the possession of the sea, he despaired of being able to defend his
distant possessions, ordered the garrison to be withdrawn from
Lysimachia, which plan was ill devised, as the event subsequently
proved, lest it should be there cut off by the Romans. As it was easy
for him, not only to defend Lysimachia from the first attack of the
Romans, but to protract the siege through the whole winter; and by thus
prolonging the time, to reduce the besiegers to the extremity of want;
and in the mean time try the hope of peace, as opportunities should
present themselves. But, after the defeat at sea, he not only gave up
Lysimachia, but even raised the siege of Colophon, and retired to
Sardis. Here, bending all his thoughts to one single object, that of
meeting the enemy in the field, he sent into Cappadocia, to Ariarathes,
to request assistance, and to every other place within his power, to
collect forces. Æmilius Regillus, after his victory at sea, proceeded to
Ephesus, having drawn up his ships before the harbour, when he had
extorted from the enemy a final acknowledgment of their having
surrendered the dominion of the sea, sailed to Chios, to which he had
directed his course from Samos, before the sea-fight. As soon as he had
refitted the ships that had been damaged in the battle, he sent off
Lucius Æmilius Scaurus, with thirty others, to the Hellespont, to
transport the army; and decorating the Rhodian vessels with naval
spoils, and allowing them a part of the booty, he ordered them to return
home. The Rhodians energetically took the lead, and proceeded to assist
in transporting the consul’s forces, and when they had completed that
service also, then at length returned to Rhodes. The Roman fleet sailed
from Chios to Phocæa. This city stands at the bottom of a bay, and is of
an oblong shape. The wall encompasses a space of two miles and a half in
length, and then contracts on both sides into a very narrow wedge-like
form, which place they call Lampter (or the light-house). The breadth
here extends one thousand two hundred paces; and a tongue of land
stretching out about a mile into the sea, divides the bay nearly in the
middle, as if with a line; where it is connected with the main land by a
narrow isthmus, it has two very safe harbours, turned to each side. The
one that fronts the south they call Naustathmos, (the station for
ships,) from the circumstance of its being capable of containing a vast
number of ships; the other is close to Lampter.
32. When the Roman fleet had taken possession of these very safe
harbours, the prætor thought proper, before he attempted the
fortifications, either by escalade or works, that persons should be sent
to sound the disposition of the magistrates and principal people in the
place: when he saw them obstinate, he determined to attack the city in
two places at the same time. One part was thinly occupied by private
dwellings, temples of the gods occupying a great deal of the ground. In
that part first, having brought up the battering-ram, he began to shake
the wall and towers; and when the multitude within ran thither to defend
that spot, the battering-rams were applied in the other quarter, and the
walls were now knocked down in both places. On the fall of which, when
some of the Roman soldiers were making an assault over the scattered
masses of ruins, others attempted to scale walls; the townsmen made such
an obstinate resistance, as plainly showed that they had a firmer
dependence on their arms and courage, than on their fortifications. The
prætor, compelled by the danger of the soldiers, sounded a retreat, that
he might not expose them incautious to his opponents, maddened with
despair and rage. The fighting being ended, the besieged did not, even
then, think of rest; but all hastened from every quarter, to strengthen
the walls, and to raise new ones in the place of those that had been
demolished. While they were busily employed in this manner, Quintus
Antonius, being sent by the prætor, came to them, who, after having
blamed their obstinacy, assured them that “the Romans were more anxious
than they were themselves that the battle should not be carried on to
the destruction of the city. If they would desist from their madness,
Æmilius would allow them to capitulate on the same terms on which they
had formerly surrendered to Caius Livius.” When they heard this, having
taken five days’ time to deliberate, and having in the mean time tried
the hope of aid from Antiochus, after that the ambassadors sent to the
king had brought back word that there was no aid in him, they opened
their gates, stipulating that they should suffer nothing hostile. When
the troops were marching into the city, and the prætor had proclaimed
that it was his pleasure that the surrendered townsmen should be spared,
there arose an universal clamour, “that it was shameful that the
Phocæans, who had never been faithful to any alliance, and had always
been bitter in enmity, should escape with impunity.” After which words,
as if a signal had been given by the prætor, they ran, in parties, every
way, to plunder the city. Æmilius, at first, began to resist, and call
them back, saying, that “towns taken by storm, and not such as
surrendered, were plundered; and that, even with regard to the former,
the determination lay with the commander, not with the soldiers.” But
rage and avarice were too strong for his authority; wherefore,
despatching heralds through all parts of the city, he ordered, that all
persons of free condition should come to him in the forum, that they
should not be injured: and in all things which were in his power, the
promise of the prætor was observed. He restored to them their city,
their lands, and their laws; and, as the winter now approached, he chose
the harbour of Phocæa for his fleet to pass the winter in.
33. About the same time it was announced to the consul, as he was
marching along the frontiers of the Ænians and Maronites, that the
king’s fleet was conquered at Myonnesus, and that Lysimachia was
evacuated by its garrison. This latter event gave much more satisfaction
than even the success at sea; especially after they came thither, and
were hospitably received in the city, filled with provisions of all
sorts, as if provided for the arrival of the army; when, in besieging
the city, they had anticipated extreme want and hardship. There they
made a halt for a few days, that the baggage and sick might overtake
them, who, overcome by diseases, or the length of the way, had been left
behind in all the forts of Thrace. When all had joined, they began again
their march through the Chersonese, and arrived at the Hellespont; where
every thing requisite for their passage having been previously got
ready, by the care of king Eumenes, they crossed over, without
confusion, as if to friendly shores, no one opposing, and the ships
putting in at several different places. This raised to a high degree the
spirits of the Romans, who saw the passage into Asia left open to them;
which thing they supposed would cost them a severe struggle. They
afterwards remained encamped a considerable time at the Hellespont,
because it happened to be a period too holy for marching, during which
the sacred shields are moved. The same festival had separated Publius
Scipio from the army, as the religious ceremony was more incumbent on
him, because he was one of the Salian priests; and he himself was a
source of delay, till he overtook the rest of the army.
34. In the mean time an ambassador came from Antiochus to the
camp,—Heraclides, a Byzantian, having mandates concerning peace. The
delay and tardiness of the Romans gave him great hope that this might be
attained; for he had imagined, that as soon as they set foot in Asia,
they would advance in a rapid march against the king. He resolved,
however, not to address himself to the consul until he had first applied
to Publius Scipio, and instructions to that effect were given him by the
king. In him he had the greatest hope, besides that his greatness of
soul, and the fulness of his glory, tended very much to make him
inclined to peace, and it was known to all nations what sort of a
conqueror he had been, both in Spain and afterwards in Africa; and also
because his son was then a prisoner with Antiochus. Where, and when, and
by what accident he became a prisoner, is, like very many other things,
not ascertained among writers. Some say, that in the beginning of the
war, as he was going from Chalcis to Oreum, he was intercepted by some
of the king’s ships; others, that after the army came into Asia, he was
sent with a troop of Fregellans to Antiochus’s camp, to gain
intelligence; that on the cavalry sallying out against him, he
retreated, and having fallen from his horse in the confusion, he was
together with two horsemen, overpowered, and thus conducted to the king.
This however is fully ascertained, that if peace had still subsisted
with the Romans, and likewise a personal friendship between the king and
the Scipios, the young man could not have been treated and courted with
greater kindness than he was. When the ambassador, for these reasons,
had waited the arrival of Publius Scipio, as soon as he came he applied
to the consul, and requested that he should hear his instructions.
35. A full council being assembled, audience was given to the
ambassador, who said, that, “though many embassies about peace had
already been sent backwards and forwards, without producing any effect,
yet he conceived strong hopes of obtaining it, because the former
ambassadors had obtained nothing. For the objects of contention in those
discussions were Smyrna and Lampsacus, Alexandria in the Troad, and
Lysimachia in Europe. Of these, the king had already ceded Lysimachia,
that they might not say that he possessed any thing in Europe; and those
cities which lay in Asia, he was now ready to deliver up as well as any
others, which the Romans might wish to render independent of the king’s
government, because they belonged to their party. The king was also
willing to pay to the Roman people half the expense of the war.” These
were the conditions of peace. The rest of his discourse was, “that,
mindful of human affairs, they should use with moderation their own good
fortune, and not press too severely on the misfortune of others; that
they should limit their empire by Europe; that single acquisitions
could be made with more ease than that necessary for holding them
collectively. But if they would wish to take away some part of Asia,
provided that they would define it by indisputable limits, the king, for
the sake of peace and harmony, would willingly suffer his own moderate
temper to be overcome by the insatiableness of the Romans.” These
concessions, which appeared to the ambassador of great moment towards
obtaining a peace, the Romans deemed trifling. They thought it just,
that “the king should defray the whole expense occasioned by the war,
because it was through his fault that it was begun. And that, not only
Ionia and Æolia ought to be evacuated by the king’s troops, but as all
Greece had been set free, so all the cities of that nation in Asia
should also be free. That this could be effected in no other way, than
by Antiochus relinquishing the possession of that part of Asia on the
hither side of Mount Taurus.”
36. The ambassador, after he came to the conclusion that he could obtain
no reasonable terms in the council, tried to influence the mind of
Publius Scipio in private (for such were his orders). First of all he
told him that the king would restore him his son without a ransom; and
then, as ignorant of the disposition of Scipio as he was of the Roman
manners, he promised an immense weight of gold, and, excepting the title
of king, an absolute partnership in the sovereignty, if through his
means he should obtain a peace. To which Scipio answered, “I am the less
surprised that you are ignorant of the Romans in general, and of me, to
whom you have been sent, when I see that you are unacquainted with the
situation even of the person from whom you come. You ought to have kept
Lysimachia to prevent our entering the Chersonese, or to have opposed us
at the Hellespont to hinder our passing into Asia, if you meant to ask
peace from us as from people solicitous about the issue of war. But
after leaving the passage into Asia open, and receiving not only a
bridle, but also a yoke, what negotiation on an equality has been left
you, when you must submit to orders? I shall consider my son as a very
great gift from the munificence of the king; I pray to the gods that my
circumstances may never require others, my mind certainly never will
require any. For such an act of generosity to me he shall find me
grateful, if for a personal favour he will accept a personal return of
gratitude. In my public capacity, I will neither accept from him nor
give him any thing. All that I can give at present is sincere advice. Go
then, and desire him in my name, to cease hostilities, and to refuse no
terms of peace.” These words had no effect on the king, who thought that
the chance of war would be comparatively safe, since terms were dictated
to him already as if he were totally vanquished. Laying aside,
therefore, for the present, all farther mention of peace, he turned his
whole attention to the preparations for war.
37. The consul having made every preparation for the execution of his
designs, when he had quitted the post where he lay, marched first to
Dardanus, and then to Rhœteum; from both states the people came out in
crowds to meet him. He then advanced to Troy, and having pitched his
camp in the plain which is under the walls, when he had gone up to the
city and into the citadel, he offered sacrifices to Minerva, the
guardian of the citadel; the Trojans, by every act and expression of
respect, showing themselves proud of the Romans being descended from
them, and the Romans expressing their delight in their origin. The army
marching thence, arrived, on the sixth encampment, at the source of the
Caicus. To this place also king Eumenes came. He at first endeavoured to
bring back his fleet from the Hellespont to Elæa, for the winter;
subsequently, when by adverse winds he could not, for several days, pass
the promontory of Lectos, that he might not be absent at the
commencement of operations, he landed and came, with a small body of
men, by the shortest road to the Roman camp. From the camp he was sent
home to Pergamus, to hasten supplies of provisions; and when the corn
was delivered to the persons whom the consul had ordered to receive it,
he returned to the same camp. The plan was, provisions for several days
being prepared, to march hence against the enemy, before the winter
should prevent them. The king’s camp was near Thyatira; and Antiochus,
hearing there that Publius Scipio had fallen sick and was conveyed to
Elæa, sent ambassadors to conduct his son to him. As this present was
highly grateful to the mind of the father, so was the satisfaction which
it gave no less salutary to his body. At length, being sated with the
embraces of his son, he said to the ambassadors, “Tell the king that I
return him thanks; that at present I can make him no other requital than
my advice; which is, not to come to an engagement, until he shall have
heard that I have rejoined the army.” Although sixty-two thousand foot,
and more than twelve thousand horse, inspired the king at times with
hopes in the result of a battle; yet, moved by the advice of so great a
man as Scipio, in whom, when he considered the uncertainty of the events
of war, he placed safety in any reverse of fortune, he retired, and
having crossed the Phrygian river, pitched his camp near Magnesia, which
is at Sipylus. And lest, if he wished to prolong the time, the Romans
might attack his works, he drew round it a fosse six cubits deep and
twelve broad, and on the outside surrounded the fosse with a double
rampart: on the inside bank, he raised a wall flanked with towers at
small distances, by which the enemy could easily be prevented from
crossing the fosse.
38. The consul, thinking that the king was still in the neighbourhood of
Thyatira, came down by continued marches on the fifth day into the
Hyrcanian plains. Then when he heard that the other had departed, he
followed his track, and pitched his camp on the hither side of the
Phrygian river, at the distance of four miles from the enemy. Here, a
body of about one thousand horse, (the greatest part of whom were
Gallogræcians, the rest Dahans, and archers on horseback, of other
nations intermixed,) passing the river with great tumult, made an attack
on the advanced Roman guards. First of all they threw into confusion
those unprepared; then, when the contest continued longer, and the
number of the Romans increased, as succours were easily sent from the
neighbouring camp, the king’s troops, becoming weary and unable to
withstand superior numbers, endeavoured to retreat; but, before they
could reach the river, very many were killed on the bank, by the enemy
pressing on their rear. For two days after there was quiet, neither
party passing the river. On the third, the Romans passed it with their
whole force, and encamped at the distance of about two miles and a half
from the enemy. While they were employed in measuring and fortifying the
camp, a body of the king’s troops, consisting of three thousand chosen
horse and foot, approached with great rapidity and violence. The party
on guard, though much inferior in number, (being only two thousand,)
without calling off any of the soldiers from the fortifying of the
camp, sustained the combat with equal success at first, and, in the
progress of the contest, repulsed the enemy, killing a hundred, and
taking about the same number. During the four ensuing days, both armies
stood in order of battle, before their respective camps. On the fifth,
the Romans advanced into the middle of the plain, but Antiochus did not
stir; so that his rear was not so far as a thousand feet from his
rampart.
39. The consul, after perceiving that he declined the contest, called a
council next day, and asked their opinion, “how he ought to act if
Antiochus would not give him an opportunity of engaging. For the winter
was at hand, and he must either keep the soldiers in camp; or, if they
chose to retire to winter quarters, defer the business of the war until
summer.” The Romans never despised any enemy so much. The assembly on
every side called on him to lead on immediately, and make use of the
present ardour of the troops; who, as if the business were not to fight
against so many thousands, but to slaughter an equal number of cattle,
were ready to force their way, through trenches and ramparts, into the
camp, if the enemy would not come out to battle. Cneius Domitius was
sent to discover the nature of the ground, and on what side the enemies’
rampart could be approached; after he returned with a full account of
every particular, it was resolved that the camp should next day be moved
nearer to the enemy. On the third day, the standards were carried
forward into the middle of the plain, and the soldiers began to form
line. Antiochus, thinking that he could hesitate no longer, lest, by
declining a battle, he should damp the courage of his men, and add to
the confidence of the enemy, drew out his forces in person, advancing
only so far from the enemy’s camp as to make it apparent that he was
willing to come to an engagement. The Roman line was nearly uniform
throughout with respect to both men and armour. There were two Roman
legions, and two brigades of allies and Latins, each containing five
thousand four hundred men. The Romans formed the centre, the Latins the
wings. The spearmen composed the first line, the first-rank men the
second, and the veterans closed the rear. Beyond this, which formed as
it were the regular line of battle, the consul formed on the right of
it, and in one continued line, the auxiliary troops of Eumenes,
intermixed with Achæan targeteers, making about three thousand foot;
beyond these he posted somewhat less than three thousand horse, of
which, eight hundred belonged to Eumenes; all the rest of the cavalry
were Roman: and in the extremity of the line he placed bodies of
Trallians and Cretans, equal in number, who were composed of five
hundred men each. His left wing did not appear to require such supports,
because a river and steep banks flanked it. However, four troops of
horse were posted there. This was the whole amount of the Roman force,
besides two thousand Macedonians and Thracians, who had, as volunteers,
accompanied the army. These were left to guard the camp. They placed
sixteen elephants behind the veterans, in reserve. For besides that they
were not supposed capable of withstanding the great number of the king’s
elephants, which were no less than fifty-four, the African elephants are
not able to cope with an equal number of Indians, either because they
are inferior to them in size, (in which the Indian have much the
advantage,) or in unyielding courage.
40. The king’s line was more chequered with troops of many nations,
dissimilar both in their persons and armour. There was a body of sixteen
thousand men armed after the manner of the Macedonians, which were
called a phalanx. This formed the centre, and was divided in front into
ten parts. These parts were separated by two elephants placed between
each two; the line of soldiers was thirty-two ranks deep from point to
rear. This was the main strength of the king’s army, and it exhibited a
formidable sight, both in the other particulars of its appearance, and
in the elephants towering so high among the soldiers. They were of huge
bulk, and the caparisons of their foreheads and crests, and the towers
fixed on their backs, with four armed men standing on each tower,
besides the managers of the beasts, gave them a terrific appearance. On
the right side of the phalanx, he placed five hundred Gallogræcian
horsemen. To these he joined three thousand horsemen clad in complete
armour, whom they call Cataphracti, or mailed. To these were added a
brigade of near a thousand horse, which they called Agema. They were
Medes, all picked men, with a mixture of horsemen from many other
nations in that part of the world. Adjoining these, a body of sixteen
elephants was placed in reserve. On the same side, a little farther on
towards the wing, was the royal cohort; these were called
Argyraspides[4], from the kind of armour which they wore. Next to these
stood one thousand two hundred Dahan bowmen on horseback; then, three
thousand light infantry, part Cretans and part Trallians, the number of
each being equal; adjoining these, were two thousand five hundred Mysian
archers. Four thousand Cyrtæan slingers and Elymæan archers mixed
together covered the flank of the wing. Next to the left flank of the
phalanx, stood one thousand five hundred Gallogræcian horse, and two
thousand Cappadocians, (which were sent by king Ariarathes,) wearing the
same kind of armour; then, auxiliaries of all kinds mixed together, two
thousand seven hundred; then, three thousand mailed horsemen; then, one
thousand other horsemen, being a royal cohort, equipped with lighter
coverings for themselves and their horses, but, in other respects, not
unlike the rest; they were mostly Syrians, with a mixture of Phrygians
and Lydians. In the front of this body of cavalry were the chariots
armed with scythes, and a kind of camels called dromedaries. These were
ridden by Arabian archers, who carried thin swords four cubits long,
that they might be able to reach the enemy from so great a height. Then
followed another multitude, like that in the right wing,—first,
Tarentines; then, two thousand five hundred Gallogræcian horsemen; then,
one thousand new Cretans, and one thousand five hundred Carians and
Cilicians, armed in the same manner; then, an equal number of Trallians,
with three thousand targeteers (these were Pisidians, Pamphylians, and
Lycians); then came brigades of Cyrtæans and Elymæans, equal to the
auxiliaries placed on the right wing, and sixteen elephants, separated
by a small interval. The king himself was in the right wing; the command
of the left he gave to his son Seleucus, and Antipater, the son of his
brother; the centre was intrusted to three, Minio, Zeuxis, and Philip,
the master of the elephants.
41. A morning mist, which as the day advanced rose up in clouds, spread
a general darkness; and the moisture issuing from it, and coming from
the southward, wetted every thing, This circumstance, which was scarcely
any inconvenience to the Romans, was very disadvantageous to the king’s
troops. For the indistinctness of the light did not take away from the
Romans the view of all parts of their line, since it was of moderate
length; and the moisture tended but little to blunt their swords and
javelins, as they were almost all heavy-armed troops. The king’s
soldiers, as the line was so extensive, could not even see their wings
from the centre, much less could those at the extremities see one
another; and then, the moisture relaxed the strings of their bows, their
slings, and the thongs of their javelins. Besides, the armed chariots,
by means of which Antiochus had trusted utterly to disorder the enemy’s
line, turned the terror of their operations on their owners. The manner
in which they were armed was this: from the yoke, on both sides of the
pole, they had lances[5] ten cubits long, projecting like horns, to
transfix any thing that came in their way. At each extremity of the
yoke, two scythe-blades projected, one on a line with the yoke, the
other on its lower side, pointing to the ground; the former to cut
through any thing that might come within its reach on the side, the
other to catch such as fell, or endeavoured to go under it. At each
extremity of the axle of the wheels, two scythe-blades were fastened in
the same manner. The king, as we mentioned before, had placed the
chariots so armed in the front, because if they were placed in the rear,
or between the ranks, they must be driven through their own soldiers.
Which when Eumenes saw, not being ignorant of the method of opposing
them, and knowing that aid of that sort might be rendered as dangerous
to one side as the other, if an opponent should cast terror into the
horses, rather than attack them in a regular battle, ordered the Cretan
bowmen, and slingers, and javelin-bearers, with some troops of horse,
not in a body, but scattering themselves as widely as possible, to rush
forwards, and pour weapons on them from all sides at once. This storm,
as it were, partly by the wounds made by the missile weapons thrown from
every quarter, and partly by the discordant shouts raised, so terrified
the horses, that immediately, as if unbridled, they galloped about at
random. The light infantry, the lightly-accoutred slingers, and the
active Cretans, quickly evaded their encounter. The horsemen, following
them, increased the tumult and the terror of the horses and camels,
which were likewise affrighted, the clamour being multiplied and
increased by the rest of the crowd of bystanders. By these means, the
chariots were driven out of the ground between the two lines. When this
fruitless mimicry of war was over, both parties gave the signal, and
advanced to a regular engagement.
42. But that futile affair was soon the cause of real loss. For the
auxiliaries in reserve, which were posted next, being terrified at the
turn and disorder of the chariots, betook themselves to flight, leaving
all exposed as far as the post of the mailed horsemen; to whom when the
Roman cavalry, after dispersing the reserves, approached, they did not
sustain their first onset. Some fled, and others, being delayed by the
weight of their coverings and armour, were put to the sword. The whole
left wing then gave way, and the auxiliaries, posted between the cavalry
and the phalanx, being thrown into confusion, the terror spread even to
the centre. Here the ranks were broken, and by the flying soldiers
rushing in between them, the use of their long spears, called by the
Macedonians sarissas, was hindered. The Roman legions advanced and
discharged their javelins among them in disorder. Even the elephants,
standing in the way, did not deter the Roman soldiers, who had learned
by experience in the African wars, both to evade the onset of the
animal, and, getting at one side of it, either to ply it with darts, or,
if they could come near enough, to wound its sinews with their swords.
The front of the centre was now almost crushed, and the reserve, being
surrounded, was attacked on the rear, when the Romans perceived their
troops in another quarter flying, and heard shouts of dismay almost
close to their camp. For Antiochus, who commanded the right wing, having
observed that the enemy, through confidence in the river, had placed no
reserve there, except four troops of horse, and that these, keeping
close to the infantry, left an open space on the bank of the river, made
a charge on them, with a body of auxiliaries and mailed horsemen. He not
only attacked them in front, but having surrounded the wing in the
direction of the river, pressed them in flank also; until the routed
cavalry first, and then the infantry that were next them, fled with
precipitation to the camp.
43. Marcus Æmilius, a military tribune, son of Marcus Lepidus, who, in a
few years after, became chief pontiff, had the charge of the camp. He,
when he saw the troops flying, went out, with his whole guard, to meet
them. He ordered them, first, to halt, and then to return to the fight;
at the same time upbraiding them with cowardice and disgraceful flight.
He then proceeded to threats,—that if they did not obey his orders, they
would rush blindly on their own destruction. At last he gave orders to
his own men to kill the foremost of the runaways, and with sword-wounds
to drive the crowd of fugitives back against the enemy. The greater fear
now overcame the less. Compelled by the danger on either side, they
first halted, and then returned to the encounter, and Æmilius, with his
guard, consisting of two thousand men of distinguished valour, gave a
vigorous check to the furious pursuit of Antiochus. At the same time,
Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, came up in good time with two hundred
horse from the right wing, by which the left of the enemy had been
routed, at the beginning of the engagement, as soon as he observed the
flight of his friends on the left, and the tumult near the camp. When
Antiochus saw those men renewing the fight, whom, but just before, he
had seen running away, and another large body advancing from the camp,
with a third from the line, he turned his horse to flight. The Romans,
thus victorious in both wings, advanced over heaps of slain, (which had
been raised principally in the centre, where the strength of the bravest
men and the armour by its weight had prevented flight,) to plunder the
camp. The horsemen of Eumenes first, and then the rest of the cavalry,
pursued the enemy through all parts of the plain, and killed the
hindmost as they overtook them. But the fugitives suffered more severe
loss by the chariots, elephants, and camels intermixed, and by their own
disorderly crowd; for, after they once broke their ranks, they rushed,
as if blind, one upon another, and were trodden to death by the
trampling of the beasts. In the camp also there was great slaughter
committed, rather greater than even in the field; for the flight of the
first generally tended to the camp. The guard, through confidence in the
great number of these, defended their works with the more obstinacy. The
Romans having been stopped at the gates and rampart, which they had
expected to take at the first rush, when they did at length break
through, actuated by rage, made the more dreadful carnage.
44. Up to fifty thousand foot and three thousand horse are said to have
been killed that day; one thousand four hundred taken, with fifteen
elephants and their drivers. Of the Romans, many were wounded, but no
more than three hundred foot and twenty-four horsemen killed; and of the
troops of Eumenes, twenty-five. That day the victors, after plundering
the enemy’s camp, returned with great store of booty to their own. On
the day following, they stripped the bodies of the slain, and collected
the prisoners. Ambassadors came from Thyatira and Magnesia, near
Sipylus, with a surrender of those cities. Antiochus fled, with very few
attendants; but greater numbers collecting about him on the road, he
arrived at Sardis, with a tolerable body of soldiers, about the middle
of the night. Then when he heard that his son Seleucus and several of
his friends had gone on to Apamea, he likewise at the fourth watch set
out for Apamea with his wife and daughter, having committed to Zeno the
command of the city, and having placed Timon over Lydia; which being
disregarded, ambassadors are sent to the consul, by the unanimous voice
of the citizens and soldiers who were in the garrison.
45. About this time deputies came from Tralles, from Magnesia on the
Masander, and from Ephesus, to surrender those cities. Polyxenidas had
quitted Ephesus, as soon as he heard or the battle; and, sailing with
the fleet as far as Patara, in Lycia, where, through fear of the Rhodian
fleet stationed at Megiste, he landed, and, with a small retinue,
pursued his journey, by land, into Syria. The several states of Asia
placed themselves under the protection of the consul and the dominion of
the Roman people. He was now at Sardis, whither Publius Scipio came from
Elæa, as soon as he was able to endure the fatigue of travelling.
Shortly after, a herald from Antiochus solicited through Publius Scipio,
and obtained from the consul, permission for the king to send
ambassadors. In a few days’ time, Zeuxis, who had been governor of
Lydia, and Antipater, the king’s nephew, arrived. These, having first
had a meeting with Eumenes, whom they expected to find most averse to
peace, on account of old disputes, and seeing him better disposed than
they or the king could have hoped, addressed themselves then to Publius
Scipio, and through him to the consul: and a numerously attended council
being granted to them at their request to declare their commission,
Zeuxis said, “we have not any thing to propose ourselves, but rather to
inquire from you, Romans, by what atonements we can expiate the error of
our king, and obtain pardon and peace from our conquerors. You have ever
pardoned, with the greatest magnanimity, vanquished kings and nations.
With how much greater and more placable spirit ought you to act now,
after your late victory, which has made you masters of the whole world!
You ought now, like deities laying aside all disputes with mortal
beings, to protect and spare the human race.” It had been determined,
before the ambassadors came, what answer should be given them; and it
was agreed that Africanus should deliver it. He is said to have spoken
thus: “Of those things that are in the gift of the immortal gods, we,
Romans, possess as much as the gods have been pleased to bestow. In
every state of fortune we have had, and have, the same spirit for this,
under the sway of our reason: prosperity has never elated, nor adversity
depressed it. Of the truth of this, (to omit other instances,) I might
produce your friend Hannibal as a convincing proof: but I can appeal to
yourselves. We now conquerors offer to you conquered the same conditions
which we offered to you when on an equal footing, at the time that you
made proposals of peace, after we crossed the Hellespont, before we
beheld the king’s camp or army, when the chance of war was equal and the
issue uncertain. Resign all pretensions in Europe, and cede that part of
Asia which lies on this side of Mount Taurus. Then, towards the
expenses of the war, ye shall pay fifteen thousand talents of Eubœa;[6]
five hundred immediately, two thousand five hundred when the senate and
people of Rome shall have ratified the peace, and one thousand annually
for twelve years after. It likewise pleases us, that four hundred
talents be paid to Eumenes, and the quantity of corn remaining unpaid,
of what was due to his father. When we shall have settled these
articles, it will be a sort of pledge, that we may consider it certain
that you will perform them, if you give twenty hostages such as we shall
choose. But it never will be clear to us that the Roman people will
enjoy peace where Hannibal shall be. Him, therefore, we demand, above
all. Ye shall also deliver up Thoas, the Ætolian, the fomenter of the
Ætolian war, who armed you against us by the assurances of their
support, and them by assurances of yours; and, together with him,
Mnesilochus, the Acarnanian, and Philo, and Eubulidas, of Chalcis. The
king will now make peace under worse circumstances on his side, because
he makes it later than he might have done. If he now causes any delay,
let him consider, that it is more difficult to pull down the majesty of
kings from the highest to the middle stage, than it is to precipitate it
from the middle to the lowest.” The ambassadors were sent by the king
with these instructions, that they should accede to any terms of peace.
It was resolved, therefore, that ambassadors should be sent to Rome. The
consul distributed his army in winter quarters at Magnesia, on the
Mæander, Tralles, and Ephesus. A few days after, the king brought the
hostages to Ephesus to the consul; the ambassadors also, who were to go
to Rome, arrived. Eumenes set out for Rome at the same time with the
king’s ambassadors, and they were followed by embassies from all the
states of Asia.
46. Whilst these things are being transacted in Asia, two proconsuls
arrived almost together at Rome, from their provinces, with hopes of
triumphing: Quintus Minucius, from Liguria, and Manius Acilius, from
Ætolia. After hearing their services, the senate refused a triumph to
Minucius, but, with great unanimity, decreed one to Acilius, and he rode
through the city in triumph over king Antiochus and the Ætolians. In the
procession were carried, two hundred and thirty military ensigns; of
unwrought silver, three thousand pounds’ weight; of coin, one hundred
and thirteen thousand Attic tetradrachms;[7] and two hundred and
forty-eight thousand[8] cistophoruses;[9] of chased silver vessels, a
great number, and of great weight. He bore, also, the king’s silver,
furniture, and splendid wardrobe; golden crowns, presents from the
allied states, forty-five; with spoils of all kinds. He led thirty-six
prisoners of distinction, generals of the Ætolian and royal armies.
Damocritus, the Ætolian general, a few days before, when he had escaped
out of prison in the night, being overtaken by the guards on the bank of
the Tiber, stabbed himself with a sword before he was seized. Nothing
was wanted but the soldiers, to follow the general’s chariot; in every
other respect the triumph was magnificent, both in the grandeur of the
procession and the fame of his achievements. Sad intelligence from Spain
diminished the joy of this triumph, viz. that in an unsuccessful battle
in the territory of the Bastitani, under the command of Lucius Æmilius,
the proconsul, at the town of Lycon, there fell six thousand of the
Roman army against the Lusitanians; and that the rest, being driven in a
panic within their rampart, found it difficult to defend the camp, and
had retreated, by forced marches, as if flying, into a friendly country.
Such were the accounts from Spain. Lucius Aurunculeius, the prætor,
introduced to the senate the deputies of Placentia and Cremona, in
Cisalpine Gaul. When they complained of the want of colonists, some
having been carried off by the casualties of war, others by sickness,
and several having left the colonies, through disgust at the vicinity of
the Gauls; on this, the senate decreed, that “Caius Lælius, the consul,
if he thought proper, should enrol six thousand families, to be
distributed among these colonies, and that Lucius Aurunculeius, the
prætor, should appoint commissioners to conduct the colonists.”
Accordingly, Marcus Atilius Serranus, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, son of
Publius, and Lucius Valerius Tappo, son of Caius, were nominated to that
office.
47. Not long after, as the time of the consular elections drew nigh,
the consul, Caius Lælius, came home to Rome from Gaul. He not only
enrolled the colonists, according to a decree of the senate, passed in
his absence, as a supplement to Cremona and Placentia, but
proposed,—and, on his recommendation, the senate voted,—that two new
colonies should be established in the lands which had belonged to the
Boians. At the same time arrived a letter from the prætor, Lucius
Æmilius, containing intelligence of the sea-fight that took place at
Myonesus, and of Lucius Scipio the consul having transported his army
into Asia. A supplication for one day was decreed, on account of the
naval victory, and another, for the second day, in order that, as the
Roman army had then for the first time pitched a camp in Asia, this
circumstance might turn out prosperous and happy. The consul was ordered
to sacrifice twenty of the greater victims on occasion of each
supplication. The election of consuls was then held with a warm contest.
Marcus Æmilius Lepidus sought the office under general censure, for
having, in order to sue for the office, left his province of Sicily
without having asked the senate for permission to do so. Marcus Fulvius
Nobilior, Cneius Manlius Vulso, and Marcus Valerius Messala, were his
competitors for the office. Fulvius alone was elected consul, since the
rest could not make up the number of centuries; and the next day,
rejecting Lepidus, (for Messala had declined,) he declared Cneius
Manlius his colleague. Then were chosen prætors, two of the name of
Quintus Fabius, Labeo and Pictor, (the latter of whom had in that year
been inaugurated flamen quirinalis,) Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus,
Spurius Posthumius Albinus, Lucius Plautius Hypsæus, and Lucius Bæbius
Dives.
48. Valerius Antias says, that at the time when Marcus Fulvius Nobilior
and Cneius Manlius Vulso were consuls, a rumour prevailed strongly at
Rome, and was received as almost certain, that the consul, Lucius
Scipio, and with him Publius Africanus, had been invited by the king to
a conference, under pretence of restoring young Scipio, and were both
seized, and that when the leaders were thus made prisoners, the enemy’s
army was immediately led up to the Roman camp, that this was stormed,
and the forces entirely cut off; that in consequence of this, the
Ætolians had taken courage and refused to obey orders; and that several
of their principal men had gone into Macedonia, Dardania, and Thrace,
to hire auxiliaries; that Aulus Tarentius Varro, and Marcus Claudius
Lepidus, had been sent by Aulus Cornelius, proprætor, from Ætolia, to
carry this intelligence to Rome. To this story Valerius annexed that the
Ætolian ambassadors were asked in the senate this question among others,
from whom they had heard that the Roman generals were made prisoners by
king Antiochus in Asia, and the army cut off; and that the Ætolians
answered, that they had been informed of it by their own ambassadors,
who were with the consul. As I have no other authority for this report,
it has neither been confirmed in my opinion, nor has it been overlooked
as groundless.
49. When the Ætolian ambassadors were brought to an audience of the
senate, although their cause and their circumstances required, that
they, by an ample confession, should suppliantly seek pardon for what
was either their misfortune or their fault, yet having begun with
enumerating their services to the Roman people, and talking
reproachfully of their own valour in the war with Philip, they offended
the ears of the senators by the insolence of their discourse. By calling
up old and forgotten matters, they brought the affair to this, that the
memory of many more injuries than services done by that nation occurred
to the minds of the senate; and that they, who needed compassion,
provoked anger and hatred. They were asked by one senator whether they
yielded the disposal of themselves to the Roman people; then, by
another, whether they would have the same allies and enemies as the
Roman people: when they gave no answer, they were ordered to withdraw
from the senate-house. The whole senate then, almost with one voice,
cried out, that “the Ætolians were still entirely devoted to Antiochus;
and that on that solitary hope their spirits depended. Wherefore the war
ought to be carried on against such decided enemies, and their haughty
spirits tamed.” Another circumstance inflamed the resentment of the
senate, because that, in the very moment in which they were soliciting
peace from the Romans, they were making war on Dolopia and Athamania. A
decree of the senate was passed, on the motion of Manius Acilius, who
had defeated Antiochus and the Ætolians, that “the Ætolian ambassadors
should be ordered to leave the city that day, and quit Italy within
fifteen days.” Aulius Terentius Varro was appointed to escort them on
the road; and a threatening notice was given to them, that, “if any
embassy from the Ætolians should thenceforth come to Rome, unless with
the permission of the general who might be in command of that province,
and with a Roman deputy, all such would be treated as enemies.”—In this
manner were the Ætolians dismissed.
50. The consuls then consulted the senate concerning the provinces; and
it was resolved that they should cast lots for Ætolia and Asia. To him
who should obtain by lot Asia, was assigned the army which Lucius Scipio
then had; and, as a reinforcement, four thousand Roman foot and two
hundred horse, and of the allies and Latins eight thousand foot and four
hundred horse: with which force he was to carry on the war with
Antiochus. To the other consul was decreed the army in Ætolia; and he
was allowed to raise, for a reinforcement, the same number of natives
and allies as his colleague. The same consul was likewise ordered to
equip and take with him the ships that had been fitted out the year
before; and not only to wage war with the Ætolians, but also to pass
over into the island of Cephallenia. Instructions were given to the same
consul, that if he could do it to the advantage of the republic, he
should come home to Rome to hold the elections; for, besides that the
annual magistrates were to be replaced, it was resolved that censors
also should be created; and if any particular business should detain
him, he was then to acquaint the senate, that he could not attend at the
time of the elections. Ætolia fell by lot to Marcus Fulvius; Asia, to
Cneius Manlius. The prætors then cast lots, and Spurius Postumius
Albinus obtained the city and foreign jurisdiction; Marcus Sempronius
Tuditanus, Sicily; Quintus Fabius Pictor, the priest of Romulus,
Sardinia; Quintus Fabius Labeo, the fleet; Lucius Plautius Hypsæus,
Hither Spain; Lucius Bæbius Dives, Farther Spain. One legion, and the
squadron which was then in Sicily, were decreed for that province; and
it was ordered that the new prætor should levy on the Sicilians two
tenths of the corn; one of which he was to send into Asia, the other
into Ætolia. It was also ordered, that the same impost should be
collected in Sardinia, and the corn sent to the same armies as the
Sicilian corn. A reinforcement was given to Lucius Bæbius, for Spain,
one thousand Roman foot and fifty horse, with six thousand Latin foot
and two hundred horse. To Plautius Hypsæus, for the Hither Spain, were
assigned one thousand Roman foot, and two thousand Latins, with two
hundred horse; so that with these supplies the two Spains should have
each a legion. In the case of the magistrates of the preceding year, the
command was prolonged to Caius Lælius for a year, with his present army,
and to Publius Junius, the proprætor in Etruria, with the army which,
was then in the province, and Marcus Tuccius, the proprætor in Bruttium
and Apulia.
51. Before the prætors went into their provinces, a dispute arose
between Publius Licinius, chief pontiff, and Quintus Fabius Pictor,
priest of Romulus; such as had happened in the recollection of their
fathers, between Lucius Metellus and Postumius Albinus. Metellus, who
was chief pontiff at the time, had detained, for the performance of the
business of religion, Albinus, the consul, who was setting out with his
colleague, Caius Lutatius, to the fleet at Sicily; and now Publius
Licinius detained the prætor Fabius from going to Sardinia. The matter
was agitated in stormy debates, both in the senate and before the
commons: authoritative commands were issued on both sides, pledges were
seized, fines imposed, the tribunes applied to, and appeals made to the
people. At last religion prevailed, so that the flamen obeyed the order
of the pontiff; and the fines were remitted by order of the people. The
senate by their authority prevented the prætor when attempting to
abdicate the magistracy through anger at the loss of his province, and
decreed that he should dispense justice among foreigners. The levies
being finished in a few days, (for the soldiers to be enlisted were not
many,) the consuls and prætors repaired to their provinces. Then a
report of the transactions in Asia spread vaguely without an author; and
in a few days after, certain information, and a letter from the general,
arrived at Rome; which occasioned joy, not so much from recent fear,
(for they had ceased to fear him who was conquered in Ætolia,) as from
former fame; because by them commencing this war he was considered as a
very formidable enemy, both on account of his own strength and because
he had Hannibal to direct the business of the war. The senate determined
that no change should be made in their sending the consul into Asia,
and that no diminution of his forces should take place through
apprehension of a war with the Gauls.
52. In a short time after, Marcus Aurelius Cotta, deputy from Lucius
Scipio, with ambassadors from king Antiochus and king Eumenes, and the
Rhodian delegates, arrived at Rome. Cotta, first in the senate, and then
by their order in the assembly of the people, stated the services which
were performed in Asia. Then a supplication for three days was decreed,
and forty victims of the greater kinds ordered to be sacrificed. Then
audience was given first to Eumenes. He, when he had briefly returned
thanks to the senate, “because they had relieved him and his brother
from a siege, and protected his kingdom from the unjust attacks of
Antiochus” and had congratulated them “because they had carried on
affairs successfully by sea and land, and because they had utterly
routed, driven out of his camp, and expelled king Antiochus, first from
Europe, and then from all Asia on this side of Mount Taurus;” then said
“he preferred that they should learn his own deserts from their generals
and deputies, rather than from his mouth.” All being pleased with his
discourse, and desiring him to tell frankly, bashfulness being for the
present laid aside, “what recompence he thought proper to be given by
the senate and people of Rome;” assuring him that “the senate were
inclined to act with greater zeal and more abundant liberality, if
possible, according to his deserts.” To this the king answered, “if the
choice of rewards were offered him by others, if only permission to
consult the Roman senate were given to him, he would have availed
himself of the advice of that most noble body, lest he might appear to
have been either immoderate in his desires or shameless in his requests.
But now, when they themselves were the donors, it was much more proper
that their munificence towards him and his brothers should be regulated
by their own judgment.” The senate were not discouraged by this answer
from desiring him to speak; and when there had been a long contest of
kindness on one side, and reserve on the other, whilst they deferred to
one another with a politeness not more mutual than insuperable, Eumenes
departed from the senate-house. The senate persisted in their resolution
so far as to say, “that it was absurd that the king should not know
with what hopes or request he came. That he himself best knew what would
be suitable to his own dominions. He was much better acquainted with
Asia than were the senate. That he ought to be called back and compelled
to state what were his wishes and sentiments.”
53. The king, being brought back by the prætor into the senate-house,
and desired to speak freely, began thus: “Conscript fathers. I should
have persevered in being silent, but that I knew you would presently
call in the Rhodian ambassadors, and that when they had been heard, the
necessity of speaking would be imposed on me. And this my speech will be
the more difficult on this account, because their demands will be of
such a nature, that they will appear not only to make no demands which
may be contrary to my interests, but not even to request any thing which
may be intimately connected with themselves. For they will plead the
cause of the Grecian states, and allege that they ought to be set free;
which point being gained, to whom is it doubtful that they will alienate
from us not only those states which shall be liberated, but likewise our
ancient tributaries; and that after having bound them under so great an
obligation, they will keep them under the denomination of allies, in
reality subject to their government and entirely at their disposal? And,
if it pleases the gods, while they will aspire to this so great power,
they will pretend that this is no way connected with them; they will
only say, that it is becoming you and conformable to your past conduct.
You must be cautious, therefore, lest this speech deceive you; and lest
by an unfair distribution, you not only depress some of your allies too
much, while you exalt others beyond measure, but also put those who bore
arms against you in a better state than your allies and friends. As to
what regards myself in other cases, I should prefer to appear to any one
to have yielded within the limit of my right, rather than to have
struggled too obstinately in maintaining it; but in a contest of
friendship and good-will towards you, and of the respect to be paid to
you, I cannot with any patience bear to be outdone. This was the
principal inheritance that I received from my father; who, of all the
inhabitants of Asia and Greece, was the first who embraced your
friendship; and this he maintained with constant and invariable
fidelity to the last hour of his life. Nor did he display merely a
faithful and kind inclination towards you, but was actively engaged in
all the wars which you waged in Greece, whether on land or sea; he aided
you with all kinds of provisions in such a manner, that not one of your
allies could vie with him in any respect; and finally, while he was
exhorting the Bœotians to an alliance with you, having fainted in the
middle of his discourse, he shortly expired. In his steps have I
trodden; and though I could not surpass the warmth of his wishes, and
his zeal in courting your friendship—for these could not be exceeded—yet
fortune, the times, Antiochus, and the war waged in Asia, afforded me
occasions of surpassing him in real acts and merits, and valuable
services. Antiochus, king of Asia, and of a part of Europe, offered me
his daughter in marriage; offered to restore immediately the states that
had revolted from us, and gave great hopes of enlarging my dominions, if
I would have carried on war in conjunction with him against you. I will
not boast on this account, because I was guilty of no trespass against
you; but I will rather mention those instances of conduct which are
worthy of the very early friendship between our house and you. I
assisted your commanders with forces by land and sea, so that not one of
your allies can stand in competition with me. I supplied them with
provisions by land and sea. I was present in all the naval engagements
which are fought in many places; and I never was sparing of my labour
and danger. I underwent a siege, the most dreadful suffering that can
occur in war, being shut up in Pergamus, in the utmost danger both of my
kingdom and of my life. Afterwards when liberated from the siege,
although in one part Antiochus, in another Seleucus, were encamped about
the citadel of my kingdom, having deserted my own affairs, I went with
my whole fleet to the Hellespont, to meet your consul Lucius Scipio, to
assist in transporting his army. From the time that the army came over
into Asia, I never quitted the consul; no Roman soldier was more regular
in his attendance in your camp, than I and my brothers. No expedition,
no cavalry action, was undertaken without me. In the field I took that
post, and I maintained that ground, in which the consul wished me to be.
I do not intend, conscript fathers, to say who in that war can be
compared to me in services towards you. I would not hesitate to compare
myself to any of those nations or kings whom you hold in great honour.
Masinissa was your enemy before he became your ally; nor did he repair
to you with his auxiliaries when his kingdom was safe; but dethroned,
exiled, and stripped of all his forces, he fled for refuge to your camp
with one troop of horse. Nevertheless, because he faithfully and
diligently adhered to your cause in Africa, against Syphax and the
Carthaginians, you not only restored him to the throne of his father,
but by adding to his domain the most opulent part of the kingdom of
Syphax, rendered him the most potent of all the kings in Africa. What
reward then, and what honour are we worthy of at your hands, who have
never been foes, but always allies? My father, myself, my brothers, have
carried arms in your cause by sea and land, not only in Asia, but in
countries remote from our home; in Peloponnesus, in Bœotia, in Ætolia,
during the wars with Philip, and Antiochus, and the Ætolians. Some one
may say, what therefore do you demand? Conscript fathers, since I must
obey you when you desire me to explain my wishes: if you have removed
Antiochus beyond the mountains of Taurus with the intention of holding
those countries yourselves, I wish for no other people to settle near
me, no other neighbours than you; nor could I hope that my kingdom would
be rendered safer or firmer by any other event. But if your purpose is
to retire hence, and withdraw your armies, I may venture to affirm, that
not one of your allies is more deserving than I am of possessing what
you have acquired. But then it will be a glorious act to liberate states
that are in slavery. I agree that it will, provided they have committed
nothing hostile against you. But if they took part with Antiochus, is it
not much more becoming your wisdom and equity, to consult the interest
of your well-deserving friends than that of your enemies?”
54. The king’s speech was pleasing to the senate, and it was very
evident that they would do all things liberally, and with a desire to
serve him. As one of the Rhodian ambassadors was absent, an embassy from
Smyrna was next introduced, which was briefly disposed of. When the
Smyrnæans were highly complimented because they had resolved to endure
the last extremities rather than surrender to the king, the Rhodians
were next introduced. The chief of their embassy, after stating the
commencement of their friendship with the Roman people and merits of the
Rhodians, first in the war with Philip, and afterwards in that with
Antiochus, said: “Conscript fathers, there is nothing in the whole
course of our affairs that gives us more trouble and uneasiness than
that we should have a debate with Eumenes; with whom alone, of all the
kings in the world, each of us as individuals has a private tie of
hospitality, and, what weighs more with us, our state has a public one.
But, conscript fathers, it is not our own inclinations that disunite us,
but the nature of circumstances which exercise an all-powerful
influence, so that we, being free ourselves, plead the cause of other
men’s freedom; while kings wish to have all things subservient and
subject to their command. Yet, be that as it may, our respect towards
the king is an obstacle to us, rather than that the debate is intricate,
or likely to give you perplexity in your deliberations. For if no honour
could be otherwise paid to the king, your friend and ally, who has
merited highly in this very war, and concerning whose reward the
consideration is, unless you should deliver free states into his power,
the deliberation would be a difficult one, lest you should either send
away a king, your friend, without due honour, or depart from your own
institutions, and sully now, by the servitude of so many states, the
glory which you have acquired in the war with Philip. But from this
necessity of diminishing either your gratitude towards your friend, or
your own glory, fortune completely frees you. For, through the bounty of
the gods, your victory is not more glorious than it is rich, so that it
can easily acquit you of that just as a debt. Lycaonia, both the
Phrygias, with Pisidia, the Chersonese, and the adjoining parts of
Europe, are all in your power; and any one of these, given to the king,
can double his dominions; but if they were all conferred upon him, they
would set him on a level with the greatest of kings. You have it,
therefore, in your power to enrich your allies with the prizes of the
war; and, not to depart from your usual line of policy, and to remember
what motive you assigned as your cause of war, formerly against Philip,
latterly against Antiochus; what you performed on the conquest of
Philip; what is now desired and expected from you, not so much because
you have done it before, as because it becomes you to do it. For
different persons look on different circumstances as specious and
plausible motives for taking up arms. Some go to war to get possession
of land, some of villages, some of towns, some of ports, and some of the
sea-coast. Such things you never coveted, when you had them not; and you
cannot covet them now, when the whole world is under your dominion. You
ever fought for your dignity and glory, in the sight of the whole human
race, which long since has learned to respect your name and empire next
to that of the immortal gods. And to procure and acquire these was an
arduous task. I know not whether it may be more difficult to retain
them. You have undertaken to defend from the slavery of kings the
liberty of a nation the most ancient and most highly distinguished, both
by the fame of its exploits, and by universal praise for politeness and
learning; it becomes you to make this patronage of an entire nation,
received under your care and protection, perpetual. The cities standing
on the original soil, are not more Grecian than their colonies, which
formerly migrated thence into Asia; nor has change of country changed
either their race or manners. Every state among us has ventured to
contend in a respectful contest, in every good quality and virtue, with
its parents and founders. Most of you have visited the cities in Greece,
and those in Asia. We are surpassed in no other circumstance than that
we are too far distant from you. We hear that the inhabitants of
Marseilles (who, if nature, implanted, as it were, in their bosoms,
could be overcome by the genus of the soil, would ere this have been
rendered savage, by the many barbarous tribes surrounding them) are
deservedly held in as high honour and esteem by you as if they were
inhabitants of the very centre of Greece. For they have preserved, not
only the sound of the language, the mode of dress, and the habit; but,
above all, the manners, the laws, and a mind pure and untainted by
contagion from their neighbours. The boundary of your empire, at
present, is Mount Taurus. Nothing within that line ought to be thought
remote. To whatever extent your arms have reached, let justice,
emanating from Rome, spread. Let barbarians, with whom the commands of
masters have always served instead of laws, have kings, in which
government they delight; the Greeks endure their own fortune; they have
a spirit like your own. They too, in former times, grasped at empire by
their internal strength. They now pray that empire may remain to
eternity where it is at present. They consider it sufficient that their
liberty should be defended by your arms, since they are unable to
protect it by their own. But it is objected, that some of their states
sided with Antiochus. So did others, before, with Philip; so did the
Tarentines with Pyrrhus. Not to enumerate other nations, Carthage enjoys
liberty and its own laws. Consider, conscript fathers, how much you owe
to this example, set by yourselves. You will surely make up your mind to
refuse to the ambition of Eumenes, what you refused to your own most
just resentment. With what brave and faithful exertions we, Rhodians,
have assisted you, both in this late war, and in all the wars that you
have waged in that part of the world, we leave to your own judgment. We
now, in peace, offer you such advice, that if you conform to it, all the
world will judge that you used your victory with more honour to
yourselves, than that with which you gained it.” Their arguments seemed
well adapted to the Roman grandeur.
55. After the Rhodians, the ambassadors of Antiochus were called. These,
after the common practice of petitioners for pardon, acknowledged the
king’s error, and besought the conscript fathers to deliberate, mindful
rather of their own mercy than of the misconduct of the king, who had
suffered enough and more than enough of punishment; in fine, to ratify,
by their authority, the peace granted by their general, Lucius Scipio,
with the conditions on which he had given it. The senate voted, that the
peace should be observed; and the people, a few days after, ordered it.
The treaty was concluded in the Capitol with Antipater, chief of the
embassy, and son of the brother of king Antiochus. Then the other
embassies from Asia were heard, to all of whom was returned the same
answer, that “the senate, in conformity with the usage of their
ancestors, would send ten ambassadors to examine and adjust the affairs
of Asia. That the general plan was to be this: that the places on this
side of Mount Taurus, which had been within the limits of the realm of
Antiochus, should be assigned to Eumenes, excepting Lycia and Caria, as
far as the river Mæander; and that these last-mentioned should become
the property of the Rhodians. That the other states of Asia, which had
been tributary to Attalus, should likewise pay tribute to Eumenes; and
such as had been tributary to Antiochus, should be free and
independent.” They appointed ten ambassadors, Quintus Minucius Rufus,
Lucius Furius Purpureo, Quintus Minucius Thermus, Appius Claudius Nero,
Cneius Cornelius Merula, Marcus Junius Brutus, Lucius Aurunculeius,
Lucius Æmilius Paulus, Publius Cornelius Lentulus, and Publius Ælius
Tubero.
56. To these full instructions were given to decide whatever required an
examination of the place. Concerning the general plan the senate voted:
that “all Lycaonia, both the Phrygias, and Mysia, the royal forests, and
Lydia, and Ionia, excepting those towns which had been free on the day
whereon the battle was fought with Antiochus, and excepting by name
Magnesia at Sipylus; then the city of Caria, called also Hydrela, and
the territory of Hydrela, stretching towards Phrygia, and the forts and
villages on the river Mæander, and likewise the towns, excepting such as
had been free before the war, and excepting by name, Telmissus, and the
fort of Telmissium, and the lands which had belonged to Ptolemy of
Telmissus; all these which are written above, were ordered to be given
to king Eumenes. Lycia was given to the Rhodians, excepting the same
Telmissus, and the fort of Telmissium, with the lands which had belonged
to Ptolemy of Telmissus; these were withheld both from Eumenes and the
Rhodians. To the latter was given also that part of Caria which lies
beyond the river Mæander nearest to the island of Rhodes, with its
towns, villages, forts, and lands, extending to Pisidia, excepting those
towns which had been in a state of freedom on the day before that of the
battle with Antiochus.” The Rhodians, after returning thanks for these
favours, mentioned the city of Soli in Cilicia, “the inhabitants of
which,” they said, “as well as themselves, derived their origin from
Argos; and, in consequence of this relation, a brotherly affection
subsisted between the two states. They, therefore, requested the senate,
as an extraordinary favour, to exempt that city from subjection to the
king.” The ambassadors of Antiochus were called in, and the matter was
proposed to them, but their consent could not be obtained; Antipater
appealing to the treaty, in opposition to which, not only Soli, but
Cilicia was sought by the Rhodians, and they were passing the summits
of Taurus. The Rhodians being summoned again before the senate, the
fathers, after they had stated how earnestly the king’s ambassador
opposed the measure, added that “if the Rhodians were of opinion that
the affair particularly affected the dignity of their state, the senate
would try by all means to overcome the obstinacy of the ambassadors.”
Hereupon the Rhodians, with greater warmth than before, returned thanks,
and declared, that they would rather give way to the arrogance of
Antipater, than afford any reason for disturbing the peace. So no change
was made with respect to Soli.
57. During the time in which these things were transacted, deputies from
Marseilles announced that Lucius Bæbius, the prætor, on his way into his
province of Spain, had been surrounded by the Ligurians; that a great
part of his retinue being slain, he himself, wounded, had made his
escape, without his lictors, and with but few attendants, to Marseilles,
and in three days after expired. The senate, on hearing of this
misfortune, decreed, that Publius Junius Brutus, who was the proprætor
in Etruria, having delivered the province and army to whichsoever of the
lieutenants he should think proper, should go himself into Farther
Spain, which was to be his province. This decree of the senate and a
letter was sent by the prætor, Spurius Posthumius, into Etruria; and
Publius Junius, the proprætor, set out for Spain, in which province,
long before a successor could arrive, Lucius Æmilius Paulus, who
afterwards with great glory conquered king Perseus, though he had
carried on matters unsuccessfully the year before, having raised an army
by a hasty levy, fought a pitched battle with the Lusitanians. The enemy
were routed, and put to flight; eighteen thousand were killed, three
thousand three hundred taken, and their camp stormed. The fame of this
victory made matters more tranquil in Spain. In the same year, on the
third day before the calends of January, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, Marcus
Atilius Serranus, and Lucius Valerius Tappo, triumvirs, settled a Latin
colony at Bononia, according to a decree of the senate. Three thousand
men were led to that place. Seventy acres were given to each horseman,
fifty to each of the other colonists. The land had been taken from the
Boian Gauls, who had formerly expelled the Tuscans.
58. In the same year, many distinguished men strove for the censorship;
and this business, as if it furnished in itself insufficient grounds for
dispute, gave rise to another contest of a much more violent nature. The
candidates were, Titus Quintius Flamininus, Publius Cornelius Scipio,
son of Cneius, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, Marcus Porcius Cato, Marcus
Claudius Marcellus, and Manius Acilius Glabrio, who had defeated
Antiochus and the Ætolians at Thermopylæ. The favour of the people
inclined to the last in particular, because he had given many largesses,
by which he had bound a great number of men to him. When so many nobles
could ill brook that a man of no family should be so much preferred to
them, Publius Sempronius Gracchus and Caius Sempronius Rutilus, tribunes
of the people, commenced a prosecution against him, on a charge, that he
had neither exhibited in his triumph, nor lodged in the treasury, a
large part of the royal treasure, and of the booty taken in the camp of
Antiochus. The depositions of the lieutenants-general and military
tribunes were at variance. Beyond all the other witnesses, Marcus Cato
was remarkable, whose authority, acquired by the uniform tenor of his
life, the fact of his being a candidate diminished. He, when a witness,
affirmed, that he had not observed, in the triumph, the gold and silver
vessels which, on the taking of the camp, he had seen among the other
spoils of the king. At last Glabrio declared, that he declined the
election, chiefly to throw odium on Cato; since he, a candidate of an
origin as humble as his own, by an abominable perjury, attacked that
which men of noble birth bore with silent indignation. A fine of one
hundred thousand _asses_[10] was proposed to the people against him.
Twice there was a contest on the subject. On the third hearing, as the
accused had declined the election, and the people were unwilling to vote
about the fine, the tribunes also dropped the business. The censors
elected were, Titus Quintius Flamininus and Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
59. At the same time, when an audience of the senate, in the temple of
Apollo outside the city, was granted to Lucius Æmilius Regillus, who,
with the fleet, had defeated the admiral of king Antiochus; after
hearing the recital of his services, with what great fleets of the enemy
he had engaged, how many of their ships he had sunk or taken, a naval
triumph was voted him by the unanimous consent of the fathers. He
triumphed on the calends of February. In this procession were carried
forty-nine golden crowns; the quantity of money was by no means so great
considering the appearance of the triumph over the king, being only
thirty-four thousand seven hundred Attic tetradrachms,[11] and one
hundred and thirty-two thousand three hundred cistophoruses.[12]
Supplications were then performed, by order of the senate, in
consideration of the successful services to the state, achieved in Spain
by Lucius Æmilius Paulus. Not long after, Lucius Scipio arrived in the
city; and, that he might not be inferior to his brother in point of a
surname, he chose to be called Asiaticus. He spoke largely of his
services both before the senate and a general assembly. There were some
who judged that the war was greater by fame than by real difficulty; for
it was terminated entirely by one memorable engagement; and that the
glory of that victory had been stripped of its bloom at Thermopylæ. But,
to any person judging impartially, it must appear, that the light at
Thermopylæ was with the Ætolians, rather than with the king. For with
how small a portion of his own strength did Antiochus engage in that
battle! whereas, in the other, in Asia, the strength of the whole
Asiatic continent stood combined; for he had collected auxiliaries of
all nations from the most remote quarters of the east. Justly,
therefore, were the greatest possible honours paid to the immortal gods,
for having rendered a most important victory easy in the acquisition;
and a triumph was decreed to the commander. He triumphed in the
intercalary month, the day before the calends of March; which triumph
was greater in the display to the eye than that of Africanus his
brother, yet if we recall to our memory the circumstances, and estimate
the dangers and difficulty, it was no more to be compared to it, than if
you would contrast one general with the other, Antiochus with Hannibal.
He carried, in his triumph, military standards, two hundred and
thirty-four; models of towns, one hundred and thirty-four; elephants’
teeth, one thousand two hundred and thirty; crowns of gold, two hundred
and twenty-four: pounds-weight of silver, one hundred and thirty-seven
thousand four hundred and twenty; Attic tetradrachms, two hundred and
twenty-four thousand;[13] cistophoruses, three hundred and thirty-one
thousand and seventy;[14] gold pieces, called Philippians, one hundred
and forty thousand;[15] silver vases, all engraved, to the amount of one
thousand four hundred and twenty-four pounds’ weight; of golden vases,
one thousand and twenty-four pounds’ weight; and of the king’s generals,
governors, and officers at court, thirty-two were led before his
chariot. Twenty-five denariuses[16] were given to each of his soldiers,
double that sum to a centurion, triple it to a horseman; and after the
triumph, their pay and allowance of corn were doubled. He had already
doubled them after the battle in Asia. He triumphed about a year after
the expiration of his consulship.
60. Cneius Manlius, the consul, arrived in Asia, and Quintus Fabius
Labeo, the prætor, reached the fleet, nearly at the same time. The
consul did not want reasons for war against the Gauls; the sea was
subjected to the Romans since the conquest of Antiochus. It appeared
best to Quintus Fabius, considering to what thing in particular he
should apply himself, lest he might seem to have had a province in which
there was no employment, to sail over to the island of Crete. The
Cydonians were engaged in war against the Gortynians and Gnossians; and
a great number of Roman and Italian captives were said to be in slavery
in different parts of the island. Having sailed with the fleet from
Ephesus, as soon as he touched the shore of Crete, he despatched orders
to all the states to cease from hostilities, and to search each of them
for the captives in its own cities and territory, and bring them to him;
also, to send ambassadors to him, to treat of matters belonging alike to
the Romans and Cretans. These orders had little influence on the
Cretans. Excepting the Gortynians, none of them restored the captives.
Valerius Antias relates, that as many as four thousand captives were
restored out of the whole island, because the Cretans feared his threats
of war; and that this was deemed a sufficient reason for Fabius
obtaining from the senate a naval triumph, although he performed no
other exploit. From Crete Fabius returned to Ephesus: having despatched
three ships from the latter place to the coast of Thrace, he ordered the
garrisons of Antiochus to be withdrawn from Ænos and Maronea, that these
cities might be left at liberty.