The History of Rome Volume III Part 13

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 _a.s.ses_;[3] and three times that amount to each horseman. Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius, 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 pa.s.s 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 a.s.saulted 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 princ.i.p.al gates; but, in the very pa.s.s 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 pa.s.ses; 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; s.n.a.t.c.hing 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 Tympa.n.u.s, with Marcus Atinius and Publius Semp.r.o.nius, 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. t.i.tus Quinctius pa.s.sed 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. Amba.s.sadors having attended from every one of the states, so as to form a numerous a.s.sembly, 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 inc.u.mbent on their grat.i.tude.

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 a.s.sembly, 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 Oric.u.m, 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 a.s.sembly. 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 a.s.sembly, or council, without dissensions and tumult. He chose both senators and judges, with regard, princ.i.p.ally, 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 Oric.u.m, whence he intended to take his pa.s.sage.

From Oric.u.m all the troops were transported to Brundusium. From this place to the city, they pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sembled 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 bra.s.s; 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 _a.s.ses_[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 Cra.s.sipes; and for the district of Thurium, Cneius Manlius, Quintus Aelius, and Lucius Apustius. The a.s.semblies 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, const.i.tuted commissioner for the purpose, dedicated the temple of Fortuna Primigenia, on the Quirinal Hill. Publius Semp.r.o.nius 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 n.o.bilior, Caius Scribonius, Marcus Valerius Messala, Lucius Porcius Licinus, and Caius Flaminius. The curule aediles of this year, Caius Atilius Serra.n.u.s 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 a.s.serted, "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 inst.i.tuted, by the senate of any other nation." It is said, that even Africa.n.u.s 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, pa.s.sing 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 amba.s.sadors 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 a.s.signed, 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 Semp.r.o.nius 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 pa.s.sed 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 Semp.r.o.nius, and had been discharged by those consuls, should re-a.s.semble, 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 pa.s.s, 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, t.i.tus Quinctius demanded, that "the senate should receive an account of the regulations which he in concert with the ten amba.s.sadors, 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 amba.s.sadors, who had come from all parts of Greece, and a great part of Asia, and to those from the two kings." These emba.s.sies 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 amba.s.sadors, some of whom had conferred with the king in Asia, or at Lysimachia. Directions were given to t.i.tus Quinctius, that, in conjunction with these, he should listen to the representations of the king's amba.s.sadors, and should give them such answer as comported with the dignity and interest of the Roman people. At the head of the emba.s.sy were Menippus and Hegesianax; the former of whom said, that "he could not conceive what intricacy there was in the business of their emba.s.sy, 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 rest.i.tution 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 pa.s.ses 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 va.s.sals? 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 inc.u.mbent 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 amba.s.sadors, 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 amba.s.sadors 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 "a.s.sure 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 pa.s.sed, that the same amba.s.sadors 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 amba.s.sadors 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 partic.i.p.ator 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 pa.s.s 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 amba.s.sadors 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 embarra.s.sed 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 amba.s.sadors 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 n.o.bles 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 sh.o.r.e 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 amba.s.sadors 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 amba.s.sadors, 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 pa.s.sage 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 t.i.tle 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 encompa.s.s 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 amba.s.sadors 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 Africa.n.u.s, 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 circ.u.mstanced, 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 x.x.xV.

_Publius Scipio Africa.n.u.s sent as amba.s.sador 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, s.e.xtus 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, enc.u.mbered with mult.i.tudes 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 hors.e.m.e.n. 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 s.e.xtus 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 s.e.xtus Digitius,) he would conduct the war." But the elder part of the senate insisted, that "decrees of the senate were not to be pa.s.sed 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 Africa.n.u.s; 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 mult.i.tudes 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 a.s.sembling 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 quant.i.ty 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 pa.s.s. 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 Semp.r.o.nius, 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 s.p.a.ce." While he was thus employed, a message came from Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius 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 hors.e.m.e.n, 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 pa.s.sed 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 Semp.r.o.nius, 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 pa.s.sed 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 G.o.ds 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 Semp.r.o.nius, 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 a.s.sert 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, a.s.sent 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 t.i.tinius, declared, that they would enter their protest, if the senate pa.s.sed any decree on the subject.