History of Rome, Vol III
by
Titus Livius
Part 9 out of 11
dignity of all, he should multiply the number of those who were to
bear arms for their country. I acknowledge that I have enlarged on
these matters, beyond what consists with the conciseness customary
with my countrymen, and that the sum of the whole might be comprised
in few words: that, since I first commenced a friendship with you, I
have given you no just cause to repent it."
32. The Roman general answered: "We never contracted any friendship
or alliance with you, but with Pelops, the right and lawful king of
Lacedaemon: whose authority, while the Carthaginian, Gallic, and
other wars, succeeding one another, kept us constantly employed,
the tyrants, who after him held Lacedaemon under forced subjection,
usurped into their own hands, as did you also during the late war
with Macedonia. For what could be less fitting, than that we, who were
waging war against Philip, in favour of the liberty of Greece, should
contract friendship with a tyrant, and a tyrant the most cruel and
violent towards his subjects that ever existed? But, even supposing
that you had not either seized or held Argos by iniquitous means, it
would be incumbent on us, when we are giving liberty to all Greece, to
reinstate Lacedaemon also in its ancient freedom, and the enjoyment of
its own laws, which you just now spoke of, as if you were a rival
of Lycurgus. Shall we take pains to make Philip's garrisons evacuate
Tassus and Bargylii; and shall we leave Lacedaemon and Argos, those
two most illustrious cities, formerly the lights of Greece, under
your feet, that their continuance in bondage may tarnish our title of
deliverers of Greece? But the Argives took part with Philip: we excuse
you from taking any concern in that cause, so that you need not be
angry with them on our behalf. We have received sufficient proof, that
the guilt of that proceeding is chargeable on two only, or, at most,
three persons, and not on the state; just, indeed, as in the case of
the invitation given to you and to your army, and your reception into
the citadel, not one step was taken by public authority. We know,
that the Thessalians, Phocians, and Locrians, with unanimous consent,
joined in espousing the cause of Philip; yet we have given liberty to
them in common with the rest of Greece. How then can you suppose we
shall conduct ourselves towards the Argives, who are acquitted of
having publicly authorized misconduct? You said, that your inviting
slaves to liberty, and the distribution of lands among the indigent,
were objected to you as crimes; and crimes, surely, they are, of no
small magnitude. But what are they in comparison with those atrocious
deeds, that are daily perpetrated by you and your adherents, in
continual succession? Show us a free assembly of the people, either at
Argos or Lacedaemon, if you wish to hear a true recital of the crimes
of the most abandoned tyranny. To omit all other instances of older
date, what a massacre did your son-in-law, Pythagoras, make at Argos
almost before my eyes! What another did you yourself perpetrate, when
I was nearly within the confines of the Lacedaemonians! Now, give
orders, that the persons whom you took out of the midst of an
assembly, and committed to prison, after declaring, in the hearing of
all your countrymen, that you would keep them in custody, be produced
in their chains, that their wretched parents may know that those are
alive, for whom, under a false impression, they are mourning. Well,
but you say, though all these things were so, Romans, how do they
concern you? Can you say this to the deliverers of Greece; to people
who crossed the sea, and have maintained a war on sea and land, to
effect its deliverance? Still you tell us, you have not directly
violated the alliance, or the friendship established between us. How
many instances must I produce of your having done so? But I will not
go into long detail; I will bring the matter to a short issue. By
what acts is friendship violated? Most effectually by these two:
by treating our friends as foes; and by uniting yourself with our
enemies. Each of these has been done by you. For Messene, which had
been united to us in friendship, by one and the same bond of alliance
with Lacedaemon, you, while professing yourself our ally, reduced to
subjection by force of arms, though you knew it was in alliance with
us; and you contracted with Philip, our professed enemy, not only
an alliance, but even an affinity, through the intervention of his
general, Philocles: and waging actual war against us, with your
piratical ships, you made the sea round Malea unsafe, and you captured
and slew more Roman citizens almost than Philip himself; and to our
ships conveying provisions to our armies the coast of Macedonia itself
was less dangerous, than the promontory of Malea. Cease, therefore, to
vaunt your good faith, and the obligations of treaties; and, dropping
a popular style of discourse, speak as a tyrant, and as an enemy."
33. Aristaenus then began, at first to advise, and afterwards even
to beseech Nabis, while it was yet in his power, and he had the
opportunity, to consider what was best for himself and his interests.
He then mentioned the names of several tyrants in the neighbouring
states who had resigned their authority, and restored liberty to their
people, and afterwards spent among their fellow citizens not only
a secure but an honoured old age. These observations having been
reciprocally made and listened to, the approach of night broke up the
conference. Next day Nabis said, that he was willing to cede Argos,
and withdraw his garrison, since such was the desire of the Romans,
and to deliver up the prisoners and deserters; and if they demanded
any thing further, he requested that they would set it down in
writing, that he might deliberate on it with his friends. Thus the
tyrant gained time for consultation; and Quinctius also, on his part,
called a council, to which he summoned the chiefs of the allies. The
greatest part were of opinion, that "they ought to persevere in the
war, and that the tyrant should be altogether got rid of; otherwise
the liberty of Greece would never be secure. That it would have been
much better never to have entered on the war than to drop it after it
was begun; for this would be a kind of approbation of his tyrannical
usurpation, and which would establish him more firmly, as giving the
countenance of the Roman people to his ill-acquired authority, and
that he would quickly spirit up many in other states to plot against
the liberty of their countrymen." The wishes of the general himself
tended rather to peace; for he saw that, as the enemy was shut up in
the town, nothing remained but a siege, and that must be very tedious.
For it was not Gythium that they must besiege, though even that place
had been gained by capitulation, not by assault; but Lacedaemon, a
city most powerful in men and arms. The only hope which they
could have formed was, that, on the first approach of their army,
dissensions and insurrections might have been raised within: but,
though the standards had been seen to advance almost to the gates,
not one person had stirred. To this he added, that "Villius the
ambassador, returning from Antiochus, brought intelligence, that the
peace was an unsound one; and that the king had come over into Europe
with a much more powerful armament by sea and land than before. Now,
if the army should be engaged in the siege of Lacedaemon, with what
other forces could the war be maintained against a king of his great
power and strength?" These arguments he urged openly; but beneath all
this there lay a concealed anxiety lest one of the new consuls
should be appointed to the province of Greece; and then the honour of
terminating the war, in which he had proceeded so far, must be yielded
to a successor.
34. Finding that he could not, by opposition, make any alteration
in the sentiments of the allies, by pretending to go over to their
opinion, he led them all into a concurrence in his plan. "Be it so,"
said he, "and may success attend us: let us lay siege to Lacedaemon,
since that is your choice. However, as a business so slow in its
progress, as you know the besieging of cities to be, very often wears
out the patience of the besiegers sooner than that of the besieged,
you ought at once to make up your minds to this, that we must pass the
winter under the walls of Lacedaemon. If this delay involved only toil
and danger, I would recommend to you to prepare your minds and bodies
to support these. But, in the present case, vast expenses also will
be requisite for the construction of works, for machines and engines,
sufficient for the siege of so great a city, and for procuring stores
of provisions for the winter to serve you and us: therefore, to
prevent your being suddenly disconcerted, or shamefully deserting an
enterprise which you had engaged in, I think it will be necessary for
you to write home to your respective states, and learn what degree of
spirit and of strength each possesses. Of auxiliary troops I have a
sufficient number, and to spare; but the more numerous we are, the
more numerous will be our wants. The country of the enemy has nothing
left but the naked soil. Besides, the winter is at hand, which will
render it difficult to convey what we may stand in need of from
distant places." This speech first turned their thoughts to the
domestic evils prevailing in their several states; the indolence of
those who remained at home; the envy and misrepresentations to which
those who were serving abroad were liable; that a state of freedom
was a difficult one in which to procure unanimity; the want of public
funds, and people's backwardness to contribute out of their private
property. Their inclinations being thus suddenly changed, they gave
full power to the general, to do whatever he judged conducive to the
general interest of the Roman people and their allies.
35. Then Quinctius, consulting only his lieutenant-generals and
military tribunes, drew up the following conditions on which peace
should be made with the tyrant: "That there should be a suspension of
arms for six months, between Nabis on one part, and the Romans, king
Eumenes, and the Rhodians on the other. That Titus Quinctius and Nabis
should immediately send ambassadors to Rome, in order that the peace
might be ratified by authority of the senate. That, whatever day a
written copy of these conditions should be delivered to Nabis, on that
day should the armistice commence; and, within ten days after, his
garrisons should be withdrawn from Argos, and all other towns in
the territory of the Argives; all which towns should be entirely
evacuated, restored to freedom, and delivered to the Romans. That no
slave, whether belonging to the king, the public, or a private person,
be removed out of any of them; and if any had been removed before,
that they be faithfully restored to their owners. That he should
return the ships, which he had taken from the maritime states; and
should not have any other than two barks; and these to be navigated
with no more than sixteen oars. That he should restore to all the
states in alliance with the Roman people, the prisoners and deserters
in his hands; and to the Messenians, all the effects that could be
discovered, and which their possessors could own. That he should,
likewise, restore to the exiled Lacedaemonians their children, and
their wives, who chose to follow their husbands; provided that no
woman should be obliged, against her will, to go with her husband into
exile. That such of the mercenary soldiers of Nabis as had deserted
him, and gone either to their own countries or to the Romans, should
have all their effects faithfully returned to them. That he should
hold possession of no city in the island of Crete; and that such as
were then in his possession should be given up to the Romans. That
he should not form any alliance, or wage war, with any of the Cretan
states, or with any other. That he should withdraw all his garrisons
from those cities, which he should give up, and which had put
themselves, and their country, under the dominion and protection of
the Roman people; and should take care that, in future, he should
restrain both himself and his subjects from molesting them. That he
should not build any town or fort in his own, or any other territory.
That, to secure the performance of these conditions, he should give
five hostages, such as the Roman general should choose, and among
them his own son: and should pay, at present, one hundred talents of
silver; and fifty talents, annually, for eight years."
36. These articles were put into writing, and sent into Lacedaemon,
the camp having been removed, and brought nearer to the town. The
tyrant saw nothing in them that gave him much satisfaction, excepting
that, beyond his hopes, no mention had been made of bringing back the
exiles. But what mortified him most of all, was, the depriving him of
his shipping, and of the maritime towns: for the sea had been a source
of great profit to him; his piratical vessels having continually
infested the whole coast from the promontory of Malea. Besides, he
found in the young men of those towns recruits for his army, who made
by far the best of his soldiers. Though he discussed those conditions
in private with his confidential friends, yet, as the ministers in the
courts of kings, faithless in other respects, are particularly so
with respect to the concealing of secrets, rumour soon made them
all public. The public, in general, expressed not so great a
disapprobation of the whole of the terms, as did individuals, of the
articles particularly affecting themselves. Those who had the wives
of the exiles in marriage, or had possessed themselves of any of their
property, were provoked, as if they were to lose what was their own,
and not to make restitution of what belonged to others. The slaves,
who had been set at liberty by the tyrant, perceived plainly, not only
that their enfranchisement would be annulled, but that their servitude
would be much more severe than it had been before, when they should
be again put under the power of their incensed masters. The mercenary
soldiers were dissatisfied, because, in consequence of a peace, their
pay would cease; and they knew also, that they could not return among
their own countrymen, who detested not tyrants more than they did
their abettors.
37. They at first spoke of these matters, in their circles, with
murmurs of discontent; and afterwards, suddenly ran to arms. From
which tumultuous proceeding, the tyrant perceived that the passions
of the multitude were of themselves sufficiently inflamed, and
immediately ordered a general assembly to be summoned. Here he
explained to them the terms which the Romans strove to impose, to
which he falsely added others, more severe and humiliating. While,
on the mention of each particular, sometimes the whole assembly,
sometimes different parties, raised a shout of disapprobation, he
asked them, "What answer they wished him to give; or what they would
have him do?" On which all, as it were with one voice, cried out, "To
give no answer, to continue the war;" and they began, as is common
with a multitude, every one to encourage the rest, to keep up their
spirits, and cherish good hopes, observing, that "fortune favours the
brave." Animated by these expressions, the tyrant assured them, that
Antiochus, and the Aetolians, would come to their assistance; and
that he had, in the mean time, resources abundantly sufficient for the
maintenance of a siege. The very mention of peace had vanished from
the minds of all, and unable to contain themselves longer in quiet,
they ran out in parties against the advanced guards of the enemy.
The sally of these few skirmishers, and the weapons which they threw,
immediately removed all doubt from the Romans that the war was to
continue. During the four following days, several slight encounters
took place, at first without any decisive result; but, on the fifth
day after, in a kind of regular engagement, the Lacedaemonians
were beaten back into the town, in such a panic, that several Roman
soldiers, pressing close on the rear of the fugitives, entered the
city through open spaces, not secured with a wall, of which, at that
time, there were several.
38. Then Quinctius, having, by this repulse, effectually checked the
sallies of the enemy, and being fully convinced that he had now no
alternative, but must besiege the city, sent persons to bring up all
the marine forces from Gythium; and, in the mean time, rode himself,
with some military tribunes, round the walls, to take a view of the
situation of the place. In former times, Sparta had no wall; of late,
the tyrants had built walls in the places where the ground Was open
and level; but the higher places, and those more difficult of access,
they secured by placing guards of soldiers instead of fortifications.
When he had sufficiently examined every circumstance, having resolved
on making a general assault, he surrounded the city with all his
forces, the number of which, Romans and allies, horse and foot, naval
and land forces, all together, amounted to fifty thousand men.
Some brought scaling-ladders, some fire-brands, some other matters,
wherewith they might not only assail the enemy, but strike terror. The
orders were, that on raising the shout, all should advance at once, in
order that the Lacedaemonians, being alarmed at the same time in every
quarter, might be at a loss where, first, to make head, or whither to
bring aid. The main force of his army he formed in three divisions,
and ordered one to attack on the side of the Phoebeum, another on that
of the Dictynneum, and the third near a place called Heptagoniae, all
which are open places without walls. Though surrounded on all sides by
such a violent alarm, the tyrant, at first, attentive to every sudden
shout and hasty message, either ran up himself, or sent others,
wherever the greatest danger pressed; but, afterwards, he was so
stunned by the horror and confusion that prevailed all around, as to
become incapable either of giving proper directions, or of hearing
what was said, and to lose, not only his judgment, but almost his
reason.
39. For some time the Lacedaemonians maintained their ground against
the Romans, in the narrow passes; and three armies, on each side,
fought, at one time, in different places. Afterwards, when the heat of
the contest increased, the contest was, by no means, an equal one: for
the Lacedaemonians fought with missile arms, against which the Roman
soldiers, by means of their large shields, easily defended themselves,
and many of their blows either missed, or were very weak; for, the
narrowness of the place causing them to be closely crowded together,
they neither had room to discharge their weapons with a previous run,
which gives great force to them, nor clear and steady footing while
they made their throw Of those, therefore, discharged against the
front of the Romans, none pierced their bodies, few even their
shields; but several were wounded by those who surrounded them from
higher places. And presently, when they advanced a little, they were
hurt unawares, both with javelins, and tiles also thrown from the tops
of the houses. On this they raised their shields over their heads;
and joining them so close together as to leave no room for injury from
such random casts, or even for the insertion of a javelin, by a hand
within reach, they pressed forward under cover of this tortoise fence.
For some time the narrow streets, being thronged with a multitude of
their own soldiers, and also of the enemy, considerably retarded the
progress of the Romans; but when once, by gradually pushing back the
enemy, they gained the wider streets of the city, the impetuosity of
their attack could no longer be withstood. While the Lacedaemonians,
having turned their backs, fled precipitately to the higher places,
Nabis, being utterly confounded, as if the town were already taken,
began to look about for a way to make his escape. Pythagoras, while in
other respects he displayed the spirit and conduct of a general, was
now the sole means of saving the city from being taken. For he ordered
the buildings nearest to the wall to be set on fire; and these being
instantly in a blaze, those who, on another occasion, would have
brought help to extinguish the fire, now helping to increase it, the
roofs tumbled on the Romans; and not only fragments of the tiles, but
also the half-burned timber, reached the soldiers: the flames spread
wide, and the smoke caused a degree of terror even greater than the
danger. In consequence, the Romans who were without the city, and
were just then making the principal attack, retired from the wall;
and those who were within, fearing lest the fire, rising behind them,
should put it out of their power to rejoin the rest of the army, began
to retreat. Whereupon Quinctius, seeing how matters stood, ordered a
general retreat to be sounded.--Thus, being at length recalled from a
city which they had nearly taken, they returned to their camp.
40. Quinctius, conceiving greater hopes from the fears of the enemy
than from the immediate effect of his operations, kept them in a
continual alarm during the three succeeding days; sometimes harassing
them with assaults, sometimes enclosing several places with works,
so as to leave no passage open for flight. These menaces had such an
effect on the tyrant that he again sent Pythagoras to solicit peace.
Quinctius, at first, rejected him with disdain, ordering him to quit
the camp; but afterwards, on his suppliant entreaties, and throwing
himself at his feet, he admitted him to an audience. The purport of
his discourse, at first, was, an offer of implicit submission to the
will of the Romans; but this availed nothing, being considered as
nugatory and indecisive. The business was, at length, brought to this
issue, that a truce should be made on the conditions delivered in
writing a few days before, and the money and hostages were accordingly
received. While the tyrant was kept shut up by the siege, the Argives,
receiving frequent accounts, one after another, that Lacedaemon was on
the point of being taken, and having themselves resumed courage on
the departure of Pythagoras, with the strongest part of his garrison,
looked now with contempt on the small number remaining in the citadel;
and, being headed by a person named Archippus, drove the garrison
out. They gave Timocrates, of Pellene, leave to retire, with solemn
assurance of sparing his life, in consideration of the mildness
which he had shown in his government. In the midst of this rejoicing,
Quinctius arrived, after having granted peace to the tyrant, dismissed
Eumenes and the Rhodians from Lacedaemon, and sent back his brother,
Lucius Quinctius, to the fleet.
41. The Nemaean games, the most celebrated of all the festivals, and
their most splendid public spectacle, had been omitted, at the regular
time, on account of the disasters of the war: the state now, in the
fulness of their joy, ordered them to be celebrated on the arrival of
the Roman general and his army; and appointed the general, himself,
president of the games. There were many circumstances which heightened
their happiness: their countrymen, whom Pythagoras, lately, and,
before that, Nabis, had carried away, were brought home from
Lacedaemon; those who on the discovery of the conspiracy by
Pythagoras, and when the massacre was already begun, had fled from
home, now returned; they saw their liberty restored, after a long
interval, and beheld, in their city, the Romans, the authors of its
restoration, whose only view, in making war on the tyrant, was the
support of their interest. The freedom of the Argives was, also,
solemnly announced, by the voice of a herald, on the very day of the
Nemaean games. Whatever pleasure the Achaeans felt on Argos being
reinstated in the general council of Achaia, it was, in a great
measure, alloyed by Lacedaemon being left in slavery, and the tyrant
close at their side. As to the Aetolians, they loudly railed at that
measure in every meeting. They remarked, that "the war with Philip was
not ended until he evacuated all the cities of Greece. But Lacedaemon
was left to the tyrant, while the lawful king, who had been, at the
time, in the Roman camp, and others, the noblest of the citizens, must
live in exile: so that the Roman nation was become a partisan of Nabis
in his tyranny." Quinctius led back his army to Elatia, whence he had
set out to the Spartan war. Some writers say, that the tyrant's method
of carrying on hostilities was not by sallies from the city, but that
he encamped in the face of the Romans; and that, after he had declined
fighting a long time, waiting for succours from the Aetolians, he was
forced to come to an engagement, by an attack which the Romans made on
his foragers, when, being defeated in that battle, and beaten out of
his camp, he sued for peace, after fifteen thousand of his men had
been killed, and more than four thousand made prisoners.
42. Nearly at the same time, arrived at Rome a letter from Titus
Quinctius, with an account of his proceedings at Lacedaemon; and
another, out of Spain, from Marcus Porcius, the consul; whereupon the
senate decreed a supplication, for three days, in the name of each.
The other consul, Lucius Valerius, as his province had remained quiet
since the defeat of the Boians at the wood of Litana, came home to
Rome to hold the elections. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, a
second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus, were elected consuls. The
fathers of these two had been consuls in the first year of the second
Punic war. The election of praetors was then held, and the choice
fell on Publius Cornelius Scipio, two Cneius Corneliuses, Merenda
and Blasio, Cneius Domitius Aenobarbus, Sextus Digitius, and Titus
Juvencius Thalna. As soon as the elections were finished, the consul
returned to his province. The inhabitants of Ferentinum, this year,
laid claim to a privilege unheard of before; that Latins, giving in
their names for a Roman colony, should be deemed citizens of Rome.
Some colonists, who had given in their names for Puteoli, Salernum,
and Buxentum, assumed, on that ground, the character of Roman
citizens; but the senate determined that they were not.
43. In the beginning of the year, wherein Publius Scipio Africanus,
a second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus were consuls, two
ambassadors from the tyrant Nabis came to Rome. The senate gave them
audience in the temple of Apollo, outside the city. They entreated
that a peace might be concluded on the terms settled with Quinctius,
and obtained their request. When the question was put concerning the
provinces, the majority of the senate were of opinion, that as the
wars in Spain and Macedonia were at an end, Italy should be the
province of both the consuls; but Scipio contended that one consul was
sufficient for Italy, and that Macedonia ought to be decreed to the
other; that "there was every reason to apprehend a dangerous war with
Antiochus, for he had already, of his own accord, come into Europe;
and how did they suppose he would act in future, when he should be
encouraged to a war, on one hand, by the Aetolians, avowed enemies
of their state, and stimulated, on the other, by Hannibal, a general
famous for his victories over the Romans?" While the consular
provinces were in dispute, the praetors cast lots for theirs. The city
jurisdiction fell to Cneius Domitius; the foreign, to Titus Juvencius:
Farther Spain, to Publius Cornelius; Hither Spain, to Sextus Digitius;
Sicily, to Cneius Cornelius Blasio; Sardinia, to Cneius Cornelius
Merenda. It was resolved, that no new army should be sent into
Macedonia, but that the one which was there should be brought home to
Italy by Quinctius, and disbanded; that the army which was in Spain,
under Marcus Porcius Cato, should likewise be disbanded; that Italy
should be the province of both the consuls, and that they should
raise two city legions; so that, after the disbanding of the armies,
mentioned in the resolution of the senate, there should be in all
eight Roman legions.
44. A sacred spring had been celebrated, in the preceding year, during
the consulate of Marcus Porcius and Lucius Valerius; but Publius
Licinius, one of the pontiffs, having made a report, first, to
the college of pontiffs, and afterwards, under the sanction of the
college, to the senate, that it had not been duly performed, they
resolved, that it should be celebrated anew, under the direction of
the pontiffs; and that the great games, vowed together with it, should
be exhibited at the same expense which was customary; that the sacred
spring should be deemed to comprehend all the cattle born between the
calends of March and the day preceding the calends of May, in the year
of the consulate of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius
Longus. Then followed the election of censors. Sextus Aelius Paetus,
and Caius Cornelius Cethegus, being created censors, named as prince
of the senate the consul Publius Scipio, whom the former censors
likewise had appointed. They passed by only three senators in the
whole, none of whom had enjoyed the honour of a curule office. They
obtained, on another account, the highest degree of credit with that
body; for, at the celebration of the Roman games, they ordered the
curule aediles to set apart places for the senators, distinct from
those of the people, whereas, hitherto, all the spectators used to sit
promiscuously. Of the knights, also, very few were deprived of their
horses; nor was severity shown towards any rank of men. The gallery
of the temple of Liberty, and the Villa Publica, were repaired and
enlarged by the same censors. The sacred spring, and the votive games,
were celebrated, pursuant to the vow of Servius Sulpicius Galba, when
consul. While every one's thoughts were engaged by the shows then
exhibited, Quintus Pleminius, who, for the many crimes against gods
and men committed by him at Locri, had been thrown into prison,
procured men who were to set fire by night to several parts of
the city at once, in order that, while the town was thrown into
consternation by this nocturnal disturbance, the prison might be
broken open. But this plot was disclosed by some of the accomplices,
and the affair was laid before the senate. Pleminius was thrown into a
lower dungeon, and there put to death.
45. In this year colonies of Roman citizens were settled at Puteoli,
Vulturnum, and Liternum; three hundred men in each place. Colonies of
Roman citizens were likewise established at Salernum and Buxentum.
The lands allotted to them had formerly belonged to the Campanians.
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, who was then consul, Marcus Servilius, and
Quintus Minucius Thermus, were the triumviri who settled the colony.
Other commissioners also, Decius Junius Brutus, Marcus Baebius
Tamphilus, and Marcus Helvius, led a colony of Roman citizens to
Sipontum, into a district which had belonged to the Arpinians. To
Tempsa, likewise, and to Croto, colonies of Roman citizens were led
out. The lands of Tempsa had been taken from the Bruttians, who had
formerly expelled the Greeks from them. Croto was possessed by Greeks.
In ordering these establishments, there were named, for Croto,--Cneius
Octavius, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and Caius Pletorius; for
Tempsa,--Lucius Cornelius Merula, and Caius Salonius. Several
prodigies were observed at Rome that year, and others reported, from
other places. In the forum, comitium, and Capitol, drops of blood were
seen, and several showers of earth fell, and the head of Vulcan was
surrounded with a blaze of fire. It was reported that a stream of milk
ran in the river at Interamna; that, in some reputable families at
Ariminum, children were born without eyes and nose; and one, in the
territory of Picenum, that had neither hands nor feet. These prodigies
were expiated according to an order of the pontiffs; and the
nine days' festival was celebrated, because the Hadrians had sent
intelligence that a shower of stones had fallen in their fields.
46. In Gaul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, proconsul, in a pitched battle
near Mediolanum, completely overthrew the Insubrian Gauls, and the
Boians; who, under the command of Dorulacus, had crossed the Po, to
rouse the Insubrians to arms. Ten thousand of the enemy were slain.
About this time his colleague, Marcus Porcius Cato, triumphed over
Spain. He carried in the procession twenty-five thousand pounds'
weight of unwrought silver, one hundred and three thousand silver
denarii,[1] five hundred and forty of Oscan silver,[2] and one
thousand four hundred pounds' weight of gold. Out of the booty,
he distributed to each of his soldiers two hundred and seventy
_asses_;[3] and three times that amount to each horseman. Tiberius
Sempronius, consul, proceeding to his province, led his legions,
first, into the territory of the Boians. At this time Boiorix their
chieftain, with his two brothers, after having drawn out the whole
nation into the field to renew the war, pitched his camp in the open
country, that it might be evident that he was prepared to fight in
case the enemy should pass the frontiers. When the consul understood
what a numerous force and what a degree of resolution the enemy had,
he sent an express to his colleague, requesting him, "if he thought
proper, to hasten to join him;" adding, that "he would act on the
defensive, and defer engaging in battle, until his arrival." The same
reason which made the consul wish to decline an action, induced
the Gauls, whose spirits were raised by the backwardness of their
antagonists, to bring it on as soon as possible, that they might
finish the affair before the two consuls should unite their forces.
However, during two days, they did nothing more than stand in
readiness for battle, if any should come out against them. On the
third, they advanced furiously to the rampart, and assaulted the camp
on every side at once. The consul immediately ordered his men to take
arms, and kept them quiet, under arms, for some time; both to add to
the foolish confidence of the enemy, and to arrange his troops at the
gates, through which each party was to sally out. The two legions were
ordered to march by the two principal gates; but, in the very pass of
the gates, the Gauls opposed them in such close bodies as to stop up
the way. The fight was maintained a long time in these narrow passes;
nor were their hands or swords much employed in the business, but
pushing with their shields and bodies, they pressed against each
other, the Romans struggling to force their standards beyond the
gates, the Gauls, to break into the camp, or, at least, to hinder the
Romans from issuing forth. However, neither party could make the least
impression on the other, until Quintus Victorius, a first centurion,
and Caius Atinius, a military tribune, the former of the second,
the latter of the fourth legion, had taken a course often tried in
desperate conflicts; snatching the standards from the officers who
carried them, and throwing them among the enemy. In the struggle to
recover the standards, the men of the second legion first made their
way out of the gate.
[Footnote 1: 397l. 17s. 6d.]
[Footnote 2: 17l. 8s. 9d.]
[Footnote 3: 17s. 5-1/2d.]
47. These were now fighting on the outside of the rampart, the fourth
legion still entangled in the gate, when a new alarm arose on the
opposite side of the camp. The Gauls had broke in by the Quaestorian
gate, and had slain the quaestor, Lucius Postumius, surnamed Tympanus,
with Marcus Atinius and Publius Sempronius, praefects of the allies,
who made an obstinate resistance; and also, near two hundred soldiers.
The camp in that part had been taken, when a cohort of those who are
called Extraordinaries, having been sent by the consul to defend the
Quaestorian gate, killed some who had got within the rampart, drove
out the rest, and opposed others who were attempting to break
in. About the same time, the fourth legion, and two cohorts of
Extraordinaries, burst out of the gate; and thus there were three
battles, in different places, round the camp; while the various kinds
of shouts raised by them, called off the attention of the combatants
from their own immediate conflict to the uncertain casualties which
threatened their friends. The battle was maintained until mid-day with
equal strength, and with nearly equal hopes. At length, the fatigue
and heat so far got the better of the soft relaxed bodies of the
Gauls, who are incapable of enduring thirst, as to make most of them
give up the fight; and the few who stood their ground, were attacked
by the Romans, routed, and driven to their camp. The consul then gave
the signal for retreat, on which the greater part retired; but some,
eager to continue the fight, and hoping to get possession of the camp,
pressed forward to the rampart, on which the Gauls, despising their
small number, rushed out in a body. The Romans were then routed in
turn, and compelled, by their own fear and dismay, to retreat to their
camp, which they had refused to do at the command of their general.
Thus now flight and now victory alternated on both sides. The Gauls,
however, had eleven thousand killed, the Romans but five thousand. The
Gauls retreated into the heart of their country, and the consul led
his legions to Placentia. Some writers say, that Scipio, after joining
his forces to those of his colleague, overran and plundered the
country of the Boians and Ligurians, as far as the woods and marshes
suffered him to proceed; others, that, without having effected any
thing material, he returned to Rome to hold the elections.
48. Titus Quinctius passed the entire winter season of this year at
Elatia, where he had established the winter quarters of his army, in
adjusting political arrangements, and reversing the measures which had
been introduced in the several states under the arbitrary domination
of Philip and his deputies, who crushed the rights and liberties of
others, in order to augment the power of those who formed a faction
in their favour. Early in the spring he came to Corinth, where he had
summoned a general convention. Ambassadors having attended from every
one of the states, so as to form a numerous assembly, he addressed
them in a long speech, in which, beginning from the first commencement
of friendship between the Romans and the nation of the Greeks, he
enumerated the proceedings of the commanders who had been in Macedonia
before him, and likewise his own. His whole narration was heard with
the warmest approbation, except when he came to make mention of
Nabis; and then they expressed their opinion, that it was utterly
inconsistent with the character of the deliverer of Greece to have
left seated, in the centre of one of its most respectable states,
a tyrant, who was not only insupportable to his own country, but a
terror to all the states in his neighbourhood. Whereupon Quinctius,
not unacquainted with this tendency of their feelings, freely
acknowledged, that "if the business could have been accomplished
without the entire destruction of Lacedaemon, no mention of peace with
the tyrant ought ever to have been listened to; but that, when it was
not possible to crush him otherwise than by the utter ruin of this
most important city, it was judged more eligible to leave the tyrant
in a state of debility, stripped of almost every kind of power to do
injury to any, than to suffer the city, which must have perished in
the very process of its delivery being effectuated, to sink under
remedies too violent for it to support."
49. To the recital of matters past, he subjoined, that "his intention
was to depart shortly for Italy, and to carry with him all his troops;
that they should hear, within ten days, of the garrisons having
evacuated Demetrias; and that Chalcis, the citadel of Corinth, should
be before their own eyes evacuated to the Achaeans: that all the world
might know whose habit it was to deceive, that of the Romans or the
Aetolians, who had spread insinuations, that the cause of liberty had
been unwisely intrusted to the Romans, and that they had only received
as their masters the Romans in exchange for the Macedonians. But they
were men who never scrupled what they either said or did. The rest of
the nations he advised to form their estimate of friends from deeds,
not from words; and to satisfy themselves whom they ought to trust,
and against whom they ought to be on their guard; to use their liberty
with moderation: for, when regulated by prudence, it was productive
of happiness both to individuals and to states; but, when pushed to
excess, it became not only obnoxious to others, but to the possessors
of it themselves an unbridled and headstrong impulse. He recommended,
that those at the head of affairs, and all the several ranks of men
in each particular state, should cultivate harmony between themselves;
and that all should direct their views to the general interest of the
whole. For, while they acted in concert, no king or tyrant would be
sufficiently powerful against them: but discord and dissension gave
every advantage to those who might plot against them; as the
party worsted in a domestic dispute generally join themselves with
foreigners, rather than submit to a countryman of their own. He then
exhorted them, as the arms of others had procured their liberty, and
the good faith of foreigners had restored it to them, to apply now
their own diligent care to the watching and guarding of it; that
the Roman people might perceive that those on whom they had bestowed
liberty were deserving of it, and that their kindness had not been ill
placed."
50. On hearing these admonitions, such as parental tenderness might
dictate, every one present shed tears of joy; and they affected his
feelings to such a degree as to interrupt his discourse. For some
time a confused noise prevailed, from those who were expressing their
approbation of his words, and charging each other to treasure up those
expressions in their minds and hearts, as if they had been uttered by
an oracle. Then silence ensuing, he requested of them to make diligent
search for such Roman citizens as were in servitude among them, and to
send them into Thessaly to him, within two months; observing, that
"it would not be honourable to themselves, that, in a land restored
to liberty, its deliverers should remain in servitude." To this all
exclaimed with acclamations that they returned him thanks on this
account in addition to others, that they had been reminded of the
discharge of a duty so indispensably incumbent on their gratitude.
There was a vast number of these who had been made prisoners in the
Punic war, and sold by Hannibal when their countrymen refused to
ransom them. That they were very numerous, is proved by what Polybius
says, that this business cost the Achaeans one hundred talents,[1]
though they had fixed the price to be paid for each captive, to the
owner, so low as five hundred denarii.[2] For, at that rate, there
were one thousand two hundred in Achaia. Calculate now, in proportion
to this, how many were probably in all Greece.
[Footnote 1: 19,375l.]
[Footnote 2: 16l. 2s. 11d.]
51. Before the convention broke up, they saw the garrison march down
from the citadel of Corinth, proceed forward to the gate, and depart.
The general followed them, accompanied by the whole assembly, who,
with loud acclamations, blessed him as their preserver and deliverer.
At length, taking leave of these, and dismissing them, he returned to
Elatia by the same road through which he came. He thence sent Appius
Claudius, lieutenant-general, with all the troops, ordering him to
march through Thessaly and Epirus, and to wait for him at Oricum,
whence he intended to embark the army for Italy. He also wrote to his
brother, Lucius Quinctius, lieutenant-general, and commander of the
fleet, to collect thither transport ships from all the coasts of
Greece. He himself proceeded to Chalcis; and, after sending away
the garrisons, not only from that city, but likewise from Oreum and
Eretria, he held there a congress of the Euboean states, whom he
reminded of the condition in which he had found their affairs, and of
that in which he was leaving them; and then dismissed the assembly. He
then proceeded to Demetrias, and removed the garrison. Accompanied by
all the citizens, as at Corinth and Chalcis, he pursued his route into
Thessaly, where the states were not only to be set at liberty, but
also to be reduced from a state of utter anarchy and confusion into
some tolerable order; for they had been thrown into confusion,
not only through the faults of the times, and the violence and
licentiousness of royalty, but also through the restless disposition
of the nation, who, from the earliest times, even to our days,
have never conducted any election, or assembly, or council, without
dissensions and tumult. He chose both senators and judges, with
regard, principally, to their property, and made that party the most
powerful in the state to whom it was most important that all things
should be tranquil and secure.
52. When he had completed these regulations in Thessaly, he went on,
through Epirus, to Oricum, whence he intended to take his passage.
From Oricum all the troops were transported to Brundusium. From this
place to the city, they passed the whole length of Italy, in a manner,
like a triumph; the captured effects which they brought with them
forming a train as large as that of the troops themselves. When they
arrived at Rome, the senate assembled outside the city, to receive
from Quinctius a recital of his services; and, with high satisfaction,
a well-merited triumph was decreed him. His triumph lasted three days.
On the first day were carried in procession, armour, weapons, brazen
and marble statues of which he had taken greater numbers from Philip
than from the states of Greece. On the second, gold and silver
wrought, unwrought, and coined. Of unwrought silver, there were
eighteen thousand pounds' weight; and of wrought, two hundred and
seventy thousand; consisting of many vessels of various sorts, most of
them engraved, and several of exquisite workmanship; also a great many
others made of brass; and besides these, ten shields of silver. The
coined silver amounted to eighty-four thousand of the Attic coin,
called Tetradrachmus, containing each of silver about the weight of
four denarii.[1] Of gold there were three thousand seven hundred and
fourteen pounds, and one shield wholly of gold: and of the gold coin
called Philippics, fourteen thousand five hundred and fourteen.[2]
On the third day were carried golden crowns, presented by the several
states, in number one hundred and fourteen; then the victims. Before
his chariot went many illustrious persons, captives and hostages,
among whom were Demetrius, son of king Philip, and Armenes, a
Lacedaemonian, son of the tyrant Nabis. Then Quinctius himself rode
into the city, followed by a numerous body of soldiers, as the
whole army had been brought home from the province. Among these he
distributed two hundred and fifty _asses_[3] to each footman, double
to a centurion, triple to a horseman. Those who had been redeemed from
captivity added to the grandeur of the procession, walking after him
with their heads shaven.
[Footnote 1: 10,849l. 18s.]
[Footnote 2: 936l. 10s.]
[Footnote 3: 16s. 1-1/4d.]
53. In the latter part of this year Quintus Aelius Tubero, plebeian
tribune, in pursuance of a decree of the senate, proposed to the
people, and the people ordered, that "two Latin colonies should be
settled, one in Bruttium, the other in the territory of Thurium." For
making these settlements commissioners were appointed, who were to
hold the office for three years; for Bruttium, Quintus Naevius, Marcus
Minucius Rufus, and Marcus Furius Crassipes; and for the district
of Thurium, Cneius Manlius, Quintus Aelius, and Lucius Apustius. The
assemblies of election to these two appointments were held in the
Capitol by Cneius Domitius, city praetor. Several temples were
dedicated this year: one of Juno Sospita, in the herb market, vowed
and contracted for four years before, in the time of the Gallic
war, by Cneius Cornelius, consul; and the same person, now censor,
performed the dedication. Another of Faunus, the building of which
had been agreed for two years before, and a fund formed for it out of
fines estreated by the aediles, Caius Scribonius and Cneius Domitius;
the latter of whom, now city praetor, dedicated it. Quintus Marcius
Ralla, constituted commissioner for the purpose, dedicated the temple
of Fortuna Primigenia, on the Quirinal Hill. Publius Sempronius Sophus
had vowed this temple ten years before, in the Punic war; and, being
afterwards censor, had employed persons to build it. Caius Servilius,
duumvir, also dedicated a temple of Jupiter, in the island. This
had been vowed in the Gallic war, six years before, by Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who afterwards, when consul, contracted for the
building.--Such were the transactions of that year.
54. Publius Scipio came home from his province of Gaul to choose new
consuls. The consular comitia were accordingly held, in which Lucius
Cornelius Merula and Quintus Minucius Thermus were chosen. Next
day were chosen praetors, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, Caius Scribonius, Marcus Valerius Messala, Lucius Porcius
Licinus, and Caius Flaminius. The curule aediles of this year, Caius
Atilius Serranus and Lucius Scribonius, first exhibited the Megalesian
theatrical games. At the Roman games, celebrated by these aediles, the
senators, for the first time, sat separate from the people, which, as
every innovation usually does, gave occasion to various observations.
Some considered this as "an honour, shown at length to that most
respectable body, and which ought to have been done long before;"
while others contended, that "every addition made to the grandeur of
the senate was a diminution of the dignity of the people; and that all
such distinctions as set the orders of the state at a distance from
each other, were equally subversive of liberty and concord. During
five hundred and fifty-eight years," they asserted, "all the
spectators had sat promiscuously: what reason then had now occurred,
on a sudden, that should make the senators disdain to have the commons
intermixed with them in the theatre, or make the rich disdain the poor
man as a fellow-spectator? It was an unprecedented gratification
of pride and over-bearing vanity, never even desired, and never
instituted, by the senate of any other nation." It is said, that even
Africanus himself at last became sorry for having proposed that matter
in his consulship: so difficult is it to bring people to approve of
any alteration of ancient customs; they are always naturally disposed
to adhere to old practices, except those which experience evidently
condemns.
55. In the beginning of the year, which was the consulate of Lucius
Cornelius and Quintus Minucius, such frequent reports of earthquakes
were brought, that people grew weary, not only of the matter itself,
but of the religious rites enjoined in consequence; for neither could
the senate be convened, nor the business of the public be transacted,
the consuls were so constantly employed in sacrifices and expiations.
At last, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; and, in
pursuance of their answer, a supplication was performed during three
days. People offered prayers at all the shrines, with garlands
on their heads; and an order was published, that all the persons
belonging to one family should pay their worship together; and the
consuls, by direction of the senate, published an edict, that, on any
day whereon religious rites should be ordered, in consequence of the
report of an earthquake, no person should report another earthquake
on that day. Then the consuls first, and afterwards the praetors, cast
lots for their provinces. Cornelius obtained Gaul; Minucius, Liguria;
Caius Scribonius, the city jurisdiction; Marcus Valerius, the foreign;
Lucius Cornelius, Sicily; Lucius Porcius, Sardinia; Caius Flaminius,
Hither Spain; and Marcus Fulvius, Farther Spain.
56. While the consuls supposed that, for that year, they should have
no employment of a military kind, a letter was brought from Marcus
Cincius, who was commander at Pisae, announcing, that "twenty thousand
armed Ligurians, in consequence of a conspiracy of that whole nation,
formed in the meetings of their several districts, had first wasted
the lands of Luna, and then, passing through the territory of Pisae,
had overrun the whole sea-coast." In consequence of this intelligence,
the consul Minucius, whose province Liguria was, by direction of
the senate, mounted the rostrum, and published orders, that "the two
legions, enlisted the year before, should, on the tenth day from that,
attend him at Arretium;" and mentioned his intention of levying two
legions for the city in their stead. He likewise gave notice to the
magistrates and ambassadors of such of the allies, and of the Latin
confederates, as were bound to furnish soldiers, to attend him in the
Capitol. Of these he wrote out a list, amounting to fifteen thousand
foot and five hundred horse, proportioning the contingent of each
state to the number of its young men, and ordered those present to
go directly from the spot to the gate of the city; and, in order to
expedite the business, to proceed to raise the men. To Fulvius and
Flaminius were assigned, to each three thousand Roman foot, and a
reinforcement of one hundred horse, with five thousand foot of the
Latin allies, and two hundred horse; and orders were given to those
praetors, to disband the old troops immediately on their arrival in
their provinces. Although great numbers of the soldiers belonging to
the city legions had made application to the plebeian tribunes, to
take cognizance of the cases of such men as claimed exemption from the
service, on account either of having served out their time, or of bad
health; yet a letter from Tiberius Sempronius banished all thoughts of
such proceeding; for in this it was announced that "fifteen thousand
of the Ligurians had come into the lands of Placentia, and wasted them
with fire and sword, to the very walls of that city and the bank of
the Po; and that the Boian nation were looking out for an occasion to
rebel." In consequence of this information, the senate passed a vote,
that "there was a Gallic tumult subsisting, and that it would be
improper for the plebeian tribunes to take cognizance of the claims
of the soldiers, so as to prevent their attending, pursuant to the
proclamation;" and they added an order, that the Latin confederates,
who had served in the army of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius
Sempronius, and had been discharged by those consuls, should
re-assemble, on whatever day and in whatever place of Etruria the
consul Lucius Cornelius should appoint; and that the consul Lucius
Cornelius, on his way to his province, should enlist, arm, and carry
with him all such persons as he should think fit, in the several towns
and countries through which he was to pass, and should have authority
to discharge such of them, and at such times, as he might judge
proper.
57. After the consuls had finished the levies, and were gone to their
provinces, Titus Quinctius demanded, that "the senate should receive
an account of the regulations which he in concert with the ten
ambassadors, had settled; and, if they thought proper, ratify them by
their authority." He told them, that "they would accomplish this the
more easily, if they were first to give audience to the ambassadors,
who had come from all parts of Greece, and a great part of Asia, and
to those from the two kings." These embassies were introduced to the
senate by the city praetor, Caius Scribonius, and all received kind
answers. As the discussion of the affair with Antiochus required too
much time, it was referred to the ten ambassadors, some of whom had
conferred with the king in Asia, or at Lysimachia. Directions were
given to Titus Quinctius, that, in conjunction with these, he should
listen to the representations of the king's ambassadors, and should
give them such answer as comported with the dignity and interest
of the Roman people. At the head of the embassy were Menippus and
Hegesianax; the former of whom said, that "he could not conceive what
intricacy there was in the business of their embassy, as they came
simply to ask friendship, and conclude an alliance. Now, there were
three kinds of treaties, by which kings and states formed friendships
with each other: one, when terms were dictated to a people vanquished
in war; for after all their possessions have been surrendered to him
who has proved superior in war, he has the sole power of judging and
determining what portion of them the vanquished shall hold, and of
what they shall be deprived. The second, when parties, equally
matched in war, conclude a treaty of peace and friendship on terms
of equality; for then demands are proposed and restitution made,
reciprocally, in a convention; and if, in consequence of the war,
confusion has arisen with respect to any parts of their properties,
the matter is adjusted on the footing either of ancient right or
of the mutual convenience of the parties. The third kind was, when
parties who had never been foes, met to form a friendly union by a
social treaty: these neither dictate nor receive terms, for that is
the case between a victor and a party vanquished. As Antiochus came
under this last description, he wondered, he said, that the Romans
should think it becoming to dictate terms to him; as to which of the
cities of Asia they chose should be free and independent, which should
be tributary, and which of them the king's troops and the king himself
should be prohibited to enter. That a peace of this kind might
be ratified with Philip, who was their enemy, but not a treaty of
alliance with Antiochus, their friend."
58. To this Quinctius answered: "Since you choose to deal
methodically, and enumerate the several modes of contracting
alliances, I also will lay down two conditions, without which you may
tell your king, that there are no means of contracting any friendship
with the Roman people. One, that, he does not choose that we should
concern ourselves in the affairs of the cities in Asia, he must
himself keep entirely out of Europe. The other, that if he does
not confine himself within the limits of Asia, but passes over into
Europe, the Romans will think themselves at full liberty to maintain
the friendships which they have already formed with the states of
Asia, and also to contract new ones." On this Hegesianax exclaimed,
that "this proposition was unworthy to be listened to, as its
tendency was to exclude Antiochus from the cities of Thrace and
the Chersonese,--places which his great-grandfather, Seleucus, had
acquired with great honour, after vanquishing Lysimachus in war and
killing him in battle, and had left to his successors; and part of
which, after they had been seized by the Thracians, Antiochus had,
with equal honour, recovered by force of arms; as well as others which
had been deserted,--as Lysimachia, for instance, he had repeopled, by
calling home the inhabitants;--and several, which had been destroyed
by fire, and buried in ruins, he had rebuilt at a vast expense. What
kind of resemblance was there, then, in the cases of Antiochus being
ejected from possessions so acquired and so recovered; and of the
Romans refraining from intermeddling with Asia, which had never been
theirs? Antiochus wished to obtain the friendship of the Romans; but
so that its acquisition would be to his honour, and not to his shame."
In reply to this, Quinctius said,--"Since we are deliberating on what
would be honourable, and which, indeed with a people who held the
first rank among the nations of the world, and with so great a king,
ought to be the sole, or at least the primary object of regard; tell
me, I pray you, which do you think more honourable, to wish to give
liberty to all the Grecian cities in every part of the world; or to
make them slaves and vassals? Since Antiochus thinks it conducive
to his glory, to reduce to slavery those cities, which his
great-grandfather held by the right of arms, but which his grandfather
or father never occupied as their property while the Roman people,
having undertaken the patronage of the liberty of the Greeks, deem it
incumbent on their faith and constancy not to abandon it. As they
have delivered Greece from Philip, so they have it in contemplation
to deliver, from Antiochus, all the states of Asia which are of the
Grecian race. For colonies were not sent into Aeolia and Ionia to be
enslaved to kings; but with design to increase the population, and to
propagate that ancient race in every part of the globe."
59. When Hegesianax hesitated, and could not deny, that the cause
of liberty carried a more honourable semblance than that of slavery,
Publius Sulpicius, who was the eldest of the ten ambassadors,
said,--"Let us cut the matter short. Choose one of the two conditions
clearly propounded just now by Quinctius; or deem it superfluous to
negotiate about an alliance." But Menippus replied, "We neither will,
nor can, accede to any proposition by which the dominions of
Antiochus would be diminished." Next day, Quinctius brought into the
senate-house all the ambassadors of Greece and Asia, in order that
they might learn the dispositions entertained by the Roman people, and
by Antiochus, towards the Grecian states. He then acquainted them with
his own demands, and those of the king; and desired them to "assure
their respective states, that the same disinterested zeal and courage,
which the Roman people had displayed in defence of their liberty
against the encroachments of Philip, they would, likewise, exert
against those of Antiochus, if he should refuse to retire out of
Europe." On this, Menippus earnestly besought Quinctius and the
senate, "not to be hasty in forming their determination, which, in its
effects, might disturb the peace of the whole world; to take time
to themselves, and allow the king time for consideration; that, when
informed of the conditions proposed, he would consider them, and
either obtain some relaxation in the terms, or accede to them for the
sake of peace." Accordingly, the business was deferred entire; and
a resolution passed, that the same ambassadors should be sent to the
king who had attended him at Lysimachia,--Publius Sulpicius, Publius
Villius, and Publius Aelius.
60. Scarcely had these begun their journey, when ambassadors from
Carthage brought information, that Antiochus was evidently preparing
for war, and that Hannibal was employed in his service; which gave
reason to fear, that a Punic war might break out at the same time.
Hannibal, on leaving his own country, had gone to Antiochus, as was
mentioned before, and was held by the king in high estimation, not
so much for his other qualifications, as because, to a person who had
long been revolving schemes for a war with Rome, there could not be
any fitter participator of his counsels on such a subject. His opinion
was always one and the same, that the war should be carried on in
Italy: because "Italy would supply a foreign enemy both with men and
provisions; but, if it were left in quiet, and the Roman people were
allowed to employ the strength and forces of Italy, in making war
beyond the limits of that country, no king or nation would be able to
cope with them." He demanded, for himself, one hundred decked ships,
ten thousand foot, and one thousand horse. "With this force," he said,
"he would first repair to Africa; and he had confident hopes, that he
should be able to prevail on the Carthaginians to revive hostilities.
If they should hesitate, he would raise a war against the Romans in
some part of Italy. That the king ought to cross over into Europe with
all the rest of his force, and keep his army in some part of Greece;
not to pass over immediately into Italy, but to be in readiness to do
so; which would sufficiently conduce to the imposing character and the
reported magnitude of the war."
61. When he had brought the king to agree in his opinion, he judged it
necessary to predispose the minds of his countrymen to the same;
but he durst not send a letter, lest it might, by some accident, be
intercepted, and his plans by that means, be discovered. He had found
at Ephesus a Tyrian called Aristo, and in several less important
commissions, had discovered him to possess a good degree of ingenuity.
This man he now loaded with presents and promises of rewards which
were confirmed by the king himself, and sent him to Carthage with
messages. He told him the names of the persons whom it was necessary
that he should see, and furnished him with secret tokens, by which
they would know, with certainty, that the messages came from him. On
this Aristo's appearing at Carthage, the reason of his coming was not
discovered by Hannibal's friends sooner than by his enemies. At first,
the subject was bruited about in their circles and at their tables;
and at last some persons declared in the senate that "the banishment
of Hannibal answered no purpose, if while resident in another
country, he was still able to propagate designs for changing
the administration, and disturbing the quiet of the state by his
intrigues. That a Tyrian stranger, named Aristo, had come with a
commission from Hannibal and king Antiochus; that certain men daily
held secret conferences with him, and were concocting that in private,
the consequences of which would soon break out, to the ruin of the
public." This produced a general outcry, that "Aristo ought to be
summoned, and examined respecting the reason of his coming; and if he
did not disclose it, to be sent to Rome, with ambassadors accompanying
him: that they had already suffered enough of punishment in atonement
of the headstrong rashness of one individual; that the faults of
private citizens should be at their own risk, and the state should be
preserved free, not only from guilt, but even from the suspicion of
it." Aristo, being summoned, contended for his innocence; and urged,
as his strongest defence, that he had brought no letter to any person
whatever: but he gave no satisfactory reason for his coming, and
was chiefly embarrassed by the fact which they urged, that he had
conversed solely with men of the Barcine faction. A warm debate
ensued; some earnestly pressing, that he should be immediately seized
as a spy, and kept in custody; while others insisted, that there
were not sufficient grounds for such violent measures; that "putting
strangers into confinement, without reason, was a step that afforded a
bad precedent; for that the same would happen to the Carthaginians at
Tyre, and other marts, where they frequently traded." The question
was adjourned on that day. Aristo practised on the Carthaginians
a Carthaginian artifice; for having early in the evening hung up a
written tablet, in the most frequented place of the city, over the
tribunal where the magistrates daily sat, he went on board his ship at
the third watch, and fled. Next day, when the suffetes had taken their
seats to administer justice, the tablet was observed, taken down,
and read. Its contents were, that "Aristo came not with a private
commission to any person, but with a public one to the elders;" by
this name they called the senate. The imputation being thus thrown
on the state, less pains were taken in searching into the suspicions
harboured of a few individuals: however, it was determined, that
ambassadors should be sent to Rome, to represent the affair to the
consuls and the senate, and, at the same time, to complain of the
injuries received from Masinissa.
62. When Masinissa observed that the Carthaginians were looked on with
jealousy by others, and were full of dissensions among themselves; the
nobles being suspected by the senate, on account of their conferences
with Aristo, and the senate by the people, in consequence of the
information given by the same Aristo, he thought that, at such a
conjuncture, he might successfully encroach on their rights; and
accordingly he laid waste their country along the sea-coast, and
compelled several cities, which were tributary to the Carthaginians,
to pay their taxes to him. This tract they call Emporia; it forms the
shore of the lesser Syrtis, and has a fertile soil; one of its cities
is Leptis, which paid a tribute to the Carthaginians of a talent a
day. At this time, Masinissa not only ravaged that whole tract, but,
with respect to a considerable part of it, disputed the right of
possession with the Carthaginians; and when he learned that they were
sending to Rome, both to justify their conduct, and, at the same time,
to make complaints of him, he likewise sent ambassadors to Rome, to
load them with suspicions, and to discuss the right to the taxes.
The Carthaginians were heard first, and their account of the Tyrian
stranger gave the senate no small uneasiness, as they dreaded being
involved in war with Antiochus and the Carthaginians at the same time.
What contributed chiefly to strengthen a suspicion of evil designs,
was, that though they had resolved to seize Aristo, and send him to
Rome, they had not placed a guard either on himself or his ship. Then
began the controversy with the king's ambassadors, on the claims of
the territory in dispute. The Carthaginians supported their cause by
a boundary claim, urging that "It must belong to them, as being within
the limits which Scipio, after conquering the country, had fixed as
the boundaries which should be under Carthaginian rule; and also, by
the acknowledgment of the king, who, when he was going in pursuit of
Aphir, a fugitive from his kingdom, then hovering about Cyrene, with
a party of Numidians, had solicited as a favour a passage through
that very district, as being confessedly a part of the Carthaginian
dominions." The Numidians insisted, "that they were guilty of
misrepresentation with respect to the limits fixed by Scipio; and if a
person chose to recur to the real origin of their property, what title
had the Carthaginians to call any land in Africa their own: foreigners
and strangers, to whom had been granted precariously, for the purpose
of building a city, as much ground as they could encompass with the
cuttings of a bull's hide? Whatever acquisitions they had made beyond
Byrsa, their original settlement, they held by fraud and violence;
for, in relation to the land in question, so far were they from being
able to prove uninterrupted possession, from the time when it was
first acquired, that they cannot even prove that they ever possessed
it for any considerable time. As occasions offered, sometimes they,
sometimes the kings of Numidia, had held the dominion of it; and
the possession of it had always been held by the party which had the
greatest armed force. They requested the senate to suffer the
matter to remain on the same footing on which it stood before the
Carthaginians became enemies to the Romans, or the king of Numidia
their friend and ally; and not to interfere, so as to hinder whichever
party was able, from keeping possession."--The senate resolved to tell
the ambassadors of both parties, that they would send persons into
Africa to determine the present controversy between the people of
Carthage and the king. They accordingly sent Publius Scipio Africanus,
Caius Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minucius Rufus; who, after
viewing the ground, and hearing what could be said on both sides, left
every thing in suspense, their opinions inclining neither to one
side nor the other. Whether they acted in this manner from their own
judgment, or because they had been so instructed, is by no means so
certain as it is, that as affairs were circumstanced, it was highly
expedient to leave the dispute undecided: for, had the case been
otherwise, Scipio alone, either from his own knowledge of the
business, or the influence which he possessed, and to which he had
a just claim on both parties, could, with a nod, have ended the
controversy.
BOOK XXXV.
_Publius Scipio Africanus sent as ambassador to Antiochus; has
a conversation with Hannibal at Ephesus. Preparations of
the Romans for war with Antiochus. Nabis, the tyrant of
Lacedaemon, instigated by the Aetolians, makes war on the
Achaeans; is put to death by a party of the Aetolians. The
Aetolians, violating the treaty of friendship with the Romans,
invite Antiochus, who comes, with a small force, into Greece,
and, in conjunction with them, takes several towns, and the
whole island of Euboea. The Achaeans declare war against
Antiochus and the Aetolians._
1. In the beginning of the same year, Sextus Digitius, praetor in the
Hither Spain, fought with those states which, after the departure of
Marcus Cato, had, in great numbers, recommenced hostilities, numerous
battles, but none deserving of particular mention; and all so
unfavourable to him, that he scarcely delivered to his successor half
the number of men that he had received. In consequence of this, every
state in Spain would certainly have resumed new courage, had not
the other praetor, Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of Cneius, been
successful in several engagements on the other side of the Iberus;
and, by these means, diffused such a general terror, that no less than
fifty towns came over to his side. These exploits Scipio performed
in his praetorship. Afterwards, when propraetor, as the Lusitanians,
after ravaging the farther Province, were returning home, with an
immense booty, he attacked them on their march, and continued the
engagement from the third hour of the day to the eighth, before any
advantage was gained on either side. He was inferior to the enemy in
number of men, but he had the advantage of them in other respects:
with his troops formed in a compact body he attacked a long train,
encumbered with multitudes of cattle; and with his soldiers fresh,
engaged men, fatigued by a long march; for the enemy had set out at
the third watch, and besides travelling the remainder of the night,
had continued their route to the third hour of the day; nor had they
been allowed any rest, as the battle immediately succeeded the toil
of the march. Wherefore, though at the beginning they retained some
vigour of body and spirits, and, at first, threw the Romans into
disorder, yet, after some time, the fight became equal. In this
critical situation the propraetor made a vow to celebrate games in
honour of Jupiter, in case he should defeat and cut off the enemy. The
Romans then made a more vigorous push, and the Lusitanians gave way,
and, in a little time, turned their backs. As the victors pursued them
briskly, no less than twelve thousand of them were slain, and five
hundred and forty taken prisoners, most of whom were horsemen. There
were taken, besides, a hundred and thirty-four military standards. Of
the Roman army, but seventy-three men were lost. The battle was fought
at a small distance from the city of Ilipa. Thither Publius Cornelius
led back his victorious army, amply enriched with spoil; all which was
exposed to view under the walls of the town, and permission given
to the owners to claim their effects. The remainder was put into the
hands of the quaestor to be sold, and the money produced by the sale
was distributed among the soldiers.
2. At the time when these occurrences happened in Spain, Caius
Flaminius, the praetor, had not yet set out from Rome: therefore these
events, as well prosperous as adverse, were reported by himself and
his friends in the strongest representations; and he laboured to
persuade the senate, that, as a very formidable war had blazed out in
his province, and he was likely to receive from Sextus Digitius a very
small remnant of an army, and that, too, terrified and disheartened
they ought to decree one of the city legions to him, in order that,
when he should have united to it the soldiers levied by himself,
pursuant to the decree of the senate, he might select from the whole
number six thousand five hundred foot and three hundred horse. He
said, that "with such a legion as that, (for very little confidence
could be placed on the troops of Sextus Digitius,) he would conduct
the war." But the elder part of the senate insisted, that "decrees of
the senate were not to be passed in consequence of rumours fabricated
by private persons for the gratification of magistrates; and that no
intelligence should be deemed authentic except it were either written
by the praetors, from their provinces, or brought by their deputies.
If there was a tumultuous commotion in Spain, they advised a vote,
that tumultuary soldiers should be levied by the praetor in some other
country than Italy." The senate's intention was that such description
of men should be raised in Spain. Valerius Antias says, that Caius
Flaminius sailed to Sicily for the purpose of levying troops, and
that, on his voyage thence to Spain, being driven by a storm to
Africa, he enlisted there many stragglers who had belonged to the
army of Publius Africanus; and that, to the levies made in those two
provinces, he added a third in Spain.
3. In Italy the war, commenced by the Ligurians, grew daily more
formidable. They now invested Pisae, with an army of forty thousand
men; for multitudes flocked to them continually, led by the reports
of the war and the expectation of booty. The consul, Minucius, came
to Arretium, on the day which he had fixed for the assembling of the
troops. Thence he led them, in order of battle, towards Pisae; and
though the enemy had removed their camp to the other side of the
river, at a distance of no more than three miles from the place, the
consul marched into the city, which evidently owed its preservation to
his coming. Next day he also encamped on the other side of the river,
about a mile from the enemy; and by slight skirmishes protected the
lands of the allies from their depredations. He did not think it
prudent to hazard a general engagement, because his troops were raw,
composed of many different kinds of men, and not yet so well known
among themselves that they could rely on one another. The Ligurians
depended so much on their numbers, that they not only came out and
offered battle, willing to risk every thing on the issue of it; but,
from their superfluity of men, they sent out many parties along the
frontiers to plunder; and whenever a large quantity of cattle, and
other prey, was collected, there was an escort always in readiness to
convey it to their forts and towns.
4. While the operations remained at a stand at Pisae, the other
consul, Lucius Cornelius Merula, led his army through the extreme
borders of the Ligurians, into the territory of the Boians, where the
mode of proceeding was quite the reverse of that which took place in
the war of Liguria. The consul took the field; the enemy refused to
fight; and the Romans, when no one would come out against them, went
out in parties to plunder, while the Boians chose to let their country
be laid waste with impunity rather than venture an engagement in
defence of it. When all places were completely ravaged with fire
and sword, the consul quitted the enemy's lands, and marched towards
Mutina, in a careless manner, as through a pacific population. The
Boians, when they learned that the enemy had withdrawn beyond
their frontiers, followed him as secretly as possible, watching an
opportunity for an ambuscade; and, having gone by his camp in the
night, took possession of a defile through which the Romans were
to pass. But as they were not able to effect this with sufficient
secrecy, the consul, who usually began his march late in the night,
now waited until day, lest, in the disorderly fight likely to ensue,
darkness might increase the confusion; and though he did not stir
before it was light, yet he sent forward a troop of horse to explore
the country. When intelligence was brought by them of the number and
situation of the enemy, he ordered the baggage to be heaped together
in the centre, and the veterans to throw up a rampart round it;
and then, with the rest of the army in order of battle, he advanced
towards the enemy. The Gauls did the same, when they found that their
stratagem was detected, and that they were to engage in a fair and
regular battle, where success must depend on valour alone.
5. The battle began about the second hour. The left brigade of the
allies, and the Extraordinaries, fought in the first line, and were
commanded by two lieutenant-generals of consular dignity, Marcus
Marcellus and Tiberius Sempronius, who had been consul the year
before. The present consul was sometimes employed in the front of
the line, sometimes in keeping back the legions in reserve, that they
might not, through eagerness for fighting, come up to the attack until
the signal was given. He ordered the two Minucii, Quintus and Publius,
military tribunes, to lead off the cavalry on the legions into open
ground, at some distance from the line; and "when he should give them
the signal, to charge the enemy through the clear space." While he was
thus employed, a message came from Tiberius Sempronius Longus, that
the Extraordinaries could not support the onset of the Gauls; that
great numbers had already fallen; and that partly through weariness,
partly through fear, the ardour of the survivors was much abated. He
recommended it therefore to the consul, if he thought proper, to send
up one or other of the two legions, before the army suffered disgrace.
The second legion was accordingly sent, and the Extraordinaries were
ordered to retire. By the legion coming up, with its men fresh,
and the ranks complete in their numbers, the fight was renewed with
vigour. The left wing was withdrawn out of the action, and the right
took its place in the van. The intense heat of the sun discomposed
the Gauls, whose bodies were very ill qualified to endure it:
nevertheless, keeping their ranks close, and leaning sometimes on each
other, sometimes on their bucklers, they withstood the attack of
the Romans; which, when the consul observed, in order to break their
ranks, he ordered Caius Livius Salinator, commander of the allied
cavalry, to charge them at full speed, and the legionary cavalry
to remain in reserve. This tempest of cavalry first confused and
disordered, and at length entirely broke the line of the Gauls; yet it
did not make them fly. That was prevented by their officers, who, when
they quitted their posts, struck them on the back with their spears,
and compelled them to return to their ranks: but the allied cavalry,
riding in among them, did not suffer them to recover their order.
The consul exhorted his soldiers to "continue their efforts a little
longer, for victory was within their reach; to press the enemy, while
they saw them disordered and dismayed; for, if they were suffered to
recover their ranks, they would enter on a fresh battle with doubtful
success." He ordered the standard-bearers to advance with the
standards, and then, all exerting themselves at once, they at length
forced the enemy to give way. As soon as they turned their backs, and
fled precipitately oh every side, the legionary cavalry was sent in
pursuit of them. On that day, fourteen thousand of the Boians were
slain; one thousand and ninety-two taken--as were seven hundred and
twenty-one horsemen, and three of their commanders, with two hundred
and twelve military standards, and sixty-three chariots. Nor did the
Romans gain the victory without loss of blood: of themselves, or their
allies, were lost above five thousand men, twenty-three centurions,
four prefects of the allies, and two military tribunes of the second
legion, Marcus Genucius and Marcus Marcius.
6. Letters from both the consuls arrived at Rome nearly at the same
time. That of Lucius Cornelius gave an account of the battle fought
with the Boians at Mutina; that of Quintus Minucius, from Pisae,
mentioned, that "the holding of the elections had fallen to his lot,
but that affairs in Liguria were in so uncertain a position, that
he could not depart thence without bringing ruin on the allies, and
material injury on the commonwealth. He therefore advised that, if the
senate thought proper, they should direct his colleague (as his war
was decided) to return to Rome for the elections. He said if Cornelius
should object to this, because that employment had not fallen to his
lot, he would certainly do whatever the senate should order; but he
begged them to consider again and again whether it would not be more
to the advantage of the republic, that an interregnum should take
place, than that the province should be left by him in such a state."
The senate gave directions to Caius Scribonius to send two deputies of
senatorian rank to the consul, Lucius Cornelius, to communicate to him
the letter sent by his colleague to the senate, and to acquaint him,
that if he did not come to Rome to elect new magistrates, the senate
were resolved, rather than Quintus Minucius should be called away from
a war, in which no progress had been made, to suffer an interregnum to
take place. The deputies sent brought back his answer, that he
would come to Rome, to elect new magistrates. The letter of Lucius
Cornelius, which contained an account of the battle with the
Boians, occasioned a debate in the senate; for Marcus Claudius,
lieutenant-general, in private letters to many of the senators, had
written, "that they might thank the fortune of the Roman people, and
the bravery of the soldiers, that the affair had been successful. That
the conduct of the consul had been the cause of a great many men
being lost, and of the enemy's army, for the annihilation of which an
opportunity had been offered, having made its escape. That what made
the loss of men the greater was, the reinforcements, necessary to
support them when distressed, coming up too late from the reserve;
and that, what enabled the enemy to slip out of their hands was, the
signal being given too tardily to the legionary cavalry, and their
not being allowed to pursue the fugitives." It was agreed, that no
resolution should be hastily passed on the subject; and the discussion
was accordingly adjourned to a fuller meeting.
7. Another concern also pressed upon them, namely, that the public
was heavily distressed by usurious practices; and although avarice had
been restricted by many laws respecting usury, yet a fraudulent course
had been adopted--that of transferring the securities to subjects of
some of the allied states, who were not bound by those laws, by which
means usurers overwhelmed their debtors by unlimited interest. On
considering of the best method for putting a stop to this evil the
senate decreed, that a certain day should be fixed on for it, the
next approaching festival of the infernal deities; and that any of
the allies who should from that day lend money to the Roman citizens,
should register the transaction; and that all proceedings respecting
such money, lent after that day, should be regulated by the laws of
whichever of the two states the debtor should choose. In some time
after, when the great amount of debt, contracted through this kind of
fraud, was discovered by means of the registries, Marcus Sempronius,
plebeian tribune, by direction of the senate, proposed to the people,
and the people ordered, that the laws relative to money lent between
Roman citizens and subjects of any of the allied states, or Latin
confederacy, should be the same as those between Roman citizens. Such
were the transactions in Italy, civil and military. In Spain the war
was far from being so formidable as the exaggerations of report had
represented it. In Hither Spain, Caius Flaminius took the town of
Ilucia, in the country of the Oretanians, and then marched his army
into winter quarters. Several engagements took place during the
winter, but none deserving of particular mention, directed against
incursions of robbers rather than of the enemy; and yet with various
success, and not without the loss of some men. More important services
were performed by Marcus Fulvius. He fought a pitched battle near the
town of Toletum, against the Vaccaeans, Vectonians, and Celtiberians;
routed and dispersed their combined forces, and took prisoner their
king, Hilermus.
8. While this passed in Spain, the day of election was drawing
near. Lucius Cornelius, therefore, the consul, left Marcus Claudius,
lieutenant-general, in command of the army and came to Rome. After
representing in the senate the services which he had performed, and
the present state of the province, he expostulated with the conscript
fathers on their not having ordered a thanksgiving to the immortal
gods when so great a war was so happily terminated by one successful
battle; and then demanded, that they would at the same time decree a
supplication and a triumph. But, before the question was put, Quintus
Metellus, who had been consul and dictator, said, that, "letters had
been brought at the same time from the consul, Lucius Cornelius,
to the senate, and from Marcus Marcellus, to a great part of the
senators; which letters contradicted each other, and for that reason
the consideration of the business had been adjourned, in order that it
might be debated when the writers of those letters should he present.
He had expected, therefore, that the consul, who knew that the
lieutenant-general had written something to his disadvantage, would,
when he himself was obliged to come, have brought him with him
to Rome; especially, as the command of the army would, with more
propriety, have been committed to Tiberius Sempronius, who already
possessed authority, than to the lieutenant-general. As the case
stood at present, it appeared as if the latter was kept out of the way
designedly, lest he might assert in person the same things which he
had written in his letters; and, face to face, either substantiate
his charges, or, if he had alleged any thing untrue, be convicted of
misrepresentation, until the truth should be clearly discovered. For
this reason he was of opinion, that the senate should not, at present,
assent to either of the decrees demanded by the consul." When he,
however, persisted with undiminished energy in putting the question,
that a thanksgiving should be ordered, and himself allowed to ride
into the city in triumph; the plebeian tribunes, Marcus and Caius
Titinius, declared, that they would enter their protest, if the senate
passed any decree on the subject.
9. In the preceding year, Sextus Aelius Paetus and Caius Cornelius
Cethegus were created censors. Cornelius now closed the lustrum. The
number of citizens rated was a hundred and forty-three thousand seven
hundred and four. Extraordinary quantities of rain fell in this
year, and the Tiber overflowed the lower parts of the city; and
some buildings near the Flumentan gate were even laid in ruins. The
Coelimontan gate was struck by lightning, as was the wall on each side
of it, in several places. At Aricia, Lanuvium, and on the Aventine,
showers of stones fell. From Capua, a report was brought that a very
large swarm of wasps flew into the forum, and settled on the temple of
Mars; that they had been carefully collected, and burnt. On account of
these prodigies, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; the
nine days' festival was celebrated, a supplication proclaimed, and
the city purified. At the same time, Marcus Porcius Cato dedicated a
chapel to Maiden Victory, near the temple of Victory, two years after
he had vowed it. During this year, a Latin colony was established
in the Thurian territory by commissioners appointed for the purpose,
Cneius Manlius Vulso, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Quintus Aelius
Tubero, who had proposed the order for its settlement. There went out
thither three thousand foot and three hundred horsemen; a very small
number in proportion to the extent of the land. Thirty acres might
have been given to each footman, and sixty to a horseman, but, by
the advice of Apustius, a third part was reserved, that they might
afterwards, when they should judge proper, send out thither a new
colony. The footmen received twenty acres each, the horsemen forty.
10. The year was now near a close, and with regard to the election
of consuls, emulation was more fiercely kindled than was ever known
before. The candidates, both patrician and plebeian, were many and
powerful: Publius Cornelius Scipio, son to Cneius, and who had
lately come home from Spain, having performed great exploits; Lucius
Quinctius Flamininus, who had commanded the fleet in Greece; and
Cneius Manlius Vulso; these were the patricians. Then there were, of
plebeian rank, Caius Laelius, Cneius Domitius, Caius Livius Salinator,
and Manius Acilius. The eyes of all men were turned on Quinctius and
Cornelius; for, being both patricians, they sued for one place; and
they were both of them recommended by high and recent renown in war.
Above every thing else, the brothers of the candidates, the two
most illustrious generals of the age, increased the violence of the
struggle. Scipio's fame was the more splendid, and in proportion to
its greater splendour, the more obnoxious to envy. That of Quinctius
was the most recent, as he had triumphed in the course of that very
same year. Besides, the former had now for almost ten years been
continually in people's sight; which circumstance, by the mere effect
of satiety, causes great characters to be less revered. He had been
a second time consul after the final defeat of Hannibal, and also
censor. All Quinctius's claims to the favour of the public were fresh
and new; since his triumph, he had neither asked nor received anything
from the people; "he solicited," he said, "in favour of his own
brother, not of a half-brother; in favour of his lieutenant-general,
and partner in the administration of the war; his brother having
conducted the operations by sea, while he did the same on land." By
these arguments he carried his point. His brother was preferred to the
brother of Africanus, though supported by the whole Cornelian family,
and while one of the same family presided at the election, and
notwithstanding the very honourable testimony given by the senate, in
his favour, when it adjudged him to be the best man in the state: and
as such, appointed him to receive the Idaean Mother into the city,
when she was brought from Pessinus. Lucius Quinctius and Cneius
Domitius Ahenobarbus were elected consuls; so that, not even with
respect to the plebeian consul, could Africanus prevail; for he
employed his interest in favour of Caius Laelius. Next day were
elected praetors, Lucius Scribonius Libo, Marcus Fulvius Centumalus,
Aulus Atilius Serranus, Marcus Baebius Tamphilus, Lucius Valerius
Tappus, and Quintus Salonius Sarra. The aedileship of this year was
highly distinguished, namely, that of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and
Lucius Aemilius Paulus. They prosecuted to conviction many of the
farmers of the public pastures, and with the money accruing from
the fines, placed gilded shields in the upper part of the temple
of Jupiter. They built one colonnade, on the outside of the gate
Tergemina, to which they added a wharf on the Tiber: and another,
reaching from the Frontinal gate to the altar of Mars, to serve as a
passage into the field of Mars.
11. For a long time, nothing worth recording had occurred in Liguria;
but, towards the end of this year, the Roman affairs there were twice
brought into great peril; for the consul's camp, being assaulted, was
with difficulty preserved; and a short time after, as the Roman army
was marching through a defile, the Ligurians seized on the opening
through which they were to pass. The consul, when he found that
passage stopped up, faced about, resolved to return: but the entrance
behind, also, was occupied by a party of the enemy, and the disaster
of Caudium not only occurred to the memory of the Romans, but was in a
manner represented to their eyes. The consul had, among his auxiliary
troops, about eight hundred Numidian horsemen, whose commanding
officer undertook to force a passage with his troops, on whichever
side the consul should choose. He only desired to be told on which
part the greater number of villages lay, for on them he meant to make
an attack; and the first thing he intended doing was, to set fire to
the houses, in order that the alarm, which this should occasion, might
induce the Ligurians to quit their posts in the defile, and hasten to
different quarters to carry assistance to their friends. The consul
highly commended him, and gave him assurance of ample rewards. The
Numidians mounted their horses, and began to ride up to the advanced
posts of the enemy, but without making any attack. Nothing could
appear, on the first view, more contemptible. Both men and horses were
of a small size and thin make, the riders unaccoutred and unarmed,
excepting that they carried javelins in their hands; and the horses
without bridles, and awkward in their gait, running with their necks
stiff and their heads stretched out. The contempt, conceived from
their appearance, they took pains to increase; sometimes falling from
their horses, and making themselves objects of derision and ridicule.
The consequence was, that the enemy, who at first had been alert, and
ready on their posts, in case of an attack, now, for the most part,
laid aside their arms, and sitting down amused themselves with looking
at them. The Numidians often rode up, then galloped back, but still
contrived to get nearer to the pass, as if they were unable to manage
their horses, and were carried away against their will. At last,
setting spurs to them, they broke out through the midst of the enemy's
posts, and getting into the open country, set fire to all the houses
near the road. They then set fire to the nearest village, while they
ravaged all around with fire and sword. At first the sight of the
smoke, then the shouts of the affrighted inhabitants, at last the old
people and children, who fled for shelter, created great disorder in
the camp. In consequence of which the whole of their army, without
plan, and without command, ran off, each to take care of his own;
the camp was in a moment deserted; and the consul delivered from the
blockade, made good his march to the place whither he intended to go.
12. But neither the Boians nor the Spaniards, with whom they had been
at war during that year, were such bitter and inveterate foes to the
Romans as the nation of the Aetolians. These, after the departure of
the Roman armies from Greece, had, for some time, entertained hopes
that Antiochus would come and take possession of Europe, without
opposition; and that neither Philip nor Nabis would continue quiet.
But seeing no active measures begun, in any quarter, they resolved,
lest their designs might be damped by delay, to create some agitation
and disturbance; and, with this view, they summoned a general assembly
at Naupactum. Here Thoas, their praetor, after complaining of the
injurious behaviour of the Romans, and the present state of Aetolia,
and asserting, that "of all the nations and states of Greece, they had
been most unhonoured, after the victory which they themselves had been
the means of obtaining," moved, that ambassadors should be sent to
each of the kings; not only to sound their dispositions, but, by such
incentives as suited the temper of each, to urge them to a war
with Rome. Damocritus was sent to Nabis, Nicander to Philip, and
Dicaearchus, the praetor's brother, to Antiochus. To the Lacedaemonian
tyrant Damocritus represented, that, "by the maritime cities being
taken from him, his government was left enervated; for from them he
had drawn his soldiers, as well as his ships and seamen. He was now
pent up almost within the walls of his capital, while he saw the
Achaeans domineering over the whole Peloponnesus. Never would he have
another opportunity of recovering his rights, if he suffered the one
that now offered to pass by. There was no Roman army in Greece, nor
would the Romans deem Gythium, or the other towns on the coast of
Laconia, sufficient cause for transporting their legions a second
time into that country." These arguments were used for the purpose of
provoking the passions of Nabis; in order that when Antiochus should
come into Greece, the other, conscious of having infringed the treaty
of amity with Rome, by injuries offered to its allies, might unite
himself with him. Nicander excited Philip, by arguments somewhat
similar; and he had more copious matter for discourse, as the king
had been degraded from a more elevated state than the tyrant, and
more possessions also had been taken from him. In addition to this, he
introduced the ancient renown of the Macedonian kings, and the whole
world pervaded by the victorious marches of that nation. "The plan
which he proposed," he said, "was free from any danger, either in the
commencement or in the issue. For he did not advise that Philip should
stir until Antiochus should have come into Greece with an army; and,
considering that, without the aid of Antiochus, he had maintained a
war so long against the combined forces of the Romans and Aetolians,
with what possible force could the Romans withstand him, when joined
by Antiochus, and supported by the aid of the Aetolians, who, on the
former occasion, were more dangerous enemies than the Romans?" He
added the circumstance of Hannibal being general; "a man born a foe
to the Romans, who had slain greater numbers, both of their commanders
and soldiers, than were left surviving." Such were the representations
of Nicander to Philip. Dicaearchus addressed other arguments to
Antiochus. In the first place, he told him, that "the spoils of Philip
belonged to the Romans, but the victory over him to the Aetolians;
that none other than the Aetolians had afforded to the Romans
admittance into Greece, and that the same people supplied them with
the strength which enabled them to conquer." He next set forth the
numerous forces, both horse and foot, which they were willing to
furnish to Antiochus, for the purpose of the war; what quarters they
would assign to his land armament, what harbours for his naval forces.
He then asserted whatever falsehoods he pleased, respecting Philip
and Nabis; that "both were ready to recommence hostilities, and would
greedily lay hold on the first opportunity of recovering what they
had lost in war." Thus did the Aetolians labour, in every part of the
world, to stir up war against the Romans. The kings, however, either
took no steps in it or took them too late.
13. Nabis immediately despatched emissaries through all the towns on
the coast, to sow dissensions among the inhabitants: some of the men
in power he brought over to his party by presents; others, who more
firmly adhered to the alliance with Rome, he put to death. The charge
of protecting all the Lacedaemonians on the coast, had been committed
by Titus Quinctius to the Achaeans; they therefore instantly sent
ambassadors to the tyrant, to remind him of his treaty with the
Romans, and to warn him against violating a peace which he had so
earnestly sued for. They also sent succours to Gythium which he
had already besieged, and ambassadors to Rome to make known these
transactions. King Antiochus having, this winter, solemnized the
nuptials of his daughter with Ptolemy king of Egypt, at Raphia, in
Phoenicia, returned thence to Antioch, and came, towards the end of
the season, through Cilicia, after passing Mount Taurus, to the city
of Ephesus. Early in the spring, he sent his son Antiochus thence into
Syria, to guard the remote frontiers of his dominions, lest during
his absence, any commotion might arise behind him; and then he marched
himself, with all his land forces, to attack the Pisidians, inhabiting
the country near Sida. At this time, Publius Sulpicius and Publius
Villius, the Roman ambassadors, who were sent to Antiochus, as above
mentioned, having received orders to wait on Eumenes, first came to
Elaea, and thence went up to Pergamus, for the palace of Eumenes was
there. Eumenes was very desirous of a war against Antiochus, for he
thought that, if peace continued, a king so much superior in power
would be a troublesome neighbour; but that, in case of hostilities, he
would prove no more a match for the Romans than Philip had been; and
that, either he would be entirely removed out of the way, or, should
peace be granted to him, after a defeat he (Eumenes) might reasonably
expect, that a great deal of what should be taken from Antiochus would
fall to his own share; so that, in future, he might be very well able
to defend himself against him, without any aid from the Romans; and
even if any misfortune were to happen, it would be better for him,
in conjunction with the Romans, to undergo any turn of fortune, than,
standing alone, either suffer himself to be ruled by Antiochus, or, on
refusal, be compelled to submission by force of arms. Therefore, with
all his influence, and every argument which he could devise, he urged
the Romans to a war.
14. Sulpicius, falling sick, staid at Pergamus. Villius, on hearing
that the king was carrying on war in Pisidia, went on to Ephesus, and,
during a few days that he halted in that city, took pains to procure
frequent interviews with Hannibal, who happened to be there at the
time, in order to sound his intentions, if possible, and to remove
his apprehensions of danger threatening him from the Romans. No other
business, indeed, of any kind was brought forward at these meetings;
yet they accidentally produced an important consequence, as
effectually as if it had been intentionally sought; the lowering
Hannibal in the esteem of the king, and rendering him more obnoxious
to suspicion in every matter. Claudius, following the history written
in Greek by Acilius, says, that Publius Africanus was employed in this
embassy, and that it was he who conversed with Hannibal at Ephesus.
He even relates one of their conversations, in which Scipio asked
Hannibal, "whom he thought the greatest captain?" and that he
answered, "Alexander, king of Macedonia; because, with a small band,
he defeated armies whose numbers were beyond reckoning; and because he
had overrun the remotest regions, the merely visiting of which was a
thing above human aspiration." Scipio then asked, "to whom he gave the
second place?" and he replied, "To Pyrrhus; for he first taught the
method of encamping; and besides, no one ever showed more exquisite
judgment, in choosing his ground, and disposing his posts; while he
also possessed the art of conciliating mankind to himself to such a
degree, that the nations of Italy wished him, though a foreign prince,
to hold the sovereignty among them, rather than the Roman people, who
had so long possessed the dominion of that part of the world." On his
proceeding to ask, "whom he esteemed the third?" Hannibal replied,
"Myself, beyond doubt." On this Scipio laughed, and added, "What would
you have said if you had conquered me?" "Then," replied the other, "I
would have placed Hannibal, not only before Alexander and Pyrrhus,
but before all other commanders." This answer, turned with Punic
dexterity, and conveying an unexpected kind of flattery, was highly
grateful to Scipio, as it set him apart from the crowd of commanders,
as one of incomparable eminence.
15. From Ephesus, Villius proceeded to Apamea, whither Antiochus, on
hearing of the coming of the Roman delegates, came to meet him. In
this congress, at Apamea, the debates were similar to those which
passed at Rome, between Quinctius and the king's ambassadors. The news
arriving of the death of Antiochus, the king's son, who, as just now
mentioned, had been sent into Syria, broke off the conference. There
was great mourning in the court, and excessive regret for this young
man; for he had given such indications of his character as afforded
evident proof that, had a longer life been allotted him, he would
have displayed the talents of a great and just prince. The more he
was beloved and esteemed by all, the more was his death a subject of
suspicion, namely, that his father, thinking that his heir trod too
closely on the heels of his own old age, had him taken off by poison,
by some eunuchs, who recommend themselves to kings by the perpetration
of such foul deeds. People mentioned also, as another motive for that
clandestine act of villany, that, as he had given Lysimachia to his
son Seleucus, he had no establishment of the like kind, which he
could give to Antiochus, for the purpose of banishing him also to
a distance, under pretext of doing him honour. Nevertheless, an
appearance of deep mourning was maintained in the court for several
days; and the Roman ambassador, lest his presence at that inauspicious
time might be troublesome, retired to Pergamus. The king, dropping the
prosecution of the war which he had begun, went back to Ephesus; and
there, keeping himself shut up in the palace, under colour of grief,
held secret consultations with a person called Minio, who was his
principal favourite. Minio was utterly ignorant of the state of all
foreign nations; and, accordingly, estimating the strength of the king
from his successes in Syria or Asia, he was confident that Antiochus
had not only superiority from the merits of his cause, and that the
demands of the Romans were highly unreasonable; but also, that he
would prove the more powerful in war. As the king wished to avoid
further debate with the envoys, either because he had found no
advantage to result from the former conference, or because he was too
much discomposed by recent grief, Minio undertook to say whatever
was requisite for his interest, and persuaded him to invite for that
purpose the ambassadors from Pergamus.
16. By this time Sulpicius had recovered his health; both himself and
Villius, therefore, came to Ephesus. Minio apologized for the king
not being present, and the business was entered upon. Then Minio, in a
studied speech, said, "I find, Romans, that you profess very specious
intentions, (the liberating of the Grecian states,) but your actions
do not accord with your words. You lay down one rule for Antiochus,
and follow another yourselves. For, how are the inhabitants of Smyrna
and Lampsacus better entitled to the character of Greeks, than the
Neapolitans, Rhegians, and Tarentines, from whom you exact tribute,
and ships, in pursuance of a treaty? Why do you send yearly to
Syracuse, and other Grecian cities of Sicily, a praetor, vested
with sovereign power, and attended by his rods and axes? You can,
certainly, allege no other reason than this, that, having conquered
them in war, you imposed these terms on them. Admit, then, on the part
of Antiochus, the same reason with respect to Smyrna and Lampsacus,
and the cities belonging to Ionia and Aeolia. Conquered by his
ancestors, they were subjected to tribute and taxes, and he only
reclaims an ancient right. I would have you answer him on these heads,
if you mean a fair discussion, and do not merely seek a pretence for
war." Sulpicius answered, "Antiochus has acted with some modesty
in choosing that, since no other arguments could be produced in his
favour, any other person should utter these rather than himself. For,
what similarity is there in the cases of those states which you
have brought into comparison? From the Rhegians, Neapolitans, and
Tarentines we require what they owe us by treaty, in virtue of a right
invariably exercised, in one uniform course, since they first came
under our power; a right always asserted, and never intermitted. Now,
can you assert, that, as these states have, neither of themselves,
nor through any other, ever refused conforming to the treaty, so the
Asiatic states, since they once came under the power of Antiochus's
ancestors, have been held in uninterrupted possession by your reigning
kings; and that some of them have not been subject to the dominion of
Philip, some to that of Ptolemy; and that others have not, for many
years, maintained themselves in a state of independence, no one
calling it in question? For, if the circumstance of their having been
once subject to a foreigner, when crushed under the severity of the
times, conveys a right to enforce that subjection again after a lapse
of so many generations, what can be said of our having delivered
Greece from Philip, but that nothing was accomplished by us; and that
his successors may reclaim Corinth, Chalcis, Demetrias, and the whole
nation of Thessaly? But why do I plead the cause of those states,
which it would be fitter that both we and the king should hear pleaded
by themselves?"
17. He then desired, that the deputies of those states should be
called, for they had been prepared beforehand, and kept in readiness
by Eumenes, who reckoned, that every share of strength that should
be taken away from Antiochus, would become an accession to his own
kingdom. Many of them were introduced; and, while each enforced
his own complaints, and sometimes demands, and blended together the
reasonable with the unreasonable, they changed the debate into a mere
altercation. The ambassadors, therefore, without conceding or carrying
any one point, returned to Rome just as they had come, leaving every
thing in an undecided state. On their departure the king held a
council, on the subject of a war with Rome, in which each spoke more
violently than his predecessor; for every one thought, that the more
bitterly he inveighed against the Romans, the greater share of favour
he might expect to obtain. One animadverted upon the insolence of
their demands, in which they presume to impose terms on Antiochus,
the greatest king in Asia, as they would on the vanquished Nabis.
"Although to Nabis they left absolute power over his own country,
and its capital, Lacedaemon, yet it seems to them a matter for
indignation, that Smyrna and Lampsacus should yield obedience to
Antiochus."--Others said, that "to so great a monarch, those cities
were but a trivial ground of war, scarcely worth mention; but, that
the beginning of unjust impositions was always made in the case of
matters of little consequence; unless, indeed, it could be supposed,
that the Persians, when they demanded earth and water from the
Lacedaemonians, stood in need of a scrap of the land or a draught of
the water. The proceedings of the Romans, respecting the two cities,
were meant as a trial of the same sort. The rest of the states, when
they saw that two had shaken off the yoke, would go over to the party
of that nation which professed the patronage of liberty. If freedom
was not actually preferable to servitude, yet the hope of bettering
their circumstances by a change, was more flattering to every one than
any present situation."
18. There was, in the council, an Acarnanian named Alexander, who had
formerly been a friend of Philip, but had lately left him, to follow
the more opulent court of Antiochus. And as being well skilled in
the affairs of Greece, and not unacquainted with the Romans, he was
admitted by the king into such a degree of intimacy, that he shared
even in his secret councils. As if the question to be considered were
not, whether there should be war or not, but where and in what manner
it should be carried on, he affirmed, that "he saw an assured prospect
of victory, provided the king would pass into Europe and choose some
part of Greece for the seat of war. In the first place, the Aetolians,
who lived in the centre of Greece, would be found in arms, ready
to take the lead in the most perilous operations. Then, in the two
extremities of Greece, Nabis, on the side of Peloponnesus, would put
every thing in motion, to recover the city of Argos, and the maritime
cities, from which he had been expelled by the Romans, and pent up
within the walls of Lacedaemon: while, on the side of Macedonia,
Philip would be ready for the field the moment he heard the alarm
sounded. He knew," he said, "his spirit, he knew his temper; he knew
that, (as in the case with wild beasts, confined by bars or chains,)
for a long time past, he had been revolving the fiercest resentments
in his breast. He remembered, also, how often, during the war,
that prince had prayed to all the gods to grant him Antiochus as an
assistant; and, if that prayer were now heard with favour, he would
not hesitate an instant to resume his arms. It was only requisite that
there should be no delay, no procrastination; for success depended
chiefly on securing beforehand commodious posts and proper allies:
besides, Hannibal ought to be sent immediately into Africa, in order
to distract the attention of the Romans."
19. Hannibal was not called to this consultation, having income
suspected by the king, and not having subsequently been held in any
honour, on account of his conferences with Villius, and he had not
since shown him any mark of regard. This affront, at first, he bore
in silence; but afterwards thought it better to take some proper
opportunity to inquire the reason of the king's suddenly withdrawing
his favour, and to clear himself of blame. Without any preface, he
asked the cause of the king's displeasure; and having heard it, said,
"Antiochus, when I was yet an infant, my father, Hamilcar, at a time
when he was offering sacrifice, brought me up to the altars, and made
me take an oath, that I never would be a friend to the Roman people.
Under the obligation of this oath, I carried arms against them for
thirty-six years; this oath, on peace being made, drove me out of my
country, and brought me an exile to your court; and this oath shall
guide me, should you disappoint my hopes, until I traverse every
quarter of the globe, where I can understand that there are resources,
to find out enemies to the Romans. If, therefore, your courtiers have
conceived the idea of ingratiating themselves with you by insinuating
suspicions of me, let them seek some means of advancing their
reputation otherwise than at my expense. I hate, and am hated by, the
Romans. That I speak the truth in this, my father, Hamilcar, and
the gods are witnesses. Whenever, therefore, you shall employ your
thoughts on a plan of waging war with Rome, consider Hannibal as one
of your firmest friends. If circumstances force you to adopt peaceful
measures, on such a subject employ some one else with whom to
deliberate." This discourse not only affected the king much, but even
reconciled him to Hannibal. They departed from the council with the
resolution that the war should be undertaken.
20. At Rome, people in their conversations anticipated, indeed,
Antiochus as an enemy, but they had hitherto prepared nothing for such
a war but their expectations. Italy was decreed the province of both
the consuls, who received directions to settle between themselves, or
draw lots, which of them should preside at the elections of the
year; and it was ordered, that he who should be disengaged from that
business, should hold himself in readiness, in case there should be
occasion, to lead the legions any where out of that country. To the
said consul, permission was given to levy two new legions, and twenty
thousand foot, and nine hundred horse, among the allies and Latin
confederates. To the other consul were decreed the two legions which
had been commanded by Lucius Cornelius, consul of the preceding year;
and from the same army, a body of allies and Latins, amounting to
fifteen thousand foot and five hundred horse. Quintus Minucius was
continued in command, with the forces which he then had in Liguria; as
a supplement to which, four thousand Roman foot and five hundred horse
were ordered to be enlisted, and five thousand foot and two hundred
and fifty horse to be demanded from the allies. The duty of departing
from Italy, whithersoever the senate should order, fell to Cneius
Domitius; Gaul, and the holding the elections, to Lucius Quinctius.
The praetors then cast lots for their provinces: to Marcus Fulvius
Centumalus fell the city jurisdiction; to Lucius Scribonius Libo,
the foreign; Lucius Valerius Tappus obtained Sicily; Quintus Salonius
Sarra, Sardinia; Marcus Baebius Tamphilus, Hither Spain; and Marcus
Atilius Serranus, Farther Spain. But the provinces of the two last
were changed, first by a decree of the senate, which was afterwards
confirmed by an order of the people. The fleet and Macedonia were
assigned to Atilius; Bruttium to Baebius. Flaminius and Fulvius were
continued in command in both the Hither and Farther Spain. To Baebius
Tamphilus, for the business of Bruttium, were decreed the two legions
which had served in the city the year before; and he was ordered to
demand from the allies, for the same service, fifteen thousand foot
and five hundred horse. Atilius was ordered to build thirty ships of
five banks of oars: to bring out, from the docks, any old ones that
were fit for service, and to raise seamen. An order was also given to
the consul, to supply him with two thousand of the allied and Latin
footmen, and a thousand Roman. The destination of these two praetors,
and their two armaments, one on land and the other on sea, was
declared to be intended against Nabis, who was now carrying on open
hostilities against the allies of the Roman people. But it was thought
proper to wait the return of the ambassadors sent to Antiochus, and
the senate ordered the consul Cneius Domitius not to leave the city
until they arrived.
21. The praetors, Fulvius and Scribonius, whose province was the
administration of justice at Rome, were charged to provide a hundred
quinqueremes, besides the fleet which Atilius was to command. Before
the consul and praetors set out for their provinces, a supplication
was performed on account of some prodigies. A report was brought from
Picenum, that a goat had produced six kids at a birth. It was said
that a boy was born at Arretium who had but one hand; that, at
Amiternum, a shower of earth fell; a gate and wall at Formiae were
struck by lightning; and, what was more alarming than all, an ox,
belonging to the consul, Cneius Domitius, spoke these words,--"Rome,
take care of thyself." To expiate the other prodigies, a supplication
was performed; the ox was ordered by the aruspices to be carefully
preserved and fed. The Tiber, pouring into the city with more
destructive violence than last year, swept away two bridges, and
many buildings, particularly about the Flumentan gate. A huge rock,
loosened from its seat, either by the rains, or by an earthquake so
slight that no other effect of it was perceived, tumbled down from the
Capitol into the Jugarian street, and buried many people under it.
In the country, many parts of which were overflowed, much cattle
was carried away, and a great destruction of farm houses took place.
Previous to the arrival of the consul, Lucius Quinctius, in his
province Quintus Minucius fought a pitched battle with the Ligurians,
in the territory of Pisae, slew nine thousand of the enemy, and
putting the rest to flight, drove them within their works, which were
assaulted and defended in an obstinate contest until night came on.
During the night, the Ligurians stole away unobserved; and, at the
first dawn, the Romans took possession of their deserted camp, where
the quantity of booty found was the less, because the enemy frequently
sent home the spoil taken in the country. Minucius, after this,
allowed them no respite. From the territory of Pisae he marched into
that of the Ligurians, and, with fire and sword, utterly destroyed
their forts and towns, where the Roman soldiers were abundantly
enriched with the spoils of Etruria which the ravagers had sent home.
22. About this time, the ambassadors, who had been sent to the kings,
returned to Rome. As they brought no information of such a nature
as called for any immediate declaration of war, (except against the
Lacedaemonian tyrant, whom the Achaean ambassadors also represented as
invading the sea-coast of Laconia, in breach of treaty,) Atilius, the
praetor, was sent with the fleet to Greece, for the protection of the
allies. It was resolved, that, as there was nothing to be apprehended
from Antiochus at present, both the consuls should go to their
provinces; and, accordingly, Domitius marched into the country of the
Boians, by the shorter road, through Ariminum, and Quinctius through
Liguria. The two armies of the consuls, proceeding by these different
routes, spread devastation wide over the enemy's country. In
consequence of which, first a few of their horsemen, with their
commanders, then their whole senate, and at last all who possessed
either property or dignity, to the number of one thousand five
hundred, came over and joined the consuls. In both Spains, likewise,
success attended the Roman arms during this year. For, in one, Caius
Flaminius, after a siege, took Litabrum, a strong and opulent city,
and made prisoner Corribilo, a powerful chieftain; and, in the other,
Marcus Fulvius, the proconsul, fought two successful battles, with
two armies of the enemy. He captured Vescelia and Holo, two towns
belonging to the Spaniards, with many of their forts, and others
spontaneously revolted to him. Then, advancing into the territory of
Oretum, and having, there also, taken two cities, Noliba and Cusibis,
he proceeded to the river Tagus. Here stood Toletum, a small city,
but strong from its situation. While he was besieging this place,
a numerous army of Vectonians came to relieve the Toletans, but
he overthrew them in a general engagement, and having defeated the
Vectonians, took Toletum by means of his works.
23. At this juncture the wars in which they were actually engaged,
caused not so great anxiety in the minds of the senate, as the
expectation of one with Antiochus, which had not yet commenced. For
although, through their ambassadors, they had, from time to time,
made careful inquiries into every particular, yet rumours, rashly
propagated without authentic foundation, intermixed many falsehoods
with the truth. Among the rest, a report was spread, that Antiochus
intended, as soon as he should come into Aetolia, to send a fleet
immediately into Sicily. The senate, therefore, though they had
already despatched the praetor, Atilius, with a squadron to Greece,
yet, considering that not only a military force, but also the
influence of reputation, would be necessary towards securing the
attachment of the allies, they sent into Greece, in quality of
ambassadors, Titus Quinctius, Caius Octavius, Cneius Servilius, and
Publius Villius; at the same time ordering, in their decree, that
Marcus Baebius should lead forward his legions from Bruttium to
Tarentum and Brundusium, so that, if occasion required, he might
transport them thence into Macedonia. They also ordered, that Marcus
Fulvius, the praetor, should send a fleet of thirty ships to protect
the coast of Sicily; and that, whoever had the direction of that
fleet, should be invested with supreme authority. To this commission
was appointed Lucius Oppius Salinator, who had been plebeian aedile
the year before. They likewise determined, that the same praetor
should write to his colleague, Lucius Valerius, that "there was reason
to apprehend that the ships of king Antiochus would pass over from
Aetolia to Sicily; for which reason the senate judged it proper, that,
in addition to the army which he then had, he should enlist tumultuary
soldiers, to the number of twelve thousand foot and four hundred
horse, with which he might be able to defend that coast of his
province which lay next to Greece." This enlistment the praetor
carried on, not only from Sicily, but from the circumjacent islands;
and strengthened all the towns on the coast which lay opposite to
Greece with garrisons. To the rumours already current, the arrival of
Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, added confirmation, for he brought
intelligence that king Antiochus had crossed the Hellespont with
his army, and that the Aetolians were putting themselves into such a
posture, that by the time of his arrival they would be in arms.
Thanks were given to Eumenes, in his absence, and to Attalus, who
was present; and there were decreed to him free lodgings and every
accommodation; that he should be presented with two horses, two suits
of horsemen's armour, vases of silver to a hundred pounds' weight, and
of gold to twenty pounds.
24. As one messenger after another brought intelligence that the war
was on the point of breaking out, it was judged expedient that consuls
should be elected as soon as possible. Wherefore the senate passed a
decree, that the praetor, Marcus Fulvius, should instantly despatch
a letter to the consul, informing him, that it was the will of the
senate that he should leave the command of the province and army to
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