THE THIRD MACEDONIAN, ACHÆAN, AND THIRD PUNIC WARS. B.C. 179-146.
In B.C. 179 Philip died, and was succeeded by his son Perseus, the last
monarch of Macedonia. The latter years of the reign of Philip had been
spent in preparations for a renewal of the war, which he foresaw to be
inevitable; and when Perseus ascended the throne, he found himself amply
provided with men and money for the impending contest. But, whether from
a sincere desire of peace, or from irresolution of character, he sought
to avert an open rupture as long as possible, and one of the first acts
of his reign was to obtain from the Romans a renewal of the treaty which
they had concluded with his father. It is probable that neither party
was sincere in the conclusion of this peace, at least neither could
entertain any hope of its duration; yet a period of seven years elapsed
before the mutual enmity of the two powers broke out into open
hostilities. Meanwhile, Perseus was not idle; he secured the attachment
of his subjects by equitable and popular measures, and formed alliances
not only with the Greeks and the Asiatic princes, but also with the
Thracian, Illyrian, and Celtic tribes which surrounded his dominions.
The Romans naturally viewed these proceedings with jealousy and
suspicion; and at length, in 172, Perseus was formally accused before
the Roman Senate by Eumenes, king of Pergamus, in person, of
entertaining hostile designs against the Roman power. The murder of
Eumenes near Delphi, on his return homeward, of which Perseus was
suspected, aggravated the feeling against him at Rome, and in the
following year war was declared.
Perseus was at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, but of
all his allies, only Cotys, king of the Odrysians, ventured to support
him against so formidable a foe. Yet the war was protracted three years
without any decisive result; nay, the balance of success seemed on the
whole to incline in favor of Perseus, and many states, which before were
wavering, now showed a disposition to join his cause. But his ill-timed
parsimony restrained him from taking advantage of their offers, and in
B.C. 168 the arrival of the Consul L. Æmilius Paullus completely changed
the aspect of affairs. Perseus was driven from a strong position which
he had taken up on the banks of the Enipeus, forced to retreat to Pydna,
and, finally, to accept an engagement near that town. At first the
serried ranks of the phalanx seemed to promise superiority; but its
order having been broken by the inequalities of the ground, the Roman
legionaries penetrated the disordered mass, and committed fearful
carnage, to the extent, it is said, of 20,000 men. Perseus fled first to
Pella, then to Amphipolis, and finally to the sanctuary of the sacred
island of Samothrace, but was at length obliged to surrender himself to
a Roman squadron. He was treated with courtesy, but was reserved to
adorn the triumph of his conqueror. Such was the end of the Macedonian
empire. The Senate decreed that Macedonia should be divided into four
districts, each under the jurisdiction of an oligarchical council.
Before leaving Greece, Paullus was commanded by the Senate to inflict a
terrible punishment upon the Epirotes, because they had favored Perseus.
Having placed garrisons in the seventy towns of Epirus, he razed them
all to the ground in one day, and carried away 150,000 inhabitants as
slaves. Epirus never recovered from this blow. In the time of Augustus
the country was still a scene of desolation, and the inhabitants had
only ruins and villages to dwell in.
Paullus arrived in Italy toward the close of B.C. 167. The booty which
he brought with him from Macedonia, and which he paid into the Roman
treasury, was of enormous value; and his triumph, which lasted three
days, was the most splendid that Rome had yet seen. Before his triumphal
car walked the captive monarch of Macedonia, and behind it, on
horseback, were his two eldest sons, Q. Fabius Maximus, and P. Scipio
Africanus the younger, both of whom had been adopted into other
families. But his glory was darkened by the death of his two younger
sons, one dying a few days before, and the other a few days after his
triumph.
After the triumph Perseus was thrown into a dungeon, but, in consequence
of the intercession of Paullus, he was released, and permitted to end
his days in an honorable captivity at Pella. His son Alexander learned
the Latin language, and became a public clerk at Rome.
The fall of the Macedonian monarchy made Rome the real mistress of the
eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The most haughty monarchs trembled
before the Republic. Antiochus Epiphanes had invaded Egypt, and was
marching upon Alexandria, when he was met by three Roman commissioners,
who presented him with a decree of the Senate, commanding him to abstain
from hostilities against Egypt. The king, having read the decree,
promised to take it into consideration with his friends, whereupon
Popillius, one of the Roman commissioners, stepping forward, drew a
circle round the king with his staff, and told him that he should not
stir out of it till he had given a decisive answer. The king was so
frightened by this boldness that he immediately promised to withdraw his
troops. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, whose conduct during the war with
Perseus had excited the suspicion of the Senate, hastened to make his
submission in person, but was not allowed to enter Rome. Prusias, king
of Bithynia, had the meanness to appear at Rome with his head shaven,
and in the dress of a liberated slave. The Rhodians, who had offered
their mediation during the war with Perseus, were deprived of Lycia and
Caria. In Greece itself the Senate acted in the same arbitrary manner.
It was evident that they meant to bring the whole country under their
sway. In these views they were assisted by various despots and traitors
in the Grecian cities, and especially by Callicrates, a man of great
influence among the Achæans, who for many years had lent himself as the
base tool of the Romans. He now denounced more than a thousand Achæans
as having favored the cause of Perseus. Among them were the historian
Polybius, and the most distinguished men in every city of the League.
They were all apprehended and sent to Italy, where they were distributed
among the cities of Etruria, without being brought to trial. Polybius
alone was allowed to reside at Rome in the house of Æmilius Paullus,
where he became the intimate friend of his son Scipio Africanus the
younger. The Achæan League continued to exist, but it was really subject
to Callicrates. The Achæan exiles languished in confinement for
seventeen years. Their request to be allowed to return to their native
land had been more than once refused; but the younger Scipio Africanus
at length interceded on their behalf, and prevailed upon Cato to
advocate their return. The conduct of the aged Senator was kinder than
his words. He did not interpose till the end of a long debate, and then
simply asked, "Have we nothing better to do than to sit here all day
long debating whether a parcel of worn-out Greeks shall be carried to
their graves here or in Achaia?" A decree of the Senate gave the exiles
permission to return; but, when Polybius was anxious to obtain from the
Senate restoration to their former honors, Cato bade him, with a smile,
beware of returning to the Cyclops' den to fetch away any trifles he had
left behind him.
The Achæan exiles, whose numbers were now reduced from 1000 to 300,
landed in Greece (B.C. 151) with feelings exasperated by their long
confinement, and ready to indulge in any rash enterprise against Rome.
Polybius, who had returned with the other exiles, in vain exhorted them
to peace and unanimity, and to avoid a hopeless struggle with the Roman
power. Shortly afterward an adventurer laid claim to the throne of
Macedonia (B.C. 149). He was a man of low origin called Andriscus, but
he pretended to be the son of Perseus, and assumed the name of
Philippus. At first he met with some success, and defeated the Roman
Prætor Juventius, but, after reigning scarcely a year, he was conquered
and taken prisoner by Q. Metellus.
The temporary success of Andriscus had encouraged the war-party in the
Achæan League. Polybius had quitted the country to join his friend
Scipio in Africa; and Diæus and Critolaüs, the most violent enemies of
Rome, had now undisputed sway in the League. Diæus incited the Achæans
to attack Sparta, on the ground that, instead of appealing to the League
respecting a boundary question, as they ought to have done, they had
violated its laws by sending a private embassy to Rome. The Spartans,
feeling themselves incompetent to resist this attack, appealed to the
Romans for assistance; and in B.C. 147 two Roman commissioners were sent
to Greece to settle these disputes. The commissioners decided that not
only Sparta, but Corinth, and all the other cities, except those of
Achaia, should be restored to independence. Their decision occasioned
serious riots at Corinth. All the Spartans in the town were seized, and
even the Roman commissioners narrowly escaped violence. On their return
to Rome a fresh embassy was dispatched to demand satisfaction for these
outrages. But the violent and impolitic conduct of Critolaüs, then
Strategus of the League, rendered all attempts at accommodation
fruitless, and, after the return of the embassadors, the Senate declared
war against the League. The cowardice and incompetence of Critolaüs as a
general were only equaled by his previous insolence. On the approach of
the Romans from Macedonia under Metellus he did not even venture to make
a stand at Thermopylæ; and, being overtaken by them near Scarphea, in
Locris, he was totally defeated, and never again heard of. Diæus, who
succeeded him as Strategus, displayed rather more energy and courage,
and made preparations to defend Corinth. Metellus had hoped to have had
the honor of bringing the war to a conclusion, and had almost reached
Corinth, when the Consul L. Mummius landed on the Isthmus and assumed
the command. The struggle was soon brought to a close. Diæus was
defeated in battle; and Corinth was immediately evacuated, not only by
the troops of the League, but also by the greater part of the
inhabitants. On entering the city, Mummius put to the sword the few
males who remained, sold the women and children as slaves, and, having
earned away all its treasures, consigned it to the flames (B.C. 146).
Corinth was filled with masterpieces of ancient art; but Mummius was so
insensible to their surpassing excellence as to stipulate with those who
contracted to convey them to Italy that, if any were lost in the
passage, they should be replaced by others of equal value! Mummius then
employed himself in chastising and regulating the whole of Greece; and
ten commissioners were sent from Rome to settle its future condition.
The whole country, to the borders of Macedonia and Epirus, was formed
into a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, derived from that
confederacy which had made the last struggle for political existence.
The Roman commissioners then proceeded northward, and also formed
Macedonia into a province. Polybius, who had hastened to Greece
immediately after the capture of Corinth, exerted all his influence to
alleviate the misfortunes of his countrymen, and to procure for them
favorable terms. As a friend of Scipio he was received by the Roman
commissioners with great distinction, and obtained from them a
relaxation of some of the most severe enactments which had been made
against the Achæans.
Metellus and Mummius both triumphed on their return to Rome, the former
taking the surname of Macedonicus, the latter that of Achaicus.
Carthage, so long the rival of Rome, had fallen in the same year as
Corinth. The reforms introduced by Hannibal after the battle of Zama had
restored some degree of prosperity to the state; and, though the Roman
party obtained the supremacy after he had been compelled to fly to
Antiochus, the commercial activity of the Carthaginians restored to the
city much of its former influence. Rome looked with a jealous eye upon
its reviving power, and encouraged Masinissa to make repeated
aggressions upon its territory. At length the popular party, having
obtained more weight in the government, made a stand against these
repeated encroachments of Masinissa. Thereupon Cato recommended an
instant declaration of war against Carthage; but this met with
considerable opposition in the Senate, and it was at length arranged
that an embassy should be sent to Africa to gain information as to the
real state of affairs. The ten embassadors, of whom Cato was the chief,
offered their arbitration, which was accepted by Masinissa, but rejected
by the Carthaginians, who had no confidence in Roman justice. The
deputies accurately observed the warlike preparations and the defenses
of the frontier. They then entered the city, and saw the strength and
population it had acquired since the Second Punic War. Upon their return
Cato was the foremost in asserting that Rome would never be safe as long
as Carthage was so powerful, so hostile, and so near. One day he drew a
bunch of early ripe figs from beneath his robe, and, throwing it upon
the floor of the Senate-house, said to the assembled fathers, who were
astonished at the freshness and fineness of the fruit, "Those figs were
gathered but three days ago at Carthage; so close is our enemy to our
walls." From that time forth, whenever he was called upon for his vote
in the Senate, though the subject of debate bore no relation to
Carthage, his words were, "Delenda est Carthago," "Carthage must be
destroyed."[57]
Cato's opinion prevailed, and the Senate only waited for a favorable
opportunity to destroy the city. This soon occurred. The popular party
having driven into exile the powerful partisans of Masinissa, the old
Numidian king invaded the Carthaginian territory, and defeated the army
which had been raised to oppose him (B.C. 150). This led to a change in
the government, and the aristocratical party, once more restored to
power, hastened to make their submission to Rome. But the Romans had
resolved upon war, and, when the Carthaginian embassadors arrived at
Rome, the two Consuls were already levying troops. The embassadors,
knowing that resistance was hopeless, sought to appease the anger of the
Senate by unconditional obedience. They were ordered to send 300 youths
of the noblest families to meet the Consuls at Lilybæum, and were told
that the Consuls would acquaint them with the farther orders of the
Senate. At Lilybæum the Consuls found the hostages awaiting them, and
then promised the Carthaginian envoys that the decision of the Senate
should be announced to them in Africa. Upon reaching Utica, which
surrendered to them in despair, the Consuls informed the Carthaginians
that, as their state would henceforth be under the protection of Rome,
they had no longer any occasion for arms, and must surrender all the
munitions of war. Even this demand was complied with, and the Roman
commissioners who were sent to Carthage brought to the Roman camp
200,000 stand of arms, and 2000 catapults. The Consuls, thinking that
the state was now defenseless, threw off the mask, and announced the
final resolution of the Senate: "That Carthage must be destroyed, and
that its inhabitants must build another city ten miles distant from the
coast." When this terrible news reached Carthage, despair and rage
seized all the citizens. They resolved to perish rather than submit to
so perfidious a foe. All the Italians within the walls were massacred;
the members of the former government took to flight, and the popular
party once more obtained the power. Almost superhuman efforts were made
to obtain means of defense; corn was collected from every quarter; arms
were manufactured day and night; the women cut off their long hair to be
made into strings for the catapults, and the whole city became one vast
work-shop. The Consuls now saw that it would be necessary to have
recourse to force; but they had no military ability, and their attacks
were repulsed with great loss. The younger Scipio Africanus, who was
then serving in the army as military tribune, displayed great bravery
and military skill, and, on one occasion, saved the army from
destruction. Still no permanent success was gained, and Scipio returned
to Rome, accompanied by the prayers of the soldiers that he would come
back as their commander. In the following year (B.C. 148) the new Consul
L. Calpurnius Piso was even less successful than his predecessors. The
soldiers became discontented; the Roman Senate and people, who had
anticipated an easy conquest, were indignant at their disappointment,
and all eyes were turned to Scipio. Accordingly, when he became a
candidate for the ædileship for the ensuing year (B.C. 147), he was
unanimously elected Consul, though he was only thirty-seven years old,
and had not, therefore, attained the legal age for the office.
This remarkable man was, as we have already said, the son of L. Æmilius
Paullus, the conqueror of Macedonia. He was adopted by P. Scipio, the
son of the great Africanus, and is therefore called Scipio Africanus
Minor, to distinguish him from his grandfather by adoption. To these
names that of Æmilianus is sometimes added to mark the family of his
birth, so that his full designation was P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus
Æmilianus. His intimacy with the historian Polybius has been already
mentioned. He appears from his earliest years to have devoted himself
with ardor to the study of literature; and he eagerly availed himself of
the superior knowledge of Polybius to direct him in his literary
pursuits. He was accompanied by the Greek historian in almost all his
campaigns, and, in the midst of his most active military duties, lost no
opportunity of enlarging his knowledge of Greek literature and
philosophy by constant intercourse with his friend. Nor did he neglect
the literature of his own country, for Terence was admitted to his
intimacy, and he is even said to have assisted him in the composition of
his comedies. His friendship with Lælius, whose tastes and pursuits were
so congenial to his own, has been immortalized by Cicero's celebrated
treatise "On Friendship."
[Illustration: Plan of Carthage.
A. Inner Port. B. Outer Port. C. Outlet to Sea. D. Scipio's Mole. E. New
Outlet to Sea, cut by the Carthaginians.]
Scipio landed in Africa in B.C. 147. His first step was to restore
discipline to the army. He next took by storm Megara, a suburb of
Carthage, and then proceeded to construct a work across the entrance of
the harbor to cut off the city from all supplies by sea. But the
Carthaginians defended themselves with a courage and an energy rarely
paralleled in history. While Scipio was engaged in this laborious task,
they built a fleet of fifty ships in their inner port, and cut a new
channel communicating with the sea. Hence, when Scipio at length
succeeded in blocking up the entrance of the harbor, he found all his
labor useless, as the Carthaginians sailed out to sea by the new outlet.
But this fleet was destroyed after an obstinate engagement which lasted
three days. At length, in the following year (B.C. 146), Scipio had made
all his preparations for the final assault. The Carthaginians defended
themselves with the courage of despair. They fought from street to
street, and from house to house, and the work of destruction and
butchery went on for six days. The fate of this once magnificent city
moved Scipio to tears; and, anticipating that a similar catastrophe
might one day befall Rome, he is said to have repeated the lines of the
Iliad over the flames of Carthage: "The day shall come when sacred Troy
shall perish, and Priam and his people shall be slain."
Scipio returned to Rome in the same year, and celebrated a splendid
triumph on account of his victory. The surname of Africanus, which he
had inherited by adoption, had now been acquired by his own exploits.
A portion of the dominions of Carthage was assigned to Utica. The
remainder was formed into a Roman province under the name of Africa.
Carthage itself was leveled to the ground, and a curse pronounced upon
any who should rebuild the city. C. Gracchus, however, only twenty-four
years afterward, attempted to found a new city upon the ancient site
under the name of Junonia; but evil prodigies at its foundation, and the
subsequent death of Gracchus, interrupted this design. The project was
revived by Julius Cæsar, and was carried into effect by Augustus; and
Roman Carthage, built at a short distance from the former city, became
the capital of Africa, and one of the most flourishing cities in the
ancient world. In the fifth century it was taken by Genseric, and made
the capital of the Vandal kingdom in Africa. It was retaken by
Belisarius, but was finally captured and destroyed by the Arabs in A.D.
647. Its site is now desolate, marked only by a few ruins.
[Footnote 57: This story must appear to strange to those who know not
that it was a custom for Roman Senators, when called upon for their
vote, to express--no matter what the question--any opinion which they
deemed of great importance to the welfare of the state.]
[Illustration: Personification of the River Tiber.]