FLAMININUS

What Titus Quintius Flamininus, whom we select as a parallel to

Philopoemen, was in personal appearance, those who are curious may

see by the brazen statue of him, which stands in Rome near that of

the great Apollo, brought from Carthage, opposite to the Circus

Maximus, with a Greek inscription upon it. The temper of his mind is

said to have been of the warmest both in anger and in kindness; not

indeed equally so in both respects; as in punishing, he was ever

moderate, never inflexible; but whatever courtesy or good turn he set

about, he went through with it, and was as perpetually kind and

obliging to those on whom he had poured his favors, as if they, not

he, had been the benefactors: exerting himself for the security and

preservation of what he seemed to consider his noblest possessions,

those to whom he had done good. But being ever thirsty after honor,

and passionate for glory, if anything of a greater and more

extraordinary nature were to be done, he was eager to be the doer of

it himself; and took more pleasure in those that needed, than in

those that were capable of conferring favors; looking on the former

as objects for his virtue, and on the latter as competitors in glory.

Rome had then many sharp contests going on, and her youth betaking

themselves early to the wars, learned betimes the art of commanding;

and Flamininus, having passed through the rudiments of soldiery,

received his first charge in the war against Hannibal, as tribune

under Marcellus, then consul. Marcellus, indeed, falling into an

ambuscade, was cut off. But Titus, receiving the appointment of

governor, as well of Tarentum, then retaken, as of the country about

it, grew no less famous for his administration of justice, than for

his military skill. This obtained him the office of leader and

founder of two colonies which were sent into the cities of Narnia and

Cossa; which filled him with loftier hopes, and made him aspire to

step over those previous honors which it was usual first to pass

through, the offices of tribune of the people, praetor and aedile,

and to level his aim immediately at the consulship. Having these

colonies, and all their interest ready at his service, he offered

himself as candidate; but the tribunes of the people, Fulvius and

Manius, and their party, strongly opposed him; alleging how

unbecoming a thing it was, that a man of such raw years, one who was

yet, as it were, untrained, uninitiated in the first sacred rites and

mysteries of government, should, in contempt of the laws, intrude and

force himself into the sovereignty.

However, the senate remitted it to the people's choice and suffrage;

who elected him (though not then arrived at his thirtieth year)

consul with Sextus Aelius. The war against Philip and the

Macedonians fell to Titus by lot, and some kind fortune, propitious

at that time to the Romans, seems to have so determined it; as

neither the people nor the state of things which were now to be dealt

with, were such as to require a general who would always be upon the

point of force and mere blows, but rather were accessible to

persuasion and gentle usage. It is true that the kingdom of Macedon

furnished supplies enough to Philip for actual battle with the

Romans; but to maintain a long and lingering war, he must call in aid

from Greece; must thence procure his supplies; there find his means

of retreat; Greece, in a word, would be his resource for all the

requisites of his army. Unless, therefore, the Greeks could be

withdrawn from siding with Philip, this war with him must not expect

its decision from a single battle. Now Greece (which had not

hitherto held much correspondence with the Romans, but first began an

intercourse on this occasion) would not so soon have embraced a

foreign authority, instead of the commanders she had been inured to,

had not the general of these strangers been of a kind gentle nature,

one who worked rather by fair means than force; of a persuasive

address in all applications to others, and no less courteous, and

open to all addresses of others to him; and above all bent and

determined on justice. But the story of his actions will best

illustrate these particulars.

Titus observed that both Sulpicius and Publius, who had been his

predecessors in that command, had not taken the field against the

Macedonians till late in the year; and then, too, had not set their

hands properly to the war, but had kept skirmishing and scouting here

and there for passes and provisions, and never came to close fighting

with Philip. He resolved not to trifle away a year, as they had

done, at home in ostentation of the honor, and in domestic

administration, and only then to join the army, with the pitiful hope

of protracting the term of office through a second year, acting as

consul in the first, and as general in the latter. He was, moreover,

infinitely desirous to employ his authority with effect upon the war,

which made him slight those home-honors and prerogatives.

Requesting, therefore, of the senate, that his brother Lucius might

act with him as admiral of the navy, and taking with him to be the

edge, as it were, of the expedition three thousand still young and

vigorous soldiers, of those who, under Scipio, had defeated Asdrubal

in Spain, and Hannibal in Africa, he got safe into Epirus; and found

Publius encamped with his army, over against Philip, who had long

made good the pass over the river Apsus, and the straits there;

Publius not having been able, for the natural strength of the place,

to effect anything against him. Titus therefore took upon himself

the conduct of the army, and, having dismissed Publius, examined the

ground. The place is in strength not inferior to Tempe, though it

lacks the trees and green woods, and the pleasant meadows and walks

that adorn Tempe. The Apsus, making its way between vast and lofty

mountains which all but meet above a single deep ravine in the midst,

is not unlike the river Peneus, in the rapidity of its current, and

in its general appearance. It covers the foot of those hills, and

leaves only a craggy, narrow path cut out beside the stream, not

easily passable at any time for an army, but not at all when guarded

by an enemy.

There were some, therefore, who would have had Titus make a circuit

through Dassaretis, and take an easy and safe road by the district of

Lyncus. But he, fearing that if he should engage himself too far

from the sea in barren and untilled countries, and Philip should

decline fighting, he might, through want of provisions, be

constrained to march back again to the seaside without effecting

anything, as his predecessor had done before him, embraced the

resolution of forcing his way over the mountains. But Philip, having

possessed himself of them with his army, showered down his darts and

arrows from all parts upon the Romans. Sharp encounters took place,

and many fell wounded and slain on both sides, and there seemed but

little likelihood of thus ending the war; when some of the men, who

fed their cattle thereabouts, came to Titus with a discovery, that

there was a roundabout way which the enemy neglected to guard;

through which they undertook to conduct his army, and to bring it

within three days at furthest, to the top of the hills. To gain the

surer credit with him, they said that Charops, son of Machatas, a

leading man in Epirus, who was friendly to the Romans, and aided them

(though, for fear of Philip, secretly), was privy to the design.

Titus gave their information belief, and sent a captain with four

thousand foot, and three hundred horse; these herdsmen being their

guides, but kept in bonds. In the daytime they lay still under the

covert of the hollow and woody places, but in the night they marched

by moonlight, the moon being then at the full. Titus, having

detached this party, lay quiet with his main body, merely keeping up

the attention of the enemy by some slight skirmishing. But when the

day arrived, that those who stole round, were expected upon the top

of the hill, he drew up his forces early in the morning, as well the

light-armed as the heavy, and, dividing them into three parts,

himself led the van, marching his men up the narrow passage along the

bank, darted at by the Macedonians, and engaging, in this difficult

ground, hand to hand with his assailants; whilst the other two

divisions on either side of him, threw themselves with great alacrity

among the rocks. Whilst they were struggling forward, the sun rose,

and a thin smoke, like a mist, hanging on the hills, was seen rising

at a distance, unperceived by the enemy, being behind them, as they

stood on the heights; and the Romans, also, as yet under suspense, in

the toil and difficulty they were in, could only doubtfully construe

the sight according to their desires. But as it grew thicker and

thicker, blackening the air, and mounting to a greater height, they

no longer doubted but it was the fire-signal of their companions;

and, raising a triumphant shout, forcing their way onwards, they

drove the enemy back into the roughest ground; while the other party

echoed back their acclamations from the top of the mountain.

The Macedonians fled with all the speed they could make; there fell,

indeed, not more than two thousand of them; for the difficulties of

the place rescued them from pursuit. But the Romans pillaged their

camp, seized upon their money and slaves, and, becoming absolute

masters of the pass, traversed all Epirus; but with such order and

discipline, with such temperance and moderation, that, though they

were far from the sea, at a great distance from their vessels, and

stinted of their monthly allowance of corn, and though they had much

difficulty in buying, they nevertheless abstained altogether from

plundering the country, which had provisions enough of all sorts in

it. For intelligence being received that Philip making a flight,

rather than a march, through Thessaly, forced the inhabitants from

the towns to take shelter in the mountains, burnt down the towns

themselves, and gave up as spoil to his soldiers all the property

which it had been found impossible to remove, abandoning, as it would

seem, the whole country to the Romans. Titus was, therefore, very

desirous, and entreated his soldiers that they would pass through it

as if it were their own, or as if a place trusted into their hands;

and, indeed, they quickly perceived, by the event, what benefit they

derived from this moderate and orderly conduct. For they no sooner

set foot in Thessaly, but the cities opened their gates, and the

Greeks, within Thermopylae, were all eagerness and excitement to ally

themselves with them. The Achaeans abandoned their alliance with

Philip, and voted to join with the Romans in actual arms against him;

and the Opuntians, though the Aetolians, who were zealous allies of

the Romans, were willing and desirous to undertake the protection of

the city, would not listen to proposals from them; but, sending for

Titus, entrusted and committed themselves to his charge.

It is told of Pyrrhus, that when first, from an adjacent hill or

watchtower which gave him a prospect of the Roman army, he descried

them drawn up in order, he observed, that he saw nothing

barbarian-like in this barbarian line of battle. And all who came

near Titus, could not choose but say as much of him, at their first

view. For they who had been told by the Macedonians of an invader,

at the head of a barbarian army, carrying everywhere slavery and

destruction on his sword's point; when in lieu of such an one, they

met a man, in the flower of his age, of a gentle and humane aspect, a

Greek in his voice and language, and a lover of honor, were

wonderfully pleased and attracted; and when they left him, they

filled the cities, wherever they went, with favorable feelings for

him, and with the belief that in him they might find the protector

and asserter of their liberties. And when afterwards, on Philip's

professing a desire for peace, Titus made a tender to him of peace

and friendship, upon the condition that the Greeks be left to their

own laws, and that he should withdraw his garrisons, which he refused

to comply with, now after these proposals, the universal belief even

of the favorers and partisans of Philip, was, that the Romans came

not to fight against the Greeks, but for the Greeks, against the

Macedonians.

Accordingly, all the rest of Greece came to peaceable terms with him.

But as he marched into Boeotia, without committing the least act of

hostility, the nobility and chief men of Thebes came out of their

city to meet him, devoted under the influence of Brachylles to the

Macedonian alliance, but desirous at the same time to show honor and

deference to Titus; as they were, they conceived, in amity with both

parties. Titus received them in the most obliging and courteous

manner, but kept going gently on, questioning and inquiring of them,

and sometimes entertaining them with narratives of his own, till his

soldiers might a little recover from the weariness of their journey.

Thus passing on, he and the Thebans came together into their city not

much to their satisfaction; but yet they could not well deny him

entrance, as a good number of his men attended him in. Titus,

however, now he was within, as if he had not had the city at his

mercy, came forward and addressed them, urging them to join the Roman

interest. King Attalus followed to the same effect. And he, indeed,

trying to play the advocate, beyond what it seems his age could bear,

was seized, in the midst of his speech, with a sudden flux or

dizziness, and swooned away; and, not long after, was conveyed by

ship into Asia, and died there. The Boeotians joined the Roman

alliance.

But now, when Philip sent an embassy to Rome, Titus dispatched away

agents on his part, too, to solicit the senate, if they should

continue the war, to continue him in his command, or if they

determined an end to that, that he might have the honor of concluding

the peace. Having a great passion for distinction, his fear was,

that if another general were commissioned to carry on the war, the

honor even of what was passed, would be lost to him; and his friends

transacted matters so well on his behalf, that Philip was

unsuccessful in his proposals, and the management of the war was

confirmed in his hands. He no sooner received the senate's

determination, but, big with hopes, he marches directly into

Thessaly, to engage Philip; his army consisting of twenty-six

thousand men, out of which the Aetolians furnished six thousand foot

and four hundred horse. The forces of Philip were much about the

same number. In this eagerness to encounter, they advanced against

each other, till both were near Scotussa, where they resolved to

hazard a battle. Nor had the approach of these two formidable armies

the effect that might have been supposed, to strike into the generals

a mutual terror of each other; it rather inspired them with ardor and

ambition; on the Romans' part, to be the conquerors of Macedon, a

name which Alexander had made famous amongst them for strength and

valor; whilst the Macedonians, on the other hand, esteeming of the

Romans as an enemy very different from the Persians, hoped, if

victory stood on their side, to make the name of Philip more glorious

than that of Alexander. Titus, therefore, called upon his soldiers

to play the part of valiant men, because they were now to act their

parts upon the most illustrious theater of the world, Greece, and to

contend with the bravest antagonists. And Philip, on the other side,

commenced an harangue to his men, as usual before an engagement, and

to be the better heard, (whether it were merely a mischance, or the

result of unseasonable haste, not observing what he did,) mounted an

eminence outside their camp, which proved to be a burying-place; and

much disturbed by the despondency that seized his army at the

unluckiness of the omen, all that day kept in his camp, and declined

fighting.

But on the morrow, as day came on, after a soft and rainy night, the

clouds changing into a mist filled all the plain with thick darkness;

and a dense foggy air descending, by the time it was full day, from

the adjacent mountains into the ground betwixt the two camps,

concealed them from each other's view. The parties sent out on

either side, some for ambuscade, some for discovery, falling in upon

one another quickly after they were thus detached, began the fight at

what are called the Cynos Cephalae, a number of sharp tops of hills

that stand close to one another, and have the name from some

resemblance in their shape. Now many vicissitudes and changes

happening, as may well be expected, in such an uneven field of

battle, sometimes hot pursuit, and sometimes as rapid a flight, the

generals on both sides kept sending in succors from the main bodies,

as they saw their men pressed or giving ground, till at length the

heavens clearing up, let them see what was going on, upon which the

whole armies engaged. Philip, who was in the right wing, from the

advantage of the higher ground which he had, threw on the Romans the

whole weight of his phalanx, with a force which they were unable to

sustain; the dense array of spears, and the pressure of the compact

mass overpowering them. But the king's left wing being broken up by

the hilliness of the place, Titus observing it, and cherishing little

or no hopes on that side where his own gave ground, makes in all

haste to the other, and there charges in upon the Macedonians; who,

in consequence of the inequality and roughness of the ground, could

not keep their phalanx entire, nor line their ranks to any great

depth, (which is the great point of their strength,) but were forced

to fight man for man under heavy and unwieldy armor. For the

Macedonian phalanx is like some single powerful animal, irresistible

so long as it is embodied into one, and keeps its order, shield

touching shield, all as in a piece; but if it be once broken, not

only is the joint-force lost, but the individual soldiers also who

composed it; lose each one his own single strength, because of the

nature of their armor; and because each of them is strong, rather, as

he makes a part of the whole, than in himself. When these were

routed, some gave chase to the flyers, others charged the flanks of

those Macedonians who were still fighting, so that the conquering

wing, also, was quickly disordered, took to flight, and threw down

its arms. There were then slain no less than eight thousand, and

about five thousand were taken prisoners; and the Aetolians were

blamed as having been the main occasion that Philip himself got safe

off. For whilst the Romans were in pursuit, they fell to ravaging

and plundering the camp, and did it so completely, that when the

others returned, they found no booty in it.

This bred at first hard words, quarrels, and misunderstandings

betwixt them. But, afterwards, they galled Titus more, by ascribing

the victory to themselves, and prepossessing the Greeks with reports

to that effect; insomuch that poets, and people in general in the

songs that were sung or written in honor of the action, still ranked

the Aetolians foremost. One of the pieces most current was the

following epigram: --

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.

This was composed by Alcaeus in mockery of Philip, exaggerating the

number of the slain. However, being everywhere repeated, and by

almost everybody, Titus was more nettled at it than Philip. The

latter merely retorted upon Alcaeus with some elegiac verses of his

own: --

Naked and leafless see, O passer-by,

The cross that shall Alcaeus crucify.

But such little matters extremely fretted Titus, who was ambitious of

a reputation among the Greeks; and he, therefore, acted in all

after-occurrences by himself, paying but very slight regard to the

Aetolians. This offended them in their turn; and when Titus listened

to terms of accommodation, and admitted an embassy upon the proffers

of the Macedonian king, the Aetolians made it their business to

publish through all the cities of Greece, that this was the

conclusion of all; that he was selling Philip a peace, at a time when

it was in his hand to destroy the very roots of the war, and to

overthrow the power which had first inflicted servitude upon Greece.

But whilst with these and the like rumors, the Aetolians labored to

shake the Roman confederates, Philip, making overtures of submission

of himself and his kingdom to the discretion of Titus and the Romans,

puts an end to those jealousies, as Titus by accepting them, did to

the war. For he reinstated Philip in his kingdom of Macedon, but

made it a condition that he should quit Greece, and that he should

pay one thousand talents; he took from him also, all his shipping,

save ten vessels; and sent away Demetrius, one of his sons, hostage

to Rome; improving his opportunity to the best advantage, and taking

wise precautions for the future. For Hannibal the African, a

professed enemy to the Roman name, an exile from his own country, and

not long since arrived at king Antiochus's court, was already

stimulating that prince, not to be wanting to the good fortune that

had been hitherto so propitious to his affairs; the magnitude of his

successes having gained him the surname of the Great. He had begun

to level his aim at universal monarchy, but above all he was eager to

measure himself with the Romans. Had not, therefore, Titus upon a

principle of prudence and foresight, lent all ear to peace, and had

Antiochus found the Romans still at war in Greece with Philip, and

had these two, the most powerful and warlike princes of that age,

confederated for their common interests against the Roman state, Rome

might once more have run no less a risk, and been reduced to no less

extremities than she had experienced under Hannibal. But now, Titus

opportunely introducing this peace between the wars, dispatching the

present danger before the new one had arrived, at once disappointed

Antiochus of his first hopes, and Philip of his last.

When the ten commissioners, delegated to Titus from the senate;

advised him to restore the rest of Greece to their liberty, but that

Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias should be kept garrisoned for

security against Antiochus; the Aetolians, on this, breaking out into

loud accusations, agitated all the cities, calling upon Titus to

strike off the shackles of Greece, (so Philip used to term those

three cities,) and asking the Greeks, whether it were not matter of

much consolation to them, that, though their chains weighed heavier,

yet they were now smoother and better polished than formerly, and

whether Titus were not deservedly admired by them as their

benefactor, who had unshackled the feet of Greece, and tied her up by

the neck? Titus, vexed and angry at this, made it his request to the

senate, and at last prevailed in it, that the garrisons in these

cities should be dismissed, that so the Greeks might be no longer

debtors to him for a partial, but for an entire, favor. It was now

the time of the celebration of the Isthmian games; and the seats

around the racecourse were crowded with an unusual multitude of

spectators; Greece, after long wars, having regained not only peace,

but hopes of liberty, and being able once more to keep holiday in

safety. A trumpet sounded to command silence; and the crier,

stepping forth amidst the spectators, made proclamation, that the

Roman senate, and Titus Quintius, the proconsular general, having

vanquished king Philip and the Macedonians, restored the Corinthians,

Locrians, Phocians, Euboeans, Achaeans of Phthiotis, Magnetians,

Thessalians, and Perrhaebians to their own lands, laws, and

liberties; remitting all impositions upon them, and withdrawing all

garrisons from their cities. At first, many heard not at all, and

others not distinctly, what was said; but there was a confused and

uncertain stir among the assembled people, some wondering, some

asking, some calling out to have it proclaimed again. When,

therefore, fresh silence was made, the crier raising his voice,

succeeded in making himself generally heard; and recited the decree

again. A shout of joy followed it, so loud that it was heard as far

as the sea. The whole assembly rose and stood up; there was no

further thought of the entertainment; all were only eager to leap up

and salute and address their thanks to the deliverer and champion of

Greece. What we often hear alleged, in proof of the force of human

voices, was actually verified upon this occasion. Crows that were

accidentally flying over the course, fell down dead into it. The

disruption of the air must be the cause of it; for the voices being

numerous, and the acclamation violent, the air breaks with it, and

can no longer give support to the birds; but lets them tumble, like

one that should attempt to walk upon a vacuum; unless we should

rather imagine them to fall and die, shot with the noise as with a

dart. It is possible, too, that there may be a circular agitation of

the air, which, like marine whirlpools, may have a violent direction

of this sort given to it from the excess of its fluctuation.

But for Titus, the sports being now quite at an end, so beset was he

on every side, and by such multitudes, that had he not, foreseeing

the probable throng and concourse of the people, timely withdrawn, he

would scarce, it is thought, have ever got clear of them. When they

had tired themselves with acclamations all about his pavilion, and

night was now come, wherever friends or fellow-citizens met, they

joyfully saluted and embraced each other, and went home to feast and

carouse together. And there, no doubt, redoubling their joy, they

began to recollect and talk of the state of Greece, what wars she had

incurred in defense of her liberty, and yet was never perhaps

mistress of a more settled or grateful one that this which other

men's labors had won for her: almost without one drop of blood, or

one citizen's loss to be mourned for, she had this day had put into

her hands the most glorious of rewards, and best worth the contending

for. Courage and wisdom are, indeed, rarities amongst men, but of

all that is good, a just man it would seem is the most scarce. Such

as Agesilaus, Lysander, Nicias, and Alcibiades, knew how to play the

general's part, how to manage a war, how to bring off their men

victorious by land and sea; but how to employ that success to

generous and honest purposes, they had not known. For should a man

except the achievement at Marathon, the sea-fight at Salamis, the

engagements at Plataea and Thermopylae, Cimon's exploits at

Eurymedon, and on the coasts of Cyprus, Greece fought all her battles

against, and to enslave, herself; she erected all her trophies to her

own shame and misery, and was brought to ruin and desolation almost

wholly by the guilt and ambition of her great men. A foreign people,

appearing just to retain some embers, as it were, some faint

remainders of a common character derived to them from their ancient

sires, a nation from whom it was a mere wonder that Greece should

reap any benefit by word or thought, these are they who have

retrieved Greece from her severest dangers and distresses, have

rescued her out of the hands of insulting lords and tyrants, and

reinstated her in her former liberties.

Thus they entertained their tongues and thoughts; whilst Titus by his

actions made good what had been proclaimed. For he immediately

dispatched away Lentulus to Asia, to set the Bargylians free,

Titillius to Thrace, to see the garrisons of Philip removed out of

the towns and islands there, while Publius Villius set sail, in order

to treat with Antiochus about the freedom of the Greeks under him.

Titus himself passed on to Chalcis, and sailing thence to Magnesia,

dismantled the garrisons there, and surrendered the government into

the people's hands. Shortly after, he was appointed at Argos to

preside in the Nemean games, and did his part in the management of

that solemnity singularly well; and made a second publication there

by the crier, of liberty to the Greeks; and, visiting all the cities,

he exhorted them to the practice of obedience to law, of constant

justice, and unity, and friendship one towards another. He

suppressed their factions, brought home their political exiles; and,

in short, his conquest over the Macedonians did not seem to give him

a more lively pleasure, than to find himself prevalent in reconciling

Greeks with Greeks; so that their liberty seemed now the least part

of the kindness he conferred upon them.

The story goes, that when Lycurgus the orator had rescued Xenocrates

the philosopher from the collectors who were hurrying him away to

prison for non-payment of the alien tax, and had them punished for

the license they had been guilty of, Xenocrates afterwards meeting

the children of Lycurgus, "My sons," said he, "I am nobly repaying

your father for his kindness; he has the praises of the whole people

in return for it." But the returns which attended Titus Quintius and

the Romans, for their beneficence to the Greeks, terminated not in

empty praises only; for these proceedings gained them, deservedly,

credit and confidence, and thereby power, among all nations, for many

not only admitted the Roman commanders, but even sent and entreated

to be under their protection; neither was this done by popular

governments alone, or by single cities; but kings oppressed by kings,

cast themselves into these protecting hands. Insomuch that in a very

short time (though perchance not without divine influence in it) all

the world did homage to them. Titus himself thought more highly of

his liberation of Greece than of any other of his actions, as appears

by the inscription with which he dedicated some silver targets,

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.