or to listen, began thus: "Titus Quinctius, and you who are present,
if I could collect from my own reflections the reason of your having
either declared or actually made war against me, I should have waited
in silence the issue of my destiny. But in the present state of
things, I could not repress my desire of knowing, before I am ruined,
the cause for which my ruin is resolved on. And in truth, if you
were such men as the Carthaginians are represented to be,--men who
considered the obligation of faith, pledged in alliances, as in no
degree sacred, I should not wonder if you were the less scrupulous
with respect to your conduct towards me. But, instead of that, when I
look at you, I perceive that you are Romans: men who allow treaties to
be the most solemn of religious acts, and faith, pledged therein,
the strongest of human ties. Then, when I look back at myself, I am
confident I am one who, as a member of the community, am, in common
with the rest of the Lacedaemonians, included in a treaty subsisting
with you, of very ancient date; and likewise have, lately, during the
war with Philip, concluded anew, in my own name, a personal friendship
and alliance with you. But it appears I have violated and cancelled
that treaty, by holding possession of the city of Argos. In what
manner shall I defend this? By the consideration of the fact, or of
the time. The consideration of the fact furnishes me with a twofold
defence: for, in the first place, in consequence of an invitation from
the inhabitants themselves, and of their voluntary act of surrender,
I accepted the possession of that city, and did not seize it by force.
In the next place, I accepted it, when the city was in league with
Philip, not in alliance with you. Then the consideration of the time
acquits me, inasmuch as when I was in actual possession of Argos, the
alliance was entered into between you and me, and you stipulated that
I should send you aid against Philip, not that I should withdraw my
garrison from that city. In this dispute, therefore, so far as it
relates to Argos, I have unquestionably the advantage, both from
the equity of the proceeding, as I gained possession of a city which
belonged not to you, but to your enemy; and as I gained it by its own
voluntary act, and not by forcible compulsion; and also from your own
acknowledgment; since, in the articles of our alliance, you left
Argos to me. But then, the name of tyrant, and my conduct, are strong
objections against me: that I call forth slaves to a state of freedom;
that I carry out the indigent part of the populace, and give them
settlements in lands. With respect to the title by which I am styled,
I can answer thus: That, let me be what I may, I am the same now that
I was at the time when you yourself, Titus Quinctius, concluded an
alliance with me. I remember, that I was then styled king by you;
now, I see, I am called tyrant. If, therefore, I had since altered
the style of my office, I might have an account to render of my
fickleness: as you choose to alter it, that account should be rendered
by you. As to what relates to the augmenting the number of the
populace, by giving liberty to slaves, and the distribution of lands
to the needy; on this head, too, I might defend myself by a reference
to time: These measures, of what complexion soever they are, I had
practised before you formed friendship with me, and received my aid
in the war against Philip. But, if I did these same things, at this
moment, I would not say to you, how did I thereby injure you, or
violate the friendship subsisting between us? but that, in so doing,
I acted agreeably to the practice and institutions of my ancestors.
Do not estimate what is done at Lacedaemon by the standard of your own
laws and constitution. There is no necessity for comparing particular
institutions: you are guided in your choice of a horseman, by the
quantity of his property; in your choice of a foot soldier, by the
quantity of his property; and your plan is, that a few should abound
in wealth, and that the body of the people should be in subjection
to them. Our lawgiver did not choose that the administration of
government should be in the hands of a few, such as you call a senate;
or that this or that order of citizens should have a superiority
over the rest: but he considered that, by equalizing the property and
dignity of all, he should multiply the number of those who were to
bear arms for their country. I acknowledge that I have enlarged on
these matters, beyond what consists with the conciseness customary
with my countrymen, and that the sum of the whole might be comprised
in few words: that, since I first commenced a friendship with you, I
have given you no just cause to repent it."
32. The Roman general answered: "We never contracted any friendship
or alliance with you, but with Pelops, the right and lawful king of
Lacedaemon: whose authority, while the Carthaginian, Gallic, and
other wars, succeeding one another, kept us constantly employed,
the tyrants, who after him held Lacedaemon under forced subjection,
usurped into their own hands, as did you also during the late war
with Macedonia. For what could be less fitting, than that we, who were
waging war against Philip, in favour of the liberty of Greece, should
contract friendship with a tyrant, and a tyrant the most cruel and
violent towards his subjects that ever existed? But, even supposing
that you had not either seized or held Argos by iniquitous means, it
would be incumbent on us, when we are giving liberty to all Greece, to
reinstate Lacedaemon also in its ancient freedom, and the enjoyment of
its own laws, which you just now spoke of, as if you were a rival
of Lycurgus. Shall we take pains to make Philip's garrisons evacuate
Tassus and Bargylii; and shall we leave Lacedaemon and Argos, those
two most illustrious cities, formerly the lights of Greece, under
your feet, that their continuance in bondage may tarnish our title of
deliverers of Greece? But the Argives took part with Philip: we excuse
you from taking any concern in that cause, so that you need not be
angry with them on our behalf. We have received sufficient proof, that
the guilt of that proceeding is chargeable on two only, or, at most,
three persons, and not on the state; just, indeed, as in the case of
the invitation given to you and to your army, and your reception into
the citadel, not one step was taken by public authority. We know,
that the Thessalians, Phocians, and Locrians, with unanimous consent,
joined in espousing the cause of Philip; yet we have given liberty to
them in common with the rest of Greece. How then can you suppose we
shall conduct ourselves towards the Argives, who are acquitted of
having publicly authorized misconduct? You said, that your inviting
slaves to liberty, and the distribution of lands among the indigent,
were objected to you as crimes; and crimes, surely, they are, of no
small magnitude. But what are they in comparison with those atrocious
deeds, that are daily perpetrated by you and your adherents, in
continual succession? Show us a free assembly of the people, either at
Argos or Lacedaemon, if you wish to hear a true recital of the crimes
of the most abandoned tyranny. To omit all other instances of older
date, what a massacre did your son-in-law, Pythagoras, make at Argos
almost before my eyes! What another did you yourself perpetrate, when
I was nearly within the confines of the Lacedaemonians! Now, give
orders, that the persons whom you took out of the midst of an
assembly, and committed to prison, after declaring, in the hearing of
all your countrymen, that you would keep them in custody, be produced
in their chains, that their wretched parents may know that those are
alive, for whom, under a false impression, they are mourning. Well,
but you say, though all these things were so, Romans, how do they
concern you? Can you say this to the deliverers of Greece; to people
who crossed the sea, and have maintained a war on sea and land, to
effect its deliverance? Still you tell us, you have not directly
violated the alliance, or the friendship established between us. How
many instances must I produce of your having done so? But I will not
go into long detail; I will bring the matter to a short issue. By
what acts is friendship violated? Most effectually by these two:
by treating our friends as foes; and by uniting yourself with our
enemies. Each of these has been done by you. For Messene, which had
been united to us in friendship, by one and the same bond of alliance
with Lacedaemon, you, while professing yourself our ally, reduced to
subjection by force of arms, though you knew it was in alliance with
us; and you contracted with Philip, our professed enemy, not only
an alliance, but even an affinity, through the intervention of his
general, Philocles: and waging actual war against us, with your
piratical ships, you made the sea round Malea unsafe, and you captured
and slew more Roman citizens almost than Philip himself; and to our
ships conveying provisions to our armies the coast of Macedonia itself
was less dangerous, than the promontory of Malea. Cease, therefore, to
vaunt your good faith, and the obligations of treaties; and, dropping
a popular style of discourse, speak as a tyrant, and as an enemy."
33. Aristaenus then began, at first to advise, and afterwards even
to beseech Nabis, while it was yet in his power, and he had the
opportunity, to consider what was best for himself and his interests.
He then mentioned the names of several tyrants in the neighbouring
states who had resigned their authority, and restored liberty to their
people, and afterwards spent among their fellow citizens not only
a secure but an honoured old age. These observations having been
reciprocally made and listened to, the approach of night broke up the
conference. Next day Nabis said, that he was willing to cede Argos,
and withdraw his garrison, since such was the desire of the Romans,
and to deliver up the prisoners and deserters; and if they demanded
any thing further, he requested that they would set it down in
writing, that he might deliberate on it with his friends. Thus the
tyrant gained time for consultation; and Quinctius also, on his part,
called a council, to which he summoned the chiefs of the allies. The
greatest part were of opinion, that "they ought to persevere in the
war, and that the tyrant should be altogether got rid of; otherwise
the liberty of Greece would never be secure. That it would have been
much better never to have entered on the war than to drop it after it
was begun; for this would be a kind of approbation of his tyrannical
usurpation, and which would establish him more firmly, as giving the
countenance of the Roman people to his ill-acquired authority, and
that he would quickly spirit up many in other states to plot against
the liberty of their countrymen." The wishes of the general himself
tended rather to peace; for he saw that, as the enemy was shut up in
the town, nothing remained but a siege, and that must be very tedious.
For it was not Gythium that they must besiege, though even that place
had been gained by capitulation, not by assault; but Lacedaemon, a
city most powerful in men and arms. The only hope which they
could have formed was, that, on the first approach of their army,
dissensions and insurrections might have been raised within: but,
though the standards had been seen to advance almost to the gates,
not one person had stirred. To this he added, that "Villius the
ambassador, returning from Antiochus, brought intelligence, that the
peace was an unsound one; and that the king had come over into Europe
with a much more powerful armament by sea and land than before. Now,
if the army should be engaged in the siege of Lacedaemon, with what
other forces could the war be maintained against a king of his great
power and strength?" These arguments he urged openly; but beneath all
this there lay a concealed anxiety lest one of the new consuls
should be appointed to the province of Greece; and then the honour of
terminating the war, in which he had proceeded so far, must be yielded
to a successor.
34. Finding that he could not, by opposition, make any alteration
in the sentiments of the allies, by pretending to go over to their
opinion, he led them all into a concurrence in his plan. "Be it so,"
said he, "and may success attend us: let us lay siege to Lacedaemon,
since that is your choice. However, as a business so slow in its
progress, as you know the besieging of cities to be, very often wears
out the patience of the besiegers sooner than that of the besieged,
you ought at once to make up your minds to this, that we must pass the
winter under the walls of Lacedaemon. If this delay involved only toil
and danger, I would recommend to you to prepare your minds and bodies
to support these. But, in the present case, vast expenses also will
be requisite for the construction of works, for machines and engines,
sufficient for the siege of so great a city, and for procuring stores
of provisions for the winter to serve you and us: therefore, to
prevent your being suddenly disconcerted, or shamefully deserting an
enterprise which you had engaged in, I think it will be necessary for
you to write home to your respective states, and learn what degree of
spirit and of strength each possesses. Of auxiliary troops I have a
sufficient number, and to spare; but the more numerous we are, the
more numerous will be our wants. The country of the enemy has nothing
left but the naked soil. Besides, the winter is at hand, which will
render it difficult to convey what we may stand in need of from
distant places." This speech first turned their thoughts to the
domestic evils prevailing in their several states; the indolence of
those who remained at home; the envy and misrepresentations to which
those who were serving abroad were liable; that a state of freedom
was a difficult one in which to procure unanimity; the want of public
funds, and people's backwardness to contribute out of their private
property. Their inclinations being thus suddenly changed, they gave
full power to the general, to do whatever he judged conducive to the
general interest of the Roman people and their allies.
35. Then Quinctius, consulting only his lieutenant-generals and
military tribunes, drew up the following conditions on which peace
should be made with the tyrant: "That there should be a suspension of
arms for six months, between Nabis on one part, and the Romans, king
Eumenes, and the Rhodians on the other. That Titus Quinctius and Nabis
should immediately send ambassadors to Rome, in order that the peace
might be ratified by authority of the senate. That, whatever day a
written copy of these conditions should be delivered to Nabis, on that
day should the armistice commence; and, within ten days after, his
garrisons should be withdrawn from Argos, and all other towns in
the territory of the Argives; all which towns should be entirely
evacuated, restored to freedom, and delivered to the Romans. That no
slave, whether belonging to the king, the public, or a private person,
be removed out of any of them; and if any had been removed before,
that they be faithfully restored to their owners. That he should
return the ships, which he had taken from the maritime states; and
should not have any other than two barks; and these to be navigated
with no more than sixteen oars. That he should restore to all the
states in alliance with the Roman people, the prisoners and deserters
in his hands; and to the Messenians, all the effects that could be
discovered, and which their possessors could own. That he should,
likewise, restore to the exiled Lacedaemonians their children, and
their wives, who chose to follow their husbands; provided that no
woman should be obliged, against her will, to go with her husband into
exile. That such of the mercenary soldiers of Nabis as had deserted
him, and gone either to their own countries or to the Romans, should
have all their effects faithfully returned to them. That he should
hold possession of no city in the island of Crete; and that such as
were then in his possession should be given up to the Romans. That
he should not form any alliance, or wage war, with any of the Cretan
states, or with any other. That he should withdraw all his garrisons
from those cities, which he should give up, and which had put
themselves, and their country, under the dominion and protection of
the Roman people; and should take care that, in future, he should
restrain both himself and his subjects from molesting them. That he
should not build any town or fort in his own, or any other territory.
That, to secure the performance of these conditions, he should give
five hostages, such as the Roman general should choose, and among
them his own son: and should pay, at present, one hundred talents of
silver; and fifty talents, annually, for eight years."
36. These articles were put into writing, and sent into Lacedaemon,
the camp having been removed, and brought nearer to the town. The
tyrant saw nothing in them that gave him much satisfaction, excepting
that, beyond his hopes, no mention had been made of bringing back the
exiles. But what mortified him most of all, was, the depriving him of
his shipping, and of the maritime towns: for the sea had been a source
of great profit to him; his piratical vessels having continually
infested the whole coast from the promontory of Malea. Besides, he
found in the young men of those towns recruits for his army, who made
by far the best of his soldiers. Though he discussed those conditions
in private with his confidential friends, yet, as the ministers in the
courts of kings, faithless in other respects, are particularly so
with respect to the concealing of secrets, rumour soon made them
all public. The public, in general, expressed not so great a
disapprobation of the whole of the terms, as did individuals, of the
articles particularly affecting themselves. Those who had the wives
of the exiles in marriage, or had possessed themselves of any of their
property, were provoked, as if they were to lose what was their own,
and not to make restitution of what belonged to others. The slaves,
who had been set at liberty by the tyrant, perceived plainly, not only
that their enfranchisement would be annulled, but that their servitude
would be much more severe than it had been before, when they should
be again put under the power of their incensed masters. The mercenary
soldiers were dissatisfied, because, in consequence of a peace, their
pay would cease; and they knew also, that they could not return among
their own countrymen, who detested not tyrants more than they did
their abettors.
37. They at first spoke of these matters, in their circles, with
murmurs of discontent; and afterwards, suddenly ran to arms. From
which tumultuous proceeding, the tyrant perceived that the passions
of the multitude were of themselves sufficiently inflamed, and
immediately ordered a general assembly to be summoned. Here he
explained to them the terms which the Romans strove to impose, to
which he falsely added others, more severe and humiliating. While,
on the mention of each particular, sometimes the whole assembly,
sometimes different parties, raised a shout of disapprobation, he
asked them, "What answer they wished him to give; or what they would
have him do?" On which all, as it were with one voice, cried out, "To
give no answer, to continue the war;" and they began, as is common
with a multitude, every one to encourage the rest, to keep up their
spirits, and cherish good hopes, observing, that "fortune favours the
brave." Animated by these expressions, the tyrant assured them, that
Antiochus, and the Aetolians, would come to their assistance; and
that he had, in the mean time, resources abundantly sufficient for the
maintenance of a siege. The very mention of peace had vanished from
the minds of all, and unable to contain themselves longer in quiet,
they ran out in parties against the advanced guards of the enemy.
The sally of these few skirmishers, and the weapons which they threw,
immediately removed all doubt from the Romans that the war was to
continue. During the four following days, several slight encounters
took place, at first without any decisive result; but, on the fifth
day after, in a kind of regular engagement, the Lacedaemonians
were beaten back into the town, in such a panic, that several Roman
soldiers, pressing close on the rear of the fugitives, entered the
city through open spaces, not secured with a wall, of which, at that
time, there were several.
38. Then Quinctius, having, by this repulse, effectually checked the
sallies of the enemy, and being fully convinced that he had now no
alternative, but must besiege the city, sent persons to bring up all
the marine forces from Gythium; and, in the mean time, rode himself,
with some military tribunes, round the walls, to take a view of the
situation of the place. In former times, Sparta had no wall; of late,
the tyrants had built walls in the places where the ground Was open
and level; but the higher places, and those more difficult of access,
they secured by placing guards of soldiers instead of fortifications.
When he had sufficiently examined every circumstance, having resolved
on making a general assault, he surrounded the city with all his
forces, the number of which, Romans and allies, horse and foot, naval
and land forces, all together, amounted to fifty thousand men.
Some brought scaling-ladders, some fire-brands, some other matters,
wherewith they might not only assail the enemy, but strike terror. The
orders were, that on raising the shout, all should advance at once, in
order that the Lacedaemonians, being alarmed at the same time in every
quarter, might be at a loss where, first, to make head, or whither to
bring aid. The main force of his army he formed in three divisions,
and ordered one to attack on the side of the Phoebeum, another on that
of the Dictynneum, and the third near a place called Heptagoniae, all
which are open places without walls. Though surrounded on all sides by
such a violent alarm, the tyrant, at first, attentive to every sudden
shout and hasty message, either ran up himself, or sent others,
wherever the greatest danger pressed; but, afterwards, he was so
stunned by the horror and confusion that prevailed all around, as to
become incapable either of giving proper directions, or of hearing
what was said, and to lose, not only his judgment, but almost his
reason.
39. For some time the Lacedaemonians maintained their ground against
the Romans, in the narrow passes; and three armies, on each side,
fought, at one time, in different places. Afterwards, when the heat of
the contest increased, the contest was, by no means, an equal one: for
the Lacedaemonians fought with missile arms, against which the Roman
soldiers, by means of their large shields, easily defended themselves,
and many of their blows either missed, or were very weak; for, the
narrowness of the place causing them to be closely crowded together,
they neither had room to discharge their weapons with a previous run,
which gives great force to them, nor clear and steady footing while
they made their throw Of those, therefore, discharged against the
front of the Romans, none pierced their bodies, few even their
shields; but several were wounded by those who surrounded them from
higher places. And presently, when they advanced a little, they were
hurt unawares, both with javelins, and tiles also thrown from the tops
of the houses. On this they raised their shields over their heads;
and joining them so close together as to leave no room for injury from
such random casts, or even for the insertion of a javelin, by a hand
within reach, they pressed forward under cover of this tortoise fence.
For some time the narrow streets, being thronged with a multitude of
their own soldiers, and also of the enemy, considerably retarded the
progress of the Romans; but when once, by gradually pushing back the
enemy, they gained the wider streets of the city, the impetuosity of
their attack could no longer be withstood. While the Lacedaemonians,
having turned their backs, fled precipitately to the higher places,
Nabis, being utterly confounded, as if the town were already taken,
began to look about for a way to make his escape. Pythagoras, while in
other respects he displayed the spirit and conduct of a general, was
now the sole means of saving the city from being taken. For he ordered
the buildings nearest to the wall to be set on fire; and these being
instantly in a blaze, those who, on another occasion, would have
brought help to extinguish the fire, now helping to increase it, the
roofs tumbled on the Romans; and not only fragments of the tiles, but
also the half-burned timber, reached the soldiers: the flames spread
wide, and the smoke caused a degree of terror even greater than the
danger. In consequence, the Romans who were without the city, and
were just then making the principal attack, retired from the wall;
and those who were within, fearing lest the fire, rising behind them,
should put it out of their power to rejoin the rest of the army, began
to retreat. Whereupon Quinctius, seeing how matters stood, ordered a
general retreat to be sounded.--Thus, being at length recalled from a
city which they had nearly taken, they returned to their camp.
40. Quinctius, conceiving greater hopes from the fears of the enemy
than from the immediate effect of his operations, kept them in a
continual alarm during the three succeeding days; sometimes harassing
them with assaults, sometimes enclosing several places with works,
so as to leave no passage open for flight. These menaces had such an
effect on the tyrant that he again sent Pythagoras to solicit peace.
Quinctius, at first, rejected him with disdain, ordering him to quit
the camp; but afterwards, on his suppliant entreaties, and throwing
himself at his feet, he admitted him to an audience. The purport of
his discourse, at first, was, an offer of implicit submission to the
will of the Romans; but this availed nothing, being considered as
nugatory and indecisive. The business was, at length, brought to this
issue, that a truce should be made on the conditions delivered in
writing a few days before, and the money and hostages were accordingly
received. While the tyrant was kept shut up by the siege, the Argives,
receiving frequent accounts, one after another, that Lacedaemon was on
the point of being taken, and having themselves resumed courage on
the departure of Pythagoras, with the strongest part of his garrison,
looked now with contempt on the small number remaining in the citadel;
and, being headed by a person named Archippus, drove the garrison
out. They gave Timocrates, of Pellene, leave to retire, with solemn
assurance of sparing his life, in consideration of the mildness
which he had shown in his government. In the midst of this rejoicing,
Quinctius arrived, after having granted peace to the tyrant, dismissed
Eumenes and the Rhodians from Lacedaemon, and sent back his brother,
Lucius Quinctius, to the fleet.
41. The Nemaean games, the most celebrated of all the festivals, and
their most splendid public spectacle, had been omitted, at the regular
time, on account of the disasters of the war: the state now, in the
fulness of their joy, ordered them to be celebrated on the arrival of
the Roman general and his army; and appointed the general, himself,
president of the games. There were many circumstances which heightened
their happiness: their countrymen, whom Pythagoras, lately, and,
before that, Nabis, had carried away, were brought home from
Lacedaemon; those who on the discovery of the conspiracy by
Pythagoras, and when the massacre was already begun, had fled from
home, now returned; they saw their liberty restored, after a long
interval, and beheld, in their city, the Romans, the authors of its
restoration, whose only view, in making war on the tyrant, was the
support of their interest. The freedom of the Argives was, also,
solemnly announced, by the voice of a herald, on the very day of the
Nemaean games. Whatever pleasure the Achaeans felt on Argos being
reinstated in the general council of Achaia, it was, in a great
measure, alloyed by Lacedaemon being left in slavery, and the tyrant
close at their side. As to the Aetolians, they loudly railed at that
measure in every meeting. They remarked, that "the war with Philip was
not ended until he evacuated all the cities of Greece. But Lacedaemon
was left to the tyrant, while the lawful king, who had been, at the
time, in the Roman camp, and others, the noblest of the citizens, must
live in exile: so that the Roman nation was become a partisan of Nabis
in his tyranny." Quinctius led back his army to Elatia, whence he had
set out to the Spartan war. Some writers say, that the tyrant's method
of carrying on hostilities was not by sallies from the city, but that
he encamped in the face of the Romans; and that, after he had declined
fighting a long time, waiting for succours from the Aetolians, he was
forced to come to an engagement, by an attack which the Romans made on
his foragers, when, being defeated in that battle, and beaten out of
his camp, he sued for peace, after fifteen thousand of his men had
been killed, and more than four thousand made prisoners.
42. Nearly at the same time, arrived at Rome a letter from Titus
Quinctius, with an account of his proceedings at Lacedaemon; and
another, out of Spain, from Marcus Porcius, the consul; whereupon the
senate decreed a supplication, for three days, in the name of each.
The other consul, Lucius Valerius, as his province had remained quiet
since the defeat of the Boians at the wood of Litana, came home to
Rome to hold the elections. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, a
second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus, were elected consuls. The
fathers of these two had been consuls in the first year of the second
Punic war. The election of praetors was then held, and the choice
fell on Publius Cornelius Scipio, two Cneius Corneliuses, Merenda
and Blasio, Cneius Domitius Aenobarbus, Sextus Digitius, and Titus
Juvencius Thalna. As soon as the elections were finished, the consul
returned to his province. The inhabitants of Ferentinum, this year,
laid claim to a privilege unheard of before; that Latins, giving in
their names for a Roman colony, should be deemed citizens of Rome.
Some colonists, who had given in their names for Puteoli, Salernum,
and Buxentum, assumed, on that ground, the character of Roman
citizens; but the senate determined that they were not.
43. In the beginning of the year, wherein Publius Scipio Africanus,
a second time, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus were consuls, two
ambassadors from the tyrant Nabis came to Rome. The senate gave them
audience in the temple of Apollo, outside the city. They entreated
that a peace might be concluded on the terms settled with Quinctius,
and obtained their request. When the question was put concerning the
provinces, the majority of the senate were of opinion, that as the
wars in Spain and Macedonia were at an end, Italy should be the
province of both the consuls; but Scipio contended that one consul was
sufficient for Italy, and that Macedonia ought to be decreed to the
other; that "there was every reason to apprehend a dangerous war with
Antiochus, for he had already, of his own accord, come into Europe;
and how did they suppose he would act in future, when he should be
encouraged to a war, on one hand, by the Aetolians, avowed enemies
of their state, and stimulated, on the other, by Hannibal, a general
famous for his victories over the Romans?" While the consular
provinces were in dispute, the praetors cast lots for theirs. The city
jurisdiction fell to Cneius Domitius; the foreign, to Titus Juvencius:
Farther Spain, to Publius Cornelius; Hither Spain, to Sextus Digitius;
Sicily, to Cneius Cornelius Blasio; Sardinia, to Cneius Cornelius
Merenda. It was resolved, that no new army should be sent into
Macedonia, but that the one which was there should be brought home to
Italy by Quinctius, and disbanded; that the army which was in Spain,
under Marcus Porcius Cato, should likewise be disbanded; that Italy
should be the province of both the consuls, and that they should
raise two city legions; so that, after the disbanding of the armies,
mentioned in the resolution of the senate, there should be in all
eight Roman legions.
44. A sacred spring had been celebrated, in the preceding year, during
the consulate of Marcus Porcius and Lucius Valerius; but Publius
Licinius, one of the pontiffs, having made a report, first, to
the college of pontiffs, and afterwards, under the sanction of the
college, to the senate, that it had not been duly performed, they
resolved, that it should be celebrated anew, under the direction of
the pontiffs; and that the great games, vowed together with it, should
be exhibited at the same expense which was customary; that the sacred
spring should be deemed to comprehend all the cattle born between the
calends of March and the day preceding the calends of May, in the year
of the consulate of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius
Longus. Then followed the election of censors. Sextus Aelius Paetus,
and Caius Cornelius Cethegus, being created censors, named as prince
of the senate the consul Publius Scipio, whom the former censors
likewise had appointed. They passed by only three senators in the
whole, none of whom had enjoyed the honour of a curule office. They
obtained, on another account, the highest degree of credit with that
body; for, at the celebration of the Roman games, they ordered the
curule aediles to set apart places for the senators, distinct from
those of the people, whereas, hitherto, all the spectators used to sit
promiscuously. Of the knights, also, very few were deprived of their
horses; nor was severity shown towards any rank of men. The gallery
of the temple of Liberty, and the Villa Publica, were repaired and
enlarged by the same censors. The sacred spring, and the votive games,
were celebrated, pursuant to the vow of Servius Sulpicius Galba, when
consul. While every one's thoughts were engaged by the shows then
exhibited, Quintus Pleminius, who, for the many crimes against gods
and men committed by him at Locri, had been thrown into prison,
procured men who were to set fire by night to several parts of
the city at once, in order that, while the town was thrown into
consternation by this nocturnal disturbance, the prison might be
broken open. But this plot was disclosed by some of the accomplices,
and the affair was laid before the senate. Pleminius was thrown into a
lower dungeon, and there put to death.
45. In this year colonies of Roman citizens were settled at Puteoli,
Vulturnum, and Liternum; three hundred men in each place. Colonies of
Roman citizens were likewise established at Salernum and Buxentum.
The lands allotted to them had formerly belonged to the Campanians.
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, who was then consul, Marcus Servilius, and
Quintus Minucius Thermus, were the triumviri who settled the colony.
Other commissioners also, Decius Junius Brutus, Marcus Baebius
Tamphilus, and Marcus Helvius, led a colony of Roman citizens to
Sipontum, into a district which had belonged to the Arpinians. To
Tempsa, likewise, and to Croto, colonies of Roman citizens were led
out. The lands of Tempsa had been taken from the Bruttians, who had
formerly expelled the Greeks from them. Croto was possessed by Greeks.
In ordering these establishments, there were named, for Croto,--Cneius
Octavius, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, and Caius Pletorius; for
Tempsa,--Lucius Cornelius Merula, and Caius Salonius. Several
prodigies were observed at Rome that year, and others reported, from
other places. In the forum, comitium, and Capitol, drops of blood were
seen, and several showers of earth fell, and the head of Vulcan was
surrounded with a blaze of fire. It was reported that a stream of milk
ran in the river at Interamna; that, in some reputable families at
Ariminum, children were born without eyes and nose; and one, in the
territory of Picenum, that had neither hands nor feet. These prodigies
were expiated according to an order of the pontiffs; and the
nine days' festival was celebrated, because the Hadrians had sent
intelligence that a shower of stones had fallen in their fields.
46. In Gaul, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, proconsul, in a pitched battle
near Mediolanum, completely overthrew the Insubrian Gauls, and the
Boians; who, under the command of Dorulacus, had crossed the Po, to
rouse the Insubrians to arms. Ten thousand of the enemy were slain.
About this time his colleague, Marcus Porcius Cato, triumphed over
Spain. He carried in the procession twenty-five thousand pounds'
weight of unwrought silver, one hundred and three thousand silver
denarii,[1] five hundred and forty of Oscan silver,[2] and one
thousand four hundred pounds' weight of gold. Out of the booty,
he distributed to each of his soldiers two hundred and seventy
_asses_;[3] and three times that amount to each horseman. Tiberius
Sempronius, consul, proceeding to his province, led his legions,
first, into the territory of the Boians. At this time Boiorix their
chieftain, with his two brothers, after having drawn out the whole
nation into the field to renew the war, pitched his camp in the open
country, that it might be evident that he was prepared to fight in
case the enemy should pass the frontiers. When the consul understood
what a numerous force and what a degree of resolution the enemy had,
he sent an express to his colleague, requesting him, "if he thought
proper, to hasten to join him;" adding, that "he would act on the
defensive, and defer engaging in battle, until his arrival." The same
reason which made the consul wish to decline an action, induced
the Gauls, whose spirits were raised by the backwardness of their
antagonists, to bring it on as soon as possible, that they might
finish the affair before the two consuls should unite their forces.
However, during two days, they did nothing more than stand in
readiness for battle, if any should come out against them. On the
third, they advanced furiously to the rampart, and assaulted the camp
on every side at once. The consul immediately ordered his men to take
arms, and kept them quiet, under arms, for some time; both to add to
the foolish confidence of the enemy, and to arrange his troops at the
gates, through which each party was to sally out. The two legions were
ordered to march by the two principal gates; but, in the very pass of
the gates, the Gauls opposed them in such close bodies as to stop up
the way. The fight was maintained a long time in these narrow passes;
nor were their hands or swords much employed in the business, but
pushing with their shields and bodies, they pressed against each
other, the Romans struggling to force their standards beyond the
gates, the Gauls, to break into the camp, or, at least, to hinder the
Romans from issuing forth. However, neither party could make the least
impression on the other, until Quintus Victorius, a first centurion,
and Caius Atinius, a military tribune, the former of the second,
the latter of the fourth legion, had taken a course often tried in
desperate conflicts; snatching the standards from the officers who
carried them, and throwing them among the enemy. In the struggle to
recover the standards, the men of the second legion first made their
way out of the gate.
[Footnote 1: 397l. 17s. 6d.]
[Footnote 2: 17l. 8s. 9d.]
[Footnote 3: 17s. 5-1/2d.]
47. These were now fighting on the outside of the rampart, the fourth
legion still entangled in the gate, when a new alarm arose on the
opposite side of the camp. The Gauls had broke in by the Quaestorian
gate, and had slain the quaestor, Lucius Postumius, surnamed Tympanus,
with Marcus Atinius and Publius Sempronius, praefects of the allies,
who made an obstinate resistance; and also, near two hundred soldiers.
The camp in that part had been taken, when a cohort of those who are
called Extraordinaries, having been sent by the consul to defend the
Quaestorian gate, killed some who had got within the rampart, drove
out the rest, and opposed others who were attempting to break
in. About the same time, the fourth legion, and two cohorts of
Extraordinaries, burst out of the gate; and thus there were three
battles, in different places, round the camp; while the various kinds
of shouts raised by them, called off the attention of the combatants
from their own immediate conflict to the uncertain casualties which
threatened their friends. The battle was maintained until mid-day with
equal strength, and with nearly equal hopes. At length, the fatigue
and heat so far got the better of the soft relaxed bodies of the
Gauls, who are incapable of enduring thirst, as to make most of them
give up the fight; and the few who stood their ground, were attacked
by the Romans, routed, and driven to their camp. The consul then gave
the signal for retreat, on which the greater part retired; but some,
eager to continue the fight, and hoping to get possession of the camp,
pressed forward to the rampart, on which the Gauls, despising their
small number, rushed out in a body. The Romans were then routed in
turn, and compelled, by their own fear and dismay, to retreat to their
camp, which they had refused to do at the command of their general.
Thus now flight and now victory alternated on both sides. The Gauls,
however, had eleven thousand killed, the Romans but five thousand. The
Gauls retreated into the heart of their country, and the consul led
his legions to Placentia. Some writers say, that Scipio, after joining
his forces to those of his colleague, overran and plundered the
country of the Boians and Ligurians, as far as the woods and marshes
suffered him to proceed; others, that, without having effected any
thing material, he returned to Rome to hold the elections.
48. Titus Quinctius passed the entire winter season of this year at
Elatia, where he had established the winter quarters of his army, in
adjusting political arrangements, and reversing the measures which had
been introduced in the several states under the arbitrary domination
of Philip and his deputies, who crushed the rights and liberties of
others, in order to augment the power of those who formed a faction
in their favour. Early in the spring he came to Corinth, where he had
summoned a general convention. Ambassadors having attended from every
one of the states, so as to form a numerous assembly, he addressed
them in a long speech, in which, beginning from the first commencement
of friendship between the Romans and the nation of the Greeks, he
enumerated the proceedings of the commanders who had been in Macedonia
before him, and likewise his own. His whole narration was heard with
the warmest approbation, except when he came to make mention of
Nabis; and then they expressed their opinion, that it was utterly
inconsistent with the character of the deliverer of Greece to have
left seated, in the centre of one of its most respectable states,
a tyrant, who was not only insupportable to his own country, but a
terror to all the states in his neighbourhood. Whereupon Quinctius,
not unacquainted with this tendency of their feelings, freely
acknowledged, that "if the business could have been accomplished
without the entire destruction of Lacedaemon, no mention of peace with
the tyrant ought ever to have been listened to; but that, when it was
not possible to crush him otherwise than by the utter ruin of this
most important city, it was judged more eligible to leave the tyrant
in a state of debility, stripped of almost every kind of power to do
injury to any, than to suffer the city, which must have perished in
the very process of its delivery being effectuated, to sink under
remedies too violent for it to support."
49. To the recital of matters past, he subjoined, that "his intention
was to depart shortly for Italy, and to carry with him all his troops;
that they should hear, within ten days, of the garrisons having
evacuated Demetrias; and that Chalcis, the citadel of Corinth, should
be before their own eyes evacuated to the Achaeans: that all the world
might know whose habit it was to deceive, that of the Romans or the
Aetolians, who had spread insinuations, that the cause of liberty had
been unwisely intrusted to the Romans, and that they had only received
as their masters the Romans in exchange for the Macedonians. But they
were men who never scrupled what they either said or did. The rest of
the nations he advised to form their estimate of friends from deeds,
not from words; and to satisfy themselves whom they ought to trust,
and against whom they ought to be on their guard; to use their liberty
with moderation: for, when regulated by prudence, it was productive
of happiness both to individuals and to states; but, when pushed to
excess, it became not only obnoxious to others, but to the possessors
of it themselves an unbridled and headstrong impulse. He recommended,
that those at the head of affairs, and all the several ranks of men
in each particular state, should cultivate harmony between themselves;
and that all should direct their views to the general interest of the
whole. For, while they acted in concert, no king or tyrant would be
sufficiently powerful against them: but discord and dissension gave
every advantage to those who might plot against them; as the
party worsted in a domestic dispute generally join themselves with
foreigners, rather than submit to a countryman of their own. He then
exhorted them, as the arms of others had procured their liberty, and
the good faith of foreigners had restored it to them, to apply now
their own diligent care to the watching and guarding of it; that
the Roman people might perceive that those on whom they had bestowed
liberty were deserving of it, and that their kindness had not been ill
placed."
50. On hearing these admonitions, such as parental tenderness might
dictate, every one present shed tears of joy; and they affected his
feelings to such a degree as to interrupt his discourse. For some
time a confused noise prevailed, from those who were expressing their
approbation of his words, and charging each other to treasure up those
expressions in their minds and hearts, as if they had been uttered by
an oracle. Then silence ensuing, he requested of them to make diligent
search for such Roman citizens as were in servitude among them, and to
send them into Thessaly to him, within two months; observing, that
"it would not be honourable to themselves, that, in a land restored
to liberty, its deliverers should remain in servitude." To this all
exclaimed with acclamations that they returned him thanks on this
account in addition to others, that they had been reminded of the
discharge of a duty so indispensably incumbent on their gratitude.
There was a vast number of these who had been made prisoners in the
Punic war, and sold by Hannibal when their countrymen refused to
ransom them. That they were very numerous, is proved by what Polybius
says, that this business cost the Achaeans one hundred talents,[1]
though they had fixed the price to be paid for each captive, to the
owner, so low as five hundred denarii.[2] For, at that rate, there
were one thousand two hundred in Achaia. Calculate now, in proportion
to this, how many were probably in all Greece.
[Footnote 1: 19,375l.]
[Footnote 2: 16l. 2s. 11d.]
51. Before the convention broke up, they saw the garrison march down
from the citadel of Corinth, proceed forward to the gate, and depart.
The general followed them, accompanied by the whole assembly, who,
with loud acclamations, blessed him as their preserver and deliverer.
At length, taking leave of these, and dismissing them, he returned to
Elatia by the same road through which he came. He thence sent Appius
Claudius, lieutenant-general, with all the troops, ordering him to
march through Thessaly and Epirus, and to wait for him at Oricum,
whence he intended to embark the army for Italy. He also wrote to his
brother, Lucius Quinctius, lieutenant-general, and commander of the
fleet, to collect thither transport ships from all the coasts of
Greece. He himself proceeded to Chalcis; and, after sending away
the garrisons, not only from that city, but likewise from Oreum and
Eretria, he held there a congress of the Euboean states, whom he
reminded of the condition in which he had found their affairs, and of
that in which he was leaving them; and then dismissed the assembly. He
then proceeded to Demetrias, and removed the garrison. Accompanied by
all the citizens, as at Corinth and Chalcis, he pursued his route into
Thessaly, where the states were not only to be set at liberty, but
also to be reduced from a state of utter anarchy and confusion into
some tolerable order; for they had been thrown into confusion,
not only through the faults of the times, and the violence and
licentiousness of royalty, but also through the restless disposition
of the nation, who, from the earliest times, even to our days,
have never conducted any election, or assembly, or council, without
dissensions and tumult. He chose both senators and judges, with
regard, principally, to their property, and made that party the most
powerful in the state to whom it was most important that all things
should be tranquil and secure.
52. When he had completed these regulations in Thessaly, he went on,
through Epirus, to Oricum, whence he intended to take his passage.
From Oricum all the troops were transported to Brundusium. From this
place to the city, they passed the whole length of Italy, in a manner,
like a triumph; the captured effects which they brought with them
forming a train as large as that of the troops themselves. When they
arrived at Rome, the senate assembled outside the city, to receive
from Quinctius a recital of his services; and, with high satisfaction,
a well-merited triumph was decreed him. His triumph lasted three days.
On the first day were carried in procession, armour, weapons, brazen
and marble statues of which he had taken greater numbers from Philip
than from the states of Greece. On the second, gold and silver
wrought, unwrought, and coined. Of unwrought silver, there were
eighteen thousand pounds' weight; and of wrought, two hundred and
seventy thousand; consisting of many vessels of various sorts, most of
them engraved, and several of exquisite workmanship; also a great many
others made of brass; and besides these, ten shields of silver. The
coined silver amounted to eighty-four thousand of the Attic coin,
called Tetradrachmus, containing each of silver about the weight of
four denarii.[1] Of gold there were three thousand seven hundred and
fourteen pounds, and one shield wholly of gold: and of the gold coin
called Philippics, fourteen thousand five hundred and fourteen.[2]
On the third day were carried golden crowns, presented by the several
states, in number one hundred and fourteen; then the victims. Before
his chariot went many illustrious persons, captives and hostages,
among whom were Demetrius, son of king Philip, and Armenes, a
Lacedaemonian, son of the tyrant Nabis. Then Quinctius himself rode
into the city, followed by a numerous body of soldiers, as the
whole army had been brought home from the province. Among these he
distributed two hundred and fifty _asses_[3] to each footman, double
to a centurion, triple to a horseman. Those who had been redeemed from
captivity added to the grandeur of the procession, walking after him
with their heads shaven.
[Footnote 1: 10,849l. 18s.]
[Footnote 2: 936l. 10s.]
[Footnote 3: 16s. 1-1/4d.]
53. In the latter part of this year Quintus Aelius Tubero, plebeian
tribune, in pursuance of a decree of the senate, proposed to the
people, and the people ordered, that "two Latin colonies should be
settled, one in Bruttium, the other in the territory of Thurium." For
making these settlements commissioners were appointed, who were to
hold the office for three years; for Bruttium, Quintus Naevius, Marcus
Minucius Rufus, and Marcus Furius Crassipes; and for the district
of Thurium, Cneius Manlius, Quintus Aelius, and Lucius Apustius. The
assemblies of election to these two appointments were held in the
Capitol by Cneius Domitius, city praetor. Several temples were
dedicated this year: one of Juno Sospita, in the herb market, vowed
and contracted for four years before, in the time of the Gallic
war, by Cneius Cornelius, consul; and the same person, now censor,
performed the dedication. Another of Faunus, the building of which
had been agreed for two years before, and a fund formed for it out of
fines estreated by the aediles, Caius Scribonius and Cneius Domitius;
the latter of whom, now city praetor, dedicated it. Quintus Marcius
Ralla, constituted commissioner for the purpose, dedicated the temple
of Fortuna Primigenia, on the Quirinal Hill. Publius Sempronius Sophus
had vowed this temple ten years before, in the Punic war; and, being
afterwards censor, had employed persons to build it. Caius Servilius,
duumvir, also dedicated a temple of Jupiter, in the island. This
had been vowed in the Gallic war, six years before, by Lucius
Furius Purpureo, who afterwards, when consul, contracted for the
building.--Such were the transactions of that year.
54. Publius Scipio came home from his province of Gaul to choose new
consuls. The consular comitia were accordingly held, in which Lucius
Cornelius Merula and Quintus Minucius Thermus were chosen. Next
day were chosen praetors, Lucius Cornelius Scipio, Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, Caius Scribonius, Marcus Valerius Messala, Lucius Porcius
Licinus, and Caius Flaminius. The curule aediles of this year, Caius
Atilius Serranus and Lucius Scribonius, first exhibited the Megalesian
theatrical games. At the Roman games, celebrated by these aediles, the
senators, for the first time, sat separate from the people, which, as
every innovation usually does, gave occasion to various observations.
Some considered this as "an honour, shown at length to that most
respectable body, and which ought to have been done long before;"
while others contended, that "every addition made to the grandeur of
the senate was a diminution of the dignity of the people; and that all
such distinctions as set the orders of the state at a distance from
each other, were equally subversive of liberty and concord. During
five hundred and fifty-eight years," they asserted, "all the
spectators had sat promiscuously: what reason then had now occurred,
on a sudden, that should make the senators disdain to have the commons
intermixed with them in the theatre, or make the rich disdain the poor
man as a fellow-spectator? It was an unprecedented gratification
of pride and over-bearing vanity, never even desired, and never
instituted, by the senate of any other nation." It is said, that even
Africanus himself at last became sorry for having proposed that matter
in his consulship: so difficult is it to bring people to approve of
any alteration of ancient customs; they are always naturally disposed
to adhere to old practices, except those which experience evidently
condemns.
55. In the beginning of the year, which was the consulate of Lucius
Cornelius and Quintus Minucius, such frequent reports of earthquakes
were brought, that people grew weary, not only of the matter itself,
but of the religious rites enjoined in consequence; for neither could
the senate be convened, nor the business of the public be transacted,
the consuls were so constantly employed in sacrifices and expiations.
At last, the decemvirs were ordered to consult the books; and, in
pursuance of their answer, a supplication was performed during three
days. People offered prayers at all the shrines, with garlands
on their heads; and an order was published, that all the persons
belonging to one family should pay their worship together; and the
consuls, by direction of the senate, published an edict, that, on any
day whereon religious rites should be ordered, in consequence of the
report of an earthquake, no person should report another earthquake
on that day. Then the consuls first, and afterwards the praetors, cast
lots for their provinces. Cornelius obtained Gaul; Minucius, Liguria;
Caius Scribonius, the city jurisdiction; Marcus Valerius, the foreign;
Lucius Cornelius, Sicily; Lucius Porcius, Sardinia; Caius Flaminius,
Hither Spain; and Marcus Fulvius, Farther Spain.
56. While the consuls supposed that, for that year, they should have
no employment of a military kind, a letter was brought from Marcus
Cincius, who was commander at Pisae, announcing, that "twenty thousand
armed Ligurians, in consequence of a conspiracy of that whole nation,
formed in the meetings of their several districts, had first wasted
the lands of Luna, and then, passing through the territory of Pisae,
had overrun the whole sea-coast." In consequence of this intelligence,
the consul Minucius, whose province Liguria was, by direction of
the senate, mounted the rostrum, and published orders, that "the two
legions, enlisted the year before, should, on the tenth day from that,
attend him at Arretium;" and mentioned his intention of levying two
legions for the city in their stead. He likewise gave notice to the
magistrates and ambassadors of such of the allies, and of the Latin
confederates, as were bound to furnish soldiers, to attend him in the
Capitol. Of these he wrote out a list, amounting to fifteen thousand
foot and five hundred horse, proportioning the contingent of each
state to the number of its young men, and ordered those present to
go directly from the spot to the gate of the city; and, in order to
expedite the business, to proceed to raise the men. To Fulvius and
Flaminius were assigned, to each three thousand Roman foot, and a
reinforcement of one hundred horse, with five thousand foot of the
Latin allies, and two hundred horse; and orders were given to those
praetors, to disband the old troops immediately on their arrival in
their provinces. Although great numbers of the soldiers belonging to
the city legions had made application to the plebeian tribunes, to
take cognizance of the cases of such men as claimed exemption from the
service, on account either of having served out their time, or of bad
health; yet a letter from Tiberius Sempronius banished all thoughts of
such proceeding; for in this it was announced that "fifteen thousand
of the Ligurians had come into the lands of Placentia, and wasted them
with fire and sword, to the very walls of that city and the bank of
the Po; and that the Boian nation were looking out for an occasion to
rebel." In consequence of this information, the senate passed a vote,
that "there was a Gallic tumult subsisting, and that it would be
improper for the plebeian tribunes to take cognizance of the claims
of the soldiers, so as to prevent their attending, pursuant to the
proclamation;" and they added an order, that the Latin confederates,
who had served in the army of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius
Sempronius, and had been discharged by those consuls, should
re-assemble, on whatever day and in whatever place of Etruria the
consul Lucius Cornelius should appoint; and that the consul Lucius
Cornelius, on his way to his province, should enlist, arm, and carry
with him all such persons as he should think fit, in the several towns
and countries through which he was to pass, and should have authority
to discharge such of them, and at such times, as he might judge
proper.
57. After the consuls had finished the levies, and were gone to their
provinces, Titus Quinctius demanded, that "the senate should receive
an account of the regulations which he in concert with the ten
ambassadors, had settled; and, if they thought proper, ratify them by
their authority." He told them, that "they would accomplish this the
more easily, if they were first to give audience to the ambassadors,
who had come from all parts of Greece, and a great part of Asia, and
to those from the two kings." These embassies were introduced to the
senate by the city praetor, Caius Scribonius, and all received kind
answers. As the discussion of the affair with Antiochus required too
much time, it was referred to the ten ambassadors, some of whom had
conferred with the king in Asia, or at Lysimachia. Directions were
given to Titus Quinctius, that, in conjunction with these, he should
listen to the representations of the king's ambassadors, and should
give them such answer as comported with the dignity and interest
of the Roman people. At the head of the embassy were Menippus and
Hegesianax; the former of whom said, that "he could not conceive what
intricacy there was in the business of their embassy, as they came
simply to ask friendship, and conclude an alliance. Now, there were
three kinds of treaties, by which kings and states formed friendships
with each other: one, when terms were dictated to a people vanquished
in war; for after all their possessions have been surrendered to him
who has proved superior in war, he has the sole power of judging and
determining what portion of them the vanquished shall hold, and of
what they shall be deprived. The second, when parties, equally
matched in war, conclude a treaty of peace and friendship on terms
of equality; for then demands are proposed and restitution made,
reciprocally, in a convention; and if, in consequence of the war,
confusion has arisen with respect to any parts of their properties,
the matter is adjusted on the footing either of ancient right or
of the mutual convenience of the parties. The third kind was, when
parties who had never been foes, met to form a friendly union by a
social treaty: these neither dictate nor receive terms, for that is
the case between a victor and a party vanquished. As Antiochus came
under this last description, he wondered, he said, that the Romans
should think it becoming to dictate terms to him; as to which of the
cities of Asia they chose should be free and independent, which should
be tributary, and which of them the king's troops and the king himself
should be prohibited to enter. That a peace of this kind might
be ratified with Philip, who was their enemy, but not a treaty of
alliance with Antiochus, their friend."
58. To this Quinctius answered: "Since you choose to deal
methodically, and enumerate the several modes of contracting
alliances, I also will lay down two conditions, without which you may
tell your king, that there are no means of contracting any friendship
with the Roman people. One, that, he does not choose that we should
concern ourselves in the affairs of the cities in Asia, he must
himself keep entirely out of Europe. The other, that if he does
not confine himself within the limits of Asia, but passes over into
Europe, the Romans will think themselves at full liberty to maintain
the friendships which they have already formed with the states of
Asia, and also to contract new ones." On this Hegesianax exclaimed,
that "this proposition was unworthy to be listened to, as its
tendency was to exclude Antiochus from the cities of Thrace and
the Chersonese,--places which his great-grandfather, Seleucus, had
acquired with great honour, after vanquishing Lysimachus in war and
killing him in battle, and had left to his successors; and part of
which, after they had been seized by the Thracians, Antiochus had,
with equal honour, recovered by force of arms; as well as others which
had been deserted,--as Lysimachia, for instance, he had repeopled, by
calling home the inhabitants;--and several, which had been destroyed
by fire, and buried in ruins, he had rebuilt at a vast expense. What
kind of resemblance was there, then, in the cases of Antiochus being
ejected from possessions so acquired and so recovered; and of the
Romans refraining from intermeddling with Asia, which had never been
theirs? Antiochus wished to obtain the friendship of the Romans; but
so that its acquisition would be to his honour, and not to his shame."
In reply to this, Quinctius said,--"Since we are deliberating on what
would be honourable, and which, indeed with a people who held the
first rank among the nations of the world, and with so great a king,
ought to be the sole, or at least the primary object of regard; tell
me, I pray you, which do you think more honourable, to wish to give
liberty to all the Grecian cities in every part of the world; or to
make them slaves and vassals? Since Antiochus thinks it conducive
to his glory, to reduce to slavery those cities, which his
great-grandfather held by the right of arms, but which his grandfather
or father never occupied as their property while the Roman people,
having undertaken the patronage of the liberty of the Greeks, deem it
incumbent on their faith and constancy not to abandon it. As they
have delivered Greece from Philip, so they have it in contemplation
to deliver, from Antiochus, all the states of Asia which are of the
Grecian race. For colonies were not sent into Aeolia and Ionia to be
enslaved to kings; but with design to increase the population, and to
propagate that ancient race in every part of the globe."
59. When Hegesianax hesitated, and could not deny, that the cause
of liberty carried a more honourable semblance than that of slavery,
Publius Sulpicius, who was the eldest of the ten ambassadors,
said,--"Let us cut the matter short. Choose one of the two conditions
clearly propounded just now by Quinctius; or deem it superfluous to
negotiate about an alliance." But Menippus replied, "We neither will,
nor can, accede to any proposition by which the dominions of
Antiochus would be diminished." Next day, Quinctius brought into the
senate-house all the ambassadors of Greece and Asia, in order that
they might learn the dispositions entertained by the Roman people, and
by Antiochus, towards the Grecian states. He then acquainted them with
his own demands, and those of the king; and desired them to "assure
their respective states, that the same disinterested zeal and courage,
which the Roman people had displayed in defence of their liberty
against the encroachments of Philip, they would, likewise, exert
against those of Antiochus, if he should refuse to retire out of
Europe." On this, Menippus earnestly besought Quinctius and the
senate, "not to be hasty in forming their determination, which, in its
effects, might disturb the peace of the whole world; to take time
to themselves, and allow the king time for consideration; that, when
informed of the conditions proposed, he would consider them, and
either obtain some relaxation in the terms, or accede to them for the
sake of peace." Accordingly, the business was deferred entire; and
a resolution passed, that the same ambassadors should be sent to the
king who had attended him at Lysimachia,--Publius Sulpicius, Publius
Villius, and Publius Aelius.
60. Scarcely had these begun their journey, when ambassadors from
Carthage brought information, that Antiochus was evidently preparing
for war, and that Hannibal was employed in his service; which gave
reason to fear, that a Punic war might break out at the same time.
Hannibal, on leaving his own country, had gone to Antiochus, as was
mentioned before, and was held by the king in high estimation, not
so much for his other qualifications, as because, to a person who had
long been revolving schemes for a war with Rome, there could not be
any fitter participator of his counsels on such a subject. His opinion
was always one and the same, that the war should be carried on in
Italy: because "Italy would supply a foreign enemy both with men and
provisions; but, if it were left in quiet, and the Roman people were
allowed to employ the strength and forces of Italy, in making war
beyond the limits of that country, no king or nation would be able to
cope with them." He demanded, for himself, one hundred decked ships,
ten thousand foot, and one thousand horse. "With this force," he said,
"he would first repair to Africa; and he had confident hopes, that he
should be able to prevail on the Carthaginians to revive hostilities.
If they should hesitate, he would raise a war against the Romans in
some part of Italy. That the king ought to cross over into Europe with
all the rest of his force, and keep his army in some part of Greece;
not to pass over immediately into Italy, but to be in readiness to do
so; which would sufficiently conduce to the imposing character and the
reported magnitude of the war."
61. When he had brought the king to agree in his opinion, he judged it
necessary to predispose the minds of his countrymen to the same;
but he durst not send a letter, lest it might, by some accident, be
intercepted, and his plans by that means, be discovered. He had found
at Ephesus a Tyrian called Aristo, and in several less important
commissions, had discovered him to possess a good degree of ingenuity.
This man he now loaded with presents and promises of rewards which
were confirmed by the king himself, and sent him to Carthage with
messages. He told him the names of the persons whom it was necessary
that he should see, and furnished him with secret tokens, by which
they would know, with certainty, that the messages came from him. On
this Aristo's appearing at Carthage, the reason of his coming was not
discovered by Hannibal's friends sooner than by his enemies. At first,
the subject was bruited about in their circles and at their tables;
and at last some persons declared in the senate that "the banishment
of Hannibal answered no purpose, if while resident in another
country, he was still able to propagate designs for changing
the administration, and disturbing the quiet of the state by his
intrigues. That a Tyrian stranger, named Aristo, had come with a
commission from Hannibal and king Antiochus; that certain men daily
held secret conferences with him, and were concocting that in private,
the consequences of which would soon break out, to the ruin of the
public." This produced a general outcry, that "Aristo ought to be
summoned, and examined respecting the reason of his coming; and if he
did not disclose it, to be sent to Rome, with ambassadors accompanying
him: that they had already suffered enough of punishment in atonement
of the headstrong rashness of one individual; that the faults of
private citizens should be at their own risk, and the state should be
preserved free, not only from guilt, but even from the suspicion of
it." Aristo, being summoned, contended for his innocence; and urged,
as his strongest defence, that he had brought no letter to any person
whatever: but he gave no satisfactory reason for his coming, and
was chiefly embarrassed by the fact which they urged, that he had
conversed solely with men of the Barcine faction. A warm debate
ensued; some earnestly pressing, that he should be immediately seized
as a spy, and kept in custody; while others insisted, that there
were not sufficient grounds for such violent measures; that "putting
strangers into confinement, without reason, was a step that afforded a
bad precedent; for that the same would happen to the Carthaginians at
Tyre, and other marts, where they frequently traded." The question
was adjourned on that day. Aristo practised on the Carthaginians
a Carthaginian artifice; for having early in the evening hung up a
written tablet, in the most frequented place of the city, over the
tribunal where the magistrates daily sat, he went on board his ship at
the third watch, and fled. Next day, when the suffetes had taken their
seats to administer justice, the tablet was observed, taken down,
and read. Its contents were, that "Aristo came not with a private
commission to any person, but with a public one to the elders;" by
this name they called the senate. The imputation being thus thrown
on the state, less pains were taken in searching into the suspicions
harboured of a few individuals: however, it was determined, that
ambassadors should be sent to Rome, to represent the affair to the
consuls and the senate, and, at the same time, to complain of the
injuries received from Masinissa.
62. When Masinissa observed that the Carthaginians were looked on with
jealousy by others, and were full of dissensions among themselves; the
nobles being suspected by the senate, on account of their conferences
with Aristo, and the senate by the people, in consequence of the
information given by the same Aristo, he thought that, at such a
conjuncture, he might successfully encroach on their rights; and
accordingly he laid waste their country along the sea-coast, and
compelled several cities, which were tributary to the Carthaginians,
to pay their taxes to him. This tract they call Emporia; it forms the
shore of the lesser Syrtis, and has a fertile soil; one of its cities
is Leptis, which paid a tribute to the Carthaginians of a talent a
day. At this time, Masinissa not only ravaged that whole tract, but,
with respect to a considerable part of it, disputed the right of
possession with the Carthaginians; and when he learned that they were
sending to Rome, both to justify their conduct, and, at the same time,
to make complaints of him, he likewise sent ambassadors to Rome, to
load them with suspicions, and to discuss the right to the taxes.
The Carthaginians were heard first, and their account of the Tyrian
stranger gave the senate no small uneasiness, as they dreaded being
involved in war with Antiochus and the Carthaginians at the same time.
What contributed chiefly to strengthen a suspicion of evil designs,
was, that though they had resolved to seize Aristo, and send him to
Rome, they had not placed a guard either on himself or his ship. Then
began the controversy with the king's ambassadors, on the claims of
the territory in dispute. The Carthaginians supported their cause by
a boundary claim, urging that "It must belong to them, as being within
the limits which Scipio, after conquering the country, had fixed as
the boundaries which should be under Carthaginian rule; and also, by
the acknowledgment of the king, who, when he was going in pursuit of
Aphir, a fugitive from his kingdom, then hovering about Cyrene, with
a party of Numidians, had solicited as a favour a passage through
that very district, as being confessedly a part of the Carthaginian
dominions." The Numidians insisted, "that they were guilty of
misrepresentation with respect to the limits fixed by Scipio; and if a
person chose to recur to the real origin of their property, what title
had the Carthaginians to call any land in Africa their own: foreigners
and strangers, to whom had been granted precariously, for the purpose
of building a city, as much ground as they could encompass with the
cuttings of a bull's hide? Whatever acquisitions they had made beyond
Byrsa, their original settlement, they held by fraud and violence;
for, in relation to the land in question, so far were they from being
able to prove uninterrupted possession, from the time when it was
first acquired, that they cannot even prove that they ever possessed
it for any considerable time. As occasions offered, sometimes they,
sometimes the kings of Numidia, had held the dominion of it; and
the possession of it had always been held by the party which had the
greatest armed force. They requested the senate to suffer the
matter to remain on the same footing on which it stood before the
Carthaginians became enemies to the Romans, or the king of Numidia
their friend and ally; and not to interfere, so as to hinder whichever
party was able, from keeping possession."--The senate resolved to tell
the ambassadors of both parties, that they would send persons into
Africa to determine the present controversy between the people of
Carthage and the king. They accordingly sent Publius Scipio Africanus,
Caius Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minucius Rufus; who, after
viewing the ground, and hearing what could be said on both sides, left
every thing in suspense, their opinions inclining neither to one
side nor the other. Whether they acted in this manner from their own
judgment, or because they had been so instructed, is by no means so
certain as it is, that as affairs were circumstanced, it was highly
expedient to leave the dispute undecided: for, had the case been
otherwise, Scipio alone, either from his own knowledge of the
business, or the influence which he possessed, and to which he had
a just claim on both parties, could, with a nod, have ended the
controversy.