History of Rome, Vol III
by
Titus Livius
Part 2 out of 11
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
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