Among the songs written after the battle of Cynos Cephalas (the
Dog-heads), was the following epigram, composed by Alcaeus in mockery of
Philip, exaggerating the number of the slain:
Naked and tombless see, O passer-by
The thirty thousand men of Thessaly,
Slain by the Aetolians and the Latin band,
That came with Titus from Italia's land:
Alas for mighty Macedon! that day,
Swift as a roe, king Philip fled away.
Titus himself thought more highly of his liberation of Greece than of
any other of his actions, as appears by the inscription upon some silver
targets, dedicated together with his own shield, to Apollo at Delphi:
Ye Spartan Tyndarids, twin sons of Jove,
Who in swift horsemanship have placed your love,
Titus, of great Aeneas' race, leaves this
In honor of the liberty of Greece.
And a golden crown, also offered to Apollo, bore this inscription:
This golden crown upon thy locks divine,
O blest Latona's son, was set to shine
By the great captain of the Aenean name
O Phoebus, grant the noble Titus fame!
When the ambassadors of Antiochus were recounting to those of Achaea,
the various multitudes composing their royal master's forces, and ran
over a long catalogue of hard names, "I supped once," said Titus, "with
a friend, and could not forbear expostulating with him at the number
of dishes he had provided, and said I wondered where he had furnished
himself with such a variety; 'Sir,' replied he, 'to confess the truth,
it is all hog's flesh differently cooked.' And so, men of Achaea, when
you are told of Antiochus' lancers, and pikemen, and foot-guards, I
advise you not to be surprised; since in fact they are all Syrians
differently armed."
The Chalcidians, who owed their lives to Titus, dedicated to him all the
best and most magnificent of their sacred buildings, inscriptions upon
which, like the following, may be seen to this day: THE PEOPLE DEDICATE
THIS GYMNASIUM TO TITUS AND TO HERCULES; so again: THE PEOPLE
CONSECRATE THE DELPHINIUM TO TITUS AND TO HERCULES; and what is yet more
remarkable, even in our time, a priest of Titus was formally elected
and declared; and after sacrifice and libation, they sang a set song, of
which these are the closing verses:--
The Roman Faith, whose aid of yore,
Our vows were offered to implore,
We worship now and evermore.
To Rome, to Titus, and to Jove,
O maidens, in the dances move.
Dances and Io-Paeans too
Unto the Roman Faith are due
O Savior Titus, and to you.