(_Of the World, 3908--Of Rome, 608._)
[1]About the same time the [2]Lusitanians in [3]Spain [4]beat the
Romans most [5]shamefully [6]under the [7]conduct of [8]Viriathus; who
from a [9]huntsman [10]became a [11]highwayman; and from a highwayman,
a general, and [12]defeated the Roman [13]armies [14]several times. But
that [15]overthrow was most [16]memorable of all [17]others, in which,
in the year 608, having [18]routed the [19]forces of [20]Vetilius
the [21]prætor, [22]he took him prisoner, and [23]put him [24]to
death, according to [25]Appian. Nor was he the [26]only one that was
[27]conquered by Viriathus, but several others [28]underwent the
same [29]fate. The first that was [30]successful [31]against him was
[32]C. Lælius the prætor, in the year 609. After which the proconsul
[33]Quintius Fabius Maximus [34]defeated him. In the year 614, [35]Q.
Servilius Cæpio [36]basely [37]procured him to be [38]assassinated
by some of his own [39]officers, whom he had [40]bribed [41]for that
purpose, to the great [42]dishonour of the Roman [43]name.
After this a much more [44]dangerous war [45]broke out in Celtiberia.
The Numantini having [46]received the [47]Segidenses their [48]allies,
that had [49]escaped the [50]hands of the Romans, were [51]commanded
by Metellus the proconsul, [52]to deliver up the [53]refugees, and
[54]lay down their [55]arms, but they [56]refused both: and [57]though
they were so much [58]inferior to the Romans, in [59]number and
[60]strength, they [61]made a [62]gallant [63]resistance for some
[64]years. The [65]army of [66]M. Popilius the proconsul, was [67]cut
off by them, and the year [68]following, [69]thirty [70]thousand
Romans, under the consul Mancinus, were [71]routed by four thousand
of the Numantini; which [72]disgrace was [73]followed by a most
[74]shameful [75]peace; but the senate [76]refused to [77]ratify
it; [78]wherefore Mancinus was [79]delivered up into their hands,
but the Numantini would not [80]receive him. [81]At last they were
[82]vanquished in the [83]field by Scipio, who had [84]destroyed
Carthage; and being [85]shut up within their own [86]walls, were
[87]reduced to [88]so desperate a condition, that they all [89]laid
violent hands upon themselves; and Numantia was [90]levelled with the
ground, in the ninth year after their [91]revolt from the Romans, and
from the [92]foundation of the city 621.
[93]Whilst the Romans were [94]still at war with the [95]Achæans and
Carthaginians, Macedon was [96]conquered a third time. [97]Andriscus,
a [98]man of [99]mean birth, who [100]pretended to be [101]Philip the
son of [102]Perseus, had [103]possessed himself of it. He was conquered
by [104]Q. Cæcilius Metellus, with the [105]slaughter of 25,000
[106]of his men. Metellus had [107]from thence [108]the surname of
[109]Macedonicus.
At the time that the Romans were [110]engaged in the [111]Numantine
war, there was a [112]rising of the [113]slaves in Sicily. A
[114]Syrian, [115]by name Eunus, [116]pretending to a [117]divine
[118]inspiration, [119]called the slaves to [120]arms and [121]liberty,
[122]as it were by the [123]order of the [124]gods; and having
[125]raised a [126]vast [127]army, [128]consisting of no less than
70,000 men, he [129]vanquished four Roman prætors, and was [130]at last
[131]routed himself, by P. Rupilius the consul, in the year of the city
622.
Attalus, son of [132]Eumenes, king of [133]Phrygia, when his [134]uncle
Attalus was [135]dead (who after Eumenes’ death had [136]managed the
[137]kingdom as his [138]guardian), [139]reigned five years, and dying
about the year of the city 621, made the Roman people his [140]heir:
which [141]Aristonicus, a son of Eumenes by one of his [142]mistresses,
[143]taking amiss, he [144]seized upon Asia, and [145]cut off the army
of Crassus the prætor. Afterwards he was [146]vanquished by the consul
Peperna, and an [147]end was put to the war the year [148]following,
625, by M. Aquilius the consul. This was a [149]melancholy year for
the [150]death of Scipio Africanus, who was [151]found dead in his
[152]bed, not without the [153]suspicion of having been [154]poisoned
by his [155]wife.
The year in which Attalus [156]made the Roman people his [157]heir,
there was a [158]formidable [159]sedition at Rome. For T. Gracchus,
[160]tribune of the [161]people, having made the [162]Agrarian
law, that [163]nobody should [164]possess above 500 [165]acres of
[166]land, and [167]proposing to have the [168]money of king Attalus
[169]divided amongst the people, and [170]likewise [171]suing for the
[172]tribuneship against the year following, the senators being very
much [173]disturbed at the [174]matter, he was, by the [175]order of
P. Corn. Nasica, [176]slain in the [177]Capitol, [178]whither he had
[179]fled for [180]refuge.
After the death of Tiberius, his [181]brother Caius [182]pursuing
the same [183]design, was [184]taken off by Opimius, the consul, and
[185]together with him, Fulvius Flaccus, who had been consul.
In the year of the city 629, the Romans first made war upon the
[186]Gauls [187]beyond the Alps. They [188]began with the Salii,
and [189]Allobroges, whom Fulvius Flaccus [190]subdued. In the year
633, Fabius the consul made an end of the war with the Allobroges.
He [191]conquered Bituitus, king of the Arverni, in [192]battle.
The king himself [193]coming to Rome to [194]satisfy the senate,
was [195]confined at Alba. Then Gallia Narbonensis was made a
[196]province, and a [197]colony [198]sent to Narbon in the year 636.
The Romans were after this [199]almost [200]perpetually at war with
the Gauls, by whom they were [201]oftentimes [202]soundly beaten; but,
above all others, the Cimbri and Teutones were [203]terrible to them.
They [204]marching for Italy, and not [205]being able to [206]prevail
with the senate for [207]room to [208]settle in, they [209]routed M.
Silanus the consul; the year following Scaurus was [210]defeated by the
Cimbri, and L. Cassius by the Helvetii Tigurini the year after that.
But the [211]overthrow of Q. Cæpio was more [212]memorable than all the
[213]rest. He had [214]plundered [215]Tholouse in the [216]country of
the Tectosagæ, and had [217]carried off an hundred thousand [218]pounds
of [219]gold, and fifteen hundred thousand pounds of [220]silver. This
was done in the year of the city 648. But the following, he, with C.
Manilius, [221]paid for this [222]sacrilege, with the [223]utter,
[224]destruction of the Roman army. It is certain there were [225]slain
in this [226]battle of the Romans and their [227]allies, [228]fourscore
thousand, and of [229]servants that [230]followed the [231]camp
[232]threescore thousand.
At length the Teutones and the [233]Ambrones were almost all
[234]destroyed, two hundred thousand being slain, and seventy thousand
[235]taken [236]prisoners, by C. Marius the consul, in the year 652;
and the following year, the same Marius, [237]in conjunction with
Catulus, defeated the Cimbri, that were [238]making their way through
[239]Noricum, [240]slew an hundred and twenty thousand, and took sixty
thousand prisoners.
With so many [241]victories did Marius [242]consummate the [243]glory
he had [244]got in the war with Jugurtha. For in the year of the city
643, a war was [245]undertaken against Jugurtha, king of Numidia,
because he had [246]deprived his [247]cousins Hiempsal and Adherbal,
the sons of Micipsa, and [248]grandsons of Masanissa, of their
[249]lives and [250]kingdom. He [251]prevailed against the Romans
for some years, more by his gold than by his arms; but was at last
[252]brought low by Metellus the consul, and [253]finally [254]entirely
[255]subdued by Marius, and [256]delivered up by Bocchus, king of
Mauritania, to whom he had [257]fled for refuge; after which he was
[258]carried to Rome, to [259]grace the [260]triumph of Marius, and
[261]put to death in [262]prison.
This [263]happy [264]progress of the [265]empire [266]abroad, was
[267]interrupted by [268]frequent and [269]shameful [270]disorders
at [271]home, which were [272]occasioned by the tribunes. Saturninus
having [273]had the Agrarian law [274]passed, to [275]divide among the
people the land which Marius had got, by [276]driving the Cimbri out of
Gaul, [277]banished Metellus Numidicus, who [278]opposed him; but at
last was [279]slain himself by Marius, then consul for the sixth time,
in the year 654; and the following year Metellus was [280]recalled from
[281]banishment.
After Saturninus, Livius Drusus, tribune of the people, but
[282]favouring the senate, being [283]desirous to [284]restore them to
their [285]ancient [286]splendor, and to [287]put the [288]execution of
their laws into their [289]hands, which C. Gracchus had [290]divided
[291]between them and the [292]knights, he passed the same Agrarian
laws, and put the [293]allies in [294]hopes of the [295]freedom of the
city; which [296]being not able to [297]bring about, he [298]fell under
an universal [299]odium, and was [300]stabbed, nobody [301]knew how, in
the year 663.
After this, the Romans were [302]engaged in two most [303]difficult and
terrible wars, almost at the same time; one in Italy, and the other
without. That was [304]called the [305]Social or [306]Marsic war,
because the Marsi had been the first [307]beginners of it; for all the
[308]Latins, and most of the people of Italy, being [309]disgusted,
that they who were [310]sharers in all the [311]hardships and
[312]dangers of the war, should be [313]excluded from the [314]honours
and [315]dignities of the [316]state; and being [317]frustrated in
the hopes of [318]obtaining the [319]freedom of the city by Drusus,
[320]endeavoured to [321]compass that by [322]force of arms, which
they could not obtain [323]by fair means. They first [324]attempted
in the Latin [325]Feriæ, to [326]assassinate both the consuls,
Philip and Cæsar; but the [327]matter being [328]discovered, they
[329]openly [330]revolted, [331]massacred Q. Servilius the proconsul,
[332]Fonteius and all the Romans at [333]Asculum. After this the war
was [334]carried on with [335]various [336]success. Cn. [337]Pompey
Strabo, father of Pompey the [338]Great, [339]distinguished himself
upon this [340]occasion. He [341]forced the Vestini and Peligni
to [342]submission, and [343]triumphed upon that [344]account.
[345]Likewise L. Sylla Cæsar, the consul’s [346]lieutenant, did, by his
great successes against the enemy, [347]obtain the [348]consulship, in
which he [349]made an end of the war.
Soon after [350]broke out a war between the Romans and
[351]Mithridates, who having [352]taken off Ariarthes, king of
Cappadocia, his [353]sister’s [354]husband, together with his son
of the same [355]name, had [356]seized upon the kingdom; but being
forced to [357]forego what he had [358]unjustly got, Ariobarzanes was
[359]nominated king of Cappadocia by the senate, but forced out of his
[360]dominions by Mithridates, and [361]restored by Sylla. After this
he was once more [362]driven out of Cappadocia by Mithridates, [363]as
was likewise Nicomedes out of Bithynia. But both [364]recovered their
dominions again by a [365]decree of the senate; which Mithridates being
[366]offended at, he [367]invaded Cappadocia and Bithynia, [368]routed
the Roman armies, [369]massacred all the Italians, [370]throughout
Asia in one day; and [371]reduced Macedon, [372]Thrace, [373]Greece,
and [374]Athens. The consul Sylla [375]marching against him, [376]took
Athens, and having [377]defeated his generals, forced him to a peace
upon the [378]conditions of his [379]quitting Asia, Bithynia, and
Cappadocia.