_Renewal of the war with Philip, king of Macedon. Successes
of Publius Sulpicius, consul, who had the conduct of that war.
The Abydenians, besieged by Philip, put themselves to death,
together with their wives and children. Lucius Furius,
praetor, defeats the Insubrian Gauls who had revolted; and
Hamilcar, who stirred up the insurrection, is slain, with
thirty-five thousand men. Further operations of Sulpicius,
Attalus, and the Rhodians against Philip_.
1. It is delightful even to me to have come to the end of the Punic war,
as if I myself had borne a share of the toil and danger. For though
it by no means becomes a person, who has ventured to promise an entire
history of all the Roman affairs, to be fatigued by any particular
parts of so extensive a work; yet when I reflect that sixty-three
years (for so many there are from the first Punic war to the end of
the second) have occupied as many of my volumes, as the four hundred
and eighty-seven years, from the building of the city to the consulate
of Appius Claudius, who first made war on the Carthaginians, I plainly
perceive that, like those who, tempted by the shallows near the shore,
walk into the sea, the farther I advance, I am carried, as it were,
into a greater depth and abyss; and that my work almost increases on
my hands which seemed to be diminished by the completion of each of
its earlier portions. The peace with Carthage was quickly followed by
a war with Macedonia: a war, not to be compared to the former, indeed,
either in danger, or in the abilities of the commander, or the valour
of the soldiers; but almost more remarkable with regard to the renown
of their former kings, the ancient fame of that nation, and the vast
extent of their empire, in which they had formerly comprehended a
large part of Europe, and the greater part of Asia. The contest with
Philip, which had begun about ten years before, had been intermitted
for the three last years; the Aetolians having been the occasion both
of the war and the peace. The entreaties of the Athenians whom, having
ravaged their lands, Philip had driven into their city, excited the
Romans to a renewal of the war, left, as they were, disengaged by
the Carthaginian peace, and incensed against him as well for his
treacherous negotiation of peace with the Aetolians and the other
allies in that region, as on account of the auxiliaries sent by him
with money into Africa to Hannibal and the Carthaginians.
2. About the same time, ambassadors arrived both from king Attalus,
and from the Rhodians, with information that the Macedonian was
tampering with the states of Asia. To these embassies an answer was
given, that the senate would give attention to the affairs of Asia.
The determination with regard to the making war on him, was left open
to the consuls, who were then in their provinces. In the mean time,
three ambassadors were sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, namely,
Caius Claudius Nero, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Publius
Sempronius Tuditanus, to announce their conquest of Hannibal and the
Carthaginians; to give thanks to the king for his faithful adherence
to his engagements in the time of their distress, when even the
nearest allies of the Romans abandoned them; and to request that if,
compelled by ill treatment, they should undertake a war with Philip,
he would preserve his former disposition towards the Roman people. In
Gaul, about this time, the consul, Publius Aelius, having heard that,
before his arrival, the Boians had made inroads on the territories
of the allies, levied two occasional legions on account of this
disturbance; and adding to them four cohorts from his own army,
ordered Caius Oppius, the praefect, to march with this tumultuary
band through Umbria, (which is called the Sappinian district,) and to
invade the territories of the Boians. He himself led his own troops
thither openly, over the intervening mountains. Oppius, on entering
the same, for some time committed depredations with tolerable success
and safety. But afterwards, having pitched on a place near a fort
called Mutilum, convenient enough for cutting down the corn, (for
the crops were now ripe,) and setting out without having reconnoitred
around, and without establishing armed posts of sufficient strength
to protect those who were unarmed and intent on their work, he was
suddenly surrounded, together with his foragers, by an unexpected
invasion of the Gauls. On this, panic and flight seized even on those
who were furnished with weapons. Seven thousand men, dispersed through
the corn fields, were put to the sword, among whom was the commander
himself, Caius Oppius. The rest were driven by terror into the camp;
from whence, in consequence of a resolution of the soldiers, they set
out on the following night, without any particular commander; and,
leaving behind a great part of their baggage, made their way, through
woods almost impassable, to the consul, who returned to Rome without
having performed any thing in his province worth notice, except
that he ravaged the lands of the Boians, and made a treaty with the
Ingaunian Ligurians.
3. The first time he assembled the senate, it was unanimously ordered
that he should propose no other business before that which related to
Philip and the complaints of the allies. It was immediately taken into
consideration, and a numerous senate decreed, that Publius Aelius,
consul, should send such person as he might think proper, vested with
command, to receive the fleet which Cneius Octavius was bringing home
from Sicily, and pass over to Macedonia. Accordingly Marcus Valerius
Laevinus, propraetor, was sent; and, receiving thirty-eight ships from
Cneius Octavius, near Vibo, he sailed to Macedonia, where, when
Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, had come to him and informed him what
numerous forces and what large fleets the king had prepared, and
how he was arousing the inhabitants to arms, partly by visiting them
himself and partly by ambassadors, not only through all the cities of
the continent, but even in the islands, (Laevinus was convinced) that
the war ought to be undertaken by the Romans with greater vigour;
lest, if they were dilatory, Philip might attempt that which had
been formerly undertaken by Pyrrhus, who possessed not such large
dominions. He therefore desired Aurelius to convey this intelligence
by letter to the consuls and to the senate.
4. Towards the end of this year the senate, taking into consideration
the lands to be given to the veteran soldiers, who, under the conduct
and auspices of Publius Scipio, had finished the war in Africa,
decreed that Marcus Tunius, praetor of the city, should, if he thought
proper, appoint ten commissioners to survey, and distribute among
them, that part of the Samnite and Apulian lands which was the
property of the Roman people. For this purpose were appointed, Publius
Servilius, Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Caius and Marcus Servilius,
both surnamed Geminus, Lucius and Aulus Hostilius Cato, Publius
Villius Tappulus, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, Publius Aelius Paetus, and
Quintus Flaminius. At the same time, Publius Aelius presiding at the
election of consuls, Publius Sulpicius Galba and Caius Aurelius Cotta
were elected. Then were chosen praetors, Quintus Minucius Rufus,
Lucius Furius Purpureo, Quintus Fulvius Gillo, Cneius Sergius Plancus.
The Roman stage-games were exhibited, in a sumptuous and elegant
manner, by the curule aediles, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Lucius
Quintius Flaminius, and repeated for two days; and a vast quantity of
corn, which Scipio had sent from Africa, was distributed by them to
the people, with strict impartiality and general satisfaction, at the
rate of four _asses_ a peck. The plebeian games were thrice repeated
entire by the plebeian aediles, Lucius Apustius Fullo, and Quintus
Minucius Rufus; the latter of whom was, from the aedileship, elected
praetor. There was also a feast of Jove on occasion of the games.
5. In the year five hundred and fifty-two from the building of the
city, Publius Sulpicius Galba and Caius Aurelius being consuls, within
a few months after the conclusion of the peace with the Carthaginians,
the war was entered upon against king Philip. This was the first
business introduced by the consul, Publius Sulpicius, on the ides of
March, the day on which, in those times, the consulship commenced; and
the senate decreed, that the consul should perform sacrifices with
the greater victims, to such gods as they should judge proper, with
prayers to this purpose,--that "the business which the senate and
people of Rome had then under deliberation, concerning the state, and
the entering on a new war, might issue prosperously and happily to the
Roman people, the allies, and the Latin confederacy;" and that, after
the sacrifices and prayers, they should consult the senate on the
state of public affairs, and the provinces. At this time, very
opportunely for exciting their minds to war, the letters were brought
from Marcus Aurelius, the ambassador, and Marcus Valerius Laevinus,
propraetor. A fresh embassy, likewise, arrived from the Athenians, to
acquaint them that the king was approaching their frontiers, and that
in a short time, not only their lands, but their city also, must fall
into his hands, unless they received aid from the Romans. When the
consuls had made their report, that the sacrifices had been duly
performed, and that the gods had accepted their prayers; that the
aruspices had declared that the entrails showed good omens, and that
enlargement of territory, victory, and triumph were portended; the
letters of Valerius and Aurelius were read, and audience given to the
ambassadors of the Athenians. After which, a decree of the senate was
passed, that thanks should be given to their allies, because, though
long solicited, they had not, even when in fear of a siege, renounced
their fidelity. With regard to sending assistance to them, they
resolved, that an answer should be given as soon as the consuls should
have cast lots for the provinces; and when the consul to whose lot
Macedonia fell should have proposed to the people, that war should be
declared against Philip, king of the Macedonians.
6. The province of Macedonia fell by lot to Publius Sulpicius; and he
proposed to the people to declare, "that they chose and ordered,
that on account of the injuries and hostilities committed against
the allies of the Roman people, war should be proclaimed against king
Philip, and the Macedonians under his government." The province of
Italy fell to the lot of the other consul, Aurelius. The praetors then
cast lots: to Cneius Sergius Plancus fell the city jurisdiction; to
Quintus Fulvius Gillo, Sicily; to Quintus Minucius Rufus, Bruttium;
and to Lucius Furius Purpureo, Gaul. At the first meeting of the
people, the proposal concerning the Macedonian war was rejected by
almost all the tribes. This was done partly spontaneously, as the
people were wearied by the length and severity of the late war, and
disgusted with toils and dangers; and partly by Quintus Baebius,
tribune of the people, who, pursuing the old practice of criminating
the patricians, charged them with multiplying wars one after another,
so that the people could never enjoy peace. This proceeding the
patricians with difficulty brooked, and the tribune was severely
reprehended in the senate; where each severally urged the consul
to call a new assembly, for passing the proposal; to rebuke the
backwardness of the people; and to prove to them how much loss and
disgrace the delay of this war would occasion.
7. The consul, having assembled the people in the field of Mars,
before he dismissed the centuries to the vote, required their
attention, and addressed them thus: "Citizens, you seem to me not to
understand that the question before you is not whether you choose to
have peace or war: for Philip, having already commenced hostilities
with a formidable force, both on land and sea, allows you not that
option. The question is, Whether you must transport your legions to
Macedonia, or admit the enemy into Italy? How important the difference
is, if you never experienced it before, you certainly did in the late
Punic war. For who entertains a doubt, but if, when the Saguntines
were besieged, and implored our protection, we had assisted them with
vigour, as our fathers did the Mamertines, we should have averted
the whole weight of the war upon Spain; which, by our dilatory
proceedings, we suffered to our extreme loss to fall upon Italy? Nor
does it admit a doubt, that we confined this same Philip in Macedonia,
(after he had entered into an engagement with Hannibal by ambassadors
and letters, to cross over into Italy,) by sending Laevinus with a
fleet to make war aggressively upon him. And what we did at that time,
when we had Hannibal to contend with in Italy, do we hesitate to do
now, after Hannibal has been expelled Italy, and the Carthaginians
subdued? Suppose that we allow the king to experience the same
inactivity on our part, while he is taking Athens, as we suffered
Hannibal to experience while he was taking Saguntum: it will not be in
the fifth month, as Hannibal came from Saguntum, but on the fifth day
after he sets sail from Corinth, that he will arrive in Italy. Perhaps
you may not consider Philip as equal to Hannibal; or the Macedonians
to the Carthaginians: certainly, however, you will allow him equal to
Pyrrhus. Equal, do I say? what a vast superiority has the one man over
the other, the one nation over the other! Epirus ever was, and is at
this day, deemed but an inconsiderable accession to the kingdom of
Macedonia. Philip has the entire Peloponnesus under his dominion; even
Argos itself, not more celebrated for its ancient glory than for the
death of Pyrrhus. Now compare our situation. How much more nourishing
was Italy, how much greater its strength, with so many commanders, so
many armies unimpaired, which the Punic war afterwards consumed, when
Pyrrhus attacked and shook it, and advanced victorious almost to the
Roman capital! and not the Tarentines only, and the inhabitants of
that tract of Italy which they call the greater Greece, whom you may
suppose to have been led by the similarity of language and name, but
the Lucanian, the Bruttian, and the Samnite revolted from us. Do you
believe that these would continue quiet and faithful, if Philip should
come over to Italy? They subsequently continued faithful, forsooth,
during the Punic war! Be assured those states will never fail to
revolt from us, except when there is no one to whom they can go over.
If you had been annoyed at passing into Africa, you would this day
have had Hannibal and the Carthaginians to contend with in Italy. Let
Macedonia, rather than Italy, be the seat of war. Let the cities and
lands of the enemy be wasted with fire and sword. We have already
found by experience, that our arms are more powerful and more
successful abroad than at home. Go to the vote with the blessing of
the gods; and what the senate have voted, do you ratify by your order.
This resolution is recommended to you, not only by your consul, but
even by the immortal gods themselves; who, when I offered sacrifice,
and prayed that the issue of this war might be happy and prosperous to
me and to the senate, to you and the allies and Latin confederates, to
our fleets and armies, portended all joyful and prosperous results."
8. After this speech of Sulpicius, being sent to give their votes,
they declared for the war as he had proposed. On which, in pursuance
of a decree of the senate, a supplication for three days was
proclaimed by the consuls; and prayers were offered to the gods at all
the shrines, that the war which the people had ordered against Philip
might turn out well and happily. The consul Sulpicius inquiring of the
heralds, whether they would direct the declaration of the war against
king Philip to be made to himself in person, or whether it would be
sufficient to publish it in the nearest garrison, within the frontiers
of his kingdom, they answered, that they would do rightly whichever
course they should adopt. The consul received authority from the
senate to send any person whom he thought proper, not being a senator,
as ambassador, to denounce war against the king. They then arranged
for the armies of the consuls and praetors. The consuls were ordered
to levy two legions, and to disband the veteran troops. Sulpicius,
to whom the management of this new and highly important war had been
decreed, was allowed permission to carry with him as many volunteers
as he could procure out of the army which Publius Scipio had brought
home from Africa; but he was not empowered to take with him any
veteran soldier against his will. They ordered that the consul should
give to the praetors, Lucius Furius Purpureo and Quintus Minucius
Rufus, five thousand of the allies of the Latin confederacy; with
which forces they should hold, one, the province of Gaul, the other,
Bruttium. Quintus Fulvius Gillo was ordered, in like manner, to select
out of the army which Publius Aelius, late consul, had commanded, such
as had been the shortest time in the service, until he also made up
five thousand of the allies and Latin confederates; that this was to
be the protection of the province of Sicily. To Marcus Valerius Falto,
who, during the former year, had held the province of Campania, as
praetor, the command was continued for a year; in order that he might
go over, as propraetor, to Sardinia, and choose out of the army there
five thousand of the allies of the Latin confederacy, who had served
the fewest campaigns. The consuls were at the same time ordered to
levy two legions for the city, which might be sent wherever occasions
should require; as there were many states in Italy infected with an
attachment to the Carthaginians, which they had formed during the war,
and, in consequence, swelling with resentment. The state was to employ
during that year six Roman legions.
9. In the midst of the preparations for war, ambassadors came from
king Ptolemy, who delivered a message; that "the Athenians had
petitioned the king for aid against Philip; but that although they
were their common allies, yet the king would not, except with the
sanction of the Roman people, send either fleet or army into Greece,
for the purpose of defending or attacking any person. That he would
either remain quiet in his kingdom, if the Romans were at leisure to
protect their allies; or, if more agreeable to them to be at rest,
would himself send such aid as might easily secure Athens against
Philip." Thanks were returned to the king by the senate, and this
answer: that "it was the intention of the Roman people to protect
their allies; that if they should have occasion for any assistance
towards carrying on the war, they would acquaint the king; and that
they were fully sensible, that the resources of his kingdom were the
sure and faithful support of their own state." Presents were then,
by order of the senate, sent to the ambassadors, of five thousand
_asses_[1] to each. While the consuls were engaged in the levy,
and preparing what was necessary for the war, the people, prone to
religious observances, especially at the beginning of new wars, after
supplications had been already performed, and prayers offered up at
all the shrines, lest any thing should be omitted that had ever been
practised, ordered, that the consul who was to have the province of
Macedonia should vow games and a present to Jove. Licinius, the chief
pontiff, occasioned some delay to this public vow, alleging, that "it
ought not to be fulfilled from promiscuous funds. For as the sum to
be named should not be applied to the uses of the war, it should be
immediately set apart, and not to be intermixed with other money; and
that, unless this were done, the vow could not be properly performed."
Although the objection and the author of it were influential, yet the
consul was ordered to consult the college of pontiffs, whether a
vow could be undertaken at an indeterminate expense? The pontiffs
determined, that it could; and that it would be even more in order to
do it in that way. The consul, therefore, repeating after the chief
pontiff, made the vow in the same words in which those made for five
years of safety used to be expressed; only that he engaged to perform
the games, and make the offerings, at such expense as the senate
should direct by their vote, at the time when the vow was performed.
Before this, the great games so often vowed, were constantly rated at
a certain expense: these first at an unspecified amount.
[Footnote 1: 16l. 2s. 1d.]
10. While every one's attention was turned to the Macedonian war, and
at a time when people apprehended nothing less, a sudden account was
brought of an inroad of the Gauls. The Insubrians, Caenomanians,
and Boians, having been joined by the Salyans, Ilvatians, and other
Ligurian states, and putting themselves under the command of Hamilcar,
a Carthaginian, who, having been in the army of Hasdrubal, had
remained in those parts, had fallen upon Placentia; and, after
plundering the city, and, in their rage, burning a great part of it,
leaving scarcely two thousand men among the flames and ruins, passed
the Po, and advanced to plunder Cremona. The news of the calamity
which had fallen on a city in their neighbourhood, having reached
thither, the inhabitants had time to shut their gates, and place
guards on the walls, that they might, at least, be besieged before
they were taken, and send messengers to the Roman praetor. Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who had then the command of the province, had, in
pursuance of the decree of the senate, disbanded the army, excepting
five thousand of the allies and Latin confederacy; and had remained,
with these troops, in the nearest district of the province about
Ariminum. He immediately informed the senate, by letter, in what
confusion the province was. That, "of the two colonies which had
escaped in the dreadful storm of the Punic war, one was taken and
sacked by the present enemy, and the other besieged. Nor was his
army capable of affording sufficient protection to the distressed
colonists, unless he chose to expose five thousand allies to be
slaughtered by forty thousand invaders (for so many there were in
arms); and by such a loss, on his side, to augment the courage of the
enemy, already elated on having destroyed one Roman colony."
11. This letter having been read they decreed, that the consul
Aurelius should order the army which he had appointed to assemble on a
certain day in Etruria, to attend him on the same day at Ariminum; and
should either go in person, if the public business would permit,
to suppress the tumult of the Gauls, or write to the praetor Lucius
Furius, that, as soon as the legions from Etruria came to him, he
should send five thousand of the allies to guard that place in the
mean time, and should himself proceed to relieve the colony from
the siege. They also determined, that ambassadors should be sent
to Carthage, and also into Numidia, to Masinissa: to Carthage, to
announce that "their countryman, Hamilcar, having been left in Gaul,
(either with a part of the army formerly commanded by Hasdrubal, or
with that of Mago--they did not with certainty know which,) was waging
war, contrary to the treaty. That he had excited the armies of the
Gauls and Ligurians to arms against the Roman people. That, if they
wished for peace, they must recall him, and give him up to the Roman
people." They were ordered at the same time to tell them, that "all
the deserters had not been sent back; that a great part of them were
said to appear openly in Carthage, who ought to be sought after, and
surrendered according to the treaty." Such was the message to the
Carthaginians. To Masinissa they were charged with congratulations, on
his "having not only recovered the kingdom of his father, but enlarged
it by the acquisition of the most flourishing parts of Syphax's
territories." They were ordered also to acquaint him, that "a war
had been undertaken against Philip, because he had given aid to the
Carthaginians, while, by the injuries which he offered to the allies
of the Roman people, he had obliged them to send fleets and armies
into Greece, while Italy was blazing with war; and that by thus making
them separate their forces, had been the principal cause of their
being so late passing over into Africa; and to request him to send
to that war supplies of Numidian horsemen." Ample presents were given
them to be carried to the king; vases of gold and silver, a purple
robe, and a tunic adorned with palms of purple, an ivory sceptre,
and a robe of state, with a curule chair. They were also directed to
assure him, that if he deemed any thing further requisite to confirm
and enlarge his kingdom, the Roman people, in return for his good
services, would exert their utmost zeal to effect it. At this time,
too, ambassadors from Vermina, son of Syphax, came to the senate
apologizing for his mistaken conduct, on account of his youth and want
of judgment, and throwing all the blame on the deceitful policy of the
Carthaginians: adding, "that as Masinissa had from an enemy become a
friend to the Romans, so Vermina would also use his best endeavours
that he should not be outdone in offices of friendship to the Roman
people either by Masinissa, or by any other; and requesting that he
might receive from the senate the title of king, friend, and ally."
The answer given to these ambassadors was, that "not only his father
Syphax, from a friend and ally, had on a sudden, without any reason,
become an enemy to the Roman people, but that he himself had made
his first essay of manhood in bearing arms against them. He must,
therefore, sue to the Roman people for peace, before he could expect
to be acknowledged king, ally, and friend; that it was the practice
of that people to bestow the honour of such title, in return for great
services performed by kings towards them; that the Roman ambassadors
would soon be in Africa, to whom the senate would give instructions to
regulate conditions of peace with Vermina, if he would leave the terms
of it entirely to the will of the Roman people; and that, if he wished
that any thing should be added, left out, or altered, he must make a
second application to the senate." The ambassadors sent to Africa
on those affairs, were Caius Terentius Varro, Publius Lucretius, and
Cneius Octavius, each of whom had a quinquereme assigned him.
12. A letter was then read in the senate, from Quintus Minucius, the
praetor, who held the province of Bruttium, that "the money had been
privately carried off by night out of the treasury of Proserpine
at Locri; and that there were no traces to those to whom the charge
applied." The senate was highly incensed at finding that the practice
of sacrilege continued, and that even the fate of Pleminius, an
example so recent and so conspicuous both of the guilt and of the
punishment, did not deter men from it. They ordered the consul, Cneius
Aurelius, to signify to the praetor in Bruttium, that "it was the
pleasure of the senate, that an inquiry be made concerning the robbery
of the treasury, according to the method used by Marcus Pomponius,
praetor, three years before; that the money which could be discovered
should be restored, that what was not found should be made up, and
that if he thought proper, atonements should be made for the purpose
of expiating the violation of the temple, in the manner formerly
prescribed by the pontiffs." At the same time, also, prodigies were
announced as having happened in many places. It was said, that in
Lucania the sky had been seen in a blaze; that at Privernum, in clear
weather, the sun had been of a red colour during a whole day; that at
Lanuvium, in the temple of Juno Sospita, a very loud noise had been
heard in the night. Besides, monstrous births of animals were related
to have occurred in many places: in the country of the Sabines, an
infant was born whose sex was doubtful; and another was found, sixteen
years old, of doubtful sex. At Frusino a lamb was born with a swine's
head; at Sinuessa, a pig with a human head; and in Lucania, in the
land belonging to the state, a foal with five feet. All these were
considered as horrid and abominable, and as if nature were straying to
strange productions. Above all, the people were particularly shocked
at the hermaphrodites, which were ordered to be immediately thrown
into the sea, as had been lately done with a production of the same
monstrous kind, in the consulate of Caius Claudius and Marcus Livius.
Notwithstanding they ordered the decemvirs to inspect the books in
regard of that prodigy; and the decemvirs, from the books, directed
the same religious ceremonies which had been performed on an occasion
of the same kind. They ordered, besides, a hymn to be sung through the
city by thrice nine virgins, and an offering to be made to imperial
Juno. The consul, Caius Aurelius, took care that all these matters
were performed according to the direction of the decemvirs. The hymn
was composed by Publius Licinius Tegula, as a similar one had been, in
the memory of their fathers, by Livius.
13. All religious scruples were fully removed by expiations; at Locri,
too, the affair of the sacrilege had been thoroughly investigated by
Quintus Minucius, and the money replaced in the treasury out of the
effects of the guilty. When the consuls wished to set out to their
provinces, a number of private persons, to whom the third payment
became due that year, of the money which they had lent to the public
in the consulate of Marcus Valerius and Marcus Claudius, applied to
the senate. The consuls, however, declared that the treasury being
scarcely sufficient for the exigencies of a new war, in which a great
fleet and great armies must be employed, there were no means of paying
them at present. The senate could not stand against them when they
complained, that "if the state intended to use, for the purpose of the
Macedonian war, the money which had been lent for the Punic war, as
one war constantly arose after another, what would be the issue,
but that, in return for their generosity, their property would be
confiscated as for some crime?" The demands of the private creditors
being equitable, and the state being in no capacity of discharging
the debt, they decreed a middle course between equity and convenience;
resolving that "whereas many of them mentioned that lands were
frequently exposed to sale, and that they themselves wished to become
purchasers, they should, therefore, have liberty to purchase any
belonging to the public, and which lay within fifty miles of the city.
That the consuls should make a valuation of these, and impose on each
acre one _as_, as an acknowledgment that the land was the property of
the public, in order that, when the people should become able to pay,
if any one chose rather to have the money than the land, he might
restore it." The private creditors accepted the terms with joy; and
that land was called Trientius and Tabulius, because it was given in
lieu of the third part of their money.
14. Publius Sulpicius, after making his vows in the Capitol, set
out robed from the city with his lictors, and arrived at Brundusium;
where, having formed into legions the veteran soldiers of the African
army who were willing to follow him, and chosen his ships out of
the fleet of the late consul, Cornelius, he crossed and arrived in
Macedonia the day after he had set sail from Brundusium. There he was
met by ambassadors from the Athenians, entreating him to relieve them
from the siege. Immediately, Caius Claudius Centho was despatched to
Athens, with twenty ships of war, and a thousand of land forces. For
it was not the king himself who carried on the siege of Athens; he
was at that time besieging Abydus, after having tried his strength
in naval contests against Attalus, and against the Rhodians,
without success in either engagement. But, besides the natural
presumptuousness of his temper, he acquired confidence from a treaty
which he had formed with Antiochus, king of Syria, in which they had
divided the wealth of Egypt between them; on which, on hearing of
the death of Ptolemy, they were both intent. The Athenians now had
entangled themselves in a war with Philip on too trifling an occasion,
and at a time when they retained nothing of their former condition but
their pride. During the celebration of the mysteries, two young men of
Acarnania, who were not initiated, unapprized of its being an offence
against religion, entered the temple of Ceres along with the rest of
the crowd: their discourse readily betrayed them, by their asking some
absurd questions; whereupon, being carried before the presidents of
the temple, although it was evident that they went in through mistake,
yet they were put to death, as if for a heinous crime. The Acarnanian
nation made complaint to Philip of this barbarous and hostile act, and
prevailed on him to grant them some aid of Macedonian soldiers, and
to allow them to make war on the Athenians. At first this army, after
ravaging the lands of Attica with fire and sword, retired to
Acarnania with booty of all kinds. This was the first provocation to
hostilities. The Athenians afterwards, on their side, entered into a
regular war, and proclaimed it by order of the state. For king Attalus
and the Rhodians, having come to Aegina in pursuit of Philip, who
was retiring to Macedonia, the king crossed over to Piraeus, for the
purpose of renewing and confirming his alliance with the Athenians. On
entering the city, the whole inhabitants received him, pouring forth
with their wives and children to meet him; the priests, with their
emblems of religion; and in a manner the gods themselves, called forth
from their abodes.
15. Immediately the people were summoned to an assembly, that the
king might treat with them in person on such subjects as he chose; but
afterwards it was judged more suitable to his dignity to explain his
sentiments in writing, than, being present, to be forced to blush,
either at the recital of his favours to the state, or at the
immoderate applause of the multitude, which would overwhelm his
modesty with acclamations and other signs of approbation. In the
letter which he sent, and which was read to the assembly, was
contained first, a recapitulation of his acts of kindness to the
state, as his ally; then, of the actions which he had performed
against Philip; and lastly, an exhortation to "enter immediately on
the war; while they had himself, the Rhodians, and the Romans also to
assist them;" not omitting to warn them that "if they were backward
now, they would hereafter wish in vain for the opportunity which
they neglected." They then gave audience to the ambassadors of the
Rhodians, to whom they were under a recent obligation for having
retaken, and sent home, four of their ships of war, which had been
lately seized by the Macedonians. War was determined upon against
Philip with universal consent. Unbounded honours were conferred on
king Attalus, and then on the Rhodians. At that time, mention was made
of adding a tribe, which they were to call Attalus, to the ten ancient
tribes; the Rhodian state was presented with a golden crown, as an
acknowledgment of its bravery, and the freedom of the city was given
to the inhabitants, in like manner as the Rhodians had formerly given
it to the Athenians. After this, king Attalus returned to his fleet at
Aegina. From Aegina, the Rhodians sailed to Cia, and thence to
Rhodes, through the islands, all of which they brought to join in
the alliance, except Andros, Paros, and Cythnus, which were held by
Macedonian garrisons. Attalus, having sent messengers to Aetolia, and
expecting ambassadors from thence, was detained at Aegina for some
time in a state of inaction; failing also in his endeavours to excite
the Aetolians to arms, for they were rejoiced at having made peace
with Philip on any terms. Had Attalus and the Rhodians pressed Philip
vigorously, they might have acquired the illustrious title of the
deliverers of Greece, but by suffering him to pass over again into
Hellespontus, and to strengthen himself by seizing the advantageous
posts in Greece, they increased the difficulties of the war, and
yielded up to the Romans the glory of having conducted and finished
it.
16. Philip acted with a spirit more becoming a king; for, though he
had found himself unequal to the forces of Attalus and the Rhodians,
yet he was not dismayed, even by the Roman war with which he was
threatened. Sending Philocles, one of his generals, with two thousand
foot and two hundred horse, to ravage the lands of the Athenians, he
gave the command of his fleet to Heraclides, to make for Maronea,
and marched thither himself by land, with two thousand foot lightly
equipped, and two hundred horse. Maronea he took at the first assault;
and afterwards, with a good deal of trouble, got possession of Aenus,
which was at last betrayed to him by Ganymede, the lieutenant of
Ptolemy. He then seized on other forts, Cypselus, Doriscos, and
Serrheus; and, advancing from thence to the Chersonesus, received
Elaeus and Alopeconnesus, which were surrendered by the inhabitants.
Callipolis also, and Madytos, were given up to him, with several
forts of but little consequence. The people of Abydus shut their gates
against him, not admitting the ambassadors. This siege detained Philip
a long time; and it might have been relieved, had not Attalus and the
Rhodians been dilatory. The king sent only three hundred men for a
garrison, and the Rhodians one quadrireme from their fleet, although
it was lying idle at Tenedos: and afterwards, when the besieged could
with difficulty hold out any longer, Attalus, going over in person,
did nothing more than show them some hope of relief being near, giving
no assistance to these his allies either by land or sea.
17. At first the people of Abydus, by means of engines placed along
the walls, not only prevented the approaches by land, but annoyed the
enemy's ships in their station. Afterwards a part of the wall being
thrown down, and the assailants having penetrated by mines to an inner
wall, which had been hastily raised to oppose their entrance, they
sent ambassadors to the king about the conditions of the surrender
of the city. They demanded permission to send away the Rhodian
quadrireme, with the crew, and the troops of Attalus in the garrison;
and that they themselves might depart from the city, each with
one suit of apparel. When Philip's answer afforded no hopes of
accommodation, unless they surrendered at discretion, this repudiation
of their embassy so exasperated them, at once through indignation and
despair, that, seized with the same kind of fury which had possessed
the Saguntines, they ordered all the matrons to be shut up in the
temple of Diana, and the free-born youths and virgins, and even the
infants with their nurses, in the place of exercise; the gold and
silver to be carried into the forum; their valuable garments to be put
on board the Rhodian ship, and another from Cyzicum, which lay in
the harbour; the priests and victims to be brought, and altars to be
erected in the midst. There they appointed a select number, who, as
soon as they should see the army of their friends cut off in defending
the breach, were instantly to slay their wives and children; to throw
into the sea the gold, silver, and apparel that was on board the
ships, and to set fire to the buildings, public and private: and to
the performance of this deed they were bound by an oath, the priests
repeating before them the verses of execration. Those who were of an
age capable of fighting then swore that they would not leave their
ranks alive unless victorious. These, regardful of the gods, (by whom
they had sworn,) maintained their ground with such obstinacy, that
although the night would soon have put a stop to the fight, yet the
king, terrified by their fury, first desisted from the fight. The
chief inhabitants, to whom the more shocking part of the plan had been
given in charge, seeing that few survived the battle, and that these
were exhausted by fatigue and wounds, sent the priests (having their
heads bound with the fillets of suppliants) at the dawn of the next
day to surrender the city to Philip.
18. Before the surrender, one of the Roman ambassadors, who had been
sent to Alexandria, Marcus Aemilius, being the youngest of them, on
the joint resolution of the three, on hearing of the present siege,
came to Philip, and complained of his having made war on Attalus and
the Rhodians; and particularly that he was then besieging Abydus; and
on Philip's saying that he had been forced into the war by Attalus and
the Rhodians commencing hostilities against him,--"Did the people of
Abydus, too," said he, "commence hostilities against you?" To him, who
was unaccustomed to hear truth, this language seemed too arrogant to
be used to a king, and he answered,--"Your youth, the beauty of your
form, and, above all, the name of Roman, render you too presumptuous.
However, my first desire is, that you would observe the treaties, and
continue in peace with me; but if you begin an attack, I am, on my
part, determined to prove that the kingdom and name of the Macedonians
is not less formidable in war than that of the Romans." Having
dismissed the ambassador in this manner, Philip got possession of the
gold and silver which had been thrown together in a heap, but lost his
booty with respect to prisoners: for such violent frenzy had seized
the multitude, that, on a sudden, taking up a persuasion that those
who had fallen in the battle had been treacherously sacrificed, and
upbraiding one another with perjury, especially the priests, who would
surrender alive to the enemy those persons whom they themselves had
devoted, they all at once ran different ways to put their wives and
children to death; and then they put an end to their own lives
by every possible method. The king, astonished at their madness,
restrained the violence of his soldiers, and said, "that he would
allow the people of Abydus three days to die in;" and, during this
space, the vanquished perpetrated more deeds of cruelty on themselves
than the enraged conquerors would have committed; nor did any one of
them come into his hands alive, except such as chains, or some other
insuperable restraint, forbade to die. Philip, leaving a garrison in
Abydus, returned to his kingdom; and, just when he had been encouraged
by the destruction of the people of Abydus to proceed in the war
against Rome, as Hannibal had been by the destruction of Saguntum, he
was met by couriers, with intelligence that the consul was already in
Epirus, and had drawn his land forces to Apollonia, and his fleet to
Corcyra, into winter quarters.
19. In the mean time, the ambassadors who had been sent into Africa,
on the affair of Hamilcar, the leader of the Gallic army, received
from the Carthaginians this answer: that "it was not in their power
to do more than to inflict on him the punishment of exile, and to
confiscate his effects; that they had delivered up all the deserters
and fugitives, whom, on a diligent inquiry, they had been able to
discover, and would send ambassadors to Rome, to satisfy the senate on
that head." They sent two hundred thousand measures of wheat to
Rome, and the same quantity to the army in Macedonia. From thence
the ambassadors proceeded into Numidia, to the king; delivered
to Masinissa the presents and the message according to their
instructions, and out of two thousand Numidian horsemen, which he
offered, accepted one thousand. Masinissa superintended in person
the embarkation of these, and sent them, with two hundred thousand
measures of wheat, and the same quantity of barley, into Macedonia.
Their third commission was with Vermina. He advanced to meet them as
far as the utmost limits of his kingdom, and left it to themselves to
prescribe such conditions of peace as they thought proper, declaring,
that "he should consider any peace with the Roman people as just and
advantageous." The terms were then settled, and he was ordered to send
ambassadors to Rome to procure a ratification of the treaty.
20. About the same time, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, proconsul, came
home from Spain; and having laid before the senate an account of
his brave and successful conduct, during the course of many years,
demanded that he might be allowed to enter the city in triumph. The
senate gave their opinion that "his services were, indeed, deserving
of a triumph; but that they had no precedent left them by their
ancestors of any person enjoying a triumph, who had not performed the
service either of dictator, consul, or praetor; that he had held
the province of Spain in quality of proconsul, and not of consul, or
praetor." They determined, however, that he might enter the city in
ovation. Against this, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, tribune of the
people, protested, alleging, that such proceedings would be no more in
accordance with the custom of their ancestors, or with any precedent,
than the other; but, overcome at length by the unanimous desire of
the senate, the tribune withdrew his opposition, and Lucius Lentulus
entered the city in ovation. He carried to the treasury forty-four
thousand pounds weight of silver, and two thousand four hundred pounds
weight of gold. To each of the soldiers he distributed, of the spoil,
one hundred and twenty _asses_.[1]
[Footnote 1: 7s. 9d.]
21. The consular army had, by this time, been conducted from Arretium
to Ariminum, and the five thousand Latin confederates had crossed from
Gaul into Etruria. Lucius Furius, therefore, advanced from Ariminum,
by forced marches, against the Gauls, who were then besieging Cremona,
and pitched his camp at the distance of one mile and a half from the
enemy. Furius had an opportunity of performing a splendid exploit,
had he, without halting, led his troops directly to attack their camp;
scattered hither and thither, they were wandering through the country;
and the guard, which they had left, was not sufficiently strong; but
he was apprehensive that his men were too much fatigued by their hasty
march. The Gauls, recalled from the fields by the shouts of their
party, returned to the camp without seizing the booty within their
reach, and, next day, marched out to offer battle. The Roman did not
decline the combat, but had scarcely time to draw up his forces, so
rapidly did the enemy advance to the fight. The right brigade (for he
had the troops of the allies divided into brigades) was placed in the
first line, the two Roman legions in reserve. Marcus Furius was at the
head of the right brigade, Marcus Caecilius of the legions, and Lucius
Valerius Flaccus of the cavalry; these were all lieutenant-generals.
Two other lieutenant-generals, Cneius Laetorius and Publius Titinnius,
the praetor kept near himself, that, with their assistance, he might
observe and take proper measures against all sudden attempts of the
enemy. At first, the Gauls, bending their whole force to one point,
were in hopes of being able to overwhelm, and trample under foot,
the right brigade, which was in the van; but not succeeding, they
endeavoured to turn round the flanks, and to surround their enemy's
line, which, considering the multitude of their forces, and the small
number of the others, seemed easy to be done. On observing this, the
praetor, in order to extend his own line, brought up the two legions
from the reserve, and placed them on the right and left of the brigade
which was engaged in the van; vowing a temple to Jupiter, if he should
rout the enemy on that day. To Lucius Valerius he gave orders, to make
the horsemen of the two legions on one flank, and the cavalry of the
allies on the other, charge the wings of the enemy, and not suffer
them to come round to his rear. At the same time, observing that the
centre of the line of the Gauls was weakened, from having extended the
wings, he directed his men to make an attack there in close order, and
to break through their ranks. The wings were routed by the cavalry,
and, at the same time, the centre by the foot; and suddenly, being
worsted in all parts with great slaughter, the Gauls turned their
backs, and fled to their camp in hurry and confusion. The cavalry
pursued them as they fled; and the legions, coming up in a short time
after, assaulted the camp, from whence there did not escape so many
as six thousand men. There were slain and taken above thirty-five
thousand, with seventy standards, and above two hundred Gallic waggons
laden with much booty. Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general, fell
in that battle, and three distinguished generals of the Gauls. The
prisoners taken at Placentia, to the number of two thousand freemen,
were restored to the colony.
22. This was an important victory, and caused great joy at Rome. On
receipt of the praetor's letter, a supplication for three days was
decreed. In that battle, there fell of the Romans and allies two
thousand, most of them in the right brigade, against which, in the
first onset, the most violent efforts of the enemy had been directed.
Although the praetor had brought the war almost to a conclusion, yet
the consul, Cneius Aurelius, having finished the business which was
necessary to be done at Rome, set out for Gaul, and received the
victorious army from the praetor. The other consul, arriving in
his province towards the end of autumn, passed the winter in the
neighbourhood of Apollonia. Caius Claudius, and the Roman triremes
which had been sent to Athens from the fleet that was laid up at
Corcyra, as was mentioned above, arriving at Piraeeus, greatly revived
the hopes of their allies, who were beginning to give way to despair.
For not only did those inroads by land cease, which used to be
made from Corinth through Megara, but the ships of the pirates from
Chalcis, who had been accustomed to infest both the Athenian sea and
coast, were afraid not only to venture round the promontory of Sunium,
but even to trust themselves out of the straits of the Euripus. In
addition to these came three quadriremes from Rhodes, the Athenians
having three open ships, which they had equipped for the protection of
their lands on the coast. While Claudius thought, that if he were able
with his fleet to give security to the Athenians it was as much as
could be expected at present, a fortunate opportunity was thrown in
his way of accomplishing a much more important enterprise.
23. Some exiles driven from Chalcis, by ill treatment received from
the king's party, brought intelligence, that the place might be taken
without even a contest; for that both the Macedonians, being under
no immediate apprehension from an enemy, were straying idly about the
country; and that the townsmen, depending on the Macedonian garrison,
neglected the guard of the city. Claudius, on this authority, set out
and though he arrived at Sunium early enough to have sailed forward
to the entrance of the strait of Euboea, yet fearing that, on doubling
the promontory, he might be descried by the enemy, he lay by with
the fleet until night. As soon as it grew dark he began to move, and,
favoured by a calm, arrived at Chalcis a little before day; and then,
approaching the city, on a side where it was thinly inhabited, with
a small party of soldiers, and by means of scaling ladders, he got
possession of the nearest tower, and the wall on each side; the guards
being asleep in some places, and in others no one being on the watch.
Thence they advanced to the more populous parts of the town, and
having slain the sentinels, and broke open a gate, they gave an
entrance to the main body of the troops. These immediately spread
themselves throughout the whole city, and increased the tumult by
setting fire to the buildings round the forum, by which means both the
granaries belonging to the king, and his armoury, with a vast store of
machines and engines, were reduced to ashes. Then commenced a general
slaughter of those who fled, as well as of those who made resistance;
and after having either put to the sword or driven out every one who
was of an age fit to bear arms, (Sopater also, the Acarnanian, who
commanded the garrison, being slain,) they first collected all the
spoils in the forum, and then carried it on board the ships. The
prison, too, was forced open by the Rhodians, and those prisoners
whom Philip had shut up there, as in the safest custody, were set at
liberty. They next pulled down and mutilated the statues of the king;
and then, on a signal being given for a retreat, re-embarked and
returned to Piraeeus, from whence they had set out. If there had
been so large a force of Roman soldiers that Chalcis might have been
retained and the protection of Athens not neglected, Chalcis and
Euripus might have been taken from the king;--a most important
advantage at the commencement of the war. For as the pass of
Thermopylae is the principal barrier of Greece by land, so is the
strait of the Euripus by sea.
24. Philip was then at Demetrias, and as soon as the news arrived
there of the calamity which had befallen the city of his allies,
although it was too late to carry assistance to those who were
already ruined, yet anxious to accomplish what was next to assistance,
revenge, he set out instantly with five thousand foot lightly
equipped, and three hundred horse. With a speed almost equal to that
of racing, he hastened to Chalcis, not doubting but that he should be
able to surprise the Romans. Being disappointed in this expectation,
and having arrived, with no other result than a melancholy view of
the smoking ruins of that friendly city, (so few being left, that
they were scarcely sufficient to bury those who had fallen in the
conflict,) with the same rapid haste which he had used in coming, he
crossed the Euripus by the bridge, and led his troops through Boeotia
to Athens, in hopes that a similar issue would correspond to a similar
attempt. And it would have corresponded, had not a scout, (one of
those whom the Greeks call day-runners,[1] because they run through
a journey of great length in one day,) descrying from his post of
observation the king's army in its march, set out at midnight
and arrived before them at Athens. The same sleep, and the same
negligence, prevailed there which had proved the ruin of Chalcis a
few days before. Roused, however, by the alarming intelligence, the
praetor of the Athenians, and Dioxippus, commander of a cohort of
mercenary auxiliaries, called the soldiers together in the forum,
and ordered the trumpets to sound an alarm from the citadel, that all
might be informed of the approach of the enemy. On which the people
ran from all quarters to the gates, and afterwards to the walls. In a
few hours after, and still some time before day, Philip approached the
city, and observing a great number of lights, and hearing the noise of
the men hurrying to and fro, as usual on such an alarm, he halted his
troops, and ordered them to sit down and take some rest; resolving to
use open force, since his stratagem had not succeeded. Accordingly
he advanced on the side of Dipylos. This gate, being situated in the
principal approach of the city, is somewhat larger and wider than
the rest. Both within and without the streets are wide, so that the
townsmen could form their troops from the forum to the gate, while on
the outside a road of about a mile in length, leading to the school
of the academy, afforded open room to the foot and horse of the enemy.
The Athenians, who had formed their troops within the gate, marched
out with Attalus's garrison, and the cohort of Dioxippus, along that
road. Which, when Philip observed, thinking that he had the enemy in
his power, and was now about to sate himself with their long wished
for destruction, (being more incensed against them than any of the
Grecian states,) he exhorted his men to keep their eyes on him during
the fight, and to take notice, that wherever the king was, there
the standards and the army ought to be. He then spurred on his horse
against the enemy, animated not only with resentment, but with a
desire of gaining honour, for he reckoned it a glorious thing to be
beheld fighting from the walls, which were filled with an immense
multitude, for the purpose of witnessing the engagement. Advancing
far before the line, and with a small body of horse, rushing into the
midst of the enemy, he inspired his men with great ardour, and the
Athenians equally with terror. Having wounded many with his own hand,
both in close fight and with missive weapons, and driven them back
within the gate, he still pursued them closely; and having made
greater slaughter among them while embarrassed in the narrow pass,
rash as the attempt was, he yet had an unmolested retreat, because
those who were in the towers withheld their weapons lest they should
hit their friends, who were mingled in confusion among their enemies.
The Athenians, after this, confining their troops within the walls,
Philip sounded a retreat, and pitched his camp at Cynosarges, a temple
of Hercules, and a school surrounded by a grove. But Cynosarges, and
Lycaeum, and whatever was sacred or pleasant in the neighbourhood of
the city, he burned to the ground, and levelled not only the houses,
but sepulchres, nor was any thing either in divine or human possession
preserved amidst the violence of his rage.
[Footnote 1: Hemerodromoi.]
25. Next day, the gates having at first been shut, and afterwards
suddenly thrown open, in consequence of a body of Attalus's troops
from Aegina, and the Romans from Piraeeus, having entered the city,
the king removed his camp to the distance of about three miles. From
thence he proceeded to Eleusis, in hopes of surprising the temple, and
a fort which overlooks and surrounds it; but, finding that the watches
had not been neglected, and that the fleet was coming from Piraeeus to
support them, he laid aside the design, and led his troops, first to
Megara, and then to Corinth; where, on hearing that the council of the
Achaeans was then sitting at Argos, he went and joined the assembly,
unexpected by the Achaeans. They were at the time consulting about a
war against Nabis, tyrant of the Lacedaemonians; who, on the command
being transferred from Philopoemen to Cycliades, a general by no
means his equal, perceiving that the confederates of the Achaeans were
falling off, had renewed the war, was ravaging the territories of his
neighbours, and had become formidable even to the cities. While they
were deliberating what number of men should be raised out of each of
the states to oppose this enemy, Philip promised that he would relieve
them of that care, as far as concerned Nabis and the Lacedaemonians;
and that he would not only secure the lands of their allies from
devastation, but transfer the whole terror of the war on Laconia
itself, by leading his army thither instantly. This discourse being
received with general approbation, he added,--"It is but reasonable,
however, that while I am employed in protecting your property by my
arms, my own should not be deprived of protection; therefore, if you
think proper, provide such a number of troops as will be sufficient to
secure Orcus, Chalcis, and Corinth; that my affairs being in a state
of safety behind me, I may without anxiety make war on Nabis and the
Lacedaemonians." The Achaeans were not ignorant of the tendency of
this so kind promise, and of his proffered assistance against the
Lacedaemonians; that his purpose was to draw the Achaean youth out of
Peloponnesus as hostages, in order to implicate the nation in a war
with the Romans. Cycliades, the Achaean praetor, thinking that it was
irrelevant to develope the matter by argument, said nothing more than
that it was not allowable, according to the laws of the Achaeans, to
take any matters into consideration except those on which they had
been called together: and the decree for levying an army against Nabis
being passed, he dismissed the assembly, after having presided in it
with much resolution and public spirit, and until that day having been
reckoned among the partisans of the king. Philip, disappointed in a
high expectation, after having collected a few voluntary soldiers,
returned to Corinth, and from thence into the territories of Athens.
26. In those days in which Philip was in Achaia, Philocles, one of the
king's generals, marching from Euboea with two thousand Thracians and
Macedonians, in order to lay waste the territories of the Athenians,
crossed the forest of Cithaeron opposite to Eleusis. Despatching
half of his troops, make depredations in all parts of the country, he
himself lay concealed with the remainder in a place convenient for an
ambush; in order that, if any attack should be made from the fort at
Eleusis on his men employed in plundering, he might suddenly fall upon
the enemy unawares, and while they were in disorder. His stratagem
did not escape discovery: wherefore calling back the soldiers, who had
gone different ways in pursuit of booty, and drawing them up in order,
he advanced to assault the fort at Eleusis; but being repulsed from
thence with many wounds, he formed a junction with Philip on his
return from Achaia. The storming of this fort was also attempted by
the king in person: but the Roman ships coming from Piraeeus, and a
body of forces thrown into the fort, compelled him to relinquish the
design. On this the king, dividing his army, sent Philocles with one
part to Athens, and went himself with the other to Piraeeus; that,
while his general, by advancing to the walls and threatening an
assault, might keep the Athenians within the city, he might be able
to make himself master of the harbour, when left with only a slight
garrison. But he found the attack of Piraeeus no less difficult than
that of Eleusis, the same persons for the most part acting in its
defence. He therefore hastily led his troops to Athens, and being
repulsed by a sudden sally of both foot and horse, who engaged him in
the narrow ground, enclosed by the half-ruined wall, which, with two
arms, joins Piraeus to Athens, he desisted from the assault of the
city, and, dividing his forces again with Philocles, set out to
complete the devastation of the country. As, in his former ravages,
he had employed himself in levelling the sepulchres round the city, so
now, not to leave any thing unviolated, he ordered the temples of
the gods, of which they had one consecrated in every village, to be
demolished and burned. The country of Attica afforded ample matter
for the exercise of this barbarous rage: being highly embellished with
works of that kind, having plenty of indigenous marble, and abounding
with artists of exquisite ingenuity. Nor was he satisfied with merely
destroying the temples themselves, and overthrowing the images, but
he ordered even the stones to be broken, lest, remaining whole, they
should give stateliness to the ruins; and then, his rage not being
satiated, but no object remaining on which it could be exercised, he
retired from the country of the enemy into Boeotia, without having
performed in Greece any thing else worth mention.