delay ought to be incurred, he followed, and overtook it at the
island of Zama. Here he dismissed Lucius Apustius, in whose room he
had been appointed, and then proceeded to Malea, but at a slow rate,
being obliged, for the most part, to tow the vessels which accompanied
him with provisions. From Malea, after ordering the rest to follow
with all possible expedition, himself, with three light quinqueremes,
hastened forward to the Piraeus, and took under his command the ships
left there by Lucius Apustius, lieutenant-general, for the protection
of Athens. At the same time, two fleets set sail from Asia; one of
twenty-four quinqueremes, under king Attalus; the other belonging
to the Rhodians, consisting of twenty decked ships, and commanded by
Agesimbrotus. These fleets, joining near the island of Andros, sailed
for Euboea, which was separated from them only by a narrow strait.
They first ravaged the lands belonging to Carystus; but, judging that
city too strong, in consequence of a reinforcement hastily sent from
Chalcis, they bent their course to Eretria. Lucius Quinctius also, on
hearing of the arrival of king Attalus, came thither with the ships
which had lain at the Piraeus; having left orders, that his own ships
should, as they arrived, follow him to Euboea. The siege of Eretria
was now pushed forward with the utmost vigour; for the three combined
fleets carried machines and engines, of all sorts, for the demolition
of towns, and the adjacent country offered abundance of timber for
the construction of new works. At the beginning the townsmen defended
their walls with a good degree of spirit; afterwards, when they felt
the effects of fatigue, a great many being likewise wounded, and a
part of the wall demolished by the enemy's works, they became disposed
to capitulate. But they had a garrison of Macedonians, of whom they
stood in no less dread than of the Romans; and Philocles, the king's
general, sent frequent messages from Chalcis, that he would bring them
succour in due time, if they could hold out the siege. The hope of
this, in conjunction with their fears, obliged them to protract the
time longer than was consistent either with their wishes or their
strength. However, having learned soon after that Philocles had been
repulsed in the attempt, and forced to fly back, in disorder, to
Chalcis, they instantly sent deputies to Attalus, to beg pardon and
protection. While intent on the prospect of peace, they executed with
less energy the duties of war, and kept armed guards in that quarter
only where the breach had been made in the wall, neglecting all the
rest; Quinctius made an assault by night on the side where it
was least apprehended, and carried the town by scalade. The whole
multitude of the townsmen, with their wives and children, fled into
the citadel, but soon after surrendered themselves prisoners. The
quantity of money, of gold and silver, taken was not great. Of statues
and pictures, the works of ancient artists, and other ornaments of
that kind, a greater number was found than was proportionate either to
the size of the city, or its opulence in other particulars.

17. The design on Carystus was then resumed, and the fleets sailed
thither; on which the whole body of the inhabitants, before the troops
were disembarked, deserted the city and fled into the citadel, whence
they sent deputies to beg protection from the Roman general. To the
townspeople life and liberty were immediately granted; and it was
ordered, that the Macedonians should pay a ransom of three hundred
drachmas[1] a head, deliver up their arms, and quit the country. After
being ransomed for the said amount, they were transported, unarmed, to
Boeotia. The combined fleets having, in the space of a few days,
taken these two important cities of Euboea, sailed round Sunium, a
promontory of Attica, and steered their course to Cenchreae, the grand
mart of the Corinthians. In the mean time, the consul found the siege
of Atrax more tedious and severe than had been universally expected,
and the enemy resisted in the way which they had least anticipated. He
had supposed that the whole of the trouble would be in demolishing the
wall, and that if he could once open a passage for his soldiers into
the city, the consequence would then be, the flight and slaughter of
the enemy, as usually happens on the capture of towns. But when, on a
breach being made in the wall by the rams, and when the soldiers, by
mounting over the ruins, had entered the place, this proved only
the beginning, as it were, of an unusual and fresh labour. For the
Macedonians in garrison, who were both chosen men and many in number,
supposing that they would be entitled to extraordinary honour if they
should maintain the defence of the city by means of arms and courage,
rather than by the help of walls, formed themselves in a compact body,
strengthening their line by an uncommon number of files in depth.
These, when they saw the Romans entering by the breaches, drove
them back, so that they were entangled among the rubbish, and
with difficulty could effect a retreat. This gave the consul great
uneasiness; for he considered such a disgrace, not merely as it
retarded the reduction of a single city, but as likely to affect
materially the whole process of the war, which in general depends much
on the influence of events in themselves unimportant. Having therefore
cleared the ground, which was heaped up with the rubbish of the
half-ruined wall, he brought up a tower of extraordinary height,
consisting of many stories, and which carried a great number of
soldiers. He likewise sent up the cohorts in strong bodies one after
another, to force their way, if possible, through the wedge of the
Macedonians, which is called a phalanx. But in such a confined space,
(for the wall was thrown down to no great extent,) the enemy had the
advantage, both in the kind of weapons which they used, and in the
manner of fighting. When the Macedonians, in close array, stretched
out before them their long spears against the target fence which was
formed by the close position of their antagonists' shields, and when
the Romans, after discharging their javelins without effect, drew
their swords, these could neither press on to a closer combat, nor cut
off the heads of the spears; and if they did cut or break off any,
the shaft, being sharp at the part where it was broken, filled up
its place among the points of those which were unbroken, in a kind of
palisade. Besides this, the parts of the wall still standing rendered
both the flanks of the Macedonians secure, who were not obliged,
either in retreating or in advancing to an attack, to pass through
a long space, which generally occasions disorder in the ranks. An
accidental circumstance also helped to confirm their courage: for as
the tower was moved along a bank of not sufficiently solid soil, one
of the wheels sinking into a rut, made the tower lean in such a manner
that it appeared to the enemy as if falling, and threw the soldiers
posted on it into consternation and affright.

[Footnote 1: 9l. 13s. 9d.]

18. As none of his attempts met any success, the consul was very
unwilling to allow such a comparison to be exhibited between the two
classes of soldiery and their respective weapons; at the same time, he
could neither see any prospect of reducing the place speedily, nor any
means of subsisting in winter, at such a distance from the sea, and
in regions desolated by the calamities of war. He therefore raised the
siege; and as, along the whole coast of Acarnania and Aetolia, there
was no port capable of containing all the transports that brought
supplies to the army, nor any place which afforded lodgings to the
legions, he pitched on Anticyra, in Phocis on the Corinthian gulf, as
most commodiously situated for his purpose. There the legions would
be at no great distance from Thessaly, and the places belonging to
the enemy; while they would have in front Peloponnesus, separated from
them by a narrow sea; on their rear, Aetolia and Acarnania; and on
their sides, Locris and Boeotia. Phanotea in Phocis he took without
resistance at the first assault. The siege of Anticyra gave him not
much delay. Then Ambrysus and Hyampolis were taken. Daulis, being
situated on a lofty eminence, could not be reduced either by scalade
or works: he therefore provoked the garrison, by missile weapons, to
make sallies from out the town. Then by flying at one time, pursuing
at another, and engaging in slight skirmishes, he led them into such a
degree of carelessness, and such a contempt of him, that at length the
Romans, mixing with them as they ran back, entered by the gates,
and stormed the town. Six other fortresses in Phocis, of little
consequence, came into his hands, through fear rather than by force of
arms. Elatia shut its gates, and the inhabitants seemed determined
not to admit within their walls either the army or the general of the
Romans, unless compelled by force.

19. While the consul was employed in the siege of Elatia, a prospect
opened to him of effecting a business of much more importance; namely,
of drawing away the Achaeans from their alliance with Philip to that
of the Romans. Cycliades, the head of the faction that favoured the
interest of Philip, they had now banished; and Aristaenus, who wished
for a union between his countrymen and the Romans, was praetor. The
Roman fleet, with Attalus and the Rhodians, lay at Cenchreae, and were
preparing to lay siege to Corinth with their whole combined force. The
consul therefore judged it prudent, that, before they entered on
that affair, ambassadors should be sent to the Achaean state, with
assurances, that if they came over from the king to the side of the
Romans, the latter would consign Corinth to them, and annex it to
the old confederacy of their nation. Accordingly, by the consul's
direction, ambassadors were sent to the Achaeans, by his brother
Lucius Quinctius, by Attalus, and by the Rhodians and Athenians--a
general assembly being summoned to meet at Sicyon to give them
audience. Now, the state of feeling of the Achaeans was by no means
uniform. Nabis the Lacedaemonian, their constant and inveterate enemy,
was the object of their dread; they dreaded the arms of the Romans;
they were under obligations to the Macedonians, for services both
of ancient and recent date; but the king himself, on account of his
perfidy and cruelty, they looked upon with jealous fear, and not
judging from the behaviour which he then assumed for the time, they
knew that, on the conclusion of the war, they should find him a more
tyrannical master. So that every one of them was not only at a loss
what opinion he should support in the senate of his own particular
state, or in the general diets of the nation; but, even when they
deliberated within themselves, they could not, with any certainty,
determine what they ought to wish, or what to prefer. Such was the
unsettled state of mind of the members of the assembly, when the
ambassadors were introduced and liberty of speaking afforded them. The
Roman ambassador, Lucius Calpurnius, spoke first; next the ambassadors
of king Attalus; after them those of the Rhodians; and then Philip's.
The Athenians were heard the last, that they might refute the
discourses of the Macedonians. These inveighed against the king with
the greatest acrimony of any, for no others had suffered from him so
many and so severe hardships. So great a number of speeches of the
ambassadors succeeding each other took up the whole of the day; and
about sun-set the council was adjourned.

20. Next day the council was convened again; and when the magistrates,
according to the custom of the Greeks, gave leave, by their herald,
to any person who chose to offer advice, not one stood forth; but they
sat a long time, looking on each other in silence. It was no wonder
that men, revolving in their minds matters of such contradictory
natures, and who found themselves puzzled and confounded, should be
involved in additional perplexity by the speeches continued through
the whole preceding day; in which the difficulties, on all sides,
were brought into view, and stated in their full force. At length
Aristaenus, the praetor of the Achaeans, not to dismiss the council
without any business being introduced, said:--"Achaeans, where are
now those violent disputes, in which, at your feasts and meetings,
whenever mention was made of Philip and the Romans, you scarcely
refrained from blows? Now, in a general assembly, summoned on that
single business, when you have heard the arguments of the ambassadors
on both sides, when the magistrates demand your opinions, when the
herald calls you to declare your sentiments, you are struck dumb.
Although your concern for the common safety be insufficient for
determining the matter, cannot the party zeal which has attached you
to one side or the other extort a word from any one of you? especially
when none is so obtuse as not to perceive, that the time for declaring
and recommending what each either wishes or thinks most advisable,
must be at the present moment; that is, before we make any decree.
When a decree shall have been once passed, every man even such as
previously may have disapproved the measure, must then support it
as good and salutary." These persuasions of the praetor, so far from
prevailing on any one person to declare his opinion, did not excite,
in all that numerous assembly, collected out of so many states, so
much as a murmur or a whisper.

21. Then the praetor, Aristaenus, again spoke as follows:--"Chiefs of
Achaea, you are not more at a loss for advice, than you are for words;
but every one is unwilling to promote the interest of the public at
a risk of danger to himself. Were I in a private character, perhaps I
too should be silent; but, as praetor, it is my duty to declare, that
I see evidently, either that an audience of the council ought not to
have been accorded to the ambassadors, or that they ought not to
be dismissed from it without an answer. Yet how can I give them an
answer, unless by a decree of yours? And, since not one of you who
have been called to this assembly either chooses or dares to make
known his sentiments, let us examine (as if they were opinions
proposed to our consideration) the speeches of the ambassadors
delivered yesterday; supposing the speakers not to have required what
was useful to themselves, but to have recommended what they thought
most conducive to our advantage. The Romans, the Rhodians and Attalus,
request an alliance and friendship with us; and they demand to be
assisted by us in the war in which they are now engaged against
Philip. Philip reminds us of our league with him, and of the
obligation of our oath; he requires only, that we declare ourselves on
his side; and says, he will be satisfied if we do not intermeddle in
the operations of the war. Does not the reason occur to the mind of
any one of you why those, who are not yet our allies, require more
than he who is? This arises not from modesty in Philip, nor from
the want of it in the Romans. It is fortune, which, while it bestows
confidence to requisitions on one side, precludes it on the other. We
see nothing belonging to Philip but his ambassador: the Roman fleet
lies at Cenchreae, exhibiting to our view the spoils of the cities
of Euboea. We behold the consul and his legions, at the distance of a
small tract of sea, overrunning Phocis and Locris. You were surprised
at Philip's ambassador, Cleomedon, showing such diffidence yesterday
in his application to us to take arms on the side of the king against
the Romans. But if we, in pursuance of the same treaty and oath, the
sacredness of which he inculcated on us, were to ask of him, that
Philip should protect us, both from Nabis and his Lacedaemonians, and
also from the Romans, he would be utterly unable to find, not only a
force with which to protect us, but even an answer to return. As much
so in truth as was Philip himself, who endeavoured, by promises of
waging war against Nabis, to draw away our youth into Euboea; but
finding that we would neither decree such assistance to him, nor
choose to be embroiled in a war with Rome, forgot that alliance
on which he now lays such stress, and left us to Nabis and the
Lacedaemonians to be spoiled and plundered. Besides, to me the
arguments of Cleomedon appeared utterly inconsistent. He made light of
the war with the Romans; and asserted, that the issue of it would be
similar to that of the former, which they waged against Philip. If
such the case, why does he, at a distance, solicit our assistance;
rather than come hither in person, and defend us, his old allies, both
from Nabis and from the Romans? Us, do I say? Why, on this showing,
has he suffered Eretria and Carystus to be taken? Why so many cities
of Thessaly? Why Locris and Phocis? Why does he at present suffer
Elatia to be besieged? Did he, either through compulsion, or fear, or
choice, quit the straits of Epirus, and those impregnable fastnesses
on the river Aous; and why, abandoning the pass which he was
occupying, did he retire altogether into his own kingdom? If of his
own will he gave up so many allies to the ravages of the enemy, what
objection can he make to these allies consulting for their own safety?
If through fear, he ought to pardon the like fear in us. If he retired
defeated by force of arms, let me ask you, Cleomedon, shall we,
Achaeans, be able to withstand the Roman arms, which you, Macedonians,
have not withstood? Are we to give credit to your assertion, that the
Romans do not employ, in the present war, greater forces or greater
strength than they did in the former, rather than regard the facts
themselves? In the first instance, they aided the Aetolians with a
fleet; they sent not to the war either a consul as commander, or a
consular army. The maritime cities of Philip's allies were in terror
and confusion; but the inland places were so secure against the Roman
arms, that Philip ravaged the country of the Aetolians, while they in
vain implored succour from those arms. Whereas, in the present case,
the Romans, after bringing to a final conclusion the Punic war, which
they had supported for sixteen years in the bowels, as it were, of
Italy, sent not auxiliaries to the Aetolians in their quarrels, but,
being themselves principals, made a hostile invasion on Macedonia with
land and sea forces at once. Their third consul is now pushing forward
the war with the utmost vigour. Sulpicius, engaging the king within
the territory of Macedonia itself, has overthrown and put him to
flight; and afterwards despoiled the most opulent part of his kingdom.
Then, again, when he was in possession of the strait of Epirus, where,
from the nature of the ground, his fortifications, and the strength
of his army, he thought himself secure, Quinctius drove him out of his
camp; pursued him, as he fled into Thessaly; and, almost in the view
of Philip himself, stormed the royal garrisons and the cities of
his allies. Supposing that there were no truth in what the Athenian
ambassadors mentioned yesterday, respecting the cruelty, avarice, and
lust of the king; supposing the crimes committed, in the country of
Attica, against the gods, celestial and infernal, concerned us not
all; that we had less to complain of than what the people of Cius and
Abydos, who are far distant from us, have endured: let us then, if
you please, forget even our own wounds; let the murders and ravages
committed at Messana, and in the heart of Peloponnesus, the killing of
his host Garitenes at Cyparissia, almost in the very midst of a feast,
in contempt of laws divine and human; the murder of the two Aratuses
of Sicyon, father and son, though he was wont to call the unfortunate
old man his parent; his carrying away the son's wife into Macedonia
for the gratification of his vicious appetites, and all his violations
of virgins and matrons;--let all these, I say, be consigned to
oblivion. Let us suppose our business were not with Philip, through
dread of whose cruelty you are all thus struck dumb; for what other
cause could keep you silent, when you have been summoned to a council?
Let us imagine that we are treating with Antigonus, a prince of the
greatest mildness and equity, to whose kindness we have all been
highly indebted; would he require us to perform what at the time was
impossible? Peloponnesus is a peninsula, united to the continent by
the narrow passage of an isthmus particularly exposed and open to the
attacks of naval armaments. Now, if a hundred decked ships, and fifty
lighter open ones, and thirty Issean barks, shall begin to lay waste
our coasts, and attack the cities which stand exposed, almost on the
very shore, shall we then retreat into the inland towns, as if we were
not afflicted with an intestine war, though in truth it is rankling
in our very bowels? When Nabis and the Lacedaemonians by land, and the
Roman fleet by sea, shall press us, whence must I implore the support
due from the king's alliance, whence the succours of the Macedonians?
Shall we ourselves, with our own arms, defend, against the Roman
forces, the cities that will be attacked? Truly, in the former war,
we defended Dymae excellently well! The calamities of others afford
us abundant examples; let us not seek how we may render ourselves an
example to others. Do not, because the Romans voluntarily desire your
friendship, contemn that which you ought to have prayed for, nay,
laboured with all your might to obtain. But, it is insinuated, that
they are impelled by fear, in a country to which they are strangers;
and that, wishing to shelter themselves under your assistance, they
have recourse to your alliance in the hope of being admitted into your
harbours, and of there finding supplies of provisions. Now, at sea
they are absolute masters; and instantly reduce to subjection every
place at which they land. What they request, they have power to
enforce. Because they wish to treat you with tenderness they do not
allow you to take steps that must lead you to ruin. Cleomedon lately
pointed out, as the middle and safest way, to remain inactive, and
abstain from taking up arms But that is not a middle way; it is no way
at all. For, besides the necessity of either embracing or rejecting
the Roman alliance, what other consequence can ensue from such
conduct, than that, while we show no steady attachment to either
side, as if we waited the event with design to adapt our counsels to
fortune, we shall become the prey of the conqueror? Contemn not then,
when it is spontaneously offered to your acceptance, what you ought to
have solicited with your warmest prayers. The free option between
the two, which you have this day, you will not always have. The same
opportunity will not last long, nor will it frequently recur. You have
long wished to deliver yourselves out of the hands of Philip, although
you have not dared to make the attempt. Those have now crossed the
sea, with large fleets and armies, who are able to rescue you to a
state of freedom, without any trouble or danger to yourselves. If you
reject such persons as allies, you can scarcely be of sane mind; but
you must unavoidably have to deal with them, either as allies or as
enemies."

22. This speech of the praetor was followed by a general murmur; some
declaring their approbation, and others vehemently rebuking those who
did so. And now, not only individuals, but whole states were engaged
in altercation among themselves; and at length among the magistrates,
called Demiurgi, who are ten in number, the dispute was taken up with
as much warmth as among the multitude. Five of them declared, that
they would propose the question concerning an alliance with Rome,
and would take the votes on it; while five insisted, that it had been
provided by law that neither the magistrates should have power to
propose nor the council to pass any decree injurious to the alliance
with Philip. This day, also, was spent in contention, and there
remained now but one day more of the regular time of sitting; for,
according to the rule, the decree must be passed on the third day: and
as that approached, the zeal of the parties was kindled into such a
flame, that scarcely did parents refrain from offering violence to
their own sons. There was present a man of Pallene, named Rhisiasus,
whose son, Memnon, was a demiurgus, and was of that party which
opposed the reading of the decree and taking the votes. This man, for
a long time, entreated his son to allow the Achaeans to take proper
measures for their common safety, and not, by his obstinacy, to bring
ruin on the whole nation; but, finding that his entreaties had no
effect, he swore that he would treat him, not as a son, but as an
enemy, and would put him to death with his own hand. By these threats
he forced him, next day, to join the party that voted for the question
being proposed. These, having now become the majority, proposed the
question accordingly, while almost every one of the states, openly
approving the measure, showed plainly on which side they would vote.
Whereupon the Dymaeans, Megalopolitans, with several of the Argives,
rose up, and withdrew from the council; which step excited neither
wonder nor disapprobation. For when, in the memory of their
grandfathers, the Megalopolitans had been expelled their country by
the Lacedaemonians, Antigonus had reinstated them in their native
residence; and, at a later period, when Dymae was taken and sacked by
the Roman troops, Philip ordered that the inhabitants, wherever they
were in servitude, should be ransomed, and not only restored them to
their liberty, but their country. As to the Argives, besides believing
that the royal family of Macedonia derived its origin from them, the
greater part were attached to Philip by personal acts of kindness
and familiar friendship. For these reasons, when the council appeared
disposed to order an alliance to be concluded with Rome, they
withdrew; and their secession was readily excused, in consideration of
the many and recent obligations by which they were bound to the king
of Macedon.

23. The rest of the Achaean states, on their opinions being demanded,
ratified, by an immediate decree, the alliance with Attalus and the
Rhodians. That with the Romans, as it could not be perfected without
an order from the people, they deferred until such time as ambassadors
could be sent to Rome. For the present, it was resolved, that three
ambassadors should be sent to Lucius Quinctius; and that the whole
force of the Achaeans should be brought up to Corinth, which city
Quinctius, after taking Cenchreae, was then besieging. The Achaeans
accordingly pitched their camp opposite to the gate that leads to
Sicyon. The Romans made their approaches on the side of the city which
faces Cenchreae; Attalus having drawn his army across the isthmus,
towards Lechaeum, the port on the opposite sea. At first, they did not
push forward their operations with any great degree of vigour, because
they had hopes of a dissension breaking out between the townsmen and
the king's troops. But afterwards, learning that they all were of
one mind; that the Macedonians exerted themselves as if in defence of
their common country; and that the Corinthians submitted to the
orders of Androsthenes, commander of the garrison, as if he were their
countryman, and elected by their own suffrages; the assailants had
no other hopes but in force, arms, and their works. They therefore
brought up their mounds to the walls, though by very difficult
approaches. On that side where the Romans attacked, their ram had
demolished a considerable part of the wall; and the Macedonians having
run together to defend the place thus stripped of its works, a furious
conflict ensued between themselves and the Romans. At first, by
reason of the enemy's superiority in number, the Romans were quickly
repulsed; but being joined by the auxiliary troops of Attalus and the
Achaeans, they restored the fight to an equality; so that there was
no doubt that they would easily drive the Macedonians and Greeks from
their ground. But there were in the town a great multitude of Italian
deserters; some of whom, having been in Hannibal's army, had, through
fear of being punished by the Romans, followed Philip; others, having
been sailors, had lately quitted the fleets, and gone over, in hopes
of more honourable employment: despair of safety, therefore, in case
of the Romans getting the better, inflamed these to a degree which
might rather be called madness than courage. Opposite to Sicyon is the
promontory of Juno Acraea, as she is called, stretching out into the
main, the passage to Corinth being about seven miles. To this place
Philocles, one of the king's generals, led, through Boeotia, fifteen
hundred soldiers; and there were barks from Corinth ready to take
these troops on board, and carry them over to Lechaeum. Attalus, on
this, advised to burn the works, and raise the siege immediately;
Quinctius was for persisting more obstinately in the attempt. However,
when he saw the king's troops posted at the gates, and that the
sallies of the besieged could not easily be withstood, he came over
to the opinion of Attalus. Thus, their design proving fruitless, they
dismissed the Achaeans, and returned to their ships. Attalus steered
to Piraeus, the Romans to Corcyra.

24. While the naval forces were thus employed, the consul, having
encamped before Elatia, in Phocis, first endeavoured, by conferring
with the principal inhabitants, to bring them over, and by their means
to effect his purpose; but on their answering that they had nothing in
their power, because the king's troops were more numerous and stronger
than the townsmen, he assaulted the city on all sides at once with
arms and engines. A battering-ram having been brought up, shattered
a part of the wall that reached from one tower to another, and this
falling with a prodigious noise and crash, left much of the town
exposed. On this a Roman cohort made an assault through the breach,
while at the same time the townsmen, quitting their several posts,
ran together from all parts to the place, which was endangered by the
attack of the enemy. At the same time others of the Romans climbed
over the ruins of the wall, and brought up scaling-ladders to the
parts that were standing. As the conflict attracted the eyes and
attention of the enemy to one particular spot, the walls were scaled
in several places, by which means the soldiers easily entered the
town. The noise and tumult which ensued so terrified the enemy, that
quitting the place, which they had crowded together to defend,
they all fled in panic to the citadel, accompanied by the unarmed
multitude. The consul having thus become master of the town, gave
it up to be plundered, and then sent messengers into the citadel,
offering the king's troops their lives, on condition of their laying
down their arms, and departing. To the Elatians he offered their
liberty; which terms being agreed to, in a few days after he got
possession of the citadel.

25. In consequence of Philocles, the king's general, coming into
Achaia, not only Corinth was delivered from the siege, but the city
of Argos was betrayed into his hands by some of the principal
inhabitants, after they had first sounded the minds of the populace.
They had a custom, that, on the first day of assembly, their praetors,
for the omen's sake, should pronounce the names, Jupiter, Apollo, and
Hercules; in addition to which, a rule had been made, that, along with
these they should join the name of king Philip. After the conclusion
of the alliance with the Romans, the herald did not make that
addition; on which a murmur spread through the multitude, who would
add the name of Philip, and insisting that the respect, due by law,
should be paid as before; until at length the name was given out
amidst universal approbation. On the encouragement afforded by this
favourable disposition, Philocles was invited, who seized in the night
a strong post called Larissa, seated on a hill which overhangs the
city, and in which he placed a garrison. At the dawn of day, however,
and as he was proceeding in order of battle to the forum, at the foot
of the hill he was met by a line of troops, drawn up to oppose him.
This was a body of Achaeans, lately posted there, consisting of
about five hundred young men, selected out of all the states. Their
commander was Aenesidemus, of Dymae. The king's general sent a person
to recommend to them to evacuate the city, because they were not a
match for the townsmen alone, who held the same sentiments as the
Macedonians; much less when these were joined by the Macedonians, whom
even the Romans had not withstood at Corinth. This at first had no
effect, either on the commander, or his men: and when they, soon
after, perceived the Argives also in arms, coming, in a great
body, from the opposite side, perceiving that their destruction was
inevitable, they yet seemed determined to run every hazard, if their
leader would persevere. But Aenesidemus, unwilling that the flower of
the Achaean youth should be lost, together with the city, made terms
with Philocles, that they should have liberty to retire, while himself
remained armed with a few of his dependents, in the position which he
had occupied. To a person sent by Philocles to inquire what he meant,
he only answered, standing with his shield held out before him,
that he meant to die in arms in defence of the city intrusted to his
charge. Philocles then ordered some Thracians to throw their javelins
at him and his attendants; and they were all put to death. Thus,
notwithstanding the alliance concluded by the Achaeans with the
Romans, two of their cities, and those of the greatest consequence,
Argos and Corinth, were still in the hands of Philip. Such were the
services performed during that summer by the land and sea forces of
Rome employed in Greece.

26. In Gaul, the consul Sextus Aelius did nothing worth mention,
though he had two armies in the province: one, which he had retained
under their standards, although it ought to have been disbanded; and
of this, which had served under Lucius Cornelius, proconsul, he had
given the command to Caius Helvius, the praetor: the other he had
brought with him into the province. He spent nearly the whole summer
in compelling the people of Cremona and Placentia to return to their
colonies, from whence they had been driven to various places by the
calamities of war. While Gaul, beyond expectation, remained quiet
through the whole year, an insurrection of the slaves was very near
taking place in the neighbourhood of the city. The hostages, given
by the Carthaginians, were kept in custody at Setia: as they were
the children of the principal families, they were attended by a great
multitude of slaves; to this number many were added, in consequence
of the late African war, and by the Setians themselves having bought,
from among the spoil, several of those which had been captured. Having
conspired together, they sent some of their number to engage in the
cause the slaves of the country round Setia, and then those at Norba
and Circeii. When every thing was fully prepared, they determined,
during the games which were soon to be solemnized at the
first-mentioned place, to attack the people while intent on the
show, and when Setia had been taken in the midst of the slaughter and
unexpected turmoil, then to seize on Norba and Circeii. Information of
this atrocious plot was brought to Rome, to Lucius Cornelius Merula,
the city praetor. Two slaves came to him before daylight, and
disclosed to him in order the whole proceedings and intentions of
the conspirators. The praetor, ordering them to be guarded in his own
house, summoned a meeting of the senate; and having laid before them
the information of the discoverers, he was ordered to go himself to
the spot, and examine into and crush the conspiracy. Setting out,
accordingly, with five lieutenant-generals, he compelled such as he
found in the country to take the military oath, to arm, and follow
him. Having by this tumultuary kind of levy armed about two thousand
men, while all were ignorant of his destination, he came to Setia.
There the leaders of the conspiracy were instantly apprehended; on
which, the remainder fled from the city; but parties were sent through
the country to search them out. The services of the two who made the
discovery, and of one free person employed, were highly meritorious.
The senate ordered a present to the latter of a hundred thousand
_asses_;[1] to the slaves, twenty-five thousand _asses_[2] each, and
their freedom. The price was paid to their owners out of the treasury.
Not long after, intelligence was received, that other slaves,
belonging to the remains of the conspiracy, had formed a design of
seizing Praeneste. The praetor, Lucius Cornelius, went thither, and
inflicted punishment on near five hundred persons concerned in
that wicked scheme. The public were under apprehensions that the
Carthaginian hostages and prisoners fomented these plots: watches
were, therefore, kept at Rome in all the streets, which the inferior
magistrates were ordered to go round and inspect; while the triumvirs
of the prison, called the Quarry, were to keep a stricter guard than
usual. Circular letters were also sent by the praetor to all the Latin
states, directing that the hostages should be confined within doors,
and not at any time allowed the liberty of going into public; and that
the prisoners should be kept bound with fetters, of not less than
ten pounds weight, and confined in no other place of custody than the
common jail.

[Footnote 1: 322l. 18s. 4d.]

[Footnote 2: 80l. 14s. 7d.]

27. In this year, ambassadors from king Attalus made an offering, in
the Capitol, of a golden crown of two hundred and fifty-six pounds'
weight, and returned thanks to the senate, because Antiochus,
influenced by the authority of the Romans, had withdrawn his troops
out of the territories of Attalus. During the same summer, two hundred
horsemen, ten elephants, and two hundred thousand pecks of wheat,
arrived from king Masinissa for the army in Greece. From Sicily also,
and Sardinia, large supplies of provisions were sent, with clothing
for the troops. Sicily was then governed by Marcus Marcellus, Sardinia
by Marcus Porcius Cato, a man of acknowledged integrity and purity
of conduct, but deemed too severe in punishing usury. He drove the
usurers entirely out of the island; and restricted or abolished the
contributions, usually paid by the allies, for maintaining the dignity
of the praetors. The consul, Sextus Aelius, coming home from Gaul to
Rome to hold the elections, elected consuls, Caius Cornelius Cethegus
and Quintus Minucius Rufus. Two days after was held the election
of praetors; and this year, for the first time, six praetors were
appointed, in consequence of the increase of the provinces, and the
extension of the bounds of the empire. The persons elected were,
Lucius Manlius Vulso, Caius Sempronius Tuditanus, Marcus Sergius
Silus, Marcus Helvius, Marcus Minucius Rufus, and Lucius Atilius. Of
these Sempronius and Helvius were, at the time, plebeian aediles. The
curule aediles were Quintus Minucius Thermus and Tiberius Sempronius
Longus. The Roman games were four times repeated during this year.

28. On Caius Cornelius and Quintus Minucius becoming consuls, the
first business of all was the arrangement of the provinces of the
consuls and praetors. Those of the praetors were the first settled,
because that could be transacted by the lots. The city jurisdiction
fell to Sergius; the foreign to Minucius; Atilius obtained Sardinia;
Manlius, Sicily; Sempronius, the Hither Spain; and Helvius, the
Farther. When the consuls were preparing to cast lots for Italy and
Macedonia, Lucius Oppius and Quintus Fulvius, plebeian tribunes, stood
in their way, alleging, that "Macedonia was a very distant province,
and that the principal cause which had hitherto retarded the progress
of the war, was, that when it was scarcely entered upon, and just at
the commencement of operations, the former consul was always recalled.
This was the fourth year since the declaration of war against
Macedonia. The greater part of one year Sulpicius spent in seeking the
king and his army; Villius, on the point of engaging the enemy, was
recalled without any thing having been done. Quinctius was detained
at Rome, for the greater part of his year, by business respecting
religion; nevertheless, he had so conducted affairs, that had he come
earlier into the province, or had the cold season been at a greater
distance, he might have put an end to hostilities. He was then just
going into winter quarters; but, it was stated that he had brought the
war into such a state, that if he were not prevented by a intercessor,
he seemed likely to complete it in the course of the ensuing summer."
By such arguments the tribunes so far prevailed, that the consuls
declared that they would abide by the directions of the senate, if the
tribunes would agree to do the same. Both parties having, accordingly,
left the consultation perfectly free, a decree was passed, appointing
the two consuls to the government of the province of Italy. Titus
Quinctius was continued in command, until a successor should accede
by a decree of the senate. To each, two legions were decreed; and
they were ordered, with these, to carry on the war with the Cisalpine
Gauls, who had revolted from the Romans. A reinforcement of five
thousand foot and three hundred horse was ordered to be sent into
Macedonia to Quinctius, together with three thousand seamen. Lucius
Quinctius Flamininus was continued in the command of the fleet. To
each of the praetors for the two Spains were granted eight thousand
foot, of the allies and Latins, and four hundred horse; so that they
might discharge the veteran troops in their provinces. They were
further directed to fix the bounds which should divide the hither from
the farther province. Two additional lieutenant-generals were sent to
the army in Macedonia, Publius Sulpicius and Publius Villius, who had
been consuls in that province.

29. It was thought necessary, that before the consuls and praetors
went abroad, some prodigies should be expiated. For the temples of
Vulcan and Summanus,[1] at Rome, and a wall and a gate at Fregellae,
had been struck by lightning. At Frusino, light had shone forth during
the night. At Asculum, a lamb had been born with two heads and five
feet. At Formiae, two wolves entering the town had torn several
persons who fell in their way; and, at Rome, a wolf had made its way,
not only into the city, but into the Capitol. Caius Acilius, plebeian
tribune, caused an order to be passed, that five colonies should be
led out to the sea-coast; two to the mouths of the rivers Vulturnus
and Liternus; one to Puteoli and one to the fort of Salernum. To these
was added Buxentum. To each colony three hundred families were ordered
to be sent. The commissioners appointed to conduct them thither, and
who were to hold the office for three years, were Marcus Servilius
Geminus, Quintus Minucius Thermus, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus. As
soon as the levies, and such other business, religious and civil, as
required their personal attendance, was finished, both the consuls set
out for Gaul. Cornelius took the direct road towards the Insubrians,
who were then in arms, and had been joined by the Caenomanians.
Quintus Minucius turned his route to the left side of Italy, and
leading away his army to the lower sea, to Genoa, opened the campaign
with an invasion of Liguria. Two towns, Clastidium and Litubium, both
belonging to the Ligurians, and two states of the same nation, Celela
and Cerdicium, surrendered to him. And now, all the states on this
side of the Po, except the Boians among the Gauls and the Ilvatians
among the Ligurians, were reduced to submission: no less, it is said,
than fifteen towns and twenty thousand men surrendered themselves. He
then led his legions into the territory of the Boians.

[Footnote 1: Pluto, Summus Mamum.]

30. The Boian army had, not very long before, crossed the Po and
joined the Insubrians and Caenomanians; for, having heard that the
consuls intended to act with their forces united, they wished to
increase their own strength by this junction. But when information
reached them that one of the consuls was ravaging the country of the
Boians, a dispute instantly arose. The Boians demanded, that all, in
conjunction, should carry succour to those who were attacked; while
the Insubrians positively refused to leave their country defenceless.
In consequence of this dissension, the armies separated; the Boians
went to defend their own territory, and the Insubrians, with the
Caenomanians, encamped on the banks of the river Mincius. About five
miles below this spot, the consul Cornelius pitched his camp close
to the same river. Sending emissaries hence into the villages of the
Caenomanians, and to Brixia, the capital of their tribe, he learned
with certainty that their young men had taken arms without the
approbation of the elders; and that the Caenomanians had not joined
in the revolt of the Insubrians by any public authority. On which
he invited to him the principal of the natives, and endeavoured to
contrive and concert with them that the Caenomanians should separate
from the Insubrians; and either march away and return home, or come
over to the side of the Romans. This he was not able to effect; but
so far, he received solemn assurances that, in case of a battle, they
would either stand inactive, or, should any occasion offer, would even
assist the Romans. The Insubrians knew not that such an agreement
had been concluded, but they harboured in their minds some kind of
suspicion, that the fidelity of their confederates was wavering.
Wherefore, in forming their troops for battle, not daring to intrust
either wing to them, lest, if they should treacherously give ground,
they might cause a total defeat, they placed them in reserve behind
the line. At the beginning of the fight, the consul vowed a temple to
Juno Sospita, provided the enemy should, on that day, be routed
and driven from the field; on which the soldiers raised a shout,
declaring, that they would insure to their commander the completion
of his vow, and at the same time an attack was made on the enemy. The
Insubrians did not stand even the first onset. Some writers affirm,
that the Caenomanians, falling on their rear during the heat of the
engagement, caused as much disorder there as prevailed in their front:
and that, thus assailed on both sides, thirty-five thousand of them
were slain, five thousand seven hundred taken prisoners, among whom
was Hamilcar, a Carthaginian general, who had been the cause of the
war; and that a hundred and thirty military standards and above two
hundred waggons were taken. On this, the towns of the Gauls, which had
joined in the revolt of the Insubrians, surrendered to the Romans.

31. The other consul, Minucius, had at first traversed the territories
of the Boians, with wide-spread ravaging parties; but afterwards, when
that people left the Insubrians, and came home to defend their own
property, he kept his men within their camp, expecting to come to a
regular engagement with the enemy. Nor would the Boians have declined
a battle, if their spirits had not been depressed by hearing of the
defeat of the Insubrians. Upon this, deserting their commander and
their camp, they dispersed themselves through the several towns, each
wishing to take care of his own effects. Thus they changed the enemy's
method of carrying on the war: for, no longer hoping to decide the
matter by a single battle, he began again to lay waste the lands,
burn the houses, and storm the villages. At this time, Clastidium
was burned, and the legions were led thence against the Ilvatian
Ligurians, who alone refused to submit. That state, also, on learning
that the Insubrians had been defeated in battle, and the Boians so
terrified that they had not dared to try the fortune of an engagement,
made a submission. Letters from the consuls, containing accounts
of their successes, came from Gaul to Rome at the same time. Marcus
Sergius, city praetor, read them in the senate, and afterwards, by
direction of the fathers, in an assembly of the people; on which a
supplication, of four days' continuance, was decreed.

32. It was by this time winter; and while Titus Quinctius, after the
reduction of Elatia, had his winter quarters distributed in Phocis and
Locris, a violent dissension broke out at Opus. One faction invited
to their assistance the Aetolians who were nearest at hand; the other,
the Romans. The Aetolians arrived first; but the other party, which
was the more powerful, refused them admittance, and, despatching a
courier to the Roman general, held the city until his arrival. The
citadel was possessed by a garrison belonging to the king, and they
could not be prevailed on to retire from thence, either by the threats
of the people of Opus, or by the authority of the Roman consul's
commands. What prevented their being immediately attacked was, the
arrival of an envoy from the king, to solicit the appointing of a time
and place for a conference. This was granted to the king with great
reluctance; not that Quinctius did not wish to see war concluded under
his own auspices, partly by arms, and partly by negotiation: for he
knew not, yet, whether one of the new consuls would be sent out as his
successor, or whether he should be continued in the command; a point
which he had charged his friends and relations to labour for with
all their might. But he thought that a conference would answer this
purpose; that it would put it in his power to give matters a turn
towards war, in case he remained in the province, or towards peace,
if he were to be removed. They chose for the meeting a part of the
sea-shore, in the Malian gulf, near Nicaea. Thither Philip came from
Demetrias, with five barks and one ship of war: he was accompanied by
some principal Macedonians, and an Achaean exile, name Cycliades, a
man of considerable note. With the Roman general, were king Amynander,
Dionysidorus, ambassador from king Attalus, Agesimbrotus, commander
of the Rhodian fleet, Phaeneas, praetor of the Aetolians, and two
Achaeans, Aristaenus and Xenophon. Attended by these, the Roman
general advanced to the brink of the shore, when the king had come
forward to the prow of his vessel, as it lay at anchor; and said, "If
you will come on the shore, we shall mutually speak and hear with
more convenience." This the king refused; and on Quinctius asking him,
"Whom do you fear?" With the haughty spirit of royalty, he replied,
"Fear I have none, but of the immortal gods; but I have no confidence
in the faith of those whom I see about you, and least of all in the
Aetolians." "That danger," said the Roman, "is equal to all in common
who confer with an enemy, if no confidence subsists." "But, Titus
Quinctius," replied the king, "if treachery be intended, the prizes of
perfidy are not equal, namely, Philip and Phaeneas. For it will not
be so difficult for the Aetolians to find another praetor, as for the
Macedonians to find another king in my place."--Silence then ensued.

33. The Roman expected that he who solicited the conference should
open it; and the king thought that he who was to prescribe, not he who
received, terms of peace, ought to begin the conference. At length the
Roman said, that "his discourse should be very simple; for he
would only mention those articles, without which there could be no
conditions of peace. These were, that the king should withdraw his
garrisons from all the cities of Greece. That he should deliver up
to the allies of the Roman people the prisoners and deserters; should
restore to the Romans those places in Illyricum of which he had
possessed himself by force, since the peace concluded in Epirus; and
to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, the cities which he had seized since the
death of Ptolemy Philopater." These were the terms which he required,
on behalf of himself and the Roman people: but it was proper that the
demands of the allies, also, should be heard. The ambassador of king
Attalus demanded "restitution of the ships and prisoners taken in
the sea-fight at Cius; and that Nicephorium, and the temple of Venus,
which Philip had pillaged and defaced, should be restored as though
they had not been injured." The Rhodians laid claim to Peraea, a tract
on the continent, lying opposite to their island, which from early
times had been under their jurisdiction; and they required that "the
garrisons should be withdrawn from Tassus, Bargylii, and Euroma, and
from Sestus and Abydos on the Hellespont; that Perinthus should be
restored to the Byzantians, in right of their ancient title, and
that all the sea-port towns and harbours of Asia should be free."
The Achaeans demanded the restoration of Corinth and Argos. Phaeneas
nearly repeated the demands made by the Romans, that the troops should
withdraw out of Greece, and the Aetolians be put in possession of the
cities which had formerly been under their dominion. He was followed
by Alexander, a man of eminence among the Aetolians, and, considering
his country, not uneloquent. He said, that "he had long kept silence,
not because he expected that any business would be effected in that
conference, but because he was unwilling to interrupt any of the
allies in their discourse." He asserted, that "Philip was neither
treating for peace with sincerity; and that he had never waged war
with true courage, at any time: that in negotiating, he was insidious
and fradulent; while in war he never fought on equal ground, nor
engaged in regular battles; but, skulking about, burned and pillaged
towns, and, when worsted, destroyed the prizes of victory. But not in
that manner did the ancient kings of Macedon behave; they decided the
fate of the war in the field, and spared the towns as far as they were
able, in order to possess the more opulent empire. For what sort of
conduct was it, to destroy the objects for the possession of which the
contest was waged, and thereby leave nothing to himself but fighting?
Philip had, in the last year, desolated more cities of his allies
in Thessaly, than all the enemies that Thessaly ever had. On the
Aetolians themselves he had made greater depredations, when he was in
alliance with them, than since he became their enemy. He had seized
on Lysimachia, after dislodging the praetor and garrison of the
Aetolians. Cius also, a city belonging to their government, he razed
from the foundation. With the same injustice he held possession of
Thebes in Phthiotis, of Echinus, Larissa, and Pharsalus."

34. Philip, provoked by this discourse of Alexander, pushed his ship
nearer to the land, that he might be the better heard, and began to
speak with much violence, particularly against the Aetolians. But
Phaeneas, interrupting him, said that "the business depended not upon
words; he must either conquer in war, or submit to his superiors."
"That, indeed, is evident," said Philip, "even to the blind,"
reflecting on Phaeneas, who had a disorder in his eyes: for he was
naturally fonder of such pleasantries than became a king; and even in
the midst of serious business, did not sufficiently restrain himself
from ridicule. He then began to express great indignation at the
"Aetolians assuming as much importance as the Romans, and insisting
on his evacuating Greece; people who could not even tell what were its
boundaries. For, of Aetolia itself, a large proportion, consisting of
the Agraeans, Apodeotians, and Amphilochians, was no part of Greece.
Have they just ground of complaint against me for not refraining from
war with their allies, when themselves, from the earliest period,
follow, as an established rule, the practice of suffering their young
men to carry arms against those allies, withholding only the public
authority of the state; while very frequently contending armies have
Aetolian auxiliaries on both sides? I did not seize on Cius by force,
but assisted my friend and ally, Prusias, who was besieging it, and
Lysimachia I rescued from the Thracians. But since necessity diverted
my attention from the guarding of it to this present war, the
Thracians have possession of it. So much for the Aetolians. To Attalus
and the Rhodians I in justice owe nothing; for not to me, but to
themselves, is the commencement of hostilities to be attributed.
However, out of respect to the Romans, I will restore Peraea to the
Rhodians, and to Attalus his ships, and such prisoners as can be
found. As to what concerns Nicephorium, and the temple of Venus, what
other answer can I make to those who require their restoration, than
that I will take on myself the trouble and expense of replanting
them--the only way in which woods and groves which have been cut down
can be restored,--since it is thought fit that, between kings, such
kinds of demands should be made and answered." The last part of his
speech was directed to the Achaeans, wherein he enumerated, first, the
kindnesses of Antigonus; then, his own towards their nation, desiring
them to consider the decrees themselves had passed concerning him,
which comprehended every kind of honour, divine and human; and to
these he added their late decree, by which they had confirmed the
resolution of deserting him. He inveighed bitterly against their
perfidy, but told them, that nevertheless he would give them back
Argos. "With regard to Corinth, he would consult with the Roman
general; and would, at the same time, inquire from him, whether he
thought it right, that he (Philip) should evacuate only those cities
which, being captured by himself, were held by the right of war; or
those, also, which he had received from his ancestors."

35. The Achaeans and Aetolians were preparing to answer, but, as the
sun was near setting, the conference was adjourned to the next day;
and Philip returned to his station whence he came, the Romans and
allies to their camp. On the following day, Quinctius repaired to
Nicaea, which was the place agreed on, at the appointed time; but
neither Philip, nor any messenger from him, came for several hours. At
length, when they began to despair of his coming, his ships suddenly
appeared. He said, that "the terms enjoined were so severe and
humiliating, that, not knowing what to determine, he had spent the day
in deliberation." But the general opinion was, that he had purposely
delayed the business until late, that the Achaeans and Aetolians might
not have time to answer him: and this opinion he himself confirmed, by
desiring that time might not be consumed in altercation, and, to bring
the affair to some conclusion, that the others should retire, and
leave him to converse with the Roman general. For some time this was
not admitted, lest the allies should appear to be excluded from the
conference. Afterwards, on his persisting in his desire, the Roman
general, with the consent of all, taking with him Appius Claudius,
a military tribune, advanced to the brink of the coast, and the rest
retired. The king, with the two persons whom he had brought the day
before, came on shore, where they conversed a considerable time in
private. What account of their proceedings Philip gave to his people
is not well known: what Quinctius told the allies was, that "Philip
was willing to cede to the Romans the whole coast of Illyricum, and
to give up the deserters and prisoners, if there were any. That he
consented to restore to Attalus his ships, and the seamen taken with
them; and to the Rhodians the tract which they call Peraea. That he
refused to evacuate Iassus and Bargylii. To the Aetolians he was ready
to restore Pharsalus and Larissa; Thebes he would not restore: and
that he would give back to the Achaeans the possession, not only of
Argos, but of Corinth also." This arrangement pleased none of the
parties; neither those to whom the concessions were to be made, nor
those to whom they were refused; "for on that plan," they said, "more
would be lost than gained; nor could the grounds of contention ever be
removed, but by his withdrawing his forces from every part of Greece."

36. These expressions, delivered with eagerness and vehemence by every
one in the assembly, reached the ears of Philip, though he stood at a
distance. He therefore requested of Quinctius, that the whole business
might be deferred until the next day; and then he would, positively,
either prevail on the allies, or suffer himself to be prevailed on by
them. The shore at Thronium was appointed for their meeting, and there
they assembled early. Philip began with entreating Quinctius, and all
who were present, not to harbour such sentiments as must embarrass
a negotiation of peace; and then desired time, while he could send
ambassadors to Rome, to the senate, declaring, that "he would either
obtain a peace on the terms mentioned, or would accept whatever terms
the senate should prescribe." None by any means approved of this; they
said, he only sought a delay, and leisure to collect his strength.
But Quinctius observed, "that such an objection would have been
well founded, if it were then summer and a season fit for action; as
matters stood, and the winter being just at hand, nothing would
be lost by allowing him time to send ambassadors. For, without the
authority of the senate, no agreement which they might conclude with
the king would be valid; and besides, they would by this means have
an opportunity, while the winter itself would necessarily cause
a suspension of arms, to learn the authoritative decision of the
senate." The other chiefs of the allies came over to this opinion: and
a cessation of hostilities for two months being granted, they resolved
that each of their states should send an ambassador with the necessary
information to the senate, and in order that it should not be deceived
by the misrepresentations of Philip. To the above agreement for a
truce, was added an article, that all the king's troops should be
immediately withdrawn from Phocis and Locris. With the ambassadors of
the allies, Quinctius sent Amynander, king of Athamania; and, to add
a degree of splendour to the embassy, a deputation from himself,
composed of Quintus Fabius, the son of his wife's sister, Quintus
Fulvius, and Appius Claudius.

37. On their arrival at Rome, the ambassadors of the allies were
admitted to audience before those of the king. Their discourse, in
general, was filled up with invectives against Philip. What produced
the greatest effect on the minds of the senate was, that, by pointing
out the relative situations of the lands and seas in that part of
the world, they made it manifest to every one, that if the king held
Demetrias in Thessaly, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth in Achaia,
Greece could not be free; and they added, that Philip himself, with
not more insolence than truth, used to call these the fetters of
Greece. The king's ambassadors were then introduced, and when they
were beginning a long harangue, a short question cut short
their discourse:--Whether he was willing to yield up the three
above-mentioned cities? They answered, that they had received no
specific instructions on that head: on which they were dismissed,
the negotiation being left unsettled. Full authority was given to
Quinctius to determine every thing relative to war and peace. As this
demonstrated clearly that the senate were not weary of the war, so
he, who was more earnestly desirous of conquest than of peace, never
afterwards consented to a conference with Philip; and even gave him
notice that he would not admit any embassy from him, unless it came
with information that he was retiring from the whole of Greece.

38. Philip now perceived that he must decide the matter in the
field, and collect his strength about him from all quarters. Being
particularly uneasy in respect to the cities of Achaia, a country
so distant from him, and also of Argos, even more, indeed, than of
Corinth, he resolved, as the most advisable method, to put the former
into the hands of Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon, in trust, as it were,
on the terms, that if he should prove successful in the war, Nabis
should re-deliver it to him; if any misfortune should happen, he
should keep it himself. Accordingly, he wrote to Philocles, who had
the command in Corinth and Argos, to have a meeting with the tyrant.
Philocles, besides coming with a valuable present, added to that
pledge of future friendship between the king and the tyrant, that it
was Philip's wish to unite his daughters in marriage to the sons of
Nabis. The tyrant, at first, refused to receive the city on any other
conditions than that of being invited to its protection by a decree
of the Argives themselves: but afterwards, hearing that in a full
assembly they had treated the name of the tyrant not only with scorn,
but even with abhorrence, he thought he had now a sufficient excuse
for plundering them, and he accordingly desired Philocles to give him
possession of the place as soon as he pleased. Nabis was admitted into
the city in the night, without the privity of any of the inhabitants,
and, at the first light, seized on the higher parts of it, and shut
the gates. A few of the principal people having made their escape,
during the first confusion, the properties of all who were absent were
seized as booty: those who were present were stripped of their gold
and silver, and loaded with exorbitant contributions. Such as paid
these readily were discharged, without personal insult and laceration
of their bodies; but such as were suspected of hiding or reserving
any of their effects, were mangled and tortured like slaves. He then
summoned an assembly, in which he promulgated two measures; one for
an abolition of debts, the other for a distribution of the land, in
shares, to each man--two fire-brands in the hands of those who were
desirous of revolution, for inflaming the populace against the higher
ranks.

39. The tyrant, when he had the city of Argos in his power, never
considering from whom or on what conditions he had received it, sent
ambassadors to Elatia, to Quinctius, and to Attalus, in his winter
quarters at Aegina, to tell them, that "he was in possession of Argos;
and that if Quinctius would come hither, and consult with him, he
had no doubt but that every thing might be adjusted between them."
Quinctius, in order that he might deprive Philip of that stronghold,
along with the rest, consented to come; accordingly, sending a message
to Attalus, to leave Aegina, and meet him at Sicyon, he set sail from
Anticyra with ten quinqueremes, which his brother, Lucius Quinctius,
happened to have brought a little before from his winter station at
Corcyra, and passed over to Sicyon. Attalus was there before him, who,
representing that the tyrant ought to come to the Roman general, not
the general to the tyrant, brought Quinctius over to his opinion,
which was, that he should not enter the city of Argos. Not far from
it, however, was a place called Mycenica; and there the parties agreed
to meet. Quinctius came, with his brother and a few military tribunes;
Attalus, with his royal retinue; and Nicostratus the praetor of the
Achaeans, with a few of the auxiliary officers: and they there found
Nabis waiting with his whole army. He advanced, armed, and attended
by his armed guards, almost to the middle of the interjacent plain;
Quinctius unarmed, with his brother and two military tribunes; the
king was accompanied by one of his nobles, and the praetor of the
Achaeans, unarmed likewise. The tyrant, when he saw the king and the
Roman general unarmed, opened the conference, with apologizing for
having come to the meeting armed himself, and surrounded with armed
men. "He had no apprehensions," he said, "from them; but only from
the Argive exiles." When they then began to treat of the conditions of
their friendship, the Roman made two demands: one, that the war with
the Achaeans should be put an end to; the other, that he should send
him aid against Philip. He promised the aid required; but, instead of
a peace with the Achaeans, a cessation of hostilities was obtained, to
last until the war with Philip should be concluded.

40. A debate concerning the Argives, also, was set on foot by king
Attalus, who charged Nabis with holding their city by force, which
was put into his hands by the treachery of Philocles; while Nabis
insisted, that he had been invited by the Argives themselves to afford
them protection. The king required a general assembly of the Argives
to be convened, that the truth of that matter might be known. To
this the tyrant did not object; but the king alleged, that the
Lacedaemonian troops ought to be withdrawn from the city, in order
to render the assembly free; and that the people should be left
at liberty to declare their real sentiments. The tyrant refused
to withdraw them, and the debate produced no effect. To the Roman
general, six hundred Cretans were given by Nabis, who agreed with the
praetor of the Achaeans to a cessation of arms for four months,
and thus they departed from the conference. Quinctius proceeded to
Corinth, advancing to the gates with the cohort of Cretans, in order
that it might be evident to Philocles, the governor of the city, that
the tyrant had deserted the cause of Philip. Philocles himself came
out to confer with the Roman general; and, on the latter exhorting
him to change sides immediately, and surrender the city he answered in
such a manner as showed an inclination rather to defer than to refuse
the matter. From Corinth, Quinctius sailed over to Anticyra, and
sent his brother thence, to sound the disposition of the people of
Acarnania. Attalus went from Argos to Sicyon. Here, on one side, the
state added new honours to those formerly paid to the king; and, on
the other, the king, besides having on a former occasion, redeemed for
them, at a vast expense, a piece of land sacred to Apollo, unwilling
to pass by the city of his friends and allies without a token of
munificence, made them a present of ten talents of silver,[1] and ten
thousand bushels of corn, and then returned to Cenchreae to his fleet.
Nabis, leaving a strong garrison at Argos, returned to Lacedaemon;
and, as he himself had pillaged the men, he sent his wife to Argos
to pillage the women. She invited the females to her house, sometimes
singly, and sometimes several together, who were united by family
connexion; and partly by fair speeches, partly by threats, stripped
them, not only of their gold, but, at last, even of their garments,
and every article of female attire.

[Footnote 1: 1937l. 10s.]



BOOK XXXIII.

    _Titus Quinctius Flamininus, proconsul, gains a decisive
    victory over Philip at Cynoscephalae. Caius Sempronius
    Tuditanus, praetor, cut off by the Celtiberians. Death of
    Attalus, at Pergamus. Peace granted to Philip, and liberty to
    Greece. Lucius Furius Purpureo and Marcus Claudius Marcellus,
    consuls, subdue the Boian and Insubrian Gauls. Triumph
    of Marcellus. Hannibal, alarmed at an embassy from Rome
    concerning him, flies to Antiochus, king of Syria, who was
    preparing to make war on the Romans_.


1. Such were the occurrences of the winter. In the beginning of
spring, Quinctius, having summoned Attalus to Elatia, and being
anxious to bring under his authority the nation of the Boeotians, who
had until then been wavering in their dispositions, marched through
Phocis, and pitched his camp at the distance of five miles from
Thebes, the capital of Boeotia. Next day, attended by one company of
soldiers, and by Attalus, together with the ambassadors, who had come
to him in great numbers from all quarters, he proceeded towards the
city, having ordered the spearmen of two legions, being two
thousand men, to follow him at the distance of a mile. About midway,
Antiphilus, praetor of the Boeotians, met him: the rest of the people
stood on the walls, watching the arrival of the king and the Roman
general. Few arms and few soldiers appeared around them--the hollow
roads, and the valleys concealing from view the spearmen, who followed
at a distance. When Quinctius drew near the city, he slackened his
pace, as if with intention to salute the multitude, who came out to
meet him; but the real motive of his delaying was, that the spearmen
might come up. The townsmen pushed forward, in a crowd, before the
lictors, not perceiving the band of soldiers who were following them
close, until they arrived at the general's quarters. Then, supposing
the city betrayed and taken, through the treachery of Antiphilus,
their praetor, they were all struck with astonishment and dismay.
It was now evident that no room was left to the Boeotians for a free
discussion of measures in the assembly, which was summoned for the
following day. However, they concealed their grief, which it would
have been both vain and unsafe to have discovered.

2. When the assembly met, Attalus first rose to speak, and he began
his discourse with a recital of the kindnesses conferred by his
ancestors and himself on the Greeks in general, and on the Boeotians
in particular. But, being now too old and infirm to bear the exertion
of speaking in public, he lost his voice and fell; and for some time,
while they were carrying him to his apartments, (for he was deprived
of the use of one half of his limbs,) the proceedings of the assembly
were for a short time suspended. Then Aristaenus spoke on the part of
the Achaeans, and was listened to with the greater attention, because
he recommended to the Boeotians no other measures than those which he
had recommended to the Achaeans. A few words were added by Quinctius,
extolling the good faith rather than the arms and power of the Romans.
A resolution was then proposed, by Dicaearchus of Plataea, for forming
a treaty of friendship with the Roman people, which was read; and no
one daring to offer any opposition, it was received and passed by the
suffrages of all the states of Boeotia. When the assembly broke up,
Quinctius made no longer stay at Thebes than the sudden accident
to Attalus made necessary. When it appeared that the force of the
disorder had not brought the king's life into any immediate danger,
but had only occasioned a weakness in his limbs, he left him there,
to use the necessary means for recovery, and returned to Elatia, from
whence he had come. Having now brought the Boeotians, as formerly
the Achaeans, to join in the confederacy, while all places were left
behind him in a state of tranquillity and safety, he bent his whole
attention towards Philip, and the remaining business of the war.

3. Philip, on his part, as his ambassadors had brought no hopes of
peace from Rome, resolved, as soon as spring began, to levy soldiers
through every town in his dominions: but he found a great scarcity of
young men; for successive wars, through several generations, had very
much exhausted the Macedonians, and, even in the course of his own
reign great numbers had fallen, in the naval engagements with the
Rhodians and Attalus, and in those on land with the Romans. Mere
youths, therefore, from the age of sixteen, were enlisted; and even
those who had served out their time, provided they had any remains of
strength, were recalled to their standards. Having, by these means,
filled up the numbers of his army about the vernal equinox, he drew
together all his forces to Dius: he encamped them there in a fixed
post; and, exercising the soldiers every day, waited for the enemy.
About the same time Quinctius left Elatia, and came by Thronium and
Scarphea to Thermopylae. There he held an assembly of the Aetolians,
which had been summoned to meet at Heraclea, to determine with what
number of auxiliaries they should follow the Roman general to the war.
On the third day, having learned the determination of the allies,
he proceeded from Heraclea to Xyniae; and, pitching his camp on the
confines between the Aenians and Thessalians, waited for the Aetolian
auxiliaries. The Aetolians occasioned no delay. Six hundred foot and
four hundred horse, under the command of Phaeneas, speedily joined
him; and then Quinctius, to show plainly what he had waited for,
immediately decamped. On passing into the country of Phthiotis, he
was joined by five hundred Cretans of Gortynium, whose commander was
Cydantes, with three hundred Apollonians, armed nearly in the same
manner; and not long after, by Amynander, with one thousand two
hundred Athamanian foot.

4. Philip, being informed of the departure of the Romans from Elatia,
and considering that, on the approaching contest, his kingdom was
at hazard, thought it advisable to make an encouraging speech to
his soldiers; in which, after he had expatiated on many topics often
alluded to before, respecting the virtues of their ancestors, and the
military fame of the Macedonians, he touched particularly on those
considerations which at the time threw the greatest damp on their
spirits, and on those by which they might be animated to some degree
of confidence. To the defeat thrice suffered at the narrow passes
near the river Aous, by the phalanx of the Macedonians, he opposed
the repulse given by main force to the Romans at Atrax: and even with
respect to the former case, when they had not maintained possession
of the pass leading into Epirus, he said, "the first fault was to be
imputed to those who had been negligent in keeping the guards; and
the second, to the light infantry and mercenaries in the time of the
engagement; but that, as to the phalanx of the Macedonians, it had
stood firm on that occasion; and would for ever remain invincible, on
equal ground, and in regular fight." This body consisted of sixteen
thousand men, the prime strength of the army, and of the kingdom.
Besides these, he had two thousand targeteers, called Peltastae;
of Thracians, and Illyrians of the tribe called Trallians, the like
number of two thousand; and of hired auxiliaries, collected out of
various nations, about one thousand; and two thousand horse. With this
force the king waited for the enemy. The Romans had nearly an equal
number; in cavalry alone they had a superiority, by the addition of
the Aetolians.

5. Quinctius, having decamped to Thebes in Phthiotis, and having
received encouragement to hope that the city would be betrayed to him
by Timon, a leading man in the state, came up close to the walls with
only a small number of cavalry and some light infantry. So entirely
were his expectations disappointed, that he was not only obliged to
maintain a fight with the enemy who sallied out against him, but would
have incurred a fearful conflict had not both infantry and cavalry
been called out hastily from the camp, and come up in time. Not
meeting with that success which he had too inconsiderately expected,
he desisted from any further attempt to take the city at present. He
had received certain information of the king being in Thessaly; but
as he had not yet discovered into what part of it he had come, he sent
his soldiers round the country, with orders to cut timber and prepare
palisades. Both Macedonians and Greeks had palisades; but the latter
had not adopted the most convenient mode of using them, either
with respect to carriage, or for the purpose of strengthening their
fortifications. They cut trees both too large and too full of branches
for a soldier to carry easily along with his arms: and after they
had fenced their camp with a line of these, the demolition of their
palisade was no difficult matter; for the trunks of large trees
appearing to view, with great intervals between them, and the numerous
and strong shoots affording the hand a good hold, two, or at most
three young men, uniting their efforts, used to pull out one tree,
which, being removed, a breach was opened as wide as a gate, and there
was nothing at hand with which it could be stopped up. But the Romans
cut light stakes, mostly of one fork, with three, or at the most four
branches; so that a soldier, with his arms slung at his back, can
conveniently carry several of them together; and then they stick them
down so closely, and interweave the branches in such a manner, that
it cannot be seen to what main stem any branch belongs; besides which,
the boughs are so sharp, and wrought so intimately with each other,
as to leave no room for a hand to be thrust between; consequently an
enemy cannot lay hold of any thing capable of being dragged out,
or, if that could be done, could he draw out the branches thus
intertwined, and which mutually bind each other. And even if, by
accident, one should be pulled out, it leaves but a small opening,
which is very easily filled up.

6. Next day Quinctius, causing his men to carry palisades with them,
that they might be ready to encamp on any spot, marched forward a
short way, and took post about six miles from Pherae; whence he sent
scouts to discover in what part of Thessaly the king was, and what
appeared to be his intention. Philip was then near Larissa, and as
soon as he learnt that the Roman general had removed from Thebes,
being equally impatient for a decisive engagement, he proceeded
towards the enemy, and pitched his camp about four miles from Pherae.
On the day following, some light troops went out from both camps, to
seize on certain hills, which over looked the city. When, nearly at
equal distance from summit which was intended to be seized, they came
within sight of each other, they halted; and sending messengers to
their respective camps for directions, how they were to proceed on
this unexpected meeting with the enemy, waited their return in quiet.
For that day, they were recalled to their camps, without having
commenced any engagement. On the following day, there was a battle
between the cavalry, near the same hills, in which the Aetolians
bore no small part; and in which the king's troops were defeated,
and driven into their camp. Both parties were greatly impeded in
the action, by the ground being thickly planted with trees; by the
gardens, of which there were many in a place so near the city; and by
the roads being enclosed between walls, and in some places shut up.
The commanders, therefore, were equally desirous of removing out of
that quarter; and, as if by a preconcerted scheme, they both directed
their route to Scotussa: Philip with the hope of getting a supply of
corn there; the Roman intending to get before the enemy and destroy
the crops. The armies marched the whole day without having sight of
each other in any place, the view being intercepted by a continued
range of hills between them. The Romans encamped at Eretria, in
Phthiotis; Philip, on the river Onchestus. But though Philip lay at
Melambius, in the territory of Scotussa, and Quinctius near Thetidium,
in Pharsalia, neither party knew with any certainty where his
antagonist was. On the third day, there first fell a violent rain,
which was succeeded by darkness equal to that of night, and this
confined the Romans to their camp, through fear of an ambuscade.

7. Philip, intent on hastening his march, and in no degree deterred by
the clouds, which after the rain lowered over the face of the country,
ordered his troops to march: and yet so thick a fog had obscured the
day, that neither the standard-bearers could see the road, nor the
soldiers the standards; so that all, led blindly by the shouts of
uncertain guides, fell into disorder, like men wandering by night.
When they had passed over the hills called Cynoscephalae, where
they set a strong guard of foot and horse, they pitched their camp.
Although the Roman general staid at Thetidium, yet he detatched troops
of horse and one thousand foot, to find out where the enemy lay;
warning them, however, to beware of ambuscades, which the darkness of
the day would cover, even in an open country. When these arrived at
the hills, where the enemy's guard was posted, struck with mutual
fear, both parties stood, as if deprived of the power of motion. They
then sent back messengers to their respective commanders; and when the
first surprise subsided, they proceeded to action without more delay.
The fight was begun by small advanced parties; and afterwards the
numbers of the combatants were increased by reinforcements of men, who
supported those who gave way. In this contest the Romans, being far
inferior to their adversaries, sent message after message to the
general, that they were being overpowered; on which he hastily sent
five hundred horse and two thousand foot, mostly Aetolians, under the
command of two military tribunes, who relieved them, and restored the
fight. The Macedonians, distressed in turn by this change of fortune,
sent to beg succour from their king; but as, on account of the general
darkness from the fog, he had expected nothing less, on that day, than
a battle, and had therefore sent a great number of men, of every kind,
to forage, he was, for a considerable time, in great perplexity, and
unable to form a resolution. Subsequently, as the messengers still
continued to urge him, and the covering of clouds was now removed
from the tops of the mountains, and the Macedonian party was in view,
having been driven up to the highest summit, and trusting for safety
rather to the nature of the ground than to their arms, he thought it
necessary, at all events, to hazard the whole, in order to prevent
the loss of a part, for want of support; and, accordingly, he sent
up Athenagoras, general of the mercenary soldiers, with all the
auxiliaries, except the Thracians, joined by the Macedonian and
Thessalian cavalry. On their arrival, the Romans were forced from the
top of the hill, and did not face about until they came to the level
plain. The principal support which saved them from being driven down
in disorderly flight, was the Aetolian horsemen. The Aetolians
were then by far the best cavalry in Greece; in infantry, they were
surpassed by some of their neighbours.

8. This affair was represented as more successful than the advantage
gained in the battle could warrant; for people came, one after
another, and calling out that the Romans were flying in a panic; so
that, though reluctant and hesitating declaring it a rash proceeding,
and that he liked not either place or the time, yet he was prevailed
upon to draw out his whole force to battle. The Roman general did the
same, induced by necessity, rather than by the favourableness of the
occasion. Leaving the right wing as a reserve, having the elephants
posted in front, he, with the left, and all the right infantry,
advanced against the enemy; at the same time reminding his men, that
"they were going to fight the same Macedonians whom they had fought in
the passes of Epirus, fenced, as they were, with mountains and rivers,
and whom, after conquering the natural difficulties of the ground,
they had dislodged and vanquished; the same, whom they had before
defeated under the command of Publius Sulpicius, when they opposed
their passage to Eordaea. That the kingdom of Macedonia had been
hitherto supported by its reputation, not by real strength; and that
even that reputation had, at length, vanished." Quinctius soon reached
his troops, who stood in the bottom of the valley; and they, on the
arrival of their general and the army, renewed the fight, and, making
a vigorous onset, compelled the enemy again to turn their backs.
Philip, with the targeteers, and the right wing of infantry, (the main
strength of the Macedonian army, called by them the phalanx,) advanced
at a quick pace, having ordered Nicanor, one of his courtiers, to
bring up the rest of his forces with all speed. At first, on reaching
the top of the hill, from a few arms and bodies lying there, he
perceived that there had been an engagement on the spot, and that the
Romans had been repulsed from it. When he likewise saw the fight now
going on close to the enemy's works, he was elated with excessive
delight; but presently, observing his men flying back, and that the
panic was on the other side, he was much embarrassed, and hesitated
for some time, whether he should cause his troops to retire into the
camp. Then, as the enemy approached, he was sensible that his party,
besides the losses which they suffered as they fled, must be entirely
lost, if not speedily succoured; and as, by this time, even a retreat
would be unsafe, he found himself compelled to put all to hazard,
before he was joined by the other division of his forces. He placed
the cavalry and light infantry that had been engaged, on the right
wing; and ordered the targeteers, and the phalanx of Macedonians,
to lay aside their spears, which their great length rendered
unserviceable, and to manage the business with their swords: at the
same time, that his line might not be easily broken, he lessened the
extent of the front one half, and doubled the files within so that it
might be deeper than it was broad. He ordered them also to close their
files, so that man might join with man and arms with arms.

9. Quinctius, having received among the standards and ranks those who
had been engaged with the enemy, gave the signal by sound of trumpet.
It is said, that such a shout was raised, as was seldom heard at the
beginning of any battle; for it happened, that both armies shouted
at once; not only the troops then engaged, but also the reserves, and
those who were just then coming into the field. The king, fighting
from the higher ground, had the better on the right wing, by means
chiefly of the advantage of situation. On the left, all was disorder
and confusion; particularly when that division of the phalanx, which
had marched in the rear, was coming up. The centre stood intent on the
fight as on a spectacle which in no way concerned them. The phalanx,
just arrived (a column rather than a line of battle, and fitter for
a march than for a fight,) had scarcely mounted the top of the hill:
before these could form, Quinctius, though he saw his men in the left
wing giving way, charged the enemy furiously, first driving on the
elephants against them, for he judged that one part being routed
would draw the rest after. The affair was no longer doubtful. The
Macedonians, repelled by the first shock of the elephants, instantly
turned their backs; and the rest, as had been foreseen, followed them
in their retreat. Then, one of the military tribunes, forming his
design in the instant, took with him twenty companies of men; left
that part of the army which was evidently victorious; and making a
small circuit, fell on the rear of the enemy's right wing. Any army
whatever, thus charged from the rear, must have been thrown into
confusion. But to that confusion which under such circumstances would
be common to all armies, there was in this case an additional cause.
The phalanx of the Macedonians, being heavy, could not readily face
about; nor would they have been suffered to do it by their adversaries
in front, who, although they gave way to them a little before, on this
new occasion pressed them vigorously. Besides, they lay under
another inconvenience in respect of the ground; for, by pursuing the
retreating enemy down the face of the hill, they had left the top to
the party who came round on their rear. Thus attacked on both sides,
they were exposed for some time to great slaughter, and then betook
themselves to flight, most of them throwing away their arms.

10. Philip, with a small party of horse and foot, ascended a hill
somewhat higher than the rest, to take a view of the situation of his
troops on the left. Then, when he saw them flying in confusion, and
all the hills around glittering with Roman standards and arms,
he withdrew from the field. Ouinctius, as he was pressing on the
retreating enemy, observed the Macedonians suddenly raising up their
spears, and not knowing what they meant thereby, he ordered the
troops to halt. Then, on being told that this was the practice of the
Macedonians when surrendering themselves prisoners, he was disposed
to spare the vanquished; but the troops, not being apprized, either of
the enemy having ceased fighting, or of the general's intention, made
a charge on them, and the foremost having been cut down, the rest
dispersed themselves and fled. Philip hastened in disorderly flight
to Tempè, and there halted one day at Gonni, to pick up any who
might have survived the battle. The victorious Romans rushed into the
Macedonian camp with hopes of spoil, but found it, for the most part,
plundered already by the Aetolians. Eight thousand of the enemy were
killed on that day, five thousand taken. Of the victors, about seven
hundred fell. If any credit is to be attached to Valerius Antias, who
on every occasion exaggerates numbers enormously, the killed of the
enemy on that day amounted to forty thousand; the prisoners taken, (in
which article the deviation from truth is less extravagant,) to five
thousand seven hundred, with two hundred and forty-nine military
standards. Claudius also asserts that thirty-two thousand of the enemy
were slain, and four thousand three hundred taken. We have not
given entire credit, even to the smallest of those numbers, but have
followed Polybius, a safe authority with respect to all the Roman
affairs, but especially those which were transacted in Greece.

11. Philip having collected, after the flight, such as, having been
scattered by the various chances of the battle, had followed his
steps, and having sent people to Larissa to burn the records of the
kingdom, lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy, retired
into Macedonia. Quinctius set up to sale a part of the prisoners and
booty, and part he bestowed on the soldiers; and then proceeded to
Larissa, without having yet received any certain intelligence to what
quarter Philip had betaken himself, or what were his designs. To this
place came a herald from the king, apparently to obtain a truce, until
those who had fallen in battle should be removed and buried, but in
reality to request permission to send ambassadors. Both were obtained
from the Roman general; who, besides, added this message to the king,
"not to be too much dejected." This expression gave much offence,
particularly to the Aetolians, who were become very assuming, and who
complained, that "the general was quite altered by success. Before the
battle, he was accustomed to transact all business, whether great or
small, in concert with the allies; but they had, now, no share in
any of his counsels; he conducted all affairs entirely by his own
judgment; and was even seeking an occasion of ingratiating himself
personally with Philip, in order that, after the Aetolians had
laboured through all hardships and difficulties of the war, the Roman
might assume to himself all the merit and all the fruits of a peace."
Certain it is, that he had treated them with less respect than
formerly, but they did not know why they were thus slighted. They
imagined that he was actuated by an expectation of presents from the
king, though he was of a spirit incapable of yielding to any such
passion of the mind; but he was, with good reason, displeased at the
Aetolians, on account of their insatiable greediness for plunder,
and of their arrogance in assuming to themselves the honour of
the victory--a claim so ill founded, as to offend the ears of all.
Besides, he foresaw that, if Philip were removed out of the way,
and the strength of the kingdom of Macedonia entirely broken, the
Aetolians would necessarily be regarded as the masters of Greece.
For these reasons, he intentionally did many things to lessen their
importance and reputation in the judgment of the other states.

12. A truce for fifteen days was granted to the Macedonians, and a
conference with the king himself appointed. Before the day arrived on
which this was to be held, the Roman general called a council of the
allies, and desired their opinions respecting the terms of peace,
proper to be prescribed. Amynander, king of Athamania, delivered his
opinion in a few words; that "the conditions of peace ought to be
adjusted in such a manner, as that Greece might have sufficient power,
even without the interference of the Romans, to maintain the peace,
and also its own liberty." The address of the Aetolians was more
harsh; for after a few introductory observations on the justice and
propriety of the Roman general's conduct, in communicating his plans
of peace to those who had acted with him as allies in the war, they
insisted, "that he was utterly mistaken, if he supposed that he
could leave the peace with the Romans, or the liberty of Greece, on a
permanent footing, unless Philip was either put to death or banished
from his kingdom; both which he could easily accomplish, if he chose
to pursue his present success." Quinctius, in reply, said, that "the
Aetolians, in giving such advice, attended not either to the maxims of
the Roman policy, or to the consistency of their own conduct. For,
in all the former councils and conferences, wherein the conditions of
peace were discussed, they never once urged the pushing of the war to
the utter ruin of the Macedonian: and, as to the Romans, besides that
they had, from the earliest periods, observed the maxim of sparing the
vanquished, they had lately given a signal proof of their clemency
in the peace granted to Hannibal and the Carthaginians. But, not
to insist on the case of the Carthaginians, how often had the
confederates met Philip himself in conference, yet that it had never
been urged that he should resign his kingdom: and, because he had
been defeated in battle, was that a reason that their animosity should
become implacable? Against an armed foe, men ought to engage with
hostile resentment; towards the vanquished, the loftiest spirit was
ever the most merciful. The kings of Macedonia were thought to be
dangerous to the liberty of Greece. Suppose that kingdom and nation
extirpated, the Thracians, Illyrians, and in time the Gauls, (nations
unsubjugated and savage,) would pour themselves into Macedonia first,
and then into Greece. That they should not, by removing inconveniences
which lay nearest, open a passage to others greater and more
grievous." Here he was interrupted by Phaeneas, praetor of the
Aetolians, who solemnly declared, that "if Philip escaped now, he
would soon raise a new and more dangerous war." On which Quinctius
said,--"Cease wrangling, when you ought to deliberate. The king shall
be bound down by such conditions as will not leave it in his power to
raise a war."

13. The convention was then adjourned; and next day, the king came
to the pass at the entrance of Tempè, the place appointed for a
conference; and the third day following was fixed for introducing him
to a full assembly of the Romans and allies. On this occasion Philip,
with great prudence, intentionally avoided the mention of any of those
conditions, without which peace could not be obtained, rather than
suffer them to be extorted after discussion; and declared, that he was
ready to comply with all the articles which, in the former conference,
were either prescribed by the Romans or demanded by the allies; and to
leave all other matters to the determination of the senate. Although
he seemed to have hereby precluded every objection, even from the
most inveterate of his enemies, yet, all the rest remaining silent,
Phaeneas, the Aetolian, said to him,--"What! Philip, do you at last
restore to us Pharsalus and Larissa, with Cremaste, Echinus, and
Thebes in Phthiotis?" On Philip answering, that "he would give no
obstruction to their retaking the possession of them," a dispute
arose between the Roman general and the Aetolians about Thebes; for
Quinctius affirmed, that it became the property of the Roman people by
the laws of war; because when, before the commencement of hostilities,
he marched his army thither, and invited the inhabitants to
friendship, they, although at full liberty to renounce the king's
party, yet preferred an alliance with Philip to one with Rome.
Phaeneas alleged, that, in consideration of their being confederates
in the war, it was reasonable, that whatever the Aetolians possessed
before it began, should be restored; and that, besides, there was, in
the first treaty, a provisional clause of that purport, by which the
spoils of war, of every kind that could be carried or driven, were to
belong to the Romans; and that the lands and captured cities should
fall to the Aetolians. "Yourselves," replied Quinctius, "annulled the
conditions of that treaty, at the time when ye deserted us, and made
peace with Philip; but supposing it still remained in force, yet that
clause could affect only captured cities. Now, the states of Thessaly
submitted to us by a voluntary act of their own."--These words were
heard by their allies with universal approbation; but to the
Aetolians they were both highly displeasing at the present, and proved
afterwards the cause of a war, and of many great disasters attending
it. The terms settled with Philip were, that he should give his
son Demetrius, and some of his friends, as hostages; should pay two
hundred talents[1] and send ambassadors to Rome, respecting the other
articles: for which purpose there should be a cessation of arms for
four months. An engagement was entered into, that, in case the senate
should refuse to conclude a treaty, his money and hostages should
be returned to Philip. It is said, that one of the principal reasons
which made the Roman general wish to expedite the conclusion of a
peace, was, that he had received certain information of Antiochus
intending to commence hostilities, and to pass over into Europe.

[Footnote 1: 38,750l.]

14. About the same time, and, as some writers say, on the same day,
the Achaeans defeated Androsthenes, the king's commander, in a general
engagement near Corinth. Philip, intending to use this city as a
citadel, to awe the states of Greece, had invited the principal
inhabitants to a conference, under pretence of agreeing with them as
to the number of horsemen which the Corinthians could supply towards
the war, and these he detained as hostages. Besides the force already
there, consisting of five hundred Macedonians and eight hundred
auxiliaries of various kinds, he had sent thither one thousand
Macedonians, one thousand two hundred Illyrians, and of Thracians and
Cretans (for these served in both the opposite armies) eight hundred.
To these were added Botians, Thessalians, and Acarnanians, to the
amount of one thousand, all carrying bucklers; with as many of the
young Corinthians themselves, as filled up the number of six thousand
men under arms,--a force which inspired Androsthenes with a confident
wish to decide the matter in the field. Nicostratus, praetor of the
Achaeans, was at Sicyon, with two thousand foot and one hundred horse;
but seeing himself so inferior, both in the number and kind of
troops, he did not go outside the walls: the king's forces, in various
excursions, were ravaging the lands of Pellene, Phliasus, and Cleone.
At last, reproaching the enemy with cowardice, they passed over into
the territory of Sicyon, and, sailing round Achaia, laid waste the
whole coast. As the enemy, while thus employed, spread themselves
about too widely and too carelessly, (the usual consequence of too
much confidence,) Nicostratus conceived hopes of attacking them by
surprise. He therefore sent secret directions to all the neighbouring
states, as to what day, and what number from each state, should
assemble in arms at Apelaurus, a place in the territory of Stymphalia.
All being in readiness at the time appointed, he marched thence
immediately; and, without the knowledge of any one as to what he was
contemplating, came by night through the territory of the Phliasians
to Cleone. He had with him five thousand foot, of whom * * * * * * [1]
were light-armed, and three hundred horse; with this force he waited
there, having despatched scouts to watch on what quarter the enemy
should make their irregular inroads.

[Footnote 1: In the original, the number is omitted, or lost.]

15. Androsthenes, utterly ignorant of all these proceedings, set out
from Corinth, and encamped on the Nemea, a river running between
the confines of Corinth and Sicyon. Here, dismissing one half of his
troops, he divided the remainder into three parts, and ordered all the
cavalry of each part to march in separate divisions, and ravage,
at the same time, the territories of Pellene, Sicyon, and Phlius.
Accordingly, the three divisions set out by different roads. As soon
as Nicostratus received intelligence of this at Cleone, he instantly
sent forward a numerous detachment of mercenaries, to seize a pass
at the entrance into the territory of Corinth; and he himself quickly
followed, with his troops in two columns, the cavalry proceeding
before the head of each, as advanced guards. In one column marched
the mercenary soldiers and light infantry; in the other, the
shield-bearers of the Achaeans and other states, who composed the
principal strength of the army. Both infantry and cavalry were now
within a small distance of the camp, and some of the Thracians had
attacked parties of the enemy, who were straggling and scattered over
the country, when the sudden alarm reached their tents. The commander
was thrown into the utmost perplexity; for, having never had a sight
of the Achaeans, except occasionally on the hills before Sicyon,
when they did not venture to come down into the plains, he had
never imagined that they would come so far as Cleone. He ordered the
stragglers to be recalled by sound of trumpet; commanded the soldiers
to take arms with all haste; and, marching out of the gate at the head
of thin battalions, drew up his line on the bank of the river. His
other troops, having scarcely had time to be collected and formed, did
not withstand the enemy's first onset; the Macedonians had surrounded
their standards in by far the greatest numbers, and now kept the
prospect of victory a long time doubtful. At length, being left
exposed by the flight of the rest, and pressed by two bodies of the
enemy on different sides, by the light infantry on their flank, and by
the shield-bearers and targeteers in front, and seeing victory declare
against them, they at first gave ground; soon after, being vigorously
pushed, they turned their backs; and most of them, throwing away their
arms and having lost all hope of defending their camp, made the best
of their way to Corinth. Nicostratus sent the mercenaries in pursuit
of these; and the auxiliary Thracians against the party employed
in ravaging the lands of Sicyon: occasioned great carnage in both
instances, greater almost than occurred in the battle itself. Of those
who had been ravaging Pellene and Phlius, some, returning to their
camp, ignorant of all that had happened, and without any regular
order, fell in with the advanced guards of the enemy, where they
expected their own. Others, from the bustle which they perceived,
suspecting what was really the case, fled and dispersed themselves in
such a manner, that, as they wandered up and down, they were cut
off by the very peasants. There fell, on that day, one thousand
five hundred: three hundred were made prisoners. All Achaia was thus
relieved from their great alarm.

16. Before the battle at Cynoscephalae, Lucius Quinctius had invited
to Corcyra some chiefs of the Acarnanians, the only state in Greece
which had continued to maintain its alliance with the Macedonians; and
there made some kind of scheme for a change of measures. Two causes,
principally, had retained them in friendship with the king: one was a
principle of honour, natural to that nation; the other, their fear and
hatred of the Aetolians. A general assembly was summoned to meet at
Leucas; but neither did all the states of Acarnania come thither, nor
were those who did attend agreed in opinion. However, the magistrates
and leading men prevailed so far, as to get a decree passed, thus
privately, for joining in alliance with the Romans. This gave great
offence to those who had not been present; and, in this ferment of
the nation, Androcles and Echedemus, two men of distinction among the
Acarnanians, being commissioned by Philip, had influence enough in the
assembly, not only to obtain the repeal of the decree for an alliance
with Rome, but also the condemnation, on a charge of treason, of
Archesilaus and Bianor, both men of the first rank in Acarnania, who
had been the advisers of that measure; and to deprive Zeuxidas, the
praetor, of his office, for having put it to the vote. The persons
condemned took a course apparently desperate, but successful in the
issue: for, while their friends advised them to yield to the necessity
of the occasion, and withdraw to Corcyra, to the Romans, they resolved
to present themselves to the multitude; and either, by that act, to
mollify their resentment, or endure whatever might befall them. When
they had introduced themselves into a full assembly, at first, a
murmur arose, expressive of surprise; but presently silence took
place, partly from respect to their former dignity, partly from
commiseration of their present situation. Having been also permitted
the liberty of speaking, at first they addressed the assembly in a
suppliant manner; but, in the progress of their discourse, when they
came to refute the charges made against them, they spoke with that
degree of confidence which innocence inspires. At last, they even
ventured to utter some complaints, and to charge the proceedings
against them with injustice and cruelty; and this had such an effect
on the minds of all present, that, with one consent, they annulled
all the decrees passed against them. Nevertheless, they came to a
resolution, to renounce the friendship of the Romans, and return to
the alliance with Philip.

17. These decrees were passed at Leucas, the capital of Acarnania, the
place where all the states usually met in council. As soon, therefore,
as the news of this sudden change reached the lieutenant-general
Flamininus, in Corcyra, he instantly set sail with the fleet for
Leucas; and coming to an anchor at a place called Heraeus, advanced
thence towards the walls with every kind of machine used in the
attacking of cities; supposing that the first appearance of danger
might bend the minds of the inhabitants to submission. But seeing no
prospect of effecting any thing, except by force, he began to erect
towers and sheds, and to bring up the battering-rams to the walls. The
whole of Acarnania, being situated between Aetolia and Epirus, faces
towards the west and the Sicilian sea. Leucadia, now an island,
separated from Acarnania by a shallow strait which was dug by the
hand, was then a peninsula, united on its eastern side to Acarnania by
a narrow isthmus: this isthmus was about five hundred paces in length,
and in breadth not above one hundred and twenty. At the entrance of
this narrow neck stands Leucas, stretching up part of a hill which
faces the east and Acarnania: the lower part of the town is level,
lying along the sea, which divides Leucadia from Acarnania. Thus it
lies open to attacks, both from the sea and from the land; for the
channel is more like a marsh than a sea, and all the adjacent ground
is solid enough to render the construction of works easy. In many
places, therefore, at once the walls fell down, either undermined,
or demolished by the ram. But the spirit of the besieged was as
invincible as the town itself was favourably situated for the
besiegers: night and day they employed themselves busily in repairing
the shattered parts of the wall; and, stopping up the breaches that
were made, fought the enemy with great spirit, and showed a wish to
defend the walls by their arms rather than themselves by the walls.
And they would certainly have protracted the siege to a length
unexpected by the Romans, had not some exiles of Italian birth, who
resided in Leucas, admitted a band of soldiers into the citadel:
notwithstanding which, when those troops ran down from the higher
ground with great tumult and uproar, the Leucadians, drawing up in a
body in the forum, withstood them for a considerable time in regular
fight. Meanwhile the walls were scaled in many places; and the
besiegers, climbing over the rubbish, entered the town through the
breaches. And now the lieutenant-general himself surrounded the
combatants with a powerful force. Being thus hemmed in, many were
slain, the rest laid down their arms and surrendered to the conqueror.
In a few days after, on hearing of the battle at Cynoscephalae,
all the states of Acarnania made their submission to the
lieutenant-general.

18. About this time, fortune, depressing the same party in every
quarter at once, the Rhodians, in order to recover from Phillip the
tract on the continent called Peraea, which had been in possession of
their ancestors, sent thither their praetor, Pausistratus, with eight
hundred Achaean foot, and about one thousand nine hundred men, made
up of auxiliaries of various nations. These were Gauls, Nisuetans,
Pisuetans, Tamians Areans from Africa, and Laodiceans from Asia. With
this force Pausistratus seized by surprise Tendeba, in the territory
of Stratonice, a place exceedingly convenient for his purpose, without
the knowledge of the king's troops who had held it. A reinforcement
of one thousand Achaean foot and one hundred horse, called out for the
same expedition, came up at the very time, under a commander called
Theoxenus. Dinocrates, the king's general, with design to recover
the fort, marched his army first to Tendeba, and then to another fort
called Astragon, which also stood in the territory of Stratonice.
Then, calling in all the garrisons, which were scattered in many
different places, and the Thessalian auxiliaries from Stratonice
itself, he led them on to Alabanda, where the enemy lay. The Rhodians
were no way averse from a battle, and the camps being pitched near
each other both parties immediately came into the field. Dinocrates
placed five hundred Macedonians on his right wing, and the Agrians
on his left; the centre he formed of the troops which he had drawn
together out of the garrisons of the forts; these were mostly Carians;
and he covered the flanks with the cavalry, and the Cretan and
Thracian auxiliaries. The Rhodians had on the right wing the Achaeans;
on the left mercenary soldiers; and in the centre a chosen band of
infantry, a body of auxiliaries composed of troops of various nations.
The cavalry and what light infantry they had, were posted on the
wings. During that day both armies remained on the banks of a rivulet,
which ran between them, and, after discharging a few javelins, they
retired into their camps. Next day, being drawn up in the same order,
they fought a more important battle than could have been expected,
considering the numbers engaged; for there were not more than three
thousand infantry on each side, and about one hundred horse: but they
were not only on an equality with respect to numbers, and the kind of
arms which they used, but they also fought with equal spirit and equal
hopes. First, the Achaeans crossing the rivulet, made an attack on the
Agrians; then the whole line passed the river, almost at full speed.
The fight continued doubtful a long time: the Achaeans, one thousand
in number, drove back the four hundred from their position. Then the
left wing giving way, all exerted themselves against the right. On
the Macedonians no impression could be made, so long as their phalanx
preserved its order, each man clinging as it were to another:
but when, in consequence of their flank being left exposed, they
endeavoured to turn their spears against the enemy, who were advancing
upon that side, they immediately broke their ranks. This first caused
disorder among themselves; they then turned their backs, and at last,
throwing away their arms, and flying with precipitation, made the best
of their way to Bargylii. To the same place Dinocrates also made his
escape. The Rhodians continued the pursuit as long as the day lasted,
and then retired to their camp. There is every reason to believe,
that, if the victors had proceeded with speed to Stratonice, that
city would have been gained without a contest; but the opportunity for
effecting this was neglected, and the time wasted in taking possession
of the forts and villages in Peraea. In the mean time, the courage
of the troops in garrison at Stratonice revived; and shortly after,
Dinocrates, with the troops which had escaped from the battle, came
into the town, which, after that, was besieged and assaulted without
effect; nor could it be reduced until a long time after that, when
Antiochus took it. Such were the events that took place in Thessaly,
in Achaia, and in Asia, all about the same time.

19. Philip was informed that the Dardanians, in contempt of the
power of his kingdom, shaken as at that time it was, had passed the
frontiers, and were spreading devastation through the upper parts
of Macedonia: on which, though he was hard pressed in almost every
quarter of the globe, fortune on all occasions defeating his measures
and those of his friends, yet, thinking it more intolerable than death
to be expelled from the possession of Macedonia, he made hasty levies
through the cities of his dominions; and, with six thousand foot and
five hundred horse, defeated the enemy by a surprise near Stobi in
Paeonia. Great numbers were killed in the fight, and greater numbers
of those who were scattered about in quest of plunder. As to such as
found a road open for flight, without having even tried the chance
of an engagement, they hastened back to their own country. After this
enterprise executed with a degree of success beyond what he met in
the rest of his attempts, and which raised the drooping courage of his
people, he retired to Thessalonica. Seasonable as was the termination
of the Punic war, in extricating the Romans from the danger of a
quarrel with Philip, the recent triumph over Philip happened still
more opportunely, when Antiochus, in Syria, was already making
preparations for hostilities. For besides that it was easier to wage
war against them separately than if both had combined their forces
together, Spain had a little before this time, risen in arms in great
commotion Antiochus, though he had in the preceding summer reduced
under his power all the states in Coele-Syria belonging to Ptolemy,
and retired into winter quarters at Antioch, yet allowed himself no
relaxation from the exertions of the summer. For resolving to exert
the whole strength of his kingdom, he collected a most powerful force,
both naval and military; and in the beginning of spring, sending
forward by land his two sons, Ardues and Mithridates, at the head of
the army, with orders to wait for him at Sardis, he himself set out
by sea with a fleet of one hundred decked ships, besides two hundred
lighter vessels, barks and fly-boats, designing to attempt the
reduction of all the cities under the dominion of Ptolemy along the
whole coast of Caria and Cilicia; and, at the same time, to aid Philip
with an army and ships, for as yet that war had not been brought to a
conclusion.

20. The Rhodians, out of a faithful attachment to the Roman people,
and an affection for the whole race of the Greeks have performed
many honourable exploits, both on land and sea: but never was their
gallantry more eminently conspicuous than on this occasion, when,
nowise dismayed at the formidable magnitude of the impending war,
they sent ambassadors to tell the king, that he should not double the
tribute of Cheledoniae, which is a promontory of Cilicia, rendered
famous by an ancient treaty between the Athenians and the king
of Persia; that if he did not confine his fleet and army to that
boundary, they would meet him there and oppose not out of any ill
will, but because they would not suffice to join Philip and obstruct
the Romans, who were resisting liberty to Greece. At this time
Antiochus was pushing the siege of Coracesium with his works; for,
after he had possession of Zephyrium, Solae, Aphrodisias, and Corycus;
and doubling Anemurium, another promontory of Cilicia, had taken
Selinus; when all these, and the other fortresses on that coast, had,
either through fear or inclination, submitted without resistance,
Coracesium shut its gates, and gave him a delay which he did not
expect. Here an audience was given to the ambassadors of the Rhodians,
and although the purport of their embassy was such as might kindle
passion in the breast of a king, yet he stifled his resentment, and
answered, that "he would send ambassadors to Rhodes, and would give
them instructions to renew the old treaties, made by him and his
predecessors, with that state; and to assure them, that they need not
be alarmed at his approach; that it would involve no injury or fraud
either to them or their allies; for that he was not about to violate
the friendship subsisting between himself and the Romans, both his own
late embassy to that people, and the senate's answers and decrees, so
honourable to him, were a sufficient evidence." Just at that time his
ambassadors happened to have returned from Rome, where they had been
heard and dismissed with courtesy, as the juncture required; the
event of the war with Philip being yet uncertain. While the king's
ambassadors were haranguing to the above purpose, in an assembly of
the people at Rhodes, a courier arrived with an account of the battle
at Cynoscephalae having finally decided the fate of the war.
Having received this intelligence, the Rhodians, now freed from all
apprehensions of danger from Philip, resolved to oppose Antiochus with
their fleet. Nor did they neglect another object that required their
attention; the protection of the freedom of the cities in alliance
with Ptolemy, which were threatened with war by Antiochus. For, some
they assisted with men, others by forewarning them of the enemy's
designs; by which means they enabled the Cauneans, Mindians,
Halicarnassians, and Samians to preserve their liberty. It were
needless to attempt enumerating all the transactions as they occurred
in that quarter, when I am scarcely equal to the task of recounting
those which immediately concern the war in which Rome was engaged.

21. At this time king Attalus, having fallen sick at Thebes, had been
carried thence to Pergamus, died at the age of seventy-one after he
had reigned forty-four years. To this man fortune had given nothing
which could inspire hopes of a throne except riches. By a prudent,
and, at the same time, a splendid use of these, he begat, in himself
first, and then in others, an opinion, that he was not undeserving of
a crown. Afterwards, having in one battle utterly defeated the Gauls,
which nation was then the more terrible to Asia, as having but lately
made its appearance there, he assumed the title of king, and ever
after exhibited a spirit equal to the dignity of that name. He
governed his subjects with the most perfect justice, and observed an
unvarying fidelity towards his allies; gentle and bountiful to his
friends; affectionate to his wife and four sons, who survived him; and
he left his government established on such solid and firm foundations,
that the possession of it descended to the third generation. While
this was the posture of affairs in Asia, Greece, and Macedonia, the
war with Philip being scarcely ended, and the peace certainly not yet
perfected, a desperate insurrection took place in the Farther Spain.
Marcus Helvius was governor of that province. He informed the senate
by letter, that "two chieftains, Colca and Luscinus, were in arms;
that Colca was joined by seventeen towns, and Luscinus by the powerful
cities of Carmo and Bardo; and that the people of the whole sea-coast,
who had not yet manifested their disposition, were ready to rise on
the first motion of their neighbours." On this letter being read by
Marcus Sergius, city praetor, the senate decreed, that, as soon as
the election of praetors should be finished, the one to whose lot the
government of Spain fell should, without delay, consult the senate
respecting the commotions in that province.

22. About the same time the consuls came home to Rome, and, on
their holding a meeting of the senate in the temple of Bellona, and
demanding a triumph, in consideration of their successes in the war,
Caius Atinius Labeo, and Caius Ursanius, plebeian tribunes, insisted
that "the consuls should propose their claims of a triumph separately,
for they would not suffer the question to be put on both jointly,
lest equal honours might be conferred where the merits were unequal."
Minucius urged, that they had both been appointed to the government
of one province, Italy; and that, through the course of their
administration, his colleague and himself had been united in
sentiments and in counsels; to which Cornelius added, that, when the
Boians were passing the Po, to assist the Insubrians and Caenomanians
against him, they were forced to return to defend their own country,
from his colleague ravaging their towns and lands. In reply the
tribunes acknowledged, that the services performed in the war by
Cornelius were so great, that "no more doubt could be entertained
respecting his triumph than respecting the ascribing of glory to the
immortal gods." Nevertheless they insisted, that "neither he nor any
other member of the community should possess such power and influence
as to be able, after obtaining the honour that was due to himself, to
bestow the same distinction on a colleague, who immodestly demanded
what he had not deserved. The exploits of Quintus Minucius in Liguria
were trifling skirmishes, scarcely deserving mention; and in Gaul
he had lost great numbers of soldiers." They mentioned even military
tribunes, Titus Juvencius and Cneius Labeo, of the fourth legion, the
plebeian tribune's brother, who had fallen in unsuccessful conflict,
together with many other brave men, both citizens and allies: and
they asserted, that "pretended surrenders of a few towns and villages,
fabricated for the occasion, had been made, without any pledge of
fidelity being taken." These altercations between the consuls and
tribunes lasted two days: at last the consuls, overcome by the
obstinacy of the tribunes, proposed their claims separately.

23. To Cneius Cornelius a triumph was unanimously decreed: and the
inhabitants of Placentia and Cremona added to the applause bestowed
on the consul, by returning him thanks, and mentioning, to his honour,
that they had been delivered by him from a siege; and that very
many of them, when in the hands of the enemy, had been rescued from
captivity. Quintus Minucius just tried how the proposal of his claim
would be received, and finding the whole senate averse from it,
declared, that by the authority of his office of consul, and pursuant
to the example of many illustrious men, he would triumph on the
Alban mount. Caius Cornelius, being yet in office, triumphed over
the Insubrian and Caenomanian Gauls. He produced a great number of
military standards, and earned in the procession abundance of Gallic
spoils in captured chariots. Many Gauls of distinction were led before
his chariot, and along with them, some writers say, Hamilcar, the
Carthaginian general. But what, more than all, attracted the eyes of
the public, was a crowd of Cremonian and Placentian colonists, with
caps of liberty on their heads, following his chariot. He carried
in his triumph two hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred
_asses_,[1] and of silver denarii, stamped with a chariot,
seventy-nine thousand.[2] He distributed to each of his soldiers
seventy _asses_,[3] to a horseman and a centurion double that sum.
Quintus Minucius, consul, triumphed on the Alban mount, over the
Ligurian and Boian Gauls. Although this triumph was less respectable,
in regard to the place and the fame of his exploits, and because all
knew the expense was not issued from the treasury; yet, in regard of
the number of standards, chariots, and spoils, it was nearly equal to
the other. The amount of the money also was nearly equal. Two hundred
and fifty-four thousand _asses_[4] were conveyed to the treasury, and
of silver denarii, stamped with a chariot, fifty-three thousand
two hundred.[5] He likewise gave to the soldiers, horsemen, and
centurions, severally, the same sums that his colleague had given.

[Footnote 1: 766l. 18s. 6-1/2d]

[Footnote 2: 2551l. 0s. 10d]

[Footnote 3: 4s. 6-1/2d]

[Footnote 4: 820l. 4s. 2d]

[Footnote 5: 1717l. 18s. 4d]

24. After the triumph, the election of consuls came on. The persons
chosen were Lucius Furius Purpureo and Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
Next day, the following were elected praetors; Quintus Fabius Buteo,
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, Quintus Minucius Thermus, Manius Acilius
Glabrio, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Caius Laelius. Toward the close of
this year, a letter came from Titus Quinctius, with information that
he had fought a pitched battle with Philip in Thessaly, and that the
army of the enemy had been routed and put to flight. This letter was
read by Sergius, the praetor, first in the senate, and then, by the
direction of the fathers, in a general assembly; and supplications
of five days' continuance were decreed on account of those successes.
Soon after arrived the ambassadors, both from Titus Quinctius and from
the king. The Macedonians were conducted out of the city to the Villa
Publica, where lodgings and every other accommodation were provided
for them, and an audience of the senate was given them in the temple
of Bellona. Not many words passed; for the Macedonians declared, that
whatever terms the senate should prescribe, the king was ready
to comply with them. It was decreed, that, conformably to ancient
practice, ten ambassadors should be appointed, and that, in council
with them, the general, Titus Quinctius, should grant terms of peace
to Philip; and a clause was added, that, in the number of these
ambassadors, should be Publius Sulpicius and Publius Villius, who in
their consulship had held the province of Macedonia. On the same day
the inhabitants of Oossa having presented a petition, praying that the
number of their colonists might be enlarged; an order was accordingly
passed, that one thousand should be added to the list, with a
provision, that no persons should be admitted into that number who,
at any time since the consulate of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius
Sempronius, had been partisans of the enemy.

25. This year the Roman games were exhibited in the circus, and on
the stage, by the curule aediles, Publius Cornelius Scipio and Cneius
Manlius Vulso, with an unusual degree of splendour, and were beheld
with the greater delight, in consequence of the late successes in war.
They were thrice repeated entire, and the plebeian games seven times.
These were exhibited by Manius Acilius Glabrio and Caius Laelius,
who also, out of the money arising from fines, erected three brazen
statues, to Ceres, Liber, and Libera. Lucius Furius and Marcus
Claudius Marcellus, having entered on the consulship, when the
distribution of the provinces came to be agitated, and the senate
appeared disposed to vote Italy the province of both, exerted
themselves to get that of Macedonia put to the lot along with Italy.
Marcellus, who of the two was the more eager for that province, by
assertions that the peace was merely a feigned and delusive one, and
that, if the army were withdrawn thence, the king would renew the war,
caused some perplexity in the minds of the senate. The consuls would
probably have carried the point, had not Quintus Marcius Rex and Caius
Antinius Labeo, plebeian tribunes, declared, that they would
enter their protest, unless they were allowed, before any further
proceeding, to take the sense of the people, whether it was their will
and order that peace be concluded with Philip. This question was put
to the people in the Capitol, and every one of the thirty-five tribes
voted on the affirmative side. The public found the greater reason to
rejoice at the ratification of the peace with Macedonia, as melancholy
news was brought from Spain; and a letter was made public, announcing
that "the proconsul, Caius Sempronius Tuditanus, had been defeated in
battle in the Hither Spain; that his army had been utterly routed and
dispersed, and several men of distinction slain in the fight. That
Tuditanus, having been grievously wounded, and carried out of the
field, expired soon after." Italy was decreed the province of both
consuls, in which they were to employ the same legions which the
preceding consuls had; and they were to raise four new legions, two
for the city, and two to be in readiness to be sent whithersoever
the senate should direct. Titus Quinctius Flamininus was ordered
to continue in the government of his province, with the army of two
legions, then on the spot. The former prolongation of his command was
deemed sufficient.

26. The praetors then cast lots for their provinces. Lucius Apustius
Fullo obtained the city jurisdiction; Manius Acilius Glabrio, that
between natives and foreigners; Quintus Fabius Buteo, Farther Spain;
Quintus Minucius Thermus, Hither Spain; Caius Laelius, Sicily;
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, Sardinia. To Quintus Fabius Buteo and
Quintus Minucius, to whom the government of the two Spains had fallen,
it was decreed, that the consuls, out of the four legions raised by
them, should give one each whichever they thought fit, together with
four thousand foot and three hundred horse of the allies and Latin
confederates; and those praetors were ordered to repair to their
provinces at the earliest possible time. This war in Spain broke out
in the fifth year after the former had been ended, together with the
Punic war. The Spaniards now, for the first time, had taken arms in
their own name, unconnected with any Carthaginian army or general.
Before the consuls stirred from the city, however, they were ordered,
as usual, to expiate the reported prodigies. Publius Villius, a Roman
knight, on the road to Sabinia, had been killed by lightning, together
with his horse. The temple of Feronia, in the Capenatian district, had
been struck by lightning. At the temple of Moneta, the shafts of
two spears had taken fire and burned. A wolf, coming in through the
Esquiline gate, and running through the most frequented part of
the city, down into the forum, passed thence through the Tuscan and
Maelian streets; and scarcely receiving a stroke, made its escape out
of the Capenian gate. These prodigies were expiated with victims of
the larger kinds.

27. About the same time Cneius Cornelius Lentulus, who had held the
government of Hither Spain before Sempronius Tuditanus, entered the
city in ovation, pursuant to a decree of the senate, and carried in
the procession one thousand five hundred and fifteen pounds' weight
of gold, twenty thousand of silver; and in coin, thirty-four thousand
five hundred and fifty denarii.[1] Lucius Stretinius, from the Farther
Spain, without making any pretensions to a triumph, carried into
the treasury fifty thousand pounds' weight of silver; and out of the
spoils taken, built two arches in the cattle-market, at the fronts of
the temple of Fortune and Mother Matuta, and one in the great Circus;
and on these arches placed gilded statues. These were the principal
occurrences during the winter. At this time Quinctius was in winter
quarters at Elatia. Among many requests, made to him by the allies,
was that of the Boeotians, namely, that their countrymen, who had
served in the army with Philip, might be restored to them. With
this Quinctius readily complied; not because he thought them very
deserving, but that, as king Antiochus was already suspected, he
judged it advisable to conciliate every state in favour of the Roman
interest. It quickly appeared how very little gratitude existed among
the Boeotians; for they not only sent persons to give thanks to Philip
for the restoration of their fellows, as if that favour had been
conferred on them by him, and not by Quinctius and the Romans; but,
at the next election, raised to the office of Boeotarch a man named
Brachyllas, for no other reason than because he had been commander
of the Boeotians serving in the army of Philip; passing by Zeuxippus,
Pisistratus, and the others, who had promoted the alliance with Rome.
These men were both offended at the present and alarmed about the
future consequences: for if such things were done when a Roman army
lay almost at their gates, what would become of them when the Romans
should have gone away to Italy, and Philip, from a situation so near,
should support his own associates, and vent his resentment on those
who had been of the opposite party?

[Footnote 1: 1115l. 13s. 3-1/2d.]

28. It was resolved, while they had the Roman army near at hand, to
take off Brachyllas, who was the principal leader of the faction which
favoured the king; and they chose an opportunity for the deed, when,
after having been at a public feast, he was returning to his house
inebriated, and accompanied by some of his debauched companions,
who, for the sake of merriment, had been admitted to the crowded
entertainment. He was surrounded and assassinated by six men, of whom
three were Italians and three Aetolians. His companions fled, crying
out for help; and a great uproar ensued among the people, who ran
up and down, through all parts of the city, with lights; but the
assassins made their escape through the nearest gate. At the first
dawn, a full assembly was called together in the theatre, by the
voice of a crier, as if in consequence of a previous appointment.
Many openly clamoured that Brachyllas was killed by those detestable
wretches who accompanied him; but their private conjectures pointed
to Zeuxippus, as author of the murder. It was resolved, however, that
those who had been in company with him should be seized and examined
in their presence. While they were under examination, Zeuxippus,
with his usual composure, came into the assembly, for the purpose of
averting the charge from himself; yet said, that people were mistaken
in supposing that so daring a murder was the act of such effeminate
wretches as those who were charged with it, urging many plausible
arguments to the same purpose. By which behaviour he led several to
believe, that, if he were conscious of guilt, he would never have
presented himself before the multitude, or, without being challenged
by any, have made any mention of the murder. Others were convinced
that he intended, by thus unblushingly exposing himself to the charge,
to throw off all suspicion from himself. Soon after, those men who
were innocent were put to the torture; and, taking the universal
opinion as having the effect of evidence, they named Zeuxippus and
Pisistratus; but they produced no proof to show that they knew any
thing of the matter. Zeuxippus, however, accompanied by a man named
Stratonidas, fled by night to Tanagra; alarmed by his own conscience
rather than by the assertion of men who were privy to no one
circumstance of the affair. Pisistratus, despising the informers,
remained at Thebes. A slave of Zeuxippus had carried messages
backwards and forwards, and had been intrusted with the management of
the whole business. From this man Pisistratus dreaded a discovery; and
by that very dread forced him, against his will, to make one. He sent
a letter to Zeuxippus, desiring him to "put out of the way the slave
who was privy to their crime; for he did not believe him as
well qualified for the concealment of the fact as he was for the
perpetration of it." He ordered the bearer of this letter to
deliver it to Zeuxippus as soon as possible; but he, not finding an
opportunity of meeting him, put it into the hands of the very slave
in question, whom he believed to be the most faithful to his master of
any; and added, that it came from Pisistratus respecting a matter of
the utmost consequence to Zeuxippus. Struck by consciousness of guilt,
the slave after promising to deliver the letter, immediately opened
it; and, on reading the contents, fled in a fright to Thebes and
laid the information before the magistrate. Zeuxippus, alarmed by the
flight of his slave, withdrew to Athens, where he thought he might
live in exile with greater safety. Pisistratus, after being examined
several times by torture, was put to death.

29. This murder exasperated the Thebans, and all the Boeotians, to the
most rancorous animosity against the Romans, for they considered that
Zeuxippus, one of the first men of the nation, had not been party
to such a crime without the instigation of the Roman general. To
recommence a war, they had neither strength nor a leader; but they had
recourse to private massacres, as being next to war, and cut off many
of the soldiers, some as they came to lodge in their houses, others as
they wandered about their winter quarters, or were on leave of absence
for various purposes. Some were killed on the roads by parties lying
in wait in lurking-places; others were seduced and carried away to
inns, which were left uninhabited, and there put to death. At last
they committed these crimes, not merely out of hatred, but likewise
from a desire of booty; for the soldiers on furlough generally carried
money in their purses for the purpose of trading. At first a few at a
time, afterwards greater numbers used to be missed, until all Boeotia
became notorious for those practices, and a soldier went beyond the
bounds of the camp with more timidity than into an enemy's country.
Quinctius then sent deputies round the states, to make inquiry
concerning the murders committed. The greatest number of murders were
found to have been committed about the lake called Copais; there the
bodies were dug out of the mud, and drawn up out of the marsh, having
had earthen jars or stones tied to them, so as to be dragged to the
bottom by the weight. Many deeds of this sort were discovered to have
been perpetrated at Acrphia and Coronea. Quinctius at first insisted
that the persons guilty should be given up to him, and that, for five
hundred soldiers, (for so many had been cut off,) the Botians should
pay five hundred talents.[1] Neither of these requisitions being
complied with, and the states only making verbal apologies, declaring,
that none of those acts had been authorized by the public; Quinctius
first sent ambassadors to Athens and Achaia, to satisfy the allies,
that the war which he was about to make on the Botians was conformable
to justice and piety; and then, ordering Publius Claudius to
march with one-half of the troops to Acrphia, he himself, with
the remainder, invested Coronea; and these two bodies' marching by
different roads from Elatia, laid waste all the country through which
they passed. The Botians, dismayed by these losses, while every place
was filled with fugitives, and while the terror became universal, sent
ambassadors to the camp; and as these were refused admittance, the
Achaeans and Athenians came to their assistance. The Achaeans had the
greater influence as intercessors; inasmuch as they were resolved, in
case they could not procure peace for the Botians, to join them in
the war. Through the mediation of the Achaeans, however, the Botians
obtained admission and an audience of the Roman general; who, ordering
them to deliver up the guilty, and to pay thirty talents[2] as a fine,
granted them peace, and raised the siege.

[Footnote 1: 96,875l.]

[Footnote 2: 5821l. 10s.]

30. A few days after this, the ten ambassadors arrived from Rome,
in pursuance of whose counsel, peace was granted to Philip on the
following conditions: "That all the Grecian states, as well those in
Asia as those in Europe, should enjoy liberty, and their own laws:
That from such of them as had been in the possession of Philip, he
should withdraw his garrisons, particularly from the following places
in Asia; Euromus, Pedasi, Bargylii, Iassus, Myrina, Abydus; and from
Thasus and Perinthus, for it was determined that these likewise should
be free: That with respect to the freedom of Cius, Quinctius should
write to Prusias, king of Bithynia, the resolutions of the senate, and
of the ten ambassadors: That Philip should return to the Romans
the prisoners and deserters, and deliver up all his decked ships,
excepting five and the royal galley,--of a size almost unmanageable,
being moved by sixteen banks of oars: That he should not keep more
than five hundred soldiers, nor any elephant: That he should not wage
war beyond the bounds of Macedonia without permission from the senate:
That he should pay to the Roman people one thousand talents:[1] one
half at present, the other by instalments, within ten years." Valerius
Antias writes, that there was imposed on him an annual tribute of four
thousand pounds' weight of silver, for ten years, and an immediate
payment of twenty thousand pounds' weight. The same author says that
an article was expressly inserted, that he should not make war on
Eumenes, Attalus's son, who had lately come to the throne. For the
performance of these conditions hostages were received, among whom
was Demetrius, Philip's son. Valerius Antias adds, that the island of
Aegina, and the elephants, were given as a present to Attalus, who was
absent; to the Rhodians, Stratonice, and other cities of Caria which
had been in the possession of Philip; and to the Athenians, the
islands of Paros, Imbros, Delos, and Scyros.

[Footnote 1: 193,750l.]

31. While all the other states of Greece expressed their approbation
of these terms of peace, the Aetolians alone, in private murmurs, made
severe strictures on the determination of the ten ambassadors. They
said, "it consisted merely of an empty piece of writing varnished over
with a fallacious appearance of liberty. For why should some cities
be put into the hands of the Romans without being named, while others
were particularized, and ordered to be enfranchised without such
consignment; unless the intent was, that those in Asia, which, from
their distant situation, were more secure from danger, should be free;
but those in Greece, not being even mentioned by name, should be
made their property: Corinth, Chalcis, and Oreum; with Eretria, and
Demetrias." Nor was this charge entirely without foundation: for there
was some hesitation with respect to Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias;
because, in the decree of the senate in pursuance of which the ten
ambassadors had been sent from Rome, all Greece and Asia, except these
three, were expressly ordered to be set at liberty; but, with regard
to these, ambassadors were instructed, that, whatever measures the
exigencies of the state might render expedient, they should determine
to pursue in conformity to the public good and their own honour. King
Antiochus was one of whom they did not doubt that, so soon as he was
satisfied that his forces were adequate, he would cross over into
Europe; and they were unwilling to let these cities, the possession
of which would be so advantageous to him, lie open to his occupation.
Quinctius, with the ten ambassadors, sailed from Elatia to Anticyra,
and thence to Corinth. Here the plans they had laid down respecting
the liberation of Greece were discussed for about three days in a
council of the ten ambassadors. Quinctius frequently urged, that
"every part of Greece ought to be set at liberty, if they wished
to refute the cavils of the Aetolians; if they wished, that sincere
affection and respect for the Roman nation should be universally
entertained; or if they wished to convince the world that they had
crossed the sea with the design of liberating Greece, and not of
transferring the sovereignty of it from Philip to themselves." The
Macedonians alleged nothing in opposition to the arguments made use of
in favour of the freedom of the cities; but "they thought it safer for
those cities themselves that they should remain, for a time, under the
protection of Roman garrisons, than be obliged to receive Antiochus
for a master in the room of Philip." Their final determination was,
that "Corinth be restored to the Achaeans, but that a Roman garrison
should continue in the citadel; and that Chalcis and Demetrias be
retained, until their apprehensions respecting Antiochus should
cease."

32. The stated solemnity of the Isthmian games was at hand. These have
ever been attended by very numerous meetings, as well on account of
the universal fondness entertained by this nation for exhibitions of
skill in arts of every kind, as well as of contests in strength
and swiftness of foot; as also, because of the convenience of the
locality, which furnishes commercial advantages of all kinds by its
two opposite seas, and by which it had obtained the character of a
rendezvous for all the population of Asia and Greece. But on this
occasion, all were led thither not only for their ordinary purposes,
but by an eager curiosity to learn what was thenceforward to be the
state of Greece, and what their own condition; while many at the same
time not only formed opinions within themselves but uttered their
conjectures in conversation. Scarcely any supposed that the Romans,
victorious as they were, would withdraw from the whole of Greece.
They took their seats, as spectators; and a herald, preceded by
a trumpeter, according to custom, advanced into the centre of the
theatre, where notice of the commencement of the games is usually
made, in a solemn form of words. Silence being commanded by sound of
trumpet, he uttered aloud the following proclamation: THE SENATE AND
PEOPLE OF ROME, AND TITUS QUINCTIUS, THEIR GENERAL, HAVING SUBDUED
KING PHILIP AND THE MACEDONIANS, DO HEREBY ORDER, THAT THE FOLLOWING
STATES BE FREE, INDEPENDENT, AND RULED BY THEIR OWN LAWS: THE
CORINTHIANS, PHOCIANS, AND ALL THE LOCRIANS; THE ISLAND OF EUBOEA,
AND THE MAGNESIANS; THE THESSALIANS, PERRHAEBIANS, AND THE ACHAEANS OF
PHTHIOTIS. He then read a list of all the states which had been under
subjection to king Philip. The joy occasioned by hearing these words
of the herald was so great, that the people's minds were unable to
conceive the matter at once. Scarcely could they believe that they had
heard them; and they looked at each other, marvelling as at the
empty illusion of a dream. Each inquired of his neighbours about what
immediately concerned himself, altogether distrusting the evidence
of his own ears. As everyone desired not only to hear, but to see the
messenger of liberty, the herald was called out again; and he again
repeated the proclamation. When they were thus assured of the reality
of the joyful tidings, they raised such a shout, and clapping of
hands, and repeated them so often, as clearly to show that of all
blessings none is more grateful to the multitude than liberty. The
games were then proceeded through with hurry; for neither the thoughts
nor eyes of any attended to the exhibitions, so entirely had the
single passion of joy pre-occupied their minds, as to exclude the
sense of all other pleasures.

33. But, when the games were finished, every one eagerly passed
towards the Roman general; so that by the crowd rushing to one
spot, all wishing to come near him, and to touch his right hand, and
throwing garlands and ribands, he was in some degree of danger. He was
then about thirty-three years of age; and besides the vigour of youth,
the grateful sensations excited by so eminent a harvest of glory,
increased his strength. Nor was the general exultation exhausted in
the presence of all the assembly, but, through the space of many days,
was continually revived by sentiments and expressions of gratitude.
"There was a nation in the world," they said, "which, at its own
expense, with its own labour, and at its own risk, waged wars for the
liberty of others. And this was performed, not merely for contiguous
states, or near neighbours, or for countries that made parts of the
same continent; but they even crossed the seas for the purpose, that
no unlawful power should subsist on the face of the whole earth; but
that justice, right, and law should every where have sovereign sway.
By one sentence, pronounced by a herald all the cities of Greece and
Asia had been set at liberty. To have conceived hopes of this, argued
a daring spirit; to have carried it into effect, was a proof of the
most consummate bravery and good fortune."

34. Quinctius and the ten ambassadors then gave audience to the
embassies of the several kings, nations, and states. First of all, the
ambassadors of king Antiochus were called. Their proceedings, here,
were nearly the same as at Rome; a mere display of words unsupported
by facts. But the answer given them was not ambiguous as formerly,
during the uncertainty of affairs, and while Philip was unsubdued; for
the king was required in express terms to evacuate the cities of
Asia, which had been in possession either of Philip or Ptolemy; not to
meddle with the free cities, or ever take arms against them, and to
be in a state of peace and equality with all the cities of Greece
wherever they might be. Above all it was insisted on, that he should
neither come himself into Europe, nor transport an army thither.
The king's ambassadors being dismissed, a general convention of
the nations and states was immediately held; and the business was
despatched with the greater expedition, because the resolutions of the
ten ambassadors mentioned the several states by name. To the people
of Orestis, a district of Macedonia, in consideration of their having
been the first who came over from the side of the king, their own
laws were granted. The Magnesians, Perrhaebians, and Dolopians were
likewise declared free. To the nation of the Thessalians, besides
the enjoyment of liberty, the Achaean part of Phthiotis was granted,
excepting Phthiotian Thebes and Pharsalus. The Aetolians, demanding
that Pharsalus and Leucas should be restored to them in conformity
to the treaty, were referred to the senate: but the council united to
these, by authority of a decree, Phocis and Locris, places which had
formerly been annexed to them. Corinth, Triphylia, and Heraea,
another city of Peloponnesus, were restored to the Achaeans. The ten
ambassadors were inclined to give Oreum and Eretria to king Eumenes,
son of Attalus; but Quinctius dissenting, the matter came under the
determination of the senate, and the senate declared those cities
free; adding to them Carystus. Lycus and Parthinia, Illyrian states,
each of which had been under subjection to Philip, were given to
Pleuratus. Amynander was ordered to retain possession of the forts,
which he had taken from Philip during the war.

35. When the convention broke up, the ten ambassadors, dividing the
business among them, set out by different routes to give liberty to
the several cities within their respective districts. Publius Lentulus
went to Bargylii; Lucius Stertinius, to Hephaestia, Thasus, and
the cities of Thrace; Publius Villius and Lucius Terentius to king
Antiochus; and Cneius Cornelius to Philip. The last of these, after
executing his commission with respect to smaller matters, asked
Philip, whether he was disposed to listen to advice, not only useful
but highly salutary. To which the king answered that he was, and would
give him thanks besides, if he mentioned any thing conducive to his
advantage. He then earnestly recommended to him, since he had obtained
peace with the Romans, to send ambassadors to Rome to solicit their
alliance and friendship; lest, in case of Antiochus pursuing any
hostile measure, he might be suspected of having lain in wait and
seized the opportunity of the times for reviving hostilities. This
meeting with Philip was at Tempè in Thessaly; and on his answering
that he would send ambassadors without delay, Cornelius proceeded to
Thermopylae, where all the states of Greece are accustomed to meet
in general assembly on certain stated days. This is called the Pylaic
assembly. Here he admonished the Aetolians, in particular, constantly
and firmly to cultivate the friendship of the Roman people; but some
of the principal of these interrupted him with complaints, that the
disposition of the Romans towards their nation was not the same since
the victory, that it had been during the war; while others censured
them with greater boldness, and in a reproachful manner asserted,
that "without the aid of the Aetolians, the Romans could neither have
conquered Philip, nor even have made good their passage into Greece."
To such discourses the Roman forbore giving an answer, lest the
matter might end in an altercation, and only said, that if they sent
ambassadors to Rome, every thing that was reasonable would be granted
to them. Accordingly, they passed a decree for such mission, agreeably
to his direction.--In this manner was the war with Philip concluded.

36. While these transactions passed in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia,
a conspiracy among the slaves had well nigh made Etruria an hostile
province. To examine into and suppress this, Manius Acilius the
praetor, whose province was the administration of justice between
natives and foreigners, was sent at the head of one of the two city
legions. A number of them, who were by this time formed in a body, he
reduced by force of arms, killing and taking many. Some, who had been
the ringleaders of the conspiracy, he scourged with rods and then
crucified; some he returned to their masters. The consuls repaired
to their provinces. Just as Marcellus entered the frontiers of the
Boians, and while his men were fatigued with marching the whole
length of the day, and as he was pitching his camp on a rising ground,
Corolam, a chieftain of the Boians, attacked him with a very numerous
force, and slew three thousand of his men: several persons of
distinction fell in that tumultuary engagement; amongst others,
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Marcus Junius Silanus, praefects of
the allies; and Aulus Ogulnius and Publius Claudius, military tribunes
in the second legion. The Romans, not withstanding, had courage enough
to finish the fortification of their camp, and to defend it, in spite
of an assault made on it by the enemy, elated by their success in the
field. Marcellus remained for some time in the same post, until he
could tend the wounded, and revive the spirits of his men after such
a disheartening blow. The Boians, a nation remarkably impatient of
delay, and quickly disgusted at a state of inaction, separated, and
withdrew to their several forts and villages. Marcellus then, suddenly
crossing the Po, led his legions into the territory of Comum, where
the Insubrians, after rousing the people of the country to arms, lay
encamped. The fierce Boian Gauls attacked him on his march, and they
first onset was so vigorous, as to make a considerable impression on
his van. On perceiving which, and fearing lest, if his men once gave
way, they would be dislodged, he brought up a cohort of Marsians
against the enemy, and ordered every troop of the Latin cavalry to
charge them. The first and second charges of these having checked the
enemy in their furious attack, the other troops in the Roman line,
resuming courage, advanced briskly on the foe. The Gauls no longer
maintained the contest, but turned their backs and fled in confusion.
Valerius Antias relates, that in that battle above forty thousand men
were killed, five hundred and seven military standards taken, with
four hundred and thirty-two chariots, and a great number of gold
chains, one of which, of great weight, Claudius says, was deposited as
an offering to Jupiter, in his temple in the Capitol. The camp of the
Gauls was taken and plundered the same day; and the town of Comum was
reduced in a few days after. In a little time, twenty-eight forts came
over to the consul. There is a doubt among writers, whether the consul
led his legions first against the Boians, or against the Insubrians;
so as to determine, whether the successful battle obliterated the
disgrace of the defeat, or whether the victory obtained at Comum was
tarnished by the disaster incurred among the Boii.

37. Soon after those matters had passed with such variety of fortune,
Lucius Furius Purpureo, the other consul, came into the country of the
Boians, through the Sappinian tribe. He proceeded almost to the fort
of Mutilus, when, beginning to apprehend that he might be enclosed
between the Boians and Ligurians, he marched back by the road by which
he came; and, making a long circuit, through an open and therefore
safe country, arrived at the camp of his colleague. After this
junction of their forces, they overran the territory of the Boians,
spreading devastation as far as the city of Felsina. This city, with
the other fortresses, and almost all the Boians, excepting only the
young men who kept arms in their hands for the sake of plunder, and
had at that time withdrawn into remote woods, made submission. The
army was then led away against the Ligurians. The Boians thought that
the Romans, as they were supposed to be at a great distance, would be
the more careless in keeping their army together, and thereby afford
an opportunity of attacking them unawares: with this expectation,
they followed them by secret paths through the forests. They did not
overtake them: and therefore, passing the Po suddenly in ships, they
ravaged all the country of the Laevans and Libuans; whence, as they
were returning with the spoil of the country, they fell in with the
Roman army on the borders of Liguria. A battle was begun with more
speed, and with greater fury, than if the parties had met with their
minds prepared, and at an appointed time and place. On this occasion
it appeared to what degree of violence anger can stimulate men; for
the Romans fought with such a desire of slaughter, rather than of
victory, that they scarcely left one of the enemy to carry the news of
their defeat. On account of these successes, when the letters of
the consuls were brought to Rome, a supplication for three days was
decreed. Soon after, Marcellus came to Rome, and had a triumph decreed
him by an unanimous vote of the senate. He triumphed, while in office,
over the Insubrians and Comans. The prospect of a triumph over
the Boians he left to his colleague, because his own arms had been
unfortunate in that country; those of his colleague, successful.
Large quantities of spoils, taken from the enemy, were carried in the
procession in captured chariots, and many military standards; also,
three hundred and twenty thousand _asses_ of brass,[1] two hundred
and thirty-four thousand of silver denarii,[2] stamped with a chariot.
Eighty _asses_[3] were bestowed on each foot soldier, and thrice that
value on each horseman and centurion.

[Footnote 1: 1033l. 6s. 8d.]

[Footnote 2: 2331l. 2s. 6d.]

[Footnote 3: 5s. 2-1/4d.]

38. During that year, king Antiochus, after having spent the winter
at Ephesus, took measures for reducing, under his dominion, all the
cities of Asia, which had formerly been members of the empire. As to
the rest, being either situated in plains, or having neither walls,
arms, nor men in whom they could confide, he supposed they would,
without difficulty, receive the yoke. But Smyrna and Lampsacus openly
asserted their independence: yet there was a danger that if what they
claimed were conceded to these, the rest of the cities in Aetolia and
Ionia would follow the example of Smyrna; and those on the Hellespont
that of Lampsacus. Wherefore he sent an army from Ephesus to invest
Smyrna; and ordered the troops, which were at Abydos, to leave there
only a small garrison, and to go and lay siege to Lampsacus. Nor did
he only alarm them by an exhibition of force. By sending ambassadors,
to make gentle remonstrances, and reprove the rashness and obstinacy
of their conduct, he endeavoured to give them hopes that they might
soon obtain the object of their wishes; but not until it should appear
clearly, both to themselves and to all the world, that they had gained
their liberty through the kindness of the king, and not by any violent
efforts of their own. In answer to which, they said, that "Antiochus
ought neither to be surprised nor displeased, if they did not very
patiently suffer the establishment of their liberty to be deferred to
a distant period." He himself, with his fleet, set sail from Ephesus
in the beginning of spring, and steered towards the Hellespont. His
army he transported to Madytus, a city in the Chersonese, and there
joined his land and sea forces together. The inhabitants having shut
their gates, he surrounded the walls with his troops; and when he was
just bringing up his machines to the walls, a capitulation was entered
into. This diffused such fear through the inhabitants of Sestus and
the other cities of the Chersonese, as induced them to submit. He
then came, with the whole of his united forces, by land and sea, to
Lysimachia; which finding deserted, and almost buried in ruins, (for
the Thracians had, a few years before, taken, sacked, and burned
it,) he conceived a wish to rebuild a city so celebrated, and so
commodiously situated. Accordingly, extending his care to every object
at once, he set about repairing the walls and houses, ransomed some
of the Lysimachians who were in captivity, sought out and brought home
others, who had fled and dispersed themselves through the Chersonese
and Hellespontus, enrolled new colonists, whom he invited by prospects
of advantages, and used every means to repeople it fully. At the same
time, that all fear of the Thracians might be removed, he went, in
person, with one half of the land forces, to lay waste the nearest
provinces of Thrace; leaving the other half, and all the crews of the
ships, employed in the repairs of the city.

39. About this time Lucius Cornelius, who had been commissioned by the
senate to accommodate the differences between the kings Antiochus and
Ptolemy, stopped at Selymbria; and, of the ten ambassadors, Publius
Lentulus from Bargylii, and Publius Villius and Lucius Terentius from
Thasus, came to Lysimachia. Hither came, likewise, Lucius Cornelius
from Selymbria, and a few days after Antiochus from Thrace. His first
meeting with the ambassadors, and an invitation which he afterwards
gave them, were friendly and hospitable; but when the business
intrusted to them and the present state of Asia, came to be treated
of, the minds of both parties were exasperated. The Romans did not
scruple to declare, that every one of his proceedings, from the time
when he set sail from Syria, was displeasing to the senate; and they
required restitution to be made, to Ptolemy, of all the cities which
had been under his dominion. "For, as to what related to the cities
which had been in the possession of Philip, and which Antiochus,
taking advantage of a season when Philip's attention was turned to the
war with Rome, had seized into his own hands, it would surely be an
intolerable hardship, if the Romans were to have undergone such toils
and dangers, on land and sea, for so many years, and Antiochus to
appropriate to himself the prizes of the war. But, though his coming
into Asia might be passed over unnoticed by the Romans, as a matter
not pertaining to them, yet when he proceeded so far as to pass over
into Europe with all his land and naval forces, how much was this
short of open war with the Romans? Doubtless, had he even passed into
Italy, he would deny that intention. But the Romans would not wait to
give him an opportunity of doing so."

40. To this the king replied, that "he wondered how it was, that the
Romans were in the habit of diligently inquiring what ought to be done
by king Antiochus; but never considered how far they themselves ought
to advance on land or sea. Asia was no concernment of the Romans, in
any shape; nor had they any more right to inquire what Antiochus did
in Asia, than Antiochus had to inquire what the Roman people did in
Italy. With respect to Ptolemy, from whom they complained that cities
had been taken, there was a friendly connexion subsisting between him
and Ptolemy, and he was taking measures to effect speedily a connexion
of affinity also; neither had he sought to acquire any spoils from the
misfortunes of Philip, nor had he come into Europe against the Romans,
_but to recover the cities and lands of the Chersonese, which, having
been the property of Lysimachus_,[1] he considered as part of his own
dominion; because, when Lysimachus was subdued, all things belonging
to him became, by the right of conquest, the property of Seleucus.
That, at times, when his predecessors were occupied by cares of
different kinds, Ptolemy first, and afterwards Philip, usurping the
rights of others, possessed themselves of several of these places, but
who could doubt that the Chersonese and the nearest parts of Thrace
belonged to Lysimachus? To restore these to their ancient state, was
the intent of his coming, and to build Lysimachia anew, (it having
been destroyed by an inroad of the Thracians,) in order that his son,
Seleucus, might have it for the seat of his empire."

[Footnote 1: Here is a chasm in the original, which is supplied from
Polybius.]

41. These disputes had been carried on for several days, when a rumour
reached them, but without any sufficiently certain authority, that
Ptolemy was dead; which prevented the conferences coming to any issue:
for both parties made a secret of their having heard it; and Lucius
Cornelius, who was charged with the embassy to the two kings,
Antiochus and Ptolemy, requested to be allowed a short space of time,
in which he could have a meeting with the latter; because he wished
to arrive in Egypt before any change of measures should take place
in consequence of the new succession to the crown: while Antiochus
believed that Egypt would be his own, if at that time he should take
possession of it. Wherefore, having dismissed the Romans, and left
his son Seleucus, with the land forces, to finish the rebuilding of
Lysimachia, as he had intended to do, he sailed, with his whole fleet,
to Ephesus; sent ambassadors to Quinctius to treat with him about an
alliance, assuring him that the king would attempt no innovations,
and then, coasting along the shore of Asia, proceeded to Lycia. Having
learned at Patarae that Ptolemy was living, he dropped the design of
sailing to Egypt, but nevertheless steered towards Cyprus; and, when
he had passed the promontory of Chelidonium, was detained some little
time in Pamphylia, near the river Eurymedon, by a mutiny among his
rowers. When he had sailed thence as far as the headlands, as they are
called, of Sarus, such a dreadful storm arose as almost buried him
and his whole fleet in the deep. Many ships were broken to pieces, and
many cast on shore; many swallowed so entirely in the sea, that not
one man of their crews escaped to land. Great numbers of his men
perished on this occasion; not only persons of mean rank, rowers and
soldiers, but even of his particular friends in high stations. When he
had collected the relics of the general wreck, being in no capacity of
making an attempt on Cyprus, he returned to Seleucia, with a far less
numerous force than he had set out with. Here he ordered the ships
to be hauled ashore, for the winter was now at hand, and proceeded to
Antioch, where he intended to pass the winter.--In this posture stood
the affairs of the kings.

42. At Rome, in this year, for the first time, were created offices
called _triumviri epulones_;[1] these were Caius Licinius Lucullus,
who, as tribune, had proposed the law for their creation, Publius
Manlius, and Publius Porcius Laeca. These triumvirs, as well as
the pontiffs, were allowed by law the privilege of wearing the
purple-bordered gown. The body of the pontiffs had this year a warm
dispute with the city quaestors, Quintus Fabius Labeo and Lucius
Aurelius. Money was wanted; an order having been passed for making the
last payment to private persons of that which had been raised for the
support of the war; and the quaestors demanded it from the augurs and
pontiffs, because they had not contributed their share while the
war subsisted. The priests in vain appealed to the tribunes; and the
contribution was exacted for every year in which they had not paid.
During the same year two pontiffs died, and others were substituted
in their room: Marcus Marcellus, the consul, in the room of Caius
Sempronius Tuditanus, who had been a praetor in Spain; and Lucius
Valerius, in the room of Marcus Cornelius Cethegus. An augur also,
Quintius Fabius Maximus, died very young, before he had attained to
any public office; but no augur was appointed in his place during that
year. The consular election was then held by the consul Marcellus. The
persons chosen were, Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Porcius Cato.
Then were elected praetors, Caius Fabricius Luscinus, Caius Atinius
Labeo, Cneius Manlius Vulso, Appius Claudius Nero, Publius Manlius,
and Publius Porcius Laeca. The curule aediles, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior
and Caius Flaminius, made a distribution to the people of one million
pecks of wheat, at the price of two asses. This corn the Sicilians had
brought to Rome, out of respect to Caius Flaminius and his father;
and he gave share of the credit to his colleague. The Roman games
were solemnized with magnificence, and exhibited thrice entire. The
plebeian aediles, Cneius Domitius Aenobarbus and Caius Scribonius,
chief curio, brought many farmers of the public pastures to trial
before the people. Three of these were convicted; and out of the money
accruing from fines imposed on them, they built a temple of Faunus in
the island. The plebeian games were exhibited for two days, and there
was a feast on occasion of the games.

[Footnote 1: It was their office to regulate the feasts of the gods.]

43. Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Porcius, on the ides of March,
the day of their entering into office, consulted the senate respecting
the provinces; who resolved, that "whereas the war in Spain was grown
so formidable, as to require a consular army and commander; it was
their opinion, therefore, that the consuls should either settle
between themselves, or cast lots, for Hither Spain and Italy as
their provinces. That he to whom Spain fell should carry with him two
legions, five thousand of the Latin confederates, and five hundred
horse; together with a fleet of twenty ships of war. That the other
consul should raise two legions; for these would be sufficient to
maintain tranquillity in the province of Gaul, as the spirits of the
Insubrians and Boians had been broken the year before." The lots gave
Spain to Cato, and Italy to Valerius. The praetors then cast lots
for their provinces: to Caius Fabricius Luscinus fell the city
jurisdiction; Caius Atinius Labeo obtained the foreign; Cneius Manlius
Vulso, Sicily; Appius Claudius Nero, Farther Spain; Publius Porcius
Laeca, Pisa, in order that he might be at the back of the Ligurians;
and Publius Manlius was sent into Hither Spain, as an assistant to
the consul. Quinctius was continued in command for the year, as
apprehensions were entertained, not only of Antiochus and the
Aetolians, but likewise of Nabis, tyrant of Lacedaemon; and it was
ordered that he should have two legions, for which, if there was any
necessity for a further supply, the consuls were ordered to raise
recruits, and send them into Macedonia. Appius Claudius was permitted
to raise, in addition to the legion which Quintius Fabius had
commanded, two thousand foot and two hundred horse. The like number of
new-raised foot and horse was assigned to Publius Manlius for Hither
Spain; and the legion was given to him which had been under the
command of Minucius, the praetor. To Publius Porcius Laeca, for
Etruria, near Pisa, were decreed two thousand foot and five hundred
horse, out of the army in Gaul. Sempronius Longus was continued in
command in Sardinia.

44. The provinces being thus distributed, the consuls, before their
departure from the city, were ordered, in accordance with a decree
of the pontiffs, to proclaim a sacred spring, which Aulus Cornelius
Mammula, praetor, had vowed in pursuance of a vote of the senate, and
an order of the people, in the consulate of Cneius Servilius and Caius
Flaminius. It was celebrated twenty-one years after the vow had been
made. About the same time, Caius Claudius Pulcher, son of Appius,
was chosen and inaugurated into the office of augur, in the room of
Quintus Fabius Maximus, who died the year before. While people, in
general, wondered that, though Spain had arisen in arms, they were
neglecting the war, a letter was brought from Quintus Minucius,
announcing "that he had fought a pitched battle with the Spanish
generals, Budar and Besasis, near the town of Tura, and had gained the
victory: that twelve thousand of the enemy were slain; their general,
Budar, taken; and the rest routed and dispersed." After the reading of
this letter less alarm prevailed with respect to Spain, where a very
formidable war had been apprehended. The whole anxiety of the public
was directed towards king Antiochus, especially after the arrival
of the ten ambassadors. These, after relating the proceedings with
Philip, and the conditions on which peace had been granted him, gave
information, that "there still subsisted a war of no less magnitude to
be waged with Antiochus; that he had come over into Europe with a very
numerous fleet and a powerful army; that, had not a delusive prospect
of an opportunity of invading Egypt, raised by a more delusive rumour,
diverted him to another quarter, all Greece would have quickly been
involved in the flames of war. Nor would even the Aetolians remain
quiet, a race as well restless by nature as full of anger against the
Romans. That, besides, there was another evil, of a most dangerous
nature, lurking in the bowels of Greece: Nabis, tyrant at present
of Lacedaemon, but who would soon if suffered, become tyrant of
all Greece, equalling in avarice and cruelty all the tyrants most
remarkable in history. For, if he were allowed to keep possession of
Argos, which served as a citadel commanding the Peloponnesus, when the
Roman armies should be brought home to Italy, Greece would have been
in vain delivered out of bondage to Philip; because, instead of that
king, who, supposing no other difference, resided at a distance, she
would have for a master, a tyrant, close to her side."

45. On this intelligence being received from men of such respectable
authority, and who had, besides, examined into all the matters which
were reported, the senate, although they deemed the business relating
to Antiochus the more important, yet, as the king had, for some
reason or other, gone home into Syria, they thought that the affair
respecting the tyrant ought to be more promptly attended to. After
debating, for a long time, whether they should judge the grounds which
they had at present sufficient whereon a declaration of war should be
decreed, or whether they should empower Titus Quinctius to act, in the
case respecting Nabis the Lacedaemonian, in such manner as he should
judge conducive to the public interest; they left it in his hands. For
they thought the business of such a nature, that whether expedited or
delayed, it could not very materially affect the general interest
of the Roman people. It was deemed more important to endeavour to
discover what line of conduct Hannibal and the Carthaginians would
pursue, in case of a war breaking out with Antiochus. Persons of the
faction which opposed Hannibal wrote continually to their several
friends, among the principal men in Rome, that "messages and letters
were sent by Hannibal to Antiochus, and that envoys came secretly from
the king to him. That, as some wild beasts can never be tamed, so
the disposition of this man was irreclaimable and implacable. That
he sometimes complained, that the state was debilitated by ease and
indolence, and lulled by sloth into a lethargy, from which nothing
could rouse it but the sound of arms." These accounts were deemed
probable, when people recollected the former war, which had not more
been carried on than at first set on foot by the efforts of that
single man. Besides, he had by a recent act provoked the resentment of
many men in power.

46. The order of judges possessed, at that time, absolute power in
Carthage; and this was owing chiefly to their holding the office
during life. The property, character, and life of every man was in
their disposal. He who incurred the displeasure of one of that order,
found an enemy in every one of them; nor were accusers wanting in a
court where the justices were disposed to condemn. While they were
in possession of this despotism, (for they did not exercise their
exorbitant power constitutionally,) Hannibal was elected praetor and
he summoned the quaestor before him. The quaestor disregarded the
summons, for he was of the opposite faction; and besides, as the
practice was that, after the quaestorship men were advanced into the
order of judges, the most powerful of all, he already assumed a spirit
suited to the powers which he was shortly to possess. Hannibal, highly
offended Hereat, sent an officer to apprehend the quaestor; and,
bringing him forth into an assembly of the people, he made heavy
charges not against him alone, but on the whole order of judges; in
consequence of whose arrogance and power neither the magistracy nor
the laws availed any thing. Then perceiving that his discourse was
with willing ears attended to, and that the conduct of those men was
incompatible with the freedom of the lowest classes, he proposed a
law, and procured it to be enacted, that the "judges should be
elected annually; and that no person should hold the office two years
successively." But, whatever degree of favour he acquired among
the commons by this proceeding, he roused, in a great part of the
nobility, an equal degree of resentment. To this he added another act,
which, while it was for the advantage of the people, provoked personal
enmity against himself. The public revenues were partly wasted through
neglect, partly embezzled, and divided among some leading men and
magistrates; insomuch, that there was not money sufficient for the
regular annual payment of the tribute to the Romans, so that private
persons seemed to be threatened with a heavy tax.

47. When Hannibal had informed himself of the amount of the revenues
arising from taxes and port duties, for what purposes they were
issued from the treasury, what proportion of them was consumed by
the ordinary expenses of the state, and how much was alienated by
embezzlement; he asserted in an assembly of the people, that if
payment were enforced of the residuary funds, the taxes might be
remitted to the subjects; and that the state would still be rich
enough to pay the tribute to the Romans: which assertion he proved
to be true. But now those persons who, for several years past, had
maintained themselves by plundering the public, were greatly enraged;
as if this were ravishing from them their own property, and not as
dragging out of their hands their ill-gotten spoil. Accordingly, they
instigated the Romans against Hannibal, who were seeking a pretext
for indulging their hatred against him. A strenuous opposition was,
however, for a long time made to this by Scipio Africanus, who
thought it highly unbecoming the dignity of the Roman people to make
themselves a party in the animosities and charges against Hannibal;
to interpose the public authority among factions of the Carthaginians,
not deeming it sufficient to have conquered that commander in the
field, but to become as it were his prosecutors[1] in a judicial
process, and preferring an action against him. Yet at length the point
was carried, that an embassy should be sent to Carthage to represent
to the senate there, that Hannibal, in concert with king Antiochus,
was forming plans for kindling a war. Three ambassadors were sent,
Caius Servilius, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, and Quintus Terentius
Culleo. These, when they had arrived at Carthage, by the advice of
Hannibal's enemies, ordered, that any who inquired the cause of
their coming should be told, that they came to determine the disputes
subsisting between the Carthaginians and Masinissa, king of Numidia;
and this was generally believed. But Hannibal was not ignorant that he
was the sole object aimed at by the Romans; and that, though they
had granted peace to the Carthaginians, their war against him,
individually, remained irreconcilable. He therefore determined to
give way to fortune and the times; and having already made every
preparation for flight, he showed himself that day in the forum, in
order to guard against suspicion; and, as soon as it grew dark, went
in his common dress to one of the gates, with his two attendants, who
knew nothing of his intention.

[Footnote 1: _Subscribere actioni_ is to join the prosecutor as an
assistant; and the prosecutors were obliged _calumniam jurare_, to
swear that they did not carry on the prosecution through malice, or
a vexatious design. Scipio, therefore, means to reprobate the
interference of the Roman state, which could bring it into the
situation of a common prosecutor in a court of justice.]

48. Finding horses in readiness at a spot where he had ordered, he
traversed by night a district which the Africans denominated Byzacium,
and arrived, in the morning of the following day, at a castle of his
own between Acholla and Thapsus. There a ship, ready fitted out and
furnished with rowers, took him on board. In this manner did Hannibal
leave Africa, lamenting the misfortunes of his country oftener than
his own. He sailed over, the same day, to the island of Cercina, where
he found in the port a number of merchant ships, belonging to the
Phoenicians, with their cargoes; and on landing was surrounded by a
concourse of people, who came to pay their respects to him; on which
he gave orders that, in answer to any inquiries, it should be said
that he had been sent as ambassador to Tyre. Fearing, however, lest
some of these ships might sail in the night to Thapsus or Adrumetum,
and carry information of his having been seen at Cercina, he ordered
a sacrifice to be prepared, and the masters of the ships, with the
merchants, to be invited to the entertainment, and that the sails and
yards should be collected out of the ships to form a shade on shore
for the company at supper, as it happened to be the middle of summer.
The feast of the day was as sumptuous, and well attended, as the time
and circumstances allowed; and the entertainment was prolonged, with
plenty of wine, until late in the night. As soon as Hannibal saw an
opportunity of escaping the notice of those who were in the harbour,
he set sail. The rest were fast asleep, nor was it early, next day,
when they arose from their sleep, full of the illness of intoxication;
and then, when it was too late, they set about replacing the sails in
the ships, and fitting up the rigging, which employed several hours.
At Carthage, those who were accustomed to visit Hannibal met in a
crowd, at the porch of his house; and when it was publicly known that
he was not to be found, the whole multitude assembled in the forum,
eager to gain intelligence of the man who was considered as the first
in the state. Some surmised that he had fled, as the case was; others,
that he had been put to death through the treachery of the Romans;
and there was visible in the expression of their countenances, that
variety which might naturally be expected in a state divided into
factions, whereof each supported a different interest. At length
intelligence was brought, that he had been seen at Cercina.

49 The Roman ambassadors represented to the council, that "proof had
been laid before the senate at Rome, that formerly king Philip had
been moved, principally by the instigation of Hannibal, to make war on
the Roman people; and that lately, Hannibal had, besides, sent letters
and messages to king Antiochus, that he had entered into plans for
driving Carthage to revolt, and that he had now gone no whither but to
king Antiochus. That he was a man who would never be content, until
he had excited war in every part of the globe. That such conduct ought
not to be suffered to pass with impunity, if the Carthaginians wished
to convince the Roman people that none of those things were done
with their consent, or with the approbation of the state." The
Carthaginians answered, that they were ready to do whatever the Romans
required them.

Hannibal, after a prosperous voyage, arrived at Tyre; where, as a man
illustrated by every description of honours, he was received by those
founders of Carthage, as if in a second native country, and here he
staid a few days. He then sailed to Antioch; where, hearing that the
king had already left the place, he procured an interview with his
son, who was celebrating the solemnity of the games at Daphne, and
who treated him with much kindness; after which, he set sail without
delay. At Ephesus, he overtook the king, who was still hesitating in
his mind, and undetermined respecting a war with Rome: but the
arrival of Hannibal proved an incentive of no small efficacy to the
prosecution of that design. At the same time, the inclinations of the
Aetolians also were alienated from the Roman alliance in consequence
of the senate having referred to Quinctius their ambassadors, who
demanded Pharsalus and Leucas, and some other cities, in conformity
with the first treaty.



BOOK XXXIV.

    _The Oppian law, respecting the dress of the women, after much
    debate, repealed, notwithstanding it was strenuously supported
    by Marcus Porcius Cato, the consul. The consul's successes in
    Spain. Titus Quinctius Flamininus finishes the war with the
    Lacedaemonians and the tyrant Nabis; makes peace with them,
    and restores liberty to Argos. Separate seats at the public
    games, for the first time, appointed for the senator. Colonies
    sent forth. Marcus Porcius Cato triumphs on account of his
    successes in Spain. Further successes in Spain against the
    Boians and Insubrian Gauls. Titus Quinctius Flamininus,
    having subdued Philip, king of Macedonia, and Nabis, the
    Lacedaemonian tyrant, and restored all Greece to freedom,
    triumphs for three days. Carthaginian ambassadors bring
    intelligence of the hostile designs of Antiochus and
    Hannibal._


1. Amid the serious concerns of important wars, either scarcely
brought to a close or impending, an incident intervened, trivial
indeed to be mentioned, but which, through the zeal of the parties
concerned, issued in a violent contest. Marcus Fundanius and Lucius
Valerius, plebeian tribunes, proposed to the people the repealing of
the Oppian law. This law, which had been introduced by Caius Oppias,
plebeian tribune, in the consulate of Quintus Fabius and Tiberius
Sempronius, during the heat of the Punic war, enacted that "no woman
should possess more than half an ounce of gold, or wear a garment of
various colours, or ride in a carriage drawn by horses, in a city,
or any town, or any place nearer thereto than one mile; except on
occasion of some public religious solemnity." Marcus and Publius
Junius Brutus, plebeian tribunes, supported the Oppian law, and
declared, that they would never suffer it to be repealed; while
many of the nobility stood forth to argue for and against the motion
proposed. The Capitol was filled with crowds, who favoured or opposed
the law; nor could the matrons be kept at home, either by advice or
shame, nor even by the commands of their husbands; but beset every
street and pass in the city, beseeching the men as they went down to
the forum, that in the present flourishing state of the commonwealth,
when the private fortune of all was daily increasing they would suffer
the women to have their former ornaments of dress restored. This
throng of women increased daily, for they arrived even from the
country towns and villages; and they had at length the boldness to
come up to the consuls, praetors, and magistrates, to urge their
request. One of the consuls, however, they found especially
inexorable--Marcus Porcius Cato, who, in support of the law proposed
to be repealed, spoke to this effect:--

2. "If, Romans, every individual among us had made it a rule to
maintain the prerogative and authority of a husband with respect to
his own wife, we should have less trouble with the whole sex. But now,
our privileges, overpowered at home by female contumacy, are, even
here in the forum, spurned and trodden under foot; and because we are
unable to withstand each separately, we now dread their collective
body. I was accustomed to think it a fabulous and fictitious tale,
that, in a certain island, the whole race of males was utterly
extirpated by a conspiracy of the women. But the utmost danger may be
apprehended equally from either sex, if you suffer cabals, assemblies,
and secret consultations to be held: scarcely, indeed, can I
determine, in my own mind, whether the act itself, or the precedent
that it affords, is of more pernicious tendency. The latter of these
more particularly concerns us consuls, and the other magistrates:
the former, yourselves, my fellow-citizens. For, whether the measure
proposed to your consideration be profitable to the state or not, is
to be determined by you, who are about to go to the vote. As to the
outrageous behaviour of these women, whether it be merely an act of
their own, or owing to your instigations, Marcus Fundanius and Lucius
Valerius, it unquestionably implies culpable conduct in magistrates. I
know not whether it reflects greater disgrace on you, tribunes, or on
the consuls: on you certainly, if you have, on the present occasion,
brought these women hither for the purpose of raising tribunitian
seditions; on us, if we suffer laws to be imposed on us by a secession
of women, as was done formerly by that of the common people. It was
not without painful emotions of shame, that I, just now, made my way
into the forum through the midst of a band of women. Had I not been
restrained by respect for the modesty and dignity of some individuals
among them, rather than of the whole number, and been unwilling that
they should be seen rebuked by a consul, I should have said to them,
'What sort of practice is this, of running out into public, besetting
the streets, and addressing other women's husbands? Could not
each have made the same request to her husband at home? Are your
blandishments more seducing in public than in private; and with other
women's husbands, than with your own? Although if the modesty of
matrons confined them within the limits of their own rights, it did
not become you, even at home, to concern yourselves about what laws
might be passed or repealed here.' Our ancestors thought it not
proper that women should perform any, even private business, without
a director; but that they should be ever under the control of parents,
brothers, or husbands. We, it seems, suffer them, now, to interfere in
the management of state affairs, and to introduce themselves into the
forum, into general assemblies, and into assemblies of election. For,
what are they doing, at this moment, in your streets and lanes? What,
but arguing, some in support of the motion of the plebeian tribunes;
others, for the repeal of the law? Will you give the reins to their
intractable nature, and their uncontrolled passions, and then expect
that themselves should set bounds to their licentiousness, when you
have failed to do so? This is the smallest of the injunctions laid on
them by usage or the laws, all which women bear with impatience: they
long for liberty; or rather, to speak the truth, for unbounded freedom
in every particular. For what will they not attempt, if they now come
off victorious?

3. "Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which
our forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they
subjected them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all
these restrictions, you can scarcely keep them within bounds. If,
then, you suffer them to throw these off one by one, to tear them all
asunder, and, at last, to be set on an equal footing with yourselves,
can you imagine that they will be any longer tolerable by you? The
moment they have arrived at an equality with you, they will have
become your superiors. But, forsooth, they only object to any new
law being made against them: they mean to deprecate, not justice,
but severity. Nay, their wish is, that a law which you have admitted,
established by your suffrages, and confirmed by the practice and
experience of so many years to be beneficial, should now be repealed;
that is, that, by abolishing one law, you should weaken all the
rest. No law perfectly suits the convenience of every member of the
community: the only consideration is, whether, upon the whole, it be
profitable to the greater part. If because a law proves obnoxious to
a private individual, that circumstance should destroy and sweep it
away, to what purpose is it for the community to enact general laws,
which those, with reference to whom they were passed, could presently
repeal? I should like, however, to hear what this important affair
is which has induced the matrons thus to run out into public in this
excited manner, scarcely restraining from pushing into the forum and
the assembly of the people. Is it to solicit that their parents, their
husbands, children, and brothers may be ransomed from captivity
under Hannibal? By no means: and far be ever from the commonwealth so
unfortunate a situation. Yet, even when such was the case, you refused
this to their prayers. But it is not duty, nor solicitude for their
friends; it is religion that has collected them together. They
are about to receive the Idaean Mother, coming out of Phrygia from
Pessinus! What motive, that even common decency will allow to be
mentioned, is pretended for this female insurrection? Why, say they,
that we may shine in gold and purple; that, both on festal and common
days, we may ride through the city in our chariots, triumphing over
vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from
you your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses
and our luxury.

4. "Often have you heard me complain of the profuse expenses of the
women--often of those of the men; and that not only of men in private
stations, but of the magistrates: and that the state was endangered by
two opposite vices, luxury and avarice; those pests, which have
been the ruin of all great empires. These I dread the more, as the
circumstances of the commonwealth grow daily more prosperous and
happy; as the empire increases; as we have now passed over into Greece
and Asia, places abounding with every kind of temptation that can
inflame the passions; and as we have begun to handle even royal
treasures: so much the more do I fear that these matters will bring
us into captivity, rather than we them. Believe me, those statues from
Syracuse were brought into this city with hostile effect. I already
hear too many commending and admiring the decorations of Athens and
Corinth, and ridiculing the earthen images of our Roman gods that
stand on the fronts of their temples. For my part I prefer these
gods,--propitious as they are, and I hope will continue to be, if
we allow them to remain in their own mansions. In the memory of
our fathers, Pyrrhus, by his ambassador Cineas, made trial of the
dispositions, not only of our men, but of our women also, by offers of
presents: at that time the Oppian law, for restraining female luxury,
had not been made; and yet not one woman accepted a present. What,
think you, was the reason? That for which our ancestors made no
provision by law on this subject: there was no luxury existing which
needed to be restrained. As diseases must necessarily be known before
their remedies, so passions come into being before the laws which
prescribe limits to them. What called forth the Licinian law,
restricting estates to five hundred acres, but the unbounded desire
for enlarging estates? What the Cincian law, concerning gifts and
presents, but that the plebeians[1] had become vassals and tributaries
to the senate? It is not therefore in any degree surprising, that no
want of the Oppian law, or of any other, to limit the expenses of the
women, was felt at that time, when they refused to receive gold and
purple that was thrown in their way, and offered to their acceptance.
If Cineas were now to go round the city with his presents, he would
find numbers of women standing in the public streets to receive them.
There are some passions, the causes or motives of which I can no
way account for. For that that should not be lawful for you which
is permitted to another, may perhaps naturally excite some degree of
shame or indignation; yet, when the dress of all is alike, why should
any one of you fear, lest she should not be an object of observation?
Of all kinds of shame, the worst, surely, is the being ashamed of
frugality or of poverty; but the law relieves you with regard to both;
since that which you have not it is unlawful for you to possess. This
equalization, says the rich matron, is the very thing that I cannot
endure. Why do not I make a figure, distinguished with gold and
purple? Why is the poverty of others concealed under this cover of
a law, so that it should be thought that, if the law permitted, they
would have such things as they are not now able to procure? Romans,
do you wish to excite among your wives an emulation of this sort,
that the rich should wish to have what no other can have; and that
the poor, lest they should be despised as such should extend their
expenses beyond their means? Be assured, that when a woman once begins
to be ashamed of what she ought not to be ashamed of, she will not be
ashamed of what she ought. She who can, will purchase out of her own
purse; she who cannot, will ask her husband. Unhappy is the husband,
both he who complies with the request, and he who does not; for what
he will not give himself, he will see given by another. Now, they
openly solicit favours from other women's husbands; and, what is more,
solicit a law and votes. From some they obtain them; although, with
regard to yourself, your property, or your children, they would be
inexorable. So soon as the law shall cease to limit the expenses of
your wife, you yourself will never be able to do so. Do not suppose
that the matter will hereafter be in the same state in which it was
before the law was made on the subject. It is safer that a wicked man
should even never be accused, than that he should be acquitted; and
luxury, if it had never been meddled with, would be more tolerable
than it will be, now, like a wild beast, irritated by having been
chained, and then let loose. My opinion is, that the Oppian law ought,
on no account, to be repealed. Whatever determination you may come to,
I pray all the gods to prosper it."

[Footnote 1: Previous to the passing of the Cincian law, about ten
years before this time, the advocates who pleaded in the courts
received fees and presents: and as all or most of these were senators,
the plebeians are here represented as tributary to the senate. By the
above law they were forbidden to receive either fees or presents.]

5. After him the plebeian tribunes, who had declared their intention
of protesting, added a few words to the same purport. Then Lucius
Valerius spoke thus in support of the measure which he himself had
introduced:--"If private persons only had stood forth to argue for and
against the proposition which we have submitted to your consideration,
I for my part, thinking enough to have been said on both sides, would
have waited in silence for your determination. But since a person of
most respectable judgment, the consul, Marcus Porcius, has reprobated
our motion, not only by the influence of his opinion, which, had he
said nothing, would carry very great weight, but also in a long and
careful discourse, it becomes necessary to say a few words in answer.
He has spent more words in rebuking the matrons, than in arguing
against the measure proposed; and even went so far as to mention a
doubt, whether the matrons had committed the conduct which he censured
in them spontaneously or at our instigation. I shall defend the
measure, not ourselves: for the consul threw out those insinuations
against us, rather for argument's sake than as a serious charge.
He has made use of the terms cabal and sedition; and, sometimes,
secession of the women: because the matrons had requested of you, in
the public streets, that, in this time of peace, when the commonwealth
is flourishing and happy, you would repeal a law that was made against
them during a war, and in times of distress. I know that these and
other similar strong expressions, for the purpose of exaggeration, are
easily found; and, mild as Marcus Cato is in his disposition, yet in
his speeches he is not only vehement, but sometimes even austere. What
new thing, let me ask, have the matrons done in coming out into public
in a body on an occasion which nearly concerns themselves? Have
they never before appeared in public? I will turn over your own
Antiquities,[1] and quote them against you. Hear, now how often they
have done the same, and always to the advantage of the public. In the
earliest period of our history, even in the reign of Romulus, when the
Capitol had been taken by the Sabines, and a pitched battle was fought
in the forum, was not the fight stopped by the interposition of the
matrons between the two armies? When, after the expulsion of the
kings, the legions of the Volscians, under the command of Marcius
Coriolanus, were encamped at the fifth stone, did not the matrons turn
away that army, which would have overwhelmed this city? Again, when
Rome was taken by the Gauls, whence was the city ransomed? Did not
the matrons, by unanimous agreement, bring their gold into the public
treasury? In the late war, not to go back to remote antiquity, when
there was a want of money, did not the funds of the widows supply the
treasury? And when even new gods were invited hither to the relief of
our distressed affairs, did not the matrons go out in a body to the
sea-shore to receive the Idaean Mother? The cases, you will say, are
dissimilar. It is not my purpose to produce similar instances; it is
sufficient that I clear these women of having done any thing new. Now,
what nobody wondered at their doing in cases which concerned all in
common, both men and women, can we wonder at their doing in a case
peculiarly affecting themselves? But what have they done? We have
proud ears, truly, if, though masters disdain not the prayers of
slaves, we are offended at being asked a favour by honourable women.

[Footnote 1: Alluding to a treatise by Cato, upon the antiquities of
Italy, entitled "Origines," which is the word used here by Valerius.]

6. "I come now to the question in debate, with respect to which the
consul's argument is twofold: for, first, he is displeased at the
thought of any law whatever being repealed; and then, particularly,
of that law which was made to restrain female luxury. His former
argument, in support of the laws in general, appeared highly becoming
of a consul; and that on the latter, against luxury, was quite
conformable to the rigid strictness of his morals. There is,
therefore, a danger lest, unless I shall show what, on each subject,
was inconclusive, you may probably be led away by error. For while
I acknowledge, that of those laws which are instituted, not for any
particular time, but for eternity, on account of their perpetual
utility, not one ought to be repealed; unless either experience evince
it to be useless, or some state of the public affairs render it so; I
see, at the same time, that those laws which particular seasons have
required, are mortal, (if I may use the term,) and changeable with the
times. Those made in peace are generally repealed by war; those made
in war, by peace; as in the management of a ship, some implements are
useful in good weather, others in bad. As these two kinds are thus
distinct in their nature, of which kind does that law appear to be
which we now propose to repeal? Is it an ancient law of the kings,
coeval with the city itself? Or, what is next to that, was it written
in the twelve tables by the decemvirs, appointed to form a code of
laws? Is it one, without which our ancestors thought that the honour
of the female sex could not be preserved? and, therefore, have we also
reason to fear, that, together with it, we should repeal the modesty
and chastity of our females? Now, is there a man among you who does
not know that this is a new law, passed not more than twenty years
ago, in the consulate of Quintus Fabius and Tiberius Sempronius? And
as, without it, our matrons sustained, for such a number of years,
the most virtuous characters, what danger is there of their abandoning
themselves to luxury on its being repealed? For, if that law had been
passed for the purpose of setting a limit to the passions of the sex,
there would be reason to fear lest the repeal of it might operate as
an incitement to them. But the real reason of its being passed,
the time itself will show Hannibal was then in Italy, victorious at
Cannae: he already held possession of Tarentum, of Arpi, of Capua, and
seemed ready to bring up his army to the city of Rome. Our allies
had deserted us. We had neither soldiers to fill up the legions, nor
seamen to man the fleet, nor money in the treasury. Slaves, who were
to be employed as soldiers, were purchased on condition of their price
being paid to the owners at the end of the war. The farmers of the
revenues had declared, that they would contract to supply corn and
other matters, which the exigencies of the war required, to be paid
for at the same time. We gave up our slaves to the oar, in numbers
proportioned to our properties, and paid them out of our own incomes.
All our gold and silver, in imitation of the example given by the
senators, we dedicated to the use of the public. Widows and minors
lodged their money in the treasury. It was provided by law that we
should not keep in our houses more than a certain quantity of wrought
gold or silver, or more than a certain sum of coined silver or brass.
At such a time as this, were the matrons so eagerly engaged in
luxury and dress, that the Oppian law was requisite to repress such
practices; when the senate, because the sacrifice of Ceres had been
omitted, in consequence of all the matrons being in mourning, ordered
the mourning to end in thirty days? Who does not clearly see, that
the poverty and distress of the state, requiring that every private
person's money should be converted to the use of the public, enacted
that law, with intent that it should remain in force so long only as
the cause of enacting the law should remain? For if all the decrees
of the senate and orders of the people, which were then made to answer
the necessities of the times, are to be of perpetual obligation, why
do we refund their money to private persons? Why do we contract for
public works for ready money? Why are not slaves brought to serve in
the army? Why do not we, private subjects, supply rowers as we did
then?

7. "Shall, then, every other class of people, every individual, feel
the improvement in the condition of the state; and shall our wives
alone reap none of the fruits of the public peace and tranquillity?
Shall we men have the use of purple, wearing the purple-bordered gown
in magistracies and priests' offices? Shall our children wear gowns
bordered with purple? Shall we allow the privilege of wearing the toga
praetexta to the magistrates of the colonies and borough towns, and
to the very lowest of them here at Rome, the superintendents of the
streets; and not only of wearing such an ornament of distinction while
alive, but of being buried with it when dead; and shall we interdict
the use of purple to women alone? And when you, the husband, may wear
purple in your great coat, will you not suffer your wife to have a
purple mantle? Shall your horse be more splendidly caparisoned than
your wife is clothed? But with respect to purple, which will be worn
out and consumed, I can see an unjust, indeed, but still a sort of
reason, for parsimony; but with respect to gold, in which, excepting
the price of the workmanship, there is no waste, what objection can
there be? It rather serves as a reserve fund for both public and
private exigencies, as you have already experienced. He says there
will be no emulation between individuals, when no one is possessed
of it. But, in truth, it will be a source of grief and indignation to
all, when they see those ornaments allowed to the wives of the Latin
confederates of which they themselves have been deprived; when they
see those riding through the city in their carriages, and decorated
with gold and purple, while they are obliged to follow on foot, as
if the seat of empire were in the country of the others, not in their
own. This would hurt the feelings even of men, and what do you think
must be its effect on those of weak women, whom even trifles can
disturb? Neither offices of state, nor of the priesthood, nor
triumphs, nor badges of distinction, nor military presents, nor
spoils, can fall to their share. Elegance of appearance, and
ornaments, and dress, these are the women's badges of distinction; in
these they delight and glory; these our ancestors called the women's
world. What else do they lay aside when in mourning, except their gold
and purple? And what else do they resume when the mourning is over?
How do they distinguish themselves on occasion of public thanksgivings
and supplications, but by adding unusual splendour of dress? But then,
(it may be said,) if you repeal the Oppian law, should you choose to
prohibit any of those particulars which the law at present prohibits,
you will not have it in your power; your daughters, wives, and even
the sisters of some, will be less under control. The bondage of
women is never shaken off without the loss of their friends; and they
themselves look with horror on that freedom which is purchased with
the condition of the widow or the orphan. Their wish is, that their
dress should be under your regulation, not under that of the law; and
it ought to be your wish to hold them in control and guardianship, not
in bondage; and to prefer the title of father or husband to that of
master. The consul just now made use of some invidious terms, calling
it a female sedition and secession; because, I suppose, there is
danger of their seizing the sacred mount, as formerly the angry
plebeians did; or the Aventine. Their feeble nature must submit
to whatever you think proper to enjoin; and, the greater power you
possess, the more moderate ought you to be in the exercise of your
authority."

8. Although all these considerations had been urged against the motion
and in its favour, the women next day poured out into public in much
greater numbers, and in a body beset the doors of the tribunes who had
protested against the measure of their colleagues; nor did they retire
until this intervention was withdrawn. There was then no further doubt
but that every one of the tribes would vote for the repeal of the law.
Thus was this law annulled, in the twentieth year after it had
been made. The consul Marcus Porcius, as soon as the Oppian law was
abolished, sailed immediately, with twenty-five ships of war, of which
five belonged to the allies, to the port of Luna, where he ordered the
troops to assemble; and having sent an edict along the sea-coast, to
collect ships of every description, at his departure from Luna he left
orders that they should follow him to the harbour of Pyrenaeus, as
he intended to proceed thence against the enemy with his collective
fleet. They accordingly, after sailing by the Ligurian mountains and
the Gallic bay, congregated together on the day appointed. From thence
they went to Rhoda, and forcibly dislodged a garrison of Spaniards
that were in that fortress. From Rhoda they proceeded with a
favourable wind to Emporiae, and there landed all the forces,
excepting the crews of the ships.

9. At that time, as at present, Emporiae consisted of two towns,
separated by a wall. One was inhabited by Greeks from Phocaea, whence
the Massilians also derive their origin; the other by Spaniards. The
Greek town, being open towards the sea, had but a small extent of
wall, not above four hundred paces in circuit; but the Spanish town,
being farther back from the sea, had a wall three thousand paces in
circumference. A third kind of inhabitants was added by the deified
Caesar settling a Roman colony there, after the final defeat of the
sons of Pompey. At present they are all incorporated in one mass; the
Spaniards first, and, at length, the Greeks; having been adopted
into the Roman citizenship. Whoever had, at that period, observed the
Greeks exposed on one side to the open sea, and on the other to the
Spaniards, a fierce and warlike race, would have wondered by what
cause they were preserved. Deficient in strength, they guarded against
danger by regular discipline; of which, among even more powerful
people, the best preservative is fear. That part of the wall which
faced the country, they kept strongly fortified, having but one gate,
at which some one of the magistrates was continually on guard. During
the night, a third part of the citizens kept watch on the walls,
posting their watches, and going their rounds, not merely from the
force of custom, or in compliance with the law, but with as much
vigilance as if an enemy were at their gates. They never admitted
any Spaniard into the city, nor did they go outside the walls without
precaution. The passage to the sea was open to every one: but, through
the gate, next to the Spanish town, none ever passed, but in a large
body; these were generally the third division, which had watched on
the walls the preceding night. The cause of their going out was this:
the Spaniards, ignorant of maritime affairs, were fond of trafficking
with them, and glad of an opportunity of purchasing, for their own
use, the foreign goods, which the others imported in their ships; and,
at the same time, of finding a market for the produce of their lands.
The desire of this mutual intercourse caused the Spanish town to be
freely open to the Greeks. They were thus the more protected as being
sheltered under the friendship of the Romans, which they cultivated
with as much cordial zeal, though not possessed of equal resources,
as the Massilians. On this account they received the consul, and his
army, with kindness and cordiality. Cato staid there a few days, until
he could learn what force the enemy had, and where they lay; and, not
to be idle during even that short delay, he spent the whole time in
exercising his men. It happened to be the season of the year when
the Spaniards had the corn in their barns. He therefore ordered
the purveyors not to purchase any corn, and sent them home to Rome,
saying, that the war would maintain itself. Then, setting out from
Emporiae, he laid waste the lands of the enemy with fire and sword,
spreading terror and flight through the whole country.

10. At the same time, as Marcus Helvius was going home from Farther
Spain, with an escort of six thousand men, given him by the praetor,
Appius Claudius, the Celtiberians, with a very numerous force, met
him near the city of Illiturgi. Valerius says, that they had twenty
thousand effective men; that twelve thousand of them were killed, the
town of Illiturgi taken, and all the adult males put to the sword.
Helvius, soon after, arrived at the camp of Cato; and as the region
was now free from enemies, he sent back the escort to Farther Spain,
and proceeded to Rome, where, on account of his successful services,
he entered the city with an ovation. He carried into the treasury, of
silver bullion, fourteen thousand pounds' weight; of coined, seventeen
thousand and twenty-three denarii;[1] and Oscan[2] denarii, one
hundred and twenty thousand four hundred and thirty-eight.[3] The
reason for which the senate refused him a triumph was, because he
fought under the auspices, and in the province, of another. He had
returned, moreover, two years after the expiration of his office,
because after he had resigned the government of the province to
Quintus Minucius, he was detained there during the succeeding year,
by a severe and tedious sickness he therefore entered the city in
ovation, only two months before his successor, Quintus Minucius,
enjoyed a triumph. The latter also brought into the treasury
thirty-four thousand eight hundred pounds' weight of silver,
seventy-eight thousand denarii,[4] and of Oscan denarii two hundred
and seventy-eight thousand.[5]

[Footnote 1: 549l. 14s.]

[Footnote 2: Osca, now Huesca, was a city in Spain, remarkable for
silver mine near it.]

[Footnote 3: 659l. 11s. 9-1/2d.]

[Footnote 4: 2430l. 11s. 3d.]

[Footnote 5: 8889l. 6s. 9d.]

11. Meanwhile, in Spain, the consul lay encamped at a small distance
from Emporiae. Thither came three ambassadors from Bilistages,
chieftain of the Ilergetians, one of whom was his son, representing,
that "their fortresses were besieged and that they had no hopes
of being able to hold out, unless the Roman troops came to their
assistance. Three thousand men," they said, "would be sufficient;" and
they added, that, "if such a force came to their aid, the enemy would
not keep their ground." To this the consul answered, that "he was
truly concerned for their danger and their fears; but that he had by
no means so great an amount of forces, as that, while there lay in his
neighbourhood such a powerful force of the enemy, with whom he daily
expected a general engagement, he could safely diminish his strength
by dividing his troops." The ambassadors, on hearing this, threw
themselves at the consul's feet, and with tears conjured him "not
to forsake them at such a perilous juncture. For, if rejected by the
Romans, to whom could they apply? They had no other allies, no other
hope on earth. They might have escaped the present hazard, if they had
consented to forfeit their faith, and to conspire with the rest; but
no menaces, no appearances of danger, had been able to shake their
constancy, because they hoped to find in the Romans abundant succour
and support. If there was no further prospect of this, if it was
refused them by the consul, they called gods and men to witness, that
reluctantly and under compulsion they must change sides, to avoid such
sufferings as the Saguntines had undergone; and that they would perish
together with the other states of Spain, rather than alone."

12. They were thus dismissed on that day without any positive answer.
During the following night, the consul's thoughts were greatly
perplexed and divided. He was unwilling to abandon these allies, yet
equally so to diminish his army, which might either oblige him to
decline a battle, or occasion danger in an engagement. He was firmly
resolved, however, not to lessen his forces, lest he should in the
mean time suffer some disgrace from the enemy; and therefore he
judged it expedient, instead of real succour, to hold out hopes to the
allies. For he considered that, in many cases, but especially in war,
mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that
a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources,
virtually has them; that by that very confidence he was insured in his
hopes and efforts. Next day he told the ambassadors, that "although
he was afraid to lend a part of his forces to others, and so to weaken
his own, yet that he was giving more attention to their circumstances
and danger than to his own." He then gave orders to the third part
of the soldiers of every cohort, to make haste and prepare victuals,
which they were to carry with them on board ships, and that the
vessels should be got in readiness against the third day. He desired
two of the ambassadors to carry an account of these proceedings to
Bilistages and the Ilergetians; but, by kind treatment and presents,
he prevailed on the chieftain's son to remain with him. The
ambassadors did not leave the place until they saw the troops embarked
on board the ships; then reporting this at home as a matter of
certainty, they spread, not only among their own people, but likewise
among the enemy, a confident assurance of the approach of Roman
succours.

13. The consul, when a specious appearance had been sufficiently
exhibited, ordered the soldiers to be recalled from the ships; and, as
the season of the year now approached when it would be proper to enter
on action, he pitched a winter camp at the distance of three miles
from Emporiae. From this post he frequently led out his troops to
ravage the enemy's country; sometimes to one quarter, sometimes to
another, as opportunity offered, leaving only a small guard in the
camp. They generally began their march in the night, that they might
proceed as far as possible from the camp, and surprise the enemy
unawares; and this practice disciplined the new-raised soldiers, and
great numbers of the enemy were cut off; so that they no longer dared
to venture beyond the walls of their forts. When he had made himself
thoroughly acquainted with the temper of the enemy, and of his own
men, he ordered the tribunes and the praefects, with all the horsemen
and centurions, to be called together, and addressed them thus: "The
time is arrived, which you have often wished for, when you might have
an opportunity of displaying your valour. Hitherto you have waged war
rather as marauders than as regular troops; you shall now meet your
enemies hand to hand, in regular fight. Henceforward you will have
it in your power, instead of pillaging country places, to exhaust the
treasures of cities. Our fathers, at a time when the Carthaginians
had in Spain both commanders and armies, and had themselves neither
commander nor soldiers there, nevertheless insisted on its being an
article of treaty, that the river Iberus should be the boundary of
their empire. Now, when two praetors of the Romans, when a consul, and
three armies are employed in Spain, and, for near ten years past, no
Carthaginian has been in either of its provinces, yet we have lost
that empire on the hither side of the Iberus. This it is your duty to
recover by your valour and arms; and to compel this nation, which is
in a state rather of giddy insurrection than of steady warfare, to
receive again the yoke which it has shaken off." After thus generally
exhorting them, he gave notice, that he intended to march by night to
the enemy's camp; and then dismissed them to take refreshment.

14. At midnight, after having given his attention to the auspices, he
began his march, that he might take possession of such ground as he
chose, before the enemy should observe him. Having led his troops
beyond their camp, he formed them in order of battle, and at the first
light sent three cohorts close to their very ramparts. The barbarians,
surprised at the Romans appearing on their rear, ran hastily to arms.
In the mean time, the consul observed to his men, "Soldiers, you have
no room for hope, but in your own courage; and I have, purposely,
taken care that it should be so. The enemy are between us and our
camp; behind us is an enemy's country. What is most honourable, is
likewise safest; namely, to place all our hopes in our own valour."
He then ordered the cohorts to retreat, in order to draw out the
barbarians by the appearance of flight. Every thing happened as he had
expected. The enemy, thinking that the Romans retired through fear,
rushed out of the gate, and filled the whole space between their
own camp and the line of their adversaries. While they were hastily
marshalling their troops, the consul, who had all his in readiness,
and in regular array, attacked them when in disorder. He caused the
cavalry from both wings to advance first to the charge: but those on
the right were immediately repulsed, and, retiring in disorder, spread
confusion among the infantry also. On seeing this, the consul ordered
two chosen cohorts to march round the right flank of the enemy, and
show themselves on their rear, before the two lines of infantry could
close. The alarm which this gave the enemy, which had been thrown to
a disadvantage by the cowardice of the Roman horse, restored the fight
to an equality. But such a panic had taken possession of both the
cavalry and infantry of the right wing, that the consul laid hold of
several with his own hand, and turned them about with their faces to
the enemy. As long as the fight was carried on with missile weapons,
success was doubtful; and on the right wing, where the disorder and
flight had first began, the Romans with difficulty kept their ground.
On their left wing, the barbarians were both hard pressed in in front;
and looked back, with timidity, at the cohorts that threatened their
rear. But when, after discharging their iron darts and large javelins,
they drew their swords, the battle, in a manner, began anew. They were
no longer wounded by random blows from a distance, but, closing foot
to foot, placed all their hope in courage and strength.

15. When the consul's men were now spent with fatigue, he reanimated
their courage by bringing up into the fight some subsidiary cohorts
from the second line. These formed a new front, and being fresh
themselves, and with fresh weapons attacking the wearied enemy in
the form of a wedge, by a furious onset they first forced their way
through them; and then, when they were once broken, scattered them and
put them to flight. They returned towards their camp across the fields
with all the speed they could make. When Cato saw the rout become
general, he rode back to the second legion, which had been posted in
reserve, and ordered the standards to be borne before it, and that it
should advance in quick motion, and attack the camp of the enemy. If
any of them, through too much eagerness, pushed forward beyond his
rank, he himself rode up and struck them with his javelin, and also
ordered the tribunes and centurions to chastise them. By this time the
camp of the enemy was attacked, though the Romans were kept off from
the works by stones, poles, and weapons of every sort. But, on the
arrival of the fresh legion, the assailants assumed new courage, and
the enemy fought with redoubled fury in defence of their rampart. The
consul attentively examined every place himself, that he might break
in at that quarter where he saw the weakest resistance. At a gate on
the left, he observed that the guard was thin, and thither he led the
first-rank men and spearmen of the second legion. The party posted
at the gate were not able to withstand their assault; while the rest,
seeing the enemy within the rampart, abandoned the defence of the
camp, and threw away their standards and arms. Great numbers were
killed at the gates, being stopped in the narrow passages by the
throng of their own men; and the soldiers of the second legion cut off
the hindmost, while the rest were plundering the camp. According to
the account of Valerius Antias, there were above forty thousand of
the enemy killed on that day. Cato himself, who was certainly no
disparager of his own merits, says that a great many were killed, but
he specifies no number.

16. The conduct of Cato on that day is judged deserving of
commendation in three particulars. First, in leading round his army so
far from his camp and fleet, as to fight the battle in the very middle
of the enemy, that his men might look for no safety but in their
courage. Secondly, in throwing the cohorts on the enemy's rear.
Thirdly, in ordering the second legion, when all the rest were
disordered by the eagerness of their pursuit, to advance at a full
pace to the gate of the camp, in compact and regular order under their
standards. He delayed not to improve his victory; but having sounded a
retreat, and brought back his men laden with spoil, he allowed them a
few hours of the night for rest; and then led them out to ravage the
country. They spread their depredations the wider, as the enemy were
dispersed in their flight; and this circumstance, no less than the
defeat of the preceding day, obliged the Spaniards of Emporiae,
and those of their neighbourhood, to make a submission. Many also,
belonging to other states, who had made their escape to Emporiae,
surrendered; all of whom the consul received with kindness, and after
refreshing them with victuals and wine, dismissed to their several
homes. He quickly decamped thence, and wherever the army proceeded on
its march, he was met by ambassadors, surrendering their respective
states; so that, by the time when he arrived at Tarraco, all Spain on
this side of the Ebro was in a state of perfect subjection; and the
Roman prisoners, and those of their allies and the Latin confederates,
who by various chances had fallen into the hands of the enemies in
Spain, were brought back by the barbarians, as an offering to the
consul. A rumour afterwards spread abroad, that Cato intended to lead
his army into Turditania; and it was given out, with equal falsehood,
that he meant to proceed to the remote inhabitants of the mountains.
On this groundless, unauthenticated report, seven forts of the
Bergistans revolted; but the Roman, marching thither, reduced them
to subjection without any battle worthy of narration. Not very long
after, when the consul returned to Tarraco, and before he removed
to any other place, the same persons revolted again. They were
again subdued; but, on this second reduction, met not the same mild
treatment; they were all sold by auction, that they might not any
oftener disturb the peace.

17. In the mean time, the praetor, Publius Manlius, having received
the army from Quintius Minucius, whom he had succeeded, and joined to
it the old army of Appius Claudius Nero, from Farther Spain, marched
into Turditania. Of all the Spaniards, the Turditanians are reckoned
the least warlike; nevertheless, relying on their great numbers, they
went to oppose the march of the Romans. The cavalry, having been sent
forward, at once broke their line; and with the infantry there was
hardly any conflict. The veteran soldiers, well acquainted with the
enemy and their manner of fighting, effectually decided the battle.
This engagement, however, did not terminate the war. The Turdulans
hired ten thousand Celtiberians, and prepared to carry on the war with
foreign troops. The consul, meanwhile, alarmed at the rebellion of
the Bergistans, and suspecting that the other states would act in
like manner when occasion offered, took away their arms from all the
Spaniards on this side of the Iberus; which proceeding affected them
so deeply, that many laid violent hands on themselves; this fierce
race considering that, without arms, life was of no value. When this
was reported to the consul, he summoned before him the senators of
every one of the states, to whom he spoke thus: "It is not more our
interest than it is your own, that you should not rebel; since your
insurrections have, hitherto, always drawn more mi fortune on the
Spaniards than labour on the Roman armies. To prevent such things
happening in future, I know but one method, which is, to put it out
of your power to rebel. I wish to effect this in the gentlest way, and
that you would assist me therein with your advice. I will follow none
with greater pleasure than what yourselves shall offer." They all
remaining silent, he told them that he would give them a few days'
time to consider the matter. When, on being called together, even in
the second meeting, they uttered not a word, in one day he razed the
walls of all their fortresses; and marching against those who had not
yet submitted, he received in every country, as he passed through,
the submission of all the neighbouring states. Segestica alone, an
important and opulent city, he reduced by works and engines.

18. Cato had greater difficulties to surmount, in subduing the enemy,
than had those commanders who came first into Spain; for this reason,
that the Spaniards, through disgust at the Carthaginian government,
came over to their side; whereas he had the task of enforcing their
submission to slavery, in a manner, after they had been in full
enjoyment of liberty. Besides, he found the whole province in a
state of commotion; insomuch, that some were in arms, and others were
compelled to join in the revolt by being besieged, nor would they
have been able to hold out any longer if they had not received timely
succour. But so vigorous was the spirit and capacity of the consul,
that there was no kind of business, whether great or small, which he
did not himself attend to and perform; and he not only planned and
ordered, but generally executed in person such measures as were
expedient; nor did he practise a more strict and rigorous discipline
over any one than over himself. In spare diet, watching, and labour,
he vied with the meanest of his soldiers; nor, excepting the honour of
his post, and the command, had he any peculiar distinction above the
rest of the army.

19. The Celtiberians, summoned forth by the enemy for hire, as above
mentioned, rendered the war in Turditania more difficult to the
praetor, Publius Manlius. The consul, therefore, in compliance with a
letter from the praetor, led his legions thither. The Celtiberians
and Turditanians were lying in separate camps at the approach of
the Romans, who began immediately to skirmish with the Turditanians,
making attacks on their advanced guards; and they constantly came
off victorious from every engagement, however rashly undertaken. The
consul ordered some military tribunes to enter into a conference with
the Celtiberians, and to offer them their choice of three proposals:
first, to come over, if they wished it, to the Romans, and receive
double the pay for which they had agreed with the Turditanians: the
second, to depart to their own homes, on receiving assurance, under
the sanction of the public faith, that it should not operate to their
injury that they had joined the enemies of the Romans: the third was,
that, if they were absolutely determined on war, they should appoint a
day and place to decide the matter with him by arms. The Celtiberians
desired a day's time for consideration; and an assembly was held, but
in great confusion, from the Turditanians mingling in it, so that no
resolution could be come to. Although it was uncertain whether
there was to be war or peace with the Celtiberians, the Romans,
nevertheless, just as though the latter were determined on, brought
provisions from the lands and forts of the enemy, and soon ventured
to go within their fortifications, relying on private truces, as
they would on a common intercourse established by authority. When the
consul found that he could not entice the enemy to a battle, he first
led out a number of cohorts, lightly accoutred, in regular order, to
ravage a part of the country which was yet unhurt; then hearing that
all the baggage of the Celtiberians was deposited at Saguntia,
he proceeded thither to attack that town, but was unable,
notwithstanding, to provoke them to stir. Paying, therefore, his own
troops and those of Minucius, he left the bulk of his army in the
praetor's camp, and, with seven cohorts, returned to the Iberus.

20. With that small force he took several towns. The Sidetonians,
Ausetanians, and Suessetanians came over to his side. The Lacetanians,
a remote and wild nation, still remained in arms; partly through their
natural ferocity, and partly through consciousness of guilt, in having
laid waste, by sudden incursions, the country of the allies, while the
consul and his army were employed in the war with the Turditanians.
He therefore marched to attack their capital, not only with the Roman
cohorts, but also with the troops of the allies, who were justly
incensed against them. The town was stretched out into considerable
length, but had not proportionable breadth. At the distance of about
four hundred paces from it he halted, and leaving there a party
composed of chosen cohorts, he charged them not to stir from that spot
until he himself should come to them; and then he led round the rest
of the men to the farther side of the town. The greater part of his
auxiliary troops were Suessetanians, and these he ordered to advance
and assault the wall. The Lacetanians, knowing their arms and
standards, and remembering how often they had themselves, with
impunity, committed every kind of outrage and insult in their
territory, how often defeated and routed them in pitched battles,
hastily threw open a gate, and all, in one body, rushed out against
them. The Suessetanians scarcely stood their shout, much less their
onset; and the consul, on seeing this happen, just as he had foreseen,
galloped back under the enemy's wall to his cohorts, brought them up
quickly to that part of the city where all was silence and solitude,
in consequence of the Lacetanians having sallied out on the
Suessetanians, and took possession of every part of it before the
Lacetanians returned; who, having nothing now left but their arms,
soon surrendered themselves also.

21. The conqueror marched thence, without delay, to the fort of
Vergium. This was, almost entirely, a receptacle of robbers and
plunderers, and thence incursions were made on the peaceable parts
of the province. One of the principal inhabitants deserted out of
the place to the consul, and endeavoured to excuse himself and his
countrymen; alleging, that "the management of affairs was not in their
hands; for the robbers, having gained admittance, had reduced the
fort entirely under their own power." The consul ordered him to return
home, and pretend some plausible reason for having been absent; and
then, "when he should see him advancing to the walls, and the robbers
intent on defending the city, to seize the citadel with such men as
favoured his party." This was executed according to his directions.
The double alarm, from the Romans scaling the walls in front, and the
citadel being seized on their rear, at once entirely confounded the
barbarians. The consul, having taken possession of the place, ordered,
that those who had secured the citadel should, with their relations,
be set at liberty, and enjoy their property, the rest of the natives
he commanded the quaestor to sell; and he put the robbers to death.
Having restored quiet in the province, he settled the iron and silver
mines on such a footing, that they produced a large revenue; and, in
consequence of the regulations then made, the province daily increased
in riches. On account of these services performed in Spain, the senate
decreed a supplication for three days.

22. During this summer, the other consul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus,
fought a pitched battle with a body of the Boians in Gaul, near the
forest of Litanae, and gained a complete victory. Eight thousand
of the Gauls are said to have been slain; the rest, desisting from
further opposition, retired quietly to their several villages and
lands. During the remainder of the summer, the consul kept his army
near the Po, at Placentia and Cremona, and repaired the buildings in
these cities which had been demolished in the war. While the affairs
of Italy and Spain were in this posture, Titus Quinctius had spent the
winter in Greece, in such a manner, that excepting the Aetolians, who
neither had gained rewards of victory adequate to their hopes, nor
were capable of being long contented with a state of quiet, all
Greece, being in full enjoyment of the blessings of peace and liberty,
were highly pleased with their present state; and they admired
not more the Roman general's bravery in arms, than his temperance,
justice, and moderation in victory. And now a decree of the senate
was brought to him, containing a denunciation of war against Nabis
the Lacedaemonian. On reading it, Quinctius summoned a convention of
deputies from all the allied states, to be held, on a certain day, at
Corinth. Whither when many persons of the first rank came together,
from all quarters, forming a very full assembly, from which even the
Aetolians were not absent, he addressed them in this manner:--"The
Romans and Greeks, in the war which they waged against Philip, were
united in affections and councils, and they had each no less their
separate reasons for entering into it. For he had violated friendship
with the Romans; first by aiding our enemies, the Carthaginians; and
then by attacking our allies here: and, towards you, his conduct was
such, that even if we had been willing to forget our own injuries,
those offered by him to you would have constituted a sufficient
occasion of war. But the business to be considered this day has
relation wholly to yourselves: for the subject which I propose to your
consideration is, whether you choose to suffer Argos, which, as you
know, has been seized by Nabis, to remain under his dominion; or
whether you judge it reasonable, that a city of such high reputation
and antiquity, seated in the centre of Greece, should be restored to
liberty, and placed in the same state with the rest of the cities of
Peloponnesus and of Greece. This question, as you see, merely respects
yourselves; it concerns not the Romans in any decree, excepting so
far as the one city being left in subjection to tyranny hinders their
glory, in having liberated Greece, from being full and complete.
If, however, you are not moved by regard for that city, nor by the
example, nor by the danger of the contagion of that evil spreading
wider, we, for our parts, shall rest content. On this subject I desire
your opinions, resolved to abide by whatever the majority of you shall
determine."

23. After the address of the Roman general, the several deputies
proceeded to give their opinions. The ambassador of the Athenians
extolled, to the utmost of his power, and expressed the greatest
gratitude for the kindness of the Romans towards Greece, "in having,
when applied to for assistance, brought them succours against Philip;
and now, without being applied to, voluntarily offering assistance
against the tyrant Nabis." He at the same time severely censured
the conduct of some, who, in their discourses, "depreciated those
kindnesses, and propagated evil surmises of the future, when it would
better become them rather to return thanks for the past." It was
evident that this was pointed at the Aetolians: wherefore Alexander,
deputy of that nation, having first inveighed against the Athenians,
who, having formerly been the most strenuous supporters of liberty,
now betrayed the general cause, for the sake of recommending
themselves by flattery. He then complained that "the Achaeans,
formerly soldiers of Philip, and lately, on the decline of his
fortune, deserters from him, had regained possession of Corinth, and
were so acting as that they might acquire Argos; while the Aetolians,
who had first opposed their arms to Philip, who had always been
allies of the Romans, and who had stipulated by treaty, that, on the
Macedonian being conquered, the lands and cities should be theirs,
were defrauded of Echinus and Pharsalus." He charged the Romans with
insincerity, because, "while they put forth empty professions of
establishing liberty, they held possession of Demetrias and Chalcis
by their garrisons; though, when Philip hesitated to withdraw his
garrisons from those places, they always urged against him that the
Grecians would never be free while Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth
were in the hands of the others. And, lastly, that they named Argos
and Nabis merely as a pretext for remaining in Greece, and keeping
their armies there. Let them carry away their legions to Italy;
and the Aetolians were ready to undertake, either that Nabis should
voluntarily withdraw his forces from Argos, on terms; or they would
compel him by force of arms to comply with the unanimous judgment of
Greece."

24. This arrogant speech called up, first, Aristaenus, praetor of the
Achaeans, who said:--"Forbid it, Jupiter, supremely good and great,
and imperial Juno, the tutelar deity of Argos, that that city should
be staked as a prize between the Lacedaemonian tyrant and the Aetolian
plunderers, under such unhappy circumstances, that its being retaken
by you should be productive of more calamitous consequences than its
capture by him. Titus Quinctius, the sea lying between us, does not
secure us from those robbers; what then will become of us, should they
procure themselves a stronghold in the centre of Peloponnesus? They
have nothing Grecian but the language, as they have nothing human but
the shape. They live under customs and rites more brutally savage than
any barbarians, nay, than wild beasts themselves. Wherefore, Romans,
we beseech you, not only to recover Argos from Nabis, but also to
establish the affairs of Greece on such a footing, as to leave these
countries adequately secured from the robberies of the Aetolians." The
rest concurring in these censures on the Aetolians, the Roman general
said, that "he had himself intended to have answered them, but that
he perceived all so highly incensed against those people, that the
general resentment required rather to be appeased than irritated.
Satisfied, therefore, with the sentiments entertained of the Romans,
and of the Aetolians, he would simply put this question: What was the
general opinion concerning war with Nabis, in case of his refusing to
restore Argos to the Achaeans?" When all had pronounced for war, he
recommended to them, to send in their shares of auxiliary troops, each
state in proportion to its ability. He even sent an ambassador to the
Aetolians; rather to make them disclose their sentiments, which was
the actual result, than with any hope of obtaining their concurrence.
He gave orders to the military tribunes, to bring up the army from
Elatia. To the ambassadors of Antiochus, who, at this time, proposed
to treat of an alliance, he answered, that "he could say nothing on
the subject in the absence of the ten ambassadors. They must go to
Rome, and apply to the senate."

25. As soon as the troops arrived from Elatia, Quinctius set out to
lead them towards Argos. When near Cleonae he was met by the praetor,
Aristaenus, with ten thousand Achaean foot and one thousand horse; and
having joined forces, they pitched their camp at a small distance from
thence. Next day they marched down into the plains of Argos, and
fixed their post about four miles from that city. The commander of the
Lacedaemonian garrison was Pythagoras, the tyrant's son-in-law, and
his wife's brother; who, on the approach of the Romans, posted strong
guards in both the citadels, for Argos has two, and in every other
place that was commodious for defence, or exposed to danger. But,
while thus employed, he could by no means dissemble the dread inspired
by the approach of the Romans; and, to the alarm from abroad, was
added an insurrection within. There was an Argive, named Damocles,
a youth of more spirit than prudence, who held conversations, with
proper persons, on a design of expelling the garrison; at first, with
the precaution of imposing an oath, but afterwards, through his
eager desire to add strength to the conspiracy, he estimated people's
sincerity with too little caution. While he was in conference with
his accomplices, an officer, sent by the commander of the garrison,
summoned him to appear before him, and he perceived that his design
was betrayed; on which, exhorting the conspirators, who were present,
to take arms with him, rather than be tortured to death, he went on
with a few companions towards the forum, crying out to all who wished
the preservation of the state, to follow him as the vindicator and
author of their liberty. He could prevail on none to join him; for
they saw no prospect of any attainable advantage, and much less any
sufficiently powerful support. While he exclaimed in this manner, the
Lacedaemonians surrounded him and his party, and put them to death.
Many others were afterwards seized, the greater part of whom were
executed, and the remaining few thrown into prison. During the
following night, great numbers, letting themselves down from the walls
by ropes, came over to the Romans.

26. As these men affirmed, that if the Roman army had been at the
gates, this commotion would not have ended without effect; and that,
if the camp was brought nearer, the Argives would not remain inactive;
Quinctius sent some horsemen and infantry, lightly accoutred, who,
meeting at the Cylarabis, a place of exercise, less than three hundred
paces from the city, a party of Lacedaemonians, who sallied out of a
gate, engaged them, and, without much difficulty, drove them back into
the town; and the Roman general encamped on the very spot where the
battle had been fought. There he passed one day, on the look-out if
any new commotion might arise; but perceiving that the inhabitants
were quite depressed by fear, he called a council concerning the
besieging of Argos. All the deputies of Greece, except Aristaenus,
were of one opinion, that, as that city was the sole object of the
war, with it the war should commence. This was by no means agreeable
to Quinctius; but he listened, with evident marks of approbation,
to Aristaenus, arguing in opposition to the joint opinion of all
the rest; while he himself added, that "as the war was undertaken in
favour of the Argives, against the tyrant, what could be less proper
than to leave the enemy in quiet, and lay siege to Argos? For his
part, he was resolved to point his arms against the main object of the
war, Lacedaemon and the tyrant." He then dismissed the meeting, and
sent out light-armed cohorts to collect forage. Whatever was ripe in
the adjacent country, they reaped, and brought together; and what
was green they trod down and destroyed, that the enemy might not
subsequently get it. He then proceeded over Mount Parthenius, and,
passing by Tegaea, encamped on the third day at Caryae; where he
waited for the auxiliary troops of the allies, before he entered the
enemy's territory. Fifteen hundred Macedonians came from Philip, and
four hundred horsemen of the Thessalians; and now the Roman general
had no occasion to wait for more auxiliaries, having abundance; but he
was obliged to stop for supplies of provisions, which he had ordered
the neighbouring cities to furnish. He was joined also by a powerful
naval force; Lucius Quinctius had already come from Leucas, with forty
ships; eighteen ships of war had arrived from the Rhodians; and king
Eumenes was cruising among the Cyclades, with ten decked ships, thirty
barks, and smaller vessels of various sorts. Of the Lacedaemonians
themselves, also, a great many, who had been driven from home by the
cruelty of the tyrants, came into the Roman camp, in hopes of being
reinstated in their country; for the number was very great of those
who had been banished by the several despots, during many generations
since they first got Lacedaemon into their power. The principal person
among the exiles was Agesipolis, to whom the sovereignty of Lacedaemon
belonged in right of his birth; but who had been driven out when an
infant by Lycurgus, after the death of Cleomenes, who was the first
tyrant of Lacedaemon.

27. Although Nabis was enclosed between such powerful armaments on
land and sea, and, on a comparative view of his own and his enemy's
strength, could scarcely conceive any degree of hope; yet he did not
desist from the war, but brought, from Crete, a thousand chosen young
men of that country in addition to a thousand whom he had before; he
had, besides, under arms, three thousand mercenary soldiers, and ten
thousand of his countrymen, with the peasants, who belonged to the
fortresses. He fortified the city with a ditch and rampart; and lest
any intestine commotion should arise, curbed the people's spirits by
fear, punishing them with extreme severity, as he could not hope for
good wishes towards a tyrant. As he had his suspicions respecting some
of the citizens, he drew out all his forces to a field called Dromos,
(the course,) and ordered the Lacedaemonians to be called to an
assembly without their arms. He then formed a line of armed men round
the place where they were assembled, observing briefly, "that he ought
to be excused, if, at such a juncture, he feared and guarded against
every thing that might happen; and that, if the present state of
affairs subjected any to suspicion, it was their advantage to be
prevented from attempting any design, rather than to be punished
for attempting it: he therefore intended," he said, "to keep certain
persons in custody, until the storm, which then threatened, should
have passed over; and would discharge them as soon as the enemy should
have been driven away, from whom the danger would be less, when proper
precaution was taken against internal treachery." He then ordered the
names of about eighty of the principal young men to be called over,
and as each answered to his name, he put them in custody. On the night
following, they were all put to death. Some of the Helotes, a race of
rustics, who have been feudal vassals even from the earliest times,
being charged with an intention to desert, they were driven with
stripes through all the streets, and put to death. The terror which
this excited so confounded the multitude, as to deter them from
all attempts to effect a revolution. He kept his forces within the
fortifications, knowing that he was not a match for the enemy in the
field; and, besides, he was afraid to leave the city, while all men's
minds were in a state of such suspense and uncertainty.

28. Quinctius, when all his preparations were now sufficiently made,
decamped; and, on the second day, came to Sellasia, on the river
Oenus, on the spot where it is said Antigonus, king of Macedonia,
fought a pitched battle with Cleomenes, tyrant of Lacedaemon. Being
told that the ascent from thence was difficult, and the passes narrow,
he made a short circuit by the mountains, sending forward a party to
make a road, and came, by a tolerably broad and open passage, to the
river Eurotas, where it flows almost immediately under the walls of
the city. Here, the tyrant's auxiliary troops attacked the Romans,
while they were forming their camp, together with Quinctius himself,
(who, with a division of cavalry and light troops, had advanced beyond
the rest,) and threw them into a state of alarm and confusion; not
expecting any thing of the kind, as no one had opposed them throughout
their whole march, and they had passed, as it were, through a friendly
territory. The disorder lasted a considerable time, the infantry
calling for aid on the cavalry, and the cavalry on the infantry, each
having but little confidence in himself. At length, the foremost ranks
of the legions came up; and no sooner had the cohorts of the vanguard
taken part in the fight, than those who had lately been an object of
dread were driven back in terror into the city. The Romans, retiring
so far from the wall as to be out of the reach of weapons, stood there
for some time in battle-array; and then, none of the enemy coming out
against them, retired to their camp. Next day Quinctius led on his
army in regular order along the bank of the river, passed the city, to
the foot of the mountain of Menelaus, the legionary cohorts marching
in front, and the cavalry and light infantry bringing up the rear.
Nabis kept his mercenary troops, on whom he placed his whole reliance,
in readiness, and drawn up in a body, within the walls, intending to
attack the rear of the enemy; and, as soon as the last of their troops
passed by, these rushed out of the town, from several places at once,
with as great fury as the day before. The rear was commanded by Appius
Claudius, who having beforehand prepared his men to expect such an
event, that it might not come upon them unawares, instantly made
his troops face about, and presented an entire front to the enemy. A
regular engagement, therefore, took place, as if two complete lines
had encountered, and it lasted a considerable time; but at length
Nabis's troops betook themselves to flight, which would have been
attended with less dismay and danger, if they had not been closely
pressed by the Achaeans, who were well acquainted with the ground.
These made dreadful havoc, and dispersing them entirely, obliged
the greater part to throw away their arms. Quinctius encamped near
Amyclae; and afterwards, when he had utterly laid waste all the
pleasant and thickly inhabited country round the city, not one of the
enemy venturing out of the gates, he removed his camp to the river
Eurotas. From thence he ravaged the valley lying under Taygetus, and
the country reaching as far as the sea.

29. About the same time, Lucius Quinctius got possession of the towns
on the sea-coast; of some, by their voluntary surrender; of others, by
fear or force. Then, learning that the Lacedaemonians made Gythium the
repository of all their naval stores, and that the Roman camp was at
no great distance from the sea, he resolved to attack that town
with his whole force. It was, at that time, a place of considerable
strength; well furnished with great numbers of native inhabitants and
settlers from other parts, and with every kind of warlike stores. Very
seasonably for Quinctius, when commencing an enterprise of no easy
nature, king Eumenes and the Rhodian fleet came to his assistance. The
vast multitude of seamen, collected out of the three fleets, finished
in a few days all the works requisite for the siege of a city so
strongly fortified, both on the land side and on that next the sea.
Covered galleries were soon brought up; the wall was undermined, and,
at the same time, shaken with battering rams. By the frequent shocks
given with these, one of the towers was thrown down, and, by its fall,
the adjoining wall on each side was laid flat. The Romans, on this,
attempted to force in, both on the side next the port, to which the
approach was more level than to the rest, hoping to divert the enemy's
attention from the more open passage, and, at the same time, to enter
the breach caused by the falling of the wall. They were near effecting
their design of penetrating into the town, when the assault was
suspended by the prospect which was held out of the surrender of
the city. This however, was subsequently dissipated. Dexagoridas and
Gorgopas commanded there, with equal authority. Dexagoridas had sent
to the Roman general a message that he would give up the city; and,
after the time and the mode of proceeding had been agreed on, he
was slain as a traitor by Gorgopas, and the defence of the city was
maintained with redoubled vigour by this single commander. The further
prosecution of the siege would have been much more difficult, had not
Titus Quinctius arrived with a body of four thousand chosen men. He
showed his army in order of battle, on the brow of a hill at a small
distance from the city; and, on the other side, Lucius Quinctius plied
the enemy hard with his engines, both on the quarter of the sea, and
of the land; on which Gorgopas was compelled to adopt that proceeding,
which, in the case of another, he had punished with death. After
stipulating for liberty to carry away the soldiers whom he had there
as a garrison, he surrendered the city to Quinctius. Previous to the
surrender of Gythium, Pythagoras, who had been left as commander
at Argos, having intrusted the defence of the city to Timocrates of
Pellene, with a thousand mercenary soldiers, and two thousand Argives,
came to Lacedaemon and joined Nabis.

30. Although Nabis had been greatly alarmed at the first arrival of
the Roman fleet, and the surrender of the towns on the sea-coast,
yet, as long as Gythium was held by his troops he had quieted his
apprehensions with that scanty hope; but when he heard that Gythium,
too, was given up to the Romans, and saw that he had no room for any
kind of hope on the land, where every place round was in the hands
of the enemy, and that he was totally excluded from the sea, he
considered that he must yield to fortune. He first sent a messenger
into the Roman camp, to learn whether permission would be given to
send ambassadors. This being consented to, Pythagoras came to the
general, with no other commission than to propose a conference between
that commander and the tyrant. A council was summoned on the proposal,
and every one present agreeing in opinion that a conference should
be granted, a time and place were appointed. They came, with moderate
escorts, to some hills in the interjacent ground; and leaving their
cohorts there, in posts open to the view of both parties, they went
down to the place of meeting; Nabis attended by a select party of his
body-guards; Quinctius by his brother, king Eumenes, Sosilaus, the
Rhodian, Aristaenus, praetor of the Achaeans, and a few military
tribunes.

31. Then the tyrant, having the choice given him either to speak first
or to listen, began thus: "Titus Quinctius, and you who are present,
if I could collect from my own reflections the reason of your having
either declared or actually made war against me, I should have waited
in silence the issue of my destiny. But in the present state of
things, I could not repress my desire of knowing, before I am ruined,
the cause for which my ruin is resolved on. And in truth, if you
were such men as the Carthaginians are represented to be,--men who
considered the obligation of faith, pledged in alliances, as in no
degree sacred, I should not wonder if you were the less scrupulous
with respect to your conduct towards me. But, instead of that, when I
look at you, I perceive that you are Romans: men who allow treaties to
be the most solemn of religious acts, and faith, pledged therein,
the strongest of human ties. Then, when I look back at myself, I am
confident I am one who, as a member of the community, am, in common
with the rest of the Lacedaemonians, included in a treaty subsisting
with you, of very ancient date; and likewise have, lately, during the
war with Philip, concluded anew, in my own name, a personal friendship
and alliance with you. But it appears I have violated and cancelled
that treaty, by holding possession of the city of Argos. In what
manner shall I defend this? By the consideration of the fact, or of
the time. The consideration of the fact furnishes me with a twofold
defence: for, in the first place, in consequence of an invitation from
the inhabitants themselves, and of their voluntary act of surrender,
I accepted the possession of that city, and did not seize it by force.
In the next place, I accepted it, when the city was in league with
Philip, not in alliance with you. Then the consideration of the time
acquits me, inasmuch as when I was in actual possession of Argos, the
alliance was entered into between you and me, and you stipulated that
I should send you aid against Philip, not that I should withdraw my
garrison from that city. In this dispute, therefore, so far as it
relates to Argos, I have unquestionably the advantage, both from
the equity of the proceeding, as I gained possession of a city which
belonged not to you, but to your enemy; and as I gained it by its own
voluntary act, and not by forcible compulsion; and also from your own
acknowledgment; since, in the articles of our alliance, you left
Argos to me. But then, the name of tyrant, and my conduct, are strong
objections against me: that I call forth slaves to a state of freedom;
that I carry out the indigent part of the populace, and give them
settlements in lands. With respect to the title by which I am styled,
I can answer thus: That, let me be what I may, I am the same now that
I was at the time when you yourself, Titus Quinctius, concluded an
alliance with me. I remember, that I was then styled king by you;
now, I see, I am called tyrant. If, therefore, I had since altered
the style of my office, I might have an account to render of my
fickleness: as you choose to alter it, that account should be rendered
by you. As to what relates to the augmenting the number of the
populace, by giving liberty to slaves, and the distribution of lands
to the needy; on this head, too, I might defend myself by a reference
to time: These measures, of what complexion soever they are, I had
practised before you formed friendship with me, and received my aid
in the war against Philip. But, if I did these same things, at this
moment, I would not say to you, how did I thereby injure you, or
violate the friendship subsisting between us? but that, in so doing,
I acted agreeably to the practice and institutions of my ancestors.
Do not estimate what is done at Lacedaemon by the standard of your own
laws and constitution. There is no necessity for comparing particular
institutions: you are guided in your choice of a horseman, by the
quantity of his property; in your choice of a foot soldier, by the
quantity of his property; and your plan is, that a few should abound
in wealth, and that the body of the people should be in subjection
to them. Our lawgiver did not choose that the administration of
government should be in the hands of a few, such as you call a senate;
or that this or that order of citizens should have a superiority
over the rest: but he considered that, by equalizing the property and
dignity of all, he should multiply the number of those who were to
bear arms for their country. I acknowledge that I have enlarged on
these matters, beyond what consists with the conciseness customary
with my countrymen, and that the sum of the whole might be comprised
in few words: that, since I first commenced a friendship with you, I
have given you no just cause to repent it."

32. The Roman general answered: "We never contracted any friendship
or alliance with you, but with Pelops, the right and lawful king of
Lacedaemon: whose authority, while the Carthaginian, Gallic, and
other wars, succeeding one another, kept us constantly employed,
the tyrants, who after him held Lacedaemon under forced subjection,
usurped into their own hands, as did you also during the late war
with Macedonia. For what could be less fitting, than that we, who were
waging war against Philip, in favour of the liberty of Greece, should
contract friendship with a tyrant, and a tyrant the most cruel and
violent towards his subjects that ever existed? But, even supposing
that you had not either seized or held Argos by iniquitous means, it
would be incumbent on us, when we are giving liberty to all Greece, to
reinstate Lacedaemon also in its ancient freedom, and the enjoyment of
its own laws, which you just now spoke of, as if you were a rival
of Lycurgus. Shall we take pains to make Philip's garrisons evacuate
Tassus and Bargylii; and shall we leave Lacedaemon and Argos, those
two most illustrious cities, formerly the lights of Greece, under
your feet, that their continuance in bondage may tarnish our title of
deliverers of Greece? But the Argives took part with Philip: we excuse
you from taking any concern in that cause, so that you need not be
angry with them on our behalf. We have received sufficient proof, that
the guilt of that proceeding is chargeable on two only, or, at most,
three persons, and not on the state; just, indeed, as in the case of
the invitation given to you and to your army, and your reception into
the citadel, not one step was taken by public authority. We know,
that the Thessalians, Phocians, and Locrians, with unanimous consent,
joined in espousing the cause of Philip; yet we have given liberty to
them in common with the rest of Greece. How then can you suppose we
shall conduct ourselves towards the Argives, who are acquitted of
having publicly authorized misconduct? You said, that your inviting
slaves to liberty, and the distribution of lands among the indigent,
were objected to you as crimes; and crimes, surely, they are, of no
small magnitude. But what are they in comparison with those atrocious
deeds, that are daily perpetrated by you and your adherents, in
continual succession? Show us a free assembly of the people, either at
Argos or Lacedaemon, if you wish to hear a true recital of the crimes
of the most abandoned tyranny. To omit all other instances of older
date, what a massacre did your son-in-law, Pythagoras, make at Argos
almost before my eyes! What another did you yourself perpetrate, when
I was nearly within the confines of the Lacedaemonians! Now, give
orders, that the persons whom you took out of the midst of an
assembly, and committed to prison, after declaring, in the hearing of
all your countrymen, that you would keep them in custody, be produced
in their chains, that their wretched parents may know that those are
alive, for whom, under a false impression, they are mourning. Well,
but you say, though all these things were so, Romans, how do they
concern you? Can you say this to the deliverers of Greece; to people
who crossed the sea, and have maintained a war on sea and land, to
effect its deliverance? Still you tell us, you have not directly
violated the alliance, or the friendship established between us. How
many instances must I produce of your having done so? But I will not
go into long detail; I will bring the matter to a short issue. By
what acts is friendship violated? Most effectually by these two:
by treating our friends as foes; and by uniting yourself with our
enemies. Each of these has been done by you. For Messene, which had
been united to us in friendship, by one and the same bond of alliance
with Lacedaemon, you, while professing yourself our ally, reduced to
subjection by force of arms, though you knew it was in alliance with
us; and you contracted with Philip, our professed enemy, not only
an alliance, but even an affinity, through the intervention of his
general, Philocles: and waging actual war against us, with your
piratical ships, you made the sea round Malea unsafe, and you captured
and slew more Roman citizens almost than Philip himself; and to our
ships conveying provisions to our armies the coast of Macedonia itself
was less dangerous, than the promontory of Malea. Cease, therefore, to
vaunt your good faith, and the obligations of treaties; and, dropping
a popular style of discourse, speak as a tyrant, and as an enemy."

33. Aristaenus then began, at first to advise, and afterwards even
to beseech Nabis, while it was yet in his power, and he had the
opportunity, to consider what was best for himself and his interests.
He then mentioned the names of several tyrants in the neighbouring
states who had resigned their authority, and restored liberty to their
people, and afterwards spent among their fellow citizens not only
a secure but an honoured old age. These observations having been
reciprocally made and listened to, the approach of night broke up the
conference. Next day Nabis said, that he was willing to cede Argos,
and withdraw his garrison, since such was the desire of the Romans,
and to deliver up the prisoners and deserters; and if they demanded
any thing further, he requested that they would set it down in
writing, that he might deliberate on it with his friends. Thus the
tyrant gained time for consultation; and Quinctius also, on his part,
called a council, to which he summoned the chiefs of the allies. The
greatest part were of opinion, that "they ought to persevere in the
war, and that the tyrant should be altogether got rid of; otherwise
the liberty of Greece would never be secure. That it would have been
much better never to have entered on the war than to drop it after it
was begun; for this would be a kind of approbation of his tyrannical
usurpation, and which would establish him more firmly, as giving the
countenance of the Roman people to his ill-acquired authority, and
that he would quickly spirit up many in other states to plot against
the liberty of their countrymen." The wishes of the general himself
tended rather to peace; for he saw that, as the enemy was shut up in
the town, nothing remained but a siege, and that must be very tedious.
For it was not Gythium that they must besiege, though even that place
had been gained by capitulation, not by assault; but Lacedaemon, a
city most powerful in men and arms. The only hope which they
could have formed was, that, on the first approach of their army,
dissensions and insurrections might have been raised within: but,
though the standards had been seen to advance almost to the gates,
not one person had stirred. To this he added, that "Villius the
ambassador, returning from Antiochus, brought intelligence, that the
peace was an unsound one; and that the king had come over into Europe
with a much more powerful armament by sea and land than before. Now,
if the army should be engaged in the siege of Lacedaemon, with what
other forces could the war be maintained against a king of his great
power and strength?" These arguments he urged openly; but beneath all
this there lay a concealed anxiety lest one of the new consuls
should be appointed to the province of Greece; and then the honour of
terminating the war, in which he had proceeded so far, must be yielded
to a successor.

34. Finding that he could not, by opposition, make any alteration
in the sentiments of the allies, by pretending to go over to their
opinion, he led them all into a concurrence in his plan. "Be it so,"
said he, "and may success attend us: let us lay siege to Lacedaemon,
since that is your choice. However, as a business so slow in its
progress, as you know the besieging of cities to be, very often wears
out the patience of the besiegers sooner than that of the besieged,
you ought at once to make up your minds to this, that we must pass the
winter under the walls of Lacedaemon. If this delay involved only toil
and danger, I would recommend to you to prepare your minds and bodies
to support these. But, in the present case, vast expenses also will
be requisite for the construction of works, for machines and engines,
sufficient for the siege of so great a city, and for procuring stores
of provisions for the winter to serve you and us: therefore, to
prevent your being suddenly disconcerted, or shamefully deserting an
enterprise which you had engaged in, I think it will be necessary for
you to write home to your respective states, and learn what degree of
spirit and of strength each possesses. Of auxiliary troops I have a
sufficient number, and to spare; but the more numerous we are, the
more numerous will be our wants. The country of the enemy has nothing
left but the naked soil. Besides, the winter is at hand, which will
render it difficult to convey what we may stand in need of from
distant places." This speech first turned their thoughts to the
domestic evils prevailing in their several states; the indolence of
those who remained at home; the envy and misrepresentations to which
those who were serving abroad were liable; that a state of freedom
was a difficult one in which to procure unanimity; the want of public
funds, and people's backwardness to contribute out of their private
property. Their inclinations being thus suddenly changed, they gave
full power to the general, to do whatever he judged conducive to the
general interest of the Roman people and their allies.

35. Then Quinctius, consulting only his lieutenant-generals and
military tribunes, drew up the following conditions on which peace
should be made with the tyrant: "That there should be a suspension of
arms for six months, between Nabis on one part, and the Romans, king
Eumenes, and the Rhodians on the other. That Titus Quinctius and Nabis
should immediately send ambassadors to Rome, in order that the peace
might be ratified by authority of the senate. That, whatever day a
written copy of these conditions should be delivered to Nabis, on that
day should the armistice commence; and, within ten days after, his
garrisons should be withdrawn from Argos, and all other towns in
the territory of the Argives; all which towns should be entirely
evacuated, restored to freedom, and delivered to the Romans. That no
slave, whether belonging to the king, the public, or a private person,
be removed out of any of them; and if any had been removed before,
that they be faithfully restored to their owners. That he should
return the ships, which he had taken from the maritime states; and
should not have any other than two barks; and these to be navigated
with no more than sixteen oars. That he should restore to all the
states in alliance with the Roman people, the prisoners and deserters
in his hands; and to the Messenians, all the effects that could be
discovered, and which their possessors could own. That he should,
likewise, restore to the exiled Lacedaemonians their children, and
their wives, who chose to follow their husbands; provided that no
woman should be obliged, against her will, to go with her husband into
exile. That such of the mercenary soldiers of Nabis as had deserted
him, and gone either to their own countries or to the Romans, should
have all their effects faithfully returned to them. That he should
hold possession of no city in the island of Crete; and that such as
were then in his possession should be given up to the Romans. That
he should not form any alliance, or wage war, with any of the Cretan
states, or with any other. That he should withdraw all his garrisons
from those cities, which he should give up, and which had put
themselves, and their country, under the dominion and protection of
the Roman people; and should take care that, in future, he should
restrain both himself and his subjects from molesting them. That he
should not build any town or fort in his own, or any other territory.
That, to secure the performance of these conditions, he should give
five hostages, such as the Roman general should choose, and among
them his own son: and should pay, at present, one hundred talents of
silver; and fifty talents, annually, for eight years."

36. These articles were put into writing, and sent into Lacedaemon,
the camp having been removed, and brought nearer to the town. The
tyrant saw nothing in them that gave him much satisfaction, excepting
that, beyond his hopes, no mention had been made of bringing back the
exiles. But what mortified him most of all, was, the depriving him of
his shipping, and of the maritime towns: for the sea had been a source
of great profit to him; his piratical vessels having continually
infested the whole coast from the promontory of Malea. Besides, he
found in the young men of those towns recruits for his army, who made
by far the best of his soldiers. Though he discussed those conditions
in private with his confidential friends, yet, as the ministers in the
courts of kings, faithless in other respects, are particularly so
with respect to the concealing of secrets, rumour soon made them
all public. The public, in general, expressed not so great a
disapprobation of the whole of the terms, as did individuals, of the
articles particularly affecting themselves. Those who had the wives
of the exiles in marriage, or had possessed themselves of any of their
property, were provoked, as if they were to lose what was their own,
and not to make restitution of what belonged to others. The slaves,
who had been set at liberty by the tyrant, perceived plainly, not only
that their enfranchisement would be annulled, but that their servitude
would be much more severe than it had been before, when they should
be again put under the power of their incensed masters. The mercenary
soldiers were dissatisfied, because, in consequence of a peace, their
pay would cease; and they knew also, that they could not return among
their own countrymen, who detested not tyrants more than they did
their abettors.

37. They at first spoke of these matters, in their circles, with
murmurs of discontent; and afterwards, suddenly ran to arms. From
which tumultuous proceeding, the tyrant perceived that the passions
of the multitude were of themselves sufficiently inflamed, and
immediately ordered a general assembly to be summoned. Here he
explained to them the terms which the Romans strove to impose, to
which he falsely added others, more severe and humiliating. While,
on the mention of each particular, sometimes the whole assembly,
sometimes different parties, raised a shout of disapprobation, he
asked them, "What answer they wished him to give; or what they would
have him do?" On which all, as it were with one voice, cried out, "To
give no answer, to continue the war;" and they began, as is common
with a multitude, every one to encourage the rest, to keep up their
spirits, and cherish good hopes, observing, that "fortune favours the
brave." Animated by these expressions, the tyrant assured them, that
Antiochus, and the Aetolians, would come to their assistance; and
that he had, in the mean time, resources abundantly sufficient for the
maintenance of a siege. The very mention of peace had vanished from
the minds of all, and unable to contain themselves longer in quiet,
they ran out in parties against the advanced guards of the enemy.
The sally of these few skirmishers, and the weapons which they threw,
immediately removed all doubt from the Romans that the war was to
continue. During the four following days, several slight encounters
took place, at first without any decisive result; but, on the fifth
day after, in a kind of regular engagement, the Lacedaemonians
were beaten back into the town, in such a panic, that several Roman
soldiers, pressing close on the rear of the fugitives, entered the
city through open spaces, not secured with a wall, of which, at that
time, there were several.

38. Then Quinctius, having, by this repulse, effectually checked the
sallies of the enemy, and being fully convinced that he had now no
alternative, but must besiege the city, sent persons to bring up all
the marine forces from Gythium; and, in the mean time, rode himself,
with some military tribunes, round the walls, to take a view of the
situation of the place. In former times, Sparta had no wall; of late,
the tyrants had built walls in the places where the ground Was open
and level; but the higher places, and those more difficult of access,
they secured by placing guards of soldiers instead of fortifications.
When he had sufficiently examined every circumstance, having resolved
on making a general assault, he surrounded the city with all his
forces, the number of which, Romans and allies, horse and foot, naval
and land forces, all together, amounted to fifty thousand men.
Some brought scaling-ladders, some fire-brands, some other matters,
wherewith they might not only assail the enemy, but strike terror. The
orders were, that on raising the shout, all should advance at once, in
order that the Lacedaemonians, being alarmed at the same time in every
quarter, might be at a loss where, first, to make head, or whither to
bring aid. The main force of his army he formed in three divisions,
and ordered one to attack on the side of the Phoebeum, another on that
of the Dictynneum, and the third near a place called Heptagoniae, all
which are open places without walls. Though surrounded on all sides by
such a violent alarm, the tyrant, at first, attentive to every sudden
shout and hasty message, either ran up himself, or sent others,
wherever the greatest danger pressed; but, afterwards, he was so
stunned by the horror and confusion that prevailed all around, as to
become incapable either of giving proper directions, or of hearing
what was said, and to lose, not only his judgment, but almost his
reason.

39. For some time the Lacedaemonians maintained their ground against
the Romans, in the narrow passes; and three armies, on each side,
fought, at one time, in different places. Afterwards, when the heat of
the contest increased, the contest was, by no means, an equal one: for
the Lacedaemonians fought with missile arms, against which the Roman
soldiers, by means of their large shields, easily defended themselves,
and many of their blows either missed, or were very weak; for, the
narrowness of the place causing them to be closely crowded together,
they neither had room to discharge their weapons with a previous run,
which gives great force to them, nor clear and steady footing while
they made their throw Of those, therefore, discharged against the
front of the Romans, none pierced their bodies, few even their
shields; but several were wounded by those who surrounded them from
higher places. And presently, when they advanced a little, they were
hurt unawares, both with javelins, and tiles also thrown from the tops
of the houses. On this they raised their shields over their heads;
and joining them so close together as to leave no room for injury from
such random casts, or even for the insertion of a javelin, by a hand
within reach, they pressed forward under cover of this tortoise fence.
For some time the narrow streets, being thronged with a multitude of
their own soldiers, and also of the enemy, considerably retarded the
progress of the Romans; but when once, by gradually pushing back the
enemy, they gained the wider streets of the city, the impetuosity of
their attack could no longer be withstood. While the Lacedaemonians,
having turned their backs, fled precipitately to the higher places,
Nabis, being utterly confounded, as if the town were already taken,
began to look about for a way to make his escape. Pythagoras, while in
other respects he displayed the spirit and conduct of a general, was
now the sole means of saving the city from being taken. For he ordered
the buildings nearest to the wall to be set on fire; and these being
instantly in a blaze, those who, on another occasion, would have
brought help to extinguish the fire, now helping to increase it, the
roofs tumbled on the Romans; and not only fragments of the tiles, but
also the half-burned timber, reached the soldiers: the flames spread
wide, and the smoke caused a degree of terror even greater than the
danger. In consequence, the Romans who were without the city, and
were just then making the principal attack, retired from the wall;
and those who were within, fearing lest the fire, rising behind them,
should put it out of their power to rejoin the rest of the army, began
to retreat. Whereupon Quinctius, seeing how matters stood, ordered a
general retreat to be sounded.--Thus, being at length recalled from a
city which they had nearly taken, they returned to their camp.

40. Quinctius, conceiving greater hopes from the fears of the enemy
than from the immediate effect of his operations, kept them in a
continual alarm during the three succeeding days; sometimes harassing
them with assaults, sometimes enclosing several places with works,
so as to leave no passage open for flight. These menaces had such an
effect on the tyrant that he again sent Pythagoras to solicit peace.
Quinctius, at first, rejected him with disdain, ordering him to quit
the camp; but afterwards, on his suppliant entreaties, and throwing
himself at his feet, he admitted him to an audience. The purport of
his discourse, at first, was, an offer of implicit submission to the
will of the Romans; but this availed nothing, being considered as
nugatory and indecisive. The business was, at length, brought to this
issue, that a truce should be made on the conditions delivered in
writing a few days before, and the money and hostages were accordingly
received. While the tyrant was kept shut up by the siege, the Argives,
receiving frequent accounts, one after another, that Lacedaemon was on
the point of being taken, and having themselves resumed courage on
the departure of Pythagoras, with the strongest part of his garrison,
looked now with contempt on the small number remaining in the citadel;
and, being headed by a person named Archippus, drove the garrison
out. They gave Timocrates, of Pellene, leave to retire, with solemn
assurance of sparing his life, in consideration of the mildness
which he had shown in his government. In the midst of this rejoicing,
Quinctius arrived, after having granted peace to the tyrant, dismissed
Eumenes and the Rhodians from Lacedaemon, and sent back his brother,
Lucius Quinctius, to the fleet.

41. The Nemaean games, the most celebrated of all the festivals, and
their most splendid public spectacle, had been omitted, at the regular
time, on account of the disasters of the war: the state now, in the
fulness of their joy, ordered them to be celebrated on the arrival of
the Roman general and his army; and appointed the general, himself,
president of the games. There were many circumstances which heightened
their happiness: their countrymen, whom Pythagoras, lately, and,
before that, Nabis, had carried away, were brought home from
Lacedaemon; those who on the discovery of the conspiracy by
Pythagoras, and when the massacre was already begun, had fled from
home, now returned; they saw their liberty restored, after a long
interval, and beheld, in their city, the Romans, the authors of its
restoration, whose only view, in making war on the tyrant, was the
support of their interest. The freedom of the Argives was, also,
solemnly announced, by the voice of a herald, on the very day of the
Nemaean games. Whatever pleasure the Achaeans felt on Argos being
reinstated in the general council of Achaia, it was, in a great
measure, alloyed by Lacedaemon being left in slavery, and the tyrant
close at their side. As to the Aetolians, they loudly railed at that
measure in every meeting. They remarked, that "the war with Philip was
not ended until he evacuated all the cities of Greece. But Lacedaemon
was left to the tyrant, while the lawful king, who had been, at the
time, in the Roman camp, and others, the noblest of the citizens, must
live in exile: so that the Roman nation was become a partisan of Nabis
in his tyranny." Quinctius led back his army to Elatia, whence he had
set out to the Spartan war. Some writers say, that the tyrant's method
of carrying on hostilities was not by sallies from the city, but that
he encamped in the face of the Romans; and that, after he had declined
fighting a long time, waiting for succours from the Aetolians, he was
forced to come to an engagement, by an attack which the Romans made on
his foragers, when, being defeated in that battle, and beaten out of
his camp, he sued for peace, after fifteen thousand of his men had
been killed, and more than four thousand made prisoners.

42. Nearly at the same time, arrived at Rome a letter from Titus
Quinctius, with an account of his proceedings at Lacedaemon; and
another, out of Spain, from Marcus Porcius, the consul; whereupon the
senate decreed a supplication, for three days, in the name of each.
The other consul, Lucius Valerius, as his province had remained quiet
since the defeat of the Boians at the wood of Litana, came home to
Rome to hold the elections. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, a
second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus, were elected consuls. The
fathers of these two had been consuls in the first year of the second
Punic war. The election of praetors was then held, and the choice
fell on Publius Cornelius Scipio, two Cneius Corneliuses, Merenda
and Blasio, Cneius Domitius Aenobarbus, Sextus Digitius, and Titus
Juvencius Thalna. As soon as the elections were finished, the consul
returned to his province. The inhabitants of Ferentinum, this year,
laid claim to a privilege unheard of before; that Latins, giving in
their names for a Roman colony, should be deemed citizens of Rome.
Some colonists, who had given in their names for Puteoli, Salernum,
and Buxentum, assumed, on that ground, the character of Roman
citizens; but the senate determined that they were not.

43. In the beginning of the year, wherein Publius Scipio Africanus,
a second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus were consuls, two
ambassadors from the tyrant Nabis came to Rome. The senate gave them
audience in the temple of Apollo, outside the city. They entreated
that a peace might be concluded on the terms settled with Quinctius,
and obtained their request. When the question was put concerning the
provinces, the majority of the senate were of opinion, that as the
wars in Spain and Macedonia were at an end, Italy should be the
province of both the consuls; but Scipio contended that one consul was
sufficient for Italy, and that Macedonia ought to be decreed to the
other; that "there was every reason to apprehend a dangerous war with
Antiochus, for he had already, of his own accord, come into Europe;
and how did they suppose he would act in future, when he should be
encouraged to a war, on one hand, by the Aetolians, avowed enemies
of their state, and stimulated, on the other, by Hannibal, a general
famous for his victories over the Romans?" While the consular
provinces were in dispute, the praetors cast lots for theirs. The city
jurisdiction fell to Cneius Domitius; the foreign, to Titus Juvencius:
Farther Spain, to Publius Cornelius; Hither Spain, to Sextus Digitius;
Sicily, to Cneius Cornelius Blasio; Sardinia, to Cneius Cornelius
Merenda. It was resolved, that no new army should be sent into
Macedonia, but that the one which was there should be brought home to
Italy by Quinctius, and disbanded; that the army which was in Spain,
under Marcus Porcius Cato, should likewise be disbanded; that Italy
should be the province of both the consuls, and that they should
raise two city legions; so that, after the disbanding of the armies,
mentioned in the resolution of the senate, there should be in all
eight Roman legions.

44. A sacred spring had been celebrated, in the preceding year, during
the consulate of Marcus Porcius and Lucius Valerius; but Publius
Licinius, one of the pontiffs, having made a report, first, to
the college of pontiffs, and afterwards, under the sanction of the
college, to the senate, that it had not been duly performed, they
resolved, that it should be celebrated anew, under the direction of
the pontiffs; and that the great games, vowed together with it, should
be exhibited at the same expense which was customary; that the sacred
spring should be deemed to comprehend all the cattle born between the
calends of March and the day preceding the calends of May, in the year
of the consulate of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius
Longus. Then followed the election of censors. Sextus Aelius Paetus,
and Caius Cornelius Cethegus, being created censors, named as prince
of the senate the consul Publius Scipio, whom the former censors
likewise had appointed. They passed by only three senators in the
whole, none of whom had enjoyed the honour of a curule office. They
obtained, on another account, the highest degree of credit with that
body; for, at the celebration of the Roman games, they ordered the
curule aediles to set apart places for the senators, distinct from
those of the people, whereas, hitherto, all the spectators used to sit
promiscuously. Of the knights, also, very few were deprived of their
horses; nor was severity shown towards any rank of men. The gallery
of the temple of Liberty, and the Villa Publica, were repaired and
enlarged by the same censors. The sacred spring, and the votive games,
were celebrated, pursuant to the vow of Servius Sulpicius Galba, when
consul. While every one's thoughts were engaged by the shows then
exhibited, Quintus Pleminius, who, for the many crimes against gods
and men committed by him at Locri, had been thrown into prison,
procured men who were to set fire by night to several parts of
the city at once, in order that, while the town was thrown into
consternation by this nocturnal disturbance, the prison might be
broken open. But this plot was disclosed by some of the accomplices,
and the affair was laid before the senate. Pleminius was thrown into a
lower dungeon, and there put to death.

45. In this year colonies of Roman citizens were settled at Puteoli,
Vulturnum, and Liternum; three hundred men in each place. Colonies of
Roman citizens were likewise established at Salernum and Buxentum.
The lands allotted to them had formerly belonged to the Campanians.
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, who was then consul, Marcus Servilius, and
Quintus Minucius Thermus, were the triumviri who settled the colony.
Other commissioners also, Decius Junius Brutus, Marcus Baebius
Tamphilus, and Marcus Helvius, led a colony of Roman citizens to
Sipontum, into a district which had belonged to the Arpinians. To
Tempsa, likewise, and to Croto, colonies of Roman citizens were led
out. The lands of Tempsa had been taken from the Bruttians, who had
formerly expelled the Greeks from them. Croto was possessed by Greeks.
In ordering these establishments, there were named, for Croto,--Cneius
Octavius, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and Caius Pletorius; for
Tempsa,--Lucius Cornelius Merula, and Caius Salonius. Several
prodigies were observed at Rome that year, and others reported, from
other places. In the forum, comitium, and Capitol, drops of blood were
seen, and several showers of earth fell, and the head of Vulcan was
surrounded with a blaze of fire. It was reported that a stream of milk
ran in the river at Interamna; that, in some reputable families at
Ariminum, children were born without eyes and nose; and one, in the
territory of Picenum, that had neither hands nor feet. These prodigies
were expiated according to an order of the pontiffs; and the
nine days' festival was celebrated, because the Hadrians had sent
intelligence that a shower of stones had fallen in their fields.

46. In Gaul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, proconsul, in a pitched battle
near Mediolanum, completely overthrew the Insubrian Gauls, and the
Boians; who, under the command of Dorulacus, had crossed the Po, to
rouse the Insubrians to arms. Ten thousand of the enemy were slain.
About this time his colleague, Marcus Porcius Cato, triumphed over
Spain. He carried in the procession twenty-five thousand pounds'
weight of unwrought silver, one hundred and three thousand silver
denarii,[1] five hundred and forty of Oscan silver,[2] and one
thousand four hundred pounds' weight of gold. Out of the booty,
he distributed to each of his soldiers two hundred and seventy
_asses_;[3] and three times that amount to each horseman. Tiberius
Sempronius, consul, proceeding to his province, led his legions,
first, into the territory of the Boians. At this time Boiorix their
chieftain, with his two brothers, after having drawn out the whole
nation into the field to renew the war, pitched his camp in the open
country, that it might be evident that he was prepared to fight in
case the enemy should pass the frontiers. When the consul understood
what a numerous force and what a degree of resolution the enemy had,
he sent an express to his colleague, requesting him, "if he thought
proper, to hasten to join him;" adding, that "he would act on the
defensive, and defer engaging in battle, until his arrival." The same
reason which made the consul wish to decline an action, induced
the Gauls, whose spirits were raised by the backwardness of their
antagonists, to bring it on as soon as possible, that they might
finish the affair before the two consuls should unite their forces.
However, during two days, they did nothing more than stand in
readiness for battle, if any should come out against them. On the
third, they advanced furiously to the rampart, and assaulted the camp
on every side at once. The consul immediately ordered his men to take
arms, and kept them quiet, under arms, for some time; both to add to
the foolish confidence of the enemy, and to arrange his troops at the
gates, through which each party was to sally out. The two legions were
ordered to march by the two principal gates; but, in the very pass of
the gates, the Gauls opposed them in such close bodies as to stop up
the way. The fight was maintained a long time in these narrow passes;
nor were their hands or swords much employed in the business, but
pushing with their shields and bodies, they pressed against each
other, the Romans struggling to force their standards beyond the
gates, the Gauls, to break into the camp, or, at least, to hinder the
Romans from issuing forth. However, neither party could make the least
impression on the other, until Quintus Victorius, a first centurion,
and Caius Atinius, a military tribune, the former of the second,
the latter of the fourth legion, had taken a course often tried in
desperate conflicts; snatching the standards from the officers who
carried them, and throwing them among the enemy. In the struggle to
recover the standards, the men of the second legion first made their
way out of the gate.

[Footnote 1: 397l. 17s. 6d.]

[Footnote 2: 17l. 8s. 9d.]

[Footnote 3: 17s. 5-1/2d.]

47. These were now fighting on the outside of the rampart, the fourth
legion still entangled in the gate, when a new alarm arose on the
opposite side of the camp. The Gauls had broke in by the Quaestorian
gate, and had slain the quaestor, Lucius Postumius, surnamed Tympanus,
with Marcus Atinius and Publius Sempronius, praefects of the allies,
who made an obstinate resistance; and also, near two hundred soldiers.
The camp in that part had been taken, when a cohort of those who are
called Extraordinaries, having been sent by the consul to defend the
Quaestorian gate, killed some who had got within the rampart, drove
out the rest, and opposed others who were attempting to break
in. About the same time, the fourth legion, and two cohorts of
Extraordinaries, burst out of the gate; and thus there were three
battles, in different places, round the camp; while the various kinds
of shouts raised by them, called off the attention of the combatants
from their own immediate conflict to the uncertain casualties which
threatened their friends. The battle was maintained until mid-day with
equal strength, and with nearly equal hopes. At length, the fatigue
and heat so far got the better of the soft relaxed bodies of the
Gauls, who are incapable of enduring thirst, as to make most of them
give up the fight; and the few who stood their ground, were attacked
by the Romans, routed, and driven to their camp. The consul then gave
the signal for retreat, on which the greater part retired; but some,
eager to continue the fight, and hoping to get possession of the camp,
pressed forward to the rampart, on which the Gauls, despising their
small number, rushed out in a body. The Romans were then routed in
turn, and compelled, by their own fear and dismay, to retreat to their
camp, which they had refused to do at the command of their general.
Thus now flight and now victory alternated on both sides. The Gauls,
however, had eleven thousand killed, the Romans but five thousand. The
Gauls retreated into the heart of their country, and the consul led
his legions to Placentia. Some writers say, that Scipio, after joining
his forces to those of his colleague, overran and plundered the
country of the Boians and Ligurians, as far as the woods and marshes
suffered him to proceed; others, that, without having effected any
thing material, he returned to Rome to hold the elections.

48. Titus Quinctius passed the entire winter season of this year at
Elatia, where he had established the winter quarters of his army, in
adjusting political arrangements, and reversing the measures which had
been introduced in the several states under the arbitrary domination
of Philip and his deputies, who crushed the rights and liberties of
others, in order to augment the power of those who formed a faction
in their favour. Early in the spring he came to Corinth, where he had
summoned a general convention. Ambassadors having attended from every
one of the states, so as to form a numerous assembly, he addressed
them in a long speech, in which, beginning from the first commencement
of friendship between the Romans and the nation of the Greeks, he
enumerated the proceedings of the commanders who had been in Macedonia
before him, and likewise his own. His whole narration was heard with
the warmest approbation, except when he came to make mention of
Nabis; and then they expressed their opinion, that it was utterly
inconsistent with the character of the deliverer of Greece to have
left seated, in the centre of one of its most respectable states,
a tyrant, who was not only insupportable to his own country, but a
terror to all the states in his neighbourhood. Whereupon Quinctius,
not unacquainted with this tendency of their feelings, freely
acknowledged, that "if the business could have been accomplished
without the entire destruction of Lacedaemon, no mention of peace with
the tyrant ought ever to have been listened to; but that, when it was
not possible to crush him otherwise than by the utter ruin of this
most important city, it was judged more eligible to leave the tyrant
in a state of debility, stripped of almost every kind of power to do
injury to any, than to suffer the city, which must have perished in
the very process of its delivery being effectuated, to sink under
remedies too violent for it to support."

49. To the recital of matters past, he subjoined, that "his intention
was to depart shortly for Italy, and to carry with him all his troops;
that they should hear, within ten days, of the garrisons having
evacuated Demetrias; and that Chalcis, the citadel of Corinth, should
be before their own eyes evacuated to the Achaeans: that all the world
might know whose habit it was to deceive, that of the Romans or the
Aetolians, who had spread insinuations, that the cause of liberty had
been unwisely intrusted to the Romans, and that they had only received
as their masters the Romans in exchange for the Macedonians. But they
were men who never scrupled what they either said or did. The rest of
the nations he advised to form their estimate of friends from deeds,
not from words; and to satisfy themselves whom they ought to trust,
and against whom they ought to be on their guard; to use their liberty
with moderation: for, when regulated by prudence, it was productive
of happiness both to individuals and to states; but, when pushed to
excess, it became not only obnoxious to others, but to the possessors
of it themselves an unbridled and headstrong impulse. He recommended,
that those at the head of affairs, and all the several ranks of men
in each particular state, should cultivate harmony between themselves;
and that all should direct their views to the general interest of the
whole. For, while they acted in concert, no king or tyrant would be
sufficiently powerful against them: but discord and dissension gave
every advantage to those who might plot against them; as the
party worsted in a domestic dispute generally join themselves with
foreigners, rather than submit to a countryman of their own. He then
exhorted them, as the arms of others had procured their liberty, and
the good faith of foreigners had restored it to them, to apply now
their own diligent care to the watching and guarding of it; that
the Roman people might perceive that those on whom they had bestowed
liberty were deserving of it, and that their kindness had not been ill
placed."

50. On hearing these admonitions, such as parental tenderness might
dictate, every one present shed tears of joy; and they affected his
feelings to such a degree as to interrupt his discourse. For some
time a confused noise prevailed, from those who were expressing their
approbation of his words, and charging each other to treasure up those
expressions in their minds and hearts, as if they had been uttered by
an oracle. Then silence ensuing, he requested of them to make diligent
search for such Roman citizens as were in servitude among them, and to
send them into Thessaly to him, within two months; observing, that
"it would not be honourable to themselves, that, in a land restored
to liberty, its deliverers should remain in servitude." To this all
exclaimed with acclamations that they returned him thanks on this
account in addition to others, that they had been reminded of the
discharge of a duty so indispensably incumbent on their gratitude.
There was a vast number of these who had been made prisoners in the
Punic war, and sold by Hannibal when their countrymen refused to
ransom them. That they were very numerous, is proved by what Polybius
says, that this business cost the Achaeans one hundred talents,[1]
though they had fixed the price to be paid for each captive, to the
owner, so low as five hundred denarii.[2] For, at that rate, there
were one thousand two hundred in Achaia. Calculate now, in proportion
to this, how many were probably in all Greece.

[Footnote 1: 19,375l.]

[Footnote 2: 16l. 2s. 11d.]

51. Before the convention broke up, they saw the garrison march down
from the citadel of Corinth, proceed forward to the gate, and depart.
The general followed them, accompanied by the whole assembly, who,
with loud acclamations, blessed him as their preserver and deliverer.
At length, taking leave of these, and dismissing them, he returned to
Elatia by the same road through which he came. He thence sent Appius
Claudius, lieutenant-general, with all the troops, ordering him to
march through Thessaly and Epirus, and to wait for him at Oricum,
whence he intended to embark the army for Italy. He also wrote to his
brother, Lucius Quinctius, lieutenant-general, and commander of the
fleet, to collect thither transport ships from all the coasts of
Greece. He himself proceeded to Chalcis; and, after sending away
the garrisons, not only from that city, but likewise from Oreum and
Eretria, he held there a congress of the Euboean states, whom he
reminded of the condition in which he had found their affairs, and of
that in which he was leaving them; and then dismissed the assembly. He
then proceeded to Demetrias, and removed the garrison. Accompanied by
all the citizens, as at Corinth and Chalcis, he pursued his route into
Thessaly, where the states were not only to be set at liberty, but
also to be reduced from a state of utter anarchy and confusion into
some tolerable order; for they had been thrown into confusion,
not only through the faults of the times, and the violence and
licentiousness of royalty, but also through the restless disposition
of the nation, who, from the earliest times, even to our days,
have never conducted any election, or assembly, or council, without
dissensions and tumult. He chose both senators and judges, with
regard, principally, to their property, and made that party the most
powerful in the state to whom it was most important that all things
should be tranquil and secure.

52. When he had completed these regulations in Thessaly, he went on,
through Epirus, to Oricum, whence he intended to take his passage.
From Oricum all the troops were transported to Brundusium. From this
place to the city, they passed the whole length of Italy, in a manner,
like a triumph; the captured effects which they brought with them
forming a train as large as that of the troops themselves. When they
arrived at Rome, the senate assembled outside the city, to receive
from Quinctius a recital of his services; and, with high satisfaction,
a well-merited triumph was decreed him. His triumph lasted three days.
On the first day were carried in procession, armour, weapons, brazen
and marble statues of which he had taken greater numbers from Philip
than from the states of Greece. On the second, gold and silver
wrought, unwrought, and coined. Of unwrought silver, there were
eighteen thousand pounds' weight; and of wrought, two hundred and
seventy thousand; consisting of many vessels of various sorts, most of
them engraved, and several of exquisite workmanship; also a great many
others made of brass; and besides these, ten shields of silver. The
coined silver amounted to eighty-four thousand of the Attic coin,
called Tetradrachmus, containing each of silver about the weight of
four denarii.[1] Of gold there were three thousand seven hundred and
fourteen pounds, and one shield wholly of gold: and of the gold coin
called Philippics, fourteen thousand five hundred and fourteen.[2]
On the third day were carried golden crowns, presented by the several
states, in number one hundred and fourteen; then the victims. Before
his chariot went many illustrious persons, captives and hostages,
among whom were Demetrius, son of king Philip, and Armenes, a
Lacedaemonian, son of the tyrant Nabis. Then Quinctius himself rode
into the city, followed by a numerous body of soldiers, as the
whole army had been brought home from the province. Among these he
distributed two hundred and fifty _asses_[3] to each footman, double
to a centurion, triple to a horseman. Those who had been redeemed from
captivity added to the grandeur of the procession, walking after him
with their heads shaven.

[Footnote 1: 10,849l. 18s.]

[Footnote 2: 936l. 10s.]

[Footnote 3: 16s. 1-1/4d.]

53. In the latter part of this year Quintus Aelius Tubero, plebeian
tribune, in pursuance of a decree of the senate, proposed to the
people, and the people ordered, that "two Latin colonies should be
settled, one in Bruttium, the other in the territory of Thurium." For
making these settlements commissioners were appointed, who were to
hold the office for three years; for Bruttium, Quintus Naevius, Marcus
Minucius Rufus, and Marcus Furius Crassipes; and for the district
of Thurium, Cneius Manlius, Quintus Aelius, and Lucius Apustius. The
assemblies of election to these two appointments were held in the
Capitol by Cneius Domitius, city praetor. Several temples were
dedicated this year: one of Juno Sospita, in the herb market, vowed
and contracted for four years before, in the time of the Gallic
war, by Cneius Cornelius, consul; and the same person, now censor,
performed the dedication. Another of Faunus, the building of which
had been agreed for two years before, and a fund formed for it out of
fines estreated by the aediles, Caius Scribonius and Cneius Domitius;
the latter of whom, now city praetor, dedicated it. Quintus Marcius
Ralla, constituted commissioner for the purpose, dedicated the temple
of Fortuna Primigenia, on the Quirinal Hill. Publius Sempronius Sophus
had vowed this temple ten years before, in the Punic war; and, being
afterwards censor, had employed persons to build it. Caius Servilius,
duumvir, also dedicated a temple of Jupiter, in the island. This
had been vowed in the Gallic war, six years before, by Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who afterwards, when consul, contracted for the
building.--Such were the transactions of that year.

54. Publius Scipio came home from his province of Gaul to choose new
consuls. The consular comitia were accordingly held, in which Lucius
Cornelius Merula and Quintus Minucius Thermus were chosen. Next
day were chosen praetors, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, Caius Scribonius, Marcus Valerius Messala, Lucius Porcius
Licinus, and Caius Flaminius. The curule aediles of this year, Caius
Atilius Serranus and Lucius Scribonius, first exhibited the Megalesian
theatrical games. At the Roman games, celebrated by these aediles, the
senators, for the first time, sat separate from the people, which, as
every innovation usually does, gave occasion to various observations.
Some considered this as "an honour, shown at length to that most
respectable body, and which ought to have been done long before;"
while others contended, that "every addition made to the grandeur of
the senate was a diminution of the dignity of the people; and that all
such distinctions as set the orders of the state at a distance from
each other, were equally subversive of liberty and concord. During
five hundred and fifty-eight years," they asserted, "all the
spectators had sat promiscuously: what reason then had now occurred,
on a sudden, that should make the senators disdain to have the commons
intermixed with them in the theatre, or make the rich disdain the poor
man as a fellow-spectator? It was an unprecedented gratification
of pride and over-bearing vanity, never even desired, and never
instituted, by the senate of any other nation." It is said, that even
Africanus himself at last became sorry for having proposed that matter
in his consulship: so difficult is it to bring people to approve of
any alteration of ancient customs; they are always naturally disposed
to adhere to old practices, except those which experience evidently
condemns.

55. In the beginning of the year, which was the consulate of Lucius
Cornelius and Quintus Minucius, such frequent reports of earthquakes
were brought, that people grew weary, not only of the matter itself,
but of the religious rites enjoined in consequence; for neither could
the senate be convened, nor the business of the public be transacted,
the consuls were so constantly employed in sacrifices and expiations.
At last, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; and, in
pursuance of their answer, a supplication was performed during three
days. People offered prayers at all the shrines, with garlands
on their heads; and an order was published, that all the persons
belonging to one family should pay their worship together; and the
consuls, by direction of the senate, published an edict, that, on any
day whereon religious rites should be ordered, in consequence of the
report of an earthquake, no person should report another earthquake
on that day. Then the consuls first, and afterwards the praetors, cast
lots for their provinces. Cornelius obtained Gaul; Minucius, Liguria;
Caius Scribonius, the city jurisdiction; Marcus Valerius, the foreign;
Lucius Cornelius, Sicily; Lucius Porcius, Sardinia; Caius Flaminius,
Hither Spain; and Marcus Fulvius, Farther Spain.

56. While the consuls supposed that, for that year, they should have
no employment of a military kind, a letter was brought from Marcus
Cincius, who was commander at Pisae, announcing, that "twenty thousand
armed Ligurians, in consequence of a conspiracy of that whole nation,
formed in the meetings of their several districts, had first wasted
the lands of Luna, and then, passing through the territory of Pisae,
had overrun the whole sea-coast." In consequence of this intelligence,
the consul Minucius, whose province Liguria was, by direction of
the senate, mounted the rostrum, and published orders, that "the two
legions, enlisted the year before, should, on the tenth day from that,
attend him at Arretium;" and mentioned his intention of levying two
legions for the city in their stead. He likewise gave notice to the
magistrates and ambassadors of such of the allies, and of the Latin
confederates, as were bound to furnish soldiers, to attend him in the
Capitol. Of these he wrote out a list, amounting to fifteen thousand
foot and five hundred horse, proportioning the contingent of each
state to the number of its young men, and ordered those present to
go directly from the spot to the gate of the city; and, in order to
expedite the business, to proceed to raise the men. To Fulvius and
Flaminius were assigned, to each three thousand Roman foot, and a
reinforcement of one hundred horse, with five thousand foot of the
Latin allies, and two hundred horse; and orders were given to those
praetors, to disband the old troops immediately on their arrival in
their provinces. Although great numbers of the soldiers belonging to
the city legions had made application to the plebeian tribunes, to
take cognizance of the cases of such men as claimed exemption from the
service, on account either of having served out their time, or of bad
health; yet a letter from Tiberius Sempronius banished all thoughts of
such proceeding; for in this it was announced that "fifteen thousand
of the Ligurians had come into the lands of Placentia, and wasted them
with fire and sword, to the very walls of that city and the bank of
the Po; and that the Boian nation were looking out for an occasion to
rebel." In consequence of this information, the senate passed a vote,
that "there was a Gallic tumult subsisting, and that it would be
improper for the plebeian tribunes to take cognizance of the claims
of the soldiers, so as to prevent their attending, pursuant to the
proclamation;" and they added an order, that the Latin confederates,
who had served in the army of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius
Sempronius, and had been discharged by those consuls, should
re-assemble, on whatever day and in whatever place of Etruria the
consul Lucius Cornelius should appoint; and that the consul Lucius
Cornelius, on his way to his province, should enlist, arm, and carry
with him all such persons as he should think fit, in the several towns
and countries through which he was to pass, and should have authority
to discharge such of them, and at such times, as he might judge
proper.

57. After the consuls had finished the levies, and were gone to their
provinces, Titus Quinctius demanded, that "the senate should receive
an account of the regulations which he in concert with the ten
ambassadors, had settled; and, if they thought proper, ratify them by
their authority." He told them, that "they would accomplish this the
more easily, if they were first to give audience to the ambassadors,
who had come from all parts of Greece, and a great part of Asia, and
to those from the two kings." These embassies were introduced to the
senate by the city praetor, Caius Scribonius, and all received kind
answers. As the discussion of the affair with Antiochus required too
much time, it was referred to the ten ambassadors, some of whom had
conferred with the king in Asia, or at Lysimachia. Directions were
given to Titus Quinctius, that, in conjunction with these, he should
listen to the representations of the king's ambassadors, and should
give them such answer as comported with the dignity and interest
of the Roman people. At the head of the embassy were Menippus and
Hegesianax; the former of whom said, that "he could not conceive what
intricacy there was in the business of their embassy, as they came
simply to ask friendship, and conclude an alliance. Now, there were
three kinds of treaties, by which kings and states formed friendships
with each other: one, when terms were dictated to a people vanquished
in war; for after all their possessions have been surrendered to him
who has proved superior in war, he has the sole power of judging and
determining what portion of them the vanquished shall hold, and of
what they shall be deprived. The second, when parties, equally
matched in war, conclude a treaty of peace and friendship on terms
of equality; for then demands are proposed and restitution made,
reciprocally, in a convention; and if, in consequence of the war,
confusion has arisen with respect to any parts of their properties,
the matter is adjusted on the footing either of ancient right or
of the mutual convenience of the parties. The third kind was, when
parties who had never been foes, met to form a friendly union by a
social treaty: these neither dictate nor receive terms, for that is
the case between a victor and a party vanquished. As Antiochus came
under this last description, he wondered, he said, that the Romans
should think it becoming to dictate terms to him; as to which of the
cities of Asia they chose should be free and independent, which should
be tributary, and which of them the king's troops and the king himself
should be prohibited to enter. That a peace of this kind might
be ratified with Philip, who was their enemy, but not a treaty of
alliance with Antiochus, their friend."

58. To this Quinctius answered: "Since you choose to deal
methodically, and enumerate the several modes of contracting
alliances, I also will lay down two conditions, without which you may
tell your king, that there are no means of contracting any friendship
with the Roman people. One, that, he does not choose that we should
concern ourselves in the affairs of the cities in Asia, he must
himself keep entirely out of Europe. The other, that if he does
not confine himself within the limits of Asia, but passes over into
Europe, the Romans will think themselves at full liberty to maintain
the friendships which they have already formed with the states of
Asia, and also to contract new ones." On this Hegesianax exclaimed,
that "this proposition was unworthy to be listened to, as its
tendency was to exclude Antiochus from the cities of Thrace and
the Chersonese,--places which his great-grandfather, Seleucus, had
acquired with great honour, after vanquishing Lysimachus in war and
killing him in battle, and had left to his successors; and part of
which, after they had been seized by the Thracians, Antiochus had,
with equal honour, recovered by force of arms; as well as others which
had been deserted,--as Lysimachia, for instance, he had repeopled, by
calling home the inhabitants;--and several, which had been destroyed
by fire, and buried in ruins, he had rebuilt at a vast expense. What
kind of resemblance was there, then, in the cases of Antiochus being
ejected from possessions so acquired and so recovered; and of the
Romans refraining from intermeddling with Asia, which had never been
theirs? Antiochus wished to obtain the friendship of the Romans; but
so that its acquisition would be to his honour, and not to his shame."
In reply to this, Quinctius said,--"Since we are deliberating on what
would be honourable, and which, indeed with a people who held the
first rank among the nations of the world, and with so great a king,
ought to be the sole, or at least the primary object of regard; tell
me, I pray you, which do you think more honourable, to wish to give
liberty to all the Grecian cities in every part of the world; or to
make them slaves and vassals? Since Antiochus thinks it conducive
to his glory, to reduce to slavery those cities, which his
great-grandfather held by the right of arms, but which his grandfather
or father never occupied as their property while the Roman people,
having undertaken the patronage of the liberty of the Greeks, deem it
incumbent on their faith and constancy not to abandon it. As they
have delivered Greece from Philip, so they have it in contemplation
to deliver, from Antiochus, all the states of Asia which are of the
Grecian race. For colonies were not sent into Aeolia and Ionia to be
enslaved to kings; but with design to increase the population, and to
propagate that ancient race in every part of the globe."

59. When Hegesianax hesitated, and could not deny, that the cause
of liberty carried a more honourable semblance than that of slavery,
Publius Sulpicius, who was the eldest of the ten ambassadors,
said,--"Let us cut the matter short. Choose one of the two conditions
clearly propounded just now by Quinctius; or deem it superfluous to
negotiate about an alliance." But Menippus replied, "We neither will,
nor can, accede to any proposition by which the dominions of
Antiochus would be diminished." Next day, Quinctius brought into the
senate-house all the ambassadors of Greece and Asia, in order that
they might learn the dispositions entertained by the Roman people, and
by Antiochus, towards the Grecian states. He then acquainted them with
his own demands, and those of the king; and desired them to "assure
their respective states, that the same disinterested zeal and courage,
which the Roman people had displayed in defence of their liberty
against the encroachments of Philip, they would, likewise, exert
against those of Antiochus, if he should refuse to retire out of
Europe." On this, Menippus earnestly besought Quinctius and the
senate, "not to be hasty in forming their determination, which, in its
effects, might disturb the peace of the whole world; to take time
to themselves, and allow the king time for consideration; that, when
informed of the conditions proposed, he would consider them, and
either obtain some relaxation in the terms, or accede to them for the
sake of peace." Accordingly, the business was deferred entire; and
a resolution passed, that the same ambassadors should be sent to the
king who had attended him at Lysimachia,--Publius Sulpicius, Publius
Villius, and Publius Aelius.

60. Scarcely had these begun their journey, when ambassadors from
Carthage brought information, that Antiochus was evidently preparing
for war, and that Hannibal was employed in his service; which gave
reason to fear, that a Punic war might break out at the same time.
Hannibal, on leaving his own country, had gone to Antiochus, as was
mentioned before, and was held by the king in high estimation, not
so much for his other qualifications, as because, to a person who had
long been revolving schemes for a war with Rome, there could not be
any fitter participator of his counsels on such a subject. His opinion
was always one and the same, that the war should be carried on in
Italy: because "Italy would supply a foreign enemy both with men and
provisions; but, if it were left in quiet, and the Roman people were
allowed to employ the strength and forces of Italy, in making war
beyond the limits of that country, no king or nation would be able to
cope with them." He demanded, for himself, one hundred decked ships,
ten thousand foot, and one thousand horse. "With this force," he said,
"he would first repair to Africa; and he had confident hopes, that he
should be able to prevail on the Carthaginians to revive hostilities.
If they should hesitate, he would raise a war against the Romans in
some part of Italy. That the king ought to cross over into Europe with
all the rest of his force, and keep his army in some part of Greece;
not to pass over immediately into Italy, but to be in readiness to do
so; which would sufficiently conduce to the imposing character and the
reported magnitude of the war."

61. When he had brought the king to agree in his opinion, he judged it
necessary to predispose the minds of his countrymen to the same;
but he durst not send a letter, lest it might, by some accident, be
intercepted, and his plans by that means, be discovered. He had found
at Ephesus a Tyrian called Aristo, and in several less important
commissions, had discovered him to possess a good degree of ingenuity.
This man he now loaded with presents and promises of rewards which
were confirmed by the king himself, and sent him to Carthage with
messages. He told him the names of the persons whom it was necessary
that he should see, and furnished him with secret tokens, by which
they would know, with certainty, that the messages came from him. On
this Aristo's appearing at Carthage, the reason of his coming was not
discovered by Hannibal's friends sooner than by his enemies. At first,
the subject was bruited about in their circles and at their tables;
and at last some persons declared in the senate that "the banishment
of Hannibal answered no purpose, if while resident in another
country, he was still able to propagate designs for changing
the administration, and disturbing the quiet of the state by his
intrigues. That a Tyrian stranger, named Aristo, had come with a
commission from Hannibal and king Antiochus; that certain men daily
held secret conferences with him, and were concocting that in private,
the consequences of which would soon break out, to the ruin of the
public." This produced a general outcry, that "Aristo ought to be
summoned, and examined respecting the reason of his coming; and if he
did not disclose it, to be sent to Rome, with ambassadors accompanying
him: that they had already suffered enough of punishment in atonement
of the headstrong rashness of one individual; that the faults of
private citizens should be at their own risk, and the state should be
preserved free, not only from guilt, but even from the suspicion of
it." Aristo, being summoned, contended for his innocence; and urged,
as his strongest defence, that he had brought no letter to any person
whatever: but he gave no satisfactory reason for his coming, and
was chiefly embarrassed by the fact which they urged, that he had
conversed solely with men of the Barcine faction. A warm debate
ensued; some earnestly pressing, that he should be immediately seized
as a spy, and kept in custody; while others insisted, that there
were not sufficient grounds for such violent measures; that "putting
strangers into confinement, without reason, was a step that afforded a
bad precedent; for that the same would happen to the Carthaginians at
Tyre, and other marts, where they frequently traded." The question
was adjourned on that day. Aristo practised on the Carthaginians
a Carthaginian artifice; for having early in the evening hung up a
written tablet, in the most frequented place of the city, over the
tribunal where the magistrates daily sat, he went on board his ship at
the third watch, and fled. Next day, when the suffetes had taken their
seats to administer justice, the tablet was observed, taken down,
and read. Its contents were, that "Aristo came not with a private
commission to any person, but with a public one to the elders;" by
this name they called the senate. The imputation being thus thrown
on the state, less pains were taken in searching into the suspicions
harboured of a few individuals: however, it was determined, that
ambassadors should be sent to Rome, to represent the affair to the
consuls and the senate, and, at the same time, to complain of the
injuries received from Masinissa.

62. When Masinissa observed that the Carthaginians were looked on with
jealousy by others, and were full of dissensions among themselves; the
nobles being suspected by the senate, on account of their conferences
with Aristo, and the senate by the people, in consequence of the
information given by the same Aristo, he thought that, at such a
conjuncture, he might successfully encroach on their rights; and
accordingly he laid waste their country along the sea-coast, and
compelled several cities, which were tributary to the Carthaginians,
to pay their taxes to him. This tract they call Emporia; it forms the
shore of the lesser Syrtis, and has a fertile soil; one of its cities
is Leptis, which paid a tribute to the Carthaginians of a talent a
day. At this time, Masinissa not only ravaged that whole tract, but,
with respect to a considerable part of it, disputed the right of
possession with the Carthaginians; and when he learned that they were
sending to Rome, both to justify their conduct, and, at the same time,
to make complaints of him, he likewise sent ambassadors to Rome, to
load them with suspicions, and to discuss the right to the taxes.
The Carthaginians were heard first, and their account of the Tyrian
stranger gave the senate no small uneasiness, as they dreaded being
involved in war with Antiochus and the Carthaginians at the same time.
What contributed chiefly to strengthen a suspicion of evil designs,
was, that though they had resolved to seize Aristo, and send him to
Rome, they had not placed a guard either on himself or his ship. Then
began the controversy with the king's ambassadors, on the claims of
the territory in dispute. The Carthaginians supported their cause by
a boundary claim, urging that "It must belong to them, as being within
the limits which Scipio, after conquering the country, had fixed as
the boundaries which should be under Carthaginian rule; and also, by
the acknowledgment of the king, who, when he was going in pursuit of
Aphir, a fugitive from his kingdom, then hovering about Cyrene, with
a party of Numidians, had solicited as a favour a passage through
that very district, as being confessedly a part of the Carthaginian
dominions." The Numidians insisted, "that they were guilty of
misrepresentation with respect to the limits fixed by Scipio; and if a
person chose to recur to the real origin of their property, what title
had the Carthaginians to call any land in Africa their own: foreigners
and strangers, to whom had been granted precariously, for the purpose
of building a city, as much ground as they could encompass with the
cuttings of a bull's hide? Whatever acquisitions they had made beyond
Byrsa, their original settlement, they held by fraud and violence;
for, in relation to the land in question, so far were they from being
able to prove uninterrupted possession, from the time when it was
first acquired, that they cannot even prove that they ever possessed
it for any considerable time. As occasions offered, sometimes they,
sometimes the kings of Numidia, had held the dominion of it; and
the possession of it had always been held by the party which had the
greatest armed force. They requested the senate to suffer the
matter to remain on the same footing on which it stood before the
Carthaginians became enemies to the Romans, or the king of Numidia
their friend and ally; and not to interfere, so as to hinder whichever
party was able, from keeping possession."--The senate resolved to tell
the ambassadors of both parties, that they would send persons into
Africa to determine the present controversy between the people of
Carthage and the king. They accordingly sent Publius Scipio Africanus,
Caius Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minucius Rufus; who, after
viewing the ground, and hearing what could be said on both sides, left
every thing in suspense, their opinions inclining neither to one
side nor the other. Whether they acted in this manner from their own
judgment, or because they had been so instructed, is by no means so
certain as it is, that as affairs were circumstanced, it was highly
expedient to leave the dispute undecided: for, had the case been
otherwise, Scipio alone, either from his own knowledge of the
business, or the influence which he possessed, and to which he had
a just claim on both parties, could, with a nod, have ended the
controversy.



BOOK XXXV.

    _Publius Scipio Africanus sent as ambassador to Antiochus; has
    a conversation with Hannibal at Ephesus. Preparations of
    the Romans for war with Antiochus. Nabis, the tyrant of
    Lacedaemon, instigated by the Aetolians, makes war on the
    Achaeans; is put to death by a party of the Aetolians. The
    Aetolians, violating the treaty of friendship with the Romans,
    invite Antiochus, who comes, with a small force, into Greece,
    and, in conjunction with them, takes several towns, and the
    whole island of Euboea. The Achaeans declare war against
    Antiochus and the Aetolians._


1. In the beginning of the same year, Sextus Digitius, praetor in the
Hither Spain, fought with those states which, after the departure of
Marcus Cato, had, in great numbers, recommenced hostilities, numerous
battles, but none deserving of particular mention; and all so
unfavourable to him, that he scarcely delivered to his successor half
the number of men that he had received. In consequence of this, every
state in Spain would certainly have resumed new courage, had not
the other praetor, Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of Cneius, been
successful in several engagements on the other side of the Iberus;
and, by these means, diffused such a general terror, that no less than
fifty towns came over to his side. These exploits Scipio performed
in his praetorship. Afterwards, when propraetor, as the Lusitanians,
after ravaging the farther Province, were returning home, with an
immense booty, he attacked them on their march, and continued the
engagement from the third hour of the day to the eighth, before any
advantage was gained on either side. He was inferior to the enemy in
number of men, but he had the advantage of them in other respects:
with his troops formed in a compact body he attacked a long train,
encumbered with multitudes of cattle; and with his soldiers fresh,
engaged men, fatigued by a long march; for the enemy had set out at
the third watch, and besides travelling the remainder of the night,
had continued their route to the third hour of the day; nor had they
been allowed any rest, as the battle immediately succeeded the toil
of the march. Wherefore, though at the beginning they retained some
vigour of body and spirits, and, at first, threw the Romans into
disorder, yet, after some time, the fight became equal. In this
critical situation the propraetor made a vow to celebrate games in
honour of Jupiter, in case he should defeat and cut off the enemy. The
Romans then made a more vigorous push, and the Lusitanians gave way,
and, in a little time, turned their backs. As the victors pursued them
briskly, no less than twelve thousand of them were slain, and five
hundred and forty taken prisoners, most of whom were horsemen. There
were taken, besides, a hundred and thirty-four military standards. Of
the Roman army, but seventy-three men were lost. The battle was fought
at a small distance from the city of Ilipa. Thither Publius Cornelius
led back his victorious army, amply enriched with spoil; all which was
exposed to view under the walls of the town, and permission given
to the owners to claim their effects. The remainder was put into the
hands of the quaestor to be sold, and the money produced by the sale
was distributed among the soldiers.

2. At the time when these occurrences happened in Spain, Caius
Flaminius, the praetor, had not yet set out from Rome: therefore these
events, as well prosperous as adverse, were reported by himself and
his friends in the strongest representations; and he laboured to
persuade the senate, that, as a very formidable war had blazed out in
his province, and he was likely to receive from Sextus Digitius a very
small remnant of an army, and that, too, terrified and disheartened
they ought to decree one of the city legions to him, in order that,
when he should have united to it the soldiers levied by himself,
pursuant to the decree of the senate, he might select from the whole
number six thousand five hundred foot and three hundred horse. He
said, that "with such a legion as that, (for very little confidence
could be placed on the troops of Sextus Digitius,) he would conduct
the war." But the elder part of the senate insisted, that "decrees of
the senate were not to be passed in consequence of rumours fabricated
by private persons for the gratification of magistrates; and that no
intelligence should be deemed authentic except it were either written
by the praetors, from their provinces, or brought by their deputies.
If there was a tumultuous commotion in Spain, they advised a vote,
that tumultuary soldiers should be levied by the praetor in some other
country than Italy." The senate's intention was that such description
of men should be raised in Spain. Valerius Antias says, that Caius
Flaminius sailed to Sicily for the purpose of levying troops, and
that, on his voyage thence to Spain, being driven by a storm to
Africa, he enlisted there many stragglers who had belonged to the
army of Publius Africanus; and that, to the levies made in those two
provinces, he added a third in Spain.

3. In Italy the war, commenced by the Ligurians, grew daily more
formidable. They now invested Pisae, with an army of forty thousand
men; for multitudes flocked to them continually, led by the reports
of the war and the expectation of booty. The consul, Minucius, came
to Arretium, on the day which he had fixed for the assembling of the
troops. Thence he led them, in order of battle, towards Pisae; and
though the enemy had removed their camp to the other side of the
river, at a distance of no more than three miles from the place, the
consul marched into the city, which evidently owed its preservation to
his coming. Next day he also encamped on the other side of the river,
about a mile from the enemy; and by slight skirmishes protected the
lands of the allies from their depredations. He did not think it
prudent to hazard a general engagement, because his troops were raw,
composed of many different kinds of men, and not yet so well known
among themselves that they could rely on one another. The Ligurians
depended so much on their numbers, that they not only came out and
offered battle, willing to risk every thing on the issue of it; but,
from their superfluity of men, they sent out many parties along the
frontiers to plunder; and whenever a large quantity of cattle, and
other prey, was collected, there was an escort always in readiness to
convey it to their forts and towns.

4. While the operations remained at a stand at Pisae, the other
consul, Lucius Cornelius Merula, led his army through the extreme
borders of the Ligurians, into the territory of the Boians, where the
mode of proceeding was quite the reverse of that which took place in
the war of Liguria. The consul took the field; the enemy refused to
fight; and the Romans, when no one would come out against them, went
out in parties to plunder, while the Boians chose to let their country
be laid waste with impunity rather than venture an engagement in
defence of it. When all places were completely ravaged with fire
and sword, the consul quitted the enemy's lands, and marched towards
Mutina, in a careless manner, as through a pacific population. The
Boians, when they learned that the enemy had withdrawn beyond
their frontiers, followed him as secretly as possible, watching an
opportunity for an ambuscade; and, having gone by his camp in the
night, took possession of a defile through which the Romans were
to pass. But as they were not able to effect this with sufficient
secrecy, the consul, who usually began his march late in the night,
now waited until day, lest, in the disorderly fight likely to ensue,
darkness might increase the confusion; and though he did not stir
before it was light, yet he sent forward a troop of horse to explore
the country. When intelligence was brought by them of the number and
situation of the enemy, he ordered the baggage to be heaped together
in the centre, and the veterans to throw up a rampart round it;
and then, with the rest of the army in order of battle, he advanced
towards the enemy. The Gauls did the same, when they found that their
stratagem was detected, and that they were to engage in a fair and
regular battle, where success must depend on valour alone.

5. The battle began about the second hour. The left brigade of the
allies, and the Extraordinaries, fought in the first line, and were
commanded by two lieutenant-generals of consular dignity, Marcus
Marcellus and Tiberius Sempronius, who had been consul the year
before. The present consul was sometimes employed in the front of
the line, sometimes in keeping back the legions in reserve, that they
might not, through eagerness for fighting, come up to the attack until
the signal was given. He ordered the two Minucii, Quintus and Publius,
military tribunes, to lead off the cavalry on the legions into open
ground, at some distance from the line; and "when he should give them
the signal, to charge the enemy through the clear space." While he was
thus employed, a message came from Tiberius Sempronius Longus, that
the Extraordinaries could not support the onset of the Gauls; that
great numbers had already fallen; and that partly through weariness,
partly through fear, the ardour of the survivors was much abated. He
recommended it therefore to the consul, if he thought proper, to send
up one or other of the two legions, before the army suffered disgrace.
The second legion was accordingly sent, and the Extraordinaries were
ordered to retire. By the legion coming up, with its men fresh,
and the ranks complete in their numbers, the fight was renewed with
vigour. The left wing was withdrawn out of the action, and the right
took its place in the van. The intense heat of the sun discomposed
the Gauls, whose bodies were very ill qualified to endure it:
nevertheless, keeping their ranks close, and leaning sometimes on each
other, sometimes on their bucklers, they withstood the attack of
the Romans; which, when the consul observed, in order to break their
ranks, he ordered Caius Livius Salinator, commander of the allied
cavalry, to charge them at full speed, and the legionary cavalry
to remain in reserve. This tempest of cavalry first confused and
disordered, and at length entirely broke the line of the Gauls; yet it
did not make them fly. That was prevented by their officers, who, when
they quitted their posts, struck them on the back with their spears,
and compelled them to return to their ranks: but the allied cavalry,
riding in among them, did not suffer them to recover their order.
The consul exhorted his soldiers to "continue their efforts a little
longer, for victory was within their reach; to press the enemy, while
they saw them disordered and dismayed; for, if they were suffered to
recover their ranks, they would enter on a fresh battle with doubtful
success." He ordered the standard-bearers to advance with the
standards, and then, all exerting themselves at once, they at length
forced the enemy to give way. As soon as they turned their backs, and
fled precipitately oh every side, the legionary cavalry was sent in
pursuit of them. On that day, fourteen thousand of the Boians were
slain; one thousand and ninety-two taken--as were seven hundred and
twenty-one horsemen, and three of their commanders, with two hundred
and twelve military standards, and sixty-three chariots. Nor did the
Romans gain the victory without loss of blood: of themselves, or their
allies, were lost above five thousand men, twenty-three centurions,
four prefects of the allies, and two military tribunes of the second
legion, Marcus Genucius and Marcus Marcius.

6. Letters from both the consuls arrived at Rome nearly at the same
time. That of Lucius Cornelius gave an account of the battle fought
with the Boians at Mutina; that of Quintus Minucius, from Pisae,
mentioned, that "the holding of the elections had fallen to his lot,
but that affairs in Liguria were in so uncertain a position, that
he could not depart thence without bringing ruin on the allies, and
material injury on the commonwealth. He therefore advised that, if the
senate thought proper, they should direct his colleague (as his war
was decided) to return to Rome for the elections. He said if Cornelius
should object to this, because that employment had not fallen to his
lot, he would certainly do whatever the senate should order; but he
begged them to consider again and again whether it would not be more
to the advantage of the republic, that an interregnum should take
place, than that the province should be left by him in such a state."
The senate gave directions to Caius Scribonius to send two deputies of
senatorian rank to the consul, Lucius Cornelius, to communicate to him
the letter sent by his colleague to the senate, and to acquaint him,
that if he did not come to Rome to elect new magistrates, the senate
were resolved, rather than Quintus Minucius should be called away from
a war, in which no progress had been made, to suffer an interregnum to
take place. The deputies sent brought back his answer, that he
would come to Rome, to elect new magistrates. The letter of Lucius
Cornelius, which contained an account of the battle with the
Boians, occasioned a debate in the senate; for Marcus Claudius,
lieutenant-general, in private letters to many of the senators, had
written, "that they might thank the fortune of the Roman people, and
the bravery of the soldiers, that the affair had been successful. That
the conduct of the consul had been the cause of a great many men
being lost, and of the enemy's army, for the annihilation of which an
opportunity had been offered, having made its escape. That what made
the loss of men the greater was, the reinforcements, necessary to
support them when distressed, coming up too late from the reserve;
and that, what enabled the enemy to slip out of their hands was, the
signal being given too tardily to the legionary cavalry, and their
not being allowed to pursue the fugitives." It was agreed, that no
resolution should be hastily passed on the subject; and the discussion
was accordingly adjourned to a fuller meeting.

7. Another concern also pressed upon them, namely, that the public
was heavily distressed by usurious practices; and although avarice had
been restricted by many laws respecting usury, yet a fraudulent course
had been adopted--that of transferring the securities to subjects of
some of the allied states, who were not bound by those laws, by which
means usurers overwhelmed their debtors by unlimited interest. On
considering of the best method for putting a stop to this evil the
senate decreed, that a certain day should be fixed on for it, the
next approaching festival of the infernal deities; and that any of
the allies who should from that day lend money to the Roman citizens,
should register the transaction; and that all proceedings respecting
such money, lent after that day, should be regulated by the laws of
whichever of the two states the debtor should choose. In some time
after, when the great amount of debt, contracted through this kind of
fraud, was discovered by means of the registries, Marcus Sempronius,
plebeian tribune, by direction of the senate, proposed to the people,
and the people ordered, that the laws relative to money lent between
Roman citizens and subjects of any of the allied states, or Latin
confederacy, should be the same as those between Roman citizens. Such
were the transactions in Italy, civil and military. In Spain the war
was far from being so formidable as the exaggerations of report had
represented it. In Hither Spain, Caius Flaminius took the town of
Ilucia, in the country of the Oretanians, and then marched his army
into winter quarters. Several engagements took place during the
winter, but none deserving of particular mention, directed against
incursions of robbers rather than of the enemy; and yet with various
success, and not without the loss of some men. More important services
were performed by Marcus Fulvius. He fought a pitched battle near the
town of Toletum, against the Vaccaeans, Vectonians, and Celtiberians;
routed and dispersed their combined forces, and took prisoner their
king, Hilermus.

8. While this passed in Spain, the day of election was drawing
near. Lucius Cornelius, therefore, the consul, left Marcus Claudius,
lieutenant-general, in command of the army and came to Rome. After
representing in the senate the services which he had performed, and
the present state of the province, he expostulated with the conscript
fathers on their not having ordered a thanksgiving to the immortal
gods when so great a war was so happily terminated by one successful
battle; and then demanded, that they would at the same time decree a
supplication and a triumph. But, before the question was put, Quintus
Metellus, who had been consul and dictator, said, that, "letters had
been brought at the same time from the consul, Lucius Cornelius,
to the senate, and from Marcus Marcellus, to a great part of the
senators; which letters contradicted each other, and for that reason
the consideration of the business had been adjourned, in order that it
might be debated when the writers of those letters should he present.
He had expected, therefore, that the consul, who knew that the
lieutenant-general had written something to his disadvantage, would,
when he himself was obliged to come, have brought him with him
to Rome; especially, as the command of the army would, with more
propriety, have been committed to Tiberius Sempronius, who already
possessed authority, than to the lieutenant-general. As the case
stood at present, it appeared as if the latter was kept out of the way
designedly, lest he might assert in person the same things which he
had written in his letters; and, face to face, either substantiate
his charges, or, if he had alleged any thing untrue, be convicted of
misrepresentation, until the truth should be clearly discovered. For
this reason he was of opinion, that the senate should not, at present,
assent to either of the decrees demanded by the consul." When he,
however, persisted with undiminished energy in putting the question,
that a thanksgiving should be ordered, and himself allowed to ride
into the city in triumph; the plebeian tribunes, Marcus and Caius
Titinius, declared, that they would enter their protest, if the senate
passed any decree on the subject.

9. In the preceding year, Sextus Aelius Paetus and Caius Cornelius
Cethegus were created censors. Cornelius now closed the lustrum. The
number of citizens rated was a hundred and forty-three thousand seven
hundred and four. Extraordinary quantities of rain fell in this
year, and the Tiber overflowed the lower parts of the city; and
some buildings near the Flumentan gate were even laid in ruins. The
Coelimontan gate was struck by lightning, as was the wall on each side
of it, in several places. At Aricia, Lanuvium, and on the Aventine,
showers of stones fell. From Capua, a report was brought that a very
large swarm of wasps flew into the forum, and settled on the temple of
Mars; that they had been carefully collected, and burnt. On account of
these prodigies, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; the
nine days' festival was celebrated, a supplication proclaimed, and
the city purified. At the same time, Marcus Porcius Cato dedicated a
chapel to Maiden Victory, near the temple of Victory, two years after
he had vowed it. During this year, a Latin colony was established
in the Thurian territory by commissioners appointed for the purpose,
Cneius Manlius Vulso, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Quintus Aelius
Tubero, who had proposed the order for its settlement. There went out
thither three thousand foot and three hundred horsemen; a very small
number in proportion to the extent of the land. Thirty acres might
have been given to each footman, and sixty to a horseman, but, by
the advice of Apustius, a third part was reserved, that they might
afterwards, when they should judge proper, send out thither a new
colony. The footmen received twenty acres each, the horsemen forty.

10. The year was now near a close, and with regard to the election
of consuls, emulation was more fiercely kindled than was ever known
before. The candidates, both patrician and plebeian, were many and
powerful: Publius Cornelius Scipio, son to Cneius, and who had
lately come home from Spain, having performed great exploits; Lucius
Quinctius Flamininus, who had commanded the fleet in Greece; and
Cneius Manlius Vulso; these were the patricians. Then there were, of
plebeian rank, Caius Laelius, Cneius Domitius, Caius Livius Salinator,
and Manius Acilius. The eyes of all men were turned on Quinctius and
Cornelius; for, being both patricians, they sued for one place; and
they were both of them recommended by high and recent renown in war.
Above every thing else, the brothers of the candidates, the two
most illustrious generals of the age, increased the violence of the
struggle. Scipio's fame was the more splendid, and in proportion to
its greater splendour, the more obnoxious to envy. That of Quinctius
was the most recent, as he had triumphed in the course of that very
same year. Besides, the former had now for almost ten years been
continually in people's sight; which circumstance, by the mere effect
of satiety, causes great characters to be less revered. He had been
a second time consul after the final defeat of Hannibal, and also
censor. All Quinctius's claims to the favour of the public were fresh
and new; since his triumph, he had neither asked nor received anything
from the people; "he solicited," he said, "in favour of his own
brother, not of a half-brother; in favour of his lieutenant-general,
and partner in the administration of the war; his brother having
conducted the operations by sea, while he did the same on land." By
these arguments he carried his point. His brother was preferred to the
brother of Africanus, though supported by the whole Cornelian family,
and while one of the same family presided at the election, and
notwithstanding the very honourable testimony given by the senate, in
his favour, when it adjudged him to be the best man in the state: and
as such, appointed him to receive the Idaean Mother into the city,
when she was brought from Pessinus. Lucius Quinctius and Cneius
Domitius Ahenobarbus were elected consuls; so that, not even with
respect to the plebeian consul, could Africanus prevail; for he
employed his interest in favour of Caius Laelius. Next day were
elected praetors, Lucius Scribonius Libo, Marcus Fulvius Centumalus,
Aulus Atilius Serranus, Marcus Baebius Tamphilus, Lucius Valerius
Tappus, and Quintus Salonius Sarra. The aedileship of this year was
highly distinguished, namely, that of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and
Lucius Aemilius Paulus. They prosecuted to conviction many of the
farmers of the public pastures, and with the money accruing from
the fines, placed gilded shields in the upper part of the temple
of Jupiter. They built one colonnade, on the outside of the gate
Tergemina, to which they added a wharf on the Tiber: and another,
reaching from the Frontinal gate to the altar of Mars, to serve as a
passage into the field of Mars.

11. For a long time, nothing worth recording had occurred in Liguria;
but, towards the end of this year, the Roman affairs there were twice
brought into great peril; for the consul's camp, being assaulted, was
with difficulty preserved; and a short time after, as the Roman army
was marching through a defile, the Ligurians seized on the opening
through which they were to pass. The consul, when he found that
passage stopped up, faced about, resolved to return: but the entrance
behind, also, was occupied by a party of the enemy, and the disaster
of Caudium not only occurred to the memory of the Romans, but was in a
manner represented to their eyes. The consul had, among his auxiliary
troops, about eight hundred Numidian horsemen, whose commanding
officer undertook to force a passage with his troops, on whichever
side the consul should choose. He only desired to be told on which
part the greater number of villages lay, for on them he meant to make
an attack; and the first thing he intended doing was, to set fire to
the houses, in order that the alarm, which this should occasion, might
induce the Ligurians to quit their posts in the defile, and hasten to
different quarters to carry assistance to their friends. The consul
highly commended him, and gave him assurance of ample rewards. The
Numidians mounted their horses, and began to ride up to the advanced
posts of the enemy, but without making any attack. Nothing could
appear, on the first view, more contemptible. Both men and horses were
of a small size and thin make, the riders unaccoutred and unarmed,
excepting that they carried javelins in their hands; and the horses
without bridles, and awkward in their gait, running with their necks
stiff and their heads stretched out. The contempt, conceived from
their appearance, they took pains to increase; sometimes falling from
their horses, and making themselves objects of derision and ridicule.
The consequence was, that the enemy, who at first had been alert, and
ready on their posts, in case of an attack, now, for the most part,
laid aside their arms, and sitting down amused themselves with looking
at them. The Numidians often rode up, then galloped back, but still
contrived to get nearer to the pass, as if they were unable to manage
their horses, and were carried away against their will. At last,
setting spurs to them, they broke out through the midst of the enemy's
posts, and getting into the open country, set fire to all the houses
near the road. They then set fire to the nearest village, while they
ravaged all around with fire and sword. At first the sight of the
smoke, then the shouts of the affrighted inhabitants, at last the old
people and children, who fled for shelter, created great disorder in
the camp. In consequence of which the whole of their army, without
plan, and without command, ran off, each to take care of his own;
the camp was in a moment deserted; and the consul delivered from the
blockade, made good his march to the place whither he intended to go.

12. But neither the Boians nor the Spaniards, with whom they had been
at war during that year, were such bitter and inveterate foes to the
Romans as the nation of the Aetolians. These, after the departure of
the Roman armies from Greece, had, for some time, entertained hopes
that Antiochus would come and take possession of Europe, without
opposition; and that neither Philip nor Nabis would continue quiet.
But seeing no active measures begun, in any quarter, they resolved,
lest their designs might be damped by delay, to create some agitation
and disturbance; and, with this view, they summoned a general assembly
at Naupactum. Here Thoas, their praetor, after complaining of the
injurious behaviour of the Romans, and the present state of Aetolia,
and asserting, that "of all the nations and states of Greece, they had
been most unhonoured, after the victory which they themselves had been
the means of obtaining," moved, that ambassadors should be sent to
each of the kings; not only to sound their dispositions, but, by such
incentives as suited the temper of each, to urge them to a war
with Rome. Damocritus was sent to Nabis, Nicander to Philip, and
Dicaearchus, the praetor's brother, to Antiochus. To the Lacedaemonian
tyrant Damocritus represented, that, "by the maritime cities being
taken from him, his government was left enervated; for from them he
had drawn his soldiers, as well as his ships and seamen. He was now
pent up almost within the walls of his capital, while he saw the
Achaeans domineering over the whole Peloponnesus. Never would he have
another opportunity of recovering his rights, if he suffered the one
that now offered to pass by. There was no Roman army in Greece, nor
would the Romans deem Gythium, or the other towns on the coast of
Laconia, sufficient cause for transporting their legions a second
time into that country." These arguments were used for the purpose of
provoking the passions of Nabis; in order that when Antiochus should
come into Greece, the other, conscious of having infringed the treaty
of amity with Rome, by injuries offered to its allies, might unite
himself with him. Nicander excited Philip, by arguments somewhat
similar; and he had more copious matter for discourse, as the king
had been degraded from a more elevated state than the tyrant, and
more possessions also had been taken from him. In addition to this, he
introduced the ancient renown of the Macedonian kings, and the whole
world pervaded by the victorious marches of that nation. "The plan
which he proposed," he said, "was free from any danger, either in the
commencement or in the issue. For he did not advise that Philip should
stir until Antiochus should have come into Greece with an army; and,
considering that, without the aid of Antiochus, he had maintained a
war so long against the combined forces of the Romans and Aetolians,
with what possible force could the Romans withstand him, when joined
by Antiochus, and supported by the aid of the Aetolians, who, on the
former occasion, were more dangerous enemies than the Romans?" He
added the circumstance of Hannibal being general; "a man born a foe
to the Romans, who had slain greater numbers, both of their commanders
and soldiers, than were left surviving." Such were the representations
of Nicander to Philip. Dicaearchus addressed other arguments to
Antiochus. In the first place, he told him, that "the spoils of Philip
belonged to the Romans, but the victory over him to the Aetolians;
that none other than the Aetolians had afforded to the Romans
admittance into Greece, and that the same people supplied them with
the strength which enabled them to conquer." He next set forth the
numerous forces, both horse and foot, which they were willing to
furnish to Antiochus, for the purpose of the war; what quarters they
would assign to his land armament, what harbours for his naval forces.
He then asserted whatever falsehoods he pleased, respecting Philip
and Nabis; that "both were ready to recommence hostilities, and would
greedily lay hold on the first opportunity of recovering what they
had lost in war." Thus did the Aetolians labour, in every part of the
world, to stir up war against the Romans. The kings, however, either
took no steps in it or took them too late.

13. Nabis immediately despatched emissaries through all the towns on
the coast, to sow dissensions among the inhabitants: some of the men
in power he brought over to his party by presents; others, who more
firmly adhered to the alliance with Rome, he put to death. The charge
of protecting all the Lacedaemonians on the coast, had been committed
by Titus Quinctius to the Achaeans; they therefore instantly sent
ambassadors to the tyrant, to remind him of his treaty with the
Romans, and to warn him against violating a peace which he had so
earnestly sued for. They also sent succours to Gythium which he
had already besieged, and ambassadors to Rome to make known these
transactions. King Antiochus having, this winter, solemnized the
nuptials of his daughter with Ptolemy king of Egypt, at Raphia, in
Phoenicia, returned thence to Antioch, and came, towards the end of
the season, through Cilicia, after passing Mount Taurus, to the city
of Ephesus. Early in the spring, he sent his son Antiochus thence into
Syria, to guard the remote frontiers of his dominions, lest during
his absence, any commotion might arise behind him; and then he marched
himself, with all his land forces, to attack the Pisidians, inhabiting
the country near Sida. At this time, Publius Sulpicius and Publius
Villius, the Roman ambassadors, who were sent to Antiochus, as above
mentioned, having received orders to wait on Eumenes, first came to
Elaea, and thence went up to Pergamus, for the palace of Eumenes was
there. Eumenes was very desirous of a war against Antiochus, for he
thought that, if peace continued, a king so much superior in power
would be a troublesome neighbour; but that, in case of hostilities, he
would prove no more a match for the Romans than Philip had been; and
that, either he would be entirely removed out of the way, or, should
peace be granted to him, after a defeat he (Eumenes) might reasonably
expect, that a great deal of what should be taken from Antiochus would
fall to his own share; so that, in future, he might be very well able
to defend himself against him, without any aid from the Romans; and
even if any misfortune were to happen, it would be better for him,
in conjunction with the Romans, to undergo any turn of fortune, than,
standing alone, either suffer himself to be ruled by Antiochus, or, on
refusal, be compelled to submission by force of arms. Therefore, with
all his influence, and every argument which he could devise, he urged
the Romans to a war.

14. Sulpicius, falling sick, staid at Pergamus. Villius, on hearing
that the king was carrying on war in Pisidia, went on to Ephesus, and,
during a few days that he halted in that city, took pains to procure
frequent interviews with Hannibal, who happened to be there at the
time, in order to sound his intentions, if possible, and to remove
his apprehensions of danger threatening him from the Romans. No other
business, indeed, of any kind was brought forward at these meetings;
yet they accidentally produced an important consequence, as
effectually as if it had been intentionally sought; the lowering
Hannibal in the esteem of the king, and rendering him more obnoxious
to suspicion in every matter. Claudius, following the history written
in Greek by Acilius, says, that Publius Africanus was employed in this
embassy, and that it was he who conversed with Hannibal at Ephesus.
He even relates one of their conversations, in which Scipio asked
Hannibal, "whom he thought the greatest captain?" and that he
answered, "Alexander, king of Macedonia; because, with a small band,
he defeated armies whose numbers were beyond reckoning; and because he
had overrun the remotest regions, the merely visiting of which was a
thing above human aspiration." Scipio then asked, "to whom he gave the
second place?" and he replied, "To Pyrrhus; for he first taught the
method of encamping; and besides, no one ever showed more exquisite
judgment, in choosing his ground, and disposing his posts; while he
also possessed the art of conciliating mankind to himself to such a
degree, that the nations of Italy wished him, though a foreign prince,
to hold the sovereignty among them, rather than the Roman people, who
had so long possessed the dominion of that part of the world." On his
proceeding to ask, "whom he esteemed the third?" Hannibal replied,
"Myself, beyond doubt." On this Scipio laughed, and added, "What would
you have said if you had conquered me?" "Then," replied the other, "I
would have placed Hannibal, not only before Alexander and Pyrrhus,
but before all other commanders." This answer, turned with Punic
dexterity, and conveying an unexpected kind of flattery, was highly
grateful to Scipio, as it set him apart from the crowd of commanders,
as one of incomparable eminence.

15. From Ephesus, Villius proceeded to Apamea, whither Antiochus, on
hearing of the coming of the Roman delegates, came to meet him. In
this congress, at Apamea, the debates were similar to those which
passed at Rome, between Quinctius and the king's ambassadors. The news
arriving of the death of Antiochus, the king's son, who, as just now
mentioned, had been sent into Syria, broke off the conference. There
was great mourning in the court, and excessive regret for this young
man; for he had given such indications of his character as afforded
evident proof that, had a longer life been allotted him, he would
have displayed the talents of a great and just prince. The more he
was beloved and esteemed by all, the more was his death a subject of
suspicion, namely, that his father, thinking that his heir trod too
closely on the heels of his own old age, had him taken off by poison,
by some eunuchs, who recommend themselves to kings by the perpetration
of such foul deeds. People mentioned also, as another motive for that
clandestine act of villany, that, as he had given Lysimachia to his
son Seleucus, he had no establishment of the like kind, which he
could give to Antiochus, for the purpose of banishing him also to
a distance, under pretext of doing him honour. Nevertheless, an
appearance of deep mourning was maintained in the court for several
days; and the Roman ambassador, lest his presence at that inauspicious
time might be troublesome, retired to Pergamus. The king, dropping the
prosecution of the war which he had begun, went back to Ephesus; and
there, keeping himself shut up in the palace, under colour of grief,
held secret consultations with a person called Minio, who was his
principal favourite. Minio was utterly ignorant of the state of all
foreign nations; and, accordingly, estimating the strength of the king
from his successes in Syria or Asia, he was confident that Antiochus
had not only superiority from the merits of his cause, and that the
demands of the Romans were highly unreasonable; but also, that he
would prove the more powerful in war. As the king wished to avoid
further debate with the envoys, either because he had found no
advantage to result from the former conference, or because he was too
much discomposed by recent grief, Minio undertook to say whatever
was requisite for his interest, and persuaded him to invite for that
purpose the ambassadors from Pergamus.

16. By this time Sulpicius had recovered his health; both himself and
Villius, therefore, came to Ephesus. Minio apologized for the king
not being present, and the business was entered upon. Then Minio, in a
studied speech, said, "I find, Romans, that you profess very specious
intentions, (the liberating of the Grecian states,) but your actions
do not accord with your words. You lay down one rule for Antiochus,
and follow another yourselves. For, how are the inhabitants of Smyrna
and Lampsacus better entitled to the character of Greeks, than the
Neapolitans, Rhegians, and Tarentines, from whom you exact tribute,
and ships, in pursuance of a treaty? Why do you send yearly to
Syracuse, and other Grecian cities of Sicily, a praetor, vested
with sovereign power, and attended by his rods and axes? You can,
certainly, allege no other reason than this, that, having conquered
them in war, you imposed these terms on them. Admit, then, on the part
of Antiochus, the same reason with respect to Smyrna and Lampsacus,
and the cities belonging to Ionia and Aeolia. Conquered by his
ancestors, they were subjected to tribute and taxes, and he only
reclaims an ancient right. I would have you answer him on these heads,
if you mean a fair discussion, and do not merely seek a pretence for
war." Sulpicius answered, "Antiochus has acted with some modesty
in choosing that, since no other arguments could be produced in his
favour, any other person should utter these rather than himself. For,
what similarity is there in the cases of those states which you
have brought into comparison? From the Rhegians, Neapolitans, and
Tarentines we require what they owe us by treaty, in virtue of a right
invariably exercised, in one uniform course, since they first came
under our power; a right always asserted, and never intermitted. Now,
can you assert, that, as these states have, neither of themselves,
nor through any other, ever refused conforming to the treaty, so the
Asiatic states, since they once came under the power of Antiochus's
ancestors, have been held in uninterrupted possession by your reigning
kings; and that some of them have not been subject to the dominion of
Philip, some to that of Ptolemy; and that others have not, for many
years, maintained themselves in a state of independence, no one
calling it in question? For, if the circumstance of their having been
once subject to a foreigner, when crushed under the severity of the
times, conveys a right to enforce that subjection again after a lapse
of so many generations, what can be said of our having delivered
Greece from Philip, but that nothing was accomplished by us; and that
his successors may reclaim Corinth, Chalcis, Demetrias, and the whole
nation of Thessaly? But why do I plead the cause of those states,
which it would be fitter that both we and the king should hear pleaded
by themselves?"

17. He then desired, that the deputies of those states should be
called, for they had been prepared beforehand, and kept in readiness
by Eumenes, who reckoned, that every share of strength that should
be taken away from Antiochus, would become an accession to his own
kingdom. Many of them were introduced; and, while each enforced
his own complaints, and sometimes demands, and blended together the
reasonable with the unreasonable, they changed the debate into a mere
altercation. The ambassadors, therefore, without conceding or carrying
any one point, returned to Rome just as they had come, leaving every
thing in an undecided state. On their departure the king held a
council, on the subject of a war with Rome, in which each spoke more
violently than his predecessor; for every one thought, that the more
bitterly he inveighed against the Romans, the greater share of favour
he might expect to obtain. One animadverted upon the insolence of
their demands, in which they presume to impose terms on Antiochus,
the greatest king in Asia, as they would on the vanquished Nabis.
"Although to Nabis they left absolute power over his own country,
and its capital, Lacedaemon, yet it seems to them a matter for
indignation, that Smyrna and Lampsacus should yield obedience to
Antiochus."--Others said, that "to so great a monarch, those cities
were but a trivial ground of war, scarcely worth mention; but, that
the beginning of unjust impositions was always made in the case of
matters of little consequence; unless, indeed, it could be supposed,
that the Persians, when they demanded earth and water from the
Lacedaemonians, stood in need of a scrap of the land or a draught of
the water. The proceedings of the Romans, respecting the two cities,
were meant as a trial of the same sort. The rest of the states, when
they saw that two had shaken off the yoke, would go over to the party
of that nation which professed the patronage of liberty. If freedom
was not actually preferable to servitude, yet the hope of bettering
their circumstances by a change, was more flattering to every one than
any present situation."

18. There was, in the council, an Acarnanian named Alexander, who had
formerly been a friend of Philip, but had lately left him, to follow
the more opulent court of Antiochus. And as being well skilled in
the affairs of Greece, and not unacquainted with the Romans, he was
admitted by the king into such a degree of intimacy, that he shared
even in his secret councils. As if the question to be considered were
not, whether there should be war or not, but where and in what manner
it should be carried on, he affirmed, that "he saw an assured prospect
of victory, provided the king would pass into Europe and choose some
part of Greece for the seat of war. In the first place, the Aetolians,
who lived in the centre of Greece, would be found in arms, ready
to take the lead in the most perilous operations. Then, in the two
extremities of Greece, Nabis, on the side of Peloponnesus, would put
every thing in motion, to recover the city of Argos, and the maritime
cities, from which he had been expelled by the Romans, and pent up
within the walls of Lacedaemon: while, on the side of Macedonia,
Philip would be ready for the field the moment he heard the alarm
sounded. He knew," he said, "his spirit, he knew his temper; he knew
that, (as in the case with wild beasts, confined by bars or chains,)
for a long time past, he had been revolving the fiercest resentments
in his breast. He remembered, also, how often, during the war,
that prince had prayed to all the gods to grant him Antiochus as an
assistant; and, if that prayer were now heard with favour, he would
not hesitate an instant to resume his arms. It was only requisite that
there should be no delay, no procrastination; for success depended
chiefly on securing beforehand commodious posts and proper allies:
besides, Hannibal ought to be sent immediately into Africa, in order
to distract the attention of the Romans."

19. Hannibal was not called to this consultation, having income
suspected by the king, and not having subsequently been held in any
honour, on account of his conferences with Villius, and he had not
since shown him any mark of regard. This affront, at first, he bore
in silence; but afterwards thought it better to take some proper
opportunity to inquire the reason of the king's suddenly withdrawing
his favour, and to clear himself of blame. Without any preface, he
asked the cause of the king's displeasure; and having heard it, said,
"Antiochus, when I was yet an infant, my father, Hamilcar, at a time
when he was offering sacrifice, brought me up to the altars, and made
me take an oath, that I never would be a friend to the Roman people.
Under the obligation of this oath, I carried arms against them for
thirty-six years; this oath, on peace being made, drove me out of my
country, and brought me an exile to your court; and this oath shall
guide me, should you disappoint my hopes, until I traverse every
quarter of the globe, where I can understand that there are resources,
to find out enemies to the Romans. If, therefore, your courtiers have
conceived the idea of ingratiating themselves with you by insinuating
suspicions of me, let them seek some means of advancing their
reputation otherwise than at my expense. I hate, and am hated by, the
Romans. That I speak the truth in this, my father, Hamilcar, and
the gods are witnesses. Whenever, therefore, you shall employ your
thoughts on a plan of waging war with Rome, consider Hannibal as one
of your firmest friends. If circumstances force you to adopt peaceful
measures, on such a subject employ some one else with whom to
deliberate." This discourse not only affected the king much, but even
reconciled him to Hannibal. They departed from the council with the
resolution that the war should be undertaken.

20. At Rome, people in their conversations anticipated, indeed,
Antiochus as an enemy, but they had hitherto prepared nothing for such
a war but their expectations. Italy was decreed the province of both
the consuls, who received directions to settle between themselves, or
draw lots, which of them should preside at the elections of the
year; and it was ordered, that he who should be disengaged from that
business, should hold himself in readiness, in case there should be
occasion, to lead the legions any where out of that country. To the
said consul, permission was given to levy two new legions, and twenty
thousand foot, and nine hundred horse, among the allies and Latin
confederates. To the other consul were decreed the two legions which
had been commanded by Lucius Cornelius, consul of the preceding year;
and from the same army, a body of allies and Latins, amounting to
fifteen thousand foot and five hundred horse. Quintus Minucius was
continued in command, with the forces which he then had in Liguria; as
a supplement to which, four thousand Roman foot and five hundred horse
were ordered to be enlisted, and five thousand foot and two hundred
and fifty horse to be demanded from the allies. The duty of departing
from Italy, whithersoever the senate should order, fell to Cneius
Domitius; Gaul, and the holding the elections, to Lucius Quinctius.
The praetors then cast lots for their provinces: to Marcus Fulvius
Centumalus fell the city jurisdiction; to Lucius Scribonius Libo,
the foreign; Lucius Valerius Tappus obtained Sicily; Quintus Salonius
Sarra, Sardinia; Marcus Baebius Tamphilus, Hither Spain; and Marcus
Atilius Serranus, Farther Spain. But the provinces of the two last
were changed, first by a decree of the senate, which was afterwards
confirmed by an order of the people. The fleet and Macedonia were
assigned to Atilius; Bruttium to Baebius. Flaminius and Fulvius were
continued in command in both the Hither and Farther Spain. To Baebius
Tamphilus, for the business of Bruttium, were decreed the two legions
which had served in the city the year before; and he was ordered to
demand from the allies, for the same service, fifteen thousand foot
and five hundred horse. Atilius was ordered to build thirty ships of
five banks of oars: to bring out, from the docks, any old ones that
were fit for service, and to raise seamen. An order was also given to
the consul, to supply him with two thousand of the allied and Latin
footmen, and a thousand Roman. The destination of these two praetors,
and their two armaments, one on land and the other on sea, was
declared to be intended against Nabis, who was now carrying on open
hostilities against the allies of the Roman people. But it was thought
proper to wait the return of the ambassadors sent to Antiochus, and
the senate ordered the consul Cneius Domitius not to leave the city
until they arrived.

21. The praetors, Fulvius and Scribonius, whose province was the
administration of justice at Rome, were charged to provide a hundred
quinqueremes, besides the fleet which Atilius was to command. Before
the consul and praetors set out for their provinces, a supplication
was performed on account of some prodigies. A report was brought from
Picenum, that a goat had produced six kids at a birth. It was said
that a boy was born at Arretium who had but one hand; that, at
Amiternum, a shower of earth fell; a gate and wall at Formiae were
struck by lightning; and, what was more alarming than all, an ox,
belonging to the consul, Cneius Domitius, spoke these words,--"Rome,
take care of thyself." To expiate the other prodigies, a supplication
was performed; the ox was ordered by the aruspices to be carefully
preserved and fed. The Tiber, pouring into the city with more
destructive violence than last year, swept away two bridges, and
many buildings, particularly about the Flumentan gate. A huge rock,
loosened from its seat, either by the rains, or by an earthquake so
slight that no other effect of it was perceived, tumbled down from the
Capitol into the Jugarian street, and buried many people under it.
In the country, many parts of which were overflowed, much cattle
was carried away, and a great destruction of farm houses took place.
Previous to the arrival of the consul, Lucius Quinctius, in his
province Quintus Minucius fought a pitched battle with the Ligurians,
in the territory of Pisae, slew nine thousand of the enemy, and
putting the rest to flight, drove them within their works, which were
assaulted and defended in an obstinate contest until night came on.
During the night, the Ligurians stole away unobserved; and, at the
first dawn, the Romans took possession of their deserted camp, where
the quantity of booty found was the less, because the enemy frequently
sent home the spoil taken in the country. Minucius, after this,
allowed them no respite. From the territory of Pisae he marched into
that of the Ligurians, and, with fire and sword, utterly destroyed
their forts and towns, where the Roman soldiers were abundantly
enriched with the spoils of Etruria which the ravagers had sent home.

22. About this time, the ambassadors, who had been sent to the kings,
returned to Rome. As they brought no information of such a nature
as called for any immediate declaration of war, (except against the
Lacedaemonian tyrant, whom the Achaean ambassadors also represented as
invading the sea-coast of Laconia, in breach of treaty,) Atilius, the
praetor, was sent with the fleet to Greece, for the protection of the
allies. It was resolved, that, as there was nothing to be apprehended
from Antiochus at present, both the consuls should go to their
provinces; and, accordingly, Domitius marched into the country of the
Boians, by the shorter road, through Ariminum, and Quinctius through
Liguria. The two armies of the consuls, proceeding by these different
routes, spread devastation wide over the enemy's country. In
consequence of which, first a few of their horsemen, with their
commanders, then their whole senate, and at last all who possessed
either property or dignity, to the number of one thousand five
hundred, came over and joined the consuls. In both Spains, likewise,
success attended the Roman arms during this year. For, in one, Caius
Flaminius, after a siege, took Litabrum, a strong and opulent city,
and made prisoner Corribilo, a powerful chieftain; and, in the other,
Marcus Fulvius, the proconsul, fought two successful battles, with
two armies of the enemy. He captured Vescelia and Holo, two towns
belonging to the Spaniards, with many of their forts, and others
spontaneously revolted to him. Then, advancing into the territory of
Oretum, and having, there also, taken two cities, Noliba and Cusibis,
he proceeded to the river Tagus. Here stood Toletum, a small city,
but strong from its situation. While he was besieging this place,
a numerous army of Vectonians came to relieve the Toletans, but
he overthrew them in a general engagement, and having defeated the
Vectonians, took Toletum by means of his works.

23. At this juncture the wars in which they were actually engaged,
caused not so great anxiety in the minds of the senate, as the
expectation of one with Antiochus, which had not yet commenced. For
although, through their ambassadors, they had, from time to time,
made careful inquiries into every particular, yet rumours, rashly
propagated without authentic foundation, intermixed many falsehoods
with the truth. Among the rest, a report was spread, that Antiochus
intended, as soon as he should come into Aetolia, to send a fleet
immediately into Sicily. The senate, therefore, though they had
already despatched the praetor, Atilius, with a squadron to Greece,
yet, considering that not only a military force, but also the
influence of reputation, would be necessary towards securing the
attachment of the allies, they sent into Greece, in quality of
ambassadors, Titus Quinctius, Caius Octavius, Cneius Servilius, and
Publius Villius; at the same time ordering, in their decree, that
Marcus Baebius should lead forward his legions from Bruttium to
Tarentum and Brundusium, so that, if occasion required, he might
transport them thence into Macedonia. They also ordered, that Marcus
Fulvius, the praetor, should send a fleet of thirty ships to protect
the coast of Sicily; and that, whoever had the direction of that
fleet, should be invested with supreme authority. To this commission
was appointed Lucius Oppius Salinator, who had been plebeian aedile
the year before. They likewise determined, that the same praetor
should write to his colleague, Lucius Valerius, that "there was reason
to apprehend that the ships of king Antiochus would pass over from
Aetolia to Sicily; for which reason the senate judged it proper, that,
in addition to the army which he then had, he should enlist tumultuary
soldiers, to the number of twelve thousand foot and four hundred
horse, with which he might be able to defend that coast of his
province which lay next to Greece." This enlistment the praetor
carried on, not only from Sicily, but from the circumjacent islands;
and strengthened all the towns on the coast which lay opposite to
Greece with garrisons. To the rumours already current, the arrival of
Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, added confirmation, for he brought
intelligence that king Antiochus had crossed the Hellespont with
his army, and that the Aetolians were putting themselves into such a
posture, that by the time of his arrival they would be in arms.
Thanks were given to Eumenes, in his absence, and to Attalus, who
was present; and there were decreed to him free lodgings and every
accommodation; that he should be presented with two horses, two suits
of horsemen's armour, vases of silver to a hundred pounds' weight, and
of gold to twenty pounds.

24. As one messenger after another brought intelligence that the war
was on the point of breaking out, it was judged expedient that consuls
should be elected as soon as possible. Wherefore the senate passed a
decree, that the praetor, Marcus Fulvius, should instantly despatch
a letter to the consul, informing him, that it was the will of the
senate that he should leave the command of the province and army to
his lieutenant-generals, and return to Rome; and that, when on the
road, he should send on before him an edict appointing the assemblies
for the election of consuls. The consul complied with the letter; and
having sent forward the edict, arrived at Rome. There was, this
year also, a warm competition, three patricians suing for one
place: Publius Cornelius Scipio, son to Cneius, who had suffered a
disappointment the year before, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, and Cneius
Manlius Vulso. The consulship was conferred on Publius Scipio, that it
might appear that the honour had only been delayed, and not refused to
a person of such character. The plebeian colleague, joined with him,
was Manius Acilius Glabrio. Next day were created praetors, Lucius
Aemilius Paulus, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus Junius Brutus, Aulus
Cornelius Mammula, Caius Livius, and Lucius Oppius; the two last,
both of them, surnamed Salinator. This was the same Oppius who
had conducted the fleet of thirty ships to Sicily. While the new
magistrates were settling the distribution of their provinces, orders
were despatched to Marcus Baebius to pass over, with all his forces,
from Brundusium to Epirus, and to keep the army stationed near
Apollonia; and Marcus Fulvius, city praetor, was commissioned to build
fifty new quinqueremes.

25. Such were the precautions taken by the Roman people to guard
against every attempt of Antiochus. At this time, Nabis did not
procrastinate hostilities, but, with his utmost force, carried on the
siege of Gythium; and, being incensed against the Achaeans, for having
sent succours to the besieged, he ravaged their lands. The Achaeans
would not venture to engage in war, until their ambassadors should
come back from Rome, and acquaint them with the sentiments of the
senate: but as soon as these returned, they summoned a council at
Sicyon, and also sent deputies to Titus Quinctius to ask his advice.
In the council, all the members were inclined to vote for an immediate
declaration of war; but a letter from Titus Quinctius, in which he
recommended waiting for the Roman praetor and fleet, caused some
hesitation. While some of the principal members persisted in their
first opinion, and others argued that they ought to follow the counsel
of the person to whom they of themselves had applied for advice,
the generality waited to hear the sentiments of Philopoemen. He was
praetor of Achaia at the time, and surpassed all his contemporaries
both in wisdom and influence. He first observed, that "it was a wise
rule, established among the Achaeans, that their praetor, when he
proposed a question concerning war, should not himself declare an
opinion:" and then he desired them to "fix their determination among
themselves as soon as possible;" assuring them, that "their praetor
would faithfully and carefully carry their decrees into execution;
and would use his best endeavours, that, as far as depended on human
prudence, they should not repent either of peace or war." These words
had more influence in inciting them to war, than if, by openly arguing
in favour of it, he had betrayed an eager desire for the management
of it. War was therefore unanimously resolved on: the time and mode
of conducting it were left to the praetor without restriction.
Philopoemen's own judgment, indeed, besides it being the opinion of
Quinctius, pointed it out as best to wait for the Roman fleet, which
might succour Gythium by sea; but fearing that the business would not
endure delay, and that not only Gythium, but the party which had been
sent to protect the city, would fall into the hands of the enemy, he
drew out the ships of the Achaeans.

26. The tyrant also, with the view of cutting off any supplies that
might be brought to the besieged by sea, had fitted out a small
squadron, consisting of only three ships of war, with some barks
and cutters, as his former fleet had been given up to the Romans,
according to the treaty. In order to try the activity of these
vessels, as they were then new, and, at the same time, to have every
thing in fit condition for a battle, he put out to sea every day, and
exercised both the rowers and marines in mock-fights; for he thought
that all his hopes of succeeding in the siege depended on the
circumstance of his cutting off all supplies by sea. The praetor of
the Achaeans, in respect of skill for conducting operations on land,
was equal to any of the most celebrated commanders both in capacity
and experience, yet with naval affairs he was quite unacquainted.
Being an inhabitant of Arcadia, an inland country, he was ignorant
even of all foreign affairs, excepting that he had once served in
Crete as commander of a body of auxiliaries. There was an old ship of
four banks of oars, which had been taken eighty years before, as it
was conveying Nicaea, the wife of Craterus, from Naupactum to Corinth.
Led by the reputation of this ship, for it had formerly been reckoned
a very famous vessel when in the king's fleet, he ordered it, though
now quite rotten, and falling asunder through age, to be brought out
from Aegium. The fleet sailed with this ship at its head, Tiso of
Patrae, the commander, being on board it, when the ships of the
Lacedaemonians from Gythium came within view. At the first shock,
against a new and firm vessel, that old one, which before admitted the
water through every joint, was shattered to pieces, and the whole crew
were made prisoners. On the loss of the commander's ship, the rest of
the fleet fled as fast as each could by means of its oars. Philopoemen
himself made his escape in a light advice-boat, nor did he stop his
flight until he arrived at Patrae. This untoward event did not in the
least damp the spirit of a man so well versed in military affairs, and
who had experienced so many vicissitudes of fortune. On the contrary,
as he had failed of success in the naval line, in which he had no
experience, he even conceived, thence, the greater hopes of succeeding
in another, wherein he had acquired knowledge; and he affirmed, that
he would quickly put an end to the tyrant's rejoicing.

27. Nabis, being both elated by this adventure, and entertaining a
confident hope that he had not now any danger to apprehend from the
sea, resolved to shut up the passages on the land also, by parties
stationed in proper posts. With this view, he drew off a third part of
his forces from the siege of Gythium, and encamped them at Pleiae, a
place which commands both Leucae and Acriae, on the road by which the
enemy's army seemed likely to advance. While his quarters were here,
and very few of his men had tents, (the generality of them having
formed huts of reeds interwoven, and which they covered with leaves
of trees, to serve merely as a shelter,) Philopoemen, before he came
within sight, resolved to surprise him by an attack of such a kind
as he did not expect. He drew together some small ships in a remote
creek, on the coast of the territory of Argos, and embarked on board
them a body of light-armed soldiers, mostly targeteers, furnished with
slings, javelins, and other light kinds of weapons. He then coasted
along the shore, until he came to a promontory near Nabis's post. Here
he landed; and made his way, by night, through paths with which he was
well acquainted, to Pleiae, and while the sentinels were fast asleep,
as being in no immediate apprehension, he set fire to the huts in
every part of the camp. Great numbers perished in the flames before
they could discover the enemy's arrival, and those who did discover
it could give no assistance; so that nearly the whole was destroyed by
fire and sword. From both these means of destruction, however, a very
small number made their escape, and fled to the principal camp before
Gythium. The enemy having been thus smitten with disaster, Philopoemen
forthwith led on his forces to ravage the district of Tripolis, a part
of the Lacedaemonian territory, lying next to the frontiers of the
Megalopolitans, and carrying off thence a vast number of men and
cattle, withdrew before the tyrant could send a force from Gythium to
protect the country. He then collected his whole force at Tegea, to
which place he summoned a council of the Achaeans and their allies;
at which were present, also deputies from the Epirots and Acarnanians.
Here it was resolved, that as the minds of his men were now
sufficiently recovered from the shame of the disgrace suffered at
sea, and those of the enemy dispirited, he should march directly to
Lacedaemon; for he considered that by this measure alone could the
enemy be drawn off from the siege of Gythium. On entering the enemy's
country, he encamped the first day at Caryae; and, on that very day,
Gythium was taken. Ignorant of that event, Philopoemen advanced to the
Barbosthenes, a mountain ten miles from Lacedaemon. On the other side,
Nabis, after taking possession of Gythium, set out, at the head of a
body of light troops, marched hastily by Lacedaemon, and seized on a
place called the Camp of Pyrrhus, which post he did not doubt that
the Achaeans intended to occupy. From thence he proceeded to meet the
enemy. From the length of their train in consequence of the narrowness
of the road, they spread over a space of almost five miles. The line
was closed by the cavalry and the greatest part of the auxiliaries,
because Philopoemen expected that the tyrant would attack him in
the rear with his mercenary troops, in whom he placed his principal
confidence. Two unforeseen circumstances at once filled him with
uneasiness: one, the post at which he aimed being pre-occupied; the
other, the enemy having met him in front, where, as the road lay
through very uneven ground, he did not see how the battalions could
advance without the support of the light troops.

28. Philopoemen was possessed of an admirable degree of skill and
experience, in conducting a march, and choosing his station; having
made these points his principal study, not only in times of war, but
likewise during peace. Whenever he was making a journey to any place
and came to a defile where the passage was difficult, it was his
practice, first, to examine the nature of the ground on every side.
When journeying alone, he meditated within himself; if he had company,
he asked them, "If an enemy should appear in that place, what course
ought he to adopt, if they should attack him in front; what, if on
this flank, or on that; what, if on the rear; for he might happen to
meet them while his men were formed with a regular front, or when they
were in the loose order of march, fit only for the road." He would
proceed to examine, either in his own mind, or by asking questions,
"What ground he himself would choose; what number of soldiers, or what
kind of arms (which was a very material point) he ought to employ;
where he should deposit the baggage, where the soldiers' necessaries,
where the unarmed multitude; with what number and what kind of troops
he should guard them, and whether it would be better to prosecute his
march as intended, or to return back by the way he came; what spot,
also, he should choose for his camp; how large a space he should
enclose within the lines; where he could be conveniently supplied
with water; where a sufficiency of forage and wood could be had; which
would be his safest road on decamping next day, and in what form the
army should march?" In such studies and inquiries he had, from his
early years, so frequently exercised his thoughts, that, on any thing
of the kind occurring, no expedient that could be devised was new to
him. On this occasion, he first ordered the army to halt; then sent
forward to the van the auxiliary Cretans, and the horsemen called
Tarentines, each leading two spare horses; and, ordering the rest of
the cavalry to follow, he seized on a rock which stood over a rivulet,
from which he might be supplied with water. Here he collected together
all the baggage with all the suttlers and followers of the army,
placing a guard of soldiers round them; and then he fortified his
camp, as the nature of the place required. The pitching of tents in
such rugged and uneven ground was a difficult task. The enemy were
distant not more than five hundred paces. Both drew water from the
same rivulet, under escorts of light troops; but, before any skirmish
took place, as usual between men encamped so near to each other, night
came on. It was evident, however, that they must, unavoidably,
fight next day at the rivulet, in support of the watering parties.
Wherefore, during the night, Philopoemen concealed, in a valley remote
from the view of the enemy, as great a number of targeteers as the
place was capable of hiding.

29. At break of day, the Cretan light infantry and the Tarentine horse
began an engagement on the bank of the rivulet. Telemnastus, a Cretan,
commanded his countrymen; Lycortas of Megalopolis, the cavalry. The
enemies' watering party also was guarded by Cretan auxiliaries and
Tarentine horsemen. The fight was, for a considerable time, doubtful,
as the troops on both sides were of the same kind and armed alike; but
as the contest advanced, the tyrant's auxiliaries gained an advantage,
both by their superiority of numbers, and because Philopoemen had
given directions to his officers, that, after maintaining the contest
for a short time they should betake themselves to flight, and draw
the enemy on to the place of the ambuscade. The latter, pursuing the
runaways, in disorderly haste, through the valley, were most of them
wounded and slain, before they discovered their concealed foe. The
targeteers had posted themselves in such order, as far as the breadth
of the valley allowed, that they easily gave a passage to their flying
friends, through openings in their ranks; then starting up themselves,
hale, fresh, and in regular order, they briskly attacked the enemy,
whose ranks were broken, who were scattered in confusion, and were,
besides, exhausted with fatigue and wounds. The victory was no longer
doubtful; the tyrant's troops instantly turned their backs, and flying
with much more precipitation than they had pursued, were driven into
their camp. Great numbers were killed and taken in the pursuit; and
the consternation would have spread through the camp also, had not
Philopoemen ordered a retreat to be sounded; for he dreaded the ground
(which was rough and dangerous to advance on without caution) more
than he did the enemy. Judging, both from the issue of the battle and
from the disposition of the enemy's leader, in what apprehension
he then was, he sent to him one of the auxiliary soldiers in the
character of a deserter, to assure him positively, that the Achaeans
had resolved to advance, next day, to the river Eurotas, which runs
almost close to the walls, in order to intercept his way, so that the
tyrant could have no retreat to the city when he required it, and to
prevent any provisions being brought thence to the camp; and that they
intended, at the same time, to try whether any could be prevailed on
to desert his cause. Although the deserter did not gain entire credit,
yet he afforded to one, who was full of apprehensions, a plausible
pretext for leaving his camp. On the day following, he ordered
Pythagoras, with the auxiliaries and cavalry, to mount guard before
the rampart; and then, marching out himself with the main body of the
army, as if intending to offer battle, he ordered them to return with
all haste to the city.

30. When Philopoemen saw their army marching precipitately through
a narrow and steep road, he sent all his cavalry, together with the
Cretan auxiliaries, against the guard of the enemy, stationed in the
front of their camp. These, seeing their adversaries approach, and
perceiving that their friends had abandoned them, at first attempted
to retreat within their works; but afterwards, when the whole force of
the Achaeans advanced in order of battle, they were seized with
fear, lest, together with the camp itself, they might be taken; they
resolved, therefore, to follow the body of their army, which, by
this time, had proceeded to a considerable distance in advance.
Immediately, the targeteers of the Achaeans assailed and plundered the
camp, and the rest set out in pursuit of the enemy. The road was such,
that a body of men, even when undisturbed by any fear of a foe, could
not, without difficulty, make its way through it. But when an attack
was made on their rear, and the shouts of terror, raised by the
affrighted troops behind, reached to the van, they threw down their
arms, and fled, each for himself, in different directions, into the
woods which lay on each side of the road. In an instant of time, the
way was stopped up with heaps of weapons, particularly spears, which,
falling mostly with their points towards the pursuers, formed a kind
of palisade across the road. Philopoemen ordered the auxiliaries to
push forward, whenever they could, in pursuit of the enemy, who would
find it a difficult matter, the horsemen particularly, to continue
their flight; while he himself led away the heavy troops through more
open ground to the river Eurotas. There he pitched his camp a little
before sun-set, and waited for the light troops which he had sent
in chase of the enemy. These arrived at the first watch, and brought
intelligence, that Nabis, with a few attendants, had made his way into
the city, and that the rest of his army, unarmed and dispersed, were
straggling through all parts of the woods; whereupon, he ordered them
to refresh themselves, while he himself chose out a party of men, who,
having come earlier into camp, were by this time, both recruited by
food and a little rest; and, ordering them to carry nothing with them
but their swords, he marched them out directly, and posted them in the
roads which led from two of the gates, one towards Pherae, the other
towards the Barbosthenes: for he supposed, that through these the
flying enemy would make their retreat. Nor was he mistaken in that
opinion; for the Lacedaemonians, as long as any light remained,
retreated through the centre of the woods in the most retired paths.
As soon as it grew dusk, and they saw lights in the enemy's camp, they
kept themselves in paths concealed from view; but having passed it
by, they then thought that all was safe, and came down into the open
roads, where they were intercepted by the parties lying in wait; and
there such numbers of them were killed and taken, that of the whole
army scarcely a fourth part effected their escape. As the tyrant was
now pent up within the city, Philopoemen employed the greatest part
of thirty succeeding days in ravaging the lands of the Lacedaemonians;
and then, after greatly reducing, and almost annihilating the strength
of the tyrant, he returned home, while the Achaeans extolled him as
equal in the glory of his services to the Roman general, and indeed,
so far as regarded the war with Lacedaemon, even deemed him superior.

31. While the Achaeans and the tyrant were carrying on the war in this
manner, the Roman ambassadors made a circuit through the cities of the
allies; being anxious lest the Aetolians might seduce some of them
to join the party of Antiochus. They took but little pains, in their
applications to the Achaeans; because, knowing their animosity against
Nabis, they thought that they might be safely relied on with regard to
other matters. They went first to Athens, thence to Chalcis, thence to
Thessaly; and, after addressing the Thessalians, in a full assembly,
they directed their route to Demetrias, to which place a council of
the Magnetians was summoned. There a more studied address required to
be delivered; for a great many of the leading men were disaffected to
the Romans, and entirely devoted to the interests of Antiochus and
the Aetolians; because, at the time when accounts were received that
Philip's son, who was a hostage, would be restored to him, and the
tribute imposed on him remitted, among other groundless reports it had
been given out, that the Romans also intended to restore Demetrias to
him. Rather than that should take place, Eurylochus, a deputy of the
Magnetians, and others of that faction, wished for a total change of
measures to be effected by the coming of Antiochus and the Aetolians.
In opposition to those, it was necessary to reason in such a manner,
that, in dispelling their mistaken fear, the ambassadors should not,
by cutting off his hopes at once, give any disgust to Philip, to whom
more importance attached, in all respects, than to the Magnetians.
They only observed to the assembly, that, "as Greece in general was
under an obligation to the Romans for their kindness in restoring its
liberty, so was their state in particular. For there had not only
been a garrison of Macedonians in their capital, but a palace had been
built in it, that they might have a master continually before their
eyes. But all that had been done would be of no effect, if the
Aetolians should bring thither Antiochus, and settle him in the abode
of Philip, so that a new and unknown king should be set over them,
in the place of an old one, with whom they had been long acquainted."
Their chief magistrate is styled Magnetarch. This office was then held
by Eurylochus, who assuming confidence from this powerful station,
openly declared that he and the Magnetians saw no reason to dissemble
their having heard the common report about the restoration of
Demetrias to Philip; to prevent which, the Magnetians were bound to
attempt and to hazard every thing; and, in the eagerness of discourse,
he was carried to such an inconsiderate length, as to throw out, that,
"at that very time Demetrias was only free in appearance; and that, in
reality, all things were at the nod of the Romans." Immediately after
this expression there was a general murmur of dissent in the assembly;
some of whom showed their approbation, others expressed indignation at
his presumption, in uttering it. As to Quinctius, he was so inflamed
with anger, that, raising his hands towards heaven, he invoked the
gods to witness the ungrateful and perfidious disposition of the
Magnetians. This struck terror into the whole assembly; and one of the
deputies, named Zeno, who had acquired a great degree of influence, by
his judicious course of conduct in life, and by having been always an
avowed supporter of the interests of the Romans, with tears besought
Quinctius, and the other ambassadors, "not to impute to the state the
madness of an individual. Every man," he said, "was answerable for
his own absurdities. As to the Magnetians, they were indebted to Titus
Quinctius and the Roman people, not only for liberty, but for every
thing that mankind hold valuable or sacred. By their kindness, they
were in the enjoyment of every blessing, for which they could ever
petition the immortal gods; and, if struck with phrensy they would
sooner vent their fury on their own persons, than violate the
friendship with Rome."

32. His entreaties were seconded by the prayers of the whole assembly;
on which Eurylochus retired hastily from the council, and passing to
the gate through private streets fled away into Aetolia. As to the
Aetolians, they now gave plainer indications of their intention to
revolt every day; and it happened, that at this very time Thoas, one
of their leading men, whom they had sent to Antiochus, returned, and
brought back with him an ambassador from the king, named Menippus.
These two, before the council met to give them audience, filled every
one's ears with pompous accounts of the naval and land forces that
were coming; "a vast army," they said, "of horse and foot was on
its march from India; and, besides, that they were bringing such a
quantity of gold and silver, as was sufficient to purchase the Romans
themselves;" which latter circumstance they knew would influence
the multitude more than any thing else. It was easy to foresee what
effects these reports would produce in the council; for the Roman
ambassadors received information of the arrival of those men, and of
all their proceedings. And although the matter had almost come to a
rupture, yet Quinctius thought it advisable, that some ambassadors
of the allies should be present in that council, who might remind the
Aetolians of their alliance with Rome, and who might have the courage
to speak with freedom in opposition to the king's ambassador. The
Athenians seemed to be the best qualified for this purpose, by
reason of the high reputation of their state, and also from their
long-standing alliance with the Aetolians. Quinctius, therefore,
requested of them to send ambassadors to the Panaetolic council. At
the first meeting, Thoas made a report of the business of his embassy.
After him, Menippus was introduced, who said, that "it would have
been best for all the Greeks, residing both in Greece and Asia, if
Antiochus could have taken a part in their affairs, while the power
of Philip was yet unbroken; for then every one would have had what
of right belonged to him, and the whole would not have come under
the dominion and absolute disposal of the Romans. But even as matters
stand at present," said he, "provided you have constancy enough to
carry into effect the measures which you have adopted, Antiochus
will be able, with the assistance of the gods and the alliance of the
Aetolians, to reinstate the affairs of Greece in their former rank
of dignity, notwithstanding the low condition to which they have been
reduced. But this dignity consists in a state of freedom which stands
by its own resources, and is not dependent on the will of another."
The Athenians, who were permitted to deliver their sentiments next
after the king's ambassadors, omitting all mention of Antiochus,
reminded the Aetolians of their alliance with Rome, and the benefits
conferred by Titus Quinctius on the whole body of Greece; and
admonished them, "not inconsiderately to break off that connexion
by the undue precipitation of their counsels; that passionate and
adventurous schemes, however flattering at first view, prove difficult
in the execution, and disastrous in the issue; that as the Roman
ambassadors, and among them Titus Quinctius, were within a small
distance, it would be better, while all hostilities were as yet
uncommenced, to discuss, in conference, any matters in dispute, than
to rouse Europe and Asia to a dreadful war."

33. The multitude, ever fond of novelty, warmly espoused the cause of
Antiochus, and gave their opinion, that the Romans should not even be
admitted into the council; but, by the influence chiefly of the elder
members, a vote was passed, that the council should give audience
to the Romans. On being acquainted, by the Athenians, with this
determination, Quinctius thought it desirable to go into Aetolia; for
he thought that, "either he should be able to effect some change in
their designs; or that it would be manifest to all mankind, that the
blame of the war would lie on the Aetolians, and that the Romans
would be warranted in taking arms by justice, and, in a manner, by
necessity." On arriving there, Quinctius, in his discourse to the
council, began with the first formation of the alliance between the
Romans and the Aetolians, and enumerated how many times the faith of
the treaty had been violated by them. He then enlarged a little on
the rights of the states concerned in the dispute, and added, that,
"notwithstanding, if they thought that they had any reasonable demand
to make, it would surely be infinitely better to send ambassadors to
Rome, whether they chose to argue the case or to make a request to
the senate, than that the Roman people should enter the lists with
Antiochus, while the Aetolians acted as marshals of the field; not
without great disturbance to the affairs of the world, and to
the utter ruin of Greece." That "no people would feel the fatal
consequences of such a war sooner than the first promoters of it."
This prediction of the Roman was disregarded. Thoas, and others of
the same faction, were then heard with general approbation; and they
prevailed so far, that, without adjourning the meeting, or waiting for
the absence of the Romans, a decree was passed that Antiochus should
be invited to vindicate the liberty of Greece, and decide the dispute
between the Aetolians and the Romans. To the insolence of this decree,
their praetor, Damocritus, added a personal affront: for on Quinctius
asking him for a copy of the decree, without any respect to the
dignity of the person to whom he spoke, he told him, that "he had, at
present, more pressing business to despatch; but he would shortly give
him the decree, and an answer, in Italy, from his camp on the banks
of the Tiber." Such was the degree of madness which possessed, at that
time, both the nation of the Aetolians and their magistrates.

34. Quinctius and the ambassadors returned to Corinth. The Aetolians,
that they might appear to intend taking every step through Antiochus,
and none directly of themselves, and, sitting inactive, to be waiting
for the arrival of the king, though they did not, after the departure
of the Romans, hold a council of the whole nation, yet endeavoured,
by their Apocleti, (a more confidential council, composed of persons
selected from the rest,) to devise schemes for setting Greece in
commotion. It was well known to them all, that in the several states
the principal people, particularly those of the best characters, were
disposed to maintain the Roman alliance, and well pleased with the
present state of affairs; but that the populace, and especially
such as were not content with their position, wished for a general
revolution. The Aetolians, at one day's sitting, formed a scheme,
the very conception of which argued not only boldness, but
impudence,--that of making themselves masters of Demetrias, Chalcis,
and Lacedaemon. One of their principal men was sent to each of
these places; Thoas to Chalcis, Alexamenus to Lacedaemon, Diodes
to Demetrias. This last was assisted by the exile Eurylochus, whose
flight, and the cause of it, have been mentioned above, because there
was no other prospect of his restoration to his country. Eurylochus,
by letter, instructed his friends and relations, and those of his own
faction, to order his wife and children to assume a mourning dress:
and, holding the badges of supplicants, to go into a full assembly,
and to beseech each individual, and the whole body, not to suffer
a man, who was innocent and uncondemned, to grow old in exile.
The simple-minded were moved by compassion; the ill-disposed and
seditious, by the hope of seeing all things thrown into confusion, in
consequence of the tumults which the Aetolians would excite; and every
one voted for his being recalled. These preparatory measures being
effected, Diocles, at that time general of the horse, with all the
cavalry, set out under pretext of escorting to his home the exile,
who was his guest. Having, during that day and the following night,
marched an extraordinary length of way, and arrived within six miles
of the city at the first dawn, he chose out three troops, at the head
of which he went on before the rest of the cavalry, whom he ordered to
follow. When he came near the gate he made all his men dismount, and
lead their horses by the reins, without keeping their ranks, but like
travellers on a journey, in order that they might appear to be the
retinue of the general, rather than a military force. Here he left one
troop at the gate, lest the cavalry, who were coming up, might be shut
out; and then, holding Eurylochus by the hand, conducted him to his
house through the middle of the city and the forum, and through crowds
who met and congratulated him. In a little time the city was filled
with horsemen, and convenient posts were seized; and then parties were
sent to the houses of persons of the opposite faction, to put them to
death. In this manner Demetrias fell into the hands of the Aetolians.

35. At Lacedaemon, the city was not to be attempted by force, but the
tyrant to be entrapped by stratagem. For though he had been stripped
of the maritime towns by the Romans, and afterwards shut up within the
walls of his city by the Achaeans, they supposed that whoever took the
first opportunity of killing him would engross the whole thanks of the
Lacedaemonians. The pretence which they had for sending to him, was,
that he had long solicited assistance from them, since, by their
advice, he had renewed the war. A thousand foot were put under the
command of Alexamenus, with thirty horsemen, chosen from among the
youth. These received a charge from Damocritus, the praetor, in the
select council of the nation, mentioned above, "not to suppose that
they were sent to a war with the Achaeans; or even on other business,
which any one might ascertain to himself from his own conjectures.
Whatever sudden enterprise circumstances might direct Alexamenus to
undertake, that (however unexpected, rash, or daring) they were to
hold themselves in readiness to execute with implicit obedience;
and should understand that to be the matter, for the sole purpose
of effecting which they had been sent abroad." With these men, thus
pre-instructed, Alexamenus came to the tyrant, and, immediately on
approaching him, filled him with hopes; telling him, that "Antiochus
had already come over into Europe; that he would shortly be in Greece,
and would cover the lands and seas with men and arms; that the Romans
would find that they had not Philip to deal with: that the numbers of
the horsemen, footmen, and ships, could not be reckoned; and that the
train of elephants, by their mere appearance, would effectually daunt
the enemy: that the Aetolians were prepared to come to Lacedaemon with
their entire force, whenever occasion required; but that they wished
to show the king, on his arrival, a numerous body of troops: that
Nabis himself, likewise, ought to take care not to suffer his soldiers
to be enervated by inaction, and dwelling in houses; but to lead them
out, and make them perform their evolutions under arms, which, while
it exercised their bodies, would also rouse their courage; that the
labour would become lighter by practice, and might even be rendered
not unpleasing by the affability and kindness of their commander."
Thenceforward, the troops used frequently to be drawn out under the
walls of the city, in a plain near the river Eurotas. The tyrant's
life-guards were generally posted in the centre. He himself, attended
by three horsemen at the most, of whom Alexamenus was commonly one,
rode about in front, and went to view both wings to their extremities.
On the right wing were the Aetolians; both those who had been before
in his army as auxiliaries, and the thousand who came with Alexamenus.
Alexamenus made it his custom to ride about with Nabis through a few
of the ranks, offering such advice as seemed most suitable; then to
join his own troops in the right wing; and presently after, as if
having given the orders which the occasion might require, to return to
the tyrant. But, on the day which he had fixed for the perpetration of
the deed of death, after accompanying the tyrant for a little time,
he withdrew to his own soldiers, and addressed the horsemen, sent
from home with him, in these words: "Young men, that deed is now to
be dared and done which you were ordered to execute valiantly under my
guidance. Have your courage and your hands ready, that none may
fail to second me in whatever he sees me attempt. If any one shall
hesitate, and prefer any scheme of his own to mine, let him rest
assured that there is no return to his home for him." Horror seized
them all, and they well remembered the charge which they had received
at setting out. The tyrant was now coming from the left wing.
Alexamenus ordered his horsemen to rest their lances, and keep their
eyes fixed on him; and in the mean time he himself recollected his
spirits, which had been discomposed by the meditation of such a
desperate attempt. As soon as the tyrant came near, he charged him;
and driving his spear through his horse, brought the rider to the
ground. The horsemen aimed their lances at him as he lay, and after
many ineffectual strokes against his coat of mail, their points at
length penetrated his body, so that, before relief could be sent from
the centre, he expired.

36. Alexamenus, with all the Aetolians, hastened away, to seize on the
palace. Nabis's life-guards were at first struck with horror, the
act being perpetrated before their eyes; then, when they observed the
Aetolian troops leaving the place, they gathered round the tyrant's
body, where it was left, forming, instead of guardians of his life or
avengers of his death, a mere group of spectators. Nor would any one
have stirred, if Alexamenus had immediately called the people to an
assembly, and, with his arms laid aside, there made a speech suitable
to the occasion, and afterwards kept a good number of Aetolians in
arms, without violence being offered to any one. Instead of which,
by a fatality which ought to attend all designs founded in treachery,
every step was taken that could tend to hasten the destruction of
those who had committed it. The commander, shut up in the palace,
wasted a day and a night in searching out the tyrant's treasures; and
the Aetolians, as if they had stormed the city, of which they wished
to be thought the deliverers, betook themselves to plunder. The
insolence of their behaviour, and at the same time contempt of their
numbers, gave the Lacedaemonians courage to assemble in a body, when
some said, that they ought to drive out the Aetolians, and resume
their liberty, which had been ravished from them at the very time when
it seemed to be restored; others, that, for the sake of appearance,
they ought to associate with them some one of the royal family, as the
director of their efforts. There was a very young boy of that family,
named Laconicus, who had been educated with the tyrant's children; him
they mounted on a horse, and taking arms, slew all the Aetolians whom
they met straggling through the city. They then assaulted the palace,
where they killed Alexamenus, who, with a small party, attempted
resistance. Others of the Aetolians, who had collected together round
the Chalciaecon, that is, the brazen temple of Minerva, were cut to
pieces. A few, throwing away their arms, fled, some to Tegea, others
to Megalopolis, where they were seized by the magistrates, and sold as
slaves. Philopoemen, as soon as he heard of the murder of the tyrant,
went to Lacedaemon, where, finding all in confusion and consternation,
he called together the principal inhabitants, to whom he addressed a
discourse, (such as ought to have been made by Alexamenus,) and united
the Lacedaemonians to the confederacy of the Achaeans. To this they
were the more easily persuaded, because, at that very juncture, Aulus
Atilius happened to arrive at Gythium with twenty-four quinqueremes.

37. Meanwhile, Thoas, in his attempt on Chalcis, had by no means
the same good fortune as Eurylochus had in getting possession of
Demetrias; although, (by the intervention of Euthymidas, a man of
considerable consequence, who, after the arrival of Titus Quinctius
and the ambassadors, had been banished by those who adhered to the
Roman alliance; and also of Herodorus, who was a merchant of Cios,
and who, by means of his wealth, possessed a powerful influence at
Chalcis,) he had engaged a party, composed of Euthymidas's faction, to
betray the city into his hands. Euthymidas went from Athens, where
he had fixed his residence, first to Thebes, and thence to Salganea;
Herodorus to Thronium. At a small distance, on the Malian bay, Thoas
had two thousand foot and two hundred horse, with as many as thirty
light transport ships. With these vessels, carrying six hundred
footmen, Herodorus was ordered to sail to the island of Atalanta,
that, as soon as he should perceive the land forces approaching Aulus
and the Euripus, he might pass over from thence to Chalcis; to which
place Thoas himself led the rest of his forces, marching mostly by
night, and with all possible expedition.

38. Mictio and Xenoclides, who were now, since the banishment of
Euthymidas, in possession of the supreme power, either of themselves
suspected the matter, or received some information of it, and were at
first so greatly terrified, that they saw no prospect of safety but
in flight; but afterwards, when their fright subsided, and they
considered that, by such a step, they would betray and desert not only
their country, but the Roman alliance, they applied their minds to
the following plan. It happened that, at that very time, there was a
solemn anniversary festival, celebrated at Eretria, in honour of Diana
Amarynthis, which was always attended by great numbers, not only of
the natives, but also of the Carystians: thither they sent envoys to
beseech the Eretrians and Carystians, "as having been born in the same
isle, to compassionate their situation; and, at the same time, to
show their regard to the friendship of Rome: not to suffer Chalcis
to become the property of the Aetolians; that if they should possess
Chalcis they would obtain possession of all Euboea: and to remind
them, that they had found the Macedonians grievous masters, but that
the Aetolians would be much more intolerable." The consideration
of the Romans chiefly influenced those states, as they had lately
experienced both their bravery in war, and their justice and
liberality in success. Both states, therefore, armed, and sent the
main strength of their young men. To these the people of Chalcis
intrusted the defence of the walls, and they themselves, with their
whole force, crossed the Euripus, and encamped at Salganea. From that
place they despatched, first a herald, and afterwards ambassadors, to
ask the Aetolians, for what word or act of theirs, friends and allies
came thus to invade them. Thoas, commander of the Aetolians, answered,
that "he came not to attack them, but to deliver them from the Romans;
that they were fettered at present with a brighter chain indeed, but
a much heavier one, than when they had a Macedonian garrison in their
citadel." The men of Chalcis replied that "they were neither under
bondage to any one, nor in need of the protection of any." The
ambassadors then withdrew from the meeting, and returned to their
countrymen. Thoas and the Aetolians (who had no other hopes than in
a sudden surprise, and were by no means in a capacity to undertake
a regular war, and the siege of a city so well secured against any
attack from the land or the sea) returned home. Euthymidas, on hearing
that his countrymen were encamped at Salganea, and that the Aetolians
had retired, went back from Thebes to Athens. Herodorus, after waiting
several days at Atalanta, attentively watching for the concerted
signal in vain, sent an advice-boat to learn the cause of the
delay; and, understanding that the enterprise was abandoned by his
associates, returned to Thronium from whence he had come.

39. Quinctius, having been informed of these proceedings, came with
the fleet from Corinth, and met Eumenes in the Euripus of Chalcis.
It was agreed between them, that king Eumenes should leave there five
hundred of his soldiers, for the purpose of a garrison, and should
go himself to Athens. Quinctius proceeded to Demetrias, as he had
purposed from the first, hoping that the relief of Chalcis would prove
a strong inducement to the Magnetians to renew the alliance with Rome.
And, in order that such of them as favoured his views might have some
support at hand, he wrote to Eunomus, praetor of the Thessalians,
to arm the youth; sending Villius forward to Demetrias, to sound the
inclinations of the people: but not with a view to take any step in
the business, unless a considerable number of them were disposed to
revive the former treaty of amity. Villius, in a ship of five banks of
oars, came to the mouth of the harbour, and the whole multitude of
the Magnetians hastened out thither. Villius then asked, whether they
chose that he should consider himself as having come to friends, or
to enemies? Eurylochus, the Magnetarch, answered, that "he had come to
friends; but desired him not to enter the harbour, but to suffer the
Magnetians to live in freedom and harmony; and not to attempt, under
the show of friendly converse, to seduce the minds of the populace."
Then followed an altercation, not a conference, the Roman upbraiding
the Magnetians with ingratitude, and forewarning them of the
calamities impending over them; the multitude, on the other side,
clamorously reproaching him, and reviling, sometimes the senate,
sometimes Quinctius. Villius, therefore, unable to effect any part
of his business, went back to Quinctius, who despatched orders to the
Thessalian praetor, to lead his troops home, while himself returned
with his ships to Corinth.

40. The affairs of Greece, blended with those of Rome, have carried me
away, as it were, out of my course: not that they were in themselves
deserving of a recital, but because they constituted the causes of
the war with Antiochus. After the consular election, for thence I
digressed, the consuls, Lucius Quinctius and Cneius Domitius, repaired
to their provinces; Quinctius to Liguria, Domitius against the Boians.
The Boians kept themselves quiet; nay, the senators, with their
children, and the commanding officers of the cavalry, with their
troops, amounting in all to one thousand five hundred, surrendered to
the consul. The other consul laid waste the country of the Ligurians
to a wide extent, and took some forts: in which expeditions he not
only acquired booty of all sorts, together with many prisoners, but he
also recovered several of his countrymen, and of the allies, who had
been in the hands of the enemy. In this year a colony was settled
at Vibo, in pursuance of a decree of the senate and an order of
the people; three thousand seven hundred footmen, and three hundred
horsemen, went out thither, conducted by the commissioners Quintus
Naevius, Marcus Minucius, and Marcus Furius Crassipes. Fifteen acres
of ground were assigned to each footman, double that quantity to a
horseman. This land had been last in possession of the Bruttians, who
had taken it from the Greeks. About this time two dreadful causes
of alarm happened at Rome, one of which continued long, but was less
active than the other. An earthquake lasted through thirty-eight days;
during all which time there was a total cessation of business, amidst
anxiety and fears. On account of this event, a supplication was
performed of three days' continuance. The other was not a mere fright,
but attended with the actual loss of many lives. In consequence of a
fire breaking out in the cattle-market, the conflagration, among
the houses near to the Tiber, continued through all that day and the
following night, and all the shops, with wares of very great value,
were reduced to ashes.

41. The year was now almost at an end, while the rumours of impending
hostility, and, consequently, the anxiety of the senate, daily
increased. They therefore set about adjusting the provinces of the
magistrates elect, in order that they might be all the more intent
on duty. They decreed, that those of the consuls should be Italy, and
whatever other place the senate should vote, for every one knew that
a war against Antiochus was now a settled point. That he, to whose
lot the latter province fell, should have under his command,--of Roman
citizens, four thousand foot and three hundred horse; and of the Latin
confederates, six thousand foot and four hundred horse. The consul,
Lucius Quinctius, was ordered to levy these troops, that no delay
might be occasioned, but that the new consul might be able to proceed
immediately to any place which the senate should appoint. Concerning
the provinces of the praetors, also, it was decreed, that the first
lot should comprehend the two jurisdictions, both that between
natives, and that between them and foreigners; the second should be
Bruttium; the third, the fleet, to sail wherever the senate should
direct; the fourth, Sicily; the fifth, Sardinia; the sixth, Farther
Spain. An order was also given to the consul Lucius Quinctius, to levy
two new legions of Roman citizens, and of the allies and Latins twenty
thousand foot and eight hundred horse. This army they assigned to the
praetor to whom should fall the province of Bruttium. Two temples were
dedicated this year to Jupiter in the Capitol; one of which had been
vowed by Lucius Furius Purpureo, when praetor during the Gallic war;
the other by the same, when consul. Quintus Marcius Ralla, duumvir,
dedicated both. Many severe sentences were passed this year on
usurers, who were prosecuted, as private persons, by the curule
aediles, Marcus Tuccius and Publius Junius Brutus. Out of the fines
imposed on those who were convicted, gilded chariots, with four
horses, were placed in the recess of Jupiter's temple in the Capitol,
over the canopy of the shrine, and also twelve gilded bucklers. The
same aediles built a portico on the outside of the Triple Gate, in the
Carpenters' Square.

42. While the Romans were busily employed in preparing for a new war,
Antiochus, on his part, was not idle. Three cities detained him some
time, Smyrna, Alexandria in Troas, and Lampsacus, which hitherto he
had not been able either to reduce by force, or to persuade into a
treaty of amity; and he was unwilling, on going into Europe, to leave
these behind (as enemies). A deliberation also respecting Hannibal
occasioned him further delay. First, the open ships, which the
king was to have sent with him to Africa, were slowly prepared, and
afterwards a consultation was set on foot whether he ought to be sent
at all, chiefly by Thoas the Aetolian; who, after setting all Greece
in commotion, came with the account of Demetrias being in the hands of
his countrymen; and as he had, by false representations concerning the
king, and multiplying, in his assertions, the numbers of his forces,
exalted the expectations of many in Greece; so now, by the same
artifices, he puffed up the hopes of the king; telling him, that
"every one was inviting him with their prayers, and that there would
be a general rush to the shore, from which the people could catch a
view of the royal fleet." He even had the audacity to attempt altering
the king's judgment respecting Hannibal when it was nearly settled.
For he alleged, that "the fleet ought not to be weakened by sending
away any part of it, but that if ships must be sent no person was
less fit for the command than Hannibal, for he was an exile and a
Carthaginian, to whom his own circumstances or his disposition might
daily suggest a thousand new schemes. Then as to his military fame,
by which, as by a dowry, he was recommended to notice, it was too
splendid for an officer acting under a king. The king ought to be the
grand object of view; the king ought to appear the sole leader, the
sole commander. If Hannibal should lose a fleet or an army the amount
of the damage would be the same as if the loss were incurred by any
other general; but should success be obtained, all the honour would be
ascribed to Hannibal, and not to Antiochus. Besides, if the war
should prove so fortunate as to terminate finally in the defeat of the
Romans, could it be expected that Hannibal would live under a king;
subject, in short, to an individual; he who could scarcely bear
subjection to his own country? That he had not so conducted himself
from early youth, having embraced the empire of the globe in his hopes
and aspirations, that in his old age he would be likely to endure a
master. The king wanted not Hannibal as a general: as an attendant and
a counsellor in the business of the war, he might properly employ him.
A moderate use of such abilities would be neither unprofitable nor
dangerous; but if advantages of the highest nature were sought through
him, they, probably, would be the destruction both of the giver and
the receiver."

43. There are no dispositions more prone to envy than those of persons
whose mental qualifications are inferior to their birth and rank in
life; because they are indignant both at the merit and the possessions
of another. The design of the expedition, to be commanded by Hannibal,
the only one thought of that could be of use, in the beginning of the
war, was immediately laid aside. The king, highly flattered by the
defection of Demetrias from the Romans to the Aetolians, resolved to
delay no longer his departure into Greece. Before the fleet weighed
anchor he went up from the shore to Ilium, to offer sacrifice to
Minerva. Immediately on his return he set sail with forty decked ships
and sixty open ones, followed by two hundred transports, laden with
provisions and warlike stores. He first touched at the island of
Imbrus; thence he passed over to Sciathus; whence, after collecting
the ships which had been separated during the voyage, he proceeded
to Pteleum, toe nearest part of the continent. Here, Eurylochus the
Magnetarch, and other principal Magnetians from Demetrias, met him.
Being greatly gratified by their numerous appearance, he carried his
fleet the next day into the harbour of their city. At a small distance
from the town he landed his forces, which consisted of ten thousand
foot, five hundred horse, and six elephants; a force scarcely
sufficient to take possession of Greece alone, much less to sustain
a war with Rome. The Aetolians, as soon as they were informed of
Antiochus's arrival at Demetrias, convened a general council, and
passed a decree, inviting him into their country. The king had already
left Demetrias, (for he knew that such a decree was to be passed,) and
had advanced as far as Phalara on the Malian bay. Here the decree
was presented to him, and then he proceeded to Lamia, where he was
received by the populace with marks of the warmest attachment,
with clapping of hands and shouting, and other signs by which the
extravagant joy of the vulgar is testified.

44. When he came into the council he was introduced by Phaeneas, the
praetor, and other persons of eminence, who, with difficulty, made
way for him through the crowd. Then, silence being ordered, the king
addressed himself to the assembly. He began with accounting for his
having come with a force so much smaller than every one had hoped and
expected. "That," he said, "ought to be deemed the strongest proof of
the warmth of his good-will towards them; because, though he was not
sufficiently prepared in any particular, and though the season was yet
too early for sailing, he had, without hesitation, complied with the
call of their ambassadors, and had believed that when the Aetolians
should see him among them they would be satisfied that in him, even if
he were unattended, they might be sure of every kind of support. But
he would also abundantly fulfil the hopes of those, whose expectations
seemed at present to be disappointed. For as soon as the season of the
year rendered navigation safe, he would cover all Greece with arms,
men, and horses, and all its coasts with fleets. He would spare
neither expense, nor labour, nor danger, until he should remove the
Roman yoke from their necks, and render Greece really free, and the
Aetolians the first among its states. That, together with the armies,
stores of all kinds were to come from Asia. For the present the
Aetolians ought to take care that his men might be properly supplied
with corn, and other accommodations, at reasonable rates."

45. Having addressed them to this purport, and with universal
approbation, the king withdrew. After his departure a warm debate
ensued between two of the Aetolian chiefs, Phaeneas and Thoas.
Phaeneas declared his opinion, that it would be better to employ
Antiochus, as a mediator of peace, and an umpire respecting the
matters in dispute with the Roman people, than as leader in a war.
That "his presence and his dignified station would impress the Romans
with awe, more powerfully than his arms. That in many cases men, for
the sake of avoiding war, voluntarily remit pretensions, which force
and arms would never compel them to forego." Thoas, on the other hand,
insisted, that "Phaeneas's motive was not a love of peace, but a wish
to embarrass their preparations for war, with the view that, through
the tediousness of the proceedings, the king's vigour might be relaxed
and the Romans gain time to put themselves in readiness. That they had
abundant proof from experience, after so many embassies sent to
Rome, and so many conferences with Quinctius in person, that nothing
reasonable could ever be obtained from the Romans in the way of
negotiation; and that they would not, until every hope of that sort
was out of sight, have implored the aid of Antiochus. That as he had
appeared among them sooner than any had expected, they ought not to
sink into indolence, but rather to petition the king, that since he
had come in person, which was the great point of all, to support the
rights of Greece, he would also send for his fleets and armies. For
the king, at the head of an army, might obtain something, but without
that could have very little influence with the Romans, either in the
cause of the Aetolians, or even in his own." This opinion was adopted,
and the council voted, that the title of general should be conferred
on the king. They also nominated thirty distinguished men with whom
he might deliberate on any business which he might think proper.--The
council was then broken up, and all went home to their respective
states.

46. Next day the king held a consultation with their select council,
respecting the place from whence his operations should commence. They
judged it best to make the first trial on Chalcis, which had lately
been attempted in vain by the Aetolians; and they thought that
the business required rather expedition than any great exertion or
preparation. Accordingly the king, with a thousand foot, who had
followed him from Demetrias, took his route through Phocis; and the
Aetolian chiefs, going by another road, met at Cheronaea a small
number of their young men whom they had called to arms, and thence, in
ten decked ships, proceeded after him. Antiochus pitched his camp at
Salganea, while himself, with the Aetolian chiefs, crossed the Euripus
in the ships. When he had advanced a little way from the harbour, the
magistrates and other chief men of Chalcis came out before their gate.
A small number from each side met to confer together. The Aetolians
warmly recommended to the others, "without violating the friendship
subsisting between them and the Romans, to receive the king also as
a friend and ally; for that he had crossed into Europe not for the
purpose of making war, but of vindicating the liberty of Greece; and
of vindicating it in reality, not in words and pretence merely, as the
Romans had done. Nothing could be more advantageous to the states of
Greece than to embrace the alliance of both, as they would then be
always secure against ill-treatment from either, under the guarantee
and protection of the other. If they refuse to receive the king, they
ought to consider what they would have immediately to suffer; the aid
of the Romans being far distant, and Antiochus, whom with their own
strength they could not possibly resist, in character of an enemy at
their gates." To this Mictio, one of the Chalcian deputies, answered
that "he wondered who those people were, for the vindicating of whose
liberty Antiochus had left his own kingdom, and come over into Europe.
For his part he knew not any state in Greece which either contained
a garrison, or paid tribute to the Romans, or was bound by a
disadvantageous treaty, and obliged to submit to terms which it did
not like. The people of Chalcis, therefore, stood not in need, either
of any assertor of their liberty, which they already enjoyed, or of
any armed protector, since, through the kindness of the Roman people,
they were in possession of both liberty and peace. They did not slight
the friendship of the king, nor that of the Aetolians themselves. The
first instance of friendship, therefore, that they could give, would
be to quit the island and go home; for, as to themselves, they were
fully determined not only not to admit them within their walls, but
not even to agree to any alliance, but with the approbation of the
Romans."

47. When an account of this conference was brought to the king, at
the ships where he had staid, he resolved for the present to return to
Demetrias; for he had not come to them with a sufficient number of
men to attempt any thing by force. At Demetrias he held another
consultation with the Aetolians, to determine what was next to be
done, as their first effort had proved fruitless. It was agreed that
they should make trial of the Botians, Achaeans, and Amynander, king
of the Athamanians. The Boeotianan nation they believed to have been
disaffected to the Romans, ever since the death of Brachyllas, and the
consequences which followed it. Philopoemen, chief of the Achaeans,
they supposed to hate, and be hated by, Quinctius, in consequence of a
rivalship for fame in the war of Laconia. Amynander had married Apama,
daughter of a Megalopolitan, called Alexander, who, pretending to be
descended from Alexander the Great, had given the names of Philip and
Alexander to his two sons, and that of Apama to his daughter; and when
she was raised to distinction, by her marriage to the king, Philip,
the elder of her brothers had followed her into Athamania. This
man, who happened to be naturally vain, then Aetolians and Antiochus
persuaded to hope (as he was really of the royal family) for the
sovereignty of Macedonia, on condition of his prevailing on Amynander
and the Athamanians to join Antiochus; and these empty promises
produced the intended effect, not only on Philip but likewise on
Amynander.

48. In Achaia, the ambassadors of Antiochus and the Aetolians were
admitted to an audience of the council at Aegium, in the presence of
Titus Quinctius. The ambassador of Antiochus was heard prior to the
Aetolians. He, with all that pomp and parade which is common among
those who are maintained by the wealth of kings, covered, as far as
the empty sound of words could go, both lands and seas (with forces).
He said, that "an innumerable body of cavalry was coming over the
Hellespont into Europe; some of them cased in coats of mail, whom they
call Cataphracti; others discharging arrows on horseback; and, what
rendered it impossible to guard against them, shooting with the
surest aim even when their backs were turned, and their horses in full
retreat. To this army of cavalry, sufficient to crush the forces of
all Europe, collected into one body," he added another of infantry
of many times its number; and to terrify them, repeated the names
of nations scarcely ever heard of before: talking of Dahans, Medes,
Elymaeans, and Cadusians. "As to the naval forces, no harbours
in Greece were capable of containing them; the right squadron was
composed of Sidonians and Tyrians; the left of Aradians and Sidetians,
from Pamphylia.--nations which none others had ever equalled, either
in courage, or skill in sea affairs. Then, as to money, and other
requisites for the support of war, it was needless for him to speak.
They themselves knew, that the kingdoms of Asia had always abounded in
gold. The Romans, therefore, had not now to deal with Philip, or with
Hannibal; the one a principal member of a commonwealth, the other
confined merely to the limits of the kingdom of Macedonia; but with
the great monarch of all Asia, and part of Europe. Nevertheless,
though he had come from the remotest bounds of the East to give
freedom to Greece, he did not demand any thing from the Achaeans, that
could injure the fidelity of their engagements with the Romans, their
former friends and allies. For he did not require them to take arms on
his side against them; but only, that they should not join themselves
to either party. That, as became common friends, they should wish for
peace to both parties, and not intermeddle in the war." Archidamus,
ambassador of the Aetolians, made nearly the same request: that, as
was their easiest and safest way, they should stand neuter; and, as
mere spectators of the war, wait for the decision of the fortunes of
others, without any hazard to their own interests. He afterwards was
betrayed, by the intemperance of language, into invectives, sometimes
against the Romans in general, sometimes against Quinctius himself in
particular; charging them with ingratitude, and upbraiding them,
as being indebted to the valour of the Aetolians, not only for the
victory over Philip, but even for their preservation; for, "by their
exertions, both Quinctius himself and his army had been saved. What
duty of a commander had he ever discharged? He used to see him,
indeed, in the field, taking auspices; sacrificing, and offering vows,
like an insignificant soothsaying priest; while he himself was, in his
defence, exposing his person to the weapons of the enemy."

49. To this Quinctius replied, that "Archidamus had calculated his
discourse for the numerous auditors, rather than for the persons to
whom it was particularly addressed. For the Achaeans very well knew,
that the bold spirit of the Aetolians consisted entirely in words, not
in deeds; and was more displayed in their councils and assemblies
than in the field. He had therefore been indifferent concerning
the sentiments of the Achaeans, to whom he and his countrymen were
conscious that they were thoroughly known; and studied to recommend
himself to the king's ambassadors, and, through them, to their absent
master. But, if any person had been hitherto ignorant of the cause
which had united Antiochus and the Aetolians, it was easy to
discover it from the language of their ambassadors. By the false
representations made by both parties, and boasts of strength which
neither possessed, they mutually puffed up each other; and were
themselves puffed up with vain expectations: one party talking of
Philip being vanquished by them, the Romans being protected by their
valour, and the rest of what you have just heard; and that you, and
the other states and nations, would follow their party. The king,
on the other side, boasting of clouds of horsemen and footmen,
and covering the seas with his fleets. The king," he added, "was
exceedingly like a supper that I remember at the house of my host at
Chalcis, who is both a man of worth, and an excellent conductor of
a feast. Having been kindly entertained by him at midsummer, when we
wondered how he could, at that time of the year, procure such plenty
and variety of game, he, not being so vain-glorious as these men, told
us, with a pleasant smile, that the variety was owing to the dressing,
and that what appeared to be the flesh of many different wild animals,
was entirely of tame swine. This may be aptly applied to the forces
of the king, which were so ostentatiously displayed a while ago; that
those various kinds of armour, and multitudinous names of nations,
never heard of before, Dahans, and Medes, and Caducians, and
Elymaeans, are nothing more than Syrians, a race possessed of such
grovelling souls, as to be much fitter for slaves than for soldiers. I
wish, Achaeans, that I could exhibit to your view the rapid excursions
of this mighty monarch from Demetrias; first, to Lamia, to the council
of the Aetolians; then to Chalcis. You should behold, in the royal
camp, about the number of two small legions, and these incomplete. You
should see the king, now, in a manner begging corn from the Aetolians,
to be measured out to his soldiers; then, striving to borrow money
at interest to pay them; again, standing at the gates of Chalcis, and
presently, on being refused admittance, returning thence into Aetolia,
without having effected any thing, except indeed the taking a peep at
Aulis and the Euripus. Both Antiochus had done wrong in trusting
to the Aetolians, and the Aetolians in trusting to the king's vain
boastings. For which reason, you ought the less to be deceived by
them, and rather to confide in the tried and approved fidelity of the
Romans. For, with respect to your not interfering in the war, which
they recommend as your best course, nothing, in fact, can be more
contrary to your interest: for then, without gaining thanks or esteem,
you will become the prize of the conqueror."

50. He was thought to have replied to both by no means unsuitably; and
there was no difficulty in bringing an audience, prepossessed in his
favour, to give their approbation to his discourse. In fact, there
was no debate or doubt started, but all concurred in voting, that the
nation of the Achaeans would regard, as their friends or foes, those
who were judged to be such by the Roman people, and in ordering war
to be declared against both Antiochus and the Aetolians. They also,
by the direction of Quinctius, sent immediate succours of five hundred
men to Chalcis, and five hundred to the Piraeus; for affairs at
Athens were in a state not far from a civil war, in consequence of the
endeavours, used by some, to seduce the venal populace, by hopes of
largesses, to take part with Antiochus. But at length Quinctius was
called thither by those who were of the Roman party; and Apollodorus,
the principal adviser of a revolt, being publicly charged therewith by
one Leon, was condemned and driven into exile. Thus, from the Achaeans
also, the embassy returned to the king with a discouraging answer.
The Boeotians made no definitive reply; they only said, that "when
Antiochus should come into Boeotia, they would then deliberate on the
measures proper to be pursued." When Antiochus heard, that both the
Achaeans and king Eumenes had sent reinforcements to Chalcis, he
resolved to act with the utmost expedition, that his troops might
get the start of them, and, if possible, intercept the others as they
came; and he sent thither Menippus with about three thousand soldiers,
and Polyxenidas with the whole fleet. In a few days after, he marched
himself, at the head of six thousand of his own soldiers, and a
smaller number of Aetolians, as many as could be collected in haste,
out of those who were at Lamia. The five hundred Achaeans, and a small
party sent by king Eumenes, being guided by Xenoclides, of Chalcis,
(the roads being yet open,) crossed the Euripus, and arrived at
Chalcis in safety. The Roman soldiers, who were likewise about five
hundred, came, after Menippus had fixed his camp under Salganea, at
Hermaeus, the place of passage from Boeotia to the island of
Euboea. They had with them Mictio, who had been sent from Chalcis to
Quinctius, deputed to solicit that very reinforcement; and when he
perceived that the passes were blocked up by the enemy, he quitted
the road to Aulis, and turned away to Delium, with intent to pass over
thence to Euboea.

51. Delium is a temple of Apollo, standing over the sea five miles
distant from Tanagra; and the passage thence, to the nearest part of
Euboea, is less than four miles. As they were in this sacred building
and grove, sanctified with all that religious awe and those privileges
which belong to temples, called by the Greeks asylums, (war not being
yet either proclaimed, or so far commenced as that they had heard of
swords being drawn, or blood shed any where,) the soldiers in perfect
tranquillity, amused themselves, some with viewing the temple and
groves; others with walking about unarmed, on the strand; and a great
part had gone different ways in quest of wood and forage; when, on a
sudden, Menippus attacked them in that scattered condition, slew many,
and took fifty of them prisoners. Very few made their escape, among
whom was Mictio, who was received on board a small trading vessel.
Though this event caused much grief to Quinctius and the Romans, on
account of the loss of their men, yet it seemed to add much to the
justification of their cause in making war on Antiochus. Antiochus,
when arrived with his army so near as Aulis, sent again to Chalcis
a deputation, composed partly of his own people, and partly of
Aetolians, to treat on the same grounds as before, but with heavier
denunciations of vengeance: and, notwithstanding all the efforts of
Mictio and Xenoclides to the contrary, he easily gained his object,
that the gates should be opened to him. Those who adhered to the Roman
interest, on the approach of the king, withdrew from the city. The
soldiers of the Achaeans, and Eumenes, held Salganea; and the few
Romans, who had escaped, raised, for the security of the place, a
little fort on the Euripus. Menippus laid siege to Salganea, and the
king himself to the fort. The Achaeans and Eumenes' soldiers first
surrendered, on the terms of being allowed to retire in safety. The
Romans defended the Euripus with more obstinacy. But even these,
when they were completely invested both by land and sea, and saw the
machines and engines prepared for an assault, sustained the siege no
longer. The king, having thus got possession of the capital of
Euboea, the other cities of the island did not even refuse to obey
his authority; and he seemed to himself to have signalized the
commencement of the war by an important acquisition, in having brought
under his power so great an island, and so many cities conveniently
situated.



BOOK XXXVI.

    _Manius Acilius Glabrio, the consul, aided by king Philip,
    defeats Antiochus at Thermopylae, and drives him out of
    Greece; reduces the Aetolians to sue for peace. Publius
    Cornelius Scipio Nasica reduces the Boian Gauls to submission.
    Sea-fight between the Roman fleet and that of Antiochus, in
    which the Romans are victorious_.


1. Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of Cneius, and Manius Acilius
Glabrio, the consuls, on their assuming the administration, were
ordered by the senate, before they settled any thing respecting their
provinces, to perform sacrifices, with victims of the greater kinds,
at all the shrines, where the Lectisternium was usually celebrated for
the greater part of the year; and to offer prayers, that the business
which the state had in contemplation, concerning a new war, might
terminate prosperously and happily for the senate and people of Rome.
At every one of those sacrifices, appearances were favourable, and
the propitious omens were found in the first victims. Accordingly, the
auspices gave this answer:--That, by this war, the boundaries of the
Roman empire would be enlarged; and that victory and triumph were
portended. When this answer was reported, the senate, having their
minds now freed from superstitious fears, ordered this question to be
proposed to the people; "Was it their will, and did they order, that
war should be undertaken against king Antiochus, and all who should
join his party?" And that if that order passed, then the consuls were,
if they thought proper, to lay the business entire before the senate.
Publius Cornelius got the order passed; and then the senate decreed,
that the consuls should cast lots for the provinces of Italy and
Greece; that he to whose lot Greece fell, should, in addition to the
number of soldiers enlisted and raised from the allies by Quinctius
for that province, pursuant to a decree of the senate, take under
his command that army, which, in the preceding year, Marcus Baebius,
praetor, had, by order of the senate, carried over to Macedonia.
Permission was also granted him, to receive succours from the allies,
out of Italy, if circumstances should so require, provided their
number did not exceed five thousand. It was resolved, that Lucius
Quinctius, consul of the former year, should be commissioned as a
lieutenant-general in that war. The other consul, to whom Italy fell,
was ordered to carry on the war with the Boians, with whichever he
should choose of the two armies commanded by the consuls of the last
year; and to send the other to Rome; and these were ordered to be the
city legions, and ready to march to whatever place the senate should
direct.

2. Things being thus adjusted in the senate, excepting the assignment
of his particular province to each of the magistrates, the consuls
were ordered to cast lots. Greece fell to Acilius, Italy to Cornelius.
The lot of each being now determined, the senate passed a decree, that
"inasmuch as the Roman people had, at that time, ordered war to
be declared against king Antiochus, and those who were under his
government, the consuls should command a supplication to be performed,
on account of that business; and that Manius Acilius, the consul,
should vow the great games to Jupiter, and offerings at all the
shrines." This vow was made by the consul in these words, which were
dictated by Publius Licinius, chief pontiff: "If the war, which the
people has ordered to be undertaken against king Antiochus, shall be
concluded agreeably to the wishes of the senate and people of Rome,
then, O Jupiter, the Roman people will, through ten successive days,
exhibit the great games in honour of thee, and offerings shall be
presented at all the shrines, of such value as the senate shall
direct. Whatever magistrate shall celebrate those games, and at
whatever time and place, let the celebration be deemed proper, and the
offerings rightly and duly made." The two consuls then proclaimed
a supplication for two days. When the consuls had determined their
provinces by lot, the praetors, likewise, immediately cast lots for
theirs. The two civil jurisdictions fell to Marcus Junius Brutus;
Bruttium, to Aulus Cornelius Mammula; Sicily, to Marcus Aemilius
Lepidus; Sardinia, to Lucius Oppius Salinator; the fleet, to Caius
Livius Salinator; and Farther Spain, to Lucius Aemilius Paullus. The
troops for these were settled thus:--to Aulus Cornelius were assigned
the new soldiers, raised last year by Lucius Quinctius, the consul,
pursuant to the senate's decree; and he was ordered to defend the
whole coast near Tarentum and Brundusium. Lucius Aemilius Paullus was
directed to take with him into Farther Spain, (to fill up the numbers
of the army, which he was to receive from Marcus Fulvius, propraetor,)
three thousand new-raised foot and three hundred horse, of whom
two-thirds should be Latin allies, and the other third Roman citizens.
An equal reinforcement was sent to Hither Spain to Caius Flaminius,
who was continued in command. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was ordered to
receive both the province and army from Lucius Valerius, whom he was
to succeed; and, if he thought proper, to retain Lucius Valerius, as
propraetor, in the province, which he was to divide with him in such
a manner, that one division should reach from Agrigentum to Pachynum,
and the other from Pachynum to Tyndarium, and the sea-coasts whereof
Lucius Valerius was to protect with a fleet of twenty ships of war.
The same praetor received a charge to levy two-tenths of corn, and to
take care that it should be carried to the coast, and thence conveyed
into Greece. Lucius Oppius was likewise commanded to levy a second
tenth in Sardinia; but it was resolved that it should be transported,
not into Greece, but to Rome. Caius Livius, the praetor, whose lot was
the command of the fleet, was ordered to sail, at the earliest time
possible, to Greece with thirty ships, which were ready, and to
receive the other fleet from Atilius. The praetor, Marcus Junius,
was commissioned to refit and arm the old ships which were in the
dock-yards; and, for this fleet, to enlist the sons of freemen as
crews.

3. Commissaries were sent into Africa, three to Carthage, and a like
number to Numidia, to procure corn to be carried into Greece; for
which the Roman people were to pay the value. And so attentive was the
state to the making of every preparation and provision necessary
for the carrying on of this war, that the consul, Publius Cornelius,
published an edict, that "no senator, nor any who had the privilege of
giving an opinion in the senate, nor any of the inferior magistrates,
should go so far from the city of Rome as that they could not return
the same day; and that five senators should not be absent from the
city at the same time." A dispute which arose with the maritime
colonies, for some time retarded Caius Livius, the praetor, when
actively engaged in fitting out the fleet. For, when they were
impressed for manning the ships, they appealed to the tribunes of
the people, by whom the cause was referred to the senate. The senate,
without one dissenting voice, resolved, that those colonies were
not entitled to exemption from the sea-service. The colonies which
disputed with the praetor on the subject of exemption were, Ostia,
Fregenae, Castrumnovum, Pyrgi, Antium, Tarracina, Minturnae, and
Sinuessa. The consul, Manius Acilius, then, by direction of the
senate, consulted the college of heralds, "whether a declaration of
war should be made to Antiochus in person, or whether it would be
sufficient to declare it at some garrison town; whether they directed
a separate declaration against the Aetolians, and whether their
alliance and friendship ought not to be renounced before war was
declared." The heralds answered, that "they had given their judgment
before, when they were consulted respecting Philip, that it was of no
consequence whether the declaration were made to himself in person, or
at one of his garrisons. That, in their opinion, friendship had been
already renounced; because, after their ambassadors had so often
demanded restitution, the Aetolians had not thought proper to make
either restitution or apology. That these, by their own act, had made
a declaration of war against themselves, when they seized, by force,
Demetrias, a city in alliance with Rome; when they laid siege to
Chalcis by land and sea; and brought king Antiochus into Europe,
to make war on the Romans." Every preparatory measure being now
completed, the consul, Manius Acilius, issued an edict, that
the "soldiers enlisted, or raised from among the allies by Titus
Quinctius, and who were under orders to go with him to his province;
as, likewise, the military tribunes of the first and third legions,
should assemble at Brundusium, on the ides of May.[1]" He himself,
on the fifth before the nones of May,[2] set out from the city in his
military robe of command. At the same time the praetors, likewise,
departed for their respective provinces.

[Footnote 1: 15th May.]

[Footnote 2: 3rd May.]

4. A little before this time, ambassadors came to Rome from the two
kings, Philip of Macedonia and Ptolemy of Egypt, offering aid of
men, money, and corn towards the support of the war. From Ptolemy was
brought a thousand pounds' weight of gold, and twenty thousand pounds'
weight of silver. None of this was accepted. Thanks were returned to
the kings. Both of them offered to come, with their whole force,
into Aetolia. Ptolemy was excused from that trouble; and Philip's
ambassadors were answered, that the senate and people of Rome would
consider it as a kindness if he should lend his assistance to
the consul, Manius Acilius. Ambassadors came, likewise from the
Carthaginians, and from king Masinissa. The Carthaginians made an
offer of sending a thousand pecks[1] of wheat, and five hundred
thousand of barley to the army, and half that quantity to Rome; which
they requested the Romans to accept from them as a present. They
also offered to fit out a fleet at their own expense, and to give in,
immediately, the whole amount of the annual tribute-money which they
were bound to pay for many years to come. The ambassadors of Masinissa
promised, that their king should send five hundred thousand pecks of
wheat, and three hundred thousand of barley, to the army in Greece,
and three hundred thousand of wheat, and two hundred and fifty
thousand of barley, to Rome; also five hundred horse, and twenty
elephants, to the consul Acilius. The answer given to both, with
regard to the corn, was, that the Roman people would make use of it,
provided they would receive payment for the same. With regard to the
fleet offered by the Carthaginians, no more was accepted than such
ships as they owed by treaty; and, as to the money, they were told,
that none would be taken before the regular days of payment.

[Footnote 1: Here is, doubtless, some word dropped in the original;
so small a quantity could never have been deemed an object for one
powerful state to offer to another. Commentators suppose it to have
been _one hundred_ thousand.]

5. While these things were occurring at Rome, Antiochus, during the
winter season at Chalcis, endeavoured to bring over several of the
states by ambassadors sent among them; while many of their own accord
sent deputies to him; as the Epirots, by the general voice of the
nation, and the Eleans from Peloponnesus. The Eleans requested aid
against the Achaeans; for they supposed, that, since the war had been
declared against Antiochus contrary to their judgment, the Achaeans
would first turn their arms against them. One thousand foot were sent
to them, under the command of Euphanes, a Cretan. The embassy of the
Epirots showed no mark whatever of a liberal or candid disposition.
They wished to ingratiate themselves with the king; but, at the
same time, to avoid giving cause of displeasure to the Romans. They
requested him, "not hastily to make them a party in the dispute,
exposed, as they were, opposite to Italy, and in the front of Greece,
where they must necessarily undergo the first assaults of the Romans.
If he himself, with his land and sea forces, could take charge of
Epirus, the inhabitants would eagerly receive him in all their ports
and cities. But if circumstances allowed him not to do that, then they
earnestly entreated him not to subject them, naked and defenceless, to
the arms of the Romans." Their intention in sending him this message
evidently was, that if he declined going into Epirus, which they
rather supposed would be the case, they were not implicated with
relation to the Roman armies, while they sufficiently recommended
themselves to the king by their willingness to receive him on his
coming; and that, on the other hand, if he should come, even then they
would have hopes of being pardoned by the Romans, for having yielded
to the strength of a prince who was present among them, without
waiting for succour from them, who were so far distant. To this so
evasive embassy, as he did not readily think of a proper answer, he
replied, that he would send ambassadors to them to confer upon such
matters as were of common concernment both to him and them.

6. Antiochus went himself into Boeotia, holding out ostensibly
those causes of resentment against the Romans which I have already
mentioned,--the death of Brachyllas, and the attack made by Quinctius
on Coronea, on account of the massacre of the Roman soldiers; while
the real ones were, that the former excellent policy of that nation,
with respect both to public and private concerns, had, for several
generations, been on the decline; and that great numbers were in such
circumstances, that they could not long subsist without some change
in affairs. Through multitudes of the principal Boeotians, who
every where flocked out to meet him, he arrived at Thebes. There,
notwithstanding that he had (both at Delium, by the attack made on the
Roman troops, and also at Chalcis) already commenced hostilities, by
enterprises of neither a trifling nor of a dubious nature, yet, in
a general council of the nation, he delivered a speech of the same
import with that which he delivered in the first conference at
Chalcis, and that used by his ambassadors in the council of the
Achaeans; that "what he required of them was, to form a league of
friendship with him, not to declare war against the Romans." But not
a man among them was ignorant of his meaning. However, a decree,
disguised under a slight covering of words, was passed in his favour
against the Romans. After securing this nation also on his side, he
returned to Chalcis; and, having despatched letters, summoning the
chief Aetolians to meet him at Demetrias, that he might deliberate
with them on the general plan of operations, he came thither with his
ships on the day appointed for the council. Amynander, likewise,
was called from Athamania to the consultation; and Hannibal the
Carthaginian, who, for a long time before, had not been asked
to attend, was present at this assembly. The subject of their
deliberation was in reference to the Thessalian nation; and every one
present was of opinion, that their concurrence ought to be sought.
The only points on which opinions differed were, that some thought the
attempt ought to be made immediately; while others judged it better to
defer it for the winter season, which was then about half spent,
until the beginning of spring. Some advised to send ambassadors only;
others, that the king should go at the head of all his forces, and if
they hesitated, terrify them into compliance.

7. Although the present debate turned chiefly on these points,
Hannibal, being called on by name to give his opinion, led the king,
and those who were present, into the consideration of the general
conduct of the war, by a speech to this effect:--"If I had been
employed in your councils since we came first into Greece, when you
were consulting about Euboea, the Achaeans, and Boeotians, I would
have offered the same advice which I shall offer you this day, when
your thoughts are employed about the Thessalians. My opinion is, that,
above all things, Philip and the Macedonians should by some means or
other be brought into a participation in this war. For, as to Euboea,
as well as the Boeotians and Thessalians, who can doubt that, having
no strength of their own, they will ever court the power that is
present; and will make use of the same fear, which governs their
councils, as an argument for obtaining pardon? That, as soon as
they shall see a Roman army in Greece, they will turn away to that
government to which they have been accustomed? Nor are they to blame,
if, when the Romans were at so great a distance, they did not choose
to try your force, and that of your army, who were on the spot. How
much more advisable, therefore, and more advantageous would it be, to
unite Philip to us, than these; as, if he once embarks in the cause,
he will have no room for retreat, and as he will bring with him such
a force, as will not only be an accession to a power at war with Rome,
but was able, lately, of itself, to withstand the Romans! With such an
ally, (I wish to speak without offence,) how could I harbour a doubt
about the issue; when I should see the very persons through whom the
Romans prevailed against Philip, now ready to act against them?
The Aetolians, who, as all agree, conquered Philip, will fight
in conjunction with Philip against the Romans. Amynander and the
Athamanian nation, who, next to the Aetolians, performed the greatest
services in that war, will stand on our side. Philip, at the time when
you remained inactive, sustained the whole burden of the war. Now, you
and he, two of the greatest kings, will, with the force of Asia and
Europe, wage war against one state; which, to say nothing of my own
fortune with them, either prosperous or adverse, was certainly, in
the memory of our fathers, unequal to a dispute with a single king of
Epirus; what then, I say, must it be in competition with you two? But
it may be asked. What circumstances induce me to believe that Philip
may be brought to a union with us? First, common utility, which is the
strongest cement of union; and next, you, Aetolians, are yourselves
my informants. For Thoas, your ambassador, among the other arguments
which he used to urge, for the purpose of drawing Antiochus into
Greece, always above all things insisted upon this,--that Philip
expressed extreme indignation that the conditions of servitude had
been imposed on him under the appearance of conditions of peace:
comparing the king's anger to that of a wild beast chained, or shut
up, and wishing to break the bars that confined it. Now, if his temper
of mind is such, let us loose his chains; let us break these bars,
that he may vent, upon the common foe, this anger so long pent up. But
should our embassy fail of producing any effect on him, let us then
take care, that if we cannot unite him to ourselves, he may not be
united to our enemies. Your son, Seleucus, is at Lysimachia; and if,
with the army which he has there, he shall pass through Thrace, and
once begin to make depredations on the nearest parts of Macedonia, he
will effectually divert Philip from carrying aid to the Romans, to
the protection, in the first place, of his own dominions. Such is my
opinion respecting Philip. With regard to the general plan of the war,
you have, from the beginning, been acquainted with my sentiments: and
if my advice had been listened to, the Romans would not now hear that
Chalcis in Euboea was taken, and a fort on the Euripus reduced, but
that Etruria, and the whole coast of Liguria and Cisalpine Gaul, were
in a blaze of war; and, what is to them the greatest cause of alarm,
that Hannibal was in Italy. Even as matters stand at present, I
recommend it to you, to call home all your land and sea forces; let
storeships with provisions follow the fleet; for, as we are here too
few for the exigencies of the war, so are we too many for the scanty
supplies of necessaries. When you shall have collected together the
whole of your force, you will divide the fleet, and keep one division
stationed at Corcyra, that the Romans may not have a clear and safe
passage; and the other you will send to that part of the coast of
Italy which is opposite Sardinia and Africa; while you yourselves,
with all the land forces, will proceed to the territory of Bullium. In
this position you will hold the command of all Greece; you will give
the Romans reason to think, that you intend to sail over to Italy;
and you will be in readiness so to do, if occasion require. This is
my advice; and though I may not be the most skilful in every kind of
warfare, yet surely I must have learned, in a long series of both good
and bad fortune, how to wage war against the Romans. For the execution
of the measures which I have advised, I promise you my most faithful
and zealous endeavours. Whatever plan you shall consider the best, may
the gods grant it their approbation."

8. Such, nearly, was the counsel given by Hannibal, which the hearers
rather commended at the time, than actually executed. For not one
article of it was carried into effect, except the sending Polyxenidas
to bring over the fleet and army from Asia. Ambassadors were sent to
Larissa, to the diet of the Thessalians. The Aetolians and Amynander
appointed a day for the assembling of their troops at Pherae, and the
king with his forces came thither immediately. While he waited there
for Amynander and the Aetolians, he sent Philip, the Megalopolitan,
with two thousand men, to collect the bones of the Macedonians round
Cynoscephalae, where the final battle had been fought with king
Philip; being advised to this, either in order to gain favour with the
Macedonians and draw their displeasure on the king for having left
his soldiers unburied, or having of himself, through the spirit of
vain-glory incident to kings, conceived such a design,--splendid
indeed in appearance, but really insignificant. There is a mount there
formed of the bones which had been scattered about, and were then
collected into one heap. Although this step procured him no thanks
from the Macedonians, yet it excited the heaviest displeasure of
Philip; in consequence of which, he who had hitherto intended to
regulate his counsels by the fortune of events, now sent instantly a
message to the propraetor, Marcus Baebius, that "Antiochus had made
an irruption into Thessaly; that, if he thought proper, he should move
out of his winter quarters, and that he himself would advance to meet
him, that they might consider together what was proper to be done."

9. While Antiochus lay encamped near Pherae, where the Aetolians
and Amynander had joined him, ambassadors came to him from Larissa,
desiring to know on account of what acts or words of theirs he had
made war on the Thessalians; at the same time requesting him to
withdraw his army; and that if there seemed to him any necessity for
it he would discuss it with them by commissioners. In the mean time,
they sent five hundred soldiers, under the command of Hippolochus, to
Pherae, as a reinforcement; but these, being debarred of access by the
king's troops, who blocked up all the roads, retired to Scotussa. The
king answered the Larissan ambassadors in mild terms, that "he came
into their country, not with a design of making war, but of protecting
and establishing the liberty of the Thessalians." He sent a person
to make a similar declaration to the people of Pherae; who,
without giving him any answer, sent to the king, in the capacity of
ambassador, Pausanias, the first magistrate of their state. He offered
remonstrances of a similar kind with those which had been urged in
behalf of the people of Chalcis, at the first conference, on the
strait of the Euripus, as the cases were similar, and urged some with
a greater degree of boldness; on which the king desired that they
would consider seriously before they adopted a resolution, which,
while they were overcautious and provident of futurity, would give
them immediate cause of repentance, and then dismissed him. When the
Pheraeans were acquainted with the result of this embassy, without the
smallest hesitation they determined to endure whatever the fortune of
war might bring on them, rather than violate their engagements with
the Romans. They accordingly exerted their utmost efforts to provide
for the defence of their city; while the king, on his part, resolved
to assail the walls on every side at once; and considering, what was
evidently the case, that it depended on the fate of this city, the
first which he had besieged, whether he should for the future be
despised or dreaded by the whole nation of the Thessalians, he put in
practice every where all possible means of striking them with terror.
The first fury of the assault they supported with great firmness;
but in some time, great numbers of their men being either slain
or wounded, their resolution began to fail. Having soon been
so reanimated by the rebukes of their leaders, as to resolve on
persevering in their resistance, and having abandoned the exterior
circle of the wall, as their numbers now began to fail, they withdrew
to the interior part of the city, round which had been raised a
fortification of less extent. At last, being overcome by distress, and
fearing that if they were taken by storm they might meet no mercy from
the conqueror, they capitulated. The king then lost no time; but while
the alarm was fresh, sent four thousand men against Scotussa, which
surrendered without delay, observing the recent example of those in
Pherae; who, at length compelled by sufferings, had done that which
at first they had obstinately refused. Together with the town,
Hippolochus and the Larissan garrison were yielded to him, all of whom
were dismissed uninjured by the king; who hoped that such behaviour
would operate powerfully towards conciliating the esteem of the
Larissans.

10. Having accomplished all this within the space of ten days after
his arrival at Pherae, he marched with his whole force to Cranon,
which he took immediately on his arrival. He then took Cypaera and
Metropolis, and the forts which lay around them; and now every town
in all that tract was in his power, except Atrax and Gyrton. He next
resolved to lay siege to Larissa, for he thought that (either through
dread inspired by the storming of the other towns, or in consideration
of his kindness in dismissing the troops of their garrison, or being
led by the example of so many cities surrendering themselves) they
would not continue longer in their obstinacy. Having ordered the
elephants to advance in front of the battalions, for the purpose of
striking terror, he approached the city with his army in order of
battle, on which the minds of a great number of the Larissans became
irresolute and perplexed, between their fears of the enemy at
their gates, and their respect for their distant allies. Meantime,
Amynander, with the Athamanian troops, seized on Pellinaeus; while
Menippus, with three thousand Aetolian foot and two hundred horse,
marched into Perrhaebia, where he took Mallaea and Cyretiae by
assault, and ravaged the lands of Tripolis. After executing these
enterprises with despatch, they returned to the king at Larissa just
when he was holding a council on the method of proceeding with regard
to that place. On this occasion there were opposite opinions: for some
thought that force should be applied; that there was no time to be
lost, but that the walls should be immediately attacked with works
and machines on all sides at once; especially as the city stood in a
plain, the entrances open, and the approaches every where level.
While others represented at one time the strength of the city, greater
beyond comparison than that of Pherae; at another, the approach of
the winter season, unfit for any operation of war, much more so for
besieging and assaulting cities. While the king's judgment was in
suspense between hope and fear, his courage was raised by ambassadors
happening to arrive just at the time from Pharsalus, to make surrender
of their city. In the mean time Marcus Baebius had a meeting with
Philip in Dassaretia; and, in conformity to their joint opinion, sent
Appius Claudius to reinforce Larissa, who, making long marches through
Macedonia, arrived at that summit of the mountains which overhang
Gonni. The town of Gonni is twenty miles distant from Larissa,
standing at the opening of the valley called Tempe. Here, by laying
out his camp more widely than his numbers required, and kindling more
fires than were necessary, he imposed on the enemy the opinion which
he wished, that the whole Roman army was there, and king Philip along
with them. Antiochus, therefore, pretending the near approach of
winter as his motive, staid but one day longer, then withdrew from
Larissa, and returned to Demetrias. The Aetolians and Athamanians
retired to their respective countries. Appius, although he saw
that, by the siege being raised, the purpose of his commission was
fulfilled, yet resolved to go down to Larissa, to strengthen the
resolution of the allies against future contingencies. Thus the
Larissans enjoyed a twofold happiness, both because the enemy had
departed from their country, and because they saw a Roman garrison
within their city.

11. Antiochus went from Demetrias to Chalcis, where he became
captivated with a young woman, daughter of Cleoptolemus. When he
had plied her father, who was unwilling to connect himself with
a condition in life involving such serious consequences, first by
messages, and afterwards by personal importunities, and had at length
gained his consent; he celebrated his nuptials in the same manner
as if it were a time of profound peace. Forgetting the two important
undertakings in which he was at once engaged,--the war with Rome, and
the liberating of Greece,--he banished every thought of business
from his mind, and spent the remainder of winter in feasting and the
pleasures connected with wine; and then in sleep, produced rather
by fatigue than by satiety with these things. The same spirit of
dissipation seized all his officers who commanded in the several
winter quarters, particularly those stationed in Boeotia, and even the
common men abandoned themselves to the same indulgences; not one of
whom ever put on his armour, or kept watch or guard, or did any
part of the duty or business of a soldier. When, therefore, in the
beginning of spring, the king came through Phocis to Chaeronea, where
he had appointed the general assembly of all the troops, he perceived
at once that the soldiers had spent the winter under discipline no
more rigid than that of their commander. He ordered Alexander, an
Acarnanian and Menippus, a Macedonian, to lead his forces thence
to Stratum, in Aetolia; and he himself, after offering sacrifice to
Apollo at Delphi, proceeded to Naupactum. After holding a council of
the chiefs of Aetolia, he went by the road which leads by Chalcis and
Lysimachia to Stratum, to meet his army, which was coming along
the Malian bay. Here Mnasilochus, a man of distinction among the
Acarnanians, being bribed by many presents, not only laboured himself
to dispose that nation in favour of the king, but had brought to a
concurrence in the design their praetor, Clytus, who was at that time
invested with the highest authority. This latter, finding that the
people of Leucas, the capital of Acarnania, could not be easily
seduced to defection, because they were afraid of the Roman fleets,
one under Atilius, and another at Cephallenia, practised an artifice
against them. He observed in the council, that the inland parts of
Acarnania should be guarded from danger, and that all who were able
to bear arms ought to march out to Medio and Thurium, to prevent those
places from being seized by Antiochus, or the Aetolians; on which
there were some who said, that there were no necessity for all the
people to be called out in that hasty manner, for a body of five
hundred men would be sufficient for the purpose. Having got this
number of soldiers at his disposal, he placed three hundred in
garrison at Medio, and two hundred at Thurium, with the design that
they should fall into the hands of the king, and serve hereafter as
hostages.

12. At this time, ambassadors from the king came to Medio, whose
proposal being heard, the assembly began to consider what answer
should be returned to the king; when some advised to adhere to the
alliance with Rome, and others, not to reject the friendship of the
king; but Clitus offered an opinion, which seemed to take a middle
course between the other two, and which was therefore adopted. It
was, that ambassadors should be sent to the king, to request of him
to allow the people of Medio to deliberate on a subject of such great
importance in a general assembly of the Acarnanians. Mnasilochus, and
some others of his faction, were studiously included in this embassy;
who, sending private messengers to desire the king to bring up his
army, wasted time on purpose; so that the ambassadors had scarcely set
out, when Antiochus appeared in the territory, and presently at the
gates of the city; and, while those who were not concerned in the plot
were all in hurry and confusion, and hastily called the young men to
arms, he was conducted into the place by Clitus and Mnasilochus. One
party of the citizens now joined him through inclination, and those
who were of different sentiments were compelled by fear to attend him.
He then calmed their apprehensions by a discourse full of mildness;
and in the hope of experiencing his clemency, which was reported
abroad, several of the states of Acarnania went over to his side. From
Medio he went to Thurium, whither he had sent on before him the same
Mnasilochus, and his colleagues in the embassy. But the detection of
the treachery practised at Medio rendered the Thurians more cautious,
but not more timid. They answered him explicitly, that they would form
no new alliance without the approbation of the Romans: they then shut
their gates, and posted soldiers on the walls. Most seasonably for
confirming the resolution of the Acarnanians, Cneius Octavius, being
sent by Quinctius, and having received a party of men and a few ships
from Aulus Postumius, whom Atilius had appointed his lieutenant to
command at Cephallenia, arrived at Leucas, and filled the allies
with hope; assuring them, that the consul Manius Acilius had already
crossed the sea with his legions, and that the Roman camp was in
Thessaly. As the season of the year, which was by this time favourable
for sailing, strengthened the credibility of this report, the king,
after placing a garrison in Medio and borne other towns of Acarnania,
retired from Thurium and returned through the cities of Aetolia and
Phocis to Chalcis.

13. About the same time, Marcus Baebius and king Philip, after the
meeting which they had in the winter in Dassaretia, when they sent
Appius Claudius into Thessaly to raise the siege of Larissa, had
returned to winter quarters, the season not being sufficiently
advanced for entering on action; but now in the beginning of spring,
they united their forces, and marched into Thessaly. Antiochus was
then in Acarnania. As soon as they entered that country, Philip laid
siege to Mallaea, in the territory of Perrhaebia, and Baebius, to
Phacium. This town of Phacium he took almost at the first attempt, and
then reduced Phaestus with the same rapidity. After this, he retired
to Atrax; and from thence having seized on Cyretiae and Eritium, and
placed garrisons in the places which he had reduced, he again joined
Philip, who was carrying on the siege of Mallaea. On the arrival of
the Roman army, the garrison, either awed by its strength, or hoping
for pardon, surrendered themselves, and the combined forces marched,
in one body, to recover the towns which had been seized by the
Athamanians. These were Aeginium, Ericinum, Gomphi, Silana, Tricca,
Meliboea, and Phaloria. Then they invested Pellinaeum, where Philip of
Megalopolis was in garrison, with five hundred foot and forty horse;
but before they made an assault, they sent messengers to warn Philip
not to expose himself to the last extremities; to which he answered,
with much confidence, that he could intrust himself either to the
Romans or the Thessalians, but never would put himself in the power of
the Macedonian. When it appeared that recourse must be had to force,
and that Limnaea might be attacked at the same time; it was agreed,
that the king should go against Limnaea, while Baebius staid to carry
on the siege of Pellinaeum.

14. It happened that, just at this time, the consul, Manius Acilius,
having crossed the sea with twenty thousand foot, two thousand horse,
and fifteen elephants, ordered some military tribunes, chosen for
the purpose, to lead the infantry to Larissa, and he himself with
the cavalry came to Limnaea, to Philip. Immediately on the consul's
arrival a surrender was made without hesitation, and the king's
garrison, together with the Athamanians, were delivered up.
From Limnaea the consul went to Pellinaeum. Here the Athamanians
surrendered first, and afterwards Philip of Megalopolis. King Philip,
happening to meet the latter as he was coming out from the town,
ordered his attendants, in derision, to salute him with the title
of king; and he himself, coming up to him, with a sneer, highly
unbecoming his own exalted station, addressed him as Brother.
Having been brought before the consul he was ordered to be kept in
confinement, and soon after was sent to Rome in chains. All the rest
of the Athamanians, together with the soldiers of king Antiochus, who
had been in garrison in the towns which surrendered about that time,
were delivered over to Philip. They amounted to three thousand men.
The consul went thence to Larissa, in order to hold a consultation on
the general plan of operations; and on his way was met by ambassadors
from Pieria and Metropolis, with the surrender of those cities.
Philip treated the captured, particularly the Athamanians, with
great kindness, in order that through them he might conciliate their
countrymen; and having hence conceived hopes of getting Athamania
into his possession, he first sent forward the prisoners to their
respective states, and then marched his army thither. These also,
making mention of the king's clemency and generosity towards them,
exerted a powerful influence on the minds of their fellow-countrymen;
and Amynander, who, by his presence, had retained many in obedience,
through the respect paid to his dignity, began now to dread that
he might be delivered up to Philip, who had been long his professed
enemy, or to the Romans, who were justly incensed against him for his
late defection. He, therefore, with his wife and children, quitted the
kingdom, and retired to Ambracia. Thus all Athamania came under the
authority and dominion of Philip. The consul delayed a few days at
Larissa, for the purpose chiefly of refreshing the horses, which, by
the voyage first, and marching afterwards, had been much harassed and
fatigued; and when he had renewed the vigour of his army by a moderate
share of rest, he marched to Cranon. On his way, Pharsalus, Scotussa,
and Pherae were surrendered to him, together with the garrisons placed
in them by Antiochus. He asked these men whether any of them chose to
remain with him; and one thousand having declared themselves willing,
he gave them to Philip; the rest he sent back, unarmed, to Demetrias.
After this he took Proerna, and the forts adjacent; and then began to
march forwards toward the Malian bay. When he drew near to the pass
on which Thaumaci is situated, all the young men of that place, having
taken arms and quitted the town, placed themselves in ambush in the
woods and roads, and thence, from the higher grounds, made attacks on
the Roman troops as they marched. The consul first sent people to
talk with them from a short distance, and deter them from such a mad
proceeding; but, finding that they persisted in their undertaking, he
sent round a tribune, with two companies of soldiers, to cut off the
retreat of the men in arms, and took possession of the defenceless
city. The shouting on the capture of the city having been heard from
behind, a great slaughter was made of those who had been in ambuscade,
and who fled homewards from all parts of the woods. From Thaumaci the
consul came, on the second day, to the river Spercheus; and, sending
out parties, laid waste the country of the Hypataeans.

15. During these transactions, Antiochus was at Chalcis; and now,
perceiving that he had gained nothing from Greece agreeable, except
winter quarters and a disgraceful marriage at Chalcis, he warmly
blamed Thoas, and the fallacious promises of the Aetolians; while he
admired Hannibal, not only as a prudent man, but as the predicter of
all those events which were then transpiring. However, that he might
not still further defeat his inconsiderate enterprise by his own
inactivity, he sent requisitions to the Aetolians, to arm all
their young men, and assemble in a body at Lamia. He himself also
immediately led thither about ten thousand foot (the number having
been filled up out of the troops which had come after him from Asia)
and five hundred horse. Their assembly on this occasion was far less
numerous than ever before, none attending but the chiefs with a few
of their vassals. These affirmed that they had, with the utmost
diligence, tried every method to bring into the field as great a
number as possible out of their respective states, but that they had
not prevailed either by argument, persuasion, or authority, against
those who declined the service. Being disappointed thus on all sides,
both by his own people, who delayed in Asia, and by his allies, who
did not fulfil those engagements by which they had prevailed on him
to comply with their invitation, the king retired beyond the pass
of Thermopylae. A range of mountains here divides Greece in the same
manner as Italy is divided by the ridge of the Apennines. Outside
the strait of Thermopylae, towards the north, lie Epirus, Perrhaebia,
Magnesia, Thessaly, the Achaean Phthiotis, and the Malian bay; on the
inside, towards the south, the greater part of Aetolia, Acarnania,
Phocis, Locris, Boeotia, and the adjacent island of Euboea, the
territory of Attica, which stretches out like a promontory into the
sea, and, behind that, the Peloponnesus. This range of mountains,
which extends from Leucas and the sea on the west, through Aetolia to
the opposite sea on the east, is so closely covered with thickets
and craggy rocks, that, not to speak of an army, even persons lightly
equipped for travelling can with difficulty find paths through which
they can pass. The hills at the eastern extremity are called Oeta, and
the highest of them Callidromus; in a valley, at the foot of which,
reaching to the Malian bay, is a passage not broader than sixty paces.
This is the only military road by which an army can be led, even if it
should not be opposed. The place is therefore called Pylae, the gate;
and by some, on account of a warm spring, rising just at the entrance
of it, Thermopylae. It is rendered famous by the memorable battle
of the Lacedaemonians against the Persians, and by their still more
glorious death.

16. With a very inferior portion of spirit, Antiochus now pitched his
camp within the enclosures of this pass, the difficulties of which
he increased by raising fortifications; and when he had completely
strengthened every part with a double rampart and trench, and,
wherever it seemed requisite, with a wall formed of the stones which
lay scattered about in abundance, being very confident that the Roman
army would never attempt to force a passage there, he sent away one
half of the four thousand Aetolians, the number that had joined him,
to garrison Heraclea, which stood opposite the entrance of the defile,
and the other half to Hypata; for he concluded, that the consul would
undoubtedly attack Heraclea, and he received accounts from many hands,
that all the districts round Hypata were being laid waste. The consul,
after ravaging the lands of Hypata first, and then those of Heraclea,
in both which places the Aetolian detachments proved useless, encamped
opposite to the king, in the very entrance of the pass, near the
warm springs; both parties of the Aetolians shutting themselves up in
Heraclea. Antiochus, who, before he saw the enemy, thought every
spot perfectly well fortified, and secured by guards, now began to
apprehend, that the Romans might discover some paths among the hills
above, through which they could make their way; for he had heard that
the Lacedaemonians formerly had been surrounded in that manner by the
Persians, and Philip, lately, by the Romans themselves. He therefore
despatched a messenger to the Aetolians at Heraclea, desiring them to
afford him so much assistance, at least in the war, as to seize and
secure the tops of the hills, so that the Romans might not be able to
pass them at any part. When this message was received, a dissension
arose among the Aetolians: some insisted that they ought to obey
the king's orders, and go; others, that they ought to lie still at
Heraclea, and wait the issue, whatever it might be; for if the king
should be defeated by the consul, their forces would be fresh, and in
readiness to carry succour to their own states in the neighbourhood;
and if he were victorious, they could pursue the Romans, while
scattered in their flight. Each party not only adhered positively to
its own plan, but even carried it into execution; two thousand lay
still at Heraclea; and two thousand, divided into three parties, took
possession of the summits called Callidromus, Rhoduntia, and Tichiuns.

17. When the consul saw that the heights were possessed by the
Aetolians, he sent against those posts two men of consular rank, who
acted as lieutenant-generals, with two thousand chosen troops;--Lucius
Valerius Flaccus against Rhoduntia and Tichiuns, and Marcus Porcius
Cato against Callidromus. Then, before he led on his forces against
the enemy, he called them to an assembly, and thus briefly addressed
them: "Soldiers, I see that the greater part of you who were present,
of all ranks, are men who served in this same province, under the
conduct and auspices of Titus Quinctius. Now, in the Macedonian war,
the pass at the river Aous was much more difficult than this before
us. For this is only a gate, a single passage, formed as it were by
nature; every other in the whole tract, between the two seas, being
impassable. In the former case, there were stronger fortifications,
and placed in more advantageous situations. The enemy's army was
both more numerous, and composed of very superior men; for they were
Macedonians, Thracians, and Illyrians,--all nations of the fiercest
spirit; your present opponents are Syrians, and Asiatic Greeks, the
most unsteady of men, and born for slavery. The commander, there, was
a king of extraordinary warlike abilities, improved by practice from
his early youth, in wars against his neighbours, the Thracians and
Illyrians, and all the adjoining nations. But this man is one who
(to say nothing of his former life) after coming over from Asia into
Europe to make war on the Roman people, has, during the whole length
of the winter, accomplished no more memorable exploit, than the taking
a wife, for passion's sake, out of a private house, and a family
obscure even among its neighbours; and now as a newly married man,
surfeited as it were with nuptial feasts, comes out to fight. His
chief reliance and strength was in the Aetolians,--a nation of
all others the most faithless and ungrateful, as you have formerly
experienced, and as Antiochus now experiences; for they neither joined
him with numbers, nor could they be kept in the camp; and, besides,
they are now in a state of dissension among themselves. Although they
requested permission to defend Hypata and Heraclea, yet they defended
neither; but one half of them fled to the tops of the mountains, while
the others shut themselves up in Heraclea. The king himself, plainly
confessing that, so far from daring to meet us in battle on the level
plain, he durst not even encamp in open ground, has abandoned all that
tract in front, which he boasted of having taken from us and Philip,
and has hid himself behind the rocks; not even appearing in the
opening of the pass, as it is said the Lacedaemonians did formerly,
but drawing back his camp completely within it. What difference is
there, as a demonstration of fear, between this and his shutting
himself up within the walls of a city to stand a siege? But neither
shall the straits protect Antiochus, nor the hills which they have
seized, the Aetolians. Sufficient care and precaution have been used
on every quarter, that you shall have nothing to contend with in the
fight but the enemy himself. On your parts, you have to consider, that
you are not fighting merely for the liberty of Greece; although, were
that all, it would be an achievement highly meritorious to deliver
that country now from Antiochus and the Aetolians, which you formerly
delivered from Philip; and that the wealth in the king's camp will not
be the whole prize of your labour; but that the great collection of
stores, daily expected from Ephesus, will likewise become your prey;
and also, that you will open a way for the Roman power into Asia and
Syria, and all the most opulent realms to the extremity of the East.
What then must be the consequence, but that, from Gades to the Red
Sea, we shall have no limit but the ocean, which encircles in its
embrace the whole orb of the earth; and that all mankind shall regard
the Roman name with a degree of veneration next to that which they
pay to the divinities? For the attainment of prizes of such magnitude,
prepare a spirit adequate to the occasion, that, to-morrow, with the
aid of the gods, we may decide the matter in the field."

18. After this discourse he dismissed the soldiers, who, before they
went to their repast, got ready their armour and weapons. At the first
dawn, the signal of battle being displayed, the consul formed his
troops with a narrow front, adapted to the nature and the straitness
of the ground. When the king saw the enemy's standards in motion,
he likewise drew out his forces. He placed in the van, before the
rampart, a part of his light infantry; and behind them, as a support,
close to the fortifications, the main strength of his Macedonians,
whom they call Sarissophori. On the left wing of these, at the foot
of the mountain, he posted a body of javelin-bearers, archers, and
slingers; that from the higher ground they might annoy the naked flank
of the enemy: and on the right of the Macedonians, to the extremity of
the works, where the deep morasses and quicksands, stretching thence
to the sea, render the place impassable, the elephants with their
usual guard; in the rear of them, the cavalry; and then, with a
moderate interval between, the rest of his forces as a second line.
The Macedonians, posted before the rampart, for some time easily
withstood the efforts which the Romans made every where to force a
passage; for they received great assistance from those who poured down
from the higher ground a shower of leaden balls from their slings,
and of arrows, and javelins, all together. But afterwards, the enemy
pressing on with greater and now irresistible force, they were obliged
to give ground, and, filing off from the rear, retire within the
fortification. Here, by extending their spears before them, they
formed as it were a second rampart, for the rampart itself was of such
a moderate height that, while it afforded to its defenders a higher
situation, they at the same time, by the length of their spears, had
the enemy within reach underneath. Many, inconsiderately approaching
the work, were run through the body; and they must either have
abandoned the attempt and retreated, or have lost very great numbers,
had not Marcus Porcius come from the summit of Callidromus, whence he
had dislodged the Aetolians, after killing the greater part of them.
These he had surprised, quite unprepared, and mostly asleep, and now
he appeared on the hill which overlooked the camp.

19. Flaccus had not met the same good fortune at Tichiuns and
Rhoduntia; having failed in his attempts to approach those fastnesses.
The Macedonians, and others, in the king's camp, as long as, on
account of the distance, they could distinguish nothing more than a
body of men in motion, thought they were the Aetolians, who, on seeing
the fight, were coming to their aid. But when, on a nearer view, they
knew the standards and arms, and thence discovered their mistake,
they were all instantly seized with such a panic, that they threw down
their arms and fled. Both the fortifications retarded the pursuers,
and the narrowness of the valley through which the troops had to pass;
and, above all, the circumstance that the elephants were on the rear
of the enemy. These the infantry could with difficulty pass, and the
cavalry could by no means do so, their horses being so frightened,
that they threw one another into greater confusion than when in
battle. The plundering of the camp also caused a considerable delay.
But, notwithstanding all this, the Romans pursued the enemy that day
as far as Scarphea, killing and taking on the way great numbers both
of men and horses, and also killing such of the elephants as they
could not capture; and then they returned to their camp. This had been
attacked, during the time of the action, by the Aetolians who were
occupying Heraclea as a garrison, but the enterprise, which certainly
showed no want of boldness, was not attended with any success. The
consul, at the third watch of the following night, sent forward his
cavalry in pursuit of the enemy; and, as soon as day appeared, set out
at the head of the legions. The king had got far before him, as he
did not halt in his precipitate flight until he came to Elatia. There
having collected the survivors of the battle and the retreat, he, with
a very small body of half-armed men, betook himself to Chalcis. The
Roman cavalry did not overtake the king himself at Elatia; but they
cut off a great part of his soldiers, who either halted through
weariness, or wandered out of the way through mistake, as they fled
without guides through unknown roads; so that, out of the whole army,
not one escaped except five hundred, who kept close about the king;
and even of the ten thousand men, whom, on the authority of Polybius,
we have mentioned as brought over by the king from Asia, a very
trifling number got off. But what shall we say if we are to believe
Valerius Antias, who records that there were in the king's army sixty
thousand men, of whom forty thousand fell, and above five thousand
were taken, with two hundred and thirty military standards? Of the
Romans were slain in the action itself a hundred and fifty; and of the
party that defended themselves against the assault of the Aetolians,
not more than fifty.

20. As the consul was leading his army through Phocis and Boeotia, the
revolted states, conscious of their defection, and dreading lest they
should be exposed as enemies to the ravages of the soldiers,
presented themselves at the gates of their cities, with the badges of
suppliants; but the army proceeded, during the whole time, just as if
they were in the country of friends, without offering violence of any
sort, until they reached the territory of Coronea. Here a statue of
king Antiochus, standing in the temple of Minerva Itonia, kindled
their indignation, and permission was given to the soldiers to
plunder the lands adjacent to the edifice. But the reflection quickly
occurred, that, as the statue had been erected by a general vote
of all the Boeotian states, it was unreasonable to resent it on the
single district of Coronea. The soldiers were therefore immediately
recalled, and the depredations stopped. The Boeotians were only
reprimanded for their ungrateful behaviour to the Romans in return for
such great obligations, so recently conferred. At the very time of
the battle, ten ships belonging to the king, with their commander
Isidorus, lay at anchor near Thronium, in the Malian bay. To them
Alexander of Acarnania, being grievously wounded, made his escape, and
gave an account of the unfortunate issue of the battle; on which
the fleet, alarmed at the immediate danger, sailed away in haste to
Cenaeus in Euboea. There Alexander died, and was buried. Three other
ships, which came from Asia to the same port, on hearing the disaster
which had befallen the army, returned to Ephesus. Isidorus sailed over
from Cenaeus to Demetrias, supposing that the king might perhaps have
directed his flight thither. About this time Aulus Atilius, commander
of the Roman fleet, intercepted a large convoy of provisions going to
the king, just as they had passed the strait at the island of Andros:
some of the ships he sunk, and took many others. Those who were in the
rear turned their course to Asia. Atilius, with the captured vessels
in his train, sailed back to Piraeus, from whence he had set out, and
distributed a vast quantity of corn among the Athenians and the other
allies in that quarter.

21. Antiochus, quitting Chalcis before the arrival of the consul,
sailed first to Tenus, and thence passed over to Ephesus. When the
consul came to Chalcis, the gates were open to receive him: for
Aristoteles, who commanded for the king, on hearing of his approach,
had withdrawn from the city. The rest of the cities of Euboea also
submitted without opposition; and peace being restored all over the
island within the space of a few days, without inflicting punishment
on any city, the army, which had acquired much higher praise for
moderation after victory, than even for the victory itself, was led
back to Thermopylae. From this place, the consul despatched Marcus
Cato to Rome, that through him the senate and people might learn what
had been achieved from unquestionable authority. He set sail from
Creusa, a sea-port belonging to the Thespians, seated at the bottom of
the Corinthian Gulf, and steered to Patrae, in Achaia. From Patrae, he
coasted along the shores of Aetolia and Acarnania, as far as Corcyra,
and thence he passed over to Hydruntum, in Italy. Proceeding hence,
with rapid expedition, by land, he arrived on the fifth day at Rome.
Having come into the city before day, he went on directly from the
gate to Marcus Junius, the praetor, who, at the first dawn, assembled
the senate. Here, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, who had been despatched by
the consul several days before Cato, and on his arrival had heard that
the latter had outstripped him, and was then in the senate, came
in, just as he was giving a recital of the transactions. The two
lieutenant-generals were then, by order of the senate, conducted to
the assembly of the people, where they gave the same account, as
in the senate, of the services performed in Aetolia. Hereupon a
supplication of three days' continuance was decreed, and that the
praetor should offer sacrifice to such of the gods as his judgment
should direct, with forty victims of the larger kinds. About the same
time, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who, two years before, had gone into
Farther Spain, in the office of praetor, entered the city in ovation.
He carried in the procession a hundred and thirty thousand silver
denarii,[1] and besides the coin, twelve thousand pounds' weight of
silver, and a hundred and twenty-seven pounds' weight of gold.

[Footnote 1: 4097l. 16s. 4d.]

22. The consul Manius Acilius sent on, from Thermopylae, a message to
the Aetolians in Heraclea, admonishing them, "then at least, after the
experience which they had of the emptiness of the king's professions,
to return to their senses; and, by surrendering Heraclea, to endeavour
to procure from the senate a pardon for their past madness, or error:
that other Grecian states also had, during the present war, revolted
from the Romans, to whom they were under the highest obligations; but
that, inasmuch as, after the flight of the king, in reliance upon whom
they had departed from their duty, they had not added obstinacy to
their misbehaviour, they were re-admitted into friendship. In like
manner, although the Aetolians had not followed in the steps of the
king, but had invited him, and had been principals in the war,
not auxiliaries; nevertheless, if they could bring themselves to
repentance they might still insure their safety." As their answer to
these suggestions showed nothing like a pacific disposition, and it
was evident that the business must be determined by force of arms, and
that, notwithstanding the defeat of the king, the war of Aetolia
was as far from a conclusion as ever, Acilius removed his camp
from Thermopylae to Heraclea; and on the same day rode on horseback
entirely round the walls, in order to acquaint himself with the
localities of the city. Heraclea is situated at the foot of Mount
Oeta; the town itself is in the plain, but has a citadel overlooking
it, which stands on an eminence of considerable height, terminated on
all sides by precipices. Having examined every part which he wished to
see, the consul determined to make the attack in four places at once.
On the side next the river Asopus, where is also the Gymnasium, he
gave the direction of the works and the assault to Lucius Valerius.
He assigned to Tiberius Sempronius Longus the attack of a part of
the suburbs, which was as thickly inhabited as the city itself. He
appointed Marcus Baebius to act on the side opposite the Malian bay,
a part where the access was far from easy; and Appius Claudius on the
side next to another rivulet, called Melas; opposite to the temple of
Diana. By the vigorous emulation of these the towers, rams, and other
machines used in the besieging of towns, were all completed within a
few days. The lands round Heraclea, naturally marshy, and abounding
with tall trees, furnished timber in abundance for every kind of
work; and then, as the Aetolians had fled into the city, the deserted
suburbs supplied not only beams and boards, but also bricks and
mortar, and stones of every size for all their various occasions.

23. The Romans carried on the assault upon this city by means of works
more than by their arms; the Aetolians, on the contrary, maintained
their defence by dint of arms. For when the walls were shaken by the
ram they did not, as is usual, intercept and turn aside the strokes
by the help of nooses formed on ropes, but sallied out in large armed
bodies, with parties carrying fire, which they threw into the works.
They had likewise arched passages through the parapet, for the purpose
of making sallies; and when they built up the wall anew, in the room
of any part that was demolished, they left a great number of these,
that they might rush out upon the enemy from many places at once. In
several days at the beginning, while their strength was unimpaired,
they carried on this practice in numerous parties, and with much
spirit, but afterwards in smaller numbers and more languidly. For
though they had a multiplicity of difficulties to struggle with, what
above all things utterly consumed their vigour was the want of sleep,
as the Romans, having plenty of men, relieved each other regularly in
their posts; while among the Aetolians, their numbers being small, the
same persons had their strength consumed by unremitting labour night
and day. During a space of twenty-four days, without any time being
unemployed in the conflict, their toil was kept up against the attacks
carried on by the enemy in four different quarters at once. When the
consul, from computing the time, and from the reports of deserters,
judged that the Aetolians were thoroughly fatigued, he adopted the
following plan:--At midnight he gave the signal of retreat, and
drawing off all his men at once from the assault, kept them quiet in
the camp until the third hour of the next day. The attacks were then
renewed, and continued until midnight, when they ceased, until the
third hour of the day following. The Aetolians imagined that the
Romans suspended the attack from the same cause by which they felt
themselves distressed,--excessive fatigue. As soon, therefore, as
the signal of retreat was given to the Romans, as if themselves were
thereby recalled from duty, every one gladly retired from his post,
nor did they again appear in arms on the walls before the third hour
of the day.

24. The consul having put a stop to the assault at midnight, renewed
it on three of the sides, at the fourth watch, with the utmost vigour;
ordering Tiberius Sempronius, on the fourth, to keep his party alert,
and ready to obey his signal; for he concluded assuredly, that in the
tumult by night the enemy would all run to those quarters whence the
shouting was heard. Of the Aetolians, such as had gone to rest, with
difficulty roused their bodies from sleep, exhausted as they were with
fatigue and watching; and such as were still awake, ran in the dark
to the places where they heard the noise of fighting. Meanwhile the
Romans endeavoured some to climb over the ruins of the walls, through
the breaches; others, to scale the walls with ladders; while the
Aetolians hastened in all directions to defend the parts attacked.
In one quarter, where the buildings stood outside the city, there
was neither attack nor defence. A party stood ready, waiting for the
signal to make an attack, but there was none within to oppose them.
The day now began to dawn, and the consul gave the signal; on which
the party, without any opposition, made their way into the town; some
through parts that had been battered, others scaling the walls where
they were entire. As soon as the Aetolians heard them raise the shout,
which denoted the place being taken, they every where forsook their
posts, and fled into the citadel. The victors sacked the city;
the consul having given permission, not for the sake of gratifying
resentment or animosity, but that the soldiers, after having been
restrained from plunder in so many cities captured from the enemy,
might at last, in some one place, enjoy the fruits of victory. About
mid-day he recalled the troops, and dividing them into two parts,
ordered one to be led round by the foot of the mountain to a rock,
which was of equal height with the citadel, and seemed as if it had
been broken off from it, leaving a hollow between; but the summits of
these eminences are so nearly contiguous that weapons may be thrown
into the citadel from the top of the other. With the other half of the
troops the consul intended to march, up from the city to the citadel,
and waited to receive a signal from those who were to mount the rock
on the farther side. The Aetolians in the citadel could not support
the shout of the party which had seized the rock, and the consequent
attack of the Romans from the city; for their courage was now broken,
and the place was by no means in a condition to hold out a siege
of any continuance; the women, children, and great numbers of other
helpless people, being crowded together in a fort, which was scarce
capable of containing, much less of affording protection to such a
multitude. On the first assault, therefore, they laid down their
arms and submitted. Among the rest was delivered up Damocritus, chief
magistrate of the Aetolians, who at the beginning of the war, when
Titus Quinctius asked for a copy of the decree passed by the Aetolians
for inviting Antiochus, told him, that, "in Italy, when the Aetolians
were encamped there, it should be delivered to him." On account of
this presumptuous insolence of his, his surrender was a matter of
greater satisfaction to the victors.

25. At the same time, while the Romans were employed in the reduction
of Heraclea, Philip, by concert, besieged Lamia. He had an interview
with the consul, as he was returning from Boeotia, at Thermopylae,
whither he came to congratulate him and the Roman people on their
successes, and to apologize for his not having taken an active part in
the war, being prevented by sickness; and then they went from thence,
by different routes, to lay siege to the two cities at once. The
distance between these places is about seven miles; and as Lamia
stands on high ground, and has an open prospect, particularly towards
the region of Mount Oeta, the distance seems very short, and every
thing that passes can be seen from thence. The Romans and Macedonians,
with all the emulation of competitors for a prize, employed the utmost
exertions, both night and day, either in the works or in fighting; but
the Macedonians encountered greater difficulty on this account, that
the Romans made their approaches by mounds, covered galleries, and
other works, which were all above ground; whereas the Macedonians
worked under ground by mines, and, in that stony soil, often met a
flinty rock, which iron could not penetrate. The king, seeing that his
undertaking succeeded but ill, endeavoured, by conversations with the
principal inhabitants, to prevail on the townspeople to surrender the
place; for he was fully persuaded, that if Heraclea should be taken
first, the Lamians would then choose to surrender to the Romans rather
than to him; and that the consul would take to himself the merit of
relieving them from a siege. Nor was he mistaken in that opinion; for
no sooner was Heraclea reduced, than a message came to him to desist
from the assault; because "it was more reasonable that the Roman
soldiers, who had fought the Aetolians in the field, should reap the
fruits of the victory." Thus was Lamia relieved, and the misfortune of
a neighbouring city proved the means of its escaping a like disaster.

26. A few days before the capture of Heraclea, the Aetolians, having
assembled a council at Hypata, sent ambassadors to Antiochus, among
whom was Thoas, the same who had been sent on the former occasion.
Their instructions were in the first place, to request the king again
to assemble his land and marine forces and cross over into Greece;
and, in the next place, if any circumstance should detain him, then to
send them supplies of men and money. They were to remind him, that "it
concerned his dignity and his honour, not to abandon his allies; and
it likewise concerned the safety of his kingdom, not to leave the
Romans at full leisure, after ruining the nation of the Aetolians,
to carry their whole force into Asia." What they said was true, and
therefore made the deeper impression on the king; in consequence
of which, he immediately supplied the ambassadors with the money
requisite for the exigencies of the war, and assured them, that
he would send them succours both of troops and ships. One of the
ambassadors, namely, Thoas, he kept with him, by no means against his
will, as he hoped that, being present, he might induce the performance
of the king's promises.

27. But the loss of Heraclea entirely broke the spirits of the
Aetolians; insomuch that, within a few days after they had sent
ambassadors into Asia for the purpose of renewing the war, and
inviting the king, they threw aside all warlike designs, and
despatched deputies to the consul to sue for peace. When these began
to speak, the consul, interrupting them, said, that he had other
business to attend to at present; and, ordering them to return to
Hypata, granted them a truce for ten days, sending with them Lucius
Valerius Flaccus, to whom, he desired, whatever business they intended
to have proposed to himself might be communicated, with any other that
they thought proper. On their arrival at Hypata, the chiefs of the
Aetolians held a consultation, at which Flaccus was present, on
the method to be used in treating with the consul. They showed an
inclination to begin with addressing themselves wholly to the ancient
treaties, and the services which they had performed to the Roman
people; on which Flaccus desired them to "speak no more of treaties,
which they themselves had violated and annulled." He told them, that
"they might expect more advantage from an acknowledgment of their
fault, and entreaty. For their hopes of safety rested not on the
merits of their cause, but on the clemency of the Roman people. That,
if they acted in a suppliant manner, he would himself be a solicitor
in their favour, both with the consul and with the senate at Rome;
for thither also they must send ambassadors." This appeared to all the
only way to safety: "to submit themselves entirely to the faith of the
Romans. For, in that case, the latter would be ashamed to do injury to
suppliants; while themselves would, nevertheless, retain the power
of consulting their own interest, should fortune offer any thing more
advantageous."

28. When they came into the consul's presence, Phaeneas, who was at
the head of the embassy, made a long speech, designed to mitigate the
wrath of the conqueror by various considerations; and he concluded
with saying, that "the Aetolians surrendered themselves, and all
belonging to them, to the faith of the Roman people." The consul, on
hearing this, said, "Aetolians, consider well whether you will yield
on these terms:" and then Phaeneas produced the decree, in which the
conditions were expressly mentioned. "Since then," said the consul,
"you submit in this manner, I demand that, without delay, you deliver
up to me Dicaearchus your countryman, Menetas the Epirot," who had,
with an armed force, entered Naupactum, and compelled the inhabitants
to defection; "and also Amynander, with the Athamanian chiefs, by
whose advice you revolted from us." Phaeneas, almost interrupting the
Roman while he was speaking, answered,--"We surrendered ourselves, not
into slavery, but to your faith; and I take it for granted, that, from
not being sufficiently acquainted with us, you fall into the mistake
of commanding what is inconsistent with the practice of the Greeks."
"Nor in truth," replied the consul, "do I much concern myself, at
present, what the Aetolians may think conformable to the practice
of the Greeks; while I, conformably to the practice of the Romans,
exercise authority over men, who just now surrendered themselves by
a decree of their own, and were, before that, conquered by my arms.
Wherefore, unless my commands are quickly complied with, I order
that you be put in chains." At the same time he ordered chains to
be brought forth, and the lictors to surround the ambassadors. This
effectually subdued the arrogance of Phaeneas and the other Aetolians;
and, at length, they became sensible of their situation. Phaeneas then
said, that "as to himself and his countrymen there present, they knew
that his commands must be obeyed: but it was necessary that a council
of the Aetolians should meet, to pass decrees accordingly; and that,
for that purpose, he requested a suspension of arms for ten days."
At the intercession of Flaccus on behalf of the Aetolians, this was
granted, and they returned to Hypata. When Phaeneas related here,
in the select council, called Apocleti, the orders which they had
received, and the treatment which they had narrowly escaped; although
the chiefs bemoaned their condition, nevertheless they were of
opinion, that the conqueror must be obeyed, and that the Aetolians
should be summoned, from all their towns, to a general assembly.

29. But when the assembled multitude heard the same account, their
minds were so highly exasperated, both by the harshness of the order
and the indignity offered, that, even if they had been in a pacific
temper before, the violent impulse of anger which they then felt would
have been sufficient to rouse them to war. Their rage was increased
also by the difficulty of executing what was enjoined on them; for,
"how was it possible for them, for instance, to deliver up king
Amynander?" It happened, also, that a favourable prospect seemed to
open to them; for Nicander, returning from king Antiochus at that
juncture, filled the minds of the people with unfounded assurances,
that immense preparations for war were going on both by land and sea.
This man, after finishing the business of his embassy, set out on his
return to Aetolia; and on the twelfth day after he embarked, reached
Phalara, on the Malian bay. Having conveyed thence to Lamia the money
that he had brought, he, with a few light troops, directed, in the
evening, his course toward Hypata, by known paths, through the country
which lay between the Roman and Macedonian camps. Here he fell in with
an advanced guard of the Macedonians, and was conducted to the king,
whose dinner guests had not yet separated. Philip, being told of his
coming, received him as a guest, not an enemy; desired him to take a
seat, and join the entertainment; and afterwards, when he dismissed
the rest, detained him alone, and told him, that he had nothing to
fear for himself. He censured severely the conduct of the Aetolians,
in bringing, first the Romans, and afterwards Antiochus, into Greece;
designs which originated in a want of judgment, and always recoiled
on their own heads. But "he would forget," he said, "all past
transactions, which it was easier to blame than to amend; nor would he
act in such a manner as to appear to insult their misfortunes. On the
other hand, it would become the Aetolians to lay aside, at length,
their animosity towards him; and it would become Nicander himself,
in his private capacity, to remember that day, on which he had been
preserved by him." Having then appointed persons to escort him to a
place of safety, Nicander arrived at Hypata, while his countrymen were
consulting about the peace with Rome.

30. Manius Acilius having sold, or given to the soldiers, the booty
found near Heraclea, and having learned that the counsels adopted
at Hypata were not of a pacific nature, but that the Aetolians had
hastily assembled at Naupactum, with intention to make a stand there
against the whole brunt of the war, sent forward Appius Claudius, with
four thousand men, to seize the heights of the mountains, where the
passes were difficult; and he himself, ascending Mount Oeta, offered
sacrifices to Hercules, in the spot called Pyra,[1] because there the
mortal part of the demi-god was burned. He then set out with the main
body of the army, and marched all the rest of the way with tolerable
ease and expedition. But when they came to Corax, a very high mountain
between Callipolis and Naupactum, great numbers of the beasts of
burden, together with their loads, tumbled down the precipices, and
many of the men were hurt. This clearly showed with how negligent an
enemy they had to do, who had not secured so difficult a pass by a
guard, and so blocked up the passage; for, even as the case was, the
army suffered considerably. Hence he marched down to Naupactum; and
having erected a fort against the citadel, he invested the other parts
of the city, dividing his forces according to the situation of the
walls. Nor was the siege likely to prove less difficult and laborious
than that of Heraclea.

[Footnote 1: The funeral pile.]

31. At the same time, the Achaeans laid siege to Messene, in
Peloponnesus, because it refused to become a member of their body: for
the two states of Messene and Elis were unconnected with the Achaean
confederacy, and sympathized with the Aetolians. However, the Eleans,
after Antiochus had been driven out of Greece, answered the deputies,
sent by the Achaeans, with more moderation: that "when the king's
troops were removed, they would consider what part they should take."
But the Messenians had dismissed the deputies without an answer, and
prepared for war. Alarmed, afterwards, at their own situation,
when they saw the enemy ravaging their country without control,
and pitching their camp close to their city, they sent deputies to
Chalcis, to Titus Quinctius, the author of their liberty, to acquaint
him, that "the Messenians were willing, both to open their gates,
and surrender their city, to the Romans, but not to the Achaeans."
On hearing this Quinctius immediately set out, and despatched from
Megalopolis a messenger to Diophanes, praetor of the Achaeans,
requiring him to draw off his army instantly from Messene, and to come
to him. Diophanes obeyed the order; raising the siege, he hastened
forward himself before the army, and met Quinctius near Andania, a
small town between Megalopolis and Messene. When he began to explain
the reasons for commencing the siege, Quinctius, gently reproving him
for undertaking a business of that importance without consulting him,
ordered him to disband his forces, and not to disturb a peace
which had been established advantageously to all. He commanded the
Messenians to recall the exiles, and to unite themselves to the
confederacy of the Achaeans; and if there were any particulars to
which they chose to object, or any precautions which they judged
requisite for the future, they might apply to him at Corinth. He then
gave directions to Diophanes, to convene immediately a general council
of the Achaeans, that he might settle some business with them.

32. In this assembly he complained of their having acquired possession
of the island of Zacynthus by unfair means, and demanded that it
should be restored to the Romans. Zacynthus had formerly belonged to
Philip, king of Macedonia, and he had made it over to Amynander, on
condition of his giving him leave to march an army through Athamania,
into the upper part of Aetolia, on that expedition wherein he
compelled the Aetolians with dejected spirits to sue for peace.
Amynander gave the government of the island to Philip, the
Megalopolitan; and afterwards, during the war in which he united
himself with Antiochus against the Romans, having called out Philip to
the duties of the campaign, he sent, as his successor, Hierocles, of
Agrigentum. This man, after the flight of Antiochus from Thermopylae,
and the expulsion of Amynander from Athamania by Philip, sent
emissaries of his own accord to Diophanes, praetor of the Achaeans;
and having bargained for a sum of money, delivered over the island
to the Achaeans. This acquisition, made during the war, the Romans
claimed as their own; for they said, that "it was not for Diophanes
and the Achaeans that the consul Manius Acilius, and the Roman
legions, fought at Thermopylae." Diophanes, in answer, sometimes
apologized for himself and his nation; sometimes insisted on the
justice of the proceeding. But several of the Achaeans testified that
they had, from the beginning, disapproved of that business, and they
now blamed the obstinacy of the praetor. Pursuant to their advice,
a decree was made, that the affair should be left entirely to the
disposal of Titus Quinctius. As Quinctius was severe to such as made
opposition, so, when complied with, he was easily appeased. Laying
aside, therefore, every thing stern in his voice and looks, he
said,--"If, Achaeans, I thought the possession of that island
advantageous to you, I would be the first to advise the senate and
people of Rome to permit you to hold it. But as I see that a tortoise,
when collected within its natural covering, is safe against blows
of any kind, and whenever it thrusts out any of its limbs, it feels
whatever it has thus uncovered, weak and liable to every injury: so
you, in like manner, Achaeans, being enclosed on all sides by the sea,
can easily unite among yourselves, and maintain by that union all
that is comprehended within the limits of Peloponnesus; but whenever,
through ambition of enlarging your possessions, you overstep these
limits, then all that you hold beyond them is naked, and exposed
to every attack." The whole assembly declaring their assent, and
Diophanes not daring to give further opposition, Zacynthus was ceded
to the Romans.

33. When the consul was on his march to Naupactum, king Philip
proposed, that, if it was agreeable to him, he would, in the mean
time, retake those cities that had revolted from their alliance
with Rome. Having obtained permission so to do, he, about this time,
marched his army to Demetrias, being well aware that great distraction
prevailed there; for the garrison, being destitute of all hope of
succour since they were abandoned by Antiochus, and having no reliance
on the Aetolians, daily and nightly expected the arrival of Philip
or the Romans, whom they had most reason to dread, as these were most
justly incensed against them. There was, in the place, an irregular
multitude of the king's soldiers, a few of whom had been at first left
there as a garrison, but the greater part had fled thither after the
defeat of his army, most of them without arms, and without either
strength or courage sufficient to sustain a siege. Wherefore on
Philip's sending on messengers, to offer them hopes of pardon being
obtainable, they answered, that their gates were open for the king.
On his first entrance, several of the chiefs left the city; Eurylochus
killed himself. The soldiers of Antiochus, in conformity to a
stipulation, were escorted, through Macedonia and Thrace, by a body
of Macedonians, and conducted to Lysimachia. There were, also, a few
ships at Demetrias, under the command of Isidorus, which, together
with their commander, were dismissed. Philip then reduced Dolopia,
Aperantia, and several cities of Perrhaebia.

34. While Philip was thus employed, Titus Quinctius, after receiving
from the Achaean council the cession of Zacynthus, crossed over to
Naupactum, which had stood a siege of near two months, but was now
reduced to a desperate condition; and it was supposed, that if it
should be taken by storm, the whole nation of the Aetolians would be
sunk thereby in utter destruction. But, although he was deservedly
incensed against the Aetolians, from the recollection that they alone
had attempted to depreciate his merits, when he was giving liberty to
Greece; and had been in no degree influenced by his advice, when
he endeavoured, by forewarning them of the events, which had since
occurred, to deter them from their mad undertaking: nevertheless,
thinking it particularly his business to take care that none of
the states of Greece which had been liberated by himself should be
entirely subverted, he first walked about near the walls, that he
might be easily known by the Aetolians. He was quickly distinguished
by the first advanced guards, and the news spread from rank to rank
that Quinctius was there. On this, the people from all sides ran to
the walls, and eagerly stretching out their hands, all in one joint
cry besought Quinctius by name, to assist and save them. Although he
was much affected by these entreaties, yet for that time he made
signs with his hands, that they were to expect no assistance from
him. However, when he met the consul he accosted him thus:--"Manius
Acilius, are you unapprized of what is passing; or do you know it,
and think it immaterial to the interest of the commonwealth?" This
inflamed the consul with curiosity, and he replied, "But explain what
is your meaning." Quinctius then said,--"Do you not see that, since
the defeat of Antiochus, you have been wasting time in besieging two
cities, though the year of your command is near expiring; but that
Philip, who never faced the enemy, or even saw their standards, has
annexed to his dominions such a number, not only of cities, but of
nations,--Athamania, Perrhaebia, Aperantia, Dolopia? But, surely, we
are not so deeply interested in diminishing the strength and resources
of the Aetolians, as in hindering those of Philip from being augmented
beyond measure; and in you, and your soldiers, not having yet gained,
to reward your victory, as many towns as Philip has gained Grecian
states."

35. The consul assented to these remarks, but a feeling of shame
suggested itself to him--if he should abandon the siege with his
purpose unaccomplished. At length the matter was left entirely to the
management of Quinctius. He went again to that part of the wall
whence the Aetolians had called to him a little before; and on their
entreating him now, with still greater earnestness, to take compassion
on the nation of the Aetolians, he desired that some of them might
come out to him. Accordingly, Phaeneas himself, with some others of
the principal men, instantly came and threw themselves at his feet. He
then said,--"Your condition causes me to restrain my resentment and my
reproofs. The events which I foretold have come to pass, and you have
not even this reflection left you, that they have fallen upon you
undeservedly. Nevertheless, since fate has, in some manner, destined
me to the office of cherishing the interests of Greece, I will not
cease to show kindness even to the unthankful. Send intercessors to
the consul, and let them petition him for a suspension of hostilities,
for so long a time as will allow you to send ambassadors to Rome, to
surrender yourselves to the will of the senate. I will intercede, and
plead in your favour with the consul." They did as Quinctius directed;
nor did the consul reject their application. He granted them a truce
for a certain time, until the embassy might bring a reply from Rome;
and then, raising the siege, he sent his army into Phocis. The consul,
with Titus Quinctius, crossed over thence to Aegium, to confer with
the council of the Achaeans about the Eleans, and also the restoration
of the Lacedaemonian exiles. But neither was carried into execution,
because the Achaeans chose to reserve to themselves the merit of
effecting the latter; and the Eleans preferred being united to the
Achaean confederacy by a voluntary act of their own, rather than
through the mediation of the Romans. Ambassadors came hither to the
consul from the Epirots, who, it was well known, had not with honest
fidelity maintained the alliance. Although they had not furnished
Antiochus with any soldiers, yet they were charged with having
assisted him with money; and they themselves did not disavow having
sent ambassadors to him. They requested that they might be permitted
to continue on the former footing of friendship. To which the consul
answered, that "he did not yet know whether he was to consider them as
friends or foes. The senate must be the judge of that matter. He would
therefore take no step in the business, but leave it to be determined
at Rome; and for that purpose he granted them a truce of ninety days."
When the Epirots, who were sent to Rome, addressed the senate, they
rather enumerated hostile acts which they had not committed, than
cleared themselves of those laid to their charge; and they received
such an answer that they seemed rather to have obtained pardon than
proved their innocence. About the same time ambassadors from
king Philip were introduced to the senate, and presented his
congratulations on their late successes. They asked leave to sacrifice
in the Capitol, and to deposit an offering of gold in the temple of
Jupiter supremely good and great. This was granted by the senate, and
they presented a golden crown of a hundred pounds' weight. The
senate not only answered the ambassadors with kindness, but gave
them Demetrius, Philip's son, who was at Rome as an hostage, to be
conducted home to his father.--Such was the conclusion of the war
waged in Greece by the consul Manius Acilius against Antiochus.

36. The other consul, Publius Cornelius Scipio, who had obtained by
lot the province of Gaul, before he set out to the war which was to
be waged against the Boians, demanded of the senate, by a decree, to
order him money for the exhibition of games, which, when acting as
propraetor in Spain, he had vowed at a critical time of a battle. His
demand was deemed unprecedented and unreasonable, and they therefore
voted, that "whatever games he had vowed, on his own single judgment,
without consulting the senate, he should celebrate out of the
spoils, if he had reserved any for the purpose; otherwise, at his own
expense." Accordingly, Publius Cornelius exhibited those games through
the space of ten days. About this time the temple of the great Idaean
Mother was dedicated; which deity, on her being brought from Asia,
in the consulate of Publius Cornelius Scipio, afterwards surnamed
Africanus, and Publius Lucinius, the above-mentioned Publius Cornelius
had conducted from the sea-side to the Palatine. In pursuance of a
decree of the senate, Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius, censors,
in the consulate of Marcus Cornelius and Publius Sempronius, had
contracted for the erection of the goddess's temple; and thirteen
years after it had been so contracted for, it was dedicated by
Marcus Junius Brutus, and games were celebrated on occasion of its
dedication: in which, according to the account of Valerius Antias,
dramatic entertainments were, for the first time, introduced into the
Megalesian games. Likewise, Caius Licinius Lucullus, being appointed
duumvir, dedicated the temple of Youth in the great circus. This
temple had been vowed sixteen years before by Marcus Livius, consul,
on the day wherein he cut off Hasdrubal and his army; and the same
person, when censor, in the consulate of Marcus Cornelius and Publius
Sempronius, had contracted for the building of it. Games were also
exhibited on occasion of this consecration, and every thing was
performed with the greater degree of religious zeal, on account of the
impending war with Antiochus.

37. At the beginning of the year in which those transactions passed,
after Manius Acilius had gone to open the campaign, and while the
other consul, Publius Cornelius, yet remained in Rome, two tame oxen,
it is said, climbed up by ladders on the tiles of a house in the
Carina. The aruspices ordered them to be burned alive, and their ashes
to be thrown into the Tiber. It was reported, that several showers of
stones had fallen at Tarracina and Amiternum; that, at Minturnae,
the temple of Jupiter, and the shops round the forum, were struck by
lightning; that, at Vulturnum, in the mouth of the river, two ships
were struck by lightning, and burnt to ashes. On occasion of these
prodigies, the decemvirs, being ordered by a decree of the senate
to consult the Sibylline books, declared, that "a fast ought to be
instituted in honour of Ceres, and the same observed every fifth year;
that the nine days' worship ought to be solemnized, and a supplication
for one day; and that they should observe the supplication, with
garlands on their heads; also that the consul Publius Cornelius should
sacrifice to such deities, and with such victims, as the decemvirs
should direct." When he had used every means to avert the wrath of the
gods, by duly fulfilling vows and expiating prodigies, the consul
went to his province; and, ordering the proconsul Cneius Domitius to
disband his army, and go home to Rome, he marched his own legions into
the territory of the Boians.

38. Nearly at the same time, the Ligurians, having collected an army
under the sanction of their devoting law, made an unexpected attack,
in the night, on the camp of the proconsul Quintus Minucius. Minucius
kept his troops, until daylight, drawn up within the rampart,
and watchful to prevent the enemy from scaling any part of the
fortifications At the first light, he made a sally by two gates at
once: but the Ligurians did not, as he had expected, give way to his
first onset; on the contrary, they maintained a dubious contest for
more than two hours. At last, as other and still other troops came out
from the camp, and fresh men took the place of those who were wearied
in the fight, the Ligurians, who besides other hardships, felt a great
loss of strength from the want of sleep, betook themselves to flight.
Above four thousand of the enemy were killed; the Romans and allies
lost not quite three hundred. About two months after this, the consul
Publius Cornelius fought a pitched battle with the army of the Boians
with extraordinary success. Valerius Antias affirms, that twenty-eight
thousand of the enemy were slain, and three thousand four hundred
taken, with a hundred and twenty-four military standards, one thousand
two hundred and thirty horses, and two hundred and forty-seven
waggons; and that of the conquerors there fell one thousand four
hundred and eighty-four. Though we may not entirely credit this writer
with respect to the numbers, as in such exaggeration no writer is more
extravagant, yet it is certain that the victory on this occasion was
very complete; because the enemy's camp was taken, while, immediately
after the battle, the Boians surrendered themselves; and because a
supplication was decreed by the senate on account of it, and victims
of the greater kinds were sacrificed. About the same time Marcus
Fulvius Nobilior entered the city in ovation, returning from Farther
Spain. He carried with him twelve thousand pounds of silver, one
hundred and thirty thousand silver denarii, and one hundred and
twenty-seven pounds of gold.[1]

[Footnote 1: This statement has been made before at the close of
chapter 21, and is probably repeated here through inadvertence.]

39. The consul, Publius Cornelius, having received hostages from the
Boians, punished them so far as to appropriate almost one-half of
their lands for the use of the Roman people, and into which they might
afterwards, if they chose, send colonies. Then returning home in full
confidence of a triumph, he dismissed his troops, and ordered them
to attend on the day of his triumph at Rome. The next day after his
arrival, he held a meeting of the senate, in the temple of Bellona,
when he detailed to them the services he had performed, and demanded
to ride through the city in triumph. Publius Sempronius Blaesus,
tribune of the people, advised, that "the honour of a triumph should
not be refused to Scipio, but postponed. Wars of the Ligurians," he
said, "were always united with wars of the Gauls; for these nations,
lying so near, sent mutual assistance to each other. If Publius
Scipio, after subduing the Boians in battle, had either gone himself,
with his victorious army, into the country of the Ligurians, or sent
a part of his forces to Quintus Minucius, who was detained there,
now the third year, by a war which was still undecided, that with the
Ligurians might have been brought to an end: instead of which, he had,
in order to procure a full attendance on his triumph, brought home the
troops, who might have performed most material services to the state;
and might do so still, if the senate thought proper, by deferring this
token of victory, to redeem that which had been omitted through eager
haste for a triumph. If they would order the consul to return with his
legions into his province, and to give his assistance towards subduing
the Ligurians, (for, unless these were reduced under the dominion and
jurisdiction of the Roman people, neither would the Boians ever
remain quiet,) there must be either peace or war with both. When
the Ligurians should be subdued, Publius Cornelius, in quality of
proconsul, might triumph, a few months later, after the precedent of
many, who did not attain that honour until the expiration of their
office."

40. To this the consul answered, that "neither had the province of
Liguria fallen to his lot, nor had he waged war with the Ligurians,
nor did he demand a triumph over them. He confidently hoped, that in
a short time Quintus Minucius, after completing their reduction, would
demand and obtain a well-deserved triumph. For his part, he demanded a
triumph over the Boian Gauls, whom he had conquered in battle and had
driven out of their camp; of whose whole nation he had received an
absolute submission within two days after the fight; and from whom
he had brought home hostages to secure peace in future. But there
was another circumstance, of much greater magnitude: he had slain in
battle so great a number of Gauls, that no commander, before him, ever
met in the field so many thousands, at least of the Boians. Out of
fifty thousand men, more than one-half were killed, and many thousands
made prisoners; so that the Boians had now remaining only old men
and boys. Could it, then, be a matter of surprise to any one, that a
victorious army, which had not left one enemy in the province, should
come to Rome to attend the triumph of their consul? And if the senate
should choose to employ the services of these troops in another
province also, which of the two kinds of treatment could it be
supposed would make them enter on a new course of danger and another
laborious enterprise with the greater alacrity; the paying them the
reward of their former toils and dangers without defalcation; or, the
sending them away, with the prospect, instead of the reality, when
they had once been disappointed in their first expectation? As to
what concerned himself personally, he had acquired a stock of glory
sufficient for his whole life, on that day, when the senate adjudged
him to be the best man (in the state), and commissioned him to give a
reception to the Idaean Mother. With this inscription (though neither
consulship nor triumph were added) the statue of Publius Scipio Nasica
would be sufficiently honoured and dignified." The unanimous senate
not only gave their vote for the triumph, but by their influence
prevailed on the tribune to desist from his protest. Publius
Cornelius, the consul, triumphed over the Boians. In this procession
he carried, on Gallic waggons, arms, standards, and spoils of all
sorts; the brazen utensils of the Gauls; and, together with the
prisoners of distinction, he led a train of captured horses. He
deposited in the treasury a thousand four hundred and seventy golden
chains; and besides these, two hundred and forty-five pounds' weight
of gold; two thousand three hundred and forty pounds' weight of
silver, some unwrought, and some formed in vessels of the Gallic
fashion, not without beauty; and two hundred and thirty-four thousand
denarii.[1] To the soldiers who followed his chariot, he distributed
three hundred and twenty-five _asses_[2] each, double to a centurion,
triple to a horseman. Next day, he summoned an assembly, and after
expatiating on his own services, and the ill-treatment shown him by
the tribune who wanted to entangle him in a way which did not belong
to him, in order to defraud him of the fruits of his success, he
absolved the soldiers of their oath and discharged them.

[Footnote 1: 7,523l. 16s. 2d.]

[Footnote 2: 1l. 4s. 2-1/2d.]

41. While this passed in Italy, Antiochus was at Ephesus divested of
all concern respecting the war with Rome, as supposing that the Romans
had no intention of coming into Asia; which state of security was
occasioned by the erroneous opinions or the flattering representations
of the greater part of his friends. Hannibal alone, whose judgment
was, at that time, the most highly respected by the king, declared,
that "he rather wondered the Romans were not already in Asia than
entertained a doubt of their coming. The passage was easier from
Greece to Asia, than from Italy to Greece, and Antiochus constituted a
much more important object than the Aetolians. For the Roman arms were
not less powerful on sea than on land. Their fleet had long been
at Malea, and he had heard that a reinforcement of ships and a new
commander had lately come from Italy, with intent to enter on action.
He therefore advised Antiochus not to form to himself vain hopes of
peace. He must necessarily in a short time maintain a contest with the
Romans both by sea and land, in Asia, and for Asia itself; and must
either wrest the power from those who grasped at the empire of the
world, or lose his own dominions." He seemed to be the only person who
could foresee, and honestly foretell, what was to happen. The king,
therefore, with the ships which were equipped and in readiness, sailed
to the Chersonesus, in order to strengthen the places there with
garrisons, lest the Romans should happen to come by land. He left
orders with Polyxenidas to fit out the rest of the fleet, and put
to sea; and sent out advice-boats among the islands to procure
intelligence of every thing that was passing.

42. When Caius Livius, commander of the Roman fleet, sailed with fifty
decked ships from Rome, he went to Neapolis, where he had appointed
the rendezvous of the undecked ships, which were due by treaty from
the allies on that coast; and thence he proceeded to Sicily, where,
as he sailed through the strait beyond Messana, he was joined by six
Carthaginian ships, sent to his assistance; and then, having collected
the vessels due from the Rhegians, Locrians, and other allies, who
were bound by the same conditions, he purified the fleet at Lacinium,
and put forth into the open sea. On his arrival at Corcyra, which was
the first Grecian country where he touched, inquiring about the state
of the war, (for all matters in Greece were not yet entirely settled,)
and about the Roman fleet, he was told, that the consul and the king
were posted at the pass of Thermopylae, and that the fleet lay at
Piraeus: on which, judging expedition necessary on every account, he
sailed directly forward to Peloponnesus. Having on his passage ravaged
Samos and Zacynthus, because they favoured the party of the Aetolians,
he bent his course to Malea; and, meeting very favourable weather,
arrived in a few days at Piraeus, where he joined the old fleet. At
Scyllaeum he was met by king Eumenes, with three ships, who had
long hesitated at Aegina whether he should go home to defend his own
kingdom, on hearing that Antiochus was preparing both marine and land
forces at Ephesus; or whether he should unite himself inseparably to
the Romans, on whose destiny his own depended. Aulus Atilius, having
delivered to his successor twenty-five decked ships, sailed from
Piraeus for Rome. Livius, with eighty-one beaked ships, besides many
others of inferior rates, some of which were open and furnished with
beaks, others without beaks, fit for advice-boats, crossed over to
Delos.

43. At this time, the consul Acilius was engaged in the siege of
Naupactum. Livius was detained several days at Delos by contrary
winds, for that tract among the Cyclades, which are separated in some
places by larger straits, in others by smaller, is extremely subject
to storms. Polyxenidas, receiving intelligence from his scout-ships,
which were stationed in various places, that the Roman fleet lay at
Delos, sent off an express to the king, who, quitting the business
in which he was employed in Hellespontus, and taking with him all
the ships of war, returned to Ephesus with all possible speed, and
instantly called a council to determine whether he should risk an
engagement at sea. Polyxenidas affirmed, that no delay should be
incurred; "it was particularly requisite so to do, before the fleet of
Eumenes and the Rhodian ships should join the Romans; in which case,
even, they would scarcely be inferior in number, and in every other
particular would have a great superiority, by reason of the agility of
their vessels, and a variety of auxiliary circumstances. For the Roman
ships, being unskilfully constructed, were slow in their motions; and,
besides that, as they were coming to an enemy's coast, they would be
heavily laden with provisions; whereas their own, leaving none but
friends in all the countries round, would have nothing on board
but men and arms. Moreover that their knowledge of the sea, of the
adjacent lands, and of the winds, would be greatly in their favour;
of all which the Romans being ignorant, would find themselves much
distressed." In advising this plan he influenced all, especially
as the same person who gave the advice was also to carry it into
execution. Two days only were passed in making preparations; and on
the third, setting sail with a hundred ships, of which seventy had
decks, and the rest were open, but all of the smaller rates, they
steered their course to Phocaea. The king, as he did not intend to
be present in the naval combat, on hearing that the Roman fleet was
approaching, withdrew to Magnesia, near Sipylus, to collect his land
forces, while his ships proceeded to Cyssus, a port of Erythraea,
where it was supposed they might with more convenience wait for the
enemy. The Romans, as soon as the north wind, which had held for
several days, ceased, sailed from Delos to Phanae, a port in Chios,
opposite the Aegaean sea. They afterwards brought round the fleet to
the city of Chios, and having taken in provisions there, sailed over
to Phocaea. Eumenes, who had gone to join his fleet at Elaea, returned
a few days after, with twenty-four decked ships, and a greater number
of open ones, to Phocaea, where were the Romans, who were fitting and
preparing themselves for a sea-fight. Then setting sail with a hundred
and five decked ships, and about fifty open ones, they were for some
time driven forcibly towards the land, by a north wind blowing across
its course. The ships were thereby obliged to go, for the most part,
singly, one after another, in a thin line; afterwards, when the
violence of the wind abated, they endeavoured to stretch over to the
harbour of Corycus, beyond Cyssus.

44. When intelligence was brought to Polyxenidas that the enemy were
approaching, he rejoiced at an opportunity of engaging them, and drew
out the left squadron towards the open sea, at the same time ordering
the commanders of the ships to extend the right division towards the
land; and then advanced to the fight, with his fleet in a regular
line of battle. The Roman commander, on seeing this, furled his sails,
lowered his masts, and, at the same time adjusting his rigging, waited
for the ships which were coming up. There were now about thirty in the
line; and in order that his left squadron might form a front in like
direction, he hoisted his top-sails, and stretched out into the deep,
ordering the others to push forward, between him and the land, against
the right squadron of the enemy. Eumenes brought up the rear; who, as
soon as he saw the bustle of taking down the rigging begin, likewise
brought up his ships with all possible speed. All their ships were by
this time in sight; two Carthaginian vessels, however, which advanced
before the Romans, came across three belonging to the king. As the
numbers were unequal, two of the king's ships fell upon one, and, in
the first place, swept away the oars from both its sides; the armed
mariners then boarded, and killing some of its defenders and throwing
others into the sea, took the ship. The one which had engaged in an
equal contest, on seeing her companion taken, before she could be
surrounded by the three, fled back to the fleet. Livius, fired with
indignation, bore down with the praetorian ship against the enemy. The
two which had overpowered the Carthaginian ship, in hopes of the same
success against this one, advanced to the attack, on which he ordered
the rowers on both sides to plunge their oars in the water, in order
to hold the ship steady, and to throw grappling-irons into the enemy's
vessels as they came up. Having, by these means, rendered the business
something like a fight on land, he desired his men to bear in mind
the courage of Romans, and not to regard the slaves of a king as men.
Accordingly, this single ship now defeated and captured the two, with
more ease than the two had before taken one. By this time the entire
fleets were engaged and intermixed with each other. Eumenes, who had
come up last, and after the battle was begun, when he saw the left
squadron of the enemy thrown into disorder by Livius, directed his own
attack against their right, where the contest was yet equal.

45. In a short time a flight commenced, in the first instance, with
the left squadron: for Polyxenidas, perceiving that he was evidently
overmatched with respect to the bravery of the men, hoisted his
top-sails, and betook himself to flight; and, quickly after, those who
had engaged with Eumenes near the land did the same. The Romans and
Eumenes pursued with much perseverance, as long as the rowers were
able to hold out, and they had any prospect of annoying the rear of
the enemy; but finding that the latter, by reason of the lightness and
fleetness of their ships, baffled every effort that could be made by
theirs, loaded as they were with provisions, they at length desisted,
having taken thirteen ships together with the soldiers and rowers, and
sunk ten. Of the Roman fleet, only the one Carthaginian ship, which,
at the beginning of the action, had been attacked by two, was lost.
Polyxenidas continued his flight, until he got into the harbour of
Ephesus. The Romans staid, during the remainder of that day, in
the port from which the king's fleet had sailed out, and on the day
following proceeded in the pursuit. In the midst of their course they
were met by twenty-five Rhodian decked ships, under Pausistratus, the
commander of the fleet, and in conjunction with these followed the
runaways to Ephesus, where they stood for some time, in order of
battle, before the mouth of the harbour. Having thus extorted from the
enemy a full confession of their being defeated, and having sent home
the Rhodians and Eumenes, the Romans steered their course to Chios.
When they had passed Phaenicus, a port of Erythraea, they cast anchor
for the night; and proceeding next day to the island, came up to the
city itself. After halting here a few days for the purpose chiefly
of refreshing the rowers, they sailed over to Phocaea. Here they
left four quinque remes for the defence of the city, and proceeded to
Cannae, where, as the winter now approached, the ships were hauled on
shore, and surrounded with a trench and rampart. At the close of the
year, the elections were held at Rome, in which were chosen consuls,
Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Caius Laelius, from whom all men expected
the conclusion of the war with Antiochus. Next day were elected
praetors, Marcus Tuccius, Lucius Aurunculeius, Cneius Fulvius, Lucius
Aemilius, Publius Junius, and Caius Atinius Labeo.

END OF VOL. III.





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