BOOK XXXVIII.

_Marcus Fulvius the consul besieged Ambracia, in Epirus, and

received its surrender; he reduced Cephallenia, and granted peace to

the Ætolians, on their complete subjection. Cneius Manlius the

consul, his colleague, conquered the Gallogræcians, including the

Tolistoboii, Tectosagi, and Trocmi who, under the command of

Brennus, had crossed over into Asia, since they were the only

refractory nation on this side of Mount Taurus. Their origin is

related, and likewise the manner in which they became masters of the

territories which they now hold. An instance, also, of virtue and

chastity in a woman is recorded: for when the wife of Ortiagon, king

of the Gallogræcians, was a captive, she slew a centurion who was

sentinel over her, because he offered her violence. The lustrum was

closed by the censors. Two hundred and fifty-eight thousand three

hundred and twenty-eight citizens were rated. A treaty of amity was

entered into with Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. Cneius Manlius,

although the ten ambassadors by whose advice he had written the

terms of the treaty with Antiochus, opposed him, pleaded his cause

in person in the senate, and triumphed over the Gallogræcians.

Scipio Africanus, a day of trial being appointed him, as some say,

by Quintus Petillius, tribune of the people, as others say, by

Nævius, on the charge of having fraudulently deprived the treasury

of the plunder taken from Antiochus, when the day of trial came on,

was summoned to the rostrum, and said, “On this day, Romans, I

conquered Carthage;” and, followed by the people, ascended the

Capitol. Subsequently, that he might not receive any further

annoyance front the injuries done him by the tribunes, he retired

into voluntary exile at Liternum: it is uncertain whether he died

there or at Rome, for monuments were erected to his memory in both

places. Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, brother of Africanus, was accused

and condemned on the same charge of embezzlement as his brother:

when he was being led to prison, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus,

tribune of the commons, who had been previously on unfriendly terms

with the Scipios, vetoed it; and in return for that kindness,

received in marriage the daughter of Africanus. When the quæstors

were sent to take public possession of the property of Lucius

Scipio, not only was no trace of the king’s money apparent in it,

but not even so much was raised thereby as the amount in which he

was fined. He would not receive the countless sum collected by his

relations and friends: the mere necessaries of life were purchased

back._

1. While the war is being carried on in Asia, matters were not even then

tranquil among the Ætolians, a commencement of these disturbances

having originated with the nation of the Athamanians. At that period,

since the expulsion of Amynander, Athamania was kept in subjection by

royal garrisons, under governors appointed by Philip, who by their

haughty and overbearing exercise of power, had made the people regret

the loss of Amynander. The hope of recovering the kingdom was presented

to Amynander, then an exile in Ætolia, by the letters of his partisans,

who informed him of the state of Athamania: and messengers were sent to

Argithea, (for that was the chief city of Athamania,) to inform the

principal men, that, if they were sufficiently assured of the

inclinations of their countrymen, he, having obtained succours from the

Ætolians, would come, into Athamania with a chosen body of Ætolians, who

constituted the council of that nation, and their prætor, Nicander. And,

when he found that they were prepared for every thing, he gave them

notice, immediately after, of the day on which he would enter Athamania

at the head of an army. At first there were four conspirators against

the Macedonian garrison; then each of these took as associates six

assistants for the execution of the business; but, afterwards,

distrusting their small number, which was rather calculated for the

concealment than for the execution of the design, they took in a number

of associates, equal to the former. Being thus increased to fifty-two,

they divided themselves into four parties, one of which repaired to

Heraclea, another to Tetraphylia, where the royal treasure used to be

kept, a third to Theudoria, and the fourth to Argithea. It was agreed

that they should at first appear in the forum publicly, without any

bustle, as if they had come about their own ordinary concerns; and then,

on a certain day, raise the whole populace, so as to dislodge the

Macedonian garrisons from the citadels. When the day came, and Amynander

with a thousand Ætolians was on the frontiers, by the preconcerted plan

the Macedonian garrisons were driven from the four places at once, and

letters were despatched to all the other cities, calling on them to

rescue themselves from the exorbitant tyranny of Philip, and to

reinstate their hereditary and lawful prince. Accordingly, the

Macedonians were, every where, expelled. The town of Theium, (in

consequence of the letters being intercepted by Teno, commander of the

garrison, and owing to the citadel being occupied by the king’s troops,)

stood a siege of a few days, and then surrendered to Amynander, who had

now all Athamania in his power, except the fort of Athenæum, on the

borders of Macedonia.

2. When Philip heard of the defection of Athamania, he set out at

the head of six thousand men, and proceeded, with the utmost speed,

to Gomphi. Having left the greater part of his force, as they would

not have been equal to such long marches, he went forward, with two

thousand, to Athenæum, the only place which had been retained by his

troops. Then, having made attempts on the nearest places, when he

clearly perceived that all the rest of the country was hostile to

him, he retreated to Gomphi, and returned with the whole of his army

into Athamania. He then sent Zeno, at the head of one thousand foot,

with orders to seize on Ethopia, which stands advantageously for

commanding Argithea; and, as soon as he understood that this post was

in possession of his party, he himself encamped near the temple of

Acræan Jupiter. Here he was detained one whole day, by a tremendous

storm; and on the next, proceeded to lead them towards Argithea. On

the troops commencing their march the Athamanians immediately appeared

hastening to the hills which overlooked the road. On the sight of

whom, the foremost battalions halted, while fear and confusion spread

through the whole army, and every one began to consider what might have

been the consequence, if the troops had gone down into the valleys

commanded by those cliffs. This confusion compelled the king, who

wished, if his men would follow him, to push on rapidly through the

defile, to call back the foremost, and return by the same road by which

he came. The Athamanians at first followed at a distance, without

making any attempt: after the Ætolians joined them, they left these

to harass the rear, and extended themselves on both flanks. Some of

them, by taking a shorter way, through known paths, seized the passes;

and such terror was struck into the Macedonians, that they repassed

the river in a manner more like a hasty flight than a regular march,

leaving behind many of their men and arms. Here was the end of the

pursuit, and the Macedonians, in safety, returned to Gomphi, and from

Gomphi into Macedonia. The Athamanians and Ætolians ran together, from

all sides, to Ethopia, to crush Zeno and his thousand Macedonians.

The Macedonians, distrusting their position, removed from Ethopia,

to a hill which was higher and steeper on all sides; from which the

Athamanians, having found access in several places, dislodged them;

and while they were dispersed, and unable to find the road for flight,

through impassable and unknown rocks, slew part of them and made part

prisoners. Great numbers, in their panic, tumbled down the precipices;

very few, with Zeno, effected their escape to the king. Afterwards,

permission to bury their dead was given to them during the truce.

3. Amynander, on recovering possession of his kingdom, sent ambassadors,

both to the senate at Rome and to the Scipios in Asia, who, since the

grand battle with Antiochus, stayed at Ephesus. He requested a treaty of

amity, and apologized for having had recourse to the Ætolians, for the

recovery of his hereditary dominions. He made many charges against

Philip. The Ætolians from Athamania proceeded into Amphilochia, and,

with the consent of the greater part of the inhabitants, reduced that

nation under their power and dominion. After the recovery of

Amphilochia, for it had formerly belonged to the Ætolians, they passed

on, with hopes of equal success, into Aperantia. That also, for the most

part, surrendered to the Ætolians without a contest. The Dolopians had

never been subject to the Ætolians, but they were to Philip. These, at

first, ran to arms; but when they were informed of the Amphilochians

taking part with the Ætolians, of Philip’s flight from Athamania, and

the destruction of his detachment, they also revolted from Philip to the

Ætolians. Whilst the Ætolians believed that they were now secured

against the Macedonians on all sides, by these nations surrounding them,

the report is brought to them that Antiochus was conquered in Asia by

the Romans. Not very long after, their ambassadors came home from Rome,

without the prospect of peace, announcing that the consul Fulvius, with

his army, had already crossed the sea. Dismayed at these accounts, they

send the chief men of the state to Rome to try the last hope, having

previously solicited embassies from Rhodes and Athens, that, through the

influence of those states, their petitions, lately rejected, might meet

with a more favourable reception from the senate: they took no kind of

precaution to avert the war, before it was almost within sight. Marcus

Fulvius, having brought over his army to Apollonia, was, at this time,

consulting with the Epirot chiefs where he should commence his

operations. It was the opinion of the Epirots that he should attack

Ambracia, which had lately united itself to Ætolia; alleging, that, “in

case the Ætolians should come to its relief, there were open plains

around it, to fight in; or that if they should avoid a battle there

would be no great difficulty in the siege, for there were at hand

abundant materials for raising mounds and other works, while the

Arachthus, a navigable river, well adapted to convey every thing

requisite, flowed by the walls; besides, the summer was just

approaching, the fittest season for the enterprise.” By these arguments

they persuaded him to march on through Epirus.

4. To the consul, on his arrival at Ambracia, the siege appeared to be a

work of no small difficulty. Ambracia stands at the foot of a rocky

hill, called by the natives Perranthe: the city, where the wall faces

the plain and the river, looks towards the west; the citadel, which is

seated on the hill, towards the east. The river Arachthus, which rises

in Athamania, falls here into a gulf of the sea, called the Ambracian,

from the name of the adjacent city. Besides that the river defended it

on one side and the hills on the other, it was also surrounded by a

strong wall, extending in circuit somewhat more than three miles.

Fulvius formed two camps at a short distance from each other, and one

fort on the high ground opposite to the citadel; all which he intended

to join together by a rampart and trench, in such a manner that there

should be no exit from the city for the besieged, nor entrance For the

introduction of assistance from without. The Ætolians, on the report of

the siege of Ambracia, were by this time assembled at Stratus, in

obedience to an edict of their prætor, Nicander. At first they intended

to have marched hence, with their whole force, to raise the siege;

afterwards, when they heard that the place was already, in a great

measure, surrounded with works, and that the Epirots were encamped on

level ground, on the other side of the river, they resolved to divide

their forces. Eupolemus, with one thousand light troops, marching to

Ambracia, made his way into the city, though the works were joined to

each other. Nicander’s first plan was to have attacked the camp of the

Epirots in the night, with the rest of the troops, as assistance could

not be easily received from the Romans, because the river ran between

them. Afterward, judging it too dangerous an undertaking, lest the

Romans should by any means discover it, and his retreat become unsafe,

he was deterred from this design, and marched away to ravage the country

of Acarnania.

5. The consul having now finished the intrenchments with which it was

necessary to surround the city, and likewise the works which he was

preparing to bring forward to the walls, attacked the city in five

different places; three attacks, at equal distances from each other, he

directed against the quarter which they called Pyrrheum, as the approach

was easier from the plain; one opposite to the temple of Æsculapius, and

one against the citadel. He broke down the walls with battering-rams,

and tore down the battlements with poles armed with scythes. At first,

terror and dismay seized the townsmen, at the formidable appearance of

the works, and the shocks given to the walls, which were attended with a

dreadful noise: afterwards, when they beheld them contrary to their

hopes standing, having again resumed courage, they, by means of cranes,

threw down upon the battering-rams weighty masses of lead, or stone, or

beams of timber; dragging the armed poles, with iron grapples, within

the walls, they broke off the hooks; besides, by sallies, both by night

against the watch-guards of the engines, and by day against the advanced

posts, they kept the besiegers in a state of continual alarm. While

affairs at Ambracia were in this state, the Ætolians had returned from

ravaging Acarnania, to Stratus. Their prætor, Nicander, having conceived

hopes of raising the siege by a bold effort, sent a person called

Nicodamus, with five hundred Ætolians, into Ambracia, and appointed a

certain night, and even the time of the night, on which, from within the

city, they were to assault the works of the enemy, opposite to the

Pyrrheum, while he himself should alarm the Roman camp. He supposed

that, in consequence of the alarm on both sides, and night increasing

the terror, something memorable might be achieved. And Nicodamus, in the

dead of the night, (when he had escaped the notice of some of the

parties on watch, and broken through others by his determined onset,)

having passed the intrenchment, penetrated into the city; and gave the

besieged considerable hope and courage for any enterprise; and as soon

as the appointed time arrived, according to the plan preconcerted, he

made a sudden assault on the works. This undertaking was more formidable

in the attempt than in the effect, because no attack was made from

without; for the prætor of the Ætolians had either been deterred by

fear, or had judged it more advisable to carry succours to Amphilochia,

which had been lately reduced; which Perseus, the son of Philip, who was

sent to recover Dolopia and Amphilochia, was besieging with the greatest

vigour.

6. The works of the Romans against the Pyrrheum were carried on in three

different places, as has been mentioned before, all which works the

Ætolians assaulted at once, but not with similar weapons or similar

force. Some advanced with burning torches, others carrying tow and

pitch, and fire-darts, their entire line being illuminated by the blaze.

At the first assault they cut off many of the men on guard. Afterwards,

when the shout and uproar reached the camp, and the signal was given by

the consul, the troops took arms and poured out of all the gates to

succour their friends. In one place the contest was carried on with fire

and sword; from the other two, the Ætolians retired with disappointment,

after essaying rather than supporting a fight. The whole brunt of the

battle fell on the one quarter with great fury. Here the two commanders,

Eupolemus and Nicodamus, in their different posts, encouraged their men

and animated them with hope amounting almost to certainty, that Nicander

would, according to his agreement, come up speedily and attack the

enemy’s rear. This expectation for some time supported their courage in

the fight. But at last, as they did not receive the concerted signal

from their friends, and saw the number of their enemies continually

increasing, they pressed on with less energy, as if deserted; finally,

having abandoned the attempt, their retreat now becoming almost

impracticable, they were driven in flight into the city, after having

burned a part of the works, however, and killed a much greater number

than they lost themselves. If the affair had been conducted according to

the plan concerted, there was no reason to doubt but that one part at

least of the works might have been stormed with great havoc of the

Romans;. The Ambracians and the Ætolians, who were within, not only

renounced the enterprise of that night, but supposing themselves

betrayed by their friends, became much less spirited. None of them any

longer sallied out, as before, against the enemy’s stations, but posted

on the walls and towers, fought without danger.

7. Perseus, on hearing of the approach of the Ætolians, having raised

the siege of the city in which he was employed, and having ravaged the

country, quitted Amphilochia, and returned into Macedon. The devastation

of their sea-coast called away the Ætolians from this region. Pleuratus,

king of the Illyrians, entered the Corinthian gulf with sixty barks, and

having formed a junction with the ships of the Achæans lying at Patræ,

wasted the maritime parts of Ætolia. Against these one thousand Ætolians

were sent, who, by taking short routes, met the fleet wherever it, while

sailing around the indentations of the coast, attempted a landing. The

Romans at Ambracia, by the battering of their rams in many places at

once, laid open a great part of the city; but nevertheless were unable

to penetrate into the heart of it. For instead of the wall knocked down

a new one was raised with proportionate speed, while the armed men

standing on the ruins, formed a kind of bulwark. The consul, therefore,

when he made no progress by open force, resolved to form a secret mine,

covering the ground first with his machines. And for a long time his

workmen, though employed both night and day, not only in digging under

the ground but also in carrying away the earth, escaped the observation

of the enemy. A heap of it, however, rising suddenly, gave the townsmen

intimation of their work, and terrified lest, the wall being undermined,

a passage should be opened into the city, they determined to draw a

trench within, opposite to the work that was covered with machines. In

which when they reached such a depth as the bottom of the mine could

well be, then keeping profound silence, having applied their ears to

several different places, they endeavoured to catch the sound of the

miners; which being heard, they opened a way directly towards them. Nor

did it require much exertion, for they came in a short time to an open

space where the wall was supported with props by the enemy. The works

joining here, as the passage was open from the trench to the mine, the

parties began to fight in the dark under ground, first of all with the

tools which they had used in the works, but afterwards armed men came

quickly up. Subsequently the contest became less spirited; as the

besieged stopped the passage, sometimes by stretching strong

hair-cloths across it, sometimes by hastily placing doors in the way of

their antagonists. A new engine, requiring no great labour, was invented

against those who were in the mine. The besieged bored a hole in the

bottom of a cask, by which a moderate-sized pipe could be inserted, and

made an iron pipe and iron head for the cask, which was perforated in

many places. They placed this cask, filled with small feathers, with its

mouth turned towards the mine. Through, the holes in the head of the

cask projected those very long spears, which they call sarissas, to keep

off the enemy. They kindled a small spark of fire, placed among the

feathers, by blowing with a smith’s bellows, inserted into the end of

the pipe. After that the smoke arising from this, not only in great

quantities, but also more offensive from the nauseous stench proceeding

from the burnt feathers, had filled the mine, scarcely any one could

stay within.

8. Whilst affairs at Ambracia were in this state, Phæneas and Damoteles

came to the consul, as ambassadors from the Ætolians, invested with full

powers by a decree of the general assembly of that nation. For when

their prætor saw on one side Ambracia besieged; on another, the

sea-coast infested by the enemy’s ships; on a third, Amphilochia and

Dolopia ravaged by the Macedonians, and that the Ætolians were incapable

of meeting the three enemies at once, having summoned a council, he

consulted the chiefs on what was to be done. The opinions of all tended

to one point: “that peace should be solicited on equal terms if

possible; if not, on any terms that could be borne. That the war was

undertaken in reliance on Antiochus. Since Antiochus was vanquished by

land and sea, and driven beyond the mountains of Taurus, almost out of

the world, what hope remained of their being able to support it? That

Phæneas and Damoteles, since the emergency was so great, should do

whatever they might judge to tend to the interest of the Ætolians and

their own honour. For what counsel, what option had been left them by

fortune?” Ambassadors were despatched with instructions, to beseech the

consul to “have mercy on the city, and to take compassion on a nation

once acknowledged as an ally; and driven to madness, they would not say

by ill treatment, but undoubtedly by their sufferings.” That the

Ætolians “had not in Antiochus’ war deserved a larger share of

punishment than they had of reward in that against Philip. That neither

then was compensation liberally made them, nor ought punishment now to

be inflicted on them in an immoderate degree.” To this the consul

answered, that “the Ætolians had sued for peace often, rather than ever

with sincere intentions. Let them in soliciting peace imitate Antiochus,

whom they had drawn into the war. He had ceded, not the few cities whose

liberty was the ground of the dispute, but an opulent kingdom, all Asia

on this side Mount Taurus. That he (the consul) would not listen to the

Ætolians, treating concerning peace, unless they laid down their arms.

That, in the first place, their arms and all their horses must be

delivered up; and in the next place, one thousand talents[17] of silver

must be paid to the Roman people; half of which sum must be laid down

immediately, if they wished for peace. To these articles he would add

when concluding the treaty, that they must have the same allies and the

same enemies as the Roman people.”

9. To which demands the ambassadors having made no reply, both because

they were severe, and because they knew the spirit of their country to

be unbroken and changeable, returned home, that they might again and

again, while the thing was undecided, consult the prætor and chiefs as

to what was to be done. They were received with clamour and reproaches,

and were asked “how long would they protract the matter, though

commanded to bring with them a peace of some kind or other?” But as they

were going back to Ambracia, they were caught in an ambuscade, laid near

the road by the Acarnanians, with whom they were at war, and carried to

Thyrium to be confined. The delay arising from this incident interrupted

the negotiations. When the ambassadors of the Athenians and Rhodians,

who had come to intercede for them, were now with the consul, Amynander

also, king of Athamania, having obtained a safe-conduct, had come into

the Roman camp, being more concerned for the city of Ambracia, where he

had spent the greatest part of his exile, than for the nation of the

Ætolians. When the consul was informed by them of the accident which had

befallen the ambassadors, he ordered them to be brought from Thyrium;

and on their arrival they began to treat concerning peace. Amynander, as

that was his principal object, laboured assiduously to persuade the

Ambracians to capitulate. When he made but little progress in this,

while he was coming under the walls and conferring with their chiefs, he

at last, with the consul’s permission, went into the city; where, partly

by arguments, partly by entreaties, he prevailed on them to surrender

themselves to the Romans. Caius Valerius, the son of Lævinus, who was

the first that had made a treaty of alliance with that nation, the

brother of the consul, born of the same mother, eminently aided the

Ætolians. The Ambracians, having first stipulated that they might send

away the auxiliary Ætolians in safety, opened their gates. Then the

Ætolians stipulated that “they should pay five hundred Euboic

talents,[18] two hundred of this sum at present, and three hundred at

six equal annual payments; that they should deliver up to the Romans the

prisoners and deserters; that they should not subject any city to their

jurisdiction, which, since the first coming of Titus Quintius into

Greece, had either been taken by the arms of the Romans, or voluntarily

entered into alliance with them: and that the island of Cephallenia

should be excluded from the treaty.” Although these terms were more

moderate than they themselves had expected, yet the Ætolians begged

permission to lay them before the council, which request was granted. A

short discussion about the cities engaged the council. Since they had

been for some time under their laws, they bore with pain that they

should be torn off, as it were, from their body. However, they

unanimously voted that the terms of peace should be accepted. The

Ambracians presented the consul with a golden crown of one hundred and

fifty pounds’ weight. The brazen and marble statues and paintings, with

which Ambracia was more richly decorated than any other city in that

country, since it was the royal residence of Pyrrhus, were all removed

and carried away; but nothing else was injured or even touched.

10. The consul, marching into the interior parts of Ætolia, encamped at

Amphilochian Argos, twenty-two miles from Ambracia. Here, at length, the

Ætolian ambassadors arrived, the consul in the mean time wondered at the

cause of their delay. Then, after he heard that the council of the

Ætolians had approved of the terms of peace, having ordered them to go

to Rome to the senate, and having permitted the Athenian and Rhodian

mediators to go with them, and appointed his brother, Caius Valerius, to

accompany them, he himself passed over to Cephallenia. The ambassadors

found the ears and minds of all the principal people at Rome

prepossessed by charges made against them by Philip, who, by complaining

both by ambassadors and by letters, that Dolopia, Amphilochia, and

Athamania had been forcibly taken from him, that his garrison, and at

last even his son Perseus, had been driven out of Amphilochia, had

turned away the senate from their entreaties. The Athenians and Rhodians

were, nevertheless, heard with attention. An Athenian ambassador, Leon,

son of Icesias, is said to have even affected them much by his

eloquence. Making use of a common simile, and comparing the multitude of

the Ætolians to a calm sea, when it comes to be ruffled by the winds, he

said, that “as long as they faithfully adhered to the alliance with

Rome, they rested in the calm state natural to nations; but that when

Thoas and Dicæarchus began to blow from Asia, Menetas and Damocrites

from Europe, then was raised that storm which dashed them on Antiochus

as on a rock.”

11. The Ætolians, after being a long time buffeted about, at length

prevailed to have articles of peace concluded. They were these:—“Let the

Ætolian nation, without fraud or deceit, maintain the empire and majesty

of the Roman people; let them not suffer to pass through their

territories, nor, in any manner whatever, aid or assist any army that

shall march against the allies and friends of the Romans; let them have

the same enemies as the Roman people; let them bear arms against them,

and take a share in their wars; let them deliver up the deserters,

fugitives, and prisoners, to the Romans and their allies, excepting such

as were prisoners before, who having returned home, were afterwards

captured; and also such as, at the time of their being taken, were

enemies to Rome, while the Ætolians were in the Roman army. Let such of

the others as can be found be delivered up, without reserve, to the

magistrates of Corcyra, within one hundred days; and such as cannot now

be found, as soon as they shall be discovered. Let them give forty

hostages at the discretion of the Roman consul, none younger than twelve

years nor older than forty; let neither the prætor, nor the general of

the horse, nor the public secretary, be a hostage; nor any person who

has before been a hostage in the hands of the Romans. Let Cephallenia be

excluded from these articles.” With respect to the sum of money which

they were to pay, and the mode of payment, no alteration was made in the

arrangement which had been made by the consul. If they chose to give

gold instead of silver, it was agreed that they might do so, provided

that one piece of gold should be deemed equivalent to ten of silver of

the same weight. “Whatever cities, whatever lands, whatever men have

been formerly under the jurisdiction of the Ætolians, and have, either

in the consulate of Titus Quintius and Publius Ælius, or since their

consulate, been subdued by the arms of the Roman people, or have made a

voluntary submission to them, the Ætolians are not to reclaim. The

Œnians, with their city and lands, are to belong to the Acarnanians.” On

these conditions was the treaty concluded with the Ætolians.

12. Not only in the same summer, but almost at the very time in which

these acts were performed by Marcus Fulvius the consul in Ætolia, the

other consul, Cneius Manlius, carried on war in Gallogræcia; the

progress of which I shall now relate. In the beginning of spring the

consul came to Ephesus, and having received the command of the army from

Lucius Scipio, and reviewed the troops, he made an harangue to the

soldiers; in which, having praised their bravery in having completely

conquered Antiochus in a single battle, he encouraged them to undertake

a new war against the Gauls, who had supported Antiochus with

auxiliaries, and were, besides, of such untractable tempers, that

Antiochus was to no purpose removed beyond the range of Mount Taurus,

unless the power of the Gauls was broken; he then spoke briefly of

himself, in terms neither ill-grounded nor extravagant. The delighted

soldiers heard the consul with frequent bursts of applause, considering

the Gauls as having been a part of the strength of Antiochus; and that,

since that king had been vanquished, there would be no power in the

forces of the Gauls, by themselves. The consul judged that Eumenes was

absent at an unseasonable time, (he was then at Rome,) as he was well

acquainted with the nature of the country and of the inhabitants, and as

it was his interest that the power of the Gauls should be broken. He

therefore sends for his brother Attalus, from Pergamus, and having

exhorted him to undertake the war in conjunction with him, he sends

him, away to make preparations, after promising his own exertions and

those of his countrymen. A few days after, Attalus with one thousand

foot and two hundred horse, having ordered his brother Athenæus to

follow with the rest of the troops, and committed the care of Pergamus

to persons whom he knew to be faithful to his brother and to his

government, met the consul, who had marched from Ephesus to Magnesia.

The consul, after highly commending the young prince, having advanced

with all his forces, encamped on the bank of the Mæander, for as that

river could not be forded, it was necessary to collect shipping for

carrying over the army.

13. Having passed the Mæander, they came to Hiera Come.[19] In this

place there is a magnificent temple, and oracle of Apollo; the priests

are said to deliver their responses in verses by no means inelegant.

Hence, in two days’ march they reached the river Harpasus; whither came

ambassadors from Alabandæ, entreating the consul, either by his

authority or his arms, to compel a fort, which had lately revolted from

it, to return to its former allegiance. To the same place came Athenæus

the brother of Eumenes, and Attalus, with Leusus, a Cretan, and

Corragos, a Macedonian commander. They brought with them one thousand

foot and three hundred horse, composed of various nations. The consul,

having sent a military tribune with a small party, took the fort by

assault, and restored it to the Alabandians. He himself, not deviating

from his route, pitched his camp at Antioch on the Mæander. The source

of this river is in Celænæ, which city was formerly the metropolis of

Phrygia. The inhabitants afterwards removed to a spot not far distant

from Old Celænæ, and the name of Apama was given to their new city, from

Apama the sister of king Seleucus. The river Marsyas also, rising at a

little distance from the head of the Mæander, falls into the latter

river, and report so has it, that at Celænæ Marsyas contended with

Apollo in the music of the pipe. The Mæander, springing up in the

highest part of the citadel of Celænæ, runs down through the middle of

the city, then through Caria, afterwards through Ionia, and empties

itself into a bay which lies between Priene and Miletus. Seleucus, son

of Antiochus, came into the consul’s camp at Antioch, to furnish corn

for the troops, in conformity with the treaty with Scipio. Here a small

dispute arose, concerning the auxiliary troops of Attalus; for Seleucus

affirmed, that Antiochus engaged to supply corn to the Roman soldiers

only. This difference was terminated by the firmness of the consul, who

gave orders to a tribune despatched by him, that the Roman soldiers

should receive none, until the auxiliaries under Attalus should have

received their share. From hence the army advanced to Gordiutichos,[20]

as they call it: from which place it marched, in three days, to Tabæ.

This city stands on the confines of Pisidia, in that part which verges

to the Pamphylian sea. Whilst the strength of that country was

unimpaired, it produced valiant warriors: and even on this occasion,

their horsemen, sallying out on the Roman troops, caused by their first

onset no small confusion; then, as soon as it appeared that they were

not equal to them either in numbers or bravery, being driven back to the

city, they begged pardon for their transgressions, and offered to

surrender the city. They were ordered to pay twenty-five talents of

silver,[21] and ten thousand bushels of wheat; and on these terms their

surrender was accepted.

14. On the third day after their leaving this place, the army reached

the river Chaus, and proceeding thence, took the city of Eriza at the

first assault. They then came to Thabusios, a fort standing on the bank

of the river Indus, to which an elephant’s guide thrown from the animal

had given its name. They were now not far from Cibyra, yet no embassy

appeared from Moagetes, the tyrant of that state; a man faithless and

tyrannical in every respect. The consul, in order to sound his

intentions, sent forward Caius Helvius, with four thousand foot and five

hundred horse. Ambassadors met this body on their entrance into his

territories, declaring, that the king was ready to execute their

commands. They entreated Helvius to enter their confines in a friendly

manner, and to restrain his soldiers from plundering the land; and they

brought with them in lieu of a golden crown fifteen talents. Helvius,

having promised to keep their lands safe from plunderers, ordered the

ambassadors to go on to the consul. And when they delivered the same

message to him, the consul said, “We Romans have not any sign of the

tyrant’s good will towards us, and we are agreed that he is such a

person that we ought rather to think of punishing him than of

contracting friendship with him.” Struck with astonishment at such a

reception, the ambassadors requested nothing more than that he should

receive the present, and give permission to the tyrant to come to him,

and an opportunity to speak and excuse himself. By the permission of the

consul, the tyrant came next day into the camp. His dress and retinue

were scarcely equal to the style of a private person of moderate

fortune; while his discourse was humble and incoherent, depreciating his

own wealth and complaining of the poverty of the cities under his sway.

He had under his dominion, (beside Cibyra,) Syleum, and the city called

Alimne. Out of these he promised (in such a manner as if he were

diffident that he could strip himself and his subjects of so much) to

raise twenty-five talents.[22] “Truly,” said the consul, “this trifling

cannot be borne. It is not enough for you that you did not blush, though

absent, when you were imposing on us by your ambassadors; but even when

present you persist in the same effrontery. Is it that twenty-five

talents would exhaust your dominions? If within three days you do not

pay down five hundred talents,[23] expect the devastation of your lands

and the siege of your city.” Although terrified by this menace, he

persisted obstinately in his plea of poverty; gradually by illiberal

advances, (sometimes cavilling, sometimes recurring to prayers and

counterfeit tears,) he was brought to agree to the payment of one

hundred talents,[24] to which, were added ten thousand bushels of corn.

All this was done within six days.

15. From Cibyra the army was led through the territory of the

Sindensians, and, after crossing the river Caularis, encamped. Next day

they marched along the side of the lake of Caralitis, and passed the

night at Mandropolis. As they advanced to the next city, Lagos, the

inhabitants fled through fear. The place being deserted, yet filled with

abundance of every thing, was pillaged by the soldiers. From this they

marched to the sources of the river Lysis, and on the next day to the

river Cobulatus. At this time the Termessians were besieging the citadel

of the Isiondensians, after having taken the city. The besieged, when

they had no other hope of aid, sent ambassadors to the consul,

imploring succour; adding, that, “being shut up in the citadel, with

their wives and children, they were in daily expectation of suffering

death, either by the sword or famine.” An occasion for turning aside to

Pamphylia was thereby offered to the consul, who was very desirous of

it. By his approach he raised the siege of Isionda. He granted peace to

Termessus on receiving fifty talents of silver;[25] and, likewise, to

the Aspendians and other states of Pamphylia. Returning from Pamphylia

he pitched his camp, the first day, at the river Taurus, and the second

at Come Xyline,[26] as they call it. Departing from which, he proceeded,

by uninterrupted marches, to the city of Cormasa. The next city was

Darsa, which he found abandoned by the inhabitants through fear, but

filled with abundance of every thing useful. Ambassadors from Lysinoe,

with the surrender of that state, met him while marching along the

marshes. He then came into the Sagalassenian territory, rich and

abounding in every kind of production. The inhabitants are Pisidians,

the best soldiers, by far, of any in that part of the world. This

circumstance, as well as the fertility of their soil, the multitude of

their people, and the situation of their city, preeminently fortified,

gave them boldness. The consul sent a party to ravage the country,

because no embassy attended him on the frontiers. Then, at length, their

obstinacy was overcome, as soon as they saw their property carried off

and driven away. After sending ambassadors, and agreeing to pay fifty

talents, with twenty thousand bushels of wheat and twenty thousand of

barley, they obtained peace. The consul then marched to the source of

the Obrima, and encamped at a village called Come Acaridos.[27] Hither

Seleucus came, next day, from Apamea. Then when the consul had sent the

sick and the useless baggage to Apamea, having received guides from

Seleucus, he marched that day into the plain of Metropolis, and advanced

on the day following to Diniæ in Phrygia, and thence to Synnas; all the

towns on every side being deserted by the inhabitants through fear. And

now, bringing along his army encumbered with the spoil of those cities,

after scarcely completing in a whole day a march of five miles, he

arrived at a town called Old Beudi. Next day he encamped at Anabura; on

the following, at the source of the Alander, and on the third at

Abassus, where he halted for several days, because he arrived at the

borders of the Tolistoboians.

16. These Gauls, in a very numerous body, induced either by scarcity of

land or hopes of plunder, and thinking that no nation through which they

were to pass would be a match for them in arms, made their way under the

command of Brennus into Dardania. There a dissension arose, and about

twenty thousand men under the chieftains Leonorius and Lutarius, a

secession being made from Brennus, turned their route to Thrace. Then

when, fighting with such as resisted them, and imposing a tribute on

such as sued for peace, they had arrived at Byzantium, they held

possession for a long time of the cities in that quarter, laying the

coast of the Propontis under contribution. Then a desire of passing over

into Asia seized them, hearing in the neighbourhood how great the

fertility of that continent was; and, having taken Lysimachia by

treachery, and possessed themselves of the whole Chersonesus by force of

arms, they went down to the Hellespont. When they there beheld Asia

separated from them by a narrow strait, their wishes to pass into it

were much more highly inflamed, and they despatched envoys to Antipater,

governor of that coast, to treat of a passage. And when, business being

protracted to a greater length than they expected, a new quarrel broke

out between their chieftains, Leonorius, with the greater part of the

people, went back to Byzantium, whence they came: Lutarius takes two

decked ships and three barks from some Macedonians, sent by Antipater,

under the pretext of an embassy, to act as spies. By carrying over in

these galleys detachment after detachment, day and night, he transported

all his troops within a few days. Not long after, Leonorius, with the

assistance of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, passed over from Byzantium.

The Gauls then re-united their forces, and assisted Nicomedes in a war

which he was carrying on against Zybœta, who held possession of a part

of Bithynia. By their assistance chiefly Zybœta was subdued, and the

whole of Bithynia reduced under the dominion of Nicomedes. Then leaving

Bithynia, they advanced into Asia; and although, of their twenty

thousand men, not more than ten thousand carried arms, yet such a degree

of terror did they strike into all the natives, dwelling on this side of

Taurus, that those which they visited, and those which they did not

visit, the most remote as well as the nearest, submitted to their

authority. At length as there were three tribes of them, the

Tolistoboians, the Trocmians, and the Tectosagians, they made a division

of Asia into three provinces, according to which it was made tributary

to each of their states. The coast of the Hellespont was assigned to the

Trocmians; the Tolistoboians obtained of the allotment Æolia and Ionia;

the Tectosagians received the inland parts of Asia. They levied tribute

throughout every part of Asia on this side Mount Taurus; but chose their

own residence on the banks of the river Halys; and so great was the

terror of their name, their numbers, too, increasing by a rapid

population, that at last even the kings of Syria did not refuse to pay

them tribute. The first of all the inhabitants of Asia who refused, was

Attalus, the father of king Eumenes; and beyond the expectation of all,

fortune favoured his bold resolution, and he defeated them in a pitched

battle; yet he did not so effectually break their spirits, as to make

them give up their pretensions to empire. Their power continued the same

until the war between Antiochus and the Romans; and, even then, after

Antiochus was expelled the country, they still entertained a hope, that,

as they lived remote from the sea, the Roman army would not come so far.

17. As the troops were about to act against this enemy, so terrible to

all in that part of the world, the consul, in an assembly, addressed the

soldiers for the most part to this effect: “It does not escape me, that,

of all the nations inhabiting Asia, the Gauls are pre-eminent for

military fame. A fierce nation, after overrunning the face of the earth

with its arms, has fixed its abode in the midst of a race of men the

gentlest in the world. Their tall persons, their long red hair, their

vast shields, and swords of enormous length; their songs also, when they

are advancing to action, their yells and dances, and the horrid clashing

of their armour, while they brandish their shields in a peculiar manner,

practised in their original country; all these circumstances are

preconcerted to inspire terror. But let Greeks, and Phrygians, and

Carians, to whom these things are unusual and strange, be frightened by

such acts: to the Romans, accustomed to Gallic tumults, even these vain

efforts to strike terror are known. Once our ancestors fled from them,

but it was long ago, when they first met them at the Allia. Ever since

that time, for, now, two hundred years, the Romans drive them before

them in dismay, and kill them like cattle; there have, indeed, been more

triumphs celebrated over the Gauls, than over almost all the rest of the

world. It is now well known by experience, that if you sustain their

first onset, which they make with fiery eagerness and blind fury, their

limbs are unnerved with sweat and fatigue; their arms flag; and, though

you should not employ a weapon on them, the sun, dust, and thirst

prostrate their enervated bodies and minds when their fury has ceased.

We have tried them, not only with our legions against theirs, but in

single combat, man to man. Titus Manlius and Marcus Valerius have

demonstrated how far Roman valour surpasses Gallic fury. Marcus Manlius,

singly, thrust back the Gauls who were mounting the Capitol in a body.

Our forefathers had to deal with genuine Gauls, born in their own lands;

but they are now degenerate, a mongrel race, and, in reality, what they

are named, Gallogræcians; just as is the case of vegetables and cattle,

the seeds are not so efficacious in preserving their original

constitution, as the properties of the soil and climate under which they

are reared, are in changing it. The Macedonians who settled at

Alexandria in Egypt, or in Seleucia, or Babylonia, or in any other of

their colonies scattered over the world, have sunk into Syrians,

Parthians, or Egyptians. Marseilles, owing to its situation in the midst

of Gauls, has contracted somewhat of the disposition of its adjoining

neighbours. What of the hardy, rugged discipline of Sparta hath remained

to the Tarentines? Every thing is produced in higher perfection in its

own native soil; whatever is planted in a foreign land, by a gradual

change in its nature, degenerates into that by which it is nurtured.

Therefore you, victorious, will slay the conquered Phrygians, though

laden with Gallic armour, as you slew them in the ranks of Antiochus. I

am more apprehensive of our gaining but little honour from the victory,

than of the struggle being a severe one. King Attalus often routed and

put them to flight. Do you think that brutes only, when taken, retain at

first their natural ferocity, and subsequently grow tame, after being

long fed by the hands of men; and that nature does not exert the same

power in softening the savage disposition of men. Do you believe these

to be of the same kind that their fathers and grandfathers were? Exiles

from home through scarcity of land, they marched along the craggy coast

of Illyricum, then traversed Pæonia and Thrace, in a continual struggle

against the fiercest nations, and took possession of these countries. A

land which could glut them with plenty of every thing, received them

hardened and infuriated by so many evils. By the very great fertility of

the soil, the very great mildness of the climate, and the gentle

dispositions of the neighbouring nations, all that fierceness with which

they came has been quite mollified. You, by Hercules, who are the sons

of Mars, ought to guard against the seductions of Asia, and shun them

from the very first; so great is the power of those foreign pleasures in

extinguishing the vigour of the mind, so strong the contagion from the

relaxed discipline and manners of the people about you. One thing has

happened fortunately; that though they will not bring against you a

degree of strength by any means equal to what they formerly possessed,

yet they still retain a character among the Greeks equal to what they

had at their first coming; consequently you, when victors, will acquire

the same warlike renown, as if you had conquered the Gauls still acting

up to their ancient standard of courage.”

18. Having then dismissed the assembly, and having despatched

ambassadors to Eposognatus, (who alone of all the petty princes had

remained in friendship with Eumenes, and refused to assist Antiochus

against the Romans,) he proceeded on his march. He came the first day to

the river Alander, and the next to a village called Tyscos. When

ambassadors of the Oroandensians had come to that place, seeking amity,

two hundred talents[28] were levied on them; and on their requesting

that they might bear this announcement home, permission to do so was

given. The consul then led the army to Plitendos; then the Roman camp

was pitched at Alyatti. The persons sent to Eposognatus returned to him

here, and with them ambassadors from that chieftain, who entreated him

not to make war on the Tolistoboians, for that Eposognatus himself would

go among that people and persuade them to submit. This request of the

prince was complied with. The army then began to march through the

country called Axylos:[29] which derives its name from the nature of the

place; for it not only does not produce timber, but not even brambles,

or any species of fire-wood. The inhabitants, instead of wood, use cow

dung. While the Romans were encamped at Cuballum, a fort of Gallogræcia,

the enemy’s cavalry appeared with great tumult. They not only disordered

by their sudden charge the advanced guards of the Romans, but killed

several of the men; and when this alarm was spread to the camp, the

Roman cavalry, pouring out hastily by all the gates, routed and

dispersed the Gauls, and killed many as they fled. The consul, now

perceiving that he had reached the enemy’s country, marched henceforth

exploring his route and carefully bringing up his rear. When by

continued marches he had arrived at the river Sangarius, he set about

constructing a bridge, because no where was there a passage by a ford.

The Sangarius, running from the mountain of Adoreus, through Phrygia,

joins the river Thymbris at the confines of Bithynia. After doubling its

quantity of water by this junction, it proceeds in a more copious stream

through Bithynia, and empties itself into the Euxine Sea. Yet it is not

so remarkable for the size of its current, as for the vast quantity of

fish which it supplies to the people in its vicinity. When the bridge

was finished, and the army had passed the river, as they were marching

along the bank, the Gallic priests of the Great Mother, coming from

Pessinus with the symbols of their office, met them; who, in inspired

rhymes, foretold that the goddess would grant the Romans a safe passage,

success in the war, and the empire over that country. When the consul

had said that he embraced the omen, he pitched his camp on that very

spot. On the following day he arrived at Gordium. This is not a large

town, but a mart more frequented and noted than an inland town generally

is. It has three seas nearly at equal distances from it, that at the

Hellespont, that at Sinope, and that at the shore of the opposite coast,

in which the maritime Cilicians dwell. It is also contiguous to the

borders of many and great nations, the commerce of which has been

centred by mutual convenience principally in this place. The Romans

found the town deserted owing to the flight of the inhabitants, yet at

the same time filled with plenty of every thing. While they halted here,

ambassadors came from Eposognatus, with information that “he had applied

to the petty princes of the Gauls, and had been unable to bring them to

reason; that they were removing in crowds from the villages and lands in

the open country; and, with their wives and children, carrying and

driving whatever could be carried or driven, were going to Mount

Olympus, that there they might defend themselves by their arms and the

nature of the ground.”

19. Deputies from the Oroandensians afterwards brought more particular

intelligence; that “the state of the Tolistoboians had seized Mount

Olympus, but that the Tectosagians, taking a different route, were gone

to another mountain called Magaba; and that the Trocmians, leaving their

wives and children in charge with the Tectosagians, had resolved to

carry their armed force to the assistance of the Tolistoboians.” The

chieftains of the three states were at that time, Ortiagon,

Combolomarus, and Gaulotus; and this was their reason in particular for

choosing this mode of warfare, because as they had possession of the

highest mountains in that part of the world, and had conveyed thither

stores of every kind, sufficient for their consumption during the time,

although long, they thought that they would weary out the enemy by the

tediousness of the enterprise: “for neither would they dare to climb

over places so steep and uneven; and if they should attempt it, they

could be prevented and driven down, even by a small band; nor would

they, sitting in inactivity at the foot of the frosty mountains, endure

cold and hunger.” Although the height of their posts was in itself a

strong defence, yet they drew, besides, a trench and other

fortifications round the summits which they occupied. The least part of

their care was employed in providing a stock of missile weapons; for

they trusted that the rocky ground itself would furnish stones in

abundance.

20. The consul, as he had foreseen that the fight would not be hand to

hand, but at a distance, in the attack of the enemy’s post, had prepared

an immense quantity of javelins, light infantry, spears, arrows, balls

of lead, and small stones, fit to be thrown with slings. Furnished with

this stock of missile weapons, he marched towards Mount Olympus, and

encamped within five miles of it. On the next day, as he was advancing

with four hundred horse, and Attalus, to examine the nature of the

mountain and situation of the camp of the Gauls; a party of the enemy’s

cavalry, double in number to his, sallying from the camp, forced him to

take to flight. A few of his soldiers were killed in the flight, and

several wounded. On the third day, marching to explore the ground at the

head of all his cavalry, as none of the enemy advanced beyond their

fortifications, he rode round the mountain with safety, and saw that on

the south side the hills were composed of earth, and rose to a certain

height, with a gentle slope, but that on the north there was nothing but

steep and almost perpendicular cliffs; and that there were but three

practicable ways, almost all the others being impassable; one at the

middle of the mountain, where the ground was earthy, and two others,

both very difficult, one on the south-east, and the other on the

north-west. After taking a full view of all these places, he pitched his

camp that day close to the foot of the mountain. On the day following,

after that, offering sacrifice, he had received favourable auspices with

the first victims, he proceeds to lead his army, in three divisions,

against the enemy. He himself, with the greatest part of the forces,

marched up where the mountain afforded the easiest ascent. He ordered

his brother, Lucius Manlius, to ascend on the south-east side, as far as

the ground allowed him to do so with safety; but if any dangerous and

steep precipices should lie in his way, then not to contend with the

unfavourable nature of the place, or attempt to conquer insuperable

obstacles, but by a slope across the mountain to incline towards him,

and join the body under his command; and he directed Caius Helvius, with

the third division, to march round leisurely, by the foot of the

mountain, and to climb the hill on the north-east. The auxiliary troops

of Attalus he distributed equally among the three divisions, ordering

the young prince to accompany him. The cavalry and elephants he left in

the plain, at the foot of the hills; orders were given to the prefects

to watch attentively every thing that should happen, and to be

expeditious in bringing succour wherever circumstances should require

it.

21. The Gauls, (thoroughly satisfied that the ground on their two flanks

was impassable,) in order to secure, by arms, the ascent on the side

which was situated towards the south, sent about four thousand soldiers

to keep possession of a hill which hung over the road, at the distance

of near a mile from their camp; hoping that they might stop the enemies’

progress by this as by a fortress. Which when the Romans saw, they

prepared for battle. The light infantry marched a little in advance of

the line, supported by draughts from Attalus’s troops, composed of the

Cretan archers and slingers, the Trallians and Thracians. The battalions

of infantry, as the ground was steep, marched at a slow pace, holding

their shields before them, merely to ward off missile weapons, as they

did not seem likely to fight in a close engagement. The fight commenced

with the missile weapons, at the proper interval, and was at first

equal, as the situation aided the Gauls, the variety and abundance of

weapons, the Romans. But, as the contest advanced, there was no longer

any equality: their shields, long, but too narrow for the breadth of

their bodies, and besides being flat, ill protected the Gauls. Nor had

they now any other weapons except their swords, which they had no

opportunity of using, as the enemy did not come to close action. They

used stones, and these not of a proper size, as they had not previously

laid them up, but whatever came to the hand of each in his haste and

confusion, as persons unaccustomed generally do, aiding the blow neither

by skill nor strength. Incautiously exposing themselves, they were

transfixed on all sides by arrows, leaden balls, and darts; nor did they

know what to do, their minds being paralysed by rage and fear; and they

were engaged in a kind of fight for which they were least of all

qualified. For, as in a close encounter, where they can receive and give

wounds in turn, rage inflames their courage; so when they are wounded at

a distance, with light weapons from unknown hands, and have no object on

which they can rush in their blind fury, they rush forward at random,

like wounded wild beasts, often upon their own party. Their wounds were

more conspicuous because they always fight naked, and their bodies are

large and white, since they are never stripped except in battle; thus

more blood was poured from their large persons, and the cuts appeared

the more shocking, while the whiteness of their skins offered a stronger

contrast to the black blood. But they were not much moved by open

wounds. Sometimes they even cut off the skin, when the wound was more

broad than deep, thinking that in this condition they fought with the

greater glory. But when the point of an arrow or a ball, sinking deep in

the flesh, tormented them, with a wound small in appearance, and the

weapon did not come forth although they used every effort to extract it,

then they fell into fits of phrensy and shame, at being destroyed by so

small a hurt; and dashing themselves on the ground, they lay scattered

over the place. Some rushing against the enemy were overwhelmed with

darts; and when any of them came near, they were slain by the swords of

the light infantry. A soldier of this description carries a shield three

feet long, and, in his right hand, javelins, which he throws at a

distance. He is begirt with a Spanish sword, and when he must fight in

close encounter, having shifted his spears into his left hand, he draws

it. There were few of the Gauls now left; and these, seeing themselves

overpowered by the light infantry, and the battalions of the legions

advancing, fled in confusion to the camp, now full of tumult and dismay,

as the women, children, and others unfit to bear arms, were all crowded

together there. The hills, thus abandoned by the enemy, were seized by

the victorious Romans.

22. At this juncture, Lucius Manlius and Caius Helvius, having marched

up as high as the sloping hills allowed them to do, after they came to

insuperable steeps, turned towards that side of the mountain which alone

had a practicable ascent; and began, as if by concert, to follow the

consul’s party at a moderate distance; being driven by necessity to

adopt the plan, now, which would have been the best at the beginning.

For in such disadvantageous ground reserves have often been of the

utmost use; for instance, should the first line happen to be repulsed,

the second may both cover their retreat, and, being fresh, succeed to

their place in the fight. The consul, as soon as the vanguard of the

legions reached the hills taken by the light infantry, ordered the

troops to halt and take breath; at the same time he showed them the

bodies of the Gauls spread about the hills, asking them, “Since the

light troops had fought such a battle, what might be expected from the

legions, from a regular army, and from the spirit of the bravest

soldiers? They ought certainly to take the camp into which the enemy had

been driven in confusion by the light infantry.” He then orders the

light infantry to go forward, who, while the army halted, had not spent

their time in idleness, but in gathering weapons about the hills, that

there might be a sufficient supply of missiles. They now approached the

camp. The Gauls, lest their fortifications might not give them

sufficient protection, had posted themselves, in arms, on the outside of

the rampart. Then being overwhelmed with weapons of every description,

since in proportion as they were more numerous and crowded together, the

less likely were the weapons to fall between them without effect, they

were driven in an instant within their trenches, leaving only strong

guards at the entrances of the gates. Against the crowd that fled into

the camp a vast quantity of missile weapons was discharged, and the

shouts, intermixed with lamentations of the women and children, showed

that great numbers were wounded. The first line of the legions hurled

their javelins against those who were posted to guard the gate; these,

however, were not wounded, but most of them, having their shields

pierced through, were entangled and fastened together, nor did they

longer withstand the attack.

23. The gates being now open, a flight of the Gauls in every direction

from the camp took place before the victors could burst in. They rushed

on blindly through passable and impassable places; no craggy cliffs, nor

even perpendicular rocks, stopped them; they feared nothing but the

enemy. Great numbers, therefore, falling down precipices of vast height,

were either maimed or killed. The consul, taking possession of the camp,

restrained the soldiers from plunder and booty; he orders every one to

pursue with his utmost speed, to press on the enemy, and to increase

their panic while they were in dismay. The other party, under Lucius

Manlius, now came up. These he did not suffer to enter the camp, but

sent them forward in the pursuit, and followed shortly in person, after

committing the guard of the prisoners to some military tribunes: for he

thought that the war would be finished, if in that consternation the

greatest possible number should be slain or taken prisoners. After the

consul’s departure, Caius Helvius arrived, with the third division: he

was not able to prevent their sacking the camp; and, by a most unjust

dispensation, the booty fell into the hands of men who had not had any

concern in the action. The cavalry stood for a long time ignorant of the

fight, and of the success of their army. At last, they also, as far as

they could ascend the hills on horseback, pursuing the Gauls, (who were

now dispersed round the foot of the mountain,) either killed or made

prisoners of them. The number of the slain could not easily be

ascertained because the flight and slaughter were widely extended

through all the windings of the mountains; and a great number fell from

impassable cliffs into cavities of prodigious depth; others were killed

in the woods and thickets. Claudius, who mentions two battles on Mount

Olympus, asserts, that forty-thousand fell in them; yet Valerius Antias,

who is generally addicted to great exaggeration on the point of numbers,

says, not more than ten thousand. The number of prisoners undoubtedly

amounted to forty thousand, because the Gauls had dragged along with

them a crowd of people of all descriptions and of all ages, like men

removing to another country, rather than going out to war. The consul,

having burnt the arms of the enemy collected in one heap, then ordered

all to bring together the rest of the booty, and either sold that

portion which was to be applied to the use of the public, or distributed

the remainder among the soldiers, taking care that the shares should be

as just as possible. They were all praised in a public assembly, and

presented with gifts each according to his merit; Attalus was

distinguished above all, with the general approbation of the rest. For

not only were the courage and activity of that young prince conspicuous

in undergoing dangers and fatigue, but also the modesty of his

deportment.

24. The war with the Tectosagians remained still in its original state.

The consul, marching against them, arrived, on the third day, at Ancyra,

a city remarkable in those parts, from which the enemy were but a little

more than ten miles distant. While his camp lay there, a memorable

action was performed by a female. Among many other captives, the wife of

the Gallic chieftain Ortiagon, a woman of exquisite beauty, was strictly

guarded, and a centurion, possessing the lust and avarice usual among

military men, commanded this guard. He, first, endeavoured to learn her

sentiments; but, finding that she abhorred the thought of voluntary

prostitution, he offered violence to her person, which by the decree of

fortune was his slave. Afterwards, in order to soothe her indignation at

the insult, he gives the lady hope of a return to her friends; and not

even that gratuitously, like a lover. He stipulated for a certain weight

of gold, but, being unwilling to have any of his countrymen privy to it,

he gave her leave to send any one of the prisoners, whom she chose, as a

messenger to her friends. He appointed a spot near the river, to which

two of this woman’s friends, and not more, were to come with the gold

in the night following, to receive her. It happened that among the

prisoners under the same guard was a servant of the lady; the centurion,

as soon as it grew dark, conveyed this messenger beyond the advanced

posts. Her friends came to the place at the appointed time, likewise the

centurion with his prisoner. Here, on their producing the gold, which

mounted to an Attic talent, for he had stipulated for that sum the lady

in her own language ordered them to draw their swords, and kill the

centurion, while he was weighing the gold. She herself, bearing wrapped

up in her garment the head of the slain centurion, detached from the

trunk, reached her husband Ortiagon, who had fled home from Olympus. And

before she would embrace him, she threw down the centurion’s head at his

feet; and on his asking, with astonishment, whose head it was, and what

was the meaning of such a proceeding, so unaccountable in a female, she

acknowledged to her husband the injury committed on her person, and the

vengeance she had taken for the forcible violation of her chastity. She

maintained to the last, as it is said, by the purity and strictness of

the rest of her life, the glory of this achievement, so honourable to

her sex.

25. Envoys from the Tectosagians met the consul at Ancyra, entreating

him not to decamp until he had held a conference with their kings; that

any conditions of peace were in their opinion preferable to war. The

time fixed was the next day, and the place that which seemed the most

central between the camp of the Gauls and Ancyra. The consul came

thither at the appointed hour, with a guard of five hundred horse, but

seeing none of the Gauls there, returned into his camp: after which the

same envoys came again, with an apology, that their kings could not

come, since religious feelings deterred them; but that the principal men

of the nation would attend, and that the business might be as well

transacted by them. To which the consul answered, that he would send

Attalus on his part. To this meeting both parties came. When Attalus had

brought with him as an escort three hundred horse, the terms of peace

were proposed. As there could not be a conclusion to the affair in the

absence of the leaders, it was agreed, that the consul and the kings

should meet in the same place on the following day. The delay of the

Gauls had the following objects: first, to waste time, that they might

remove their effects, which they were unwilling to risk, and also their

wives and children, to the other side of the river Halys; and, secondly,

because they were framing a plot against the consul, who took no

precautions against treachery in the conference. They chose for this

purpose, out of all their number, one thousand horsemen of approved

intrepidity; and their treachery would have taken effect, had not

fortune exerted herself in favour of the law of nations, in violation of

which their plan was laid. The Roman parties, who went out for forage

and wood, were led towards that quarter where the conference was to be

held; for the tribunes judged that to be the safest course, as they

would have the consul’s escort, and himself, as a guard opposed to the

enemy. However, they posted another guard of their own, of six hundred

horse, nearer to the camp. The consul, being assured by Attalus that the

kings would come, and that the business might be concluded, having set

out from his camp with the same attendants as before, when he had

advanced about five miles, and was not far from the place appointed, he

saw, on a sudden, the Gauls coming on with hostile fury, and with their

horses at full gallop. He halted, and ordering his horsemen to make

ready their arms, and recall their courage, received the enemy’s first

charge with firmness, nor gave way. At length, when their numbers were

overpowering him, he began to retreat leisurely, without disturbing the

order of the troops, but at last, when there was more danger in delay

than protection in keeping their ranks, they all fled in hurry and

disorder. Then truly the Gauls pressed hard on them, dispersed, and

killed several; and a great part of them would have been cut off, had

not the six hundred horse, the guard of the foragers, come up to meet

them. These, on hearing, at a distance, the shout of dismay raised by

their friends, made ready their weapons and horses, and, being quite

fresh, renewed the fight after it was almost over. The fortune of the

battle, therefore, was instantly reversed, and dismay recoiled from the

conquered on the conquerors. At the first charge the Gauls were routed;

at the same time the foragers from the fields ran together towards the

spot, and an enemy was on every side of the Gauls in such a manner that

they could not have an easy or safe retreat, especially as the Romans

pursued on fresh horses, while theirs were fatigued. Few therefore

escaped; yet not one was taken; by far the greater part paid their

lives as a forfeit for having violated the faith of a conference. The

whole army of the Romans, with minds burning with rage, marched up, next

day, close to the enemy.

26. The consul, that no particular should escape his knowledge, spent

two days in examining the nature of the mountain with his own eyes. On

the third day, after taking the auspices, and then offering sacrifice,

he formed his troops in four divisions, that he might lead two up the

middle of the mountain, and direct the other two, one on each side,

against the wings of the Gauls. The main strength of the enemy, the

Tectosagians and Trocmians, amounting to fifty thousand men, formed the

centre of their line. They dismounted their cavalry, in number ten

thousand men, because horsemen could not act among the uneven rocks, and

placed them on the right wing. The Cappadocians of Ariarathes, with the

auxiliary troops of Morzes, on the left, made up almost four thousand.

The consul, having placed his light troops in the van, as he had done

before at Mount Olympus, took care that they should have ready at hand

the same abundance of weapons of every sort. When they approached the

enemy, all circumstances, on both sides, were the same as in the former

battle, excepting their spirits; those of the victors being elated by

their success, and those of the Gauls depressed; because, though they

themselves had not been defeated, yet they considered as their own, the

overthrow of people of their own race. The battle, therefore, commencing

under similar circumstances, had the same issue. The cloud, as it were,

of light weapons that were thrown, overwhelmed the army of the Gauls;

and, as none of them dared to charge forward from their ranks, for fear

of exposing all parts of their bodies to the blows, so while they stood

still, the closer they were together the more wounds they received, as

the assailants directed their weapons as if at a mark. The consul now

judged, that if he should once show the standards of the legions to them

already disordered, they would instantly turn about and fly; receiving,

therefore, the light infantry, and the rest of the auxiliaries, between

the ranks, he ordered the line to advance.

27. The Gauls, discouraged by the memory of the defeat of the

Tolistoboians, and carrying weapons sticking in their flesh, fatigued

also by long standing and wounds, were not able to support even the

first shout and onset of the Romans. Their flight was directed towards

their camp; only a few of them entered the trenches; the greater part,

passing by, on the right and left, fled whichever way each man’s giddy

haste carried him. The conquerors, following them to the camp, cut off

their rear; but then, through greediness for booty, they stopped in the

camp, and not one of them continued the pursuit. The Gauls in the wings

stood some time longer, because the Romans reached them at a later

period. But they did not endure even the first discharge of weapons. The

consul, as he could not draw off the men who had got into the camp for

plunder, sent forward those, who had been in the wings, to pursue the

enemy. They, accordingly, followed them a considerable way; yet, in the

pursuit, for there was no fight, they killed not more than eight

thousand men: the rest crossed the river Halys. A great part of the

Romans lodged that night in the enemy’s camp; the consul led back the

rest to his own. Next day, he took a review of the prisoners, and of the

booty, the quantity of which was as great as a nation most greedy of

rapine could amass, after holding possession, by force of arms, of all

the country on this side Mount Taurus, during a space of many years. The

Gauls, after this scattered and confused flight, re-assembled in one

place, a great part of them being wounded or unarmed, and as all were

destitute of every kind of property, they sent deputies to the consul,

to supplicate for peace. Manlius ordered them to attend him at Ephesus;

and, being in haste to quit those cold regions, in the vicinity of Mount

Taurus, as it was now the middle of autumn, he led back his victorious

army into winter quarters on the sea-coast.

28. During the time of those transactions in Asia, affairs were tranquil

in the other provinces. At Rome, the censors, Titus Quintius Flamininus

and Marcus Claudius Marcellus, read over the roll of the senate; Publius

Scipio Africanus was, a third time, declared prince of the senate, and

only four members were struck out, none of whom had held any curule

office. In their review of the knights, also, their censorship was very

mild. They contracted for the erection of a building in the Æquimælium,

on the capitoline mount, and for paving, with flint, a road from the

gate Capena to the temple of Mars. The Campanians consulted the senate

respecting the place where they should have their census; and an order

was passed that they should be rated at Rome. Extraordinary quantities

of rain fell this year; twelve times the Tiber overflowed the field of

Mars and the lower parts of the city. The war with the Gauls in Asia

having been brought to a conclusion by the consul Cneius Manlius, the

other consul, Marcus Fulvius, as the Ætolians were now completely

reduced, passed over to Cephallenia, and sent messengers round the

states of the island, to inquire whether they chose to submit to the

Romans, or to try the fortune of war. Fear prevailed so strongly on them

all, that they did not refuse to surrender. They gave the number of

hostages demanded, which was proportioned to the abilities of a weak

people, the Nesians, Cranians, Pallenians, and Samæans, giving twenty

each. An unhoped-for peace had now shone on Cephallenia, when one state,

the Samæans, suddenly revolted, from some motive not yet ascertained.

They said, that as their city was commodiously situated, they were

afraid that the Romans would compel them to remove from it. But whether,

they conceived this in their own minds, and, under the impulse of a

groundless fear, disturbed the general quiet, or whether, such a project

had been mentioned in conversation among the Romans, and reported to

them, nothing is ascertained, unless that after having given hostages

they suddenly shut their gates, and would not relinquish their design,

even for the prayers of their friends, whom the consul sent to the

walls, to try how far they might be influenced by compassion for their

parents and countrymen. When no pacific answer was given, the city began

to be besieged. The consul had all the apparatus, engines and machines,

which had been brought over from Ambracia; and the soldiers executed

with great diligence the works necessary to be formed. The rams were

therefore brought forward in two places, and began to batter the walls.

29. The townsmen omitted nothing by which the works or the motions of

the besiegers could be obstructed. But they resisted in two ways in

particular; one of which was to raise constantly, instead of the part of

the wall knocked down, a new wall of equal strength on the inside; and

the other was to make sudden sallies, at one time against the enemy’s

works, at another against his advanced guards; and in those attacks,

they generally got the better. The only plan that was invented to

confine them within the walls, though ineffectual, deserves to be

recorded. One hundred slingers were brought from Ægium, Patras, and

Dymæ. These men, according to the customary practice of that nation,

were exercised from their childhood in throwing with a sling, into the

open sea, the round pebbles, with which, mixed with sand, the shores

were generally strewn; therefore they cast weapons of that sort to a

greater distance, with surer aim, and more powerful effect, than even

the Balearian slingers. Besides, their sling does not consist merely of

a single strap, like the Balearic and that of other nations, but the

thong of the sling is three-fold, and made firm by several seams, that

the bullet may not, by the yielding of the strap in the act of throwing,

be let fly at random, but after sticking fast while whirled about, it

may be discharged as if sent from the string of a bow. Being accustomed

to drive their bullets through circular marks of small circumference,

placed at a great distance, they not only hit the enemy’s heads, but any

part of their face that they aimed at. These slings checked the Samæans

from sallying either so frequently or so boldly; insomuch that they

would, sometimes, from the walls, beseech the Achæans to retire for a

while, and be quiet spectators of their fight with the Roman guards.

Same supported a siege of four months. When some of their small number

were daily killed or wounded, and the survivors were, through continual

fatigues, greatly reduced both in strength and spirits, the Romans, one

night scaling the wall of the citadel, which they call Cyatides, (for

the city sloping towards the sea verges towards the west,) made their

way into the forum. The Samæans, on discovering that a part of the city

was taken, fled, with their wives and children, into the greater

citadel; but submitting next day, they were all sold as slaves, their

city being plundered.

30. As soon as he had settled the affairs of Cephallenia, the consul,

leaving a garrison in Same, sailed over to Peloponnesus, where the

Ægians and Lacedæmonians, chiefly, solicited his presence for a long

time. From the first institution of the Achæan council, the assemblies

of the nation had been held at Ægium, whether that was conceded to the

dignity of the city, or the commodiousness of its situation. This usage

Philopœmen first attempted to subvert in that year, and determined to

introduce an ordinance, that these should be held in rotation in every

one of the cities, which were members of the Achæan union; and a little

before the arrival of the consul, when the Demiurguses, who are the

chief magistrates in the states, summoned the representatives to Ægium,

Philopœmen, then prætor, by proclamation, appointed their meeting at

Argos. To which place when it was apparent that all would come, the

consul likewise, though he favoured the cause of the Ægians, went to

Argos, but, after there had been a debate, and he saw the scale turning

against the Ægians, he desisted from his undertaking. The Lacedæmonians

then drew his attention to their disputes. The exiles especially kept

that state in alarm: of whom great numbers resided in the maritime forts

on the coast of Laconia, all which had been taken from the

Lacedæmonians. At this the Lacedæmonians were deeply chagrined, and in

order that they might have some where a free access to the sea, if they

should have occasion to send ambassadors to Rome, or any other place,

and at the same time possess some mart and repository for foreign

merchandise, for their necessary demands, attacked in the night a

maritime village called Las, and seized it by surprise. The inhabitants,

and the exiles residing in the place, were terrified, at first, by the

sudden assault; but afterwards collecting in a body before day, after a

slight contest, they drove back the Lacedæmonians. A general alarm,

nevertheless, spread over the whole coast, and all the forts and

villages, with the exiles whose homes were there, united in sending a

common embassy to the Achæans.