BOOK XLI.

_The sacred fire was extinguished in the temple of Vesta. Tiberius

Sempronius Gracchus conquered the Celtiberians and received their

submission, and built the town Gracchuris in Spain, as a memorial

of his exploits. The Vaccæans and Lusitanians also were subdued by

the proconsul Postumius Albinus. Both generals triumphed.

Antiochus, the son of Antiochus, having been delivered to the

Romans by his father, as a hostage, on the death of his brother

Seleucus, who had succeeded his father on his demise, being sent

from Rome to the sovereignty of Syria, acted the part of a very

worthless king, with the exception of his attention to religion,

owing to which he erected many magnificent temples in various

places; at Athens to Olympian, and at Antioch to Capitoline

Jupiter. The lustrum was closed by the censors. Two hundred and

sixty-three thousand two hundred and ninety-four citizens are said

to have been rated. Quintus Voconius Saxa, tribune of the people,

proposed a law, that no one should make a woman his heir. Marcus

Cato advocated the law: his speech is extant. This book contains

besides the successes against the Ligurians, Istrians, Sardinians,

and Celtiberians, and the commencement of the Macedonian war, which

Perseus, the son of Philip, was planning; for he had sent an

embassy to the Carthaginians, which had been heard by them at

night; and besides he was tampering with different states of

Greece._[68]

1. _The Roman people had now carried their victorious arms over all

parts of the world, and far and wide had penetrated countries at a vast

distance, and separated by several seas. Nevertheless, in such a tide of

success flowing according to their wishes, having obtained a high

character for moderation, they were more powerful by their influence

than by their military sway; and they boasted frequently that they

carried more measures with foreign nations by policy, than by violence

and terror. Never insulting conquered nations and kings, generous to

their allies, seeking for themselves the honour of victory only, to

kings they had preserved their rank, to nations their laws, rights, and

liberty, whether in a treaty formed with an equal or with an inferior;

and although they had so encompassed, by their arms, both coasts of the

Mediterranean, from Cadiz even as far as Syria, and had gained respect

for the Roman name through immense tracts of territory, yet the only

subjects they had, were the nations of Sicily and the islands on the

coast of Italy, and the tribes of the greater part of Spain, which had

not yet learned to bear their yoke with resignation. It was the

ill-timed treachery of their enemies and rivals, rather than their own

ambition, that afforded them cause and material for the increase of

their sway. As a special instance: the cruelty of Perseus, who obtained

the kingdom of Macedon by treachery and crime, displayed towards his

subjects, detested by all, his frantic avarice in the midst of boundless

wealth, his inconsiderate levity in the adoption and prosecution of his

plans, both destroyed him, and whatever could remain independent, as

long as he existed, the principal restraint on the Roman power; for his

fall recoiled upon others, and brought with it not only the downfall of

his neighbours, but also that of those who were far removed from him.

The fall of Carthage and of the Achæans followed the ruin of the

Macedonians: and when the state of all was convulsed by their disasters,

the rest of the empires, already tottering for some time, were

overthrown shortly after, and all fell beneath the Roman sway. It was my

intention to lay here before the reader at a glance these events, so

intimately connected in interest, though occurring at different times

and places, whilst he contemplated the war impending over the Romans

from Perseus, from which especially the Roman power drew the sources of

its growth. Perseus was then concocting that war in secret; the

Ligurians and Gauls provoked rather than employed the Roman arms._

2. _Gaul and the Ligurians were the provinces assigned to the consuls,

Marcus Junius Brutus, Aulus Manlius Vulso: Gaul was assigned to Manlius,

Liguria to Junius. As to the prætors, the city jurisdiction fell to

Marcus Titinius Curvus; the foreign, to Tiberius Claudius Nero; Sicily,

to Publius Ælius Ligus; Sardinia, to Titus Æbutius; Hither Spain, to the

other Marcus Titinius, for there were two of that name prætors in that

year; and the Farther Spain, to Titus Fonteius Capito. A fire broke out

in the forum, by which very many buildings were burnt to the ground, and

the temple of Venus was entirely consumed. The sacred fire of Vesta was

extinguished: the virgin who had the care of it was punished with

stripes, by order of Marcus Æmilius, the chief pontiff, and supplication

was performed, as usual in such cases. In this year the lustrum was

closed by Marcus Æmilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, censors,

in which were rated two hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred

and forty-four citizens. The ambassadors of Perseus arrived, requiring

that he should be saluted by the senate as king, ally, and friend, and

that the treaty should be renewed with him which had existed with his

father Philip. Perseus was an object of hatred and suspicion to the

Romans, and most of them had no doubt, that as soon as an opportunity

was presented, and his strength appeared to him adequate to the

struggle, he would wage against the Romans the war, prepared in secret

by Philip, for so many years. However, that they might not appear to

have provoked him when quiet and desirous of peace, and to have

themselves furnished him with a cause for war, they conceded to him his

demands. Perseus, when this answer was received, supposing that the

kingdom was secured to him, began to acquire influence among the Greeks.

Being desirous therefore of procuring their friendship, he recalled into

Macedon all, without exception, who had gone into exile, when condemned

for debt or by any judicial proceeding, and those who had left Macedon

for high treason, by edicts, openly announced in the island of Delos,

and at Delphi, and at the temple of Minerva at Itone, in which he

granted to those returning not only pardon, but also restoration of all

their property, with the income, from that period in which each became

an exile. He also remitted to those who were living in Macedon whatever

was due to the royal exchequer; and released all those imprisoned for

high treason. When by these acts he had encouraged the minds of many, he

turned the attention of all Greece towards himself, and filled it with

great hope. And besides, in the entire deportment of the rest of his

life, he preserved the dignity of a king; for his mien was noble, and

his person well fitted to discharge all the duties of war and peace; and

his age, now matured, possessed a graceful majesty, beaming from brow

and forehead. He had none of his father’s wantonness, and licentious

passions for women and wine. By these praise-worthy acts Perseus

rendered the beginning of his reign agreeable, although it was destined

to have a termination very different from its commencement._

3. _Before those prætors who had obtained by lot the Spains could come

to their provinces, great exploits were there performed by Postumius and

Gracchus. But the praise of Gracchus was extraordinary, for he being in

the prime of life, since he far surpassed all his coevals in courage and

prudence, even then was lauded greatly by fame, and raised greater hope

of himself with regard to the future. Twenty thousand Celtiberians were

besieging Carabi, a city in alliance with the Romans. Gracchus hastened

to bear aid to his allies. That anxiety tortured him, how he could

signify his intention to the besieged, while the enemy pressed the city

with so close a blockade, that it scarcely appeared possible that an

enemy could reach it. The daring of Cominius executed the difficult

task. He being præfect of a troop of horse, having previously weighed

over the matter with himself, and having informed Gracchus of what he

was preparing, dressed himself in a Spanish military cloak, and mixed

with the enemy’s foragers. Having entered the camp with them he galloped

from it to the city, and announced the approach of Tiberius. The

townsmen, being aroused by this intelligence from the depth of despair

to cheerfulness and daring, and having determined to fight bravely to

the last, were relieved from blockade on the third day, in consequence

of the enemy having departed on the arrival of Gracchus. He himself

having been afterwards attacked by a stratagem of the barbarians, by the

union of skill and strength, so repelled the danger, that the artifice

recoiled on its originators. There was a town, Complega by name, that

had been built several years before, but strengthened by fortifications

and increased by speedy additions, into which many of the Spaniards had

flocked, who previously straggled here and there in need of territory.

About twenty thousand men coming forth from that city in the garb of

suppliants, and holding forth branches of olive, stood in view of the

camp as if entreating peace. Immediately, having cast away the emblems

of suppliants, and having suddenly attacked the Romans, they fill every

place with alarm and consternation. Gracchus, by a prudent counsel,

deserted the camp under the pretence of flight: and whilst they were

plundering it with the usual greediness of barbarians, and were

encumbering themselves with the spoil, he suddenly returned, and

attacking them when in no apprehensions of such an evil, slew the most

of them, and even made himself master of their town. There are some who

tell the story differently: that Gracchus, when he had discovered that

the enemy were distressed from want of food, abandoned his camp, which

was very well furnished with all articles of food; that the enemy,

having taken possession of it, and having intemperately filled

themselves with what they had found, and gorged themselves to repletion,

were suddenly cut off by the return of the Roman army._

4. _But whether this is a different way of telling the same exploit, or

quite a different affair and different victory, it is certain that

Gracchus completely conquered several tribes, and moreover the entire

nation of the Celtiberians. I would not however have the hardihood to

assert that he took and destroyed three hundred of their cities,

although Polybius, a writer of the highest authority, makes mention of

it; unless that under the name of cities we include towers and castles:

by which description of falsehood both the generals in wars and the

writers of histories take delight in setting off exploits. For Spain,

with its dry and uncultivated soil, could not support a large number of

cities. The wild and uncivilized manners of the Spaniards, with the

exception of those that dwell on our sea, are also at variance with the

assertion, since the dispositions of men are accustomed to become more

mild by the meeting with fellow-citizens which occurs in towns. But

whatever we may determine concerning the number or description of the

cities taken by Sempronius, (for writers vary also in the number, and

some have related that one hundred and fifty towns were taken by him,

others that one hundred and three was the number,) he certainly

performed noble achievements; nor was he distinguished by the praises he

received in war only; but he also proved himself unparalleled in

arranging and arbitrating peace and laws for the conquered nations. For

he distributed lands among the poor and assigned them habitations, and

by giving and receiving an oath, secured to all the tribes inhabiting

that country, laws clearly defined, according to which they were to live

in friendship and alliance with the Roman people. And posterity often

appealed to the authority of this treaty in the wars which afterwards

broke out. Gracchus appointed that the town which was hitherto called

Illurcis, should be distinguished by his own name, and called

Gracchuris, as a monument of his merit and actions. The report of the

acts of Postumius is more involved in obscurity. However the Vaccæans

and Lusitanians were conquered by him, and forty thousand of these

nations were slain. These affairs being transacted, they both, when they

had delivered up the armies and provinces to their successors on their

arrival, went home to triumph. In Gaul, Manlius the consul, to whom that

province had fallen, when material for a triumph was wanting, eagerly

seized an opportunity presented by fortune, of waging war against the

Istrians. They had aided the Ætolians on a former occasion when making

war against the Romans, and lately too had given trouble. At that time

Æpulo, a king of a violent disposition, ruled them, who was said to have

armed the nation trained to peace by his father_, and therefore was much

endeared to the youth desirous of plundering.

1. When the consul held a council on the subject of a war with Istria,

some were of opinion that it ought to be begun immediately, before the

enemy could collect forces; others, that the senate ought first to be

consulted; the opinion was adopted which opposed delay. Accordingly the

consul, marching from Aquileia, pitched his camp at the lake Timavus,

which lies very near the sea. Thither came Caius Furius, one of the

naval commanders, with ten ships; for two naval commanders had been

appointed against the fleet of the Illyrians, and these commanders, with

twenty ships for the protection of the coast of the Hadriatic, were to

make Ancona, as it were, the pivot of their position; so that Lucius

Cornelius had to guard the coasts on the right, extending from the

latter place to Tarentum; and Caius Furius those on the left, as far as

Aquileia. This squadron was sent to the nearest port in the Istrian

territory, with a number of transports and a large store of provisions;

while the consul, following with the legions, encamped at the distance

of about five miles from the coast. A plentiful market was soon

established at the port, and every thing conveyed thence to the camp.

That this might be done with greater safety, out-posts were fixed around

the camp; a newly-levied cohort of Placentines was posted between the

camp and the sea, as a picket in the direction of Istria; and that the

watering-parties might likewise have protection at the river, orders

were given to Marcus Æbutius, military tribune, to take thither two

companies of the second legion. Titus and Caius Ælius, military

tribunes, led out the third legion on the road towards Aquileia, in

support of those that went for food and forage. In the same quarter,

nearly a mile distant, was the camp of the Gauls: Catmelus acted as

their chieftain, and they were not more than three thousand armed men.

2. When the Roman army first reached the lake Timavus, the Istrians took

post behind a hill, where they could not be seen; and on its march

thence followed it through by-ways, watching attentively for some

opportunity that might give them an advantage; nor did any thing that

was done, either on land or sea, escape their observation. When they saw

that the advanced guards of the Romans were weak, and that the

market-place was filled with an unarmed crowd of persons trafficking

between the camp and the sea, and that they had not fortified themselves

either by works on land, or by the help of ships, they made an assault

on two of their posts at once, that of the Placentine cohort, and that

of the two companies of the second legion. A morning fog concealed their

design; and when this began to disperse as the sun grew warm, the light

piercing through it in some degree, yet still being far from clear, and,

as usual in such cases, magnifying the appearance of every thing,

deceived the Romans, and made the army of the enemy appear much greater

to them than it really was. And when the troops in both the posts,

terrified, had fled in the utmost confusion to the camp, there they

caused much greater alarm than that which they were under themselves:

for they could neither tell what made them fly nor answer any question

that was asked. Then a shouting was heard at all the gates, since there

were no guards at them which could withstand an attack: and the crowding

together of the soldiers, who fell one against the other in the dark,

raised a doubt as to whether the enemy was within the rampart. One only

cry was heard, that of those urging to the sea. This cry uttered by one,

and without an objected by chance, resounded every where throughout the

entire camp. At first, therefore, a few with their arms and a greater

part without them, as if they had received orders so to do, ran off to

the sea shore; then followed more, and at length almost the whole of the

army, and the consul himself, when, having attempted in vain to call

back the fugitives, he had effected nothing by commands, advice, and, at

last, by entreaties. Marcus Licinius Strabo, a military tribune of the

third legion, with three companies alone, remained, being left behind by

his legion. The Istrians having made an attack on the empty camp, after

that no other had met them in arms came upon him while he was drawing up

and encouraging his men at the general’s quarters; the fight was

maintained with more resolution than might be anticipated, from the

small number of the defenders; nor did it cease until the tribune, and

those who stood round him, were all slain. The enemy then, tearing down

the general’s tent, and seizing on all they could find, went on to the

quæstor’s quarters, and the adjoining forum, called Quintana. Thereupon,

when they found all kinds of food dressed and laid out in the quæstor’s

tent, and the couches placed in order, their chieftain lay down and

began to feast. Presently all the rest, thinking no more of fighting or

of the enemy, did the same; and being unaccustomed to any sort of rich

food, they greedily gorged themselves with meat and wine.

3. The appearance of affairs among the Romans was by no means the same.

There was confusion both on land and sea; the mariners struck their

tents, and hastily conveyed on board the provisions which had been sent

on shore; the soldiers in a panic rushed into the boats, and even into

the water. Some of the seamen, in fear lest their vessels should be

overcrowded, opposed the entrance of the multitude, while others pushed

off from the shore into the deep. Hence arose a dispute, and in a short

time a fight, accompanied by wounds and loss of lives, both of soldiers

and seamen; until by order of the consul, the fleet was removed to a

distance from the shore. He next set about separating the armed from the

unarmed; out of so large a number, there were scarcely found twelve

hundred who had preserved their arms; very few horsemen who had brought

their horses with them; while the rest were an ill-looking throng, like

servants and sutlers, and would certainly have fallen a prey, if the

enemy had not neglected the war. At length an express was despatched to

call in the third legion and the out-post of the Gauls; and at the same

time the troops began to march back from all parts in order to retake

the camp, and wipe off their disgrace. The military tribunes of the

third legion ordered their men to throw away the forage and wood, and

commanded the centurions to mount two elderly soldiers on horses from

which the loads were thrown down, and each of the cavalry to take a

young foot soldier with him on his horse. He told them, “it would be a

great honour to their legion, if they should recover, by bravery, the

camp which had been lost by the cowardice of the second; and that this

might be easily effected, if the barbarians were surprised while busied

in plundering. In like manner as they had taken it, so might it be

retaken.” His exhortation was received by the army with the utmost

alacrity; they eagerly bear on the standards, nor do the soldiers delay

the standard-bearers. However the consul, and the troops which were led

back from the shore, reached the rampart first. Lucius Atius, first

tribune of the second legion, not only urged on his men, but informed

them also, that “if the Istrians meant to retain the camp, which they

had taken, by the same arms by which they took it, they would, in the

first place, have pursued their enemy driven from his camp to the sea;

and, in the next place, they would certainly have stationed guards

outside the rampart; and that it was very likely that they were lying in

sleep, or drowned in wine.”

4. Immediately after this, he ordered his own standard-bearer, Aulus

Bæculonius, a man of known bravery, to bear in the standard; who

replied, that if the men were willing to follow him, he would cause it

to be done more quickly. Then, exerting all his strength, after throwing

the standard across the intrenchment, he was the first that entered the

gate. And on the other side, Titus Ælius and Caius Ælius, military

tribunes of the third legion, with their cavalry arrived; and, quickly

after them, the soldiers whom they had mounted in pairs on the beasts of

burden; also the consul with the main body. Only a few of the Istrians,

who had drunk in moderation, betook themselves to flight: death

succeeded as the continuation of the sleep of the others; and the Romans

recovered all their effects unimpaired, except the victuals and wine

which had been consumed. The soldiers, too, who had been left sick in

the camp, when they saw their countrymen within the trenches, snatched

up arms, and committed great slaughter. The bravery of Caius Popilius, a

horseman, was pre-eminent above that of all. His surname was Labellus.

He had been left behind in the camp, on account of a wound in his foot,

notwithstanding which he slew by far the greatest number of the enemy.

About eight thousand Istrians were killed, but not one prisoner taken;

for rage and indignation had made the Romans regardless of booty. The

king of the Istrians, though drunk after his banquet, was hastily

mounted on a horse by his people, and effected his escape. Of the

conquerors there were lost two hundred and thirty-seven men; more of

whom fell in the fight in the morning, than in the retaking of the camp.

5. It happened that Cneius and Lucius Cavillius, new citizens of

Aquileia, coming with a convoy of provisions, and not knowing what had

passed, were very near going into the camp after it was taken by the

Istrians. These men, when, leaving their baggage, they had fled back to

Aquileia, filled all things with consternation and alarm, not only

there, but, in a few days after, at Rome also; to which intelligence was

brought, not only that the camp was taken, and that the troops ran away,

as was really the case, but that every thing was lost and that the whole

army was entirely cut off. Wherefore, as is usual in a dangerous

emergency, extraordinary levies were ordered by proclamation, both in

the city and throughout all Italy. Two legions of Roman citizens were

raised, and ten thousand foot and five hundred horse were demanded from

the allies of the Latin nation. The consul Marcus Junius was ordered to

pass on into Gaul, and demand from the several states of that province,

whatever number of troops each was able to supply. At the same time it

was decreed that Tiberius Claudius, the prætor, should issue orders for

the fourth legion, and five thousand foot and two hundred and fifty

horse, of the Latins, to assemble at Pisæ; and that he should guard that

province during the consul’s absence; and that Marcus Titinius, the

prætor, should order the first legion, and an equal number of allied

foot and horse, to meet at Ariminum. Nero, habited in general’s robes,

set out for Pisæ, which was in his province. Titinius, after sending

Caius Cassius, military tribune, to Ariminum, to take the command of the

legion there, held a levy at Rome. The consul, Marcus Junius, passed

over from Liguria into the province of Gaul, and having immediately

ordered a levy of auxiliaries through the states of Gaul, and having

ordered the colonies to send soldiers, came to Aquileia. There he

learned that the army was safe; wherefore, after despatching a letter to

Rome, that they might be no longer alarmed, he sent home the

auxiliaries, which he had ordered the Gauls to furnish, and proceeded

himself to join his colleague. There was great joy at Rome after the

unexpected news; the levies were stopped, the soldiers who had taken the

military oath were discharged, and the troops at Ariminum, who were

afflicted with a pestilential sickness, were remanded home. The

Istrians, when they with a numerous force were encamped at no great

distance from the consul, after they heard that the other consul was

arrived with a new army, dispersed, and returned to their several

states. The consuls led back their legions into winter quarters at

Aquileia.

6. The alarm caused by the affairs of Istria being at length composed, a

decree of the senate was passed, that the consuls should settle between

themselves which of them should come to Rome, to preside at the

elections. When two plebeian tribunes, Aulus Licinius Narva and Caius

Papirius Turdus, in their harangues to the people, uttered severe

reflections on Manlius, then abroad; and proposed the passing of an

order, that although the government of their provinces had already been

continued to the consuls for a year, yet Manlius should not hold command

beyond the ides of March; in order that he might immediately, after

going out of office, be brought to trial. Against this proposition,

Quintus Ælius, another tribune, protested; and, after violent struggles,

prevailed so far, as to prevent its being passed. About this time, when

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Lucius Postumius Albinus came home from

Spain, an audience of the senate is granted to them, by Marcus Titinius

the prætor, to speak of the services which they had rendered, and demand

the honours they had merited, and also that thanksgiving should be

offered to the immortal gods. At the same time also it was known by the

letters of Titus Æbutius the prætor, which his son brought to the

senate, that there was great commotion in Sardinia. The Iliensians,

having added to their forces Balearian auxiliaries, had invaded the

province though at peace with them; nor could resistance be offered to

them by a weak, army, which had besides lost great numbers by a

pestilence. Ambassadors from the Sardinians made the same

representations, entreating the senate to send relief to their cities;

for as to the country, it was already entirely ruined. This embassy, and

every thing which referred to Sardinia, was referred to the new

magistrates. There was an embassy from the Lycians, no less entitled to

commiseration, who complained of the cruel treatment which they suffered

from the Rhodians, to whose government they had been annexed by Lucius

Cornelius Scipio. “They had formerly,” they said, “been under the

dominion of Antiochus, and their bondage under that king, compared to

their present condition, appeared an honourable state of liberty; that

they were not only oppressed by acts of government, but individually

underwent real slavery. That they themselves, their wives, and children,

were abused alike by them; that cruelties were practised on their

persons, and their character blotted and dishonoured, a circumstance

which would excite the indignation of every one. They were openly

treated with contemptuous insults, merely for the purpose of exercising

an usurped prerogative, that they might not doubt that there was no

difference between them and purchased slaves.” The senate was highly

displeased at such proceedings, and gave the Lycians a letter to the

Rhodians, acquainting them, that “it was the will of the senate, that

neither the Lycians should be subjected to the Rhodians as slaves, nor

should any other men who were born free become the slaves of any one;

but that the Lycians should be under the government, and, at the same

time, the protection of the Rhodians, in like manner as the allied

states were subjected to the Roman people.”

7. Two triumphs for conquests in Spain were then successively

celebrated. First, Sempronius Gracchus triumphed over the Celtiberians

and their allies; next day, Lucius Postumius triumphed over the

Lusitanians, and the other Spaniards in that quarter. Tiberius Gracchus

carried in the procession forty thousand pounds’ weight of silver,

Albinus twenty thousand. They distributed to each of their soldiers

twenty-five denariuses,[69] double that sum to a centurion, triple it to

a horseman; the same sums to the allied troops as to the Roman. The

consul, Marcus Junius, happened to arrive at Rome at this time from

Istria, in order to hold the elections. The plebeian tribunes, Papirius

and Licinius, after harassing him in the senate, with questions relative

to what had passed in Istria, brought him into the assembly of the

people. To which inquiries the consul answered, that “he had been not

more than eleven days in that province; and that as to what had happened

when he was not present, he, like themselves, gained his information

from report.” But they still proceeded to ask, “why, then, did not

Manlius rather come to Rome, that he might account to the Roman people

for his having quitted Gaul, the province allotted to him, and gone into

Istria? When had the senate decreed a war with that nation? When had the

people ordered it? But he will say, ‘Though the war was indeed

undertaken by private authority, yet it was conducted with prudence and

courage.’ On the contrary, it is impossible to say, whether it was

undertaken with greater injustice than the rashness with which it was

conducted. Two advanced guards were surprised by the Istrians; a Roman

camp was taken, with whatever infantry and cavalry were in it; the rest

in disorder, without arms, and among the foremost the consul himself,

fled to the shore and the ships. But he should answer for all these

matters when he became a private citizen, since he had been unwilling to

do so while consul.”

8. The elections were then held, in which Caius Claudius Pulcher and

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus were chosen consuls. Next day the following

persons were elected præters, Publius Ælius Tubero, a second time, Caius

Quintus Flamininus, Caius Numisius, Lucius Mummius, Cneius Cornelius

Scipio, and Publius Valerius Lævinus. The city jurisdiction fell, by

lot, to Tubero; the foreign, to Quintus; Sicily, to Numisius; and

Sardinia, to Mummius; but this last, on account of the importance of the

war there, was made a consular province. Gracchus obtains it by lot;

Claudius, Istria; Scipio and Lævinus received Gaul, which was divided

into two provinces. On the ides of March, the day when Sempronius and

Claudius assumed the administration, a cursory mention only was of the

provinces of Sardinia and of Istria, and of those who had commenced

hostilities there; but on the day following, the ambassadors of the

Sardinians, who had been referred to the new magistrates, were

introduced, and Lucius Minucius Thermus, lieutenant-general under the

consul Manlius in Istria, attended; and by them the senate was

accurately informed how far these provinces were involved in war.

Ambassadors from the confederate states of Latium, who, after having

ineffectually applied to the former consuls and censors, were at last

introduced to an audience, made a powerful impression on the senate. The

amount of their complaints was that “their citizens, having been rated

in the general survey at Rome, had most of them removed thither; and

that if this practice were allowed, it would come to pass, in the course

of a very few lustrums, that their deserted towns and country would be

unable to furnish any soldiers.” The Samnites and the Pelignians also

represented, that four thousand families had emigrated to Fregellæ; and

that neither of these places furnished less soldiers on that account.

That there had been practised two species of fraud in individuals

changing their citizenship: there was a law, which granted liberty to

any of the allies or Latins, who should not leave his offspring at home,

to be enrolled a citizen of Rome; yet, by an abuse of this law, some did

injury to the allies, others to the Roman people. For, at first, to

evade the leaving offspring at home, they made over their children as

slaves to some Roman, under an agreement that they should be again set

free, and thus become citizens by emancipation; and then those men, who

had now no children to leave, became Roman citizens. Afterwards, they

neglected even these appearances of law; and, without any regard either

to the ordinances or to progeny, passed indiscriminately into the Roman

state by migration, and getting themselves included in the survey. To

prevent such proceedings in future, the ambassadors requested the senate

to order the allies to return to their respective states, and to provide

by a law that no one should make any man his property, or alienate such

property for the purpose of a change of citizenship; and that if any

person should by such means be made a citizen of Rome, he should not

enjoy the rights of a citizen.

9. The senate granted their petitions; and then Sardinia and Istria, the

provinces which were in arms, were disposed of. Two legions were ordered

to be enrolled for Sardinia, each containing five thousand two hundred

foot and three hundred horse; and of allies and Latins, twelve thousand

foot and six hundred horse; and it was decided that the consul should

have ten ships, of five banks of oars, if he should think it requisite

to take them from the docks. The same numbers of infantry and cavalry

were decreed for Istria as for Sardinia. The consuls were ordered to

send into Spain to Marcus Titinius, one legion, with three hundred horse

and five thousand foot, and two hundred and fifty horse of the allies.

Before the consuls cast lots for their provinces, several prodigies were

reported: that in the Crustumine territory, a stone fell from the sky

into the grove of Mars; that in the Roman territory, a boy was born

defective in his limbs; that a serpent with four feet had been seen;

that at Capua, many buildings in the forum were struck by lightning;

and, that at Puteoli, two ships were burned by lightning. Amidst these

prodigies which were reported from abroad, a wolf also, after entering

Rome by the Colline gate, was chased during the day, and, to the great

consternation of its pursuers, escaped through the Esquiline gate. On

account of these prodigies, the consuls sacrificed victims of the larger

kinds, and there was a supplication, for one day, at all the shrines.

When the sacrifices were duly performed, they cast lots for their

provinces; Istria fell to Claudius, Sardinia to Sempronius. Then Caius

Claudius, by direction of the senate, proposed a law and issued a

proclamation, that “any of the allies and Latin confederates, who

themselves, or whose ancestors, had been surveyed among the associated

states of Latium in the censorship of Marcus Claudius and Titus

Quintius, or at any time since, should all return, each to his

respective state, before the calends of November.” Inquiry concerning

such as did not obey, was intrusted to Lucius Mummius the prætor. To the

law and the proclamation of the consul, was added a decree of the

senate, that “the dictator, consul, interrex, censor, or prætor, who

then should be in office, before whom any slave should be brought, to

receive manumission, should cause the said slave who was about to be

made free, to make oath, that the person giving him liberty did not do

it for the purpose of his changing his citizenship;” they ordered that

he, whoever would not swear this oath, should not be manumitted. The

cognizance and jurisdiction in this business was, for the future,

assigned to Caius Claudius the consul.

10. While these matters passed at Rome, Marcus Junius and Aulus Manlius,

the consuls of the preceding year, after remaining during the winter at

Aquileia, led their army early in the spring into the Istrian

territories; where when they spread their depredations through a great

part of the country, grief and indignation, rather than any

well-grounded hope of being able to make head against these joint

forces, roused the Istrians, on perceiving the plunder of their

property. A hasty levy of their young men being made from all their

cantons this raw and tumultuary army made its first onset with more

vigour than perseverance. About four thousand of them were slain in the

field; and the rest, giving over the war, fled in different directions

to their respective states. Soon after, they sent ambassadors to the

Roman camp to sue for peace, and then delivered up the hostages required

of them. When these transactions were made known at Rome, by letters

from the proconsul, Caius Claudius, the consul, fearing that this

proceeding might, perhaps, take the province and the army out of his

hands, without offering vows, without assuming the military habit, and

unaccompanied by his lictors, having acquainted his colleague alone with

his intention, set out in the night, and with the utmost speed hastened

to the province, where he conducted himself even with less prudence than

he had shown in coming. For, in an assembly which he called, after

making severe remarks on Manlius’s running away from the camp, which

were very offensive to the ears of the soldiers, as they themselves had

begun the flight, and after railing at Marcus Junius, as having made

himself a sharer in the disgrace of his colleague, he at last ordered

both of them to quit the province. And when they replied, that when the

consul should come, in the regular manner, agreeably to ancient

practice; when he should set out from the city, after offering vows in

the Capitol, attended by his lictors and dressed in the military habit,

then they would obey his orders. Maddened by anger, he summoned the

person who acted as quæstor to Manlius, and ordered him to bring

fetters, threatening to send Junius and Manlius to Rome in chains. The

consul’s command was slighted by this man too; and the surrounding

crowd of soldiers, who favoured the cause of their commanders, and were

incensed against the consul, supplied him with resolution to refuse

obedience. At last the consul, overpowered by the reproaches of

individuals and the scoffs of the multitude, for they even turned him

into ridicule, went back to Aquileia in the same ship in which he had

come. Thence he wrote to his colleague, desiring him to give notice to

that part of the new-raised troops who were enlisted for Istria, to

assemble at Aquileia, in order that he should have no delay at Rome, but

set out, in the military habit, as soon as the ceremony of offering vows

was finished. These directions his colleague punctually executed, and an

early day was appointed for the assembling of the troops. Claudius

almost overtook his own letter. On his arrival he called an assembly,

that he might represent the conduct of Manlius and Junius; and, staying

only three days in Rome, he offered his vows in the Capitol, put on the

military habit, and, attended by his lictors, set out to his province

with the same rapid speed which he had used in the former journey.

11. A few days before his arrival, Junius and Manlius had laid vigorous

siege to the town of Nesatium, in which the principal Istrians, and

Epulo their king, had shut themselves up. Claudius, bringing thither the

two new legions, dismissed the old army, with its commanders; invested

the town himself; and prosecuted the siege with regular works. He by the

labour of many days changed the course of, and carried away in a new

channel, a river which flowed on the outside of the wall, and greatly

impeded the proceedings of the besiegers, while it supplied the Istrians

with water. This event, of the water being cut off, terrified the

barbarians, as if effected by some supernatural power; yet still they

entertained no thoughts of peace, but set about killing their wives and

children; exhibiting a spectacle shocking even to their enemies; and,

after putting them to death in open view on the walls, tumbled them

down. Amid the simultaneous shrieking of women and children, and this

horrid carnage, the soldiers, scaling the walls, effected an entrance

into the town. As soon as the king heard the uproar of the captured

city, from the cries of terror uttered by the flying inhabitants, he

plunged his sword into his breast, that he might not be taken alive; the

rest were either killed or taken prisoners. After this, two other

towns, Mutila and Faveria, were stormed and destroyed. The booty, which

exceeded expectation, considering the poverty of the nation, was all

given up to the soldiers. Five thousand six hundred and thirty-two

persons were sold by auction, and the fomenters of the war were beaten

with rods and beheaded. By the destruction of these three towns, and the

death of the king, the whole country of Istria was brought to terms of

peace; every one of its states, giving hostages, submitted to the

dominion of the Romans.

12. For some time before, the conclusion of the war with Istria,

consultations were held among the Ligurians about the renewal of

hostilities. Tiberius Claudius, proconsul, who had been consul the year

before, with a garrison of one legion, held the command of Pisæ. And

when the senate was informed by his letter of their proceedings, they

vote that “the same letter should be carried to Caius Claudius,” for the

other consul had already crossed over into Sardinia; and they added a

decree, that, since the province of Istria was subdued, he might, if he

thought proper, lead his army into Liguria. At the same time, a

supplication for two days was decreed, in consequence of the letter

which he wrote concerning his actions in Istria. The other consul,

Sempronius, likewise was successful in his operations in Sardinia. He

carried his army into the territory of the Ilian tribe of Sardinians.

Powerful reinforcements from the Balarians had come to the Ilians. He

fought a pitched battle against the combined forces of the two states.

The enemy were routed and put to flight, and driven from their camp;

twelve thousand armed men were slain. Next day, the consul ordered their

arms to be gathered into a heap and burned, as an offering to Vulcan. He

then led back his victorious troops into winter quarters in the allied

cities. Caius Claudius, on receipt of the letter of Tiberius Claudius

and the decree of the senate, marched his legions out of Istria into

Liguria. The enemy, having advanced into the plains, were encamped on

the river Scultenna: here a pitched battle was fought, in which fifteen

thousand of the enemy were killed, and about seven hundred captured in

the fight, and in the camp, for that too was stormed; and also fifty-one

military standards were taken. The Ligurians who survived the slaughter,

fled back in every direction into the mountains. No appearance of arms

any where met the consul while ravaging the low country. Claudius,

having thus in one year subdued two nations, and, what has rarely been

achieved in a single consulate, completed the reduction of two

provinces, came home to Rome.

13. Several prodigies were reported this year: that at Crustuminum a

bird, which they call the ospray, cut a sacred stone with its beak; that

a cow spoke in Campania; that at Syracuse a brazen statue of a cow was

mounted by a farmer’s bull which had strayed from the herd. A

supplication of one day was performed in Crustuminum, on the spot; the

cow at Campania was ordered to be maintained at the public expense, and

the prodigy at Syracuse was expiated, the deities to whom supplications

should be offered, being declared by the aruspices. This year died, in

the office of pontiff, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had been consul

and censor; and his son, Marcus Marcellus, was chosen into the vacant

place. The same year a colony of two thousand Roman citizens was settled

at Luca. The triumvirs, Publius Ælius, Lucius Egilius, and Cneius

Sicinius, planted it. Fifty-one acres and a half of land were given to

each. This land had been taken from the Ligurians, and had been the

property of the Etrurians, before it fell into their possession. Caius

Claudius, the consul, arrived at the city, and after laying before the

senate a detail of his successful services in Istria and Liguria, a

triumph was decreed to him on demanding it. He triumphed, in office,

over the two nations at once. In this procession he carried three

hundred and seven thousand denariuses,[70] and eighty-five thousand

seven hundred and two quinariuses.[71] To each soldier fifteen

denariuses[72] were given, double that sum to a centurion, triple it to

a horseman. The allied soldiers received less, by half, than the native

troops, for which reason they followed his chariot in silence to show

their disgust.

14. While this triumph over the Ligurians was celebrated, that people,

perceiving that not only the consular army returned to Rome, but also

that the legion at Pisæ had been disbanded by Tiberius Claudius, shaking

off their fears, and collecting an army secretly, crossed the mountains

by winding paths, and came down into the plains, and after ravaging the

lands of Mutina, by a sudden assault they gained possession of the

colony itself. When this account was brought to Rome, the senate ordered

Caius Claudius, the consul, to hold the elections as soon as possible,

and (after appointing magistrates for the ensuing year) to go back to

his province, and rescue the colony out of the hands of the enemy. The

elections were held as the senate had directed; and Cneius Cornelius

Scipio Hispalus, with Quintus Petillius Spurinus, were chosen consuls.

Then Marcus Popillius Lænas, Publius Licinius Crassus, Marcus Cornelius

Scipio, Lucius Papirius Maso, Marcus Aburius, and Lucius Aquilius

Gallus, were elected prætors. To Caius Claudius, the consul, his command

was prolonged for a year, and likewise the administration of the

province of Gaul; and he was ordered, lest the Istrians should follow

the example of the Ligurians, to send into Istria the allied Latin

troops, which he had brought home to attend his triumph. When the

consuls, Cneius Cornelius and Quintus Petillius, on the day of entering

into office, according to custom, sacrificed each an ox to Jupiter, the

head of the liver was not found in the victim sacrificed by Petillius;

which being reported to the senate, he was ordered to sacrifice oxen

until the omens should be favourable. The senate being then consulted

concerning the provinces, decreed Pisæ and Liguria to be the provinces

of the consuls. They ordered that he to whose lot Pisæ fell, should, at

the time of the elections, come home to preside at them; and that they

should severally enlist two new legions and three hundred horse; and

should order the allies, and Latin confederates, to furnish ten thousand

foot and six hundred horse to each. The command was prolonged to

Tiberius Claudius, until such time as the consul should arrive in the

province.

15. While the senate was employed in these affairs, Caius Cornelius,

being called by a beadle, went out of the senate-house; and, after a

short time, returned with a troubled countenance, and told the conscript

fathers that the liver of a fat ox, which he had sacrificed, had melted

away; that, when this was told him by the person who dressed the

victims, he did not believe it, and he himself ordered the water to be

poured out of the vessel in which the entrails were boiled; and he saw

all entire but the liver, which had been unaccountably consumed. While

the fathers were under much terror on account of this prodigy, their

alarm was augmented by the other consul, who informed them that, on

account of the first victim having wanted the head of the liver, he had

sacrificed three oxen, and had not yet found favourable omens. The

senate ordered him to continue sacrificing the larger victims until he

should find favourable omens. They say that the victims offered to the

other deities at length presented good omens; but that in those offered

to Health, Petillius could find none such. Then the consuls and prætors

cast lots for their provinces, when Pisæ fell to Cneius Cornelius;

Liguria, to Petillius. Of the prætors, Lucius Papirius Maso obtained the

city jurisdiction; Marcus Abutius, the foreign; Marcus Cornelius Scipio

Maluginensis, the Farther Spain; Lucius Aquilius Gallus, Sicily. Two of

them petitioned to be excused from going into their provinces. First,

Marcus Popillius requested that he might not be obliged to go to

Sardinia, alleging that “Gracchus was bringing that province into a

state of tranquillity; that Titus Æbutius the præter had been given to

him by the senate as his assistant; and that it was by no means

expedient to interrupt the train of business, for the completion of

which there was no method so efficacious as the continuing the

management in the same hands; that, amid the transfer of command and

initiation of the successors, who must be impressed with a knowledge of

circumstances before they can proceed to action, opportunities of

successfully transacting matters were frequently lost.” The excuse of

Popillius was admitted. Then Publius Licinius Crassus alleged that he

was prevented from going into his province by solemn sacrifices. That

which had fallen to his lot was Hither Spain. But he was ordered either

to proceed thither, or to swear in the public assembly that he was

hindered by the performance of solemn anniversary sacrifices. When this

determination was made in the case of Publius Licinius, Marcus Cornelius

demanded that his oath, of the like import, might be admitted as an

excuse for his not going into the Farther Spain. Both the prætors

accordingly took an oath in the same words. Marcus Titinius and Titus

Fonteius, proconsuls, were ordered to remain in Spain, with authority as

before; and it was decreed that a reinforcement should be sent to them

of three thousand Roman foot, with two hundred horse; and five hundred

Latin foot, with three hundred horse.

16. The Latin festival was celebrated on the third day before the nones

of May;[73] and because, on the offering of one of the victims, the

magistrate of Lanuvium had not prayed for the ROMAN PEOPLE, THE

QUIRITES, religious scruples were felt. When the matter was laid before

the senate, and they referred it to the college of pontiffs, the latter

determined that the Latin festival had not been duly performed, and must

be repeated; and that the Lanuvians, on whose account they were

repeated, should furnish the victims. Besides the concern excited by

matters of a religious nature, another incident caused no small degree

of uneasiness. The consul Cneius Cornelius, as he was returning from the

Alban mount, fell down. And being paralysed in part of his limbs, set

out for the waters of Cumæ, where, his disorder still increasing, he

died. His body was conveyed to Rome to be buried, and the funeral

obsequies were performed with great magnificence: he was likewise a

pontiff. The other consul, Quintus Petillius, was ordered to hold an

assembly, as soon as the auspices could be taken, for the election of a

consul in the room of his late colleague, and to proclaim the Latin

festival. Accordingly, by proclamation, he fixed the election for the

third day before the nones of August,[74] and the Latin festival for the

third before the ides of the same month.[75] While the minds of the

people were full of religious fears, to add thereto, several prodigies

were reported to have happened; that a blazing torch was seen in the sky

at Tusculum; that the temple of Apollo, and many private buildings at

Gabii, and a wall and gate at Graviscæ, were struck by lightning. The

senate ordered these to be expiated as the pontiffs should direct. While

the consuls were detained, at first by religious ceremonies, and

afterwards, one of them, by the death of the other, and then by the

election and the repetition of the Latin festival, in the mean time

Caius Claudius marched the army to Mutina, which the Ligurians had taken

the year before. Before three days had elapsed from the commencement of

the siege he retook it, and delivered it back to the colonists; on this

occasion eight thousand Ligurians were killed within the walls. He

immediately despatched a letter to Rome, in which he not only

represented this success, but likewise boasted that through his good

conduct and good fortune there was not one enemy of the Roman people

left on this side the Alps; and that a large tract of land had been

taken, which might be distributed among many thousand men, giving each a

share.

17. During the same period, Tiberius Sempronius, after gaining many

victories, totally subdued the people of Sardinia. Fifteen thousand of

the enemy were slain. All the tribes of the Sardinians, who had

revolted, were brought under the dominion of Rome. On those which had

formerly been tributary, double taxes were, imposed and levied; the rest

paid a contribution in corn. When he had thus restored peace in the

province, and received hostages from all parts of the island, to the

number of two hundred and thirty, deputies are sent by him to Rome, to

give information of these transactions, and to request of the senate,

that in consideration of those services, performed under the conduct and

auspices of Tiberius Sempronius, a thanksgiving might be offered to the

immortal gods, and permission granted him to quit the province and bring

home the army with him. The senate, having given audience to the

deputies in the temple of Apollo, ordered a thanksgiving for two days,

and that the consuls should sacrifice forty victims of the larger kinds;

but commanded the proconsul, Tiberius Sempronius, and his army, to

continue in the province for the year. Then the election for filling the

vacant place of a consul, which had been fixed by proclamation for the

third day before the nones of August, was finished in one day, and the

consul Quintus Petillius declared Caius Valerius Lævinus duly elected

his colleague, who was to assume immediately the administration of his

office. This man, having been long ambitious of the government of a

province, when, very seasonably for the gratification of his wishes, a

letter now arrived with intelligence that the Ligurians were again in

arms, on the nones of August[76] assumed the military habit; and ordered

that, on account of this alarm, the third legion should march into Gaul,

and join Caius Claudius, proconsul, and that the commanders of the fleet

should sail with their ships to Pisæ, and coast along the Ligurian

shore, to terrify that people by the sight of a naval power also. The

other consul, Quintus Petillius, had appointed a day for his troops to

assemble in the same place. Besides, Caius Claudius, proconsul, on

hearing of the rebellion in Liguria, having hastily collected some

soldiers, in addition to those whom he had with him at Parma, brought

this army to the frontiers of Liguria.

18. On the approach of Caius Claudius, the enemy, reflecting that this

was the same commander who had defeated them at the river Scultenna,

resolving to rely on situation, rather than arms, for their defence

against a force with which they had so unsuccessfully struggled, took

post in two mountains, called Letum and Balista; and, for greater

security, surrounded their encampment with a wall. Some, who were too

slow in removing from the low grounds, were surprised and put to the

sword,—one thousand five hundred in number. The others kept themselves

close on the mountains; and retaining, in the midst of their fears,

their native savage disposition, vented their fury on the prey taken at

Mutina. They put their prisoners to death after shocking mutilation: the

cattle they butchered in the temples, rather than decently sacrificed:

and then (satiated with the destruction of living creatures) they turned

their fury against things inanimate, dashing against the walls even

vessels made for use rather than for show. Quintus Petillius, the

consul, fearing that the war might be brought to a conclusion before he

arrived in the province, wrote to Caius Claudius to bring the army into

Gaul, saying, that he would wait for him at the Long Plains. Claudius,

immediately on receipt of the letter, marched out of Liguria, and gave

up the command of the army to the consul at the Long Plains. To the same

place came, in a few days after, the other consul, Caius Valerius. There

having divided their forces before they separated, they both together

performed a purification of the troops. They then cast lots for their

respective routes, it having been resolved that they should not assail

the enemy on the same side. It was certain that Valerius cast his lot

auspiciously, because he was in the consecrated ground; the augurs

afterwards announced that there was this defect in the case of

Petillius, that he himself when outside the consecrated ground cast his

lot into the urn, which was subsequently brought into the sacred place.

They then began their march in different directions; Petillius pitched

his camp against the ridge of Balista and Letum, which joined the two

together with one continued range. They report, that while he was here

encouraging his soldiers, whom he had assembled for the purpose,

without reflecting on the ambiguity of the word, he uttered this ominous

expression: “This day I will have Letum.”[77] He made his troops march

up the mountain in two places at the same time. The division in which he

was advanced briskly: the other was repulsed by the enemy; and the

consul riding up thither, to remedy the disorder, rallied his troops;

but whilst he moves about too carelessly in the front, he was pierced

through with a javelin, and fell. The commanders of the enemy did not

know that he was killed; and the few of his own party who saw the

disaster, carefully covered the body from view, knowing that the victory

rested on this. The rest of the troops, horse and foot, though deprived

of their leader, dislodged the enemy, and took possession of the

mountains. Five thousand of the Ligurians were slain and of the Roman

army only fifty-two were lost. Besides this evident completion of the

unhappy omen, the keeper of the chickens was heard to say, that there

had been a defect in the auspices, and that the consul was not ignorant

of it. Caius Valerius, _when he was informed of the death of Quintus

Petillius, made the army, thus bereft of its commander, join his own;

then, attacking the enemy again, in their blood he offered a noble

sacrifice to the shade of his departed colleague. He had the honour of a

triumph over the Ligurians. The legion, at whose head the consul was

killed, was severely punished by the senate. They determined that the

campaign of this year should not be counted to the entire legion, and

that their pay should be stopped, for not exposing themselves to the

enemy’s weapons in defence of their commander. About this time

ambassadors came to Rome from the Dardanians, who mere greatly

distressed by the numerous army of Bastarnians, under Clondicus,

mentioned above. These ambassadors, after describing the vast multitude

of the Bastarnians, their tall and huge bodies, and their daring

intrepidity in facing danger, added, that there was an alliance between

them and Perseus, and that the Dardanians were really more afraid of him

than even of the Bastarnians; and therefore begged of the senate that

assistance should be sent them. The senate thereupon agreed, that

ambassadors should be sent to examine into the affairs of Macedonia; and

immediately a commission was given to Aulus Postumius to go thither.

They gave to him as colleagues some young men, that he might have the

principal direction and management of the embassy. The senate then took

into consideration the election of magistrates for the ensuing year, on

which subject there was a long debate: for_ people skilled in the rules

of religion and politics affirmed, that, as the regular consuls of the

year had died, one by the sword, the other by sickness, the substituted

consuls could not with propriety hold the elections. _An interregnum,

therefore, took place, and the interrex elected consuls Publius Mucius

Scævola, and Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, a second time Then Caius Popillius

Lænas, Titus Annius Luscus, Caius Memmius Gallus, Caius Cluvius Saxula,

Servius Cornelius Sulla, and Appius Claudius Centho, were chosen

prætors. The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. Of

the prætors, Cornelius Sulla obtained Sardinia, Claudius Centho gained

Hither Spain. There is no record of those to whom the other prætorian

provinces fell. This year was notorious for an epidemic, which however

attacked cattle only. The Ligurians, a nation ever vanquished, yet ever

rebelling, ravaged the lands of Luna and Pisæ; and at the same time

there were alarming rumours of disturbances in Gaul. Lepidus having

easily quelled the commotions among the Gauls, then marched into

Liguria. Several states of this country submitted themselves to his

disposal; and he, supposing that they were rendered savage by the rugged

mountain tops which they inhabited, as the dispositions of the

inhabitants of a country generally resemble its natural features, by the

precedent of some former consuls, brought them_ down to the plains. Of

these the Garulians, Lapicinians, and Hercatians had lived on the other

side of the Apennine, and the Briniatians on the farther side.

19. On the hither side of the river Audena, Quintus Mucius made war on

those who had wasted the lands of Luna and Pisæ: and having reduced them

all to subjection, he took away their arms from them. On account of

these services, performed under the conduct and auspices of the two

consuls, the senate voted a thanksgiving for three days, and sacrifices

of forty victims. The commotions which broke out in Gaul and Liguria, at

the beginning of this year, were thus speedily suppressed, without any

great difficulty; but the apprehensions of the public, respecting a war

with Macedon, still continued. For Perseus laboured to embroil the

Bastarnians with the Dardanians; and the ambassadors, sent to examine

into the state of affairs in Macedon, returned to Rome, and brought

certain information that hostilities had commenced in Dardania. At the

same time came envoys from king Perseus, to plead in excuse that neither

had the Bastarnians been invited by him, nor had they done any thing at

his instigation. The senate neither acquitted the king of the

imputation, nor urged it against him; they only ordered him to be warned

to be very careful to show, that he considered the treaty between him

and the Romans as inviolable. The Dardanians, perceiving that the

Bastarnians, so far from quitting their country, as they had hoped,

became daily more troublesome, as they were supported by the

neighbouring Thracians and Scordiscians, thinking it necessary to make

some effort against them, though without any reasonable prospect of

success, assembled together in arms from all quarters, at the town that

was nearest to the camp of the Bastarnians. It was now winter, and they

chose that season of the year, as supposing that the Thracians and

Scordiscians would return to their own countries. As soon as they heard

that these were gone, and the Bastarnians left by themselves, they

divided their forces into two parts, that one might march openly along

the straight road to attack the enemy; and that the other, going round

through a wood, which lay out of sight, might assault them on the rear.

But, before these could arrive at the enemy’s post, the fight commenced,

and the Dardanians were beaten, and pursued to the town, which was about

twelve miles from the Bastarnian camp. The victors immediately invested

the city, not doubting that, on the day following, either the enemy

would surrender it from fear, or they might take it by storm. Meanwhile

the other body of Dardanians, which had gone round, not having heard of

the defeat of their countrymen, _easily_ possessed themselves of the

camp of the Bastarnians, which had been left without a guard. _The

Bastarnians, thus deprived of all their provisions and warlike stores,

which were in their camp, and having no means of replacing them in a

hostile country, and at that unfavourable season, resolved to return to

their native home. Having therefore retreated to the Danube, they found

it, to their great joy, covered with ice, so thick as to seem capable of

sustaining any weight. But when the entire body of men and cattle,

hastening on, and crowding together, pressed on it at the same time, the

ice, splitting under the immense weight, suddenly parted, and being

overcome and broken up, left in the middle of the water the entire army

which it had supported so long. Most of them were immediately swallowed

in the eddies of the river. The fragments of the broken ice passed over

many of them in their attempt to swim and drowned them. A few out of the

entire nation with difficulty escaped to either bank, with their persons

severely crushed. About this time, Antiochus, son to Antiochus the

Great, who had been for a long time a hostage at Rome, came into

possession of the kingdom of Syria, on the death of his brother

Seleucus. For Seleucus, whom the Greeks call Philopator, after having

received the kingdom of Syria, which had been greatly debilitated by the

misfortunes of his father, during an idle reign of twelve years never

distinguished by any memorable enterprise at all, called home from Rome

this his younger brother, sending, in his stead, his own son Demenlius,

according to the terms of the treaty, which allowed the changing of the

hostages from time to time. Antiochus had but just reached Athens on his

way, when Seleucus was murdered, in consequence of a conspiracy formed

by Heliodorus, one of the nobles. Eumenes and Attalus expelled him

aiming at the crown, and put Antiochus in possession of it, and valued

it highly that they had bound him to them by this so important a favour.

They now began to harbour some jealousy of the Romans, on account of

several trifling causes of disgust. Antiochus, having gained the kingdom

by their aid, was received by the people with such transports of joy,

that they gave him the surname of Epiphanes, or Rising Star, because

when aliens to the royal blood were about to seize the throne, he

appeared like a propitious star, to assert his hereditary right. He was

not deficient in capacity or vigour of mind to make a figure in war; but

he was so perverse and indiscreet in the whole tenor of his conduct and

behaviour, that they soon changed the surname which they had given him,

and instead of Epiphanes, called him Epimanes or Madman. For often

having gone forth from the palace without the knowledge of his

servants, with one or two attendants, crowned with roses, and dressed in

robes embroidered with gold, he used to go through the city, sometimes

striking those that he met with stones that he carried under his arms;

sometimes, on the other hand, throwing money among the mob, and shouting

out, “Let him take to whom fortune shall give.” But at another time he

used to go through the workshops of the goldsmiths, and engravers and

other artisans, arguing vainly concerning the art of each; at another

time he engaged in conversation in public with any of the plebeian he

met; again, wandering around the common taverns, he indulged in

potations with foreigners and strangers of the lowest grade. If by

chance he had learned that any young men were celebrating an untimely

banquet, he himself at once came upon them suddenly, with a glass and a

concert, revelling and wantoning, so that most of them, struck with

terror at the strangeness of the matter, fled away, and the remainder

were silent in fear. It is ascertained also that, in the public baths,

he used to bathe with the mob. As however there he was in the habit of

using the most precious unguents, they report that a plebeian one day

said to him. “You are happy, O king: you savour of perfumes of the

highest value.” To whom Antiochus, delighted at his words, said, “I will

immediately make you so happy, that you will confess that you are

sated:” and immediately ordered a large pot of most valuable unguent to

be poured on his head, so that, the floor being drenched with it, both

the others began to fall on the slippery surface, and the king himself,

laughing heartily, came to the ground._

20. _Lastly, having assumed the Roman gown instead of his royal robes,

he used to go about the market-place, as lie had seen done by the

candidates for office at Rome, saluting and embracing each of the

plebeians; soliciting at one time for the ædileship, at another for the

plebeian tribuneship, until at last he obtained the office by the

suffrages of the people, and then, according to the Roman_ custom, he

took his seat in an ivory chair, where he heard causes, and listened to

debates on the most trivial matters. So far was his mind from adhering

to any routine, for it wandered through every sort of life, that it was

not ascertained either by himself or any one else what was his real

character. He was accustomed not to speak to his friends, nor scarcely

afford a smile, to his acquaintance. By an inconsistent kind of

liberality, he made himself and others subjects of ridicule; for to some

in the most elevated stations, and who thought highly of themselves, he

would give childish presents of sweetmeats, cakes, or toys; others

expecting nothing he enriched. Wherefore to many he appeared not to know

what he was doing; some said that he acted from a silly, sportive

temper; others, that he was evidently mad. In two great and honourable

instances, however, he showed a spirit truly royal,—in the presents

which he made to several cities, and the honour he paid to the gods. To

the inhabitants of Megalopolis, in Arcadia, he made a promise to build a

wall round their city, and he gave them the greater part of the money

requisite for the purpose. At Tegea he began to erect a magnificent

theatre of marble. At Cyzicum, he presented a set of golden utensils for

the service of one table in the Prytaneum, the state-room of the city;

where such as are entitled to that honour dine together. To the Rhodians

he gave presents of every kind that their convenience required, but none

very remarkable. Of the magnificence of his notions, in every thing

respecting the gods, the temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens can be a

sufficient testimony: being the only one in the world, the plan of which

was suitable to the greatness of the deity. He likewise ornamented Delos

with altars of extraordinary beauty, and abundance of statues. A

magnificent temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which he promised to build at

Antioch, of which not only the ceilings, but all the walls, were to be

covered with plates of gold, and many other edifices which he intended

in various places, he did not finish, as his reign was very short. He

surpassed his predecessors, too, in the magnificence of the public games

of every description; of which all the games but one were after their

own custom, and celebrated by an immense number of Grecian actors. He

gave a show of gladiators in the Roman manner, which at first, among &

people unaccustomed to such sights, caused more terror than pleasure;

but by frequently repeating them, and sometimes permitting the

combatants to go no further than wounds, at other times to fight until

one was killed, he rendered such kind of shows not only familiar to

people’s eyes, but even agreeable, and kindled in most of the young men

a passion for arms; so much so that, although, at the beginning, he was

obliged to entice gladiators from Rome, by high rewards, _he soon found

a sufficient number in his own dominions willing to perform for a

moderate hire. But he displayed the same worthlessness and levity in

exhibiting the games, as in the rest of his life, so that nothing could

be seen more magnificent than the preparation for the games, nothing

more vile or contemptible than the king himself. And when this appeared

often on other occasions, it was then most conspicuous in those games,

which, in emulation of the magnificence of those which were given by

Paulus in Macedon, after the conquest of Perseus, he exhibited at

immense expense, and with corresponding dishonour. To return, however,

to the Roman affairs, from which the mention of this king has caused us

to digress too far. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, after holding the

government of Sardinia two years, resigned it to Servius Cornelius

Sulla, the prætor, and, coming home to Rome, triumphed over the

Sardinians. We are told that he brought such a multitude of captives

from, that island, that from the long continuance of the sale,

“Sardinians for sale” became a vulgar proverb, to denote things of

little price. Both the consuls (Scævola and Lepidus) triumphed over the

Ligurians; Lepidus over the Gauls also. Then were held the elections of

magistrates for the ensuing year. Spurius Postumius Albinus and Quintus

Mucius Scævola were chosen consuls. In the election of prætors, fortune

involved Lucius or Cneius Cornelius Scipio, son of Publius Africanus,

one of the candidates, in a very invidious struggle with Caius

Cicereius, who had been his father’s secretary. For, after five prætors

had been declared, namely, Caius Cassius Longinus, Publius Furius

Philus, Lucius Claudius Asellus, Marcus Atilius Serranus, and Cneius

Servilius Cæpio; although Scipio struggled hard to be admitted even in

the last place, yet he was thought to have degenerated so far from the

virtues of his father, that Cicereius would have been preferred by the

votes of all the centuries, had not the latter, with singular modesty,

corrected what might be considered either the fault of fortune or error

of the elections. He could not reconcile it to himself, that, in a

struggle in the elections, he should gain the victory over the son of

his patron; but immediately throwing off the white gown, he became, from

a competitor sure of success, the grateful friend and supporter of

the interest of his rival. Thus, by the help of Cicereius Scipio

obtained an honour which he did not seem likely to gain from the people,

and which reflected greater glory on Cicereius than on himself._

21. _The provinces assigned to the consuls were Gaul and Liguria. On the

prætors casting lots, the city jurisdiction fell to Caius Cassius

Longinus_, and the foreign, to Lucius Cornelius Scipio. The province of

Sardinia fell to Marcus Atilius, who was ordered to sail over to Corsica

with a new legion, raised by the consuls, and consisting of five

thousand foot and three hundred horse; and while he was engaged in

carrying on the war there, Cornelius was continued in command, that he

might hold the government of Sardinia. To Cneius Servilius Cæpio, for

the service of Farther Spain, and to Publius Furius Philus for that of

Hither Spain, the following troops were assigned—to each, three thousand

Roman foot with one hundred and fifty horse, and five thousand Latin

foot with three hundred horse. Sicily was decreed to Lucius Claudius,

without any reinforcement. The consuls were ordered to levy two more

legions, of the regular numbers of foot and horse, and to demand from

the allies ten thousand foot and six hundred horse: but they met great

difficulty in making the levies; for the pestilence, which the year

before had fallen on the cattle, in the present year attacked the human

species. Such as were seized by it, seldom survived the seventh day;

those who did survive, lingered under a tedious disorder, which

generally turned to a quartan ague. The slaves especially perished, of

whom heaps lay unburied on all the roads. The necessary requisites could

not be procured for the funerals of those of free condition. The bodies

were consumed by putrefaction, without being touched by the dogs or

vultures; and it was universally observed, that during that and the

preceding year, while the mortality of cattle and men was so great, no

vultures were any where seen. Of the public priests, there died by this

contagion, Cneius Servilius Cæpio, father of the prætor, a pontiff;

Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, decemvir of religious

rites; Publius Ælius Pætus, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, augurs;

Caius Mamilius Vitulus, chief curio; and Marcus Sempronius Tuditanus, a

pontiff. In the vacant places of pontiffs[78] were chosen * * * * and

Caius Sulpicius Galba, in the room of Tuditanus. The augurs substituted

were, Titus Veturius Gracchus Sempronianus, in place of Gracchus; and

Quintus Ælius Pætas, in place of Publius Ælius. Caius Sempronius Longus

was made decemvir of religious rites, and Caius Scribonius Curio, chief

curio. When the termination of the plague was not visible, the senate

voted that the decemvirs should consult the Sibylline books; and, by

their directions, a supplication of one day was performed; and the

people assembled in the forum made a vow, whilst Quintus Marcius

Philippus dictated the words, that “if the sickness and pestilence

should be removed out of the Roman territory, they would solemnize a

festival and thanksgiving of two days’ continuance.” In the district of

Veii, a boy was born with two heads; at Sinuessa, one with a single

hand; and at Oximum, a girl with teeth; in the middle of the day, the

sky being perfectly clear, a rainbow was seen, stretching over the

temple of Saturn, in the Roman forum, and three suns shone at once; and

the following night many lights were seen gliding through the air, about

Lanuvium. The people of Cære affirmed that there had appeared in their

town a snake with a mane, having its body marked with spots like gold;

and it was fully proved that an ox had spoken in Campania.

22. On the nones of June,[79] the ambassadors returned from Africa, who

having first had an interview with king Masinissa, proceeded to

Carthage; but they received much more certain information respecting

what had taken place in Carthage from the king than from the

Carthaginians themselves. They said they had sufficient proof that

ambassadors had come from king Perseus, and that an audience of the

senate was given to them by night, in the temple of Æsculapius; and the

king asserted, that the Carthaginians had sent ambassadors to Macedon,

which they themselves did not positively deny. The senate, hereupon,

resolved to send an embassy to Macedonia. They made choice of Caius

Lælius, Marcus Valerius Messala, and Sextus Digitius, who accordingly

proceeded thither. About this time, Perseus, because some of the

Dolopians were refractory, and in the matters in dispute were for

referring the decision from the king to the Romans, marched an army into

their country, and reduced the whole nation under his jurisdiction and

dominion. Thence he passed through the mountains of Œta, and on account

of some religious scruples affecting his mind, went up to Delphi, to

apply to the oracle. His sudden appearance in the middle of Greece

caused a great alarm, not only in the neighbouring states, but also

caused alarming intelligence to be brought into Asia to king Eumenes. He

staid only three days at Delphi, and then returned to his own dominions,

through Phthiotis, Achaia, and Thessaly, without doing the least injury

or damage to those countries. He did not think it sufficient to

conciliate the esteem of the several states through which his road lay;

but despatched either ambassadors or letters to every one of the Grecian

powers, requesting that they would “think no more of the animosities

which had subsisted between them and his father; that the disputes had

not been so violent that they might not, and ought not, to cease with

regard to himself. On his part, there was no kind of obstacle to the

forming of a cordial friendship.” Above all, he wished particularly to

find some way of ingratiating himself with the Achæan nation.

23. This nation, and the state of Athens, solitary exceptions to the

whole of Greece, had carried their resentment to such a length, as to

prohibit the Macedonians entering their territories. In consequence of

this, Macedonia became a place of refuge for slaves running away out of

Achaia; for, as the Achæans had forbidden the inhabitants of Macedon to

set foot in their territories, they could not presume to pass the

boundaries of that kingdom. When Perseus observed this, he seized all

the fugitives, and wrote a letter * * * * * * * “but that they ought to

consider of the proper means of preventing such elopements for the

future.” When this letter was read by the proætor Xenarchus, who was

seeking a path to private influence with the king, the greater part who

were present, but especially those who, contrary to their expectations,

were about to receive the slaves they had lost, commended the moderation

and kindness with which it was written; but Callierates, one who thought

that the safety of the nation depended on the treaty with Rome being

preserved inviolate, delivered his sentiments to this effect;—“To some

of you, Achæans, the matter under consideration appears trifling and

unimportant. I think that a very great and important subject is not only

under consideration, but to a certain extent decided. For we, who

prohibited the kings of Macedonia, and all their subjects, from entering

our territories, and made a perpetual decree, not to receive from those

sovereigns either ambassadors or messengers, by whom the minds of any of

us might be tampered with; we, I say, listen to the king speaking in a

manner, though absent, and what is more, approve of his discourse.

Although wild beasts generally reject and shun the food laid in their

way for their destruction; yet we, blinded by the specious offer of an

insignificant favour, swallow the bait, and would, for the sake of

recovering a parcel of wretched slaves, of no value worth mentioning,

suffer our independence to be undermined and subverted. For who does not

see that a way is being paved to an alliance with the king, by which the

treaty with Rome in which all our interests are involved would be

violated? That there must be a war between Perseus and the Romans, is

not, I believe, a matter of doubt to any one, and the struggle which was

expected during the life of Philip, and interrupted by his death, will,

now that he is dead, most certainly ensue. Philip, you all know, had two

sons, Demetrius and Perseus. Demetrius was much superior in birth, on

the mother’s side, in merit, capacity, and in the esteem of the

Macedonian nation. But Philip, having set up the crown as the prize of

hatred towards the Romans, put Demetrius to death, for no other crime

than having contracted a friendship with that people; and made Perseus

king, because he knew him to be an enemy to the Roman people almost

before he determined on making him king. Accordingly, what else has the

present king done since his father’s death, than prepare for the war? In

the first place, to the terror of all the surrounding nations, he

brought the Bastarnians into Dardania; where if they had made a lasting

settlement, Greece would have found them more troublesome neighbours

than Asia found the Gauls. Disappointed in that hope, he did not drop

his design of a war; nay, if we choose to speak the truth, he has

already commenced hostilities. He subdued Dolopia by force of arms; and

would not listen when they wished to appeal concerning their disputes to

the arbitration of the Romans. Then, crossing Œta, that he might show

himself in the very centre of Greece, he went up to Delphi. To what,

think you did his taking a journey so uncommon tend? He next traversed

Thessaly; and as to his refraining on his route from doing injury to the

people whom he hated, I dread his machinations the more on that very

account. He then sent a letter to us, with the hollow show of an act of

kindness, and bade us to consider measures by which we may not require

this gift for the future; that is, to repeal the decree by which the

Macedonians are excluded from Peloponnesus; to receive again ambassadors

from him their king; to renew intimacies contracted with his principal

subjects; and, in a short time, we should see Macedonian armies, with

himself at their head, crossing over the narrow strait from Delphi into

Peloponnesus, and thus we should be blended with the Macedonians, while

they are arming themselves against the Romans. My opinion is, that we

ought not to resolve on any new proceeding, but to keep every thing in

its present state, until the question shall be reduced to a certainty,

whether these our fears be well or ill grounded. If the peace between

the Romans and Macedonians shall continue inviolate, then may we also

have a friendship and intercourse with Perseus; but to think of such a

measure now, appears to me both premature and dangerous.”

24. After him, Arco, brother to the prætor Xenarchus, said:—“Callicrates

hath made the delivery of our sentiments difficult both to me and to

every one who differs in opinion from him; for after his pleading in

favour of the Roman alliance, alleging that it was undermined and

attacked, (although no one either undermines or attacks it,) he has

caused that whoever dissents from him must seem to argue against the

cause of the Romans. In the first place, as if he had not been here with

us, but had just left the senate-house of the Roman people, or had been

admitted into the privy councils of kings, he knows and tells us every

transaction that passes in secret. Nay more, he divines what would have

happened if Philip had lived, why Perseus became heir of the kingdom: in

such a manner, what are the intentions of the Macedonians, and what the

thoughts of the Romans. But we, who neither know for what cause, nor in

what manner, Demetrius perished, nor what Philip would have done, if he

had lived, ought to accommodate our resolutions to the transactions that

have passed in open view. We know that Perseus, on his coming to the

throne, sent ambassadors to Rome, and received the title of king from

the Roman people, and we hear that ambassadors came from Rome to the

king, and were graciously received by him. I consider that all these

circumstances are signs of peace, not of war; and that the Romans cannot

be offended, if as we imitated their conduct in war, so we follow now

their example in peace. For my part, I cannot see why we alone, of all

mankind, wage implacable war against the kingdom of the Macedonians. Are

we exposed to insult by a close neighbourhood to Macedon? or are we like

the Dolopians, whom Perseus subdued lately, the weakest of all states?

No; on the contrary, by the bounty of the gods, we are sufficiently

secured, as well by our own strength, as by the remoteness of our

situation. But we have as much reason to apprehend ill treatment, as the

Thessalians and Ætolians; have we no more credit or influence with the

Romans, though we were always their friends and allies, than the

Ætolians, who but lately were their enemies? Whatever reciprocal rights

the Ætolians, the Thessalians, the Epirots, in short, every state in

Greece, allow to subsist between them and the Macedonians, let us allow

the same. Why have we alone what may be termed a cursed neglect of the

ties of humanity? Philip may have done some act on account of which we

should pass this decree against him when in arms and waging war against

us: What has Perseus deserved, a king just seated on the throne,

guiltless of all injury against us, and effacing by his own kindness his

father’s feuds? Why should we be his only enemies? Although I might make

this assertion, that so great have been our obligations to the former

kings of Macedon, that the ill usage, suffered from a single prince of

their line, if any has really been suffered from Philip, * * *

especially after his death. When a Roman fleet was lying at Cenchreæ,

and the consul, with his army, was at Elatia, we were three days in

council, deliberating whether we should follow the Romans or Philip.

Now, granting that the fear of immediate danger from the Romans had no

influence on our judgments, yet there was, certainly, something that

made our deliberation last so long; and that was, the connexion which

had long subsisted between us and the Macedonians; the distinguished

favours in ancient times received from their kings. Let the same

considerations prevail at present,—not to make us his singular friends,

but to hinder us from becoming his singular enemies. Let us not,

Callicrates, pretend what is not even thought of. No one advises us to

form a new alliance, or sign a new treaty, by which we might

inconsiderately compromise ourselves, but merely that we may have the

intercourse of affording and demanding justice, and that we may not by

excluding his subjects from our territories, exclude ourselves from his

dominions, and that our slaves may not have any refuge to fly to. How

does this operate against the Roman treaty? Why do we give an air of

importance and suspicion to a matter which is trifling and open to the

world? Why do we raise groundless alarms? Why, for the sake of

ingratiating ourselves still more particularly with the Romans, render

others odious and suspected? If war shall take place even Perseus

himself does not doubt our taking part with the Romans. While peace

continues, let animosities if they are not terminated, be at least

suspended.” When those who approved of the king’s letter expressed their

approbation of this speech, the decree was postponed, owing to the

indignation of the chief men that Perseus should obtain by a letter of a

few lines a matter which he did not even deign worthy of an embassy.

Ambassadors were afterwards sent by the king, when a council was held at

Megalopolis; but exertions were made by those, who dreaded a rupture

with Rome, that they should not be admitted to an audience.

25. During this period the fury of the Ætolians, being turned against

themselves, seemed likely to cause the total extinction of that nation

by the massacres of the contending parties. Then both parties, being

wearied, sent ambassadors to Rome, and also opened a negotiation between

themselves for the restoration of concord: but this was broken off by an

act of barbarity, which revived their old quarrels. When a return to

their country had been promised to the exiles from Hypata, who were of

the faction of Proxenus, and the public faith had been pledged to them

by Eupolemus, the chief man of the state; eighty persons of distinction,

whom even Eupolemus, among the rest of the multitude, had gone forth to

meet on their return, though they were received with kind salutation,

and right hands were pledged to them, were butchered on entering the

gate, though they implored in vain the honour that had been pledged,

and the gods the witnesses of the transaction. On this the war blazed

out anew, with greater fury than ever. Caius Valerius Lævinus, Appius

Claudius Pulcher, Caius Memmius, Marcus Popilius, and Lucius Canuleius,

being sent as ambassadors by the senate, arrived in that country. When

the deputies from both parties pleaded their respective causes with

great energy, Proxenus appeared to have greatly the advantage as well in

the justice of his cause as in eloquence; a few days after, he was

poisoned by his wife Orthobula, who being convicted of the crime, went

into banishment. The same madness was wasting the Cretans also; but, on

the arrival of Quintus Minucius, lieutenant-general, who was sent with

ten ships to quiet their contentions, the inhabitants had some prospect

of peace; however, they only concluded a suspension of arms for six

months, after which the war was again renewed with much greater

violence. About this time, the Lycians, too, were harassed in war by the

Rhodians. But the wars of foreign nations among themselves, or the

several methods in which they were conducted, it is not my business to

detail; since I have a task of more than sufficient weight in writing

the deeds performed by the Roman people.

26. In Spain, the Celtiberians, (who, since their reduction by Tiberius

Gracchus, and their consequent surrender to him, had remained quiet;

when Marcus Titinius, the prætor, held the government of that province,)

on the arrival of Appius Claudius, resumed their arms, and commenced

hostilities by a sudden attack on the Roman camp. It was nearly the

first dawn when the sentinels on the rampart, and the men on guard

before the gates, descrying the enemy approaching at a distance, shouted

“to arms.” Appius Claudius instantly displayed the signal of battle;

and, after exhorting the troops, in few words, ordered them to rush out

by three gates at once. But they were opposed by the Celtiberians in the

very passage; and in consequence, the fight was for some time equal on

both sides, as, on account of the narrowness, the Romans could not all

come into action in the entrance; then pressing forward on one another,

whenever it was possible, they made their way beyond the trenches, so

that they were able to extend their line, and form a front equal to the

wings of the enemy, by which they were surrounded; and now they made

their onset with such sudden impetuosity, that the Celtiberians could

not support the assault. Before the second hour, they were driven from

the field; about fifteen thousand were either killed or made prisoners,

and thirty-two standards were taken. Their camp, also, was stormed the

same day, and a conclusion put to the war; for those who survived the

battle fled by different ways, to their several towns, and thenceforth

submitted quietly to the Roman government.

27. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Aulus Postumius, being created censors,

reviewed the senate this year. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus, chief pontiff,

was chosen chief of the senate. Nine senators were expelled. The

remarkable censures pronounced were on Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis,

who had been prætor in Spain two years before; on Lucius Cornelius

Scipio, who was then prætor and exercised the jurisdiction between

natives and foreigners; and on Cneius Fulvius, brother to the censor,

and, as Valerius Antias says, partner in property. The consuls, after

offering vows in the Capitol, set out for their provinces. Marcus

Æmilius was commissioned by the senate to suppress an insurrection of

the Patavians in Venetia; for their own ambassadors had given

information that by the violent contests of opposing factions they had

broken out into civil war. The ambassadors who had gone into Ætolia, to

suppress commotions of a similar kind, reported on their return, that

the outrageous temper of that nation could not be restrained. The

consul’s arrival among the Patavians saved them from ruin; and having no

other business in the province, he returned to Rome. The present censors

were the first who contracted for paving the streets of Rome with flint

stones, for laying with gravel the foundation of roads outside the city,

and for forming raised foot-ways on the sides; for building bridges in

several places; and affording seats in the theatre to the prætors and

ædiles; they fixed up goals in the circus, with balls on the goals for

marking the number of courses of the chariots; and erected iron grates,

through which wild beasts might be let in. They caused the Capitoline

hill to be paved with flint, and erected a piazza from the temple of

Saturn, in the Capitol, to the council-chamber, and over that a public

hall. On the outside of the gate Trigemina, they also paved a

market-place with stones, and enclosed it with a paling; they repaired

the Æmilian portico, and formed an ascent, by stairs, from the Tiber to

the market-place. They paved, with flint, the portico, from the same

gate to the Aventine, and built a court-house: contracted for walls to

be built at Galatia and Oximum, and, after selling lots of ground there,

which belonged to the public, employed the money arising from the sale

in building shops round the forums of both places. Fulvius Flaccus (for

Postumius _declared_, that, without a decree of the senate, or order of

the people, he would not expend any money belonging to them) agreed for

building a temple of Jupiter at Pisaurum; and another at Fundi; for

bringing water to Pollentia; for paving the street of Pisaurum, and for

many various works at Sinuessa; among which were, the structure of a

sewer to fall into the river, the enclosure of the forum with porticoes

and shops, and erection of three statues of Janus. These works were all

contracted for by one of the censors, and gained him a high degree of

favour with those colonists. Their censorship was also very active and

strict in the superintendence of the morals of the people. Many knights

were deprived of their horses.

28. At the close of the year, there was a thanksgiving, for one day, on

account of the advantages obtained in Spain under the conduct and

auspices of Appius Claudius, the proconsul; and they sacrificed twenty

victims, of the larger kinds. There was also a supplication, for another

day, at the temples of Ceres, Liber, and Liberia, because a violent

earthquake with the destruction of many houses was announced from the

Sabines. When Appius Claudius came home from Spain, the senate voted

that he should enter the city in ovation. The election of consuls now

came on: when they were held, after a violent struggle in consequence of

the great number of candidates, Lucius Postumius Albinus and Marcus

Popilius Lænas were elected consuls. Then Numerius Fabius Buteo, Marcus

Matienus, Caius Cicereius, Marcus Furius Crassipes, a second time,

Marcus Atilius Serranus, a second time, and Caius Cluvius Saxula, a

second time, were chosen prætors. After the elections were finished,

Appius Claudius Centho, entering the city in ovation over the

Celtiberians, conveyed to the treasury ten thousand pounds’ weight of

silver, and five thousand of gold. Cneius Cornelius was inaugurated

flamen of Jupiter. In the same year a tablet was hung up in the temple

of mother Matuta, with this inscription:—UNDER THE COMMAND AND AUSPICES

OF TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS, CONSUL, A LEGION AND ARMY OF THE ROMAN

PEOPLE SUBDUED SARDINIA; IN WHICH PROVINCE ABOVE EIGHTY THOUSAND OF THE

ENEMY WERE KILLED OR TAKEN. HAVING EXECUTED THE BUSINESS OF THE PUBLIC

WITH THE HAPPIEST SUCCESS; HAVING RECOVERED THE REVENUES, AND RESTORED

THEM _to the commonwealth_,—HE BROUGHT HOME THE ARMY SAFE, UNINJURED,

AND ENRICHED WITH SPOIL, AND, A SECOND TIME, ENTERED THE CITY OF ROME IN

TRIUMPH. IN COMMEMORATION OF WHICH EVENT HE PRESENTED THIS TABLET AS AN

OFFERING TO JUPITER. A map of the island of Sardinia was engraved on the

tablet, and pictures of the battles fought there were delineated on it.

Several small exhibitions of gladiators were given to the public this

year; the only one particularly remarkable, was that of Titus

Flamininus, which he gave on occasion of his father’s death, and it was

accompanied with a donation of meat, a feast, and stage-plays, and

lasted four days. Yet, in the whole of this great exhibition, only

seventy-four men fought in three days. _The close of this year was

rendered memorable by the proposal of a new and important rule, which

occupied the state, since it was debated with great emotion. Hitherto,

as the law stood, women were as equally capable of receiving

inheritances as men. From which it happened that the wealth of the most

illustrious houses was frequently transferred into other families, to

the great detriment, as it was generally supposed, of the state; to

which it was no small advantage that there should be a sufficiency of

wealth to the descendants of distinguished ancestors, by which they

might support and do honour to their nobility of birth, which otherwise

would form a burden rather than honour to them. Besides, since with the

now growing power of the empire, the riches of private persons also were

increasing, fear was felt, lest the minds of women, being rather

inclined by nature to luxury, and the pursuit of a more elegant routine

of life, and deriving from unbounded wealth incentives to desire, should

fall into immoderate expenses and luxury, and should subsequently chance

to depart from the ancient sanctity of manners, so that there would be a

change of morals no less than of the manner of living. To obviate these

evils, Quintus Voconius Saxa, plebeian tribune, proposed to the people,

that “no person who should be rated after the censorship of Aulus

Postumius and Quintius Fulvius should make any woman, whether married

or unmarried his heir; also, that no woman, whether married or

unmarried, should be capable of receiving, by inheritance, goods

exceeding the value of one hundred thousand sesterces.”[80] Voconius,

also, thought it proper to provide that estates should not be exhausted

by the number of legacies, which sometimes happened. Accordingly he

added a clause to his law, that “no person should bequeath to any person

or persons property exceeding in value what was to go to the immediate

heirs.” This latter clause readily met the general approbation; it

appeared reasonable, and calculated to press severely on nobody.

Concerning the former clause, by which women were utterly disqualified

from receiving inheritances, there were many doubts. Marcus Cato put an

end to all hesitation, having been already, on a former occasion, a most

determined adversary and reprover of women, in the defence of the Oppian

law, who, although sixty-five years of age, with loud voice and good

lungs advocated this law of still greater importance, against them,

inveighing, with his usual asperity, against the tyranny of women, and

their unsufferable insolence token opulent: on the present occasion,

too, he declaimed against the pride and arrogance of the rich matrons,

“because they oftentimes, after bringing a great dowry to their husband,

kept back and retained for themselves a great sum of money, and lent

that money on such terms afterwards to their husbands, on their asking

it, that as often as they were angry they immediately pressed

importunately on their husbands, as if they were strange debtors, by a

reserved slave who followed them and daily importuned payment.” Moved by

indignation at this, they voted for passing the law as Voconius proposed

it._