Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number of horse than foot,
was coming to the assistance of the Carthaginians. A part of his
infantry with all the cavalry having attacked them on their march on the
first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians with little
opposition, and as every way by which they could escape in flight was
blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides, fifteen
thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen
hundred Numidian horses and seventy-two military standards. The prince
himself fled from the field with a few attendants during the confusion.
The camp was then pitched near Tunis in the same place as before, and
thirty ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These behaved in a
manner even more calculated to excite compassion than the former, in
proportion as their situation was more pressing; but from the
recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with considerably
less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by just resentment
to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon the magnitude of the
undertaking and the length of time which would be consumed in the siege
of so well fortified and strong a city, while Scipio himself was uneasy
in consequence of the expectation of a successor, who would come in for
the glory of having terminated the war, though it was accomplished
already by the exertions and danger of another, the minds of all were
inclined to peace.
The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with many
rebukes of their perfidy, warned that instructed by so many disasters
they would at length believe in the existence of the gods and the
obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were stated to
them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live under their own
laws; that they should possess such cities and territories as they had
enjoyed before the war, and with the same boundaries, and that the
Romans should on that day desist from devastation. That they should
restore to the Romans all deserters and fugitives, giving up all their
ships-of-war except ten triremes, with such tamed elephants as they had,
and that they should not tame any more. That they should not carry on
war in or out of Africa without the permission of the Roman people. That
they should make restitution to Masinissa, and form a league with him.
That they should furnish corn, and pay for the auxiliaries until the
ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they should pay ten thousand
talents of silver in equal annual installments distributed over fifty
years. That they should give a hundred hostages, according to the
pleasure of Scipio, not younger than fourteen nor older than thirty.
That he would grant them a truce on condition that the transports,
together with their cargoes, which had been seized during the former
truce, were restored. Otherwise they would have no truce, nor any hope
of a peace." When the ambassadors who were ordered to bear these
conditions home reported them in an assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth
to dissuade them from the terms, and was being listened to by the
multitude, who were at once indisposed for peace and unfit for war,
Hannibal, indignant that such language should be held and listened to at
such a juncture, laid hold of Gisgo with his own hand and dragged him
from his elevated position.
This unusual sight in a free State having raised a murmur among the
people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the citizens
took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine years old, I have
returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I flatter myself I am well
acquainted with the qualifications of a soldier, having been instructed
in them from my childhood, sometimes by my own situation and sometimes
by that of my country. The privileges, the laws, and customs of the city
and the forum you ought to teach me." Having thus apologized for his
indiscretion, he discoursed largely concerning the peace, showing how
inoppressive the terms were, and how necessary it was. The greatest
difficulty was that of the ships which had been seized during the truce
nothing was to be found except the ships themselves, nor was it easy to
collect the property, because those who were charged with having it were
opposed to the peace. It was resolved that the ships should be restored
and that the men at least should be looked up; and as to whatever else
was missing, that it should be left to Scipio to put a value upon it,
and that the Carthaginians should make compensation accordingly in
money. There are those who say that Hannibal went from the field of
battle to the sea-coast; whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which
he had ready for the purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio
demanded above everything that Hannibal should be given up to him,
answer was made that Hannibal was not in Africa.
After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were ordered to
give in an account, made out from the public registers, of the public
property which had been in the ships; and the owners to make a return of
the private property. For the amount of the value twenty-five thousand
pounds of silver were required to be paid down; and a truce for three
months was granted to the Carthaginians. It was added that during the
time of the truce they should not send ambassadors anywhere else than to
Rome; and that whatever ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not
dismiss them before informing the Roman general who they were and what
they sought. With the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo,
Marcus Marcius Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general, were
sent to Rome.
The Roman, together with the Carthaginian, ambassadors having arrived at
Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple of Bellona;
when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of the senate, that
a battle had been fought with Hannibal which was decisive of the fate of
the Carthaginians, and that a period was at length put to that
calamitous war. He added what formed a small accession to their
successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax, had been vanquished. He was
then ordered to go forth to the public assembly and impart the joyful
tidings to the people. Then, a thanksgiving having been appointed, all
the temples in the city were thrown open and supplications for three
days were decreed. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the
province of Africa with the armies which he then had. The Carthaginian
ambassadors were called before the senate. On observing their ages and
dignified appearance, for they were by far the first men of the State,
all promptly declared their conviction that now they were sincere in
their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace and was opposed
to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest than the
rest.
On these accounts the greater weight was attached to him when
transferring the blame of the war from the State at large to the
cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
admitted some, lest by imprudently denying what was manifestly true
their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
and moderation in their prosperity, he said that if the Carthaginians
had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated terms
of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely happened
that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon men at the
same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible, because when
successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and prudence; and indeed
it would have been matter of astonishment did they act otherwise. That
those persons to whom success was a new and uncommon thing proceeded to
a pitch of madness in their ungoverned transports in consequence of
their not being accustomed to it. That to the Roman people the joy
arising from victory was a matter of common occurrence, and was now
almost become old-fashioned. That they had extended their empire more by
sparing the vanquished than by conquering.
The language employed by the others was of a nature more calculated to
excite compassion; they represented from what a height of power the
Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing besides the walls of
Carthage remained to those who a little time ago held almost the whole
world in subjection by their arms; that shut up within these, they could
see nothing anywhere on sea or land which owned their authority. That
they would retain possession of their city itself and their household
gods only in case the Roman people should refrain from venting their
indignation upon these, which is all that remains for them to do. When
it was manifest that the fathers were moved by compassion, it is said
that one of the senators, violently incensed at the perfidy of the
Carthaginians, immediately asked with a loud voice by what gods they
would swear in striking the league, since they had broken their faith
with those by whom they swore in striking the former one? By those same,
replied Hasdrubal, who have shown such determined hostility to the
violators of treaties.
The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate. Upon
this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the people, put
the question to the people whether they willed and ordered that the
senate should decree that peace should be made with the Carthaginians?
whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to conduct the army out
of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting the peace according as the
question had been put. That Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and
that he also should conduct the army home. Agreeably to this order, the
senate decreed that Publius Scipio, acting according to the opinion of
the ten deputies, should make peace with the Carthaginian people on what
terms he pleased. The Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate,
and requested that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse
with their countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of
the State; observing that some of them were their relations and friends,
and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
messages from their relations.
Having obtained these requests, they again asked permission to ransom
such of them as they pleased; when they were desired to give in their
names. Having given in a list of about two hundred, a decree of the
senate was passed to the effect that the Carthaginian ambassadors should
be allowed to take away into Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two
hundred of the Carthaginian prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and
that they should convey to him a message that if the peace were
concluded he should restore them to the Carthaginians without ransom.
The heralds being ordered to go into Africa to strike the league, at
their own desire the senate passed a decree that they should take with
them flint stones of their own and vervain of their own; that the Roman
praetor should command them to strike the league, and that they should
demand of him herbs. The description of herb usually given to the
heralds is taken from the Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians being allowed
to depart from Rome, when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded
the peace on the terms before mentioned. They delivered up their
men-of-war, their elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand
prisoners, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships
he ordered to be taken out into the main and burned. Some say there were
five hundred of every description of those which are worked with oars,
and that the sudden sight of these when burning occasioned as deep a
sensation of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in
flames. The measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe
than those respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin
confederacy were decapitated; the Romans were crucified.
The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before this
in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
commenced twenty-three years afterward in the consulate of Publius
Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus. It
is related that Scipio frequently said afterward, that first the
ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of Cneius Cornelius, were
the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the destruction of
Carthage.
The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of money
to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted war, and in
consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the senate house, it
is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and when Hasdrubal Haedus
rebuked him for laughing amid the public grief, when he himself was the
occasion of the tears which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression
of the countenance is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of
the mind could be distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that
that laughter which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy,
but frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept when
our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were forbidden to
engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor is
it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans have
adopted toward you have been dictated by animosity. No great state can
remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at
home in the same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external
causes, but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt more
acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils were torn
down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left unarmed and
defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh.
Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private property you lament
with one accord, as though at the funeral of the State. How much do I
dread lest you should soon be made sensible that you have shed tears
this day for the lightest of your misfortunes!"
Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the Carthaginians.
Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented Masinissa, in addition to
his paternal dominions, with the town of Cirta, and the other cities and
territories which had passed from the kingdom of Syphax into the
possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the
fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius Cornelius the consul, and
directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go to Rome, that the
arrangements he had made with the advice of the ten deputies might be
ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the order of the people.
Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his troops
and crossed over to Lilybæum in Sicily, whence, having sent a great part
of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through Italy, which was
rejoicing not less on account of the peace than the victory; while not
only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to show him honor, but
crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived at Rome and entered the
city in a triumph of unparalleled splendor. He brought into the treasury
one hundred and twenty-three thousand pounds of silver. He distributed
to each of his soldiers four hundred asses out of the spoils. By the
death of Syphax, which took place but a short time before at Tibur,
whither he had been removed from Alba, a diminution was occasioned in
the interest of the pageant rather than in the glory of him who
triumphed. His death, however, was attended with circumstances which
produced a strong sensation, for he was buried at the public expense.
Polybius, an author by no means to be despised, asserts that this King
was led in the triumph. Quintus Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his
triumph with a cap of liberty on his head, and during the remainder of
his life treated him with the respect due to him as the author of his
freedom. I have not been able to ascertain whether the partiality of the
soldiers or the favor of the people fixed upon him the surname of
Africanus, or whether in the same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla,
and Magnus to Pompey, in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the
flattery of his friends. He was doubtless the first general who was
distinguished by a name derived from the nation which he had conquered.
Afterward, in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in
his victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
honorable surnames to their families.
JUDAS MACCAÆBUS LIBERATES JUDEA
B.C. 165
JOSEPHUS
(The noble-minded Judas Maccabaeus was the hero of Jewish independence--
the deliverer of Judea and Judaism during the bloody persecutions of the
Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, in the second century B.C. This King
was attempting to destroy in Palestine the national religion. For this
purpose pagan altars were set up among the Jews and pagan sacrifices
enjoined upon the worshippers of Jehovah. Many Jews fled from their own
towns and villages into the uninhabited wilderness, in order that they
might have liberty to worship the God of their fathers; but a few
conformed to the ordinances of Antiochus. Soon, however, open resistance
to the decrees of the pagan ruler began to manifest itself among the
faithful.
The first protest in the shape of active opposition was made by
Mattathias, a priest living at Modin. When the servants of Antiochus
came to that retired village and commanded Mattathias to do sacrifice to
the heathen gods, he refused; he went so far as to strike down at the
altar a Jew who was preparing to offer such a sacrifice. Then he escaped
to the mountains with his five sons and a band of followers. These
followers grew in numbers and activity, overthrowing pagan altars,
circumcising heathen children, and putting to the sword both apostates
and unbelievers. When Mattathias died, in B.C. 166, he was succeeded as
leader by his son Judas, called Maccabaeus, "the Hammer"; as Charles,
who defeated the Saracens at Tours, is called Martel or hammer.
The successes of Judas were uninterrupted, and culminated B.C. 165 in
the repulse of Lysias, the general of Antiochus, at Bethzur, where a
large Syrian force gathered in the expectation of crushing the patriotic
army of Judas. After this victory Judas led his followers into Jerusalem
and proceeded to restore the Temple and the worship of the national
religion, and to cleanse the Temple from all traces of pagan worship.
The great altar was rebuilt; new sacred vessels provided; and an
eight-days' dedication festival begun on the very day when, three years
before, the altar of Jehovah had been desecrated by a heathen sacrifice.
This Feast of the Dedication was ever afterward observed in the Temple
at Jerusalem and is mentioned in the gospels [John x. 22]. Judas
established a dynasty of priest-kings, which lasted until supplanted by
Herod, with the aid of the Romans, in B.C. 40; and gave by his genuinely
heroic bearing his name to this whole glorious epoch of Jewish history.)
Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt at
Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a
priest of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five
sons: John, who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes,
and Judas, who was called Maccabæus,[66] and Eleazar, who was called
Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented
to his children the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in
the city, and the plundering of the Temple, and the calamities the
multitude were under; and he told them that it was better for them to
die for the laws of their country than to live so ingloriously as they
then did.
[Footnote 66: That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all
given to Judas Maccabæaus, nor was derived from any initial letters of
the Hebrew words on his banner, _Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah_? ("Who is
like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II, as the modern
rabbins vainly pretend, see _Authent. Rec._, part i., pp. 205, 206. Only
we may note, by the way, that the original name of these Maccabees and
their posterity was Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the
great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]
But when those that were appointed by the King were come to Modin that
they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to enjoin
those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the King had commanded,
they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among
them, both on other accounts and particularly on account of such a
numerous and so deserving a family of children, would begin the
sacrifice, because his fellow-citizens would follow his example, and
because such a procedure would make him honored by the King. But
Mattathias said that he would not do it, and that if all the other
nations would obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of fear or to
please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship of
their country; but as soon as he had ended his speech there came one of
the Jews into the midst of them and sacrificed as Antiochus had
commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran upon him
violently with his sons, who had swords with them, and slew both the man
himself that sacrificed and Apelles, the King's general who compelled
him to sacrifice, with a few of his soldiers.
He also overthrew the idol altar and cried out, "If," said he, "anyone
be zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship of God, let
him follow me"; and when he had said this he made haste into the desert
with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others
did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the
desert and dwelt in caves; but when the King's generals heard this, they
took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and
pursued the Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they
in the first place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose
what was most for their advantage and not put them to the necessity of
using them according to the law of war; but when they would not comply
with their persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they
fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as they
were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as stopping
up the entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on
that day because they were not willing to break in upon the honor they
owed the Sabbath, even in such distresses; for our law requires that we
rest upon that day.
There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were
smothered and died in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined
themselves to Mattathias and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught
them to fight even on the Sabbath day, and told them that unless they
would do so they would become their own enemies by observing the law [so
rigorously] while their adversaries would still assault them on this
day, and they would not then defend themselves; and that nothing could
then hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This speech
persuaded them, and this rule continues among us to this day, that if
there be a necessity we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a
great army about him and overthrew their idol altars and slew those that
broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of
them were dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him.
He also commanded that those boys who were not yet circumcised should be
circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
such their circumcision.